Month: August 2009

Europe’s Hitler Moment Relived


fascismThe Europeans are getting all uptight about the Muslim presence on their soil and are reacting pretty much like they did during the middle of the 20th century with their racist diatribe against Jews.

Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.

The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain’s population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys’ names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.

As is with so much else about racial histrionics, a lot of what is being bandied about in Europe is untrue, unproven, distorted, etc. You can find a pretty comprehensive debunking of the “claims” of the racists here. One should pay particular attention to parties and party hacks who spout this racist nonsense and work hard through the electoral process to prevent the prevalence of such notions to influence government policy.  Stay tuned for similar garbage to infest America’s shores.

The Iranians pull a fast one


tortureIran has gone on record to say anti-government protestors were tortured by officials of the government who have since been disciplined.  In clear unambiguous language, the Iranians said, ‘ “mistakes” had led to a few “painful accidents which cannot be defended, and those who were involved should be punished.” Throwing the ball in the American court for a demonstration of government accountability can only leave Americans playing hot potato.  What can American officials say to the Iranian government’s announcement?  Bad Iranians?  Ours is still a government that CANNOT conclude whether torture was even done by members of the Bush government let alone decide on a form of punishment for torturers.  In fact, the case of Iranians torturing other Iranians who were threatening, or demonstrating depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting, is more legitimate in the rationalizing/legitimizing of torture in that it was done against those who directly affected the Iranian social order as opposed to Americans who tortured and or  rendered non Americans on foreign soil who posed no direct threat to Americans or American interests.  I note that in the article linked  above there is no reference to America’s response to the declaration from Iran.  In effect the Iranians have muted America’s response to Iranian excesses after their disputed elections by outdoing the Americans in the rule of law department.  We’re left struggling for clear leadership for even clearer situations where criminal behavior has occurred and needs to be punished.

The New Crusades-Christian Mercenaries’ war on Islam


crusaderBlackwater founder and Christian mercenary/missionary Erik Prince is in the news again for allegations he sent people to kill Muslim Iraqis under the sponsorship of the US State Department.  Inflammatory but you can read the story here.

A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company’s owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe,” and that Prince’s companies “encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life.”

Now even if you believe in the phony war on terror, you have been told several times it had nothing to do with Iraqis; rather we were going there for the purposes of removing a ruler we didn’t like but who we knew all along had nothing to do with 911.  Blackwater became Dick Cheney’s praetorian guard, initially to guard his interests, Halliburton, there in Iraq and ostensibly to do Cheney’s demented bidding which included political assassinations the world over.  As if the torture issue isn’t reason enough for federal authorities to look into prosecuting Cheney,  this latest revelation about Blackwater and the nefarious dealings of its president, Prince, should be the nail in the coffin for Cheney and many other former Bush officials’ incarceration.  However, because of Blackwaters’ close ties with federal government officials, many of them career employees who remain when administrations leave and who have a direct impact on policy no matter who’s in charge, don’t look for the investigation into Blackwater malfeasance to go too far, unless the public demands it.  Meanwhile, Blackwater and the US government will continue to get away with murder, and earn the scorn of the rest of the world.

Expected to lie or coverup


It’s said Muslims, when asked questions about their activities, are expected to lie and/or coverup their involvement in anything illegal.  I don’t know about that, but it does seem that’s what some who enlist in the Israeli Defense Force are expected to do when asked about their abuse of Palestinians.

Far-right activists distributed fliers to fresh draftees at the Israel Defense Forces induction center in Tel Hashomer on Tuesday urging them not to confide in their commanders and to refrain from cooperating with investigators if they physically abuse Palestinians in the territories.

The notice was intended for enlistees into the Kfir infantry brigade, most of whose operations take place in the territories.

It cites the case of First Lieutenant Adam Malul, an officer in the Kfir brigade who is standing trial for beating a Palestinian. In addition, the pamphlet mentions the Kfir brigade commander, Colonel Itai Virov, who was censured for making statements which justified the use of violence against unarmed Palestinians in certain instances.

The brochure stated that these two incidents were cases in which “foreign considerations were involved in the system’s chain of command.”

The bottom of the notice is signed by “students of Rabbi Ginzburg” – a reference to Yitzhak Ginzburg, who is viewed as a leader of extremist settlers in the West Bank. Ginzburg is the author of “Baruch the Man,” a book honoring Baruch Goldstein, the settler who massacred Palestinians at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

The two examples mentioned in the article only saw the light of day because non-Israelis pressed for the prosecution of the offending parties, otherwise, the implication goes, nothing would have happened to them and the brutality of the Israelis towards the Palestinians under their control would continue unabated. With regard to the latter, of  that you can be sure.

Your Tax Dollars hard at work for……….Oil Speculators


dollar-signAmericans are a very tolerant people except when it comes to matters of race and ethnicity, then we become rabid, vociferous, mean, hateful and we tend to get in one another’s face.  I wish we would get in the face of people who exploit EVERYBODY by using American bodies and their money for personal enrichment.  So this story of an oil speculator who, it could be reasonably argued, was responsible for the high gas prices we experienced last year, should make everyone hoping mad when it’s revealed his tactics resulted in him possibly getting a $100 million bonus from a bank that received US taxpayer bail out funds!! Where are the burning effigies of this Andrew Hall from the lamp posts in front of every town hall; or the demonstrations in front of the corporate offices of Citigroup which received $45 billion dollars of our money because of bad business practices which then turns around and gives $100 million of it away to reward someone else for……..you got it, bad business practices.  Sure, it’ll be said Hall helped his company profit and so what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, i.e. the American public, but you could make the same argument that Citigroup has profited too by staying solvent at our expense….literally,  with taxpayer money which they don’t deserve.

The issue for me becomes what is the breaking point for American tolerance?  Is it whether the President of the United States was really born in Hawaii, who lied in the Gates arrest, health care, the war in Afghanistan, or the theft of America’s wealth by the rich and greedy?  It’s really a no brainer!  American wealth was robbed by first the “military industrial complex” under George Bush and later by financial institutions under Barack Obama, and we’re just in the first six months or so of his administration!  Yet, everyday people go to work to earn their living and support their families, their money is stolen out from underneath them by a government which takes from the poor and well to do and gives it to the rich and militant.  Wherever Osama bin Laden is, he must be rolling over with laughter at our priorities.  It’s too bad we don’t see the irony in all of this nor apparently feel any outrage about it all.  I guffawed at the crocodile tears shed by the NYT which tries to make it seem as if the financial institutions have a dilemma when it comes to finding good high priced talent that can steer these businesses in the shark infested waters of capitalism and if these $100 million bonused executives aren’t around to navigate the treachery  then all is lost and we should abandon ship.   Corporate entities, like government are far too condescending towards the people they are supposed to serve when they assume the policies and/or the news they report are necessary to help a public unable to care for itself.   That attitude alone is worth the indignation of the Public.