Friday, February 27, 2009

Obama's Iraq speech

From this article in the Huffington Post, Obama is quoted as saying:

"Let me say this as plainly as I can: by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end"

He is either lying, ignorant to the point of stupidity, or he's been duped by paranoid, silver-tongued, greedy, selfish warmongers.

I don't see where he has a history lying, and his credentials seem impeccable, so it appears that he's been duped. Given that Washington has developed a strong and deep history of being duped - most notably into working for Big Money special interests and not the people - this looks like that pattern repeated.

I'm saying this because if he wasn't duped and there is no fog surrounding his thoughts, he would clearly see that you don't leave in place a military occupation of 50,000 troops (or any at all, for matter) in a country you've spent 8 years killing and maiming the population of, and who clearly wants the occupier out. You don't fool yourself into thinking your presence is welcome or will be tolerated, or that you can stand around when the civil war breathing down that country's neck breaks out.

Let's talk about another one of the Big Lies pushed by repetition into America's psyche: the success of the so-called "surge". Do you know what really happened? They paid off the Sunni's. Something like $300 a month each, a living wage in Iraq. It was that action, not the "surge" of troops, that quieted them down. Did you also know they stopped this pay-off a few months ago - expecting the Iraqi government to take over and continue the payments - and that the Iraqi government didn't do that?

But they keep talking about the success of the "surge", pounding it deeper into people's unconscious until they believe it - when it's really just another of their lies.


Bill

Return of the War Party

From an article today on the Return of the War Party Patrick J. Buchanan says:

"Real men go to Tehran!" brayed the neoconservatives, after the success of their propaganda campaign to have America march on Baghdad and into an unnecessary war that has forfeited all the fruits of our Cold War victory." ... "Now they are back, in pursuit of what has always been their great goal: an American war on Iran."

From A War Fought in Ignorance "The most important reason for the American war on the Taliban is that Washington under the Bush administration, and with the enthusiastic support of certain leaders of the neoconservative gang among think-tank intellectuals, had decided that America had to destroy “Islamo-fascism,” ... "

Here's more evidence the deceit regarding Iraq started back in 1991. "Two days later, when Saddam entered Kuwait, he had no reason to believe that the U.S. would come to Kuwait's defense with a half-million troops. Or that when he tried to negotiate a retreat though Arab leaders, the U.S. would refuse to talk. In 1990 as in 2002, a Bush president had his mind set on war."

On the anthrax attacks "Poisonous anthrax that killed five Americans in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks doesn't match bacteria from a flask linked to Bruce Ivins, the researcher who committed suicide after being implicated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a scientist said." The story goes on to say this is not conclusive, but they did ruin his career and make his life so miserable he committed suicide. They supposedly had evidence - but then it turns out that this is the evidence - and all it suggests so far is that he didn't do it.


Bill

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Afghanistan in context

This story, Afghanistan: Chaos Central by Chris Sands is a must read.

What's really going on with the "war on terror", anyway? Here's my take:

When the Neocon gambit to seize Iraq as an anchor for establishing authority in the Middle East became a clear failure, a change in tactics became necessary, but I suspect the ranks were split, some wanting a diversion away from the Iraq debacle, others wanting to stay the course, but shroud it behind the illusion that we're withdrawing (leaving 30,000 to 50,000 troops is not withdrawing). The other argument was to give up and divert attention to another crisis sufficiently removed from the real plan and it's association with the gang's motives. Afghanistan solved this problem because it's far enough removed from the original plan as to muddy the waters and obfuscate the situation. With the emphasis and attention on Afghanistan, Iraq and the original plan can be forgotten, because now we have a different and potentially more serious (Pakistan) problem to deal with - leaving Iraq to "that was yesterday, and we don't about that anymore"

So the new move, which is blatantly stupid, achieves it's goal of blurring the connection between the Neocons and the invasion. That is, they found a rock to hide behind while they plan the next step.

