People Power and other stuff

One of the many sites I visit daily is The Mahablog: Home blog of the American Resistance. Barbara O'Brien is the blog proprietor and I really enjoy her writing. She does long thoughtful postings, incorporating rich, disparate material. I confess that I often skim articles (not just hers but at many sites) but when I take the time to peruse I am always rewarded.

She has a few current postings that I wanted to invite my visitors to take a look at.

In "The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran" she points to an article in Esquire that exposes the Bush maladministration's long-standing lust for war with Iran. Maha writes that:

What comes through in the article is how Iran and other countries in the Middle East have been making overtures to the US for years, to solve the regions’ many problems and its differences with the United States.

Needless to say, the Bushies will have none of it.

An excellent article ("Moral Relativism") follows on the issue of waterboarding and Rudy Giuliani's inability to call it torture outright. Maha quotes John McCain (who has this one right no matter how much respect he has lost in the past couple of years):

“All I can say is that it was used in the Spanish Inquisition, it was used in Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia, and there are reports that it is being used against Buddhist monks today,” Mr. McCain, who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, said in a telephone interview.

Of presidential candidates like Mr. Giuliani, who say that they are unsure whether waterboarding is torture, Mr. McCain said: “They should know what it is. It is not a complicated procedure. It is torture.” [from the NY Times]

Can you imagine Giuliani saying it depends on who does it and under what circumstances? Oh. My bad. Given that it is Rudy, of course you can imagine it. Can you imagine it without disgust and moral repugnance? I thought not.

Thirdly, Maha presents us with a post on Naomi Wolf on “The End of America.”

As Maha says, "Wolf argues that the language, images, and manipulations that despots used in the past to break down democracies have a consistent pattern, and are being employed here and now." I urge you to click above and read the whole thing. I love the final quote from Wolf:

What the Founders intended was for ordinary Americans, ordinary people to assume the patriot’s task and lead the fight to restore democracy, and to see themselves as leaders.

Bearsy Bob says, Check it out.
--the BB

What is good for the world

Sunset by Korean-born Helen Hyunsuk Kang

Maha has such a fabulous quote by Wendell Berry over at The Mahablog that I am compelled to share it here.

“We’ve lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We’ve been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good for the world will be good for us. That requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it. We must learn to cooperate in its processes and to yield to its limits. But even more important, we must learn to acknowledge that the creation is full of mystery. We will never clearly understand it. We must abandon arrogance and stand in awe. We must recover the sense of the majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.” — Wendell Berry

Thanks, Maha!

She also has a great post on the Burmese monks, international politics, nonviolent protest, and the Metta Sutta. Check it out.
--the BB