is mr. loughner on board?

in the US paradise of resentment and righteous indignation, arizona, they have a problem with the tucson shooter "suspect," one jared lee loughner:

"TUCSON - A federal judge on Wednesday ordered Jared Loughner to undergo a psychological evaluation to determine his competency to stand trial, laying aside defense concerns that it might endanger the developing relationship between the man accused in the Tucson-area shooting and his lawyer.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst cited the apparent distrust of government by Loughner, his concerns that the FBI and CIA were monitoring him, and a possibility that he was hearing voices as reasons for immediate evaluation.

U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns agreed, saying he did not want to continue toward trial 'until I'm assured that Mr. Loughner is on board.'" Judge orders mental exam for Loughner

after considerable wind has been expended in trying to characterize mr. loughner as either a right-wing or left-wing extremist (aka, nut), we have actually come to the crux of the matter:

has he simply become unglued from the surly bonds of reality?

as it was spectators/witnesses who had to wrest the weapon from his hand, there's not much doubt that he's responsible for the crime(s). the question is, is he responsible for himself? does it depend on our rhetoric about how we define jared lee loughner?

the loopy videos he produced in the period leading up to his assasination attempt reveal the typical unhinged american -- shunned, cast aside, ignored. our self-reliance mythology pertains equally to billionaires and wayward loonies equally. you make out the best you can, and don't expect my help!

we americans are doing god's work, nowhere near as well as when we're heavily armed.

now make popcorn for next hilarious episode in this nauseating spectacle: the restoration of mr. lougher's "competency."

one of the more inscrutable notions in our version of law is this idea that if someone was apeshit crazy -- i mean totally bananas, cruising on an asteroid off the coast of neptune -- if you can be brought back to your senses (or at least sedated enough to sit quietly and not swing from the light fixtures), you can then be tried, found guilty and be fried.

this ranks right up there with suicide watch for death row inmates, wouldn't you say? wouldn't want to deprive the state department of retribution services the opportunity to practice the art of killing -- at which the victim proved to be so much less clinical, sterile and civilized.

is mr. loughner on board? and if not, then why is he smiling?

hacking tale shows US government out to lunch

check out this incredible, appalling article from businessweek mag. if you thought that bradley manning and wikileaks were some kind of treat to US national security, you ain't seen nothing yet!

Hacking of DuPont, J&J, GE Were Undisclosed Google-Type Attacks - Businessweek

when anonymous hacked HBGary's e-mails and published 60,000 pieces online, among the revelations were huge attacks against some of the US' biggest, best-known corporations -- you might call 'em the crown jewels. and as the story goes to great lengths to stress, most companies keep successful intrusion private if they can.

to put it into perspective, how about this from a US senator:

“We are on the losing end of the biggest transfer of wealth through theft and piracy in the history of the planet,” said Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who chaired a U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence task force on U.S. cyber security in 2010. Its classified report addressed weaknesses in network security.


some names of the targets: Walt Disney Co., Sony Corp., Johnson & Johnson, and GE. earlier, bloomberg dug out more victims' names:  Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon Oil Corp, as well as Morgan Stanley. and, of course, this follows the theft of trade secrets from google last year, too -- lost to the same mysterious forces. to show how callow and clueless the american corporate powers are about their challengers in the 21st century, we learn how dupont got punked:


Earlier, a DuPont internal investigation had discovered that some of its computers were implanted with spyware during a business trip to China where the PC’s were stored in a hotel safe, according to a Feb. 4, 2010, e-mail by HBGary’s Rich Cummings.


while the "white hats" are trying to catch the bad guys:

“I’ve been battling with APT for the last 6 months,” Matthew Babcock, an employee of the CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a health insurance provider in Maryland and Washington, wrote in an e-mail to HBGary investigators as he sought help with the intrusion. APT refers to an “advanced persistent threat,” a sophisticated form of hacking that is difficult to identify and remedy.

it doesn't seem as if they're even much of a challenge to the chinese -- and russians -- who are pilfering their secrets:

Security experts say that the hackers’ techniques now surpass the ability of even the most sophisticated companies to catch them easily. The e-mails show that hackers routinely bypassed firewalls with so-called spear-fishing e-mails that target executives, tricking the companies’ own employees into downloading malicious software and infecting their own networks.

