AlienLove

The Anti-Empire Report - February 2012

by William Blum, www.killinghope.org

The Lord High Almighty Pooh-Bah of threats. The Grand Ayatollah of nuclear menace.
As we all know only too well, the United States and Israel would hate to see Iran possessing nuclear weapons. Being "the only nuclear power in the Middle East" is a great card for Israel to have in its hand. But � in the real, non-propaganda world � is USrael actually fearful of an attack from a nuclear-armed Iran? In case you've forgotten ...

In 2007, in a closed discussion, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that in her opinion "Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel." She "also criticized the exaggerated use that [Israeli] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears." [1]

2009: "A senior Israeli official in Washington" asserted that "Iran would be unlikely to use its missiles in an attack [against Israel] because of the certainty of retaliation." [2]

In 2010 the Sunday Times of London (January 10) reported that Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, war hero, pillar of the Israeli defense establishment, and former director-general of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, "believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons."

Early last month, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a television audience: "Are they [Iran] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No, but we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability." [3] ...

US: Number of Aging Prisoners Soaring

Corrections Officials Ill-Prepared to Run Geriatric Facilities

From: Human Rights Watch, hrw.org

(New York) � Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.

The 104-page report, �Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States,� includes new data Human Rights Watch developed from a variety of federal and state sources that document dramatic increases in the number of older US prisoners.

Human Rights Watch found that the number of sentenced state and federal prisoners age 65 or older grew at 94 times the rate of the overall prison population between 2007 and 2010. The number of sentenced prisoners age 55 or older grew at six times the rate of the overall prison population between 1995 and 2010. ...

This Is What I Know

by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way."
- Mark Twain

A bottle of whiskey, a shot glass, and an article to write.

I'm not going to lie and say this particular combination hasn't come together before on my desk, but it has been rare enough to be considered special, and here we are. You see, something struck me out of the clear blue a while ago: the very first article of mine Truthout ever published happened somewhere in early 2002, so I did a little digging with the help of my Facebook friends, and hot damn, there it was: "Hell to Pay," published on January 17, 2002.

I missed marking my ten-year anniversary with this extraordinary organization by two weeks and two days. I suppose, by normal standards, the fun of it is ruined to a degree: you celebrate your birthday on your birthday, your anniversary on your anniversary, so running this up the flagpole as a special day two weeks late is kind of a bummer, but I really don't care all that much.

I was busy.

Ten years, a bottle of whiskey, a shot glass, and an article to write. ...

Humanize or Euthanize

by Rosemarie Jackowski

A conversation that is under the radar might surprise some... the 'exit strategy' conversation.

The health care topic seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. In Vermont the Death with Dignity Bill was to be considered by the Legislature during the current session. It is now reported that the Bill will be put on hold. Physician assisted suicide is a controversial topic. Moral, philosophical, and scientific considerations are included in the debate.

In complete disclosure - I believe that all life is sacred. That puts me on one side of the argument - sort of. I also believe that if pain is so intense that it does not respond to any drug, compassion might be the preferred stance. Moral conundrums always make life complicated. To gain some clarity on this question, I recently had a conversation with a doctor. I chose a doctor who is highly respected for her humanitarianism. My question was whether or not pain could be so horrific that nothing would relieve it. I suggested putting the patient in a coma. The doctor told me intractable pain is something that can happen, and then she quickly expanded her answer. She said it is extremely rare. That is reassuring. It seems to me, a patient in pain should be given anything that works - morphine drips, pot, absinthe - anything if it can relieve intense pain. When nothing works, we have to rethink the moral dilemma. ...

Destroy Our Future

I'm forming my very own Super PAC.

By Donald Kaul

Newt Gingrich has a Super PAC called "Winning Our Future." Mitt Romney's is called "Restore Our Future."

I know, technically Super PACs don't belong to candidates. But only innocents like Boy Scouts and the Supreme Court believe that. In the real world, this new kind of political action committee, created in the wake of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling, is a powerful campaign weapon.

Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations, and individuals. They then may spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against specific political candidates as they wish.

Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs are technically prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates. In practice, they serve a specific candidate, who directs them with winks and nudges.

Gingrich's Super PAC apparently thinks the way to win the future is to say nasty things about Mitt Romney. Romney's Super PAC, meanwhile, is attempting to restore the future by saying nasty things about Gingrich.

It's called free speech. If you don't believe me, ask the aforementioned Supreme Court justices, a majority of whom don't seem drunk. But they sure vote that way. ...

