December 2004, The Last Days of Decency
December 7, 2004
Pearl Harbor Day, USA
HOLLYWOOD, Florida -- To anyone who dropped by this site in the last week, sorry I wasn't home. I was off in the hinterlands of China, where uploading to a Web site was not a possibility.However, it was interesting being in a country with one-party rule, where the idea of free elections is remote, where a person can be thrown in jail without due process and forgotten. I felt right at home. The ideas of democracy and civil rights seem ever more exotic in this New World Order, thanks to the Imperial Bush family.
In regard to whether students at universities should be allowed full freedom to discuss the issues of the day in classes, one government official was quoted in the South China Daily, the English language paper of Hong Kong, as saying, "The question is, whether we want to spend our time bickering or improving the living standards of the masses. You can see why George W. Bush is so enamored with the Chinese government's policies toward the press. It's quite an affinity.
December 17, 2004
Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of criminal activity -- Free Press 44% of Americans say civil liberties of Muslims should be restricted -- "The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious." Some religion. Associated Press After his "election" victory, Bush is in over his head -- David Corn Torture begins at the top -- "Documents show that the impetus for abuse came from above, not below. The use of coercive and violent methods spread from Guantánamo Bay, where alleged Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners are incarcerated, to Iraq and Afghanistan... What's more, an internal FBI memo indicates that the directive to discard traditional restraints came from the very highest civilian official in the Pentagon: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld... Scott Horton, a New York lawyer and president of the International League for Human Rights, has spent months investigating the role Bush administration officials played in the torture scandal. He says there is mounting evidence - including the May 10 FBI e-mail - that strongly suggests that Rumsfeld and his top intelligence aides were directly responsible for the wholesale abandonment of legal and ethical norms as well as international treaty obligations. Now that Republican senators and neoconservative ideologues are publicly turning their backs on the defense secretary, perhaps even he may someday be held accountable for this disgraceful stain on the honor of the U.S. armed forces." Joe Conason
December 19, 2004
Merry Xmas
Googling tonight I accidentally came upon a March 2003 article by Nicholas Kristof called "God, Satan and the Media", which says that 46% of Americans in a Gallup poll answered that they are "evangelical or born-again Christians". Good God! I'm surprised. It's hard to believe. That's a sobering thought.How do you celebrate Christmas in a country where a bunch of right wing loonies have hijacked Jesus and turned him into the mascot of their "Onward Christian Soldiers" drive to wage war on the world? It does sour things a bit. The Prince of Peace himself is divine, without peer, but these maniacs who use him as their excuse for aggression, intolerance and killing, are out of control. It's getting really whacky in the U.S. But I was under the impression this was a fringe group. But 46%! It may not be a majority, but it's close.
That doesn't mean necessarily they are all signed on to the Bush war agenda, but unfortunately a large number of them are as yet so deluded. The problem is that the Born Again culture is based on belief and submission, not on independent thinking. So once you have a bunch of people in obedience, it's not so difficult to channel their passion in a particular direction.
When someone wants to kill it doesn't much matter who or what they invoke when they are doing it, certainly not if you are the one being killed. Killing is an ancient impulse that predates any of our stated reasons for doing it.
There is a terrifying residue of viciousness in many of those who carry the banner of born again Christians these days.
Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column about a series of books about the Left Behinds, "These are the best-selling novels for adults in the United States, and they have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. The latest is 'SGlorious Appearing,' which has Jesus returning to Earth to wipe all non-Christians from the planet." (If you want to pay the New York Times to see the original in its archives, go here.)
The idea of wiping out all non-born-agains with superhuman violence is something these people apparently want to get into in great detail. Check out a sample: "Jesus merely raised one hand a few inches and a yawning chasm opened in the earth, stretching far and wide enough to swallow all of them. They tumbled in, howling and screeching, but their wailing was soon quashed and all was silent when the earth closed itself again."
Here are some more of Kristof's quotes from the series: "In 'Glorious Appearing,' Jesus merely speaks and the bodies of the enemy are ripped open. Christians have to drive carefully to avoid "hitting splayed and filleted bodies of men and women and horses... The riders not thrown, leaped from their horses and tried to control them with the reins, but even as they struggled, their own flesh dissolved, their eyes melted and their tongues disintegrated. . . . Seconds later the same plague afflicted the horses, their flesh and eyes and tongues melting away, leaving grotesque skeletons standing, before they, too, rattled to the pavement."
