Friday, September 30, 2011

Giuliano Mignini, Agent of Injustice

Giuliano Mignini:  Visualizing Justice in the Case of Amanda Knox
As we await the verdict in the Amanda Knox appeals trial, it is clear why and how two innocent students were imprisoned for four years for a crime that they did not commit.  It is because the chief prosecutor of Perugia, Italy, is not an agent of justice, but of injustice; not an honest warrior for truth, but for falsehood.  The man has such a massive ego that he believes his intuition is 100% accurate.  Whatever impressions first enter his mind are immutable truth, not subject to change based on evidence, no matter how compelling.  Evidence and proof are merely bureaucratic inconveniences, needed only to confirm his clairvoyance.  That which tends to refute his visions is to be devoutly ignored.

This is what happened in the Narducci case, where 21 defendants were prosecuted by Mignini in a different province,  Florence (the city of Perugia is in Umbria province).  There Mignini held no sway over the forensic teams and other law enforcement personnel, and lost every one of the 21 trials.  Justice triumphed, over the heavily damaged lives and fortunes of 21 innocents.  Mignini, however, did not learn from this, i.e. that his intuition and judgment were not so accurate as he believed.  He entered the trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito with the same irrational belief in his own infallibility.

Early on, within the first three days after the murder of Meredith Kercher, Mignini had formed an unshakable opinion that Knox and her boyfriend Sollecito were parties to the crime.  There was no evidence to support this belief, so the Perugian offices of justice went to work to either find or invent some.  The forensic team worked for Mignini and was not an independent authority committed to finding the truth, wherever it might lie, but to finding whatever Mignini wanted them to find.  To do otherwise could be detrimental to one's career, and reflecting on Mignini's recent past, to one's liberty as well.

When one is clairvoyant, like Mignini, proof is only a statutory annoyance, nothing more.  Even today, after all of his key evidence has been refuted or thrown out, Mignini is as convinced as ever of the absolute certitude of his unproven accusations.  No doubt, when the Italians finally get around to removing this massive ego from their system of justice, he can make a fine living as a fortune teller or soothsayer.

Whatever you might say about Giuliano Mignini, in spite of his exalted opinion of himself, he is not an agent of truth and justice, but an agent of falsity and injustice.  His delusional, ruthless abuse of his office have furthered both injustice and human suffering, a net loss to humanity and to civilization.  When this case is finally over, when Knox and Sollecito have finally been released to salvage their damaged lives, a form of justice, however tortured, will have been achieved.  But that's not enough.  Giuliano Mignini must be held to account for his crimes, for the many damaged lives and the suffering that he has caused.  He must be removed from office so that he can no longer victimize the innocent.  Further, the Italian system of justice must be reformed to prevent such injustice in the future.

I personally hope that Mignini will inhabit the prison cell soon to be vacated by Raffaele Sollecito.  Now that would be justice -- and a step in the right direction for Italy.

Related Video:  Ex-FBI agent Steve Moore speaks out on the trial from Perugia, Italy.

Another Dead Terrorist Collects His Virgins (to the Sad Sound of Taps....)

Anwar al-Awlaki, practitioner of a mass-murdering cult known as Islam, has left this mortal coil for the sacred rivers of Heaven, where milk and wine flow like water, where the faithful martyrs sit on green satin cushions, play with beautiful burqua-less babes while eating pizza and watching football.  Well, I'm not really too sure about those last two items.  I need to recheck my copy of the Koran.  The unburned one, I mean.

In any case, Anwar is just another dead terrorist.  Sayonara, Anwara.  We hardly knew ye.  And thank  God for that.

Amanda Knox Appeals Trial Ends Today: Verdict Next Week

New suspect in Meredith Kercher murder case? Or
is it another victim of Amanda Knox?  DNA on kitchen knife
indicates rye bread was slain in a Satanic ritual.  Either that
or in a sex game gone awry.   Will Mignini prosecute?
Amanda Knox's appeals trial in Perugia, Italy ends  today.  Yesterday, the defense put on an excellent summary of the case and why the prosecution's case is utterly flawed and unsupported by evidence.  Today the two accused, Knox and her friend Raffaele Sollecito, will make personal appeals to the jury.  A verdict is expected early next week, perhaps on Monday.

I have read about the case rather extensively, and I have no doubt that the two accused are completely innocent of the crime.  They were not present when the crime went down, had no motive for killing the pretty young victim, Meredith Kercher, and there are no witnesses and no evidence to support their conviction.  They should never have been indicted, never should have been tried, and most certainly never convicted.  However, the prosecution lied repeatedly throughout the first trial, destroyed evidence and obstructed justice.  Luminol indicated that footprints in the bathroom might contain blood, but specific tests for blood showed there was no blood.  Nevertheless, the prosecution (and many media outlets) proclaimed that the footprints were "bloody footprints."

However, the two major pieces of "evidence" on which the prosecution built its case were these:
(1) DNA found on a kitchen knife that they alleged was the murder weapon, and  
(2) DNA found on a bra clasp that was ripped from the bra of the victim during the crime.

First, let's review the knife and its DNA evidence.
A kitchen knife was chosen at random from a kitchen drawer in Raffaele's apartment, 15 miles away from the crime scene, and proclaimed to be the murder weapon.  It wasn't.

In the first place, it is absurd to think that Knox and Sollecito carried a kitchen knife to the crime scene, 15 miles away, used it to murder the victim, then washed it off and carried it back to be placed in a kitchen drawer.  Ridiculous.  As Mark Waterbury points out in The Monster of Perugia, there were plenty of kitchen knives in the cottage where the murder occurred, why would one need to be transported to and from the crime?

More importantly, the knife didn't fit the wounds on Kercher's body, it didn't match the bloody print of the actual murder knife left on her sheets, but the prosecution was bent on framing Knox and Sollecito (why is another story -- see today's ABC report for details) and presented it as key evidence.  A forensics lab, under the control of the prosecution, tested the knife for DNA and found (1) Amanda's DNA on the handle, providing shocking and irrefutable evidence that she once used the kitchen knife to prepare dinner, and (2) a very tiny amount of what might be DNA on the blade of the knife.  The prosecution alleged that it was Kercher's DNA.

That small amount of DNA was below the threshold of accurate testing by the lab's equipment, and might have been from contamination from other samples tested in the same lab.  The amount of DNA the tester, one  Dr. Stefanoni, retrieved from the blade was extremely small, 1/3 of a picogram.  A picogram is one one-trillionth of a gram.  Stefanoni used 1/3 of the sample to test for blood, and no blood was found.  Let me repeat: The DNA on the blade was not from blood. She then used all of the remaining sample to test for DNA, even though the sample was far too small to provide an accurate reading, overriding the testing equipment's TOO LOW indicator in order to do so.  Since all of this DNA was used up, there was no possibility for a second test to confirm the results.  However, it is highly doubtful that this substance was the victim's DNA; other experts who reviewed Stefanoni's results say it was apparently starch from rye bread.  (Perhaps Mignini will now issue a warrant for the arrest of a loaf of bread!)

