"The wealthy, not only by private fraud but also by common laws, do every day pluck and snatch away from the people some part of their daily living. Therefore, when I consider and weigh in my mind these commonwealths which nowadays do flourish, I perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men in procuring their own commodities under the name and authority of the commonwealth.

They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible."

Thomas More, Utopia

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Think Happy Thoughts

Just a short post today while I work on the essay I'll publish in a day or two. Arthur Silber, a writer whose work I very much respect, is posting again after being sidelined due to some personal setbacks and health issues. Despite his recent troubles I believe his latest essay to be one of his stronger efforts in months.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the essay much "coldie" especially involving the ruling class taking control of policies both here and aboard.

Yet it seems he has a bit of disregard for those of us in law enforcement. I'll read it once more, but I have to say that any attacks on the present Commander-in-Chief are welcome.

Looking forward to your own essay.
"lefty"

Coldtype said...

It's not law enforcement that he's upset with in this context Lefty, it's those who enact laws [laws without moral force] and use them as weapons of policy. For example, during the days of slavery, the Fugitive Slave Laws were designed to enforce the indefensible, though "legal right", of slave owners to have run-away slaves returned to them no matter where found in the union--including the free states of the north. Northern peace officers where therefore required to obey a "law" that was clearly written to satisfy the private agenda of wealthy slaveholders--not serve the public interest.

As Silber made clear in his essay, we are under no moral obligation to obey unjust laws. It's important to recall that the Nazis enacted legislation which put the imprimatur of "law" on the obscene.

Stay safe.

Anonymous said...

Waht's up. coldie!

Whatta think of the debate. If you saw today's papers you would have thought Clinton, Edwards and Obama were the only candidates. What a disgrace.

keep up the fight,
"lefty"

Coldtype said...

You hit the nail on the head Lefty the MSM coverage was a joke which was about what I expected. You would never know from the "coverage" that Kucinich held any popular opinions at all.

By the whay I'm putting the finishing touches on the first of a series of essays I've been working on intermitently. Hope to have it posted soon.

Stay safe.

Coldtype said...

By the way Lefty, I've managed to get myself embroiled in a number of flame wars over at the "Winds of Change" blog recently (I've included their link in my blog roll). Check them out, it should make for some interesting reading, particularly since many of the contributors there allege to represent the "rational" range of the liberal spectrum.

Be on the look-out for one of the main posters who blogs under the "Armed Liberal" handle. My little spat with him (and his defenders) began in their "100 Silly Things" thread of November 3rd wherein he launched an attack on Arthur Silber.

For background check out Chris Floyd's devestating defense back on November 4th ["Noxious Discharge from Armed Liberal]. You'll also find Floyd's blog on my blog roll (just type in "Armed Liberal" on his search engine to find the post).

Coldtype said...

One last thing Lefty, when do you think you'll ever see something like what follows about Hillary Clinton anywhere in the MSM? Enjoy.

* * *

"Hillary's Musharraf" By Greg Palast

He was the other man in Hillary's life. But it's over now. Or is it?

You've seen all those creepy photos of George Bush rubbing up against Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, the two of them grinning and giggling like they're going to the senior prom. So it's hard to remember that it was Hillary and Bill who brought Pervez to the dance in the first place.

How that happened, I'll tell you in a moment.

But first, let's get our facts straight about the man in the moustache. Musharraf, according to George Bush, The New York Times, NPR and the rest of press puppies is, "our ally in the War on Terror." That's like calling Carmine Gambino, "Our ally in the War on Crime."

Musharraf's the guy who helped the Taliban take power in Afghanistan in 1996. And, through his ISI, Pakistan's own KGB, he is still giving the Taliban secret protection.

And this is the same Musharraf who let Khalid Sheik Muhammed, Osama's operations chief for the September 11 attack, hang out in Quetta, Pakistan, in the open, until Khalid embarrassed his host by giving a boastful interview to Al Jazeera television from his Pakistan hang-out.

And this is the same Musharraf who permitted his nation's own Dr. Strangelove, A.Q. Khan, to sell nuclear do-it-yourself bomb kits to Libya and North Korea. When the story off the flea-market in fissionable materials was exposed, Musharraf (and Bush) both proclaimed their shock - shock! - over the bomb sales. Musharraf didn't know? Sure. Those tons of lethal hardware must have been shipped by flying pig.

But, unlike Saddam and Osama, creations of Ronald Reagan's and George Bush Sr.'s Frankenstein factories, Musharraf was a Clinton special.

And it all began with an unpaid electricity bill. In 1998, Pakistan wouldn't pay up millions, and they owed billions, to British and American electricity companies. And for good reason: the contracts called for paying insanely high prices. It smelled of payola - and ultimately, the government of Pakistan filed charges against power combine executives and canceled the contracts. That's the rule under international law: companies can't collect on contracts they obtained by pay-offs.

