Sunday, February 7, 2010

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“If we as citizens start out with an understanding that these people up there — the President, the Congress, the Supreme Court, all those institutions pretending to be ‘checks and balances’ — do not have our interests at heart, we are on a course towards the truth."
Howard Zinn

“There is stability in consent, not in subjugation, and the enemies of prosperity are the ruling class and those who enforce their will.”
Darian Worden

“Like the Patriot Act, the TARP bill, and the coming Climate Treaty, The U.S Constitution was conceived and drafted in an atmosphere of panic that was created by proponents of big government for the express purpose of using fear to win support for a massive expansion of government power. Also like TARP or the Patriot Act, it was debated in secret by a convention of delegates that were told that unspeakable horrors awaited America if they did not pass it immediately. Like most expansions of government power, its proponents did not get everything that they hoped for, but they got a lot more power than they had. Most importantly, the next debate over the size and scope of government started from there. The seeds of America’s multi-trillion dollar welfare-warfare state really lie in this seminal expansion of government power.”
Tom Mullen

“I, like all anarchists, do not consider myself to have any legitimate 'obligations' to government. I have only these ones: To respect your life, liberty, and property inviolably; never seeking to control it without your express voluntary consent. And, to bring an end to the barbarism known as Government once and for all time.”
Alex R. Knight III

“Despicable as Beijing's ruling class is, the one tormenting our own country is even worse -- not merely because its hypocrisy makes its crimes all the more odious, but also because of the global impact of its malign ambitions. Beijing, after all, hasn't invaded and occupied countries on the other side of the planet, or deployed heavily armed drones over distant skies to kill unsuspecting people by remote control.”
Will Grigg

“The government operates on fear. 'Revealed' religions operate on fear. They were made for each other.”
Robert Johnson

“Memorizing the State’s laws and quoting Constitutional scripture as a strategy to make the State’s enforcers behave is worse than productive. It gives credence to the positive laws that the State has put forth, the vast majority of which do not deserve anyone’s attention. It is an attempt to fight the system by working within the system, which, like voting, will never work to affect the desired change, which is the elimination of the system itself. As a practical matter, the State will always be able to interpret the law, Constitution included, in its own favor whenever it deems it necessary, no matter how outrageously its employees may behave.”
Tzo

“Government is organized crime on the largest scale imaginable, and the final downfall of every criminal gang is the inability to restrain its own greed for bigger and bigger scores. The politicians will stop robbing you when you’ve had enough and stop letting them rob you — and not a minute sooner.”
Thomas L. Knapp

"Barack Obama, the orator and politician, talks about hope and change. Steve Jobs, the innovator and capitalist, delivers it."
Art Carden

“There is some mysterious entity called “society” whose needs outweigh the rights of every individual that comprises it. In fact, it is apparent from the president’s [State of the Union] speech (and those of most of his predecessors) that the federal government recognizes no rights of any individual whatsoever. Sadly, there are not many among the citizenry who think any differently. So long as representatives have been democratically elected, their power knows no bounds and recognizes no rights.”
Tom Mullen

“Collectivism and state management have only succeeded in school text books.”
Jean Baechler
**********************************************
From the Darkness:
“Our efforts to apply pressure on Iran are not meant to punish the Iranian people. They are meant to change the approach the Iranian government has taken toward its nuclear program.”
Queen Hillary

"The Internet is the biggest command and control center for every bad guy out there. We need a kind of World Health Organization for the Internet.”
Craig Mundie, Microsoft executive.

"While we extend middle-class tax cuts in this budget, we will not continue costly tax cuts for oil companies, investment fund managers and those making over $250,000 a year. We just can't afford it."
B. Obama, defending his proposed tax increases.

