BlackHat's Journal: I see the sun is bleeding/ The morning time has come

In the last JE I ref'ed the idea of 'Enlightened' to foreshadow todays bit by Williams. There was a lot of it about, Enlightenment that is, in the 17th and 18th century. For the most part, it was too expensive a concept. 'Bow to our God de jour[secular, nonsecular & confused at the moment] or die' was so much cheaper.

Quote:
The ideas of the Enlightenment were part of those expanding circles of ripples set in motion by the concepts which Descartes, Newton, and Locke dropped into European thought; and eighteenth-century French thinkers played the biggest part in Europe in advancing the frontiers of knowledge round its whole circumference. Great gains were achieved in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine; but, more to the purpose here, also in the human sciences such as economics, sociology, geography, and history. Newton's methods taught the students of society, as Voltaire wrote in 1741, to 'examine, weigh, calculate, and measure, but never conjecture'. Every aspect of human life was investigated, using the scientific method: the accumulation of facts by observation and experiment, the formulation of general laws, the avoidance of resorting to final causes or mysterious essences, the refusal to construct abstract systems out of touch with reality.

They gave up armchair speculation about Man, and turned to empirical observation of men as they existed, not in Society, but in different societies scattered over the face of the earth or throughout the length and breadth of history. Far from being philosophers ruminating in a vacuum, they were practical men: publicists who exposed particular evils, men of action who devised workable reforms.

'Our motto is,' wrote Diderot to Voltaire in 1762, 'No quarter for the superstitious, for the fanatical, for the ignorant, for the foolish, for the wicked and for the tyrants.'

The philosophes were informed, warm-hearted, tolerant, and humane; they fought obscurantism, bigotry, prejudice, and injustice. They believed that the world could be made a better place to live in, and that the sum of human happiness could be increased. They favoured equality before the law, humane punishments, the career open to the talents, proportional taxation, universal education.

They believed that men were the product of their societies, that their enjoyment of liberty and property depended on the rule of law. 'Just as men have given up their natural independence to live under political laws,' wrote Montesquieu, 'so have they given up their natural community of possessions in order to live under civil laws. The former laws gave them liberty; the latter, property.' A comparative study of societies, they thought, would yield general sociological laws, in accordance with which societies could be changed and men's lot improved.

In works such as Montesquieu's De l'Esprit des Lois (1748), Condillac's Essai sur l'Origine des Connaissances Humaines (1746), Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedie (1751 onwards), Voltaire's Dictionnaire Philosophique (1764), Rousseau's Contrat Social and Emile (1762), the men of the Enlightenment broadcast their conviction that compassion and knowledge were more appropriate to the human condition than Christian resignation or reliance on Providence. In the place of the old criteria by which men had evaluated human affairs -- whether the Scriptures or the Church, ancient laws or immemorial customs -- they put forward, with the exception of one group, the yardstick of utility.

The exceptions were the economists, known as Physiocrats, who believed that societies, like the rest of nature, moved according to unchangeable, unbreakable, natural laws, instituted by the Supreme Being -- the best laws possible.

The founder of the school, Dr. Francois Quesnay (physician to Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV) publicised his ideas in articles in the Encyclopedie and in his book Tableau Economique (1758). He believed that agriculture was the sole source of wealth, and that industry and commerce merely modified and distributed the products of the land which alone would create new values. Thus the landed proprietors were the foundation of the economy. The cultivators came next while the rest of society were a 'sterile class'.

Landed property and the free use of it were natural rights guaranteed by the immutable law: hence the Physiocrats favoured reforms which cleared away all obstacles in the way of the individual pursuing his own interest -- laisser faire, laisser passer. Thus they wished to liberate agriculture from seigneurial dues, common pasture, internal and external customs duties; and since lands alone created wealth, they said, land should pay the taxes. All this would have involved the destruction of private privileges as well as the Colbertian state -- as one of their leaders, Turgot, found to his cost when he became Controleur-General (1774-6) and tried to institute reforms.

All the philosophes, whether they were natural law devotees or not, judged everything by its impact on society. 'In order for something to be regarded as a good by the whole society,' wrote Vauvenargues, 'it must tend to the advantage of the whole society; and in order for it to be regarded as an evil, it must tend to its ruin: that is the great characteristic of moral good and evil.'

Such a remark, of course, can hardly be said to be philosophically unimpeachable; but for the most part the philosophes were not philosophers. They were more like 'little streams', to use Voltaire's phrase about himself, 'which are clear because they are not very deep'.

They were men with an audience. They were out 'to change the general way of thinking', as Diderot expressed it in the Encyclopedie. And they had a measure of success -- though Voltaire had doubts about the effect of the Encyclopedie.

'Twenty folio volumes will never make a revolution,' he wrote, 'it's the small, portable books at thirty sous that are dangerous. If the Gospel had cost 1,200 sesterces, the Christian religion would never have been established,'

But in spite of its size (seventeen volumes of text and eleven of plates) and its price (1,200 livres), it sold widely. By 1768, there were at least sixty copies in Dijon, for example; and in the following year Voltaire wrote; 'The trade in ideas has become prodigious. There are no good houses in Paris or in foreign countries, no chateau which does not have its library.'