Next step? Of course. You don't think for a minute they will *ever* abandon their goal of establishing military authority in the Middle East, do you? Get it out of your mind. Their mission isn't a minor or fleeting undertaking, it's a long term, strategic crusade to establish Israel's security, no matter the cost to Americans.

Israel's position is that they can't trust the Arabs to be in charge of anything. The unstated part of the argument is that if the Arabs aren't going to be in charge, who is? Israel, of course. With American money and arms, of course.

Where does that leave us? With a two-front war, in Iraq and Afghanistan, neither of which we can possibly win. With very smart diplomacy, we might be able to call it a draw and get out, but that's the best we can hope for.

But that's not happening. As we know or should know, Obama has made his pledges, so unless he does a complete turnaround - and turns Israel's fate over the UN like he should do - we're going to be at war until the bitter end. You do understand that Israel's enemies will never give up either, right? Indeed, there are many more on their side now, after the slaughter we administered in Iraq.

The obvious progression of events in Iraq is that civil war will explode when the American military becomes too small to forcefully keep order. With Iran backing the Shias, and Saudi Arabia backing the Sunnis, the situation in Iraq can quickly spin out of control. But we have troops on the ground. What will they do? Enter air power and naval guns - that is, more indiscriminate slaughter of civilians then anything to date.

It's been said, something along the lines of "the bigger part of story of the invasion of Iraq has yet to be written".

The crucial ingredients to this story are (a) AIPAC and the Neocons still have enough power in Washington to keep the crusade for Israel's authority alive, and (b) Afghanistan is an attention magnet. If it weren't Afghanistan it would be someplace else, like Korea, the Philippines, even South America. There's always a war at the ready out there if you're looking for one.

Because this gang has infiltrated and seized (example) (remember Neocon commander Cheney?) our information supply is playing right along.


Bill

Richard Perle is a liar

Some quotes from an article published today entitled Richard Perle is a liar, Stephen M. Walt says:

"Perle has tried to sell the story that neither he nor his fellow neoconservatives had any significant influence on the foreign policy of the Bush administration, and especially the decision to invade Iraq"

"The "people who wound up in important positions" were key neoconservatives like Douglas Feith, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, and others, who had been openly calling for regime change in Iraq since the late 1990s and who used their positions in the Bush administration to make the case for war after 9/11, aided by a chorus of sympathetic pundits at places like the American Enterprise Institute, and the Weekly Standard. The neocons were hardly some secret cabal or conspiracy, as they were making their case loudly and in public, and no serious scholar claims that they "bamboozled" Bush and Cheney into a war. Rather, numerous accounts have documented that they had been openly pushing for war since 1998 and they continued to do so after 9/11. As neoconservative pundit Robert Kagan later admitted, he and his fellow neoconservatives were successful in part because they had a "ready-made approach to the world" that seemed to provide an answer to the challenges the U.S. faced after 9/11."

"Let's keep a few facts in mind. Perle and his neoconservative buddies helped develop and sell a policy that has left over 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and more than 30,000 wounded, was directly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis, and will end up costing the United States more than a trillion dollars."

"Let's face it: there is little or no accountability in Washington, where being wrong means never having to say you're sorry; indeed, you don't even have to admit responsibility for past mistakes, no matter how serious. It's just the American taxpayer who ends up footing the bill, along with the soldiers who fought and died for these blunders."

"As Frank Rich and others have figured out, we are in trouble today because we have allowed a culture of corruption and dishonesty to permeate our institutions and pollute our public discourse. Until that changes -- until our public institutions contain a lot more truth-tellers like Gene Kranz and fewer liars like Richard Perle -- we are not going to know where we stand, where we are headed, or whom to trust."


Bill

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Obama's big speech - and not a word about ...

Justice for the murders who duped this country into a military invasion of the Middle East and the thieves in the financial system from the Fed to Congress to Wall Street, who robbed us blind.

And not a word about the police state we've become, and those technology-assisted dossiers on each of us that enable those with access to catapult into power over those without it.

And not a word about invigorating the United Nations, the only real hope for world peace.

And not a word about tariffs, which should have been used to keep manufacturing plants and jobs in America while slowly moving towards a world economy.

