From Thierry Meyssan:

We do not know who sponsored this professional operation against Charlie Hebdo, but we should not allow ourselves to be swept up. We should consider all assumptions and admit that at this stage, its most likely purpose is to divide us; and its sponsors are most likely in Washington.

Read the whole thing if inclined to weigh a dissident French view of the affair. I’ve been reading Meyssan for years and find him to be a keen observer.

I am just testing here, learning more about how WordPress works and “following” myself to see if I get an email. I’m in a zone and not writing and so have been re-posting from 2006 and 2007, but to bring the excellent comments foreword I have to edit the post and change the date stamp rather than just copy the content and repost it. It is then not a new post, and no email goes out to subscribers.

So look below to a November 2007 piece and some fun comments.

“I have come to realize that men are not born to be free. Liberty is a need felt by a small class of people whom nature has endowed with nobler minds than the mass of men.” (Napoleon Bonaparte)

As a young man of 36 in 1986 (April 1st) I had broken free of the business world, and was self-employed. I was worried about making a living, of course, but slowly over time began to notice that I had time to do things I wanted to do rather than dancing like a monkey for some organ grinder. I did not know it, but that freedom made me unemployable, that is, no boss would ever again subdue my thoughts or demand all my time save those two precious weeks a year I was allowed before.

The question is, then: What is our natural state? In bondage? Or as free human beings? If Napoleon above is right, it is both – that most of us are born to be soldiers and waitresses, while a few rise above it all.

If that is the case, I must then sound like an arrogant jerk. Maybe I am.

Lately I’ve been listening to podcasts while I do other stuff, as always, but the topic has been education. Driving to and from Montana last week we passed countless truck drivers, and I tried to look at them, to see the eyes, to see what a man’s face looks like as he is engaged in the most boring possible activity. Of course, the face tells me nothing. But I had to think that our eduction system, with our countless hours of boredom am mindless repetition and regurgitation, prepares them well for that occupation – or to be soldiers, clerks, drivers, insurance agents, sales people, teachers … but not free human beings.

And I wonder about the chicken and the egg – does our education system produce zombies, or merely nurture them?

I do no know.

During our travels I am reading Joseph McBride’s self-published Into the Nightmare, an account of his lifetime pursuit of truth surrounding the murder of John F. Kennedy. We have some things in common – Catholic education, youthful naïveté, and yet an inability to accept the contradictions in our face even back in the 1960’s. But at this point I am merely looking to see if anything new has been uncovered. McBride has interviewed people heretofore not located or ignored, and has some surprising findings.

In addition, McBride has made me aware of yet another miracle.

Miracles are not unusual during important events. On 9/11 laws of physics were suspended, allowing aluminum aircraft to disappear unhindered into steel buildings. And of course we know that on 11/22/63 laws of motion regarding behavior of bullets were put on hold. Also on that day a German Mauser 7.65 rifle magically transformed into a 6.5 Mannlicher Carcano, a water-into-wine event often overlooked in our worship of official truth.

McBride has made me aware of yet another miracle back in 1963. His research focuses on the murder of officer JD Tippit. It is evident that event is a Rosetta Stone of sorts. Tippit, by indications and appearances, was involved in a manhunt, but not the official one. Rather, he was part of a team that was to hunt down and kill Lee Harvey Oswald. This was in motion even before the police knew to look for him, as Oswald (officially) did not come to police attention until he was (wrongly) suspected to be the man who murdered the “poor dumb cop*,” Tippit.

The plan was to murder the president, have a manhunt, murder Oswald, have closure. But Oswald escaped the manhunt and made his way to a hastily arranged meeting at a movie theater, only then to be swarmed by police (who apparently were tipped off about the meeting). For reasons I do not understand, he was not murdered at the theater. (A minor miracle, I suppose, Oswald appears in transformed state, perhaps an apparition: Two Oswald’s were seen leaving the theater that day, one through the front door, one out the alley exit. Maybe that has something to do with it. Was Oswald meeting with his doppelgänger?)

