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Archives
Excellent account of events leading up to 1948. This period must be understood for today to make any sense. One Palestine, Complete brings to light many things the Israelis don't like to talk about. Israelis & Palestinians: What Went Wrong? Other nationalisms aimed at liberating subjugated peoples who spoke the same language and lived in the same territory. The Zionists, by contrast, called on Jews living in dozens of countries, speaking dozens of different languages, to settle far away in a remote, neglected province of the Ottoman Empire, where their ancestors had lived thousands of years before but which was now inhabited by another people with their own language and religion, a people—moreover—in the first throes of their own national revival and, for this reason, opposed to the Jewish project as a dangerous intrusion.
One of Herzl's closest associates is said to have come running to him one day, exclaiming: "But there are Arabs in Palestine! I didn't know that!" The story may well be apocryphal but it sums up, as such stories often do, the central facts of the case. In his answer, if there was any, Herzl would not have made an appeal to "historical rights," as many others did and still do to this day. He didn't believe in "historical rights" and he was too well informed not to know the damage that had been done by the quest for such rights during the nineteenth century by Germans, French, and Austrians, as well as in the Balkans, to name only a few examples. But he had an almost uncanny premonition of the dark period ahead. He was sure there were powerful historical currents that would justify the Zionist cause, a confidence that was fully vindicated by later events.
Rockets, Napalm, Torpedoes & Lies In early June of 1967, at the onset of the Six Day War, the Pentagon sent the USS Liberty from Spain into international waters off the coast of Gaza to monitor the progress of Israel's attack on the Arab states. The Liberty was a lightly armed surveillance ship. Only hours after the Liberty arrived it was spotted by the Israeli military. The IDF sent out reconnaissance planes to identify the ship. They made eight trips over a period of three hours. The Liberty was flying a large US flag and was easily recognizable as an American vessel.
A few hours later more planes came. These were Israeli Mirage III fighters, armed with rockets and machine guns. As off-duty officers sunbathed on the deck, the fighters opened fire on the defenseless ship with rockets and machine guns.
military industrial complex
The Military-Industrial Complex
Yet Eisenhower's most celebrated "liberal" statement, indeed the only statement of his that endures, has been misinterpreted through most of the last generation. In his farewell address, delivered a few days before John Kennedy took office, Eisenhower gave his famous warning against "the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex." The phrase entered the lexicon, and at least within the little tribe of speechwriters it ensured the fame of its creator, Malcolm Moos. (Some accounts say that Ralph Williams, a Navy captain detailed to the White House, was also involved.) But only in the last few years have the implications of the military-industrial complex again taken on Eisenhower's original meaning. thanks to wood s lot Here is Eisehnhower's speech. Military-Industrial Complex Speech, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961
masonic pranks
The 1930 DeMoulin Bros. & Co. We believe that this was the last catalog the DeMoulin Bros. produced, as this company suffered the same fate that many businesses did with the onset of the Great Depression. In the broken economy of the 1930's, the items this company produced and sold were not considered a high priority on the "need or necessity" list of many Lodges. Yet, the side degree specialties that they sold were the very items that increased Lodge membership, their donations to charities and interest in "Lodge Life" itself. If there was ever a more useful tool for Masonic Renewal than this catalog is it! Every Lodge should have a "Side-Degree Night" on a separate evening prior to the night when the Entered Apprentice Degree is conferred. These side degrees added to the "degree of laughter" early Lodge Brethren engaged in when initiating new members!
 [more] thanks to boingboing
the shitstorm cometh The Apocalyptic Vision of the Neo-Conservative Ideologues
Neo-conservative (neocon) writers in America provide intellectual firepower to the Bush administration as it continues to develop its national security strategy based on the doctrine of pre-emptive war. Necons have become increasingly vocal about an apocalyptic conflict involving the US and the Muslim world. Norman Podhoretz, their godfather, is a former leftist who has made an ideological U-Turn. In the September issue of Commentary, he calls for en masse regime change in the Middle East. Podhoretz's list of the "axis of evil" goes beyond the three countries cited in President Bush's State of the Union speech, and includes Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian National Authority, Saudi Arabia and Syria. He wants the US to unilaterally overthrow these regimes in the Arab world and replace them with democracies cast in the Jeffersonian mold.
A foreign policy that is both immoral and unsuccessful is not simply stupid, it is increasingly dangerous to those who practice or favor it. That is the predicament that the United States now confronts.
hair today, gone tomorrow Welcome to The Hair Archives...formerly known as The Beauty Shoppe Archives. The Hair Archives is a website devoted to vintage hair fashion. Sit back and enjoy a unique library of beautiful hairstyles from past generations. Read about the beauty industry and the history of hair fashion. Watch how hair fashion evolved throughout the generations. And remember...hair fashion from the past -- may be tomorrow's latest trend!
