The War Machine

With Muslim extremists going medieval on journalists, the usual team of war-mongers in the Senate (you know McCain, Graham, Feinstein) are being joined by the same herd of lemmings that rushed into Iraq last time and are calling for another war (our third).

You would think that after two wars, a 10-year occupation, $3 trillion, thousands of dead Americans and tens of thousands of shattered U.S. families, we would realize the futility. But war is not a geo-political means to an end for this America, it is simply good business. With Afghanistan winding down we need another war and the primitives in Iraq have served up a heaping helping of self-righteous justification.

It’s not that I am not outraged by the savage nature of ISIS, but we are a bit like the abusive parents of a psychopath: we created ISIS. When we destroyed the fragile social structures holding the old Iraq together after the invasion and deliberately set the religious sects against each other, we created a fertile Petri dish for ISIS and their predecessors. When Obama dithered, and Congress did what they always do (nothing) and refused to fund “moderate” Syrian opposition, the door was opened. Add to the mix plenty of funding to ISIS from our “allies,” the Saudis and Qataris, and viola!

Every time we bomb Muslims we create 10 more enemies. Every time we allow them to work out their religious differences there are less. It is as simple as this: when we are there, they shoot at us. When we are not there, they shoot at each other. The journalists were killed after we bombed ISIS. Now the Saudis are begging for us to bomb away the problem they have been funding, and our interests are suddenly aligned with regimes we have already labeled as enemies, namely Assad and Iran.

After 10 years in Iraq it is as chaotic as it was after we created the chaos. After 11 years in Afghanistan, it is as chaotic as it ever was since Alexander the Great. Would we lose more American lives if we invade Iraq/Syria and occupy them for another 10 years, or if we let them work out their own issues? But it’s not really about Iraq, Iran, Syria or any “moral obligation,” is it?

It’s about making money with war.

Tolerance Taxed

Last weekend there was a conference of Muslims in Detroit, and I was curious to hear what they had to say about … beheading.

It’s not like American Muslims don’t have enough to worry about or more important issues to discuss. The growing incidence of hate crimes, a government escalating civil rights violations, and a popular culture increasingly tolerant of hate speech directed at them … So why bother with condemning a crime committed in Iraq? Because the savage beheading of a human being has become the image representing the “religion of peace.”

The news from overseas is a disaster not only for the Muslims in the Middle East. The violence between sects has gone beyond sectarian to something more accurately described as religious genocide. The violence and hatred between Muslims is almost … well, Christian in scale. So the tepid response of the Muslim leadership to the beheading of their captives (American, Syrian, Christian, Muslim – it doesn’t matter) is disappointing at best.

Shi’a, Sunni – it doesn’t matter. Iran has beheaded as many “criminals” as Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE. I always felt that Christians were the most brutal of all religions. I am not so sure now that it matters. Maybe the Muslims are only a few centuries behind the Christians with internecine genocide. Is there an inherent quality in ANY religion to evoke hatred and violence? In the words of Lennon: “Imagine …”

Trial Lawyers

Some Republicans justify their votes against basic civil rights such as equal pay for women, or attempts to weaken protections against the violations of due process rights by the police, by saying that they don’t want to “line the pockets of trial lawyers.”

If corporations did not discriminate against women, then there would be no lawsuits … period. The case without any evidence would get thrown out in an instant. Discrimination exists when the perpetrators can get away with it. Without the ability of an individual to file a lawsuit, no corporation would have an incentive to follow the law. Republicans want you to believe that corporations will voluntarily not discriminate anymore, and continually refuse to allow the ability of anyone to discover if any discrimination exists.

The attempts to weaken protections against abuses by the police or other government abuses are even more dangerous, because they directly challenge the lives of citizens. Those protections are essential in any democracy. In an era of Congressionally-sanctioned spying on every American for virtually any reason, the only person standing between you and being falsely imprisoned or even illegally killed by the police are trial lawyers.

The criticisms of “trial lawyers” is a popular rhetorical tool of the Right Wing, but civil lawsuits are the last resort of the average citizen against the powerful. The GM recalls of their cars with fatal defects are another example of what we do as trial lawyers. GM knew about the defects years ago – before many people were killed because of them. GM did nothing to protect lives. They protected themselves, or rather their profits. The government agency charged with identifying those safety hazards didn’t discover the defects because (apparently) the deaths of dozens of people were below their radar (so much for over-regulation). Thanks to trial lawyers, lives will be saved and justice can be done for the victims. It is a textbook example of how trial lawyers protect society and your rights. This offends Republicans because it undermines the power of the rich and the powerful.

As a person who has devoted his life to helping defend the rights of individuals against the wealthy and powerful, I understand why the right wing attacks on my profession. We are the last resort of the people when the powerful victimize. That’s why we are called the “people’s warriors.”

Labor in America

There was a recent expose on children working in the tobacco fields of the New South in the New York Times yesterday.

Numerous examples of children as young as 10 years old working 10 to 12 hours a day for less than minimum wages have been documented, many of them getting poisoned by the exposure to nicotine. It evokes the images of the antebellum South, but in reality they are a sign of the future to come. They are not an isolated instance of abuse. In fact, they are the new face of labor in America.

All across the Country, including the “Right to Work” Michigan, right wing legislatures are systematically reversing over 100 years of hard-earned labor rights. Right wing politicians, elected through the financial largesse of billionaires such as the Koch brothers are not only attempting to destroy labor unions, they are even attacking basic labor rights such as child labor laws.

So this fall, when you vote, remember the face of those child workers getting those jobs created by your Republican governor and Republican legislators. Snyder and Lynn-Land will put your children to work …