Monday, October 03, 2005
Pacific Commentary for September 21, 2005
CONCERN FOR HUMANITY
The Defense Department has revised its program for the use of nuclear weapons.
This revision empowers military commanders to request presidential approval to engage in a preventive attack with nuclear weapons on a nation or an alleged terrorist group which might use weapons of mass destruction.
The previous policy which was stated in 1995 contained no mention of using nuclear weapons preemptively.
But the new doctrine makes it clear that nuclear weapons can be used against an enemy that is using or intending to use weapons of mass destruction. Now just consider for a moment if this had been the policy before the current war in Iraq, we could have eliminated tens of millions of Iraqi civilians by now because of the presidential lie stating that they had weapons of mass destruction. Knowing that the truth is the first casualty in any war, this new policy gives us self approval to eliminate any government, any nation, any group of people at any time. The fact that preventive war was the policy of the Third Reich and that this type of behavior has been condemned by all international law was not given any consideration in the new proposal.
What most people don't know is that the greatest weapon of mass destruction on the planet is the assault rifle. Yes, this is the weapon that kills more people each year than any other. The arms merchants are an international club. Their allegiance is to profit only. Some are U.S. citizens and some are not. They have fostered, promoted and celebrated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and are in the same club as the creators of African genocide as they sell their wares to war lords interested in diamonds and oil.
Whether we are talking about nuclear weapons of mass destruction or about assault rifles, the need for international disarmament is clear. Our unilateral approach to this policy is unsustainable and suicidal. It is our responsibility to denounce this reckless war policy and to build a future of compliance with international law.
One good way to begin the task is to join us on Saturday, September 24th as we gather at noon on the corner of Olympic and Broadway to march to the Downtown Federal Building. We are marching to end the out of control militarism which is destroying the world. We are marching to end the occupation of Iraq, Palestine, and Haiti. We are marching to get military recruiters out of our schools, we are marching to stop the bloodthirsty threats against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea. We are marching so that our grandchildren will not be vaporized by a nuclear mistake.
Pacific Commentary for September 14, 2005
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Well, friends, here is the collateral damage from the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Do you remember when Dr. King said that every bomb that fell on Vietnam also fell on the United States. Do we get it now? Will we ever get it? The war in the Persian Gulf has destroyed the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Our schools have been bombed into test preparation centers in an attempt to make robotized and standardized students who are highly trained and very poorly educated.
The most common visitors to our schools are military public relations people who give candy to the students. This reminds me of the Guatemalan Military who would give candy to the children one day and burn the village to the ground on the following day.
Our students are seduced into militarism in the following ways: Would you like some money for college? It would be good for you to know that seven out of ten students can receive financial aid without going into the military. The vast majority of veterans actually receive NO educational benefits from the military, not one cent.
And now the military is invading our schools with The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) a test developed by the Department of Defense for military recruiters to determine the abilities of a student for military occupational specialties. This test is administered without parents' permission and test results are released to the military without parents’ permission.
Students who take the test often don't even know that it is a military test.
Students who appear to have an aptitude for military service are heavily recruited after the test is taken.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) is currently replacing Physical Education Classes in many of our schools.
The flat out lying of recruiters has been exposed endlessly. One of the most common comments of boot camp drill sergeants is, "Forget everything the recruiters told you!"
Occasionally parents believe that military discipline will be good for their kids. But the discipline of keep your mouth shut, do what you are told and follow orders is entirely external and designed to make a thoughtless killing machine out of a human being. The only authentic discipline is self discipline which is capable of critical thinking and application of conscience.
Our militarism has destroyed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It has also rotted out the entire infrastructure of the United States. It is also a cancer on our educational system. Indeed every bomb which has fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq has fallen on our country as well.
Pacific Commentary for September 7, 2005
NO FINGER POINTING!
Now let's not have any finger pointing!
That's what the accused says when the prosecutor presents the evidence. In this case the prosecutor is represented by the people of the world and the accused have overwhelming evidence against them.
The destruction of the great city of New Orleans together with much of the Gulf Coast is simply a part of the price of the Iraq War. Every year efforts have been made by informed people requesting more federal funding for the levies and infrastructure of that great city on the Mississippi River.
And these requests have been denied in order to pay for an unnecessary, illegal and immoral war. The denial of these necessary funds is also part of a larger ideology which has been festering for three decades. The ideology is called privatization. This ideology is based on a religion of profit for the few. As a result the entire public infrastructure of the United States is deteriorating. The public sector has been under ceaseless attack. We have only to look at the efforts to defund public utilities, social security, public schools, public parks, public highways, public sewer systems, public libraries, public universities and public hospitals. What is even more horrific is that this rigid and useless ideology of private greed has been extended internationally by way of so-called globalization or, neo-liberalism which is simply a reversion to the worst of 19th century laissez faire capitalism.
It is the public sector that has made life livable in the United States. It is the lack of public sector infrastructure, which has made New Orleans and the Gulf Coast unlivable.
Let the troops from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama be the first to return from Iraq. And may they be followed immediately by the rest of our troops to come home and save their country from the terrorism generated by privatization.
But friends let's not just point the finger, let's prosecute the malfeasance of office of those who have systematically defunded the public sector of the United States of America, let us prosecute those who have created endless unnecessary wars and who have extended our military outreach to over eight hundred foreign enclaves which the local people are begging us to leave.
