11.22.2003
Freedom at the Crossroads
The most powerful weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed -- Steve Biko
Ignorance and force are strangling our Democracy.
I'm guessing if you care about our country enough to seek out the news for yourself you have read about the interview with Tommy Franks, where he speculates that another 9/11 type attack or worse will allow our leaders to push the citizenry to give up our Constitution.
“It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the United States of America – that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important.”
If you haven't noticed already the reactionary Right is working hard to make this a police state as it is; what I hear Franks saying is that the mighty Wurlitzer of Corporate anti-Americans are setting " We the People" (by that I mean "regular folks like you and I, when the wants, needs and aspirations of the citizenry are termed "special interests" and corporate needs are "mainstream" you can see my point) up using the collaborative media they own through advertising dollars and interlocking boards of directorates to make us our own jailers in it. Use this tool from the Columbia Journalism Review to see just how those media companies control our information environment.
Here is what is going on in Britain, the one country in the world to walk lockstep with the (now revealed) lies of the GOP Neocon death machine:
Once an emergency has been proclaimed by the Queen, the Government can order the destruction of property, order people to evacuate an area or ban them from travelling, and "prohibit assemblies of specified kinds" and "other specified activities".
If these rules had been in force during the Iraq war, critics say, they could have been used to to ban street demonstrations, making anyone who travelled to protest guilty of a criminal offence.
Is this getting your attention? I have written about The Big Lie technique before, quoting Adolf Hitler , in relation to the attack on Iraq. Read his words.
Another fitting quote from the man corporate Germany put in power who sacrificed his people and nation on the altar of power:
By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.
There is a history of the government in power misleading the people for the governments ends. Project Northwoods, never acted on, is frightening for its open contempt of Democracy and human life. is one many people are unaware of. The Tonkin Gulf incident is more widely known but not widely enough. Do you here its treachery debated when our less aware friends talk about the necessity of the Viet Nam war? The USS Liberty, had it been sunk after its 2 hour multi-pronged attack by Israeli forces would have had the US embroiled in the Middle east conflict of 1967; who could believe our allies the Israelis did it, of course the Egyptians would wear the blame.
With many prior warnings ignored, regular air defense procedures ignored, a president seemingly unfazed by the news- well you get the 9/11 picture. Judge for yourself. The present administration sure isn't cooperating with the current investigation. Do you remember the Bush "trifecta" joke? He may have won his trifecta on an inside bet.
Think for yourself. Search out truth.
Edward Abbey said it well.
Defiance is beautiful. The defiance of power, especially great or overwhelming power, exalts and glorifies the rebel."
America demands our attention and vigor.
11/22/2003
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Give Winding the Iraqi Death Watch a read. The truth is going mainstream. Help get it into light like Anarchy Xero has done.
Knowledge is power if you exercise it.
11/22/2003
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11.21.2003
The Greatest Story Never Told
"There can be no peace without law. And there can be no law if we were to invoke one code of conduct for those who oppose us and another for our friends" --President Dwight Eisenhower
How can it be that International Law is applied only to who the United States chooses? If you take a look at thirty years of United States vetoes at the UN you get a sense of a certain bias, a bias reflected in the latest veto concerning stopping the Israeli Apartheid Wall, as it often happens the sole veto. Selective justice is not justice.
Could selective justice be why the US and Israel are seen by many to be the largest threats to world peace?
David Ben Gurion, wrote to his son 11 years before the birth of the Jewish state: "Negev land is reserved for Jewish citizens whenever and wherever they want. We must expel the Arabs and take their place." By 1951, fewer than 13,000 inhabitants remained of a community that numbered somewhere between 70,000 and 90,000 in the late 1940s.