 [more] thanks to reenhead.com
tax wars Low-Income Taxpayers: New Meat for the Right
Prepare yourself for the latest cause of the political right: You are about to hear a great deal about how working Americans at the bottom of the economy are not paying enough in taxes. thanks to reading & writing
9-11 investigation Asking Henry Kissinger to investigate government malfeasance or nonfeasance is akin to asking Slobodan Milosevic to investigate war crimes. Pretty damn akin, since Kissinger has been accused, with cause, of engaging in war crimes of his own. Moreover, he has been a poster- child for the worst excesses of secret government and secret warfare.
Yet George W. Bush has named him to head a supposedly independent commission to investigate the nightmarish attacks of Sept.11, 2001, a commission intended to tell the public what went wrong on and before that day. This is a sick, black-is-white, war-is-peace joke – a cruel insult to the memory of those killed on 9/11 and a screw-you affront to any American who believes the public deserves a full accounting of government actions or lack thereof. It's as if Bush instructed his advisers to come up with the name of the person who literally would be the absolute worst choice for the post and, once they had, said, "sign him up."
environment Government is told: expansion of airports must be halted now Aircraft pollution will be such a big contributor to global warming that expansion of Britain's airport capacity should be halted for good, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution said yesterday. No new airports, terminals or runways should be built, members of the commission said, to cut the soaring demand for flights and the damaging emissions of greenhouse gases they bring with them. They recognised that such action action would push up fares.
Aircraft exhaust emissions are particularly harmful in terms of global warming, the report says, because they go directly into the atmosphere at a high level and contain oxides of nitrogen and fine particles as well as carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas.
New pollution rules overpower California New air pollution regulations issued by the Bush administration undermine an important tenet of national environmental laws: the rights of states to adopt stricter controls than the federal government, environmental lawyers and California officials say.
This part of the new regulations portends an ominous shift in federal policy that could threaten scores of unique environmental measures adopted by California in areas from air quality to pesticides to drinking water, they say. Whatever happened to the Republican's support of State's rights? Or was that Corporate rights? I'm confused.
homeland insecurity Secrecy: the nation's favored fraud If there is any doubt at all that the terrorists have won - that they have managed with a single day's freakish hits to revamp the most open society on earth into an emerging police state where suspicion and secrecy are the twin watch-towers of government and cowering and conforming the prevailing instincts of an allegedly free press or an even more alleged political opposition - then last week's creation of the Department of Homeland Security should put all such doubts to rest.
The New Deal was a "reorganization" or an "expansion" of government. The creation of the Homeland Security Department is a coup within the government. What Ollie North once did illegally in a White House basement - free-lancing policy with public money and accountability to no one - a $37 billion department with 170,000 employees will now do legally in what is sure to be a high-rise of basements and metaphorical windows on Washington's Bureaucracy Row. Like a Wall Street firm beholden only to its board room, the second-largest government department is now a proprietary arm of the presidency. It operates beyond congressional scrutiny and public accountability, and guarantees secrecy to its own machinations or to those of any private business with which it deals. thanks to Cursor
america's cup
The End of the Road for Team DC and Victory Challenge? Racing started on time today, hastening the demise of ‘Mr. America’s Cup’, Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes squad, and the tenacious Victory Challenge, from Sweden. Following defeats on the water, both teams were eliminated from the Louis Vuitton Cup today, subject to protest.
Team Dennis Conner has protested OneWorld to the International Jury, alleging a breach of Rule 2 – Fair Sailing. In association with Prada, Team Dennis Conner has also brought a case against OneWorld before the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel. Decisions on these are expected before the start of the Semi Finals on December 9th.
Veteran America's Cup skipper Peter Gilmour yesterday expressed his hurt and disappointment at Prada and Team Dennis Conner for going back to the America's Cup arbitration panel with information which accuses his OneWorld syndicate of using other teams' design information.
subversive christmas shopping
Buy something day
Reading doesn't need to mean homework, of course, there are plenty of books having nothing to do with the real world that are entirely wonderful. At the moment, for example, I'm devouring a series of mystery novels featuring Precious Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, a genuinely lovely series by the Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith. The stories are set in Botswana, and convey as much of the sense of modern Africa as any five tedious leftie tracts. But lately there's been a rash of good political books out, and in case you're already bought copies of Michael Moore's Stupid White Men for all your friends and loved ones, here's a few other books you might consider this season:
the batteries are recharged It's been a nice few days of baking, eating, and visiting with family. My girls and their kids have been up on the island so it's been fun spending time with them. Nothing like running after an active 3 year old to clear the mind. That and reading a good book that you can't put down. I was kind of getting down reading about all the death and destruction happening in the world around us so I started reading a book about death and destruction in another world. I feel much better now.
