'CUZ THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO

by Robert Shetterly

We humans constantly are telling ourselves stories about moral and immoral behavior. Many of the most memorable -- if only because of repetition -- are from the Bible. From them we learn about moral courage and cowardice, about wisdom and folly, about when to obey and when to rebel.  And, of course, most Bible stories tell us to believe in God. But God -- He/She/It -- is so many things at once: God is Love, God is Nature, God is Truth. How can I believe in all these things at the same time? I’m more comfortable with each of those declarations about what God  IS when  the formula is reversed. For example, I prefer Nature is God. If that identifies me as a pagan, so be it. But the Bible stories still move me profoundly, especially when I try to apply them to the world around me. 

For instance, remember the story of King Herod and the Massacre of the Innocents? Herod, in an attempt to protect his crown from being supplanted by the rumored birth of the King of the Jews, ordered the execution of all male children in Nazareth under the age of two. He cannot identify which child might be Jesus, so he decides to kill them all. We are expected to think about this monstrous crime as the work of a paranoid maniac, which it is. And we may be expected to learn that totalitarian leadership can lead to this sort of barbarity. That is also correct.  

But couldn´t we also interpret Herod´s actions as the use of rational and necessary collateral damage to ensure the continued integrity of the state? If the sanctity of the state is the foremost good, then security has to trump justice and the right to life of any individual. In fact, security then becomes justice. It’s the same political and philosophical excuse used for drone warfare by our government today. If children are killed as a by-product of killing terrorists, then the killing is justified. Herod feared Jesus wanted to overthrow his state. Our government fears the terrorists do. Are all actions that advance the security of the state de facto ethical?  Should our drones be called Herod? (Image: Giotto's 'Massacre of the Innocents')

Take a look at Giotto’s masterful 14th Century fresco of the Massacre of the Innocents.  Above the town square, where his soldiers are lancing and decapitating children, Herod stands calmly giving his orders, pointing out the next victim as calmly as a US president ordering a drone strike. In neither case is any consideration given to law or to morality, or to what we might quaintly call “due process.” We witness the paranoid justice of security. 

What lesson is this behavior meant to teach our children? I am reminded of how Martin Luther King, Jr. struggled in the late 1960s to answer young black men in the ghetto when they asked him why they should not use violence to achieve their rights. They reminded Dr. King that the US government claimed the use of extreme violence in Vietnam as justified and necessary to promote democracy, so why shouldn’t they use the same method to achieve equality at home? King’s only answer was to condemn the war as immoral, a war that was racist, imperialist, and for the benefit of the military-industrial complex at the expense of the poor. 

Another instructive Bible story is the Wisdom of Solomon parable. King Solomon is approached by two women both claiming to be the mother of the same child. How can he know who is telling the truth? DNA tests were still a ways off. So, he suggests a compromise. Compromises are good. He raises his sharp sword intending to slice the baby in half. 

One woman objects and gives up her claim in order to protect the child. Solomon in his wisdom now knows who the mother is and hands her the intact child.

But our Solomon today is CEO of Terrible Swift Sword, Inc. His “compromise” has a special interest. What an opportunity to demonstrate superior sword performance! This shareholder Solomon asks us to accept the damage done to our children by gun violence, by contamination, by poor education, by fast food, by climate change, by absurd drug laws, by continual war funding, by the necessities of Empire -- on & on -- as “compromises” so that profits may be enhanced and markets expanded. The wisdom of capitalism. The lives of our children are being sliced in half. 

When the rights of money become part of the process of ethical compromise, wisdom is lost. When we allow our justice to be derived from our fears for security, ethics are lost. We are not then wise kings with wise swords, but armed and frightened barbarians with bottom lines. Every would-be Solomon becomes a Herod.

How do I know this? The Bible tells me so.

 - Robert Shetterly is a writer and artist who lives in Brooksville, Maine. He is has created the series of portraits called Americans Who Tell the Truth.

GROWING CRACKDOWN IN JAPAN

In Japan police have recently arrested many anti-nuclear acrivists. A protest rally against police oppression was held in Osaka.

NUTS & BOLTS ORGANIZING

The Vermont Breakthrough! How a Human Rights Movement Is Winning a Healthcare System that Puts People First from NESRI on Vimeo.

This video tells the story of a successful grassroots campaign organizing for our human rights. This video is co-produced by the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) and the Vermont Workers' Center.

It really well illustrates how to put together a campaign from start to finish.  Worth watching.

WHAT DO WE REALLY KNOW ABOUT NORTH KOREA?

RT's Abby Martin talks to the national coordinator for the ANSWER Coalition, Brian Becker, about North Korea's nuclear drive, its tense relations with the US and the rationale of harsh rhetoric coming from the international community.

She starts out with some good Korean history - remember that this year marks 60 years since the Korean War Armistice (ceasefire) was signed between the US and North Korea.  To this day the US has refused to sign a real peace treaty with North Korea.