DARPA and the US research labs may have invented the internet, but the US government appears to have lost control over it, and now there's an army or two of talented and well-equipped hackers out there who operate more or less with impunity.

all of which brings us back to bradley manning and wikileaks.

you'd think from all the press attention at the height of the wikileaks explosion in the world's press, as well as the subsequent inhumane detention and treatment of PFC manning, that the cache of secrets unveiled for the world's inspection was the result of the breach of iron-clad security systems guarding the nation's most closely held intelligence.

to read the government's response was to be showered with overwrought hang-wringing at the breach of a super-sensitive intelligence goldmine, while the perpetrators -- manning and assange -- cast as super-villains and master hackers overwhelming the nation's defenses in a most nefarious and stealthy manner. you would've thought they were on a par with genocidal maniacs and the most detestable war criminals.

read the businessweek story, however, and you soon come to realize that SIPRNet, the network manning had access to, was probably no challenge at all to the chinese hackers. if there are any secrets worth knowing on US government networks, there's no doubt in my mind that the chinese and other interested nations or groups have found it no challenge to help themselves to it. hell, manning's security clearance is held by a couple of million other people within the US military-industrial complex -- as well as selected allies -- so it isn't as though any of it is what you'd call closely held.

the government, however, persists in persecuting a select few troublemakers who go to the trouble of exposing "secrets" that will embarrass politicians and others involved in advancing the business interests of the ruling oligarchy. these "secrets" are probably well known to governments around the world -- after all, why bother to setup a complex criminal hacking enterprise, if not to sell the secrets uncovered? -- so the US government protests too much on that score.

what really galls them, and  has led to the vendetta against the leakers and leaks from wikileaks, is the audacity shown by the perpetrators in attempting to air the US government's dirty laundry in public around the world. that carefully crafted public image that hillary clinton recently alluded to, in her remarks requesting more money for state department propaganda, has taken a beating at the very same time when the US is besieged by challenges on all sides -- puppet regimes falling, economy collapsing, challengers for global status and power arising while popular unrest simmers in the homeland.

it's a tough time to be selling a defective product to a skeptical world. the last thing the US needs is someone showing the world how cynical, two-faced and cheaply manipulative the US government is in its dealings with the rest of the planet.

at the same time, as is standard operating procedure, we take on the enemies we know we can lick -- like saddam, or julian assange -- while the challenges we don't have the courage to face are swept under the rug, and left to blow up in our faces at a later date.

religion is for fucking idiots

looks as if the lid is about to blow off in egypt, where just recently peaceful demonstrators were able to turn out the dictator mubarak.

"Clashes that broke out when a Muslim mob attacked thousands of Christians protesting the burning of a Cairo church killed at least 13 people and wounded about 140, officials said Wednesday.
The Muslims torched the church amid an escalation of tensions over a love affair between a Muslim and a Christian that set off a violent feud between the couple's families.
The officials said all 13 fatalities died of gunshot wounds." KansasCity.com

after a remarkably peaceful revolution, the ugly head of religious sectarianism rears up in all it's hideous glory. what more timely opportunity to blame the troubles in MENA on islamofascists, and legitimize a crackdown by a US-backed authoritarian regime?

it's almost like clockwork, but then, that's what the CIA does best: infiltrate local groups, and use them to foment violence. the violence, then, can be leveraged to cause a counter-revolt or coup. it's a tried-and-true way to gain control of a country before the locals even catch on to what's afoot.

you can see the west's interest in getting involved in libya in a similar light. the western powers, in defense of their financial interests, will infiltrate the "rebels" with an eye to advancing the prospects of the players most likely to accept financial inducements to enrich themselves and screw over the rest of the nation.

poor devils!

when the revolution comes to the USA, i wonder how the game will be played here...

what do these stupid people know?

rep. peter king, a new york republican, is holding congressional hearings to investigate radicalism among american muslims. if there was any evidence needed to support the ex-NPR executive's characterization of the tea party as being racist and xenophobic, this would be exhibit A. now we have evidence that the american public generally is suffering from a case of fecal vomiting, as they give their opinion about whether the hearings are "appropriate". to wit:

"The new poll finds that 52% of Americans feel the hearing is appropriate, while only 38% believe the hearing is inappropriate. Another 10% of Americans have no opinion.
The poll also found that more Americans think Muslims living in America are committed to their religion than think they are supportive of the United States. While 53% of Americans feel Muslims are supportive of the United States, 82% believe they are committed to their religious beliefs." USATODAY.com

i always find it a little hard to fathom how anyone could be the least bit interested in the opinions of people who make no effort to inform themselves. in other words, why should we care if a bunch of ignorant, bigoted slobs has an opinion about something they know nothing about? if you want off-the-cuff analysis by self-centered buffoon, just tune in to FOX news any day of the week, and they'll fill you in on what mindless nincompoops will be saying after they've been told what to think.