Amid this devastation, three men dream of uniting the nation. At one extreme is the charismatic but brutal Nobunaga, whose ruthless ambition crushes all before him. At the opposite pole is the cold, deliberate Ieyasu, wise in counsel, brave in battle, mature beyond his years. But the keystone of this triumvirate is the most memorable of all, Hideyoshi, who rises from the menial post of sandal bearer to become Taiko--absolute ruler of Japan in the Emperor's name. If you like samurai movies, you'll love Taiko.
turkeys Traditional turkey now a rare bird on dinner table
That would be the traditional farmyard turkey, revered each Thanksgiving as a symbol of American abundance but surviving only in small numbers. Modern industrial versions of the bird are plentiful. Found plucked, dressed, frozen and shrink-wrapped in stores, often at less than $1 a pound, they are produced with almost assembly-line precision, 270 million a year.
But Drowns, 41, and other preservationist farmers fear the old-fashioned gobblers will vanish forever — unless more people are persuaded to eat them.
thanksgiving The turkey is the symbol of Thanksgiving. The turkey we know is a featherless, headless thing that comes wrapped in plastic. This is not it's normal condition. Nor or the gigantic white-feathered things we see in pictures normal. What is normal, or used to be normal, is the wild turkey. The wild turkey is now very rare and, when seen, does not live in its natural habitat for its natural habitat has been missing for well over a century. This is probably the definitive description of the wild turkey. It's by John James Audubon and written in the early 1800s. This is my Thanksgiving offering.
 The great size and beauty of the Wild Turkey, its value as a delicate and highly prized article of food, and the circumstance of its being the origin of the domestic race now generally dispersed over both continents, render it one of the most interesting of the birds indigenous to the United States of America. The unsettled parts of the States of Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, an immense extent of country to the north-west of these districts, upon the Mississippi and Missouri, and the vast regions drained by these rivers from their confluence to Louisiana, including the wooded parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama, are the most abundantly supplied with this magnificent bird. It is less plentiful in Georgia and the Carolinas, becomes still scarcer in Virginia and Pennsylvania, and is now very rarely seen to the eastward of the last mentioned States. In the course of my rambles through Long Island, the State of New York, and the country around the Lakes, I did not meet with a single individual, although I was informed that some exist, in those parts. Turkeys are still to be found along the whole line of the Alleghany Mountains, where they have become so wary as to be approached only with extreme difficulty. While, in the Great Pine Forest, in 1829, I found a single feather that had been dropped from the tail of a female, but saw no bird of the kind. Farther eastward, I do not think they are now to be found. I shall describe the manners of this bird as observed in the countries where it is most abundant and having resided for many years in Kentucky and Louisiana, may be understood as referring chiefly to them.
The Turkey is irregularly migratory, as well as irregularly gregarious. With reference to the first of these circumstances, I have to state, that whenever the mast* of one portion of the country happens greatly to exceed that of another, the Turkeys are insensibly led toward that spot, by gradually meeting in their haunts with more fruit the nearer they advance towards the place where it is most plentiful. In this manner flock follows after flock, until one district is entirely deserted, while another is, as it were, overflowed by them. But as these migrations are irregular, and extend over a vast expanse of country, it is necessary that I should describe the manner in which they take place.
john james audubon Every once in a while the world gets me down and today is one of those days. I have a whole pile of depressing links to share with you but I am going to spare you (and me) from them. Instead I scanned another chapter of Delineations of American Scenery and Manners from Audubon's Ornithological Biography. This one is called The Prairie. Travelling in America before Motel 6. On my return from the Upper Mississippi, I found myself obliged to cross one of the wide Prairies, which, in that portion of the United States, vary the appearance of the country. The weather was fine, all around me was as fresh and blooming as if it had just issued from the bosom of nature. My napsack, my gun, and my dog, were all I had for baggage and company. But, although well moccassined, I moved slowly along, attracted by the brilliancy of the flowers, and the gambols of the fawns around their dams, to all appearance as thoughtless of danger as I felt myself.
