Only Americans Can Restore America’s Honor

Today we have the lateset essay from Peace Tree Contributing author, Ernest Partridge, Phd.

Only Americans Can Restore America's Honor

Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor
The Crisis Papers
January 30, 2007

The demons begged him, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.
And [Jesus] said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the swine; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and perished in the waters.
Matthew 8:31-32

In six short years, the Bush regime has transformed the United States from an exemplar of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, to a pariah and a threat to international law and order. A recent BBC poll of twenty-six countries has found that, by a plurality of 49 to 32 percent, the United States is believed to play a “mainly negative” role in the world. These scores report a continuing decline in international respect for the United States. As Dave Zweifel writes: “We no longer are viewed as a beacon of freedom for the world, but a nation to be vilified for its war-mongering, its torturing and its refusal to work with other countries.”

This transformation is due, in no small part, to the neo-conservative determination to have the United States impose a so-called “benevolent global hegemony” upon the world, and to the subsequent implementation of this objective in Iraq.

The neo-con “new world order” would be accomplished through the threat or use of the unrivaled military power of the one remaining super-power, the United States. This remarkable plan for a “Pax Americana” was no secret. It was, in fact, clearly articulated in 1997 by a policy group, the "Project for the New American Century” (PNAC). When first published, the PNAC “project” was merely a proposal. But with the appointment of George Bush to the presidency in 2001, the project was promoted to the status of United States policy, as most of the PNAC founders joined the Bush Administration. (For a history and analysis of PNAC, see Bernard Weiner: “Bush’s Grand Game: A ‘PNAC Primer’ Update.”).

The sub-text of the PNAC message to the world is, “we have the power to impose this hegemony, and you can like it or lump it. But no matter, you are helpless to stop us.”

The reaction of the international community and the capacities of that community indicate that this arrogant policy must fail, likely sooner than later. For, in fact, the rest of the world is not “helpless” to contain, and if necessary, overthrow “Pax Americana.” Because:

• The Iraq occupation is demonstrating (as did Viet Nam), that the US military, however equipt with “shock and awe” weaponry, can not defeat an insurgency supported, or even simply tolerated, by the population.

• The United States economy is hostage to its international debt. The US is, in effect, “owned” by its foreign creditors, primarily China and Japan. Should those creditors so decide, they can bring down the US economy by abandoning the dollar as international currency, and by unloading the US debt on the international market. They can also withdraw foreign capital from the US economy. As William Greider wisely observes, “any profligate debtor who insults his banker is unwise, to put it mildly.” While such retaliations would have serious impacts on the world economy, these would be infinitely less than a world war waged to overthrow the American Emporium.

• Similarly, the American economy is almost entirely dependent upon imported resources, especially oil. Less than half of the oil consumed by the US is from domestic sources. If an international embargo on oil imports were imposed upon the United States, the consequences would be catastrophic. Most notably, the production and distribution of food would be drastically curtailed. (See my The Oil Trap).

• The American industrial base and technological “know-how” that provided “the arsenal of democracy” in World War II, has been outsourced and exported, while federal support for basic scientific research is being curtailed. Accordingly, the US has sold-off its technological pre-eminence and its economic independence. Thus we might, for example, find ourselves in the absurd situation of aiming at China, deterrent ICBMs that contain microprocessors manufactured in China.

In short, if the United States chooses to force a “hegemony” upon the world, the world can defeat the US and destroy its economy without firing a shot. No matter that the US spends more on its military than the rest of the world combined. This only indicates that no coalition of nations can defeat the US in conventional war. It does not follow that no coalition of nations can defeat the US by other means. Clearly, if the international community finally runs out of patience with an arrogant American regime, it can put a decisive end to the American “global hegemony.” And that patience may soon be exhausted. An unprovoked attack upon Iran just might trigger that massive and effective non-military global response.

Accordingly, Caligula’s motto, Oderint dum metuant – “Let them hate us so long as they fear us” – does not apply to the American “hegemon.” While more and more of the world’s people are coming to hate us, they have no need to fear us.

So the PNAC “project” is fundamentally false: there can not be, and therefore will not be, an “American Century.” Even so, the attempt to implement this “American Century” has cost us the respect of the rest of the world.

Restoration of that respect must come from within. If we the American people and our political institutions -- the rule of law, congressional checks and balances, and the constitutionally enumerated rights -- cast out this evil and outlaw regime that has brought infamy upon our nation, the sins of the past six years will be upon the overthrown culprits, and credit will be due to the institutions and the people that threw them out. Like the devils that possessed the poor wretch brought before Jesus, the abuses and outrages that besmirch our international reputation can be attached to the culprits. And if they are exposed and cast out from our body politic, the world will be better prepared to accept the United States back into the international community.

A restoration of the international reputation of and respect for the United States must involve:

• Withdrawal, “with all deliberate speed,” from Iraq.
  

• Also all prisoners held at Guantanamo and other military prisons must either be brought to a speedy and fair trial, or released immediately with reparations.

• Immediate Congressional legislation restoring habeas corpus and the Constitutional rights violated by the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act, accompanied by the rescinding of those acts.

