June 6, 2008 Letter to the editor,

The U.S. government is putting pressure on the Iraq government to allow 50 army bases to remain in Iraq permanently. This is as stupid as the decision to invade Iraq in the first place and is sure to guarantee that the war will never end. Why? Because Iraqis don't want a foreign army stationed in their country any more than we would want a foreign army stationed in Oregon. The current administration does not want to end the war, it does not want to get out of Iraq, and it is trying to tie the hands of the next president with treaties that continue the stupid policies that have bankrupted our country, morally and monetarily.

Someone on one of the mailing lists sent this link to me, June 5, 2008

http://www.eyeblast.tv/Public/Video.aspx?rsrcID=2036, which is a "wrongwing" attempt to smear Obama. It is not worth watching, but printed below is the reply that I sent out to all on the list.

The video is a parody, or at least a parody of itself. However, many folks will take it seriously.

Are you proud of your background? Do you wear an American flag on your chest or truck? Do you know anything about what evils your progenitors have perpetrated upon other people? Were your relatives among the soldiers wearing American flags while they shot Native American women and children at Wounded Knee in 1894? Were your relatives involved in killing Filipinos in 1899, as they were "torn to pieces by Dewey's Guns."? Do you have even the smallest idea why some people around the world don't think too much of our flag right now and in the past? Sure, we can be proud of our accomplishments as a nation. But that should not blind us to what other people can see. The truth can set you free only if you know the truth. Blind adherence is just that.

Should what your ancestors did be held against you? Since we all come from a long line of imperialistic people perhaps we should be held responsible for the oppression by white rich men of the poor and the people of color. This oppression is at the root of all of our problems today. Oppression always creates more problems for later generations than it solves for the perpetuating generation. That is what is meant by the term "chickens come home to roost." History is full of examples of this and are easily researched by an open mind. Start with Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly.

This video is an example of ad hominem attack. It makes me want to puke as it waves the flag and fans fears.

First of all, it starts out talking about Obama's middle name. It is using "guilt by association." Obama is not an Arab, he is American, yet it tries to make him look bad in the eyes of people who are scared of Arabs, all Arabs. The video tries to stir fear of Obama because of his Arab sounding middle name and his Muslim daddy. My middle name is Kennington. Very English.

Does that mean that all Irish should hate me because I have an English middle name? After all, the English did more bad things to the Irish than any Muslim has ever done to any American. If you don't already know that then it is time for you to study. Start with the shipping of thousands of Irish to Caribbean sugar plantations as slaves. Did you ever wonder where the Jamaican's got the lilt in their speech?

The same people who want you to hate Obama because he has an Arab name are the same ones who want to have cheap Arab oil and are willing to kill Arabs in order to keep the control of oil in U.S. hands. Where is the higher morality in that? The God that you believe in, is he on the side of an aggressor nation? How do you explain that? Remember, Iraq did not instigate nor carry out 9/11. It was a bunch of Saudi Arabs, whose country we buy oil from. Should we have attacked Saudi Arabia instead? Or maybe attacking any country was the wrong response in the first place, IF the goal was to catch the perps. Obviously that was not the real purpose, only the cover.

A real discussion of the candidates would stick to the issues. For me an important issue is the continued oppression of Palestinians in their own land by the invading Israelis who were supported by Western powers in the takeover of the land. How would you react if some bunch of people took your land and said god gave it to them and you have to leave? You probably would not feel that great about their god. So I don't blame Palestinians for being pissed off. And since Israel keeps taking more land, you can only expect Palestinians to keep resisting in any way that they can. At least this is what David Ben-Gurion said back at the start of this mess.

Anyway, all the candidates fail on this issue for me, but that does not mean I can't find other issues. I don't mind people disagreeing on the issues. What I do mind is innuendos being used to spread hate and misinformation.

An election based upon this type of presentation makes me give up hope for America.

