Who hates your freedoms?

I am remembering that speech by George Bush, where he gives us a simple explanation of the motives of terrorists: "They hate our freedoms". George Bush is also the president who signed the Patriot Act, which actually does take away your freedoms.

So when you hear this kind of talk of presidents and congressmen, you should ask yourself, "Who hates my freedoms more? The ones they say hate my freedoms, or the ones actually taking my freedoms away?"

School of the Americas

I thought this quote from a Democracy Now interview today was interesting.

Another is a general named Sjafrie, who’s been implicated in massacres in Aceh, in the repression in Jakarta in '98 and in Timor in ’99. Sjafrie got five U.S. Special Forces courses in the U.S., and he said, after one of them, that he had been trained by U.S. Special Forces just back from Peru, and they had trained him in "how to create terror." 

We can confidently conclude that these are the courses taught at the former School of the Americas. (Now renamed as "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation".)

Who is working hardest to spread terror in the world? Who are the real terrorists?

Elections in Hong Kong and Haiti

Citizens of Hong Kong are currently engaging in mass protests because of the Chinese government's interference with free and open elections in Hong Kong.

The protesters want an open vote, but China’s plan would only allow candidates approved by Beijing.

As Boss Tweed famously said, “I don't care who does the electing, so long as I get to do the nominating." Whoever controls the primaries limits the choices in the general election to approved candidates, whether it is through direct vetting of candidate, super-delegates, or access to media.

And while these Hong Kong protests are going on, Democracy Now uses the death of "Baby Doc" Duvalier to remind of an eerily similar situation with with different actors, closer to home.

The [Haitian] elections that were being organized in 2010, 2011, were all controlled by the United States and the Organization of American States, and they had already established that the most popular party could not participate, Fanmi Lavalas of Aristide. So, there were only two right-wing candidates who were allowed to go into the second round of elections by Hillary Clinton, who went in Haiti personally to decide who can go into the second round.

Is it comforting to know that we are not above using the same tactics as communist China?

Has Ukraine happened before?

What would happen if we got involved militarily in the Ukraine? I think it's safe to say the same thing as would happen if the Russians got involved militarily in a country on our border. And we don't need to imagine that. It was called the Cuban missile crisis, and it is the closest we have ever come to nuclear war. 

Wouldn't it be insane to expect the Russians to act differently than we would in the same situation?

The symbolism of Cory Remsburg

In Obama's State of the Union address, he brought out a wounded soldier, Cory Remsburg, at the end of the speak to exemplify how America does not quit or give up. It was a very symbolic gesture.

Like Cory's ten tours in combat, we have been in Afghanistan much too long, over ten years.

Like Cory's disabling wounds, we have suffered disabling wounds to our freedom. He struggles on his left side, like we struggle to board a plane without being physically violated or questioned based on charges which are kept secret from us.

He is blind in one eye. We are partially blind in both eyes when we think that giving up our freedom, our privacy, and our right to know what the government is doing, will someone make us safer.

He had shrapnel in his brain, which required many surgeries to remove. We will require many painful surgeries to remove the cancer which has infested our highest centers of government.

It is sad indeed to see our leaders take pride in the incredible suffering their unjust wars have caused, both to Americans and to the people in the countries they have invaded.