“He [Obama] needs a dramatic gesture to change the public perception of him as a light-weight, bumbling ideologue, preferably in an arena where the stakes are high, where he can take charge, and where he can trump expectations. Such an opportunity does exist." Obama can give orders for the U.S. military to destroy Iran’s nuclear-weapon capacity.
Just as 9/11 caused voters to forget George W. Bush’s meandering early months, a strike on Iranian facilities would dispatch Obama’s feckless first year down the memory hole and transform the domestic political scene."
Daniel Pipes

“The truth of the matter is, the Internet is still in its Wild West phase. To a large extent, the law hasn’t yet shown up. Yet as more and more people move to town, that lawlessness is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. As human societies grow over time they develop more rigid standards for themselves in order to handle their increased size. There is no reason to think the Internet shouldn’t follow the same pattern.”
Barbara Kiviat, Time Magazine

“Investing in cybersecurity is the Manhattan Project of our generation.”
Michael Arcuri (D-NY):

"To their colleagues and all who served with them — those here today, those still recovering, those watching around the world — I say: Let their sacrifice be a summons. To carry on their work. To complete this mission. To win this war, and to keep our country safe.
"They served in secrecy, but today every American can see their legacy
."
B. Obama, kissing the boots of the seven dead CIA agents killed in Afghanistan.

Image Review of the Week

Watching over the sheeple. How long will the tyrant’s influence last?



Some of the state’s favorite activities- Imposing on the natural order, ......



......promoting conformity, ......



......misdirecting the masses, ......



......looking out for their own kind, ......



......and taking pleasure in the misery of their subjects:



Of radiation……..or a refuge from the state’s BS?



Predator, noun:
1) any animal or other organism that hunts and kills other organisms (their prey), primarily for food.
2) someone who attacks and plunders for gain:



Time for the annual fleecing- Take the money......


......and run:




Never too old for the state’s scrap medal salutations:



The torture boys remain busy:






No snowstorm can cool down DC’s war spirit:


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

DVD Reviews

Radio Bikini:
Documentary that tells the story of the 1946 nuclear explosions over the Bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands, including the forced evacuation of the island’s residents (an island that would remain poisoned for decades) and the subsequent complications from radiation exposure suffered by military personnel. One quote of Harry Truman’s plea to the Almighty remains etched in my mind: “And we pray they He may guide us to use it in his ways and for his purposes.” What a sicko.
Recommended

Operation Dreamland:
This documentary follows a platoon with the 82nd Airborne in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. This was just before the Marine assault that laid waste to the city. The members freely talk about their reasons for joining the Army, their views on the war and their place in it.
Recommended

Ice Age- Dawn of the Dinosaurs:
More fun from the strangest herd in the animated animal kingdom. This time they travel to a strange, very dangerous world beneath the icy surface of the planet to rescue a friend.
Recommended

Funny People:
Lots of funny people in this movie (including Adam Sandler) but not near enough laughs to sustain a 2 ½ hour movie. This one goes on WAY too long.
Not recommended

Festival Express:
If you’re a fan of late 1960’s rock and roll, this disc is for you. A number of Canadian and American bands travel the Canadian countryside on a chartered train in 1970, stopping and playing music festivals along the way. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers and others jam and party on the train between stops. Lots of great concert footage.
Recommended

Frontline- The Madoff Affair:
The PBS program examines the multi-decade long fraud perpetrated by Bernie Madoff and exposes the government incompetence at exposing and protecting investors from fraud.
Recommended


Cadillac Records:
This drama tells the story of the development of Chess Records in Chicago in the 1950’s. This label gave us artists such as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, and Etta James. All the actors do nice work, particularly the gentlemen who plays Howlin’ Wolf, whose depiction is eerily accurate in look and voice. Lots of good music, though not performed by the original artists.
Recommended

They Live:
A vagrant stumbles across sunglasses that allow him to see the world as it really is- subliminal messages on billboards and the exposure of some people as aliens that are bent on taking over the earth. A good story idea but executed with Grade B quality. This one will be worth watching when a talented director with a healthy budget decides to remake it.
Not recommended

Is Anybody There?:
A dying, retired magician (Michael Caine) strikes up a friendship with a young boy who has an obsession with death. Caine gets to play a character not as refined and erudite as the ones he usually plays.
Recommended

World’s Greatest Dad:
Robin Williams stars in this black comedy written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwaite. A good plot idea but the movie leaves you with the depressing reality of just how stupid people can be.
Not recommended


Divine Intervention:
Another black comedy, this one made in Nazareth, Israel involving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A complete waste of time to watch.
Not recommended

