Bush, Europe and Propagannon
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/104616/171
The Republican Media Complex
The strange case of James D. Guckert is only part of much larger
story. If we have uncovered anything in our research about this
man, it is the fact that the Republican Media Complex is even more
organized, well funded and extensive than we ever imagined. Every
rock we overturn produces more names, leads and connected
relationships than even SusanG's vast army can investigate. They
slither away, scrubbing web sites, changing domain names and
denying, denying, denying...all the while returning fire by
accusing us of practicing the politics of personal destruction and
portraying poor little JDG as a victim of the nasty left wing
conspiracy.
Have we seen this MO before? It has become so well worn a tactic,
that it would be boring in it's predictability, if it weren't so
effective. How effective has it become?
As Frank Rich pointed out in his excellent article, The White House
Stages It's "Daily Show", the Gannon case is the latest in a string
of attempts on the part of this administration to create a Fantasy
World in this country by becoming the media and orchestrating the
information the public sees, hears, reads and eventually believes. * (CjC rant= With Abu Gharib, Gitmo ethos prevalent & lurking, the shameful
media is acting much like an agressive interrogater, enforcer- foisting a fraudulent, ShamReality + sham election onto the MassPsyche, and to caring, FreeThinkers & justified Vote Defenders, akin to Psychological torture. THIS indocrination, chicanery, ridicule is obvious and THE ULTIMATE fear
and hopeless-based trauma
CONDITIONING TO MANUFACTURE ALIENATION and TIMID ACCEPTANCE FOR THE
END OF DEMOCRACY.
News org's spreading thought-viruses violate the BirthRight
freedom- Cognitive Liberty and the sovereignity of individuals
freedom to think independently,
fairly, honestly as sentient agents SEEKING the promotion of The
Good. Personally, I could give a hoot if the media doesn't care
about their own credibility or respect Words=Conduits of Spirit, I know where to find solid
information-but they are disturbing and stunting, brainwashing those who don't
have time or strength to discover different solutions that shine
light on hidden, nefarious motives, in effect selling short the Human Race, preventing
wisdom, growth and Delaying the Rennaissance!
Nevertheless, Intuition, word-of-mouth and heart-based gnosis IS very powerful
and contagioUS and shall overcome, their adavantage of mass-produced reality bytes courtesy of Monopolies aggresively overwhelming dominance and destruction of
sacred Nature- in all it's forms and favoring profit OVER people,
machine OVER man, subterfuge OVER SunShine transparency- truly archaic modus-operandi for a successful species.)
The DHHS-produced faux news reports about the Medicare Prescription
Drug Plan (I'm not a reporter, I just play one on TV), the
Armstrong Williams, et al, payola affair (I'm not an expert, I just
play one in print) and now the Talon News/GOPUSA/Bobby Eberle/Jeff
Gannon story (we're not a news organization, we just play one in
the White House) are all part of the Republican Media Complex's
effort to spin awful policy into a vision of utopia. And the sad
truth is, the American public is buying it...at least enough to
keep the puppeteers in power for another two to fours years.
Certainly long enough to create more, well hidden pipelines through
which to funnel federal dollars to fund the effort.*
( "the greatest tool in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed" - Stephen Biko)
This Republican Media Complex, of which JG is a small part, has so
dominated the national conversation, so controlled the agenda, so
intimated the press that, here in America, we are now living in a
reality that exists only in the minds of the policy makers. And
here's the crime. Those policy makers are ignoring the people
equation in their Fantasy World. To be sure, this is a world
crafted for profits and corporate power.
So why is Bush's trip a testament to the power of the Republican
Media Complex? You can see it when you watch the Europeans shake
their heads in disbelief. They can't understand why we have
allowed this to happen.
It seems America is living in one reality and the rest of the world
is dwelling in another. The reason for this disconnect is very
clear. They haven't been the target of the Republican Media
Complex message.* ( MESSAGE TO MASSAGE the VISAGE to MIRAGE the SEWAGE, this AGE NEEDS TRIAGE ! )
How different are these realities? T.R. Reid, in his book, The
United States Of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American
Supremacy, notes how Europe has traveled down a completely
different path than the United States. Look at the differences.
* The Europeans have embraced big government
* The Europeans have free universal health care for all its
citizens, at 50% of the cost
* The Europeans have embraced a financial policy that
celebrates worker's rights
* The Europeans have strong anti-trust laws that force
corporations to be good citizens
These differences are the result of the fact that the EU consists
of many countries, many governments, and, most importantly, many
different media outlets. Because of this diversity and
decentralization, their population isn't as easily spun. There is
no single Fantasy World in Europe, because there is no Republican
Media Complex machine, and the likelihood of one arising is
lessened by both the lessons of history and a strong system of
checks and balances.* ( NO ATTILA the HUN, MORE FUN not GUN for EVERYONE )
sharp InSightS:
1~A bunch of FORMER colonial superpowers
In my dealings at work with intellectual Europeans, one of the
things that I've always appreciated about them is their sense of
history, especially when compared to our a-historical sensibility.
As thinking, feeling individuals, they all seem to have an
awareness of their countries' long histories and experiences as
colonial superpowers or empires - and the very dark side of that
power. German, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian (Roman), we can
even include Turkish (Ottoman).
It is always fascinating to me to see how this sense of history -
many of these colonial histories are centuries old - is felt and
expressed by individuals today, in a personal way. They shake
their heads and sigh, saying. "You Americans don't realize what you
are getting in to. We went down that road in the 1700s (1600s,
1500s, 1400s) and we know now it was awful, we're still getting
over it."
Their awareness of deeply interconnected power elites also seems
sharper than ours. Think of the intermarried monarchies of Europe
for one.
And they seem to understand terrorism, its causes and effects,
better, from both a historical and personal sense. When I went to
Europe in October 2001, the sympathy I was greeted with made me
feel like a child - they all seemed older, sadder and wiser.
Not to say they are perfect, who is. Much to appreciate and learn
from though.

2~"We're not winning the war on ideas"
The Bush administration believes that every idea can be sold by
deceptive marketing practices. The Bush Administration Has Figured
Out How To Make A Significant Number Of Americans Salivate At The
Sound Of The Bell. They seemingly believe that they just have to
apply the same strategy in Europe, they will succeed in deceiving
them, and everyone will go along with them.
They do not understand that by definition, people from other
countries are suspicious of U.S. motives. This is human nature;
there is nothing sinister about it. Feelings about the U.S. are
always moving back and forth along a continuum of good and bad. It
is my impression that the Europeans really liked Clinton (the
Canadians certainly did) and both groups had immediate and strongly
negative feelings toward Bush. They were inclined to be suspicious
of him already, and when he and his administration deliberately
mounted an extremely deceptive and cynical case for invading Iraq,
they understood that for what it was immediately: a raw power grab.
(Pun intended.)
The other reason that Europeans and Canadians are suspicious of
Bush and his policies is that the social consensus about what the
welfare state should be is considerably to the left of what it is
in the States. There is still a reasonably large opposition to
corporate capitalism in those parts of the world, whereas in U.S.
there is none.
It seems surreal, but the right wing in the U.S. has succeeded in
systematically reversing the social democratic gains that were made
in the 20th century, apparently with the American people's consent.

3~The treatment of the UN,
the International Court, the anti-ballistic missile treaties, the
refusal to apologize to the Chinese about the airplane crash. This
was before 9/11 and I thought, "have we gone back to the 80s?" I'm
seeing Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Jim Baker (at that time) and
all the rest of them.
I believe that the UN, while quite imperfect, has a lot of
credibility in many countries in the world. In spite of its obvious
flaws, it is amazing to me that such an organization exists and
that hundreds of millions of people WANT IT to work well. So
instead of working to improve it, this US government is trying to
destroy it. (And the attitude in the United States toward the UN is
very cynical in general, even on the left.) The cyncial use of the
UN while trying to destroy it, the breaking of international laws,
really infuriates me.

4~True
The Scandinavian welfare states did not join EU until the 90s.
Small countries, not many papers.
The differences are historic and cultural. US Have A (False)
Meritrocratic Ideology* ( We expect and deserve Open and Fair Due-process respecting equal justice under the law, absolutely crucial with wide disparities of wealth in this country too willing to dominate with undue influence.) Which Obscures The Fact That Individuals In
General Are Not In Supreme Control Over Their Lives,* (UNPRECENDENTED in American history for government to claim, assume THE
Inalienable rights to rig, run, ruin and OWN YOUR LIFE! and help
dig your grave , how are you and WE going to rescue our country and
humanity from this dangerous abyss?) In So Far As
The Government Doesn't Level The Playing Field. The labor movement
was much stronger in Europe and influenced the culture immensely.
Also US liberals have been really bad in marketing and building
infrastructures post-1960. You let the cons take over. Abandoning
unions was a disastrous idea.
And we have very few fundies, so people are not tempted to vote
against their own self interest election after election.
The parts of the Bible on greed and gluttony are optional. Oh, and
those on bigotry and hypocrisy too.
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/104616/171
*****
The White House Stages Its 'Daily Show'
By Frank Rich
The New York Times
Sunday 20 February 2005
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021705M.shtml
(snipPeTs)
~ If Mr. Guckert, the author of Talon News exclusives like "Kerry
Could Become First Gay President," is yet another link in the
boundless network of homophobic Republican closet cases, that's not
without interest. But it shouldn't distract from the real question
- that is, the real news - of how this fake newsman might be
connected to a White House propaganda machine that grows curiouser
by the day.
