I was joking about Dick (The Dick) Cheney, Ray McGovern tells how bad it was: "Who's afraid of the CIA?"
20 May Update: Amy Goodman has an hour long conversation with 'New Yorker' correspondent Jane Mayer and British attorney Philippe Sands on the subject of legalizing torture - recommended!
European Parliament resolution of 10 July 2008 on the death penalty, particularly the case of Troy Davis
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on the abolition of the death penalty and the need for an immediate moratorium on executions in those countries where the death penalty is still imposed,
- having regard to UN General Assembly Resolution 62/149 of 18 December 2007 on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty in the world,
- having regard to the updated and revised version of the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty, adopted by the Council on 16 June 2008,
A. having regard to the case of Troy Davis, sentenced to death by the Georgia State Court in 1991 for the murder of a policeman and scheduled to be executed at the end of July 2008,
B. whereas, according to Troy Davis' lawyers, there is abundant proof of his innocence, material evidence against him has never been produced and seven witnesses for the prosecution have retracted their testimony,
C. whereas on 4 August 2007 the Supreme Court of Georgia agreed to reconsider new elements casting doubt on Troy Davis' guilt,
D. whereas on 17 March 2008 the Supreme Court of Georgia denied Troy Davis a retrial, although the Chief Justice dissented,
E. whereas since 1975 more than 120 people have been released from death row in the United States, having been found innocent,
F. whereas in the United States the power of clemency in cases where a capital sentence has been imposed exists as a failsafe against irreversible errors that the courts are unable or unwilling to remedy,
G. whereas New Jersey is the first US State to have abolished capital punishment by legislation since the reintroduction of the death penalty in the United States in 1972, citing the inescapable risk of executing those wrongfully convicted,
1. Calls upon those countries where the death penalty is imposed to take the necessary steps towards its abolition;
2. Asks that Troy Davis' death sentence be commuted and, in view of the abundant evidence which might lead to such commutation, for the relevant courts to grant him a retrial;
3. Appeals urgently to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Troy Davis' death sentence;
4. Calls on the Presidency of the Council and the Delegation of the Commission to the United States to raise the issue as a matter of urgency with the US authorities;
5. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of the United States, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the Attorney General of Georgia.
Ecosocialism: For a Society of Good Ancestors (Part Two)
Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, the first indigenous head of state in Latin America is quoted from a short essay published last November:
Competition and the thirst for profit without limits of the capitalist system are destroying the planet. Under Capitalism we are not human beings but consumers. Under Capitalism, Mother Earth does not exist, instead there are raw materials. Capitalism is the source of the asymmetries and imbalances in the world. It generates luxury, ostentation and waste for a few, while millions in the world die from hunger in the world.
In the hands of capitalism everything becomes a commodity: the water, the soil, the human genome, the ancestral cultures, justice, ethics, death … and life itself. Everything, absolutely everything, can be bought and sold and under capitalism. And even “climate change” itself has become a business.
“Climate change” has placed all humankind before a great choice: to continue in the ways of capitalism and death, or to start down the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.Evo Morales
via Dissident Voice
If Republicans are such a big stupid target now, why haven't we been laughing for eight years? If wit is such a potent weapon, why didn't anybody shoot them when it mattered? Are Democrats any less pathetic when they're out of power? Do we really believe that mockery will make this part of the American psyche less virulent? Have we learned nothing?
090506: The next day this arrives from AlterNet: "The Far Right's First 100 Days: Getting More Extreme by the Day (Their talk is turning ugly, and it's not unthinkable that we could be in for a wave of domestic terrorism unseen since the mid-'90s.") quote: "They've been humiliated by their election losses. And that's hugely dangerous, because authoritarian leaders react uniquely badly to being humiliated."
State Sells Two-Thirds of Pharmacies
On Tuesday, the Swedish government officially announced that it is to sell two-thirds of its 900 state-owned pharmacies. By abolishing the state monopoly in this sector, the centre-right government intends to increase competition on the pharmaceutical market – which eventually should lead to lower drug prices. But the opposition fears that abolishing the state monopoly will merely lead to oligopolies by a few private competitors.