There are not your old-fashioned turn-the-other-cheek kinds of Christians. It's bizarre.
Now we have these groups getting very vindictive toward people who put forth a holiday greeting that is inclusive of those who may not be Christians. There's a group boycotting Macy's because the company says "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" instead of "Merry CHRISTmas". (See Mail and Guardian Online.)
This violent, intolerant religion is not anything to do with Jesus or his teachings. It's foul and ugly, and mean.
But it's a good thing not to let such bummer people destroy the festivity of the holiday season. Tonight I'm listening to "Reggae Christmas" and "Merry Cajun Christmas" and some other things that celebrate the spirit of Christmas and the ancient celebrations of the winter solstice in a nonmilitant way, with an implicit message of tolerance and inclusiveness.
December 21, 2004
Winter Solstice 2004
Time to reflect, look toward the future.Still reeling from my belated discovery that 46% of Americans in a Gallup poll answered that they are "evangelical or born-again Christians". (Nicolas Kristof) I am coming to the painful realization that for many of these people, the image of Jesus has been installed as a mascot for mass murder. They are belief-oriented people -- not thinkers, but followers who can be led, perhaps in bad directions. And they don't have the critical faculty to see through the deceptions.
Indeed Karl Rove did his research, planned a strategy based around launching a few bogus issues that would grab the attention of this massive consituency of born again Christians, who follow that particularly over-the-top zealous, dogmatic and narrow-minded version of Christianity. With those in his pocket through some stirred up gay marriage controversy, he needed little more to win.
Now, for all practical purposes, the US is now under the control of a Christo-fascist movement. It's not just an extreme minority. It's a very large minority that only needs a few moderate people to carry it over. Evil though he may be, Rove is a genius in the narrow slot he has selected for his soul. As a totally unprincipled power monger, he is without peer.
This fascist movement will no doubt fall prey to most of the pitfalls the Third Reich and other tyrannical regimes have encountered. One problem is that an oppressive society really does repress economic productivity along with freedom of expression. The US is already experiencing a brain drain. It has become such an oppressive, scary country -- with 44% saying Muslims civil rights should be curtailed, abridged -- that foreign students are staying away. Tourists are also avoiding the country. Business people are bypassing the US and doing business with countries they feel more comfortable with. The US is losing its edge, losing the respect and admiration it used to have. It's enough to make a grown man cry.
Anyway, here is some worthwhile booty from a day's hunt on the Internet.
Subj: urls
Date: 12/20/04 12:31:57 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: davidcogs@aol.com
To: whomitmayconcern@universe.org
Sent from the Internet (Details)
A Republican Senator blames Clinton for the GI's lack of armor in Iraq. Whew! That's a stretch. How long has Bush been in the White House? Who decided where and when and all the terms of this war of choice? Muskogee Phoenix Survivor of the Columbine massacre killed in Iraq. NY Times Can Osama win by bankrupting the US? USA Today Republican congressmen Implicated in Vote Fraud -- Seminole Chronicle reports: "Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Oviedo asked a computer programmer in September 2000, prior to that year's contested presidential vote in Florida, to write software that could alter vote totals on touch-screen voting machines, the programmer said. Former computer programmer Clint Curtis made the claim Monday in sworn testimony to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee investigating allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 presidential election involving touch-screen voting in Ohio." Seminole Chronicle The fact that this was reported in a newspaper is almost as big news as the news itself. Talking Trash -- The great Helen Thomas on the Pentagon's claims that on depleted uranium is harmless. Daily Gate Seeing the Light -- A bona fide member of the Christian Right says it no longer represents Christian or conservative values. Now Pinochet has a stroke in the wake of a criminal indictment of him for a few of the people he killed, some he "disappeared." The family says he's too sick to stand trial. Quite a few families said similar things to him 30 years ago. A lot of good it did them. The US losing in Iraq, according to CIA, DIA and State Dept. Mercury News A Soldier Who Refused -- "Ever since we got here things have been swept under the rug. We've had one suicide attempt, and one guy locked and loaded his weapon in another soldier's face. You'd never hear about it. Ninety percent of my unit has gone to "combat stress" for counseling. I don't recall any good news this past year." Newsweek Bring Them Home -- According to McCall.com: "If you have one of those magnetic 'support our troops' ribbons on your car, Michael Hoffman suggests you grab a marker and add a few words: 'Bring them home now.' "'Being against the war is the only way to be for the troops,' said Hoffman. 