(from my e-mail)
now up at TheMadCowMorningNews
www.madcowprod.com
Exactly twenty years late, 1984 arrived in America with a vengeance on this month’s third anniversary of the 9/11 attack.
Billing themselves as the “9/11 Truth Movement,” a group which has been aggressively spamming on the Internet for several years held a press conference in New York City on the third anniversary of the attack.
The cast of characters involved ranges from uniquely out of place former employees of George Bush to an ex-L.A. cop-turned-Internet Pontificator receiving funding and endorsing an ‘off-shore’ organization which numerous published reports said is run by convicted financial swindlers to a Canadian talk chat host whose deep thoughts about deception and 9/11 are about to be brought to the world courtesy of Saudi-backed producers of such beloved infomercials as “TRADE YOUR WAY TO RICHES” and “The Millionaire Mind.”
“Market YOUR Way to 9/11 Success!”
It is an Orwellian nightmare that would make Orwell himself retire to Sedona.
Read the whole story at:
TheMadCowMorningNews
www.madcowprod.com
“When Matt & Katie aren’t enough.”
Hi,
Some folks are starting up a “progressive blog alliance” I said I’d join … I’d like to invite you to as well.
if you’re interested leave a comment in the sep 25th post at Net politik.
Thanks for the invite, Joe. Not sure if I quite fit the progressive profile but if you like it I’ll take a look when I have more time.
Peace
I’m thinking by ‘progressive’ they mean ‘hard left’. Anyway that’s what I mean.
Hi,
I’m not familiar with Net Politik. Took a quick look just now but don’t have the time to read; working nights and my play time is short.
Not sure what to make of the slain elephant. Is there a donkey underneath of it?
I’ll put the site into my SharpReader and see how it progresses. Thanks again.
Peace
Actually … you’re right. I just backed out after doing more research. I thought it was going to be a hard left thing from a post on Ddjango’s blog, and I think that’s what he has in mind, but that’s not what it is turning into. Sorry to bother you.
Actually after looking into it more. It turns out not to be a hard left thing, so I backed out. I thought group of leftist bloggers would be a good idea in case of Kerry victory, but that’s not what they seem to have in mind.
You didn’t bother me. I’m flattered you thought about including me in something you thought was worthwhile.
Off to the coalmine. Peace.
What is it that the “hard left” wants? As far as I can tell its to be banished to the margins. Marx just doesn’t spark with people anymore… sad really, its a worthy goal, it just needs new ideas. Just one man’s opinion of course.
Hi Nick,
Apologies because I don’t believe your comment was directed towards me, but in case there’s doubt in the air, I am not a Marxist.
And if you would I’d appreciate your thoughts on what ‘progressive’ means to you. I think your use of that image, the ‘great white hunter’ with feet planted firmly on the elephant, is deeply offensive. Not only does it remind me of apartheid Africa but it’s ludicrous to suggest the only problem facing the country are Republicans. Hell, the strongest antiwar ally I have representing me in Congress today is a Republican, Jim Leach.
Most people congregating under the banner of progressive these days appear to me to be nothing more than pissed off Democrats who feel marginalised by their party, or in your words, banished to the margins. ‘Tis a pity but not truly representative of ‘progressive’, is it?
Peace
Diane, the banner is intended to be ironic, not offensive. That picture became our banner by accident. We do not require our members to fly it. I apologize deeply for not thinking further into the history of the photo (I’m guessing it was 1850-75), the original photo I found was in terrible quality.
The alliance was started one day when I had a vision of a tiny band of tribesman attacking a giant elephant. I decided I wanted to find a picture of it and post it as a “vision for progressive bloggers on nov 2nd.” In Search of Utopia saw the photo and recommended that we start an alliance and fly the picture as our banner. That was the 25th of last month, today we have 30 members. Our members include anarchists, libertarians, artists, moderate democrats, radical leftists, and poets and writers.
Currently, we are working to forge a set of principles that defines a “progressive”. Indeed, a while ago I argued that Progressivism wasn’t a movement, per se, but rather a plurality of interests that need a word to replace “liberal”. I released an e-mail an hour ago asking our members to personally define the progressive. I refuse to define it for them, otherwise it would be my movement, not theirs. Several of us are going to attempt to combine these statements into a draft.
Currently, we are working to forge a set of principles that defines a “progressive”. Indeed, a while ago I argued that Progressivism wasn’t a movement, per se, but rather a plurality of interests that need a word to replace “liberal”. I released an e-mail an hour ago asking our members to personally define the progressive. I refuse to define it for them, otherwise it would be my movement, not theirs. Several of us are going to attempt to combine these statements into a draft. Anyhow, I thought I’d share a few that I got back in the last hour:
“The Progressive Blog Alliance is a group of bloggers dedicated to the
idea of progress, open communication and the defeat of dogmatism…”
” I see no real difference between being progressive and being creative. Art in all its forms and languages is what I am. My goal is to realize the Art in everything. That is my philosphy, religion and daily bread.”
“The Happy Tutor, Dungeon Master to the Stars, delights and instructs
persons of wealth. He believes that even the richest among us can be
reformed.”
“I’m a futurist – truth, science, and the Final Frontier. I value,
above all else, a smart and cheap space program. My dream is to live
to see the 23rd century.”
Those quotes come from a CEO of a Costa Rican Tech company, a 15 year old kid from New Jersey, an Artist, and someone who operates a charity.
I myself am best defined as an anarcho-leftist ideologically, but I’m a pragmatist so I’m often confused as being a centrist. Anyhow, it’s up to our members to decide who they are, but so far the results have been quite encouraging.
I actually found this site while seeing if any right-wingers had taken notice of us, and my initial anger was uncalled for. Lately, I seem to have offended many who consider themselves to be on the radical left. I am opposed to the idea of allowing everything to collapse so that we can build something new. My suspicion in regards to such experiements is a result of my understanding of history. I may very well be wrong.
Furthermore, I don’t trust any ideology, be it left, right, anarchist, or totalitarian with absolute power, and I often suspect (perhaps wrongly) that many on the hard left would like total power.
But overall, what angers me is the unwillingness to compromise for the sake of our common causes. and indeed, my willingness to compromise causes more violent opposition from hard-left than even the libertarians. Its the dogma, the pessimism, they lack of ideas, and the over-abudence of criticism… Perhaps its unwarrented. Anyhow, I hope both of you will accept my apology. I lose my level headness when I feel like my allies have suddenly become my enemies.
Hi Nick,
The irony for me is that replacing Bush with Kerry is akin to swapping Hyde for Jekyll. “It’s such a fine line between a good man and a bad” and all of that.
For the handfull of Democrats who even come close to my views I can think of at least that many Republicans who do as well.
Apartheid had its roots in the segregation of the 1600’s when white exceptionalism was enforced brutally in the name of Christianity. It’s been outsourced to Iraq in the name of fighting terrorism. It’s an impossible image to wrap my mind around for so many reasons. I don’t want to destroy people who don’t agree with me or gloat over their dead carcasses in the name of my ideologies. I don’t blame the mess we’re in on Republicans alone.
Thanks for the replies.
“Market YOUR Way to 9/11 Success!”
Lord! This takes on an all-new meaning in the story of “Christian Bailey,” the hot shot geek who just got a multi-million dollar Pentagon Contract to plant news stories in Iraq.
See my recent blogpost on this subject and how it relates to “abovetopsecret.com”
http://laura-knight-jadczyk.blogspot.com/