In 2003 Mr. George W. Bush had this to say about America’s economy:

… Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job.

After recession, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy is recovering. Yet it is not growing fast enough, or strongly enough.

With unemployment rising, our nation needs more small businesses to open, more companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up the sign that says, “Help Wanted.”

Jobs are created when the economy grows; the economy grows when Americans have more money to spend and invest; and the best and fairest way to make sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place.

I am proposing that all the income tax reductions set for 2004 and 2006 be made permanent and effective this year.

And under my plan, as soon as I’ve signed the bill, this extra money will start showing up in workers’ paychecks. …

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/28/sotu.transcript/

The occasion was Mr. Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address.  Notice that Mr. Bush wanted to put more money in America’s workers’ pockets by first putting it in the pockets of  the wealthy. You’ll need more than “common sense” to fathom that one.

And Mr. Bush said:

If this tax relief is good for Americans three or five or seven years from now, it is even better for Americans today.

Well, by the end of  2007 the Bush team had crashed America’s economy. So the “if this tax relief is good” condition failed.  Should that impact the voodoo economics theory of the neocons? Not likely. Voodoo Economics is a defining characteristic of the neocons. The four pillars of Mr. Reagan’s voodoo economics, were never successfully practiced by anyone. If you view the below graph, you will see that the neocons’ financial “management” was exactly the opposite of the Republican centrist, the Republican Conservatives and the Democrats.

The below graph shows how the neocons spent America’s money:

http://zfacts.com/p/318.html

The neocons were not spending less of what America made but more of what America made. And the engine that drove that spending is:

The four pillars of Reagan’s economic policy were to:^[2]

1. reduce government spending,
2. reduce income and capital gains marginal tax rates,
3. reduce government regulation of the economy,
4. control the money supply to reduce inflation.

In his stated intention to cut back on domestic spending while lowering taxes, Reagan’s approach was a departure from his immediate predecessors. Although his record is still debated, Reagan succeeded with lower marginal tax rates in conjunction with simplified income tax codes, and continued deregulation. However government spending and deficits rose during his administration. …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaganomics

And the below graph shows how the neocons put money into the working Americans’ pocket:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5303590.stm#graph

EVERTBODY BUT THE NEOCONS ALLOWED THE AMERICAN WORKERS TO BENEFIT FROM THEIR IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY!

There is a huge difference between the RHETORIC of the neocons and the PERFORMANCE of the neocons. It is COMMON SENSE as to which should prevail.

By David Irving

11/27/09

Some American businesses are benefiting tremendously from the war in Afghanistan at the expense of the taxpayers. For example, it has been estimated that it costs $600 a gallon for the gasoline that’s used there. We can believe that businesses riding a gravy train serving up this kind of profit love this war and want it to continue as long as possible. As for the American taxpayers – screw them! There’s money to be made. It’s that simple.

Private contractors for security in Iraq and Afghanistan now outnumber American troops doing the same work and are paid five times as much, causing much resentment in the military. What we have on our hands in Iraq and Afghanistan is an army of mercenaries, and its costing the American taxpayers plenty. But, well, like we’ve said – screw them! Moreover, only 5% of the Taliban are hard core ideologues. And while ten percent have a grudge against the U.S. because their family members have been killed by the U.S. military, or for other reasons, the remaining 85% are just simple farmers trying to make a go of it in life. We pay Afghans $100 a month to join our cause. The Taliban pays them $300 to become Taliban fighters. Guess who wins out there. But the big thing to consider, of the countless billions of dollars the United States is paying to wage this war, we could be rebuilding and building Afghanistan to create jobs, eliminate disease, build homes, pave roads, and do all kinds of good things that would win Afghanistan’s heart and mind. Unfortunately, it’s not likely we will do that, just as we don’t do it here at home.

America’s leaders are too shortsighted to grasp how this simple concept of giving works. Perhaps it’s because there is something too non-capitalistic sounding about it. Perhaps they just don’t have enough empathy and compassion. Perhaps they just don’t care quite enough. And so, needing a solution, they turn to a traditional reliance on their military leaders for answers who, like all military leaders wherever they live in the world, do their best to convince the country that military action is the only effective response to violence. But the generals are wrong as shown by the obvious fact that their solution can only lead to further violence, killing, maiming, and continuing bloodshed. After we have crushed the opposition and killed how many innocent men, women, and children in the process, is that when we win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, destroy Al Qaeda in Pakistan, and get peace all across the Middle East? The cry of defiance against the war in Vietnam was “kill, kill in the name of peace.” It appears that little has changed.

President Obama will listen to the generals and then make a few modifications of his own. But few running the show will consider peaceful means like those described above that would have the most powerful impact. Instead, we will have more war and more needless killing and suffering on both sides. Besides inspiring more anti-American propaganda and increasing anti-American recruitment abroad, not to mention the paltry little fact of bringing more death and casualties to American troops and the Afghan population – but hey, what the hell! – more war also increases the build-up of the negative national karma that could someday have catastrophic consequences for the country. In fact, many signs indicate that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are forms of karmic payback stemming from the war in Vietnam. When karma strikes, of course, we rail and fume against everybody but ourselves, just like individual people do when their own actions have brought them down. For those who are unfamiliar with the term karma, it means simply that what goes around comes around – we reap what we sow, in other words, though the form the harvest takes may need some sifting through before it is recognizable, as in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Until people become enlightened they must suffer the consequences of their ignorance. The same is true for countries. To kill when other means are available is not an enlightened approach and the country should not support it.

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“I took a shot at the world
And I missed (amo te’)”

hoje o tempo está para isto.

Lee.

]]> http://thomaspainescorner.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/lynne-stewart-heroic-human-rights-lawyer-jailed/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:06:15 +0000 thomaspainescorner http://thomaspainescorner.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/lynne-stewart-heroic-human-rights-lawyer-jailed/

Lynn Stewart and Ralph Poynter: Stalwart Cohorts in the People’s Struggle

By Stephen Lendman

11/20/09

On November 20, New York Times writer Colin Moynihan broke the news headlining:

“Radical Lawyer Convicted of Aiding Terrorist Is Jailed,” then saying:

“Defiant to the end as she embraced supporters outside the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, Lynne F. Stewart, the radical lawyer known for defending unpopular clients, surrendered on Thursday to begin serving her 28-month sentence for assisting terrorism.”

Fact check:

Stewart did what all attorneys should, but few, in fact, do – observe the American Bar Association’s Model Rules saying all lawyers are obligated to:

“devote professional time and resources and use civic influence to ensure equal access to our system of justice for all those who because of economic or social barriers cannot afford or secure adequate legal counsel.”

Also to practice law ethically, morally and responsibly to assure everyone is afforded due process and judicial fairness in American courts. Sadly and disturbingly, Stewart was denied what she did for others heroically, unselfishly, and proudly. More on that below.

Stewart (prison number 53504-054) is now jailed at:

MCC-NY
150 Park Row
New York, NY 10007

Betrayed by American Justice

For 30 years, Stewart worked heroically to defend America’s poor, underprivileged, and unwanted, never afforded due process and judicial fairness without an advocate like her. Where others wouldn’t go, she defended controversial figures like David Gilbert of the Weather Underground, Richard Williams of the United Freedom Front, Sekou Odinga and Nasser Ahmed of the Black Liberation Army, and many more like them. She knew the risk, but did it fearlessly and courageously until bogusly indicted on April 9, 2002 for:

– “conspiring to defraud the United States;

– conspiring to provide and conceal material support to terrorist activity;

– providing and concealing material support to terrorist activity; and

– two counts of making false statements.”

She was also accused of violating US Bureau of Prisons Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) that included a gag order on her client, Sheik Abdel Rahman. When imposed, they prohibit discussion on topics the Justice Department (DOJ) rules outside of “legal representation,” so lawyers can’t discuss them with clients, thus inhibiting their defense.

At former US Attorney General Ramzy Clark’s request, she joined him as part of Rahman’s court-appointed defense team. In his 1995 show trial, he was convicted and is now serving a life sentence for seditious conspiracy, solicitation of murder, solicitation of an attack on American military installations, conspiracy to murder, and conspiracy to bomb in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center attack despite evidence proving his innocence on all charges.

The DOJ’s case wasn’t about alleged crimes. It reflected his affiliations and anti-western views. Rahman was connected to the Egyptian-based Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya – a 1997 US State Department-designated “foreign terrorist organization.” In the 1980s, however, he helped the CIA recruit Mujahadeen fighters against the Soviets in Afghanistan. For his work, he got a US visa, green card, and State Department-CIA protection as long as he was valued. When no longer, he was targeted along with Stewart.

Her case was precedent-setting, chilling, and according to the Center of Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner:

sent “a message to lawyers who represent alleged terrorists that it’s dangerous to do so.”

Her attorney, Michael Tigar, called it:

“an attack on a gallant, charismatic and effective fighter for justice (with) at least three fundamental faults:

– (it) attack(ed) the First Amendment right of free speech, free press and petition;

– the right to effective assistance of counsel (by) chill(ing) the defense; (and)

– the ‘evidence’ in this case was gathered by wholesale invasion of private conversations, private-attorney-client meetings, faxes, letters and e-mails; I have never seen such an abuse of government power.”

Her 2004 – 2005 show trial was a mockery of justice with echoes of the worst McCarthy-like tactics. Inflammatory terrorist images were displayed in court to prejudice the jury, and prosecutors vilified Stewart as a traitor with “radical” political views. In addition, days before the verdict, the militant pro-Israeli Jewish Defense Organization put up flyers near the courthouse displaying her address. It threatened to “drive her out of her home and out of the state,” and said she “needs to be put out of business legally and effectively.”

It was part of the orchestrated scheme inside and outside the courtroom to heighten fear, convict Stewart, and intimidate other lawyers to expect the same treatment if they dare represent unpopular clients effectively.

On February 10, 2005 (after a seven month trial and 13 days of deliberation) she was convicted on all five counts. Under New York state law, she was automatically disbarred, and the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division denied her petition to resign voluntarily. On October 17, 2006, she was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment, but remained free on bond pending appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Stewart Ordered to Prison

The Justice for Lynne Stewart web site (www.lynnestewart.org) announced the news. On November 17, the Appeals Court revoked her bond, upheld the verdict, ordered her surrender forthwith, but stayed it until November 19 at 5PM to let her attorney file a motion for reconsideration. It was denied, so she must report to federal marshals as directed. A November 19 conversation with Lynne and her husband Ralph confirmed it.

The situation remains fluid, dire, and complicated by Stewart’s battle with breast cancer. She has surgery scheduled for December 7, unlikely now, but if done in prison or where authorities direct, it won’t be the quality she deserves.

In its ruling, the three judge panel (John Walker, Guido Calebresi and Robert Sack) was firm, hostile and belligerent in upholding the lower court’s conviction. Judge Sack accused Stewart of lying and called for a longer sentence. “We think that whether (she) lied under oath at her trial is directly relevant to whether her sentence was appropriate,” he wrote, and directed District Court Judge John Koeltl to re-sentence her “so as to reflect that finding.” Judge Walker was even harsher, calling the original sentence “breathtakingly low.” Judge Calabrese said: “I am at a loss for any rationale upon this record that could reasonably justify a sentence of 28 months’ imprisonment for this defendant.”

They all said Stewart was “convicted principally with respect to (her violating) measures by which (she) had agreed to abide,” namely SAMs. They rejected her “argument that, as a lawyer, she was not bound by (them), and her belated argument collaterally attacking their constitutionality.” They also:

“affirm(ed her conviction) of providing and concealing material support to the conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country (and) of conspiring to provide and conceal such support….We conclude that the charges were valid (and) the evidence was sufficient to sustain the convictions. We also reject Stewart’s claims that her purported attempt to serve as a ‘zealous advocate’ for her client provides her with immunity from the convictions….”

“Finally, we affirm Stewart’s convictions for knowingly and willfully making false statements….when she affirmed that she intended to, and would, abide by the SAMs. In light of her repeated and flagrant violation of (them), a reasonable factfinder could conclude that (her) representations that she intended to and would abide by the SAMs were knowingly false when made. We reject the remaining challenges to the convictions. (We) affirm the district court’s rejection of Stewart’s claim that she was selectively prosecuted on account of her gender or political beliefs….We therefore affirm the convictions in their entirety.”

They redirected her case to District Court Judge Koeltl for re-sentencing. The DOJ wants 30 years. Koeltl originally imposed 28 months, let Stewart remain free on bond pending appeal, implied his decision might be overturned because of a gross miscarriage of justice, effectively rebuked the Bush administration at the time, and handed it a major defeat. Her fate is now in his hands, but justice has already been denied at a time we’re all as vulnerable as she if we dare resist state policies, unchanged under an administration no different from its predecessor.

In a November 17 news conference, Stewart said:

“I’m too old to cry, but it hurts too much not to.” In criticizing the Court’s decision, she said its timing “on the eve of the arrival of the tortured men from offshore prison in Guantanamo” suggests that lawyers appointed to represent them may face the same fate as she. “If you’re going to lawyer for these people, you’d better toe very close to the line that the government has set out (because they’ll) be watching you every inch of the way, (so those who don’t) will end up like Lynne Stewart. This is a case that is bigger than just me personally (but she added that she’ll) go on fighting.”

So will her lawyer, Joshua Dratel, who said he’ll pursue it “as far and as long as we can,” including a possible Supreme Court review. The Obama US attorney’s office was silent, effectively affirming a gross injustice at a time the due process and judicial fairness thresholds are so low that all Americans risk the same fate as Lynne.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday – Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

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You may have heard the song Life Magazine playing in the background of a Radio Shack commercial. Are they still around, Radio Shack that is? Well it seems they are jumping on the Itune’s wagon and using indie alternative/electronic bands to jump start their company all over again. But is it working?

Who cares, I love the song Life Magazine, off the album Love Comes Close. It’s one of those songs, that when I hear it I have to stop everything I am doing, sway my head back and forth and shuffle my feet around. Yes, that is what I call dancing! If you haven’t heard the song yet, then you must. Cold Cave will be out in Los Angeles in the coming month…if I am lucky I just might go see the show!

Cold Cave is an electronic side project by Wesley Eisold who was a part of some bands like Some Girls, American Nightmare/Give up the Ghost, and XO Skeletons.

I’ve decided that I’m going to write a book. It’s going to be brilliant and I’ll call it, “Shit I wish I would have done but didn’t, so now I’m writing this book.” It’s kind of like a how to guide by a person who did not. Yeah, kind of like Sarah Palin’s book. And for that, she gets this throat chop (with an honorable mention throat chop to the book’s publisher).

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding this Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rouge. The book hasn’t even been released yet and is already a top seller, with Palin taking the act on the road with a media tour to promote it. Please, someone STOP THIS MADNESS!

What type of world gives fools reality television shows and the others book deals? Oh, perhaps the same world that gives people like me a blog [lol].

I remember when I first heard about Palin. I had just gotten off a plane and there was the text, “ALASKA GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TO BE MCCAIN’S RUNNING MATE”. What?! I wasn’t buying the soccer mom-lipstick-pitbull metaphor or whatever that was. I wasn’t buying the Fargo down home folksy thing either. But folks just gobbled it up. They couldn’t get enough. I was even confused by her children’s names. I guess in white communities, Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig are common (well, maybe just in Alaska). I suppose black crazy folks name their kids after athletes, singers and alcohol (allegedly) and white crazy folks name their kids after characters in Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Interesting.

Disclaimer: Sarah Palin being a woman has nothing to do with my opposition. No sexism over her, thanks. My opposition of her is based on the fact that she’s just another morale crusader, who doesn’t have her house in order either and at the end of the day, she’s a quitter. Yeah, I said a quitter. Remember when she left her job as Governor because she wasn’t going to seek reelection? What type of nonsense is that? Yeah, it didn’t make much sense to me either. I remember reading her decision to leave office was “in part to protect her family, which has faced withering criticism and occasional mockery, and to escape ethics probes that have drained her family’s finances and hampered her ability to govern” (according to The Washington Post). Blah, blah, blah … quitter! Criticism and occasional mockery sounds like the life of a politician and stretches to reach your family. Sarah, if you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen. Furthermore, you put yourself and family in the spotlight and continue to do so. Sarah, what does quitting say about your character and ability to complete a job? Does it say you were bitter about losing the vice presidency and wanted to move on to bigger and better things? And you may want to run for President in 2012? Gtfoh! What have you really done? Please.

Let me put this in the simplest terms possible, if you buy Going Rouge, I hope your autobiography will be called “Going Stupid” or perhaps “Gone Stupid”. And if you buy this book I hope you also know that you will share a throat chop with the former Governor of Alaska! Hey, maybe that’s your dream. I don’t need to read this book to know that it will be a complete waste of the pages that it was printed on. No thanks. I’m straight.

So, Sarah Palin, former Governor, 2012 Presidential hopeful, soccer pitbull mom with lipstick (or whatever) … you betcha this throat chop goes to you!

Follow me: twitter.com/throatchopu

———————————
About image above: The Nation is placing copies of a very similar looking title called Going Rouge: Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare on the same shelves in hopes that some clueless buyer will pick up the wrong book. The unofficial book from The Nation is filled with essays bashing the former Alaska Governor and also pictures Sarah Palin on the cover.

We thought Sarah Palin had finally fallen off the radar and we would no longer have to hear about Alaaaaska, ice-fishing, hair scrunchies, the word “maverick” and quitting.  Unfortunately, to our horror she is releasing her book called Going Rogue and will appear on Oprah to promote the “memoir” the day before début on November 16^th.

A new progressive publisher has put together a collection of essays about Sarah Palin that will serve as a book to counteract SP’s rubbish and will come out the same day as her paperweight.   Please see adjacent graphic and note the perfect storm in the background.  This opposing account explains what Sarah has done to America and regards her as an “American Nightmare”(probably has given a good amount of night terrors too).

Sarah Palin’s editors are damn good with words as they try to repair SP’s reputation by attempting to make one feel sympathy for this woman.  Let this serve as a warning in advance: if for some odd reason you feel sorry for her when she puts on a show on Oprah, you should immediately revert back to your feelings of irritation.  Some say SP has been misrepresented, but I’m not too sure how a person could be misrepresented by the words straight from her own mouth.

On to Levi (who?):  Levi Johnston, the father of Palin’s grandchild has received a lot of press recently by announcing that he has secrets of Palin’s but won’t share them with us.  This guy is clearly a class act by publicly trying to hurt his son’s grandmother and family just so he can have the opportunity to leave Alaska and obtain a life he could never have even dreamt of in Wasilla (where?).