In Israel another people that suffer for State want of their land are the semi-nomadic Bedouins. Although they have lived on their lands for 1000 years or more the state of Israel create retroactive zoning laws classifying the areas of their villages "non-residential", making the Bedoins traditional homesites illegal. It also allows the Israeli government not provide essential services such as electricity, water and sanitation. Since there are no municipalities, these people cannot get a license to build. Their traditional proofs of ownership are not recognized by Israeli courts. These citizens are also subject to having their homes destroyed so they can be moved to cramped towns where they cannot practice their traditional way of life.
The Bedouin who had not fled or been terrorized from their tribal lands during the war were "transferred" in the 1950s, either to the center of the country, to ghettoes attached to towns like Ramle and Lod, where many work as low-wage manual laborers.
furthermore
The Negev area in which the Bedouin were concentrated came to be known as the "siege zone": a ring of Jewish settlements was established to contain the Bedouin, while their lands were further whittled away through the construction of industrial areas, more military zones and conservation parks, and an airport. Each village was encircled and separated from its neighbors by new Jewish farms, settlements or development towns. Today the Bedouin, a quarter of the Negev's population, occupy just 2 percent of its land.
Negez is home to Israel's Nuclear Reactor, as well as the states Nuclear arsenal. WMD's for short.
PM Ben Gurion consistently refused to allow international inspections. The final resolution was a commitment from Israel to use the facility for peaceful purposes, and an agreement to admit a US inspection team once a year. These inspections, begun in 1962 and continued until 1969, were only shown the above-ground part of the buildings, which continued down many levels underground. The above ground areas had simulated control rooms, and access to the underground areas was kept bricked up while the inspectors where present.
The government of Israel had atomic weapons by 1967 or '69 depending on the source of information. Israel now has submarines carrying US supplied Harpoon cruise missiles fitted with nuclear warheads
"Why should I move into a recognized village. My family has been on this land since before the Turks came, before the British, before the Israelis. There are 1,500 Bedouin buried in our family plot, that's how long we have been here," -- Abu Jledan
The man quoted above has to deal with punitive measures dealt out by the so called "Green Patrol" a paramilitary "environmental" group founded by then agricultural minister Ariel Sharon to destroy homes and confiscate Bedouin livestock. They also oversee the spraying of these people's food crops with herbicide.
Just so you are clear; the folks suffering all this at the hands of Israel are not the people who's plight is so easily palmed off with the epithet "Terrorist". Yet these indigenous souls suffer the same blatant disregard for property rights, human rights and life itself.
But the native never lost his "last spark of hope". The spark was not extinguished in 1948, when 750,000 Palestinians were terrorized, uprooted and expelled, several decades after Moshe Sharret announced, "We have not come to an empty land but we have come to conquer a country from people inhabiting it"; several years after David Ben-Gurion declared, "I support compulsory transfer. I do not see anything immoral in it"; and several months after Menachem Begin gloated over "a splendid act of conquest " the rape and massacre of 254 Palestinians at Deir Yassin. The spark was not extinguished in 1967, when Israel grabbed the remaining 22% of Palestine and began its military occupation as its war hero Moshe Dayan kindly informed the natives, "You shall continue to live like dogs."
"Possession is nine-tenths of the law," says Michael Jankelowitz, liaison to foreign media for the Jewish Agency for Israel, the chief overseas beneficiary of the North American federation system that is helping Israel finance the plan.
How blind, how morally blind need one be to miss the irony of that statement? And why does the truth about land issues not appear in the media?
Imagine the ruckus to be raised if we in America had a paramilitary environmental group. And rightly so I'd have to say if the paramilitary groups main focus was collective punishment that had a rascist genocidal focus. What does it say about a country that claims to be a Democracy that only grants full citizenship with all it's benefits to only one group of its population? That practices collective punishment that includes the destruction of homes as well as food crops?
