March 2006
_________________________________________________________________
March 29th, 2006
Thank You Note
This is just a quick thank you to the people of Israel. You have given power to what ought to be a centre-left coalition. More importantly, you have shut out Likud, a group of right-wing militants who sought to start a war with Iran. Bravo Israel, in giving seats to Kadima and Labour, you have given us all a chance for peace.
_________________________________________________________________
March 24th, 2006
The Real Deal
For a non-believer, I am a big fan of Christian philosophy. Jesus taught and practiced non-violence, tolerance, generosity, forgiveness, compassion, and respect for the Creator and all of her creations. Jesus was progressive. He might have been a Socialist. Just for fun, let's contrast the teachings of Christ with the teachings of the Evangelical Church in the USA. (About a quarter of Americans identify themselves as Evangelicals) The Evangelical Church is an intolerant cult (of Bush voters) that longs for the prophesied bloodbath of Armageddon. They are people who supported the "Shock and Awe" terrorist attacks on Baghdad. They support the continued occupation of Iraq. They wish to start World War Three, hoping that it will bring on the end of the world. These "Christians" think that they can live the opposite of Christ's teachings yet still be "raptured." If Jesus were to meet Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell, I'm sure he'd flip their tables over. I was happy to hear of the safe return of members of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) who had been taken hostage in Iraq. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the members of CPT. They are the real deal, true Christians who live Christ's teachings. They put themselves on the line for peace. They have far more courage than most of us. The CPT website asks a meaningful question: What would happen if Christians devoted the same discipline and self-sacrifice to non-violent peacemaking that armies devote to war? I know that the answer is that we'd live in a better world. Though I question the wisdom of walking into a war-zone, I thank everyone involved with Christian Peacemaker Teams for their courage. God bless them and everyone else who works for peace, unpopular as it may be in some places.
_________________________________________________________________
March 18th, 2006
A New Book
The banner above links to "Fight", a new online book by Chris M. Fick of Texas. Fick also runs a site called
George W. Bush Is Shameless. I took a quick look through it and found lots of good advice to Americans about
how they can stand up to their criminal government. One of the pages also had a photo of Mahatma Ghandhi.
Good Stuff! Click the banner to have a look at Fick's new book. All of us little guys have got to stick together.
_________________________________________________________________
March 11th, 2006
War Drums
Here are some significant quotes from the past week. "The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences...For our part, the United States is keeping all options on the table. We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon." - Dick Cheney "We face no greater challenge from a single country than Iran...This is a country that seems determined, it seems, to develop a nuclear weapon in defiance of the international community that is determined that they should not get one." - Condoleezza Rice "I will say this about Iran. They are currently putting people into Iraq to do things that are harmful to the future of Iraq. We know it, and it is something that they, I think, will look back on as having been an error in judgment." - Donald Rumsfeld "Iran must not have a nuclear weapon. The most destabilizing thing that can happen in this region and in the world is for Iran to have a nuclear weapon...You begin to see an issue of grave national security concern." - George W Bush "We're going to press for as vigorous a response in the council as we can get and hope that that gets the Iranians' attention...If the Iranians do not back off from their continued aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons, we'll have to make a decision of what the next step will be." - John Bolton "It's going to be incumbent upon our allies around the world, and interested countries, to show that they are willing to act." - Nicholas Burns Does any of this sound familiar? Never mind the nuclear red-herring; this is all about oil. Iran plans to open its new oil trading market in the upcoming days. Present international markets only trade oil for US Dollars. When Iran's new market, the "Iranian Oil Bourse" opens, it will trade Iranian oil for Euros instead. If the market is successful, countries like China and Japan might dump their massive reserves of US Dollars in an attempt to diversify their holdings. Neo-conservatives and international bankers won't allow this to happen. They have already given us the nuclear pre-tense to attack Iran. The next three weeks will be very significant. Despite the diplomatic efforts of Mohammed El Baradei and the Russians, the big war is coming. I hope that everyone reading this will be lucky enough to avoid its catastrophic consequences.
_________________________________________________________________
March 5th, 2006
First They Came...
"When they came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I did not speak out; I was not a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." Martin NiemollerThis poem is about the unwillingness of the German public to check the power of Adolf Hitler. In the years before World War Two, Hitler's administration rounded up and imprisoned the members of various groups that opposed Nazi policy. Opposition to the Fuhrer was seen as treasonous. Publicly refuting the Nazis would get you locked up, or perhaps tortured and then disappeared. I have to wonder how the German public reacted when they found out about the construction of places like Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Their government was known to torture its political opponents. The Nazis could declare anyone to be an enemy of the state. That person would simply disappear. By the time the death camps were opened, Germany had already attacked other nations. As Hitler invaded Austria in 1933, he said "Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators." In early 1939, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia; again they said that they were freeing an oppressed people. Later that year they invaded Poland, which they said was a haven for terrorists. In the next few years they occupied most of Europe and murdered six million Jews. 1930's Germany and today's United States have many disturbing similarities. The United States of today embodies many of the 14 characteristics of fascism. The United States government has invaded Iraq. (they claimed they did so to free the Iraqi people) They now threaten to strike other nations. They maintain offshore prisons (Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib) where inmates are held indefinitely without being charged. Prisoners at these facilities have been tortured. The US has kidnapped suspected terrorists and brought them to secret "black sites" in Eastern Europe. They have admitted to spying on their own citizens. There have been hints that Bush will remain in power even after his term has expired. Now they are building prison camps. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR) has been given a contract to build detention camps inside the United States. Here are two other links about this story. (1 , 2) What are these prison camps for? KBR says that they are being built to handle an emergency influx of immigrants to the US, or, to "support the rapid development of new programs." New programs? What new program would require the detention of tens of thousands of people within the US? Just who are they planning to put in these camps? I am not suggesting that George Bush's Republicans are as bad as the Nazis. What I am suggesting is that there are many parallels between the behaviour of the Bush Administration and the behaviour of Hitler's government in the years before World War Two. Bush is the most powerful man alive. Americans ought to consider Lord Acton's dictum; "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Niemoller's poem, "First They Came," seems quite relevant today. First they came for those they accused of being terrorists, whether they had evidence of guilt or not. Given the construction of the detention camps, they must plan to come for someone else. Now would be a really good time for Americans to stand up and challenge the "Imperial Presidency." A time when it is too late might not be all that far away.