Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00113)

Hey Bart. Are you joking, or are you a paid apologist for the present rogue 
Bush administration? I'm sure we are all waiting to hear some logical and 
fact based counter arguments other than snide innuendoes and associations without 
substance to discredit the observations of this intelligent commentator -- 
who seems to see it the way it actually is. Your implication that anyone who 
opposes the Bush administration is a communist smacks of unadulterated 
McCarthyism. Judging by your position indicated by your propaganda techniques of weak 
innuendo argument to justify their lies, it could be supposed that if you were 
a non Jewish (or non theosophist) industrialist in Germany during the 
thirties, you would have been among the first to sign up with the National Socialist 
Workers Party -- that seemed to have in its beginning the same agenda as the 
present Bush cabal. Is it any wonder, then, why they changed the Founder's 
Novus Ordo Seclorum (New Order of the Ages) to parroting Hitler's "New World 
Order"? Did you know that this motto originated with the black lodge of Masons 
(not the same as the Masonic Lodge the Founding Fathers were members of) 
reflected in the mystical black arts societies in Germany that backed Hitler and also 
in the Skull and Bones lodge that the Bushes and many of their cronies are 
members of? And did you know that Bush's grandfather was one of the primary 
backers of Adolph Hitler and his war machine in the 30's? Or, that Foster Bush 
was charged by the United States during WW II for "dealing with the enemy"? If 
not, then I suggest you wake up, do your research (try Google), and smell the 
coffee. Where there's smoke, there's fire. 

In a message dated 07/11/03 1:42:48 PM, bartl@sprynet.com writes:

>leonmaurer@aol.com wrote:
> > What Is Happening In America? By Eliot Weinberger
>
>Translation by Bart Lidofsky
>
> > This article, one of the best short analyses of the Bush
> > administration's policies, was first published by "Vorwarts," Germany
>
>Translation: He published it in a country that is working very hard to
>undermine America's influence.
>
> > exceptions have been Thatcher and Reagan, but even their programs of
> > dismantling systems of social welfare seem, in retrospect, mild
> > compared to what is happening in the United States under George
> > Bush-- or more exactly, the ruling junta that tells Bush what to do
> > and say.
>
>Translation: I don't like the results of the last election.
>
> > It is unquestionably the most radical government in modern American
> > history, one whose ideology and actions have become so pervasive, and
> > are so unquestionably mirrored by the mass media here, that the
> > population seems to have forgotten what "normal" is.
>
>Translation: I don't agree with his policies.
>
> > Church and State George Bush is the first unelected President of the
> > United States, installed by a right-wing Supreme Court in a kind of
> > judicial coup d'etat.
>
>Translation: I am so far to the left that I even consider the three
>liberal members of the Supreme Court to be right wing (all the 
>conservatives, all the moderates, and one of the liberals voted in 
>Bush's favor). Also, I disagree with the founding fathers, and believe
>
>that the electoral college should not be valid.
>
> > He is the first to actively subvert one of the pillars of American
> > democracy: the separation of church and state. There are now daily
> > prayer meetings and Bible study groups in every branch of the
> > government, and religious organizations are being given funds to take
> > over educational and welfare programs that have always been the
> > domain of the state.
>
> Translation: I love to tell half-truths and out-and-out lies if it fits
>
>my agenda.
>
> > Bush is the first president to invoke the specific "Jesus Christ"
> > rather than an ecumenical "God," and he has surrounded himself with
> > evangelical Christians, including his Attorney General, who attends
>a
> > church where he talks in tongues.
>
> Translation: I disagree with the U.S. Constitution, and believe there
>
>SHOULD be a religious test for serving public office. Just make sure 
>it's MY version of religion.
>
> > It is the first administration to openly declare a policy of
> > unilateral aggression, a "Pax Americana" where the presence of allies
> > (whether England or Bulgaria) is agreeable but unimportant; where
> > international treaties no longer apply to the United States; and
> > where-- for the first time in history-- this country reserves the
> > right to non-defensive, "pre-emptive" strikes against any nation on
> > earth, for whatever reason it declares.
>
> Translation: Paramilitary attacks against the United States don't count.
>
> > Race Laws
> >
> > It is the first-- since the internment of Japanese-Americans in World
> > War II-- to enact special laws for a specific ethnic group.
> > Non-citizen young Muslim men are now required to register and subject
> > themselves to interrogation.
>
> Translation: How DARE the United States do what ANY other country would
>
>do in the same position, and scrutinize non-citizen members of countries
>
>or alliances that have declared war against it.
