Those of us who have protested the Patriot Act have often been told we need to accept that things changed after 9-11 and that we are the ones who are over-reacting. After all, the reasoning goes out government isn't what we need to fear. Our government is only trying to protect us from external threats and if that means taking away a little of our freedom (which they argue the act does not do), the gain covers the loss.
Maybe one way to settle the question is to ask an outside observer, and there is probably no one in a better position to settle the dispute than our closest neighbor, Canada. So what are they saying? The Utne Reader (Jan-Feb '08) reports:
"Concerned about cyberspooks spying along their virtual border, Canadian officials have passed a series of provincial laws that require government institutions to protect private data from U.S. investigative agencies empowered by the Patriot Act."
If Canada can see that the Patriot Act authorizes unacceptable intrusion into its citizens' lives, why on earth can't Americans?
The bottom line is that no amount of security is worth the loss of one iota of freedom no matter what changed on 9-11. Giving up freedom in exchange for security might work as long as you can trust the government not to take advantage of the disempowered citizenry.
My contention, though, has been and will continue to be that every citizen's first duty is to doubt every statement his government leaders make and to watch closely enough to see to what extent the results of their actions matches the braggadocio of their speechmaking.
Barak Obama caught my attention this week with the statement that the first thing he would do if elected is to fight for the repeal of all of the Bush era legislation that his team determines to be unconstitutional or restrictive of America’s freedoms. I am going to start paying a little more attention to what he says – while watching to see to what extent . . .
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Bush Does Something Good!!
Mr. Bush surprised me yesterday. Usually that’s really bad news, but this time I have to admit that I liked what he did. With a stroke of his pen he acquiesced to the suggestions of his Secretaries of State and Defense by ordering the destruction of most of our stock of nuclear weapons to achieve an inventory of about one-quarter the size of our stock at the end of the cold war. That still leaves us with 1,200 or so on hand, so it isn’t as if the world is free of the threat, but at least the explosive, radioactive power lying around will be reduced significantly.
All the hawks out there needn’t worry, though. W hasn’t gone dovish. He’s just recognizing that there is little value in carrying an obsolete inventory of nuclear weaponry into the 21st century, and the other shoe may well come in the form of his recommendation for replacing those old warheads.
His signature of the new energy conservation bill was a mild surprise, too. I think it’s just that it has finally dawned on him that his term will end soon and there will be a legacy for people to point at. He’d rather they were neither laughing nor crying at the time. He wants to be remembered for more than his obstinacy and hawkishness. After all, being the “war president” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement in a country that is ostensibly a peace loving nation.
No matter what he does, though, he will not be remembered as anything but the worst president in American history. Not that the energy bill is any great prize, either.
The Demorats can crow all they want to about getting it passed, but this bill’s only real achievement is the establishment of fuel efficiency standards for the auto industry that should have been met under Jimmy Carter’s leadership if Congress had paid him any attention. They also crow about the “alternative fuels” clauses, but their upshot is that we all get to subsidize the nonsensical ethanol industry to the tune of about fifty cents a gallon so that the corn farmers will continue to vote Repulsican. In the meantime, our food costs rise because corn is now in our tanks instead of our flakes, farmers continue to pour petroleum products from gas to fertilizer into mono-crop farming methods that deplete the soil horribly but earn the farmers more for their subsidized corn than they could get by treating their soil with some stewardship, and the citizenry keeps on gassing up their SUVs and driving as much as we did when gas was 25 cents a gallon.
If we had to have an ethanol program, we could have had a bill that authorized growth of crops more sensibly appropriate for ethanol production – hemp for example – and mandated good land management practices like crop rotation in return for subsidies.
But the biggest problem with this legislation is that the Demorats caved in to the Bush veto threats by removing funding for alternative fuel and power generation research programs. That leaves us with no approach that is not dependent upon the existing corporate power structure – big oil and big energy – to dictate the level of potential we have for alleviating the pressure we continue to put on our limited resources and the limited capacity of the earth to absorb our profligacy.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that we humans have a devastating impact on our environment, but it will apparently take a rocket to get it through Washington’s head that we can’t forever to continue to crap in our nest without ultimately destroying our own ability to live in it.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
All the hawks out there needn’t worry, though. W hasn’t gone dovish. He’s just recognizing that there is little value in carrying an obsolete inventory of nuclear weaponry into the 21st century, and the other shoe may well come in the form of his recommendation for replacing those old warheads.
His signature of the new energy conservation bill was a mild surprise, too. I think it’s just that it has finally dawned on him that his term will end soon and there will be a legacy for people to point at. He’d rather they were neither laughing nor crying at the time. He wants to be remembered for more than his obstinacy and hawkishness. After all, being the “war president” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement in a country that is ostensibly a peace loving nation.
