The Next Step in the War on Dissent

The word is that the White House has drafted something they want to put through Congress that will allow them to arrest and detain people without charges. It will allow them to take people to trial using hearsay evidence. It will also allow them to try defendants without the defendants being allowed in the court room to hear the evidence against them.

Right now I do not think they have the credibility or support to even introduce this in Congress but it looks like they are readying themselves for the opportunity to present itself.

To me, it is very tiresome to hear people say that the only purpose, the main purpose of our government, is to protect its citizens. First of all this country does not do that. It never has.

We send young men and recently young women off to die by the thousands to protect the economic interests of major corporations. From Dole Pineapple to Mobil Oil. We have never shied away from sending in the Marines.

Suggest mass transit as an alternative to congested highways and you might as well whistle Dixie. You want Universal Health Care? Forget it.

How can we afford these expensive things when there is a war on? There is always a war on. All my life and all your life.

We are about to be shown another reason to give up our rights. We do not yet know what it will be. Be assured it is coming whether our government is planning it, allowing it to happen or is clueless. When it happens look for this legislation to hit the floor of the house and the Senate.

Look me up if you end up in my cell block.

Drug Dealers A Step Up

In Baltimore on the streets where they sell the drugs and they fight for and maintain territory people are killed. Sometimes a member of one gang will kill a member of another gang. Sometimes a witness to a murder who may or may not testify in court is silenced permanently. Gun battles between warring factions have killed innocent men women and children who just happened to get into the line of fire. Arrested drug sellers are often turned snitch and often soon after turn up dead. The drug money corrupts cops and judges and politicians. The Prison Industrial Complex thrives on illegal drugs. We all know this. It is in the papers. It is well documented.

But neither the drug dealers nor the cops and not even the politicians go in for wholesale slaughter.

The same can not be said for Israel or the United States. What is happening in Lebanon is desired by the President. He wants a desert he can call “a peaceful oasis.” Well, if he has not figured it out yet he is going to have to kill every last Arab and every last Muslim on the planet to achieve the kind of “peace” he is looking for. It will never happen.
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The perpetrators of war from the Pentagon to the arms dealers to the oil companies to the Rapture Lunatics all have one thing in common: When they look up the moral ladder they can see that they are several rungs down from the drug dealers in the housing projects in Baltimore. Everything the rest of us do keeps these people in power.

Was 9/11 Worse Than This?

During the War in Vietnam the United States tested a lot of new weapons. Agent Orange was one of them. The lasting affects were not know at the time or, if they were, that knowledge was kept secret. The immediate affects were well known and that was defoliation. The argument was if we remove the jungle then the Viet Cong have nowhere to hide. The logic soon collapses when you try to understand exactly what the alleged purpose of the war was. You can’t really defoliate a country if your intention is to save it. Was that really our intention? I have my doubts. Vietnam became a training ground for CIA “Black Ops”, weapons systems, and political theories.

A new documentary on Italian Television in Iraq is asking, “Is the US using experimental weapons in Iraq?” The documentary, Star Wars in Iraq is worth a look. There are claims that we are using both lasers and microwave weapons, one witness says a laser turned a bus into a wet dishrag the size of a Volkswagen.

Speaking of weapons, Israel is being accused of using both white phosphorous and cluster bombs in Lebanon, both of which are illegal. They are also targeting bomb shelters with high penetration bombs. It is being reported by doctors in Lebanon that fully 30% of those who are being wounded are dying.

Condoleezza Rice is braying that she wants a “New Middle East.” We certainly need one; the one we have been kicking around is broken. The arrogance of this statement can’t be overstated. Since coming into power in 2001 this administration has not spent one calorie on trying to achieve peace in the Middle East.

The world is sitting by while the Corporate Media couches the conflict in terms so one sided as to be laughable. Please see the excellent movie on Nate’s site: Get In Their Face; that covers how our Congress and White House appear to be an Occupied Territory of Israel.

The Domino Theory in Southeast Asia that justified the War in Vietnam, as twisted as it was has been further twisted. Today the dominos are falling, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, and Lebanon with the possibility of Syria and Iran later this year.