Clearly, the kitchen knife and related DNA evidence prove absolutely nothing, except that the prosecution was reckless, amateurish and highly biased in their effort to manufacture the evidence needed to fit their preconceived theory of the crime.  The appeals court was right to throw it out.

Second, let's review the evidence of the bra clasp.
When Rudy Guede was raping the victim, he ripped off her clothes.  Her bra was found on the floor and tested for DNA evidence, but the bra clasp was left on the floor for 47 days among the dust and debris before it was picked up and tested.

The prosecution stated that Raffaele Sollecito's DNA was found on the bra clasp, indicating that he must have ripped off the bra and was part of the crime.  However, the DNA of at least three other people was also found on the bra clasp, but these samples were not profiled and the identities of the owners not explored.  When one is attempting to prove a preconceived theory, one does not bother with evidence that might lead elsewhere.

However, it is not at all clear that the prosecution's DNA test proves anything.  About 30% of household dust is dead skin cells.  Dead skin cells contain DNA.  Contamination of the bra clasp, either from 47 days of dust or from the forensic team's dirty gloves (as recorded on video), is almost a certainty.

Further, none of Raffaele's DNA was found on the bra itself.  This is rather incredible if Raffaele ripped off the bra.  Perhaps he ripped it off only by touching the tiny bra clasp in back, either using tweezers or his first finger and thumb.  Who knows what these satanic cultists will do during an orgy?

Some DNA strands were found to match some of the markers for Sollecito, but again, the DNA collected was not good enough to prove this beyond any shadow of a doubt.  One of the outside experts called in from Rome reviewed the DNA testing of the bra clasp, and found DNA markers that matched her own!  Perhaps she was the true murderer -- perhaps you were (can you prove you weren't in Perugia on November 1, 2007?).  It does prove, however, that the bra clasp evidence is worthless.  The appeals court was right to throw it out.

If Knox and Sollecito are exonerated, as they certainly should be, let us be clear:  they will not have been "let off on a technicality."  They will have been exonerated for a crime for which they had no guilt whatsoever.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Inane Janeane Garofalo (Photoshop)

Inane Janeane Who Is Insane
Inane Janeane who is insane, continues her quest to become the most notorious string puppet in the leftist army of mentally deficient morons.

Pull the string on the back of the neck of Inane Janeane Who Is A Pain, and you will always get the same word:  raaaaaacism, raaaaaaaacism, raaaaaacism!  She's at it again this week, regurgitating what passes for thought on the left.

Insane Janeane is a pinhead, a far-fetched caricature of the most extreme radical kook.  Without people like her, the facial studs industry would have gone broke long ago, tattoo parlors would all have closed, and the green hair dye industry would have folded.

Thank you Inane Janeane, for reminding us of just how worthless Hollyweird really is.  Now we understand why you fit in there so well.

Oh, and just for the record:  We Tea-Partiers may not like vicious, lying, leftwing lesbian skanks, but that doesn't mean we are anti-woman.  We may not like mocha-colored communists, but that doesn't mean we hate blacks.  It only seems that way to radical pinheads like Janeane.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The Massive Incompetence of the Perugian Police in the Amanda Knox Murder Trial

Perugian Police In Action
The massive incompetence of the Perugian police is breathtaking.  However, to be fair, their destruction of major evidence in the case may not have been  incompetence.  It may have been deliberate obstruction of justice, in order to frame the suspects under the command of chief prosecutor Giulano Mignini, no stranger to illegal and unethical methods of prosecution.  Let's review, shall we?

1.  Failure to affix the Victim's Time of Death.
Meredith Kercher's body was not examined by the coroner for more than 48 hours, making it impossible to fix the time of death in the usual manner -- by analyzing the drop in temperature, the onset of rigor mortis, etc.  The TOD is critically important to a murder case, because individuals can be eliminated from suspicion if they can establish their whereabouts at the time of death.  Fortunately, Meredith had a pizza dinner with several friends on the night of her death, and it is established that she last ate at 6 pm.  Food traveling through the digestive tract can be used as a secondary method of determining the TOD.  Mignini's control (formally or informally) of the entire Perugian legal structure resulted in a highly biased "motivation report," also known as the Massei Report after the judge who issued it.  The Massei Report disingenuously pushed the possible time of death to 11:30 pm, even though Kercher's stomach contents indicate her death occurred between 9:00 and 9:30 pm.  Both Knox and Sollecito were seen at the latter's apartment, 15 miles away, at the time of death.  They should have been eliminated as suspects early on, absent a conscious effort to frame them.

2.  Destruction of Computer Evidence.  The prosecution claimed Knox and Kercher disliked each other and had issues about rent money, cleanliness and other things.  However, this could have been proved or disproved by photos, email, letters and other documentation in the computers of the victims and the suspects. However, the Perugian police destroyed three out of four hard drives, ostensibly by accident:  those of Knox and Kercher, and one of Sollecito; the remaining drive on Sollecito's laptop was compromised by the use of the police for surfing the internet.  The defense proposed that the fried hard drives of the first three computers be sent to outside experts to see if the lost data could be recovered, but the prosecution refused.  It is reasonable to suspect that the police willfully destroyed evidence that refuted their case.

Update:  Another blogger in Perugia states that a fourth computer was also seized by the police, a laptop belonging to housemate Filomena Romanelli.  Her laptop was returned to her with the hard disk fried as well.  Gee, what an incredible string of bad luck!  Oh well, one out of five ain't bad.

3.  Failure to Tape the Interrogation of Amanda Knox.  A team of 12 interrogated Amanda Knox for many hours, during which she says they deprived her of food, water and sleep, screamed threats and insults in her face, cuffed her on the back of the head and subjected her to psychological torture.  It was from the use of this method that they coerced her into signing a false confession implicating her boss, Patrick Lumumba, who was targeted as a suspect. However, the police did not record the interrogation, either with video or audio, as required by Italian law, so Knox's claims cannot be verified.  It is entirely possible that the police did indeed tape the interrogations, but then  either destroyed the tapes or withheld them from the defense in order to obstruct justice. (As noted by author Mark Waterbury, the Perugian police recorded everything -- phone calls, text messages, email.  Not recording these interrogations would be out of character.)

4.  Failure to analyze a bank's security camera across the street from the crime scene.  The bank's camera would have recorded all comings and goings at the murder house, but the police did not access the camera until after the recordings were overwritten.  Although DNA, fingerprints and footprints clearly establish Rudy Guede's presence in the murder room, they do not refute the prosecution's claim that Guede was the invited guest of Knox and Sollecito, rather than a burglar who entered through a broken window on the second story.  (The Massei Report implausibly argues that the broken window was "staged" and not the actual point of entry by Guede.  Their argument is absurd and not supported by any evidence.)

