HARPER’S WEEKLY REVIEW REVISITED

PRELUDE:
Years ago, I use to read the Harper’s Weekly Review “religiously” I had it delivered to my email address so I wouldn’t miss it. Then during computers going kaput, new email addresses replacing old
ones and whatever… I lost track of it.

Since, Comcast threw (they deny it) Keith Olbermann under the MACK TRUCK I now have
time on my hands without Keith Olbermann’s Voice Of Reason to
blog about and since I am now so disillusioned with politics,
advertising and plain ole mind manipulation from Mr.& Mrs.
Corportatehood; I renewed my subscription to relieve some of the
pressure my squished brain is feeling under the weight of
despair. (I am hoping that by reading Harper’s Thumbnails of
Crazy World Events it will take my mind off the tragedy of losing
my favorite political show, COUNTDOWN. So here it is, my first
blog on Harper’s Weekly Review. There will be more to come.
thinkingblue

On his radio show back in November, Glenn Beck correctly predicted that an NBC-Comcast Merger would mean no more Keith Olbermann on
MSNBC.

—

We live in a world full of mentally strange happenings, images, words, etc. and
Harper’s Weekly Review tries to bring to our attention a mere
Scratch The Surface bit of these bizarre goings on played out by
the Homo sapiens who exist upon this planet. Read and weep,
shudder or laugh at what our species, the supposedly Most
Intelligent Animal link, on the food-chain shackle, does in their
daily routines around the globe. thinkingblue

PS: JUST A THOUGHT: I despise, Marketing style politics where politicians hire a
Marketing Manager (Case In Point-Frank I. Luntz
(born February 23, 1962) is an American political consultant and
pollster. His most recent work has been with the Fox News Channel
as a frequent commentator and analyst, as well as running focus
groups after presidential debates. Luntz’s specialty is
“testing language and finding words that will help his
clients sell their product or turn public opinion on an issue or
a candidate.” He is also an author of business books dealing
with communication strategies and public opinion. Luntz’s current
company, The Word Doctors, specializes in message creation and
image management for commercial and political clients. )
to come up with newspeak that can manipulate our minds into thinking they (THE POLITICIANS, THE
CORPORATIONS, BIG PHARMA AND ANYONE ELSE WHO IS TRYING TO GET
BLOOD FROM A STONE (CHOKE THE LAST PENNY OUT OF US) want only the
best for We The People. All the while they are stabbing us in the
back (I know politically incorrect). What A Laugh!

Harper’s Weekly Review
January 25, 2011
By J. Gabriel Boylan

A suicide bomber struck Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, killing
as many as 34 people and leaving at least 168 injured.
“From the preliminary information we have, it was a
terror attack,” said Russian president Dmitry Medvedev
in a televised briefing. Former Department of Homeland
Security official Stephen A. Baker noted, “They’d
like to be bombing planes and they can’t, so
they’re bombing airports.” Artyom Zhilenkov, a taxi
driver, claimed he was about 10 yards from the bomber, a
short, dark man carrying a suitcase. “How did I manage
to save myself? I don’t know,” he said. “The
people behind me on my left and right were blown apart. Maybe
because of that.” For the first time in five years,
Chinese premier Hu Jintao visited the United States: he
received a 21-gun salute, attended a gala dinner, and
participated in a live news conference. He also hugged a
small child. Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier
attempted to return to Haiti after a 25-year absence, only to
be detained and charged with stealing millions during his
15-year rule. “I don’t think,“ said Duvalier’s
lawyer, ”this was a very successful trip.” A police
trade union was upset that Italian prime minister Silvio
Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” parties, held at his
villa near Milan, featured women wearing sexy policewomen’s
outfits. Senator Joe Lieberman announced plans for his
retirement, Keith Olbermann abruptly left his cable-news
show, “Countdown,” Regis Philbin announced that
after 28 years as a co-host he wouldl be leaving “Live
with Regis and Kelly,” and Steve Jobs took indefinite
medical leave from Apple. The word “App” was chosen
as word of the year by the American Dialect society.
MORE HERE

