Some sort of sick joke?
The winning design for the Flight 93 memorial has been chosen:
Call us just a little confused, but who the hell chose this as the winning design? Better yet, what raving lunatic DESIGNED this atrocity? Can you see what we mean? Let's change the perspective a little bit - 180 degrees
Can you see it now? How about another visual clue?
Coincidence? We think not. The title? "Crescent of Embrace." They even have a grove of trees right where the star would be. We thought memorials were supposed to honor the dead, not piss on their graves by glorifying their killers. The Left strikes again. Initial reports say the designer is an avowed communist and professor at USC - we think we assumed that was the case.
Links to the controversy at Michelle Malkin; Little Green Footballs; ZombieTime among others.
Call us just a little confused, but who the hell chose this as the winning design? Better yet, what raving lunatic DESIGNED this atrocity? Can you see what we mean? Let's change the perspective a little bit - 180 degrees
Can you see it now? How about another visual clue?
Coincidence? We think not. The title? "Crescent of Embrace." They even have a grove of trees right where the star would be. We thought memorials were supposed to honor the dead, not piss on their graves by glorifying their killers. The Left strikes again. Initial reports say the designer is an avowed communist and professor at USC - we think we assumed that was the case.
Links to the controversy at Michelle Malkin; Little Green Footballs; ZombieTime among others.
posted by SCC at 1:20 PM
31 Comments:
You have completely guzzled the fascist kool-aid this time "Dear S.C.C."! Unreal..."Yeah- the liberals are making us an Islamist Tribute to their own terror! And the sky is falling too!!! Feh- you just don't get how pathetic you're becoming! SEEK COUNSELING N-O-W!
HISTORY is useful in understanding the right-wing blogosphere's propaganda techniques...
...Goebbels' technique, also known as argumentum ad nauseam, is the name given to the policy of repeating a lie until it is taken to be the truth (see Big Lie). For example, when Goebbels took ownership of the Der Angriff (lit., "The Assault") newspaper, he attacked Berlin Police President Bernhard Weiss, calling him "Isidor" Weiss. Isidor is, to German ears, an insulting name with strong anti-Jewish connotations. This was done to such an extent that the public believed Isidor to be his real name, and he therefore became a figure of fun and ridicule..."
Mr/Ms. S.C.C., our alleged courageous clarion of blogospherically approved knowledge will delete this entry very quickly- so savor it, however briefly!)
It sure is interesting how well you know and quote Goebbels and sling around the term "fascist." You must be a democrat. I for one can see SCC's point, especially in the name of the piece "crescent of embrace?" And by a leftist university professor? Seems SCC is right on this one.
Sadly, you have literally lost the forest for the trees... those nutty "pro" righty bloggers are obsessing over some out-of-context topgraphical 3-d relief drawings or models that bring almost NONE of the actual "look and feel" of what the monument will ACTUALLY LOOK LIKE when you will visit it!! Almost NONE!
REMEMEBER - This was the WINNING design picked by the VICTIM'S FAMILIES...! They wouldn't pick something like what these blog nuts are portraying!
Paul Murdoch Architects Flight 93 Memorial Project Web Site (There are four more pages of sample images at the bottom right of the initial page that fully portray the memorial!)
The "RED" Trees in this beautiful project will only be this color WHEN the tree's leaves change from GREEN in OCTOBER... come on already!
THIS IS SUCH AN E-A-S-I-L-Y debunked "conservative" lunkhead distraction (there is nothing "conservative about falling for yellow web "journalism"!) Dear S.C.C and friends- please just go to the site as I cannot fully visually illustrate this MEGA RED HERRING to properly debunk it here... this is just more absolutely dismally cretinous nonsense being spread into your head via web-logs! Jeezzzzus this is sick!
WHAT IS NEXT? Are you going to lobby to outlaw CIRCLES in our society as they form the basis of the shape of SATAN, the islamic cresent! (did you ever think that the symbol of FIRST AID organizations over "there" is called the RED CRESCENT? A-I-D, like our RED CROSS!)
Don't you see the tentacles of FASCIST thinking slowly crawling around our necks?
Don't fall for these idiot righty water-carrying bloggers deep-breath psycho-babble- they distract obviously smart people like yourself from real current issues of concern with TOTAL HAYSEED BULLSHIT! The Bush-Co. administration is at the absolute NADIR of it's popularity less than a year after re-election... I smell a rat- these bloggers are probably making a concerted effort to get you righties to think about ANYTHING other than how bad the last week has been for the Boy Wonder- it seems so obvious to me...
