A History of CIA Covert Actions by Steve Kangas

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We Are All Shemites

We are All Shemites
10/29/04

On DemocracyNow! on Friday, the portrayal of a silent kaleidoscopic view of Iraq from the viewpoint of an Iraqi was sublime. It was a human side of the war unseen anywhere else in America. What a nightmare!

At one point, seeing families carting home the dead bodies of their children and loved ones, I didn't know if I was looking at Israel, or Palestine, or any other place where inflexible, militaristic powers strive to dominate another people.

In Genesis 17, G-d came to Abraham and promised him the land of Canaan. That covenant was marked by the practice of circumcision. Ishmael was 13 years old, Abram, now Abraham, was 99. It was 3 years before the birth of Isaac. G-d told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and gave the land of Canaan to ALL of the seed of Abraham.

When Joshua crossed the Jordan River and invaded Canaan, the Bible says that they slaughtered all the Canaanites except for the family of the harlot. Save the possibility that the Palestinians might be her descendants, we will assume that the Palestinians are descendants of Ishmael. The Canaanites are gone.

Standing on the platform that G-d gave this land to us, the Israelis feel righteous in taking the land. But they forget that G-d gave this land to our cousins, the Palestinians, also. Ishmael received G-d's blessing 3 years before Isaac did, and again by Hagar's well. The Muslims worship the One G-d, they circumcise their males, they even daven when they pray.

In Genesis 6, the Nefillim walked the Earth and found the daughters of men to be lovely, and they fathered the heroes of old. It is unknown who or what the Nefillim were, but they were not humans but had genetic material that could mate with the aboriginal humans. The first great hero was Noah. Muslims and Jews are descendants of Noah's son Shem. We are all Shemites. We all carry that piece of genetic material from the Nefillin.

The children of Israel were chosen to promote the worship of the One G-d, and to be examples of righteousness to the people. Being chosen does NOT mean exclusive right of possession of the land of Canaan.

The Earth is rapidly shrinking. We are all together on this one lifeboat of a planet. Its the only one we have. We need to find a way to live together in Peace.

The Common Good is Not-For-Profit

The Common Good
11/14/05

There are some that say the purpose of national government is no more than to protect our national borders and to regulate interstate commerce. And for what purpose are our local governments? Some say to keep the peace and to protect the public safety. In fact, the purpose of government is to protect the Common Good.

The Common Good can be defined as those things that benefit all people equally. Usually it includes the police force, fire fighters, and forest rangers, infrastructure of our cities like roads, traffic lights, sewers, sidewalks, and water, gas and electric lines. Clean and safe water, air and soil are included in the Common Good because we all breathe, drink and eat food coming from the soil. Parks and game preserves are also for the Common Good as well as a just legal and political system. And many include the public airways and utilities that produce electricity in the Common Good. Considering that the World Health Organization has proclaimed that healthcare is a basic Human Right, I would also include healthcare in the Common Good.

Our local governments have created Public Utility Commissions to manage the common resources like air, water, rail safety, and electricity for the common good. They have also created sewer treatment plants and clean water facilities to benefit all people equally at a price that is not-for-profit. Yet our government doesn’t have any means to manage healthcare. Nor do they manage the soil. The food grown in our soil is only monitored for coliform bacteria. Organic farmers who try to produce completely safe food are overruled by courts that favor the petroleum fertilized fields growing genetically engineered crops for which long-term safety is unknown. The courts protect the rights of the corporations to use the unsuspecting American public as guinea pigs to test the long-term safety of their products.

A huge issue, which subverts the Common Good, is healthcare for profit. If health care is a human right, then rationing it out only to those who can pay is not serving the Common Good at all. I recently had an annual check-up. The doctor ordered a few lab tests. One test was the urinalysis. Having done many through my job over the years, I’m quite familiar with this test. It entails taking a small test strip out of a jar and dipping it into a sample of urine and then reading the colors compared to the key on the jar label. It takes about 120 seconds to complete the test and record the results. I was charged $80 for this test. This is healthcare for profit.

In the USA, we have a system which trains doctors to serve their own profits rather than the Common Good. It is done by charging huge premiums for a medical education followed by the equally huge cost of setting up a private practice. It is not unusual for a new young doctor to begin practicing medicine with $50,000 debt in student loans and another $50,000 debt in costs associated with opening a practice. No wonder doctors often seem to favor costly interventions in conflict with serving the patient’s best interests. If medical education were not-for-profit, and the new young doctors could be immediately employed in the national health care system, we would be training practitioners that care about their patients’ good health more than about the next payment on their overwhelming debt burden. A system that reaps profits at the expense of public illness is a conflict of interest.

In addition, there is no agency other than the American Medical Association that monitors the safe practice of doctors. Truck and bus drivers, airplane pilots, air traffic controllers, train engineers, all get regular drug urine tests to insure the public safety, but not doctors. Anesthesiologists and surgeons have our lives in their hands, as well as having the means to write their own prescriptions for drugs of abuse, yet no one is charged with the job of monitoring their competence and ability to provide safe care for the benefit of the Public Good. Did your anesthesiologist get a drug urine test before your last surgery?

It would be unthinkable to most people that private corporations could buy up our public utilities like water and sewer and begin price gouging. But, why not? Our Congress has already passed the law (H.R. 6, Sec. 1273, Repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, Aug 8, 2005: Public Law No: 109-58) that allows for the privatization of public utilities. A private corporation will soon be coming to your town to make bids on the local water supply. After that, like with healthcare, it will be rationed out to those who can pay. A glass of clean drinking water could cost $80 like the urinalysis. Price gouging is fair and square among Social Darwinist corporatists. Only the richest shall survive. And when questioned about it, they lie.

I propose that it is the duty and obligation of governments to protect the Common Good not-for-profit. In order to carry out their charge, governments need the support of the people. Therefore governments levy taxes. Residents pay taxes, and their tax dollars pay for roads, bridges, sewer, water, gas and electric lines, police, highway patrol, firefighters, judges, courts, prisons, public health, public schools, public universities, public parks, and governments to administer all these public services. Taxes used to also pay for public hospitals, but such things have now all been privatized in the name of increased efficiency.

There is a small minority of ideological fanatics who believe that governments should be replaced with private corporations which will run everything more efficiently. Those industries that used to be operated for the common good not-for-profit, which have now been replaced by unregulated, for-profit corporations, have unanimously gouged money from the public while the quality of the product or service fell precipitously. The only net efficiencies derived from the privatization process were the ever increasing earnings-per-share for the stockholders.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against private corporations. Competitive markets for commodities and goods are a good thing, but NOT when it entails those items that are strictly and exclusively for the Common Good. Consumer items like clothing, cars, furniture, bicycles, house paint and stereos all have a place in the competitive market. And corporations can also serve the public by producing good products that don’t pollute the environment. Corporations can limit the multiples for the compensation received by top administrators as compared with the lowliest employee. They can make sure their workers are not unfairly exploited and get fair wages and benefits. They can make sure that their workforce, including the Board of Directors and the top administrators, reflect the diversity found in the local area. Pure Capitalism exploits the workers until they can no longer work and then replaces them with a younger worker. Capitalism moderated by social controls prevents slavery, child labor, and discrimination based on gender, sexual preference, race, national origin or religion. Capitalism moderated by social controls provides a 40-hr week, minimum wage, paid leave, overtime pay, vacation time, maternity and family emergency leave, lunch-time, breaks, and much more.

