Gulf of Tonkin 2

[daniel]

It is an interesting moment, isn't it?

Nobody seems to want this war except Bush, Cheney, and the four or five psychotic billionaires who fund all of the Right Wing think tanks and are intent on turning the US into a new Fourth Reich. So what are they going to do?

Why, it must be time for another "Inciting Incident."

So what is it going to be?

Mailed "Iraqi" anthrax in Seattle with "Allah is great" scrawled on the envelope again?

A "dirty bomb" in downtown Miami?

And when is it going to strike?

Perhaps the day before the new "Patriot Act 2" arrives on the floor of congress, surgically removing another layer of our protection from searches, seizures, and executions?

Anyone willing to play this guessing game with me?

[whitewave]

I just read on the front page of USA Today (yesterday or today's issue) that Americans are warned to stock up on three days' supply of food, medicine, water, duct tape and plastic sheets to cover our windows since we are on high alert for the likelihood of a chemical attack to coincide with the end of the five day Haj in Saudi Arabia. What sick minds are feeding us this vision of hatred and fear? It seems to me that the pilgrimage to the birthplace of Mohammed taking place right now could be a time to transcend fear as it is one of the holiest events in a Muslim's life. It seems obvious to me that the media is controlled by the psychotic billionaires Daniel mentioned in his post. My question is, has anyone out there noticed anyone taping up their windows and stockpiling food? (Anyone besides doomsday cults in Idaho) Granted, I live on an island where we feel protected to some extent, but I have not seen anyone in the panicked state which the media is trying to induce.

[sidecross]

Originally posted by whitewave:
I just read on the front page of USA Today (yesterday or today's issue) that Americans are warned to stock up on three days' supply of food, medicine, water, duct tape and plastic sheets to cover our windows since we are on high alert for the likelihood of a chemical attack to coincide with the end of the five day Haj in Saudi Arabia. What sick minds are feeding us this vision of hatred and fear? It seems to me that the pilgrimage to the birthplace of Mohammed taking place right now could be a time to transcend fear as it is one of the holiest events in a Muslim's life. It seems obvious to me that the media is controlled by the psychotic billionaires Daniel mentioned in his post. My question is, has anyone out there noticed anyone taping up their windows and stockpiling food? (Anyone besides doomsday cults in Idaho) Granted, I live on an island where we feel protected to some extent, but I have not seen anyone in the panicked state which the media is trying to induce.The warning conveniently forgot to mention a 6 gallon bucket to shit and piss in while waiting three days in your sealed up safety room.

They seem to be handling this, as if it is a film script, and editing out what does not feed on the dramatic.

[michael heany]

I don't buy the notion that the war on Iraq is going to make the nation any less safe. They're coming anyway, and it's only a matter of time before the next attack is on our soil.

Our nation will have to change. Our constitution was written at a time when there was no notion of a small disaffected group being able to create anarchy overnight with a well-placed biological agent. Do you believe the document they gave us would be the same if they were faced with such a threat?

Bush is only putting into effect measures that will be done after the next attack. And intensified. Maybe it will be impossible to fend off full-scale anarchy; maybe terrorists are on the verge of a really disstabilizing attack. But to believe our freedoms aren't going to have to be curtailed is to believe Sept 11. was just an anomaly.

[daniel]

Hi Michael,

Good to hear from you again, though I am afraid I disagree completely with the content of your message.

First of all, recall Benjamin Franklin's quote (I may be paraphrasing): "Those who sacrifice liberty for security will get neither." Don't just recall it - but meditate for a little on why this must be so. Don't accept the lies and distortions of the media and the government.

Second of all, so far the only culprit of a biological attack on US soil seems to be an American renegade. Or do you believe that Iraqi agents scrawled "ALLAH IS GREAT" on the packages of anthrax and sent them to Daeschle and the NY Times right before the vote for Patriot Act 1, which nobody in Congress actually read in the ensuing frenzy?

As for "9-11", there are some very interesting "alternative" websites where you might find a mass of informaion that would give you pause, if you cared to take the time to do the research for yourself.

I hate to tell you this, michael, but the terrorists that we truly have to worry about are the ones running our government.

[PuristLove]

I would rather die than live in a world where freedoms are curtailed for safety. I'd rather everyone die than that occur.

