Thanks to a tip from Peg C. at the Brad Blog, I've been reading David R. Hoffman lately. He's the Legal Editor of PRAVDA. And it looks to me as if he's a man who knows what he's talking about. Here are some links and samples...
January 3, 2004: Bush vs. Hitler
Although the quest for or preservation of "democracy" is often used as a justification for war, history has incessantly revealed that such a quest is often little more than a thinly-veiled attempt to install a puppet regime.January 9, 2004: The truth about modern day America
Nazi leader Herman Goering once remarked that it was easy to lead people into war, regardless of whether they resided within "a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a parliament, or a communist dictatorship." All that was required, Goering argued, is for their government to "tell them they are being attacked, and [then] denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to greater danger."
Many years ago, when I was younger and more idealistic, I would have viewed Goering's statement as an anachronism. After all, millions had suffered immensely during the nightmare of World War II, and it seemed that this historical imprint alone would have indelibly reminded people about the folly of blindly following leaders into war. Also (and despite Goering's assertion) democracy appeared to offer additional protections from this folly as well, particularly in wealthy, industrialized nations like America, where freedom of speech and press permitted the free exchange of ideas, which in turn served to balance emotion and reason, and exposed any lies used to rationalize an unjust war. While it is true that America still suffered through the Vietnam era, it did not do so unquestioningly, nor with a blind faith in the nation's leaders.
But the coup by the plutocratic supporters of George W. Bush in the year 2000, coupled with the invasion of Iraq, changed all that, revealing how easily Americans can be manipulated, how willing they are to be lied to, and how vacuous the freedoms of speech and press have become when the bulk of information is filtered through corporate-controlled media that profit from jingoism, propaganda and dishonesty. But, perhaps most disturbingly, these events demonstrated that even though the words "freedom, democracy and human rights" are chanted like mantras by political leaders, many Americans have apparently welcomed, or at the very least are blissfully unconcerned about, the erosion of freedom, the abuse of human rights, and the nation's growing transformation from a democracy into a neo-fascist dictatorship.
...
If there is one axiom to define life under the Bush dictatorship, it is that America is dominated and manipulated by individuals without principles, who automatically denounce the policies and practices of people or political parties they oppose, yet openly embrace commensurate policies and practices that serve their own political agendas or selfish interests.April 15, 2004: On the verge of extinction
In fact, the hypocrisy of modern day America reminds me of an event that occurred in my youth. I was playing pool with some friends in a neighborhood billiard hall when, around two o'clock in the morning, three sizable individuals walked in and proclaimed they were looking for some "action." As they proceeded through the establishment, an older gentleman exiting the restroom had the misfortune of passing near them. The tallest of the three intentionally shoved this man, then challenged him to a fight.
Thirty seconds later the bully lay battered and bleeding upon the floor. Yet, despite being the instigator of the fight, he still had the audacity (once he recovered his senses) to whine that he was a "minor," and thus it had been "unfair" to hit him.
This true life story is also symbolic of the bullying hypocrisy of America's so-called "conservative" movement, which persistently engages in dubious political tactics, yet cries "foul" when similar tactics are directly against it.
Recently, for example, many "conservative" critics expressed indignation over political ads submitted to Move On that compared George W. Bush to Adolph Hitler. Yet this "conservative" outrage was conspicuously absent when right-wing commentator Ann Coulter equated television personality Katie Couric to Hitler's mistress Eva Braun, and when right-wing radio personalities routinely referred to former first-lady Hillary Clinton as "Hitlerly Clinton." Radio propagandist Rush Limbaugh coined the phrase "femi-nazis" when describing the women's rights movement, and on the very day that cable television's right-wing propaganda networks (who call their bilge "news") were professing "outrage" over Bush/Hitler analogies, THE NEW YORK POST was running an article comparing Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels and Dean supporters to "Hitler's brownshirts." Yet none of these individuals or groups equated with Nazism, besides Bush, have remotely come close to deceptively leading a nation into war, nor corruptly assumed power in defiance of the will of the majority. In fact, according to THE VILLAGE VOICE, even the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's partner in deceit, believes that Bush stole the 2000 election.
