Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Monday, March 07, 2005
This Land Is Your Land
This land is your land, This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
- Woody Guthrie
© Copyright 1956 (renewed),
1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972
LUDLOW MUSIC, INC, NYC
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I've roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
- Woody Guthrie
© Copyright 1956 (renewed),
1958 (renewed), 1970 and 1972
LUDLOW MUSIC, INC, NYC
Put These Hands To Rest (for Woody)
My book of revelation was never bound
Deep in my heart it can be found
Written by writers you’ve never read
But their words may have appeared in your head
Walking in the desert I heard a corporate turbine
From its wheels I saw it pouring vintage wine
From the rails I saw a train that was up in flames
And I was too drunk to take any of the blame
All this talk of social security is confusing to me
Where is the retirement for child labor you see
Their little back and arms bent in the sign of the cross
How many retired children have you come across
There’s a disease everyone knows by its name
That governments and leaders treat as a game
From the house in Washington to the Kremlin steps
How deep can you bury someone to bury regret
Here is another chance to change our ways
The common man has made his preparations for his final days
He’ll be laid to rest in the rain
With barely a marker for his name
Chorus:
God put these hands to rest
When he placed the world on my chest
And my soul shall attest
I gave up my best, like all the rest
- Chris Mansel
Deep in my heart it can be found
Written by writers you’ve never read
But their words may have appeared in your head
Walking in the desert I heard a corporate turbine
From its wheels I saw it pouring vintage wine
From the rails I saw a train that was up in flames
And I was too drunk to take any of the blame
All this talk of social security is confusing to me
Where is the retirement for child labor you see
Their little back and arms bent in the sign of the cross
How many retired children have you come across
There’s a disease everyone knows by its name
That governments and leaders treat as a game
From the house in Washington to the Kremlin steps
How deep can you bury someone to bury regret
Here is another chance to change our ways
The common man has made his preparations for his final days
He’ll be laid to rest in the rain
With barely a marker for his name
Chorus:
God put these hands to rest
When he placed the world on my chest
And my soul shall attest
I gave up my best, like all the rest
- Chris Mansel
A Watershed Moment
Site of Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/technology/07blog.html
also
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/sv/20050307/tc_siliconvalley/_www11060925_1
Not long ago I wondered aloud if bloggers would be targeted and it seems it has come to pass. The AP is reporting, “Though many companies have Internet guidelines that prohibit visiting porn sites or forwarding racist jokes, few of the policies directly cover blogs, or Web journals, particularly those written outside of work hours.” Now a suit by Apple computers may end this supposed freedom. Who knew that big brother worked for Apple?
The AP also reports, “On blogs, which are by their very nature public forums, people often muse about their likes and dislikes -- of family, of friends, of co-workers.
Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and seven percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life Project.
With search engines making it easy to find virtually anything anyone says in a blog these days, companies are taking notice -- and taking action.”
This is a watershed moment for the First Amendment. Do you have the freedom to say what you will at home or somewhere else under your own screen name or web address?
The AP states, "Because it's less formal, you're more likely to say something that would offend your boss," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, a workers' rights group.
I urge you to read the entire article.
- Chris Mansel
also
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/sv/20050307/tc_siliconvalley/_www11060925_1
Not long ago I wondered aloud if bloggers would be targeted and it seems it has come to pass. The AP is reporting, “Though many companies have Internet guidelines that prohibit visiting porn sites or forwarding racist jokes, few of the policies directly cover blogs, or Web journals, particularly those written outside of work hours.” Now a suit by Apple computers may end this supposed freedom. Who knew that big brother worked for Apple?
The AP also reports, “On blogs, which are by their very nature public forums, people often muse about their likes and dislikes -- of family, of friends, of co-workers.
Currently, some 27 percent of online U.S. adults read blogs, and seven percent pen them, according to The Pew Internet and American Life Project.
With search engines making it easy to find virtually anything anyone says in a blog these days, companies are taking notice -- and taking action.”
This is a watershed moment for the First Amendment. Do you have the freedom to say what you will at home or somewhere else under your own screen name or web address?
The AP states, "Because it's less formal, you're more likely to say something that would offend your boss," said Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, a workers' rights group.
I urge you to read the entire article.
- Chris Mansel
George and Bandar Bush: The Cartographer’s Nightmare
To understand the idiocy and the dangerous outlook of Mr. Bush’s next war you have only to look at a map. (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/middle_east_ref04.jpg)
Bordering Iran is Russia and Afghanistan. The converging force idea that is obviously swirling about in President Bush’s head is not a good one. I can picture him moving his little army men around on a table while his generals look on, sound familiar? We have in the past used our bases in Turkey to re-fuel our planes so they will be drawn into this war too. Apparently Bush tires of hearing about a two front war and now he wants to consolidate. How many American lives can he fit into his little grid?
Never mind the Golan Heights, never mind that Saudi Arabia is actually controlling this war and the Bush White House, never mind that Egypt could erupt into this action as well, and never mind that all of the violence in the Sudan is conveniently nearby on Mr. Bush’s map of little army men. This whole situation reeks of a World War.
Just out of coincidence it is somewhat interesting to note that in Iran there are two places on the map that just call out the Bush legacy. One is Bushehr and the other is Bandar Abbas. Bush and Bandar, the two responsible for this war. Soon we’ll see Tom Selleck and Sean Hannity selling war bonds.
- Chris Mansel
Bordering Iran is Russia and Afghanistan. The converging force idea that is obviously swirling about in President Bush’s head is not a good one. I can picture him moving his little army men around on a table while his generals look on, sound familiar? We have in the past used our bases in Turkey to re-fuel our planes so they will be drawn into this war too. Apparently Bush tires of hearing about a two front war and now he wants to consolidate. How many American lives can he fit into his little grid?
Never mind the Golan Heights, never mind that Saudi Arabia is actually controlling this war and the Bush White House, never mind that Egypt could erupt into this action as well, and never mind that all of the violence in the Sudan is conveniently nearby on Mr. Bush’s map of little army men. This whole situation reeks of a World War.
Just out of coincidence it is somewhat interesting to note that in Iran there are two places on the map that just call out the Bush legacy. One is Bushehr and the other is Bandar Abbas. Bush and Bandar, the two responsible for this war. Soon we’ll see Tom Selleck and Sean Hannity selling war bonds.
- Chris Mansel
Sunday, March 06, 2005
The Bush Jihad
“In my year-end forecast for 1968 I had bucked the optimistic official view of the war and predicted that “the biggest and bloodiest battles areas till to be fought” in Vietnam, but never in my wildest imagining did I expect to see combat at my doorstep.”
- Peter Arnett, Live From The Battlefield
Bearing in mind the incidents in Iraq and the many days where we have lost many of our troops, the actions yet to be taken in Iran and Syria could prove to be much worse. Iran and Syria are not countries in transition of any kind. These are far fiercer countries and their troops have been fighting for years, not just simply killing their own citizens.
The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/politics/06intel.html?ex=1110690000&en=1fdb637441fa1563&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY) is reporting, “The Bush administration's secret program to transfer suspected terrorists to foreign countries for interrogation has been carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency under broad authority that has allowed it to act without case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice Departments, according to current and former government officials.”
There is no secret that this plan is devised solely to enable the CIA and “civilian contractors” to torture anyone taken into custody. For years the United States has been building bases all over the world, bases that can be used for an array of training and peacekeeping duties. Now these duties are torture and denying the Geneva Convention, (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/blgenevaconv.htm) which we signed in its second incarnation, not the first. It was actually the third Geneva Convention that dealt with prisoners of war; there have been four in all. A country that allows its leader to make the rules up as he goes is a country that is leading itself by the nose to defeat and complete collapse. What will those on either side of the aisle do if the President decided tomorrow that the draft was not necessary and sent troops out in public to “draft” someone they deemed a proper candidate for service? You are walking down the street on the way to work and a deuce and a half pulls up and two men get out and take you at gunpoint to recruit training, but wait, if you didn’t see the news that morning (I say see because so few Americans read the newspaper) it is legal now by Executive Order. Woe to you if you are a conscientious objector you’ll end up somewhere being tortured by somebody.
