Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Evil Empire


The Evil Empire by Paul Craig Roberts
"Obama’s credibility is shot. And so is Congress’s, assuming it ever had any. The US House of Representatives has just voted to show the entire world that the US House of Representatives is nothing but the servile, venal, puppet of the Israel Lobby. The House of Representatives of the American "superpower" did the bidding of its master, AIPAC, and voted 344 to 36 to condemn the Goldstone Report.

In case you don’t know, the Goldstone Report is the Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict. The "Gaza Conflict" is the Israeli military attack on the Gaza ghetto, where 1.5 million dispossessed Palestinians, whose lands, villages, and homes were stolen by Israel, are housed. The attack was on civilians and civilian infrastructure. It was without any doubt a war crime under the Nuremberg standard that the US established in order to execute Nazis."


Bill

Friday, November 6, 2009

Nidal Hasan


Killing people can NEVER be justified. No person has the right to take the life of another.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/fort-hood-shootings-7-dea_n_347366.html&cp

Am I talking about Bush and the Neocon gang, who conspired and duped America into launching an invasion to seize authority in the Middle East, killing everyone, hundreds of thousands of innocent people, who were in the way?

No, I'm talking of course about Nidal Hasan.

But you'd be forgiven for thinking the former. After all, the cause and effects are strikingly similar: religious passion and consequential mass murder.

What I find particular fascinating about this story is that Nidal Nasan was a psychiatrist whose patients were soldiers returning from the killing fields with mental disorders. While Bush and the gang used applied psychology to manipulate America into that invasion, Nidel Hasan stood at the receiving end of the psychological consequences.

Nidal Hasan's actions will be condemned, as well they must. And the gang, who didn't blink at giving orders to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents, will surely kill him as fast as they can.

But will they - can they - kill the thoughts that drove him mad - and imagery our enemies will derive from this event?

No. Not by a long stretch. As it happens, Nidal Hasan's beliefs are shared by millions of people around the world. He acted out in a way they can relate to, whether they wanted him to or not. From our enemies point of view, he lived in the belly of the beast and he struck out against that beast. Imagine this new poster child on their wall, jumping out of the belly and all. In the past we've seen copy-cats follow many evil-doers, and the "news" loves it because it sells newspapers. Now think about how many other highly sympathetic people live among our 300,000,000, not to mention the propaganda value of this incident overseas. I can't recall a single incident with the imagery this possesses for motivating our enemies in the Middle East to rally behind ousting the occupier and standing up to Israel.

Nidal Hasan is of Palestinian descent. The "news machine" hides it well, but the fact is that the Palestinians live in deplorable, miserable conditions under the thumb of American armed Israel. Might not be common knowledge on American streets, but other countries have "news" machines of their own, and if you can realize how effective this machine is here, you'll see it's not only here.

Being a psychiatrist, he is aware he was born with a collective unconscious shared with all Palestinians, and the Palestinians know this too, if only instinctively. Thus his story can and will be taken to symbolize the plight of the Palestinians, this time played out on American soil.

How true, how significant this is to you or I doesn't matter. What matters is the imagery our enemies in the Arab/Muslim world will project to their followers. Would they spin and distort it beyond face value? Sure! That's what our gang did, why wouldn't they do as well? Let's not get into calling them stupid. They are not.

Our own propaganda machine, the "TV news", the folks behind the duping of America to get the invasion launched, will play this story their way, as usual, but our concern shouldn't be for our own predictable "news" propaganda, but that which will play and flow through the streets on which 1.3 billion Arab/Muslims live.

In you can imagine our enemies on steroids, you'd be well served to start thinking about a better course for America. Obama promised this and that, but delivered nothing. He's not in charge. He can't change anything. He's just a face.

If we want real change, we're going to have to do something.

Here's what I suggest: we have a hero we can turn to and follow: Vincent Bugliosi. We can demand that, alongside the trail of Nidal Hasan should occur the trial of George Bush for murder which will necessarily expose and include the Gang.

