"The blogger Billmon writes: "I don't know if it's a
byproduct of decades of excessive exposure to television,
the state of America's educational system, or something
in the water, but the ability of the average journalist
-- not to mention the average voter -- to remember things
that happened just a few short months ago appears to be
slipping into the abyss. "If this keeps up, we're going
to end up like the villagers in "One Hundred Years of
Solitude," who all contracted a rare form of jungle
amnesia, so virulent they were reduced to posting signs
on various objects -- 'I AM A COW. MILK ME' or
'I AM A GATE. OPEN ME' -- just so they could get on
with their daily lives.""

This is an excellent article, and this quote is spot-on.
The reason for the amnesia has been well studied. When
watching TV, the brain very quickly slips into Alpha
brainwave mode. Alpha brainwaves are associated with
daydreaming, not learning or analytical thought.

This has been even more extensively studied
by the advertising industry.

The site would not accept this link, so go to
http://www.leaonline.com
and do a search for: television+alpha

In fact television commercials are designed to speed
up the brainwaves at certain points. The brainwaves
are still in Alpha mode, but a little bit faster so
that people can at least remember the product.

For an excellent overview of TV and Alpha read this
Scientific American Article.

http://www.wu-wien.ac.at/usr/h99c/h9951826/television.PDF

Americans watch (on average) over 4 hours of TV a day.
This means that Americans are spending (on average) over
4 hours in Alpha Brainwave mode per day. And once you
stop watching for the day, your brain takes a little
while to completely leave the Alpha Brainwave state. That's
why after watching TV, people tend to feel sluggish and
apathetic.

That's why it is especially important for young children
to not watch TV as their brains are still forming.
There is evidence that these extended Alpha brainwave
sessions are especially harmful to the developing brain.
Before TV, human beings did not spend hours per day
zoned out in Alpha mode.

"The Plug-In Drug : Television, Computers, and Family Life"
by Marie Winn is an excellent book that describes the
issues and scientific research.

I agree with Mr. Schechter conclusion:
"A national curriculum, "Lessons From History," on the
teaching of the past realizes that this phenomenon
threatens democracy, warning, "Citizens without a common
memory, based on common historical studies, may lapse
into political amnesia, and be unable to protect freedom,
justice, and self-government during times of national crisis.
Citizens must understand that democracy is a process -- not
a finished product -- and that controversy and conflict are
essential to its success."

What is the solution?

I hope you will check out these sites, and be inspired
to give up TV. I guarantee that if you gave up TV you
would not regret it. It might be hard for the first week
or two, but after that you would not miss it all.
Plus, after a week or two, you would find yourself thinking
more clearing, and generally feeling more with it!

http://www.tvsmarter.com
http://www.trashyourtv.com/node
http://www.whitedot.org
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com
http://www.tvturnoff.org

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"More people vote for the best performer on American Idol than for our presidents."

This statement is false. People were allowed to vote multiple times for the American Idol champion. While the total number of votes cast may have been 60m, the number of unique voters was likely quite a bit less than that. To put this into perspective, over 120m ppl voted in the past presidential election. And not to mention the fact that many Americans are engaged politically, but refuse to vote for a variety of reasons.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This article is well written, but the content is just intellectual thumb-sucking. Social critics have been complaining for many centuries that modern folks too easily forget the past. I believe that's, like, a famous quote from one of those ancient Greeks. (I forget his name.)

Conservatives are especially prone to scolding the current generation to remember the past. The problem isn't remembering what happened, it's correctly and honestly interpreting those events.

For instance, some Americans remember the Vietnam War, but they remember it as a glorious cause in which the U.S. struggled to protect the democracy of a brave little nation against marauding totalitarian invaders.

That's one way to look at it, but it's overly simplistic and ultimately very wrong -- as was the U.S. role in the war.

