*pelagius a god damn hero! what courage it takes to spill the beans. pleased with 'fascist language' link although i think barthes is very much mistaken in his analysis - language is responsible for fascism in the same way as the body is responsible for illness! both my be integral, in the sense they are a necessary condition for both ills, but both are correctly understood as a corruption of the healthy state. language exists to enable our collective good, as the body exists to support life. language is a tool of liberation as much as an instrument of oppression. what matters is whether the way language is used makes us the subject or renders us the object.

Comte on postivism here and a catholic critique (which covers an interesting religious splinter group inspired by positivism) here.

*shit hot information on haiti available at democracy now

"The US lawyer representing the government of Haiti charged today that the US government is directly involved in a military coup attempt against the country’s democratically elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ira Kurzban, the Miami-based attorney who has served as General Counsel to the Haitian government since 1991, said that the paramilitaries fighting to overthrow Aristide are being backed by Washington.

“I believe that this is a group that is armed by, trained by, and employed by the intelligence services of the United States,” Kurzban told the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!. “This is clearly a military operation, and it's a military coup.”

“There's enough indications from our point of view, at least from my point of view, that the United States certainly knew what was coming about two weeks before this military operation started,” Kurzban said. “ The United States made contingency plans for Guantanamo.”

If a direct US connection is proven, it will mark the second time in just over a decade that Washington has been involved in a coup in Haiti..."

also see Haiti Redux and Haiti - Insurrection in the Making

*big viva to clare short for pointing out a.) truth about yes, minister point about official secrets act b.) internal view of sanctity of international law rhetoric. too bad it will all be forgotten tomorrow... and by then we'll have secret trials prop. d blunkett. call me franco anyone? perhaps a 'home and gardens' spread or a museum to commemorate him?