>
> > Many hundreds have been arrested and held without
> > trial or access to legal assistance-- a violation of another pillar
> > of American democracy: habeas corpus.
>
> Translation: Oops! Forgot to mention that these are non-citizens, and
>
>that the right of habeus corpus has NEVER existed in ANY country in the
>
>world for non-citizens. And I didn't mention that the people were 
>allowed to have legal assistance if they wanted it. After all, we can't
>
>let those uncomfortable truths interfere with my case.
>
> > Many have been taken from their
> > families and deported on minor technical immigration violations; the
> > whereabouts of many others are still unknown. And, in Guantanamo Bay,
> > where it is said that they are now preparing execution chambers,
> > hundreds of foreign nationals -- including a 13-year-old and a man
> > who claims to be 100-- have been kept for almost two years in a limbo
> > that clearly contravenes the Geneva Convention.
>
> Translation: in spite of the fact that these were non-uniformed members
>
>of an army that declared war against the United States, and, as such, 
>are being treated according to the Geneva Convention rules for such 
>forces, I think they should be treated according to the rules for 
>uniformed sources. And I am reporting rumor (the 13 year old) as fact.
>
>And I am mixing those who are being executed with those who are being 
>held until they can find a non-belligerent country that will patriate 
>them and all those in between as if they ALL were going to be executed.
>
> > Similar to the Reagan era, it is an administration openly devoted to
> > helping the rich and ignoring the poor, one that has turned the
> > surplus of the Clinton years into a massive deficit through its
> > combination of enormous tax cuts for the wealthy (particularly those
> > who earn more than a million dollars a year) and increases in defense
>
> > spending.
>
> Translation: I am ignoring the fact that Clinton favored the rich just
>
>as much, and that a war against the United States, which Clinton allowed
>
>to go on unchallenged, was escalated. I am also ignoring the effects of
>
>the dotcom crash, an event of which the Clinton administration carefully
>
>hid the early signs, while overstating the health of the U.S. economy by
>
>a third during the Presidential election.
>
> > (And, although Republicans always campaign on "less government," it
> > has created the largest new government bureaucracy in history: the
> > Department of Homeland Security.) The Financial Times of England,
> > hardly a hotbed of leftists, has categorized this economic policy as
> > "the lunatics taking over the asylum."
>
> Translation: I am ignoring the fact that there is a war going on.
>
> > Undermining Law
> > But more than Reagan-- whose policies tended to benefit the rich in
> > general-- most of Bush's legislation specifically enriches those in
> > his lifelong inner circle from the oil, mining, logging, construction,
> > and pharmaceutical industries.
>
> Translation: I am crossing out Clinton's name and putting Bush n it's
>
>place.
>
> > At the middle level of the bureaucracy, where laws may be issued
> > without Congressional approval, hundreds of regulations have been
> > changed to lower standards of pollution or safety in the workplace,
>to
> > open up wilderness areas for exploitation, or to eliminate the testing
> > of drugs..
>
> Translation: I don't know the difference between a law and a 
>regulation. Or I do, but I'm purposely trying to confuse people who 
>don't. And I also like to confuse labels with that which is labeled.
>
> > Corporate Kickbacks Billions in government contracts have been
> > awarded, without competition, to corporations formerly run by
> > administration officials.
>
> Translation: I don't know what a kickback is, and I am not considering
>
>whether or not the contracts were valid.
>
> > Undermining Law - II
> > In a country where the most significant social changes are enacted by
> > court rulings, rather than by legislation, the Bush administration
> > has been filling every level of the complex judicial system with
> > ultra-right ideologues, especially those who have protected
> > corporations from lawsuits by individuals or environmental groups,
> > and those who are opposed to women's reproductive rights. It remains
> > to be seen how far they can push their antipathy to contraception and
> > abortion.
>
> Translation: I think Bush should put judges who disagree with him on 
>the bench.
>
> > They have already banned a rare form of late-term abortion that is
> > only given when the health of the mother is endangered or the fetus
> > is terribly deformed, and a large portion of Bush's heralded billions
> > to Africa to fight AIDS will be devoted to so-called "abstinence"
> > education.
>
> Translation: I'm ignoring the fact that it only stops ELECTIVE 
>late-term abortions; medically necessary abortions are STILL allowed. 
>And how DARE Bush try to push the most effective way of stopping AIDS!!!!
>
> > Totalitarian America
> >
> > Most of all, America doesn't feel like America any more. The climate
> > of militarism and fear, similar to any totalitarian state,
>
> Translation: Any government I disagree with is totalitarian.