So let's not be too quick to bemoan the fact that many people forget the past quickly. Instead, let's do a better job of helping them wisely intepret what's happening at the moment.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Computers were designed using research on human memory. Specifically short term and long term memory in people lead to RAM and Hard Drive memory in computers. Learning theories establised that short term memory is instant but to commit this information to long term memory there had to be some "schema" or pre-estaablished foundation to "fix" the memory to. For example remebering the difference between to types of cats would only become long term memory if there were already a schema that had basic characteristics of a cat, four feet, fur, ears, claws, whiskers, etc., already in place. Our culture is now based on short term memory and instant gratification which lacks not only historical reference (long term memory) but schema that enables us to transfer this short term memory to long term memory. Consider the inability of people to learn fundamental knowledge of the body, what food is best to eat and what physical activities are required for health, because the body is no longer considered important to be taught in standard school curriculum. The list goes on. But without long term memory the future cannot be clearly seen becasue short term memory last for about ten minutes. And yes the media bears most of the responsibility for this state of affairs as it has become the conduit for political and corporate institutions to manipulate attitudes, opinions and information. Lastly most Americans now live their lives in a cyberspace, television, cell phones, computers that are devoid of real face to face human interaction and real situations so any schema that is based on reality is being displaced by schema that reflects actors, script, superficial characters, idealized lifestyles and pathological narcissism.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"60 Minutes" often had some insightful, hard-hitting news stories. But they would always end the show with a sappy, stupid, barely funny, and always banal piece with Andy Rooney. By the time that was over, one had forgotten the news stories.
The message; "Don't worry. Be happy. Buy! Buy! Buy!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

When it comes to war, he is just like everyone else in the media that refuses to talk about our nation's history and how we are perceived around the world. This country has been slaughtering people around the world for over a century, (genocide if you include indigenous people). Yet, I don't here much from his camp about providing the honest, gut wrenching history of how this country, while keeping their own fat and happy, has gone on a campaign to expand the empire since annexation of Hawaii and the slaughter of innocents an creating of puppet governments since Spanish-American war (remember the Maine!). This is just one of many topics that any media refuse to expose with the exception of Bill Moyers.

There is no truth in media about the affects National Security Act of 1947 has had on the world, from the US running 3/4s of the world drug trade, regime change, support of installed puppet dictators and the killing of our own and razing entire countries. Ralph Mcgehee knows , as he was in the CIA for 25 years, but only Moyers has given him time (see http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html). There are several Ralph Mcgehee out there but none are supported by our media at any level. Since the creation of the NSA the US has been using banks, corporations, the NSA and the military to suck the economic life out of countries, kill "enemies" of capitalism by all means possible, and even kill our own to create chaos in an area marked for regime change.

How they do it:

1: get desired country hooked on money
Using economic hit men from large corporations and banks, promise funds to build up country for capitalism from IMF, World Bank, other banks and corporate financing. Once established, tell country that credit is bad and jack up interest rates and force monetary and idealogical concessions.

2: create Chaos from small armed sqirmishes to death squads that are financed, armed and trained by NSA (CIA and Defense special/black ops). NSA will start the slaughter to bring about ethnic tension through confusing killings, torture... Later, the US psychopaths will have trained local military/police units made up of the countries worst killer and ratchet up the killing.

3: add military operations to armed, divide and conquer chaos. If necessary, the military will make their presence on the ground and possibly permanent. Expect all illegal weapons use from cluster bombs, defoliation agents and napalm as well as new weapons of mass suffering such as depleted uranium, smaller cluster grenades...

Some people are shocked at what has happened and some don't think it is possible for the US to do so. However, any conflict that has involved the US has followed the same pattern for over a half a century. I would recommend to people to read what the structure of the National Security Act has done to the checks and balances of America and research what this group does.

The US knew damn well 9/11 was coming. Our leadership created the group we identify as freedom fighters back in the 1980s and primed it with over $5 billion, training and weapons. Does anyone with a brain think that the US wasn't keeping tabs on a group that we had financed and armed to the teeth?

America's leadership across the board has been moving toward the corporate control of world resources. If one want to know how expansive the American empire is, another excellent article listing US military occupation of other nations can be found on CounterPunch "America, Love It or Leave It" by Ben Tripp at www.counterpunch.org/tripp05202006.html. The US, in the minds of the corporate, military and government elite, is a nation of manifest destiny which is a far cry from the principles on which this nation was founded.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

1 ~ How to vote.

2 ~ What unions are for.

3 ~ What 'good goverment' is like.

