Comment

Comment by sk8eycat on December 22, 2011 at 4:03pm

The other line about W that I kept hearing that made me sick was, "He kept us safe."  Yeah, right.  Ask the people in New Orleans.

The unconstitutional UnPatriot Act "kept us safe" because nobody tried anything! 

I'm glad that I don't need to travel by air; I don't think I could tolerate the TSA searches and other intrusive procedures without getting snarky.  And arrested.

A tiny Nisei friend of mine ... in her 80s...diabetic...legally blind...was pulled out of line at O'Hare and given a thorugh search, luggage and body, a couple of years ago.  She was one of a group of Dodger fans on their way to a game in Denver.  Did those uneducated clowns actually think she was a potential hijacker? 

What really made me blow up when I heard about it was that she had already suffered enough injustice at the hands of the US gummint.  She spent her teen years in Manzanar during WW2.  Yes.

Disgusting.

I don't believe even a mildly intelligent terrorist group would ever try the same "trick" twice, anyway.

People...sheeple...just. Don't. THINK!

Comment by dr kellie on December 22, 2011 at 2:03pm

I felt the same way when W talked about our enemies.  It is sickening yet people eat it up.

Comment by sk8eycat on December 22, 2011 at 1:41pm

I just watched the intro to Part 1, and I'm not bragging, but I have known almost since 9-11-2001 that "International Terrorism" was a political invention.  As was most of the hysteria during the "Cold War."

And I said so, but nobody listened to me, or believed me.

Keeping America in a constant state of panic and false ostentations patriotism was the only way Prez Cheney and his stumblebum talking puppet, "W," could get re-elected in 2004.  (And while we were distracted, their cronies in congress quietly altered the laws that used to keep Wall St. in line.) Among other things.

I mean, really.  Every time I heard W say that our "enemies" hated America "because of our freedoms," I wanted to throw something ... or throw up.

I have to watch that entire documentary, but not this morning.  Busy-busy-busy.

I also just latched onto a reference to an excellent column in Forbes, 2-24-2011 by Rich Karlgaard: "Wealth and Fitness Secret."  Gotta see if I can find that online.

BRB

Comment by Steph S. on December 22, 2011 at 10:36am

Thanks for the video link -- checking it out.

Comment by George on December 20, 2011 at 5:43pm

The Power of Nightmares has been available online for some time - 

Google Video

Archive.org (downloadable)

Comment by TNT666 on December 20, 2011 at 5:32pm

I've recently watched an interesting, relatively multi-sided, documentary on the role neocons played in the rise of fundamentalist Christians and Muslims called "the Power of Nightmares". It shows a group of leading neocons developed tactics using both these religions to further neocon political ends. Many neocons were interviewed in the film, which made it quite interesting.

Comment by sk8eycat on December 20, 2011 at 5:13pm

Yes, It did....when the knuckle-draggers began to get organized. They copied the methods of the civil rights movement...because they worked.

Comment by TNT666 on December 20, 2011 at 4:51pm

They 'screamed' it then, they 'scream' it now, but in between there was a long period of near shut-up-ness :)

The brand of fundamentalism we're seeing today began in the 1970s.

Comment by sk8eycat on December 20, 2011 at 2:13pm

TNT666 - "Recent?"  Are you kidding me? The fundamentalists have been screaming "blasphemy" since Darwin published The Origin of Species, and they still get their way most of the time.

The Scopes trial took place almost 100 years ago, and even though Clarence Darrow conducted a brilliant defense, Scopes lost.

You would think that the scientific advances since the end of WW2 would have changed some people's minds, but they're more powerful, richer, and louder than ever.  Mainly because they are organized, and we are not. They're all over cable and broadcast TV, they own their own broadcasting and satellite facilities (they use technology when it serves their purposes), and Air America couldn't even stay on low-watt radio stations for two years.

Irrationality is "winning" because too many people are too lazy to think for themselves, or they have been punished in childhood for doing so. 

I was lucky, for the first 10 years of my life my parents answered my questions as honestly as they could, or if they didn't know the answers, they said so and helped me look for what answers were available. For my 5th birthday, Dad took me to the library and got me my own card. I was allowed to take home any books I chose. We went to a small liberal church (there were very few mega-churches then, and only one or two celebrity preachers in the whole USA ... Mom laughed at them, even though she was a fundie at heart), but we never had buybull readings and prayers at home. Our xmas eve "services" were a cup of cocoa and a bedtime reading of A Visit From St. Nicholas, NOT the "nativity" story in "Luke."

But at least 60% or of today's children aren't so lucky.

The good news is that by the time they get to college, the ones who really want straight answers have applied Sturgeon's Law to what they've heard in church, or even in parochial schools, are joining groups like Secular Students Alliance, and making their voices heard.  About 35% of college students say they are not religious, compared to 15% of all adult Americans.  There is hope.

Something is happening...I'm just sorry that I probably won't still be around to see the results. 

@Steph: I "borrowed" "Religious Wrong" from Harlan Ellison about 30+ years ago.  He was referring to Phyllis Schlafly (sp?), who he called "Phyllis Sh*tfly, and her anti-feminist fans.

Comment by Steph S. on December 19, 2011 at 10:58pm

"members of the Religious Wrong" -- I like that term sk8eycat!

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