Declaration of Continuing Independence

BY THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL INDIAN TREATY COUNCIL
AT STANDING ROCK INDIAN COUNTRY JUNE 1974

A long time ago my father told me what his father told him. There was once a Lakota Holy man
called Drinks Water, who visioned what was to be; and this was long before the coming of the
Wasicus. He visioned that the four-legged were going back into the earth and that a strange
race had woven a spider's web all around the Lakotas. And he said, “When this happens, you
shall live in barren lands, and there beside those gray houses you shall starve.” They say he
went back to Mother Earth soon after he saw this vision and it was sorrow that killed him.

Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man


PREAMBLE

The United States of America has continually violated the independent Native
Peoples of this continent by Executive action, Legislative fiat and Judicial decision. By
its actions, the U.S. has denied all Native people their International Treaty rights, Treaty
lands and basic human rights of freedom and sovereignty. This same U.S. Government,
which fought to throw off the yoke of oppression and gain its own independence, has
now reversed its role and become the oppressor of sovereign Native people.

Might does not make right. Sovereign people of varying cultures have the
absolute right to live in harmony with Mother Earth so long as they do not infringe upon
this same right of other peoples. The denial of this right to any sovereign people, such as
the Native American Indian Nations, must be challenged by truth and action. World
concern must focus on all colonial governments to the end that sovereign people
everywhere shall live as they choose; in peace with dignity and freedom.

The International Indian Treaty Conference hereby adopts this Declaration of
Continuing Independence of the Sovereign Native American Indian Nations. In the
course of these human events, we call upon the people of the world to support this
struggle for our sovereign rights and our treaty rights. We pledge our assistance to all
other sovereign people who seek their own independence.


DECLARATION

The First International Treaty Council of the Western Hemisphere was formed on
the land of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on June 8-16, 1974. The delegates, meeting
under the guidance of the Great Spirit, represented 97 Indian tribes and Nations from
across North and South America.

We, the sovereign Native Peoples recognize that all lands belonging to the various
Native Nations now situated within the boundaries of the U.S. are clearly defined by the
sacred treaties solemnly entered into between the Native Nations and the government of
the United States of America.

We, the sovereign Native Peoples, charge the United States of gross violations of
our International Treaties. Two of the thousands of violations that can be cited are the
“wrongfully taking” of the Black Hills from the Great Sioux Nation in 1877, this sacred
land belonging to the Great Sioux Nation under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The
second violation was the forced march of the Cherokee people from their ancestral lands
in the state of Georgia to the then “Indian Territory” of Oklahoma after the Supreme
Court of the United States ruled the Cherokee treaty rights inviolate. The treaty violation,
know as the “Trail of Tears,” brought death to two-thirds of the Cherokee Nation during
the forced march.

The Council further realizes that securing United States recognition of treaties
signed with Native Nations requires a committed and unified struggle, using every
available legal and political resource. Treaties between sovereign nations explicitly entail
agreements with represent “the supreme law of the land” binding each party to an
inviolate international relationship.

We acknowledge the historical fact that the struggle for Independence of the
Peoples of our sacred Mother Earth have always been over sovereignty of land. These
historical freedom efforts have always involved the highest human sacrifice.
We recognize that all Native Nations wish to avoid violence, but we also
recognize that the United States government has always used force and violence to deny
Native Nations basic human and treaty rights.

We adopt this Declaration of Continuing Independence, recognizing that struggle
lies ahead – a struggle certain to be won – and that the human and treaty rights of all
Native Nations will be honored. In this understanding the International Indian Treaty
Council declares:

The United State Government in its Constitution, Article VI, recognizes treaties
as part of the Supreme Law of the United States. We will peacefully pursue all legal and
political avenues to demand United States recognition of its own Constitution in this
regard, and thus to honor its own treaties with Native Nations.

We will seek the support of all world communities in the struggle for the
continuing independence of Native Nations.

We the representatives of sovereign Native Nations united in forming a council to
be known at the International Indian Treaty Council to implement these declarations.