Deadliest Catch-Season 1:
This Discovery series gives a close-up look at the men who undertake some of the most dangerous work in the world- fishing in the Bering Sea for Alaskan King crab. Big risks are countered by potentially huge payoffs. Very interesting. I just wonder how they keep your interest in the second season without becoming repetitive.
Recommended


Amreeka:
A Palestinian mother emigrates to the US with her teenage son soon after the American invasion of Iraq. A nice close-up look at what people of Arabic descent have had to go through since the start of all the 9/11 nonsense.
Recommended

Lightning in a Bottle:
This disc covers a range of wonderful music during a one night only concert celebrating 100 years of the blues at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Many interviews, as well, from those who perform and appreciate this wonderful art form.
Recommended

District 9:
Aliens land in Johannesburg, South Africa and are contained in township-like ghettos by a large multi-national firm (think Halliburton/Blackwater) until led in revolt by a “transformed” human. Near continuous action and very entertaining.
Recommended

Pink Floyd- The Making of Dark Side of the Moon:
Members of Pink Floyd discuss the making of their classic “Dark Side of the Moon” album, 30 years later. A detailed look at the creative process involved will strengthen your appreciation of this monumental recording that still marvels and amazes listeners.

Recommended

The Great McGinty:
People cynical of politics will enjoy this 1940 film about a low level gangster who becomes successful in politics. And why not?
Recommended

Operation Valkyrie- The Stauffenberg Plot to Kill Hitler:
This is one of several documentaries out there about the assassination plot to kill Hitler. This is another worth viewing. Lots of archival footage and interviews from relatives of Stauffenberg and his associates, as well as historians.
Recommended

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“Our attachments to the established order have been reinforced by our acceptance of the need to introduce more ‘security’ into our lives. We have learned to embrace ‘social security,’ ‘national security,’ "homeland security,’ ‘investment security,’ ‘neighborhood security,’ and countless other expressions of our devotion to making our world safe from the influences of change. To protect such interests, we have allowed – and learned to insist upon – an expansion of governmental power to control and regulate any conditions that might disturb our acquired, child-like need for ‘security.’”
Butler Shaffer

“The whole point of the state’s education system, from its beginning, was to process human raw material into docile and obedient “human resources,” just intelligent enough to carry out their assigned tasks as efficiently as possible, without ever stopping to examine the system that employed them, or question the authority figures behind desks who assigned those tasks.”
Kevin Carson

“Today’s America declares: If you are suffering tyranny or disaster, our government will show you how caring and compassion it is with its bombs, missiles, bullets, embargoes, sanctions, and military and financial aid, provided with the money that the IRS forcibly extracts from the American people. But don’t even think about polluting our shores with your stinking bodies because our government’s forces will immediately take you into custody and repatriate you to the tyranny and destitution from which you came.”
Jacob Hornberger

“It is hypocrisy in the highest degree to talk about the sanctity of life, the evils of abortion, the horrors of partial-birth abortion, and to vocally claim that one is pro-life, but then turn around and show contempt for, or indifference to, the lives of adults and foreigners.”
Laurence Vance

“Pentagon time exists enswathed in an almost religious glow of praise and veneration – what might once have been known as “idolatry.” Until the Pentagon is forced into our financial universe, the angry, impatient one where most Americans now live, we’re in trouble. Until candidates begin losing because angry Americans reject our perpetual wars, and the perpetual war-planning that goes with them, this sort of thinking will simply continue, no matter who the “commander in chief” is or what he thinks he’s commanding.
It’s time for Americans to stop saluting and end the Pentagon’s free ride before America’s wars kill us.”
Tom Engelhardt

“So, why are so many of us so quick to believe everything our government and their toadies in the national media are telling us? Are we so naïve as to believe that unregenerate politicians in Washington, D.C., are incapable of the same evil acts of barbarity and savagery that might be found in other parts of the world? Are sinners less sinful because they happened to receive their fallen nature from American bloodlines?”
Chuck Baldwin