5. The "loss" of twenty-nine wiretapped and recorded phone calls between Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, and between Raffaele and his father, and unable to be reviewed  by the defense (see here). One can only imagine the conversations that devastated Mignini's fanciful and imaginary theory of the crime.  It is reasonable to assume that these calls were "lost" because they exonerated the accused.  Either the police make the Keystone Kops look like CSI Miami, or they willfully obstructed justice by destroying exonerating evidence.  I report, you decide.
****
The government and legal system of Italy is very corrupt.  As disclosed by Wikileaks, our State Department is aware of this corruption.  Therefore, the willingness of judges and police officials to purposely frame innocents may seem unbelievable, but in Italy it appears to be both possible and probable.


Sources:  The Monster of Perugia:  the Framing of Amanda Knox, by Mark Waterbury, PhD. (See here for relevant excerpts.)
                Doug Bremner, M.D.  (See here)

Famed FBI Profiler and Murder Expert John Douglas Says Amanda Knox Innocent

A famous (among law enforcement personnel) murder expert, John Douglas, was intereviewed on the murder case of Amanda Knox in Italy.  Douglas comes with impressive credentials.

Since retiring as head investigator for the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime at the FBI, Douglas now travels the world hired by international and domestic law enforcement and defense teams who request his help in investigations.  He studied the evidence in the Knox murder case and concluded that Knox and her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, had nothing to do with the crime. He said:
Two people [were] convicted that should have never been convicted. The media pictured Amanda as a cold-blooded murderer. Frankly, I was surprised that they were charged. I was surprised by the conviction. The appeal is wrong. It’s wrong because of the lack of concrete evidence. No forensic evidence, no behavioral evidence. Nothing points to their guilt. They’ve got nothing.
Read the entire interview here.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Kercher's Stomach Contents Exonerate Amanda Knox -- Will Jurors Agree?

Knox's lawyer refuted in court today the Massei report from the first trial of Amanda Knox.  That report wrongly stated that food eaten might not exit the duodenum for five hours, and that Kercher's death could have happened as late at 11:30 at night.  Medical professionals have since strongly rejected this conclusion as being impossible.  They state that Kercher's stomach contents, from her last meal at 6 pm, indicate the time of her death was between 9 and 9:30 pm. (See explanation of Doug Bremner, M.D., here).  The only person known to be at the murder scene at that time was Rudy Guede, as learned from his cell phone records.

Guede had falsely testified that he came out of Kercher's bathroom to find Sollecito standing over the body at around 9:15 or 9:20 pm.  However, it has been reliably established that Sollecito was somewhere else at the time of Kercher's death.  This evidence should exonerate Sollecito, and by implication, Knox, since it proves Guede is a liar and the person solely responsible for the crime.  [Update:  it also exonerates Knox, since it has been established that she was at Sollecito's apartment at 9:30 pm.]

At this point, I have grave doubts about the ability or the willingness of the Perugian jurors to fairly assess the evidence.  However, this gives a bit more hope that Knox and Sollecito will be acquitted in their appeals trial.

More Shocking Information About Giuliano Mignini, Prosecutor of Amanda Knox

I am reading "The Monster of Perugia: the Framing of Amanda Knox" by Mark Waterbury. Waterbury discusses Mignini's past and it is quite revealing. Before Mignini framed Amanda Knox, he prosecuted 21 defendants for being part of a "Satanic cult" that "murdered" a doctor, Francesco Narducci. Actually, Narducci drowned in a lake, either an accident or suicide, but Mignini was convinced, based on absolutely nothing but his imagination (and that of a soothsayer that he consulted), that Narducci was part of a Satanic cult responsible for the serial killings of the "Monster of Florence" case, and that he had been killed by the sect because he had become a security risk.

All 21 of the defendants were acquitted over an eight year period, after having their lives almost ruined and after incurring huge legal expenses, all because of Mignini's fantasy that was unsupported by any evidence or facts. I think this indicates that Prosecutor Mignini has a difficult time differentiating fantasy from reality.  It also makes it clear that his accusation that Amanda Knox took part in the murder of Meredith Kercher (as part of a "sex game gone wrong") is typical of Mignini's dark imaginings.  There was never any evidence to support this fantasy.   It did not happen.

Why the Italians have allowed Mignini to continue as a prosecutor is incredible. He should be removed from office so he cannot wreck any more innocent lives.

And while we are at it, perhaps our ambassador in Italy can discuss reparations from the Italian government, to reimburse the Knox family for the huge legal expenses that have eaten away at the family fortune for the past four years.  

Monday, September 26, 2011

Obama's Solemn Promise If Re-Elected (Cartoon)

Fall Is In The Air

Fall  is officially here.  It came in on September 23, but I just now noticed it.  I love this time of year.

Big orange pumpkins are already in the fields and in the stores around here.  The sunlight is more muted, the temperatures cooling, the hills are browning (as is the grass in my backyard).  The air is sweet with the fragrance of dying grasses.

No breezes stir the trees and nature seems unusually quiet and still.  It's as if the earth itself were deep in meditation.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Giuliano Mignini: the Clown of Perugia, Prosecutor of Amanda Knox

Giuliano Mignini 
Giuliano Mignini is the Italian prosecutor in the Amanda Knox case.  He has a history of ruthless and unhinged behavior.  He is a bully who has frequently abused the power of his office to arrest, jail (without charges or trial), sue and otherwise harrass people he doesn't like.  Yesterday in court, Mignini made his closing arguments as to why the two innocent people that he framed should continue to waste their lives in jail, repeating many of the same lies and disproven accusations in his final argument.  Incredibly, even after the prosecution's DNA evidence was thrown out, even after their key witness was shown to be a lying heroin addict, they argued that Knox's sentence be increased to life imprisonment and six months in solitary confinement.

Today I am celebrating the worthless career of Giuliano Mignini, the corrupt prosecutor of Perugia, Italy who has personally disgraced the Italian system of justice with his bizarre theories of satanic rituals and sex games, prosecuting innocents on the basis of nothing but his wild imagination, personal biases and vendettas.

 Here is some of his history, from the website Injustice In Perugia:
Shortly after Amanda and Raffaele were convicted, Mignini himself, was convicted. You can read an update about Mignini's conviction at the bottom of this page. Mignini was convicted of prosecutorial misconduct for his abuses committed during the Monster of Florence case. He received a sixteen month sentence for abuse of office and bugging journalists in connection with the Francesco Narducci (Monster of Florence) case.