The International Indian Treaty Council will establish offices in Washington,
D.C. and New York City to approach the international forces necessary to obtain the
recognition of our treaties. These offices will establish an initial system of
communications among Native nations to disseminate information, getting a general
consensus of concerning issues, developments and any legislative attempt affecting
Native Nations by the United States of America.

The International Indian Treaty Council recognizes the sovereignty of all Native
Nations and will stand in unity to support our Native and international brothers and
sisters in their respective and collective struggles concerning international treaties and
agreements violated by the United States and other governments.

All treaties between the Sovereign Native Nations and the United States
Government must be interpreted according to the traditional and spiritual ways of the
signatory Native Nations.

We declare our recognition of the Provisional Government of the Independent
Oglala Nation, established by the Traditional Chiefs and Headmen under the provisions
of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty with the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee, March
11, 1973.

We condemn the United States of America for its gross violation of the 1868 Fort
Laramie Treaty in militarily surrounding, killing and starving the citizens of the
Independent Oglala Nation into exile.

We demand the United States of America recognize the sovereignty of the
Independent Oglala Nation and immediately stop all present and future criminal
prosecutions of sovereign Native Peoples. We call upon the conscionable nations of the
world to join us in charging and prosecuting the United States of America for its
genocidal practices against the sovereign Native Nations; most recently illustrated by
Wounded Knee 1973 and the continued refusal to sign the United Nations 1948 Treaty on
Genocide.

We reject all executive orders, legislative acts and judicial decisions of the United
States related to Native Nations since 1871, when the United States unilaterally
suspended treaty- making relations with the Native Nations. This includes, but is not
limited to, the Major Crimes Act, the General Allotment Act, the Citizenship Act of
1924, the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Indian Claims Commission Act, Public
Law 280 and the Termination Act. All treaties made between Native Nations and the
United States made prior toe 1871 shall be recognized without further need of
interpretation.

We hereby ally ourselves with the colonized Puerto Rican People in their struggle
for Independence from the same United States of America.

We recognize that there is only one color of Mankind in the world who are not
represented in the United Nations; that is the indigenous Redman of the Western
Hemisphere. We recognize this lack of representation in the United Nations comes from
the genocidal policies of the colonial power of the United States.

The International Indian Treaty Council established by this conference is directed
to make the application to the United Nations for recognition and membership of the
sovereign Native Nations. We pledge our support to any similar application by an
aboriginal people.

This conference directs the Treaty Council to open negotiations with the
government of the United States through its Department of State. We seek these
negotiations in order to establish diplomatic relations with the United States. When these
diplomatic relations have been established, the first order of business shall be to deal with
U.S. violations of treaties with Native Indian Nations, and violations of the rights of those
Native Indian Nations who have refused to sign treaties with the United States.

We, the People of the International Indian Treaty Council, following the guidance
of our elders through instructions from the Great Spirit, and out of respect for our sacred
Mother Earth, all her children, and those yet unborn, offer our lives for our International
Treaty Rights.

~ download here [PDF document] ~

In gonzo journalism "You can’t be objective about Nixon"

In a way, Simon has brought to television a movement Tom Wolfe invented forty years ago in literature: New Journalism. New Journalism practitioners such as Wolfe, Norman Mailer and Hunter S. Thompson blurred the line between literature and journalism, combining the writing techniques of the former with the investigative reporting of the latter to offer what was, in their view, a more accurate picture of the events they were covering. Looking at “The Wire,” it's easy to see how the show makes use of three of the four devices Wolfe lifted from literary fiction. The events on the show are framed as scenes, not a narrative time line of “This happened, so then this happened, so then this happened.” Dialogue is presented as conversation, not as sound byte. And the accuracy of the everyday details of life in Baltimore — the dialogue, the locations, the bits that, in the words of Simon himself, “build a whole city” — contributes to the immersion that is so integral to the program's success.

New Journalism got its start as a different way for a writer to tell his story — to put some subjective zing into an otherwise objective story. Sometimes, New Journalists realized, the obligation to tell the whole truth makes it necessary to include the subjunctive — the way a person or a place makes you feel. As Thompson once said to explain his use of his own brand of the form, gonzo journalism, for political reporting, “You can't be objective about Nixon.”

