8pov

The world can certainly do better than this. Here's why.

Monday, May 14

World Power

A discussion. Again, from Facebook. Infernal device.

That's the thing. As a soft power, Canada NEVER demands anything without the support of the international community, not just the US. Hell, our country IS the international community. As a result, if we are looking to achieve something, it is in the interest of a greater portion of the global population. We all know what happened when John Kerry mentioned a "global test" during a debate with Bush. He was marginalized, then not elected. Canada, however, places great faith in the power of the many. This is a position much of the world wishes that the SUPERpower would adopt. Unilateralism, I suspect, is not long for this Earth.

"Right, but America won't place any faith in the power of the many, until they're no longer the world superpower and they don't need to. For now, they can just go it alone even if no one agrees." (A. Nesmith-Beck; "1984 And Other Dystopian Fiction," Facebook Discussion Group; 13-14 May 2007).

And where/what has that gotten America? Why can America not place any faith in the many? It is WORLD power we're talking about after all...

"That's gotten America to be hated by pretty much every other country in the world, but they are so powerful that it doesn't matter what other countries think. Most Americans believe that their country is and always will be the WORLD power that we're talking about. They don't think the balance of power will ever change, or move to the other side of the scale. America will always be strong, proud, and free to do whatever it wants to the rest of the world, with no consequence." (ibid.)

Didn't exactly work out for Germany in 1939 did it? If other countries can countermand the Ultimate Equalizer...

Most Americans, according to some surveys, believe that the world will end in "the Rapture" within their lifetimes and that "global warming" (aka environmental destruction) is not a pressing issue. Most Americans believe that WWII started 7 December 1941. Most Americans believe that Canadians live in igloos and ride polar bears. Basically, the stuff that most Americans believe is wrong.

The question I have is can anyone take away the keys from a nation that is in a drunken stupor AND at the helm of the world? There will be consequences if no one does...

"... was Germany really as powerful then as America is now?... to answer your question, my opinion is that no country will take the keys from America, they will eventually become so drunk that they lose them, without any pressure from the outside world. But will it be soon enough to avoid those consequences? Only time can tell." (ibid.)

Germany certainly thought it was powerful enough to conquer Europe and Russia (aka the Old World). Their mighty industrial power, less than half a century after the start of the Industrial Revolution, had caught and surpassed most of Europe. Therefore, they believed that they could conquer it. America's industries, once engaged at warfare and under the Roosevelt's New Deal, caught and surpassed Germany. Essentially, America used Germany's corporate (i.e. Fascist) industrial model, amplified it, and successfully outproduced armaments. The fever pitch of military industry remains unabated. Of course, after the Trinity test and Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the arms race shifted and has never been the same. Forget Germany, no one has ever had that kind of power. And, due to the "schoolyard bully" force that America has applied to the world since 1945, no one ever will.

Do you not believe that the proof is in the pudding now that the Administration now is completely, excuse the pun, bombed?

Look at the evidence:
:: The Attorney-General is called before Congress, twice, in a scandal that, allegedly, fired State Attorneys for political ends.
:: There are indictments against Congressmen, a conviction of the aide to the Vice-President, and serious questions about the aide to the President.
:: Every year the Administration has been in power, the US has been more at odds with international consensus, more at odds with its own population, and diving into national debt.
:: Pressure from the outside world and within America has been fast and furious, but totally ignored by the Administration. Former Generals deploring the war, 10 million people worldwide protesting it before the first bomb was dropped, protests of US and G8-led globalization efforts, protests of privatization efforts led by US corporations like the IMF and World Bank, and so on..

America IS drunk with power. Not the American people, because they have no real power, but the power elite who have all the power. Do they give two ishts about what the consequences are? Obviously not. Are the consequences evident? Yes. Are the keys being given up or are the methods changing? No.

Saturday, May 5

The Plight of Scooter Libby

It may be true that justice, where the power elite is concerned will never be done. The degree of corruption with the elite class is becoming increasingly apparent. The damage inflicted by the current American political administration faces final judgement this month as the appeals process for I. Lewis Libby comes to a close. Will the President pardon a perjurer? Would this not be a tacit admission of corruption within the ranks?

