This week marks the beginning of the “terrorism preparedness” drills Top Officials 4 and Vigilant Shield 08:
VS-08 will be conducted concurrent with Top Officials 4 (TOPOFF 4), the nation’s premier exercise of terrorism preparedness sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security, and several other linked exercises as part of the National Level Exercise 1-08. These linked exercises will take place October 15-20 and are being conducted throughout the United States and in conjunction with several partner nations including Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as the Territory of Guam
As usual, the truthers are shitting their pants in anticipation of a false flag terror attack and/or a preparation for the declaration of martial law. Nevermind that these threats failed to materialize during Operation Noble Resolve last August. (Aside: does anyone have a list of times that Alex Jones has “cried wolf” about terrorist attacks and/or declarations of martial law?)
Critics on the war on terror often remark on how our reaction to 9/11 is exactly what the terrorists wanted. We now cower in fear of terror attacks, give up freedoms, and question each other loyalty. I can’t help but wonder if the reactions to these drills aren’t exactly what the police state wants: a constant state of fear and loathing. Besides, “they” don’t have to declare martial law. We’ve been living under martial law since at least the 80s, when Reagan escalated the war on drugs to its current paramilitary status. But even before the effective beginning of martial law in the 80s, the US has had a long history of government repression. The real question is not whether the United States is becoming police state, but to ask if it has ever been a democracy.
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Like their ancestors, contemporary Mandeans were able to survive as a community because of the delicate balance achieved among Iraq’s many peoples over centuries of cohabitation. But our reckless prosecution of the war destroyed this balance, and the Mandeans, whose pacifist religion prohibits them from carrying weapons even for self-defense, found themselves victims of kidnappings, extortion, rapes, beatings, murders and forced conversions carried out by radical Islamic groups and common criminals.
When American forces invaded in 2003, there were probably 60,000 Mandeans in Iraq; today, fewer than 5,000 remain. Like millions of other Iraqis, those who managed to escape have become refugees, primarily in Syria and Jordan, with smaller numbers in Australia, Indonesia, Sweden and Yemen.
Unlike Christian and Muslim refugees, the Mandeans do not belong to a larger religious community that can provide them with protection and aid. Fundamentally alone in the world, the Mandeans are even more vulnerable and fewer than the Yazidis, another Iraqi minority that has suffered tremendously, since the latter have their own villages in the generally safer north, while the Mandeans are scattered in pockets around the south. They are the only minority group in Iraq without a safe enclave.
Full Story: New York Times.
It’s wartime, and an enemy doctor is conducting painful and inevitably fatal experiments on children. You have two kids, ages 8 and 5. You can surrender one of them within 24 hours or the doctor will kill both. What is the right thing to do?
For most people, this scenario based on one in William Styron’s novel Sophie’s Choice is almost an impossible dilemma.
But for a group of people with damage in a part of the brain’s frontal lobe that helps govern emotions, the decision is far clearer. They would allow one child to die.
Scientists say a study involving these people has produced unique insights into the brain mechanics of moral decision making and shows that in some key situations emotions play a fundamental role in moral judgements.
Full Story: ABC (Australia).
(Thanks Ulysses Lazarus!)
(see also: Re-Thinking Disorders).
Nagi Noda has directed this Coca-Cola ad, which I believe is airing in the U.K. and Australia. We witness a girl drinking cola then progressing in iterative static poses down through the house and out into the garden. Here other people are encountered in similar sequential mode, providing a dizzying display of colour based on the Coke branding. The characters interact and the static scenes are seamlessly intercut with live action throughout the continuous long shot.
For anyone familiar with The Invisibles, by Grant Morrison, Noda’s commercial struck me as extremely reminiscent of the issues in which Ragged Robin gets stuck in and outside of time. Interesting to watch if you’re a fan of the comic or the concept in general.
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This light drink is distilled from cereal alcohol, pure spring water, sugar and handful of hemp seeds of the Cannabis sativa L. variety (better known as the Beniko species). Even more artistic and distinctive than the worm at the bottom of the tequila bottle, each Cannabis Vodka comes with a handful of marijuana seeds at the bottom of the bottle. This product is legal to purchase in all countries and ships worldwide to all regions except Australia.”
Link (via Weird Pixie)
A Science and the Mind conference in Australia has been discussing Tibetan meditation techniques and what neuroscientists can learn from them.
“Truly great advances of any kind are about making leaps … that explode on you seemingly from nowhere,” said Allan Snyder, keynote speaker at the conference, who is working on a thinking cap using magnetic pulses to access the creativity of the non-conscious mind.
Link
Some might claim that the machines have a hidden agenda, that there already is an intelligent machine out there, directing traffic, infinitely patient and connected to the world. One might allege that these protesters are merely the pawns of a conspiracy which they themselves do not fully understand, a conspiracy by machines, for machines… against humanity.
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