I do not support the violence perpetrated by Hezbollah but anyone who thinks Israel’s attacks on a largely innocent civilian population is justified is morally bankrupt. In Iraq 100 civilians a day are being killed. In one way that is the equivalent of twelve 9/11’s a year; except that after the towers collapsed we got a breather.

This is a very obscene way to go about achieving peace in the Middle East. The only logical and moral conclusion is that peace is not the administration’s goal.

My Respectful Apology

It has come to my attention that I have overreacted to some actions taken by Crooks and Liars during an argument I was involved in with another commentator a few days ago. As I have stated earlier, this blog came out of that site. I have the utmost respect for C&L and I feel now that I was too hasty to judge and I apologize. If anyone has anything to say that they feel they can not say anywhere else please feel free to do so here.

I apologize to John Amato and all the monitors at Crooks and Liars.

Peace,

Michael Meehan

Oil War in Lebanon?

At first I was shocked that Israel decided to bomb Lebanon and kill civilians and destroy its infrastructure in the name of disarming Hezbollah. I was shocked that the United States is willing to let it happen. Shocked that Europe, for the most part, is standing by.

Don’t get me wrong, I am angry. I am just no longer shocked.

No, I do not believe that Hezbollah should be kidnapping soldiers and no I don’t believe the Palestinians should be kidnapping soldiers.

There is no high moral ground here on either side.

It appears that each side in this confrontation is setting each other and themselves up for retribution and retaliation. It seems likely that Iran urged Hezbollah to attack when it did, July 12, to take some heat off of itself and the sanctions deadline. The sanctions deadline, on the other hand is yet another form of provocation. As is, of course, the desire of Iran to have nuclear weapons.

We can go back and back and back. The US does not, it seems, attack countries with nuclear weapons therefore it appears the best course of action for Iran would be to attain them. George Bush put Iran on notice after 911 that he considers Iran a target of the US. And we all know the rhetoric coming out of Iran since the Islamic Revolution. Some of us, of course know about the overthrow in 1953 of Mossadeq in Iran by the CIA and Kermit Roosevelt (the grandson of Teddy) because of the nationalization of the oil in Iran.

This destruction of Lebanon is all about oil even though there is not one drop of it in the ground. This is ultimately a war between Islamic Religious Fundamentalists and Robber Barron Capitalists. The Jews in Israel are just being used as surrogates by oil men the corporate media totally ignore.

Domination of the Middle East by the US and its ally, Israel, is all that matters to them and destroying a tiny nation is just a part of doing business.

We will be going to war with Syria and Iran. It is not a matter of “if” it is a matter of “when.”

What happens after that can not be foreseen but it will make us all long for the brighter days of the Iraq insurgency.

Can We Build an Online Community?

Among the people who have bothered to comment here and Nate and myself I think we have all the talent we need to create a dynamic website full of information and video clips that allows for arguments and dissent.

We have people with technical know how and people who seem to be able to find just about anything of interest in the way of information and/or humor on the web.

I suggest we try to do this.

Anyone with an existing blog (myself included) could simply have anyone who accesses their blog redirected to our new site.

Those of us who create it would be allowed to post on it and as a group decide who could join later. I propose a site that allows full frontal conversation. Comment as you will and take the heat. If there is a way to keep people honest by disallowing anonymous postings (meaning no “Anonymous” signatures) so much the better. I could live with that. Anonymous postings do have their place and I would not reject them out of hand.

We are a strong if loosely connected community, I think we would be wise to consider this.

Crooks and Liars Needs to be Read

This blog came out of Crooks and Liars dot com. It is a very good site and has a huge audience. I comment there all the time. Sometimes I joke, sometimes I rant and sometimes I let off steam. I mess with the trolls, argue with rational people on both the left and right and I usually learn something.

Last night when i was not looking someone apparently insulted me. The comments were deleted. Not just the insult but the person's point. I have been told it was two people but it could have been one hundred. It does not matter to me.