THE HIPPIES WERE RIGHT

ASSORTED STORIES OF INTEREST

• Last week I posted a news video from Nova Scotia about Global Network board member Tamara Lorincz's lonely vigil against Canada's vigorous new warship building program.  This morning she sent around news about a man who stopped to talk with her during her vigil.  Turns out he is the President of CAW/Marine Workers Federation Local.  Tamara tells a great tale about their meeting and says, " I was shocked that he readily agreed with me!" It's a perfect illustration that you never know the power that one person can unleash.  The union president told her that the workers were talking about the protest inside the shipyard and wanted more information.  See the full story here

• I received an email this morning from Bard Wormdal a journalist working for NRK, Norway's largest media house. He has been working as journalist for more than 25 years, with a special interest on Arctic and international issues.  Bard has just released the English versions  - e-book and paperback - of his new book The Satellite War.  The e-book can be downloaded for free until Monday. The Satellite War is about the global militarization of space with a special  focus on the polar areas. You can download it here

•  A new article called U.S. Dollar Collapse: Where is Germany’s Gold? by Peter Schiff is worth reading.  He reports: The financial world was shocked this month by a demand from Germany’s Bundesbank to repatriate a large portion of its gold reserves held abroad. By 2020, Germany wants 50% of its total gold reserves back in Frankfurt – including 300 tons from the Federal Reserve. The Bundesbank’s announcement comes just three months after the Fed refused to submit to an audit of its holdings on Germany’s behalf. One cannot help but wonder if the refusal triggered the demand.
• The next general meeting of Maine's new Alliance for the Common Good will be held on Friday, February 22 from 6-8 pm in Augusta.  We will meet at Mediation & Facilitation Resources (11 King St).  All are invited to attend.  We are planning some great upcoming events across the state and welcome new energy and ideas.

•  Our Green Party neighbor Fred Horch reports:  Although Maine Citizens for Clean Elections and other groups will lobby to strengthen Maine’s clean election system, these efforts are facing strong opposition from Republicans who are framing the issue as “welfare for politicians.” The Governor’s proposed budget for 2013-2014 defunds $4 million from the Maine Clean Elections Fund, effectively gutting the program. In the context of a structural gap of hundreds of millions of dollars, the Governor’s spokesperson justified this budget proposal on the grounds that other needs had higher priority. See the whole story here

HONORING PAUL & ESLANDA ROBESON

In a Black History Month special, Democracy Now remembers the lives of the legendary civil rights activist, singer and actor Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda, whose story is not as well known. One of the most celebrated singers and actors of the 20th century, Robeson was attacked, blacklisted and hounded by the government for his political beliefs.

Eslanda Robeson, known by her friends as "Essie," was an author, an anthropologist and a globally connected activist who worked to end colonialism in Africa and racism in the United States.

Democracy Now is joined by historian Barbara Ransby, author of the new biography, "Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson."

WE WANT CUTS IN THE WAR MACHINE

Bring Our War $$ Home now.

UNDERSTANDING THE KOREA NUCLEAR TANGLE

North Korea has exploded its third underground nuclear test.  I am against all nukes - every one of them - on all sides.  But the hypocrisy of the US (who has done 1,054 nuclear tests) is blinding.  Here is part of a statement by the U.S. Working Group for Peace & Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific that I am part of.

We oppose the development, possession of, and threats to use nuclear weapons by any nation. We have deep concerns that North Korea’s third nuclear weapons test contributes to an increasingly dangerous region-wide nuclear arms race. We understand the North Korean test was part of a cycle of threat and response to previous U.S. nuclear threats, and to continued military provocations. We cannot ignore the double standards and hypocrisies of the members of the “nuclear club” who refuse to fulfill their Article VI disarmament commitments of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty commitments by “modernizing” their omnicidal arsenals while insisting that other nations refrain from becoming nuclear powers.

We note that beginning with the Korean War, the U.S. has prepared and threatened to attack North Korea with nuclear weapons at least nine times, that it maintains the so-called U.S. “nuclear umbrella” over Northeast Asia, and that its current contingency plans for war with North Korea include a possible first-strike nuclear attack.

The Obama administration’s first-term policy of “strategic patience” with the DPRK, reinforced by crippling sanctions that contribute to widespread malnutrition, connected to the stunting of growth in children and starvation, has proven to be a grave failure. The policy has foreclosed crucial opportunities to explore diplomacy and engagement.

Added to these factors was the January 22, 2013 UN Security Council resolutions condemning North Korea’s December rocket launch and the tightening of the existing punitive sanctions program against North Korea.  The double standard that permits all of North Korea’s neighbors and the U.S. to test and possess missiles, space launch, and military space technologies and to threaten the use of their missiles is extraordinary.

2013 marks the sixtieth year since the signing of the 1953 Armistice Agreement, which established a ceasefire but did not end the Korean War. We join Koreans around the world who call for Year One of Peace on the Korean Peninsula, as well as our partners across Asia and the Pacific who have designated 2013 as the Year of Asia-Pacific Peace and Demilitarization. 

Working Group Members:

Christine Ahn , Gretchen Alther, Rev. Levi Bautista, Jackie Cabasso, Herbert Docena, John Feffer, Bruce Gagnon, Joseph Gerson, Subrata Goshoroy, Mark Harrison, Christine Hong, Kyle Kajihiro, Aura Kanegis, Peter Kuznick, Hyun Lee, Ramsay Liem, Andrew Lichterman, John Lindsay-Poland, Ngo Vinh Long, Kevin Martin, Stephen McNeil, Nguyet Nguyen, Satoko Norimatsu, Koohan Paik, Mike Prokosh, Juyeon JC Rhee, Arnie Sakai, ; Tim Shorrock, Alice Slater, David Vine, Sofia Wolman

The Working Group for Peace and Demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific is comprised of individuals and organizations concerned about and working for peace and demilitarization in Asia and the Pacific on a comprehensive basis. For more information see here

CLASS WILL NOW BEGIN - PLEASE BE SEATED AND QUIET

YANG HUNGER STRIKING AGAIN IN PRISON

Report by Sung Hee-Choi from Jeju Island about Professor Yang Yoon-Mo entering his 12th day of hunger striking as he returns to prison with a 18 month sentence for continued non-violent protest (obstruction of business the government called it):

In fact, his daily fast is carried out from hard resolution. According to Park Hee-Sou, Chairman of the Island Provincial Council, who visited Prof. Yang in the jail along with other two Council representatives and strongly recommended him stop of fast on Feb. 5, Prof. Yang said:

" I hear the sound of the Gureombi Rock being broken by construction (destruction) even in my sleep during the night. Even though I suffer every day, I am taking fast from the resolution that I have to inform the people the fact that the naval base construction itself is done by an evil law. If I spend one year and six months without difficulty, it means I acknowledge that I committed crimes."

