©Unknown

Noble Martyrs were likely just Uppity Women

Communicative Behaviors, Witchcraft Accusations, and European Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods

Abstract
This literature review investigates the relationship between a woman's communicative behaviors and the likelihood of her being accused as a witch in various regions of Europe from 1350 to 1650 a.d. This paper uncovers how women were expected to communicate during this period and what sort of deviation from this normative communicative behavior was present in those ultimately accused of witchcraft. The environmental and socioeconomic changes in Europe, as well as religious factors and the history of witchcraft that influenced the communicative behaviors of women in this period are reviewed.

I read Styron's novel, Sophie's Choice, when it first came out. I was mesmerized all the way through (and it's a pretty long book!). I didn't go to see the movie in the theatre because, knowing the story, at the time, I didn't want to be depressed. My babies were little and I didn't think I could handle seeing Sophie make that choice!

©Universal

Sophie's Choice

A couple of years ago, I bought the movie, but it sat on the shelf for a long time, unwatched until last night when most of us here at SOTT HQ viewed it. I don't think anyone else here had read the book, so they didn't know what they were in for.

Ark, my Polish husband left the room about half way through because he just couldn't stand to be reminded of things that were way too real for him. The rest of us continued to watch, hypnotized by the inexorable unfolding of the tragedy. After it was over, nobody spoke for a very long time. It's that kind of movie.

However, there is something about the movie that was left out and this "leaving out" suggests that this movie was used as part of the Exclusive Jewish Holocaust propaganda campaign.

Part 1

The Power of Nightmares: Baby, It's Cold Outside

The first part of the series explains the origin of Islamism and Neo-Conservatism and draws the parallels between the two of their "optimistic visions to change the world". It shows Egyptian civil servant Sayyid Qutb, depicted as the founder of modern Islamist thought, visiting the US to learn about the education system, but becoming disgusted with what he saw as a corruption of morals and virtues in western society through consumerism. When he returns to Egypt, he is disturbed by westernisation and becomes convinced that in order to save society it must be completely restructured along the lines of Islamic law while still using western technology. He also becomes convinced that this can only be accomplished through the use of an elite "vanguard" to lead a revolution against the established order.

Qutb becomes a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and, after being tortured in one of Nasser's jails, comes to believe that western-influenced leaders can justly be killed for the sake of removing their corruption. Qutb is executed in 1966, but he influences the future mentor of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, to start his own secret Islamist group. Inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution, Zawahiri and his allies assassinate Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat, in 1981, in hopes of starting their own revolution. The revolution does not materialise and Zawahiri comes to believe that the majority of Muslims have been corrupted not only by their western-inspired leaders, but Muslims themselves have been affected by jahilliyah and thus both may be legitimate targets of violence if they do not join him.

Continuing the Time-honored tradition of picking the person who has had the most "influence on the world" during the course of the year - and thereby manufacturing a certain status for the person in question in the minds of the general public, whether merited or not - for the year 2004, Time magazine nominated George W Bush as their "Man of the Year". In a eulogy to make your stomach churn, filled as it is with nauseating platitudes and obsequious psychophantic panderings, Time said they had chosen Bush for the second time in four years for:

"sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years. For sharpening the debate until the choices bled, for reframing reality to match his design, for gambling his fortunes - and ours - on his faith in the power of leadership."

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade was an American contingent of about 2800 volunteers who fought on the side of the Second Spanish Republic during the country's 1936 - 1939 Civil War against the fascist Nationalist rebellion under General Francisco Franco. From 1937 through 1938, it aimed to stop international fascism under Hitler and Mussolini that led to WW II. This essay explains who the "Lincolns" were, why they're important, and what their relevance is to America today under George Bush. First a look at the Spanish Civil War and why these Americans fought in it.

