WHO’S ON FIRST....?
Raven has been complaining. The physical malaise that has kept me on the verge of idiocy, as well as altogether too chummy with the bathroom, has been cramping his style. As I was forcing myself to eat some scrambled eggs for my lunch, he was giving me an earful. Clearly, from Raven’s perspective, this is not the moment for anyone to be a wimp.
“Look at the example of this woman, Nancy Lessin, who is suing to prevent Baby Bush from declaring war on Iraq:
Lessin and several other parents of troops serving in the Gulf have joined U.S. soldiers and a dozen members of Congress as plaintiffs in a lawsuit that seeks to bar President Bush from ordering an attack on Iraq without a congressional declaration of war.
"If the rest of the world can debate this war, then America can as well. Our Constitution requires that debate," says Lessin, whose son Joe is among the almost 300,000 U.S. troops who have already been sent to the Gulf. "If the president starts this war without a declaration from Congress, he will violate the Constitution. And I do not want our troops being ordered to fight an unconstitutional war."
Is that on the Common Dreams site, Rave?
“Yeah, as a reprint from yesterday’s MADISON CAPITAL TIMES. The case is being examined in a Boston federal appeals court. It says here:
Boston lawyer John Bonifaz argued that an invasion of Iraq without further action by Congress would violate Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which states that "Congress shall have power ... to declare war." He explained that the October resolution on Iraq that was passed by the House and Senate had failed to declare war and, in fact, had unlawfully ceded to the president the authority to decide whether to launch an invasion of Iraq.
"We are not saying that the war cannot occur if Congress declares it. Our position is that the Constitution requires the president to go to Congress before launching a premeditated, first-strike invasion of another country," explains Bonifaz. "This is precisely what the framers of the Constitution intended to prevent. They placed Article 1, Section 8 in the Constitution to assure that the president of the United States would not have the power that European monarchs had held in the past in matters of war and peace."
Raven gives me the beady eye, “I don’t remember that Bush was elected King.”
He wasn’t elected President, either, Rave. His brother manipulated the votes in Florida, and the Supreme Court largely appointed by his father got around the Constitutional mandate to elect the President in the House of Representatives but upholding the Florida caper.
“Sounds like Royal Family stuff to me. But this attorney, Bonifaz, seems very articulate about heading him off at the pass:
"It was clearly the intent of the founders that there be a congressional declaration of war before this country invaded another. We are now at the point where an invasion appears imminent, yet we have not had the declaration. This is exactly the point where the court should intervene and say George Bush must obey the Constitution," Bonifaz says. "Saddam Hussein can, on his own volition, send troops into Kuwait. President Bush does not have the power to send troops into Iraq. We have a different system, and it is right to ask that that system be allowed to work."
Theoretically we have a different system, Rave. Considering that a non-elected President has on his own hook shipped almost 300,000 troops to the Persian Gulf, I am not too sanguine about that system still being operational.
“It looks as if there is support for this lawsuit, though:
More than 70 law professors have signed onto a brief supporting the suit. And U.S. Rep. John Conyers from Michigan, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and one of the congressional plaintiffs, says, "President Bush recently told journalists that whether we go to war 'is not up to you, it's up to me.' The founding fathers did not establish an imperial presidency with war-making power. The Constitution clearly reserves that for Congress."
Sure. But the fact is that Bush had the audacity to tell journalists that war WAS up to him. And they are circulating his perception as if it were true.
“The emperor’s new suit all over again?”
Rave, I would have thought that was obvious.
“For those of us who are feathered creatures, such tricks are not only dishonorable, but unnecessary.” Raven surfs to another site.
Nothing like taking the moral high ground....
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Monday, March 10, 2003
WASHINGTON—LEADER OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM?
Raven and I are hunkered down here in “Macondo North” trying to be serious about the world situation.
“I am going to have to start drinking coffee. That’s all there is to it.” Raven looks resigned.
Gee, Rave, I am really sorry the news is driving you to drink.
“Look, none of this is our fault. But reading this stuff is like watching the re-invention of Surrealism. For example, this interview with the North Korean Ambassador to Mexico.”
What does he say?
“He says Bush is lying and manipulating world public opinion, and that he is the head of the “Evil Axis”. He says that North Korea is not a terrorist state, that the yankees are the terrorists—that they have practiced State Terrorism in Chile, Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and have indiscriminately bombed Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. He goes on to say that North Korea is a peaceful country, that they have spent years proposing a non-aggression pact to the US which would resolve the nuclear issue. He says they want dialog, but if there is war they will fight. And smash the enemy.”
Seems to me he is right about most of that. I don’t know about smashing the enemy, though.
“Well, it says here that the head of the CIA told the US Senate that North Korea was capable of reaching the west coast of the US with a missile with a nuclear warhead.”
Really?
“But the Ambassador said—they say that he said so “enigmatically”—that they only had short range missiles.”
Enigmatically—sounds like “oriental inscrutability”, doesn’t it?
“Sounds like a Charlie Chan movie. Anyway, he went on to ask who is daily threatening preventive nuclear attacks on other countries. He says it is in Washington, and not in Bagdad or Pyongyang, where one should search for the criminal state which constitutes the principal nuclear threat today.”
He has a point there, Rave.
“Yeah, but he also says that they will fight total war with total war, that there is no other way.”
That’s very scary.
“Tell me about it. I think I am going to pass on coffee, and just go directly to mezcal....”
Raven and I are hunkered down here in “Macondo North” trying to be serious about the world situation.
“I am going to have to start drinking coffee. That’s all there is to it.” Raven looks resigned.
Gee, Rave, I am really sorry the news is driving you to drink.
“Look, none of this is our fault. But reading this stuff is like watching the re-invention of Surrealism. For example, this interview with the North Korean Ambassador to Mexico.”
What does he say?
“He says Bush is lying and manipulating world public opinion, and that he is the head of the “Evil Axis”. He says that North Korea is not a terrorist state, that the yankees are the terrorists—that they have practiced State Terrorism in Chile, Panama, Grenada, Nicaragua and Cuba and have indiscriminately bombed Iraq, Libya, Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. He goes on to say that North Korea is a peaceful country, that they have spent years proposing a non-aggression pact to the US which would resolve the nuclear issue. He says they want dialog, but if there is war they will fight. And smash the enemy.”
Seems to me he is right about most of that. I don’t know about smashing the enemy, though.
“Well, it says here that the head of the CIA told the US Senate that North Korea was capable of reaching the west coast of the US with a missile with a nuclear warhead.”
Really?
“But the Ambassador said—they say that he said so “enigmatically”—that they only had short range missiles.”
Enigmatically—sounds like “oriental inscrutability”, doesn’t it?
“Sounds like a Charlie Chan movie. Anyway, he went on to ask who is daily threatening preventive nuclear attacks on other countries. He says it is in Washington, and not in Bagdad or Pyongyang, where one should search for the criminal state which constitutes the principal nuclear threat today.”
He has a point there, Rave.
“Yeah, but he also says that they will fight total war with total war, that there is no other way.”
That’s very scary.
“Tell me about it. I think I am going to pass on coffee, and just go directly to mezcal....”
Saturday, March 08, 2003
BEAK OUT OF JOINT?
Raven has been feeling neglected. I have been too busy to blog with him since Wednesday, and he has gone from feeling at loose ends (sitting in the street on a rock in a pose vaguely reminiscent of The Thinker in the garden of the Rodin Museum in Paris) to having his beak out of joint and complaining. While I was hanging out my clothes I put out some semi-sweet rolls in the garden as a peace offering.
"Peace. It's on everybody's tongue. It dribbles out of lips in fifty languages. But who, these days, is peaceful?" Raven flutters down from the wall and pecks at one of the rolls.
Are we talking about individuals, or countries? How's the bread, Rave?
"You know that sesame seeds are not saints of my devotion." He spits out a seed, which bounces off the aluminum light post with a barely audible ping. "I was thinking more about individuals, actually. But I don't even know what's going on these days."
Rave, we read the news and blogged on Wednesday. What could have happened since then that we missed?
"I assume that is a deliberately ingenuous question. If you will remember, the US is trying to start its war. That is one thing that could have happened." Raven is scraping the sesame seeds off the top of a roll with his left claw.
We would have heard about it. We do have radio here on the coast.
"Yeah, right: the Voice of the South Pacific. I expect to hear Mary Martin washing that man right out of her hair every time you turn it on. But you don't even turn it on very often. We could be the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust and not even know it!"
Rave, you're overwrought. Wound too tight. Stressed out. If we were the survivors of a nuclear holocaust we wouldn't need news. We wouldn't need to blog, either.
"So just dribble a tiny piece of news my way, will you?"
Well, Robert Fisk says the US war plans are not helped by Blix.
"He's the Swedish guy, the UN inspector, right? What did he do?"
Fisk says: The famous aluminum tubes turned out--if one believes Mr Blix, and why not--to have nothing to do with nuclear weapons (goodbye, the British intelligence file). And--if you believe Mohamed al-Baradei, and again why not--quite a number of other US documents are lies. But the words from this most intransigent of Swedes to most enrage the warmongers were: "We intend to continue our inspection activities."
"And then what happened?" Rave is pecking determinedly at his now seedless roll.
He goes on to say: Colin Powell didn't seem quite ready for the report, though there was plenty of talk of "criminal evidence", of "lying and deceit", along with some new phrases: "cluster of questions" and "tens of thousands [sic] of delivery systems".
Yes, Mr Powell, who picked up the "toothpicks" metaphor, liked Iraq's co-operation--he could scarcely say otherwise--but added he was "sorry to learn that this is coming in a grudging manner".
"Grudging? What exactly did he expect? That Saddam Hussein would welcome the inspectors with belly dancers and a Dixieland band playing When the Saints Go Marching In?"
I wouldn't attempt to guess what his expectations were, Rave. I doubt that the UN resolution said anything about dancers and music being required. Or smiles, either.
"When birds go to prostitutes, they pay for the sex act. Do humans expect service with a smile?"
Probably not if it costs more. What's your point, Rave?
"I wasn't making a point. This is the mating season, and not all of us have mates. I was just curious...."
Yeah, right.
Raven has been feeling neglected. I have been too busy to blog with him since Wednesday, and he has gone from feeling at loose ends (sitting in the street on a rock in a pose vaguely reminiscent of The Thinker in the garden of the Rodin Museum in Paris) to having his beak out of joint and complaining. While I was hanging out my clothes I put out some semi-sweet rolls in the garden as a peace offering.
"Peace. It's on everybody's tongue. It dribbles out of lips in fifty languages. But who, these days, is peaceful?" Raven flutters down from the wall and pecks at one of the rolls.
