This item is now in "ARCHIVES - March 2007" - (to hell with Microsoft!!!)

 

In his prophetic book Blowback, Chalmers Johnson linked the CIA’s clandestine activities abroad to disaster at home. In The Sorrows of Empire, he explored how the growth of American militarism and the garrisoning of the planet have actually jeopardized our safety. Now, in Nemesis, the final volume in what has become the Blowback trilogy, he shows how imperial overstretch is undermining the republic itself, both economically and politically.

Delving into new areas -- from plans to militarize outer space to Constitution-breaking presidential activities at home -- Nemesis offers a striking description of the trap into which the grandiose dreams of America’s leaders have taken us. Drawing comparisons to the Roman and British empires, Johnson explores in vivid detail just what the unintended consequences of our dependence on a permanent war economy are likely to be. What does it mean when a nation’s main intelligence organization becomes the president’s private army? Or when the globe’s sole “hyperpower,” no longer capable of paying for the vaulting ambitions of its leaders, becomes the greatest hyper-debtor of all time? Or when dreams of domination take off for the heavens........?

CHALMERS JOHNSON: "Nemesis was the ancient Greek goddess of revenge, the punisher of hubris and arrogance in human beings. You may recall she is the one that led Narcissus to the pond and showed him his reflection, and he dove in and drowned. I chose the title, because it seems to me that she's present in our country right now, just waiting to make her -- to carry out her divine mission......."

Has our "leadership" traded democracy for empire? Have their over-bloated egos convinced them that they are the world's newly crowned colonial kings? Author Chalmers Johnson is certainly not given to wearing rose-colored glasses. As he concludes in his newest book, Nemesis: "... my country is launched on a dangerous path that it must abandon or else face the consequences."  RealPlayer video at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/27/1454229

 

 

Metropolis (1927)

 

Tagline: There can be no understanding between the hands and the brain unless the heart acts as mediator.

Plot Summary: It is the future, and humans are divided into two groups: the thinkers, who make plans (but don't know how anything works)......

Metropolis takes place in 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live in the dark underground and the rich who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor. The tense balance of these two societies is realized through images that are among the most famous of the 20th century, many of which presage such sci-fi landmarks as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. Lavish and spectacular, with elaborate sets and modern science fiction style, Metropolis stands today as the crowning achievement of the German silent cinema. http://www.kino.com/metropolis/  and trailer http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=519

Freder: It was their hands that built this city of ours, Father. But where do the hands belong in your scheme?
Joh Frederson: In their proper place, the depths.

Also at  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/ 

 

 

 

This film was originally aired as a BBC documentary comprised of three one-hour episodes "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "The Phantom Victory" and "Shadows in the Cave." The documentaries question whether the threat of terrorism to the West is a politically driven fantasy and if al-Qaeda really is an organised network. (BBC) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/3755686.stm

Much of the currently perceived threat from international terrorism, the series argues, "is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicians. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services, and the international media." The series' explanation for this is even bolder: "In an age when all the grand ideas have lost credibility, fear of a phantom enemy is all the politicians have left to maintain their power." http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1327904,00.html

The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear is a 2004 documentary series by Adam Curtis, which seeks to overturn much of what is widely believed about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The latter, it argues, is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have "sleeper cells". It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence." --Andy Beckett for The Guardian, 15 October 2004

"As Curtis traced the rise of the "Straussians"(NEOCONS), he came to a conclusion that would form the basis for The Power of Nightmares. Straussian conservatism had a previously unsuspected amount in common with Islamism: from origins in the 50s, to a formative belief that liberalism was the enemy, to an actual period of Islamist-Straussian collaboration against the Soviet Union during the war in Afghanistan in the 80s (both movements have proved adept at finding new foes to keep them going). Although the Islamists and the Straussians have fallen out since then, as the attacks on America in 2001 graphically demonstrated, they are in another way, Curtis concludes, collaborating still: in sustaining the "fantasy" of the war on terror." [1] http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares:_The_Rise_of_the_Politics_of_Fear 

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Neo-conservative                    The movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430484/

*3-part RealPlayer at http://www.wanttoknow.info/powerofnightmares or search "power nightmares download"

Also see - "Pentagon Strike" - This short, yet powerful film raises important questions regarding what happened at the Pentagon on 9/11. Only five-minutes in length, it is well worth watching. Available for free viewing at http://www.freedomunderground.org/memoryhole/pentagon.php