Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama agree about one thing. Both believe that the U.S. president is an absolute ruler. Gingrich thinks that the president can overrule the Supreme Court--which means that he can scrap the U.S. Constitution. Obama is even bolder: he has announced that the president can order a military strike any place in the world at any time.
One might think that Americans might object. But after Gingrich's announcement that he would void Supreme Court decisions that he didn't agree with, he rose to the top among the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. And when Obama "rescued" an American and a Dane from captivity in Somalia--and killed nine Somalians--nobody objected.
Of course not. Gingrich didn't threaten to turn the Congress out to pasture. And Congress certainly wouldn't object to what Obama did: after all, Congress had almost succeeded in passing a bill that would have made it legal for the U.S. military to take anybody anywhere hostage--even U.S. citizens in the United States--and hold them indefinitely, without being charged with a crime. We could all have had careers in the U.S. concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay had Senator Rand Paul not intervened.
donderdag 26 januari 2012
woensdag 21 december 2011
GOD BLESS AMERICA
One of my former friends in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says he "respectfully disagrees" with what I say about the US government's treatment of Bradley Manning. If it were his son--or his grandson--being held illegally for 18 months, tortured, charged with OBEYING the law in making felony offenses public information, public knowledge, I am sure he wouldn't disagree with me.
But at least he answers what I say. Most of my former friends don't answer, or they tell me to shut up.
But I can try to talk about other things. Or maybe I should propose that I will talk about the same things, using different particulars.
The US spends a billion dollars--$1,000,000,000--a day on Obama's wars. We bomb civilians, claiming that they are "Taliban." But the US vice-president says that the Taliban is not the enemy. (By the way, the US createdthe Taliban. The same way it created Ayatolla Khoumini to run Iraq--thank you, Central Intelligence.)
But we spend nothing on schools in the US, and our schools are terrible. We allow families to live in abject poverty--and even Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, works to prevent that! We don't provide medical care for the poor.
And what do the rich Americans do? The millionaire rich look for tax loopholes. The billionaires either sit on their obscene wealth, letting it grow like an anal cancer, or they give bits of it away, or the spend it on self-glory. Most billionaires are in the first category: they just greedily grow their wealth. The second group give away a few billion--or even tens of billions. But of course Warren Buffet could afford to give away fifty billion--$50,000,000,000--and still be obscenely rich. So could Bill Gates.
I teach now at the Universitat des Saarlandes in Germany. Students and a few faculty here, and some Dickens scholars from Britain and the United States, and an Irish diplomat gave $5,000 this month to buy Christmas presents for 500 poor, orphaned, or abandoned children in Moldova. A billion dollars from Mr. Buffet or Mr. Gates would have have made it possible for "Aktion Oliver" to do a lot more!
The billionaire who wants to invest in a new space craft--to replace the shuttle--will do nothing for this world. Why doesn't he give his billions to the poor--in America or elsewhere?
President Obama buys Christmas presents (for his daughters--and his dog) at a discount store. Should we applaud? HELL NO! We should demand that he quit his wars, and give $1,000,000,000 every day to the poor.
Am I being unreasonable? Of course not--except to unreasonable people:honi soit qui mal y pense.
Cordially yours in this charitable season when good Christians nod with pennies at the poor, and offer up their greed to be blessed.
Bert Hornback
But at least he answers what I say. Most of my former friends don't answer, or they tell me to shut up.
But I can try to talk about other things. Or maybe I should propose that I will talk about the same things, using different particulars.
The US spends a billion dollars--$1,000,000,000--a day on Obama's wars. We bomb civilians, claiming that they are "Taliban." But the US vice-president says that the Taliban is not the enemy. (By the way, the US createdthe Taliban. The same way it created Ayatolla Khoumini to run Iraq--thank you, Central Intelligence.)
But we spend nothing on schools in the US, and our schools are terrible. We allow families to live in abject poverty--and even Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, works to prevent that! We don't provide medical care for the poor.