Some corporations find they can’t compete in the global market because they have the extra financial burden of providing healthcare for their employees. This is the justification to move their factories offshore where they can pay lower wages without providing healthcare or other benefits. Essentially, off-shore factories are able to return to the days of pure Capitalism, where collective bargaining for workers did not exist. Yet, the real reason they can’t compete in the global market is because all other industrialized nations provide national healthcare for the Common Good rather than legislating it on to private businesses. Our current government gives tax advantages to factories that relocate offshore rather than providing national healthcare for the Common Good. Obviously, our current government is not fulfilling their duty to serve the Common Good.

Since healthcare is for the Common Good, it shouldn’t be the responsibility of employers to provide it. Healthcare should be provided like water, sewer, roads, police and firefighters, compliments of the government who serve the interests of the Common Good not-for-profit.

Obama Hope Card

I recently received a Hope Card from the DCCC to send my hopeful thoughts to President Obama. This is what I wrote:
Hope is a good feeling based on delusion.
Hope is a tool of exploitation of the hopeless.
Hope is the same platform that George W. Bush ran on in 1999.
Hope is the delusion you use to transfer massive amounts of public wealth into private hands.
Hope is what you give us in exchange for cutting funds for education, safety, and social services.
People hoped you would end war, but you shift war from one location to another.
You hope the war profiteers won't assassinate you as long as you appease them with perpetual wars.

Bill on ba'Midbar

Subject: Bat Mitzvah Torah Talk
Date: Saturday, May 30, 2009, 9:33 AM

At the Bat Mitzvah’s party on May 23, we had a discussion about the Torah portion, baMidbar. Since this portion includes a census of military-aged men, I asked people to discuss under what circumstances they would be willing to fight, specifically to serve in an army.

While people took the topic seriously, and several moving stories were told, I was unhappy with the level of the discussion. The day after the party, my long-time friend told me a story which illuminates the point that I was trying to make. I wish to share it with you, so we can complete the teaching of this portion.

Before I relate my friend’s story, let me tell you several others. This wouldn’t be a true Torah discussion, if I didn’t include at least one or two apparently unrelated anecdotes.

In one of the Lord of the Rings movies, Frodo contemplates the dangerous burden posed by the magic ring and says that he wished it had never come into his possession. Gandalf replies, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

This is precisely why I was displeased with our discussion. There was too much speculation about matters over which we have no control, and too little thought about decisions that we might actually have to make. The political content of our talk struck me as off-topic. Very few of us will influence the course of our nation or events in the Middle East. We are more likely to be asked to put on a uniform, pick up a gun, pay taxes or in some way support a war.

Waging war is quality associated with nationhood. It is no coincidence when the Hebrews formed a nation out in the desert that one of their first acts was to take a military census.

Nationalism is important in the Torah. Certain mitzvahs can only be performed as a nation, so we must have a nation to do them.

This portion occurs as we are counting the Omer from Passover to Shavuot. We are taught that with the counting we are increasing our holiness, so that on Shavuot, we are holy enough to receive the Torah.

On Passover, we are taught that we should regard the holiday’s events “…as though you yourself came out of Egypt.” Even though we gather as a family, we celebrate Passover as individuals. At the time of the Exodus, we have not yet formed a national identity.

In contrast, Shavuot is very much a national holiday. The Torah was not given to each individual Jew, but rather to the nation as a whole. Also, Shavuot is associated with the mitzvah of the giving of the first fruits, a commandment that was given to the entire nation. After coming into the land of Israel, we didn’t give first fruits for several years, because we had to wait until everyone was able to contribute.

We can see that by juxtaposition of these two spring holidays and the increasing holiness as we count the Omer, that forming a nation is a path to holiness. In this context, nationalism, itself, is holy.

Read that last sentence again, because I think some of you will have trouble accepting it. Much of the conversation that we had last Saturday, was an attempt by participants to distance themselves from the excesses of nationalism.

Now, let’s recount another apparently unrelated story. I have heard this same tale told about two different people: Shlomo Carlebach, and a Jewish tzadik (righteous man), who lived in the Midwest and whose name escapes me.

The tzadik was walking down the street with his hasids (students) when he was approached by an admirer. The admirer, probably not Jewish, offered the tzadik a non-kosher cookie. The tzadik unexpectedly ate the offered food. The tzadik explained to the shocked hasids that refusing the gift would have been a worse sin than eating a non-kosher cookie, because it would have publicly embarrassed the stranger.

Some may accuse the tzadik of compromising his principles. Compromise has a bad reputation, maybe unfairly. I think of the tzadik as having decided that one mitzvah was more important than another.

When I heard the conversation last Saturday about what Israel should do, and what constitutes a just war, I became annoyed. We all have a tendency to embrace an unbending, uncompromising purity that leads to separation and moral arrogance. “I am above such petty concerns. I am not part of this. I am better than this situation”

We can get so up wrapped up in our own individual ethical concerns that we don’t acknowledge our responsibilities toward others. We not only refuse the cookie, but do so with a loud proclamation of our religious convictions, not caring how the stranger feels.

Opposing war is necessary, but waging peace does not free us of our collective responsibilities. This is what I meant last Saturday, when I said we all have to “get our hands dirty.” Sometimes, the highest moral approach is not the purest one.

The balance between personal morality and our responsibility to our nation was illustrated by a story that my friend told me. His father was a Conscientious Objector (CO) during World War II. He could have chosen to be the type of CO that refused all military service. He could have refused to cooperate with the System and in the words of Pink Floyd, “…exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage,” i.e. gone to jail.

What his father decided to do was become a medic. That meant that he “compromised” his moral objection to war. He put on a uniform. He carried a gun. He healed injured warriors who went back to combat. He was part of the war machine.

In this case, as someone said of Obama, “For him, compromise is the high moral ground.” My friend’s father did not hold himself superior to the situation. He did not reject the ties that bound him to his neighbors, community and nation. He got his “hands dirty,” in a very literal way with the blood and guts of the wounded.

When faced with the horror of global war, he did not separate himself and say “I will not be part of this.” He acknowledged that whatever moral stand he took, he WAS part of the horror. Instead of debating the ethics of the situation, he asked, “What is the best action that I can do now?” His answer was to heal the injured. Thus, he fulfilled his responsibilities to his country and still honored his anti-war convictions by not killing anyone.

By the way, this discussion was a revelation for my friend. He said he had never thought of his father as holy before. His atheist father was “the last person that you would discuss religion with.” He intends to investigate his late father’s war experiences by asking his mother about them.

Even though he would not kill, my friend’s father could still be counted on by the nation; he was part of the census. His example demonstrates one way nationalism leads to holiness. A truly moral person approaches life with humility. They do not say, “You do not meet my standards. I am better than you, so I will not participate.” Instead, they say, “This is my problem too. How can I help?”


My Response:
Great drosh, Bill.

