Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Pacifica Commentary for January 25, 2006
Liberty and Justice for All
You be the judge. Here comes a Chief Warrant Officer to take charge of a prisoner, Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush. First the general is beaten for 30 minutes, then he is held down and water is poured in his face, then the general was stuffed into a sleeping bag by the Chief Warrant Officer who then wraps the bag with electrical wire and sits on his chest for 20 minutes. The general dies.
The case is heard at Fort Carson, Colorado by a military court. There is no jail time for the Warrant Officer but he must spend the next 60 days on vacation at his home, his office or his church.
Now on the same day, Daniel Burns, a non-violent protester was sentenced to six months in prison for spattering some of his blood at a military recruiting center to oppose the outset of the looming disastrous war in Iraq.
Three more of these St. Patrick's Four who poured blood at the recruiting center on March 17, 2003, will be sentenced this week. We expect them to receive the same six-month sentence.
Just what is the message here? Let our children understand. If you are a good robot, follow orders, and torture one of our enemies to death, you will receive no jail time. If, on the other hand, you face an approaching evil and attempt to identify it by classic non-violent and prophetic action, you will be declared an enemy of the state and given a severe prison sentence.
The St. Patrick Four have made a very important statement to the people of the United States. They made a necessary statement of opposition to a war that is now known to be both illegal and immoral. It is a war which represents a major moral and political defeat for the United States.
And our lying administration continues to say, "We don't torture." The same anti-intellectual and ahistorical elements that freed the warrant officer who was "just following orders" are now involved in a campaign to demonize Islam as an evil religion. Opportunists clothed as intellectuals from all over the country are quickly jumping on this lucrative bandwagon.
So now do you understand that we are really torturing the devil? Please repeat after me, "We are torturing the devil!" And if you refuse to repeat that, we have approved ways of dealing with you.
You be the judge. Here comes a Chief Warrant Officer to take charge of a prisoner, Iraqi Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush. First the general is beaten for 30 minutes, then he is held down and water is poured in his face, then the general was stuffed into a sleeping bag by the Chief Warrant Officer who then wraps the bag with electrical wire and sits on his chest for 20 minutes. The general dies.
The case is heard at Fort Carson, Colorado by a military court. There is no jail time for the Warrant Officer but he must spend the next 60 days on vacation at his home, his office or his church.
Now on the same day, Daniel Burns, a non-violent protester was sentenced to six months in prison for spattering some of his blood at a military recruiting center to oppose the outset of the looming disastrous war in Iraq.
Three more of these St. Patrick's Four who poured blood at the recruiting center on March 17, 2003, will be sentenced this week. We expect them to receive the same six-month sentence.
Just what is the message here? Let our children understand. If you are a good robot, follow orders, and torture one of our enemies to death, you will receive no jail time. If, on the other hand, you face an approaching evil and attempt to identify it by classic non-violent and prophetic action, you will be declared an enemy of the state and given a severe prison sentence.
The St. Patrick Four have made a very important statement to the people of the United States. They made a necessary statement of opposition to a war that is now known to be both illegal and immoral. It is a war which represents a major moral and political defeat for the United States.
And our lying administration continues to say, "We don't torture." The same anti-intellectual and ahistorical elements that freed the warrant officer who was "just following orders" are now involved in a campaign to demonize Islam as an evil religion. Opportunists clothed as intellectuals from all over the country are quickly jumping on this lucrative bandwagon.
So now do you understand that we are really torturing the devil? Please repeat after me, "We are torturing the devil!" And if you refuse to repeat that, we have approved ways of dealing with you.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Pacifica Commentary for January 18, 2006
A standardized test for aspirants to serve as justices on the Supreme Court
Here is a standardized test for anyone who would aspire to be a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. I have even answered the questions as I think Judge Alito might answer them.
1. Are you in favor of the death penalty? Yes.
2. Is the President allowed to start a war? Yes
3. Do we have liberty and justice for all in the United States? Yes.
4. Would you send an innocent person to death because of a procedural impasse? Yes.
5. The United States is a classless society? Yes.
6. Do you believe that torture is legal? Yes.
7. Do you think that the Supreme Court is less powerful than the president? Yes
8. Do you think that the power of judicial review must exclude foreign policy decisions?
Yes.
9. Regardless of your religion, do you think that less harm would be done if abortion were illegal? Yes.
10. Do you think our prison system is just? Yes
11. It is best to keep the Constitution the way it is and NOT to amend it to declare health care as a right for all. Yes.
12. It is best to keep the Constitution the way it is and NOT to amend it to declare education a right for all citizens. Yes.
13. Are the CIA and NSA structured in accord with the Constitution of the United States?
Yes.
14. Is rendition of captives for torture in foreign lands legal? Yes.
Were I the examiner, I would then say, "Thank you for your participation, Judge, but you
have failed every question. Sorry, we have no further questions. Please look for some
other employment.
It seems to me that the spiritual death process is well underway when a majority of the Supreme Court Justices can concur on the death penalty. They obviously are out of touch
with the civilized world which has denounced the death penalty. They obviously have made the war, death, gun, military industrial culture into a suicidal cult. THE SUPREME
CULT.
