Prisoners are not 'Persons'

how fucked up is this?

A Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit ruled Friday that detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are not "persons" according to it's interpretation of a statute involving religious freedom.

1984 is coming closer all the time;

link

The Root Cause Of The Economic Catastrophe

lifted wholesale from SeeingTheForest;

Everyone understands that the root cause of this economic catastrophe was corporate money's influence on our politics. Corporations are able to concentrate money. We, the People let them do that because it enables them to undertake large-scale projects. But currently executives can access that money and use it to influence politics through bribery and/or manipulating public opinion. Deregulation, unfair tax codes, loss of consumer and worker protections and decades of falling wages and benefits have been the result -- hardly in the interest of the public.

Until we stop allowing use of corporate money to influence politcians and the public these problems will only increase.

When are we going to come to grips with that?

The bush Legacy

Too good not to repost;



thanks to SeeingTheForest for the link

I'm Glad someone else is saying it

The Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU has been told that its sole objective was to attempt to overthrow the democratic wishes of the majority of the people who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty.

Richard Greene of the group COIR, which advocated a NO vote in the Lisbon referendum, told the committee that this objective was a denial of democracy and amounted to an act of treason.

Committee chairman Senator Paschal Donoghoe said it was an outrageous allegation and that he had never seen such a disgraceful performance from any group before it.

link

US Troops in US city streets?

A worrying report by Naomi Wolfe

"If the President directed the First Brigade to arrest Congress, what could stop him?"

"Nothing. Their only recourse is to cut off funding. The Congress would be at the mercy of military leaders to go to them and ask them not to obey illegal orders."

"But these orders are now legal?'"

"Correct."

"If the President directs the First Brigade to arrest a bunch of voters, what would stop him?"

"Nothing. It would end up in courts but the action would have been taken."

"If the President directs the First Brigade to kill civilians, what would stop him?"

"Nothing."

link

Characteristics Of Fascism

Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

from http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/15/8315/

Ways to restore U.S. democracy

Also from onegoodmove comes this handy list of items that would go a long way to restoring American democracy.

• The Constitution has been trashed and must be restored
• The U.S. has supported and committed torture and it must end
• The economy has been wrecked by the power elite in both government and corporate America and that greed will stop, regulations will be enforced
• The Iraq War has been a disaster and we need a way out while acknowledging that we bear responsibility for bombing that country back to Ur
• Universal healthcare is a human right and we’ll find a way to provide it
• Our infrastructure - bridges, roads, water, sewer systems - will be fixed
• No Child Left Behind will be canceled and we’ll figure out how to improve our schools
• Unwarranted searches and surveillance of citizens will stop
• There will be no more fooling around about the environment
• A fair solution will be found for immigration
• Government ethics legislation will have real teeth
• Separation of church and state will be restored
• Every last political hack (thousands of them) appointed by the Bush administration to government agencies will be fired, replaced with non-partisan competents
• Earmarks will disappear entirely from legislation – let them be properly legislated
• The wealthy elite have had it their way long enough, reaping collective trillions of dollars on the backs of the middle and lower classes and now it is their turn to pay it back

I would however add another item;

• U.S. to stop interfering in internal affairs of foreign nations and will honestly assist democracy around the world instead of undermining it.

Bush: ‘Fairness Doctrine’ unfair

Fully irony overload here, Bush thinks a bill requiring Broadcasters to be fair would be (guess what?) unfair! I really should quote the whole thing as nearly every sentence contains a 24 caret Orwellian gem (he even uses the term for chrissake!) my head nearly exploded.

In Nashville today, during a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, President Bush said there’s nothing fair about the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that once required broadcasters to offer air time for competing ideologies.

The FCC got rid of it about 20 years ago. Now, some Democrats in Congress - long the target of popular conservative radio talk-show hosts - think it’s time to bring it back.

Perish the thought, Bush told the religious broadcasters in the following passage that ends with a veto promise.

“This organization has had many important missions, but none more important than ensuring our airways - America’s airways - stay open to those who preach the ‘Good News.’ The very first amendment to our Constitution includes the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. Founders believed these unalienable rights were endowed to us by our Creator. They are vital to a healthy democracy, and we must never let anyone take those freedoms away.”

Tip to SeeingTheForest for the link.

Journalism in the U.S.A.

It was initially the picture that drew me to this post on godis4suckers which in turn links to this Salon article about the state of journalism in America. Guess what? Its not good news. On the other hand it's not surprising either so I suppose if it where good news you wouldn't believe it.

In one of the ultimate paradoxes, for American journalists -- whose role in theory is to expose the secrets of the powerful -- secrecy is actually their central religious tenet, especially when it comes to dealing with the most powerful. Protecting, rather than exposing, the secrets of the powerful is the fuel of American journalism. That's how they maintain their access to and good relations with those in power.

It seems to me that this is also how journalism works in Ireland. See the HSEs' criminal response to newstalk106 airing criticism of their disastrous policies.

Propaganda

Hour long montage documentary, includes Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Amy Goodman and more



(via Informationclearinghouse)

Ten Steps to Restore Democracy to America

Ten Steps to Restore Democracy to America, but most apply everywhere, especially No. 1

Human rights are for humans.
Corporations are not persons. We must update the 14th Amendment to insert "natural" before the word "persons" so corporations can no longer claim the "right to lie," the "right to hide their crimes," the "right to buy politicians and influence elections," and "the right to force themselves on communities that don't want them." Corporate charter laws should be amended on a state-by-state basis to reinstate the spirit of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by again outlawing the ownership of one corporation by another, to limit the term of a corporation, to insert Corporate Code-like language requiring a corporation to place the needs of its community above its desire for profits, and, as Teddy Roosevelt so strongly urged us, to ban corporations from political activity of any sort. Similarly, corporations are not nations and shouldn't stand on an equal footing with nations. The United States should withdraw from support of treaties and agreements such as NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and its support of The World Bank.