JP

Election 2012: The Grand Charade Continues

2012-01-11T09:20:00.008-05:00

01-11-12

The extent to which America still buys into the perpetual clown show that is Washington politics and the campaign for president reveals just how far down the rabbit hole this country has fallen. As I make my daily rounds online it's truly depressing to read the comments from those on both sides of the mythical partisan divide, many of them otherwise obviously intelligent people, who simply can't bring themselves to admit they've been had. They spend all their time hiding behind the sensationalism of the complicit mainstream media, lobbing rhetorical dirt bombs of blame at each other, each side naively hoping to be viewed as “the lesser of two evils” come election time, as if such a simplistic approach has any chance of delivering real change. These blind partisan masses are right where the nefarious powers that be want them: Diligently enabling the grand charade while the ugly reality continues to fly under the radar, rendering our country a crumbling shell.

“Conservatives” attack the perfectly logical idea of We the People helping each other out with our own money via programs like Social Security and Medicare (neither of which has anything to do with the debt or deficit), while acting as if it's actually sensible to commit trillions to needless perpetual war. They scream "SOCIALISM!" at any effort to benefit everyone collectively (including themselves), but sit strangely silent in response to the SOCIALIZATION of bailing out the Wall Street criminals who crashed our economy, the SOCIALIZATION of making up for the lost revenue from ten years of Bush tax cuts (which are now of course Obama tax cuts) that have delivered nothing except a bunch of additional disposable income for super-rich people, and the SOCIALIZATION of the cost of endless war that benefits nobody except weapon makers, oil barons and wholly-owned politicians.

"Liberals" say things like "Well Obama might not be perfect but MY GAWD, can you imagine if McCain had won? We'd be in REAL trouble," as if Obama's sickening expansion of Bush policy is somehow okay simply because he's their guy. They claim all we need to do in 2012 is vote to restore full control of Congress to Democrats and everything will be hunky-dory shortly thereafter, as if nobody remembers what happened the last time they made that promise.

Voters awarded democrats control of both the House and Senate on Election Day 2006, only to see them refuse to act on the main reason their majority happened, which of course was the voters' desire to end the wars and force accountability for the criminals who started them.

As the newly anointed first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi whined disingenuously about how "obstructionist" republicans would not allow the Congress to vote on whether the wars should end, knowing full well that no vote was necessary. All she had to do was refuse to bring any war funding bill to the floor for a vote and the wars would have been over. She also famously declared that impeachment was "off the table," as if it was strictly up to her.

Speaking of impeachment, we can't forget the cowardly collapse of John Conyers, who released the amazing Constitution in Crisis in 2006, a report detailing the crimes of the Bush administration. As part of the Democratic majority that took over in January 2007 he became Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, THE person responsible for initiating impeachment proceedings. Unbelievably, instead of exercising his authority as Judiciary Chair by acting on the overwhelming evidence of Bush crimes that he himself detailed so impeccably, Conyers sat on his hands, claiming an impeachment effort would be a distraction and that he didn't have the votes to impeach anyway.

Contrary to what Mr. Conyers would like us to believe, honoring your oath of office is not conditional on whether or not you think you have the votes to impeach. He knew the evidence of Bush crimes perhaps better than anybody. His refusal to act on this evidence is a betrayal of his oath and the people he was elected to serve.

Then of course we have Mr. Hope and Change himself, Barack Obama. One of the most articulate, assertive chief executives this country has ever seen, but whose naked betrayal and phony promises reveal just another greasy politician doing the bidding of special interests at the expense of We the People.

As an Illinois state senator in 2003, he proudly proclaimed himself an advocate of a single payer universal healthcare system, saying we could get there but that it would require his party's control of the House, the Senate and the White House. All those things happened, of course, but when Obama held his 2009 "Healthcare Summit" at the White House, single payer advocates weren't even invited to participate.

As a United States senator, he promised to vote against the FISA bill that granted immunity to telecoms for assisting in the illegal Bush wiretap program, adding that he would even filibuster it if necessary. Then he voted for the bill.

On the presidential campaign trail, he promised that his first act as president would be to bring all our soldiers home and end the Iraq war, emphasizing the promise with "You can take that to the bank." Of course, the Obamapologists are saying he has finally done it. But anyone who thinks leaving thousands of mercenaries armed to the teeth (including flying fully armed helicopters) to guard 15,000 people working at the largest embassy on the planet means the war is over, perhaps they need to ask an Iraqi. You know, those people who are still dealing with a few hours of electricity every day at most, nearly 50% unemployment, raw sewage floating in the streets and a government that is among the most corrupt in the world.

In another prominent campaign promise, Obama told working people that if their rights were being threatened he would put on a pair of comfortable shoes and walk the streets with them as president of the United States. But when there were 100,000 people in the streets of Madison, Wisconsin protesting Governor Scott Walker's union busting bill, he was not only nowhere to be found but also silent on the issue.

During one of the final debates with John McCain, he repeatedly refused to discus the pending original $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout (as did McCain), then voted for it (as did McCain), completely ignoring the will of the overwhelming majority of American citizens, including a group of more than 300 economists who signed a letter to Congress detailing exactly why it was a BAD idea.

Just a few examples that solidify Barack Obama's status as just another Pretender-in-Chief. There are many others, of course, several of which can be found in the post immediately preceding this one on this blog.

To act as if Barack Obama has any genuine interest in changing how this entirely corrupt system operates, or as if there is any fundamental difference between democrats and republicans in Washington is to play right into the hands of the unseen, deep-pocketed forces who own all of them.

This is my last post for a while. In addition to the fact that I have other things happening that I need to focus on, I figured this would be a good point to take an extended break, leaving the focus on some truth and sanity as an alternative to the perpetual presidential election charade. I will stay up to date with my daily research, continue answering email and posting article links through my Facebook & Twiitter, and of course all my previous posts will still be available for reading. Other than that I will be giving it a rest. All the effort to tell it like it is while so many continue to insist on remaining oblivious to their own country's demise eventually really starts to wear you down.

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Obama's Naked Humanity Sham

2011-12-30T09:15:00.002-05:00

12-30-11

On December 9th, 2011, Barack Obama issued a presidential proclamation to mark Human Rights Day and Human rights week. From this proclamation comes the following paragraph:

"The human race reflects a myriad of vibrant cultures and unique identities, yet we are united by the innate liberties that are our common birthright. The rights to assemble peacefully, to speak and worship as we please, and to determine our own destinies know no borders. All people should live free from the threat of extrajudicial killing, torture, oppression, and discrimination, regardless of gender, race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or physical or mental disability."

This from the president who ordered his first extrajudicial drone strike in Pakistan three days into his presidency, and whose drone attacks have since killed hundreds of innocent civilians in several countries.

The president who signed an executive order immediately upon taking office to close the extrajudicial prison camp at Guantanamo within one year, but who continues to oversee its operation three years later.

The president who said "We need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards" regarding his refusal to pursue prosecution of his predecessor's crimes against humanity, but when asked about the human rights abuses of former Indonesian president Suharto responded with "We can't go forward without looking backwards."

The president who has just signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows for the indefinite detention of anyone, including American citizens on American soil, without charge, trial or hearing, on mere suspicion of association with terrorist activity.

The words of Barack Obama's proclamation express a desire to protect the human rights we were all born with, but his actions, which we all know speak louder, reflect an ever-expanding tyranny that could not care less about anyone's rights. What's truly shocking in the face of such raging hypocrisy is that so many otherwise intelligent people still treat this Pretender-in-Chief as a credible leader. In reality he's just another player on the grandest of stages, doing the bidding of the corporatocracy that is bleeding this country dry. Sadly, far too many are still blinded by the smoke and mirrors of hollow partisan politics to see what's really happening.

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Iran Threat Reduction Act: Feeding the Bogus War Beast

2011-12-13T19:29:00.003-05:00

12-13-11

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Section 601c of the “Iran Threat Reduction Act” (H.R. 1905) reads as follows:

"No person employed with the United States Government may contact in an official or unofficial capacity any person that— (1) is an agent, instrumentality, or official of, is affiliated with, or is serving as a representative of the Government of Iran; and (2) presents a threat to the United States or is affiliated with terrorist organizations."

In other words, if the bill passes as is, diplomacy with Iran will be illegal. There is a waiver provision, if the president provides 15 days notice and demonstrates that not exercising diplomacy would be a threat to our national security. Of course, we don't need a president to tell us that eliminating diplomacy would put us at risk. We just need some common sense.

Clearly the goal of this legislation is to make it easier to attack yet another country that poses no threat to the United States, solely for the benefit of the elite few who profit from perpetual death and destruction. If the war hawks succeed in their mission to pass this bill and Iran is attacked, they'll be able to stand before their constituents, put on their best pseudo-somber face and say something like "Well, we tried. We really did. But, you know, the sanctions weren't working, as was shown time and time again, and of course the law prevented us from trying to talk to them, so we really had no other choice. We had to act to remove the threat."

Of course, we never hear any of these Zionist ass-kissing tools explaining exactly HOW Iran could be a threat when they have no nuclear weapons, have not been shown by any credible evidence to even be pursuing them, and they're surrounded by the world's most powerful military, which has THOUSANDS of nukes ready to go. Nor do we ever hear any talk from the Iran demonizers about the fact that Israel has had an active nuclear weapons program for decades, resulting in a stockpile of hundreds of nuclear weapons. Gee, could this be because if the whole world knew about ISRAEL'S nukes, and their steadfast refusal to sign the NPT and submit to regular inspections of their nuke facilities, both of which Iran has done, it would reveal their constant claim of a nuclear threat from Iran to be a gigantic, heinous lie?

It's not hard to figure out what's really going on, folks. Look at a map. In North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north you've got Libya (which just happens to have Africa's largest oil reserves), and immediately to their east, Egypt. Everybody knows what's been happening in those two countries. Right next to Egypt is Israel/Palestine, and Lebanon. Then, right in a row, like geopolitical dominoes from west to east, you've got Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and all of a sudden you're in the Arabian Sea. And let's not forget the Persian Gulf,which separates Iran and U.S. client state Saudi Arabia, the entire west coast of which sits on the Red Sea, from which you can get back to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.

This anti-Iran crusade has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. It's a desperate effort by imperial Zionists, big oil and the Beltway whores who service both factions to seize the biggest prize in their grand mission by taking down yet another oil rich nation that refuses to submit to puppet status and has dumped the dollar for the euro.

Of course many will offer up the convoluted, delusional rationalization that while lies have been told and crimes committed, it's all ultimately for our benefit, so the end justifies the means. And which end would that be? The astronomical gas prices resulting from an attack on Iran, blamed on the instability that WE created, that will only further damage our already depressed economy? The hundreds of billions more added to a national debt that is already way out of control? The ever-increasing hatred for this country that could very well result in a REAL terrorist attack inside our borders, as opposed to all the phony FBI entrapment plots that have been cooked up over the past 10 years?

These military operations that we've got going from Africa through the Middle East have nothing to do with fighting terrorism or spreading democracy. And they're certainly not about protecting us here at home. For proof of that you need look no further than right here inside our own borders, where the actions and inaction of those elected to serve us, time and time again, have proven to be anything but protective of the American people and our national interests. This perpetual “war on terror” is all about securing control of the flow for the oil barons, serving the insatiable military industrial complex beast and doing the bidding of Israeli imperialists, all at our expense. Perhaps more would be able to see the ugly reality if they could only drop the ridiculous politics.

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OWS: Adam Carolla's Ignorant Tirade

2011-12-03T12:01:00.005-05:00

12-03-11

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It's hard not to like stories like Adam Carolla's. Had it rough as a kid, family on welfare, gets involved in sports to stay out of trouble, grows up to be pretty successful in the entertainment industry. Good for him, seriously. But he does serious damage to his credibility and the level of respect he had earned for his life story with his over the top, factually challenged, belligerent rant about the Occupy Wall Street movement.

According to Carolla, the Occupy movement, which of course has now mushroomed to cities large and small from coast to coast, consists entirely of lazy, jealous, angry 20-somethings who want rich people to take care of all their problems. He takes a few examples of the slackers and idiots that represent a small minority of every generation and every protest movement and holds them up as representative of the entire Occupy Wall Street effort. Ironically, it's exactly what a slacker would do. After all, what's easier, taking the time to turn off the TV and do some real homework that would prove the validity of the 99 percent's anger, or using the actions of a few idiots to dismiss the whole movement? And to put an exclamation mark on his ignorant tirade, Carolla uses some desperately juvenile language. Some might say he's actually talking just like the people he's denigrating, but I don't think it even rises to that level. He's talking like we did on the school bus when we were 12.

He also employs the often used disingenuous complaint of the 1% and all their apologist parrots that half of the people pay no taxes. The suggestion, of course, being that the 1% is forced to pick up the slack. What he conveniently leaves out, however, as always happens, is the fact that this refers only to federal income tax. Sorry, but when 400 people in this country control more wealth than half of the population, the 1% is certainly going to be paying the most federal income tax. The more you make the more you pay. It's not exactly rocket science. And of course we've also got the payroll tax (which a LOT of rich people don't pay, because they're not on anyone's payroll), property tax, state and local income tax, sales tax, excise tax, gas tax and dozens of other taxes and fees. The end result is that most of us pay a far greater percentage of our income in taxes than the 1%.

Where should you place more trust if you're honestly seeking the whole truth about the Occupy Wall Street movement? In belligerent, juvenile rants like Adam Corolla's or perhaps the words of Wall Street insiders who are quietly admitting the legitimacy of the Occupy movement, as Jesse Eisinger points out in a piece this week for Propublica?

How about the 99% Deficit Proposal put out by the Occupy DC people? Have you read it yet? As I've said previously, you don't have to agree with it completely, just understand that it's a serious effort by people who know what they're talking about to get our country back on track. At the very least it can serve as the impetus for a substantive conversation among people who are serious about bringing real change. Which is far more than can be said for all the hopelessly ignorant tirades served up by people like Adam Carolla.

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Carolla rant

Wall Street insiders on OWS

99% Deficit Proposal

Quinnipiac's Loaded Questions

2011-11-28T15:06:00.002-05:00

11-28-11

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It looks like the pollsters at Quinnipiac University are more concerned with marching in the anti-Iran propaganda parade than they are with releasing credible polls.

Here's a sampling of the questions leading to the results they released on November 23rd, which reveal a 50% preference for attacking Iran if sanctions fail:

"How closely have you been following news about Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons – Would you say you have been following it very closely, somewhat closely, not too closely or not at all?"

"Do you think the U.S. should take military action to prevent Iran's development of a nuclear weapon or not?"

"If the economic sanctions are unable to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, do you think the U.S. should take military action to prevent Iran's development of a nuclear weapon or not?"

Interestingly, the poll makes no reference to the fact that Iran is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which allows them to enrich uranium for energy, and has subjected them to regular IAEA inspections that for years have revealed no evidence of a nuclear weapons program.

Also conveniently missing from the poll is any reference to the steadfast refusal of Israel to sign the NPT or allow inspections of their nuclear facilities. What could Israel have to hide? Maybe the fact that they've had an active nuclear weapons program for decades, resulting in a stockpile of hundreds of nuclear weapons? Could it be they don't want the whole world knowing this because it reveals the absolute fraud that is their constant claim of a nuclear threat from Iran?

Perhaps it would be a good idea to recall the words of previous United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates, during his confirmation hearing in December of 2006:

"I think that, while they are certainly pressing, in my opinion, for nuclear capability, I think that they would see it in the first instance as a deterrent. They are surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons: Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west and us in the Persian Gulf."

And five years later, still with no evidence to support what our own Defense Secretary admitted was only his opinion that Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, and even qualifying that with his belief that they would be doing so as a deterrent, we've got Quinnipiac University pollsters suggesting the completely unproven as established fact.

As the old saying goes, garbage in, garbage out. With so many Americans still placing their hopelessly misguided trust in a corporate media that spends all its time scaring the hell out of them with phony anti-Iran propaganda, and with pollsters asking such obviously loaded questions, such results are no surprise.

Until Quinnipiac University stops stoking the fires of manufactured conflict for the benefit of the perpetual war machine and starts considering the whole truth when they conduct polls, their results will have zero credibility.

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QUINNIPIAC POLL

Quick Comment on JFK

2011-11-23T18:23:00.003-05:00

11-23-11

Yesterday was the 48th anniversary of the John F Kennedy assassination. I certainly haven't found anything new, but I have spent a good bit of time over the past couple of days watching various video footage and reading a few articles about it, just as sort of a personal refresher on the history.

You don't see these types much anymore, but today in the comment section of an article I had just read, someone shared his belief in the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. This commenter said he had "no rational reason" to believe otherwise.

I suppose it's possible he's unaware of the House Select Committee on Assassinations finding in its 1979 final report that JFK's murder was the result of a conspiracy, so we'll let that one slide. After all, we are talking about Congress. Not the most credible group in the world, not even 32 years ago.

But nobody gets a pass on the Zapruder film, which quite clearly shows Kennedy's head snapping backwards when the shot hits. I have yet to hear anyone explain exactly how it's physically possible for a shot fired from BEHIND to accomplish this. This is THE most obvious evidence of a conspiracy to kill JFK, and it's been right there in the open for 48 years. Pretty stunning how so many can just blatantly ignore this ugly truth, as if doing so will somehow make it go away.

I'm hopeful that the 50th anniversary in 2013 will reveal some new bombshell piece of evidence, given the long held belief of many (including yours truly) that the Kennedy assassination is largely responsible for where we are as a country even today, and that until the complete, definitive truth of that tragic day in 1963 is revealed to the world, We the People will find it next to impossible to take our country back.

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Turn Off Your TV and Read the 99% Deficit Proposal

2011-11-20T15:08:00.005-05:00

11-20-11

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Don't count on the corporate media to provide any real substance regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement. They're too consumed with ignoring real journalism in favor of disingenuous rhetoric to enhance confusion about the movement's goals, framing everything in political instead of human terms to perpetuate the same old worthless partisan arguments, and highlighting the violence instigated by corrupt cops and agent provocateurs to keep people from joining the movement out of fear for their safety.

Television is perhaps the most effective tool in the one percent's arsenal, as is evidenced by all the people who simply repeat the sophomoric propaganda that emanates from network and cable news programs. Like the anti-Occupy dunce I saw in a CBS New York report the other day who, in the midst of an argument with one of the protesters said “It's tax cuts and deregulation that creates jobs.” I'm sure he was quickly reminded that we've had ten years of Bush Tax cuts, extended by Obama, and asked where all the jobs are, and reminded that it was financial deregulation that enabled Wall Street criminals to crash our entire economy, but the report was conveniently edited immediately after his bogus claim.

This is how today's corporate media works, folks. You'll never get the whole story, because it reveals their naked subservience to the one percent. They don't want you to employ the critical thinking skills that are central to determining what's really happening. They want to keep you mired in a fog of pseudo enlightenment, parroting the one percent talking points to all your friends.

The last thing the corporate kings want is for you to understand that the Occupy movement actually does have a clue, and that there are many easily workable solutions to the problems we face in this country. This is because these solutions eliminate the one percent's ability to keep raping the rest of us.

The 99% Deficit Proposal is a must read for anyone with a genuine desire to see what the solutions are. As WarIsACrime.org points out, the proposal is a comprehensive, evidence based report that:

Raises $600 billion in annual revenues thereby achieving the deficit reduction goals in two years; shrinks the wealth divide by taxing wealth more and labor less; restores a progressive tax system; taxes speculation by investors; and taxes wealth held overseas.

Cuts hundreds of billions in annual spending through reducing the bloated military budget and ending the wars, stopping corporate welfare and negotiating better pharmaceutical drug prices.

Creates millions of jobs by solving the housing crisis; creates public sector jobs for much-needed work on infrastructure, transit, education and other areas; creates health care jobs as part of improving Medicare and expanding it to cover everyone in the United States; invests in the more efficient civilian economy rather than the expensive military economy; and stimulates the economy by erasing student loan debt.

