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Posts published in September 2013

Moving Three Minute Short From Thailand

Editor’s note: Yesterday we came across this three minute short, which evidently ran as a television commercial in Thailand, and were so moved by it…

The Simple Complex

We’re being confounded by the issues.

The press, run by giant corporations by the way, wants you to believe the problems facing the United States are complicated. From the mass media we hear that we are a nation divided by a complex range of issues which they then fire at us like bullets from an Uzi, in a constant stream. We buy into this and define our stand on an issue by issue by issue basis. All you need do is take a look at your Facebook “newsfeed” to see this process at work. Over and over and over again we express our position on everything from same-sex marriage to health care rights to the environment to Julian Assange.

Could Carlin Be Talking About Syria?

The Other Sunday Funnies Welcome to a new feature on If This Be Treason. The Other Sunday Funnies isn’t what comes buried in the advertising…

Freedom & Obedience

Fort Dix 1969
Fort Dix, New Jersey – 1969
There used to be a sign that hung on the gate to the entrance to Fort Dix (the army training ground in New Jersey ) in 1969: “OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW IS FREEDOM.” It probably was not as bad as the sign on the gate to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp, “ARBEIT MACHT FREI,” (Work is Freedom), but to those of us opposing the Vietnam War in 1969, the two sentiments and the source from where they sprung certainly seemed similar.

A while after leaving Canada and returning to the United States, I enrolled in state college and majored in political science. One of the first questions that arose in class was, “what makes a legitimate government?” I had long thought about this during the terms of Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon. It’s still a basic axiom that governments remain legitimate only so long as they rule with the consent of the governed. The people give that consent (it does not have to be verbally acknowledged or recognized; it can be tacit consent, i.e. doing nothing to oppose the government’s policies) as long as they at least have some belief that there are relatively fair elections and through our elected representatives we have some voice in the laws that are made and the policies being carried out. At least that’s the theory in America. If you’re living under a blatant military dictatorship another set of principles apply.

Behind the Hype and Headlines of Syria

The sarin gas attack on Syrian civilians on August 21, 2013 was a horrific crime. The scenes of people writhing in pain and expiring was not something that any rational human being would or should be able to turn away from. There’s not much controversy that gas was used. Looking at the videos of the attack leaves little room for doubt.

There is, however, a controversy about who was responsible. According to an article initially published by the Mint Press and later picked up by Examiner.com, rebels admitted to receiving the materials from Prince Bandar Bin Sultan the chief of Saudi Intelligence.

The Perpetuation of Poverty

Traffic stop in North Carolina
A traffic stop in Durham, North Carolina
Photo by Ildar Sagdejev
Anyone who has occasion to sit in the County District Courts of North Carolina, the state where I reside, can’t help but see and hear the endless parade of defendants appearing before the judge on routine traffic infractions resulting in the imposition of court costs and sometimes fines.

The court costs are generally $189.00. If someone is unable to pay, a late fee of $70.00 is tacked on and the privilege to operate a vehicle is revoked. If caught operating a vehicle while the privilege is revoked, that person could, until very recently, be subject to up to 120 days incarceration, even though the sole reason for the revocation was inability to pay a fine. The legislature, not long ago, amended the statute to repeal incarceration as a penalty, provided the reason for the revocation was neither Driving Under the Influence nor Reckless Driving.

If This Be Treason is an AlternativeApproaches Media website.