Agent Orange – America’s shame 9-17-2017

17, September 2017             Agent Orange – America’s shame

Ken Burns’s documentary, “Vietnam”, compels us to revisit the horrors of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, – countries that never threatened the US.  These three countries suffered a staggering 3.8 million deaths. A large number of civilians continue to suffer horrific birth defects from exposure to US chemicals.

The long tortuous history of Vietnam and Agent Orange should shame all Americans. Fifty years ago, the US sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 1961 to 1971. Agent Orange, which contained the deadly chemical, dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. It was later proven to cause serious health issues—including cancer, birth defects, rashes and severe psychological and neurological problems—among the “Vietnamese” people as well as among returning U.S. servicemen and their families. Oblivious of the dangers, US serviceman used the empty 55-gallon drums for makeshift showers.

The Pentagon denied such health hazards fearful of the huge liabilities that would have to be paid to the victims.

Chemical companies were well aware of the birth-deformity hazards of their products but chose to remain silent. The offspring of the soldiers continue to suffer exceptionally high birth-rate defects. It is time we offered unconditional apologies to the Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians, massive reparations and offers to clean up the deadly deposits of Agent Orange.

 

Crime & Punishment 9-13-2017

13, September 2017                       9-11 Crime & Punishment

As the nation marks the 16th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, questions persist about the role Saudi Arabia played in the attacks.  Why has Saudi Arabia been a free pass when 15 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia? Families and survivors are continuing their efforts to take Saudi Arabia to trial. Investigative reporter, Andrew Cockburn, has found new evidence alleging that Saudi Arabia funded a “dry run” two years before the attacks. Lawyers of the plaintiff’s families and insurance companies say the new allegations offer "a pattern of both financial and operational support" by the Saudi government.

Senator Bob Graham, the former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, co-chair of the joint congressional inquiry into the 9/11 terrorist attacks agreed that the GW Bush administration concocted a false story that Iraq was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and felt it better to “bury” Saudi Arabia’s involvement given our oil dependent economy.

Interrogators at Guantánamo were given instructions to torture detainees into falsely linking the 9/11 hijackings with Iraq. It seems the ruling elite placed a higher premium maintaining their special relationship with Saudi Arabia than the victims of 9/11. Mr. Trump’s obsequious behavior bowing and fawning in front of the “mighty” King Saud seems to confirm that that the US is on a downward morality spiral. Weapon sales to the messianic Saudi’s trump all considerations of human rights. Let’s make ‘America Great” by selling billions in weapons sales to these merchants of death.

India’s mafia, Modi’s shame 9-13-2017

13, September 2017                     India’s mafia, Modi’s shame

India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has become victim to its “deadly embrace” with the RSS wing of the party. Much like the US, the duo has unleashed a growing intolerance that threatens the very foundation of its democracy.

For example, the sanctity of cows seems far more important than the welfare of its poor and low cast castaways.

While cows get a free pass. bullocks are not so lucky. India has now become the largest exporter of beef in the world employing millions of workers and generating $4 billion in profit.

Although the Supreme Court suspended Modi’s government ruling outlawing the killing of cows, low caste Hindus and Muslims have been targeted because they have traditionally engaged in the meat and leather industry.

In most cities cows have the right of passage, their emaciated bodies wondering the streets ingesting anything that comes their way, including plastics, to satisfy their hunger pangs.

To soften Modi’s image, India’s film censor board, headed by a Bharatiya Janata Party stalwart, ruled that references to “cows”, “Hindu India,” “Hindutva view of India” — meaning Hindu nationalism — and “Gujarat, be cut.

Modi’s chief surrogate is Yogi Adityannath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, a Hindu warrior who has declared a fatwa on all Muslims calling them “a crop of two-legged animals that has to be stopped” shouting at one rally, “we are all preparing for religious war!” This mimics the language used by the Hutus calling the Tutsis “cockroaches” in the Rwandan genocide or Trump calling Hispanics crossing our border, “murderers and rapists”.

The implications for India’s democracy are chilling and fraught with the uncertainty.

The recent murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh, a fierce critic of rising Hindu-nationalist militancy is further evidence of growing intolerance of an independent media.  “The message to journalists and all dissenters is loud and clear,” tweeted Siddhartha Bhatia, founding editor of the Indian online news site, The Wire. “We are watching you and one day we will get you.” Anti-Muslim hate crimes have risen a staggering 10-fold since Modi came to power in 2014.

