The right wing spent the 1950s trying to convince the nation that it was threatened by a vast world wide communist conspiracy. Now the right wing is trying to convince the nation that conspiracies don't exist at all! Right wingers have targeted Tin Foil Hatters for ridicule when it was not so long ago that the term applied better to them! Nevertheless, a Catholic saint, the world`s greatest physicist, and hundreds, possibly thousands of SCOTUS decisions and scholarly, legal articles all say: conspiracies exist! The right wing, in fact, loves "conspiracy theories": the world wide communist conspiracy, the world-wide conspiracy of secular humanists, the world wide conspiracy of evolutionists, darwinists, and materialists, the world-wide conspiracy of terrorists (al Qaeda), the world wide conspiracy of labor and trade unionists, the world wide conspiracy of abortionists, the world wide conspiracy of nattering nabobs of negativism. In the fifties, we were expected to believe that there was a world wide conspiracy to add fluoridation to municipal water supplies. It was about the same time that proto-Ron Paul types were warning of a world wide conspiracy of international bankers. There is still a dire threat to our "children" by those evil, secular humanists! Gasp! We are expected to believe in al Qaeda but not to believe that there was a conspiracy of robber barons to seize monopoly control of railroads leading west. We are expected to believe that a rag tag conspiracy of failed, Arab pilots perped 911 but not that there was a conspiracy by J.P. Morgan et al to control US banking, or John D. Rockefeller to control US oil production, or a conspiracy by Andrew Carnegie to control US steel production. We are expected to believe that Saddam Hussein had conspiratorial connections to 911 terrorists, but we are not expected to believe that the GOP stole the elections of 2000 and 2003 or that the GOP had anything do with the gang of "brownshirts" who were, in fact, financed by the Bush campaign. Only the right wing gets to indulge conspiracy theories. A "Saint" in death, St. Thomas More was in life Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII. A lawyer and a scholar, More is read and analyzed today. If More were time warped to the present time, he would look around him and find in the Military/Industrial complex a familiar cabal of liars, graft-takers, and conspirators. So God help me, I can perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of the commonwealth.The bolding is mine. More, some 400 years on, leaves us an accurate description of the Military/Industrial complex, most certainly, a certain conspiracy of rich men procuring their own commodities under the name and title of the commonwealth. The GOP must now think this brilliant genius, this Saint by Catholic reckoning, a "tin foil hatter". But it was not so long ago that rabid righters had a different view of More. It was in the late 90s that these wing-nuts, hell-bent on impeaching Bill Clinton, dragged out the corpse of St. Thomas More. It would give their witch hunt an imprimatur of legitimacy and scholarship, lipstick on a pig! Mssrs Henry Hyde and David Schippers, were fond of quoting More but only as he was portrayed in an admittedly great film, A Man for All Seasons by Sir Robert Bolt. Here's an example of how Kenneth Starr mangled More and, in the process, proved himself a mediocre intellect. The following excerpt from Starr's interview with Diane Sawyer:They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely, without fear of losing, that they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labour of the poor for as little money as may be.
-Of the Religions in Utopia, St. Thomas More
Kenneth Starr:
Well, I love the letter and the spirit of the law, but it`s the letter of the law that protects us all. And, you know, St. Thomas Moore, Sir Thomas Moore put it so elegantly, you know, in A Man For All Seasons. He took the law very seriously and said, `That`s what protects us. It`s not the will of a human being. It`s not Henry VIII`s will. Henry VIII is under the law. We are all equal under the law.`Sorry, Mr. Starr, no where in the play A Man For All Seasons did the character of Sir Thomas More say anything resembling that.
In fact, More defended the obedience to "...man`s law, not God`s" [that makes More a secular humanist] and never made reference to either Henry VIII's law by name or description. The actual exchange that both David Schippers and Starr are both so fond of misquoting is as follows:
Roper: So now you`d give the Devil benefit of law!And, in yet another memorable exchange:
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get at the Devil?
Roper: I`d cut down every law in England to do that.
More: Oh! (advances on Roper) And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you --where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? (He leaves him) This country’s planted thick with laws --man's laws, not God's [emphasis mine]--and if you cut them down --and you’re just the man to do it --d`you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? (Quietly) Yes, I`d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety`s sake.
Margaret More: Father, that man's bad.Of course, the dialogue above was written by Robert Bolt. But if you want to read the original More you will find comments equally biting, equally witty that will most certainly curl the hair of modern right wing reactionaries and intellectual gnomes! More, they will charge, is a liberal, a socialist, and (gasp!!!!) ---a liberal!
