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Kirwan Articles
No Justice, No Peace!
April
25, 2004
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There's a piece of classical music called "Fanfare for the Common
Man" written by Aaron Copland, that lasts only two minutes and
fifty-seven seconds, but in that music can be heard the plight of most of
us, that still have to fight to live.
The music captures the gravity of Roman Gladiators, waiting to discover life
or death in literally the next few moments of their lives. The sounds of the
trumpets lift the human spirit against deep and thunderous drums that seem
to speak of death. The powerful composition is majestically brief, almost a
parable for the lives of too many ordinary people in the world today.
Especially now, in a country that can't seem to decide between becoming a
full-blown Empire, or just a place where people can live their lives without
having to fear the midnight knock upon those meager doors, that separate the
most of us, from the hostile streets outside.
What brought us to this place of alien values? How have we managed to stand
society upon its head? Today we live in an asylum that's being run by those
who used to be the inmates. This was once a country of laws and not of men,
or so they like to tell us. Now this is nothing but a holding camp where
those we failed to punish years ago, have now come back to steal whatever's
left of what we call our lives.
When this nation first began the government was charged with keeping the
streets clean, staying out of the way, and providing an army to defend us in
a time of war. "All rights not specifically given to the government
were reserved to the people." And now people speak of the freedoms
we're "allowed" to have, as if we were children being rewarded for
good behavior. What happened to us between the time we came of age, after
WWII, and that Morning in America of Ronald Reagan's that brought us
"Greed is Good!" Some say we just 'grew up,' but to others this is
the death of promise, and the beginning of collapse. The truth is probably
somewhere in between.
There are two unresolved wars on-going, no victories in sight, and more to
come unless we stop the bandits and seize the ship of state. It would seem
the public should have a lot to think about. But to watch us as we go about
our lives, there is little evidence of that. This depends of course, on what
is being looked at, and how secure the position of the watchers really is.
There are of course the unemployed and there are those who still have the
outlines of a life, and who can still pretend there is a future. Then there
are the others- but they're doing very well thank you - no need to study
them.
When this nation was formed we wanted a government that served the people,
and not the other way around. And for a while we did have that, until greed
and corruption overtook the process. Now we live in a place where we must
ask permission daily even for all the little things we used to do without a
second thought.
This happened here because we just became too busy, to deal with all the
questions and the costs of modern life, so we passed more and more of the
public's business to what we called the government. This worked for a while,
until some decided that since we didn't really seem to care about the
"work" our servants did, perhaps the time had come for the
servants to take the country, and put both it and us under their command and
control. That was the coup that's been ongoing since Newt put out his
"Contract on America," and for the people it's been only ugly
since that day.
Government was created to work for us. But this government thinks they own
us, every one. They own our thoughts, or preferences, our jobs, if are lucky
enough to have one, and they also feel completely clear about the fact that
they now interfere in everything we see or do or think or write. They decide
on how our money will be spent, they make all our rules and regulations
'for' us. Congress used to do this, but since that seems to take too long,
now Bush just issues presidential edicts - makes it easier you know - now
that we're always in a state of war, we have no need for congress or the
courts.
About the courts: they don't get much of a say any more, too many
"liberal judges." Imagine everyone accused of a crime, has to be
charged, and there has to be evidence or they have to let the suspect go?
And if they're charged then each suspect has the right to an attorney? Wow.
That'll never work in Ashcroft's NEW America where everyone is guilty, and
we have no time to bother with paperwork anyhow, because you know
"We're at WAR!"
Don't you feel much safer now, now that we've streamlined the entire
judiciary and the Criminal Justice System as well? We've learned from the
9-11 hearings that all the problems with catching criminals is that the bad
guys had too many protections. But Ridge and Bush and Ashcroft fixed all
that, they simply eliminated those nasty amendments that guaranteed all the
rights of the accused to be protected from an overzealous government.
Now the only enemy we need to fear is the government itself, because all the
trails of suspicion about 9-11 lead straight back to them. Just as all the
open questions of conflict of interest in Cheney's sweetheart deal with the
energy companies, that took place just two months after he took office,
still haven't been resolved. It's reminiscent of the words we chanted at the
Fairmont at that time: "He's in bed with Corporate Crime, Cheney
should be doing time!" That was a long time ago, but nothing's changed,
so much for the impartiality of what used to be called The Supreme Court of
the United States: what a farce they've turned out to be!
