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antimatters
Jun. 19th, 2007
02:03 pm
Take a look at the front page of the Washington Post's website today and near the bottom of the page you'll find a large flashy feature where they pat themselves on the back once again for breaking the Watergate scandal 35 years ago.
On the same page, front and left, you'll find a link to Richard Cohen's editorial where he opines that "In the dark art of politics," "it is often best to keep the lights off."
And here, on one page, we have the history of all that has gone wrong with the American media. The Fourth Estate survived the abolishment of the Fairness Doctrine, massive industry consolidation and the right wing's sustained attack on PBS, but precisely what is it that survived?
We now have a media that has sold out its people, its nation, and its very reason for existing. Where it once informed, it now merely distracts. Where it used to investigate, it now merely transmits. Where it used to question, it now has "faith" and where it used challenge, it now excuses.
The corporate media in America is teetering on the brink of total irrelevance. If we did not have the blogs, our democracy would already be lost. This is why we must unite to fight corporate control of the Internet, for if we lose that, we'll lose our last hope for a better world.
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infuriatedJun. 18th, 2007
12:12 pm - "I have the South in front of me and the bankers behind me...
...and for my country I fear the bankers more."
-Abraham Lincoln
Jan. 30th, 2007
09:39 am - Reagan & the Salvadoran Baby Skulls
By Robert Parry
January 30, 2007
Ronald Reagan’s many admirers may find this idea offensive, but – given a new report by the Washington Post – it might be fitting to have a display at Reagan National Airport to show how Salvadoran baby skulls were used as candle holders and good luck charms. Perhaps the presentation could contain skeletal remains of Guatemalans and Nicaraguans, too.
It might be modeled after skeletons on display in Cambodia from the slaughters by the Khmer Rouge. After all, it was President Reagan – more than any other person – who justified and facilitated the barbarity that raged through Central America in the 1980s, claiming the lives of tens of thousands of peasants, clergy and students, men, women and children.
Reagan portrayed the bloody conflicts as a necessary front in the Cold War, but the Central American violence was always more about entrenched ruling elites determined to retain their privileges against impoverished peasants, including descendants of the region’s Maya Indians, seeking social, political and economic reforms.
One of the most notorious acts of brutality occurred in December 1981 in and around the Salvadoran town of El Mozote. The government’s Atlacatl Battalion – freshly trained and newly armed thanks to Reagan’s hard-line policies – systematically slaughtered hundreds of men, women and children.
When the atrocity was revealed by reporters at the New York Times and the Washington Post, the Reagan administration showed off its new strategy of “perception management,” denying the facts and challenging the integrity of the journalists.
Because of that P.R. offensive, the reality about the El Mozote massacre remained in doubt for almost a decade until the war ended and a United Nations forensic team dug up hundreds of skeletons, including many little ones of children.
Now the Washington Post has added a new grisly detail. Several months after the massacre, the Salvadoran army returned to the scene and collected the skulls of some El Mozote children as novelty items, the Post reported.
“They worked well as candle holders,” recalled one of the soldiers, Jose Wilfredo Salgado, “and better as good luck charms.”
Now, a quarter century later, describing his role piling the tiny skulls into sacks as souvenirs, Salgado acknowledged that he had “lost his love of humanity.”
The Post reported that “witnessing the aftermath of what his colleagues did in El Mozote and reflecting on those skulls changed his mind about how the war was being fought.” Salgada said his mentor, Col. Domingo Monterrosa, who later died in a helicopter crash, had ordered an act of “genocide” in El Mozote.
“If Monterossa had lived,” the Post reported, “Salgada said, he should have been prosecuted for ‘war crimes like a Hitler.’” [Washington Post, Jan. 29, 2007]
( Read more )
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nauseatedJun. 23rd, 2006
10:15 am
Our first show of the year...
New songs plus a preview of tracks on the upcoming album...
Elad's last show...
Our first show with new members Matt and Kevin...
Four other great bands...
and Raul!
Don't miss out on the hoopla!
May. 23rd, 2006
03:57 pm - DiFi Sells Us Out Again.
