“it is not a man’s job to take life,” said the man explaining why he killed.
Scott Roeder killed Dr. Scott Tiller because his belief system taught him that abortion is a form of killing. How is this notion defensible? If you believe that killing is wrong, then how can you kill (except perhaps in self-defense)?
When your invisible friend tells you that you are right and that others are wrong, you have carte blanche to do whatever you want. So you can kill whomever you define as “enemy.” An enemy is someone who is not like us. The other who looks different, who believes differently, who perceives the world differently.
Thou shalt not kill is a commandment from the Christian God-figure. But it has never deterred Christians from killing other Christians (the Crusades, Inquisitions, Salem Witch Trials, Puritans killing Quakers, etc, etc). It most certainly did not deter the Christians who came to here to seek a new way of life from killing all the “savages” and “heretics” that stood in their way – even driving out their own who questioned their beliefs, Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. God deemed that the land should be ours, even if it meant killing every native man, woman, and child that stood in our way.
It isn’t just Christians, though. The other two branches of the Abrahamic religions – Judaism (out of Abraham’s convenant with God and his son Isaac), Christianity (out of Christ’s New Word – Gospel) and Islam (out of Abraham’s son Ishmael and God’s convenant with Abraham) are equally inclined to violence as a defense of their personal and often conflicting beliefs. Genesis 17: 15-19
It isn’t just the Abrahamic religions either. Mankind has been practicing war in the name of gods too numerous to write about and some whose name I don’t yet know.
Mankind simply makes war on each other. Belief (whatever name we give our own – god, truth, duty, competition, acquisition) is simply the justification for what happens. Belief requires Faith. It is the justification mankind has always used for doing whatever harm is done and what allows us to sleep peacefully at night.
Belief is the antithesis of Reason. Did Scott Roeder have a reason to kill Dr. Tiller? His religious beliefs told him he did. Luckily, the jury did not accept his belief as an excuse for murder.
The Obama campaign is in full press mode again; Plouffe, Axelrod, Jarrett and “the one” are hoping you won’t remember that he reneged on every campaign promise he made in his quest for the White House party staff and traveling accommodations. Despite his deals with big pharma, big banks, and big unions, he still wants you to believe that he is on the side of the middle class and the poor downtrodden masses of America; you can almost hear him weep when he speaks. You must remember that once he has your confidence and your votes, he will slip back onto his basketball court, or take Michelle on another fancy date. He will spend your money for parties, parties, parties. I doubt that any of us will be invited.
The Bush administration left us in a dangerous financial condition, but Obama’s spending spree this past year did nothing to help 98% of his fellow citizens. Bernanke, Geithner, and Paulson did not protect us; they protected Goldman Sachs and others of their big donors. I have said this all before, last winter when AIG was “too big to fail.” Read my earlier posts if you don’t remember. I am saying it again because I know that the Obama team thinks you will not remember and that Obama can save the Democrats from a dismal result in November.
I am not a Republican; I am saying this as an independent voter who believes that our federal government is moving further and further away from its initial purpose which is to protect its citizens; not to tell them what to believe, what to do, or what is in our best interests. Neither party is willing to break their money ties. We must pay attention to their actions and hold them accountable for failing us.
Corporations, Banks and Rich Folk are stealing our rights and our country. We must take it back. There is no Guy Fawkes. There is no V. There is only us.
We must remember. November should be a time when we let our voices be heard. Remind everyone you know. Pay attention. Vote smart.
Reread 1984 and decide for yourself if that is where we are headed and if that is where you want to go.
As I wrote in an earlier post “We are only good when we believe as you do,” a firm that provides sights for weapons used by American military has been inscribing references to scripture from the Bible for 30 years.
After the story broke the military promised to look into the matter.
But on Thursday, US military chief Gen David Petraeus, said the practice of scripture references was “disturbing” and “a serious concern”.
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The company pledged to remove the inscription reference on all products destined for the US military yet to be shipped and ensure all future procurements from the department of defence are produced without scripture references. US firm to remove Biblical references on gunsights.
Now it appears that New Zealand has agreed that the references are inappropriate. Australia is considering its response. The UK has not issued any statement other than it was concerned.
In New Zealand, defence force spokesman Maj Kristian Dunne said his department was talking to Trijicon about the best way to remove the markings without damaging the sights.
“The inscriptions… put us in a difficult situation. We were unaware of it and we’re unhappy that the manufacturer didn’t give us any indication that these were on there,” he said. “We deem them to be inappropriate.”
Australia has also said its military uses the sights and is now assessing how to respond, the AP news agency reports. New Zealand to remove Biblical references on gun sights
The swift response of our military is a good indication for the rights of all people in this country, which contrary to popular belief is not a Religious settlement. .