There was a series of murders that occurred in Italy during the 1970s and 80s. The perpetrator of the murders was given the name "Monster of Florence" by the press. Young couples who were parked in remote areas presumably to have sex, were shot and the bodies of the female victims were mutilated. Crime experts believed that the perpetrator was a Jack the Ripper type killer. Mignini got involved in the Monster of Florence case while investigating the death of Dr. Francesco Narducci, whose drowned corpse was found in a lake near Perugia. Mignini was far from an expert in these types of murders. He was a conspiracy theorist that liked to dream up wild fantasies. Mignini's theory was that the young couples were murdered so that their body parts could be used in rituals by satanic cults. Mignini believed that Dr. Narducci belonged to this cult, but he had become a security risk, so other cult members decided to kill him and make it look like an accident or suicide.

His theory was challenged by author Douglas Preston and his writing partner Mario Spezi. Douglas and Mario decided to write a book about the Monster of Florence. They both agreed that Mignini's theory was ridiculous. Mario Spezi stated so publicly. Mignini didn't like being challenged. Mignini had Spezi's office ransacked and he bugged his car. Mignini interrogated Preston and forced him to leave the country. Mignini arrested Spezi and threw him in jail. After three weeks in solitary confinement for no reason whatsoever, a judge ordered Spezi released despite Mignini's objections.

Mario Spezi's arrest drew the attention of CPJ, The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending the rights of journalists worldwide. CPJ released a letter in regard to Spezi's arrest.

Douglas Preston was interrogated by Mignini. He was accused of being an accessory to murder involving the Monster of Florence case. He was made to believe that he would never see his family again. He thought he was going to an Italian prison. Preston says that his knees were shaking. He could hardly walk when he stood up. He was terrified. Mignini successfully forced Preston to leave Italy. Read all about the Monster of Florence case from Douglas Preston: A true crime story By Douglas Preston.

Mignini attacks anyone who disagrees with him. Spezi and Preston simply disagreed with Mignini's view of a crime. Mignini tried to destroy their lives. Mignini's tactics didn't change during Amanda and Raffaele's trial. Once again, Mignini attacked his critics. He has filed defamation charges against anyone that has publicly dared to disagree with him. Mignini has used these lawsuits to embarrass Amanda & Raffaele. He has attacked their families and their lawyers. He has used these lawsuits in an attempt to put fear into the minds of journalists in hopes to silence them. Here is a list of Mignini's lawsuits. The count stands at twelve. Who's next?
Considering Mignini's ruthless behavior and extreme abuse of power, one might legitimately ask:  why is this jackass still operating within the Italian justice system?  He should be fired and begin serving the jail sentence for his recent conviction.

Related posts:  Amanda Knox Case: Discredited Prosecutor Pitches Prejudice

Friday, September 23, 2011

Photoshop Caricature of Rick Perry


My effort for today.  Not too bad, I think.  It's a bit more realistic than the one of Obama in the prior post.

This Photoshop CS5 comes with some really great built-in brushes, that can be used to create realistic hair.  I like that new feature a lot.

As for Governor Perry, it seems he blew it at the last Republican debate this week.  He openly opposes any effective means of stopping illegal immigration and believes Texans should pay for educating the children of illegal aliens.  By admitting this in the debate, Perry has effectively taken himself out of the race.

Too bad.  His failure gives further impetus to the candidacy of RINO Mitt Romney, who appears in the ascendancy.

If we Republicans can't come up with anyone better than these Democrat-lite RINOs, our future as a party is very much in doubt.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Photoshop Caricature of Barack Obama

Hmm, I just found out that doing caricatures isn't as easy as it looks.  However, you learn by doing in Photoshop, and I did learn a little and had fun doing it.

Joe McGinniss Accused of Publishing Literary Hoax Regarding Sarah Palin

Andrew Breitbart has published an email by author Joe McGinniss, expressing concern about the almost total lack of support or evidence for his most salacious accusations against Sarah Palin and her family.

McGinniss's book, just out this week, is called "The Rogue:  Searching for the Real Sarah Palin."  In the book, McGinniss alleged that Todd and Sarah Palin both had extramarital affairs, and that Sarah had a one-night stand with a black basketball player before she married Todd.  The book has been heavily criticized by liberal newspapers and critics as a transparent hit piece on Palin, supported only by rumor and gossip.  However, McGinniss himself expressed doubt as to the accuracy of his own book, in an email to Jesse Griffin, a leftist nutcase blogger prone to spreading nasty rumors about the Palins.  McGinniss wrote, in January 2011:
Neither from you, the Enquirer, AlaskaWTF, palingates.com or anyone else, have I seen a credible, identified source backing any of the salacious stories about the Palin family.

Thus–as Random House lawyers are already pointing out to me–nothing I can cite other than my own reporting rises above the level of tawdry gossip. The proof is always just around the corner, but that’s a corner nobody has been able to turn. Maybe Jeff Dunn has, in which case I’ll be the first to congratulate him. But frankly, at this point, I’m tired of it, and I’ve run out of time.

No one has ever provided factual evidence that:

a) Todd had sex with a hooker, or with anyone else outside his marriage.
b) Sarah had an affair with Brad Hanson, or anyone else. [Continued]
And later McGinniss admits in the email:
So much has bubbled at the salacious rumor stage for more than two years, but no one has been able to take even one story further.
 So here we have Joe McGinniss admitting that his book is bullshit and yet he and Random House went ahead and published a fraudulent exposé anyway.  My earlier Photoshop of McGinniss sitting in a sewer appears to have been quite an accurate depiction of the man.

Read it all here.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Boring Week, But a Couple of Newsworthy Tidbits

It's been a boring week for news and so blogging has been light.  Okay, non-existent.

I see the powers that be are once again trying to force a Palestinian state on the world.  The Palestinians will never accept the right of Israel to exist, due to their hateful and intolerant religion, and so the whole exercise is doomed to failure.  But we will keep replaying the same tired scenario over and over again, under the false premise that a Palestinian state will somehow lead to peace.  It won't.  As long as Islam exists as a major ideology in the world, there will be no peace.  Unfortunately, we have no long-term strategy for containing and neutralizing the threat.

I also see that Chinese officials have stated that they will not oppose Israel, should it decide to attack Iran.  China has long ago concluded that the purpose of the Iranian nuclear program is to build a nuclear bomb, and that such an occurrence is not in China's interests.  Religious fanatics with nukes are not in anyone's interests.

On a personal note, I am taking Spanish at the local community college.  I am semi-literate in French and love the language, but Spanish is more practical here in California.  I am taking to it like a duck to water, because of its similarities to French and because I have already picked up a lot of it from osmosis, that is, local immersion in the language due to the large numbers of Spanish-speaking people here. There are billboards in Spanish, as well as radio stations, television shows and soap operas.  Plenty of Mexican restaurants and plenty of Mexicans, many of whom are very nice people and many of whom are actually here legally.

In any case, it's a great way to keep the mind active.

