The minimum you’d expect from... ...cause nothing less would do!

A non-malevolent government...

2007-12-30T02:18:00.000-08:00

The minimum you’d expect from a non-malevolent government... is to take every single measure possible to prevent the impending calamities:

Global Warming accelerated by the plunder of fossil fuels;
Decline of Natural Resources caused by predatory economy;
Looming Global War waged by the ruling elite against the poor and dispossessed.

Two-Party Game of political 'Chutzpah'

2006-12-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

The political chutzpah game is similar to the old practical joke, “slap the bald guy”: Two buddies in the movie theater [c.f., dark theater: a country where truth is censored] target a bald burly guy [the politically ignorant Joe Public] sitting in the row in front of them.

First guy, Mike, bets his buddy, Jack, that he can smack the muscleman on the head and get away with it. Mike then proceeds to deliver a noisy slap, while blurting in a chummy voice, "you old fraud, haven't seen you for months, where have you been hiding?" And before the bald guy, filled with tear, fear and rage, has had a chance to recover from the shock, Mike apologizes profusely for making what is obviously an "awful mistake." The bald guy, visibly shaken and upset, yet unable to retaliate due to the circumstances, just wants to be left alone to get on with the movie. So he quitely moves to another seat.

Jack, having lost the first bet, decides to recover his money and some. Doubling the stake, he bets Mike that he, too, can hit the bald guy and go scot-free. Jack then walks to the bald man's new seat and smacks him hard on the head: "you son of a gunn, we've been missing you. Where in the heck have you been? My buddy, back there, just smacked some poor guy on the head thinking it was you. Oh shit man, I'm so..."

And the two-party chutzpah game of slapping the bald guy on the head continues…

Google Censorship - Freedom of Speech Violations by Google

2006-11-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

This is a public information blog and a natural extension to the author’s expression of free speech.

Google has blocked this blog from its search engines for reason(s) unknown to the author. Google has not provided a satisfactory answer why they are preventing the public from viewing the information contained here.

Don't be surprised, when Google eliminates the last vestiges of free speech... If they can stick it to the Chinese, why not to everyone else, too?

TAKE ACTION! Boycott google NOW!

Google must not be allowed to remain in its current form. The company must be broken up to smaller units.

The minimum you’d expect from CNN…

2006-11-01T17:46:00.000-08:00

Issue Tracker
Of the following issues, which is "extremely important" in determining how you will vote this year?
The situation in Iraq: 49%
Terrorism: 46%
The economy: 33%
Illegal immigration: 29%
Moral Issues: [Ethics in government] 25%
Total = 182% – presumably the additional votes are cast by the voting machines!
‘Results based on a phone survey of 1,014 adult Americans conducted October 27 through October 29, 2006, by Opinion Research Corporation, with a sampling error of +/-3% points’
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/special/issues/

… to never fail to provide disinformation!

“German soldiers desecrate a dead person.”

2006-10-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

“German soldiers desecrate a dead person.” http://www.theberlinpaper.com/home/38583-0.html

History proves that the German military has never adhered to a code of honor. German soldiers have always lacked valor, aptitude even common sense. Consequently, Germany has never ‘won’ any wars – save for the massacre of unarmed civilians and the indigenous peoples.

[For background information, see August 3, 2006 entry: ‘Hornkrantz Massacre’]

The minimum you should know about BYU and physics…

2006-10-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

BYU no longer teaches physics; it owns physics!

Journalistic ‘Sleight of Hand’

2006-10-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

The minimum you’d expect an ‘honest’ journalist to tell you…

The alternative media and the 'independent' journalists are more eager than their mainstream counterparts to play the ‘three-card Monte,’ on the readers [because the mainstream media whorehouse is already overcrowded with ankle-grabbers and embedded journalists and has no room for new whores.]

Three-card Monte is a confidence game. A confidence trick, confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the ‘mark’) usually with the goal of financial or other gain.

The confidence trickster, con man, grifter, scam artist or con artist often works with one or more accomplices called shills, who try to encourage the mark by pretending to believe the trickster. In the three-card Monte, the mark may initially be allowed to win one or two games in order for him to gain confidence. With this confidence, the mark may place a larger bet, which he would then lose.

The alternative media shills and the independent journalists initially provide readers with a seemingly 'good' reportage (usually sentimental in nature but insignificant, outdated, or inconsequential, and therefore of little or no value to the reader) to gain the readers' confidence.

The disinformation that follows thereafter is the journalistic sleight of hand. Sadly, some will never know they have been had!

Caveat emptor!

It's all about poverty, stupid!

2006-10-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

The thin film of religion that shrink-wraps the Middle East problems remains untouched by wave after waves of self-serving politicians who reflexively hide behind the ‘Jewish’ special interests. Little wonder because the all-encompassing ‘Semitic’ narrative and its carrot-and-stick contraption work wonders. And any aberration from the authorized narrative would be punished severely.

Twenty five centuries on, no one has ever received a confirmation from God, all be it in the form of an e-mail, corroborating any priorities bestowed upon any one religion, race or group of people. It would be antithetical, if one believes in infinite wisdom.

The fact is that the Middle East problems, as well as all other problems in the world, have little if anything to do with religion; they have much deeper roots. They've always had.

Religion is merely a convenient rallying point; it's always been.

With its perceived divinity, religion is a powerful narrative manufactured by the wealthy as a convenient buffer, a safety net, as it were, to keep the poor at bay. Religion is also the most common apparatus used by the poor to gain critical mass against poverty.

The problem with the Middle East and the ROW is the ridiculously disproportionate wealth distribution.

Here’re some excerpts from War, Lies & Videotape and other sources:
1. “Twenty-eight billionaires own more than the population of half of the world's countries.”

2. “The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in the four years [up] to 1998, to more than $1 trillion" .

3. “The total assets of the 793 billionaires increased 18% from last year to an impressive $2.6 trillion.”

4. The assets of the top three billionaires are more than the combined Gross National Product (GNP) of all the least developed countries and their 600 million people.

5. “About 840 million people [the figure must have increased somewhat since the report is a few years old ] are malnourished . . . nearly 1.3 billion live on less than a dollar a day, and close to l billion cannot meet their basic consumption requirements," the report states. "Nearly 160 million children are malnourished and more than 250 million children are working as child labor.”

6. "The income gap between the fifth of the world's people living in the richest countries and the fifth in the poorest was 74 to one in 1997".

7. “Of course, the statistics about the ‘richest countries’ don't really tell the whole story. In these countries a small handful of the population controls and benefits from the lion's share of the wealth. In the United States, for instance, just 1 percent of the population owns 40 percent of the wealth; the top 10 percent controls 80 percent of the wealth.”

Here’re a few excerpts from: http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/publications/par/summer2001/poverty.html

“The consequences of such extreme poverty are foreseeable and extensively documented: 13 percent of the world’s population (790 million) lack adequate nutrition, 17 percent (one billion) lack access to safe drinking water, 30 percent (over 2.4 billion) lack basic sanitation, approximately one billion adults are illiterate, 15 percent (more than 880 million) have no access to basic medical care, 17 percent (approximately one billion) lack adequate shelter, and 33 percent (2 billion) have no electricity.”

“Fully one third of all human deaths are due to poverty-related causes, such as starvation, diarrhea, pneumonia, measles, and malaria, which could be prevented or cured cheaply through food, safe drinking water, vaccinations, rehydration packs, or medicines. One quarter of all five to 14-year-olds work outside their family for wages, often under harsh conditions, in mining, textile and carpet production, prostitution, factories, and in agriculture.”

“Severe poverty is, of course, nothing new. What is new is the extent of global inequality. Real wealth is no longer limited to a small elite. Hundreds of millions enjoy a high standard of living with plenty of spare time, travel, education, cars, domestic appliances, computers, and so on. While average per capita annual income is about $82 in the bottom fifth (or quintile) and $131 among the bottom 46 percent of humankind, it is $26,000 in the so-called high-income economies consisting of 33 countries plus Hong Kong.”

“The collective income of the bottom quintile is about $100 billion annually or one third of one percent of the annual global product. The collective income of the bottom 46 percent is about $364 billion annually or 1.25 percent of the annual global product. By contrast, the high-income economies contain 14.9 percent of world population and control 78.4 percent of the global product.”

Now take the Palestinian example:

The number of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Diaspora reached 9.7 million in 2003.

Gaza Strip population increased to about 1.4 million in June 2006; the West Bank population reached 2.5 million.

That is, 1.4 million Palestinians live in the most squalid conditions under Israeli occupation in a small prison called the Gaza Strip (area=360 sq. km).

The GDP before the current bout of Israeli atrocities was about $600 per capita – and most Palestinians had to get permission to get out of their 'prison' each day.

In contrast, the Israeli GDP is $24,600 per capita - and they get all of their weapons of mass destruction from the US for free!

To summarize, the average Israeli income is 41 times the average income of a Palestinian 'inmate' in the Gaza Strip 'prison'. Whereas most Palestinians live in prison-like conditions, the Israelis live wealthy lifestyles in occupied Palestinian land.

So you see, it isn’t at all about religion; it is all about wealth - and how to project power to preserve the wealthy lifestyle!

God has never had anything to do with religion; he would have been wise enough to only create one religion: the one that ensures continuity of life and intelligence on Earth!

Additional sources: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Media_control_propaganda/AchillesHeel_WLV.html
http://www.woopidoo.com/reviews/news/rich-list/world-billionaires-2006.htm
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_basics.php
http://www.pademographics.com/
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060710/2006071016.html
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/
www.worldfactsandfigures.com/gdp_country_desc.php
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html

Plot Holes in Al-anarkia 9/11 Script ...

2006-10-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

... continued from July 17, 2006

You can’t have your cake and eat it, too!

Within the known universe [including Al-anarkia ficton] the following propositions [events, logical statements) cannot coexist - unless acted on by a third operator.

Proposition #1. Heavy steel construction buildings [built with about 100,000 tons of steel] do not explode, disintegrate into a fine powder midair and crumble symmetrically to their footprint, when hit by known flying objects. [True]

Proposition #2. The Twin Treasure Towers exploded, pulverized midair, and crumbled symmetrically [and conveniently] to their footprint. [True]

The two events are said to be pairwise mutually exclusive: they cannot both be true - occurrence of any one event automatically implies the non-occurrence of the remaining event.

[Plot Hole] Two steel-frame high-rise buildings designed to withstand almost anything, including hurricanes, bombings and strikes by airplanes both exploded, pulverized midair [identically] and crumbled [conveniently] into a pile of rubble when each building was hit by a flying carpet.

[Plot Hole] The official report by Al-anarkia authorities claimed that the Twin Treasure Towers collapsed because (i) they were hit by Flying carpets and (ii) the heat from a few leftover drops of Magical Jet Fuel from the Aladdin’s Lamp caused the steel frame to melt resulting in IDENTICAL collapses of both buildings (one tower completely disintegrated only 56 minutes after it was struck; the second tower took an hour and 42 minutes.

[Plot Hole] Stretching the audience’s willingness to extend suspension of disbelief to ridiculous levels: Anyone who has seen the controlled demolition of a high-rise building would immediately notice that high explosives were used to bring down the Twin Treasure Towers (and Building No. 7 - which wasn't even hit by a flying carpet!)

[Plot Hole] Enormous projection of pyroplastics (pulverized concrete, ashes, slags … and explosives), similar to volcanic eruptions, flow through the surrounding streets. Even the worst case samples of emotionally dysfunctional audience won’t connect the massive explosions with the impact of flying carpets.

(The following are summarized from: http://911review.com/articles/griffin/nyc1.html)

[Plot Hole] Suddenness of the collapse: one moment the Twin Towers were there; the next moment, the first tower suddenly begins to collapse… and then the second building was suddenly gone!

[Plot Hole] Vertical collapse: to avoid damage to nearby buildings, the controlled demolition was painstakingly planned to bring down the Twin Treasure Towers (and later building No, 7) vertically and make them collapse on their own footprint.