Levi has told us some small, not so surprising secrets.  For example, SP calling her child with Down syndrome her “retarded baby”.  Not so PC SP.  Also, Levi reports Sarah and her husband were constantly fighting about a potential divorce in front of the whole family which he actually thought was the wrong way to go about it.  Vanity Fair is one of the many media outlets that has indulged Levi by giving him his very own glamorous photo shoot, spread and interview, which must be extremely foreign to a dingy hockey boy from Alaska.  I watched the footage of the photo shoot and have concluded hockey players should never strike a pose other than on the ice, especially Levi who was shipped from the frozen tundra to the urban jungle.  Let’s just say it was extremely uncomfortable for the viewer.

Levi could have never imagined that impregnating a girl would eventually turn into a modeling career, let alone for Playgirl (yes, he’s doing Playgirl next).  Levi is a sweaty hockey goon but it’s almost as if he was an undercover spy within this family.  He had the misfortune of hearing pretty much everything that Sarah Palin said behind closed doors amongst her family.  He told Vanity Fair that after she lost the election, he watched SP “turn into a different person”.  Wow Levi, that is shocking!  What kind of person could Sarah Palin possibly turn into?  Levi explained what he heard and saw to Vanity Fair: “Sarah was sad for a while. She walked around the house pouting. I had assumed she was going to go back to her job as governor, but a week or two after she got back she started talking about how nice it would be to quit and write a book or do a show and make ‘triple the money.’ It was, to her, ‘not as hard.’ She would blatantly say, ‘I want to just take this money and quit being governor.’ She started to say it frequently, but she didn’t know how to do it.”  Well, way to be greedy SP but your book is already being preordered for a pittance of $9 on Amazon.com and the thing hasn’t even come out yet!  Looks like there’s more pouting in SP’s future.

For those that live by the phrase “Country First” (which believe it or not both parties do, they just have a different way of going about doing so,) why on earth would you think Sarah Palin was a great way to put your country first!?  As much as I appreciate rising women in politics, next time please choose your women a little bit more wisely.  Thank you in advance for sparing me along with the rest.

Well the Cover says it all…

Sarah Roguette Palin... You have competition!

From ORBooks website, the following summary…

The most honest, revealing account of the Palin story to appear this fall? You betcha!

“Sarah Palin has many faces: hockey mom, fundamentalist Christian, sex symbol, Republican ideologue, fashion icon, “maverick” populist. But, above all, Palin has become one thing: an American obsession that just won’t go away. Edited by two senior editors at The Nation magazine, this sharp, smart, up-to-the-minute book examines Palin’s quirky origins in Wasilla, Alaska, her spectacular rise to the effective leadership of the Republican Party, and the nightmarish prospect of her continuing to dominate the nation’s political scene.”

Parody?

According to Richard Kim one of the editors along with Betsy Reed, this book is a colaberation of featured “essays” of Palin from 23 writers and is not intended to be a parody. The following people along with Kim and Reed are:

Max Blumenthal, Joe Conason, Eve Ensler, Michelle Goldberg, Jane Hamsher, Christopher Hayes, Jim Hightower, Linda Hirshman, Naomi Klein, Dahlia Lithwick, Amanda Marcotte, Shannyn Moore, John Nichols, Tom Perrotta, Katha Pollitt, Hanna Rosin, Matt Taibbi, Michael Tomasky, Rebecca Traister, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jessica Valenti, Patricia Williams, JoAnn Wypijewski and Gary Younge.

Congratulations on the vision and expediency of these people for getting this book out there and available and congratulations to ORBooks for sticking your neck out there as I’m sure you’ll receive some letters and phone calls from Palin’s pathetic attorneys.

Will this outsell the Original? You Betcha’!

Go to the Publisher’s site and order your copy today

My tears flow after reading this article about the American Nightmare in California. Yes I love USA, Democracy and Obama. (I give my eldest son name after the President Jimmy Carter. (During the interview examination for the best student from the 2nd. M.B.,B.S. Senior, the first question I was asked was,” what important thing is happening today?” I replied proudly and quickly that Jimmy Carter was going to swan in as the new President of USA. I even told the examiners who asked me whether I was sure,  that I even bought a state lottery ticket and wrote on the ticket, “Congratulations and Welcome Mr Jimmy Carter”. (Sorry Allah, I do not know that buying lottery ticket is haram at that time. Please forgive me for that sin and all the other sins I had committed, knowingly and unknowingly.)

(By the way, when we arrived here and got our third child, we decided to call him Md Azlan because DYMM Azlan Shah was the King of Malaysia. We were proud of his curriculum vitae as he was the retired Chief Justice or Lord President of Malaysia. Alhamdullilah, that son, Md Azalan’s PMR, SPM and “A” level results are very good and is now trying to get into a Medical College. Although he was born here and his extracurricular activities are very good, we need to pray hard to Allah to give us strength and help for his education.)

Never mind, let us continue about him later in another posting and now read the proper article which made me cry….

Patients without medical insurance wait for treatment in the Forum, a music arena in Inglewood, Los Angeles. The 1,500 free places were filled by 4am. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

California has a special place in the American psyche. It is the Golden State: a playground of the rich and famous with perfect weather. It symbolises a lifestyle of sunshine, swimming pools and the Hollywood dream factory.

But the state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its political system is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush. The crisis is so deep that Professor Kenneth Starr, who has written an acclaimed history of the state, recently declared: “California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America.”

Outside the Forum in Inglewood, near downtown Los Angeles, California has already failed. The scene is reminiscent of the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, as crowds of impoverished citizens stand or lie aimlessly on the hot tarmac of the centre’s car park. It is 10am, and most have already been here for hours. They have come for free healthcare: a travelling medical and dental clinic has set up shop in the Forum (which usually hosts rock concerts) and thousands of the poor, the uninsured and the down-on-their-luck have driven for miles to be here.

The queue began forming at 1am. By 4am, the 1,500 spaces were already full and people were being turned away. On the floor of the Forum, root-canal surgeries are taking place. People are ferried in on cushions, hauled out of decrepit cars. Sitting propped up against a lamp post, waiting for her number to be called, is Debbie Tuua, 33. It is her birthday, but she has taken a day off work to bring her elderly parents to the Forum, and they have driven through the night to get here. They wait in a car as the heat of the day begins to rise. “It is awful for them, but what choice do we have?” Tuua says. “I have no other way to get care to them.”

Yet California is currently cutting healthcare, slashing the “Healthy Families” programme that helped an estimated one million of its poorest children. Los Angeles now has a poverty rate of 20%. Other cities across the state, such as Fresno and Modesto, have jobless rates that rival Detroit’s. In order to pass its state budget, California’s government has had to agree to a deal that cuts billions of dollars from education and sacks 60,000 state employees. Some teachers have launched a hunger strike in protest. California’s education system has become so poor so quickly that it is now effectively failing its future workforce. The percentage of 19-year-olds at college in the state dropped from 43% to 30% between 1996 and 2004, one of the highest falls ever recorded for any developed world economy. California’s schools are ranked 47th out of 50 in the nation. Its government-issued bonds have been ranked just above “junk”.

Some of the state’s leading intellectuals believe this collapse is a disaster that will harm Californians for years to come. “It will take a while for this self-destructive behaviour to do its worst damage,” says Robert Hass, a professor at Berkeley and a former US poet laureate, whose work has often been suffused with the imagery of the Californian way of life.

Now, incredibly, California, which has been a natural target for immigration throughout its history, is losing people. Between 2004 and 2008, half a million residents upped sticks and headed elsewhere. By 2010, California could lose a congressman because its population will have fallen so much – an astonishing prospect for a state that is currently the biggest single political entity in America. Neighbouring Nevada has launched a mocking campaign to entice businesses away, portraying Californian politicians as monkeys, and with a tag-line jingle that runs: “Kiss your assets goodbye!” You know you have a problem when Nevada – famed for nothing more than Las Vegas, casinos and desert – is laughing at you.

This matters, too. Much has been made globally of the problems of Ireland and Iceland. Yet California dwarfs both. It is the eighth largest economy in the world, with a population of 37 million. If it was an independent country it would be in the G8. And if it were a company, it would likely be declared bankrupt. That prospect might surprise many, but it does not come as news to Tuua, as she glances nervously into the warming sky, hoping her parents will not have to wait in the car through the heat of the day just to see a doctor. “It is so depressing. They both worked hard all their lives in this state and this is where they have ended up. It should not have to be this way,” she says.

It is impossible not to be impressed by the physical presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger when he walks into a room. He may appear slightly smaller than you imagine, but he’s just as powerful. This is, after all, the man who, before he was California’s governor, was the Terminator and Conan the Barbarian.

But even Schwarzenegger is humbled by the scale of the crisis. At a press conference in Sacramento to announce the final passing of a state budget, which would include billions of dollars of cuts, the governor speaks in uncharacteristically pensive terms. “It is clear that we do not know yet what the future holds. We are still in troubled waters,” he says quietly. He looks subdued, despite his sharp grey suit and bright pink tie.

Later, during a grilling by reporters, Schwarzenegger is asked an unusual question. As a gaggle of journalists begins to shout, one man’s voice quickly silences the others. “Do you ever feel like you’re watching the end of the California dream?” asks the reporter. It is clearly a personal matter for Schwarzenegger. After all, his life story has embodied it. He arrived virtually penniless from Austria, barely speaking English. He ended up a movie star, rich beyond his dreams, and finally governor, hanging Conan’s prop sword in his office. Schwarzenegger answers thoughtfully and at length. He hails his own experience and ends with a passionate rallying call in his still thickly accented voice.

“There is people that sometimes suggest that the American dream, or the Californian dream, is evaporating. I think it’s absolutely wrong. I think the Californian dream is as strong as ever,” he says, mangling the grammar but not the sentiment.

Looking back, it is easy to see where Schwarzenegger’s optimism sprung from. California has always been a special place, with its own idea of what could be achieved in life. There is no such thing as a British dream. Even within America, there is no Kansas dream or New Jersey dream. But for California the concept is natural. It has always been a place apart. It is of the American West, the destination point in a nation whose history has been marked by restless pioneers. It is the home of Hollywood, the nation’s very own fantasy land. Getting on a bus or a train or a plane and heading out for California has been a regular trope in hundreds of books, movies, plays, and in the popular imagination. It has been writ large in the national psyche as free from the racial divisions of the American South and the traditions and reserve of New England. It was America’s own America.

Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and now an adopted Californian, remembers arriving here from his native New England. “In New England you would have to know people for 10 years before they let you in their home,” he says. “Here, when I took my son to his first play date, the mother invited me to a hot tub.”

Michael Levine is a Hollywood mover and shaker, shaping PR for a stable of A-list clients that once included Michael Jackson. Levine arrived in California 32 years ago. “The concept of the Californian dream was a certain quality of life,” he says. “It was experimentalism and creativity. California was a utopia.”

Levine arrived at the end of the state’s golden age, at a time when the dream seemed to have been transformed into reality. The 1950s and 60s had been boom-time in the American economy; jobs had been plentiful and development rapid. Unburdened by environmental concerns, Californian developers built vast suburbs beneath perpetually blue skies. Entire cities sprang from the desert, and orchards were paved over into playgrounds and shopping malls.

“They came here, they educated their kids, they had a pool and a house. That was the opportunity for a pretty broad section of society,” says Joel Kotkin, an urbanist at Chapman University, in Orange County. This was what attracted immigrants in their millions, flocking to industries – especially defence and aviation – that seemed to promise jobs for life. But the newcomers were mistaken. Levine, among millions of others, does not think California is a utopia now. “California is going to take decades to fix,” he says.

So where did it all wrong?

Few places embody the collapse of California as graphically as the city of Riverside. Dubbed “The Inland Empire”, it is an area in the southern part of the state where the desert has been conquered by mile upon mile of housing developments, strip malls and four-lane freeways. The tidal wave of foreclosures and repossessions that burst the state’s vastly inflated property bubble first washed ashore here. “We’ve been hit hard by foreclosures. You can see it everywhere,” says political scientist Shaun Bowler, who has lived in California for 20 years after moving here from his native England. The impact of the crisis ranges from boarded-up homes to abandoned swimming pools that have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Bowler’s sister, visiting from England, was recently taken to hospital suffering from an infected insect bite from such a pool. “You could say she was a victim of the foreclosure crisis, too,” he jokes.

But it is no laughing matter. One in four American mortgages that are “under water”, meaning they are worth more than the home itself, are in California. In the Central Valley town of Merced, house prices have crashed by 70%. Two Democrat politicians have asked for their districts to be declared disaster zones, because of the poor economic conditions caused by foreclosures. In one city near Riverside, a squatter’s camp of newly homeless labourers sleeping in their vehicles has grown up in a supermarket car park – the local government has provided toilets and a mobile shower. In the Los Angeles suburb of Pacoima, one in nine homeowners are now in default on their mortgage, and the local priest, the Rev John Lasseigne, has garnered national headlines – swapping saving souls to saving houses, by negotiating directly with banks on behalf of his parishioners.

For some campaigners and advocates against suburban sprawl and car culture, it has been a bitter triumph. “Let the gloating begin!” says James Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency, a warning about the high cost of the suburban lifestyle. Others see the end of the housing boom as a man-made disaster akin to a mass hysteria, but with no redemption in sight. “If California was an experiment then it was an experiment of mass irresponsibility – and that has failed,” says Michael Levine.

Nowhere is the economic cost of California’s crisis writ larger than in the Central Valley town of Mendota, smack in the heart of a dusty landscape of flat, endless fields of fruit and vegetables. The town, which boldly terms itself “the cantaloup capital of the world”, now has an unemployment rate of 38%. That is expected to rise above 50% as the harvest ends and labourers are laid off. City officials hold food giveaways every two weeks. More than 40% of the town’s people live below the poverty level. Shops have shut, restaurants have closed, drugs and alcohol abuse have become a problem.

Standing behind the counter of his DVD and grocery store, former Mendota mayor Joseph Riofrio tells me it breaks his heart to watch the town sink into the mire. His father had built the store in the 1950s and constructed a solid middle-class life around it, to raise his family. Now Riofrio has stopped selling booze in a one-man bid to curb the social problems breaking out all around him.

“It is so bad, but it has now got to the point where we are getting used to it being like this,” he says. Riofrio knows his father’s achievements could not be replicated today. The state that once promised opportunities for working men and their families now promises only desperation. “He could not do what he did again. That chance does not exist now,” Riofrio says.

Outside, in a shop that Riofrio’s grandfather built, groups of unemployed men play pool for 25 cents a game. Near every one of the town’s liquor stores others lie slumped on the pavements, drinking their sorrows away. Mendota is fighting for survival against heavy odds. The town of 7,000 souls has seen 2,000 people leave in the past two years. But amid the crisis there are a few sparks of hope for the future. California has long been an incubator of fresh ideas, many of which spread across the country. If America emerges from its crisis a greener, more economically and politically responsible nation, it is likely that renewal will have begun here. The clues to California’s salvation – and perhaps even the country as a whole – are starting to emerge.

Take Anthony “Van” Jones, a man now in the vanguard of the movement to build a future green economy, creating millions of jobs, solving environmental problems and reducing climate change at a stroke. It is a beguiling vision and one that Jones conceived in the northern Californian city of Oakland. He began political life as an anti-poverty campaigner, but gradually combined that with environmentalism, believing that greening the economy could also revitalise it and lift up the poor. He founded Green for All as an advocacy group and published a best-selling book, The Green Collar Economy. Then Obama came to power and Jones got the call from the White House. In just a few years, his ideas had spread from the streets of Oakland to White House policy papers. Jones was later ousted from his role, but his ideas remain. Green jobs are at the forefront of Obama’s ideas on both the economy and the environment.

Jones believes California will once more change itself, and then change the nation. “California remains a beacon of hope… This is a new time for a new direction to grow a new society and a new economy,” Jones has said.

It is already happening. California may have sprawling development and awful smog, but it leads the way in environmental issues. Arnold Schwarzenegger was seen as a leading light, taking the state far ahead of the federal government on eco-issues. The number of solar panels in the state has risen from 500 a decade ago to more than 50,000 now. California generates twice as much energy from solar power as all the other US states combined. Its own government is starting to turn on the reckless sprawl that has marked the state’s development.

California’s attorney-general, Jerry Brown, recently sued one county government for not paying enough attention to global warming when it came to urban planning. Even those, like Kotkin, who are sceptical about the end of suburbia, think California will develop a new model for modern living: comfortable, yes, but more modest and eco-friendly. Kotkin, who is writing an eagerly anticipated book about what America will look like in 2050, thinks much of it will still resemble the bedrock of the Californian dream: sturdy, wholesome suburbs for all – just done more responsibly. “We will still live in suburbs. You work with the society you have got. The question is how we make them more sustainable,” he says.

Even the way America eats is being changed in California. Every freeway may be lined with fast-food outlets, but California is also the state of Alice Waters, the guru of the slow-food movement, who inspired Michelle Obama to plant a vegetable garden in the White House. She thinks the state is changing its values. “The crisis is bringing us back to our senses. We had adopted a fast and easy way of living, but we are moving away from that now,” she says.

There is hope in politics, too. There is a growing movement to call for a constitutional convention that could redraw the way the state is governed. It could change how the state passes budgets and make the political system more open, recreating the lost middle ground. Recently, the powerful mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, signed on to the idea. Gerrymandering, too, is set to take a hit. Next year Schwarzenegger will take steps to redraw some districts to make them more competitive, breaking the stranglehold of party politics. He wants district boundaries to be drawn up by impartial judges, not politicians. In previous times that would have been the equivalent of a turkey voting for Christmas. But now the bold move is seen for what it is: a necessary step to change things. And there is no denying that innovation is something that California does well.

Even in the most deprived corners of the state there is a sense that things can still turn around. California has always been able to reinvent itself, and some of its most hardcore critics still like the idea of it having a “dream”.

“I believe in California. It pains me at the moment to see it where it is, but I still believe in it,” said Michael Levine.

Perhaps more surprisingly, a fellow believer is to be found in Mendota in the shape of Joseph Riofrio. His shop operates as a sort of informal meeting place for the town. People drop in to chat, to get advice, or to buy a cold soft drink to relieve the unrelenting heat outside. The people are poor, many of them out of work, often hiring a bunch of DVDs as a cheap way of passing the time. But Riofrio sees them as a community, one that he grew up in. He is proud of his town and determined to stick it out. “This is a good place to live,” he says. “I want to be here when it turns around.” He is talking of the stricken town outside. But he could be describing the whole state.★

American Nightmare, released in 2000 by IFC, examines the intersection of 70s horror. Warning: Contains very strong scenes of horror.

