Loose Change

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, published research on fascism in which he examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each fascist State:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarceration of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists; terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military are glamorized.

5. Rampant sexism - The government of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are intertwined - Government in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation are often the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or are severely restricted.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassinations of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Net Results of the Iraqi War: Incompetance and Sectarian Violence....

Watching the war unfold has been a terribly saddening and absolutly disheartening experience. I once believed an attempt to quell the Afghani Taliban was a step towards developing human rights in the region but unfortunatly I now believe this "front" was only a stepping stone for an incursion G.W.Bush had planned prior to even becoming president. A war built on a lie for reasons of greed....what a legacy. Find Death Squads @ www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15615.htm and Lost Year in Iraq @ www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/yeariniraq/view/.

The above listed programs are availiable on-line and are true sign of Bush's divisive program as president.

Additionally there are great on-line lectures @ www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/events/foreignpolicy/video.html

GLOBAL DIMMING

Trends in Global Terrorism

Jihad and Human Rights Today

An active ideology incompatible with universal standards of freedom and equality.
By Bat Ye’or

Human rights and the concept of jihad are two incompatible ideas. In Judeo-Christian societies, the concept of human rights is based on the biblical interdiction against killing, and the equality of all human beings. Though it has religious roots, this notion of human rights evolved mainly from the 19th century in a secular European and American framework. It then acquired a universal character, proclaiming the equality of all human beings and the inviolability of their natural human rights. But it was only after World War II that this concept became the core of an international legal system, as a tool to prevent political abuses and to protect civil populations from genocidal policies.

Other major civilizations — including the Chinese, Hindu, and Islamic — have also conceived legal systems which protect the rights of their citizens. However, in the Islamic case, specifically, the 54 Muslim countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference have conceived their own human-rights charter, contained in the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam.

This document states in its preamble, and in articles 24 and 25, that all its provisions are in conformity with the sharia, the religious Islamic law, which has primacy. Moreover, it proclaims that God has made the Islamic community (umma) the best nation — and, hence, its role is to guide humanity. We can see here the differences between the Cairo Declaration and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which does not refer to any religion or to the superiority of any group over another, but stresses the absolute equality of all human beings.

The institution of jihad belongs to a religious, Islamic domain, outside the realm of Western universalism and secularism. These two domains do not meet. Secular laws can be changed, abrogated, or ameliorated, but jihad regulations are believed to express divine commands. By definition, human beings can neither discuss nor scrutinize the divine will, and so those jihad obligations — attributed by the theologians to Allah — place jihad in the domain of faith. I would like to emphasize strongly that jihad is a special domain of Islamic law. Not all Muslims know it, and many reject its ideology. It would be a great mistake to believe that each and every Muslim identifies with the jihad-war ideology.

The ideology of jihad was formulated by leading Muslim theologians and scholars from the 8th century onward. Their voluminous writings make clear the notion of jihad as a holy war of conquest. Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani (d. 966), for example, stated,

Jihad is a precept of Divine institution... We Malikis [one of four schools of Muslim jurisprudence] maintain it is preferable not to begin hostilities with the enemy before having invited the latter to embrace the religion of Allah, except where the enemy attacks first. They have the alternative of either converting to Islam or paying the poll tax (jizya), short of which war will be declared against them...

Jihad ideology separates humanity into two hostile blocs: the community of Muslims (Dar ul-Islam), and the infidel non-Muslims (Dar ul-Harb). Allah commands the Muslims to conquer the entire world in order to rule it according to Koranic law. Hence Muslims must wage a perpetual war against those infidels who refuse to submit. This is the motivation for jihad. It is based on the inequality between the community of Allah and the infidels, as was re-emphasized in the Cairo Declaration. The first is a superior group, which must rule the world; the second must submit. The current relevance of this ideology is apparent, and disturbing.

For example, Al-Muhajiroun, an Islamist newspaper in London, published an article on January 27, 2001, which declared:

Upon the establishment of the Islamic State, the whole world will potentially be Dar ul Harb since the foreign policy of the Islamic state is aimed at conquering the world... Once the Islamic State is established anyone in Dar ul Harb will have no sanctity for his life or wealth hence, a Muslim in such circumstances can then go into Dar ul Harb and take the wealth from the people unless there is a treaty with that state. If there is no treaty, individual Muslims can even go to Dar ul Harb and take women to keep as slaves.

Such an attitude assumes that the infidels have no rights and are totally dehumanized. It breeds hatred and contempt and has led to historical negationism, and the destruction of non-Muslim cultures. Moreover, such views are not confined to the most radical Islamists. They were confirmed in the Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of the Academy of Islamic Research, held in 1968 (General Organization for Government Printing Offices, Cairo, 1968), and regularly since then by eminent Islamic scholars. These authoritative pronouncements have recapitulated the theory of jihad in a manner completely consistent with the Al-Muhajiroun statements.

The theory of jihad against the infidels is composed of two parts: the ideology, and the military institutions aimed at implementing this ideology. According to these rules the infidels without a treaty have no rights at all: they can be deported, reduced to slavery, abducted for ransom, or killed. Women and children can be taken into slavery. Infidels can be spared by a temporary treaty which should not go beyond ten years. The treaty must conform to Islamic rule and serve Islamic interests, hence a ransom should be paid. The infidels who submit to Islamic rulers are given a pledge of security against the rules of jihad, so long as they accept a condition of humiliation, and of total inferiority to Muslims.

Jihad is therefore a genocidal war, according to the modern definition of genocide. It encourages terrorism against civilians and does not differentiate between innocent civilians and soldiers. All infidels without a treaty of protection can be killed. Jihad does not recognize universal human rights, for there is no equality between Muslims and infidels, and no reciprocity between Muslims and infidels in legal matters. Jihad warriors do not accept that either the Geneva Conventions or the conventional rules of war have any validity for them.

Jihadists have associated the notion of a reward in paradise with the practice of killing infidels. Killing at war was, and still is, practiced by all societies. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, wars, because they imply the acts of killing, are hateful and peace is praised. In the jihadist ideology, it is war that is praised, along with the killing of the infidels. Tragically, jihad ideology will not disappear soon. It is shaping the minds of a generation of young Muslims in many countries. Jihad ideology is a well-constructed system, created after the death of the prophet Mohammed. It has remained alive and well since then — except under secularized Muslim governments like that of Turkey, after the Kemalist revolution. It is delusional and dangerous to maintain that this ideology is rooted in social deprivation, backwardness, injustice, or despair. Moreover, paying subsidies to suspend global jihad terrorism is tantamount to paying a tribute to terrorist states, and buying one's own peace and security as temporarily ransomed privileges — instead of living by the principles of universal human rights, which proclaim the inviolability of every human being. Societies that pay a tribute to survive are destined to disappear.