[Plot Hole] Speed of the fall: The collapse of the Towers occurred almost at free-fall speed, a clear indication that high explosives were used to systematically demolish the Towers. This can occur because the supports for the lower floors are destroyed, so that when the upper floors come down, they encounter no resistance.[Plot Hole] Total Collapse: As with all other controlled demolitions the Twin Treasure Towers each supported by 47 massive steel box columns collapsed into piles of rubble only a few stories high.

[Plot Hole] Demolition Rings: Small explosions that ran rapidly around the Towers were videotaped by eyewitnesses.

[Plot Hole] Sliced-off Steel Columns: In the Twin Treasure Towers, as with any other controlled demolitions of steel-frame buildings, the Al-anarkia authorities used explosives to chop the steel columns into manageable pieces that could easily be moved away. These explosions were the result of explosives used to cut through the massive steel columns that supported the towers.

[Plot Hole] Pulverized Concrete: The explosives used to slice steel in controlled demolition of steel-frame buildings have very high energy contents and pulverize concrete and most other non-metallic substances into tiny particles.

[Plot Hole] Projection of pyroplastics: the most striking feature of controlled demolitions is the projection of pyroplastics, the high-energy production, ejection and flow of dust clouds from the buildings.

[Plot Hole] Horizontal Ejections: Another common feature of controlled demolition is the horizontal ejection of other materials, besides dust, from those areas of the building in which explosives are set off. In the case of the Twin Treasure Towers, photos and videos reveal heavy pieces of steel were ejected in all directions for distances up to 500 feet, while aluminum cladding was blown up to 700 feet away from the towers.

[Plot Hole] Molten Steel: For six months after the demolitions, the ground temperature reached up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Some of the steel beams pulled from the wreckage had molten steel dripping from their ends. Hot spots of molten steel were also found “at the bottoms of the elevator shafts of the main towers, down seven [basement] levels.” Apart from a nuclear bomb, only high explosives can create such tremendous amount of heat.

[Plot Hole] When the audience eventually refuses to extend suspension of disbelief to such ridiculous levels, having discovered that the building could only have been destroyed by controlled demolition [not by the impact of the Flying Carpets], they would see a gaping plot hole in the official tale.

[Plot Hole] The audience would conclude that: The destruction of the World Trade Center was an inside job, orchestrated by domestic terrorists. Foreign terrorists could not have gotten access to the buildings to plant the explosives.

REALITICS: Impeach Bush - Evidence Warrants Impeachment

2006-09-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

REALITICS: Impeach Bush - Evidence Warrants Impeachment

Israeli Atrocities (continued...)

2006-09-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Tyranny Of Israel Over America
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/09/03/columnist-kristol-bush-_n_28629.html
http://911research.wtc7.net/sept11/trillions.html

Massacre of US Servicemen on USS Liberty
1967 - Thirty-four US servicemen were slaughtered and one hundred and seventy one others were wounded when Israeli fighter aircraft launched a rocket attack on USS Liberty June 8, 1967. http://www.ussliberty.org/report/report.htm

Operation Suzannah: The Lavon Affair
In 1954, Israeli agents working in Egypt planted bombs in several buildings, including a United States diplomatic facility, and left evidence behind implicating Arabs as the culprits. The ruse would have worked, had not one of the bombs detonated prematurely, allowing the Egyptians to capture and identify one of the bombers, which in turn led to the round up of an Israeli spy ring.
[A blueprint used by Israelis for many of their false flag operations thay have since executed.]
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/lavon.html
http://www.hsje.org/israel_honors_9_egyptian_spies.htm

The King David Hotel Premeditated Massacre
July 22, 1946. Irgun, the Jewish assassins branch headed by Menachem Begin, the future Prime Minister, murdered 92 Britons, Arabs and Jews, and wounded of 58 others.

Lebanon 2006
Dead: 1,056 people (About 55 percent of all casualties at the Beirut Government University Hospital are children of 15 years of age or less.)
Injured: more than 3,600 people
Displaced: more than 971,000 people
http://www.lebanonundersiege.gov.lb/english/F/main/index.asp http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0724-10.htm

Cluster Bombs
Deadly harvest: The Lebanese fields sown with cluster bombs
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1616665.ece
The war in Lebanon has not ended. Every day, some of the million bomblets which were fired by Israeli artillery during the last three days of the conflict kill four people in southern Lebanon and wound many more.

At least 83 people have been killed by cluster munitions since the ceasefire, according to independent monitors.

IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html
Last update - 14:20 12/09/2006

What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war. Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets. In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final [three] days of the war.
...

The cluster rounds which don't detonate on impact, believed by the United Nations to be around 40% of those fired by the IDF in Lebanon, remain on the ground as unexploded munitions, effectively littering the landscape with thousands of land mines which will continue to claim victims long after the war has ended.

Because of their high level of failure to detonate, it is believed that there are around 500,000 unexploded munitions on the ground in Lebanon.

Israeli Rhetoric of Genocide: ‘Hornkrantz Syndrome’

2006-08-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

A Case of Chronic Hornkrantz Syndrome

The second Israeli massacre of Lebanese civilians in Qana in 10 years claimed at least 61 people, more than 37 of them children.

The slaughter is an unfinished chapter in the history of European Imperium genocide perpetrated against the indigenous peoples throughout the world - currently Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine being the obvious examples.

While the Israeli occupation forces continue their wholesale massacre of the civilians in Lebanon, various Israeli government officials are desperately trying to pin the blame on the Lebanese victims. [As of August 3, 2006 the Israeli Occupation Forces have butchered at least 615 Lebanese civilians, nearly half of them children, and wounded 3,225, one third of them children, according to Save The Children and the Lebanese government sources. Among the dead are 31 fighters. Of the nearly one million Lebanese refugees about 45 per cent are under the age of 18, Unicef reported.]

Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman said his country mourned with Lebanon on this "horrible, sad and bloody Sunday.'' Israel never targeted civilians, he said, and the deaths in Qana were the result of Hezbollah's decision to hide among them.

"They are the victims of Hezbollah,'' Gillerman told the Security Council. "If there were no Hezbollah, this would not have happened.'' U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said Hezbollah's actions were the "fundamental cause'' of the conflict, and accused the group of hiding behind civilians.

In the first Qana massacre, April 18, 1996, the Israeli military artillery shelled a United Nations compound near Qana that was overflowing with 800 Lebanese civilians "who had fled from their villages on IDF orders." The barrage killed 102 refugees and wounded hundreds of others.

The then Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres declared, "the sole guilty party, still on the ground, is Hezbollah. . . . We are dealing here with a horrible, cynical and irresponsible organization. Hezbollah’s grand strategy all along has been to hide behind the backs of civilians."

Last week, an Israeli government spokesman said Israeli Foreign Minister responded to charges of 'disproportionate use of force' and 'collective punishment' of the civilian populations both in Gaza and Lebanon: "Terrorists use the population and live among them," she said. "[M]any civilians in southern Lebanon have Katyusha and other rockets under their beds."

"When you go to sleep with a missile," she added, "you might find yourself waking up to another kind of missile." In an interview on the US-based official Israeli ‘news’ agency, CNN, another Israeli official retorted: "Yes, civilians are being killed ... not by Israeli design, but because Hezbollah have been allowed to live among them ... they live and store their weapons, explosives and rockets in Lebanese villages and hide behind the Lebanese civilians."

How curious this chronic Hornkrantz Syndrome!

The Israeli rhetoric of genocide used to deny (or justify the massacres of civilians when their cover-up is exposed) their on-going genocide of peoples of Palestine and Lebanon is identical to the rhetorics used by the European Imperium to deny, justify and, ultimately, glorify their genocide of the indigenous peoples throughout the world.

On the dawn of 12 April 1893, the bokmakieries were singing as 200 German soldiers, newly arrived from Europe, took up their position around the small settlement of Hornkrantz. The village was the home of an African tribe, the Witbooi, and, although barely 100 kilometers from Windhoek, the fledgling capital of German South West Africa, Hornkrantz’s occupants had successfully resisted the encroaching Imperial power.

The Massacre

The German soldiers, part of one of the largest and most powerful land armies in the world, started firing from three directions, and within thirty minutes 16,000 rounds had been expended by 200 rifles. By the time this torrent of bullets had ceased it had wrought a dreadful carnage. Blood stained bodies and the remains of slaughtered animals were strewn around the settlement.

The Report

The German captain’s official report immediately following the massacre suggested that Witbooi were neutralised as a fighting force. One cable to Berlin more than a month after the raid suggested that fifty Witbooi soldiers had been killed.

Gradually, however, it emerged that of the ninety people massacred by the brave soldiers only a few had been ‘able-bodied’ men. Seventy-eight of the victims were in fact women and children – not at all surprising when you attack a village, raid a residential area at the crack of dawn, or bombard a building filled with civilian refugees.

The Spin

German officialdom was forced to make what it termed ‘an undesirable revision’, it struck upon a brilliantly reply to the accusations. There had been heavy casualties among non-combatants conceded the Director of the German Colonial Department, but this was owing to the cowardice of the Witbooi men who took cover behind their womenfolk when fired upon.

Another, somewhat less ‘brilliant’ variation of the ‘Hornkrantz Syndrome’ is the response you would get from the so called Paheka, the white folks in New Zealand. Ask any of them why they had to decimate the Maori population (the brave Brits massacred 5 out of every 6 Maoris – more than 208,000 of the 250,000 population round about the same time – by the 1890s) to steal their land (instead of just obtaining rest of the Maori land by deception, since the deception method had previously worked so well for the occupiers), and the white 'New Zealander' sporting a sadistic smirk on their face would tell you they didn’t kill any Maoris, "didn't have to… the cannibals just kept on bumping each other off at tea time!"

Graham Kelly, 'New Zealand's high commissioner' in a speech to the 'Canadian Senate' said about Maori: Once they got to New Zealand, they started fighting and eating each other; so there have been Maori wars ever since then.

Source on Hornkrantz: Cocker, M., Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe’s Conquest of Indigenous Peoples, London, 1998.

Israel calls 48 hour pause on world condemn -- REACTING to withering world criticism, Israel agreed to a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes in Lebanon after yesterday's bombing killed at least 56 Lebanese, most of them women and children, leveling a building where they had taken shelter from earlier Israeli attacks, the Associated Press reported.

Victims of Israeli Death Machine (Part 3)

2006-07-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Israeli carnage continued:

1956 - In October–November 1956, the Israeli Occupation Forces overran the heavily populated Gaza Strip killing more than five hundred civilians, either in actual combat or in a subsequent series of massacres.

1956 – During the Sinai-Suez War, Israeli Occupation Forces reportedly killed fleeing, unarmed, Egyptian troops by the hundreds including Egyptian prisoners of war.

1956 - In October 1956, the Israeli Paratroop Brigade killed about 40 POWs near the Mitle Pass. When details of the atrocities were revealed in 1995 Egypt protested to Israel and demanded an investigation – Israelis refused to make the results public.

1948 - On November 2, 1948, an Israel Occupation Forces (103rd Battalion’s patrol) attacked the campsite of a small Bedouin subtribe, Arab al Mawasa, west of the Sea of Galilee. The soldiers torched the Arabs’ homes [tents]and captured 19 Arab males, 14 of whom were later liquidated.

Based on the United Nations, American, and British documents, which surfaced during the 1980s and 1990s, Jewish troops massacred Arab civillians in up to 20 separate incidents during the first Arab-Israeli war of 1948. “[The massacres] range in size from the shooting of a handful or several dozen civilians arbitrarily selected and lined up against a village wall after its conquest (as occurred, for example, in Majd al Kurum, Bi’na and Dir al Assad, Ilaboun, Jish, Saliha, Safsaf, and Sasa during Hiram) to the slaughter of some 250 civilians and detainees during a firefight in the town of Lydda, southeast of Tel Aviv, on the afternoon of July 12, 1948.”

