An Embryo Is A Person? A DeLay Is An Idiot

On Tuesday, a majority of the House of Representatives, in a momentary lapse of sanity, approved a measure that would would extend federal funding to research embryonic stem cell lines that were nonexistent in 2001, when Bush limited funding solely to lines in existence at the time. According to scientists, many if not all of the previous lines are now contaminated and unusable. Opposition to embryonic stem cell research is so strong among Bush's supporters on the religious right that he is threatening to wield the veto for the first time since he was selected for the presidency by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

Majority Leader Tom DeLay weighed in with a shining example of the right's twisted thinking on this issue: "An embryo is a person" declared the Tsar-hammer of the House. It gets even better: "This bill tramples on the moral convictions of an awful lot of people who don't want their tax dollars to be spent for killing innocent human life," DeLay said.

The first question I would love to ask one of these people of "moral convictions" is the following: If you had a choice to save either a total stranger or a frozen embryo from an oncoming train which would you choose and why? Follow up question: If you had a choice between saving the stranger's pinky finger from being crushed by the train or the embryo which would you choose and why?

My next request is addressed directly to Mr. Delay. I've always considered myself to be a person of moral convictions too. And, since you appear to have taken up the cause of moral people with such a passion, I'd like to present a very brief list of actions by the U.S. government that have trampled on my convictions and where my tax dollars have been spent for killing innocent human life:

1) The estimated 1 million deaths of civilian, non-combatant Iraqi men, women and children
caused by sanctions imposed on Iraq largely at the behest of the U.S. government

2) The indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan from October 7, 2001 through March 2002 resulting in approximately 3-3400 deaths

3) The estimated 22 to 25,000 civilian deaths that have resulted from the U.S. military
intervention in Iraq

4) The well-documented 1,647 U.S. military deaths in Iraq resulting from the lies told to
the American people about the gravity and immediacy of the "threat" posed by Iraq

I could go on but I think this is enough to get you started.

I know I can count on you, Tom

Jesus' Co-Pilots

The descent of this country into Christo-Fascist madness is far, far worse than even the most jaded of us probably realize. Case in point, the editorial section of this week's THE NATION (June 6) rather casually informs us of "allegations that Air Force Academy cadets are being coerced into becoming evangelical Christians." But, that is just the mere tip of this truly chilling ice berg.

According to the World Socialist Web Site http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/acad-a30.shtml , there have been 55 complaints of religious harassment filed at the academy over the past 4 years. One cadet told his father that he had been called "a filthy Jew" and held responsible for killing Christ. Mickey Weinstein, an attorney from Albuquerque New Mexico and himself a graduate of the academy, is now calling for a congressional investigation. If Congress refuses to take action Weinstein says he'll go to the federal courts which are also now brimming with Christian right-wingers.

On April 28, Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AUSCS) issued a report on the academy, including a long list of mandatory religious observances, proselytizing by teachers (many of them officers who are the military superiors of cadets) and allegations by minority students that Protestant fundamentalism is given preferential status at the school. Barry Lynn, the group’s executive director, said, “I think this is the most serious, military-related systemic problem I have ever seen in the decades I’ve been doing this work... There is a clear preference for Christianity at the academy, so that everyone else feels like a second-class citizen.”

The tone is set from the top: the academy commandant, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida, is a professed “born-again” Christian who addresses the cadets in chapel service and urges them “to discuss their Christian faith” with other students. In an official “Commander’s Guidance,” he declared that cadets “are accountable first to your God.”

Thus, as Patrick Martin, the author of the WSWS article points out, those who will be placed in control of the vast destructive power of modern aerial weaponry, including “smart bombs” and nuclear missiles, are to constitute a sort of praetorian guard of Christian fundamentalists whose loyalty to their God is placed above subordination to civilian authority. Undoubtedly, many of these soldiers of Christ also fervently believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ and "end of days" are fast approaching.

Pinch yourself. You're not dreaming.

The New York Times Says "Generals Offer Sober Outlook On Iraqi War" So What's Bush Drinking?

On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that several high ranking military commanders in Baghdad and Washington have expressed grave doubts that U.S. armed forces will be able to leave Iraq any time soon. One of the anonymous truth-tellers said that the military could be waist deep in this big muddy for "many years" and that it could still fail to make Mesopotamia safe for Starbucks, Citigroup and Exxon-Mobil.

There were 21 car bombings in Baghdad so far this month which almost matches the total for all of last year. A recent poll conducted by Baghdad University shows that public confidence in the new Iraqi government has plummeted from 85 to 45 percent since the elections in January. So, while the resistance is obviously alive and well, the majority of the Iraqi people are doing what the majority usually does during a revolution or civil war; they are waiting on the sidelines to see which side eventually emerges victorious.

The reality is that there are far too few U.S. troops in Iraq to keep proper order let alone vanquish a determined and resourceful opponent. Efforts to build up indigenous Iraqi forces have proved so disappointing that not a single Iraqi unit was sent along with on the recent Marine offensive against resistance strongholds in the northwestern desert, along the border with Syria.

And what does our fearless leader have to say about all this? That sage in the White House, speaking before the International Republican Institute (now there's an oxymoron), also on Wednesday, informs us that our own American Revolution was followed by "years of chaos." Chaos? While it is certainly true that the United States experienced its share of serious difficulties following the revolution including an economic downturn to rival the Great Depression, there is simply no way to compare Shay's Rebellion to the murder and mayhem that is occurring in Iraq on a daily basis.

Glorious George also proclaimed that "No nation in history has made the transition from tyranny to a free society without set back and false starts." What about Germany and Japan after World War II? Where exactly were the "false starts" in those cases? Both countries were soundly defeated, accepted their defeat and then worked with their conquerors to build successful political systems from the ground up. There was no sense on the part of the majority in either case that the occupations were unjustified or that there were ulterior motives on the part of the Allies. FDR, Truman, George Marshall and Doug MacArthur would also never have tolerated the kind of half-assed security and rebuilding efforts that Bush & Co. have allowed to go on.

What a difference 60 years or so can make in the quality of a nation's leadership, huh?