And then we can hope, pray and do everything we can to make amends for what has been done in the Middle East under the American name, Iraq and Palestine at center stage.

What's really matters here is something that everyone demands: justice.


Bill

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Why and To What End in Afghanistan


Why and To What End in Afghanistan by Ralph Nader

In this article, Mr Nader talks about the case of Matthew P. Hoh, a name and a story that every American should be very aware of.

In a larger sense, Ralph Nader is a great American hero. A true patriot whose understandings and vision can do so much good for this country - except he's been the target of the "news machine" for so long that a mention his name results in a reflexive negative reaction.

He is another perfect example of how a sustained propaganda campaign can destroy anyone the "news machine" decides to target. Jimmy Carter is another example. Ron Paul another. The list isn't miles long, but people like these do exist and we must come to terms with the fact that they've been marginalized (at best) by propaganda, but these are the very people with the most to offer.

Former UK ambassador: CIA sent people to be ‘raped with broken bottles’ By Daniel Tencer

Be sure to watch the videos at the bottom


Bill

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Social Decay in America


The "I Didn't Do It" Culture - Social Decay in America By John Stanton

John starts with a quote from Jimmy Carter that's worth repeating:

“The gap between our citizens and our Government has never been so wide. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual..What you see too often in Washington and elsewhere around the country is a system of government that seems incapable of action. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well financed and powerful special interests. You see every extreme position defended to the last vote, almost to the last breath by one unyielding group or another. You often see a balanced and a fair approach that demands sacrifice, a little sacrifice from everyone, abandoned like an orphan without support and without friends…Our people are losing…the ability as citizens to serve as the ultimate rulers and shapers of our democracy.”

--Jimmy Carter, July 15, 1979


What follows includes nothing less then an indictment of politics in America since the Jimmy Carter years. It's a litany that Mr. Stanton doesn't seem to miss too many punches recounting.

One of his points:

What kind of country spends $1.5 trillion on national security every year—and growing-- but has to debate whether to spend $900 billion to make basic healthcare available to all citizens.



Bill

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Afghanistan and the big picture


The Delegitimization of Karzai By Patrick Cockburn


"From Mr Karzai’s point of view he won through at the end and showed that nobody is strong enough to get rid of him. For President Obama the election has no silver lining. It has left him poised to send tens of thousands US troops to fight a war in defense of one of world’s most crooked and discredited governments. “It is not that the Taliban is so strong, but the government is so weak,” was a common saying among Afghans before the election, and one which will be even truer in future. "


I follow Patrick Cockburn because he's one of the better thinkers on the net today. In this case, I think he's not taking into account how the American information supply shifted emphasis completely away from Iraq to Afghanistan, and why. Herein can be found the answer to the riddle of why we're bothering at all with the losing proposition in Afghanistan.

Why would they - anyone - do such a stupid thing?

Answer: To shift attention away from the main losing proposition that is Iraq and the other countries in the Middle East that were scheduled to fall afterward.

That plan unraveled, so what to do? Shift attention away from the losing theatre in Iraq to another losing theater, one that will bog us down long enough to put the original proposition far enough into the past so the subject falls under the "that's old news" trick that kills just about anything that can be said to them.

The original PNAC/Neocon agenda, to use the American military to beat into submission the countries in Middle East that have defied Israel's authority, starting with Iraq, and "real men go to Tehran" Iran, among others.

The gambit wasn't supposed to fail. It was to be a "slam dunk". But it did fail, so what to do? Shift attention to another area of the world that isn't directly connected, so when it fails - as it surely will - all finger pointing will involve the new failure (Afghanistan) and not the original failure (Iraq). This what "clever" looks like, in case you're wondering.

Let's get some points straight: (1) NOBODY cares about Afghanistan, (2) it is ABSOLUTELY a losing proposition, (3) being there makes so sense whatsoever

Until seen through this lens. Then, all of a sudden it makes sense, and it's playing out in real life, right now.