In this new war to come we have to remember who we will be fighting. For instance, Hizbollah. Reuters reminds us, “Hizbollah, or Party of God, was set up during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a small guerrilla force with a security arm widely blamed for anti-Western attacks and hostage taking in Beirut.”
If the entire region erupts as it very well could be, then the Hamas could enter the world- wide call of terrorists to attack America and other enemies of Islam as they see it. Our use of torture on “enemy combatants” seems to fuel this fervor.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1034670,00.html) gave an interview to Time magazine:
TIME: What do you think will be the consequences for Palestinians of events in Lebanon?
ABBAS: It's clear-cut. President Assad said he will withdraw. But for us, we don't know yet the consequences. We don't know the demands of the Americans.
TIME: In Washington, many think the growing democracy movement in the Middle East comes from President Bush's pressure.
ABBAS: I don't think that we made democracy because President Bush pushed us. We decided that we should have a democratic process, and we did it without any pressure.
TIME: Now that you've been elected, your progress depends on your cease-fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Islamist groups opposing peace. How secure is it ?
ABBAS: I concluded a truce with Hamas when I was Prime Minister.
After I became head of the Palestinian Authority, I conducted talks with them, and they accepted without any pressure on them. It is a democracy. We have to deal with them accordingly. TIME: But when they launch suicide-bomb attacks like the latest one in Tel Aviv?
ABBAS: They said they are not responsible and they'll stick to the cease-fire. All of [the Islamist factions]. Even those that are in Damascus.
TIME: Who was responsible, then, for the Tel Aviv attack?
ABBAS: It was individuals. We arrested five. If you ask me who is responsible, the Israelis are responsible. The bombers came from the suburb of Tulkarem to Tel Aviv, crossing the wall. So who is responsible? The wall and the Israelis.
TIME: Hamas won seats in municipal elections in January. Now the P.L.O. has an opposition? ABBAS: This is proof that they are going to be a political party, which is good. TIME: Israelis and Americans are shocked to think Hamas could be in your parliament.
ABBAS: Why not? They should be in the parliament. They will share responsibility. Israel has more than 33 political parties from right to left and in between.
TIME: What's your plan to reach a peace agreement with Israel?
ABBAS: We suggested to the Israelis and Americans to work in back channels on final-status issues while we are working on earlier phases of the road map. If we start now, we have a lot of time to work with the Americans to find ideas, to find compromises. But if we go [without preparation] to the third [final status] phase of the road map, and then we get a make-or-break situation like Camp David [in 2000], it's unworkable.
TIME: President Bush wrote Israeli Prime Minister Sharon a letter saying that in a final deal, there will be no right of return and there will be adjustments to the 1967 borders and the status of Jerusalem.
ABBAS: President Bush doesn't have the right to prejudice final-status issues. These issues should be discussed in the final stages, not now. He can't make commitments on behalf of the Palestinian people. It is our right to say yes or no.
TIME: To get a final-status agreement, do you think you will have to make unpopular decisions, unpopular compromises? ABBAS: I promise any compromise will go to a referendum. People will accept it or not.
TIME: Do you think you can achieve a deal in one five-year presidential term?
ABBAS: I have to do it because after that I won't be President anymore.
TIME: Yasser Arafat was a symbol for Palestinians around the world. Do you see yourself as a different kind of leader?
ABBAS: There are differences in our ways of thinking. I want to put everything on the table, and you can take it or leave it. Even when I was running for the elections, many friends advised me not to. But I said, "No, I have to tell the people everything. Either they'll elect me or not."
TIME: Are you worried that might anger people? Are there threats against your life?
ABBAS: Everybody is under threat. We are Muslims. We believe that when life comes to an end, it comes.
TIME: It's risky just to be a Palestinian?
ABBAS: It's risky. But it's also risky to be an American. You remember the Twin Towers. So if you believe in God, you won't be afraid.
TIME: You were born in Safad, in what is now Israel. How did it feel when you went back for a visit in 1995?
ABBAS: Very sad. It's my country. I know every street and store. But now I'm not allowed to be there. That's life. I'm not asking for Safad. I'm not asking to return there.
Where President Bush’s own jihad against the world of Islam will end is undecided at this point, but you can be assured that none of the children of those in his cabinet will lose their lives on a battlefield. The war will come to our shores in acts of terrorism and high prices that will make the economy that this administration had so unstable, even worse. The darker days are on the horizon and the smell of cordite is not a warning of the years to come but a promise from the terrorists we are torturing now.
- Chris Mansel
- Peter Arnett, Live From The Battlefield
Bearing in mind the incidents in Iraq and the many days where we have lost many of our troops, the actions yet to be taken in Iran and Syria could prove to be much worse. Iran and Syria are not countries in transition of any kind. These are far fiercer countries and their troops have been fighting for years, not just simply killing their own citizens.
The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06/politics/06intel.html?ex=1110690000&en=1fdb637441fa1563&ei=5065&partner=MYWAY) is reporting, “The Bush administration's secret program to transfer suspected terrorists to foreign countries for interrogation has been carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency under broad authority that has allowed it to act without case-by-case approval from the White House or the State or Justice Departments, according to current and former government officials.”
There is no secret that this plan is devised solely to enable the CIA and “civilian contractors” to torture anyone taken into custody. For years the United States has been building bases all over the world, bases that can be used for an array of training and peacekeeping duties. Now these duties are torture and denying the Geneva Convention, (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/blgenevaconv.htm) which we signed in its second incarnation, not the first. It was actually the third Geneva Convention that dealt with prisoners of war; there have been four in all. A country that allows its leader to make the rules up as he goes is a country that is leading itself by the nose to defeat and complete collapse. What will those on either side of the aisle do if the President decided tomorrow that the draft was not necessary and sent troops out in public to “draft” someone they deemed a proper candidate for service? You are walking down the street on the way to work and a deuce and a half pulls up and two men get out and take you at gunpoint to recruit training, but wait, if you didn’t see the news that morning (I say see because so few Americans read the newspaper) it is legal now by Executive Order. Woe to you if you are a conscientious objector you’ll end up somewhere being tortured by somebody.
In this new war to come we have to remember who we will be fighting. For instance, Hizbollah. Reuters reminds us, “Hizbollah, or Party of God, was set up during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a small guerrilla force with a security arm widely blamed for anti-Western attacks and hostage taking in Beirut.”
If the entire region erupts as it very well could be, then the Hamas could enter the world- wide call of terrorists to attack America and other enemies of Islam as they see it. Our use of torture on “enemy combatants” seems to fuel this fervor.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1034670,00.html) gave an interview to Time magazine:
TIME: What do you think will be the consequences for Palestinians of events in Lebanon?
ABBAS: It's clear-cut. President Assad said he will withdraw. But for us, we don't know yet the consequences. We don't know the demands of the Americans.
TIME: In Washington, many think the growing democracy movement in the Middle East comes from President Bush's pressure.
ABBAS: I don't think that we made democracy because President Bush pushed us. We decided that we should have a democratic process, and we did it without any pressure.
TIME: Now that you've been elected, your progress depends on your cease-fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Islamist groups opposing peace. How secure is it ?
ABBAS: I concluded a truce with Hamas when I was Prime Minister.
After I became head of the Palestinian Authority, I conducted talks with them, and they accepted without any pressure on them. It is a democracy. We have to deal with them accordingly. TIME: But when they launch suicide-bomb attacks like the latest one in Tel Aviv?
ABBAS: They said they are not responsible and they'll stick to the cease-fire. All of [the Islamist factions]. Even those that are in Damascus.
TIME: Who was responsible, then, for the Tel Aviv attack?
ABBAS: It was individuals. We arrested five. If you ask me who is responsible, the Israelis are responsible. The bombers came from the suburb of Tulkarem to Tel Aviv, crossing the wall. So who is responsible? The wall and the Israelis.