Bombarded By Drug Profits

Drug Traffickers Find Haven in Shadows of Indian Country

Written By The Verve...but I prefer Ben Harper's acoustic rendition
All this talk of getting old
It's getting me down my love
Like a cat in a bag waiting to drown
This time I'm comin' down
And I know you're thinking of me
As you lay down on your side

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again
Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

But I know I'm on a losing streak
'Cause I passed down by old street
And if you wanna show, just let me know
And I'll sing in your ear again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

So baby, Woh- if heaven calls, I'm coming too
Just like you said you leave my life, I'm better off dead

All this talk of getting old
It's getting me down my love
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown
This time I'm comin' down

The drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

So baby, Woh- if heaven calls, I'm coming too
And like you said, you leave my life, I'm better off dead

But if you wanna show, just let me know
And now I'll sing in your ear again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But now I know I'll see your face again
Yeah- I know I'll see your face again
Yeah- I know I'll see your face again
Oh- now
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Never coming down, Never coming down
No more, no more, no more, no more, no more, no more
Never coming down, never coming down
No more, no more, no more, no more, no more
Oh- now
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again


WELCOME TO THE NARCOCRACY

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media

What if the government and media corporations effectivly created a propaganda machine in order to manipulate the opinions of the populace? I am regularly floored by the information that appears on the www. I'm such an information junkie that I try to limit my time on-line otherwise I'd develop carpel tunnel ....vision. One of my favorite thinkers is Noam Chomsky simply because he is one who refused to buy into the system which we call economic motivated democracy in the early twenty first century. It's not without it's issues.

Called the most influential thinker today his words are not to be taken lightly. Interestingly enough when I asked my fourth year history prof about Chomsky he said he was over the top and not to be taken seriously. Needless to say I didn't bring him up again...in order to pass...but...I always wondered about his critique of American foreign policy. Especially today...his seems to be more and more real in comparison to what we hear in the media today. What if the system is operating with a designed outcome in mind attempting to shape our outcome? What if the system is not free at all but controlled? If this is so then what is to be made of the American dream espousing freedom and rugged individualism. A sham...a lie...a play...what if we are errand boys sent by grocery clerks .....no-bo-dies....
Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.
What if government and media cooperate to produce an propaganda machine in order to manipulate the opinions of the populace.
What did you dream? Its alright we told you what to dream.

Or is it unemployment?
Or is it underemployment?
Or is it governmental burearcracy?
Or is it the failure of seperate systems to commuicate effectivly?

Read America's "War on Terrorism" by Michel Chossudovsky

As for the Bin Laden reponse to the US smashing of al-Zawahri's face "fuck you asshole." Holy War my arse....

Earth warmest in at least 400 years, panel finds

Humour Me

I think I've figured myself out....I'm a self depreciating narcissist...I love to watch myself get beaten all day.

But seriously who else would remain in a region described as the arm pit of the world.....I always thought it seemed slightly south of the armpit myself.

You know your old when you point out the seven wonders of the modern world to your 10 year old son and he tells your they're all so old fashion ...just like you dad.

My weekend always consists of escaping me....usually this includes long lonely convesations with Captain Morgan and Jack Daniels.

I used to have a big ego...but it left me ....with my wallet one day ....and the hooker who forgot me chanined to a bed.

Yes it's fathers day...I went to see my doctor, asked him why I was such a pain in the ass...he sent me to a proctologist....I arrived there and the guy proceeded to don the gloves lubricant and associated tools....he checked my teeth and exclaimed ....yup just as I thought ...your born that way.

Paul McCartney is 64....and does his wife still love him? Apparently more so now that they're seperating and her limping ass is leaving with several million...thank you very much.

NASA is launching another trip despite the fact the ride is considered a problem with explosive issues. I guess its true NASA is an acronym Need Another Seven Astronauts.

Mercedes is being sued after some rich A-hole bought a 1.7 million dollar car that wont run. He says it's " $2 million of scrap metal" ...this guy is obviously reeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaly stupid because the entire car in made of carbon fiber which unfortunatly sparky.......isn't metal. This should be fun to watch ...it'll be a first class dick waving contest.

Australia is fighting an epidemic of poisonous Cane Toads. Whatever happened to firecrackers and children containing these warty little fucks. Environmentalists want to freeze them....FREEZE THEM? In Aust-fucking-tralia? Jesus Christ Help Us. Okay okay possibly if we can give the lil ones dry ice and gloves...maybe...just maybe.

The Frankfurt School

What I'm reading
Visions of Social Control by Stanley Cohen
chapters 14 and 16
Modern Social Theory by Ian Craib
Conflict Theory and The Frankfurt School
Crowds and Power by Elias Canetti
dry but it has its moments

What I'm listening to: NEWS -CBC then BBC- anything but American propaganda uh sorry I meant news

Just getting back from a guest speaker who was witness to the horrors of Rawanda. I really enjoyed the night ...some of the phrases he used were hauntingly captivating. Speaking on the problems of child soliders he described the trauma inflicted upon the young killers who "feel the trigger...(and witness) through crosshairs, with slowed digital clarity the exploding of a life." Phenomenal . The phrasing that is.

He described how in the post cold war reality "nations stumbled into a new era" ...makes me think of the point in Apocolypse Now when Kurtz asks "Are my methods unsound?" and Willard responds "I don't see any method at all, sir." How close can man get to madness before the whole show goes up in flames?
To assume it will end with a bang is so HOLLYWOOD....we'll all go out in a whimper...a long sustained iron gate moaning squeak...

and this from the chapter Visions of Order in the above mentioned Cohen text

"decayed zones of the inner city inhabited by the old, confused and ill dumped from their institutions and left to rot in broken down welfare hotels or exploited in private nursing homes; psychotics wandering the streets 'locked in or locked out' of dilapitated boarding houses, barely able to cash their welfare checks, the prey of street criminals and a source of nuisance and alarm to local residents too poor to leave; an increasing ecological seperation into 'deviant ghettos' , 'sewers of human misery', garbage dumps for the 'social junk' lost in the interstices of the city." I thought this sooooo sounds like Burroughs and sure enough ...who closes out the chapter. Damned poem .....I'm gonna post it again


A Thanksgiving Prayer
by William S. Burroughs

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts.

Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream, To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen, feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where nobody's allowed to mind the own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the memories-- all right let's see your arms!

You always were a headache and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

Arabic, Urdu, and Persian editions of The Trouble with Islam Today

Free on-line text THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM TODAY

Enjoying the Unnecessary Sedation?