But what about the casualties? What will the Jones family think when they are informed their son, who they loved so much and was such a part of their lives, is gone forever. They'll be told of his heroics, of how he defended some pile of dirt in Afghanistan to the bitter end, and the all the medals these proud parents can hang on their wall and look at every time they miss him.

It seems very much that people just aren't aware of what really happened with the military invasion of the Middle East (let's call it what it was, for starters). The question is whether history will be so kind.

I think not. Reason: the Internet. If it were left to the history books, that would depend upon who writes them (no small point). But the truth, given a path, will find it's way to the surface. This is the power of the Internet.

When this truth does emerge, and the Jones family looks at the photo of their son, at least they will then know what he really died for.

What happened to America is a very sad story, but there is light at the end of the tunnel after all, if you believe in the truth and you believe it will emerge.

One extremely hopeful and positive movement underway as we speak is Vincent Bugliosi's documentary on his book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder"

This case is EXACTLY what America needs, because starting with Bush goes right to the core of what happened, and from that vantage point the entire plot will unravel. As you may be aware, there are a collection of real heroes who have documented large pieces of this plot, but until now lacked the place to bring them together. The trail of Bush would finally get all of this material onto the table for us and the world to see.

The bottom line is that our beloved country, the one that the Jones and so many other families gave the ultimate sacrifice for, has been duped. All that killing and destruction had nothing whatsoever to do with any great and noble purpose, it was all a duping of the masses by the few who frame the context of what's "news" and their cohorts in Washington and Wall Street. Many are Zionists, others are just greedy capitalists with hooks in the MIC, oil and other money interests, who go among for any money ride. But for the Zionists it's a religious crusade, and they supplied the fervor and energy of religious zeal.

These people, the ones who pulled the strings and made that invasion happen, aren't American heroes, they are scourges. And whether it's Mr Bugliosi's movement or another, at some point this truth will out.

And what we will do with this truth? I think the solution is to put the whole gang on trial for war crimes. Only then can America begin to recover the damage they have wrought.

But let's start with Bush. My hat is off to Mr Bugliosi - a real American hero.

And for Israel supporters, the "command central" behind this operation, our message needs to be: "Americans are tired of your manipulations and you're on your own now. We suggest you push the restart button, integrate with your neighbors, and try to earn their acceptance"


Bill

Why the Crisis Isn't Going Away


Why the Crisis Isn't Going Away By Mike Whitney

This is the kind of common sense solution we need to hear more of:

" "Stephen Mihm again: The government - or what Minsky liked to call 'Big Government' - should become the 'employer of last resort,' he said, offering a job to anyone who wanted one at a set minimum wage. It would be paid to workers who would supply child care, clean streets, and provide services that would give taxpayers a visible return on their dollars. In being available to everyone, it would be even more ambitious than the New Deal, sharply reducing the welfare rolls by guaranteeing a job for anyone who was able to work. Such a program would not only help the poor and unskilled, he believed, but would put a floor beneath everyone else's wages too, preventing salaries of more skilled workers from falling too precipitously, and sending benefits up the socioeconomic ladder. ("Why Capitalism Fails, by Stephen Mihm, Boston Globe)"

Here's a map that shows the hardest hit areas:



Bill

Afghanistan: Too Big to Fail?


Afghanistan: Too Big to
Fail? Why All of Obama's Afghan Options Are Bad Ones
By Tom Engelhardt

"In this context, despite all the media drama--Is Obama "dithering" or not? Will he or won't he follow the advice of his generals?--we already know one thing about the president's upcoming Afghan War decision with a painful degree of certainty: it will involve more, not less. It will up the ante, not cut our losses."

There's all kinds of reasons for this, not a one of them good.

From Washington and Jerusalem: more bad news by Stephen Walt

"Back in 2007, we wrote that AIPAC has an "almost unchallenged hold on Congress." Little has happened since then to alter that conclusion, and we will probably get another demonstration of Congressional spinelessness this week."


Bill