Again, click on over to the drawings... you can even see what obviously looks like a CRUCIFIX in one of the wall displays, not islamic symbology!
This is un-fricking-believable!!! ;-(
But PLEASE, judge for yourself!!!
Paul Murdoch Architects Flight 93 Memorial Project Web Site
Actually, viewing a 3D topographical map gives you a truer picture of what was intended as an overall view of the memorial and gives you an exact view of what it will look like. And the fact that the trees will turn red somewhere around, oh, I don't know, September, only adds to the symbolism. This is a bad choice.
I'll join the other posters and say alot is being made over possibly nothing. If the victims' families picked the design they have a better right than anyone.
Everything, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder. Until this was posted I bet no one would have looked at the design as it is now being protrayed. I think right wingers are using this for more anti-Islamic rheotric.
I don't know from where these other "leftists" came but I welcome them aboard. Looks like I might not be the only "lefty" on the blocl anymore.
Its funny ow in a job that is overwhemingly Republican, we always have a parade of liberals on here screaming. Just like real life, "I'll just scream you down"! The fact is, the crescent is a decisely arab symbol. Forget the communist symbol. Who is the tribute really for? Is this a symbol of forgiveness? I've spent three years living in Arabic countries. I suggest the 3 bigmouths above go and live amongst them for a while. See what they think of your western values.
(Hate to BAIT & SWITCH you like a Right Wing Blogger... but Alright- maybe they should have called it ARC of Embrace (but wait- Noah had an Arc- and what about the Arc of the Covenant- are we getting a bit too "Oy-Yoy-Yoy"-ish here?) How about "SEMI-CIRCLE of TREES that Embrace... ahhh- it jusst doesn't flow off the tongue... oh well- if you're really upset about this you might just be suffering from...
The 14 Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
by Dr. Lawrence Britt
(you can clip this one pretty quick SCC- just can't resist right now- I'll re-post a petite version with a link later...)
Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14-defining characteristics common to each:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. TOP
2. Disdain for
the Recognition of Human Rights -
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. TOP
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats
as a Unifying Cause -
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. TOP
4. Supremacy of the Military -
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. TOP
5. Rampant Sexism -
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution. TOP
6. Controlled Mass Media -
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. TOP
7. Obsession with National Security -
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses. TOP
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. TOP
9. Corporate Power is Protected -
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. TOP
10. Labor Power is Suppressed -
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed. TOP
11.Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts -
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked. TOP
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment -
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. TOP
14. Fraudulent Elections -
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
________________________________
An interesting note to end this article: As of January 2004, the United States fulfills all fourteen points of fascism and all seven warning signs are present. But we're not alone. Israel also fulfills all fourteen points and all seven warning signs as well. Welcome to the new republic, redefined, revised and spun. It is not too late to reverse this in either country, but it will be soon. The first step is realizing it. The second step is getting involved. As the propaganda slogan disguising our current war goes, "Freedom isn't free." But our war for freedom isn't abroad; it's here at home.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's a blog not an internet novel there Steven King.
You sir, are high. Any half assed professor can manufacture a "study" that purports to show the US is headed toward or established in facism. When you start with a preconcieved notion, all you have to do is cherry pick "proofs" to prove your case. Let me debink this slowly:
1) So now anyone who choses to fly a flag in support of country, troops and president is a facist? Nice way to start your entire essay by calling people fascists for being patriotic.
2) Show me the suppression, etc. This is still the most free society on earth. No one has been "disappeared" like in so many of the "studied" regimes.
3) bin Laden identified himself and declared war on the US 10 years ago. He chose us, we didn't chose him.
4) And how, pray tell, do we fight a war? Peace, love and understanding?
5) Sure, Condi Rice looks good in kitchen.
6) Hahahahahahaha
7) 3,000 citizens slaughtered and we should care about what comes over the border?
8) Read your Constitution; it says Freedom of Religion, not Freedom from Religion. The country was founded by religious men, but they know enough not to restrict it to any one creed.
9) This is an out and out lie. Check your history - fascists always nationalize industry. Collectivization. Everything is "owned by the workers" to give the citizens a "stake" in the rate of production. By including this point, the professor discredited his entire essay.
