The End of the U.S. as a Civilized Nation

Ted Rall has put the new legalization of torture and elimination of habeas corpus for anyone the Führer deems his (sorry, "the people's") enemy into apt historical context (click the title of this post for the complete essay):

... Had there been the political will, Hitler and his goons could have been arrested and tried under German law. The German government was a lost cause, but the German nation still had a (slim) chance. Until 1935.

That's when Germany officially codified the Nazis' uncivilized anti-Semitism by passing the Nuremberg Laws. Jews were stripped of citizenship and banned from marrying or dating non-Jews. The laws were a form of legalized harassment, prohibiting Jews from displaying German flags or shopping in stores at certain times. ... the barbaric ipso facto policies of the Nazi government had corrupted Germany's lofty and admirable system of legal guarantees. ... Germany was no longer a civilized nation in the clutches of gangsters. It had become a gangster nation.

Similarly, the recently passed Military Commissions Act [MCA] removes the United States from the ranks of civilized nations. It codifies racial and political discrimination, legalizes kidnapping and torture of those the government deems its political enemies, and eliminates habeas corpus -- the ancient precept that prevents the police from arresting and holding you without cause -- a basic protection common to all (other) modern legal systems, and one that dates to the Magna Carta.

Between 2001 and 2006, George W. Bush worked tirelessly to eliminate freedoms and liberties Americans have long taken for granted. The Bush Administration's CIA, mercenary and military state terrorists kidnapped thousands of innocent people and held them at secret prisons around the world for months and years at a time. These people were never charged with a crime. (There was good reason for that. As the government itself admitted, fewer than ten had actually done anything wrong.) Yet hundreds, maybe even thousands, were tortured.

Under American law these despicable acts were illegal. They were, by definition, un-American. Although it didn't help the dozens of Bush torture victims who died from beatings and drowning, the pre-Bush American judicial system worked. The Republican-controlled U.S. Supreme Court handed down one decision after another ordering the White House to give its "detainees" trials or let them go. For a brief, shining moment, it looked like there was hope for the U.S. to find its way back to the light.

Now, thanks to a gullible passel of Republican senators and an unhinged leader who is banking that Americans are just as passive as the Germans of the mid-1930s, we have our own Nuremberg Laws.

Under the terrifying terms of the radical new Military Commissions Act, Bush can declare anyone -- including you -- an "unlawful enemy combatant," a term that doesn't exist in U.S. or international law. All he has to do is sign a piece of paper claiming that you "purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States." The law's language is brilliantly vague, allowing the president to imprison -- for the rest of his or her life -- anyone, including a U.S. citizen, from someone who makes a contribution to a group he disapproves of to a journalist who criticizes the government.

[Partner to the MCA is AETA, the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, with vague enough language to brand as a terrorist (i.e., "unlawful enemy combatant") anyone handing out flyers in front of Kentucky Fried Chicken or publicizing the abuse of elephants in the circus or even advocating vegetarianism -- any activity that cuts into the profits from animal abuse and slaughter is a threat to the nation. The AETA bills are still in committee: check the status of H.R.4239 here and S.1926 here.]

McCourt for Governor of New York

From an interview with Malachy McCourt, Green Party candidate for governor of New York, by Clyde Haberman in the Oct. 10 New York Times:

“The inculcation of fear is the essence of American politics,” Mr. McCourt said. “Fear and the evil of your opponents – what awful, dreadful, less-than-human beings they are, until elected. Then they say, ‘We have to get behind them.’”

A vote against voting

Last month, Noel Ignatiev wrote an excellent essay for Counterpunch on the stupidity of "progressives" voting for the lesser evil that Democrats represent. Click the title of this post to read it.

[O]ne difference between Republican and Democratic voters is that the former hope their candidates mean what they say while the latter hope their candidates do not mean what they say.

Hull benefits from REC sales not wind energy

To the editor, Boston Globe:

Although the wind turbines in Hull may generate electricity equivalent to 12% of the town's total electricity consumption (editorial, Oct. 1), that is unlikely to be the amount actually used.

Because the turbines' level of generation is in response to the wind rather than consumer demand, it would more often than not be well out of sync with the town's needs. Consequently, Hull's municipal utility -- without large-scale storage of the wind-generated energy -- must still have to buy just about as much power from the regional grid as before.

The money they are "saving" appears to be in fact income from the sale of renewable energy credits to Harvard, who thereby also pretend to be using the same wind power.

wind power, wind energy

The twilight of industrial wind

Comment by Lyn Harrison, editor, Windpower Monthly, October 2006:

... witness the chaos in Spain caused by the sudden removal of the basis for wind power pricing, the overnight stop to the thriving wind market in the Netherlands, the fast approaching cliff-edge in Australia, Denmark's decline from role model to full-stop, and the perennial on-off market support in the US.

wind power, wind energy

E. coli in spinach comes from factory farms

A commentary in the New York Times last week explained that factory-farmed cows, whether for meat or for milk, are the source of the E. coli strain that is so dangerous to humans. The strain thrives in an acidic environment (thus it is not killed in our stomachs), which has been created in the cow digestive tract by the industrial feed they are given. Their manure is therefore teeming with this dangerous strain of E. coli, and the manure pollutes the water table, streams, and rivers. The water used to rinse vegetable greens is polluted by the unnatural shit from industrial animal "farms."

[Update:  Grass-fed cows become colonized with E. coli O157:H7 at same rates as grain-fed cattle.]

environment, environmentalism, animal rights, vegetarianism

Muir Trust warns of destruction of Scottish wild areas by wind power industry

The John Muir Trust believes

• Wild land should be conserved for nature and people for the benefit of present and future generations;


• Developments on core wild land, such as industrial-scale wind developments, are a major threat to our rapidly diminishing wild land;


• The best renewable energy options around wild land are small-scale, sensitively sited and adjacent to the communities directly benefiting from them, where the landscape impact is minimal;


• Large wind turbines, often 120 metres high (taller than the Forth Rail Bridge) grouped in clusters of up to 100, are totally unsuitable for Scotland’s finest landscapes;


• The intrusion is not just the turbines and pylons, but includes the access roads, concrete bases, and underground cables;


• Producing energy near to where it is consumed reduces the need for giant pylons through wild and scenic areas e.g. the proposed Beauly – Denny transmission upgrade;


• A recent study suggests far more eagles are at risk from wind developments than was previously thought so their habitat must be protected;


• It would be a tragedy to sacrifice wild land to major industrial developments.

wind power, wind energy, wind farms, environment, environmentalism, Scotland