You also have opened my eyes to my former father-in-law and helped me to see him in a new light. He may have had his personal peculiarities as a father, but I see now that he was a man of high moral standing in spite of his absolute atheism. He was a man that stood up for his moral beliefs.

I'm told he came back from the war a changed man. I thought that anyone would be changed by war. Now I see that change from a more personal view. He could never truly reconcile within himself that compromise you point out. Although he did his duty for the collective good, he could never forgive himself for the deaths and destruction that he took part in.

In the story of him discovering a man in his bed with his wife while the children slept downstairs, he experienced moral repugnance at the act of cuckolding adultery. Yet he himself never committed adultery.

He had a repeat case of moral repugnance upon discovering that his daughter committed adultery against her husband, the nicest, most regular and honest guy you could meet, as well as an involved father. He couldn't talk to his own daughter for at least 2 years but remained close friends with the X-son-in-law. I'm sure he closely identified with the young man.

He was a card carrying Communist and proud of it until the day he died. He believed in a humble social vision of peaceful equality within community. After the McCarthy era, he laid low to protect his family, and lived happily ever after with his 2nd wife of 40 years as a world class biochemist, the inventor of the "Grow Light," and photo-documentairan of Tompkins County, New York. He was a man who lived life with integrity.

Barak slices through the “Pretend Game” and cuts to the core

Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress on 2/24/09 had me jumping and shouting with tears of joy. He cut right to the core of the matter regarding the economy, the national debt, the tax code, health care, and education’s relationship to future prosperity. He postured aggressively on Middle Eastern wars to appease the Hawks, and pleased the Doves with his stance on Iraq, all in the same sentence. He said nothing to offend the war profiteers insuring continued wars but pledged to end the no-bid contracts. Republican and Democrat alike all agreed on the elimination of no-bid contracts. Obama received an enthusiastic standing ovation from both sides of the aisle. Even McCain and his sidekick, Susan Collins, had to agree with that one.

Obama entirely omitted any talk of bringing to justice the ones that sucked all this deficit out of the country, namely the war profiteers. He did make a stinging blow with his mention of a legacy of debt to our grandchildren that they cannot pay as a result of the deficit “we” inherited. Obama sure does give a winning smile after each declaration!

I flashed back on George W. Bush smugly avoiding questions and exuding remorseless arrogance with his body language. I noted the stark contrast between having a moron or a genius as a president. I recalled when 15 million people around the planet demonstrated in the streets against starting the war in Iraq, and God remained silent allowing the war to ensue; I suspected that God had a plan up her sleeve. I deduced that the plan was to let things get so very, very bad, until the Peaceful Cooperative people finally rose up to set things straight. Obama could be the charismatic leader that can renew the spirit of the downtrodden and hopeless, and inspire them to rise up and act in a non-violent cooperative manner to fulfill our highest national aspirations.

I have mentioned in earlier blog essays what I call the "Pretend Game" that our members of Congress play. In review, it is the professed ignorance of obvious events in the news that aren't supposed to be so. For example, the CIA mining the harbor in Managua. This was frequently reported in the alternative press for nearly a year until an allied ship sunk, and suddenly Congress pretended it was previously unknown even though they had voted to fund it. Its the same thing with all the democratically elected sovereign leaders that the CIA have deposed and replaced with dictators supportive of US industrial interests. One such obvious current news item has been the the funding for the war and occupation of Iraq. You might notice that Republicans object to the Obama stimulus package based on "wasteful spending," or deficit spending. Yet they pretend that the last 6 years of deficit spending on our blunder in Iraq didn't exist. They can play this game because the Iraq funds were "supplemental" funds and not actually included in the budget. Therefore, they conclude that it wasn't deficit spending. Obama declared he would change the accounting category and begin to disclose Iraq expenses to the public.

Old cynic that I am, Obama’s speech tonight was one of the best I have heard in years. If only he could make good on these promises, it would be a helluva lot better than the abusive decline of the last 8 years.

Bush & Cheney don't mind leaving office

Bush and Cheney don’t mind leaving office at this time because they will continue to be in command of Blackwater and other mercenary contractors. They have bilked the U.S. Treasury for all they could get, and built themselves a well armed and trained private militia. They threw the spoils to their war-profiteering cronies who sucked the nation dry with their war games. They destabilized the Middle East so there will be lots more lucrative fun for them as they stuff their pockets with cash gained on the lives of the innocent. They foment war and then profit from it.

Don’t be surprised under Obama, if the American military finds themselves engaging against mercenary troops in battle. It could very well be the war profiteers who will attack the USA. Who knows; in retrospect, 9/11 could have been arranged by the war profiteers also? For eight years they sucked us dry from within, and will do whatever they can to force Obama to war in order to continue to suck us dry from abroad. It is all for profit.

We need to re-align our sights and realize that the war profiteers are the real enemy. And next to them are the corporations that profit from polluting the Earth, like petroleum and coal dealers. The pollution driving Global Climate Change is causing formerly productive land to go barren resulting in the bloodbath of Darfur. Whole island cultures need to be relocated due to rising seas. That's one way to end the 50 year socialist experiment in Cuba; drown them!

We had a war on the Indians. Then we had 2 wars against fascism. Then a war on poverty. Then a war on drugs. Then a war on terrorists. Now we can have a war on war profiteers! The war to end all wars!! Who should Obama assign to lead that war?

Obama for Change

Yesterday, I heard an extraordinarily creative musical rendition on the radio of many of Obama's most inspiring speeches. The music really inspired hope for positive change. But a platform of unspecified change scares me silly. I become petrified every time I hear Obama talking about change.

I guess no one remembers that George W. Bush ran on a platform of unspecified change, also. It was originally going to be change from executive sexual promiscuity. And change is what we saw plenty of. Change from economic strength to the death of the US economy. Change from brief wars in Bosnia to prolonged wars in the Middle East. Change from progress for a peaceful settlement between Israel and the Palestinians to the declaration that the legitimately elected leaders of the Palestinian people are terrorists, and piles of dead bodies in Gaza. We also saw the change from knowledgeable experts leading our government agencies to leadership by crony insiders who sabotaged their own agencies rendering them impotent and useless. Another change was the transformation of the USA as the strongest military power on Earth to Blackwater holding that current position. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

In one speech, Obama said there is nothing wrong with hope. I tend to disagree. Hope feels good but in Buddhist philosophy, hope is categorized as delusion. Hope is nothing more than a feeling of optimism, not necessarily based on the facts. At this point in history, no one can achieve public office without assistance from the mainstream media which is owned by big war-profiteering corporations. Therefore, you can't get to be President without selling out to the big corporations that control the public airwaves. Considering that Obama has to be a corporate sellout by definition, and promoted himself on the same platform of hope for change as George W. Bush, I am very apprehensive as to what changes will befall our already battered nation.

Congress likes to play the "ignorant" game

Remember in 1984 when the CIA mined the harbors of Nicaragua?
"Between 1981 and 1984 the Reagan administration... approved placing 300 pound mines of C4 explosives in three Nicaraguan harbours. Several ships were hit, including British and French vessels, and the Nicaraguan fishing industry was devastated. In April 1984, the CIA’s role in the mining of Nicaragua’s harbours was publicly disclosed...."
From http://australianscreen.com.au/titles/nicaragua-no-pasaran/clip2/

In fact, the mining of Nicaraguan harbors was in the alternative press for nearly 8 months before the British ship was hit with a mine causing an international scandal. Yet, when the mines were discovered to have been placed by the USA, Congress pretended to know nothing whatsoever about it. It was all very shocking news to them. Then it was revealed that Congress had approved the funds for the mines. Congress was playing the "ignorant" game.