And this is being done as the infrastructure of the United States rots out. New Orleans represents a clear example of privatization and unregulated capitalism. The poor stand on their roofs and beg for help while the president flies over to give them a feigned blessing while FEMA lists Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing as a serious source of legitimate aid. Add to this the fact that our corrupt leadership cares so little about poor people of color that we have just refused aid from fifty-five countries who are anxious to help.
May the thousands of dead in this unnecessary disaster be the occasion of our demanding an end to the unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And may we begin to use the tax money of the United States for the common good of the people of the United States instead of for destruction of innocent people abroad.
Pacific Commentary for August 31, 2005
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Here is an offer that our listeners cannot refuse. The Wall Street Journal tell us that the Yellowstone Club is offering membership to the super rich for an introductory fee of only ten million dollars. Naturally there will be annual fees as well. But just think of the prestige?
Just how much of a moral justification is there for such a Club? According to the principle of distributive justice the right to such organized greed is near zero. Why? In a humane economic system we might study a graph which looks like an archery target.
The center bullseye would represent our needs for survival. Such needs would be called rights in a developed society. For example the rights to housing, food, clothing, education and medical care. There are concentric circles beyond the bull’s eye but each one represents things we have less of a right to until the needs at the center are met. As the central needs are met, a society based on the common good would permit its citizens to expand its vision to lesser rights. In any analysis of distributive justice the right to join a ten million dollar a year club would never exist until all of the homeless were housed, all of the sick cared for and all of the hungry fed. In short, our hearts could stop bleeding for people who take in millions of dollars per year.
Now the odd part of our culture is that many people who earn $30,000 per year or less might seriously object to the principle of distributive justice. Why? Because they have been socialized to dream of billions. Some would even say that such limitations would hinder the incentive for excellence. But the incentive for excellence can be easily seen in scores of Nobel Prize winners who have achieved international fame and who live on a fixed university salary. This gives the lie to the concept that we must have the potential to be billionaires or we won't strive for excellence.
The principle of distributive justice is not based on the concept that everyone should receive the same income. That is not part of the program. On the contrary, it is based on the concept that excessive wealth is the cause of poverty. This principle has not yet reached the political economy of the United States. However, it must go beyond all national borders and become part of the international political economy of the planet's people. May students in the future intelligently study the fact that ten million dollar membership clubs and the arms merchants who joined them were the reason that millions of people lived on garbage dumps in 2005.
Pacific Commentary for August 23, 2005
PAT ROBERTSON
Reverend Pat Robertson has become the personification of nationalistic pseudo-Christianity. During his television program, The 700 Club, he proposed an act of sheer terrorism in calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela.
This is the Christianity of anyone who makes an idol out of the state. This is the Christianity that was popular in the Third Reich as Adolph manipulated Catholics and Lutherans to the Nazi cause.
This is the Christianity of Christendom, the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Conquistadores. This is the Christianity for which Pope John Paul II apologized. Pat Robertson previously supported the sheer terrorism of our illegal Contra War in Nicaragua which was clearly one of the greatest scandals in United States history.
And now he joins the mob that shouted, "We have no king but Caesar!" It takes a warped and putrefied conscience to call for the murder of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. And what might be the motive for this murder? The motive is that the empire does not approve of Hugo Chavez. This servant of empire represents everything that Jesus distained. Here are some words from Jesus on this matter which might be directed to Pat Robertson.
Hypocrites! It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied: "These people honors me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless; and their doctrines are mere human rules" (Matthew 15:7).
Ignore them--they are blind people leading other blind people. And when the blind lead the blind, they all will fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:4).
Woe to you religious scholars, you frauds! You travel over land and over sea to make a single convert, and once that person is converted, you create a proselyte twice as wicked as yourselves (Matthew 23:15).
Serpents, brood of vipers . . . (Matthew 23:33)
The ministry of Pat Robertson has been to betray the one he claims to serve. Remember what Jesus said of the traitor in his midst: "It would be better for him had he not been born."
There are thirty pieces of silver waiting for you, Pat.
Pacific Commentary for August 17, 2005
TRUTH TELLING
Sixty years after the greatest act of terrorism in world history we continue to engage in nuclear war. Uranium 238 should never have been called depleted. It is highly radioactive. It was used with fury in the Gulf War with Iraq which began in 1991 and its continued use has contaminated our troops and the Iraqi people ever since.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that radiation levels in downtown Baghdad are 1,900 times higher than normal. The radioactivity from our weapons using Uranium 238 has penetrated the entire area. It is in the blood of our troops who have come home sick. It is shared by their wives and children. It has also led to gross abnormalities in the children of Iraq. And now, 250,000 of the troops that served at the outset of this endless war are permanently disabled. Our troops and purported enemies in Afghanistan are equally endangered. And yes, this nuclear weapon, Uranium 238 was also used in the recent war in Yugoslavia. President Clinton is not absolved from the war crimes of nuclearism nor the terror of international sanctions.
But Uranium 238 is not the only cause of Gulf War Illness. President Clinton also signed executive order 13139, which ordered our troops to receive a variety of untested vaccines.
Isn't it ironic that the pharmaceutical industry and the war machine are so closely joined at the hip. Just think what a boon Bill Clinton's executive order was to the pharmaceutical industry. Perhaps this will help us to understand how the drug companies were able to take over television advertising with their endless drug pushing.
So what is the point?
There is no indication that a change of party will stop our run-away militarism and lawlessness. And the facade of nationalistic pseudo Christianity is not going to help us either.