[Charlie]

I think this administration has an incredibly misguided approach to just about every major problem facing the U.S.—economically (deficit spending), environmentally (reduced spending) and foreign affairs (you’re with us or against us). Instead of a Homeland Security Act, which aims to build an electronic fence around the U.S, and is rapidly creating a Big Brother that will have the power to snoop on all of us anytime it pleases, why not create an Agency of Cultural Awareness? This agency would explore the animosity generated in some countries against Mass Consumerism, invite and encourage more modern, intellectual interpretations of holy books like the Koran, and try to find common ground with foreign ideas and concepts rather than shove the American flag down foreigner’s throats.

How I long for the days when the worst thing a President did was get a blowjob from one of his aides.

[daniel]

To me, Clinton and Bush are flipsides of the US - and the modern world's - dilemma. They show two aspects of paralyzed adolescence. Clinton represented groping adolescent sexuality, Bush embodies adolescent aggression and smirking sadism.

Basically, our entire culture is frozen in an adolescent state. To reach adulthood would be to accept responsibility for our actions and to learn to control our impulses. Each of us knows how difficult it is to achieve either of those goals.

The US is threatened with terrorism because we are 5% of the world's population consuming 25% of the world's nonrenewable energy and, by some accounts, 40% of the world's resources. At the present time, 400 billionaires control as much wealth as 1/2 to 2/3rd of the world's population. If wealth was distributed equitably, the threat of terrorism would disappear.

[sidecross]

To be precise, the Benjamin Franklin quote is "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." I have used his words when talking to hand wringers about the governments planned TIA program and other national security issues.

With rocket launchers, tanks, machine gun toting security forces, circling helicopters, and fighter jets patrolling the skies, this all seems to have the flavor of an old 50's'B rated science fiction movie of an alien attack from an unknown source.

What fails to make the news at the end of each day is 33,000 children, world wide, will die under the age of 12 due to starvation; this is the current UN figure released a few months back.

Human history is full of atrocity. We only have to look at U.S. history to learn of two million indigenous peoples killed by our greed and the legal use of slavery. Jim Crow was not a pretty picture, and the list goes on and on.

We sleep in the bed we have made.

[Proteus]

i wish we were all being paranoid. Even the most generous rationalization i can make for the "Patriot Act" and the department of Homeland Security is that in times of crisis people, especially conservative people, clamp down of freedoms because they distrust liberty in the first place--often seeing bad times as punishment for too much license in good times. But i don't feel like being generous. i think the "best-case" scenario is that the wealthy, aged, and powerful that paid for the government we have have cynically seized on 9-11 to gut important due process rules, make invasion of privacy both easier and seemingly patriotic, and to create a new agency that will do just what it says i wants to do: coordinate the intelligence efforts of all the various national security and criminal investigations operations. At best (and it's not good at all), the dinosaurs from the Regan and Bush Sr. administrations are taking the long view to a time when the threat of international terror groups is low, but these new tools can be directed to winning the "wars" on drugs and crime and keeping tabs on those with dissident view points. So, it could be old-fashioned cynicism. But i'm willing to buy that the Anthrax scare was a tactic used by the "Archons" to improve their grip on power as well.

Here's an interesting factoid for those who think that Bush's hard-on for Saddam is about anything other than securing one of the world's last big oil reserves for the US--with the side benefit of building the Panopticon stateside. Guess who held the biggest contracts for oil prospecting and processing prior to the Gulf War? France and Russia. Guess who the firmest opponents of war with Iraq on the UN security council are? Right. France and Russia. You don't think that they know that if the US leads an invasion force into Iraq that their long-suspended contracts will be void and all rights to the oil will be under US control do you?

All of this for a resource that's going to be gone in my lifetime. And we won't even use this oil to soften the inevitable crash when the power grid shuts down; we'll just keep pumping it into our over-sized Bitch Boxes until the last drop is gone. And wonder all the way to Armeggedon why those "crazies" in the third world hate us so much.

[paul]

all,
within the sufi tradition its beleived that any war on this physical plane is a reflection of conflict on the higher planes.

could all this be about frequencies?

certain people who are sitting pretty (bush n all)trying to lower the vibrational rate thru the propogation of fear n hatred?

