You Alone Can Fix It

It's important to recognize that Trump has no plan, no character, and never did. There's no sense to this. Like any crude, gut level criminal he will simply do what's in his and his family's best interest until he's ousted. The whole campaign was driven by his intolerance of Barack Obama, and his embarrassment at the skewering he took at that Correspondents Dinner dinner in 2011. His promise to the working class was an empty farce. A cursory glance into his record makes it clear that's all it could have ever been. He's not capable of any kind of focus, or heartfelt devotion, or decency, even if he'd intended it. Donald Trump is a toxic buffoon of a man. When someone says 'I alone can fix it,' any sensible observer who's reached at least a 7th grade level knows they're dealing with a pitifully inept narcissist: a man who needs professional help, not to be thrust into power. What a sad little chapter in our storied history.

Axis Of Ignorance: Batchelor Show, Jingoism, and the Arrogant Surety of Neanderthals In Bow Ties

John Batchelor, on your program tonight you described Tehran as the 'leading exporter of terrorism'. I checked just to see if your program is some kind of comedy show... in which neanderthals wear bowties and sport pedigrees from Princeton. No luck. You really meant it, huh buddy? Since 2003, 1 million people killed as a result of the illegal US invasion of Iraq. The child Abeer Al Janabi was gang raped by five US soldiers, her infant brother shot in the face at point blank range, her family murdered to cover up this atrocity. The United States gleefully instituted torture, much to the arousal of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld (your fellow alumnus of vaunted ivy league University, Princeton. A buddy of yours?). 'Rendition' wrenched innocents from their homes and imprisoned them for ten years or more in Guantanamo. 'As of March 2015, approximately 210,000 civilians had died violent deaths as a result of the Iraq and Afghan wars.' -Watson Institute, Brown University. Yet, Mr. Batchelor, tonight you described Tehran as the 'leading exporter of terrorism around the globe'. Your jingoist arrogance, and mental discipline at not seeing reality despite these heartbreaking atrocities and crimes of war committed by the United States is truly astounding to me. These are atrocities you support and continue with pitiful statements like this. You just don't see the forest for the trees, buddy. No course in critical thinking, or humility at Princeton, it appears.

Tristan L Sullivan http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings

Abeer Al Janabi

Abeer Al Janabi is the child gang raped by US Soldiers in Iraq. Despite an attempt at cover up, they were convicted in both US and civilian courts, and the crime is well documented and undisputed. They also murdered Abeer's six year old sister, at point blank range, just for fun, as well as her parents. There's a yellow ribbon event for you. One of the soldiers later stated this atrocity had been "Awesome". None of the politicians who perpetrated this extremely illegal and horrifying crime against humanity: the invasion of Iraq on false pretenses in 2003, have made any attempt to comprehend this heartbreak, to apologize or speak to it in anyway, including the vaunted Condoleeza Rice, a woman herself much enriched by this gluttonous machine of death and atrocity we call the brave US military, one who helped to sell the war on false pretenses. Condoleeza later wrote a book called "No Higher Honor". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmudiyah_rape_and_killings#Rape_and_killings The Mahmudiyah rape and killings involved the gang-rape and killing of 14-year-old Iraqi girl Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi and the murder of her family by United States Army soldiers on March 12, 2006. It occurred in the family's house to the southwest of Yusufiyah, a village to the west of the town... en.wikipedia.org

Former VP of Monsanto: Super Toxic Creep Michael Taylor head of FDA

While the first lady plants organic gardens at the White House, a wonderful thing to do, her husband appoints sociopath creep, former Monsanto VP and super lobbyist Michael Taylor to HEAD the Food & Drug Administration. This is equivalent to putting Ted Bundy in charge of the profile department at the FBI. He'll certainly know the subject matter, but the results will be horrific. What in God's name is our chief executive thinking with this hideous post? I am not aware of a more blatant example of insanity in politics, of the actual story behind the scenes being stranger than fiction and more destructive and toxic than most average people begin to comprehend. A tragically poor and indefensible decision on the part of Barack Obama.

