Caligula's Horse and the Emperor Dubya's Supreme Court

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Caligula's Horse and the Emperor Dubya's Supreme Court
By Gabriele Zamparini
<http://TheCatsDream.com>http://TheCatsDream.com


Summary:

- Caligula's Horse and the Emperor Dubya's Supreme Court
- Who's Tony Blair? Part 1 - 4


Caligula's Horse and the Emperor Dubya's Supreme Court

There is a dispute of whether Emperor Caligula made his horse a senator but
it's certain that two thousand years later Emperor Dubya nominated his
personal lawyer to the Supreme Court.

New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer said, "There's hope that Harriet
Miers is a mainstream nominee". I read this comment in the same article
where a few seconds earlier I read "a woman who is not a judge and whose
views on major issues are largely unknown". (1)

In the same hours, in another palace of Rome... oops... I mean, Washington,
DC, the Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s Court was being inaugurated.

Chief Justice Roberts took the chair of his mentor and predecessor, Chief
Justice William H. Rehnquist. "It was one month to the day since Chief
Justice Rehnquist died. The flags on the court plaza, in fact, were still
flying at half staff." (2)

The Empire always honors the best among its gentlemen. "In 1953, when
William Rehnquist was a clerk at the Supreme Court and Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg were about to be electrocuted at Sing Sing, he wrote a memo
saying, 'It is too bad that drawing and quartering has been abolished.'

"Along the way the Rehnquist Court made such notable contributions to the
uplift of society as ruling that the Constitution approved the execution of
the mentally retarded and the execution of murderous 16-year-olds." (3)

When I met in New York with Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director
of Amnesty International USA, he told me:

"The death penalty in the United States is like a lottery system. It's more
a function of race, of politics, of money than it is a function of the
severity of the crime. (...) Right now it's about four countries that carry
out 90 percent of the world's executions. China is by far the largest
offender in this respect. And next are countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia,
and the United States. Those are the countries that carry out about 90
percent of the executions in the world today." (4)

Emperor Dubya takes a different view. While George W. Bush was governor of
Texas, from 1995 to 2000, his execution chamber was by far the most active
in the nation, killing 152 people - more than one prisoner every two weeks.

Maybe it's time to export Democracy and Human Rights to...



Who's Tony Blair? Part 1

"We are united in our determination that our country will not be defeated
by such terror but will defeat it and emerge from this horror with our
values, our way of life, our tolerance and respect for others,
undiminished." (5)

It was 11 July 2005. Proconsul Blair was speaking at the House of Commons
after the London bombings.

In the whole speech the word "Iraq" was never mentioned. The official line
was (and still is) that the war of aggression against the people of Iraq
has nothing to do with the London bombings.

It didn't matter if, poll after poll, more than 70% of people thought that
Britain's participation in the Iraq war had made the UK more vulnerable to
terrorist attack or if "The report [from The Royal Institute of
International Affairs] claims that there is 'no doubt' that the invasion of
Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the UK and for the wider
coalition against terrorism. According to the paper, the situation in Iraq
has 'given a boost to the Al-Qaeda network's propaganda, recruitment and
fundraising', whilst providing an ideal targeting and training area for
Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists." (6)

About Proconsul Blair's legacy on "our values, our way of life, our
tolerance and respect for others":

"Britain has one of the worst human rights records in Europe and faces
investigation over its failure to comply with a series of European court
rulings. More than 100 findings have been lodged against Britain to which
the Government has not adequately responded, five years after Tony Blair
said he had fulfilled his promise to "bring rights home" by implementing
the Human Rights Act." (7)

And what about Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib?