...
If one believes the "official" versions of modern-day history, it is disquieting to learn of the remarkable number of "coincidences" that have served to lead humanity down the pathways of warfare and destruction.September 22, 2004: The Great Allure
...
[D]uring the coup of 2000, when I watched an almost rabid Katherine Harris salivating to "certify" Bush"s electoral theft in Florida, a state controlled by his brother Jeb, and when I learned that the United States Supreme Court, comprised of some of the most unethical "justices" in United States history, appointed Bush the dictator of the United States, I knew there were forces at work more sinister than simply a cabal of corrupt oligarchs usurping democracy. The sensations I felt as I watched these events unfold were so overwhelming and so haunting that it seemed like Satan had indeed touched the United States. And I knew from the lessons of the past that, no matter what the political milieu was, war was inevitable.
I did not write about these feelings in previous PRAVDA editorials because I know that whenever a writer discusses personal feelings, he or she risks losing or isolating readers who have not experienced such feelings themselves. I also knew that the historical evidence I relied upon in interpreting these feelings could easily be attacked by those asserting that "bad" people have also been assassinated and "good" people have prevented wars.
But when this historical evidence was coupled with the sociopathic nature of Bush and those in his dictatorship, the prediction about war's inevitability became more absolute. In law school we called individuals like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and others of their ilk "people without souls," because they have no sense of decency, no sense of humanity, no sense of justice, and no concept of "right and wrong," save for the ideology that whatever aggrandizes or satiates their selfish interests or ambitions is "right," and whatever does not is "wrong."
Perhaps nothing in recent times has demonstrated the callous and sadistic evil of George W. Bush more than his "joke" about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. Thousands of Iraqis and hundreds of Americans have been killed, and are still being killed, and billions of dollars have been spent, and are still being spent, because of the Bush dictatorship"s premeditated lies about Iraq possessing WMDs that posed an imminent threat both to America and the world. Now that the lies have been exposed, the result is not a trial before a war crimes tribunal, but instead an ill-conceived "joke." I wonder how many families who lost loved ones in Iraq are laughing?
Hitler's Germany arose when the perfect combination of anger, bellicosity, fear and hatred coalesced to make the masses receptive to the "allure of fascism." Flash forward to the year 2004, and the machinations of George W. Bush, and it is not difficult to perceive how this same allure is now engulfing America.May 23, 2005: Great Lies of the American free press
If there is one compelling question in modern history, that question is: "How, during the last century, could the nation of Germany, with a rich history that produced some of the world's most renowned philosophers, scholars, artists, inventors and musicians, have succumbed so readily to the machinations of a madman like Adolf Hitler?"
Germany, after all, was not an isolated culture susceptible to superstition, nor was it plagued by a poor educational system or lack of contact with the outside world. Yet, despite all of these positives, many well-meaning people entrusted their families, their futures, their nation and even their lives to a man whose maniacal lust for power brought them nothing but suffering, warfare, torture, and injustice.
While there may be several answers to the above question, one reality is clear: Hitler's Germany arose when the perfect combination of anger, bellicosity, fear and hatred coalesced to make the masses receptive to the "allure of fascism."
Flash forward to the year 2004, and the machinations of George W. Bush, and it is not difficult to perceive how this same allure is now engulfing America. As I stated in previous PRAVDA articles, two fundamental tactics of fascism -- scapegoating and the repetition of "great lies" -- have been openly utilized by both Bush and the deceitful, venal, hypocritical war criminals that personify his corruptly appointed dictatorship.
...
[P]erhaps the "greatest lie ever told" by the Bush dictatorship is that its megalomaniacal, bloodthirsty, cowardly, thieving, deceitful, hypocritical leader is somehow a "Christian." Even a cursory examination of Bush's legacy demonstrates that he has more in common with Pontius Pilate, the executioner of Jesus Christ, than with the gentle soul from Nazareth.