Saves and strengthens the safety net by restoring the amount of income covered by Social Security to 90% of all income as was always intended; ends poverty retirement by expanding Social Security; reduces spending on health care by expanding Medicare to cover everyone in the United States.

Presents steps to creating a democratized economy, the already developing new economy that will replace the failed finance, corporate capitalism.

Enough with the phony claims that the Occupy movement doesn't know what it wants. Enough with all the corporate media hacks gleefully doing the bidding of the one percent. Enough with pretending there's any fundamental difference between democrats and republicans, or any of the mainstream media news programs.

Time to remember that the phrase “freedom is not free” is not just sentiment for fallen soldiers. It's a reminder that with citizenship comes the responsibility to stand up for the greater good of your country. You don't have to agree completely with the 99% Deficit Proposal. You just need to understand that it's a serious effort to fix what is so badly broken. Please read it and pass it on.
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99% DEFICIT PROPOSAL

TELL CONGRESS TO READ IT
**Don't think of it as a lost cause because they're corrupt. Think of it as making perfectly clear to them that you're on to their game, and that they will lose unless they start working for the people who elected them. Silence is complicity.

Iran "Threat" Myth Grows to New Heights

2011-11-05T07:38:00.003-04:00

11-05-11

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The October 26th Homeland Security Committee hearing had the typically ominous title: "Iranian Terror Operations on American Soil." Congressman Michael McCaul from Texas, Chairman of the subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management offered the following as part of his opening statement:

"Iranian backed political violence has killed more than 1,000 people in more than 200 terrorist attacks, including the 1983 suicide bombing of American and French military barracks in Beirut, killing 299 people."

Interestingly, McCaul had nothing to say about the nearly 1.5 million dead and more than 4 million refugees in Iraq, the result of of an illegal invasion that the whole world knows is based entirely on lies. He seems equally indifferent about all the innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen who are now dead and homeless as a result of our invasion of those countries. Do you think any of these victims felt terrorized before they died or had their homes destroyed? How about the children whose doors get kicked in at random in the middle of the night by invading forces supposedly searching for bad guys? Do you think they were scared for their lives? Apparently McCaul and the rest of the pretenders think the inability to see or hear these things from their Capitol Hill perch absolves them of responsibility.

Of course He also pumped up the propaganda surrounding the supposed Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador on US soil:

"We should be concerned about a nexus between Iran, Hezbollah and the drug cartels. This plot indicates a dangerous escalation of the Iranian government's role in the sponsorship of terrorism."

To say nothing of the nexus between Washington, Zionist Israel and the puppet media, to keep the easily led masses consumed with fear and willing to surrender ever more freedom and tax dollars to fund their naked imperialism and wars for profit. If this Iranian "assassination plot" had been submitted as a script for a Three Stooges movie, they would have rejected it as being too ridiculous.

The next time you hear some mainstream media parrot talking about Iran sponsoring terrorism, remind them of the covert American funding of terror groups in Iran in an effort to destabilize the government and ask them what the difference is. Tell them you're willing to agree for the sake of argument that the charge of Iran sponsoring terrorism is true, but then ask: "What's worse, sponsoring terrorism, or actively perpetrating it in multiple countries, as the US is doing?"

Ask them where all their concern is for the innocent victims in these countries. If they try to tell you the number of dead civilians is overstated, ask them how many innocent deaths are acceptable as a result of the illegal, unnecessary invasion of countries that did not attack us and pose no threat to the United States. Ask them if they'd be okay with any of their loved ones dying if some other country illegally invaded ours.

American soldiers are not fighting and dying to protect us or preserve our freedom. They're fighting and dying to protect the financial status of weapons makers, oil barons and private military contracting companies. They're fighting and dying to protect the political aspirations of the cowards who put them in harm's way. They're fighting and dying for a pack of lies designed to serve the rogue state of Israel, where soulless Zionist leaders hide behind Judaism, playing cynically on the strong emotions elicited by the Holocaust to serve their never ending imperial lust. One need look no further than 29 standing ovations for Benjamin Netanyahu from a joint session of the United States Congress in May of this year to see who these people we elect are really serving.

An American government that was truly interested in protecting and serving We the People would immediately end all the needless perpetual war, close all of the hundreds of needless military bases we have all over the world, bring all our soldiers home and make the serious job creation and infrastructure investments necessary to rebuild or economy. They would also be arresting instead of enabling the Wall Street pimps whose crimes brought us this economic hell, referring the war criminals who launched this era of perpetual war to the Hague instead of accepting complicity by protecting them, and neutralizing a wholly corrupt Supreme Court with a constitutional amendment that clearly defines free speech as applying only to actual living, breathing people and and NOT corporations.

There's a lot of ugly truth out there. But ignoring it only enables it. We will get nowhere while we continue to divide along the same old phony party lines, continue to blame "the other side's" politics for our problems and simply vote in a new batch of pretenders every election day. This is because for all these pretenders, the only true "other side" is We the People. And for as long as we continue to allow them to frame the discourse, ultimately choosing either side of the same counterfeit coin, we will lose.

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Occupy Wall Street Spells it Out

2011-10-18T11:42:00.003-04:00

10-18-11

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We've been hearing it from all corners of the corporate establishment media, parroted far and wide by an army of clueless apologists: The Occupy Wall Street movement is one without a clear direction or purpose. It's just a bunch of crazy Liberals with nothing better to do; bored college kids taking to the streets to vent their misguided angst, joined by some aging hippies trying desperately to recapture their Woodstock mojo.

Of course, the truly misguided ones are the talking heads – their moral vision obscured by dollar signs, Nielsen ratings and a debilitating fear of authority – and all their dedicated zombie box followers, who willingly accept being told how to think instead of thinking for themselves.

The reality is that the Occupy Wall Street movement is made up of people from all walks of life, all races, all religions, all ages, all political philosophies, from all over the world, united by the realization that government has sold them out for the benefit of corporate pimps. Soulless, faceless bastards who pull the strings of murderous perpetual war from their corner offices, deny healthcare to the point of causing tens of thousands of needless deaths every year, and manipulate markets to the point of driving millions into unemployment, poverty, ill health and homelessness, all in the name of profit.

So for all those talking heads and easily led masses who so dutifully spread the establishment nonsense in the interest of maintaining the broken status quo, here is the first collective statement of the Occupy Wall Street movement, in its entirety:

OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLECTIVE STATEMENT
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power. Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

http://occupywallst.org

AlterNet's Apparent Truth Aversion

2011-10-12T12:27:00.004-04:00

10-12-11

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I guess I was wrong about AlterNet. I thought they were one of the better sources online for the truth and substance that is nowhere to be found in the complicit corporate mainstream media. But it seems there's a limit to their acceptance of the truth, which I discovered when I tried to share some regarding Barack Obama in the comment section following one of their articles yesterday.

The piece, written by Robert Kuttner, is titled "Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley Could Be Headed Toward Collapse – Will Obama Have the Guts to Do the Right Thing This Time?"

After reading the article I posted the following comment, written here in its entirety, exactly as it appeared on the AlterNet site, which was immediately deleted:

Obama made clear what he is made of during one of the final debates before the 2008 election, when he refused to address the pending first Wall Street bailout, about which the entire country was screaming NO (including a group of more than 300 economists who signed a letter to congress detailing exactly why it was a bad idea), and then voted FOR it.

And that's far from the only example of this president showing his true colors. Early this year he remained silent while there were 100,000 people in the streets of Madison, Wisconsin protesting for workers' rights, after promising as a candidate to put on a pair of comfortable shoes and walk the streets with them as president of the United States if their rights were being threatened.

As a state senator in 2003, he proudly proclaimed himself a supporter of single payer universal healthcare, but cautioned that first his party had to take back the House, Senate and White House. All those things happened, of course, but as president he refused to even invite single payer advocates to the table at his White House "healthcare summit." If you think his healthcare law is anything close to single payer, there's a bridge in Brooklyn the cops would love to let you march across. And they won't arrest you. Promise.

As a US senator, he said he would vote against the new FISA bill that granted immunity to telecoms that assisted in Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, going as far as promising to filibuster if necessary, then voted FOR the bill.

As a presidential candidate, he promised that his first act as president would be to bring all our soldiers home and end the Iraq war. He emphasized this promise by saying "You can take that to the bank." Nearly three years after that first day in office, thousands of soldiers remain In Iraq.

As president, he has refused to even attempt holding the Bush administration accountable for their extensively documented crimes against humanity and our Constitution, saying we need to look forward, not back. He has not only accepted full ownership of Bush's illegal wars of aggression, but has started several of his own.

This could go on for a while. But these few examples alone prove beyond any doubt that Obama is just another pretender.

No swears, no threats (I do not believe in violence and never have), no personal attacks on other commenters. Just a bunch of truth about Barack Obama that is all easily verifiable.

Thinking the deletion was the result of a temporary glitch I posted the comment again, remembering that the same thing had happened there recently, and when I posted a second time the comment stayed. But this time it was again immediately deleted. At this point I sent AlterNet a cordial message describing what happened and asking if they would like to explain. Their site says they read each and every message they get, but I got no response. Late in the day I decided to give the comment one more shot, posting it a third time. And for the third time, it was immediately deleted.

Apparently AlterNet is only okay with the truth until it cuts a little too close to their thinly disguised Obamapologist identity. Sorry, folks. Needless perpetual war, a complete lack of accountability, naked subservience to corporate interests and hollow lip service about improving our decimated economy are not acceptable just because your guy is in the White House. If you can't handle things as they really are, perhaps you need to stop pretending you're alternative.

Not Just Another Day of Protest

2011-10-04T12:48:00.002-04:00

10-04-11

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Circumstances will prevent me from being there in person, at least initially, but I wanted to take some time to express solidarity with everyone who has planned and will be taking part in the occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC, which begins this Thursday. The starting date of October 6th was chosen because it marks the beginning of the 11th year of the illegal occupation of Afghanistan by American forces.

Of course, this citizen occupation of Freedom Plaza, which draws its inspiration from the events in Wisconsin early this year, the Arab Spring and of course the ongoing and ever growing occupation of Wall Street, will be far more than just another demand to get out of Afghanistan. It's also about getting out of Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, closing the hundreds of unnecessary military bases we have all over the world and bringing all our soldiers and all that money home. It will not be some “radical left uprising,” as many pretenders will no doubt try to characterize it. It will include people from all political persuasions, as does the Occupy Wall Street movement. People with many differences to be sure, but united in the understanding that a corrupt government will not fix itself, and united in the understanding that, as in the famous words of Frederick Douglass, power concedes nothing without a demand.

And that's just the beginning. The occupation of Freedom Plaza will also be about forcing corporations and the super-rich to pay a fair share of taxes back into the system that has enabled their prosperity. Next time someone tries to tell you that the rich pay all the federal income tax, remind them about the payroll tax, property tax, sales tax, excise tax, gas tax, state income tax and the dozens of other taxes that working people are subjected to. Point out that of the 50% that the rich and their partisan apologists love to whine about because they pay no income tax, most still pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the rich.

The occupation of Freedom Plaza will also be about ending welfare and subsidies for corporations that are already profiting hand over fist. The idea that oil companies would be irreparably harmed if they were forced to get by with just the record profits they're posting year after year is beyond ridiculous.

The occupation of Freedom Plaza will also be about ending our dependence on oil once and for all and making the transition to renewable energy. If the oil barons aren't willing or able to get with the times by investing in that transition, they'll have nobody but themselves to blame.

The occupation of Freedom Plaza will also be about protecting the social safety net that we've all been paying into for our entire working lives, protecting workers' rights (including the right to organize and bargain collectively), and creating jobs and raising wages.

The occupation of Freedom Plaza will also be about getting money the hell out of politics. The heinous Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court in 2010 effectively completed the transition of our electoral process from one of honest debate about issues, ideas and choosing the right people to lead the way to one that's all about raising enough cash to drown out the competition. And of course the concentrated power of corporations affords them the ease of buying the government that serves their interests at the expense of We the People. That is not democracy, folks. That is fascism.

The occupation of Freedom Plaza in Washington DC begins Thursday October 6th and will continue indefinitely. Get to October2011.org for all the info, get to DC if you can, and certainly spread the word.

Rebuild the Dream in the Streets
by David Swanson

October2011.org

We Are All Troy Davis

2011-09-22T05:59:00.009-04:00

09-22-11

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A few hours ago the state of Georgia murdered Troy Davis. He had been on death row for 20 years, after being convicted for the 1989 murder of a police officer. A conviction that came despite a complete lack of any physical evidence tying him to the crime. A conviction about which so much doubt had been raised that his execution had been delayed multiple times over the years. A conviction that almost certainly would not have happened had the case not been about a black man charged with killing a white cop.

Seven of nine witnesses against him had recanted their testimony. Another man had reportedly confessed to the crime. At the very least there was enough doubt raised to grant him a new trial, but it never happened. The long, racist arm of southern "justice" had made its decision. Clearly, they couldn't bare the thought of a black man walking free, even if he was innocent. Clearly, the thought of a little more work to ensure true justice never occurred to them. Clearly, they're far too shallow to understand that regardless of the color of our skin, we all bleed red.

But the state sanctioned murder of Troy Davis is not just a Georgia crime. It's a national crime committed in the name of every American citizen. Everyone who claims to believe in freedom and justice for all bears the responsibility of acting in the interest of stopping the barbaric practice of capital punishment, if for no other reason than to ensure that no more innocent people are put to death.

We must also insist on a mainstream media that tells the entire story, instead of just enough to keep the waters muddied and the people misinformed. Blatant media misdirection was front and center as I read an article on the ABC News website last night. They were reporting on the last minute delay of Davis' execution that was ordered by the United States Supreme Court, so they could decide whether or not to hear his final appeal (which they refused to do). The ABC piece said that although the execution had been delayed several times, Davis had failed to prove his innocence.

Could it be any more obvious that the media wants us to forget that in the American justice system the burden of proof is on the prosecution? Could it be any clearer that they prefer embracing complicity in the crimes of the state to keeping We the People truly informed?

If we don't wake up as a nation and understand that such crimes are committed not just against the one who dies, but all of us, the American Dream stands no chance of survival.

We are all Troy Davis.

###

Social Security: The Easy Fix

2011-09-20T11:54:00.002-04:00

09-20-11

Most of us can grasp the concept of helping out the ones who came before us as they reach retirement, because, of course, the day will come when we are the retirees. This is the simple logic behind our Social Security system. The ones working today support the retirees who did the same for their elders, and so on. It doesn't take much to see through the people who spend all their time trashing this great American idea. You just need to be willing to look honestly.

I watched a video this morning where one of these people was admonishing baby boomers who expect to benefit from a Social Security system weakened by years of Washington corruption, where real money has been replaced with IOUs, by politicians seeking to pay for the wars and the pork barrel projects and the corporate welfare of the paymasters who grease their palms. The guy in this video was essentially saying, “Hey look, the system is corrupt. There's no money left. You should have known better. You should have been making other arrangements to provide for your retirement instead of counting on Social Security.”

Of course, most of us can also grasp the concept of Social Security not being our sole source of retirement income and have indeed made such arrangements, in the form of savings accounts, 401Ks, pension plans and other investments. The decimation of these things by the ongoing criminal activity on Wall Street is an argument for another day, but yes, we get it. Social Security should not be counted on exclusively to fund our retirement.

The problem so many are overlooking is the unspoken assumption that we should tolerate our Social Security money being siphoned off to please Washington's corporate bedfellows. I find it very interesting that so many are willing to admit this is exactly what's been happening, but these same people then show no desire to bring accountability for that theft and have that money paid back. They would rather turn seniors into the bad guys, for having the nerve to expect something from the system they paid into for their entire working lives. That is nothing more than lazy, cynical politics that only perpetuates the problem.

You wanna bitch about socialism? Bitch about the socialization of all the risk and the privatization of all the profit on Wall Street. Bitch about the socialization of the ever-rising cost for needless perpetual war while an elite few get insanely wealthy on our dime. Bitch about Washington socializing the cost of continued tax breaks for the super-rich among the bottom 98% of us.

Don't give me that tired, disingenuous crap about how half the country pays no federal income tax, as if that's the only source of revenue for the government. Stop ignoring payroll tax, property tax, sales tax, excise tax, gas tax, state income tax, local income tax, DMV tax, and the dozens upon dozens of other taxes middle class Americans are subjected to. A lot of people who pay no federal income tax still pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than the super-rich. Social Security could be made rock solid forever by asking these holier-than-thou elites to pay even a fraction of something resembling their fair share back into the system that has enabled their prosperity.

The Official 9/11 Myth Turns 10

2011-09-06T17:23:00.003-04:00

09-06-11

We've heard time and time again over the past 10 years from many in government that 9/11 happened because "the terrorists hate our freedoms." It's an incredibly simplistic characterization of the alleged motivation behind the crime of the century, but let's just take it at face value for a minute. The terrorists hate our freedoms, so we have to fight a "Global War on Terror" to defend those freedoms – another mantra, by the way, that we've heard endlessly repeated over the past decade – the soldiers are "fighting for our freedoms." How then can it possibly make sense to appease the terrorists by adopting legislation and policy that weakens those freedoms?

The immediate aftermath of 9/11 saw a massive expansion of government power the likes of which our country has never seen, with passage of the pre-written, constitutionally invalid Patriot Act and creation of the Department of Homeland Security. We've got illegal government spying on innocent Americans, multiple illegal wars of choice launched in our name that are costing us trillions and that continue needlessly while our economy implodes, we've got torture and murder committed in our name that continues, and the ever increasing hatred of our country from people around the world who used to think we were their friends. We are far less free and far less safe than we were ten years ago.

Saddam Hussein was captured almost eight years ago and has been dead for almost five years. Why are we still in Iraq, with bases scattered all over that country and an American embassy that's bigger than the Vatican? Osama bin Laden escaped Tora Bora shortly after we entered Afghanistan and is now dead. In fact he's been reported dead many times over the last ten years. If we went to Afghanistan to get him, why are we still there?

Why are we now also bombing and killing innocent people in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya? We're told the rebels are now in control in Libya. The stated objective of getting rid of Gaddafi, has apparently been achieved. Why are we still attacking that country? And how can it be called a humanitarian mission if thousands of civilians have been killed by our bombs? What possible reason could there be for all these conjured conflicts, other than to serve the insatiable greed of war profiteers, oil barons and the politicians who do their bidding?

The bottom line of the war-for-profit industry has done quite well over the past ten years, but that mountain of taxpayer money is soaked in the blood of well over one million innocent civilians and thousands of American soldiers. Soldiers draped in phony hero worship and sent to die by Beltway cowards who would never dream of asking their own kids to take the same risk, clearly because they couldn't bear the burden of staring their own permanently maimed flesh and blood in the face, or, worse yet, standing over their casket, knowing that the pack of lies they pushed made it all happen. But hey, some perfect stranger's kid? No problem. Don't know him, never met him, no emotional investment in him, no need to worry about dealing first hand with his needless death. Just move on like he never existed. Or maybe write a letter to his grieving parents, lay on the hollow lip service nice and thick and be done with it. A special karmic hell awaits the willing servants of a soulless war machine.

With the official stated reasons for attacking all these countries so easily proven false, and with the only people truly benefiting as a result being war and oil profiteers and all the politicians doing their bidding, why are so many willing to accept without so much as a raised eyebrow the official story of the single horrific event that led us to this era of perpetual war and destruction of freedom?

Jesse Richard of TVNewsLIES.org perhaps sums it up best, not with a theory, but a fact and a question:

"During the past 10 years I have not met a single individual who, after doing research on the subject, switched from questioning the official narrative of the events of 9/11/2001 to believing the official narrative of those events. It is always the other way around. Why do you think that is?"

