The politicians and pundits, who wrap themselves in Star Spangled propaganda, love to boast of their love of country and reverence for the sanctity of life. They proudly boast that America is One Nation Under God. Okay, I'll bite, let's take that as our hypothesis. What God do American values reflect?
We need some measure of God's rules to gauge by, so let's go with Moses and the Ten Commandments. Moses has been a fairly popular figure in America's religious tradition and has a decent following of faithful across the globe. It's also a fitting way to pay tribute to the passing of Charleton Heston and the epic portrayal of the handing down of The Word of God in the Ten Commandments. Perfect, a top ten list is always a winning start to a popular feature. Smart money is riding on a majority, recognizing those rules as a slam dunk for the Almighty ruler recognized by America. It is the choice of the Christian conservatives featured in discussions of America's moral imperatives.
Let's pick an easy rule for starters. Thou shall not kill. That's simple enough to put an emperical value to and measure our respect for the law of God compared to National policy. Even a casual glance shows that killing is allowed under a whole spectrum of conditions, caveats for the political aims of this Nation Under God. We have executions performed by the State with the full support of this government of the God fearing. Nearly half of those executions, 49% take place in the state of Texas.December 30, 2008 The Dallas Morning News renewed its call for a moratorium on executions in Texas because of the numerous errors in the state's death penalty system. The paper highlighted the cases of Michael Blair and Charles Hood as examples of how the system has broken down. Blair was exonerated in 2008 after 14 years on death row. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
So guily or not we excuse the killing of suspected criminals, so much for thou shalt not kill. The caveats continue with wars. Politicians argue that there is immunity confered by claims of defending American lives that justifies the killing of foreigners, including innocent women and children. The body count for the Iraq war is debated but estimates put the figure at almost 100,000 war related deaths.
So we shalt not kill suspected criminals or foreigners who may be dangerous. Hmm, is that all? Not even close, in addition to death row inmates and casualties of war we have good old American citizens who are sentenced to slow death from disease relating to toxic products or corporate activity.
Last year in China, where human rights abuses are noteworthy and often criticized by our "moral" government, their chief of food safety was put to death for endangering the health of the public and allowing melamine to compromise the food supply. China has sentenced the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration to death after he was convicted of corruption, state media has reported. click here
What happens in this Nation of God fearing Amricans, when corporate or political greed cost human lives? Certainly not death, most often not even punishment. There is a long list of unsafe drugs, toxic chemicals and dangers from tobacco that are well documented along with evidence that many knew the deadly effects.
Among those who engaged in the biggest coverups we have the petrochemical companies who made up the Agent Orange Gang. In the case of Agent Orange the companies were pad by this Nation under God to rain deadly toxins on another "enemy" where the argument was made that freedom was a stake. So what became of these agents of death? They went on to lie about the toxic effects of their products and were given carte blanc to modify the food supply. Here's documentary evidence and original documents from Monsanto, Dow, Conoco and others requiring confidentiality in toxic effects. What's a little bit of cancer when there's money to be made? http://www.deceitanddenial.org/gallery/RelatedDocs
These companies have gone on to make the seeds of life in their own image. The GMO crops have been deemed a mortal sin by the Pope. He's a figure generally regarded as a voice who reflects the rules of the Almighty here on Earth and His Holiness sees this as a crime against God and Nature. Others include a list of toxic activity that the same corporate entities are engaged in.
The new deadly sins include polluting, genetic engineering, being obscenely rich, drug dealing, abortion, pedophilia and causing social injustice. The Pope told the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics. “(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control,” he said. click here
What's the value in listening to the Pope on issues of morality when the mainstream media have their own preacher pundits who will stick to fire and brimstone condemnations of other religions? Of course there's much lip service given to protecting the unborn to bolster the moral high ground pundits. Once those lives arrive on the planet and its every man for himself. There's less value in protecting the living. Killing Americans is another caveat, it is allowed when profits are at stake.
In reality we aren't so much of a Nation Under God, but a Nation under corporate caveats and footnotes, with liberty and justice for those with the legal staff to pursue endless litigation. We have allowed exemptions to the rules set forth in the Commandments and the merits of that can be measured in many ways. Perhaps some can argue that the caveats are necessary, but the claim of being a Nation Under God shouldn't be allowed for those with a pattern of behavior that is anything but that.
There is a balance to the world made by God or Nature and we introduce chaos at our own peril. The feature of the chaos inside a cancer cell is in many ways a microcosm of the global problem of introducing agents of death into the ecosystem. Whether you worship a Supreme being or just appreciate the intricate beauty of the Natural world there's no difference in recognizing the deadly effects of letting selective killers defend their actions with claims of a moral right in the eyes of God. click here