Are we talking about individuals, or countries? How's the bread, Rave?
"You know that sesame seeds are not saints of my devotion." He spits out a seed, which bounces off the aluminum light post with a barely audible ping. "I was thinking more about individuals, actually. But I don't even know what's going on these days."
Rave, we read the news and blogged on Wednesday. What could have happened since then that we missed?
"I assume that is a deliberately ingenuous question. If you will remember, the US is trying to start its war. That is one thing that could have happened." Raven is scraping the sesame seeds off the top of a roll with his left claw.
We would have heard about it. We do have radio here on the coast.
"Yeah, right: the Voice of the South Pacific. I expect to hear Mary Martin washing that man right out of her hair every time you turn it on. But you don't even turn it on very often. We could be the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust and not even know it!"
Rave, you're overwrought. Wound too tight. Stressed out. If we were the survivors of a nuclear holocaust we wouldn't need news. We wouldn't need to blog, either.
"So just dribble a tiny piece of news my way, will you?"
Well, Robert Fisk says the US war plans are not helped by Blix.
"He's the Swedish guy, the UN inspector, right? What did he do?"
Fisk says: The famous aluminum tubes turned out--if one believes Mr Blix, and why not--to have nothing to do with nuclear weapons (goodbye, the British intelligence file). And--if you believe Mohamed al-Baradei, and again why not--quite a number of other US documents are lies. But the words from this most intransigent of Swedes to most enrage the warmongers were: "We intend to continue our inspection activities."
"And then what happened?" Rave is pecking determinedly at his now seedless roll.
He goes on to say: Colin Powell didn't seem quite ready for the report, though there was plenty of talk of "criminal evidence", of "lying and deceit", along with some new phrases: "cluster of questions" and "tens of thousands [sic] of delivery systems".
Yes, Mr Powell, who picked up the "toothpicks" metaphor, liked Iraq's co-operation--he could scarcely say otherwise--but added he was "sorry to learn that this is coming in a grudging manner".
"Grudging? What exactly did he expect? That Saddam Hussein would welcome the inspectors with belly dancers and a Dixieland band playing When the Saints Go Marching In?"
I wouldn't attempt to guess what his expectations were, Rave. I doubt that the UN resolution said anything about dancers and music being required. Or smiles, either.
"When birds go to prostitutes, they pay for the sex act. Do humans expect service with a smile?"
Probably not if it costs more. What's your point, Rave?
"I wasn't making a point. This is the mating season, and not all of us have mates. I was just curious...."
Yeah, right.
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
AN EMBARRASSMENT OF....?
Raven is helping to make posters for our Poets Against the War event this afternoon. He’s really more of a cheerleader in the poster process.
I, on the other hand, am scrolling dispiritedly through the news stories on the web. It is difficult to decide which is the most compelling to read about—Phase 2 of the Bush administration’s so- called Patriot Law, or the form in which administration spokespeople have refused to comment on the “dirty tricks” campaign against UN Security Council members, or the repositioning of US bombers near North Korea. A virtual embarrassment of—riches?
The second phase of the Bush administration’s (junta’s) domestic security laws is even scarier than the first; here are just a few of the tasty morsels it offers:
1. Any citizen—even those born in the US—who supports the activities of an organization which the administration views as “terrorist” may have his/her citizen annulled and may be deported.
“Deported to where?” Raven finds this latest wrinkle rather curious.
It doesn’t say, Rave. I have no idea how they expect to arbitrarily foist undesirable former citizens off on other countries. Let’s continue:
2. The Attorney General’s office will have the authority to boot out any non-citizen who is preceived to represent a threat to the “national defense, foreign policy or economic interests of the US.
“Economic interests? How?” Raven has given up on the posters and is reading over my shoulder.
You can see that here it does not specify anything either.
3. The law would also authorize secret arrests and would annul court orders which prohibit the use of espionage by police forces, and would allow for wire tapping and secret searches without court authorization.
“You’d better not even go to the States for a visit. They could toss you in jail and throw away the key just because you promoted a Poets Against the War event in Mexico.”
Raven might have a point there.
4. Now there are even two projects which could result in the prohibition of live music and dancing in public places.
“What!!??”
I am just reading the article. Apparently the logic is that someone might use or sell drugs at a dance or a concert. Especially at, if you’ll pardon the vain use of your name, “rave” events.
“They could also prohibit people living in their homes. They might use drugs there. Are they going to put them in cattle cars and ship them to concentration camps in Nebraska? Or what?”
Rave, you’re getting pretty hot under the collar. Even though you don’t have one. Let’s look at another story. In response to the exposure of the “dirty tricks” campaign against UN Security Council members, all US spokespeople have refused to comment. The standard answer has been—get this:
I would not have any comment whatsoever on that kind of question or allegation because we never comment on intelligence matters, and I'm not going to do it now."
“Profoundly based on tautology as a rhetorical device, don’t you think?” Raven gives me the eye.
In the Nixon Era—about which you seem to feel nostalgic—it was called “Stonewalling”.
“Same thing.” Rave is not about to abandon his opinion. “And the bombers over North Korea?”
(AP) - The United States is basing more heavy bombers near North Korea and will formally protest the communist nation's "reckless actions" in using MiG fighters to intercept a U.S. surveillance plane, officials said. Shifting the military aircraft toward northeast Asia was described "as a prudent gesture to bolster our defense posture and as a deterrent" by Defense Department spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis on Tuesday.
“I see. The North Koreans intercept a US spy plane and they are considered to be the reckless ones. Is this Doublespeak, or what?”
Raven is getting angry now. His feathers are ruffling.
It does fall a bit short on the scale of diplomatic language, doesn’t it? I suppose it’s how you turn an embarrassing incident to your own advantage.
Raven scratches his head.
“Who was that guy in the U-2 plane incident?”
Powers, Rave. Gary Powers.
“Unusual name. Prophetic. Or poetic?”
Rave returns to the poster project.
“Give me a ‘P’....”
(How about an ‘F’—for fascism?)
Raven is helping to make posters for our Poets Against the War event this afternoon. He’s really more of a cheerleader in the poster process.
I, on the other hand, am scrolling dispiritedly through the news stories on the web. It is difficult to decide which is the most compelling to read about—Phase 2 of the Bush administration’s so- called Patriot Law, or the form in which administration spokespeople have refused to comment on the “dirty tricks” campaign against UN Security Council members, or the repositioning of US bombers near North Korea. A virtual embarrassment of—riches?
The second phase of the Bush administration’s (junta’s) domestic security laws is even scarier than the first; here are just a few of the tasty morsels it offers:
1. Any citizen—even those born in the US—who supports the activities of an organization which the administration views as “terrorist” may have his/her citizen annulled and may be deported.
“Deported to where?” Raven finds this latest wrinkle rather curious.
It doesn’t say, Rave. I have no idea how they expect to arbitrarily foist undesirable former citizens off on other countries. Let’s continue:
2. The Attorney General’s office will have the authority to boot out any non-citizen who is preceived to represent a threat to the “national defense, foreign policy or economic interests of the US.
“Economic interests? How?” Raven has given up on the posters and is reading over my shoulder.
You can see that here it does not specify anything either.
3. The law would also authorize secret arrests and would annul court orders which prohibit the use of espionage by police forces, and would allow for wire tapping and secret searches without court authorization.
“You’d better not even go to the States for a visit. They could toss you in jail and throw away the key just because you promoted a Poets Against the War event in Mexico.”
Raven might have a point there.
4. Now there are even two projects which could result in the prohibition of live music and dancing in public places.
“What!!??”
I am just reading the article. Apparently the logic is that someone might use or sell drugs at a dance or a concert. Especially at, if you’ll pardon the vain use of your name, “rave” events.
“They could also prohibit people living in their homes. They might use drugs there. Are they going to put them in cattle cars and ship them to concentration camps in Nebraska? Or what?”
Rave, you’re getting pretty hot under the collar. Even though you don’t have one. Let’s look at another story. In response to the exposure of the “dirty tricks” campaign against UN Security Council members, all US spokespeople have refused to comment. The standard answer has been—get this:
I would not have any comment whatsoever on that kind of question or allegation because we never comment on intelligence matters, and I'm not going to do it now."
“Profoundly based on tautology as a rhetorical device, don’t you think?” Raven gives me the eye.
In the Nixon Era—about which you seem to feel nostalgic—it was called “Stonewalling”.
“Same thing.” Rave is not about to abandon his opinion. “And the bombers over North Korea?”
(AP) - The United States is basing more heavy bombers near North Korea and will formally protest the communist nation's "reckless actions" in using MiG fighters to intercept a U.S. surveillance plane, officials said. Shifting the military aircraft toward northeast Asia was described "as a prudent gesture to bolster our defense posture and as a deterrent" by Defense Department spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis on Tuesday.
“I see. The North Koreans intercept a US spy plane and they are considered to be the reckless ones. Is this Doublespeak, or what?”
Raven is getting angry now. His feathers are ruffling.
It does fall a bit short on the scale of diplomatic language, doesn’t it? I suppose it’s how you turn an embarrassing incident to your own advantage.
Raven scratches his head.
“Who was that guy in the U-2 plane incident?”
Powers, Rave. Gary Powers.
“Unusual name. Prophetic. Or poetic?”
Rave returns to the poster project.
“Give me a ‘P’....”
(How about an ‘F’—for fascism?)
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
MASTERMIND—OR SLAVEMIND?
Raven is rolling on the floor laughing. I wonder why.
“Listen to this,” he screeches, wiping tears of hilarity from his eyes:
A Breakthrough in the War on Terror? I'll Believe it When We See Some Evidence
by Robert Fisk
In the theatre of the absurd into which America's hunt for al-Qa'ida so often descends, the "arrest" – the quotation marks are all too necessary – of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is nearer the Gilbert and Sullivan end of the repertory.First, Mr Mohammed was arrested in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistani agents near Islamabad and spirited out of the country to an "undisclosed location". "The man who masterminded the September 11 attacks" was how the US billed this latest "victory" in the "war against terror" (again, quotation marks are obligatory). Then the Pakistanis announced that he hadn't been taken out of Pakistan at all. Then a Pakistani police official expressed his ignorance of any such arrest.And then, a Taliban "source" – this means the real Taliban but "source" is supposed to cover the fact that the old Afghan regime still exists – claimed that Mr Mohammed "is still with us and in our protection and we challenge the US to prove their claim". By this stage, it looked like a case of the "whoops" school of journalism; a good story that just might be untrue....
Yes, Rave. Clearly we have hijinks going on. It’s a shell game. With probably nobody hiding under the shells.