"Yes" men have been drafted into our administration with a vengeance. Their yes is to power, their no is to the sovereignty of the people.
Here is a standardized test for anyone who would aspire to be a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. I have even answered the questions as I think Judge Alito might answer them.
1. Are you in favor of the death penalty? Yes.
2. Is the President allowed to start a war? Yes
3. Do we have liberty and justice for all in the United States? Yes.
4. Would you send an innocent person to death because of a procedural impasse? Yes.
5. The United States is a classless society? Yes.
6. Do you believe that torture is legal? Yes.
7. Do you think that the Supreme Court is less powerful than the president? Yes
8. Do you think that the power of judicial review must exclude foreign policy decisions?
Yes.
9. Regardless of your religion, do you think that less harm would be done if abortion were illegal? Yes.
10. Do you think our prison system is just? Yes
11. It is best to keep the Constitution the way it is and NOT to amend it to declare health care as a right for all. Yes.
12. It is best to keep the Constitution the way it is and NOT to amend it to declare education a right for all citizens. Yes.
13. Are the CIA and NSA structured in accord with the Constitution of the United States?
Yes.
14. Is rendition of captives for torture in foreign lands legal? Yes.
Were I the examiner, I would then say, "Thank you for your participation, Judge, but you
have failed every question. Sorry, we have no further questions. Please look for some
other employment.
It seems to me that the spiritual death process is well underway when a majority of the Supreme Court Justices can concur on the death penalty. They obviously are out of touch
with the civilized world which has denounced the death penalty. They obviously have made the war, death, gun, military industrial culture into a suicidal cult. THE SUPREME
CULT.
"Yes" men have been drafted into our administration with a vengeance. Their yes is to power, their no is to the sovereignty of the people.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Pacifica commentary for January 11, 2006
Latin America Breaking Away
It is unfortunate that the only way Latin America can have relative peace is when the United States is busy with other wars. Way back in 1938 Mexico succeeded in nationalizing its oil because our country was preparing for WW II and we wanted Mexico as an ally. Fascism was very popular in Mexico and the US was afraid that Mexico would go with the Axis powers so we did not intervene when Lazaro Cardenas nationalized Mexican oil. We did intervene, however, in Iran when they insisted on nationalizing their oil.
That gave us the dictatorship of the Shah of Iran. And we did intervene when Iraq would not agree to privatize their oil. That is how the current fifteen year old war began in Iraq.
In spite of our brutal and unnecessary war in the Middle East, we are currently intervening in Colombia with both mercenary corporate troops as well as with our military. We have also kidnapped the popular president of Haiti and exiled him to South Africa leaving Haiti in shambles. But we simply can't intervene everywhere that our pathetic leadership would desire.
Currently our failed administration would like to intervene in Syria, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. Actually, I think were it not for other pending wars we would certainly attempt to invade the rest of Latin America as well. Why? The Aymara and Quechua people of Bolivia have run the water and gas privatizers out of their country and have chosen an indigenous president, Evo Morales. Isn't that an affront to the Conquistadores from the north?
And what about Uruguay? There are socialists in high places. Isn't that a cause for intervention? And what about Argentina, where workers are actually taking over the management of industry? There is a good reason to intervene. And Brazil has a president from the Workers Party. Goodness, we don't even have a workers party. That must be a reason to intervene. Why don't these people love us? Could it be that for every dollar we have invested in Latin America during the past century, we have taken out three dollars of profit? And when our president recently went to Argentina for the Mar del Plata Summit, he was unable to dictate the rules of the game. The opposition to the methods of the World Trade Organization was powerful and effective.
And in Chile a fellow physician and disciple of Salvador Allende is making her way into power. Can't we dust off Henry Kissinger to locate a dictator like Augusto Pinochet to supplant her?
Friends, representative democracy was designed so that the literate few might rule the illiterate many. But times have changed. The Latin American people are demanding participatory democracy, economic democracy and substantive democracy.
Perhaps we can learn something from them.
Pacifica Commentary for December 21, 2005
Christmas
So now both businesses and individuals must be chided for saying, Happy Holidays. They are to be forced into religious correctness by zealots demanding that they say, "A Blessed Christmas." Now that is a lovely phrase and I have no opposition to it. But to impose the greeting as a proselytizing moment is really sick.
The only religion Jesus ever had was Judaism. He never converted to any other faith. Many Jews revere Jesus, but not as Messiah. In his Judaism, Jesus was a sharp and critical thinker and he directed his ire toward religious leaders like the Fallwells and Robertsons of his day. Yes, it was the gentle Jesus who called these people hypocrites, frauds, serpents, and a brood of vipers and saying, "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 yourself."
Jesus spoke with great reverence of those outside of his fold, the Samaritans, the Sidonians, the Syrians and those wise men from the east, my God, were they Arabs? It should be clear to all, the message of Jesus was not sectarian, was not parochial, was not exclusive. It was universal, and inclusive.
