According to the following url:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/01/19/2469274.htm
The picture below is the one I remember seeing in the U.S. media prior to his November 2008 election.
Both of these images are available here.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Published by ABC News 1 Day Prior to 1st Day as U.S. President
According to the following url:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/01/19/2469274.htm
The picture below is the one I remember seeing in the U.S. media prior to his November 2008 election.
Both of these images are available here.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wlodimir Ledochowski's Various N.Y.Times Obituaries
The New York Times's premature and final reporting on the Black Pope's death-
giving a confession or simply in a coma?!
December 14, 1942 NY Times picture of Wlodimir Leodchowski
---
December 10, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30715F93C5B167B93C2A81789D95F468485F9
HEAD OF JESUITS IS DEAD IN ROME
Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, the Supreme Leader of Order All OVER World Since 1915
FOURTH LONGEST IN POST
Built up Society, Promoted Inter-Faith Amity, Rights of Labor and Negro in U.S.
By Telephone to The New York Times
BERNE, Switzerland, Dec. 9- The very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, Polish born [sic- he was born in Austria] Father general of the Society of Jesus, died in his cell at the Borgo Santo Spirito, headquartered of the Order of the Society of Jesus, acording to a Rome broadcast at 10 o'clock tonight. He was 76 years old. The immediate contributory cause of the death was an operation for an abdominal abscess about a month ago.
Three days ago he appeared to improve slightly, but late yesterday morning his strength began waning rapidly. Owing to a furthe British air raid on Turin again tonight, it was impossible to contact Rome directly for confirmation.
Up to the last he was visited regularly by his Vicar General, Maurice Schourmans, who spent a brief time with him this morning. Shortly afternoon the private nurse saw that his condition was worsenig and called in the doctor in charge. Visitors from then onward were forbidden with the exception of his confessor, who was closeted with Father Ledochowski for about half an hour.
The nomination of the new General will be made by the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, a body comprising some 150 superiors of Jesuit provinces throughout the world. Interim tradition calls for the naming of a Regent General, usually appointed by the dying General. In this case it is believed Schourmans would hold that post aided by a "special curia", consisting of one North American, one South American, an Italian, a Frenchman, a German, a Spaniard, an Englishman and a Slav- all superiors of the order. These men are at present in Rome.
The convocation of the Generak Congregation will, it is believed, be postponed until the end of hostilities owing to the almost insurmountable difficulties many of its members would have traveling to meet in Rome.
Ranked With Loyola
The Very Rev. Father Ledochowski occupied his post for the longest term of any General of the religious organization in its 400 year history, save for three. They were Claudius Aquaviva (1567-1615), Mutius Vitellschie (1615-1645) and Pierre Beck (1853-1887).
But apart from his tenure, his incumbency was marked by the restoration of the Jesuits to the numbers and influence in education, scholarship, the ministry and the missions which they had enjoyed before the temproary supression of the order from 1773 to 1801, in consequence of the cmpaign waged upon it by the leaders of the Enlightenment.
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, who met Father Ledochowski in 1930, wrote later that "everywhere in Rome I was told that Father Ledochowski would take rank as one of the two or three greatest heads of the Jesuit Order," an estimate which would group him with such men as Ignatius Loyola, the first general; Francisco Borgia, the third, and Aquaviva, the fifth.
Rapid Growth of Society
On the supression in 1773, when the Jesuits disbanded everywhere except in Russia, the order had forty-one provinces and 22, 589 members. Its vicissitudes depleted its ranks, but on the restoration a slow rebuilding began. Under Father Ledochowski's directon the provinces increased from twenty-seven to fifty and the members from 17,000 to 26, 589. Educational and other foundations rose correspondingly.
He enjoyed wide freindships among non-Catholics and was sympathetic toward their religious interests. A great believer in the cooperation of Catholics with non-Catholics, he worked untiringly to promote understanding between religious groups. Deeply interested in the question of the Oriental churches, one of his main activities was the promotion of unity in the Christian church and particularly the reuniuon of East and West.
Under his leadership the society undertook a significent development in the field of foreign missions, establishing new foundations in the Orient and particularly China, in India and teh Near East. He was especially interested in promoting a native clergy in the different mission countries, notably China, Japan and Africa. He also had a special interest in education and in promoting high educational standards among Catholics.
Spurred Social Studies
Toward the close of his life he became deeply interested in social questions and spurred the society to activities in the interest of the rights and welfare of labor and the Christian principles of labor unionism, encouraging the provinces in the United States and elsewhere to establish labor colleges for organized workingmen. He was also keenly interested in the rights and progress of the Negro in the United States and helped to focus the interest of the society here on the needs of the Negroes. His sister, Countess Maria Ledochowski, devoted her whole life to the missions in Africa and her cause for beatification is now being considered.
Like all superiors general of the Jesuits since [sic] the time of the counter-reformation, when the order pressed its reforms even on the Holy See, Father Ledochowski was known as "the Black Pope," black being the colr of the robe of his society of clerics who follow a rule. His tenure, however, was free of the controversies over Jesuit influence on church affars that marked certain of the reigns of his predecessors.
Son of Calvalry Officer
The son of Count Anthony Ledochowski, an exiled Russian Pole who was cavalry officer in the Austrian Army, and of the Countess Ledochowski, who was of Swiss extraction, he was born on October 7, 1866. His uncle was Cardinal Ledochowski, Prefect of the Propaganda of the Holy See.
As a boy he was page in the court of the late Empress Elizabeth of Austria. He stauded in Vienna and that the close of his arts course won the Imperial Prize, the highest honor. After studying law for a year he entered the seminary at Tarnow, Galicia, later studying at the Germanicum in Rome.
He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Galicia in 1889 and, after ordination, pronounced his finalvows in 1901. He first became a member of the staff of writers on Przeglad Powszechny (The Universal Review), a monthy, of which he was appointed superior in 1898. Becomming well known as a writer and preacher, he was the author of a book on surmons and studies in sociology.
Rose Rapidly in Order
His rise in the order was rapid. He became vice provincial for Poland, and in 1902, provincial. At the election of Father Francis Xavier Wernz, his predecessor, as general, he was said to have received thirteen votes on the first and second lalots. He was elected Father Wernz's assistant to administer the provinces of the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Galicia, Belgium, and Austria. At the first election following Father Wernz's death in 1914 he was chosen over Latin nominees.
During his tenure he fought attacks on the irder in Spain, Germany, Mexico and elsewhere. Like his uncle, Cardinal Ledochowski, who was imprisioned by Bismarck for championing the rights of the Poles to their language and religion, and who opposed the Kulturkampf, he espoused the cause of the Poles when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, earning the bitter enmity of the Nazis. In the first three years of the war, the Vatican speaker who disclosed Nazi attrocities in Europe and particularly Poland, over the Vatican radio despite protests and threats from Germany and Italy, was a Jesuit from Father Ledochowski's staff.
---
December 12, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10D10FE3D59147B93C0A81789D95F468485F9
LEDOCHOWSKI DEATH REPORTED IN ERROR
Jesuit General Is Still in a Critical Condition in Rome
Wireless to The New York Times
BERNE, Dec. 11- The very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, Father General of the Society of Jesus, was erroneously reported in an English language broadcast from Rome to have died there on Wednesday night.
It was asseretd tonight that the Father General was still alive, though sinking rapidly, but was resisting "with courage."
Father Ledochowski heard mass again this morning, and a late bulletin this evening announced that he was "resting comfortably."
The erroneous announcement of his death occurred in a brief statement Wednesday evenig during an English broadcast, and the announcement was unconfirmable at that time owing to a British air raid over northern Italy which had disrupted communications with the Vatican.
---
December 14, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20610FC3D59147B93C6A81789D95F468485F9
JESUIT SUPERIOR DIES IN ROME AT 76
Father Vladmir Ledochowski, General of Order, Was Named to Post in 1915
JOINED SOCIETY IN 1889
Brother of Polish General- Death Erroneously Reported by Italian Radio Wednesday.
By telephone to The New York Times
BERNE, Switzerland, Dec. 13- The Very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, "Black Pope" and Superior General of the Society of Jesus, died in his cell in Borgo Santo Spirito, headquarters of the orer in Rome, tonigt a few minutes after 6 o'clcok. His age was 76. Father Ledochowski underwent an abdominal operation five weeks ago. It was erroneously reported in a Rome broadcast that he had died Wednesday night.
After staging several rallies when his condition seemed beyond hope, Father Ledochowski suffered a relapse shortly after noon, and later went into a coma from which he never recovered. At the bedside were the eight members of the Cuia Generalizia, the Regency Commission which will direct the affairs of the Society of Jesus until the nomination of a new Superior General.
Immediately after death the body was dressed in his cossack and taken to the chapen in the hedaquarters of the order, where it will lie probably until Thursday, when a funeral service will be heard.
Pope Informed of Death
The Vatican was immediately notified about his death, and Mgr. Montini, Vice Secretary of State informed the Pope and Secretary of State Cardinal Maglione.
The nomination of the new Superior Geral of the Society of Jesus will be made by the General Congregation, a body comprising 150 Superiors of Jesuit foundations throughout the world. Since travel difficulties for such a Congregation are virtually insurmountable at the resent, it is believed it will not be held before the end of the war.
Meanwhile the affiars of the society will be in the hands of a Vicar Reegent, assisted by the General Curia, a body of eight members consistig of a North American, a South American, and Italian, a Frenchman, a German, a Spainaird, an Englishman and a Slav- all now in Rome.
Son of Polish Count
Father Ledochowski was born in Austria on Oct. 7, 1866, his family fabing moved from Tarnow, Poland. His father, Count Antoine Kalka Ledochowsk, married a Swiss, Jospehine Salis-Zizers. The Superior's brother, Ignazius Ledochowski, who survives, was a general in the Austrian and later the Polish Army, and during the first World War frequently was n charge of important operations.
