COTO Report British Edition goes to the Isle of Wight to bring you an almost three hour long interview with Mr. David Icke by Megan 'Verb' Kargher. In this interview we discuss his new book, the nature of reality and politics.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SmSEN4Bfow&hl=en

The demise of major American newspapers in our ordinary life could be seen as sad and tragic for a grandparent, and as an excellent opportunity to capitalize on another's misfortune for a plugged in, technological savvy grandchild.

The distance in generational gap between the two is not so much a preference as a giant chasm. It is not just a difference in media delivery systems. It is also a difference in thought, belief, innovation, progress and pecking order. We are a nation that celebrates and idolizes youth.

The old folks have little place in this new world; they are oftentimes neither respected nor tolerated. It is more likely that they will be kicked to the curb. Imagine the television commercial where the young man gives his grandma a ride to where she is going, and as she opens the door when they arrive, he literally kicks her out of the still moving car, screaming "Tuck and roll, Grandma, tuck and roll."

So it is today with our once respected and admired major newspapers. An industry that was born in colonial times, reached its apex before radio arrived, hung on with the advent of television, and neglected to notice the presence of the Internet, is now facing extinction.

It was newspaper reporters that gave rise to the expression and distinction of being the "Fourth Estate". The moniker apparently had its roots in 1789, when Louis XVI summoned to Versailles a full meeting of the "Estates General". The First Estate consisted of 300 clergy, the Second Estate 300 nobles and the Third Estate 600 commoners.

Years later, after the French Revolution, British politician and statesman Edmund Burke, looking up at the Press Gallery of the House of Commons, said "Yonder sits the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all."

The earliest written use of the term to mean the press was by Thomas Carlyle in his book On Heroes and Hero Worship in 1841, when Carlyle quoted Burke's comment.

It was newspapers that were the first to carry on the proud tradition of exposing the wrongdoing of government officials, politicians and those who sought to gain advantage at the expense of others. Newspapers were the guardians who kept a keen eye on the wealthy and powerful.

The rapid demise and fall of newspapers from grace has indeed been sad and tragic. I spent the first 20 years of my working life as an editor of several weeklies; an investigative reporter, sports editor and managing editor of daily newspapers; and the owner of a newspaper publishing company.

It was still an exciting ride when I got out of the business in early 1980s. In retrospect, I now realize that the newspaper industry was already on the downslide when I began my career in the early 1960s.

The newspaper industry was not blindsided by the Internet. Newspaper owners and managers simply refused to notice and calculate the loss in business when the Internet severely cut into their classified advertising revenue. They were slow to establish web sites and re-market their enterprise in a changing economy.

Potential young readers were weaned on the Internet and attracted to it like bees to honey. The video game revolution merely reinforced what the younger generation had already sensed-that newspapers were on the way out.

Newspapers also compounded the problem by rewarding a bunch of bright but opinionated reporters to stop gathering and reporting the facts, and allowed them to spew out all manner of personal journalism in the name of reporting. The result was propaganda disguised as news.

Readers were no longer given the facts and allowed to draw their own conclusion. The readers were too often led to an opinionated conclusion by writers who thought they knew more than their readers. How many times in history have politicians thought they knew more and had more common sense than the collected mass of people they represented?

The list of major American daily newspapers which have already failed or are on verge of failing reads like a list of who's who in the history of journalism. And now a few in Congress have floated the idea of giving bailout money to these once great members of an honorable institution gone wrong. Doing so would be a huge mistake.

The same newspaper owners, editors and reporters who sank to such a despicable level as to become mere political shills for politicians and government officials deserve what they are getting.

If the newspaper industry deserves to survive in America, it must re-market itself to serve a changing population that demands more than just political and social tripe by a bunch of editors and reporters who think they are God's gift to journalism when in fact they are very expendable.

Great journalism starts in the heart, is filled up with integrity, honesty and clarity, and will not succumb to political partisanship, social engineering and agendas of misinformation and hate.

Copyright © 2009 Ed Bagley

White Hating Coon - best comic book character ever...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0VZj-85E5o&hl=en

Nearly, if not all religions have a sacred writing that their beliefs are based upon, or guided by. The canons, books, and written tradition that can seem to act like a rudder to the ship of the belief system. Written tradition is a fantastic way of bringing a group of people together as a close-knit community. But at the same time the rigid, inflexible books can act as chains, ways to keep people under control and undermine new ideas or ideaologies that do not fit with the predeccesor.

The problem is when people take an overly exoteric stance on the teachings, they become literalists and leave out any potential symbolism in the realms of fancy or worse yet, heresy.

When we examine religious holy books we'll notice that they tend to have much in common with the cultural mythologies that are usually thought of as stories used to entertain, and now seem to define cultures by their old mythological beliefs. The problem many religions have the stance that their holy books are somehow more correct, or true than the now called mythologies.

When we stop the literalist viewing of holy texts, it doesn't become shallow or filled with less meaning. It's actually the opposite, a whole plethora of meaning gushes forth, it is no longer a simple text of fanciful stories or amazing tales; it becomes a tapestry of symbols that explain the human organism in profound ways.

