Hung. Hung Over. Hung Up. Hung Out To Dry

copyright © 2010 Betsy L. Angert. Empathy And Education; BeThink or BeThink.org

With news of Congressman Anthony Weiner’s indiscretions the word “Hung” has frequently been heard. “Hung Over” too entered our conversations. Many asked if he was. “Hung Up” played a powerful role in reflections. “Hung Out to Dry” seems to be the consensus. Crowds of Congressmen and women, citizens from each political Party, and even those who claim no loyalties, say, The Representative must be renounced. Few wish to admit that Anthony Weiner is but you and me.

Supreme Court Justices, who served under Chief Jurist Brennan, perhaps, make three. Any of us might easily say, as the Justices did decades ago; on the subject of obscene or outrageous, “I Know It When I See It.” We each do. Still, the definitions vary.

While few of us are officially appointed to write ”codes” of conduct, as the Supreme Court Justices are, we too avidly watch the actions of another and judge.

The US-Mexico border: where the drugs war has soaked the ground blood red (Independent, UK)

The narcos have penetrated the US embassy in Mexico City (as they had previously the one in Colombia’s capital, Bogota), their funds allowing them to siphon out a stream of intelligence about future operations against the narcos.  The Independent, March 21  (Image)

Charles Bowden on The War Next Door

Adam Smith’s invisible hand meets magical realism on the border

Feature story – From the March 01, 2010 issue of High Country News by Charles Bowden

The man on the screen wears a long black veil. His voice is penetrating, his hands are strong with thick fingers. He is telling of his work, killing people for money, a trade he pursued with some success for 20 years. Another man watches the film with rapt attention. He is a fugitive from Mexico who now lives in the United States. The reason he left is simple: He had to pay a $30,000 ransom for his 1-year-old son, this on top of the $3,000 a month he was paying for simple protection.

The pharmaceutical industry toasts to your ill health

By Ed Steene

Your good health translates into zero profit for the pharmaceutical industry. General well-being of the public and cures for disease would mean the collapse of the pharmaceutical industry since they must have illness to have demand for their drugs, in order to exist. This is the truth that drives political corruption, mandating of vaccines, control over the healthcare industry, and efforts to destroy natural health companies and practititioners.

Opium, Rape and the American Way

By Chris Hedges

The warlords we champion in Afghanistan are as venal, as opposed to the rights of women and basic democratic freedoms, and as heavily involved in opium trafficking as the Taliban. The moral lines we draw between us and our adversaries are fictional. The uplifting narratives used to justify the war in Afghanistan are pathetic attempts to redeem acts of senseless brutality.