The only way out of this mess is to see ourselves primarily as citizens of the planet which has only one people called the human race. The atavistic view of our sick leadership requires political illiteracy and moral unconsciousness. A moral revolution is required to end the slavery of militarism. Yes, we need the spiritual conversion that will lead to reverence for others as brothers and sisters in fact. We must look in the mirror and acknowledge that from the atom bombs to Uranium 238 we are and have been the greatest purveyor of violence on earth. Should we acknowledge our addiction and repent we will quickly find we are in far greater danger from obesity than we are from foreign terrorists.
Pacific Commentary for August 13, 2005
CINDY SHEEHAN
Cindy Sheehan has left her home in Vacaville, California to cover the nation and the world on behalf of her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq.
She is currently near Crawford, Texas petitioning an interview with George Bush. George is, of course, too busy during his vacation to speak to her. Much commercial media is there to report on this valiant action.
Cindy plans to stay at her post in a tent near the Bush Ranch until the end of August. People interested in justice and peace are arriving to join Cindy in solidarity to end this unnecessary and immoral war.
Every possible lie, every act of hypocrisy has been used. Every journalistic hack has been recruited to throw fuel on this hellish fire. In spite of advice from our intelligence agencies warning the president that the war would result in even more attacks here at home, the president continues to recklessly endanger the people of the United States by his rampant acts of terror in Iraq.
All those responsible for this holocaust in Iraq must be brought to justice. This war began in 1991. Fifteen years of bombing, brutal sanctions and invasions have resulted in millions of civilian deaths.
There are hundreds of crosses around Cindy's tent in the Crawford countryside. These represent just some of the women and men from the United States who have died in Iraq for a lie.
It will take years to measure all the lives that have been ruined by Bush, father and son.
We must count all those who are now mentally ill from trauma. And we must begin to count the uncounted dead who have died on their way to hospitals in Germany.
It all cries to heaven for national repentance as we denounce the crimes committed in our name.
You are welcome to go to Crawford now to join Cindy or to follow her to Washington, D.C. in September as the struggle goes on. Cindy, may your brilliant action be the occasion of the mobilization of our citizens. And Casey Sheehan, may you rest in peace and may your mother be recognized as a national hero.
Pacific Commentary for July 27, 2005
HOW TO STOP TERRORISM
Have you ever noticed how careful the media is to tell us what happened in various cases of terrorism against us or our allies?
Actually the media is quite thorough on this.
One small problem, they rarely if ever get into the question of why it happened. Attempts on the part of our political leaders to explain the WHY of terrorism are the very definition of the word asinine. The entire world admires the constructive achievements of the people of the United States. But they have no admiration at all for our terrorism. Comments from our political leaders on this matter would be ludicrous if they were not so tragic.
So how do we stop terrorism? We stop terrorism by stopping our long standing terrorism. This is a good time to reflect on the terror of Hiroshima where hundreds of thousands of civilians were incinerated unnecessarily. Sorry folks but the judgment of history does not support the military propaganda that claims the bombs were necessary to stop the war. The war was over. And there is even less support for any claim that the incineration of Nagasaki was necessary some three days later. This was terror, sheer terror. And yes, it was a message to our ally, the Soviet Union that they would get no credit for ending the Second World War.
Terror and torture marked our interventions in Central America, terror and torture marked the brutal Christmas attack on Panama in 1989. And now terror and torture mark our killing of Iraqis together with our support for the terrorist occupation of Palestine. Our international terrorism has held the entire world hostage with nuclear weapons as our message clearly states that we can have as many nuclear weapons as we want but we will abolish any state that we judge should not have them. What logic!
The presence of over eight hundred military bases around the globe terrorizes people everywhere. Indeed we are addicted to terror. And as any addict we are striking out at everyone rather than acknowledging our addiction.
We will accomplish nothing until we acknowledge why people are striking at us.
And now we are ready to put an individual on the Supreme Court who does not believe that prisoners of war are entitled to hear the charges against them, to have due process of law and who supports kangaroo military tribunals. What a set-up for continued terror.
Please take note of our addictive behavior regarding the destruction of Falluja. No photos have been tolerated. The media forgot to mention that half of the Iraqi soldiers who were assigned to that mission deserted and that 20% were in open mutiny against us.
So we should look in the mirror and acknowledge our role as the world's greatest manufacturer of terror. Our ill-advised and brutal behavior will continue to create terror until we cease and desist from our terrorism. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Pacific Commentary for July 20, 2005
LOGIC
In the study of logic, an argument based solely on authority is considered a classic fallacy. The logic of, "I'm in charge here," has absolutely no reference to the truth or validity of the argument. Oh, yes, it may be translated as, "I can fire you, I can punish you or even I can kill you," but it has absolutely no reference to the truth of what is being said.
We are taught to respect authority and that is a serious mistake. Authority must demonstrate the validity and the truth of its position in order to be respected. This problem is especially great with children, they are taught to respect their elders but they may not be warned how to recognize a child molester. And it gets worse with schooling. See how they learn to repeat what the teacher wants. The very history books they study are warped with the triumphalism of state sponsored texts. They repeat the drill not because of the validity or truth which it contains but simply because it is the drill.
Reflect on General Westmoreland. He believed that the enemy did not respect human life as much as we did. Well he learned that myth at West Point as it was handed down from the time of the Spanish American War. Did the statement have any truth? Of course not. But he learned it from authority without understanding that an argument based on authority only is a false argument. He spent his days in Vietnam begging for more troops as he presided over the massacre of three million people. They simply do not respect human life as much as we do? The value of General Westmoreland's logic was zero. But he did have authority.
