Arthur Silber: The State is become death. Our target can be anyone we choose. Yes, this means you. No, there is nowhere to run.

it's been a long time since i've posted anything by arthur silber and, truth be told, i'd forgotten just how articulate and powerful a writer he is... my thanks to chris floyd and information clearing house for re-introducing me to arthur...

In a culture that was healthy to any significant degree, the recent NYT article about the Obama administration's institutionalized, systematic program of murder by secret decree would have resulted in a deafening, sustained, nationwide howl of outrage and denunciation. In a healthy country -- and here, I use "healthy" in the sense described in an essay from four years ago: "to designate those goals and motives that can generally be described as supportive of individual life and happiness" -- the government's announcement that it regularly murders innocent human beings, wherever they may be in the world, for any reason the government wishes, and that the murderers are proud of their murders and plan to continue them indefinitely, would have propelled millions of people into the streets.

[...]

It is one thing for the ruling class to target the general domestic population on economic matters, as it has by systematically squeezing every last bit of wealth and opportunity out of "ordinary" Americans and shoveling all of it into the drooling maw of the rulers (and for many Americans, these methods of brutalization are already catastrophic in the extreme). It is very different when the ruling class announces to the world that it considers every human being on Earth not favored by power and privilege to be fair game in a neverending campaign of slaughter.

Yet there are no crowds in the street. Forget howls of fury; you can listen with the greatest concentration of which you are capable, and you will detect barely a whimper. Life goes on precisely as before, as if nothing of great moment has happened.

[...]

These people are monsters. This is profoundly evil. All these people, all those who collaborate and assist in such a program, have placed themselves far beyond any limit of what can be designated as civilization.

it's stunning how far down the hole we've fallen...

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They say "blood money" - I say "bullshit"

this is wrong on so many levels...

American Who Worked for C.I.A. Freed in Pakistan

American officials on Wednesday won the release of a C.I.A.
contractor under investigation for two counts of murder,
after spending more than six hours at the jail with the
families of the victims, the lawyer for the families told
reporters.

The families accepted payment of blood money, the lawyer
said. He said he thought the C.I.A. contractor, Raymond
Davis, 36, had already left the jail.

The Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed on
television that the blood money payment has been paid and
that Mr. Davis has been handed over to the U.S. Consul
General.

wrong, wrong, wrong... no accountability... no consequences... wrong, wrong, wrong...

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Violence, violence, and more violence permeates our daily lives

david sirota offers up a very thoughtful piece on the violent culture of the united states in today's alternet...

Today, one in every three dollars the government spends goes to defense and security. The killing machine and adventurism that money manufactures has delivered 1 million Iraqi casualties, thousands of American casualties and an implicit promise of future wars -- indeed, of permanent war.

Perpetuating this expenditure, bloodshed and posture in a nation of dwindling resources, humanitarian self-images and anti-interventionist impulses requires a culture constantly selling violence as a necessity. It's not just video games -- it's the nightly news echoing Pentagon propaganda and "hawkish" politicians equating militarism with patriotism and "embedded" journalism cheering on wars and every other suit-and-tie-clad industry constantly forwarding the assumption that killing is a legitimate form of national ambition and self-expression. Is it any wonder that a few crazies apply that ethos to their individual lives, and begin seeing violence as a reasonable means to express their own emotions?

i was moved to respond...

Although, I must say, I completely agree with your assessment. Our national culture is totally constructed on exploitation - of people, of resources, of the planet - and exploitation is inextricably tied to violence. But it's not only the deeper questions about people turning to violence that our superficiality-obsessed society avoids, it is ANY deeper discussion about ANYTHING.

I teach a graduate seminar in leadership and one of the things I say to the students right off the bat is that the corpus of writings on leadership that leap off the shelves at the unwary consumer in every bookstore in the country are nothing more than fast-food recipes containing little in the way of nutritional ingredients and probably not much more in the way of anything natural whatsoever.

What is the level of national discussion about sex? Janet Jackson's nipple? Sarah Palin's daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy? There's no "discussion" to be had, merely more titillation.

The recent national obsession with the shooting of the three Somalian pirates was nothing more than violence pornography. The lede in Jonah Goldberg's LA Times editorial was this: "Shooting three Somali pirates was a good start. Now let's shoot some more." Unbelievable or, rather, perhaps TOO believable.

I am typing this as I sit at my desk in Kabul, Afghanistan, the current epicenter of violence, at least from the perspective of our violence-besotted media. But even my Afghan colleagues, inured as they are to violence on a daily basis, scratch their heads over the violent episodes they read about in the U.S. The U.S. is the penultimate, they reason. Why in the world would people there engage in such behavior?