4 ~ Yahoo Serious (in this case, a good thing!)

5 ~ The '90s (Entire decade.)

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Okay, here's a joke:

When one ages, short-term memory is the second thing to go.

Okay, now you're supposed to ask, "What's the _first_ thing?"

Then I say, "I can't remember."

Then everybody laughs, right?

Wrong. As many times as I have slipped this bit of humor into conversation, _no one_ has asked the requisite question. More often than not, people just nod their heads and agree with me, as if I had just made a well-known observation instead of a statement that begs a question. Does this mean anything? I admit it doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the main topic, but I thought I'd mention it before I forget it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This is an interesting essay and thread. I'll be thinking about several of these posts for a while, unless... what was I saying?... I forget...

Seriously though, what if the memory and intellectual capacity of the American public were suddenly 200% better. What would that fix? I'm guessing that Colin Powell is at least 200% better informed and a 200% better thinker than the average guy down at the bowling alley. Yet he stood up in front of the UN and made that god-awful speech on our way into Iraq. I guess I'm saying that there are many sources of error, poor information/memory being only one.

How about this: in our fantasy world where everyone is 200% smarter, would there not still be some people who were the best informed, the best edcuated, the best at stringing together ideas and nuggets of information into coherent-seeming narratives? We would simply have shifted the bell curve of mental acuity some distance along its horizontal axis. The shape of the curve would still be about the same. The "smart people" would still be found at the thin right-hand edge, and the "lumpen" would still be in that big lump in the middle. The exceptionally acute would still have the same frustrations with the average that we see in the world today.

Most people on this site are probably among the better educated and more mentally active in our society. Most probably enjoy that identity to some degree. But it does come with a sort of built-in Cassandra complex.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The function of propaganda in a democratic society - well, maybe Noam Chompsky is the person to read on this one, perhaps "Necessary Illusions". The illusions are necessary, because if the general public knew what our fearless leaders have actually been up to for the past few decades (if not longer), there would be a lynch mob chasing them down the street.

Propaganda works on different levels - lowbrow and highbrow, to use terms derived from 19th centruy social darwinists - but that's the mentality of the PR Korps: the posh and the prole.

If you want to whip up emotional fever among the masses, you want to work off of fear and anger: Take the Rambo movies - Rambo III, in particular: here is plot description from IMDB:

"Plot Summary for
Rambo III (1988)

John Rambo's former Vietnam superior, Colonel Samuel Trautman, has been assigned to lead a mission to help the Mujahedeen rebels who are fighting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but the Buddhist Rambo turns down Trautman's request that Rambo help out. When the mission goes belly up and Trautman is kidnapped and tortured by Russian Colonel Zaysen, Rambo launches a rescue effort and allies himself with the Mujahedeen rebels and gets their help in trying to rescue Trautman from Zaysen."

Now, these mujahedeen were the nucleus of the Taleban and major supporters of Osama bin Ladin (who was in Afghanistan, right)? These are the people that Ronald Reagan called 'Freedom Fighters' - he even invited them to the White House. Rumsfeld and Cheney were right in on this, too. Needless to say, you won't see this historical dynamic discussed on CNN, FOX, NPR, NYT, etc.

The propaganda targeted at the 'educated classes' is more subtle - gross emotional appeals are replaced by slick intellectual justifications that play on the notion of elitism -Thomas Friedman is a good example, with all his talk about the glories of neocolonial imperial policies, and absolutely no mention of the violent blowback that such policies always engender (the transformation of Osama and the mujahedeen from freedom fighters to 9/11 planners, for example). Note that Friedman never revisits his past proclamations - he just keeps going on into the glorious future, untroubled by the ridiculous statements made in the past, with no need to compare ideals to reality.

Similarly, the fact that Saddam was a US ally for years is just swept under the rug; the fact that he got his chemical and other weapons from US and European companies is not deemed to be suitable material for the domestic population. The History Channel is a good example of how this works; the "Rewritten History Channel" would be a better name. In the leadup to the Iraq invasion, Hitler was very prominently featured on that channel.. coincidence? Not.

Some people think that the US is a police state; that's not true. Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan are police states; we live in a propaganda state.

