Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Torture in the grand scheme of things

I've been extremely busy lately, but I still go through my morning reading list, and some of the things I'm seeing are just too important not to talk about and forward to the best of our ability.

One such article this morning is Cheney's Twisted World By Andy Worthington, about the duping of America and the UN behind the invasion of Iraq.

And a the general comment about the attention given to torture, which is a terrible thing, of course, but the whole matter pales in comparison to the gigantic crime of the invasion of Iraq, the murdering it involved, and the hundreds of thousands of people's who were maimed and/or had their lives destroyed by that greatest-of-all crime.

How it is possible that America's attention is focused on torture instead of the really monstrous crime of that invasion? As a commenter wrote this morning in reply to this article on CommonDreams:

"Everyone in DC is doing what they believe will get them reelected...there are no principles involved here. Almost ALL Washington players answer to a higher power: ZIONISTS, because zionists control the media, thus have the key to EVERYONE'S reelection...WITHOUT EXCEPTION. STOP MEDIA CONTROL! www.meetyourworld.com"

Another interesting - compelling - article and this one.


Bill

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Prosecutions for torture: 2 points

Capturing the essence of why Obama isn't pursuing prosecutions of the guilty, Chris Floyd writes in The Fatal Thread the following:

"This is one reason why Barack Obama is so obviously reluctant to tug on the torture thread too hard. If you tear it out, with full-scale prosecutions and top officials locked up behind bars, the whole rotten skein would fall apart. Once you start genuinely subjecting government officials – including security apparatchiks and military brass – to the full extent of the law, there would be no end to the unraveling: senators, contractors, representatives, bureaucrats, generals, lobbyists, judges, corporate chiefs – the whole edifice of Establishment power would be shaken to the core as its leading lights went down, one after the other."

The other point, which towers over the torture issue (as terrible as it is), is the illegal invasion of Iraq, which is the really big, monster crime of our age.


Bill

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Why Europe Won’t Fight

Read Why Europe Won’t Fight by Patrick J. Buchanan

This is actually a link into a great deal of material:
AIPAC trial and an Update of past events by Ryan Dawson

From the Washington Post, this article The Iraq War Will Cost Us $3 Trillion, and Much More.


Bill

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Bill Moyers hits another high note

I haven't had the chance to see all of Bill Moyer's shows on PBS, but I did catch this one last night with William K. Black, Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman, and it is absolutely compelling. If you have any interest whatsoever with what's happened and is happening with America, please see this show.

I'm particularly excited about this show because every single word matches what I've learned and think for myself on the subjects discussed (the economy and the media). This much isn't terribly new because there are others that see what's happened and is happening, but in this interview you can feel the sense of urgency, and it's well delivered. I only wish I could deliver these same thoughts as well as they do.

I'll say that I feel comforted, because frankly I haven't had a lot of support expressing these views. Too many people I know believe the "news" and are too willing to argue endlessly over how wrong I must be to say things so contradictory to what they are seeing in print and on the TV. This has been the climate for some years now, and the arguing does wear a person down. Truth is that standing up to the propaganda machine has been the hardest thing I've ever done, and it's been very costly to relationships, so this morale booster is very well received.

See Amy Goodman's website, Democracy now and Glenn Greenwald's column here.


Bill

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Collosal, futile, needless waste

You know those giant aircraft carriers they show off as symbols of power projected across the globe?

Read this article, Navy's Big Weakness: Our Aircraft Carriers Are (Expensive) Defenseless Sitting Ducks citing a report from none other then the U.S. Naval Institute.

How was this allowed to happen? Is this just one giant example of how the real purpose of the Military Industrial Complex is more to feed it's own monstrous, greedy, belligerent appetite then to serve, in any sense of the word, the people who pay so dearly for it?

Just try to imagine what we could do with the half of our money that's wasted on the military.

"Oh, but we need a giant military to protect us from horrible, existential threats" - so goes the party line.

If you believe this, I've got a bridge I'd like sell you.

The truth is that when Yin stands up to challenge Yang, Yang will stand up too, in proportion to the challenge. Human nature is much like physics. If you don't understand this, please read Carl Jung's "Principle of opposites: for every action there is an equal but opposite reaction".

Too many people fell for the tricky language that said things like "we're going to transform the Middle East to democracy", when the truth was that the mission was to make the Middle East subservient in the guise, under the cloak, behind the shield of calling it a crusade for democracy.

Why can't they be argued, debated down, then?

- they own most of the airwaves, the "news" and the TV stations, and Hollywood, which makes it impossible for opposing views to be presented with anywhere near as much force and repetition. Their message has been pounded into the American psyche, like it or not. By maximizing exposure to their message and minimizing exposure to yours, they prevail every time.

- they have practiced and practiced in all the ways of using language to deceive

- they always have a comeback that keeps the argument from ever being settled

- they already have the money and therefore the power over our election process, therefore they've been calling the shots (as in the "invasion of Iraq"; the lynch-pin of the never-ending crusade to establish authority in the Middle East, that has and will continue to engulf and drain us until we stop them).

Also see From Twin Towers to Twin Camelots by Alexander Cockburn


Bill

Friday, April 3, 2009

Mythbusters

Be sure to catch this:

The Goldberg Syndrome It renders journalists and lobbyists blind … by Justin Raimondo, April 03, 2009

And this: America’s ‘Long War’ Will Be as Bloody and Pointless as Europe’s By William Pfaff

Another reminder that the "success" of the so-called "surge" was really all about paying off the Sunni's, and what happens when the money stops: A Mutiny Among Militia Threatens Peace in Iraq After US Airstrike by Deborah Haynes

And on the biggest robbery of all time: In for a Penny, In for $2.98 Trillion By Robert Scheer

And on the other boondoggle called the war on drugs This Is the Truth on Drugs ... Any Questions? By David Sirota


Bill

Thursday, April 2, 2009

The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

See this story on The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

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Health care in America

See this show, "Sick around America" on this page or on Public Broadcasting (PBS) about health care in America, which follows the stories of several people through the system. The contrast between how health care, notably insurance, works in America, compared to all other developed countries, reveals just how utterly deplorable it is here. Spend a week in the hospital and lose everything you own to pay for it - is not an uncommon story. Insurance companies that filter out people who need health care the most, and the unconscionable practices of every player in the industry are shown for what they are. The real villain of it all is cost, of course. From soup to nuts, the whole system exists to feed itself like a giant pig. This isn't capitalism at work, where competition would make a difference, it's locked down territory where those in the system own it and aren't letting anyone else near it.

Just a fringe area to this are the administrative costs, which are double in America what they are in other countries. I'm aghast, knowing that a properly programmed computer system could make mince meat of administrative costs.

Alas, see Something is Rotten at PBS By Russell Mokhiber, for more in-depth analysis of this report.


Bill

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Fainting in This Country Can Carry a $10,000 Price Tag

A story about a guy who fainted, and what it cost:

After passing out, Kirk Nielsen got gouged by exorbitant health care fees.

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Ron Paul is one of the few/most sensible people in politics, but what he has to say is always hard to hear - because the "news" doesn't talk about him.



Bill