—

Harper’s Weekly Review
January 18, 2011
By Claire Gutierrez

President Barack Obama, speaking at a memorial service in
Arizona for the six killed during Jared Loughner’s shooting
spree, urged Americans to be better people. “I want our
democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it,” Obama
said, referring to 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green.
“All of us—we should do everything we can to make
sure this country lives up to our children’s
expectations.” The president then choked up, pausing for
51 seconds. “I had her heart in my hand,” said Dr.
Randall Friese, the surgeon who operated on Christina.
“We filled it with blood. It still didn’t want to
beat. So, it was over. We’re finished.” Sales of
Glock semi-automatic pistols, the model of handgun used by
Loughner, surged. Four Arizona Republicans resigned from
public office, fearing violence from Tea Party activists, and
Clear Channel removed a Tucson billboard that described Rush
Limbaugh as a “straight shooter.” Gabrielle
Giffords opened her eye for the first time since the
shooting, and the Safeway where the shooting took place
reopened.
MORE HERE

Another Good Read
On The Effects Of Marketing and Public Opinion manipulation.

BART removes anti-Palestinian ad

Offensive advertisements promoting a right-wing Zionist viewpoint of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict were removed from all BART
stations this week. “They could be commonly interpreted
as disparaging or demeaning to Palestinians as a whole,”
according to BART spokesperson Jim Allison told us, saying
the violated the district’s advertising standards.
More Here

Whad’ya Know? There are more thinkers out there than previously thought (my previously). What an encouraging bit of news this is. When I see Boehner and his sycophants using talking points from their rehearsed playbooks, I can’t help it but my mind feels like screaming “ARE THESE PEOPLE FOR REAL? ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS UNDOING THE ONLY HEALTHCARE BILL THAT THE USA HAS MANAGED TO PASS IN NEARLY A CENTURY OF FALSE STARTS AND UNKEPT CAMPAIGN PROMISES! IT’S SO OBVIOUS!”

Perhaps there’s a new phenomenon happening in America… Finally for the first time in many, many years the proletariat are grouping together and realizing that it’s all about what is best for We-The-People (starting with jobs) and not about making the medical insurance industry richer (which is what the Republican Corporatehood of the USA presses for). Hey maybe now John Boehner will finally have something real to cry about. YA THINK? thinkingblue

Proof is in the Polling: Republican Approval Plummets As They Ignore The Economy

The polls tell the tale. Republican approval ratings are plummeting as the American people see them ignoring the economy and wasting time with political stunts that have zero chance of passing. NBC’s First Read summed it up: “The House GOP’s first impression isn’t on jobs”.

As Republicans choose to spend the first days of the new Congress trying to re-open the donut hole and take away tax breaks from small businesses, two polls in the last 48 hours show that they are severely out of step with the American people.

* CBS News poll: “House Republicans may be focused on fulfilling their campaign promise to work to overturn the health care reform law, but a new CBS News/New York Times survey finds that a plurality of Americans prefer they focus instead on creating jobs. The poll finds 43 percent of Americans believe the most important thing for the new Congress to focus on is job creation – compared to just 18 percent who say the top priority should be health care…The Republican Party is seen favorably by 40 percent of Americans and unfavorably by 49 percent.”

* NBC News poll: “Only 25% say the Republicans in Congress will bring the right kind of change (versus 42% who said that about the Dems in Jan. 2007, and 37% who said that about the GOP in Jan. 1995)… And then there’s this: The GOP’s fav/unfav has gone from a net positive in December (38%-37%) to a net negative now (34%-40%). ‘I think this has been a pretty short Republican honeymoon,’ McInturff says. Hart adds, ‘I think the president has the benefit of the doubt, and the Republicans — based on this data — have the burden of proof.’”

Not exactly an auspicious start for Republicans. We hope they will take the hint, drop the political charade, and start working with the other side of the aisle to create jobs and build a prosperous middle class.

Keith Olbermann To Leave MSNBC, Wait Up Keith, I’m Leaving Too!

Say it isn’t so!! I keep searching; hoping to find out that it is a joke. But it appears to be another kick to the head, by the powers that be, for those of us who enjoy truth delivered by one with so much integrity that his very presence oozes goodness & honesty. Now, for me anyway, there’s no reason to keep the package Dish charges me ($15. monthly that’s $180. yearly) for delivering MSNBC. Without Countdown MSNBC will just be too sad to watch.
thinkingblue

—

The Night The Lights Went Out On NBC

Russell Simmons gives props to Keith Olbermann for speaking truth to power!

