Sunday, February 10, 2013

Transfiguration


Others,

Transfiguration

The story of the Exodus relates details that declare opposition to slavery. Opposition to slavery is good when it is not limited to the Liberator and confederates of the imperial alliance. Opposition to polytheism was presented with the premise that the stories about the gods endorsed immoral behavior. The counter-point to this argument is that faith in God was used to endorse war, slavery and genocide; behavior that is considered to be more immoral than sexual immorality.

John Locke was one of the greatest champions for civil rights in history, yet there is a passage in his treatise “Concerning Civil Government” that sanctions slavery as a valid expression of absolute power.  He got the ball rolling in the right direction, so to speak, but the endorsement of slavery counters the natural opposition to it.

Locke wrote “…there is another sort of servant, which by peculiar name we call slave, who being captive taken in a just war, are by the right of nature subjected to the absolute dominion and arbitrary power of their masters. These men having, as I say, forfeited their lives, and with them their liberties, and lost their estates—and being, in the state of slavery, not capable of any property—cannot in that state be considered any part of civil society, the chief end whereof is the preservation of property.” (Locke, “Concerning Civil Government, 1689, Ch.VII, ‘Of Political or Civil Society,’ Para.85)

What tyrant could not claim that his war was just? Slavery is an offense against human nature. Self-defense is regarded as a human right. War fought to defend national independence may be regarded as just. Nevertheless, the enslavement of the opposition is not justified. The so-called spoil of war spoils credibility as a civil government.

He also wrote “…it is evident that absolute monarchy, which by some men is counted the only government in the world, is indeed inconsistent with civil society. It can be no form of civil government at all.” (ibid. Para.90) This is not the end of his antinomy against the affirmation of civility in absolute power.

He continues “…he that thinks that absolute power purifies men’s blood, and corrects the baseness of human nature, need read but the history of this or any other age, to be convinced of the contrary.” (Ibid. Para.92) It seems that Locke was playing the devil’s advocate. He agreed with a prime proposition of aggressive imperial expansion, only to oppose the agreement. The opposition to a statement that he documented was something that he regarded as necessary for changing the history of his time.

History was changed. Freedom of Religion was added as a civil right to the US Constitution by James Madison. Slavery came to be outlawed. The right for women and men of color to vote was acknowledged. Stipulations regarding due process in law were added as well. While slavery has been outlawed, it has not been eliminated. Those who enslave people not in our society are attempting to enslave us economically.


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Respect for religion is an expression of respect for cultural development. Freedom of religion is  a political policy that shows respect for a diverse population of people.
Freedom of Religion in Japan

There was a time when freedom of religion was not allowed. Catholic missionaries had established missions by the sixteenth century but 6 friars and 20 Christians were martyred in Nagasaki in 1597.
http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/32.html 
"The Christian faith was first introduced into Japan in the sixteenth century by Jesuit and later by Franciscan missionaries. By the end of that century, there were probably about 300,000 baptized believers in Japan."

Other persecutions followed.into the seventeenth century. Western missionaries were not allowed to return until the nineteenth century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Japan 
"Persecution continued sporadically, breaking out again in 1613 and 1630. On September 10, 1632, 55 Christians were martyred in Nagasaki in what became known as the Great Genna Martyrdom. At this time Roman Catholicism was officially outlawed. The Church remained without clergy and theological teaching disintegrated until the arrival of Western missionaries in the nineteenth century."

Article 20 of the Japanese Constitution declares freedom of religion as political policy.
http://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Japan/English/english-Constitution.html#CHAPTER_III
"Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. 2) No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious acts, celebration, rite or practice. 3) The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity."

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Torture is regarded as cruel and inhuman punishment. 


Torture v. Targeted Killing
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/02/obama-released-torture-memos-why-not-targeted-killing-memos "The key difference between the torture memos and the targeted-killing memos is that the torture memos were written during the Bush administration, while the targeted-killing memos were written during Obama's."

Torture is harmful, Targeted killing is lethal. Why does the comparison of the two run the risk of lost perspective? Torture was advocated by an administration that had directed two invasions against independent nations. Afghanistan was invaded for "harboring terrorists." (It is not a justification for invasion.) Iraq for suspected WMD's. (Another invalid justification.)

Targeted killing is not an acceptable policy. It needs to be rejected as cruel and inhuman. Brennan's nomination also needs to be rejected. This said, it needs to be remembered that the torture memos took place during the "war on terror." The war on terror was a larger scale of inhuman cruelty because it included invasion level events.

Lobbying influence and campaign contributions bought the policy of drone warfare. It is a scaling back of the war on terror, but it is still unacceptable.

