Chalmers Johnson: The Passing of an Oracle

Chalmers Johnson passed away last Saturday (11/20/10) and with him goes the dimming of another light in this increasingly desolate & angst-ridden world. After reading his book, "The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic" a few years back, I became a student of his work. This man knew what he was talking about as he was once a consultant in the bowels of the C.I.A, and saw first-hand the official agendas, secret strategies & backroom deals of empire. Many people shy away from the uncomfortable truths of their nation as they tend to invalidate or challenge cherished beliefs they would much rather like to hold on to. I find people like this quite dangerous (& utterly pathetic!), and it would serve them well to ponder what Chalmers Johnson has to say in the following interview:

To read some of his probing articles, check here.

One of the most penetrating questions he posed close to the end of his days with us was this:


What would the "sole superpower" look like as a bankrupt country?

I wonder.... 

Peace

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The Sound of Transcendence

        If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.
      -Louis Armstrong



OneLOVE!

:::MME:::

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful.

- Buddha



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

Peace

:::MME:::

Stranger Than Fiction

(Binary Star)

Reading some of the latest cutting edge science articles in various magazines & on the Internet is like reading an Isaac Asimov novel. Here are some unbelievable stories that have recently piqued my interest.....

The Invisible Cloak--In the wrong hands, utter mayhem!


Event Cloak - This will create a 'reality void' that can hide entire events. Not a good thing given human nature.

Alien Rainfall - The Martians have arrived!

Plant ESP - Is the Earth a living organism as one theory holds? Makes you wonder....


Dawn of the Cyborgs - We will be taken over by our own inventions (or eaten!) 

Dream Recording & Playback - Dangerous! If my lady sees Sanaa Lathan feeding me grapes on playback, I'm toast!

Mind-Reading Phones - Remember Minority Report's Pre-Crime Division? This technology will get us to that point (Actually, it's about to be rolled our in Washington D.C & other areas).

Global Extinction Imminent - Where Money is God, I don't see anything short of a catastrophe that will move powers that be to do anything life-sustaining to stop this.


Internet in Contact Lens - Yes, contact lens!

Brain Waves Will Control Computers - With a Intel chip lodged in the brain, mind control will be a piece of cake!


Camera That Can See Around Corners - Great for search & rescue missions.


Our Incredible Bodies - Mitochondria are the body's power plants - Inside each of our cells, they convert sugars into energy


Planet from Another Galaxy - Witness the slow death of a Sun and its orbiting planet - The fate of our Sun and its orbiting planets is a chilling parallel.



There is a whole lot more to share, but that would make things too long. I will post more cutting-edge science later.


Peace

:::MME:::

Where Is The Love?

Today's New York Times had a very disturbing article in the Education section which details a report by the National Assessment for Educational Progress entitled, “A Call for Change,” that was released by the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for urban public schools. The report paints a bleak picture for our youths. As I read the article, it mentioned factors such as poverty, high unemployment, parental indifference, quality of teachers & inadequate mentoring. Buried in the middle of the piece were two items--sociological and historical forces--which the writer did not elaborate on. Why didn't he just tell it like it is? The truth is segregation has crawled back into the American educational system & the legacy of slavery still shadows efforts toward racial justice & equality. 

Another glaring omission in the Times piece--or perhaps washed over by the "historical forces" bombast--was school funding which tells the tale of why our kids aren't getting the best resources available for them to learn. Affluent school districts (mostly white) have higher property tax revenues, half of which goes to public elementary and secondary education. Poor school districts (mostly non-white) get funded (or short-changed) by the State. Money counts & everybody knows it. President Obama did not send his kids to a public school in Washington D.C--they're in a well-funded private school. He is all too aware of the critical issues in the urban public educational system (& so were the Presidents before him).


So, with this ongoing national crisis which is an indictment of the U.S educational system  as a whole (with some notable exceptions) that has failed miserably to reach the most vulnerable & marginalized, one has to question, who really cares about the young, non-white child wilting in the educational hinterlands? 

A cursory look at the US's national budget reads like a crystal ball on our dilemma & illustrates the gaping hole in the soul of this nation. Fifty-four percent of the national budget goes to the Pentagon. The National Priorities Project has estimated the the money spent on the Iraq war alone could have provided:

• 21,510,598 full four-year scholarships to public universities
• 7,689,734 new public school teachers
• 58,770,981 chances for children to attend head-start 

 What's even more disturbing to most is that the federal government can bail out automakers, banking & investment Goliaths, Fannie&Freddie.......but to date, no bailout for our young ones trying to get an education. Where is the love?

Since our leaders don't seem to care, it's up to each and every one of us to show the kids that we care and collectively fight for their very lives. Here's one way to get involved. 


{CLICK HERE}

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.”

-Paulo Freire

Peace

:::MME:::

A Call to Cerebral Action

 
The following documentary plays off the Socratic observation that “the unexamined life is not worth living". Philosophy has been in need of a make-over for quite some time. For too long in Western societies, it has been associated with dusty old books of dusty old men in dusty old rooms with no sign of life. Thanks to Cornel West, Slavoj Zizek & a host of other trailblazing social  philosophers, this image of philosophy is undergoing a face-lift. Philosophy has left the academia and is weaving through our decaying urban landscape on a long-term assignment to wake folks up from their stupor........





Philosophy is nothing but common sense in a dress suit. ~Author Unknown

OneLove

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The Rootical Meditations of Taj Weekes & Adowa

The music speaks for itself.

(Check out this review--couldn't have said it better.)

OneLove

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Who Will Tell The People?

Back in 1994, I read an eye-opener of a book entitled, "Who Will Tell The People: The Betrayal of American Democracy" by William Greider. In it he laid out in blistering detail the pathological inner workings of American politics & corporations & their corrosive effects on the body politic. This book made me upset as it became obvious that the citizens of this nation, who really want to believe in the myth of American exceptionalism and the belief that the government will work for the benefit of all, are being short-changed and heavily manipulated. Seventeen years after Greider's book release, the plot has thickened and now we find ourselves closer to the cliff's edge. Who indeed will tell the people that they have been betrayed and robbed in the most profoundly diabolical manner, yet again? 

On the eve of the Republican takeover of the House, it will become increasingly difficult for some people (mostly Republican supporters) to understand that they will be in no better shape with the Republicans in power. With the daily rants of  Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh & Sean Hannity filling their heads and overriding their abilities to think for themselves, they will hear nothing resembling reason. President Obama did not cause the predicament we're in, but they have been led to believe so, and like a mob, they want his blood. Indeed, they can't see the forest for the trees yet they too are in the same sad story of our collective malaise. 
 
Make some time to absorb the following video & draw your own conclusions:




The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest. —Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Peace

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