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Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, George W Bush’s “War Czar”, said in a radio interview recently he considered reinstating the military draft was, “….an option on the table.”

It’s interesting to note that no-one, in government or elsewhere, has ever suggested creating the position of “Peace Czar”. Presumably, being at war is considered a more important issue than maintaining peace – even in peacetime.

Military draft is more than just “on the table.” It’s being poured over and debated, not as to its inhumanity and authoritarianism – young Americans wishing to fight have already joined up, the draft is just a basic enslavement of youth as cannon fodder – but for its viability so close to a presidential election.

It’s somewhat surprising Karl Rove has chosen this moment to desert a foundering ship. After all, “Bush’s Brain” is really needed to assess whether reintroducing the draft is a measure likely to throw away the next election, or indeed, if the next election is already lost and by pouring many thousands more inexperienced and ill-trained soldiers into Iraq it will actually have a beneficial effect in curbing the Iraqi resistance and maybe, just maybe, winning over those GOP voters presently deserting to the other side.

There are only two scenarios capable of reversing the fortunes of the GOP at this late stage. One, is a serious and successful terrorist attack within the US, and the other is a clear and obvious sign the Iraq war is won and over, once and for all. The former is beyond the scope of this administration to organize, at least, so far as one is presently able to judge, and equally there is no hope of drastically improving the lot of American forces in Iraq and hence achieving superiority sufficient to declare anything pre-election other than that interminable comment, “The next six months will be crucial.”

In fact, while most Americans are blissfully unaware of it, those forces “fighting for American freedom” in Iraq are, according to a recent Guardian report, just about finished. It’s debatable how much longer the US military can hold it together in Iraq. Morale is rock bottom. Troops are exhausted, mentally and physically, and they have lost faith in their purpose and in their leaders. The pot is overflowing with all the necessary ingredients of an ignominious defeat; something not just the GOP, but America itself, cannot ever envisage as a possibility.

Those in the corridors of power, pouring over that “table” in the White House, know that something drastic has to be done. From their political viewpoint, they may consider there is no choice.

Not all Americans, from either party, are against the draft. In Congress, two major proponents of the idea are both Democrats, Congressman Charles Rangel [D—NY] and Congressman John Murtha [D—PA]. Of course, both are well beyond draft age. That seems to be one major prerequisite for approving a military draft in America – not being younger than forty-two, or having kids aged between eighteen and forty-two. After all, shoveling away the dung is always a good idea so long as someone else is holding the shovel.

The Iraq war has been a travesty of lies since before it began five years ago. Bush’s appalling poll ratings are a measure of his deceit. The American people are slowly coming to realize less than 2% of those killing their sons and daughters in Iraq are al Qaeda terrorists. The sole reason for the war’s conception was corporate greed. If a military draft is introduced to boost the troop numbers in Iraq then many more of those sons and daughters will die to satiate that lust.

Since the zealous patriotism engendered by the events of 9/11 began to fade, US citizens have shown most prominence by their apathy and disinterest in the direction this nation is headed. It will be a measure of the American people how they react when their husbands and their children are ordered to fight and die for the wealthy and the powerful; those who would never soil their lily-white hands by holding the shovel.

Filed under: Freedom come, freedom go

The recent Democratic debate on gay and lesbian issues produced the usual responses one has come to expect from politicians of all factions. Most notable throughout the evening was the caginess, nefarious posturing, and refusal to commit, of all the political would-be’s. Credit, though, to the candidates who attended. Joe Biden couldn’t make it.

Shame.

But, he did manage to attend the Daily Show to promote his new book. Well done, Joe. This country really doesn’t need politicians like you.

A BBC report on the debate by Davis Willis concluded with the observation:

“….some gay leaders and activists feel the politicians are just looking to curry favor with the voters.”

What? Yer think so, David? D’yer really think so?

The topic of global warming and its catastrophic consequences on the human race have been debated for a number of years in scientific and political circles. Except, that is, for the US administration who refused to recognize there was a problem until just twelve months ago, and then left it to industry to make the necessary adjustments. Still, we who reside in this great country applaud President George W Bush for finally recognizing there might, just might, be a problem here. Meanwhile, in the manner of environmentally-green governments everywhere, Russia has realized the Arctic ice melt has opened the possibility for a new political struggle to secure the mineral wealth hidden deep beneath its surface and has already planted Russian flags on the seabed to establish its right of sovereignty. Canada, meanwhile, not to be outdone, is vociferous in its demands for sovereignty over much of the same area.

No doubt, it’s just a matter of time before other governments, eager to secure the emerging bounty, leap onto the bandwagon and assert their rights to this Arctic treasure, apparently all the while oblivious to the intense floods and fires that ravage the planet, the worst weather conditions ever recorded, the plight of millions forced from their homes in South-east Asia.

Are they blissfully unaware of the greed that created this problem in the first place? Do they believe it will go away of its own accord? Or, are they just so blinded by avarice, they are incapable of behaving rationally?

