The Obama Administration is publicly moving toward possible military strikes in Syria, a major escalation in yet another war for the United States. The reason is the likely use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government against rebel controlled areas. In the meantime, documents have been released that show that the United States has been hypocritical on the use of such weapons. According to Foreign Policy magazine (a highly respected publication), the documents show that the Reagan Administration not only knew of the use of chemical weapons by the Iraqi Regime in the Iran-Iraq war but supplied the intelligence and satellite imagery used in the attacks. The CIA then sat on evidence of the attacks while Iraq denied their use.
Category: Politics
by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
“This thing, what is it in itself, in its own constitution? What is its substance and material? And what its causal nature [or form]? And what is it doing in the world? And how long does it subsist?” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VIII – 11
“All war is deception.” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
As previously discussed, “we need to differentiate between the terms ‘strategy’ and ‘tactics’. Strategy is defined in relevant part by Webster’s as ‘the science and art of employing the political, economic, psychological, and military forces of a nation or group of nations to afford the maximum support to adopted policies in peace or war’. Tactics, by contrast, is defined in relevant part by Webster’s as ‘the art or skill of employing available means to accomplish an end’ and ‘the study of the grammatical relations within a language including morphology and syntax’. By better understanding the tactics of propagandists, you not only gain a certain degree of immunity from their influence, but insight into their strategic ends.”
Today we will address strategy and tactics in the form of a case study. The context is the so-called “War on Drugs” and state’s efforts to legalize marijuana for medical and recreational use. The strategy is to exacerbate so called drug crime violence by obliquely attacking the burgeoning states effort to legalize marijuana and those who trade in legal marijuana by deliberately putting them at risk. The primary tactic in question is misdirection. When analyzing propaganda, it’s important to ask who brings the message, what do they want me to think, why do they want me to think it and how do they benefit? The leader of this campaign against the American people? United States Attorney General Eric Holder. Let’s examine the what, why and who benefits from what Mr. Holder wants you to think.
Continue reading “Propaganda 106 – Waging War (A Case Study) [UPDATED]”
Elders at Ridgedale Church of Christ appear not to have read John 8:7: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Instead, the elders gathered themselves and their stones this week to ban a mother because she would not renounce her own child. The Tennessee church banned two relatives for good measure after they supported Kat Cooper, a lesbian detective with the Collegedale Police Department. Her mother, Linda Cooper, was given the choice: denounce your daughter or leave the church. It was not much of a Sophie’s Choice: she left the church and with her was any evidence of God’s grace that this church may have had.
There was an interesting moment in a White House briefing this week by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest. Earnest made a frank statement that President Obama had a “bias” for black colleges and universities. The statement produced an immediate backlash from some academics at non-historically black institutions. It was an honest moment and it is likely to be blown out of proportion by those who wrongly subscribe to the view that Obama dislikes whites, as stated this week by the Maine governor. However, the statement took many of us back in the academic world particularly when the question addressed all colleges and universities with regard to loans. I am pretty sure that Earnest was simply noting that the reduction of loans would affect these institutions significantly. However, various professors emailed me with the comment that spread like wildfire across academic channels. I think that the comment is being blown out of proportion and would have been less problematic with an additional line about the high vulnerability of these institutions to the loss of such revenue. Even that however would likely draw objections that schools, including law schools, are cutting back on staff and programs as revenues fall with applications across the country. Tough times understandable make for sensitive folk.
Hindu leader Asaram Bapu caused an outcry recently when he advised that rape victims like the medical student savagely beaten and gang raped in Delhi could have avoided the attack by simply addressing the men as “brothers” and asking for mercy. He also said that saying a prayer might have avoided the attack. Now the “godman” has been booked on charges of forcing a 16-year-old girl into “unnatural sex” at a Jodhpur ashram. It is not clear if she tried to call him “brother.”
There is an interesting story out of Southhampton, New York where a toxic tide of brown water has come in — killing fish and turning the ocean into a disgusting mix of dead fish and rust colored water. While people have raised questions about the water, it was the response of the state of New York that caught my eye: “The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said it cannot comment on claims that it is not doing enough to protect Long Island waterways, because of a pending lawsuit.”