Study history. There are some interesting parallels. For instance, who said "Yes, we had a prearranged plan, once we had an excuse, I wired all commanders to carry it out." Sounds like Bush before the invasion of Iraq, but it was U.S. general Arthur MacArthur speaking about the war in the Philippines, 1899.

Then, I received one reply, indirectly:

Hey J---WHO is this guy?? Where does he live??He needs a soap box to do his ranting--or introduce him to Ann's Kimber--she can talk him down..ha I wouldn't vote for a guy named ANCIL--sounds too VELLY BRITISH and they are the ones your ancestors fought to free this country from..and don't get me started on the Muslims--I wouldn't vote for Barack Obama if his name was Roscoe Roosevelt --his skin is too dark to suit me!! Mammy M...'s half sister was raped by the only black farm hand they had back in the day, but her Daddy packed his lunch and a shotgun and went looking for him...and when he got back he allowed he wouldn't ever rape another white girl...and the law did nothing to her Daddy. My Daddy's Father (your great Grandfather) owned 1 slave (don't know if it was legal--he died before I was born) and my 4 or 5 th grandfather had a plantation in North Carolina and had about 90 slaves or more..but I have never owned someone else and am tired of being punished by black people, or white people who never had to live and work with the sorry S.O.B.'s So VOTE a black Muslim educated (in his formative years) into the white house and cross your fingers(his wife is very militant--read about her university Thesis to tell you how militant SHE is) and time will tell his true agenda...the anti--Christ is my best bet!!
GEEZE Louise, I'm Pissed!! LOVE, your southern belle Aunt R...

 

My reply to the reply:

This person seems to dislike Muslims. I wonder what religion she is. Obviously not Christian, because the leader of that religion said to love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, be a good neighbor, turn the other cheek, be kind, etc. This person sounds full of prejudice and hate which allows her to use guilt by association to keep her bias in tact.

 

May 30, 2008 Letter to the editor

Thanks to our invasion of Iraq we now control the second largest pool of oil ready for pumping. But instead of buying this oil we stole it with a war and the American consumer is paying twice the price as before the war. Instead of being a capitalist nation, relying on markets, we have become an imperialist nation. Who profits from this change from a democracy to an imperial oligarchy? Not the common citizen. If we had not invaded Iraq the price of oil would be less, thousands of dead and wounded on both sides would still be whole and American diplomacy would be used to solve our problems. Does anyone think that we are ahead of the game now that we have abandoned diplomacy in favor of brute force?

May 27, 2008 Letter to the editor

The Bush administration used fear to get the American people to support the attack on Iraq and now those same people who lied to us then are using fear to get us to agree to keep fighting in Iraq, saying we can't pull out for fear of the disaster it would cause. No evidence is even being offered to support that claim, they are counting on fear to do its work again. The administration was telling lies then and we have no reason to believe them now. McCain is repeating the Bush mantra of fear.

April 30, 2008 Letter to the editor (published)

Regarding your Monday editorial, "Saying one thing...", it is not only the continuing deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan that is causing suicidal stress among American soldiers. According to returning veterans themselves it is the dissonance between the purported mission and what actual gets done. When a soldier goes over to protect American freedoms or bring democracy to Iraq and does so by shooting innocent civilians at roadblocks, or invades a home of a suspected sniper and ends up killing women and children, that is the cause of the suicidal stress. If our soldiers knew that what they were doing was nobel, as Bush as claimed, then the suicide rate would be much lower. The rate is higher than expected because the soldiers themselves are realizing that there is no connection between protecting American freedoms and the killing that they are doing. More and more soldiers are feeling like criminals for carrying out their orders, hence the higher suicide rates. It is called a cognitive dissonance, trying to accept to opposites as true. Something has to give. So don't denigrate the soldiers and say they are suicidal over extended tours, they are above that. The reasons are more ominous.