He was underestimating, for the new ideas spread beyond the walls of private libraries. They were broadcast in the endless discussions that took place in the fashionable salons, presided over by such hostesses as Madame de Graffigny, Madame du Deffand, and Madame Geoffrin, who brought high society and the intellectuals together on equal terms. 'A point of morals', said a character in one of Rousseau's books, 'would not be better discussed in a society of philosophers than in that of a pretty woman of Paris.' The new thoughts were disseminated also by the public libraries that were accumulating in Paris and all the provincial cities. They were debated in the academies and reading societies that were springing up everywhere: at Orleans in 1725, Montauban in 1730, Clermont-Ferrand in 1747.

The Bordeaux Academy heard a number of scientific papers read by Montesquieu, who founded a prize for anatomy there in 1717. In Dijon, ninety-three members of the academy also belonged to twenty other academies in other parts of France, as well as to sixteen others in foreign countries. It was the prize offered by the Dijon Academy in 1750 for the best essay on Whether the revival of the sciences and the arts has assisted in the purification of morals that got Rousseau started as a writer. And Aix-en-Provence had the fortune in 1786 to be left one of the richest libraries in Europe by the Marquis de Mejanes. --E.N. Williams

We know from the records of the events of 1799-1899[and on] that Voltaire was totally correct. Stalin, Churchill, Duce, and a host of others will learn from this periods failures and head right for that 'thirty sous' market. And, in time, they will crown themselves as the; 'barons', 'princes' and even 'kings'. Oh, look there's one of the more recent punks now.

News in silly hats:
The crowned head-cheese of Italy. If any readers still need to keep their minds off the kind of intrusive gossip doing the rounds at Westminster, the Backbencher suggests they visit Corriere della Sera's picture gallery, which depicts Silvio Berlusconi in his now legendary bandana, sporting a kippa in Israel, trying on a Stetson in Calgary, and grinning under a furry trapper's hat as he shares a gherkin with that other ambassador for democracy, Vladimir Putin. ITIJVIMM

A man who worked undercover for the BBC and Channel Four was jailed for life today for the murder of a father tortured to death in front of his children. James Raven, 44, subjected drug dealer Brian Waters to "systematic and barbaric torture" at a farm in Tabley, Cheshire, in June last year. Mr Waters, 44, was beaten, whipped, burned and attacked with a staple gun while his adult son and daughter were made to watch. He died after being hung upside down and sexually assaulted with an iron bar. It gets better BBC producers knew Raven, who is heavily tattoed with words such as "maniac" and "psycopath", had a previous conviction for violence but they believed he was a reformed character, the court heard. What? Had he tattooed 'ex' in front of those tattoos? Or som'tin?

A flock of cherubs were making the rounds with their scroll of resignation clutched in hand. A short stop for Shin Ki-nam. Too bad for my homies of The Bars & Stars. The Bush Clan got no face. [Spread fingers of one hand, palm out, and tilt toque] And then they quickly flew off after Peter Medgyessy. The Socialists said they had accepted Medgyessy's offer to resign, apparently reacting to his threat earlier in the day to step down unless the junior coalition partner - the Alliance of Free Democrats - reaffirmed its confidence in him. Medgyessy said he would resign Aug. 27, but the Socialists' rush to find a successor just hours after his announcement was a sign the coalition parties wanted to set up a new government right away.

BBV in Washington State. An urgent election situation now exists in Washington State due to actions taken by Secretary of State Reed in response to the new Washington law regarding primary elections. He approved the installation of new software lacking federal certification to count votes cast in six counties (King, Pierce, Kitsap, Snohomish, Klickitat, and Chelan). The population in these six counties constitutes over half the population of Washington. It ain't like there's no techies in WA [and in rest of USA]. Time to help sort it all out however? Just voting is not enough, folks. You must ensure that the processing of it is correct.
Corruption_Brand_A + Corruption_Brand_B + Rest != (A "Fair" Election) where CBA = CBB. CB* <= 0 is the goal, kay?[-1 Redundant]

The USA's Ambassador to the country of Terrorism. Ambassador Cofer Black, Coordinator for Counterterrorism. Whom no one but the readers of this journal [and damn few other places/sources] knew/knows existed. The release of the 9-11 Commission's report and the subsequent Congressional hearings to discuss the Commission's recommendations provide the necessary structure for a national debate over the diplomatic strategy for combating terrorism. To give you a brief sense of the State Department's contribution to the work of the Commission, you should be aware that my office provided over 15,000 pages of documents in response to a series of requests. I m sure that my colleagues can attest to similar document contributions. 15K pages! Really? Wow! Hit a raghead with pile that big and he's going down baby! Actually, it was more likely 15,000 "request for information denied" memos.