Via: SR Engelska
I'm really afraid Swedes don't understand what they've given up here. Speaking as someone who has seen, firsthand, what Big Pharma can do to a medical system, how totally corrupting its influence can be, I worry that Sweden may have put an already shaky health care system into mortal jeopardy. It's not just the Apoteks, but everything connected to them that will become the target of that awful machine. As for the argument that it will lower prices, all one has to do is look to America to see the fallacy in that. Without being condescending, I really wonder if Swedes have any notion of how low their drug costs already are. People go bankrupt in the United States paying for medicine. Is that what we want here?
This is probably the best, clearest, summation of the current situation and the functioning of Capitalism I've read: Ecosocialism: For a Society of Good Ancestors (Part One). It's well worth reading, in full.
"If you ask any of them individually, our rulers would undoubtedly say that they want their children and grandchildren to live in a stable and sustainable world. So why do their actions contradict their words? Why do they seem determined, in practice, to leave their children and grandchildren a world of poisoned air and water, a world of floods and droughts and escalating climate disasters? Why have they repeatedly sabotaged international efforts to adopt even half-hearted measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions?
When they do consider or implement responses to the climate crisis, why do they always support solutions that do not work, that cannot possibly work?
Karl Marx had a wonderful phrase for the bosses and their agents — the big shareholders and executives and top managers and the politicians they own — a phrase that explains why they invariably act against the present and future interests of humanity. These people, he said, are “personifications of capital.” Regardless of how they behave at home, or with their children, their social role is that of capital in human form.
They don’t act to stop climate change because the changes needed by the people of this world are directly contrary to the needs of capital.
Capital has no conscience. Capital can’t be anyone’s ancestor because capital has no children. Capital has only one imperative: it has to grow."
(Via Dissident Voice.)
'The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming... is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government - a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF's staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation; recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression we're running out of time.' (The Atlantic Monthly, May 2009, by Simon Johnson)
* Elizabeth Warren's 8 minute video summary of the COP report
1) God doesn’t exist, and never did. Belief in a Heavenly Father arose out of primitive ignorance and associated superstition. To think that an omnipotent old fellow with a white beard sits on a golden throne in the sky is wildly ridiculous. The only thing crazier is to believe said deity created us, governs our affairs, and deserves our blind obedience. Help stamp out witch-hunts and suicide bombings. Relegate God to the same dustbin of mythology where all ghosts, holy or otherwise, rightfully belong.
2) We don’t have souls and don’t go anywhere but into the ground to be eaten by worms when we die. Let’s bravely acknowledge that fact.
3) Quit contending that global warming isn’t real. Except for discredited, charlatan ‘scientists’ of the kind who promote Intelligent Design, the overwhelming majority of truly qualified experts agree that manmade greenhouse gases are dangerously heating the planet. Conservatives can’t bring themselves to admit that ‘liberals’ and United Nations types could ever be correct about anything, so they nay-say, sit on their hands, and would allow their grandchildren (and ours) to ultimately perish, fearfully gasping for precious breath.
4) Nationalism sucks. Belief that one’s own country is better or more important than all others has generated massively destructive jingoism and xenophobia through the ages. Combined with religion, it’s been the chief cause of war for bloody centuries. Join me in pledging to never take up arms against anyone on bogus pretexts — or to imagine them inferior, ‘evil,’ etc. — just because they live beyond the ocean, look strange, and have unfamiliar customs.
5) Let’s jettison monopoly capitalism, which is so parasitically harmful that it makes a starving vampire bat seem benign. If we the people took over the economy, democratically controlling it for public profit and common gain, we’d never get robbed at the gas pump again, pay an arm and a leg for medical care or prescription drugs, lose our homes to usurious mortgage thieves, or get sent off to die in meddling neocons’ criminal invasions abroad. Fire the boss! Become a fair-minded owner of America, along with your fellow workers and neighbors!
6) Stop bashing immigrants. Each of our own arriving ethnic groups was accused by existing nativists of stealing jobs, being a societal drain, having criminal and otherwise unsavory tendencies, or spreading disease, just as mostly Hispanic immigrants are condemned today. Such successive discrimination plainly benefited divide-and-conquer corporate profiteers. It was only when ethnicities, races, and genders united — understanding that an injury to one is an injury to all — that the overall U.S. working class made decisive advances and acquired a mutually better living standard.