Meaning is missing in the world...(this) does not imply that the world is void of meaning, but only that many a science is blind to it. V.Frankl

Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right. A.DiFranco

Alternative ideas, values, rules and actions ...(are) threats to what we feel loyalty to. J.M Charon

When you have total control over the media and the educational system ... scholarship is conformist. N.Chomsky

What is essential to life is only to forgo complacency. Kafka

There always comes a time when one must choose between contemplation and action. A.Camus

Questioning anothers motives violates one of the most respected taboos....E.Fromm

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

Hot talk on the world's hot spots

RCMP arrests 17, foiling alleged Ont. bomb plot

15 of 17 Ontario terror suspects appear in court

Jihad Cult and the Malleable Will of Lost Boys

BACKGROUND

Brainwashing, as a technique, has been used for centuries and is no mystery to psychologists. In this sense, brainwashing means involuntary re-education of basic beliefs and values. All people are being re-educated continually. New information changes one's beliefs. Everyone has experienced to some degree the conflict that ensues when new information is not consistent with prior belief. The experience of the brainwashed individual differs in that the inconsistent information is forced upon the individual under controlled conditions after the possibility of critical judgment has been removed by a variety of methods.

There is no question that an individual can be broken psychologically by captors with knowledge and willingness to persist in techniques aimed at deliberately destroying the integration of a personality. Although it is probable that everyone reduced to such a confused, disoriented state will respond to the introduction of new beliefs, this cannot be stated dogmatically.

PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN CONTROL AND REACTION TO CONTROL

There are progressive steps in exercising control over an individual and changing his behaviour and personality integration. The following five steps are typical of behaviour changes in any controlled individual:

1. Making the individual aware of control is the first stage in changing his behaviour. A small child is made aware of the physical and psychological control of his parents and quickly recognizes that an overwhelming force must be reckoned with. So, a controlled adult comes to recognize the overwhelming powers of the state and the im- personal, "incarcerative" machinery in which he is enmeshed. The individual recognizes that definite limits have been put upon the ways he can respond.

2. Realization of his complete dependence upon the controlling system is a major factor in the controlling of his behavior.The controlled adult is forced to accept the fact that food, tobacco,praise, and the only social contact that he will get come from the very interrogator who exercises control over him.

3. The awareness of control and recognition of dependence result in causing internal conflict and breakdown of previous patterns of behaviour. Although this transition can be relatively mild in the case of a child, it is almost invariably severe for the adult undergoing brainwashing. Only an individual who holds his values lightly can change them easily. Since the brainwasher-interrogators aim to have the individuals undergo profound emotional change, they force their victims to seek out painfully what is desired by the controlling individual. During this period the victim is likely to have a mental breakdown characterized by delusions and hallucinations.

4. Discovery that there is an acceptable solution to his problem is the first stage of reducing the individual's conflict. It is characteristically reported by victims of brainwashing that this discovery led to an overwhelming feeling of relief that the horror of internal conflict would cease and that perhaps they would not, after all, be driven insane. It is at this point that they are prepared to make major changes in their value-system. This is an automatic rather than voluntary choice. They have lost their ability to be critical.

5. Reintegration of values and identification with the controlling system is the final stage in changing the behaviour of the controlled individual. A child who has learned a new, socially desirable behaviour demonstrates its importance by attempting to adapt the new behaviour to a variety of other situations. Similar states in the brainwashed adult are pitiful. His new value-system, his manner of perceiving,organizing,and giving meaning to events, is virtually independent of his former value system. He is no longer capable of thinking or speaking in concepts other than those he has adopted. He tends to identify by expressing thanks to his captors for helping him see the light.Brainwashing can be achieved without using illegal means.Anyone willing to use known principles of control and reactions to control and capable of demonstrating the patience needed in raising a child can probably achieve successful brainwashing.

Six Conversion Techniques

Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking for new converts. To attain them, they must also create a brain-phase. And they often need to do it within a short space of time-a weekend, or maybe even a day. The following are the six primary techniques used to generate the conversion.

The meeting or training takes place in an area where participants are cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a private home, a remote or rural setting, or even a hotel ballroom where the participants are allowed only limited bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the controllers will give a lengthy talk about the importance of "keeping agreements" in life. The participants are told that if they don't keep agreements, their life will never work. It's a good idea to keep agreements, but the controllers are subverting a positive human value for selfish purposes. The participants vow to themselves and their trainer that they will keep their agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated into agreement or forced to leave. The next step is to agree to complete training, thus assuring a high percentage of conversions for the organizations. They will USUALLY have to agree not to take drugs, smoke, and sometimes not to eat or they are given such short meal breaks that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes at least a slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in turn increases the conversion potential.

Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be used to ensure that the new converts go out and find new participants. They are intimidated into agreeing to do so before they leave. Since the importance of keeping agreements is so high on their priority list, the converts will twist the arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into attending a free introductory session offered at a future date by the organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact, the inside term for merchandising the largest and most successful human-potential training is, "sell it by zealot!"

At least a million people are graduates and a good percentage have been left with a mental activation button that assures their future loyalty and assistance if the guru figure or organization calls. Think about the potential political implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots programmed to campaign for their guru.

Be wary of an organization of this type that offers follow-up sessions after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly meetings or inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the organization will attempt to talk you into taking-or any regularly scheduled event used to maintain control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.

Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that indicates conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is maintained that causes physical and mental fatigue. This is primarily accomplished by long hours in which the participants are given no opportunity for relaxation or reflection.

The third tip-off: techniques used to increase the tension in the room or environment.

Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating various techniques to increase tension and generate uncertainty. Basically, the participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or encountered by the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon, participants are tempted to verbally relate their innermost secrets to the other participants or forced to take part in activities that emphasize removing their masks. One of the most successful human-potential seminars forces the participants to stand on a stage in front of the entire audience while being verbally attacked by the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted a few years ago, showed that the number one most-fearful situation an individual could encounter is to speak to an audience. It ranked above window washing outside the 85th floor of an office building. So you can imagine the fear and tension this situation generates within the participants. Many faint, but most cope with the stress by mentally going away. They literally go into an alpha state, which automatically makes them many times as suggestible as they normally are. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is successfully effected.

The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is the introduction of jargon-new terms that have meaning only to the "insiders" who participate. Vicious language is also frequently used, purposely, to make participants uncomfortable.

The final tip-off is that there is no humor in the communications at least until the participants are converted. Then, merry-making and humor are highly desirable as symbols of the new joy the participants have supposedly "found."

I'm not saying that good does not result from participation in such gatherings. It can and does. But I contend it is important for people to know what has happened and to be aware that continual involvement may not be in their best interest.

Over the years, I've conducted professional seminars to teach people to be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've had many of those who conduct trainings and rallies come to me and say, "I'm here because I know that what I'm doing works, but I don't know why." After showing them how and why, many have gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.

Many of these trainers have become personal friends, and it scares us all to have experienced the power of one person with a microphone and a room full of people. Add a little charisma and you can count on a high percentage of conversions. The sad truth is that a high percentage of people want to give away their power-they are true "believers"!

