Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The USS Ronald Reagan & Fukushima

The Aircraft Carrier USS Ronald Reagan deployed for a humanitarian mission off Fukushima and the results are horrifying:

“We joked about it: ‘Hey, it’s radioactive snow!’ ” Cooper recalled. “I took pictures and video.”
But now “my thyroid is so out of whack that I can lose 60 to 70 pounds in one month and then gain it back the next,” said Cooper, fighting tears. “My menstrual cycle lasts for six months at a time, and I cannot get pregnant. It’s ruined me.”
The fallout of those four days spent off the Fukushima coast has been tragic to many of the 5,000 sailors who were there.

Compounded ironies: a nuclear power plant fails and a nuclear powered aircraft carrier with nuclear bombs sails to the rescue where no one thought to turn on the radiation detection systems.

Well, another Achille's heel has just been demonstrated on aircraft carriers, and that is the ocean water uptake systems for the on-board de-salinization systems.

1. Get the state out of nuclear power.  They exempt operators from liability, which means they are operated in dangerous ways.  "Cheap" is not the only factor in cost.

2. We have aircraft carriers in the Pacific to protect our markets for nuclear power in places such as Japan.  Bring all our forces home and we'd have a better economic balance.

3. End the poverty draft.  Return to where the wealthy pay for an army they themselves raise.

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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

The Difference Between Religion and Politics

The Pope and the President are sitting together on a stage at a huge mass rally in Yankee Stadium.  While someone is making an introductory speech, the Pope leans over to the President and says: "The difference between religion and politics is I can flick my hand and have all these people cheering and shouting for joy.  You cannot."

The President said, "Well I know I cannot do such a thing, but neither can you."

So the Pope waved his hand and smacked the President upside the head.  The stadium erupted with cheering and shouts of joy.

For a second the President was going to hit the Pope back, but then for the first time realized the difference between politics and religion.

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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Anarchist's Cook Book

I recall this title from my youth and giving it a once-over.  Something of a comic book.

Kings took their fear of the peace and prosperity inherent in having no king and attributed all violence to these people called anarchists.  To this day the idea of anarchists being violent is still prevalent.

One thing you must understand: if ever anyone in a group advocates violence, you can be sure that person is on the payroll of the state.

And the 19 year old who wanted to overthrow the system with violence, why today...:
But for William Powell, it’s also an opportunity, a chance to make the two chapters of his life into one. In the 40-plus years since he wrote "The Anarchist Cookbook," he has reinvented himself as an educator on the international stage, running a series of elite schools abroad, before settling in Malaysia. There he owns a teacher training center and writes books on pedagogy for the State Department.
Just so.

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Sunday, December 15, 2013

The Hype vs Reality

Here is the kind of video meant to recruit kids into the military.



Here is closer to what is is like.



Whatever the French were doing in Vietnam, they found it worth giving up.

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Friday, December 13, 2013

USA Foreign Policy

Here is a famous quote by George Kennan, an elder Statesman of the USA, after WWII:

we have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. ... In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity 

Ouch.  Reading what our top leaders say can be harsh.  This is proven to be taken somewhat out of context and the fuller quote is less damning, but to star with the facts is useful.  And here is a clarification...

So when you read the original it is a little less bad, but still pretty bad.  and being a thinking person, Kennan evolved in his thinking...  but once you've released a 1000 braves hard to call them back.

The real problem here with the misquote is it is damned awful. it is abjectly evil and invites total condemnation.  Better to quote the original (read at the link) and thena rgue against what the man actually said.

The error is his premise that envy is the natural result of 50% v 6%, and that this is something to be maintained.  Really?  How?  Why?  To what end?

So on the one hand we have the low-circulation insider marching orders, and on the other side we have the mis-quote, neither serves us well.  What is really going on needs to get wide circulation, and then wide discussion.  What we have is even more secrecy and more spying.

Do we want that?

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Thursday, December 12, 2013

War Reparations

I may be a conscientious objector, and I can claim USA wars are "not in my name" but in fact USA borrows 46 cents out of every dollar it spends, and the only reason it can borrow so much is the lenders have faith USA can pay the loan back.

