Moral human behavior optimizes the survival and nourishment of the human species. . .
Immoral behavior is a threat to all mankind.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Dozens in Congress Under Ethics Inquiry. Transparency Not Allowed

Any surprises here? That some members of Congress are being investigated for ethics violations and Congress does not want the public to know? House ethics investigators have been keeping an eye on more than 30 lawmakers and several aides, according to an ‘accidentally’ released report.

The report was ‘accidentally’ placed on a publicly accessible computer network.

Could we have another ‘deep throat’ in the making? Could this happy ‘accident’ be the work of a concerned individual? Let’s hope so.

The ethics committee is one of the most secretive panels in Congress, and its members and staff members sign oaths not to disclose any activities related to its past or present investigations. And why is this? Why are they sworn to secrecy? If an individual or group is being scrutinized, the public needs to know it. Mainly because it has become abundantly evident that many politicians cannot seem to avail themselves to ethical behavior.

Temptations are always present. It goes with the territory in Washington. As well as in any other seat of power. It is fairly easy to succumb to the seduction of more power and more wealth. Politicians need to be constantly reminded that they are always under the mantel of trust that we the voters and tax payers put on them. A position they themselves openly aspire to.

Ethics is something that should be prized. We should praise those who keep adhere to the higher calling of doing the right thing. And, just as importantly, they should be held out to the public when they commit an act that, while temporarily enriches themselves, ultimately erodes our faith in the system.

The thing about keeping these investigations secret is that we the voters don’t know if they are being actively pursued. Tax payers have witnessed far too many scandals to think that there are none taking place right now. We need to see the finger pointing. We need to know who is being investigated. We need to be reassured that ethics are actually being held to the light and that we are not being taken for another ride.

When the ethics committee holds back results of investigations we see only favoritism being played out. Zoe Lofgren, the House ethics committee’s chairman illustrated this fact when she emphasized that the panel’s activities are preliminary. This is a soft statement with very little meaning. The common currency in political circles. Whomever is being investigated has now been told the investigations are not serious. She basically told everyone under scrutiny that they are safe.

What ever comes of these secret investigations? Typically a private letter of reprimand. A mere slap on the wrist.

Ethics investigations are serious business and their findings should be made public so we the people can decide how to handle the offending party. This wholesale selloff of our government needs to end. And it never will as long as the beneficiaries of handouts and outright bribes are allowed to slink through the halls of Congress unquestioned.

Leo Wise, chief counsel for the Office of Congressional Ethics, declined to comment, citing office policy against confirming or denying the existence of investigations. A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment, citing a similar policy.

So much for Obama’s pledges of “an unprecedented level of openness in Government” and to “establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.”

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

What is the Final Solution in Afghanistan?

Chris Floyd of the blog Empire Burlesque made the observation that militarist nationalism (often called "patriotism") is always, in one way or another, a "Final Solution."

He continues: “Set foot on that road, and you will get there. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not in this generation -- but you will get there. The blood-and-iron logic of domination -- of self-assertion and self-aggrandizement at the expense of all others -- will take you there.

The choice is simple, the choice is stark, the choice is laid upon us all.”

I could not agree more. If we continue on our current path in Afghanistan how can we hope to attain anything other than creating a never-ending treadmill of resentment and lost lives.

The war in Afghanistan has become an aimless absurdity. It began with a reason, to find Osama bin Laden. Or so we were told.

Since then, he ‘may have’ moved into Pakistan. No one knows for certain.

Is it really necessary to continue this seven year long bled letting against a bunch of religious extremists and drug lords many of whom have safe haven in Pakistan, only for the occasional victory? Victories that soon are negated by retaliatory actions of many of the same people we are there to ‘bring into the 21st century’.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s corrupt government skims the very drug trade that funds the indigenous forces NATO forces are fighting against and will therefore never lift a governmental finger to stop it.

The U.S. needs to back away from this messy effort quickly. The lofty goal to create a stable, secure nation-state in hopes of suppressing the spread of the Taliban’s control is miserably implausible. The historical situation is that Afghanistan has been ruled by regional tribal coalitions, often at each others throats, uniting only when a foreign nation enters the fray.

We need to change tactics IF catching Osama bin Laden is truly our goal. And I am willing to bet it is not.

Our troops are dying over an unachievable goal to basically ‘rehabilitate’ a government that refuses to participate in NATO’s game plan. And as long as the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan are complicit in their harboring of jihadis and continue to profit from the drug trade the idea of this being a ‘winnable’ war is pure folly.