MPFREE’S

Tuff Crew – My Part of Town*

T.I. – Hell of a Life (Prod. by Danja)

Curren$y – Bout It 2010 (tagged)

BK One ft. Brother Ali & Scarface – American Nightmare

Feature Downloads:

Single

Promoe ft. Lutan Fyah – Gunz

Mixtape

Hevehitta & DJ Unexpected – Executioners from Shaolin

* old school

By Stephen Lendman

9/18/09

At a time of 24-hour news and a proliferation of television and radio talk shows featuring hatemongers and demagogues like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck may stand out as the most unhinged and extremist of all as evidenced by his jihad against anyone to the left of his views, disadvantaged minorities, Muslims, Latino immigrants, and progressive change in some of his most outlandish comments, including:

– calling Barack Obama a “racist (who) has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture; I don’t know what it is….This guy is, I believe, a racist;”

– calling Van Jones “an avowed, radical, revolutionary communist,” then saying “Jones is the tip of the iceberg” as part of his over-the-top campaign against anyone less extremist than himself;

– stating “The most used phrase in my administration if I were to be President would be ‘What the hell do you mean we’re out of missiles;’ “

– saying “We need to be the first ones in the recruitment office lining up to shoot the bad Muslims in the head….In 10 years, Muslims and Arabs will be looking through a razor wire fence at the West;”

– telling Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison to “prove to me that you are not working with our enemies;”

– advocating disposing of Guantanamo detainees by shooting them in the head;

– accusing Al Gore of creating a new “Hitler youth” by promoting environmental awareness, and called for kicking California out of the union;

– in 2003, telling listeners he was praying for a gruesome death for Democrat presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, and in 2005 saying he fantasized about strangling filmmaker Michael Moore;

– characterizing Obama’s new regulatory czar, Cass Sunstein, as a crazed animal rights activist who believes that rats matter more than people; and

– in September 2005, expressing open “hate” toward Katrina victims, calling them “scumbags” for not waiting patiently for emergency aid at a time their lives were devastated, and the Bush administration was forcibly removing them to distant locations, then preventing them from returning so predatory developers could exploit their neighborhoods for profit.

In May 2008, a Media Matters Action Network report titled, “Fear & Loathing in Prime Time: Immigration Myths and Cable News” highlighted undocumented Latino immigrant hatemongering by Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck, each making outlandish claims, including:

– an alleged connection between undocumented Latinos and crime;

– how they exploit social services and don’t pay taxes;

– the “reconquista” myth about a supposed Mexican plot to take over the US Southwest; and

– an epidemic of Latino voter fraud.

According to Beck, “It’s time to wake up in this country. We are dealing with an illegal alien (read Latino) crime wave, and drug smuggling is just the beginning.” He opened a special 2008 “Border Crisis” program saying: “America’s border crisis. Rape, drugs, kidnapping, even murder. It is beginning to look a lot more like a border war….Every single illegal immigrant is guilty of a crime, every single one….Every undocumented worker (read Latino) is an illegal immigrant, a criminal and a drain on our dwindling resources.”

He added:

– “I’ve got a quick message for illegal aliens if you happen to be watching; you better start packing your bags; and to the politicians in Washington who are soft on illegal immigration, start packing up your office, because when the terrorists strike, which they will, and when we find out that they’re here illegally from some other country, we will be telling all of you to get the hell out;”

– earlier he said “I told you about the five-part plan that I believe may lead to the end of the West as we know it; I called it my ‘Perfect Storm;’ one of the elements….is illegal immigration; it is still a great way for terrorists to come here and mess with us; but even if that doesn’t happen….at the very least (they’re) attacking our culture, and our way of life; they are not melting into our melting pot; they’re here for the cash;” and

– “I also know our country is on fire, and the fuel is illegal immigration; they (threaten) our national security;” they come for “three reasons: one, they’re terrorists; two, they’re escaping the law; or three, they’re hungry (because) they can’t make a living in their own dirtbag country.”

This is what passes for American mainstream “journalism” that’s in no worse form than from Glenn Beck – on Fox News, the radio outlets that give him a platform, and the sponsors that make his kind of programming possible. More on them below.

Joe McCarthy’s Earlier Jihad Against the Left

In the 1950s, Joe McCarthy’s witch-hunts against alleged communists, those on the left, and Democrat administration and other “subversives” included Secretary of State Dean Acheson whom he called “a pompous diplomat in striped pants,” General George Marshall when he was Secretary of State for being “soft on communism” and being “a man steeped in falsehood,” and many others on his so-called “blacklist.”

In 1950, with no proof, he said he had a list of 205 known communists in the State Department, later reduced the number to 57, but said they were passing secret information to the Soviets. He claimed:

“The reason why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because the enemy has sent men to invade our shores, but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who had all the benefits that the wealthiest nation on earth has had to offer – the finest homes, the finest college educations, and the finest jobs in Government (and the private sector) we can give.”

He characterized enemies as “card-carrying communists.” Others as “loyalty risks” or being “soft on communism.” For political gain, he vilified patriotic Americans, created years of hysteria, targeted anti-American books in libraries and got them removed, then overstepped enough to be hung on his own petard with publications like the Louisville Courier-Journal reporting that:

“In this long, degrading travesty of the democratic process, McCarthy has shown himself to be evil and unmatched in malice.” On December 2, 1954 the Senate censured him and took away his power base. Later ill with cirrhosis of the liver from years of abusive alcoholism, he died a broken man on May 2, 1957.

Today, the term “McCarthyism” is synonymous with baseless malicious slander, unscrupulous fearmongering, vilifying the innocent, accusing them of disloyalty, and calling them terrorists, Islamofascists, illegal immigrants, and unpatriotic for supporting progressive change and ideas to the left of right wing views.

McCarthysim Redux Through the Right Wing Media

Nightly on Fox News, Glenn Beck delivers some of the worst of it to his estimated 2.3 million faithful and millions more on The Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show aired by Premiere Radio Networks (a Clear Channel Communications subsidiary) throughout the country on over 300 stations, according to a Premiere Speakers Bureau promo about him stating that his program “is presently the third highest-rated national radio talk show among adults ages 25 – 54.”

It said that he debuted on CNN’s Headline News in May 2006 “with his self-styled topical talk show and quickly soared in popularity.” CNN at the time called it “an unconventional look at the news of the day featuring (Beck’s) often amusing perspective on the top stories from world events and politics to pop culture and everyday hassles.”

In early January 2007, he also joined ABC News’ Good Morning America as a regular contributor with its senior executive producer, Jim Murphy, saying:

“Glenn is a leading commentator with a distinct voice. At times, he is the perfect guest for many of the talk topics we cover on morning news programs.”

In 2008, Beck won the Marconi Radio Award for Network Syndicated Personality of the Year from the National Association of Broadcasters. Previous winners included Rush Limbaugh and Fox News’ Sean Hannity. After his award, Premiere Radio Networks president, Charlie Rahilly, said:

“Glenn’s conversation with millions of Americans weekly on The Glenn Beck Program….makes him a familiar voice in our culture. We salute his work, creativity, and humor, and congratulate him on his genuine recognition by our industry.”

He regularly features guests like Karl Rove, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, Rick Santorum, Rush Limbaugh, and an array of the most extremist Republican members of Congress, others from right wing think tanks, and former Bush administration officials.

His syndicator, Premiere Radio, is a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, the world’s largest radio broadcaster, concert promoter, and billboard advertising firm. It’s also a major player in US television and Spanish language broadcasting, and very much to the right of center in ideology. As one of America’s most powerful media companies, it’s played a leading role in destroying media diversity by airing the same content on many dozens of its stations simultaneously, suppressing everything not supportive of its views.

In 2002, Clear Channel attracted the attention of Senator Russ Feingold and several other members of Congress over its anti-competitive behavior and alleged shady business practices. In 2009, the company remains a powerful force, ranking ninth among the top 20 US media companies ahead of The New York Times Co., the Washington Post Co., Hearst Corp., and McGraw-Hill.

More on Beck’s Background

He’s written three New York Times-listed bestsellers, publishes the entertainment Fusion Magazine, and tours the country twice yearly in his own one-man show to promote himself as a national institution.

Instead of condemning his extremism, on December 4, 2006, The New York Times described him as a “tearful rising star” in calling him “brash (and) opinionated (with an) unfiltered approach (in) saying what others are feeling but are afraid to say.” Writers Brian Stelter and Bill Carter said he “has a gift for touching the passion nerve (by) tapping into fear about the future.”

They quoted Old Dominion University’s Jeffrey Jones saying Beck engages in “inciting rhetoric. People hear their values are under attack and they get worried. It becomes an opportunity for them to stand up and do something” without realizing how destructive Beck’s extremism is to their own well-being. Even Beck once said about himself: “I say on the air all the time, if you take what I say as gospel, you’re an idiot.”

His Premiere’s Speakers Bureau bio says he debuted in radio at age 13 in Seattle, and grew up in nearby Mount Vernon. After high school, he got jobs “as a Top 40 DJ” in Baltimore, Houston, and New Haven, CT.

It also explained that at age 30, he became consumed by alcoholism and drug addiction, then regained sobriety and “found a new direction.” He remarried, became a baptized Mormon, and decided to pursue talk radio after being offered his own show on Tampa, Florida station WFLA-AM. In his first year, it became number-one rated, and within 18 months, Premiere Radio Networks offered him national syndication.

In January 2002, The Glenn Beck Program debuted on 47 stations. Today, he’s on over 300 as well as XM satellite radio.

LDS Living Magazine (for Latter Day Saint Mormon families) provides more details about Beck’s background. It said he was fired from his first three radio jobs in Washington State. Six months later, he returned on WPGC in Washington, DC. Was again fired. Then he became program director and “morning guy” on a small Corpus Christi, TX station. After two years of “moving around from city to city, he ended up in Baltimore.” He also worked at WRKA in Louisville, KY and WKCI-FM in Hamden, CT.

Three days after converting to Mormonism, he was offered his first radio talk show in Tampa. It propelled him to national prominence and his current positions at Fox News, his syndicated radio program (first from Philadelphia in January 2002, now in New York), and as a hot topic on other programs, including MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann’s war of words with Beck.

He posted a September 6 request on The Daily Kos to “Send Me Everything You Can Find About Glenn Beck.” He added that he’ll “expand this to the television audience and have a dedicated email address to accept leads, tips, contacts, on Beck, his radio producer Burguiere, and the chief of his tv enables, Ailes (head of Fox News)….”

It may simply be a PR stunt to boost ratings and get added revenue for General Electric, MSNBC’s owner, that certainly can stop this if it wishes.

Sponsors Bailing Out on Beck

To date, over five dozen decided they’ll no longer be associated with his kind of antics, fearing, of course, it may harm their image and hurt sales and profits.

In 2005, Van Jones (now inactive) and James Rucker co-founded ColorOfChange.org “to strengthen Black America’s political voice” toward the goal of making “government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.”

In the wake of Beck calling Obama a “racist” and attacking Van Jones, it sent a letter to his sponsors urging them to boycott “the kinds of views and tactics” he espouses and cease all advertising on his program.

FoxNewsBoycott.com joined in as part of its campaign “to help people realize that Fox News Channel and its personalities are a detriment to journalism and journalistic integrity.” It urges supporters “to boycott, not only Fox News Channel, but Fox News sponsors and companies that air Fox News in their places of business.”

To date, over 60 companies no longer advertise on Glenn Beck, including:

– AT & T

– Bank of America

– Bell & Howell

– Best Buy

– Campbell Soup

– Capital One

– Clorox

– Berkshire Hathaway’s GEICO Insurance

– General Mills

– HSBC

– Johnson & Johnson

– Kraft Foods

– Mercedes-Benz

– Procter & Gamble

– Sanofi-Aventis

– Sprint

– Travelers Insurance

– UPS

– Verizon Wireless, and

– Wal-Mart

Many others still advertise, but more keep pulling out, showing the effectiveness of the national campaign, backed by many tens of thousands of signatures from ColorOfChange.org and FoxNewsBoycott.com supporters.

The Internet’s power is real and proves when enough committed people back progressive issues, constructive change follows. If if works against Glenn Beck and Fox News, why not in a campaign to reclaim the kind of America people deserve and can have if they work hard enough for it.

If not now, when? If not us, who? If not soon, maybe never? If that’s not incentive enough, what is?

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at www.sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday – Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

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Documented civilian deaths from violence: 93,080 – 101,577
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

Malcom Lagauche

October 24, 2008

Simulposted with the World Prout Assembly

For the first 26 years of my life, I lived in a small Rhode Island town, Tiverton. All around me were odd-sounding names of ponds, streets, schools, rivers, and other locations: Nonquit, Pocasset, Conanicus, Sakonnet, Narragansett, Watuppa and others. Occasionally, the name Metacomet was seen, usually as the name of a used car lot or bar.

To me, these names were merely those designated to the area. There were hints that they originated from the Native American language of the Wampanoag Indians, but no in-depth explanation was given. In my 12 years of school in the area, the only Native American history we learned consisted of the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in which the Natives were portrayed as unkempt savages and the Pilgrims were depicted as very civilized.

A few years ago, I read a speech called “Eulogy on King Philip.” It mesmerized me and upset me at the same time.

A Native American author, William Apes, of the Pequot tribe wrote the speech and delivered it in Boston in 1836 to a group of descendants of the original Pilgrims of 1620. It was about racism, deceit, slaughter and imperialism. King Philip was the Anglicized name of the Wampanoag chief, Metacomet.

I felt cheated with my education in the area when I realized that the first major resistance movement in the United States occurred right in my backyard. The conflict was called “King Philip’s War” and was fought in the years 1675 and 1676. Per combatant, it is the bloodiest war fought on U.S. soil. Metacomet won every battle, but when the Puritans were ready to return to England, the Natives ran out of food. In the end, the Wampanoag tribe, that had consisted of more than 30,000 people, was left with only 2,000 survivors. They were put into slavery. The tribe never rebounded and today consists of a few thousand, mostly impoverished, who inhabit southeastern Massachusetts.

One may think that “Eulogy on King Philip” is merely an historical account of the white man’s imperialism, but it is far more. Apes’ address in Boston was delivered in 1836 and he told of events that occurred from 1620 to 1676. But, his words are uncannily precise in describing the world today. One can change the dates and places and see an accurate view of today’s imperialistic aspirations of the U.S. with all the warts: racism, xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and Christian domination. Some events told by Apes are identical to those that occurred in the destruction of Iraq. Even the methods of demonizing and killing of adversaries are the same. For instance, Metacomet was betrayed by a Native. The Puritans paid an informant to find Metacomet’s location. He was killed in Bristol, Rhode Island and his body was dismembered. Metacomet’s body parts were displayed in various towns throughout southern New England. This was the white man’s way of displaying superiority.

In 2003, a distant family member of Saddam Hussein was paid by the U.S. military to disclose the whereabouts of Uday and Qusay Hussein. Several hundred “brave” U.S. soldiers loaded the house with thousands of rockets, missiles, bombs, mortars and bullets before they went in. The bodies of the Hussein brothers resembled the remnants of meat that had been put through a meat-grinder. Soon after, the U.S. showed the bodies to the world. This was the same method of showing superiority as the one used more than three centuries earlier.

This is the first of three parts of “Eulogy on King Philip. In my opinion, no finer piece has been written by anyone in describing the horrors of the imperialistic actions of a government. His words were uttered almost two centuries ago, yet they are precise today.

EULOGY ON KING PHILIP

(Part One)

************

I do not rise to spread before you the fame of a noted warrior, whose natural abilities shown like those of the great and mighty Phillip of Greece, or Alexander the Great, or like those of Washington — whose virtues and patriotism are engraven on the hearts of my audience. Neither do I approve of war as being the best method of bowing the haughty tyrant, MAN, and civilizing the world. No, far from me be such a thought. But it is to bring before you beings, made by the God of Nature, and in whose hearts and heads he has planted sympathies that shall live forever in the memory of the world, whose brilliant talents shone in the display of natural things, so that the most cultivated, whose powers shone with equal lustre, were not able to prepare mantles to cover the burning elements of an uncivilized world. What, then, shall we cease to mention the mighty of the Earth, the noble work of God?

Yet those purer virtues remain untold. Those noble traits that marked the wild man’s course lie buried in the shades of night; and who shall stand? I appeal to the lovers of liberty. But those few remaining descendants who now remain as the monument of the cruelty to those who came to improve our race and correct our errors; and as the immortal Washington lives endeared and engraven on the hearts of every white in America, never to be forgotten in time — even such is the immortal Philip honored, as held in memory by the degraded, but yet grateful descendants, who appreciate his character; so will every patriot, especially in this enlightened age, respect the rude yet all-accomplished son of the forest, that died a martyr to his cause, though unsuccessful, yet as glorious as the American Revolution. Where, then, shall we place the hero of the wilderness?

Justice and humanity for the remaining few prompt me to vindicate the character of him who yet lives in their hearts, and, if possible, melt the prejudice that exists in the hearts of those who are in the possession of his soil, and only by the right of conquest — is the aim of him who proudly tells you, the blood of a denominated savage runs in his veins. It is, however, true, that there were many who are said to be honorable warriors, who, in the wisdom of civilized legislation, think it no crime to reek their vengeance upon whole nations and communities, until the fields are covered with blood, and the rivers turned into purple fountains, while groans, like distant thunder, are heard from the wounded, and the tens of thousands of the dying, leaving helpless families depending on their cares and sympathies for life; while a loud response is heard floating through the air from the ten thousand Indian children and orphans, who are left to mourn the honorable acts of a few — civilized men.

Now, if we have common sense and ability to allow the differences between the civilized world and the uncivilized, we cannot but see that one mode of warfare is as just as the other; for, while one is sanctioned by authority of the enlightened and cultivated men, the other is an agreement according to the pure laws of nature, growing out of natural consequences; for nature always has her defence for every beast of the field; even the reptiles of the earth and the fishes of the sea have their weapons of war. But though frail man was made for a nobler purpose — to live, to love and adore his God, and do good to his brother; for this reason, and this alone, the God of heaven prepared ways and means to blast anger, man’s destroyer, and cause the Prince of Peace to rule, that man might swell those blessed notes. My image is of God, I am not a beast.