On the street, not that I would know anything of the street life, but, on the street, one must be willing to face prison time to protect those to whom you remain loyal. In politics, it is only up until you know that you are headed to prison, and facing a no pardon situation, that your loyalty matters. Does Libby know anything that could irrevocably damage the administration? Will he be sacrificed despite the threat of his rolling over?

Certainly, by this time, the administration has insulated itself against such a threat. The implications of the Valerie Plame affair reach deep into the causes for the Iraq war, but, it must be stayed that no causal link exists between the Libby perjury charge and the initiation of hostilities in Iraq. Essentially, all that an admission by Libby gains is the knowledge that the Administration plays dirty or is incompetent. There is much evidence to support both these claims.

Any further information is to be gained only by the capacity of Libby to cause a stir. If he can confirm a causal relationship, that is one thing. If he has information on other misdeeds of the Administration, that is another.

The courts have said that the penalty for perjury in this case is 30 months at Club Fed. If Libby is a true patriot, a supporter of his President and the administration, he will shut his mouth and do his time. The problem is, if he truly has something to fear from the administration, besides an end to any future career paths, the outcome would be the same.

If, on the other hand, Libby is a true capitalist, he will look for the best deal. Doing time may not be easy for him. By some estimations his political career is already over. A book deal will only get him so far before he must do something else. The myriad connections he has as a result of his position in the administration will surely net him some corporate office. The question is, can he squeeze. something more out of the President for his service? Something more like a pardon?

Tuesday, May 1

Gun Control After Virginia Tech Shooting

This is in response to this

"The recent massacre at Virginia Tech brings to the forefront once again that psychopaths show respect for neither the laws of the land nor the lives in innocent people.

"Virginia Tech has a no-gun policy, meaning that anyone who carrys a gun could get expelled. Were it not for this policy, it would have been possible for a person to legally carry a concealed handgun and to have intervened as this shooter wandered campus for hours at will, killing to his heart's content.

"Criminals do not obey laws; that is the very definition of a criminal. Banning the carrying of guns on a campus may give the impression of safety, but only self-defense actually guarantees safety. A person who obeys the law and carries a gun legally shouldn't be denied the fundamental right to defend life simply because he or she steps over a line onto university property."

Well...

1. Psychopaths are psychopaths. Carrying a gun and being a psychopath only seems to happen in America, where the guns are (to a Canadian, anyway. I know, there are guns in Canada, but, they don't find their way, often, into the hands of psychopaths).

2. "psychopaths show respect for neither the laws of the land nor the lives in innocent people." Thank you for the definition of psychopath. What does this have to do with guns? If you want to stop psychopaths from killing people, or disrespecting the laws of the land, find a way to not generate psychopaths. This, also, seems to happen more often in America. Or, at least, the America that makes celebrities of psychopaths.

3. "Were it to have occurred at any other university in Virginia, it would have been possible for a person to legally carry a concealed handgun and to have intervened..." How do you figure? You know -- for a fact, of course -- that a person carrying a legally registered handgun would have been in that building on that day, and would have found and killed said psychopath?

4. "... as this shooter wandered campus for hours at will, killing to his heart's content." Way I read the story, he killed two people in a dorm room, then, went to a specific building somewhere else on campus, then killed a lot of people there -- in that one place. VT was that scene from "Elephant" not "Happiness."

5. "Criminals do not obey laws; that is the very definition of a criminal." Did you look that one up? 'Cause I got a bunch of silly laws here that anyone can break: http://www.filecabi.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-4233.html

6. OK, say it with me now: ONLY in a world WITHOUT GUNS "self-defense [sometimes] actually guarantees [everyones temporary] safety." In a world with guns, people get killed or injured at the flick of a switch. 'Nuff Said.

7. "A person who obeys the law and carries a gun legally shouldn't be denied the fundamental right to defend life simply because he or she steps over a line onto university property." Actually that's the definition of private property. The university decided to ban guns from ITS campus, just like I decided to ban guns from MY house. Virginia Tech is a corporate entity within and bearing the name of the state, but it operates independently of the state. It is given money by the state, but can choose to, for the most part, prevent things like the massacre from happening BY banning guns.

8. Guns in the "right" hands CAN make a difference. The only thing a gun recognizes is the power of another gun. Maybe that is the problem.

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