Frederick Douglass once said: “Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never did and it never will.” Our choice is clear, until the citizens of the world stand united in demanding an end to this stalemate and call for an alternative to using the military to force our ideas onto these nations instead of using diplomacy to work out a more stable solution towards peace, the few countries willing to put their citizens in harms way will continue to pay a bloody price with no hopes of achieving anything worthwhile.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Bad Manners Reaches the U.S. Congress

The general lack of respect and civility that has been increasingly plaguing our society has finally reached Congress.

In one wanton outburst House Republican member Joe Wilson of South Carolina rendered class and decorum as obsolete notions.

We elect these people as our representatives to debate issues not to shout down the president or throw insults at each other. That is the domain of such classless venues as wrestling matches not the U.S. Congress.

If he and Governor Mark Sanford are representative of the best that South Carolina can offer then the good people of South Carolina are being short-changed.

Whether Americans engage each other in town hall meetings, at political rallies, or in social media, we need to remember we are all Americans with the same desire to live in peace and find the most viable solutions to our most pressing problems. It is counter-productive to resort to childish name-calling and disrespect.

Debate, don’t be contentious.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Why Do We Allow Profit From Other People’s Pain and Suffering?

I believe that making a profit on people’s pain and suffering is immoral, but in our capitalist society profit takes a high priority over anything else. To balance the two, profit and morality, is the crux of many problems in America.

The business of providing health care can still be profitable without destroying the lives of those who cannot afford to pay. The question becomes how much profit should be made? And if we begin talking about limiting profits are we really talking about socialism, a charge that is so generally tossed about today? This, I believe, is what scares many Americans today.

So what do we do? Do we provide free heath care to everyone? Of course not, someone has to pay. If we are to have an equitable system of health care for everyone then everyone is going to have to pay into the system. Does this mean that the federal government is actually going to run the health care system? No.

A reformed health care system will not look exactly as it does today, with people paying monthly premiums in hopes of building up a large enough bank to rely on in times of sickness. We will be able to visit a doctor when we need to and get the necessary care we can only wish for under the current system.

At this stage of our nation’s development the federal government is the only entity large enough to handle this venture. Is this socialism? Absolutely not.

Look, it behooves everyone, from the company owners to the workers, to have a healthy populace. What many anti health care reformers fear is paying for the health care of others. It is particularly distasteful to pay for the health care of those who simply refuse to care for themselves. This, I think, is a very valid point. If we begin caring only for those who care for themselves, i.e., proper diet, proper exercise, etc, then we have become exclusive. This then comes back to the moral issue.

Should the government pay people to stay healthy? Things could very well come to this. Especially if it is determined this long term expense is cheaper than if we wait until we have contracted diabetes or heart problems, something that would have been prevented by proper exercise and diet.

It is also beneficial to the country to eliminate bankruptcy due to medical bills. Something like 60% of the bankruptcies are due to medical expenses. This is outrageous.

We need to make it happen and we need to stop with the scare tactics and lies and the innuendos. The one thing that would help us all the most right now is if we had a main stream media that would actually report what the health care reform bill is and give us an accurate analysis of it instead of headlining rent-a-crowd antics at town hall meetings.

The bottom line is, trying to pass health care reform has been tried by both parties over the last 60 years, and the profit makers have always managed to shoot it down. When are we going to get out from under their thumb and do what is right for ourselves? I wish I could see it happen during my lifetime.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Why Doesn’t Obama Care About Freedom?

clipped from www.aim.org

If you recognize that Obama failed to vigorously and immediately support the pro-freedom demonstrators in Iran, take a look at his attitude toward those suffering under the Castro dictatorship.

An extraordinary editorial ran in the liberal Washington Post on Thursday, June 25, about the indifference of the Obama White House to the plight of those who believe in freedom just 90 miles from our shores
The editorial, "A Dissident Deflected," told the story of how the Obama Administration wouldn't issue a statement recognizing the plight of five human rights activists in Cuba until the Post itself inquired about the matter

The Washington Post editorial on Cuba only scratched the surface of the dangers we face from this White House. Ultimately, the question that has to be seriously addressed by the Post and other media is: What should we do about the fact that the President of the United States is allied with those forces that want to bury us?

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This clip comes from Accuracy In Media a presents a biting commentary on how Obama’s indifference toward Cuban freedom fighters. This, in light of his recent apparent reticence to support Iran’s pro-freedom demonstrators, paints an ugly picture of the leader of the most powerful democracy on the planet aligning himself not with those brave souls fighting for freedom but more with their oppressors.

Given Obama’s association with people such as Communist Frank Marshall Davis, his mentor and father-figure, and anti-American crackpot Miguel D'Escoto, the U.N. General Assembly President, Obama is beginning to appear more as a revolutionary Marxist who sympathizes not with those being oppressed by anti-American governments but with the governments themselves.