“Mastermind. Indeed. As if everybody didn’t already believe that the CIA did 9/11.”
Obviously not everybody believes it, or this would not have been a news story.
“Since when are the masters creating news stories for the slaves?” Raven looks singularly doubtful.
It’s called brainwashing. The people who read the news stories of elaborate captures of terrorist masterminds are the slaveminds.
“Sorry. As comedy, it won’t play in Peoria.” Raven is leaving.
And as tragedy, Rave?
Raven pauses, lifts his wings and sighs.
“Ask the real masterminds to tell you the next act.”
Raven is rolling on the floor laughing. I wonder why.
“Listen to this,” he screeches, wiping tears of hilarity from his eyes:
A Breakthrough in the War on Terror? I'll Believe it When We See Some Evidence
by Robert Fisk
In the theatre of the absurd into which America's hunt for al-Qa'ida so often descends, the "arrest" – the quotation marks are all too necessary – of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is nearer the Gilbert and Sullivan end of the repertory.First, Mr Mohammed was arrested in a joint raid by the CIA and Pakistani agents near Islamabad and spirited out of the country to an "undisclosed location". "The man who masterminded the September 11 attacks" was how the US billed this latest "victory" in the "war against terror" (again, quotation marks are obligatory). Then the Pakistanis announced that he hadn't been taken out of Pakistan at all. Then a Pakistani police official expressed his ignorance of any such arrest.And then, a Taliban "source" – this means the real Taliban but "source" is supposed to cover the fact that the old Afghan regime still exists – claimed that Mr Mohammed "is still with us and in our protection and we challenge the US to prove their claim". By this stage, it looked like a case of the "whoops" school of journalism; a good story that just might be untrue....
Yes, Rave. Clearly we have hijinks going on. It’s a shell game. With probably nobody hiding under the shells.
“Mastermind. Indeed. As if everybody didn’t already believe that the CIA did 9/11.”
Obviously not everybody believes it, or this would not have been a news story.
“Since when are the masters creating news stories for the slaves?” Raven looks singularly doubtful.
It’s called brainwashing. The people who read the news stories of elaborate captures of terrorist masterminds are the slaveminds.
“Sorry. As comedy, it won’t play in Peoria.” Raven is leaving.
And as tragedy, Rave?
Raven pauses, lifts his wings and sighs.
“Ask the real masterminds to tell you the next act.”
Monday, March 03, 2003
NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF
The 1998 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Portugese writer José Saramago has called upon the government of Chile not to cave in and support the US position in the UN Security Council, but to vote against the insistent drums of war.
Saramago recently criticized the US comment that their intervention in the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 (and their subsequent intransigent support of the dictatorship of Pinochet) was “nothing to be proud of”, dismissing it as merely an attempt at manipulation: “It´s shameful that the US has offered apologies; that country only ‘repents’ because it needs Chile’s vote. Thirty years after the military coup in Chile, the US wants to do the same thing in Iraq in another context.
And Rave, Bush sent that fascist Otto Reich to Santiago to pressure the Chileans.
“Right. And they reacted by taking off all their clothes and parading through the streets. I saw the photo.”
Raven has sworn off lean beef and is now bowling with one of the dumplings from his chicken and dumplings.
Not everybody was parading naked. Just some people.
“The ones with the best bodies, I think. Saramago is the guy you were reading last week, right? ‘El hombre duplicado’?”
Yes, he speaks his mind. He spoke out in no uncertain terms here in Mexico about the government’s counter-revolutionary tactics against Marcos and the EZLN. He’s 80 now, so has earned the right. Rave, you are making a mess on the table.
“Sorry. But these dumplings are nothing to be proud of either. All that’s missing from them is the Brunswick logo....”
The 1998 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Portugese writer José Saramago has called upon the government of Chile not to cave in and support the US position in the UN Security Council, but to vote against the insistent drums of war.
Saramago recently criticized the US comment that their intervention in the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973 (and their subsequent intransigent support of the dictatorship of Pinochet) was “nothing to be proud of”, dismissing it as merely an attempt at manipulation: “It´s shameful that the US has offered apologies; that country only ‘repents’ because it needs Chile’s vote. Thirty years after the military coup in Chile, the US wants to do the same thing in Iraq in another context.
And Rave, Bush sent that fascist Otto Reich to Santiago to pressure the Chileans.
“Right. And they reacted by taking off all their clothes and parading through the streets. I saw the photo.”
Raven has sworn off lean beef and is now bowling with one of the dumplings from his chicken and dumplings.
Not everybody was parading naked. Just some people.
“The ones with the best bodies, I think. Saramago is the guy you were reading last week, right? ‘El hombre duplicado’?”
Yes, he speaks his mind. He spoke out in no uncertain terms here in Mexico about the government’s counter-revolutionary tactics against Marcos and the EZLN. He’s 80 now, so has earned the right. Rave, you are making a mess on the table.
“Sorry. But these dumplings are nothing to be proud of either. All that’s missing from them is the Brunswick logo....”
Sunday, March 02, 2003
COMING IN FROM THE COLD
Raven is steadier today. While I was hanging my sheets on the line, he was putting away his french toasts before they got cold. And he has declared the saxaphone his instrument of choice--to sing along with. He blasted a duet with Gato Barbieri most of the morning, even turning lyrically melancholic with the Gato's version of Carlos Santana's "Europa". The Bird in Control of His Hormones?
He joined me for a few pecks at a piece of steak.
"This guy is on the plate is still breathing."
Raven exaggerates sometimes.
Put a little Worcestershire Sauce on it, Rave. And listen to this:
"Published on Sunday, March 2, 2003 by the Observer/UK
Revealed: US Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War
Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members
by Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favor of war against Iraq."
Raven upends the bottle of Worcestershire over his plate.
"I thought Nixon died."
He did, Rave. But he didn't invent Dirty Tricks. Nor were they retired when he retired himself from office.
"I kind of liked Nixon. Just the way he was. Like Mr. Rogers, who also died. And I am sure Checkers is chasing rabbits in Doggy Heaven, too."
Somehow I don't see Nixon and Mr. Rogers in Doggy Heaven with Checkers.
"Pedants are not saints of my devotion, you know." Raven narrows his eyes. "But tell me more of the Dirty Tricks story."
"The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organization and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input."
"Speaking of pedantry, isn't 'friendly foreign intelligence agency' an oxymoron?"
Probably. Or at least morons are involved.
"So who are the spy targets?"
"...The target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York - the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for UN inspections, led by France, China and Russia."
"Aha. I thought Fox was changing his position on the war."
Rave, Fox doesn't have positions--plural--his only position is Patent Leather Boot in Mouth. But let's continue:
"Disclosure of the US operation comes in the week that Blix will make what many expect to be his final report to the Security Council. It also comes amid increasingly threatening noises from the US towards undecided countries on the Security Council who have been warned of the unpleasant economic consequences of standing up to the US."
"Right. Tony Garza told us to kiss an immigration agreement good-bye."
What's this US? I thought you were a Bird without Borders?
"I like to side with the victims. Eating this piece of meat, I am betraying my code of honor though."
Rave, be serious, will you? Here's the resignation letter of the Diplomat who Came in from the Cold. He says:
"It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer. "
"Good for him. I didn't think that Greece was cold, but...."
Rave, I think it's time for you to go back to the beach and chase some women.
"Thanks, but I'm too beat from chasing my meat around."
The Sunday hoo-hahs with the Bird with an Answer for Everything....
Raven is steadier today. While I was hanging my sheets on the line, he was putting away his french toasts before they got cold. And he has declared the saxaphone his instrument of choice--to sing along with. He blasted a duet with Gato Barbieri most of the morning, even turning lyrically melancholic with the Gato's version of Carlos Santana's "Europa". The Bird in Control of His Hormones?
He joined me for a few pecks at a piece of steak.
"This guy is on the plate is still breathing."
Raven exaggerates sometimes.
Put a little Worcestershire Sauce on it, Rave. And listen to this:
"Published on Sunday, March 2, 2003 by the Observer/UK
Revealed: US Dirty Tricks to Win Vote on Iraq War
Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members
by Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont
The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favor of war against Iraq."
Raven upends the bottle of Worcestershire over his plate.
"I thought Nixon died."
He did, Rave. But he didn't invent Dirty Tricks. Nor were they retired when he retired himself from office.
"I kind of liked Nixon. Just the way he was. Like Mr. Rogers, who also died. And I am sure Checkers is chasing rabbits in Doggy Heaven, too."
Somehow I don't see Nixon and Mr. Rogers in Doggy Heaven with Checkers.
"Pedants are not saints of my devotion, you know." Raven narrows his eyes. "But tell me more of the Dirty Tricks story."
"The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organization and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input."
"Speaking of pedantry, isn't 'friendly foreign intelligence agency' an oxymoron?"
Probably. Or at least morons are involved.
"So who are the spy targets?"
"...The target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York - the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for UN inspections, led by France, China and Russia."
"Aha. I thought Fox was changing his position on the war."
Rave, Fox doesn't have positions--plural--his only position is Patent Leather Boot in Mouth. But let's continue:
"Disclosure of the US operation comes in the week that Blix will make what many expect to be his final report to the Security Council. It also comes amid increasingly threatening noises from the US towards undecided countries on the Security Council who have been warned of the unpleasant economic consequences of standing up to the US."
"Right. Tony Garza told us to kiss an immigration agreement good-bye."
What's this US? I thought you were a Bird without Borders?
"I like to side with the victims. Eating this piece of meat, I am betraying my code of honor though."
Rave, be serious, will you? Here's the resignation letter of the Diplomat who Came in from the Cold. He says:
"It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer. "
"Good for him. I didn't think that Greece was cold, but...."
Rave, I think it's time for you to go back to the beach and chase some women.
"Thanks, but I'm too beat from chasing my meat around."
The Sunday hoo-hahs with the Bird with an Answer for Everything....
Saturday, March 01, 2003
RAVEN'S DAY OFF
Raven has been loafing most of the day. Being a beach bum. Chasing women. Snacking with a distracted air on the hotcakes I set out for him on the steps in the garden. Letting loose with delighted cackles and rattles in the bugambilia bushes--all inky motion against their superfluity of magenta riches.
So, Rave, we're not going to think about The World today?
"I am always thinking. Birds for All Seasons are also Birds of All Thoughts. Did you have something specific in mind?"
I was reading a Robert Fisk piece from The Independent, republished on commondreams.org:
"Much of the Bush speech to the American Enterprise Institute was written in the language of Israel. 'If war is forced upon us by Iraq's refusal to disarm, we'll meet an enemy who hides his military forces behind civilians, who has terrible weapons, who's capable of any crime.' This is precisely the language of Ariel Sharon. The equation that other Arab states are expected to understand is contained in that ominous suggestion by Mr Bush that after the "passing" of Saddam Hussein's regime, 'other regimes will be given a clear warning that support for terror will not be tolerated'. Primarily, this is a message for Syria, then for Iran and then for anyone else who has not knelt before the Americans."
