Thank you, Dr. Willoughby-Blake

SHARON L. WILLOUGHBY-BLAKE, DVM, DC

December 1, 1946 - November 10, 2010

Dr. Willoughby-Blake, wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend, was the pioneer and founder of modern day animal chiropractic and the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association.

When Sharon Willoughby-Blake, DVM, DC embarked on her animal chiropractic crusade more than two decades ago, she was living life and meeting its challenges consistent with the quality of her spirit. She invested herself in the future of animal chiropractic financially and emotionally. She realized that if one couldn't find the circumstances they wanted, to make them. She had the wisdom to realize that "today impacts forever" and the courage to share her vision of animal chiropractic.

In Dr. Willoughby-Blake's own words written over a decade ago:

"We share a vision that animal chiropractic deserves a place in the animal health care system. We will bear the burdens of the pioneer so that the path will be clearer and straighter for those that follow. We make a commitment to study, to research, to teach and to write so that we will inspire future animal chiropractic professionals. We know that the foundations that we create will influence animal chiropractic care for generations of animals and humans to come. We understand that our time here is but brief, yet the ultimate truth in chiropractic is universal, enduring and significant."

Her family said, "All of the animals are lining up in Heaven: Dr. Sharon is in."

There’s no higher praise than that.

-sj

Prophetic

Instant Terrorist: Just add FBI....

It may very well be that the FBI successfully and within legal limits arrested a dangerous criminal intent on carrying out a serious Terrorist plot that would have killed many innocent people, in which case they deserve praise. Court-approved surveillance and use of undercover agents to infiltrate terrorist plots are legitimate tactics when used in accordance with the law.

But it may also just as easily be the case that the FBI -- as they've done many times in the past -- found some very young, impressionable, disaffected, hapless, aimless, inept loner; created a plot it then persuaded/manipulated/entrapped him to join, essentially turning him into a Terrorist; and then patted itself on the back once it arrested him for having thwarted a "Terrorist plot" which, from start to finish, was entirely the FBI's own concoction.

Having stopped a plot which it itself manufactured, the FBI then publicly touts -- and an uncritical media amplifies -- its "success" to the world, thus proving both that domestic Terrorism from Muslims is a serious threat and the Government's vast surveillance powers -- current and future new ones -- are necessary.

-- Glenn Greenwald

Read it all at:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/11/28/fbi/index.html

The Fix Is In With All the Fixin's

In 1637, the official Thanksgiving holiday we know today came into existence. (Some people argue it formally came into existence during the Civil War, in 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed it, which also was the same year he had 38 Sioux hung on Christmas Eve.)

William Newell, a Penobscot Indian and former chair of the anthropology department of the University of Connecticut, claims that the first Thanksgiving was not "a festive gathering of Indians and Pilgrims, but rather a celebration of the massacre of 700 Pequot men, women and children."

In 1637, the Pequot tribe of Connecticut gathered for the annual Green Corn Dance ceremony. Mercenaries of the English and Dutch attacked and surrounded the village; burning down everything and shooting whomever try to escape.

The next day, Newell notes, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony declared: "A day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 men, women and children." It was signed into law that,

"This day forth shall be a day of celebration and thanksgiving for subduing the Pequots."

Most Americans believe Thanksgiving was this wonderful dinner and harvest celebration.
The truth is the "Thanksgiving dinner" was invented both to instill a false pride in Americans and to cover up the massacre.

-Laura Elliff

Prima Facie

Teach Your Children Well

Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

What the TSA Patdown Searches Are Really About

by Robert Freeman

You can hardly watch a TV news show, listen to a radio broadcast, pick up a newspaper, or read the Internet without hearing about the aggressive Transportation Security Agency patdown searches at airports.

The TSA and all relevant officials tell us that they’re really for our own protection. But are they? In truth, the searches have virtually nothing to do with increased airport security.

Several years ago, my four year-old daughter was pulled aside in one such screening because she happened to be the Nth person in the line to go through security. Though she was traveling with me, her mother, and sister, she was subjected to 40 minutes of terrifying interrogations and inspections of all her personal effects, though not a bodily patdown.

The startling part of it was the mindlessness of it all. The guards were simply being good Nazis. Today, it is no longer mindless. It is part of a sustained campaign to condition the American public to being humiliated by government officials in the name of national security.

Physical humiliation of the subject is the first act that an interrogator performs on a victim. You can see this in the pictures from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The prisoners were made to perform all manner of humiliating acts: wear women’s underwear on their heads; masturbate in front of female guards; pile onto one another naked; submit to rape by their guards; etc.