We in America need to be aware of the truth in these matters. As the UN and the Palestinian people push for peace the Likud party of Ariel Sharon defies the will of that world wide Democratic body, the very Democratic body that breathed life into the dreams of Zionists for a homeland in Palestine by creating Israel in 1948; to grasp at land and water resources that International law clearly states belongs to the people it always has. The people who lived on that soil for untold generations. And our US tax dollars help enable this.When Tom Delay can say
"I didn't see any occupied territory, I only saw Israel."
you are hearing a denial of International Law, of UN Mandate and it should trouble you. I have heavily linked this post so you can use it as a learning tool. "A land without people for a people without land" is a propaganda slogan widely circulated. Learn the truth behind the headlines. Politicians crave PAC money for their campaigns from people with a bent not for justice but for domination. For land but not life. Stand up for the truth.
Tricks and Treachery are the practice of fools who don't have the brains to be honest"--Benjamin Franklin
11/21/2003
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A follow up to my post on industrial meat production, I offer you"The Meatrix". This really well done flash animation also give resources to learn more as well as to act. Family farms are essential to America, the site offered is a good resource to learn more.
Totally on a different subject but worthy of note: "Cocaine delivered to second school: Cafeteria worker finds drug in box of meat" Read the links that Al offers. A military supplier connection? Remember DynCorp?
A follow up on a piece I did concerning societal factors influencing "family styles" that tend to increase violence while fostering a citizenry comfortable with authoritarianism (Right Wing Repression reaping what it sows, anger and sexual repression, which oddly enough creates more angry uptight Right Wingers on and on...) that also considers the James Prescott article I cited having to do with lack of premarital sexual expression as well as a lack of human warmth, touch and attention in early childhood being linked to later violence and authoritarianism. One theory that Dave Pollard links to augments my original posting; it refers to work by Edward T. Hall which describes "behavioral sink". Behavioral sink refers to the societal effects of overcrowding as observed in mice. These critters developed behaviors that seem pretty obviously manifest in our busy crowded industrial world. One needs to consider that stimuli such as noise and information overload increase the amount of space an individual needs.
Check Edward T. Hall out at your local library. The name of the book that deals with the above is "The Hidden Dimension"
11/21/2003
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11.20.2003
Work Disappeared...
I posted a long and I thought really good piece under the title Freedom Under Occupation and it is gone, disappeared, someone elses work is there. I did not post what is showing except for the beginning words "A prince who wanted to take charge of his" from an Iraqi parable. What was lost was a bunch of information and time. I did not back up my work in Blogger, but I will from now on.
This makes me pretty uncomfortable...
11/20/2003
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What living statesman does this quote refer to:The man is a serial shirker when it comes to keeping his promises to bring peace and security.
A) Henry Kissinger
B) George W. Bush
C)Ariel Sharon
D) Tony Blair
The Answer linked here
Read a short, well footnoted bit of history about him.
We hear about a fellow's actions but have no context often times to build a realistic analytical picture of him. Past performance is a key to understanding current events. Sports fans know this well. Oddly enough although many folks approach political life from that same "sports team" perspective a perverted sense of "in group" loyalty that eclipses reason seems to set in. Where one will for the good of the team, critique the actions of the quarterback continually calling the same non-working plays or a linesman that keeps committing fouls it is seen by some to be disloyal to do the same concerning the players in crucial to life issues of statescraft.
I just don't understand that. See it and hear it regularly but just don't get it.
11/20/2003
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11.19.2003
Freedom Under Occupation
NOT MY WORK
Other than the first 9 words the stuff below is not from me. I don't know where my really long link heavy piece went to. I tried to find where this was published on the web and can't.
WTF?
"A prince who wanted to take charge of his cre to check out George Packer's sprawling New Yorker piece this week on the Iraq occupation. Packer is a thoughtful journalist who never shies away from difficult subjects - verified by the work he's done in his month in Iraq.
Speaking of Packer, after some time traveling around the Ivory Coast, he produced another great piece for the same magazine not too long ago (see here for an interview with Packer about his research for the article). In the essay, Packer offers a fairly pessimistic take on the prospects for stability in Sierra Leone - a fractured nation held together by a predominantly French peacekeeping force after a quite nasty civil war.