He is walking a very thin line between facilitating peace among opposing nations and helping to cement the UN’s idea of a world government financed by global taxes.

According to the author he appears to be leaning heavily towards socialism. I am inclined to agree.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Confidential memo reveals US plan to provoke an invasion of Iraq

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk

A confidential record of a meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair before the invasion of Iraq, outlining their intention to go to war without a second United Nations resolution, will be an explosive issue for the official inquiry into the UK's role in toppling Saddam Hussein.

The memo, written on 31 January 2003, almost two months before the invasion and seen by the Observer, confirms that as the two men became increasingly aware UN inspectors would fail to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) they had to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second resolution legitimising military action.

Bush told Blair the US had drawn up a provocative plan "to fly U2 reconnaissance aircraft painted in UN colours over Iraq with fighter cover". Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes this would put the Iraqi leader in breach of UN resolutions.

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Proof of immoral leadership?

Documents like this raise issues of national embarrassment, not national security. The restoration of public confidence requires this new inquiry to be transparent. Contentious matters should not be kept out of the public domain, even in the run-up to an election

Paraphrasing Bush's comments at the meeting, Manning, noted: "The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March. This was when the bombing would begin."

Friday, June 12, 2009

Has America become apathetic towards human rights?

Doctors Without Borders has reported that 75% of all the rape cases it dealt with worldwide were in the eastern Congo, 30 percent of whom were children.

Rape has become ingrained in Congolese civilian society and is widely used to determine power relations. Men and teenagers rape not only women and girls of all ages, but also other males. Is it safe to declare that those who participate in this atrocity have devolved into something less than human? Resorting to pure physical power in order to have their will become the ‘rule of the land’ IS the result of something less than human.

How much longer can the rest of the world sit back on its pampered laurels and allow this atrocity to continue? How much longer can we stomach the animalistic enslavement of women by saying it is their country therefore it is none of our business? The U.S. has ignored this tenet many times when it is to their benefit.

There is the fine distinction between respecting sovereignty of a nation and respecting the safety of its human inhabitants. Which is more valuable?

We Americans protest any attempt to step on our rights yet we don’t care about what happens elsewhere. And we prove this every day by simply moving onto the next news story.

The U.S. partook of its animalistic behavior by unleashing its formidable military muscle against Iraq based on human rights violations, among other things, but we wouldn’t dream of taking on China over their human rights abuses. Nor will we take on Congo over its human rights abuses, nor Burma over its human rights abuses, nor any other country unless there are oil reserves we want to control and the country is smaller than us.

It deeply saddens me to realize that the U.S. weighs the safety of helpless victims against how resource-rich their nation is. For surely if the Congo had oil reserves coveted by the U.S. we would be occupying them, and saving at least a majority of these women from their hell, instead of occupying Iraq.

Rape represents a grave lack of respect for human life and dignity. To use it as a tool of war is both a war crime and a crime against humanity. To allow it to continue lessens the value of our humanity.

For a man to turn against his wife after she becomes a victim of rape demeans the man and further victimizes the woman.

A society that views a raped woman as ‘damaged goods’ simply validates the power these animals have over them.

Again I ask, how long are we going to allow this to continue?

Conservative Mouthpieces and Hate Mongers

In a New York Times commentary, Mr. Krugman makes the observation that when the Republicans are in power right-wing hate groups are complacent, and when the Democrats are in power right-wing hate groups shorten their fuses while conservative talk-show hosts happily strike the match.

A recent DHS report brought this fact to light and conservatives, taking it way too personally, denounced it, saying the Obama administration is attempting to label all conservatives as terrorists.

But the one constant that validates the basic tenet of this report is the very conservative talk-show hosts themselves. Fox News’ group of conservative hate-mongers, led by Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck espouse, if not outright endorses, the action of anyone willing to ‘Fight for the Right’ by underscoring their views through violence.

Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and all the others, as well as conservative print media, seem to keep themselves giddy by denigrating anything and everything the Democrats do without any thought whatsoever about helping this nation of taxpayers who are caught in the middle.

These platforms could be put to much better use by conservatives if they would present their party’s ideas, build on them in a positive way and condemn violence as the act of weak-minded zealots.

Escape from the tyranny of hatred. Conservatives hate Democrats so much that they are turning away from doing anything positive and it is doing a grave disservice to themselves.