Cult gatherings or human-potential trainings are an ideal environment to observe first-hand what is technically called the "Stockholm Syndrome." This is a situation in which those who are intimidated, controlled, or made to suffer, begin to love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their controllers or captors.

But let me inject a word of warning here: If you think you can attend such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably wrong. A perfect example is the case of a woman who went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In her report, she related how the music eventually induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought herself above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable to the music, she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or resistance almost always assures conversion. A few moments later she was possessed by the music and began dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain phase had been induced by the music and excitement, and she awoke feeling reborn. The only hope of attending such gatherings without being affected is to be a Buddha and allow no positive or negative emotions to surface. Few people are capable of such detachment.

Before I go on, let's go back to the six tip-offs to conversion. I want to mention the United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine Corps talks about breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new men-as marines! Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks its people down and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your local street corner. Every one of the six conversion techniques are used in boot camp. Considering the needs of the military, I'm not making a judgement as to whether that is good or bad. IT IS A FACT that the men are effectively brainwashed. Those who won't submit must be discharged or spend much of their time in the brig.

Decognition Process

Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed services, and similar groups cannot have cynicism among their members. Members must respond to commands and do as they are told, otherwise they are dangerous to the organizational control. This is normally accomplished as a three-step Decognition Process.

Step One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION: The controllers cause the nervous system to malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish between fantasy and reality. This can be accomplished in several ways. POOR DIET is one; watch out for Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system off. More subtle is the "SPIRITUAL DIET" used by many cults. They eat only vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of grains, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish or meat, an individual becomes mentally "spacey." INADEQUATE SLEEP is another primary way to reduce alertness, especially when combined with long hours of work or intense physical activity. Also, being bombarded with intense and unique experiences achieves the same result.

Step Two is PROGRAMMED CONFUSION: You are mentally assaulted while your alertness is being reduced as in Step One. This is accomplished with a deluge of new information, lectures, discussion groups, encounters or one-to-one processing, which usually amounts to the controller bombarding the individual with questions. During this phase of decognition, reality and illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be accepted.

Step Three is THOUGHT STOPPING: Techniques are used to cause the mind to go "flat." These are altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that initially induce calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal with and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a feeling of elation and eventually hallucination. The result is the reduction of thought and eventually, if used long enough, the cessation of all thought and withdrawal from everyone and everything except that which the controllers direct. The takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that when members or participants are instructed to use "thought-stopping" techniques, they are told that they will benefit by so doing: they will become "better soldiers" or "find enlightenment."

There are three primary techniques used for thought stopping. The first is MARCHING: the thump, thump, thump beat literally generates self-hypnosis and thus great susceptibility to suggestion.

The second thought stopping technique is MEDITATION. If you spend an hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few weeks, there is a great probability that you will not return to full beta consciousness. You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to meditate. I'm not saying this is bad-if you do it yourself. It may be very beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your mind to go flat. I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and the results are conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind becomes until, eventually and especially if used to excess or in combination with decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual groups see this as nirvana-which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological result. And if heaven on earth is non-thinking and non-involvement, I really question why we are here.

The third thought-stopping technique is CHANTING, and often chanting in meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also be included in this category.

All three-stopping techniques produce an altered state of consciousness. This may be very good if YOU are controlling the process, for you also control the input. I personally use at least one self-hypnosis programming session every day and I know how beneficial it is for me. But you need to know if you use these techniques to the degree of remaining continually in alpha that, although you'll be very mellow, you'll also be more suggestible.
copyright Dick Sutphen

The above is simply a cut and paste production created with this http://pw1.netcom.com/~ncoic/brainwsh.htm and this
http://www.wealth4freedom.com/truth/brainwashing.htm

Click here for a history of Jihad

A Day In The Life

Books I'm Reading:

Joey The Hitman-The Autobiography of a Hitman by David Fisher
The Enforcer-A Life And Death In The Mafia by Adrian Humphreys
The Way Of The Wiseguy - Joseph Pistone
Killing One Another by Gwenn Nettler (editor)
Samuel Beckett The Man & His Works - F.J. Hoffman

What I'm Listening To:

Skanky Panky - Kid Koala
The Drugs Don't Work - Ben Harper
Six Days (Remix) - DJ Shadow & Mos Def
Rodeo Clowns - G Love & Jack Johnson
I Will Sing You Songs - My Morning Jacket

No time .... no time ..... but I feel just fine. Seems the older I grow the messier my desk gets. Why is that? I thought aging had something to do with increasing maturity and planning and organization? Here I am with 10 books that I must read and an ever threatening writing project staring me down. Maybe the two jobs get in the way of my creativity. Damned morgage, car, electricity, cable, internet, insurance, food, booze, shoes, clothes, books, paper, ink.

I took the boys to the marsh. They took their plastic nets swinging through the bulrush and captured two bullfrog tadpoles. We now have an ongoing project in these two aquatic bulbous beasts. Placed in a standard hexagonal aquarium the two gelatenous figures have taken on personalities. They seem to wake up at 9:00pm and swim madly, splashing all over, to the point where if there were no lid on the aquarium I'm sure they'd be found on the floor like dried up prunes. There'd be no Finding freakin Nemo happy ending in that. Anyway after two hours of absolutly bouncing off the walls they settle down and do nothing (but mutate). Glad I'm not a frog...but wait we have so much in common. I do nothing all day then freak out for two hours......yup that's me. Somedays a classroom can feel alot like a hexagonal aquarium.

Listening to the radio this weekend a totally fascinating PHD was speaking about the madness of the social condition (very generally). I recomend everybody and anybody seek this guy out Frederick Hickling is like a cross between Bob Marley and Michel Foucault. Absolutly amazing dude.

Oh yea and speaking of culture and such this site is presently in the courts for being a search engine for films that are still in the cinemas. Enjoy the downloads -ISOHUNT-

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

The quest is to be liberated from the negative, which is really our own will to nothingness. And once having said yes to the instant, the affirmation is contagious. It bursts into a chain of affirmations that knows no limit. To say yes to one instant is to say yes to all of existence.
Waking Life

The demons have been turned loose and go about, grotesquely pretending to be honourable 20th-century men who do not believe in evil spirits.
Vaclav Havel

Decietfulness, perverse sexual behaviour, stealing, and increasing destructiveness are typical features of...breakdown of the personality."
Martin Israel

Three Poisons: Craving - Hatred - Ignorance
Buddha

The world is not a vacuume. Either we make it an alter for God or it is invaded by demons.
Abraham Joshua Heschel

....every failure to cope with a life situation must be laid, in the end, to a restriction of consciousness.
Joseph Campbell

Man is asleep, must he die before he wakes?
Muhammad

Three things in life are destructive: anger, greed and pride.
Muhammad

The path to wholeness is made up of fateful detours and wrong turnings.
Carl Jung

Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response

DEADLY ARSENALS

Continuing upon the theme of Mutually Assured Destruction we have entered into a time soon to be called the NEW COLD WAR

POstMOdern CULTure

Of the specters that remain with us haunting our writing, of those that we faintly acknowledge one commands our attention: Its voice echoes: "no apocalypse, not now."