Father Ledochowski studied in Vienna, entering the Society of Jesus in 1889. In 1894 he was ordained priest in Cracow, and in 1906 he was named by the Consultor General of the Society for German and Slav language provinces as well as for Belgium and the Netherlands.
On Feb. 11, 1915, the General Congregation named Father Ledochowski to the post of Superior General. The society then numbered twenty-seven provinces and 16,946 members; at his death it numbered fifty provinces and 27,000 members.
giving a confession or simply in a coma?!
---
December 10, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F30715F93C5B167B93C2A81789D95F468485F9
HEAD OF JESUITS IS DEAD IN ROME
Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, the Supreme Leader of Order All OVER World Since 1915
FOURTH LONGEST IN POST
Built up Society, Promoted Inter-Faith Amity, Rights of Labor and Negro in U.S.
By Telephone to The New York Times
BERNE, Switzerland, Dec. 9- The very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, Polish born [sic- he was born in Austria] Father general of the Society of Jesus, died in his cell at the Borgo Santo Spirito, headquartered of the Order of the Society of Jesus, acording to a Rome broadcast at 10 o'clock tonight. He was 76 years old. The immediate contributory cause of the death was an operation for an abdominal abscess about a month ago.
Three days ago he appeared to improve slightly, but late yesterday morning his strength began waning rapidly. Owing to a furthe British air raid on Turin again tonight, it was impossible to contact Rome directly for confirmation.
Up to the last he was visited regularly by his Vicar General, Maurice Schourmans, who spent a brief time with him this morning. Shortly afternoon the private nurse saw that his condition was worsenig and called in the doctor in charge. Visitors from then onward were forbidden with the exception of his confessor, who was closeted with Father Ledochowski for about half an hour.
The nomination of the new General will be made by the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, a body comprising some 150 superiors of Jesuit provinces throughout the world. Interim tradition calls for the naming of a Regent General, usually appointed by the dying General. In this case it is believed Schourmans would hold that post aided by a "special curia", consisting of one North American, one South American, an Italian, a Frenchman, a German, a Spaniard, an Englishman and a Slav- all superiors of the order. These men are at present in Rome.
The convocation of the Generak Congregation will, it is believed, be postponed until the end of hostilities owing to the almost insurmountable difficulties many of its members would have traveling to meet in Rome.
Ranked With Loyola
The Very Rev. Father Ledochowski occupied his post for the longest term of any General of the religious organization in its 400 year history, save for three. They were Claudius Aquaviva (1567-1615), Mutius Vitellschie (1615-1645) and Pierre Beck (1853-1887).
But apart from his tenure, his incumbency was marked by the restoration of the Jesuits to the numbers and influence in education, scholarship, the ministry and the missions which they had enjoyed before the temproary supression of the order from 1773 to 1801, in consequence of the cmpaign waged upon it by the leaders of the Enlightenment.
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, who met Father Ledochowski in 1930, wrote later that "everywhere in Rome I was told that Father Ledochowski would take rank as one of the two or three greatest heads of the Jesuit Order," an estimate which would group him with such men as Ignatius Loyola, the first general; Francisco Borgia, the third, and Aquaviva, the fifth.
Rapid Growth of Society
On the supression in 1773, when the Jesuits disbanded everywhere except in Russia, the order had forty-one provinces and 22, 589 members. Its vicissitudes depleted its ranks, but on the restoration a slow rebuilding began. Under Father Ledochowski's directon the provinces increased from twenty-seven to fifty and the members from 17,000 to 26, 589. Educational and other foundations rose correspondingly.
He enjoyed wide freindships among non-Catholics and was sympathetic toward their religious interests. A great believer in the cooperation of Catholics with non-Catholics, he worked untiringly to promote understanding between religious groups. Deeply interested in the question of the Oriental churches, one of his main activities was the promotion of unity in the Christian church and particularly the reuniuon of East and West.
Under his leadership the society undertook a significent development in the field of foreign missions, establishing new foundations in the Orient and particularly China, in India and teh Near East. He was especially interested in promoting a native clergy in the different mission countries, notably China, Japan and Africa. He also had a special interest in education and in promoting high educational standards among Catholics.
Spurred Social Studies
Toward the close of his life he became deeply interested in social questions and spurred the society to activities in the interest of the rights and welfare of labor and the Christian principles of labor unionism, encouraging the provinces in the United States and elsewhere to establish labor colleges for organized workingmen. He was also keenly interested in the rights and progress of the Negro in the United States and helped to focus the interest of the society here on the needs of the Negroes. His sister, Countess Maria Ledochowski, devoted her whole life to the missions in Africa and her cause for beatification is now being considered.
Like all superiors general of the Jesuits since [sic] the time of the counter-reformation, when the order pressed its reforms even on the Holy See, Father Ledochowski was known as "the Black Pope," black being the colr of the robe of his society of clerics who follow a rule. His tenure, however, was free of the controversies over Jesuit influence on church affars that marked certain of the reigns of his predecessors.
Son of Calvalry Officer
The son of Count Anthony Ledochowski, an exiled Russian Pole who was cavalry officer in the Austrian Army, and of the Countess Ledochowski, who was of Swiss extraction, he was born on October 7, 1866. His uncle was Cardinal Ledochowski, Prefect of the Propaganda of the Holy See.
As a boy he was page in the court of the late Empress Elizabeth of Austria. He stauded in Vienna and that the close of his arts course won the Imperial Prize, the highest honor. After studying law for a year he entered the seminary at Tarnow, Galicia, later studying at the Germanicum in Rome.
He entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Galicia in 1889 and, after ordination, pronounced his finalvows in 1901. He first became a member of the staff of writers on Przeglad Powszechny (The Universal Review), a monthy, of which he was appointed superior in 1898. Becomming well known as a writer and preacher, he was the author of a book on surmons and studies in sociology.
Rose Rapidly in Order
His rise in the order was rapid. He became vice provincial for Poland, and in 1902, provincial. At the election of Father Francis Xavier Wernz, his predecessor, as general, he was said to have received thirteen votes on the first and second lalots. He was elected Father Wernz's assistant to administer the provinces of the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany, Galicia, Belgium, and Austria. At the first election following Father Wernz's death in 1914 he was chosen over Latin nominees.
During his tenure he fought attacks on the irder in Spain, Germany, Mexico and elsewhere. Like his uncle, Cardinal Ledochowski, who was imprisioned by Bismarck for championing the rights of the Poles to their language and religion, and who opposed the Kulturkampf, he espoused the cause of the Poles when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, earning the bitter enmity of the Nazis. In the first three years of the war, the Vatican speaker who disclosed Nazi attrocities in Europe and particularly Poland, over the Vatican radio despite protests and threats from Germany and Italy, was a Jesuit from Father Ledochowski's staff.
---
December 12, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10D10FE3D59147B93C0A81789D95F468485F9
LEDOCHOWSKI DEATH REPORTED IN ERROR
Jesuit General Is Still in a Critical Condition in Rome
Wireless to The New York Times
BERNE, Dec. 11- The very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, Father General of the Society of Jesus, was erroneously reported in an English language broadcast from Rome to have died there on Wednesday night.
It was asseretd tonight that the Father General was still alive, though sinking rapidly, but was resisting "with courage."
Father Ledochowski heard mass again this morning, and a late bulletin this evening announced that he was "resting comfortably."
The erroneous announcement of his death occurred in a brief statement Wednesday evenig during an English broadcast, and the announcement was unconfirmable at that time owing to a British air raid over northern Italy which had disrupted communications with the Vatican.
---
December 14, 1942
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20610FC3D59147B93C6A81789D95F468485F9
JESUIT SUPERIOR DIES IN ROME AT 76
Father Vladmir Ledochowski, General of Order, Was Named to Post in 1915
JOINED SOCIETY IN 1889
Brother of Polish General- Death Erroneously Reported by Italian Radio Wednesday.
By telephone to The New York Times
BERNE, Switzerland, Dec. 13- The Very Rev. Vladimir Ledochowski, "Black Pope" and Superior General of the Society of Jesus, died in his cell in Borgo Santo Spirito, headquarters of the orer in Rome, tonigt a few minutes after 6 o'clcok. His age was 76. Father Ledochowski underwent an abdominal operation five weeks ago. It was erroneously reported in a Rome broadcast that he had died Wednesday night.
After staging several rallies when his condition seemed beyond hope, Father Ledochowski suffered a relapse shortly after noon, and later went into a coma from which he never recovered. At the bedside were the eight members of the Cuia Generalizia, the Regency Commission which will direct the affairs of the Society of Jesus until the nomination of a new Superior General.
Immediately after death the body was dressed in his cossack and taken to the chapen in the hedaquarters of the order, where it will lie probably until Thursday, when a funeral service will be heard.
Pope Informed of Death
The Vatican was immediately notified about his death, and Mgr. Montini, Vice Secretary of State informed the Pope and Secretary of State Cardinal Maglione.
The nomination of the new Superior Geral of the Society of Jesus will be made by the General Congregation, a body comprising 150 Superiors of Jesuit foundations throughout the world. Since travel difficulties for such a Congregation are virtually insurmountable at the resent, it is believed it will not be held before the end of the war.
Meanwhile the affiars of the society will be in the hands of a Vicar Reegent, assisted by the General Curia, a body of eight members consistig of a North American, a South American, and Italian, a Frenchman, a German, a Spainaird, an Englishman and a Slav- all now in Rome.