No matter what he does, though, he will not be remembered as anything but the worst president in American history. Not that the energy bill is any great prize, either.
The Demorats can crow all they want to about getting it passed, but this bill’s only real achievement is the establishment of fuel efficiency standards for the auto industry that should have been met under Jimmy Carter’s leadership if Congress had paid him any attention. They also crow about the “alternative fuels” clauses, but their upshot is that we all get to subsidize the nonsensical ethanol industry to the tune of about fifty cents a gallon so that the corn farmers will continue to vote Repulsican. In the meantime, our food costs rise because corn is now in our tanks instead of our flakes, farmers continue to pour petroleum products from gas to fertilizer into mono-crop farming methods that deplete the soil horribly but earn the farmers more for their subsidized corn than they could get by treating their soil with some stewardship, and the citizenry keeps on gassing up their SUVs and driving as much as we did when gas was 25 cents a gallon.
If we had to have an ethanol program, we could have had a bill that authorized growth of crops more sensibly appropriate for ethanol production – hemp for example – and mandated good land management practices like crop rotation in return for subsidies.
But the biggest problem with this legislation is that the Demorats caved in to the Bush veto threats by removing funding for alternative fuel and power generation research programs. That leaves us with no approach that is not dependent upon the existing corporate power structure – big oil and big energy – to dictate the level of potential we have for alleviating the pressure we continue to put on our limited resources and the limited capacity of the earth to absorb our profligacy.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that we humans have a devastating impact on our environment, but it will apparently take a rocket to get it through Washington’s head that we can’t forever to continue to crap in our nest without ultimately destroying our own ability to live in it.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
When Will They Ever Learn?
Today’s paper carried really interesting story about the fence we are building along the Mexican border. Well, to be accurate the story wasn’t written about the fence. It was about the hostility that is going on along the fenceline with border patrol agents firing tear gas and pepper gas canisters over the fence in retaliation for the rocks, bricks and bottles that are thrown at them by Mexicans infuriated by the insult the fence represents to them. But that makes the fence the story.
There was a picture, too, of this ugly orange fence running alongside the ugly little shacks impoverished Mexican families must inhabit. And now everyday, besides having to live their hardscrabble lives, these folks must come home and see this symbol of their banishment from even looking across the border at the land of plenty. Instead, their window reveals only this incredibly ungainly orange barrier that speaks constantly of our hostility toward them. Is it any wonder they throw stones?
I was reminded of the wall going up between Israel and Palestine. There it isn’t just stones and bottles that come flying over. It’s rockets and missiles and launched grenades. But I remember when it was the Israelis with guns and the Palestinians with rocks and stones and bottles. Then it was Palestinians with Molotov cocktails and hand grenades. It took the Palestinians years to develop to the point of missiles and rockets.
How long do you suppose it will take the Mexicans?
“When will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?”
-- Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Pete Seeger, 1961
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
There was a picture, too, of this ugly orange fence running alongside the ugly little shacks impoverished Mexican families must inhabit. And now everyday, besides having to live their hardscrabble lives, these folks must come home and see this symbol of their banishment from even looking across the border at the land of plenty. Instead, their window reveals only this incredibly ungainly orange barrier that speaks constantly of our hostility toward them. Is it any wonder they throw stones?
I was reminded of the wall going up between Israel and Palestine. There it isn’t just stones and bottles that come flying over. It’s rockets and missiles and launched grenades. But I remember when it was the Israelis with guns and the Palestinians with rocks and stones and bottles. Then it was Palestinians with Molotov cocktails and hand grenades. It took the Palestinians years to develop to the point of missiles and rockets.
How long do you suppose it will take the Mexicans?
“When will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?”
-- Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Pete Seeger, 1961
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Monday, December 17, 2007
Dollar Bills and Bibles
I seem to have been coming down pretty hard on religion lately. I hope my readers don’t confuse my position with being anti-spiritual. It’s just that I don’t find much of the spiritual in churches.
The spirituality I understand is that which seeks to find as much value in everyone’s approach to godliness as in one’s own. I find it runs far deeper in the currents of a clear Ozark stream than in the streams of invective that flow down from pulpits where preachers hold up their vision of virtue as the only viable vision. I find it more strongly expressed in the gentle sway of a great white oak in a spring breeze than in the violent winds of war. I find it more beautifully expressed in gentle movement of the moon across a black summer’s night than in the slow and inexorable resistance to change in the my-way-or-the-highway party line of the average church.