NUCLEAR JIHAD

The idea is not new.....if you find yourself wondering about the legitmacy of the fight against terror groups, read on.

The New Brinksmanship: Iran's Nuclear Threat

Libertarian Socialism

Black Sabbath

by Henry Rollins

So much litter out of place
It's time to put it in its place
A mind is a terrible thing
A dream is flashing like a polished weapon in my mind
To the summer ambulance
Siren songs
The two girls
Drunk
Fighting outside the club
Broken glass under the crime lights
Fuck these streets
And the bastards who put them here
All these experements
Like how much blood it will take to drown you
And while I know
That I am a hero in the making
A walking legend
Superstar status is my domain
If I had a car big enough
I would drive all of you right off the edge
But there is not the time to play games
I walk the streets looking at you
Listening to you living your garbage cowboy coward fantasy
This place is going to look alot different
After I get done decorating
Too bad you wont be here to see it
I am an angel
I am a sloider
I am on a mission
No one knows but me
The streets talk to me
The sidewalk looks up at me and makes faces
It mocks me
When I breath in the stench fills me
Tries to consume me
Tries to destroy me
It will not destroy me
I am here to clear the air
Look at this place
Look at the filth
Look at the decadence
It forces you to pick a side
Either you destroy it or you become it
Every moment of the day it stares you in the face
Taunting you
Destroying you
And you let it
Tag
You're it
You're shit
It's too late for spiritual awakening
Fuck that hippie shit
It's too late for social change
You can't educate a flock of sheep
Can't you see that's what they want
They want you to turn away
They want you to lie down
Like a lamb for the slaughter
Like a chump for the sellout
There will be no revolution
There will be no uprising
There will be no race war
How could anyone be that stupid?
How could anyone believe that bullshit?
What a joke
I know a lot about jokes
I see them all the time
I spent years with some living jokes
You should see them now
Fat
Stoned
Cowards
Living death
Men of action turned into weak pieces of shit
They could get my repect again
If they shot themselves in the head
At night I walk the streets
I take mental notes
I take inventory
The filth
The garbage
The stench
Liers
Freaks
Clowns
My mission becomes clear to me
My life focuses into a laser beam
My purpose
My life
My vision is pure napalm
I am here to clean
There is only one way to clean
You have ot incinerate
You must cleanse with fire
You must turn disease with ash
Or it still lives
Things have gone too far
The strong are destroyed by the weak
Decadence has set a precedent
It has become a way of life
Not the way of my life
Shit is shit
I am here to burn it
Can't you see?
I am beyond your timid lying morality
I don't believe in equality
That is to say
That I don't think that if you're alive
That's all you need to get by
The man who sells drugs
Is not equal to me
The man who rapes his son is not equal to me
They cannot hide
Guilt trips will not shield them from me
I don't believe in human rights
I think you have grown fat and evil
Hiding behind your your human rights
Reveling in filth
The balance must be brought back
When I walk the streets in my neighbourhood
Drunks come staggering from bars
Guns go off
Police helicopters fly above
Yet nothing happens
Some show
Lets cut the drama
Get rid of the display
The ritual is nowhere
It's hollow
The nights are made of tin
Cheap
Bitter death
I will show you my world
I will bring it home
My beauty
The summer nights of fire and truth
Can you see it?
A dark hot night
The whine of engines from above
The tree line explodes in fire orange
The air fills with the smell of gasoline
The air strike
Like a flower erupting in rapid birth
Filth turned to ash
So beautiful
Decadence lies bleeding
As I walk and plan
I hear angels singing
Black Sabbath songs
The soles of my shoes are thick
Keeps the blood and urine at a distance
The mind I occupy is iron
My time is now
I see them
Maybe it is you who I see
Singing the song of the looser
Your endless, diseased song
The end is coming
And I am the one who is bringing it
I am the punch line
I will defoliate before it's too late
You spend millions on rehabilitation
How big does a lie have to get before even you can no longer avoid it?
You shit in you bed
You wait for someone to come
And clean it up
Well here I am
Ready to throw out the baby with the bathwater

Worldwide Suicide

I felt the earth on Monday
It moved beneath my feet
In the form of a morning paper
Laid out for me to see
I saw his face in the corner picture
I recognized the name
Could not stop staring at the
Face I'd never see again

It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over?
It's the same every day in a hell man-made
What can be saved, and who will be left to hold her?

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

Medals on a wooden mantle
Next to a handsome face
That the president took for granted
Writing checks that others pay
And in all the madness
Thought becomes numb and naive
So much to talk about and
Nothing for to say

It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devil's on their shoulder
Laying claim to the take that soldiers save
Does not equate, and the truth's already out there

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

Looking in the eyes of the fallen
You got to know there is another, another, another, another, another...
Way

It's a shame to awake in a world of pain
What does it mean when a war has taken over?
It's the same everyday and the wave won't break
Tell you to pray, while the devil's on their shoulder

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

The whole world...
World over...
Yeah, it's a world wide suicide

Psychology meets Religion

REFLECTIONS ON MY PUBLIC DIALOG WITH THE DALAI LAMA

Aaron T. Beck, M.D.

Göteborg June 13, 2005

Judy Beck and I met with the Dalai Lama initially in his private drawing room in the hotel for an informal discussion a couple of hours prior to the actual public dialog. Also attending were Paul Salkovskis, Astrid Beskow, and a number of his own representatives, including his long-time interpreter. Initially, I presented His Holiness with a copy of Life magazine from 1959, which had a cover picture of him receiving bouquets from his American supporters after his escape from Tibet to the United States. He seemed pleased to see this much younger picture of himself. I also presented him with a hard copy of Prisoners of Hate. He seemed taken by the title, which epitomized his own view that hatred imprisons the people who experience it. He then remarked that there must be six billion prisoners in the world!

On a personal level, I found him charismatic, warm, engaging, and very attentive to what I had to say. At the same time, he seemed to maintain an objective detachment not only with me but also with the members of the entourage. He also impressed me with his wit and wisdom and his ability to capture the nuances of very complex issues.

The dialog was held at the Göteborg Convention Center with about 1400 attendees at the International Congress of Cognitive Psychotherapy. In keeping with his expressed wish, I started the dialog. I began to recite the dozen or so main points of similarity between Tibetan Buddhism and cognitive therapy (listed below). After I recited four or five similarities, he interrupted with the statement that they were as many items as he could absorb at one time.

