BLOG POSTS

It was announced recently that the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir.

The communication came as no great surprise, though much discussion has taken place, both in the media and in political circles, as to whether it was a wise decision, given the circumstances.

Aid agencies, in particular, expressed concern that millions already displaced by the conflicts in Sudan would suffer if al-Bashir expelled them in retaliation for the ICC’s announcement.^[1]

As expected, this is exactly what occurred. Yesterday, ten foreign aid agencies were told to leave the country.

Was the arrest warrant, then, a serious mistake on the part of the ICC?

Undoubtedly, the answer to that question has to be: no.

Neither the ICC, nor western governments, can be held responsible for the dastardly acts of Sudan’s crazed leader. There is no doubt of al-Bashir’s culpability. He is guilty of the most vile war crimes.

A known serial killer on the loose with hostages would never be pardoned in exchange for their release. Al-Bashir is the worst kind of serial killer. He must be brought to justice, if the rule of law is not to be mocked by every petty tyrant throughout the world.

One can only hope the suffering of innocents in Sudan, who have already paid dearly, will not further increase due to the wanton brutality of Omar al-Bashir. He must surely be haunted by the eventual capture and trial of Milosevic, Karadzic, and other Bosnian war criminals, some of whom evaded detention for many years.

Al-Bashir’s initial reaction to the news of the warrant was one of disdain and scorn. These are emotions useful to hide an underlying fear.

Two other arrest warrants are presently in force in the region. Two years ago, the ICC issued warrants for the Sudanese Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Ahmed Haroun, and the Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Abdul Rahman.

Let us hope it will not be long before all three are incarcerated at The Hague, awaiting trial, and a comeuppance that is grossly overdue.

^{[1] “Arrest warrant draws Sudan scorn” BBC, March 5th 2009}

Filed under: Copping the war criminals

Many would question the existence of good and evil, certainly in a Biblical sense. The human ability to fail, while attempting the perfection demanded by Biblical ‘goodness’, needs no clarification here.

If, however, evil exists and can take on material form –

– then you’re looking at it now.

In Pernambuco, Brazil, lives a little nine year old girl. She has been sexually abused and raped by her stepfather since the age of six. Recently, the girl was taken to hospital suffering from stomach pains. It was discovered she was pregnant with twins.

Doctors decided the girl was too young for her body to cope with such a pregnancy. They made the wise decision to abort the foetuses.

Meanwhile, the stepfather disappeared, but has since been arrested.

For carrying out the abortion on this unfortunate child, the doctors involved have been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic church. For agreeing to the operation, which saved her daughter’s life, the mother has suffered a similar fate.

The character whose evil countenance stares back at us from the image above is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho. The decision to excommunicate these people was his, when his attempts to prevent the abortion, failed.

I have only one thing to say to Archbishop Sobrinho:

Sir, I despise your beliefs, your notions of ‘Heaven’ and ‘Hell’, your distorted and fabricated vision of a God incapable of mercy, compassion, or even interest, in what you consider to be His greatest creation.

You, sir, are sick of mind and twisted by your own arrogance and egotism. You ruin countless lives on Earth by justifying the myth of eternal life hereafter, a myth that lines your ample pockets and allows you control of others, weak and in need of love you cannot even comprehend.

I am so glad your ‘Heaven’ and ‘Hell’ do not exist, except that is, in the dark, forbidding, caverns of your soul. For, if I were to find myself one day in the same Heaven as yourself, I fear it would be only moments before I was transported to that ‘other place’, for the mortal sin of throttling any remaining eternal life from your bloated, evil, body.”

Both the little girl’s mother, and the doctors responsible for saving her life, should rejoice to be freed from the bondage imposed on them and millions of others who know no better, by that despicable and ungodly institution existing under the misnomer of the ‘Roman Catholic Church’.

^{[1] “Rape row sparks excommunications” BBC, March 5th 2009}

Filed under: Incarnate evil

Yesterday, I wrote that America makes me uncomfortable because, while a great deal happens here, much of what goes on is undesirable. America would be a much better country without it.

Remember the “American Dream?” That phrase was originally coined by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 work, “The Epic of America.”

He defined it thus:

….that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”

I assume that Adams’s definition of “European upper classes” meant the nobility – queens, kings, princes, lords and ladies – of the time. The World War that followed, less than a decade after the publication of his work, did much to alter that. It inspired a socialist reformation that continues to this day, even though European politicians are doing their utmost to reverse the process, claiming the “American model” to be better.

