The intersection of art and politics is one of the topics of this blog. And one way in which to approach the topic....which is obvious....is to explore the master narratives and the master discourse, as its constantly being recreated and reproduced by the culture industry and by (especially) the US state department. An obvious example of political theatre is the US presidential election campaigns. There is a jaw dropping mind numbing hypocricy at work with a majority of the US public. It's hard to know how many, and I can only point to my own experiences, really, and also to sort of project out from the tiny amount of real surveying that has gone on regards this. It's easy to forget that … [Read more...]

Weeds Who Gets To Fuck Nancy? … [Read more...]

There is a aura of fear that the poor feel around cops. In the United States, anyway. And if you're black, all the worse. The other day, Darrius Kennedy was shot point blank just off Times Square in New York. Kennedy allegedly had a knife. There were ten uniformed and armed policemen. None had tasers. All had guns. And they shot Kennedy, point blank, twelve times. Considering that I could have probably disarmed Mr Kennedy, one does wonder why he has shot in the street like a rabid dog. But I can find you more... 20 year old Deshone Travis By: JOANN MERRIGAN | WSAV News 3 Published: June 27, 2012 » 8 Comments | Post a Comment (Savannah, GA) Robert Travis doesn't … [Read more...]

Random notes. Gene Sperling, who is Director of the National Economic Council, was also technical advisor for West Wing. He attended the Wharton School of Business, U. of Penn. Andy Stern, former head of the 2.2 million member large Service Employees International Union, also attended the Wharton School of Business, U. of Penn. Andy visited the Obama whitehouse 53 times since inauguration. Erskine Bowles was appointed, in 2010, as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (with Alan K. Simpson). Previously, Bowles had been Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff. He also sits on the board of directors for General Motors, and Morgan Stanley. Oh, he … [Read more...]

praise http://john-steppling.com/dialogue-4-with-guy-zimmerman-praise/ … [Read more...]

Conditioning is hugely important. I've long noted just how deeply desirous of consensus the US populace is -- though this is true in Europe as well, but not to the degree one finds it in the US. The most egregious naked state theft or deceit will be discussed...certainly on corporate media outlets ... as if it WASN'T naked theft. This starts at the very top and trickles down to the basest most mundane levels. Iran Contra is to this day spoken of as a small indiscretion. Enron is an amusing bit of corporate shenanegans. Obama can lie, as Bush lied, and can stage manage his tiny paltry gifts to the liberal class, all the while bombing the poor and invading and stealing and signing away, … [Read more...]

Samaranch & pals... --------------------------------------------------- A few disparate thoughts as the Olympics descend on us. The games of Dow Chemical, McDonalds, and British Petroleum. The games of UK swat teams on neighborhood roofs. The games of forced evictions. But anyway.... The "father" of the modern Olympics is Pierre deCourbetin. Born to parents Baron Charles Louis Frédy, Baron de Coubertin and Marie–Marcelle Gigault de Crisenoy, in 1863. Pierre's father was a royalist and dilettante painter; who's themes ran to the Roman Catholic Church and the royal family. Pierre developed an interest in education, fueled by a visit to England where he met Thomas … [Read more...]

I am always curious how narrative works....how it is imposed on events from the authority structure. Government, police, military, etc. Two stories recently: The Anaheim police assault: and the Aurora Colorado shooting. The Anaheim Police narrative is the most transparent. In fact, it's almost childlike. The "official" police narrative is always triggered by a few specific words ( crowd, unruly, melee, documented gang member, etc.). In this case the police narrative simply reads like a bad TV cop show. "The police were securing the area as they looked for evidence". However if one looks at the photos posted in several So Cal newspapers, a different narrative emerges. … [Read more...]