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past feature editorials
when soldiers die in vain
by jack random - nfp regular columnist
“it is…for us to be here dedicated to
the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last
full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolved that these
dead shall not have died in vain.” - abe lincoln, gettysburg
address.
when do we finally admit that our soldiers are dying in vain?
the people have come to accept that the iraq war was from the
beginning unnecessary, immoral and painfully misguided. our nation
has not yielded on the contracts that transfer essential control of
iraqi oil to international oil companies. we have not given up or
even disavowed the permanent military installations that would keep
the iraqi government under our thumb in perpetuity.
“if the cause be not good, the king
himself hath a heavy reckoning to make when all those legs and arms
and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter
day and cry all ‘we died at such a place’ – some swearing, some
crying for a surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind them,
some upon the debts they owe, some upon their children rawly left.”
- william shakespeare, king henry v.
we are occupiers, not liberators. no government gives up control of
its most valuable resource voluntarily. we are oppressors and
usurpers.
under these circumstances, it is the duty of all iraqi citizens to
oppose us, even if it means perpetual guerrilla war, even if it
means iraqis fighting iraqi collaborators, even if it means that
more and more iraqi and american blood must be spilled on the fields
of battle.
there was a time it might have made sense to protest that our forces
volunteered for service to the nation, right or wrong, but that time
has long expired. only highly paid mercenaries volunteer to fight
for corporate oil. the fighting men and women of our armed forces
did not volunteer to become what they have become in iraq and to a
lesser extent in afghanistan.
“on april 26, 2004…my brother…was
killed. since that day, my family and i have lived with the grief of
losing a loved one. we have struggled to explain his death to his
son. we have gazed at the shards of life scattered at our feet, in
wonder of its fragility, in perpetual catharsis with god.” - dante
zappala, sister of the late sergeant sherwood baker.
the time has arrived for all of us to accept that when the president
dismissed the expressed will of the people to roll back the war and
instead escalated the war, he condemned our soldiers, marines, guard
and sailors to pointless death and, equally damning, pointless
killing of those iraqis who oppose us, as well as those caught in
the crossfire.
where do we draw the line? the november election? attacks on the
green zone? passage of an appropriations bill calling for phased
withdrawal? condemnations by our arab allies?
“in so far as they died for their
devotion to america, for their love of their comrades, for their
loyalty to our nation’s ideals, their deaths…were not in vain. but
in so far as they were put into battle under false pretences, for
unrealistic objectives, by a feckless commander who was never
committed to the task, their deaths were indeed in vain. i hate to
write those words. when i think about the families of our troops
reading them, i imagine the outrage and indignation that they must
feel, that i would feel if my son had died in iraq.” - blogger kid
bitzer, obsidian wings, november 13, 2006.
should we draw the line at 3,500 american dead? 4,000? 5,000? should
we hold out for four or five more years and 10,000 or 20,000 dead?
how many more iraqis must die to save the face of a failed american
president?
at some point, even the most stubborn defenders of war and the bush
administration must come to terms with the solemn fact that our
soldiers are dying without reason, without cause, without hope of
success and without the kind of honor that grows from noble intent.
the verdict of history is certain: all of our soldiers died for a
needless and grossly immoral war, a war of naked aggression, a war
built on a foundation of lies, a despicable attempt to remake the
world under our dominance.
“contemplating the scale of the
american-british failure in iraq, i have been struggling to see if
there are any future circumstances, any lines of long-term strategic
action, which would one day enable us honestly and credibly to say
to the mother of a soldier who died in iraq: ‘your son did not die
in vain.’ at the moment, that seems nearly impossible.” - timothy
garton ash, the guardian, october 26, 2006.
for those young men and women who are now being subjected to a four
billion dollar pentagon recruiting drive, do not be fooled into
believing that serving in the bush wars is fulfilling a duty to
country.
this is not a war for america. it is not a war for american ideals.
it is not a war that our founders would embrace. it is a war of
corporate greed and avarice and one that all true americans should
despise.
do not be trapped by an economy that bolsters the ultra rich but
offers the children of working folk no way out and no way forward
but military service. rest assured there is another way for while it
may be considered noble to die for one’s country, to die or kill for
this war is ignoble and insane.
“what’s the purpose of this war? what
have they accomplished? somebody please give me some kind of answer.
why did my son die in vain?” - marion flint sr., father of staff
sergeant marion flint jr., killed in iraq.
if you wish to answer the call of your nation in the hour of
greatest need, your place is in the streets of protest.
the only redemption, the only good that can come of such wanton and
unnecessary death and destruction, is the hope and the vow that we
will never repeat the tragic chain of events that led to war and
continues to carry it forward.
unfortunately, for many of us, that was the redeeming lesson of the
war in vietnam.
jack random is the author of
the jazzman chronicles (crow dog press) and ghost dance insurrection
(dry bones press). the chronicles have appeared on the albion
monitor, peace-earth-justice, the national free press, pacific free
press, leftward, dissident voice and counterpunch. see random jack:
www.jazzmanchronicles.blogspot.com.
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too guilty to fly, too innocent to charge?
by faisal kutty as the canadian government forges ahead with its cleverly named
passenger protect program, the timing could not be better to seriously
reconsider what is, for all intents and purposes, a no-fly list.
the attention to the issue of watch lists generated by the struggles
of maher arar (the canadian citizen detained by americans and shipped
off to torture and interrogation in syria) to clear his name should
make us all sit back and reflect. there are many lessons to be learned
from the canadian government’s recent apology and financial settlement
with arar for its role in his “extraordinary rendition.”one of these lessons is that hasty and ill considered national
security initiatives, which are essentially aimed at managing
perceptions more than they are in really addressing legitimate and
manageable security concerns, are not harmless. in fact, they cause
disproportionate harm in return for very minor gains in terms of
intelligence and law enforcement. the innocent and unintended victims
of such initiatives are real human beings with lives, rights and
dignity. when not properly designed to address the negative impacts
such initiatives can significantly disrupt and even destroy lives.
another lesson from the arar saga is that religious and racial
profiling, no matter how vigorously it is denied, is too often the
reality for a growing number in canada’s muslim and arab communities,
at least in the national security context. in fact, this was
confirmed by none other than the department of justice in a report
leaked a couple of years ago.a number of other men of muslim/arab heritage have made similar
allegations as arar. three of them will get their own less
comprehensive inquiries. one of the common denominators of each of
their stories is the fact that they were placed on one kind of watch
list or the other. the proliferation of government watch
lists is a troubling development in the “war on terrorism.” the
challenges of such lists include differences of opinion on who’s
actually a security threat and consolidating information across
agencies by making the computer systems communicate with one another. in fact, canada’s auditor
general sheila fraser found in 2004 that watch-lists used to screen
visa applicants, refugee claimants and travelers seeking to enter
canada were in disarray because of inaccuracies and shoddy updating. and now we have another list to worry about.
as we consider the need to improve our intelligence and law
enforcement systems, we must have an open and informed dialogue about
what measures truly make us safer while ensuring that our fundamental
values, liberties and rights are not sacrificed. the proper forum for
such a debate is our legislature. bypassing this vital and necessary
debate – as was done with the passenger protect program
– is
irresponsible and cavalier, particularly given the findings of justice
dennis o’connor in the arar inquiry, the canadian track record with
watch lists to date as well as the experience with such lists south
of the border. the information sharing protocols and mechanisms
which were criticized by justice o’connor have not been improved,
yet the government continues with the no-fly initiative which
mandates that we share – and even merge and consolidate information
– with foreign
entities and agencies, which may have less scruples in listing and
targeting innocent people on flimsy grounds. making lengthy watch lists based on subjective and political criteria
and then giving the power to add and remove names to agencies that
have a vested interest in the national security agenda is akin to
asking the fox to guard the hen house. such lists – which will
inevitably fill up very quickly with “false positives”, political
dissidents and those whom our friends and neighbours subjectively
designate as threats – will not make us any safer or interrupt any
terrorists, if the u.s. experience is any indication. to make matters
worse, real terrorists may not even be placed on the list for fear of
tipping them off. according to the u.s. homeland security department,
known terrorists are not placed on the list for fear that they would
know they are being watched. even this new “made-in-canada” list will
be shaped by the u.s. and other nations’ lists as they cross-fertilize
pursuant to intelligence agreements, the smart border declaration and
the security and prosperity partnership of north america (spp), both
of which call for increased cooperation and information sharing.
how can such a list provide anything more than a false sense of
security while leaving it rife for blacklisting innocent people as
well as racial and religious profiling? indeed, canadians should be
asking the government how an individual can be too dangerous to fly,
yet be free to roam the streets and plot terror.the no-fly list threatens liberty, equality and mobility rights
guaranteed in the canadian charter of rights and freedoms. moreover,
it leaves little practical recourse to get off the list.the experience of some individuals who are already encountering
difficulties in flying within canada without even having a list of our
own does not give one much confidence. the extraterritorial
application of u.s. watch lists is already impacting on canadians –
how will canadians fare once transport canada introduces its own
official list and over time it becomes increasingly shaped by other
nations’ intelligence, criteria and practices? as the cato institute’s jim harper pointed out, the unilateral process
is alien to our legal system:
“rather than watch-listing, people who are genuinely suspected of
being criminals or terrorists should be sought, captured, charged,
tried, and, if convicted, sentenced. watch-listing allows law
enforcement to be very active and intrusive without actually doing
what it takes to protect against crime and terrorist acts. ... watch
listing and identification checking [are] like posting a most-wanted
list at a post office and then waiting for criminals to come to the
post office.”