We have a very similar situation today. Our economy is totally depleted of funds as well as the means of production of new wealth, and Congress is shocked. As foreclosure rates skyrocket, industries collapse, unemployment rises, and high school drop-out rates approach 40%, Congress is again playing the "ignorant" game.

When Congress approved $581,406,113,674 for the war in Iraq, they supposedly couldn't imagine that it would impact the homeland economy.
When Congress dropped their priorities for domestic spending to improve the American infrastructure, provide a social safety net, fund education, shift energy from fossil fuels to renewable sources, protect the environment, all for the common People, and instead fund private militias to wage foreign wars on our behalf, they couldn't imagine that it would negatively impact the American economy.
When Congress approved tax cuts for the wealthy while waging expensive wars overseas, Congress couldn't imagine that reducing revenues while increasing expenses would negatively impact the American economy.
When Congress approved the unfunded No Child Left Behind Act which caused the high school drop out rate to double in turn causing the literacy rate in American to drop significantly, they couldn't imagine that an illiterate workforce might erode America's manufacturing prowess.
When Congress approved the addition of kidney dialysis to MediCare, and a prescription drug plan that prohibits bargaining for lower rates based on economies of scale, they had no inkling that it would bankrupt MediCare.

And now that we are in the worst depression since 1929, Congress is totally shocked as if depleting the national treasury and mortgaging our expensive foreign wars to our unborn grandchildren wasn't going to effect the economy. Yet, the alternative press has been publishing pieces on the inevitable results of all of these policies for over a decade.

Either our elected representatives in Congress are total fools, or they are collaborators in the destruction of America. I am thoroughly convinced of the latter. The number of representatives in Congress who actually protect and defend the Constitution as well as serve the common People can be counted on one hand. The rest, both Democrat and Republican, are collaborators in the rape and pillage of the American economy.

Bush & Cheney were not idiots

Friend B.M. wrote:
I heard something amazing on the radio the other day. It was an editorial on KMUD, but the guy quoted Dick Cheney as saying, he thought they did pretty well, considering the conditions they had to work in. He doesn't seem to recognize they were the CAUSE of those conditions. Boy, talk about, DUH!

My reply:
If their goal was to embezzle the public funds and transfer public wealth into private hands, I think they did spectacularly well.

If their goal was to deplete the strength of American troops and demoralize them as well as maiming the best to disempower them against any future defense, while enriching and arming a massive private militia and have it stationed on American soil, I think they did quite well.

If their plan was to destabilize the Middle East, they did quite well with that, too.

If their goal was to entrench right-leaning governments all over the world like a domino effect, they have succeeded very well.

If their goal was to destroy America to weaken it at the core to open the way for a well-armed private militia to move in and take over the country, they again succeeded quite well in bludgeoning the leading world nation to its knees now powerless to defend ourselves.

Hitler succeeded in the precision removal of all people of Jewish descent by performing massive data collection programs during peacetime before invading a country. Like Hitler, the Bush cabal have initiated massive data collection programs in which they have destroyed the conservative notion of privacy on the pretense of national security. Now they know everything there is to know about us, and when their private militia arrives, they will remove the opposition with efficiency to rival no one.

It is you who are the fool for judging them to be idiots. They have succeeded stupendously well. They have paved the way for their old buddy Osama bin Laden to move in at a moment's notice. Their private militias will be able to march right in and overpower our spent troops in a heartbeat.

And they are still trying to squeeze more and more public funds into the private sector right up to the very last moment.

Get down off your high horse and acknowledge their successes. I've only mentioned a few.
In Peace, Bodhi

Summary of the Bush Crime Family History from Tarry Faster

Summary Of The Bush Crime Family* History

For any civilized endeavor to maintain its civility, there must be enforceable laws and/or rules; without which, there is anarchy. So, before we find ourselves struggling to regain our lost freedoms, like those tragic heros in Burma/Myanmar, perhaps we should take a strategic review of how we arrived at this alarming state, honestly apprise our current status, and as we approach another major election, cast about for viable options for now as well as the foreseeable future.

Any objective observer with the barest awareness of contemporary history should be able to readily trace the rise of this powerful movement that has taken control of the reins of power in the United States. The most blatant initial historical record is when Grandpa Prescott Bush and some of his cronies tried to entice General Smedley Butler to muster enough World War I veterans to take over the Presidency of The United States in 1933. Then again, in 1942 (a year after the U.S. joined World War II), Prescott Bush and this same cabal -- in their drive toward fascism -- were finally forced by the "Trading With the Enemy Act" to terminate their extensive business dealings with Hitler.

After WWII, this American branch of the Nazis didn't lose the war, they just transformed the battleground. They expanded their "connections" with Hitler's intelligence networks from The War into the formation of our own CIA. It is also this same group that President Eisenhower opaquely identified as the "Military Industrial Complex," in his dark farewell speech to us. Later, it was Poppy George H.W. Bush who sat on a boat (named Barbara) off-shore and directed the Cuban Bay Of Pigs fiasco. As a direct consequence of that largely unsolicited action, John Kennedy banished him and his CIA brothers from his administration, albeit only temporarily, as George H.W. Bush, then an active CIA agent, was later photographed in Dealey Plaza that sunny November day in 1963.

From FDR to today, the Bush Crime Family and their fixated core of corporate fascists have, using unbridled corporate power, been tightening their grip on the throats of the American political, legal, economic and media systems -- as the following excerpt from the Democratic Underground so well outlines:

"A Pocket History of the Bush Organized Crime Family Crime Line

Hitler's "Angel" -- Prescott Bush and his Wall Street cronies helped finance and arm the Third Reich.* Some continued trading with the enemy even after Germany declared war on America.

Bay of Pigs -- Bush the Oilman and his Cuban and Mafia friends raise hell in Miami, New Orleans and Houston. Nice fellahs. LBJ called their organization "A regular Murder Inc in the Caribbean."

22 November 1963, Dallas* -- George DeMohrenschildt the "White Russian geologist" is friends with both Lee Harvey Oswald and George Herbert Walker Bush. Small world, as the coincidences get bigger. Almost 40 years later, FBI memos surface that detail how George Herbert Walker Bush fingered a young conservative the day of the assassination and "Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency" cleared the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami days later.

Vietnam -- OK for poor kids to fight an illegal war started over the phony Gulf of Tonkin Incident, just as long as "W," the drunken coke-whore dim son, "destined" to become preznit some day, or the rest of his rich frat brothers don't have to go. Meanwhile Poppy's rich friends became very, very, very rich.

Watergate -- Nixon was willing to throw anyone and everyone to the wolves -- except George Herbert Walker Bush and "The Texans" because "They'll do anything for our side." Gee. Would "murder" qualify as "anything." Think so, especially seeing how Nixon got the ziggy and Bush ended up in the clear.

