On “Activist assaulted by Rand Paul supporters in Kentucky”
It appears that the popular fall color for shirts is a nice shade of brown.
PK
27 October 2010
***
One can see how Profitt would attempt to downplay his kick based on the way it appears in the video, which shows a relatively light blow to the head compared to what is depicted in some of the other YouTube videos that have come to light showing various police clobberings of protesters and others who pose no physical threat. However, one wonders if Profitt knew he was on camera (I think he did know) and what he might have done if he had thought he were not being filmed.
CR
27 October 2010
On “Child soldier Omar Khadr coerced into plea-bargain”
While puttering about with my household chores today I noticed I had visions of the Moscow Show Trials dancing in my head. I wondered why, then I realized my TV was tuned onto the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘factual’ reporting of Khadr’s forced confession.
KV
27 October 2010
On “The WikiLeaks documents and the rape of Iraq”
The whispers of the tired, wafts in the cold breeze of September
In the violence of the twin towers crashing home below
As the dust bowl of 2001 spreads across the sky line of the rich
And the white workers with blackened faces dig out the rubble
Somewhere in a secret prison beats the heart of a man
Considered an enemy of civilization that championed the waterboard
He lies accountable for the rich man’s folly, a system of rot
As the steel boot of capital breaks open his jaw
In the oval offices of Washington DC, there speaks the learned
Those who make the laws and methods that subject the working class
To the glorious dignities of labor – if they are so chosen
As the owners of society relax in the sunny beaches of conquered natives
A little Palestinian girl is shot straying into the fire zone
Seventeen times and pronounced dead, murderers acquitted of all charges
Combat troops withdraw from Iraq, nothing changes in policies on ground
Drones bleed the life out of poverty in Afghanistan
In the streets of America, in the metro bus, in the trains and store-fronts
People wait, muted, talking shop, talking rubbish to pass the time
While in the background sounds menacingly – the “steel of our ship”
The boots of the armed fascists with machetes and kalashnikovs
A young man, fresh out of college scans the “jobs” section of the paper
That tabloid of dis-information that he still has to consult
To find his value – if it exists – as measured in the market of sweat
Or blood, as he finds in the full page ad to “Join The Army”
Thushara
26 October 2010
***
The release of the WikiLeaks documents reveals more than the unspeakable atrocities against humanity being perpetrated on a daily basis by the US war machine on behalf of corporate America. It reveals at least two other salient features: 1) the depth and breadth of the delusion of the American people who, even in the face of these revelations, believe the US hegemon is a “liberator” battling valiantly against the forces of evil embodied in the “insurgents” and “terrorists” in Iraq & Afghanistan, who are in truth freedom fighters defending their homeland against ruthless killers. The American population has bought wholesale the lies, distortions, and doubletalk of the government-military multiplex disseminated by one of its organs, the corporate media. And, 2) that the apparatus has, unlike the blissfully ignorant American masses, learned from history. It remembers that the images of atrocities coming back from Vietnam fueled popular opposition to that “sociocidal” assault on southeast Asia. From the outset of the current invasions, the government has only permitted “embedded” journalists to record the valiant efforts of uber-patriotic “troops” while omitting the mayhem they’re causing and the violence they’re inflicting. It is, in part, these two realities that cause the beast and those who worship it to react so violently to the truth when it does emerge. So, yes, those of us who abhor and oppose the beast must call its actions what they are—“sociocide,” atrocities, crimes against humanity—and its functionaries what they are—war criminals, psychopaths, murderers. Thank you WSWS/SEP.
Peter F
26 October 2010