However, it is true that his health has been rapidly weakened after the long time fasts of more than 74 days (including about 60 days' prison fast) and 42 days (in jail, too) in 2011 and 2012 each. Many people hope he will stop the fast from the worry of his health.

You can follow all the news from the Gangjeong village struggle by going to Save Jeju Now

KILL THEM ALL....

Journalist Nick Turse describes his personal mission to compile a complete and compelling account of the Vietnam War’s horror as experienced by all sides, including innocent civilians who were sucked into its violent vortex.

Turse, who devoted 12 years to tracking down the true story of Vietnam, unlocked secret troves of documents, interviewed officials and veterans — including many accused of war atrocities — and traveled throughout the Vietnamese countryside talking with eyewitnesses to create his book, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.

“American culture has never fully come to grips with Vietnam,” Turse tells Bill Moyers, referring to “hidden and forbidden histories that just haven’t been fully engaged.”

It's important to have Turse further document these atrocities which have essentially been US official policy from the genocide of Native Americans - to the war on the Philippines - to the Korean War - and onto Iraq and Afghanistan today. Kill them all - a policy that repeatedly came from the highest levels of the US government.

The Pentagon always claims that our "enemies have no respect for human life" but the facts point to just the opposite being the truth.

ENSURING THE CONTINUATION OF THE POWER STRUCTURE

RT's Abby Martin sits down with former NSA whistleblower, Thomas Drake, about his personal story as a whistleblower and what he describes as a 'total betrayal' by part of the government.

US-NATO MISSILE OFFENSE

I was interviewed on RT last night about the Pentagon's "missile defense" system.  The US says it is being built to protect against Iran and North Korea but in fact it is being used as part of the US-NATO encirclement of Russia and China.

BRINGING TOGETHER THE MOVEMENTS IN THE UK

Ten years after the largest protest in British history in February 2003, activists examine Britain's legacy in Iraq and the era of continuous warfare.  They pledge to connect the anti-war and anti-austerity movements throughout the UK.

SEN. KING - DRONES ARE NOT HUMANE!

I sent a Letter to the Editor of the Brunswick Times Record yesterday about our newly elected Sen. Angus King's comment that drones are a "humane weapon."  King lives in Brunswick and my hope is that many who voted for him, thinking that he'd be a moderate Independent, will feel compelled to get him to change his harsh thinking about drones.

It would be good if fellow Mainers, and others from around the world, would send Sen. King messages to help him see his remarks are wrong and hurtful.  You can reach Sen. King here
   

Dear Editor:

Predator and Reaper drones are not humane.  The Pentagon calls them "efficient Hunter-Killer platforms".

The Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearings for President Obama's new CIA director, John Brennan, unleashed a fire storm of criticism about the killer drone program.

Sadly the day following the February 7 public hearing I heard Maine's new Sen. Angus King interviewed on MSNBC where he called drones a "very smart artillery shell....a more humane weapon." 

Sen. King is an intelligent man which is likely one reason he was appointed to the Senate Intelligence Committee that was in charge of holding the Brennan confirmation hearings.  Unfortunately the Senate Intel Committee appears to be more concerned with protecting the administration's drone war than getting to the bottom of the truth.

The drones, with their "Hellfire missiles" on-board, have been used over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.  Reports have been surfacing for years that legions of civilians are being killed by the unmanned drones which are flown by pilots sitting in front of computer screens back in the US using military satellites to guide them.  Global outrage against these unforgiving weapons has grown so strong that the UN has begun an investigation into the legality and casualties of drone strikes.

A new study from Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute finds that the number of Pakistani civilians killed in drone strikes are “significantly and consistently underestimated” by the US government.  The Bureau of Investigative Journalism issued a report detailing how the CIA is deliberately targeting those who show up after a drone attack - rescuers and even mourners at funerals.

So far a minimum 2,629 people appear to have died in CIA drone strikes in Pakistan. The Bureau’s work suggests 475 of them were likely to have been civilians.  We are making new enemies with every drone strike.  Obama's CIA designate Brennan claims that no civilians have been killed.

I call on Sen. King to retract his statement that drones are a "humane weapon" and believe that he should apologize to the citizens of Maine and to the civilian victims of US strikes.  I would urge those who voted for Sen. King, thinking he was a moderate alternative, join me in asking him to change his thinking on drones.

Bruce K. Gagnon
Coordinator
Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
Bath

CONTROL THE MEDIA, CONTROL THE MESSAGE, CONTROL THE PEOPLE

Here are the top twenty media corporations in the U.S. according to mediaowners.com  All but two of the following, #18 and #19, are members of the Council On Foreign Relations.

