Richard Dawkins at TED

This talk by Dawkins is humorous at times, and asks us to think about an interesting angle; how we should regard the skewed and biased perspective of the religious right in aiding to hi-jack America with its voting numbers, and thereby creating danger in the world.

He suggests that there are many intelligent, caring individuals in America who as of yet do not know how to collectively come together as an organization, but if they did, they could raise a loud enough voice of opposition to what they  see is happening.

He goes onto suggest that we should have a coming-out party  - to present yourself to the world, your family and friends that you no longer wish to have any allegiance to any sort of religious nonsense because in essence the continual misrepresentation of our physical world into a mystical one is only aiding in dumbing us down, and ultimately allowing horrible crimes to be committed in its name, as in: one religion against another religion and so on...

Watch the video. He says it much better.

Coincidences, Searching & Surfing, JFK, CIA Rogue Nation, & Harry Truman

You ever notice how coincidences always seem to happen in small groups of three or four. The other day I happened to come across a used, paperback copy of 'The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy - The Conspiracy and the Coverup'. The life of Robert Kennedy was a topic I was admittedly unfamiliar with, so I thought what the hell and bought it as much out of curiosity as well as having an interest in history.

And...I hadn't intended to conduct  internet searches in relation to this book since really, the fundamental economics of making a living like most people has kept me busy over the years, and so, who's really got time for looking at all these conspiracy theories after all?

In my normal course of surfing I'll drop by at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) site.
There I found to both my surprise and disappointment I had just missed a televised episode on Bobby Kennedy's assassination. This was in one of CBC's ongoing documentary program series named 'The Passionate Eye'.

But then today while listening to NPR online, John McCain in his continuing election campaign travels was using the Harry Truman Library in Missouri as a backdrop for his shared vision of how former president Harry Truman was an unselfish individual, and how America needs individuals like him again to save the day.

So in searching for more info on Truman I stumbled across another book 'JFK and the Unspeakable: Why he Died and Why it Matters' alongside 2 informative comments in a book review  for it.

I thought the comments were worth noting, so here they are below:

There is a new book out that is perhaps the most current event in American politics. For it deals with a question that is at the very heart of the Bush scandals, that were so much worse that Watergate, but which our political system found no means to extricate itself. A critical question makes the Kennedy Assassination perhaps more relevant to today than ever:to what extent is the nominal leader, the President, really in control of the permanent military, political, and communications bureaucracies that shape his options?"
  

Insightful comment right? The other comment is below.

In 1961, when Kennedy became president, key components of this permanent bureaucracy were thirteen years old. As a parent with a teenager there were moments of tension when one can wonder who or what called the shots. This was uniquely the case in 1960, as for eight years-- the truly formative ones in the development of the post-war US society-- the CIA had been given extreme latitude. Kennedy's relations with the permanent political and military bureaucracy can serve as basis of comparison for how matters of war and peace are decided today, and under what structural limitations. NOTHING SHOWS THIS CONFLICT BETWEEN NOMINAL POLITICAL CONTROL VS STRUCTURAL MILITARY AND CIA RECALCITRANCE MORE CLEARLY THAN THE NEW BOOK 'JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE: WHY HE DIED AND WHY IT MATTERED' By author James W. Douglass.

 Both Daniel Ellsberg and Marcus Raskin have stated that this book fundementally changed their thinking about the assassination. As a former Chomsky main liner, I think that is absolutely essential for a balanced view. It is not a naive liberal book. It recognizes that JFK essentially ran as a Cold Warrior in 1960. But there is a whole different side of the story that Chomsky and Cockburn leave out. How ironic that here these two publishable leftists have so much in common with the NYT which they so openly disagree with on everything else. It makes one wonder-- at times-- about the implications of the old Encounter Magazine! “Douglass presents, brilliantly, an unfamiliar yet thoroughly convincing account of a series of creditable decisions of John F. Kennedy—at odds with his initial Cold War stance—that earned him the secret distrust and hatred of hard-liners among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA. Did this suspicion and rage lead directly to his murder by agents of these institutions, as Douglass concludes? Many readers who are not yet convinced of this ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ by Douglass’s prosecutorial indictment will find themselves, perhaps—like myself—for the first time, compelled to call for an authoritative criminal investigation. Recent events give all the more urgency to learning what such an inquiry can teach us about how, by whom, and in whose interests this country is run.” --Daniel Ellsberg, author, Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers “Douglass writes with moral force, clarity, and the careful attention to detail that will make JFK and the Unspeakable a source book for many years to come, for it provides us with the stubborn facts needed to rebuild a constitutional democracy within the United States.”--Marcus Raskin, co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies


INTERESTING COMMENT BY FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMAN PUBLISHED DECEMBER 22 1963. Also interesting that we rarely hear of this comment. The first I heard of it was as quoted here in James W. Douglass' incredible book JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters. -------------- On December 22, 1963, one month to the day after JFK's assassination, Former President Truman published a very carefully worded article in the Washington Post warning the American people about the danger of the CIA taking over the government. He wrote: "I think it has become necessary to take another look at the purpose and operations of our Central Intelligence Agency--CIA...for some time I have been disturbed by the way the CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at time a policy-making arm of the Government. This has led to trouble and may have compounded our difficulties in several explosive areas. 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 CIA has been functioning that is casting a shadow over our historical position and I feel that we need to correct it" (note 678, Chapter 6)
Truman's warning, with its ominous post-assassination timing, was greeted by total silence (note 679) Had it been noticed and heeded the , the controversial ex-president might have been accused more justly this time of trying to abolish the CIA, since he did indeed want to abolish its covert activities. President Harry Truman had himself established the CIA in 1947, but not he thought, to do what he saw it doing in the fall of 1963. He restated his radical critique of the CIA in a letter written six months later (note 680, Chapter 6). The managing editor of Look magazine had sent Truman the latest Look featuring a piece on the CIA. Truman wrote back: "Thank you for the copy of Look with the article on the Central Intelligence Agency. It is, I regret to say, not true to the facts in many respects. The CIA was set up by me for the sole purpose of getting all the available information to the president. It was not intended to operate as an international agency engaged in strange activities" (note 681, Chapter 6) (pp.332-333, JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters) ------------ "It has become an operational and at times a policy-making arm of the Government. " Well Douglass book is full of examples of this generalization by Truman.

Here's the site where I found it:
http://people.boston.com/forums/artsentertainment/books/general/?p=discussiondetails&activityid=5887224310445157607

Photo of Harry Truman

Viewpoint: Economist Dean Baker on the Bailout Panic

Economist Dean Baker shares his thoughts on the bailout panic during a public panel held at the Institute for Policy Studies on September 30, 2008. Dr. Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, and a columnist for The Washington Post and Atlantic Monthly. ( by Steven Greenstreet)


I consider this a must-see, as Baker's perspective is morally aligned with the people, and not with the state, or the elites who stand to prosper on the backs of the people. - John A.

Senator Byron Dorgan Provided Market Warning Against Bank , Insurance, and Investment Merging when Congress passed the Financial Modernization Act

Groupthink

To understand what is going on in the so-called civilized world today; think of hordes of lemmings unthinkingly following each other off a cliff. Or consider mob mentality; blatantly conditioned consumerism; groupthink; or unfortunately even doublethink from many media pundits who up until very recently were so enthusiastic about asset and commodity growth during the artificially-based rise in home values right up to the last hours before the crash.

Is individual education combined with a large moral compass the key? The kind of education we have today is very much based on Taylorism.

As a result, and as a society we have devised an artificially-based educational system at both the bottom, and at elite levels. Among many, it's seen as politically incorrect to attack the sacred cow of business practices. Business practices are seen to create jobs, jobs, jobs after all.

For example, the average MBA student goes into the world armed with knowledge that has the potential to do either good or bad. Often however as already overwhelmingly proven by what's happening in the US, it's manipulated for selfish and damaging uses.

The allowable legality of amassing obscene amounts of wealth for a single individual is very much part of the problem. This causes great pain in society overall, whether its in our western hemisphere, or in third world nations. Someone has to work hard for that money. It simply doesn't come out of thin air. In actuality, many citizens end up toiling their lives away as factory workers to pay this one individual's overwhelmingly large share of the pie.

And this is the problem - the unwillingness to address this very basic, and even psychotic behavior, and the continuing stance of business pundits to refuse to cap CEO salaries, or bonuses/share allotments, or acknowledge anything is wrong at all....

The Corporation

If you don't already know about this film, here's a short trailer for it.