I am calling on the Republican party to get its act together and formulate a solid, positive platform for the purpose of benefiting the whole country, not just yourselves, to run against the Democratic party of 2012 so we, the voters, can have a solid contest, without vitriol and the underhanded, backstabbing, negativity that so often accompanies the political election process. Don’t leave voters with the choice of the ‘lesser of two evils’. Make yourself a positive force.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Getting the Rich to Help the Poor

On the blog War On You, Pam Martens offers an assessment of the problem facing President Obama and her submission “Our Economy Is Going to Keep Tanking Until We Stop Shoveling Billions to Rich People” is accurate. I applaud the expertise she brings to this issue.

While she is addressing the problem of allowing money to be concentrated in the hands of the rich, I want to throw in my two cents worth.

The middle class is the engine of our economy and the rich supplies the ‘fuel’ to keep it going. We need each other to make this thing work.

We also need an incentive for companies to hire more people and pay a higher wage instead of allowing them to stash their earnings in foreign banks to avoid taxes.

Likewise, if the rich had an incentive to work with the government to help the poor and disadvantaged there would not be such a overwhelming burden on the government to do it by itself.

The benefit of living in a capitalist economy is that people can become rich. I would not disparage anyone from using this system to better themselves and their families unless they do it illegally or unethically. Ethics unfortunately is the one aspect of this system that is the most perplexing. Which is why we need regulation.

Regulation is one of those necessary evils in a free-market economy only because there will always be dishonesty surrounding the game of making more money. And nothing grabs the attention of money makers quicker than financial incentives.

As the gap between the haves and have-nots widens we can only sit helplessly by and watch it happen. It is a very frustrating and debilitating feeling. People are losing their homes, their jobs, their hope for their families.

We know we cannot simply rely on the rich to just give their money away to help close this gap. We have seen too much money go to the rich as a means of re-starting the economy. It obviously is not working. The banks hang on to it instead of loaning it out to help people save their homes.

My sister-in-law works in a mortgage lenders office that has an excessive amount of foreclosed homes. Her problem is not unique. Buyers come to her every day hoping to take advantage of depressed prices but the bank refuses to sell at less than what is owed on them. This situation does nothing for the economy or the banking system. The homes sit there empty, the banks continue to lose money on them. If the government continues to give banks bailout money they have no incentive to get these homes off of their books. This is an untenable situation.

The banks need to understand that if the economy does not get on its feet all the money they are holding will be worthless.

This is a crisis situation and the banks and mortgage lenders need to loose this round, taxpayers have already lost all they possibly can.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Is Compassion in the Media A Long-Past Concept?

I am a fan of the blog Photography is not a Crime. I think the blog author Carlos Miller does a fabulous, tireless and much needed service to the public by reporting on the continued disharmony between the police and the press.

In a recent blog post entitled Cop knocks news videographer’s camera down before handcuffing him, I commented that I understood the reason for the police officers actions and gave what I thought was a very valid reason. I did not say that I condoned the actions, I simply stated that I understood the reasoning.

Judging from the numerous responses my position generated there appears to be an abundance of sensitivity over any threat to our freedoms. This is a good thing. These freedoms are worth fighting for and in light of the governments actions in regards domestic spying and Homeland Security using terrorism as a reason to clamp down hard on all of us, there should be concern. But, I think our Freedom of the Press will survive an emotional outburst from a police officer.

I am proud to be counted among the many staunch supporters of Americas constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. It does my heart good to see such compassionate outpouring over even the slightest threat, perceived or real. Let’s not ever lose that compassion.

I condemn this police officers actions, however, I do not condemn her show of emotion. She apparently shares my concern over an obvious lack of compassion creeping into the media. I believe this lack of concern is fired by sensationalism.

Is it really necessary to record the aftermath of a fatal automobile accident? A photojournalist was quick to say yes and backs that answer with a lot of valid reasons. I have been shown that it is possible to use that video as a research tool to help society. But I don’t think this was the reporters intent in this case.

Could the tragedy of that scene be conveyed by the use of words without videotape? I say yes.

I am told that editors are compassionate enough to not allow this type of footage to be released to the public. But can we be assured this will not change in these very difficult financial times?

Newspapers are folding from lack of readership. A very jaded general public needs more and more sensationalism to grab their attention. And holding their attention for any longer than the length of a sound bite is becoming even more of a challenge. How long before publishers begin forcing editors to use bloody traffic accident photos to sell their papers? Or to use the video of the bloodied aftermath to sell ads on the internet?

There once was a time when that reporter would have been publicly shamed for having the bad taste to video a bloody traffic scene. Doing so dishonors the dignity of the human victim. I’ve been told that this kind of thinking is ‘subjective’ and therefore should not be considered. Apparently, there is no longer any room for the concern of a persons dignity when it comes to ‘news’ gathering.

