In the wake of the aftermath of the Iraq War the U.S and her allies are feeling the somber mood of being deceived and outright lied to. Bush acted on false intelligence, Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, Saddam hated Osama Bin Laden to begin with and the people are realising the naivety behind the childish concept of “they hate us because of our freedoms”. A we’re good they’re evil situation. When will Bush realise that the world doesn’t work that way? he isn’t a messiah set out to save his people and shouldn’t look for dragons to slay. Its funny, a Government that claims it can’t afford to improve its healthcare system or even introduce its people to the world standard metric system can afford a trillion dollar war on a nation that was never an imminent threat.

Even the corporate media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his band of pundits such as Bill O’Reilly are struggling to conjure rationale explanations simply resorting to “if you vote in a democrat they’ll come over here” or “questioning the presidency is unpatriotic”. Does he even understand the concept of democracy? Liberty and freedom of speech? if it is unpatriotic to question your president even after he abused the constitutional law of habeaus corpes and declared a false war. If it is unpatriotic and wrong to question a presidency that’s been called time and time again as the worst in history; if they threaten us that we are doomed without their guidance then we truly have become an imperialist state, a wolf in the guise of a democracy.

So why is it that the Republican Party insist this war is necessary? The CIA intelligence they rely so heavily on discusses a concept called Blowback, its common sense to know that your actions can affect you in future. The Intelligence they received said Iraq wasn’t an imminent threat. And worst off, for a war based on false intelligence its interesting to note that one verifiable source claimed before we went into Iraq that it would cause further turmoil. I never realised a President could pick and choose what he read.

Worst of all, despite Bush’s failures it appears his predecessors haven’t learned anything. Here’s a rundown of the critical talking points at the Republican Candidate debate:

- Why did they attack us?
- Is torture justified?
- Do we have the right to imprison terrorist suspects without trial?

Despite having commissioned The 9/11 report that pointed to foreign policy as a motivating factor behind the attacks, their general understanding was that the reason Islamic extremists attacked us was simply because they were evil and we were good. Remind you of any fairy tale stories?

As for torture and imprisonment without trial. Are we even a democracy anymore? If the government has the right to tap our telephone lines, internet and imprison us without explanation then do you know what we’ve become? A Nazi Regime. We’re now just as bad as those communists we claim to have mortally despised.

“The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison
without formulating any charge known to the law, and
particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers,
is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation
of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist.”

- Sir Winston Churchhill

Although unconventional and borderline offensive Keith Olbermann is justified in comparing the Virginia Tech Massacre to Iraq. Many men and women of roughly the same age are dying in an unnecessary war that was fueled by lies. The flag was flown at half-mast for the Virginia Tech victims, it was mourned by the nation and yet everyday american soldiers and innocent iraqi’s are dying without any genuine public concern.

Its common knowledge that the Miss Universe pageant is just a vanity contest. Does anybody take it seriously? Can you learn something from watching a bunch of hot chicks parading around in evening dresses and bikinis?

On any given night no. They’re hot and that’s the only reason anyone watches it right? However, this year’s contest was held in Mexico, and the American public got an insight into the workings of Blowback.

Ron Paul talked about the CIA established concept in the Republican Debate. Unfortunately his explanation fell on deaf ears after the opportunist pig Giuliani decided that he’d play his 9/11 victim card another time and made a false allegation that Ron claimed the American people were at fault.

So what did happen at the pageant? Simply put the Mexican hosts booed and jeered the Miss USA contestant. Enough to warrant fear amongst the organisers that a riot could occur. She wasn’t representing her politics, immigration laws or resentment. She was simply there to participate in a pageant. However, the events that transpired in Mexico were the result of a growing sentiment of spite for the American people in general; as Nicolas Corte, a college student so aptly put it: “This was about immigration and so many things. She represented the United States and many people are thinking negative things about the country right now.”

The economic climate of Mexico is sparse, and there is increasing frustration over difficulties in immigration, getting children accepted into American schools, acquiring a visa for a job and the American public’s insensitivity towards the use of the derogatory term gringo. All this has contributed to an escalating anti-american sentimentality that resulted in Miss USA inadvertently becoming the subject of taunting, jeering and booing at Mexico.

If the American immigration policy is already causing enough anti-American sentimentality to create an uproar and anger a crowd watching a beauty pageant, then we seriously need to reconsider our foreign policy. You know, the one that got us into a war. And I’m sorry but “they hate us because of our freedoms” just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.

