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July 17 commentary
"For links to the articles I read on the air, guest
websites, archived shows, my commentaries, a listener's
discussion forum, and the text of Mark Stanneart’s latest
commentary, visit: www.rabblerousing.org."
lets start with a bit from my favorite astrological web site.
Call me suspicious, but I am not buying the story that Ken Lay,
the recently convicted leader of Enron, is dead. His chart
simply does not support it. On the Friday before Lay died,
the U.S. Justice Department's Enron Taskforce filed a motion
asking the Judge to force Lay to pay $43.5 million. Then there
was the nice long Fourth of July Weekend. Keep in mind that A
defendant is not technically ruled guilty until the person has
been sentenced and has exhausted the appeals process. Since Lay
died before his sentencing and appeal, his conviction does not
stand, so the financial claim by the government will not
proceed. So, he "died" right before the
Judgment could be filed with the banks and his money seized. I
imagine that in the future we will be hearing reports of Ken Lay
"ghosts. He is not having transits to stay hidden
for long. I must admit I was QUITE amused by the VERY
CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN New York Post‘s headline "Check
the Coffin". And then there is the supposition that he
was killed before he could spill the beans on dick cheneys
secret energy task force. either way you believe, ken lays
convenient death or brilliant disappearance will keep us
guessing for years. Next item on occasion listeners have
critiqued my reading articles critical of Israel, and one
listener who didn’t have the courage to sign their name sent a
letter accusing me of anti Semitism. So pay attention: this one
is not pro Israel but it is close. Travis t hipp opined that
israels stated reason for invading Lebanon, namely the capture
of 2 israeli soldiers was phony, as it has come out that Israel
has had plans for over 5 years to invade Lebanon. Come on travis.
Every military nation hires folks to sit in air conditioned
rooms and plan for any and all possibilities. Its called
contingency war planning. So its simply normal procedure for the
Israelis to have a plan in place to invade Lebanon and every
other neighboring country, just in case they feel the situation
requires it. Im sure that gathering dust in some file cabinet in
wash dc are contingency plans to invade mexico and even Canada,
just in case. Its crazy, but its standard procedure. To not do
so would be extreme negligence on their part. It does not mean
they intend on following the plan. But they feel they need a
plan in place. You want to know what happens when a nation
suddenly goes to war without a proper, well thought out plan in
place? I suggest you check out the American militaries current
adventures in iraq and Afghanistan.
One aspect of israeli recent press releases is quite
humorous. The Israelis have for decades ignored countless un
resolutions requiring them to treat the Palestinians living
amongst them with respect , and honor their legal claims to land
stolen by Israelis. But Israel suddenly seems to have new
respect for at least one un resolution as they are now claiming
the moral high ground in insisting the Lebanese honor one un
resolution that requires them to disarm the hizbollah
terrorists. Sorry folks, but it’s a little late to claim the
moral high ground on this one.
Well what can be said about the current Israeli bombardment
and invasion of Lebanon? There are many disparate pieces to this
puzzle. The first of course is that there seems to be little or
no difference between American and Israeli response to perceived
threat. Bomb innocent civilians. Destroy civilian
infrastructure. Kill many many innocents as you go after your
enemies. It’s the classic example of possibly winning a battle
while certainly losing the war. I can fully understand sending
troops into southern Lebanon to engage Hezbollah terrorists in
direct combat. The Lebanese govt could have controlled the
Hezbollah and refused to do so, so the Israelis feel they must
act. One could argue with them but there is some merit to their
position. But why bomb water treatment facilities, electrical
generation plants, bridges, and sea ports and airports
throughout the country? How does that harm Hezbollah? All that
does is infuriate the very people you want to support you. Any
Lebanese who once thought that Hezbollah was a cancer living
amongst them now has a new enemy to hate and Hezbollah looks to
them like the good guys. Its almost as stupid as the American
policies in iraq. One has to wonder if the same military
planners are responsible for both follies. The modus operendi is
the same and the results will probably be similar. An invading
and occupying army having to contend with guerilla attacks by
enraged locals. And lots and lots of young men and women
returning home in caskets, or missing limbs. Who wins this war
against sanity? And of course, there is a new escalation to this
madness. Israeli cities are being seriously rocketed for the
first time in years. The chickens are coming home to roost. As I
stated before, I lived and worked in Israel back in the 60’s.
Back then, the govt had a high degree of morality, there was an
uneasy truce with their arab neighbors, and one could be proud
to be an Israeli citizen or resident alien. How times have
changed. The israelits were so proud of having turned desert
into farmland. They could have done the same for their arab
neighbors. There is enuff land in the middle east for everyone
if it had water. Israel is the worlds expert in water
desalinization and drip irrigation technology. There was a way
out of the madness. But the arab rulers wanted no part of peace,
and now the sad result is a continuing regime of Israeli leaders
who also want no part of peace. And the arab isreali wars are
not even about oil. its about water, land, vengeance, and
foolish foolish pride.
Next item: here is an interesting perspective on our
immigration problems: its titled: what we really have is an
illegal employer problem. The plain fact is that until Ronald
Reagan called off enforcement of our labor laws we didn't have
an immigration problem. The amnesty of 1986, combined with his
attacks on the power of labor unions, turned a migrant
population into permanent residents, taking what used to be good
union jobs away from American citizens.
Under George Bush the situation has grown dramatically worse as
work site enforcement has dropped 95%, and the number of
employers prosecuted and fines against them have dropped to
almost nothing. THAT'S our problem, friends. There is no fence
that can seal our borders as long as there are employers
scoffing at the law to hire people who shouldn't be here.
As Thom Hartmann has so perceptively observed recently, what the
Reagan amnesty mostly did was let employers off the hook to hire
people who were already here. At the same time, lax
enforcement of the law has allowed those employers to use the
empty threat of turning people in as a bludgeon to keep them
from demanding any labor rights. For if there are no raids
otherwise, that would be their only fear. This has put our
own labor unions in a squeeze by having to compete with others
who are being exploited.
This alert is brought to you through the activism of James
Wright, running for the U.S. House in the 8th Congressional
district, and one of the leading progressive voices in the state
of Texas. Please also consider making a donation to Jim's
campaign so he can spread the call the action message.
DONATIONS: http://www.usalone.com/wright/donations.php
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