Jeremy Kahn presents an
11/19/2003
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11.18.2003
Some Contrasts
"Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business." --Michael Ledeen
Transcript of Wesley Clark on Meet the Press worth reading and contemplating as you consider Democratic candidates for the Presidential nomination.
I found this link to a transcript of Wesley Clark being interviewed on Fox (gleaned at Calpundit) I had no luck with getting the Clark Fox video to load. Nice work in not letting your comment go through the "spincycle" Mr Clark.
White House Resident George W Bush was afraid to speak before British Parliament, backing out from a scheduled stop there during his visit to Great Britain.
I cannot remember any major state visit by a head of state from an important country where there has not been such an address.
He goes on to say: "Even at this late stage, I hope there will be second thoughts. After all the Prime Minister addressed both Houses of Congress and was given a very warm welcome. I am sure the President would have been given an equally warm welcome and that those who did not agree with his policy would have been dignified and polite.”-- Sir Patrick Cormack, Tory MP
I suppose Mr Bush remembers Australia, where he was heckled both inside and outside of Parliament there. Perhaps it wasn't a fear of heckling. The MP's may have been restrained and polite. What if they asked questions? Scary for a world leader high on rhetoric but short on supportive facts.
This is factual. Mr Bush said this:
"God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East.
As a self proclaimed "Born Again Christian" Mr Bush seems to have missed a crucial part of any serious study of New Testament Scripture. Jesus, "The Prince of Peace" and the Beatitudes he proclaims.
Mr Bush seems more influenced by the Neo-Conservative chickenhawks he has surrounded himself with than any words or presence of God. You judge; does our nation's present foreign policy seem more dictated by the Christian concept of God or by Neo-Conservatives like Mr Ledeen:
Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace. Seeing America undo traditional societies, they fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there, for our very existence—our existence, not our politics—threatens their legitimacy. They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission
Please read the following link discussing Michael Ledeen and the Neo-Conservatives that dictate foreign policy.
Universal Fascism, Freedom Betrayed by Craig Hulet. Universal Fascism is the title of a book by Mr Ledeen. Ledeen and his associates are a very powerful influence on the Bush administration.
The Neocons have been saying for quite a while the next stop for US aggression is Iran.
11/18/2003
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I read this piece by Naomi Klein on the economic occupation of Iraq and why it is illegal when my copy of Nation came in and after reading this piece linked at Arms And The Man I thought I would use them as parts of a post, they are complimentary in telling us the immoral war has been crowned with an immoral Occupation which is highlighted by, you guessed it, Corporate greed and malfeasance as imposed by the present US administration. This article by Aaron Mate`gives we non-lawyers a primer on why the present Occupation meets Globalization economic pillage of Iraq will not stand up in court. This piece from Arms And The Man by Chris Zdeb brings it full circle.
International trade lawyers have told Klein that once Iraqis get a government of their own, which is expected by June, "if they don't want to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton and Bechtel, they will have powerful legal grounds to re-nationalize all these assets."
That would sure put the Corporate folks bankrolling Mr Bush's election hopes off their feed.
We know what type of "Democracy" they are hoping for:
... "and then Washington would have the best of all worlds: an iron-fisted Iraqi junta without Saddam Hussein," a return to the happy days when Saddam's "iron fist...held Iraq together, much to the satisfaction of the American allies Turkey and Saudi Arabia," not to speak of the boss in Washington.
Remember when the US attack on Iraq was imminent? Right Wing Neo-Fascist leader of Spain Jose Maria`Aznar and Italy's Leader with Fascist roots (and Cabinet ministers) Silvio Berlusconi with 80% and 70% of their population against joining US aggression signed on to the Bush administrations war agenda, giving the word "Coalition" a respectability in the US press.
One country stood by it's citizen's will, resisting both US bribery and pressure. Turkey. Here's what the former US ambassador has to say about this amazing and uncharacteristic democratic move.