"Some of the worst things that happened that you don't know about. OK?
Videos. There are women there. Some of you may have read that they were
passing letters out, communications out to their men. This is at [Abu
Ghraib], which is about 30 miles from Baghdad -- 30 kilometers, maybe, just
20 miles, I'm not sure whether it's -- anyway. The women were passing
messages out saying please come and kill me because of what's happened. And
basically what happened is that those women who were arrested with young
boys, children, in cases that have been [video] recorded, the boys were
sodomized, with the cameras rolling, and the worst above all of them is the
soundtrack of the boys shrieking. That your government has, and they're in
total terror it's going to come out." (8)


Who's Tony Blair? Part 2

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation (the man
behind Fox, The New York Post, The Sun and other delicatessens): "Tony
Blair... told me yesterday that he was in Delhi last week and he turned on
the BBC World Service to see what was happening in New Orleans, and he said
it was just full of hate at America and gloating about our troubles" (9)

"Mr Murdoch revealed Mr Blair's private remark as he took part in a New
York seminar hosted by Bill Clinton on Friday night. The former US
president also took the BBC to task, saying it was "stacked up" to
criticise the federal government's slow response." (10)


Who's Tony Blair? Part 3

"Tony Blair has admitted that he is changing his views on combating global
warming to mirror those of President Bush - and oppose negotiating
international treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol." (11)


Who's Tony Blair? Part 4

"My case is not important. But what happened to me when I was ejected from
the Labour conference - simply for a one-word protest during Jack Straw's
speech this week - tells us there is something deeply wrong with the
culture of our Government under Tony Blair. (...) Tony Blair is the worst
leader the Labour Party has ever had, Ramsay Macdonald included. Mr Blair's
instincts are basically those of a Tory. He picked up this cause from the
Americans without even analysing it. I suspect that he is too theatrical
even to realise that he is lying." (12)

Maybe it's time to export Democracy and Human Rights to...


NOTES:

(1) Bush Picks Insider for High Court, REUTERS, October 3, 2005
<http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-bush-court-miers.html>http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-bush-court-miers.html

(2) A Ceremonial Start to the Session as the Supreme Court Welcomes a New
Chief Justice, by Linda Greenhouse, New York Times, October 4, 2005
<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04roberts.html>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/politics/politicsspecial1/04roberts.html

(3) Death Trip: The American Way of Execution, by Robert Sherrill, The
Nation, January 8, 2001

(4) Curt Goering, Senior Deputy Executive Director of Amnesty International
USA; "American Voices of Dissent" by Gabriele Zamparini and Lorenzo
Meccoli, Paradigm Publishers
<http://thecatsdream.com/>http://thecatsdream.com/

(5) Blair House of Commons Statement on London Bombings (11/07/05)
<http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394194&a=KArticle&aid=1119521222474>http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1007029394194&a=KArticle&aid=1119521222474

(6) Security, Terrorism and the UK - The Royal Institute of International
Affairs, 18 July 2005
<http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/index.php?id=189&pid=247>http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/index.php?id=189&pid=247

(7) Britain in the dock for human rights failures after more than 100
'guilty' judgements filed, By Robert Verkaik, The Independent, October 3,
2005
<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article316691.ece>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article316691.ece

(8) Seymour Hersh at ACLU Conference "Stand Up for Freedom", 8 July 2004
<http://informationclearinghouse.info/article6492.htm>http://informationclearinghouse.info/article6492.htm

(9) Blair tells Murdoch: 'gloating' BBC is 'full of hatred for America'.
Extraordinary attack on corporation's coverage of New Orleans disaster, by
Francis Elliott, The Independent, 18 September 2005
<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313482.ece>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article313482.ece

(10) ibidem

(11) Blair falls into line with Bush view on global warming, by Geoffrey
Lean and Christopher Silvester, The Independent, 25 September 2005
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article314991.ece>http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/article314991.ece

(12) Walter Wolfgang: 'We have been lied to about the war. I dared to speak
the truth', by Walter Wolfgang, The Independent, 30 September 2005
<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article316115.ece>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article316115.ece



Gabriele Zamparini is an independent filmmaker and freelance writer living
in London. He's the producer and director of the documentaries XXI CENTURY
and The Peace! DVD and author of American Voices of Dissent (Paradigm
Publishers). He can be reached at info at thecatsdream.com - More about him
and his work on <http://TheCatsDream.com>http://TheCatsDream.com


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