And what do the rich Americans do? The millionaire rich look for tax loopholes. The billionaires either sit on their obscene wealth, letting it grow like an anal cancer, or they give bits of it away, or the spend it on self-glory. Most billionaires are in the first category: they just greedily grow their wealth. The second group give away a few billion--or even tens of billions. But of course Warren Buffet could afford to give away fifty billion--$50,000,000,000--and still be obscenely rich. So could Bill Gates.
I teach now at the Universitat des Saarlandes in Germany. Students and a few faculty here, and some Dickens scholars from Britain and the United States, and an Irish diplomat gave $5,000 this month to buy Christmas presents for 500 poor, orphaned, or abandoned children in Moldova. A billion dollars from Mr. Buffet or Mr. Gates would have have made it possible for "Aktion Oliver" to do a lot more!
The billionaire who wants to invest in a new space craft--to replace the shuttle--will do nothing for this world. Why doesn't he give his billions to the poor--in America or elsewhere?
President Obama buys Christmas presents (for his daughters--and his dog) at a discount store. Should we applaud? HELL NO! We should demand that he quit his wars, and give $1,000,000,000 every day to the poor.
Am I being unreasonable? Of course not--except to unreasonable people:honi soit qui mal y pense.
Cordially yours in this charitable season when good Christians nod with pennies at the poor, and offer up their greed to be blessed.
Bert Hornback
zaterdag 17 december 2011
ON A LIGHTER NOTE, ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE
I have taught at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Michigan, University College Dublin, Bellarmine College in Kentucky, and now for the last four years at Saarland University in Germany. I taught at Michigan for twenty-eight years--and it is now fifty years since I began my teaching career at Notre Dame.
It was been a very interesting fifty years. The invasion of Cuba by the United States--and a total of 28 attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. The assassination of John Kennedy. George Wallace running for president in the United States. The assassination of Martin Luther King, then of Robert Kennedy. Vietnam. Richard Nixon. The illegal "Contra" army in Nicaragua. Support for Boris Yeltsin. Reagan's invasion of Grenada. George H. W. (C.I.A.) Bush's invasion of Iraq. Clinton bombing Iraq--just to show that he too could murder people. Then George H. Bush's invasion of Iraq, and Afghanistan. Obama's wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libya. The concentration camp Guantanamo Bay. Torture. And Bradley Manning.
But despite all that, I have been blessed, personally and professionally, with the opportunity to teach. And for most of these fifty years, I have had very good, serious, bright, and thoughtful students to work with. Sometimes I am ashamed to have had such a blessed life. Even during my three years in the Marine Corps, I worked for a good captain, and then a wonderful and courageous colonel--who resigned in protest against the Vietnam war. And during those three years I worked with several hundred young men who were good and thoughtful friends.
Teaching is--to me--something sacred. I'm not a believer in "sin," but if I were I would call going to class unprepared a mortal sin. And to waste students' time talking about worthless things--mere academics--is a serious sin or crime or fault as well.
But for all these years, my students have kept me working hard to be a good teacher, every day. I think that they have been successful, most days. They are responsible for my good days; I am responsible for the bad ones. I hope they haven't been too many. I can think of eleven, these last fifty years. But there are probably more. Maybe a lot more.
When all the bad stuff in the world weighs heavily on me, I think of my students, and of the privilege I have of getting to teach them. And when I come close to despair, thinking I can't change this world, I remember that theycan.
Teaching is a good life. And I am thankful that I am a teacher. The United States defeated me, and I won't teach there any more. But I am teaching in Germany now--this is my fourth year--and I am very, very happy.