And friends that is the situation with our current leadership. Our administration uses its authority to denounce the terrorism of others as it refuses to denounce its constant practice of state terrorism worldwide. Our authorities denounce torture conducted by others but they deny the torture which they practice as official policy.
Our authorities denounce the assassinations committed by others but they continue to practice assassinations.
There are two cases where this abuse should be self-evident. Israel as related to Palestine and United States as related to Iraq. In both cases the weaker state has clearly been the victim of institutionalized violence. In both cases the stronger state refuses to acknowledge its responsibility for having created the problem.
When you see that bumper sticker which simply states: QUESTION AUTHORITY please realize that the great political powers of the earth certainly have a monopoly on the violence they can create. Unfortunately their power demonstrates absolutely no claim to any truth or validity in their endless babble of propaganda. Without critical thinking and conscience we become mindless robots and automatons.
It is our moral responsibility to question authority and to rectify the evils created by mindless authority.
Pacific Commentary for July 13, 2005
IMMORALITY AND MALICE AT THE SERVICE OF IGNORANCE
Just think of the horror of sending your kids off to school and shortly thereafter finding out that they had been killed by a bomb. People throughout the world have been experiencing this terror whether they live in England, Iraq, Israel, Palestine or the United States. Our condolences to the endless number of victims and families. Such strategies are immoral and mindless. In the past fourteen years in Iraq, however, over 5,000 times the civilian casualties of the recent London bombing have occurred. Has there been the slightest expression of grief for these Iraqi civilians?
Now after receiving the equivalent of over 5,000 London bombings would it not be expected that some people might just respond in anger, in rage and in terror? We are stunned when the Blair/Bush response states that this is because they hate our way of life. But wait a minute, if our way of life includes the routine killing hundreds of thousands of people, both Blair and Bush have a point.
All rational beings on the planet can now see the futility of one nation bankrupting its people to purchase self-destructive armaments. We assert our power over weak and defenseless states, some of them respond with rage. Then we ask why they don't love us. The policy to date has been one of immorality at the service of ignorance.
Friends, the point here is that the war system is a suicide system. We are shocked by suicide bombers but we have become the international suicide bombers. Our bombings result in the death of our people as well as the intended victims.We need a realignment. By that I do not mean a change of political parties. A realignment implies an entirely new perspective on the part of a majority.
Our realignment must include a global view. There are mindless voices from highly trained and poorly educated media pundits who are saying that the Muslims of the world want to destroy us. These must be the ghosts of those who thought the Vietnamese Buddhists wanted to destroy us or the Central American Christians wanted to destroy us.
Quite simply, all we have to do is reflect on the fundamental right to self-defense while knowing that some people will respond by making their own rules.
Those who repeat the past do not respect the past. The past is marked by violence, racism and ignorance. Respect for the past implies change, realignment and wisdom.
The planet cannot be sustained by arrogant power. The planet can only be sustained by rational people building a system of justice and peace.
Pacific Commentary for July 6, 2005
SUBVERSIVE LITERATURE
Just suppose you are one of the newly elected members of Iraq's new client government. Just suppose you are reading a political science book and you come across a subversive document. You hope and pray that your U.S. handlers do not discover your reading material.
The document says: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government."
You furtively read on discovering that the subversives who wrote this were speaking of a foreign head of state by the name of George. They directly confronted George with the following indictments:
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
Just picture the member of the new Iraqi client state gathering his or her colleagues together to approve of this subversive document and to pledge their allegiance to it by stating:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Pacific Commentary for June 29, 2005
FORT BRAGG
Someone spoke to the troops at Fort Bragg last night. Whoever spoke was not in touch with recent history.
The speaker seemed to think the war in Iraq was related to the attacks on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. It was not. The war in Iraq was started to grab power in the Middle East. Those who planned it were among the most deceitful and immoral individuals who have ever served in government. Their arrogance, mediocrity and shamelessness simply mark seeking power at any price.
The speaker lied saying that Iraq had to be rebuilt because of the tyrant who previously ruled there. No, that was not true. As in the case of many tyrants, for example Mussolini, the physical conditions in Iraq under the tyrant Saddam Hussein were some of the best in the Arab world. The speaker knows very well that Iraq has to be rebuilt because 88,000 tons of bombs were dropped on that nation by the order of his father.
Last night's speaker knew and relished the fact that Iraq has been under unceasing attacks for fourteen years. It has been bombed, it has been starved out, it has been denied any medical assistance under the individual who served as president after the reign of the father of last night's speaker.
Iraq does not have to be rebuilt because of a former tyrant. It has to be rebuilt because we have destroyed it. The Shock and Awe attack simply broke the back of a country that was attempting to dig its way out of the ashes.
Someone should attempt to get across to last night's speaker that after you blow the Iraqi children to pieces with pretty cluster bombs, after you routinely torture their sons and daughters, after you abolish their sacred shrines and their sacred cities, after you define them as devils, after you poison their bodies and their soil with highly toxic radioactive dust, you might just expect them to resist. There is no ethic in the world which identifies self-defense as terrorism. All rational human beings will defend their families and their personal and spiritual integrity. Insurgency is one thing, terrorism is another.
And in the process of their rage a few people will unfortunately become terrorists. Criminals are often thought to be delusional and uninformed but they frequently know exactly what they are doing and why. Should his view of the War in Iraq remain as policy, the utter devastation of that country together with the current and rapid deterioration of the United States will continue concomitantly.
Mr. Bush, please do a favor to the world's people, please step down together with your arrogant, mediocre and war mongering cronies.
CONCERN FOR HUMANITY
The Defense Department has revised its program for the use of nuclear weapons.