October Surprise -- Carter probably would've beat Reagan, but Bush and his buddies in INTEL and the military-industrial complex cut a deal with the Ayatollah to hold the hostages clear through the election. On inauguration day, they got to leave Tehran. A couple of weeks later, Israel starts sending US-supplied weapons. It proves so "profitable," that Ollie North cuts out the Israelis and decides to sell them US-direct.

Reagan survives assassination attempt --Just a couple of months after Reagan is sworn in, Reagan is ALMOST taken out and Bush stood ready to take charge. His son Neil was ready to have dinner that night with John Hinckley's brother, Scott. Odd how these "One Degree of Separation" coincidences always happen to Poppy.

INSLAW/Promis -- The turd Ed Meese and cronies stole software that enabled the Justice Department to track criminal prosecutions, had their INTEL buddies add a trap door, and then sold it around the world, making it possible to track what every BFEE-connected dictator or friend from Saddam to d'Aubission is up to -- in Freedomª's name.

Iraq-gate / Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arms -- Just how do you think Iraq managed to run its war against Iran for all those years? Saddam had to be getting juice from somebody, so they found a low-level banker in Miami to take the fall. US taxpayers floated Saddam $5 billion in loans. Meanwhile the Iran-Iraq war is prolonged by years and several hundreds of thousands of lives are lost.

BCCI International Money Laundering for Terrorists & Intelligence Community -- The terrorists' favorite bank, used by among others Abu Nidhal, Osama bin Laden, Ollie North, CIA, SIS and KGB. The Reagan and Bush administrations and friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress did all they could to keep it open. John Kerry got it shut down.

Savings & Loan Scandal -- Legalized robbery in the form of "loans" made to the politically connected, Mafia and INTEL-huggers. Odd how even Neil Bush, who made millions while Silverado, the S&L he helped direct, lost billions in bad loans to Bush cronies, never spent a day in jail. Kid from Detroit steals a pair of shoes from the mall and it's OK to shoot him dead. Meanwhile, after the bailout "fixes" everything, Poppy's very, very, very rich friends become ultra-rich.

Iran-Contra -- Neo-con Michael Ledeen, Munacher Ghorbanifar and Adnan Khashoggi bend over backward to sell arms the Ayatollah and use the profits to arm the terrorist Contras. Most of the players should be in prison, but, thanks to Poppy's pardon, remain free to roam the streets, let alone corridors of power, and continue the terror.

Arbusto, HARKEN, Spectrum-7, Aloha -- Every company the crazy monkey's ever touched, he's run into the ground. Yet Poppy's family and friends, including James R Bath, the bin Mahfouz and bin Ladens, always help him out. No wonder the dim bulb went off thinking of ENRON, Kenny Boy and all the possibilities.

Gulf War I -- Poppy Bush gives April Glaspie the signal to greenlight Saddam's "border dispute" and push into Kuwait. No wonder Saddam felt betrayed when Cheney ordered the extermination of tens of thousands of fleeing Iraqi conscripts heading north on the "Highway of Death." Meanwhile, Poppy's ultra-rich friends become ultra-ultra-ultra rich.

Selection 2000 Shreds US Constitution -- After fixing things up so that 70,000 likely Democratic votes and voters are turned away or disenfranchised, the 2000 Florida Presidential "election" results in a "tie." Associate Justice Antonin Scalia gets the idea that maybe the GOP-packed Supreme Court should grant petitioner George W Bush's request for taking the Oval Office, anyway. Someone on DU wrote: "You don't steal elections to do good things." Prophetic words, those.

ENRON Energy Policy -- Sneering Dick Cheney meets with Kenny Boy Lay to discuss ways of helping ENRON rip-off California and the rest of America. There were others there, like Chevron and EXXON, because they need oil, too. Besides, the ultra-, ultra-, ultra-rich can never have enough.

9-11 -- After ignoring the warnings of outgoing President Bill Clinton, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, anti-Terror Chief Richard Clarke, and Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, George W Bush ignores a report titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S." A month later, 3,000 innocent people are murdered. Two ways of looking at this one: 1.) Criminal Negligence, at best; 2.) Treason, most likely.

Gulf War II -- George W Bush, Sneer, and most of "the bureaucracy" make a case for going to war in Iraq, stating there are clear-cut connections between 9-11* and Saddam Hussein, who planned to use his arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons on America. (So far, the only bioweapon used on America was Anthrax that came from a US Army lab grown from a batch of the University of Iowa Strain.) Anwyay, it's not really odd to see how attacking Iraq was the Administration's number 1 priority, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and anti-Terror Chief Richard Clarke, from January 2001. The reason? There's money to be made there and power to be gained at home."(end of excerpt)
* links added to text by T.F.

--

So much for a historical perspective; where do we currently stand? Well, our political, legal, governmental, military and medical systems as well as our unions have all been thoroughly compromised. Financially, since we are deeply in debt (mostly to Japan and China) "they" are selling off our corporate and country assets and now simply "appropriating" cash to pay off their bad gambling debt to the tune of over $850 billion in a "Bailout," our tax system and the Federal Reserve Banking system are beyond any controls, the demoralized and frightened middle class is being rapidly dissolved, our worldwide reputation is sullied more than at any time in our history and the value of the dollar continues to fall. Our infrastructure and environment are deteriorating while corporate and political corruption are rampant, bigotry and racism -- while receding -- still covertly abound, our traditional news sources have become cheering profit centers for the administration and our voting processes are, at best, unreliable. Not the healthy picture of progress and hope that used to be the norm, prior to the sixties -- before someone started killing off the Kennedy brothers and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

--

This may sound like a broken record, but the next election is truly going to be critical to the survival of our democratic way of life -- and thus the world. Perhaps we should begin to think of these individuals that support this administration as bloated, self-absorbed and out-of-control addicts, in need of intervention. Now, in an intervention, the first thing that has to happen is that the addict must be subjected to the facts of reality until their wall of denial is first exposed and then accepted. The initial indication that that has occurred is when the addict admits that there is a problem and then becomes actively motivated to do something about it. It appears that the 2006 midterm elections demonstrated that a growing majority of Americans think things are broken and want a change. Now, is the time to educate and motivate our fellow citizens to seek out and regain their lost sense of morality.

The next step -- and this is at the heart of the matter -- is what can/should be done to correct our dire situation. It is going to take some very strong, passionate, wise, emotional and motivating leadership. Emphasis here should be on "motivating," because our next leader(s) must circumvent the biased media outlets and bring to the voting polls enough voters to overwhelm whatever roadblocks are preventing the large population of apathetic voters from active participation, while also drawing on the new voting power of those who have been mislead and want to help change our current course. Consider what occurred in the 2006 elections, in that the various bag of "election tricks" that Karl Rove cooked up for that election were simply overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the voter turnout. All that he and his crew of crooks could salvage were enough Senators to block any meaningful political efforts to right our ship of state from the many storms it has been (and is being) subjected to.

When considering new Democratic leadership, the primary consideration MUST be electability -- because if not elected, all other issues are moot! In this regard, all indications are that in a head-to-head face-off with McCain, Obama will win this extremely critical race. Attention must also be paid to the various congressional races, as well. For if we don't provide a new president with a congress that will support him, then gridlock will again prevail.

