Saturday, April 20, 2013

Musings: So Disturbing


Hair dripping with salt water, eyes shining from the shimmer of sunlight on sea, heart happy, dogs happy, infused with the good medicine of the beach, we return to the car to find the corpse of a butchered wild pig dumped in the parking lot.

So disturbing, and so disrespectful, of the pig, the aina, other people.

Then I encountered this, from the 2012 annual report of the Corrections Corporation of America — the company that makes its money off human misery, human storage:

"We believe we have been successful in increasing the number of residents in our care and continue to pursue a number of initiatives intended to further increase our occupancy and revenue."

"For instance, any changes with respect to [laws governing] drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them."

"A recent study released by the Pew Charitable Trust indicates that one in every 100 U.S. adults are in prison or in jail. With the U.S. population estimated to grow by more than 18.5 million between 2007 and 2015, about 20,000 prisoners per year will be added to the system over the next seven years if historical trends in incarceration rates continue."

So disturbing, especially when you consider that Hawaii is CCA's number one customer and at least half or more of the prison population from Hawaii is kanaka maoli.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 19-year-old suspect in the Boston marathon bombing, is arrested following a house-by-house warrantless search by armed men. The government invokes “a public safety exemption” and refuses to read him his Miranda rights before engaging in “extreme interrogation” by the “High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.” Does that include waterboarding, or some of the other measures that are no longer considered torture as long as we are doing it to them? Meanwhile, some lawmakers and commentators are clamoring to have him treated as an enemy combatant, even though he's a naturalized U.S. citizen, presumably so he can be held indefinitely and tried in a military kangaroo court.

So disturbing, what happens to the Constitution when your government has declared War on Islam Terror. Because aren't we defined as a society by how we treat those who are suspected of committing the most heinous of crimes?

Meanwhile, more civil liberties and privacy are on the block, with the House of Representatives voting last week to approve the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act — a controversial bill that allows private businesses like Facebook and Google and Yahoo to share your personal information with any government entity. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa was one of 92 Democrats who voted for CISPA, which exempts companies from liability when they divulge your private information to whomever they wish.

So disturbing, to see that bill now being justified by events like the Boston bombing. And so disturbing to peruse the list of companies and entities — AT&T, Time Warner, Verizon, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, McAfee and American Bankers Assn., to name a few — that have spent $605 million to lobby against our interests.

And finally, here's a really good, though disturbing, piece on how the American media is fixated on the maiming actions of the homemade Boston bombs, while conveniently forgetting our own devastating use of cluster bombs on civilians in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The article cites George Orwell's references to “doublethink,” which is defined as a willingness “to forget any fact that has become inconvenient.”

So disturbing, to be reminded that it's 1984

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that the American media ignores the blunt force brutality that our armed forces unleashes against innocent civilians but fuck that murdering piece of shit Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Torture his ass and throw the switch until he stops twitching.

Anonymous said...

I am skeptical of what the media is reporting and the story given by the FBI and police. With the lies that we are fed and the lack of transparency of our government it is hard to trust. What is even more disturbing is the crowd hooting and cheering his capture. He's already tried and convicted by the media, the authorities and the public. Who is to say these two brothers weren't set up? All the information coming from people who knew the 19 year old doesn't add up to him fitting the profile of a terrorist. Americans are so blind to the terrorism inflicted by our government on other countries, yet we're so indignant that anyone dare do it to us. We need to ask ourselves why? Could it be something to do with our foreign policies?

Anonymous said...

The videos and photos show the two brothers walking towards the area with backpacks and leaving the area after the bombs went off without the backpacks. One of the victims saw one of the brothers dropping the backpack and walking away. In the court of public opinion they are guilty. And that's only what has been disclosed to the public. It would be easier to understand if they were Afghans or Iraqis or some other country that we've invaded, but they're Chechen. Dumbasses should have gone after Russia.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, how quickly we forget all the bombings we've inflicted on so many countries! Let's begin with the massacre of our "little brown brothers," the Filipinos prior to the 2nd World War, then Hiroshima and Nagasaki with hundreds of thousands of civilians bombed in their homes, then cross over to South America, and of course, let's not forget Vietnam with Agent Orange and all that, followed by the two war criminal Presidents Bush #1 and #2 who have sown hatred for America in the Muslin world that could last hundreds of years. Are we truly surprised that we are targeted for revenge?