Our famously "liberal" senator, Diane Feinstein voted today in a closed session of the Select Committee on Intelligence to confirm Gen. Michael Hayden as the next director of the CIA. "If the Senate approves him before Memorial Day, as expected, Hayden could be sworn in by the end of the week."
Hayden is of course the architect of the formerly covert domestic surveillance program that affects every single one of us. In response, I wrote her the following letter this afternoon:
Dear Ms. Senator,
I am writing today to express my deepest disappointment in your vote to confirm Michael Hayden as the next Director of the CIA.
As you know, Mr. Hayden was George W. Bush's willing partner in creating the covert domestic surveillance program that the American people only know about because of leaks to the press. (Ironically, Alberto Gonzales is already threatening to prosecute journalists for future leaks who are now, no doubt, being monitored by this very program.) Moreover, Bush has been caught lying repeatedly about this program, which violates the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution, which you have sworn to uphold. God only knows what international and domestic laws Hayden will sidestep with the full apparatus of the Central Intelligence Agency at his disposal.
As we, the people, witness the suppression of our freedoms one by one and the individuals we have elected to be our advocates in the Senate capitulate without resistance to this authoritarian power grab by an out of control executive branch, I truly fear that all hope for the future of our nation may be lost.
Needless to say, we need to vote Dianne out on June 6th before she caves in to "The Decider's" wish to be President-for-life. Fortunately, we have a great alternative in Todd Chretien.
May. 11th, 2006
08:05 pm - Big Brother Is Watching YOU.
Thomas R. Eddlem's call for a Left-Right alliance to defend our Constitution could not possibly come at a more important time. In the 210 years since the signing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, our civil liberties have never been in greater danger. Today it was revealed that the covert domestic surveillance program that Bush authorized the NSA to conduct is "amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime."
Predictably, Bush took to the airwaves just after the story broke and claimed, "our intelligence activities strictly target Al Qaeda and their known affiliates," but if that's true, then "tens of millions of Americans" are suspected of having links to Al Qaeda! How to account for this discrepancy? Easy, Bush is lying. Just as he was when he claimed previously that all related wiretaps require a court order and are therefore subject to judicial oversight.
Jack Cafferty observed on CNN today that "(Sen.) Arlen Specter may be all that's standing between us and a full-blown dictatorship."
I'd add Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold to that list, but whether "we, the people" have one lone advocate in the senate or three, it's clear we're facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis. Remember that one of the articles of Nixon's impeachment focused on illegal domestic surveillance, and he was caught spying on just a small segment of the populace. Bush may well be spying on ALL of us!
As former Attorney General Ramsey Clark observes on http://www.impeachbush.org, "The Constitution cannot defend itself. The people must act." It's time for all Americans (Left, Right, and Center) who want to remain a constitutional democracy to unite to impeach George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and thus beat back their dictatorial power grab. 
pissed offApr. 26th, 2006
10:20 am - Hoo boy!!! You gotta see this...
Robert Smigel is a genius! This clip was shown on "Saturday Night Live" during the March 14, 1998 broadcast but edited out of all reruns (for reasons that will be obvious.)
"Conspiracy Theory Rock"
I've never thought of myself as a fan of Nancy Pelosi, but this clip really impressed me - I've never seen her so fired up! Watch her whack Bush like a $2.00 pinata with candy coming out of his ass:
Pelosi Rips Bush!
Apr. 19th, 2006
01:43 pm - Two Must Read Articles For All Americans
Senate Hearings on Bush, Now
Carl Bernstein, the man who broke Watergate, summarizes the mountain of evidence of criminal activity in the Bush Administration.
The Worst President in History?
One of America's leading historians assesses George W. Bush.
Mar. 16th, 2006
12:44 pm - Bach Cello Suites
muchamuse and I checked out a library video of Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich playing the six Bach cello suites. Rostropovich loved and practiced the Bach suites from the time he was a teenager, when the legendary Pablo Casals gave him a private performance of one of them, but he did not feel ready to record the complete set until he was 63 years old. He plays them in a a 12th-century French church. Before each suite, he gives an interesting musical analysis (in Russian with English subtitles.)