Elaborating on a phrase from the beginning of this statement, "... there must be enforceable laws and/or rules ..." ESPECIALLY in our electoral and financial systems. Even though Rove and his ilk may seem to have left Washington, we mustn't let our guard down. They are still practicing their nefarious deeds, somewhere. Keep in mind that the thing about laws and rules is that they are usually created, modified and put into effect AFTER the fact. Since we don't know what booby traps await our votes in 2008 and since the only demonstrated method of assuring any success through the electoral process is by shear volume of votes (a la 2006) -- our best option is to turn out to vote in massive numbers -- even so, this will be dubious.

Finally, should we work our way out of this madness, one of our first imperatives, as we repair the damage done, should be to prosecute ALL of the criminal acts that this ruthless group of international thugs has committed. This statement is not made with a sense of vengeance, but with an eye toward setting such a strong example with these individuals that they, and their minions, will forever give up on any future attempts to corrupt this, our enlightened struggle for universal, renewable, human freedom.

*Thanks to Mike Malloy for naming -- "The Bush Crime Family"

---

Tarry Faster taryfast@sonic.net

The neocon goal is accomplished: Democracy in the USA is dead

It was there for the whole world to see. One week President Bush criticizes China for repressive tactics that denies a free press, free assembly, the detention of political dissidents, and human rights activists. Three weeks later, we see armies of police arresting journalists for recording the repression of peaceful protesters and the jailing of political dissidents and human rights activists right in St. Paul.

The juxtapositions of Bush's rhetoric in China against the backdrop of massive strong-arm repression in St. Paul affirms to the world that the US government is completely hypocritical. It also enables repressive regimes all over the world to follow America's lead to speak pretty words while repressing their opposition.

Amendment 1 of the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." I presume that the arrest of members of the press with clearly visible press passes doesn't violate the First Amendment because it was not Congress but the city of St. Paul as well as the State of Minnesota that abridged the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free assembly, and petitioners for redress of grievances guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Everyone in the world sees the true stripes of the American government. There is no moral authority left when strong-arm tactics are used to repress Democracy. Now that the city of St. Paul has repressed the free press and detained news reporters and producers, the resulting chill among the remaining journalists will drive the final nails into the coffin of Democracy.

The neocon goal is accomplished. Democracy is dead in the USA.

Obama is Not the Anti-War Candidate

Obama cautiously speaks of withdrawing our combat troops from Iraq, but don't expect our troops to come home anytime soon. The next corporate profiteering war on the American Agenda will be in Afghanistan. Barak Obama welcomes corporate war profiteers to Afghanistan. There will be no end to war profiteering as long as the big corporations own our politicians. Barak Obama is already bought and paid for by the big corporations. American Democracy is no more than a veil of myth to disguise the corporate fascism.

Response to question: Why Isn't Kucinich President?

You ask why we aren't making Dennis Kucinich president?

It is because the corporate owned media prohibited him from participating in the debates. The corporate owned media pre-selected our candidates for us. He would not collaborate with the big corporations. That is why we are not making Dennis Kucinich president.

When the corporate media prohibited Kucinich from the debates, all the other candidates should have refused to get up on to the stage for the debate. If they had any courage, they would have boycotted the debates. Since the remaining candidates didn't boycott the debates, it became obvious that only the corporate collaborators would be allowed to speak on our public airwaves.

Kucinich took it to court saying that the airwaves belong to the public and therefore the corporations that control the media don't have the legal right to exclude him. The neocon judge ruled against him.

Debate is a misnomer because debate implies that there is an opposition with which to debate. Since the corporate media excluded the opposition voices like Kucinich, it was a forum and not a debate.

Kucinich is not president because the neocon propaganda convinces people to vote against their own best interests.

Kucinich is not president because he is not a charismatic leader but a funny looking vegan.

Kucinich is not president because he has a populist platform instead of a vague promise of "change."
I ask, change from what to what?

We just had 7 years of a president that lied every step of the way. Kucinich is not president because the American public prefers liars.

Kucinich is not president because he refuses to play the pretend game that the majority of members of Congress like to play.

Kucinich is not president because the fascists already rule the USA and make billion dollar election campaigns and conventions as a veil of myth to keep the American public drowning in lies. Only liars and neocon collaborators can be president at this stage of American history. Democracy is dead.

Bitter and discouraged but always in Peace

Addicted to Oil

Before Katrina (BK), the Coastal Commission and the State of California refused the Bush administration to extend 36 leases for offshore oil drilling between Oxnard and San Luis Obispo. The skyrocketing price of oil is now pressing these filthy oil-addicted opportunists to exploit more resources to fulfill their habit. A significant part of what they call “energy” was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. Yet it was the carbon dioxide residue produced by the burning of fossil fuel that heated the Gulf of Mexico so hot that it accelerated Katrina from a Category 1 storm over Miami, to a Category 5 storm by the time it reached Louisiana and Mississippi.

They are desperate to prolong their obscene profits among their oil industry kit and kin. There are those in Washington trying to score political points off this tragedy by calling for the opening of California’s coastline to more oil and gas drilling. The 2005 underhanded energy bill signed by President Bush, gives those voices the tools to begin to do just that. That same bill also opened the door for private companies to buy out (“privatize”) Public Utilities, which have until now been protected by Public Utilities Commissions. A Public Utility is an industry said to be “affected with a public interest” and therefore subject to a degree of government regulation. Private companies serve only themselves with as much profits as they can get away with irregardless of the consequences to the public or the environment.

By building bigger and stronger gas-guzzling cars, and the widespread replacement of natural renewable products with those made from petroleum byproducts, the oil industry has hooked America, and soon, all of the world, on the myth that “high class” means obscenely consuming petroleum products. From no-iron shirts to Nylon tents, to plastic laundry baskets, we have become addicted to petroleum products. And the billion Chinese in the PRC are striving fast to keep up with the Joneses.

Do you know plastic was originally made of cotton? That Diesel invented his internal combustion engine to burn vegetable oil? That the best engine lubricant before motor oil was hemp oil? That sails used to be made of hemp, as well as paper and clothing? That laundry baskets used to be made of wicker? That rayon and Dacron are made from tree fiber? That Saran Wrap used to be made from vegetable fibers? That cars can run on ethanol, which can be fermented out of biomass instead of edible corn? But instead our petrochemical industry brings in record profits as the whole world becomes more and more dependent on their products while petrochemical wastes are contaminating our planet and make it uninhabitable for living things.

Bush and his cronies are coveting the “energy resources” lying off the California coast. Don’t be fooled anymore. Buy a high efficiency car and only use your truck when you are moving freight. Get a pair panniers for your bike and pedal your way to shopping. Carpool. Take public transportation. The lesson of Hurricane Katrina is to stop burning fossil fuel.

In Response to a German's point of view on Islam

A Mother's point of view on corporate fanatics running our government.

Once upon a time, our government was of the People, by the People, and for the People. Then the railway profiteers, fondly know as the "Railroad Barons," or "Robber Barons," found ever more creative ways to bilk the government, the settlers, the investors, and the indigenous people out of all their assets. Many ruined families lay in their wake.