7) Admit that nothing worthwhile comes from conservatism. It’s abject selfishness masquerading as a valid ideology. Its sole purpose is to perpetuate minority privilege attained through illegitimate power wielded against consequently suffering masses. Conservatives will never utter the word ‘justice,’ for it’s a shattering indictment of their consistently exploitative role in human affairs. Everything good has been fiercely resisted by the political Right: abolishing slavery and child labor, gaining women’s suffrage, struggling to achieve racial equality, raising the minimum wage, implementing progressive taxation, establishing health and safety standards in the workplace and the community at large, just to name a few.
8) Accept that, while abortion isn’t pretty, it’s often necessary. Furthermore, only each female in each specific, unique circumstance has the right to determine what constitutes a legitimate abortion need. No male, or male-dominated institution, should interfere in this most personal and difficult choice. Before guys say one word about the supposed impropriety of terminating an unacceptable pregnancy, they should produce ironclad guarantees about controlling their reckless libidos and keeping their penises in their pants, if that’s where they’re told they should remain.
9) Repeat after me: ‘Better gay than grumpy.’ The only problem with homosexuality is that some straights, insecure about their own orientation, get uptight over it. Most animal species engage in same-sex contact on a minority basis. Therefore it isn’t ‘unnatural,’ just different, and entirely involuntary, like being left-handed rather than right. Besides, aren’t the last six words of the Pledge of Allegiance ‘with liberty and justice for all’? Quit being hypocrites and get aboard the freedom train!
10) To nurture the collective human spirit, which is quite different than a religious ‘soul,’ think less about what you can personally acquire, in a material sense. Instead, join struggles for shared prosperity. Know that the greatest reward is giving a deprived child reason to laugh. Honor and guard our earthly home. Lie down beside a blade of grass and contemplate its simple magnificence. Then, when relentless age takes its final toll, buy the farm with a contented smile. You lived well. You did the right thing.
Feed those worms and help make that grass grow!"
by Dennis Rahkonen / March 12th, 2009
(Via Dissident Voice : Turn Left, Take Ten Steps, Discover a Better World)
Conservatism, It's Time to Shake It Off (Again) | PEEK | AlterNet
I try to keep polemic to a minimum here, while still expressing what I think. It's a fine balance, and I generally follow the maxim, especially true in politics, that "less is more." But I do keep an eye on a number of progressive news sources (in lieu of having a television) and occasionally find something, or someone, I think needs to be shared. Dissident Voice is among the top few I heartily recommend for variety of opinion and readable depth of coverage. Today, this list and the surrounding article caught my attention:
In our addicted brainwashed state, when we are called to act, the following are our varying reactions and responses when presented with the true facts, all based on our inner fear that is usually not known or acknowledged.
* Refusal to listen or read. I will not waste my time with that crap.
* Claimed lack of time. I am too busy earning a living to keep what I have. I am doing ok right now.
* Claimed lack of intelligence. I do not have enough brains or facts to act. Those in control know far more than I do.
* Denial. Things are not really what the facts show. Our situation is not nearly as dire as you say.
* Moral Relativism. What you say is “dire” is just a matter of opinion and there are a lot of contrary opinions.
* Groundless Optimism. Things will work out alright. They always have in the past.
* Self Destruction. If it really is that bad, I will kill myself.
* Alcohol. Have a drink, fella. Relax and it will all go away and you will feel better like I do.
* God will save us. All we have to do is pray.
* Conspiracy Nut. You are a just a proponent of some crazy conspiracy theory.
* Retreat into Inner Life. Meditation, serious prayer, being in the “now,” “our survival depends only on our own inner growth,” I am saving us all by doing my inner work.
* Science will save us. I have confidence in our human ability through science to survive.
* Claim of impotence. There is nothing that I can do that will really help.
* Communism. What you propose is communistic or socialistic.
* More Big Government. We need to get the government off our backs so that we can enjoy our freedom and take care of ourselves.
* Ad Hominem attack. You are a crazy grandiose zealot. What gives you the right to proclaim the truth? I too keep up with the current news. I know just as much about the truth of what's going on as you do. You are a control freak. Your proposed actions are unloving. All change must be based on love.