And not a word about busting up media conglomerates that dominate our information supply.

And not a word about privacy in the information age.

And not a word about almost a million people in jail for pot.


Bill

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The economy

From 10 Dirty Tricks Wall Street Con Artists Will Pull to Keep the Rip-offs Going

"Look beyond the bad news. Remember, Washington's run by 40,000 lobbyists not 537 elected politicians. I'm betting lobbyists will use the following tactics to neutralize activists and limit reforms. That way, behind the scenes Wall Street keeps control with its business-as-usual tactics, schemes, scams, hustles and wheeling and dealing. Here are the 10 "dirty tricks" Wall Street lobbyists likely will use to help jump-start a new bull market:" [read the article for the list]

And Soros Sees No Bottom for World Financial "Collapse" ... "George Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union."

Just tonight, Bill Moyers had Parker Palmer on his show. I've been a fan or Bill Moyers for some time now, but this show stood right up there with his best. Unfortunately PBS doesn't put videos online, but a transcript is available. If you care at all about America, take the time to either see the show or read this transcript. It's moving and it's profound.

And here's another article well worth reading: The Spectacular, Sudden Crash of the Global Economy

Thomas Jefferson said something long ago: "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty." How very right he was.



Bill

Friday, February 20, 2009

The cost of it all

Since 9/11, 8 years ago this year, my productivity has been cut fairly significantly by thinking, talking and writing about this (gigantic) cloud that's formed over America.

For background, if you don't know me: I'm self-employed. I program computers for a living. I love my work and have been fortunate enough to have my own business doing exactly what I was born to do. I'm hardly a slacker, and I am as dedicated to my enterprise as anyone might be. Why, then is it hard just to make ends meet?

Am I the only American so afflicted by this problem? I don't think so.

On self-examination, I see that my prime, best thinking time, is early in the day. Maybe you're like that too, or can at least relate to what I'm saying. To be sure, I solve many problems during the day and laying down to go to sleep, but it's in the morning, in the fresh light of day, that the problem, the solution and the actual coding must come together, and I'm just much better at doing the hard stuff in the morning. Towards evening I tend to handle loose ends and other details, but it's the morning stuff that matters most and has been eaten into.

The problem is that, since 9/11, the beginning of each day finds me reading the news, getting upset and going off on a thinking/talking/writing tangent all over again. After almost 8 years, I'm starting to feel like Bill Murray in the film "Ground Hog Day", where the days start to resemble each other, with one important exception: this problem keeps growing. And this gets me more upset, so I start thinking/talking/writing all over again.

Just today, for example, I read that Obama is sending more troops to Afghanistan, while in the background looms a terrible defeat for any sense of purpose of the invasion of Iraq; Korea may well explode, Pakistan and (get this) Mexico are moving to the brink, just to list some sub-problems of the main problem.

What bothers me most is that we refuse to even identify the main problem: that effective control of our government (foreign policy being at the core because it sets our national attitude) has been seized by AIPAC/Neocon-related interests. The Jewish half of the Neocon enterprise are essentially "Soldiers of Israel" doing what they have to do for their beloved country. The other half may call themselves Christian, but I see them as warmongering liars, thieves and murderers, and that's decidedly NOT Christian.

Truth be told, I'm only so much of a Christian. Non-practicing as it relates to any established sect or church, which I want to exist, but not to attend. Nevertheless, I call myself a Christian because (a) I was born into a Christian family, and (b) I tend to agree with what I believe are the essential ingredients of Christianity. I was particularly impressed by Christian Brothers, who turned my life around from a wayward course as a teenager and have since gone to Ethiopia (think about that). But I've also come to appreciate other religions such as Buddhism.

I'm not against Judaism. Like myself, many Jews were simply born into Jewish families. That alone doesn't mean anything. Indeed, merely thinking so is the very basis of prejudice. What I do think is that some militant, arrogant, belligerent Jews believe God let them down in Europe, that it's really a dog eat dog world, and they can only defend themselves by conquering others and holding the power. What has made these people so dangerous and effective is that they have been able to shield themselves behind a cloak of religion that people everywhere have been conditioned to be afraid to even talk about. We don't even talk about something so simple and straightforward as "Thou shalt not kill"

Are we a nation of sheep? Of chicken-shits?