Read Jesse's article - You Only Believe the Official 9/11 Story Because You Don't Know the Official 9/11 Story. He doesn't start with a conclusion that he then tries to build a case around. He doesn't theorize blindly. He asks legitimate questions based on facts. Questions that anyone conducting a serious investigation would have to ask. Anyone not interested in the true answers to these questions is either afraid of what they might reveal or has a vested interest in keeping them hidden.

Don't expect the mainstream media to do the job for you. They've got ten years invested in pushing an official story that doesn't stand up to even the most fundamental scrutiny. They're not interested in reality. The only thing you'll get from them is the vilification of anyone with the nerve to challenge their cowardice by seeking the real answers. Of course, it's certainly possible that the MSM is just taking orders.

In any case, the real story of 9/11 will not come out on its own. We must demand it if we're going to have any chance of changing the destructive path our country is on and delivering true justice for the victims.

###

You Only Believe the Official 9/11 Story Because You Don't Know the Official 9/11 Story

Is the MSM just taking orders?

9/11: Still No Justice

2011-08-24T12:09:00.004-04:00

08-24-11

"Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th. Malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists themselves; away from the guilty." - George W. Bush, 11/10/01 speech at the United Nations

Two months after 9/11 the gaping wound in our collective psyche was still fresh. Most of the world was still struggling with the unprecedented enormity of the attacks, acting on the natural desire to come together to find solace and try to make sense of it all. The time was right to cynically parlay that instinctive unity into the widely held belief that any discourse that doesn't adhere strictly to the official storyline is an "outrageous conspiracy theory."

So the president stood up and gave his speech, pronouncing guilt without a shred of proof, while simultaneously launching a preemptive strike against anyone with the nerve to question such incredible irresponsibility. Regardless of whether it was an attempt to simply absolve the government of responsibility for the 3000 murder victims they were supposed to be protecting that day, or an effort to bury something much worse, George W. Bush clearly had something to hide.

There is nothing outrageous or conspiratorial about a genuine quest for the definitive answers that still elude us. What is beyond outrageous is that it's ten years later and there is still no justice for the victims of the worst mass murder in American history and the loved ones they left behind. An unfathomable crime that led to a massive, immediate expansion of government power, with the passage of the Constitution-shredding Patriot Act and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

A day that started us down the road to multiple needless, immoral, illegal Middle East wars. Wars against countries that pose no threat to the United States, but that make a lot of money for the war and oil profiteer pimps who fill campaign coffers. Needless wars that are only exponentially increasing the number of people around the world who hate and want to kill Americans. Needless wars costing us trillions that Washington is completely ignoring when it comes to reducing our national debt and fighting the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

They tell us these wars on the other side of the world are for our protection, while right here at home they've been making it crystal clear since this economic disaster began that they are far more interested in protecting Wall Street than We the People. This stunning hypocrisy must not go unchallenged. Nor should we blindly accept the official storyline of that most tragic of days a decade ago that set these wars in motion. They tell us not to tolerate "outrageous conspiracy theories" about 9/11 while at the same time expecting us swallow whole an official story that is itself the most outrageous conspiracy theory of all.

Of course, many will continue to attack those of us who refuse to accept a government narrative that flies in the face of logic, sanity and the laws of physics. These people can say what they will, but the longer they focus solely on attacking the messenger while refusing to deal legitimately with the message, the more they project their own fear of what an honest effort might reveal. Anyone truly interested in ending all the speculation and silencing all the "conspiracy theorists" will join the call for the legitimate 9/11 investigation that has yet to happen.

Watch this video, pass it on and check out the links. If there is something wrong with a single aspect of the official story of the 9/11 attacks, there's something wrong with the whole thing.

Remember Building 7

Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth

Obama Champions Social Insecurity

2011-07-21T06:34:00.004-04:00

07-21-11

It's no secret that a lot of people are feeling betrayed by Barack Obama. The president who gave millions of middle class working people the genuine belief that they finally had someone on their side in the White House. How could this supposed hero of everyday Americans possibly be willing to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to reduce the deficit? Why is there no mention of cutting our insanely bloated military budget in the effort to pay the bills? Why do we need to be spending more than the rest of the world combined on the ability to make war? The fact is we could cut our military budget by 85% and still have the largest military in the world.

You needn't look any further than your W2 form to see for yourself that Social Security is a separate, self-sustaining tax, collected in addition to the tax on your income. It has never added a dime to the deficit or our national debt. Yet here is Barack Obama, offering up cuts to this program that millions of regular folks have paid into for their entire working lives, and who count on it to help them through their retirement years, while we hear NO talk of ending needless perpetual wars in countries that pose no threat to the United States. Wars that indeed have American taxpayers on the hook for trillions. Wars that benefit NOBODY, except the soulless barons of death, destruction, oil and Wall Street who profit from them. Barons who finance the meteoric rise, seemingly out of nowhere, of politicians Like Obama. Politicians who have made it perfectly clear, of course, that they're willing to do the barons' bidding, even if it means selling out the people who elected them. Perhaps more people would be able to see the ugly reality, if they could only manage to put the serious responsibilities of citizenship ahead of the hollow posturing of partisanship.

The Clear Case for Obama's Impeachment

2011-07-04T11:42:00.006-04:00

07-04-11

Barack Obama could not be more wrong about his claim that he needs no approval from Congress to engage our military in Libya (or anywhere else for that matter), and he knows it. In response to a question regarding war powers during the 2008 campaign, this president himself said the following: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."

I haven't heard anyone even attempt to claim that Libya presented an actual or imminent threat to our nation, and I'm pretty sure the Constitution hasn't been amended to change the reality of the above comment since Obama made it. In fact, not even Congress has the power under the Constitution to "authorize" the president to use military force at his discretion with a simple up or down vote. As our founding document makes clear, Congress declares war and the president is Commander in Chief of the military "when called into the actual service of the United States." This means that unless it's an actual war, actually declared by Congress against another country (which of course would require sufficient cause), it's an illegal attack. The only way for Congress to legally transfer their war making power to the president would be via a constitutional amendment, which not only must be passed by the House and Senate, but also ratified by a three-fourths majority of state legislatures.

The claim that no congressional approval is required because the attack on Libya doesn't amount to "hostilities" is an embarrassingly amateurish attempt to avoid accountability. Every day millions of grade school kids have better excuses for not doing their homework.

Obama is unquestionably impeachable. In fact, this has been the case since day 3 of his presidency, when he ordered a drone attack on Pakistan (a country with which we are not at war) that killed 28 people, several of which were reportedly children. But instead of being removed from office he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace. Is there a better example of how completely upside down things have become in this perpetual warfare world?

Impeachment is most likely the only thing that will keep Obama from committing United States troops to the insanity of a ground invasion of Libya and a greater expansion of the completely bogus "War on Terror." Phil Restino, Co-Chair of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans for Peace, illustrates the urgency here.

It's highly unlikely that Obama would be both impeached (indicted for "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the House of Representatives) and removed from office (convicted at trial by the Senate), since the senate is controlled by democrats. But impeachment itself could halt the planned ground invasion of Libya. Of course, the republican House would only impeach to score political points and not out of any real concern for our Constitution, the rule of law, or the people of Libya. But sometimes politicians can be made to do the right thing in spite of themselves. If we want to keep yet another needless illegal war from expanding and killing untold additional numbers of innocent civilians and American soldiers, we need to be calling for Obama's impeachment.

Don't give me any partisan apologist garbage about how Obama inherited Bush's mess, is doing what he can, has a tough job, needs more time, etc, etc. By failing to bring an end to two illegal wars of aggression immediately upon taking office, refusing to hold the Bush administration accountable in any way whatsoever and actually expanding on Bush's mess, Barack Obama has clearly accepted full ownership. And just over half way through his first term, he is already well down the road to making the previous president look tame by comparison.

Impeach Obama now.

Healthcare No-Brainer

2011-06-02T14:32:00.002-04:00

06-02-11

A Facebook friend shared a video clip from one of those cable news shout fests the other day. I watched it only because the subject was healthcare, which I have researched and written about quite a bit. The experience reminded me why I have long since stopped watching anything news related on television. The medium has nothing to do with truly informing the viewer or presenting real solutions. Its carefully choreographed function is to keep the masses confused, distracted and divided, while elected officials focus on serving the corporate insurance profit machine that couldn't care less about America's health.

At the end of this clip, the host thanked the guests, who played their respective liberal and conservative roles perfectly, tossing blame back and forth, talking over each other and allowing the host to neatly wrap it all up by saying there are no easy answers for the healthcare issue.

Of course, there is an easy answer. It's just that the talking heads, the politicians and the corporate pimps who own all of them don't want to talk about it because it puts people before profit. The answer is single payer, universal healthcare. Or, to put it simply, improving and expanding Medicare to cover everybody.

Anyone who calls this idea “socialized medicine” is either ignorantly parroting the fear mongering crap spewed by their plastic partisan heroes, or they have a vested interest in maintaining the broken status quo. Single payer is publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare. Doctors don't work for the government, they work for themselves, and you are free to choose any doctor or hospital you want. The treatment that's best for you is decided by you and your doctor, not the government.

Anyone who complains about how a single payer system will lead to rationing and death panels is ignoring the fact that rationing is precisely how the current for-profit system thrives. They make their money by denying care. Single payer eliminates rationing by putting the focus on people instead of profit.

Anyone who says there's no way to pay for it and that single payer advocates are just looking for free healthcare is ignoring the fact that the money comes out of your paycheck just like it does now, and that eliminating all the needless waste and bureaucracy will save us over $400 billion dollars every year.

Anyone who complains about all the jobs that would be eliminated with the changeover needs to familiarize themselves with the January 2009 California Nurses Association study that reveals a net gain of 2.6 million jobs under a single payer system.

Anyone who wants to rail against the idea of their tax dollars being used to support a healthcare system they disagree with needs to get in line. Millions of us have been railing against the idea of our tax dollars being used to support a needless perpetual warfare system for years. The fact is a majority of Americans has consistently supported a universal healthcare system. But because this is America, those of you in the minority still have every right to lobby your representatives for an opt-out clause in single payer legislation, just like the anti-war millions have been lobbying for an end to needless military conflict all these years.

What are the benefits of a universal healthcare system? Well, in addition to the $400 billion we'll be saving every year, we've got instant elimination of the #1 cause of personal bankruptcies (medical bills – and 80% of those people have insurance when it happens). We've got millions more actually getting the care they need because they no longer have to worry about deductibles, co-pays, insane prescription costs or being denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. We've got companies being able to focus on growth (which of course means more jobs) instead of sweating the bill for providing health coverage for their employees. We've got people being able to escape dead-end jobs without concern about what kind of coverage they'll have at the next job. Ultimately, we've got a healthier, happier, more productive workforce, and a greatly improved, more competitive economy.

The reality is easy to see. You just need to be able to drop the ridiculous politics.
###

Physicians for a National Heath Program

Dr. Margaret Flowers Letter Challenging Obama

Single Payer Poll Results

Single Payer Video Playlist

Israel / Palestine: Beltway Peace Fraud

2011-05-23T16:53:00.003-04:00

05-23-11

No conflict can ever be resolved without an honest, thorough examination of the history behind it. In the case of Israel and Palestine, there are a lot of people who clearly aren't interested in such an effort. Most notably, the government of Israel and their wholly owned pawns on Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill. These people don't want you to know the full history because it reveals their stated desire for peace as a total fraud.

The subservient corporate media has done a wonderful job of making sure most Americans don't know the whole truth. How many understand, for instance, the difference between religious and political Zionism? How many know that Palestinians are Semites too? How many are aware of the Balfour Declaration of 1917, a key document in this conflict? How many know that the UN never actually approved the partition plan for Palestine, or that there was much concern about whether they even had the legal standing to do so? Why do we never hear that there were plenty of Jews who warned against the idea of dividing Palestine before it happened, because they knew it would lead to the conflict that has in fact been raging for over 60 years now, and in the eyes of many, would shed a negative light on their faith? Anybody who refuses to deal with the truth in its entirety has something to hide.

The pretenders in the American and Israeli governments and their media lackeys don't want you to question why Hamas would want to shoot rockets at Israel. They just want you to automatically see the democratically elected government of Gaza as evil terrorists. They want you to buy into the lie that trying to understand Hamas' motivation is a waste of time that lends them undeserved credibility. It's a truly lame effort to derail the truth that doesn't support the Israeli government's perpetual victimhood myth.

If some other country illegally invaded yours, leveled your neighborhood, killed a bunch of your friends and loved ones and started building their own houses where yours used to stand, it would make you angry. You might run, to save your own life and that of your family, and who could blame you? Likewise, who could blame you if you decided to stay and fight back? And who in their right mind would ever expect you to recognize that the invaders had a right to exist on land they stole from you?

Of course, if you chose to stay and defend your sovereignty, the invaders and their sycophant media propagandists would label you an insurgent, a militant, or even a terrorist, when all you're really doing is trying to defend your home and your right to self-determination. This is precisely what has been happening in Palestine since before political Zionists unilaterally declared statehood for Israel in 1948.

In a speech last week, Barack Obama said "The Palestinians must answer difficult questions about their unity agreement. Hamas is and has been an organization that has resorted to terrorism, that has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist. It is not a partner for a realistic peace process. The Palestinians must explain how they can credibly engage in serious peace negotiations."

Of course, he does not similarly challenge Israel, where deception reigns, with the world's seventh largest military, hundreds of nuclear weapons they refuse to declare and a long record of crimes against the Palestinian people. This is because you're supposed to view them as "the good guys." The current supposed rift between Obama and Netanyahu regarding the 1967 borders is just more of the same old political theater, designed to maintain the same old left/right charade, while the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues unabated. Plans for more than 1500 new Israeli homes in occupied Palestinian territory were unveiled last week.

The government of Israel is not and never has been interested in peace with Palestine, because it doesn't serve their colonial land grabbing agenda, which of course continues to this day. If Palestinians aren't pissed off and fighting back, there's no pretext to justify the continued theft of their land. Terrorism in Palestine started with political Zionists, well before creation of the Israeli state. Zionists who sought to sow the seeds of conflict that would enable them to steal the vast majority of Palestine for themselves. They have hijacked and defiled the Jewish faith, using it as cover for their six decade campaign of slow motion genocide of the Palestinian people, and their criminal fraud will continue until the majority of the world wakes up and gets wise to it.

Finally, as I have always said, I don't for one minute expect anybody to take my word for anything. I expect people to accept their responsibility as citizens, do the honest homework, and learn the whole truth for themselves, because without that truth, real peace is impossible.

###

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine - Ilan Pappe

Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews - Alan Hart

Obama Plays the Osama Card

2011-05-06T19:29:00.001-04:00

05-06-11

The Obama administration says Osama bin Laden's quick burial at sea was in accordance with Islamic tradition, and they did so because they didn't want to create a shrine for Al Qaeda sympathizers to visit by burying him on land. Obama is also refusing to release photos of the body, citing the risk of additional violence and claiming they would be used as propaganda tools. As if ten years of illegally occupying a country that posed no threat to us and killing untold numbers of innocent Muslims in the process had not already put as at immeasurable risk by creating untold numbers of new terrorists who want to kill Americans.

It was originally reported that Obama, along with his national security team, watched live streaming video of the raid, but now we're told that they only saw live video of the approach to Osama's hideout. So we have no video, no photos (which of course can be easily faked anyway) and no body. Just yet another unproven claim that the world's most wanted terrorist is dead, marking at least the tenth time this has happened since late 2001, when it was first reported by Fox News. Clearly, the Obama administration is not concerned with proving their story conclusively. And why should they be? The president's approval rating has skyrocketed to 57% this week on his word alone.

What does it say about how far this country has fallen when fifty-seven percent of us are accepting the mere word of a president with no credibility? A president who swore an oath to the United States Constitution, but who willingly continues illegal, unnecessary wars that the entire civilized world knows were launched entirely on lies, and continues to let the criminals who launched them walk completely free. A president who continues to oversee torture, continues to illegally hold people without trial, continues to shred the Constitution and our civil liberties in the name of fighting a completely bogus “war on terror.” and continues to favor the bidding of military/industrial, oil and financial pimps over genuine efforts to repair our economy. Just believe him, folks. He's here to protect us. While the entire weight of our massive financial and economic crisis falls on the backs of working people who had nothing to do with causing it, forcing ever more into unemployment, homelessness, ill health and bankruptcy, while tax breaks for the super rich remain, and the trillions committed to needless war are completely ignored by this Pretender-in-Chief. But it's all for our own protection. Just take his word for it.

Clearly, a whole lot of people still have a whole lot of waking up to do.

###

Just Another Pretender

2011-04-13T10:14:00.003-04:00

04-13-11

I've been on Truthout's mailing list for quite a while. I think they do great work, and I would encourage anyone who's not familiar with them to subscribe. But as their message yesterday seems to indicate, even great journalistic organizations can be taken in by the emotionally charged election hype:

"We never dreamed that two years after the Hope and Change inauguration, we'd be fighting for the future of Medicare, Social Security, collective bargaining, the Environmental Protection Agency, public broadcasting and Planned Parenthood. Yet tomorrow, our Democratic president will announce a slew of cuts to crucial programs - and the corporate media will cheer the dawn of a new age of privatization."

Indeed, millions are crashing hard as the Obama high wears off, hope fades and the only change they're seeing is for the worse. While they struggle to find the point at which this man supposedly changed, a look at some of Obama's history as a public figure actually reveals his solid consistency as a steward of deep-pocketed special interests.

As an Illinois state senator in 2003, Obama proclaimed himself a proponent of a single payer national healthcare system, but said that first democrats had to take back the White House, the senate and the house. All those things happened, of course, but as president his support for single payer is nowhere to be found. He has completely ignored all the sound economic logic of universal healthcare. He wasn't even willing to fight for his lame "public option."

As a United States senator, Obama promised to vote against the FISA bill that granted immunity to telecoms that helped Bush's illegal warrantless wiretapping program, even promising to filibuster the bill if necessary, then ended up voting FOR the bill.

In one of their final debates before the 2008 election, both Obama and McCain repeatedly refused to address the pending $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout (that the country was overwhelmingly against, including a group of 300 economists who signed a letter to Congress detailing how it was a BAD idea), then both voted for it.

As a candidate, he promised that his first act as president would be to bring all our troops home from Iraq and end that war. He emphasized the promise with the words "You can take that to the bank." Not only are we still there, but he has also overseen an increase in the insanity that is the occupation of Afghanistan, and expanded the conflict into Pakistan, Yemen and now Libya.

He says the attack on Libya is an intervention intended to prevent humanitarian disaster, while ignoring the humanitarian disaster that is well over one million dead and more than 4 million refugees in Iraq, countless additional dead in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, not to mention Israel's brutal decades long occupation and continuous theft of land in Palestine, or the callous lack of concern for human needs right here at home with the proposal to slash social programs that are not responsible for the deficit. The hypocrisy is stunning.

He refuses to even attempt holding the Bush administration accountable for their mountain of extensively documented crimes against humanity and our own Constitution. This is not optional for anyone who swears an oath to honor that sacred document. The often repeated claims that he has too much else to do to get involved in accountability for war criminals are nothing more than the desperate flailing of partisan apologists, many of whom had no problem demanding adherence to the Constitution during the Bush administration. Funny how consistency disappears when your guy wins the White House.

He promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Not only is it still open, but Obama will now continue the military tribunals. If you're going to claim that Gitmo is still open because there's no place to put the prisoners, I would ask you where you suppose the hundreds of them that have already been released have gone. Back home, perhaps? And if they were supposedly among the world's most dangerous terrorists, why were they released? Could it be because they were all random innocent men kidnapped and sold to the American military for a bounty by Afghan warlords, and that the complete lack of evidence would have had the prosecution laughed out of even the completely bogus Gitmo military tribunals?

As a candidate, Obama made the following promise to America's working people: "Understand this: If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I'm in the White House, I will put on a pair of comfortable shoes myself, I'll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States."

Not only has he not walked any picket lines, but he's been silent about the systematic attack on workers' rights that is raging all over the country.

