you are the media you consume.

Military Evangelism Deeper, Wider Than First Thought
    By Jason Leopold
    t r u t h o u t | Report

    Friday 21 December 2007

Soldiers at Fort Jackson Army Base pose with their rifles and Bibles.(picture)

A Hamas suicide bomber posing with a rifle and a copy of the Koran.(picture)

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation says the two photos show how the infiltration of fundamentalist Christianity in the US military is starting to mirror Islamic fundamentalism.

    For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure.

    That's the message directed at Fort Jackson soldiers, some of whom appear in photographs in government issued fatigues, holding rifles in one hand, and Bibles in their other hand.

    Frank Bussey, director of Military Ministry at Fort Jackson, has been telling soldiers at Fort Jackson that  "government authorities, police and the military = God's Ministers,"

    Bussey's teachings from the "God's Basic Training" Bible study guide he authored says US troops have "two primary responsibilities": "to praise those who do right" and "to punish those who do evil - "God's servant, an angel of wrath." Bussey's teachings directed at Fort Jackson soldiers were housed on the Military Ministry at Fort Jackson web site. Late Wednesday, the web site was taken down without explanation. Bussey did not return calls for comment. The web site text, however, can still be viewed in an archived format.

Does anyone else here find this as frightening as I do?
rdf? De Anander? Melo?
A nation defended (policed) by Bob Altemeyer's authoritarians. Double highs for commanders.

Oddly enough, right now it seems that the Professional military at staff level is a force for rationality in strategic thinking--which makes for lots of stress with the Cheney-neocon cabal.
I imagine the power for authority that a fundamentalist military would wield.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

OZYMANDIAS

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Enjoy ever which way, you all!

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

I actually wore a tie for once ! :-) - just in case Prodi came back :-) (he and Sarko had had lunch there after a conference recently):

Montserrat had her favourite:

and got the owner to sign a copy of her new book: "A la Table de Nicole: tous celebres ici".

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

Is there anyone around who's Romanian, lives there, or has practical information about Romania that they could share with her to make her move a little smoother?

Feel free to reply here or e-mail me. Thanks!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

Man of the year

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

One of the truly amazing things about the current financial environment has been the way investors are parking their money in government debt, even at very low yields, because they're afraid to lend to private entities that may be holding toxic waste.

And it's not getting better. Here's the yield on one-month U.S. Treasury bills, which is back down close to its low from the August panic.

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

When is Nokia bringing it to the market?

Some good news: I had had to take an "incomplete" grade in a writing class last year. I had to turn papers in by this week, otherwise the I would become a failing grade; luckily I got everything in and the teacher liked them. :) Rather nice after a year of writer's block.

This is original link to the actual conversation yesterday for latecomers.

The advantage of the rap version is the force of Sacca's sloven asslicking repeated ad nauseum: SiSi-SiSi-grazie-Sisi-Sisi-Grazie-Sisi Sisi

The US faces $21m (£10.6m) in annual trade sanctions as a result of its online betting ban, the World Trade Organization has ruled.

Antigua and Barbuda was awarded the right to impose sanctions that target US services, copyrights and trademarks.

Laws passed in the US in October 2006 effectively made it illegal for foreign internet gaming firms to trade there.