So where does all this leave us? We've allowed our country to be taken in a
bloodless coup. Further we've allowed the USA to become the New World Empire
for the 21st Century, without so much as even a debate about the wisdom of
that move. Oh yes, that was also because "we were at WAR" and
whenever that happens suddenly everyone in congress becomes an idiot. No one
wants to actually discuss what might be about to happen, so they all just
vote "Yea!" and crawl away to bourbon and cigars, or whatever they
were doing before they "had to vote."
This would've all been over now, if the Bush administration had anybody with
a brain working on all the various wars from our new department of
international intimidations and reprisals. That's a basement spider-hole in
the Department of Offense, where they do all that really intelligent
planning. That would be the planning that results not in victories, but in
defeats that will last for decades. Buried neatly in the floor beneath it
all, lies what used to be the Diplomatic Corp, their coffins having been
sent over in the middle of the night, protected by mercenaries from our
decapitated Department of State.
Why are we so fascinated by total war and complete destruction? What is it
about this new century that seems to have no room for anything that has to
do with ordinary life? Some civilizations chose to build their empires,
while we have chosen only to destroy, for the contracts of course.
"Nation-building's not our job," says our macho leader, and since
he talks to god, it is assumed he must be right.
What about that long shadow of history that preceded this ship of fools? Is
there nothing that these American and British and Israeli Barbarians have
learned from all that time and all those battles from our mutual past?
The winged Victory of Samothrace, sculpted around the 4th Century BC has
come to represent a universal understanding of Victory, and she is headless.
Contrast her with the remains of Defeat, also headless, because in neither
case is there any advantage to be gained by all the slaughter that is what
wars are always--all about. How is it that these would-be striders of the
globe, our self-appointed leaders, have never thought on that? Could this be
because they have no real experience in life or love or anything that
matters much beyond their next deposit in their offshore bank accounts?
We have placed ourselves "in-charge" of both Iraq and Afghanistan,
after a major expense in blood and treasure, and there is virtually nothing
to show for all that wasted life, all that war-torn hell. The oil pipelines
have all been, a bust, and our diplomatic efforts have long since
disappeared, into that famous fog of war. Is there a pattern here? Is war
the only reason for everything that these imposters chose to do? Looks like
it.
Where does this leave us, what about our lives, our ambitions and our
dreams? None of the things that an elected government is charged with doing
has been done by this administration-could that be because they weren't
elected? Congress has been permanently sidelined. They still continue to
mutter to themselves, appearing on talk-shows as if they were still alive
and viable, but what they do has nothing to do with what is needed, by those
who still have to find a way to live to see tomorrow.
Have you noticed that almost nothing works in America? From the smallest of
services, to the largest issues of the day, the systems created to handle
all of this, and us, are simply broken, obsolete or gone. The only thing
remaining is us, the rabble, standing here without enough jobs, without
enough food, without even access to an education. Of course an education
doesn't matter too much any longer, as there are no jobs to get, so why
spend a fortune on a school, Besides the government will use you as cannon
fodder soon, or something of equal importance to them, but you won't be able
to survive on whatever they're promising. Doesn't matter anyway, they've
broken every promise they ever made to anyone about anything. That could
easily be the hallmark of this administration.
"We lie more and better than anyone ever has! So vote for us again, and
let's see what will really happen once we've been unleashed, to work our
will upon the public without any fear of any real reprisals"
Your government in action, and never forget that all that money that they're
burning at the rate of $1.25 billion a week (in just one of the two wars),
that's money that you gave them. Imagine a blank check to use as they see
fit, with no oversight by anyone, except of course themselves. And you are
going to let the top two leaders of this coup, testify together, before a
committee, without even being sworn in? People used to ask, "Just how
dumb do they think we really are?"
Looks like that question has been asked and answered clearly. Question now
is, will anyone begin to change the way we treat these bastards, one and
all? Maybe people do get the kind of government they deserve, but if we
don't stop this one pretty soon, there won't be much of a country left to
fight about. Bush & the Bandits are just beginning to understand the
meaning of the title of this article, because of what they're just beginning
to discover in Fallujah, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Without Justice
there can never be peace for anyone-anywhere.
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