Son of Polish Count
Father Ledochowski was born in Austria on Oct. 7, 1866, his family fabing moved from Tarnow, Poland. His father, Count Antoine Kalka Ledochowsk, married a Swiss, Jospehine Salis-Zizers. The Superior's brother, Ignazius Ledochowski, who survives, was a general in the Austrian and later the Polish Army, and during the first World War frequently was n charge of important operations.
Father Ledochowski studied in Vienna, entering the Society of Jesus in 1889. In 1894 he was ordained priest in Cracow, and in 1906 he was named by the Consultor General of the Society for German and Slav language provinces as well as for Belgium and the Netherlands.
On Feb. 11, 1915, the General Congregation named Father Ledochowski to the post of Superior General. The society then numbered twenty-seven provinces and 16,946 members; at his death it numbered fifty provinces and 27,000 members.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Pelosi's Jesuitical Limited Hang Out
Pretending that sex scandals are the Jesuits' only scandal- deflecting attention from war criminal Wlodimir Ledochowski and his furthering the Jesuit Order/ancient regime infiltration of the U.S. govt via establishing Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service
Found at Good Jesuit Bad Jesuit
http://goodjesuitbadjesuit.blogspot.com/2011/05/nancy-pelosi-has-reconsidered-her.html
Nancy Pelosi Has Reconsidered Her Position On Jesuit House Chaplain
A spokesman for Rep. Nancy Pelosi said that the House minority leader’s concerns about Father Patrick Conroy, the Jesuit nominee for House chaplain, have been addressed. Pelosi had reconsidered her support for Father Conroy’s nomination after learning that the Oregon Jesuit province, to which the nominee belongs, recently made a record sex-abuse settlement. “Father Conroy has responded to additional questions posed to him,” said spokesman Drew Hammill. “Based on his answers, the leader sees no obstacle to his being named chaplain.” Rep. Peter Fazio of Oregon said that he expected that Father Conroy’s background would be “thoroughly examined” by House members.
Found at Good Jesuit Bad Jesuit
http://goodjesuitbadjesuit.blogspot.com/2011/05/nancy-pelosi-has-reconsidered-her.html
Nancy Pelosi Has Reconsidered Her Position On Jesuit House Chaplain
A spokesman for Rep. Nancy Pelosi said that the House minority leader’s concerns about Father Patrick Conroy, the Jesuit nominee for House chaplain, have been addressed. Pelosi had reconsidered her support for Father Conroy’s nomination after learning that the Oregon Jesuit province, to which the nominee belongs, recently made a record sex-abuse settlement. “Father Conroy has responded to additional questions posed to him,” said spokesman Drew Hammill. “Based on his answers, the leader sees no obstacle to his being named chaplain.” Rep. Peter Fazio of Oregon said that he expected that Father Conroy’s background would be “thoroughly examined” by House members.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Since 1825
Starting 9 Years After the Jesuit Order's 'Restoration'
http://www.uwgreek.com/frat/home.htmlAnd from Boston University:
Fraternity Facts
* The Greek system is the largest network of volunteers in the US, with members donating over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year.
* Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity.
* 76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity. 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men. 71% of those listed in "Who's Who in America" belong to a fraternity.
* There are 123 fraternities and sororities with 9 million members total.
* Of the nation's 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men.
* A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sorority graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate.
* Less than 2% of an average college student's expenses go toward fraternity/sorority dues.
* Over 85% of the student leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community.
2% = 80%??
The American college fraternity is one of the few institutions on our higher educational structure which was invented by us and not borrowed from European models. Not surprisingly, it has been a symbol of American college student independence, pride, and leadership.
Fraternity men represent about 2% of the male population of America. What is happening to that 2% ? They are leading this nation! Approximately 80% of the executives of the 500 largest corporations in America are fraternity men. More than three fourths of our U .S. Senators are fraternity men, as are a majority of the men listed in Who's Who in America. Of the sixteen U.S. Presidents who had a chance to join a college fraternity, thirteen took advantage of the opportunity. So many college presidents have been fraternity members that the total would run into the thousands.
How and why are fraternities able to produce such a large percentage of our nation's leaders? The easiest way to answer this question is to examine just what happens in a fraternity.
A college fraternity provides a young man with the opportunity to learn how to work together with people, whether it be for the highest grades, the best homecoming float, a community service project or merely to keep the house clean. A fraternity provides a unique combination: family, home away from home, social organization, business and organization in which students can develop confidence as they acquire competence. The opportunities for leadership are unlimited and the most important thing is that the principles of leadership are learned through experience.
This experience teaches fraternity men that success is not automatic, but rather, that knowledge and performance are what count most. A fraternity man learns how to develop sensitivity regarding the desires, goals, and aspirations of others; how to communicate, how to inspire, how to motivate; the importance of setting an example; how to delegate responsibility; and how to accept failure as well as success and glory .He learns that a true leader must have the courage to stand up for his beliefs, while also being attentive, interested, and responsive to those who may disagree.
Too many students come to college, sign up for classes, study from test to test memorizing material and feeding it back at test time. They may get good grades and graduate, but it is surprising how many college graduates are wandering around looking for jobs because they did not develop the ability to work with people or the basic qualities of leadership while they were in college. The qualities of leadership must be tested and developed by each person and a fraternity provides the opportunity for students for just that. This is how 2% can equal 80%.
http://www.bu.edu/sao/features/greek-life.html
Did you know?
85% of Fortune 500 executives are Greek
76% of U.S. Congressman and Senators are Greek
40% of all Supreme Court Justices
All but two U.S. Presidents and two Vice Presidents since 1825 have been Greek
85% of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 have been Greek
63% of U.S. President's cabinet members since 1900 are Greek
Approximately 9 Million Members Total
750,000 Undergraduate Members in 12,000 chapters
Over 800 Campuses in USA & Canada
10 Million Service Hours a Year
Over $10 Million raised for charities each year
Boston University boasts two founding chapters of national organizations: Lambda Chi Alpha and Delta Delta Delta were both founded at BU.
Notably, the Jesuit Superior General during the 1820s - Luigi Fortis, born February 26, 1748, Verona, Italy, elected Superior General December 10, 1820, died January 27, 1829, Rome Italy - took an interest in establishing the customs of those of collge age education institutions:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Fortis
Superior General
The new Superior General dedicated his short term of office to restoring the texture of Jesuit life as he had known it in the old Society. Fortis' letters to the whole Society describe in detail the customs which should regulate the life of the novitiates and scholasticates. One can still find little booklets from his time containing extracts from the letters of the Generals of the old Society with lists of the occasions on which they should be read aloud during meals. The principal achievement of Father Fortis and his generation of Jesuits lay in establishing beyond question the historical continuity of the restored Society with the Society founded by Ignatius that had existed until 1773.
Fortis reestablished also several provinces, including in the new world (Mexico), and three missions (Ireland, Maryland and Missouri) were depending directly on the General. Requests were coming from many places for the Jesuits to start anew the work they had been doing in the past, especially in the educational field. This prompted Fortis to initiate a revision of the Ratio Studiorum to adapt it to the thoroughly new socio-religious atmosphere of the 19th century.
A sign of the new trust of the papacy towards the Society is the fact that Pope Leo XII returned to Jesuit management the Roman College, as well as the church of St Ignatius, in Rome (1824).
Ratio Studiorum:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio_Studiorum
The Ratio Studiorum (Latin: "Plan of Studies") often designates the document that formally established the globally influential system of Jesuit education in 1599. Its full title is Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu ("The Official Plan for Jesuit Education").
The work is the product of many hands and wide experience, but it most directly derives from the efforts of an international team of academics at the Jesuit school in Rome, the Collegio Romano.
The Society of Jesus had not originally envisaged running a network of schools when it was founded, but it soon became progressively involved in and then largely associated with educational work. The many schools taken over or started by the Society in its first decades all needed plans (rationes). In addition, an increasing number of young men were entering the Society in need of the educational background that was required for priestly service, and the Society began to assume a greater and greater role in the direction of its own formational program. For these two reasons, there grew a great desire for a standard plan for all of the Society's educational institutions.
Under the generalate of Claudio Aquaviva, in 1581, a committee of twelve Jesuit priests was appointed without clear results. A new committee of six was soon formed in 1584: Juan Azor (Spain), Gaspar González (Portugal), James Tyrie (Scotland), Peter Busée (Holland), Anthony Ghuse (Flanders), and Stephen Tucci (Sicily). This committee produced a trial document, the Ratio of 1586, which was sent to various provinces for comments from the teachers. This plan was not intended for actual use in the classrooms. Reflection on the reactions led to the issuance of another document in 1591, which was to be employed in all Jesuit schools for three years. The reflection on these experiments was then used by the committee in Rome to create the final official document of 1599.
One hundred years after the order's founding, the Jesuits were running 444 schools. By 1739, they were running 669 schools.[1]
The Ratio had an major impact on later humanist education. In his Renaissance Literary Theory and Practice, Charles Sears Baldwin writes, “The sixteenth century closed with the full [classical] doctrine operative in the Ratio Studiorum and in the rhetoric of Soarez” (64).[2]
1/3 of U.S. Congress is "Greek"
"Greek" as in college fraternal orders
http://www.nicindy.org/blog/greeks-compose-one-third-of-congress/
For a third of lawmakers, Congress isn’t the only fraternity they’ve pledged. This is a recent article from the Washingtonian
The members of Kappa Alpha Theta, a sorority at the University of Missouri, needed a new social chair. And only one of their sisters-a blond, gregarious member named Claire-would do.
Under the leadership of the woman who would go on to be Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri-who now sits on committees including Armed Services-Thetas paired with the coolest fraternities on campus to enjoy a social calendar full of dances and parties. At least that's how Leslie Myers, a Theta two years younger than McCaskill, remembers it.