NBC is a great institution based in the landmark Rockefeller Plaza where TV and Radio began in this country. On Friday night, a bright light was dimmed for no explicable reason, when Keith Olbermann delivered his final show of Countdown on MSNBC. It is being reported that the deal for his removal from the network has been in the works for weeks. Maybe it was someone’s ego, maybe he was too honest and forthright. But I can’t help but feel that the less honest the right extreme is, the more heavily they get promoted; the more honest and the progressive voices are, the more they get silenced. This is where Edward Morrow’s American media is at today. KEEP READING

Keith Olbermann Leaves MSNBC

Keith Olbermann, the controversial host of MSNBC’s “Countdown,” abruptly announced his departure at the end of last night’s show.

The cable news network’s officials released a statement saying that they and Olbermann decided to end his contract, but no further explanation was given.

In saying goodbye, Olbermann thanked his fans for sticking with him through good times and bad, especially over the last few years.

“There were many occasions particularly in the last two-and-a-half years where all that surrounded the show, but never the show itself, was just too much for me,” said Olbermann. “But your support and loyalty and, if I may use the word, insistence, ultimately required that I keep going.”

Olbermann was suspended for two days last November for donating money to Democratic candidates, a violation of NBC News policy.

He later claimed he was being punished for violating what he called an “inconsistently applied” rule he had known nothing about.

—

Olbermann and MSNBC: a failing relationship

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer David Bauder, Ap Television Writer – Sat Jan 22, 6:17 pm ET
NEW YORK – Keith Olbermann’s exit from MSNBC appeared abrupt to viewers of his show, but the talk-show host and his network were involved “in a relationship that’s been failing for a long time,” an NBC Universal executive said Saturday.

Olbermann’s announcement at the end of Friday’s “Countdown” that it would be his last show quiets, at least for the moment, the most dominant liberal voice in a cable-television world where opinionated talk has been the most bankable trend over the past several years.

As Olbermann read from a James Thurber short story during a three-minute exit statement Friday night, MSNBC simultaneously e-mailed a statement to reporters that the network and host “have ended their contract.” Neither indicated a reason nor addressed whether Olbermann quit or was fired.

But the NBC Universal executive characterized it as a mutual parting of the ways, with Olbermann taking the first step. The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because settlement talks were kept confidential.

Olbermann was nearly fired in November but instead was suspended for two days without pay for violating an NBC News policy by donating to three political campaigns, including the congressional campaign of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He returned and apologized to his fans, but not the network.

Last fall, Olbermann saw his role on NBC’s `Sunday Night Football” eliminated. Olbermann, a former sports anchor, had willingly worked six days a week to be involved with the highly rated football telecast. NBC said he was removed so he could concentrate on his MSNBC job.

MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines insisted Olbermann’s exit had nothing to do with the acquisition of parent company NBC Universal by Comcast, which received regulatory approval Tuesday. That deal marks the exit of NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker, who saw Olbermann’s value in turning around a once-unprofitable network, despite headaches the mercurial personality sometimes caused his bosses.

Olbermann and his manager did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. MORE HERE

Brian Williams’ Round Table Discussion With The Desert Storm War Mongers.

I don’t know about you, but this latest NBC series

“Desert Storm Commanders Together Again”

(this title almost makes me want to sing the old drinking song
“TOGETHER AGAIN” by Buck Owens)

with Brian Williams, just made me want to puke. The War Mongers and Oil Moguls (best embodiment: Dick Cheney) had gathered together in one room to discuss their motivations back in 1991 when they took our country to (A Televised) war.

These Commanders (war-mongers) are quite old now and perhaps have lost their lust for war a little but they still maintain that the reasons behind thrusting so many people into certain death, in a haphazardly decided war, was just.

As they sit stoically, as so many old powerful men who have come to the end of their lifetime usually do, not lamenting but rationalizing (still trying to save face) their reasons why war is not only necessary but beneficial.

As they speak I look at their wrinkled faces and hear their cracked voices (men who were once so arrogant and sure of themselves, who held so much power in the palms of their hands over so many of the world’s population) I think to myself… “Will we as a species ever evolve away from our past evolutionary roots of kill or be killed; the rudimentary basics embedded in the food chain instincts of all animal life forms?”

We, the species who have the power to reason and figure out how not to be eaten by a carnivore much larger than ourselves, without destroying all of Earth’s carnivores in order to keep us safe. Since we can do that then why can’t we figure out how to get along with our own kind? How can we still be so enslaved by the food chain’s instinctual bondage?

It’s mind boggling to me but if we as a society of intelligent beings keep on allowing those who have clawed their way to powerful world positions, to keep using us like chess pieces in a chess game, we have only ourselves to blame.