~They starred in bogus reports ("In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan
reporting," went the script) pretending to "sort through the
details" of the administration's Medicare prescription-drug plan in
2004. Such "reports," some of which found their way into news
packages distributed to local stations by CNN, appeared in more
than 50 news broadcasts around the country and have now been deemed
illegal "covert propaganda" by the Government Accountability Office.
~~~The Inability Of Real Journalists To Penetrate This White House
Is Not All The White House's Fault. The errors of real news
organizations have played perfectly into the administration's
insidious efforts to blur the boundaries between the fake and the
real and thereby demolish the whole notion that there could
possibly be an objective and accurate free press. Conservatives,
Who Supposedly Deplore Post-Modernism, Are Now Welcoming In A Brave
New World In Which It's A Given That There Can Be No Empirical
Reality In News, Only The Reality You Want To Hear (or they want
you to hear). The frequent fecklessness of the Beltway gang does
little to penetrate this Washington smokescreen. For a case in
point, you needed only switch to CNN on the day after Mr. Olbermann
did his fake-news-style story on the fake reporter in the White
House press corps.
*SPINNING NewsBytes INCESSANTLie MisCreating a NEBULOUS CACAPHONY;*
Asked by Eric Boehlert whether the neocon attack on the press is a
way to eliminate a national point of reference on facts, Ron
Suskind responded:
Absolutely! That's the whole idea, to somehow sweep away the
community of honest brokers in America -- both Republicans and
Democrats and members of the mainstream press -- Sweep Them Away So
We'll Be Left With A Culture And Public Dialogue Based On Assertion
Rather Than Authenticity, On Claim Rather Than Fact. Because when
you arrive at that place, then all you have to rely on is
perception. And perception as the handmaiden of forceful executed
power is the great combination that we're seeing now in the
American polity.
 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021705M.shtml
*****
BrownShirt Media (Syncophantic)
by Paul Craig Roberts
 http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts95.html
(snipPeTs)
~The conservative media will never recover from its role as Chief
Sycophant for the Bush administration. Journalists who demanded
that Clinton be held accountable for a minor sex scandal (Monica
Lewinsky) and a minor financial scandal (Whitewater) now serve as
apologists and propagandists for the Bush administration’s major
war scandals. ( one rule for them / another for us, but they are few, *We are many)
The Republican House of Representatives saw fit to impeach
President Clinton for lying about sex. The same Republicans defend
to the hilt Bush’s lies that launched America into an unjustified
war that has killed and maimed tens of thousands of Iraqis and
Americans, cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, ruined
America’s reputation, and lost forever the hearts and minds of
Muslims.
No decent or sensible person can have confidence in journalists and
politicians who take partisanship to such extreme lengths.
There is plenty of room in journalism and politics for arguments
over issues and policies. But two solid years of lies is beyond the
pale.
Conservative journalists and Republican politicians not only lie
through their teeth, but also seek to destroy everyone who utters a
word of dissent or truth.
~Frank views beatings, arrests, interrogations, torture, and death
as appropriate responses to these peaceful expressions of dissent.
Conservatives regard dissent as a serious offense, but they think
it is treasonous to give the public real information, as contrasted
with Fox "News" propaganda
~Those conservatives who have not joined the New Brownshirts might
ask themselves why the mighty Bush apparatus and its legions of
propagandists and sycophants feel so threatened by a few
expressions of dissent, a few facts, and a simple ethical
statement. Could it be that they know that their edifice of lies
will come crashing down if anyone is allowed to utter dissent or a
word of truth?
The conservative media has blown its great chance to gain
credibility by holding Bush accountable as it did Clinton. Instead,
the conservative media and talk radio have shown themselves to be
political partisans who fight against truth. Justify Bush at all
costs is their operative rule.
~~~At least the German press and the Soviet press were forced into
these roles by Hitler and Stalin. The American conservative media
willingly adopted the role on its own.
The function of a journalist is to speak truth to power and to hold
accountable those with power. Abandoning this role, the
conservative media cheerleads for war, incompetent leaders, and a
police state.
 http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts95.html
*****
End-Timers & Neo-Cons
The End of Conservatives
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts; January 19, 2005
 http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=7056§ionID=76
(snipPeTs)
~~~In the ranks of the new conservatives, however, I see and
experience much hate. It comes to me in violently worded, ignorant
and irrational emails from self-professed conservatives who
literally worship George Bush. Even Christians have fallen into
idolatry. There Appears To Be A Large Number Of Americans Who Are
Prepared To Kill Anyone For George Bush.
The Iraqi War is serving as a great catharsis for multiple
conservative frustrations: job loss, drugs, crime, homosexuals,
pornography, female promiscuity, abortion, restrictions on prayer
in public places, Darwinism and attacks on religion. Liberals are
the cause. Liberals are against America. Anyone against the war is
against America and is a liberal. "You are with us or against us."
This is the mindset of delusion, and delusion permits no facts or
analysis. Blind emotion rules. Americans are right and everyone
else is wrong. End of the debate.
~The conservative movement that I grew up in did not share the
liberals' abiding faith in government. "Power corrupts, and
absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Today it is liberals, not conservatives, who endeavor to defend
civil liberties from the state. Conservatives have been won around
to the old liberal view that as long as government power is in
their hands, there is no reason to fear it or to limit it. Thus,
the Patriot Act, which permits government to suspend a person's
civil liberty by calling him a terrorist with or without proof.
Thus, preemptive war, which permits the President to invade other
countries based on unverified assertions.
There is nothing conservative about these positions. To label them
conservative is to make the same error as labeling the 1930s German
Brownshirts conservative.
American liberals called the Brownshirts "conservative," because
the Brownshirts were obviously not liberal. They were ignorant,
violent, delusional, and they worshipped a man of no known
distinction. Brownshirts' delusions were protected by an emotional
force field. Adulation of power and force prevented Brownshirts
from recognizing implications for their country of their reckless
doctrines.
 http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=7056§ionID=76
*****
Blogs vs. Mainstream: Let the Battle Begin
Posted Feb 20, 2005 08:00 PM PST
Category: CURRENT EVENTS
Round 1: Who falsely told you that there were weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq? Mainstream media or blogs?
Round 2: Who correctly told you that there were no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq? Mainstream media or blogs?
Round 3: Who falsely claimed that there was a link between Al Qaeda
and Saddam? Mainstream media or blogs?
Round 4: Who correctly reported that there was no link between
Saddam and Al Qaeda, and that in fact Al Qaeda opposed Saddam?
Mainstream media or blogs?
Round 5: Who falsely claimed that Iraq was behind 9-11? Mainstream
media or blogs?
Round 6: Who correctly pointed out the evidence that 9-11 was
actually a false flag operation to start a war? Mainstream media or
blogs?
Round 7: Who falsely claimed that both Iraq and Afghanistan would
be quick victories? Mainstream media or blogs?
Round 8: Who correctly forecast that both Afghanistan and Iraq
would become quagmires? Mainstream media or blogs?

Let the battle begin? The battle is already OVER!
www.thebattleforamerica.com watch !
*****
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Next Question, PLEASE! (5:01 pm)
Ah, the irony…
Check out the transcript from the January White House press
conference and the comments immediately before the Jeff
Gannon/James Guckert softball toss:
transcript + video+ audio ! =
 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/20050126-3.html
Q Mr. President, do you think it’s a proper use of government
funds to pay commentators to promote your policies?
THE PRESIDENT: No.
Q Are you going to order that —
THE PRESIDENT: Therefore, I will not pay you to — (laughter.)
Q Fair enough. Are you ordering that there be an end to that practice?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I am. I expect my Cabinet Secretaries to
make sure that that practice doesn’t go forward. There needs to be
independence. And Mr. Armstrong Williams admitted he made a
mistake. And we didn’t know about this in the White House, and
there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the
White House and the press, the administration and the press. So,
no, we shouldn’t be going for it.
Yes, sir.
Q Well, Mr. Williams made a mistake —
THE PRESIDENT: Who?
Q Mr. Williams made a mistake. Did the Department of Education
make a mistake?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. They did.
Q What will happen to the people that made this decision?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve got new leadership going to the
Department of Education. But all our Cabinet Secretaries must
realize that we will not be paying commentators to advance our
agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet.
I’m confident you’ll be, over the course of the next four years,
willing to give our different policies an objective look — won’t
you? Yes, I can see that.
Yes, sir. [to Jeff Gannon]
Q Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very
bleak picture of the U.S. economy. Harry Reid was talking about
soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being
on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that
Social Security is rock-solid and there’s no crisis there. How are
you going to work — you said you’re going to reach out to these
people — how are you going to work with people who seem to have
divorced themselves from reality?

Okay, we’ll bite. The White House knew nothing of Armstrong
Williams. But what about the “reporter” sitting ten feet away from
the president with the White House-issued press pass?

 http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/ittlist/ind/next_question_please/
*****
Bill Maher on Gannon! VIDEO w/ Robin Williams & Leslie Stahl
 http://homepage.mac.com/njenson/movies/billmaher021805gannon.html
*****
Gannon on Anderson Cooper (VIDEO)
 http://mediamatters.org/gannon-video.html
Transcript of CNN Interview with the Reporter Formerly Known as Gannon
By E&P Staff
Published: February 19, 2005 12:15 AM ET
NEW YORK The following is the transcript of the Friday night CNN
interview of Jeff Gannon/James Guckert by Anderson Cooper.
 http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000808884
*****
commentary on interview w/ Anderson Cooper
 http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/anderson-cooper-is-my-god.html
*****

The Gannon Scandal: It's not about Sex, but the Press and Democracy

 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3143876&mesg_id=3143876

The way some people are talking, one would think that the only thing wrong with Jeff Gannon's "career" as a "journalist" is that he was moonlighting as gay pimp and prostitute. It certainly flies in the face of the Bush administration's promotion of "family values" and Homophobic Demagoguing. While that's juicy and will sell a lot of soap, it isn't what this scandal is about.