'We're doing them no good by sending them over there.' The 25-year-old Marine veteran is a co-founder of Iraq Veterans Against the War, a 5-month-old organization that claims 150 members, including some on active duty in Iraq. It wants the immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces from Iraq, 'real' reconstruction aid for that country and properly funded and administered veterans' benefits." Where would Christians break with Bush? The Republican congress could actually hinder the Bush agenda. Washington Post On This Important Issue -- Jackson Thoreau presents the case of why Chevy Chase has the right to call Bush a dumb fuck. OpEdNews
December 23, 2004
We Do Not Concede Coalition -- National Mobilization. Truth is Marching On from Selma to Palm Beach to Columbus January 3, 2005 to Washington, DC January 5-6, 2005. A protest against election fraud, including: deceptive behavior, false assurances that machines and counting procedures had been tested, malfunctioning equipment, frequently unreported, sweeping and illegal purges of voter rolls, voter suppression, missing documents and records, unexplainable tallies and trends, especially in battleground states, dismissal of legitimate concerns with glib "explanations". donotconcede.com Jesse Jackson: Election fight is the biggest deal since Selma. Free Press Large Majority Disenfranchised -- At election time, 58% were "not satisfied" with the direction of the country. PollingReport Shock, Awe and the Human Body -- "Proposals to authorize torture were circulating even before there was anyone to torture. Days after the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration made it known that the United States was no longer bound by international treaties, or by American law and established U.S. military standards, concerning torture and the treatment of prisoners. By the end of 2001, the Justice Department had drafted memos on how to protect military and intelligence officers from eventual prosecution under existing U.S. law for their treatment of Afghan and other prisoners. In January 2002, the White House counsel, Alberto Gonzales (who is soon to become attorney general), advised George W. Bush that it could be done by fiat. If the president simply declared 'detainees' in Afghanistan outside the protection of the Geneva conventions, the 1996 U.S. War Crimes Act - which carries a possible death penalty for Geneva violations - would not apply." Excellent piece. Read all of it at International Herald Tribune Say No to Torture -- Action Alert Electors Rebel -- Bella Ciao Conyers urges networks to release raw exit poll data -- Yahoo Conyers investigation goes on -- Salon ES&S Project Manager Resigns Over Voting Machine Problems -- WISH TV Bush monkey picture appears on NYC billboard -- Yahoo Exit Bill Moyers -- "Bill Moyers capped-off his illustrious journalistic career (in which he earned ten Peabody Awards) by 'telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee.'" The Rational Animal "The Case of the Ohio Recount" The Village Voice on Murmurs of War Crimes -- James Ridgeway, Village Voice
December 24, 2004
You Better Watch Out
Kerry Enters Ohio Recount Battle -- According to William Rivers Pitt, as of December 23, "Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter." Strangely, there is no trace of this on Google News. Video Supports Case of Vote Fraud -- Truthout Politics of the Nativity -- Boston Globe Plus ca change -- "The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." -- Adolph Hitler, "My New World Order", Proclamation to the German Nation at Berlin, February 1, 1933.
December 28, 2004
Aaah! Documentary Film
Documentary film has blossomed into one of the most exciting arts, media, political actions, one of the most exciting endeavors in the current scene. It's obvious to anyone who is awake or nearly so that the TV medium, both broadcast and cable is a wasteland in terms of any political or social message, or even the most basic accuracy of information or authenticity. And since the corporate elite almost completely monopolized the medium and have cleansed it of any social redeemability it has seemed that there was almost nowhere to go, except the Internet. But documentary film, especially via the DVD medium, is creating a media revolution itself, a whole new market and realm of ideas and images.I've lately been partaking liberally of the rich new crop of topical films. There are enough to keep up a fairly steady diet of them. You can watch them repeatedly and continue to get new insights, and you get even more insights when you watch them with other people.
There's a listing of some of them at Amazon.