“If the role of the state is to ferret out evil thoughts and bad ideas, it must necessarily become totalitarian. If the goal of the state is that all citizens must come to hold the same values as the great leader, whether economic, moral, or cultural, the state must necessarily become totalitarian. If the people are led to believe that scarce resources are best channeled in a direction that producers and consumers would not choose on their own, the result must necessarily be central planning.”
Lew Rockwell
***************************************************
From the Darkness:
“The only way to prevent global ecological collapse and thus ensure the survival of humanity is to rid the world of Industrial Civilization.
In short, the greatest immediate risk to the population living in the conditions created by Industrial Civilization is the population itself. Civilization has created the perfect conditions for a terrible tragedy on the kind of scale never seen before in the history of humanity. That is one reason for there to be fewer people.”
Keith Farnish

"What we need is somebody at the Federal Reserve who can make sure that the progress that we've made in stabilizing the economy continues. I think Bernanke is the best person for that job."
B. Obama

“We’re going to ask the American people to sacrifice; we don’t do that often.”
Senator Pete Domenici, commenting on government spending.

“The Goldstone Report ... and similar reports, are simply a type of anti-Semitism."
Israeli Minister Yuli Edelstein, commenting on a UN report on Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas-controlled Gaza.

“Today, as in the early Republic, our system of government cannot succeed and our individual freedoms cannot survive without an informed, participating citizenry, and that requires competitive, independent news media. For that to happen, however, the FTC, the FCC and Congress must stop blaming the Internet and start thinking about how enlightened subsidies could revitalize the very necessary public good that is journalism.”
John Nichols and Robert W. McChesney, writing in The Nation.

"What's happened, it's unfortunate, it's bad, it's wrong, but I don't think it has damaged the basic science."
U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer, commenting on recent scandals over climate data.

“We find unity in our incredible diversity, drawing on the promise enshrined in our Constitution: the notion that we are all created equal.”
B Obama, Ivy League dumb ass, confusing the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence.

"As we work to create jobs, it is critical that we rein in the budget deficits we've been accumulating for far too long -- deficits that won't just burden our children and grandchildren, but could damage our markets, drive up our interest rates, and jeopardize our recovery right now."
B. Obama, suffering apparent memory loss as he helped contribute at least a couple trillion to aforementioned deficit.

"We'll launch an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars."
B. Obama, confirming that pigs will soon fly out of everyone’s butts.

“It’s not a program to punish kids but to help them.
Their absences also cost the district money, so they need to be in the classroom.”
West Oso ISD (Corpus Christi, TX) Superintendent Michael Sandroussi, commenting on how some students that are failing all of their classes and haven’t been to school in weeks, received a Global Positioning System device that will track their movement and ensure they are in school.

Image Review of the Week

The delusion persists. ......



......The failing god......



......is not giving up its charade:




"Well you got everything all lit up for the world to see......



......But you ain't found nothing so you're settin' me free, ......



......You make your money puttin' fear at those oppressed, ......



......You ain't nuthin' but a bully with a star on your chest."

Wayne Hancock, Johnny Law



No time to waste. Get the agenda moving.......



......and people believing:



"Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, ......



......the philosophy which does not laugh......



......and the greatness which does not bow before children."

Kahil Gibran



The dream of the nanny state. Bubble wrapped for safety:



Republican response to the (sad) State of the (forced) Union:




Yo, Tony. Ya need to wash da blood off ya hands:



Goofy state pageantry......



......is just too much for some:



Sunday, January 24, 2010

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“The way to achieve victory is not by seizing the state, or violently overthrowing it, but quietly confronting it with a reality already on the ground: the reality that a rapidly expanding share of its laws are either no longer enforceable or cost more to enforce than it’s worth.”
Kevin Carson

“A permanent end to the state can only be achieved by attacking the force that gives rise to it. That force is uncontrolled fear. In the mind of a healthy individual empathy/love is far stronger than fear and can easily contain it. The fear that gives rise to and sustains the state can only be conquered by ending the underlying self-inflicted suffering of victimhood thinking from which it spawns. This is what must be done by those who truly wish to strike at the root of evil.”
Alex Ryan

“It’s either foreign intervention and retaliatory terrorism or nonintervention and security. There’s no third way.”
Sheldon Richman