The reading of holy texts without the esoteric symbolism is very common, in fact, it has been the source of countless conflict, massive amounts of argument over verses, passages and the ilk, over their meaning and how we may use them in our lives, while the deeper meaning is blindly cast aside.

We shall shortly examine the symbolism behind the Garden of Eden. Even though the metaphors and symbolism can easily fill a small book:

From a literalist reading of it the pastor, priest, everyday Christian, or laymen may gather that long ago humans lived in perfecrt paradise, we had all we could ask for, God watched over us contently.

Until, that is, the fallen being Satan, in the form of a serpent came to the Garden and tempted Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good & evil. God has warned them explicitly that it was forbidden. Eve was so intrigued by the serpent's words of promise that said by eating it she would become like God in knowledge. She ate, and then offered it to Adam, and in turn, gained all knowledge God had of good & evil. They became aware of their nakedness and hid from God. God, upon discovering them, banished them from the Garden, shortened their life spans, made them prone to illness, and in Eve's case, made childbirth painful.

That is the Fall of Man, that has supposedly engendered the 'first sin' that every human in born with; the betrayal against God.

From this reading, we may gain (if the reader is a literalist) that there was an actual paradise on earth and we became banished from it and as a result we are inherent sinners in desperate need of salvation.

Now, if one were to use the language of symbolism in reading of the text, we may gain knowledge more or less like this:

(Let us think of Adam & Eve not as actual people, but as masculine and feminine energies present within everyone). Long ago humans lived in perfecrt paradise (pure oneness with God), we had all we could ask for, God watched over us contently.

Until, that is, the fallen being Satan, in the form of a serpent (liberation of ignorance, or even DNA), came to the Garden and tempted Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good & evil (duality). God has warned them explicitly that it was forbidden. Eve was so intrigued by the serpent's words of promise that said by eating it she would become like God in knowledge. She ate, and then offered it to Adam (this can be thought of asintuition freeing reason from the confines of the mind), and in turn, gained all knowledge God had of good & evil. They became aware of their nakedness and hid from God. God, upon discovering them, banished them from the Garden, shortened their life spans, made them prone to illness, and in Eve's case, made childbirth painful.

That is the Fall of Man, that has supposedly engendered the 'first sin' that every human in born with; the betrayal against God.

The symbolic reading of it may entail that we were once one with God, but we choose to separate ourselves from It and experience duality, that is, viewing everything not as one, but as opposing extremes struggling against each other. And contrary to the thoughts of the medieval church, and in some cases some churches nowadays, woman is the liberator of man. Not the reason for exile, but the freer, that used intuition, instead of blind obedience in order to do what she was meant to do.

Of course, there is much more symbolism to the story, and I have just lightly touched upon it. The use of symbolism can be applied to almost any, if not all holy scripture or mythology. I am not saying it is the only way to read them, in truth, I think one would miss certain things and take too much out of simple things. But central stories can be given some very interesting meanings; that can make more sense than the literal interpretations.

Charlie Rose interviews Pastor Gregory Boyd on his book, "The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church." Although Boyd is no liberal, he lost one-fifth of his congregation when he preached that the church should steer clear of mixing the gospel with a specific political stance. See more great videos at youtube dot com / group / ChristianApologetics



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBQPN0rVs1I&hl=en

In which John discusses presents, sophistication, balls, and presidential politics. And sings. QUESTION: Hank's vlog yesterday contained text. Does that mean he textually communicated with me? Your ruling on this matter will be binding.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je7_awcBroY&hl=en

New York Times Best-Selling Investigative Author reveals "How We Became Addicted to Oil and How to Break the Addiction Right Now" At Nova Southeastern University.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRskb6nMfIk&hl=en

thegodvirus.net,Why is sexual control so important to so many religions? What causes the anxiety and neuroticism around death and dying? How does religion inject itself into so many areas of life, culture and politics? Darrel Ray explores this and much more in his book, The God Virus How religion infects our lives and culture.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajdwru77hnc&hl=en

o Book Details:

Author: Sandra Silberstein

Paperback: 197

Publisher: Routledge, Taylor & Francis group

City of publication: London

Year of publication: 2002

Language: English

ASIN: B000OT8284

Price: USD $22.95

o About the author:

Sandra Silberstein is a professor of English at the University of Washington, Seattle. So far she has concentrated on women and language, choice reading, and technology and resources in teaching reading on the majority of her books.

o Book analysis:

The book "War of Words" is 197 pages long, divided into 8 chapters. The introduction attached to the first section of the book is a comprehensive one also summarizing whole the book in three pages.

This book can be recommended to all whose interests are on linguistics, even to those who are not expert in this matter.

Sandra Silberstein focuses on the creation of the national transformations including changes in American identity and national beliefs in post-9/11 by illustrating some examples which reveal U.S's situation within the time of crises after 9/11 events.

the author does not go deeply into details regarding the field of linguistics and also she does not explain apparently how linguistics can be applied to the many phrases she has quoted;however those phrases and examples persuade readers to continue his/her reading to the end.

