Stalinist Russia provides a great opportunity to revisit propaganda posters (see earlier post on WWI).

Since the media was controlled by the government, negative portrayal of the “Gardener of Great Happiness” will not be found in Soviet propaganda.

This lesson includes 5 propaganda posters from Stalinist Russia along with questions and answers for students.

For more on this era check out our PowerPoints and games:

US History: WW II Causes | WW II | Cold War 1

World History: Europe Between the Wars | World War II The Modern Era: 1945-1970

US History Simulation Games: Causes of the Cold War parts 1, 2, and 3

Senjougahara loves to be scared

20 000 or 300 000 ?

A committee of experts established by the Japanese and Chinese governments to explore historical issues between the two countries has failed to agree on the details of the Nanking Incident of 1937, according to the committee’s latest report.

Based on the Tokyo Trials and the conclusions of a military tribunal held in Nanking, the Chinese scholars arrived at the already-established figure of more than 300,000 victims. Japanese researchers opposed this figure, stating, “While the maximum estimate is 200,000 dead, there are also other estimates that put the number killed at 20,000 or 40,000.” Unable to agree on a common death toll, both the Japanese and Chinese estimates were published in the report.

Marco Polo Bridge Incident

Regarding the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7, 1937 — which sparked the full-scale Japanese invasion of China that year — Chinese scholars took a compromise position, concluding the exchange of fire between Japanese and Chinese forces may have been extemporaneous.

1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre

The committee report, released Sunday, is divided into ancient, medieval and modern sections, and published under the names of both Japanese and Chinese scholars. Chinese members, however, have demanded that the committee withhold the part on the post-war period, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, for fear of influencing public opinion in China.

Nanking Incident death toll divides Japanese, Chinese scholars, Mainichi, February 1, 2010

So, rest assured that this is a decent blog for good clean law abiding church-going citizens, who have all been lobotomized and castrated.

Sincerely yours most humble and obedient servant

AAge Jaeger

John Chuckman

A few years sometimes make a big difference in human affairs. A few years ago an American President was put through the 18th century ordeal of impeachment, a vast, expensively-staged comic opera of white manes waving and grave baritones intoning, over a dribble on a dress and the lie he told to save himself embarrassment. Today we have a President who has hurled the world into two dirty, pointless wars after what undoubtedly qualifies as the longest sequence of public lies ever uttered in a free society, and yet in his homeland he remains popular and is collecting enough campaign cash to rival the Swiss bank balances of the Russian Mafia.

Leaders have always lied in times of war and when maneuvering for advantage in international affairs, American presidents, despite puffed-up claims to different moral standards, no less so than others. Usually the lies they tell are not understood until years later. The lies then often seem to become small, unimportant details in a history of big events. But Bush has lied daily, doing it so awkwardly at times that you might think everyone is aware of it, and it seems to make no difference to his political standing.

What will Bush do with all the cash he is hoarding for the next campaign? He will use it to practice the worst lying possible in a democratic society, lying that subverts the intent of democracy, replacing meaningful debate by the suggestions, half-truths, and staged images of advertising and marketing. Perhaps, I should correct that to the second-worst lying possible in a democratic society, for Bush, of course, entered office with the worst lying, claiming to have won an election he lost by any sensible reckoning.

Why are Americans not distressed at this? Because they live in an intense field, an electromagnetic haze, of marketing, advertising, and commercial propaganda twenty-four hours a day. Americans are so saturated with this stuff that they regard it as normal communication.

But it is not normal. It is deliberate and manipulative. At its very best, advertising is only ever half truth, telling a few favorable aspects of something that deserves greater scrutiny. At its worst, it is simply artful fraud and deception. But in no case is it truth or, perhaps better put since truth is a large and difficult idea, honest communication. Advertising, like its fraternal twin, propaganda, always has a purpose other than helping you understand something. This other purpose is its raison d’être. Advertising wants to separate you from your money or, in the case of politics, from your vote.

I’ve often chuckled over the way Americans used to get so upset over the idea of Communist propaganda. While Americans decried that propaganda, they themselves lived in a dense fog of advertising and propaganda. Only the American stuff isn’t quite so obvious as the ponderous old Soviet stuff, at least to anyone immersed in it. It is far more artful and effective. That friendly well-known face on TV is speaking to me, being a friend to me in my isolation and loneliness, cares about me, why he’s even recommending something good for me. What a nice man.

In America, wave on wave of these smiling frauds sell floor mops, breath mints, female hygiene, Christ, cancer treatment, hamburgers, and presidential candidates.

An interesting story from Maine, a place that prides itself on tourist billboards as having “Life the way it should be,” shows, in another sphere of life, how people, responding to the intense environment of advertising and marketing, sometimes act with no examination of their actions. An otherwise very nice person was vigorously preaching one day some years ago to an associate at work about his not using a paper-recycling container in his office, an oversight that may have involved a few dozen sheets of paper in a week.