anti-terrorist watch lists may serve a very limited useful function,
such as separating individuals deserving of increased investigative
attention, but they will never be complete or be totally accurate.
they should not, however, be the basis for serious restrictions on
liberty such as the denial of transportation or violations of privacy
or other rights without the benefit of due process and the principles
of fundamental justice. they may have a limited role in designating
who to investigate further or watch so long as there is no deprivation
of rights or privacy violations and provided that they are compiled
pursuant to due process of law and without resort to subjective
criteria or racial/religious profiling.in raising her voice against the no-fly list, the privacy commissioner
of canada, jennifer stoddart, said the list “represents a serious
incursion into the rights of travelers in canada, rights of privacy
and rights of freedom of movement.” to this i would add, increasing
likelihood of racial and religious profiling, silencing dissent and
persecuting unpopular religious and political views. transport canada must not be given a carte blanche to deprive
canadians of our liberty, mobility, equality and privacy rights, even
though aviation security has now become a legitimate national security
concern. the government’s appeal to national security should not
exempt it from due process, principles of fundamental justice,
accountability, transparency, oversight and a full parliamentary
debate. the system envisaged by passenger protect is wholly inadequate, as it
will be over inclusive, with a high likelihood of false positives, pose
a serious potential for racial profiling and completely lack any
meaningful redress mechanism or process. perhaps what is needed is not this list, but better investigative and
intelligence work to gather evidence so that those who are real
threats are charged and kept off the streets, not just flights.
faisal kutty is a toronto lawyer, writer and doctoral candidate at
osgoode hall law school of york university. he serves as vice chair
and counsel to the canadian council on american islamic relations and
filed submissions against the canadian no-fly list on behalf of more
than two dozen organizations from across the country. the submission
entitled “canada’s passenger protect program: too guilty to fly, too
innocent to charge?” is available at
www.caircan.ca his articles are
archived at
www.faisalkutty.com.
his articles have
appeared in all of the leading canadian dailies including the globe
and mail, toronto star, montreal gazette, ottawa citizen, edmonton
journal, windsor star, as well as in arab news, indian express, the
daily mail, yemen times,
al-ahram weekly, and others.
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australia: the new 51st state
by john pilger
march 4 2007
john howard's servility to the us is even greater than tony blair's
and has earned him the nickname bush's deputy sheriff. the conspiracy
between washington, the media and politicians is eroding the country's
freedoms
in june this year, 26,000 us and australian troops will take part in
bombarding the ancient fragile landscape of australia. they will storm
the great barrier reef, gun down "terrorists" and fire laser-guided
missiles at some of the most pristine wilderness on earth. stealth,
b-1 and b-52 bombers (the latter alone each carry 30 tonnes of bombs)
will finish the job, along with a naval onslaught. underwater depth
charges will explode where endangered species of turtle breed. nuclear
submarines will discharge their high-level sonar, which destroy the
hearing of seals and other marine mammals.
run via satellite from australia and hawaii, operation talisman sabre
2007 is warfare by remote control, designed for "pre-emptive" attacks
on other countries. australians know little about this. the australian
parliament has not debated it; the media is not interested. the result
of a secret treaty signed by john howard's government with the bush
administration in 2004, it includes the establishment of a vast, new
military base in western australia, which will bring the total of
known us bases around the world to 738. no matter the setback in iraq,
the us military empire and its ambitions are growing.
australia is important because of a remarkable degree of servility
that howard has taken beyond even that of tony blair. once described
in the sydney bulletin as bush's "deputy sheriff", howard did not
demur when bush, on hearing this, promoted him to "sheriff for
south-east asia". with washington's approval, he has sent australian
troops and federal police to intervene in the pacific island nations;
in 2006, he effected "regime change" in east timor, whose prime
minister, mari alkatiri, had the nerve to demand a proper share of his
country's oil and gas resources. indonesia's repression in west papua,
where american mining interests are described as "a great prize", is
endorsed by howard.
this sub-imperial role has a history. when the six australian states
federated as a nation in 1901, "a commonwealth . . . independent and
proud", said the headlines, the australian colonists made clear that
independence was the last thing they wanted. they wanted mother
england to be more protective of her most distant colony which, they
pleaded, was threatened by a host of demons, not least the "asiatic
hordes" who would fall down on them as if by the force of gravity.
"the whole performance," wrote the historian manning clark, "stank in
the nostrils. australians had once again grovelled before the english.
there were fatman politicians who hungered for a foreign title just as
their wives hungered after a smile of recognition from the
governor-general's wife, who was said to be a most accomplished
snubber."
australia's modern political class has the same hunger for the
recognition of great power. in the 1950s, prime minister robert
menzies allowed britain to explode nuclear bombs in australia, sending
clouds of radioactive material across populated areas. australians
were told only the good news of being chosen for this privilege. an
raf officer was threatened with prosecution after he revealed that 400
to 500 aborigines were in the target zones. "occasionally we would
bring them in for decontamination," he said. "other times, we just
shooed them off like rabbits." blindness and unexplained deaths
followed. after 17 years in power, menzies was knighted by the queen
and made lord warden of the cinque ports.
an undeclared maxim of australian politics is that prime ministers
become "statesmen" only when they serve imperial interests.
(honourable exceptions have been dealt with by smear and subversion).
in the 1960s, menzies connived to be "asked" to send australian troops
to fight for the americans in vietnam. red china was coming, he said.
howard is more extreme; in his decade of power, he has eroded the very
basis of australia's social democratic institutions and cast his
country as the model of a washington-style democracy, where the only
popular participation is that of voting every few years for two
"opposing" parties which share almost identical economic, foreign and
"cultural" policies.
for "cultural", read race, which has always been important in creating
an insidious state of fear and compliance. in 2001, howard was
re-elected after manipulating the "children overboard affair", in
which his senior advisers claimed that afghan refugees had callously
thrown their children into the sea in order to be rescued by an
australian naval vessel. they produced photographs that were proven
false, but only after howard had touched every xenophobic nerve in the
white electorate and was duly re-elected. the two officials who
brought the "crisis" to its fraudulent fever pitch were promoted after
one of them admitted that the deception had "helped" the prime
minister. in a more scandalous case, howard claimed his defence
department had been unaware of another leaking, stricken boat filled
with iraqi and afghan refugees heading for australia until after it
had sunk. an admiral later revealed this, too, was false; 353 people
were allowed to drown, including 146 children. (howard got blood on
his hands)
above all, it is the control of dissent that has changed australia.
rupert murdoch's influence has been critical, far more so than in
britain. whenever howard or one of his more oafish ministers want to
bend an institution or smear an opponent, they carry out the task in
alliance with a pack of rabid mostly murdoch commentators. as stuart
macintyre describes in a new book, silencing dissent, the melbourne
herald-sun columnist, andrew bolt, conducted a campaign of ridicule
against the independent australian research council which, he claimed,
had fallen into the hands of a "a club of scratch-my-back-leftists"
whose work was "hostile to our culture, history and institutions", as
well as "peek-in-your-pants researchers fixated on gender and race".
the then minister of education, brendan nelson, vetoed one project
grant after another without explanation.
the national museum of australia, the national child benefits centre,
aboriginal policy bodies and other independent institutions have been
subjected to similar intimidation. a friend who holds a senior
university post told me: "you dare not speak out. you dare not oppose
the government or 'the big end of town' [corporate australia]."
as embarrassing corporate crime rises, the treasurer, peter costello,
has blithely announced a ban on moral or ethical boycotts of certain
products. there was no debate; the media was simply told. one of
costello's senior advisers, david gazard, recently distinguished an
american-run seminar in melbourne, organised by the public relations
institute of australia, at which those paying a$595 were taught the
tricks of conflating activism with "terrorism" and "security threat".
suggestions included: "call them suicide bombers . . . make them all
look like terrorists . . . tree-hugging, dope-smoking, bloody
university graduate, anti-progress . . ." they were advised on how to
set up bogus community groups and falsify statistics.
schoolteachers who do not fly the flag or music concert organisers who
discourage the attendance of racist thugs wrapped in the flag are at
risk of a dose of murdoch poison. equally, if you reveal the shame of
australia's vassal role you are deemed "anti-australian" and, without
irony, "anti-american". few australians are aware that murdoch, who
dominates the press, abandoned his own australian citizenship so that
he could set up the fox tv network in the us. the university of sydney
is to open a united states study centre, backed by murdoch after he
complained about the inability of australians to appreciate the
benefits of the bloodbath in iraq. (howard got blood on his hands too)
stifling dissent
having recently spoken at overflowing public meetings in brisbane,
sydney and melbourne, i am left in no doubt that many are deeply
worried that freedoms in their sunny idyll are slipping away. they
were given a vivid reminder of this the other day when vice president
dick cheney came to sydney to "thank" howard for his support. the new
south wales state government rushed through a law that allowed
cheney's 70 secret service guards to carry live weapons. with the
police, they took over the centre of sydney and closed the harbour
bridge and much of the historic rocks area. seventeen-vehicle
motorcades swept theatrically here and there, as if howard was
boasting to cheney: "look at my control over this society; look at my
compliant country." and yet his guest and mentor is a man who, having
refused to fight in vietnam, has brought back torture and lied
incessantly about iraq, who has made millions in stock options as his
halliburton company profits from the carnage and who has vetoed peace
with iran.
almost every speech he gives includes a threat. by any measure of
international law, cheney is a major war criminal, yet it was left to
a small, brave group of protesters to uphold the aussie myth of
principled rebellion and stand up to the police. the labor party
leader, kevin rudd, the embodiment of compliance, called them "violent
ferals"; one of the protesters was 70 years old. the next day, the
headline in the sydney morning herald read: "terrorists have ambitions
of empire, says cheney."
