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Congressional Ethics

cvining — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 17:58:39 +0000

Congressional Ethics

Members of Congress astound
Their ethics the best around
But sometimes they will bend it
And try to defend it
With logic utterly unsound

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Why I can't celebrate Veterans Day

cvining — Sun, 12 Nov 2023 10:33:36 +0000

Why I can't celebrate Veterans Day

Yesterday, November 11, was Veterans Day. I dId not celebrate. Never do.

We grow up being told we owe our liberty, freedom, our very way of life to the brave veterans of war, and those who gave their lives. And surely there's much to be said for this. Without the soldiers of the American Revolution, the Civil War, WWI and WWII would there even be a nation?

Probably not. And what of these mostly young, mostly men? They've risked and often given all by merely heeding the patriotic call of their nation. All this is true so surely we owe them a great, even unpayable debt.

So that's all on one side of the ledger. But let's push on and look at the other side of the ledger.

When I was 10 or 12, in the thick of the Vietnam War (1967-9) a thought occured to me watching the gruesome evening news with daily body counts and senseless carnage. Surely the Vietcong were just as brave, just a sure they were fighting the good and just fight as our own American boys. Over the years I've thought of this over and over. In the case of Vietnam we Americans were clearly the bad guys. And eventually we got our butts kicked.

But even WWII has the same problem. The rank and file Nazi or Japanese soldier was no less dedicated, no less convinced they were in the right, fighting for the good of their respective homelands than the Soviet, British, Chinese and American soldiers who eventually did prevail.

Confederate soldiers were no less dedicated and fought no less bravely the Union soldiers did. And what of the American Revolution? The colonists were not nearly universal in their opposition to England. Had we lost, or never fought, that war there would still be a great nation here. Just look at Canada. Life is not so bad in Canada.

cvining Sun, 11/12/2023 - 02:33

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Congress denounces "all forms" of socialism, which implies denouncing Social Security too

cvining — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 19:59:21 +0000

Congress denounces "all forms" of socialism, which implies denouncing Social Security too

The House yesterday by an overwhelming vote, including all Republicans and a majority of Democrats (328 for, 86 against, and 14 present), approved a resolution which, taken literally and to a logical conclusion, requires eliminating Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public roads, libraries and everything else supported by taxpayers for the common good.

The resolution cited a dozen whereases to justify denouncing socialism. Six of the twelve whereases cite atrocities, among the worst examples of man's inhumanity to man. They deserve to be denounced too. No question. And it's also true the perpetrators of said atrocities may objectively be described as socialists, and those perpetrators deserve to be denounced for those atrocities. No question.

But the conclusion of the resolution denounces socialism "in all its forms" which is as stupid as blaming American atrocities (for example American slavery, American slaughter of native Americans, American inprisonment of US citizens of Japanese descent during WWII and so on) on democracy or capitalism. Americans too have committed atrocities. Not as bad as the mass murder of millions cited in the Resolution. I'm not equating atrocities, just pointing no ideology is a shield against inhumanity.

Humans do inhuman things to each other all the freaking time, at the drop of a hat. Every nation, every society, every culture, with maybe an extraordinarily few exceptions. At first even Quakers owned slaves. Jains and the Amish are probably exceptions, but basically all our hands are red.

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Who is behind the geopolitics.co website?

cvining — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 02:00:24 +0000

Who is behind the geopolitics.co website?

Two friends have brought to my attention the website https://geopolitics.co/, chock-full of content ranging from US bioweapons programs in Ukraine, Nazis, UFOs, chemtrails, genocide, the Kazarian mafia and all sorts of sensational topics. I haven't read much of it. Any particular topic would require endless hours to unpack and there must be hundreds of posts. It's extensive, and pretty sophisticated.

But who's behind it? That's what I thought I'd comment on here. My first approach is to follow the copyright notices at the bottom of the pages.

Screenshot of geopolitics.co taken 20221229

Copyright at bottom of a geopolitics.co page: "© 2011-2022 Copyright Covert Geopolitics - an online publication of eClinik Learning. All rights reserved."

The same, or very nearly the same, content with a similar copyright notice appears at the website https://eclinik.wordpress.com/. Apart from some formatting differences and minor menu variations the two websites seem really the same, but this may simply be an older, out of date version of geopolitics.co

cvining Thu, 12/29/2022 - 18:00

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Sheep, Wolves and Sheep Dogs

cvining — Sat, 04 Jun 2022 21:03:49 +0000

Sheep, Wolves and Sheep Dogs

"There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves and sheep dogs."

As spoken by Chris Kyle's father in the Clint Eastwood directed film "American Sniper" (2014), said to be "loosely based" on the real live story of Christopher Scott Kyle 1974-2013. The real Kyle was a highly decorated Navy SEAL sniper who served four tours in Iraq with over 150 confirmed kills. A hero in any sense of the word.

I don't know anything about Kyle except the portrayal in the film and the Wikipedia page about him. And I mean no disrespect, but based on the narrative in the film Kyle is just as messed up, just as much a butcher as the Iraqi portrayed in the film who used a drill and amputations to terrorize. Kyle's weapon is a bullet, from up to a mile away.