The Robber Barons got a Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, to give "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, an entry in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.

We now have a government of extremist ideologues who believe that windfall energy profits and war profiteering are of higher value than the People. Having preplanned their wars and boldly posted their manifesto on the website of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) in 1998, corporate extremists rigged the 2000 election to put their man in office. They tried to create a threat big enough to install martial law with the distribution of anthrax through the mail to Congress, but it wasn't enough. They blamed it on Muslim extremists until the strain of anthrax was traced to a government lab in Maryland.

The neo-con corporate extremists contracted with their Saudi friends to finance a bunch of Saudis, and a few more from Pakistan, and fly hijacked planes into the WTC and the Pentagon on 9/11/01. They planted explosives in the WTC towers in order to destroy the entire buildings, and then cleaned up the evidence before the forensic investigators could piece things together.

Conveniently, Cheney was safely in a bunker at the time, Bush was in Florida, and the Strategic Defense Command was on exercises in Canada. I realized this truth when I saw the look on W's face when they told him what had occurred. The look said to me, "I didn't expect it to happen like this," as if he had been expecting it all along.

Our CEO President, who avoided his own military service to our country, transformed himself into the Commander and Chief, and ordered a war on Afghanistan, even though the hijackers were Saudi and Pakistani. We moved our troops into Afghanistan just in time to guard the areas where the Central Asian oil and gas pipeline was proposed to cross the country. In less than a year, our President ordered the preplanned invasion of Iraq, and made the Saudis and Pakistanis our best allies in the region. Saudi Arabia is a kingdom where capital punishment by beheading is still state sanctioned and rape victims are stoned to death. Pakistan was run by a repressive dictator, Musharraf. Something was clearly wrong with this picture.

Why do freedom-loving Americans become allies with repressive dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan while vilifying democratically elected leaders like Hugo Chavez, Avo Morales, Mohammed Mossadegh, Jacobo Arbenz, Salvador Allende, Ho Chi Minh, Jose Valasco, Patrice Lamumba, Juan Bosch, Joao Goulart, Sukarno, Juan Torres, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Daniel Ortega?

Why do freedom-loving Americans tolerate the corporate contamination of our air, soil, and water for private profit? How many people in the world have died as a direct result and indirect result of corporate pollution? Why do we sit passively and let it happen? Why haven't the corporate polluters who are ruining our American way of life been brought to task for the damage they have wrought to Americans, the American environment, and the rest of the people in the world? How many have died from Global Climate Change? How many more will die?

Then came the NSA information gathering operation that rivals the œberefficient census data Hitler gathered with the help of IBM. I wonder if IBM currently assists the NSA with data processing? The information gathering began in 2001 before 9/11. Pretty soon, the corporatist government began gathering intelligence on Peace activists within the USA. The Peace activists remained silent and allowed the secret domestic spy program to continue.

A month after 9/11 came the Patriot Act, which eroded the Bill of Rights and legalized the NSA spy program. By 2005, after holding thousands of enemy combatants in detention for half a decade without charges, the Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush, that even non-Americans must have their day in court. In response, the Democratic led Congress passed legislation that stripped enemy combatants of the rights awarded to them by the Supreme Court as well as laws that have been on the books since King Henry II (1133-1189), with an amendment to a defense spending bill which removed the right of habeas corpus from anyone designated by the President as an enemy combatant. Soon, Peace activists were being accused of being enemy combatants.

The extremists kill whomever gets in their way: Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Paul Wellstone (the only Senator the voted against the resolution to go to war with Iraq). They killed (or disappeared) Ken Lay before he could be sentenced. They killed our delegate to the 2004 Democratic convention by driving him off one of our steep mountain roads.

The neo-con corporate extremists that now lead our government have used the tragedy of 9/11 perform the hugest transfer of wealth in history from the US Treasury to Halliburton, Bechtel, KRB, Blackwater, and more. At the same time, they have destabilized the Middle East and turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that the wars are to spread Freedom and Democracy to subjugated peoples. Instead, they have perfected Orwellian Doublespeak and spread state sponsored terror in the name of Freedom and Democracy just like the medieval Crusaders did in the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Our American way of life is in jeopardy. Our free elections are tainted by partisan voting machine manufacturers who boast victory for their candidates no matter which way the People vote. The checks and balances between the three houses of government are destroyed. The public can no longer visit their executive in the White House, and the executive branch creates secret policies in secret meetings. Our President holds himself and his cabal of cronies above the law and prohibits his cronies from appearing before Congress even when subpoenaed. No habeas corpus, no checks and balances, no right to assembly freely and dissent, Peace activists being accused of being enemy combatants, courageous dissenters being mysteriously killed without any investigation. What has happened to our American way of life? The freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh, now don't get me going about the pursuit of happiness!

Before the advent of the neo-cons, America was the richest country on Earth, had the largest middle-class, had thriving trade unions, a large manufacturing base, the finest schools, and was the breadbasket of the world. The neo-cons have stripped this country of all its wealth and left a battered nation in its wake, worse than the 19th century Robber Barons.

"...we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life." We must all pass this message on to everyone we know wake them up to take action and peacefully remove the corporations from the US government and return it to the benefit of the People. Let's get the Supreme Court to overturn Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad and all subsequent statutes. We must reverse every law enacted by this illegitimate fanatical President who says he is carrying out God's will in order to save our nation. Let's see if we can reverse the damage done by the neo-con corporate extremists before it is too late.

My sister wrote to me:
Dr. Emanuel Tanay is a well known and well respected psychiatrist.

A German's point of view on Islam.

A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War ll owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything, I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'

We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. The fact is that fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor killing. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority," the "silent majority," is cowed and extraneous.

Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet Stalin was responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering number of people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War ll was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of millions Chinese and Filipino civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this message on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this - think about it - and send it on.

Emanuel Tanay, M.D.
2980 Provincial St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-997-0256
(Although Dr. Tanay's name is on this post, he actually is not the author.)

19th Century Robber Barons Paved the Way

I just finished reading Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow by Dee Brown. It was a painstaking report of how the frontier was settled by the railroads. It began with a few honest visionaries who failed to get enough backers to fund a railroad project. Then big business got involved. They wrapped the railroads in the American flag and made it a patriotic duty. They convinced Congress of the necessity of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific oceans, which then passed legislation that granted cash money and tens of thousands of acres of land for every mile of track that was laid. The corporate profiteers laid track on the longest routes possible to reap ever more money and land from Congress. Congress took federally granted lands from the Native Americans and transferred it to the railroad companies without notifying the tribes. Then they sent Civil War generals Sherman and Sheridan to wipe out the Indians that were blocking the railroad from entering tribal lands.

The railroad companies then subdivided the land grants and sold them for a huge profit. There was more profit in subdividing the land than in the RR itself. The railroad companies gave Congress doubly inflated estimates of the cost of building the railroads bilking the Treasury of huge amounts of grants. A couple of railroad companies even set up shell holding corporations to siphon off the biggest profits. They additionally sold stocks and bonds in the railroads; if your town didn't buy RR bonds, then the tracks didn't come your way.