Sat. 2/4 - Nat'l Day of Action: No War on Iran! Protest in Boston

Action initiated by: the Occupy Boston Action for Peace Working Group

Sat., Feb. 4 National Day of Action:
No Sanctions, No War Against Iran!

Boston Protest: Sat. 2/4 at 1:00PM
Gather at Park St., March to the Israeli Consulate & Copley Square

Click here to download a leaflet and important fact sheet issued by the ANSWER Coalition

The U.S.-led campaign to bring about regime change is escalating. The EuropeanUnion announced a complete embargo of Iranian oil. Taken together with the other economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, this is a campaign meant to impose maximum suffering on the people of Iran by destabilizing and destroying the country�s economy. At the same time, covert action inside the country, including assassinations, sabotage and drone over flights, is intensifying. U.S. military bases surround Iran, while nuclear-armed U.S. aircraft carriers and Trident submarines sit right off its cost. ...

Staring at Empty Pages

by: William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed

Staring at empty pages,
Centered 'round the same old plot,
Staring at empty pages,
Flowing along the ages...
-Traffic

The Occupy Wall Street movement should spend today doing a nice little victory lap, because it seemed for all the world like its members were ghost-writers on President Obama's State of theUnion speechwriting staff. Though he never directly mentioned the movement itself, Mr. Obama spent a great deal of time on Tuesday night underscoring many of Occupy's most central themes: income inequality, tax fairness, and the need to rein in the illegal and immoral behavior of the nation's largest financial institutions.

Talk is cheap, of course; despite all of Mr. Obama's high-flown rhetoric, his administration is reportedly prepared to cut a disgracefully easy deal with the five banks most directly responsible for the financial meltdown, giving his so-pretty words a hollow ring: ...

A Call for Nationwide Response to Entergy Nuclear's Attack

on the People of Vermont

Entergy Nuclear of Lousiana is giving those of us who care about our futures a golden opportunity to exercise our power. This multi-national corporation is a poster boy for the callous pursuit of profit at the expense of health, safety and even state sovereignty.

Consider the current pox that Entergy has brought down upon the people of Vermont. In their negotiations to get permission to buy Vermont Yankee, corporate officials agreed to abide by future state statutes, and promised to forgo the right to sue the state over any statutes that might be contrary to Entergy's interests. But they were lying through their teeth, have sued the state, and have just won the first round in a federal court suit that reverses the state legislature's refusal to extend Vermont Yankee's operating license. The judge has empowered only the Public Service Board to decide the reactor's fate.

In the last few years, Entergy has lied repeatedly in testimony at the Vermont State House, from topics as varied as the aforementioned promise, to the non-existence of underground pipes that turned out to not only exist but also to be leaking tritium. Entergy lobbyists have been a noxious presence in our citizen legislature's House, cajoling and threatening but not succeeding in having their way. ...

Foreclosure Auction: Occupied!

press release from: occupywallst.org

BREAKING: One hundred Brooklyn community members and Occupiers peacefully disrupt foreclosure auction. Approximately 35 people arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience, singing in courtroom

Brooklyn, NY � This afternoon approximately one hundred people peacefully and powerfully disrupted a foreclosure auction by bursting into song. At 3pm the foreclosure auctioneer attempted to start bidding on homes that had been foreclosed upon. When the bidding started, the courtroom burst into song:

�Mr. Auctioneer
All the people here
Are asking you to stop all the sales right now
We�re going to survive, but we don�t know how�

Video clip: http://yfrog.com/mq9hsz

The National Lawyers Guild estimated that approximately 35 people were arrested. Those arrested continued to sing as they were handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom. ...

What Kind of Christianity Is This?

By Gary G. Kohls

From time to time, I read about condemnations of religion coming from non-religious groups, especially concerning the all-too-common violence perpetrated in the name of religious gods. Indeed there is plenty to condemn.

Altogether too many religions sects of both major and minor religions, despite verbally professing a desire for peace and justice in the world, are actually pro-war, pro-homicide and pro-violence in practice (or they may be silent on the subject, which is, according to moral theology, the same as being pro-violence).

Obvious examples include those portions of the three major war-justifying religions of the world: fundamentalist Islam, fundamentalist Judaism and fundamentalist Christianity.

I use the term fundamentalist in the sense that the religious person, who ascribes to a fundamentalist point of view, believes, among other dogmatic belief, that their scriptures are inerrant and thus they can find passages in their holy books that justify homicidal violence against their perceived or fingered enemies, while simultaneously ignoring the numerous contradictory passages that forbid violence and homicide and instead prescribe love, hospitality, mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation. ...