NoMad MaN: Found

The Ludlum Political Identity

2008-02-23T14:58:16-08:00

The mood of the nation was changing, the crust of the benevolent Great Society beginning to crack, the lesions initiated with code words coined by the Nixon boys, such as the Silent Majority and Bums-on-Welfare and the pejorative them. A meanness was rising out of the ground and spreading, and it was more than the perceptive, decent Ford could stop, weakened as he was by the wounds of Watergate; and too much as well for the brilliant Carter, too consumed by minutiae to exercise compassionate leadershop. The phrase ". . . what can you do for your country" was out of fashion, replaced by "what I can do for me."~ Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Ultimatum

How connected is all this connectivity?

2006-11-12T07:04:08-08:00

The below posted by Ben on Beyond Greed In case you think "Matrix" is nothing but a movie concept: Google Groups: alt.gathering.rainbow "another MySpace.com trend: the social networking site now lets users make "friends" with fictional characters supplied by marketing companies pushing movies and new TV shows and who pay for a chance to form relationships with the nearly 45.7 million unique visitors MySpace logged last month. -- "The real counterculture: Music can make a difference" A friend just wrote to alt.gathering.rainbow with an interesting question: "Fast forward 40 years and rebellion has been institutionalized, corporatized in the sense that popular culture has celebrated it for so long, made money from it for so long, that it begs the question: Isn't it more rebellious to be non-rebellious?." I mumbled about not getting sucked into either/or thinking: "Willing to be an empoverished siddha I can't say I shudda lived my life differently, but I can't say I've experienced glorious success. And I think that's in large part cuz of either/or logic. I don't have the personal charisma required to be a solo act ... I'm not "the great leader" type. (Actually I think that whole concept sucks the big one.) For me affinity groups are the way to be. But I'm pretty sure choosing B cuz A sucks subjects us to even more manipulation. Should we become mindless drones because hyper-narcissism profits the fascists? Seems to me creative alternatives is what it's all about. Dialectical thinking, yuh know? Responding to the "thesis" with an "anti-thesis" is part of the drill, but the benefit comes from the syn-thesis at the end, yaa?"

Religious Conviction

2005-09-30T16:51:15-08:00

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." - Blaise Pascal Found via Google.ca on Quote of the Day

Bury the Animosities

2005-09-30T15:57:50-08:00

and so� it really comes down to a very basic choice that we have to make as a civilization: either: we will learn to bury the animosities of our ethnocentric, militant traditions and come to understand that earth�s survival depends on our collective, unified participation� or we will sustain this cycle of violence and revenge until humanity is returned to the status of primitivity and, earth reduced to the rubble of antiquity. it�s really up to us� it really is� up to us. From S-11 Redux :: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse

On Killing

2005-09-28T06:50:27-08:00

Found @ A Soldier's Thoughts I remember back in Baghdad in 2003 when the 1st Armored Division had just arrived. I was in line at the PX (post exchange, it is the army's version of Walmart) and I overheard two soldiers from the 1st Armored Division talking about how they couldn't wait until they had killed someone. What kind of desire is that? I felt sick. I had already killed and I remembered a quick rapid fire succession of feelings upon learning just how many my platoon and I had killed. First I felt glory, then sickness, and now I have only empty sorrow... That day so long ago I didn't say anything to them, those two soldiers. I did pray that they never got their wish because they did not know what it was they were asking for.Posted by Zach Attack at 9:34 AM, September 20, 2005.