TIME: Hamas won seats in municipal elections in January. Now the P.L.O. has an opposition? ABBAS: This is proof that they are going to be a political party, which is good. TIME: Israelis and Americans are shocked to think Hamas could be in your parliament.
ABBAS: Why not? They should be in the parliament. They will share responsibility. Israel has more than 33 political parties from right to left and in between.
TIME: What's your plan to reach a peace agreement with Israel?
ABBAS: We suggested to the Israelis and Americans to work in back channels on final-status issues while we are working on earlier phases of the road map. If we start now, we have a lot of time to work with the Americans to find ideas, to find compromises. But if we go [without preparation] to the third [final status] phase of the road map, and then we get a make-or-break situation like Camp David [in 2000], it's unworkable.
TIME: President Bush wrote Israeli Prime Minister Sharon a letter saying that in a final deal, there will be no right of return and there will be adjustments to the 1967 borders and the status of Jerusalem.
ABBAS: President Bush doesn't have the right to prejudice final-status issues. These issues should be discussed in the final stages, not now. He can't make commitments on behalf of the Palestinian people. It is our right to say yes or no.
TIME: To get a final-status agreement, do you think you will have to make unpopular decisions, unpopular compromises? ABBAS: I promise any compromise will go to a referendum. People will accept it or not.
TIME: Do you think you can achieve a deal in one five-year presidential term?
ABBAS: I have to do it because after that I won't be President anymore.
TIME: Yasser Arafat was a symbol for Palestinians around the world. Do you see yourself as a different kind of leader?
ABBAS: There are differences in our ways of thinking. I want to put everything on the table, and you can take it or leave it. Even when I was running for the elections, many friends advised me not to. But I said, "No, I have to tell the people everything. Either they'll elect me or not."
TIME: Are you worried that might anger people? Are there threats against your life?
ABBAS: Everybody is under threat. We are Muslims. We believe that when life comes to an end, it comes.
TIME: It's risky just to be a Palestinian?
ABBAS: It's risky. But it's also risky to be an American. You remember the Twin Towers. So if you believe in God, you won't be afraid.
TIME: You were born in Safad, in what is now Israel. How did it feel when you went back for a visit in 1995?
ABBAS: Very sad. It's my country. I know every street and store. But now I'm not allowed to be there. That's life. I'm not asking for Safad. I'm not asking to return there.
Where President Bush’s own jihad against the world of Islam will end is undecided at this point, but you can be assured that none of the children of those in his cabinet will lose their lives on a battlefield. The war will come to our shores in acts of terrorism and high prices that will make the economy that this administration had so unstable, even worse. The darker days are on the horizon and the smell of cordite is not a warning of the years to come but a promise from the terrorists we are torturing now.
- Chris Mansel
Saturday, March 05, 2005
The U.S. Army and the Recommended Policy of Illegal Behavior
Site of Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8873-2005Mar4.html
The Washington Post is reporting of an attempted cover-up on behalf of the U.S. Army, “An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in Germany, despite a military psychiatrist's initial judgment that the man was stable, according to internal Army records released yesterday.” So don’t shoot the messenger, just accuse him of being insane. Previously in the detainee abuse scandal it was “determined” that the soldiers acted alone and without the knowledge of their superior officers. The Washington Post reports, “Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, asked about detainee abuse yesterday on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports," said he was not surprised. Gonzales said that he presumed the military used lawful interrogation techniques but that "sometimes people do things that they shouldn't do. People are imperfect . . . and so the fact that abuses occur, they're unfortunate but I'm not sure that they should be viewed as surprising." Asking Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for advice on the proper use of detainees is ridiculous. It would seem that no act of treachery is out of bounds in the U.S. Army these days if you are of necessary rank. The overextended Army that will soon march into Syria and Iran is as full of criminal acts as the time spent in Vietnam.
The reporting continues, “The soldier had angered his commander by urging the unit's redeployment from the military base to prevent what the soldier feared would be the death of one or more detainees under interrogation, according to the documents. He told his commander three members of the counterintelligence team had hit detainees, pulled their hair, tried to asphyxiate them and staged mock executions with pistols pointed at the detainees' heads.” The very same tactics used against our men or women in Iraq would be labeled as a war crime, but since President Bush seems to think he Geneva Convention doesn’t apply to torture, (Perhaps he should have someone read the article to him) we can expect more treatment of our soldiers in this way and then we can all be very subtly shocked and bewildered as to why.
But the violent acts and criminal behavior do not stop there. The practice of documenting these acts has become vogue in the military these days. The site www.undermars.com shows photos taken by American soldiers of decapitated bodies of Iraqi’s and are cruelly labeled with gruesome comments as if it were all a game. When you read of the detestable act of Iraqi insurgents posting videos of beheadings and other acts of torture it is criticized from all corners of the earth, especially in the White House briefing room. The same acts are being posted on the web, mailed and handed around by the troops and should be denounced as something more than a “few bad apples.” The Washington post reports, “In another case detailed in the Army files, soldiers in a Florida National Guard unit deployed near Ramadi in 2003 compiled a 20-minute video that depicted a soldier kicking a wounded detainee in the face and chest in the presence of 10 colleagues and soldiers positioning a dead insurgent to appear to wave hello. The video was found in a soldier's computer files under the heading "Ramadi Madness," and it initially prompted military lawyers to recommend charges of assault with battery and dereliction of duty for tampering with a corpse.” The unit commander attempts a feeble case for these acts, “The unit's commander told Army investigators he was concerned about the images becoming public and promised to take steps to "minimize the risk of this and other videos that may end up in the media."
Turn a blind eye and you get what you deserve but I don’t think this is a blind eye. I think this behavior is authorized and is only deemed inappropriate when it is made public. How far the U.S. military will have to go to clear its name is unforeseen. The nation’s character is ruined around the world and our days as a world power may be in serious jeopardy.
- Chris Mansel
The Washington Post is reporting of an attempted cover-up on behalf of the U.S. Army, “An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was in turn accused by his commander of being delusional and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in Germany, despite a military psychiatrist's initial judgment that the man was stable, according to internal Army records released yesterday.” So don’t shoot the messenger, just accuse him of being insane. Previously in the detainee abuse scandal it was “determined” that the soldiers acted alone and without the knowledge of their superior officers. The Washington Post reports, “Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, asked about detainee abuse yesterday on CNN's "Wolf Blitzer Reports," said he was not surprised. Gonzales said that he presumed the military used lawful interrogation techniques but that "sometimes people do things that they shouldn't do. People are imperfect . . . and so the fact that abuses occur, they're unfortunate but I'm not sure that they should be viewed as surprising." Asking Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales for advice on the proper use of detainees is ridiculous. It would seem that no act of treachery is out of bounds in the U.S. Army these days if you are of necessary rank. The overextended Army that will soon march into Syria and Iran is as full of criminal acts as the time spent in Vietnam.
The reporting continues, “The soldier had angered his commander by urging the unit's redeployment from the military base to prevent what the soldier feared would be the death of one or more detainees under interrogation, according to the documents. He told his commander three members of the counterintelligence team had hit detainees, pulled their hair, tried to asphyxiate them and staged mock executions with pistols pointed at the detainees' heads.” The very same tactics used against our men or women in Iraq would be labeled as a war crime, but since President Bush seems to think he Geneva Convention doesn’t apply to torture, (Perhaps he should have someone read the article to him) we can expect more treatment of our soldiers in this way and then we can all be very subtly shocked and bewildered as to why.