1.   Time Warner Inc.
2.   Walt Disney Company
3.   Viacom Inc.
4.   News Corporation
5.   CBS Corporation
6.   Cox Enterprises
7.   NBC Universal
8.   Gannett Company, Inc.
9.   Clear Channel Communications Inc.
10. Advance Publications, Inc.
11. Tribune Company
12. McGraw-Hill Companies
13. Hearst Corporation
14. Washington Post Company
15. The New York Times Company
16. E.W. Scripps Co.
17. McClatchy Company
18. Thomson Corporation
19. Freedom Communications, Inc.
20. A&E Television Networks


The six corporations that collectively control U.S. media today are Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., CBS Corporation and NBC Universal.  Together, the "big six" absolutely dominate news and entertainment in the US.  But even those areas of the media that the "big six" do not completely control are becoming increasingly concentrated. For example, Clear Channel now owns over 1,000 radio stations across the US.  Companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft are increasingly dominating the Internet.

You can find much more information about the vast holdings of various media corporations here 

SUNDAY SONG

WE ARE MURDERING PEOPLE WITH NO EVIDENCE

RT talks to John Kiriakou - former CIA official who blew the whistle on the agency's torture practices. After 9/11 John Kiriakou served as chief of counter-terrorist operations in Pakistan. And now, years later, John Kiriakou is heading to prison. He was just sentenced to two and a half years in jail.

He concludes the interview saying, "I think the Obama administration is largely an extension of the Bush administration."

REPORTED FROM OUR HOUSE

In the middle of the snow storm we had a knock on the door and a young woman from Malaysia asked if she could use our back yard as a backdrop for her weather report that will be beamed back home.  Sure we said and even offered her a coat - but she appeared to be in a big hurry to do the spot and split.

She was kind enough to send me the link but I don't have any idea what she was saying.  The wind was blowing hard and I figure that is what she told them.

HOMER DON'T WANNA GO OUT

• They are reporting almost 30 inches of snow across the state since yesterday.  We have more snow here than we can ever dream of shoveling.  The wind is blowing at 32 mph. I shoveled for 1/2 hour early this morning just to make it possible for Homer to get out the door to pee.....what a mess.  MB spent last night in Portland (45 minutes south of Bath) at a co-worker's house and had to walk to work at the homeless shelter today.  She said more than 200 homeless are crowded into Preble Street Resource Center at this point. Not sure she can make it home tonight either.

• Did an interview on PressTV this morning about torture and also sent a letter to our local paper about our new Sen. Angus King's comments about drones being a "very smart artillery shell....a more humane weapon."  Asked that he apologize for that comment.

MOVE TO AMEND

In my latest episode of This Issue I interview Jerry Provencher of the Bath group Move to Amend. That is, "move to amend" our Constitution...to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. Move to Amend rejects the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United and other related cases.

SENATE INTEL COMMITTEE: KABUKI OVERSIGHT

President Obama’s nominee to run the CIA, John Brennan, forcefully defended Obama’s counterterrorism policies, including the increased use of armed drones and the targeted killings of American citizens during his confirmation hearing Thursday.

"None of the central questions that should have been asked of John Brennan were asked in an effective way," says Jeremy Scahill, author of the forthcoming book, "Dirty Wars." "In the cases where people like Sen. Angus King or Sen. Ron Wyden would ask a real question, for instance, about whether or not the CIA has the right to kill U.S. citizens on U.S. soil, the questions were very good. Brennan would then offer up a non-answer. And then there’d be almost no follow-up." Scahill went on to say, "[Brennan] has served for more than four years as the assassination czar, and it basically looked like they were discussing purchasing a used car on Capitol Hill. I mean, it was total kabuki oversight. And that’s a devastating commentary on where things stand."

INSIDE THE OIL PIPELINE

Greg Palast: Koch brothers could save two billion dollars a year if they can replace Venezuelan heavy crude crude with Canadian tar sands - one of the dirtiest sources of carbon emissions on the planet

THE DRONE DEBATE IS EXPANDING

The Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper ran drone protest photo from Brennan hearing yesterday in Washington

•  Lots of emails flying around this morning congratulating CodePink for yesterday's truth telling protest in DC.  One wrote:  The anti-Drones protests in Washington yesterday also made the front page of El Pais in Spain. They really got the message home.  The CIA is the biggest Security Risk going ... 
• One interesting development is that libertarian elements within the Republican Party are increasingly speaking out against US drone policy.  Just this morning I received an email from one of these organizations and they are running a poll for their members on the drone issue asking: "Do you think Obama should be able to kill American Citizens thought to be affiliated with terrorists without clear evidence?"  They are using the poll to raise funds which indicates to me that they acknowledge their membership base is upset about out-of-control unconstitutional drone assassination policies.
• I was able to watch a bit of the hearing yesterday and noticed our Maine Sen. Susan Collins (Republican) asking Brennan a couple of direct questions on drone policy.  We sent out an email encouraging Mainers to contact her as well as our new Sen. Angus King (Independent) who is also on the Senate Intelligence Committee.  King told MSNBC this morning that, "In the context of 1,000 years of war, drones are more civilized" but then covered his behind by saying, One man [Obama] cannot be "judge, jury and executioner." Collins and King are very likely to vote to approve Brennan but my perception is that Collins was asking some serious questions because she heard from alot of folks across our state.  And some of the folks who were contacting her were probably from the Republican party.
• I know that counting on a positive working "alliance" with Republicans is wishful thinking - but it must be said that many Republicans still believe in Constitutional limits on federal power.  Nothing speaks stronger to the break down of our rights than drones killing American citizens without due process. 
• Below is a segment of the drone discussion on MSNBC including a couple statements by our new Sen. King from Maine.  He calls drones a "very smart artillery shell....a more humane weapon."  
• In the end the video below is a group of talking head functionaries from the corporate oligarchy but it reflects that global citizen pressure is forcing this discussion into the open and they are being made to defend the actions of a cancerous empire.  Keep the heat on them.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

CIA DIRECTOR HEARING PROTEST

Watch CodePink's demonstration outside Hart Senate Building before John Brennan's hearing and at the hearing itself. Eight CodePink members were arrested for speaking out and Senator Feinstein ordered all "CodePink" associates be "evicted" from the hearing.