I am a peace-freak, but I will not be a sheep or a chicken! I served as a military adviser with the Marines in Vietnam in 67-68, living with people in a refugee camp next to our outpost a few miles inland from DaNang, between rice paddies, a river, some jungle and the mountains behind us. During and after Tet, the war we thought we were winning exploded and it became clear we weren't winning at all. Around that time I realized - actually learned the hard way - that those people really didn't want us there, and all the smiles and the good manners were just survival measures, not true or heartfelt at all.

The lesson became very clear after finding, twice, detailed maps of the layout of the inside of our camp carried by enemy attackers; maps that could only have been created by people who were inside our camp - our 'friends' in the village, who smiled and talked/worked with us during the day were giving the VC maps at night. And we weren't the only camp so mapped. The problem was endemic.

It wasn't until years later that I finally put this in proper perspective (at the time we became very angry with them), and it was so easy. All I had to do was imagine enemy soldiers in my home town. Would I make maps for the insurgents, my neighbors? You bet. So why should I have expected the Vietnamese or the Iraqi's to do anything else?

Just imagine how the Iraqi's feel. Sure, many wanted to see Saddam go, but 75,000 (or, more likely, several hundred thousand) people dead, including families, women and children? How about the 8x this count of people wounded? I could go on and on about the destruction we're rained on the Iraqi society, but after almost 8 years, I have to believe you already know.

Obama says he wants to leave Iraq. Right. As if he or anyone can just say "OK, we're stopping now", walk away and just forget about it. It's not going to happen that way. There is no way in the world I or anyone can predict what will actually happen with Iraq, but it's going to be bad for us, that is a certainty.

At the same time, he's sending more troops into Afghanistan, the boneyard of Empires.

That's one fatal mistake too many. And that's without mentioning another half-dozen powderkegs that could go off. Korea in particular, is poised to launch their "re-unification" drive, for several reasons, including Kim Jong-il having one last chance at doing something big, coincidentally American pre-occupation in the ME. If he is going to invade the south, he knows he couldn't pick a better time). And then there is nuclear-armed Pakistan on the edge of chaos.

What gets my morning so diverted from my work, and my bank account so low, is that I see the essential problem, the seizure of control over our government's foreign policy (the overall attitude and direction of the country), but nobody wants to even talk about it, much less solve it.

What is the essential problem? It is that this gang, the so-called Neocons and their cohorts in AIPAC and our information supply, the so-called "news", are pulling the strings of our government. These people are arrogant, belligerent and driven by a lust for power that exceeds our imagination. The mantra is "the Arabs wouldn't control our destiny", which sounds reasonable until you realize their solution is the flip side: that they must therefore control the Arabs, because there is no sharing, there is only capitulation. These people do NOT represent me or, as I see it, the average American, or the average Earthling for the matter. We, the average people, want peace, growth, prosperity and harmony with people around the world. We don't want war, we don't seek to control anyone - indeed, we believe in personal freedom to do as we please, not more authority!

More then anything, we don't want war. This is especially true of those who have experienced one. Of course we'd fight invaders and occupiers, but we have no interest whatsoever in sending our children to kill and die for ANY cause proclaimed by rulers.

The invasion of the Middle East was clearly the handiwork of AIPAC, the Neocons and friends in the "media", who did what they wanted to do despite the will of the American people. In the beginning, this was arguable, and argue they did, but evidence has emerged over time and now there is more then enough evidence to convict them of war crimes.

But what are we getting instead? From our AIPAC/Neocon-controlled Congress? We're hearing some talk about prosecuting Bush (and therefore his cronies) for torture. EXCUSE ME, but sure, torture is a crime, but what about the BIG MAJOR CRIME: the invasion of Iraq in the first place? THIS is the crime that needs prosecution, because not only will it bring Bush to justice, but the leaders of the AIPAC/Neocon gang and media as well.