Tell them NO I will not fight your wars over oil or whatever you deem necessary to keep you rich, or powerful, or satisfied. When we can standup to the powerful and tell them No More War, maybe then our evolutionary process of intellectual greatness will begin. (Once again, I can dream can’t I?)

Please watch the clip below if you can stomach it. thinkingblue

Video can also be seen at this link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#41182130

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BRIEF EXCERPTS BELOW ON THE REASONINGS OF THE GULF WAR:

NBC News and news services

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Former
President George H.W. Bush defended the decision to kick Saddam
Hussein out of Kuwait in the first Gulf War on Thursday and said
his own adviser’s criticism of his son’s policies and invasion of
Iraq in 2003 didn’t bother him.

Bush said disagreements on policies “go
with the territory” as president.

Brent Scowcroft, who served as national
security adviser under the elder Bush, maintained in the run-up
to the invasion that it wasn’t clear that Hussein was part of the
global terrorism network

“You can’t worry about that,” Bush
told NBC News anchor Brian Williams in a roundtable discussion on
the 20th anniversary of the start of the war. “You can’t
worry about the differences. They’re bound to happen, bound to
take place.” MORE HERE

___

The Persian Gulf War (August 2, 1990 –
February 28, 1991), commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations led by Britain and the United States, against Iraq.

The initial conflict to expel Iraqi troops
from Kuwait began with an aerial bombardment on 17 January 1991.

Reasons and campaign for intervention

The United States and the United Nations
gave several public justifications for involvement in the
conflict, the most prominent being the Iraqi violation of Kuwaiti territorial integrity. In addition, the United States moved to support its ally Saudi Arabia, whose importance in the region, and AS A KEY SUPPLIER OF OIL, made it of considerable
geopolitical importance. Shortly after the Iraqi invasion,
Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney made the first of several visits
to Saudi Arabia where King Fahd requested US military assistance.
During a speech in a special joint session of the U.S. Congress
given on 11 September 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush
summed up the reasons with the following remarks: “Within
three days, 120,000 Iraqi troops with 850 tanks had poured into
Kuwait and moved south to threaten Saudi Arabia. It was then that
I decided to act to check that aggression.”

The Pentagon claimed that satellite photos
showing a buildup of Iraqi forces along the border were the
source of this information, but this was later shown to be false.
A reporter for the Saint Petersburg Times acquired commercial
satellite images made at the time in question, which showed
nothing but empty desert…

There was some criticism of the Bush
administration, as they chose to allow Saddam Hussein to remain
in power instead of pushing on to capture Baghdad and
overthrowing his government. In their co-written 1998 book, A
World Transformed, Bush and Brent Scowcroft argued that such a
course would have fractured the alliance, and would have had many
unnecessary political and human costs associated with it.

In 1992, the United States Secretary of
Defense during the war, Dick Cheney, made the same point:

“I would guess if we had
gone in there, we would still have forces in Baghdad today. We’d
be running the country. We would not have been able to get
everybody out and bring everybody home. And the final point that
I think needs to be made is this question of casualties. I don’t
think you could have done all of that without significant
additional U.S. casualties, and while everybody was tremendously
impressed with the low cost of the (1991) conflict, for the 146
Americans who were killed in action and for their families, it
wasn’t a cheap war. And the question in my mind is, how many
additional American casualties is Saddam (Hussein) worth? And the
answer is, not that damned many. So, I think we got it right,
both when we decided to expel him from Kuwait, but also when the
President made the decision that we’d achieved our objectives and
we were not going to go get bogged down in the problems of trying
to take over and govern Iraq”.
(Said, in 1991, by the world’s biggest hypocrite) – Dick
Cheney

Gulf War controversies:

Gulf War Illness, Effects of depleted
uranium, Highway of Death, Bulldozer assault, Killing of unarmed
Iraqi Soldiers, Coalition bombing of Iraq’s civilian
infrastructure, Abuse of coalition POWs, Operation Southern
Watch, Gulf war sanctions

MORE HERE

The below story is a heart wrenching tale of the times we live in.

Ariz. shooting victim arrested, taken to hospital
Will there ever be an end to the sadness of January 8th 2011 when a madman bought a gun and went on a shooting rampage in Tucson Arizona? Probably, time heals all, so they say. But not for the victims; whether you believe right-wing hacks are responsible or the left-wing’s inability to put an end to the hateful rhetoric that is BOUGHT AND PAID FOR by Big Corporate- hood of the USA, the sorrow and pain lingers on.