But as all men are governed by animal passions who are void of the true principles of God, whether cultivated or uncultivated, we shall now lay before you the true character of Philip, in relation to those hostilities between himself and the whites, and in so doing permit me to be plain and candid.

The first inquiry is, Who is Philip? He was the descendant of one of the most celebrated chiefs in the known world, for peace and universal benevolence towards all men; for injuries upon injuries, and the most daring robberies and barbarous deeds of death that were ever committed by the American Pilgrims, were with patience and resignation borne, in a manner that would do justice to any Christian nation or being in the world — especially when we realize that it was voluntary suffering on the part of the good old chief. His country extensive — his men numerous, so as the wilderness was enlivened by them, say a thousand to one of the white men, and they, also, sick and feeble — where, then, shall we find one nation submitting to tamely to another, with such a host at their command? For injuries of much less magnitude have the people called Christians slain their brethren, till they could sing, like Sampson. With the jaw bone of an ass have we slain our thousands, and laid them in heaps. It will be well for us to lay those deeds and depredations committed by whites upon Indians, before the civilized world, and then they can judge for themselves.

It appears from history that in 1614, “There came one Henry Harley unto me, bringing with him a native of the island of Capawick, a place in the south of Cape Cod, whose name was Epenuel. This man was taken upon the main by force, with some twenty-nine others,” very probably good old Massasoit’s men — see Harlow’s Voyage, 1611, “by a ship, and carried to London, and from thence to be sold for slaves among the Spaniards; but the Indians being too shrewd, or, as they say, unapt for their use, they refused to traffic in Indians’ blood and bones.” This inhuman act of the whites caused the Indians to be jealous forever afterwards, which the white man acknowledges upon the first pages of the history of his country. (See Drake’s Hist. Of the Indians, page 7.)

How inhuman it was in those wretches to come into a country where nature shown in beauty, spreading her wings over the vast continent, sheltering beneath her shades those natural sons of an Almighty Being, that shone in grandeur and lustre like stars of the first magnitude in the heavenly world; whose virtues far surpassed their more enlightened foes, notwithstanding their pretended seal for religion and virtue. How they could go to work to enslave a free people, and call it religion, is beyond the power of any imagination, and out-strips the revelation o God’s word. Oh, thou pretended hypocritical Christian, whoever thou art, to say it was the design of God, that we should murder and slay one another, because we have the power. Power was not given us to abuse each other, but a mere power delegated to us by the King of heaven, a weapon of defense against error and evil; and when abused, it will turn to our destruction. Mark, then, the history of nations throughout the world.

But notwithstanding the transgression of this power to destroy the Indians at their first discovery, yet it does appear that the Indians had a wish to be friendly. When the pilgrims came among them (Iyanough’s men), there appeared an old woman, breaking out in solemn lamentations, declaring one Capt. Hunt had carried off three of her children, and they would never return here. The pilgrims replied, that they were bad and wicked men, but they were going to do better, and would never injure them at all. And to pay the poor mother, gave her a few brass trinkets, to atone for her three sons, and appease her present feelings, a woman nearly one hundred years of age. Oh, white woman, what would you think, if some foreign nation, unknown to you, should come and carry away from you three lovely children, whom you had dandled on the knee, and at some future time you should behold them, and break forth in sorrow, with your heart broken, and merely ask, sirs, where are my little ones, and some one should reply, it was passion, great passion; what would you think of them? Should you not only think they were beings made more like rocks than men. Yet these same men came to these Indians for support, and acknowledge themselves, that no people could be used better than they were; that their treatment would do honor to any nation; that their provisions were in abundance; that they gave them venison, and sold them many hogsheads of corn to fill their stores, besides beans. This was in the year 1622. Had it not been for this humane act of the Indians, every white man would have been swept from the New England colonies. In their sickness too, the Indians were as tender to them as to their own children; and for all this, they were denounced as savages by those who had received all the acts of kindness they possibly could show them. After these social acts of the Indians towards those who were suffering, and those of their countrymen, who well knew the care their brethren had received of them; how were the Indians treated before that? Oh, hear! In the following manner, and their own words, we presume they will not deny.

December, (O.S.) 1620, the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and without asking liberty from any one, they possessed themselves of a portion of the country and built themselves houses, and then made a treaty, and commanded them to accede to it. This, if now done, would be called an insult, and every white man would be called to go out and act the part of a patriot, to defend their country’s rights; and if every intruder were butchered, it would be sung from every hill-top in the Union, that victory and patriotism was the order of the day. And yet the Indians (though many were dissatisfied), without the shedding of blood, or imprisoning any one, bore it. And yet, for their kindness and resignation towards the whites, they were called savages, and made by God on purpose for them to destroy. We might say, God understood his work better than this. But to proceed, it appears that a treaty was kept during forty years; the young chiefs during this time, was showing the pilgrims how to live in their country , and find support for their wives and little ones; and for all this, they were receiving the applauses of being savages. The two gentlemen chiefs were Squanto and Samoset, that were so good to the pilgrims.

The next we present before you are things very appalling. We turn our attention to dates 1623, January and March, when Mr. Weston Colony, came very near starving to death; some of them were obligated to hire themselves to the Indians, to become their servants, in order that they might live. Their principal work was to bring wood and water; but not being contented with this, many of the whites sought to steal the Indian’s corn; and because the Indians complained of it, and through their complaint, some one of their number being punished, as they say, to appease the savages. Now let us see who the greatest savages were; the person that stole the corn was a stout athletic man, and because of this, they wished to spare him, and take an old man who was lame and sickly, and that used to get his living by weaving, and because they thought he would not be of so much use to them, he was, although innocent of any crime, hung in his stead. Oh, savage, where art thou, to weep over the Christian’s crimes? Another act of humanity for Christians, as they all themselves, that one Capt. Standish, gathering some fruit and provisions, goes forward with a black and hypocritical heart, and pretends to prepare a feast for the Indians; and when they sit down to eat, they seize the Indians’ knives hanging about their necks, and stab them to the heart. The white people call this stabbing, feasting the savages. We suppose it might well mean themselves, their conduct being more like savages than Christians. They took one Wittumumet, the Chief’s head, and put it upon a pole in their fort; and for aught we know, gave praise to their God for success in murdering a poor Indian; for we know it was their usual course to give praise to God for this kind of victory, believing it was God’s will and command, for them to do so. We wonder if those same Christians do not think it the command of God, that they should lie, steal, and get drunk, commit fornication and adultery. The one is as consistent as the other. What say you, judges, is it not so, and was it not according as they did? Indians think it is.

But we will proceed to show another inhuman act. The whites robbed the Indian graves, and their corn, about the year 1632, which caused Chicataubut to be displeased, who was chief, and also a son to the woman that was dead. And according to the Indian custom it was a righteous act to be avenged of the dead. Accordingly he called all his men together, and addressed them thus: “When last the glorious light of the sky was underneath this globe, and birds grew silent, I began to settle, as is my custom, to take repose. Before my eyes were fast closed, methought I saw a vision, at which my spirit was much troubled. A spirit cried aloud, Behold, my son, whom I have cherished, she the paps that gave thee suck, the hands that clasped thee warm, and fed thee oft. Can thou forget to take revenge of those wild people that have my monument defaced in a despiteful manner, disdaining our ancient antiquities and honorable customs? See, now, the Sachem’s grave lies, like unto the common people of ignoble race, defaced. Thy mother doth complain, and implores thy aid against these thievish people, now come hither. If this be suffered, I shall not rest quiet within my everlasting habitation.” War was the result. And where is there a people in the world that would see their friends robbed of their common property, their nearest and dearest friends; robbed, after their last respects to them? I appeal to you, who value your friends, and affectionate mothers, if you would have them robbed of their fine marble, and your storehouses broken open, without calling those to account, who did it? I trow not; and if another nation should come to these regions, and begin to rob and plunder all that came in their way, would not the orators of the day be called to address the people and arouse them to war, for such insults? And, for all this, would they not be called Christians and patriots? Yes, it would be rung from Georgia to Maine, from the Ocean to the lakes, what fine men and Christians there were in the land. But when a few red children attempt to defend their rights, they are condemned as savages, by those, if possible, who have indulged in wrongs more cruel than the Indians.

But there is still more. In 1619 a number of Indians went on board of a ship, by order of their chief, and the whites set upon them, and murdered them without mercy; says Mr. Dermer, “without the Indians giving them the least provocation whatsoever.” Is this insult to be borne, and not a word to be said? Truly, Christians would never bear it; why, then, think it strange that the denominated savages to not? Oh, thou white Christian, look at acts that honored your countrymen, to the destruction of thousands, for much less insults than that. And who, my dear sirs, were wanting of the name of savage — whites or Indians? Let justice answer.

But we have more to present; and that is, the violation of a treaty that the Pilgrims proposed for the Indians to subscribe to, and they the first to break it. The Pilgrims promised to deliver up every transgressor of the Indian treaty, to them, to be punished according to their laws, and the Indians were to do likewise. Not it appears that an Indian had committed treason, by conspiring against the king’s life, which is punishable by death; and Massasoit makes demand for the transgressor, and the Pilgrims refuse to give him up, although by their oath of alliance they had promised to do so. Their reasons were, he was beneficial to them. This shows how grateful they were to their former safeguard, and ancient protector. Now, who would have blamed this venerable old chief if he had declared war at once, and swept the whole colonies away? It was certainly in his power to do it, if he pleased; but no, he forbore, and forgave the whites. But where is there a people, called civilized, that would to it? We presume, none; and we doubt but not the Pilgrims would have exerted all their powers to be avenged, and to appease their ungodly passions. But it will be seen that this good old chief exercised more Christian forbearance than any of the governors of that age, or since. It might well be said he was a pattern for the Christians themselves; but by the Pilgrims he is denounced as being a savage.

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My boy Carl G. prepping for tonights MSG show with Jay-Z. He used to be a partner in a punk rock club back home that hosted a few legendary shows and some amazing times. I am glad to see someone who did so much for the local scene doing so well.

American Nightmare at the Homebase in Wilkes Barre photo: The Devine Miss M

We all know what today is, and I think I still think it is a bit crazy that not only has all of this time past, but I still do not believe what happened so many years ago. I stood in the library of a school I used to teach at with the librarian and the principal of the school. The news was on and we thought there was an accident at the towers until we saw the second one hit and we knew that everything was different now. I went and made the copies I had planned on making, but I knew I was not going to use these. I watched the towers fall with my classes, and we got out of school shortly after. One thing I relayed to my students this rainy morning was how amazing the weather was on that day. They thought I was strange for talking about weather when something so tragic happened, but for those of us that remember (they were in 1st or 2nd grade), the weather was beautiful. I walked down Broad St. with what seemed like the entire population of the city of Philadelphia due to the subways and trains shutting down. It was just surreal. My roommate and girlfriend went to the art museum steps to just look over the city and think about how different tomorrow would be. We did not know what was coming next. Just a really strange feeling, and it feels like yesterday. If you would like, you can check out the video that some students and staff made for today.
We had some Indian food delivered for dinner. This one restersunt has a Friday delivery special and with the weather as it is today, delivery was nice to have. It was much less expensive than the place we usually go, and to be honest…it reflected it. The portion sizes were smaller which is good for a guy like me, but it simply did not taste as good as our standard Indian place which was sort of a bummer.

While eating dinner, the TV show extra was on. They had a video log of Mario Lopez training for the Malibu triathlon. He is no doubt in good beach shape, but I am not sure how strong he is. They showed him riding a mid nineties trek y-frame with spinergy wheels. I think he bought this bike with part of a paycheck from Saved by the Bell.

Mario Training. I am sure he can afford a new bike...maybe even one for tri!

There are a bunch of celebs in the Malibu tri, but one of my favorites is Terry Hatcher. I have been a sucker for her since the Superman show back in the 90s. She actually does ride a bunch and it looks like she has some clue about her bike, but we gotta get rid of those reflectors.

Terry Hatcher. Umm...I did not even notice the Micky Mouse Shrub behind her.

I think I blogged about wanting the new iPod nanno the other day. I headed out for it, and they were not in the retail stores which really sucked! Well I ended up getting it tonight. I got the orange 16gb. It worked out financially since i saved for an airport express which did not work as I had hoped so that got returned. I then used some very small bike shop checks, a crap load of change i found while cleaning and the raise i got today to offset most of it. I will pass my old one on to a loved one, so it does not end up in a junk drawer and I can make someone happy to have a new free iPod. I guess that covers most of it.
We went to the book store to read some magazines and avoid sitting around the house on a Friday night. When we got here we realized that we missed Lynda Carter! That is a huge bummer. I guess not too much so because we didn’t know she was going to be here, but running into wonder woman in the book store would be really cool. I wonder where she parked the jet….I couldn’t see it…comic humor I guess.

All of these things aren’t really substantial enough for me to write an entire article on them, so i’ll just put them all together here.

Firstly, i listened to the new Give Up The Ghost… sorry Dead Swans record, all the way through. This now means i can spout off as much as i like about how its either ‘the best hardcore record of all time’ (i actually saw someone say that) or alternatively ‘rubbish, overrated, boring, average…’ whatever. Personally I think people slating it are as equally wrong as those saying how amazing it is. It’s neither. It’s alright, but it’s unlikely I will ever go out of my way to listen to it again. That’s more or less everything i have to say on the matter, as i know how people were waiting with baited breath for me to deliver my all powerful verdict.

Secondly, if there ever was a case for forced steralisation, it’s been dealt a massive boost with the existeance of this…

http://www.geekologie.com/2009/07/sure_why_not_twihard_tattoo_ga.php

You shouldn’t need anyone to tell you why this is bad.

In other news England won The Ashes- yay! and Spurs continued their 100% start to the season with yet another win over West Ham.

More reviews up later…

By Emily Spence

8/16/09

Are inoculations and coercive military intervention the best strategies that the U.S. leadership can muster in response to worries erupting after the initial H1N1 outbreak? No, the innovative Chinese “plan” proves otherwise.

An associate of mine recently returned from being in China for three weeks. Describing some of her experiences, she mentioned that a team of medically trained officials with masks, gloves and assorted paraphernalia came onto her jet after it landed in Asia and individually checked each person onboard for flu symptoms.

At the same time, their examination went quickly as they had the protocol down pat with enough workers to run through the procedure in a highly efficient, orderly manner. In addition, the health workers took everyone’s temperature with a small round disk that was put on each person’s head for approximately two seconds. (Obviously, the object’s an incredibly fast thermometer, which was neither invented, nor in use in the USA. Why not?)

In addition, all people during the flight, including the airline staff, had to record information concerning any illnesses that they might have contracted using a passed out medical form much like the type, one can assume, that is filled out prior to appointments in many doctors’ offices in the USA. On it, they also had to share about their overall health, recent locations and associates for a given period of time so that possible Swine Flu exposure from others could be assessed.

In this way, the officials were able to catch, in advance, a number of people who were, as a precautionary measure, briefly quarantined and amongst whom, it turned out, some had contracted the flu while outside of China. They, also, nabbed from flights originating from the USA and other countries quite a number of people who showed flu symptoms upon the arrival of their jets in China after which health officers isolated them and, in separate quarters, their companions amongst whom the latter were released if they successfully cleared the incubation period.

Further, the group on the flight was not released from its protectively secluded section of the customs clearance area until all of the collected forms were read by a fair sized staff authorizing individual passengers one after another to move through the more typical customs checkpoint. Meanwhile, the travelers were made as comfortable as possible while waiting with polite helpful airport personnel expertly providing for their needs rather than their simply being left as a tired bedraggled crowd to their own devices. As such, the small additional waiting period was made endurable by friendly attentive helpers.

This program in mind, one ponders about the reason that the U.S. government, with so many desperate unemployed Americans extant, does not institute a similar plan. Setting it in place as a coordinated effort by the CDC, NIH, FDA, DHS, FAA, airport security directors and/or other groups would definitely curtail the need for an extraordinarily high number of vaccine doses due to it delimiting the outbreak. So it would be valuable even if maintaining such a regimen were to reallocate some of the excessive funds intended for pharmaceutical companies making the vaccine components at a very high profit margin and for which price should have been aggressively negotiated by a Congressional oversight committee.

Instead, must the USA fall back on drastic plans as a second line of defense in the absence of diligent pre-emptive measures such as the Chinese have thoughtfully undertaken? Are inoculations and military enforcement the best techniques that the U.S. leadership can muster in response to worries erupting after the initial H1N1 outbreak?

All considered, it might be important to note The Role of the Department of Defense During A Flu Pandemic as discussed by the authors Lawrence Kapp, Specialist in Military Manpower Policy, and Don J. Jansen, Analyst in Defense Health Care Policy. After all, there might be need for drastic aggressive measures if prohibitive ones aren’t set in place in advance. Yet, isn’t “an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure”?

Why are always more drugs and vigorous military force dished up by the USA as a panacea for much that ails? Can’t some innovative alternatives be devised? Seemingly, the answer is generally “no”.

So, it’s no wonder that the USA is probably the most Drugged-Up Nation in the world. Likewise, it’s no wonder that the Pentagon sends the armed service every which way to fan out across the globe. Unfortunately, palliative placation after a mess is created mixed with brute force is typically American.

Meanwhile, my friend stayed in a government building for part of her time in China. In relation, everyone in the abode had his temperature taken first thing in the morning before disembarkation from the dwelling and as a last action at night before bedtime. By such a procedure, plans to limit disease in government facilities were put in place and one can assume that similar practices were being carried out at military and prison sites, along with other tracking mechanisms, including perhaps ones similar to those that were carried out at the airport.

Are comparable deterrent actions being implemented at U.S. military bases around the world and on U.S. soil? Are they in place at American prisons, detention centers and other government run centers?

Apparently, no such procedures are adequately in place. Evidence for this neglect is ample such as the fact that, according to the account in “Swine flu hits Air Force operations in north Fla”, “Swine flu has hit the Air Force’s special operations command in northwest Florida. As many as 59 airmen at Hurlburt Field are suspected of having the virus, while another four have tested positive. First Special Operations Wing spokeswoman Amy Oliver said Wednesday they won’t be testing the probable cases.”

At the same time, no one can claim that population size, nor land mass extent, can serve as an impediment to preventative Swine Flu examinations being successfully conducted. If they can be undertaken in a vast sprawling land like China with over a billion people, they, certainly, can be achieved in other countries if there is sufficient willpower.

Evidently, though, it’s lacking in America as I, in contrast to my friend’s experience in China, did not see any measures related to flu control while recently stuck for around two hours in the international terminal at Logan Airport near Boston while waiting for a relative’s delayed flight from Orly Airport near Paris. No, there were no signs of any precautions being undertaken even on a modest scale.