The Progressive reported about the hearing:

John Brennan tried to elude his questioners at his confirmation hearing as CIA director..... After a welcome disruption by members of CodePink who denounced him and got ejected from the hearing, Brennan said that there is a “misimpression” and a “misunderstanding” about “the care we take” and--he added obscenely--“the agony we go through” in deciding who to kill. (Compare his “agony” to the agony of the families of the innocent people he’s killed with his drones.)......Nor was Brennan reassuring on full disclosure, responding with classic doublespeak: “We need to optimize transparency and at the same time optimize secrecy.”

ELLSBERG CALLS FOR IMPEACHMENT

A lawsuit challenging a law that gives the government the power to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens was back in federal court this week. On Wednesday, a group of academics, journalists, and activists presented oral arguments in court against a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, authorizing the military to jail anyone it considers a terrorism suspect anywhere in the world without charge or trial.

In a landmark ruling last September, Judge Katherine Forrest of the Southern District of New York struck down the indefinite detention provision, saying it likely violates the First and Fifth Amendments of U.S. citizens.

Democracy Now interviews Daniel Ellsberg, a plaintiff in the case and perhaps the country's most famous whistleblower. Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing the secret history of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

DROWNING DEMOCRACY - AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR

• Today the US Senate will likely give their approval to Obama's pick of John Brennan to be head of the CIA.  The best way to describe him is as a "loyal operative" for the oligarchy.  He worked for George W. Bush and is well known for his strong defense of torture.  Now he works for the magician and defends drone attacks - including the killing of American citizens by drones without due process as the constitution requires.  Obama calls Brennan "uniquely qualified" for the CIA job. Drones are now being used in the US for surveillance and targeting will be the next step - likely sooner than we think.
• South Korean media is reporting a story today that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) tried to manipulate popular opinion during last December‘s presidential election giving rise to charges that the NIS interfered in the election on an institutional level. Hankyoreh reports: On Feb. 5, six civic organizations, including MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society and the Progressive Network Center, issued a joint statement on the matter. “For NIS employees to write posts supporting the government and the ruling party and criticizing the opposition and civic groups, and to click ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ on articles posted by others, falls outside of the bounds of the normal work of the NIS. Thus far, the NIS has treated the right to collect information related to domestic security as grounds for getting involved with politics, but this right must be revoked once and for all,” the statement said. “We must also strip the NIS of the authority to plan and alter security work, which can influence police investigations, and gradually transfer this to the office of the National Security Council (NSC).”
• This South Korea story is very bad news but not a surprise as it is a classic example of fascism which results from the wedding of corporate capital and government.  Most politicians are in the bag.  It's the same story in the US and in most other countries around the world today.  Our fight is the same.  We are all in this together now.
• In the video below Chris Hedges speaks at the 2/6/13 news conference following oral arguments made at Federal Courthouse in New York City. Hedges v. Obama challenges key provisions of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that legalize indefinite detention of American citizens. Learn more at www.StopNDAA.org

EATING OUR PLANET

A good video about the consequences of our "modern" consumptive lifestyle.

The video is put together by a Green Party member in Maine.

He says it all.

NEWS ROUNDUP

• My weekly radio show, with Peter Woodruff, on WBOR at Bowdoin College has been moved to Tuesday evenings from 6-8pm.  Each new semester they kick all the regular shows to new times to accommodate the students who get first crack at the calendar.  It makes no sense because the regulars are the ones that keep the station going when the college is out of session.  We are like wandering minstrels.
• Inter Press Service reports: The research wing of the U.S. Congress is warning that three decades of “historically unprecedented” build-up in the number of prisoners incarcerated in the United States have led to a level of overcrowding that is now “taking a toll on the infrastructure” of the federal prison system.....the  United States has incarcerated far more people than any other country, today imprisoning some 716 people out of every 100,000.
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) writes in Politico:  Forty percent of private-sector workers have no access to paid sick days, meaning that they cannot miss a day of work without risking a day’s pay or even risking their job. So these hardworking people must make an impossible choice between the job they need and their health and well-being. It’s a choice that no American should have to make — which is why, this year, I plan to reintroduce the Healthy Families Act, a bill that would allow workers to earn paid sick days that can be used to recover from a short-term illness, care for a sick family member, obtain preventive or diagnostic treatment or seek help if they have been victims of domestic violence.
• The Guardian reports: The CIA is secretly using an airbase in Saudi Arabia to conduct its controversial drone assassination campaign in neighbouring Yemen....Disclosure of the Saudi co-operation comes the day before the architect of the drone programme, John Brennan, appears before the US Senate for a confirmation hearing to become the CIA director. The drone issue is sensitive in Saudi Arabia because of the unpopularity of US military bases, which were thought to have been largely removed after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• Juan Cole at Informed Comment writes: Yemen was hit by the highest number of airstrikes in one month since June 2012.... Eight strikes hit Yemen in January, the most in a month since June 2012 when US attacks on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) began to slow from their May peak. An anonymous US intelligence official told the Times that Saudi jets have been striking other targets in Yemen in support of US operations – an allegation promptly denied by the Saudis.... The United Nations also launched a major investigation into the legality and casualties of drone strikes by the United States, Britain and Israel. 
• Renowned professor Peter Dale Scott on the new article Petraeus: The Plot Thickens -  "I recommend this article for what it tells us, not about Petraeus and his affair, but about Yemen and the conflict in Washington over drone killings between JSOC and CIA – perhaps the most serious turf war there since the FBI/CIA battles in the Joe McCarthy era."