The American media is making much of newly-elected, French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s summer vacation (video – scroll down) in New Hampshire. Is this the first sign of a new entente cordial between France and the US? Will it mark a return to “French fries”, rather than those awful American “Freedom fries” we’ve been suffering for the past four years?

Actually, no.

American “French fries” are no different, and just as inedible, as the “Freedom fries” that replaced them in 2003. Changing a name, without altering the recipe, does little to assist the digestion. “French” or “Freedom”, American fries are still guaranteed to bring on the belly ache.

Vive la Maalox.

Filed under: All’s right with the world

Throughout history the human species has, at fairly regular intervals, produced individuals who believed they were on a mission to change mankind and/or the world, or their followers have dubbed them with that dubious honor after they were gone. Long before one of the better “masters”, Siddhartha Gautama is purported to have achieved Enlightenment five hundred years pre-Jesus of Nazareth, there were those who sought power and wealth by marketing their self-delusions, or just plain lies.

Equally, there has always been a ready audience willing to jump on the ‘master’s’ bandwagon and declare themselves “followers”. It’s a strange and fascinating quirk of Homo sapiens, this need to adhere to and admire the “Alpha-male.” Neither is it confined to the less intellectual of the species. The so-called “Great Religions” are adequate proof of that. In fact, any supernatural factor with which the “master” can imbue himself, greatly increases his appeal to his followers. One only has to study the incredible incomes amassed by men like Pat Robertson, Billy Graham, and other religion-toting “masters” to realize the immense magnetism of one believed to maintain close and personal contact with a supernatural deity.

In the West, modern day, would-be, “masters” have found the field rather cluttered. Christianity being the major, and therefore most lucrative market, has become almost a closed shop, dominated by the wealthy American fundamentalists. The self-professed prophet of the late 20th/early 21st century needed a new angle, and after the wildly successful, though somewhat brief reign of Swiss writer, Erich von Daniken, whose books caused a no less notable tome than the British Sunday Mirror to proclaim in front page headlines, “IS GOD A SPACEMAN?”, the idea of metamorphosing Christianity’s omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent deity to a more physical version, almost a modern-day, intergalactic Olympian, seemed a bandwagon worthy of exploration.

Von Daniken lacked credentials, but even some from the more conservative scientific community poured forth credulous theories in a form that became known as “popular science”. The respected psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Immanuel Velikovsky threw himself out on a limb with suggestions of galactic happenings lapped up by the advocates of this new medium. As a young man, I slavishly read all von Daniken’s and Velikovski’s books, without questioning – until much later in life – the scientific accuracy of their content.

Later, when I had learned to take nothing at face value, and to cross reference so-called “irrefutable facts” to establish their true veracity, it became obvious that neither von Daniken nor Velikovski could offer any solid scientific basis for hypotheses, von Daniken at least, had proclaimed to be fact.

While I consider von Daniken little more than a charlatan, I do agree with Stephen Jay Gould, in his 1977 essay, “Velikovski in Collision” when he states,

“Velikovsky is neither crank nor charlatan�although to state my opinion and to quote one of my colleagues, he is at least gloriously wrong.”

Since the days of von Daniken and Velikovski, “popular science” has declined somewhat, but there is still room for a modern day seer to fill the gap.

When a young, fresh-faced David Icke wandered onto the set of the BBC’s “Terry Wogan” show back in 1991 and announced to the audience he was the “Son of God”, he seemed more of a village idiot than a modern day prophet.

Icke now says he was misinterpreted, that he was merely stating he was one of the son-s of God, as we all are. Unfortunately, that full interview is not available on the web, just an edited version that begins after Icke’s revelation of his divinity. I, however, do not need the film clip. At the time, I was following Icke’s career with interest. He was a spokesperson for the Green Party in Britain, and often on television. With an interest in matters environmental, I was always keen to hear what he had to say and was tuned into “Wogan” the night in question. I can categorically state, hand on heart, that if Icke insists he did not blatantly and openly announce he was the Son of God, with a capital “S” and a capital “G”, he is lying. I watched; I heard; I noted.

Icke was virtually laughed off the stage that night, and any career he was following disintegrated. He lost his Green Party job – he was hardly a credible spokesperson – and disappeared into obscurity, only to return a few years later with a tale of reptilian creatures, the Illuminati, a supposed powerful elite, composed of Fourth Dimension reptilian extra-terrestrial humanoids, running the world in the guise of, among others: George Bush, the Clintons, The British Royal Family, Kris Kristofferson, and the singer Boxcar Willie. Quite what poor old Boxcar had done to deserve the “Lizard” title belies reason. If Icke had included Dick Cheney, a human with the closest approximation to a reptile on the planet today, he could perhaps be considered a tad more credible, at least by some.

