Fat Freddy

Emma Goldman (Anarchist) from her 1908 speech about patriotism in San Francisco, six years before the outbreak of the 1st World War:

“What, then, is patriotism? “Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels,” said Dr. [Samuel] Johnson. Leo Tolstoy, the greatest anti-patriot of our time, defines patriotism as the principle that will justify the training of wholesale murderers; a trade that requires better equipment in the exercise of man-killing than the making of such necessities as shoes, clothing, and houses; a trade that guarantees better returns and greater glory than that of the honest workingman…
Indeed, conceit, arrogance and egotism are the essentials of patriotism. Let me illustrate. Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little spots, each one surrounded by an iron gate. Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular spot consider themselves nobler, better, grander, more intelligent than those living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill and die in the attempt to impose his superiority upon all the others. The inhabitants of the other spots reason in like manner, of course, with the result that from early infancy the mind of the child is provided with blood-curdling stories about the Germans, the French, the Italians, Russians, etc. When the child has reached manhood he is thoroughly saturated with the belief that he is chosen by the Lord himself to defend his country against the attack or invasion of any foreigner. It is for that purpose that we are clamoring for a greater army and navy, more battleships and ammunition…”

The war mongers of the 1st World War relied on patriotism to enable their endeavors, but it’s interesting to note that it was an anarchist, and Serbian patriot, that ignited the spark that led to the inferno of the 1st World War.

I hope the Egyptian people can come out of this with a democratic, non-theologic state, which will be smart enough not to start a war with Israel.

Presumably, if there is a wise enough leader he/she will be able to remain in communication with Israel, and be able to pressure that state to back off the excesses in Gaza, and in the West Bank.

One could be highly critical of recent Israeli policy without being another Ahmedenijad buffoon.  He could even exert pressure, without threatening war, and still maintain contact.

Either whats going on in Egypt is their Tea Party thingee. Or its time for the
Arab/Muslim countries in the ME to import experts from Moldavia and other ex
USSR countries ( like Israel has been doing ) and get equal bucks per capita in aid
from the US taxpayer as Israel has been doing.

RayLan I meant to say Arabic uprisings in the Middle East.

jonathonk
“With all the Muslim uprisings in the Middle East “
This is not a Muslim uprising.

With all the Muslim uprisings in the Middle East recently Israel must be getting
closer and closer to considering the Nuclear Option.  If the US is embarrassed now
wait until they have to sign a Nuclear-Free Treaty in the Middle East.

This is what the ‘small government’ that the Right keep howling about looks like- anarchy contained by the military. Small is consistent with autocracy.
A government that doesn’t care about the welfare of the people and only leeches their labor and wealth- that supplies an army to protect itself and turn on its citizens and provides little else. Sounds familiar. What’s most enlightening is that the US has been allied with this dictatorship. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Fires are burning now on the outskirts of the US Empire, while it rots
economically from the inside.

One can only imagine the creeping panic in one of the Empires forward
outposts—the State of Israel. Revolutions sweeping out the Arab world’s
accomodationist regimes from Eygpt on the west and surely the Jordanian
monarchy on the east. Secret documents discrediting Abu Mazen and the
Palestinian Authority’s collaborators and boosting Hamas. Hizbollah selecting
the new Prime Minister and gaining de facto control of the Lebanese
government. Moktada al Sadr, influencing events in Iraq in concert with his
Iranian allies while US power is sapped by the occupation there and in
Afghanistan.

We are close now to the moment of truth for the US/Israel axis. A slow quiet
death by strangulation or the Sampson Option and The Road as Cormac
McCarthy imagined it for all of us.

He should cash in, call Berlusconi for “Ruby’s” phone number, and get her and a few of her “friends”, and retire on some tropical island. That’s what I would do, but I’m a pig.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/pm-hid-underage-prostitute-use/story-fn6e1m7z-1225988104515

With the demise of the current Egyptian government, perhaps now some meaningful aid and support can be given the Palestianian people.

It’s obvious what’s wrong in Egypt.  Hosni Mubarak, a
man of 82 without a grey hair or a wrinkle apparently
spends far too much time at the hair dresser and Botox
salon.  Also, it looks like he may have had cosmetic
surgery in the not too distant past.

A Very Fine Thing

The Egyptian Revolution

By GARY LEUPP

January 28, 2011, Day of Rage.

“I’m watching live coverage of the Egyptian revolution on Al-Jazeera TV.  Cairo is swarming with hundreds of thousands, defying the curfew, hurling stones at the police. The images recall the Palestinian youth waging their Intifadas. The National Democratic Party headquarters is in flames. Downtown Suez has been taken over by the people, two police stations torched. The security forces are out in strength and shooting into crowds. But the people have lost their fear.

Reporters and commentators on Al-Jazeera and other channels have no choice but to note that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is widely hated, and that those in the street are seeking freedom from a dictatorship. But they also keep saying “The situation is getting worse.”

Worse?

I think of Mao Zedong’s response to critics of peasant rebellion in China in 1927. He noted that “even progressive people” saw uprisings as “terrible.” “But it’s not terrible,” he declared. “It is anything but ‘terrible.’ It’s fine!”

Watching the live coverage, I see the people of Egypt, fed up with their oppression, and inspired by the revolution in Tunisia, doing something very, very fine. It is inspiring. It is profoundly hopeful.

The Obama administration line (as summarized by Joe Biden, interviewed by Jim Lehrer on PBS), can be summarized as follows: Egyptians have the right to protest. Many are middle class folks, with legitimate concerns. But we should not refer to Mubarak as a dictator. It’s not time for him to go. He has been a key ally of the U.S. and Israel, in the “Middle East peace process” and the War on Terror. Egypt is dissimilar to Tunisia, and it would be “a stretch” to suggest that a trend is underway. The U.S. should encourage those protesting and Mubarak to talk. Everyone should avoid violence.