OBAMA GOING BEYOND BUSH BUT LIBERALS STILL SUPPORT HIM

The Obama administration's internal legal justification for assassinating U.S. citizens without charge has been revealed for the first time. In a secret Justice Department memo, the administration claims it has legal authority to assassinate U.S. citizens overseas even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the United States.

Democracy Now is joined by Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "If you look at the memo, there is no geographic line," says Jameel Jaffer, Deputy Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "Now the Obama administration is making a greater claim of authority in some ways [than President Bush]. They are arguing the authority to kill American citizens has no geographic limit."

SELLING AMBASSADORSHIPS

As John Kerry begins his term as the new U.S. Secretary of State, it's been revealed that many of the ambassadors serving under him were major donors to the President's campaign. A new report says this year's competition among big-money backers to land the most sought-after diplomatic spots was especially tight.

JUSTIFYING KILLING

The United States can lawfully kill a U.S. citizen overseas if it determines the target is a “senior, operational leader” of al-Qaeda or an "associated group" and poses an imminent threat to the United States, according to a Justice Department document published late Monday by NBC News.

"This is a chilling document," said Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union. He called the document a “profoundly disturbing” summary of “a stunning overreach of executive authority — the claimed power to declare Americans a threat and kill them far from a recognized battlefield and without any judicial involvement before or after the fact.”
  

This issue is now rising to prominence as the national spotlight begins to shine on Obama's immoral and un-Constitutional drone program. On Thursday, John Brennan has his confirmation hearing where the Senate will go through the motions to decide if he should run the Central Intelligence Agency. Since he's the brains behind the drone war it will be interesting to watch how deeply the Senate probes and if they find the courage to defend the Constitution.

Brennan is currently Obama's chief counter-terrorism advisor. Obama wanted  to appoint Brennan as director of the CIA back in 2008. Brennan, however, pulled his name from consideration because of his controversial support for torture and extraordinary rendition to other countries where torture is commonplace and federal and international laws do not apply.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will conduct the hearings and the public is urged to send messages to their senators in opposition to Brennan's appointment.  The Intelligence Committee is composed of the following people:

Democrats		Republicans
	Dianne Feinstein, California Chairman		Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Vice Chairman
	John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia		Richard Burr, North Carolina
	Ron Wyden, Oregon		James E. Risch, Idaho
	Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland		Daniel Coats, Indiana
	Mark Udall, Colorado		Marco Rubio, Florida
	Mark Warner, Virginia		Susan Collins, Maine
	Martin Heinrich, New Mexico		Tom Coburn, Oklahoma
	Angus King, Maine

The Congressional Switchboard number is: (202) 224-3121

DRONES: GIGANTIC GROWTH INDUSTRY

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Morning Joe on MSNBC host Joe Scarborough talks about his concerns with drones.  Scarborough is a former right-wing congressman from northwest Florida. He asks "Where are the civil liberties lawyers?"  He raises a good point that the domestic opposition, during the Bush administration, to these offensive military developments have largely disappeared during the Obama years.

The rest of the video is mostly cheer leading for drones.

A SECOND RATE POWER

 

Just to illustrate how blind US "leaders" are to the reality the people of our nation face (or maybe they are quite happy with this) the information below should serve as a wake-up call for people who still think that the USA is #1!

USA Today reported on February 1 the following: 

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Friday the United States would become a "second-rate power" if Congress and the White House fail to reach a budget deal that would avoid an extra $500 billion in military budget cuts over the next 10 years.

Do we not yet see the deadly connection between US imperialism and the dissolution of social progress at home?  How much more obvious can it be?

• 22^nd place when it comes to keeping our people out of long-term unemployment

• 26^th place in school performance  and the same in literacy  

• 35^th place in keeping our fellow citizens above the poverty line

• 37^th place in providing health care, or to state it another way

• 48^th place in infant mortality – keeping babies alive until their first birthday – generally accepted as the best overall indicator of a nation’s health

• 50^th place in life expectancy at birth

• 91^st place in overall equality of income distribution and

• 116^th place in the share of income held by the poorest 10% of the population.

Thanks to Veterans for Peace former president Mike Ferner for these stats.

CANADA BUILDING MORE WARSHIPS

Tamara Lorincz, a Global Network board member from Halifax in Canada, is leading protests against Canada's huge increase in warship building while their government makes dramatic cuts in social spending and environmental programs.

Canada has approached the government of Singapore (and other nations) with a proposal to establish a Canadian military base there as a “logistics facility” that would support the US-NATO “Pivot to Asia”. Defence Minister Peter MacKay has admitted Canada’s “military tempo” is at the highest levels since the Korean War. Because the US is exhausted from the resistance to its occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as from the capitalist economic crisis, Canada has in MacKay’s words, “become a go-to” country to meet the global demands of Canadian and US corporate imperialism. The conservative Harper government will not reveal to its own citizens the content of these new basing agreements or exactly how many or which countries it is negotiating with.

The Canadian people are overwhelmingly opposed to their role in the occupation of Afghanistan and the growing militaristic position their nation is taking alongside NATO.