10) Organized labor isn't suppressed. Its committing suicide by failing to change.
11) Intellectuals bring distain upon themselves by openly supporting the destruction of the only system that lets them prosper. Anyone remember Mao's "Great Leap Forward?" China is only now just recovering from the slaughter of its intelligensia. We should be so lucky.
12) Now Law and Order is a bad thing? No consequences for bad choices? The government will take care of you? Hallmark of liberalism it seems
13) by your argument, daley must be a fascist, and clinton, and reagan, and nixon and kennedy. People always appoint those they're closest to because those are the one who have supported them and realize their point of view. Another manufactured argument.
14) Moderator refered you to the Miami Herald and New York Times, both arms of the left wing, conceding that Bush won, fair and square. Give it up already. And the only ones calling for assisinations are members of the left and air scamerica.
You are a troll - go away
Thanks for taking the time for the lengthy reply. I'm sorry- obviously I touched one of your constantly raw nerves. What say you lay off the cigarettes, coffee, booze and Faux News for a week and open your eyes to how this country has listed way starboard the last five years.
Youre "debink-ing" is stinking...
1) Blindly flying a flag in Patriotic genuflection is dumb, with THIS gang in charge! Ubiquitous magnetic brain-dead slogan car ribbons... blindly swallowing the lies of the scoundrels who "lead" us. Not thinking... Got Fascism?!
2) Patriot Act = severely diminished rights. Deportations, library & book store activity monitoring, no notification on residence entry- Guantanamo Bay unlimited detentions, censored images of murder & torture of innocents at Abu Grahib- CIA's secret kidnapping & relocation to "extraordinary rendition" via covert "airline" to covert torture (what we're supposed to be fighting to STOP!) What are you huffing in your recliner?
3) We chose Osama Bin Laden when our C.I.A. c-h-o-s-e to train and fund him initially in the 80's (in the covert bleeding of the Soviets in Afghanistan.) When we "ponzi schemed" our former "tool" Saddam and Iraq into attacking Kuwait and then flip-flopped and spanked him- while using Saudi Arabian land to do it- Bin Laden and his ilk snapped. It's called "BLOWBACK", blowhard! Thus WE helped create the new "ARAB TERROR" "boogieman"to fill the vacuum of the Soviet/COMMIE "boogieman's" demise. Thus solving the potential end of rivers of our tax money flowing into the Military-Industrial Complex's coffers. They run the show here lock, stock and barrel. Our own secret squirrel treachery has come back to haunt all of us saps- we pay the bills and Cheney and his ill feed at that trough without ever firing a shot! If you hate and bust super predator gang-banging killers at work, WHY would you condone of this type of wanton behavior by OUR America abroad???
4) You don't fight wars of CHOICE, wars of aggression like the NAZIS, Hitler Boy! You defend the "homeland" and strengthen it and it's people, not EXPAND it riskily like a modern-day Rome or 4th or 5th Reich! And now we can't even cope with a freaking hurricane due to our bloody war boner that gets stuck in every hot oily hole available!
5) Condi Rice is the token double minority that merely proves the rule- it's just that she previously sucked pipe so hard for oil they named a Exxon super oil tanker after her petroleum whoring ass! A lot of good her Soviet expertise did in the lead up to 9/11! And Georgie W. couldn't resist having a young svelte bookworm Aunt Jemima to nuzzle up against in a quiet "perfect storm" moment- did you see him getting fresh with those mocha PYT's on camera the other day- hell he's just like Strom Thurmond- "his PECKA' knows no BIGOTRY (unlike his hypocritical soul!) But come on- if Hillary runs in 2008 your right-wing noise & hate machine will be so rough on her I wouldn't be surprised if she just croaked from stress before the whole thing is over. It's the same witch hunt she suffered when Bill was in office (and the Right blames him for everything Bush screws up now, while they were trying to fit a "Soweto Necklace" on him for nearly a decade (and more!))
6) You laugh- yet you are programmed by the Righty Media: lying columnists, hyperbolic `blogs, FOX "news", run by the former media mogul for Reagan- Roger "he who" AILES "us"... they coordinate watches with the RNC every morning to stay in locked goose-step with the brainwashing fascist war corporatist right wing noise machine agenda... just like Orwell's 1984- they tell you "WAR is PEACE" and "Freedom is Slavery"- and you stand and salute as their masters rob you blind, stick it in your behind and teach you to scapegoat anyone and everyone but them!