"You know, there is a reason why I have been having a day off. Sometimes I tire of being the Bird of Reason, the Cassandra subspecies blasting my news from the bugambilia that the world is going to hell in the handbasket of Bush."
Sorry, Rave. I thought we had decided that you were not a subscriber to the Tragic Sense of Life.
"I´m not. But I peek at it from time to time."
Can you finish peeking at this article, just for the sake of the blog?
"But what was it President Bush told us? 'Iraqi lives and freedom matter greatly to us,' he said. Since when? When Iraqi men and women were being raped in President Saddam's torture chambers in 1983, Donald Rumsfeld was in Baghdad asking the Iraqi leader if he could reopen the US embassy. Rebuilding Iraq will require "a sustained commitment from many nations" but "we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary and not a day more". How extraordinary. For these are precisely the same words used by Israel when it invaded Lebanon in 1982. It took Israel 22 years and hundreds of Israeli lives – and thousands of Arab lives – before that occupation ended. Ah, what it is to fight for "the liberty of an oppressed people" – this is Mr Bush on Iraq – provided, of course, they are not Palestinian."
Raven picks up a piece of hotcake.
"So the US justifies its planned occupation of Iraq because Israel has occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 1967 in defiance of the UN Resolutions?"
It seems that way to me.
Raven pecks at the piece of hotcake.
"These are cold." He sets it back on the plate and prepares to take off.
Rave, before you lift your landing gear....
"I know. A pronouncement. At the risk of a certain kind of bird-brained logic, I have to say that in the Holocaust of the Middle (Missile?) East, the Palestinians and the Iraquis have become the Jews for This Century."
Do you think there will be others?
"Holocausts, Jews or Centuries?"
Raven, with a sad sybiline smirk on his face, banks into the breeze over the Pacific....
Raven has been loafing most of the day. Being a beach bum. Chasing women. Snacking with a distracted air on the hotcakes I set out for him on the steps in the garden. Letting loose with delighted cackles and rattles in the bugambilia bushes--all inky motion against their superfluity of magenta riches.
So, Rave, we're not going to think about The World today?
"I am always thinking. Birds for All Seasons are also Birds of All Thoughts. Did you have something specific in mind?"
I was reading a Robert Fisk piece from The Independent, republished on commondreams.org:
"Much of the Bush speech to the American Enterprise Institute was written in the language of Israel. 'If war is forced upon us by Iraq's refusal to disarm, we'll meet an enemy who hides his military forces behind civilians, who has terrible weapons, who's capable of any crime.' This is precisely the language of Ariel Sharon. The equation that other Arab states are expected to understand is contained in that ominous suggestion by Mr Bush that after the "passing" of Saddam Hussein's regime, 'other regimes will be given a clear warning that support for terror will not be tolerated'. Primarily, this is a message for Syria, then for Iran and then for anyone else who has not knelt before the Americans."
"You know, there is a reason why I have been having a day off. Sometimes I tire of being the Bird of Reason, the Cassandra subspecies blasting my news from the bugambilia that the world is going to hell in the handbasket of Bush."
Sorry, Rave. I thought we had decided that you were not a subscriber to the Tragic Sense of Life.
"I´m not. But I peek at it from time to time."
Can you finish peeking at this article, just for the sake of the blog?
"But what was it President Bush told us? 'Iraqi lives and freedom matter greatly to us,' he said. Since when? When Iraqi men and women were being raped in President Saddam's torture chambers in 1983, Donald Rumsfeld was in Baghdad asking the Iraqi leader if he could reopen the US embassy. Rebuilding Iraq will require "a sustained commitment from many nations" but "we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary and not a day more". How extraordinary. For these are precisely the same words used by Israel when it invaded Lebanon in 1982. It took Israel 22 years and hundreds of Israeli lives – and thousands of Arab lives – before that occupation ended. Ah, what it is to fight for "the liberty of an oppressed people" – this is Mr Bush on Iraq – provided, of course, they are not Palestinian."
Raven picks up a piece of hotcake.
"So the US justifies its planned occupation of Iraq because Israel has occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since 1967 in defiance of the UN Resolutions?"
It seems that way to me.
Raven pecks at the piece of hotcake.
"These are cold." He sets it back on the plate and prepares to take off.
Rave, before you lift your landing gear....
"I know. A pronouncement. At the risk of a certain kind of bird-brained logic, I have to say that in the Holocaust of the Middle (Missile?) East, the Palestinians and the Iraquis have become the Jews for This Century."
Do you think there will be others?
"Holocausts, Jews or Centuries?"
Raven, with a sad sybiline smirk on his face, banks into the breeze over the Pacific....
Friday, February 28, 2003
COUNTING SMALL-BONED BODIES
Raven is masterminding our Poets Against the War event here on the campus of Universidad del Mar. Well, what he is really doing is finding the best anti-war poems of all time for us to read next Wednesday afternoon.
This means I have been squeezing the cells of the memory centers of my brain to call up the marches, the stench of tear gas, the barrels of National Guard M-1 rifles (later M-16s), the ashes of draft cards and flags on the steps of the Pentagon. And, because I am thinking about poems, I remember Robert Bly reading from THE LIGHT AROUND THE BODY in The Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, 1967:
Counting Small-boned Bodies
Let's count the bodies over again.
If we could only make the bodies smaller
The size of skulls
We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
Maybe we could get
A whole year's kill in front of us on a desk!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
We could fit
A body into a finger-ring for a keepsake forever.
Raven is pulling the best poems of the worst of times out of the unconscious of the Internet.
Let’s nourish our collective memories, make our Shadow conscious, swear that we will never, ever, need to write those poems again!
Raven is masterminding our Poets Against the War event here on the campus of Universidad del Mar. Well, what he is really doing is finding the best anti-war poems of all time for us to read next Wednesday afternoon.
This means I have been squeezing the cells of the memory centers of my brain to call up the marches, the stench of tear gas, the barrels of National Guard M-1 rifles (later M-16s), the ashes of draft cards and flags on the steps of the Pentagon. And, because I am thinking about poems, I remember Robert Bly reading from THE LIGHT AROUND THE BODY in The Poetry Center at San Francisco State University, 1967:
Counting Small-boned Bodies
Let's count the bodies over again.
If we could only make the bodies smaller
The size of skulls
We could make a whole plain white with skulls in the moonlight!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
Maybe we could get
A whole year's kill in front of us on a desk!
If we could only make the bodies smaller
We could fit
A body into a finger-ring for a keepsake forever.
Raven is pulling the best poems of the worst of times out of the unconscious of the Internet.
Let’s nourish our collective memories, make our Shadow conscious, swear that we will never, ever, need to write those poems again!
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
RANTING AND RAVEN
Raven is reading (and translating) a transcript of Fidel Castro’s speech from yesterday’s Non-Aligned (aka Anvil) Countries summit conference:
“We are living in difficult times. In recent months we have heard chilling words and concepts more than once. In a speech to cadets at West Point on June 1, 2002, the president of the United States declared: ‘Our security requires that we transform the military force that you will be leading into a military force that must be ready to attack immediately in any dark corner of the world’...That is what we are: ‘dark corners of the planet’. That’s how some people see the countries of the Third World. Never has anyone defined us better, nor with more disdain.”
“Dark corners of the planet, huh.” Raven is peering out the window at the sunlight bouncing off the waves of the Pacific .
Manicheism, Rave. Black or white. Good or evil. With us or against us.
“Who was Maniche?”
You’re thinking of Malinche. It’s Mani. He was born in what is now Iraq in the 3rd century of the Christian Era, and was called the Illuminator.
“Sounds like another Saddam Hussein best-seller in the making. Apparently this Mani was mixed up in Gnosticism. Didn’t the Catholic church condemn all that stuff as heresy and barbecue the followers?”
That was later. During the time of the Crusades there was a late minor crusade against Catharists in the south of France. It was minor because there were no spoils to be had, and nobody took it seriously. They built some bonfires, but they all died down pretty quickly.
“I see the connection. The Petroleum Crusade. Fidel says:
“After the last global massacre in the decade of the 1940s, we were promised a world of peace, the reduction of the distance between the rich and the poor and that the most developed countries would help the less developed countries. All of that turned out to be false. They imposed a world order on us that can neither be sustained nor tolerated. The world is being conducted to a dead end street. In only 150 years the gas and petroleum that it took the world 300 millions of years to accumulate will be exhausted.”
Well, yes. They´re starting the Crusades all over again, using dualist thinking as a justification.
“The Holy Grail is an oil barrel....”
Sadly, yes. And Rave, the tales of this crusade will be censured in such a way that any vestige of truth will be lost in the propaganda. Robert Fisk wrote yesterday in The Independent:
"In a further and even more sinister message dated 31 January this year, CNN staff are told that a new computerized system of script approval will allow "authorized script approvers to mark scripts (i.e. reports) in a clear and standard manner. Script EPs (executive producers) will click on the colored APPROVED button to turn it from red (unapproved) to green (approved). When someone makes a change in the script after approval, the button will turn yellow." Someone? Who is this someone? CNN's reporters aren't told. But when we recall that CNN revealed after the 1991 Gulf War that it had allowed Pentagon "trainees" into the CNN newsroom in Atlanta, I have my suspicions."
Raven seems to sniff the air. “Is that the scent of oil fields burning? Or napalm in the morning?"
Smells like the Reichstag Fire to me, Rave.
Raven is reading (and translating) a transcript of Fidel Castro’s speech from yesterday’s Non-Aligned (aka Anvil) Countries summit conference:
“We are living in difficult times. In recent months we have heard chilling words and concepts more than once. In a speech to cadets at West Point on June 1, 2002, the president of the United States declared: ‘Our security requires that we transform the military force that you will be leading into a military force that must be ready to attack immediately in any dark corner of the world’...That is what we are: ‘dark corners of the planet’. That’s how some people see the countries of the Third World. Never has anyone defined us better, nor with more disdain.”
“Dark corners of the planet, huh.” Raven is peering out the window at the sunlight bouncing off the waves of the Pacific .
Manicheism, Rave. Black or white. Good or evil. With us or against us.
“Who was Maniche?”
You’re thinking of Malinche. It’s Mani. He was born in what is now Iraq in the 3rd century of the Christian Era, and was called the Illuminator.