If you haven't seen it, check out the PNAC Statement of Principals where the principals of this enterprise stated their ambitions before pulling off that invasion. Of course this paper doesn't mention Israel, so you have to do some homework and connect the dots yourself. But it does mention their lust for power, control and authority. Who would have thought they would actually get the power to enact their plan? Well, they did.

I've read Begliosi's book on impeaching Bush. He succeeded in laying out the case for "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" well enough for a prosecutor to act. Why aren't they acting? It's because they know, like Begliosi knows, that prosecuting Bush will prove to be the thread that untangles the web of deceit, and nobody has the guts to put that in motion. So they walk - right to their next endeavor. You don't think they'll ever stop, right?

There are many things we now have to do in order to right these terrible wrongs. The top three are:

1. Expose and prosecute the people responsible for the invasion of Iraq
2. Remove Big Money from politics, period.
3. Bust up Big Media ownership into as many pieces as possible

This has been a long-winded explanation of the personal cost of these problems, not measured as much by money spent as by angst, aggravation and attention diverted from matters of greater importance. This gang stole my time, my attention and a good piece of my productivity. I'm not the only one.



Bill

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Our most dangerous terrorists

It turns out that Wall Street, rather than Islamic jihad, has produced our most dangerous terrorists.

Below are some quotes from U.S. Intel Chief's Shocking Warning: Wall Street's Disaster Has Spawned Our Greatest Terrorist Threat by Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, and a Senior Fellow at the Nation Institute.

There are an estimated 62,000 U.S. companies expected to shut down this year. Unemployment, when you add people no longer looking for jobs and part-time workers who cannot find full-time employment, is close to 14 percent.


The manufacturing sector in the United States has been destroyed by globalization.


Consumers, thanks to credit card companies and easy lines of credit, are $14 trillion in debt


The government has pledged trillions toward the crisis, most of it borrowed or printed in the form of new money. It is borrowing trillions more to fund our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And no one states the obvious: We will never be able to pay these loans back


Contrast this with the national security state's strategies to crush potential civil unrest and you get a glimpse of the future. It doesn't look good.


In plain English, something bureaucrats and the military seem incapable of employing, this translates into the imposition of martial law and a de facto government being run out of the Department of Defense. They are considering it. So should you.


Crime, as it always does in times of turmoil, will grow. Those who oppose the iron fist of the state security apparatus will be lumped together in slick, corporate news reports with the growing criminal underclass.


The huge international flows of unregulated capital have wrecked the global financial system. An overvalued dollar (which will soon deflate), wild tech, stock and housing financial bubbles, unchecked greed, the decimation of our manufacturing sector, the empowerment of an oligarchic class, the corruption of our political elite, the impoverishment of workers, a bloated military and defense budget and unrestrained credit binges have conspired to bring us down. The financial crisis will soon become a currency crisis. This second shock will threaten our financial viability. We let the market rule. Now we are paying for it.


The corporate thieves, those who insisted they be paid tens of millions of dollars because they were the best and the brightest, have been exposed as con artists. Our elected officials, along with the press, have been exposed as corrupt and spineless corporate lackeys.



Bill

Monday, February 16, 2009

Warren Buffet

This article on Warren Buffet is well worth reading


Bill

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Military issued biometric ID cards

From Iraq From an Armored BMW: Where U.S. 'Reconstruction' Funds Are Really Going


"It's a place where a resident must still carry around a U.S.-issued personal biometric ID card, which must also be shown any time you enter or exit the city if you are local. Such a card can only be obtained after U.S. military personnel have scanned your retinas and taken your fingerprints."

The article is talking about waste and corruption in Iraq, but this passage caught by attention because it broaches a subject that should be deserving of our thinking.

These systems, such as biometric ID cards (Iraq/Afghan), Internet control systems (China), dossiers on each of us (NSA/et al, collectively), are being fine tuned in real-world situations (test cases). They are already highly developed and tested, and the process continues unabated - fueled and fired up by our paranoia driven spending spree since 9/11.