7) Sure- we're Cops; of course security is always important, especially after 9/11- except when it's used EXCESSIVELY, CONTINOUSLY (like the color-coded warning levels)- as a drumbeat for fear, uncertainty and doubt... that it becomes a fascist-like pavlovian brainwashing tool for control/pre-occupation/distraction of our perception. How sad you proudly label yourself Bush Boy- yet he's just obviously repeated the same August vacation Ivy-League spoiled rich-kid sleepwalk he committed four years ago- for shame, you apologist for gross incompetence- and worse! Bush cares for you and I like the floorboards- we exist only for him to step all over us; not to serve us.
8) We enjoy BOTH Freedom of Religion AND Freedom from Religion. Simultaneously. Butt-Munch-Boy! But BUSH-co. A-R-E intertwining religion and government - Look at the idiotic F.E.M.A. response in the Katrina Catastrophe- they drop the ball big time (along with the locals) and THEN two of the three donation organizations on their web site end up being "FAITH BASED"... They GUT F.E.M.A. as though it was dangerous to THEM... when just the opposite ends up true- it was lethal to us common chumps! Maybe you'd like them to drop Bibles and crucifixes and Holy Water to the victims of the hurricane? Here's the list: School Prayer shrieking, ten commandment statue lawsuits, "Intelligent Design" force-feeding- what more needs happen for you to see it- Charleton Heston dressed as Moses given a cabinet-level position? Pat Robertson made the F.E.M.A. Hurrican Steering Specialist? RELIGIOUS FEAR and it's "gay nation" fear-mongering is what got Bubbas like you to elect him legit this time, to continue his callous fuck-ups like the "imPerfect Storm Response" for four more hilarious years! You got what you asked for, P.O.T.U.S. pillow biter! Dubya likes to "err on the side of life" when it's one political football vegetable woman in Florida- but otherwise it's death, death, death- which gets your rocks off, huh?!
9) You saying "ALWAYS nationalize industry" is not correct either- or TOTALLY nationalize industry. If you're expecting "exactly" the same process in every country, in every instance that is just unrealistic, and frankly- dumb. Do you think Prescott Bush, Dubya's grandfather- had to give back a over a MILLION dollars in penalites back in 1942 for traitorously and criminally trading with COMMUNISTIC enemy German corporate entities like IG Farben and Siemens... man- if that's brown-shirt "collectivization" let me get some of that filthy, bloody luchre (sound more than a bit like Iraq & Halliburton too?) Everything is not always "owned" by the workers in a fascist state- they just end up doing the fighting and paying the ultimate bills- in suffering and dollars. The only stake we're going to get is a crappy choice of the leftover cuts at the Dominick's while Queen Mum Barbara and King Bush Daddy puzzle at the riff-raffs struggles in the oily NOLA muck- and just can't understand why so many "NOLAn's are saying off with THEIR heads!
10) Organized labor isn't suppressed? It's being ball-batted, strangled and side-stepped entirely by "outsourcing, downsizing and packing up and moving to China and Bombay! NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT, TABD, DNR- Do Not Resuscitate! Us Cops strangely have more "union" rights than most unions (except to strike- and the weasels will strip that from the poor union saps befroe too long!)
11) I wouldn't be too quick to want to kill the intellectuals if I were you- who's going to do your heavy thinking if they raid the right wing think tanks and blogs after they slaughter the lefty propellerheads? Intellectuals STRENGTHEN a country by shining disinfecting light via competing ideas and theories on the lies and propaganda of the ruling class and it's disseminators. Without that you're only a mistake or two away from the gulag as well. I can't wait for the police forces to be "streamlined" as well- you'll be bawling after they start paying youngsters to do you job for seven bucks and hour, less benefits and loving it- your vaunted blue welfare will be extinct along with your "middle class existence" Ever heard of "be careful what you wish for"...? Your self-confessed bloodlust is reprehensible- but not surprising.
12) Law and Order is good- within reason, kept in balance with our other needs and logical rights! Becoming a "Police State" to "preserve our freedoms" is absolute Orwellian illogic! "Homeland Security" paranoia would not be prevailing had not our "black ops/psy-ops" secret agencies pissed off so many people around the globe by jacking with their self-determination for decades. Have you become so insulated inside the blue monkey suit or camouflage uniform that you've lost all identification with people NOT wearing it? That's a dangerous sign! This sums up the our "ideal" government's intended role pretty well:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.''