“Here's the system we're sentenced to live under, concisely described: Steal hundreds of billions from taxpayers, and you're a public servant; refuse to permit your legitimately earned wealth to be stolen from you, and you're a felon.”
Will Grigg

“Mutual aid efforts that provide assistance based on consent are superior to authoritarian efforts to sustain that which is to be exploited. While authoritarians try to claim for their own what others have made, anarchists create grassroots networks of support and resistance.”
Darian Worden

“Liberty doesn't originate with politicians. Whatever the future holds, I don't want to simply be ‘freer than the USSR‘; I want to be free. But that won't happen until Americans understand that liberty begins and ends with them, and subsequently refuse to partake in gang warfare via the voting booth.”
Trevor Bothwell

“Remove justice, and what are kingdoms but gangs of criminals on a vast scale? What are criminal gangs but petty kingdoms?
A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention. If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it acquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of `kingdom,’ which
is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.”
St Augustine

“Our civilization is overly-politicized; grounded in the principle of violence. The state is the institutionalization of violence. But force is antithetical to life, for it makes life be what it does not choose to be; compels it to act contrary to the pursuit of its self-interests. The state wars against the spontaneity and autonomy that define life and make societies prosper.”
Butler Shaffer

“I do not believe in the institution of government nor do I give a damn about a piece of paper written and signed by a bunch of white male racists over 200 years ago. An agreement is only an agreement among those people who sign it—and any other people (if there are such) who voluntarily accept those people as their representatives. Since I fall into neither of those two categories, Charmin toilet paper (with aloe vera, of course)
means more to me than the U.S. Constitution. In fact, the U.S. Constitution has no meaning to me.”
David Kramer
*************************************************
From the Darkness:
"Mobilizing the country's armed forces and making war to acquire territory is the only way a country can climb out of its decadence and into a stable period of growth and prosperity."
Guy Odom

"We have gone to the restaurant. We have eaten the meal. Now the only question is whether we will pay the check. We simply must do so."
Sen. Max Baucus, Finance Committee Chairman, on the Democrat’s proposal to increase the national debt limit by $1.9 trillion.

“This is purely a matter of physics and geometry: the whole world can not be there.”
Anonymouns U.S. military official, commenting on why a Doctors Without Borders plane carrying 12 tons of vital medical equipment had been prevented from landing on three occasions in Port-au-Prince since Sunday evening.

“…..terror -- meaning killing and robbery and coercion by people who do not have state authority and go beyond national borders…..”
Bill Clinton, defining terrorism.

“Indirect taxes are small taxes imposed on specified products or transactions. Typically, the tax is paid by the consumer or user of the product or transaction, collected by the retailer and forwarded to the taxation authority. Once in place, they are compulsory. The objective is to raise revenue or, in the cases of taxes on arms and excise duties on tobacco and alcohol, to discourage (excess) consumption of a particular product. In the latter cases, there are likely to be positive effects in terms of health. Taxes such as those for airline travel can contribute to addressing communicable diseases. All these, and others such as a digital tax, can be considered humanitarian contributions which can together provide significant resources for the health needs of the world. The digital tax involves a charge on traffic over the Internet. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and various proponents have suggested different versions. Examples include a tax of 1 US cent on every 100 e-mails of 10 KB sent, a charge per number of e-mail messages (e.g. 10 cents per 1000 messages).”
From a new study published by the United Nations’ World Health Organization.

Image Review of the Week

Future bread money:



Some close their eyes......


......to the eternal plea:



"Democracy don't rule the world, You'd better get that in your head; ......"



"......This world is ruled by violence, But I guess that's better left unsaid."

Bob Dylan



All hail and confirm......



......the new occupation:



No sheep to herd? Try cows......



......or chickens:



Concealed carry goes high fashion:



Looting- ......



......it’s all a manner of perspective:



The taxpayers live in cages......


......to feed and fatten the beast:




Obama Nation, Year One, in a nutshell:



You don’t have to look far, .......



......there’s always new masters to bow to......



......and salute:



Some problems with the vision thing?



"Of all the tyrants the world affords, our own affections are the fiercest lords." John Sterling