Timmy the Fox, Treadwell, and the Illusion of Insight in Modern Academics

This entry is in response to a radio broadcast 3/28/14, available via podcast at WHMP's website: http://whmp.com/podcasts/the-bill-newman-show-3-28-14/

Umass Psychology Professor Rich Halgin: in a broadcast of The Bill Newman Show on 96.9 WHMP Northampton, you spoke with stand in host Josh Silver about Timothy Treadwell and the film Grizzly Man. The question you purported to address was "Whether or not Timothy Treadwell was: a nature lover, a narcissist, or mentally ill."

Your host Josh Silver started this interview with you by saying of Treadwell, "The guy's clearly nuts, although I'm no psychologist." Mr. Silver later made a bizarre and pointless claim about the anal glands of beavers, further eroding any hope I had that the two of you would produce anything of substance on this radio program. In my opinion he did not ask one provocative or challenging question, and instead created an insipid and sycophantic tone that brought the unfortunate listener virtually nothing of value, as far as I could tell. This was an ill conceived and pointless inquiry, and as I will show below, your attempt to link Treadwell to narcissism was not only hazy and weak, it was exceedingly ironic given the conditions he felt so motivated to address: conditions we are all responsible for.

Treadwell's passion for grizzly bears and lifelong commitment to them resulted in the loss of his life. If you think this fits the profile of a narcissist, you perhaps ought to review your notes from college. You stated that environmental advocates "sometimes do radical things." Unfocused, propagandized and confused minds seem not to note something crucial in this world: the most extreme, most radical and radically disturbing reality is the unchecked abuses, degradation and destruction by humans of this beautiful planet of which we should be stewards, not rapists. It's ironic that you so weakly attempted to link Treadwell with narcissism: it is clearly an extremely narcissistic Western culture that has allowed and encouraged rampant corporate greed along with the atrocities of military profiteering and imperialism that threaten every fragile life on this planet. We live in a radically toxic and cruel time in human history, a cruelty and toxicity hidden just below the surface in many cases, so that those inured to it seem not to notice. Those who do may be called radical.

It is proof of the Orwellian absurdity of our times that we speak of "environmentalists." You are the environment. Without it you'd be dead in minutes. The only question then, is whether one has the character and humility to love and care for one's own mother, or is a rapist and destroyer of her. It’s clear where Western culture falls on that spectrum, a fact you may not have noticed. Our culture, with its out of control militarism, corporate fascism and culture of numb, self-serving narcissism is akin to a sociopath child in utero, slashing at the mother with a knife; destroying the host that selflessly and kindly sustains it. That is the culture of narcissism, Professor Rich Halgin. I'm surprised you missed it. Instead you project half formed diagnoses and bland assertions onto a man who spent every summer for thirteen years in the Alaskan wilderness and died for the animals he cared for so much. Whatever humanissues Timothy Treadwell had, he showed real sincerity and took real risks, far outside of this self-serving culture, to be of help in this world. I wonder why that threatens some people so much, and why they are so quick to render judgment, as you and your host did so lifelessly. If Treadwell did cross a line from passionate to pathological, he showed courage, dedication and feeling in a time when these qualities are exactly what we need. I regret that you and your host did not have the humility or character to ask what you might do to achieve the same. You and Josh might have used your airtime to discuss Monsanto, Roundup, dioxins, the military's use of Depleted Uranium which is an atrocious crime and environmental holocaust; instead you found time to criticize Timothy Treadwell. It is easy to find fault, especially with a man who's now dead, and no longer able to explain or defend himself. Not very admirable, though.