“The largest of these expulsions took place in the towns of Lydda and Ramle on July 12 and 13, when upward of fifty thousand people were dispatched onto roads eastward. In retrospect, it is clear that what occurred in 1948 in Palestine was a variety of ethnic cleansing of Arab areas by Jews. It is impossible to say how many of the 700,000 or so Palestinians who became refugees in 1948 were physically expelled, as distinct from simply fleeing a combat zone. What is certain is that almost all were barred by the Israeli government decision of June 1948 and, consequently, by IDF fire, from returning to their homes or areas. Similarly, almost all of the four hundred or so Arab villages overrun and depopulated by Israel were in the course of 1948 or immediately thereafter razed to the ground…”

1948 - Between 9 and 11 April 1948, over 100 Arab townspeople were massacred by Jewish paramilitaries in Deir Yassin near Jerusalem in the British Mandate of Palestine. This was “the starkest early warning of a calculated depopulation of over 400 Arab villages and cities and the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian inhabitants to make room for ... Jews.” http://www.deiryassin.org/mh2001.html

From 1975 to 1990, Lebanon was involved in a civil war between various groups. The civil war was a direct consequence of the creation of the State of Israel. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War tens of thousands of Palestinians came to live in south Lebanon. The total death toll in Lebanon for the whole civil war period was up to 100,000 victims.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Camps

Victims of Israeli Death Machine (Part 2)

2006-07-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Israeli Atrocities continued:

2005 Israeli West Bank settler kills 4 Palestinians

2005 Jewish settler shoots 15 year old Palestinian boy in the back

2005 Palestinian child stabbed to death by Israeli settlers

2005 Israeli soldier kills 4 Arab bus passengers

2005 Jewish terrorists attack worshippers at Al Aqsa mosque

2004 Jewish Settler kills Palestinian driver

2004 Israeli forces fire on peaceful Palestinian protest in Rafah killing ten people

2003 Rachel Corey murdered in Gaza by Israeli

British UN official shot in back by Israeli soldier

2002 Jewish settlers kill 14 year old Palestinian girl and injure 9 in funeral rampage

2002 Robert Goldstein plots to blow up 50 mosques in Florida

2002 Jewish settlers plant bomb in Palestinian school yard

Mossad agents arrested inside Mexican Congress carrying explosives

World finally gets glimpse of refugee camp devastation (12 April 2002)http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284108

Israel buries the bodies, but cannot hide the evidence (13 April)http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284436

Witnesses tell how elderly were used as human shields for tank forces (09 April 2002)http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=283026

2001 Three Palestinians killed in roadside ambush by Jewish settlers

2001 Earl Krugel of JDL plots to bomb a mosque and field office of U.S. Arab American congressman (sentanced in 2005)

1995 Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli (Jewish)

Baruk Goldstein Massacred 29 Moslem worshipers and wounded 125 others in Hebron in 1994 (What can you say about people who would erect a shrine and build a park to honor Baruk Goldstein)

1987 Tear gas grenade fired into Metropolitan Opera House, New York, JDL

1986 Bombing of ADC offices in Santa Ana, California killing Alex Odeh, JDL suspected

1986 Firebombing outside Lincoln Center, New York, JDL suspected

1983 JDL claimed responsibility for a bomb explosion at the Aeroflot Soviet airlines

1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres of as many as 3,500 Palestinian refugees by Lebanese Christians while the camps were surrounded by Israeli soldiers.

1982 JDL claimed responsibility for an attack on Air France offices in Paris

1982 JDL claimed credit for a bomb that exploded outside the Lufthansa offices in Manhattan

1981 Israeli attack on Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

1981 Iranian bank in San Francisco firebombed, JDL

1980's 20 bombings in NY area alone attributed to JDL

1978 The Jewish Armed Resistance planted a bomb in the Manhattan offices of Novoye Russkoye Slovo, a Russian-language daily newspaper. The 3:30 am explosion heavily damaged the first two floors and the printing facilities.

1978 firebomb on stairwell of Soviet tourist office in U.S., Jewish Armed Resistance claimed credit

1976 bombing at building housing Czech and Soviet national airline offices in NY, Jewsh Armed Resistance Strike Force claimed credit

1976 - 3 pipebombs found near UN library, JDL claimed credit

1972 JDL members firebombed NY offices of Sol Hurok

1971 - 2 Russian gift shops bombed, one in NY and one in Minnesota, Jewish Armed Resistance claimed responsibility

1970 pipe bomb exploded at NY offices of Aeroflot, JDL suspected

1969 Dennis Michael Rohan of the Church of God (Protestant) sets fire to Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem

1968 Robert F. Kennedy assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan (a Palestinian Christian)

1967 - According to eyewitness accounts by Israeli officers and journalists, the Israeli Army - the army that claims to hold itself to a higher moral standard than other armies - executed as many as 1,000 Arab prisoners during the 1967 war.

1967 - Historian Gabby Bron wrote in the Yediot Ahronot in Israel that he witnessed Israeli troops executing Egyptian prisoners on the morning of June 8, 1967, in the Sinai town of El Arish. http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-atrocities-egypt1967.html

1967 - Thirty-four US servicemen were killed and one hundred and seventy one others were wounded when Israeli fighter aircraft launched a rocket attack on USS Liberty June 8, 1967.
http://www.ussliberty.org/report/report.htm

1967 - During the 1967 Six-Day and October 1973 wars, there were cases of IDF troops killing fleeing, and often unarmed, Arab troops and murdering POWs.

1967 – Israeli occupation forces destroyed more than half a dozen Arab villages in the West Bank (Imwas, Yalu, Beit Nuba, Khirbet Beit Mirsim, Nabi Samwil, etc.) and expelled their inhabitants. The area of the first three villages was subsequently turned into a nature reserve, Park Canada, which remains to this day a favorite Israeli picnic spot.

1967 - Altogether, during and in the immediate aftermath of the 1967 war some 200,000 to 300,000 Palestinians left the West Bank and Gaza Strip for Jordan, many of them refugees for the second time, having moved to the West Bank in 1948 from areas that had become Israeli. Up to ninety thousand Syrian civilians were permanently driven out of the Golan Heights during the IDF conquest. http://www.crimesofwar.org/thebook/arab-israeli-war.html

Victims of Israeli Death Machine (Part 1)

2006-07-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Victims of Israeli Death Machine

A partial list of known victims of Israeli death machine:

Israeli murder victims list includes Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Syrians, Afghans, Iraqis, Nigerians, Fins, Canadians, Chinese, Lebanese, Americans … each and every victim a person with a unique identity, a human being with emotions, dreams and aspirations, yet all denied a future by the Jewish State’s death machine.

2006 - Israeli air force killed four U.N. military observers (including a Chinese, a Fin, An Austrian and a Canadian) using precision bombing on Tuesday in an attack in south Lebanon which United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan described as "apparently deliberate".

China on Wednesday felt "deeply shocked" by and "strongly condemned" an Israeli air raid on a United Nations post in south Lebanon, and urged for immediate ceasefire.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-07/26/content_4881120.htm

2006 – [July 26, 2006] In the current waves of Israeli aggression in Lebanon, so far, 422 people have been killed and 1,833 wounded, Lebanese Ministry of Health reports. Among the perished are 8 Canadian citizens, 2 Kuwaitis.

JOHN QUIGLEY
http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/jfc/staff/quigley.html

Professor of law at Ohio State University, Quigley is author of numerous books on international law including "Genocide Convention" and "Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice."

He said today: "Yesterday's bombing of the UN compound has striking parallels with the shelling in April 1996 by Israel of the UN compound at Qana, Lebanon, when:

1. IDF [Israel Defense Forces] knew that this was a UN compound, because it was a long-established UN compound.

2. IDF knew at the time of firing that it was a UN compound and inhabited, because IDF had a drone overhead sending real-time pictures back to the gunners.

3. Shelling went on for a period of time, during which UN officials made desperate phone calls to IDF positions telling them they were killing civilians and asking them to stop.

4. UN complained (General Assembly passed a resolution of condemnation of Israel), but Israel made no serious investigation and wrote it off as a tragic mistake."

Quigley was involved in filing a complaint over the shelling of Qana to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

2006 - 9 June 2006. An Israeli naval boat stationed off the coast of Beit Lahya fired seven successive artillery shells at civilians on the beach in the Waha area, north of Beit Lahya. The shells landed on the beach, which had been crowded with men, women and children at the time. Eight people including Seven civilians from the same family (father, mother and five children) were killed.

2006 - A further thirty-two civilians, including thirteen children, were injured. Two of the injured sustained serious wounds. On 13 June, another attack was carried out on a Gazan highway, killing eleven and injuring thirty. On June 20th, three Palestinian children were killed and 15 others wounded in a failed extrajudicial execution attempt carried out by Israel.
http://electronicintifada.net/bytopic/440.shtml

Israeli occupation forces have killed over 3,000 Palestinian civilians since the Intifada began. Israel’s contempt for Palestinian life stretches from the privates in its occupying army to its prime minister. Israel kills Palestinian civilians not only intentionally but also routinely, and this has been true for decades. The patterns speak for themselves.

2006 - Statistics related to Al Aqsa Intifada:

Starting 29 September, 2000- updated 09 June, 2006

source: http://www.pchrgaza.org/Library/alaqsaintifada.htm#_ftnref2

3063 Palestinians Civilians have been killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) forces in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

A further 497 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in armed clashes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

8850 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the Intifada.

14000 Palestinians have been wounded by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the West Bank territory since the beginning of the Intifada.

Palestinian children account for 19.3% of the total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupying forces during Al Aqsa Intifada.

In addition 8 journalists and six foreigners have been killed in the OPT

House Demolitions in the Gaza Strip:
Number of Palestinians whose house were totally demolished: 24768
Number of Palestinians whose houses were partially demolished: 25211
Number of Palestinians whose houses were totally demolished in Rafah: 15427
Number of Palestinians whose houses were partially demolished in Rafah: 13457Approximately

13% of Gaza’s agricultural land has been leveled since the beginning of Al Aqsa Intifada.

A total of 31,634,000 square meters of land in Gaza Strip have been leveled by the Israeli military.

Total number of houses demolished: 5,526 units.

2004 - Israeli army shoots two more schoolchildren in Rafah classroom June 2, 2004. http://www.thewe.cc/contents/more/archive2004/may/war_2004_may_images_4.html

2003 - Israeli Soldiers Shot Tom Hurndall, 22, a British ISM Activist while he was protecting children in Rafah from Israeli gunfire on April 10, 2003.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1750487,00.html

2003 - Israeli occupation forces shot James Miller, a British filmmaker in the head and watched him bleed to death.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,958289,00.html

2002 - Ian Hook, a British United Nations worker, was shot and killed by the Israeli military on November 22, 2002. http://www.counterpunch.org/butterfly1123.html

2001 (September 11) More than 3,000 people were murdered in the so-called “Mother of All [....] Lightnings”, the 9/11 controlled demolition of the Twin Towers at WTC, NY. The Zionist Jewish owner who had leased the loss-making Towers (and Building No 7 WTC) shortly before the “lightning” struck received a multi billion dollar insurance settlement. Details of controlled demolition can be found at http://911review.com/ , http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html and many other sites on the internet).

1996 - The Israeli Massacre of Civilians at Qana - April 18, 1996, 155 mm Israeli shells donated by Uncle Sam rained down on Lebanese men, women, and children taking refuge in a UN peace-keeping compound in Qana, southern Lebanon, to escape Israeli air, sea, and land bombardment of their towns and villages, and as a result, the bodies of 102 Arab civilians were shattered to pieces.

1996 - Leading up to the Qana massacre, 17 villages had been flattened, over a half million people had been rendered homeless, more than 200 had been murdered, and hundreds were wounded, in what was named as operation "Grapes of Wrath". Israeli Prime Minister Peres, who was granted the Nobel Prize for Peace, ordered the bombing blitz. The entire world, with the exception of the White House, condemned this barbaric attack conducted intentionally against defenseless civilians.http://www.jewwatch.com/jew-genocide-palestinian-qana.htm

1982 - In 1982 Israeli troops attacked southern Lebanon, including Beirut and the Beirut–Damascus road waging war in a heavily populated areas including many Palestinian refugee camps. Israeli troops killed as many as 18,000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians. As with the current Israeli attack whole streets and blocks of Lebanese cities—Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut—were destroyed and a number of refugee camps (Rashidiye near Tyre, Ein al Hilwe near Sidon, and others) were completely demolished.

