AlienLove

Reinventing the Evil Empire

by Stephen Lendman

For the West, everything changed but stayed the same, hard-wired and in place. Things just lay dormant in the shadows during the Yeltsin years, certain to reemerge once a more resolute Russian leader took over. If not Vladimir Putin, someone else little different.

Russia is back, proud and reassertive, and not about to roll over for America. Especially in Eurasia. For Washington, it's back to the future, the new Cold War, and reinventing the Evil Empire, but this time for greater stakes and with much larger threats to world peace. Conservatives lost their influence. Neocons are weakened but still dominant. The Israeli Lobby and Christian Right drive them. Conflict is preferred over diplomacy, and most Democrats go along to look tough on "terrorism." Notably their standard-bearer, vying with McCain to be toughest.

Ten former Warsaw Pact and Soviet Republics are part of NATO: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. In addition, Georgia and Ukraine seek membership. Russia is strongly opposed. And now for greater reason after Poland (on August 20) formally agreed to allow offensive US "interceptor missiles" on its soil. A reported 96 short-range Patriot ones also plus a permanent garrison of US troops - 110 transfered from Germany, according to some accounts. Likely more to follow. In addition, Washington agreed to defend Poland whether or not it joins NATO, so that heightens tensions further. ...

Maybe We Should Just Hope the Republicans Win This Thing...

By Dave Lindorff

If the direr warnings about the US economy and the general state of the world are correct, maybe we should be glad that Obama�s presidential campaign is in failure mode (see Loserville).

Two terms of the Bush/Cheney administration have pretty much destroyed the dollar, wrecked the US industrial base, emasculated the US military, undermined public faith in the legal system, wrecked the educational system, bankrupted working people, fired up many labor unions, bankrupted the government and threatened the retirement and Medicare systems.

Do we really want to now hand this mess over to a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress?

All that will do is ensure that Democrats will end up having to confront, and in the end get the blame for the whole looming catastrophe, allowing the otherwise thoroughly discredited Republicans and neocons who created this disaster to come back claiming it was the fault of the liberals and their pinko friends.

A better idea might be to let the Republicans win it, and then have to deal with it and take the consequences. ...

LibertyUnion Colors

By Doris Lake

The LUP--LibertyUnion Party -- was formed in 1970 at the home of former Congressperson, William H. Meyer and his spouse, Bertha, in West Rupert, VT.

LUP is four colored: red, green, black, and white.

White for the rejection of violence as a tool of government policy. We urge the end of �. . . research, production, testing of, and deployment of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons including uranium ammunition . . . We must reject the claim . . . That �we must kill them before they can kill us.� We must refuse to burn and kill no matter who �orders� us to.� ....

The End Does Not Justify The Means

by Christine Smith

In the many issues facing society, a common rationalization for committing wrong, immoral, unjust or unethical acts is that if the greater good is served the relative harm necessary to gain such a supposed good is justified. In essence, people say doing bad can result in good, thus they assert bad becomes good. This has become commonly accepted in politics (as well as within people�s personal and business lives).

Consider issues such as immigration, taxation, abortion, capital punishment, torture, and the use of military force. All present a multitude of possible scenarios and situations in which the use of force is argued or disputed. Must we, then, live our lives in a state of flux, constantly having to analyze each and every situation to determine what is ethical? Are there times when commission of a wrong act is the best choice because the result may be better for the majority? Is morality relative? Can an immoral or unethical act sometimes be the right thing to do if the outcome is deemed favorable?

The final result of an action cannot and must not be the determiner of right or wrong. To allow your mind to begin to accept this falsehood to any degree permits corruption to enter. Do not arrogantly think you are capable of compromising what you know is right and wrong in a situation just because it is difficult, for many well-intentioned people have done so only to later find themselves having accepted degrees of inflicting harm upon others they would never have thought themselves capable. And the core truth is that committing any evil, regardless of the circumstances, is always wrong. Consider history, every horrible inhumanity man has committed against others, was justified in their own mind(s). ...

This Is Not the Change We Hoped For: House Concurrent Resolution 362

by: Camillo "Mac" Bica, t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Though America voted for change in 2006, the subsequent two years have demonstrated that the Democrats in Congress, while avowing a "new direction for America," are as willing and as skilled as their Republican/neocon counterparts at utilizing half-truths, innuendo, deceit and scare tactics to mislead the American public along the path to another devastating and unnecessary war. Consider, as a case in point, H. Con. Res. 362, introduced by Representative Gary Ackerman (D-New York) and co-sponsored by 261 members of Congress (at this writing), many of them Democrats. This bipartisan resolution is flawed - perhaps even suspect - for a number of reasons.

First, it asserts as fact that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and intimates that it would share its nuclear material and technology with terrorists and "rogue" states. The reality is that as of the end of July 2008, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had conducted over 3,000 man-days of scrupulous inspections, including nine visits that were unannounced.

In a report to the IAEA Board of Governors dated May 26, 2008, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei affirms, "The Agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear materials in Iran. Iran has provided the Agency with access to declared nuclear material and has provided the required nuclear material accountancy reports in connection with declared nuclear material and activities." The National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) corroborates the IAEA's findings. "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program.... We assess with moderate confidence Tehran has not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007" (November 2007).

Credible evidence exists, therefore, to refute H. Con. Res. 362's claim that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons and engaged in "illicit nuclear activities," the primary premise upon which this resolution builds its argument for sanctions and a blockade. ...