Each suite leaves us gaping in awe. I keep thinking that the next one can't possibly be as good as the last, but it's even better!
If you've never experienced the Bach Cello Suites, I implore you to check out a recording, video, etc. They are among the most powerful and moving music ever written.
Mar. 15th, 2006
01:40 pm - And now for some humor...
Jesus' General may be the most brilliant satirist alive today.
You really have to see this. Check out his posts for today through last Monday.
01:15 pm - My call to Senator Feinstein.
I called and e-mailed Senator Feinstein today. Here's what I said:
I strongly urge Senator Feinstein to HOLD BUSH ACCOUNTIBLE for his illegal program of spying on Americans. Bush has lied to Congress and to the American people repeatedly and is breaking U.S. and international law with impunity. There must be consequences for this.
It fills me with shame to see Senator Feingold standing alone in his willingness to censure Bush. I'm a lifelong Democrat and have voted for Senator Feinstein in the past. However, if she won't take the lead on this issue, I will actively work to see that she is voted out of office. This issue is that important to me.
Thank you.
Please join me. It only takes a second and the future of our nation may depend on it.
Published in the Washington Post today, FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002
Feb. 23rd, 2006
11:54 am - My Dad sent me a letter he wrote to the Washington Post...
I thought it was thought provoking and have posted it here with his permission.
Dear Editor,
I have some grave and deep concerns about the growing separation between the so-called "government" at many levels and the average working people who, we hope, put our government representatives in power.
This concern that has been gnawing at my conscience for a long time was brought home the other day during a discussion with my fourteen year old, high school freshman. We were talking about the escalating national debt, and his response was as follows:
Kid: "Well, why don't they just make more money."
Dad: "The federal government can't just make more money—it can only replace the money that is already in circulation."
Kid: "But, Dad, they are the government. They can do anything."
Dad: (After a brief pause and an attempt to catch his breath.) Whew! Well, who exactly do you think IS "the government"?
Kid: "You know; it's those guys who make wars and stuff and tell us what to do."
Dad: (Again, nearly out of breath.) Son, you don't understand that WE (and our elected representatives) ARE the government. THEY serve US.
Let me add that my son is not an entirely backward child. He is taking honors English and, so far, has made decent grades on his report card in his first year at high school. On the other hand, a recent check of his grade report on the Internet shows that he has a grade of D in government for his past two weeks of work.
How do we make politics and government something more than just another requirement for graduation? How do we get young, energetic, intelligent minds more actively involved in the very government that they, in the best sense, are supposed to form simply by being American citizens?
If "the government" is looked upon as composed of some privileged and powerful few, who dictate and control the fate of the rest of us, there is little hope to preserve the foundations of the democratic ideal and, I believe, to make young people feel they can carry on those fundamental ideals, for we are rooted in a drastically, idealistic form of government, which has sustain us, for the most part, for the past 250 years. Who would have thought, long ago, that a people can or should govern themselves?
I would hope that the present "government" in Washington, which chooses to "cloak in secrecy" nearly every decision concerning national defense, has our youth in mind. I would hope that the present "government" in Washington does not forget the foundations of our democratic way of life set forth by Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, meaning that in this "free and open society" the average persons of common sense can and should have free access to information essential to making vital decisions affecting their lives and livelihood. I, for one, need more of a reason than "we are at war, and terrorists could be anywhere; therefore, we can't tell you what we're doing, what lives we've destroyed, what prisoners we have tortured, what national and international laws we have broken, what media avenues we have censored. It's a matter of national security." I need more than that on which to base my decisions about which representatives I want to govern us and to champion our democratic liberties (and by extension, the liberties and dignity of others) as set forth by our founding fathers.
I mourn for the future of our county at the hands of the few, the rich, and the powerful, who stay in power by using the weapons of fear and secrecy.
Feb. 22nd, 2006
01:15 pm - Stop AOL's e-mail blackmail scheme.
AOL recently announced what amounts to an "email tax." Under this pay-to-send system, large emailers willing to pay an "email tax" can bypass spam filters and get guaranteed access to people's inboxes--with their messages having a preferential high-priority designation.