His shilling for the nuclear industry ignores the reality that renewable energy is much safer and cheaper, and would create far more jobs. His refusal to even consider a true single payer national healthcare program, which would save us $400 billion dollars every year, and his expansion of needless perpetual war prove that he's not serious about real healthcare reform, balancing the budget or reducing our national debt.

Glen Ford of the Black Agenda report perhaps says it best, in an article titled "The Obama Disaster, at Home and Abroad" – "There is nothing left of Obama, except the 'moderate Republicrat corporate lawyer' that he has always been. He refuses to fight in the people’s interest, because he is not interested in the people – only in his foolish dream of a grand alliance with the GOP in service of Wall Street."

If more people could manage to put their country before their party and focus on hard facts instead of hollow political posturing, maybe they would finally understand that Barack Obama is just another pretender following the same old script, doing the bidding of the faceless corporatocracy that calls all his shots for him.

###

VIDEO: Obama 2003 Single Payer comment

Letter to Obama from PNHP Detailing Benefits of Single Payer

Obama Quiet about Renewable Energy Job Creation

Obama Disaster at Home and Abroad - Glen Ford

I Remember America - William Rivers Pitt

Social Security: The Real Deal

2011-04-05T10:08:00.003-04:00

04-05-11

Josh Hilgart is an activist and author from Michigan. For more than ten years, he worked as a political communications expert in Washington, DC. Josh has written a very important article regarding Social Security. I'm going to share a few excerpts from the piece here, but you really need to read the entire article for yourself, and share it with as many people as you can. The reason I think it's important is because it tells the truth that you will not find in the traditional media regarding Social Security. The piece is called "The Social Security Scam: How Media-Driven Misdirection is Being Used to Hijack Your Future."

First there's the gargantuan myth that the deficit can actually be reduced by cutting Social Security:

"The assumption that deficit reduction can be achieved through cuts to Social Security benefits is so ubiquitous that most Americans would be dumfounded to learn that this assumption is totally false. In terms of our deficits and debt, cutting Social Security benefits is exactly like raising the limit on one of our credit cards. You can transfer other balances using the Social Security surpluses, or buy new stuff, but it won't change total debt."

As the title of the article makes clear, the media plays a central role in perpetuating the myth that cutting Social Security would help:

"[T]he media endorses Beltway thinking by self-imposing restrictions on its own power. Where mainstream politicos agree upon a question of fact – like the ability of Social Security cuts to reduce the deficit – the media is powerless to present contradictory evidence. Mainstream journalists seem reluctant to interfere with the political system by conducting their own good-faith fact checking. Doing so might unfairly benefit whichever political flack is telling the fewest lies, or, worse, embarrass both parties."

Among the pertinent info the media flacks always leave out is the fact that Social Security tax only applies to the first $106,800 dollars of income, which means that the middle and lower classes pay the highest percentage of their income to fund the program. That sounds fair, since it's the middle and lower classes who benefit most from Social Security. But as Josh Hilgart points out, diverting benefits to the overall budget bottom line only heaps more tax liability on everyday working people:

"By taking into account the way it is taxed, ANY diversion of Social Security benefits toward balancing the general budget is a tax increase on those earning under $106,800. If the middle and lower classes are the ones who have been paying the highest tax rate into this pool of money, using this pool to offset shortfalls in general income tax, instead of paying out benefits, would represent a systemic shift in tax liability for general spending. For all practical purposes, it would be a TAX ON BENEFITS going to the poor and middle class, used to offset recent cuts in income tax for the rich."

And in their subservient, go along to get along style, the media never challenges the politicians who want those who can least afford it to pick up all the slack left by tax breaks for rich people.

"[A]mazingly, politicians and the media collaborate with impunity to ignore this shift in taxation. Just ask yourself: How often do those who advocate reducing the deficit with cuts to Social Security argue that the middle and lower classes SHOULD bear the burden of our debt? For that matter, how often do hosts on CNN or the Sunday political shows require such advocates to even acknowledge that their plan asks working families to service our debt? In all likelihood, this inequity is ignored precisely because it would spark outrage."

Indeed. They don't want the masses to know what's really happening because the result WOULD be mass outrage. And as recent events have shown, that's when the pendulum starts swinging back in favor of government for the people.

Again, please read the full article: The Social Security Scam: How Media-Driven Misdirection is Being Used to Hijack Your Future - And share it with everyone you know.

Obama's Sickening Hypocrisy

2011-03-29T16:49:00.002-04:00

03-29-11

"To brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and - more profoundly - our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are."

So said Barack Obama last night in his speech to the nation regarding the attack on Libya.

Pardon me Mr. President, but is it not a betrayal of who we are, or more accurately, who we're supposed to be, when there is such a deafening silence in Washington regarding the well over one million innocent fellow human beings, in Iraq alone, who now lay dead as a result of the illegal wars of choice launched by your predecessor?

If you're going to argue that the assertion of more than a million dead is not accurate, I would remind you that anyone can do a search for "Johns Hopkins Iraq Study," and also review the the very clearly defined work of Just Foreign Policy to find out the truth for themselves. Anyone who does this will discover the widely accepted methods of measuring mortality that were employed to reveal the true number of dead in Iraq. If you're going to continue to insist that the number of dead is not right, I would then ask the question that I have asked multiple times over the years that not a single person has yet even attempted to answer:

How many innocent civilian deaths are acceptable as a result of the illegal invasion and occupation of countries that pose no threat to us?

Is it not a betrayal of who we're supposed to be when we commit trillions of dollars to needless perpetual war while so many of our fellow human beings right here at home are suffering in an economy decimated by the organized crime of Wall Street and the big banks? Is it not a betrayal of who we're supposed to be when these white collar criminals are not only allowed to walk free, but then also rewarded with trillions more to prop themselves up while so many fellow human beings right here in your own country, Mr. President, continue to lose their jobs, their homes, their healthcare, their ability to bargain collectively for decent compensation and their very belief that there must be somebody in our government who cares?

Is it not a betrayal of who we're supposed to be when you refuse to seek accountability for the invasions, the torture and the multitude of other war crimes committed in our name, as well as the financial crimes that continue to be perpetrated against us right here at home? Are you refusing to act in keeping with who we're supposed to be because you have willingly accepted complicity in these crimes?

Just when we thought the hypocrisy could not get any more outrageous, along comes a speech like the one you gave last night. Congratulations, Mr. President. You've outdone yourself.

###

Manning's Quantico Torture

2011-03-19T08:13:00.002-04:00

03-19-11

Anyone who thinks Bradley Manning is a traitor is apparently not familiar with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The UCMJ not only requires soldiers to refuse illegal orders, but also that evidence of crimes must be reported. For the act of honoring his oath and truly serving his country by leaking evidence of war crimes, Bradley Manning has been rewarded with solitary confinement at Quantico. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the accused the right to a speedy public trial, but Manning has been held at Quantico for ten months, most of it in torturous solitary confinement, without being tried. Bradley Manning's accusers are clearly trying to keep the whole truth under wraps by denying him the opportunity to defend himself in a court of law, while they concoct a phony conspiracy between Manning and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Kevin Zeese gave an excellent speech a few days ago at Busboys and Poets in Washington DC, wherein he detailed the conditions under which Bradley Manning is being held.

ZEESE:
At 5am he is woken up. He will not be allowed to sleep again until 8pm. If he attempts to sleep at any time from 5am to 8pm, he will be made to sit up or stand by the guards. He is forced to sleep naked, with a scratchy smock over him that itches throughout the night. He tried not to use the smock because it was it was so uncomfortable, but was forced to do so.

A voice asks through the door: "Are you alright? I need a verbal response." "Yes, I'm alright." Five minutes later: "Are you alright? I need a verbal response." "Yes, I'm alright." Every five minutes, every day for 7 months, he is asked "Are you alright?” I need a verbal response."

A voice through the door orders: "Get out of your bed for the morning duty brig supervisor inspection." Still no clothes. He gets out of the bed, shivering from being naked all night in a cold cell. He walks toward the front of the cell with his hands in front, covering his genitals. A guard orders: "Stand at parade rest." He puts his hands behind his back, with legs spaced shoulder width apart. He stands at parade rest, waiting and waiting until the brig supervisor arrives. Everyone is called to attention.

Brig supervisor and other guards walk past the cell. They stop, look as he stands naked. Stare at him. Look at the room. Stare at him some more. Then they move on to the next cell. He stands waiting for the inspection of all the cells to end. When completed, a guard orders: "Go sit on your bed." Sitting naked, waiting, waiting, waiting. Ten minutes later, finally, clothes arrive and he can dress.

In our big brother security state the military says they do it for Manning's own protection. It's a lie that does not pass the straight face test. Once again, lies become truth as a compliant press writes it down and reports it as fact. The president reinforces the lie, telling America he has talked to the Pentagon and they have said it is for his own protection. The president says this with a straight face. Does anyone believe this president anymore?

The full speech is a must read. You'll find it here.

As retired Colonel Ann Wright points out, the absurdity of it all is laid bare when a soldier convicted of mutilating the corpses of murdered Afghan civilians and assaulting the soldier who blew the whistle gets nine months of work detail on his base with no prison time, while Bradley Manning, for honoring his military oath and adhering to the Uniform Code of Military Justice gets solitary confinement, torture, charges of treason and is held without trial in egregious violation of his constitutional rights.

The treatment of Manning is clearly designed to intimidate other potential whistle blowers and the public at large into silence. The pretenders want you to picture yourself in solitary confinement, withering from the constant cruel and unusual punishment, standing naked at parade rest, awaiting the brig supervisor's morning inspection. They want you to recoil in fear at the very thought, shrug your shoulders in resignation while claiming there's nothing you can do, and find some hollow distraction to keep yourself occupied. The truth is there is plenty you can do, and must do. The pretenders just don't want you to realize it.

Freedom is not free. It requires responsible citizens to denounce the crimes being committed in our name, financed with our tax dollars, and take a stand to make it clear that there WILL be accountability.
###

Full Kevin Zeese speech in support of Bradley Manning

Also - A must watch 12 minute video:
Shooters Walk Free, Whistleblower Jailed

Kochs-n-Govs: Collective Class War

2011-03-03T11:39:00.005-05:00

03-03-11

To understand the value of a unionized workforce you need to know what things would be like for American workers today, public or private, union or non-union, if it were not for the efforts of their unionized predecessors. If we never had unions, we wouldn't have the 40 hour work week, minimum wage, child labor laws, safety standards in the workplace, no paid vacations, holidays, sick days or personal days, no job protection for women who become pregnant, no unemployment insurance, no workers compensation, no overtime, no salary increases, and no pension plans or healthcare benefits. And that's just a partial list.

The endlessly repeated claims we're hearing that unionized public workers are so vastly over-compensated compared to their private counterparts are just plain false. The people making these bogus claims are not accounting for education or experience. Is this because they think someone with a college degree and several years of experience shouldn't make any more than someone who has just joined the workforce fresh out of high school? Probably not. It's more likely because they know when you factor in education and experience, public workers actually make less.

If Scott Walker were serious about balancing the state budget in Wisconsin, he wouldn't have signed off on nearly $140 million in tax breaks, or refused federal funding for transportation and broadband development before he set his sights on gutting collective bargaining for state workers. And there is plenty of evidence to show that the elimination of collective bargaining would do little if anything to help balance the budget. There are 8 non-collective bargaining states that have larger budget shortfalls than Wisconsin or Ohio. Nevada's state workers have no CBA, yet the budget shortfall there is the largest in the nation.

Union people are being scapegoated for an economic crisis they did not create. Where is all the vitriol for the real culprits? Why are the criminals on Wall Street who quite intentionally set the downward economic spiral in motion still walking free? Their ponzi schemes have destroyed the retirement savings of millions, decimated state and local budgets, and thrown millions out of their jobs AND their homes. Why has there been ZERO accountability for these criminals? Why are they not being made to pay for their crimes? Is it because so many of them are so closely tied with policy makers in Washington and the state capitals?

Robert Bruno is a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois. He says "Unionized workers didn't sow the seeds of the economic downturn, deregulation of the financial industry did. We've suffered billions in losses because of greed, gross mismanagement and illegal activity in the financial industry."

Why have we heard ZERO talk during this controversy about the insanely wasteful defense spending that totals more than the rest of the world combined, or the $12 billion dollars we're wasting on needless Middle East wars every month, which is, by the way funded separately and in addition to the “defense” budget. Wisconsin's share of the tab for Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001 is $18.5 billion dollars. Pretty sure that would help their budget.

As Bernie Sanders, Independent senator from Vermont points out: “This is not just Wisconsin. This is part of a concerted attack on the middle class and working families of this country by the very wealthiest people in America. What these guys want is to return us to the 1920's, when working people had virtually no rights to organize or to earn a decent living.”

Bernie also details how this issue affects everybody, regardless of whether or not you're in a union: “There are a lot of folks out there who say 'you know what, it doesn't impact me. I'm not a union guy, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a civil servant. Doesn't matter to me.' But let me tell you how it does matter to you: Wages are going down in this country. They're going down for everybody. And when you destroy unions, there will be no standard at all. There will be nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class. So your wages will go down as well. Because right now if there are union workers earning a decent wage, private employers have to compete to some degree. So everybody should stand with the workers, stand for decent wages, decent job benefits, and also the ability to negotiate contracts.”

Why would the billionaire Koch brothers want to crush the unions in Wisconsin? It turns out they have a lot of energy related business in the state, with at least 17 different facilities and 4000 miles of pipeline. And strangely enough, Walker's bill includes a provision allowing for the sale of any state owned heating, cooling or power plant, without bids, for whatever amount is arbitrarily determined to be in the state's best interest.

Clearly, the Kochs are trying to super-size their already huge empire at the expense of America's working people, and Scott Walker is their wholly-owned right hand man at the Wisconsin state capitol. These soulless barons of plutocracy must be stopped.

###

Debunking the Myth Of The Overcompensated Public Employee (pdf)

Wisconsin Lie Exposed: Taxpayers Contribute Nothing to Public Worker Pensions

USA Today Shows How To Lie With Statistics

Are Unions Our Convenient Scapegoats?

Wisconsin Fight is Really a 15 State GOP Power Grab

Wisconsin - Making the Battle Lines Clear

Wisconsin is a Battleground in the Kochs' Plan to Break Labor's Back

Labor's Last Stand

How the Kochs Make Billions Corrupting Government

Ten Ways Walker is Selling Out Wisconsin

America Waking Up to the Value of Unions

Hear Walker Get Punked With Call From "David Koch"

Where's Your Righteous Anger?

2011-02-17T16:24:00.002-05:00

02-17-11

Let me just say right from the start that this piece is about encouraging citizens to exercise their First Amendment right to speak out, assemble and protest peacefully against destructive government policy. It is NOT an incitement of violence. I do not believe, nor have I ever believed that violence is an acceptable or effective means of restoring representative governance. I have always believed that the pen is far mightier than the sword, especially when one is guided by a firm commitment to truth and integrity.

The latest glaring example that there is no such commitment inside the Beltway came just this week during a Hillary Clinton speech at George Washington University. As Clinton spoke about governments that deny free expression and arrest protesters, military and CIA veteran Ray McGovern stood and turned his back in silent protest. He was quickly approached by security, of course, but instead of simply escorting him out, they violently assaulted this 71 year old man and left him bleeding in jail.

Such blatant hypocrisy is certainly not exclusive to all the hollow lip service about freedom of expression in today's Washington. In the midst of the worst economic meltdown since the Great Depression, we're hearing an avalanche of political talk about slashing vital domestic programs that are not responsible for our nation's debt – cuts that will directly effect millions of Americans regardless of where they come from, further eroding our already decimated economy, while these people who are supposed to be serving us completely ignore the trillions of our tax dollars committed to military insanity that benefits nobody except the corporate pimps who profit hand over fist from the business of needless perpetual war.

Add to that heinous immorality that fact that we've also got elected politicians rolling out the red carpet for organized crime on Wall Street and in the corner offices of the big banks, not only putting us on the hook for hundreds of billions more, but destroying the livelihoods and retirement nest eggs and stealing the homes of millions in the process. The REAL unemployment rate, when you figure in those who can't find anything more than part time or temp work, and all those who've given up looking because their benefits have run out, is over 20 percent.

But still the people we elect to serve us are focused elsewhere. In one of their final debates before the 2008 election, both John McCain and Barack Obama repeatedly refused to address the pending $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout, and both ended up voting FOR it, despite the fact that hundreds of economists had joined forces to speak out against it, and the entire country was screaming an unequivocal NO. Washington could not have cared less. These people are not working for us. They're working for the bankers.

Is it clear to you yet that petitions, phone calls, online polls and promising to vote for the other side in the next election will get us nowhere? Can you see yet that there is really no “other side” inside the Beltway? Is it not yet obvious that these pretenders are far more concerned with doing the bidding of the special interests that keep them swimming in campaign cash than they are with actually working for the people who elected them? Do you think it might be time to stand up to express your share of America's righteous anger?

Anger is not pretty. It makes people uncomfortable, myself included. But if we're going to have any chance of restoring government that actually works for us, we must be willing to step outside our comfort zone and speak the truth to power. We must not be silent while our tax dollars are used to kill innocent people, steal their land and natural resources, prop up dictators, enrich war profiteers and bankroll organized crime on Wall Street. We must not sit idly by while jobs here at home continue to disappear, foreclosures continue to skyrocket, and our infrastructure continues to crumble beneath our feet, while sold-out politicians perpetuate a completely false left/right paradigm and fall all over each other while trying to figure out please their corporate paymasters at our expense..

We would certainly not be witnessing the historic change taking root in the Arab world had the people of Tunisia and Egypt not been willing to take a stand and express their anger. They've got a long way to go, but they have proven to the world that having things our way is possible. We just have to be willing to follow their lead, remember our responsibility as citizens and take our own stand to make it happen.

Report of McGovern protest

Ray discusses incident with Rob Kall of OpEd News

The Shame of Being an American

Opposing Obama's Perpetual Wars

2011-01-26T15:56:00.003-05:00

01-26-11

You may have heard it said that the first casualty of war is the truth. In the interest of preserving truth, I thought you'd like to hear some that the Obama administration and certainly all their subservient media hacks would prefer you weren't aware of. All this info comes from WarIsACrime.Org, in a post titled "We Will Oppose Obama as Long as He Supports War."

From WarIsACrime.Org:
Since becoming president, Barack Obama has had three opportunities to work with Congress to reduce military spending, but instead has championed increases in that spending each time, despite the fact that this spending
represents a clear threat to the economic future of our country.

Obama has continued as well to try to hide the true costs of the wars by funding them with off the books supplemental spending bills, despite the fact that he campaigned against this very practice.

Obama has also:
Escalated a war on Afghanistan in which rising civilian deaths and atrocities have become routine.

Approved an increase in covert operations by CIA-controlled Afghan troops into Pakistan.

Expanded the use of Special Operations Forces operating in virtually total secrecy and without any accountability to Congress.

Announced plans to form an army of mercenary troops from private military contractors in Iraq - including contracts with the company formerly called Blackwater, despite the knowledge that it was guilty of atrocities against civilians in that country, and despite the openly declared opposition of the Iraqi government to such a continued role.

Defended false statements that took our nation into the current wars and false statements that have prolonged them.

Helped a military coup succeed in Honduras.

Sought to allow more Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories.

Protected Israel's killing of activists on a humanitarian aid ship, not even protesting at the murder of an unarmed American youth.

Not closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay and continues to maintain a network of detention facilities in Afghanistan through which prisoners, according to the most recent information available, are still being subjected to harsh treatment.

Claimed the right to imprison people, including American citizens, indefinitely without charge or trial, thus further cementing in place the elimination of the rights of prisoners of war and the elimination of the right of habeas corpus for anyone, as well as the rights found in the Fourth through Eighth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

Openly claimed the power to order the assassination of Americans abroad.