But the violent acts and criminal behavior do not stop there. The practice of documenting these acts has become vogue in the military these days. The site www.undermars.com shows photos taken by American soldiers of decapitated bodies of Iraqi’s and are cruelly labeled with gruesome comments as if it were all a game. When you read of the detestable act of Iraqi insurgents posting videos of beheadings and other acts of torture it is criticized from all corners of the earth, especially in the White House briefing room. The same acts are being posted on the web, mailed and handed around by the troops and should be denounced as something more than a “few bad apples.” The Washington post reports, “In another case detailed in the Army files, soldiers in a Florida National Guard unit deployed near Ramadi in 2003 compiled a 20-minute video that depicted a soldier kicking a wounded detainee in the face and chest in the presence of 10 colleagues and soldiers positioning a dead insurgent to appear to wave hello. The video was found in a soldier's computer files under the heading "Ramadi Madness," and it initially prompted military lawyers to recommend charges of assault with battery and dereliction of duty for tampering with a corpse.” The unit commander attempts a feeble case for these acts, “The unit's commander told Army investigators he was concerned about the images becoming public and promised to take steps to "minimize the risk of this and other videos that may end up in the media."
Turn a blind eye and you get what you deserve but I don’t think this is a blind eye. I think this behavior is authorized and is only deemed inappropriate when it is made public. How far the U.S. military will have to go to clear its name is unforeseen. The nation’s character is ruined around the world and our days as a world power may be in serious jeopardy.
- Chris Mansel
Friday, March 04, 2005
The Eradication of a Nation
90 million people, it made me cry to read this figure. The horrible loss of life in the Holocaust, in the genocide of Rwanda, the number of lives lost in nearly every epidemic in the history of man hardly stand up against Ninety million lives by one preventable disease. The BBC somberly reports, “Nearly 90 million Africans could be infected by HIV in the next 20 years if more is not done to combat the epidemic, the UN has warned.”
The story also reports this statistic; “Some 25 million Africans have HIV, which causes Aids, at present. The world body estimates the next two decades could see 89 million new cases of the disease in Africa - or up to 10% of the continent's population.” There is medicine that could help those that are dying; there is medicine that could help prevent this from happening. The next time you feel sorry for yourself imagine watching everyone you have ever met, not just your family or your friends but everyone you have ever seen in your life (have you actually seen 90 million people in your life?) Is going to die of a disease that could have been prevented. This is not a horror story to scare the children, it’s not part of a blockbuster script for the movies, and it’s as real as the sun shining and the earth revolving. You’ve read of the age of the plagues. You’ve read of Hiroshima and the lives lost. How can you conceive of 90 million lives lost?
The BBC also reports, “The UN report concludes that if millions of Africans are still being infected by HIV by 2025, "it will not be because there was no choice". "It will be because, collectively, there was insufficient political will to change behaviour at all levels... and halt the forces driving the Aids epidemic in Africa." So don’t change the channel, don’t say I am not going to read another article about AIDS. Face the miles of children whose graves dug end to end could reach across the continent of Africa. What will we do if this disease ever comes to our shores in this way? Have hearings? Put up roadblocks?
- Chris Mansel
The story also reports this statistic; “Some 25 million Africans have HIV, which causes Aids, at present. The world body estimates the next two decades could see 89 million new cases of the disease in Africa - or up to 10% of the continent's population.” There is medicine that could help those that are dying; there is medicine that could help prevent this from happening. The next time you feel sorry for yourself imagine watching everyone you have ever met, not just your family or your friends but everyone you have ever seen in your life (have you actually seen 90 million people in your life?) Is going to die of a disease that could have been prevented. This is not a horror story to scare the children, it’s not part of a blockbuster script for the movies, and it’s as real as the sun shining and the earth revolving. You’ve read of the age of the plagues. You’ve read of Hiroshima and the lives lost. How can you conceive of 90 million lives lost?
The BBC also reports, “The UN report concludes that if millions of Africans are still being infected by HIV by 2025, "it will not be because there was no choice". "It will be because, collectively, there was insufficient political will to change behaviour at all levels... and halt the forces driving the Aids epidemic in Africa." So don’t change the channel, don’t say I am not going to read another article about AIDS. Face the miles of children whose graves dug end to end could reach across the continent of Africa. What will we do if this disease ever comes to our shores in this way? Have hearings? Put up roadblocks?
- Chris Mansel
The NSA and The Tabernacle Of The Inquisitorial
In West Virginia is a base operated by the NSA, National Security Agency, that was originally used to monitor the message traffic of other countries. But as Patrick Radden Keefe writes in his book, Chatter: Dispatches From The Secret World of Global Eavesdropping, “The third base in the original triptych of Echelon stations was Sugar Grove, hidden in the forest of the South Fork Valley in the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia. The use of this site goes back to the 1950’s and early sixties, when it was home to an ill-fated effort to create a radio telescope so powerful that it could listen to Soviet radio communications and radar signals reflected off the surface of the moon. This expensive disaster involved the construction of a satellite dish that was an astonishing six hundred feet in diameter. The project was eventually abandoned, but in the 1970s the existing two-story underground operations building was augmented by a series of new
Satellite dishes, and the windowless Raymond Eugene Linn Operations Center was built. (The building is named after a naval technician who lost his life in the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, an NSA Sigint ship, on June 8, 1967.) The station began its new operations as a listening post around 1980. The area has unmatched radio quiet, because in 1956 the West Virginia state legislature passed an unusual zoning act establishing around it a hundred-square-mile National Radio Quiet Zone, which zoned out any electromagnetic interference.”
When you consider the utter devastation of West Virginia by Coal Mining companies, when you consider the patriot Act and its inclusive permission to listen, snoop, and invade the privacy of everyone they want to. The site www.tripzine.com posts this challenging piece on the Echelon listening stations, (http://www.tripzine.com/articles.asp?id=eschalon) “The facts drawn out by these sources reveal ECHELON as a powerful electronic net--a net that snags from the millions of phone, fax, and modem signals traversing the globe at any moment selected communications of interest to a five-nation intelligence alliance. Once intercepted (based on the use of key words in exchanges), those communiques are sent in real time to a central computer system run by the NSA; round-the-clock shifts of American, British, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand analysts pour over them in search of . . . what?”
The piece continues with a chilling, very chilling expose of the Echelon listening stations, “Originally a Cold War tool aimed at the Soviets, ECHELON has been redirected at civilian targets worldwide. In fact, as the European Parliament report noted, political advocacy groups like Amnesty International and Greenpeace were amongst ECHELON's targets. The system's awesome potential (and potential for abuse) has spurred some traditional watchdogs to delve deep in search of its secrets, and even prompted some of its minders within the intelligence community to come forward. "In some ways," says Reg Whittaker, a professor and intelligence scholar at Canada's York University, "it's probably the most useful means of getting at the Cold War intelligence-sharing relationship that still continues."
Could this station be used to gather information on activists that fight against the coal companies? Do the coal companies receive regular briefings? If they sought to gather information on Greenpeace and Amnesty International, do you think they would even think twice about snooping on activists in West Virginia? Activists that is located quite close to the station at Sugar Grove. You can back an activist in a corner, you can try to intimidate them with threats, but you cannot break the spirit of someone who has lost their home or a loved one to a coal mine made dangerously unstable by a company that has committed these acts. I’m told West Virginia won’t stand for it and I have no idea to doubt them.
- Chris Mansel
Satellite dishes, and the windowless Raymond Eugene Linn Operations Center was built. (The building is named after a naval technician who lost his life in the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, an NSA Sigint ship, on June 8, 1967.) The station began its new operations as a listening post around 1980. The area has unmatched radio quiet, because in 1956 the West Virginia state legislature passed an unusual zoning act establishing around it a hundred-square-mile National Radio Quiet Zone, which zoned out any electromagnetic interference.”
When you consider the utter devastation of West Virginia by Coal Mining companies, when you consider the patriot Act and its inclusive permission to listen, snoop, and invade the privacy of everyone they want to. The site www.tripzine.com posts this challenging piece on the Echelon listening stations, (http://www.tripzine.com/articles.asp?id=eschalon) “The facts drawn out by these sources reveal ECHELON as a powerful electronic net--a net that snags from the millions of phone, fax, and modem signals traversing the globe at any moment selected communications of interest to a five-nation intelligence alliance. Once intercepted (based on the use of key words in exchanges), those communiques are sent in real time to a central computer system run by the NSA; round-the-clock shifts of American, British, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand analysts pour over them in search of . . . what?”