On account, I tried to stay away from the milling-about mob as much as possible. Simultaneously, I witnessed arriving group after group pour through the customs doorways from assorted locations abroad after which they, with some in their bunch coughing and sneezing, pressed through the densely packed pick-up crowd.

In short, there were no checks as far as I could discern for incoming passengers and my relative confirmed that, indeed, this was seemingly the case. How amazing and slack!

Similarly, my companion back from China was equally astonished about the lax US standards relative to arriving flu cases. So one winds up questioning the stupidity of, pathetic obsession with and tremendous amount of money thrown at catching would-be terrorists in the U.S. and overseas while everything is so negligent and seemingly disorganized from a medical angle. Indeed, perhaps the wrong monsters and bogeymen are being overzealously chased.

After all, look who’s being hounded. For example, there’s the GRANDMOTHER AND RETIRED NURSE LABELED A TERRORIST , who’s the Clerk of a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) Meeting. Likewise, let’s not forget that there’s always Another five-year-old on the no-fly list: meet Sam Adams.

This in mind, there’s always an ongoing requirement for whistle blowers and watch dog groups like ACLU since the ACLU Releases Comprehensive Report On Patriot Act Abuses. At the same time, the wrongs are often so severe that even E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress – NYTimes.com.

All the same, some government officials, perhaps fanatical on certain fronts, are woefully neglectful in tracking the Swine Flu and protecting citizens from its spread. In disgust and dismay, one ponders about their priorities or, in the least, the reason that flu carriers aren’t traced as energetically as are little boys like Sam Adams, pacifistic religious leaders, other peaceniks and, half a world away, goat herders, who resent their nations being invaded and bombed to rubble with DU tipped projectiles by foreigners after which they embrace “the enemy” as a consequence.

Then again, why would some of these legislators wish to proactively prevent the spread of the Swine Flu? After all, ‘A Whole Industry Is Waiting For A Pandemic’. As epidemiologist Tom Jefferson states in his Spiegel international edition interview:

“It’s true that influenza viruses are unpredictable, so it does call for a certain degree of caution. But one of the extraordinary features of this influenza — and the whole influenza saga — is that there are some people who make predictions year after year, and they get worse and worse. None of them so far have come about, and these people are still there making these predictions. For example, what happened with the bird flu, which was supposed to kill us all? Nothing. But that doesn’t stop these people from always making their predictions. Sometimes you get the feeling that there is a whole industry almost waiting for a pandemic to occur.”

“The WHO and public health officials, virologists and the pharmaceutical companies. They’ve built this machine around the impending pandemic. And there’s a lot of money involved, and influence, and careers, and entire institutions! And all it took was one of these influenza viruses to mutate to start the machine grinding.”

“… With rhinoviruses, RSV and the majority of the other viruses, it’s hard to make a lot of money or a career out of it. Against influenza, though, there are vaccines, and there are drugs you can sell. And that’s where the big money from the pharmaceuticals industry is. It makes sure that research on influenza is published in the good journals. And that’s why you have more attention being paid there, and the entire research field becomes interesting for ambitious scientists.”

In a similar vein, Many in Congress Hold Stakes in Health Industry – NYTimes.com. As Greg Gordon and Andrew Donohue point out in “Members of Congress Face Conflict of Interest When it Comes to Drug Companies “, which contains an eye opening list of related articles:

“These senators, House members and their families own tens of millions of dollars in stock in drug manufacturers, whose profits could rise or fall depending on what Congress does about the soaring prices of medicine and the push for Medicare drug benefits.”

So, along with voting in favor of bailout funds to go to institutions in which they have holdings, why shouldn’t members of Congress be in favor of taxpayers’ money also going towards a gargantuan Swine Flu immunization program when it is, obviously, so personally lucrative? Would they care that “Conflict of interest taints vaccine approval process, charges US report “, posted at National Center for Biotechnology Information web site, exists? Are they concerned that lists like “Ten Things You’re Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine ” are formulated as warnings for an undiscerning public whose fright over the illness has been intentionally whipped up to an irrational frenzy by sensational MSM coverage? Of course, these reports make no difference since greed and alarm trumps all!

In the meantime, you won’t find me at another American airport any time soon. At the same time, anyone expecting me to join the obedient conformist throng to be a new vaccination guinea pig had better think twice about holding his breath while waiting for me to get in line.

Put another way: “Government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks” , according to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In view of that, I’m, frankly, not willing to gamble with my health at either a U.S. flight terminal or in experimental trials for hastily developed drugs.

Emily Spence is an author living in Massachusetts. She has spent many years involved in human rights, environmental and social services efforts.

Thomas Paine’s Corner wants to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to receive them, type “TPC subscription” in the subject line and send your email to willpowerful@hotmail.com

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This one is pretty old, but wanted to go ahead and use this post to start this category. ALSO, since the “Spotted” posts will be categorized, you (the reader), can go to the bottom of the page and click on the “Spotted” link which will show you all the posts that I will have made up until that point that will be under the banner of “Spotted”.
Now, this section/category will be of cars that I see in public that I like or want to discuss. I do not claim to own any of these, or have anything to do with them – unless otherwise stated. With all that out of the way, here is the initial (but aged) entry under the “Spotted” banner. Thinking about possibly using the gallery setup for the picture portion of each post…I will let it marinate and see what I think later on after this one. Enjoy!
PS- sorry for the crappy color, tried to fix it and it does look a lot better than the original. Camera is not too awesome…

Artist: American Nightmare
Track: “Your Arsonist”
Album: “Background Music”

You all know it’s true.

By Stephen Lendman

7/23/09

On February 24, Barack Obama told a joint session of Congress that “we must….address the crushing cost of health care….caus(ing) a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In (each of) the last eight years….one million….Americans have lost their health insurance….Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold….health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year.”

Behind the facade of reform, Obama and leading Democrats ruled universal, single-payer coverage off the table before debate even began. Instead they’ve focused on taxing more, rationing care, placing profits above human need, disdaining vital change, shifting the cost burden to individuals and requiring everyone to be insured; imposing fines up to $1000 for non-compliance, and making a broken system even worse.

On June 10, Physicians for a National Health Program advisor Walter Tsou told the House Education and Labor Committee:

“Attempting to reconcile the dual imperatives of universal coverage and cost control through alternative methods besides single payer is an exercise in futility. When some congressional leaders declare that single payer is off the table, they are in effect saying that insurers will be protected, leaving the pain to patients, taxpayers and health care providers.”

At the same hearing, the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee co-president Geri Jenkins said:

“The current system rations care based on an ability to pay. Right now we are the only nation on earth that barters human life for money.”

The administration and lawmakers have been unresponsive in moving ahead with House and Senate legislation to enrich health insurers, Big Pharma, and large hospital chains. It will ration care, curb expensive treatments and surgeries for those who can’t afford them, leave millions in the country uncovered, deny it altogether to undocumented immigrants even though they pay income, payroll and other taxes, and claim it’s real reform like they always do.

On May 20, S. 1099: Patients’ Choice Act was introduced “to provide comprehensive solutions for the health care system of the United States, and for other purposes.” It was referred to the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees (HELP) for consideration.

The Senate Finance Committee may craft its own version. On July 15 along party lines, HELP voted 13 – 10 to approve a $615 billion Democrat-sponsored bill that’s substantially similar to House legislation with provisions that Obama wants.

On July 14, HR 3200: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 was introduced “To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending, and for other purposes.” It was referred to the following House committees for consideration: Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Education and Labor, Oversight and Government Reform, and Budget.

House and Senate bills stress cost-containing “evidence-based” solutions with Obama appearing on a June 24 ABC News “Questions for the President: Prescription for America” infomercial touting his plan to carefully selected reporters and others invited to the White House East Room for a scripted Q & A.

Cutting costs and free-market solutions were emphasized, not real reform stressing human need with Obama saying “If we don’t drive down costs, then we’re not going to be able to achieve all of those other things.” Which ones he didn’t say before stressing the need for “evidence-based care,” meaning less is better for those unable to pay so that millions will be sacrificed on the alter of cost containment while enriching private insurers, Big Pharma, and large hospital chains that will flourish as community and public ones shut down for lack of enough resources.

Obama was callous in saying “Loading up on additional tests or additional drugs” must be curbed. “Maybe (some would be) better off not having….surgery, but taking (a) painkiller” instead. He showed disdain and indifference in stating that “the chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80% of the total health care bill out there” – the inference being ration their care and let ‘em die to cut costs.

At the same time, he favored big insurers by saying that “One of the incentives for (them) to get involved in this process is that potentially they’re going to have a whole bunch of new customers, paying customers….insurance companies will thrive” under this plan.

As for a “public option” to fill holes, Obama was receptive to alternatives but adamantly against universal single-payer coverage in saying: “For us to completely change our system, root and branch, would be hugely disruptive.” Only market-based solutions will be considered along with huge cost-containment measures, mostly affecting millions of working Americans, the poor, elderly, and chronically ill.

Over the next decade, Medicare and Medicaid may lose over $600 billion in funding with recipients, of course, making up the difference or foregoing care. About $317 billion is proposed for “efficiencies” with another $313 billion in cuts for hospitals that treat the poor and uninsured. Many of them are already severely strapped as unemployment soars, charitable donations are down, expenses rise, vital services and staffs have to be cut to stay afloat, and growing numbers won’t make it as economic conditions worsen.

Instead of helping to fill budget gaps, Obama plans less aid to shut them down. It will leave some areas dependent on more distant ones for treatment, and let large chains consolidate for greater dominance. Accessible quality care will be less available and affordable so, of course, patients will lose out – mostly the elderly, chronically ill, those on society’s lower rungs, and all working Americans because an uncaring administration and Congress threw them overboard for profit and “efficiencies.”

If “Obamacare” passes, most working people, the disadvantaged, and those singled out as less important will experience large rollbacks in quality, readily accessible coverage. For them, future health problems will be more hazardous than ever because a callous nation doesn’t care.

On July 17 as expected, two of three key House committees passed HR 3200. Largely along party lines, Ways and Means voted 23 – 18. Education and Labor approved 26 – 22 with a Kucinich amendment that may not survive a floor vote or make it to the Senate.

It leaves HR 3200 intact but lets states create single-payer plans. Eight are now considering them – California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri, and Washington with perhaps more to follow.

On June 11 in Pennsylvania, HealthCare4ALLPA organized over 400 people for a state capital rally, and its Executive Director Chuck Pennachio predicts pending legislation passage later in the year because bipartisan support backs it. So do most Pennsylvanians, and Governor Ed Rendell said he’ll sign what comes to his desk.

Kucinich hailed its importance in saying:

“There are many models of health care reform from which to choose around the world – the vast majority of which perform far better than ours. The one that has been the most tested here and abroad is single-payer. Under (it) everyone in the US would get a card that would allow access to any doctor at virtually any hospital. Doctors and hospitals would continue to be privately run, but the insurance payments would be in public hands. By getting rid of the for-profit insurance companies, we can save $400 billion per year and provide coverage for all medically necessary services for everyone in the US.”

Tens of billions more annually could be saved if the government negotiated drug prices like it does for the Veterans Administration and Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimated it would be $110 billion over 10 years for Medicare recipients alone, comprising about 15% of Americans. For the entire population, it would be much greater even though over-aged 65 people use more prescription drugs than any other age group.

A Fly in Obamacare’s Ointment

One emerged on July 16 when Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director Douglas Elmendorf told the Senate Budget Committee that health care bills under consideration will raise, not cut costs. “We do not see the sort of fundamental changes that would be necessary to reduce the trajectory of federal health spending. On the contrary, the legislation significantly expands the federal responsibility for health care costs” even though much of it is shifted to individuals.

Reversing its earlier opposition, the influential American Medical Association (AMA) endorsed the House bill after a new payments provision was added to halt scheduled 2010 cuts to doctors under Medicare.

AMA’s president, Dr. James Rohack, said:

“We pledge to work with the House committees and leadership to build support for passage of health reform legislation to expand access to high quality affordable health care for all Americans.” The AMA calls it “an important step, but one of many steps in the process,” including income-increasing measures for their members and “individual responsibility for health insurance, including premium assistance for those who need it.”

Opposing Obamacare are advocates for universal single-payer coverage like Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). On July 16, it said the House health reform bill is a “proven failure” and called for an amendment to overturn it and implement a Medicare-for-all system.

PNHP’s Dr. Quentin Young said similar state efforts repeatedly foundered. Citing Massachusetts’ experience, he explained that “The state is dumping 30,000 legal residents off insurance, and the largest safety-net hospital is suing the state for decimating the hospital’s budget to shore up reform. Meanwhile 1 in 6 (state) residents (can’t) pay their medical bills, and 18% (of them) with insurance skipped care last year because they couldn’t afford it. The Massachusetts model is no solution.” Neither are House and Senate bills that will make a broken system worse. It will backtrack from real reform and make it harder than ever to implement. The time to do it right is now.

That’s what Single Payer Action believes – “1,000,000 Strong for Single Payer, everybody in, nobody out.” They’re activists for “Medicare for all in our lifetimes.” They’re “sick that 22,000 Americans die every year from lack of health insurance; (that) health insurance companies (jack) up premiums while their….CEO’s make out like bandits.” They deplore pre-existing condition exclusions, “high deductibles, co-pays, and in-network, out-of-network Rube Goldberg” shenanigans in today’s system. They’ll keep confronting government and corporate officials until single-payer is the law of the land and America treats health care coverage like all other Western nations.

Democrats on Damage Control

After CBO Director Elmendorf’s cost alert, Rep. Mike Ross (D. Ark.) said “There’s no way they can pass this bill (as is) on the House floor. Not even close.” Other House and Senate Democrats also expressed unease. Damage control followed.

Speaker Pelosi said a bill is on track for a floor vote before the House and Senate August 10 through Labor Day weekend recess. “We’re in excellent shape,” she told reporters in response to questions about growing breaks in the ranks.

Obama was just as positive in saying “Those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken.” In a lengthy prepared statement, he cited “unprecedented progress” so far “that will finally lower costs, guarantee coverage, and provide more choice….Let me repeat: Health insurance reform cannot add to our deficit over the next decade and I mean it….eventually this is going to happen.”

Perhaps so with New York Times backing. A March 7 editorial said “President Obama has shown both courage and sound judgment pressing for quick action on comprehensive health care reform, even in the midst of the country’s deep economic crisis. He has rightly stressed the urgency of reining in skyrocketing health care costs that are straining the budgets of families, businesses, and federal and state governments.” Unmentioned was that insurance and drug company profiteers cause the problem or that universal single-payer coverage is the obvious, fairest, and only solution.

In a July 6 editorial, The Times referred to the “bloated, inefficient health care system,” but stressed cost control on the backs of recipients, not providers, and perhaps raising taxes.

“The first task is to find savings. Some respected analysts suggest that as much as 30 percent of all health care spending in this country – some $700 billion a year – may be wasted on tests and treatments that do not improve the health of the recipients.”

Unconsidered was the right of doctors and patients to assess problems and choose treatments, not elected officials, bureaucrats, unnamed analysts, or Times editorial writers. Yet the paper stressed the importance of “reallocating hundreds of billions of dollars from projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid (and) impos(ing) additional cuts after a few years if savings are less than projected.” Again, The Times and other media sources stress market-based solutions and are mindless to the harm that Obama’s plan will cause.

Possible Intrusive Provisions in Obamacare

On July 16, CNSNews.com’s Editor-in-Chief Terence Jeffrey covered another concern that needs watching. He cited the “official summary” of the approved Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s version of S. 1099 that:

“Authorizes a demonstration program to improve immunization coverage. Under this program, CDC will provide grants to states to improve immunization coverage of children, adolescents, and adults through the use of evidence-based interventions.” The word “interventions” causes concern. “States may use funds to implement interventions that are recommended (or perhaps mandated) by the Community Preventive Services Task Force, such as reminders or recalls for patients or providers, or home visits.” Including “home visits” suggests that perhaps immunization teams will intervene at personal residences to assure everyone is vaccinated if federal mandates order it.

S. 1099’s Title III is also worrisome: “Improving the Health of the American People.” Under Subtitle C: “Creating Healthier Communities,” the Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary may “establish a demonstration program to award grants to states to improve the provision of recommended immunizations for children, adolescents, and adults through the use of evidence-based, population-based interventions for high-risk populations.”

Under one of Title III’s provisions, grant money may be used for home visit immunization “interventions.” Specifically:

“Funds received under a grant under this subsection (Title III, Method E) shall be used to implement interventions that are recommended by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services (as established by the secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or other evidence-based interventions, including:”

“(A) providing immunization reminders or recalls for target populations of clients, patients, and consumers; (B) educating target populations and health care providers concerning immunizations in combination with one or more other interventions; (C) reducing out-of-pocket costs for families for vaccines and their administration; (D) carrying out immunization-promoting strategies for participants or clients of public programs, including assessments of immunization status, referrals to health care providers, education, provision of on-site immunizations, or incentives for immunization; (E) providing for home visits that promote (or perhaps mandate) immunization through education, assessments of need, referrals, provision of immunizations, or other services; (F) providing reminders or recalls for immunization providers; (G) conducting assessments of, and providing feedback to, immunization providers; or (H) any combination of one or more interventions described in this paragraph.”

All Vaccines Are Hazardous

In three recent articles, this writer cited scientific evidence of hidden dangers in all vaccines. They contain squalene-based adjuvants that cause a host of annoying to life-threatening autoimmune diseases and must be avoided, even if mandated. It’s also known that vaccines don’t protect against diseases they’re designed to prevent and often cause them.

Currently at issue is concern over Swine Flu and WHO’s June 11 declaration of a global pandemic even though no forensic evidence links any deaths to H1N1. Yet experimental, untested, toxic and extremely dangerous vaccines are being rushed to market for potentially mandated immunizations globally as the fall flu season approaches. If enacted in time, Obamacare may provide cover, and if not, other US laws empower the HHS and Defense secretaries to declare a national emergency and compel everyone in the country to be vaccinated, even though submitting risks serious health consequences.