Likewise, it seems human emotion and compassion from a police officer is a luxury’ we as a ‘freedom’ loving nation will no longer tolerate.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

If Obama Cedes Ground to Cheney, We’ll All Pay a Heavy Price

'Every government ­assumes deeds and ­misdeeds of the past," writes Hannah Arendt in Eichmann and the Holocaust.
"It means hardly more, generally speaking, than that every generation,
by virtue of being born into a historical continuum, is burdened by the
sins of the fathers as it is blessed with the deeds of the ancestors."

For
Barack Obama this cuts both ways. Talented as he is, he looks much more
so when compared with the man who preceded him
he has inherited the
scarred landscape of his predecessor's tenure. Bush's wars, banks, car
companies, secret prisons and untried prisoners are now his
Soaring ­rhetoric, however
hopeful about the future, cannot erase the past, which has a habit of
remaining with us
The Obama
administration's desire to concentrate on the future is understandable.
But the past has a legacy and the present has consequences. By ceding
the principle to Cheney now we will all pay for it later.
 blog it
Excellent commentary by Gary Younge on why we need moral leadership.

Americans are sorely lacking in moral leadership.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic, congress allowed an illegal war in Iraq.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic congress is allowing torture, an affront to America’s core values, to go unpunished.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic Americans are being forced to accept that patriotism is taking on a new face.

It has now become patriotic to follow our leadership into an immoral abyss.

It is now official: we rule out of fear rather than principle. If our founding fathers were alive today, this would kill them.

Do we have the choice to turn this situation around? Yes. Do we have what it takes to pull it off? I fear the answer is no, but I hold hope that someone will find the ability to make it happen.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Food Not Bombs Continues to Ignite Controversy

clipped from eatdrinkbetter.com
Food Not Bombs, a group dedicated to non-violent social change through feeding the needy, continues to find itself at the center of controversy as they enter their 30th year in existence.
Groups in New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Connecticut have run afoul of local laws that seek to stop them from handing out free meals in public places to those in need.  Though all Food Not Bombs groups are independent, they share the common goals of feeding vegetarian meals to the hungry while also protesting war and poverty.
Food Not Bombs finds food that would otherwise be discarded - from restaurants, grocery stores, and other sources and prepares meals to anyone and everyone.
Regardless if you agree or disagree with their tactics, motives and politics, the group does provide an important service of serving meals to those who would otherwise go hungry.
In the current economic climate the group is finding larger numbers of people who benefit from a free meal
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What is wrong with feeding the hungry? This is a very noble cause these people are supporting. Why does our government force them to get permits for this? Food that would otherwise be thrown away is being eaten.

The chapter in New Mexico has attracted unwanted attention from law enforcement and the Environmental Health Division in their activities.

The Connecticut group was recently ticketed for ignoring a cease and desist order issued by local police for serving food form an unlicensed kitchen.

The Arizona group has been told by city hall that they will need a permit to continue their activities.

In Florida the group secured a legal victory when a judge ruled that handing out food in a public space was an activity protected by the First Amendment

Go to the clip to find more info on each group.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Where do we draw the line on torture?

Michael Vick served 19 months for torturing dogs while Dick Cheney is walking around free. Anyone care to venture a guess as to why this is business as usual?

Possible lessons learned:
1 - torturing people is okay, torturing animals is punishable.

2 - The GOP is the TORTURE-PROMOTING party!

3 – People love dogs more than their fellow humans

4 – It is more acceptable to torture Arabs than dogs?

Decide for yourself.

Cheney’s justification of torture is a house of cards

Former Vice President Dick Cheney continued his crusade to defend his position on the use of torture by speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute by saying: "After the most lethal and devastating terrorist attack ever, seven and a half years without a repeat is not a record to be rebuked or scorned, much less criminalized. It is a record to be continued until the danger has passed."

Basing his arguments on the lack of anther attack is flawed logic. There is no proof that another attack was planned. He is being dishonest by stating that his methods prevented another attack.

The inherent effectiveness of terrorism is that they only have to commit one heinous, murderous act to instill the fear they require as proof of their commitment to their cause. Committing this one act puts the world on notice that they are capable and willing to carry out their threats.

This resulting fear that they can do it again causes very great distress among their targeted people. But it did not have to bring about a deterioration of our core principles. That action required a paranoid, mean-spirited and short-sighted leader willing to sacrifice over 200 years of principled jurisprudence and to rip apart our core moral values. That brand of ‘leadership’ was found in the union of George W Bush and Dick Cheney.

And now to satisfy his colossal ego he continues his campaign to convince the American people, and indeed the world, that he was correct. Or is he trying to convince himself?

