The positions of individuals in Nazi Germany: intelligence, decency, and Naziism.

George Bernard Shaw used three concepts to describe the positions of individuals in Nazi Germany: intelligence, decency, and Naziism. He argued that if a person was intelligent, and a Nazi, he was not decent. If he was decent and a Nazi, he was not intelligent. And if he was decent and intelligent, he was not a Nazi.

I suggest the reader make the obvious substitution: "Bush supporter" in place of "Nazi".

That oh-so-precious world where words have no meaning

In December, 1989, two days after bombing and invading the defenseless people of Panama, killing as many as a few thousand, President George H.W. Bush declared that his "heart goes out to the families of those who have died in Panama". When a reporter asked him: "Was it really worth it to send people to their death for this? To get Noriega?", Bush replied: "Every human life is precious, and yet I have to answer, yes, it has been worth it."

A year later, preparing for his next crime against humanity, the invasion of Iraq, Bush, Sr. said: "People say to me: 'How many lives? How many lives can you expend?' Each one is precious."

At the end of 2006, with Bush's son now president, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel, commenting about American deaths reaching 3,000 in Iraq, said Bush "believes that every life is precious and grieves for each one that is lost."

In February 2008, with American deaths about to reach 4,000, and Iraqi deaths as many as a million or more, George W. Bush asserted: "When we lift our hearts to God, we're all equal in his sight. We're all equally precious. ... In prayer we grow in mercy and compassion. ... When we answer God's call to love a neighbor as ourselves, we enter into a deeper friendship with our fellow man."

Inspired by such noble -- dare I say precious -- talk from their leaders, the American military machine likes to hire like-minded warriors. Here is Erik Prince, founder of the military contractor Blackwater, whose employees in Iraq kill people like others flick away a mosquito, in testimony before Congress: "Every life, whether American or Iraqi, is precious."



http://www.counterpunch.org/blum03042008.html

Thanks for posting.

"They forced us to walk like dogs on our hands and knees ... and we had to bark like a dog, and if we didn't do that they started hitting us hard on our face and chest with no mercy." ... "Do you believe in anything?" the soldier asked. "I said to him, 'I believe in Allah.' So he said, 'But I believe in torture and I will torture you'."


http://www.counterpunch.org/blum03042008.html

Perfect. No one can be all three. I really like that. . . nice and clear.

on edit: The article linked is hard to read, The recounting of torture done by Americans fill me with shame.

http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=214

--snip--

"My friends, you are lucky to be here this afternoon. Here, in Buchenwald, we have the best art and the best artists in the whole of Germany. Here you can actually laugh out loud at our jokes. Here is the freest theatre in the Reich. In the theatres outside, the actors and the audience are frightened because they fear that they may end up in a Concentration Camp. That's something we don't have to worry about."

His comments and continuity patter, in the presence of heavily armed S.S. men, who valued human life at less than a cigarette, kept the prisoner-audience breathless. This is a typical example:

"You know, times don't really change. I remember that when we had the Kaiser, we always had swine pushing us around. Later when we had the Republic, was it any different? No, we still had swine pushing us around. And what of today? He waited for an answer. The air was electric as the prisoners watched the S.S. men out of the corners of their eyes. No answer. He answered the question himself. Why, today is Monday."

--snip--