“Sounds like another Saddam Hussein best-seller in the making. Apparently this Mani was mixed up in Gnosticism. Didn’t the Catholic church condemn all that stuff as heresy and barbecue the followers?”
That was later. During the time of the Crusades there was a late minor crusade against Catharists in the south of France. It was minor because there were no spoils to be had, and nobody took it seriously. They built some bonfires, but they all died down pretty quickly.
“I see the connection. The Petroleum Crusade. Fidel says:
“After the last global massacre in the decade of the 1940s, we were promised a world of peace, the reduction of the distance between the rich and the poor and that the most developed countries would help the less developed countries. All of that turned out to be false. They imposed a world order on us that can neither be sustained nor tolerated. The world is being conducted to a dead end street. In only 150 years the gas and petroleum that it took the world 300 millions of years to accumulate will be exhausted.”
Well, yes. They´re starting the Crusades all over again, using dualist thinking as a justification.
“The Holy Grail is an oil barrel....”
Sadly, yes. And Rave, the tales of this crusade will be censured in such a way that any vestige of truth will be lost in the propaganda. Robert Fisk wrote yesterday in The Independent:
"In a further and even more sinister message dated 31 January this year, CNN staff are told that a new computerized system of script approval will allow "authorized script approvers to mark scripts (i.e. reports) in a clear and standard manner. Script EPs (executive producers) will click on the colored APPROVED button to turn it from red (unapproved) to green (approved). When someone makes a change in the script after approval, the button will turn yellow." Someone? Who is this someone? CNN's reporters aren't told. But when we recall that CNN revealed after the 1991 Gulf War that it had allowed Pentagon "trainees" into the CNN newsroom in Atlanta, I have my suspicions."
Raven seems to sniff the air. “Is that the scent of oil fields burning? Or napalm in the morning?"
Smells like the Reichstag Fire to me, Rave.
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
THE POWER OF PRIMITIVE METHODS
Yesterday the summit conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries began in Kuala Lumpur. In his inaugural address the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, denounced the West’s “primitve methods”: using the pretext of a war against terrorism to try to dominate the world.
“Those kamikaze terrorists are killed in every attack, while the great warriors who press buttons see nothing of the dismembered bodies,” he indicated.
The Malaysian leader accused the West of exercising an “ideological oppression” in favor of democracy against poor countries: “Democracy is arguably the best system of government, but it is difficult to see a democratic method in imposing sanctions, starving people to death, and prohibiting their access to medical care with the end of having them accept democracy.”
“Good point.” Raven is starting to get excited as he reads this news.
The Non-Aligned Countries (116 countries in total) expect to approve a declaration today condemning a unilateral intervention in Iraq on the part of the US, as well as the expression Axis of Evil used by Baby Bush to denote 3 non-aligned countries, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
“The only thing I want to know is why they are still calling themselves Non-Aligned Countries. Since the disappearance of the Soviet Union they should be calling themselves something different.”
Did you have something in mind, Rave?
“Not really. Maybe Victim Countries? Or Anvil Countries?”
Anvil?
“You know—like in the dialectic of the Hammer and the Anvil, the countries that always get beaten on....”
Yesterday the summit conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries began in Kuala Lumpur. In his inaugural address the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, denounced the West’s “primitve methods”: using the pretext of a war against terrorism to try to dominate the world.
“Those kamikaze terrorists are killed in every attack, while the great warriors who press buttons see nothing of the dismembered bodies,” he indicated.
The Malaysian leader accused the West of exercising an “ideological oppression” in favor of democracy against poor countries: “Democracy is arguably the best system of government, but it is difficult to see a democratic method in imposing sanctions, starving people to death, and prohibiting their access to medical care with the end of having them accept democracy.”
“Good point.” Raven is starting to get excited as he reads this news.
The Non-Aligned Countries (116 countries in total) expect to approve a declaration today condemning a unilateral intervention in Iraq on the part of the US, as well as the expression Axis of Evil used by Baby Bush to denote 3 non-aligned countries, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
“The only thing I want to know is why they are still calling themselves Non-Aligned Countries. Since the disappearance of the Soviet Union they should be calling themselves something different.”
Did you have something in mind, Rave?
“Not really. Maybe Victim Countries? Or Anvil Countries?”
Anvil?
“You know—like in the dialectic of the Hammer and the Anvil, the countries that always get beaten on....”
Monday, February 24, 2003
ROGUES AND FRIENDS
Raven is back. His feathers are a little rumpled around the edges, I think. And his affect is a bit subdued. It isn’t easy for the Bird for All Seasons to admit to his animal inclinations. (It isn’t easy for me, either.)
In today’s La Jornada there is a piece by Carlos Fazio, “De canallas y amigos” (Of Rogues and Friends), which treats the rhetorical use of the label “Rogue State” by the US to justify its new “doctrine of preventive war”, whose most novel aspect is its so-called “anticipatory self-defense.” (Essentially, it means a non-declared war against international norms as well as the US Constitution.)
Fazio points out that “based on the frequency and durability of its unilateral acts of force on a global level, the most visible case of an interfering Rogue State in the 20th century was the United States. (Others, such as the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists had an ephemeral duration.”)
He gives several examples, including Reagan’s Secretary of State George Shultz’ comments when the Tribunal of La Hague was considering Nicaragua’s accusations regarding the mining of its harbor at Corinto--where he laughed at the people who advocated “utopian and legalist means such as external mediation, the United Nations and the International Tribunal of Justice, and did not take into account the ELEMENT OF POWER in the equation.” The Tribunal condemned the US for its illegal use of force against Nicaragua, and imposed the obligation to pay substantial damages. Washington never obeyed....
Typical bully on the corner behavior. Right, Rave?
“If you say so. If you are including my recent lapse from grace in that paradigm, please remember that I was protecting my own turf.”
Fascinating. I didn’t know that birds had turf, Rave.
“Don’t be ingenuous. Everybody has his own turf, his personal space.”
Fazio goes on to indicate that a “rogue superpower has to maintain its credibility, constructing its ideology with the active collaboration of universities, research institutes and the chains of mass media of communication (CNN, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.)...this industry of ideological persuasion generates processes of suggestion and collective contagion: today’s panic in regard to the “devil” Hussein, yesterday’s in regard to the “evil” Bin Laden. To this end the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI and the DEA use psychological warfare and covert activity, disseminating disinformation in order to influence public opinion and political leaders in both friendly nations and enemy nations.”
“Yeah. Every 15 minutes the FBI or one of those other groups is predicting another terrorist attack.”
State-sponsored terrorism, Rave. Scare the shit out of the citizenry.
A country that does not respect the rogue superpower can expect to pay the price. Mexico has been advised that it will pay a high price if it doesn’t support the US in the UN Security Council. Bush’s buddy Tony Garza, the US ambassador to Mexico, made it very clear in his speech in Puebla last week that all bets for an agreement regarding migrant workers would be off, as well as any possible NAFTA renegotiation, if Mexico didn´t vote to attack Iraq.
“This guy Fazio is right: it’s the dialectic of master and slave.” Raven is indignant.
You didn’t see the paper yesterday, Rave, but Oliver Stone said he was thinking of leaving the US because he can’t accept the government’s terrorist tactics.
“Wow! When Hollywood threatens to pack up and leave, you know the dream is over....”
Raven is back. His feathers are a little rumpled around the edges, I think. And his affect is a bit subdued. It isn’t easy for the Bird for All Seasons to admit to his animal inclinations. (It isn’t easy for me, either.)
In today’s La Jornada there is a piece by Carlos Fazio, “De canallas y amigos” (Of Rogues and Friends), which treats the rhetorical use of the label “Rogue State” by the US to justify its new “doctrine of preventive war”, whose most novel aspect is its so-called “anticipatory self-defense.” (Essentially, it means a non-declared war against international norms as well as the US Constitution.)
Fazio points out that “based on the frequency and durability of its unilateral acts of force on a global level, the most visible case of an interfering Rogue State in the 20th century was the United States. (Others, such as the German Nazis and the Italian Fascists had an ephemeral duration.”)
He gives several examples, including Reagan’s Secretary of State George Shultz’ comments when the Tribunal of La Hague was considering Nicaragua’s accusations regarding the mining of its harbor at Corinto--where he laughed at the people who advocated “utopian and legalist means such as external mediation, the United Nations and the International Tribunal of Justice, and did not take into account the ELEMENT OF POWER in the equation.” The Tribunal condemned the US for its illegal use of force against Nicaragua, and imposed the obligation to pay substantial damages. Washington never obeyed....
Typical bully on the corner behavior. Right, Rave?
“If you say so. If you are including my recent lapse from grace in that paradigm, please remember that I was protecting my own turf.”
Fascinating. I didn’t know that birds had turf, Rave.
“Don’t be ingenuous. Everybody has his own turf, his personal space.”
Fazio goes on to indicate that a “rogue superpower has to maintain its credibility, constructing its ideology with the active collaboration of universities, research institutes and the chains of mass media of communication (CNN, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, etc.)...this industry of ideological persuasion generates processes of suggestion and collective contagion: today’s panic in regard to the “devil” Hussein, yesterday’s in regard to the “evil” Bin Laden. To this end the CIA, the Pentagon, the FBI and the DEA use psychological warfare and covert activity, disseminating disinformation in order to influence public opinion and political leaders in both friendly nations and enemy nations.”
“Yeah. Every 15 minutes the FBI or one of those other groups is predicting another terrorist attack.”
State-sponsored terrorism, Rave. Scare the shit out of the citizenry.
A country that does not respect the rogue superpower can expect to pay the price. Mexico has been advised that it will pay a high price if it doesn’t support the US in the UN Security Council. Bush’s buddy Tony Garza, the US ambassador to Mexico, made it very clear in his speech in Puebla last week that all bets for an agreement regarding migrant workers would be off, as well as any possible NAFTA renegotiation, if Mexico didn´t vote to attack Iraq.
“This guy Fazio is right: it’s the dialectic of master and slave.” Raven is indignant.
You didn’t see the paper yesterday, Rave, but Oliver Stone said he was thinking of leaving the US because he can’t accept the government’s terrorist tactics.
“Wow! When Hollywood threatens to pack up and leave, you know the dream is over....”
Sunday, February 23, 2003
THE BIRD IN THE DOGHOUSE....
Raven was in the doghouse yesterday because of his regression to the mean of belligerent behavior.
Today he did not put in an appearance while I was in the garden until 5 p.m., when he took a dead leaf from the ground and pecked at it on the wall. I guess this was his version of going out to the garden to eat worms?
Rave, martyrdom doesn't become you.
It looked to me as if he shrugged his shoulders before he flew off with the leaf dribbling out of his beak.