• Rigorous and uncompromising Congressional investigations and disclosure of the crimes of the Bush administration, followed by remedial legislation.

• Following this, the impeachment of Bush, Cheney, and culpable subordinate executive officials, followed by trial and conviction in the Senate.

• Acknowledgment that international treaties are enforceable laws of the United States (as stipulated in Article Six of the Constitution). Most urgently, this would include the Geneva Conventions (concerning torture) and the Nuremberg Accords (regarding war crimes).
  

And finally, there is the matter of election reform.

During the first Bush administration, one often heard from abroad, “we hate Bush, but not the American people.” Then came the 2004 election, whereupon the word from abroad was “how could the American people have re-elected this wretch and his criminal regime?”

The exculpatory answer might be: “well, the American people did not elect Bush and Cheney – not in 2000 and not in 2004.”

As I have argued repeatedly, there is abundant evidence that these presidential elections were stolen. I will not repeat that evidence here, except to note that the evidence continues to accumulate.

And yet both the mass media and, amazingly, the Democratic Party, refuse to take note, investigate, and report this evidence. It has been the task of the internet and independent citizens (too numerous to mention), to keep the issue alive.

And so they have. Thus a recent poll reports that less than half of the American public confidently believes that Bush won the 2004 election “fair and square,” and a third of the public is “not at all confident” that he did so.

If the electoral crimes of the past four national elections are exposed and the criminals are indicted, tried and convicted, this will probably be the result of state or local criminal investigations. But if and when this is accomplished, the onus of responsibility for the crimes and outrages of the Bush Administration will be further removed from the American people.

If we the people of the United States and our political institutions successfully remove the Bush Administration from power and remove Bush’s supporters from the Congress, the international community might regain its respect for those institutions and the American people.

However, that outcome depends upon the dedication and persistence of the Democratic Congress and its constituents. Early indications from the Congress are not encouraging, though it is too early to fairly evaluate that Congress or guess what might be ahead. Are the congressional Democrats intimidated or are they shrewd? Are they avoiding their responsibility to the Republic and its people, or are they waiting for the evidence to speak for them and against the Busheviks? In either case, the people should not passively await the answer. Instead they must put constant pressure on their legislators, and demand action: investigate, build a case, impeach, and convict.

The Bush/Cheney administration has done enormous damage to the reputation of the United States throughout the world. But the damage need not be permanent. Not if people and politicians of good will and loyalty to the United States and its principles and traditions act courageously, vigorously and persistently.

It will not do to stand on the sidelines and wait to see what happens. We the people of the United States must make things happen.

For only the Americans can restore America’s honor.

Copyright 2007, by Ernest Partridge

Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. He has taught Philosophy at the University of California, and in Utah,
Colorado and Wisconsin. He publishes the website, "The Online
Gadfly" and co-edits the progressive website, "The Crisis Papers". Read his book in progress, "Conscience of a Progressive."

_________________________________

Peace y'all

Tags: Ernest Partridge American Honor

Validate The Gentleman's Scorecard, Please

Most of you know that I LOVE poetry. Poetry is such a sublime way to reveal ourselves to each other. So, I really dig it...but not when it comes to the latest information on what my civil liberty donation to the "War on Terror" already is or will be very soon.

That is why I read blogs.

And why this post at Booman Tribune made me go for the blogrolling button.

Straight outta town, y'all.

Peace y'all

Tags: Media Neo Con Spin Potion Number 9

White Light of Peace

Greetings All,

Today I welcome the newest member of The Peace Tree authors community, Kristen Boyesen.

Kristen is also a very gifted artist and I highly encourage you to visit her blogs listed at the end of this post. Aside from creating extraordinary paintings of the natural world, Kristen also teaches art classes and has developed a unique art centered program called Imagination Arts for the corporate world, groups and individuals that fosters inner peace and creativity.

White Light of Peace

It is up to us. Individuals do have a voice. It is the inner voice of the spirit. When we think and feel loving peaceful thoughts, we send loving peaceful thoughts to those around us, and they can feel it too.

This is how the world will become a better place.

The essential spiritual core of all religions is love. All the rest is edifice created by humans in the guise of holiness.

Heal your own inner doubts, fears, prejudices, angers, resentments.
Let them go, then feel the Love.

We are all connected. We can share the love with those next to us, and those far away, just by feeling it, then imagining the love as the White Light of Peace surrounding specific people, areas of world unrest, and the entire planet.

Send this Light for the Highest Good by your thoughts and good intentions.
The world will feel it, and universal peace will increase, one Light Prayer at a time.

TWO WEEKS LATER …

When I started this blog it was because I have a lot to say that I wanted to share, and because I love to write. I also have a lot of empathy for things out of their natural balance, and wanted to do something to try to bring them back to a place of rest, a place of peace. Sometimes I will be posting beautiful photos and writing soothing words to bring calm to the unsettled spirit.

But I keep running into articles that show how the world is out of balance. Others tell of efforts made by individuals, groups, municipalities, corporations, and governments to bring balance. The articles I post are to show the struggles, to bring forth the truths, and to open the possibility that we, as individuals, can change to a more peaceful way of living by our everyday choices.

