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Tag(s): Blackwater; Boycott; Congress; Democracy; Democracy; Funding; Impeachment; Integrity; Iraq; Law; (more...) Message; Oppression; People; Power; Prisoners; Rights; Terrorism; Torture (less...)
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April 7, 2008 at 11:09:57

Headlined on 4/7/08:
Why we have no business boycotting the Olympics

by Deb Della Piana Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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I watched with confusion as Nancy Pelosi bowed in front of the Dalai Lama. It was a great photo op for our erstwhile Speaker, but I confess that I have no idea what she was doing in India. Several days later I heard that Pelosi said that President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremonies to send China a message about their oppression of Tibet. It’s not that I think that the Dalai Lama and his followers do not deserve our support. As a practicing Buddhist, what is going on in Tibet is extremely painful to watch and read about. It’s just that I don’t think we hold the moral compass anymore, and I firmly believe we should clean up our own house before we tell others to clean up theirs. We have no business boycotting the Olympics.

Not until we stop torturing

There is evidence that the authorization for torture came from someone very close to the top. Could it have come from the President himself? Given Bush’s blatant disregard for the law and his willingness to compromise America’s value system, I certainly think it’s a possibility. The recently declassified John Yoo memo clearly shows that either Bush or someone in his employ wanted to see how far he could go when it comes to fighting terrorism. The Department of Justice apparently thought he could go pretty far.

The memo gives President Bush carte blanche to run roughshod over the Constitution. It states that he has unlimited powers to order brutal interrogations. If that isn’t enough, the memo also states that he can bypass the Fourth Amendment (which protects against unreasonable search and seizures) and the Fifth Amendment (which covers the central due process guarantee). Basically the DOJ would have us believe that our imperial president can operate outside the limits of the law.

We are now in the eighth year of President Bush’s reign. Is there still any question about whether or not he took office with the intention of expanding his executive powers? That has been the intention of the Bush-Cheney tag team almost from the day they assumed power. Let’s stop ignoring the obvious. Our rights are eroding right in front of our eyes and we’re sitting back with the proverbial ‘deer in the headlight’ look. Yes, Virginia, it’s happening.

The declassification of these memos proves one thing. There was intent on our government’s part to employ torture techniques during interrogation of detainees. What happened at Abu Ghraib was systemic, not the result of some underlings running amok as our elected leaders would have us believe. It just happened to leak out so someone had to take the fall. We know there are violations at Guantanamo. It must be closed. It is also a matter of public record that we are using “extraordinary rendition” with detainees, shipping them off to foreign countries where we know torture is practiced.

Not until we stop funding the illegal war in Iraq

President Bush authorized the invasion of a sovereign nation under false pretenses. In plain English, he lied and so did those serving him. Even Colin Powell’s participation in the lying dispelled any notion that he might have had a shred of integrity in an otherwise shameless administration. In April, Bush will ask Congress for an additional $107 billion to continue on with this endless, destructive war.

The estimates of Iraqi dead are staggering, perhaps as high as 1 million. It is reported that 2 million have been displaced to neighboring countries. The so-called “rebuilding” of Iraq that America has sunk millions of dollars into is a disgrace. Contractors have taken advantage of the bloated war trough and have raised structures that are either sub-standard or uninhabitable. We contract with Blackwater USA, a civilian freelance mercenary army, to fight on our behalf and they kill innocent civilians in our name. We rewarded Blackwater just recently by extending its contract in spite of the fact that there is an ongoing investigation.

Let us not forget that President Bush lied and led our soldiers into a war with no justification. We were never in any danger from Saddam Hussein or Iraq. At my last count, we had lost 4, 013 American soldiers in Iraq. More than 40,000 have been injured either physically or psychologically as a result of serving in Iraq.

Someone is benefiting from our presence in Iraq, but it is not the Iraqi people and it is not our own soldiers. It is the vast military-industrial complex with its long tentacles weaving its way through Washington. Congress must stand up to the President and vote to cut the funding for this war.