Sir Thomas More: There's no law against that.
William Roper: There is: God's law.
Sir Thomas More: Then God can arrest him.
But other brilliant folk, specifically, the greatest physicist since Newton, spoke eloquently and absolutely beyond the piss poor abilities of right wing idiots to refute:
The men who possess real power in this country have no intention of ending the cold war."Conspiracy theories are most vociferously denounced by conspirators. Conspirators exist if conspiracists do not. Conspirators have a lot riding on this issue --their very lives if they get caught! Traitors to this nation's Constitution, right-wing subversives who have, in fact, waged war on the citizens of this nation are subject to prosecution under the laws of this nation which recognize --as a matter of law --that conspiracies exist! High treason exists! War Crimes exist! Crimes against humanity exist! I have the laws of this nation, the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, the Nuremberg Principles to prove it! Moreover, I know and have already named the culprits on this blog! Now --let's put this issue to rest. Here is a specific example of how the topic of how the concept of "conspiracy" is handled by US Codes, in particular "conspiracy" in a political sense.--Albert Einstein
Section 2384. Seditious conspiracy If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
Who remembers the "Brooks Brothers Riot" that had the effect of stopping a court-ordered recount of votes in the state of Florida in the year 2000? That "riot" had been transported to Florida, all-expenses paid by the Bush campaign. It was the intention of this retinue to "attack" the recounters. The strategy was obvious: stop the recounts before Al Gore could pull ahead. This conspiracy of the Bush campaign was, in effect, a coup d'etat, a violation of US Codes, a conspiracy against the lawful, constitutional and orderly transfer of executive power. A case of Seditious Conspiracy? I believe that case should be made.Section 2383. Rebellion or insurrection
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
Conspiracies exist, OK? There is much more at: Findlaw: Cases and Codes> Supreme Court Opinions [if, for any reason, these links don't work, search: Cases and Codes, choose "supreme court opinions", search terms: conspiracy or conspiracies. Same below]When you are done there, check Findlaw: Legal Articles re: Conspiracy That’s a helluva lot of ink, time, and labor about something that does not exist. A book pushed on the internet proposes to teach you how to "Outwit, outmock and outrage conservatives this election season!" I cannot recommend this book. Consider the following "don't" from the book:
It’s tempting to believe there are sinister conservative forces engaged in grand, diabolical schemes (e.g., the Bush administration orchestrated 9/11, bin Laden is a CIA operative, and Dick Cheney is an evil cyborg). Don’t bother going there. There are plenty of good arguments to make without bringing in the vast conspiracy of little green men on the grassy knoll. And besides, as anyone who has worked in government will tell you, the government isn’t competent enough to pull off a decent conspiracy.With "liberals" like this --who needs enemies? The quote misstates every charge made against Bush, Cheney or the "vast right wing conspiracy" in general. It trivializes real crimes for which there is evidence that would stand up in court. It diminishes the magnitude of real, specific and provable violations of US Codes --capital crimes --for which there is probable cause to try George W. Bush right now! It obscures real issues by misstating them, the strawman fallacy. Normally, I ignore crap of this sort, and if I had not been so sick of fuzzy, fallacious, stupid thinking on this point, I would not bother. Whoever wrote this drivel is trying to be cute --but isn't . For example, I have never, ever --in my life --heard anyone, at any time put forward the idea that there were "little green men on the grassy knoll".Now --let's consider just one of the many holes in Bush's official conspiracy of 911, a failed theory because it violates Occam's Razor, raising more questions than it answers. Following is a story about how the government's own cover up raises more questions. If the Government's "official conspiracy" of 911 were true, the FBI would have no reason to cover up flight data from Flights 77, the Pentagon crash, and Flight 93, the flight said by Donald Rumsfeld to have been shot down by a missile.Outwit, outmock and outrage conservatives this election season!
FBI Conceals Flight Data Recorder Info That Could Confirm Registry ID's Of 2 9/11 PlanesA December 8, 2007 Freedom of Information Act request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, seeking the release of all data contained by the Solid State Flight Data Recorders recovered from the crash scenes of American Airlines flight 77 and United Airlines flight 93, has been denied. The data sought, would presumably confirm the commercial flight histories and thus the federal registry identifications of N644AA (AA 77) and N591UA (UA 93), already provided by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, obtained by a December 28, 2007 FOIA release. (See BTS release letter)The FDR data requested of the FBI, was that which would presumably reveal the identity of flights occurring just before the final 9/11 flights (presumably matching flight history data provided by the BTS, for the said aircraft), carried out by N644AA (AA 77) and N591UA (UA 93), 2 of the 4 federally registered aircraft reportedly used to carry out the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. An appeal indicating that the requested records are unrelated to the events of September 11, 2001 and thus cannot interfere with 9/11 enforcement proceedings (indicated in refusal notice), is pending.