"When we were voting on social chair, the whole room goes, 'Claire,' " says Myers, the owner of a marketing firm in St. Louis. "She knew more people on campus than the other 100 people in Theta combined. It was our most fun year. If we wanted to do it, Claire could make it happen."
McCaskill isn't alone on Capitol Hill in having a Greek affiliation-nearly a third of members of Congress were in a fraternity or sorority, says Peter Smithhisler of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. That percentage is much higher than it is in the general population. Fraternity and sorority life seems to provide good preparation for a career in politics: The Greek process starts with a period of schmoozing, relationship building, and attempts to remember names and faces.
For the House majority leader, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, the experience provided lessons in governing. "My membership in Sigma Chi is one of the big reasons that I am where I am today," says Hoyer, who joined his frat at the University of Maryland. "I learned about working toward a common goal with brothers from every background. We learned that even when we disagree, we are still brothers and have a responsibility to pass that lesson of community on to others."
Those values were tested in Georgia in 2008, when two politicians, who knew each other from their Sigma Chi days at the University of Georgia, faced off in a Senate race.
"I first met Saxby when I was going through fraternity rush," says Jim Martin, the 2008 Democratic challenger to Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss. "He was tall and looked old."
Martin lost to Chambliss but says the race was never personal.
"When I was president of my Sigma Chi pledge class at UGA, Saxby's wife, Julianne, was our pledge-class sweetheart," Martin says. "I have always liked them."
In Congress, Chambliss joins a number of other prominent Sigma Chi brothers, including Hoyer and senators Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, John Ensign, and Mike Enzi.
Senator Johnny Isakson, also of Georgia, isn't a Sigma Chi-he's a Sigma Alpha Epsilon-but he knows Chambliss and Martin from their frat days.
"Johnny was there at the same time, so we all knew each other," Martin says.
Representative Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Duke in the 1970s, but she's still making Kappa connections: "Kappas are everywhere. I can start singing the Kappa song and always find someone nearby who knows it."
This article first appeared in the October 2010 issue of The Washingtonian.
http://www.nicindy.org/blog/greeks-compose-one-third-of-congress/
For a third of lawmakers, Congress isn’t the only fraternity they’ve pledged. This is a recent article from the Washingtonian
The members of Kappa Alpha Theta, a sorority at the University of Missouri, needed a new social chair. And only one of their sisters-a blond, gregarious member named Claire-would do.
Under the leadership of the woman who would go on to be Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri-who now sits on committees including Armed Services-Thetas paired with the coolest fraternities on campus to enjoy a social calendar full of dances and parties. At least that's how Leslie Myers, a Theta two years younger than McCaskill, remembers it.
"When we were voting on social chair, the whole room goes, 'Claire,' " says Myers, the owner of a marketing firm in St. Louis. "She knew more people on campus than the other 100 people in Theta combined. It was our most fun year. If we wanted to do it, Claire could make it happen."
McCaskill isn't alone on Capitol Hill in having a Greek affiliation-nearly a third of members of Congress were in a fraternity or sorority, says Peter Smithhisler of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. That percentage is much higher than it is in the general population. Fraternity and sorority life seems to provide good preparation for a career in politics: The Greek process starts with a period of schmoozing, relationship building, and attempts to remember names and faces.
For the House majority leader, Maryland's Steny Hoyer, the experience provided lessons in governing. "My membership in Sigma Chi is one of the big reasons that I am where I am today," says Hoyer, who joined his frat at the University of Maryland. "I learned about working toward a common goal with brothers from every background. We learned that even when we disagree, we are still brothers and have a responsibility to pass that lesson of community on to others."
Those values were tested in Georgia in 2008, when two politicians, who knew each other from their Sigma Chi days at the University of Georgia, faced off in a Senate race.
"I first met Saxby when I was going through fraternity rush," says Jim Martin, the 2008 Democratic challenger to Georgia senator Saxby Chambliss. "He was tall and looked old."
Martin lost to Chambliss but says the race was never personal.
"When I was president of my Sigma Chi pledge class at UGA, Saxby's wife, Julianne, was our pledge-class sweetheart," Martin says. "I have always liked them."
In Congress, Chambliss joins a number of other prominent Sigma Chi brothers, including Hoyer and senators Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, John Ensign, and Mike Enzi.
Senator Johnny Isakson, also of Georgia, isn't a Sigma Chi-he's a Sigma Alpha Epsilon-but he knows Chambliss and Martin from their frat days.
"Johnny was there at the same time, so we all knew each other," Martin says.
Representative Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia was a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Duke in the 1970s, but she's still making Kappa connections: "Kappas are everywhere. I can start singing the Kappa song and always find someone nearby who knows it."
This article first appeared in the October 2010 issue of The Washingtonian.
Friday, May 13, 2011
U.S. Blows Opportunity to Interrogate Usama Bin Laden
Thursday, May 5, 2011
"The Opportunity to Glean Valuable Intelligence from the Leader of a Powerful Terrorist Organization Was Lost"
As I noted yesterday:
For more than a decade, the government has said that Bin Laden is the world's worst terrorist, a terrorist kingpin, the head of the worst terrorist group in the world.
But if we captured and interrogated him, he could have spilled a lot of beans which would help prevent future terrorist attacks.
Right?
But as the Atlantic reports today:
There's one option the administration appears to have never seriously considered: taking bin Laden alive.
***
The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.
Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor reports today:
The Christian Science Monitor article also confirms that torture doesn't work to produce actionable intelligence, and points out that even Bin Laden could have been made to talk if other interrogation techniques were used.
Update: The ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. - Senator Chambliss - says that the executive order stated that Bin Laden should be killed:
3 comments:
0spinBoson said...
You mean, there was no longer a chance that Bin Laden would be talking about his ties to the CIA, Rumsfeld, Cheney et al.?
You do realize that this was a feature of his assassination, right, and not a bug? Giving Bin Laden a platform would've been PR disaster for both the past administration as this one, with its "let's not cast blame on any crimes committed in the past by the US govt and its (elected) officials" stance.
May 6, 2011 2:51 AM
Dredd said...
The ways of the wartocracy do not always make sense to those who serve them.
The wartocracy "works in mysterious ways".
May 6, 2011 7:29 AM
Jay said...
Don't think they wanted him to talk.
May 6, 2011 10:57 AM
"The Opportunity to Glean Valuable Intelligence from the Leader of a Powerful Terrorist Organization Was Lost"
As I noted yesterday:
For more than a decade, the government has said that Bin Laden is the world's worst terrorist, a terrorist kingpin, the head of the worst terrorist group in the world.
But if we captured and interrogated him, he could have spilled a lot of beans which would help prevent future terrorist attacks.
Right?
But as the Atlantic reports today:
There's one option the administration appears to have never seriously considered: taking bin Laden alive.
***
The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.
Similarly, the Christian Science Monitor reports today:
Some US military intelligence officials also lament that bin Laden was not taken alive – and privately wonder whether concerns about the political “headaches” involved in trying detainees may have led the Obama administration to favor killing rather than capturing the architect of 9/11.
The opportunity to glean valuable intelligence from the leader of a powerful terrorist organization was lost, says retired Army Col. Stuart Herrington, a military intelligence specialist who interrogated generals under the command of Saddam Hussein and evaluated US detention operations at Guantánamo.
The Christian Science Monitor article also confirms that torture doesn't work to produce actionable intelligence, and points out that even Bin Laden could have been made to talk if other interrogation techniques were used.
Update: The ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee. - Senator Chambliss - says that the executive order stated that Bin Laden should be killed:
I hope they went in with the idea of killing him, not capturing him. We needed to take this guy out. And I know that’s what the executive order said.
3 comments:
0spinBoson said...
You mean, there was no longer a chance that Bin Laden would be talking about his ties to the CIA, Rumsfeld, Cheney et al.?
You do realize that this was a feature of his assassination, right, and not a bug? Giving Bin Laden a platform would've been PR disaster for both the past administration as this one, with its "let's not cast blame on any crimes committed in the past by the US govt and its (elected) officials" stance.
May 6, 2011 2:51 AM
Dredd said...
The ways of the wartocracy do not always make sense to those who serve them.
The wartocracy "works in mysterious ways".
May 6, 2011 7:29 AM
Jay said...
Don't think they wanted him to talk.
May 6, 2011 10:57 AM
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Bin Laden Cover Up?
A delayed political bomb-shell for 'Obama' that would have been wasted upon GW Bush?
From Washington's Blog
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/05/if-there-was-no-firefight-why-not.html
I'm as happy as the next red-blooded American that Bin Laden is dead.
For more than a decade, the government has said that Bin Laden is the world's worst terrorist, a terrorist kingpin, the head of the worst terrorist group in the world.
But if we captured and interrogated him, he could have spilled a lot of beans which would help prevent future terrorist attacks.
Right?
But as the Atlantic reports today:
There's one option the administration appears to have never seriously considered: taking bin Laden alive.
***
The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.
The White House now admits that Bin Laden wasn't armed, so why wasn't he captured? The government says that the Seals who entered the compound thought he was reaching for a weapon.
That might be true, although Bin Laden wasn't exactly a healthy spring chicken. Indeed, Bin Laden was already pretty sickly by late 2001. (Don't worry: This post won't go down any rabbit holes regarding claims that Bin Laden died years ago.)
As CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen - who met Bin Laden and studied Bin Laden and his operation for many years - told CNN in 2002:
He's aged enormously between '97 and October of last year.
This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he's really, by December he's looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he's barely moving the left side of his body. So he's clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He's got a wound in his foot. He's apparently got dialysis ... for kidney problems.
I mean, this is a man who has a number of health problems, apart from the fact that anybody running around the Afghan mountains is not going to be in great shape.
Indeed, the oldest - and second-largest - French newspaper claims that Bin Laden was in the hospital for kidney failure two months before 9/11. As the Guardian notes:
Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.
