With Friends Like Israel, It's No Surprise We Have So Many Enemies

I was watching The Road yesterday, a movie based on The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and realized that it was a parable for the US. A man and his son travel south on a road in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, searching for food and avoiding the dangers of thieves and cannibals, all the while "carrying the fire" of goodness within themselves. Along the way, circumstances arise which force the father to behave in ways that are not good, with his son asking whether or not they were still the good guys.
And in the post-9/11 world, that is what has happened to the US. Where we used to oppose torture, it has now become official government policy, under both the the Bush and Obama administrations. We are increasingly being taxed while receiving less representation in our "democracy". But moreover, we are aligning ourselves with countries that do not hold the same values.
One such state is the criminal state of Israel. We are told that it's "the only democracy in the Middle east", yet when the people of Palestine voted for Hamas to represent them in the PA, the US and Israel instead installed their puppet regime. So much for democracy. Since then, the people of Gaza have been suffering while vital humanitarian items are denied, a form of collective punishment which is a violation of human rights, as well as illegal under international law. During Operation Cast lead, Israel committed war crimes, along with Hamas.
Now once again, Israel has shown contempt for humanity and basic human rights, as well as international law,   by attacking the Freedom Flotilla in international waters. Nineteen people were killed and dozens more were injured when the Israelis boarded and attacked a convoy of ships delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The UN has called for an investigation, but the reality is that the international body is powerless to do anything because of the US backing in the Security Council.
So, you see, along the road, the US has become the bad guys. We threaten Iran with sanctions for it's peaceful nuclear power program, yet we illegally under our own laws give $3 billion in aid to Israel, which has nuclear weapons, yet refuses to sign the NPT. And sure, you could write your congressperson to complain, but since the majority of them receive contributions from Aipac, it's a moot point, since they have proven time and again they're not listening to the American people.
This Memorial Day, the time has come to ask ourselves, "What have all our fallen soldiers died for?" Democracy? No. Freedom? No. Liberty? A sense of righteousness? An end to cruel and unusual punishment?No. No. And no. Everything they allegedly died for has been made a mockery by a political situation where money and re-election have become more important than holding up the ideals that our soldiers are still being asked to kill and die for. Remember that today, or better yet, this election year.
UPDATE: Since an attack on a ship flying the flag of a NATO country is considered an attack on NATO itself, will NATO, under the obligations of Article 5 now form a coalition to invade Israel? Of course not! Don't be silly. Israel is exempt from all rule of law. HOLOCAUST!!! HOLOCAUST!!!
UPDATE 2: Israel now claims Al Qeada had ties to boat. Sure, it was Al Qaeda. I guess that makes the murder of nineteen people okay!

Another Big Fuck You To The American People

It's nice to know that as the Republicans and Democrats waste time bickering in a non-rush to offer health care to millions of Americans that they can set aside their differences long enough to condemn the Goldstone report , because, even though it condemns the actions of both Israel and Hamas, it is still "biased". Why is it biased? Because Hamas, with their rockets their barely reach their target are much worse than the Israeli government dropping white phosphorous on civilian populations, targeting schools and other numerous infractions of international law.
So the Obama administration, which has sided with the criminals in the Bush administration, who tortured and committed numerous other crimes, has once again sided with the bad guys (okay worse guys) once again.
The report, which will go before the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, is just another in a long list of reasons Israel has used to stall peace talks. Israel also refuses to stop building illegal settlements, destroying Palestinian homes, and ravaging Palestinian crops until a peace agreement has been made, which gives them all the more reason to oppose a settlement.
But how about those assclowns in Congress? Seriously, it's almost as if the taxpayers don't exist. "Sorry your beloved family member had to die, but we had to protect more criminals who receive your money and have their health care taken care of by the US government.

Dick Cheney Vs. History

The term "history" is tossed around too much these days for my liking. Jay Leno's last show as touted on NBC as "going down in history". Last night's local news story on an American Idol contestant mentioned Season 8 as having "gone down in the history books". But does any one really think that at anytime in the future, they'll really be looking back at the viewing habits of one nation that may or may not be around one hundred years from now, let alone be reading books?
But is history the real reason Dick Cheney is afraid of prosecution for his war crimes? A lengthy trial, legal motions and appeals processes assure that Dick Cheney will more than likely be dead before he ever sees the inside of a prison. And after the evidence that torture memos don't show what Cheney claimed will be all the torture photos showing the horrific abuse of detainees authorized by Cheney himself.
Long after the fall of the Nazi regime and successes like the Volkswagen, the Autobahn in Germany what remains for history are all the atrocities, the death camps, gas chambers, soap made from humans, and lamp shades made from human skin. All of which make Adolph Hitler the most despised person in history. Right now, Dick Cheney stands as the most despicable person alive. Any trial that may expose his truly heinous crimes may in fact over time, lead to Dick Cheney knocking Hitler down to the second position.

Governed By Crooks

"There is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes. The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."

-Lt. Gen. Antonio Taguba
Dick Cheney has been making the rounds lately, openly admitting he is a war criminal who willfully and wantonly violated the Geneva Conventions. There doesn't need to be any investigation by the DoJ, when someone confesses on national television, I believe that's all the evidence needed.
However, it's unlikely that Cheney will actually be prosecuted for being a war criminal, something that puts him in the same league as Pol Pot or Adolph Hitler, because he is wealthy, and a member of the corpocracy, the people who decide that you should go to jail for smoking a joint, but for someone who authorized the wholesale slaughter of 1,297,997 Iraq civilians, and the torture of people who may be in US custody because they were sold to the US for bounties as opposed to being linked to al qaeda, 9/11, or even are any kind of terrorist.
Take Bernie Madoff, who made off with $50 billion in fraud. His ass should be sitting in jail right now, but he's not. He's under "house arrest" in one of the mansions that his scams bought him. Poor guy!
That these people should go unpunished is unconstitutional. We are guaranteed equal protection under the law, but from where I'm sitting, things don't look all that equal. In fact, it almost would appear the bigger the crime, the more likely it is that you will see any jail time. This is to encourage our children to think big, even when it comes to crime.