March 23, 2008 Letter to the editor

Look at America just after the attacks of 9/11. We had an opportunity to bring the whole world on to our side. I had emails from friends in China and India expressing sympathy for America. Bush then squandered that moment. Not only that, he has squandered every bit of good will that remained toward America with his egregious (that word again) invasion of Iraq. With the war, Bush has squandered EVERYTHING. Lives, fortunes, resources, good will, all gone with the war. And there is nothing to show for all of that after 5 years except an ousted dictator. Big deal.

March 22, 2008 Letter to the editor (published)

Why should we get out of Iraq now? The answers to that question were given in detail at the Winter Soldier hearings in Washington D.C. this last weekend.

The hearings were ignored by the mainstream media but the veterans of the Iraq war were telling stories that should have been heard. We are sending ordinary young men and women to fight a needless war in Iraq and those that return in one physical piece often have been adversely affected by conditions of war.

Some reported egregious killings of civilians by fearful soldiers who have no way of knowing which civilian may or may not be carrying a bomb. Some reported revenge killings after gun battles or explosions where buddies were killed.

Women soldiers are reporting rapes that were not reported while they were in uniform because of fear of reprisal or indifference. They report that military rape is rampant, even in the U.S. Coast Guard.

So to answer the question of why we should get out: we are damaging a whole generation of young people by forcing them to kill and be killed for what are no longer valid reasons. Many are coming home damaged inside and the suicide rate is an important story that should be headline news. Why the major newspapers ignored the hearings is a mystery to me.

March 21, 2008 Letter to the editor

The only thing Bush is able to say that the war in Iraq has accomplished is the ousting of Saddam. He says that getting rid of Saddam was the right thing to do, so I guess that means he thinks that getting rid of Saddam was worth the cost of 4000 American lives, 30,000 wounded American soldiers, and projected costs of close to three trillion dollars before it is all over. He and his war supporters are outrageously out of touch with reality. There is no proof that the war has made us safer from terrorist attack. Just the opposite is true. The lack of attacks upon the U.S. since 9/11 has nothing to do with the war in Iraq. Those who are fighting and those who support the fighting are deluded by administration propaganda that only the uninformed can possibly believe.

March 10, 2008 Letter to the editor.

Jews believe that their God made a covenant to give all of the land of Israel to the Jews forever. That is worth considering only because of the great number who hold it to be true. Normally, if a person or a group of people made such a claim they would be laughed at. You can't just take someone's land because you think God said you can have it. Can you?
Roger Williams pointed this out to early American settlers as they took land from Native people in the New World. He said the Natives owned the land, not the King, and therefore it should be paid for, at least. Roger Williams' point of view did not prevail.

What happens when a people, or when you personally do something you know to be bad? First you try to justify the action. If you can get God to justify your actions then your mind can be at peace for as long as you believe that. Doing a bad thing and covering it with an excuse, a belief, or some other high-sounding reason makes it possible to live with what is called a cognitive dissonance. History is full of examples.

The Euro-American advance across North America, at the expense of the Natives is one. We excused ourselves with the inevitability of "Manifest Destiny." Or we claimed, as Ronald Reagan did, that "God gave us this great land." Sound familiar? That is what the modern day invaders of Palestine have done. They appeal to stories in their traditions that claim God gave the land of Palestine to them. Their stories are full of wars where natives were slain, women and children sold into slavery, the usual stuff. Many have read about those events in the Bible. It was a terrible thing to do, march into a land, slay the occupants and appropriate their lands. How can a people live with that as part of their history? They do it by overcoming the dissonance with a claim that makes them feel better: God told us to. He gave us this land. So now they can feel justified in their horrible actions because they have convinced themselves that God is on their side. The accounts and the justification were written about after the events.

Another way to justify an action is to diminish the wronged party by claiming "they weren't using the land" or "there were not many of them." Both of those excuses have been used by Americans and Israelis. Never mind that the invasion and the ensuing deaths were the cause of there not being "many of them." But there is no way that any land grab can be justified. Claims that God gave it to you can't hold up under intelligent examination. Religious claims that divest others of their rights are not valid. If a person wants to practice a religion that does not destroy the rights of others, then I have no complaint. But your religion cannot justify killing other people and taking their land. Settle your cognitive dissonance some other way. God is not on your side.

