I just flew back from Australia, where I was speaking about the erosions of our civil liberties. Believe me, the rest of the world is agog at our inaction as what makes us Americans is being set aflame; and they are more scared of what an unsheathed US could do to the rest of the world than we are.
They also get more news out in the rest of the world about these depredations than we do here in our media bubble.
For instance: As the Australian reported earlier this week, New South Wales Justice of the Peace Mamdouh Habib is suing the Australian federal government — which under the Howard administration had colluded with the US in committing various abuses against detainees and due process — for having allowed him to be arrested wrongly in Pakistan in 2001, kidnapped and sent illegally to Egypt. There this Justice of the Peace was illegally imprisoned and tortured for six months. After that the United States held him for FOUR YEARS in Guantanamo. His complaint notes that he is a law-abiding citizen who was swept up under false pretexts. “It turns out that Habib has incontrovertible proof of his good standing,” the Australian noted. “[H]e is a fully accredited Justice of the Peace in NSW. A search of the NSW Attorney General’s Department website reveals that not only Habib, but his wife Maha Habib, is a JP.” To become justice of the peace in New South Wales, the Australian added, “you have to be NOMINATED BY A MEMBER OF THE NSW PARLIAMENT and submit to a full character inquiry, including a criminal records check by NSW Police.” (ALL CAPS mine)
Get that? A justice of the peace in a developed-world democracy. Had you heard of that?
Me neither.
It is rumored, that Bush Sr. was known to have said, "if the masses knew what we've done we'd be chased down and hung", or something to that effect. Who knows if the statement was made by him or not, however true it may or may not be. I believe it is true in one aspect, if from the man himself or not. Read my lips, the Bush family and cohorts are traders to this nation. And you will know it when they finally collapse the American economy on their grandiose and megalomaniac visionary ideology of empire.
The same farce Wolf speaks of above is the same farce with which the elite systemically control the masses. Mostly financially. Read the post below, 7 Trillion goddamn dollars, of your money spent to enrich the already rich. Not only do they want all the money and all the power, they want you to have none. Let em/ eat dirt, or each other. Because, as I read recently, the only people who believe in class war, is the elite.
The War on Terror was presented as such a noble cause that any means justified its ends. The same argument was used in promoting the War on Drugs. And in defending the Revolution against Royalist reactionaries, the Mother Church against Protestant heretics, etc, etc...
It was the image of the fellow with the pointed hood at Abu Ghraib that relly brought back associations with the Inquisition.
Now that we have arrived at this new serfdom, few individuals actually recognize it exists, but make no mistake, you will and soon.
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Anonymous said...
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Bush and the patriot act was bad. However Obama and the NDAA is far far worse. There is no difference between parties and they all receive funding from the same corporations.
- 3:35 PM
Post a CommentI do believe in protecting American interests abroad. How else do we live a cushy lifestyle back home. However there is a clear cut line between protecting interests and raping the world.
I also find it interesting that the TEA Party and the liberal ACLU do not team up. In fact the illusion of polarization in Washington is just that an illusion. TO keep very powerful groups from uniting forces. The Tea party and ACLU have differences but they have A LOT in common. 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th amendment rights they see eye to eye on.