Now this “environmentally-concerned” preacher with her spouse had just built a large, brand-new house, a five-bedroom monster for two people with no children. And where did they build it? On the fringes of a suburban area that was already suffering from exactly the kind of hopeless sprawl afflicting every other part of the United States where life is not advertised as being “the way it should be.” They built on a one-acre site along a tiny road on the edge of a forest. And how were they getting to work? Why, each drove his and her own gasoline-wasting, road-wasting, polluting SUV.

An acre of land, of course, required a large, polluting rider-mower just to keep the grass clipped. Their long driveway required lots of private plowing in the winter. The small road leading to it required the sprawled-out town to plow regularly for the benefit of a fairly small number of people. So too for garbage pick-up, and indeed for every other public service. And five bedrooms use a lot of heating oil and a lot of air-conditioning. If these people ever do have children, they will require bus service along thinly-populated roads.

But in their minds they are doing nothing irresponsible. It is that fellow at work who refuses to use a re-cycling box that is irresponsible. Of course the amount of environmental stress and strain caused by their choices is at least a hundred thousand times greater than that caused by the man without the box, but no real analysis takes place here. They are immersed in suggestions of their lifestyle having an almost quasi-sacred character to it, being fulfillment of that unexamined advertising slogan, “the American dream,” and they equally are immersed in suggestions that things like recycling boxes in every office are very good things indeed.

I said this example was from another sphere of life, but really it isn’t. The energy to do all the things necessary to support their sprawl-lifestyle, multiplied by tens of millions of other Americans just like them, has to come from somewhere. Like Iraq or Iran or Saudi Arabia. Pick your troubled part of the world and add the cost of America’s belligerent policies to keep it in line. But Americans rarely see the results of these abhorrent policies, the mutilated children, for instance, of Iraq.

And the immense pollution generated by this lifestyle has to go somewhere, but who cares just so long as you don’t see it piled up on your front lawn? It all gets taken away, to dumps, somewhere. And the smoke from the power generators? Well, they don’t build those in areas like this. The green-house gases from burning all that gasoline and fuel oil and diesel truck fuel? The wind takes it off somewhere. The road salt. The insecticide. The weed killer. Well, they do their job and you don’t see the mess.

And that is the answer that explains America’s system of paid political lies: it does its job and you don’t see the mess, at least if you are not looking, and most Americans aren’t looking.

Sazae-san

As one of Japan’s longest running and oldest comic strips and animations, the series is known to nearly every Japanese person, young and old.

Sazae was a very “liberated” woman, and many of the early plotlines revolved around Sazae bossing around her husband, to the consternation of her neighbors, who believed that a man should be the head of his household. Later, Sazae became a feminist and was involved in many comical situations regarding her affiliation with her local women’s lib group.

I would like to marathon every Sazae-san in the world if you know what I mean.

The main roads which lead into the oasis towns that lie on the fringes of the Taklamakan Desert are but thirsty veins creeping to the surface of an otherwise healthy body. They run shallowly along the surfaces of the towns, offering an unsubstantive glimpse of the lives that are led there.

In most cases, when we arrived in public buses, we would be puzzled by the desertedness of the wide arterial avenues. There would be shops, restaurants, with signs in both Uighur and oversized Chinese characters, but so few people. Where is everybody? I would wonder.

And time and time again, it would only be when we would lose ourselves down the unpaved streets or behind the imposing government buildings that we would find evidence of livelihood, social and commercial hubs. The new Han towns, comprising the bus station and various retail shops, are artificial centres. The combination of their grandeur and fakeness renders them both farcical and defunct, while the real pulse of life can be felt in the old Uighur parts of town.

In Hotan, a city famed for its jade, the newly arrived visitor is tempted towards Hantown by a massive statue of Mao greeting an Uighur peasant, which can be seen from half a kilometre away approaching from three different main roads. Below the statue, a series of images tell the story of the majestic encounter: the peasant, having suffered under the harsh hands of warlords and the Guomindang, was so enthralled by the arrival of Communist forces upon their ‘liberation’ of Xinjiang and the justice that they brought to the region that he decided to travel, by donkey, to Beijing in order to thank the Chairman himself. The statue is a replica of that meeting, with the meek peasant expressing his gratitude and Mao commending him for his revolutionary steadfastness in the face of so many years of hardship.

Whether or not the story is true (I seriously doubt it) is insignificant compared to the fact that it is a massive piece of propaganda which is being used to mark the new centre of Hotan. But this new ‘downtown’, with its multi-story banks, fast-food chains and tasteless fluorescent streetlights in the shape of palm trees pales in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the Uighur bazaar, which lies about a kilometre to the south east of the Mao statue. The roads surrounding the bazaar are, literally, crammed with people. There are countless food stalls, bakeries, fruit stands, cobblers and carpet shops, and hundreds of people milling around between, either customers or merchants themselves. This is where the heart of Hotan lies, even though its head has been decapitated and moved uptown in the government’s policy of urban fragmentation.