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Why the Caged Bird Sings

What is he up to?
1) he truly believes that torture actually works and that using it doesn’t dehumanize the user
2) he is defending the legacy of an administration he ran single-handedly for eight years
3) since he is no longer in the WH he can now speak as freely as he wants

So he is either 1) selling himself to the GOP because, you know, once you have tasted power you don’t want to give it up. Or, 2) as the author states, he is scared of the public damnation that will come out against him if the public learns the extent of the barbarism that took place at Abu Ghraib.

So, from his point of view, waterboarding is very minor in comparison to what he ordered take place there. Which means Obama has now allowed himself to become a party to the disgrace that has been brought upon the U.S. by simply refusing to prosecute.
clipped from www.truthout.org
photo
Dick Cheney has been doing a lot of talking lately. From his most recent barrage
of public statements, we have gleaned that he loves Rush Limbaugh, doesn't much
care for Colin Powell, believes President Obama is about to sell the Sixth Fleet
to the Taliban for pennies on the dollar and thinks torture is a nifty and effective
tool that saves lives and defends freedom
Really, this isn't anything we haven't
heard before from our growly, snarly, face-blasting former vice president.
But
it does beg the question: What the hell is he up to?
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Sunday, May 3, 2009

Joblessness Spurs Shift in Japan's Views on Poverty

Why is it that efforts to end poverty is the sole domain of ‘left-wing radicals’?

And the only time serious attention is paid to the problem is when the main stream is faced with becoming a part of it?

Concerned about their own job security, many Japanese are seeing the homeless not as troubled individuals seeking handouts, but as victims of a failing economy and a government system that offered no safety nets.

Isn’t it amazing how your attitude towards government policy changes when that policy directly affects you?
clipped from online.wsj.com
For more than a decade, Makoto Yuasa's efforts to end poverty in Japan were ignored by many as the quixotic campaign of a left-wing radical.

But Japanese including Prime Minister Taro Aso are paying attention to the 40-year-old activist as the world's second-largest economy sinks into its worst recession since World War II, leaving an increasing number of people without work.

While Japan's unemployment rate is well below the U.S.'s 8.5% and Spain's 17.3%, today's data are a blow for a country where workers grew accustomed to the guarantee of lifetime employment

Many Japanese had little sympathy for the jobless and homeless, regarding their plight as stemming from laziness -- and an embarrassment to the country's profile as an industrial power.

With manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. continuing to slash jobs, many Japanese for the first time are seeing poverty as a real possibility
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Saturday, May 2, 2009

World Press Freedom Day

clipped from www.rsf.org

In the run-up to World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders is campaigning for the release of three women journalists who have been “taken hostage” by governments.

Four members of Reporters Without Borders have been on hunger strike since 28 April in support of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States.
There is also an urgent need to obtain the release of two American journalists employed by California-based Current TV, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been held in Pyongyang since 17 March.
The detention of Saberi, Lee and Ling on arbitrary charges demonstrates more than ever the importance of World Press Freedom Day, which we will be celebrating on 3 May. We appeal to the Iranian and North Korean authorities to free these three women without delay.
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Saberi, Lee and Ling are professional journalists who are neither spies nor criminals. Through them, press freedom and the right to report the news freely are being taken hostage by Iran and North Korea.

Why don't we hear more about these 'hostage' situations in the American Press.

These are political prisoners and anyone who cares about the freedom of press should be up in arms about their incarceration.

When is Enough?

tree_hugger
I’m a liberal - I make no bones about it.   I believe women are my equals and that people of all shades and sexual proclivities have the same rights that I do.  I believe that governments should exist to serve their people and not merely to maximize opportunities for Capitalists.

In short, on most questions, if there’s a liberal and conservative axis, you’ll find me on the liberal end of things.

But, I have some exceptions - places where liberals might shun me.

If an individual’s committed violent crimes repeatedly and is obviously incorrigible, I see no point in the state locking them up and feeding them for the rest of their never-to-be-paroled life.   Terminate them - and let’s move on.   When you’ve got a cancer, you cut it off.

Guns?   I’m not at all sure that we all need military assault rifles.   But, I do like what the U.S. Second Amendment says … and why it says it.   When governments lose their way, citizens need a way to have their say.

 blog it
The author starts out with a liberal manifesto but the real point of this blog post is how Pakistan is creating a “Mortal Danger” to the world by buckling under to pressure from the Taliban.

Sec of State Clinton stated the Pakistani government, in deep denial, is losing ground against the Islamic insurgents and it badly needs to decide which side it is on and get focused.

There is also a very disturbing video every Westerner should see concerning how committed Islamic terrorists are towards the destruction of the US.

