 |
| Total Page Views | |
We received
8516438
page views since Nov 2004 | |
| Login | |
| Shop Amazon | |
| Scifillian, Inc. | |
| SPOXTalk | |
| Stories By Topic | |
| Exploration | |
| Who's Online | |
|
There are currently, 18 guest(s) and 0 member(s) that are online.
| |
| Monthly Quote | |
"Scum always rises to the top, but instead of scraping it off and discarding it, most people follow it!?!"
--Sherlyn Meinz, 2008
| |
| Link to us! | |
| Anti-War Webs | |
| |
 | Opinion: Riled West - There's just too much corn and coal |
 By William A. Collins
Seeing life,
As West we roam;
Sometimes best,
To stay at home.
For a Yankee, driving to the West can painfully confirm many previously unverified suspicions. First, of course, one must stifle guilt for driving at all. This burden is fortuitously lightened by discovering that the car, which normally gets 40 mpg around home, ramps up to 45 on the road.
But energy matters never stray far from mind. Across Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming the road parallels the UnionPacific. Here one is treated to an endless sequence of oncoming coal trains, 90 cars at a clip, hauling fodder for the maw of mighty Midwestern power plants. It's as if all Wyoming were one gargantuan mine where soon nothing will be left but a blackened pit. It's dispiriting to witness climate change zooming past, one freight car at a time.
Climate change stares out from the roadside too. Botanists have contrived a corn variety so tightly clustered that those ghostly ballplayers from the movie could no longer emerge from between its stalks to play on their true believer's magical field. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Wednesday, September 08 @ 19:50:39 EDT (14 reads)
(Read More... | 4575 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: The Triumph of Evil |
 by Prof. John Kozy
Modern societies have justified their adoption of criminal activities by claiming that such techniques are necessary to combat evil. But the war against evil by the good cannot be won using evil tactics. Evil never yields goodness, and by using these evil practices, the amount of evil in the world increases both in amount and extent. Attempting to save the nation by becoming what you are trying to save the nation from is suicidal. Unless benign techniques such as those developed by primitive societies are put to use, evil will prevail. Then, paraphrasing J. Robert Oppenheimer's comment after the first atomic bomb was successfully tested, We will have become evil, the destroyer of goodness.
Some decades ago, while having dinner with a newly elected Attorney General of the State of North Carolina and the Chief Justice of that state's Supreme Court, the jurist told me that everyone involved in the legal system and enforcement had to think like criminals to catch them. He believed the statement to be straight forward and evident until I pointed out that the line between thinking like a criminal and acting like one is very fine and is easily and frequently crossed, which results in increasing the amount of evil in society rather than reducing it. Few apparently notice this consequence and the criminal-like behavior of those charged with enforcing and adjudicating the law has increased so substantially that it has become common practice.
YouTube is replete with videos of police brutality. Police have been videoed beating subdued prisoners, tasering people (even little old ladies) indiscriminately, shooting mentally challenged people they have been called upon to help, and killing people caught committing non-capital crimes who try to escape (sometimes by shooting them in the back). Investigations to determine whether those officers should be held accountable rarely result in any punishment. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Saturday, September 04 @ 18:01:29 EDT (25 reads)
(Read More... | 14326 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Christians Who Must Have A Devil |
 By Howard Bess
My roots are in Midwestern Christian Fundamentalism. My family was Baptist and Republican. My father and grandfather believed every word that Joseph McCarthy said about the Communist threat to America. The pastor, who had the most influence over me, was trained at Moody Bible Institute and was an ardent dispensationalist. Franklin Roosevelt was Satan in disguise. At different times Adolph Hitler, the Pope, and Joseph Stalin were named as the Antichrist of the Book of Revelation.
Through the process of college and graduate education, my world view was significantly altered. My roots have left me with an abiding interest in the dynamics of American Christian Fundamentalism. My understanding has turned out to be quite simple. At the heart of American Christian Fundamentalism is a basic religious dualism that is obsessed with a never ending struggle between good and evil. They are obsessed with fighting and must always have an enemy.