~ from "The Wire's" New Journalism ~

The Onion: Shroud Of Turin Accidentally Washed With Red Shirt

VATICAN CITY—The Shroud of Turin, an ancient linen cloth believed to bear the image of Christ and considered by many clerics and devotees to be one of the holiest relics of the Christian faith, was inadvertently dyed a light shade of pink after being washed with a red T-shirt, sources reported Tuesday.

The holy antiquity, thought by some to be the very garment Jesus Christ was buried in, was discovered in 1354. Though it has suffered oxidation and fire damage over the centuries, this is the first time that the shroud has been harmed in a laundry-related mishap.

~ read on... ~

EFF: New Telecom Whistleblower Describes Possible Gateway for Massive Surveillance of Wireless Communications

Washington D.C. - Three powerful House Commerce Committee Chairmen strongly urged their colleagues Thursday to defer acting on requests for retroactive immunity and to demand more information from the White House and the telecommunications companies in the wake of disclosures by another whistleblower that the government apparently has been granted an open gateway to wireless communications by a major telecommunications company.

Babak Pasdar, a computer security consultant, has gone public about his discovery of a mysterious "Quantico Circuit" while working for an unnamed major wireless carrier. Pasdar believes that this circuit gives the U.S. government direct, unfettered access to customers voice calls and data packets. These claims echo the disclosures from retired AT&T technician Mark Klein, who has described a "secret room" in an AT&T facility.

The White House is putting heavy pressure on lawmakers to grant the telecoms immunity from lawsuits over the spying as part of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) legislation pending in Congress. But in today's letter -- written by John Dingell, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; Ed Markey, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet; and Bart Stupak, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations -- the congressmen argue lawmakers must not "vote in the dark" on the immunity issue when "profound privacy and security risks" are involved.

~ more... ~

U.S. media's anti-Islamic slant

The United States is seen as using democracy to serve its own interests and the interests of its Middle Eastern allies, but not the people's. For example, the United States provides political and military support to Israel, despite many of its policies running counter to its own values.

After the end of imperialism in the early 20th century, attitudes in the Muslim world changed. People turned to religion as a way of rejecting and defying the policies of the West that their governments had been forced to implement for so long. Governments that continued to support those policies favourable to the West were seen as imperialist allies, responsible for holding the interests of foreign powers over those of their own people. Eventually, the politically oppressed began focusing their anger towards those foreign powers.

As we can see from this brief account of history, Muslim resentment for the West stems from a history of imperialism coupled with present-day Western policies that are perceived as unfair or unjust. But with the media's influence in America, many see differences in culture and religion, rather than foreign policy, as the main cause of tension and violence against the West.

According to intellectual and political activist Noam Chomsky, "the public is exposed to powerful persuasive messages from above… with leaders using the media to generate support, compliance, and just plain confusion among the public."

Polarising theories, such as Bernard Lewis's "The Roots of Muslim Rage" and Samuel Huntington's theory "The Clash of Civilizations?", are often adopted by the media and used to negatively influence people's perception of the other. Both scholars claim that "Islam is incompatible with the West". Although there are many works that promote positive images of the Muslim world, such as those by Edward Said, they are not predominant. But if highlighted, they could play a major role in shaping public perception.

The public has a tendency to simplify complex ideas and draw straightforward conclusions. The solemn duty and responsibility of the media rests in the pursuit of providing a balanced, objective lens by which the public can be informed. In the American media, it is common to present America's foreign policy and actions in the Middle East as initiatives to spread democracy and capitalism, and to maintain peace. Such simplified coverage does not promote a balanced view of either the Muslim or the American side.

~ from American media needs a new lens ~

Partition may be most humane lasting solution?

" ... Increasing communal consciousness and shifting ethnic balances are bound to have a variety of consequences, both within and between states, in the years to come. As economic globalization brings more states into the global economy, for example, the first fruits of that process will often fall to those ethnic groups best positioned by history or culture to take advantage of the new opportunities for enrichment, deepening social cleavages rather than filling them in. Wealthier and higher-achieving regions might try to separate themselves from poorer and lower-achieving ones, and distinctive homogeneous areas might try to acquire sovereignty -- courses of action that might provoke violent responses from defenders of the status quo.