When we arrived on a bus in Keriya, we encountered similar scenes: wide, lifeless avenues. Wandering aimlessly down the one outside the bus station, we saw a small covered bazaar off to one side, where things were definitely in fuller swing. Further on, we saw the towering facade of a mosque, and walked towards it. As we go closer, we saw that a string of stalls ran from the entrance along the sidewalk both to the right and left, creating another little beehive of life, that was really really buzzing. There were hundreds and hundreds of people, later we realised thousands. And as we got close to the mosques entrance, we realised why: floods of men were leaving the mosque, and amongst them a coffin was being carried high on the shoulders of one group. It was a funeral.

We sat outside the mosque watching the men exit. It is only men who are allowed in Uighur mosques; women have to pray at home. As they left the building, some stopped to chat to eachother, while others ventured towards the merchants who displayed their wares on the pavement or on small tables: thermal underwear for men, women and children; leather coats on sale for 50 yuan (about five quid); sticky slabs of walnuts and honey; baked sweet potatoes and steaming slices of bright orange pumpkin.

When the stream of mourners started to thin, we walked along the market, which faded into women peddling sad-looking cabbage on the street, after which we turned off on a dirt path to find a street of restaurants, now brimming with customers after the funeral, enjoying lamb kebabs or steaming meat pies. Back on the road, we passed an alley of tinkers, hammering away on metal furnaces, pipes and cooking pans, and some children playing in a coal depot. The street was still lively, but as we made our way back to the bus station, it progressively quieted down, until we once again found ourselves on the large, quiet avenues. Up ahead, we saw a statue, and decided to take a look before we caught our ongoing bus to Niya. There, in a deserted, burgundy-tiled square just off the main road out of the town, was the towering statue of Mao and the peasant.

Origin: 1930s, Russian, blend of agitatsiya ‘agitation’ and propaganda ‘propaganda’ 

Agitprop

Lucas E. sent in this Ex Situ for us to share to the world. I couldn’t significantly improve on his missive, so I’ve just reproduced it below:

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned this on your site yet. But, it seems quite obvious to me. Chicken Run is basically Communist propaganda.

A decent analysis of it is contained here:  [>Catena Ex Situ]

The problem isn’t that Mrs. Tweedy is looking to kill the chickens. The problem is she’s trying to increase profits.

The hope of the chickens is not to bargain for better wages, better working conditions, and more time off. Rather, the hope is a worker’s paradise on the hills outside the chicken farm, where chickens can roam free in a world of abundance.

Interesting, no?

1. Cookie Roller Derby

In Russia they didn’t have money for balls and bases and hoops so they invented their own sports. Like this little barn-burner: Giant cookie rolling.

“Look Comrade! Your little Vladimir’s cookie is stuck in ravine! My Constantina’s cookie has crossed field and ran into Ox! She is most glorious patriot!”

The Message: Play With Your Food Before You Eat It

2. Drunken Animal Glory!

I think this is a promotion for the zoo. The only real question is whether they’re getting the wildlife drunk or having the animals serve shots. Russians loved taking on impossible challenges like learning monkeys how to fly in space or training dogs to walk on their hind legs so I figure a shot pounding rhino isn’t far off the mark.

The Message: Animals? Boring. Drunken Animals? DAH!

3. Attack of the Gigantor Children

I can only surmise that the Russians thought feeding kids massive infusions of borscht would cause them to grow into ginormous temperamental terrors that would wreak havoc on Capitalist Swine while invoking enough “cute-factor” to keep them from being killed. All in all, a brilliant plan.

The Message: Destroy Enemy of Glorious Mother Russia with Chubby Baby!

4. Fish Riders in the Pond

I haven’t done a lot of China-travelin’ so was surprised to learn the Country is packed with giant fish so docile they’ll let a chubby baby climb on their back. What capitalist pig wouldn’t run in terror from a carp-riding fat ass?

The Message: We Will Kill Imperialist Swine on the Back of Fishes!

5. Bear Meat Tastes Better With French’s

This is an advertisement, so not technically propaganda. But it’s weird. From the packaging it looks like the mascot is a bear. But, if so, why are they shooting him? Would Frosted Flakes run an ad featuring Tony in a tiger-cage? Would McDonalds show Ronald eating Mayor McCheese? Probably not.

The Message: Bear Tastes Better with Slutskaya Beet Chutney!

6. Drink!

I woulda thought these are anti-drinking posters but, to me, this looks like a party. Hot babushka cradling a giant bottle of wine? What up Svetlana. And in all my days of drinking I’ve never had fun like that.

The Message: Life in Russia Sucks. Drink, Comrade.

7. Stop the Scourge of Smelly Breasts

It looks like this babushka is washing her naked breast with a cotton swab. Was there an epidemic of bad smelling boobs in Russia or something? Cause that’s yet another fact left out of my history book.