I am also learning how to sing so I can contribute vocally to any bands I happen to play with, but we won't go there right now.  Let us just say that I can sing better than Ted Kennedy and I speak better Spanish too.  That would still be true even if he wasn't dead.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Why I'm Rooting for Obama

This is scary.  Obama is doing so badly that even prominent liberal newspapers are panning him.  The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have written gag-me editorials over Captain Zero in the past few days.  The Tribune mentioned that Ronald Reagan's slogan for the 1984 election was "It's morning in America."  They then suggested that Obama's slogan should be "It's midnight in a coal mine."

There's a growing push among Democrats for Obama to drop out of the presidential race for 2012.  This would allow a better Democrat to run, one who might have a better chance of winning.

Obama will have a very rough time getting reelected, barring a political miracle.  Hillary or some other Democrat could run without Obama's disastrous policy failures to account for.  We could get stuck with a Democrat president for another eight years.

I don't know about you, but I'm rooting for Obama to win re-nomination.  I would really miss the opportunity to vote against him one more time.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

More On "The Kill Osama" Coloring Book (With Color Suggestions for Kids!)

Uncolored Depiction of Osama Buying the Farm
It appears the coloring book depicting Osama's death has caused a lot of controversy. Well, I can see why. It may be too harsh a subject matter for little kids. I wouldn't buy the coloring book for my grandkids. Not that I mind depictions of Osama cashing in his chips, I have done a few in my time. But mine weren't intended for small children.

When I was a kid with coloring books, there weren't any depicting American troops mowing down Nazis, even though it was soon after World War II. I drew my own, of course, but there weren't any commercially available. It was just too brutal a subject matter for children.

I found an actual page online from the controversial coloring book and it is above left.  Below the uncolored version is one I colored in with Photshop CS5.  This latest version of Photoshop is very cool, and I colored the picture to see what CS5 could do, as well as for laughs.  Pass this example along to your little kids so they can properly depict Osama getting his head blown off.  You sick puppy!

Seriously, to help your children color it right, buy them a $1,000 copy of Photoshop CS5 and a new laptop.  Beats the heck out of color crayons any day.

Even more seriously, I read that cartoonist Garry Trudeau uses Photoshop to color his drawings.  He draws them first in pencil, then goes over them in black ink, then has staff scan them into a graphic file (probably a jpg).  Staff then uploads the scan into Photoshop where any imperfections can be easily corrected.  You can erase unnecessary lines and use the liquid filter to reshape parts of the drawing that aren't quite right.  Finally, you can use the magic wand tool to easily color sections of the scanned drawing (as I did in the example above).  If you really want to impress, you can copy and paste garment patterns into the pants, shirts, etc, using the "paste into" option.

By the way, I didn't pay full price for my copy of CS5, since I am a long-time user and only have to pay an update price.  This exercise has made me aware that I may be able to create some better graphic art.  I can draw pretty well using pencil and paper, not as well with a graphic tablet.  Then I can do the scan and color in CS5.  Gotta try it (actually, I already did, see previous post about the coloring book).

Live to Die For Virgins in the Sky: The Murderous Religion of Islam (Video Banned at YouTube)

I found this video at Patriot's Corner. It was banned at YouTube for telling the truth about the world's vilest "religion."  I am copying it here so it can see additional exposure.  Dedicated to my dear troll, Ema Nymton, who believes that Islam is no more violent than Judaism or Christianity.

Osama Bin Laden As He Appears Today (Photoshop)

It's Sunday and time for some Photoshop fun and experimentation.

I did a Photoshop of Osama Bin Laden at the bottom of the sea in an earlier post, but it wasn't realistic.  Osama was wearing a turban and a beard and standing up, even though a skeleton.  Then I got to thinking:  what might Osama really look like right now, today?  Here's what my imagination and Photoshop CS5 brought forth:  his skull with a big crack where the commando bullets did the damage, his jaw bone buried in the sand, while a crab picks whatever meat might be left on the bleaching bones.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

New Coloring Book Depicts Osama Bin Laden Being Shot

                Before Coloring                     Coloring Suggestion
Apparently, there is a new coloring book available that depicts the shooting of Osama Bin Laden.

Not sure this new coloring book is for kids or Congressional Democrats.  However, according to Pundit Press, the book is out there and available.

Kids should buy additional red crayons before coloring the book.  I know, because I bought the coloring book and kids should use my efforts (see left) as an example.

I'm getting better at staying within the lines, dontcha think?

P.S. What color crayon should I use for brains?  Gray or pink?

Blue Roses Go On Sale In November

It appears scientists in Japan have finally created a blue rose.  Well actually, it's a bit violet, but they're getting closer.  The desire for a blue rose has had scientists working for decades to genetically modify the popular flower.

The new blue rose will be available for purchase in November.  Now Wayne Newton can sing "I want some blue roses for a red lady," instead of the other way around.  This, of course, presumes that he is currently dating Nancy Pelosi.

Yes, the rose is still too purple.  However, I was able to create a true blue rose rather easily...using Photoshop.  See mine on the bottom.

Read about it here.


With a Little Help From Photoshop
Now THAT'S a blue rose.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Regarding Muslim Immigrants: Canada is One Very Sick Nation

Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury regularly recounts the sickness of Canadian officials in the face of a hostile alien culture, namely Islam.  Muslims in Canada commit violence and mayhem and are protected by the Canadian police and politicians.  Criticize or complain about Muslim mischief and you can be sued or even jailed.

Canada is the newest Muslim nation of the Middle East.  Nice going, castrated wimps.

Kathy tells about a man, David Menzies, who was assaulted by a hijab-wearing Muslim in a public square, for allegedly snapping a picture that included her in it.  She socked him in the face just before he was assaulted further by a motley mob of Muhammadan morons, insisting that he turn over his camera.  Menzies escaped the mob and ran to a group of Canadian (wimp) police, who refused to arrest the woman or do anything about the assault.

Read about it here and more about it here.

Canada practices, with enthusiasm, Auster's First Law: the more alien or dangerous a nonwhite or non-Western group reveals itself to be, the more our liberal society approves of it, accommodates itself to it, and prohibits any criticism of it.

Fantastic Video: Jetman Flight at the Grand Canyon, May 2011

Suggest you watch this video on full screen. It is HD and the full screen makes it that much more thrilling and real.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Another Slimy Slander of Sarah Palin: Joe McGinniss's Book Finally Released

Ugh, it must be tough to be Sarah Palin.  The left hates her with an intensity that is completely irrational.  She's not even running for president, but the left has chosen her as the chief target of their vitriol.  Like other conservative women before her, Palin must be personally destroyed, defamed, slandered and ruined.  She must pay for her opposition to the liberal religion, made an example of, as a warning to future conservative politicians of the feminine variety.