Staying alert is essential as Obamacare’s passage will shift more of the health care burden on those who can least afford it and prepare Americans for hazardous mandatory Swine Flu vaccinations in the fall. Grassroots opposition to both schemes is vital to the health and well-being of everyone.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday – Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national issues. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Thomas Paine’s Corner wants to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to receive them, type “TPC subscription” in the subject line and send your email to willpowerful@hotmail.com

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Overview:

Is the USA turning into a plutocratic, oligarchical or fascist nation? A growing body of evidence seems to suggest that the answer is affirmative. Especially this is likely the case while the country and its citizens continue to be plundered by greedy affluent lawmakers, banksters and entrepreneurs for personal gain. Meanwhile, it would be well for them and us to note Justice Louis D. Brandeis’s implicit warning that “we can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

By Emily Spence

7/11/2009

Many people are raised with an orientation, indeed an imperative sense, that puts compassion and ethics — ones values and principles — as central to their dealings with others. This foundation becomes part of their identities and shapes the directions that their lives take.

One does not have to look only at charitable institutions to find this to be the case. One can see it in the teacher who works day after day against daunting odds to uplift materially disadvantaged children living in extreme slums. Further, the Girl Scouts, who devise a special project at a senior center, exemplify this mind set when they earnestly strive to bring joy to the elderly of whom many are on their last legs. Likewise, the social workers tirelessly toiling to help families whose homes have been foreclosed and the countless volunteers who gather supplies for victims of disasters typify this focus.

Therefore, one has to wonder about the morality of numerous U.S. government and business leaders, especially the ones who routinely put their own limitless self-gain above the needs of others. What sorts of people are these? Just how did their families and society in general fail them in matters of conscience?

In considering the answers, one often winds up incredulous and outraged by their actions. After all, what kinds of individuals lie about their underlying motives while they systematically destroy the people, the culture and the country of Iraq primarily in order to wrestle control of their oil for companies that favor American interests? What sort of individuals condone torture as their nation’s covert plan to help ensure that domination of the Middle East can be better assured? What sort of individuals publicly talk of service to society and change in which we can all believe while expanding resource wars in order to secure geo-political supremacy over regions rich in fossil fuels at a time during which scientific evidence inarguably points to the need to direct national focus on benign forms of energy?

Certainly, they are aware that this redirection of plans is a necessary precondition for future generations to not face a living hell on Earth due to climate change effects. Surely they must know that they have no moral or legal right to invade other lands for coveted war spoils regardless of the degree that they seem essential to have. Do they?

It is especially worthwhile to ponder the responses to these kinds of questions as one, also, considers that these same individuals, of whom many are U.S. Congressmen, annually allocate fifty-four percent of the federal budget to military related endeavors. Simultaneously, they are mandated to hand over nineteen percent further to the ongoing payment of interest on monies currently owed to maintain their present scale of funding for armed service, bailouts and other reckless ventures.

These circumstances leave a whopping twenty-seven percent left for ALL other U.S. programs unless, of course, further loans beyond the ongoing intended ones are taken out, i.e., to purchase Swine Flu vaccines. With these additional costs in mind, one can anticipate that legislators will continue in arrangements to borrow staggering sums of money to sustain their disastrous spending patterns, as is mentioned in “The U.S. Federal Budget Pipeline: Where Do The Dollars Drain?” All the while that individual States, like California, and individuals continue to be devastated by the indirect consequences.

In a similar vein, one questions about the morality of people who keep supporting big business practices and amassing wealth for themselves [1] like modern duplicates of mad King Midas while an increasing number of their fellow Americans wind up jobless and homeless. Meanwhile, a backdrop like this leads Ramsey Clark to suggest, “But we’re not a democracy. It’s a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we’re a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy.”

Accordingly, U.S. employment positions continue to transfer to offshore sites to bolster a plan for maximum profits for the already grossly enriched at the expense of the populace at large. Analogously for companies on U.S. soil, cutbacks and closures have a similarly deleterious effect in terms of under and unemployment.

In relation, the public, obviously, cannot make lots of purchases while an inadequate supply of money is coming into households during which time store shelves are overstocked due to past practices wherein the market became saturated with far too many items for a wide variety of products. Consequently, the manufacture of goods grinds to an almost complete halt and the economy continues to tumble.

Yet no Works Progress Administration (WPA) and extended Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) programs are put in place to make up for the financial deficits that average people are experiencing even though the move could, indirectly, jumpstart spending. Further, the groups that stand to fabulously benefit from the status quo remaining as is continue to do so even as the masses flounder.

As Paul Kane points out in “Lawmakers Reveal Health-Care Investments” [2]:

“The list of [lawmakers] who have personal investments in the corporations that will be affected by the [health-care] legislation — which President Obama has called this year’s highest domestic priority — includes Congress’s most powerful leaders and a bipartisan collection of lawmakers in key committee posts. Their total health-care holdings could be worth $27 million, because congressional financial disclosure forms released yesterday require reporting of only broad ranges of holdings rather than precise values of assets.”

“Health care is not the only industry that is both heavily regulated by Congress and heavily invested in by lawmakers. As The Washington Post reported Thursday, more than 20 members of the House leadership and the House Financial Services Committee hold investments in companies that received more than $200 billion in federal bailouts.”

“On the Senate banking committee, at least a half-dozen senators had significant investments in companies that benefited from the $700 billion bailout legislation that the panel helped draft last fall. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) reported $18,000 to $95,000 in investments in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds, and also that he sold at least $15,000 in Fannie ’step-up’ bonds at the end of last year. The committee’s ranking Republican, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (Miss.), reported holding $260,000 to $850,000 in money market and retirement accounts with Countrywide, Citigroup and Wachovia.”

Now contrast their bounty with these stark facts of which all were derived from Michael Moore’s investigations. [3] (One can agree with his overall perceptions or not. Either way, it does not change the basic actualities.)

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention actually reported that 54.5 million people were uninsured for at least part of the year. Health Insurance Coverage: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey, 2006. Centers for Disease Control. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/insur200706.pdf“

“According to the most recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office issued in January of this year [2007], for the ten-year period, 2006 through 2016, the projected spending [for medical purposes] is $848 billion.”The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008 to 2017,” Congressional Budget Office, January 2007. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/77xx/doc7731/01-24-BudgetOutlook.pdf“

“At one point, Moore notes where the U.S. ranks in terms of health care around the world.’The United States slipped to No. 37 in health care around the world, just slightly ahead of Slovenia,’ he said. That ranking is based on a 2000 report from the World Health Organization…”

Meanwhile, the healthcare industry lobbyists are trying their utmost to guarantee that there are no major shifts in US medical policies. Why would they press for alternatives when it has proven to be such a boon for them and many legislators to keep everything the same? Therefore, they throw almost a million and a half dollars per day at the effort to shape Congressional opinion while sometimes bribing or threatening government officials in the process. [4]

Concurrently, let’s not forget that these tempted lawmakers are the very same ones who vote on war and black ops budgets for which, if they make certain choices, they’ll be lavishly compensated with money for their reelection campaigns, as well as receive stock option tips and other perks, such as highly lucrative job offers after they leave public office. All considered, what a boon such alluring plans en toto have been!

For example, “members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon.”[5] At the same time, the heads of companies that receive favorable legislation pertaining to subsidies and bailout cash do not make out poorly either. As such, the salaries for directors of certain organizations and their bonus payments are considerable and, for the ones who don’t get direct funding, they still make out well due to favorable deals made relative to resources (i.e., the petrol, minerals, metals, etc.) indirectly obtained through U.S. military assaults.

As such, they can do well for themselves even when they do not make out as well as the banking/oil Rockefeller family or the Rothschilds, with their respective holdings equaling roughly (US) $11 trillion and (U.S.) $100 trillion according to Gaylon Ross Sr., author of Who’s Who of the Global Elite. [6] Correspondingly, Bank of America chief Ken Lewis made a mere $24.8 million in 2007 while performance bonuses were lavishly paid out in this banksters’ paradise, one managed so poorly that it has taken in at least $25 billion in bailout funds. [7]

This sort of happening being more the norm than not, it is apparent that no importance has been attached to Abraham Lincoln’s counsel: “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in High Places will follow, and the Money Power of the Country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the People, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of war.”

With the beefed up surveillance of private citizens by operatives in assorted government agencies and the above sorts of disasters, some researchers are understandably questioning whether the U.S. is slipping towards a permanent plutocratic, oligarchical and/or fascist state. If so for the latter condition, the opinions of Naomi Wolf and Laurence Britt, as well as this following description from the Wikipedia anti-capitalism section, [8] might have an uncomfortable ring of familiarity.

“…Fascism protected the land-owning elites and is regarded as a reaction against the rising power of the working class…

“Adolf Hitler stated in Mein Kampf that ‘the attitude of the State towards capital would be comparatively simple and clear. Its only object would be to make sure that capital remained subservient to the State’. Hitler made a clear distinction between ‘capital which is purely the product of creative labour and … capital which is exclusively the result of financial speculation.’…

“Marxists argue that fascism is a form of state capitalism that emerges when laissez-faire capitalism is in crisis and in need of rescue by government intervention. Fascists have operated from a Social Darwinist view of human relations. Their aim has been to promote ’superior’ individuals and weed out the weak. In terms of economic practice, this meant promoting the interests of successful businessmen while destroying trade unions and other organizations of the working class. Lawrence Britt suggests that protection of corporate power is an essential part of fascism. Historian Gaetano Salvemini argued in 1936 that fascism makes taxpayers responsible to private enterprise, because ‘the State pays for the blunders of private enterprise… Profit is private and individual. Loss is public and social.’

“Classical liberal economist Ludwig von Mises argued that fascism was collectivist and anti-capitalistic. According to Mises, fascism maintained an illusion of respecting private property, since individuals could not use their property how they wished because the government frequently enacted regulations (on behalf of government allies in the business sector) that were not in line with the functioning of a free market.

“Historian Robert Paxton contends that fascists’ anti-capitalism was highly selective; the socialism that the fascists wanted was National Socialism, which denied only foreign or enemy property rights (including that of internal enemies). They did, however, cherish national producers.”

One might add that they particularly cherish fiscal producers, wizards that magically pull a seemingly endless stream of money out of the air for their favorite recipients. As H. L. Birum, Sr., suggests, “The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a banking fraud and an unlawful crime against civilization. Why? Because they ‘create’ the money made out of nothing, and our Uncle Sap Government issues their ‘Federal Reserve Notes’ and stamps our Government approval with NO obligation whatever from these Federal Reserve Banks, Individual Banks or National Banks, etc.”

Moreover, one can easily supplement his views with those of John Adams: “Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will do good.” (Can you imagine the comments that John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and other founders of the nation would make were they to observe a number of contemporary Congressional activities in relation to banks and other organizations?)

At the same time, it’s not all that hard to conclude that, for some time, U.S. government policy has been one typically called “last man standing.” In other words, it is to throw the majority of federal funds into an effort to commandeer the last amounts of nonrenewable (and, in some cases, renewable, although depleting) critical material goods (through global resource battles, programs like NAFTA and so forth) with a sort of survival of the fittest (a modernized Social Darwinian derivative) model in mind.

As Henry Kissinger quipped, “Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy” and “control oil and you control nations; control food and you control the people.” In other words, let’s use the troops to enforce hegemony everywhere!

With such a Machiavellian frame of reference for expert guidance, the majority of US federal funds, of course, will continue to be slated for such endeavors as broadening wars, interest payments on further borrowed money and ongoing bailouts. In a similar vein, the fittest do not include the looted American middle and poor classes. They are immaterial and, as such, are mostly ignored or, if in terribly dire straits, pushed out of homes to live in city streets (90,000 in L.A. alone), tent cities (updated Hoovervilles) and car parks if they are fortunate enough to still have a vehicle in which to live after their domiciles are foreclosed and their jobs are removed. (Meanwhile, such loss is simply another program to enhance the monetary advancement by the elites — the ones fittest to survive in the ever worsening environmental and financial downturns brought on by draconian economic growth policies.)

In the end, one has to ask whether practices that are aimed at government and business leaders mutually servicing each other represent the best interests of Americans and other peoples of the world. Assuming that this is not the case, great accountability must be demanded of these so-called leaders.

If they cannot be made to conform to reasonable moral codes of conduct, the USA will surely become a terrible place to be a citizen for the majority of people who find that, while conditions in their personal lives deteriorate, the wealthy elites make out just fine due to self-enriching agendas, like deficient public health-care programs, that put everyone else in jeopardy. Put another way, “we can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” – Justice Louis D. Brandeis

Emily Spence is an author living in Massachusetts. She has spent many years involved in human rights, environmental and social services efforts.

References:

[1] Google Answers: average income of members of the u.s. congress (http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=85943)

and The Congressional Millionaires Club (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11104.htm).

[2] Lawmakers Reveal Health-Care Investments (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/12/AR2009061204075.html?sid=ST2009061204093).

[3] MichaelMoore.com : SiCKO : ‘SiCKO’ News : AP vs. THE … (http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9990).

[4] Health-care industry spending over $1.4 million per day on lobbying (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/05/AR2009070502770.html),

Ethics Panel Rebukes DeLay (washingtonpost.com) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63387-2004Sep30.html),

DownWithTyranny!: Has The Heath Care Industry Bribed Enough … (http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/03/has-heath-care-industry-bribed-enough.html),

MEDIGATE (http://lautenberg.senate.gov/documents/domestic/medicare/medigate.pdf),

Econbrowser: Fiscal Exposure and Medicare Part D (http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2006/01/fiscal_exposure.html),

Lies, bribes and hidden costs – Salon.com (http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/04/05/medicare/)

and Who tried to bribe Rep. Smith? – By Timothy Noah – Slate Magazine (http://www.slate.com/id/2091787/).

[5] FINANCE: U.S. Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars – … (www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41893).

[6] The True Evil Doers (http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2009/06/the_true_evil_d.html).

[7] Obama talks tough on CEO pay – Feb. 4, 2009 (http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/04/news/obama.exec.pay.fortune/index.htm),

Executive PayWatch Database (http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/ceou/database.cfm),

Bank Of America To Get Billions More In Bailout … (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/14/bank-of-america-to-get-bi_n_158034.html),

BANK OF AMERICA HAS YET TO REPAY BAILOUT FUNDS TO TARP – New … (http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182009/business/bailout_bonus_at_bofa_174854.htm)

and BofA receives another $20 billion from U.S. bailout fund – … (http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news/companies/bofa_new_bailout/index.htm).

[8] Naomi Wolf: Fascist America, in 10 easy steps | World news | … (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/24/usa.comment),

George W Bush and the 14 points of fascism – Project for the … (http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm),

and Anti-capitalism – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-capitalism).

Thomas Paine’s Corner wants to periodically email you links to the most recent material and timeless classics available on our diverse and comprehensive site. If you would like to receive them, type “TPC subscription” in the subject line and send your email to willpowerful@hotmail.com

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Thoughts of a Summer Solstice–What Are We Now?

By Gary Corseri

7/3/09

Those who study signs and omens may find the conjunction of Father’s Day and the summer solstice on the very same day—a mere 13 days before the onanistic, self-congratulatory celebrations of the birth of our lost Republic, with its concomitant nod to the “wisdom” of the “Founding Fathers”—a matter for concern, or whimsy … or fantastic speculation and extrapolation. The rest of us will mutter “mere coincidence,” rush to the malls to remember dear old dad, fire up the grills, and wonder perhaps if time is shrinking?

After all, wasn’t it just a few days ago, on “Memorial Day,” that we unfurled the flags, honoring the Empire’s liveried fallen? That was for a war that started 95 years ago and seems never to have ended—since the “enemy” is still at the gates and threatening anew our long lost Republic.

Haven’t we merely been fox-trotting in place after the last solstice’s showing of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” retaining heat for the next time we plunge into the river to save an angel–or Zuzu’s petals unfold in our pockets? As the crookster said in “Dirty Harry”: I’se gots to know: Just when did life become so ritualized, so formulaic, such a corporate-media and corporate-government controlled shazaam? Just when did culture lose its sap and vim and capacity to surprise, nourish and enlighten? Particularize certain days, designate some for celebration or mourning, some for remembrance—of parents, sweethearts, children, et. al.—and succeed in zapping wonder from the numerous, amorphous, undesignated days—days reduced to plodding through the morass of details, interruptions, interventions that constitutes our daily “life” together in the electronic matrix.

In passing, some fun facts about the solstice: 1. Re our pagan ancestors—and, yes, we all had pagan ancestors (even those later chosen by “G_d”!)—our original “fathers” and mothers of the tribes called the Midsummer moon the “Honey Moon,” named for the mead made from fermented honey—a central part of the summer solsticial wedding ceremonies (droit de seigneur came later—a salacious wink to feudalism’s/capitalism’s, all-embracing, gilded, purple power). 2. Those jovial pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires: couples would leap through the flames, believing their crops would grow as high as their leaps. 3. Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic: crypts opened, evil spirits spun webs around the innocent; garlands of herbs and flowers were thought to thwart the worst of them. And Love could make fools of all—then, as now.

And here are some un-fun facts (courtesy of Jason Ditz) about this solstice in 2009: 1. At least 70 Iraqis were killed in a truck bombing in Kirkuk—and more than 200 wounded in a blast against a Shi’ite Mosque. 2. The attack appears to have been the deadliest in nearly two months. 3. “Violence in Iraq had been escalating in March and April, but US forces appeared to feel vindicated that this was an aberration when May’s death toll was somewhat lower.” The bombing in Kirkuk suggests “the trend of rising sectarian violence is far from over.”

Our present disjunctive world system could be compared to the “bizarro world,” of the classic Superman comics where good is bad, up is down—the world is a cube and all is backwards. But that, at least, would imply some kind of order. Maybe so. … The Chaos Theorists tell us that even chaos in extremis has a feedback loop of information and order is reasserting itself. Yin and yang, Shiva and Vishnu bound together like two suns exchanging star stuff. All well and good for the metaphysicians among us. For the rest: “Man that is born or woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”

Joe Bageant writes about our “holographic” reality in which we lose ourselves, lose our core identities and empathic humanity in the projections of sounds and images that envelop us—and, indeed, flow through us, absorbing us and projecting our “selves” back to us. And so the solstice comes and goes without a nod to its “magic”—white or black–and the herb that might protect us from the evil spirits unleashed at this time is a contraband “weed” draining in the dreamscape rubbish heap of a countercultural movement that spawned the last great effervescence of the arts and social consciousness—and, not incidentally, the last great peace movement–in our moribund Republic.

