Re: "Truth" (Was [asa] The Singularity)

I'm with you Pim. Here is a real marine General's perspective on the U.S. and
its foreign policies for early 20th century. (I emph. 'real' since I'm not
sure if the Col. Jessup was a fictitious figure or not.)

Spoken by Smedley Darlington Butler (former U.S. Marines general)
"I spent 33 years . . . being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for
Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism….

I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown
Brothers in 1909-1912. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for
American oil interests in 1916. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for
American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place
for the National City [Bank] boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the rape
of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall
Street. . . .

In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way
unmolested….I had…a swell racket. I was rewarded with honours, medals,
promotions….I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do
was to operate a racket in three cities. The Marines operated on three
continents."

Smedley Darlington Butler (former U.S. Marines general) as quoted in "The
Corporation" by Joel Bakan p. 93

Here is some of the real truth that the Col. Jessup fans apparently don't have
the stomach to face. And today's American (& other multinational corporate)
activities abroad probably make those of Gen. Butler's time look like girl
scouts selling cookies. 'Gift' to humanity indeed!

--Merv

Quoting PvM <pvm.pandas@gmail.com>:

> Another empty posting?
> I have found myself how many US citizens are unaware of how the world
> views them and the politics of their country.
> While americans seem to believe they are a God given gift to humanity,
> most citizens of the world consider this to be more hubris than
> anything else.
> To many americans this truth is often hard to accept and denial is
> often the first response. Sadly enough this country threw away its
> unique opportunity to rally the world behind them after 9/11, instead
> they decided to take an ill fated course of war and destruction.
>
> What a waste of opportunity. What a waste of human lives.
>
> On 6/1/07, Janice Matchett <janmatch@earthlink.net> wrote:
> >
> > At 10:04 AM 5/29/2007, Dave Wallace wrote:
> >
> >
> > For those interested. ~ Janice
> > [1] THE SINGULARITY http://tinyurl.com/2xluev
> > [2] Picture: http://tinyurl.com/2cp9sm
> >
> > *[1] THE SINGULARITY ** http://tinyurl.com/2xluev
> >
> > "claptrap .. . in 73-74 we spent a month touring Europe where we found
> > some citizens of the USofA wearing Canadian flags as camouflage and when
> we
> > asked them where they are from they would sheepishly admit to living south
> > of the 49th parallel .." ~ Dave Wallace
> > @ If any "citizen of the USoA" (such as those you mention above) would
> > make remarks like that to me, my response would echo the same sort of
> > response that "Col. Jessep" made to the shallow, ungrateful twits
> (Weinburg
> > and Kaffe) in the quotes Jack provided this morning, which I have copied
> and
> > pasted at # [3] below. The "Col.'s" contempt for the opinions of such
> > mentalities parallels mine.
> >
> > Four things:
> >
> > [1] "The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish
> > actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an
> > afflicted mankind." ~ Pope Pius XII
> > http://www.goccn.org/diocese/spcl/RefArcC/14OTC.asp
> > Encyclicals [snip]
> > Humani Generis, promulgated in 1950, acknowledged that evolution might
> > accurately describe the biological origins of human life, but at the same
> > time criticized those who "imprudently and indiscreetly hold that
> > evolution... explains the origin of all things". The encyclical reiterated
> > the Church's teaching that, whatever the physical origins of human beings,
> > the human soul was directly created by God.[44] While Humani Generis was
> > significant as the first occasion on which a pope explicitly addressed the
> > topic of evolution at length, it did not represent a change in doctrine
> for
> > the Roman Catholic Church. As early as 1868, Cardinal John Henry Newman
> > wrote, "the theory of Darwin, true or not, is not necessarily atheistic;
> on
> > the contrary, it may simply be suggesting a larger idea of divine
> providence
> > and skill."[45] ..."
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII
> >
> > [2] Reality/truth 101 for the self-loathing, weak-minded (like the
> citizens
> > of the USofA wearing Canadian flags as camouflage):
> > http://tinyurl.com/2x9slc
> >
> > *
> > [3] The quotes Jack provided: "Here are the quotes from Jack Nicholson
> > (As Col. Jessep) in " A Few Good Men" regarding truth:
> >
> > Col. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have
> > to be guarded by men with guns. Whose gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinburg?
> I
> > have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for
> > Santiago, and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the
> > luxury of not knowing what I know. That Santiago's death, while tragic,
> > probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and
> incomprehensible
> > to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places
> > you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on
> > that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as
> the
> > backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.
> I
> > have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who
> > rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and
> > then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just
> > said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a
> > weapon, and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think
> you
> > are entitled to.
> >
> > And being interrogated by Tom Cruise as Kaffe:
> >
> > Col. Jessep: You want answers?
> > Kaffee: I think I'm entitled.
> > Col. Jessep: You want answers?
> > Kaffee: I want the truth.
> > Col. Jessep: You can't handle the truth. ~ Jack
> <drsyme@cablespeed.com>
> > Subject: Re: [asa] Truth Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:18:25 -0500
> >
> > *
> >
> > [4] "Don't hear much these days about the Iraqis working with Libya to
> > build nukes." - popdonnelly
> >
> > No, you don't:)
> > http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1140929/posts
> >
> > 7 posted on 05/29/2007 10:31:14 PM EDT by Matchett-PI
> > http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1841613/posts?page=7#7
> >
> >
> > ~ Janice ... "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The
> > decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks
> that
> > nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which
> he
> > is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal
> > safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless
> made
> > and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." ~ John Stuart
> > Mill
> >
> >
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
> "unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
>

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Fri Jun 1 14:30:59 2007