Congress buried mention of targeted killing and indefinite detention in the National Defense Authorization Act (700+ pages).  The US needs to adopt a policy of non-aggression or the elite who profit from war or genocide will drive us into economic ruin. They don't care about the state of the economy as long as they have the green for the greed machinery.
Brennan Moves Back from Opposition to Torture?

"On torture, Brennan acknowledged that he was aware of the practice while he was a senior CIA executive in the ‘00s, and that he left the agency believing it could yield useful information, although he opposed it. Yesterday Brennan said he’s now unsure, after reading the summary of a 6,000 page classified report recently produced by the Intelligence Committee, whether torture produce information that saved lives or led to the capture of Osama bin Laden. “At this point, Senator, I do not know what the truth is,” Brennan said.


Read more: 
http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/08/brennan-hearing-shows-a-restless-congress-on-drones-and-terrorism/#ixzz2KJKseQw8"

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It is an accident when torture produces reliable information. Loyalty to state or religion, opposition to torture and physical reactions to pain virtually guarantee that false information will be extracted. The provision against cruel and unusual punishment outlaws torture even if it produces important information from time to time. The argument that it saves thousands of lives pales in comparison to the number of lives that were sacrificed to the war on terror.

Property damage and wasteful spending on war are also prohibitive in the consideration of using torture, targeted killing or invasion level events. The regurgitation of war on terror rhetoric is offensive to the US constitution and the people of the world.

Human rights are civil for Americans.


Congress has placed itself and the country in an untenable position. They legislated targeted killing and indefinite detention with the NDAA. Now they will be determining whether or not the policy chief for drone warfare (targeted killing) will become the director for the CIA. Many in Congress will dance around that which they authorized legislatively.

They cannot afford to promote someone who has actively promoted targeted killing to direct intelligence operations. While it has not been asserted that Brennan directed or approved of torture, the knowledge of it will need to be treated as quintessentially important. His nomination has to be rejected in order for Congress to start self-correcting.

If they don't correct themselves, other branches of government will have to do so. The unacceptable provisions of the NDAA are human rights violations. They cannot stand. The US will lose credibility as a representative for human rights in the world. The integrity of belief in civil rights will be damaged as well.

Neo-Cons Rise to Defend Drones
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/02/as-neocons-defend-obama-allies-doubt-him-on-drones-as-never-before/272947/ 
"Kill list overseer John Brennan starts confirmation hearings today to determine whether he'll get to be the next CIA director. Everyone is abuzz about a confidential memo that describes some of the scenarios in which President Obama believes that his underlings are empowered to extrajudicially kill Americans."

The use of drones to kill militants as suspected terrorists is indefensible according to the rule of law. Killing suspected terrorists without a trial is an extension of the justification for torture. It presumes that killing some is justified in the defense of many; just as the torture of an individual was presumed to be acceptable in defense of "thousands" of lives. The justification is false because the accusation of terrorism has to be tried in a court of law in order to preserve judicial authority based on evidentiary judgment.

If political leadership has conceded to false justifications, it has been due to the claim to absolute power by the industry for war with influence affected by lobbies, campaign funds, speaking engagements and competition for the wealth to win political contests for social influence. Decreasing tax breaks for the wealthiest is a way to decrease the size of the problem.

The progression of concern for civil rights has extended into the foreign policy of national government. The following piece celebrates civility for human rights.

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Rights
(Japanese Constitution, the French Declaration of the Rights for Man,
English Bill of Rights, The UN Declaration of Human Rights Ps.71)

Human rights are civil for the people of the nation.

People renounce wars of aggression from the state as a right for the nation. Force will not be used with belligerence to settle international disputes. Defense is allowed for the protection of civility. Alliance will be cultivated to include broader representation for humanity.
It is essential to promote the growth of friendly relations among the nations.

If we are to prevent freedom from falling to the last resort, the recourse of rebellion against tyranny, oppression and the injustice of inequity, we must set forth the human rights that are to be protected by the rule of law.

National assembly recognizes rights for citizens and human being. These rights are declared in writing as the plan for government. No law will be made that violates human rights. Law will be written to protect people from harm due to violence or oppression.

People are born free and remain equal in rights. Social distinctions regarding qualifications are founded upon goodness for the public.

The aim for political association is the preservation of human rights. These rights are life, liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression, education, employment, health care and religion.

The principle for independence resides in the nation as an expression of natural law. 
Things co-exist. There is a community of relations in co-existence. The perception of one thing can be referenced in relation to others. Comparison and contrast define perspective in experience with reason. The bill of rights was expressed to oppose the absolute power of monarchy. The separation of powers was established to oppose absolute power in government. No individual or group may exercise authority that does not proceed from the health and safety of the nation of people.

Liberty consists in the freedom to do anything that injures no one else. The exercise of the natural rights for each person is only limited by the assurance of rights for the other members of society.