Federal Judge Mark Abel in Ohio has imposed a $15 million damage award on former Somali colonel, Abdi Aden Magan, who tortured human rights advocate Abukar Hassan Ahmed. What was most striking about the decision was the statement that such damages are necessary to guarantee that the United States is not a “safe harbor for those who commit human rights abuses.” Of course, this follows a series of court decisions barring the victims of the U.S. torture program from even getting a trial, let alone damages. Those responsible continue to appear on television from George W. Bush to Dick Cheney to John Yoo. Indeed, rather than punish those who facilitated the torture program, we made one — Jay Bybee (shown right) — a federal appellate judge with lifetime tenure. That particular “safe harbor” is found in the courthouse of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Below is my column today in the Los Angeles Times. The column follows the recognition of the name for Area 51, which produced a great deal of media coverage.
Continue reading “The Truth Is Out There: The Real Cover-Up At Area 51”
Civil libertarians have long ago lost faith in Barack Obama’s and his continuing expression of support for privacy and individual rights. Just in case anyone is still not convinced, consider the petition this month to the Supreme Court by the Obama Administration. Just last week, Obama waxed poetic about his commitment to privacy. Yesterday however, his Administration took another major swipe at privacy and asked the Supreme Court to reverse the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, which held that the police could not conduct warrantless searches of your cellphone when you are arrested. The decision in United States v. Wurie is below.
Communist Party members across China are receiving secret instructions from Beijing to stomp out notions of democracy or rights that are growing among Chinese citizens. It appears that ideas of freedom are creeping into the worker’s paradise and, in a remarkably frank and brutal message, the Party is warning that such ideas (called the “seven perils”) are threatening its hold on China.
In West Virginia, Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury is the only judge in his county. However, federal prosecutors have charged that he had enough time on his hands to frame have an affair with his secretary and frame her husband for a series of crimes, including the planting of drugs. Thornsbury, 57, is charged with two counts of conspiracy against rights to frame what U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin calls “his romantic rival.”
For civil libertarians in the United States and England, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish the practices of our own governments and the countries that we routinely denounce as authoritarian. An example of this confusion can be found in the outrageous arrest of the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian writer who brought the Snowden disclosures to light and a leading voice for civil liberties in the world. David Miranda, who lives with Greenwald, was taken into custody when passing through London’s Heathrow airport on his way home to Rio de Janeiro. He was held for nine hours and had his computer, cell phone and other equipment seized. Such stops can occur at the request of the National Security Agency and other agencies and are carried out under the abusive Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The case could also highlight possible surveillance of journalists in England and the United States.
Davenport police are facing an outcry over the treatment of an alleged shoplifter, Brandie Redell, in custody after a videotape surfaced showing clear contradictions with what the officer stated in his report. The report states that Redell was the aggressor and the officer her victim despite serious injuries to Redell that required medical treatment. Officer Scott Crow hit Redell repeatedly because he says that the woman appeared to be “willing to fight.” It is not clear what that means but the video shows the woman seated when Crow hits her and throws her to the ground.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
With all of the discussion we have had on his blog about the abandonment of the rule of law in this country, I was very interested when I read about a class action lawsuit that was filed in March of this year. The case is Saleh v. Bush, and it was filed in an attempt to hold former President George W. Bush and five members of his administration responsible and liable for the damages incurred when Iraq was attacked by the United States and some of its allies in 2003.
“Saleh is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit targeting six key members of the Bush Administration: George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Paul Wolfowitz. In Saleh v. Bush, she alleges that the Iraq War was not conducted in self-defense, did not have the appropriate authorization by the United Nations, and therefore constituted a “crime of aggression” under international law—a designation first set down in the Nuremberg Trials after World War II. The aim of the suit is simple: to achieve justice for Iraqis, and to show that no one, not even the president of the United States, is above the law.” Yes Magazine Continue reading “Single Mom Versus George W. Bush”
Submitted by Darren Smith, Guest Blogger
According to CBS New York, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg desires to reduce crime among the more than half million residents of the city’s housing districts. He is quoted as saying
“Five percent of our population lives in NYCHA housing, 20 percent of the crime is in NYCHA housing – numbers like that. And we’ve just got to find some way to keep bringing crime down there. And we have a whole group of police officers assigned to NYCHA housing,” Bloomberg said. “The people that live there, most of them, want more police protection. They want more people. If you have strangers walking in the halls of your apartment building, don’t you want somebody to stop and say, ‘Who are you, why are you here?’”
According to this proposal, keeping crime down would be successfully addressed by requiring all residents to submit to fingerprinting as a condition of residency. Supposedly, the fingerprint or other biometric data would be used for biometric access devices such as live fingerprint scanning devices mated with door locks. Yet, the centuries old method of using a key seems to work almost as well and so could perhaps an electronic RFID or magnetic stripe card device such as those used in many hotels. Is security the real goal or is it more nuanced?