As you may be aware, technology once developed can be replicated in a flash, distributed world-wide, and implemented so fast it can make a person's head spin (indeed, I use these tools for a living, and even my head is spinning as to it's potential). The system they have devised for Iraq could be duplicated here in ... weeks? One more attack. Remember how they blew 9/11 a million times out of proportion? Don't think it was puffery? Compare the massacre in Gaza recently, with similar cost in life and property, and ponder why you saw those towers fall three million times - and not a single image of, say, the destruction of the UN shelter in Gaza? Is that programming, or what? Just imagine what they'll do with another attack? Even a simple little thing, like sending a single suicide bomber somewhere. The warmongers will explode this event on your screen fifteen million times - they will make it look like the devil himself appeared on Earth, and only by ridding the planet of all people who hate us so much they could do such a thing.

When will we learn from history that power really is the ultimate aphrodisiac and that it's appetite only grows? These forces have not only distorted any semblance of what we think America is and should be about, they are getting bolder and cockier by the day.

Are they sending their kids to do the killing and dying? Is it their money being spent? Are they making money off these deals?

That we Americans have been so duped for so long is now unarguable. At first there were reasonable people who did argue, but I figure that by now they have either come around to see the error in their judgment (that they were indeed duped) or are going to cling to the delusional notions and the mind-bending adjustments as they go along. I do believe in the ultimate goodness of America, and that the views I express her are indeed shared by the majority of Americans. I believe the ranks of those still arguing the warmonger case are in the minority, which evokes a question about how that's possible in a republican democracy so eloquently described by Lincoln.

From this same, very informative article is this mention: "When asked what he thought of Obama, he told Richard Rowley, [he said]
"U.S. foreign policy tends not to change with a new president."

How do you think that's possible?


Bill

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Violates our primal sense of fairness

From It Couldn't Happen Here. Could It? by Ted Rall
"Communism is dead, most pundits--the mainstream, stupid ones anyway--have been telling us since the USSR shut down in 1991. As it turns out, the libertarians were wrong. Half-right, anyway: Human nature may be inherently individualistic, as free market capitalists claim, but it's also inherently social. When economies boom, most people are sufficiently satisfied to leave well enough alone. Who cares if my boss gets paid 100 times more than I do? I'm doing OK. As resources become scarce, however, we huddle together for protection. The sight of a small rich elite hoarding all the goodies violates our primal sense of fairness."

...

"A communist revolution in western Europe would be greeted by curiosity and derision in the U.S. state-controlled media. But if such a social upheaval were to protect French living standards from a global Depression spinning out of control, it might also prove inspiring to increasingly desperate Americans."

--------------------------------------

Also see: The Israeli Smashing of Gaza and International Silence for an "after action" report and some sense of the destruction our money and - we're told - "total support" made possible.

"The sights we saw in Gaza were tragic-a goliath Israel pounding a small Gaza David with international silence and complicity in the 22 day military attack on Gaza and on the 16 month siege of Gaza. 1330 Palestinians have died, 5400 have been wounded and hundreds of thousands with memories of the bombings and invasion and occupation. Over $2 billion will be spent on rebuilding destroyed homes, businesses and factories. And there is SILENCE!!"


Questions:

1. Didn't America get whipped into a war-crazed frenzy after 3,000 Americans died on 9/11? Is there no comparison at all here? There is silence?

2. How many Americans, on fair presentation of raw, core facts of this country's behavior in the Middle East, really support America's 'total commitment' to Israel? Are there really 300 million or so hardcore warmongers among us, or it is really a mere fraction, who just happen to own the loudspeakers? Methinks

3. Just how much hatred for America must be built up in the world around us before lightning comes out of the dark cloud that the neocon gang invited into our skies?

4. Do you realize how much better off we'd all be from the amazing inventions the history of mankind's inventiveness has laid on our doorstep - if only we didn't fall victim to the likes of our rulers, who have squandered it all in their quest for more power and authority, coincidentally putting us at higher risk for horrible things to happen here then anytime in history?