Spirit of Love

2005-09-25T06:34:24-08:00

2005-08-28T06:36:21-08:00

Found @ http://www.ioerror.us/2005/08/27/lizards-or-why-i-do-this-every-day/#more-371 In turn, quoted from So Long and Thanks for All the Fish [An extraterrestrial robot and spaceship has just landed on earth. The robot steps out of the spaceship�] �I come in peace,� it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, �take me to your Lizard.� Ford Prefect, of course, had an explanation for this, as he sat with Arthur and watched the nonstop frenetic news reports on television, none of which had anything to say other than to record that the thing had done this amount of damage which was valued at that amount of billions of pounds and had killed this totally other number of people, and then say it again, because the robot was doing nothing more than standing there, swaying very slightly, and emitting short incomprehensible error messages. �It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see�� You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?� �No,� said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, �nothing so simple. Nothing anything like to straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.� �Odd,� said Arthur, �I thought you said it was a democracy.� �I did,� said ford. �It is.� �So,� said Arthur, hoping he wasn�t sounding ridiculously obtuse, �why don�t the people get rid of the lizards?� �It honestly doesn�t occur to them,� said Ford. �They�ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they�ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.� �You mean they actually vote for the lizards?� �Oh yes,� said Ford with a shrug, �of course.� �But,� said Arthur, going for the big one again, �why?� �Because if they didn�t vote for a lizard,� said Ford, �the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?� �What?� �I said,� said Ford, with an increasing air of urgency creeping into his voice, �have you got any gin?� �I�ll look. Tell me about the lizards.� Ford shrugged again. �Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them,� he said. �They�re completely wrong of course, completely and utterly wrong, but someone�s got to say it.� �But that�s terrible,� said Arthur. �Listen, bud,� said Ford, �If I had one Altarian dollar for every time I heard one bit of the Universe look at another bit of the Universe and say �That�s terrible� I wouldn�t be sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin. But I haven�t and I am.