The Message: Clean The Boobs Babushka!

8. Hey I Thought These Guys Were Our Allies!

I’ll never forget that time when Japan fought the British and Roosevelt took the opportunity to surreptitiously steal Australia. Unfortunately he forgot to wear sunscreen and was so badly burnt the Aussies were able to steal it back. SO CLOSE!

The Message: Bloody Berks Stole Our Sub-Continent!

9. And You Thought Spanking Was Bad…

While Americans spent the last 30 years putting their spoiled brats in “timeouts,” the Chinese were teaching their youths how to commit motherfuckin’ murder.

The Message: We really don’t want to get into a war with these guys.

10. The Europeans Are Ocean Devils

This is from 1839 — making it the oldest Propaganda work I found — and is entitled Europeans Are Ocean Devils. It depicts a “European” (as evidence by the three fingers and scaly skin) breathing fire.

Which, as everyone knows, is accurate.

The Message: Europeans Breath Fire But Have No Genitals.

]]> http://vbonnaire.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/propaganda-symbol-systems-and-political-campaigns-2008-continued/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:03:36 +0000 Valentine Bonnaire http://vbonnaire.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/propaganda-symbol-systems-and-political-campaigns-2008-continued/ Another thing we want to look at in terms of graphic design and political propaganda, especially this year, besides the fonts, is the concept of “symbol systems” and what those have meant in the past, as well as now. We’ll also be linking to some commentators and what they have to say about what they see in the current campaign. We’re also going to look at the concept of “operatives” because that word was used in the Chicago Press relating to people working for Obama when he went up against Alice Palmer.

So, last post we looked at a propaganda poster for the SS. We looked at the font choice which was a strong sans-serif much like Gotham. But what about the symbols? Let’s look at more posters. This time we’ll head over to Russia.

If we scrutinize this from a graphic design standpoint what is going on? Can you spot the symbol systems? First, we’re looking at another example of that harsh, simplistic very graphic style that most propaganda looks like. The “logo” — in this case the hammer and sickle motif of communist Russia is up there on the red flag. Red is often a symbol connected to blood, violence, revolution, action and so forth. The flag represents “uniting” for a cause. The hammer and sickle is a very simple easily recognizable “mark.” Even if we can’t see the whole thing, we know what it is — because in propaganda campaigns this mark will be used over and over again until that symbol is “branded” into people’s brains. What else do you notice about this piece of propaganda? What is happening? What else did the designer want you to notice?

Let’s look at another one –

What is going on in this image? Even if you can’t read the language? Can you see symbols scattered around? Or colors? The numbers refer to time, and there is a red star too. This time we see a flag bearer. It looks like the artist is depicting an old order “bricks” (1945) — into “machines” (1960). We saw the red star before, on the first page of this series on Mao’s hat.

Here is a different view of that first poster –

Okay. There is that red star, lots of red, a crowd and a benevolent looking “leader” type standing in a halo of the rising sun. Same plain graphic style, same “flags” same “red” as the color. What do you think this poster is trying to say to the viewer? Who is the crowd, and what are they doing? Notice, in classic propaganda style, that one liner at the bottom. I can’t read Chinese either, but I don’t have to. Because in a propaganda poster it always is something like the word “Progress” or “We are the chosen ones…” (As long as we obey)…

We had some propaganda posters in the United States once, during the period of World War II.

“Uncle Sam” — you’ve probably seen him around, a time or two…

If we didn’t know what this image was used for in the past, and we couldn’t see that sentence that we can read, what does it look like the poster is wanting? A propaganda poster is always trying to convey a message to the viewer. By the eyes and gestures. Keep that in mind.

The Nazi’s used a lot of propaganda in their day. We don’t have to go back into that terrible page of history, but I’ve made a link to a page where there are more posters to look at, as well as a bit of the ideology behind Hitler’s manifesto.

Because ever since WWII the free world has been on the alert for signs of this ever happening again. And so we are also on the alert for any type of propaganda as well. Especially in political campaigns. And especially here in America.

Goebbels was responsible for orchestrating the propaganda. You could say he was kind of like a campaign manager or public relations manager for Hitler.

Whenever we see a leader who likes to see themselves like this:

It sends up a RED FLAG WARNING to the Western World. At the bottom, we see the classic one liner of a propaganda campaign. I don’t speak German either, but what this translates to is something like “One People, One Empire, One Leader.”

Got that? Keep that in mind too.

Here is another kind of propaganda poster from WWII. Can you tell what the artist is trying to say in this one? Look at what you see. This is a classic kind of “fear building” or censorship-style propaganda ad. Notice the only word. Propaganda always uses the simplest of slogans, usually so that people (the proletariat) can “get it.”

Suppose you saw something like this plastered all over the walls of buildings in your city?