it will come as a big surprise, no doubt, that the level of right-wing "extremism" far exceeds the level of muslim terror in the US. unfortunately for the reality-based community, it has been decreed that a white, christian person cannot be a terrorist, and any groups they belong to also cannot possibly commit or advocate terrorism. we've seen this denial of reality repeated numerous times in the press, while the southern poverty law center keeps a running tally of these groups and others chronicle the terrorist acts of fundamentalist, constitutionalist and fascist individuals and organizations.

so why so interested in muslims? well, the US has waged war on islam as an excuse to dominate the planet's energy resources for over a decade now. how better to keep flagging enthusiasm for the wars percolating than to constantly stoke the fires of hatred and resentment -- even in the absence of any evidence of a threat? as it turns out, rather than inciting violence, muslim congregations have actually turned in troublemakers to the FBI -- only to find out the instigators were FBI informants! so peter king is only doing his duty as a butt-boy for the war machine, the poster boy for an all-american witch hunt...

i'll say it again: i have no particular love for any religious doctrine or creed, but i wouldn't compel anyone to agree with me, or cast aspersions on anyone for religious convictions -- unless, or until, they try to foist their beliefs on me. i'd be more inclined to suspect the christians of this kind of bullying of conscience before i'd put it past muslims. for what it's worth, the fundies and evangelical bible-thumpers are the real threat.

why isn't anyone holding hearings on whether the christian right is more supportive of their religion than the constitution?

bullshit is as bullshit does

where to start picking apart the recent manufactured "controversy" about an NPR exec calling the tea party racist and xenophobic? the same video hitman that slimed ACORN with an "undercover" chop job supposedly got the goods on the NPR exec, proving the network has a "liberal bias." from today's USA today:

"NPR says it has placed Ronald Schiller on administrative leave, after a secretly taped video released today shows the advertising executive denigrating Tea Party supporters and calling them 'racist.'
Among other things, Schiller also said the news outlet 'would be better off in the long run without federal funding.' He says several times that he is giving his personal views." USATODAY.com

in the first place, this dude is an advertising exec, not the president or CEO, so as pertains to matters of policy he has no power -- giving his "personal views" only.

in the second, what the fuck is wrong with giving your personal views? should schiller have been more "circumspect" about offering his opinions? i flinch at the notion that we ought to hold our tongues every time a controversial subject comes up for discussion. silence is usually equated with assent. if more of us were to speak up about things we believe, this society might not be so in thrall to corporate interests who fund efforts like this.

if you roll over to washingtonsblog.com, you'll see him discussing how the human mind works, and how opinion and belief is formed. one of the most prominent findings he reports is that people run with the herd. the mass media has been neutered by the right, and has taken to suppressing any honest talk about the fringe groups that the GOP rolls out on behalf of the oligarchs. they ARE racist, and they ARE xenophobic, not because the oligarchs are, but because that's how they sell their agenda to ignorant and vulnerable american losers.

it has always been a contention of mine that the right is basically dishonest and weak. they can't voice what they truly believe, so they talk in code and run a defense of offense against their victims. it's not the tea party that's racist; it's obama who hates white people, according to their prophet glenn beck. they're still flogging the same welfare queen that ronnie ray-gun sodomized in 1980, and it's lazy, undeserving foreigners and islamofascists who are threatening their cozy existence.

i'm not defending NPR, as its as safe as milk and as deferential as can be to its corporate overlords and the DC establishment's consensus opinions. still, it's a little slower and less less hyped than "commercial" BS-casters --not to mention its audience dwarfs the radio boobs like beck and limbaugh. if they were smart, they'd forget about that 2 percent of their budget that comes from the feds, and consider turning "honest" (meaning that they serve their audience rather than the oligarchy).

but look at these video "exposes" for what they are: crude attempts to silence any voice that runs contrary to the corporatist agenda that lies at the heart of all this pandering to the far right. you never see these gasbags take on the corrupt bankers and corporate hogs at the federal trough. they aren't trying to shut down the wasteful and pointless foreign adventures of the military-industrial complex. instead, they're still dogging out the "welfare queens" that reagan conjured all those decades ago -- flogging a dead figment of their imaginations.

