In Search of The Mythical "Better War"

"This is the new, improved version"

The WMD salesmen, the blood spilling warmongers, and their propagandists are ever searching for "a better war."

That vain pursuit leads them first to the fog that causes wars, which for a long, long time has really not changed.

These people who make a career out of The Ways of Bernays, know that the public does not like war, and that it has been that way since the views of the founding fathers condemned war as a disease.

So, the modern propagandists have invented a rap that goes something like this:

The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and barbarism. We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims, while incidentally capturing their markets; to civilise savage and senile and paranoid peoples, while blundering accidentally into their oil wells.

(Myth Addiction Is Establishment's LSD, quoting 1944 book). That inevitably then leads to the "improved murder of innocents", or "collateral damage" as they now call it.

Next on the menu of gore and violence, upon the cessation of initial hostilities for a moment, is an inevitable crime wave within the victim country:

The consequences of the war here have become familiar: neighborhoods shelled, civilians killed and refugees departed. But in the background, many Syrians describe something else that has them cowering with fear: a wave of lawlessness not unlike the crime wave Iraq experienced during the conflict there.

(War Redoux). The "better war" never shows up, so the propagandists have no choice but to make it sound better to the public, lest they offend their masters.

So we now hear of a better Syrian war, a better Iranian war, as the public gags while the psychopaths blather incoherently about killing for peace.

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Ah, The Raven

The Raven

by Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

“ ’Tis some visiter,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door —

Only this and nothing more.”



Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —

For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —

Nameless here for evermore.



And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain

Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;

So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating

“ ’Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door —

Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door; —

This it is and nothing more.”



Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,

“Sir,” said I, “or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;

But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,

And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,

That I scarce was sure I heard you” — here I opened wide the door; ——

Darkness there and nothing more.



Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, “Lenore?”

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, “Lenore!” —

Merely this and nothing more.



Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,

Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.

“Surely,” said I, “surely that is something at my window lattice;

Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —

Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—

‘Tis the wind and nothing more!”



Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;

Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;

But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —

Perched, and sat, and nothing more.



Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,

“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven,

Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore —

Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”



Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning — little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door —

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

With such name as “Nevermore.”



But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing farther then he uttered — not a feather then he fluttered —

Till I scarcely more than muttered “Other friends have flown before —

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before.”

Then the bird said “Nevermore.”



Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,

“Doubtless,” said I, “what it utters is its only stock and store

Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful Disaster

Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore —

Till the dirges of his Hope that melancholy burden bore

Of ‘Never — nevermore’.”



But the Raven still beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,

Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and bust and door;

Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking

Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore —

What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore

Meant in croaking “Nevermore.”



This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing

To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;

This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining

On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,

But whose velvet-violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,

She shall press, ah, nevermore!



Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee — by these angels he hath sent thee

Respite — respite and nepenthe, from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”



“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or devil! —

Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,

Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted —

On this home by Horror haunted — tell me truly, I implore —

Is there — is there balm in Gilead? — tell me — tell me, I implore!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”



“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil! — prophet still, if bird or devil!

By that Heaven that bends above us — by that God we both adore —

Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,

It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore —

Clasp a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore.”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”



“Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!” I shrieked, upstarting —

“Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken! — quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!”

Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”



And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted — nevermore!

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Hottest Month (July) on Record

The drought that has over half the counties in the U.S. listed as disaster areas is not relenting.

Today the president approved more relief for drought victims, mainly farmers.

Last month, July, was the hottest July on record.

As if that was not enough, it was the hottest month of all time according to NOAA, an agency that has kept records for over a century:

In more than 117 years of records, July 2012 stands alone as not only the hottest July on record in the lower 48 United States, but also the hottest of any month on record in that time span. To put it another way, July 2012 was the hottest of more than 1,400 months that we've gone through since 1895.

(Weather). It was a month that saw an unusual huge acceleration of the summer melt of the glacier cover in Greenland.

Meanwhile, a federal appeals court ruled against the NRC, so the NRC stopped the licensing process on 19 current applications for Nuclear Power Plants:

We hold that the rulemaking at issue here constitutes a major federal action necessitating either an environmental impact statement or a finding of no significant environmental impact.

(New York v NRC, PDF). The courts will have to stop the runaway agencies that are puppets of the fossil fuel industry, because no puppet president now campaigning will do that either:

What do Arctic drilling and drone killing have in common? They are both being decided by Barack Obama without public debate ... several federal administrators responsible for regulating offshore oil drilling operations “had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and gas company representatives” ... [under Bush II] ... A May 24 front–page article in The New York Times made clear that Obama got personally involved and fast–tracked Shell’s drilling permits.

(Obama Is Fast-tracking an Environmental Disaster to Please Big Oil). This post passed the truthiness test, as shown by the following lecture.