1982–1985 – Israeli Occupation Forces captured and executed many hundreds of Shiite resistance fighters. Israelis detained thousands of ‘suspects’ without trial, used torture systematically against suspects and demolished houses of resistance fighters.

1993 – during the first Intifada and leading to signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Israeli Occupation Forces and Israeli death squads murdered 1,162 Palestinians (241 of them children…)

Israeli Bombing of UN in Lebanon: Then and Now

2006-07-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

Israeli air force killed four U.N. military observers (including a Chinese, a Fin, An Austrian and a Canadian) using precision bombing on Tuesday in an attack in south Lebanon which United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan described as "apparently deliberate".

Israeli Bombing of UN in Lebanon: Then and Now

JOHN QUIGLEY

Professor of law at Ohio State University, Quigley is author of numerous books on international law including "Genocide Convention" and "Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice."

He said today: "Yesterday's bombing of the UN compound has striking parallels with the shelling in April 1996 by Israel of the UN compound at Qana, Lebanon, when:

1. IDF [Israel Defense Forces] knew that this was a UN compound, because it was a long-established UN compound.

2. IDF knew at the time of firing that it was a UN compound and inhabited, because IDF had a drone overhead sending real-time pictures back to the gunners.

3. Shelling went on for a period of time, during which UN officials made desperate phone calls to IDF positions telling them they were killing civilians and asking them to stop.

4. UN complained (General Assembly passed a resolution of condemnation of Israel), but Israel made no serious investigation and wrote it off as a tragic mistake."

Quigley was involved in filing a complaint over the shelling of Qana to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Ian Williams

Author of the book "The U.N. For Beginners," Williams covers the UN. He said today: "Already Kofi Annan is under attack for condemning the 'apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a UN Observer post.'

"It is reminiscent of the trouble his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali got himself into last time the Israelis tried shock and awe on Lebanon back in 1996, when he failed to suppress a report that said pretty much the same thing about the IDF shelling of the UN post in Qana, which macerated some 106 Lebanese civilians to death. ...

Butros Butros Ghali, (married to a Jewish woman), though he was an obedient servant of (the New World Order crowd), lost his job as a UN Secretary General. He was sacrificed at the altar of the Zionist masters who control the Oval Office. His only crime during his four years of service was the issuing of a mild UN report putting the blame for the Qana massacre on the Israeli government.

"It is clear that there are many in the IDF with a profound contempt for the UN and all it stands for, and who would not shed many tears at such an accident. It may also rankle that UNIFIL has, with the dearth of Western reporters in much of South Lebanon, provided independent corroboration of many incidents of IDF attacks on civilians. ...

"And most sinisterly of all, there are many Israelis -- including the government only a few days ago -- who do not want an international force between them and their targets in Lebanon, who would have no great scruples about bombing a UN compound 'accidentally on purpose.'"

6 Lies and Realities of Israel's Aggression in Lebanon

2006-07-26T23:51:00.000-07:00

6 Lies and Realities of Israel's Aggression in Lebanon

by Dr. Maher Hathout, Senior Advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Al Akhbar NEWS Agency

History is written not so much to understand the past but to shape the future. This premise usually holds when addressing the reporting about events in the Middle East. Most textbooks, for example, indicate that the Six-Day War was initiated by the Arabs and Israel pounded them in retaliatory strikes. But the late Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, said, In June 1967 we...had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him. (New York Times, August 21, 1982). The same misconception in reporting is used today to justify Israels destruction of Lebanon. Furthermore, six lies are spinning the news in Israels favor to justify her aggression in Lebanon:

Lie 1: This war is between Hizbollah and Israel. Reality: Hizbollah members are not suffering any casualties. This is a war directed against the people of Lebanon. It is designed to break the infrastructure of Lebanon and destroy her peoples spirit. On April 19, 1996, the New York Times wrote, Israels goal has been to create an unmanageable number of refugees in Lebanon...to restrain Hizbullahs attacks. If the definition of terrorism is to attack civilian targets to achieve a political goal, then Israel is guilty of hi-tech terrorism.

Lie 2: Israel is retaliating against Hizbullah Katyusha rocket attacks into Northern Israel. Reality: According to a fact sheet from the Reuters News Agency; Israel was the first to attack civilians on March 30 and April 8. The three Hizbollah attacks on March 4, March 10 and March 14 targeted Israeli occupying soldiers inside Southern Lebanon. Prior to Israels attack of these civilians, both parties were abiding by the 1993 US-brokered agreement that only military sites could be targeted. Only after Israel massacred civilians in refugee camps did Hizbollah start firing Katyusha rockets into Northern Israel on April 9. The Israeli bombing of refugee camps, power plants, water reservoirs throughout Lebanon commenced on April 11.

Lie 3: Israel is acting in self-defense. Reality: The source of the conflict is the occupation of Southern Lebanon by Israel, a violation of international law. Resolution 425 of the UN Security Council, passed immediately after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, calls for Israel to leave Southern Lebanon and the replacement of Israeli forces with Lebanese government forces.

Lie 4: Israel is intervening because the Lebanese Government is unable to control the situation. Reality: If Israel leaves, Lebanese officials have stated that they will send 35,000 troops to Southern Lebanon to keep the border secure and calm.

Lie 5: Israel claims it was unaware of the presence of civilians in a U.N. shelter it bombed near Tyre. Reality: The UN had informed Israel repeatedly about the presence of its shelter for Lebanese refugees.

Lie 6: Israel claims it needs to create a Security Zone in Southern Lebanon.. Reality: The reason Israel is in Southern Lebanon is to siphon off the water of the Litani river. According to a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Israel was using water from the Lebanese Litani River, by means of an 11 mile tunnel it had drilled, as well as from Lebanons Wazzani springs. (United Press International, June 1, 1994) In Middle East politics, water has now become more valuable than oil.

These lies are generated by pro-Israeli propagandists for the sole purpose of influencing American public opinion. Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the Israeli Likud Party and candidate for Prime Minister in the upcoming Israeli election, said, ...an integral part of making a decision is addressing the question of how it will affect public opinion and what needs to be done to make its message more palatable and effective to international audiences...If public opinion was of decisive importance in shaping political outcomes during the first half of the century, it is now, as the close of the second half of the century, assuming an importance not even imaginable thirty or forty years earlier. (A Place Among Nations: Israel and the World, p. 386) The consequence of state-sponsored public relation campaigns like Israels is articulated best by author Henry Miller: The history of the world is the history of a privileged few.

When Theft Is Conducted With An [Israeli] Court Order

2006-07-26T23:49:00.000-07:00

When Theft Is Conducted With An [Israeli] Court Order

It did happen that the Israeli "absentee property guardian" rejected the alienation of property in Jerusalem to an Arab who purchased the land from its legitimate owners in Beit Jala (the West Bank.) And there is a chance that the same thing may happen again in the future. But it is a serious precedent that an Israeli judge in Jerusalem allows the alienation of the same property to a bank owned primarily by Jewish fundamentalists under the pretense that the owners of the property are unknown. The seriousness of this judge's ruling took the case to the Israeli Central Court.

Hajj Isa Elayyan from Beit Safafa, an Arab Israeli citizen since Israel took over Beit Safafa in 1948; purchased a 10 dunum parcel of land in 1972 (a dunum is 835 sq. yard.) The land is located in the village of Beit Safafa (1948 area.) Elayyan purchased the land from AlAraj family who were living in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem, 1967 area.) When Elayyan attempted to register the land in his name, the Israeli authorities refused and told Elayyan that "since the original owners do not have the Jerusalemite - Israeli- identity, no transfer of ownership is allowed." The son, Waleed Elayyan, said that the Israeli "absentee property guardian" claimed that "since the original owners of the property were residents of the West Bank, they are considered as absentees and they, therefore, could not sell their land in Beit Safafa."

Elayyan's efforts to find a way in the Israeli courts and laws to transfer the property to him was futile. Though, he maintained the lot which is located opposite to the famous Canyon Mall in Beit Safafa through out the years.

In 1995, Elayyan discovered that a Jewish by the name of Saul Cohen managed to transfer the title of 2 dunums adjacent to Elayyan's lot, the other part of a larger lot owned by AlAraj family. The two dunum lot was also under the authority of the Israeli "absentee property guardian." "After verification, we realized that the 'absentee property guardian' allowed the transfer of the ownership to Cohen;" Elayyan said. Based on this, Elayyan decided to go to court against the Israeli "absentee property guardian" who allowed property transfer to Cohen but refused it for him. Elayyan's logic was that he and Cohen are both Israeli citizens and they should be treated equally under the Israeli laws.

But the disaster for Elayyan came after Judge Yael Tzor took with the advice of Cohen of selling the entire lot in the area (the 2 dunums of Cohen and the 10 dunums of Elayyan.) Cohen claimed that he did not know where his 2 dunums are located in the whole lot and that he wanted to erect a commercial project on the land that he owned.

According to Elayyan, Judge Tzor ordered the sale of the land and published a small ad in the court hall, but not in all main newspapers as mandated. Elayyan's land was sold to Bank Mizrachi at $500,000 US. After deducting unpaid property taxes of $350,000; Elayyan was left with $150,000 for his 10 dunums. According to Elayyan, the very same court of Tzor previously assessed his land at $3.5 million. So, Cohen managed to get a title for the 2 dunums in his name.
Elayyan thinks that the ruling of the Israeli Judge was very serious not only because it discriminated against Arabs and Jews but aslo because the Israeli Judge did not publish the auction note in newspapers and was satisfied with publishing it in the court hall.

Elayyan took the case further against Judge Tzor, the Israeli "absentee property guardian," and Saul Cohen to the Israeli Central Court. At this point, the Israeli "absentee property guardian" claims that the file of the land is "lost." The Central Court commenced its precedings last Tuesday and there seems to be no way of predicting its ruling.

Many Jews merely claim that they owned certain properties in East Jerusalem since the 20s and the 30s. And considering the counterfeiting and the illegal acts of land dealers as well as the abuse of the Israeli "absentee property guardian," it is rather difficult for the legitimate property owners to recover their properties or sell them. Despite the peace agreements with Jordan and the Palestinians, Israel has not canceled or changed the Absentee Property Law because thousands of Arabs will be able to recover [or be compensated for] their lost properties that Jews took over. (Al-Ayyam www.al-ayyam.com Feb. 17, 1998).

9/11 Flying Carpets - More Notes

2006-07-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp (Part V continued.)

Procatalepsis. “A procatalepsis is a rhetorical figure or strategy in which the [script]writer raises an objection and then immediately answers it; by doing so, the writer seeks to strengthen his argument by dealing with possible objections before his audience can raise counter-arguments.”

Ever since 9/11 there have been many reports of terrorist activities in Al-anarkia. These reports are either fictitious, or the acts are engineered by Al-anarkia authorities for at least two reasons:

A procatalepsis to preempt the audience who might ask questions like, “why don’t the terrorist do something [else], are they on a strike? A religious holiday?”

As additional hooks (see notes on ‘Narrative Hook’ in Part III) to keep the audience on their toes.

“Imagery is any literary reference to the five senses (sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste). Essentially, imagery is a group of words that create a mental image. Such images can be created by using figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, personification, and assonance.”

So the word 'terrorist' automatically projects in the mind of the audience one or more of the intended images [of 9/11] that have been televised over and over again, inducing an avalanche of reactions, especially subconscious.

“Imagery is also the term used to refer to the creation (or re-creation) of any experience in the mind – auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory, kinesthetic, organic. It is a cognitive process employed by most, if not all, humans. When thinking about a previous or upcoming event, people commonly use imagery.”

Equally, any reference to 9/11 plays a ‘parade of horribles’ with far-reaching consequences in the mind of the audience.

"Remembered Imagery is mostly based on what an individual has already experienced. People have a clear image of those ‘experienced’ things, which they can recall at will.”

Any reference to 9/11 [or to terrorism] falsely projects the image of the ‘Arab terrorists’ in the mind of the audience...

“Imaginary imagery does not seem to have a corresponding equivalent in the real world -- often it is a strange combination of remembered images, or of remembered images mixed with confabulation.”