My main challenge in the dialog was to inform him about the cognitive approach to human problems without in any way taking away from the broad philosophy and psychology of Buddhism. My strategy was to find appropriate points in his discourse where I could introduce cognitive concepts that were relevant in some way to his train of thought. I tried to represent the cognitive approach as a valid system or discipline in its own right that overlapped but also was complimentary to Buddhism. I also had to be conscious of my choice of words. Although His Holiness is quite fluent in speaking English, he is not familiar with more technical words, especially those for which there are no Tibetan equivalents. For example, he used the term “negative thoughts,” which I repeated in preference to the more technical (and precise) cognitive terms, such as self-defeating thoughts or dysfunctional cognitions.

Among the points that I brought up, which he then expanded on from his own vantage point, were that both systems use the mind to understand and cure the mind. Acceptance and compassion were key similarities. Also, in both systems, we try to help people with their overattachment to material things and symbols (of success, etc., something we call “addiction”). I gave a case example of a depressed scientist who was so attached to success (in this case, specifically winning a Nobel Prize) that he excluded everything else in his life, including his family. I had used a typical cognitive strategy to give the patient perspective. In the course of a single session, he changed his beliefs and got over his depression (at least temporarily). The Dalai Lama’s response to this anecdote was, “You should get the Nobel Prize for Peace.”

Another point that I brought up was our distinction between pain and suffering. I suggested that much of people’s suffering is based on the fact that they identify themselves with the pain. People who are able to separate (“distance”) themselves from the pain and view it more objectively had significantly less distress (as pointed out by Tom Sensky’s group in London). His Holiness seemed taken with this concept and then said in an amusing way that maybe he could use this notion to help himself with his chronic itch. (This half-serious comment, of course, evoked a large amount of laughter from the audience.) He later referred to cognitive therapy as similar to “analytical meditation.”

I asked His Holiness how he thought that his message could really take root in the world. He then expanded on his ideas that education had to be the answer. He also expressed his own philosophy, which he described as secular ethics. Although people of different faiths could embrace the values that he expressed, such as total acceptance of all living things, he did not feel that religion was a necessary instrument for this. He appeared to echo what is also the essence of the cognitive approach, namely self-responsibility rather than depending on some external force to inspire ethical standards. Since I believe that CT also regards unethical and morally destructive behavior as a cognitive problem and thus would advocate a “cognitive morality,” I later was able to get this point across but in different words. When he asked me for my view of human nature, I responded that I agreed that people were intrinsically good but that the core of goodness was so overlaid with layer after layer of “negative thoughts” that one had to remove the layers for the goodness to emerge. He expressed the belief that positive thinking (focusing on positive and good things) was the way to neutralize the negative in human nature. My position was that the best way to reach this goal was to pinpoint the thinking errors and correct them. After we concluded the dialog, Paul Salkovskis gave an outstanding summation of the topics that we had covered.

Since Astrid Beskow (the prodigious organizer of the event) discovered that by coincidence this was his birthday, there was a short birthday celebration during which he was then given a large bouquet. He then gave Astrid, Paul, and myself a Buddhist prayer shawl. I later learned from an intermediary that he enjoyed the dialog and that he would think about several points that I raised.

All in all, it was a thrilling experience for me and, from what I heard from several of the attendees, also for the audience.

From my readings and discussions with His Holiness and other Buddhists, I am struck with the notion that Buddhism is the philosophy and psychology closest to cognitive therapy and vice versa. Below is a list of similarities that I suggested to the Dalai Lama in our private meeting. Of course, there are many strategies we use such as testing beliefs in experiments and formulating the case that are not part of the Buddhist approach.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN COGNITIVE THERAPY AND BUDDHISM

I. Goals Serenity, Peace of Mind, Relief of Suffering

II. Values

(1) Importance of Acceptance, Compassion, Knowledge, Understanding

(2) Altruism vs. Egoism

(3) Universalism vs. Groupism: “We are one with all humankind.”

(4) Science vs. Superstition

(5) Self-responsibility

III. Causes of Distress:

(1) Egocentric biases leading to excessive or inappropriate anger, envy, cravings, etc. (the “toxins”) and false beliefs (“delusions”)

(2) Underlying self-defeating beliefs that reinforce biases.

(3) Attaching negative meanings to events.

IV. Methods:

(1) Focus on the Immediate (here and now)

(2) Targeting the biased thinking through

(a) Introspection, (b) Reflectiveness, (c) Perspective-taking, (d) Identification of “toxic” beliefs, (e) Distancing, (f) Constructive experiences, (g) Nurturing “positive beliefs”

(3) Use of Imagery

(4) Separating distress from pain

(5) Mindfulness training

SAID and ISLAM

Enlightened views of reality are much needed today. Thus the need for alternative press and non-mainstream media. That said here is a link to COUNTERPUNCH.


In the news today American Exceptionalism has reared it's ugly head once again in Bush's reaffirmation of U.S.'s First Strike Policy.

Afghanistan the Narco-State

Bumper crop of illicit opium expected in Afghanistan this year: UN survey

Daniel Cooney

Canadian Press

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

KABUL (AP) - Cultivation of opium poppies has increased in large areas of Afghanistan, raising fears there could be another bumper crop this year, a government and UN survey said.

Widespread eradication of poppies is needed in the coming months leading up to harvest time in the world's top producer of opium and its derivative, heroin, officials warned Monday.

Farmers are planting more opium poppies than last year in 13 provinces, while cultivation levels are stable in 16 provinces and have dropped in only three, the Ministry of Counternarcotics and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in a statement.

"We are concerned about these trends," UNODC representative Doris Buddenberg said.

But Counternarcotics Minister Habibullah Qaderi said he was optimistic that widespread eradication and programs encouraging poppy farmers to switch to legal crops would cause illegal cultivation to drop by year's end.

The survey was carried out in December and January, the start of the poppy growing season, it said. Another survey will be done at the end of the season in autumn.

Afghanistan is the source of nearly 90 per cent of the world's opium and heroin, even though the international community has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into eradication campaigns since the Taliban was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

News of the increased cultivation comes after last year's drop major drop in the number of hectares used to grow poppies, according to separate surveys by the United Nations and the U.S. State Department.

Monday's survey said there were dramatic increases in poppy cultivation in seven provinces, including Helmand in the south, where about 3,000 British soldiers are being deployed later this year to combat a rising Taliban-led insurgency and the drug trade.

The Taliban discouraged the poppy trade when it was in power. However, western officials say the rebels are believed to be partially funded by the narco-gangs and have warned that they will attack government forces if they eradicate opium poppies in the region.

Afghanistan's current government has been criticized for not being tough enough on the burgeoning drugs trade amid warnings the country is fast becoming a "narco-state."