[dragonfly]

CIA 'Sabotaged Inspections and Hid Weapons Details'
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Independent UK

Friday 14 February 2003

Senior democrats have accused the CIA of sabotaging weapons inspections in Iraq by refusing to co-operate fully with the UN and withholding crucial information about Saddam Hussein's arsenal.

Led by Senator Carl Levin, the Democrats accused the CIA of making an assessment that the inspections were unlikely to be a success and then ensuring they would not be. They have accused the CIA director of lying about what information on the suspected location of weapons of mass destruction had been passed on.

The row is of heightened significance given the Bush administration's preparations to argue later today before the UN Security Council that the inspections have run their course and it is now time to move to military action.

France, Russia, Germany and other members of the Security Council are likely to back a counter-proposal to increase the number of inspectors, providing them, if necessary, with the support of armed UN soldiers, as a means of avoiding a military strike.

The accusation of US sabotage emerged from a series of Senate hearings on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, George Tenet, the CIA director, told the armed services committee panel that the agency had provided the UN inspectors with all the information it had on "high" and "moderate" interest locations inside Iraq -- those sites where there was a possibility of finding banned weapons. But Mr Tenet later told a different panel that he had been mistaken and that there were in fact "a handful" of locations the UN inspectors may not have known about.

Senator Levin, from Michigan, responded by saying the CIA director had not been telling the truth. Citing a number of classified letters he had obtained from the agency, he said it was clear the CIA had not shared information with the inspectors about a "large number of sites of significant value".

He said the CIA had told him additional information would be passed to the inspectors within the next few days.

Mr Levin pushed Mr Tenet on whether he thought the inspections had any value. The CIA director replied: "Unless [President Saddam] provides the data to build on, provides the access, provides the unfettered access that he's supposed to, provides us with surveillance capability, there is little chance you're going to find weapons of mass destruction under the rubric he's created inside the country ... The inspectors have been put in a very difficult position by his behaviour.

Mr Levin said later he believed the CIA had, in effect, taken the decision to undermine the inspections. "When they've taken the position that inspections are useless, they are bound to fail," he told The Washington Post. "We have undermined the inspectors."

Mr Levin has raised his concerns with the White House. In a letter to President Bush, the senator asked that America provide the inspectors with as much information as available.

He wrote: "The American people want the inspections to proceed, want the United States to share the information we have with the UN inspectors and want us to obtain United Nations support before military action is used against Iraq."

[michael heany]

As far as giving up essential liberty for protection, this is what we all do when we agree to live in civilization. I don't believe that the constitution as written in the 18th century is a tablet of laws for all times for all people. I fear anarchy more than pieces of legislation that can be curtailed in the future. We have had periods of governemental restriction of liberties(e.g. Wilson, Lincoln) in times of crisis, and they ebbed with time. You may say that this time is different. Maybe.

But I think it's almost pointless arguing about these things, because the facts can take the interpretation we look for. Many people see menace from our own government; others see law enforcement officers trying to face a new threat with better tools. There is enough information out there, enough opinions and spinning of facts on both sides, we cab believe what we want to believe. The situation is so complicated that I remain agnostic.

The same goes for Iraq. Only time will tell. If things go haywire, well maybe it was a bad idea. If 10 years from now the middle east is more democratic than theocratic and our democracy shows the regular shift between parties and terrorists have been quite marginalized, then the war was a good idea. But there's really no way to tell from this side of the event. We make points but we really can't speak of probabilities, only intuition, gut feeling, a kind of faith. There's that part in King Lear before the final battle, two characters talking about what will happen. One of them cuts it short: "Well, well: th'event". That's how I feel at this point.

[sidecross]

The current state of affairs, as troubling as they may be, could only be Act I of this play of dark comedy. Many believe Act II will be the conflict between democracy and capitalism clothed in the garb of market economies and a global economy.

The enemy wears many masks and its camouflage is so entangled, that it could be lurking in our own ideas of right and wrong.

[daniel]

michael heany writes: "The same goes for Iraq. Only time will tell. If things go haywire, well maybe it was a bad idea."

This is not thinking. This is mindless capitulation.

Read Marcuse's "One-Dimensional Man" for a cogent analysis of how our system works, and how it manages to annul the possibility of meaningful discourse.