Bert Hornback
It was been a very interesting fifty years. The invasion of Cuba by the United States--and a total of 28 attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. The assassination of John Kennedy. George Wallace running for president in the United States. The assassination of Martin Luther King, then of Robert Kennedy. Vietnam. Richard Nixon. The illegal "Contra" army in Nicaragua. Support for Boris Yeltsin. Reagan's invasion of Grenada. George H. W. (C.I.A.) Bush's invasion of Iraq. Clinton bombing Iraq--just to show that he too could murder people. Then George H. Bush's invasion of Iraq, and Afghanistan. Obama's wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Libya. The concentration camp Guantanamo Bay. Torture. And Bradley Manning.
But despite all that, I have been blessed, personally and professionally, with the opportunity to teach. And for most of these fifty years, I have had very good, serious, bright, and thoughtful students to work with. Sometimes I am ashamed to have had such a blessed life. Even during my three years in the Marine Corps, I worked for a good captain, and then a wonderful and courageous colonel--who resigned in protest against the Vietnam war. And during those three years I worked with several hundred young men who were good and thoughtful friends.
Teaching is--to me--something sacred. I'm not a believer in "sin," but if I were I would call going to class unprepared a mortal sin. And to waste students' time talking about worthless things--mere academics--is a serious sin or crime or fault as well.
But for all these years, my students have kept me working hard to be a good teacher, every day. I think that they have been successful, most days. They are responsible for my good days; I am responsible for the bad ones. I hope they haven't been too many. I can think of eleven, these last fifty years. But there are probably more. Maybe a lot more.
When all the bad stuff in the world weighs heavily on me, I think of my students, and of the privilege I have of getting to teach them. And when I come close to despair, thinking I can't change this world, I remember that theycan.
Teaching is a good life. And I am thankful that I am a teacher. The United States defeated me, and I won't teach there any more. But I am teaching in Germany now--this is my fourth year--and I am very, very happy.
Bert Hornback
BRADLEY MANNING
Bradley Manning is a very brave and honorable man: moreso than anybody in the U.S. government or elsewhere in the allegedly "free" United States. The United States is a police state, a rogue state that violates all laws. Bradley Manning stood up to the government, exposed war crimes and lies.
Knowing what he did, Bradley Manning did what he was required to do by both United States Civil Law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Barack Obama, supposedly a smart man and qualified as a lawyer, has already declared Bradley Manning guilty--which demonstrates clearly that the United States is not a country which respects law. (The right of habeas corpus in the United States--guaranteed in its Bill of Rights--has been suspended by both George H. Bush and Obama.)
When this absurd Kangaroo Court has had its day, it will be time to reconvene Nuremberg. It has been restored. And this time the Americans won't be the prosecutors and the judges. This time the Americans will be the prosecuted, and the judged. And the court can send all the convicted Americans to America's own concentration camp at Guantanamo.
All the Americans can offer in their defense is blackmail: they have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world, and that they aren't afraid to use them.
Knowing what he did, Bradley Manning did what he was required to do by both United States Civil Law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Barack Obama, supposedly a smart man and qualified as a lawyer, has already declared Bradley Manning guilty--which demonstrates clearly that the United States is not a country which respects law. (The right of habeas corpus in the United States--guaranteed in its Bill of Rights--has been suspended by both George H. Bush and Obama.)
When this absurd Kangaroo Court has had its day, it will be time to reconvene Nuremberg. It has been restored. And this time the Americans won't be the prosecutors and the judges. This time the Americans will be the prosecuted, and the judged. And the court can send all the convicted Americans to America's own concentration camp at Guantanamo.
All the Americans can offer in their defense is blackmail: they have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world, and that they aren't afraid to use them.
zondag 11 december 2011
Manuel Noreiga
Manuel Noreiga is being extradited from France to Panama. He was first arrested by the United States, during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The U. S. invaded Panama to get him. At his trial, Noreiga tried to introduce evidence that he had worked for George H. W. Bush when that Bush was head of CIA; this evidence was disallowed--so Noreiga held up a large photograph of himself with Bush, and Bush with his arm around his good drug-running friend.
Maybe Panama should try extraditing George H. W. Bush, too. Nicaragua might also want the former U. S. president. And Cuba? Who was resp[onsioble for those 28 U. S. attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro?
