by normanb
11:16 am in Uncategorized by normanb
Weekend Art: The Myth of Marsyas and Midas: A Tale of Ancient Turkey — by NormanB ("Deviations form the Norm")
This storytelling performance was recorded at the Stone Circle Calendar at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
A very early Battle of the Bands recounts the roots of Rock’n'Roll.
The Emperor’s Hat is Stupid.
by normanb
11:02 am in Uncategorized by normanb
Even though the US knew Afghanistan held no Military targets, the US bombed 30 cities there every day for a month beginning October 7, 2001, running a record number of sorties.
Robert Jensen wrote an interesting article on the ethics of modern war titled There are No Heroes in Illegal and Immoral Wars, published today:
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/66911
With war, ’twas ever thus.
We may have bombed Afghanistan back to the 13th Century AD, but have we ourselves not advanced since the 13th Century BC? Have our principles not advanced? What does "heroism" mean today?
In the Homeric Epics and the myths of Hercules, we see roots of our current quest for conquest of that land to which we are not entitled.
The primitive ethics of war – rape, murder, pillage, conquer – are a disgusting hole up out of which we need to crawl.
Oh, look, there’s a ladder: Centuries of philosophy, ethical discourse and, now, International Law. Let us ascend out of the mire into the Modern Age.
(This writing and the following reading from public domain are by Norman B & Rachel Neulander.)
The Lying Dream
(Recorded live at the Living Library)
A Lying Dream sent by Zeus convinced Agamemnon and his allies that the fight was winnable. Doomed are those warriors who cannot think that gods (or leaders who speak for the gods) would lie for their own reasons.
by normanb
9:30 am in Uncategorized by normanb
Nobel Prize Committee: Do the Right Thing! — by NormanB ("Deviations from the Norm")
Obviously, the Nobel Prize has lost most of it prestige since it was awarded to President Obama. His actions have started Civil Wars in Mexico and Pakistan. One of them is next-door to the United States, and the other has nuclear weapons, and was already on the precipice of nuclear war with India. When Bush’s initial invasion of Afghanistan nearly sparked nuclear exchange in 2001 and 2002, he backed off. He didn’t force it, and the nuke war stopped simmering so badly.
Now, Obama has gone on to start Civil Wars in Yemen and Somalia. He’s ordering killings in nearly all Muslim countries. He’s ordering longtime NATO ally Turkey to reverse its feelings about Iran and Israel.
He keeps encouraging war against Iran, supposedly for its nuclear program (which Iran couln’t afford if the US Military stopped buying Oil, which props up its price, enriching Iran, Russia, and many who paid for Obama’s Presidential campaign).>
And, let’s not forget the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the Nobel Prize Committee CAN regain the international respect it once held, by recalling the prize it gave to President Obama. He has disgraced the prize. If they don’t take back Obama’s Nobel Prize, the Nobel Committee will continue to look like buffoons and puppets.
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