MASTERS of WAR ~ A Song For Our Times

Dylan, quote from the 60's:

"Masters of War, for instance, "is supposed to be a pacifistic song against war. It's not an anti-war song. It's speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military industrial complex as he was making his exit from the presidency. That spirit was in the air, and I picked it up."



Keaton Simon's performance of Dylan's Masters of War with slide show by anti-war activist, Bronwyn Ingram. Also featuring prewar newspaper ads by anti-war veteran and political icon, Lila Garrett of KPFKs (90.7) Connect-The-Dots.

GW DERIDES IRAQ WAR POLICY

Retired Gen. George Washington Criticizes Bush's Handling Of Iraq War

Nothing Says "Your a Great Dad" Like a New Gun

Conceal and Carry Keeping Us All Safer


Road rage: Robbinsdale cop shot in Coon Rapids
A Robbinsdale police officer wounded in both legs at a busy Coon Rapids intersection was released from the hospital late Thursday.

"An undercover Robbinsdale police officer was shot in both legs Thursday afternoon after a road rage incident involving a man driving with his family in a busy area of Coon Rapids."

"He was on duty, wearing plain clothes and in an unmarked squad car, when he was shot, said Tim Snell, Coon Rapids deputy police chief. He said it was unclear why the officer was in the city."

"The shooting happened in a very busy area "with all kinds of vehicle and pedestrian traffic," Snell said."

"It caused a very dangerous situation with shots going off in the middle of the day," Snell said. "I'm happy there was no more extensive injuries as far as the number of people."

Nobody else was hurt."

"I don't know if he carries it all the time or if he had it for a special occasion today," Snell said.

Free Market Bible $chool:

Today's Lesson: Threading the needle:

"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that 'greed' -- for lack of a better word -- is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

Gordon Gekko
Wall Street


“And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
- Matthew 19:24

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
- Mark 10:25

“For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”
- Luke 18:25

"Americans like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for Americans to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say, Napoleonic times.

Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves."
-Howard W. Campbell, Jr.

Blog Awards

Congratulations WisOpinion!

First Bank Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Moves Into Banking And Financial Services:

"Wal-Mart Stores didn't get to be the world's biggest retailer by giving up easily. So despite being twice thwarted by lawmakers in its efforts to buy a bank, it has quietly but tenaciously expanded its foothold in financial services.

In its latest move, announced on Jan. 21, the retailing giant is introducing a no-fee Wal-Mart Discover credit card that offers 1% cash back, which it will launch with GE Consumer Finance in March.

This relentless push into financial services is starting to send shivers through the banking industry. Few believe Wal-Mart will stop with basic services as it applies its low-price, high-volume formula to yet another business category. And while other companies, from Nordstrom to General Motors, have bank and thrift charters or hybrid Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured industrial loan companies (ILCs) in tow, no one trips alarms like Wal-Mart."

Para Normal Sighting

The Authorities ask that new sightings be reported:

Free Market Vacation Bible $School

Today's Lesson: Moses Splits The Green Sea


“We have to choose between a global market driven only by calculations of short-term profit, and one which has a human face.”

- Kofi Annan

"Globalization was supposed to break down barriers between continents and bring all peoples together. But what kind of globalization do we have with over one billion people on the planet not having safe water to drink?"

-Mikhail Gorbachev

Join The OTBL Anti-Democracy Movement

If someone accused you of being Anti-Democracy what would you think?
Would they be paying you a compliment. If you're an OTBL anti-Democracy
blogger, being called Anti-Democracy would be just that, a compliment.
Sound ridiculous?
Here's a OTBL quote. From the authors of "The Price of Sin"

"The idea of capitalism did not dawn with Adam Smith but millenniums before his Wealth of Nations. The true nature of the free markets may surprise you.

How our country has evolved from a republic to a democracy and how is it we have naively lost our fear of government? Is government a cost for our sins?

This book is a great primer in libertarian thought and the bases from which political discussion begins. "

To the OTBL crowd, Democracy is not a good thing, it's a collectivist thing.
OTBL bloggers often describe themselves as "classical liberals" or "neo liberals".

Here's a few reflections about what Neo Liberals believe.

Global Justice Center:

"First, neo-liberalism is profoundly anti-democratic. Not just undemocratic, but anti-democratic. By removing politics from the market, it denies the popuaces the possibility of any collective decision-making that might promote their common interests. But that is what democracy is all about. It is the possibility of collective decision making about collective action for the common good. The democratic use of the state makes government the instrument for such collective action. But neo-liberalism envisions no common good except for maintaining the conditions for markets and the common defense. Aside from that, there are only individual private goods. The only collective action neo-liberalism can envision is that of private corporate bodies and special interest groups. This amounts to a negation of the very idea of democracy."

"The core of neo-liberalism is its insistence on the separation of the political sphere from the economic sphere. An autonomous economic sphere is envisioned in which the market is supreme. As neo-liberals conceive of it, the market is made up of individual actors who freely engage in exchanges based on self-interest. Whether buyer or seller, each seeks to maximize their individual gain and enters into contractual agreements only if it is perceived to be to ones own advantage. The market is then the mechanism for summing up individual goods, producing the maximum good for the greatest number. This utilitarian calculus is performed through the invisible hand of the market a la Adam Smith. For neo-liberalism there is no common good, there is only the sum of individual goods."