the irony was exquisite, if lost.
john pilger's bestselling history of australia, "a secret country",
is available through
http://www.johnpilger.com
courtesy of...
eddie hwang
president
unity party wa
info@unitywa.org
www.unitywa.org
(updated)
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war on terror: reinventing
the cold war
by
paris kaye
on the evening of january
17, 1961, president dwight david eisenhower concluded his term with a
historical farewell address to the nation. in that address, eisenhower
made reference to a concept known as the military industrial complex and
its “grave consequences”, warning the american people to be vigilant in
this regard.
in short, the military
industrial complex is a triangular construct which exercises undue
influence within foreign policy. the three components of this construct
include the military, corporate entities and the government.
arguably, a case can be
made that the symbolic conception of the military industrial complex
occurred during a fateful week in august 1945 when the united states of
america became the first and only nation thus far to utilize atomic
armaments in warfare. president truman’s decision to utilize the bomb
in both hiroshima and nagasaki was not the only option of ending our
conflict with imperialist japan, but was the one option wherein we could
make a clear and concise statement about our strength as a super power.
the conventional super
powers took on their defining shapes throughout the second world war and
even more so through the yalta conference and subsequent discord between
the u.s.-soviet over postwar european issues. arguably, it was the
growing soviet question that weighed heavily into truman’s decision to
utilize the atomic bomb.
consequently, the cold
war era began, giving birth to the military industrial complex wherein
armaments research, development and production fueled its own economy.
the passion, the motive for this growing concept was a preservation of
our way of life, and a means to combat the evils of communism.
in 1991, the weight of
the arms race caused, in part, the implosion of the soviet union which
some term the “new rome”; so termed because both suffered a similar
fate. in the dissolution of the soviet union, the united states lost a
worthy and commendable adversary and, more importantly, that which
fueled the military industrial complex.
over a decade, we
confined our global military involvement to mostly un backed skirmishes
wherein human rights violations and crimes against humanity were being
committed. this relatively quiet period was the adolescence of this
growing entity known as the military industrial complex just as the
previous era was its childhood.
the childhood stage was a
time wherein it was fed, nurtured and given delicate care. within its
adolescent stage, the military industrial complex, as an entity, strove
for independence, seeking policies and systems that would eventually
make it self-sustaining.
when the new “axis of
evil” was discovered, it ushered in the “war on terror”. the “war on
terror” is the cold war reinvented. it was tailored to fit the new
century and the global dynamics of this era.
we have not been vigilant
as eisenhower strongly admonished in his prophetic outlook some 46 years
ago. we have sat back and watched the unimpeded development, from birth
to adulthood, of the military industrial complex. it has become
inculcated into our governmental policies and political practices. it
is now self-sustaining and requires no nurturing or care. the
ubiquitous and nebulous nature of our “war on terror” has given it an
unlimited fueling source.
as the “war on terror”
and the military industrial complex consume vital resources, we, as a
nation, place ourselves at risk of implosion. implosion occurs when
resources are taken from vital domestic programs and used elsewhere. it
occurs when a nation decays, internally, through neglect of vital
domestic programs and its people. the strength of a nation is
predicated on a delicate balance between the external and the internal;
the latter and former being of equal importance.
more
from paris kaye
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not a prophet...just a thinker!
“there is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the labour
of thinking.” thomas a. edison
so, let's try to read some 'writings on the wall'.
home...
any bets that the general election will take place well before the
end of this year?
accusations of manipulating the country into an election frenzy are
being hurled all around like leaves in autumn.
"will the prime minister call an election for late november, should
malta be cleared by mid-year to adopt the euro on january 1, 2008?",
asked lino spiteri. in a sly artful way, he predicted the answer. of
course!! in the first sentence of his last paragraph of his article he
states; "should labour win the election in a post-euro scenario of
galloping prices......" and who would ever dream of holding an election
following 'a post-euro scenario of galloping prices'? the nationalist
party is more shrewd than that!
on january 14, 2007, tonio fenech, parliamentary secretary at the
ministry of finance, was quoted as saying that "by the end of 2006,
foreign investment is expected to exceed lm 500 millions." it would be
interesting to know if this figure had been reached and if in it is
included the selling of malta and its family silver! does he expect any
revival of our economic situation, once all our heirloom has been sold?
i'm sure he's not betting on it and he knows that the earlier the chance
of a premature election, the better. before things get worse!
the np government knows well enough what's coming - and it's definitely
not for the better. eddie fenech adami knew it and he quickly made way.
there is no time to lose . if the np still enjoys any credit (very
doubtful), it would do well to work on it early before it's totally
lost.
folks who had earlier believed the promises of benevolences and
advantages of malta's entry into the european union and unwittingly
voted in favour, have long since been asking; 'where are the jobs?',
'why so much unemployment?' and 'why such increases in the cost of
living?' the government knows very well that things are not going to
ameliorate but rather to worsen. so, why should it go to the risk of
staking an election in a still worse situation?
does anyone think that the changeover to the euro would not bring
additional hardships to both businessmen and consumers? if so, better
think again. anyhow, the burden will start to afflict us after the
election.
do you believe that the prime minister will not call an election till
after the maltese lira would be replaced by the euro, with all its
negative effects of inflation and conceivable devaluation?
then there is the issue of the divorce law, especially concerning eu
citizens seeking divorce in the maltese courts. recently, malta was
labelled as a 16th century country in that it's the only country in the
eu that does not have any divorce legislation. how many believe that
this will continue to last? yes, definitely up to election time! anyhow,
it is understood that the eu will not conclude this issue before long.
this makes it more imperative for an early election so as not to lose
the votes of the anti-divorcists and also lose favour with the church.
and the latest gamble! smart city!! a project said to create 5,600 jobs
over eight years, amounting to an average of 700 employments yearly.
again another promise - and you can say on the eve of a general
election. what a boost for the party! will this evaporate like the
declaration of hundreds of jobs promised on the cottonera waterfront
project? anyhow, it would have served its purpose.
maybe the prime minister thinks that he could keep the people guessing
but good thinkers will not miss the signs.
hurry up, mr. prime minister. time is running out!!
...and away
who will attack iran, the us or israel? you guessed it, israel!
a recent report in one of britain's leading newspaper, 'the sunday
times', claimed that israel was making preparations for a conventional
attack on iran to destroy its uranium enrichment facilities. it stated
that the israeli air force has been making practice runs far out into
the mediterranean. although denied by israel, such reports could not be
just sheer nonsense. us vice-president dick cheney has for long been
saying that "perhaps israel will one day act on their own", maybe in
view of the constant prodding by israel, especially by the aipac
(american israel public affairs committee) in the united states.
definitely, this is more likely as the us is not in a position, both
militarily and politically, to engage itself in such a new war.
spokesman for the us national security council, gordon johndroe, said
that action would be taken only inside iraq, not across the border,
while secretary of defence, robert gates, also stated that the united
states had no intention of going into iranian territory. who is going
then? so the us administration would be delegating the attack on iran to
the israelis!
the threat of a us strike on iran is all propaganda and the media
mission is to create outrage in the world against iran. the us media
group is beginning to release stories to sell a strike against iran.
moreover, israeli prime minister, ehud olmert, also has called the
possibility of an iranian nuclear bomb as an "existential threat" that
cannot be tolerated.
although israel would find itself on the front-line of this madness, us
support would not be lacking. the recent deployment of two
aircraft-carrier strike groups and patriot air defence systems would be
useful to deter or defend against any retaliatory action on israel. so,
israel would attack teheran and the us will come to its aid and further
destabilize the middle east. as senator hilary clinton prattled during
her visit to israel in december, 2005: "it became even more clear how
important it is for the united states to stand with israel."
most assume that the planned us military surge in iraq fits a scenario
for attacking iran's nuclear facilities. rather, with the support of the
two aircraft-carrier groups poised off iran's coastline, these would
undoubtedly serve as support for israeli air-strikes against iran.
it is no speculation that this escalation doesn't involve iran. i mean,
who would be so stupid as to throw more troops in iraq? note the
oxymoron: 'let's send more troops to iraq, so we can pull our troops out
of iraq.' but all this points to these lines in bush's speech: " i
recently ordered the deployment of an additional carrier strike group to
the region. we will expand intelligence sharing - and display air
defence systems to reassure our friends and allies."
as israeli prime minister, ehud olmert, is under mounting pressure from
likud and other right-wing parties in the knesset, a daring israeli
air-strike against iran could salvage his reputation. besides, olmert
has left himself little manoeuvring room, since he has labelled iran's
alleged development of a nuclear bomb an 'existential threat' to israel.
the american people might also be more sympathetic to israel lashing out
to protect its survival than to bush entangling the united states in
another middle east war.
so, if the bush-olmert duo has any hope of accomplishing the
neo-conservative remaking of the middle east time is running out.
something dramatic must happen soon.
that something would possibly mean a rush to armageddon!!
joseph m. cachia
vittoriosa, malta
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"the hanging of saddam hussein
is a phase four advance of the global empire"
by connie fogal
the execution of saddam hussein is a failure of social justice and of
democracy. no developed civilized society imposes the death penalty.
world leaders who are just condemn the execution.
on december 30, 2006, cardinal renato martina, representative for the
vatican on questions of justice, said the execution of saddam hussein
is punishing crime with another crime. further he said: "la peine de
mort n'est pas une mort naturelle. et personne ne doit donner la mort,
pas meme l'etat."
romano prodi, président du conseil italian counsel, a dit "aucune
faute ne peut déterminer un homme à se faire le porteur de mort d`un
autre homme."