5. Are we screwed, or are we going to figure out a way to solve our real -core- problem: that there's been a coupe in Washington. With soldiers planted throughout the American mainstream information supply, the duping propaganda machine is humming right along. Are we sheep still being herded to our own oblivion, or are we really millions of individual people who are saying "no more"? How would we know?


I, and I think most thinking people agree that the real solution is to remove big money from politics. As a and institute an Internet based (open source code for inspection/improvement) election system. We need people with our spirit to run our gov't on our behalf. These people exist. We need the mechanics to cull them from the towns they live in to represent us in the way we expect of them. It's really that simple. What we've been getting instead are false choices, thus democracy in name alone. Remove Big Money's choices (that is: the injection of what amounts to pre-conditions for the democratic equation - where we get to chose from their choices; not unlike the fake Israel democracy that starts with the pre-condition that only Jews can run the country, democratic majorities aside, i.e. a pre-condition) and we can salvage the whole thing.

There is so much at stake!


Bill

Friday, February 6, 2009

Endgame? What Endgame?

Here's another article that if you have any interest at all in what's going on with our military crusade in the Middle East, you'll see that Justin Raimondo has done his homework and is asking the right questions.

It boggles the mind to consider the depth and scope of this problem. And it's not an academic, abstract discussion that doesn't involve you, because you're paying for it, and some of you will have children who have or will be killing and dying for it.

What happened, and continues to happen, in the Middle East is the worst thing that ever happened to America, bar none. It's a sinkhole into which we're pouring misery, destruction, our economy and what is left of our stature in the world into.

And the height of this travesty is the "news" on the TV, the giant propaganda machine that's saying everything but what Justin and others have been saying for a long time. How do they get away it? Clever wordsmithing and always having another angle. There is no end to how much bullshit the bullshitters can throw.

Here's another commentary very worth reading

And another one

Bill

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Irrational fear

Cheney Claims ‘High Probability’ of WMD Attack

There is absolutely nothing about this snake, this lunatic, that I admire, but I absolutely agree with him on this claim. There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that it's just a matter of time until we suffer another attack on our soil. In fact, the only amazement I feel is that it hasn't happened already. If anyone thinks our enemies are defeated or powerless, I'll tell you the story of what Vietnam was like in the weeks before the Tet Offensive.

Why can't we solve this problem? I believe it's because our national psyche has been programmed with an irrational fear of even discussing the root causes for the hatred of America.

The Bush/Neocon gang duped Americans into believing they hate us for our freedoms. Now we hear MSNBC saying they hate us because of the killing and destruction we rained on Iraq and Afghanistan. Sure, what we've done with the military invasion of the Middle East has many-fold increased the hatred, but these are NOT the core reasons.

Just what are the core reasons for the hated of America?

- manipulation of our government and information supply by Soldiers of Israel

- Big Oil barons

- the Military-Industrial Complex

- the underlying tentacles of Wall Street and Big Banking

Each component does what comes natural for their cause, but what about our democracy that is supposed to be watching out for our interests?

People rushed Obama into office believing he finally would represent us, but we're only days into his administration when it's already plain to see that he's just a sugar coated pawn in their game.

In the face of their power, what can 1 person do? Not much. Maybe get thrown in jail. But what about if millions of us ordinary people decided we're really had enough BEFORE another attack?

Not motivated? Then think about what will happen after another attack: think about what martial law looks like. Think about what Internet censorship would really mean. Think about what the ends-justify-the-means gang will do with the weapons and computers we gave them the money to buy. Think about national ID cards, about dossiers on each and every one of us to be used by those with the power of access. Think about what's already happened to your freedoms and the trajectory of what is yet to come. Think about the mentality that drives the crushing of the Palestinian people.

Think!


Bill

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

It's not going to be OK

Hear, hear ...