It makes no difference that Gannon is gay, which is strictly his business, or that he is a pimp and prostitute who promoted his services on the Internet, which properly could be regarded as a criminal matter. Nevertheless, to obsess on that part of the story only plays into the hands of powerful interests, both political and corporate, who don't want the real issues discussed. *( What do you expect from the oligarch's wayward MisInformation Ministers ?)

This scandal is about who controls the media and whom is journalism supposed to serve and its proper role in a democratic society. The discussion we should be have having is about the role of "the media" ("the press", "journalism", "the fourth estate" or whatever noun with which one wishes to denote it) in a democratic society as opposed to the one that it in fact serves in contemporary American society.

The function of a free and independent press in a democracy is to inform the public. In this respect, a journalist is little different than a scientist. He goes out in the field, gathers facts and reports them, letting the chips fall where they may. Other journalists, often called "opinion journalists", may string these fact together and present a theory. This is not to suggest that opinion journalism should be an ideological echo chamber; that would serve us poorly. A wide range of opinion, from Noam Chomsky to Charles Krauthammer, is desirable. *( The Ideologization of Science ?? see www.cognitiveliberty.org )

Free and independent is often meant in terms of the government; some believe that as long as the government does not censor the press, it is free. However, the press in order to serve its proper function in a democratic society must be free and independent of any power structure, public or private. Science ceases to be science when studies are censored by their sponsors; journalism ceases to be journalism in exactly the same way.

If journalists are only allowed to publish facts and opinion that serve the interests of those who sign their paychecks, then it is propaganda, not journalism. If those in power seek out those who support their point of view in a effort to drown out dissenting voices, then that is merely a censoring device.

The media in the last quarter of a century has been placed in fewer and more homogeneous hands. On television, where most Americans get their news, a corporate slant on news prevails. This is often extended to allow only a soft critique of political figures favored by those who own both the transnational corporations and media outlets, such as Mr. Bush today or President Reagan twenty years ago. More than a whimper of dissent at obvious gaffs or misstatements of fact from such leaders is not permitted. Meanwhile, the personal foibles of less favored leaders are allowed to grow into governmental crises. Even when lies are told about those leaders less favored, there is only a feeble effort to refute them. Indeed, when the favored political leaders tell lies of any kind, such as those that promote their programs and initiatives, there is little effort to refute them. How many people think Bush had a more honorable military record than Kerry? How many people still think Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet? How many people think Saddam had a biochemical arsenal and helped plan the September 11 attacks? If the media were doing its job, there would be a lot less such misinformed people.

The crisis of modern American journalism has become acute in recent years due to the willingness of Mr. Bush and other members of his administration to lie and deceive in order to get their way. There was information available prior to the Spring of 2003 that challenged the administration's case for war against Iraq. This was available mostly on the Internet on the sites of foreign media, such as the BBC and the Guardian Unlimited, as well as traditionally liberal and progressive publications, such as The Nation and The Progressive, new sources that have come into being with the advent of the Internet, such as Salon, and in the alternative media, such as Pacifica Radio. However, this information was not seen on television or in major newspapers. Anyone who was restricting his news sources to CNN and The New York Times during the run up to the invasion of Iraq was most likely as misinformed as if he got all his information from an unabashed propaganda outlet like FoxNews.

The corporate owners of the media are not the only ones restricting information and opinion. We now see that the Bush administration itself has gotten into the "news" business by hiring a public relations firm to produce fake news reports to promote the administration's Medicare initiatives and has given payola to media pundits to promote their education programs without disclosure. Now we have this case where a journalist with no real experience was given favorable treatment by the White House press office because, so it seemed, they knew he would ask softball questions barbed with partisan invective.

Karen Ryan, Armstrong Williams and Jeff Gannon are media whores. Whore is the right word. By taking money from the White House or Mr. Bush's friends to promote the administration's point of view, they have prostituted themselves.

It doesn't matter that any of these people have a secret, seedy life that isn't in line with the virtues promoted by the administration in its messianic aspect. If Jeff Gannon were not a homosexual pimp and prostitute, he would still be a media whore. While I am personally offended at Mr. Gannon's secret life, it is a red herring to the important matter. His behavior in service of the Bush administration, as well as that of Ms. Ryan and Mr. Williams, undermines the mission of journalists in a democracy.

It is not the secret lives of media whores that needs to be discussed, but the way that they and their bosses UNDERMINE American democratic institutions.

sharp InSight



Newsjock
Original message
Confessions of "an editor who ran Bush propaganda"




I originally made these comments in this thread, "Where Are All the Resignations of Editors Who Ran Bush Propaganda,"  http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=N...

but some folks there suggested I should place them in their own thread.

Until last year, I was the news editor at a midsized daily newspaper, a paper owned by one of the larger newspaper chains. I was the news editor at this paper when Bush* took office, and I stayed there through 9/11, the runup to war, and the war. I, too, would like to see heads roll over what the media did in that time, but it's not that easy.

Day after day, I'd see the crap coming across the wires, and I'd have to decide whether to put it in the paper, and if so, where to play it and what headline to put on it. Every time, without fail, if there was anything on the wire that supported the Bush* administration and we did not run it prominently and "favorably," the very next day, we would get a stream of phone calls from angered conservatives who railed on and on about the "liberal media." These calls, not surprisingly, registered in the offices of our senior editors ("news editor" is not a "senior editor," by the way), and those editors -- who feared for their own jobs if they pissed off readers and lost circulaton -- insisted that we present the news in a way that was favorable to the administration's position.

Indeed, after the first few days of the Iraq invasion, our corporate offices put out an advisory that their "research" was showing that readers were "tired" of news from Iraq, and that we needed to switch back to local news, quickly, relegating nearly all Iraq news to tiny spaces inside the paper.

Nonetheless, I was able to get stories into the paper that were appropriately skeptical. Those stories appeared periodically, and the Washington Post has already atoned for their repeated sin of burying such stories on Page A17 and beyond when they came up. That caused no end of pain at my paper, when senior editors would see the next day that stories I had placed on the front page were buried inside the Post. We were showing inappropriate bias against the administration, they argued -- after all, if it's not important to the Post, why should it be important to us?

A year after the invasion (oh yes, we steadfastly refused to call it "war" for as long as we could; it was an "attack," not a "war"), the nonstop drumbeat of pressure from senior editors -- caused mostly by the nonstop drumbeat of pressure from readers -- I finally decided that my stress level was getting way too high, and I had to bail.

I'm still in newspapers, but I'm not on the hard-news side, at least for now. But I have three years of front pages on PDFs sitting here on CDs. When the day comes -- and I know it will -- I will be able to show that I did not fall for this administration's bullshit. And with that, I hope to someday work in real news again, when journalism in the United States is once again allowed to be journalism.

replies to this=  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3146465

*****



UseFul Observations from ExPeerience of Nuance by Respectable, Mature Gay Insider

~~~~~~~ Gay facts and fantasies in Propagannon research
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/19/204254/937
(intro)
My hope here is to help narrow the discussion along lines of
probability as narrowed by an experienced perspective
As a seasoned gay man of a certain age I'd like to examine some of
the facts that have been unearthed and to infer these facts' larger
meaning from the perspective of a gay "insider". And I can tell
you, from the amount of hand-wringing over the horror of leftie
bloggers making a big deal over poor Jeff's former, and,
overlapping career, that they are terrified that the extent of
Bush's intimate Gay network will be exposed.

Given their monstruous treatment of our nation's Gays, they deserve
it. Having ridden to electoral victory by unleashing the worst
homophobic bigotry we've seen in decades, it is fit and just that
this maelstrom of hate turns against them. (I'm sure they know the
Bible quote?: "He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind"?. In an
earthier version I've heard the same principal expressed as "He who
stirs the shit, gets to eat it"
But the Gay network may also provide substantial clues as to the
Dirty Tricks department of Team Bush. I think it likely there is
huge overlap.
REPUBLICANS AND THEIR GAY UNDERWORLD
That many Gay Republicans should prefer the closety games of the
1950s over the open Gay culture that arose out of the post
Stonewall era should come as no surprise. They are reactionaries
after all. In fact, I know Gay men of a certain age and income who
routinely excoriate "the fags" while nonetheless indulging
appetites and behaviours that would leave Margaret Sperling's head
spinning. But since the lights are out in their orgy rooms, good
Republicans are happy to just overlook and pretend not to see. It
is the public avowal of affection that makes them crazy over the
gay marriage issue. *(to those who UNfortUNatelty dwell in deCONstruction, destruction, and death, We reach OUT a hand) To compare Gay marriage to a perversion, as
right next to bestiality is on the face of it insane. Gay people
seeking to have stable monogamous relationships accepted into their
families and their communities are, in key respects, far more
conservative and traditional than the many gays in the republican
party who scuttle around in the shadows, procuring illicit sex and
using sites like MilitaryEscortM4M.com.
I have been with my partner 25 years this summer and I personally
am sick and tired of being told that my only option is to have a
lavender marriage with an understanding lesbian or a loveless
marriage with an unsuspecting woman while trolling public toilets
and internet chat rooms on the side. You tell me which of these is
the more honorable?