josé luis rodriguez, premier ministre espagnol a dit, " je ne défendre
jamais le principe de la peine de mort, meme pour le pire des
politiciens " (i never defend the death penalty, even for the worst
politicians.")
the hanging of saddam hussein by the usa -installed iraquian puppet
government is a public relations effort to legitimate the u.s.a.'s
illegal
invasion of iraq. neither the invasion nor this execution have
anything to do
with democracy for iraq, but rather everything to do with justifying
the usa's conquest of the geopolitical control over the middle east
along with the
control of iraq's water and oil. it is common knowledge that whoever
controls
iraq has the key to control of the middle east and its resources.
the execution of saddam hussein is an operational disguise and cover
up of the corporacratic creed in process- huge profits, promotions,
raises for the corporations and their employees, i.e., the us
corporations who rushed in with
infrastructure and industrial programs after the destruction of the
invasion- engineering and construction companies, computer system
suppliers, aircraft, missile and tank manufacturers, pharmaceutical
and chemical companies.
because saddam hussein would not submit iraq to the global empire, and
because he avoided assassination, iraq was invaded. invasion is the
third phase of what john perkins, a self proclaimed economic hit man (ehm),
calls the drive to effect the global empire. saddam's "crime" was his
refusal to submit to the "corporatocracy". this name was coined by
john perkins, in his book confessions of an economic hit man, as the
collective name for the forces of power that are the global empire
builders-- corporations, banks, and governments who use their
political and financial muscle to satisfy their
greed.
perkins defines economic hit men as the people who are paid outrageous
salaries to do the bidding of the corporatocracy. he describes them as
an elite group who use international financial organizations to foment
conditions that make other nations subservient to the corporatocracy
running the u.s.’s biggest corporations, the u.s. government and the
u.s. banks.
comparing them to the mafia, he exposes the favors used to impose the
will of the corporatocracy- massive loans for infrastructure which are
impossible to pay back along with a condition that u.s. engineering
and construction
companies get the contracts to build the projects.
perkins points out that most of the money never leaves the u.s.a., but
rather is transferred from banking offices in washington to
engineering offices in new york, houston or san francisco, while
leaving the recipient country to pay back the full debt, principal and
interest.
when the debtor eventually and inevitably defaults, the debtor is
required to submit to the demands of the corporatocracy, i.e., control
over united nations votes, or installation of military bases, or
surrender of precious resources like oil or water.
iraq under saddam hussein had enough oil, water, and geopolitical
power to thumb its nose at the corporatocracy and its advancing global
empire. this “finger” was saddam’s “sin” for which he was hanged.
john perkins lists the three phased attack conducted by the
corporatocracy. first, the economic hit men go in. if they fail, the
“jackals” go in to assassinate as phase two. if assassination fails,
phase three is implemented- a military attack .
the hanging of saddam hussein could be called phase four of the drive
to advance the global empire. it is the white wash of orwellian double
speak.
that is, a crime against morality is
committed and called an act of democracy.
connie fogal
canadian action party leader
www.canadianactionparty.ca
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return to a cause: an american revolution
by jack random
as a common man with a life outside of politics,
i entered the world
of
political discourse with a
cause born of the conviction that the
future
of american democracy depended on the emergence of an independent
movement that could break the stranglehold of two parties dominated by
the same corporate interests.
something happened along the way that caused me to defer my primary
cause. the nation was attacked, the people were terrified and the
government launched a policy of aggressive war designed to capture a
lion’s share of the world’s most precious resource.
somehow, the cause of political independence – freedom from
corporate
governance – no longer seemed pressing. suddenly, stopping the war
machine became a moral imperative, overwhelming all other concerns.
the war is not over – not by a long shot. in many ways, the threat of
war and more wars is as great now as it was in the mind-numbing daze
of
late september 2001. the nation’s leading warmongers outside the white
house are positioning for another presidential run in 2008 and the
corporate media is falling in line.
the war is not over but i am beginning to understand that all our
pressing issues, from the policies of war and global “free trade” to
government incompetence and indifference to the plight of the poor and
working class, from the poisoning of the planet to election fraud, are
intimately interrelated.
the war in iraq would not have been possible without corporate control
of government and corporate control of government is made possible by
an inherently corrupt two-party system where both are dependent on
corporate sponsorship.
it may seem abstract or radical but it is not difficult to understand
when you break it down. when we laid siege to iraq, we did not claim
iraqi oil as a nation; we contracted it to private corporations –
corporations that owed no allegiance to any nation or ideology but to
capital and only capital.
to the uninformed american, this was a war of pride and prejudice (the
pride of patriotism and prejudice against all things arabic) but to
exxon-mobil and british petroleum, it was a corporate takeover. check
the record: the first requirement of the occupying army on the
handover of sovereignty and the adoption of a new iraqi constitution
was that all contracts of the occupying authority would be honored.
america and the iraqi people have lost a great deal in this war but
the
oil barons and the corporate scavengers are still tallying their
profits. win, lose or prolonged engagement, the ceo’s of halliburton
and bechtel will not fail to cash their checks and dick cheney will
still collect his dividends.
the corporate overlords have little interest in geopolitical
strategies, little interest in the currency of choice, and are
markedly
disinterested in the democratic form of government. they require an
unlimited supply of energy to fuel the industrial machine and massive
quantities of capital to dominate technology. beyond oil, the only
strategy that engages the corporate monoliths is the expansion of the
“free trade” zone.
the dirty little secret of “free trade” is that it is not “free” trade
at all. it is a devious and extremely effective assault on labor that
transcends national boundaries. every trade agreement operating under
the banner of “free trade” regards a cheap working force, devoid of
labor rights and unburdened by expectations of a living wage, as a
marketable commodity.
there could not be a better operational definition of “selling the
working stiff down the river.” with every expansion of the “free
trade” zone, job migration accelerates the erosion of wages and labor
rights in relatively affluent nations and institutionalizes
exploitation in poorer nations.
as the process continues under the illusion of inevitability (a myth
perpetuated by both ruling american parties and the corporate media),
the eventual outcome is clear: universal exploitation of labor (i.e.,
the wal-mart model).
and so i return to the cause of independence, knowing that the odds
remain long and the last six years have been utterly wasted.
in the recent midterm elections, only one independent candidate
managed
a winning campaign and that was the republican democrat of
connecticut.
ironically, the election of joe liebermann illustrates the potential
power of independence, as he now becomes the most powerful figure in
the united states senate – a free agent who can tip the balance of
power by changing party allegiance at any time.
the only campaign i am aware of that carried the seed of a winning
idea
was that of kevin zeese for senator in maryland. a member of the green
party, zeese managed to win the support of the maryland libertarian
and
populist parties. despite that substantial accomplishment, his
candidacy attracted only one percent of the vote in the general
election.
the zeese campaign illustrates the best and worst of the independence
movement. on the positive side, he demonstrated that third parties
with distinct ideas and philosophies could be united in the cause of
independence. on the dark side, by reaching too high he doomed his
campaign to the status of tokenism.
in modern american politics, without the backing of a major party
machine, trying to leap from citizen activist to the united states
senate is like defying the law of gravity. it is admirable to dream
big but, without a viable goal of victory, the dream cannot be
sustained.
dream big but think small.
the policies advanced by kevin zeese may well represent a majority of
american voters. what might have happened had he targeted a
congressional district gerrymandered for democratic control? with the
republicans reduced to tokenism, zeese could have taken dead aim at
the
muddled middle ground of democratic politics. with the backing of a
national organization allied with the antiwar movement, he might have
won. two terms in congress and he would be positioned for a real run
at the senate. four years as a senator and he would be poised for a
run at the white house.
what is required, then, is a national movement with a national
organization whose objectives are twofold: first, to unite third
parties with the fastest growing sector of the american electorate:
independent voters. second, to identify vulnerable congressional
districts and run candidates who can win. some candidates will be
progressive, others libertarian, but all will be mortal enemies to the
corporate political machine.
the revolution begins in earnest with the first victory and with that
victory the age of third party tokenism will end.
in our peculiar, two-party system, as few as a dozen congressional
seats and one or two senators would radically alter the political
landscape. the independence movement would be in position to demand
election reform, media reform, internet freedom, and, at a minimum,
trade policy and foreign policy review.
like joe liebermann today, the independence movement would hold the
key
to the balance of power in the halls of congress.
every revolution begins with a first step and the first step is
securing the necessary backing to build the infrastructure and brain
trust of a national organization. it requires visionaries of acquired
wealth, political foresight and a spirit of philanthropy that
transcends the combined works of bill gates, warren buffet and the
celebrities of the day. it requires that the leaders of third parties
step forward in the cause of unity.
the political climate has rarely been better. trust in our
congressional leaders has never been lower. if the democrats, tied
down by their dependence on the same corporate overlords that created
this despair, fail to end the war and affect real change, they will be
playing into the hands of independence.
let the revolution begin.
for more of jack random, one
of the nfp's regular columnists, please click
here!