What sort of message do you think a poster like this sends, to a neighborhood, or a group of people? Is there anything scary about this poster to you? When we look at the colors this artist used what do they tell you about the “mood” of the times. How about the font? This poster also has something being used subliminally in it. Can you see it? Maybe not at the first glance, but the second time?

Continuing right along.., (and this is being written for people who might not know this stuff!)

Stay tuned…

Political correctness is communist propaganda writ small. In my study of communist societies, I came to the conclusion that the purpose of communist propaganda was not to persuade or convince, nor to inform, but to humiliate; and therefore, the less it corresponded to reality the better. When people are forced to remain silent when they are being told the most obvious lies, or even worse when they are forced to repeat the lies themselves, they lose once and for all their sense of probity. To assent to obvious lies is to co-operate with evil, and in some small way to become evil oneself. One’s standing to resist anything is thus eroded, and even destroyed. A society of emasculated liars is easy to control. I think if you examine political correctness, it has the same effect and is intended to.

Dr. Theodore Dalrymple, Interview with FrontPage Magazine

I’m not a fan of any of these candidates and I didn’t drink the kool-aid, so I’m not sure why people are swooning over them. I see nothing special about Obama and when I listen to him speak, I’m convinced he means America NO good. It is the WAY he words things, the WAY in which things are put together that tell you a lot about this man. For those who are mesmerized, wow, I’m truly, truly sorry for you.

From NewsWithViews I bring you an article from back in February:

VOTE FRAUD AND THE G.O.P. CONVENTION DELEGATES

By: Devvy
February 25, 2008

© 2008 – NewsWithViews.com

Before I get into vote fraud, my mail box has been drowning in e-mail from Americans who are very alarmed about Barack Obama. Not all, of course. One man said in his e-mail that he didn’t believe what I wrote in my last column. He said, Obama is a “good person.” Obama gave him “hope” and “inspiration.” It didn’t seem to bother this man that Obama’s past history includes a cozy relationship with a known communist or that he knows nothing about constitutional solutions.

Will it bother Obama faithful that he supports a “world order”? Watch this short video clip of Obama and listen to what he says: That “we” must invest (that’s the sweat off your back he’s talking about) in other countries to create a “world order we’d all like to see.” Pure communist propaganda and that’s why he’s getting the support of every flavor of communist in the world.

Go to this web site and spend a few minutes. It should horrify you. Obama is “Bigger than Kennedy…This is the New Testament!” “An agent of transformation….” “What if God is trying to make a statement? In the last generation, a motivated, organized “religious right” has flexed its considerable muscle in both electing candidates and shaping American public policy. But what if God is trying to make a statement in 2008 through the meteoric rise of a new symbol — a charismatic, eloquent senator from Illinois who is turning conventional American politics on its head? That food for thought will form the basis of Sunday’s sermon by Pastor John Van Sloten at New Hope Church.”

Now, I have to tell you here that I do not share the views of the authors next statements. I believe in the Golden Rule and I believe in harming none, ever, but the author feels more passionate than I it would seem. So while we share the same view of Obama, we do not share a religious one. I happen to think that Gay people didn’t choose to be the way they are anymore than I chose to be heterosexual, so how can what they are doing be a sin? God created them too and God doesn’t make mistakes, right?

God has made many statements. He has told us forcefully that sodomy is an abomination as well as lesbian sex. Obama supports and condones that which God has told us is an abomination. God has commanded us, not asked us, but commanded: Thou shalt not kill. Obama supports and condones the murder of an unborn baby waiting in it’s mother’s womb to reach the stage of growth where he/she can live outside the mother. Pastor Van Sloten’s words, “…meteoric rise of a new symbol” smacks of worshipping false idols. Many brutal dictators throughout history had this same kind of “meteoric rise of a new symbol.” The Third Reich comes to mind.

This circus between Obama and Marxist Hillary Clinton will soon play itself out. The lame stream media, particularly the cable networks, will fill endless hours with useless chatter about them and in the end, it will mean nothing. The shadow government will make sure they get the candidate they want and herd voters in the right direction. As Madame Clinton is facing a fraud trial, it’s not likely the machine will allow her to be the “winner,” but you never know.

John McCain is an evil, dangerous man. He took a few hits last week, but as everyone considers him the locked in nomination for the Republicans, it is here we must concentrate our efforts. I hope you will make every effort to get the word out about McCain. First: McCain sold out our POW/MIAs. There can be no forgiveness for what he has done to our precious military personnel left behind. For solid source material, please see the links in my column here. We must get this material to as many veterans and active military as possible. I also recommend you get the DVD, Missing: Presumed Dead. If money is a problem, go in with two or three friends. Get this DVD to your local VFW Hall and other veterans organizations.

Albanian lobbyist Joe DioGuardi stands left of McCain.