So if thoughtful people out of respect for those who are not sectarian Christians choose to say "Happy Holidays", we should accept that as civility and reverence for many religious and cultural traditions.
As we study Jesus' narrations about those outside his personal religion, it is clear that he was praising the compassion of the Samaritan, and the reception of God's grace by Naaman the Syrian. He was not promoting a sect, on the contrary, he was promoting humane behavior which is the electricity of authentic spirituality: justice, compassion, peace, joy, courage, endurance and love.
Can anyone picture Jesus running around buying everything in sight, sitting on Santa's lap and boycotting stores that say, Happy Holidays?
And there is another celebration in the wings, that of the New Year. While I don't want to impose it on you, I would suggest one resolution for 2006:
"I will resolve to make this the year that I will double my efforts to work for justice and peace. Authentic religion will never bless war. May peace be with us all.
HAVE A BLESSED AND JOYFUL HOLIDAY SEASON.
It is unfortunate that the only way Latin America can have relative peace is when the United States is busy with other wars. Way back in 1938 Mexico succeeded in nationalizing its oil because our country was preparing for WW II and we wanted Mexico as an ally. Fascism was very popular in Mexico and the US was afraid that Mexico would go with the Axis powers so we did not intervene when Lazaro Cardenas nationalized Mexican oil. We did intervene, however, in Iran when they insisted on nationalizing their oil.
That gave us the dictatorship of the Shah of Iran. And we did intervene when Iraq would not agree to privatize their oil. That is how the current fifteen year old war began in Iraq.
In spite of our brutal and unnecessary war in the Middle East, we are currently intervening in Colombia with both mercenary corporate troops as well as with our military. We have also kidnapped the popular president of Haiti and exiled him to South Africa leaving Haiti in shambles. But we simply can't intervene everywhere that our pathetic leadership would desire.
Currently our failed administration would like to intervene in Syria, Iran, Venezuela and North Korea. Actually, I think were it not for other pending wars we would certainly attempt to invade the rest of Latin America as well. Why? The Aymara and Quechua people of Bolivia have run the water and gas privatizers out of their country and have chosen an indigenous president, Evo Morales. Isn't that an affront to the Conquistadores from the north?
And what about Uruguay? There are socialists in high places. Isn't that a cause for intervention? And what about Argentina, where workers are actually taking over the management of industry? There is a good reason to intervene. And Brazil has a president from the Workers Party. Goodness, we don't even have a workers party. That must be a reason to intervene. Why don't these people love us? Could it be that for every dollar we have invested in Latin America during the past century, we have taken out three dollars of profit? And when our president recently went to Argentina for the Mar del Plata Summit, he was unable to dictate the rules of the game. The opposition to the methods of the World Trade Organization was powerful and effective.
And in Chile a fellow physician and disciple of Salvador Allende is making her way into power. Can't we dust off Henry Kissinger to locate a dictator like Augusto Pinochet to supplant her?
Friends, representative democracy was designed so that the literate few might rule the illiterate many. But times have changed. The Latin American people are demanding participatory democracy, economic democracy and substantive democracy.
Perhaps we can learn something from them.
Pacifica Commentary for December 21, 2005
Christmas
So now both businesses and individuals must be chided for saying, Happy Holidays. They are to be forced into religious correctness by zealots demanding that they say, "A Blessed Christmas." Now that is a lovely phrase and I have no opposition to it. But to impose the greeting as a proselytizing moment is really sick.
The only religion Jesus ever had was Judaism. He never converted to any other faith. Many Jews revere Jesus, but not as Messiah. In his Judaism, Jesus was a sharp and critical thinker and he directed his ire toward religious leaders like the Fallwells and Robertsons of his day. Yes, it was the gentle Jesus who called these people hypocrites, frauds, serpents, and a brood of vipers and saying, "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 yourself."
Jesus spoke with great reverence of those outside of his fold, the Samaritans, the Sidonians, the Syrians and those wise men from the east, my God, were they Arabs? It should be clear to all, the message of Jesus was not sectarian, was not parochial, was not exclusive. It was universal, and inclusive.
So if thoughtful people out of respect for those who are not sectarian Christians choose to say "Happy Holidays", we should accept that as civility and reverence for many religious and cultural traditions.
As we study Jesus' narrations about those outside his personal religion, it is clear that he was praising the compassion of the Samaritan, and the reception of God's grace by Naaman the Syrian. He was not promoting a sect, on the contrary, he was promoting humane behavior which is the electricity of authentic spirituality: justice, compassion, peace, joy, courage, endurance and love.
Can anyone picture Jesus running around buying everything in sight, sitting on Santa's lap and boycotting stores that say, Happy Holidays?
And there is another celebration in the wings, that of the New Year. While I don't want to impose it on you, I would suggest one resolution for 2006:
"I will resolve to make this the year that I will double my efforts to work for justice and peace. Authentic religion will never bless war. May peace be with us all.
HAVE A BLESSED AND JOYFUL HOLIDAY SEASON.