[Recommended reading: Confabulation, or the confusion of imagination with memory; false memories; Korsakoff's syndrome; induced confabulation and choice blindness, psychologist Petter Johansson’s experiment; Cognitive psychology]

Audience surrogate. “In the study of literature, an audience surrogate is a character who expresses the questions and confusion of the reader. It is a device frequently used in detective fiction and science fiction.“In detective fiction, the audience surrogate is usually a minor character that asks a central character how he or she accomplished certain deeds, for the purpose of inciting that character to explain (for the curious audience) his or her methods.

“In science fiction, the audience surrogate frequently takes the form of a child or other uninformed person, asking a relatively educated person to explain what amounts to the backstory.“In superhero comics, the audience surrogate is often the sidekick of the hero. The earliest example of this is Batman's sidekick, Robin, who was created specifically for this purpose.”

"A revealing line in mystery or science fiction stories is that after the author explains the backstory, the audience surrogate will frequently utter lines to the effect of: 'Well, when you put it that way, even I can understand!'"

In Al-anarkia, the audience surrogates are quadruplet:

Firstly, the ‘supervillain’ himself (the virtual surly genie Osama Ben Gurian) who explains everything to such minute details and with the de rigueur reserved for film scripts that even [rather especially] the ‘dumbest redneck’ in town could understand him;

Secondly, his numerous sidekicks who regularly appear on the media and make numerous statements about their ‘terror plots’;

Thirdly, the ‘quote whores’ (i.e., the journalists, news anchors, political analysts, ex-generals, the ubiquitous Israeli security 'experts' [without whom there would be no terrorists in the universes] …);

Fourthly, senior members of the Al-anarkia Administration.

MacGuffin. “A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story itself.”

“The element that distinguishes a MacGuffin from other types of plot devices is that it is not important what object the MacGuffin specifically is. Anything that serves as a motivation will do. A true MacGuffin is essentially interchangeable. Its importance will generally be accepted completely by the story's characters, with minimal explanation. From the audience's perspective, the MacGuffin is not the point of the story.

“The technique is common in films, especially thrillers. Commonly, though not always, the MacGuffin is the central focus of the film in the first act, and then declines in significance as the struggles and motivations of the characters take center stage. Sometimes the MacGuffin is all but forgotten by the end of the film.

“Because a MacGuffin is, by definition, ultimately unimportant to the story, its use can test the suspension of disbelief of audiences. Well-done works will compensate for this, with a good story, interesting characters, talented acting/writing, and so on. Poorer works, which fail in those areas, often only highlight a MacGuffin, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. MacGuffins may be acceptable to the general audience, but fail to be believable for experts in the subject matter (such as a particular technology, or historical detail).”

The main MacGuffin used after the 9/11 events in Al-anarkia caliphate were the imaginary weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Source of quotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

continued...

Part V - A Multitude of Plot Holes

2006-07-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

Part V - A Multitude of Plot Holes in The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin's Lamp

Plot holes, you may recall, pop out when 'something happens during the story that seems highly unlikely, or would be impossible to imitate in real life.'

The first series of big plot holes in the fictional tale of The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp appear just as the plot is about to unfold. The unreal events that generate the plot include:

[Plot hole] A group of 19 lesser genies from Al-Cock-a-doodle-doo 'terrorist genies without borders' having received training in the acts of black magic, sorcery and terror from the surly virtual Genie, Osama Bin Gurian [and his sidekicks], enter Al-Anarkia to wreak havoc UNCHALLENGED.How could that be?

[Plot hole] Al-anarkia wastes over 1 trillion dollars in ‘defense spending’ each year and has established military bases in 130 countries throughout the universe. She trains tens of thousands of agents, spies, informers, terror specialists, fake terror networks [set up to train and entrap the ‘real terrorists’], pimps, drug dealers, street fighters, terror gangs... in EVERY single country throughout the universe.How could the ‘terrorists’ score so high and with such apparent ease?

Well, er... actually 'they' didn't.

REM: Deus ex machine. Deus ex machine, a Latin phrase meaning 'God from the Machine,' describes an “unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot.”And why would they want to do such things?

[Plot hole] The genies want to kill Al-anarkians because, we are told, “they hate our freedoms!”

[Plot hole] Rather than being turned away or arrested at the borders as genies of ill-repute (we learn that they are on the intelligence agencies ‘Terror Lists’) they are welcomed to Al-anarkia with open arms. [Bear in mind that Al-anarkia’s annual defense budget tops 1 trillion dollars, and her spying agencies control every phone call, email, fax...]

[Plot hole] In fact, their entry to the country is made conveniently easy by the Mock Caliph himself, who has previously changed the visa requirements for the genies.

[Plot hole] On the fateful morning of 9/11 they hijack four flying carpets and attack various targets [according to the official account]... Their 100 percent success rate in hijacking the 4 carpets can only be superhuman!Such high rates of success are only achievable in fiction or in videogames.

[Plot hole] They manage to fly the carpets and hit the intended targets hundreds of miles away even though they have little or no experience in flying or navigating the flying carpets.

REM: Ficton.“Ficton is an imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for a story. A ficton can be identical to our world (save a few details) or different from it in every aspect - depending on the wishes of the author.”

Al-Anarkia and The Martians Who Own The Big Oil

2006-07-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

The Martians Who Own The Big Oil ...

Al-anarkia is one of the only two countries in the universe where Jewish supporters of Israel can buy the lease for three loss-making buildings (the Twin Treasure Towers and Building No 7) in the heart of her financial capital, Dodge’em city, have the demolition experts (coordinated by the Caliphate’s evil Grand Vizier) blow them up into easily transportable chunks (having first warned the Israeli occupants to evacuate the buildings), receive full spectrum military protection from the Caliphate’s armed forces before, during and after the demolitions, get the Caliphate’s security services foot the bill for the cost of demolitions, have the Transportation department haul away the debris at their expense (and on the double before they could be examined), receive full cooperation and logistics support from the city’s [degenerate] mayor (who couldn’t give a damn as dozens of his brave firefighters were being sent to their deaths- was subsequently knighted by the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, presumably for his chivalry and bravery at keeping a straight face and not spilling the beans,) successfully claim the insurance money... and get the mind mechanics and disinformation experts to tell everyone that the ‘Jews’ didn’t do it (of course not, the green Martians who own the big oil must have done it!)

The 9/11 Flying Carpets… (Part IV - Real events; scripted events.)

2006-07-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp (Part IV)

How can you tell the difference between real events and make-believe or ‘scripted events’ that are ‘acted out’ by ‘characters’, some or all of whom may be fictional?

Also: A review of Plot Devices, Plot Holes, Literary Techniques, Suspension of Disbelief, Continuity, Rhetorical Remedies, Verisimilitude, Truthiness...

Part IV – How can you tell the difference between real events and the make-believe or ‘scripted events’ that are ‘acted out’ by ‘characters’, some or all of whom may be fictional?

Before answering that question, let’s review Plot Devices, Rhetorical Remedies and other terms and definitions used by the movie and television industries.

Narratology: “Narratology is the theory and study of narrative and narrative structure and (...) the way they affect our perception.”

The objects studied include “all kinds of narrated texts - both fiction (literature, poetry, etc.) and non-fiction (historiography, academic publishing, etc.), - as well as the dramatic structures, plot devices, characterization, settings, genres, and literary techniques.”

Continuity, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Suspension of Disbelief and Verisimilitude are important components of narratology.

Conceit: “Conceit is an extended metaphor, associated with metaphysical poetry, designed to push the limits of the imagination in order to portray something indescribable.”

Continuity: "Continuity is a very important aspect of any story. Per definition, it means the consistency of the characteristics of characters, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or the audience. To put it simpler, continuity includes everything about the universe where the story takes place - facts, history, common logic, laws of nature, etc. Ideally, these shouldn't contradict themselves."

Verisimilitude: “In literature, the term denotes the extent to which the characters and actions in a work of fiction exhibit realism or authenticity, or otherwise conform to our sense of reality. A work with a high degree of verisimilitude means that the work is very realistic and believable; works of this nature are often said to be ‘true to life.’”

“Verisimilitude is also the willingness to suspend one's disbelief (even if the events or fictitious representations might otherwise be considered preposterous) when the intensity of the story or interest in the characters overrides the need to believe that things are scientifically correct.”

Suspension of disbelief: “Suspension of disbelief is a willingness of a reader or viewer to suspend his or her critical faculties to the extent of ignoring minor inconsistencies so as to enjoy a work of fiction.”

“Suspension of disbelief is an essential component of live theatre, where it was certainly recognised by Shakespeare”.“The audience accepts limitations in the story being presented, sacrificing realism, and occasionally logic and believability for the sake of enjoyment [or to bring the story to a conclusion.]”

“Suspension of disbelief is also essential for the enjoyment of many movies and TV shows involving complex stunts and special effects. It's why many action movie fans are willing to accept the idea that the good guy can get away with shooting guns in public places or that cars will explode with a well-placed shot to the gas tank. It's also why many Dukes of Hazzard fans will accept the idea that a Dodge Charger can be jumped great distances with little to no damage to the car. Movies employing large amounts of CGI effects (such as the Matrix Trilogy or Terminator 2: Judgement Day) require a suspension of disbelief, as they are capable of portraying situations which clearly deviate from the laws of physics.”

“One of the most well known examples of suspension of disbelief is the acceptance that the iconic superhero, Superman, hides his identity from the world by simply donning a pair of glasses, wearing conservative clothing, and acting in a ‘mild mannered’ fashion, which contrasts with the large and in-charge personality of Superman. Not only is the disguise so thin as to be ridiculous, but the fact that the alter ego of Superman, Clark Kent, writes numerous stories about ‘The Man of Steel,’ and that his girlfriend, and later wife, is a constant source of Superman stories as well, which often involves her own rescue from the brink of death (which often involves her staring him in the face for several seconds), requires a high level of suspension of disbelief to accept that such circumstances could be a reality, where so few people discover Superman's secret identity. In the TV series, The Adventures of Superman, this absurdity was carried to an extreme. Lois and Jimmy were constantly suspecting Clark of being Superman, yet when obvious evidence was right in their faces (such as times when Clark was missing his glasses) they never saw the resemblance. (Noel Neill and Jack Larson, in DVD commentary, said their standard answer when questioned about this was, ‘We wanted to keep our jobs!’) In his book Superman: Serial to Cereal, author Gary Grossman pointed out the paradox that an audience was willing to accept the notion that a man could fly through the air, in defiance of all known laws of physics, and yet question the relatively mundane fact that his friends seemed too stupid to observe the obvious.”

Deviating From the Laws of Physics: Also deviating from the laws of physics, is the story of the two flying carpets in Al-Anarkia that with only a few drops of Magic Jet fuel left in them from Aladdin’s Lamp they manage to incinerate two 110-story skyscrapers. The buildings disintegrate and collapse at freefall speed. A third 47-story building on seeing the fate of its peers commits suicide collapsing symmetrically on its own footprint.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: “The fourth wall is part of the suspension of disbelief between a fictional work and an audience. The audience will usually passively accept the presence of the fourth wall without giving it any direct thought (...)”

The fourth wall is broken when "either a character or the scriptwriter addresses the audience directly so that the reader or audience may acknowledge what is being presented is fiction.” The repetitive use of ‘Breaking the Fourth Wall’ technique, however, extends “the world of the story to provide the illusion that [the audience] are included in it."

In the script for ‘The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp’ the Al-Cock-a-doodle-do ‘terror’ group characters break the Fourth Wall by bombarding the audience with written statements, audiotapes and videotapes almost on a daily basis to extend the world of story to provide the illusion that the audience are definitely included in the script- and they better watch out because Al-Cock-a-doodle-do is watching everyone (!)

Setting: “Setting refers to the set of locations (or the entire world) where the story takes place.”

Ficton: “Ficton is an imaginary world that serves as the setting or backdrop for a story.” A ficton can be identical to our world (save a few details) or different from it in every aspect - depending on the wishes of the author.

Backstory: “Back-story, the story ‘behind’ or ‘before’ the events being portrayed in the story being told; past events or background for a character that can serve to color or add additional meaning to current circumstances. Provides extra depth to the story by anchoring it to external events, real or imagined.”