But back to Panama. It would be a shame to let George H. W. Bush die of old age, without ever having to face justice.
Maybe Panama should try extraditing George H. W. Bush, too. Nicaragua might also want the former U. S. president. And Cuba? Who was resp[onsioble for those 28 U. S. attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro?
But back to Panama. It would be a shame to let George H. W. Bush die of old age, without ever having to face justice.
zondag 4 december 2011
SENATOR RAND PAUL, HERO
People--like me--ridiculed Rand Paul when he ran for the U.S. Senate. He was a young know-nothing, we said. But now he has proved to be freedom's hero--a position ninety-nine other U. S. Senators refused.
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan asked for a voice vote that would have turned the U.S. into a full-fledged police state. It would have authorised the U.S. military to capture and incarcerate--for life--any U.S. citizen, without any judicial oversight and without the requirement of charges of the possibility of trial.
A voice vote doesn't record who votes yes and who votes no. And Levin was sure a voice vote would produce an affirmative majority.
Nobody objected but Rand Paul. And his requesting a recorded roll-call vote saved us. The prospect of being known for having voted for the end of the rule of law, for having voted to turn the U.S. into a police state, caused at least ten Senators to change their minds and vote against the measure. Among them, of course, was Senator Carl Levin.
What an extreme of dishonor. What dangerous dishonesty. Senator Levin should resign from the Senate, in shame. And Rand Paul ranks--by this one action--with the greatest of American heroes.
Bert Hornback
Senator Carl Levin of Michigan asked for a voice vote that would have turned the U.S. into a full-fledged police state. It would have authorised the U.S. military to capture and incarcerate--for life--any U.S. citizen, without any judicial oversight and without the requirement of charges of the possibility of trial.
A voice vote doesn't record who votes yes and who votes no. And Levin was sure a voice vote would produce an affirmative majority.
Nobody objected but Rand Paul. And his requesting a recorded roll-call vote saved us. The prospect of being known for having voted for the end of the rule of law, for having voted to turn the U.S. into a police state, caused at least ten Senators to change their minds and vote against the measure. Among them, of course, was Senator Carl Levin.
What an extreme of dishonor. What dangerous dishonesty. Senator Levin should resign from the Senate, in shame. And Rand Paul ranks--by this one action--with the greatest of American heroes.
Bert Hornback
zondag 27 november 2011
OOPS! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT. . .
I probably should look at what the American response to the killing of 24 Pakistani troops--allies--has been. But I don't want to. I don't want to read about or hear "apologies" for a "mistake"--which is a euphemism for "So what?"
A country that exists as far outside the idea of law as the United States does is not to be trusted for anything, anywhere, at any time. Torture, vigilante murders carried out--proudly--in other countries, the concentration camp at Guantanamo, the imprisonment of Bradley Manning: these are the signatures of the United States. And all are violations of what the world has agreed are the standards for civilised conduct on this planet.
Perhaps the rest of the world should pool its resources, and build a huge rocket that could send the United States into outer space. The hole left by its absence would hold enough water to reduce world flood threats, eliminate 65% of the world's carbon emissions, and get rid of most of the world's nuclear weapons. Our planet would be a better, safer, more livable place if most of North America could be sent into exile.
A country that exists as far outside the idea of law as the United States does is not to be trusted for anything, anywhere, at any time. Torture, vigilante murders carried out--proudly--in other countries, the concentration camp at Guantanamo, the imprisonment of Bradley Manning: these are the signatures of the United States. And all are violations of what the world has agreed are the standards for civilised conduct on this planet.
Perhaps the rest of the world should pool its resources, and build a huge rocket that could send the United States into outer space. The hole left by its absence would hold enough water to reduce world flood threats, eliminate 65% of the world's carbon emissions, and get rid of most of the world's nuclear weapons. Our planet would be a better, safer, more livable place if most of North America could be sent into exile.
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