But … we still have our bonfires (of the vanities)! Or, at least, barbecues. …

Two days later and the news is all about Iran. Macho Republican leaders like Senator Lindsey Graham-cracker have been calling Obama weak. In the background, Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger—Dr. Strangelove is still very much alive, it seems, and still carrying water for the Rothschilds-Rockefellers banking interests—both of them wonder in basso profundo if this isn’t the best time to send predator drones up the mullahs mulish asses? Mr. Obama takes a defiant—though certainly not a Larry-Craig-“wide”–stance and assures the hand-picked press and the TV audience around the world that he isn’t weak—and that he really is trying to kick his smoking habit. Meantime, kinky Kim Jong Il has been threatening to blow up Waikiki Beach, but we do want freedom-loving people all over the world—with the exceptions of Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela and a few score other places—to know that we are closely monitoring the situation, our C.I.A. is definitely not even a teensy-weensy bit involved, and we are without a doubt the greatest nation that will ever exist in the whole wide world—if not the ever-expanding Universe! Further, we really want all those in Bigscreenland to know that the Iranians can’t wait to enjoy the blessings of our unstolen elections—remember President Gore?—not to mention our level of health care and our overflowing prisons where we stuff our malcontents, losers, homeless and foreclosed upon, and other assorted sub-human detritus. What is wrong with these pix?

For one thing: there is nary a mention of the fact that 40 more Iraqis have been blown up—this time in Baghdad. I watch Brian Williams and this new guy with the goatee talk for ten minutes about how the people in Iran really, really, really want democracy. A young woman has been killed in the street and they show the awful picture of her bleeding there, her eyes wide with wonder as her life ebbs away. I grieve for her. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I grieve for the Iraqis blown up today and blown up 2 days ago. One could also say: wrong place, wrong time. But that would be a dismissal. There is no dismissal here. Brian and Chris Goatee don’t even mention Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, who no doubt left their bloody sandals behind. It’s like they never were. It’s, like, existential, man! Background muzak (to be sung to the strains of “Who’s Sorry Now?” circa early ‘60’s, Connie Francis much preferred: “We’re leaving now; it’s their heartache now. …”)

I wanted to talk about barbecues as we scrape the corroding grills for the approaching celebrations. A few facts culled from the Financial Times (so you know they must be right because, let’s face it, their bloody, elitist, aristocratic, royalist, you-can-kiss-my-arse system, actually educates its unwashed “yearning to breathe free” masses better than ours—and they get decent healthcare thrown in to boot—as I learned to my chagrin in the early 80’s, laid up for 12 days with a rather embarrassing ailment related to salmonella or amoebic dysentery—possibly both—and definitively traced to bad chicken eaten on an American airliner on the way over. I was quarantined, had a private room. Didn’t cost me a half penny, and the nurses were pretty … but that’s a different story.)

So, here goes, ye exultant patriots: The US Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association estimates that about 50 percent of all American households will light barbecues on the Fourth of July. Most of these households will use charcoal rather than wood. Charcoal is easier to handle—who chops their own wood anymore?—and it burns at a higher temperature. On the glorious Fourth, 2300 acres of forest will go up in smoke in little backyard grills, emitting some 225,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Breathing easier? In the mood for firecrackers and hot dogs? Let’s consider the lowly, symmetrical briquettes: they’re bound with borax, have had nitrite added to make them ignite easily—after we soak them with lighter fluid!—and they’ve been mixed with lime to whiten the ash for a nice aesthetic affect. The concentration of dioxins in the vicinity of an “average” barbecue is “equivalent to 220,000 burning cigarettes.”

According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, “When fat from meat, poultry or fish drips on to hot coals or stones [carcinogenic] polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are deposited back on to food through smoke and flare-ups.”

Mah fellah Americans … Bon apetit!

What a fine solstice we’ve been having! Latest AP news as of 6/24/09: “An airstrike believed to have been carried out by a U.S. drone killed at least 60 people at a funeral in South Waziristan, Pakistan, according to residents of the area and local news reports.” Of course, it’s only “according to” them. Brian and Chris and Katie, Rush and Bill and Sean and even the lib blowhards like Olbermann, Shultz and Maddow are bound to ignore it. As George the Wimp Bush used to say: “Wouldn’t be prudent.”

Also today, the death toll in the bombing in Baghdad of two days ago has now been raised to 52. Still no pictures. Obama has not called a press conference to aver that Iraqis are striving for freedom and the whole world is watching. Apparently, no one has yet found any weapons of mass destruction and the yellow cake uranium was … just yellow cake! Saddam Hussein is still dead, along with a million other Iraqis who were in the wrong place at the wrong time when our long-time lost Republic decided it needed to build the largest Embassy-cum-Fortress-cum-Listening Post—cum Military Forward Thrust Encampment smack-dab in the cunny of Baghdad.

So I guess my question is, Just what the hell are we supposed to be commemorating and celebrating on the 4th of July? That strange concoction of revolutionaries—democrats and slave-holders, visionaries and anti-tax men, criminals, freemasons, adventurers, horse-thieves, horse-traders, farmers, “winter soldiers and sunshine patriots”—had more in common in terms of their perception of time, their mores, the general conditions of their lives—more in common with the Gracchus brothers of ancient Rome than with anything going down in the multiplex Empire today. So, other than distraction, hocus-pocus and mesmerism—what’s the point?

Which, of course, answers my own question. Hot dog and hamburger buns and circuses of “bombs bursting in air”—a pyrotechnic display of “sound and fury signifying nothing.”

And the masses will be taken in again. Another “holiday” will come and they’ll forget the outsourced jobs, and the TARP funds and “stimulus packages” that put their tax money in the hands of banksters; they’ll forget about “change we can believe in,” and trudging through the snow in New Hampshire and Iowa so ready to believe once more, God Almighty just once again let it be so: the City on the Hill, “purple mountain majesties,” “America, the Beautiful.”

So ready, so willing, so eager to believe that the System can work, that the People, The People, Yes!—have a voice.

Back to the Financial Times. Just before our ne plus ultra election, columnist David Walker (at the time of the writing, the comptroller general of the U.S., and head of the US Government Accountability Office) proffered the de rigeur comparison of America and Rome. More things to worry about; we compare in these ways: “First … a decline in moral values and political civility. … [including] the devaluation of life, greater self-centeredness by individuals and increased partisanship and ideological divides in Congress.” (Throw in the death of the extended family, and now the nuclear, in the last 60 years and I’d say we compare fairly well with the height of the Roman orgiastic period and the plutocrat Cicero railing against his maligned victim Catiline.) “Second, we now have an overextended military around the world.” (Mr. Walker reminds us that our military is “unmatched,” but, alas, it is “under stress.”) “Last, there is fiscal irresponsibility by the central government. Our debt ratios are set to increase dramatically when the baby boomers retire.”

Of course, the solution to the last part of this triumvirate of problems is simple: Don’t let the baby boomers retire! And, indeed, in recent months all those California-dreamin’, woozy Woodstock refugees have moved their retirement dates back from a lusty 62—thank goodness for Viagra and Dos Equis!—to a more shuffle-boarding-ready 67 or, even, sweet Jesus, 70, or phlegmatic Walmart-greeter, 75! We now can answer McCartney: “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?” Well … actually … no. …

All of which leads me to conclude—as the latest news drones in the background—another 76 barbecued in Iraq today!—all of which leads me to conclude: on the 4th of July, the rational man and woman, the feeling ones, the sensible ones, the unclouded, the mind-free, the spiritually unshackled, will do everything they can to eschew participation in that idiot display of hubris, chutzpah, chicanery, vaudeville and irrelevance. Perhaps he or she will take refuge, too, not in the verities of the lost Republics of ancient Rome or almost equally ancient America, but in the still fresh insights of the Taoist poet-philosopher who wrote: “By and by comes the great awakening, and then we find out that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake now, and flatter themselves they know.” If Chuangtse’s words pry open consciousness a little, let us consider where and how we have strayed down the thorny, primrose paths of power and self-aggrandizement, and reflect on the words of the disciple’s teacher:

“Cultivated in the individual, character will become genuine; cultivated in the family, character will become abundant; cultivated in the village, character will multiply; cultivated in the state, character will prosper; cultivated in the world, character will become universal.”

Gary Corseri has published his work at Thomas Paine’s Corner, CounterPunch, Dissident Voice, The New York Times, Village Voice and hundreds of other websites and publications. His books include the novels “Holy Grail, Holy Grail” and “A Fine Excess” and the anthology, “Manifestations” (edited). He has taught at US and Japanese universities and in US prisons and public schools. His dramas have been performed on Atlanta PBS and elsewhere, and he has performed his work at the Carter Presidential Library and at coffee shops and universities.

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By Tom Burghardt

6/19/09

You have to hand it to Pentagon securocrats and their corporate cronies, they never miss an opportunity to demonize, vilify or otherwise slander domestic political dissent as “terrorism.”

The American Civil Liberties Union reported June 10 that “Anti-terrorism training materials currently being used by the Department of Defense (DoD) teach its personnel that free expression in the form of public protests should be regarded as ‘low level terrorism’.”

According to the civil liberties’ watchdog: “Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course, the DoD asks the following: ‘Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?’ To answer correctly, the examinee must select ‘protests’.”

Yes, you read that correctly. The Pentagon has designed a training system that puts you in the crosshairs! And why not? Back in 2003 Mike Van Winkle, the spokesman for the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) said of antiwar demonstrators brutally attacked by riot cops at the Port of Oakland during a protest against the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq,

“You can make an easy kind of a link that, if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that’s being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that (protest),” said Van Winkle, of the state Justice Department. “You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act.” (Ian Hoffman, Sean Holstege and Josh Richman, (”Intelligence Agency Does Not Distinguish Between Terrorism and Peace Activism,” Oakland Tribune, May 18, 2003)

Pretty ironic coming from a sprawling bureaucracy currently engaged in two aggressive wars of conquest for whom dropping a proverbial dime on unsuspecting goat herders or wedding parties is a walk in the park! Not to mention Joint Special Operations Command’s “executive assassination ring” operating out of the former Vice President’s office, who without so much as a by-your-leave, bumped-off official regime enemies.

This latest outrage follows a consistent pattern by the Pentagon that the ACLU has called “an egregious insult to constitutional values.”

As Antifascist Calling revealed in previous reports, the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is now deployed inside the United States “under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the “service component” of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM).

AFC also reported that since NORTHCOM’s launch in 2002, it has been mired in controversy. Among its more dubious accomplishments were illegal domestic spying operations in conjunction with the Pentagon’s shadowy Counter Intelligence Field Activity (CIFA). Before being run to ground, like many Defense Department intelligence operations, CIFA was heavily outsourced to security corporations. More than 900 employees out of a total work force of 1,300 were high-paid contractors.

A veritable honey-pot for defense grifters such as Mitchell Wade, the notorious ex-chairman of MZM Inc. and his sidekick, disgraced former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), eventually imprisoned when a cash-and-hookers-for-contracts scandal signaled the (temporary) eclipse of neoconservative stalwarts in Congress.

Despite CIFA’s shut-down last year, its TALON database (Threat and Local Observation Notices), which contained hundreds of files on antiwar activists, was shunted over to the FBI for safekeeping in its Guardian database, one component of the Bureau’s massive Investigative Data Warehouse.

Its a safe bet however, that the illegal collection of intelligence on domestic dissidents continues apace.

Inside the Antiterrorism-Training-Complex

While the ideological mind-set driving domestic counterterrorism policies may not have changed much in the intervening years since Van Winkle’s provocative statement, security firms and a veritable army of consultants drive America’s Homeland Security-Industrial-Complex.

As USA Today reported in 2006, “the homeland security business is booming, and now it eclipses mature enterprises like movie-making and the music industry in annual revenue.” And is likely to continue along that trajectory well into the future as new official enemies, particularly in the heimat come on-line.

“Specialists” in this lucrative market are former Special Operations soldiers or retired Military Intelligence, FBI or CIA officers who supplement their pensions by plowing the green pastures of the “antiterrorism training” industry. Indeed, there’s even an industry association (one of several), the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP).

According to a blurb on the group’s website, IACSP was formed to create a “center of information and educational services for those concerned about the challenges now facing all free societies” and “is open to anyone with a sincere professional interest in understanding the security threat posed by terrorism and related conflicts.” The organization conducts seminars and publishes The Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security magazine. IACSP partners include:

The Institute of Terrorism Research and Response

ITRR: Self-described as an “American and Israeli nonprofit corporation,” ITRR market “Israeli and American experts” who provide “counter-terrorism training, seminars, and security specialization in dealing with threats such as Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), suicide bombers, and other forms of international terror striking both the public and private sector.” Their American-based “terror experts” conduct training seminars “in dealing with domestic terrorism and eco-terror groups, including the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).” ITRR’s Targeted Actionable Monitoring Center (TAM-C) was created to provide “provide accurate and actionable intelligence about potential security threats throughout the world.” TAM-C’s Ground Truth Network “leverages the ITRR’s international contacts and sources to provide real-time intelligence from the field,” while keeping “international corporations apprised of threats to their assets and personnel throughout the world.” Partners include among others, The Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute (IEICI), the Perelman Security Group (PSG), and Multi Tier Solutions (MTS), a firm licensed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense, that provides “specialized consulting, field operations, specialized training, fusion center technology, intelligence management platforms.” One shudders to think what activities fall under MTS’ “field operations” brief!

Henley-Putnam University: Describing itself as “the only online University that specializes exclusively in Intelligence, Management, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies,” Henley-Putnam boasts that their faculty is comprised of “leaders in tradecraft from organizations such as the FBI, CIA, and Secret Service.” Corporate partners include the Vienna, Virginia-based C2 Technologies, a firm specializing in “strategic human resources management, mission-critical outsourcing and information technology.” The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies (CI Centre): based in Alexandria, Virginia the firm offers “in-depth and relevant education, training and analysis on counterintelligence, counterterrorism and security.” With a staff comprised of veteran Cold Warriors, CI Centre was founded in 1997 by David G. Major, “a retired, senior FBI Supervisory Special Agent.” With tailored “core competencies” offered in counterintelligence strategy and tactics, understanding terrorism, economic espionage protection and the like, CI Centre boasts of a staff of instructors who are “seasoned veterans” from the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, Military Intelligence, State Department, Department of Justice, Canadian RCMP and Cuban DI.” CI Centre is a corporate member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), an ultra-rightist outfit founded in 1975 by CIA officer David Atlee Phillips. AFIO was a critical behind-the-scenes player that worked to sabotage Watergate-era investigations of CIA crimes by the Church and Pike Committees. CTC International Group, Inc. (CTC): Self-described as “a private intelligence agency for the global business community,” CTC International “is staffed primarily by former CIA officers” that “acts as a private intelligence organization for the legal and corporate communities.”

The Performance Institute (PI: A “private, nonpartisan think tank,” PI conducts seminars and on-site training that provides “intensive, methodology-based courses” that “include step-by-step processes to improve organizational management capacity.” PI’s Law Enforcement brief includes training in “Law Enforcement Management, Use of Force, Homeland Security, Funding, Sex Offender Management, Narcotics, Emergency Preparedness and Technology.”

IACSP will be sponsoring the 17th Annual Terrorism, Trends & Forecasts Symposium, September 18, 2009 at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey. In addition to standard boilerplate on Islamic terrorism and the “threat” of illegal immigration to national security, topics will include a presentation on “National Security and Liberty: A Delicate Balance.” Needless to say, readers of Antifascist Calling won’t be surprised at how the scales are tipped during this presentation!

Another player in the Antiterrorism-Training-Complex is The Backup Training Corporation. In 2007 Backup Training was purchased by Blackwater (now Xe), the private military (mercenary) corporation. Backup is now Xe’s “digital training division;” terms of the deal were not disclosed according to Washington Technology. The firm’s law enforcement brief offers dozens of DVDs on diverse topics such as Community Policing, Cultural Diversity (!), Domestic Terrorist Groups, Gang Training, a Home Defense webinar, Managing Street Informants, Racial Profiling and Surveillance.

But IACSP and Blackwater aren’t alone in this lucrative field.

St. Petersburg College’s Florida Regional Community Policing Institute offers an “Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Awareness Training Program,” in conjunction with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). Operating with grants from the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security, the course is designed “to provide training to state and local law enforcement officers in domestic and international terrorism. The goal is to provide officers with a working knowledge of past and present terrorist/criminal extremist groups and individuals, their activities and tactics, and how to recognize and report potential indicators of terrorism and criminal extremism.” There’s even a module that will help you “identify the electronic tools and media which international and domestic terrorists use and the best practices identified for properly seizing computer hardware and peripherals.”

The Institute for Preventive Strategies (IPS): A division of the Center for Rural Development in Somerset, Kentucky, IPS offers a Terrorism Prevention course for “law enforcement professionals.” According to a blurb on the group’s website, IPS avers that “Incidents related to homegrown terrorism in the United States are on the rise. Western Europe has long struggled with homegrown terrorists, but instances of American-born-and-raised citizens acting on Islamic terrorist motivations are a relatively new threat to the U.S.” Studiously ignored however, are recent incidents of terrorist violence directed against Americans such as the assassination of women’s health care provider, Dr. George Tiller, gunned down in his church in Wichita, Kansas on May 31. The alleged shooter, Scott Roeder, an associate of the violent antiabortion Army of God and the white separatist Freeman movement, was videotaped gluing the locks on a Kansas City clinic according to Democracy Now! Although footage was turned over to the FBI days before the murder, the Bureau failed to act. Which just goes to show, “terrorism prevention” is fine when it comes to “Islamic radicals,” antiwar activists or “ecoterrorists.” Far-right Christian gangs on the other hand, are treated with kid gloves by the state or even celebrated as “heroes” by homegrown clerical fascists. Indeed, elements of the media such as the despicable Bill O’Reilly and his Fox News cohorts helped set the stage for Tiller’s murder by labeling him “guilty of Nazi stuff,” as Salon reported.

America’s Orwell Complex

“Policing ideas, rather than criminal activities” as the ACLU wrote in a strongly-worded letter to Gail McGinn, Acting Under-Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, “runs counter to our nation’s core principles, undermining the very foundations of a free society.”

While true as far as it goes, the history of the United States is replete with Orwellian moments such as this, where “freedom” is code for buying commodities and keeping your mouth shut–or else.

From the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, from COINTELPRO to Operation CHAOS, and from the USA PATRIOT Act to warrantless wiretapping and beyond, the national security state has always had but one purpose: to keep the lid on at home, thus greasing the wheels for corporate resource extraction (armed theft) on a planetary scale.

And they call this “freedom.”

Tom Burghardt is a researcher and activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to publishing in Covert Action Quarterly and Global Research, an independent research and media group of writers, scholars, journalists and activists based in Montreal, his articles can be read on The Intelligence Daily and Pacific Free Press. He is the editor of Police State America: U.S. Military “Civil Disturbance” Planning, distributed by AK Press.