Now Joe McGinniss, the so-called journalist who moved in next door to the Palins in Wasilla, Alaska so he could "spy" on them (the stunt was probably more to irritate the Palins and stoke publicity for McGinniss's hit piece than anything else), has released his book.  It's called "The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin."  McGinniss, however, isn't searching for the "real" Sarah Palin, he's searching for rumors and gossip that he presents as fact.  This is "the politics of personal destruction," raised to a high art form by the Democratic Party and its Bolshevik base.

McGinniss claims (1) that Sarah Palin doesn't feel comfortable in the presence of dark-skinned people and (2) that she had a one-night stand with a black basketball player in the 1980's.  Well now, that seems rather contradictory, doesn't it?

Has-been cartoonist Garry Trudeau quotes the book in the latest installment of "Doonebury" for the dwindling audience who still reads his sophomoric twaddle, and Powerline takes him and McGinniss to task here.

Even more revealing is Rob Port's exposé of McGinniss as a slime ball. Port authors the "Say Anything" blog and McGinniss approached him for some dirt for the book.  Port describes an event that McGinniss sought to distort for his book, and how Port refused to assist him. It is revealing as to both McGinniss's bias and his goal of manufacturing scandal. Read it here.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

As an Undergrad, Barack Obama Was a Committed Socialist/Marxist

Former Marxist John Drew knew the young Obama as an undergraduate at Occidental College.  When Obama was running for president in 2008, Drew tried to warn the media about Obama's true political inclinations.  No one was interested -- possibly because the truth was just too controversial.   Drew writes at American Thinker:
I had met the young Barack Obama while he was a sophomore at Occidental College, and I knew that his commitment to socialism was deep, genuine, and longstanding. See my earlier article on American Thinker.

I had been a leader of the Marxist students at Occidental College myself, starting in 1976 when I founded the precursor of the Democrat Socialist Alliance on campus. The young Obama I knew was a Marxist socialist who would have been quite comfortable with Communist party members like his Hawaii mentor Frank Marshall Davis, retired domestic terrorists like Bill Ayers, or active socialist politicians like Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer.

The Obama I knew was nothing like the lifelong pragmatic centrist that he was pretending to be in the 2008 presidential campaign. When I talked politics with the young Obama, he expressed a profound commitment to bringing about a socialist economic system in the U.S. -- completely divorced from the profit motive -- which would occur, in his lifetime, through a potentially violent, Communist-style revolution. In this context, I saw my report on young Obama as a key piece of evidence suggesting a profound continuity in his belief system.
Drew's article confirms what many have believed, that Barack Obama is a closet Marxist, that his extreme policies were indeed formulated to destroy America as we know it so it can be replaced with something very different.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tenth Anniversary of 9/11: Osama Bin Laden Could Not Be Reached For Comment



Note:  If you didn't know, the US Navy dumped Bin Laden's bullet-riddled corpse in the sea after Navy commandos killed him on May 2, 2011.

Ten Years Later: September 11, 2011

Ten years have passed.  The horror, anger and hatred I felt on that terrible day -- September 11, 2001 -- have become muted with the passing of time, but those emotions have not disappeared.

The horror -- that in the modern world, any "religion" as Islam could be so violent, hateful, treacherous, anti-human and insane.  After ten years I have accepted the fact that this poisonous ideology does exist.  I am still amazed, however, that so many westerners apologize for it, rationalize its barbarity, and seek to appease it.

My anger has been kept at almost the same level, by continuing Muslim atrocities in Beslan, Russia, Madrid, Spain, London England, and Mumbai, India...to name some of the most prominent.  Islam is evil and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  It is a complete negative to mankind, a false religion of a false prophet, a horny, bearded barbarian who wanted to rule the world and to possess all of its riches.  His strategy was simple:  declare himself a prophet with the right to rule all mankind, then promise paradise to his throng of cut-throats if they died in the act of robbing others for his benefit.  The animosity of Mohammed's invented religion had a purpose:  to enrich the "prophet" through plunder, robbery and theft.  After he did the world a favor and died, however, his commandments for evil lived on.  Since no one cancelled them, Muslims continue to attack non-Muslims in an eternal war with all mankind.  9/11 was but one atrocity in 14 centuries of continuous atrocities.

My hatred for Islam will continue until my last day on earth.  Hatred is not a bad thing, when one hates evil, falsity, ignorance, cruelty and tyranny -- all the horrors that Islam represents.

On this day of remembrance, take care how you refer to the horror of 9/11.  The events of that day were not a "tragedy," a "catastrophe," or a "disaster."  All of those words are a cop-out, as they imply an accident or some kind of unavoidable natural calamity, like an earthquake, tsunami or tornado.  The attack on New York ten years ago today was a deliberate act of human evil:  it was aggression, treachery, infamy, mass murder.  And deliberate acts of evil have human perpetrators who can be held to account.

The key commander of that evil day, Osama Bin Laden, is now a grinning skeleton at the bottom of the ocean, his bones picked clean by fish and sea worms.  But Osama was only one of many who follow this evil ideology.  There will be others to follow in his bloody footsteps, and there will be more mass murder, devastation and human suffering -- Mohammed's bequest to all the generations that follow his miserable, worthless life.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Ann Coulter's Continuing Error on Amanda Knox and My Rebuttal

Note to Readers:  Prominent conservatives are not immune from criticism at this blog, especially when they have taken positions or made statements that are lazily based on myth or rumor instead of fact, or when they are patently self-serving.  I have previously leveled serious criticism at Mark Levin for this, for example (on his biased and erroneous concepts of the American Civil War).  Ann Coulter seems determined to destroy any credibility she has left with sloppy thinking and zero research into the facts surrounding the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox, and this is not her first excursion into the subject.  She deserves a broadside and she gets it below.

*****

Over at World Net Daily Ann Coulter has once again insisted that Amanda Knox was guilty of murder, in spite of an almost complete absence of evidence or motive tying Knox to the crime.  Amanda Knox, if you don't know, is an American student who was studying in Italy and wrongly convicted of murdering her housemate, Meredith Kercher.  (The real perpetrator, a thug named Rudy Guede, was convicted of the crime after his bloody footprints, fingerprints, DNA and semen were found all over the crime scene.  He lied and said he was only a spectator, that Amanda Knox and another housemate, Raffaele Sollecito, committed the crime, even though there was no DNA or fingerprints or bloody footprints from either of them anywhere near the crime scene, despite Mignini's misrepresentations to the contrary).  Guede's lies were not unrewarded:  his 30 year prison term for murder was reduced to only 16 years.  Knox and Sollecito were later sentenced to 26 and 25 years, respectively -- based only on the imagination of Prosecutor Mignini.  Note the irony:  the actual murderer got ten years less than two innocent people.  Italian justice would appear to be little more than a bad joke.