Continued to work with and protect from Accountability an Iraqi military that is known to regularly use torture.

Expanded the use of warrantless spying.

Publicly instructed his Attorney General not to prosecute individuals responsible for crimes, including torture.

Put great pressure on European states not to investigate or prosecute U.S. war crimes.

Pursued the prosecution and punishment of government whistleblowers more aggressively than any previous president.

Used a private propaganda firm that had been exposed planting lies in Iraqi media to screen potential embedded reporters for coverage of the U.S. military.

Used the military to restrict reporting by American journalists on an oil spill in American waters.

Claimed the right to engage in many of these activities without the authorization of Congress.

Claimed the power first developed by his predecessor to rewrite new laws through the extra-Constitutional use of presidential signing statements.

Expanded powers that are not opposed now will be far more difficult to oppose later, with another president able to claim past precedent.

Over half of every U.S. dollar of income tax is going to war making. The Department of Defense budget alone is larger than the military expenditures of the next largest sixteen militaries in the world combined. That budget could be cut by 85% and still be the largest in the world.

In addition to the lessening of hostility toward our country that would result from a significant decrease in U.S. military presence around the world, by shifting our financial resources we could create jobs, green energy, top quality free education, public transportation and infrastructure. We intend to support public servants who put our money where it serves the public.

You'll find there's plenty more where that came from when you read the full piece, called We Will Oppose Obama as Long as He Supports War, from WarIsACrime.Org

Defaming King

2011-01-16T20:29:00.007-05:00

01-16-11

Jeh Johnson is general counsel for the “Defense” Department. In a speech this week, he said Martin Luther King, Jr. would support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would recognize that we live in a complicated world, and that our nation's military should not and cannot lay down its arms and leave the American people vulnerable to terrorist attack," says Johnson. "I draw the parallel to our own servicemen and women deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, away from the comfort of conventional jobs, their families and their homes." Johnson added that King would be proud of what he called the "dangerous unselfishness" of our military, claiming they're helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Such is the strategy of naked revisionism. It's easy to completely misrepresent historical figures when they're not around to refute your garbage.

The claim that we're helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan is beyond absurd. We illegally invaded and continue to illegally occupy these two countries, neither of which presented any threat to us. Well over a million innocent civilians lay dead as a result of this "help" that Johnson speaks of. Millions more have been made refugees. Infrastructure destroyed, landscape poisoned and children born with hideous birth defects from the depleted uranium in our weapons. Basic public services like electricity and water extremely limited or completely non-existent.

We are not helping these people. We are killing as many of them as possible to get them out of the way, subjecting the rest to puppet rule, securing control of their natural resources and setting up shop for a permanent US military presence, all for the benefit of corporate pimps who profit hand over fist from bogus perpetual war.

If Dr. King were alive today, he would certainly not recognize any need for these heinous wars of choice. He would be leading the charge against them with every ounce of his existence. He would be saying "NOT with MY tax dollars, NOT in MY name, NOT in the name of MY God."

He would be saying things like "If you want to reduce the American peoples' vulnerability to terrorist attack, STOP encouraging it. STOP invading countries that pose no threat to us, killing innocent people, stealing their resources, destroying their homes and building military bases on their land. STOP demonizing people for their religion. STOP feeding the hatred that is felt so deep that people are willing to blow themselves to pieces to express it. STOP perpetrating a war OF terror and calling it a war ON terror."

I can't think of a better way to honor Dr. King and advance the cause of peace than to open our eyes, see things as they really are and demand an immediate end to the crimes being committed in our name. Drop the worthless politics. Stop making juvenile excuses for pretend leaders simply because they identify themselves as members of the same party that you, your daddy and his daddy have always voted with. Stop trusting the complicit mainstream media to keep you informed.

Remember that until the truth is accepted and dealt with in its entirety, ugly and uncomfortable as so much of it is, true freedom and peace will be impossible.

Washington's False Divide

2011-01-06T19:06:00.003-05:00

01-06-11

Joe Brewer is the founder and director of Cognitive Policy Works. They're currently working on the Progressive Strategy Handbook, which will be given out for free when it's finished. Check out their site for more info.

Joe's op-ed piece on Truthout this week is called "Responding to the Conservative Propaganda Machine." He does a good job of detailing the pseudo-grass roots rise of the Tea Party, and makes the great suggestion of progressive philanthropists investing in a communication framework that would provide a solid platform for progressive vision, as well as help people to see through and effectively deconstruct the "conservative" stories. But I used the quotes in an effort to illustrate where I think Joe goes wrong, and that's by continuing to perpetuate Washington's mythical partisan divide.

He doesn't use the word "liberal," but laments the disappearance if the Democratic majority in the House, saying Obama has been put on the defensive and that his prospects are slim. He also chides what he calls the "progressive leadership" in Congress for a naïve belief in rational discourse that 's allowing conservatives to run all over them.

Apparently Mr. Brewer has not considered the idea that their supposed naïveté is just part of the show. These pretenders are simply playing their submissive role to a T in the perpetual dog and pony show that is American politics. The real problem in this country is the widespread acceptance of this charade, with millions continuing to grab desperately at the false notion that there is some tangible difference between "conservatives" and "liberals" in Washington.

Obama has hardly been put on the defensive. He's doing as he's told, serving his special interest paymasters just like the rest of them. You don't go from state senator to president of the United States in four years without making it clear that you're willing to play the elitists' game.

There is NOTHING progressive about swearing an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and then not only refusing to demand justice for the extensively documented crimes of the previous administration, but EXPANDING on them. Unless, of course, one's idea of "progress" is the complete demise of that sacred document.

There is NOTHING conservative about needless perpetual war, or repeated Wall Street criminal bailouts at the expense of America's working people and the domestic programs they spend their entire working life paying into, unless one's idea of "conservative" is to share the goal of complete constitutional destruction, while conserving as much of the peoples' money as possible for all these nefarious purposes, while our infrastructure and economy fall to pieces as the people lose their jobs and their health and their homes in ever increasing numbers.

The "liberal" media is another one of history's greatest myths, designed to keep the masses confused, distracted and divided while our country is conquered.

If we're going to be truly progressive, we need to stop paying attention to the complicit media and stop buying into Washington's mythical partisan divide. The only real differences inside the Beltway amount to arguments over how best to please the deep pocketed interests that fill campaign coffers. Whether these elected pretenders call themselves liberal, conservative, democrat or republican, they're all working for the same people.

And it ain't you and me.

Full Frontal Hypocrisy

2010-12-26T20:17:00.007-05:00

12-26-10

From the cozy confines of his Christmas break in Hawaii, Barack Obama condemned Saturday's suicide bombing at a World Food Program site in Pakistan, which reportedly killed 43 people and injured more than 100.

"Killing innocent civilians outside a World Food Program distribution point is an affront to the people of Pakistan, and to all humanity," says the Pretender-in-Chief, as if the million-plus dead in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the hundreds killed by his own predator drones in Pakistan are somehow acceptable.

It's hard to imagine a more glaring example of war puppet hypocrisy.
Isn't it interesting how the spineless war whores and their media minions thump their chests, condemning acts of terror like the one yesterday in Pakistan, loudly claiming justification to continue their mission, without EVER stopping to examine the motivation for such attacks? This is because they are all fully aware of the motivation, and they don't want you to figure it out. They don't want you to understand that it is THEIR naked imperialism and lust for ever more power, money and control that feeds the desperation and hate to the point of civilians being willing to kill themselves, as they see it, in defense of their country and their way of life.

The perpetual war lovers claim that reports of the million-plus dead in America's wars of choice in Iraq and Afghanistan are not credible, while choosing to ignore the 2006 Johns Hopkins Iraq study published in the Lancet, as well as the corroborating work done by Opinion Business Research, one of England's leading market research firms, and the efforts of Just Foreign Policy, which has continuously updated the total. With no support whatsoever, they claim the real total is nowhere near what these clearly credible sources report.

But for the sake of argument, let's just go ahead and set the real numbers aside. Let's say instead of 1.4 million innocent civilian dead we only have 750 thousand, or maybe 500 thousand, or as few as 350 thousand. Here's what we need to be asking:

How many innocent civilian deaths are acceptable in the illegal invasion and occupation of a country that poses no threat to the invaders? What if some other country invaded ours without cause, killing perhaps only 100,000 innocent civilians, or maybe only 50,000, or as few as 10,000? Would that be okay with you? How many members of your family would you be willing to sacrifice in such an obviously criminal attack?

Now you know how all the innocent civilians of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan feel. The ones who are still alive, that is.

Instead of honoring his oath to the United States Constitution by demanding accountability and justice for the extensively documented crimes of the Bush administration, Barack Obama has become their greatest protector, while willingly taking full ownership of the unprecedented disaster launched by Bush.

It has become quite clear that Barack Obama is just another Oval Office front man. A hollow shill for an insatiable military/industrial/Zionist machine that continues to siphon our hard-earned tax and retirement dollars by the hundreds of billions, soaking them in the blood of innocent civilians and betrayed soldiers all in the name of war for profit, and handing them over in the form of bailouts to the very Wall Street pimps responsible for our crashing economy.

But until enough people wake up and refuse to continue supporting the hopelessly broken political system that enables the fraud, genuine change for the better will elude us.

America's Detached Masses

2010-12-15T12:32:00.003-05:00

12-15-10

This one's for everybody who continues to maintain the desperate pipe dream that there is some tangible difference between the democrats and republicans masquerading as the leaders of this country, and that we can somehow make things better if we only continue to play the same old partisan games that time and time and time again have resulted in failure. While the masses continue to play right into the hands of pretenders, the pretenders are hammering the final nails into the coffin of our republic.

If you think I'm out of my mind, perhaps you'll listen to someone who has actually served in the upper echelon of American government. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under Ronald Reagan. He's an economist and writer, having worked for the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and the Scrips Howard News Service. He has written or co-written eight books and testified before Congress 30 times on matters of economic policy. You can find his work these days on multiple websites. I usually catch him at Information Clearinghouse. Mr. Roberts was interviewed this week by Max Kaiser. All of the following quotes come from that interview, which you can see in its entirety here.

WHEN ASKED WHAT DEMS CAN DO TO BEAT THE REPUBLICANS
"They can't do anything because they're dependent on the same funding sources for their campaigns as the republicans. The days are gone when the democrats had independent sources of finance – the unions, for example. Because off-shoring has wrecked the unions and reduced their political and economic clout. And so the democrats have to turn, just as the republicans, to Wall Street, to the military security complex, to the oil companies, to agribusiness..."

MINCING NO WORDS REGARDING THE NEED TO HOLD WALL STREET ACCOUNTABLE
"You would have to do investigations of the Wall Street fraud, you would have to do indictments, you would have to hold voluminous hearings to make the public aware of these crimes, you would have to sentence people to prison and you would have to use all of that capital you had created through hearings and investigations to re-regulate the financial system. But these types of policies – there's no political party that can do that."

PCR ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EARLY AMERICANS AND THE PEOPLE OF TODAY
"People then, they believed in liberty and they were prepared to fight for it. There's no real indication that the American population does. Look at what they submit to. Look at the full body scanners, the body groping, the continual exposure of lies. They've been taken to wars based on what they now know were lies, and yet they accept it, and there's been no investigation of that."

HE ALSO ILLUSTRATES WASHINGTON'S COMPLETE LACK OF RESPECT FOR OUR CONSTITUTION
"The president, the executive branch don't respect the Constitution, the Congress doesn't, far as I can tell the law schools don't, the American Bar Association... Look at all of the measures that the executive has taken to get around the Constitution, to suspend it, to nullify the Bill of Rights... They got away with the claim that the president of the United States doesn't have to obey the laws against torture, doesn't have to obey the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, can spy on Americans without warrants... They're creating in the presidency all sorts of dictatorial powers that are extra-constitutional and it hasn't produced the kind of outcry that you would expect. If the leaders don't believe in democracy and don't believe in the Constitution, then what is there?"

PCR ON THE BANKS AND THEIR POWER
"The banks own the Department of Justice. The banks own the government. And so does the military security complex, and so does AIPAC. And so does the oil industry, and so does agribusiness. The private oligarchies own the United States government. It's not an independent government."

See the full Paul Craig Roberts interview with Max Kaiser here.

I had a discussion with someone the other day who was surprised to learn that I do not identify with either major party. He had read some of my work, figured I was “mostly liberal,” and therefore a democrat. When I told him I was an American before anything else he more or less dismissed me as an idealist, saying I need to just give it up and accept the broken status quo because nothing is ever going to change.

That is precisely the defeatist attitude that has us where we are today in this country. And anybody who refuses to accept this ugly reality and change accordingly will share responsibility for America's downfall.

WikiLeaks Reveals Media Complicity

2010-12-09T19:00:00.003-05:00

12-09-10

It's pretty easy to spot people who have been completely consumed by America's mythical partisan divide. They call themselves conservatives, bitching and moaning about the “big government” policies of the current president, while singing the praises of a preceding administration that any cursory review of actual history proves was anything BUT conservative. They proudly espouse their liberalism, demanding accountability for the crimes of the Bush administration while making weak excuses for an Obama regime that refuses to initiate it.

They stand belligerently by their chosen party right or wrong, turning a blind eye to the naked malfeasance of their plastic partisan heroes, engaging in endless political tit for tat while the the truly serious problems we face in this country go unsolved year after year after year.

The media is perhaps the main source of conflict, with liberals ranting to the enth degree about hollow polemicist blowhards like Rush Limbaugh while acting as if Keith Olbermann is some perfectly pure “Journalistic Jesus,” and conservatives whining that the damn liberal attitude infesting the airwaves and print is the source of all the world's problems.

But if you're one of those who does the real homework and is fully committed to the truth, you know it doesn't matter which of the cable channels, major networks or big city newspapers you're talking about. Every ounce of mainstream media substance is purposely obscured with ten pounds of useless crap, designed to keep the masses confused, distracted, divided and compliant while domestic needs get little more than lip service and our tax dollars are siphoned off to bail out Wall Street criminals and fund multiple needless perpetual wars half a world away. This happens, of course, because perpetual war makes a lot of money for the faceless puppeteers pulling the strings on Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue. The millions they spend greasing palms inside the Beltway returns billions in defense contracts that keep the wars chugging along. It's a great investment if you have no soul and don't mind swimming in blood money.

As Thomas Harvey points out in a special piece for the St. Louis Beacon, the WikiLeaks controversy, and the constant focus on Julian Assange instead of the revelations themselves pulls the veil off the illicit relationship between government and media:

"WikiLeaks directly threatens the power and credibility of both government and media. Governments seek to control information and bristle when anyone threatens their dominion. While the media historically played this role (and ended up on enemies lists as a result), they now see their role as patriotic defenders of government secrecy. At its best, WikiLeaks lays bare government lies as well as the media’s failure to point them out to us. Ultimately, the unseemly collusion between government and media in the defense of secrecy threatens more than just WikiLeaks and Julian Assange; it threatens our democracy."

And Chris Floyd hammers it home in an article for Counter Punch:

"[T]he world's journalists and those persons of conscience working in the world's governments have been given a hard, harsh, unmistakable lesson in the new realities of our degraded time. Tell a truth that discomforts power, that challenges its domination over our lives, our discourse, our very thoughts, and you will be destroyed. No institution, public or private, will stand with you; the most powerful entities, public and private, will be arrayed against you, backed up by overwhelming violent force. This is where we are now. This is what we are now."

Harvey and Floyd are both absolutely correct. But the power Floyd speaks of is only derived through the blind consent of the governed. We simply need to turn off the complicit media, open our eyes, start thinking for ourselves and stop consenting. Nobody is suggesting the drastic change we need will be easy. But if we want the kind of government we're supposed to have, and a media that actually serves to keep that government in check instead of doing its bidding, we have no other choice.

Exposing the Pretenders

2010-12-04T07:55:00.003-05:00

12-04-10

It's hard to imagine the propaganda getting more hollow than what Jeffrey Kuhner is writing. In a piece published by the Washington Times, Kuhner calls Julian Assange of Wikileaks an enemy combatant who needs to be assassinated. This is some seriously delusional stuff. IF the schmuck actually believes what he's saying, that is. My money's on the likelihood that he knows it's all worthless crap, designed specifically to appeal to the lowest common denominator, stoke the fires of fear and feed the insatiable military/industrial perpetual war beast. Some say we should just ignore fools like Kuhner. I say we need to be standing up and calling them out, because, sadly, a lot of people are still buying their garbage.

Kuhner:
"Mr. Assange is an anti-American radical who wants to see the United States defeated by its Islamic fascist enemies."

Really? Benito Mussolini himself, widely considered to be the father of fascism, described it as a merger of state and corporate power. You know, kind of like what's been happening gradually over time in our own country since at least the days of Reagan. How exactly is such a scenario accomplished by a few violent radicals, not connected with any particular state, who hide out in caves?

Kuhner:
"[Assange's] goal is to humiliate America on the world stage, to drain it of all moral and legal legitimacy - especially regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

America was humiliated on the world stage and drained of all moral and legal legitimacy by its own president, when George W. Bush launched these illegal wars of aggression, based entirely on lies, against two countries that posed no threat whatsoever to us. It was George W. Bush, who, for eight years, stood four square against the Constitution he swore to uphold, by claiming the non-existent authority to ignore laws passed by Congress and signed by him as he saw fit. It was George W. Bush who authorized torture and admitted it publicly, authorized illegal warrantless spying and admitted it publicly, intentionally lied to Congress (a felony) and the American people to gain support for his coveted wars of choice, and instructed his underlings to ignore congressional subpoenas, which they did, without so much as a slap on the wrist from a spineless Congress and worthless justice department. It was George W. Bush who truly thought he was completely above the laws of the land he pretended to lead.

And it's Barack Obama who clearly agrees, dutifully maintaining the complete lack of moral and legal legitimacy created by Bush, since he refuses to even consider holding the Bush administration accountable for any of their mountain of extensively documented crimes against our country.

Why would Julian Assange want to waste so much time and effort, putting himself at such great risk, trying to accomplish something that two Pretenders-in-Chief have already so masterfully achieved?

Kuhner:
"The world is witnessing the absurd, almost surreal spectacle of the American superpower standing helpless in the face of a lone hacker."

What's absurd and surreal is that so many people still fall for the sophomoric trash written by subservient hacks like Kuhner.

Kuhner:
"Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. vows that he is looking into possible criminal charges against Mr. Assange. It is too late for tough talk. At this point, we are beyond indictments and courts. The damage has been done; people have died - and will die because of the actions of this puerile, self-absorbed narcissist... we should treat Mr. Assange the same way as other high-value terrorist targets: Kill him."

Thousands of American soldiers and well over one million Iraqi and Afghani civilians were dead before anyone ever heard of Julian Assange or Wikileaks, because of the actions of the puerile, self-absorbed narcissist president who quite intentionally lied us into this mess. And many more will die because the guy who replaced him in the White House is no better. People like Kuhner only want to get rid of Assange because, no matter what you think of Wikileaks or its founder, this controversy is helping to awaken more people to the truth, which is getting too big for the war whores and their wholly owned media propagandists to control.

It's shocking that so many otherwise very intelligent people still act as if there's some measurable difference between democrats and republicans in Washington. Anybody who was really paying attention could see Obama's true colors long before election day 2008.

As a senator he supported every funding bill for Iraq. He also promised to vote against the FISA bill that granted immunity to telecoms that helped GWB's illegal spying program, saying he would even filibuster it if necessary, then voted for it. During a debate with McCain while the original $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout controversy was raging and all of America was screaming "NO," both he and McCain repeatedly refused to address the issue, then both voted for the bailout.

How much more evidence does one need? Partisans on both sides need to wake the hell up and admit they've been had by a corrupt system that doesn't care which of the two parties they identify with, as long as they keep blindly playing into the "divide and conquer" strategy of the pretenders running this country.

