“Senate panel rejects requiring Congress sign off before Iran strike.”
That is the headline at The Hill this afternoon. Below is an excerpt:
“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday rejected a Democratic proposal to require congressional approval before the U.S. can take military action against Iran.
“The panel voted 13-9 against a proposal blocking the administration from using funding to carry out a military strike in or against Iran without congressional signoff, according to Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the committee.
“Murphy and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) said earlier Wednesday that they were going to bring up their proposal for a vote in the committee as an amendment to a Syrian foreign policy bill.
“‘Congress is a co-equal branch that has the sole authority to declare war – so we don’t have to sit around and watch this administration spiral us into another endless conflict in the Middle East,’ Udall said in a statement.
“Murphy added that Congress should ‘remind this administration that they do not have legal authorization to launch a war against Iran without our consent and that no one else is responsible but Trump for putting us on this blind campaign of escalation with no off-ramp.'”
Every Republican member of this Committee, with the exception of Rand Paul, voted against this important Democratic proposal. Here are their names:
If any of these politicians represent you, or if you simply want to speak out as an American citizen, please contact their offices and reprimand them. Scold them, first, for abdicating their congressional responsibilities, and second, for making it that much easier for men without conscience like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo to begin another cruel, disastrous, unnecessary war in the Middle East.
Those of you who have read this blog for sometime will know that I try to keep track of Lawrence Wilkerson, his interviews, lectures and writings, as
Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
diligently as possible.
You may recall that Wilkerson is a retired Army colonel, former chief of staff to Colin Powell during the Bush Jr. administration. He is now a regular contributor to The Real News Network.
He is a rare breed. As far as I know, he is the only member of that administration to have promptly admitted to the wrongheadedness, stupidity, deception, illegality, and wholesale systemic, political failure that led up to the disastrous and immoral Iraq war.
The United States is now teetering on the brink of a major conflict, perhaps even an outright war, with Iran. Those of you who have followed the recent history of US relations with Iran will not be surprised to hear Col. Wilkerson describe this administration’s current anti-Iran saber rattling as a repetition of the horrific boondoggle that led us into the Iraq war.
I won’t take the time to rehearse that sorry story-line here, rather I will simply quote a few of the more telling words from Col. Wilkerson in the hopes that you will be motivated to watch the entire 17 minute interview available here and here.
Below are a few gems from Wilkerson:
“I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that we [the US government] would manufacture another Gulf of Tonkin incident…” [Remember, the Gulf of
Vietnamese children fleeing their village; it had just been hit with napalm.
Tonkin incident was a fictitious “attack” on an American ship that became the official excuse for US military action in Vietnam.]
We are being governed “by clowns and baboons in Washington…”
“The world now sees the US as insane…warmongers…”
I believe that every follower of Jesus is called to be a pacifist. Consequently, the Christian’s public posture must always be in favor of peace, combating war and violence whenever, wherever it tries to raise its ugly head.
The necessity of public, anti-war protest is especially urgent when our “leaders” agitate for war on the basis of lies, misinformation and propaganda.
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for the United States to see Iran as a hostile power, much less an enemy in need of a good bombing.
Know this: You and I are being lied to regularly by the MSM every time they discuss Iran.
I urge you to please do what I have done — call and/or write your elected officials and urge them to say NO to any and all efforts to attack Iran.
Only Congress has the Constitutional authority to declare war. Tell your senators and representatives, at the very least, to insist on the enforcement of the War Powers Resolutions of 1973.
For some reason, religious conservatives in America insist on viewing themselves as a persecuted minority.
Gene Veith complains regularly about the persecution of American Christians at Patheos. His most recent post in this vein is entitled “Dehumanizing Christians.”
Though he thankfully, and quite necessarily, exhorts Christians never to dehumanize anyone, the focus of his piece centers nonetheless on a supposed increase in the dehumanization of traditional Christians in this era of expanding “neo-Marxist” politics.
There is MUCH to be explored here, but I will limit myself to only two brief points:
First, my current bedtime reading consists of Professor Jason Stanley’s book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them (Random House, 2018). It’s a good book, not hard to read, and I highly recommend it. Professor Stanley offers a boatload of historical material, both old and new, to illustrate his description of fascist politics and its affects throughout modern, western history.
Last night’s reading consisted of Stanley’s many examples of right-wing, fascist political parties expanding throughout Europe today. An attentive reader can’t help but notice close similarities to the current atmosphere in American politics during this era of Trump’s presidency.
Stanley’s is not the first book I’ve read in the past few years discussing the history and characteristics of fascism — think of guys like Hitler, Mussolini and Franco.
I confess that I had a difficult time falling asleep as I contemplated, with a very downcast frame of mind, the many features of American public life that make this country overly ripe for our own slide into fascist territory. In fact, some would say we have been there for some time.
So, here is a BULLETIN for Veith, Siewers, and similar conservative fear-mongers: the world is not threatened by the spread of neo-Marxism at this moment in history, neither are American Christians a primary target of extremist violence.
To begin with, there is no Marxist movement of any sort, whether neo, paleo, crypto, or psycho, in America today. Period.