I felt a little strange reading the Sunday supplements without Raven editorializing over my shoulder.
Especially since Raven is an ardent chavista, I would have liked to hear his comments on last week's turn of events in Venezuela. The government of Hugo Chavez and the "opposition" (whatever that means) signed an agreement last Wednesday to put an end to violence (apparently physical and/or verbal?) Early Thursday morning Carlos Fernandez, one of the leaders of the coup conspirators was arrested coming out of a restaurant in the eastern sector of Caracas. He has been charged with Treason, Civil Rebellion and Instigating Delinquency, among other crimes. When Chavez heard the news shortly after the arrest, he celebrated with a big glass of papaya juice and went to bed with a big smile on his face....It was about time.
Also in the supplement Masiosare, an elegy for Philip Berrigan, who died in December after 40 years of resistance against violence and war. A few quotes from his autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War, published in 1997:
On Capitalism...
"We were taught to believe in the capitalist system without ever questioning how a system that poisons the environment, jails and executes the poor people, and prospers in war can be compatible with the teachings of Christ."
On the Catholic Church and the Vietnam War...
"In November of 1966 the bishops of the US declared that the Vietnam War complied with the criteria for a just war, but those men were not going to die in a rice paddy full of leeches. Cardinal Spellman wasn't going to be walking as a sentinel in the dense jungle waiting for a sniper that would blow his brains out or for a mine that would send him home in a box of chocolates."
On the H bomb...
"Nobody asked the American people if they wanted to build another apocalyptic bomb."
On Christ and war...
"Jesus was an activist. Not a monk. He lived among the poor. He threw the merchants out of the temple, criticized the rich and powerful, ridiculed the government's functionaries. He would not have stayed in a monastery while his government was slaughtering the Vietnamese."
Rest in peace, Philip Berrigan. You deserve that which was so elusive during your lifetime.
Last month Hugo Chavez talked about Martin Luther King, Jr., calling him the "martyr of us blacks":
"Martin Luther King spoke of Jesus, the King of the people, the Lord of Venezuela, Jesus, my comandante...Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of the cross, Jesus resurrected, Jesus the redeemer...Every day I understand Christ more--his passion, his love. Christ is my Commander in Chief."
I put down the paper and walked back out to my garden. Raven was striking a pose on the wall, holding something green in his mouth that looked suspiciously like an olive branch....
PEACE!
Raven was in the doghouse yesterday because of his regression to the mean of belligerent behavior.
Today he did not put in an appearance while I was in the garden until 5 p.m., when he took a dead leaf from the ground and pecked at it on the wall. I guess this was his version of going out to the garden to eat worms?
Rave, martyrdom doesn't become you.
It looked to me as if he shrugged his shoulders before he flew off with the leaf dribbling out of his beak.
I felt a little strange reading the Sunday supplements without Raven editorializing over my shoulder.
Especially since Raven is an ardent chavista, I would have liked to hear his comments on last week's turn of events in Venezuela. The government of Hugo Chavez and the "opposition" (whatever that means) signed an agreement last Wednesday to put an end to violence (apparently physical and/or verbal?) Early Thursday morning Carlos Fernandez, one of the leaders of the coup conspirators was arrested coming out of a restaurant in the eastern sector of Caracas. He has been charged with Treason, Civil Rebellion and Instigating Delinquency, among other crimes. When Chavez heard the news shortly after the arrest, he celebrated with a big glass of papaya juice and went to bed with a big smile on his face....It was about time.
Also in the supplement Masiosare, an elegy for Philip Berrigan, who died in December after 40 years of resistance against violence and war. A few quotes from his autobiography, Fighting the Lamb's War, published in 1997:
On Capitalism...
"We were taught to believe in the capitalist system without ever questioning how a system that poisons the environment, jails and executes the poor people, and prospers in war can be compatible with the teachings of Christ."
On the Catholic Church and the Vietnam War...
"In November of 1966 the bishops of the US declared that the Vietnam War complied with the criteria for a just war, but those men were not going to die in a rice paddy full of leeches. Cardinal Spellman wasn't going to be walking as a sentinel in the dense jungle waiting for a sniper that would blow his brains out or for a mine that would send him home in a box of chocolates."
On the H bomb...
"Nobody asked the American people if they wanted to build another apocalyptic bomb."
On Christ and war...
"Jesus was an activist. Not a monk. He lived among the poor. He threw the merchants out of the temple, criticized the rich and powerful, ridiculed the government's functionaries. He would not have stayed in a monastery while his government was slaughtering the Vietnamese."
Rest in peace, Philip Berrigan. You deserve that which was so elusive during your lifetime.
Last month Hugo Chavez talked about Martin Luther King, Jr., calling him the "martyr of us blacks":
"Martin Luther King spoke of Jesus, the King of the people, the Lord of Venezuela, Jesus, my comandante...Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of the cross, Jesus resurrected, Jesus the redeemer...Every day I understand Christ more--his passion, his love. Christ is my Commander in Chief."
I put down the paper and walked back out to my garden. Raven was striking a pose on the wall, holding something green in his mouth that looked suspiciously like an olive branch....
PEACE!
Saturday, February 22, 2003
RAVEN LOSES HIS GRIP?
Raven will not be making any comments on this page today.
This morning I was washing my clothes, as usual, in the kitchen sink. I went out to hang the clothes on the line and noticed that a small, presumably female raven was sitting on the wall. Later she was sitting on a limb of the lime tree.
I went back inside to cook my breakfast.
Suddenly a racket began, and I peeked out to see Raven screeching and flapping his wings at another male, who was flapping back at him.
Uh, Rave. Is this the behavior of an evolved bird?
Raven and the other male were engaged in a Mexican standoff. Then they circled the base of the lime tree. Then they flapped their wings again. The male who was trying to horn in on Raven's relationship slowly backed off and flew away.
Raven flew up to the limb next to the female's perch.
You know something, Rave? I see that bellicosity again and you can take it out of my garden to another Bush....
Raven will not be making any comments on this page today.
This morning I was washing my clothes, as usual, in the kitchen sink. I went out to hang the clothes on the line and noticed that a small, presumably female raven was sitting on the wall. Later she was sitting on a limb of the lime tree.
I went back inside to cook my breakfast.
Suddenly a racket began, and I peeked out to see Raven screeching and flapping his wings at another male, who was flapping back at him.
Uh, Rave. Is this the behavior of an evolved bird?
Raven and the other male were engaged in a Mexican standoff. Then they circled the base of the lime tree. Then they flapped their wings again. The male who was trying to horn in on Raven's relationship slowly backed off and flew away.
Raven flew up to the limb next to the female's perch.
You know something, Rave? I see that bellicosity again and you can take it out of my garden to another Bush....
Friday, February 21, 2003
SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS A VILLAGE IS MISSING ITS IDIOT
“Did you see this in the Common Dreams site?” Raven is making sounds which he thinks pass for chuckling, but which sound more like the horselaugh to me.
***”This was Sydney, in all its wonderful diversity and stripes. Right in front of an elderly and well-heeled group carrying a banner saying North Shore Against the War was a group of young Iraqi-Australians with a flag, and in front them some students with the banner "Somewhere in Texas, a Village Is Missing Its Idiot". (Published Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003 by the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)”***
I assume they mean Midland, Texas, Rave.
“Quite the geographer, aren’t you. Did you just pull that name out of a hat?”
Not exactly. I have a friend in Santa Fe who is from the same oiltown in Texas as Baby Bush. Midland.
“Sounds suspiciously like Middle Earth to me....”
You a Tolkien fan, Rave? I know you can’t be talking about movies, as there are no cinemas anywhere near here and I have no tv and vcr. Or have you been peeking in other people’s windows?
Raven gives me a look that would fry eggs. “Look, one of the few benefits of being a bird is that you can look into people’s houses and nobody thinks anything about it. You would not believe what some people get up to....”
That’s diversity, Rave. As a progressive, you should be championing their right to get up to whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes.
“Don’t stuff me into the fascist barrel with Bush and his buddies. Since you won’t buy a tv watching the antics of other species is the only mindless entertainment I have access to.” Raven returns to reading aloud from Common Dreams:
***”We believe that of all the lessons the tragedy of September 11 demonstrated, the most salient is that just one person with enough white-hot hate in him can become a weapon of mass destruction all on his own.”***
A little context, please, Rave. Whom are they talking about: Osama Bin Laden or Bush?
“Osama Bin Laden probably had less to do with 9/11 than Bush did. It’s obvious that Bush is a weapon of mass destruction. Listen to this:
***”We finally believe that of all the wars and potential wars of our time, the distinguishing feature of this one is that it is driven by political leadership with little backing from their populations. And in New York, London, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Melbourne, Adelaide and Armidale last weekend, a large tranche of those populations had the will to say, "NO! Stop this madness, now, while there is still time." And our only hope now is that there really is still time.”***
“Right on!” Raven shoots his wings skyward.
Tolkien? Right on? Rave, you’re looking a little tie-dyed around the edges.
“I am a bird for all seasons....”
“Did you see this in the Common Dreams site?” Raven is making sounds which he thinks pass for chuckling, but which sound more like the horselaugh to me.
***”This was Sydney, in all its wonderful diversity and stripes. Right in front of an elderly and well-heeled group carrying a banner saying North Shore Against the War was a group of young Iraqi-Australians with a flag, and in front them some students with the banner "Somewhere in Texas, a Village Is Missing Its Idiot". (Published Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003 by the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)”***
I assume they mean Midland, Texas, Rave.
“Quite the geographer, aren’t you. Did you just pull that name out of a hat?”
Not exactly. I have a friend in Santa Fe who is from the same oiltown in Texas as Baby Bush. Midland.
“Sounds suspiciously like Middle Earth to me....”
You a Tolkien fan, Rave? I know you can’t be talking about movies, as there are no cinemas anywhere near here and I have no tv and vcr. Or have you been peeking in other people’s windows?
Raven gives me a look that would fry eggs. “Look, one of the few benefits of being a bird is that you can look into people’s houses and nobody thinks anything about it. You would not believe what some people get up to....”
That’s diversity, Rave. As a progressive, you should be championing their right to get up to whatever they want in the privacy of their own homes.
“Don’t stuff me into the fascist barrel with Bush and his buddies. Since you won’t buy a tv watching the antics of other species is the only mindless entertainment I have access to.” Raven returns to reading aloud from Common Dreams:
***”We believe that of all the lessons the tragedy of September 11 demonstrated, the most salient is that just one person with enough white-hot hate in him can become a weapon of mass destruction all on his own.”***
A little context, please, Rave. Whom are they talking about: Osama Bin Laden or Bush?