The mainstream infotainment media spin can be summarized like this: The “unrest” in Egypt puts the U.S. in a difficult position. On the one hand Mubarak has abetted U.S. “national interests” and been Israel’s only Arab ally. (These two are always assumed to be closely linked; the notion that an Arab leader is a friend of the U.S. to the extend that he kisses Israel’s ass is never questioned.) On the other hand, U.S. officials have been saying for years that the Middle East needs “democratic reform.”

This puts in the U.S. in bind, we are told. The U.S. confronts a “dilemma.” The talking heads depict the U.S. as somehow a victim in this situation. (Isn’t it terrible, they’re implying, that the Egyptian people by their militancy in favor of supposed U.S. ideals are trying to topple the USA’s best friend in the Arab world? What a headache to have to deal with!)

Seems to me however that this is another of those instances of chickens coming home to roost.

The U.S. has supported Mubarak primarily in appreciation for his stance towards Israel. (The mainstream media is referring to him as an “ally” of Israel.) It’s not really because he’s been a “partner in the peace process”—-because there is no real peace process. Relentless Israeli settlement activity on Palestinian land supported by the Lobby in the U.S. has insured that.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Click on link for the rest:

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp01282011.html

Joshua,

You are mistaken. Frances Fox Piven encourages people to be angry, then to find local targets, and to gain success she recommends something like the:

riots that have spread across Greece

I do not think Martin Luther King Jr encouraged people in this direction, and I dont recall the Tea Party setting up barricades and setting fire to cars either.

Truthdig praises Frances Piven.  Which means Truthdig condemns the dangerous rhetoric which might lead to violence only if it comes from the Right, while encouraging and praising dangerous rhetoric which might lead to violence if it comes from the Left. The Truthdig editors will even give them a little award.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Truthdig.

Frosty46

A salute to Keith Olberman, a true patriot and brave
soul!

Patriot?

Patriotism, sir, is the last resort of scoundrels.

-Emma Goldman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz-0Shljq88&feature=related

puppets come and go
everyone - careful what’s
wished for -  may get it in spades
worth considering: William Engdahl’s analysis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDC3yLeVEXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_TkZiK8R30

puppets come and go
everyone - careful what you wish for
worth considering: William Engdahl’s analysis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDC3yLeVEXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_TkZiK8R30

Honestly, I liked Keith but there were myriad topics (9/11, the Israeli lobby, most of the Military/Industrial Complex) that he wouldn’t touch with a thousand-foot pole. Maybe he’ll end up somewhere where he can approach these subjects.

As for Egypt, God-speed to those souls who have finally gotten tired of that US-puppet regime.

Our congress should be very afraid. The people in the U.S.A. will be coming for them eventually.

Egypt? A revolution long overdue?
I am praying that Jordan, Algeria, Yemen will be next in this particular order, then the rest of the corrupt American puppets regimes in Saudi Arabia and the rest of these Kingdoms, Sheikdoms and puppet dictators?

However, I am wondering whether an American revolution is not likewise overdue!

By Frosty46, January 28 at 10:51 am

A salute to Keith Olberman, a true patriot and brave
soul!  And a salute to all those Americans who through
either ignorance or evil abide and condone the Right’s
greed, corruption, and murderous words and deeds
without fight!  May you burn in the ovens of stupidity!

Spoken like a true Leftist. Invoking the worst horrors of the Nazi genocide machinery is stock-in-trade for the bigots of Truthdig.

Truthdig was indignant with the hostile language in politics lately, because targeting and inciteful rhetoric could encourage violence.

But who is one of the first people the Truthdig staff gives their little award to?

Francis Piven, who wants people to be ‘angry and indignant’. Francis Piven who wants angry people to have local ‘targets’ to go after.

and i quote:

Second, before people can mobilize for collective action, they have to develop a proud and angry identity and a set of claims that go with that identity. They have to go from being hurt and ashamed to being angry and indignant.

and

Third, protesters need targets, preferably local and accessible ones capable of making some kind of response to angry demands.

The editors at Truthdig do not seem to care whether people use inciteful dangerous rhetoric or not. They even felt Piven deserves an award for it!

Truthdig was indignant with the hostile language in politics lately, because targeting and inciteful rhetoric could encourage violence.

But who is one of the first people the Truthdig staff gives their little award to?

Francis Piven, who wants people to be ‘angry and indignant’. Francis Piven who wants angry people to have local ‘targets’ to go after.

and i quote:

Second, before people can mobilize for collective action, they have to develop a proud and angry identity and a set of claims that go with that identity. They have to go from being hurt and ashamed to being angry and indignant.

and

Third, protesters need targets, preferably local and accessible ones capable of making some kind of response to angry demands.

The editors at Truthdig do not seem to care whether people use inciteful dangerous rhetoric or not. They even felt Piven deserves an award for it!

Unfortunately, there came a point, and you can almost pick the exact month, when those on MSNBC and especially Keith, threw decency out the window.

I don’t know whether it was a threat from above, a promise of funding, a visit from Obama, a ride in his plane, who knows?

But bullying sarcasm and senseless ridicule, is not what we want to witness, day after day. If our kids started doing this, to their enemies, we would punish. We would tell them, that is not the way to win. Don’t back down but don’t victimize. We all know the difference.

Perhaps he has it within himself to re-create himself, because I feel that is necessary.

A salute to Keith Olberman, a true patriot and brave
soul!  And a salute to all those Americans who through
either ignorance or evil abide and condone the Right’s
greed, corruption, and murderous words and deeds
without fight!  May you burn in the ovens of stupidity!