Second: Our national security and McCain’s tireless efforts to support this invasion underway by illegal aliens. McCain’s boast that he the prince of ethical standards would bring tears to the eyes of an Angel! This is such a blatant lie, it puts him on a par with the Clinton’s. Patrick Briley’s last column should be given mass distribution on the Internet because it is factual and contains very serious information on McCain, i.e., “Former CIA officer Phillip Giraldi has linked John McCain with corrupt senior U.S. officials who criminally helped proliferate U.S. nuclear technology to Islamic nations according to this February 4, 2008 article, “Why Sibel Edmonds Must be heard:” And,” John McCain armed Kosovo Islamic terrorists. February 13, 2008. “[McCain] He did everything that we asked of him, including arming the KLA”, said Albanian lobbyist Joe DioGuardi. The Albanians collected one million dollars for the presidential campaign of this senator.“

Read the rest of the story HERE:

It saddens me to see the greed of these candidates. Taking money from foreign governments? I’ve always known McCain would do anything for a buck. Makes me wonder how many times he’s been on his knees blowing someone just for that campaign contribution. They are all disgusting and revolting to me. Where is their Patriotism? In the toilet I’m sure. But unless we get the word out, one of these irresponsible fools will sit on the White House chair and be a symbol for our nation. Makes me want to vomit.

I love my country! I want her back! Not one of these candidates will do that. In fact, I will guarantee you that they will do everything in their power to give America away. Fools and more. I’m sure the Rothchilds, the Morgans, the Rockefellers, etc. are just wringing their hands with happiness right now knowing that the USA is theirs to do with as they please. She can be destroyed now, or propped up, but she will NEVER be the same.

When did American’s lose all their common sense? Where there is smoke there is fire. These shit on a shingle candidates aren’t worthy of your loyalty, they aren’t worth anything at all. Wake Up America! Stop consuming that Kool-Aid. THINK!

I dread the coming elections knowing that one of these three worthless excuses for humanity will hold this highest office in this Land. And it will be too late then to say I told you so. Much too late. When the dreams of a Strong America lay as ashes around your feet, who will you blame then? Iraq? Iran? No, look to yourselves. Look into your hearts. I and others have told you so for long enough…

* When people pondered the dilemmas that required killing someone with their bare hands, several networks in their brains lighted up. One, which included the medial (inward-facing) parts of the frontal lobes, has been implicated in emotions about other people. A second, the dorsolateral (upper and outer-facing) surface of the frontal lobes, has been implicated in ongoing mental computation (including nonmoral reasoning, like deciding whether to get somewhere by plane or train). And a third region, the anterior cingulate cortex (an evolutionarily ancient strip lying at the base of the inner surface of each cerebral hemisphere), registers a conflict between an urge coming from one part of the brain and an advisory coming from another. Steven Pinker on the moral instinct.

* “I don’t want the campaign at this stage to degenerate into so much tit-for-tat, back-and-forth, that we lose sight of why all of us are doing this,” Mr. Obama told reporters at a news conference here. “We’ve got too much at stake at this time in our history to be engaging in this kind of silliness. I expect that other campaigns feel the same way.” Obama tries to put the brakes on the scorched-earth primary. We’ll see if it works. More comment at TPM Election Central andDaily Kos.

* “Share” is Facebookspeak for “advertise”. Sign up to Facebook and you become a free walking, talking advert for Blockbuster or Coke, extolling the virtues of these brands to your friends. We are seeing the commodification of human relationships, the extraction of capitalistic value from friendships. *Seeing?* Where have you been, man? Marx was all over this in 1848.

* Vast areas of the Antarctic ice sheet — which has 10 times as much ice as Greenland — is losing mass much faster than anyone expected. And the rate of ice loss has quickened in the last decade. In fact, 2007′s ice loss was 75% higher than 2006′s. Just imagine how bad this would be if climate change were real…

This was true under the Soviets, which was why Lysenko got away with his version of biology for 30 years, and why some dissenting scientists to Stalin’s ‘creative biology’ died in concentration camps.

So, it occurs to me that the fellow from Millard Fillmore’s bathtub isn’t really interested in ‘facts’. The truth doesn’t matter to him either, because he has his own definition of the ‘truth’, which furthers his agenda.

The classical concept of ‘truth’ as conceptualized by Aristotle, for example, were summarily rejected by Karl Marx in his theses on Feuerrbach.

Communism doesn’t end with economic and political reform. By definition, it further demands the abolition of both Religion and the Absolute Morality founded upon Religion. The irony is that Communism supposedly attempts to enhance civility within society, but removes all notions of Absolute Morality, the very cornerstone of civility. Furthermore, after Communism is instituted by the people, the system becomes Totalitarian, resulting in greater oppression of the people it was designed to “serve.” This fact is well documented throughout the history of Communist nations.