Quotes from It's Not Going to Be OK

“The puzzle to me is the lack of social unrest,” Wolin said when I asked why we have not yet seen rioting or protests. He said he worried that popular protests will be dismissed and ignored by the corporate media. This, he said, is what happened when tens of thousands protested the war in Iraq. This will permit the state to ruthlessly suppress local protests, as happened during the Democratic and Republic conventions. Anti-war protests in the 1960s gained momentum from their ability to spread across the country, he noted. This, he said, may not happen this time. “The ways they can isolate protests and prevent it from [becoming] a contagion are formidable,” he said.

...

The American left, he said, has crumbled. It sold out to a bankrupt Democratic Party, abandoned the working class and has no ability to organize. Unions are a spent force. The universities are mills for corporate employees. The press churns out info-entertainment or fatuous pundits. The left, he said, no longer has the capacity to be a counterweight to the corporate state. He said that if an extreme right gains momentum there will probably be very little organized resistance.

“The left is amorphous,” he said. “I despair over the left. Left parties may be small in number in Europe but they are a coherent organization that keeps going. Here, except for Nader’s efforts, we don’t have that. We have a few voices here, a magazine there, and that’s about it. It goes nowhere.”


Bill

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A story of an attack on Bill Moyers

If you know Bill Moyers, and I would sure hope you do, then read this story on The Defamation League

On the economic crisis, our rulers in Congress and our information supply really don't want you to see the connection between military spending and their wars and our economy, so you have to dig to find anyone who might even suggest such a thing. Here's one such article: America Is Completely Broke, And Here We Are Funding Fantasy Wars at the Pentagon


Bill

Monday, February 2, 2009

What we did to the Iraqis

Iraq's Shocking Human Toll: About 1 Million Killed, 4.5 Million Displaced, 1-2 Million Widows, 5 Million Orphans

"So we have, at present, between 800,000 and 1.3 million "excess deaths" as we approach the six-year anniversary of this war.

This gruesome figure makes sense when reading of claims by Iraqi officials that there are 1-2 million war widows and 5 million orphans. This constitutes direct empirical evidence of total excess mortality and indirect, though confirming, evidence of the displaced and the bereaved and of general insecurity. The overall figures are stunning: 4.5 million displaced, 1-2 million widows, 5 million orphans, about 1 million dead -- in one way or another, affecting nearly one in two Iraqis."


Here's an article on what our heroes are up to.

"Example: the soldiers call on the residents of a house to leave it. A woman and her four children come out, waving white handkerchiefs. It is absolutely clear that they are not armed fighters. A soldier in a near-by tank stands up, points his rifle and shoots them dead at short range. According to testimonies that seem to be beyond doubt, this happened more than once.

Another example: the shelling of the United Nations school full of refugees, from which there was no shooting – as admitted by the army, after the original pretexts were disproved.

These are ”simple” cases. But the spectrum of cases is far wider. A serious judicial investigation has to start right from the top: the politicians and senior officers who decided on the war and confirmed its plans must be investigated about their decisions. In Nuremberg it was laid down that the starting of a war of aggression is a crime."




Bill

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Where are the names?

You would have had to catch it in the "news" because it came and went within a few days - all that "outrage" over the billions of our money passed out on Wall Street from the taxpayer bailout. Obama called it shameful and ... that was it. Few days later, the storm passed and that was the end of it.

What really happened? We were robbed, that's what happened. The bad guys got the money, a fuss was made, and they kept the money. Compare that to, say, someone who walked into a bank and robbed it. We all know what happens to every single guy who ever walked into a bank and robbed it. But what about the suits on Wall Street who did exactly the same thing, only on a scale that boggles the mind to comprehend?

Can you even imagine how much $ 18,000,000,000 is?

Here's a question to ponder: why aren't the names of these people published? If our so-called justice system has no provision to put them into jail - where they belong - why, at the very least, isn't shame being poured all over them?

How many millions of us struggle every day just to make ends meet, and to do so honestly, in the shadow of these titans who rob us blind, send our children to war for their crusade, and make fools of us every step of the way?

America was built on the efforts, sacrifices, determination and vision of many people we rightly look up to as our heroes. I ask you now for the name of even a single contemporary from Wall Street, Washington or any throne of American power today who deserves a seat at their table.


Bill