The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.
Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department.
***
Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is suffering from Hepatitis C, and can expect to live for only two more years.
According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base at Kandahar in Afghanistan.
And CBS news reported that Bin Laden was ill on September 10, 2001, being treated in a Pakistan hospital with kidney dialysis:
In addition, it is rumored that Bin Laden had Marfan Syndrome - a disorder of the connective tissue, which usually shortens the life span (Abraham Lincoln had Marfan).
As Salon noted in November 2001:
Judging by photos and the FBI's physical records, Osama bin Laden could be a candidate for the diagnosis. He is said to be between 6 foot 4 inches and 6 foot 6, which is apparently unusual for his family. He is thin, bony and has little muscle; he weighs only 160 pounds. And he uses a cane -- possibly the result of connective tissue or back problems. Other information about the leader of al-Qaida suggests he may have a heart condition. His facial structure also resembles that of people with Marfan.
"He is Marfanoid," says Dr. Richard Devereux, a clinician who treats patients with the illness at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. "He seems to have long fingers and long arms. His head appears to be elongated and his face narrow ... It's certainly conceivable that he has the Marfan syndrome and could be evaluated for it."
Though people have long speculated about bin Laden having Marfan, federal officials won't answer questions about his health. "We don't discuss the medical conditions of our enemy commanders," says Maj. Jay Steuck, a Defense Department spokesman. And a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman says, "We don't do unclassified medical summaries."
***
Yossef Bodansky, staff director of the House Task Force on Terrorism, told the New York Post: "We are getting a lot of reports and rumors. By all accounts, bin Laden is not a healthy man and is under a lot of stress."
David K. Schenker, a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, agrees that bin Laden's size is atypical for his surroundings. "I lived in the Middle East, and I never ran into anyone that tall," he says.
***
Should bin Laden have Marfan syndrome, the stress of cave-hopping and trying to outrun Allied cruise missiles could prove deadly. "People with the disease are told not to engage in heavy exercise," says Dr. Darwin Prockop, director of the Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University. "If Osama bin Laden has Marfan, he is in danger of sudden rupture of the aorta and sudden death."
Again, this post will not go down the rabbit hole to ask whether Bin Laden died prior to Sunday's raid. I am only focusing on the fact that Bin Laden was probably not a movie script type healthy young terrorist when he was thought to be reaching for a gun.
In addition, Bin Laden’s 12 year old daughter purportedly claims that Bin Laden was successfully captured alive first and then later summarily executed by the troops. Hopefully, this isn't true.
But assuming the government's version of events is true, why didn't the seals use knock-out gas and capture him? Even common thugs use knock out gas. For example, the U.S. state department warns:
Do not accept food or drink from strangers. Criminals have been known to drug food or drink offered to passengers. Criminals may also spray sleeping gas in train compartments. Where possible, lock your compartment. If it cannot be locked securely, take turns sleeping in shifts with your traveling companions. If that is not possible, stay awake. If you must sleep unprotected, tie down your luggage and secure your valuables to the extent possible.
(Be careful if you take any night trains in Italy).
If common hoodlams knock out their victims, you know that the U.S. military has stuff they can easily lob in and knock everyone out. Why didn't the government knock out Bin Laden and then hall him off to the interrogation room?
Indeed, the U.S. may have gotten the clue about Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad location in 2008. As the Guardian notes:
US may have got Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad clue in 2008 – WikiLeaks
Courier's interrogation at Guantánamo revealed network of messengers that US traced to track down the al-Qaida leader
The US may have obtained a clue three years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad, according to information gathered by interrogators at Guantánamo.
***
WikiLeaks released the report last week, prompting speculation that the US, afraid that its planned raid might be pre-empted, brought forward its attack.
So the U.S. could have knocked him out in 2008 and interrogated him.
As I've pointed out before, the U.S. had multiple opportunities to get Bin Laden in 2001 and 2007:
According to the U.S. Senate - Bin Laden was "within the grasp" of the U.S. military in Afghanistan in December 2001, but that then-secretary of defense Rumsfeld refused to provide the soldiers necessary to capture him.
This is not news: it was disclosed in 2005 by the CIA field commander for the area in Afghanistan where Bin Laden was holed up.
In addition, French soldiers allegedly say that they easily could have captured or killed Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but that the American commanders stopped them.
***
A retired Colonel and Fox News military analyst said that the U.S. could have killed Bin Laden in 2007, but didn't:
We know, with a 70 percent level of certainty — which is huge in the world of intelligence — that in August of 2007, bin Laden was in a convoy headed south from Tora Bora. We had his butt, on camera, on satellite. We were listening to his conversations. We had the world’s best hunters/killers — Seal Team 6 [Note: this is the exact same team that is credited with killing Bin Laden yesterday] — nearby. We had the world class Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating with the CIA and other agencies. We had unmanned drones overhead with missiles on their wings; we had the best Air Force on the planet, begging to drop one on the terrorist. We had him in our sights; we had done it ....Unbelievably, and in my opinion, criminally, we did not kill Usama bin Laden.
Indeed, a United States Congressman claims that the Bush administration intentionally let Bin Laden escape in order to justify the Iraq war.
Moreover, as I've previously noted, capturing Bin Laden and taking down Al Qaeda was never the real priority:
American historian, investigative journalist and policy analyst Gareth Porter writes in the Asia Times:
***
Feith's book, War and Decision, released last month, provides excerpts of the paper Rumsfeld sent to President George W Bush on September 30, 2001, calling for the administration to focus not on taking down Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network but on the aim of establishing "new regimes" in a series of states...
***
If we had really wanted to get Bin Laden, we would have gotten him in 2001 (indeed, the Taliban offered to turn him over), or 2007.
And Gareth Porter reported yesterday that the U.S. didn't even consider capturing Bin Laden as part of its Afghanistan war strategy:
The absence of any military planning to catch bin Laden was a function of Bush's national security team, led by Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, which had firmly opposed any military operation in Afghanistan that would have had any possibility of catching bin Laden and his lieutenants.
Rumsfeld and the second-ranking official at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, had dismissed CIA warnings of an al Qaeda terrorist attack against the United States in the summer of 2001, and even after 9/11 had continued to question the CIA's conclusion that bin Laden and al Qaeda were behind the attacks.
Cheney and Rumsfeld were determined not to allow a focus on bin Laden to interfere with their plan for a U.S. invasion of Iraq to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime.
Even after Bush decided in favour of an Afghan campaign, CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, was not directed to have a plan for bin Laden’s capture or to block his escape to Pakistan.
We tortured a bunch of innocent farmers, children, grandparents and reporters ... supposedly to get information about Bin Laden. But it doesn't seem like the government was very interested in actually interrogating Bin Laden himself.
5 comments:
DROID said...
Jorge,
Greetings. Excuse me for calling you something other than your given name, sometimes I have to use nicknames.
On with it now, thanks for all your coverage of 9/11. It was your blog that helped convince me of 9/11 truth years ago. I just can't understand why the indirectness? I guess persuasion and rhetoric dictates that the issue of 9/11 truth cannot be tackled headlong with most people. Unfortunate, yes, but perhaps a must? I find it hard to be patient enough with people who are in the dark about 9/11. I continuously have to remind myself that it's not their fault they don't know, even if they piss me off with ignorance and character attacks.
Also, I read ZeroHedge, but I can't help but wonder what their position on 9/11 is. I think I saw a comment by Tyler a while back stating he doesn't agree with the 9/11 "conspiracy theorists", but it seems that unveiling the truth about 9/11 would be something in line with their ethos.
It's such a divisive issue now, people on both sides don't want to listen to each other - at least the ones who've made up their mind. Maybe this is where the patience and indirectness comes in, but I yearn for so much progress on this issue to, what seems, no avail...something needs to change. I should say, though, the Dr. Pieczenik interview with Alex Jones seems to provide an impetus for invigorating the truth movement. Anyway, thanks, keep writing.
-Droid
May 4, 2011 7:03 PM
CONTRABANDISTA said...
I agree with your opinion and how you got to it.... My first thoughts after having given a few minutes of thought to this event was, why didn't they take him alive... Valuable asset or propaganda liability....? I think, the later of the two....
"Policy Deception", has been the rule in the belt-way, rather than the exception.... Credibility is hard to gain and easy to loose, ask any poker player... The game is over, done and it's every man for himself... The problem is no longer that "they are lying to us again", the problem is that "we are believing them again".
May 5, 2011 7:29 AM
jerry said...
"I'm as happy as the next red-blooded American that Bin Laden is dead."
Ummm... how do we know it wasn't some other innocent bystander or patsy that they blasted away in cold blood without a trial?? Especially if the real Bin Laden died shortly after 9/11, as so much evidence indicates?
May 5, 2011 8:53 AM
windcatcher said...
OK, lets not go down the rabbit hole that Osama bin Laden was terminally ill and died years ago.
We know for fact that our American Democracy has been overthrown and we live under a Fascist Oligarchy.
We know for a fact that American government operations are secret and they continuously lie to the American People with propaganda about their secret operations to cover up actual fact.
We know for a fact that financial fraud and document forgery by our government is prevalent and go unprosecuted.
We know for a fact that Obama’s birth certificate (Barry Soetoro aka Barack Obama) that was presented is a forgery.
We know for a fact that the government has secret weather manipulation programs like HAARP and chemical spraying to modify the weather, yet the earthquakes and unusual weather is attributed to “Nature.”
We know for a fact that the “weapons of mass destruction” was a propaganda lie that is responsible for the death of millions of innocent people- a war crime unpunished that continues today.
We know for a fact that the CIA forged some Osama bin Laden videos that were released for the purpose of propaganda.
We know for a fact that our American economy and national treasury has been sacked by the multinational corporations and their ruling Oligarchy.