Not until we hold our own leaders accountable

On March 21, Nancy Pelosi visited the Dalai Lama and stated that if freedom-loving people did not speak out against China’s oppression in Tibet, “we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world.” Speaker Pelosi is wrong about that.

The United States lost all moral authority when its leaders lied to Congress and the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq and violated the terms of the Geneva Convention by holding prisoners without access to legal representation and by employing torture during interrogations. Speaker Pelosi herself, who took impeachment off the table from the minute she assumed leadership, has further compromised our position as a beacon of Democracy.

If Richard Nixon (illegal wiretapping and resulting cover-up) and Bill Clinton (illicit affair and lying to a grand jury) both passed the litmus test for impeachment, it’s certain that both George Bush and Dick Cheney have passed with flying colors. They have committed several impeachable offenses, like illegal wiretapping, lying to Congress and the American people, violating the articles of the Geneva convention, and invading a sovereign nation under false pretenses. It strikes me as hypocritical that we should be calling China’s leadership to the whipping post when we simply refuse to hold our own leaders accountable for their actions. It is not different because it is America. It is just as despicable.

Should we boycott the opening ceremonies, the United States will almost certainly be conspicuous by its absence. The mainstream media will, of course, turn it into a grand gesture in the name of democracy and the American public could well buy into that propaganda. For the rest of the world, that message will be lost in translation.

http://turn-left.hypocrisy.com

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6 comments

Born in 1929 in Sheffield Yorkshire England. Left school at age 14 and worked as a painter & decorator until I was called up for National service in the British Army. Served in the army untill 1973, then worked as an electronics/radio engineer untill 1984 when i retired. Built a boat and sailed around the Med. for 11 years then sold it in Tunisia, returned to the U.K. then to Florida where I've lived ever since.
douglas kayBorn in 1929 in Sheffield Yorkshire England. Left school at age 14 and worked as a painter & decorator until I was called up for National service in the British Army. Served in the army untill 1973, then worked as an electronics/radio engineer untill 1984 when i retired. Built a boat and sailed around the Med. for 11 years then sold it in Tunisia, returned to the U.K. then to Florida where I've lived ever since.

The Big Scam.

Another CIA false flag, this time an attack on China through the Tibet issue, no mention of the great improvement of living standards in Tibet. You see The USA doesn't have the athletes who would be able to compete without drugs, so a scam was devised with a two prong attack, embarrass China and create an excuse for not competing. It's pathetic isn't it, a look a like democrat standing side by side with these scoundrals in Washington having the gaul to question another country on human rights.

by douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments) on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 2:12:58 PM

John Kusumi ran independently for U.S. President in 1984, as the teenager going up against Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. He was the first Generation X politician in U.S. federal elections, and Ronald Reagan's youngest political opponent ever.

In 1989 Kusumi launched the China Support Network, a grassroots organization of Americans supporting the Chinese democracy movement - amid outpouring of response to the massacre of college students and other civilians in and around Tiananme...

to see more of bio, click on member name
John KusumiJohn Kusumi ran independently for U.S. President in 1984, as the teenager going up against Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. He was the first Generation X politician in U.S. federal elections, and Ronald Reagan's youngest political opponent ever.

In 1989 Kusumi launched the China Support Network, a grassroots organization of Americans supporting the Chinese democracy movement - amid outpouring of response to the massacre of college students and other civilians in and around Tiananme...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Faulty reasoning

Argumentation like that in the above article is intellectually sloppy, and actually crosses my "pet peeve" lines. Who is "we"? Could the author speak for herself? She surely doesn't speak for me, nor for my group the China Support Network, nor for the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition, nor for the Chinese democracy movement where those groups originate -- nor for our colleagues in the Tibetan freedom movement, nor persecuted Christians, nor persecuted Buddhists or Falun Gong practitioners, nor for others subject to persecution in China: Uighur Muslims, Chinese environmentalists, AIDS activists, human rights attorneys, journalists, and plain old pro-democracy political dissidents.