The piece continues with a chilling, very chilling expose of the Echelon listening stations, “Originally a Cold War tool aimed at the Soviets, ECHELON has been redirected at civilian targets worldwide. In fact, as the European Parliament report noted, political advocacy groups like Amnesty International and Greenpeace were amongst ECHELON's targets. The system's awesome potential (and potential for abuse) has spurred some traditional watchdogs to delve deep in search of its secrets, and even prompted some of its minders within the intelligence community to come forward. "In some ways," says Reg Whittaker, a professor and intelligence scholar at Canada's York University, "it's probably the most useful means of getting at the Cold War intelligence-sharing relationship that still continues."
Could this station be used to gather information on activists that fight against the coal companies? Do the coal companies receive regular briefings? If they sought to gather information on Greenpeace and Amnesty International, do you think they would even think twice about snooping on activists in West Virginia? Activists that is located quite close to the station at Sugar Grove. You can back an activist in a corner, you can try to intimidate them with threats, but you cannot break the spirit of someone who has lost their home or a loved one to a coal mine made dangerously unstable by a company that has committed these acts. I’m told West Virginia won’t stand for it and I have no idea to doubt them.
- Chris Mansel
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Blowing In The Wind
Site of Reference: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A33494-2005Feb17?language=printer
This is from an interview in the Washington Post with Patrick Radden Keefe: “In the end, Keefe argues that the vital debate over where to draw that line should not be left just to intelligence officials and Congress. The public, he insists, must educate itself as best it can and weigh in on the decision: "The one conviction I came away with is that if we ignore this issue, put off by the level of secrecy or the technical complexity involved, we do so at our own peril." His concern is reflected in another old Latin phrase, Quis custodiet ipsos custodies: Who is watching the watchers?”
An excerpt from Mr. Keefe’s book,
Chatter: Dispatches From The Secret World of Global Eavesdropping,
"Over the next several hours, Alistair (Alistair Harley) and I drove around the area near his house, listening. The dashboard of his car was a jumble of receivers and switches, black wires and knobs. He fiddled to get the right frequencies as we zipped along, listening to the messages flying around us. As we drove down empty roads, without a person in sight, the inside of the car sounded like a cocktail party in full swing; cellphone conversations, the bark of walkie-talkies and CB radios, the gibberish of encrypted calls.
This was in the summer of 2002, and on the other side of the planet the war on terror was under way. We stopped at Lakenheath, the largest American air-force base in England. Bombers and supply planes bound for Afghanistan maneuvered on an endless runway. Alistair fiddled, and soon we were listening to exchanges between ground crews and the control tower as the planes were readied for takeoff. “It works out well,” Alistair told me, as he took a pair of binoculars out of the glove compartment. “I can sit at th eend of the runway and look like an aircraft spotter.” I can sit at the end of the runway and look like an aircraft spotter.” For the first few minutes, I didn’t even register that the voices crackling through the receivers and into the car were not British but American.
It was a peculiar kind of voyeurism: the knowledge that the flight plans of Amercian F-15s would qualify as extremely valuable intelligence for a broad assortment of enemies of the United States and that the signals were right there in the air, asking to be listened to. “If you listen to the ground crews at night, you can hear their mission briefing for the next morning,” Alistair told me with an excited grin. He explained that as a general rule “if it uses radio waves then there is nothing that cannot be intercepted, monitored, stored. There’s a certainly not a lot around here voice- and data-wise that I can’t intercept. And with GCHQ’s equipment, it must be tenfold.”
As you can read in the words of someone who has witnessed this first hand and who is a recognized authority on this subject, you can well see that we are not as safe, our military and therefore American citizens are nowhere near as safe as we might have thought we were. These two men, Keefe and Alistair Harley are of Arab decent, they do not have brown skin nor thus they would not be judged suspicious. You do not have to be of Arab descent or to be an Islamic fundamentalist to attack our interests in the U.S. or abroad. If we are to believe the Bush administration we need only to look for people of color. The answer is we may never know who is spying on us or intends to do us harm but before we go to war it would be helpful to have evidenced that can be verified.
- Chris Mansel
This is from an interview in the Washington Post with Patrick Radden Keefe: “In the end, Keefe argues that the vital debate over where to draw that line should not be left just to intelligence officials and Congress. The public, he insists, must educate itself as best it can and weigh in on the decision: "The one conviction I came away with is that if we ignore this issue, put off by the level of secrecy or the technical complexity involved, we do so at our own peril." His concern is reflected in another old Latin phrase, Quis custodiet ipsos custodies: Who is watching the watchers?”
An excerpt from Mr. Keefe’s book,
Chatter: Dispatches From The Secret World of Global Eavesdropping,
"Over the next several hours, Alistair (Alistair Harley) and I drove around the area near his house, listening. The dashboard of his car was a jumble of receivers and switches, black wires and knobs. He fiddled to get the right frequencies as we zipped along, listening to the messages flying around us. As we drove down empty roads, without a person in sight, the inside of the car sounded like a cocktail party in full swing; cellphone conversations, the bark of walkie-talkies and CB radios, the gibberish of encrypted calls.
This was in the summer of 2002, and on the other side of the planet the war on terror was under way. We stopped at Lakenheath, the largest American air-force base in England. Bombers and supply planes bound for Afghanistan maneuvered on an endless runway. Alistair fiddled, and soon we were listening to exchanges between ground crews and the control tower as the planes were readied for takeoff. “It works out well,” Alistair told me, as he took a pair of binoculars out of the glove compartment. “I can sit at th eend of the runway and look like an aircraft spotter.” I can sit at the end of the runway and look like an aircraft spotter.” For the first few minutes, I didn’t even register that the voices crackling through the receivers and into the car were not British but American.
It was a peculiar kind of voyeurism: the knowledge that the flight plans of Amercian F-15s would qualify as extremely valuable intelligence for a broad assortment of enemies of the United States and that the signals were right there in the air, asking to be listened to. “If you listen to the ground crews at night, you can hear their mission briefing for the next morning,” Alistair told me with an excited grin. He explained that as a general rule “if it uses radio waves then there is nothing that cannot be intercepted, monitored, stored. There’s a certainly not a lot around here voice- and data-wise that I can’t intercept. And with GCHQ’s equipment, it must be tenfold.”
As you can read in the words of someone who has witnessed this first hand and who is a recognized authority on this subject, you can well see that we are not as safe, our military and therefore American citizens are nowhere near as safe as we might have thought we were. These two men, Keefe and Alistair Harley are of Arab decent, they do not have brown skin nor thus they would not be judged suspicious. You do not have to be of Arab descent or to be an Islamic fundamentalist to attack our interests in the U.S. or abroad. If we are to believe the Bush administration we need only to look for people of color. The answer is we may never know who is spying on us or intends to do us harm but before we go to war it would be helpful to have evidenced that can be verified.
- Chris Mansel
Sun Wyung Moon Over Washington
Sun Myung Moon who has served time in prison (13 months) and who has ties to the Bush family, and who owns considerable holdings in The Washington Times has had a few things to say in the recent past that were very interesting. For instance, on January 13, 2001 at The Coronation Ceremony of the Kingship of God in Chung Pyung, Korea he stated about African-Americans, gays and homesexuals, and AIDS, (http://www.unification.net/2001/20010113_1.html)
"Among the Unification Church members, is there anyone who wants to suffer more than me? Western members in particular must desire to receive more persecution than I have. Did you come here to go sightseeing? Or did you come here to listen to me and go through a suffering course? It is a problem. There cannot be individualism here. Graduating from Yale or Harvard makes no difference. Lowly laborers can do better than such. Who likes free sex more, white people or black people? If black people like it, they do because they learned it from white people, right? Free sex, homosexuality and lesbianism will end due to AIDS and drugs. In large parts of Africa, 60% of the people have AIDS. They will collapse in 15 to 20 years. The AIDS virus hibernates for 8 to 12 years. They will be destroyed in two generations."