"But in order for the market to work its magic it must be free of social, i.e. collective interference. A ‘free market’ is one that is free of governmental action, which is seen as distorting the market and its outcomes. In a strict neo-liberal view, the only actors allowed are individuals who are guided not by altruism, conscience or compassion, or even enlightened self-interest, but only by their own individual self-interest. Neo-liberalism accepts the adage that the best government is the one that governs least, a minimalist state. The only legitimate role for the state is to maintain or establish the conditions necessary for a market to operate."

NE0-LIBERALISM AND THE RESTORATION OF CLASS POWER
David Harvey

"In the neo-liberal view, mass democracy
is equated with “mob rule” and this typically produces all of the barriers to capital
accumulation that so threatened the power of the upper classes in the 1970s. The
preferred form of governance is that of the “public-private partnership” in which state
and key business interests collaborate closely together to coordinate their activities
around the aim of enhancing capital accumulation. The result is that the regulated get to
write the rules of regulation while “public” decision-making becomes ever more opaque.
The neo-liberal state emphasizes the importance of personal and individual
freedom, liberty and responsibility, particularly in the market place. Social success or
failure is therefore interpreted in terms of personal entrepreneurial virtues or failings
rather than attributable to any systemic properties (such as the class exclusions typical of
capitalism). Opposition within the rules of the neo-liberal state is typically confined to
questions of individual human rights and “rights discourses” of all kinds have, as a result,
blossomed since 1980 or so as a primary site of “radical” and oppositional politics. "

Fan Mail From The Weasel...

"Clinton is a piece of SHIT, just like the FAT ASS that runs this blog."

Looking For Original Thinking...

It's Not At OnTheBorderLine.Net



Have you every wonder just how unoriginal some bloggers are? Take the local blog ontheborderline.net -- PLEASE!!! Currently there is a fresh post by a Lieutenant Dan titled "Centrist, My Ass." It's a short one posted at 10:08 AM today (6/05):

"Billary Clinton was still touting her brand of socialism in an event yesterday by a socialist justice movement group called the Sojourners. She went on and on and on using her socialist class warfare rhetoric pushing for social justice in regards to health care and energy. Remember in the past she has said, "We're going to take things away form you on behalf of the common good." straight out of Marx 101. Centrist? My ass."

I'm sure you're yawning to yourself, "Such originality...zzzzzzzzz."

If so, you would be wrong. The key phrase in Lt. Dan's post is: "We're going to take things away form you on behalf of the common good." A little blog research will show you that Lt. Don can't even make up an original statement. He had to go lift in from the vast right wing conspiracy at the Townhall blog. A little research tells us the time line of Lt. Don's lack of creativity:

1. Reporter Amanda Carpenter of Townhall blog did a post titled "Clinton: "Something Has to be Taken Away from Some People" on Monday evening.

2. A blog called The Brown Pelican Society, a lay Catholic, pro-life blog out of Louisiana, at 8:05 AM this morning posted a piece titled: HILLARY'S MARXIST MANTRA: "WE'RE ALL FAILURES....WE'RE GOING TO TAKE THINGS AWAY FROM YOU ON BEHALF OF THE COMMON GOOD."

This piece came directly from the Town Hall post.

3. A blog called Stotting Over Again did a post this morning 6/5 @ 9:39 AM titled: "Didn't Karl Marx Say This First?" and the total post consisted of the following: We’re going to take things away form you on behalf of the common good.”-Hillary Clinton. The Stotting doesn't attribute the quote to anyone.

4. Our wing-nut neighbors over at ontheborderline.net did their post Tuesday morning at 10:08 AM.

Lt. Don in his OTBL post states that "Remember in the past she has said, 'We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.' straight out of Marx 101." I don't actually recall Clinton saying this Lt. Don. Maybe you could footnote your statement with the time and date she said this exact statement.

Over at Townhall, Amanda Carpenter, who apparently actually watched or listed to this discussion, said Clinton said “We’re going to take things away form you on behalf of the common good.”

I can find only four hits on Clinton's phrase. It apparently originated from the Townhall blog. Comments on the Townhall post dribble on about Clinton exposing herself as a Marxist. Since Clinton was talking about health care, I suppose we should lump the CEO's of the Big Three automakers in with her. The Townhall post didn't called Clinton a Marxist, but pretty much all the comments on the story said she was. Here's a favorite:

Goshawk writes: Monday, June, 04, 2007 11:19 PM

I use to think Hitlery was just an extreme Liberal Socialist. Now I'm sure, she is pure Communist! This woman is insane! She needs to be removed from our government period! Any American who would even consider this nut-case for president is not thinking about the welfare or the preservation of our Republic!