Writing to you from the age of the thought police.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

you so called liberals are constantly accusing me of being a conspiracy theorist when I say much the same things.

But it is not a conspiracy. And I am saying much the same thing in many of my posts. We are TABULA RASA every day with respect to our political culture. But we do all go to school and learn some political history, but that is limited to the history of the overclass and what they did.

Our political debate does not provide any context. Right here on Alternet I say the same thing about this over and over and over again--the Dems are attacking the GOP from a purportedly leftist stance, but they fail to provide any historical context to the accusations. The things that they accuse the GOP are, historically speaking, part of a pattern. But exposing that pattern exposes the true relationship between at the top and those at the bottom.

For example, the supposedly leftist democratic party and its affiliated online netroots are constantly attacking the Iraq war and the way propaganda was and is used to set it up.

But this is not new at all. All american wars have been set up the same way. In order for Americans to really appreciate your ideas, you need to hook them to a pattern of behavior. People can understand a pattern--it makes more sense to them. Otherwise, all the people see is "partisan politics." You political activists right here are quite guilty of this same thing. You endlessly attack Bush when you should really be attacking the overclass. Because you have failed to do so, you have lost credibility with most people.

One thing I want to point out with respect to "conspiracy theories", and we can use the topic of this article ("political amnesia is caused by The Powers That Be because it serves their purposes"). I agree with that thesis. However, an exploration of the mechanics of how that happens would be illuminative. Imagine the overclass as a filter that either rejects or accepts ideas that have political content. You might envision the overclass as environmental forces in an ecosystem (such as climate, food supply, parasites, etc). These forces allow some animal mutations to survive and flourish, while others are killed off. THe overclass kills of ideas that harm it. Thus the political amnesia.

Note that the American Left has consistently failed to put the crimes of the Bush Admin into context in American History (you continually fail to show how the Iraq War has parallels, and so many other things). So, I hypothesize that the American Left serves and is controlled by the Overclass. Occam's razor....

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

When an organism eats, drinks and breathes it is in the process's of renewel: biologically so. Industrialized humans have become lazy beasts in this process. That represents the 4 hours + of humans inert daydream inside the tubes= t.v., computer, even the worlds of paper (tree) print. Realizing how truly profound human capacities for remembering another person's face, even after many years of not either seeing that person or thinking of them. Yet, even though we may not recall the name we know we knew them. The point? Animals we are, Indeed Industrially/technotogically extended, yet, still animals.
That stated we can manipulate and be manipulated. See, the film Munich, for there we go back to the beginnings of 1970's and see a transformation in the relationships of the Isreali State from a spiritual perspective of being Righteous and forgiving to essentially terrorizers.(A big step towards the world we now perpetuate). Recall that murder is murder and that we as humans know emphatically the skill. Then at the end of the film Munich, we have the main character in deep wresting with his conscience about his murdering ways and the Twin Towers in the distance. Is there a point here? We are all deeply troubled creatures for we do murder and do so designfully for our spiritual make up has lost its memory. What is that spiritual make up? Not religion per say but, the abilities to allow the Other to be with respectfulness and what we call love, for our teckno-personhood has denuded our spirit to consumer, not unlike a machine that grinds wood into chips. We are the grand grinders of all things including our oxygen........
we don't remember how deep we can be due to the needs of those who prefer to show their greed and their so called power. Greed of all that is and Power over all the Others.
Is not that the examples that the present symbolic pictures are of these fools running the idea that once was America?
They have destroyed Others so their Others can drive bigger, more costly, status symbol Machines and at the same time destroying the very ideas of the founding fathers of this Nation. We need to individually reconstitute our memories! How? Eat clean non-industrially constituting foods. Allow the body to breath through activities such that it was designed to perform. Leave behind the life style of tv and find self to matter. As animals we can stare down the fools and abject murders amongst us once we make the realizations that life itself has no weight. Life itself has no weight, human societies: Huns, Romans, Americans et al have twisted our animal beauties to make us things and to then destroy things as we destroy our very natures. We as a species of life have taken ourself to a very real (ontological) brink and what and how we refresh ourselvs is by seeing ourselves. Mirror, mirror on the fall, will we hit the ground and smash it to smitherenes or will we simply allow Others to find the gaul to be in authentic creative realities? I REMEMBER WW2, KOREA, VIETNAM and I know that blood and sinuous matter, and hearts all lie in that ground we either drive on or sit on or spit on. Humans are animals and we can profoundly remember the faces of those we have not seen for many many years. Check it out! Check out the Self. Check out the Other. Lastly: Our uniqueness that differentiates us from all other forms of life is MIND. Mind sets us apart from all other life forms. And observe what we do with that phenomena. Excuse me I need to vomit.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Here's an example, an Alternet article on Enron that tries to slap that scandal entirely on President Bush. http://www.alternet.org/story/36692/?
cID=126772#c126772.

