The American Empire « Serpents and Doves

Strip Searching SCOTUS Ruling

On April 2, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States as reported in the New York Times, ruled that “… officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.” Also according to the august Times, […]

On Capitalism, Version 2012

An Op-Ed in the New York Times for March 13, 2012 by Thomas Friedman expounds on a new book, “Power, Inc.” by David Rothkopf, editor-at-large and chief executive of Foreign Policy. Rothkopf is apparently (I have not yet read the book, just Friedman’s Op-Ed about it) expounding on the future of Capitalism. No longer facing […]

Guatemala and the Sins of Capitalism

This is not a post about Guatemala, not in particular. It’s about treachery. It seems there is no limit to the chicanery of modern capitalists. It is so tiresome writing on this blog, writing about things for which I feel I have a useful message, with virtually no one reading what I write, and yet […]

Obama, bin Laden, and Bank of America

Last night came the welcome news that Osama bin Laden is no more. There are those who will say that they will seek revenge against the Crusaders for murdering the apostle of a return to the seventh century. Never mind that bin Laden, or at least al Qaeda collectively, has killed far more Muslims than […]

Owls and Such, Taking the Sunset Limited

Today I received an email from Care 2 action Alerts soliciting my signature on a petition to seek punishment for a soccer player from Panama who apparently kicked the live owl mascot of the opposing team from Colombia. The owl died a few hours later. I resisted even opening this message, as I have had […]

Nah, It Ain’t F**cism

The term fascism is tossed about without much reflection these days. Conservatives talk of Islamofascism even while decrying as class warfare any reference in similar terms to their own extreme right wing stuff. Some left-liberals count almost anything the right does as fascism. None of this has much to recommend it. This kind of ranting […]

Fossil Fuel Folly

What BP is really doing.

This is a cautionary post. It is not a cautionary tale, something made up to illustrate a point. Rather it is constructed out of information gleaned from public sources. Conventional wisdom holds that competition is the only and best way to provide abundance for all. Pursuit of profit results somehow […]

Aristotle vs. Wall Street

In his Introduction to a new translation of Aristotle’s Politics, published in 1912, William Ellis pointed out that:

The Greek doctrine that the essence of the state consists in community of purpose is the counterpart of the notion often held in modern times that the essence of the state is force. The existence of […]

Riverside and Memphis

Sunday, April 4 was the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And it was 44 years exactly since Rev. King’s historic speech at Riverside Church in New York declaring his opposition to the War in Vietnam. I’m thinking about the tragic irony of those events. It’s hard not […]

Health Care “Reform”
(and Credit Card “Reform”, and so forth and so on)

While congress congratulates itself on passing health care “reform” I seethe with anger. A few days ago when it was announced that agreement had been reached on this bill, I received mail from my health insurance company informing me of a 60 percent increase in my premium and that of my wife. Cost control? Sixty percent in one year? […]

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