Psychologists, religious leaders,

advertisers, and pornographers have rhapsodized over,

vilified, and used breasts

to sell everything from war to Cadillacs

Women have seen in them pleasure,

power, sustenance, fear, or failure to measure up

   more »

Keywords: breasts, obsession, sex

When the sins of the Sodomites,

Alcoholics, and Kleptomaniacs had called down

the vengeance of God to punish and destroy them,

a red-haired rent boy (or two)

was sent to Sodom to forewarn Lott

of the dreadful catastrophe about to happen

   more »

Keywords: sodomites, rent, hustler, gay, republicans

All great empires and nations decay from within. By the time they hobble off the world stage, overrun by the hordes at the gates or vanishing quietly into the pages of history books, what made them successful and powerful no longer has relevance.

This rot takes place over decades, as with the Soviet Union, or, even longer, as with the Roman, Ottoman or Austro-Hungarian empires. It is often imperceptible.

Dying empires cling until the very end to the outward trappings of power.

They mask their weakness behind a costly and technologically advanced military.

They pursue increasingly unrealistic imperial ambitions. They stifle dissent with efficient and often ruthless mechanisms of control.   more »

Lambasting the greenback has become trendy. It's a favorite pastime of politicians, too. At the November OPEC meeting in Riyadh, Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked the assembled finance ministers to "study the feasibility of selling oil in another currency."

Ahmadinejad disparaged the dollar as "a worthless piece of paper".

The fiery Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, followed Ahmadinejad's lead predicting that the demise of the dollar would mean the "end of the Empire."

Hugo may be on to something. The dollar is America's Achilles heel; if the dollar tanks, so does the empire.   more »

The US-backed right-wing campaign to destabilise the democratic revolution in Venezuela, lead by socialist President Hugo Chavez, is escalating again.

The upcoming December 2 referendum on proposed amendments to the constitution is prompting a new drive from US-backed capitalist elite to undermine the elected Chavez government.

Crucially, the international corporate-owned media’s distortion of events is reaching new heights, with false allegations of government repression of opposition protesters a key component of the campaign to demonise Chavez and the process of change his government is leading.   more »