That faith is based on the military might that assures USA can steal enough from other countries to pay back the lending countries.

It is curious to me that the USA now has a "Africa Command," a military command over Africa, and four of five USA presidents will be at Mandela's funeral, a hero who fought to free Africa from foreign domination.  Odd that.

That 46 cents borrowed goes to pay for such things as "social security."  We steal from foreign countries to maintain our social security.  This is not right.  Well, I do not have to sign up for social security, even though I am guaranteed some $1000 a month or something, even if I expect to keep working, as I do.

On the other hand, there is nothing to keep me from signing up for the "free money" and then donating my social security checks toward war reparations.

So I went looking for charities devoted to war reparations.  no such thing.  So then I went looking for anyone who might be setting things rights after USA wars...  I found this:

phoenixclearanceltd.com

It is a business, but who cares if they get the job done.  So I wrote...



On 4/12/2013, at 2:34 pm, John Spiers <john@johnspiers.com> wrote:
Greetings!

Why is there no charity devoted to what you are doing, or specifically directed at making war reparations?

Anyway, there is your business sorting out the mess of war.

I am a Vietnam era conscientious objector, so I had no part in delivering the ordnance you seek to search and destroy, to recycle a phrase.  But I am an American, and the beneficiary of a system that can borrow 55% of its budget against fraud and violence-backed credit. So maybe not in my name, but in a few years I'll get my cut of the booty in the form of social security payments.

Of course, I can just not sign up for the dole, but it has occurred to me I could do so and direct the funds into war reparations charities to the surviving victims of those wars.  No such thing.  But nothing to keep me from sending it to you to clear whatever $1000/month might clear, in other words, pick up the tab for some clearances, as an act of war reparations.  Really has nothing to do with you, any more than the innkeeper who put up the injured traveller on the Samaritan's tab.  Just glad you're there, somebody doing something.

May I have your views on this?

peace!
John Spiers


The reply:

In reality today in Laos and Camdodia both victims of the 8 year secret bombing campaigns  it costs about $1000 min/ha (2.5ac) to clear UXO from the land every village school along the Ho Ch Minh trail has about 1ha every village family would like about 1ha for subsistence farming. PCL works very closely with every village our projects come in contact with we train and employ locals everywhere we go that way they get benefit from employment and cleared land. "Good for everyone"

If you are interested in doing something that truly makes an impact you would need to find others like yourself to raise about $8-10k/month.

If you cannot clear the problem and but wish to support victims in Laos contact COPE.
I suffer from PTSD from years of trauma and am currently back in New Zealand resting with family, but will be on my feet again in the new year.


 I ask you all to remember the sacrifices made by ex-service personnel demining and clearing other remnants of war. All of us in this calling have friends who have lost limbs and some their lives, some their sanity and most their marriages pursuing the humanitarian cause, it takes a big toll on those putting their military skills to good.
Thank you for your kind humanitarian thoughts a merry festive season to you and your family.
Yours in Peace

Michael Hayes

So, the idea is to direct the money yielded from imperialism to this company to clear the UXO left behind by our aggressive wars.  It is the least in the way of war reparations we can do, while eschewing the fruits of war we get here in USA even if we are conscientious objectors.

So when the time comes, I hope, by the grace of God, I can simply direct deposit my social security check to this company to clear mines.  If enough of us do that, whole lotta mines gonna get cleared.

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

O Sensei Video

The sword and stick work shows an attitude that is missing from most instruction...



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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Mandela Deemed Terrorist

On the Death of Mandela, on the USA Terrorist watch list until 2008:
When Mandela was finally removed from the list in 2008, then senator and current Secretary of State John Kerry, said: "He had no place on our government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become law."
Hmmm...  wonder who else should not be on it? On this blog I talk about truth commissions... her eis a man who moved from plotting terror, studying bombmaking, to truth commissions.

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Zappa on the USO

I am always perplexed when right wing Christians take care to home school their children and give them a solid Christian upbringing, only to send them off with delight to the military?  Do they truly not know about the porn, violence, drugs, blasphemy?