The humiliation destroys a prisoner’s dignity. It is from his innate sense of dignity that a person finds the indignation, and therefore the capacity, to resist abuse. It is our dignity that the TSA and the government must strip from us if they wish to reduce our capacity to resist their aggressive encroachments on our civil liberties. And it’s working.

It’s amazing how many people say that the searches are worth it—something upwards of 75% if the news reports can be believed. They have already internalized the submission to authority that makes an authoritarian state so effective. And they create the public pressure for others to submit as well.

These are the same people who tell questioners that they don’t mind if the government secretly reads their email because they have nothing to hide. The suggestion is that those who do protest wholesale invasions of privacy, even for such quaint reasons of guarantees against such invasion rooted in the U.S. Constitution, must have something to hide.

This is what makes an effective authoritarian state self-policing, as was Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Resistance to abuse is a prima facia sign of guilt.

It is not an accident that the matter is saturating the media to the point of exhaustion. The message is very straightforward and all reinforcing: you need to be afraid; we’re doing this for your own good; and don’t resist for resistance is futile.

Not a day goes by any more that some incident, somewhere, by somebody is portrayed as a threat to U.S. national security and, therefore, a reason why civil liberties must be reduced even more.

The ultimate absurdity of this was seen in the summer of 2009 in the discussion about escalating the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. The National Security Agency reported that there were “at most 100” Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan.

So, on the basis of this existential threat, the U.S. sent in another 100,000 soldiers and civilian support personnel. That’s 1,000 soldiers at a million dollars a year apiece for each cave dweller posing mortal threats to the U.S. way of life 11 time zones and a 6,000 mile ocean away.

The absurdity has become palpable. The government doesn’t even try to hide that it reads our email and listens to our phone calls, that it has suspended habeas corpus, the longest standing protection of a people against the abuses of a rogue government. It no longer denies that the president claims the right to murder Americans for any pretext, without due process of law, so long as he deems that person a threat to national security.

The truth is that the government is not fighting wars against terrorists any more. It is creating, provoking, escalating wars and then using the resistance as the pretext to create a police state capable of conducting a war against its own people.

Of course, it will be so much easier if it can convince the people to surrender their rights willingly, voluntarily, to submit as the cattle that must be their ultimate, inescapable fate. Public, inescapable, physical humiliation is just one of the ways to condition people to that subservience.

It’s working.

Robert Freeman writes on economics, history and education. His earlier pieces, "The Five Circles of Economic Hell," and “The U.S. is Facing a Weimar Moment,” were also published on CommonDreams. He can reached at robertfreeman10@yahoo.com.

Queen and Consort

Tonight the air is crisp and clean and the sky is clear.
The full moon, Queen of the Night, is joined only by the brightest stars, peers of the realm.
And a grey horse, now white as a luminescent pearl, is no longer merely horse, but Horse.
No longer flesh, blood and bone.
But spirit.
Ethereal.
Mythical.
Mystical.
Eternal.
I look at him and think
If I could take a picture of my soul
Might it not look
Just like this?

sj

Word.

Welcome to the New Nazi Germany

America looks more and more like those old black-and-white WWII movies on late-night TV.
The Nazis were the ultimate bad guys.
Stop you in the street on any whim and demand your "papers."
Frisk you (especially if you're an attractive female).
Kick your door down and drag you out in the middle of the night.
No warrants, no lawyers, no rights at all.
Lock you up.
Torture you.
Make you disappear.

We used to watch that in the movies and growl at them, "Those no-good bastards!"

Well, here we are.
Now we're nazi Germany.

The TSA procedures have ONLY ONE PURPOSE: to train you to obey whatever they tell you without question, to make you believe that's how it SHOULD be, and MUST be.
That's the purpose of ALL militarized "law enforcement."
"Serve and protect" is obsolete.

And these new brownshirts will go on doing this -- and worse -- until we start making it more dangerous for them, than they make it for us.

Fight back.

While you still can.


sj

Hmmmmm......

Too obvious?

Call the Devil by his Proper Name

Dr. Lawrence Britt examined fascist regimes such as those of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain) and Suharto (Indonesia). He found that they all had the following characteristics in common.

You may find them disturbingly familiar of late:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Think for Yourself? Maybe YOU’RE a “threat…”

What do these three men have in common?
Having somebody like you killed, on just their ipse dixit.

America’s Devolution Into Dictatorship

Murdering US citizens is a “political question” not subject to judicial review...

by Paul Craig Roberts

This same Justice (sic) Department, which routinely frames and railroads the innocent, argued in Federal Court on November 8 that the US government, if approved by the president, could murder anyone it wishes, citizens or noncitizens, at will. All that is required is that the government declare, without evidence, charges, trial, jury conviction or any of the due process required by the US Constitution, that the government suspects the murdered person or persons to be a “threat.”