“The dramatic revelation of secrets from the back-story is a useful term for forming the story, recommended as far back as Aristotle's Poetics.”

Backstory for The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp included multiple broadcasts of video clips and still photos of Osama Ben Gurian clutching a Kalashnikov and talking to his comrades. Also, a short clip of the alleged members of Al-Cock-a-doodle-doo doing gymnastics, jumping through burning rings… was shown over and over and over on Al-Anarkian TV stations such as FOX, ZNN (pronounced CNN) ...

What the television audiences perceive as news bulletins are mostly scripted movies designed to achieve specific audience responses.

Background narratives in Al-anarkia: The terrorists who don’t like our way of life; they waged war on us! Weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The axis of evil. We are the protectors of freedom. The Peak Oil! We must have undisrupted supply. China is a threat. We are the guardians of democracy. Israel is our ally: We must protect our Allies… and many other words and phrases strung together but completely void of any meaning.

Stock Characters: “A stock character is a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to members of a given culture.”

Stereotypes: “Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. They are often used in a negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours.”

Social stereotype: “Social stereotypes are cases of metonymy, where a subcategory has a socially recognized status as standing for the category as a whole, usually for the purpose of making quick judgments about people.”

“Social stereotypes take the negative characteristics of some and apply it to all in a given, often arbitrary, category. They are a tool of propaganda and divisive politics.”

Stereotypes of groups by other groups: “Common stereotypes include a variety of allegations about groups based around: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, or religious belief; also profession and social class (see social stereotype).

The main stock character used in The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp is the surly virtual genie Osama Ben Gurian personified as the ‘Dark Lord.’

The Dark Lord: The Dark Lord is ‘a sinister villain’ “with an entourage of henchpersons, usually bent on conquest of the world, galaxy, or universe.”

“A villain is an ‘evil’ character in a story, whether an historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villains are the bad guys, the characters who strive against the hero. Female villains are sometimes called villainesses.”

Psychological attributes: What makes a character into a villain is his/her capacity and willingness to act with evil motives.“A common psychological feature of the movie villain is a haughty overconfidence that leads to the unnecessary explanation of one's sinister plans — which is sometimes just a cheap plot device used by the author to explain to the audience details which he/she could not express by more natural narrative means.”

Sure enough, Osama, the surly virtual genie, and his Al-Cock-a-doodle-do fictitious ‘terrorists without borders’ group conveniently issue statements after statements explaining their reasons for the hatred detailing their plans to harm Al-anarkia and her interests.

Labeling: “In social terms, labels represent a way of differentiating and identifying people that is considered by many as a form of prejudice and discrimination.”

Stereotyping: “The most common method of 'labeling' people derives from a general way of perceiving members of a certain nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender, or some other group. When a majority of people hold a certain point of view towards a certain group, that point of view becomes a stereotype. That stereotype affects the way other people perceive the groups in question and the result is a 'label' that is metaphorically imposed on the members of the group in question. A member of a targeted group is thus 'labeled' by the larger society, and along with it, the nuances underlying the label, be it positive or negative, that aids in the formation of social stereotypes.”

Prejudice:The term Prejudice implies the process of ‘pre-judging’ something. “It implies coming to a judgment on a subject before learning where the preponderance of evidence actually lies, or forming a judgment without direct experience.”

“When applied to social groups, prejudice generally refers to existing biases toward the members of such groups, often based on social stereotypes.”

Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination: Allport’s Scale of Prejudice measures the manifestation of prejudice in a society on a scale of 1 – 5.

Scale 1. Antilocution. “(...) a majority group freely make jokes about a minority group. Speech is in terms of negative stereotypes and negative images. This is also called hate speech. It is commonly seen as harmless by the majority. Antilocution itself may not be harmful, but it sets the stage for more severe outlets for prejudice. Examples are jokes about the Irish, French, blacks, gays, (...) Muslims etc.”

Scale 2. Avoidance. “People in a minority group are actively avoided by members of the majority group. No direct harm may be intended, but harm is done through isolation.”

Scale 3. Discrimination. “Minority group is discriminated against by denying them opportunities and services and so putting prejudice into action. Behaviours have the specific goal of harming the minority group by preventing them from achieving goals, getting education or jobs, etc. The majority group is actively trying to harm the minority.”

Scale 4. Physical Attack. “The majority group, vandalise minority group things, they burn property and carry out violent attacks on individuals or groups. Physical harm is done to members of the minority group. Examples are lynchings of blacks (...)”

Scale 5. Extermination. “The majority group seeks extermination of the minority group. They attempt to liquidate the entire group of people (e.g., Indian Wars to remove Native Americans [...] Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, etc.).”

Prejudice Towards Arabs and Middle East. The script to pin the responsibility for the 9/11 events on the Arabs was written well before the events actually occurred- possibly as early as 1921. In Western media“Hollywood has been accused of using a disproportionate number of Arabs as villains and of depicting Arabs negatively and stereotypically. According to Godfrey Cheshire, a critic on the New York Press, ‘the only vicious racial stereotype that's not only still permitted but actively endorsed by Hollywood’ is that of Arabs as crazed terrorists."

“The 2000 film Rules of Engagement drew criticism from Arab groups, described as ‘probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood’ by the ADC. Paul Clinton of the Boston Globe wrote ‘at its worst, it's blatantly racist, using Arabs as cartoon-cutout bad guys’.

Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University, "in his book Reel Bad Arabs, surveyed more than 900 film appearances of Arab characters. Of those, only a dozen were positive and 50 were balanced. Shahee[n] writes ‘Seen through Hollywood's distorted lenses, Arabs look different and threatening.’”

“In his essay ‘Arabs in Hollywood: An Undeserved Image’, Scott J. Simon argues that of all the ethnic groups portrayed in Hollywood films, ‘Arab culture has been the most misunderstood and supplied with the worst stereotypes’:

“Rudolph Valentino's roles in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926) set the stage for the exploration and negative portrayal of Arabs in Hollywood films. Both The Sheik and The Son of the Sheik represented Arab characters as thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes.

“Other movies of the 1920s share a common theme of power-hungry, brutal Arabs ultimately defeated by white westerners:The Song of Love (1923) A Cafe in Cairo (1924) The Desert Bride (1928) “Simon singles out A Son of the Sahara (1924) as ‘the strongest subconscious attack on the Arab culture of all the Arab movies of the 1920s.’

“The same themes prevailed into the 1970s and beyond:

• Black Sunday (1977) concerns an Arab terrorist plot to bomb a stadium during the Super Bowl.

• The Black Stallion (1979) opens with Arabs mistreating a horse aboard a ship, then attacking a boy with a knife and stealing his life jacket.”

Billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers

“A report titled ‘100 Years of Anti-Arab and Anti-Muslim stereotyping’ by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh (director of media relations for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee) specifies what some in the Arab American community call ‘the three B syndrome’:

‘Arabs in TV and movies are portrayed as either bombers, belly dancers, or billionaires’:

Thomas Edison made a short film in 1897 for his patented Kinetoscope in which 'Arab' women with enticing clothes dance to seduce a male audience. The short clip was called Fatima Dances (Belly dancer stereotype). The trend has shifted over the years and was predominated by the ‘billionaires’ for a short while especially during the oil crises in the seventies. However, in the last 30 some years, the predominant stereotype by far has been the ‘Arab bombers.’

“In a piece in the Los Angeles Times published July 28, 1997, Laila Lalami offers a 12-step guide to making a successful Arab-bashing movie, including such items as ‘the villains must all have beards,’ ‘they must all wear keffiehs,’ ‘they must all have names like Ali, Abdul or Mustapha" and "have them threaten to blow something up.’”“Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University, documented these trends in his book The TV Arab (ISBN 0879723092), which identifies more than 21 major movies released over ten years which show the U.S. military killing Arabs. These include:

- Iron Eagle (1986)
- Death Before Dishonor (1987)
- Navy SEALs (1990)
- Delta Force 3: The Killing Game (1991)
- Patriot Games (1992)
- Executive Decision (1996)

“In Reel Bad Arabs (ISBN 1844370194), Shaheen writes that ‘television's image of the Arab is omnipresent [and] is becoming a part of American folklore.’ He also writes that Arabs have ‘consistently appeared in American popular culture as billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers.’”Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different god, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens.

“The movies which Shaheen identifies as the three worst in terms of negative portrayal of Arabs in modern films are:
- Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987); ‘Arab thugs... plan to ignite Los Angeles... killing millions.’
- True Lies (1994); "Arnold S. INC." shoots dead Palestinians like clay pigeons. "
- Rules of Engagement (2000); ‘a film which ‘justifies’ US Marines killing Arab women and children.’ [Does that ring familiar?]

“In response to 9/11, previous negative portrayal of Arabs in the media (including their Muslim and South Asian counterparts) may have incited hate crimes against the Arab-American community.”

Plot Dump. “Plot dump, infodump, or exposition is a term used by the movie and television industries to describe a plot device by which critical elements of the plot, often involving the back-story, are not depicted directly but are instead elaborated in dialogue by one of the characters or by a narrator.”

In the script for The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp the infodump was delivered by the Al-anarkian TV and ‘news’ media in the form of endless coverage and spin, and through major speeches and interviews given by the Mock Caliph, Ja’far the Evil Grand Vizier, the Pious Black Slave, Al-Rumsie the lesser Vizier and a host of other characters involved in the plot.

Rhetoric. “Generally, rhetoric is an art of persuasion through language, but it is also very often used in narrative - to draw the reader's attention to the text and to make the characters' conversations more realistic [where reality and logic are otherwise suppressed]. Various rhetorical devices may be used in order to achieve the author's goals and make the audience/reader understand and accept the point that the author was trying to make.”

“Both the terms ‘rhetoric’ and ‘sophistry’ are also used today in a pejorative or dismissive sense, when someone wants to distinguish between ‘empty’ words and action, or between true or accurate information and misinformation, propaganda, or ‘spin,’ or to denigrate specific forms of verbal reasoning as spurious. Nonetheless, rhetoric, as the art of persuasion, continues to play an important function in contemporary public life.”

Authors manipulate the language of their works to create a desired response from the reader. This is the realm of the rhetorical devices.

A list of Rhetorical Remedies: Literary topos; Logical fallacies; Rhetorical figure; Ad captandum; Allusion; Anaptyxis; Ambiguity; Aphesis; Aphorism; Apologue; Aposiopesis; Archaism; Atticism; Brachyology; Cacophony; Circumlocution; Climax; Conceit; Eloquence; Enthymeme; Ethos; Euphemism; Figure of speech; Formal equivalence; Hendiadys; Hysteron-proteron; Idiom; Innuendo; Ipsedixitism; Kenning; List of pejorative political slogans; Merism; Mnemonic; Negation; Overdetermination; Parable; Paraphrase; Paraprosdokian; Pericope; Period; Perissologia; Praeteritio; Proverb; Rhetoric of science; Soundbite; Synchysis; Synesis; Synonymia; Tautology; Tertium comparationis; Trope; Truism; Word play.

Frame Story. “A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc.) is a narrative technique whereby a main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story -- or for surrounding a single story within a story.”

In The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp the impact of the flying carpets against the Twin Treasure Towers are employed as a frame story for both the other events on 9/11, and all other subsequent ‘terror’ attacks throughout the ‘universe.’

Magic Realism. “Magic realism (or magical realism) is a literary genre in which magical elements appear in an otherwise realistic setting.”Common aspects of magical realist novels and filmsSome or all of the following elements are found in many magical realist novels and films:

- Contains fantastical elements
- The fantastic elements may be intuitively ‘logical’ but are never explained
- Characters accept rather than question the logic of the magical element
- Exhibits a richness of sensory details
- Uses symbols and imagery extensively. Often phallic imagery is used without the reader/viewer consciously noticing it.
- Emotions and the sexuality of the human as a social construct are often developed upon in great detail
- Distorts time so that it is cyclical or so that it appears absent. Another technique is to collapse time in order to create a setting in which the present repeats or resembles the past.
- Inverts cause and effect, for instance a character may suffer before a tragedy occurs
- Incorporates legend or folklore
- Presents events from multiple perspectives, such as those of belief and disbelief or the colonizers and the colonized
- Uses a mirroring of either past and present, astral and physical planes, or of characters
- Ends leaving the reader uncertain, whether to believe in the magical interpretation or the realist interpretation of the events in the story"

Deus ex machina. Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase meaning 'God from the Machine.' "It describes an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot(...) The phrase has been extended to refer to any resolution to a story which does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely it challenges suspension of disbelief; allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, but more palatable ending. In modern terms the Deus ex machina has also come to describe a person or thing that suddenly arrives and solves a seemingly insoluble difficulty.”

