Compare and Contrast

Abiding in Bolivia compares the United States and Bolivian military academies and contrasts the attitudes of presidents Obama and Morales.

Jesus Made Me Do It

Religion Dispatches covers the Baptist kidnapping cohort now doing time in Haitian jail.

Seeking Due Process

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has agreed to hear a land claim petition from First Nations on Vancouver Island. Seeking due process in the international arena, after frustrated attempts to negotiate with the governments of Canada and British Columbia, will likely reveal Canada’s standing in the Organization of American States as a result of its vote against UNDRIP, the preeminent international accord on the rights of indigenous peoples.

Obama’s Next Boondoggle

If you want to know the next White House boondoggle, just follow the money contributed to the Obama campaign. Now that he’s taken care of the bankers and drug dealers, he’s planning to pay his debt to the nuclear industry. As a boondoggle, it’s hard to beat, with cost overruns, safety flaws and toxic waste cleanup a recurring nightmare for nearby communities serving as endless opportunities for graft and corruption. In short, it’s a perpetual 24/7 from-here-to-eternity bailout, and Obama’s behind it 110%.

Obama’s Folly

While Obama seeks another couple hundred billion dollars for his folly in Central Asia, analysts note he has yet to learn some basic lessons from the history of conflict there.

Culture Jamming

Listening to Cindy Sheehan speak in New York about the $750 million Madison Avenue advertising campaign to drum the words hope and change into American minds reminded me of the vast resources of the American aristocracy available to convince us that their servants like Obama are fighting for democracy. Ludicrous, I know, but as Sheehan observed, a quarter of the American populace — even after betraying 100% of his campaign promises — still believe the myth of Obama. Breaking that spell is going to require some serious culture jamming.

Fatuous Futurists

For those who were infatuated by the netroots nitwits, you’re going to love the fatuous futurists gala in D.C. And speaking of fatwas, our favorite futurist — that lovable other Sara — has returned from the mountaintop to pronounce her new discovery: politicians, even Democrats, are untrustworthy. You heard it here first!

Yes, the other Sara has decided that the only hope for change is to join progressive visionaries like herself in embracing the teabaggers.

Utterly brilliant! Breathtaking! We can’t wait to see what the progressive change agents come up with at their grand gala this summer.

Taking Responsibility

War is still the most fucked-up, mentally deficient and morally bankrupt activity that was ever developed by mankind, and most Americans don’t even think about that fact for even a few seconds. We the People must take some responsibility for allowing the War Machine and its War Parties to pull black hoods over our heads.

—Cindy Sheehan

Attacking the Peacemakers

As activists mobilize for Peace of the Action, corporate media and pro-war progressives will be mounting attacks on the peacemakers. Led by Cindy Sheehan (a gold star mother), Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against War, and other opponents of U.S. imperial adventures, the media will draw on psychological warfare resources at the Pentagon and elsewhere to discredit and undermine the revitalized peace movement.

Homeland Security phone-tapping, e-mail hacking, and peace group infiltration is a key part of the federal government’s repertoire in keeping democracy down. We expect no less from the current White House.

The fact that the peace movement is led by the veterans and military families betrayed by Bush and Obama makes the current conflict more challenging for the secret agencies used to spy on American citizens, but not impossible. As we saw during the Vietnam War, when they can’t take you on directly, they resort to covert ops, using devious means to destroy movement morale by influencing the perceptions of employers, landlords, families, and allies. They will do this again.

Extraordinary Rendition

Extraordinary rendition (kidnapping, incarceration, torture and murder) of brown-skinned, non-Christians suspected of harboring resentment toward white, Christian invaders of their homelands today is not so different from the methods used in the first half of last century, only then it was used against American and Canadian Indian children ranging in age from 4 to 14. Today we excuse this practice against infidels on the premise of national security. Back then it was simply a matter of ethnic cleansing.