(snipPeTs)
~BOB EBERLE, PAUL DICKERSON and GOPUSA
Interestingly it has since been reported that Texas Republicans are
distancing themselves from Eberle with almost universal
declarations that no one knew him. This, in itself, suggests they
know something about the relationship between Eberle and Gannon and
are running scared from it.
 http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/texas-republican-party-deniesknowing.html
(dubya' scrubbin' of websites is allSOW telling)

recent update! Monday, February 21, 2005
GOP Spokeswoman May Have Lied in Denying Any Knowledge of Bobby
Eberle, Owner of Talon News
Sherry Sylvester, Spokeswoman for the Republican Party of Texas,
Denied Knowing Jeff Gannon's Boss
By ADVOCATE STAFF
 http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/gop-spokeswoman-may-have-lied-in.html
~BACK TO EXPERIENCED GAY INSIDER REPORT
AND WAIT - when we look at another one of the links so thoughtfully
dug out by FOYA we find this - another social column - this time in
the Houston Chronicle -
 http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/features/shodge/2933125
covering a huge White House Party for about 700 Texas loyalists.
Here we find Dickerson (of the old Bush family linked law office of
Haynes and Boone) partnered, again, with another man, one Rex
Lamb. A quick google search shows us that Rex is president of the
Houston Young Republicans. While it may only be a coincidence that
their names are fused together, I suspect that Dickerson's
companion would have been mentioned - had he had one other than Mr
Lamb, and that the same would apply for Rex Lamb. In short,
columns of this type are usually very keen to get the pairings
right and to not give offense by naming only one half of a couple.
On top of that, the etiquette of naming gay couples is usually
discret enough so that it could be read as just happenstance. It
could, of course, just be happenstance but the very ambiguity of it
is telling.
So, what can we infer from this? Let's add one other factoid about
Dickerson touched on in the item quoted above - He's a new face,
someone who, like Bob Eberle himself appears to have played a much
lower key role in the party prior to 2000.
My inference? Well, I think we've touched on a Hot Potato issue,
that, in fact, Gannon's indiscretion is running the risk of
exposing the entire Velvet Mafia of Texas that rallied behind
Bush's election strategy. As a "new" member of the Bush team
wouldn't it be logical to think that he'd been brought on board by
campaign manager, Ken Mehlman?
So, in essence, far from having knowingly sponsored a rent boy, I
think they've all been taken for a loop - winking eyes through
short-hand conversations and just assumed that Gannon's bona fides
were in order. As of today, the whole chain of command is
terrified that this thing might spin out of their control
GOPUSA AS ROVIAN FRONT GROUP
What is interesting in tracing the origins of GOPUSA is that Bobby
Eberle appears to equivocate about when his organization actually
began. Although he most often cites 9-11 as a key to the
inspiration to go big time, other reports suggest that GOPUSA was,
in fact, founded, in Texas, in 1999. The lead here suggests a
strong possibility that Rove needed a "front" group to act as a
propaganda arm of the campaign and that the far better connected
(though even more dubious financially) Bruce Eberle agreed to
help create GOPUSA for his (brother? Cousin? Nephew? - has anyone
solved this yet?) Bobby to oversee, or front for.
Is the confusion because GOPUSA was actually created before Bob
Eberle had anything much to do with it? That he, too, had been
brought on board?
That GOPUSA and TALON news were not just some simple little
advocacy group seems highlighted by their role in the South Dakota
campaign, of which we already know quite a lot and has been
well-documented by SusanG and others.
In summary for today, MY HYPOTHESIS is that under the able scrutiny
of Karl Rove, members of Texas's closety gay underground were
brought in to similarly create a dirty tricks arm of the campaign.
Most members of GOPUSA probably had no know idea that any of this
was happening. That was desirable. The secret leveraged world of
gays and espionage neatly overlap. Indeed, gays and networks of
gays have long been a staple in the clandestine world for those
very reasons.
While it is possible that Gannon's cover may have been deeper,
that, indeed, the whole MilitaryStudM4M.com was itself a black op
entrapment scam should not be discounted, I think it unlikely that
they would have allowed Gannon to cross over. On the contrary, I
suspect that they are all flabberghasted and blaming Bobby for
having ever brought Gannon in on the scheme.
My estimation is that a network of Texas Gays have been
instrumental in Bush's rise to power and that a few of them just
got very sloppy in a way that risks outing all of them. That's the
reason why there's been this whole attempt to frame the issue as
being about Gannon's personal life - they know perfectly well it's
their OWN personal lives that that they're trying to protect.
Again, it's NOT GANNON'S PERSONAL LIFE - IT"S THEIR OWN.
Blackmail is a subtle art and is often used by those nearest to us.
I'm not talking about "emotional" blackmail in the pop psychology
sense but something more nuanced. In a secretive culture, like the
gay underworld - that I wish could finally disappear altogether -
blackmail isn't as crass as open exhortion, the threats are often
unspoken. In fact, pressure can be applied in even apparently
friendly ways as lovers, ex-lovers, or friends yield simply to
accommodate and protect everyone.
~~~On a closing note, I think that until we find where the money
for all these shenanigans came from (and GANNON/TALON seems the
first to possibly derive from laundered money or slush funds. -
(IMPORTANT POINT!!!) The others -Williams, Gallagher et alia -
were all receiving merely misappropriated funds! LOL
My suggestion, if we're looking for slush funds, is go for the off
shore ENRON accounts? Get every lunch receipt, every bus ticket,
every memo available to the public domain. I'm sure you'll find
BILLIONS of dollars were being siphoned off into secret slush fund
accounts that are occasionally kicking back into TEAM BUSH
operations. This could well be one of them.
A good job would be to see what links any of these B-list
characters from Texas have with Enron and might have been privy,
even signatories, to those mysterious off shore accounts - Bob
Eberle, Paul Dickerson, Ken Mehlman, Dan Gurlie, Jay Banning,
Scott McClellan, Karl Rove, Rick Perry, George W Bush.....it might
just lead somewhere.
REMEMBER In all likelihood the first few times Gannon was in the
Press Room (which does have a separate entrance, doesn't it?) he
was already in the White House. Has anyone the know-how to access
sign-in sheets at the Building's various entrances?
I hope I haven't gone on too long. I just felt that the amount of
speculation about the gay side of the story was going too far from
what the reality might truly be. I merely wished to lend my own
perspective on the speculation and attempt to focus it all in a
more forensic manner.
I think the issues are important. The gay angle is but one of
several that need to be unearthed.
Believe me, at some point there will be considerable overlap and,
possibly, immolation.
Thanks for taking the time to read my contribution and a quick
thanks to Susan G and the other many excellent researchers here at
Kos. I hope my two cents adds something to the discussion.
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/19/204254/937
sharp InSightS-Costitutional, Public Loyalty Oaths and Secret Oaths are inherently difficult to process and maintain cohesion, can enable One to be above man, above the law, above accountability-internally divided and externally projecting resultant, inevitable negativity, preventing kNoWing of Nativity
1)Gannon's fraternity creed
Some very interesting material here, this is from the creed for the
frathernity Gannon was a memeber of and I believe it has been said
that Bush was member of same fraternity: ( I heard DKE, though?) Note third paragraph,
what does that mean?
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Kappa_Epsilon
""Man is a social being. Our whole structure evidences the absolute
interdependence of man. Reclusiveness is dwarfing to man's best
qualities. Intimate and frequent contact with our fellows is
necessary to symmetrical development. As a consequence,
organizations whose purpose is to promote these ends are to be
fostered and encouraged.
We believe that at no other period in the life of a man is the time
more opportune for the fostering of such qualities than during the
years of his college career. Then mind and heart are in their most
receptive condition, for it is the formative period of life.
We regard mental development as of vital importance, but of equal
consequence is the acquisition of a knowledge of men and a proper
conception of their relation to one another. This is not obtained
from texts and lectures, but from actual and intimate intercourse
with men. To promote these ends is the avowed and earnest purpose
of this fraternity. Fully realizing the burdens of this duty, we
enter upon its performance with the conscientious purpose of
adequately meeting its demands.
We maintain that exclusiveness is the direct antithesis of a true
fraternity. We condemn the un-American policies of some of the
leading college fraternities of the country in their attitude of
contempt to all who are without the bonds of fraternities,
regardless of character, ability or personal merits. Such policies
we seek to avoid, as they are destructive of the very ends of true
fraternity.
We believe that a fraternity should be a brotherhood in conduct as
well as in name. "Faith without works is dead." Pledges of
brotherhood not succeeded by observance in conduct are as "sounding
brass and tinkling cymbal." By the tenor of our daily action we
should evidence our devotion to the principles we have solemnly
obligated ourselves to observe.
The duties and obligations that subsist between the sons of the
same mother should subsist between brothers in the sacred bond of
this fraternity. The instinct to the observance of mutual duties
that common blood supplies, must be furnished by the pledges of our
ritual.
We believe that the essential elements of true brotherhood are
love, charity, and esteem; love, that binds our hearts with the
sturdy chords of fraternal affection; charity, that is impulsive to
see virtues in a brother and slow to reprove his faults; esteem,
that is respectful to the honest convictions of others and that
refrains from treading upon that which is sacred to spirit and
conscience; these are the triple obligations of every brother in
the bond.