Obama's Deficit Dupe

2010-11-29T20:27:00.003-05:00

11-29-10

Does the hollow lip service get more obvious? Barack Obama came out swinging a wiffle bat at the out of control freight train that is the federal deficit today, saying he wants to freeze the pay of all civilian government employees, including those working at the Defense Department. The freeze would last for two years, and reportedly not include military personnel. It must be approved by Congress.

The Pretender-in-Chief says "The hard truth is that getting this deficit under control is going to require some broad sacrifice, and that sacrifice must be shared by the employees of the federal government."

What's next, Mr. President? Let me guess: Gutting Social Security, Medicare, education, job programs and any other domestic priority that isn't responsible for the skyrocketing deficit? Please. You're not fooling anybody who's really paying attention.

The White House says the proposed federal pay freeze would save $5 billion over two years, $28 billion over five years and $60 billion over a decade.

Wonderful. The ongoing illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan alone are costing us about $12 billion every month. And that's before we get to Pakistan, Yemen, the growing hornet nest in Korea, and the seven hundred-plus military bases we have all over the world, but something tells me all that needless spending will escape Obama's "broad sacrifice."

And anybody who's done the serious homework on single payer healthcare (the US is the only industrialized country in the world without a national healthcare plan) can tell you it would save us $400 billion every year, by eliminating all the needless bureaucracy and waste in the current for profit system. They can also tell you it's publicly funded, privately delivered healthcare, the cost of which comes out of your paycheck just like your insurance does now.

The single payer movement is not people looking for a free ride. It's people with a clue advocating a common sense approach to healthcare that would provide a huge boost to the overall economy. You want to pay more than you need to for your health coverage? Lobby your reps for an opt-out provision in single payer legislation and spend away. Spare me the disingenuous cries of "socialism." Using taxpayer money to bankroll the Wall Street criminals who have quite purposely driven our economy into the ground is socialism. Funding illegal, immoral, unnecessary wars that the people don't want with the peoples' money is socialism. Using the peoples' money to enrich makers of worthless airport security devices and pay professional gropers to sexually assault the people when they travel is socialism, not to mention a complete trampling of the Constitution that all elected officials swear to uphold.

Of course, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue's military/industrial/oil/corporate profit facilitator wants you to know that his decision to freeze federal civilian pay didn't come lightly. "This is not just a line item on a federal ledger. These are peoples' lives," he says.

Really, Mr. President? Pretty sure the million-plus dead in Iraq and countless other dead civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, murdered by the imperial war of terror you're leading were all people with lives too. Where's your concern for them?

Let It Wiki-Rain

2010-11-26T09:50:00.004-05:00

11-26-10

The words from Wikileaks this week are bold and ominous: "The coming months will see a new world, where global history is redefined." They also announced that their next release will be seven times the size of the 400,000 documents that make up the Iraq war logs.

The Beltway pretenders are understandably very nervous about it. The Obama administration is warning foreign governments of the impending release, which reportedly could damage foreign relations to the point of untold numbers of U.S. Diplomats being expelled from their posts worldwide.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley says "These revelations are harmful to the United States and our interests. They are going to create tension in relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world."

And why exactly might that be? Perhaps because the ugly reality of elitist imperialism, needless perpetual war, the intentional assault on the world economy to finance it all while continuing to transfer wealth upward, and the willing complicity of all these foreign governments in the whole grand charade is about to be laid bare for the world to see?

Good.

If we're ever going to right our own ship of state and enjoy relationships with the rest of the world based on genuine trust and mutual respect, where governments are actually working for the people, we're going to have to first endure a lot of ugly truth that hurts. We're also going to have to realize that political posturing regarding this truth (regardless of affiliation), and personal attacks on people who have quite literally put their lives on the line to bring it to us, are a complete waste of time and energy that will change nothing.

Let it Wiki-Rain.

###

US Warns of Likely Harm from Wikileaks Release

Wikileaks website

Wikileaks Facebook

UPDATE - 11-29-10:
Some are saying Assange is either a willing disinfo agent or is being played masterfully by the CIA. I must say I do find it a little curious that we have seen no accountabilty so far for the indisputable crimes revealed by the collateral murder video or the Wikileaks release of Afghanistan and Iraq documents, except for Bradley Manning, who leaked the documents. I will give Wikileaks the benefit of the doubt, but not for long. If we don't soon see at least a significant hint of the new world they have so boldly predicted, it will be clear that Assange and company are just another cog in the elitist wheel of deception.

Terror Fraud

2010-11-21T12:21:00.003-05:00

11/21/10

It's very easy to see if one takes an honest look. Fear mongering rules. There are terrorists everywhere. They want to take over our country and make us pray to Allah. At any moment you could be standing next to one on a street corner or sitting next to one on an airplane who decides to blow himself to pieces for the noble cause. Be afraid. Be VERY afraid, 24/7/365.

But whatever you do, don't make any serious effort to understand WHY terrorists exist. Don't concern yourself with deciphering the hate that fuels their rage. All you need to know is that they're coming to get you, so just do whatever the government says and don't question it.

“But wait,” you say. “Our fearless leaders and televisions tell us all the time! They hate us for our freedom!”

And which freedom would that be, exactly? The freedom to travel without being sexually assaulted by airport security? The freedom to conduct our personal and professional business without having all our communications monitored? The freedom to enjoy retirement without having our pensions and savings siphoned off to bail out the criminals on Wall Street? The freedom to watch as our manufacturing base is destroyed, our jobs are shipped overseas, the banks take over our homes and our economy and infrastructure crumble? The freedom to elect millionaire pretenders who have all the answers while they're running for office but never get anything done for the people because they're so busy pandering to the corporate pimps who fill their campaign coffers? The freedom to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances without the threat of being arrested?

Perhaps you haven't heard. None of those freedoms exist anymore. Just like entire villages in Vietnam and now Afghanistan, the Constitution that protects our inalienable rights is being leveled for its own protection. I suppose the stunning absurdity is harder for some to recognize when it completely envelops them.

To be sure, there is plenty of genuine hate for our country emanating from places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Yemen, but it has nothing to do with our freedom. It's the result of decades of murderous assault on theirs.

Although perhaps not the precise starting point, it's instructive to begin with the CIA overthrow of Iran's Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953. This was done because the democratically elected Mosaddeq wanted to nationalize Iran's oil industry, seizing control from British and American interests. The nerve of that man! Wanting to control his own country's natural resources for the benefit of his own people! Mosaddeq was replaced by the Shah, the western oil puppet whose rule ended with the Islamic revolution in 1979, after the people of Iran had finally had enough.

There's no question about it. The threat presented by those who hate America because we've killed their loved ones, flattened their homes, poisoned their landscape and ignored their sovereignty is real, and it has only increased since the “War on Terror” was launched in the wake of 9/11. But it doesn't hold a candle to the threat posed by the faceless, insatiable military/industrial/oil/banking profit machine, whose yes men walk the halls of ultimate government power, controlling entire armies, and enough firepower to destroy the planet several times over.
###

UPDATE:
Excellent related post at Willy Loman today, with some important history and details...

America's Blind Allegiance

2010-11-17T07:54:00.007-05:00

11/17/10

There is something seriously wrong with a populace that readily accepts war criminals walking free among them. As much as Bush administration supporters have and will continue to ever so weakly claim otherwise, the rule of law (remember that quaint little notion?) leaves no doubt. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove and countless other Bush minions are clearly traitors and war criminals who should all be in jail. Instead we have the former Pretender-in-Chief touring like a rock star to peddle his worthless revisionist history, and ground being broken on a Bush presidential center that will no doubt be filled to the rafters with the same falsity that ruled his pretendency.

And what do we also have now because so many were so willing to sacrifice truth, justice and accountability on the altar of gutless partisan politics? We have what many of us were warning about all along if we let the Bush criminals walk: A president who not only refuses to hold the Pennsylvania Avenue criminals who came before him accountable in any way whatsoever (thereby making himself fully complicit in Bushco's crimes), but who has taken Bush's contempt for the rule of law to a whole new level.

Barack Obama now claims the non-existent authority (in any nation claiming to be one of laws, that is) to murder American citizens at will, merely on the suspicion that they present an undefined "threat." Investigation? Evidence? Due process? Innocent until proven guilty? Justice? Wait, don't tell me: "War on Terror. We don't have time for that stuff. Just gotta kill 'em all before they kill us," right?

What about all the innocent ones? Like the million-plus in Iraq, or the countless others in Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Yemen?

And STILL so many wonder where the hate comes from.

But hey, I'm just a radio guy looking for work. What do I know? Maybe the words of Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant Treasury Secretary under Reagan will help to hammer the point home:

[T]he United States government claims to be a government of laws, not of men, but when the executive branch violates the laws that constrain it, those responsible are not held accountable for their criminal actions. As accountability is the essence of the rule of law, the absence of accountability means the absence of the rule of law.

The list of criminal actions by presidents Bush and Obama, Vice President Cheney, the CIA, the NSA, the US military, and other branches of the government is long and growing. For example, both president Bush and vice president Cheney violated US and international laws against torture. Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union responded to Bush’s recent admission that he authorized torture with calls for a criminal investigation of Bush’s crime.

The above comes from Roberts' article The Stench of American Hypocrisy.

Read it and weep.

Deficit Commission Charade

2010-11-13T10:31:00.004-05:00

11/13/10

Paul Krugman says the mission of Obama's deficit commission has been hijacked, as if there actually was some genuine intent, at least at the beginning, to bring insane government spending under control. The truth is that the "Cat Food Commission," as many have taken to calling it, has been a fraud from the start.

What else are we to conclude when they completely ignore the trillions being pumped into needless perpetual war while slashing domestic programs to pieces? Their proposal to reduce overseas bases by one third doesn't even scratch the surface of this country's insane military spending. Freeze Pentagon salaries for three years? Wow, you guys are generous! Please stop giving us so much at once!

This "bipartisan" commission's proposals are a purposeful mix of ideas, favored and despised by both sides, designed to lead to political compromise that will keep these soulless thugs and their corporate paymasters happy while the people continue to hold the empty bag.

Chairman Alan Simpson's characterization of Social Security as a "milk cow with 300 million tits" is a disingenuous, juvenile attempt to create controversy that keeps people talking about anything but real solutions. Like raising the salary ceiling upon which Social Security and Medicare taxes are drawn, keeping Congress' hands out of the till, eliminating ALL of the needless 700-plus military bases we have all over the world, and getting COMPLETELY out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and anywhere else we don't belong.

Simpson and his ilk aren't interested in real solutions. Their sole purpose is to keep the smoke and mirrors crankin' while they continue to quite intentionally decimate this country's middle class.

Do You Get it Yet?

2010-04-03T17:54:00.001-04:00

04-03-10

Real change is impossible as long as we continue to exist in a vast wasteland of gutless politics and convenient distraction. Far too many are either so completely disengaged or so obsessed with the mythical partisan divide that they're oblivious to the societal and moral decay that is destroying our country. It is really that hard to grasp practicality over politics? Objectivity over obfuscation? Reality over revisionism?

The two major parties are actually ONE pro-war, pro-duplicity, anti-United States Constitution party, beholden to soulless special interests, both within and outside our borders (read on below the video). Millions are consumed with ultimately worthless partisan arguments while these Beltway cowards go about the back room business of facilitating bogus perpetual military conflict and sweetheart business policy solely for the benefit of faceless paymasters. Anything they appear to be doing for we the people is superficial at best. They are NOT working for us. Only working us over.

I don't expect a single person to take my word for anything. I expect people to do the homework and learn the truth for themselves. It's part of your responsibility as a citizen. You don't need to do it for hours at a stretch. You just need to take a serious look at how your time is spent and budget accordingly. 15 minutes here, an hour there, etc. And do it regularly. Most people have FAR more spare time than they think they do.

The first step in a serious quest for the truth is the need to STOP RELYING ON TALK RADIO AND YOUR TELEVISION. For every ounce of substance provided by the evening "news" and all the self-absorbed talking heads on radio and cable, the audience is quite intentionally force-fed ten pounds of useless crap, comprised largely of blatant lies and propaganda. This should make it clear what they want you to be focusing on. Is there a lot of garbage on the Internet that can't be trusted? Of course there is. This is where logic, reason and critical thinking come in. Start with what is not in dispute and work from there.

An open mind, a thick skin, and the willingness to follow the truth wherever it may lead are all critical to the realization and exposure of that truth, without which we can never be truly free.

LATEST VIDEO:

HIGHLIGHTED VIDEOS
(of the 144 I have uploaded, which can all be found here)

Tell Me Why Again (a Song for Barack)  *  Shredding the Anti-Iran Propaganda  *  Calling Obama's Healthcare Bluff

Dead Remembered, Living Ignored  *  The Pretenders   * The Great Geithner Coverup

False "Uncle Tom" Anger  *  Afghanistan: Anyone for Truth?  *  Who's Afraid of Open Debates?

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REAL NEWS NETWORK: Interview with Hamas - Part 1

REAL NEWS NETWORK: Interview with Hamas - Part 2

REAL NEWS NETWORK: Interview with Hamas - Part 3

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TOP TEN MYTHS ABOUT THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE CONFLICT

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If you're not familiar with Alan Hart, you need to be. His book series, Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, is an absolute must if you're serious about the unvarnished truth surrounding the creation of the state of Israel and how it directly and seriously affects our own country.

An equally important work is Guilt by Association: How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War by Jeff Gates, which details how the United States was duped into war by Zionist extremists.

I have communicated directly with both of these gentlemen. Their credentials speak for themselves. The truth is not pretty, but until it's laid bare for all to see and dealt with accordingly, conflict will continue.

CRUSHING THE ANTI-ZIONISM EQUALS ANTI-SEMITISM MYTH:It's a cynical game that Zionist frauds have been playing since the state of Israel's illegitimate inception in 1948: Criticism of Israel and its murderous policies makes you a Jew hater. Fear of being painted in that phony light is what keeps so many citizens silent, and causes so many politicians to turn their backs to the fraud (many also while accepting piles of blood money for their campaign coffers, of course), thereby enabling this rogue state to freely conduct a six decade campaign of slow-motion Palestinian genocide and theft of their land.

The real terrorists? The real anti-Semites? The real haters? They're walking the halls of Israeli power, enabled by their subservient Washington whores, using the Jewish faith as cover for their heinous fraud and truly hating Palestinians for no other reason than the fact that they exist in the place these pretenders seek to steal for themselves.
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Nobel Farce

2009-10-10T17:55:00.001-04:00

10-10-09

Welcome to Obama's World, everybody! Where being a willing purveyor of illegal, immoral military attacks on countries that pose no threat to us and killing untold numbers of their innocent civilians wins you a prize for peace!

HOMEWORK:

Warmonger Wins Peace Prize - Paul Craig Roberts

WTF? Obama Gets the Nobel Peace Prize? - Dave Lindorff

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Washington Smoke, Media Mirrors

2009-10-07T16:44:00.001-04:00

10-07-09

Like two major components of a well-oiled machine, working in tandem to keep the masses scared, confused, apathetic, compliant.

HOMWEWORK:

U.S. Press Corps Fails Again on Iran
09-30-09 Robert Parry article

Single Payer: The Only REAL Reform

2009-09-24T20:21:00.001-04:00

09-24-09

The truth is readily available for anyone who takes the time to really look.

HOMEWORK:

Physicians for a National Health Program

Mad as Hell Doctors

Single Payer Action

Healthcare Now

Unions For Single Payer

California Nurses Association

One Payer

Medicare For All

Labor For Single Payer

Guaranteed Healthcare For All

Our Ailing Healthcare

American Patients United

FAIR - Media Blackout on Single Payer

H.R.676 - The Single Payer Bill Before Congress

No Photo Necessary

2009-09-09T21:15:00.001-04:00

09-09-09

Just when you thought the hypocrisy couldn't get any more blatant, along comes Robert Gates feigning righteous indignation about a photograph.

HOMEWORK:

U.S. Hypocrisy Astonishes the World - Paul Craig Roberts

Holder's Pseudo Justice

2009-08-26T21:40:00.001-04:00

08-26-09

Until Attorney General Eric Holder seeks to investigate EVERYONE involved in the Bush torture program (including those who tried to "legalize" torture with bogus Bush Justice Department memos, and Bush and Cheney, who both openly admitted to authorizing torture) and prosecute them accordingly, he's only pretending.

HOMEWORK:

Former Top Interrogators Back Wide-Ranging Criminal Probe Into Torture

Confirmation of Detainees Murdered In U.S. Custody

Letter to Holder

Hayden Clueless on Fourth Amendment
(should not be construed as an endorsement of Olbermann. The clip just happens to come from his show)

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Single Payer: Listen to the Doctors!

2009-07-28T21:06:00.001-04:00

07-28-09

What a concept! Listening to the people who work in our broken healthcare system every day and can tell you exactly what needs to be done from a first hand perspective!

HOMEWORK:

Obama’s former doctor on Democracy Now – full interview

More of the Same – Little More than a Placebo

Physicians for a National Health Program

MUST WATCH AND SHARE:
Black AgendaReport Executive Editor
Glen Ford tears into Obama’s healthcare “reform”

Single Payer Action

Contact your reps now to demand single payer

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Insurance Whistleblower Nails CIGNA

2009-07-16T20:48:00.001-04:00

07-16-09

Wendell Potter, former cheif spokesperson for CIGNA, tells it like it is.

HOMEWORK:

MUST READ TRANSCRIPT: Wendell Potter with Bill Moyers

Truthdig article featuring Wendell Potter

Single Payer Action

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Joe Biden's "Sovereign" Double Standard

2009-07-10T20:37:00.002-04:00

07-10-09

I guess we didn’t get the memo, folks. Looks like Joe Biden has determined for himself when sovereignty applies and when it doesn’t. Can there possibly be a clearer example of ignorant hypocrisy?

HOMEWORK:

Biden video

U.S. Military Aid to Israel

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Obama Carries Bush Torch

2009-07-02T20:40:00.001-04:00

07-02-09

The president who was supposed to bring us change we could believe in is looking more and more every day like the war criminal he replaced. The illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan continue with no end in site, the Bush administration and all their assorted accomplices still walk free, the torture continues, Barack Obama has picked up right where George W. Bush left off with the illegal signing statements, and our Congress is still full of cowards who can’t summon up the spine to do anything about it.

They would act if they truly felt like their cushy existence in Washington was threatened, but it will take a LOT MORE people contacting them relentlessly to demand action, and that they honor the peoples’ will, as opposed to the will of the special interests that fill their campaign coffers.

It really is that simple, folks. Please share this info with all your friends.

HOMEWORK:

Cheney’s Top Torture Lawyers Now Work for Obama

The Emperor’s Seven Signing Statements

Obama’s campaign lie about signing statements

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Healthcare Hypocrisy

2009-06-18T21:19:00.001-04:00

06-18-09

As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama proudly called himself a proponent of single payer healthcare. But now that he's president, he won't even consider it as an option for the reform our healthcare system so desperately needs. What do you suppose happened between then and now?

HOMEWORK:

Nader: Obama’s Flip-Flop on Single Payer

Conressional Budget Office:
36 Million Still Uninsured Ten Years From Now
Under Most Robust Democratic Plan

Obama 2003 Healthcare Comment

Single Payer vs. Obama's "Public Option"

Single Payer Action

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Obama Obscures for Bushco

2009-06-13T09:49:00.001-04:00

06-13-09

Barack Obama says releasing the additional torture photographs would only increase tensions and endanger our troops. Of course, if he were serious about not fanning the flames of hatred toward America and keeping our troops out of danger, he would immediately remove them from the needless, illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, which the entire world knows are based entirely on lies.

No matter how well the PR hacks word the press releases, every innocent death (well over one million of them so far) and every day of illegal occupation fans the flames and increases the danger. This will not begin to subside until we leave.

It’s clear that the real motivation for keeping these photos under wraps is the protection of a Bush administration full of war criminals. Barack Obama is unquestionably obstructing justice.