This struggle between good and evil is not without Bible precedence. There is no shortage of Bible material that supports this approach to life. The history of Israel is filled with bloody battles with neighbors. The crux of Revelation is the final battle between good and evil with a triumphant Jesus Christ the winner over every opposing force. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Tuesday, August 31 @ 18:07:17 EDT (29 reads)
(Read More... | 5463 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: A "Mosque" Should Be Built at Ground Zero |
by: Brita Rose, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
After almost a decade since 9/11, it is surprising how little we have learned. Still plagued by xenophobia and Islamophobia in the US, it is hard for many Americans to identify who the enemy actually is in this so-called "war on terror." Nothing has brought this to light more clearly than the current controversy over the supposed mosque to be built at ground zero.
Firstly, the debate itself is riddled with inaccuracies. The proposed building - now called "Park 51 Project" - is to be, not merely a mosque, but a cultural center backed by the Cordoba Initiative(1), a progressive group which promotes peace and crosscultural understanding, and will contain a prayer room among its many facilities. Thereby, even the use of the term mosque for such a space is up for debate. Secondly, the building will not be at ground zero, but two blocks away, and dwarfed by surrounding skyscrapers. Thirdly, there over 100 mosques in New York City - one of which already exists four blocks from ground zero. Following the detractors' reasoning, these mosques should be eliminated.
But each of these facts misses the point. Were they not the case, we should still be asking what the true objection is here - given that the religious/cultural center in question is being built by legal permit cleared by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission in a country founded upon religious freedom. What is wrong with building the center at ground zero? ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Wednesday, August 18 @ 21:26:54 EDT (51 reads)
(Read More... | 11395 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: The Missing Piece Meets the Big O |
 by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
I've been trying to wrap my mind around the dispiriting sense of failure that seems to have enveloped the Obama administration on the eve of the November midterms. The right hates him because he won, because he's Black, and because he won. Their utter intransigence has completely upended Obama's knee-jerk instinct for compromise and bipartisanship, making it appear that he's not getting anything done, and so the middle of the electorate feels a deep sense of disappointment exacerbated by unrelentingly bad coverage in the media. The left is up in arms because he hasn't met the lofty goals set after his election, and because he's allowed himself to get rolled by the right and their corporate paymasters on half a dozen occasions, resulting in several half-a-loaf pieces of legislation that look more like giveaways than accomplishments.
But there's a missing piece in here somewhere, and strangely enough, it took a recent Sports Illustrated article to bring the situation into focus for me. The article dealt with the scandal surrounding former USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, whose involvement with agents and payoffs during his college career led the NCAA to punish USC severely for his, and their, transgressions. Rather than face the issue head-on and offer mea culpas, USC chose instead to erase the Bush legacy from the annals of their sports history: ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Saturday, July 31 @ 21:43:28 EDT (68 reads)
(Read More... | 8272 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Restoring the Fourth Amendment: |
 How We, the People, Can Win Over Washington
by: Shahid Buttar, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Despite promises of change, the Obama administration has proven itself either unwilling - or unable - to shift the paradigm driving increasingly invasive surveillance or increasingly pervasive profiling according to race, religion and national origin. Nearly halfway through the Obama administration's term, the battle to banish the Bush administration's policy legacy remains largely unfought, let alone won.
But this is no time for progressive and libertarian constitutionalists to throw in the political towel. While "change you can believe in" may have been a premature promise from our president, we at the grassroots enjoy ample opportunities to shift the landscape in DC.
Whether concerned by government spying or the guilt by association apparent in profiling Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, Arabs and South Asians for various so-called "signature crimes," limits on local law enforcement authorities offer the potential to galvanize solidarity among communities of color. Measures restricting domestic intelligence operations can also attract the support of libertarians - including some elements of the Tea Party - disaffected by the Washington consensus favoring expanding executive power. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Saturday, July 03 @ 22:52:03 EDT (111 reads)
(Read More... | 14902 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Why Shut Them Down? |
 From: Jane Newton
To the Editor,
There are many reasons why all nuclear reactors, Vermont Yankee included, must be shut down, and one of them is their deadly connection with the military... Plutonium, produced from nuclear waste, is used to make nuclear bombs and some 5,000 nuclear warheads that we have spread around the world; tritium, leaking from old reactors, is produced in a separate reactor just for the military since it “boosts the yield” of nuclear weapons and is therefore needed for those 5,000 warheads; and so-called “depleted” uranium, produced as a waste during the uranium enrichment process, but, because, with enough time it has the greatest capacity of all weapons to kill people, it is given to the military. Thousands of tons of this radioactive material, which has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, has, according to many studies, unleashed a global catastrophe, not just for our soldiers and the people in war torn countries, but for the entire earth. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Friday, July 02 @ 19:33:58 EDT (119 reads)
(Read More... | 2111 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Yes, Virginia, Banks Really Are the Bad Guys |
 By William A. Collins
Banks emit
A friendly tone;
At least until
You want a loan.