While we consider various half measures on how to deal with terrorists and those who want to destroy America and make the world over into a prison of intolerant fundamentalism, wherein women are property and human rights are irrelevant and where we all have to worship as they tell us or die, they are moving inexorably forward towards the possession of nuclear and biological weapons.

They want to take us back to the 7th century - and I, for one, don’t want to go

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Yes, We Did Execute Japanese for Waterboarding

Our country executed Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime we are now committing ourselves
It's kind of awkward to argue that waterboarding is not a crime when you hanged someone for doing it to our troops
On November 29, 2007, Sen. McCain, while campaigning in St. Petersburg, Florida, said, "Following World War II war crime trials were convened. The Japanese were tried and convicted and hung for war crimes committed against American POWs. Among those charges for which they were convicted was waterboarding."
Politifact, the St. Petersburg Times' truth-testing project (which this week was awarded a Pulitzer Prize), scrutinized Sen. McCain's statement and found it to be true.
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The times they are a changing, and not for the better.

Americans know the difference between right and wrong but it seems our politicians have changed the criteria for when right and wrong is important.

Obama legal team wants to limit defendants' rights

clipped from www.freep.com
The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overrule longstanding law that stops police from initiating questions unless a defendant’s lawyer is present, another stark example of the White House seeking to limit rather than expand rights.
The administration’s action — and several others — have disappointed civil rights and civil liberties groups that expected President Barack Obama to reverse the policies of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, after the Democrat’s call for change during the 2008 campaign.
Since taking office, Obama has drawn criticism for backing the continued imprisonment of enemy combatants in Afghanistan without trial, invoking the “state secrets” privilege to avoid releasing information in lawsuits and limiting the rights of prisoners to test genetic evidence used to convict them.
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Hear that sound? The chip, chip, chipping away of our constitutional rights? Apparently, it doesn’t matter if the president is republican or democrat we are all going to lose in the end.

Even if the court decides not to hear the case, the fact that Obama wants to overturn this means he is willing to put constitutional rights aside to get what he wants.

This is indicative of how much closer we are coming to a police state.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The public are fast losing patience with thuggish policing

clipped from www.guardian.co.uk
The arrest, early on Monday, of 114 demonstrators in a school outside Nottingham on suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage and aggravated trespass, long before they managed to get anywhere near the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station, smacked of intimidation; the bail restrictions then placed on them draconian and deeply unsettling in a free society
And news that Ian Tomlinson, the news-paper vendor shoved to the ground during G20, died of internal bleeding rather than a heart attack, is shocking
there is a wealth of video evidence online showing excessive force being used against demonstrators
Yet it's increasingly clear we cannot trust the police account of events
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From the author: “This (police) aggression is no doubt linked to the government's nasty habit of writing laws that prefer the convenience of security forces to the rights of free citizens. But the police are public servants, not government enforcers. Their job is to keep the peace, not clear the streets of dissent.”

This steady evolution of laws being written to favor government instead of to protect its citizenry reeks of fascist idealism: Control the masses before they can do anything that might hint at voicing their opinion.

The government’s fear stems from not being able to ‘control’ its citizens. The answer is simple, politicians should abandon their self-idealized role as ‘controllers’ and return to their intended function as public servants. Put the public’s needs first, stop lining your pockets with our money, stop setting up sweetheart deals with corporations, and listen to what the public has to say.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tragedy of Falun Gong

clipped from www.aim.org

A report by the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group, entitled “Forget Not the Beijing Olympics’ Victims,” urges readers to remember that despite China’s promises to improve human rights, the Olympics ended up serving as an excuse for the Chinese government to arrest and imprison thousands of people who had shown signs of opposition to the current regime.

The report includes a list of people who were arrested in connection with the Beijing Olympics, indicating where each person was arrested, and in many cases where he or she is being held. The list has the names of over 10,000 people, all of whom were arrested since 2007.

The main purpose of the Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group report was to “remind those who rationalized rewarding the Olympics to Beijing as an opportunity to help human rights in China that they have a responsibility to come to the rescue of those who suffered the consequences of their failed rationalization.”

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The Chinese government “used the Olympics’ security as a pretext to apprehend, torture, and murder people who had already suffered prolonged human rights violations in China.

The U.S. continues to ignore China's humans rights violations in deference to its own economic interests.

Every time we buy something marked with 'made in China' we are contributing to the worsening human rights violations that directly violate pre-Olympics promises.

“Falun Gong practitioners, Tibetans, Uyghurs, Christians, and human rights lawyers and defenders have been victimized and lost their freedom because of their refusal to conform to the abusive regime,” the report ends

“But those who choose to be in the same boat and rise and fall with such an abusive regime have lost their conscience.”

