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came across this short story by borges yesterday - was featured article on wikipedia.



here's the spanish original

i can honestly say its the best short story i've ever read and i shall probably be thinking about it for the rest of my life.

software for machine cogs - thought technology and its regressions:

"philosophy done in the analytic tradition aims at truth and knowledge, as opposed to moral or spiritual improvement . . . the goal in philosophy is to discover what is true, not to provide a useful recipe for living one’s life."

126 years after frege's begriffschrift, a point at which the transcendental wurst had long been reclaimed by historical knowing subjects, anglo-imperialist epistemology remains unreflective and desperately clings to whereof we can speak without having to remain silent. after all, emeralds are "grue" and non-ravens are non-black.

World fears new Bush era

a clear majority have grave fears about the next four years.

whilst

Mr Bush proclaimed his inauguration as "a sign of hope for freedom-loving people everywhere".

But beyond the traditional scientific economy of prestige and the generous funding that follows it as night follows day, money has distorted the scientific process as a once purely academic pursuit has been commercialized to an astonishing degree by the researchers themselves.

Mark Thatcher admits coup role in plea bargain, The Guardian,Thursday January 13, 2005

Mark Thatcher today admitted his role in a failed coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea under a plea bargain that saves him from prison.
The Cape Town high court ordered the son of the former prime minister to pay a 3m rand (£265,000) fine and gave him a four-year suspended prison sentence. Judge Abe Motala warned Thatcher that if he does not pay the fine he will face a five-year prison sentence with a further four years suspended for five years.


"save me mummy"

Born with twin Carol on August 15, 1953

· Left Harrow with three O levels. Did not go to university and studied to be a chartered accountant but failed exams three times

· Set up Mark Thatcher Racing in 1977, which hit financial problems. In 1982 got lost in the Sahara during rally, sparking international rescue operation

· In 1984 his mother, then prime minister, defended him in the Commons over reported involvement in £300m contract to build university in Oman

· Moved to Texas in 1984. Married Diane Bergdorf, daughter of millionaire car dealer, in 1987

· Faced allegations of racketeering in a multi-million civil action in US in 1994. Settled out of court

· Moved to South Africa in 1995, where he came under investigation by authorities over loans schemes in 1998

· Arrested last August by South African police over a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea, and said later: "I feel like a cork floating down the Colorado river."

Poolside plots: the chronicle of a coup foretold

Wer einen Beruf ergreift, ist verloren.

My friend sent me this e-mail about a potential South West Libertalia...



.... and was wondering if you would like a room with
a fantastic sea view and private beach, not to mention
the ballroom. I'm planning with a few friends to open
this hotel as a squat with alot of potential for
fun... Up for it?

Jet Is an Open Secret in Terror War

The airplane is a Gulfstream V turbojet, the sort favored by CEOs and celebrities. But since 2001 it has been seen at military airports from Pakistan to Indonesia to Jordan, sometimes being boarded by hooded and handcuffed passengers.

The plane's owner of record, Premier Executive Transport Services Inc., lists directors and officers who appear to exist only on paper. And each one of those directors and officers has a recently issued Social Security (news - web sites) number and an address consisting only of a post office box, according to an extensive search of state, federal and commercial records.

Bryan P. Dyess, Steven E. Kent, Timothy R. Sperling and Audrey M. Tailor are names without residential, work, telephone or corporate histories -- just the kind of "sterile identities," said current and former intelligence officials, that the CIA (news - web sites) uses to conceal involvement in clandestine operations. In this case, the agency is flying captured terrorist suspects from one country to another for detention and interrogation.

The CIA calls this activity "rendition." Premier Executive's Gulfstream helps make it possible. According to civilian aircraft landing permits, the jet has permission to use U.S. military airfields worldwide.

Analysis of the plane's flight plans, covering more than two years, shows that it always departs from Washington DC. It has flown to 49 destinations outside America, including the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba and other US military bases, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Afghanistan, Libya and Uzbekistan.

Witnesses have claimed that the suspects are frequently bound, gagged and sedated before being put on board the planes, which do not have special facilities for prisoners but are kitted out with tables for meetings and screens for presentations and in-flight films.

'Abduction' jet makes Shannon stops From the Irish Echo

DUBLIN -- A U.S. military jet used in the transport of Al Qaeda suspects from locations in Europe and the Middle East has used Shannon airport on at least 13 occasions in the last four years, it's been confirmed.

'Sex, Sin and Smörgåsbord' Sweden also in on the act...