My march was of long duration; I saw the sun sinking beneath the horizon long before I could perceive any appearance of woodland, and nothing in the shape of man had I met with that day. The track which I followed was only an old Indian trace, and as darkness overshaded the prairie, I felt some desire to reach at least a copse, in which I might lie down to rest. The Night-hawks were skimming over and around me, attracted by the buzzing wings of the beetles which form their food, and the distant howling of wolves, gave me some hope that I should soon arrive at the skirts of some woodland. Some more Delineations.
testingtesting
The sound archive is up for Monday night's TestingTesting. Enjoy.
testingtesting It's time for my everyotherweekly webcast from my living room called TestingTesting.
 Our special guest will be local singer/songwriter Timothy Hull.
"Timothy Hull is a rare talent among singer/ songwriters. He has the ability to tell a story that touches the heart just as powerfully as he can rouse you to action to save a forest. He is a gifted guitarist reminiscent of Richard Thompson yet he brings a unique flair rooted in the Gaelic/Celtic traditions as well as the contemporary sound of his generation. To experience Timothy Hull live in concert is to witness music in its highest form: to walk away transformed by the experience and still wanting more. " The show starts at 7pm (pacific). (Other times zones at the TestingTesting site.) Click on in for some great living room music.
photography I just noticed that the New York Times is selling photographs. They have some very historical pictures at reasonable prices. Most 11 x 14s are $195 unframed. There is an annoying watermark.
 [more]
The Aim: Victory It seems that a new wind is blowing in the country. This week I flew to Europe. On the way to the Airport, the taxi-driver told me: That's it, there is no hope left. We shall never have peace with the Palestinians. There is no one to talk with. No compromise is possible. The war will go on and on. Therefore he will vote for Sharon. I remarked that if this is so, his grandchildren would certainly leave the country. "What grandchildren," he replied with sorrow, mingled with pride, "My son is an architect in Los Angeles!" I returned after five days. The taxi driver who took me home from the airport surprised me. "All my life I have voted Likud," he said, "But the Likud has failed. There is no difference between Sharon and Netanyahu. They have not brought security but look how the economy has gone to pieces. This time I shall vote for Mitzna."
What has happened during these five days? One thing: Amram Mitzna has won the primary election in the Labor Party.
paper models I made a few of these about 10 years ago. They used to come printed on flat card stock (a few still do) and you cut them out and glued them together with Elmer's white glue. It's amazing how good they look. The subject matter is strong on airplanes but you can find paper models of most anything. It is common for the models to be pdf files that you download and print out on your own printer. The cost is usually pretty modest and there are many free downloads. Great fun.
 
9-11 Mystery men link Saudi intelligence to Sept 11 hijackers Two mysterious Saudi citizens living in California before the September 11 attacks may link the al-Qaida hijackers to Saudi intelligence, according to reports yesterday which are likely to provoke a new row between the US and Riyadh.
The possibility of a Saudi intelligence link emerged just hours after widespread reports of bank cheques indirectly linking two of the hijackers to a bank account under the name of a Saudi princess, the wife of the kingdom's ambassador to Washington.
health care Problem of Lost Health Benefits Is Reaching Into the Middle Class Diane MacPherson, of Lowell, Mass., lost her job at a relocation management company last November, and with it the health insurance for herself, her husband and their 4-year-old daughter. Her husband works in construction and does not have access to health care coverage at work. Continuing her family health insurance under the federal Cobra program would have cost $931 a month, so the couple decided to insure only their daughter, at a cost of $270 a month. Two months ago, when Ms. MacPherson's unemployment compensation payments ran out, they dropped their health insurance altogether. Although her husband earns about $75,000 a year, construction work is seasonal and they could not be assured of enough income every month to pay for health insurance. Then their daughter came down with strep throat. "That was rather humiliating, being in the doctor's office without insurance," Ms. MacPherson said. "You become very obvious to everyone."
The family represents a changing portrait of the 41 million Americans who do not have health insurance today. Once thought to be a problem chiefly of the poor and the unemployed, the health care crisis is spreading up the income ladder and deep into the ranks of those with full-time jobs.
posters It's time to check up on our poster boys — they've been busy.
 A Message from the Ministry of Homeland Security
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The quarter finals repechage, for the challenger's cup, are complete. Prada swept Orm 4-0, eliminating Orm. OneWorld swept Denis Connor's Stars and Stripes 4-0, but Dennis Connor is trying a last ditch effort in the courts to disqualify OneWorld. Stars and Stripes racing may not be over.
Every morning at 5, hours before he shows up to teach science at Calamus Wheatland High School, Glenn Drowns works his farm, trying to keep a well-known American bird from going extinct.