[PuristLove]

As far as giving up essential liberty for protection, this is what we all do when we agree to live in civilization.Actually, in the social contract as defined by the Constitution, the only liberties we've given up, are those liberties that would allow us to directly and measurable remove the liberties of others. For instance, I've given up the liberty to kill someone, because that would remove their liberty to live their life.

Unfortunately, over the years we have traded more and more of the other kind of liberties, the ones that involve me not doing anything to anyone else, in exchange for a false sense of security. Drugs, Gun Control Laws, "Obscenity" laws, Laws preventing people from practicing their religious beliefs, especially as tied to the drug laws mentioned earlier. These laws are in direct conflict with The Constitution as it was written, and acts like the Patriot Act, and Total Information Awareness take that violation much further.

I'm not convinced that Bush and cronies are the evil dictator-wannabes that many here believe them to be, but I do believe these laws are a further deterioration of the dream that was America.

[Seph]

Are we rushing toward Dec 21st 2012?
Is it part of the long game.
I don't know, but the cartoon farce aspect is definatly unfolding.
I hope this mass murder and nuclear assult on the biosphere can be stopped.
Shame Mr. Bush's tools of choice are blow and booze the situation probably wouldn't be the same.

[paul]

"what is war? it is the result of planetary influences>" ....Gurdjieff

anyone out there following this manufactured crisis astrologically?

i cant help but notice the date being most quoted for a un resolution authorising an attack on iraq - 15 march - is the start of spring in the celtic calendar traditionally known as the "ides of march" .

march, of course, taking its name fr mars the planet of war.

[whitewave]

I have been tracing the events unfolding now astrologically a bit. Although I am by far an expert on astrology, and am sloppy with details, I have come across some interesting correlations in the e-mail newsletter Astrology for the Soul. According to the publisher of the letter, Saturn,the planet of restriction, which has been retrograde for a while, moved into direct motion Saturday night, signalling less opposition to President Bush's plans for war. In the same newsletter,I read that Saturn and Pluto (planet of death and rebirth) have been exerting a major influence on earth by being at some kind of odds for the past decade or so. This union (I think it is a conjunction, but am not sure) will be fading away by the end of March, where we will fall under a long cycle influenced by Neptune (planet of dreams and illusion) and Uranus. The core of hermetic philosophy--as above, so below--becomes more apparent everyday as more of us open to the changes encompassing Earth.

[paul]

whitewave

thanx for that

kinda ties in with an article i was reading on the nexus homepage about another anthropologist
working with the mayan calendar by the name of carlos barrios (if i remember correctly)

he claims if war breaks out before the end of march things will blow over fairly "quietly" ( as far as the slaughter of 1000s of innocent iraqis- can be termed quietly)

if it breaks out between april and nov- then all hell could literally break loose- leading to the mass extinction of two thirds of humanity

sadly-in his reality tunnel at least tongue.gif - a peaceful outcome doesnt appear to be an option

we can only pray that hes wrong!

[julonred]

as good a place as any to post this!

Subject: Grinches and Whoville
>
>The Whos down in Whoville liked people a lot,
>But the Grinch in the White House most certainly did not.
>He didn't arrive there by the will of the Whos,
>But stole the election that he really did lose
>Vowed to "rule from the middle," then installed his regime.
>(Did this really happen, or is it just a bad dream?)
>He didn't listen to voters, just his friends he was pleasin'
>Now, please don't ask why, who knows what's the reason.

>It could be his heart wasn't working just right.
>It could be, perhaps, that he wasn't too bright.
>But I think that the most likely reason of all,
>Is that both brain and heart were two sizes too small.

>In times of great turmoil, this was bad news,
>To have a government that ignores its Whos.
>But the Whos shrugged their shoulders, went on with their work,
>Their duties as citizens so casually did shirk.
>They shopped at the mall and watched their T.V.
>They drove a gas guzzling big S.U.V.,
>Oblivious to what was going on in D.C.,
>Ignoring the threats to democracy.

>They read the same papers that ran the same leads,
>Reporting what only served corporate needs.
>(For the policies affecting the lives of all nations
>Were made by the giant U.S. Corporations.)
>Big business grew fatter, fed by its own greed,
>And by people who shopped for the things they didn't need.

