When truth validates critical thinking

Critically speaking, American democracy is an unhurried process. Consequently, its sluggish nature creates a decisional stop-gap measure. Thus, it is a mechanism which decreases the likelihood of demagogues and fascist tendencies. For if democracy moved by the force of pure public will, which is fickle, or changed with the assertions of a chosen few then catastrophic events will occur. For example, war will be granted easily, rights will evaporate and the peoples sharing of sovereign power will erode. Democracy, as Aristotle pronounces, is the closest to tyranny. In effect, it is the most fragile of all governments, easily manipulated and cajoled.

We are now witness to this bastardization. An open and forthright speech by (ret.) Col.
Lawrence Wilkerson at the New America Foundation brought all of Aristotle’s forethought to bear. As Wilkerson notes, ''…the case that I saw for four-plus years,'' he said, ''was a case that I have never seen in my studies of aberrations, bastardisations, and perturbations in the national-security (policy-making) process'' Wilkerson was witness to the birth of a “cabal’ or more simply put the creation of a two headed demagogue: Richard Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Both circumvented the policy making apparatus of the State Department and forged an alliance absent of the president. Why was the president involved? Wilkerson explains, ''You’ve got this collegiality there between the secretary of defence and the vice president,'' …''And then you’ve got a president who is not versed in international relations -- and not too much interested in them either. And so it’s not too difficult to make decisions in this, what I call the Oval Office Cabal, and decisions often that are the opposite of what you thought were made in the formal (decision-making) process.'' (bold and italics added)

Thus, democracy has been stabbed in the back and propped up by Cheney and Rumsfeld. The fear mongering, tactics of war, torture and illegal policy dealings were present from the creation. After 9/11 as Wilkerson explains, ''I think (Cheney) saw 9/11 and the potential for another 9/11 with nuclear weapons and suddenly became so fixated on that problem that it skewed his approach.'' Closed mindedness and power leads to ineffective and disastrous decisions. Thus, we have Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

I understand that this view point is one official; however this official, who has had a close working relationship with Sec. Powell for over 16 years, is just one of many. Remember Richard Clarke and Paul O’Neill they were the first to empty their conscious for the world and the American people. Will anyone listen now; will anyone want to know the truth? I weep for the generations to come, for they will carry the burden of truth which we have ignored.

Governor Richardson (D) and North Korea: A Democratic Primary Preview

What do a popular governor, a despotic regime; nuclear weapons and Donald Rumsfeld have in common? The answer is credibility, in an area where each needs to gain ground, namely foreign relations. Current and popular Governor Bill Richardson is taking a much needed break from the inclement weather of New Mexico to fly over 4000 miles to Pyongyang. Why? In Richardson’s words, “We’re going to focus on two important areas: one is verification, the second is what steps are the North Koreans taking to dismantle their nuclear weapons — concrete steps,” Richardson told AP. And what legitimate power of enforcement does this US governor have over a sovereign nation?

None, unless we factor in the foreign policy debate between Richardson, Biden and Clinton during the 2008 primary season. This exercise in diplomacy is a clear feather in Richardson’s cap. He must come to the label with some, albeit frivolous experience in foreign affairs. Apparently his political advisor has honed in on the nuclear threat as the issue which Democrats will be debating. Consequently, Richardson must come to the table with experience. In effect, he must be the only one to have gone to North Korea and demanded “concrete steps” from Kim Jong Il.

The foreign policy debate will revolve around nuclear weapons, and terrorism. Terrorism will be left on the back burner by Democrats. Why? Because it is an issue which is intimately connected to Bush and all things Bush are bad. Thus, voters must not equate Democrats with Bush. Terrorism will be put in the same light as FEMA; speeches will resonate and déclassé tones of “we can do better” and “this will never happen again”. Real solutions will not be blueprinted and real changes can not be announced for fear of losing any ‘swing’ votes. Unfortunately, Democrats as well as Republicans are absent of true answers. No answers or solutions about poverty, education, a bloated and festering defense budget and debt. More smoke and mirrors are on the horizon and Gov. Richardson is ahead of the pack clearing his political reflection of any blemish.