The Enron scandal, one of many go-go '90s scandals (was Bush President back then?), was most specifically aided by scandalous NONrevisions of accounting laws, that would have kept the big accounting firms out of business consulting. (Accounting firms, to get that business, were fatally tempted to make annual and quarterly reports into a pack of lies.) The revision was strongly recommended by the technocrats and more strongly opposed by the accounting industry... Who's Senatorial heavy lifter was, I believe, Corporate Demo Numero Uno Joseph Lieberman. Of course, B. Clinton didn't do a thing to get the important and right thing done in this little-noticed policy area.

Our country is in deep doo doo on many fronts. But a sure sign on this particular front is that nothing has been done about the scandal of accounting firms selling out their integrity to get those business consulting deals. Still happens, still messes up the books incredibly I'm sure...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

"Our obsessions with cultural memory can be read as re-representing a powerful reaction against the electronic archive, and they mark a shift in the way we live structures of temporality."

I guess I'm just stupid. What the h3ll does that mean? ('re-representing is a nonsense concept philosophically; instead how about re-rerepresenting? Or re-re-re-rerepresenting?)

When has muckraking (as practiced by most of what passes for journalism) (or its local version as gossip) ever led anywhere?

It's a whole lot simpler. The age of information is also the age of MISinformation--necessarily.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

That's an interesting article and I so enjoy a good Bible-thumping sermon from over here in the choir (speaking meataphorically of course).

And I do see the value in spurring good debate, which from reading the comments, this article has accomplished.

But I'm still left wanting. What's the solution? Should we on the left, or libertarian left, or anarchistic left, or whatever your predisposition get off our our duffs and actually do something?

And by 'do something' I mean besides post on blogs. If we're really ready to tackle this problem, I think it means we need to become history teachers, or change careers and get into journalism or something like that. If you're already in journalism, maybe take some risks with your career and start trying to slip some important historical context into your work.

I like to gripe and moan about the state of the world as much as the next guy (or gal), but eventually you need to do something or you lose your right to complain.

So what are some possible solutions to the problem?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Hundreds of individuals plan our lives and deaths for 50-100 years to advance their agenda through economic and war profits.
They achieve this by planning confusion, disorganization, and distracting the masses. This is conducted by disengaging our minds; sabotaging our mental activities; logic, systems, through low-quality programs of public education in mathematics, history, religion, thru- (MEDIA, SCHOOLS, ENTERTAINMENT). Reference: Operation Research Technical Manual TM-SW 7905.1 (May 1979) #74-1120 from `Behold A Pale Horse' pp. 36-67 by Milton William Cooper
"It was not my intention to doubt that the doctrines of the Illuminati, and the principals of Jacobinism, had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more fully satisfied of this fact than I am". President George Washington in AN 1782 letter.
President Woodrow Wilson; " there is a power so organized, so subtle, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it"
Prepare yourself to surrender or fight to the death people of the U.S, the police state and new Tyrants of greed and Slavery have planned this for over 200 years.
Start your research of the laws of these tyrants in Congress, you will find our Constitution was destroyed years ago.
Do we really believe that our Congress represents, We The People?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have a suggestion which is not original and may be widely practiced for all I know. When I was in college (a long time ago) each student was required to pick a current topic in the newspaper. We each had to follow that topic and keep a journal of the events of each day and make a prediction of the course the story would take. I was surprised that in one or two weeks I really had a handle on it and I could actually predict what would happen a day, a week, or a month in advance.