Why indeed.

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Hearing on the limits of executive power

a week ago friday in the house of representatives...

Vincent Bugliosi



Bruce Fein



Bob Barr



Dennis Kucinich



and, as i write this on saturday, august 2, 2008, criminals are still in charge of our country...

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"Thou shalt not kill........

........Unless it maketh thee a profit"

Exodus 20:13 NERV (Neo-conservative Evangelical Revised Version)

I am a man who stands firm and secure in his faith. Those that know me, either personally, or by my writings, are aware that I am NOT a proselytizer. It matters not, to me, if you are a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, etc. I try (tho' I sometimes fail) to show MY faith by my works, deeds, and actions. I make an honest attempt to treat everyone with love, understanding, compassion, and respect. I strive hard, to be the embodiment of my teacher, Jesus, the Christ.

If some people have a propensity for iniquity; to kill, commit adultry, covet another's resources (like oil and water), or lie through their teeth with unabashed shame, I can understand and live with it. However, don't insult my intelligence by claiming to be a Christian, when your actions speak otherwise. It not only denigrates Christianity, but also my opinion of you. Jesus (the One you claim to follow) taught: "Ye shall know them by their fruits".

The title and lead-in are pure snark, as you may have guessed. ALL versions of this scripture are short, and to the point: Thou shalt not kill. The word, 'kill', is translated from the Hebrew, ratsach, meaning, 'to kill, murder, slay'. To take an innocent life. When God inspired those words, He made no caveats. He didn't say, "If you THINK someone MIGHT try to kill you, then kill them first". Calling it 'collateral damage', or a 'cost of war',is nowhere to be found. Neither is 'beyond reasonable doubt', in defense of capital punishment; for by who's standard of reasonable do we apply? We are but mere mortal humans, and it is a proven fact that we are definately not infallible. Death is final. It is one of the few things that are irreversable. You can't get a 'Mulligan' on death. All life is precious, it is a gift from the Creator; it should not be taken by mortal men, nor by the evil governments they have formed.

It never ceases to amaze (and sicken) me, to hear the Republican mantra of 'The Sanctity of Life'. They are pro-life only in regards to abortion, embryonic stem cell research (I still fail to understand THAT one), or Terri Schiavo. They seem to have no problem letting people die for lack of healthcare or from poverty. They seem also, to love sending our young soldiers and civilian contractors into an illegal, un-Godly, immoral war; knowing full-well that thousands will never return alive. The present leadership of this country is a disgusting disgrace at best, and despicably hypocritical at worse. This current band of criminals running our government, the chicken-hawk war-mongers, were afraid to serve in the military themselves, and went to great lengths to avoid service. How can they command people to do something that they, themselves, were/are too scared to do? Have these people no conscience whatsoever? How do they sleep at night?

George W. Bush is arguably the most hypocritical of all. As Governor of Texas, he refused to commute Carla Faye Tucker's death sentence to life without parole. It was universally acknowledged that Carla Faye was a changed person, making a positive impact on many lives, even as she sat on death row. Even the Pope had tried to make intercession on her behalf. And what did Bush do? He made jokes and snide remarks about her execution. He stated he would not interfere with a jury's decision. Yet, he had the unmitigated gall to overturn 'Scooter' Libby's judge and jury, by saying he felt the sentence was 'too harsh'. Say whaaaaaat?????? Three years in a Federal Country Club for Libby is harsher than death for Tucker? To paraphrase Yakov Smirnoff: "Wow, what a Christian!"

What has this once-great nation become? The Republican's lies and deceit have apparently paralyzed the Democrats as well, as they refuse to put the brakes on this runaway freight train disguised as the Executive Branch. What, exactly, are they afraid of? Not getting the support of the 20% that is Bush's base? What about the other 80% of us?

I will continue to bang the drum, sound the trumpet, and beat the dead horse; but I believe we may have already crossed over the threshold, the point of no return. The Neo-cons, Republican and Democrat alike, are willing to kill anything, or anybody, that stands in their way. This includes the country that birthed them, and the Constitution it was founded on.

How, in God's name, can these people have the audacity to call themselves 'Christian'? That is ludicrous, absurd, and down-right farcical, and I might add, sacrilegious and blasphemous, too.

As Jesus (remember Him?) said, "Many are called, but few are chosen".

That's my opinion. What say y'all?

(Graphic courtesy of Jolly Roger @ Reconstitution 2.0)

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