But another miracle was in the works, and we would all witness it. It is this: Lee Harvey Oswald managed to survive for two more days while in custody of the Dallas Police (!) before being murdered in an obviously prearranged encounter with Jack Ruby.

Praised be Allah. Hal’lúkah. The Lord be with us, watch over all of us, forgive us our sins. Our God operates in mysterious ways.
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*According to one eyewitness to the shooting, those words were uttered by the shooter as he left the scene.
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PS: Joseph McBride is far more thorough than me, and meticulous too. My own impressions recorded above are not subject to such scrutiny as his by his peers, and so have a ring of certainty about them that is unwarranted. In truth, I am only certain that the official version of the incident is utterly without merit. Here’s McBride, page 457:

The best that we can come up with at this point late point is eliminating certain suspects and theories, and evaluating various other theories about how the murder might have taken place. Though that will stop short of certainty, it allows us a somewhat clearer picture of the Tippit murder, a key event that has remained obscure for too long. The list of problems preventing a solution is lengthy: failure to collect sufficient evidence at the scene; lost evidence; planted evidence and perhaps planted “witnesses”; failure to interview actual witnesses; intimidation and even murder of witnesses; systematic suppression of information by the police and the U.S. government; and perhaps the most offensive, a seeming official indifference to the importance of this aspect of the [JFK] case and the slain officer himself.

As I write there is a massive fire near downtown Los Angeles slowly being contained by fire fighters.
Looking at images, it appears that the laws of physics regarding structural steel, temporarily suspended on September 10, 2001, have been reinstated. The beams that supported the structure, despite intense heat, have not melted, twisted, contorted or collapsed. Other laws that were suspended back then, such as behavior of aircraft at low altitude and Newton’s Third Law (“for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”), might still be suspended by action of the state. I do not know. That’s above our pay grade.

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Today, December 8, is the 34th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. That hit me hard. I’ll never forget sitting in our family room that night with my then-wife and mother-in-law as Howard Cosell said those words that cut like a knife … “dead … on … arrival.” I broke down in tears. My mother-in-law, ever observant of pop culture, was unsure why death of a mere musician would move me so.

Many questions still linger about the direction and source of the bullets that killed him, and also why that creepy kid Chapman was sitting there reading that book while it went down. As with the laws of physics, basic laws of investigatory diligence are suspended by fiat in certain instances, this but one of many.

American journalists are very bad at their job, generally, but don’t know it because they are sheltered from feedback. They give each other awards, and if they are really, really sycophantic, government officials take a liking to them and start heaping praise on them, and before you know it you’ve got yourself a Medal of Freedom recipient Tom Brokaw. Or, a Christiane Amanpour.

Amanpour recently had two guests on – Mikhail Kasyanov, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin (ergo his ease of access to American television audiences), and Anissa Naouai, of RT. Naouai was not proper in her approach to the interview, that is, did not approach Amanpour on bended knee. Rather, she was highly critical of her, CNN in general, and the whole idea that American news is independent of the government while Russian news is state-sponsored.

So Amanpour did what all good American journalists do – censored those parts of the interview critical of her and CNN. Read the whole thing here.

That reminded me of the movie Man of Steel, the Superman franchise reboot. In that movie (which also rebooted the 9/11 franchise) the part of the intrepid reporter Lois Lane is played by Amy Adams. She is confrontational to power, refuses to be quarantined, and demands answers from military officials. She is feisty.

Anyway, the whole thing about a guy from another planet coming here, being able to fly and having superhuman strength … that part was OK. I buy that. The part about the confrontational and feisty journalist – man, that was a reach. In this country it is far more likely that a dude in a red cape flies across the landscape than a journalist confronts power.

We often speak of “mobilization” of public opinion, or a centralized and organized effort to achieve an objective. Public opinion by itself, fragmented and isolated, is worthless. Such a mobilization battle has been going on against the FCC, a body now entirely dominated by Obama appointees, and who seem intent on yielding to industry on the matter of “net neutrality.” Obama the candidate was resolute on the issue. His appointments to FCC have belied his sincerity. If ever there were a case of “regulatory capture“, this is it.