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the new middle
east: the us democracy in middle eastern key countries!
by
karim el-koussa
well before the 9/11 terrorist attack on the american soil, the us
foreign policy has been for many years concentrating all its effort
to
claim a pre-emptive war on what they called the “axis of evil”, composed
of north korea, iran and syria. after 9/11, two important heads of evil
were re-added, added again to that axis, osama bin laden and saddam
hussein. immediately, the us president george w. bush invited his
european allies to join him in a “holy war” - a crusade against al-qaida
in afghanistan, led by bin laden who countered him and the christian
west, back with the same dialectic of the “holy war”- the jihad. same
crazy perception of
the divine! anyway, several months later, the us
president renewed his invitation to the europeans and launched, without
the approval of the united nations, another divine war on iraq to oust
the iraqi regime and destroy its hypothetical nuclear power. two
divine
wars that didn’t end until now!
there is no doubt that after the fall of the soviet union, the us became
the only world power, an empire that does not surely need divine
intervention to win wars against relatively poor enemies. but holy
legitimacy is needed! thus, the us has chosen to take god on its side
like all preceding world empires have done before it in history, and
hence, the us government, endowed now with the divine right doctrine,
uses it to dominate the world. consequently, the successful pax romana
of the roman empire has been poorly mirrored lately with pax americana
of secretary of state mrs. condoleezza rice - a project fondly
elaborated by her forerunner, mrs. madeleine albright. democracy and
liberty! something like, “we must build a community of democracies for
the expansion of liberty in the world. amen,” became their daily slogan,
their daily bread.
beautiful slogan indeed, but where is liberty now in afghanistan? the
killing persists almost every day and bin laden is still in the cave or
rather taking a sun bath somewhere in the world. where is democracy now
in iraq? iraqi community is dying almost every day and saddam hussein is
on trial or rather playing the hero in a theatrical play. lately, like a
powerful thunderclap, the us officials suddenly declare that iraq had
not possessed nuclear weapons whatsoever. why the war then? ah, they
didn’t know that before. at the end of the day, however, the two
important heads of that so-called “axis of evil” are still there… and
who was really judged in the end of it, but the innocent people! where
is world justice and where it has been served? lately, however, saddam
hussein has been found guilty of crimes against humanity. shall they
execute him and make him pay the price of his murders!! maybe, after
all, there is a us hidden agenda for saddam to come back to power, only
to succeed where they failed - stabilizing iraq.
at any rate, since north korea is not in the middle east, it has no
place here in this article, so let us have a look now at the other two
players of that axis, iran and syria. but surely, the state of israel is
included with them! why?
israel! the balfour declaration to baron rothchild, on the 2nd of
november, 1917, says: “his majesty’s government view with favour the
establishment in palestine of a national home for the jewish people, and
will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this
object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may
prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-jewish
communities in palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by
jews in any other country.”
the idea of the creation of the state of israel began with theodore
herzl, the founder of the world zionist organization, who wrote,
speaking of the arabs of palestine, in his complete diaries of june 12,
1895: “spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it
employment... both the process of expropriation and the removal of the
poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.” and one of the
most enduring and deceptive slogans of zionism was coined by israel
zangwill almost 100 years ago. he stated that: “palestine was a land
without people for a people without land.” though, the reality was and
still is different.
but almost all jewish rabbis, leaders and thinkers like, yitzhak shamir,
chairman heilbrun, israel koenig, uri lubrani, vladimir jabotinsky,
joseph weitz, moshe dayan, golda maier, yoram bar porath, benyamin
netanyahu, raphael eitan, ehud barak, moshe katsav, menahim begin,
yitzhak ginsburg and ariel sharon, who managed the political ideologies
of israel, worked in defiance to the british mandate of the balfour
declaration just mentioned. in fact, they followed the words of herzl,
and seemed to have been executing, until now, the orders of david ben
gurion, the first israeli prime minister, known as the armed prophet,
who declared: “the present map of palestine was drawn by the british
mandate. the jewish people have another map which our youth and adults
should strive to fulfill - from the nile to the euphrates. we must expel
arabs and take their places.”
very rare were those moderate jews who strongly refused the idea of the
state of israel; the most famous ones were albert einstein, and the
jewish philosopher, martin buber. however, with general common racist
thoughts in mind - not to mention also some words in the talmud - the
successive israeli military governments continued challenging the will
of the free world and the un, throwing many of its resolutions into the
dustbin.
thoughts and slogans like: “we have to kill all the palestinians unless
they are resigned to live here as slaves.” “we must use terror,
assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all
social services to rid the galilee of its arab population.” “how can we
return the occupied territories? there is nobody to return them to.”
“there was no such thing as palestinians, they never existed.” “[the
palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs.” and “jewish blood and a
goy’s [gentile’s] blood are not the same,” echoed strongly in their
minds.
but the us president, george w bush and british prime minister tony
blair are committed to a two state solution, israel and palestine living
side by side in peace. even ehud olmert stated many times that he is
committed to that solution. the us president, however, still has almost
17 months in his oval office, to fulfill his promises he gave to the
palestinians. time is running fast though, and the situation on the
ground, in gaza and the west bank, does not show any flare of optimism.
however, the free world hopes that the us, the quartet, the eu and the
un keep committing themselves to implement fully the “road map” for a
long fair enduring peace.
during the 2002 arab league summit held in beirut, the arabs unanimously
voted for both, the creation of a palestinian state and the recognition
of israel. but the israeli government led by sharon, did not show any
positive reaction towards the arabs and their historical proposal. on
the contrary, it pressured more the palestinians and held yasser arafat
hostage in his headquarter in gaza. such a counter action seemed to have
blown off the arabs peace proposal. what democracy is there in israel?
one would definitely question.
truth be told, at the time, in an interview on bbc, hosted by tim
sebastian on hard talk, dr. zbigniew brzezenski, the former american
national security adviser under jimmy carter administration, said openly
something like that: “the total american and british support to israel
came from the belief that israel would be the only democratic nation in
the middle east, but the israeli consecutive governments seem to have
been wearing masks and fooling with us!”
“are you making fool out of the pope?” tim asked his guest dani neveh,
one of the ministers in the sharon cabinet, in a previous interview,
after israeli soldiers had besieged the church of nativity in jerusalem.
in fact, at the time, the israelis ignored the un, eu, us, uk and the
vatican calls to cease the killing of palestinians.
at any rate, in the late 2006 elections, and under the close watch of
the former us president jimmy carter and other european observers, the
palestinians had willingly and democratically voted for hamas, a
militant group, considered terrorist by israel. but whose voice counts
more here? israel or the palestinians? of course, the voice of the
people of palestine. a voice, israel still refuses to comply with even
today.
a little reflection back to the atlantic charter signed in august 1941
is needed here. both the former president of the united states, franklin
d. roosevelt, and his majesty’s government, mr. winston s. churchill
signed that charter but rarely committed to it! it says in its third
item: “third, they (both of them and their countries) respect the right
of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will
live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored
to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.” but… there is israel
here!
indeed, the palestinian free and democratic election of the government
of hamas strongly meets the terms of us secretary of state mrs.
condoleezza rice and her forerunner, mrs. madeleine albright long hailed
slogan for a world community of democracies for the expansion of
liberty!
why the us contradiction and double standard policy then? one would
absolutely ask again. what democracy the americans want if not the
palestinian electoral example, or the similar one that brought hezbollah
ministers into the lebanese government? despite their strong religious
and political ties with iran, hezbollah’s social fabric is purely
lebanese. for subjective and irrational reasons, of course, the us and
israel consider hezbollah a terrorist organization, while the europeans
refuse to call them a terrorist group. the arabs and the lebanese look
at hezbollah as a resistance force against israeli occupation.
in the last july-august 2006 war between israel and hezbollah, lebanon
has been left with more than 1100 civilian children, women and men of
gray hairs killed, and more than 3500 wounded. this war also caused the
destruction of the lebanese infrastructure and an estimated loss of
billions of dollars. the wmr (wayne madsen report) reported that during
the war on lebanon, the israeli military used poison gas on villages in
the south. indeed, israel used horrible weapons, like heavy bombs,
poison gas or chemical weapons, phosphorescent bombs and cluster bombs,
all do not comply with international laws. we have also seen little
israeli girls writing messages on the missiles before dropping them on
the head of lebanese children. the un humanitarian coordinators have put
a lot of pressure on israel for using those deadly cluster bombs, but
israel always try to find excuses, for her terrorist acts, that no one
will accept. in fact, israel dropped more than three hundred thousand
(300.000) cluster bombs over lebanon in the last few days. many children
are still dying from them as we speak. what a horrifying scene? don’t
you think! what a racist culture indeed! teaching children hatred and
leading them to war. but they want peace, they say! what a schizophrenic
state of mind they usher. in addition, israeli troops ignored the plea
from un peacekeepers in south lebanon for 10 times before a
precision-guided missile hit their post killing four of them.
at any rate, after all that barbaric savage war on lebanon, the un
security council finally met in ny on the 11th of august, the 30th day
of war, and voted unanimously for the resolution (1701) to end the
fighting. three days later, on the 14th of august, the 34th day of war,
at 8am, an agreement between the two countries has been reached to cease
fire. the un resolution urged both sides to implement all its items, but
until now, after more than two and a half months from signing that
resolution, israel is still breaking it daily with its arrogant air
flights over lebanese territories, something that was recently
considered by the french foreign policy as a hostile act against the
unifil (united nations interim force in lebanon) forces that came to
lebanon with a great mission: observe the implementation of un
resolution and protect lebanese civilians. hezbollah, on the other hand,
has been committed to it from the first day it was issued. but of
course, israel has a long history of breaking un resolutions, throwing
them in the dustbin.
in fact, lebanon has been dragged into political and insecurity turmoil,
ever since the terrorist attack on the former lebanese prime minister,
rafic hariri. many car bombs followed suit killing many important
lebanese figures and injured others. all fingers point out at
neighbouring syria who has been pressured to pull out its armed and
intelligence forces from lebanon after 30 years of occupation in
implementation of un resolution 1559.