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security. No one will be held in slavery or servitude. Slavery and the slave trade are prohibited. No one is to be tortured or subjected to cruel and inhuman punishment.

Everyone has the right to a nationality. Everyone has the right to participate in government governed by elected officials. The will of the people is the authority for the state.

Legal adults have the right to marry and establish a household. Anyone has the right to own property. Everyone has the right to work with proper pay for equal work.

No one is compelled to belong to an organization. No one will be denied work based on association with an organization that recognizes human rights.

Anyone has the right to health care, education, social security and enough prosperity
to provide for basic needs. Everyone has the right to rest and leisure including reasonable limits for working hours and periodic holidays with pay.

Murder and multiple murders are capital crimes for a citizen.
Genocide and wars of aggression are capital crimes for political leadership.

No one is to be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. 
Everyone has the right to due process of law. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. No one is to be deprived of privacy or confidential communication without probable cause regarding suspicion of criminal offense.

Everyone has the right to self-defense. We were born free with dignity and equal rights.
We are endowed with reason. We are called to treat others with respect. No one is to be discriminated against based on any distinction such as race, color, religion, opinion, sex, language, party affiliation, national origin, social status or group.

Everyone has the right to freedom of assembly and association. 
The inherent dignity and inalienable rights for all the members of the human family is the foundation for freedom, justice and peace in the world.


The industry for war has become an international oligarchy that has usurped the claim to absolute power. The oligarchy has been making policy for the government by paying for lobbies, campaigns, vote manipulation and speaking engagements to “win” the competition for elected office. Tax breaks for the wealthiest people in different nations have to be reduced to correct the problem.


Claims to absolute power may not be used to override the rule of law with a constitution and a bill of rights. Absolute power is defined as use of war, genocide, targeted killing, murder, assassination, enslavement, torture, indefinite detention, excessive bail, prosecution as persecution, conviction by characteristics of birth or association with legal social groups, cruelty or laxity in punishment, excessive force, predatory pricing, taxation without representation or any act that oppresses people.

People have the right to petition the government; to vote without manipulation; to participate in debate with freedom of speech; to belong to a religion that is not promoting war as aggression, crime or establishment over the state; to self-defense that allows for the ownership of weapons as property; and due process in law that includes a trial before a jury of non-discriminatory witnesses when accused of crime. Judgment will be made from the body of evidence for public scrutiny with the scientific method.

I take refuge in the liberty of the law. LORD, let me never be put to shame. Protect me from oppression. Set me free from persecution. Save me from violence. Shelter me from war. Incline your judgment to me for salvation.


Liberty with happiness is my hope. God given rights have sustained my faith since youth. The understanding of nature’s God has been the goal for my religion.

I have been sustained by the LORD with faith since before I was conceived in the womb. Providence has given me strength. My praise is directed to God and those who support human rights.

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Thermal Runaway! It's not just a physical anomaly. It's a political condition that Boeing has been forcing on the US and other countries in the western alliance.

 
The video is short, but powerful in its implications. Please view!

Thermal Runaway
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57568291/investigators-short-circuit-in-dreamliners-lithium-ion-battery-led-to-fire/ 

Dreamliner Becomes Nightmare for State Owned Business

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324906004578287963634247382.html
"No airline staked more on Boeing Co.'s BA +1.49% new 787 Dreamliner than LOT Polish Airlines SA, a troubled state-owned carrier that embraced the jet as means of gaining more lucrative, long-haul travelers. Now, its hopes for the plane threaten to turn into a nightmare."

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What's the con for neo-cons in the UK? They want a spending cut that will impose austerity measures on struggling European countries that won't sacrifice their fiscal advantage in the EU budget. What's the best response? Cut the advantage to cut spending for the EU.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/08/david-cameron-eu-budget-gamble
"Cameron had always aimed to secure a real-terms freeze in the EU's near-€1tn budget. The latest proposals, presented by the European council president, Herman Van Rompuy, in the early hours of Friday, called for the EU's "payment ceiling" to be cut from €942.8bn in 2007-13 to €908.4bn in 2014-2020.

"The prime minister hopes to be able to go one step further and say that he has secured a cut in the budget, the first time this has happened in the history of the EU."

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The list of human rights for civil government may seem large. The size may be daunting. People have the right to make a living. Most people are delegated to the middle class or lower simply by virtue of the limitation of resources.

The following music video pokes fun at the difficulty of trying to make a living according to the norms of society. Try to sell lemonade. You can’t give it away. Sell alcohol. The liberation from absolutes based on norms associated with majority rule can feel intoxicating. There are other ways to make a living, but a sense of humor is generally regarded as required.

Democratic society is a mixed bag of tricks. Flexibility in organization for providing a service facilitates adaptation to market variability for the public.

Love others. Be true to yourself.

Steve K.

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