>But amidst all the apathy came signs of unrest,
>The Whos came to see we were fouling our nest.
>And the people who cared for the ideals of this nation
>Began to discuss and exchange information:
>The things they couldn't read, in the corporate-owned news,
>Of FTAA meetings and CIA coups,
>Of drilling for oil and restricting rights.

>They published some books, created Websites,
>Began to write letters, and use their e-mail
>(Though Homeland Security might send them to jail!)
>What began as a whisper soon grew to a roar,
>These things going on they could no longer ignore.
>They started to rise up and reach out to all
>Let their voices be heard, they rose to the call,
>To vote, to petition, to gather, dissent,
>To question the policies of the "President."
>As greed gained in power and power knew no shame
>The Whos came together, sang "Not in our name!"

>One by one from their sleep and their slumber they woke
>The old and the young, all kinds of folk,
>The black, brown and white, the gay, bi- and straight,
>All united to sing, "Feed our hope, not our hate!
>Stop stockpiling weapons and aiming for war!
>Stop feeding the rich, start feeding the poor!
>Stop storming the deserts to fuel SUV's!
>Stop telling us lies on the mainstream T.V.'s!
>Stop treating our children as a market to sack!
>Stop feeding them Barney, Barbie and Big Mac!
>Stop trying to addict them to lifelong consuming,
>In a time when severe global warming is looming!
>Stop sanctions that are killing the kids in Iraq!
>Start dealing with ours that are strung out on crack!"

>A mighty sound started to rise and to grow,
>"The old way of thinking simply must go!
>Enough of God versus Allah, Muslim vs. Jew
>With what lies ahead, it simply won't do.
>No American dream that cares only for wealth
>Ignoring the need for community health
>The rivers and forests are demanding their pay,
>If we're to survive, we must walk a new way.
>No more excessive and mindless consumption
>Let's sharpen our minds and garner our gumption.
>For the ideas are simple, but the practice is hard,
>And not to be won by a poem on a card.
>It needs the ideas and the acts of each Who,
>So let's get together and plan what to do!"

>And so they all gathered from all 'round the Earth
>And from it all came a miraculous birth.
>The hearts and the minds of the Whos they did grow,
>Three sizes to fit what they felt and they know.
>While the Grinches they shrank from their hate and their greed,
>Bearing the weight of their every foul deed.
> From that day onward the standard of wealth,
>Was whatever fed the Whos spiritual health.
>They gathered together to revel and feast,
>And thanked all who worked to conquer their beast.
>For although our story pits Grinches 'gainst Whos,
>The true battle lies in what we daily choose.

>For inside each Grinch is a tiny small Who,
>And inside each Who is a tiny Grinch too.
>One thrives on love and one thrives on greed.
>Who will win out? It depends who you feed!
>
>Author: Unknown

[paul]

julie
i think the source for that is probably;
www.toostupidtobepresident.com (http://www.toostupidtobepresident.com)
smile.gif

[sidecross]

The Monk in the Lab

April 26, 2003
By TENZIN GYATSO


DHARAMSALA, India
These are times when destructive emotions like anger, fear
and hatred are giving rise to devastating problems
throughout the world. While the daily news offers grim
reminders of the destructive power of such emotions, the
question we must ask is this: What can we do, person by
person, to overcome them?

Of course such disturbing emotions have always been part of
the human condition. Some - those who tend to believe
nothing will "cure" our impulses to hate or oppress one
another - might say that this is simply the price of being
human. But this view can create apathy in the face of
destructive emotions, leading us to conclude that
destructiveness is beyond our control.

I believe that there are practical ways for us as
individuals to curb our dangerous impulses - impulses that
collectively can lead to war and mass violence. As evidence
I have not only my spiritual practice and the understanding
of human existence based on Buddhist teachings, but now
also the work of scientists.

For the last 15 years I have engaged in a series of
conversations with Western scientists. We have exchanged
views on topics ranging from quantum physics and cosmology
to compassion and destructive emotions. I have found that
while scientific findings offer a deeper understanding of
such fields as cosmology, it seems that Buddhist
explanations - particularly in the cognitive, biological
and brain sciences - can sometimes give Western-trained
scientists a new way to look at their own fields.

