This article from 1930's is worth reading
(Cross-posted on my Jacob's Blog.)
On the Mike Malloy Liberal Talk Show this morning I heard him mention a web site which had an article which is worh reading. (Mike Malloy is the No. 1 Talk Show Host in the US - he offers no solutions, but he tells THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH. I listen to him daily between 5 am and 8 am Tuesday to Saturday here in Finland.))
Major General Smedley Butler (1881 - 1940)Written by
Major General (United States Marine Corps [Retired]) Smedley Darlington Butler (1881 - 1940), who served his country and was awarded two congressional medals of honor, for capture of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914, for capture of Ft. Riviere, Haiti, 1917 and the Distinguished service medal, 1919, he wrote this book
WAR IS A RACKET in 1935.
WAR IS A RACKET - published 1935For more information about the late Major General, please also read
the Wikipedia entry about him. The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:
Butler was known for his outspoken lectures against war profiteering and what he viewed as nascent fascism in the United States. His book War is a Racket(1935) presents a highly critical view of the profit motive behind warfare. Between 1935 and 1937, Butler served as a spokesman for the American League Against War and Fascism, which was considered by many to be communist dominated[5], and gave numerous speeches to the Communist Party USA in the 1930s, as well as to pacifist groups.[6] The following, from "the non-Marxist, socialist Common Sense magazine"[7] in 1935, is one of his most widely quoted statements:
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902–1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.
As I listened to
the 50 minute interview of Arundhati Roy (you can either read the transcript or listen to the interview online - I did the latter) by Amy Goodman of
Democracy Now, I realised how much this young lady has matured from a one novel writer to become one of the leading and sincere activists against corporate power, not only in the developed world but also India, where the political, bureaucratic and judicial system, as well as the mainstream media has fallen victim to fascism. Nothing could be more relevant today as witnessed by the behaviour of the Bush and Blair Administrations as well as the Manmohan Singh Administration than what this Major General wrote over 71 years ago.
The New York Times grows....
A collaborator with the Bush Administration, an organisation which should be charged under the Geneva Convention for War Crimes, suddenly finds itself on the other side of the fence from the present administration which it brought to power illegally, and now tries to stand up and be counted. I publish its Editorial of today here in full as it shows the hypocrisy of this newspaper:
Editorial
A Sudden Taste for the Law
Published: May 24, 2006
It's hard to say which was more bizarre about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's threat to prosecute The Times for revealing President Bush's domestic spying program: his claim that a century-old espionage law could be used to muzzle the press or his assertion that the administration cares about enforcing laws the way Congress intended.
Mr. Gonzales said on Sunday that a careful reading of some statutes "would seem to indicate" that it was possible to prosecute journalists for publishing classified material. He called it "a policy judgment by Congress in passing that kind of legislation," which the executive is obliged to obey.
Mr. Gonzales seemed to be talking about a law that dates to World War I and bans, in some circumstances, the unauthorized possession and publication of information related to national defense. It has long been understood that this overly broad and little used law applies to government officials who swear to protect such secrets, and not to journalists.
But in any case, Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Bush have not shown the slightest interest in upholding constitutional principles or following legislative guidelines that they do not find ideologically or politically expedient.
Mr. Gonzales served as White House counsel and as attorney general during the period Mr. Bush concocted more than 750 statements indicating that the president would not obey laws he didn't like, or honor the recorded intent of those who passed them. Among the most outrageous was Mr. Bush's statement that he did not consider himself bound by a ban on torturing prisoners. Mr. Gonzales was part of the team that came up with the rationalization for torture, as well as for the warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' e-mail and phone calls.
If Mr. Gonzales has developed a respect for legislative intent or a commitment to law enforcement, he could start by using his department's power to enforce the Voting Rights Act to protect Americans, rather than challenging minority voting rights and endorsing such obviously discriminatory practices as the gerrymandering in Texas or the Georgia voter ID program. He could enforce workplace safety laws, like those so tragically unenforced at the nation's coal mines, instead of protecting polluters and gun traffickers.
He could uphold the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture, instead of coming up with cynical justifications for violating them. He could repudiate the disgraceful fiction known as "unlawful enemy combatant," which the administration cooked up after 9/11 to deny legal rights to certain prisoners.
And he could suggest that the administration follow Congress's clear and specific intent for the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: outlawing wiretaps of Americans without warrants.
My wish that its entire editorial board along with members of the Bush Administration are locked up and the keys thrown away. They form the most vile scum on this earth having been responsible for the deaths of many many thousands of innocent women and children.
Methinks you protest too much.
Our letter to the US media
We sent the following letter to the the following US media:
ABC Nightline
ABC News
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Chairman & Publisher
New York Times
Comments Line
New York Times
Gil Schwartz, Vice President
CBS Television
National News Desk
Washington Post
Paula Zahn
CNN
Questions Line
NBC News
Dear Media Representatives,
We are not American and we do not even live in the US.
We have been shocked by the behaviour of the US media which has failed to realise that it has an insane lying idiot as it President, a foul-mouthed dictatorial Vice President, along with a compliant House and Senate, which with your media sycophantic has caused immense pain and suffering around the world.
Why did you decline to give Stephen Colbert's scathingly critical performance at the White House Correspondent's dinner the coverage it was due. Back in 1996, Don Imus roasted President and First Lady Clinton with a series of off-color and deeply personal jokes; this was covered extensively at the time.
But now, you seem to have decided to report on the White House Correspondents Association dinner without mentioning the remarks of the keynote speaker.
Why is that?
Were you uncomfortable with his courage in pointing out that you have not really been carrying out the independent watchdog role upon which all democracies depend?
It's time to stop your uncritical stenography (Decide, Announce, Type with spell check) of Administration viewpoints and pay attention to the stories that are really of interest to the lives and death of people around this world caused by your compliance with this horrible criminal US Administration aptly described by Mike Malloy as the "Bush Crime Family".
Sincerely,
Annikki & Jacob Matthan
Oulu, Finland
You can do the same from
this link. PLEASE DO IT NOW.