I have here in my hand, as Sen. Joe McCarthy used to say about alleged communist evidence, a bona-fide "Delivery Authorization" from Wachovia Bank ("a Wells Fargo Company"). They've already sent two. By simply moving a gold sticker from the top of the sheet to the reply form at the bottom, and entering the last four digits of my Social Security number, I can get my valuable "free" credit report.
Of course I'll also need to sign on the dotted line. That act will not only rush me my free report but will also commit me to paying $12.99 per month for a further series of updated reports until, more or less, Hell freezes over. The amount will be conveniently deducted from my Wachovia bank account.
Trouble is, I don't happen to need this service, nor, with only the rarest exceptions, does anybody else. It's just easier for banks to make money with gimmicks like this than by the messy business of offering loans. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Thursday, June 17 @ 21:35:43 EDT (81 reads)
(Read More... | 4638 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Revelation in the 21st Century |
By Howard Bess
Every time there is a crisis in the nation or the world, real or imagined, a significant part of the Christian population takes on a renewed interest in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Like it or not, the book called Revelation is in the middle of our 21st century plate. We ignore it to our own peril.
In order to make sense of this literary enigma, a series of questions need to be addressed. Who wrote it? When did the author write it? Why did he write it? To whom did he write it? What literary vehicle did the author use?
Let us begin.
We do not know who wrote the treatise. It was not the apostle John. He had died long before Revelation was written. John was as common a name as it is today. It was a good name for an anonymous author. The best answer is “We do not know who wrote the book of Revelation.” Common scholarly opinion places the book’s writing some time after the turn of the first century CE. Possibly as late as 125 CE.
Among early Christians there was strong resistance to bowing down to a Roman emperor who claimed divinity. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Saturday, June 12 @ 22:53:37 EDT (91 reads)
(Read More... | 5373 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: The Anti-Empire Report - June 2010 |
by William Blum
The worst thing that ever happened to the Jewish people is the Holocaust. The second worst thing that ever happened to the Jewish people is the state of Israel.
Things internationally are so dispiriting there's nothing left to do but fantasize. I picture Turkey, as a member of NATO, demanding that the alliance come to its defense after being attacked by Israel. Under Article 5 of the NATO charter an armed attack on one member is deemed to constitute an armed attack on all members. That is the ostensible reason NATO is fighting in Afghanistan — the attack against the United States on September 11, 2001 is regarded as an attack on all NATO members (disregarding the awkward fact that Afghanistan as a country had nothing to do with the attack). The Israeli attack on a Turkish-flagged ship, operated by a Turkish humanitarian organization, killing nine Turkish nationals and wounding many more can certainly constitute an attack upon a NATO member.
So, after the United States, the UK, Germany, France and other leading NATO members offer their ridiculous non-sequitur excuses why they can't ... umm ... er ... invoke Article 5, and the international media swallows it all without any indigestion, Turkey demands that Israel should at least lose its formal association with NATO as a member of the Mediterranean Dialogue. This too is dismissed with scorn by the eminent NATO world powers on the grounds that it would constitute a victory for terrorism. And anti-Semitism of course. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Friday, June 11 @ 22:17:08 EDT (109 reads)
(Read More... | 15155 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Revenge of the Zombies: |
Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and the Return of Dark Times
by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
[H]e had found the bridge with which to span the abyss that yawns between the 'no longer and not"' yet of history, between the "no longer" of the old laws and "not yet" of the new saving word, between life and death: "Not quite here but yet at hand; that is how it has sounded and how it would sound." -Hannah Arendt
Armies of the Hyper-Dead
In the world of popular culture, zombies seem to be everywhere as evidenced by the relentless slew of books, movies, video games and comics. From the haunting "Night of the Living Dead" to the comic movie "Zombieland," the figure of the zombie has captured and touched something unique in the contemporary imagination. But the dark and terrifying image of the zombie with missing body parts, oozing body fluids and an appetite for fresh, living, human brains does more than feed the mass marketing machines that prey on the spectacle of the violent, grotesque and ethically comatose. There is more at work in this wave of fascination with the grotesquely walking hyper-dead than a Hollywood appropriation of the dark recesses and unrestrained urges of the human mind. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Thursday, June 03 @ 00:10:45 EDT (110 reads)
(Read More... | 18883 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Academic Diversity on the Supreme Court |
I'm against Kagan because she went to Harvard.