Knox had nothing to do with the crime, and the extensive scenario described by a ruthlessly dishonest prosecutor was nothing more than a fantasy.  The prosecution's "evidence" has been thoroughly debunked by former FBI agent Steven Moore and Forensic Engineer Ron Hendry, Mark Waterubury, PhD, among others.  Indeed, there has been a growing crowd of voices who have reviewed the evidence and have concluded that Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are innocent.  Nevertheless, Coulter continues to repeat disproven prosecution arguments as if they were fact, showing that her grasp of the case is entirely superficial.  For instance, she argues:

1.  That Amanda Knox falsely implicated her boss, Patrick Lumumba, in the crime, "to throw suspicion off of herself."  However, that's not true.  The prosecutors had found a negro hair at the murder site and suspected Lumumba, who is black.  They wanted Knox to implicate Lumumba so they could arrest him.  In a rigorous and exhausting all-night interrogation of Knox, where she was denied sleep, water and food and often slapped on the back of the head "to help her remember," the prosecution obtained a false and coerced "confession":  Knox was asked to "imagine" a scenario where Lumumba took part in the murder, and she gave the imaginary scenario as requested, to stop the tortuous ordeal of an abusive interrogation and finally be allowed to drink water and sleep.  (Note:  I recently saw a documentary unrelated to this case that proved false confessions are easy to obtain through aggressive techniques such as these.  That's why they are illegal in most western nations.)  Lumumba was arrested, but had an air tight alibi and was soon released.  The negro hair, however, belonged to the real killer, a black man named Rudy Guede who was later convicted.  No problem for the prosecution:  they dropped Lumumba and inserted Guede into their fantasized scenario of group sex turned murder.  [See more about false confessions here.]

2.  That the break-in had been "staged" by Knox and Sollecito to hide their own guilt.  The evidence:  broken glass from the entry window was scattered about the room on top of clothes on the floor, which were allegedly thrown around to make the room appear ransacked by a burglar.  If the clothes were thrown around after the break-in, they would have been on top of the glass, not the other way around.  Therefore, the prosecution concluded that Knox et al must have broken the window AFTER they had strewn clothes around to simulate a break-in.  The "staged break-in," however, was nothing but unproven speculation.

The truth:  the entry room was very small and the resident who lived there had very limited closet space, so she stored a lot of her clothes on the floor.  Some of her clothes were dirty and in messy piles, and so when Rudy Guede broke the window with a rock, the glass naturally landed on top of these existing piles.  The clothing was not put there by Knox or Sollecito.  Further, the rock that broke the window damaged the wooden window shutter, hit the floor, hit a paper bag on the floor, and rolled to a stop further in the room, where it was later found.  Coulter bases her argument simply on the false scenario painted by the prosecution, who had prejudged the case from the beginning and was looking for "evidence" to support its preconceived notions.

3.  That investigators determined there were multiple assailants in the murder.  Actually, this isn't true at all.  The prosecution, bent on getting convictions at any cost, simply lied about it.  There is no physical evidence to support this claim.  The only fingerprints, footprints and DNA in the murder room (besides those of the victim) were those of Rudy Guede.  Even the unflushed feces in the toilet were those of Guede (based on DNA testing).  There is no credible physical evidence or motive that ties Knox or Sollecito to the crime...none at all.

Coulter's latest column indicates that Knox must be guilty because some liberals are supporting her, and it's not a question of guilt or innocence, but of conservatism vs liberalism.  If convicting two innocent people of a crime they didn't commit and ruining their lives helps conservatism, it isn't obvious to me.

However, the question of Knox and Sollecito's guilt or innocence isn't about partisan politics.  It is about two young people wrongly convicted of a crime they did not commit, by a seemingly unbalanced prosecutor who has now been convicted himself to a 16 month prison term for prosecutorial irregularities in another case.

I am very much disappointed in Ann Coulter.  Her latest publicity-seeking gambit displays a slippery grasp of the facts, and is based on popular rumors and falsehoods, all of which have been disproved.  If this is an example of Coulter's intellectual honesty and rigor, then why should anyone believe any of her arguments on any subject?  I say this as someone who has read most of her books (including her most recent, Demonic) and who has defended her on many an occasion, as my posts in this blog will show.

Right now, in Italy, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are apparently winning their appeals trial (all of the prosecution's so-called DNA evidence had been thrown out) and it is expected that they will be exonerated and released by the end of this month.  After almost four years of wrongful imprisonment, these two young college students may be able to resume their lives.

If any readers want to know just how thoroughly the prosecution's case has been debunked, visit this site:
www.injusticeinperugia.com.

Related post:  "At Long Last, Ms. Coulter, Have You No Sense of Decency?"

Friday, September 09, 2011

My Thoughts on Sarah Palin: Should She Fish or Cut Bait?

Sarah Palin impressed everyone on the right when she was picked to be the vice-presidential running mate to John McCain.  However, that was three years ago.  Since then the lady with the pretty legs has abdicated the governorship of Alaska, gone on speaking tours, written books, and supported conservative candidates wherever she could.

Sarah Palin is an ordinary citizen who rose to impressive heights in the political world.  However, she allowed herself to be hounded out of the Alaska governor's chair by ruthless leftists who abused Alaskan laws to persecute her with bogus claims of unlawful and illegal breaches of ethics.  Even though the dozen or so complaints were all defeated in court, defending against them became a full time job that incurred heavy expenses.  After her legal fees exceeded half a million dollars, Palin threw in the towel and resigned.  This was not a show of strength and the resignation effectively punctured her image as one tough grizzly bear mama.  Although I didn't immediately recognize it as such, this is the one act that seriously undermined my confidence in Palin for higher office.  Like a burr under a saddle, it chafed a bit, almost unnoticed, until finally the irritation could no longer be denied.  Sarah, I love you, but you haven't begun to convince me that you have a political future of any note.  If you couldn't withstand the pressures of the governor's chair, why should I believe you can withstand the ever greater pressures of the oval office?  If you are going to persuade me otherwise, I need to hear from you sooner rather than later.

Now sexy Sarah is motorcading about, giving speeches here and there, and making the world wonder if she will ever declare herself a presidential candidate for 2012.  It's time for Sarah to stop the silly games and declare herself a candidate or a non-candidate.  If it's the latter, she should then choose her favorite candidate and get to work supporting him or her.  Her silence makes her seem indecisive and uncommitted to the task of getting elected.

It's high time for Sarah to fish or cut bait.

Lawrence Auster: "Why I Will Tune Out the 9/11 Commemorations"

Auster's First Law: the more alien or dangerous a nonwhite or non-Western group reveals itself to be, the more our liberal society approves of it, accommodates itself to it, and prohibits any criticism of it.