March 7, 2008 Letter to the editor,

"We took away their country and their means of support, and it was for this...they made war. Could anyone expect less?"
This sounds like something someone could say about the situation in Palestine after the state of Israel was carved out of occupied territory. But it was said by American General Philip Sheridan, concerning the Euro-American treatment of Native Americans. Furthermore, according to Hitler's biographer, John Toland, Hitler often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America's extermination of the Native Americans, and used it as a model for his extermination of Jews and Gypsies. It seems that those who learn from history are as likely to repeat it as those who do not learn.

February 29, 2008 Letter to the editor

Which countries have profited the most from U.S. spending on the war on Iraq? Iran, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Which country has gone into debt amounting to three trillion dollars? America. Which U.S. corporations have made billions because of the war? Duh! Whose plan was this? It sure is stupid, spending money on a war that has nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks; spending money on fancy weapons to fight a war against folks who are effective with home made bombs. The war has benefited all oil exporting countries and corporations, but it has not done anything about reducing the threat of terror around the world, it has only exacerbated the problem. This is just plain stupid. And just today (Friday) the White House repeated the claim that the war on Iraq was a response to the 9/11 attacks, a claim that is not backed by any evidence and is contradicted by all studies. Our soldiers are dying for nothing. After all, what have we got for it? We are now a nation without basic morality that tortures and kills even the innocent. The war is a failure in its own goals, it is a flop as a correct response, and its continuation is going to ruin America more surely than any terrorist could hope for. If you support the war you make the enemy happy and some of them very rich.

February 24, 2008 Letter to the editor,

By all measures, the war policy of Bush, which invited al Qaeda to Iraq, has made the world more dangerous, has produced more terrorist wanna-be candidates than we can kill in our lifetime, and continues to exasperate our allies. The Republican party candidate, John McCain, promises to continue what has only been a disaster.

We have Republican supporters touting the present policy as being able to win a war on terrorism when it does not even confront the real reasons for terrorism. The closest that The Oregonian has come to setting it straight about the reasons for terrorism was the piece from the point of view of an al Qaeda member. At least there it was pointed out that our fight against terrorists will continue as long as we offer unblinking support to the state of Israel. None of the candidates for president in either party have that issue on the table. That is like trying to promote literacy without teaching spelling. Only Ralph Nader dares mention it. If anyone really wants to end terrorism they have to first confront the Israel-Palestine issue. It has always been the main reason for the terror. Nothing else even comes close.

February 14, 2008 Letter to the editor,

The war in Iraq continues long after the reasons for it have been shown to be false. The war is not about terrorism related to the 9/11 attacks. The war is truly about establishing U.S. bases in the Middle East. Right now a 15 square mile air base is being built as part of a plan for a permanent U.S. presence in Iraq, which is the original goal that was obscured by Bush administration obfuscation. The war has exacerbated relations with friendly nations and has increased the number of potential terrorists, ordinary Muslims who see no other way to combat the giant that can drop 100,000 pounds of bombs anywhere it wishes. The bombs dropped from our planes do not advance our cause. They do fit right in with revenge and escalation, the sign posts on the road American is traveling with Bush.