30 books, not one review

Chomsky and Academic History

micropope gates smells commie conspiracy behind free software movement

Questions: In recent years, there's been a lot of people clamoring to reform and restrict intellectual-property rights. It started out with just a few people, but now there are a bunch of advocates saying, "We've got to look at patents, we've got to look at copyrights." What's driving this, and do you think intellectual-property laws need to be reformed?

Gates: No, I'd say that of the world's economies, there's more that believe in intellectual property today than ever. There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern-day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises. They don't think that those incentives should exist.

And this debate will always be there. I'd be the first to say that the patent system can always be tuned--including the U.S. patent system. There are some goals to cap some reform elements. But the idea that the United States has led in creating companies, creating jobs, because we've had the best intellectual-property system--there's no doubt about that in my mind, and when people say they want to be the most competitive economy, they've got to have the incentive system. Intellectual property is the incentive system for the products of the future.

commies vs competition.. yeah..

pablo cheekily posing in front of white house w son

Nicene Christianity is the religion of Christmas and Easter, the celebration of a Jesus who is either too young or too much in agony to shock us with his revolutionary rhetoric. The adult Christ who calls his followers to renounce wealth, power and violence is passed over in favour of the gurgling baby and the screaming victim. As such, Nicene Christianity is easily conscripted into a religion of convenience, with believers worshipping a gagged and glorified saviour who has nothing to say about how we use our money or whether or not we go to war.

some background...

"In other words, Chomsky's famous ability to obfuscate and the obscurity of most of his publications can only partially explain why his neo-Nazi involvements have escaped wide-spread criticism" Partners in Hate - Noam Chomsky and the Holocaust Deniers - Werner Cohn (1985) some bedtime reading

interestingly, kamm's pathological obsession has driven him to writing scores of one star reviews on amazon.co.uk, literally scores! here

also while pottering about online today, I stumbled across finkelsteins homepage which I’d not visited in a while and found it both interesting and amusing looking through some of the correspondences and letters posted on 'the holocaust industry' - although a book I’ve not read - only articles and extracts - I imagine it's just mr. kamm’s cup of tea - I can see the foam seething now...

After looking through kamm’s webpage, tedious chomsky tirade after tedious chomsky tirade, it appears that a protracted bitter and unhealthy history of loathing has been fermenting for quite some time now in mr. kamm’s mind. I’m reluctant to punish myself in going back to the text in trying to find kamms’ exact reference (oh the irony…) to nc supporters arguments of the form ‘I can’t believe, therefore it did not happen’ – but the hypocrisy is side splitting; rather like shintaro lecturing on holocaust denial… planks…eyes?

Rather than locking horns in intellectual vanity with mr. kamm’s ‘scholarly research’ (that without doubt illustrates that nc harbours vicious plots against the jews along with harold covington, lemmy from motorhead, and countless other rigorous intellectuals) it’s perhaps more telling to look at kamms focus on an incredibly narrow spectrum of nc’s work (i.e. the Faurisson connection & how that somehow equates to unquestionably to holocaust denial) in order to more broadly discredit him.

While there is content to his observation that there exists a slight messianic cult around the man, it is certainly something he does little (or less than the next man) to foster (while the author of many books and a prominent speaker at lectures etc. unlike many of his peers in a profession that is saturated in vanity, his focus on ideas rather than individuals is laudable). The ‘following’ can more easily be explained by a quite obvious connection with his content and the countless numbers of disenfranchised individuals who have been shunned, abused or ignored by a largely unrepresentative media. Discussing whether these individuals are hopelessly deluded, insane or pathological seems besides any point at all; it tells us little except the contents of kamm’s mind…

dear alan!

not sure whether youve noted the controversy your posting of this odd "oliver kamm" blogg has caused on the comment box. mike is mike, "oliver kamm" is oliver kamm, journalist behind the aptly named "oliver kamm" blogg


relevant bit of your post:

"jona brought to my attention oliver kamm's criticisms of chomsky. these appear to be the most substantive and methodical claims i've seen."



