"You know, this used to be a helluva good country"

Excerpt from Easy Rider[video link]

Yes, Easy Rider is dated. And the idea that long hair represents rebellion seems quaint, because most or all of the signifiers of rebellion and discontent from the 1960s have been co-opted for marketing purposes, to sell perfume or cars or mutual funds, etc.

Ian Welsh, "What the Debt Limit Crisis Should Have Taught You", July 31


Arthur Silber, "Tell Me Again: Who's the Stupid/Weak/Incompetent One?" August 1st


Zachary Karabell, Time: "The U.S. is not drowning in debt", July 15th

from The Ground Truth: the human cost of war

BBC: US Civil War 150th anniversary: How US remains divided
(the US Civil War started on April 12th, 1861, 150 years ago today)


I'd never heard of Jennifer Matsui until today, when I came across her name in a Joe Bageant essay, "The Simulacran Republic", which also worth reading.


Matsui:"The Unmitigated Gall of O-Dacity" is from December 2009, but still relevant.

Awarding the current US Murderer-in-Chief the same prize that was bestowed upon Dr Martin Luther King Jr in 1964 is yet just another example of the Corporate State's ability to subvert dissident thought and action into establishment enabling PR. The same institutions that rely on Bono to lend legitimacy and rock star "cred" to their violent neo-colonial agenda have now appointed a youthful former community organizer to head their global operations. In Bono's case, the peace activism of John Lennon was successfully reconfigured to serve the interests of the ruling class as 'New Labour' rallied rock stars and other "anti-Establishment" figures to rise up and allow a new super elite to emerge. We can see the same brain trust at work as neo-cons embrace 'feminism' to justify their unending war on the Muslim world, invoking the dreaded veil to get western women on board with their military objectives.

And, yesterday from the BBC, "Egypt blogger Maikel Nabil jailed by military court"


Chris Hedges,
''Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System''

Uh, oh: "General: U.S. troops not ideal, but may be considered in Libya"(CBS News)

April 3rd: Telegraph, "People with Norman names wealthier than other Britons"

People with "Norman" surnames like Darcy and Mandeville are still wealthier than the general population 1,000 years after their descendants conquered Britain, according to a study into social progress.

Twenty facts on inequality in the US. Charts and information.
(via Jodi Dean)

March 26: Vivek Wadhwa, "Friends Don’t Let Friends Get Into Finance"

Pepe Escobar, "Let me bomb you in Peace"

I will admit I haven't followed the developing situation in Ivory Coast very closely. As you probably know NATO has been involved in their civil war there, and earlier this week helped remove Laurent Gbagbo from power.

I note however, that a couple of weeks ago Paul Craig Roberts remarked in "The New Colonialism" that

Forty-nine countries participate in the US Africa Command[aka AFRICOM-JV], but not Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, and Ivory Coast. There is Western military intervention in these non-member countries except for Zimbabwe.

Then again, maybe Empire is an alphabetical project.-JV