I was in the car with a friend recently who gave me a running commentary about his driving, and why he was doing what he was doing. He had, he thought, valid reasons for not using his turn signals or for getting angry when someone cut him off. All I could see was the tension he was creating and holding in his body.

And, he is a health nut, purchasing organic food and taking herbal supplements and exercising. He was negating it all by creating negative energy within himself.

"We are all in this together", I said. "Driving on the freeway is an act of sheer trust. If you enter in a fighting mood, you will get a fight. Enter instead with the notion that you will be working together with everyone on the road to ensure that you all arrive safely at your destinations. Think of everyone on the road as part of your family.

Everyone knows there are always family members who are a bit rowdy or inconsiderate or self-centered. When these folks are encountered, give them blessings for a safe journey, rather than wrath. They will help protect everyone around them, including yourself, if you bless them rather than curse them. Use your signals before all moves, so that all members of your family (of the moment) can work together to share the road space.

Everyday choices, coming from within, to walk the path of peace. There are so many ways!

Inner Peace Brings World Peace

Visit Kristen at her blogs and art sites:
Art Experiences
Imagination Arts
Draw and Paint
Wilderness Art
White Light of Peace
Kristen S. Boyesen Gallery

It's Time For Political Science To Live Up To Its Name

Today we have a piece from Peace Tree contributing author, W. Christopher Epler, Phd.
I am also proud to announce that all Peace Tree readers are invited over to Bill's new blog.
The Liberation of Realism. Check out his extensive body of work.
Catch his weekly column every Saturday over at Progressive Daily Beacon.

It's Time For Political Science To Live Up To Its Name

Science is a subject which deserves our limitless respect. It's probably the closest thing to a fully functioning intellectual Democracy our species will ever achieve. It has been steadily climbing out of the social ooze for the last two millennia (at least).

To be a dingbat about science in the 21st Century is criminally foolish. It's also suicidal, since arguably ONLY science has the capacity, organization, and raw intelligence to save our desperately endangered human race.

Science has become the rationality supertanker of civilization. From galaxies to quarks, DNA to evolution, paleontology to embryonic stem cell research, the world of science continues to expand exponentially.

Pretty much any nut it puts its disciplined, international mind to, gets cracked.

OK, enough accolades. Now to the irresponsibilitys of science.

A traditional distinction exists between pure and applied science, something like the literary distinction between syntax and poetry. Pure science revels in abstraction and theory. And Godspeed to such research as the spin-off is as unpredictable as it can be life saving. However, the time has come for science to not only push the envelope, but to break out of the envelope which insulates it from the "real world" of mortally threatened humanity.

This superstructure has to spend less time in deep space and academic hide outs and come back to here and now, life and death human necessities, because our species clearly needs all the help it can get to avoid extinction. Interestingly and ironically, the dangers are less biological or random, than they are financial, religious, and political.

So, scientists, stay in your humanity-transcending towers if you wish, but be warned, here on the ground is a horizon to horizon conflagration.

So may we tell you what's really going on down here?

The first and most lethal fact is that the Earth (with very minor exceptions) is a planet wide Dictatorship of the Rich. This is the number one critical variable of our species! Less than one percent of the population is now and always has been controlling effectively all of the planetary wealth. This is nothing to debate or argue about. Not to see this lose/lose reality is not to see the sun.

Another survival critical variable is that billions of humans are mentally ill religious fanatics. These are the people who never quite evolved out of primate-hood, and over the millennia they have been the crushing dead weight of civilization. They worship gods of fear and unhesitatingly murder the children of their neighbors if they think it will assuage their pitiful fear of life (or death). For them, this planet is merely a motel on which to work out their salvation/damnation sitcoms.

Typically, religious fanatics see themselves as the elect, the Ubermench, and the "chosen" and their horrific righteousness justifies in their minds (or lack thereof) literal genocide -- always, of course, in the name of their variable and hate mongering gods.

A third (and interrelated) cancer of human civilization is political fascism. Fascism has many faces, but its essence is institutionalized violence and greed. Might makes right is its war cry and fascists are the mortal enemys of cultural change. But since the very soul of human existence IS change, fascism has always been an engine of death, forever trampling creativity, intelligence, and freedom.

Obviously, even more correlated variables could be treated, but these three (i.e., the vampire rich, religious fanatics, and Nazi-like fascists) are more than sufficient to destroy not only the human species, but also much of the biosphere of the Earth.

So, scientific ivory tower folk, are you hearing this? You better be, because it's only a matter of time before your towers crumble along with the going-down-for-the-third-time human adventure.

In short, HUMANITY NEEDS YOUR HELP. Specifically, the year 2000 criminally stolen Presidential election (i.e., the Bush/Republican coup d'etat) was a veritable heart attack or stroke for Mother Nature and our Constitutional Republic. It totally opened America's Pandora's Box, and out poured vile clouds of greed vampires, murderously righteous (and brain dead) religious fanatics, and Republican style neo-Nazi fascists.

It should be added that 2000 was also the year George Bush sold Americas soul to the neocon lobby (but lobbying for what country?). From the moment Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and company took possession of our foreign policy, America became a tail wagged by a dog whose core agendas have nothing to do with the well being and national security of the United States of America.