The article tells it all. From the poor man who became a victim just because he wanted to be part of the American political fabric, so he attended a constituent meeting on that Saturday morning. To the little girl who’s innocent, young mind was filled with the enthusiasm of living in a representative democracy in which our leaders act in our interests, so that is why she was there. (She so deserved to live, starting out so young, possessing critical thinking skills that are lacking in too many of our Nation’s adults.)

Everyone sees this tragedy in different ways, some, like myself, are drawn into the complete senselessness of it and struggle to find answers as to why such a horrible event could occur.

Others want to blame something or someone which really isn’t possible. If we could point a finger and claim “THAT’S WHY IT HAPPENED!” it would be so simple. We could then eradicate the cause and it would never happen again.

But like the Wild Kingdom, there are dangers in being alive. There are predators amongst us and someone will eventually come face to face with one of them and fall victim to their psychopathic mindset.

Perhaps, changing some of our gun laws would help or maybe toning down the rhetoric of hate that fills our airwaves. I wish there were easy answers but one thing we should all note is that we as a species are sliding backward into our evolutionary past of reactionary FIGHT OR FLIGHT…

(FIGHT OR FLIGHT –noun Physiology, Psychology -. the response of the sympathetic nervous system to a stressful event, preparing the body to fight or flee, associated with the adrenal secretion of epinephrine and characterized by increased heart rate, increased blood flow *reference.com*)

due to the lack of critical thinking skills.

(Critical thinking consists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation. It includes possible processes of reflecting upon a tangible or intangible item in order to form a solid judgment that reconciles scientific evidence with common sense. In contemporary usage “critical” has a certain negative connotation that does not apply in the present case. Though the term ” analysis thinking” may seem to convey the idea more accurately, critical thinking clearly involves synthesis, evaluate, and reconstruction of thinking, in addition to analysis.Critical thinkers gather information from all senses, verbal and/or written expressions, reflection, observation, experience and reasoning. Critical thinking has its basis in intellectual criteria that go beyond subject-matter divisions and which include: clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance and fairness. *reference.com*)

Maybe there is a solution, maybe if our schools would teach students to think instead of just memorize, we would then start to develop the minds of our young and stop them from emulating the adults in an endless and mindless bickering match.

Just imagine a world where, mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation ruled instead of mob mentality. From genius to idiot, critical thinking is possible, if taught and then maybe we could all just kind of get along. thinkingblue

He said they were once again proud of their daughter, “who has done another amazing thing.”

Tucson rampage casts light on toxic political tone

Divided We Fall! Did The Hate Mongers Win In Tucson?

I wonder? Do you think all the Obama Bashers and the Palin, Beck, Limbaugh ilk are happy yet? They’ve succeeded so will they revel in their victory?

They say the hatred has spewed from both sides of the aisle but I
haven’t seen it that way. So much malevolence and bigotry has
been spawned by too many leaders of the Tea Party that any sane
mind has most assuredly felt as though it might (and has) erupt
in some sort of violence.

Is only the Republican Tea Party at fault? The Republican leaders outside the Tea Party should also share in some of the blame. Blame because
they remained silent during all the hateful rhetoric from the
likes of the Palins, Becks and Limbaughs.

Do you think that with all this mayhem and extreme grief there will come a day of reckoning and those who allowed (and encouraged) such hate to
spill forth will feel shame?

I think not!

Oh, maybe for a short period while it circulates the Internet and is touched upon by mainstream media but when the dust settles, their chicanery will
again return and perhaps it will be even more aberrant because
the bottom line is winning.

WINNING AT ALL COST!

The saddest part of this equation is the fact that they have so large an audience; quite an adoring “crowd” that is so full of hate that
they hunger to find a victim they can thrust all their sick
revulsion upon; And right-wing talk radio, Fox news and the
leaders of the Tea Party movement eagerly try to conjure up a
victim to placate their flock (remember Bill O’Reilly’s
excessive chant “Tiller the Baby Killer”).

No one wins though, not the suspected shooter, Jared Loughner, for sure not the instigators, not any of us who wish to live in a civilized place
have won, we as a nation are all losers! America has turned on
itself and divided we fall. thinkingblue

Tucson rampage casts light on toxic political tone

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Charles Babington,
Associated Press – Sun Jan 9, 1:24 am ET

WASHINGTON – Politicians of all stripes are bound to be
haunted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ warning, 10 months before
she was shot, to cool the rhetoric.

