Quaint morality concepts

Glenn Greenwald elucidates some ideas about our society that have been coagulating in my thoughts for a while.

He writes quite well:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/25/secrecy/index.html

Jason Ditz examines Obama's latest court filings:

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/26/justice-dept-assassinations-up-to-executive-branch-not-courts-to-decide/

... Justin Raimondo explains the reasoning behind recent FBI raids:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/09/26/the-obama-boomerang/

You can be sure that our government is involved in similar acts and plans. There are many in CSIS who drool over the possibility of getting at the RIM database discussed here:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/27/privacy/index.html

You should all feel safer after reading all of the above. Do you not?

... and the winner is ...

Not us:

http://original.antiwar.com/roberts/2010/09/24/it-is-official-the-us-is-a-police-state/

I hope those who support gov't power will be happy with their choices.

Here's the overseas version of this process:

http://www.chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2025-murderers-cowards-morons-and-thieves-portrait-of-an-empire-in-a-political-season.html

Be goood or they'll getcha!

Here's an article from Forbes, catering to my well developed sense of paranoia:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/15/intellectual-property-copyright-opinions-columnists-jason-ditz.html?partner=yahootix

It seems that gov'ts are quite creative in finding new reasons to thump you if they see fit.

Goin' to meet its maker

Back in to early 90s, I bought a 1986 Chev Astro van (the big V6, 5-spd manual tranny, air-con, 4ch CD/MP3 stereo, and a CB radio!) from my neighbour Harald. He had converted it for camping and never drove it in the winter. I was also able to avoid using it in the winter and had many years of fun with the old beast.

Today, I sold it back to Harald, who will take it on as a restoration project (the original paint has finally just worn off in places). I'm glad to see the two re-united and hope that he's able to get another 24 years out of it before things start to go wrong.

Thanks to Anna for the picture.

More about Omar Khadr's situation

For those interested in the actual legal issues which are involved in Canada's forsaking of one of its child citizens, I can suggest this article:

http://www.fff.org/comment/com1008e.asp

Will my country ever recover from this horrific allegiance to the American view of humanity?

Oil Defence? ... ??

Here's an article that posits a disturbing idea about the connection between our wars and why we fight them:


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/05/the_ministry_of_oil_defense?sms_ss=email

It seems to be saying that our military has been created and is being used as the corporate security department for a bunch of businesses that operate offshore! IE, our taxes are paying for a large part of what can only be considered the normal cost of doing business if you choose to leave Canada for your operations. Whyzat?!! Last I heard, we certainly don't get to share in the profits for these businesses!

And if you consider recent history, it doesn't seem that the wizards running these companies know very much about how to deal with the citizens of the countries in which they choose to operate. When they don't get their way, they just call in our army to thump the locals into submission, and taxpayers end up footing the bill (including veteran's care costs).

If this business model was applied within Canada, it could only be called armed robbery. ( I know, I know, these sorts of things are handled via expropriation within Canada).

Hmmm ... .... ? Somethings strange here ...

Check it out. What's goin' on here?

Crumbling country characteristics

I hope this doesn't start happening in Canada, but I suspect it will unless we convert Harper and his government to the path of wisdom and logic. Thanks to Glenn Greenwald again:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/08/06/collapse/index.html

A New Hampshire voyage

Bought a new MP3 player, complete with a van to carry it in, last April.



We checked out the new van as a camping implement last week and were pleasantly surprised by its utility, comfort and convenience.



We saw many awesome natural vistas ...


... and some awfully tacky tourist traps like Clark's Trading Post.

Bruce Fein's article in instructive

Consider these ideas, if you will:

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=836

I was struck by how far our governments have gone in repudiating the values and ethics that resulted from WWII and the Nuremberg trials. It seems to make all those deaths back in the thirties and forties a total waste of time. If we are so enamoured of Nazi-like actions now, why didn't we just let them roll over us back then? Surely they would have allowed us to speak english if they had taken over, n'est-çe pas?