This revision empowers military commanders to request presidential approval to engage in a preventive attack with nuclear weapons on a nation or an alleged terrorist group which might use weapons of mass destruction.
The previous policy which was stated in 1995 contained no mention of using nuclear weapons preemptively.
But the new doctrine makes it clear that nuclear weapons can be used against an enemy that is using or intending to use weapons of mass destruction. Now just consider for a moment if this had been the policy before the current war in Iraq, we could have eliminated tens of millions of Iraqi civilians by now because of the presidential lie stating that they had weapons of mass destruction. Knowing that the truth is the first casualty in any war, this new policy gives us self approval to eliminate any government, any nation, any group of people at any time. The fact that preventive war was the policy of the Third Reich and that this type of behavior has been condemned by all international law was not given any consideration in the new proposal.
What most people don't know is that the greatest weapon of mass destruction on the planet is the assault rifle. Yes, this is the weapon that kills more people each year than any other. The arms merchants are an international club. Their allegiance is to profit only. Some are U.S. citizens and some are not. They have fostered, promoted and celebrated the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and are in the same club as the creators of African genocide as they sell their wares to war lords interested in diamonds and oil.
Whether we are talking about nuclear weapons of mass destruction or about assault rifles, the need for international disarmament is clear. Our unilateral approach to this policy is unsustainable and suicidal. It is our responsibility to denounce this reckless war policy and to build a future of compliance with international law.
One good way to begin the task is to join us on Saturday, September 24th as we gather at noon on the corner of Olympic and Broadway to march to the Downtown Federal Building. We are marching to end the out of control militarism which is destroying the world. We are marching to end the occupation of Iraq, Palestine, and Haiti. We are marching to get military recruiters out of our schools, we are marching to stop the bloodthirsty threats against Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea. We are marching so that our grandchildren will not be vaporized by a nuclear mistake.
Pacific Commentary for September 14, 2005
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
Well, friends, here is the collateral damage from the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq. Do you remember when Dr. King said that every bomb that fell on Vietnam also fell on the United States. Do we get it now? Will we ever get it? The war in the Persian Gulf has destroyed the Gulf Coast of the United States.
Our schools have been bombed into test preparation centers in an attempt to make robotized and standardized students who are highly trained and very poorly educated.
The most common visitors to our schools are military public relations people who give candy to the students. This reminds me of the Guatemalan Military who would give candy to the children one day and burn the village to the ground on the following day.
Our students are seduced into militarism in the following ways: Would you like some money for college? It would be good for you to know that seven out of ten students can receive financial aid without going into the military. The vast majority of veterans actually receive NO educational benefits from the military, not one cent.
And now the military is invading our schools with The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) a test developed by the Department of Defense for military recruiters to determine the abilities of a student for military occupational specialties. This test is administered without parents' permission and test results are released to the military without parents’ permission.
Students who take the test often don't even know that it is a military test.
Students who appear to have an aptitude for military service are heavily recruited after the test is taken.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) is currently replacing Physical Education Classes in many of our schools.
The flat out lying of recruiters has been exposed endlessly. One of the most common comments of boot camp drill sergeants is, "Forget everything the recruiters told you!"
Occasionally parents believe that military discipline will be good for their kids. But the discipline of keep your mouth shut, do what you are told and follow orders is entirely external and designed to make a thoughtless killing machine out of a human being. The only authentic discipline is self discipline which is capable of critical thinking and application of conscience.
Our militarism has destroyed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. It has also rotted out the entire infrastructure of the United States. It is also a cancer on our educational system. Indeed every bomb which has fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq has fallen on our country as well.
Pacific Commentary for September 7, 2005
NO FINGER POINTING!
Now let's not have any finger pointing!
That's what the accused says when the prosecutor presents the evidence. In this case the prosecutor is represented by the people of the world and the accused have overwhelming evidence against them.
The destruction of the great city of New Orleans together with much of the Gulf Coast is simply a part of the price of the Iraq War. Every year efforts have been made by informed people requesting more federal funding for the levies and infrastructure of that great city on the Mississippi River.
And these requests have been denied in order to pay for an unnecessary, illegal and immoral war. The denial of these necessary funds is also part of a larger ideology which has been festering for three decades. The ideology is called privatization. This ideology is based on a religion of profit for the few. As a result the entire public infrastructure of the United States is deteriorating. The public sector has been under ceaseless attack. We have only to look at the efforts to defund public utilities, social security, public schools, public parks, public highways, public sewer systems, public libraries, public universities and public hospitals. What is even more horrific is that this rigid and useless ideology of private greed has been extended internationally by way of so-called globalization or, neo-liberalism which is simply a reversion to the worst of 19th century laissez faire capitalism.
It is the public sector that has made life livable in the United States. It is the lack of public sector infrastructure, which has made New Orleans and the Gulf Coast unlivable.
Let the troops from Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama be the first to return from Iraq. And may they be followed immediately by the rest of our troops to come home and save their country from the terrorism generated by privatization.
But friends let's not just point the finger, let's prosecute the malfeasance of office of those who have systematically defunded the public sector of the United States of America, let us prosecute those who have created endless unnecessary wars and who have extended our military outreach to over eight hundred foreign enclaves which the local people are begging us to leave.
And this is being done as the infrastructure of the United States rots out. New Orleans represents a clear example of privatization and unregulated capitalism. The poor stand on their roofs and beg for help while the president flies over to give them a feigned blessing while FEMA lists Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing as a serious source of legitimate aid. Add to this the fact that our corrupt leadership cares so little about poor people of color that we have just refused aid from fifty-five countries who are anxious to help.