In short, that year was a "tipping point", not only for the American Dream, but also for world wide civilization, and the infinitely vulnerable, interlocking infrastructure of Mother Nature.

To cut to the chase with this, the Bush/Republicans "revolution" has moved our country and planet about five standard deviations away from survival homeostasis. Even Hitler and Stalin were less dangerous than George Bush (and the scientifically illiterate Bush Royal Family), because they didn't have the power, perhaps not even the will, to kill the planet.

Bush, however, DOES have this power and is wielding it like a madman. Life and death windows of opportunity are slamming shut as we speak to work with, not insanely against, the checks and balances necessary for the existence of, say, mammal life forms on this planet.

Make no mistake, we are going the way of the dinosaurs, and FAST! But not because of random meteors (if that theory is correct), but because a pinhead president with an Armageddon death wish (even Hitler and Stalin didn't have that), is DOING EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER to kill the Earth.

But why? Who knows. Maybe he's got a 73 IQ (or less) and he wants to be "lifted up" into a designer, religioso Disney Land. And of course, his psychosis is supported (alas) by millions of equally duh-brained Christian fundamentalists.

Of course the fascists, as usual, are playing everyone against the middle, since their god is less fear, than corporate greed and sadistic power.

OK, time for bottom line talk.

Science is probably the ONLY thing which can actually stop this juggernaut of greed, psychosis, and murder. Let's face it, politics typically simply reshuffles the deck, plus there's just as many Democratic multimillionaires and billionaires as there are Republican multimillionaires and billionaires -- and a plague on ALL their houses!

So what can science do? You tell me. You tell us. The main thing is to get off you academic butts, and help us to save America, Civilization, and the Earth.

But what about your research, blah, blah, blah? Hey, no one's going to give a rat's ass about your "research" when the climate goes even more ballistic than it already has, or when the world's port cities get submerged by rising oceans, or when we have to wear breathing masks every time we go outside. And not to forget the ever widening ozone holes which freely admit cancerous radiation, and the diseased and hormone contaminated meat we routinely eat because our monitoring agencies have been under funded out of existence, and, and, and, and, and, . . .

So, sorry to interfere with your ivory tower monographs, but WE NEED SOME HELP DOWN HERE and it's life and death time for the scientific supertanker to apply its awesome technologies and brains to the horrific after effects of the year 2000 Bush/Republican presidential desecration..

Hint, candy ass committee reports ain't going to cut it. This needs to be approached like the first moon shot or (to use a sad example) the first atomic bomb. In short, the commitment must be equal to the size of the danger. And that means, humanity is fighting for its life against religious crazies, Greek God like elites, and out-of-the-closet Republican neo-Nazis (and un-American neocons).

And you know what, we're losing.

England rose to the challenge of the Third Reich in WW2; now we have a different Heart of Darkness, but we absolutely can't beat it back without the passionate help of the scientific community.

Make no mistake; the Bush/Republican coup d'etat is the worst survival threat to human existence in recorded history.

W. Christopher Epler (Bill)

_____________________________

Peace Y'all

Tags: Political Science

I Was Wondering The Same Thing, Ed.

For everyone who hears “Sen. Edward Kennedy” and goes straight to drunk/Chappaquiddick I am not arguing those points. He may very well be guilty of both. Just don’t let it blind you to the relevance of the questions he is asking below:

Senator Edward Kennedy, on the senate floor, debating the opposition on raising the minimum wage:

"Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"

Hmmmm.....My guess is because they won’t shut the hell up and obey their Masters.

How annoying that must be for the Masters of the Universe not to mention the difficulties that creates in protecting their zombie followers from such ungodly and unpatriotic influences.

Go Ed!

Let's have a martini sometime. I bet you've got some great stories.

Peace Y'all

Tags: Edward Kennedy Minimum Wage

And Now...Back To My Other Reality

Greetings All,

I am having a bit of a slow writing week. A little time off for just taking it all in. As I was enjoying my favorite watering holes of reason and sanity tonight I came across this piece from Greg Palast. One can certainly count on Greg to snap that head around to what its all about.

I won't post up the whole article but jut a tid-bit...
made me say "damn...I knew Bush was reptillian."

Off the Rails: Big Oil, Big Brother Win Big in the State of the Union
by Greg Palast

There was that tongue again. When the President lies he's got this weird nervous tick: He sticks the tip of his tongue out between his lips. Like a little boy who knows he's fibbing. Like a snake licking a rat.

In his State of the Union tonight the President did his tongue thing 124 times - my kids kept count.

But it wasn't all rat-licking lies.

Go Read It!

Peace y'all

Tags: Bush As Reptile

My Latest Discovery

Greetings All,

Even though it marches on, nothing today on the latest feast upon democracy.

The day, for me, has been about peace and the beauty and wonder of the Human Spirit's ability to heal itself and the planet.

Yep...today was about just sitting back and enjoying being able to feel it all happening, for just a while.

So, as I was not thinking about what to blog today...I was surfing some blogs and I came across this Gem.