Adam Ereli on deck. Hang on the ref is sweeping the plate. Here's the pitch... QUESTION: Iran warned of an immeasurable response if Israel strikes on its nuclear facilities at Bushehr. How do you assess such an escalation of threats?

MR. ERELI: As not particularly helpful.

The fact of the matter is that the United States has been saying for some time -- and we believe that it's becoming increasingly clear to others -- that despite its public assertions to the contrary, Iran has a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

Strike one for 'Mr. Obvious':

QUESTION: Secretary Powell, a couple weeks ago, said it would take a couple of weeks. Is it going to be this week?

MR. ERELI: I would not give you a timeframe on it. What we've said is that we have people in the region interviewing displaced persons, trying to gather as much information as we can so that we can make a -- really a -- to give
- - so that we can look at what the facts are and apply them to the legal standards that exist. So that information-collecting process is still underway, but I wouldn't want to give you a timeframe of, you know, when a decision is going to be made. It is something that we keep under constant review. I'd put it that way, based on the information we have available.

QUESTION: Is it fair to say you're delaying the decision?

MR. ERELI: No.

QUESTION: And if it takes so long to come to a decision, how, if you ever came down with a finding of genocide, could you make the case that this is a strongly held opinion if it took weeks and weeks and weeks to figure out that the murderous behavior there amounts to genocide?

MR. ERELI: I would remind you there is a legal standard to be met.

QUESTION: I know.

MR. ERELI: And to me, the legal standards you need to have --

QUESTION: It's a little subjective, too.

MR. ERELI: You need to have evidence. Getting evidence, getting evidence that is comprehensive and persuasive and meets the legal standard is not something you do overnight.

QUESTION: All right.

MR. ERELI: But the other point I would make, and it's a point that we've made consistently, is that the process of getting that evidence, the process of coming to a determination on genocide in no way affects what we're doing on the ground in Darfur. So you can't make the argument that, oh, you're dilly-dallying to make a genocide determination; meanwhile, you're doing nothing to stop what's going on or doing nothing to -- you're sleeping while Darfur is burning. That is not the case. We are not doing -- if a genocide determination were made tomorrow, we would not be doing anything on the ground in Darfur different than we're doing today.

Evidence of a Foul ball and a Strike for doing nothing to to too much. That's two:

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the Australian Foreign Minister's comment on the Australian-U.S. -- it's call ANZUS?

MR. ERELI: ANZUS?

QUESTION: Yeah. They think that Australia -- will not require Australia to support United States in defense of Taiwan, in event China were to launch an attack?

MR. ERELI: I've seen those comments -- or I'm sorry -- I've heard -- I've seen reports of the comments. I haven't seen the comments themselves, so I don't want to speak directly to them. What I would tell you simply is that, you know, first of all, our position on cross-strait tensions is clear. We want to see a peaceful resolution of this issue. We are opposed to the use of force.

I'm not going to speculate on different scenarios that some people throw out there. And as far as treaty commitments, I'd refer you to the treaties that are pretty clear about what's spelled out.

QUESTION: Sorry. So it s not your interpretation of the role of Australia in the situation that China were to launch an attack to Taiwan?

MR. ERELI: Again, we're opposed to the use of military force and I'm not going to speculate on hypotheticals. Strike three for failing to acknowledge your treaty commitments. Get this bum out'a here. [Insert "Loosner's" Radio Advert, 15 seconds]

A US general [Boykin] who provoked outcry by describing the "war on terror" as a Christian campaign against Satan broke Pentagon rules, an inquiry has found. ... "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." Describing a battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993..

Abu GrabAss. The BBC's Pentagon correspondent Nick Childs says it is believed that the most senior officer to be accused directly will be a colonel in charge of the military intelligence unit at the prison. Two words--Mazen Dana. Medic! Out of the frying pan and into the firing line.

Police in the Netherlands say a man arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid bombings is not the suspect they were looking for. So that's down to 121 now. The man was released, then immediately re-arrested on drug charges. Doh, FARK tag confusion time again.

The Locusts heard about the Swiss 500mil and are heading into Nigeria.

OYAITJ:
43008 : "From time immemorial every effort has been made to make men useful to the State machine...but far less has been done to make them free and noble and independent so that they possess a value in themselves." , People talk about the "last ice age" as if it were over, but it's not. The present cycle of global glaciation began around three million years ago, when the land that is now Panama rose above sea level, closing the old ocean channel between North and South America and forcing a major reorganisation of ocean currents. , plus In effect, Sally Ann's workers were "commodities", subject to ruthless marketplace-driven economic idiocy. Although the workers had contracts guaranteeing decent wages, Premier Gordon Campbell's Bill 29 vapourized them and the unions at the lodge were busted. and more.

Texttoon:
Fumetti/jpg : Stock photo of the Enola Gay. Image is a color-cell-composite of human faces. Grid'ed to reflect the body count. A single 3D rendered paper-crane sits in the lower right corner as a caption.