Of course, there are multiethnic societies in which ethnic consciousness remains weak, and even a more strongly developed sense of ethnicity may lead to political claims short of sovereignty. Sometimes, demands for ethnic autonomy or self-determination can be met within an existing state. The claims of the Catalans in Spain, the Flemish in Belgium, and the Scots in the United Kingdom have been met in this manner, at least for now. But such arrangements remain precarious and are subject to recurrent renegotiation. In the developing world, accordingly, where states are more recent creations and where the borders often cut across ethnic boundaries, there is likely to be further ethnic disaggregation and communal conflict. And as scholars such as Chaim Kaufmann have noted, once ethnic antagonism has crossed a certain threshold of violence, maintaining the rival groups within a single polity becomes far more difficult.

This unfortunate reality creates dilemmas for advocates of humanitarian intervention in such conflicts, because making and keeping peace between groups that have come to hate and fear one another is likely to require costly ongoing military missions rather than relatively cheap temporary ones. When communal violence escalates to ethnic cleansing, moreover, the return of large numbers of refugees to their place of origin after a cease-fire has been reached is often impractical and even undesirable, for it merely sets the stage for a further round of conflict down the road.

Partition may thus be the most humane lasting solution to such intense communal conflicts. It inevitably creates new flows of refugees, but at least it deals with the problem at issue. The challenge for the international community in such cases is to separate communities in the most humane manner possible: by aiding in transport, assuring citizenship rights in the new homeland, and providing financial aid for resettlement and economic absorption. The bill for all of this will be huge, but it will rarely be greater than the material costs of interjecting and maintaining a foreign military presence large enough to pacify the rival ethnic combatants or the moral cost of doing nothing. ... "

~ from Us and Them - The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism ~

Uganda rebel lawyers to meet with war crimes court

Lawyers for Ugandan rebels were to meet International Criminal Court officials on Monday to push the court to drop charges against their leader, which are a sticking point in talks to end the 21-year war.

Despite rapid progress in the past month at peace talks in Sudan, the Lord's Resistance Army rebels insist any final deal with Uganda's government be conditional on the ICC dropping war crimes' charges against leader Joseph Kony and two deputies.

That poses a serious dilemma for the fledgling ICC, set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court, which could be accused of bowing to politics if it drops the charges and wrecking peace talks if it does not.

~ more... ~

Paul Craig Roberts: How Republicans created executive branch hegemony

Mukasey gave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the majority Democrats in Congress the finger and refused to refer the House of Representatives charges against the two Bush Regime operatives to a federal grand jury for investigation. Following the now established practice by the Bush Regime, Mukasey told the speaker of the House that members of the executive branch are above the law and are not accountable to the US Congress, formerly a co-equal branch of government under the US Constitution in the days now past when the executive branch felt obliged to abide by the Constitution.

Mukasey boldly asserted in his letter to Congress that Miers and Bolton are immune from congressional subpoenas and, thereby, their "noncompliance did not constitute a crime." According to Mukasey, "The contempt of Congress statute was not intended to apply and could not constitutionally be applied to an executive branch official who asserts the president's claim of executive privilege." [Mukasey Refuses to Prosecute Bush Aides, By Dan Eggen, Washington Post, March 1, 2008]

The way matters stand in America today, the executive branch can falsely prosecute, frame-up, and imprison members of Congress and governors of states at will, but itself cannot be held accountable to law.

Pelosi herself was instrumental in making the executive branch unaccountable to Congress or to law when she declared impeachment of Bush to be "off the table." This declaration by the speaker of the House has effectively released the Bush Regime from any accountability, just as the Enabling Act released Hitler from any accountability to the Reichstag, the German constitution, or statutory law.

Moreover, the case for impeaching Bush and Cheney — indeed the entire administration — is by far the most powerful and necessary case for impeachment that has ever existed. By declaring Bush unimpeachable, Pelosi is giving away Congress’ only remaining power to prevent tyrannical rule by the executive branch. If Bush is above impeachment, every future president will be as well.

~ more... ~

Study finds pharmaceuticals in U.S. drinking water

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.

But the presence of so many prescription drugs — and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen — in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.