Pilate zealously exploited the death penalty to increase his grip on power. Bush, while governor of Texas, executed over one hundred and fifty people to bolster his political career. Pilate, as demonstrated by Christ's crucifixion, had little regard for whether those condemned to death were guilty or innocent. Bush routinely denied requests from death-row inmates for independent DNA testing that could have established their innocence, then boasted about the "infallibility" of the Texas criminal justice system and how "no innocent person" had been executed "under his watch."
Yet in August of 2003, thirty-five defendants, primarily African-American and all tried under Texas "law," were pardoned after it was discovered that perjured testimony had been used to convict them. More recently, a report in USA TODAY (8/6/04) revealed that the DNA unit of the crime lab in Harris County, Texas, where the City of Houston is located, had to be closed down in 2002 because of "irregularities in the way technicians were trained, handled evidence, interpreted tests and kept records." And in Angelina County, Texas, on August 20, 2004, after more than forty-one years in prison, Robert Carroll Coney was released after it was revealed that his confession had been extracted by torture.
Pilate, through his minions, avidly used torture. Bush, through his minions, avidly used torture at places like Abu Ghraib prison, while the CIA concealed dozens of "ghost detainees" from Red Cross monitors. Pilate committed atrocities against an occupied people. Bush continues to commit atrocities against an occupied people, having murdered, at last count, over ten thousand Iraqi civilians around Baghdad alone.
Furthermore, the Bush dictatorship's policies and practices bear no resemblance to the teachings of the Christian faith. Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Bush brags about being a "wartime president." Jesus was willing to suffer and die for his beliefs. Bush causes the suffering and death of others, yet during the Vietnam era was too cowardly to risk his own life, choosing instead to use his family's wealth and influence to perform some nebulous National Guard "duties."
Many of the disciples who followed Jesus also suffered and died. Bush surrounds himself with cowards like Dick (five deferments) Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft and Karl Rove, all of whom avoided military service through deferments or other schemes, yet all of whom are willing to callously sacrifice the lives of others. Jesus proclaimed it is as difficult for the rich to get into Heaven as it is for a camel to travel through the eye of a needle.
Bush gives tax breaks to the rich, and calls them his "support base," while Cheney gorges himself on war profits through links with corporations where he has financial interests. Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead. Bush's policies caused over one million Americans to lose their health insurance last year alone. The inevitable result will undoubtedly be more sickness and premature death. Jesus consistently rejected the reins of mortal power. Bush used his cronies on the United States Supreme Court to steal such power. In fact the only link Bush has to Christ's teachings is that he personifies the very hypocrisy, corruption, counterfeit piety and self-serving exploitation of religion that Jesus so openly condemned. There is no doubt that America, and the world, would be a much better place without so-called "Christians" like George W. Bush.
...
Bush has used America's perfect combination of anger, bellicosity, fear and hatred, fueled by the September 11th attacks, to blind Americans to the depths of his evil. He and those in his dictatorship are some of the most depraved human beings on the face of the earth, and they may, either directly or indirectly, be the biggest threat to world peace and stability since Adolf Hitler.
What makes this threat even more imminent is the prospect of the lone voice of reason in the Bush dictatorship, Secretary of State Colin Powell, not retaining his position if Bush wins (or steals) the upcoming election. While Powell has always publicly shuffled obediently behind "Massa Bush," privately he has been a voice of restraint, and possesses the military experience and expertise that most in the Bush dictatorship lack. With his voice silenced, who knows what other evils will spring forth from this newly opened Pandora's box.
Edmund Burke is quoted as saying, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing." Evil has triumphed in America, and if it continues on its apocalyptic course, soon there will be nothing that good people can do.
In several previous PRAVDA articles, I discussed the Bush dictatorship's prominent use of Adolph Hitler's "great lie theory" - the political tactic where a leader fabricates "great lies," then "eternally" repeats them until a significant portion of the population comes to accept them as truth. The Bush dictatorship also discovered a residual benefit of the "great lie theory": People are often so myopic or so embarrassed by their gullibility that, even after the "great lies" are exposed, they would rather reward the liar than acknowledge the lie.I hope you'll click the links and read the articles.