So, how can you tell the difference between real events and the make-believe or ‘scripted events’ that are ‘acted out’ by ‘characters’, some or all of whom may be fictional?

Plot Holes! Plot holes? Yes, Plot holes. Real events occur sequentially and without any logical gaps. “Plot hole is a gap in a storyline that goes against the flow of logic set-up by the plot. Plot holes are usually seen as weaknesses and flaws in a story, and writers try to avoid them (...) to make their stories seem as realistic and lifelike as possible.”“The viewing or reading audience notes a plot hole when something happens during the story that seems highly unlikely, or would be impossible to imitate in real life. If a bank robber's car is being chased by five or six police cruisers, and the bank robber successfully evades capture simply by making a left turn down a dark alley when all the pursuing officers ought to see this, that is seen as a plot hole.”

Discerning audiences almost always find plot holes no matter how well the scripts are written. Source of quotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/ emphasis were added.

The 9/11 Flying Carpets... Part III - The Narrative

2006-07-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp
(Part III - The Narrative)

Preamble: Laws of Physics don’t change or morph in the world which we know and perceive as real. In the segment of the reality spectrum that we are tuned to, events (incidents) occur sequentially and plausibly – they always do.

When a physical event occurs, it lives behind a footprint that can be examined, explained and analyzed. There’s always a perfectly simple explanation for what happens in our world (Google for Occam’s razor).

For example, buildings don’t collapse without a reason, steel doesn’t melt in jet fuel, and buildings don’t blow up spontaneously, but when they are packed with explosives that are then detonated...

In the world of fiction created by Hollywood, special effects, and make-believe ‘magic’, however, events take a different course: Things can appear out of the blue sky and disappear in a puff of smoke without any reason, trace or explanation – we sometimes believe in the fantasy and 'magic' because of psychological conditioning, influence of rhetorical devices, or fulfillment of an emotional need.

Literary Theory. According to the literary theory, “‘narrative’ is a story or part of a story. A story is any form of text, regardless of medium, describing a sequence of events caused and experienced by characters, some of whom may be fictional.”

Narrative - Traditional Paradigm: “People are essentially thinking beings, basing their reasoned decisions on the merits of discussion and evidential reasoning; what is judged rational is determined by the knowledge and understanding displayed, and by how the case is argued.”

Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm: “The Narrative Paradigm is a theory proposed by Walter Fisher that all meaningful communication is a form of storytelling or to give a report of events […] and so human beings experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, each with their own conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends.

“In non-technical terms, no matter what the context (whether scientific, philosophical, legal, etc) a narrative is a story, an interpretation of some aspect of the world that is historically and culturally grounded and shaped by human personality (per Walter Fisher).”

Storytelling Animals: “Fisher offers a humanistic model of communication in that individuals take sometimes complex information and transform it into narratives. This characterizes humans as ‘storytelling animals’ exchanging messages with each other, and that each message is judged as credible in terms of its consistency and by reference to the values and beliefs of the audience.”

Narrative Rationality: “Fisher reacts against this model as [being] too limited and suggests a new paradigm of ‘narrative rationality’.

He begins with the proposition that:

People are essentially storytellers;

Although people claim ‘good’ reasons for their decisions, these reasons include history, culture, and perceptions about the status and character of the other people involved (all of which may be subjective and incompletely understood);

The test of narrative rationality is based on the probability, coherence and fidelity of the stories that underpin the immediate decisions to be made; and

The world is a set of stories from which each individual chooses the ones that match his or her values and beliefs.”

In practice, both paradigms coexist; however, the people who are 'essentially thinking beings, basing their reasoned decisions on the merits of discussion and evidential reasoning' are heavily outnumbered by the 'storytelling animals' who apply subjective reasoning though their reasons are incompletely understood by them.

As every successful scriptwriter, film director, or magician knows, the scripts always target the [less-discerning] majority in the audience!

Fiction: “Fiction is storytelling of imagined events and stands in contrast to non-fiction, which makes factual claims about reality.”

What’s a Plot? Aristotle says in Poetics, “a plot in literature is ‘the arrangement of incidents’ that (ideally) each follow plausibly from the other.”

A-Plot: “A-Plot is a cinema and television term referring to the plotline that really drives the story. This doesn't mean it's the most important, but rather the one that forces most of the action.”

The A-Plot in The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp script is about a group of 19 lesser genies from Al-Cock-a-doodle-doo ‘terrorist’ clan who hate the Al-Anarkian way of life and their freedoms (!)

They undergo training by the one surly Genie, Osama Bin Gurian [and his sidekicks, see Stock Characters] in the acts of black magic, sorcery and terror. They enter Al-Anarkia to wreak havoc. Rather than being turned away or arrested at the borders as genies of ill-repute (they are on the intelligence agencies ‘Terror Lists’) they are welcomed with open arms to Al-Anarkia. In fact, their entry to the country is made conveniently easy by the Mock Caliph himself, who has previously changed the Visa requirements for the genies.

On entry to Al-Anarkia they are all being put under surveillance by the government’s numerous police and spy agencies. However, on the fateful morning of 9/11 the surveillance is mysteriously (and conveniently) lifted so that they could hijack four flying carpets and attack various targets…

Their ‘success’ rate in the alleged hijacking of the flying carpts, hitting the targets and creating carnage proves to be phenomenal, even though they have little or no experience in flying or navigating flying carpets. The flying carpets, too, work as if by magic. They destroy tall towers and punch holes in thick layers of reinforced concrete.

Shrub the Mock Caliph, Al-Anarkia’s superhero [are you kidding me?], and his sidekicks [the lesser, chicken heroes] then wage a long war against ‘terrorism’, or ‘War on Terror’, to ‘protect’ the citizens of Al-Anarkia, restore ‘democracy’, ‘freedom’ and ‘stability’ to all other countries that are ruled by despots like Ali-Baba.

Ultimately, the plot aims to unite all of the white people in the ‘free’ countries against the poor ‘colored’ countries that breed ‘terrorists’ who hate ‘freedom!’ and Al-Anarkian way of life.

The A-Plot is mostly fictional and is used to shroud all but one of other subplots, the B-Plot.

The B-Plot is semi-transparent, though not completely hidden. In the B-Plot, the scriptwriters employ Foreshadowing, a literary device, by dropping subtle hints (which are amplified by mainstream media quote whores, the make-believe ‘renegade’ authors on the Internet and alternative media) about the plot. They leave the audience to work out the ‘real’ reasons behind the stated goal of the fictional ‘War on Terror’. The B-Plot is used also as a fallback option, pumped with ‘we are doing all of this for you’ rhetoric. The B-Plot is meant to make the majority of the audience feel good (Schadenfreude, a German term meaning 'pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune') about maintaining their lifestyles despite the suffering that it brings to the others and despite the physical limitations and constraints imposed by nature. [The earth’s natural resources are running alarmingly low, the ecosystems are collapsing and Peak Oil is looming.] Capitalism is cannibalism. The big fish must eat the small fish to stay alive. Al-Anarkia would use 9/11 as a pretext to invade Poppyistan to build military bases poised against oil-producing countries (the vast opium fields would also be a great treat for the elite and members of the security services). Al-Anarkia then invades Baghdad to control her vast oil reserves. The B-Plot is the ultimate justification for the A-Plot and is used as a powerful Rhetorical Device to remedy any inconsistency that the audience might have noticed in the A-Plot. The Narrative goes something like this: "Why should we let these evil terrorists (man, women, children, babies and all) who don’t like our way of life, attack our country and kill our people be entitled to the oil in their countries when we, the ‘victims of terrorism’, have to cough up 3 dollars for a gallon of gas?"

The C-Plot is a real (non-fiction) plot. A desperate investor, The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through A Dream, who has recently bought the lease for Twin Treasure Towers, plans to destroy the Towers (and another building, No. 7) during the 9/11 attacks and use the insurance money to rebuild them. The Towers are loss-making; however, to demolish and rebuild them by conventional means would prove prohibitively expensive. The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate, and other perpetrators also plan to rob the Twin Treasure Towers of vast quantities of gold bullions, precious stones, financial instruments and other valuables such as highly sensitive data… and possibly destroy certain damaging evidence that are stored therein) in the confusion created by the action in the fictional A-Plot. Also in this plot, the ‘defense’ industry plans to rake in billions in defense contracts. They devise diabolic schemes to sell individuals, businesses, airlines and governments new anti-missile missile systems that can intercept the terrorists' nuclear missiles and other terrible weapons of mass destruction (!) WMD. Clearly, people need protection in their toilets, homes, offices, cars, planes, yachts … against the Poop Missiles, the missing WMD, that the Al-Cock-a-doodle-doo terrorists without borders could defecate on them anyplace, anytime.

The D-Plot is somewhat arcane. Perceived enemies of Israel, the world’s 1.2 billion Moslems, must be annihilated and all of their land, water and oil reserves be given to Israelis, who need it to prosper and expand...as 'promised'.

The E-Plot is wholly esoteric. It’s about Baghdad, the Babylonian Kabala and Rapture...

Plot Generator: A plot generator is “a fictional plot device which permits the generation of plots for an extended serial without requiring a great deal of logical connection between the episodes”.

A plot generator allows the scriptwriters to introduce any idea the wish into the story. “The TARDIS in the ‘Doctor Who’ [British] television series is the epitome of a plot generator, in that it can take the Doctor anywhere in space and time, where he can encounter anything the writers want him to encounter. The HoloDeck, introduced in the pilot of Star Trek: The Next Generation, could also be viewed as a plot generator, as its open ended nature allowed the show's writers to construct a number of stories later in the series.”

In The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp the plot generator is the one ‘Al-Cock-a-doodle-doo’ the ‘Terrorist Genies Without Borders’ a fictional group capable of striking any target, anyplace, anytime to wreak havoc on innocent parties in the heart of the ‘free’ and ‘civilized world.’

Narrative Hook: “A narrative hook (or hook) is something in the opening of a story that "hooks" the reader's attention so that he will read on. One of the commonest forms is dramatic action, which engages the reader into wondering what the consequences of the action will be.“One of the commonest forms is dramatic action, which engages the reader into wondering what the consequences of the action will be. This particular form has been recommended from the earliest days, stemming from Aristotle, and the widely used term ‘in medias res’ stems from the Roman Empire.” In James Bond movies the hook is often in the opening with an action-packed dramatic sequence.

In The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp the scriptwriters use the impact of the flying carpet against the Twin Treasure Towers as hook.

However, action in itself is regarded as an insufficient hook. The audience should be made to “wonder what will happen next, or what the reasons for the actions to occur were.”

Further, “overly dramatic openings may leave the reader indifferent because the characters acting or being acted on are non-entities; even murder of a faceless character may not engage interest.”

So the scriptwriters recommended the authorities in Al-Anarkia to employ a Terror Alert System to create an additional and powerful hook. As the effect of the initial actions wane, the state of the Terror Alert Condition is raised, e.g., from ‘blue for guarded’ to ‘yellow for elevated’ to ‘orange for high’ and possibly to ‘red for severe’; but rarely, if ever, down to ‘green!’

Stock characters: A stock character is a fictional character that relies heavily on cultural types or stereotypes for its personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. Stock characters are instantly recognizable to members of a given culture. Because of this, a frequent device of both comedy and parody is to wildly exaggerate the expected mannerisms of stock characters.

Plot Device: “A plot device is a person or an object introduced to a story to affect or advance the plot.” However, if a story is poorly-written the readers would notice “such awkward or contrived plot devices” that they would have ‘serious trouble maintaining suspension of disbelief; indeed, the devices may even leave plot holes.’”

