Assassinating suspects undermines justice

My following letter about assassinating terrorists appeared in the Daily Beacon, the University of Tennessee’s student newspaper, on March 5, 2010: In light of the publication of a secret Israeli assassination in Dubai, Treston Wheat committed his Feb. 25 waste of ink to glorifying assassination, which he deems necessary to the fight against terrorism. Even [...]

Religious freedom: a confined policy

Freedom of religion is an established right in the United States; the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees it to every person.  In the U.S., no person may be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.  Equal opportunity is among our most cherished tenets; it is the product of much national [...]

Want some bad debt? Bailing on America.

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” – Presidential Oath of Office in its entirety “Stop throwing the Constitution in my face!  It’s just a goddamn piece [...]

The Iraq War, in the tradition of Jonathan Swift

Before reading: Read Swift’s “A Modest Proposal”. This will help you understand the title and the tone. http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/modest.html Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFptybbietQ Intellectuals will understand the nature of this piece without explanation, and those readers who do not will find themselves inspired to defend the Iraqi people, which the media has taught them are subhuman. It [...]

McCain thinks like a dictator

I believe the Supreme Court made a very good decision last week in the case of Boumediene v. Bush. McCain calls the decision to extend the writ of habeas corpus to detainees at Guantanamo “one of the worst decisions in history.” Perhaps he would rank it along the lines of the Court’s support of slavery [...]

Iraqis have a voice, “but nobody listened.” Will you?

I have written a book; and if it cannot be refuted, it cannot be condemned. But I do not consider the prosecution as particularly leveled against me, but against the general right, or the right of every man, of investigating systems and principles of government, and showing their several excellencies or defects.” – Thomas Paine [...]

Empire logic

The backward but true mantras of American empire (sans spin): If we kill or imprison enough of a person’s family members, they will learn to love our way of life. If they do not yet love our way of life, we will continue to kill them until they do. The survivors should be told their [...]

Republican Nationalism + Democrat Socialism = U.S. Nazism

National Socialism, better known as Nazism, is Clintobamonomics  combined with Bush-McCain Diplomacy and Secrecy.  When the Democrats and the Republicans do agree to terms, they usually both get what they want.  Democrats get more social planning boards and funds, and Republicans get more spy-on-the-citizens powers and nifty 007 gadgets (which will be sold to overseas dictators as well).  [...]

Let me get this straight, neoconservative freak

A continuation of my education of the neocon:  Let me get this straight. You think a tall slender man in the mountains of Central Asia is orchestrating the end of American freedoms. Okay. Assuming that true, we must also admit that Bin Laden has received help in this pursuit from the Bush administration. Are we not losing [...]

Nationalists on the Right, Socialists on the Left, compromise for a planned economy with Muslims in concentration camps

The following was a response to the letter that appears below it, and I share as proof that neoconservatives are a little confused about reality–too much Fox News perhaps.  The writer of this rudimentary stream of consciousness–if it can be called that–is to remain anonymous.  I would not sacrifice a friend for a political disagreement, regardless of his [...]