We are not lacking in data about the degradation, pain and horrific destruction our culture and its unchecked aggression and corporate greed is perpetrating on this fragile planet. We do not lack the manpower, ingenuity or ability to address it. What we lack is the ability to feel anything about it. A sensitized and conscious society wouldn't tolerate these abuses or governments that aid and profit from them for a day, let alone many decades. Thus, though it appears you may have missed this, Treadwell's awareness and sensitivity to the effects of an unconscious and increasingly brutal and destructive human species is what you should speak about following that movie. Will you instead serve yourself with your weak and pointless assertions about his psychology? Though he was far from perfect, the sensitivity Timothy embodied is the one human quality that could turn this around; a quality you and your host showed little of. In one scene, Timothy declares his love for a honey bee; in another for a baby fox. When a longtime drought threatens the livelihood of the grizzlies, Treadwell prays intensely for rain. My point here, and this article is dedicated to it, is that this is exactly the sensitization the Earth and its creatures call on us to achieve, without which we will continue self-serving destruction and defilement of this beautiful blue jewel of a planet. I'm sure those inured in a numb and stupefying culture of destruction will find Treadwell odd and threatening.

You said nothing of any understanding or commitment to prevent ecological catastrophe or heal unthinking cruelty to the Earth and its creatures; though you spoke of how you used Psychology to help the Umass Hockey Team achieve greater competitive advantage. Treadwell volunteered to speak to children in elementary school classrooms. His intent was to raise sensitivity to animals and the environment, and bring his love of bears to these children for the sheer joy of it. I don't believe you or your host mentioned this fact. If students show up for the screening of Herzog's movie, I hope you will raise more meaningful issues than you did today. How we might bring more loving kindness into the world and heal this situation, for example. A far more worthwhile topic, in my opinion.

Professor Halgin, I'm sure you can identify real issues with a man who is no longer around to explain himself; your host did so too, blithely and without insight. But if we look out at all that calls out for justice and urgent help in this world, at the extreme abuses wreaked by narcissists and sociopaths in government and industry, wouldn't there be a more constructive use of your time? There have been many movies in the past decade that dealt with the extreme and widening disparity in wealth and economic opportunity in the US, lack of justice for the poor, and the blatant power grab by massive corporations and Wall Street, driven by sociopathic self interest not only of those executives and corporations, but by the legislators who approve it. A worthwhile topic for a Psychology professor who had any desire to be of help in this world.

You could screen a film about the tobacco industry, and then discuss how these US based corporations along with our own legislators force governments of emerging nations like Thailand to allow them to market their products to children. Yes, billboards and adds marketing cigarettes to fourteen year old girls, many of whom will soon become pregnant. They do this because the government is not strong enough to resist the force of lucre and political pressure. You might point out that our own legislators would never allow this in our country, and yet tolerate and even profit from the exploitation of children in economically weaker nations. Tobacco companies also commit horrifying abuse against beagles by the way, daily, these dogs chosen for their innocent and kindly nature for cruelty and torture so severe it breaks my heart to think of it. I urge you to Google this issue right now, take a look at the pictures, and see if you have any feelings about it, or desire to act. Surely you could apply yourself in a far more meaningful way in this world. Thank you for your time,

Tristan L Sullivan

Amherst, Massachusetts

Escape Through the Dark Side of Chaos

http://www.tristanluke.com/wordpress/2013/05/12/escape-through-the-dark-side-of-chaos/

Dolphin

The US Navy has proposed high frequency underwater sound testing in Hawaii, California and Atlantic coasts, and the Gulf of Mexico starting 2014. According to the Navy's own estimates this testing will deafen 15,900 whales and dolphins and kill 1,800 more over the next five years. Strandings and deaths of cetaceans have already been attributed to the US Navy's use of high frequency sonar. These are feeling, sentient, highly intelligent mammals who feel love, pain, fear and suffering just as we do. They are truly gentle beings with a capacity for compassion, generosity and love at least equal to ours.

The Navy also wants to practice shooting high powered explosives that fatally injure the lungs and other organs of marine mammals. This is horrifying and insane. The use of spent munitions and depleted uranium in our oceans and elsewhere is an environmental holocaust, one that international judiciary bodies have already warned against due to cancer clusters in soldiers, animals and civilians in countries where we have used these munitions.

