05/14/2007
Quality stuff like these comes to my inbox from Information Clearing House, the best newsletter subscription I've had since becoming an online participant.
Why Bill Moyers is worth all the Fox Common Taters, Flush Limbaugh and Glenn
Beck combined:
Big money and big business, corporations and commerce, are again the undisputed overlords
of politics and government. The White House, the Congress and, increasingly, the judiciary, reflect their interests.
We appear to have a government run by remote control from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,
the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Petroleum Institute.
To hell with everyone else: - Bill
Moyers - PBS Commentator
This one made sense I suppose at the time but has done nothing more than prove that human nature
is not instinctively altruistic once capitalism commences.
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the
world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must
be battered down.
Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even
if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process.
Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the
world may be overlooked or left unused. : Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, 1919
And here comes James Baldwin with a not-so-pious response to that notion.
"The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not
intend to change the status quo;
are responsible for their slaughter and enslavement; rain down bombs on defenseless
children whenever and wherever they decide that their "vital interests" are menaced, and think nothing of torturing a man
to death:
these people are not to be taken seriously when they speak of the "sanctity" of human
life, or the "conscience" of the civilized world. " James Baldwin - page 489 of COLLECTED ESSAYS (1998),
from chapter one of "The Devil Finds Work" (orig. pub. 1976)
And this guy knew more about it a longer time back.
The abuse of buying and selling votes crept in and money began to play an important
part in determining elections. Later on, this process of corruption spread to the law courts. And then to the army, and finally
the Republic was subjected to the rule of emperors. : Plutarch (46 A.D.-127 A.D.) Historian of the Roman
Republic
On immigration in an insane reversal of roles, read what the father of Dorothy and the
Tin-Man-Without-A-Heart wrote:
The tale of the slaughter at Wounded Knee in South Dakota is [an] example
too well known to require detailed repeating here, but what is less well known about that massacre is that, a week and a half
before it happened, the editor of the South Dakota's Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer
-- a gentle soul named L. Frank Baum, who later became famous as the author
of The Wizard of Oz --
urged the wholesale extermination of all America's native peoples:
"The nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a
pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters
of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the
few remaining Indians.
Why not annihilation?
Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better
that they should die than live the miserable wretches that they are."
Aw gee, those dang founding fathers and presicence.
"The country is headed toward a single and splendid government of an aristocracy
founded on banking institutions and monied corporations, and if this tendency continues it will be the end of freedom and
democracy, the few will be ruling and riding over the plundered plowman and the beggar.... Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
"Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded
because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes.
And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended. Its influence
in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those
of subduing the force of the people.
The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality
of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered
by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. -- James Madison, April
20, 1795
Eisenhower speaks from the past about known war and fear-mongers - you know ... future
Reflublican leaders:
In most communities it is illegal to cry "fire" in a crowded assembly.
Should it not be considered serious international misconduct to manufacture a general war scare in an effort to achieve local
political aims?: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Einstein on our Christian President and Vice President and rubber stamp Republicans casual
about war and reality.
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt.
He has been given a large brain by mistake, science for him the spinal cord
would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality,
deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable an ignorable war is;
I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action!
It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." : Albert Einstein
Clarence Darrow agreed:
The ability and inclination to use physical strength is no indication
of bravery or tenacity to life. The greatest cowards are often the greatest bullies. Nothing is cheaper and more common than
physical bravery: Clarence Darrow, Resist Not Evil
And here's one of the most accurate definitions of patriotism:
"Patriotism is the belief your country is superior to all other countries
because you were born in it." : George Bernard Shaw
And when we fail to elect our best and brightest we get our worst and dumbest:
One of the great things about America, one of the beauties of our country,
is that when we see a young, innocent child blown up by an IED, we cry. President G. Bush Washington, D.C.,
Mar. 29, 2006
We support the election process, we support democracy, but that doesn't
mean we have to support governments that get elected as a result of democracy. President G. Bush - Washington,
D.C., Mar. 29, 2006
© Arthur Ruger 2007