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Archbishop of Canterbury reprimanded by angry Holy Land Christians
Stuart Littlewood
“We need advocates for the truth,” they tell him
Kairos Palestine, the voice of Palestinian Christians, has given the Archbishop of Canterbury a strong ticking-off for remarks he made during a BBC interview.
Rifat Kassis, co-ordinator of Kairos Palestine, said he was "deeply troubled" by the Archbishop's "inaccurate and erroneous remarks" about the situation of Christians in the Middle East. He called the Archbishop's failure to mention the Israeli occupation and the regime's oppressive policies "shocking".
Global War Racketeering: US Empire and Mindless Arab Rulers
Mahboob A. Khawaja, Ph.D.
“War provides an outlet for every evil element in man’s nature. It enfranchises cupidity and greed gives a charter to petty tyranny, glorifies cruelty and places in position of power the vulgar and base.” (C.E.M Joad. Guide to Modern Wickedness)
“Imperial states build networks which link economic, military and political activities into a coherent mutually reinforcing system. This task is largely performed by the various institutions of the imperial state. ………the result was the total “unbalancing” of the US imperial apparatus: military action was unhinged from economic empire building. A highly influential upper caste of Zionist-militarists harnessed US military power to an economically marginal state (Israel), in perpetual hostility toward the 1.5 billion Muslim world. Equally damaging, American Zionist ideologues and policymakers promoted repressive institutions and legislation and Islamophobic ideological propaganda designed to terrorize the US population.” (James Petras, “Networks of Empire and Realignments of World Power”, Dissident Voice, 01/2011)
European Spring: The Gradual demise of Capitalism
By Gaither Stewart
Rome: It’s an accumulative kind of thing, the demise of capitalism worldwide: at first the waning and the dwindling, now the rapid corkscrew-like downwards spiraling, of greedy, vicious, cannibalistic capitalism busily devouring itself. Today, one can only conclude the imminence of its just demise.
Just as one once said in Italy during the agony of the death of the Italian Communist Party, just as one once spoke of the loss of the propulsive force of the French Revolution, current events show that also capitalism, the capitalist system itself, has lost its self-proclaimed propulsive force. Today, for a growing number of capitalists it is a case of si salvi chi puo, every man for himself. No one can logically claim that capitalism as an economic-social- political idea propels forward world society.
Medical Care in Gaza (Part II)
by Stephen Lendman
On March 25, 2008, Time magazine writer Tim McGirk headlined "Israelis Blocking Medical Care in Gaza," saying:
"Since Gaza is denied (most everything under siege), many complicated surgeries are no longer done there." Those permitted abroad for them, like Bassam al-Wahedi, endure a gauntlet through Israel's "security maze."
Entering Egypt through Erez Crossing, "(h)e fumbled along tunnels, steel doors that opened and slammed as he passed along, entered a strange cylinder that fired a whoosh of air at him before he finally reached a large hall with an Israeli soldier sitting inside a bulletproof glass booth." He showed his permit for scheduled surgery that afternoon. "(T)hree plainclothed Israelis with pistols and walkie-talkies led him past cages with growling dogs to a room where he was strip searched and interrogated by a man who identified himself as a" Shin Bet captain.
Lies, Damn Lies, and Liberating Wars
by Stephen Lendman
America's imperial wars are for wealth, power, and unchallenged dominance, never for humanitarian concerns or liberation, notions Washington contemptuously spurns.
Yet rhetorical posturing claims otherwise. In April 1986, Ronald Reagan arrogantly said US air and naval forces "launched a series of strikes against (Gaddafi's) headquarters, terrorist facilities, and military assets, (carefully) targeted to minimize casualties among the Libyan people with whom we have no quarrel. From initial reports, our forces have succeeded in their mission."
Why Can’t You Kill Yourself?
By Elizabeth Young
The recent passing of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, and the arrest of the 91-year old woman making a "killing" selling $60 suicide kits, has forced society to look at why we are not allowed the right to die with dignity. [1]
Sharlotte Hydorn's kit, packed into a white box adorned with a butterfly, contained a plastic bag, a tube, and a book titled Final Exit. Customers rent a helium tank, place their head in the plastic bag and run a hose from the bag to the tank, and within a few minutes another life is ended peacefully.
Hydorn had been selling about two or three kits a month until a 29 year-old used one to end his life because he couldn't find a tall building to jump out of or figure out how to hang himself and kick the chair out from under him at the same time.
Nick Klonoski wasn't terminally ill, but just depressed and wanted a peaceful end to his suffering.
Although a compassionate society would never withhold "the ultimate human right," from a mentally competent, terminally ill person who chooses to avoid unnecessary suffering, letting someone end their life because they are depressed is another story.
Sales took off as a result of the media attention stemming from Nick's brother Zack, who is angry that Hydorn made $60 off his brother's death.
"In a society where so many people suffer from depression and other mental health disorders, this company has found their niche [niche is the right word, annual sales are now about $98,000] in the market by peddling death. This is analogous to putting a gun-vending machine next to a depression clinic. She made $60 off my brother's death."
Yes, he actually said this in front of the Oregon state legislature. [2]
The admonition against euthanasia can't really be defended on any legal, moral, or ethical grounds.
If you don't mind wearing a diaper, throwing up all over yourself, and suffering the pain and humiliation because you can no longer perform your Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), that is your choice, but no one, especially the pro-lifers (actually pro-fetusers), have the right or authority to make that decision for me. And I haven't even discussed the suffering your loved ones will have to endure while you wait for God, or a doctor playing God, to decide when it's time for you to go.