Addendum: several other cites have picked up this article. On at least one, the Findlaw searches above did not work. They work here for me. If, for any reason, they don't work for you, please leave a comment and I will try to track down the problem.
14 comments:
FuzzFlash sez…
Barring Martial Law, which is always on the cards with these murderers by proxy and thieves by pen, the Imbecile-in-Chief has a tenure of less than a year, but will whoever next gets the keys to 1600 Penn. be capable or even willing to enact changes that will threaten the MIPC’s (milit. ind. polit.complex) stranglehold on the Federal Reserve, and the consolidation of their ill-gotten bonanza by unconstitutional signing statements?
Nope, reckon not, because Our Democracy, the last and the greatest of human dreams has turned to shit no matter who holds the helm. Only three candidates have a chance come November. Some fucken choice. McCain, HRC and Obama: a warmonger, a warmongeress, and a shock-and-awe merchant. Whoppy-doo.
Three cheers for democracy!
And yet, there are those amongst us who refuse to rollover and cop it sweet. A candle flickers fiercest before extinguishment, and our every breath and heartbeat firms our resolve to resist these cheap hoodlums who have hijacked our hopes and dreams, while lurking behind flag and cross and high-powered mendacity.
In his pantomime today, The Imbecile allocated $2 bill. over three years mind you, for a squiz at alternative energy sources while simultaneously pillaging The Fed of $10 bill. per freakin’ month, fer christ’s sake to wage war against msm reinforced phantasmagorical abstractions! This is where these swine are coming from. Toss the “concerned citizens” a bone then back to bidness as usual, boys.
“Who cares about the planet? We’re rich, we’re fightin’ terrsts and soon we’ll be raptured anyways.”
M-I-P-C to American Deadwood-duck:
“Hey fellah, leave all your money and jewellery on the table will ya, I ain’t done bangin’ your wife and daughters yet. Be through in a jiffy. Hope they ain’t squealin’ too loud for ya! This is the way the Good Lord and our foundin’ fathers wanted it all along. Yeee-haaaaaar! Good god almighty, this one sure is purty. Maybe you could help us out here by whistlin’ Amazing Grace. Helps me come like a Yellah Stone geyser! You bet!”
American Deadwood-duck to M-I-P-C:
“Sure thing, Mistah, here’s a warm towel to freshen up with when yer thru; what key would ya like me to whistle it in?”
Oh sure, you say there are conspiracies, but can you point to one lately?
I mean, besides Larry Franklin being convicted and imprisoned for conspiracy for passing Top Secret Pentagon papers on Iran to top officials of AIPAC?
And, those two officials, I suppose you would say the msm is deliberately ignoring the trial of these two dual Israel/American citizens? A conspiracy? Or in the judge doing all he can to quietly allow these two to walk?
Hmmm?
Great article.
farang
Farang, click on the links to SCOTUS and the various legal articles on Findlaw. You can find THOUSANDS of conspiracies. They are, in fact, the NORM.
I recall Congressional hearings into the world wide communist conspiracy conducted by Joseph McCarthy. Later, the Congress held hearings on La Cosa Nostra and other "organized crime" conspiracies, namely the Mafia.
We are supposed to believe that ONLY those conspiracies approved by the right wing exist. Others do not. That smacks of a conspiracy of political consultants to me.
C'mon folks. Get real. This is a stupid issue and I am sick and tired of idiots tarring anyone who disagrees with them: conspiracy theory and "tin foil hatter". It's not "cute", it's not "clever". It's stupid and uninformed.
I dunno about the
"little green men on the grassy knoll"
Didn't the DIA exist back then?
Chances are they weren't little, anyway.
It is amazing how people who believe that a mystical sky god keeps track of everyone's every breath can't accept the fact that Dick Cheney uses the AT&T to google what the Democrats, Greenpeace, and Lukoil are doing these days.
Fuzz sez...
