So much to talk about WITH UPDATE

I don’t know how these things work, but I have something that I really wanted to share here, but when I thought about it, I realized there’s really no better way to do this particular one than to simply “post the post” that I wanted to share.

I went looking for an open thread in which to post it and saw that, well, there wasn’t one.

So hey, I figured WTF, I’d start an open thread.  Why not?  

I’ll start with the thing I wanted to share.   I’ve recently bookmarked a site called “Naked Capitalism” and it has some pretty cool stuff in it.   Tonight I headed over there and found a link to this absolutely amazing post here:

Investor Psychology: Fear Turns People Into Sheep

I don’t even know what to do except tell you to read it.   It’s only a little bit about investing.   Mainly it’s about how the Powerful can exploit Fear.  

Sociologists from four major research institutions investigated why so many Americans believed that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11, years after it became obvious that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

The researchers found, as described in an article in the journal Sociological Inquiry (and re-printed by Newsweek):

Many Americans felt an urgent need to seek justification for a war already in progress

Rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or disconfirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.

“For the most part people completely ignore contrary information.”

“The study demonstrates voters’ ability to develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information”

People get deeply attached to their beliefs, and form emotional attachments that get wrapped up in their personal identity and sense of morality, irrespective of the facts of the matter.

“We refer to this as ‘inferred justification, because for these voters, the sheer fact that we were engaged in war led to a post-hoc search for a justification for that war.

“People were basically making up justifications for the fact that we were at war”

“They wanted to believe in the link [between 9/11 and Iraq] because it helped them make sense of a current reality. So voters’ ability to develop elaborate rationalizations based on faulty information, whether we think that is good or bad for democratic practice, does at least demonstrate an impressive form of creativity.

An article yesterday in Alternet discussing the Sociological Inquiry article helps us to understand that the key to people’s active participation in searching for excuses for actions by the big boys is fear:

Subjects were presented during one-on-one interviews with a newspaper clip of this Bush quote: “This administration never said that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated between Saddam and al-Qaeda.”

The Sept. 11 Commission, too, found no such link, the subjects were told.

“Well, I bet they say that the commission didn’t have any proof of it,” one subject responded, “but I guess we still can have our opinions and feel that way even though they say that.”

Reasoned another: “Saddam, I can’t judge if he did what he’s being accused of, but if Bush thinks he did it, then he did it.”

Others declined to engage the information at all. Most curious to the researchers were the respondents who reasoned that Saddam must have been connected to Sept. 11, because why else would the Bush Administration have gone to war in Iraq?

Fascinating stuff, with lots of links, and it provided me, finally, with a quote that I am now using as my comment signature:

Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.

How Bushian!   Do you know who said it?   Rahm Emanuel.

One other thing I just want to chat about is the mass shootings at Fort Hood.    A few things bother me about this (not the obvious ones).   For starters, this reminds me of “hitting the trifecta” yet again, as far as the propaganda value the government, the military, and the CIA will be able to milk from this (suddenly I’m reminded again of the Rahm Emanuel quote).  I mean, just as the public support for the Afghan campaign is cratering, just as Obama seems to be expressing some reservations about giving the bloodthirsty Generals  what they want, just as it’s revealed that not only is the “President” of Afghanistan a CIA asset, he’s a corrupt and lying, cheating, fraudulent President, and his brother, who is ALSO a CIA asset, is one of the biggest drug dealers in the world ……. we have this extremely convenient mass murder by a Muslim, and not just a mass murder by a Muslim, BUT a mass murder by a Muslim who was terrified of going to “war”, and having to kill (presumably) his fellow Muslims.    I mean, here we have a cowardly Muslim who, when he snaps, commits to an act of violent terrorism against Americans (almost like it’s in his blood!).    Yet this man was a complete product of the American Military, he even went to their very own Medical school, and seems to have always been a very non-violent fellow, yet suddenly he turns into a superhuman Rambo and is able to shoot, what, 40 or more trained soldiers in the course of a few minutes with guns that don’t need reloading?    The mind boggles.    And who was the other “suspect” whisked away by men in suits who pulled up in a black Crown Victoria?    I grew up on military bases, and guys in suits who outranked the M.P.’s?   These are guys who outrank the MILITARY on a MILITARY BASE.   WTF?

(CNN) — A senior officer who was playing golf Thursday near Fort Hood, Texas, told CNN he witnessed the arrest of one of the two surviving suspects of the shooting at the Army installation.

Shortly after the shooting, the officer said, military police told him to clear the course and he saw other MPs surround the building that held the golf carts, he said.

The senior officer said he ducked into a nearby house for cover as 30 to 40 cars carrying MPs approached.

He said he saw a soldier in battle-dress uniform, his hands in the air. The MPs ordered him to lie on the ground and open his uniform, presumably to ensure he was not carrying explosives, the senior officer said.

He said an MP told him that authorities considered the man to be a suspect in the shootings after having overheard the man say he was with the shooter.

The man was surrounded for 25 to 30 minutes, until a convoy of vehicles arrived, led by a Ford Crown Victoria and carrying men in suits, and he was taken away, the senior officer said.

The golf course is about 2.5 miles from Fort Hood, the officer told CNN.

Now I’d just like to throw out a few words that might remind you of over times when the government/pentagon utterly lied to us about events:

Pat Tillman.   Jessica Lynch.

But the thing that really bothers me about this has nothing to do with the shootings at all.   It is, instead, that Hasan was being watched and monitored by “law enforcement personnel” on the Internet, months ago.  

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

They had not confirmed Hasan is the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

If they are not authorized to discuss this, why are they telling us this at all?   Ah, because “Big Brother” is good, and is watching out for us!   In fact, if “Big Brother” had just a little more power, they might have been able to stop this tragedy.    At least that’s just the propaganda value of this.    But the more pressing question is why was this guy being watched by law enforcement personnel in the first place?  And who, exactly, where these “personnel”?    

And who else are they watching?  

Oh right, they’re watching all of us.   Hi, guys!   How’s it going?    Did you like my essay about how the CIA is boiling people alive in Uzbekistan?   I’ll bet you did.   You’re welcome.

UPDATE:  They are now trying to connect him to the “911 terrorists”.    I am not making this up:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists

Major Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a “spiritual adviser” to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001.

Right on schedule.