We believe in secretism in so far as it enables a fraternity to
protect the confidence of the brotherhood. Secrecy that is promoted
for selfish purposes or utilized to cloak fraternal wrong-doings we
unsparingly condemn. We uphold this policy in so far as it is
necessary to insure the dignity of our ritualism and the privacy of
our internal affairs. As secrecy is employed to protect and
perpetuate the sanctity of the family relation, so we enlist the
advantage of secrecy to preserve inviolate the confidences and
sanctities of the brotherhood.
Toward other fraternities we believe we should maintain an attitude
of dignity and respect, recognizing their merits and studiously
avoiding their evils. We believe our relation to them is, in a
measure, competitive, and that we should endeavor to excel them in
the fields of college activity.
We maintain that competition may become detrimental to any school.
When healthy rivalry is followed by competition in which honorable
methods are employed, it is a boon to the fraternity, and a benefit
to the school, but when groveling and unprincipled means are
employed, when school spirit and interest are subordinated to
fraternal prejudice and selfishness, it becomes "a snare to the
feet," and a detriment to the fraternity and to the school.
Competition in such form we condemn, and pledge every effort to
avoid.
Finally, above all else, this fraternity stands for Men. We believe
in their equality in those things which the Creator has decreed
they should equally enjoy. We consider no man from the standpoint
of those qualities and advantages he has not attained by personal
effort. We stand for men whose manhood has withstood the test of
trying conditions. We deem sterling character and staunch
uprightness to be necessary qualifications to membership in this
fraternity. All else, though desirable, is secondary to these.

 http://peopleforchange.blogspot.com/
SoCalDem
Original message
Why Bloggers...Why Now?

The stakes are very high, and the public is starting to realize that this might be our "last stand" * (...as the 'last stand' of the ballot box, did not go so well) against a government run amok. Instead of having the press standing by as "the fly on the wall" recording what is happening, they have become little more than megaphones for the politik-speak coming from the White House.

The real irony here is that as things have gotten ever more serious, the press has turned tail and run the other direction. They insist on force feeding us celebrity drivel, as China "eats our lunch". We just have to study, in depth, the make up of the Jackson jury while jobs are leaking from our country like water through a sieve. Brad & Jen's break-up is "top of the hour news...every hour" while we rarely hear an up to date accounting of our war dead. Our lopsided practically militant legislature is dismantling our long held safety nets but we see smiling anchors bemused by the antics of water skiing squirrels, and skydiving Grandpas.

Instead of deliberate reporting and follow-up on important issues of our day, we are "treated" *('tenderized') to pseudo-journo-spokes-folks who delight in telling us about THEIR lives and the books THEY have written. Whole "networks" are devoted to "news", and yet they seem to interview each other as often as they report the news.

That brings up a whole other point. Experts? Experts used to be just that. They did not serve up a political agenda with their science. The so-called experts who are foisted in our faces day in and out are little more than Think Tank Hacks who have sold out to the right wing machine. They are as believable as the tobacco executives who repeated one after another "I do not believe that nicotine is addictive". For a price, these experts will say whatever they are paid to say.
We Know It, And We Are Tired Of The Lack Of Diversity Of Thought.

Bloggers are just ordinary people who are tired of being lied to, and who are ashamed and embarrassed for our "media folks". For the most part, the on-air "talent" are people who had the advantage of a good education, are well paid, and should know better. It's like seeing the guy from school who got a PHD working at Walmart.

We also "get it". We recognize the "code words" used in reporting the few news stories that get reported. We are ashamed of you because you are letting us down daily, hourly. You are our last hope for spreading truth and unvarnished facts, and yet you are usually first in line with lies, half truths and White House fax transcriptions.

Before you accuse the LEFT of being poor sports, I might remind you that "the left" controls NOTHING, and hasn't for a long time, so the "liberal bias" crap just does not pass the "smells like shit" test.
Truth HAS no bias.

Our so-called media jumped on the war wagon with breathtaking gusto, never questioning the obviously bogus information, and yet had the guts to "be offended" when Ordinary People started to take you all to task. You are our "last man".. We count on YOU to tell us what's going on. Sure, you all looked "cute" in your "war outfits", and it probably was great fun to race through the desert on tanks. You grabbed every lifeline the government tossed you as the reasons for war proved as solid as blobs of mercury. WE knew from Day One, minus 5 that the whole war was phony, and we are holding you responsible for a great part of the Resulting Carnage.

There was a window of opportunity when real reporting could have prevented the whole thing, and exposed the mess. We saw how you all enjoyed watching Colin Powell doing linguistic gymnastics at the UN, while the whole world laughed at us. Our media stuck their fingers in their ears and chanted la-la-la-la. You could not be bothered with mere facts.. The swooshy graphics were all ready.. the logos designed, and the measurements for your "war costumes" were already at the tailors.
just pieces, FullPie @=  http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3156961

3)see this article
Also there are other interesting articles on this site, reg. Bush, et. al.
 http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=5319
"Gannon" scandal leads to link between high-level Republicans,
high-level Democrats
*****
go to a kareoke club and sing THIS!

I'M FOR SALE or, "The Ballad of Jeff Gannon" *(-with sympathies due to matters beyond One and All.s complete controll)
(to the tune of "Love For Sale" with profound apologies to Cole Porter)
FOR A WHITE HOUSE PASS ON MY BULLDOG NECK
I'LL IGNORE THE FACTS, LET THEM GO UNCHECKED
IT'S A BIZ I'VE BEEN IN BEFORE...
I'VE SOLD MY ASS
TRUE MY MAN DATE WORK WAS TOUGH ON THE KNEES
SO I ASKED: CAN I BE A JOURNALIST PLEASE?
WHEN MY JOHN GAVE ME HIS SMIRK...
I WENT TO WORK...
SPIN FOR SALE
RHAPSODIZING BUSH SPIN FOR SALE
SPIN THAT SELLS YOUR LATEST LIES
SPIN STRAIGHT FROM MY MANLY THIGHS
I'M FOR SALE
BUY MY PRIDE
IF YOU SEEK DISTRACTION, I'M YOUR GUIDE
ON THE FLOOR AND START TO BARK
JUST IMPRESSIONS, NOT A MARK
I'M FOR SALE
LET THE LIBRULS FLING THEIR POOP
IN THEIR LOSER WAYS
IT WON'T GET THEM IN THE LOOP
LIKE MY BOYTOY DAYS
IF YOU PAY YOUR WHORE ENOUGH
THEY'LL DELIVER FLUFF OR ROUGH
ONLINE, ON CUE
EVERY WORD IS UNTRUE
I'M FOR SALE
MILITARY TOUGH STUFF FOR SALE
AND WHEN SCOTTY CALLED MY NAME
WE'D JUST WINK AND PLAY THE GAME
I'M FOR SALE
I'M FOR SALE
I'M FOR SALE.....
if ya' need help w/ da' melody,...

...free download crooned by Ella Fitzgerald !..., scroll down Disc2 Track9

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000047EG/102-9704119-1871321?v=glance

*****
UPDATE!! Rove- Bush-Bruce Eberle Blackmail Connection
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/6432/29346
In the police reports you will see the name Omega Publishing Co. In my last quote box you will find a Omega Company listing for Bobby Eberle. A variation of the name but a publishing company.
(link)From here I found this site that includes Hatfield's suicide notes. Go to the Police Report and the credit card records. Police Records
The Bushes are people who do not play by the rules, they do not believe the rules of common people apply to them. They are Nietzchean supermen in their own minds, amoral, sociopathic. And as they pulled the wool over the eyes of more conventional minds, Jim Hatfield could see right through them. He was onto them in large part because he too had the capacity to think outside the margins of "normality" that inhibit most people to a greater or lesser extent.
There was an affinity there, sort of a prince-and-pauper identity that is endlessly fascinating to me. In the end Jim succeeded, in a sense, because he created a legend. He was one of those enigmatic, fascinating characters who had the capacity to take risks and to step beyond the boundaries of convention that protect most of us and keep us stuck in our lives of quiet desperation. He, on the other hand, was a flash across the sky and then gone, but not to be forgotten.
More
Lou knows about several smoldering scandals from the Bush governorship, the details of some of which are only now emerging or being submerged. How Rove often launched FBI investigations on people his candidate was running against. How he hides the dirt on Bush as governor by scuttling the candidacy of a clean Independent for Attorney General. I'm newly inspired to research Rove and pull out the truth from this diseased body of American politics. Rove is a telling symbol.
Lou told me something great about Rove. Lou spoke publicly about Rove at a liberal think tank's seminar and joked about the possibility of someone monitoring him from Rove's camp. Lou later got a note that said, "Hi Lou" and in so many words, said Yes, we are. We're out here. We're watching. How many other people have gotten creepy notices of surveillance from Rove? Someone should document them all. I'll do it.
Although this investigation has to conclude that Hatfield most likely committed suicide alone, the two years that lead up to this were not all Hatfield's doing. At lunch with Lou, I practiced telling Jim's story without the tangents: Rove set Hatfield up and then Rove broke him. The blood of a good writer is on his hands.
LINK And a summary
This is the Rove hold on Bush.
There are some interesting hints in the police report. Now that Gannongate is in MSM it may be time to bring this incident back into the forefront. What bigger blackmail motive than an untimely death?
 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/6432/29346
*****
Question of GAY SEX surrounding White House reveal who we have become
 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=330564&mesg_id=330564
unique angle, perceptive Psych/Social analysis of Pecker (ing) Order
_________________________________________
The kind of behavior associated with Gannon's flavor of "services," and Bush's affair with Vicktor Ashe, have nothing to do with what most people consider sex. I know this is difficult to understand because we *are* talking about the act of eventually bumping uglies. Make no mistake, that happens in the end (pun intended), but it's not "romantic." All the well-groomed bachelors of a certain age in surrounding the GOP and the While House, they aren't all looking for love. They are "establishing order."