HISTORY: THE DARK FORCES

One of the most important books I have ever read tells the story about Operation Paperclip following WW II when the US smuggled 1,500 former Nazi's into the country to work in the military industrial complex - Hitlers former rocket team was used to create the US space program.  This story must be told and retold so we do not forget.

The Hunt for Zero Point

The Atlantic Monthly, September 5, 2002

Nick Cook, a respected military journalist, describes his foray into a hidden ''black world'' where powerful technologies of warfare are born.

To those who spend their time scanning reams of dry defense-spending documents, the black budget is a well-known bit of excitement. It is the discrepancy that's left when all the known weapons procurements, research programs, and technical developments are added up. It's also where groundbreaking technologies, such as stealth, are developed under code names like ''Black Light,'' ''Classic Wizard,'' and ''Link Plumeria.'' These technologies are kept secret during their gestation because to even hint at the ideas behind them would be to reveal too much. This year, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the U.S. military's black budget will rise to levels not seen since the 1980s, from $16.2 billion last year to $20.3 billion.

There is no way to know exactly what that money is being spent on, but Nick Cook has some ideas. For fifteen years Cook has been a defense and aerospace reporter for Jane's Defence Weekly, which some consider the bible of the international defense community. During his career Cook has often brushed up against the ''black world'' and has even delved into it, both in reporting for Jane's on advances like the B-2 bomber, and in working on a documentary, Billion Dollar Secret, that probed the U.S. military's classified (or black) weapons programs.

This last project was something of a prelude to Cook's new book, The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology, which documents his ten-year search for a mythical technology that all the brightest minds in aerospace were gushing about in the early 1950s. Strangely, just a few years later the aerospace world was suddenly silent on the subject. After about 1956, anyone who mentioned antigravity, or the once-imminent ''G-engines,'' was given a wide berth. It was an odd switch that left Cook with questions: Had there been anything to these rumors and reports? If not, why the hype? If so, what had happened? So he set out to look for answers, and what he found was surprising. Cook traced a long succession of both military and civilian scientists and engineers working to develop a branch of applied physics for which we still have no vocabulary, but which seems to involve manipulating the little-understood quantum-level ''zero-point field'' to achieve peculiar effects, like shielding objects from gravity. If this were developed and incorporated into flight vehicles, the implications could hardly be understated: antigravity would forever alter the world's economy, make global transport systems obsolete, and, of course, change the face of warfare. Some also felt that the zero-point field could be an enormous source of energy, if only people could learn how to tap it.

Against the advice of his colleagues and friends, and against his own better judgment and career interests, Cook felt he couldn't ignore the leads he uncovered, which drew him through the black labyrinth back to an unexpected place: Nazi territory around the end of World War II. That is where, Cook claims, some of these technologies were first developed and then acquired by American and Russian forces, who raced to pillage the underground facilities around Pilsen in the Czech Republic and around Breslau (now Wroclaw) in Poland. There an SS general named Hans Kammler operated the ''wonder weapons'' program, which the Nazis were convinced would propel them ahead of the Allies to win the war. At the war's end Kammler disappeared. Though he had been one of the main planners of the death camps, his name was never mentioned at the war-crimes trials in Nuremberg.

One conclusion Cook reaches in The Hunt for Zero Point is that some of the ''Foo Fighters'' that World War II pilots reported seeing over Axis territories may have been German prototypes of new flying machines that used antigravity technology. He also posits that somewhere in the black world, work has likely continued along these lines, and that much of the wackiness surrounding sightings of ''UFOs'' has been deliberately spun to ward off investigations of new technologies in development.

Since the book's publication in Britain, Cook has uncovered documents detailing Boeing's antigravity research program at the top-secret Phantom Works, where the company is striving to develop ''propellantless propulsion'' ahead of its competitors. Writing in Jane's Defence Weekly, Cook quoted the documents as saying that along with Boeing's own program, other ''classified activities in gravity modification may exist''—suggesting that antigravity may, in fact, have been more than a 1950's fantasy.

For his work at Jane's, Nick Cook has received the Royal Aeronautical Society's Aerospace Journalist of the Year Award four times, in the Defence, Business, Technology, and Propulsion categories. He also writes for The Financial Times, The London Times and often comments on defense and security for the BBC and CNN. I spoke to him at his home in London.

 

QUESTION : One of the most gripping parts of your book is the description of ''Operation Paperclip''—the dismantling and retrieval of all known German technology, science, and related expertise at the end of World War II. You write that this ''state within a state had been transported four thousand miles to the west''—to the United States. When learning about today's black world, why is it important to go back and study Operation Paperclip?

COOK : Two things. First of all, we know the size and scope of Operation Paperclip, which was huge. And we know that the U.S. operates a very deeply secret defense architecture for secret-weapons programs that we know as the black world. It is a highly compartmentalized system and one of the things that's intrigued me over the years is, How did they develop that? What model did they base it on?

It is remarkably similar to the system that was operated by the Germans—specifically the SS—for their top-secret weapons programs during the Second World War. Now, did someone, Hans Kammler or anyone else, provide that model lock, stock, and barrel to the U.S. government at the end of the war? I don't know the answer to that, but given the massive recruitment that went on under Paperclip, and given what we see in the black world, it might not be unreasonable to ask those questions.

QUESTION : You also write that the black world in America is a ''low-grade reflection'' of the system Kammler built to protect Nazi weapons research.

