Now it's Time to Hang the Rest of Them.

Well, we didn’t do much about Pol Pot, except to support his admission into the U.N. as the legitimate representative of the Cambodian people. We didn’t do much about Idi Amin as he wandered the Saudi Arabian desert in his exile, no doubt his slippers and his pipe awaited him each evening as the sun went down.

We didn’t do anything about Rwanda. We haven’t done anything about the Janjaweed in the Sudan. We don’t much give a shit about the Falun Gong or Tibet. Something happened in Armenia or maybe it didn’t according to the Turks. There’s a weird irony in that given their cozy buddy-up with the Israelis but that goes way back to the time when the Turks were Khazars. Still, history has no meaning except in terms of the versions accepted to justify the acts that follow.

Saddam was one of the good guys until he wasn’t and then he became one of the bad guys. In terms of behavior and intent he is indistinguishable from the rulers of most Arab countries. Unfortunately for him his profile was too high in the way that John Gotti’s profile was too high. Both of these men had an undesirable maverick streak which put them at odds with the Pirate kings at the great table of international swag. Really, when you think about it, it was just another gangland slaying. The Bush Crime family couldn’t get him to ‘come to the table for a sit down’.

So they hung Saddam and you got to admit he went like a man. You could imagine g.w.b. being led to the gallows with a full body trembling and a wet stain at the crotch. The whole gang of them; the mass murders that comprise the administration of the Bush Crime Family and their puppet-master neo-cons and their overlords in Israel. Could you imagine these going to their much deserved fate with half the sand of Saddam? Not likely.

In the scheme of things this group of gangsters deserves the gallows more than Saddam. He only did what rulers in that area always do. Strongman rule requires the pacification of various elements at one time or another in whatever scorpion infested wilderness they reign over. It’s how it is done. It doesn’t ‘get done’ any other way. It’s being done the same way in Arab nations across the board. You’d be justified in charging a store owner for having loss leaders to get you into their place by the same token. It’s how it is done. This is known as business as usual.

Saddam shouldn’t have been hanged. He should have gone into exile which is what all of them do. Where’s that guy from Zaire now? Where are all the others from their African nations? Where is Baby Doc? On the Riviera last I heard. He and his wife murdered an unbaptized infant on their bed before they left to put bad mojo on whoever was going to be the new occupant. Nobody cared. Few of us even heard about it.

How about Pinochet? What about Kissinger? No, life isn’t fair. But according to the rules in play Saddam should not have been hanged. Elsewise they all should and the sooner the better.

I’m against capital punishment for reasons too numerous to get into. I’m against war for that matter because it is always drummed up by an interested party of business folk who want to profit from both sides of the conflict. It’s in London, Washington D.C. and Tel Aviv where these decisions are made. War seldom has anything to do with the reasons given. They are about the advancement of commercial interests. Sometimes they are about wiping people out but the commercial interests are still there.

It’s really about people being stupid. The process of dumbing down over the last two decades has been very effective. Making borderline intellects even stupider than they were ensures a pool of canon fodder and election supporters for any venture, no matter how crass, no mater how venal, no matter what. It can be analyzed and justified... easiest thing in the world.

You take the entertainment industries and you make the performers as trivial and empty as possible. You pump cotton candy into the vacant attics of their minds like your present day pop stars. You filter in the necessary drugs and alcohol. You reduce language comprehension in the schools and you encourage a materialistic commonality in the people. Conversely you manifest religious fundamentalism in opposition to the apparent hedonism of the youth and the entertainment industries output as you pander to the fear of the parents and you get what you get; what you got now and both of these seemingly disparate entities are created and manipulated by the same interests. Fools can’t see it and you got plenty of those.

For some of the sheep it caters to vague ideals and aspirations that they have imperfectly formulated in their minds. For some it comes after their strong appetites. For some it plays on their fear. There are a few common denominators that always come into play, whether it is ‘bread and circuses’, or the boogeyman, or the girl in the bathing suit next to the bottle of beer... or in the black cocktail dress next to the bottle of scotch. It’s a time tested formula.

Following this it is necessary to marginalize those who see what is happening and to label them in a negative light as if the truth tellers were agents of the opposition. When I say opposition I mean that which appears to oppose our common opportunity for the good life. The good life wanders further and further away as the few are enriched at the expense of the many and all along the way, those who have had their dreams and opportunities stolen from them applaud the efforts of their slave-masters. It’s hard to imagine but you have to remember, a lot of people have little imagination at all and really are not very bright. You can see this if you have the capacity. How many of us would that be?

And for those who can see there remains the threat of being perceived as an enemy of the state. There are a lot of checks and balances for all manner of protest and palpable outrage. There are always the police and the airport checkpoints. It wasn’t a bad idea for them to dummy up the 9/11 attacks and the London bombings and blame them on the Scarlet Pimpernel. The minor distraction of terrorism has become much larger than life. Bin Laden might be under the bed or in the closet after all.

If they can hang Saddam they can hang anyone, including you. They make it up as they go along. They got a stable full of whores in the governments of the world and thousands of bully boys with guns and clubs. What are you going to do about it, punk?

Well, even if we never get anywhere. If we cannot turn the tide or reach the common heart it needs to be said. Some are saying it and maybe that will bring some good and maybe it won’t. It won’t always be this dark and maybe it will get darker but sooner or later the sun is going to come out and each of us has a destiny that is married to our behavior and intentions. Just you go on doing what you do and you will see that, indeed, character may well be fate after all.