Homo-erotic social ordering is at the center the Lord of the Flies world inhabited by the orphans of privilege who attend elite private schools. It's also common in public schools, and in neighborhoods. You most certainly see it in prison. Who Is Whose Bitch. It's certainly not a behavior exclusive to the wealthy. I grew up in central Florida and the cracker kids in my neighborhood did it. I've witnessed it in the corporate world where you have the bullying in a hereto-erotic manner. Hell, my 14-pound female Italian Greyhound asserts her authority over her roomie, an 18-pound male Iggy. I love it when we have guests over in the summer for BBQ's and Astra is humping away at Trouble. "Well you see, they are establishing dominant order. It has nothing to do with sex-drive. If she were in heat, believe me, she would be acting much different."
Skull and Bones is supposed to be the final stopping place for the adolescent ready to leave that ordering process behind. Or is it? Does the behavior serve a purpose beyond the developmental ordering of youth? I would say it most certainly does. Who wouldn't want to be privy to your opponent's vulnerability? If you were the bully, I imagine you could use your reputation for mad ruthlessness against your peers forever -- given you maintain the rep through continued ruthlessness.
THIS IS BASE NATURE, FOLKS. It's what we form social institutions to guard against. The Enlightenment, humanity in general, the arts, music. Our entire culture until now has been centered on progress and The Social Contract. Now, it is Hobbe's State of Nature re-created by men in power in order to fill a need -- most likely a garden variety narcissist need with Daddy-issues thrown in. Always needing to show oneself to be "the boss," or "the big Man," is not normal behavior. It's aberrant. Transgressive.
Everyone who has an angle on the Gannon story wants to assert their reason "why the sex is relevant," or why it's not. I'm no exception. I believe the issue of sex is important because it tells us something about this administration's sense of social ordering. It's claw to jaw. It's pre-modern. It's Old Testament.
When Clinton was fooling around with his little muffin, it wasn't about him being a big man. He's not proving to the world and to his Father that he is better. Clinton had to become his own father. He had to grow up fast and nurture his mother. I have some experience with that. When you come from those roots, you don't have anything to prove, anymore. But you do get lonely. When you are everyone's parent, there is nothing left for you.
In the Clinton dalliance there was yearning for connection. In Bush's case the yearning is to stand over the vanquished -- this is called "annihilation."
We must get better at articulating what this is about because it seems to me that whether or not you believe any of the Left Behind crap, Bush The Annihilator, does. Those are the rules he is playing by. He is a sick man and he is going to take all of us with him on his Odyssey to prove to Poppy once and for all, who's The Man.
 http://johnsoncity.blogspot.com
*****
this is also about phoneys
leaders must have unity, peace understanding within themselves or this conflict and havoc repressed is projecting negativity and disharmony to the external human family, 'Field '
violence, greed...,re-ocCuRinG..., Jung's 'bug' of Humanity
Nelson Mandela's beautifully haunting words are apt:
"Our worst fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we
are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most
frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of
God: your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around
you. We were born to make manifest of the glory of God within us. It is not
just in some of us, it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are
liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others."
from=  https://www3.indymedia.org.uk/en/2003/12/282835.html
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT? cool mp3 song NewParadigm Thought SoftWare with Cultural-AlcheMist Peter Russell
 http://www.ursaminor.org/projects/what_do_we_want/what_...

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely
helps them to deceive themselves. Eric Hoffer
*****

Planetary Survival and Consciousness Evolution:
Psychological Roots of Human Violence and Greed

Stanislav Grof, M.D.*
 http://grofs.forskning.magiskamolekyler.org/text/plansurv.htm

* (unlimited possibilities if One and All contribute with...,
InSight-InTent-Clarity-Vision-HeartEnergy)



ABSTRACT: The Two Most Powerful Psychological Forces In Human History Have Been WithOut Doubt Violence And Greed. However, the current global situation has amplified the consequences involved. More people were killed in the last hundred years than have existed from the dawn of humanity up to the last century. We have the dubious privilege of being the first species in natural history that has achieved the capacity to eradicate itself and destroy in the process all life on this planet. Yet the current global crisis is of a psychospiritual nature, and it cannot be resolved without a radical inner transformation of humanity on a large scale.

appliccable thesis statements;

~~~Those who initiate war activities and violence in general are typically substituting external targets for elements in their own psyches, which should properly be faced in personal self-exploration.

~~~ It seems that, for unknown reasons, awareness of the perinatal elements can increase simultaneously in a large number of people. This creates an atmosphere of tension, anxiety, and anticipation.

~~~However, the acting out of unconscious impulses—whether it occurs on the Individual scale or Collectively in wars and revolutions—does not result in transformation as would their full conscious experience, since insight and therapeutic intention are missing.

~~~People who gain experiential access to the perinatal area of their unconscious have the unique opportunity to bring into consciousness profound destructive and self-destructive energies and disturbing emotions that are stored in this domain of the human psyche, come to terms with them, and integrate them. They also discover within themselves deep spirituality of a universal and all-encompassing nature. As a result of such spirituality, they feel an increase of inner peace, self-acceptance, tolerance toward others, and acceptance of differences.

(snipPeTs)

~It has become increasingly clear that consciousness is not a product of the physiological processes in the brain but is a primary attribute of existence. In the last analysis, the individual psyche of each of us is commensurate with the totality of existence; The Deepest Nature Of Humanity Is Not Bestial, But Divine.

Malignant aggression does not reflect true human nature; it is connected with a domain of unconscious, perinatal dynamics that separates us from our deeper identity. Those who initiate war activities and violence in general are typically substituting external targets for elements in their own psyches, which should properly be faced in personal self-exploration.

~Diplomatic negotiations, administrative and legal measures, economic and social sanctions, military interventions, and other similar efforts have had very little success; as a matter of fact, they have often produced more problems than they solved. It is becoming increasingly clear why they have to fail: It is impossible to alleviate this crisis by application of the strategies rooted in the same ideology that created it in the first place. In the last analysis, the current global crisis is of a psychospiritual nature; it reflects the level of consciousness evolution of the human species. It is therefore hard to imagine that it could be resolved without a radical inner transformation of humanity on a large scale and a rise to a higher level of Emotional Maturity and Spiritual Awareness.

PROBLEMC CANNOT BE SOLVED AT THE SAME LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS AS THEY WERE CREATED-THOMAS ALVA EDISON

~

The activation of this material can lead to serious individual psychopathology, including unmotivated violence. It seems that, for unknown reasons, awareness of the perinatal elements can increase simultaneously in a large number of people. This creates an atmosphere of tension, anxiety, and anticipation. The leader is an individual who is under a stronger influence of the perinatal energies than an average person. He also has the ability to disown his unacceptable feelings (the Shadow in Jung’s terminology) and to project them onto the external situation. The collective discomfort is blamed on the enemy, and a military intervention is offered as a solution.

Once the war erupts, the destructive and self-destructive impulses can be freely acted out. The perinatal elements that we normally encounter in a certain stage of the process of inner exploration and transformation (BPM II and III) now become the images that are part of our life, either directly or in the form of TV news and print media. Various no-exit situations, sadomasochistic orgies, sexual violence, bestial and demonic behavior, unleashing of enormous explosive energies, and scatology—which belong to standard perinatal imagery—are all enacted in wars and revolutions with extraordinary vividness and power.

However, the acting out of unconscious impulses—whether it occurs on the individual scale or collectively in wars and revolutions—does not result in transformation as would their full conscious experience, since insight and therapeutic intention are missing. Thus the goal of the underlying Birth Fantasy,*(driving the desire for catharsis?) which represents the driving force of such violent events, is not achieved, even if the war or revolution has been brought to a successful closure. The most triumphant external victory does not deliver what was expected and hoped for: an inner sense of Emotional Liberation and Spiritual Rebirth.

After the initial intoxicating feelings of triumph come, at first, a sober awakening and, later, bitter disappointment. And it usually does not take a long time before a facsimile of the old oppressive system starts emerging from the ruins of the dead dream, since the same unconscious forces continue to operate in the deep unconscious. This seems to happen again and again in human history, whether the event is the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, or World War II.

However, when the process of experiential self-exploration reaches the perinatal level, people typically discover that their life up to that point has been largely inauthentic in its totality, not just in certain partial segments. They also find out to their surprise and astonishment that their entire life strategy has been misdirected and, therefore, unfulfilling.

~ The most consistent consequence of deep experiential self-exploration is the emergence of Universal Spirituality of a Mystical Nature that is based on Personal Experience. *( 'primary' religous experience )

~People who gain experiential access to the perinatal area of their unconscious have the unique opportunity to bring into consciousness profound destructive and self-destructive energies and disturbing emotions that are stored in this domain of the human psyche, come to terms with them, and Integrate them. They also discover within themselves deep spirituality of a universal and all-encompassing nature. As a result of such spirituality, they feel an increase of inner peace, self-acceptance, tolerance toward others, and acceptance of differences.

These changes deepen and extend even further when the process of experiential self-exploration reaches the transpersonal level. What began as psychological probing of the unconscious psyche now automatically becomes a philosophical quest for the Meaning of Life and a Journey of Spiritual Discovery. People who connect to the transpersonal domain of their psyche tend to develop a new appreciation for existence and reverence for all life.