Sandra Silberstein in her book "War of Words: Language , Politics and 9/11" has cited the speeches of George W. Bush in post-9/11 just for the sake of linguistic analysis ,so it is difficult to determine her political slant. She tries to focus more on the words created national transformations and new American identity in post-9/11 than the events themselves. As a result Silberstein concentrates on rendering the terrorist attacks in presidential speeches , media texts and eyewitness accounts

The most interesting part of the book in my opinion is its cover, carrying many important meanings and messages. For example, a sentence in Persian above the picture of two Afghans implies that Iran is a terrorist advocator.

"It is essential to examine the diction surrounding the particular sentiments of the aftermath , as Sandra Silberstein did in her book War of Words: language , politics and 9/11 ( Routledge , 2002 )

The initial rhetoric surrounding 9/11 was rightfully comforting, allowing Americans to heal. President Bush's calming speeches were compared by Silberstein to President Roosevelt's words after attach on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The perception they both try to create is one of necessity and urgency. For instance, Bush said of the war on terrorism: "These measures are essential. But the only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it, and destroy it where it grows. "He was, in effect, holding a war rally, similar to what Roosevelt said in 1941: "... I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. I believe I interpret the ... will of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. "(Dunkin, Journalism after 9/11 Review)

"This is vital reading today. At a time when hysteria is bubbling below the surface, Sandra Silberstein is cool, analytical, highly readable - and sane"
The Guardian, UK

o Summary:

The book's introduction is an imaginary window drawn by Silberstein, through which she as an applied linguist illustrates that how "words helped many things happen."(xiii) And also "how language can be employed to render national policy...."(xiii)

From the introduction it can be interpreted that the writer feels a duty on her shoulder, as a person born in New York, to explain about the events happened on September 11, 2001 not only attacked to the twin towers and pentagon but also affected American national identity.

In the first chapter Sandra Silberstein tries to discuss in details that how a nation can be constructed at war. To obtain her goal the writer in chapter second concentrates on all speeches and statements made by President George W Bush at those first moments after terrorist attacks that changed his Presidential position as " the candidate with the perfect bloodlines [who came] to office amid charges that his was a bastard presidency, sired not by the voters but by the courts"(p.40) to an American hero. Also the writer compares Bush's speeches to the statements of President Roosevelt in the story of Pearl Harbor.

In chapter 3 which is the most linguistic part of the book Silberstein focuses on the eyewitness accounts, tries to "examine the role of television in creating September 11 narratives and in constructing social identities." (p.61) by borrowing two linguistic tools: "the methodological analysis of news discourse by Ron Scollon, to question the norms of TV news coverage; and the oral narrative structure by William Labov , to observe the eyewitness narratives as a process of manufacturing the news into entertainment ."(Xuelin he, 2003)

Also she emphasizes on the journalists' skills on framing the events which had been unfolded around ground zero. For example in one of the interviews, a journalist asked a single eyewitness the following questions:" Was there screaming? Was there violence? Was it eerie? Were you terrified? Did you see people bleeding?"(Pp.79-80).

The book in chapter 4 also reveals that how New York transformed to be America(n) and Rudy Giuliani to be an "America's mayor" by exploring the rhetorical reconstruction within American culture in post-9/11.

Through chapter 5 "Selling America" and chapter 6 "The New McCarthyism", patriotism turns to be a matter. In the former chapter Silberstein analyzes advertisements in relation with the current terrorist attacks, revealing that American people in post-9/11 supported the government and showed their patriotism by shopping as the way to mourn for their lost countrymen.

In the latter one, the writer criticizes the emergence of new McCarthyism which let to overdoing patriotism in post-9/11. According to her opinion, the ACTA took the "cultural wars" to a new level transformed a "war of words" to the "war on words" by publishing 100 examples of disagreeable voices of the American campuses.

The next chapter is a comparative study on ABC documentary, " Minefield: The United States and the Muslim Word,"by Peter Jennings and CNN documentary on Islam by Christiane Amanpour. Although in a former documentary Islam is a worldwide problem, the latter one tries to avoid the clashes between two kinds of civilizations. "For the vast majority of Muslims, the terrorist attacks against the United States were an offence against the teachings of Islam."(p.155)

"Despite the militants' claims, nothing in the Koran, the Islamic holy book, justifies this kind of crime against humanity. ... In fact, the Koran forbids suicide."(p.155)

And the last chapter, chapter 8, deals with the new set of rhetorical transformations from the second anniversary and beyond follows the march of civic discourse from New York to Baghdad. In this part of the book the writer also covers the war in Iraq and accusations against the US president and the former heroes for their mendacity.

Get the latest Penn EVERYDAY: crackle.com I finished this book about how cooking shaped our evolution, and it made me think of my own annoying theory. WhenPenn Jillette has an opinion it's a safe bet he won't hold back. Upload your own reaction and get the rants rolling! Tune in each week for new insight and agitation. Follow pennsays on Twitter: twitter.com tags: From the Great Apes to Cyberspace penn jillette penn says @pennsays atheist politics religion libertarian cooking evolution theory annoying



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