A number of senior government and police officials and former warlords are suspected of involvement in the business.

Qaderi said hundreds of hectares of poppies already had been cleared.

"This is already showing results in some provinces, and I believe we can expect to see it have an impact on cultivation levels elsewhere in the country as the campaign and the year progresses," he said.

Buddenberg cautioned against expectations that the drug trade can be quickly curtailed.

"Counternarcotics is a long-term process, which must be based first of all on an overall development approach, and this takes a long time," she said.

"Such an approach must also be coupled with law enforcement, to go after those who control the drug business."

Drug Agents Target Afghan Poppy Crop

By JIM KRANE Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — Springtime is on the way and already hundreds of farmers are tending pale green shoots of Afghanistan's chief crop and economic mainstay: opium poppies.

It looks to be a bumper year. Some 320,000 acres are currently blanketed in rows of dandelion-like sprouts that eventually produce almost 90 percent of the world's heroin.

But drug agents are counterattacking. An army of 500 tractor-driving Afghans hopes to plow the plants under before producers grow powerful enough to corrupt the country's fledgling government.

"There's going to be a continuous effort in spring and summer," U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

When the Taliban ran Afghanistan, its leader enforced an effective ban on poppy growing under threat of jail. As a result, cultivation dropped to practically nothing in 2000.

But Afghan and Western counternarcotics officials say the hardline Taliban militia fighting the U.S.-backed government is now implicated in the trade and uses the proceeds to help fund its insurgency.

The dramatic increase in poppy cultivation since U.S. forces ousted the Taliban from power in late 2001 has caused alarm in the West, particularly Europe, the destination of most of the drugs. Only a fraction of the output is consumed inside Afghanistan.

Getting farmers to stop growing the flowers _ which thrive in Afghanistan's poor soil and abundant sunshine _ will take decades, Eikenberry said. Thailand's largely successful campaign took 25 years. Afghanistan's crop is being eradicated amid a guerrilla war and some of the world's starkest poverty. It will take longer, Eikenberry said.

One farmer in Kandahar's poppy belt, Haji Abdul Karim, says planting his 12 acres with poppies is the only way to feed his six sons and two daughters. Revenue from wheat or grapes wouldn't even cover cooking fuel, Abdul Karim said.

"I have no other option," the 40-year-old farmer said. "I don't like growing poppy. If I had another way to earn money, I wouldn't grow it."

The U.S. Agency for International Development has earmarked $146 million this year for economic development and export-oriented farming projects meant to wean Afghans from the crop. The U.S. funds are paying for replanting poppy fields with orchards of apricot, apple, pomegranate and nut trees and grape vines.

Even so, a U.N. survey released Monday said this year's crop would be larger than last year's _ though smaller than the record 2004 crop of about 500,000 acres.

One reason cultivation has risen is that threats to cut down last year's crop never materialized, a U.S. drug agent said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his involvement in sensitive counternarcotics operations. This year, agents hope threats are now backed by action.

Making matters more difficult, farmers like Abdul Karim may receive protection from drug gangs who have warned of attacks on government eradication teams. Last year, several team members were killed in action.

And drug gangs are finding unlikely allies among radical Muslim insurgents, especially in southern Afghanistan, according to Eikenberry.

"We've seen some evidence of cooperation with the Taliban," he said.

The heroin industry has become so strong that the corruption and crime it fosters are endangering the government, Eikenberry said.

"You've already got a narco-economy here. We don't want it to become a narco-state," said the drug agent, who estimated that opium and heroin smuggling accounts for more than 35 percent of Afghanistan's economy.

U.S. and British narcotics agents hope to eradicate 50,000 acres of this year's crop before sap is collected and smugglers trundle heroin to markets across Asia and Europe.

Last year they chopped up only a quarter as much.

On Monday, drug eradication teams tore up crops in Nangarhar province, where dozens of Afghan police armed with AK-47s blocked angry farmers from interfering with the work.

Already, 6,000 acres of the flower in its young "cabbage stage" have been plowed under in Nangarhar and three other provinces, a U.S. narcotics official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

In the coming days, officials say, eradication teams will move into Afghanistan's poppy belt: the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, Taliban strongholds where insurgent-backed drug gangs have urged farmers to grow the flower. Helmand alone accounts for 40 percent of the country's poppy cultivation.

The surrounding region is showing the strain of coping with the 4,400 tons of Afghanistan's opiate exports.

Neighboring Iran is now thought to harbor the world's highest per capita heroin use, with as many as 3 million addicts; Pakistan counts 1.5 million. Afghanistan has flourishing opium dens and 50,000 addicts, about 7,000 of whom inject heroin, the U.S. agent said

Audio: World in peril, Chomsky tells overflow crowd

BROKEN by JACK JOHNSON

With everything ahead of us
We left everything behind
But nothing that we needed
At least not at this time
And now the feeling that I'm feeling
Well it's feeling like my life is finally mine
With nothing to go back to we just continue to drive
Without you I was broken
But I'd rather be broke down with you by my side
I didn't know what I was looking for
So I didn't know what I'd find
I didn't know what I was missing
I guess you've been just a little too kind
And if I find just what I need
I'll put a little peace in my mind
Maybe you've been looking too
Or maybe you don't even need to try
Without you I was broken
But I'd rather be broke down with you by my side
With everything in the past
Fading faster and faster until it was gone
Found out I was losing so much more than I knew all along
Because everything I've been working for
Was only worth nickels and dimes
But if I had a minute for every hour that I've wasted
I'd be rich in time, I'd be doing fine
Without you I was broken
But I'd rather be broke down with you by my side

Foucault in Guantanamo: National, Sovereign, Disciplinary Exceptionalism

One should seek for others the happiness one desires for oneself.
Buddha


What you do not wish done to yourself, do not do to others.
Confucius


Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
Jesus


Let none of you treat your brother in a way he himself would dislike to be treated.
Muhammad

MENTAL MASTURBATION (Internal Dialogue EXTERNALIZED)

I think I'm drunk enough to write......yup


Today was a great day...I've crushed the loosers....ya that means you...you werwolf fuck wad. Dam ...and its a full moon......not. A silver bullet throught your ass.


Listening to SaTan's ChurcH of HypNOtized LOgiC ....... a remix of Medeski, Martin and Wood....fucking aye. overall fucking excellence .....find it....you'll agree.....the Bill Laswell Remix......see LIMEWIRE....thanks PAULY


Thought of the day ....we're all gonna die.........alone



Oh ya and on to the best fucking band of the twenty first century......Rolling Stone calls this group #6 in its best of list for the year....find them.....now.....MY MORNING JACKET

DEPENDANT ORIGINATION

QUICK FIX
William Burroughs


To put the country simple, earth has a lot of things other folks might
want...like the whole planet. And maybe these folks would like a few changes
made. Like more carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, and room for their way of
life. We've seen this happen before, right in these United States.