Fortunately some concerned Indians are fighting back.

A caravan of peace activists has arrived in the capital, New Delhi to take part in a month-long journey across India to highlight the rise of lynching and violence against Muslims, Dalits and other minority groups. Led by activist Harsh Mander, the activists are visiting victims of hate crimes

Daring To Drive 9-12-2017

^{12, September 2017                           Daring To Drive}

^{Manual Al-Sharif superb book, ‘Daring to Drive’ provides a disturbing insight into the suffocating life for women in Saudi Arabia. In 2011 “Rosa Parks” Manual defied Saudi’s archaic laws and decided to drive alone, and was promptly arrested and charged with “driving while female”.}

^{In 1990, prior to Manual’s courageous effort to buck the Saudi dominated patriarchal system, forty-seven women defied the ban on driving. For 30 minutes (much like Thelma and Louise) they set up their cars in a convoy and drove around the capital City, Riyadh, until the religious police caught and arrested them. These 47 women, known as the “women drivers” were vilified for the rest of their lives. Those who had government jobs were fired and suffered religious persecution. The late journalist and photographer, Saleh Al-Azzaz who documented the protest was arrested and tortured. The cruel irony - there is nothing in the Saudi traffic code that prohibits women driving.}

Aung San Suu Kyi 9-11-2017

11, September 2017                           Aung San Suu Kyi  

Buddhism has had a long tradition for promoting non-violence but that all changed with the ethnic cleansing of the Tamils in Sri Lanka and now the killing of the Rohingya. 

The de-facto leader of the government, Aung San Suu Kyi, has now become an apologist for the Buddhist-majority Myanmar who is slaughtering the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Kyi, who was put under house arrest for 15 years for defying Myanmar’s military dictators, is now defending the ethnic cleansing of the darker-skinned Rohingya and denounces them as terrorists and illegal immigrants.

As a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Kyi was honored for her incredible courage for resisting oppression. She has now soiled her once stellar reputation by condoning the butchery of its defenseless minority. In the ongoing pogrom, even children are not spared. This harks back to the Rwanda genocide when the Hutu majority tried to wipe out the minority Tutsi.

Kyi even went as far as criticizing the international aid agencies for spreading misinformation.

She hit a new low by claiming a reported brutal gang rape as “fake rape”. Tragically, the reputation of this former moral giant has been forever tarnished. Calls for the Nobel Committee to revoke her Peace Prize seem to be getting louder.  

DACA 9-8-2017

8, September 2017                      DACA

Trump’s decision to kill DACA is a moral obscenity evicting 800,000 young people to a terrifying, uncertain, future. Killing DACA would be killing the American dream for the dreamers. It reeks of racism. Their only crime was to be born with a brown skin. The racist AG Jeff Sessions tried to justify his boss’s edict with voodoo economics, claiming dreamers were an economic burden on America. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The dreamers are law abiding citizens making significant contributions to the US economy and are a huge asset to a rapidly aging population.

Japan is paying a heavy price for their hostile immigration policy.

Fewer and fewer people are entering the workface. The government is encouraging singles to get married and have lots of children – so far the results have been dismal.

Trump’s Grandfather 9-5-2017

5, September 2017                      Trump’s Grandfather

While Mr. Trump declares war on the children of illegal immigrants, perhaps he should remember that his German grandfather begged not to be deported from Germany.

Friedrich Trump wanted to return to Germany with his wife and daughter after having emigrated to the US. He was refused reentry because he failed to complete his mandatory military service and to register his initial emigration to the US 20 years earlier. This seems to be a family trait. Remember how Donald Trump successfully used his wealth and connections to evade the Vietnam draft 5 times. 

Donald Trump's German grandfather responded to the royal decree to leave the country and never return, by pleading to the prince regent of Bavaria not to deport him.

He described the moment he received the news as "a lightning strike from fair skies". "We were paralyzed with fright, our happy family life was tarnished. My wife has been overcome by anxiety, and my lovely child has become sick," he wrote. "Why should we be deported?" he asked, "This is very, very hard for a family. What will our fellow citizens think if honest subjects are faced with such a decree."

This honest, salt of the earth, later made his fortune as a brothel owner. 

I wonder how the poor children of DACA feel as the dark clouds of deportation loom ever closer.