One of the strongest forces in the movement is Robert Greenwald. He is producer or executive producer of four of the best political documentaries in the recent wave, including Unconstitutional: The War on Our Civil Liberties, Uncovered: The War on Iraq, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism and Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War. I just saw Unconstitutional and it is great.
It tells the ugly story about how Bush, Ashcroft, Cheney, Wolfowitz and whoever, have moved the US a frighteningly broad step toward being a totalitarian fascist state. It shows it graphically, with powerful cinematic technique. Excellent stuff. Check out all of these films. Buy them, share them, give them away.
Some good links from Truthout
Bob Herbert: How the Iraq Tragedy is Hitting Home Fred Kaplan: China Expands. Europe Rises. And the United States . . . Iraq, Critics Could Alter Bush Agenda Helen Thomas: Bush Wants to Break Promise of Social Security Marjorie Cohn: The Emperor-in-Chief And others:
Rumsfeld talked about the plane in Pennsylvania on 9/11 being "shot down". The official story was that it was brought down by passengers. Was Rumsfeld accidentally leaking the truth? What other parts of the story does he know the truth about? WorldNetDaily, CNN No Pain -- Bush wants the people of the world to know he doesn't feel their pain. Washington Post
December 30, 2004
You Better Watch Out, Indeed! Bush is sending the marines to Ohio, so just in case anybody gets any ideas about challenging the election result, let there be no doubt, these guys mean business. Want to go up against the marines? Toledo Blade Ohio GOP election officials ducking subpoenas as Kerry enters stolen vote fray Who Cares? Bush was "irate" about being called stingy, so they added $20 million to the prev promised $15 million. Bush will spend $30-$40 mill on his inauguration. Funny he should be so sensitive to what people think of him. He hasn't shown much concern in the past. Obviously, Halliburton, or other Bush cronies won't make any money off the tsunami disaster, so why should Bush care? CNN So Many Novak Ironies -- Why is the guy who exposed the identity of the CIA agent untouched, while other reporters are facing jail over the incident? Miami Herald Born agains as prone to divorce as the fallen. And other fascinating data about the Born Again movement. Barna.org and see AmericaBlog for a summary.
December 31, 2004
Countdown
A Happy New Year in the Land of the Free -- Editor and Publisher ran an article about an opinion piece that ran in USA Today by Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, which suggested that the U.S. should start bringing home our troops from Iraq "sooner rather than later." This comment came at a time when a Gallup poll shows a majority of Americans believe the invasion was a mistake in the first place and is not going well. E&P's article drew more reader response than anything in its history. Here's a sample of one patriotic American's response: Mel Gibbs: "The Patriot Act will put both of you [Neuharth and Mitchell] on trial for treason and convict and execute both of you as traitors for running these stories in a time of war and it should be done on TV for other communist traitors like you two to know we mean business. This is war and you should be put in prison NOW for talking like this. Who the hell do you people think you are? You give aid and comfort to our enemies and aid them in murdering our proud soldiers. You people are a disgrace to America. Your families should be put in prison with you, then be made to leave and move to the Middle East ...This is a great Christian nation and god wants us to lead the world out of darkness with great leaders like President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Communists like Al and Greg will soon be in prison and on death row for your ugly papers. We won the election and now you are mad. We own America and all the rights, you people are trash, go back to Russia and Africa and take your friends with before we put you on death row after a fair trial." Catching up on some old news: Bill Moyers accepted Harvard Medical School's fourth annual Global Environment Citizen Award on December 1. In his acceptance speech, he said, among other things, that according to a recent Gallup poll, a third of Americans believe in the Rapture. That is, according to Moyers, "These true believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions of Americans. Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer George Monbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted to him for adding to my own understanding): once Israel has occupied the rest of its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God, they will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of tribulation that follow." These believers, of whom Reagan was one (see rotten.com and search the page for "Armageddon"), as was his Secretary of the Interior James Watt, who welcomed the destruction of the environment because it meant the Last Days were coming near. "After the last tree is felled," Watt said. "Christ will come back." We are obviously beyond the last days of sanity in the Good Ole USA. A 2002 TIME/CNN poll found that 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the Book of Revelation are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think the Bible predicted the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio tuned to the more than 1,600 Christian radio stations or in the motel turn some of the 250 Christian TV stations and you can hear some of this end-time gospel.Truthout.org