The crooks running the show in the Capitol are perverting that golden "mission statement" these days for the gain of their moneyed masters- it's time to put it right or toss it out and start fresh!
13) Local government, corrupt as it may become- is not usually a threat to another nation. Duh! But sure local and federal corruption looks similar in terms of nepotism, cronyism- i.e. Bush/Daley, et al. But when BUSH Lies, people DIE... when Daley lies, Hired Truck Owners THRIVE (AND then his face gets red and steam comes out of his ears!) The only thing that here that has been "manufactured" is your "consent" with all the bullcrap they've fed you.
14) There have been just as many articles (if not many more so) in the Miami Herald, New York Times, books, magazines, web sites, paperweights that assert that Gore would have won Florida had not Rehnquist's Racist's on `The Court contradicted themselves and terminated the State of Florida's right to conduct their vote as they saw fit. And Bush's Dalmation Katherine Harris illegally scrubbed the roles before the voting- casting hundreds if not thousands of similarly named "Dems" off the eligible list with non-eligible felons via the morons at ChoicePoint (the same incompetent corporate money-grubbers that unknowingly gave up millions of people's credit info recently!) As to the "so-called" liberal media- why do they allow themselves to be "embedded", invaded by expert ex-generals, stop doing investigative reporting, lost all adversarial posture when "patriotism" is invoked (indeed- "poor" Judith Miller must've sucked off "Curveball" and Ahmed Chalabi to get their "anonymous" sourcing front and center on the front page of the New York Times in the lead-up to "Iraq War II: Electric Bush-a-loo". Liberal media my ass! Mega-corporate media, cowed by the "pretend" rightist propaganda-spewing FOX; MSNBC cans Donahue for "too many anti-war voices"!
And save your b.s.- I've been around enough of our "republican" po-po constituency to hear the Robertson-like yearnings for "Lib" kill-shots, seen the "telescopic sight crosshairs" drawn right in front of me on "Billary" on a regular basis; You dissemble- your entire wet dream has come to pass- the right and all it's tentacles have full control of all the controls of the America Express Locomotive- and now that they're threatening to run it square into a wall you can't bring yourself to admit how easily you've been had. So sad. You doth protest too much- like you paint the "liberals" as usually doing!
If you can't see it you're in deep denial, blind or just thick. Your ask a friend which affliction(s) you suffer from (if you have friends.) Insults from an brainwashed bumpkin like yourself are a reassuring compliment that I've found my target demographic- an authentic "know-it-all" (hah!) bush league bully! Gaining understanding of your ignorance is hard but I'm not going to just give up and walk away from you- the insight and reality-perceiving centers of your brain have apparently been so neglected over the years it's as if you've been raised by wild wolves! What a cruel fate- you are such a pitiful creature! Bitterus Scamericanus Commonus- Another bitter nobody who thinks he's caucasian royalty because he watches FOX News!
You can just tell this guy has a bunch of masters degress (paid for by mommy and daddy), wears clothes made of "Hemp" and continues to fight the establishment at a Starbucks near you!
Watch out behind you....black CIA helicopters are following you. You are so far out in the fever swamps, it's ridiculous. I only hope you wandered in here by accident and aren't actually one of those softballs who squeaked in past the psych-evaluation and are actually carrying a gun for the city of chicago. I will only rebut ONE point here - The US Supreme Court stepped in and stopped the Florida Supreme Court from changing the rules for counting ballots that were passed by the Florida Legislature the year before. That vote was 9-0. The rules in place at the time of election were the ones the NYTimes and Miami Herald used and found that Bush won every single time
You know, the sad part is they say we get the kind of government we deserve- and to have had to choose between Bush and Gore... we must not deserve crap
Pick your Poison: Bush v Gore / Kennedy v Nixon / Tastes Great / Less Filling
...Actually, the Court voted 7-2 to end the recount on the grounds that differing standards in different counties constituted an equal protection violation, and 5-4 that no new recount with uniform standards could be conducted. Gore strongly disagreed with the court's decision, but conceded the election "for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy". He had previously made a concession phone call to Bush the night of the election, then retracted it after learning just how close the election was. Following the election, recounts conducted by various U.S. news media organizations indicated that Bush would have won the most probable recount methods (including the one favored by Gore at the time of the Supreme Court decision) but that Gore might have won if other methods were adopted.