From a couple of comments we've had dumped on this blog concerning Hillary Clinton, it's pretty clear she's the target of the right wing. To say it's a conspiracy would be silly. Call it what it is "politics as usual." It's pretty obvious that the Republicans don't have anything to put up against Hillary Clinton. Newt and Gulliani got those icky divorce things to explain. Ron Paul is sinking fast, as the Marxist wing of the Republican Party does it's best to drown him out. Fred Thompson is rising as the Barney Fifth of the Pary of Dumbo. A few of the local Republican brass in the St. Croix Valley have been seen doing a cemetery walk trying to did up the bones of Ronald Reagan. Just think, in another 17 months, we'll get vote for our next President.

Yawn...Marxist my ass. Hey Ontheborderline.net, how about a little original thought and creativity?

On The Borderline Line Construction Consulting

Luke calls his neighbor who recently built a brick wall. His neighbor hangs up on him, because Luke's the reason the neighbor built the wall. So Luke calls Lil Bill in Stone Pine where everyone has a brick wall, because he knows Lil Bill knows it all.

"Lil Bil", Luke says, "I'm a gonna build da brick wall about da same size as yours. How many pallets of da bricks did you get?"

"Ten", says Lil Bil.

So Luke buys 10 pallets and proceeds to build a beautiful fence for his wife the bread winner. When he's finished, Luke is surprised to find that he used only four pallets.

He calls Lil Bill. "Hey Lil Bil, I yust finished wit buildin' da
fence and I've a got six pallets of da bricks left over."

"Ya, Luke" says Lil Bil, "So did I. Hell, if I could do anything other than write rambling, incoherent jibberish about the virtues of a free market economy I'd have a job and it obviously wouldn't be consulting with unemployed, wing nuts like you on how to build a damn fence."

It's The Class War Stupid

From a post on Globalize This:


















"The book begins with a simple question? Why in 1993 did President Clinton sell his own party the American working class--his Democratic base--down the river to implement NAFTA, a revolutionary policy spawned by Reagan and propelled by Pere Bush? By so doing, Clinton broke the camel's back of Democratic control of the Congress and drove the nail in the coffin of the American labor movement that helped put him in office. In pursuit of an answer, Faux takes his reader on a tour through the battlefield of the global class war (I promise, that's the last of my cliches for the posting), exploring the historical development of this consolidating transnational class, and the devasting effects they are wreaking on the world social order."

"Though a book like this is long overdue, it is a timely entree to the public policy debates on the left at a time when the left is drifting rudderless in a sea of hawkish Republican-led (and many Democrats-condoned) imperialism. The collection of economic policies that have come to be known as "globalization" are in fact a coherent political platform for the global elite class designed to revolutionize the social and political institutions that underpin the distribution of wealth and income within and between countries. Though what we know as "globalization" are largely political changes, the changes are happening not through open, democratic political processes. Rather, they transpire in secretive international summits, in archane decisions taken by insulated government technocracies, in dimly lit five star hotel bars, and wherever else the global class of business and political elites convene to chortle, fete, and conspire."

The Roots of the www.OnTheBorderLine.nut Bloggers

Surely you've wonder about those late night phone calls and that guy wearing the pink headband digging in the government school dumpster late at night. Anonymous letters? Disrupted "Tea parties?" No problem for...





By IRWIN KOSTIN

“I WILL always obey my superiors. I will never steal. I will never tell a lie. I will obey all the laws of my country, my state, and my city. I will always respect the Tri-State Detective Agency and protect it.”

Thus runs the “Code of Conduct” of one of the most interesting and unusual organizations on earth, a boys’ detective agency with headquarters in the basement of...

Does this sound like those pathologically pathetic Pink Panthers at OTBL?

Read more...

THE FREE MARKET IDEOLOGY MACHINE

Funding the Spin:
Here's an interesting blogsite that exposes whose behind the "Free Market Ideology Movement and Why"

Conservatives Spend Big Time on Public Policy
By NCRP’s (National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy) modest estimate, between 1999 and 2001 conservative foundations gave some $253 million to conservative policy organizations, those espousing evangelical Christian or economic libertarian bents who are actively engaged in public policymaking. This number represents about 30 percent of the direct public support—the individual gifts, bequests, corporate or foundation gifts, and estate contributions—received by conservative policy organizations.

Of the $253 million, $116 million or 46% of giving went to think tanks and policy groups promoting a market deregulatory agenda at local, state, national and international levels. Ninety million went to national think tanks: $28.6 to Heritage; $7.6 to AEI; $5.5 to Hoover; $4.8 to Cato.

It should be noted that the foundation giving to conservative policy organizations represents an incomplete rendering of interest group spending on the conservative ideas industry. Corporate contributions to 501©3 non-profits are largely unregulated and face no disclosure requirements (other than grants made by corporate foundations, of course), which unfortunately makes it difficult to pinpoint a precise number for corporations’ (and corporate-affiliated individuals) investments in the conservative think tank industry.

Read More:

Our Mistake?

Yesterday, an anonymous commentor sent a comment about Hillary Clinton. We felt it was not germain to the topic it was posted too, and thus deleted. If that poster wants to discuss Hillary they can resubmit their comment here.


















Signed
Comment Commander Guy