And here I thought APOV was all politeness, gentility and docility ... and yet today, Impolitic (author of the ever excellent blog Impolitical) awarded yours truly the distinction of being a Kick Ass Blogger! Thank you, Impolitic - your wink & nod is most appreciated. I am truly honored and humbled by this (and I say of course: "right back atcha!"), especially when considering that I am occasionally (as in currently) too busy writing science stuff (articles, research grant applications... Read Full Story

Sort of a follow up on this previous post - the following article describes one part the root of the problem with today's MSM/traditional media. That, along with intellectual sloth-driven incompetence on the part of too many news reporters/journalists (yet one more example here), as well as the intellectual sloth-driven need for too many folks to be serviced an opinion instead of forging an informed one for themselves, constitute the whole of the problem - as well as the primary cause for... Read Full Story

However much one may try to analyze what has been going on lately in every possible way, the bottom line invariably boils down to one word: incompetence. Here's a little something I wrote a while back and which bears repeating yet again:Intellectual sloth reaps ignorance. In turn, ignorance festers fear which, as we know all-too-well, acts as a powerful motor in driving irrational thinking and actions. Furthermore, fear is quite expert in the exercise of nullifying any semblance of... Read Full Story

Humanity's Greatest Enemy? By Paul Craig Roberts The success of the Bush Regime’s propaganda, lies, and deception with gullible and inattentive Americans since 9/11 has made it difficult for intelligent, aware people to be optimistic about the future of the United States. For almost 8 years the US media has served as Ministry of Propaganda for a war criminal regime. Americans incapable of thinking for themselves, reading between the lines, or accessing foreign media on the Internet have been... Read Full Story

How the U.S. Invited a War in South Ossetia By Eric Walberg Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against the rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikheil Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire. Close to 1,500 have been killed, Russian officials say. Thirty thousand refugees, mostly women and children, streamed across the border into the North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in Russia. The timing — and subterfuge — suggest the unscrupulous... Read Full Story

punditman: Putin’s War Enablers: Bush and Cheney by Juan Cole The run-up to the current chaos in the Caucasus should look quite familiar: Russia acted unilaterally rather than going through the U.N. Security Council. It used massive force against a small, weak adversary. It called for regime change in a country that had defied Moscow. It championed a separatist movement as a way of asserting dominance in a region it coveted. Indeed, despite George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s howls of... Read Full Story

Georgia War a Neocon Election Ploy? By Robert Scheer Is it possible that this time the October surprise was tried in August, and that the garbage issue of brave little Georgia struggling for its survival from the grasp of the Russian bear was stoked to influence the U.S. presidential election? Before you dismiss that possibility, consider the role of one Randy Scheunemann, for four years a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government who ended his official lobbying connection only in March... Read Full Story

Press Calls for War in the Caucasus: The Smell of Propaganda in the Morning There are two sides bleeding and too many dead in what is hopefully the aftermath of a weekend war in the Caucasus. And right on cue, the prime opinion space for the American mind is being occupied this Monday morning by a propagandist for perpetual war. "Will Russia get away with it?" asks the beaming columnist for the New York Times, his smile winking at you as if no way he could be talking up death and disaster... Read Full Story

punditman says... Like all humans, punditman requires sustenance. This requires money, or at least the illusion of having it. And like most globalized citizens trying to stay afloat in a sea of chaos and unease, he usually gets it via his ATM access card. (Note: To add a modicum of pleasure and sanity to his hectic life, he is also known to sample local craft beers). So this morning Punditman drove his broken-down gas-leaking jalopy to his neighbourhood ATM, in an attempt to drive his self... Read Full Story

The following article pretty much says it all - I've got nothing really to add, other than what I've previously written here, here, here, here and here: Do You Feel Safe Now? By Paul Craig Roberts Now that military officers selected by the Bush Pentagon have reached a split verdict convicting Salim Hamdan, a onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, of supporting terrorism, but innocent of terrorist conspiracy, do you feel safe? Or are we superpower Americans still at risk until we capture bin... Read Full Story