What it is REALLY like

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"I never wonder to see men wicked,
but I often wonder to see them not ashamed",

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), poet and prose satirist,
most famous for his novel 'Gulliver's Travels'

Ever since Americans learned that American soldiers and intelligence agents were torturing prisoners, there has been a disturbing question: How high up did the decision go to ignore United States law, international treaties, the Geneva Conventions and basic morality?

The answer, we have learned recently, is that — with President Bush’s clear knowledge and support — some of the very highest officials in the land not only approved the abuse of prisoners, but participated in the detailed planning of harsh interrogations and helped to create a legal structure to shield from justice those who followed the orders.

We have long known ... that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld approved a list of ways to abuse prisoners. But recent accounts by ABC News and The Associated Press said that all of the president’s top national security advisers at the time participated in creating the interrogation policy: Vice President Dick Cheney; Mr. Rumsfeld; Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser; Colin Powell, the secretary of state; John Ashcroft, the attorney general; and George Tenet, the director of central intelligence.

"This is a monument to executive supremacy and the imperial presidency," said Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School and the Washington College of Law at American University.

Only by fully understanding what Mr. Bush has done over eight years to distort the rule of law and violate civil liberties and human rights can Americans ever hope to repair the damage and ensure it does not happen again.
(via various editorials published by The New York Times on the topic: 'Torture')



[Read about Torture on Wikipedia]


[Related: Fernando Botero and Mark Twain]


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Ship Shape Shoup

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The USS SHOUP (DDG 86) is the 36th ship in the Arleigh Burke class of Aegis guided missile destroyers, commissioned in Seattle, WA in June 2002, and supports the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).




The ship is named in honor of U.S. Marine Corps Gen. David M. Shoup (1904- 1983), a naval hero of World War II, a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in the Pacific in 1943, who later became the 22nd commandant of the Marine Corps. (See his image on the poster.)

She measures 509.5 feet and displaces 9,200 tons.

The SHOUP was built to conduct simultaneous warfare operations in multi-threat environments to include air, surface, and subsurface targets and accommodates two SH-60 (LAMPS 3) helicopters.

She has a crew of 304-380 officers and enlisted, all of whom work and live together in very close quarters.

The ship's motto is
Victoria Per Perserverantiam Venit
"Through Perseverance Comes Victory"

The USS SHOUP has, to this date, never been deployed in active combat operations.

Since her commissioning her deployments have been manifold.

The SHOUP is authorized to conduct 'Visit, Board, Search and Seizure' (VBSS) with the mission "to board and search vessels suspected of transporting drugs and contraband, trafficking in persons, or harboring suspected terrorists." The largest cargo of narcotics was intercepted and confiscated on one of her VBSS deployments.

USS SHOUP is an active participant in Multi-National Search and Rescue operation exercises on simulated vessels in distress. These joint Search and Rescue exercises are one example of how the U.S. Navy continues its efforts to build cooperation and understanding with other navies worldwide using both surface and aviation assets.

As part of Operation Unified Assistance, the USS SHOUP immediately provided tsunami relief off the coast of Sumatra for the victims of the December 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami that struck 12 nations across the Indian Ocean region.



Navy doctors and corpsmen normally assigned to support their respective squadrons volunteered to fly into remote locations within the Aceh province of Sumatra, Indonesia, and set-up triage sites. They helped the victims that were evacuated from the coastal villages recover from wounds, infections and disease such as pneumonia and malaria.

Often, medical personnel shared cargo space with humanitarian aid shipments aboard the helicopters launched from the deck of the SHOUP, as vital food, fresh water and medicine supplies were ferried to the survivors.

"The military role is to provide its unique capabilities and significant capacity to provide immediate relief and save lives."
- Ralph A. Cossa, President of the Pacific Forum CSIS

The SHOUP is regularly tasked with goodwill diplomatic port visits throughout the year. These port visits are part of a dynamic program that reaches out to the civilian population on a national and international level.



USS SHOUP conducts training exercises off the Pacific Northwest coastline that involve the use of their AN/SQS-53C bow-mounted active search and attack sonar.

The SHOUP's sonar 'pings' are extremely powerful, at least 233 dB re: 1µPa repeated every 24 seconds at frequencies of 2.6 and 3.3 kHz, and have been implicated in whale stranding and other damage to marine wildlife.



[See also Taking a Tour of the Ship]


[Read about the long-standing conflict between Marine Mammal Protection

and the role of The Navy]

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L'idée du jour

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"Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way."

Hosea Ballou (1771-1852), American Universalist and theological writer

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Chokehold

Feasting on
the flesh and organs
of our fellow mammals?

Time to STOP and THINK

Mammals are warm-blooded, have hair (or fur) and possess a neocortex, a brain region that is involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, and is unique to mammals. Only mammals give birth to live young and have mammary glands to suckle their offspring.
Mammals encompass approximately 5,400 species.
This includes humans.

In nature larger mammals prey on smaller ones for survival.
Humans, however, do not depend on red meat, rare, medium or well-done, as a primary food source.