* Butterfly Ballot, ,etc-
The Florida election has been closely scrutinized since the election, and several irregularities are thought to have favored Bush. These included the notorious Palm Beach "butterfly ballot", which produced an unexpectedly large number of votes for third-party candidate Patrick Buchanan, and a purge of some 50,000 alleged felons from the Florida voting rolls that included many voters who were eligible to vote under Florida law. Some commentators still consider such irregularities and the legal maneuvering around the recounts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the vote, but as a matter of law the issue was settled when the U.S. Congress accepted Florida's electoral delegation. Nonetheless, embarrassment about the Florida vote uncertainties led to widespread calls for electoral reform in the United States, and ultimately to the passage of the Help America Vote Act, which authorized the United States federal government to provide funds to the states to replace their mechanical voting equipment with electronic voting equipment. However, this has led to new controversies including the lack of paper-based methods of verification, and the complexity of testing required to certify correct operation of computer-based systems.
"bush whacker" (4:23 PM)
Stop plagiarizing my MANIFESTO. While I am a Luddite, I resent being called "the Unabomber".
All of you twits (especially the "bush wackee") need to get laid. A little whiskey and a lot of pussy would do you some good.
To Bushwhacker @ 4:23PM
Just what the heck are you smoking, drinking or medicated on? Your rant is a display of poor reasoning. If you are the police, God help us!
Unfortunately he is. Tim O'Grady of 023.
Is this a worst boss who can't stop name dropping?
Last time I saw O'Grady was about six years ago delivering the "Blue Star" in 011. He looked lost. Back to being the police, huh? Keeping it real in Boystown. It must be high stress picking which starbucks to get your coffee at.
Uhhh Butthead... what's the Blue Star? (isn't that the flyer they sell outside Chicago Stadium before the Hawks games?) They sent us to 011 plenty (and everywhere else) on the Gang Team Travel Points program- I guess that doesn't count in your book. Your anonymous cowardly attacks from afar must be sending your yellow blood rushing into your hard to find genitalia. Call for an equipment adjustment- it's time to change your undies, my tuff comprooter bully- you've moistened yourself again! (and I get my java at the White Hen, my beloved stalker!)
Jose Padilla and the Death of Liberty
"The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of theExecutive." Judge Antonin Scalia
By Mike Whitney
09/10/05 "ICH" -- -- I had to sit down when I heard the Padilla case had been settled. I literally felt sick to my stomach, like I was gasping for air. The case of Jose Padilla is quite simply the most important case in the history of the American judicial system. Hanging in the balance are all the fundamental principles of American jurisprudence including habeas corpus, due process and "the presumption of innocence". All of those basic concepts were summarily revoked by the 3 judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court. The Court ruled in favor of the Bush administration which claimed that it had the right to indefinitely imprison an American citizen without charging him with a crime. The resulting verdict confers absolute authority on the President to incarcerate American citizens without charge and without any legal means for the accused to challenge the terms of his detention. It is the end of "inalienable rights", the end of The Bill of Rights, and the end of any meaningful notion of personal liberty.
I remember reading 3 or 4 years ago, in Zbigniew Brzezinski's, "The Grand Chessboard", of a strategy to dominate the world that would result in the loss of freedom for American citizens. Brzezinski recognized the inherent threat that liberty posed to the development of empire. He stated:
"It is also a fact that America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America's power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a populist democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public's sense of domestic well-being. The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties, even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization." (p.35)
Brzezinski's prescient forecast has proved to be astonishingly accurate. The determination of the neocons, the Federalist Society, the far-right radio giants, the Olin, Scaife, Coors and Bradley foundations, and the entire stable of right-wing, quasi-fascist groups that operate openly within American society, have pounded the final wooden stake into the heart of the personal freedom. The basic legal protections that safeguard the citizen from the arbitrary and hostile action of the state have been rescinded. We all stand naked before the absolute power of the President.