But these weren't just any companies. One was a Tony Blair favorite, Britain's National Power. The other was Entergy International, a sudden big-time player in the international power market based out of, oddly, Little Rock, Arkansas. Despite the Clinton Administration's claim to fight foreign corruption, this was an exception. Clinton and Blair voted to cut off Pakistan's funding from the IMF. Pay-up the power pirates, they told Pakistan, or starve.

Why was President Clinton so determined to crush Pakistan because of an unpaid bill to some Little Rock company. This was not just any company. But that wasn't much. More important, Entergy and its partners, the Riady Family of Indonesia had just paid about half a million dollars to Hillary's old Rose Law Firm partner Webster Hubbell. Odd that, hiring Hubbell. Why would Entergy pay big bucks to a Hubbell as a "consultant" when he was on his way to jail for a felony. Hubbell was doing time because he refused to testify against Ms. Rodham.

Did President Clinton know about the payment to Hubbell? Clinton denied it to the press,but under oath, to the FBI, Bill said he, "wouldn't be surprised" if the Riadys told him about the payoff to Hubbell in one of Bill's several private meetings with
them in the Oval Office.

Was there a connection between Entergy's kindness to Hillary and her law partner and the power company's extraordinary sway with the Administration? From inside information on energy policies to favor requested of Tony Blair's office by Hillary's office, Entergy could do no wrong. Certainly, their consortium's executives wouldn't have to stand trial in Pakistan.

And Entergy got its money. On December 22, 1998, Pakistan's military, at the direction of General Pervez Musharraf, sent thirty thousand troops into the nation's power stations. At the time, Entergy's partners told me, "A lot changed since the army moved in. Now we have a situation where we can be paid. They've found a way to collect from the man in the street." Yes: at gunpoint, according to Abdul Latif Nizamani, a labor union leader who spoke with me after Musharraf's gang had arrested him.

With Pakistan's army in control of thenation's infrastructure, and acting as guarantor of payment to the US and UK power giants, General Musharraf's final takeover of the entire government nine months later - a "surprise" coup to the Western press - was, a forgone conclusion. And the Clintons, complicit, like Bush today, could say little.

Just months before he left office President Clinton paid a sudden visit to Musharraf. Congressional Democrats were stunned. Musharraf had quickly shown himself to be a Taliban-loving, unbalanced dictator who violated US treaty terms by exploding a nuke and threatening to incinerate our ally India. Notably, the Ambassador with Clinton made payments to the electric companies a top item on his
agenda.

Favors done; favors repaid. Nothing new under the sun, but it's a dangerous game, Senator Clinton.

All right, maybe you can say that President Clinton's blessing of the radioactive dictator can't be blamed on Hillary despite the smelly money chain going from Arkansas to Karachi. But, be honest, the lady sure as heck ain't running on her record as a Senator; her whole pitch is, "Re-elect Clinton."

And I'd rather tell you this story before you hear it from President Giuliani.

Nevertheless, let's not lose sight of the current danger. While the Clinton's may have handed us the Lunatic of Lahore, it's George Bush who leaves mints on his pillow. I have no information that Clinton knew of the sales to North Korea. The Bush Administration did and, we discovered at BBC, blocked the CIA investigation that could have exposed it in 2001. And that, Mr. Bush, is a very, very dangerous game. The problem of creating Frankensteins, whether an Osama or a Saddam or a Musharraf, is that these creatures are often known to rise and turn on their creators.

But I'm sure we'll correct the error. Four years ago, as Bush was proclaiming victory over the Butcher of Baghdad, I wrote, "Given our experiences with Saddam and Osama, our monsters tend to get out of control after about 11 years. Therefore, we can expect, in the year 2013, that President Jeb Bush will have to order the 82d Airborne into Pakistan to remove Musharraf, the Killer of Karachi."

Unfortunately, we may not have that long.



Based on Greg Palast's investigations for the Guardian papers of Britain 1998-2001. Palast is the author of the New York Times bestseller, ARMED MADHOUSE: From Baghdad to New Orleans -- Sordid Secrets and Strange Tales of a White House Gone Wild. He is currently on assignment in Ecuador for BBC Television.

Anonymous said...

You're right "coldie,"

The Main Street Press fall all over Hillary. Even when they point out her shortcomings it is done rather tamely.

Nope "money goes to money," as my mother told me, and she was no way close to being a liberal. The power brokers shall protect each, no matter the party.

During the "debate" in Chicago this past summer Dennis Kucinich was far and way the top guy, but received no coverage in either of the dailies. And guess what? My letter-to-the editor about that did not appear in the Tribune.

P/S: it is interesting that in Illinois there shall be four candidates for President in the first ever Green Party primary.

Anonymous said...

Have a safe and thankful holiday coldie. Thank you for your continued fight for "the cause."

stay safe,


"lefty"

Coldtype said...

Will do. Happy Thanksgiving.