Wikileaks is important

Here's why:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/25/bradley-mannings-gift/

See! Now we can know more about what each of us taxpayers is actually sanctioning with our dollars.

Are you proud of what you've paid for?

Don't read this article.

It's too true and depressing. Once again Glenn Greenwald nails it.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/07/23/intelligence/index.html

Canada is not far behind in its fall into depravity.

Next time you drive the Highway of Heroes ...

Here's some ideas from William J. Astore to think about:

"*By making our military generically heroic, we act to prolong our wars. By seeing war as essentially heroic theater, we esteem it even as we excuse it. Consider, for example, Germany during World War I, a subject I’ve studied and written about. Now, as then, and here, as there, the notion of war as heroic theater became common. And when that happens, war’s worst excesses are conveniently softened on the "home front," which only contributes to more war-making. As the historian Robert Weldon Whalen noted of those German soldiers of nearly a century ago, "The young men in field-grey were, first of all, not just soldiers, but young heroes, Junge Helden. They fought in the heroes’ zone, Heldenzone, and performed heroic deeds, Heldentaten. Wounded, they shed hero’s blood, Heldenblut, and if they died, they suffered a hero’s death, Heldentod, and were buried in a hero’s grave, Heldengrab." The overuse of helden as a modifier to ennoble German militarism during World War I may prove grating to our ears today, but honestly, is it that much different from America’s own celebration of our troops as young heroes (with all the attendant rites)?"

What did the gov't gain by lying?

I bet you didn't read anything like this in a Canadian newspaper:

http://original.antiwar.com/kitson/2010/07/18/treachery-as-public-policy/

Why do politicians always cover each other's ass? Why do they allow their predecessors to, literally, get away with murder? What is the problem with throwing the book at liars, war criminals, thieves, and murderers just because they happened to win an election just prior to their crimes?

My heroes, D'Arcy and Wylie at work

Don't worry, be happy:


See! It's contagious!

It's been a while so I thought you'd be ready for more

This has all the hallmarks of a good movie:

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/07/13/the-shahram-affair/

It's too bad that 'our' side is playing the bad guys. But, that's just the way it is these days.

What the troops think ...

For anyone who still believes that 'our' side is doing good over in Iraq (see previous posts), Afghanistan and the rest of that region, here is a story about two of those who were on the ground during the action:

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2010/04/16/collateral-murder-veterans-apologize-to-iraqi-families/

I think one can say that their career in the military has been capped by their admissions.

Can anyone explain how this sort of brutality is in Canada's best interests? Why are we not demanding war crimes investigations into all those who do these things, and into the actions of those who attempted to cover them up??

Summing up our moral superiority

Once again, Glenn Greenwald puts things into perspective:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/06/iraq/index.html

And furthermore:

"We've shot an amazing number of people and killed a number and, to my knowledge, none has proven to have been a real threat to the force."

That was General Stanley McChrystal, supreme commander of United States forces in Afghanistan, late last month - during one of the virtual "town hall" meetings held with US troops every two weeks, as reported in the New York Times.

McChrystal added, "To my knowledge, in the nine-plus months I've been here, not a single case where we have engaged in an escalation of force incident and hurt someone has it turned out that the vehicle had a suicide bomb or weapons in it and, in many cases, had families in it."




We are despicable

What we should be fighting against ...

... and it doesn't involve using Canadian troops as cannon fodder:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/04/05/afghanistan/index.html

I bet this never gets mentioned in our parliament or our TV and Print news sources.

Here's a follow-up, mentioning the heroic work of Canadian Brig Gen. Eric Tremblay, ISAF Spokesperson in 'reporting' the incident:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/04/05/us_forces_afghanistan_killings_open2010/index.html

And finally, for those with the stomach, here's some more of our 'heroic allies' at work:

http://news.antiwar.com/2010/04/05/wikileaks-releases-video-of-us-copters-killing-iraqi-civilians/

How the war is sold

Here is an interesting report on why you support killing people in foreign lands with your tax dollars:

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/27/wikileaks/index.html


Neat, huh? It's just like selling deodorant.