Tales From A Muse

Give her look...Living in a Material World is a real fine read.

Peace y'all

Tags: Peace Harmony Healing Feeling

Sheeple Awaken

Ok…was it just me or did anyone else out there in Liberal blogosphere land notice a big jump in visits today from search keywords like:

The Constitution
Civil Rights
Human Rights
Illegal Surveillance
Progressive Values
Liberal websites
No Habeas Corpus
And oh yes….last and possibly least….

Alberto Gonzales

and yes, he really said it.

I don’t know if any of you guys do this or not but….I pay pretty close attention to my visitors choice of keywords because if you watch it long enough you begin to see a pattern emerge that correlates directly with the latest shenanigans of the Bush Administration.

I can say with certainty that I have seen a steady…slow…yes, but definite increase of people from all over the world who are beginning to take a little notice about what is happening to our Constitutional Republic. Others can’t help but notice…their lives have been utterly devastated by the only country righteous enough to hold a pre-emptive war special exception status.

So, yeah…the progressive keywords are popping up more and more…and from all over the world. Guess if you are not American (and are we not just a little too close to “if you are not American you are a terrorist?) you damn sure want to be knowing as much as you can about what the hell is coming next.

Every time the Administration smacks the people of this nation upside the head with its fascist policies…aka The War on Terror, a few more feel it…a few more snap into consciousness and then…..drum roll, please…….

They See It.

They already know they can’t count on the MSM to shoot it straight. Hey, bought and paid for is bought and paid for.

Yes, I am jaded about the MSM…but I gave them the benefit of the doubt…until they used it all up.

People are coming to the progressive internet to find out our view of this brave new world because they are not going to hear it on Fox….ever. What they are hearing on Fox is alarming them….finally….but much better late than never for sure.

So, to all of you who are using your first progressive keyword welcome to our world, a place where peace is actually possible.

And to all the seasoned veterans of the peace and justice movement who are out there right now networking, building coalitions, organizing campaigns and facilitating the means of legal protest for hundreds of thousands of people who believe that strongly their government is not acting in the best interest of We The People,

I love you all.

Peace y’all
Dissent is not terrorism
Its Democracy.

Tags: Progressive Values Search Keywords Alberto Gonzales Bush

Dysfunctional marriage; dysfunctional country. Similarities?

Today we have a post from Peace Tree author, W. Christopher Epler, Phd.

Dysfunctional marriage; dysfunctional country. Similarities?

Perhaps if we reason by analogy, we can shed some light into our profoundly dysfunctional country.

Most of us know quantities more than we ever wanted to know about a dysfunctional marriage, so let's see if we can extrapolate from these wounding experiences to our now desperately wounded Constitutional Republic.

If you yourself are now buried in just such a marriage, why don't you fix it? Just get a divorce or mutually commit to vulnerable soul searching, Or whatever. The point is, why do resign yourself to marital hell? Why don't you leave? Or more conclusively, why don't you CHANGE things?

Ah, that's the rub, isn't it, the "change" word.

An insightful psychologist once came up what he called the "paradoxical theory of change", which is that acceptance doesn't come from change, but change comes from acceptance. Said differently, acceptance isn't the "reward" of change but the MEANS TO change.

But "acceptance" as in what? How can you accept what seems to be killing you?

The point is acceptance is not being used as a synonym of resignation -- rather it has the sense of beginning where you are and/or "seeing things" like they are.

Which is exactly what we DON'T do in a dysfunctional marriage. Sure, we can be miserable as hell, but we never DEAL WITH the "core issues". Rather, we keep dancing around, over, and under the interpersonal mess. In short, we live in the Kingdom of Denial -- which is where most (all?) of our friends live too, so we've got lots of validating company.

Thus, the "institution of marriage" generally turns out to be our number one social scam for NOT dealing with the core interpersonal challenges of life.

Well, extrapolating here is cake, because we certainly also have "core issues" as a country that we are not now, and never have been, fundamentally dealing with. And BECAUSE these matters are avoided, our country is in danger of dying from what is quite literally a neo-Nazi Bush/Republican infection.

Top of the list! The United States of America is now and always has been a Dictatorship of the Rich. The less then 1% has always had all the rest of us cleaning their commodes, paying their taxes, and even willingly sacrificing our children to sate the appetites of greed vampires like the Bush Royal Family (alias, the Saudi Royal Family). By now, even barnyard animals know the Bush Iraq war is all about oil -- as most of us secretly knew from the beginning (but lived in denial land about it).

Religious fanatics are nuts. Period. And once again, most of us have always known this, but denial is so seductive! Look, how sane can you be if you honestly expect the Baptist Big Bang (Armageddon) to go off in the next week or two? You know what? I bet you'd never find a single porpoise who believes that, and their brains are bigger than ours.

The neocon lobby (i.e., the dog which is still wagging the tail of American foreign policy) self evidently has un-American agendas. Thus the REAL turning point in recent American history was less 9/11, than when George Bush sold his soul to Paul Wolfowitz and company. The denial here is twofold. First, the suicidal transfer of foreign policy power to the neocon lobby, and second is our unwillingness to take a long, hard look at these specific individuals and determine their common agenda. They absolutely don't represent the wishes, well being, and national security of the United States of America, as the last few years of failure, tragedy, and virtual genocide conclusively shows. So the question of questions here is for whom does the neocon lobby lobby? A question which never quite gets out of denial land.

