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Remember, as a small child, how one looked up to adults? They appeared so mature, completely sure of themselves, involved in matters way too important and mystical for a mere child to comprehend.

One day the child will be like them: no longer an infant, but a different person with a whole new set of views and ideals; in charge of their own lives, in control of their destiny.

Perusing the BBC website this morning revealed new tensions between North and South Korea.^[1] The North has been firing artillery shells into the sea, from naval vessels close to a disputed border. The South, in retaliation, has been firing its artillery shells into the sea.

For the past few weeks in Sri Lanka, a country that recently ended a thirty year civil war against the Tamil Tigers, two men have been hurling insults at each other. One is the nation’s president, the other a high ranking army officer supposedly responsible for defeating the Tamils.^[2]

Both men wanted to control the country by winning power in the recent presidential election. The army officer lost. Today, he is holed up in a hotel, which the victor has surrounded with armed troops.

Meanwhile, in London, a group of men and women are taking turns to squirm and wriggle on a chair in a committee room, as they attempt to justify going to war with Iraq, alongside the Americans in 2003. They are senior politicians and civil servants who never expected to be caught out with their pants down in such a manner, and are doing their very best to pretend they’re really wearing clean underwear.^[3]

Today, it’s the turn of Lord Goldsmith – better known to his Mum and Dad as Peter Henry. Back in 2003, he really couldn’t make up his mind if going to war against a non-aggressive country was legal or not. First, he decided it wasn’t. Then, a week or so later, he thought it just might be.

Peter Henry was the absolutely top legal adviser to the government at the time, the Attorney General, whose very grand-sounding title meant he knew more than anyone else about what was right, and what was wrong.

Sadly for Peter, he still had difficulty making up his mind, and when he eventually did, it was probably because he was a bit confused that he likely got it wrong.

If Peter Henry has problems convincing the Iraq Inquiry Committee of his innocence, he can always rely on his then boss, the once Right Honorable Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, to bale him out.

Tony Blair gives his evidence this Friday. Being an ardent and vociferous Christian, as well as the ex-prime minister of Britain, he will truthfully tell the Inquiry why he took a leading role in the slaughter of around a million or so innocent Iraqi citizens, created five million orphans, razed their nation to the ground, and condemned Iraq to decades of violence, bloodshed, and misery.

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair can be relied on to appear convincing.

Meanwhile, in the great United States of America, President Barack Obama is preparing to address his citizens tonight. He will tell them why he’s chosen not to close the US Holiday Camp for Deprived Muslims at Guantanamo Bay on the tourist island of Cuba; why he was wrong to think Americans might need a National Health Service that provided care for impoverished citizens, when in reality it was the US health industry that required lots of governmental love and financial assistance, and how he was actually downsizing the numbers of troops in Afghanistan by sending an extra thirty thousand to fight out there.

Small children hold adults in awe. They regard them almost as demi-gods. They want to grow up and be just like the heroes and heroines they meet each day, both in real life and on the television.

It comes as something of a shock when they finally realize that adults never grow up at all.

^{[1] “North and South Korea exchange fire near sea border” BBC January 27th 2010}

^{[2] “Fonseka rejects Sri Lanka election win for Rajapaksa” BBC January 27th 2010}

^{[3] “Goldsmith admits to changing view over Iraq advice”}

Filed under: Children’s Play Time

My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better.”^[1]
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer of South Carolina – January 2010.

Bauer is running for the Republican nomination for governor. He’ll probably get it. This remark, among others, was made at a town hall meeting in front of over one hundred residents and state lawmakers.

^{[1] TheSunNews.com January 23rd 2010}

Filed under: Takes one to know one

Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States of America hammered what is likely the final nail into the coffin lid of a long-ailing social system known colloquially as ‘Democracy’ in this country.

It’s been slowly, but systematically, poisoned over many years. Now, we can be sure it’s finally dead.

In a 5-4 decision, the Court – once the prime lawmaker, composed of wise men and women whose over-riding interest was that of the people of America, but now no more than a tool of corporate power on full public display – swept away decades of control over the political spending of corporate bodies, allowing the full financial power of corporate America to buy lackey politicians happy to do their bidding.

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Tillman Act, which banned corporate political spending. He foresaw the damage likely to be done to American democracy if such powerful institutions weren’t prevented from buying their way into US politics. Forty years later, Congress extended that law to include unions, who also were becoming way too powerful for their, or anyone else’s, own good.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court displayed its degradation to the world. Once a proud symbol of American democracy, the only image it exhibits today is that of a corrupt servant slouching and fawning at the heels of a wealthy and powerful master who contemptuously throws forth the occasional crust of stale bread.

It took only minutes for five, so-called, ‘judges’ to undo the wise decisions and political actions of the many great presidents and politicians who fought to make this nation, not only great, but just.

Today, in America, justice is dead. No longer can the judiciary be relied on to judge fair and honestly. Tomorrow, they and the politicians who govern us will be mere servants of the corporations, and we, the people, will find our voices silenced and our opinion suppressed.

It is incredibly ironic that the Supreme Court ‘justices’ who voted in favor of this ruling used an extreme example of the right of free speech to justify their decision. They upheld an outdated ruling that a corporation was legally the equivalent of a single person.

But then, they needed some excuse, however flimsy and inept.

There are times I find the words of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann somewhat ‘over-the-top’. He can occasionally be a trifle overwhelming. Last night, he was neither of those things. His words on the subject were exact – precise, at worst, accurate.

Not only America, but the world needs to listen to Olbermann. What has started here will spread – is already spreading – around the globe, like a virulent canker with no known cure.

PART ONE: ^{(Do NOT click on any ‘redirection to Part Two’ message at the end of part one. Part Two is available below).}

PART TWO:

It was William Howard Taft who said:

Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever.”

He failed to add: ‘……… in one form, or another’.