Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th, Part Something

from peoplenomics.com.

Today is a bit of a wonder .. not a MARVEL, but a WWW-ONDER. Wonder who is going to nuke whom. Wonder who is lieing and wonder what you can believe. I am a bit ashamed to put portions of peoplenomics on here as I don't trust wikipedia much. I've had my own contributions to it hacked out which I knew were right .. and George Ure is using them for some background on why we are all a bit on edge today. But that aside, most of today's material is good reading for planetary healers. - Virginia



Welcome to the day triskaidekaphobics fear, the anniversary of Black Friday, October 13, 1307 when hundreds of Knights Templar were arrested and many tortured into admitting wrong never committed against the church.

While it's maybe not "news" in the pure sense of the word, we nevertheless not the occasion because the Knights Templar were among the key "warrior monks" at the time of the Crusades.

Fast forward to the present day. We find al Qaida's efforts continue to be directed at "Crusaders":


"The movement is driving fast and light forward. And I am sure of our victory with Allah’s help against America and the Jews. . . After the Americans entered the Holy Land, many emotions were roused in the Muslim world, more than we have seen before. . .The cooperation is expanding between general supporters of this religion. From this effort, the International Islamic Front for the Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders was formed, which we are a member of with other groups."


So as the business day begins, we're watching the headlines closely for actions directed against the US by al Qaida and affiliates because an attack on Friday the 13th could certainly be seen to make sense given that from their side the war against the Crusaders is still active.
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The "echo of the Crusades" continues to play out behind the headlines, as it has every day since the first attempt to bring down the World Trade Center - no, not 9/11 but the first attempt back in 1993.

al Qaida and its affiliates seem rather preoccupied with bombs, too. We read just this morning how a 34-year old man in London has pleaded guilty to plotting to bomb at least five key financial centers in the US. The perpetrator? Militant Islamist.
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In a very real sense, the war(s) in the Middle East are viewed as Western Crusades as they're wars with a goal of imposing a different kind of government, one favored by the West, in a part of the world that doesn't have the same ideation of freedom that we (used to?) hold so close. Paradoxically, as we have been trying to force democracy on other lands, our own freedoms have suffered at home with with the theft of rights previously guaranteed by the Constitution.

Like the Crusades, the present-day wars are also without a time table. When the head of the British Army, Sir Richard Dannatt called this week for a five-year timeline for British withdrawal from Iraq, he landed himself squarely in hot water with British hawks. Occasionally, the longer historical roots of the present condition are reflected in headlines such as the British Guardian's headline today "Homeward Christian soldiers."

The war hawks clearly don't want to listen to top military men, although a few admit that being in the midst of an intercine war doesn't make military sense. The promoters of American military dominance of the region got a boost earlier this week when George Bush took the "You stand and fight, or you cut and run" argument to the public. Depending on your bent, "cut and run" is either a fine simplification of the need to control oil or plainly crass militaristic jingoism.
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In some ways, this is just another Friday. Israelis are busy killing Palestinians who are locked up in the Gaza strip, the Hamas leadership responds by saying they won't recognize Israel, the Syrians are bracing for war with Israel, and in Afghanistan (or should we say "Pipelandistand"?) another suicide bombing has killed or injured 10 more humans. Just another day. More coffee.

No matter how I slice it, most of the world's fighting these days seems to distill back to a corporate/religious war. The Western (Christian-Judeo) corporate vision for the Middle East is one thing, although packaging it as "freedom" is may be a stretch, while the Muslim-indigenous regional people's vision is another. In a sense, oil is to the modern crusaders what spices were to the earlier Crusaders - something of value to be brought home from fighting in the Middle East.

But putting events into such stark perspective isn't politically correct. If it were, we would hold corporations and religious leaders accountable for the continuously growing piles of bodies about and ask - even demand - that religious leadership demonstrate their supposedly higher degree of enlightenment by finding non-lethal solutions. But that wouldn't have brought spices or oil now, or new opportunities for banksters and boardrooms would it?

The West is hostage to a view that is profit-oriented; power derives from money, and money flows from corporations. Corporations exist to grow - and without growth profits shrink, and without profits the whole of the Western paradigm is in trouble. When growth doesn't exist to increase standards of living, the excess production must be spent somewhere else, and wars are a fine place to blow up, burn up, and shoot up excess production. I note that as soon as the gunfire stopped Lebanon last month, in came the bankers to make money. It has been almost too pat, too smooth, too orchestrated, at least for my taste.

So there you go - a little historical context for this Friday the 13th, in the Year of Our Oil, 2006.

Shoot the Messenger 1
An ITN reporter was "unlawfully killed" in Iraq by US gunfire in 2003 says a coroner's report out today.

Shoot t 2he Messenger
A slain Russian reporter's last piece on torture and the war in Chechnya went to press yesterday.

Let's say it was a Nuke
Then, China, South Korea and so forth can all agree on sanctions against North Korea. Me? I'm waiting for confirmation that it was nuclear. Call me skeptical.

Retail Falls
Retail sales are down for September - but nutty as the blow off market is, this may cause a rally..

Where's the Anti-Hillary?
Democrats are reportedly searching for someone (anyone?) to run instead of Hillary Clinton for the WH in 2008. I won't go into my usual anti-Hil rant, except to say that America's elected aristocracy hasn't done dick for people who've had their jobs outsource, etc. And one Urban reader suggests we print up bumper stickers that say "No more Republicans, No more Democrats". Bring back the American Whig Party! (And the Constitution, too, as long as we're at it. And let's end deficit spending and the corporate indenture of humans and...well, that's never gonna happen, but still....).

Proud of Hastert
George Bush says he's "proud to be standing with Dennis Hastert." Sure - a good foot soldier who does what he's told and buries the embarrassing stuff...sure that makes sense.

Abramoff Grease Money
Good report in the Seattle P.I. about which "non-profit" groups were helping convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's buying of CONgress.

E. Coli Crap
Seems there might be a link between the spinach recall and some cow manure in California.