FORT HOOD, Texas - Female soldiers at Fort Hood testified Monday that they were recruited for a prostitution ring set up by a sergeant involved in the sexual assault and harassment program at the Central Texas post.


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Friday, December 6, 2013

Widening Drone Death Zones

I was thinking about the Church's teaching on Just Cause and how the Catechism presently gives a cutaway for the bishop's inasmuch as whether to go to war is ultimately up to the "prudential judgment" of the civil authorities.  Since we do in fact go into every war we contemplate, it is pretty clear "judgment" is never a part of the process, it is simply "war?" "Go!"

Catholic writers were saying a decade ago with the new super precise weapons Just War had gotten a lot easier since we go do precision killing of bad guys.  But in fact not so precise, plus they keep loosening the rules:
The 2009 version directs military personnel to take reasonable precautions to ensure that civilians are not targeted in attacks; the 2012 version says service members should “avoid targeting” civilians.
“A requirement to ‘ensure’ that civilians are not the subject of attacks is changed to an admonishment to ‘avoid targeting’ civilians,” Mr. Haynes said.
This sure undercuts the arguments the theocons make defending the War Machine.

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Thursday, December 5, 2013

The War For Vietnam's Oil

Back in the 1960's, it was no secret the American War on the Vietnamese was about oil.  The Spratly and Paracel Islands proved to have potential, and USA and oil well, you know.  I am conscientious objector so there was no chance I would go, and another fellow I know, about ten years older, had an oil engineering degree, so there was no chance he would go.  You see, in USA, people with oil engineering degrees are exempt from any draft.  Not given a deferment until further notice, simply exempt.

Now, as these things go, in 2010 both he and I were in Saigon for the first time for each of us.  Love that city!  I was there visiting, he was there on a contract to assess the oil reserves a particular area.  I was in the room with him as he opened up the files on his computer and announced to his wife:  "Honey, don't unpack, they don't have any oil here."  Meaning, at least in what he was doing, there would be no work, now that he finally saw the reports in question.

What a scene: a Vietnam era conscientious objector, an oil man, both exempt from that war, in that city, as it is established no oil.  (OK, in the particular fields in question.)  Something epic about all that.

So we all went out for a dinner cruise on the Saigon River.  Such a peaceful city for one of nine million people.  I am glad I went.

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Tuesday, December 3, 2013


                                   A Tale of Two Cities


Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Population
2.7 million
2.15 million
Median HH Income
$38,600
$37,000
% African-American
38.9%
24%
% Hispanic
29.9%
44%
% Asian
5.5%
6%
% Non-Hispanic White
28.7%
26%

 Pretty similar until you compare the following:

Chicago, IL
Houston, TX
Concealed Carry gun law
no
yes  
# of Gun Stores
0
184 - Dedicated gun stores plus 1500 - legal places to buy guns- Walmart, K-mart, sporting goods, etc.
Homicides, 2012
1,806
207
Homicides per 100K
38.4
9.6
Avg. January high temperature  (F)
31
63

ConclusionCold weather causes murder.



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Politics and Change

In the Brothers Karamazov,  Dostoyevsky deals in part with the problem society and freedom.  One of the brothers relates a poem he wrote that imagines Jesus returns during the Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitor explains to Jesus that God gave people freedom but they want bread and security, so the Inquisitors give it to them, good and hard.

This is a reworking of 1 Samuel 8, in fact I wondered if Dostoyevsky had ever read that passage, but this is only a character speaking.

I once noted to an aspiring politician who wanted my vote because we needed "change" that every politician says the exact same thing upon entering, but so far nothing has changed.  How would he feel if this was true for him too?  "That would be sad."

They go in saying the Capitol is a cesspool but decide in time it is a hot tub, and a party one at that.  In time they all decide that the people want to be oppressed, given "a king to fight their battles for them."  hence all of these odious elements and practices they inflict on us by law.

Now that is some consolation when pursuing a life of graft, bribery, whoring, substance abuse and whatever else is par for the course in politics.  You are just giving the masses what they want.

