For The Record

I have been known to quibble on occasion with Professor Chomsky's political analyses, but only on occasion.

More From The Last Great American Sage

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

On January 20, 2001, H. L. Mencken's prophecy was fulfilled.

A Decent Man

H. L. Mencken observed that every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under. All my life, my only ambition has been nothing more than to be a decent man.

The Entrapment Schemes Begin...

This is how the FBI gets in on the act and tries to engender fear in the American populace. It's become something of a formula since 9/11:

FBI arrests Rochester man in fabricated ISIS “terror plot”

To The Point

In Other News...

Forty five million in poverty in the US - World Socialist Web Site

Why Can't American Liberals Just Admit...

that Obama is a disaster; the Democratic Party is a disaster; the "two party system" (which is, in reality, a duopoly) is likewise a disaster?

Is it shame that keeps them from facing the truth about the condition of their political system and the Party that allegedly represents them? Indoctrination? Blind obstinateness?

Why do they deny--despite all evidence to the contrary--that cartoons like the one below ("Republican Jesus") apply with equal force to the Jesus of the Democratic Party?

A politics of mass delusion cannot possibly end well.

American Lives are just Pawns in their Government's Game

Families of journalists murdered by ISIS threatened with prosecution by US government

One of the Earliest Victims of the Gulag

Torture victim Jose Padilla sentenced to 21 years - World Socialist Web Site

A Little Historical Perspective

While I should take comfort in all of the horror expressed in Western media at the sensationalized news of ISIS beheadings, I suspect not a little hypocrisy at play.

Let us not forget that the association of beheadings with liberty has a long and distinguished history in liberal, secular culture and politics, beginning with the guillotine--which quickly became the symbol of republican France.

In addition, of course, beheadings and mutilations occur whenever our military engages "enemy combatants" (i.e., civilian populations) throughout the world.

Not to mention the unflagging support of the United States for Saudi Arabia, a country that routinely employs beheading as a form of capital punishment.

One of the reasons that I enjoy historical research is that it reminds us where the bodies are buried.

Unless you take an unqualified stand against violence, you will always, inevitably, find yourself standing with the killers.

Worth Repeating

Where Are You Now, Huckleberry Finn?

Chronicling American life under the radar...

Listen To Your Uncle!

Fool Me Once, Shame On You; Fool Me Twice, Shame On Me...

Fool me year after year...WTF?

It is September. Every September since 2001, the state security apparatuses in the United States (on the Federal, State, and local levels) and their propaganda organs in the supine media begin to take concerted steps to intensify the (already intense) sense of fear that afflicts the American populace. Air travelers mysteriously find themselves placed on lists for heightened scrutiny; police engage in over-the-top actions against ordinary citizens; events in other parts of the world that, previously, were ignored in the daily news are suddenly "elevated" to the status of immanent threats (ISIS who?).

It is part of a systematic program of sheepification.

Buy into it and you lose. It's that simple. Paint an "L" on your forehead. You're done.