Recently I found a kinsman in the writings of David James Duncan. Duncan wrote one of my favorite books, “The River Why” back in the 70s. Not long ago a friend and I were discussing that book and he asked me if I had read “My Story as Told by Water”.
Duncan published that one in 2001 and I had missed it, so Mike loaned it to me.
I knew I had struck gold when I found this line in the first chapter: “Capitalist fundamentalism, I still believe, is the perfect Techno-Industrial religion, its goal being a planet upon which we’ve nothing left to worship, worry about, read, eat, or love but dollar bills and Bibles.”
What more could I add to that?
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
The spirituality I understand is that which seeks to find as much value in everyone’s approach to godliness as in one’s own. I find it runs far deeper in the currents of a clear Ozark stream than in the streams of invective that flow down from pulpits where preachers hold up their vision of virtue as the only viable vision. I find it more strongly expressed in the gentle sway of a great white oak in a spring breeze than in the violent winds of war. I find it more beautifully expressed in gentle movement of the moon across a black summer’s night than in the slow and inexorable resistance to change in the my-way-or-the-highway party line of the average church.
Recently I found a kinsman in the writings of David James Duncan. Duncan wrote one of my favorite books, “The River Why” back in the 70s. Not long ago a friend and I were discussing that book and he asked me if I had read “My Story as Told by Water”.
Duncan published that one in 2001 and I had missed it, so Mike loaned it to me.
I knew I had struck gold when I found this line in the first chapter: “Capitalist fundamentalism, I still believe, is the perfect Techno-Industrial religion, its goal being a planet upon which we’ve nothing left to worship, worry about, read, eat, or love but dollar bills and Bibles.”
What more could I add to that?
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Friday, December 14, 2007
An Army for Every Church
Two completely different articles in the local paper caught my eye this morning and combined in bizarre flights of dark fancy.
The first was a question put by a local yokel in response to the recent city audit report. Why, this person wanted to know, would the city of Springfield ever send someone to “Vegas” or, as s/he put it SIN CITY? The writer just couldn’t justify sending someone from our pristine, sinless Bible belt into the teeth of Gomorrah. What could they possibly learn out there that we need to know here in the land of Gawd?!
The second was a story about Muqtada al-Sadr and his quest to become an Ayatollah. One of the little nuggets this story revealed was that as an Ayatollah, Sadr would be allowed to raise a much larger army than his present Sadr brigade – now famous for its resistance to U.S. troops in Fallujah. His studies have concentrated on clerical rule. Any doubts about his ambitions?
What tied these two seemingly disparate tales together in my mind was a question: What would it be like in this country if we had clerical rule and each cleric was allowed his own army?
Can’t you just picture Jerry Falwell with a couple of battalions?! I expect he’d have gone with tanks and air power and maybe ruled the Tennessee, Kentucky, Carolinas belt. Would his factions have been able to keep Jimmy Swaggert’s crew in their place, or would Swaggert have won out? Would they have burned Georgia in the process? What if they allied and tried to take over Oklahoma? Would Oral Roberts be able to heal the wounds inflicted on his troops fast enough to win the war and carry his version of Gawd’s word to capitol hill?
The Assembly of God national headquarters being here, I suppose we would all fall under their control. Would Central Bible College and Baptist Bible College join forces and raise an army sufficient to garner a little power to themselves? And what would happen to the poor Catholics, Jews, Muslims and other non-fundamentalists that call Springfield home? We’d probably have barbeques featuring burning atheists at the stake.
Thinking of it in that way, it is not hard to understand what a buzz saw we have walked into in Iraq where, now that there is no strong man to keep them under his thumb, every cleric who can talk the right talk can gather a big enough following to raise an army and go to war to protect his turf.
Here in the U.S. – and especially in Springfield – that could mean religion based turf guarding every couple of blocks. Why it would make gang warfare look like a tea party.
Just think about it friends, and gird yourselves to continue fighting against the nutsy notion that we ought to bring Gawd into government.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
The first was a question put by a local yokel in response to the recent city audit report. Why, this person wanted to know, would the city of Springfield ever send someone to “Vegas” or, as s/he put it SIN CITY? The writer just couldn’t justify sending someone from our pristine, sinless Bible belt into the teeth of Gomorrah. What could they possibly learn out there that we need to know here in the land of Gawd?!
The second was a story about Muqtada al-Sadr and his quest to become an Ayatollah. One of the little nuggets this story revealed was that as an Ayatollah, Sadr would be allowed to raise a much larger army than his present Sadr brigade – now famous for its resistance to U.S. troops in Fallujah. His studies have concentrated on clerical rule. Any doubts about his ambitions?