In fact, the United States does not have a genuine leftist, left-wing, authentically liberal political party any more, despite the faux warnings of people like Laura Ingram, Shawn Hannity and Tucker Carlson.
Leftist strains of American politics died as viable political options long ago, with the demise of leaders like Frances Perkins (FDR’s Secretary of Labor), Dorothy Day, (Founder of the Catholic Workers Movement), Eugene Debs (5
Henry A. Wallace (1888 – 1965), one of my political heroes
times presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America), and Henry A. Wallace (vice-president for FDR).
However, we DO face the very real and very dangerous threat of fascism. But conservative pundits will rarely, if ever, recognize the dangers posed by this problem because of their own authoritarian instincts. (One of the great failings of the American church, in my view, is its strong preference for authoritarianism and social control over freedom and liberty, but I digress.)
The fascist threat has already expanded throughout central and eastern Europe, and it could easily emerge vestigially in this country too, like the creepy, embryonic crab creature that latches onto your innocent face and then bursts your bowels in the Alien movie franchise.
Don’t be too skeptical. Large sectors of the American public have thrown their arms around fascism more than once in our history. Recall Sinclair Lewis’ famous (purported) statement, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
The right’s fraudulent neo-Marxist label is merely the favorite boogeyman
If you have never read Sinclair Lewis’ novel, _It Can’t Happen Here_, I encourage you to do so. He predicts what American fascism will look like.
conjured up by conservative pundits in order first, to scare their followers and second, to smear whomever they wish to attack at the moment.
Notice, for instance, how the neo-Marxist “threat” is also the favorite whipping boy for another current conservative phenom, Jordan Peterson. (Personally, I can’t understand his popularity, especially in the church.)
Second, as numerous studies have documented, the greatest rise in domestic terrorism and politically motivated violence in America has come from the right wing, not the left.
In 2009, the Republican-controlled congress suppressed and eventually pressured the Department of Homeland Security to repudiate its own report warning about the growing dangers of extreme right-wing violence in American. (see here, here and here).
Well, folks. What they predicted in 2009 is coming true in 2019.
I clearly remember the times when candidate Trump encouraged and even praised public violence at his campaign rallies.
Trump applauded those who punched his critics and pledged to pay their legal expenses. I watched the coverage at the time. He stoked his followers’ anger at the news media, calling out specific journalists covering his campaign, and “blessed” anyone who would teach them aside in order to teach them a thing or two.
In 2018, the Anti-Defamation League published a report entitled “Murder and Extremism in the United States” documenting the sharp rise in politically motivated, violent crimes in this country. The report’s executive summary begins with this sentence:
“2018 was a particularly active year for right-wing extremist murders: every single extremist killing — from Pittsburgh to Parkland — had a link to right-wing extremism.” (emphasis mine)
I urge you to read the report for yourself. You will never hear about the dramatic increase of this problem from conservative pundits or cable news.
God’s people are called to deal in truth, which requires investigating the facts, all the facts. It means being honest; doing our best to critique our own biased tendencies; remembering that our primary allegiance is to God’s kingdom, not a political party, an ideology, or secular movement of any stripe.
We can never deal in fear-mongering or false accusations. The truth of the gospel is our standard of communication.
So, here are the simple facts:
First, neither Christians nor political conservatives are the primary, or the expanding, targets of politically or religiously motivated violence in America. To say otherwise is to perpetuate a myth.
The prize for being targeted by political violence goes to American Muslims, African-Americans, other people of color, and immigrants — including legal immigrants.
The bottom line is, white Christians need to stop their whining and abandon their self-pitying victim mentality. It is more than unbecoming. It is ungodly.
Second, you and I are about as likely to be harmed (whether physically, emotionally, psychically or rhetorically) by a rabid “neo-Marxist” as we are to be hit by an asteroid. In fact, we are more likely to be struck by lightning.
If any of us (God forbid) is ever injured in an incident of domestic terrorism, the perpetrator, in all likelihood, will be a right-wing, ultra-conservative conspiracy theorist (who will probably imagine that he has been victimized by various and sundry neo-Marxist assailants.)
I firmly believe that Christian social and political engagement is important. But we need to understand what is actually going on in the world. We dare no live in a dream world.
Such understanding requires stepping outside of the Christian media mis-information bubble, reading widely, studying broadly, and keeping our eyes focused on the kingdom of God.
Our only hope is in Jesus, and he never asks us to mislead others or to misrepresent the facts.
Perhaps you always thought my posts were erratic (…which reminds me of a story: back in the days when I was working with college students, I once met a young woman for coffee who asked me to define the word erotic. I thought this a bit odd, but answered her question and then asked one of my own. Why do you ask? “Oh,” she said. “I was trying to explain an idea to one of my professors. I was getting flustered and said, ‘Sorry, sometimes my thoughts become so erotic.’ I didn’t understand why he blushed and walked away.” Ok. End of story.)
Even if you have always thought my postings were erratic – yes, I have erotic notions too, but I will never share them here with you – I feel the need to explain why they are now more erratic than usual.