Now, the Oligarchy government claims to have killed Osama bin Laden instead of capturing him and present no proof that they did kill him; we are supposed to “trust” them and their propaganda. Ha. Ha. The joke is on us all! By the way, bin Laden was never charged by the FBI for involvement in the 9/11 attack, he has repeatedly denied any involvement. If he were captured alive that fact would have come out.
The Fascist criminals are in charge of our government and the brainwashed American sheep are herded around the pen and feed propaganda before their slaughter, they are too brainwashed and stupid to catch on, most will never know the truth.
“We are an Empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you are studying that reality – judiciously as you will – we will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We are history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”…….. Carl Rove
Fact, the criminally insane sociopaths rule the United States of America and no one can bring them to Justice. War. War. USA. USA. Whoopee-- lets have a world war and kill everyone.
May 5, 2011 9:31 AM
Fungus FitzJuggler III said...
POTUS is a liar.
Windcatcher is perfectly correct, but any WW is unlikely. It is likely to cost too much!
Bluebeam etc and any fantasy will do fine. Fear is all that is required. Those FEMA camps do exist. Weather modification will cause enough need for the population to remain submissive.
May 6, 2011 1:07 AM
From Washington's Blog
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/05/if-there-was-no-firefight-why-not.html
I'm as happy as the next red-blooded American that Bin Laden is dead.
For more than a decade, the government has said that Bin Laden is the world's worst terrorist, a terrorist kingpin, the head of the worst terrorist group in the world.
But if we captured and interrogated him, he could have spilled a lot of beans which would help prevent future terrorist attacks.
Right?
But as the Atlantic reports today:
There's one option the administration appears to have never seriously considered: taking bin Laden alive.
***
The administration had made clear to the military's clandestine Joint Special Operations Command that it wanted bin Laden dead, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the discussions. A high-ranking military officer briefed on the assault said the SEALs knew their mission was not to take him alive.
The White House now admits that Bin Laden wasn't armed, so why wasn't he captured? The government says that the Seals who entered the compound thought he was reaching for a weapon.
That might be true, although Bin Laden wasn't exactly a healthy spring chicken. Indeed, Bin Laden was already pretty sickly by late 2001. (Don't worry: This post won't go down any rabbit holes regarding claims that Bin Laden died years ago.)
As CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen - who met Bin Laden and studied Bin Laden and his operation for many years - told CNN in 2002:
He's aged enormously between '97 and October of last year.
This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he's really, by December he's looking pretty terrible. But by December, of course, that tape that was aired then, he's barely moving the left side of his body. So he's clearly got diabetes. He has low blood pressure. He's got a wound in his foot. He's apparently got dialysis ... for kidney problems.
I mean, this is a man who has a number of health problems, apart from the fact that anybody running around the Afghan mountains is not going to be in great shape.
Indeed, the oldest - and second-largest - French newspaper claims that Bin Laden was in the hospital for kidney failure two months before 9/11. As the Guardian notes:
Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.
The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.
Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department.
***
Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is suffering from Hepatitis C, and can expect to live for only two more years.
According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base at Kandahar in Afghanistan.
And CBS news reported that Bin Laden was ill on September 10, 2001, being treated in a Pakistan hospital with kidney dialysis:
In addition, it is rumored that Bin Laden had Marfan Syndrome - a disorder of the connective tissue, which usually shortens the life span (Abraham Lincoln had Marfan).
As Salon noted in November 2001:
Judging by photos and the FBI's physical records, Osama bin Laden could be a candidate for the diagnosis. He is said to be between 6 foot 4 inches and 6 foot 6, which is apparently unusual for his family. He is thin, bony and has little muscle; he weighs only 160 pounds. And he uses a cane -- possibly the result of connective tissue or back problems. Other information about the leader of al-Qaida suggests he may have a heart condition. His facial structure also resembles that of people with Marfan.
"He is Marfanoid," says Dr. Richard Devereux, a clinician who treats patients with the illness at the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. "He seems to have long fingers and long arms. His head appears to be elongated and his face narrow ... It's certainly conceivable that he has the Marfan syndrome and could be evaluated for it."
Though people have long speculated about bin Laden having Marfan, federal officials won't answer questions about his health. "We don't discuss the medical conditions of our enemy commanders," says Maj. Jay Steuck, a Defense Department spokesman. And a Central Intelligence Agency spokesman says, "We don't do unclassified medical summaries."
***
Yossef Bodansky, staff director of the House Task Force on Terrorism, told the New York Post: "We are getting a lot of reports and rumors. By all accounts, bin Laden is not a healthy man and is under a lot of stress."
David K. Schenker, a research fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, agrees that bin Laden's size is atypical for his surroundings. "I lived in the Middle East, and I never ran into anyone that tall," he says.
***
Should bin Laden have Marfan syndrome, the stress of cave-hopping and trying to outrun Allied cruise missiles could prove deadly. "People with the disease are told not to engage in heavy exercise," says Dr. Darwin Prockop, director of the Center for Gene Therapy at Tulane University. "If Osama bin Laden has Marfan, he is in danger of sudden rupture of the aorta and sudden death."
Again, this post will not go down the rabbit hole to ask whether Bin Laden died prior to Sunday's raid. I am only focusing on the fact that Bin Laden was probably not a movie script type healthy young terrorist when he was thought to be reaching for a gun.
In addition, Bin Laden’s 12 year old daughter purportedly claims that Bin Laden was successfully captured alive first and then later summarily executed by the troops. Hopefully, this isn't true.
But assuming the government's version of events is true, why didn't the seals use knock-out gas and capture him? Even common thugs use knock out gas. For example, the U.S. state department warns:
Do not accept food or drink from strangers. Criminals have been known to drug food or drink offered to passengers. Criminals may also spray sleeping gas in train compartments. Where possible, lock your compartment. If it cannot be locked securely, take turns sleeping in shifts with your traveling companions. If that is not possible, stay awake. If you must sleep unprotected, tie down your luggage and secure your valuables to the extent possible.
(Be careful if you take any night trains in Italy).
If common hoodlams knock out their victims, you know that the U.S. military has stuff they can easily lob in and knock everyone out. Why didn't the government knock out Bin Laden and then hall him off to the interrogation room?
Indeed, the U.S. may have gotten the clue about Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad location in 2008. As the Guardian notes:
US may have got Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad clue in 2008 – WikiLeaks
Courier's interrogation at Guantánamo revealed network of messengers that US traced to track down the al-Qaida leader
The US may have obtained a clue three years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad, according to information gathered by interrogators at Guantánamo.
***
WikiLeaks released the report last week, prompting speculation that the US, afraid that its planned raid might be pre-empted, brought forward its attack.
So the U.S. could have knocked him out in 2008 and interrogated him.
As I've pointed out before, the U.S. had multiple opportunities to get Bin Laden in 2001 and 2007:
According to the U.S. Senate - Bin Laden was "within the grasp" of the U.S. military in Afghanistan in December 2001, but that then-secretary of defense Rumsfeld refused to provide the soldiers necessary to capture him.
This is not news: it was disclosed in 2005 by the CIA field commander for the area in Afghanistan where Bin Laden was holed up.
In addition, French soldiers allegedly say that they easily could have captured or killed Bin Laden in Afghanistan, but that the American commanders stopped them.
***
A retired Colonel and Fox News military analyst said that the U.S. could have killed Bin Laden in 2007, but didn't:
We know, with a 70 percent level of certainty — which is huge in the world of intelligence — that in August of 2007, bin Laden was in a convoy headed south from Tora Bora. We had his butt, on camera, on satellite. We were listening to his conversations. We had the world’s best hunters/killers — Seal Team 6 [Note: this is the exact same team that is credited with killing Bin Laden yesterday] — nearby. We had the world class Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating with the CIA and other agencies. We had unmanned drones overhead with missiles on their wings; we had the best Air Force on the planet, begging to drop one on the terrorist. We had him in our sights; we had done it ....Unbelievably, and in my opinion, criminally, we did not kill Usama bin Laden.
Indeed, a United States Congressman claims that the Bush administration intentionally let Bin Laden escape in order to justify the Iraq war.
Moreover, as I've previously noted, capturing Bin Laden and taking down Al Qaeda was never the real priority:
American historian, investigative journalist and policy analyst Gareth Porter writes in the Asia Times:
***
Feith's book, War and Decision, released last month, provides excerpts of the paper Rumsfeld sent to President George W Bush on September 30, 2001, calling for the administration to focus not on taking down Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network but on the aim of establishing "new regimes" in a series of states...
***
If we had really wanted to get Bin Laden, we would have gotten him in 2001 (indeed, the Taliban offered to turn him over), or 2007.
And Gareth Porter reported yesterday that the U.S. didn't even consider capturing Bin Laden as part of its Afghanistan war strategy:
The absence of any military planning to catch bin Laden was a function of Bush's national security team, led by Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld, which had firmly opposed any military operation in Afghanistan that would have had any possibility of catching bin Laden and his lieutenants.
Rumsfeld and the second-ranking official at the Pentagon, Paul Wolfowitz, had dismissed CIA warnings of an al Qaeda terrorist attack against the United States in the summer of 2001, and even after 9/11 had continued to question the CIA's conclusion that bin Laden and al Qaeda were behind the attacks.
Cheney and Rumsfeld were determined not to allow a focus on bin Laden to interfere with their plan for a U.S. invasion of Iraq to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime.
Even after Bush decided in favour of an Afghan campaign, CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, was not directed to have a plan for bin Laden’s capture or to block his escape to Pakistan.
We tortured a bunch of innocent farmers, children, grandparents and reporters ... supposedly to get information about Bin Laden. But it doesn't seem like the government was very interested in actually interrogating Bin Laden himself.
