This video is so humiliating to everyone concerned, me, you, TSA, and the poor woman left, apparently unattended to, stripped to her undies in full goddamned view of what can only be described as her fellow abased and utterly subordinated inmates, that I hesitate to even re-post from HuffPo, according to whom, this is no “gag.”

The Economist:

The best protection against global warming is global prosperity. Wealthier, healthier people are better able to deal with higher food prices, or invest in new farming techniques, or move to another city or country, than poor ones are. Richer economies rely less on agriculture, which is vulnerable to climatic change, and more on industry and services, which by and large are not. Richer people tend to work in air-conditioned buildings. Poor ones tend not to.

I thinx mah brain herniated outs mah mouf!

Conservatives want to summarily execute Julian Assange for leaking sensitive diplomatic documents that “expose American assets,” and yet that would mean we would have to execute Dick Cheney, as well, for leaking Valerie Plame’s identity.  Is that really fair?  Dick Cheney is already among the walking dead, whereas Julian Assange appears to have a pulse.  Are their lives truly equivalent?  Would taking each life have an equivalent force of law?  Just a philosophical question, as we clearly have no laws to speak of in this country.

Strike everything I said before, and just consider this: When one reaches consensus with David Fucking Brooks, perhaps it’s a sign that one’s affinities are misplaced, or that one’s reasoning is less than rigorous.  Just perhaps.

Sincerely,

Compound F

Dick Cheney “suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.”

Let me spell it out: this is a case of who owns private information versus public information, publicly paid for information, information, e.g., regarding vast criminality, that has been created through public wealth.  Are public officials allowed to conduct crimes against you on your dime?

The President’s advisor on science and technology, John Holdren, would have been well-advised to listen to Elizabeth Blackburn and colleagues at UCSF, one of the world’s premier teaching hospitals and medical research institutions.

It appears to be Obama’s final “Is Obama Bush?” test.  Rather than siding with our best and brightest scientists, Obama and Holdren have sided with discredited ex-Bush officials turned lobbyist hacks like Michael Chertoff, aka “Skeletor,” who have significant conflicts of interest in selling this harmful technology and all the unconstitutional security theater that goes with it.

I didn’t see this letter when it first came out dated April 6, 2010 and hosted by the White House web page.

If this sad tale by “a doctor of everything” doesn’t make you vomit, piss, and laugh simultaneously, well, then you aren’t me.  The comment section is absolutely priceless.  Aside from the general teeth gnashing, the phrase “turning education into an economic pursuit” stood out.  Right next to the article is a link entitled, “Report faults for-profit colleges as providers of ‘subprime opportunity:’ The sector needs more government oversight, say the authors, to avoid a crisis that resembles the housing-market crash.”  My sympathies were with the doctor of everything, who profits, albeit miserably, off of the rigor mortis.  America, I love you fucking phonies to death.  

Sadly, that title is not hyperbole.  Check out this video (via Dave Cohen) of Greenwald’s superb, hour-long presentation in Madison, WI on Civil Liberties and Terrorism in the Age of Obama.  You will find no clearer analysis of our present situation.

Glenn Greenwald on civil liberties and terrorism after Obama from The Badger Herald on Vimeo.

We really are suckers.

Filed under:

acquiescence, appeasement, assent, backing down, bowing, capitulation, cringing, defeatism, deference, docility, giving in, humbleness, humility, malleability, meekness, nonresistance, obedience, passivism, passivity, pliabilty, prostration, recreancy, resignation, servility, subjection, submissiveness, submitting, surrender, tractability, unassertiveness, yielding,succumb, submit, yield, bend, resign, defer to., lay down one’s arms, deliver up one’s arms; lower colors, haul down colors, strike one’s flag, strike colors., surrender, surrender at discretion; cede, capitulate, come to terms, retreat, beat a retreat; draw in one’s horns (humility) [more]; give way, give round, give in, give up; cave in; suffer judgement by default; bend, bend to one’s yoke, bend before the storm; reel back; bend down, knuckle down, knuckle to, knuckle under; knock under., eat dirt, eat the leek, eat humble pie; bite the dust, lick the dust; be at one’s feet, fall at one’s feet; craven; crouch before, throw oneself at the feet of; swallow the leek, swallow the pill; kiss the rod; turn the other cheek; avaler les couleuvres, gulp down., obey; kneel to, bow to, pay homage to, cringe to, truckle to; bend the neck, bend the knee; kneel, fall on one’s knees, bow submission, courtesy, curtsy, kowtow., pocket the affront; make the best of, make a virtue of necessity; grin and abide, grin and bear it, shrug the shoulders, resign oneself; submit with a good grace (bear with).

We need a repertoire of transgressive contention.

Because Ilargi is spot on:

Debt always has to be paid down, restructured or solved through some combination of the two. For now, the negatives of both options are laid squarely on the shoulders of the people of the various afflicted nations, instead of on those of the folks who incurred the debt.  It seems unlikely that this will continue much longer. Surely, there must be one nation where enough voices can come together to say: no mas?! So far, little action. Protests in Britain, Ireland, Portugal, but nothing anywhere near massive. Nothing that even seriously disrupts an economy or society.

I saw some footage early this morning on BBC that sort of says it all. The news presenters compared the student protest marches outside yesterday with those inside, some sort of sit-down. The latter were praised for being peaceful, the former derided for being violent. Which they weren’t really, there were just the odd few token people who threw stuff, a few among many thousands who just marched. And those few could easily have been paid to throw that stuff by the government. The message being that both the BBC and the government had rather see you sit in a room than march on a street. Much easier to control.

As long as we don’t escape that sort of controlled environment, nothing will happen. It’s all about the difference between a financial crisis, which most people continue to believe this is, and a political one, which it actually is. This crisis is entirely political because, for instance, politicians don’t protect their electorate from predatory institutions and practices. Because those predators are the ones who have the real political power (re: campaign finance). Because, see Ireland, banks and their stockholders are still being made whole on their losses, without restructuring, without haircuts, at the cost of the people. Who still have no clue what is going on. It would be a good thing if that would change. A very good thing. For you. For your children.

Where do you think the €100 billion or so or more involved in the Irish bailout ends up? This money is used to pay off the gambling debt of Irish bankers to global banks, to Deutsche, Société Générale, and eventually to the same Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan that are in the center of all these miserable stories all over the globe. That is what has to stop. And until that happens, it makes no difference who you vote for in your elections, no matter where you are.

And if anyone tells you it’ll all be alright, you just ask them what they suggest we do with the debt. Shoveling more and more into your own kids’ graves doesn’t sound like a great idea, so why do you do it? You’re not going to change this one with a sit-down protest.