consequently, when prominent us political figures and some of the
lebanese politicians demanded a change of the syrian regime, israel was
the first to reject such a change! why? one would ask. it seems though
that the old-fashioned dictatorship rule of assad suits best the
political interest of israel. both israel and syria have a long history
of political assassination on lebanese soil. the mossad and syrian
intelligence service were very active for a long time in lebanon. hence,
non-democratic regimes do applause each other. who said israel is a
democracy anyway? but israel and syria keep on attacking each other
(only in words, of course) ever
since israel took final hold of the golan heights back in 1973. however,
syria never exercised any resistance against israel. in fact, all the
wars between the arabs and israel that followed the 1973 war were
achieved on both lebanese and palestinian territories. it is quite
reasonable to think that both countries, syria and israel, are in
balance to an under table agreement. hence, it could be concluded that
lebanon is like jesus christ, crucified between two thieves, israel and
the syrian regime. both countries occupied lebanon for so many years
before they were driven out.
so, such an agreement between them both, whether theoretical or
realistic, will not be reached between hezbollah and israel as long as
israel still occupies lebanese territories such as shebaa farms. in
fact, consecutive lebanese governments and today’s government led by mr.
fouad siniora, a great man indeed, have always declared that lebanon
will be the last arabic country that will sign peace with israel. even a
treaty is not officially considered unless israel pulls out.
this is quite logical, and that logic is backed up by iran who
influenced the creation of hezbollah in the early eighties precisely
after “iran gates”- a scandal that revealed israeli-iranian military
collaboration during the iraqi-iranian war! iran then continued
supporting hezbollah against israeli occupation. this iranian support to
hezbollah combined with lebanese official and social support, led to the
withdrawal of israel from lebanon in 2000 and the recent victory over
israeli killing machine in the july-august 2006 war.
talking of iran, nowadays, under ahmadinejad’s regime, brings two main
issues to light: first, its nuclear ambition, and second, its continuous
attacks against israel. whether iran has the right to obtain nuclear
technology or not, is related to whether other neighboring or faraway
countries have or not this technology. regionally wise, since israel has
this technology, and has it for military purposes, iran would be then
eligible to obtain it. religiously wise, since almost all religions have
this technology - the west (christians), israel (jews), pakistan (muslim
sunnis) and india (hindus) - iran (muslim shiite) would then be
qualified to have it too. thus world equilibrium! right? no.
in fact, not only we should strive to make the middle east empty of wmd
(weapons of mass destruction), or any other technology that might be
used to deploy killing machines to kill each other, but we should also
strive to make the whole world empty of the evil devices that are
ruining our selves and our only planet. after all, this is a wish, a
dream! but if making the whole people of the world living in a utopia is
quite hard to achieve, we can still start by making peace in the middle
east. hence, making it clean of wmd, the wise leaders of the world, must
then begin with israel. israel! not only israel has all kind of deadly
weapons, internationally refused, but used on lebanese and palestinians,
it also have no ambitions for peace and no wish to accept a palestinian
free state. the only palestinian state that israel accepts is a state
that abides by israel’s rules. what democracy can we expect from israel,
the last stronghold of apartheid? south africa’s apartheid regime, by
the way, has long been gone, destroyed by the free world. a great
victory to humanity, indeed. even the falashas, the black jews of
ethiopia, or the other jews of the east, are considered by the
ashkenazi, the ruling western jews, as second or third rate jewish
citizens. at any rate, this is an internal affair of jews to settle
between themselves!
recently, the former president of iran, mr. khatami, has identified the
us many attempts to impose western-style democracy in the middle east as
a great joke. of course, what could be other than that, if such a
democracy is going to be on the image of a dictatorship like israel, the
spoiled arrogant murderer child of the west - a freak!
however, ahmadinejad’s continuous attacks against israel, the jewish
holocaust, and his promises to wipe it out from the face of the earth,
are probably based on the fact that israel is not showing any glimpses
of willing to do changes. it still occupies, kills and destroys. “israel
was founded on claims about the holocaust for which the palestinians
were paying the price,” he spoke on jerusalem day, in front of a large
demonstration in iran in support of the palestinians. it’s logical what
he said. the palestinians are suffering and we all know it… if the
holocaust really happened and caused great suffering to the jews, then
they must have learned not to do the same to other people, instead they
should embrace high feelings of love and human compassion.
so many times have the us president, george w bush and british prime
minister tony blair, committed themselves to a two state solution,
israel and palestine living side by side in peace. and, so many times
have they said that “they must deal with the root problem in the middle
east.” well, the root problem in the middle east, is not only seen by
the blind, but also known by the ignorant.
both leaders should also remember by heart the first two articles of the
universal declaration of human rights, written back in december 1948.
1- all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. they
are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one
another in a spirit of brotherhood.
2- everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom set forth in this
declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, property, birth or other status. furthermore, no distinction
shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or
international status of the country or territory to which a person
belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self governing or under
any other limitation of sovereignty.
the root problem is not the popular forces of resistance in a country,
such as hezbollah and the palestinian resistance, but the military
forces and killing machines of the occupation. thus, the root problem in
the middle east is not only syria and the world terrorist organization,
al-qaida, but israel, as well. everybody knows it. the vatican knows it,
so does the british. the americans know it too. israel is not to be
wiped out from the face of the earth though, but israel must change its
way of life, and start complying with the international laws while
embracing a long fair lasting peace with its neighbours. israel must put
down its weapons and open up its heart, unless, of course, it has gotten
too cold, ruthless and inhuman. and it did. it has a long history of
crimes against humanity. what happened in lebanon (kana 1 & 2, etc) and
palestine (jenin and beit hanoun, etc) are not but living examples of
its crimes.
yes, we should also remember the article 5 of the universal declaration
of human rights that says, “no one shall be subjected to torture or to
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
if the un, eu, us, uk and the vatican can not force israel to comply
with the international laws and abide by the articles of the universal
declaration of human rights, who can!? to go back to the law of the
jungle, at the early dawn of the twenty first century and after
thousands of years of human evolution, can not be seen other than just a
great error in our supposedly evolved communal system, a real flaw in
our expansion towards liberty. the law of the jungle or the lawless
world is not the world we ought to live in as humans - or better say -
as civilized conscious free democratic human beings. amen.
karim el-koussa
lebanese author.
http://www.el-koussa.com
sunday, november 12, 2006.
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responding to: the
new middle east, by karim el-koussa
by
robert dailey
that there is a pro-israeli bias among the governments of what is
defined as “the west,” and particularly in the united states, is
undeniable.
however, there are qualifying and equally undeniable facts that must be
faced and understood.
prior to world war ii, jews and muslims were lumped into the same
category by many (both individuals and governments). there was a sort of
“coded” hierarchy that placed african americans at the bottom, semites
(people) of jewish and arab descent on a slightly higher level on a
slightly higher level, and the so-called “white” people of western
european descent on top. and even among the “white” class, people of
irish, italian, greek and others, occupied the lower rungs of the
“white” class.
we already know of the struggle of african americans, which is still
ongoing in some places today.
prior to world war ii, especially in the united states, but also
elsewhere in the west, jews, arabs and african americans, and many times
roman catholics, were not allowed into traditionally “western european”
institutions: country clubs, social organizations, civic organizations,
insider political groups, finance and a plethora of other institutions
and professions.
at some time after world war ii, the terms “anti-semite” and
“anti-semitic” somehow began to mean “anti-jewish.” people of jewish
descent were somehow defined in the eyes of the people who lived in the
“west” as “semites.” people of arab descent, and therefore linguistic
and cultural first cousins of people of jewish descent (all semites),
were still perceived to be in the class and racial rung that they had
occupied before world war ii, while people of jewish descent moved up a
rung or two…becoming more closely identified with the “white” majority.
today, jews are allowed to become members of country clubs, live in
exclusive developments, belong to social and civic organizations, run
for public office, become political insiders. in short, jews have joined
the “white” class of western europeans to a large extent, although there
is still some bias against jews in some quarters.
why this dimensional shift in perception? population does not warrant
it. there are approximately 5.22 million muslims living in the usa.
contrast this with just under 6 million jews in the usa. therefore, the
voting populations of jews and muslims are very similar.
of course, we must take into account that approximately 19 percent of
muslims in the usa are converts from other religions (mostly christian
sects). we must also take into account that there are many other members
of islam who are not arab: pakistanis, indonesians, persians, and many
eastern european nationalities, to name a few.
there are at least 1 million people who are us citizens who have
identified themselves as arab in the last census. this number could be
an underestimation, because there are many peoples from the middle east
and northern africa who do not consider themselves arab, berbers and
kurds for instance.
now, let us look at another set of facts.
there are 43 members of the u.s. congress who are jewish. there are 67
members of the us congress who are african american. there is one member
(just elected) who is muslim.
the nation of islam has failed to recognize what their semitic cousins,
and african american brothers have already not only recognized but have
taken advantage of: the american political process.
additionally jewish and african american organizations have funneled
money and support to non-jewish and non-african american politicians who
are favorable to their views.
islamic organizations have done this on an extremely small scale, but
not enough to make a difference.
therefore, african americans and americans of jewish descent have
powerful voices in the legislative body of the us. the legislative body
(congress) is the elected arm of the government that actually makes the
laws of the land.
additionally there are two members of the us supreme court who are
jewish, and an african american.
innumerable african americans and jewish americans also serve in state
legislatures, state court systems, as governors of states, and in
various other governmental capacities. unfortunately, there are very few
muslims who do this.
as a very wise (and muslim) nigerian friend once said, “nothing can be
accomplished until you win the hearts and minds of the people.”
winning the hearts and minds of americans (and much of the west) means
that one must join them…not in their morality, or their religions, or
their racial biases and perceptions…but in the process of their
government.
no matter what can be said about americans (pax americana e.g.), they
are still passionate about their government and their politics.
the sooner american members of islam (and other islamic citizens of
other western countries) recognize this; the sooner things will begin to
change.
robert dailey
texas, usa
december 14/06
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got freedom?
by fred dungan
"i have been gagged all my life, and whether they are appreciated or not, america needs some honest men who dare to say what they think, not what they think people want them to think." - general george s. patton, jr.