Charities, small businesses, civic organizing groups, and even families with mailing lists will inevitably be left with inferior Internet service unless they are willing to pay the "email tax" to AOL.
The petition says: "AOL, don't auction off preferential access to people's inboxes to giant emailers, while leaving people's friends, families, and favorite causes wondering if their emails are being delivered at all. The Internet is a force for democracy and economic innovation only because it is open to all Internet users equally--we must not let it become an unlevel playing field."
AOL's proposed pay-to-send system is the first step down the slippery slope toward dividing the Internet into two classes of users--those who get preferential treatment and those who are left behind. We must preserve the Internet for everybody.
Please help by signing this emergency petition to America Online and please alert your friends!
Thank you!
11:14 am - Eww...AWE!!!
So, I had my mind blown last night watching Nova on PBS with muchamuse.
The topic was "The Ghost Particle," a.k.a. neutrinos. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created, nor destroyed, but only converted from one form to another.
As neutrons decay, their energy is released as protons and electrons. However, experiments in the 1920’s uncovered a problem – there was discrepancy between the energy released and the resulting number of electrons and protons. In other words, it seemed that energy was indeed being "lost," but if this was true, it meant that our basic understanding of matter was completely wrong! This lead physicists to develop the theory of a "ghost particle," which they named the neutrino or "little neutral one" to account for the "missing" energy. Unfortunately, there was no conclusive proof this particle actually existed. Researchers initially believed neutrinos had zero mass, and therefore doubted mankind would ever be able to detect them.
In 1956, a team of American scientists launched "Project Poltergeist," which proved that neutrinos do actually exist. The resulting discoveries about the nature of neutrinos changed our basic understanding of matter, had a profound impact on astrophysics, and lead to a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 for the leaders in neutrino research.
From particle experiments, it is known that neutrinos tend to be “hot,” i.e. move at speeds close to the speed of light - 186,282.397 miles per second!
The Big Bang dispersed background radiation throughout the cosmos that we can still detect, including, it is believed, inconceivably vast numbers of low energy neutrinos. In the 1980s it was proposed that these may be the explanation for the dark matter thought to exist in the universe. Other important sources of neutrinos include the nuclear fusion process that powers the Sun and other stars. The most significant sources of human-generated neutrinos are nuclear bombs and nuclear power stations, where an average plant may generate over 10 to the 20th power anti-neutrinos per second.
Consider this - about 100 billion solar neutrinos pass through your thumbnail every second and you never notice a thing!
Feb. 6th, 2006
04:47 pm - The Kinks rock my alienated music-geek world!
I've been a fan of the Davies brothers for a while now, but listening to their mid-sixties greatest hits Rhino complilation last night I had an epiphany!
Though they are usually described in "rock criticism" as the British Invasion also-ran behind The Beatles, The Stones, and The Who, last night I realized that The Kinks are simply the most aptly named group in the panthenon of sixties rock. Ray Davies writes songs from the perspective of the profoundly alienated observer, struggling to find a place in a world dominated by pitchmen of disposable products sold to disposable consumers.
The Kinks lacked the elements that their more commercially successful peers had - the sunny optimism, cuteness and appeal of The Beatles, the sleazy swagger of The Stones, the bombastic power of The Who - and speak instead to the maladjusted, those of us perceived by record executives as slightly "kinked" in the head. And it's true! Like the band itself, as a Kinks fan, "I'm Not Like Everybody Else." Davies' greatest songs deal with emotional ambiguity and are often imbued with a satirical irony that requires multiple listenings to fully reveal itself.
Although The Kinks had great success on the pop charts of the mid-sixties, as Davies matured as a songwriter, his themes became increasingly complex and not particularly well suited to an artistic medium that must get it's point across in 2 minutes, fifty seconds.
Still, judging from his long, illustrious career that culminated in an induction into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, Davies managed often enough to lure listeners inside his skull and persuade them to seriously examine the world in which they live, while bobbing their heads, stomping their feet and singing along to his infectious melodies.
And that's why I love The Kinks.
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satisfied