The war began when Franco's troops invaded Spain in July, 1936 to unseat an unstable Republic that developed from the social dislocations after WW I. Post-war saw a wave of revolutionary unrest that led to the military dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera in 1923. Rapid decline followed under him after the boom years of the 1920s. It weakened Spain's monarchy, returned the country to republican rule, but things weakened when a liberal-Socialist coalition tried addressing agrarian problems that beleaguered all Spanish governments for generations. Reforms failed and so did the coalition. It came apart after an attempted military coup on the right and an anarchosyndicalist insurrection on the left that culminated in the Casas Viejas massacre of Andalulsian peasants in January, 1933.

By summer, Spain's many parties and organizations began regrouping and polarizing. In November, the Spanish Confederation of Right Groups (CEDA) coalition replaced the liberal-Socialists. Positions then hardened on the left and right leading to the 1934 "October Revolution" when Asturian miners in northern Spain became the epicenter of a general uprising throughout the country. It brought "Army of Africa" commander Francisco Franco from Spanish Morocco to the mainland for the first time in five centuries to defend "Christian Civilization" from "red barbarism." It was the start of class and regional conflict that became the Spanish Civil War two years later.

His father was a drunk who regularly beat him. His name was Josef Stalin. Born in Russia's Georgia, in 1878, under the rule of the Romanov Czars, he excelled as a student, while building up a deep resentment towards the cruel occupiers of his Caucasus region. Stalin became a Marxist revolutionist and a master conspirator. The book, Young Stalin, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, tells how this merciless, but extremely talented, psychopath was forged.

©n/a

I am Oz the Great and Powerful!

I have to admit that I felt fiendishly gleeful when the reports came out that Hugo Chavez had exposed the CIA's little political destabilization game in Venezuela by getting his hands on the "Operation Pincer" memorandum and publishing it! What a hoot! It was just TOO priceless that the Man Behind the Curtain was exposed as less than the "Great and Powerful Oz," being instead, a gang of petty crooks in positions of power trying to again manipulate the public into believing their lies.

Of course, at the same time, we here at SOTT are all observing France and wondering if the same tricks that are obviously being played on the French will work considering France's higher educational and literacy level compared to the U.S. where the game obviously has already been won by the Man Behind the Curtain.

Humbug!

©n/a

The Trojan Horse, the symbol for being fooled by an outward show and appearance, letting down one's guard, and bringing the enemy inside. Not far from what the world is experiencing today with the rule of psychopaths: intraspecies predators who look like normal humans but are not.

We had just made an international move and were waiting in our new house for our delayed shipping container to arrive with our library. I was quite at loose ends without anything to read when this book arrived in the mail, sent by a friend who knew I was without books. I can tell you that, after reading the cover, if my library had been there, I would never have read it. "Stuff and nonsense!" I snorted! Who was this guy to suggest that Troy was not close to Greece, that all the scholars were wrong?

Well, it's really a good thing I didn't have anything else to read! So many questions answered!

Most people are not aware that not one of forty characteristics of the City of Troy and the Trojan War plain fit the Mediterranean setting. What is astonishing is that the author of the Odyssey does give ALL the information needed to exactly place where Troy Once Stood!

Among the many things being argued by the 9/11 "Truthers" is the question of whether or not advanced, secret, "Space Based Weapons" could have been utilized to disintegrate the World Trade Center Towers. This discussion is, of course, going on in spite of the silly propaganda nonsense recently put out by the tabloid BBC which reported on the "findings" of Cambridge Don, Keith Seffen.

All I can say to Keith is: Thinking that a steel framed building could collapse at freefall speed from the impact of even a jetliner loaded with fuel is absurd. In order to collapse at free fall speed, the underlying floors need to be removed before the floors above. It's something called Conservation of Momentum, and anyone not familiar with this should get educated before making a fool of themselves as Seffen has done.

The footage of the collapse of the 1,300ft WTC towers has been played and replayed ad nauseum and is etched in all of our minds. If by some miracle you have not seen the footage, it is freely available on the various memorial DVDs of the 9/11 attacks. It is also available for download from our web site. I strongly suggest that you avail yourself of a copy and study the collapse of both towers.