~ read on... ~

KBR trying to keep Iraq rape lawsuits out of courts

In a federal lawsuit, Jamie Leigh Jones says she was drugged, raped and held against her will in a storage locker while working for KBR Inc., then a subsidiary of Halliburton Co., in 2005.

As part of her employment, Jones agreed to settle claims against the company in arbitration. But she never imagined such claims would include being imprisoned in a storage locker, said one of her lawyers, L. Todd Kelly.

Lawyers for Halliburton and KBR argued the contract Jones signed binds her to settle all claims - including claims of sexual assault - against her former employer through arbitration.

[ ... ]

In January, a judge in a similar lawsuit, filed in federal court in Houston by another female contract worker, ruled the case should be settled through arbitration.

~ more... ~

The Golden Rules

Baha'i "Desire not for anyone the things that ye would not desire for yourselves." -- Baha Ullah LXVI
 
Buddhism "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful". -- Udana-Varga, 5:18

Christianity "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them". -- Matt 7:12

Confucianism "Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you".--Analects 15:23

Hinduism "Never do to others what would pain thyself." --Panchatantra III.104

Islam "Do unto all men as you would they should do unto you, and reject for others what you would reject for yourself." -- Mishkat-el-Masabih

Jainism "In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self."; -- Lord Mahavira, 6th Century B.C.E.

Judaism "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Torah...; all else is commentary." -- Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Native American  "Respect for all life is the foundation." --The Great Law of Peace

Sikhism "Treat others as thou wouldst be treated thyself." -- Adi Granth

Taoism "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain and your neighbor's loss as your own loss." -- T'ai Shang Kan Ying P'ien

Wiccan "Everything you do, whether positive or negative, is returned to you threefold" -The Thhreefold Law
            "Though harm none, Do what thy will" -The Book of Shadows

Zoroastrianism "That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself." -- Dadistan-i-Dinik, 94:5

~ source ~

Greek police block Tibetan activists Freedom Torch Relay at Ancient Olympia

Tibetan activists held a torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia on Monday to protest China's rule over Tibet on the 49th anniversary of the thwarted uprising.

Police prevented the group, Team Tibet, from entering the Ancient Olympia stadium, and the ceremony took place outside the gates of the museum. The group intends for its Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay to pass through 50 cities and finish inside Tibet on Aug. 8, the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

"The Chinese regime will try to use the games to advance its own political agenda ... that's why we took the protest to Ancient Olympia," said Tendon Dahortsang, a spokeswoman for the Tibetan group.

The Tibetan uprising against China was crushed in 1959, leading Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee to India.

Five Tibetan women in traditional goddess dresses performed a short ceremony outside the museum, lighting a torch and handing it to Tibetan shot-putter Tsultim Golpe.

~ source ~

China 'falsified' terror plots

An exiled leader of China's minority Uighur community has accused Chinese officials of fabricating "terror plots" against the Beijing Olympics so it can use them as an excuse to crack down on her community.

"It's completely untrue. All these allegations are falsified," Rebiya Kadeer, now living in the US, told the AFP news agency on Monday.

"It seems that the Chinese government has one goal, which is to create this scenario of terrorism, and produce a terrorist action itself so that it can blame the Uighur people," the head of the Uyghur American Association said.

On Sunday Chinese officials announced that they had foiled two alleged plots originating in the vast western region Xinjiang, home of the Muslim Uighur community, but they revealed very few details.

~ read on... ~

House panel files historic lawsuit to enforce subpoenas

The House Judiciary Committee filed a lawsuit Monday to enforce subpoenas against President Bush's chief of staff and his former counsel in a probe of suspected White House involvement in the 2006 firings of nine federal prosecutors, including Seattle's John McKay.

The panel filed the federal court suit against Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff since April 2006, and Harriet Miers, who resigned as White House counsel in January 2007.

The committee's action marked the first time in U.S. history that either chamber of Congress has sued the executive branch to enforce a subpoena, according to a spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee.

~ read on... ~

Quote of the day

“Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not the quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there” (Beyond a Boundary, 116-7).