Enough already, right? This stuff is very depressing, but in your heart of hearts don't you agree that these are just the forces and facts which define who we are as a country? God in heaven, so long as greed vampire elites keep draining the blood of America, what chance do we have as a people?

And so long at certifiably insane religious fanatics are taken more seriously than dogs and cats, they will keep fouling our governmental nest with Duh, Duh, and more Duh.

And so long as the treacherously (treasonously?) un-American neocon lobby keeps dictating policies which are bankrupting our country, killing our children (count to 3,000 slowly -- it will break your heart), and raping Mother Nature, we are inevitably doomed.

But you know, not all marriages are dysfunctional. The good ones often have their bloody patches, but they WORK THEM THROUGH and now they're holding hands, taking vacations, and loving each other (emotionally and otherwise).

So, clearly television isn't the answer, or booze . . . or changing the subject.

Our trump card is that realism liberates creativity and energy, so the more we see things "like they are, the more action will be ignited. Change comes from awareness -- as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.

And to borrow another psychological/existential image, "hitting bottom" ain't so bad since that's where all the bounce is!

W. Christopher Epler (Bill)

______________________

By the way, y'all check out this story over at Liberal Catnip.

Nice one, Bill

Peace y'all

Tags: Dysfunctional Marriage

Sunday Poetry Series: Soul Remains

The selection today comes from Peace Tree Poets Society member, Tina Louise.

Tina Louise on Soul Remains:
Just thinking about the sometimes ugliness of being flesh at the end of a beautiful soul - beingthe bit that has to hurt and feel everything in order to learn and get the most out of this lifetime. Such sadness and yet such rewards too - life confuses me always.

Soul Remains

This mess of bedraggled flesh
Dangling at the end of soul
Uncaressed cold

This cache of lives amassed
Serving time in realm of time
Detached unrhymed

This outcrop outgrowth overload
Birthed burned churned by the living
Exposed tripping

This bloodied bodied vessel
Experiencing tingling filling
Tangible willing

This spined nerve twined tangle
Senses speculates schemes
Mangled dreams

This seeing hearing being
Rises falls walks crawls goes stays
Sheering days

This weeping leaking orifice
Drips slips glides the slide of life
Lives dies

This joy and sadness of life
This debit and credit of time
This puppet of soul that we are
This music this dance this art

Of living

Visit Tina Louise at her home blog.

__________________________________

Peace y'all

Tags: Sunday Poetry Series Tina Louise

The Peoples Top Attorney Says Americans Have No Constitutional Right To Habeas Corpus

Alberto Gonzales' coming out party...out of the fascist closet that is.

The Peoples Top Attorney Says Americans Have No Constitutional Right To Habeas Corpus

Congressional Hearings:

Alberto Gonzales: "There is no expressed grant of habeas in the Constitution; there's a prohibition against taking it away".

Arlon Spector: "Wait a minute, the Constitution says you can't take it away except in case of rebellion or invasion. Doesn't that mean you have the right of habeas corpus unless there's a rebellion or invasion?"

Alberto Gonzales: "The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn't say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended" except in cases of rebellion or invasion.

Arlon Spector: "You may be treading on your interdiction of violating common sense".

Me: That is so fucked up, Mr. Gonzales.

Now…I ask you, right wing conservatives, still think it’s the lefties who are crazy? If you do, you do not deserve this country or the constitution that protects you from people like this.

People, it is way past time to get these fascists out of power.

Peace y'all

Tags: Alberto Gonzales Attorney General

March on Washington January 27th

Greetings All,

I want to pass along some information on how you can get involved in the march on Washington coming up on January 27th.

DC Poets against the war sent me this e-mail regarding their plans. Please contact them via the links below if you would like to join them in Washington.

Dear Friends:

March with the poets to call for an end to the war in Iraq! We'll be carrying lines of poetry on signs through the streets of Washington. Join us! Details and contact information below.

On Saturday, January 27, DC Poets Against the War will host a poets contingent at the United for Peace and Justice protest. We'll be gathering on Satuday, January 27th at 10:30 am at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC (U Street/Cardozo on the Green Line), and heading via metro together to the protest at around 11 am. We'll have plenty of signs, or bring your own if you feel inspired.

That evening, January 27th, from 7-9 pm DC Poets Against the War will host a reading in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets with poets Reginald Dwayne Betts, Sarah Browning, Esther Iverem, Christi Kramer, Mike Maggio, and more. Join poets from across the country who are speaking out on this day of protest. Please let us know if we can add you to the list of readers! Please contact melissa.dcpaw@gmail.com

Lobby to end the war! Consider staying over to Monday, January 29, for United for Peace & Justice's Congressional Advocacy Day. Find out more and register here: United for Peace and Justice.

We're still collecting favorite lines of poetry for signs. Please send any suggestions you have for signs to melissa.dcpaw@gmail.com.