China by the Numbers:

Consumption

China - growing at nearly 10% a year - already consumes more grain, meat, coal and steel than the United States

Wealth

China's population will grow from 1.3 billion to 1.45 billion in 26 years - when per capita income will be equal to that of the US today

Oil

On current trends, China will by 2031 be consuming 99 million barrels of oil per day. Total world production today is only 84 million bpd

Forestry

China is already the biggest driver of rainforest destruction, says Greenpeace. Half of all rainforest logs head for China

Global warming

By 2025, China will overtake the US as the top emitter of the greenhouse gases causing global warming

Cars

By 2031, China would have 1.1 billion cars if it matches current US trends - bigger than the current world fleet of 800 million

Sleep tight.

Civil Society: The Factory for Democratic Legitimacy

In Iraq, during the post referendum phase, the ground is still drenched with blood, terror, war and insurgency blossoms. The people, who did not vote, as a protest, were counted out. Not to participate was their choice; however these sectarian groups have begun the seeds of discontent in a time of great uncertainty. Iraq is so far from a democracy that it is tittering on civil war and some experts (they live in Iraq- see Yanar Mohammed) have stated that civil war is already erupting in many regions. The basis for this infighting is the constitution, occupation and dire conditions of the country. The constitution is based on Islamic law and many groups including half the population (women) will be viewed as second class citizens. The law will subjugate and demoralize women and other sects.

What is missing is civil society. Civil society, among other things, is a grassroots network of people who fuel the legitimacy of democracy within the country. It is the coffee shop talk and the blogs of Iraq. It is the social club participation and the invitation to an award banquet. It is open door meetings of community leaders and open air forums for improved education. It is the invisible backbone of a thriving and legitimate democracy. Regrettably, it is completely absent in Iraq. The paper democracy of Iraq will burn like any other make-shift structure. This half measure will only secure the need for more violence and retribution between groups. The nature of the US backed constitution limits liberal discussion and further down plays the need for universal equal rights. This is what Justice Breyer, via Benjamin Constant, labels modern active liberty. (See Active Liberty) In this situation, the people are not subjugated because of their differences. In fact, the minorities are protected from the tyranny of the majority. This unfortunately is a lesson the US could relearn.

Thus, Iraq is pushed to finish a project which has no roots and will perish. This is not because the Iraqis are against democracy, or that Iraq itself is not a fertile land for such liberal philosophy; no Iraq is ready, however the instrument of delivery was bloated with corruption and hubris and scant on liberal philosophy and active liberty. Inevitably, creating destruction and war is not a doorway to political participation and democracy, like I have conveyed before, no where in history has democracy been force fed to a people. Democracy must and always will be an indigenous creation, consequently the American seed of democracy must be purged and a new democratic civil society seed must take its place.

Sunday Muse VIII

Sunday Muse for the week that was:

Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For the rich men there of are full of violence, and the inhabitants therefore have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiling thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins. Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

Micah 6: 11-14

Watch out for propaganda it will make you stupid

The following was an email sent to me and I just could not pass it up. Please read all bold inserts, just to set the record straight. There is way too much history twisting and propaganda going around. You nor I need to fall in the trap of revisionism and provincial thinking. Have a great Liberal (individual rights, freedom from oppression and fear) thinking day.

Failure of an Idea --  And a People

 In his 1935 State of the Union Address, FDR spoke to a  nation mired in the Depression, but still marinated in conservative  values: "Continued  dependence" upon welfare (does this include corporate welfare, in fact corporate welfare, i.e. the new energy bill-please see tax payers for common sense-outweighs individual welfare 1000 to 1. Even if every black, white, brown, green, yellow or purple person was given full and unadulterated welfare to would be a drop in the preverbal bucket compared to the tax breaks, give-a-ways and personal gifts made to the political donor class. But please do not take my word as truth-as you have with this writer- please indulge yourself with a copiously sited book: Is that a Politician in your Pocket? Amazon will have it for you and it will be less than a corporate cup of coffee.) said FDR, "induces a spiritual disintegration  fundamentally destructive to the national fiber.( and corporate welfare has done just that) To dole out relief in this  way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."(and domestic jobs)

 

Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the  government must step in in an emergency; in normal times, men provide the  food, clothing and shelter for their  families (yes in a Sir Thomas More world of complete equals this maxim is true but for those American citizens who are left for dead: convention center, superdome, the 9^th ward, my friends on St. Charles: there are no normal times. But of coarse if you do not have full and complete knowledge of this situation, i.e. you are not them, you can sit back and wave your post-modern baton and ask "why can't they just leave, why can't they just get a job, why can't they just be more like me." The arrogance and antipathic tone of his intellectual(?) questions begins to show the true disconnect between the haves and the have nots. And if you think that this is not a true representation of the majority of Americans in this nation, then you are most likely a have.)