5 comments:
DROID said...
Jorge,
Greetings. Excuse me for calling you something other than your given name, sometimes I have to use nicknames.
On with it now, thanks for all your coverage of 9/11. It was your blog that helped convince me of 9/11 truth years ago. I just can't understand why the indirectness? I guess persuasion and rhetoric dictates that the issue of 9/11 truth cannot be tackled headlong with most people. Unfortunate, yes, but perhaps a must? I find it hard to be patient enough with people who are in the dark about 9/11. I continuously have to remind myself that it's not their fault they don't know, even if they piss me off with ignorance and character attacks.
Also, I read ZeroHedge, but I can't help but wonder what their position on 9/11 is. I think I saw a comment by Tyler a while back stating he doesn't agree with the 9/11 "conspiracy theorists", but it seems that unveiling the truth about 9/11 would be something in line with their ethos.
It's such a divisive issue now, people on both sides don't want to listen to each other - at least the ones who've made up their mind. Maybe this is where the patience and indirectness comes in, but I yearn for so much progress on this issue to, what seems, no avail...something needs to change. I should say, though, the Dr. Pieczenik interview with Alex Jones seems to provide an impetus for invigorating the truth movement. Anyway, thanks, keep writing.
-Droid
May 4, 2011 7:03 PM
CONTRABANDISTA said...
I agree with your opinion and how you got to it.... My first thoughts after having given a few minutes of thought to this event was, why didn't they take him alive... Valuable asset or propaganda liability....? I think, the later of the two....
"Policy Deception", has been the rule in the belt-way, rather than the exception.... Credibility is hard to gain and easy to loose, ask any poker player... The game is over, done and it's every man for himself... The problem is no longer that "they are lying to us again", the problem is that "we are believing them again".
May 5, 2011 7:29 AM
jerry said...
"I'm as happy as the next red-blooded American that Bin Laden is dead."
Ummm... how do we know it wasn't some other innocent bystander or patsy that they blasted away in cold blood without a trial?? Especially if the real Bin Laden died shortly after 9/11, as so much evidence indicates?
May 5, 2011 8:53 AM
windcatcher said...
OK, lets not go down the rabbit hole that Osama bin Laden was terminally ill and died years ago.
We know for fact that our American Democracy has been overthrown and we live under a Fascist Oligarchy.
We know for a fact that American government operations are secret and they continuously lie to the American People with propaganda about their secret operations to cover up actual fact.
We know for a fact that financial fraud and document forgery by our government is prevalent and go unprosecuted.
We know for a fact that Obama’s birth certificate (Barry Soetoro aka Barack Obama) that was presented is a forgery.
We know for a fact that the government has secret weather manipulation programs like HAARP and chemical spraying to modify the weather, yet the earthquakes and unusual weather is attributed to “Nature.”
We know for a fact that the “weapons of mass destruction” was a propaganda lie that is responsible for the death of millions of innocent people- a war crime unpunished that continues today.
We know for a fact that the CIA forged some Osama bin Laden videos that were released for the purpose of propaganda.
We know for a fact that our American economy and national treasury has been sacked by the multinational corporations and their ruling Oligarchy.
Now, the Oligarchy government claims to have killed Osama bin Laden instead of capturing him and present no proof that they did kill him; we are supposed to “trust” them and their propaganda. Ha. Ha. The joke is on us all! By the way, bin Laden was never charged by the FBI for involvement in the 9/11 attack, he has repeatedly denied any involvement. If he were captured alive that fact would have come out.
The Fascist criminals are in charge of our government and the brainwashed American sheep are herded around the pen and feed propaganda before their slaughter, they are too brainwashed and stupid to catch on, most will never know the truth.
“We are an Empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you are studying that reality – judiciously as you will – we will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We are history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”…….. Carl Rove
Fact, the criminally insane sociopaths rule the United States of America and no one can bring them to Justice. War. War. USA. USA. Whoopee-- lets have a world war and kill everyone.
May 5, 2011 9:31 AM
Fungus FitzJuggler III said...
POTUS is a liar.
Windcatcher is perfectly correct, but any WW is unlikely. It is likely to cost too much!
Bluebeam etc and any fantasy will do fine. Fear is all that is required. Those FEMA camps do exist. Weather modification will cause enough need for the population to remain submissive.
May 6, 2011 1:07 AM
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Obama Dark Side
http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2011/04/23/manning/view/index3.html?show=all
Saturday, April 23, 2011 01:31 PM ET
Some people are truly fools
"I regard Obama as a highly intelligent man of good character."
Why? On what basis do you do this? Specifically, on what basis other than his public rhetoric do you do this, when his actual actions would not lead me (for example) to conclude any sort of thing about the man?"
(Are you familiar with the truism: Actions speak louder than words? Judging from the way people fell in line to get Obama elected and continue to support him even two years down the road, I have a feeling that a large swath of the American population has no understanding of what "actions speak louder than words" means.)
"Or has he gone to the dark side?"
Maybe he has ALWAYS been with the dark side, but his well oiled and market researched public rhetoric and PR-created persona succeeded in persuading you otherwise. Maybe now, the REAL Obama is revealed, and can no longer be masked by well orchestrated and calculated bullshit.
—TheNondescript
Read TheNondescript's other letters
Permalink
Saturday, April 23, 2011 01:31 PM ET
Some people are truly fools
"I regard Obama as a highly intelligent man of good character."
Why? On what basis do you do this? Specifically, on what basis other than his public rhetoric do you do this, when his actual actions would not lead me (for example) to conclude any sort of thing about the man?"
(Are you familiar with the truism: Actions speak louder than words? Judging from the way people fell in line to get Obama elected and continue to support him even two years down the road, I have a feeling that a large swath of the American population has no understanding of what "actions speak louder than words" means.)
"Or has he gone to the dark side?"
Maybe he has ALWAYS been with the dark side, but his well oiled and market researched public rhetoric and PR-created persona succeeded in persuading you otherwise. Maybe now, the REAL Obama is revealed, and can no longer be masked by well orchestrated and calculated bullshit.
—TheNondescript
Read TheNondescript's other letters
Permalink
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Noah Bunn's Torch-Job For Sale
This highlights the phenonemon of impressionable and gullible college age persons involved with such jesuit, anti-progressive, pseudo environmentalist front groups as 'Friends of the Earth'
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/07/noah-bunns-torching-spotlights.html
A RESIDENTIAL site going for sale today at the junction of Sandford Road and Eglinton Road in Dublin 4 will be seen as the best redevelopment opportunity to have been brought on to the market since the industry took a severe hit.
Agents CB Richard Ellis is quoting €2.5 million for the three-storey house, Loyola, owned by the Jesuit order, which was extensively damaged by fire in 2007. It stands on a site of 0.512 hectares (1.25 acres) with frontage on to Sandford Road and Eglinton Road. Large detached houses in this prestigious corner of Dublin 4 – within easy walking distance of both Donnybrook and Ranelagh – were selling for more than € million before the market took a dive.
Loyola was not listed for preservation but was one of the largest houses in the area with a floor area of 751sq m (8,083sq ft). It served as the headquarters of the Jesuit order in Ireland.
Only last month, An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for an apartment development on the site with seven homes to be located in the original building and 11 more in a new block. Eight of the apartments will have two bedrooms, six will have three bedrooms and the remaining four will have one bedroom. If the site is sold at the asking price it will work out at slightly less than €140,000 per unit. At the peak of the market, sites in south Dublin sold for up to €300,000 per unit.
Link (here) to the full post at An Irish Town Planner's Blog
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/07/noah-bunns-torching-spotlights.html
Noah Bunn- the Friends of the Earth devote who reportedly set fire to the Jesuit Order's headquarters in Ireland "because he believed the order were not using their moral authority to alert the world to the dangers of climate change."http://goodjesuitbadjesuit.blogspot.com/2011/04/former-irish-jesuit-headquarters-is-up.html
http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/man-who-set-fire-to-jesuit-order-hq-faces-further-psychiatric-tests-1289092.html
A RESIDENTIAL site going for sale today at the junction of Sandford Road and Eglinton Road in Dublin 4 will be seen as the best redevelopment opportunity to have been brought on to the market since the industry took a severe hit.
Agents CB Richard Ellis is quoting €2.5 million for the three-storey house, Loyola, owned by the Jesuit order, which was extensively damaged by fire in 2007. It stands on a site of 0.512 hectares (1.25 acres) with frontage on to Sandford Road and Eglinton Road. Large detached houses in this prestigious corner of Dublin 4 – within easy walking distance of both Donnybrook and Ranelagh – were selling for more than € million before the market took a dive.
Loyola was not listed for preservation but was one of the largest houses in the area with a floor area of 751sq m (8,083sq ft). It served as the headquarters of the Jesuit order in Ireland.
Only last month, An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for an apartment development on the site with seven homes to be located in the original building and 11 more in a new block. Eight of the apartments will have two bedrooms, six will have three bedrooms and the remaining four will have one bedroom. If the site is sold at the asking price it will work out at slightly less than €140,000 per unit. At the peak of the market, sites in south Dublin sold for up to €300,000 per unit.