But here is the problem:  when a genuine person arises that begins to lead people to a more just and peaceful, genuine society, he is murdered by the very people who insist the masses want to be oppressed.  Gandhi, King, X, and so on. What they claim is a sad compromise becomes an existential imperative.

It may be a satisfying conceit to claim as a politician to be doing the peoples' will, but if and when the people express a will contrary to hot tub ethics, their response is vicious, like a cokehead in a hot tub.

And change is upon us.  A new hit movie has the FDA as the villain, Robert Redford has a movie out in which his solo sailboat runs into a loose shipping container on the high seas and he is in for the struggle of his life (get it? rugged individualism, crashes into materialism, and the existential crisis of systems breakdown and even some disaster prep thrown in... something for everyone).

No one wants this system.  those who have done well want it to end first, so they can avoid any "justice" rough or otherwise.  Those not doing well, want to drag it out hoping for justice.  Between the two of them, they both want violence for change.

Not much we can do about where we are headed, more a question of how we'll behave when we get there.

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Monday, December 2, 2013

Andrew Young On Movements

Andrew Young was interviewed By Tavis Smiley on his show Sunday, and finished with Andrew Young.  It is a remarkable interview.   I've said if something is not true in all places at all times, then it is not true.  What I teach, what I learned, what I have found reliable in just about every field, Andrew Young finds true in freedom movements.

When you have 30 minutes, give a listen here...


At 31:12 on the timer into the show,  Cornell West asks Andrew Young about MLK’s critique of capitalism and imperialism.  Young said he never heard King talk in those terms of the problems they faced.  Young said King's analysis was Biblical, not economic.  Young quotes King as saying communism needed more freedom, capitalism needed more responsibility, or words to that effect.

To my mind problems are solved on levels other than they are experienced.  Economic (physical) problems are addressed on a religious level, mental problems addressed physically, etc.

I've argued you decide the field you want to enter, the customers decide what you will sell.  as to the freedom movement:  Young wanted jobs movement, the people wanted back of the bus to the front of the bus movement.  So that was the program they had to offer.

Appealing to government never got them anywhere.  It is when the civil rights leaders met personally with business leaders and business defied the (Jim Crow) law, that the South finally integrated.  Here again, government is never the solution, business always is.  In his book, The Walls Came Tumbling Down, Dr. Abernathy chronicles the same point.  I'll say it again, if you want to be a revolutionary, start a business.

Amb. Young also talked about political power, and the disappointments regarding movement politicians of African heritage who were either co-opted or sold out.  Two points: the progressives targeted preachers of African heritage to advance their causes contrary to the flocks interests, and to some extent successfully, and who does not sell out of those who go into politics?  Does anyone expect  people of African heritage to be less corrupt than anyone else.  It's why they call it politics, because it is corrupt.

At 33: 08, Young talks about one of his first votes as a new congressman.  The 1971 vote was on ending the Bretton Woods compact in which the dollar was tied to gold.      Young admitted his ignorance of economics as a new congressman, but had the wit to ask the salient question, if "the dollar is not tied to gold, won’t people play politics with money?"

The panel testifying as to the wisdom of ending Bretton Woods consisted of Paul Volcker, Arthur Burns and George Schultz.   Arthur Burns replied “young man you’ll soon learn the dollar doesn’t need you to protect it.”

Young experienced the rebuke as  “shut up colored boy.”

The committee voted to end Bretton Woods on a voice vote.  Andrew Young was right, they were wrong.


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Sunday, December 1, 2013

Peace Rocks

World power is re-aligning, and not without bloodshed and terror.  The bankers and their oil minions realize they have gone to the well too often, and the sheer lawlessness of the last several USA regimes is no longer working out.  The tide turned in 2006 when Dick Cheney, lifelong oil man, was sent home empty handed from an oil expedition:

Mr. Cheney was recently sent to Central Asia and other regions to coax allies to significantly increase supplies to stabilize U.S. gasoline prices for the summer. Administration sources said Mr. Cheney has run into significant difficulties as he has found that many of the potential suppliers have become committed to China.
...
The sources said Mr. Cheney found his hosts in Central Asia to be distrustful of U.S. intentions, with some Muslim countries fearful of a regime change as that which took place in 2005 in Kyrgyzstan, regarded as the most pro-American country in the region.