Monday, April 13, 2009

Tea Party Has Become a Mockery

When I first learned of 'tea parties' popping up across the country, the idea intrigued me. I envisioned a grassroots drive to allow tax payers to show our discontent with our federal government ‘gifting’ our tax dollars to any and all failed financial entity.

It was finally a chance for the American people to show our dissatisfaction against out-of-control taxation. I am behind this 100%. We are being taxed into the poor house with very little ability to stop it. That is, after all, the spirit of the original Boston Tea Party. “No Taxation without representation”.

But as momentum built the focus changed. Instead of being owned by all Americans this movement somehow became a republican platform to be used as a tool to attack a so-called “socialist” Obama agenda. No longer is it just about being overly taxed, now it has morphed into a conduit to reiterate bizarre claims about Obamas’ true birthplace and that he is really Muslim, and cable converter boxes are brain-washing devices, and that our children are to be interned in re-education camps. Crazy stuff.

I feel soiled by associating myself with what has basically been turned into a republican gripe session. But in all fairness, the loonies who are tossing around these unfounded and disproved notions are coming from the most ‘right’ of the right-wing zealots. The craziest of the bunch. The only reason these people are seeing the light of day is because the republican party is frantically searching for new leadership and evidently they are open to anyone who wants to apply.

After any contest, there is a very short time period where everyone, out of deference to the loser, allows the loser to grouse about losing. This time period after the presidential election is long past. The Democrats have been voted in and the Republicans are now playing a secondary, but still important, role. The focus now should be to help our president get America out of the mess we are in so we can ALL move forward.

The GOP should work on finding new leadership, but to place that search as your primary goal while doing whatever you can to disrupt America’s recovery is just plain self-centered. You republicans need to get over it. Because you really do look incredibly foolish and clueless.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Resist of Become Serfs

clipped from www.truthdig.com
America is devolving into a third-world nation. And if we do not immediately halt our elite’s rapacious looting of the public treasury we will be left with trillions in debts, which can never be repaid, and widespread human misery which we will be helpless to ameliorate
Our anemic democracy will be replaced with a robust national police state. The elite will withdraw into heavily guarded gated communities where they will have access to security, goods and services that cannot be afforded by the rest of us
Tens of millions of people, brutally controlled, will live in perpetual poverty. This is the inevitable result of unchecked corporate capitalism.
The stimulus and bailout plans are not about saving us. They are about saving them. We can resist, which means street protests, disruptions of the system and demonstrations, or become serfs
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The author paints a dismal and truthful image. What we are witnessing is capitalism run amok and misplaced loyalties.

The old platitude “Money is the root of all evil” can be applied here. The government thinks it is obligated to step in and save capitalism from itself but is going about it the wrong way.

Throughout history businesses have made the proper adjustments to save themselves without the wholesale give away that Geithner and company is participating in. And isn’t it great to have other peoples money to play with?

I say let them sink or swim. Prosecute the thieves. The incompetent will fall to the wayside. We tax payers cannot endure this current course of action.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Phoenix police raid a blogger

Jeff Pataky is part of a growing number of citizens who are not afraid to expose police foul-ups, unwarranted excessive behavior, and just plain Gestapo-like tactics.

Sadly, the Phoenix police department is not unique in their use of thug-force. How does your police department compare?

It is unfortunate that good cops get grouped in with the bad cops, but they are in a better position to help identify these thugs and get them out of law enforcement.

You can read more on the Bad Phoenix Cops blog: http://badphoenixcops.blogspot.com/
clipped from rawstory.com
In what should send a frightening chill down the spine of every blogger, writer, journalist and First Amendment advocate in the United States, Phoenix police raided the home of a blogger who has been highly critical of the department.
Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging.
The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment - which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation.
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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Man detained and harassed at airport for carrying cash

clipped from www.youtube.com
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This is scary stuff. A man is threatened with exposure to DEA because he is carrying a large sum of cash and refuses to explain to over-zealous TSA agents why he is carrying it or where he got it.

He repeatedly asks the agents if he is legally bound to answer their questions concerning the origin of the money and is further threatened with 'being taken downtown to police headquarters'.

TSA is getting out of control when they think they can pull an individual aside and hold him for carrying cash.

The more sinister reason for his detainment, which is revealed in the clip, is his connection with the Ron Paul campaign and the fact that Missouri law enforcement regards these individuals as 'home-grown terrorists'.

Be afraid, be very afraid.
There is no wealth like knowledge and no poverty like ignorance. -Ali ibn Abi Talib

Transgressions that are tolerated today will become common place tomorrow. -Greg W

"If you are thinking a year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people."
Chinese Proverb