Robert Gates, now Defense Secretary, responds to Pakistan’s rebuff from Pakistan. Keep in mind that it was his CIA that helped destabilize the region in order to defeat the U.S.S.R.
Before arriving in Islamabad, Mr Gates told reporters travelling with him from India: “You can’t ignore one part of this cancer and pretend that it won’t have some impact closer to home.”
His visit comes amidst a slight cooling in relations between the two allies. In an article published in a Pakistani newspaper on Thursday, Mr Gates referred to a “trust deficit”. BBC [bold emphasis mine]
The lifelong “public servants” in Washington hope you won’t remember what happened under their watch thirty years ago and how it has continually affected the U.S. (mostly to the advantage of the military complex and to the disadvantage of the general public).
General Eisenhower, a warrior and a president, tried to warn us.1961
But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs — balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage — balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.
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This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together. [bold emphases mine]
U.S. involvement in Afghanistan began during The Cold War. It began as a secret plan to destroy the U.S.S.R. I did not know this until today when I began doing some research and discovered this interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1998. Read it and weep.
The CIA’s Intervention in Afghanistan
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski,
President Jimmy Carter’s National Security AdviserLe Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998
Posted at globalresearch.ca 15 October 2001Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs ["From the Shadows"], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
B: It isn’t quite that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn’t believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don’t regret anything today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic fundamentalism, having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.B: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
[bold emphases mine]
Translated from the French by Bill Blum[The URL of this article is:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.htmlCopyright, Le Nouvel Observateur and Bill Blum. For fair use only.
The Soviets had begun aiding Afghanistan in the 1950s. Their main objective was obviously to gain a foothold in the Persian Gulf area, which is why they began building oil pipelines there. By the 1970s, they had established a communist government in Kabul. The government could not stand alone, so the U.S.S.R. began moving in troops.
Afghanistan, as we know is/was a country of tribes or clans (rural and self-governed); the difficult terrain helps to maintain this isolation. Afghanistan was also a deeply religious Muslim nation which found itself with a Communist, non-religious Westernized central government. As opposition grew, the U.S. decided to intervene on behalf of those fighting the Soviets. (This was a public move as opposed to the secret CIA intervention six months earlier.)
Intervention and assistance by the U.S helped to create the mujahidin; its intention, however, was not to assist Afghanistan in its struggle to regain its sovereignty but rather to destroy the U.S.S.R. The fate of Afghanistan's people was of no consequence to the United States. Millions were killed, maimed, driven into refugee camps or into Pakistan. They lost their homes, their lands and their livelihoods.
Once the U.S. had accomplished its mission, it left a war-ravaged country in its wake; a country that would suffer from civil war, weak governments, and intense poverty. We also created hatred and distrust of wealthier nations that used Afghanistan to further its own political ambitions. Eventually, the mujahidin that we had used to declare jihad against the Soviet would declare jihad against the U.S.
By 2001, the U.S. would return to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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For a more personal look at how our "assistance" in Afghanistan affected the younger generation of [historically unimportant] “stirred up Muslims” as Brzezinski so condescendingly and dismissively referred to them, read this story published by the Wall Street Journal Online edition: New Wave of Warlords Bedevils U.S. It is what provoked me to begin my search and write this post.
Gunsights’ biblical references concern US and UK forces. BBC.
For 30 years, a maker of gun sights for the U.S. has put coded biblical references at the end of the sight.
Evidently, no one noticed! No wonder thi s country can’t wrap its head around the idea of Separation of Church and State in the U.S. Constitution.
Contrary to popular belief, The Constitution is not a Christian-inspired document. It was written in a time when reason and nature were not enemies. Thomas Jefferson, writer of the Declaration of Independence, was a deist.* So was Benjamin Franklin. The Declaration and the Constitution were written by men of varied religious backgrounds and they were clear that religion must not be a part of the government of the new country they were founding. The Boston Tea Party may have been an emotional response to Britain’s taxation policy. The Declaration of Independence was not. The arguments were clearly defined in rational and thoughtful language enumerating the various injurious the colonies had faced. No where does religion get mentioned.
Thomas Paine, born Quaker became a deist.* He had this to say in Common Sense in which he argues for a limited Republic separate from Britain:
Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and reason*will say, ’tis right. [emphases mine]
Here is how the Declaration begins:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God* entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 1776 [emphasis mine]
It took twelve years of meeting and conventions and arguments before the Constitution was passed in 1787. It is mostly concerned with the process of electing the governing bodies and the various limited actions allowed to the central government. There is this one statement, however, which again limits the influence of religion in the federal government.
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. [emphasis mine] Article. VI.