It may seem odd that a religious leader is so involved with
science, but Buddhist teachings stress the importance of
understanding reality, and so we should pay attention to
what scientists have learned about our world through
experimentation and measurement.

Similarly, Buddhists have a 2,500-year history of
investigating the workings of the mind. Over the
millenniums, many practitioners have carried out what we
might call "experiments" in how to overcome our tendencies
toward destructive emotions.

I have been encouraging scientists to examine advanced
Tibetan spiritual practitioners, to see what benefits these
practices might have for others, outside the religious
context. The goal here is to increase our understanding of
the world of the mind, of consciousness, and of our
emotions.

It is for this reason that I visited the neuroscience
laboratory of Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of
Wisconsin. Using imaging devices that show what occurs in
the brain during meditation, Dr. Davidson has been able to
study the effects of Buddhist practices for cultivating
compassion, equanimity or mindfulness. For centuries
Buddhists have believed that pursuing such practices seems
to make people calmer, happier and more loving. At the same
time they are less and less prone to destructive emotions.

According to Dr. Davidson, there is now science to
underscore this belief. Dr. Davidson tells me that the
emergence of positive emotions may be due to this:
Mindfulness meditation strengthens the neurological
circuits that calm a part of the brain that acts as a
trigger for fear and anger. This raises the possibility
that we have a way to create a kind of buffer between the
brain's violent impulses and our actions.

Experiments have already been carried out that show some
practitioners can achieve a state of inner peace, even when
facing extremely disturbing circumstances. Dr. Paul Ekman
of the University of California at San Francisco told me
that jarring noises (one as loud as a gunshot) failed to
startle the Buddhist monk he was testing. Dr. Ekman said he
had never seen anyone stay so calm in the presence of such
a disturbance.

Another monk, the abbot of one of our monasteries in India,
was tested by Dr. Davidson using electroencephalographs to
measure brain waves. According to Dr. Davidson, the abbot
had the highest amount of activity in the brain centers
associated with positive emotions that had ever been
measured by his laboratory.

Of course, the benefits of these practices are not just for
monks who spend months at a time in meditation retreat. Dr.
Davidson told me about his research with people working in
highly stressful jobs. These people - non-Buddhists - were
taught mindfulness, a state of alertness in which the mind
does not get caught up in thoughts or sensations, but lets
them come and go, much like watching a river flow by. After
eight weeks, Dr. Davidson found that in these people, the
parts of their brains that help to form positive emotions
became increasingly active.

The implications of all this are clear: the world today
needs citizens and leaders who can work toward ensuring
stability and engage in dialogue with the "enemy" - no
matter what kind of aggression or assault they may have
endured.

It's worth noting that these methods are not just useful,
but inexpensive. You don't need a drug or an injection. You
don't have to become a Buddhist, or adopt any particular
religious faith. Everybody has the potential to lead a
peaceful, meaningful life. We must explore as far as we can
how that can be brought about.

I try to put these methods into effect in my own life. When
I hear bad news, especially the tragic stories I often hear
from my fellow Tibetans, naturally my own response is
sadness. However, by placing it in context, I find I can
cope reasonably well. And feelings of helpless anger, which
simply poison the mind and embitter the heart, seldom
arise, even following the worst news.

But reflection shows that in our lives much of our
suffering is caused not by external causes but by such
internal events as the arising of disturbing emotions. The
best antidote to this disruption is enhancing our ability
to handle these emotions.

If humanity is to survive, happiness and inner balance are
crucial. Otherwise the lives of our children and their
children are more likely to be unhappy, desperate and
short. Material development certainly contributes to
happiness - to some extent - and a comfortable way of life.
But this is not sufficient. To achieve a deeper level of
happiness we cannot neglect our inner development.

The calamity of 9/11 demonstrated that modern technology
and human intelligence guided by hatred can lead to immense
destruction. Such terrible acts are a violent symptom of an
afflicted mental state. To respond wisely and effectively,
we need to be guided by more healthy states of mind, not
just to avoid feeding the flames of hatred, but to respond
skillfully. We would do well to remember that the war
against hatred and terror can be waged on this, the
internal front, too.

Tenzin Gyatso is the 14th Dalai
Lama.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/26/opinion/26LAMA.html?ex=1052369891&ei=1&en=ff5cd5f3aab1566a