Read it all at:

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21867

He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.

-- Aquinas

Succinctly put

Just Be Honest for a Change....

Dragons and Windmills

Hear me now

Oh thou bleak and unbearable world,

Thou art base and debauched as can be;

And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled

Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee!

I am I, Don Quixote,

The Lord of La Mancha,

My destiny calls and I go,

And the wild winds of fortune

Will carry me onward,

Oh whithersoever they blow.

Whithersoever they blow,

Onward to glory I go!

Hear me, heathens and wizards

And serpents of sin!

All your dastardly doings are past,

For a holy endeavor is now to begin

And virtue shall triumph at last!

I am I, Don Quixote,

The Lord of la Mancha,

My destiny calls and I go,

And the wild winds of fortune

Will carry me onward,

Oh whithersoever they blow!

Withersoever they blow,

Onward to glory I go!

"Man of La Mancha"

Darion/Leigh

If You Liked Bush, You'll LOVE Obama

(You guys want to get a room....?)

Obama Administration

Claims Unchecked Authority

to

Kill Americans

Outside Combat Zones

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration today argued before a federal court that it should have unreviewable authority to kill Americans the executive branch has unilaterally determined to pose a threat. Government lawyers made that claim in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) charging that the administration's asserted targeted killing authority violates the Constitution and international law. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments from both sides today.

"Not only does the administration claim to have sweeping power to target and kill U.S. citizens anywhere in the world, but it makes the extraordinary claim that the court has no role in reviewing that power or the legal standards that apply," said CCR Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei, who presented arguments in the case. "The Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected the government's claim to an unchecked system of global detention, and the district court should similarly reject the administration's claim here to an unchecked system of global targeted killing."

The ACLU and CCR were retained by Nasser Al-Aulaqi to bring a lawsuit in connection with the government's decision to authorize the targeted killing of his son, U.S. citizen Anwar Al-Aulaqi. The lawsuit asks the court to rule that, outside the context of armed conflict, the government can carry out the targeted killing of an American citizen only as a last resort to address an imminent threat to life or physical safety. The lawsuit also asks the court to order the government to disclose the legal standard it uses to place U.S. citizens on government kill lists.

"If the Constitution means anything, it surely means that the president does not have unreviewable authority to summarily execute any American whom he concludes is an enemy of the state," said Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU, who presented arguments in the case. "It's the government's responsibility to protect the nation from terrorist attacks, but the courts have a crucial role to play in ensuring that counterterrorism policies are consistent with the Constitution."

The government filed a brief in the case in September, claiming that the executive's targeted killing authority is a "political question" that should not be subject to judicial review. The government also asserted the "state secrets" privilege, contending that the case should be dismissed to avoid the disclosure of sensitive information.

The lawsuit was filed against CIA Director Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and President Barrack Obama in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Attorneys on the case are Jaffer, Ben Wizner, Jonathan Manes and Jennifer Turner of the ACLU; Kebriaei, Maria LaHood and Bill Quigley of CCR; and Arthur B. Spitzer of the ACLU of the Nation's Capital. Co-counsel in Yemen is Mohammed Allawo of the Allawo Law Firm and the National Organization for Defending Human Rights (HOOD).

American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Constitutional RightsStatement

Published on Monday, November 8, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

For more information on the case, including fact sheets and legal papers, visit: www.aclu.org/targetedkillings and www.ccrjustice.org/targetedkillings

Bush Gives Us All the Finger -- AGAIN

"Damn Right": Bush Boasts about Waterboarding

by Ray McGovern

Former President George W. Bush continues to be beyond shame. Those favored with an advance copy of his memoir, Decision Points, say it paints a picture of a totally unapologetic Bush bragging, for example, about authorizing the CIA to waterboard 9/11 “mastermind,” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

According to newspaper accounts of the memoir, Bush says he was asked by the CIA for permission to subject KSM to the technique that creates the sensation of imminent drowning. His response was: "Damn right."

For such a frank admission of high-level criminality, we can say, with ample justification, Shame on Bush. But that shame also sticks like Saran wrap to the rest of us – and especially to the Fawning Corporate Media (FCM), which has soft-pedaled the significance of Bush’s confession, and to his make-nice successor, Barack Obama, who has refused to demand any accountability.

Published on Monday, November 8, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Read the rest at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/11/08-3

Next of Kin

The wayward wind is a restless wind
A restless wind that yearns to wander
I was born the next of kin
The next of kin
To the wayward wind.

"The Wayward Wind," Lebowsky/Newman

Full Speed Ahead, Mr. Sulu

I just love this.


sj

Truth du Jour