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Image: Neoliberalism? by ~Zoors

By Vi Ransel

6/18/09

Even as the overall population of the world continues to increase, the increase in the number of poor people outstrips that growth. How is this possible? Are the poor simply fucking like rabbits, increasing their numbers geometrically in a suicidal, lemming-like production line of poverty-stricken people? Or are they getting some outside aid in their catastrophic endeavor?

In just the past 50 years, the Rich People of the “First”, or Western World have invested heavily, through their banks, industries and other corporations, in the poorest regions of the “Third” World in Africa, Asia and Latin America, home to the majority of the world’s poor. Transnational corporations are attracted by the richness of these people’s natural resources, the richness of profits off cheap labor, the near total lack of environmental and worker safety regulations and the non-existent benefits for said labor.

U.S. transnationals were given a push toward this pregnant profit source, this attractive and waiting richness, by the U.S. government, which subsidizes (read gives taxpayers’ money to) corporations in the form of tax breaks on foreign investment and even helping them to pay their relocation expenses at the expense of not only the taxpayers, but those taxpayers whose jobs are outsourced by this support for global U.S. economic dominance.

Local businesses in the “Third” World are destroyed as U.S. transnationals penetrate and overwhelm their markets like species imported to get rid of pests which turn out to be even bigger pests themselves. Taxpayer-subsidized cartels of transnationals dump their cheap, surplus goods in these countries at below their own cost to undersell local producers, thus forcing them out of business and allowing the U.S. corporations to take over the market. (This is also Wal-Mart’s favorite technique for killing the competition in local markets right here in America.)

In the case of Big Ag they also take over/expropriate the best pieces of land, monocrop them with products for export, and douse them with oil-based, chemical fertilizers and toxic pesticides, destroying the soil. Think Dust Bowl. This leaves less land for use for those run-out-of-business farmers and their families to produce the food to feed the local population, who, along with the displaced farmers, are forced to go to work – for next to nothing – on those monocropped plantations to grow food that will be shipped out of the country or to work in American sub-contracted sweat shop factories. This also forces them to buy what food they can afford from these same Big Ag corporations. This is exactly the same scenario as in the U.S., since the bulk of the U.S. population consists of dependent consumers, unable to feed themselves, who must go to a supermarket to feed off the tit of Big Ag.

Robbing local people of self-sufficiency creates a perfect profit-making mechanism based on a labor market flooded with desperate people who can be herded into a neat, ready-to-use package, labor in a box, in slums and shanty towns which they will leave to slave for token, poverty wages – if they can find work – which are most often in violation of their own countries’ minimum wage laws. This is thanks to the overarching authority of Western-created “Free” Trade Agreements enforced by the World Trade Organization in its private, unaccountable courts.

Since the U.S. is one of the few pariah nations which refuses to sign the international convention for the abolishment of child labor and forced labor, Wal-Mart, Disney and J.C. Penny were able to pay eleven cents – 11 CENTS!!! – an hour in Haiti in 2007. This allows these transnational corporations, not only in the “Third” World, but here in America, to have workers as young as 12 – TWELVE!!! – sustain high rates of fatalities and injuries while working for less than minimum wage. Talk about your right to work!

The savings these transnationals – and their shareholders – are able to rack up by exploiting and further impoverishing the people of the “Third” World do not translate into lower prices for the consumers, e.g. people, of the “First”, or Western World. Oh no, my pretty! Transnationals don’t outsource to save their customers money. They do it to increase their profits and their payouts to shareholders. For instance, children in Indonesia in 1990 made shoes for thirteen cents an hour working a 12-hour day. The shoes cost $2.60 to make. They sold in the United States for $100.

In addition to this slick trick, any U.S. “aid” to these transnationals-impoverished countries comes with stainless steel strings attached. Besides the “aid” money being used to create an infrastructure – ports, railroads, airports, highways, refineries, utilities, etc. – which facilitates the transnationals’ ability to make money at the expense of local economies, this “aid” must most often be spent on U.S. goods, thus enriching even more U.S. corporations.

The country receiving “aid” must also give investment preference to even more U.S. corporations. This causes a shift away from products produced locally and toward those imported from the West, creating more debt, dependency and hunger. Further, a lot of this “aid” slips silently into the silken pockets of the local ruling class to buy their complicity and even enlist them in the enforcement of the ongoing heist.

Hand-in-hand with U.S. “aid” comes more “help” from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The financial contributions to those organizations by countries belonging to them determines the weight of their voting power. Since the U.S. is the largest “donor”, you can just guess the name of that tune. And, of course, the IMF (International Mother Fuckers) works under a cloak of secrecy (to protect the confidentiality of the donors, dontcha know) enforced by the banks and the treasury organizations of the rich nations who run it.

The World Bank loans money to a poor country to “help” in its development, to build up a part of its economy. “If”, and almost certainly when (that’s The Plan) the poor country is unable to pay the usurious interest on the loan because of declining exports (again, The Plan), the country has to borrow more money in order to service the debt. Enter the International Mother Fuckers.

The IMF extends more loans, with more of those stainless steel strings more tightly bound around the victim, er, I mean, loan recipient, trussing up the “benefiting” poor nation like a Thanksgiving turkey about to be devoured by the West, The Rich. The country which borrows money from these Fuckers must give tax breaks to Western transnationals. The country must slash wages and refuse to protect local businesses from being ravaged by cheap imports and corporate takeovers.

The country is further strong-armed to sell, at fire sale prices, all its government-owned mines, its railroads, industries and utilities to privately-owned, mostly-foreign corporations. The country must allow its forests to be clearcut and its land to be strip-mined. Money for education, healthcare, food assistance and the transportation infrastructure must be sheared back to service the debt. And the interest on the debt, through the wondrously magical Western miracle of compound interest, keeps growing and growing and growing and growing and on and on and on and on… And all the while, the people of the country are less able to feed themselves, since they are forced to grow cash crops for export to feed that debt service.

This is how the “Third” World is kept in poverty, subjugated to the “First” World, whose people purposefully, premeditatedly impoverish and immiserate the people of the “Third” World via depraved indifference in order to serve the plump, plutocratic pleasure of U.S. transnationals, their shareholders and American consumers. This debt reaches a point where nearly ALL of a country’s export earnings go to debt payment, squeezing the economy like a lemon, and the poverty-making snowballs.

And while critics of these “aid” programs, most often faux-progressives, point out that these programs just don’t work for “those people”, the people of the “Third” World’s nations, these same programs continue to receive funding from their adherents precisely because they DO work, exactly as they were INTENDED to work, to transfer the rich resources of the poor in the “Third” World to the already wealthy people in the “First” World. What an arrogant and ludicrous appellation is “First” World, self-designated by fatted, rich Western peoples to describe and denigrate the poor people of whom the scaffold supporting the American, and Western, standard of living is built.

This is how the magical, voodoo, trickle down economics of the Friedmans, the Reagans, the Volckers, the Greenspans, the Bushes, the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, etc. who prosylitize “free” market theology works. The people of the “Third” World are used as fertilizer to grow the fortunes of the people of the “First”, or Western World. They are used like toilet paper, like disposable plastic packaging, like prophylactics (scum bags) and then discarded as if their lives meant nothing more. They are receptacles, vessels in which the rich “create” their “self-made” wealth – do their business – then casually flush these poor people – and their children – out of sight, down the polluted toilet the “First” World has made of our whole world.

Transnational corporations use the U.S. government and corporate lobbyist-written “free” trade policies, which are designed and work very well, to prevent “Third” World nations from ever “developing” sufficiently to become serious trade competitors. And this is because U.S. corporations learned the lesson of the Marshall Plan very well.

After World War II, America’s major trade competitors were flattened, economically as well as physically, and America, in all its beneficence and magnanimity, offered money to Europe and Japan so they could rebuild shattered industries and infrastructure by using this “aid” money to purchase American goods and services, profiting hugely in the process. And while Europe and Japan were rebuilding, the U.S. was busy establishing itself as the world’s global economic and military behemoth. Following Word War II, and up to the mid-Seventies, the United States experienced the most prosperous period, overall, in its history. And then things began to go south, as former flattened economic competitors began to recover enough to give the behemoth a run for its money, and actually overtaking the once supremely, economically dominant USA.

Well, U.S. transnationals didn’t intend to ever let that happen again. There would be no more giving a real leg up to potential competitors. And thus we arrived at where we are today. And, in fact, the ruse works so well, that since the Seventies the plutocracy has been using the very same template here at home, – with an increasingly heavy hand. See U.S. auto workers, healthcare, the bank bailout, foreclosed homes, 600,00 jobs a month jettisoned, the murder of California, et al. Who, or what, will be next?

Wake up liberals, Democrats and progressives! Wake up conservatives, Republicans and libertarians! And smell the system of wealth transfer and betrayal. Only the top 10%(?) and those they need as slaves will survive unless you KILL CAPITALISM BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!!!

Power. To The People.

Vi Ransel, TPC’s senior editor of anti-capitalism, is a researcher and poet of exceptional caliber. Very little is known about her.

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[Image: Chucky by ~Childofdune]

“The nation seethes with cranky, overgrown babies who kill.”

Essay by Phil Rockstroh

6/10/09

Even as President Barrack Obama waxed eloquent in Cairo, Egypt, on the moral imperatives of the community of nations, public opinion polls released in the United States revealed that, by a substantial percentage, its citizens believe torture is an acceptable option for interrogation of suspects deemed terrorists by various US governmental agencies. In addition, other polls show a majority of the American public hold the opinion that the all American theme park of state torture, located at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open for business and continue to welcome guests from around the globe, taking them for the ride of their lives through the dark id of the American psyche.

These revelations should not come as a shock. Torture, official secrecy, and other sundry apparatus and accouterments of the national security state are about the only viable enterprises remaining in this declining nation. Moreover, one of the defining traits of the insecure (both among men and nations) is to stand, bristling in a paranoid posture, with feet planted in stubborn defiance of changing circumstances, snarling at invisible threats and imagined affronts, as life moves on with indifferent grace.

Recently, in the latest in a series of setbacks and self-inflicted wounds, the national identity of the United States sustained another humiliating blow when General Motors was driven into a ditch, declared totaled, and then stripped and sold for spare parts. This event throws a rod into the smoking engine block of the nation’s dream machine: The automobiles manufactured in Detroit were once symbols of American power, freedom of mobility, even sexual allure. But the world has sped ahead, leaving the US wheezing dust in its wake: The era of high horsepower and American ascendancy, with its glinting chrome conceit and reenforced steel illusions of unassailable power, now sits upon concrete blocks rusting in the automobile graveyard of history.

At present, and for many years now, the American automobile culture has meant little more than feckless commuters stalled in traffic, alternatively sullen and seething in their powerlessness. Yet, this is not the time to throw a populist pity party: The people of the nation face a future circumscribed by their own lack of self-awareness and their refusal of civic engagement. Year after year, they have displayed avidity for little more than the rigged, roadside attractions of the corporate carnival; hence, traffic is heavy on this lost highway, all lanes are jammed on the superhighway to Clowntown, U.S.A.

Seemingly, the nation’s hopes are only being kept flickering by caffeine, antidepressants, and the naive belief that they — accepting, as Americans have, since birth, the narcissistic mythos of the consumer state — are a special breed whose God-kissed destiny would forever fall outside the failures and contretemps of earthly life. Therefore, Americans cling to the core conviction that there should not be any consequences for their own oceanic apathy, child-like credulity, and small time cupidity in regard to their relationship to the elitist power brokers whose financial chicanery and political scheming determined their hapless fate.

Both prole and plutocrat set the wheel in motion, and both wait for some kind of deux ex machina, whereby Fortuna will smile once again on the hobbled nation, and restore it and all its special children to their rightful place — up above the world of regret, reflection, and amends — back upon their highchairs of infantile entitlement. And while the populace waits in vain for the Goddess of Luck to rise from the wreckage of their vanity, they still have a glut of junk food, guns, and porn (some of the last remaining goods produced by the nation) to act as palliatives … miserable substitutes — that they are — for sustenance, feelings of empowerment, and eros.

At present, the citizens of the US moan “poor us” as they stagger through this “time of crisis.” The American people seem as helpless as pitiful puppies whimpering before the multiple and multiplying perils of the present. Yet, they are not wronged innocents, made blameless victims because of their hapless but well-meaning credulity. Nonsense. US consumers have been the beneficiaries of the mad dog policies of the American corporate/national security state nexus. Greedily, they devoured the scraps dropped from the tables of the oligarchs. This PitifulPup/Mad Dog Syndrome defines the era, and is the collective mode of being of citizens of the American Empire (regardless of the public relations makeover the Obama Administration is attempting to pull off worldwide).

For meaningful change to occur, Americans must look deeper into themselves and into the collective soul of the nation. Not far beneath the bristling ego structure of the torturer (and his enablers in the general population) is a quaking pup possessed of a monstrous need for absolute control. Incongruously, the torturer is terrified by his victim. The torturer, like the empire itself, cannot control the vastness of life (he sees the world’s uncontrollability as a ticking time bomb somewhere near him he cannot locate) — but his victim, the human fragment of the world quivering before him, can be (must be!) totally dominated. Or so it seems within the fear frothing mind of the Mad Dog torturer. But this does not suffice: The absolute domination of one solitary human being cannot bridle the uncertainty inherent in life. The torturer’s dread cannot be assuaged. In the same manner an alcoholic cannot dominate a bottle of booze by will power, a power drunk nation cannot subdue its terror by practicing torture.

And what is it that invokes such fear in the people of America? Deep down, Americans are stricken with abject fear by the fact that it is impossible to continue being the dominate power on the planet and being indulged, like spoiled children, with all the benefits and privileges such a position affords. The United States tortures to maintain the global status quo. Remember: “Our way of life is non-negotiable.” We’ll torture or kill anyone (even ecologically, the planet) for a tank of gas and a bag of Cheetos (or any of an assortment of tasty, salt-rich snack foods).

If this preposterous way of life was a classic, Madison Avenue ad campaign, its catchphrase might be: “Bet you can’t torture just one.” Or: “Go for it!” Or the latest offering of glistening snake oil that has been marketed to the nation: “Yes, we can.”

But, as far as investigating US governmental policies of torture and then prosecuting its architects and operatives goes, the Obama administration’s mantra has degenerated from, “yes, we can,” to “no, can-do.” Unless President Obama reverses course, he will prove himself not to be an agent of change, but another water-board carrier for the psychopaths of the status quo.

Such a high level of denial only increases the intensity of the murderous libido that flows beneath the surface of American life — that chthonic river of repressed rage surging within the psyches of the besieged laboring class, who, despite being burdened by debt slavery and chafed by ever diminishing prospects, still clutch the kitschy iconography of the god of the consumer state. Although that god has fallen, it will not go solemnly to the boneyard of dead myths.

In the contemporary US, debt slavery, a lack of future prospects, the constant threat of bankruptcy and homelessness, and the danger of gun violence are all very real; yet, day and night, alluring media mirages beckon Americans into a blinding wasteland of false hope. Daily existence feels unreal — a constant, hollow communion with electronic phantoms. A chasm of alienation opens between the polarity of unreal expectations and degraded real life situations. Toxic shlock syndrome sets in.

The sense of alienation is so profound that many citizens on the political right believe that President Obama cannot in reality be a citizen of this country; his name is too foreign, his skin possesses a hue too different from their own. His birth certificate must be as bogus as an IOU from Bernie Madoff. He can’t be a real American; he seems no more real, nor connected with the concerns of their lives, than any other ghost in the media hologram.

But guns feel real to these troubled folks. The weapon’s weight in their hands wards off an unfocused sense of dread; its heft, momentarily, mitigates feelings of being helplessly adrift … Looking down the precise beauty of its barrel distills down hazy hatreds into identifiable targets. Within their fog-shrouded minds, the very presence of that “slick-ass usurper” in the White House causes the ground to feel less than solid beneath their feet. Ergo, guns must be stockpiled; massive amounts of ammunition stored for ballast. These treacherous days, that are so muffled by the white noise of uncertainty, must yield to something as clear and decisive as the crack of a rifle shot.

A collective tantrum rages on the right, as their ranks hold their breath and hoard bullets. In the enveloping darkness of political powerlessness, they are sleeping with their Sarah Palin night-light on, then tossing fitfully awake attempting to mollify themselves by gazing mindlessly at Fox News crib mobiles, then scanning the heavens craving a Happy Meal apocalypse.

“I won’t share my toys; they’re mine! I want my tax cut lolly! Now!” Their sippy cups runneth over with rage. Overweight, evincing a junk food engendered, toddler-like waddle, and blubbering in their snit fit of thwarted id, they resemble heavily armed Teletubbies in the throes of an angel dust-induced psychosis.

The nation seethes with cranky, overgrown babies who kill. How could it not come to this, when the nation tortures like little boys plucking the wings from hapless flies? But the Empire of Perpetual Id cannot be sustained. What Obama apprehends, and was the underlying theme of his Cairo stem-winder: The people of the world have grown weary of our brattiness. They wish to rouse us from our long nappytime of exceptionalism. The world has moved on, while too many Americans sit bawling in their toxic innocence.

Meanwhile, the most special children whose privileged faces were ever touched by the golden light of the sun, the elite of Wall Street, bang their silver spoons on their skyscraper highchairs, whining, “We want more bonus candy, We want to go for a ride in my Gulfstream Jet stroller, We want to go play in our Dubai sandbox — Gimme, gimme! — Now!”

Every four to eight years, presidential elections are held in the United States of Infantile Omnipotence in which we attempt to personify the nation with an adult face. Usually we fail: Bush with his crankiness and his tantrums of mass destruction; Clinton with his oceanic overreach and his inability to delay gratification; Reagan with his senile, regressed-to-childhood naps … He even called his wife, “mommy.”

Barrack Obama appears to be an adult. Yet, in our childish national psyche, panicked and paralyzed because its arrested development has left it bereft of the ability to navigate the complexities of a rapidly changing world, having Obama as the face of the nation is like The Portrait of Dorian Gray — but played out in reverse — and produced as a pop-up book.

Worse, it appears the nation’s collective mode of being might proceed straight from infancy to decrepitude, only briefly stopping in puberty for a session of online porno-induced masturbation.

Phil Rockstroh, a self-described, auto-didactic, gasbag monologist, is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: phil@philrockstroh.com Visit Phil’s website.

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