Link (here) to the full post at An Irish Town Planner's Blog
Monday, May 9, 2011
Jesuit Set To Become Chaplian Of The US House Of Representatives
On the eve of the 66th anniversary of the end of Wlodimir Ledochowski's 30 Years Religious War in Europe
A reminder of that which steers our government
http://goodjesuitbadjesuit.blogspot.com/2011/05/jesuit-set-to-become-chaplian-of-us.html
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Jesuit Set To Become Chaplian Of The US House Of Representatives
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday he plans to nominate a Jesuit priest to serve as the next House chaplain. The Rev. Patrick J. Conroy would succeed Father Daniel P. Coughlin, who retired last month after more than 11 years of service. “We are honored that Father Conroy has agreed to serve as House chaplain,” Boehner said in a statement. “His dedication to God’s work, commitment to serving others, and experience working with people of faith from all traditions will make him an asset to the House community. We look forward to having his counsel and guidance in the people’s House.”Conroy entered the Society of Jesus in 1973 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1983. He currently teaches theology at Jesuit High School in Portland, Ore., according to the statement, and previously served as a chaplain at D.C.'s Georgetown University for 10 years, ending in 2003.Boehner, who is Catholic, nominated Conroy in consultation with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), also a Catholic. “The Capitol Hill community will be blessed with the addition of Father Patrick Conroy to our ranks as House Chaplain,” Pelosi said in the same statement. “His experience working with young people, tending to the spiritual needs of a variety of communities, and serving for 38 years as a thoughtful and committed Jesuit priest will serve him well in this new role,” she added. “Following in the distinguished footsteps of Father Daniel Coughlin, he will provide guidance and comfort, ministering to the needs of the Capitol Hill community in an interfaith way.”
Sunday, May 8, 2011
66 Years Ago
Ledochowski's 30 Years European Religious War Ends- 1945
Achieving a Dream
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2007/08/wlodimir-vladimir-ledochowskis_22.html
Kulturkampf Revenge
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/wlodimir-ledochowski-kulturkampf_17.html
Achieving a Dream
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2007/08/wlodimir-vladimir-ledochowskis_22.html
Kulturkampf Revenge
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2009/07/wlodimir-ledochowski-kulturkampf_17.html
Saturday, May 7, 2011
The Game Continues
Nearly a decade ago, a set of attacks on September 11, 2001, were officially and MSM credited to the figure and the idea of the threat of Usama/Osama Bin Laden, and Islamic terrorists- all of which would be used to justify a massive increase in U.S. military, in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus a vast expansion of international and domestic surveillence, officially unchecked and hence with a huge potential for abuse, symbolized arguably by the U.S. government's post September 11, 2001 endorsement of 'enhanced interrogation' aka torture as 'waterboarding'
Within the interveening decade, there's been lots of speculation about his situation, with much of it focusing upon his poor health, and that he was likely dead.
Now, we are being treated to the story of the US Navy SEAL raid upon the dwelling of this Usama/Osama Bin Laden, planned in advance from the very top and watched in real time at the White House, the target reportedly killed in a firefight, and his body already dumped at sea and his DNA confirmed by the following day, as reported via the May 2, 2011 John Brennan White House press conference.
What we are hearing on the TV, from such talking heads as FOX's Vatican assett Bill O'Reilly
Expended warrantless wiretapping works.
Enhanced interrogation works.
The military presence in the middle east is working.
Military missions to kill rather then capture -- that is more strictly for revenge and the convenient cover up of info this so results, rather then INTERROGATION and release of information about this war -- become more and more acceptable.
More fear and more acceptablity of such and that which fuels such.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Kappa Sigma's Robert Redford's Overly Sympathetic Mary Surrat Portrayal
The new Lincoln Assassination movie "The Conspirator"
... beware. The movie is fanciful and notably at fault. It is misleading and grossly distortedFrom: "Anthony Pitch"
Review of "The Conspirator"
By Anthony S. Pitch, author of “They Have Killed Papa Dead!” – The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance.
[He has been featured on C-Span, The History Channel, Book TV, National Geographic, PBS and NPR. He will be speaking about the Lincoln assassination inside Ford’s Theatre Wednesday May 11. Tickets are free and available in advance at the theater.]
Nobody likes to slam a nice guy like Robert Redford who has done so much for the betterment of our planet and the less fortunate. That does not absolve him of deserved scorn for directing fraudulent history in the new movie, The Conspirator.
Near the end of the film, when all but a handful of die-hards stay to read the final lines of seemingly inexhaustible credits, a disclaimer appears to state that it is based on actual events. That’s license enough to drift off into a world of make-believe.
Clearly, Hollywood has once again re-written the historical record to meet the demands of the box office. The errors are legion. Fiction is plentiful. It is almost as if creative imagination has been overtaken by hallucination in a script so wide of the mark.
Mary Surratt is notoriously embedded in the narrative of our nation’s history as the first woman hanged by order of the Federal government, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and her conviction for conspiring with others to murder the president. Then and now, many believe she was the innocent victim of a kangaroo court, lacking legality even in the eyes of Edward Bates, Lincoln’s first attorney general, who was out of office at the time of the controversial military trial. One eyewitness at the simultaneous hangings of Surratt and three male co-conspirators on the grounds of what is now Fort McNair in southwest Washington, D.C., cried out in disbelief just before the traps were sprung on the gallows: “This is murder! Can you stand and see it done!”
However, Redford and his creative team have shredded, ignored or perhaps been negligently unaware of the existence of reports of contemporaneous eyewitnesses and court stenographers who were actually inside the courtroom every day of the seven-week-long trial.
Not a single surviving written report, diary entry, letter, official government document, or memoir, mentions an outburst during the trial, either by Mary Surratt or from any of her seven co-accused males.
Undeterred, Redford induces visceral sympathy for Mary Surratt , who rises indignantly to protest incriminatory testimony against her. The cameras also focus on her co-conspirators who thump and bellow in their own show of righteous anger. These are the most risible digressions from reality, with Redford apparently unable to provoke an outpouring of empathy had he shown them for what they were – a cowed, frightened, intimidated and crushed cabal, with the exception of the smiling nonchalance of Lewis Payne and the intermittent lecherous gaze of David Herold when transfixed by an attractive female in the courtroom.
There were ample opportunities, without veering off into fiction, for Redford and his crew to cinematographically expose the brutalities and torture inflicted on the conspirators during their long solitary confinement. Each of the accused was sealed in a cell only three and a half feet wide by seven feet long. In deference to her gender, Mary Surratt did not have the canvas hood, with a single slit to eat and breathe, tied tightly with cords around the necks of six of the seven males, pressing the padded cotton painfully hard against their eye sockets and ears immediately they returned to their cells from the courtroom. Weeks of deprivation and solitude within the squashed area of numbered cells had taken a toll on their moods. Idle monotony had begun to affect their sanity. The medical officer doing his daily rounds recoiled at the sight of a suffocating hood, which he condemned as a ”sweating bath to the head.” They were removed only after he warned that the secretary of war would soon have “a lot of lunatics on his hands.”
Shying away from recorded fact, Redford offers a drab scene of the victimized Mary Surratt languishing in her lofty cell with a metal ball and chain gripped to her leg. Nothing of the kind happened. In fact, she was pandered to only because of her gender, being given a less restricted diet than the men and even being allowed to have a rocking chair brought into her cramped cell from her boarding house on H Street NW. But such preferential treatment would have undercut Redford’s portrayal of a woman shown no mercy.
The moviemaker would have us believe that her son, John Surratt, also suffered under harsh conditions during confinement after being captured and repatriated from Rome, where he had fled after the assassination.
Adherance to the actual outcome would not have accorded with Redford’s agenda because John Surratt was almost pampered by contemporary conditions. His relatives and friends brought him delicacies to eat while locked in the city jail. He was allowed to smoke his pipe, read anything he selected, and licensed to roam the main corridor. After ambling from the jail to the courtroom he cheerfully told his lawyers that he wished it could be a regular stroll, a comment that contrasted so vividly with the plight of his mother and co-accused. On the opening day of their trial they were paraded into court with their anonymity secured by identical black linen hoods pulled down over each of their heads. Only their mouths and noses could be glimpsed through the punctured cloth. All were shackled, except Mary Surratt. One of the military judges, inured to carnage on the bloodiest of the Civil War battlefields, shuddered at the spectacle, writing that it was “so much of what my imagination pictured the Inquisition to have been, that I was quite impressed with it’s impropriety in this age.”
The procession of the quartet to the scaffold is one of the most egregious departures from reality. Redford has Mary Surratt walking upright and defiant, as if propelled by unflinching belief in her innocence. Eyewitnesses recorded a markedly different scene with a frail, broken woman barely able to advance as she shuffled at the pace of a funeral cortege. She faltered at the base of the steps up to the platform, lowered her head and looked down. She had to be assisted up and appeared to collapse into the chair next to the noose.
Lewis Payne, who attempted to slash to death the secretary of state at the same moment Lincoln was shot, is miscast as a man of average height, with a blank personality, unshaven face, and surly countenance, almost traumatized by the imminent hangings. In truth, court spectators were riveted by this enigmatic, tall, clean-shaven, handsome and muscular brute, transparently unmoved by his inevitable execution. Clover Hooper, who would later become the wife of historian Henry Adams, attended the trial only to look at the accused and concluded, “Payne is handsome but utterly brutal, and sits there a head higher than all the others …. It is a sad, impressive sight.” All who attended court were fascinated by his puzzling aloofness and indifference to the outcome. “Payne is amusing himself by returning stare for stare of all given him so abundantly by the lady visitors,” wrote one observant reporter. Manacled at his wrists and ankles when led to the gallows, Payne remained straight and upright,cheerfully dismissive of the macabre finale. To one observer he looked “much like a clean-faced, well developed Jack-tar,” sporting a straw hat with ribbon on his head and a matching sailor-blue color for his shirt and long-legged pants.
Moviegoers may well delight in the period dresses and uniforms, glimpses of nineteenth century social etiquette, and the street scenes on location in the ageless beauty of Savannah, Georgia. But beware. The movie is fanciful and notably at fault. It is misleading and grossly distorted.
Kappa Sigma- Tools of Rome?
http://continuingcounterreformation.blogspot.com/2008/08/college-frats-as-satanic-romish-masonry.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