It’s been a year or more of raw politics, with anger spilling
over on both sides and gun-related metaphors coming loosely
from the lips of some candidates and activists. Giffords, a
figurative target of the right, on Saturday became the actual
target of a gunman who shot her through the head and killed
at least five others. She was critically wounded.

The gunman’s motive is not known.

But in Pima County, Ariz., Sheriff Clarence Dupnik suggested
“all this vitriol” in recent political discourse
might be connected to Saturday’s shootings. “This may be
free speech,” he told reporters, “but it’s not
without consequences.”

Whatever the motive, the toxic tone of the national debate is
certain to draw greater scrutiny.

“We do know that politics has become too personal, too
nasty and perhaps too dangerous,” said Jonathan Cowan,
president of the centrist Democratic group Third Way.
“Perhaps out of this senseless act some sense can return
to our public discourse.”

In the aftermath of the rampage, the House’s newly installed
Republican leaders postponed Wednesday’s scheduled vote to
repeal the new health care law, the issue at the center of
the harshest criticisms of Giffords and many other Democrats
for the past two years. Lawmakers from both parties were
deeply shaken.

Many lawmakers, especially Democrats, felt the 2009-2010
debate over health care sometimes got out of hand. It began
with emotional town hall meetings in the summer of 2009, when
some critics warned of government “death panels.”

Giffords, 40, was among lawmakers who reported 42 threats or
acts or vandalism in the first three months of 2010, a big
increase over the previous year, law enforcement officers
said. Nearly all the threats dealt with the massive health
care bill that Giffords and other Democrats enacted over
fierce Republican opposition.

In March, someone kicked in or shot out a glass door and side
window at Giffords’ office in Tucson, a few hours after the
House passed the health care measure with her help.

Giffords also was among about 20 Democrats opposed in last
fall’s elections by Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice
presidential nominee. Palin’s Facebook page in March posted a
U.S. map with the cross-hairs of a gun scope imposed over
each of the 20 Democrats’ districts. Gun imagery appeared in
various ways in the campaign, often not connected at all with
gun rights.

“We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” Giffords
said at the time. “The way that she has it depicted has
the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people
do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to
that action.”

Palin’s Facebook page had the following comment in the hours
after the shooting:

“My sincere condolences are offered to the family of
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today’s
tragic shooting in Arizona.”

Ferocious comments, and even occasional violence, certainly
animate American politics from time to time; witness the
bloody drive for racial equality and desegregation, and the
antiwar protests, of the 20th century. The question now, and
again, is how much is too much, and how hot is too hot, in
political discourse.

“Anger and hate fuel reactions,” said Democratic
Rep. Raul Grijalva, whose Arizona district also includes
parts of Tucson. He said he was not assessing blame, and
Saturday’s shootings might be the work of “a single
nut.” But he said the nation must assess the fallout of
“an atmosphere where the political discourse is about
hate, anger and bitterness .”

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs said in a statement:
“While we do not know the motives for today’s attack, we
do know that it cannot be viewed apart from the climate of
violence and the degradation of civil society that are
anathema to democracy.”

The suspected shooter, Jared Loughner, complained about the
government in online diatribes that also spoke in scattered
ways of currency, terrorism and “mind control.” But
what might have driven him to violence has not been
established.

“We don’t yet know what provoked this unspeakable
act,” President Barack Obama said from the White House.
“We are going to get to the bottom of this.”

Previous Posts

Keith Olbermann Interview’s Kevin Spacey

OLBERMANN – VOICE OF REASON, tax breaks for the rich

Repeal health care? Give up your
own first!

He’s Back, Good Ole, Keith
Olbermann is back on MSNBC

Phil Griffin’s Kangaroo Court
Suspends Keith Olbermann

DST Ends More Darkness Begins

Why Do Americans Have Amnesia At
Election Time

Chilean Miners Were Rescued But
The Truth Remains Entombed

Ahhh, a return to the Good Old
Days

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

Here’s what a genuine rally looks
like.

AND
SO MUCH MORE

Hold
on to your hats while you watch an interview with some of

Glenn Beck’s Followers.