This benefit, however, has also revealed the disquieting reality that far too many people in the United States, arguably the most powerful nation on earth, do not require legitimate reasons before they will acquiesce to the wasting of billions of tax dollars, and the sacrificing of thousands of lives, in wars based upon nothing but lies.
There, of course, are those who claim the "great lie theory" cannot work in democratic countries like America, because, unlike nations with government-controlled media, there is "freedom of the press." But this criticism is easily muted by the events that occurred a little over fifty years ago, during the height of the "Cold War" era.
In 1950, a politically ambitious senator named Joseph McCarthy, during a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, held up a piece of paper that allegedly contained the names of communists who were employed by America's State Department. This bold announcement helped to usher in an era of hysteria, fear, censorship and blacklisting that only began to wane four years later when an attorney named Joseph Welch asked McCarthy during the televised "Army-McCarthy" hearings, "Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last?"
Both McCarthy's biographers and friends have stated that Hitler's book MEIN KAMPF, which discussed the application of the "great lie theory," played an important role in the development of McCarthy's political strategies. And even though the relatively new medium of television helped to diminish McCarthy's power, the corporate-controlled news media also shared the blame for McCarthy's ability to disseminate "great lies." During the Wheeling speech, no reporter asked to examine the list McCarthy held, and it is said that McCarthy himself later joked to members of his inner circle that nothing was on the paper but a reminder to pick up his laundry.
...
Ironically, in today's America, people who want real news or honest criticism are better served by not watching "news" programs at all. Comedy Central's satirical program THE DAILY SHOW, for example, often covers current events with more insight than the so-called cable "news" networks, where "discussion" routinely consists of "experts" of dubious qualifications shouting and interrupting each other.
Following the South Park trend, a character on a recent episode of the animated comedy THE SIMPSONS rhetorically asked where America's "koo-koo, bananas commander" intended to start the next "military quagmire." A character on the medical drama "ER" derisively mocked the Chicago Tribune newspaper for endorsing Bush in the 2004 presidential race, while the series itself devoted several episodes to the war in the Congo, where, as one character said, the suffering is largely ignored because "there is no oil."
Finally, on May 15, 2005, the Associated Press reported that many critics were comparing the decline of civil liberties and democracy in the new "Star Wars" movie REVENGE OF THE SITH to the decline of civil liberties and democracy in the United States. George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, acknowledged that much of the film was inspired by "historical transformations from freedom to fascism." Ironically, in a nation that boasts about "freedom of the press," it appears that only the fictitious adventures of characters in a "galaxy far, far away" might awaken Americans to the factual realities here on earth.
For the reasons mentioned above, the hands of America's corporate-controlled news media are now dripping with the blood of those sacrificed in a war promoted and exploited for ratings and profit. May this blood that has been shed for their greed never wash clean, lest we forget how easily corruption, avarice and deceit can usurp democracy, blacken the hearts of humanity, and destroy the soul of a nation.
Thanks to David R. Hoffman. Thanks to PRAVDA. Tonight's song is by Elvis Costello.
Pills And Soap
They talked to the sister, the father and the mother
With a microphone in one hand and a chequebook in the other
And the camera noses in to the tears on her face
The tears on her face
The tears on her face
You can put them back together with your paper and paste
But you can't put them back together
You can't put them back together
What would you say?
What would you do?
Children and animals two by two
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap
Four and twenty crowbars, jemmy your desire
Out of the frying pan into the fire
The king is in the counting house
Some folk have all the luck
And all we get are pictures of Lord and Lady Muck
They come from lovely people with a hard line in hypocrisy
they are ashtrays of emotion
for the fag-ends of the aristocracy
What would you say?
What would you do?
Children and animals two by two
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap
The sugar coated pill is getting bitterer still
You think your country needs you but you know it never will
So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag
Don't dilly-dally, boys, rally 'round the flag
Give us your daily bread in individual slices
And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis
What would you say?
What would you do?
Children and animals two by two
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap
Give me the needle
Give me the rope
We're going to melt them down for pills and soap