As to yet another resurrection of the “Illuminati”, that much maligned band of philosophical atheists who upset the Church of Rome back in the late eighteenth century, and whose reputations have suffered from the effects of Papal lies and falsifications ever since, Dan Brown beat Icke to the punch with his novel “Angels and Demons” in which he claimed the Illuminati to be an important and powerful secret society. Nothing could be further from the truth; though Brown at least had the grace never to suggest it was more than a novel. The Illuminati were founded in Bavaria on May 1, 1776 by Adam Weishaupt. The Order was abolished and its members disbanded in 1785. In 1783, two years prior to its dissolution, Weishaupt wrote to a fellow member:

“I am deprived of help. Socrates*, who would insist on having a position of trust amongst us, and is really a man of talent, of the right way of thinking, is certainly drunk. Augustus’ reputation could not be worse. Alcibiades does nothing but sit all day long with the vinter’s pretty wife and spends his whole time in sighing and pinning with love. … Tiberius attempted to ravish the wife of Democides, and her husband took them in the act. …”

^{*Illuminati members assumed classical Greek or Roman names for themselves.}

Hardly the words of an evil, satanic, sect leader.

The Illuminati were never revived, except in the fertile imaginations of New World preachers back in 1798, when with a lot of hard work the population was whipped into Illuminati hysteria as a means of inducing them back into the pews from whence they’d tended to stray over the preceding years. Since then, the much maligned and short-lived Order of the Illuminati has been allowed to rest in peace, except for occasional resurrections, once by the self-styled British black magician, Aliester Crowley, and for the purposes of best selling novels and one, self-styled, modern day seer.

There is neither room here, nor any great desire on the part of the writer, to pursue Icke’s weird ideas in greater detail. To believe his tales, one has to accept he hears voices, has been chosen to communicate with “fourth dimensional” beings, and is in some way a very gifted individual, superior to the rest of us. I would not argue with anyone who finds his stories credible. For me, anecdotal evidence that has little or no basis in fact and relies solely on the integrity of the informer, is worthless.

Icke makes much of the Bilderberg Group, proclaiming them a secret society plotting world domination behind closed doors. No-one, he says, ever knows what goes on in these annual get-togethers of corporate and political might. The official explanation is that it presents a rare opportunity for attendees to discuss matters frankly without media intrusion. While I am opposed to anything that isn’t completely open government, a chance to chat free of media encumbrance is not a totally unreasonable explanation, particularly, since schNews managed to purloin a transcript of the 1999 meeting, the contents of which appear relatively innocuous.

Another of Icke’s favorites is the much fabled, “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. The content was plagiarized from a political satire pamphlet by the Frenchman Maurice Joly, around the mid-19th century. The pamphlet was entitled, “The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu.” In 1921, the London Times ran a series of articles conclusively proving the “Protocols” to be a fake work.

Few would argue that much of what Icke professes contains elements of truth, but they have never been peculiar to him. The rise of corporate power is an obvious factor, as is US empire-building, but the idea of a worldwide conspiracy is plain daft. Yes, conspiracies exist. I have written of corporate conspiracies many times in Sparrow Chat. Every time a boardroom sits, the doors are closed, security is checked, and matters are discussed in a conspiratorial manner. Why? For fear competitors may infiltrate and gain a march on that company’s strategy.

The make-up of the human species does not allow for a united worldwide conspiracy. Corporates don’t yet control the planet. They do control America and its media, and certain other nations, but in Mafia style, though more sophisticated; lots of individual units all scheming and plotting to gain the advantage of the others, each energized by greed and the lust for power. Nowhere was this more obvious in the last twenty years than in the downfall of Soviet Russia, when gangster businessmen like Boris Berezovski moved in, bought out state companies and looted that nation of 90% of its wealth virtually overnight. Individual greed will always reign supreme. A minimal degree of cooperation may be utilized occasionally for a mutually beneficial purpose, but such cosy relationships rarely last long.

No, it’s that sheer lust for greed and power that threatens this planet, not reptilian beings in need of our genes. I’m afraid, to me a least, Icke’s fairy stories smack of an episode from the sixties TV series, “Twilight Zone”.

I would conclude by simply repeating that over the millennia many have come to save the world, or make it better, and have gone again without achieving much success. Some of the greatest have even managed immortality if only in legend, and the hearts of their present day devotees. Long after their passing, such men as Ghandi, Jesus of Nazareth, the Buddha, remain fixed in the memory.

Two years after David Icke’s demise, you may walk down the street and ask the passers by if they remember him. They’ll look at you with blank expressions and ask, “Who?”

An excellently researched essay entitled: ” The Enlightenment, Freemasonry, and The Illuminati” by Conrad Goeringer is available HERE.

An interesting article by Michael Marsden of the New Humanist, entitled “Alpha Male” is available HERE.

Finally, for his side of the story, David Icke’s website can be accessed HERE.

Filed under: Prophet or dead loss