Actually, the author isn't alone; there is a common pattern in the logic here. My group began at the grass roots of America, when it was right after Tiananmen Square's bloody massacre and a wave of shock and revulsion went around the world. It was like watching TV and seeing Hurricane Katrina -- this was an eye opener; people sat up and paid attention; and many, many people wanted to help. Hence the China Support Network was born, and soon it connected with top leading Chinese dissidents, who escaped China and arrived in exile. There is a well reasoned campaign by Chinese dissidents, Tibetan freedom fighters, ourselves, and others who object to evil on the part of the Chinese government.

Now consider the nature of the logic above. In Step A, someone from our side (against evil) stands up and says "boycott the Olympics!" In Step B, a collectivist-minded critic like the above merely seizes the occasion to object, with a soapbox litany of criticizing the U.S. government. Are WE the U.S. government? No, we're human rights campaigners. The implication by the critic is that WE, as human rights campaigners, are wrong and should sit down and shut up.

What's literally true is that Step B has nothing to do with Step A. In other words, it is possible to criticize the U.S. government in its own right -- on the merits, the critic may have a point and there may be many things wrong and things to be critical of, if Washington DC is the point. However, in Step A, the point was Beijing China. Critics of this ilk "step on" the issue of OTHER ACTIVISTS; human rights campaigners looking for world improvement or social justice. The human rights issue becomes stepped on and used while the critic drags out a soapbox to lecture about Washington DC.

I can repeat that Step B has nothing to do with Step A. Furthermore, two wrongs do not make a right. Suppose that the critic is fighting against wrong #1, and the human rights campaigners are fighting against wrong #2. So, if the two critics kill each other off, does that solve the world's problems or make a right?

Who are the people who say 'boycott the Beijing Olympics'? Are they the architects of the Iraq war, or White House policy on civil liberties? No. I remember in 2001 on the day they announced that Beijing had won the host city status for these Olympics. My group sponsored a joint press conference, with Chinese dissidents, and at that occasion, they became the very first to call for a boycott of these 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Some of those Chinese dissidents are people who were shot at in Tiananmen Square. And you would say "Shut up!" to them? --Because why? Because the American government is terrible? (Doesn't that sound like your problem, not the Chinese dissidents' problem?) If anyone values what Thomas Jefferson did at the start of America, then they REALLY ought to value what the students did at Tiananmen Square: stand up and demand their liberty. It would be heartwarming if we could see American people getting behind the Chinese democracy movement and being supportive of the Olympic boycott.

That's like a return to our roots. It already happened in 1989 - that American people joined the China Support Network in the first place. However, if the writer has collectivist leanings, Thomas Jefferson was an individualist. America is indeed far away from its roots, and I am disappointed in argumentation like the above. --I agree that anyone has the right to criticize American evil. But, while doing that, it is not necessary to become an enabler of Chinese evil.

And, activists should have enough respect not to step on each other's causes. In fact, solidarity would be better. I'm enjoying the news from London, Paris, and San Francisco, where huge protests have stopped the Olympic torch relay. Kudos to those activists!

by John Kusumi (43 articles, 0 quicklinks, 26 diaries, 88 comments) on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 2:51:25 PM

Deb Della Piana is a corporate ex-patriot (30+ years in advertising & public relations) turned liberal political blogger. She lives in the great state of Massachusetts with her life partner, two children and three cats.
Deb Della PianaDeb Della Piana is a corporate ex-patriot (30+ years in advertising & public relations) turned liberal political blogger. She lives in the great state of Massachusetts with her life partner, two children and three cats.

My response to your comment

Sorry if I offended you, sir, but none was intended. However, let me point out that your reasoning may be just as flawed as mine. No, I was not intending to speak for you. However, since you are telling ME what to do by showing solidarity, let me tell you what you should be doing.

As an American citizen, sir, you should be on the phone contacting your representative and telling them that our leaders should not be allowed to break every national and international law and get away with it. If you think that makes America look like the land of the free and the beacon of Democracy then you are illusional. If you love America, and I assume you do, what is best for America should come first.