After this, you will recall, Muammar Khaddafi was making nice to USA and eliminating his WMD and trading with us again but made the mistake of selling oil to the Chinese and no longer lending his money to the French.  So he got Kyrgyztanned too, and to this day Libya is a mess.

The war in Syria has a Dick Cheney connection too.

The Chinese fought with the Vietnamese against USA in the American War on Vietnam.  The Chinese fought alongside USA in Afghanistan when the Soviets occupied that country in the 1980s.  They know well how to beat our imperialism, that is wait it out.  We have been defeated in the Middle East, and now we are negotiating our way back out, such as the six month deal in Iran and the Syria de-escalation.  For all of its military power, as long as it is in pursuit of empire, we cannot take on Russia and China, who will have their hegemony in the Middle East.

So it seems things are improving.  So what is out next step?  We fly B 52s over the Daioyudao /Senkaku Islands.  Nice.
Wheeeeeeeeee!
The Daioyudao /Senkaku Islands are controversial as far as China recognizes the Islands as a part of the province of Taiwan, and thus claims the Islands as it claims Taiwan, while Taiwan claims independence of China and both are at odds of Japan's claim to the Islands.

The Islands themselves are just rocks that could not host even a fish processing station.  But, there might be oil.  So, of course, this stand-off looks lethal.  And as we extricate ourselves from the Middle East mess, what do we do?  We fly B52s over those Islands to piss off the Chinese.   Unbelievable!  No wonder Obama keeps firing generals.  Whose bright idea was that?

As we sell out all of our allies in the Middle East (and imagine being the "rebel forces" in Syria right now, where all have agreed you are to be liquidated) we need to assure Japan of our support.  Taiwan knows better than to trust the USA politics, and they are on the other side from Japan in this dispute anyway.  So follow that?  Our two allies in the Pacific are against each other, and we are taking sides.

In the Middle East adult supervision in the form of Russian and Chinese diplomats has stepped in to extricate the USA from its suicidal mission.  Maybe we can return the favor in the Pacific, and come up with plan that allows us to fuss over something more substantial than rocks in the Pacific, over which people are fighting in regards to even their names.

How about everyone with claims on those Islands agrees that the rocks become some sort of World Heritage Sight or whatever, to be jointly developed by the disputants (or maybe disinterestedly developed by say the Norwegians) with the proceeds going to some sort of Third World Development program, or a slush fund for disaster relief such as was needed for the Phillipines recently.  Surely Japan, China Taiwan etc fork over more cash in foreign aid around the world than those Islands will produce.

Let's set up some sort or org that arranges such an agreement and the administers the rocks, newly renamed Peace Rocks.

I myself don't have time to work on this, but I put it out there for anyone looking for a new good deed.

Update: Those "rebel forces" have taken to eating Zoo animals to survive.  It won't be long now.

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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Aikido as a Martial Art

In judo and kendo, there is no pulling punches.  You go all out. In k arate and gung fu, you pull the punches while training.

In kendo and boxing, no pulling punches, but there is protective equipment for training (and they do not use real swords in kendo).

In MMA, they pull punches in training, and there are rules, so it is not really all-in fighting.

Jiu jitsu is all in, no protective equipment.

So judo, aikido and jiu jitsu are common in no "pulling punches" and no protective equipment.

Are there any other martial arts that can make that claim?

The paradox is by having no punches to speak of, within the limits of the art, one is free to go all out.  Aikido excels beyond the others inasmuch as no matter how much you bring to a throw, it will not be lethal, or even cause permanent damage.  (The fall may kill the attacker, but that is another problem.)

For example, an arm-bar is common to all three arts, but only aikido bends the elbow as part of the arm-bar.  Here again, paradoxically, a bar on bent arm hurts more but does little or no damage.

nikyo
http://www.stenudd.com/aikido/nikyo.htm
A broken elbow releases a super dose of endorphins and adrenaline into the injured system, making your opponent with a broken arm even more dangerous.  Ask a combat vet about fighting injured people.