“Net neutrality” is probably not a good battle cry, as most people do not understand it. “Net freedom” or “freedom to browse” or “equal access to the web” would be more informative. But we seem stuck with that phrase.

It’s on now. Industry, it is easy to see, has employed the public relations industry, our clever professional liars, to muddy the waters. Their strategy is becoming apparent: steal the flag, co-opt our noble word “freedom” from the side of actual freedom, for use by the telecoms. Senator Al Frankin had to explain to Senator Ted Cruz what net neutrality means. This is a very bad omen, as it appears that prominent Democrats are taking the lead on this battle. They are very good at losing. Look for a meek response to the intense industry effort to bring the FCC to heel.

In the meantime, our intellectually crippled friend Swede predictably popped up with the image up above over at 4&20:

This image is laden with archetypes, from the word “Nyet” to the image of Stalin (Russians are currently being demonized in our propaganda system). It looks clumsy, even stupid, but is clever, calculated, and a sign of an ugly campaign ahead from the yapping jackals of the advertising industry. (The beating heart, the vital center of every ad agency is a behavioral psychology department.)

Swede’s ad originates at this place, The Peoples Cube, most likely chosen (or created) as a vehicle by the ad agency employed by the telecoms to lead this ugly campaign. The website appears crazy and incoherent. That’s how Our Kwyjibo found it. Don’t be fooled by its rube appearance. It is slick and professional.

The battle for web freedom is now a right-wing talk and scare phenomenon. This poster is a seed. This is where the rest of the battle will be fought. How to fight back? Stay mobilized behind organized groups like Electronic Frontiers, or Free Press.net. Avoid Democrats, who will figure a way to lose. Obama’s recent strong words on net neutrality may be real, but might also be a means of castrating the movement by ceding leadership to Democrats. Given his appointment of Wheeler, he is not to be trusted. (What to trust: Words, or deeds?)

Knuckle down and fight back, or knuckle under.

One thing leads to another to another … Red Ice Creations is a Swedish source for podcasts that I’ve subscribed to for a couple of years. For 80% of the time Henrik Palmgren, the host, will take us down the path of extraterrestrials and ancient civilizations, none of which interest me – maybe even spooks me a little. I mean Henrik, please.

But that other 20% of the time makes the subscription worthwhile. He seems to be scouring the landscape looking or interesting people with different outlooks. He introduced me to Bruce Veinotte and the “School Sucks” project. I was a bit leery at first, as I am with so many of Henrik’s guests, but as I listened realized that Veinotte is intelligent, mindful, and counter-cultural. He reminds me of my son.

Judge for yourself. The first hour of the podcast is free to non-subscribers. If you want to hear the second, email me and I’ll see what can be done. Veinotte calls school a “jail with books,” and has very little use for the buildings or the teachers. He thinks that learning is a lifetime challenge, should be self-guided, and that we can dispense with regimentation, permission to go to the bathroom, hall passes, bells, lines, and that godawful focus on testing for temporary retention (before tossing the information aside). (I found the second hour far more intriguing.) His take on “bullying” is utterly sensible: It usually happens in prisons and schools, those places where people are held against their will.

Veinotte mentioned “the” nine-types of intelligence (as if). I am one of those people who always tested well on ACT’s and SAT’s. I happen to have the type of smarts that are valued in our society – pattern recognition, numbers, language skills. But oddly, I’ve noticed over time, I suck at things like chess and checkers and poker – I would call these “gaming” skills. I can see the past very clearly, but cannot anticipate the future (as in why you moved that bishop to that square). Also, I cannot tell you how an internal combustion engine works – way too may things going on there at once. I struggle with our snow thrower, our plumbing, building a simple staircase.

