the olive ream

“As of September 11, 2006, the number detained was 83,000. None have been bought to trial…”

Pay attention to what has happened and what is still happening.

Brazilian cartoonist, Carlos Latuff’s commentary is impeccable and always a treat. His courage and willingness to portray the truth (through his work) makes his art stand out far above the rest in his field. The statement on his blog reads, “All of my artworks published in this blog are COPYLEFT. You are strongly encouraged to forward them to people and reproduce them in your website/magazine/bulletin/poster/t-shirt/etc.”

Here’s a tiny sample of his work. I now have a new hero…

His blog is here and his gallery is here.

Note: Share his work with others, but please make sure the artist is given due credit by providing a link to his web sites.

What you are about to read is a rant. No, it is more than that. It is a harangue disguised as diatribe pretending to be an exhortation. What is relevant though, and should service as a disclaimer, is that I’m pissed off and it is likely that what follows is not going to make any sense (to you).

War. What is good for? Making huge amounts of money for a selected bunch of bastards. But you can’t amass a growing fortune with a war that has an end. You need something that goes on forever. Precisely like the War on Terror (WOT). WOT is perfect. It can be fought in any country, any time because it is a franchise. It is the McDonalds of wars (or more appropriately the McDonald Douglas of wars). If you don’t have an enemy, no worries, you make one up. Or you can plan ahead. You sponsor, nurture, suckle a small group of lunatics and let them fester like a boil on the backside of humanity. When the pustule seems ready to burst, you just prick it by bombing the crap out of some innocent civilians. And there you have it, you got yourself some evil-doers ready to be thwarted. For the sake of publicity, classify your enemy as ‘the terrorists’ because it’s got a nice ring to it.

In order to ensure that WOT is successful (meaning everlasting), you have to be very precise in attacking selected, primary targets. You have to make sure that you don’t kill any of your enemies accidently. Because if you do, your enemies will diminish in number and your war might actually come to an end, eventually. So the best approach is to pick a fight, bomb some innocent civilians, arrest anyone who protests, and rendition those who have absolutely nothing to do with terrorism. And when you have completely messed up the country, open up a franchise in another country. It is that simple!

Don’t worry if you run short of enemies (terrorists). Just make some up. Again, all you have to do is kill a few innocent civilians, blame some anti-government religious fanatic group and voila! you have your terrorists. Like the WOT, it is best to create an enemy that can be franchised from the start. Give them a name like Al Quackduh or some other, similar sounding name. And then when you franchise your war to another country, the terrorists will be already in your WOT kit.

Obviously, you can’t fight the WOT alone. You need some allies (pronounced all LIES). Now these allies are not part of your franchise tool kit but they can be your partner in the WOT, by using a small amount of coercion and an unreasonable amount of cash. And if you feel that the allies are not helping much with the WOT, you can blame them for not doing enough and attack their countries instead. What fun, eh?

Now, there’s bound to be complaints world wide about the WOT. But don’t bother too much about that because eventually all those who are complaining will either be bombed, imprisoned or tortured under the label of WOT. Yes, it is true, WOT will spread like a warm blanket all across the globe. Well, that’s the main aim anyway. For those who aren’t complaining, there will be many rich rewards in store for them. They’ll be endless episodes of American Idol, sick reality tv shows and free concert tickets to see Britney Spears Live at the Rehab center.

Rest assured, that the WOT will go on….and you will be able to catch it live on CNN and Fox News.

F*** it!

Dear Omer,

I’m writing on behalf of the American Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary series FRONTLINE/World. I think that you and the readers of Olive Ream will be interested in FRONTLINE/World™s new 20-minute documentary Pakistan: State of Emergency, now live on our website. The story investigates Maulana Fazlullah, the young Taliban cleric waging war against the Pakistani government in the beautiful valley of Swat. The story includes the events of November 3rd and Benazir Bhutto’s assasination, and also features interviews with Aitzaz Ahsan, his son Ali, and renowned Pakistani journalist and writer Ahmed Rashid.

The documentary broadcast in the U.S. last night, but you can watch the full video on our site, where you’ll also find extended interviews, background information and an interview with the reporter. You and your readers can post comments on the site, and we hope to hear what you think: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan703/

More about the story:

Swat is a place off-limits to most Western journalists, but reporter David Montero met this mysterious and ruthless Pakistani Taliban leader last spring. Montero also met the moderate local politician who tried to stop Fazlullah - Asfandiar Amir Zeb, the prince of Swat.