During the conventions held before the final ratification of The Constitution there had been considerable demand for more explicit definition of the rights of the people. Many states feared that a central government might be able to infringe on those right if they were not delineated. It was finally agreed upon that the first Congress of the new country would address these concerns. Ten amendments, which we know as The Bill of Rights, were added in 1791. Not one of them says we must all be Christians, nor that we must believe in any god. On the contrary, the first line of the first Amendment states:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…[emphasis mine]
Religion played an important part in the lives of the Pilgrims who moved to New England and their influence can still be felt today; but the country was developed by peoples from many countries and religions. There is no State religion, nor any mandate in favor on one sect or another; there is no mandate that says you must belong to any religion. There is only a clearly specified limitation on religion and state.
Religious inscriptions (no matter how small or unobtrusive) on the sights of rifles used by the U.S. military is clearly a violation of every soldier’s rights and ought to be stopped now. It ought to have been stopped long ago, but I will not pursue that issue.
The American people should not be subsidizing a company that is using its contracts to propagandize, proselytize, or promote its own religious perception.
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*[Deists] also demanded that debate rest on reason and rationality. Deists embraced a Newtonian worldview, and they believed all things in the universe, even God, must obey the laws of nature. here
Pumapac complaints to the FEC about Obama campaign contributions still active and updated.
A recent post by the chairman of the team that compiled the information in the original complaints to the FEC is at http://pumapac.org/2010/01/14/whered-the-money-come-from-barack. The issue is as relevant today as it was when the review first began in 2008.
The original complaints can be found Here
The updated complaints will be added in their entirety as I can get to them which may be a looong time.. In the meantime, links to the updates are posted Here
This site, which lists MAXAM UEB as makers of explosives, led me to this site (identifying them as part of MAXAM) which in turn led me to this one (a mission statement of sorts). It was obvious from the start that the PETN which leaked out of the container on to the North Carolina dock yesterday was intended for military or civilian explosive use (though I still don’t know why there was secrecy about the destination). After reading this page, however, I was struck by how easily the words de-militarization and environment have become a part of mission statements around the world and how meaningless they have become from such overuse.
WHAT WE OFFER
The wide range of products produced and sold by MAXAM on the five continents is the basis of a good part of the progress and development of the society in which we live.The mining, quarrying and construction industries have strategic allies in the Civil Explosives Business Area offering expert technical advice and a full range of explosives, initiation systems and specific services to optimize their activities. A target shared by MAXAM´s Technical Service, that contributes by providing the most adequate formula for the use of our products with the aim of improving productivity and reducing operating costs.
Our Outdoors Business Area offers hunters and shooters cartridges of proven quality for their different modes of sporting activities.
Our nitrochemical activity, Chem, is focused on providing the basic key raw materials for MAXAM’s companies and subsidiaries and developing products that contribute to improving energy performance.
Defence offers different governments and armed forces a wide range of ammunition as well as the most modern facilities for de-militarization in order to destroy and recycle obsolete or expired munitions, as well as decontamination and cleaning of military use land.
Exhaustive knowledge of our production processes enables us to offer the most complete technical advice on matters of safety and environment from Energy as well as putting important soil fertilization projects into practice in addition obtaining energy via wind parks, a practice in line with our policy on sustainable development.
A wide range of activities can be carried out to the highest quality and safety standards while respecting the environment. Additionally, significant investment in R&D&I, one of MAXAM’s principal assets and the starting point for the design of products and technical advice is aimed at satisfying the demands of our clients.
So now that I have identified who MAXAM UEB is and what they do, I’d like to offer one suggestion: When shipping such a dangerous chemical as PETN, use something stronger than cardboard casks. I’d hate to see a city wiped out because of an accidental spill. (Wait! That almost happened on “24″ last year and only Jack’s willingness to sacrifice himself saved all of Washington from disaster.)
Let’s hope that the shipment of PETN within the borders of the United States is more closely supervised for security and “safety.”
PETN, the explosive of choice for the underpants bomber, enters the US legally in North Carolina port. WHY?
Where is Homeland Security when you need them? What measures will be instituted to protect us from similar disasters?
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Nine containers of PETN were damaged when a worker accidently punctured the cardboard drums. Some PETN spilled onto the dock. Residents near the port were told to leave immediately and others were told to stay away from windows and doors. here
The shipment of PETN was not unexpected.
This is the first time in two years PETN has come into Morehead City, and the shipment was approved by the Coast Guard, [Morehead City Fire Chief Wes] Lail said.
No one will say who was to receive the shipment.
A company called Maxam UEB shipped the PETN, said Karen Fox, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina State Ports Authority, but she did not know where in the U.S. it was headed.
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MAXAM UEB owns the trademark shown below. You can enlarge the registration of the International Mark to see the information provided on the form or follow this link.
I am still looking for information about this “group” who can bring far more PETN into the United States legally. Why is the receiver of the “package” unknown? The timing of this accident is curious is it not?
Anyone know something they’d like to share?
Happy Holidays!
Stay safe; find peace.