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Monday, November 25, 2013

Cop Impersonates Man, Rapes 19 Year Old

A police officer in uniform, on duty, rapes a 19 year old and gets a paid vacation.  The equipment in his car that would have caught him on tape was malfunctioning which often happens if filming police wrongdoing.

The police chief pretends to be outraged, when in fact this is selective firing.  It must be that this fellow is so odious that event he police don't want him.

Until every police department has an independent civilian review with the power to imprison wrongdoers, none of us are safe.   Cops will always claim a "few bad apples" but odd, it took them eleven years to notice a problem?

Without civilian review with the power to prosecute, it is a rotten core with a few bad apples to dress up the regime.

And what we are always told, just cooperate with the police, and you have nothing to fear.  If you are innocent, you have everything to fear from the police.  if you are guilty, you'll be protected.

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Who Said This?

Thirty days after Kennedy was assassinated?
    For some time I have been disturbed by the way CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas.
  ...
    But there are now some searching questions that need to be answered. I, therefore, would like to see the CIA be restored to its original assignment as the intelligence arm of the President, and that whatever else it can properly perform in that special field—and that its operational duties be terminated or properly used elsewhere.
    We have grown up as a nation, respected for our free institutions and for our ability to maintain a free and open society. There is something about the way the CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historic position and I feel that we need to correct it.
Harry S Truman, in the Washington Post

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Friday, November 22, 2013

Knock Out Punch

Our minimum wage laws assure that the marginally employable are certainly unemployed, where they tend to get into mischief.  I am certain that the tensions rising are being engineered, from Oprah's infelicitous comment about "racists need to die" and Obamacare being a disaster, and so on.  It is classic change the topic and "blame the black guy" all in one.

I like the crisis du jour is called the "knock out game."  In martial arts, we practice in dojos, like a gym, as in any other fun sport.  I think is important on the street is to meet threats with the attitude of "game on."  I think it is important to train with your adrenalin flowing, cause in a real confrontation, the andrenalin is flowing.  And when it is game on, you can play evenly.

Of course in this game we get cold-cocked, so it is not very sporting.  And it does not do much good for me to advise situational awareness since I have the gift of ADD and the situational awareness of a
meerkat.  Offense needs room, so when I feel threat I close in on it because defense works best in a  tight quarters.  I meet many new and interesting people this way.

Racism is ugly, but it can only be supported by th State.  The only place I can recall where I met raw, murderous racism has been in Hong Kong, my second favorite city.  Hong Kong has the same range of people as any other city, including the madly racist.  The difference is in Hong Kong none of them have the power to act on their impulses, so life goes on peaceably in spite of how some people can be.

With power comes the leverage to act on racism, and no place more so than working for the State.  I personally know at least one person who joined law enforcement to "beat the shit out of n------"  Lucky he retired before youtube.

Hong Kong has a State, but it does not haver the power to keep racism alive.

This "knock-out game" is not somewthign new, we have a term for it, cold-cocked.  Old activity.

And a group of people coming at some unsuspecting fellow and doing him wrong is nothing new.

http://www.gateschili.org/webpages/popup_info.cfm?photoslideshow=14136&staffdir=cwhite
We are social beings, but not socialist beings.  If we get rid of too much state we can allow people to flourish and at the same time deny the misanthropists the leverage to do their thing.

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Saturday, November 16, 2013

Shooting Black Women

As if it is not enough that 91% of the life sentences at the federal level for non-violent crimes are issued to males of some African american ancestry, now we add cops firing wildly at non-threatening african american woman.  A confused women in DC was executed, and here a police officer takes his time trying to kill a family.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Expect honors.

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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Aikido Tactics

Offense needs room, defense can be in a tight place.

When someone is attacking you, they need room to move and position themselves for the very risky prospect of doing you harm.  This is why in defending yourself, you best friend is to quickly close in and not give the opponent time or space to optimize an attack.   One rarely considered and counterintuitive move when in danger is to wheel around on your pursuers and close the distance.  Whatever they hoped to do is now compromised.  You bring your defense into a tight place upon the attackers.