Here's a sampling so far:

"America: Let's exchange gifts…
give us Walt Whitman's beard filled with butterflies.
Take Saddam Hussein
and give us Abraham Lincoln
or give us no one. "
Saadi Youssef, Iraqi poet

"all born in the shadow of bombs/ Shall become bombs"
Rashid Husain

"Friend, the night has slain the moon./ In the mirror of my face you can find no shelter/ only my country's disfigured face."
Fadwa Tuqan, Palestinian Poet

"for the poor die twice, defending two countries:/ poverty and their master's land"
Mamdouh Udwan, Syrian Poet

"beloved stranger! Why did my country become a gateway to hell?"
Fadwa Tuqan

"My son smells of peace when I lean over him./ It isn't just the soap./Everybody was once the child with the smell of peace."
Yehuda Amichai, Israeli Poet

"The voice of passion is better than the voice of reason./ The passionless can not change history." Czeslaw Milosz

Hope to see you soon!

Melissa Tuckey
Events Coordinator

DC Poets Against the War

melissa.dcpaw@gmail.com

_______________________________

Peace y'all

Tags: March On Washington Poets Against The War

Mainstream Media to Bloggers: Bug Off

Today we have the latest essay from Peace Tree contributing author, Dr. Ernest Partridge.

Mainstream Media to Bloggers: Bug Off
Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor
The Crisis Papers
January 16, 2007

The internet has the mainstream journalists worried, and for good reason.

As the establishment sees it, millions of pajama clad amateurs are sitting at home pounding their keyboards and then uploading their uninformed, unedited and unrefined streams of consciousness, while print media circulation and TV News ratings continue to fall.

Accordingly, NBC’s Brian Williams laments that as the public abandons the mainstream media, the nation will "miss the next great book or the next great idea, or that we will fail to meet the next great challenge... because we are too busy celebrating ourselves."

Despite the internet’s manifest shortcomings, the Pew Research Center reports that in November, 2004, 29% of the adult population was getting its news from the internet.

The mainstream pros and pundits take a dim view of the internet. On ABC’s “This Week,” George Will opined: "It’s about narcissism. So much of what is done on the web is people getting on there and writing their diaries as though everyone ought to care about everyone’s inner turmoils. I mean, it’s extraordinary.” (December 12, 2006).

And CBS alumnus Eric Engberg reflects:
... unlike journalists, some blog operators who are quick to trash the MSM not only don’t care about the veracity of the stories they are spreading, they do not understand when there is a live hand grenade on their keyboard. They appear not to care. Their concern is for controversy and "hits."
... [G]iven their lack of expertise, standards and, yes, humility, the chances of the bloggers replacing mainstream journalism are about as good as the parasite replacing the dog it fastens on.

And yet, if Pew Research and other opinion polls are to be believed, the internet is doing just that: replacing mainstream journalism.

But while the mainstream media is quick to blame the internet and the public for its declining relevance, it has scarcely a word to say about the primary cause of its troubles: namely, the mainstream media. The MSM is being undone by the convergence of three factors: people have memories, the advent of Google, and the permanence of the printed word.

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. (Omar Khayyam).

Thus the MSM today stands condemned by its own record: by crucially important news untold, and by lies and misinformation told. Untold: the full extent of the Iran-Contra scandal, George Bush’s earlier drug addiction and his “early departure” from his Air National Guard obligation, the failure of UN inspectors to find WMDs in pre-war Iraq, electronic voting irregularities and fraud in the last four national elections. Lies and misinformation told: Bill Clinton’s alleged (and eventually unfounded) misdeeds in the Whitewater affair, “travelgate,” “filegate,” etc., Al Gore’s claim to have “invented the internet,” Judith Miller’s New York Times reports on Saddam’s alleged WMD’s, the Swift-Boat smear of John Kerry.

The internet is a spontaneous public response to these failures.

It was different fifty years ago, in the days of Edward R. Murrow, Howard K. Smith and Eric Sevaried, and as recently as thirty years ago, when The Washington Post was managed by Ben Bradlee and owned by Katherine Graham, who allowed two young reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, to investigate unhindered, come hell or high Watergate. Back then there were standards: independence, objectivity, investigation and research, confirmation of sources, unhindered presentation of authenticated facts.

The movie, “Good Night and Good Luck” accurately portrays the “wall of non-interference” between the CBS Network’s News and Public Affairs Division, and the remaining operations of that commercial enterprise. That “wall” was likewise in effect in the other networks, ABC and NBC. All three networks accepted the considerable financial losses incurred by News and Public Affairs, in recognition of the fact that they were using the public airwaves and that they were required, by the Federal Communications Act, to operate in "the public interest, convenience, or necessity."

All that is gone now, replaced by the Milton Friedman rule: “the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits” (NYT, September 13, 1970). Shoved into the marketplace, TV News has morphed into “info-tainment.,” and commenced a race to the bottom – a race which, lamentably, is still in “progress.” And the print media follows, as more and more independent publications are absorbed into fewer and fewer giant media conglomerates.