Although I was impressed with the results of this excercise I abandoned it at the first opportunity. I have always intended to resume the practice but never have.

I would suggest that anyone could benefit by doing this for several news threads, keeping a seperate journal for each thread. Something important doesn't happen every day in each thread but when something does happen you can review your thread and tie the new event in place and spot trends etc. You would probably also know whether or not it is relevent to other threads and so note it if it were.

With the tremendous capacity of today's computers one could probably track several threads putting them in folders and sub folders and each month or each year putting the accumulated data in external disks.

Today I resolve to start my journals.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Look up the ancient emblem of Janus -- nowadays, one side has closed eyes.... guess which one?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The best and most valuable memorial to those who have died in service to our nation is a vibrant democracy. Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Marines don't serve & fight for flag, god or country-- they fight for the future of their loved ones at home. Like everyone else they want their families and friends to live in a peaceful world with an opportunity for a better life. Like everybody else they value their privacy and other civil liberties. I know because I served--fortunately in a more peaceful time.

The very people sending our troops in harm's way have made a mockery of all that these people hold, or will hold, dear in life. Most of America has or is awakening to the reality that we have been conned from day one. We had no business going into Iraq and no just cause. The people sending them are not in harm's way and few of their children serve. The common people that this bunch has screwed 10 ways from sunday are the ones paying the price-- today & tomorrow. Today in lives, separation and pain. Tomorrow under the crushing burden of an almost $10 trillion debt.

It's enough to make me want to throw up.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The US mass media ldoesn't allow information such as that al-Qaida in Iraq roamed from Fallujah to Ramadi and that the Shiite dominated new Iraqi parliament is diddling with Ramadi as they can’t bear the catastrophe which will surely ensue. It will eventually occur though, so who knows what the right course is?

As far as W is concerned he got his 2002 mid-term election votes, so he doesn’t care.

On NPR’s Morning Edition of May 31, 2006, in the segment labeled “Insurgency Finds Success in Ramadi”, Bing West, a former assistant secretary of defense and former Marine, talked with Steve Inskeep about the efforts against insurgents in Ramadi. West stated that when the US attacked Fallujah the insurgents migrated from there to Ramadi. Once in Ramadi the insurgents gradually killed huge quantities of the Sunni sheiks.

Now, the insurgents control Ramadi and it is just a matter of time, Bing West says, until the Shiite dominated new Iraqi parliament gives the okay to the US military to attack the insurgents again, this time in Ramadi. Just like guerrilla warfare participants have throughout history, blended into the local population, just as our forefathers did so many years ago, so will this al-Qaida in Iraq group. Who knows where they will pop up next?

The article “U.S. Will Reinforce Troops in West Iraq” substantiates Bing West’s forecast of an impending invasion of Ramadi. Let’s pray that the US doesn’t decimate the city as much as they did Fallujah.

Wherever they go, like Mary and her sheep, something would surely follow the insurgents. W has distorted reality with this, the first time in the history of the US, pre-emptive war. It started from the diseased psyche of the fool who believes he was appointed by God on his “Crusade” in his macabre “everlasting war against terrorism”. In W’s sick perversion of logic, this horrible, illegal war, what follows is devastation and destruction, for the poor lambs who are ensnared in W’s nightmare fable of war. When you remember that Andrew Card admitted that the Iraq war was timed to gain the GOP votes in the 2002 mid-term election, and you realize that the rationale for it, the WMD, the “imminent threat”, the Hussein and bin laden connection—were all phony, then you realize that W used it as a diabolical fantasy, and it turned into a horror story, used to terrorize red staters and convince them only he, big bro 43, could protect them from our phantom enemies, the vaguely defined those who “are against us”, the extremist Islamic jihadists. Only W, our extremist Christian fanatic, the fool who with the Armageddon complex” with his base of “Rapture” believing GOP goons, could start a pre-emptive war! The “Rapture” adherents believe that the coming Middle East Apocalypse forecasts their Ascension to Heaven. Trouble is that their evidence, as detailed in the Bible’s Revelations--which are purely fantasy according to all Christian scholars, is a specious as W’s reason for the Iraq war.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]