What tied these two seemingly disparate tales together in my mind was a question: What would it be like in this country if we had clerical rule and each cleric was allowed his own army?
Can’t you just picture Jerry Falwell with a couple of battalions?! I expect he’d have gone with tanks and air power and maybe ruled the Tennessee, Kentucky, Carolinas belt. Would his factions have been able to keep Jimmy Swaggert’s crew in their place, or would Swaggert have won out? Would they have burned Georgia in the process? What if they allied and tried to take over Oklahoma? Would Oral Roberts be able to heal the wounds inflicted on his troops fast enough to win the war and carry his version of Gawd’s word to capitol hill?
The Assembly of God national headquarters being here, I suppose we would all fall under their control. Would Central Bible College and Baptist Bible College join forces and raise an army sufficient to garner a little power to themselves? And what would happen to the poor Catholics, Jews, Muslims and other non-fundamentalists that call Springfield home? We’d probably have barbeques featuring burning atheists at the stake.
Thinking of it in that way, it is not hard to understand what a buzz saw we have walked into in Iraq where, now that there is no strong man to keep them under his thumb, every cleric who can talk the right talk can gather a big enough following to raise an army and go to war to protect his turf.
Here in the U.S. – and especially in Springfield – that could mean religion based turf guarding every couple of blocks. Why it would make gang warfare look like a tea party.
Just think about it friends, and gird yourselves to continue fighting against the nutsy notion that we ought to bring Gawd into government.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Thursday, December 13, 2007
W Takes Us Another Step Down: Global Warming
For years the U.S. has been putting the world off on the question of global warming with imprecations to “follow the science”. The science, we have always maintained, did not support the idea that human behaviors were the cause of global warming.
Well, the scientists are now saying loudly and emphatically that there can no longer be any doubt. Humans are the cause of the dramatic acceleration of warming. So now what does the U.S. say? We just say, “NO.”
The world has met in Bali and examined the facts. As a result they have decided that scientists are right when they say we must reduce carbon emission by 25% to 40% of the amounts allowed by the 1990 protocols by 2020. The European Union and even China have agreed to this goal. Only the U.S., Canada and Japan and a few minor suck-up nations are holding out.
Mr. Bush, though, says we won’t go along with such an arbitrarily set goal. In true BushCo fashion he will hold his own meeting in Hawaii next year. He has invited everyone to come, but many will not. Germany has already announced that they won’t come and they are urging the rest of the European nations to stick with them.
Bush’s rationale is that such goals should be negotiated. Well, duh, W they negotiated the new goals at the Bali conference. Why wasn’t he there? Nobody but Bush himself did anything to keep him away, and now his call for negotiations isn’t a true call for dialogue, but a roadblock thrown up to try and stall the process.
The truth is that neither the U.S. nor Canada nor Japan is capable of meeting the 2020 goals because we refused to pare emissions down after the Kyoto Protocols were negotiated. The rest of the world did agree to those protocols so they are well ahead of us in the race to save the planet’s heating and cooling system. If we could just admit that we made a mistake in not recognizing the problem earlier and pledge to do our damnedest to meet the new protocols we would instantly do a great deal to reinstate ourselves as honorable members of the world community.
Would that really be so hard?
It seems that by now even W would be able to perceive that his bullheaded idea of diplomacy comes up a loser every time, but no. . . once again his stubbornness is leading us into unnecessary confrontation with our friends and neighbors around the world. W will stand in one spot and stamp his foot until either somebody pays attention to him or he falls through the floor. Sadly, he’s going to take a lot of us with him when he falls.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Well, the scientists are now saying loudly and emphatically that there can no longer be any doubt. Humans are the cause of the dramatic acceleration of warming. So now what does the U.S. say? We just say, “NO.”
The world has met in Bali and examined the facts. As a result they have decided that scientists are right when they say we must reduce carbon emission by 25% to 40% of the amounts allowed by the 1990 protocols by 2020. The European Union and even China have agreed to this goal. Only the U.S., Canada and Japan and a few minor suck-up nations are holding out.
Mr. Bush, though, says we won’t go along with such an arbitrarily set goal. In true BushCo fashion he will hold his own meeting in Hawaii next year. He has invited everyone to come, but many will not. Germany has already announced that they won’t come and they are urging the rest of the European nations to stick with them.
Bush’s rationale is that such goals should be negotiated. Well, duh, W they negotiated the new goals at the Bali conference. Why wasn’t he there? Nobody but Bush himself did anything to keep him away, and now his call for negotiations isn’t a true call for dialogue, but a roadblock thrown up to try and stall the process.