In this vast wasteland of trivia and distraction, a few admirable remnants of responsible journalism are tolerated: Charlie Savage in Boston, Paul Krugman, Bob Herbert and Frank Rich at the New York Times, Dan Froomkin and E. J. Dionne at the Washington Post, columnists Molly Ivins and Helen Thomas, and virtually alone on Cable TV News, the courageous and uncompromised voice of Keith Olbermann. But these are the exceptions, and they are in constant peril, as Phil Donahue and Dan Rather can testify.

Into the depopulated media niche that was formerly comprised of independent and “reality-oriented” journalists, has come the internet, presenting news and offering opinion that is rarely found in the mainstream media. And admittedly, this news and opinion is accompanied by the undisciplined outpouring from the hordes of narcissistic, ill-informed, naively opinionated amateurs that annoy the likes of George Will. The emergence of this new media is timely, significant and also perhaps inevitable and irrepressible.

It has happened many times before. When established media becomes the obedient servant of the governing elites and diverse and dissenting opinion is withheld from the public, new media emerge, often in the “underground” and often brutally suppressed by the government. In the American Revolution, there were the “Committees of Correspondence.” In the pre-Glasnost Soviet Union, print media were smuggled in and broadcasts were beamed in from the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. Within the Soviet Union, “Samizdat” emerged: the production and circulation of laboriously typed manuscripts, at great personal risk to those who wrote, duplicated and distributed these works. (See my “The American Samizdat” ). During the reign of the Shah, Iranian dissidents duplicated and distributed audiotapes, and the protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989 communicated with “the outside world” through FAXes and the nascent internet.

The complaint of establishment journalists that the internet is composed overwhelmingly of worthless junk is difficult to respond to, for the plain and simple reason that it is true. But it is an irrelevant truth. There are gems amongst the garbage – the “blogorrhea” as John McQuaid aptly calls it. He writes: “if there are [as reported, almost] 100 million blogs, if only 1 percent of them don’t suck, and 1 percent of those are excellent, and 1 percent of those are works of true, George Will-approved genius, that’s 100 “genius” blogs. There’s got to be a Paine or a Franklin in there somewhere.”

And that one percent of one percent (10,000) of “excellent” websites contain a wealth of news and opinion, not to be found in the mainstream media.

• Selections from the free and independent foreign press: Le Monde from France, The Guardian in England, The Globe and Mail in Toronto, Canada, just to name a few.

• Selections from the remnant liberal and progressive publications.

• Reports from self-exiled professional journalists who choose to work outside the establishment, such as Greg Palast, Robert Parry, Josh Marshall, and Chris Floyd.

• Informed opinion from former government officials, such as Paul Craig Roberts, Brent Budowsky, John Dean, Elizabeth de la Vega, Karen Kwiatkowsky and Ray McGovern.

• Analyses by seasoned academics such as Robert Jensen, Gary Leupp, George Lakoff, Juan Cole, and Noam Chomsky.

I could name hundreds more, equally worthy of mention. But these are a few names that come immediately to mind.

Back in the days when the mainstream media was, to some degree, responsible and reliable, the “filtering” of incoming material was performed by editors and reviewers. (A task that I have performed hundreds of times in my academic career, rejecting a vast majority of manuscripts sent to me for review).

Given the overwhelming glut of unedited and unreviewed words spewed out in the internet, each individual reader must now become his and her personal “editor.” Here are some guidelines for internet users who must rake through all the “blogorrhea” to find the gems therein.

• Check out the foreign press websites, and also the many websites that select items from the foreign press. In addition, visit the websites of print publications that you have learned to trust. (E.g., The New Yorker, The Nation, The New York Review, etc.)

• Check the qualifications of the writers. But be open to the possibility that some “amateur” might have something to say. Remember that Tom Paine’s profession was a corset-maker. And Gore Vidal is a college drop-out.

• Study the art and science of critical thinking, and thus acquire a functioning “BS Detector.” Acquaint yourself with common fallacies and propaganda techniques. For many years, I have assigned, and highly recommend, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric by Howard Kahane, (Wadsworth). There are numerous other excellent texts, which you can find at your local college bookstore. Critical thinking websites are listed here.

• Use your memory, or failing that, use Google to search out the past record of the mainstream media, its reporters and its commentators. For example, read the unanimous MSM praise of Colin Powell’s eventually discredited February 2003 speech to the Security Council.

• Applying these skills, find out which writers are worth reading, and which are not.
  

Finally, do not lament the plight of the mainstream media – the declining circulations and ratings. Instead, accelerate the process. Boycott the sponsors of the info-tainment, and encourage others to do so. The mainstream media are, fundamentally, businesses with responsibilities to their stockholders. Facing serious economic losses, at least some of the MSM might at last get the message from the public and decide to practice authentic journalism again.

In the meantime, support your favorite websites. Many rely entirely on user donations.

Copyright 2007, by Ernest Partridge

Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. He has taught Philosophy at the University of California, and in Utah,
Colorado and Wisconsin. He publishes the website, "The Online
Gadfly" and co-edits the progressive website, "The Crisis Papers". Preview his book in progress, "Conscience of a Progressive".

____________________________

Peace y'all

Tags: Journalism Bloggers Main Stream Media