An Apology to the Iraqi People

2005-08-06T14:14:29-08:00

http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/Iraq_Aftermath/2004/12/article_01.shtml From Islam Online 01/12/2004 by Larry E. Park This is an apology to the Iraqi people from a hospital medic who cared for some of the most severely injured men, women, children, and babies from both sides of the Vietnam conflict. I held the dead of war in my arms and I understand war�s catastrophic toll in the present and the impact it will have on future generations. This is my personal sobering apology, and it may or may not reflect some of the feelings of the other 49 percent of Americans who voted against unjustified aggression. I feel shame and outrage when I watch on TV and read reports of unimaginable acts against humanity in Iraq. You are witnessing these horrific acts of violence and human debasement up close, which is probably filling your heart with hate and anger towards Americans. I�m sorry and I understand. I feel shame that I did not raise my voice in dissent prior to this horrific conflict between cultures. I survived Vietnam with full understanding of what a guerilla war means and the futility of large, noisy, highly visible armies attempting to subjugate citizens by force instead of winning hearts and minds over to a more positive pursuit of happiness. I feel shame that I did not raise my voice in dissent prior to this horrific conflict between cultures. With a great sense of doom, I have watched the events over the past three years as a complacent bystander, not knowing how to make a difference in public opinion. I was silent, not exercising my freedom of speech or finding creative means to make my voice against unjustified death and destruction heard effectively. I made a mistake in judgment and action. I knew better. I am very sad about what is happening in Iraq to the families, their homes, schools, hospitals, shops, and places where they work to support their families. I apologize for not defending your right to choose how you live and what style of leadership you support. I understood that my leaders, prompted by public opinion, had to deliver visible signs of revenge against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and most of the world seemed to support that conflict, but when I woke up one morning to the specter of my countrymen invading Iraq to make a regime change, I squirmed with discomfort. I, like you and most of the world, held the motivations of the United States to be suspect and driven by self-interests in oil. Rhetoric about freeing the Iraqi people from an oppressive regime seemed righteously hollow, and a revolution against Saddam Hussein�s entrenched regime and all its supporters was not ours to wage. The DU we use is our weapon of mass destruction and I am downcast and ashamed. I apologize for our arrogance in thinking we knew what the best course of social/political direction for Iraq was�and then we intervened militarily in such a destabilizing and catastrophic manner. Our vision of the future is not yours, and you must decide how you will help each other achieve and maintain basic freedom and happiness. I apologize for denying knowledge of your basic beliefs and belittling your ancient core cultural values; and from your perspective, I understand why we are the barbarians on your land. Freedom is not a gift; it is a choice requiring daily action to reaffirm long-term goals and guide one in the pursuit of happiness. Your people are in the midst of personal and national conflict revolving around differences in opinion on how to equitably achieve goals within the context of your many subcultures. Intervention by outsiders has made the process more complex. I apologize! Freedom from greed and uncontrolled material, selfish interests can only be acquired by a heart focused on the more important desire for pleasant human relationships. Freedom�s seed is planted in one heart at a time; and each of us on the planet has the ability to shape our own sense of personal freedom. I am sad that we chose force and destruction instead of kindness. I am ashamed of our recent example of democracy in the presidential race for power. If we are attempting to persuade you to adopt our form of democracy, then I am less than proud on how we spent billions to get out the vote and prompt individuals to exercise freedom of choice. Decisions seemed to be made based on whether or not a candidate hunts innocent winged creatures for sport, or who tells the most convincing lies and makes the best promises that we all know can�t be kept�like �Independence from foreign oil.� From your perspective, I understand why we are the barbarians on your land. A campaign pledge to establish a Presidential Commission to explore what compels our enemies to make plans to destroy person and property might be a better basis for casting a vote. It�s Biblical to seek your neighbor out before sunset of each day when you sense he is unhappy with you for some reason. Unresolved conflicts lead to a war of terror. America has long enjoyed beautiful sunsets without responsibly resolving issues with its neighbors. This unfinished daily business has ruined the view of the daily rising sun; and boasting about our ability and resolve to preserve our selfish way of life�which consumes an inequitable share of the earth�s limited resources�is not a good way to start negotiations. I have seen the consequences of war and revenge, and it is not pretty. History is replete with stories of rape, pillaging, burning, and destruction of person and property; and within the last ten years starting with the Gulf war, Desert Storm, we the United States of America introduced weapons of mass environmental and genetic destruction. I am ashamed of my ignorance about my government using depleted radioactive uranium munitions in Iraq. Looking for the splinter of WMD in the enemy�s eye while being blinded by the railroad tie poisoned by depleted uranium sticking out of our heads must make us appear really outrageous in the eyes not afflicted around the globe. Being a responsible citizen and taking a stand on issues that will affect the only planet we have is hard work�even though now the sand in my eyes in retrospect did not hurt as much as the knowledge I have gained about my country�s use of depleted uranium. I am outraged at the possibility of my tax dollars contributing to the use of depleted uranium in munitions which might cause alterations in the genes of humans and plants. This is our weapon of mass destruction and I am downcast and ashamed. If one believes in a Creator God called Allah, who loves the Biblical people of Iraq so much that He buried some of the world�s richest oil reserves below their barren deserts, then one would have to believe that He planned to care for their needs. Poverty in such an oil-rich land, where many of its inhabitants want for the basics, can only be understood in the light of mismanagement and the greed of its ruling class. As an American I am ashamed to admit that even though our wealth is accumulated differently, we too have large numbers of disadvantaged and impoverished families. Those who have more always use overt or covert methods to suppress those who have less; and when the status quo is upset, many are willing to fight to the death to regain their previous advantages and social standing. I apologize for being so selfish and wanting more than most families in Iraq have. Right or wrong, I apologize for the manner in which my country has upset the balance of power in Iraq. If the God known as Allah, Father, and Yahweh exercised any control over the distribution of natural resources over the face of the planet, then one would have to conclude that He has forced all the inhabitants on earth to be interdependent in the struggle to survive. Trading relationships based on the need for energy has propelled us out of the agrarian subsistence farming cultures of ages past and it seems quite obvious that the Gods have favored countries other than the US with an abundant supply of this liquid black gold. Our use, allocation, and distribution of the planet�s limited resources, and how we manage the products of an industrialized world, demand cooperation and interdependence. Our mutual survival depends on successfully building and maintaining these relationships in an atmosphere of trust and hope. I am outraged at the visible destruction of your mosques, hospitals, schools, homes, and infrastructure in our zeal to root out those who are attempting to protect their families and way of life. I am very sad when I think about how hard it will be, and how long it will take your people, to rebuild their homes. Iraqis buried in mass graves will be remembered longer by their families than the visible reconstruction of your cities. I feel intensely sad about the mess your people find themselves in when the sun rises every day, and I apologize for not attempting to convince leaders of my country to pursue a more positive course of helpful interdependence. God challenges us to mature, abandon the tempestuous, undisciplined behavior of adolescence, and learn how to be kind to our neighbors at home and abroad. I mourn for all the families around the globe forever changed and damaged by conflicts that diminish their sense of hope. I feel ashamed by the darkness spread throughout your land by the American invasion, and my hope for the future is that countries of such diverse cultural beliefs could at least agree to search for ways to be mutually beneficial and cordially interdependent without devastating conflict and long-term damage to the environment. I carried a typewriter to Vietnam�not a gun�and instead of killing humans, I planted flowers and was awarded a Bronze Star medal for extending hope to others. I�ve seen the desert bloom and I fervently wish that the Iraqi people, in the darkness of wartime death, can find their way into the hopeful light of flowers once again blooming in springtime. I feel immensely sad that the leaders of my country seem not to remember the lessons learned by those who served in Vietnam and I apologize. �I�m sorry! I am very sorry! Mommy, I won�t do it again! Please mommy, stop whipping me! I�m really sorry!� Those are the words screamed out by a young boy while receiving a harsh whipping. I�m whipped! I wish I could speak for the leaders of my country and tell you, �Yes, we made a mistake and we won�t do it again in your country or anywhere else on the planet ever again.� They will have to speak for themselves and answer to the reality of history, not their dreams. Apologetically, Larry E. Park TheDreamer@OceansRest.com