I am trying to work diligently on my current book project, which means less time is available for blogging. I will continue to post my occasional thoughts on theology, politics, world affairs and the church for you, my readers, who, for some odd reason, find my thoughts worth considering.
But, at least for the time being, the majority of my time will go to a new book addressing the damaging contributions made to the Israel-Palestine conflict by the advocates of Christian Zionism in the American church.
The book will have three interwoven streams of argument.
The first will discuss the history of Zionism and its implementation in Israel. The second will tell a few of the many heartbreaking stories I have personally encountered during my visits to the West Bank and Israel. The third will open up the Bible and explain how Christian Zionists (i.e. Christians who believe that modern Israel is God’s chosen nation) misinterpret Scripture with disastrously immoral consequences.
I am now working on chapter 4 (of a projected 12). After completing the first chapter that includes a personal story of Palestinian suffering, I sent a copy to my friends in the West Bank for their review. I have promised them that I will not publish anything personal without their approval.
So, after writing the story of a friend who was shot in the face, for no particular reason, by an Israeli soldier, I sent off the first draft.
Below is a short excerpt from his response:
You have presented a summary of our plight in the strongest way ever… It’s heart felt with facts and legal dimensions. It’s not biased with empty weak claims, but in defense of justice and humanitarian rights that’s rightfully presented. You made my soul cry and screaming…enough injustice…How the world is really blindfolded intentionally and unintentionally… I could never present our case any better…. thank you, brother…
Completing this book is my mission right now. It is one small thing that I can do. It may not be much, but just think of how different the world could be if everyone did the one small thing that they alone could do to improve the lives of others who were suffering.
I won’t disappear altogether, but I felt the need to tell everyone what I am up to.
My blog’s home page tells me that I have 485 subscribers. I find that hard to believe, to tell you the truth. I suspect that someone at Bluehost is pulling my leg. But I do appreciate those of you who actually exist out there is cyberspace and take the time to look at what I write.
I am extremely blessed. Yet, every day my blessings remind me of the unjust suffering endured by others whom Terry and I dearly love in the land of Palestine.
I am incensed at the way American Christians can use the Bible and theology to excuse the blatant oppression of an entire group of people. As I work my way through volumes of Christian Zionist literature I must periodically stop and take a break so as not to give myself a coronary.
Healthy theological debate is always worthwhile. But there is nothing healthy about any theology that teaches us, no matter how inadvertently, not to care about others.
No follower of Jesus Christ is ever justified, no matter what his/her theological argument may be, in siding with the strong against the weak; in enabling the powerful to exploit the powerless; in blessing the oppressors standing upon the neck of the oppressed; in using God’s word as a cover-story for murder, racial discrimination, and ethnic cleansing.
Rockets have been fired from Gaza and Israel again worries about its imminent destruction…
Now for a word of sanity from Gideon Levy. His latest article is “The Gaza Ghetto Uprising.” You can read the article by clicking on the title above or take in the excerpt below:
“Everything is completely disconnected from context and reality, intentionally and willfully. Half a week after Holocaust Remembrance Day, the knowledge that 2 million people have been locked up more than 12 years behind barbed wire in a giant cage doesn’t remind Israel of anything and doesn’t arouse anything. Half a week before Independence Day, the struggle for freedom and independence of another people is perceived as murderous terror for no reason.
“Even the desperate attempt to prevent the brink of starvation is perceived as greed; the effort to somehow impart the appearance of a holiday in the holiest month of the year is depicted as extortion. That’s how low the brainwashing goes and no one protests. Everyone accepts it with a shrug. Anyone who doubts how hollow and destructive the inculcation of the Holocaust is in Israel should look at the responses in Israel to this Gaza Ghetto Uprising. Anyone who ignores the reality in Gaza or tries to deny its disaster has learned nothing.
“Gaza is a ghetto and what’s happening in the south is a ghetto uprising. There’s no other way to describe it. You can make claims against Hamas but you can’t make any claims against Gaza. It’s fighting for its freedom and no struggle is more just than its struggle, and Hamas is its leader.
“The countdown to Hamas’ death has already begun: Only seven more months until the UN report, until Gaza is unfit for human habitation. But Israel yawns and its spokespeople only know how to tout “deterrence,” that monster we’ve created to justify every killing, closure and bout of destruction, as we lie ourselves to death that there’s something to deter 2 million unemployed, desperate, humiliated people, some of whom are hungry or dying for lack of medical care, and all of whom are locked up…
“A country that is established on the memory of the ghettos, which only a few days ago sanctified that memory, hides its face from the much larger ghetto that it built with its own hands and doesn’t want to see, one hour from the center of that country. A country that was established in a bloody struggle will not recognize the justness of the struggle of another people and wonders whether that people even exists. A society that considers itself exemplary, which was established on the world’s indifference to its suffering, shows monstrous heartlessness to the suffering it is causing…”
It’s a good book, not hard to read, and I highly recommend it. Professor Stanley offers a boatload of historical material, both old and new, to illustrate his description of fascist politics and its affects throughout modern, western history.
reader can’t help but notice close similarities to the current atmosphere in American politics during this era of Trump’s presidency.