Sometimes it is best not to counter attack, because attacks take space, but stay on the defensive.

Think of a home invasion scenario where you might be inclined to push attackers back outside where you'll defend yourself.  May be better to let them in, in to a tight hallway where their options are limited.

When in a scrape, how much space do you have?  So, attack or defend?

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Monday, November 11, 2013

Erasmus of Rotterdam

If you abominate robbery, this is what war teaches; if you abhor murder, this is the lesson of war. For who will shrink from killing one man in hot blood when he has been hired for a pittance to slaughter so many? If neglect of the law is the most imminent threat to civil authority, why, ‘the law says nothing when arms hold sway.’ If you believe that fornication, incest, and worse are loathsome evils, war is the school where these are taught. If irreverence for and neglect of religion is the source of every evil, religion is entirely swept away by the storm of war. If you judge the state of your country to be worst when the worst people in it have the most power, in time of war the lowest kinds of criminal are the rulers; was has most need of those whom in time of peace you would nail to the cross.

More...

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Sunday, November 10, 2013

Sir, I Only Loaded the Jews on the Train

And as a good German, it is not up to me to ever question anyone else, or have curiosity about why we are a loading all of the Jews on trains.



The questions is not whether Obama is another Hitler, but whether any given American is any different than any given German.  The answer of course is no different.

The problem is allowing Governments to have power, because they will ALWAYS abuse it.

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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Standing Military

The president nominates and congress confirms our generals and flag officers.  This was meant to prevent a standing military.  Now it just confirms the worst careerists into office.
Francis sought inside information on ship deployments and pressed at least one commander to steer aircraft carriers and other vessels to ports where his firm could easily overcharge the Navy for services, court documents allege.
So, if a pimp can direct where aircraft carriers dock, then no doubt that pimp might be induced by terrorists to put an aircraft carrier where the terrorists want it, when they want it there.

That this could go on a decade without the NSA, etc, figuring out, a decade where I was searched by my government at least 200 times, shows just how ridiculous the USA has become.

Time to disband the standing military.

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Monday, November 4, 2013

Uh - O! Now What?

The Pope is coming out against slavery.
AFP - Pope Francis wants action against modern forms of slavery including forced labour and prostitution, the Vatican said Monday after a meeting of experts called by the pontiff to debate the problem.
Will the USA have to change its constitution?

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Sunday, November 3, 2013

There Is No Competition In Aikido

I wince when I hear this.  People who make that claim do not understand the plain meaning of the word.  Competition come from the Greek, "to strive with."  The reason they run seven people at a time in a race is each does best when running (striving with) other runners.)

What I think they mean is in aikido there is no conflict.  This too is absurd.  In Japan as aikido was quickening plenty of practitioners were breaking off to do their own thing, like Shioda Sensei and his Yoshinkan style, there are plenty of authentic aikido styles, both associated and not associated with Hombu.

Aikido seems to be pretty good at accommodating splits, but it had a spectacular one when Tohei Sensei split with many top instructors to form Shin Shin Toitsu aikido, which in turn has at least three different groups now.

In the USA alone there are at least three major schools (and countless independent ones) directly affiliated with Hombu dojo:  Birankai, Aikido Schools of Ueshiba and US Aikido Federation.  Everyone one of these fine outfits manifested in conflict.

It is distressing to read a dojo teaches an aikido with no competition.  Either they do not understand the word, or far worse, they do.  In any event, fair warning.

Just as distressing is a dojo that offers no conflict.  Isn't the point of aikido an ethical response to conflict?  Isn't the result of conflict "divide and multiple?"

It seems to me a dojo ought to celebrate conflict, promote competition.

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Saturday, November 2, 2013

The Passivism of Force

Pacifists facilitate peace where conflict is manifest.

I was listening to a liberal go on about guns and force and glorification of violence and how this all leads to war, and it occurred to me how right she was, although she may not have realized it.

Think of the people who join the military or law enforcement, and now increasingly, both.    Without thinking it through, they pledge their lives to an abstract, a state, and accept the narrative that they are taking risks to benefit others.

