The State Putatively Provides Order

But concentrating power brings chaos.

They found that those 873 exonerated defendants spent a combined total of more than 10,000 years in prison, an average of more than 11 years each. Nine out of 10 of them are men and half are African-American.
Nearly half of the 873 exonerations were homicide cases, including 101 death sentences. Over one-third of the cases were sexual assaults.
DNA evidence led to exoneration in nearly one-third of the 416 homicides and in nearly two-thirds of the 305 sexual assaults.
Researchers estimate the total number of felony convictions in the United States is nearly a million a year.
The overall registry/list begins at the start of 1989. It gives an unprecedented view of the scope of the problem of wrongful convictions in the United States and the figure of more than 2,000 exonerations "is a good start," said Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
"We know there are many more that we haven't found," added University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross, the editor of the newly opened National Registry of Exonerations.
Counties such as San Bernardino in California and Bexar County in Texas are heavily populated, yet seemingly have no exonerations, a circumstance that the academics say cannot possibly be correct.
The registry excludes at least 1,170 additional defendants. Their convictions were thrown out starting in 1995 amid the periodic exposures of 13 major police scandals around the country. In all the cases, police officers fabricated crimes, usually by planting drugs or guns on innocent defendants.

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Starving Conscientious Objectors

Here is an interesting bit of WWII history:

Each man was in his 80s when interviewed and each spoke passionately when discussing why he chose to be a conscientious objector. The men universally stated a simple, solid conviction not to kill another human being. For some, the conviction was borne of an upbringing in one of the Historic Peace Churches. Others were influenced by pacifist writers such as Wilfred Grenfell (1865–1940), leaders of peace fellowships, or the teachings of the Oxford Movement. Still others saw the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) as a testament to the potential effectiveness of nonviolence. William Anderson put it most succinctly: “No one could make me kill anyone else.” Carlyle Frederick stressed that conscientious objection was not unpatriotic: “[Some] thought conscientious objection would be almost like being a traitor. But I was not objecting to my country as much as what my country was doing. In other words, my definition of patriotism included my refusal to kill.”

Heroics unsung.


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The USS Ronald Reagan & Fukushima

The Aircraft Carrier USS Ronald Reagan deployed for a humanitarian mission off Fukushima and the results are horrifying:

“We joked about it: ‘Hey, it’s radioactive snow!’ ” Cooper recalled. “I took pictures and video.”
But now “my thyroid is so out of whack that I can lose 60 to 70 pounds in one month and then gain it back the next,” said Cooper, fighting tears. “My menstrual cycle lasts for six months at a time, and I cannot get pregnant. It’s ruined me.”
The fallout of those four days spent off the Fukushima coast has been tragic to many of the 5,000 sailors who were there.

Compounded ironies: a nuclear power plant fails and a nuclear powered aircraft carrier with nuclear bombs sails to the rescue where no one thought to turn on the radiation detection systems.

Well, another Achille's heel has just been demonstrated on aircraft carriers, and that is the ocean water uptake systems for the on-board de-salinization systems.

1. Get the state out of nuclear power.  They exempt operators from liability, which means they are operated in dangerous ways.  "Cheap" is not the only factor in cost.

2. We have aircraft carriers in the Pacific to protect our markets for nuclear power in places such as Japan.  Bring all our forces home and we'd have a better economic balance.

3. End the poverty draft.  Return to where the wealthy pay for an army they themselves raise.

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The Difference Between Religion and Politics

The Pope and the President are sitting together on a stage at a huge mass rally in Yankee Stadium.  While someone is making an introductory speech, the Pope leans over to the President and says: "The difference between religion and politics is I can flick my hand and have all these people cheering and shouting for joy.  You cannot."

The President said, "Well I know I cannot do such a thing, but neither can you."

So the Pope waved his hand and smacked the President upside the head.  The stadium erupted with cheering and shouts of joy.

For a second the President was going to hit the Pope back, but then for the first time realized the difference between politics and religion.

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The Anarchist's Cook Book

I recall this title from my youth and giving it a once-over.  Something of a comic book.

Kings took their fear of the peace and prosperity inherent in having no king and attributed all violence to these people called anarchists.  To this day the idea of anarchists being violent is still prevalent.

One thing you must understand: if ever anyone in a group advocates violence, you can be sure that person is on the payroll of the state.

And the 19 year old who wanted to overthrow the system with violence, why today...:

But for William Powell, it’s also an opportunity, a chance to make the two chapters of his life into one. In the 40-plus years since he wrote "The Anarchist Cookbook," he has reinvented himself as an educator on the international stage, running a series of elite schools abroad, before settling in Malaysia. There he owns a teacher training center and writes books on pedagogy for the State Department.

Just so.

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The Hype vs Reality

Here is the kind of video meant to recruit kids into the military.



Here is closer to what is is like.



Whatever the French were doing in Vietnam, they found it worth giving up.

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USA Foreign Policy

Here is a famous quote by George Kennan, an elder Statesman of the USA, after WWII:

we have about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. ... In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity 

Ouch.  Reading what our top leaders say can be harsh.  This is proven to be taken somewhat out of context and the fuller quote is less damning, but to star with the facts is useful.  And here is a clarification...

So when you read the original it is a little less bad, but still pretty bad.  and being a thinking person, Kennan evolved in his thinking...  but once you've released a 1000 braves hard to call them back.

The real problem here with the misquote is it is damned awful. it is abjectly evil and invites total condemnation.  Better to quote the original (read at the link) and thena rgue against what the man actually said.

The error is his premise that envy is the natural result of 50% v 6%, and that this is something to be maintained.  Really?  How?  Why?  To what end?

So on the one hand we have the low-circulation insider marching orders, and on the other side we have the mis-quote, neither serves us well.  What is really going on needs to get wide circulation, and then wide discussion.  What we have is even more secrecy and more spying.

Do we want that?

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