Amir Zeb was assassinated in a car bombing a day after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto shocked the world. Montero returned to the Swat Valley to find out what Amir Zebs death meant to the region, and to report on the Army’s belated efforts to fight the Taliban as suicide bombings spread throughout Pakistan.

The story, reported by David Montero as a joint project with the Christian Science Monitor, sheds light on the connection between Musharraf’s lax approach to Taliban militants and his recent crackdown on lawyers and the judiciary.

Thanks for watching, and for sharing on your blog.

XXXXX XXXXXX
PBS FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld

I dream of high clouds
Flushed with the light of daybreak

What we gonna do when the
money runs out
I wish that there was something left to say
How we gonna find the eyes to see
a brighter day

I’m falling by the wayside
I’m sinking with the sun
Everything I do
Is wrong

I’m delirious with chaos
I’m wonderstruck with awe

The state I’m in
Got goosebumps on my skin
See the water I’ll jump right in
Your heart so free

They come from miles around
In avarice and love
To suckle on the blood
Of some forgotten god
Sell it like it is
It’s like the old man says
We’re dead in the water now

Take your eyes off me
There’s nothing here to see
Just trying to keep my head together
And as we make our vow
Let us remember how
There’s nothing good that lasts forever
—

Photos: Mine
Words: David Gray

Hello, boys and girls! Are you all in a festive mood this season? Well, sing along to this one…

Deck the innocent with bombs of folly
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,
‘Tis their reason to be jolly,
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,

Don their camouflaged gay apparel,
Hell la la, hell la la, hell la la la,
They’ll blame fanatics, so you’ll cry, “peril!”
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,

See them sell their lies before us,
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,
Sold out media will join the chorus,
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,

Corporate backing in considerable measure,
Hell la la, hell la la, hell la la la,
Destroy a nation to loot their treasure
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,

Detention, torture or death all passes,
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,
By arresting the truth-tellers, brainwashing the masses,
Hell la la, hell la la, hell la la la,

Sing the fascist bastards, all together:
Hell la la la la, hell la la la,
“All hail the profitable war on terror!”
Hell la la la la, hell la la la.

MARY KWEZMAZ and a jolly good rogering to you all!

Received this in an email, so I thought I’d share it…
I’ve sent in my application
—

Following are the inducements for Member of National Assembly (MNAs) in Pakistan:

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of NATIONAL ASSEMBLY (MNA):

Monthly Salary : Rs. 120,000 to 200,000
Expense for Constitution per month : Rs.100,000
Office expenditure per month : Rs.140,000
Travelling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : Rs.48,000 (For a visit to Islamabad & return: 6000 km)
Daily BETA during Assembly meets : Rs.500
Charges for 1 class (A/C) in train : Free (For any number of times & All over PAKISTAN)
Charges for Business Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)
Rent for Govt hostel any where : Free
Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units
Local phone call charges : Free up to 170,000 calls.
TOTAL expense for a MNA per year : Rs. 32,000,000 (approx.)
TOTAL expense for 5 years per MNA : Rs. 160,000,000

For 534 MNAs, the expense for 5 years : Rs. 85,440,000,000 (about 9000 crores)

Think of the Great Democracy we have…….. & Great Politicians……………

*** PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL CITIZENS OF PAKISTAN…….Before Elections 2008 so that everybody can apply for post of MNA

…. OR HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.

I was interviewed (again) by Cristopher Lydon of Radio Open Source a few days back. I would like to thank him for the opportunity for allowing me to rant. Although I had two pages of notes prepared in my attempt to sound sensible, I forgot to refer to them and instead spoke impromptu. The result are answers filled with umms, uhhs, long pauses and repeating the word ‘basically’ about a few hundred times during the course of the interview.

You can hear me sounding off here.

A series of short documentary clips that explain how mainstream news and war reporting is redacted, ‘heroic’ events are staged, how facts are fudged, spun or down right ignored.

Warning: Some scenes are very graphic…but that shouldn’t stop you from watching these videos.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

PART 5

PART 6

PART 7

PART 8

PART 9