By Donald Kaul
I don't think President Obama should have nominated Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
Don't get me wrong; It's not that I think she's too conservative. That would be the granola/Birkenstock wing of the Democratic Party.
And it's certainly not because I think she's too liberal. That would be nuts.
I'm against her because she went to Harvard.
Do you realize that if she is confirmed, everybody on the Supreme Court will be a product of either Harvard or Yale? All nine of them.
That's ridiculous. I know, they're both supposed to be really good schools but, really, they're not that good. To those who think they are I have but two words: George Bush. He graduated from Yale and got an MBA from Harvard. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Thursday, May 27 @ 17:51:03 EDT (122 reads)
(Read More... | 4971 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: Spaceship Earth: Navigators Wanted |
 by: Alyce Santoro, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Forty-one years ago, Buckminster Fuller published his "Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth: A Bold Blueprint for Survival that Diagnoses the Causes of the Environmental Crisis." In it, he claimed humanity would not survive the 21st century if it continued to build an economy based on mass consumption, inequitable trade relations, short-sighted allocation of fossil based resources, and lack of consideration for holistic systems.
A decade later, Jimmy Carter gave his "Crisis of Confidence" speech during which he famously said, "We are at a turning point in our history. There are two paths to choose. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. Down that road lies a mistaken idea of freedom, the right to grasp for ourselves some advantage over others. That path would be one of constant conflict between narrow interests ending in chaos and immobility. It is a certain route to failure."
Right this very moment, scientists and citizens who recognize that we are quite a ways down the path that leads to failure - failure of our society to find common ground and to care for that ground - are in the midst of a teachable moment. And we are bungling it. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Monday, May 24 @ 20:50:12 EDT (121 reads)
(Read More... | 7154 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: The Anti-Empire Report - May 2010 |
By William Blum
Terminally-dumb people have always been with us of course. It can’t be that we’ve suddenly gone stupid.
If you shake your head and roll your eyes at the nonsense coming out of the Teabagger followers of Sarah “Africa is a country” Palin and other intellectual giants like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh ... If you have thoughts of moving abroad after the latest silly lies and fantasies like “Obama the Marxist” and “Obama the antichrist” ... If you share Noam Chomsky’s feeling: "I have never seen anything like this in my lifetime” ... keep in mind that the right wing has long been at least as stupid and as mean-spirited. Consider some of the behavior of the same types for half a century during the Cold War with its beloved -- albeit imaginary -- "International Communist Conspiracy”.
* 1948: The Pittsburgh Press published the names, addresses, and places of employment of about 1,000 citizens who had signed presidential-nominating petitions for former Vice President Henry Wallace, running under the Progressive Party. This, and a number of other lists of “communists”, published in the mainstream media, resulted in people losing their jobs, being expelled from unions, having their children abused, being denied state welfare benefits, and suffering various other punishments. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Thursday, May 13 @ 13:30:31 EDT (140 reads)
(Read More... | 20385 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
| Opinion: When You Meet the Bogeyman, Offer Him Your Finest Whiskey |
by: Andrew Birnbaum, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Why are so many people willing, if not eager, to oppose policy changes that would improve their lives? Why do teabaggers protest President Obama when they did not protest George W. Bush, even after President Obama lowered their taxes?
Are these people misinformed? Misled? Racist? The more generous among us theorize such people are simply afraid, and their fear causes them to behave irrationally. I believe there is something to this argument. Cynical politicians have long played on our fears to advance their own agendas, some even going so far as to feature images from 9/11 in their campaign ads. But why should these negative politicians have a monopoly on fear?
It is time to talk about our fears. As individuals, and as a nation.
We are afraid. We must acknowledge that. And we must discuss it, so we can get past it and stop making fear-based decisions. ...
|
|
|
Posted by Blue1moon on Monday, May 10 @ 18:53:43 EDT (137 reads)
(Read More... | 6135 bytes more | Comments? | Score: 0)
|
|
|
|