He also said this about Unions, "One reason why a free, democratic nation like America struggles is because of the unions. I will tell you how you can resolve problems with the unions. In the same way blue-collar workers form a union, stockowners and executives should also form a union. They can work together to raise money for their family members. Then each year will be much more productive than the last. There must be mutual benefits for both parties, the employees union and employers union. They can compete with each other and see how much money they can make within three years without returning any profit to the owners. If employees have worked hard, we can give a bonus to their union. If the employers have worked more, they deserve to receive more. In this way they will never fight. In western society, there is no one who has given this any thought. If this doesn’t work out, I will call all the religious organizations and blessed families of the world. We will make a religious union. We can do that, can’t we? Let’s say I make a religious union. Will you join with me? Will you make it? (Yes.) Your answer should be yes."
He shares his true Washington Times views about unions ( http://www.unification.net/2001/20010113_1.html) in the same speech, " Our unification members work all their lives and receive modest pay. Not only that, they even offer some of their earnings. Can a union exist in this kind of environment? No way.. I can clean the mess America has within three to seven years.
So, unions eventually will disappear. Does Russia have unions? Does China have unions? Does North Korea have unions? What is this? Why do advanced societies have unions?"
Another interesting fact is that in 1996 the father of President Bush gave an address at a Sun wyung Moon conference, "YFWP (Youth Federation For World Peace)was founded in 1994, and the second world conference was in 1996, with keynote address by George Bush, Sr., as well as Edward Heath and Jerry Falwell. In 1997, our Founder made our purpose clear: to establish youth as initiators of change and as creators of true families, nations and world."
John Ashcroft also got into the act and appeared as most Bush family friends and family do, he appeared at an event (http://www.unification.net/news/news20010120.html)
"John Ashcroft, the president-elect's nominee for U.S. attorney general, dropped in on an overflowing interracial and interfaith inaugural prayer luncheon yesterday and brought down the house of 1,700 religious and political figures with a tale of amazing grace.
"This is a country worth praying for," Mr. Ashcroft said, and told how he was drawn the other day to the poignant wail of a street musician's trumpet playing the notes of the hymn "Amazing Grace."
"He stopped in midnote," Mr. Ashcroft said, "and put out his hand with a cry, 'Senator Ashcroft, I'm for you, man."
These quotes are all made by Sun Wyung Moon who owns the Washington Times newspaper in our nation's capitol. The remarks he made about unions you can only guess that the Bush family might support these views. If you are a union worker and have lost your job in the Washington area you may now have an inkling at why you did.
- Chris Mansel
"Among the Unification Church members, is there anyone who wants to suffer more than me? Western members in particular must desire to receive more persecution than I have. Did you come here to go sightseeing? Or did you come here to listen to me and go through a suffering course? It is a problem. There cannot be individualism here. Graduating from Yale or Harvard makes no difference. Lowly laborers can do better than such. Who likes free sex more, white people or black people? If black people like it, they do because they learned it from white people, right? Free sex, homosexuality and lesbianism will end due to AIDS and drugs. In large parts of Africa, 60% of the people have AIDS. They will collapse in 15 to 20 years. The AIDS virus hibernates for 8 to 12 years. They will be destroyed in two generations."
He also said this about Unions, "One reason why a free, democratic nation like America struggles is because of the unions. I will tell you how you can resolve problems with the unions. In the same way blue-collar workers form a union, stockowners and executives should also form a union. They can work together to raise money for their family members. Then each year will be much more productive than the last. There must be mutual benefits for both parties, the employees union and employers union. They can compete with each other and see how much money they can make within three years without returning any profit to the owners. If employees have worked hard, we can give a bonus to their union. If the employers have worked more, they deserve to receive more. In this way they will never fight. In western society, there is no one who has given this any thought. If this doesn’t work out, I will call all the religious organizations and blessed families of the world. We will make a religious union. We can do that, can’t we? Let’s say I make a religious union. Will you join with me? Will you make it? (Yes.) Your answer should be yes."
He shares his true Washington Times views about unions ( http://www.unification.net/2001/20010113_1.html) in the same speech, " Our unification members work all their lives and receive modest pay. Not only that, they even offer some of their earnings. Can a union exist in this kind of environment? No way.. I can clean the mess America has within three to seven years.
So, unions eventually will disappear. Does Russia have unions? Does China have unions? Does North Korea have unions? What is this? Why do advanced societies have unions?"
Another interesting fact is that in 1996 the father of President Bush gave an address at a Sun wyung Moon conference, "YFWP (Youth Federation For World Peace)was founded in 1994, and the second world conference was in 1996, with keynote address by George Bush, Sr., as well as Edward Heath and Jerry Falwell. In 1997, our Founder made our purpose clear: to establish youth as initiators of change and as creators of true families, nations and world."
John Ashcroft also got into the act and appeared as most Bush family friends and family do, he appeared at an event (http://www.unification.net/news/news20010120.html)
"John Ashcroft, the president-elect's nominee for U.S. attorney general, dropped in on an overflowing interracial and interfaith inaugural prayer luncheon yesterday and brought down the house of 1,700 religious and political figures with a tale of amazing grace.
"This is a country worth praying for," Mr. Ashcroft said, and told how he was drawn the other day to the poignant wail of a street musician's trumpet playing the notes of the hymn "Amazing Grace."
"He stopped in midnote," Mr. Ashcroft said, "and put out his hand with a cry, 'Senator Ashcroft, I'm for you, man."
These quotes are all made by Sun Wyung Moon who owns the Washington Times newspaper in our nation's capitol. The remarks he made about unions you can only guess that the Bush family might support these views. If you are a union worker and have lost your job in the Washington area you may now have an inkling at why you did.
- Chris Mansel
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Obiter Dictum (Ward Churchill)
Site of Reference: www.JackRandom.com
Of Ward Churchill Jack Random writes, “I would dearly love to say that Ward Churchill is not important, that it is the principle of free speech, the essence of a democratic society, and the foundation of academic excellence, that is at stake here, but I simply do not believe it. Ward Churchill is important. His is a singular and distinct voice in American society and, if it is lost, we are all impoverished. His crime is not that he misspoke or that he spoke out of turn, too loudly and too proudly, but that he dared to say what many thought. Moreover, the sentence he committed to paper on September 12, 2001, would never have garnered any significant attention had not the writer crossed a threshold of influence.” How right he is. When a man or woman in this country is afraid to stand up and say what he or she feels, state their opinion then all is lost. Democracy will cease to exist and another form of government will evolve and many in the opposition will die. If you think that sounds just a bit absurd then read the history of Guatemala, Serbia, Poland, just to name a few.
Ward Churchill may have chosen too strong a representation in using the word, Eichmann, but in all sincerity he was right to a degree. Many of those who work in the technology and money markets are contributing to acts of terrorism whether they know it or not. They do compete to find brand new ways of inciting terror and launder money. Of a bank is discovered to be washing money for a drug cartel they don’t arrest everyone who works for the bank, they arrest the higher ups in the company and hold them accountable. Can you imagine the man who mops and buffs the floor being in on the crime with the president and board of the bank? No you cannot but you might easily make the case that a few mid-level positions in the bank were either asked or told to look the other way. It is doubtful that their names will appear in the indictments. Are they just as guilty? Yes.
The events of September 11 were horrific and stirred a nation into two separate directions. The first was anger and an insistence to attack those who would attack us but the second was much more disturbing. Few elected officials called for caution and in this tense restraint of panic sweeping changes were made under the nose of those that serve in Washington by bills such as the Patriot Act. To use the events of the worst attack ever on this country to push your agenda is just as bad or worse than the attacks. Politicians for years have rushed to have their photos taken at the scene of a fire, at the slaughter of innocent civilians and the events of September 11. It’s despicable and it reeks of a total uncaring and self-preservation that says everything about the sincerity and dignity of that official. Most of the contents in the Patriot Act sought new restrictions over domestic surveillance. Let the shoplifter keep their prize and punish the employee for letting him get away.
