Can’t imagine why I keep think of this when I think of the US these days.

Cartoon_censuré_par_les_Mormon_church sous titré fr
Uploaded by bless-one. – Videos of the latest science discoveries and tech.

The Mormon church apparently forced Youtube to remove this

Have a break? from Greenpeace UK on Vimeo.

Nestle of course didn’t like this video so it had Youtube remove it and that’s kicked off a shitstorn of even worse publicity and viral viewing of this video. I will certainly make a point to not buy anything Nestle makes again if it can be helped.

I received this form email today from Ed Layton, the leader of the federal NDP (New Democratic Party) Canada’s supposedly socialist party (it’s anything but.)

Thank you for your previous message regarding Prime Minister Harper’s decision to close down Parliament – the second time in a year. I sharethe outrage and disappointment that many Canadians felt.

As promised, the New Democratic Party introduced a motion to limit a Prime Minister’s ability to run away from accountability in Parliament. The text of our motion states: “That, in the opinion of the House, the Prime Minister shall not advise the Governor General to prorogue any session of any Parliament for longer than seven calendar days without a specific resolution of this House of Commons to support such a prorogation.”

I am happy to report that our motion passed with support from members of the other opposition parties. We are thankful for their support and view this as a victory for democracy and transparency of government.

This is a good thing, for one it shows the true value of minority governments, but it should have been reduced to only 2 or 3 days. As you may know Harper prorogued parliament to “party” at the Winter Olympics, but more so to avoid having to answer difficult questions about Canada’s role in Afghanistan, especially in the turning over of prisoners to Afghan police who then tortured them.

Speaking of Afghanistan it seems the NDP is attempting to score on that front as well, and they need to keep at it. I got this form email from Layton as well today

Thank you for your previous email. I have heard from many Canadians who are deeply concerned with the mission in Afghanistan and related events. As such, I provide this email as an update on our efforts.

Last December, Parliament passed a motion asking the Harper government to give MPs immediate access to unedited documents. In not meeting those demands, the Conservatives have opened up the possibility of being in contempt of Parliament.

New Democrats acknowledge the expressed concerns about national security. However, there are many ways for MPs to have access to these records in a secure fashion. To date, the government refuses to advance this discussion. For our part, we will introduce a parliamentary motion outlining a prudent plan for the Special Committee on Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan. Our proposal will ensure legitimate national security concerns are addressed properly so Committee members can have access to the detainee documents.

I’m sure you will agree that governments must be accountable to the people of Canada. That’s why New Democrats are using every means available to force the government to respect Parliament and, by extension, Canadians.

Furthermore, we believe that the appointment of a retired judge to review the documents is sidetracking from the real issues-ministerial accountability and respect for the rule of law is at the very heart of this matter.

In opposition, Prime Minister Harper said, “the government is duty bound to respect the decisions made by the House of Commons.” Now, in government, he is defying the will of Parliament by refusing to hand over detainee documents. Quite simply, this is an abuse of power by a prime minister who chooses to run away from accountability.

New Democrats have been raising concerns about Afghan prisoner transfers since 2006. For more information, please refer to this link: http://www.ndp.ca/press/timeline-new-democrat-leadership-on-treatment-afghan-prisoners.

I also invite you to view the following CTV video link and listen to NDP National Defence critic Jack Harris`s informed comments on this issue: http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/detainee-debate/#clip278250.

I want you to know that you can count on New Democrats to make our federal government more accountable. Feel free to share my response with anyone who may be interested. All the best.

Sincerely,

Jack Layton, MP (Toronto-Danforth)
Leader, Canada’s New Democrats

Go get ‘em Jack – my vote will still go to the Green Party but it’s good to see the NDP running scared and trying to regain their “party of the people” image with the people that count – progressives.

yup just like that

Identical to this original

>

sort of like the Kentucky pistol above except not real

Farewell Fess – you brought many a smile and many a dream of derring-do to a young boy’s heart and mind

Chris Hedges: The abject failure of activists to push corporate, industrialized states toward serious environmental reform, to thwart imperial adventurism or to build a humane policy toward the masses of the world’s poor stems from an inability to recognize the new realities of power. The paradigm of power has irrevocably altered and so must the paradigm of resistance alter.

Too many resistance movements continue to buy into the facade of electoral politics, parliaments, constitutions, bills of rights, lobbying and the appearance of a rational economy. The levers of power have become so contaminated that the needs and voices of citizens have become irrelevant. The election of Barack Obama was yet another triumph of propaganda over substance and a skillful manipulation and betrayal of the public by the mass media. We mistook style and ethnicity – an advertising tactic pioneered by the United Colors of Benetton and Calvin Klein – for progressive politics and genuine change. We confused how we were made to feel with knowledge. But the goal, as with all brands, was to make passive consumers mistake a brand for an experience. Obama, now a global celebrity, is a brand. He had almost no experience besides two years in the senate, lacked any moral core and was sold as all things to all people. The Obama campaign was named Advertising Age’s marketer of the year for 2008 and edged out runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. Take it from the professionals. Brand Obama is a marketer’s dream. President Obama does one thing and Brand Obama gets you to believe another. This is the essence of successful advertising. You buy or do what the advertisers want because of how they can make you feel.

Reality however does not need to be palatable, it just is what it is. no more, no less. As Chris goes on to say

The cultural belief that we can make things happen by thinking, by visualizing, by wanting them, by tapping into our inner strength or by understanding that we are truly exceptional is magical thinking

One of the real evils of religion, whether it be Christianity, or new age mysticism, is this belief that if you believe something strongly enough the universe will give it to you, or your “will”, will make it happen. The effect of that is to instill false hope, followed by disappointment, in turn followed by self-loathing because you were not “strong enough”, “pure enough”, “committed enough” etc, ad nauseum, to impose your will on the universe. It is a sick corruption of the real point of mystical traditions which is that of self-development. Developing one’s will to change one’s self, and only one’s self so as to be in more harmony with the natural forces surrounding one’s self. There is nothing truly magical about that except that by doing so one earns the wrath of those whose power resides in making you ultimately feel like a failure and keeping you separated from the ebb and flow of nature.

Does this not resonate with truth?

We can march in Copenhagen. We can join Bill McKibben’s worldwide day of climate protests. We can compost in our backyards and hang our laundry out to dry. We can write letters to our elected officials and vote for Barack Obama, but the power elite is impervious to the charade of democratic participation. Power is in the hands of moral and intellectual trolls who are ruthlessly creating a system of neo-feudalism and killing the ecosystem that sustains the human species. And appealing to their better nature, or seeking to influence the internal levers of power, will no longer work.

LIMA, Mar 18, 2010 (IPS) – A priest who is touring the country in his bid to run for president next year, at the head of a leftist movement, was indefinitely suspended by the Catholic Church for getting involved in politics.

[snip]

Arana was suspended in February by the diocese of the highlands region of Cajamarca in northwest Peru on the grounds that his political activity was incompatible with the priesthood.

So I take it we can see a mass defrocking of Catholic priests and Bishops in the US for their political interference over the health care bill, especially as it was entirely based on the false premise that the bill would allow federal funding of abortion services, which it clearly does not?

Time to remove all subsidies for all religions from the public purse – that is no tax exemption except for their legitimate charity work, just like any other charity. unless they use that charity work as a recruitment platform for silly, yet harmful, sky fairy myths.