MOVE TO AMEND

Watch A Fracking Mess ‘GASLAND’ here

RNC Document Mocks Donors, Plays on ‘Fear’

Thom Hartmann on Freespeech TV

New Robes For SCOTUS

Please sign this very important
petition “demand question time” (of our political
leaders) HERE..
We really need more dialog from those at the top… The
Republicans have got to be made to realize they can’t hide behind
“NO” any longer! thinkingblue

Let’s keep our heads, while we continue to
watch

THE THEATER OF THE ABSURD!!!

Neoliberalism and The Twilight Of The Social State

Here we sit FAT/FATHEADED, DUMB/UNTHINKING and LAZY/INACTIVE… While the evil forces within our government weaves the web of deceit and destruction all around us and for what? TO MAKE THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET POORER. Sound too bizarre? Sound too simple? Read the two articles within this post and then judge for yourself. I don’t know what we can do about it but if we do not at least acknowledge that it is happening, future generations are going to suffer the consequences of our indifferent ignorance! (Listen up Tea Party!!!)

Two must reads for anyone who thinks (No let me rephrase, FOR EVERYONE WHO CAN THINK): First read what neoliberalism really is.

What is Neoliberalism?

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376

EXCERPTS: “Neo-liberalism” is a
set of economic policies that have become widespread during the
last 25 years or so. Although the word is rarely heard in the
United States, you can clearly see the effects of neo-liberalism
here as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer.

AND

The main points of neo-liberalism include:

1.
THE RULE OF THE MARKET. Liberating “free”
enterprise or private enterprise from any bonds imposed by the
government (the state) no matter how much social damage this
causes. Greater openness to international trade and investment,
as in NAFTA. Reduce wages by de-unionizing workers and
eliminating workers’ rights that had been won over many years of
struggle. No more price controls. All in all, total freedom of
movement for capital, goods and services. To convince us this is
good for us, they say “an unregulated market is the best way
to increase economic growth, which will ultimately benefit
everyone.” It’s like Reagan’s “supply-side” and
“trickle-down” economics — but somehow the wealth
didn’t trickle down very much.

2.
CUTTING PUBLIC EXPENDITURE FOR SOCIAL SERVICES like
education and health care. REDUCING THE SAFETY-NET FOR THE POOR,
and even maintenance of roads, bridges, water supply — again in
the name of reducing government’s role. Of course, they don’t
oppose government subsidies and tax benefits for business.

3.
DEREGULATION. Reduce government regulation of everything
that could diminsh profits, including protecting the
environmentand safety on the job.

4.
PRIVATIZATION. Sell state-owned enterprises,
goods and services to private investors. This includes banks, key
industries, railroads, toll highways, electricity, schools,
hospitals and even fresh water. Although usually done in the name
of greater efficiency, which is often needed, privatization has
mainly had the effect of concentrating wealth even more in a few
hands and making the public pay even more for its needs.

5.
ELIMINATING THE CONCEPT OF “THE PUBLIC GOOD” or
“COMMUNITY” and replacing it with
“individual responsibility.” Pressuring the poorest
people in a society to find solutions to their lack of health
care, education and social security all by themselves — then
blaming them, if they fail, as “lazy.”

In the United States neo-liberalism is
destroying welfare programs; attacking the rights of labor
(including all immigrant workers); and cutbacking social
programs. The Republican “Contract” on America is pure
neo-liberalism. Its supporters are working hard to deny
protection to children, youth, women, the planet itself — and
trying to trick us into acceptance by saying this will “get
government off my back.” The beneficiaries of neo-liberalism
are a minority of the world’s people. For the vast majority it
brings even more suffering than before: suffering without the
small, hard-won gains of the last 60 years, suffering without
end.

—

Then read this amazing article “In
the Twilight of the Social State: Rethinking Walter Benjamin’s
Angel of History”

by: Henry A. Giroux, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/in-twilight-social-state-rethinking-walter-benjamins-angel-history66544

EXCERPTS: Like the angel of history in
Benjamin’s rendering of Klee’s painting, the American public is
surrounded by another catastrophe of history visibly invisible in
the horrible suffering produced by two unnecessary wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan and the current economic recession exacerbating
already high levels of poverty, homelessness and joblessness now
spreading like a poisonous blight across the American landscape.
But unlike the forces constricting Benjamin’s angel, the storm
that pins the wings of the current diminutive angel of history is
more intense, more paralyzing in its hyper-materialistic visions
and more privatizing in its definition of agency. The historical
forces producing this storm and its accompanying catastrophes are
incorrigibly blind to the emergence of a “pulverized,
atomized society spattered with the debris of broken inter-human
bonds and their eminently frail and breakable substitutes.”
This is best exemplified in the now infamous and cruel tenets of
a harsh neoliberalism stated without apology by Ronald Reagan and
Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s in their mutual insistence that
“government is the problem not the solution” and
“there is no such thing as society.”