"Comments" activity to date:


"Chomsky's intervention was a defence of the content of Faurisson's beliefs and not merely of Faurisson's right to express those beliefs"

yet:

"Chomsky did this not by endorsing Faurisson's obviously false claim that the Holocaust never happened"

and:

"Chomsky in fact defended the character of Faurisson's beliefs and not just Faurisson's right to express those beliefs (which was in any event never at issue)"

yet:

"...defending Faurisson against the charges of antisemitism and pro-Nazism"

full of vague and contradicting notions ("character of belief"? was ist das?). the relationship between "content" and "freedom of expression" is what this whole thing hinges on. i'm a so-called "chomsky admirer" myself, and i havent dared to make up my mind about this issue; a problematic which does, after all, extend far beyond nc, faurisson, holocaust denial, or yes, even kamm. so i was actually hoping to find something of substance, instead of the usual self-indulgent constructivism.

sadly though, kamm appears anything else than methodical, objective nor philosophically conscientious about the argumentative nucleus. in fact, he doesn't engage the problematic at all. this probably because he made up his mind prior to touching the matter. policing other people's footnotes instead of engaging with any content ("it is a poor service to the memory of the victims of the holocaust to adpot a central doctrine of their murderers" - nc).

it's a tough debate. anyone who has the answers at the snap of a kamm ought to be treated with caution.

mike | 12.21.04 - 3:14 pm | #


My thanks for the link, and my complacent self-satisfaction regarding your commentor's unwitting confirmation that he is a follower of Chomsky, for he deals with my inconvenient body of evidence by quoting me with deliberate selectivity in order to deceive. Anyone taking the trouble to read my posts as opposed to the words your commentor has wrenched out of context will be unimpressed with that particular staple of Chomskian technique. By my reference to Chomsky's defending the character of Faurisson's beliefs, I make it perfectly clear what that position consisted in: Chomsky defended the political legitimacy of those beliefs regardless of their factual veracity (or rather, lack of it). He did so, moreover, while knowing for a fact that Faurisson was a pro-Nazi apologist. Chomsky, in short, whitewashed the political beliefs of a man he knew to be pro-Nazi and antisemitic.

That is not simply an allegation against Chomsky, nor is it a 'tough debate'; it is a fact, which your incompetent commentor unsurprisingly doesn't even attempt to refute but merely tries to obfuscate by becoming mired in woolly abstractions dimly comprehended.

Oliver Kamm | Email | Homepage | 12.22.04 - 1:21 pm | #


oliver kamm is quite right in saying that i don't refute him, since i hadn't really found anything to refute. and since I don't operate on ideological levels, where information might be "convenient" or not, i'm afraid i can't say anything on that either.

i do think it is a tough debate, albeit one that evidently doesn't find its way into the distilled episteme of today's cultural managers. in what relationship does the liberty to express a belief stand to the content or "political character" of that belief? are there elements of instrumental rationality at play? are we only allowing freedom of expression for views we like, whilst ideologically undermining others?

i think it's in those questions where the answers to the chomsky-faurisson affair are to be found, and not in this politicized farce about whether or not chomsky knowingly helped to propagate neo-nazi views. this was evidently not his intention, since he seems to promote freedom of expression regardless of its content (a normative guideline one would have to refute prior to ascribing any relevance to chomsky's defence of a holocaust denier).

i wonder why one cannot actually engage chomsky's position and challenge him by reflecting on the normative questions that underlie freedom of expression. isn't this where any true engagement with chomsky would happen? merely trying to prove that chomsky was knowingly defending a holocaust denier seems to miss the point. the search for content goes on.

what is kamm actually trying to show? that chomsky's persona is no good?

mike | 12.22.04 - 6:09 pm | #



this in defense of an able historian

cannot counter facts in NC's history of angloamerican imperialism including israel
-> so obv hes gotta be a nazi/looney or whatever
-> jewish self-proclaimed anarchist- nazi?

yeah likely

about as likely as the tales of WMD monsieur kamm has been floating elsewhere bad journalism?

"Why does it sell and re-sell a WMD argument for war with Saddam, as speculative and superfluous as a coursebook in Dianetics, both before and after the war?"

sloppy quotations hey.. where are those goddamn wmd oliver?

geneva convention says crime of faring aggressive war carries cumulative sum of sinning- ambition is critical as the welsh say..

