As Americans celebrate July 4th, they can contemplate that the union of "free and independent states," like the former British colonial power, has evolved into its final manifestation--a complete whore house.
Here it is, the fourth of July, and international fireworks are going off in a spectacular, albeit scary display of pyrotechnics. An American president who campaigned and won as the “peace” candidate, the one who would exhibit more caution in foreign affairs, is opening up a whole new front in George W. Bush’s “war on terror.” In the “Afpak” theater, Obama is launching an unprecedented wave of military aggression on a scale not seen since Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union — although more “pro-American” commentators might want to compare it to the D-Day invasion.
Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA’s bin Laden unit and author of Marching Toward Hell: America and Islam After Iraq, discusses the government’s reliance on CIA covert action instead of conventional military force to protect the U.S., how the Congress and President fail to take meaningful action because they seek the adulation of the media and Europe, the wisdom in leaving Afghanistan ASAP and how Americans won’t realize their government isn’t protecting them until Osama bin Laden attacks again.
While the event bills itself as the "Treasure Valley God and Country Festival," it is the nation-state that plays the starring role -- albeit an officially uncredited one -- in the four-day event currently underway in Nampa, Idaho.
As will be the case at Fourth of July commemorations throughout the United State (spelling intentional)*, the God and Family Festival displays the trappings of a contemporary Christian worship service while channeling devotion toward the government ruling us, particularly its most potent instrument of lethal coercion -- the military.
One of the aspects of the Iraq War that has fascinated me the most is how CIA agents and U.S. soldiers could actually bring themselves to kill, torture, and sexually abuse Iraqis. After all, don’t forget that neither the Iraqi people nor their government participated in the 9/11 attacks. The worst “crime” that any Iraqi committed against any American was resisting an unlawful invasion of his country.
Tom Woods has made an invaluable contribution with his latest book. The public today looks for an explanation of the current economic crisis and a prescription for recovery. Conflicting accounts abound. Should the collapse of the housing bubble and the accompanying credit crunch be met by increased government spending, as Keynesians aver? Does the key to the mystery lie in maintaining an adequate supply of money, as monetarists think? Those of us inclined to the Austrian School know better: such foolish resorts to the government serve only to worsen matters.
America has been standing on shaky moral ground for a very long time. A country that was once viewed as the embodiment of justice and liberty has long been neither just, nor liberated. Rule of law, which was once cherished, has been trampled upon in the name of "national security". In fact, despots walk among us, interact with us daily, and even hold some of the HIGHEST public offices in our country. Yet, we resist these notions that our representatives can possibly do wrong, be morally corrupt, or conceive of inhumane acts.
Ron Paul's legislative history is a lesson in principled failure. Among the bills he has co-sponsored: ending U.S. cooperation with the United Nations, a repeal of antitrust law "to restore the inherent benefits of the market economy," and stripping the government of the right to set a minimum wage. Just last week, he again introduced a bill "to repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990," which would presumably make schools less safe but which would reinforce our right to bear arms. For Paul, ideology almost always trumps politics.
None of these bills, I should note, have picked up much support. And Paul's track record with economic legislation isn't any better. His perennial efforts—shifting the country back toward a gold standard, abolishing the personal income tax, and dismantling the Federal Reserve—are nonstarters. They so change the very fabric of this country that Paul can't marshal his colleagues to his side.
Which is why Paul's most recent legislative accomplishment is so impressive.
US to conduct unprecedented surveillance over Internet
-Russia Today
US Internet users fear that the US National Security Agency is going to conduct fishnet-type surveillance without any predicate, says investigative journalist and RT contributor Wayne Madsen from Washington D.C.
President Barack Obama has announced that a special person is going to overlook the safety of government and military computer systems to protect them from attack.
But some believe that the 'Cyber Tsar' is just a way to spy upon people online.
The U.S. is joining other developed countries for the first time in saying global greenhouse gases should peak by 2020 and the average worldwide temperature shouldn’t rise more than 2 degrees Celsius, according to a draft document of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.
“This is a crucial year for taking rapid and effective global action to combat climate change,” according to the text, not yet final, that is being negotiated by government officials ahead of next week’s G-8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. The draft was circulated by nongovernmental organizations.
Dean Krugman to the Marching Band: "Stay the Course!"
-William L. Anderson
All of us who warmly remember Animal House can recall the scene at the end in which the band is trying to walk through the wall at the end of the alley, having been led there by one of the pranksters from Delta House. Obviously, like the rest of the movie, this moment is an absurdity, but nonetheless I can think of no better way to describe Paul Krugman's latest exhortation to the Obama administration to "stay the course."
Poor Bernie. The man has been ordered to spend 150 years in the hoosegow. What for? Who did he kill? A century and a half seems a little excessive for a financial crime. You could hold up three liquor stores and rape a whole convent and still not get 150 years. With a little bit of good lawyer-ing, a history of child abuse in the family, and good behavior in the big house, you’d be back on the street in 18 months.
But all the papers seem delighted. “Locked up for Life!” says one of today’s headlines. The judge “threw the book at him,” says another. His victims wanted him to get no mercy. The judge gave him none, imposing the maximum sentence. He is “extraordinarily evil,” said the man on the bench.
Bruce Fein, associate deputy attorney general under Ronald Reagan, discusses restoring the rule of law to the executive branch of government, the unprosecuted torture and FISA violations that are piling up, Obama’s impeachable neglect of his duty to faithfully execute the law and why a presidential pardon and not selectively ignoring the law is the way to deal with politically sensitive crimes.
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