The truth is that neither the U.S. nor Canada nor Japan is capable of meeting the 2020 goals because we refused to pare emissions down after the Kyoto Protocols were negotiated. The rest of the world did agree to those protocols so they are well ahead of us in the race to save the planet’s heating and cooling system. If we could just admit that we made a mistake in not recognizing the problem earlier and pledge to do our damnedest to meet the new protocols we would instantly do a great deal to reinstate ourselves as honorable members of the world community.
Would that really be so hard?
It seems that by now even W would be able to perceive that his bullheaded idea of diplomacy comes up a loser every time, but no. . . once again his stubbornness is leading us into unnecessary confrontation with our friends and neighbors around the world. W will stand in one spot and stamp his foot until either somebody pays attention to him or he falls through the floor. Sadly, he’s going to take a lot of us with him when he falls.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Disgrace of Guantanamo Bay
At long last, the Senate was poised to enter into a committee level investigation into our national disgrace at Guantanamo Bay. They even had a whistle blowing witness from the Pentagon on the schedule.
Col. Morris Davis was the chief prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay until he resigned because of his objections to the politics behind decisions on who should be tried in what order. Those decisions, he said, were politicized to the point that prosecutable cases were to be ignored while higher profile cases whose successful prosecution could possibly garner votes in the 2008 elections were to be moved up on the court’s calendar.
The Pentagon, however, ordered him not to testify. Instead we got the apologist Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann who said the military commissions are an "honor to the American justice system of which Americans should be very proud."
It’s just another case of the lack of ethics on constant display by the administration. Because the military is involved and the president is the commander-in-chief this is less visible, but the tactics are exactly the same as those employed by Alberto Gonzalez in the Department of Justice. The idea there was to determine which way investigations into voting fraud would go as well as prosecutions with political import. In the case of Guantanamo, it’s purely political.
Not only did the administration want to decide on a political basis which cases to prosecute, but also has a real need not to prosecute those cases in which plausible evidence of terrorism is lacking. In other words, they want to continue to hold prisoners against whom no evidence exists, but whose release would reflect badly on the entire Guantanamo prison system.
In short, we have an administration that is much more concerned about the outcome of domestic elections than about the rights human beings. Their concern is concentrating and holding onto all the power they can garner. Beyond that nothing matters to them.
To see them strutting about the stage in their “moral values” plumage is one of the most sickening aspects of being an American these days.
It would be nice to think that we have the chance to vote the *#@&#(!!s out of office next fall, but watching the Demorats fall all over themselves this week to give BushCo all they are asking for to continue our mad war in Iraq doesn’t exactly fill my heart to overflowing with hope.
Given the way our politicians and preachers have of twisting God into a monster suited to their wishes, we can’t even ask Him to bless us out of this mess. We’ll just have to do it ourselves.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Col. Morris Davis was the chief prosecutor for the terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay until he resigned because of his objections to the politics behind decisions on who should be tried in what order. Those decisions, he said, were politicized to the point that prosecutable cases were to be ignored while higher profile cases whose successful prosecution could possibly garner votes in the 2008 elections were to be moved up on the court’s calendar.
The Pentagon, however, ordered him not to testify. Instead we got the apologist Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann who said the military commissions are an "honor to the American justice system of which Americans should be very proud."
It’s just another case of the lack of ethics on constant display by the administration. Because the military is involved and the president is the commander-in-chief this is less visible, but the tactics are exactly the same as those employed by Alberto Gonzalez in the Department of Justice. The idea there was to determine which way investigations into voting fraud would go as well as prosecutions with political import. In the case of Guantanamo, it’s purely political.
Not only did the administration want to decide on a political basis which cases to prosecute, but also has a real need not to prosecute those cases in which plausible evidence of terrorism is lacking. In other words, they want to continue to hold prisoners against whom no evidence exists, but whose release would reflect badly on the entire Guantanamo prison system.
In short, we have an administration that is much more concerned about the outcome of domestic elections than about the rights human beings. Their concern is concentrating and holding onto all the power they can garner. Beyond that nothing matters to them.
To see them strutting about the stage in their “moral values” plumage is one of the most sickening aspects of being an American these days.
It would be nice to think that we have the chance to vote the *#@&#(!!s out of office next fall, but watching the Demorats fall all over themselves this week to give BushCo all they are asking for to continue our mad war in Iraq doesn’t exactly fill my heart to overflowing with hope.
Given the way our politicians and preachers have of twisting God into a monster suited to their wishes, we can’t even ask Him to bless us out of this mess. We’ll just have to do it ourselves.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi
Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR
The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