"Saddam will likely never threaten anyone again... and we have attained one of our primary goals: no WMD in Iraq. (Did Saddam help us in that goal, by not having any WMD to begin with? [??] That's still highly debatable... but if he did, all the better.) Further, the war has resulted in Libya destroying its WMD as well."

hihihi fevered delusions of adequacy? war crimes.. women and children.. ts ts ts

i'm sure theres plenty more of the same

Authors go to war, but should have stayed at home; quite

It is remarkable that in communistic tribes jealousy is entirely unknown. O. Wilde The soul of man under Socialism

"In an honest Service, there is thin Commons, low Wages, and hard Labour; in this, Plenty and Satiety, Pleasure and Ease, Liberty and Power; and who would not ballance Creditor on this Side, when all the Hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sower Look or two at choaking. No, a merry Life and a short one shall be my Motto" - Pirate Captain Bartholomew Roberts.

jona brought to my attention oliver kamm's criticisms of chomsky. these appear to be the most substantive and methodical claims i've seen. there are some examples of what appears to be dishonest reporting of quotations and the misleading drawing of inferences.

kamm's site also features this heart warming link

abroad;

the spread of "freedom" and "democracy" continues unabated

whilst at home;

"We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"

and the reaction of the 'educated' classes to these triumphs of modernisation? applause - although the article notes unreflectively that "Some selections have been notoriously unpopular, such as Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942, and Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979." and there is an alternative perspective perhaps worthy of consideration, and conspicuous by its absence from the arena of public debate.



"The conception of presidential sovereignty crafted by the radical statist reactionaries of the Bush administration is so extreme that it has drawn unprecedented criticism in the most sober and respected establishment circles. These ideas were transmitted to the President by the newly appointed Attorney-General, Alberto Gonzales – who is depicted as a moderate in the press. They are discussed by the respected constitutional law professor Sanford Levinson in the current issue of the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Levinson writes that the conception is based on the principle that "There exists no norm that is applicable to chaos." The quote, Levinson comments, is from Carl Schmitt, the leading German philosopher of law during the Nazi period, who Levinson describes as “the true éminence grise of the Bush administration.” The administration, advised by Gonzales, has articulated “a view of presidential authority that is all too close to the power that Schmitt was willing to accord his own Führer,” Levinson writes.

One rarely hears such words from the heart of the establishment."

[....]

"The principle of universality is the most elementary of moral truisms. It is the foundation of “Just War theory” and in fact of every system of morality deserving of anything but contempt. Rejection of such moral truisms is so deeply rooted in the intellectual culture as to be invisible. To illustrate again how deeply entrenched it is, let’s return to the principle of “anticipatory self-defense,” adopted as legitimate by both political organizations in the US, and across virtually the entire spectrum of articulate opinion, apart from the usual margins. The principle has some immediate corollaries. If the US is granted the right of “anticipatory self-defense” against terror, then, certainly, Cuba, Nicaragua, and a host of others have long been entitled to carry out terrorist acts within the US because there is no doubt of its involvement in very serious terrorist attacks against them, extensively documented in impeccable sources, and in the case of Nicaragua, even condemned by the World Court and the Security Council (in two resolutions that the US vetoed, with Britain loyally abstaining). The conclusion that Cuba and Nicaragua, among many others, have long had the right to carry out terrorist atrocities in the US is of course utterly outrageous, and advocated by no one. And thanks to our self-determined immunity from moral truisms, there is no fear that anyone will draw the outrageous conclusions."

so its good riddance to neo-fascist david blunkett



although, sadly, his lasting contribution to the creation of europe's fasting growing police state is under attack from an unlikely, and hitherto silent, group, the law lords;

"A scathing law lords judgment condemning the indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects as a threat to the life of the nation left anti-terrorist laws in tatters yesterday.

The ruling by an 8-1 majority held that the indefinite detention without trial at Belmarsh, and Woodhill high security prisons was unlawful under the European convention on human rights (ECHR).

Constitutional lawyers called it one of the most important decisions from Britain's highest court in 50 years.

But 24 hours after David Blunkett, the law's sponsor, was forced to resign as home secretary, Downing St and the new home secretary, Charles Clarke decided to tough it out. They would study the judgment - but made it plain they are more likely to renew the controversial laws than modify them."

[....]

"Lord Scott described the regime under which suspects can be detained indefinitely on the say-so of the home secretary with no right to know the grounds for detention as "the stuff of nightmares, associated with France before and during the revolution, with Soviet Russia in the Stalinist era, and now associated, as a result of section 23 of the 2001 Act, with the United Kingdom"

note that none of this will, or is likely to, result in the release of these guys who have been locked up without lawful basis for three years...

keep repeating we are free

also a disappointment to the rightist guerillas is this ruling that human rights (specifically ECHR) apply to people under british jurisdiction, regardless of whether its lambeth or the a suburb of basra whih happens to have been illegally invaded by british troops...

you have to be 'properly educated' to make sense of all this

More brilliant cartoons from mahjoob, a palestinian cartoonist