COOK : I'm not for a second saying that there is direct linkage there. What I do mean is that if you follow the trail of Nazi scientists and engineers who were recruited by America at the end of the Second World War, the unfortunate corollary is that by taking on the science, you take on—unwittingly—some of the ideology. The science comes over tainted with something else. And that something else you have to be very careful of. It carries unpleasant side effects with it, in that if you're not careful, you lose sight of what it is you're protecting. What you're ultimately trying to protect is U.S. national interest and U.S. security. But not at any cost. I think that's the point that many people make who've brushed up against the black world and found their human rights violated by it. Not many have, but certainly some have. Those people question whether that unswerving loyalty to protecting high technology was worth it. What do you lose along the way? You lose some democracy, perhaps.

QUESTION : For those who haven't read the book, can you say briefly who Hans Kammler is?

COOK : He was an SS general who, by the end of the Second World War, was in charge of all of the Nazis' secret-weapons programs. He was an extremely powerful man. He was up to his neck in the Holocaust as well, and amongst his earlier responsibilities he had been one of the main architects of the death camps. Now, at the end of the Second World War, he disappeared. And from what little documentary history he left behind, we know that he was thinking of trading his war crimes for technology, which he wanted to give to the Americans in order to buy himself immunity. But his crimes were so heinous that immunity for someone like Kammler wouldn't be enough. He'd actually have to buy disappearance. So Kammler disappeared, and no one knows where he went.

What is remarkable about Kammler is that so few people know his name. And yet at the end of the Second World War, he was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. He should have been tried in absentia at the Nuremberg war-crimes trials. But his name didn't even surface there, even though others who couldn't be found were tried in absentia.

PETROLEUM BROADCASTING SERVICE

Abby Martin takes a look at PBS' new documentary 'Rise of the Drones' supposedly showcasing an in depth look at drone technology, but in reality being a military propaganda piece sponsored in part by weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

SUNDAY SONG

TARGET SHOOTING

Big game hunting I think they call it........

GOD'S A SPORTS FAN?

ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS ARE WAR CRIMES

Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank violate international law, and the country must "immediately" withdraw all settlers from such areas, UN human rights investigators have said. Israel has not co-operated with the inquiry, set up by the Human Rights Council (HRC) last March to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem. "Israel must ... cease all settlement activities without preconditions [and] must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers" from the occupied territories, the fact-finding mission concluded in a report released on Thursday. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from Jerusalem.

DEFENDING DRONES

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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In this interview MIT professor and former fighter pilot Missy Cummings attempts to gloss over the growing opposition to drone warfare.

She punks out on the moral and ethical questions. She does effectively plant the seed that when "smaller" countries get their hands on these drones and put weapons, or anthrax, on them ....well, we are going to have to defend against those.....!!!

I can hear the cash register ringing now.

See segments 2 and 3 here

OBAMA LEADS RESOURCE WARS TO AFRICA

 

• I emailed around a John Pilger article this morning that began with: "A full-scale invasion of Africa is under way. The United States is deploying troops in 35 African countries, beginning with Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Niger.... The invasion has almost nothing to do with 'Islamism', and almost everything to do with the acquisition of resources, notably minerals, and an accelerating rivalry with China. Unlike China, the US and its allies are prepared to use a degree of violence demonstrated in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Palestine. As in the cold war, a division of labour requires that western journalism and popular culture provide the cover of a holy war against a 'menacing arc' of Islamic extremism, no different from the bogus 'red menace' of a worldwide communist conspiracy."
• When you really study this map you can see why the corporations are willing to kill in order to control the continent.  There is huge profit at stake. So the African-American president leads the US into war on the African continent.  It's all very convenient.  If George W. Bush was pushing the Pentagon's Africa Command (AfriCom) into war operations the black leadership class might speak out but with Obama in office they are largely silenced.  Very sad. I hope readers can see the cynical calculation being undertaken by the corporate oligarchy in this evil story.
• Nile Bowie (Malaysian journalist) concludes an article posted on Global Research with, "The ostensible role of the first African-American US President is to export the theatresque War on Terror directly to the African continent, in a campaign to exploit established tensions along tribal, ethnic and religious lines. As US policy theoreticians such as Dr. Henry Kissinger, willingly proclaim, 'Depopulation should be the highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World,' the vast expanse of desert and jungles in northern and central Africa will undoubtedly serve as the venue for the next decade of resource wars." 
• In the end one must surely understand that Africans know their land is being raped for profit and they will fight for it.  They will be called terrorists.  Why do we let the capitalists play this game year in and year out?  Why do we remain silent as our national budgets are drained in order to pay for another war zone?  How could anyone justify supporting Obama today?  How?

NONVIOLENCE SPIRIT WALK

An invitation to join a journey of transformation, the Nevada Desert Experience Sacred Peace Walk, from Las Vegas, NV to the Nevada National Security Site ( aka the Nevada Test Site) March 23 - 29, 2013. Complete information may be found at www.nevadadesertexperience.org

PROFESSOR YANG BACK TO JAIL

Paco reports from Gangjeong village on Jeju Island:

Very bad news from Gangjeong today! Film critic Yang Yoon-Mo's most recent trial has finished today and he was sentenced to 1 year & six months imprisonment, unsuspended. He was arrested and imprisoned directly from the court. More details on the case and verdict later. Yang Yoon-Mo has been one of the longest protestors the base and has previous spent several months in prison on two different occasions for his protests. He brought much attention to the struggle in 2011 when he fasted for more than 70 days almost dying.

Judge Oh Hyeon Gyu said that his sentence was changed from probation to imprisonment because the judge "doesn't see a will for self-reflection" (meaning Prof. Yang is not sorry for his courageous actions). What an absurdity! What arrogance!  Today is also Prof. Yang's birthday.

 See an incredible interview with Yang here