Thursday, September 23, 2004

Kill, Take, Suppress and Tax

Before a vast assembly last Tuesday, International Day of Peace, of 94 heads of states and govenments at the United Nations' annual ringing of the Japanese peace bell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said....

"Today, the rule of law is at risk around the world. Again and again, we see fundamental laws shamelessly disregarded---those that ordain respect for innocent life, for civilians, for the vulnerable, especially children.

In too many places, hatred, corruption, violence and exclusion go without redress. The vulnerable lack effective recourse and the powerful manipulate laws to retain power and accumulate wealth. At times, even the necessary fight against terrorism is allowed to encroach unnecessarily on civil liberties.

We need to do better in forging a true global partnership for development, to fight hunger, ignorance, poverty and disease. And we need to promote greater tolerance and understanding among the peoples of the world. Nothing can be more dangerous to our efforts to build peace and development than a world divided along religious, ethnic or cultural lines."

That is a strong, stinging indictment of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld's Kremlin-esque tactics of kill, take, suppress and tax to remake the world into their mold, all in the name of Christianity.

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