May the thousands of dead in this unnecessary disaster be the occasion of our demanding an end to the unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And may we begin to use the tax money of the United States for the common good of the people of the United States instead of for destruction of innocent people abroad.
Pacific Commentary for August 31, 2005
DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
Here is an offer that our listeners cannot refuse. The Wall Street Journal tell us that the Yellowstone Club is offering membership to the super rich for an introductory fee of only ten million dollars. Naturally there will be annual fees as well. But just think of the prestige?
Just how much of a moral justification is there for such a Club? According to the principle of distributive justice the right to such organized greed is near zero. Why? In a humane economic system we might study a graph which looks like an archery target.
The center bullseye would represent our needs for survival. Such needs would be called rights in a developed society. For example the rights to housing, food, clothing, education and medical care. There are concentric circles beyond the bull’s eye but each one represents things we have less of a right to until the needs at the center are met. As the central needs are met, a society based on the common good would permit its citizens to expand its vision to lesser rights. In any analysis of distributive justice the right to join a ten million dollar a year club would never exist until all of the homeless were housed, all of the sick cared for and all of the hungry fed. In short, our hearts could stop bleeding for people who take in millions of dollars per year.
Now the odd part of our culture is that many people who earn $30,000 per year or less might seriously object to the principle of distributive justice. Why? Because they have been socialized to dream of billions. Some would even say that such limitations would hinder the incentive for excellence. But the incentive for excellence can be easily seen in scores of Nobel Prize winners who have achieved international fame and who live on a fixed university salary. This gives the lie to the concept that we must have the potential to be billionaires or we won't strive for excellence.
The principle of distributive justice is not based on the concept that everyone should receive the same income. That is not part of the program. On the contrary, it is based on the concept that excessive wealth is the cause of poverty. This principle has not yet reached the political economy of the United States. However, it must go beyond all national borders and become part of the international political economy of the planet's people. May students in the future intelligently study the fact that ten million dollar membership clubs and the arms merchants who joined them were the reason that millions of people lived on garbage dumps in 2005.
Pacific Commentary for August 23, 2005
PAT ROBERTSON
Reverend Pat Robertson has become the personification of nationalistic pseudo-Christianity. During his television program, The 700 Club, he proposed an act of sheer terrorism in calling for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela.
This is the Christianity of anyone who makes an idol out of the state. This is the Christianity that was popular in the Third Reich as Adolph manipulated Catholics and Lutherans to the Nazi cause.
This is the Christianity of Christendom, the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Conquistadores. This is the Christianity for which Pope John Paul II apologized. Pat Robertson previously supported the sheer terrorism of our illegal Contra War in Nicaragua which was clearly one of the greatest scandals in United States history.
And now he joins the mob that shouted, "We have no king but Caesar!" It takes a warped and putrefied conscience to call for the murder of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. And what might be the motive for this murder? The motive is that the empire does not approve of Hugo Chavez. This servant of empire represents everything that Jesus distained. Here are some words from Jesus on this matter which might be directed to Pat Robertson.
Hypocrites! It was you Isaiah meant when he so rightly prophesied: "These people honors me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless; and their doctrines are mere human rules" (Matthew 15:7).
Ignore them--they are blind people leading other blind people. And when the blind lead the blind, they all will fall into a ditch (Matthew 15:4).
Woe to you religious scholars, you frauds! You travel over land and over sea to make a single convert, and once that person is converted, you create a proselyte twice as wicked as yourselves (Matthew 23:15).
Serpents, brood of vipers . . . (Matthew 23:33)
The ministry of Pat Robertson has been to betray the one he claims to serve. Remember what Jesus said of the traitor in his midst: "It would be better for him had he not been born."
There are thirty pieces of silver waiting for you, Pat.
Pacific Commentary for August 17, 2005
TRUTH TELLING
Sixty years after the greatest act of terrorism in world history we continue to engage in nuclear war. Uranium 238 should never have been called depleted. It is highly radioactive. It was used with fury in the Gulf War with Iraq which began in 1991 and its continued use has contaminated our troops and the Iraqi people ever since.
The Christian Science Monitor reports that radiation levels in downtown Baghdad are 1,900 times higher than normal. The radioactivity from our weapons using Uranium 238 has penetrated the entire area. It is in the blood of our troops who have come home sick. It is shared by their wives and children. It has also led to gross abnormalities in the children of Iraq. And now, 250,000 of the troops that served at the outset of this endless war are permanently disabled. Our troops and purported enemies in Afghanistan are equally endangered. And yes, this nuclear weapon, Uranium 238 was also used in the recent war in Yugoslavia. President Clinton is not absolved from the war crimes of nuclearism nor the terror of international sanctions.
But Uranium 238 is not the only cause of Gulf War Illness. President Clinton also signed executive order 13139, which ordered our troops to receive a variety of untested vaccines.
Isn't it ironic that the pharmaceutical industry and the war machine are so closely joined at the hip. Just think what a boon Bill Clinton's executive order was to the pharmaceutical industry. Perhaps this will help us to understand how the drug companies were able to take over television advertising with their endless drug pushing.
So what is the point?
There is no indication that a change of party will stop our run-away militarism and lawlessness. And the facade of nationalistic pseudo Christianity is not going to help us either.