 

And we did, until the war pulled us out of the  Depression and a postwar boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, The  Affluent Society (also the title of a clear and concise economic book revealing the need for government regulation and stop gap measures within a free market economy- thank god it wasn't Milton Friedman's theory of free markets or we would be buying bottled Perrier Air.)  By the 1960s,

America, the richest country on earth, was growing ever more  prosperous. But with the 1964 landslide of LBJ, liberalism (First Liberalism began with Jefferson, Madison, Jay and Hamilton- The Federalist Papers are a great place to start i.e. the birth of the democrats and the first and most fatal defeat of republicans read CATO or federal farmer in the Anti-Federalist papers and you can hear Pat Buchanan singing) triumphed and  began its great experiment. Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to lift  America's poor out of poverty, government should now take  care of all their basic needs. By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food,  public housing and free medical care, government will end poverty in  America.

 

At the Superdome and New Orleans Convention  Center, we saw the failure of 40 years of the Great  Society.(a blind man could see more than a failure of a federal program which was handed to the local authorities then under funded and marginalized upon its conception. Moreover, the throngs of poor revealed that life in America is not as it seems. Our voyeuristic lives of sound bits and TV logic has deluded our awareness of the massive poverty, working poor, and uninsured in America.)  

No sooner had Katrina passed by and the 17thStreet levee broke than  hundreds of young men who should have taken charge in helping the aged, the  sick and the women with babies to safety took to the

streets to shoot, loot  and rape.(was this observation taken first hand, in other words this author was there in the thick of it with man's nature awoken or was he in front of Fox news with a coke and a smile? Upon further review the tales of looting were overblown and the cases of rape are still murky at best, not bad for people left for dead ) The New  Orleans police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their  posts to look after their families(of coarse none of the NO police were looting), engaged in running gun battles all day  long to stay alive and protect  people.

It was the character and conduct of its people that  makes the New  Orleans disaster unique. (Wow, judge not! Are you sure this wasn't written by Bush? What hubris and steadfast ignorance of a situation. And I assume that this author has been without water, food, shelter and protection for days and has drawn from his personal experience to lay such a catastrophic judgment.)  After a hurricane, people's needs are  simple: food, water, shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to  meet... People buried in rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough  to get to. But, even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor, and the  torpor of federal officials, this was  possible. Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday.  There were roads open into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New  Orleans was flooded, the water was stagnant. People walked  through to the convention center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could  navigate.

Even if government dithered for days -- what else is new  -- this does not explain the failure of the people  themselves.( Where the hell is this guy getting his information, or his he just winging it.) Between 1865 and 1940, the South -- having lost a fourth  of its best and bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in poverty -- was  famous for the hardy self-reliance of her people, black and  white. (Besides the lynching, robber barons and monopolies which decreased competition and restored the status quo before the war, hay but who reads the whole history book any more)

 

In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed back and forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile  Channel to rescue 300,000 soldiers from Dunkirk. How do we explain to the world that a tenth that number of Americans could not be reached in four days from across a stagnant  pond? The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down.(define society? The government, the people, the local merchants, the schools etc.? Or is this a philosophical discussion about how a society and the social contract which binds the people to the government is perversely broken in their time of need)  An entire community could not cope. Liberalism, the idea that good intentions  and government programs can build a Great Society, was exposed as fraud.(Does he mean liberal democracies like The US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, South Korea, Costa Rica and on and on… liberal is a great word, for if it did not exist or was not practiced then this ignorant schlep could not pontificate his delusional propaganda) After  trillions of tax dollars for welfare (and trillions more for corporations), food stamps, public housing, job  training and education have poured out since 1965, poverty remains pandemic.  But today, when the police vanish, the community disappears and men take to  the streets to prey on women and the  weak.

Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost  everyone waited for the government to come save them. They screamed into the  cameras for help, and the reporters screamed into the cameras for help, and  the "civil rights leaders" screamed into the cameras that Bush was responsible  and Bush was a  racist. Americans were once famous for taking the initiative, for  having young leaders rise up to take command in a crisis. See any of that at  the Superdome? Sri Lankans and Indonesians, far poorer than we, did not behave  like this in a tsunami that took 400 times as many lives as Katrina has thus  far.