My point is that it's hard for the United States to be taken seriously as a defender of anybody's freedom when our own freedoms are being curtailed, and those curtailing them are not being held accountable. If we want to talk the talk, we must walk the walk as a nation.

You are entitled to your opinion. However, I am entitled to mine as well. That's why it was posted in the Op Ed section.

by Deb Della Piana (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 37 comments) on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 3:28:19 PM

I am recently widowed. I am a writer, actress/director. I am addicted to Irish dance and belly dance. In practicing the latter I have been likened to Ethel Mertz dressed in Xmas tree lights.My passion is Human rights especially in the US and China where I inadvertantly became the " Jesus is back and she is a woman" prophetess. That is me. It is a long story and not without a certain dark humour.
siriusssI am recently widowed. I am a writer, actress/director. I am addicted to Irish dance and belly dance. In practicing the latter I have been likened to Ethel Mertz dressed in Xmas tree lights.My passion is Human rights especially in the US and China where I inadvertantly became the " Jesus is back and she is a woman" prophetess. That is me. It is a long story and not without a certain dark humour.

It may be a false flag BUT

There are very real human rights issues in China.

The false flag of the Dalai Lama aside Uighurs are being executed as are the Falun Gong and members of a Church called "Lightening from the East"

I would also tell you that I believe that Guantanmo and rendition torture flights are intricately connected to the horrors of China.

International slavery guns and drugs are BIG money makers for the International black ops and the money also keeps China's books in the black.

All of Central Asia participates in slaving.

There have been rumors since '99 that groups of slave drivers have banded together with guerilas and freedom fighters from Afghanistan to Chechnya to Nepal and Kashmir and into China. There is a fight for trade routes.

They are vying for control of the movement of guns and opium as well as slaves. Much of this stuff finds it's way into Europe via the old French Connection

To me it looks like France and the US are wooing Factions at the same time China is wooing the factions

I think the entire thing we are seeing on our news in a false flag to cover this entrapreneurial uprising .

The Dalai Lama looks a bit vague doesn't he?

I think the entire thing is for control of the opium fields and central asian trade routes.

Even guantanmo and the special renditions. They can pick up anyone and no one knows why. Why else would they use Cuba?

siriusss

by siriusss (6 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 96 comments) on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 8:30:36 PM

False Flag?

You could well be correct. I am aware of the serious human rights issues in China and Tibet. I am a practicing Buddhist, so I know what is going on. My whole point of this article was to let people know that we cannot single out anyone unless we ourselves are willing to live by the laws of our own land and the international community.

Thanks for the post.

by Deb Della Piana (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 37 comments) on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 9:12:33 PM

J.B. Abbott is an organic farmer living in the Northwest. She is a grandmother who loves young people, the forest, flowers, creatures of all kinds, books and photography. Her favorites are: the handsome Grandpa who lives with her, the word fun, making love by cooking great food and mornings.
J.B. AbbottJ.B. Abbott is an organic farmer living in the Northwest. She is a grandmother who loves young people, the forest, flowers, creatures of all kinds, books and photography. Her favorites are: the handsome Grandpa who lives with her, the word fun, making love by cooking great food and mornings.

The Olympics

Every point being made here is valuable. For me, the Olympics is an opportunity for so many of us to be together and learn from one another. Certainly, a dozen articles could be written about the negatives of the Olympic organization and experience since humans are involved.

Every day thousands of young people living on planet Earth work and dedicate themselves to the dream of participating in this event. When they come together, the opportunity for future peace and harmony is enhanced and relationships are forged.

Many of us work every day to help create justice in this world. When I was trying to think of a country that was 'good enough' to host the Olympics, I ended up trying to remember the name of a little island in the South Pacific that I heard about once. Supposedly, it was peaceful and just but I realized that that also depended on who you asked.

I have been described as a hopeful cynic. Wether it is the Olympics or any other event that we can organize, can't we just have a time of hope for the future every four years? We need some example of how we can be together. Perhaps the contrast will encourage more of us to work for justice and peace every day.

by J.B. Abbott (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments) on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 12:41:33 PM