“Osama Bin Laden probably had less to do with 9/11 than Bush did. It’s obvious that Bush is a weapon of mass destruction. Listen to this:
***”We finally believe that of all the wars and potential wars of our time, the distinguishing feature of this one is that it is driven by political leadership with little backing from their populations. And in New York, London, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Melbourne, Adelaide and Armidale last weekend, a large tranche of those populations had the will to say, "NO! Stop this madness, now, while there is still time." And our only hope now is that there really is still time.”***
“Right on!” Raven shoots his wings skyward.
Tolkien? Right on? Rave, you’re looking a little tie-dyed around the edges.
“I am a bird for all seasons....”
Thursday, February 20, 2003
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE PACK?
Raven and I have been trying to read today’s La Jornada in Internet:
Incrementa EU campaña para que la ONU lo autorice a atacar (The US increases the campaign for the UN to authorize them to attack)
Niega el Departamento de Estado que enviara a Aznar para lograr que Fox apoye planes de Bush (US State Department denies it sent Aznar to get Fox to support Bush’s plans)
I wanted to know what Raven thought about the US trying to rally support for its “cause”.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Raven gave me a sidelong glance and turned his eyes back to the computer screen.
No, actually, it wasn’t.
“In that case, I will answer you.” Raven gave me his full attention now. “If you remember, a couple of days ago we were talking about evolution. Not in general terms, but specifically in regard to your species.”
Yes, I remember. You said that we had not evolved since the Stone Age.
“Something like that, yes. Your species’ name implies the ability to reason. An ability which you have not, lamentably, attributed to other species. If we were observing this behavior among world leaders in, let’s say, a pack of wolves, what would you say about it?”
I suppose I would say that they were ganging up on a weaker animal who was no longer able to fight back because he was old or sick.
“Okay. Now think about if that attitude of ganging up on and eliminating a weaker animal would be considered moral if you apply it to humans, to your species.” Raven looked at me particularly sternly.
I didn’t think it would be, no.
“So, what do members of your species do to justify actions which are essentially immoral?”
I guess we would try to get a consensus. If everybody participates in the action, there is no one to raise a big stink about its immorality. Even though it is.
“So the US didn’t even have to send Aznar to put the arm on Fox to change Mexico’s vote in the Security Council to pro-war. Aznar could have done it on his own to cover his own bad conscience because he is part of the pack. The result is the same.”
Raven seems to know a lot about animals, especially our species....
Raven and I have been trying to read today’s La Jornada in Internet:
Incrementa EU campaña para que la ONU lo autorice a atacar (The US increases the campaign for the UN to authorize them to attack)
Niega el Departamento de Estado que enviara a Aznar para lograr que Fox apoye planes de Bush (US State Department denies it sent Aznar to get Fox to support Bush’s plans)
I wanted to know what Raven thought about the US trying to rally support for its “cause”.
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Raven gave me a sidelong glance and turned his eyes back to the computer screen.
No, actually, it wasn’t.
“In that case, I will answer you.” Raven gave me his full attention now. “If you remember, a couple of days ago we were talking about evolution. Not in general terms, but specifically in regard to your species.”
Yes, I remember. You said that we had not evolved since the Stone Age.
“Something like that, yes. Your species’ name implies the ability to reason. An ability which you have not, lamentably, attributed to other species. If we were observing this behavior among world leaders in, let’s say, a pack of wolves, what would you say about it?”
I suppose I would say that they were ganging up on a weaker animal who was no longer able to fight back because he was old or sick.
“Okay. Now think about if that attitude of ganging up on and eliminating a weaker animal would be considered moral if you apply it to humans, to your species.” Raven looked at me particularly sternly.
I didn’t think it would be, no.
“So, what do members of your species do to justify actions which are essentially immoral?”
I guess we would try to get a consensus. If everybody participates in the action, there is no one to raise a big stink about its immorality. Even though it is.
“So the US didn’t even have to send Aznar to put the arm on Fox to change Mexico’s vote in the Security Council to pro-war. Aznar could have done it on his own to cover his own bad conscience because he is part of the pack. The result is the same.”
Raven seems to know a lot about animals, especially our species....
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
WARFARE: THE WAY OF DECEPTION
Raven has been busy: Sitting on the edge of the roof of the house declaiming his theories, laughing at the animals and people below, singing his personal Ode to Joy.
He and I have entered the text of Sun Tzu’s Art of War to see if there are applications for the world in this moment.
Raven is humming as he reads.
Doesn’t he think this is a little complicated to digest at one sitting?
“I thought we agreed on the process: Enter the waterfall from where you are now.” Raven points a talon to this blog page.
Rave, can we open the other window now?
***Warfare is the Way of deception. Therefore, if able, appear unable, if active, appear not active, if near, appear far, if far, appear near. If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them. Attack where they are not prepared, go out to where they do not expect. This specialized warfare leads to victory, and may not be transmitted beforehand. ***
“This implies that there are two entities. Do you see, at this moment, an entity that is the enemy of the US and who is poised to go to war to defeat your country?”
That could be just about anybody, Rave. Bush is not even able to make allies of his allies.
“Ha ha. If you are going to continue with your flippant comments, you can read this window with somebody else.”
Raven is oversensitive. I see his point. Everything that the US is doing to announce their “war” indicates that it is not a war. At least not in Sun Tzu’s lexicon.
***No nation has ever benefited from protracted warfare. Therefore, if one is not fully cognizant of the dangers inherent in doing battle, one cannot fully know the benefits of doing battle. ***
So. Deja vu all over again. Vietnam, right?
“Could be. Those guys think they’ll be in an out of Bagdad in a flash. But since when have they convinced us they are right about anything?”
***Therefore I say: One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes win, sometimes lose. One who does not know the enemy and does not know himself will be in danger in every battle. ***
Does anybody really know anybody else these days?
“This is not one of those New Age self-improvement books.” Raven is becoming impatient. “If you’re going to know the enemy, you first need to figure out who the enemy is. First the enemy was Osama Bin Laden. Then suddenly it was Saddam Hussein. Now there’s guy in North Korea who’s a voice crying in the wilderness wanting to be recognized.”
And....?
“Something stinks here. Either the US government has no idea who its enemy is, or it plans to make war against everybody.”
Sounds bad, Rave. But let’s read the rest of the text?
“The stink of confusion and subterfuge is making me hungry. I am going to scavenge for awhile. You read the rest of the text.”
Raven flies off.
Raven has been busy: Sitting on the edge of the roof of the house declaiming his theories, laughing at the animals and people below, singing his personal Ode to Joy.
He and I have entered the text of Sun Tzu’s Art of War to see if there are applications for the world in this moment.
Raven is humming as he reads.
Doesn’t he think this is a little complicated to digest at one sitting?
“I thought we agreed on the process: Enter the waterfall from where you are now.” Raven points a talon to this blog page.
Rave, can we open the other window now?
***Warfare is the Way of deception. Therefore, if able, appear unable, if active, appear not active, if near, appear far, if far, appear near. If they have advantage, entice them; if they are confused, take them, if they are substantial, prepare for them, if they are strong, avoid them, if they are angry, disturb them, if they are humble, make them haughty, if they are relaxed, toil them, if they are united, separate them. Attack where they are not prepared, go out to where they do not expect. This specialized warfare leads to victory, and may not be transmitted beforehand. ***
“This implies that there are two entities. Do you see, at this moment, an entity that is the enemy of the US and who is poised to go to war to defeat your country?”
That could be just about anybody, Rave. Bush is not even able to make allies of his allies.
“Ha ha. If you are going to continue with your flippant comments, you can read this window with somebody else.”
Raven is oversensitive. I see his point. Everything that the US is doing to announce their “war” indicates that it is not a war. At least not in Sun Tzu’s lexicon.
***No nation has ever benefited from protracted warfare. Therefore, if one is not fully cognizant of the dangers inherent in doing battle, one cannot fully know the benefits of doing battle. ***
So. Deja vu all over again. Vietnam, right?
“Could be. Those guys think they’ll be in an out of Bagdad in a flash. But since when have they convinced us they are right about anything?”
***Therefore I say: One who knows the enemy and knows himself will not be in danger in a hundred battles. One who does not know the enemy but knows himself will sometimes win, sometimes lose. One who does not know the enemy and does not know himself will be in danger in every battle. ***
Does anybody really know anybody else these days?
“This is not one of those New Age self-improvement books.” Raven is becoming impatient. “If you’re going to know the enemy, you first need to figure out who the enemy is. First the enemy was Osama Bin Laden. Then suddenly it was Saddam Hussein. Now there’s guy in North Korea who’s a voice crying in the wilderness wanting to be recognized.”
And....?
“Something stinks here. Either the US government has no idea who its enemy is, or it plans to make war against everybody.”
Sounds bad, Rave. But let’s read the rest of the text?
“The stink of confusion and subterfuge is making me hungry. I am going to scavenge for awhile. You read the rest of the text.”
Raven flies off.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
THE RELIGION OF DEATH?
This past Sunday’s LA JORNADA SEMANAL dedicated most of its space to articles about
war. In one article, “De la guerra y sus definiciones”, the historian Lewis Mumford was quoted as defining war as “the religion of death”, capable of making real the secret desires of “the paranoiacs and sadists that a society in disintegration necessarily produces.”
Mumford’s definition is radically different from that of Clausewitz, who argued that “war is the continuation of politics by others means.” “Good Cop” Colin Powell has impunely quoted Clausewitz, and he is not the only one who has expected us to believe him. As if shoehorning war into the parameters of political process somehow makes it a legitimate action, even a civic obligation.
“Any fool”, claims Raven, “can see that war is precisely the opposite of politics, not its continuation.”
Even a bird brain, right?
Raven chewed thoughtfully on a dead leaf, and leveled me one of his slingshot gazes: “Sometimes you are not wildly funny, you know. Have you seen any massive formations of birds running bombing missions around here lately?”
I was not wildly inclined to argue with him, either, but could not help but point out that our small fishing village in southern Mexico is not of acute strategic importance.
“For birds, it is. But we’re not shooting each other out of the skies to get control of all the fish.
Yet you people run around calling yourself civilized, the most evolved species, etcetera.”
What is your point, Rave?
“Being at the top of the food chain doesn’t mean you’re civilized. I don’t see any evolutionary process in your species.”
Well, maybe not. We have been waging war for millennia.
“In fact,” Raven concluded, “you are the same cavemen as you were in prehistory. Only your clubs have evolved into “intelligent” weapons.
You’re forgetting about culture, Rave.
“Culture doesn’t mean a damn to you people. It’s just something more to impose on other people. Fidel Castro was right when he said Mexican children know more about Mickey Mouse than about Miguel Hidalgo.”