"the true character of liberty is independence, maintained by force." - voltaire
to speak out against the way things were done in colonial times was to risk a charge of sedition. the american revolution changed all that, giving people the right to freedom of speech as guaranteed by the first amendment.
in the 19th and early 20th centuries, americans said what they meant and meant what they said. it may not have made us loved - but we certainly gained the world's respect.
how soon we forget. in an age of "political correctness" it has almost become a sin to say something that might hurt someone else's feelings. have we become so soft and delicate that we suffer permanent injury from mere words? verbal abuse? give me a break. the wonderful thing about freedom of speech is that if someone - anyone, regardless of position and power-says something you don't like, you can let them have it with both verbal barrels.
don't be intimidated. your opinion is just as good as that of the so-called experts. that is what democracy is all about. like anything else, freedom of speech soon atrophies if you don't employ it. god gave you a voice for a reason - to fail to use it to the best of your ability is an insult to the almighty.
stress is a killer. quit stuffing it all inside. you don't need valium or prozac-the best medicine in the world is to let off a little steam. be yourself. stop worrying about unseen consequences. offending isn't a crime. not to get on someone when they truly deserve it often compounds the problem. how is someone supposed to know they are acting like a jerk if you don't tell them?
sucking up is for sycophants, lackeys, and the insincere. have some dignity. make it on your own merits.
cervantes, milton, and martin luther king, jr., went to jail for what they had to say. no such fate awaits you. the strongest prison is the one you build for yourself. break out now before it's too late.
sometimes it's not what you say, but what you refuse to say. on july 20, 2001, novice writer vanessa leggett was found in contempt of court by a federal district court judge and sent to prison for an indefinite term for refusing to surrender a portion of her interviews for an upcoming book about the 1997 murder of texas socialite doris angleton, the wife of millionaire bookie robert angleton. the court believes that her notes will shed light on the shooting and subsequent jailhouse suicide of a suspect. vanessa is the victim of an entrenched system of justice that demands unquestioning obedience from the citizens it is supposed to serve regardless of mitigating circumstances. how ironic that a writer who is only tangentially connected to the crime is the only person serving time. she originally cooperated with the fbi and gave them information concerning the crime. but they wanted more and when she refused to become an undercover snitch, they resorted to
strong-arm tactics. first they subpoenaed her and when that didn't intimidate her, they had her thrown in jail. and they did it in a sneaky way-the proceedings were closed to the public. the federal government has taken the ridiculous stance that vanessa isn't entitled to first amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of the press because she is a freelance journalist rather than a salaried employee.
while it is true that leggett took an unconventional path to becoming a journalist-the texas native worked as a legal assistant, a private eye, and a part-time teacher of english and criminal justice before turning her attention to writing books-there is no law that prevents people from following the career path of their choice. the long and the short of it is that vanessa has been left to rot in jail because she had the guts to stand up to a bunch of bullies. in a decision dated august 17, 2001, the 5th u.s. circuit court of appeals in new orleans ruled that "the district court did not abuse its discretion in ordering leggett incarcerated for contempt." so they think she failed to show the court respect, do they? it seems to me that it was the other way around. tossing a law abiding citizen into the slammer for refusing to compromise her integrity is about as rude and disrespectful as it is possible to get.
writing from her 8 by 10 cinder block cell in downtown houston to newsweek, leggett describes her ordeal:
i am not a gambler or a murderer. i am a 33-year-old college english teacher and freelance writer.
four years ago i began investigating the murder of houston socialite doris angleton in order to write a book about the case. i interviewed countless witnesses and chased leads in houston and in six states.
doris was the wife of robert angleton, a bookie who took bets from houston's rich and powerful. he had friends (and clients) in high places, including the district attorney's office and the police department.
doris filed for divorce in february of 1997, threatening to expose robert's illicit empire if he didn't share the millions he had stashed away. on april 16, police found her bullet-ridden body sprawled on her kitchen floor. robert immediately fingered his brother roger.
when authorities arrested roger angleton in las vegas, he was carrying a briefcase with $64,000 in cash that had robert's fingerprints on it. they say roger's briefcase also revealed notes about the killing and a cassette tape of the two brothers plotting the murder.
a houston grand jury charged both brothers with capital murder. the prosecutor's theory was simple: robert angleton paid his brother to kill his wife.
over four months of extensive interviews with roger in jail, i gained intimate details of the case from this alleged triggerman. our sessions came to a halt when roger was found dead in his cell with a suicide note shortly before his brother's trial. the d.a.'s office insisted my interviews with roger made me an essential witness. i was subpoenaed, but never called on to testify.... i was stunned when the judge read the "not guilty" verdict.
two years after the state-court acquittal, the fbi sought my help in its investigation of robert angleton for federal charges.... agents offered me a confidential-informant contract, which stipulated that i would provide them with my research in exchange for cash. i declined. my research was for a book, and not for sale to the fbi. the contract also gave the agency the power to control the dissemination of my research. i felt strongly that this infringed on my right to free speech. as i pushed the document back across the table to one agent, another agent handed me a federal-grand-jury subpoena.... complied, the feds would have had sole access to my work, preventing me from writing my book and substantiating my research for a publisher. more important, i would have violated the confidentiality agreements i had made with my sources.... the feds responded to my noncompliance by sending me to jail.
i spend my days alone for the most part in my cell.... i can stand in line to use the phone, although sometimes the wait is so long it is turned off before it's my turn. the government listens to all our conversations anyhow. my mail...is read by the prison.
my new home is one block from enron field, home of the astros. i can glimpse the stadium from a narrow window in the prison day room. on weekdays my students are not far: the campus where i am scheduled to teach this fall is six blocks away.
though all of this is around me, i'm living a lonely existence. my belief that i am doing the right thing buoys my morale. it's uncertain how much longer my government will keep me in prison..... but for the near future at least, maintaining my journalistic freedom will mean sacrificing my personal liberty.
in a letter addressed to attorney general john ashcroft, congresswoman sheila jackson lee urged that legget be released on bail because she "presents no risk of flight, nor does she pose any danger to society or to herself. her only 'crime' was to protect her confidential sources in keeping with the traditional notions of a free press."
by refusing to release leggett our government is sending a message to other nations that we condone sending the press to prison when they show some spunk and refuse to go along to get along. throughout the western hemisphere, only three journalists are in prison for doing their jobs. leggett is one and the other two are in cuba (note: vanessa leggett was finally released from custody on january 5, 2002, one day after her attorney filed a motion with the u.s. supreme court to review her case). she had been incarcerated for 168 days and federal prosecutors were considering filing further charges against her. a journalist languishing in jail is a sure sign of an authoritarian regime. the justice department appears to be long on
vengeance and short on civil liberties-a mean-spirited caricature of the image of fair and impartial justice that the united states endeavors to project to the rest of the world.
on april 12, 2002, the pen american center whose ranks include many of the country's most prestigious writers, announced that vanessa leggett had won the pen first amendment award which includes a $25,000 prize. her fellow journalists cited her as "a powerful example of personal conviction and courage in the face of the most extreme pressure" and "a hero in the effort to preserve investigative freedom for writers and journalists in the u.s." three days later, a different panel of judges-the justices of the united states supreme court-put a damper on the celebration by refusing to consider ms. leggett's bid for a hearing on the constitutionality of the contempt charges and associated legal issues facing u.s. journalists.
on august 1, 2006, josh wolf, a san francisco, california, freelance journalist and political activist was sent to federal prison where he could be held for nearly a year after refusing a grand jury's demand that he turn over unaired videotapes of a 2005 anarchist demonstration in which protesters clashed with san francisco police.
u.s. district judge william alsup found josh wolf, 24 years of age, in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena that the federal grand jury issued on february 1, 2006. alsup rejected wolf's claim that a reporter has a right to withhold unpublished material, and he said federal prosecutors were seeking the videos for a legitimate investigation into a possible crime-the attempted burning of a san francisco police car. wolf's attorney later speculated that the real reason the court wanted the videos was to intimidate and/or punish citizens who stood up against globalization and other questionable policies that the government was attempting to implement in the name of the american people.
freedom of speech and freedom of the press amount to pretty much the same thing-the right to express yourself in any way you choose to whomever you want to communicate your opinions, ideas, and thoughts to-with one important exception: while everyone has a voice, not many have ready access to the media and fewer still own a printing press. this is a real shame, considering that a printing press, radio station, or television network amplifies a person's voice, enabling him/her to reach a wider audience. and reaching a wider audience is a sure-fire way to gain power. the rest of us, regardless of our individual education, experience, and/or common sense, are left hanging.
that's all changing. almost anyone can gain access to the internet. even if you can't afford a computer, you can go to your local public library and use one of its computers (the bill and melinda gates foundation donated two state-of-the-art computers to the branch library in my community-part of a nationwide effort to provide universal access).
alluding to the value of the internet as a free and open forum, the u.s. supreme court recently observed that the worldwide web is the place where "any person can become a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could from any soapbox."