~ One of the most striking consequences of various forms of transpersonal experiences is spontaneous emergence and development of deep humanitarian and ecological concerns. It is based on an almost Cellular Awareness...,

.... that the boundaries in the Universe are arbitrary and that each of us is identical with the entire web of Being. It is suddenly clear that we cannot do anything to Nature without simultaneously doing it to ourselves. Differences among people now appear to be interesting and enriching rather than threatening, whether they are related to sex, race, color, language, political conviction, or religious belief. It is obvious that a transformation of this kind would increase our chances for survival if it could occur on a sufficiently large scale.

~

However, hope lies in deep experiential approaches that facilitate personal transformation through psychospiritual death/rebirth and connection with the memories of positive postnatal or prenatal memories. Such approaches have consistently resulted in the emergence of deep spirituality of a universal and all-encompassing nature and a corresponding development of deep humanitarian and ecological concerns in individuals.

The current global situation has exteriorized many of the essential themes of the perinatal dynamics. If we continue to act out the problematic destructive and self-destructive tendencies originating in the depths of the unconscious, we will undoubtedly destroy ourselves and the life on this planet. However, if we succeed in internalizing this process on a large enough scale, it might result in an evolutionary progress that can take us as far beyond our present condition as we now are from primates. Thus, it is essential to spread the information about these possibilities for transformation and consciousness evolution and get enough people personally interested in pursuing them. We seem to be involved in a dramatic race for time that has no precedent in the entire history of humanity.

~ ~~However, if a sufficient number of people undergoes a process of deep inner transformation, we might reach a level of consciousness evolution that will bring us to the point of deserving the name given to our species, Homo sapiens—i.e., Wise Humans.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 http://grofs.forskning.magiskamolekyler.org/text/plansurv.htm

*****

The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of our Collective Psychosis

By Paul Levy

Jan 27, 2005, 15:02

just pieces, Full PIE at;  http://www.serendipity.li/bush/madness.htm


THIS IS A PERCEPTIVE ESSAY BY SPIRITUAL ACTIVIST AND HEALER THAT THE CURRENT MANIFESTATION OF VIOLENCE, GREED & DECEIT RE-OCCURS CUZ OF ANCIENT & ARCHETYPAL UNRESOLVED UNCONSCIOUS CONFLICTS , INDIVIDUALLY & COLLECTIVELY STRUGGLED WITH ' INSIDE ' AND PROJECTED PHYSICALLY ' OUTSIDE '. THOUGH THIS IS A RARE HISTORICAL MOMENT TO - COME TO TERMS WITH ' IT ' ( JUNG'S " BUG " OF HUMANITY) & GET A GRIP BY REAL EYES REALIZING...,

.....It's a gesture from the Universe, beckoning us, demanding us to integrate it and thereby receive its
blessing.

~When an unconscious content is ready to be integrated, it
always gets dreamed up into fully materialized form. This is the
dimension in which the energy bound up in the infinitely regressing
feedback loop of the disease can be accessed and REDEEMED.

MORE SECRETS IN PLAIN VIEW FROM THIS PEACE ! first it is not quite known how but, amazingly...

....excerpt: Being a field phenomenon, malignant egophrenia is non-local in nature, which means that it is not bound by the limitations of time or space. Being non-local, this disease pervades and underlies the entire field and can therefore manifest anywhere, through anyone and at any moment.

~The disease literally feeds on our unawareness of it. The
recognition of the disease is itself the beginning of The Cure. By
recognizing the nature of this collective psychosis, we snap out of
being part of it. Malignant egophrenia, unrecognized and
misdiagnosed until now, has wreaked havoc all throughout human
history, and is at the very root of our current world crisis. To
the extent we are unaware of the nature of this collective
psychosis, it has us in its grips and will unconsciously get acted
out through us in a destructive manner. THE CHOICE IS TRULY OURS.

The disease is archetypal in nature, which is to say that it has
eternally re-created itself and played itself out over the course
of history. We can even say that it's the 'bug' in the system that
has in-formed and given shape to all of the conflict and disharmony
of human relationship.

Naming the disease, we are able to (alchemically) contain it, so
that it can't possess us from behind and act itself out through us
unconsciously. Once the disease is named, it's anchored to
consciousness so that it can't vaporize back into the unconscious.
This de-potentiates the disease, beginning the process of
re-integrating it back into the profound unity of the psyche.

The
energy that was bound up in the compulsion to endlessly re-create
the disease becomes liberated and available for creative
expression. The prescription for this disease is simply for enough
of us who see it to connect with each other in lucid awareness so
that it can be contained, metabolized and Healed. We can put our
collective realization together and dream a much more grace-filled
universe into incarnation. This is an evolutionary impulse from the
universe in which we are invited to participate.

~Bush supporters are not merely disinterested in seeing that they
are in denial of reality; on the contrary, they actively don't want
to look at this, which is to say they resist self-reflection at all
costs. Bush and his supporters perversely interpret any feedback
from the real world which reflects back their unconsciousness as
itself evidence that proves the rightness of their viewpoint. All
of Bush's supporters mutually reinforce each other's unconscious
resistance to such a degree that a collective, interdependent field
of impenetrability gets collectively conjured up by them that
literally resists consciousness.

~It is not that the threat of terrorism is unreal, but that Bush's
policies in dealing with terrorism are actually fueling the fire.
The way Bush is fighting terrorism is actually the very act which
is invoking and creating more of it in the first place. It is as if
he is fighting against his own shadow, which is a battle that can
never be won. Bush is so dissociated from the darkness within
himself that he splits off from it and tries to destroy it. Bush's
inner process, because of the position of power he finds himself
in, is getting dreamed up and played out on the world stage. ME
disease is unique in that it collapses the boundary between inner
and outer. Egophrenia is an inner disease of the soul that
expresses itself via the medium of the outside world. We could even
say that the inner core of egophrenia actually in-forms and gives
shape to the outer universe so as to express itself.

~

Just like Hitler struck a chord deep in the German unconscious,
Bush is touching something very deep in the American psyche. Bush
is acting out on the world stage an under-developed psychological
process that deals simplistically with issues such as good and
evil. It's as if he hasn't grown out of and fully differentiated
from the realm of mythic, archetypal fantasy that is typical of
early adolescence. This immature aspect of Bush's process speaks to
and resonates with those voters who support him, as it is a
reflection of their own under-developed inner process.

A COLLECTIVE PSYCHOSIS

It is a very dangerous situation we are in- because of the position
of power Bush and the religious right find themselves in, they can
literally dream up and create the very apocalypse that they are
imagining is prophesized, like a Self-fulfilling prophecy. In a
perversely self-reinforcing feedback-loop, the more death and
destruction happens, the more this confirms to them the truth that
their deluded end-time scenario is actually happening as
prophesized. In a diabolical self-validating vicious cycle, Bush
and the religious right are ignoring the role they are playing in
creating exactly what they are using as evidence to prove the
rightness of their viewpoint. ME disease is a world where up is
down, as its flawless illogic is convoluted and inverted at its
core.

~If we don't see what it is symbolically revealing to us, malignant
egophrenia will destroy us. It's a gesture from the universe,
beckoning us, demanding us to integrate it and thereby receive its
blessing. By prompting, pressuring and challenging us to come to
terms with it and receive its Gifts, malignant egophrenia has the
potential to awaken us, thereby furthering the evolution of the
species.

The fact that malignant egophrenia is manifesting in fully visible
form in our world right now is an expression that this particular
energy is available for assimilation in a way un-imaginable until
now. When an unconscious content is ready to be integrated, it
always gets dreamed up into fully materialized form. This is the
dimension in which the energy bound up in the infinitely regressing
feedback loop of the disease can be accessed and redeemed.

Embracing these parts of ourselves that we see so clearly
reflected in Bush and Co. is the first step towards healing the
situation. This Is Because It Dispells The Polarization And
Separation Which Is The Root Factor Preventing Reconciliation. Bush
and Co. are playing out roles that exist deep inside the collective
psyche of all of humanity. If Bush and Co. weren't around, there
would be someone else sent by 'central casting' to pick up and play
out these very same archetypal roles. Compassion spontaneously
arises when we truly recognize these fear-ridden parts of ourselves.

If we solidify Bush as being evil and react with righteous
indignation, we are guilty of the very same thing we're accusing
Bush of (i.e, projecting the shadow). We then become a conduit for
the very evil we're reacting to.

we're helping to perpetuate the diabolical polarization that is the
signature of the disease.

As the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. says "Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent about things that matter."

Our only
limitation is in our own imagination.

The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of our Collective Psychosis

By Paul Levy

Jan 27, 2005, 15:02

just pieces, Full PIE at;  http://www.serendipity.li/bush/madness.htm
*****

MY WRITING ON ENCOURAGING A RESPECT, AWARENESS AND INTUITIVE CALLING FOR BALANCE BY UNDERSTANDING THE GIFTS OF THE GODDESS.

AFTER,.., ARE A FEW LINKS IF YA'LL SHOULD WANT TO EXPLORE THIS RESEARCH FURTHER.

People of The Web ! CLOSE the Wisdom Gap !!

It is a tragic folly, misguided, and a lack of faith and vision to be ' convinced ' violence IS inherent in human nature. SEE "WILL the Real Human Please Stand UP" by Riane Eisler or the writings of Terence McKenna, specifically the book- "The Archaic Revival." These scholars investigation of archeology and history discovered Goddess cultures of maternalistic " partnership " societys as opposed to hierarhical, patriarcal " dominator " societys, prospered in ancient times for millenia in peace, sustainability and ' balance ' among themselves and the LAND - EcoSystem.