I can take a verbal punch. I have had a hard but interesting life. Sometimes i get a little too sensitive but that's another story.

I can't learn from people who disagree with me if they are not allowed to speak. Think about this for a second, I Can NOT learn from people who disagree with me if they are not allowed to speak.

We live in a country where the opinions of others are "discluded" in everyday conversations. The President of the United States refuses to hear dissenting voices even though his private words are full of malice for others.

I don't want anything on this blog deleted unless someone tries to put up advertising. If you disagree with me or anyone else, say so. Your comment will stand.

You have a right to get or be pissed off with me. If you want to call me names go right ahead. I will not flinch. If you want my respect all I ask is a rational argument and I will argue with you to best of my ability. I may get angry with you or what you believe in but do not let that hold you back. If you truly believe in what you think that should not deter you.

My deepest feelings surround discourse and interaction. I do not claim to be perfect and I do not expect you to be. I refuse to censor unless the topic is way off target. If you start a dialouge here about Malibu Barbie you can expect it to be lost in the neather regions of the net.

If you have something to say this is the place.

Peace,

Mike

Open Thread

This is an open thread. That means you can say whatever you want here. You can cuss me out and call me a Communist. You can tell me that you want to have my child. You can fight with each other or have online sex. I don't care.

Just make it real.

Gloom Antidote

Thanks to EZPZ

Did George Bush steal the Election in Mexico?

This may at first glance seem like a ridiculous question, but it is far from it. FBI files clearly show that Bush contracted with Choice Point, the company responsible for scrubbing African Americans from the voting roles in Florida in 2000, to glean information about voters not only in Mexico but in almost all South American countries.

Guess what? Several left leaning voters were told they were not on the voting lists when they went to the polls two Sundays ago. Ballot box stuffing is on video tape and a leading University professor says that the results are a “statistical miracle.” Not only was Andres Manuel López Obrador leading by 2% until the very end when suddenly the final votes came in 100 to one in favor of Calderon, but four million votes remain uncounted.

You can watch a video made by Greg Palast on Democracy Now! HERE. Greg Palast has done extensive reporting in the U.K. on what happened in Florida only to be blacked out by the U.S. News media. He is from New York.

Why the Press is Losing its Audience

If there was ever any doubt in your mind that the Corporate Media is merely a mouth piece for George Bush and his puppet masters Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove please consider this: A fourteen year old girl was allegedly raped and she and her entire family murdered by five members of the US armed forces in Iraq. So far, so bad. There is a birth certificate proving she was 14, however the US Command in Iraq at first claimed she was twenty five and then claimed she was twenty. Now they have settled for calling her a “young woman.” This is exactly as accurate as calling her an “elderly infant.”

Despite evidence to the contrary the establishment press, including National Public Radio is referring to her as a “young lady.” Want to know why? Because, apparently, as I heard on NPR the other day there seems to be some controversy over her age. What’s the controversy? “Her Birth Certificate says she was 14, but people in her town thought she was fifteen and the US Command in Iraq says she is a young woman.”

So we will call her a “young woman” and end the controversy.

TO HELL WITH THE TRUTH!

The above Photo was taken at Abu Ghraib.

Iraq's Missing Billions

There are parts of this movie that will sadden you and parts that will enrage you. From the movie: A "Free-Fire" zone in the military means you're free to shoot anything at all. Iraq has become a "Free-Fraud" zone. Contractors are free to steal anything they want. [UPDATE BELOW]



The brilliant Sans-Culotte.org has done it again and connected some more dots in this nightmare we call Iraq. He recognized the name of one of the journalists (Ali Fadhil) from this movie and went digging. Here's a snippet from an article in the UK's Guardian Media.

US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist
Jan 9, Guardian: American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children.

Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later.

Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.

The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned! Read the Full Article...

If you found the above movie instructional, maybe it's time to start digging a bit deeper. Robert Newmans video on the History of Oil... A fantastic film/lesson/performance and a movie that's sure to change your world outlook.

-Nate

Tags: Iraq, War, Bush, Reconstruction, Haliburton, KBR