– via nytimes.com

The Unicef International Report measures 40 indicators for quality of life. This includes the strength of friendships and family relationships, quality of education and exposure to drinking and taking drugs. The report found based on these indicators that British children had the worst upbringing amongst developed nations.

In case you were wondering the U.S came in second…..last

Some excerpts:

“40% of British Children have had sex before Age 15 Compared with 15% for Polish teens. They drank Nearly Four times as much as Italian teens and had the worst sense of subjective well-being”

and although individual cases of violence can’t hold accountability for claim against an entire country’s youth it is interesting to note this excerpt from the article:

“In 2000, the country stood aghast upon hearing of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor, who bled to death, alone, in a public stairwell after being stabbed in the leg with a glass bottle by two boys aged 12 and 13. Fast forward through a few years of steadily rising violent crime rates, to the recent case of a 19-year-old who raped a 79-year-old grandmother, stabbed her to death and then left her body to burn on a cooker – it barely registered on the front pages.”

For a country that’s questioning the rapidly deteriorating morality of its youth, its interesting to note that The Sun a widely circulated paper gained its popularity by regularly featuring topless pictures of 18 year old girls known as “page 3 models”.

– via adbusters.org

Steve and Bill met a couple of days back at the all things digital conference. An uncharacteristic Jobs showed up. Walt asking about the iPhone received an uninspired talking points from Steve. Then during the discussion Walt forayed away from his point of focus and took a witty stab at old Steve’s sales pitches.

[ on what they expect from Apple in future]

Walt: we’re sure you’re working on something that’ll be beautiful

Kara: yeah it’ll totally BLOW us away! [giggle]

Walt: it’ll be amazing!

Jobs with his famed short temper however, remained unreactive to the light-hearted sarcasm and continued talking about what Apple foresaw in the future technology space.

Jobs vs Bill

When Gates and Jobs took center stage there was a handshake before both men sat down comfortably next to each other. At this point the legions of fanboys tasted a bitter disappointment. ‘Where’s the tension?’. As the conversation flowed Gates and Jobs showed mutual agreements, recognised the importance of each other’s companies and even went as far as to compliment one another. This was something many weren’t familiar with. I’m sure many almost expected (and hoped) Jobs and Gates would explode into a fiery argument about their past history. Rather we were treated to a calm, relaxed Gates and a sentimental, funny Steve.

Kara: What’s the greatest misunderstanding about your relationship (short pause)

Steve: We’ve kept our marriage a secret now for over a decade

[laughter bursts out from the crowd]

Jobs laughed along merrily with the crowd, and Gates understandably stared blankly at Jobs, bedazzled.

Fortunately, (for the sake of nostalgia) Steve didn’t leave us entirely disappointed. When one-on-one with Walt he left us with this gem.

Walt: so the majority of itunes software is on the pc
Jobs: statistically yes
Walt: isn’t it ironic?
Jobs: its like giving a glass of iced water to someone in hell!
[laughter]

But this time the tone was notably different. This wasn’t an angry Steve speaking, it was simply a humorous jab at Microsoft…

For a conference that accumulated a lot of press and attention with the anticipation of a showdown most likely headlined “Jobs Vs Gates” it couldn’t have gone any more sour. But nonetheless the crowd was treated to something spectacular that night. Here they were, the richest man in the world and his business rival. PC and Mac. The tech geek and the cool hipster. Not at each other’s throats but both heralding a great sense of respect for one another. Both sharing a lifetime of sentiment. Jobs summarised it perfectly in the concluding statement of the D5 Conference. In reference to Bill he quoted a Bob Dylan lyric:

“you and me have memories longer then the road ahead”

But now the question is left begging. Who is this man? The man we saw that night wasn’t the awe-inspiring Steve Jobs who seemingly revitalised mac computers single-handedly. This wasn’t the man that effortlessly garners rapturous applause and encapsulates an entire crowd’s attention at his presentations. Most importantly, this isn’t the man many know as a business tyrant. The man who demands nothing less then perfection from his workers who struggle so hard to please him. No, this was a new Steve that we saw.

Perhaps its his wealth of life experience thats humbled him. He Survived cancer, a stock-options scandal investigation, a mutiny from his own company and watched it crumble from the hands of poor management. At the end of the day though, he’s triumphed over all the adversities and its this thats helped changed him. The tyrannical dead-serious businessman turned sentimental funny guy. Though he may never justify his history of tyranny one thing is true that remains for the better. The revitalisation of Apple has brought with it, its greatest invention.

The dawn of a new Steve Jobs.

– via allthingsd.com