Here is an index into the lecture's (minutes:seconds) key times;
(Note: GW = global warming; GG = greenhouse gas, CC = climate change):

00:40 - Schwarzenegger: no debate, GW is happening.
06:20 - Proper amount of GG is good, keeps us warm.
07:00 - Too much GG is a bad thing.
07:09 - Tyndall in mid 1800's began research into GG.
07:45 - Arrhenius did first degree calculations re: CO₂ content.
08:25 - Callendar discovered GG increases in 1930's.
09:02 - Hulburt accord in 1930's.
09:43 - Depression / war stopped GG research.
10:00 - Gilbert N. Plass developed CO₂ atmospheric calculations.
10:49 - Suess & Revelle do paper in 1957 warning of GW dangers.
12:30 - Dr. Revelle warned of polar ice cap melt in TIME interview.
13:25 - CO₂ levels discovered to be high.
16:30 - Lyndon Johnson in 1965 says fossil fuels causing GW.
17:00 - GW, CC not political originally.
18:20 - White of NOAA, 1978, warns of GW dangers.
20:52 - Polar Areas to be impacted 4 times more than other areas. 
24:20 - IPCC formed in 1979 with consensus on GW.
26:00 - Bush I signed GW treaty.
26:45 - Denial of GW begins.
27:40 - Luntz injects GW denial propaganda into political debate.
28:25 - Oil baron Cheney propagates GW denial.
29:00 - Oil companies do massive scale denial propaganda.
29:30 - Marshall Institute
30:30 - Marshall Institute formed to support Reagan SDI (star wars)
32:50 - Marshall Institute "cigarettes not related to cancer".
36:50 - Marshall Institute does GW denial campaign.
42:54 - Marshall member Seitz worked for big tobacco.
47:20 - Singer of Marshall Institute politically attacks GW.
53:35 - Cigarette smoking is ok rhetoric applied to GW science.

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Professor @UCSD details history of Climate Change & Denialism:

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Evolution From Left To Right - 3

"Doin' it" for Old Glory

In this series we have been discussing how an evolution from left to right is and has been taking place in our nation.

In the first post Dredd Blog covered Jared Lee Lochner, in the second post Dredd Blog covered the Norwegian child killer.

Since then two more madmen have been formed in the womb of hatred to then be born into violent episodes of the murder of innocent people, whom these madmen have convinced themselves that they hate.

Meanwhile, in our public discourse during elections which we think we use to correct our national problems,  politicians on one side call officials on the other side "dirty liars".

Yes, in the public airwaves "The Honorable ..." individuals are called "dirty liars" by other leaders.

The kinder gentler nation continues to move in The W Direction, onward toward an identity more and more aligned with The Bully Religion.

I noticed an interesting factor being shown in the DNA of our culture, which is that we have a proclivity to ignore warnings about this ongoing evolution from left to right.

For example, in these cases there are always warning signs, but typically they have been ignored at some level:

The psychiatrist who treated suspected movie-theater shooter James Holmes made contact with a University of Colorado police officer to express concerns about her patient's behavior several weeks before Holmes' alleged rampage, sources told ABC News.

The sources did not know what the officer approached by Dr. Lynne Fenton did with the information she passed along. They said, however, that the officer was recently interviewed, with an attorney present, by the Aurora Police Department as a part of the ongoing investigation of the shooting.

Fenton would have had to have serious concerns to break confidentiality with her patient to reach out to the police officer or others, the sources said.

(ABC News). The other psychopath learned his dysfunction in the military where he became a propaganda engineer (psyops) and learned hatred:

He explained to me that growing up in the Denver area he was aware of skinheads including white power folks after he got involved in the local punk rock scene in the late 1980s. But he said that his real interest started during his time in the military. He once told me, "If you don't go into the military as a racist, you definitely leave as one." He also talked about meeting neo-Nazis in the military and being exposed to neo-Nazi literature while in the military. Once he left the military he went to a music show where he met members of the band Youngland and shortly after that he drove his motorcycle across country relocating to Southern California with not much more than the clothes on his back.

(Brian Levin, Huffpo, emphasis added). The public has thought the nation has been heading in the wrong direction for decades now, but the Plutocracy ignores the common sense, because things are just fine with those Plutocrats ("what economic problems" - John McCain, a few days before the great economic crash of 2008).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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Kill For Peace:

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Mars: Analyzing Layers of History - 2

Curiosity landed in the oval as planned.

I watched the entire landing sequence of Curiosity, ending with a clean, soft landing in Gale crater on Mars.

The craft functioned flawlessly during EDL, fulfilling our hopes expressed in the first post of this series.

Now the surface work begins within the landing area shown as the oval shape on the map to the left, but just exactly where the craft is may not be determined for a day or so, but we do know that the first photos show a flat surface with some gravel, a view of one wheel, a look at the craft's shadow, and the ridge of Gale Crater off in the distance.

Soon though, full color hi-res photos will be sent after the craft is checked out carefully, step by step, and the mast, etc. are properly deployed.

The library of a billion years or so of Martian history has been deposited nearby in stratified layers going up a mound that is about three miles high.

The bottom, oldest layers of the mound have clay deposits, indicating water-deposited fine material, then older silica type material is in layers above that, then more and more layers of various sorts extend on up the hill like pages in an ancient history book.

We stand a good chance to find out about the catastrophes that scarred and shaped the surface of Mars, and perhaps even more data to support or not support the EPH (see Exploded Planet Hypothesis, Weekend Rebel Science Excursion).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post is here.

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UPDATES:

MRO photo: Curiosity parachute deployed

Gale Crater: location of landing site

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HazCam: Looking forward toward Mt. Sharp