Now there is no doubt that the deaths and wounds and disabilities to our soldiers and cops are real, but 19 year olds also believe they are bulletproof.

19 year olds are not really in a position to weight the pros and cons of joining up.  The simply accept, unthinkingly, the narrative about the abstract.  This is the essential nature of passivism, to be passive in the face of evil, as opposed to pacifism, which is to be active in the face of evil.

Passivism is violent and leads to a downward spiral.  Pacifism is nonviolent and leads to an upward spiral, although participants get every bit as deaded as passivists.  But then, pacifists are answering to a higher calling, not an abstract.

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Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The Archbishop Wants Help, Not War

It's a fine line, asking for needed help without getting more of the violence that precipitated the need for help.
We are victims, and we suffer at the hands of fundamentalists coming from distant countries to fight against those whom they consider to be the infidels (us Christians), using as an excuse that their brothers are being persecuted in various countries. Their reaction is to kill others. Our reaction to persecution must be that of becoming more loving, more united, ever stronger in showing the world the true image of life, as taught us by Jesus Christ.
Obviously the fighters are coming in after the USA invasion, and picking on soft targets.  So the archbishop in essence is asking for reparations, but no more violence.  Give the article a read.

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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Pacifica Radio and Drone Killings

When you make donations to Pacifica Radio and its show Democracy now, Amy Goodman earns millions.  For her part, she makes sure that all criticism of the regime remains cloudy and ineffectual.

She has a drone-operator killer on her show, and manages to conduct a content free discussion.
BRANDON BRYANT: Because there’s so much misinformation out there, that—so much speculation, and—and that’s wrong. The United States government hasn’t really done a good job of humanizing the people that do it. And everyone else thinks that the whole program or the people behind it are a joke, that we are video-game warriors, that we’re Nintendo warriors. And that’s—that’s really not the case. And these—the people that do the job are just as legit and just as combat-oriented as anyone else. And I’m not like their official spokesperson. In fact, I’m probably the most hated person in the entire community right now.
Well, there is noting in the interview that would support this fellow contention, in fact he comes across as a Nintendo killer.  Further, she gives him a pass on his claims to constitutional justification for his participation in over 1600 kills.

The take-away is the war is legal and just and he is the victim.  We need a Pacifica Radio for that?

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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Aikido Practice

Note in this rediscovered video of O Sensei how he leans into the attackers and goes straight at the threat...  today in many dojos you get criticized for that...



It is hard to find this kind of practice today, which was common circa 1970.  1970 was 35 years after this film was made.  By 2005, another 35 years, it is almost gone.  Time to revive it.

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Monday, October 21, 2013

Declare Victory and Go Home

At what point do you declare victory and go home?  Our best recruits defect.

The USA attack on Afghanistan after Saudis attacked the USA was a very bad idea and over a decade later we are still losing.

"He sent some of his comrades on leave and paid others to go out sightseeing, and then escaped with up to 30 guns, night-vision goggles, binoculars and a Humvee," said Shuja ul-Mulkh Jalala, the governor of Kunar.
Zubair Sediqi, a spokesman for Hezb-e-Islami, confirmed that Khan had joined the group, saying he had brought 15 guns and high-tech equipment.
The NATO-led coalition is grappling with a rise in "insider attacks" by Afghan soldiers who turn on their allies, undermining trust and efficiency.
It has reported four lethal incidents over the past month taking the total number this year to 10, according to a Reuters tally.

Our trainees turn on us.  And those who were involved in the hit on Osama Bin Laden mostly died in Afghanistan not too long after.

Questions haunt the families of Extortion 17, the 2011 helicopter mission in Afghanistan that suffered the most U.S. military deaths in a single day in the war on terrorism.
Every day, Charlie Strange, the father of one of the 30 Americans who died Aug. 6, 2011, in the flash of a rocket-propelled grenade, asks himself whether his son, Michael, was set up by someone inside the Afghan government wanting revenge on Osama bin Laden’s killers — SEAL Team 6.

There must be something in a war manual that says "when we are losing this bad, declare victory and go home."  If not, this looks about time.


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