* That is class war. We have no classes in America. We all have the same common interests. We are all Americans, like Obama says.
* There is no alternative. For example, many will say Israel has no alternative. About the private Wall Street banks, defective that they may be, most people say they are better than any possible alternative.
* Obamamania. President Obama will save us. This is probably the most dangerous of the ruling class myths of all because it immobilizes the civic impulse in thousands and thousands of bright knowledgeable citizen-voters from acting to support Obama.
The man who has this insight, Doug Page, also wrote the following:
Capitalism has always had this fatal flaw that some are now calling a “systemic defect.” This is the defect noted by capitalist Henry Ford in the 1920’s and first enunciated 150 years ago by Karl Marx. Capitalists do not pay their employees enough salaries and wages so that employees can buy the products that they produce. Capitalism is thus inherently unstable.
He has his own web-page, thenewliberator.com, it's worth a visit.
QUEERS IN THE STREETS OF PROVIDENCE
February 21, 2009, 7:57 pm
"Last night at a minute to midnight, a ragtag group of queers and allies, trans folks and brass band friends, some decked out in their most scandalous (over thermals, of course), danced through the streets of Providence, Rhode Island, stopping to flirt with and provoke our local gay bars. Queers decry a heteronormative consumerist holiday!
We are sick of the majority of queer spaces in our city revolving around consumerism and intoxication. We are sick of ‘queer’ meaning ‘assimilated white gay men’ when there are a whole lot of us who don’t fit with that identity. We are sick of monogamous relationships being the accepted norm. We are sick of feeling like we have to prove our love to our partners by showering them with unnecessary mass-produced crap. We are sick of feeling like crap for being single. Instead of sitting around and complaining, we decided to throw our own party!
On Valentine’s day at midnight, we took to the street, to create a free, all-ages, festive queer space that for once, didn’t revolve around alcohol. We danced to brass provided by a few members of the what cheer! brigade and had signs with slogans such as, ‘i have straight friends,’ ‘we recruit,’ and ‘break up with patriarchy.’"
Read PBS Screws Up Report on Financial Crisis for a critical analysis of what Inside the Meltdown failed to discuss. It's an instructive, if disheartening, appraisal of what passes for journalism, even from PBS, these days. I may not entirely agree with his over-arching condemnation - "Inside the Meltdown" was the first detailed, step-by-step examination of the historical events that I (and I think, most people) have been given and it helped put the whole thing in perspective. But through it all (so far, only episode one) I had a suspicion that a lot was being neglected or glossed over for the sake of video spectacle - just as Schechter demonstrates. However, as a 'starting point' to understanding, it is certainly better than nothing.
(Via. AlterNet)
Recommended reading: Social Collapse Best Practices by Dmitry Orolv. “Forget “growth, “forget “jobs,” forget “financial stability.” What should (government's) realistic new objectives be? Well, here they are: food, shelter, transportation, and security.” (ie. the things they should have been focused on all along!)
Thanks for the heads-up from Michael Göbel on Twitter.
Shepard Fairey Strikes Back, Sues AP Over 'Hope' Image | Media and Technology | AlterNet: "Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford and the lead of Fairey's legal team said:
There should be no doubt about the legality of Fairey's work. He used the photograph for a purpose entirely different than the original, and transformed it dramatically."
Shepard Fairey, the man who designed that poster that persuaded Americans that Obama is the New Messiah, has been jailed in Boston for graffiti, the very medium that drew him to everyone's attention in the first place. Without even going near the whole issue of public hypocrisy on the subjects of GRAFFITI and ANARCHISM, one can still make a very strong case that this is a blatant example of the shallowness of Change in America. It's business as usual for the Authoritarians and their corporate masters.
(Nothing Better to Do?) Cops Arrest 'Hope' Artist Shepard Fairey | Rights and Liberties | AlterNet
Is it coincidence that Fairey, whose work has become synonymous with Progressive causes and who has displayed an amazing flare for turning street art into political action and who, incidentally, is involved in a copyright dispute with Associated Press over the very same Obama image, should be arrested just prior to a triumphant opening of his work at the Institute of Contemporary Art? Or is this yet another instance of "terrorizing by example?"
See for yourself, at his website, the disturbingly radical nature of his work, and its genius:
(Via Obey Giant.)
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