It’s hard to imagine why, but he’s also apparently comfortable with making himself an accessory after the fact.

HOMEWORK:

Obama Furthering Cover-Up of Torture by Withholding Abuse Photos

Single Payer Now

2009-06-03T16:40:00.001-04:00

06-03-09

The problem with America’s healthcare system is the corporate obsession with profit over people. The equation can be changed with a single payer plan, which the majority of Americans support. We need it now.

HOMEWORK:

Single Payer Action

Canadians Talk to Americans About Healthcare - full report

Everything is on the table, except what is not - full report with Max Baucus comments
(Thanks to The Real News – Please subscribe to their YouTube channel, sign up for their emails and donate if you can. They’re supported completely by viewer donations. No government or corporate money, and no advertisements. It truly is REAL news.)

December 2007 AP/Yahoo poll shows majority support for single payer

Obama's Photo Flip-Flop

2009-05-14T20:19:00.001-04:00

05-14-09

Obama now says releasing the additional torture photographs would inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger. But who’s he really trying to protect by trying to keep the photos under wraps?

HOMEWORK:

Obama Justice Department Continues to Cover Up Bush Era Crimes

The Wrong Torture Question

2009-04-30T22:13:00.001-04:00

04-30-09

There is no acceptable scenario for torture. It is illegal. Those who have perpetrated it in our name must be held accountable.

HOMEWORK:

THE WRONG TORTURE QUESTION

DEMS CALL FOR SPECIAL PROSECUTOR

SPANISH JUDGE OPENS PROBE INTO GITMO TORTURE

CONTACT ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER:
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
202-514-2001

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Obama's Betrayal of Justice

2009-04-21T22:01:00.001-04:00

04-21-09

“Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

This is not about laying blame, President Obama. It’s about adherence to the rule of law and the Constitution you swore to uphold, doing everything we possibly can to deter similar or even worse behavior by future administrations, and definitively restoring the moral authority that was so callously and ignorantly forfeited by your predecessor.

HOMEWORK:

Spanish Judge Keeps Guantanamo Probe Alive

New Hope for the Bush Six

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The Great Geithner Coverup

2009-04-09T20:37:00.001-04:00

04-09-09

Economist William K. Black of the University of Missouri appeared in an interview on PBS last week with Bill Moyers. He pulls no punches in spelling out who is really responsible for our current economic disaster, and why our own Treasury Secretary is leading the charge to keep the truth covered up.

Please be sure to watch the full interview (link below) and share it with all your friends!

HOMEWORK:

Full Moyers interview with William K. Black

Raw Story article that inspired this video

Obama Doubletalk Exposed

2009-04-02T21:05:00.001-04:00

04-02-09

Why is the president who promised us change we could believe in running interference for the Bush administration?

HOMEWORK:

Obama, War Crimes and Defending the Status Quo

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Iraq: Deaths Rise, Pretense We Care Fades

2009-03-23T20:55:00.001-04:00

03-23-09

Remember Iraq, folks?

This is my video rendition of an article written by David Swanson, one of the founders of AfterDowningStreet.org. Please share it.

HOMEWORK:

IRAQ: Deaths Rise, Pretense We Care Fades

4261 American soldiers killed (pdf)

67,000 American soldiers wounded (pdf)

Traumatic brain injury

PTSD

Hexavelant Chromium

Depleted uranium

Iraq vets committing murder

One in three military women sexually assaulted

6570 military suicides per year

Humanitarian disaster in Iraq

Pentagon protest

Is anyone covering Iraq?

Fake New York Times announces end of Iraq war

Jurgen Todenhofer places three full page NYT ads

Six Years of Blood and Lies

2009-03-19T21:06:00.001-04:00

03-19-09

Put yourself in the shoes of an Iraqi or Afghani for a just a few minutes, understand why we must completely withdraw from both countries, and be thankful that you're only imagining what they're actually living every day.

HOMEWORK:

Imagine - by Ron Paul

Afghanistan Facts (pdf)

United States of AIG

2009-03-17T20:51:00.001-04:00

03-17-09

Isn't it interesting that when we're talking about the people at AIG getting bonuses none of them deserve, we're a nation of laws and contracts that we must honor. But when we're talking about a president and vice president who have publicly admitted to violating the laws they were sworn to uphold, as Bush and Cheney have both done with illegal spying and torture, we're a nation that needs to "look forward instead of back." Anybody who can't see what's really happening in this country is not looking.

HOMEWORK:

"Let the Thing Be Pressed"
By Marc Ash for Truthout

Iran Nuke Myth Heats Up

2009-03-11T22:03:00.001-04:00

03-11-09

Looks like the peripheral warmongers in Israel and Washington are really chomping at the bit to attack Iran. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy has issued a new "Presidential Task Force" report saying that Iran’s reported purchase of the S-300 air defense system from Russia could be the trigger that forces an Israeli attack on Iran.

This report, by the way, is titled “Preventing a Cascade of Instability.” Ironic, isn’t it? But nothing new, of course, for these gutless war whores. Talking in opposites is standard practice for them.

HOMEWORK:

Israeli warplanes await S-300 sale to Iran

Hysteria, Nukes and Iran

Ahmadinejad DID NOT threaten to “wipe Israel off the map”

The “Wipe Israel Off the Map” Hoax

Here We Go Again With the Iranian Nuclear Scare

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Obama's Fiscal Sideshow

2009-02-22T22:20:00.002-05:00

02-22-09

It's being billed by the Obama administration as a "fiscal responsibility summit," due to take place in Washington tomorrow (2/23/09). But how can they possibly be serious about fiscal responsibility when we are still embroiled in two senseless wars with no clear exit plan, still have an insanely wasteful "defense" budget, and we're still giving hundreds of billions of our tax dollars to Wall Street and big banks with no oversight or accountability?

HOMEWORK:

I Want You to be Responsible - Bruce Gagnon

Obama Plans Summit - Washington Post

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Same Old Smoke and Mirrors

2009-02-19T21:43:00.001-05:00

02-19-09

The Obama stimulus will not save our economy because it is not designed to. It is designed to keep American taxpayers securely indebted for generations to come, to the same self-serving international bankers who have been taking this country for a ride for almost a century. America needs to wake up and see the real deal.

HOMEWORK:

Hiding the Sausage – Downsize DC

President And Congress Grovel Before The Fed – Chuck Baldwin

The President of Special Interests – Paul Craig Roberts

Obama's Awful Financial Recovery Plan – Michael Hudson

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Excuse Me, Mr. President

2009-02-09T20:50:00.001-05:00

02-09-09

Our new president says "We can't expect relief from the same tired old theories," but how serious is he about real change?

HOMEWORK:

Ship of Fools - Paul Craig Roberts

Putting War Waste on the Chopping Block - David Swanson

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Obama's "New" Economic Strategy

2009-02-02T20:42:00.001-05:00

02-02-09

The new president says there is "a new strategy for reviving our financial system that gets credit flowing to businesses and families." But how exactly does giving more credit to a nation that is already up to its neck in debt make sense?

HOMEWORK:

Follow the Money

Facts and Myths about the Financial Crisis of 2008

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Fed Lends Two Trillion Without Oversight

2009-01-31T08:31:00.001-05:00

01-31-09

Israel's Beltway Puppets

2009-01-18T07:57:00.001-05:00

01-18-09

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear this week that Israel calls the shots on American Middle East policy.

HOMEWORK:

U.S. Told Not to Vote for Gaza Resolution

Rice Shame-Faced by Bush Over UN Gaza Vote

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U.S. Congress Votes for Genocide

2009-01-14T22:04:00.001-05:00

01-14-09

The disconnect between the United States Congress and the will of the civilized world has never been so glaring. We must not be silent while these people pretending to serve us endorse genocide in our name.

HOMEWORK:

Information Clearinghouse is doing a great job gathering articles and videos (some very graphic - please be aware) on this issue from all over and putting them all in one place.

Check them out and make a donation there if you can

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The Hijacking of Gaza

2009-01-08T18:35:00.001-05:00

01-08-09

This story is about far more than just stopping random rocket attacks on Israel. Gaza is being hijacked by the Israeli military. The killing MUST stop and the people responsible for it MUST be held accountable under international law.

MUST DO HOMEWORK:

Thanks to Willy Loman for the heads up on the liquid natural gas story:
Read it here.

Pakistan Daily LNG story

The True Story Israel is Not Telling

Video from The Real News: Historical Amnesia and Gaza

Israel and Palestine: Key maps

Obama and Gaza: Exiting the Vortex of Violence

Pass it on.

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Looking Back To Fix the Future

2009-01-02T21:06:00.001-05:00

01-02-09

We're told by apologists for the Bush administration that looking back in the quest for accountability is a bad idea. They say we need to be looking forward.

What they're ignoring is that our system of justice REQUIRES looking back, and that it MUST be done if we're going to have any hope for the real change our new president is promising.

HOMEWORK:

Convict Bush and Cheney

What's Really Happening in Gaza

2009 Starting Off With a Shameful and Criminal Bang - Dave Lindorff

If Americans Knew

If Americans Knew - video

Why We MUST Prosecute the Bush Administration

2008-12-22T09:53:00.001-05:00

12-22-08

This is where the rubber meets the road, folks. It’s time to unequivocally define who we are and where we’re going as a country.

Don’t cry to me about the unpunished crimes of previous administrations and how that somehow justifies doing nothing to hold today’s criminals accountable. That’s a spineless copout.

We’re not talking about politics. We’re talking about restoring the rule of law and our system of justice, without which any and all politics will be an exercise in futility, regardless of where you stand.

HOMEWORK:

Why We Must Prosecute Bush and His Administration for War Crimes - by Mike Ferner

Action page: Convict Bush and Cheney

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Placing the Blame Where it Belongs

2008-12-13T06:35:00.001-05:00

12-13-08

The Senate Armed Services Committee has finally made official what most of us have known all along: Policies and techniques for the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody were approved at the very top of the Bush administration.

What we now must hear from the SASC and the rest of Congress is what they are going to do about it.

HOMEWORK:

READ THE REPORT HERE (pdf)

And since the report does not include any recommendations for how to proceed in light of the evidence it reveals, David Swanson has offered up some excellent suggestions.

Please share this info and contact your senators to ask what will be done as a result of this report.

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Bailout Double Standard

2008-11-26T21:55:00.001-05:00

11-26-08

The 700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout is 28 times more than what the automakers are asking for, yet it seems the automakers are getting 28 times more pre-bailout scrutiny and tough talk from Congress. Why the double standard?

HOMEWORK:

Congress expecting more sacrifices from automakers – Associated Press

US Fed Announces $800bn Stimulus – BBC News

Financial economist and historian Michael Hudson points out that the problem is not a lack of credit, but a mountain of bad debt

Chart: Follow the 8.5 Trillion - Total amount of taxpayer money so far set aside for "economic stimulus"

Break the Bailout and End the FED!

2008-11-19T19:26:00.001-05:00

11-19-08

Dispatch from Dowsize DC, 11-13-08:

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." - Mark Twain

Mark Twain was right. History doesn't repeat itself, exactly, but often the present does rhyme with the past.

Sadly, the evidence for this is now all around us.

Too much of what the politicians are currently doing rhymes too well with what the politicians did during the Great Depression.

Then, as now, the politicians blamed the economic downturn on the free market. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.

The government caused the Great Depression. Even Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, agrees. Here's what he said at the celebration of Milton Friedman's 90th birthday in 2002: "I would like to say to Milton (Friedman) and Anna (Schwarz): Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it."

Predictably, government schools don't teach this view. Instead, they teach that . . .

The depression became Great because President Hoover was an advocate of laissez-faire economics who did nothing to intervene. In fact, Hoover was the first president to ever make major interventions in the economy.

The economist Bryan Caplan lists 21 Hoover interventions.

Another economist, Murray Rothbard, has described how President Hoover was the true creator of the "New Deal" approach for which FDR later claimed dubious credit.

Caplan and Rothbard are not alone in this. Roosevelt aid Rexford Guy Tugwell was to say years later:

“We didn’t admit it at the time, but practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started.” (Source: Paul Johnson, A History of the American People -- New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1997, p. 741)

Even FDR himself agreed that Hoover had intervened, he just disagreed with the interventions. During the 1932 presidential campaign Roosevelt repudiated Hoover's meddling, saying "The doctrine of regulation and legislation by 'masterminds' has been too glaringly apparent."

And during the 1932 presdiential campaign Roosevelt constantly criticized Hoover for his huge deficits, promising instead:

* "immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures"
* "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating bureaus and eliminating extravagances"
* "reductions in bureaucracy"
* Implied tax cuts
* And a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards."

We aren't taught that Roosevelt promised these things. Instead, we're taught that FDR's heroic interventions saved the free market from itself.

But what did his interventions actually achieve?

* The depression became Great under FDR's guidance.
* It lasted more than a decade.
* Prosperity never returned while he was President.
* The economy only recovered after Roosevelt was dead and buried

Even FDR's own economic team knew that his New Deal interventions had been a complete failure. Here's what FDR's Treasury Secretary, Henry Morganthau, admitted to Congress in May, 1939:

"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong, somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises. I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started. And an enormous debt to boot!"

It's significant that Hoover and Roosevelt were the first to intervene in the economy. Previous downturns had always been allowed to run their course, lasting from a few months to a couple of years. But the first one the politicians tried to stop is the one that lasted more than a decade, and that really hit hard.

If government intervention worked, then why did the 1929 depression become Great, when none had before?

It ought to make you angry. The injustice is so clear. The politicians caused the problem, blamed it on the free market, and then benefited from the disaster they had created by grabbing vast amounts of power and money.

And now it's happening again. History, sadly, is rhyming.

We're being told that the economic downturn resulting from the housing bubble is a market failure, and that massive government intervention is needed in all directions. But the truth is this:

* Government housing policies and easy credit from the Federal Reserve caused the housing bubble.
* Companies and individuals who made bad decisions based on these policies should pay the full price for their mistakes
* None of them should be rescued
* The politicians should not intervene

In short, the politicians should stop pursuing policies that rhyme with those pursued during the Great Depression.

In addition, the advocates of Big Government should be asked:

* Why, precisely, was the first economic downturn in which the government intervened the only one that became so bad that it earned the name of the Great Depression?

* And why is it, precisely, that the major areas of American life where the government has intervened to make things more affordable -- such as health care, higher education, and housing -- are exactly those areas where costs have risen the most?

Government intervention does not work. It does not make things more affordable, it makes them more expensive. It does not prevent economic downturns, it causes them, and deepens them.

Please use our Educate the Powerful System to tell your elected representatives to stop the bailouts, NOW.

Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

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ALSO IMPORTANT:

Please also utilize these links and share them with all your friends:

END THE FED

BREAK THE BAILOUT

Crashing Paulson's Ponzi Party

2008-11-15T08:48:00.001-05:00

11-15-08

Their massive scam is collapsing under its own weight and they're getting desperate. The American people need to rise up and put these criminals in their rightful place. Now.

HOMEWORK:

PAULSON’S SWINDLE REVEALED – William Greider

PAULSON THE BUNGLER – Mike Whitney

BLOOMBERG SUES FED - Mark Pittman

THE TWO TRILLION DOLLAR BLACK HOLE - Pam Martens

CRISIS IS BEYOND THE REACH OF TRADITONAL SOLUTIONS - Paul Craig Roberts

EconomyInCrisis.Org

BREAK THE BAILOUT

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Open Letter to Barack Obama

2008-11-07T20:19:00.002-05:00

11-07-08

November 3, 2008

Open letter to Senator Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama:

In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.

Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama? Could it be that in your state Senate record, your U.S. Senate record and your presidential campaign record (favoring nuclear power, coal plants, offshore oil drilling, corporate subsidies including the 1872 Mining Act and avoiding any comprehensive program to crack down on the corporate crime wave and the bloated, wasteful military budget, for example) you have shown that you are their man?

To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, courage, integrity-- not expediency, accommodation and short-range opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Eric Alterman summarized numerous polls in a December 2007 issue of The Nation magazine showing that AIPAC policies are opposed by a majority of Jewish-Americans.

You know quite well that only when the U.S. Government supports the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements, that years ago worked out a detailed two-state solution (which is supported by a majority of Israelis and Palestinians), will there be a chance for a peaceful resolution of this 60-year plus conflict. Yet you align yourself with the hard-liners, so much so that in your infamous, demeaning speech to the AIPAC convention right after you gained the nomination of the Democratic Party, you supported an "undivided Jerusalem," and opposed negotiations with Hamas-- the elected government in Gaza. Once again, you ignored the will of the Israeli people who, in a March 1, 2008 poll by the respected newspaper Haaretz, showed that 64% of Israelis favored "direct negotiations with Hamas." Siding with the AIPAC hard-liners is what one of the many leading Palestinians advocating dialogue and peace with the Israeli people was describing when he wrote "Anti-semitism today is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."

During your visit to Israel this summer, you scheduled a mere 45 minutes of your time for Palestinians with no news conference, and no visit to Palestinian refugee camps that would have focused the media on the brutalization of the Palestinians. Your trip supported the illegal, cruel blockade of Gaza in defiance of international law and the United Nations charter. You focused on southern Israeli casualties which during the past year have totaled one civilian casualty to every 400 Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side. Instead of a statesmanship that decried all violence and its replacement with acceptance of the Arab League's 2002 proposal to permit a viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in return for full economic and diplomatic relations between Arab countries and Israel, you played the role of a cheap politician, leaving the area and Palestinians with the feeling of much shock and little awe.

David Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, described your trip succinctly: "There was almost a willful display of indifference to the fact that there are two narratives here. This could serve him well as a candidate, but not as a President."

Palestinian American commentator, Ali Abunimah, noted that Obama did not utter a single criticism of Israel, "of its relentless settlement and wall construction, of the closures that make life unlivable for millions of Palestinians. ...Even the Bush administration recently criticized Israeli's use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians [see www.atfl.org for elaboration]. But Obama defended Israeli's assault on Lebanon as an exercise of its 'legitimate right to defend itself.'"

In numerous columns Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, strongly criticized the Israeli government's assault on civilians in Gaza, including attacks on "the heart of a crowded refugee camp... with horrible bloodshed" in early 2008.

Israeli writer and peace advocate-- Uri Avnery-- described Obama's appearance before AIPAC as one that "broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning, adding that Obama "is prepared to sacrifice the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future-- if and when he is elected president.," he said, adding, "Of one thing I am certain: Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the world and bad for the Palestinian people."

A further illustration of your deficiency of character is the way you turned your back on the Muslim-Americans in this country. You refused to send surrogates to speak to voters at their events. Having visited numerous churches and synagogues, you refused to visit a single Mosque in America. Even George W. Bush visited the Grand Mosque in Washington D.C. after 9/11 to express proper sentiments of tolerance before a frightened major religious group of innocents.

Although the New York Times published a major article on June 24, 2008 titled "Muslim Voters Detect a Snub from Obama" (by Andrea Elliott), citing examples of your aversion to these Americans who come from all walks of life, who serve in the armed forces and who work to live the American dream. Three days earlier the International Herald Tribune published an article by Roger Cohen titled "Why Obama Should Visit a Mosque." None of these comments and reports change your political bigotry against Muslim-Americans-- even though your father was a Muslim from Kenya.

Perhaps nothing illustrated your utter lack of political courage or even the mildest version of this trait than your surrendering to demands of the hard-liners to prohibit former president Jimmy Carter from speaking at the Democratic National Convention. This is a tradition for former presidents and one accorded in prime time to Bill Clinton this year.

Here was a President who negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, but his recent book pressing the dominant Israeli superpower to avoid Apartheid of the Palestinians and make peace was all that it took to sideline him. Instead of an important address to the nation by Jimmy Carter on this critical international problem, he was relegated to a stroll across the stage to "tumultuous applause," following a showing of a film about the Carter Center's post-Katrina work. Shame on you, Barack Obama!