... explained by former Ambassador to Turkey Morton Abramowitz, now a distinguished senior statesman and commentator. Ten years ago, he explained, Turkey was governed by a real democrat, Turgut Ozal, who “overrode his countrymen’s pronounced preference to stay out of the Gulf war.” But democracy has declined in Turkey. The current leadership “is following the people,” revealing its lack of “democratic credentials.” “Regrettably,” he says, “for the US there is no Ozal around.”
Paul Wolfowitz on this issue:Wolfowitz directed sharp criticism at Turkey, indicating that its refusal to allow deployment of 62,000 troops on its soil was a mistake and urging the country to change this attitude.
He goes on to say:Wolfowitz told the CNN-Turk that he was particularly disappointed with the Turkish military.
"I think for whatever reason, they did not play the strong leadership role and attitude that we would have expected," he said.
A Turkish politician says it loud and proud."Turkey is a democratic country and everybody that appreciates the functioning of the true democracy should respect this," said Deniz Baykal, leader of the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).
Baykal's CHP voted as a bloc against a government motion requesting authorization for U.S. troops that was voted down in a March 1 vote in Parliament with a narrow margin of four votes.
Some folks obviously are unclear about what a Democracy is.
Some assert it against all odds.
Where do you stand?
I was hoping for a bunch of substantive comments to yesterdays post to help me with my thought process...
edited for typos
11/18/2003
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11.16.2003
What do You think?
It's not popular to point out just how Demublican Republacrat the front running anyone but Bush candidates are. I know, it bugs folks. I agree we as a people need to mobilize as a united front to beat the big money Republican Machine. But I remember Misters Clinton and Gore. Not as bad. Nafta. More restrictive social safety net. Deregulation of the media. Enlargement of the Police State. Marc Rich pardoned, Leonard Peltier languishing in prison. Big money politics for big money people. But no, not as bad as Bush. Hell no, I can see that. But I remember the Clinton speeches as he became the Democratic Presidential candidate. I know you do too, I'm guessing like me you were filled with hope. We need to discern clearly and act on our hope. Do you remember that Gore's running mate was Lieberman for crying out loud? He was "good enough" then, but now he looks a bit GOPish. Not as bad as Bush, point taken. But not as good as we deserve.
Many folks think Mr Dean is a fresh choice. Many feel Mr Clark has what it takes to turn around America. Although the money and name recognition are not there my reading tells me there is only one candidate that steps into the fray, consistently. OK, the "choice" flip flop, that is a lightning rod. Show me another candidate that has been more consistant otherwise. War, Nafta, the environment, corporate influence on our government, healthcare that covers all without putting money oin the pockets of the insurance/pharmaceutical industry. Read each candidates stance today; then google up their past, break out an old magazine or two. Research your candidate. Sure, none of them are 'pure'. But which one has a vision of America consonant with the vision of our founding fathers? Put your preconcieved notions to the side. Factor in "financial beholdeness" and past track record. If your well researched analysis comes out counter to mine, fine. But you did the research. This is too fucking important an issue to just take the candidates rhetorical flourishes as Gospel. We have a year til we vote, should the Black Box voting stuff be cleared up each of our votes will count heavily toward the future of our nation.
The GOP has been shown morally and politically bankrupt to anyone who has any grasp of American Reality. You don't need to agree with me but please, don't go into the coming election blindly. If we are going to go up against the Mighty Wurlitzer settling for less bad is not good enough. In that you know I'm right. Put the votes for Nader and the late in the campaign "populist" Gore together, factor in the huge amount of people from all walks of life that are seeing through the lies the media is still feeding us about the war and economy and we can be winners. Yes, it is going to take out in the world activism, preaching to the choir with our blogs is just a facet of the struggle. We have an amazing moment to effect the course of our history. My thought is that settling is not OK.