The only way out of this mess is to see ourselves primarily as citizens of the planet which has only one people called the human race. The atavistic view of our sick leadership requires political illiteracy and moral unconsciousness. A moral revolution is required to end the slavery of militarism. Yes, we need the spiritual conversion that will lead to reverence for others as brothers and sisters in fact. We must look in the mirror and acknowledge that from the atom bombs to Uranium 238 we are and have been the greatest purveyor of violence on earth. Should we acknowledge our addiction and repent we will quickly find we are in far greater danger from obesity than we are from foreign terrorists.
Pacific Commentary for August 13, 2005
CINDY SHEEHAN
Cindy Sheehan has left her home in Vacaville, California to cover the nation and the world on behalf of her son, Casey, who was killed in Iraq.
She is currently near Crawford, Texas petitioning an interview with George Bush. George is, of course, too busy during his vacation to speak to her. Much commercial media is there to report on this valiant action.
Cindy plans to stay at her post in a tent near the Bush Ranch until the end of August. People interested in justice and peace are arriving to join Cindy in solidarity to end this unnecessary and immoral war.
Every possible lie, every act of hypocrisy has been used. Every journalistic hack has been recruited to throw fuel on this hellish fire. In spite of advice from our intelligence agencies warning the president that the war would result in even more attacks here at home, the president continues to recklessly endanger the people of the United States by his rampant acts of terror in Iraq.
All those responsible for this holocaust in Iraq must be brought to justice. This war began in 1991. Fifteen years of bombing, brutal sanctions and invasions have resulted in millions of civilian deaths.
There are hundreds of crosses around Cindy's tent in the Crawford countryside. These represent just some of the women and men from the United States who have died in Iraq for a lie.
It will take years to measure all the lives that have been ruined by Bush, father and son.
We must count all those who are now mentally ill from trauma. And we must begin to count the uncounted dead who have died on their way to hospitals in Germany.
It all cries to heaven for national repentance as we denounce the crimes committed in our name.
You are welcome to go to Crawford now to join Cindy or to follow her to Washington, D.C. in September as the struggle goes on. Cindy, may your brilliant action be the occasion of the mobilization of our citizens. And Casey Sheehan, may you rest in peace and may your mother be recognized as a national hero.
Pacific Commentary for July 27, 2005
HOW TO STOP TERRORISM
Have you ever noticed how careful the media is to tell us what happened in various cases of terrorism against us or our allies?
Actually the media is quite thorough on this.
One small problem, they rarely if ever get into the question of why it happened. Attempts on the part of our political leaders to explain the WHY of terrorism are the very definition of the word asinine. The entire world admires the constructive achievements of the people of the United States. But they have no admiration at all for our terrorism. Comments from our political leaders on this matter would be ludicrous if they were not so tragic.
So how do we stop terrorism? We stop terrorism by stopping our long standing terrorism. This is a good time to reflect on the terror of Hiroshima where hundreds of thousands of civilians were incinerated unnecessarily. Sorry folks but the judgment of history does not support the military propaganda that claims the bombs were necessary to stop the war. The war was over. And there is even less support for any claim that the incineration of Nagasaki was necessary some three days later. This was terror, sheer terror. And yes, it was a message to our ally, the Soviet Union that they would get no credit for ending the Second World War.
Terror and torture marked our interventions in Central America, terror and torture marked the brutal Christmas attack on Panama in 1989. And now terror and torture mark our killing of Iraqis together with our support for the terrorist occupation of Palestine. Our international terrorism has held the entire world hostage with nuclear weapons as our message clearly states that we can have as many nuclear weapons as we want but we will abolish any state that we judge should not have them. What logic!
The presence of over eight hundred military bases around the globe terrorizes people everywhere. Indeed we are addicted to terror. And as any addict we are striking out at everyone rather than acknowledging our addiction.
We will accomplish nothing until we acknowledge why people are striking at us.
And now we are ready to put an individual on the Supreme Court who does not believe that prisoners of war are entitled to hear the charges against them, to have due process of law and who supports kangaroo military tribunals. What a set-up for continued terror.
Please take note of our addictive behavior regarding the destruction of Falluja. No photos have been tolerated. The media forgot to mention that half of the Iraqi soldiers who were assigned to that mission deserted and that 20% were in open mutiny against us.
So we should look in the mirror and acknowledge our role as the world's greatest manufacturer of terror. Our ill-advised and brutal behavior will continue to create terror until we cease and desist from our terrorism. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Pacific Commentary for July 20, 2005
LOGIC
In the study of logic, an argument based solely on authority is considered a classic fallacy. The logic of, "I'm in charge here," has absolutely no reference to the truth or validity of the argument. Oh, yes, it may be translated as, "I can fire you, I can punish you or even I can kill you," but it has absolutely no reference to the truth of what is being said.
We are taught to respect authority and that is a serious mistake. Authority must demonstrate the validity and the truth of its position in order to be respected. This problem is especially great with children, they are taught to respect their elders but they may not be warned how to recognize a child molester. And it gets worse with schooling. See how they learn to repeat what the teacher wants. The very history books they study are warped with the triumphalism of state sponsored texts. They repeat the drill not because of the validity or truth which it contains but simply because it is the drill.
Reflect on General Westmoreland. He believed that the enemy did not respect human life as much as we did. Well he learned that myth at West Point as it was handed down from the time of the Spanish American War. Did the statement have any truth? Of course not. But he learned it from authority without understanding that an argument based on authority only is a false argument. He spent his days in Vietnam begging for more troops as he presided over the massacre of three million people. They simply do not respect human life as much as we do? The value of General Westmoreland's logic was zero. But he did have authority.