Click here to read a thorough debunking of all of the suicide/euthanasia slippery slope arguments (except one) put forward by the Care Not Killing Alliance.
A Natural Death
No discussion of Euthanasia would be complete without hearing from Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Love):
In order to protect nature, it is not enough to intervene with economic incentives or deterrents; not even an apposite education is sufficient. These are important steps, but the decisive issue is the overall moral tenor of society. If there is a lack of respect for the right to life and to a natural death, if human conception, gestation, and birth are made artificial, if human embryos are sacrificed to research, the conscience of society ends up losing the concept of human ecology and, along with it, that of environmental ecology.
A "natural death?" Unless Doctors have a direct line to God when they decide to prolong your life, then the word "natural" should not be used when it comes to your death.
If we really want to make sure all deaths are "natural" then we should ban any type of "life saving" medical treatment, especially organ transplants.
The Suicide Prevention Police (The Care Not Killing Alliance)
Until recently suicide was part of the homicide laws in most places on Earth.
"Enlightened" lawmakers around the world finally recognized that suicide is a form of harming oneself and therefore it is no longer a crime.
Today, when you attempt suicide and fail, instead of going to jail you are locked up in an insane asylum. After all anyone who is tired of living must be crazy and needs help.
Question 1 for the Suicide Police: Why is it crazy to want to get out of here early? How can anyone be sure that if I end my life as a believer or non-believer that I am not going to a better place?
And for you Christians, are you aware that there is nothing in the Bible that says suicide is murder or some kind of unforgivable sin? You can kill yourself any time you like, and if the free gift of salvation story is true, then you are off to heaven...albeit early.
Question 2 for the Suicide Police, and in particular for the pro-life (really pro-fetus) academic Professor Margaret Somerville:
You already have your free pass to heaven, so what are you waiting for?
Look, if there is a heaven, it's got to be better than "this," so why not get there right away. And if there isn't a heaven, and you are going to the other place (without air conditioning), it's for eternity, so a few more years isn't going to matter.
To prevent non-believers from exercising the ultimate civil right might be an unforgiveable sin. What if you are wrong? To condemn a terminally ill atheist or agnostic and their family to years of suffering is sadistic.
The Fake Bull Market: A Dollar Mirage
Robert Bonomo
The SP 500 hit an apocryphal low during the financial crisis of 666 in March of 2009 from which point it has surged to more than double in price in about two years. This bull market is one of the most robust in US equities history; its only rivals are the end of the roaring 20’s and the late 1990’s.
There probably couldn’t be two more diametrically opposed moments in US history as the to late 1990’s and the post financial crisis period. The late 1990’s were a period of massive innovation, relative peace, budget surpluses and low unemployment. The US military was resting on its laurels after a swift, definitive victory over Saddam Hussein and the once ominous Soviet threat had disappeared, mired in a decade of decay. Microsoft, Yahoo, Oracle, EBay and the like had made advanced technology once again part of the America brand after the 1970’s and 80’s when it seemed Japan would overtake the US as both the world's dominate economy and innovator. But the nineties were a lost decade for the Japanese and saw a serous decline in their economic power relative to the United States. The 1990’s were the culmination of an American century and victory in the Cold War; the long, sustained bull market made sense.
Two Capitalisms
Joel S. Hirschhorn
With a kind of religious fervor, American conservatives love to talk about their love of capitalism, as if it has a singular definition and can always be counted on to serve public and national interests. The intelligent way to think about capitalism is that it can be of two kinds. The good kind is patriotic and stakeholder oriented, the bad kind is selfish and shareholder obsessed. The global economic downturn is strong evidence of the dominant second form of capitalism that has caused so much human suffering while it has served the rich and powerful.
When those with power take actions purely to serve corporate financial interests even though it greatly harms employees, the middle class and the national economy then the bad kind of capitalism is being pursued. Think of the mass export of good jobs, especially in manufacturing, the preference for imported goods, and the investment of capital to build new manufacturing and research facilities in other countries. Maximizing financial returns to reward corporate bigwigs and stockholders even though the actions greatly harm the US economy and society results from US companies practicing bad, immoral capitalism. Think of this development as the conquest of Wall Street over Main Street, of those who make money over those who create and make products, of those who promote economic inequality over those who value the middle class.
Entrapping Innocent Muslims
by Stephen Lendman
A recent New York University School of Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) report is titled, "Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the 'Homegrown Threat' in the United States."
Post-9/11, Muslims have been ruthlessly targeted. Paid informants have infested mosques and their communities to entrap them. As a result, over 200 were persecuted on bogus terrorism related charges. Despite "tout(ing) these cases as successes in the so-called war against terrorism....former (FBI) agents, local lawmakers," and many others "have begun questioning the legitimacy and efficacy" of entrapping innocent victims for political advantage.
University of Ottawa Independence for Sale to the Israeli Lobby
Professor Denis Rancourt
Canadian universities have institutional independence guaranteed by a Supreme Court of Canada ruling. This independence from governments and corporations was explicitly granted to universities in order to protect the academic freedoms of its professors and students.
At the University of Ottaw this established institutional independence is used to subvert lawsuits from mistreated students, and to shield the university from sanctions related to its own violations of its professors' academic freedoms. Such is the perversion of legalese in the service of unprincipled administrations.
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