Imagine if we could agitate enough to get an actual Debate rather than settling for the canned speech format that passes for debate in our tired status quo. We are at a tipping point to breath life into Democracy.
I let you know what I think. Tell me what your thoughts on all this are. If you think I'm off the mark educate me. We are all in this together. Let's us do our best. I'm searching too.
Are we rushing to elect a Frankencandidate? ( Nothing to do with Al Franken).
11/16/2003
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That familiar trick from the Reagan era, cutting the taxes of the richest Americans and then selling bonds to make up our budgetary shortfall. Cutting taxes is cutting the country's income; not only are we not taking in the necessary money to run the country, when we sell bonds to finance the state we need to pay out interest. Now there's a 1 2 punch for the future fiscal wellbeing of the USA. Reagan redux...
I'm going to ask you to stop by The Whisky Bar to take a look at some current economic trends.
What sort of influence does the Bush "spend now pay later" give foreign governments over US policy?
What is going to drop into the lap of our elected President in 2004, a further stirred hornets nest in the Middle East, the US economy stuffed down the crapper?
11/16/2003
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The Department of Defense seems to be holding up my statement, posted yesterday, that the Iraq - Al Qaida connection holds no water. News reports that the Defense Department recently confirmed new information with respect to contacts between al-Qaida and Iraq in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee are inaccurate.
Further on:
The selection of the documents was made by DOD to respond to the Committee’s question. The classified annex was not an analysis of the substantive issue of the relationship between Iraq and Al Qaida, and it drew no conclusions.
I suppose I should warn that if you don't care to get a Pentagon cookie on your hardrive you shouldn't follow that link.
The information in question was contained in an "annex" or attachment to a report NeoCon Douglas Feith had. It had not been at all for accuracy.
I saw that the Fox News article looked innaccurate, as I pointed out yesterday. But I felt I had to mention it, just in case... We'll keep updated with what develops, as the DoD didn't say there was no evidence. We need the truth.
If the Fox report is completely unfounded the damage is done. We will hear this information "proving" the Iraq AlQaida connection cited when our kneejerk "Patriot " associates support Mr Bush and his Neocon pals ongoing Vietnam, as our loyal soldiers and occupied Iraqis die. Listen to who trump up this "new information"; who on the airwaves and in print tout this as fact. There you have the enemies of a Democratic system, a system that is without substance bereft of accurate information. Having the crucial factual information a populace that will not read deeply, draw connections, reason and act on what they have discerned is fair game for the Corporate/Financial managers of this 227 year old experiment we call America.
Yeah, I'm talking about those same people that prey on our limited Democracy when they air disinformation campaigns such as this, a convenient name to refer to the ubiquity of their concerted message is this: The Mighty Wurlitzer.
the right has perfected what the CIA used to call a "mighty Wurlitzer" -- a propaganda machine that can hone a fact or a lie, broadcast it, and have it echoed and recycled in Fox News commentary, in Washington Times news stories, in Wall Street Journal editorials, by myriad right-wing pundits, by Heritage seminars and briefing papers, and in congressional hearings and speeches. Privatization of Social Security, vouchers for school, Vince Foster's supposed murder, Hillary's secret sex life, you name it -- the right's mighty Wurlitzer can ensure that a message is broadcast across the county, echoed in national and local news, and reverberated in the speeches of respectable academics as well as rabid politicians.
If the concept of shaping the attitudes and mind of the citizenry has you reaching for your tinfoil beanie I suggest you take in the 4 piece article "How They Do It" by Dave Johnson at Seeing the Forest that will show you the mechanics of how this works and the relatively few major players in this well financed and orchestrated shift to the Right. Remember 4 or 5 years ago when folks like Rush Limbaugh were considered laughable fringe nuts? When the nations pResident calls him "a great man" you know that Mighty Wurlitzer works.
Homework:
The Commonweal Institute resource page dealing with this phenomenon and offering some context.
11/16/2003
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