>
> > permeates everything. Bush is the first American president in memory
> > to swagger around in a military uniform, though he himself-- like all
> > of his most militant advisers-- evaded the Vietnam War.
>
> Translation: I am lying. Bush war a military outfit, but it was NOT a
>
>uniform; there was no sign of rank on it. The military outfit was the 
>only kind manufactured for the purpose. In addition, I consider serving
>
>in the armed forces outside of Vietnam the same thing as running off to
>
>England.
>
> > (Even Eisenhower, a general and a war hero, never wore his uniform
> > while he was president).
>
> Translation: I am inserting an irrelevant historical point.
>
> > In the airports of provincial cities, there are frequent
> > announcements in that assuring, disembodied voice of science-fiction
> > films:
> >
> > "The Department of Homeland Security advises that the Terror Alert is
> > now. . . Code Orange." Every few weeks there is an announcement that
> > another terrorist attack is imminent, and citizens are urged to take
> > ludicrous measures, like sealing their windows against biological and
> > chemical attacks, and to report the "suspicious" activities of their
> > neighbors.
>
> Translation: I'm telling half-truths again. Not to mention out and out
>
>lies.
>
> > The Pentagon institutes the "Total Information Awareness" program to
> > collect data on the ordinary activities of ordinary citizens (credit
> > card charges, library book withdrawals, university course enrollments)
> > and when this is perceived as going too far, they change the name to
> > "Terrorist Information Awareness" and continue to do the same things.
>
> Translation: The Pentagon is doing what the Pentagon has ALWAYS done.
>
> > Millions are listed in airport security computers as potential
> > terrorists, including antiwar demonstrators and pacifists. Critics are
> > warned to "watch what they say" and lists of "traitors" are posted on
> > the internet.
>
> Translation: Bush is doing what people, especially on the left, have 
>been complaining he didn't do before 9/11. In addition, people are 
>posting bullshit on the Internet. Not unlike my article.
>
> > The war in Iraq has been the most extreme manifestation of this new
> > America, and almost a casebook study in totalitarian techniques;
> > First, an Enemy is created by blatant lies that are endlessly
> > repeated until the population believes it: in this case, that Iraq
> > was linked to the attack on the World Trade Center, and that it
> > possesses vast "weapons of mass destruction" that threaten the world.
>
> Translation: I am concentrating on a single issue, which the entire 
>world believed BEFORE it was brought up by the United States (the 
>disagreement was not on whether the weapons existed, but how to best 
>divest Iraq of them), and ignoring all the other issues brought up, 
>including Saddam Hussein's own statements.
>
> > Then, a War of Liberation, entirely portrayed by the mass media in
> > terms of our Heroic Troops, with little or no imagery of casualties
> > and devastation, and with morale-inspiring, scripted "news"
> > scenes--such as the toppling of the Saddam statue and the heroic
> > "rescue" of Private Lynch-- worthy of Soviet cinema.
>
> Translation: I think the United States is trying to use my tactics.
>
> > Finally, as has happened with Afghanistan, very little news of the
> > chaos that has followed the Great Victory. Instead, the propaganda
> > machine moves on to a new Enemy-- this time, Iran.
>
> Translation: I don't pay attention to the news.
>
> > It is very difficult to speak of what is happening in America without
> > resorting to the hyperbolic cliches of anti-Americanism that have
> > lost their meaning after so many decades, but that have now finally
> > come true.
>
> Translation: My anti-American tripe no longer works. Wahhhhhhh!
>
> > Perhaps one can only recite the facts, and I have mentioned only some
> > of them here. This is, quite simply, the most frightening American
> > administration in modern times, one that is appalling both to the
> > left and to traditional conservatives. This junta is unabashed in its
> > imperialist ambitions; it is enacting an Orwellian state of Perpetual
> > War; it is dismantling, or attempting to dismantle, some of the most
> > fundamental tenets of American democracy; it is acting without
> > opposition within the government, and is operating so quickly on so
> > many fronts that it has overwhelmed and exhausted any popular
> > opposition.
>
> Translation: I love to use Stalinist buzzwords.
>
> > Perhaps it cannot be stopped, but the first step toward slowing it
> > down is the recognition that this is an American government unlike any
> > other in this country's history, and one for whom democracy is an
> > obstacle.
>
> Translation: We must go forward to create a destruction of Western 
>Civilization to create an anarchy which, as we all know, will result in
>
>a Communist Paradise.
>
> Bart Lidofsky
>