There can be no end to this road until American policy attends to the stated reasons for terrorism. The terrorism that most concerns us today did not begin on 9/11. It began when Israel took land from Palestinians. Until that truth is recognized we are doomed to kill and be killed. Every major terrorist of the past 30 years has stated that the reasons for resorting to suicide bombers, airline hijackings, hostage takings and roadside bombs, have to do with Israel's theft of land in Palestine, with U.S. support of Israel, and Western countries' collaboration with Israel's continued theft of more land, with Israel's growing settlements in Palestinian lands. Israel apologists counter that Muslims are lobbing rockets and sending bombers against the people of Israel. I ask, well what would you do if someone stole your land and the nations of the world ignored your cause? Israel forces Palestinians to live in squalor, to live as captives in their own lands, deprived of water and land rights. Violence is often the result of forcing an intolerable situation on a people. With their backs against the wall and with no other alternative, a people use the only weapons that they have left. There are Israeli citizens who know this to be true and they petition their government to right the wrongs done. Yet their efforts are ignored by the U.S. press, which seems to blindly support Israel's suppression of Palestinians. I know this letter is too long to get published, but I don't care about that. What I care about is asking you, the editors, to make sure that the truth gets out, instead of just being a funnel for administration and Israeli propaganda. There will be no end to terrorism as long as the reasons for terrorism are ignored. The Bush lie, that "terrorists hate our free way of life," is just more distraction, meant to keep Americans from the truth and to protect the continuation of the war, a war that profits many corporations but no one else. It hurts us all, however, in the long run.

February 8, 2008 Letter to the editor

Friday's front page features a red letter quote from Romney. It is an outrageous bit of propagandizing as he quits the nomination race. He claims we are a nation at war but neglects to add that it is a war that we started and we are fighting a country that did not attack us.

February 5, 2008 Letter to the editor,

Fighting terrorism without seeking the reasons for terrorism is a fool's fight, as Bush has proved.
One of the big problems in the world today is the number of people with nothing to lose, and they will always be dangerous. American foreign policy and corporate policy can be faulted for creating some of that problem. Violence is often the reaction to an intolerable situation, and there are many such situations deemed intolerable by people in all countries and all walks of life, but especially in countries where the rich have not only all the wealth but also the political power. It is shortsighted of those rich and powerful to perpetuate what the masses see as intolerable conditions. The end result is violence, from all parties. Those on top use wars and police power to keep people down. Those on the bottom with nothing to lose but their lives will offer those up, finally, as we are seeing today in the war we are fighting in a country that never attacked us.

February 4, 2008 Letter to the editor,

This past week Rep. Ron Paul said, during one of the Republican debates, that the war on Iraq is wrong, that al-Qeada was not in Iraq before we started the war, and that no Iraqis attacked us on 9/11. No one disputed the truth of his statements. During another news broadcast a soldier who had been in Iraq declared that his reasons for fighting in Iraq were so that we don't have to fight "them" here in our own land and because of what "they" did to us on 9/11. Where did the soldier get his view of reality? Who are "they" and "them" in his mind? Ron Paul tried to get the truth out, and John McCain, sitting next to him, rolled his eyes and took a drink from a water bottle. Not one of the other candidates acknowledged the truth of Ron Paul's words. No wonder we are able to send young men off to kill Iraqis for a lie. They have put their trust in their leaders and have been misled by all of them, from President Bush on down the line. 4000 have been sent to their deaths, and for what? By all accounts we are less safe from attack and we have more enemies than before 9/11.

January 12, 2008 Letter to the editor,

John Newman writes ("Palestinian Issue not be-all," Letters, January 12, 2008) "Iran's fanatical mullahs...want to destroy Israel." There is no shred of evidence for this point of view. First of all, what "fanatical mullahs" has he heard or read himself? Does he know and read Persian so that he has a correct translation of what has been said or is he just repeating third-hand comments? For instance, here is what Iranian President, Ahmadinejad, said at Columbia University last year:

"The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time."
This is a far cry from saying "Israel must be wiped off the map," which is how the President of Iran has been misquoted. A bad translation was promoted by those who want to fomentconflict with Iran. John Newman is just parroting the misinformation. But don't take my word for it, go to http://democracyrising.us/content/view/736/164/, and read "Yet we are led to believe that Iran's President threatened to "wipe Israel off the map", despite never having uttered the words "map", "wipe out" or even "Israel." "

Now, put yourself in the shoes of a Palestinian. It is 1948 and the rest of the world has given your land to a bunch of foreigners. Sure, the Palestinian issue is not the only issue, but if it was your country that had been given away, I bet it would remain at the top of the list. It is time for us to understand what has happened in the Middle East and stop repeating inaccurate information.