but there are people who want to limit that voice. and the danger is that they are keeping it out of schools and libraries - the very institutions that we built to teach the principles of free speech found in the first amendment. the children's internet protection act (sneaked through congress on december 21, 2000 as part of an omnibus appropriations bill) requires all institutions receiving federal funds to install filtering software designed to block access to obscene content on their computer terminals. but the software is seriously flawed. a study by consumer reports found that "filters block harmless sites" because they have no way of determining "the context in which a word or phrase is used." even worse, they can lull responsible, caring adults into a false sense of security. no filtering technology available today can catch 100 percent of the garbage that is out there.
in my opinion, if we are going to censor anything - a recent informal msnbc opinion poll found that of 8344 people responding, 58 percent believed that government should not be in the business of censorship-the job is better performed by humans than machines. teachers and librarians aren't stupid. i think we can trust them to supervise the materials our children are viewing. and we always have the option of firing any that fail to live up to our expectations.
this was not congress' first attempt to censor the internet. in june 1997, the u.s. supreme court found it necessary to strike down an earlier law known as the communications decency act. the problem, of course, is that there are things on the internet that we don't want our children to see. the best way to regulate is to just say no. it is impossible to devise a software program or a law that can substitute for the traditional role of parents and educators.
a federal court has ruled that a missouri school district violated a student's freedom of speech when it suspended him for criticizing his teachers on his personal web page. brandon beussink, 17, in conjunction with his sister, used his parents' computer to set up a personal web page on the internet in which he criticized woodland high school's official website and urged visitors to e-mail the school's principal.
although he got rid of the webpage after receiving complaints from school officials, they went ahead and gave him a 10 day suspension and subsequently failed him for the semester as a result of his absences. in december 1998, u.s. district court judge rodney sippel acted to bar the woodland school district from restricting what students could post on the internet when at home. writing in summation, he affirmed that "dislike or being upset by the content of a student's speech is not an acceptable justification for limiting student speech."
edwin darden, an attorney for the national school boards association believes that courts are performing "a balancing act" in weighing students' freedom of speech against school districts' need to maintain discipline. "these really are untested waters," he remarked.
long ago, powerful people who desired to limit what others had to say on the internet figured out that the easiest way was to intimidate a commercial internet service provider (isp's connect people to the internet) into doing the dirty work for them. by pulling ads and organizing boycotts, they can exert leverage on isps to pull the plug on controversial websites. while the first amendment prevents the government from interfering with your freedom of speech, there is nothing to prevent a corporation or group that is giving you a bad time from writing to your isp and complaining about something you posted on the internet. in my experience, far too many isp's-especially those who know the value of good public relations - won't even bother to investigate the charges. if it is a choice between keeping you as a subscriber and turning a profit, you had best be prepared to kiss your website goodbye.
one noteworthy example is that of a website dedicated to anne frank which was set up by a university student. an excellent site, it included pictures and quotes from the famous diary. being excerpts, they in no way violated copyright law. however, the organization which owns the rights to anne frank was able to get the university to shut down the site by lodging a complaint.
this approach is far more effective than one might expect. my publisher, domhan books, began business in 1998 by advertising its e-books on the web via the free (in exchange for running a banner ad) services of a san francisco based isp. such were the host's policies, that the very first complaint generated prompt removal with no possible means of appeal. subdomains (hosted - usually at no charge - by large dot coms like fortune city, talk city, spree, and tripod) are particularly vulnerable. but even individuals and companies who go to the expense of purchasing their own domains are not completely safe.
anonymity will not necessarily protect you. while services such as america online (aol) and hotmail permit you to set up fictitious accounts (or sometimes force you to do so because your name is not available), they either expose or dump you (aol did it to my son) as soon as anyone begins to throw dirt. aol has a reputation for disclosing user identities upon receipt of a subpoena, and, occasionally, even without one.
in july 1996, aol (the largest isp in the world with more than six million subscribers), decided to ban messages written in spanish from its chat rooms and message boards. at the height of the 1996 olympics, aol's "grandstand forum" was deluged with messages written in spanish and
portuguese-two languages which it claimed were not spoken by any of its monitoring staff. because aol didn't want to be responsible for messages over which it had no control, the company elected to delete them as soon as they appeared. however, aol continued to maintain chat rooms and message boards for its french and german subscribers. allegations of racism were rampant. "why did this rule apply only in the latin folders. why didn't it apply in the german or french rules?," inquired marcello rossetti, a frequent contributor to grandstand forum. "this rule should have applied across the boards...you're going to tell me that in the united states they can't find anyone who speaks spanish?...maybe in iceland, but not here."
rossetti posted messages-in english-on grandstand forum outlining his case and asking other subscribers for their support, but his messages were erased by aol almost as quickly as they were written. it took a complaint to the american civil liberties union and a threat of legal action by the mexican american legal defense fund to make aol back down.
on december 11, 1998, america online closed most of the 23 discussion groups in its irish heritage forum. according to aol, they were shut down due to profanity and personal attacks which were expressly prohibited under the terms of service contract with its subscribers. however, there were reports that aol's actions were precipitated by unionist subscribers who complained about the forum's pro-republican content. activist kate sheridan claimed that aol's actions were "politically motivated, intended to extinguish a growing firestorm of pro-republican news and comment in the forum." on december 28, 1998, aol
re-instituted the irish heritage forum after erasing all previous postings. a notice was posted by an aol manager lecturing users on internet protocol.
america online continues to garner criticism for over-policing its sites. official monitors roam the chat rooms and forums looking for forbidden words and phrases. the terms of service agreement signed by subscribers gives aol carte blanche to delete posts, shut down websites, and, following three violations, disconnect offenders. the fine print in the contract obligates subscribers to avoid "posting on or transmitting through the aol service any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially,
ethnically or otherwise objectionable material." the premise is that subscribers enter into these agreements voluntarily. however, the reality is that it is next to impossible to gain access to the internet without signing a terms of service agreement with an isp.
in the wake of the terrorist attack on the world trade center and the pentagon, the patriot act and other legislation was enacted that placed severe limitations on civil liberties. on may 30, 2002, the department of justice announced new guidelines giving fbi agents greater latitude to monitor internet sites, libraries, and religious institutions without having to offer any evidence of potential criminal activity. under the new guidelines, field office directors are allowed to launch terrorism investigations and undercover probes against individuals and organizations without clearance from headquarters. according to a department of justice spokesperson the changes were made because "investigations of criminal groups were impeded by limits on scope, duration, and red tape."
by red tape, one can assume the fbi is referring to constitutional requirements. these new guidelines, in effect, remove all reasonable control of the agency, giving them the authority to act pretty much as they please.
under the guise of protecting the public from terrorism, internet service providers have moved to silence controversial viewpoints. in what appears to be a knee jerk reaction to 9-11, we have seen a record number of websites deleted from the internet by their isp's:
a.. in february, 2003, the well known alternative news publication yellowtimes
org was shut down without explanation by its hosting company after it published an article by an iraqi nuclear scientist.
a.. in march 2002, angelfire closed a website devoted to discussing issues surrounding 750 florida detainees.
a.. in october 2001, a fan discussion forum devoted to the popular alternative band rage against the machine was shutdown after the fbi purportedly called the internet service provider, saying there was too much anti-american rhetoric on that board.
a.. allewislive.com, a website about al lewis, who played grandpa on the munsters television show, was shut down by web hosting provider hypervine without explanation.
i belong to a military discussion group where the discipline exercised by the parent body is so strict that i once got kicked out for engaging in a dialogue concerning whether or not certain members of the armed forces were required to file state income tax returns (a subject not military enough, in the opinion of my superiors, to warrant posting). although i was later reinstated, our local chapter's president was subsequently expelled for expressing her views in private correspondence. this must sound draconian in the extreme. however, the regulations appear to enjoy the approval of the membership who support the parent non-profit organization through voluntary donations.
for the free spirits who prefer to play without rules, there are thousands of newsgroups in hundreds of categories serving every imaginable subject from alt.binaries to zoom.quake (the software required to access these sites-free agent and microsoft's outlook 5.0 among others-are shareware programs which can be downloaded at no charge). be forewarned, however:
un-moderated sites are frequently chaotic, disruptive, and/or downright repulsive. all but a handful are deserted archives frequented by outcasts and
spam artists. the wild frontier of the infant worldwide web is rapidly disappearing. flaming diatribe has given way to intelligent, meaningful discussion. for the most part it is welcomed.
my chief gripe with cnn.com, msnbc, and similar online media outlets is that they are rapidly becoming as fearful of offending the status quo as traditional print and broadcast sources. it took a matt drudge to unveil the clinton-lewinsky scandal. while a good case could be made for not airing such trash in public, the right of the public to get wind of potential corruption and abuse of authority is indisputably paramount. democracy functions best in an atmosphere of tolerance where there are minimum restrictions placed on the free exchange of information.
having been treated as a commodity in the labor market for more than 30 years, afraid to speak out lest i be terminated by my employer since i did not possess the means to do so effectively, i can readily testify that the internet and its interactive offshoots (e-mail, message boards, newsgroups, forums, etcetera) are effecting the liberation of the common man such as no amount of do-goodism and liberal sentiments could ever accomplish. for the price of a computer (much less than that of a model t in henry ford's heyday), anyone can put the pedal to the metal on the information superhighway, escaping the stultifying confines of modern existence, and be transported to a universe of the mind that knows no boundaries.
bash the military-industrial complex as one might - and, in truth, i have done my share-it should be remembered that the pentagon gave us the internet. not since the marshal plan has there been such an outbreak of altruism.
i invite you, the reader, to join me at
http://www.fdungan.com
and tell me what you think needs to be done to further ensure freedom of expression on the internet. you can save a 37 cent stamp by writing me at
fdungan@fdungan.com.
this article is an excerpt from chapter 16 of bushwhacked by fred dungan.
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