It just demonstrates that people have wide and varied talents, and that we overemphasize some, undervalue others. Anyway, “the” nine types of intelligence are actually a fairly comprehensive description of the many facets of the interaction of the human brain with nature. I found it in many places on the Google. Here they are:

• Naturalistic: Living among the elements, plants, rocks, animals, harmonizing … these are our farmers, hunters, chefs, botanists, gardeners with that “green thumb.”
• Musical: People sensitive to pitch, timbre, rhythm, harmony and who add so much to our lives.
• Logical and mathematical: People who discern relationships and patterns, demonstrate sequential reasoning skills, and generate and use abstract thoughts. That’s me, I guess, or why I scored well on those damned tests.
• Existential: These are our philosophers, religious types, who wonder why we are born, exist, what happens at death. I am drawn to this, but am not very good at it.
• Interpersonal: People-smart. People who get along easily, size up, enjoy people. Blog behavior aside, this is me in real life. I enjoy meeting people, and look for reasons to like them.
• Bodily kinesthetic Dancers, athletes, surgeons … all of those talented people out there who are not me.
• Linguistic: To think in words and makes oneself understood. ‘Nuff said.
• Intra-personal: Self aware – this, while evident in some people (my late older brother for one) at a very young age, is something we develop as we age … if we are paying attention.
• Spatial: Thinking in three dimensions – understanding how a damned snow thrower works. These are the architects, mechanics, many artists, and those amazing people who design the cardboard containers that we use to ship products around the world. Have you ever wondered how they take a piece of cardboard and slice and dice it to the exact shape needed to hold your set of glassware you just ordered? I marvel at those designs. Just sayin’.

So go back to your SAT and ask yourself what were they testing, and how many ways there are that we can develop outside of formal schooling, which Veinotte says (and I agree) is a prison with books, and a waste of our precious time.

People generally have their feet set in cement and cannot be reasoned with. It is therefore my view that we should simply say what we think and bring our evidence to the table.

That’s why I admire people like Chomsky, the late Gore Vidal, and the man above, Norman Finkelstein. They say what they believe to be true and defend their position with vigor. They are not nice, because like every other means of persuasion (short of advertising and propaganda), being nice does not work. Knocking an opponent for a loop can remove cobwebs, creative cognitive dissonance. Honest people then self-reflect and alter their views.

It is rare but it happens.

By the way, Norman Finkelstein is banned in the State of Israel. He cannot enter the country. If he were nice (i.e., stfu) that would not have happened.

He actually hated working in any world. Later on, when we were doing Car Talk, he would come in late and leave early. We used to warn him that if he left work any earlier, he’d pass himself coming in.” (Ray Magliozzi)

The news of Tom Magliozzi’s death hit me very hard last night, and I realized that it is because time is passing along with generations, and that I too am in that relentless march to the sea.

Car Talk was never about cars. That was just a cover story. It was about two brothers, the one twelve years younger idolizing the older one. They were men of good will, self-deprecating humor, and who even knew the difference between a fuel injection system and carburetor, but would never brag about that.

I listened for years as I could, and when podcasting started, never missed an episode. I noted one time a few years back that Ray ran an entire show while Tom sat silent. I thought he must have been under the weather. Sometime after that, Ray started, rather than ended the show with “Well, you’ve wasted another perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk…” and then sighed as he plunged into the week’s episode. Something was wrong.

Tom had Alzheimer’s. Typically that disease takes about ten years to kill a person. So they’ve been faking it for a good long time. And now we know why Tom did not drive. Also, as Ray reminds us, that’s why Tom could never remember last week’s puzzler.

They retired in 2012 and rebooted Car Talk as re-runs, and they could do that because they were always careful not to be topical. By staying away from current events, they stood out among all shows on NPR by not lying to us. At the end of the re-runs their voices sounded patched in, current, and there would be topical references. But at one point I realized that Tom’s laugh had been electronically spliced into that part of the broadcast, and that Ray was working alone. NPR liars did indeed penetrate the studio overlooking Harvard Square in their fair city.

Oh well. So it goes. Car Talk was the best thing ever on NPR. They’ll continue with Best of Car Talk and I will continue to listen. What, I have to wonder, becomes of the staff members left behind? What now for Irasmus Bedraggin, the head of working mothers support? Or their brake tester, Carson Delake? The gal in charge of repeat business, Lucinda Bolts? Staff tailor Hugh Jass? Will they find other work?

Unlikely. There’ll never be anything like it again.