This bears repeating, folks: the United States Navy plans to detonate in a testing exercise more than 50,000 explosives underwater up and down the US coastline, as well as more than 10,000 hours of high intensity sonar that is so forceful it can explode the internal organs of whales and other sea creatures. Dolphins, whales and other innocent sea creatures will die for this, or be made deaf, their lives disrupted and destroyed. For nothing. No threat, no war, nothing. Just a sick, perverse, irretrievably stupid military force completely out of control and insane with arrogance, hostility and blood lust. Do you believe your Navy and Secretary of Defense protect you? From this senseless plan, it's clear they themselves are the threat, as cruel, out of control, toxic and dangerous as any in history. This does nothing for national security; in fact it weakens it. Clearly, our government is run by hostile, sick, out of control psychopaths and we need to wake up to this fact, now. Now, if you have children or you're a teacher will have the courage to tell them the truth? This is what your government and military does: this exercise in cruel, senseless atrocity. This is what it is: sick, pointless, out of control, destructive moral cowards who eviscerate precious innocent marine mammals for nothing. I have a friend who told me a story about someone he knew in the military. He and his buddies were sitting around bored one day, took some sheep they had at the base, and put them in an old abandoned tank. They shot the tank with a depleted uranium weapon, just to see what would happen. The sheep did not suffer the way these poor dolphins and whales will; they were killed instantly, liquified. This, however, is the same mentality driving the Navy's proposal. Men with these kinds of toys eventually want to shoot them off. It's natural and predictable. In the absence of any real threat, our Navy just wants to shoot its weapons off. What a truly atrocious, tragic, cowardly thing for them to do in our oceans, with those beautiful, innocent creatures, along with an entire marine ecosystem the victims. We have so much painful destruction of innocents and of the Earth already; that our officials could approve something like this, and that the Navy would even propose it, is proof that our own government and military is an out of control psychopath. No "Global force for good" would do anything like this, folks. No government that served its people or its nation would allow it. These policies are as uncivilized and as anti-human as anyone can imagine, as much as the Third Reich, as much as any horrifyingly toxic regime in history, and the only response is outrage and immediate call to action for each and all of us to stop these toxic sociopaths.

When you prepare for war all day and see the world in terms of conflict, eventually you want to practice shooting your weapons off. The Navy's position is a sad and predictable symptom of this illness. In truth, this kind of abuse makes us less safe. What are we safe from, if we kill our own precious cetaceans in our own oceans in a testing exercise? If that is the kind of nation we're going to be, we won't be worth saving or protecting anyway.
I am no pacifist. I believe that of the warrior is a legitimate avocation, an honorable one even, but this proposal, and this kind of atrocity, is one of the pitiful coward. There is no honor in this whatsoever, nor the US Navy, nor its commander or Commander In Chief Barack Obama if this pointless, horrific slaughter of innocents and destruction of our fragile ocean mammals goes through.

We do nothing to protect anyone's freedom with this unfeeling brutality; we show the world that we are sick, addicted, out of control and deviant. This does not have to go forward, and we have every ability, right and responsibility to stop it.

The US Navy's slogan is "A global force for good." This will be a sad, ugly comedy if they commit this atrocity against these innocent, feeling mammals. A great warrior would not do this; it is the proposition and the behavior of a brutal coward. I don't have a problem with war, when it's appropriate. A true warrior would protect the innocent and vulnerable, not attack them. In a proposal like this one, the United States has become the bully, become the coward, become the out of control aggressor.

Nearly 500,000 Americans have already signed a petition to prevent this horror. You have the power to speak up and stop this, and I urge you to take action. This link will give you the name and email of your legislators in the US. I have written to and called my Senators and congressman on many issues, and find they encourage and make this process easy. Please call or write. I welcome and invite you to copy in my text above; you are also perfectly free to alter it or write your own. Thank you. Tristan Luke Sullivan Please sign



further reading: http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/zsmith/this_week_in_whales_join_the_h.html http://www.orcanetwork.org/news/shoup.html http://www.thomhartmann.com/forum/2012/06/take-actionthe-navys-testing-far-reaching-sonar-explosives-threaten-whales-dophins-oth