Lawrence Auster gets it. Today he describes why he will not observe the 9/11 commemorations, and he has a point.
Why I will tune out the 9/11 commemorations - by Lawrence Auster

The September 11th attack on America, in which devout Muslim believers carried out the greatest single jihad raid in history, and Muslims around the world cheered and danced in joy over this great blow to the infidel, should have awakened America and the West to the nature of the 1,400 year old warrior religion of Islam. Instead, while triggering a “war against terrorism,” the 9/11 attack inspired liberal America to embrace and approve of Islam much more than it had done before. This unexpected and devastating outcome is perhaps the greatest single illustration of Auster’s First Law, which says that the more alien or dangerous a nonwhite or non-Western group reveals itself to be, the more our liberal society approves of it, accommodates itself to it, and prohibits any criticism of it. To speak the truth about the unchangeable Islamic command to wage eternal war by violence and stealth against non-Muslims and about Muslims’ 1,400 year long obedience to that command, is to place oneself outside the respectable mainstream. In America you don’t get put in jail for speaking the forbidden truth, you just lose your career. This is the reign of fear under which we live.

In sum, the result of 9/11 has not been Western self-defense against Islam, but the prohibition of Western self-defense against Islam. And all the official 9/11 commemorations, notwithstanding their patriotic appearance, will carry that message of American and Western surrender. And that is why they should be avoided.
I recently wrote about this same reign of fear, though it incorporates more than Islam, so this post really speaks to me.  Read it all here.

Sunday, September 04, 2011

A Blueprint for American Decline: Cultural Marxism and the Democratic Party

America has moved ever leftward in the past fifty years.  Now as most leftward nations do, we are going broke, our individual liberty and prosperity are in decline, and we can only wonder how it all came about.

Personally, I think it has been the successful infiltration of the Democratic Party by Marxists, radicals and determined socialists.   This didn't happen over night.  The greatest nation on earth has been poisoned slowly over time, though a patient gradualism, in which our traditions, institutions and way of life have been slowly displaced.  The frog has been slowly boiled, with the heat raised only a degree at a time, unnoticed until it is too late.  Frog soup, anyone?

The Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci advocated this gradualist approach to undermining the west, while he was sitting in an Italian prison in the 1930's.  He advocated the destruction of Christianity so it could be replaced by a nearly religious faith in the power of the state.  He wished for a "long march through the institutions," a take-over by the left of the media and academia.  The leftist press would publish only such news as would move the revolution forward, and the university would thoroughly immerse students in collectivist propaganda.

Gramsci advocated "cultural hegemony," which is most often referred to as "cultural Marxism" today.  Per Wikepedia:
Cultural hegemony is the philosophic and sociological theory, by the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, that a culturally diverse society can be dominated (ruled) by one social class, by manipulating the societal culture (beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values) so that its ruling-class worldview is imposed as the societal norm, which then is perceived as a universally valid ideology and status quo beneficial to all of society, whilst benefiting only the ruling class.
Having the "right" beliefs is rewarded in such a society, through social acceptance, better grades in school, and more opportunities for employment.  Having the "wrong" beliefs can result in social ostracism and loss of employment.  In the worst case, one might have his name publicly blacklisted, where would-be employers can reject him and media can denounce him to the public at large (the Southern Poverty Law Center maintains such a list).  Such ostracism effectively stops private inquiry, research and publication that might present facts contrary to the leftist worldview.

Cultural Marxism works to slowly desensitize the average citizen from his bourgeois beliefs in the church, in the institution of marriage, merit-based employment and admission to the university.  The church is undermined through ridicule, as in the immersion of a crucifix in a jar of urine as a form of high art.  Marriage is undermined through the advocacy of gay marriage now and polygamy later.  A sense of guilt is inculcated in students for being white, capitalist, prosperous, American and free, as these conditions are effectively (though falsely) connected to poverty and misery in the third world.  Since we are [allegedly] responsible for this poverty and misery, we are obligated to hand over our wallets to leftist politicians for delivery to the third world victims.

We are further encouraged to go along through propaganda disguised as science:  man-made global warming will destroy the planet unless we turn over the means of production to much greater government control.  So we introduce yet another disincentive to resistance:  fear.  Nature will kill you if you do not surrender individual freedom to a new super-government.

Beliefs and behavior are also regulated through informal speech codes imposed in both academia and the media:  one does not refer to the race of rioters or the ideology of terrorists when writing news reports.  One does not hold anyone accountable for violence or anti-social behavior, and to do so constitutes a terrible condition known as racism...for which one will be blacklisted, ostracized and unemployed.

All of this leftwing activity points to one grand scheme:  the massive redistribution of wealth from those who produce it to those who do not.  We are pressured to go along through guilt and fear.  Guilt of our own success, fear of social ostracism, fear of "climate change," fear of violence by those we are entreated to appease.

Now a writer named Frank Miele explains the long term effects of cultural Marxism in his article "Is American decline the product of chance or of design?"  Before the counter revolution can begin, however, we need to understand how we got to where we are.

Friday, September 02, 2011

Obama's Planned Jobs Speech Upstaged by GOP; Obama Peeved

Obama announced a presidential speech on job creation, but scheduled it for the same night of a televised Republican debate.  When informed that Republicans would not be present at his speech, Obama had to reschedule.  Now he's all mad and stuff.  Awww!

Obama giving a speech on job creation seems odd.  Maybe we can have a fox give a speech on how to protect chickens in hen houses.  Or perhaps we could schedule a bear to give a speech on vegetarianism.  Obama, the anti-job master of disaster, cannot give any speech on job creation that is credible, unless it consists of two words:  "I resign!"

Of course, Obama's planned speech is more about his re-election than it is about jobs.  The Big O is hoping to recapture some of that 2008 magic where a majority of voters saw him as some kind of Shaman, a being of light who spoke profound truths and was to be believed no matter how absurd or ambiguous his claims.  Now even liberals have recognized that the Magical O's Golden Oratory was an illusion borne of self-deception and fantasy.  His speeches now fool few and may even further harm his shrinking chances for re-election.  As one former believer states:
But here's the other observation: Not only isn't Obama the gifted TV performer he seemed to be during the 2008 campaign, TV is now one of his worst enemies.

My first fuzzy notion of this idea came while I watched Obama address the nation after the debt ceiling compromise with its crackpot, kick-the-can centerpiece of a so-called Super Committee. Obama had performed pitifully during the crisis, and yet, here he was on TV thinking he could spin the economic embarrassment as "Good President Battles Bad Congress" or Responsible Adult reins in Mean, Selfish Children."

But as I looked at the screen, I couldn't help thinking how diminished Obama looked and how thin his voice sounded. I wondered if there actually was something happening physically with him.
Meanwhile, the White House has announced that unemployment will remain persistently high through 2012, so why bother with a jobs speech? Probably so Obama can justify a new round of crazy, high spending and deficit expansion. Reckless spending may not create jobs, but it does buy votes from the underclass.