AND

Not only has the American public lost its
ability, perhaps even its will, to talk about public values such
as sharing, caring and preserving, but it can no longer
distinguish between a market-driven society and a democratic
society. As Sheldon Wolin has insisted, the supportive culture
for a viable democracy – “a complex of beliefs, values and
practices that nurture equality, cooperation and freedom”
is incompatible with the market-driven values of
neoliberalism and their emphasis on a crude consumerism,
over-the-top materialism, brutal competition, a culture of lying,
a possessive individualistic ethic and an aggressive battle to
privatize, deregulate and commodify everything.

It’s time to pull the WOOL FROM OUR
EYES and realize what is happening to the us in THE US!
thinkingblue

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE NEW YEAR 2011

I have heard of HL Mencken but never really investigated his works. In today’s excerpt at Delanceyplace.com there is a brief but profound eulogy of sorts, to a magnificent mind belonging to a man of deep conviction and forethought. Hey, Mencken nailed it, didn’t he? His thoughts back then in 1918 are exactly what’s happening in America Today i.e.

**grave concerns about anti-intellectualism in American society, which he viewed as being found most prominently in organized religion (from CHRISTIAN TO MUSLIM – the optimal word being ‘organized’) and political discourse (TEA PARTY comes to mind)**

Here’s a suggestion, for a new year resolution why don’t we (those of us who think) try researching the great minds who saw the writing-on-the-wall. Perhaps, it won’t do much in the scheme of things but for sure it will remind us THAT WE ARE NOT ALONE. Happy New Year! thinkingblue

watch?v=8h2fOF_Bygw

EXCERPTS FROM
DELANCEYPLACE.COM – In today’s excerpt – H.L.
Mencken comments on the impact of crowd psychology. Mencken,
known as “The Sage of Baltimore,” was a popular
journalist, essayist and satirist, and is regarded as one of
the most influential American writers of the first half of
the 20th century. A caustic critic of American life and
culture, Mencken was one of the first in the U.S. to
popularize such writers as Friedrich Nietzsche and Joseph
Conrad.

He had grave concerns about anti-intellectualism in American
society, which he viewed as being found most prominently in
organized religion and political discourse. He was especially
concerned about the role of the crowd in this
anti-intellectualism. His reporting of the debate over the
theory of evolution between William Jennings Bryan and
legendary attorney Clarence Darrow (made famous in the movie
and play Inherit the Wind) reflected his distaste for fervent
belief rooted in faith rather than science:

“The individual man, cheek by jowl with the multitude,
drops down an intellectual peg or two, and so tends to show
the mental and emotional reactions of his inferiors.
The crowd, as a crowd, performs acts that many of its
members, as individuals, would never be guilty of.  Its
average intelligence is very low; it is inflammatory,
vicious, idiotic, almost simian.  Crowds, properly
worked up by skillful demagogues, are ready to believe
anything, and to do anything.

“The numskull runs amuck in a crowd, not because he has
been inoculated with new rascality by the mysterious crowd
influence, but because his habitual rascality now has its
only chance to function safely.

“What happens when a crowd cuts loose? …  The few
superior men in it are not straightway reduced to the level
of the underlying stoneheads.  On the contrary, they
usually keep their heads, and make efforts to combat the
crowd action.  But the stoneheads are too many for them.
… And why?  Because they are suddenly conscious of the
power lying in their numbers.  The third rate man,
though he may wear the false whiskers of a first rate man,
may always be detected by his inability to keep his head in
the face of an appeal to his emotions.  A whoop strips
off his disguise.” MORE HERE

Why are we still in the dark…? The Enlightenment occurred during the 1600′s yet we (the lost crowds) still fight against it. What keeps so many of us ignorant? Is it fear or are certain minds incapable of maturing? With advancements in science happening at any given moment, this unenlightenment and vagueness of mind, should have been eradicated years ago but yet it still continues. That is why I ask…WHY ARE WE STILL IN THE DARK? BTHOM??? http://www.thethinkingblue.com