But having a culture doesn’t always mean implementing cultural imperialism.
“Let’s put it this way. When you idiots start waging your “cultural” conflicts with nuclear weapons, the only species likely to come out with its culture intact is the cockroach.”
Even a bird brain....
This past Sunday’s LA JORNADA SEMANAL dedicated most of its space to articles about
war. In one article, “De la guerra y sus definiciones”, the historian Lewis Mumford was quoted as defining war as “the religion of death”, capable of making real the secret desires of “the paranoiacs and sadists that a society in disintegration necessarily produces.”
Mumford’s definition is radically different from that of Clausewitz, who argued that “war is the continuation of politics by others means.” “Good Cop” Colin Powell has impunely quoted Clausewitz, and he is not the only one who has expected us to believe him. As if shoehorning war into the parameters of political process somehow makes it a legitimate action, even a civic obligation.
“Any fool”, claims Raven, “can see that war is precisely the opposite of politics, not its continuation.”
Even a bird brain, right?
Raven chewed thoughtfully on a dead leaf, and leveled me one of his slingshot gazes: “Sometimes you are not wildly funny, you know. Have you seen any massive formations of birds running bombing missions around here lately?”
I was not wildly inclined to argue with him, either, but could not help but point out that our small fishing village in southern Mexico is not of acute strategic importance.
“For birds, it is. But we’re not shooting each other out of the skies to get control of all the fish.
Yet you people run around calling yourself civilized, the most evolved species, etcetera.”
What is your point, Rave?
“Being at the top of the food chain doesn’t mean you’re civilized. I don’t see any evolutionary process in your species.”
Well, maybe not. We have been waging war for millennia.
“In fact,” Raven concluded, “you are the same cavemen as you were in prehistory. Only your clubs have evolved into “intelligent” weapons.
You’re forgetting about culture, Rave.
“Culture doesn’t mean a damn to you people. It’s just something more to impose on other people. Fidel Castro was right when he said Mexican children know more about Mickey Mouse than about Miguel Hidalgo.”
But having a culture doesn’t always mean implementing cultural imperialism.
“Let’s put it this way. When you idiots start waging your “cultural” conflicts with nuclear weapons, the only species likely to come out with its culture intact is the cockroach.”
Even a bird brain....
Friday, February 14, 2003
CONSPIRACIES COMING IN FROM THE COLD?
Raven has been doing a lot of reading this week—some of it over my shoulder, yes—but
he has also called my attention to things that he has been reading in Internet while I have
been working.
True to his trickster nature, Raven always gets a gleam in his eye for anything to do with
conspiracies. This week he has spent a lot of time reading a 90 page PLAN written in
2000—before Bush stole the presidential election--reviving the Bush Padre plan from 1991
on the build-up of US military forces with the goal of taking over the world’s resources and
squashing any threats of competition—especially from the European Union.
Raven passed me this excerpt from the article in the Common Dreams site that got him
reading the PLAN:
***
Published on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Full Spectrum Conspiracy?
by Joy-Ann Lomena Reid
...Now that they have come in from the cold, the ultra-hawks of the
neoconservative movement -- political veterans Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney,
Paul Wolfowitz and Condoleezza Rice, and their extra-governmental think-tank
and media cohorts (men like Richard Perle, Daniel Pipes, Bill Kristol and William Safire),
are pressing their long-hatched agenda from inside the Bush administration -- or so the
conspiracy theory goes.
Their goal is "full spectrum dominance" -- an unchallenged America
sitting astride the world -- controlling its natural resources and reshaping or replacing
governments that don't go along with the program, and even controlling allies (with
something akin to economic blackmail) in order to prevent a collusion of would-be equals
from growing up in Europe. The key to getting the program started is Iraq, which as early
as 2000, the Rumsfeld Cabal (conspiracy lingo here,) were plotting to invade.
The narrative for the plot comes in the form of a report drawn up in 2000 by the neo-conservative
Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a think-tank peopled by Cheney, Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (the president's brother,) Lewis "Scooter" Libby (Cheney's
chief of staff) and others. The document was entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies,
Forces And Resources For A New Century (Check this for link) and it was published in September
2000 -- a full year before the 9/11 attacks.
The document maps out a "proposed" global strategy for America in the 21st century -- and its
tenets are being followed almost to the letter by the current Bush administration....
***
I took the bait. My eyes slithered through the 90 pages of mostly double-column text that
spells out the Bush administration’s Game of Risk strategies to control planet Earth.
Rave, I think you hit pay dirt with this one. The early bird getting the worm, and all that.
“Or the early worm gets the bird....”
Raven has been doing a lot of reading this week—some of it over my shoulder, yes—but
he has also called my attention to things that he has been reading in Internet while I have
been working.
True to his trickster nature, Raven always gets a gleam in his eye for anything to do with
conspiracies. This week he has spent a lot of time reading a 90 page PLAN written in
2000—before Bush stole the presidential election--reviving the Bush Padre plan from 1991
on the build-up of US military forces with the goal of taking over the world’s resources and
squashing any threats of competition—especially from the European Union.
Raven passed me this excerpt from the article in the Common Dreams site that got him
reading the PLAN:
***
Published on Tuesday, February 11, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Full Spectrum Conspiracy?
by Joy-Ann Lomena Reid
...Now that they have come in from the cold, the ultra-hawks of the
neoconservative movement -- political veterans Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney,
Paul Wolfowitz and Condoleezza Rice, and their extra-governmental think-tank
and media cohorts (men like Richard Perle, Daniel Pipes, Bill Kristol and William Safire),
are pressing their long-hatched agenda from inside the Bush administration -- or so the
conspiracy theory goes.
Their goal is "full spectrum dominance" -- an unchallenged America
sitting astride the world -- controlling its natural resources and reshaping or replacing
governments that don't go along with the program, and even controlling allies (with
something akin to economic blackmail) in order to prevent a collusion of would-be equals
from growing up in Europe. The key to getting the program started is Iraq, which as early
as 2000, the Rumsfeld Cabal (conspiracy lingo here,) were plotting to invade.
The narrative for the plot comes in the form of a report drawn up in 2000 by the neo-conservative
Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a think-tank peopled by Cheney, Rumsfeld,
Wolfowitz, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (the president's brother,) Lewis "Scooter" Libby (Cheney's
chief of staff) and others. The document was entitled Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategies,
Forces And Resources For A New Century (Check this for link) and it was published in September
2000 -- a full year before the 9/11 attacks.
The document maps out a "proposed" global strategy for America in the 21st century -- and its
tenets are being followed almost to the letter by the current Bush administration....
***
I took the bait. My eyes slithered through the 90 pages of mostly double-column text that
spells out the Bush administration’s Game of Risk strategies to control planet Earth.
Rave, I think you hit pay dirt with this one. The early bird getting the worm, and all that.
“Or the early worm gets the bird....”
Thursday, February 13, 2003
EL PAJARO DEL DULCE ENCANTO
In Sergio Ramírez’ book of essays, “Mentiras verdaderas” (True Lies),
he talks about the most emblematic figure in the mythical zoo of Nicaragua:
el pajaro del dulce encanto (the bird of sweet charm, literally). This
bird is a creature of singular beauty, with a highly colored plumage that
takes one’s breath away when it appears (okay, Raven, when he or she
appears) winging along out of nowhere. Its sweet charm lies in the fact
that it cannot be grabbed hold of and held. It must always be admired from
a distance, because if someone grabs it, it immediately turns to excrement
in the person’s hand.
Raven was reading over my shoulder as usual last night, and when he got
to the line in which the operative word was “mierda”, he let out one of his
ear-splitting shrieks of joy. “Serves the bastard right!"
I asked him, expecting to be too deaf to hear his response, which bastard he
had in mind.
"Wasn’t it Benito Juárez who said ‘El respecto al derecho ajeno es la paz’
(Peace is respect for others’rights)?”
It had served Benito Juárez right?
“Of course not! He was a hero. He impounded the property of the Catholic
Church. They had to wait more than a century for Salinas to let them start
running their scams again.”
I saw where he had been the past couple of days, but I still wanted to know
if there was something less than the obvious lurking behind his rhetorical
question about Juárez. (With Raven, there usually is.)
Raven turned his head so that only one of his beady eyes was giving me the eye.
“Don’t you read the papers? The government of YOUR country is going to war
to get its hands on the planet’s oil. Besides the obvious similarity in the appearances
of oil and shit, hasn’t it occurred to you when those bastards grab for other people’s
stuff, everything turns to shit?!”
Raven crossed his feet with a feigned resignation that was vaguely reminiscent of
Jeanne Moreau sitting on a stool in a tavern in Brest in the Fassbinder film “Querelle”
and singing “You always kill the thing you love....”
I thought about grabbing him by the neck, but....
In Sergio Ramírez’ book of essays, “Mentiras verdaderas” (True Lies),
he talks about the most emblematic figure in the mythical zoo of Nicaragua:
el pajaro del dulce encanto (the bird of sweet charm, literally). This
bird is a creature of singular beauty, with a highly colored plumage that
takes one’s breath away when it appears (okay, Raven, when he or she
appears) winging along out of nowhere. Its sweet charm lies in the fact
that it cannot be grabbed hold of and held. It must always be admired from
a distance, because if someone grabs it, it immediately turns to excrement
in the person’s hand.
Raven was reading over my shoulder as usual last night, and when he got
to the line in which the operative word was “mierda”, he let out one of his
ear-splitting shrieks of joy. “Serves the bastard right!"
I asked him, expecting to be too deaf to hear his response, which bastard he
had in mind.
"Wasn’t it Benito Juárez who said ‘El respecto al derecho ajeno es la paz’
(Peace is respect for others’rights)?”
It had served Benito Juárez right?
“Of course not! He was a hero. He impounded the property of the Catholic
Church. They had to wait more than a century for Salinas to let them start
running their scams again.”
I saw where he had been the past couple of days, but I still wanted to know
if there was something less than the obvious lurking behind his rhetorical
question about Juárez. (With Raven, there usually is.)
Raven turned his head so that only one of his beady eyes was giving me the eye.
“Don’t you read the papers? The government of YOUR country is going to war
to get its hands on the planet’s oil. Besides the obvious similarity in the appearances
of oil and shit, hasn’t it occurred to you when those bastards grab for other people’s
stuff, everything turns to shit?!”
Raven crossed his feet with a feigned resignation that was vaguely reminiscent of
Jeanne Moreau sitting on a stool in a tavern in Brest in the Fassbinder film “Querelle”
and singing “You always kill the thing you love....”
I thought about grabbing him by the neck, but....
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