The practical results of Communism have been horror and atrocity for those under communist rule. So much so, advocates of Marxism have made every attempt to point out where communist leaders have strayed from the fundamental teachings of Karl Marx, in an attempt to absolve Communism. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that Marxist influence brought about many of these horrors. The irony is, Marxism renounces religion, not because of religious doctrine, but because of the actions of “religious” men. No one could accuse a religion such as Christianity of evil doctrine. However, it seems that men are intrinsically evil and need only an opportunity to express this inherent reality. One must look at the overall outcome of a philosophical doctrine on society, both good and bad, not specific instances of abuse. Christianity, for example, has been used by wicked men to do much evil, but its underlying doctrine has been the cause of much good in the world. Communism, on the other hand, has brought only atrocity into the world. Communism has not brought relief to the majority as promised, nor has it ended oppression as purposed. Communism has only served to remove Morality from the masses — a dangerous and costly experiment.

TBogg’s phony excuse for the deleted Flight 93 document

Also posted at Error Theory.

Slight language warning, with Clinton-Lewinski analogy (4th section).

TBogg has posted an explanation for how Kevin Jaques’ assessment of the Flight 93 Memorial went missing from one of his comment threads. Sometime following “the Infamous Alec Rawls Comment Thread,” says TBogg:

… after I was done picking up the beer cans, cigarette butts, and the assorted discarded underwear, I switched from Blogspot comments to Haloscan. In the process, all of the previous comment threads were lost…Fortunately through the miracle of intertubes nerdiness the Lost Commentinent has been rediscovered and you can go read them here.

TBogg insinuates that the Holoscan snafu is the reason that the restored comment thread is missing the Jaques comment, but he does not actually say it, and for good reason. The Jaques deletion had nothing to do with any comment system switchover.

A commentator at Alec’s Error Theory blog looked up TBogg’s site on the Wayback Machine. Turns out that Wayback was taking snapshots of Tbogg’s comment threads every week. Only Blogspot comments show up on Wayback, but that is all that is needed to tell the tale.

Throughout the period in question (spring and summer of 2006) all of TBogg’s Blogspot comment threads are stable except for the “infamous” one, which actually exhibits quite a bit of activity. Not only did TBogg hand delete Jaques comment, but he was apparently torn about it, changing his mind a number of times over a period of weeks.

Background, for those who don’t know what Kevin Jaques did

It is not known exactly when Kevin Jaques was asked by the Memorial Project to write an assessment of Alec Rawls’s warnings about Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the Crescent of Embrace design. Most likely he wrote it in late March of 2006, just before he posted it at the end of TBogg’s January 6, 2006 comment thread.

(If anyone wants to look, go open up the March 31st snapshot of TBogg’s site, then find the January 06 archive page. The Lunacy Abounds post is about a third of the way up from the bottom. Click on the permalink and the comment thread will appear, with the Jaques comment at the bottom. In the previous snapshot, March 28th, the Jaques comment has not yet shown up. Ditto for earlier dates.)

The Jaques comment is important because it shows the blatant dishonesty of the Park Service’s internal investigation. Jaques acknowledged that the giant Mecca-oriented crescent at the center of the design is similar to the Mecca direction indicator (called a mihrab) around which every mosque is built, then he told the Park Service not to worry because no one has ever seen seen a mihrab anywhere near this big before:

Thirdly, most mihrabs are small, rarely larger than the figure of a man, although some of the more ornamental ones can be larger, but nothing as large at the crescent found in the site design. It is unlikely that most Muslims would walk into the area of the circle/crescent and see a mihrab because it is well beyond their limit of experience. Again, just because it is similar does not make it the same.

The Park Service has released excerpts from Jaques’ comment, proving that the TBogg comment comes from Jaques, but it has never released the revealing parts, like where Jaques says not to worry because one has ever seen a mihrab this big before.

How to get rid of the body? TBogg has second, third and fourth thoughts

TBogg is THE source for the full text of Jaques’ analysis, with its blatant excuse-making for the giant mihrab. Having this analysis publicly available was a problem, both for Jaques and for the Park Service. Since TBogg had no way of knowing that on his own, it seems that somebody must have contacted him, because in the July 21, 2006 snapshot of Tbogg’s Lunacy Abounds comment thread, the Jaques comment is missing from the end.

Blogger allows blog administrators to hide and show comment threads, and it allows them to delete individual comments. Blogger also allows people who comment non-anonymously to delete their own comments. Jaques left his comment anonymously, so only a blog administrator could have deleted his comment. Unless TBogg got hacked, that would have been TBogg.

The August 21st snapshot of the Lunacy Abounds post shows shows TBogg having another thought. Here the entire Lunacy Abounds comment thread is hidden, while all the other comment threads on the archive page remain visible. (About half the posts in Wayback’s August 21st snapshot of TBogg’s January 2006 archive page do not have working permalinks, but of the pages that do come up individually, only Lunacy Abounds has the comment thread hidden.)

If “all of the previous comment threads were lost,” that was a separate incident. The archival record shows that a blog administrator went in and turned off the Lunacy Abounds comment thread by hand. Again, unless TBogg got hacked (or the Wayback Machine is wacked), that was TBogg.

