The myth that eventually, by being given the benefit of tax cuts that have failed to produce prosperity to date, the business community will produce jobs for the workers is an old, tired, and totally disproven axiom. On Friday night, Mark Shields vehemently denied that myth. Brooks, a.k.a. Bobo, true to form, kept on insisting that now, at last, it would be true. Replied Shields: “Who are we kidding?”

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar’s February, 2010 capture was heralded here at the Lake, as “one serious motherfucking success.” Yesterday, the NYT reported (h/t Raw Story) that — and when will ever learn? — we’ve been jacked again by Pakistan’s decades-old Double Game.

Pepe Escobar, unlike his denser American colleagues, makes great use of myths and metaphors in his reportage. As he says in his new piece for Asia Times Online, ‘Surge’ smoke follows Petraeus to AfPak, “Anyone who buys Pentagon spin believing the same successful “surge” will happen in the Pashtun south and southeast of Afghanistan must have smoked Hindu Kush’s finest.”

Scarecrow, commenting on emptywheel’s post on the Kagan hearings, has shown us the way to deal with juggernauts of all kinds. Problems of mythic proportions demand commensurate responses, right? Since it’s the power of perverted narratives that has gotten us into this Waste Land, simply by recognizing and reclaiming that power, we can get the Hell out of *here.*

Jon Stewart and his crew at The Daily Show are among the best myth-busters ever. Last night’s broadcast was a double feature: busting the blatant myth-making by Obama in his Oval Office address; then going all the way back to Nixon to bust the myth of America’s imminent move to energy independence.

How is it possible that one person may willingly give up their own life for someone they may never meet? Surprise at altruistic acts comes from overemphasizing the exclusivity of the self-other divide. Who says we are absolutely and eternally divided to begin with?

“President Obama ran, and he carried the hopes and dreams of young Americans with him. I would tell him, should I meet with him face to face, is to be a man, take control of this situation, ‘cuz this is totally out of control,” Louisiana Shrimp Assoc. Pres. Clint Gidry said on this morning’s broadcast of Democracy Now!. Dear brother, who says it was in control to begin with? And who controls the controllers? Do we dominate, or dance with, Mother Nature? Alan Watts provides an illuminating perspective.

Prof. William Black’s damning assessment of FinReg: that’s it’s entirely lacking in reforms that would prevent accountancy and control frauds; goes perfectly with a report in Slate.com (h/t maxkeiser.com) confirming the assertions made by self-confessed Economic Hit Man John Perkins: How do we build our empire? With covert economic hit jobs. Doesn’t that make control fraud our official (covert) policy?

Jeff Kaye’s discovery, that the American Psychological Association has recently engaged in a bit of historical engineering, besides busting this latest attempt at manipulating our shared narrative, also brought out the best in many commenters. The thread should be read by anyone interested in the psychology of what ails us today.

CarolynC, in her excellent post titled The Daily Show as Cultural Criticism, focusing on a TDS bit (by Jason Jones) lampooning the antics of macho men busting bricks for Jesus, has highlighted a symptom of what ails us today. Why are we so effed in the head? It’s the mythology!