Advanced technology and material wealth definately does not imply advanced spiritual health. In many aspects, indices of Quality of Life, Egalitarianism and Symbiosis with Nature, The Ancients were more civilized. We are All Connected and violence to anyone, anywhere, creates a wound and burden on the WorldSoul and takes something out of us individually, also. Those who advocate more violence or simply turn a blind-eye to violence happening in now the 21st century- where technological killing power and warfare capabilities, plus more subtle techniques for wars on minds & hearts, are EVEN MORE INSIDIOUS AND DANGEROUS. Violence advocates ? They are all on THE SAME SIDE.

To be stuck in OUT-dated paradigm and maybe not realize it or to have SUNK COSTS in bad, stifling idealogies or policy paths, is just plain stupid and stubborn. it is SO SIMPLE to just Change One's Mind ! A NewWorld IS Possible ! We Must Remember the Greatness of Who We Are. If others will hold it's birthing back or hide the NextWorld's ALLready Arrival- in 2002, the Year of Balance, those who believe in the best potentials with InSight, InTent, Clarity, Vision & HeartEnergy....., MUST DO THEIR' PART now !

The People of the Hand will DeFeat The people of the FisT cuz..,The Hand can share all UseFul Things, while the fist must CoNceal what IT holds


Psychohistory, the science of historical motivation, combines the insights of psychotherapy with the research methodology of the social sciences to understand the Emotional Origin of the Social and Political Behavior of Groups and Nations, Past and Present.

Psychohistory: Childhood and the Emotional Life of Nations
by Lloyd deMause

Preface

(some goals)
(4) to show how political, religious and social behavior restage early traumas, even those occurring before birth, recorded in separate areas of our minds called social alters,

(5) to show that social institutions are not just utilitarian but are also designed to be self-destructive, representing shared ways of dealing with emotional problems caused by deep personal anxieties surrounding growth and individuation,

(6) to explain how a new historical tool, fantasy analysis, can objectively discover shared emotions and group-fantasies that occur in lawful stages which determine the sequence of political events,

(7) to show that groups go to war to rid themselves of shared feelings of sinfulness and fears of disintegration, cleansing their feelings by sacrificing victims containing rejected parts of themselves,

(8) to show why we need enemies, why we feel depressed when enemies disappear, and what this has to do with our periodic need for wars and economic crises whose purpose is to reduce our anxieties about success and prosperity,

(9) to show why history is now a race between too slowly improving childrearing and too fast evolving destructive technology

 http://www.psychohistory.com/

*****

I am KeePinG the faith we can LEGALIZE HUMAN EXPERIENCE, Free communication interactions and Self/World awareness, unhindered and respected by the "dominant" culture. I beg everyone to read the writings of Dr.Thomas Szasz- anti-psychiatry prophet! freedom can still seize this Rare Historical MoMent, as Edward Gibbon said,

"the minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level. The fire of genius was extinguished."

The spirit of individuality, scholarship, entreprenuership, compassion & ingenuity is the greatest gift anyone can give and these voices and input is precisely what is needed to ReClaim, ReNew, rejuvenate and pull us UP by the bootstraps !

LifTinG the boot OFF our face cuz the genie is US.

(JizsmGate, crude, smutty mayBE but letters fit + infers something tangible, concrete & Ironic it's The seed that conceives & Unites US)

*****

Plan/Plant/Planet
by Terence McKenna
Our present global crisis is more profound than any previous historical crises; hence our solutions must be equally drastic. I propose that we should adopt the plant as the organizational model for life in the twenty-first century, just as the computer seems to be the dominant mental/social model of the late twentieth century, and the steam engine was the guiding image of the nineteenth century.

This means reaching back in time to models that were successful fifteen thousand to twenty thousand years ago. When this is done it becomes possible to see plants as food, shelter, clothing, and sources of education and religion.

The process begins by declaring legitimate what we have denied for so long. Let us declare nature to be legitimate. All plants should be declared legal, and all animals for that matter. The notion of illegal plants and animals is obnoxious and ridiculous.



Reestablishing channels of direct communication with the planetary Other,

It is foolish to suggest that there is no risk, but it is equally uninformed to suggest that the risk is not worth taking. What is needed is experiential validation of a new Guiding Image, an overarching metaphor able to serve as the basis for a new model of society and the individual.

The plant-human relationship has always been the foundation of our individual and group existence in the world. What I call the Archaic Revival is the process of reawakening awareness of traditional attitudes toward nature, including plants and our relationship to them. The Archaic Revival spells the eventual breakup of the pattern of male dominance and hierarchy based on animal organization, something that can not be changed overnight by a sudden shift in collective awareness. Rather, it will follow naturally upon the gradual recognition that the overarching theme that directs the Archaic Revival is the idea/ideal of a vegetation Goddess, the Earth herself as the much ballyhooed Gaia--a fact well documented by nineteenth-century anthropologists, most notably Frazer, but recently given a new respectability by Riane Eisler, Marija Gimbutas, James Mellaart, and others.

The closer a human group is to the gnosis of the vegetable mind--the Gaian collectivity of organic life--the closer their connection to the archetype of the Goddess and hence to the partnership style of social organization. The last time that the mainstream of Western thought was refreshed by the gnosis of the vegetable mind was at the close of the Hellenistic Era, before the Mystery religions were finally suppressed by enthusiastic Christian barbarians.

My conclusion is that taking the next evolutionary step toward the Archaic Revival, the rebirth of the Goddess, and the ending of profane history will require an agenda that includes the notion of our reinvolvement with and the emergence of the vegetable mind. That same mind that coaxed us into self-reflecting language now offers us the boundless landscapes of the imagination. Without such a relationship to psychedelic exopheromones regulating our symbiotic relationship with the plant kingdom, we stand outside of an understanding of planetary purpose. And an understanding of planetary purpose may be the major contribution we can make to the evolutionary process. Returning to the bosom of the planetary partnership means trading the point of view of the history-created ego for a more maternal and intuitional style.





The widely felt intuition of the presence of the Other as a female companion to the human navigation of history can, I believe, be traced back to the immersion in the vegetable mind, which provided the ritual context in which human consciousness emerged into the light of self-awareness, self-reflection, and self-articulation: the light of the Great Goddess.

What does it mean to accept the solutions of vegetable forms of life as metaphors for the conduct of the affairs of the human world? Two important changes would follow from adopting this assumption:



The feminizing of culture. Culture would be feminized on a level that has yet to be fully explored. Green Consciousness means recognizing that the real division between the masculine and the feminine is not a division between men and women but rather a division between ourselves as conscious animals--omnivorous, land-clearing, war makers, supreme expression of the yang--and the circumglobal mantle of vegetation--the ancient metastable yin element that constitutes by far the major portion of the biomass of the living earth.

An inward search for values. Inwardness is the characteristic feature of the vegetable rather than the animal approach to existence. The animals move, migrate, and swarm, while plants hold fast. Plants live in a dimension characterized by the solid state, the fixed, and the enduring. If there is movement in the consciousness of plants then it must be the movement of spirit and attention in the domain of the vegetal imagination. Perhaps this is what the reconnection to the vegetal Goddess through psychedelic plants, the Archaic Revival, actually points toward: that the life of the spirit is the life that gains access to the visionary realms resident in magical plant teachers. This is the truth that shamans have always known and practiced. Awareness of the green side of mind was called Veriditas by the twelfth-century visionary Hildegard von Bingen.
A new paradigm capable of offering hope of a path out of the cultural quicksand must provide a real-world agenda addressed to the escalating problems that the planet faces. There are several domains in which the rise of awareness of Veriditas might help stave off armageddon:

Full PIE @  http://www.deoxy.org/t_ppp.htm

*****

Marija: The symbolic systems are very different. All this reflects the social structure. The Indo-European social structure is patriarchal, patrilineal and the psyche is warrior. Every God is also a warrior. The three main Indo-European Gods are the God of the Shining Sky, the God of the Underworld and the Thunder God. The female goddesses are just brides, wives or maidens without any power, without any creativity. They're just there, they're beauties, they're Venuses, like the dawn or sun maiden.

So the system from what existed in the matristic culture before the Indo-Europeans in Europe is totally different. I call it matristic, not matriarchal, because matriarchal always arouses ideas of dominance and is compared with the patriarchy. But it was a balanced society, it was not that women were really so powerful that they usurped everything that was masculine.

Men were in their rightful position, they were doing their own work, they had their duties and they also had their own power. This is reflected in their symbols where you find not only goddesses but also, Gods. The Goddesses were creatrixes, they are creating from themselves. As far back as 35,000 B.C, from symbols and sculptures, we can see that the parts of the female body were creative parts: breasts, belly and buttocks. It was a different view from ours - it had nothing to do with pornography.

Inter(HER)View @  http://www.levity.com/mavericks/gimbut.htm

*****

War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . .

Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.


--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)

from Dr. Hunter S. Thompson's last essay, postDead in it's entirety @  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/20/232553/829

A Long Habit of Not Thinking a Thing Wrong,...Gives IT a SuperFicial Appearance of Being RIGHT,....and At First raise A Formidable OutCry in Defense of Custom..., but Tumult Soon SubSides....,

Time...Makes More Converts Than Reason ~

Thomas Paine - StraightForward & Plain