And friends that is the situation with our current leadership. Our administration uses its authority to denounce the terrorism of others as it refuses to denounce its constant practice of state terrorism worldwide. Our authorities denounce torture conducted by others but they deny the torture which they practice as official policy.
Our authorities denounce the assassinations committed by others but they continue to practice assassinations.
There are two cases where this abuse should be self-evident. Israel as related to Palestine and United States as related to Iraq. In both cases the weaker state has clearly been the victim of institutionalized violence. In both cases the stronger state refuses to acknowledge its responsibility for having created the problem.
When you see that bumper sticker which simply states: QUESTION AUTHORITY please realize that the great political powers of the earth certainly have a monopoly on the violence they can create. Unfortunately their power demonstrates absolutely no claim to any truth or validity in their endless babble of propaganda. Without critical thinking and conscience we become mindless robots and automatons.
It is our moral responsibility to question authority and to rectify the evils created by mindless authority.
Pacific Commentary for July 13, 2005
IMMORALITY AND MALICE AT THE SERVICE OF IGNORANCE
Just think of the horror of sending your kids off to school and shortly thereafter finding out that they had been killed by a bomb. People throughout the world have been experiencing this terror whether they live in England, Iraq, Israel, Palestine or the United States. Our condolences to the endless number of victims and families. Such strategies are immoral and mindless. In the past fourteen years in Iraq, however, over 5,000 times the civilian casualties of the recent London bombing have occurred. Has there been the slightest expression of grief for these Iraqi civilians?
Now after receiving the equivalent of over 5,000 London bombings would it not be expected that some people might just respond in anger, in rage and in terror? We are stunned when the Blair/Bush response states that this is because they hate our way of life. But wait a minute, if our way of life includes the routine killing hundreds of thousands of people, both Blair and Bush have a point.
All rational beings on the planet can now see the futility of one nation bankrupting its people to purchase self-destructive armaments. We assert our power over weak and defenseless states, some of them respond with rage. Then we ask why they don't love us. The policy to date has been one of immorality at the service of ignorance.
Friends, the point here is that the war system is a suicide system. We are shocked by suicide bombers but we have become the international suicide bombers. Our bombings result in the death of our people as well as the intended victims.We need a realignment. By that I do not mean a change of political parties. A realignment implies an entirely new perspective on the part of a majority.
Our realignment must include a global view. There are mindless voices from highly trained and poorly educated media pundits who are saying that the Muslims of the world want to destroy us. These must be the ghosts of those who thought the Vietnamese Buddhists wanted to destroy us or the Central American Christians wanted to destroy us.
Quite simply, all we have to do is reflect on the fundamental right to self-defense while knowing that some people will respond by making their own rules.
Those who repeat the past do not respect the past. The past is marked by violence, racism and ignorance. Respect for the past implies change, realignment and wisdom.
The planet cannot be sustained by arrogant power. The planet can only be sustained by rational people building a system of justice and peace.
Pacific Commentary for July 6, 2005
SUBVERSIVE LITERATURE
Just suppose you are one of the newly elected members of Iraq's new client government. Just suppose you are reading a political science book and you come across a subversive document. You hope and pray that your U.S. handlers do not discover your reading material.
The document says: "That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government."
You furtively read on discovering that the subversives who wrote this were speaking of a foreign head of state by the name of George. They directly confronted George with the following indictments:
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
Just picture the member of the new Iraqi client state gathering his or her colleagues together to approve of this subversive document and to pledge their allegiance to it by stating:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Pacific Commentary for June 29, 2005
FORT BRAGG
Someone spoke to the troops at Fort Bragg last night. Whoever spoke was not in touch with recent history.
The speaker seemed to think the war in Iraq was related to the attacks on the twin towers on September 11, 2001. It was not. The war in Iraq was started to grab power in the Middle East. Those who planned it were among the most deceitful and immoral individuals who have ever served in government. Their arrogance, mediocrity and shamelessness simply mark seeking power at any price.
The speaker lied saying that Iraq had to be rebuilt because of the tyrant who previously ruled there. No, that was not true. As in the case of many tyrants, for example Mussolini, the physical conditions in Iraq under the tyrant Saddam Hussein were some of the best in the Arab world. The speaker knows very well that Iraq has to be rebuilt because 88,000 tons of bombs were dropped on that nation by the order of his father.
Last night's speaker knew and relished the fact that Iraq has been under unceasing attacks for fourteen years. It has been bombed, it has been starved out, it has been denied any medical assistance under the individual who served as president after the reign of the father of last night's speaker.
Iraq does not have to be rebuilt because of a former tyrant. It has to be rebuilt because we have destroyed it. The Shock and Awe attack simply broke the back of a country that was attempting to dig its way out of the ashes.
Someone should attempt to get across to last night's speaker that after you blow the Iraqi children to pieces with pretty cluster bombs, after you routinely torture their sons and daughters, after you abolish their sacred shrines and their sacred cities, after you define them as devils, after you poison their bodies and their soil with highly toxic radioactive dust, you might just expect them to resist. There is no ethic in the world which identifies self-defense as terrorism. All rational human beings will defend their families and their personal and spiritual integrity. Insurgency is one thing, terrorism is another.
And in the process of their rage a few people will unfortunately become terrorists. Criminals are often thought to be delusional and uninformed but they frequently know exactly what they are doing and why. Should his view of the War in Iraq remain as policy, the utter devastation of that country together with the current and rapid deterioration of the United States will continue concomitantly.
Mr. Bush, please do a favor to the world's people, please step down together with your arrogant, mediocre and war mongering cronies.