Better for whom?

Today, the “American Dream” is no more than a marketing slogan, a suitably stirring phrase to reinforce those “American Freedoms” still considered a vital component of US life. Present-day Republicans make much of these freedoms; a society where the only regulation is self-regulation by the individual or company.

The results of “self-regulation” can be seen in the millions behind bars in the penitentiaries, the unacceptable degree of corruption rife in every aspect of American life, from gutter to government, and the collapse of the economy brought about by fraud and underhandedness in the financial sectors.

The concept of Republican self-regulation is a farce. They would regulate the right of an individual to use drugs, a woman to have an abortion. They are in favor of many regulations presently enforced in this nation – traffic violations, crimes of burglary, murder, and rape to name a few. These matters, they concede, cannot be left to the discretion of the individual, and rightly so.

Where present-day Republicans particularly want self-regulation is in the area of financial control – matters of taxation and business. No government can function without finance, and the world standard for providing government finance is through taxation. Present day Republicans prefer the working masses to pay for government, rather than the rich and wealthy they represent. They argue that their money is best spent expanding businesses and providing more jobs, even as they’re stashing it away in off-shore tax havens and Liechtenstein bank accounts.

‘Greed’ is the new synonym for the “American Dream”. Maybe it’s not all that new. Greed means using any method allowed (no regulation) to extract money from others, by offering services and goods that aren’t worth a fraction of the price demanded, if they’re worth anything at all.

Take a moment to peruse the sidebars of this website. You’ll note it contains a number of advertising links controlled by Google. Ever since President Obama declared his “bail-out” plan, those adverts have been dominated by scam merchants offering false claims promising to obtain “grants” available under the “bail-out”.

You’ll find websites like: “GovernmentGrantsfor2009.com”; “Officialstimuluspayments.com”; USAgrantreviews.org” and “GrantOneDay.org”.

All of these con merchants are trying to wrest cash from people already in financial distress. Here is the claim of one of these sites:

All American citizens and residents can apply to and may be eligible to receive Federal Government, State Government and Private Foundation funded grants and loans. Remember, these programs do not require credit checks, collateral, security deposits or co-signers. Even if you have declared a bankruptcy or currently have bad credit, as a tax payer and U.S. citizen or resident, you are entitled to apply for this money!

Right now, you may be eligible to receive up to $50,000 in government money that you would NEVER HAVE TO REPAY.

Of course, that statement doesn’t lie. Everyone is eligible to apply for a grant, but virtually no-one is eligible to receive one.

Here’s what the government says:

We have all seen them, late night infomercials, websites, and reference guides, advertising “millions in free money” Don’t believe the hype! Although there are many grants on Grants.gov, few of them are available to individuals and none of them are available for personal financial assistance.” [my bold]^[1]

This is the scam: first you have to join – become a member. This means a paltry payment of a few dollars (“If it doesn’t work out, what have I lost?”).

The object is not so much to swipe your few dollars, as gain control of your credit card. Once you’ve paid the initial fee, you’ll likely get just enough in return to keep your interest going – perhaps a few worthless forms in a fancy plastic package. Suddenly, you’ll get a credit card bill and discover these scum have taken a hundred dollars or so as “your monthly payment”. Not bothering to read the ‘fine print’ you failed to note the agreement that says they’ll deduct this sum every month until you contact them to stop it. Usually, that’s not so easy to do as it may first appear.

It’s all part of the “American Dream”, you see. They have a right to get rich by suckering the poor and suffering. The government is well aware of it – “We have all seen them, late night infomercials, websites, and reference guides, advertising “millions in free money” – but can do nothing to stop what, in a properly regulated society, would be illegal.

That’s the kind of regulation our friendly present day Republicans like Coulter, Limbaugh, Boerner, Bolton, and a host of others, are fighting to avoid.

There are even scam sites that denounce their competition as fraud. They pretend to have checked them all out and only ‘recommend’ the genuine ones. Of course, the genuine ones are their own, or belong to a partner.

Check it out. Google, “government grants”, and when the search engine page opens pay particular attention to those in the right-hand sidebar. Click on a few, it’ll cost the bastards money.

I can’t keep these scum from advertising on Sparrow Chat. I can bar individual websites, but for every one that’s stopped, more appear in its place.

It’s yet another example of what makes me feel uncomfortable in America.

What about you?

Are you comfortable in America?

^{[1] “WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A GRANT?” Grants.gov}

Filed under: The North American vulture is thriving