A List of Plot Devices: Chekhov's Gun; Cliffhanger; Deathtrap; Deus ex machina; Discovery; Eavesdropping; Flashing arrow; Foreshadowing; MacGuffin; Narrative hook; Pistol effect; Plot coupon; Plot dump; Plot generator; Plot point; Quest; Red herring; Reversal; Sexual tension; Stock character; Villain; Voyeurism.

Narrative Environment: “A narrative environment is a space, whether physical or virtual, in which stories can unfold. A virtual narrative environment might be the narrative framework in which game play can proceed. A physical narrative environment might be an exhibition area within a museum, or a foyer of a retail space, or the public spaces around a building - anywhere in short where stories can be told in space.”

In The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp the narrative environment is the Homeland and the rest of the ‘free world’ where the fictitious terrorists can strike at leisure anytime.

Source of Quotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/

The 9-11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin's Lamp - Part II

2006-07-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp (Part II)

This latest tale is a story within a story within a story… or multiple 'Mise en abyme'.

In the previous tales of the Book of 1001 night, the Caliph who always remains unnamed rules an island "between India and China". In the latest tale the Mock Caliph rules a strange country between India, China, and Russia named Al-anarkia.

Ding-dong dolt the cockeyed Hashish Eater Idiot or Shrub for short [idiot: A person of profound mental retardation having a mental age below three years and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers - the term belongs to a classification system no longer in use and is now considered offensive http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/idiot] asks his wily friend Ja’far the trickster how he could become a Caliph. A Caliph? Give me a break! Okay, a Mock caliph.

Amused by Shrub’s cocaine-induced audacity, and seeing a clear opportunity for himself, the evil Ja’far, who later becomes the Grand Vizier (or Grand Wazir, the equivalent of a Vice President), invokes The “Master”.The Master has seen in the doltish Shrub in ideal candidate because of his mental incapacity, sadomasochistic perversions and addiction to banned substances, and instructs Z.I.F.F.A.R., his ring of sprites, goblins, elves and pixies who practice black magic and other forms of sorcery under him, to crown Ding-dong the Hashish Eater as the Mock Caliph of Al-anarkia.

Later, on the night of investiture, the Master reveals himself in the flesh to Ding-dong Shrub the Hashish Eater and feels him on his shoulders whereupon two serpents grow [see The Book of Kings.] out of the panic-stricken Shrub’s shoulders.

The Master warns that to stay alive, and continue to rule as the Mock Caliph of Al-anarkia Ding-dong Shrub must eat the brains of 5 young soldiers from his own army and shed indiscriminately the blood of 1,001 people from other countries EVERY day.

Ding-dong Shrub the Hashish Eater [now the Mock Caliph] and his wife the 'Foolish Weaver' are at first worried about the serpents eating habits and turn to Ja’far and the ring of sorcerers [ZIFFAR] for help. The inner ring of ZIFFAR consist of the “The Pious Black Slave”, “The Queen of Serpents”, “The Prince of Darkness”, “The Werewolf”, “The Man Who Forged a Letter in his Name”, “The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate”, “The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police”, “The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream,” the degenerate Mayor of Dodge-em city and many others...

Ja’far the evil sorcerer decides to adopt a tried and tested routine. He dispatches Al-Rumsi, his lesser Vizier, to Baghdad to search for Aladdin’s old Magic Lamp.

Al-Rumsi meets with Ali Baba (aka Saddam), the ugly lead thief, and manages to strike a bargain, literally stealing the Lamp from the ugly thief. He returns triumphantly with the Aladdin’s Lamp tucked safely in his briefcase.

Back in Al-anarkia, Ja’far and other ZIFFAR sorcerers rub the Lamp furiously; alas, no genie appears. They then google the Internet and find that the surly resident genie is no longer active; either he has long retired, or has died of kidney failure. The Acting Head for the Ministry of Truth [Orwell, 1984] comes up with the idea of a virtual genie. “After all”, he blurts, “who the hell would ever know the difference!”

Thus the die is cast. The Aladdin’s old Lamp is back in service- albeit with a virtual surly genie named Osama...

"Open, Sesame!"

Next, the “The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream” buys the lease for the Treasure Towers in Dodge-em’s concrete forest which are filled with gold bullions, precious metals, precious stones, financial instruments, computer data, and lots of valuable secrets.

“The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate”, and others prepare a plot to rub the Towers. All they need now is a narrative with continuity, verisimilitude, and suspension of disbelief and a reinforced Fourth wall. A plotline with the strong Plot Devices would be needed. They must also get the right mix of Dramatic Situations, and select the appropriate Conflicts. They must employ Stock Characters and work on Characterization; they would need the right Rhetoric and Visions in a dramatic Setting. Errors and Gaps must be kept down to a minimum- but who cares, no one would know, anyway. Right?

Some of the other Characters in The Book of 1001 Nights:The evil Grand Wazir, “The Pious Black Slave”, “The Queen of Serpents”, “The Prince of Darkness”, “The Werewolf”, “The Man Who Forged a Letter in His Name”, “The Man Who Stole the Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate”, “The Sharper of Alexandria and the Chief of Police” “The Chief of the Kus Police”, “The Ruined Man Who became Rich Again Through A Dream”, “Warden the Butcher (who had an Adventure With the Lady and the Bear)”, “The Water-Carrier who had an affair with the Goldsmith's Wife”, “The Two Wicked Elders”, “The Unwise Schoolmaster Who Fell in Love”, “The Illiterate Who Set Up For a Schoolmaster”, “The Prior who became a Christian”, “The Angel of Death and the King of the Children of Israel”, “The Jewish Kazi and His Pious Wife”, “The Blacksmith Who Could Handle Fire Without Hurt”, “The Christian King's Daughter and the Son of Moslem Merchant”, “the Man Who Longed to see the Night of Power”, “The Man who Never Laughed During the Rest of His Days”, “Judar and His Brethren”, “The man who Enlarged Pearls”, “The Singer and the Druggist”, “The Prince Who Fell In Love With the Picture”, “The First Lunatic”, “Second and Other Lunatics”, “The Degenerate Mayor of Dodge’em City”, “The Linguist-Dame”...

[The characters described here come from the list of stories within The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. Any resemblance to the actual individuals who architected the 9/11, carried out the demolitions and benefited from them are purely...]

A new tale added to the Book of 1001 Nights...

2006-07-12T00:44:00.000-07:00

The minimum you'd expect from a new tale added to the Book of 1001 Nights... is the absence of plot holes!

The official account of 9/11 in Al-anarkia is a new tale added to The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

Notable stories in the book include Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves of Baghdad, and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.

“In 1888, Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov completed his Op. 35 Scheherazade, in four movements, based on four of the tales from the Arabian Nights; The Sea and Sinbad's Ship, The Kalendar Prince, The Young Prince and The Young Princess, and Festival At Baghdad.”

“Legend has it that anyone who reads [or hears] the whole collection will become mad.” Legend also has it that a Genie appears from nowhere and reads the book to important people like the US presidents when they are under the effects of cocaine, or heavily intoxicated.

“The story concerns an impoverished young man named Aladdin living in China, who is recruited by a sorcerer to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself, and discovers that it summons a surly djinn [jinn, jinni or Genie: “The word ‘jinni’ literally means anything which has the connotation of concealment, invisibility, seclusion and remoteness.”] that is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp. With the aid of the djinn, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries princess Badroulbadour.”

“The original full text includes a grossly Anti-Jewish episode, usually omitted in the bowdlerized versions, in which the naïve Aladdin is cheated and exploited by a treacherous Jewish merchant, and is saved by the Jew's honest and upright Muslim competitor. The late Dr. Yoel Yosef Rivlin who translated the book into Hebrew admitted that although he had a feeling of distaste and felt apprehension that his full translation might ruin an otherwise delightful tale for Israeli readers, he still felt duty-bound to provide Hebrew readers with a full and unexpurgated translation.”

However, the tales of Aladdin have always been of special interest to the Israelis because the book is packed with adventure and incredible stories, special effects and magic powers, conjuring and sorcery: the flying carpet, Aladdin's Lamp, and Osama the surly Genie... In fact, the latest episode called “The 9/11 Flying Carpets and the Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp” was written and performed in WTC in NY by its architects, the Israeli Mosad. Part II – More about the effects of Magic Jet Fuel from Aladdin’s Lamp...

[Quotes from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_One_Thousand_and_One_Nights]

an investigative reporter

2006-06-01T18:11:00.000-07:00

The minimum you'd expect from an investigative reporter is infomation; NOT disinformation!

While almost no French or US journalist is doubtful about the official version released by the Bush administration on the September 11 attacks, 42 percent of all US citizens questions the dogma of an Islamic conspiracy. Such a questioning is raising serious mistrust of the mainstream media in the United States and significant rejection of political institutions, as revealed by a survey conducted by the prestigious International Zogby Institute.

Thierry Meyssan [Wed 31/05/2006]
http://www.voltairenet.org/article139571.html

a punchy Orwell quote...

2006-05-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

The minimum you’d expect from a punchy Orwell quote... is to provide an explanation of status quo:

The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. ~ George Orwell (pseudonym of Eric Blair, 1903-1950), Nineteen Eighty-Four

Free download of '1984' available at:
http://www.orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/english/
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks01/0100021.txt

a first class economist…

2006-05-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

The minimum you’d expect to learn from a first class economist:

America spends 50 percent of her income on the military. That’s about 1.4 trillion dollars in 2006/7 (a trillion dollar is a million million dollar). Most of the military expenditure goes to “protecting” imports of about 2.3 million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf emirates. The American taxpayer is therefore paying as much as $1,800 for every barrel of oil imported from the Persian Gulf. Other nations pay only about $70 per barrel for the same oil.

a sincere Senator...

2006-05-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

The minimum you would expect from a sincere Senator is to protect your interests:

Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.

[The Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner]

a forward-thinking political activist...

2006-05-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

The minimum you’d expect to hear from a forward-thinking political activist...

How is a military drilled and trained to defend freedom, peace and happiness? This is what Major General O'Ryan has to say of an efficiently trained generation:

' The soldier must be so trained that he becomes a mere automoton; he must be so trained that it will destroy his initiative; he must be so trained that he is turned into a machine. The soldier must be forced into the military noose; he must be jacked up; he must be ruled by his superiors with pistol in hand.'

This was not said by a Prussian Junker; not by a German barbarian . . . but by an American major general. And he is right. You cannot conduct war with equals; you cannot have militarism with free born men; you must have slaves, automotons, machines, obedient disciplined creatures, who will move, act, shoot and kill at the command of their superiors. That is preparedness, and nothing else. ~ [Emma Goldman, Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter]

the good people of New York...

2006-05-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

The minimum you'd expect from the good people of New York...

... is to estblish who demolished the Twin Towers and Building # 7 WTC because the official account just won't PULL!

ancient wisdom…

2006-05-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

Only after the last tree has been cut down.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Indian Proverb

Homo sapiens sapiens...

2006-05-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

The minimum you would expect from Homo sapiens sapiens (human beings) is to NOT falsely imprison, to NOT rape, to NOT torture, and to NOT murder. NOR allow anyone else commit such heinous acts.

The minimum expected from YOU is to act like a human being.

a turned honest general…

2006-05-18T00:36:00.000-07:00

The minimum you would expect from a turned honest general... is to denounce militarism:

War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. ~ General Smedley Butler [comparing militarism to the narcotics trade, prostitution and all other forms of racketeering.]

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953

your English teacher...

2006-05-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

The minimum you would expect from your English teacher... is to teach you how to read, write and formulate your thoughts for better learning.

The gifts of how to reason and avoid fallacies [that destroy the truth that binds your world together] comes with learning.

The least that's expected from you is to learn about common fallacies and avoid them.

Search google.com using keywords like "fallacies" or "common fallacies".

The minimum you'd expect from a good blog...

2006-05-14T19:44:00.003-07:00

The minimum you’d expect from a good blog is new insight, lots of information and useful links:

The following are among the best sources of information and knowledge base available on the Internet (and they come free):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page