Your way of life destroyed the Indian's way of life.

The Indian reservation is extinction.

But I offer this distinction. I'm with the invaders, no use trying to hide
that. And at the same, I disagree with some of the things they are doing.

Oh were not united anymore than you are
Oh we're not united anymore than you are.

Conservative factions is set on nuclear war as a solution to the Indian
personality.

Others disagree
Others disagree

I don't claim that my methods are one hundred percent humane, but I do say,
if we can't think of anything quieter, and tidier than that...

We are all not that much better than new earth aches.

There is no place else to go
The theater is closed

There is no place else to go
The theater is closed

Cut word lines
Cut music lines
Smash the control images
Smash the control machine.

Beautifully Pained Like An Angel In Purgatory

To know oneself means to be oneself, to be master of oneself, to distinguish oneself, to free oneself from a state of chaos, to exist as an element of order - but of one's own order and one's own discipline in striving for an ideal.
Antonio Gramsci


In this world there are three wrong viewpoints. If one clings to these viewpoints, then all things in this world are but to be denied. First some say that all human experience is based on destiny; second, some hold that everything is created by God and controlled by His will; third, some say that everything happens by chance without having any cause or condition.
Buddha


Whatever is capable of reason is better than that which is not capable.
Zeno


The misconception which has haunted philiosophic literature throughout the centuries is the notion of "independant existence". There is no such mode of existence; every entity is to be understood in terms of the way it is interwoven with the rest of the world.
Alfred North Whitehead


Our existence is based solely on the ever-fleeting present.
Arthur Shopenhauer



Thus do I lie,
Bend myself, twist myself, convulsed
With all eternal tourture,
And smitten
By thee cruelest huntsman,
Thou unfamiliar - GOD
Fredrich Nietzsche


The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary, he will come only on the day after his arrival; he will come, not on the last day, but on the very last.
Franz Kafka

Abrupt Climate Change

Climate Crash: Abrupt Climate Change and What It Means for Our Future

we play Russian roulette with climate, hoping that the future will hold no unpleasant surprises

on-line text.........

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. Nelson Mandela

Ripped From The Front Pages

Muslims are all in a tizzy because some creative artist decided to do his rightful duty. Political cartoons....whooda thunk it.....


On to another religious issue....the Pope wants Catholics to unite.....hmmmmm...seems like just weeks ago he didn't want gays in the clergy. When's this schizophrenic gonna get his shit straight? Oh ya but they're still pulling pedophiles from their ranks sooooo I suppose there's tons of new openings in the meandering bureaucracy.


On the poor Canadian front....Americans are shootin em up in Iraq....and in Denmark their ole trustable SEA-KINGS are falling into the sea. Like Jeremy Katz said invade ...go ahead.....what will Canada do....crumble up and blow away...


Palestine has voted into power the extremist sort now that all the moderates have been disempowered. Didn't see it comming? Basic politics.


Bush is upset as the Taliban has sent out yet another terror message calling Dubya a real looser.....ya but he's a greeeeedy little looser. Kinda like that Daffy Duck episode.....remember.


Oh ya and the Red Sea has claimed a thousand lives while Egyptians wait without word.

How shall a man be proud, when his conception
is a crime, his birth a penalty, his life a labour, and death a
necessity!--Shopenoeur

Enjoy...............

JOKERMAN
by BOB DYLAN


Standing on the waters casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing.
Distant ships sailing into the mist,
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing.
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

So swiftly the sun sets in the sky,
You rise up and say goodbye to no one.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don't show one.
Shedding off one more layer of skin,
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within.

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

You're a man of the mountains, you can walk on the clouds,
Manipulator of crowds, you're a dream twister.
You're going to Sodom and Gomorrah
But what do you care? Ain't nobody there would want to marry your sister.
Friend to the martyr, a friend to the woman of shame,
You look into the fiery furnace, see the rich man without any name.

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers.
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed,
Michelangelo indeed could've carved out your features.
Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space,
Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face.

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh. oh. oh. Jokerman.

Well, the rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame,
Preacherman seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain.
Nightsticks and water cannons, tear gas, padlocks,
Molotov cocktails and rocks behind every curtain,
False-hearted judges dying in the webs that they spin,
Only a matter of time 'til night comes steppin' in.

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

It's a shadowy world, skies are slippery gray,
A woman just gave birth to a prince today and dressed him in scarlet.
He'll put the priest in his pocket, put the blade to the heat,
Take the motherless children off the street
And place them at the feet of a harlot.
Oh, Jokerman, you know what he wants,
Oh, Jokerman, you don't show any response.

Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune,
Bird fly high by the light of the moon,
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman.

JUST LIKE A MONDAY............

The world must halt greenhouse gas emissions and reverse them within two decades or watch the planet spiralling towards destruction, scientists said on Monday.

EXTRATERRESTRIALS ENGAGING THE PLANET

ULTRA WEIRD CIA PARAPSYCHIC VIEWING

Like shit isn't weird enough now we've the government involved in percieving that which has ...has ...has ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

It's All About The Money

GLOBAL WARMING is due to the greenhouse effect, where certain gases in the earth’s atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, are more transparent to the short-wave radiation from the sun than the longer-wave re-radiation from the earth’s surface. Consequently, some of the heat from the sun is trapped inside the atmosphere, a similar effect to that occurring in a greenhouse. The greater the concentration of greenhouse gases, the more heat is trapped, and the tendency is set in motion for the average temperature of the earth’s surface and the oceans to rise.

The U.S.'s own Environmental Protection Agency is now stating Bush is an oil junkie. Idiot failed at everything.

Documenting Bush's ONE THOUSAND FAILURES

GREED is destroying tomorrow. Ford not truly concerned with environmental issues "exploiting the fashion of environmentally friendly vehicles."

A HARD RAIN IS GONNA FALL
Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? Oh, where have you been, my darling young one? I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains, I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways, I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests, I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans, I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard, And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard, And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what did you see, my darling young one? I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it, I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin', I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin', I saw a white ladder all covered with water, I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken, I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children, And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son? And what did you hear, my darling young one? I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin', Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world, Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin', Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin', Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin', Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter, Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley, And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son? Who did you meet, my darling young one? I met a young child beside a dead pony, I met a white man who walked a black dog, I met a young woman whose body was burning, I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow, I met one man who was wounded in love, I met another man who was wounded with hatred, And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. Oh, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son? Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one? I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin', I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest, Where the people are many and their hands are all empty, Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters, Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison, Where the executioner's face is always well hidden, Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten, Where black is the color, where none is the number, And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it, And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it, Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin', But I'll know my song well before I start singin', And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.