We are the descendants of men and women who braved  the North  Atlantic  in wooden boats to build a country in a strange land.( at least he went to primary school) Our ancestors traveled thousands of miles in covered wagons, fighting off Indians far braver than  those cowards preying on New  Orleans'  poor.

 Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems clear: We are not the people our parents were.  And what are all our Lords Temporal now howling for? Though government failed  at every level, they want more  government. FDR  was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us. Government-as-first  provider, the big idea of the Great Society, has proven to be "a narcotic, a  subtle destroyer of the human spirit."

Either we  get off this narcotic, or it kills  us. (this passage is riddled with syllogisms and revisionist history, remember the best propaganda is the one you realize is false but find some semblance of truth, thus the seed of deception and falsehood is planted.)

 

Have a great day and turn off the TV

 

 

Puppet or Puppet Master?

It is time to stop taking things at face value. We all understand that it is politics as usual for the boys inside the belt way. However, the script or non-script, of Bush and the Army’s 42^nd Infantry Division today was PR at its worse and a mockery of truth in a time of war. This blatant unawareness of war and its severity is astounding. Convoluted issues and high school gym pep rallies are not filling the bosom of Bush’s base, like they use to and also alienating the majority of Americans from the world, not to mention Iraq. His question and answer session (please Google, any corporate news network, even they can’t cover for this shell of a president anymore) was misleading, untruthful, and packed with hubris.

Bush’s own field Generals testified before Congress explaining that Iraqi forces are minimal and weak. In fact, only one unit is ready for security duties. This pales in comparison to inflated estimates by the administration, i.e. the jovial Cheney who not four weeks ago said that the insurgency and the resistance were in their last throws. This dog won’t hunt. The administration has given up. The rhetoric is old, the lies are rehearsed and the story unfolding in the Middle East will be haunting us for many Halloweens to come.

Peddling Fear

We are the most fearful group of citizens. More fearful than Serbs in Kosovo, more fearful than Jews in Nazi Germany, we are more fearful because we believe everything that is thrown at us. We wait in mortgaged shelters, weighted down with debt and hope that calls from an authority figure will not arrive. Piped in sounds of war and death are inescapable. Our TV’s having become the Oracles of Delphi and we the patient worshiper. Never questioning and never disobeying the call to service.

It is clear, like the sun during a direct stare, which terror threats and overblown fear is pressing against our nature as free individuals. We are closed off in our own cities and afraid of anyone with differing pigment. Naturally we want peace and naturally we will war and it is this state of flux that is squeezed by our national leaders. The push of fear and the pull of self preservation is a deadly combination.

The subway ‘scare’ and the new Al Qaeda letters are old news. Do you truly believe that current and relevant information will be released as soon as our government becomes aware of it? Hot off the press, terrorism in the subway, at the mall, in your hometown!! Naive notions of governmental protection only lead to greater panic, thus a means to an end. Shadowing the citizenry with false or dated information and when nothing occurs, rejoice in the protection of the governmental father. This game of cat and mouse is old and hopefully tiresome.

We must, as a people and a nation, question the judgment of our elected government. It is not foolproof and not absent of error. The function of government is to protect. Unfortunately, this protection has become faulty and self-absorbed. Its defect is all consuming with one lie and misinterpretation after another. Or the fear you feel will one day replace the pride you have for your nation.

He can not be this ignorant!

1.“Once again, we're responding to a global campaign of fear with a global campaign of freedom.”

Campaign of Freedom? Is that the new word for war? Freedom is now synonymous with war. Does he purposefully misuse words and rearrange meanings for the benefit of his radical evangelical base? Fear as he aptly states is used in every society. Fear has dominated the programs of this administration. Fear is the life line of this administration. Fear reelected Bush and fear keeps soldiers in Iraq. Freedom or liberty from Mill's perspective, is the struggle between the individual and authority. The need for the individual to have complete liberty; authority on the other hand must restrain the individual. Thus a balance must be met. The balance has moved to the authoritarian side in this administration, and the device for this shift is fear.

2. “We will confront this mortal danger to all humanity. We will not tire, or rest, until the war on terror is won.”

How is this possible? Winning a war without understanding its true nature, terror will never be defeated. It is the same as saying that we will win the war on drugs or murder or rape. This is the essence of perpetual war for perpetual peace. You can hear the DOD licking its chops at the sound of an endless war.