New York City Teacher of the Year Turns Against the System

2005-08-04T12:38:23-08:00

Found @ http://perrymarshall.com/renaissance/gatto.htm New York City Teacher of the Year Turns Against the System John Taylor Gatto received the New York State Teacher of the Year award in 1990 and was named New York City Teacher of the Year in 1991. When the appointed evening arrived, Mr. Gatto appeared in the hotel ballroom before an audience of well-fed administrators and principals, and delivered his acceptance speech. It was that night that he publicly turned on them like a mongrel dog. �The only reason I received this award � the only reason I've been a great teacher for my students � is because I didn't do a single thing you told me to. I ignored your �standards,' I thwarted your bureaucracy and I taught unauthorized material. I filled out those forms that said the students were in their desks, when they were really taking horizon-expanding study trips. I had them read real books instead of those inane, dumbed-down textbooks of yours, I taught them real history instead of the porridge of revisionist pabulum you call 'social studies'. �Your bureaucracy is a mill that grinds up human beings and turns them into consumer fertilizer for a planned economy. Human potential erodes as hungry minds sit in listless boredom, and teachers operate without the tools they need, just so you guys can fill your administration buildings with cushy jobs and give contracts to your cherished vendors. �That's why most of our students can't read after 12 years of education � yes, even though it only takes 3 months to learn how to read. That's why most kids follow the herd into a bleak future instead of thinking for themselves. �I am officially turning in my resignation as of today.�

PostSecret

2005-07-31T18:54:55-08:00

http://postsecret.blogspot.com PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It's more artfully resonant, subversive, poignant, moving, unnerving and more personal, than Shakespeare or Picasso. Like Griffin and Sabine on a high-octane dose of reality.

Changing the National Emblem

2005-07-31T15:50:43-08:00

Found @ http://www.bant-shirts.com/thought-crime.htm The government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance. A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed. Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that.

Web stats & clairvoyance

2004-02-10T04:54:22-08:00

About a fifth of the way down the search keyword stats for synaptic.bc.ca (that is, the stats which let me know the keywords folks are using to find the site.) keyword hits % of total bombing 25 0 % president 25 0 % war 24 0 % 2004 24 0 % Hopefully that's just a weird coincidence, and not an indication of things to come? But it is a bit less subtle than reading tea leaves.

Carrying on.

2004-02-01T21:51:44-08:00

"Those who can carry themselves, carry others, until they can carry themselves" Kamau Daaood

Up Against a Wall

2004-01-30T18:02:56-08:00

As quoted in Bill Tieleman's Georgia Straight article, Libs Are Up Against a Wall, Jan. 29--Feb. 5, 2004 Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is awfully hard to get it back in. ~ H. R. Haldeman to John Dean. 1973

Most people want nothing to happen.

2004-01-10T11:27:24-08:00

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