Let's revisit that quote from early the the film:

Wayne Kyle: [to his sons] There are three types of people in this world: sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Some people prefer to believe that evil doesn't exist in the world, and if it ever darkened their doorstep, they wouldn't know how to protect themselves. Those are the sheep.

Wayne Kyle: Then you've got predators who use violence to prey on the weak. They're the wolves.

Wayne Kyle: And then there are those blessed with the gift of aggression, an overpowering need to protect the flock. These men are the rare breed who live to confront the wolf. They are the sheepdog.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179136/quotes?item=qt2359001

Chris Kyle has been raised to be an aggressor. He's acclimated to killing and guns as a child, he finds ordinary life unsatisfying and joins the SEALS because he's "looking to be of service" and "likes to fight".

cvining Sat, 06/04/2022 - 14:03

"To be" is not the question

cvining — Sat, 09 Apr 2022 23:15:17 +0000

"To be" is not the question

How red are my hands? I descend from slave owners. My biological father developed weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological, radiological, and advocated for them as somehow superior to nuclear weapons options. As a youth, American men and boys, not much older than me, were sent to Vietnam to burn women and children and villages, with napalm. Under 43 America murdered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, tortured many more. I can, of course, go on.

I, on the other hand, have done none of these things. At least not personally. Still, my life is rich and easy because other Americans have killed on my behalf. How red are my hands?

Today we again are all witness to yet another senseless war. As in every war, back to Troy, or Alexander the Great, thru to the War to End All War, or Great Patriotic War and countless others after that, virtually everyone on all sides is so convinced in their own cause they are willing to die and kill for it. Everyone who goes to war has reasons, everyone somehow justifies killing and dying.

How can it be? How can some ordinary 18 year old German drop Zyklon B into a room full of people? How can an American pilot drop bombs knowing hundreds, thousands, even more, will die as a result? How can men in suits quietly sit around a table and order tanks and cluster bombs to shred the flesh of their neighbors? Their neighbors, their kin, their friends?

All too easily. All too easily. We now know from psychological experiments how easy it is to turn ordinary people into sadistic prison guards. You simply ask them, tell them these horrific things must be done. And they do it.

Cruelty comes easily to humans.

Hitler quite easily drummed up reasons to invade his neighbors. To him and the German nation WWII was totally understandable. America, just as easily, drummed up reasons to invade Vietnam and more recently Iraq. And there are reasons. There are always reasons.

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FLM: Fox Lies Matter

cvining — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 17:04:59 +0000

FLM: Fox Lies Matter

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/02/05/lou-dobbs-canceled-fox/

cvining Sat, 02/06/2021 - 09:04

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A call for calm and mercy: no death penalty for the January 6 coup

cvining — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 10:40:18 +0000

A call for calm and mercy: no death penalty for the January 6 coup

I wish to join the call for calm. To those who feel insurrection is treason, punishable by death, I council calm and mercy. We are bigger than those insurgents of January 6, 2021 who sought to topple our government, our constitution, our core belief in rule by law.

Ten years in prison, as called for in the US code (below) for rebellion and insurrection. Fine them, bar them from ever holding office. The death penalty for treason? I understand, but in the name of calm and unity, let's be merciful. Throw them in prison and we'll move on.

Many other laws were broken too, but these are the ones that threaten the core of our nation. And I don't give a damn why they did it. When they stormed the Capitol, they threw any possible merit to their perceived grievances out the freaking window.

If you, dear reader, dear friend, disagree. If you feel any sympathy for the insurrectionists, I'll try to listen to you, hear you out, publicly or privately. Don't expect to change my mind, as I don't expect to change yours. But I will listen. Even as I cheer on efforts to hunt down and hold accountable every single participant.

For reference, here are selected Sections from the US Code

cvining Fri, 01/22/2021 - 02:40

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Revolution Redux (mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)

cvining — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 23:15:42 +0000
Revolution Redux (mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)
Revolution Redux

(mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)

You say you won the revolution
Well, you know
We all want to see the votes
You tell me that it's mass collusion
Well, you know
We all want to see the votes

But when you talk about voter fraud
Don't you know the courts have thrown you out
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you got an affidavit
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the facts
You warn about a retribution
Well, you know
We'll stop you if we can

But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead

But if you go carrying torches for Donald Trump
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right

cvining Mon, 11/30/2020 - 15:15

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GNP measures everything, except that which makes life worthwhile -- RFK

cvining — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 01:51:57 +0000
GNP measures everything, except that which makes life worthwhile -- RFK
"Even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction - purpose and dignity - that afflicts us all.

Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.

It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl.

It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.

It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

If this is true here at home, so it is true elsewhere in world."

-- Robert Kennedy, University of Kansas, March 18, 1968

cvining Thu, 04/25/2019 - 18:51

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Politics

Congressional Ethics

Congressional Ethics

Why I can't celebrate Veterans Day

Congress denounces "all forms" of socialism, which implies denouncing Social Security too

Congress denounces "all forms" of socialism, which implies denouncing Social Security too

Who is behind the geopolitics.co website?

Sheep, Wolves and Sheep Dogs

Tags

"To be" is not the question

"To be" is not the question

FLM: Fox Lies Matter

A call for calm and mercy: no death penalty for the January 6 coup

Revolution Redux (mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)

GNP measures everything, except that which makes life worthwhile -- RFK