Million Doors For Peace

United for Peace & Justice

September 20, 2008 - National Day of Action: Be part of one of the most ambitious and innovative anti-war activities to date!

On Saturday, September 20, thousands of volunteers across the U.S. will knock on a Million Doors for Peace.

United for Peace and Justice is partnering with US Action/True Majority, Win Without War, and other organizations to make this day the biggest peace action of 2008.

Volunteer doorknockers will ask people to sign an antiwar petition directed to Congress. Our message: End this immoral war, bring our troops home, and invest in America's future. In addition, we will encourage people to join local anti-war groups, engage in voter education work, and become a part of the organized antiwar movement in their area.

In order to reach a million people in a single day, we must organize at least 25,000 volunteers in all 50 states. Peace groups have never implemented such an elaborate communication and organizing plan before now, but with new and traditional communications tools available, we anticipate success with this groundbreaking, grassroots project. This project will not end on September 20, but it will be a new beginning of a more organized grassroots movement for peace and justice. ...

Law And Order Are Sagging On Wall Street

by William A. Collins

Your investments,
On the brink;
Not as safe,
As you might think.

The robber barons of the Roaring '20s finally stumbled off into oblivion with the coming of the Great Depression. It was the New Dealers who then invented the regulatory regimens to prevent such corruption from ever, ever happening again in the stock market and in corporate governance. Bless their hearts!

It all worked fine for a while, but now the barons are back, like the Joker in a Batman sequel. And the chief culprit in their resurgence for once wasn�t even Richard Nixon, Wellspring #1 of so many of America�s evil urges. No, this time it was Ronald Reagan, U.S. Wellspring #2. Mr. Reagan believed people were basically good, that �excessive� regulation was bad, and that unfettered capitalism would maximize world welfare. Or at least that�s what he convinced us to think. ...

Constitution Bars Subversion of State Medical Marijuana Laws

Federal Court Rules U.S. Government May Not Deliberately Subvert California�s Medical Marijuana Laws

From: American Civil LibertiesUnion

SAN JOSE, CA - In a first-of-its-kind ruling, a federal court today held that the U.S. Constitution bars deliberate subversion by the federal government of state medical marijuana laws.

"Utilizing selective arrests and prosecutions, the federal government has sought to sabotage California�s reasoned approach to medical marijuana use," said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project. "For the first time, a court has recognized that a calculated plan by the federal government to undercut state medical marijuana laws is patently unconstitutional. Today�s decision forecasts an end to any organized federal effort to sabotage state medical marijuana laws."

While previous high-profile cases affirmed the federal government�s power to enforce federal drug laws against individual medical marijuana patients and providers on a case-by-case basis, today�s ruling clearly recognizes that a calculated pattern of federal enforcement can render state medical marijuana laws effectively inoperable, which would violate the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. ...

Penicillin In Peril

by David Wallinga, M.D. and Margaret Mellon

The miracle drugs of the 20th Century are under threat. Doctors are frustrated by rising numbers of illnesses resistant to their arsenal of antibiotics. When these medicines don't work, patients suffer or even die, and our nation's health tab ratchets upward. Drugs such as penicillin and tetracycline, used routinely to treat respiratory disease and heart infections in humans, are also fed routinely to farm animals - not to treat diagnosed disease but to promote growth and to compensate for the overcrowded, stressful, unsanitary conditions on factory farms.

This reckless use in animals of tried-and-true human antibiotics has contributed to the development of serious antibiotic-resistant human disease. For example, scientists have long linked excessive antibiotic use in animals with a greater prevalence of resistant forms of food-borne infections - such as those caused by salmonella bacteria - and systemic blood infections. Recent studies now suggest that automatic antibiotic use in livestock operations may also be driving the emergence of a new type of community-acquired (or CA) superbug, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). CA-MRSA causes serious, sometime deadly, resistant infections among healthy individuals - tragically including many high school students and athletes. ...

Dumping The National Phone Directory - Electing The President

By Jozef Hand-Boniakowski

In the short story, "Harrison Bergeron", part of a collection of writings by Kurt Vonnegut called "Welcome to the Monkey House, George and Hazel Bergeron, living in the year 2081, unknowingly suffer from the impact of radio, television and the "news". They are oblivious to its main function, that of making them mentally handicapped, where reality is produced and they consume it. The media present George and Hazel with all the images, messages, thoughts and opinions that they as members of society need to know and accept in order to be part of the communitarian State where everything is always well. George and Hazel go on day in and day out with their lives watching TV, being part of what it reinforces as normal. They have no free thought, no free expression, take no action, avoid conflict and controversy, challenge no one and no one challenges them. Their boat never gets rocked and they would never rock anyone else's, nor the States' boat. Worse, they are beyond the ability to challenge the system under which they live as they are crippled into clueless happiness. George and Hazel are desensitized by the constant barrage of TV images that control them into behaving acceptably. Unbeknownst to them, however, are the invisible ruling elite that control everything. George and Hazel are kept in line. Everything that they do is monitored, listened to and recorded. For George and Hazel, life may be pointless though they don't think so, but it is predictable and just the same as it is for anybody and everybody else. Very much like many people today, George and Hazel are comfortable living a mundane life with little interest in changing anything. Vonnegut writes,

Clever people had to wear a radio in their ear tuned to the government transmitter, which sent out sharp noises to keep people from taking advantage of their brains.

Today's controlling corporations are the government. Their ubiquitous propaganda messages, masquerading as harmless advertising, are behavior programming from cradle to grave. ...