Swallow this


A disproportionate demand for meat has been instilled and carefully nurtured in the general population by the livestock and meat packing industry which, like the tobacco industry, is using every marketing ploy and behavior manipulation trick in the book to make us consume their products and by-products in ever greater quantities. In collusion with the powerful fast food industry they exert an inescapable dominance over all other producers of foodstuffs and have us in a literal chokehold, targeting especially children.

Do we really need a regular intake of prime rib, steak, hamburger, pork chops, bacon, leg of lamb, venison etc.?

The answer is a resounding "No!"

In fact, consumption of beef and pork carries with it a bombardment of artery-clogging grease, secondhand steroids and growth hormones (used to fatten the animals prior to slaughtering) and residual antibiotics (used to control the spread of disease in feedlots and pigpens).
These contaminants seriously compromise our health and well-being.

Anyone who has bothered to find out about the brutal efficiency of 'factory farms', slaughterhouses and meat processing plants will think twice before biting into that 'juicy' hamburger patty.

Just for argument's sakeAsk yourself:
Would you raise, fatten up, slaughter, butcher, roast and eat a dog? Of course not.

Turns out that in our society dogs are the 'holy cows' while cows are a strictly utilitarian commodity...

Mammalian Hybrids of the Future

Add genetic experimentation to the food chain equation and you arrive at a nightmarish visualization like the one depicted below. As we are herded down the perilous road of corporate greed spawning mad science the question of 'Who eats What' may soon turn into a

WHO eats WHO



[See also: Harvesting the corpses of human beings in the name of Science]

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Freudian and Machiavellian

The theories established by Sigmund Freud (1858-1939), the 'Father of Psychoanalysis', opened a chanel to understanding the power of the unconscious mind as being the (secret) seat of all human fear and desire. This fear and desire, residing in the unconscious and often repressed, governs human behavior. Ergo, exploiting these hidden feelings enabled the manipulation of behavior.


Edward Bernays (1891-1995), the grand-daddy of mass manipulation and propaganda and Freud's nephew, most successfully applied Freud's theories. He did so on a large scale and mostly for the benefit of the large corporations and of the politicians who consulted him, including president Eisenhower.

This video documents such mass manipulation accomplished by tapping into human fear. It also extends to the justification of interference in the affairs of foreign nations, all under the guise of preserving American values. In actuality, however, the motives for such interventions were anchored in the safe-guarding of American corporate interests and profiteering.




Brainwashing a Nation by fabricating the 'Communist Threat', the 'Terrorist Threat' and so on

A very recent example of exploiting deep-seated human fear in order to justify political repression, military aggression and outright lies was demonstrated by the "Department of Homeland Security", a creation of president George W. Bush and his henchmen. In and around 2003-2004 the American People were kept in a constant state of fear fuelled by the regular issuance of various levels of "Terror Alerts".



[Also see Unmasking contemporary propaganda]


[More about Bernays' unethical activities: Engineering demand]

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SAUNA: De-tox Body and Mind

In our contemporary moral climate, which can be characterized as downright prudish, we have been brainwashed into thinking that nudity equals lasciviousness and that it is a certain prelude to sexual activity. This cannot be further from the truth. The human body in its natural state is one of the wonders of creation and certainly nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be debased by negative and judgmental connotations.

The Sauna is perhaps the only remaining setting where nudity is accepted, even called for. The simple act of ridding yourself of all clothing and stepping into an environment unfettered, is a liberating act. Settle yourself on a bench in the sauna room, close your eyes and let the heat permeate your body and open the pores of your skin. As the ensuring perspiration purges the toxins from your system, so will all tension and anguish be released from your mind as you give yourself over to complete relaxation. Contained in this chamber of ultimate warmth you experience the process of purification and renewal.

Sauna etiquette prescribes silence in the sauna room for a reason. Free from auditory distractions you can focus on letting go, both physically and mentally, of all the pollutants that have weighed you down. You emerge cleansed and light-footed in body and in mind.

The aftermath of a sauna bath gives new meaning to the concept of
being "born-again" ...

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A Path to Serenity

AMALGAMATED PERSPECTIVES visits The Buddha


A Buddha is a being who has become fully awakened and has freed himself from mind-contaminants such as lust, anger, craving and the psychological conditioning (sankhara) of the fickleness of human existence. He recognizes that all such things are impermanent, forever arising and passing away, and that acknowledging this truth is wisdom and enlightenment. All passions and emotions are transcended and pacified so that one is completely at peace and no longer subject to human suffering (dukkha). The buddha has reached pure consciousness and bliss through asceticism and purification. He exists in an eternal state of Nirvāṇa, literally "deathlessness", the highest form of spiritual attainment.



Often misunderstood to be the Buddhist equivalent of 'God', the Buddha is, instead, a teacher to his followers and points the way to nirvana.


There are many different types of Buddha, characterized by and adapted to the regional history and geography of Southeast Asia, East Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Tibet, as well as Western Countries.


It is a statistical fact that Buddhism continues to attract followers around the world. It is the fifth-largest religion behind Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and traditional Chinese religion.

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[See also The Baptists]

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