In an essay entitled, True History, Jack Random writes, “The greatness of our country and the greatest hope is that there are those who have broken free from the bindings of our indoctrination and declared themselves free. These individuals have discovered the greater truth that where one falsehood lies it is often accompanied by many others. They have uncovered the lies of manifest destiny and equal opportunity. They uncovered the lies of blind justice and the moral imperative to war. They have uncovered the lies of American sovereignty, American democracy, American superiority, and they have discovered the underlying truth: We are a nation born of great ideals yet we have failed to live up to them.” Failure to live up to those ideals can be the conclusion of a great noble idea. To protect the people of the United States should not come at the price of liberty and freedom. If it does then we’re facing the wrong end of the barrel of the gun.
- Chris Mansel
Of Ward Churchill Jack Random writes, “I would dearly love to say that Ward Churchill is not important, that it is the principle of free speech, the essence of a democratic society, and the foundation of academic excellence, that is at stake here, but I simply do not believe it. Ward Churchill is important. His is a singular and distinct voice in American society and, if it is lost, we are all impoverished. His crime is not that he misspoke or that he spoke out of turn, too loudly and too proudly, but that he dared to say what many thought. Moreover, the sentence he committed to paper on September 12, 2001, would never have garnered any significant attention had not the writer crossed a threshold of influence.” How right he is. When a man or woman in this country is afraid to stand up and say what he or she feels, state their opinion then all is lost. Democracy will cease to exist and another form of government will evolve and many in the opposition will die. If you think that sounds just a bit absurd then read the history of Guatemala, Serbia, Poland, just to name a few.
Ward Churchill may have chosen too strong a representation in using the word, Eichmann, but in all sincerity he was right to a degree. Many of those who work in the technology and money markets are contributing to acts of terrorism whether they know it or not. They do compete to find brand new ways of inciting terror and launder money. Of a bank is discovered to be washing money for a drug cartel they don’t arrest everyone who works for the bank, they arrest the higher ups in the company and hold them accountable. Can you imagine the man who mops and buffs the floor being in on the crime with the president and board of the bank? No you cannot but you might easily make the case that a few mid-level positions in the bank were either asked or told to look the other way. It is doubtful that their names will appear in the indictments. Are they just as guilty? Yes.
The events of September 11 were horrific and stirred a nation into two separate directions. The first was anger and an insistence to attack those who would attack us but the second was much more disturbing. Few elected officials called for caution and in this tense restraint of panic sweeping changes were made under the nose of those that serve in Washington by bills such as the Patriot Act. To use the events of the worst attack ever on this country to push your agenda is just as bad or worse than the attacks. Politicians for years have rushed to have their photos taken at the scene of a fire, at the slaughter of innocent civilians and the events of September 11. It’s despicable and it reeks of a total uncaring and self-preservation that says everything about the sincerity and dignity of that official. Most of the contents in the Patriot Act sought new restrictions over domestic surveillance. Let the shoplifter keep their prize and punish the employee for letting him get away.
In an essay entitled, True History, Jack Random writes, “The greatness of our country and the greatest hope is that there are those who have broken free from the bindings of our indoctrination and declared themselves free. These individuals have discovered the greater truth that where one falsehood lies it is often accompanied by many others. They have uncovered the lies of manifest destiny and equal opportunity. They uncovered the lies of blind justice and the moral imperative to war. They have uncovered the lies of American sovereignty, American democracy, American superiority, and they have discovered the underlying truth: We are a nation born of great ideals yet we have failed to live up to them.” Failure to live up to those ideals can be the conclusion of a great noble idea. To protect the people of the United States should not come at the price of liberty and freedom. If it does then we’re facing the wrong end of the barrel of the gun.
- Chris Mansel
Where Nature Meets The Ends Of The Earth
“Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.”
- Francis Bacon (1581-1626)
The shift of humanity into this century has been hindered with death, disease, and hunger. Natural disasters notwithstanding, the species could use a rest from the turmoil. I don’t think even Lewis Carroll could have foreseen the snake hole, which has replaced the rabbit hole that we inhabit today in relation to the acquisition of simple medicine that could save millions amidst startling research. We are moving closer and closer to cures for Alzheimer’s and Cancer but we still cannot prevent a common cold from spiraling into pneumonia in some parts of the world.
Marcus Garvey wrote, “God and nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be…Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.” If nature did help in making us who we are then why have we so disassociated ourselves from our source? The environment has been riddled with man’s ignorance, man’s own passive view of corporations who carry out their own environmental atrocities in front of us. If nature originated with a specific gender then it has been lost through time and fossilized into an unmanageable science.
I’m afraid our future may be awash in a haze of ammonia and treated with common sense medicine that will be created under a strain of government regulations and the political correctness of whose name it is to be published. Where nature meets the ends of the earth is where we will find our genetic marker, too little too late.
- Chris Mansel
- Francis Bacon (1581-1626)
The shift of humanity into this century has been hindered with death, disease, and hunger. Natural disasters notwithstanding, the species could use a rest from the turmoil. I don’t think even Lewis Carroll could have foreseen the snake hole, which has replaced the rabbit hole that we inhabit today in relation to the acquisition of simple medicine that could save millions amidst startling research. We are moving closer and closer to cures for Alzheimer’s and Cancer but we still cannot prevent a common cold from spiraling into pneumonia in some parts of the world.
Marcus Garvey wrote, “God and nature first made us what we are, and then out of our own created genius we make ourselves what we want to be…Let the sky and God be our limit and Eternity our measurement.” If nature did help in making us who we are then why have we so disassociated ourselves from our source? The environment has been riddled with man’s ignorance, man’s own passive view of corporations who carry out their own environmental atrocities in front of us. If nature originated with a specific gender then it has been lost through time and fossilized into an unmanageable science.
I’m afraid our future may be awash in a haze of ammonia and treated with common sense medicine that will be created under a strain of government regulations and the political correctness of whose name it is to be published. Where nature meets the ends of the earth is where we will find our genetic marker, too little too late.
- Chris Mansel
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
The Generation That Could Cease To Be
Site of Reference: http://society.guardian.co.uk/socialexclusion/story/0,11499,1427950,00.html
The Guardian is reporting a staggering item, “Despite government efforts to improve the living conditions of poor children, the UK still has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world, Unicef reported today.” Unicef a very trustworthy and viable entity whose only intention is to save the children of the world cannot save the children alone but it can bring attention to the worst areas of the world, but who would ever think it would be Great Britain that is one of the worst, anyone that keeps up with events in that country and certainly someone who lives there and is suffering in relative silence on the world stage. The Guardian also says, “Approximately one in seven children grow up in poverty in the UK, defined by Unicef as households with income below 50% of the national average. With 15.4% of British children falling into that category, the UK ranked seventh from bottom of a list of 24 industrialised nations studied by Unicef.”
What is most troubling is the next item in the story though it is far from shocking. The Guardian goes on with its sobering story, “Unicef said that, in the UK, the percentage of children in poverty was falling in response to government“ Children in the US and Mexico fared worst, with poverty rates of over 20%. Italy has the worst child poverty level in Europe, at 16.6%. In Mexico the poverty level is clearly understandable. Anyone who has been to Mexico or watched a documentary or spoken to someone who has been there knows of the squalor that exists right next to a hotel that caters to foreign investors efforts to reach the children of poor families. "However in 17 of the countries studied, childhood poverty was getting worse, with between 40 million and 50 million children growing up in poverty in the world's richest countries.” Bearing this in mind again we turn to the idea of Paul Wolfowitz as the head of the World Bank. Our own economy is in the worst shape it has been in since the previous President Bush was in office. The same problem has befallen the U.S. that tears the poorer countries apart. The U.S., the world’s supreme power borrows money from other countries on a regular basis and instead of trying to fix this situation engages in a unnecessary war and go further into debt. If it were their children would they act the same?