~ from Cyril Lionel Robert James ~

U.S. and Nimetz Work Hard to Beat the Clock on Greece-Skopje Negotiations

U.S. administration launched a new diplomatic effort last Friday in order to save Skopje's NATO candidacy. Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, addressing the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday, outlined the reasons why Greece is not in a position to be positive towards the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's (FYROM) bid for NATO accession.

A possible Greek veto at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, April2-4 will leave Skopje out of NATO and very vulnerable, especially if Albania gets a green light. According to a report by STRATFOR, a U.S. based think tank, “if Albania were in NATO and 'Macedonia' were not, Albania would use the leverage to seek ethnic and perhaps even territorial concessions. Just as Greece can block membership now, Albanian membership would allow Albania to extort 'Macedonia'”.

~ more... ~

'Commercial Totalitarianism is upon us'

JL: You've characterized U.S. cities as work camps. This was always true, but how is it that a generation of students who, in the majority of them according to polls in the years surrounding 1970, went to college to "change the world," and they ended up mostly as Yuppies in the work camps?

Several reasons; each one as powerful as the next. Marx called it "Commodity Fetishism." A gloating love energized by - as we so openly proclaim (& love) materialism. We Americans cannot get over cars, for example. We - spiritually speaking, all but "lick" them! This is the sort of thing which crosses a vitally import- ant "line:" the one between enthusuasm and charlatanism. (Think Arthur Miller's "Salesman!") Or, any other of our strange, wonderful, but yet contradictory qualities. So religious, we are. Yet? So grotesquely CRASS!

[ ... ]

Finally, respecting student quietism presently. One always hopes. Yet.....as it is so beautifully put, ".....In these times?" I just hope there are not too many apolcalyptic-minded people, out there, in our former nation-state experiment in democracy; maybe there can be a real rebirth of politics here. Instead of the cancerous, and anti- political "growth" of corporate power. In Europe, everyone knows a corporate state is a fascist state. (The "3 forms, I call them: Nazism - Italy; Germany. Communism - USSR & "the 'East' mainly. And the third? Our rising "3rd Form: Commercial Totalitarianism," perhaps the worst form of tryanny of all forms in history - East & West. As one American, nowadays, might say: Only politics can save us! (In this world, that is.)

One last thing in the question of US students: Remember this: Privatization is decisively fascist movement, if there ever was one. Commercial Totalitarianism is upon us.

~ from Interview with Brad Cleaveland (part two) ~

Imagining the New World Swastika

" ... Bolaño's wit is afire already in the title: Nazi Literature in the Americas. This 1996 book is not a novel, though it is the work of a novelist's imagination. It's an encyclopedia presenting the biographies and works of dozens of South and North American poets and novelists who devoted themselves to, or dallied with, ultra-right-wing causes. Yet all the writers and all their novels and poems are sheer invention.

[ ... ]

The jugular that Bolaño particularly goes for is the literary sensibility and talent that seduces itself with grand political fantasies. Consider Pedro González Carrera (1920–1961): "The poem was a far, far cry from the blandishments of Campoamor; in thirty precise and limpid verses, it vindicated Il Duce's vilified armies and the derided courage of the Italians (who, at the time, in both pro-Allied and pro-German circles, were assumed to be a race of cowards . . . ), while also, and here lay its originality, denying Italy's flagrant defeat, and promising an ultimate victory, to be achieved 'by novel, unexpected, marvelous means.' " Or the Haitian Max Mirebalais (1941–1998), who used pseudonyms and plagiarism to create "the half-German, half-Haitian poet Max von Hauptman": "From the manipulated, made-over, metamorphosed texts rose the figure of a bard who even-handedly explored and sang the magnificence of the Aryan and the Masai races. . . . Mirebalais, it seems, was excited by the idea of being a Nazi poet while continuing to espouse a certain kind of négritude." ... "

~ from Roberto Bolaño: To Have and Have Nazi ~

Musical Innerlube: John Douvris (Led Zeppelin Cover)

Poly-ticks can be depressing, so here's another tribute to Apollon Musagetes (Apollo, leader of the Muses) to alleviate the Global Work Camp syndrome:

Musical Innerlube: Yorgos Tsolodimos

Yesterday (Beatles Cover)