Once the Native Americans were crushed and the land grants were subdivided, the RR companies sent solicitors all over Europe to bring whole communities to their dream of new hope in America. Europeans would give their life savings to the RR companies for the lots in the prairies and mountains of the west and get 3-year mortgages on their houses. Just like the sub-prime mortgage debacle of today, most of the European immigrants ended up broken and penniless. The railroads effectively ruined the lives of generations of settlers as well as generations of Native Americans from whom the land was stolen.

After all the tracks were all laid, and the immigrants were settled in the subdivided lots, then the RR monopolies charged enormous fees from farmers to transport their produce to markets. The high transportation fees made farming a money losing endeavor.

The Supreme Court ruled twice within 15 years against the railroad companies taking federally appropriated tribal lands. Yet, Congress ignored the Supreme Court. Many members of Congress were also involved in the RR profiteering. The railroads of the 19th century were akin to the war profiteers and oil companies of the 21st century. Both sets of profiteers own Congress on both sides of the aisle. Even our esteemed president Abraham Lincoln reaped profits from railroad land speculation. Don't forget, it was Democrat John Kerry who amassed the largest profits of anyone in Congress from his investments in Iraq.

In addition, a Supreme Court ruling in 1886, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, gave "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to the RR corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, the railroad barons got human rights for corporations inserted in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.

After all the profits were tidily secured in the private pockets of about 70 RR barons, the house of cards fell and the railroads went bankrupt. RR stocks and bonds became worthless. Tracks were left unused. Towns were laid waste without the RR to connect them to markets. The profiteers anticipated the fall and sold their stocks and bonds at a profit before the prices plummeted. It took two decades for the American public to notice the monumental rip off. Congressional investigations exposed the fraud, but they didn't want to go too deep into the details, since too many members of Congress had an embarrassing history of involvement.

One of the lessons I learned from this story was that the neo-cons have a longer history in America than the massive mid-20th century post-war immigration that I know about. Another lesson I learned is that corporate profiteers like Jay Gould, Durant, and Henry Villner can get ever more creative to invent ways to separate innocent victims from their money. Very Rovian. The third lesson was that fascists care nothing for the sanctity of life; they kill not only the enemies, but also kill their women, children and elders. Sherman and Sheridan killed whole villages of undefended Native peoples on tribal lands tantamount to genocide. Warriors would leave their villages undefended because they couldn't imagine that unarmed innocents would become targets. Nowadays, state-sponsored terrorism like the occupation of Iraq doesn't hesitate to kill everyone whether they are insurgents or not. What Che Guevara taught us was that protecting the innocents and only fighting the armed warriors wins the popular sentiment to your side. Batista killed anyone, which led to his defeat by the popular revolution.

Myanmar Military Junta does a New Orleans

Many people in the world have been wondering why the military junta in Myanmar refused to accept foreign aid to its cyclone and monsoon victims. The answer is simple. They were following the lead of the most powerful neo-cons on the planet. George Bush showed them how to celebrate birthday parties and play guitar while the impoverished masses perished in New Orleans. Such a disaster is a golden opportunity for corporatists to make profits. Once the flood waters receded, the rif-raf will be either dead or in shelters far away, and the prime real estate will be free for corporate development with no-bid contracts. Remember, lobbyists for the Myanmar military junta have been helping run McCain's campaign. The Myanmar military junta doesn't have the hubris to call themselves neo-cons; they are old cons.

Some thoughts about Ernesto Che Guevara

I recently finished “reading” the biography of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson. I chose the book on tape from our local public library while escaping from the spate of murder mysteries into the non-fiction section. It was the thickest set of cassettes on the shelf and I was anticipating a long 2 hr/day commute for at least six weeks.

I was amazed at the portrait of a learned prince of the Argentine upper crust driven to fight to the end of his life to defend social justice against corporate imperialism. It was nothing like the unlearned impression that I previously had of an insane, radical revolutionary. He reminded me of the characters my sons embody in their video games who fight overwhelming odds to defend the good.

When I sought to share my insights about Guevara, people would glare at me at the mention of Che’s name like I must be a pinko red communist armed revolutionary. I am shocked at the spontaneous negativity immediately generated at the sound of his name more than 40 years after his death.

Ernesto Guevara took a motorcycle journey in 1953 in his first year of college and saw the plight of the exploited masses in their own lands. It touched him to the core. He saw a pattern of colonial governments granting Latin American and African nations their independence, only to have North American or European corporations move into the wake. Che called the phenomenon “Neo-colonialism.”

He met Fidel after the popular uprising in Guatemala which ended the pro-corporate regime of General Jorge Ubico. The general elections that followed resulted in the socialist government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzán. After a year of sweeping land reform acts that antagonized the U.S.-based multinational company United Fruit Company, Arbenz was assassinated in a CIA-backed coup. Over the next four decades, the succession of military rulers would wage counter-insurgency warfare destabilizing Guatemalan society. The violence caused the deaths and disappearances of more than 140,000 Guatemalans, and some human rights activists put the death toll as high as 250,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat

The short-lived success of Arbenz followed by CIA backed assassination left an indelible impression on the young revolutionaries, Ernesto and Fidel. Time and again they witnessed the same pattern: as soon as corporate interests were threatened, the democratically elected leader was assassinated with the help of the CIA, and replaced by a corporate friendly dictator.

Che reasoned that if you convinced the peasants that they could achieve self-determination, they would join the revolution. Castro and Guevara achieved this dream in Cuba where they overthrew the pro-corporate dictator, Batista, nationalized the natural resources, and have managed to maintain their sovereignty from neo-corporate invasion for over 50 years.

Guevara was a man of strong principles. He insisted on marital fidelity and treating women with respect. Rapists faced the firing squad after being tried in a court of their peers. He used to read Pablo Neruda poems out loud to his wife for entertainment. He was a Renaissance Man. Whatever he couldn’t do, he learned (except dancing). He was a military strategist, an economic strategist, a master chess player, as well as a medical doctor, healer, and philosopher. He was a published author and ran several newspapers and magazines. He was anything but a thug.

Like the heroes of old, Che sought to defend the lives of the common people which were being threatened by the evil of North American corporate exploitation. He led a revolution to free the people. Was Che any different than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson who were also products of the upper crust who took up arms to free their own country from the imperialist exploitation of Great Britain? Our founding fathers were militant revolutionaries inspired by radical philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Paine, and Frenchmen Voltaire and Rousseau. Che was driven by the philosophy of Carl Marx. Both our founding fathers and Guevara were militant armed revolutionaries driven by philosophies of social justice.

Today, as we watch the decline of American democracy guided by pro-corporate neo-con philosophy, the erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the government protection of corporate interests at the expense of the people, it becomes apparent that Ernesto Che Guevara predicted it all. He was a man before his time. He tried to nip the economic and political monster we face today in the bud. But with the help of our CIA, he was eliminated.

What really surprised me about reading his biography, was the powerfully negative reactions I encountered at the mention of his name. If I mention Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, I got responses imbued with positive energy. When I mention Che, I am assaulted with incredible negative energy. The propaganda machine that convinces people to vote against their own best interests has had a lasting legacy in the case of smearing the name of Ernesto Che Guevara, defender of the common people.