- Chris Mansel
The Guardian is reporting a staggering item, “Despite government efforts to improve the living conditions of poor children, the UK still has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the developed world, Unicef reported today.” Unicef a very trustworthy and viable entity whose only intention is to save the children of the world cannot save the children alone but it can bring attention to the worst areas of the world, but who would ever think it would be Great Britain that is one of the worst, anyone that keeps up with events in that country and certainly someone who lives there and is suffering in relative silence on the world stage. The Guardian also says, “Approximately one in seven children grow up in poverty in the UK, defined by Unicef as households with income below 50% of the national average. With 15.4% of British children falling into that category, the UK ranked seventh from bottom of a list of 24 industrialised nations studied by Unicef.”
What is most troubling is the next item in the story though it is far from shocking. The Guardian goes on with its sobering story, “Unicef said that, in the UK, the percentage of children in poverty was falling in response to government“ Children in the US and Mexico fared worst, with poverty rates of over 20%. Italy has the worst child poverty level in Europe, at 16.6%. In Mexico the poverty level is clearly understandable. Anyone who has been to Mexico or watched a documentary or spoken to someone who has been there knows of the squalor that exists right next to a hotel that caters to foreign investors efforts to reach the children of poor families. "However in 17 of the countries studied, childhood poverty was getting worse, with between 40 million and 50 million children growing up in poverty in the world's richest countries.” Bearing this in mind again we turn to the idea of Paul Wolfowitz as the head of the World Bank. Our own economy is in the worst shape it has been in since the previous President Bush was in office. The same problem has befallen the U.S. that tears the poorer countries apart. The U.S., the world’s supreme power borrows money from other countries on a regular basis and instead of trying to fix this situation engages in a unnecessary war and go further into debt. If it were their children would they act the same?
- Chris Mansel
Death Takes A Holiday
Site of Reference: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050301/D88I8SPO1.html
I have always felt that the Death penalty is wrong. It is as some say, “Government sponsored murder.” Those like me who believe that capitol punishment is wrong, though unexpected, have won today a victory. The AP is reporting,
“The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.
The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.
The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.”
I agree completely with the Supreme Court for a change, it is “unconstitutionally cruel.” It is so refreshing to hear the constitution mentioned during the Bush years. President Bush comes from Texas where more people are executed every year. Now take former Republican governor of Illinois, George H. Ryan. Former Governor George Ryan pardoned 167 people who were on death row because he felt that the death penalty was wrong. The most surprising point of this is that the Governor is a Republican. The apple doesn’t always fall too far from the tree but sometime, just sometimes maybe the apple is so sweet it tends to just float down with ease.
The AP also reports, “It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we are marching into battle against an enemy.” The thumping of the drums you hear today are not protestors outside the capitol protesting the Death penalty, it’s the sound of the president’s fingers rapping on the desk in the oval office biding his time until Chief Justice Rehnquist retires.
- Chris Mansel
I have always felt that the Death penalty is wrong. It is as some say, “Government sponsored murder.” Those like me who believe that capitol punishment is wrong, though unexpected, have won today a victory. The AP is reporting,
“The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Constitution forbids the execution of killers who were under 18 when they committed their crimes, ending a practice used in 19 states.
The 5-4 decision throws out the death sentences of about 70 juvenile murderers and bars states from seeking to execute minors for future crimes.
The executions, the court said, were unconstitutionally cruel.”
I agree completely with the Supreme Court for a change, it is “unconstitutionally cruel.” It is so refreshing to hear the constitution mentioned during the Bush years. President Bush comes from Texas where more people are executed every year. Now take former Republican governor of Illinois, George H. Ryan. Former Governor George Ryan pardoned 167 people who were on death row because he felt that the death penalty was wrong. The most surprising point of this is that the Governor is a Republican. The apple doesn’t always fall too far from the tree but sometime, just sometimes maybe the apple is so sweet it tends to just float down with ease.
The AP also reports, “It was the second major defeat at the high court in three years for supporters of the death penalty. Justices in 2002 banned the execution of the mentally retarded, also citing the Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishments.” Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we are marching into battle against an enemy.” The thumping of the drums you hear today are not protestors outside the capitol protesting the Death penalty, it’s the sound of the president’s fingers rapping on the desk in the oval office biding his time until Chief Justice Rehnquist retires.
- Chris Mansel
Wolfowitz for Currency Czar
Site of Reference: http://financialtimes.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=FT.com+%2F+World+%2F+US+-+Wolfowitz+on+shortlist+for+World+Bank+top+post&expire=&urlID=13390277&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F6be27ed0-89da-11d9-aa18-00000e2511c8%2Cft_acl%3D%2Cs01%3D1.html&partnerID=1700
Tom Ridge was recently hired by Home Depot whose CEO is a good friend of President Bush. Now Paul Wolfowitz could be the head of the World Bank. Isn’t it great when you have friends? The Financial Times is reporting, “Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy secretary of defense, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank.”
While it takes some severe arm-twisting to get this White House to forgive poorer countries the debt they owe, you can imagine that if Wolfowitz gets the job the World Bank will not only not forgive their debts but also collect every penny and try to convince them they will be the better for it. Imagine Wolfowitz in the boardroom like Porter Goss. We must follow the President and his idea of what the world should be.
The Financial Times also reports, “The nomination of Mr Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war and a former US ambassador to Indonesia, would likely be highly controversial, and could raise new questions about the process by which the World Bank chief is selected. One administration official said his nomination “would have enormous repercussions within the development community”. Controversial doesn’t seem to quite put it in perspective. This administration, regime, etc., has proven time and again that it will get what it wants when it wants despite anything else. Defying the U.N. like Harry Truman and going to war, getting elected when not receiving the votes honestly, the list goes on and on. But consider where we will be if a Bush drone gets to be in charge of the money in the World Bank?
The most enraging piece of this story is a quote from Rob Nichols, “The effort to pick the US candidate has been led by the White House National Security Council and the Council of Economic Advisers. The Treasury is leading consultations with other World Bank shareholders. Asked about Mr Wolfowitz's possible nomination, Rob Nichols, Treasury spokesman, said: “We don't speculate on personnel appointments before they are made.” Speculate? I can see where they wouldn’t to speculate on nominating and electing on their own, remember Florida in 2000?
President Bush: Hey Jeb, we gonna get the votes down there?
Governor Jeb Bush: What do you think? (laughs)
- Chris Mansel
Tom Ridge was recently hired by Home Depot whose CEO is a good friend of President Bush. Now Paul Wolfowitz could be the head of the World Bank. Isn’t it great when you have friends? The Financial Times is reporting, “Paul Wolfowitz, US deputy secretary of defense, has emerged as a leading candidate to replace James Wolfensohn as the president of the World Bank.”
While it takes some severe arm-twisting to get this White House to forgive poorer countries the debt they owe, you can imagine that if Wolfowitz gets the job the World Bank will not only not forgive their debts but also collect every penny and try to convince them they will be the better for it. Imagine Wolfowitz in the boardroom like Porter Goss. We must follow the President and his idea of what the world should be.
The Financial Times also reports, “The nomination of Mr Wolfowitz, one of the chief architects of the Iraq war and a former US ambassador to Indonesia, would likely be highly controversial, and could raise new questions about the process by which the World Bank chief is selected. One administration official said his nomination “would have enormous repercussions within the development community”. Controversial doesn’t seem to quite put it in perspective. This administration, regime, etc., has proven time and again that it will get what it wants when it wants despite anything else. Defying the U.N. like Harry Truman and going to war, getting elected when not receiving the votes honestly, the list goes on and on. But consider where we will be if a Bush drone gets to be in charge of the money in the World Bank?
The most enraging piece of this story is a quote from Rob Nichols, “The effort to pick the US candidate has been led by the White House National Security Council and the Council of Economic Advisers. The Treasury is leading consultations with other World Bank shareholders. Asked about Mr Wolfowitz's possible nomination, Rob Nichols, Treasury spokesman, said: “We don't speculate on personnel appointments before they are made.” Speculate? I can see where they wouldn’t to speculate on nominating and electing on their own, remember Florida in 2000?
President Bush: Hey Jeb, we gonna get the votes down there?
Governor Jeb Bush: What do you think? (laughs)
- Chris Mansel
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