The government has no case against Jose Padilla, a hapless Chicago gang-banger who allegedly visited Pakistan before he was arrested at O'Hare airport 3 and a half years ago. He is simply an unwitting victim of circumstance; a convenient scapegoat for eviscerating the rule of law. The Bush administration has used its extraordinary influence in the media to demagogue the case and keep him locked-away without producing one shred of evidence against him. The entire affair has been a grotesque mockery of justice. The hard-right groups that engineered this plot know exactly where the fault-lines in American jurisprudence lie; in the inalienable protections of its citizens.
Padilla became the test-case for shattering the Bill of Rights with one withering blow. It has succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectation.
There's no chance that the Supreme Court will retry the case and draw more attention to the shocking details of this judicial-coup; they already punted once before preferring to pass it along to the lower court. Rather, the meaning of the case will be ignored until the president needs to exercise the newly-bestowed powers of supreme leader. That authority is now firmly rooted in the legal precedent established by the Padilla ruling.
No Longer the Land of the Free
Americans seem unaware of the great loss we've all suffered by the Padilla verdict. If the President is allowed to arbitrarily decide who has "inalienable rights", than those rights become the provisional gifts of the government rather than a reliable shield against the abuse of state power. It means that every American citizen is as vulnerable to the same violation of human rights as the men currently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. It also means that the legal wall that shelters the citizen from the random violence of the political establishment has been reduced to rubble.
The Padilla ruling is the blackest day in American history. The icons of American liberty; the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Statue of Liberty; are empty shrines if they are not underscored by the guarantee of freedom. The Vietnam Memorial, the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, the 4th of July, the Federalist Papers, and the American flag; all gratuitous expressions of a principle that has vanished from the political landscape.
Every man and woman who ever wore an American uniform and died in the service of their country, died in vain. Their sacrifice has been rendered completely worthless by the action of the 4th Circuit Court.
George Bush has now extinguished every meaningful part of the American dream. The last vestige of the social contract has been defiled and desecrated by the administration and their court. Personal freedom is dead in America; it was impaled by the verdict against Jose Padilla. How many thousands or, perhaps, millions of Americans will die or endure incalculable suffering to regain what we have lost on this tragic day?
Mike Whitney lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: fergiewhitney@msn.com
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Huh?
Shady, if thats you, you're a moron. This jackass conspired to kill Americans with a foreign terror group. Fuck him and his ilk. Fuck you if you want him set loose in a society that he rejected.
Are you talking about that dynamo of law enforcement from 023? Please explain for us what a CB# is. And no cheating by asking someone else.
"Bartender- Drinks for all my "friends"! (b'doom-bahp!) But seriously folks- I just flew all the way back from Turkmenistan- and boy are my arms BOILED (rimshotttt!) Easy with the ruff lingo now McGruff-Dawg... your spittle is showing (wipe!)
I truly personally have no sympathy for the thug Padilla; but it's the "slippery slope" idea. These righty flim-flam men have so brazenly lied to us so many times already- why would you take their "professional" federal spook's word over a local thug's? I wouldn't lay a nickel on what either one of them claim as truth. But enough of the secrets- those are a threat to us all! If he's really guilty: then please- you decide the comeuppance. That's all we should expect at minimum- the facts, a fair trial, and speedy execution. If he wanted to dirty bomb us, he should receive a similarly filthy fate. But this writer's point is still valid- there's no room for such extreme secrecy in a free society- we need less, not more! All these big thinkers tell others to move to Iraq and Russia- no need with the way we're heading here!
Remember "America"... before the quotation marks appeared?
If the creeps succeed in turning us into creeps, who's actually won? (And how about the Zbiggy "Stardust" Brezinski quotes- that's one sharp pierogi- so creepily prescient - totally on-target as to how we're turning uglier by the day.) it's just food for thought... exercise the parts of your brain that you're neglecting and look up opinions different from your own occasionally. Maybe the writer's out a little far on a limb; but then again maybe not!
This guy, who posts under so many different names, seems to be constantly drunk & high. Every time I read one of his posts it reminds me of when I come home blind drunk and try to read the microwave instructions on frozen food. None of it makes sense and I don't give a fuck what it says anyway.
Since when is a republican a facist? Private ownership with state control, national solcialism is the party of the Democrats.
Read Thomas Sowell and get a clue.
Read this!
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/archive.shtml
Hey Fascists/Communists/Marxists/Maoists/Anarchists,etc..... find a new spot. This is a copper blog, not a political blog. No one here cares to read the Communist Manifesto or is interested in anything you have to say
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