Don't worry guys, they didn't just do this to US cities, but the cities of some of their allies, too!

"1950 - 1953: The U.S. Army releases chemical clouds over six American and Canadian cities. Residents in Winnipeg, Canada, where a highly toxic chemical called cadmium is dropped, subsequently experience high rates of respiratory illnesses (Cockburn and St. Clair, eds.)."

Oh, what I actually learned is how Ulysses was censored/ banned and how one good judge unbanned it and set a great precedent against censorship of literature. But sadly, that judge was not Lord Cockburn.

I learned that reading the line "Lord Cockburn's test for obscenity, however..." in the middle of a serious Harvard Law Review text will make me giggle.

Its not a lack of police to fight drug cartels which is the cause of the violence. That analysis is hollow. You are leaving out the devastating consequences of NAFTA and imperialism on these countries.

Poverty and unemployment have only worsened as a result of subsidies going towards big agrobussiness instead of local farmers. This is what leads to crime. Its a reaction by the working class getting even more fucked. When you can't get any $ by growing corn and instead have the chance to make $ selling drugs, yeah, you do it.

It isn't a coincidence that the majority of immigrants come from countries that have had dictators and death squads with the support of the US. Guatamala, El Salvador, Mexico. Destroyed economies create migrants which are CHEAP LABOR. Add to this the criminalization of immigrants with AZ's SB1070 and GA's copycat HB87. The AZ bill was pretty much written by Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison corporation which gets $200 per bed a night.

Its all part of the imperative of profit, the inherent violence of capitalism, duh
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Additional reading:

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/10/28/prison-and-profits-the-politics-of-az%E2%80%99s-sb1070-bill-revealed/

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/25/harvest_of_empire_new_book_exposes
"And then there's this from independent journalist Zafar Bangash:

"The CIA, as Cockburn and (Jeffrey) St Clair reveal, had been in this business right from the beginning. In fact, even before it came into existence, its predecessors, the OSS and the Office of Naval Intelligence, were involved with criminals. One such criminal was Lucky Luciano, the most notorious gangster and drug trafficker in America in the forties."

The CIA's involvement in drug trafficking closely dovetails America's adventures overseas - from Indo-China in the sixties to Afghanistan in the eighties....As Alfred McCoy states in his book: Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the Global Drug Trade, beginning with CIA raids from Burma into China in the early fifties, the agency found that 'ruthless drug lords made effective anti-communists." ("CIA peddles drugs while US Media act as cheerleaders", Zafar Bangash, Muslimedia, January 16-31, 1999)

And, this from author William Blum:

"ClA-supported Mujahedeen rebels ... engaged heavily in drug trafficking while fighting against the Soviet-supported government," writes historian William Blum. "The Agency's principal client was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and a leading heroin refiner. CIA-supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan/Pakistan border. The output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe....""


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18877

Not sure why you're mythin about me being a "rabid atheist." I never wade into that subject, unless it is to point out that Pat Condell is a bigoted plapf of dookie. (Pat Condell is a clam; he's exactly as big as his mouth.)

Jonny had just blew a 100 amp fuse when I dared to tell a little joke about the Grateful Dead - the most over-rated band ever:

Q: What does a Grateful Dead fan say when the LSD wears off?
A: This band sucks.

Here's a good song for when you're feeling holy. (By Canadian leftist and guitarist/songwriter extraordinaire Bruce Cockburn -- pron. Coe-burn.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFkM_R3CZvI

Rear Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Cockburn. I had dinner with Francis Scott Key aboard the HMS Tonnant in Baltimore Harbor the night before he appropriated a proper British drinking song to write his little ditty. Sir.

.

http://www.history.uk.com/images/articles/Cockburn.jpg

Or so Wikipedia tells me anyway. Thanks, Mr Fisk!

In reply to this comment by MrFisk:
I dig the avatar.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bruce, cockburn, rocket launcher' to 'bruce, cockburn, rocket launcher, guatemala, refugees, killings' - edited by calvados

Tags for this video have been changed from 'bruce cockburn, the road, hotels, alienation, canada' to 'bruce cockburn, the road, hotels, alienation, canada, audiosift' - edited by calvados

Thanks for the heads up.

Those Canadians have a lot of heart.

In reply to this comment by qualm:
Maybe you haven't heard this one: http://www.videosift.com/video/Pacing-the-Cage-Bruce-Cockburn

A cover of Bruce Cockburn's track. This was their first song to hit the top 40s in Canada - back in 1991.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barenaked_Ladies
"Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Canadian alternative rock band currently composed of Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, Steven Page, Ed Robertson, Tyler Stewart, and formerly Andy Creeggan. It formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario, at the time a suburb of Toronto. It is best known for its hit singles, "One Week", "Pinch Me", "If I Had $1000000", and "Brian Wilson", and for its light-hearted, comedic performance style. The band's trademark at live shows is humorous banter between songs, and improvised raps/songs, both of which are staples at almost every concert"

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Farhad - feel better now?
(He posted this - http://www.videosift.com/video/When-I-was-young-I-thought-this-was-so-cool )