Of course TBogg did not say anything about getting hacked. He insinuated that Haloscan is the culprit. Nope. Haloscan is innocent. Does TBogg want to try pointing the finger anywhere else?

On August 28, 2006, the “infamous comment thread” reappears, again without the Jaques comment. Wayback doesn’t have TBogg snapshots for 2007, but for most of this year the comment thread was again turned off (the Haloscan snafu?), until sometime recently TBogg himself retrieved the comment thread (without the Jaques comment) from the wayback machine and linked it to his original Lunacy Abounds post.

Not quite Hamlet. TBogg consistently wants the Jaques comment “not to be.” He just can’t decide how he wants it not to be.

TBogg’s Monica Lewinsky choice

To complete his Clintonian deception, TBogg makes an over the top admission, pretending it is all a joke:

So, yes. I have been busted. I’ve been getting more payoffs than Bill Bennett with a roll of nickels at Circus Circus. Between George Soros and Osama bin Laden I’ve received so many Miatas, that some of them are still sitting around in the blister packs.

At least he makes it amusing, but the joke is on the Bogglings. TBogg actually meant the “I have been busted” part.

Will TBogg’s legions of vitriolic followers take this Clintonian lie kneeling down? What’s it going to be TBoggers: spit or swallow?

TBogg will have to suffer some embarrassment for duping his readers, but so what? The man embarrasses himself every day. The important thing is that he is in a position to actually be of help in exposing the cover up of Islamic and terrorist memorializing features in the Flight 93 memorial.

Who contacted him? What did they say? Did he knuckle to a plea from Jaques alone, or was he actually contacted by the government?

TBogg could well have been duped himself. Maybe someone at the Park Service told him that this was an internal government document that was not supposed to be available to the public and asked if he could please remove it. Now that he knows a) that the Park Service is accused of perpetrating a cover up, and b) how the document that he himself covered up contains clear examples of dishonest excuse making, TBogg is in the same position as his army of Bogglings. He knows that he has been used.

Is he going to swallow it, or spit it out? Spit TBogg. You’ll feel much better in the morning.

Can’t we all just be against planting a terrorist memorial mosque on the Flight 93 crash site?

There is no reason for a left-right divide over the Flight 93 Memorial. It isn’t the critics of the crescent design that politicized the issue, but the defenders of the crescent, starting with newspapers like the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that knew about the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent back in 2005 and decided not to publish it. They were too busy using their editorial page to slam critics of the crescent as right wing bigots. Inconvenient facts could not be allowed to interfere with their chosen story line.

Then there are people like TBogg who politicize everything. Instead of checking the facts, he starts with his presumptions about which side he should be on, then looks for smarmy ways to characterize the opposition. That is not a rational thought process, but he can more than redeem himself if he will just stop deceiving everybody and start helping to expose the facts.

He could also give his moron brigades a chance to redeem themselves by asking them to actually check a couple factual claims about the crescent design:

Is the giant crescent is really oriented almost exactly on Mecca?Is the 9/11 date really inscribed on a separate section of Memorial Wall that is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent, placing it in the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag?

Is it true that every particle of the original Crescent of Embrace design remains completely intact in the so-called redesign?

This is what the blogosphere OUGHT to be good for. If TBogg is too busy to check the facts, why not put his minions to work?

For more on who TBogg has been covering up for, see last week’s post on Dr. Jaques 2001 article, where he argued that we should formulate our response to the 9/11 attacks in accordance with sharia law. How did this advocate for Islamic supremacism become the Memorial Project’s sole consultant on the warnings of Islamic symbolism in the crescent design during a crucial period when the Project’s dismissive posture was set in stone?

If TBogg would tell us what he knows, it might help answer that question, or pose others equally important. No more deception. Just tell the damned truth.

Stop the Memorial Blogburst

1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech
A Defending Crusader
A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever
And Rightly So
Big Dog’s Weblog
Big Sibling
Cao2′s Weblog
Cao’s Blog
Chaotic Synaptic Activity
Error Theory
Faultline USA
Flanders Fields
Flopping Aces
Four Pointer
Freedom’s Enemies
Ft. Hard Knox
GM’s Corner
Hoosier Army Mom
Ironic Surrealism II
Jack Lewis
Kender’s Musings
My Own Thoughts
Nice Deb
Ogre’s Politics and Views
Part-Time Pundit
Right on the Right
Right Truth
Stix Blog
Stop the ACLU
The Renaissance Biologist
The View From the Turret
The Wide Awakes
Thunder Run

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If you want to join the blogroll/blogburst for the Crescent of Betrayal blogburst, email Cao at caoilfhionn1 at gmail dot com, with your blog’s url address. The blogburst will be sent out once a week to the participants, for simultaneous publication on this issue on <strong>Wednesdays.</strong>

And it’s in the public domain, so you can watch it on Google Video with an entirely clear conscience.

(via, unsurprisingly, the film class I’m TAing)