3. “Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant Jihadism; still others, Islamo-fascism.”

Does he even understand what fascism is or what it entails? He is now using words in random order to create a sense of creditability. Like a child, upon learning a new word he uses it in any situation. The world laughs at this chicken-hawk. From fascism to communism to evil empires and ideologies of evil and hate, this potpourri of convoluted and unrelated themes begs the question: Is he really this blatantly ignorant?

A breath of life in Iraqi Democracy

I hope that the public outrage, over the under handed meeting this Sunday, helped change the coarse of the constitutional referendum. I am pleased to see that the people do still have a voice in a burgeoning democracy. This is a fortunate turn of events for all Iraqis. The reversal of votes pending the constitutional referendum is a good sign that the populace understands the magnitude of their choice. This is a victory for not only the Sunni minority but also the country as a whole. This is their first true sign that nonviolent public outrage can have an immediate outcome. In fact, the outcome can be positive. This is important for further underhanded dealings that are sure to arise in the near future.

This is not a cynical statement but a realist one. Democracy is the most fluid and fragile form of government on the plant and demagogues and corrupt special interests are around every corner. The public must be active in their citizenship and not allow slow tides of malfeasance to carry the government away. Consequently, America needs to revel in its past of civil disobedience and conscience dissent. This is the only way to become truly involved in government. Our notion of passive civic mindedness is becoming more and more like apathy. Voting is not civic engagement. Voting is the culmination of years of study and contemplation about issues which affect our lives. The true citizen is active through the periods between elections. Thus the Iraqis are moving in the right direction but the tunnel is long for this nascent democracy.

The Fix is In

Why have true democratic processes when you can change the rules for ratification? Moreover, why not change the rules for ratification in an unannounced meeting so that the agenda can be secret and non-confrontational? Why not ignore the Sunni population and all of their demands? Why not redraft the constitution in an American image? Why should boycotting Sunni’s be included in the democratic process?

It seems that all of the above statements have come true. In a late Sunday night session, unbeknownst to all peoples (Sunni), a rule change went into effect which will make the ratification of the ‘new’ constitution almost automatic. In effect, to reject the constitution it will now take 2/3 of all registered (the old rule was for all voters registered or not) voters in 3 of the 18 provinces. In other words, using the total number of registered voters as a base line, lets say 50,000 in each province; the rejection must be 2/3 of 50,000 in three provinces.

The underlining problem is that not all registered voters will vote and a non vote is a vote for the constitution. With a war torn country and civil unrest; turn out for the ratification will be extremely small. An indication of this scale is presented by Adnan al-Janub, a Sunni lawmaker, “This (the rule change) is a mockery of democracy a mockery of law. Many Sunnis have been telling me they didn’t believe in this democratic process, and now I believe they are vindicated.” So would you participate in a system that is not representative of you or your family? In fact this new rule has further marginalized the Sunni population. In effect, this transition discounts them from the rule of law which will ultimately decide their fate. They have become a stranger in a strange land, a recipe for strife and unrest.

Interconnected or Independent

I gasped upon hearing the announcement of Harriet Miers for Supreme Court. No it wasn’t because she is part of the Bush crime family. No it wasn’t because she has absolutely no judicial experience. No it wasn’t because the nomination is a blatant “fuck you” to the notion of the best person for the job. And finally no it wasn’t that this is another unambiguous sign of cronyism and patronage for her service to Bush. A man she once referred to as a “genius”.

I gasped because she stated with vigor that the three branches of government should and need to be “strongly independent”. This is not true, accurate and does not refer to American Democracy. This statement is not even close to the liberal democracy we live in today. That’s right a liberal democracy, i.e. individual rights and the government subordinate to the people, but enough about history and all its priceless lessons. Moreover, to reference the Federalist Papers (particularly # 10) it is clear that the branches of government are interconnected and intimately joined in a sharing of governmental power. They are not rouge branches acting with pure power and no oversight. The only independence they have is to make decisions which can and must be challenged by the other branches.

Miers is lost. She has no clue about the foundation of US government. If she did she would not have uttered such ignorance. At the very least a nominee must have a basic understanding of the government she or he is going to represent. But in this age of a president who is void about the true connection between local and state government and believes that God speaks directly to him, then I should not be surprised that his nominee is under qualified and ignorant.