why aren't the tea baggers honest enough to own up to their own pinched, constipated world view? why not just come out and say, we hate niggers, we hate jews, we hate foreigners? why can't they just admit how they feel, instead of projecting it on others? its a cowardly habit, and if they're so convinced of the righteousness and truthfulness of what they preach, why not just say so?

i for one am tired of waiting for them to be as upfront about their hatreds and resentments as the forebears of their movement -- and by that i'm not talking about the guys in tri-corner hats. i'm thinking nuremberg 1936, hitler hitting his stride and amping up for war and the final solution... isn't this the true ideal of the tea party movement, and not the mushy, pseudo-nostalgia for the "founders" that we always get pounded over the head with?

when it comes to founders, i think they mean flounders -- the fish and the state of the working class in america, which is taking a beating at the hands of these well-financed conspiracies to stifle any semblance of participatory democracy.

suck me dry!

i guess the israeli political establishment is so accustomed to getting its way with uncle sam, it's nothing to pull on his pantleg and ask for another handout:

"Israel may request an addition $20 billion in military aid from the United States in light of the unrest sweeping the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday." Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

i suppose they do have a bit of awareness of the precariousness of the budgetary situation playing out in DC these days, but obviously don't think that -- however it plays out -- there is no net loss for the likudnik state.

i admire their cockiness. what other country so completely manipulates its larger, more powerful patron with such impunity? for decades israeli politicians have been digging themselves into a hole vis a vis their arab neighbors, thumbing their noses at their neighbors and the greater international community, and spurning any gestures of accommodation or compromise.

instead, they've proceeded in complete confidence in the US flexing its veto muscle in the UN security council, and putting up ever larger sums of money when the israeli government won't shut up and try to work with its neighbors.

the regional order may be collapsing around them, and its patron may be gradually losing its grip over the oil autocrats that have guaranteed the US hegemony of the world's oil heartland, but israel always holds a couple of cards up its sleeve, just in case.

in particular, it can blackmail uncle sam with threats to attack iran, which would oblige uncle sam to join in the fray and destroy any remaining vestige of US relevance as a world power. this alone should be more than enough to ensure washington's compliance with israeli's request for yet another small donation...

why do they hate us? for the money, fool!

i'm not too crazy about religion in general, but when it comes to hate-filled spew from self-appointed messengers of divine truth -- unearthed from the gutter -- i reserve a special loathing for that.

in this spirit, i came across a profile of a particularly nasty, lying scumbag in the new york times -- a fraud selling a fake message under an assumed name, otherwise known as "brigitte gabriel."

you can read about the spewing filth from this wretched gasbag here, and its a story of intellectual destitution and conniving opportunists making a marriage of convenience -- all in the pursuit of profit.

ms. gabriel, in the most illuminating section of the story, was paid $180,000 for her anti-islam rants. as an understudy and minion of pat robertson, she learned well the power of religious charlatans over their weak-minded devotees.

it's a given in this "work" that demonizing (literally) members of other sects can be parlayed into a very lucrative hysteria trade -- with TV appearances, books, lecture opportunities, board memberships... the works.

ms. gabriel has a story of hopelessness as a youth in lebanon, being caught up in sectarian turmoil, only to be redeemed by the munificent israelis, and their big-daddy backers in the USA. her story may resonate with those whose minds only work on the surface appearance of things, but if one wants to get a more rounded veiw of lebanon's sorrows, the role of israel should not be neglected.

instead, islam and more particularly the invented version of the faith dubbed "islamofascism" is the alpha and omega of gabriel's omlette of history. the islamists want to take over america and impose sharia law. this the pretenders know on the highest authority -- a twisted, anecdotal compendium of self-serving trash concocted to instill fear in people who respond to cognitive dissonance in their world by resorting to magical thinking.

gabriel and her fellow travelers in the right-wing hate-cultivation racket are raking in bundles of cash by pushing a thoroughly discredited version of reality through the uncritical media, and straight into the rodent brains of their legion of followers.

hate is an industry as well as a world view. the purveyors of this hate, while targeting groups who don't even realize their non-ideology and non-intentions are under assault, are actually demonstrating their contempt for their audiences, their followers. deliberately feeding people stinking refuse and declaring it gospel is a most arrogant and hateful thing -- "i swear to you that the muslim world wants to put you under its domination." what a load of unmitigated horseshit!

my question to ms. gabriel and her coterie of lie-spewing manipulators is, why do you hate us? and to the readers, why do they hate us? is it for our freedom? the class dunce who premised a war against islam on this infantile proposition would have immediately have realized what the whole point was:

they don't hate us, but we have to be made to hate them because it's good for business!