Barring Martial Law, which is always on the cards with these murderers by proxy and thieves by pen, the Imbecile-in-Chief has a tenure of less than a year, but will whoever next gets the keys to 1600 Penn. be capable or even willing to enact changes that will threaten the MIPC’s (milit. ind. polit.complex) stranglehold on the Federal Reserve, and the consolidation of their ill-gotten bonanza by unconstitutional signing statements?
That's what I want to know as well. So far --I haven't heard what I want to hear, that is: WE INTEND TO PUNISH BUSH FOR HIS EVERY CRIME AND TO UNDO ALL THOSE REVERSIBLE INJUSTICES HE HAS INFLICTED UPON HUMANKIND!
Tragically, at least one million folks --about 3,000 of them US civilians --are dead upon Bush's order. Most of these are war crimes punishable by death. The rest are just plain ol' run o' the mill, garden variety mass murder.
Now, US --are we done with "electing" psychopaths now? Can we just move on?
kelley b. said...
It is amazing how people who believe that a mystical sky god keeps track of everyone's every breath can't accept the fact that Dick Cheney uses the AT&T to google what the Democrats, Greenpeace, and Lukoil are doing these days.
Indeed! And I refuse to be intimidated by psychotics who espouse a panoply of bullshit and claptrap. Pot! kettle! black!
And ...thanks, Zena.
What about the very recent conspiracy? whereby Benizar Bhutto's statement to David Frost on Al Jazeera's English network, that Bin Laden was assassinated some years ago, was excised by someone at the BBC before the interview was subsequently run on the BBC.
I've heard nothing further about this. Did someone ever question Frost about this, why he never pressed Bhutto to elaborate? If not, why not?
Have any readers on this site got further information about the mysterious excising of this most startling of revelations?
Good point, Christopher.
BBC issued some utterly lame statement that did not address the demonstrable fact that of the entire Bhutto interview, that was the ONLY bit that had been cut out.
The MSM is still skirting the issue which doesn't surprise me. If what Bhutto said was true then the whole "rotten edifice comes crashing down".
I still find it weird that so many folk can manage to believe --or at least espouse --two contradictory positions at the same time.
So many myths ...so little time. Just recently it was revealed that Bush told 935 lies about Iraq. One of them was surely that war on Iraq was "part of" the "war on terror". But the "war on terror" is, itself, a bloody fraud. And so it goes ...
Don't forget, there is the US government conspiracy to find Islamic terrorists everywhere (also here). This has developed into a booming industry . Not content with needlessly scaring the hell out of everyone over impossible liquid bombs the government is now preparing to convict people for thought crimes. Even the most sane person would see a conspiracy here to develop a police state. It's a conspiracy because two or more people have actually sat down and agreed on these particular methods. Dark days indeed with these lunatics (drink more...trust me.)
Thanks Damien. I THINK that the current US government is incompetent and illegitimate. I guess that makes me a criminal. How bloody stupid is the GOP and its numerous kiss ups.
How bloody stupid is the GOP and its numerous kiss ups? -- pretty f-ing stupid, but they all passed RICO 101 with flying colors. Some favorites from the 2007 WTF Awards:
The PRESS SECRETARY-IN-TRAINING AWARD goes to "The View's" inadvertent comedian Sherri Shepherd who declared, "I don't know if the world is flat." A few weeks later she declared, "I don't think anything predated Christians," shooting down the myth of "B.C." history and, alas, the existence of the Old Testament. When the whole "B.C." concept was alluded to in terms of Greek civilization, she stated: "Jesus came first before them."
The REALLY DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY AWARD goes to White House flack Dana Perino. When a reporter referenced the Cuban Missile Crisis, Perino bluffed her way through a response, later admitting: "I was panicked a bit because I really don't know about...the Cuban Missile Crisis... It had to do with Cuba and Missiles I'm pretty sure. "I came home and I asked my husband. I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.'"
It must be kinda sad being a GOP moron forced to live in an attic with all the Jesus clutter and constantly forgetting where you put the lies. Roll on the rapture!
Anonymous damien said...
It must be kinda sad being a GOP moron forced to live in an attic with all the Jesus clutter and constantly forgetting where you put the lies. Roll on the rapture!
I used to feel badly for morons until I found out they were the ones voting GOP all the time.
Thought you might want to check out this article on the westward movement and the arts connection to that movement.
That is found
at this link.
I am, indeed, checking out that article right now. Thanks for posting the link. The article itself is interesting as well as the excellent reproductions of "western" art and indigenous peoples --STILL objects of genocide by the US bloody, illegitimate government.
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