But then your shameful behavior has extended to many other areas of American life. (See the factual analysis by my running mate, Matt Gonzalez, on www.votenader.org). You have turned your back on the 100-million poor Americans composed of poor whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. You always mention helping the "middle class" but you omit, repeatedly, mention of the "poor" in America.

Should you be elected President, it must be more than an unprecedented upward career move following a brilliantly unprincipled campaign that spoke "change" yet demonstrated actual obeisance to the concentration power of the "corporate supremacists." It must be about shifting the power from the few to the many. It must be a White House presided over by a black man who does not turn his back on the downtrodden here and abroad but challenges the forces of greed, dictatorial control of labor, consumers and taxpayers, and the militarization of foreign policy. It must be a White House that is transforming of American politics-- opening it up to the public funding of elections (through voluntary approaches)-- and allowing smaller candidates to have a chance to be heard on debates and in the fullness of their now restricted civil liberties. Call it a competitive democracy.

Your presidential campaign again and again has demonstrated cowardly stands. "Hope" some say springs eternal." But not when "reality" consumes it daily.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader

Ousting the Oligarchs

2008-10-28T19:46:00.001-04:00

10-28-08

A vote for John McCain OR Barack Obama is a vote for politics as usual, which will ultimately get us nowhere. Obama may look and sound better on the surface, but that’s easy when the only competition you have to worry about is John McCain.

This scenario is possible because the two parties of the corporate state have quite effectively conspired for years to shut out third party and independent voices. If the playing field were actually level, and ALL the candidates who are on enough state ballots to be eligible for the 270 electoral votes it takes to be elected were allowed in the debates, (you will find links to the other four below), the picture would look far different.

A corrupt system will not fix itself, folks. It’s up to we the people to stand up and make it happen. And it’s easier than you may think.

HOMEWORK:

Chris Hedges – “The Idiots Who Rule America”

Cynthia McKinney – Green Party

Chuck Baldwin – Constitution Party

Bob Barr – Libertarian

Ralph Nader - Independent

###

BAILOUT: 850 Billion? Try FIVE TRILLION!

2008-10-19T21:38:00.001-04:00

10-19-08

Dr. Michael Hudson is a financial economist and historian. Bonnie Faulkner interviewed him for KPFA radio’s Guns and Butter program on October 9th, 2008. If you want the real deal about the 850 billion dollar fleecing of America that is the Wall Street bailout, this is it. And as Dr. Hudson points out, 850 billion is only the beginning. The purveyors of this unprecedented fraud are actually looking to roll us for trillions of dollars.

I guarantee you will not see or hear this interview in the “mainstream” media. Please share it with as many people as you can. This information is incredibly important.

Michael Hudson is not some airbrushed, jello-brained MSM pundit. He actually knows what he’s talking about, and he’s telling it like it really is. Henry Paulson and the rest of the criminals raiding our treasury must be stopped. They are quite intentionally trying to destroy our country.

Key excerpts are featured here, but you should really listen to the entire interview, which you can find on Dr. Hudson’s website, to which you will find a link below.

Again, please pass this information on to as many people as you can.

Thanks –
JP

HOMEWORK:

Dr. Hudson’s website

Please also check out KPFA,
an excellent independent media source.

McCain's Voter Fraud Fantasy

2008-10-15T16:58:00.001-04:00

10-15-08

Charges of large scale voter fraud are a last ditch, desperate effort by the McCain campaign and their army of compromised operatives to keep the 2008 presidential election close enough for the neocons to steal, just like they stole the 2000 and 2004 elections.

If you live in a “swing” or “battleground” state, MAKE SURE NOW THAT YOU ARE STILL REGISTERED TO VOTE. Don’t wait to find out on Election Day that you have been illegally purged from the voter rolls and are unable to vote

HOMEWORK:

Acorn Response to McCain Smear Ad

The False Narrative of "Voter Fraud"
by Kenneth Anderson

ACORN website

ALSO: If you’re not already aware of him, it would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with Mark Crispin Miller. He’s a professor of media studies at New York University and has written extensively about the theft of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Mark Crispin Miller on Wikipedia

Mark Crispin Miller blog

Stand Against the Bailout Scam! Part 2 of 3

2008-09-26T22:49:00.001-04:00

09-26-08

Revealing the Bush administration’s central role in the scourge of predatory lending, and the resulting bank failures and financial crisis…

9/27/08 - URGENT UPDATE:
"Bank Borrowing From Fed Already Exceeded Bailout Total in Last Week - $700 Billion Dollar Figure Means Nothing"

Read the article by Steve Watson here

AND PLEASE SHARE IT!

It turns out what they want even more than the money is the dictatorial power, which will allow them to milk us completely dry and escape without any legal retribution whatsoever. Indeed, the language of Paulson's proposal does not limit their looting of our tax dollars to 700 billion. There is actually NO LIMIT.

THIS "BAILOUT" MUST NOT HAPPEN!
###

HOMEWORK:

Please make sure you see all these related links and pass them along to all your friends. ESPECIALLY the last one! It’s the most important of all!

Spitzer Article

Dave Lindorff Article

Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty

Economists’ letter to Congress trashing the bailout scam

National Priorities Project

Dennis Kucinich’s Main Street Recovery Program

Dave Ramsey’s logical solution

Tell Congress NO BAILOUT
Tell them you’re watching. And if they do not honor the will of the people they WILL be voted out of office! The only reason it seems like they never do what we want is because NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ARE CONTACTING THEM! Do it NOW, and share the link with everybody!

And finally the most important link – MAKE SURE YOU SHARE THIS with everybody you know:
THROW THEM ALL OUT!

Stand Against the Bailout Scam!

2008-09-22T21:52:00.001-04:00

09-22-08

The Bush criminals want to keep financial industry profits and bonuses private, while they leave the tab for reckless and illegal Wall Street behavior with you, me and the rest of middle class America, which is already struggling to get by in Bushco’s “wealth first, trickle-down” world.

I guess they’re actually okay with socializing stuff after all, as long as it benefits them and their cronies exclusively.

If this scam doesn’t have you seething with rage, please check your pulse.

HOMEWORK:

"If it is too big to fail, it is too big to exist."
MUST watch Bernie Sanders video

Ten Reasons Why Bush’s Proposed Bailout is Larceny

Tell Congress NO BAILOUT! Please do it NOW! Go ahead and be cynical about it if you must, but DO it. Brushing it off with the standard "oh jeez, they’re not going to do anything about it, why even bother" makes you part of the problem. It means you’re willing to do nothing while your country burns. These people pretending to serve us need to know that you’re on to their scam. If more people thought about it this way and actually took action to hold their representatives accountable on a regular basis, maybe we would actually have a Congress that truly served the best interests of the people. Just like the child without an adult around, they will keep their hands in the cookie jar until they know someone is watching.

Best Chance for Bush Prosecution?

2008-09-18T21:49:00.001-04:00

09-18-08

Charlotte Dennett is running for Attorney General for the state of Vermont. She has promised that if elected, she will pursue murder charges against George W. Bush, for the lies that led to the deaths of soldiers from Vermont in Iraq, appointing Vincent Bugliosi as a special prosecutor to handle the case.

HOMEWORK:

Article:
Vermont Candidate Pledges to Prosecute Bush

Press conference video with Dennett and Bugliosi

Seven Years: Still Waiting for Justice

2008-09-11T08:31:00.001-04:00

09-11-08

Why is it that nobody in the government that was supposed to be protecting us on 9/11 got so much as a slap on the wrist? If you or I screwed up and three thousand people died, we would be in some serious trouble. Former CIA chief George Tenet ended up with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Purchased silence?

Why did the Bush administration initially refuse to investigate the 9/11 attacks?

Why did Bush and Cheney insist on testifying before the 9/11 Commission together, behind closed doors, not under oath?

Why was former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta’s jaw-dropping testimony before the 9/11 commission (search it on YouTube) not even referenced in the final 9/11 Commission report?

How exactly is it physically possible for a 110-story building to come down perfectly straight, at free-fall speed, with dozens of intact floors below the impact point of the plane providing no resistance whatsoever, WITHOUT the use of explosives?

If there’s a problem with a single aspect of the “official story” of 9/11, there’s a problem with the whole thing. We need to stop hiding under the covers, people.

HOMEWORK:
Watch "ZERO" now (10 parts on YouTube)

Read the article referenced in this video.

Who's Afraid of Open Debates?

2008-09-07T21:35:00.001-04:00

09-07-08

Who's afraid of open presidential debates? Let's see...Washington's two major parties, perhaps? Which of course are actually just two different factions of the SAME party. Corporate controlled, bought and paid for.

And WHY are these corporate whores deathly afraid of open debates? Because such debates would provide the level playing field upon which they cannot possibly win. Which is why they got together to create the "bi-partisan" Commission on Presidential Debates, with which they have conspired to systematically shut out independent and third party voices.

HOMEWORK:

Info on the debate scam from votenader.org

Citizens Debate Commisson

OpenDebates.Org
Learn more, take action.

Wake Up, Dennis!

2008-08-31T21:34:00.001-04:00

08-31-08

Dennis Kucinich gets caught up in the hype and stands up for the party that refuses to stand up for him...

HOMEWORK:

Current Invective

Campaign for Liberty

Independent Movement

Nancy Pelosi: Speaker of the House of Bush

2008-08-13T22:06:00.001-04:00

08-13-08

It's pretty clear whose side this complete fraud of a Speaker is really on. She continues to lie not only about having seen no evidence of Bush crimes, but also about Congress having to pass a law to get us out of Iraq. She is also blatantly lying when she denies that she is in violation of her oath of office. Let's save a seat for her right next to Bush at the Hague.

Thanks to The Public Record for the audio.

HOMEWORK:
Make The Public Record a regular stop for excellent independent reporting the likes of which you will not see on your television.

Bush's Gitmo Guilt

2008-08-07T21:43:00.001-04:00

08-07-08

Try to contain your shock. Osama bin Laden's former driver has been found guilty of "aiding terrorism" by George's completely fraudulent military commission system at Guantanamo Bay.

The irony, of course, is that since he was appointed to the Oval Office by his friends on the Supreme Court, no single person in this world has done more to "aid terrorism" than the Pretender-in-Chief himself.

HOMEWORK:
Contact John Conyers, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (THE man responsible for starting the impeachment process) and DEMAND impeachment hearings NOW:
johnconyersjr@gmail.com
john.conyers@mail.house.gov
Phone:202-225-5126
Fax:202-225-0072

Contrary to popular belief, impeachment can happen very quickly. No investigation is necessary for the crimes Bush has publicly confessed to (warrantless spying, signing off on torture), or the charge of ignoring subpoenas duly issued by Congress (which was one of the Articles of Impeachment drawn up against Nixon). Bush and Cheney could be impeached in less than a day. All we need is a Congress that's willing to do its job.

Impeachment: Just the Beginning

2008-07-29T22:02:00.001-04:00

07-29-08

A look at the House Judiciary Hearing regarding the Bush administration’s crimes and abuse of power, held on Friday, July 25, 2008. This video focuses on the incredibly damning testimony of Vincent Bugliosi, whose book "The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder" has become a best seller with no help whatsoever from the mainstream media.

HOMEWORK:

Please tell your representatives in Congress to cosponsor Dennis Kucinich’s articles of impeachment.
(Democrats.com is NOT the Democratic party. They are an independent community of Democratic Party and progressive activists)

Watch individual witness videos from the hearing.

Watch the wrap-up report by the American News Project.

THE site for staying up to date on the impeachment movement:
After Downing Street

Seeking Justice for Darfur

2008-07-16T22:25:00.001-04:00

(not to mention Iraq and Afghanistan)

07-16-08

HOMEWORK:

Contact the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ask when the charges filed against the Sudan president will also be filed against George W. Bush.

Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
Fax: +31 70 515 8555
Email: otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int

Refer to David Swanson's letter to the ICC prosecutor for information and extensive documentation of Bush crimes.

Bush to Iraq: We Don't Care What You Want

2008-07-10T22:43:00.001-04:00

07-10-08

Iraq is now demanding a firm date for complete withdrawal of all foreign troops before they will sign a security agreement with the Bush administration. Bushco is refusing, of course, because they truly don't care about anybody's objectives but their own. But what did the Pretender-in-Chief say back in April of 2007 during an Interview with Charlie Rose? Just more Bushco propaganda, no doubt.

HOMEWORK:

Check out the full video interview Bush did with Charlie Rose on 4/24/07 here:
CharlieRose.com
Enter "George W. Bush" in the search box. Scroll 11 minutes into the video for the quote about leaving Iraq.

And here's an interesting piece on this subject that I came across today.

A Not-So-Glorious Fourth

2008-07-04T11:55:00.001-04:00

07-04-08

Many thanks to Chris Satullo from the Philadelphia Inquirer from writing this excellent, much needed piece. Read it here.

Many thanks as well to my friend Jim for sharing the link via email. I think it's an extremely important message. I hope you'll take it to heart, share it and stand up to demand that our elected representatives initiate the accountability and justice that their oath of office requires.

Peace -
JP

Congressional Resolution to Provoke Iran

2008-07-01T22:40:00.002-04:00

07-01-08

HOMEWORK:
Call/fax/email your Congressman and Senators and DEMAND that they vote NO on the Iran resolution. The Bush administration is trying to provoke Iran into lashing out in desperation so they can respond with the attack they’ve been wanting to launch for years.

They MUST be stopped.

PLEASE pass this info on. If you have never contacted your senators or congressman, NOW is the time. We’re talking about preventing World War Three, folks. We don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting for someone else to do it. Time to stand up and be counted.

Truth about the alleged “wipe Israel off the map” quote from Ahmadinejad:
HERE
and
HERE

Bush already actively working to destabilize Iran:
HERE
and
HERE

Mike Whitney article at Information Clearinghouse

Bushco's Warrantless Wiretap Scam Rolls On

2008-06-26T22:43:00.002-04:00

06-26-08

\

HOMEWORK:
Contact your senators and demand that they vote NO on the new wiretapping legislation that not only grants immunity to telecoms who helped the Bush administration illegally spy on innocent American citizens, but also allows the illegal spying to continue with no accountability whatsoever.

And please share this info with all your friends and family.

Confirmation of Detainee Murders

2008-06-19T21:52:00.001-04:00

06-19-08

On Wednesday, June 18, 2008, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Rights, held a hearing dealing with the torture of detainees in U.S. custody.

This clip features the testimony of Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson not only confirms that more than 100 detainees have died in U.S. custody, but that at least 25 of these deaths have been classified as homicides by American investigators. Interestingly, Nadler has so far refused to support impeachment hearings for Bush and Cheney.

HOMEWORK:
Please contact him and make it clear that if he continues to refuse to demand accountability and justice that he will be forever seen as complicit in the crimes of the Bush administration.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler
2334 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Tel. 202-225-5635
Fax: 202-225-6923

Rep. Jerrold Nadler
201 Varick Street, Suite 669
New York, NY 10014
Tel. 212-367-7350
Fax: 212-367-7356

And don't forget House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers:

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

Thanks to Think Progress. TRANSCRIPT AND VIDEO HERE

John Conyers is Still Failing America

2008-06-12T21:59:00.001-04:00

06-12-08

Still waiting for the House Judiciary Chairman to honor his oath and do his job by launching impeachment hearings. This video features a reading of the fax I sent to him on Monday afternoon (6/9/08), with cc's to my rep and senators.

(thanks to YouTube user OpenLeft for the video
of Conyers and Rob Kall from OpEd News)

USA Today Internet poll on Kucinich impeachment bill
(as of the posting of this video, 84% are supporting Kucinich)

HOMEWORK:
Contact John Conyers. Tell him to honor his oath to the Constitution and do the job the people expect of him.

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

Network Anchor Song and Dance

2008-06-04T19:30:00.001-04:00

06-04-08

Commentary on last week's joint appearance on the Today Show by network news anchors Katie Couric, Brian Williams and Charlie Gibson, and their pathetic attempts to shuck and jive their way around charges that they're all basically media puppets for the Bush administration.

HOMEWORK:

FREE PRESS

STOP BIG MEDIA

MEDIA LENS

THE REAL NEWS

BREAK THE MATRIX

McClellan Book: Nothing New

2008-05-29T21:01:00.001-04:00

05-29-08

"Scathing memoir"... "Explosive revelations"... Please. We've heard and seen it all before. It's all been extensively documented and pretty much completely ignored by the complicit mainstream media.

We're well aware of the crimes of the Bush administration. We don't need another book from a former administration insider to rehash the old news. We need some NEW news. We need a former administration insider with the cojones to stand up the the Bushco fascists and testify under oath about EVERYTHING he or she knows.

HOMEWORK:

Spend the $27.95 on something useful instead.

Contact John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to demand immediate impeachment hearings and Scott McClellan's testimony under oath as part of them.

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

Can Admiral William Fallon Prevent World War Three?

2008-05-22T21:57:00.001-04:00

05-22-08

Excerpts of an urgent letter from former CIA analyst and prominent anti-war activist Ray McGovern, to Admiral William Fallon, former Middle East Commander, who was forced to retire earlier this year as a result of his public opposition to an invasion of Iran.

HOMEWORK:

Read the letter in its entirety here.

Search You Tube for "McGovern Rumsfeld" for video of Ray's public dismantling of the former defense secretary's lies regarding Iraq, at a Rumsfeld speech in 2006...

John Conyers: From Cowardice to Complicity

2008-05-13T21:47:00.001-04:00

05-13-08

The House Judiciary Chairman cranks up the smoke and mirrors with a letter to the Pretender-in-Chief about maybe, possibly, sort of, almost threatening to impeach if Bush attcks Iran.

Some people say showing anger to Congress is the wrong approach. They say it's out of line and too easily dismissed by those who are supposed to be representing us.

Let me tell those people what's out of line:

Lying to Congress (a felony) and the American people to launch the illegal invasion and occupation of a country that posed no threat to us whatsoever.

And subsequent results including (but not limited to):

More than one million dead innocent civilians.

More than four thousand dead American soldiers.

Almost five million Iraqi refugees. The fastest growing such crisis on the planet.

The entire Iraqi landscape, millions of people, and our soldiers permanently poisoned by the depleted uranium fallout from our illegal weapons.

Twelve billion dollars per month being wasted on this disaster, so a few war profiteers and their Beltway cronies can have money coming out of every orifice while our country rockets toward total financial meltdown.

Torture.

In addition:

Illegal detention of prisoners without charges, trial or access to a lawyer.

Illegal warrantless spying on innocent American citizens.

Illegal signing statements with which the president claims the non-existent authority to ignore laws passed by Congress as he sees fit.

AND A 110TH CONGRESS THAT HAS NOT TAKEN A SINGLE STEP TOWARD IMPEACHMENT OF THE SINGLE MOST CORRUPT AND IMPEACHABLE ADMINISTRATION THIS COUNTRY HAS EVER SEEN.

Forgive me if I no longer feel like being nice to these people. They are sitting on their blood-covered hands while our republic burns.

HOMEWORK:

Contact Conyers. Tell him to honor his oath and do his damn job.

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

John Conyers Brings On the Deja Vu

2008-04-30T22:12:00.002-04:00

04-30-08

John Conyers announces his bid for re-election and asks for my money.

Don't hold your breath waiting for a donation from me, Mr. Conyers.

HOMEWORK:

Contact John Conyers. Tell him to honor his oath to the Constitution and do the job the people expect of him.

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

Truth About Impeachment

2008-04-23T22:19:00.001-04:00

04-23-08

John Conyers is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It's his job to initiate and oversee the process of impeachment in the House of Representatives. He wrote a book called "Constitution in Crisis," which came out two years ago and details the impeachable offenses of the Bush administration.

Conyers is now incredibly refusing to move ahead with impeachment of the most impeachable administration the United States has ever seen. He says it would be detrimental to Democrats and the party's chances of winning the White House.

HOMEWORK:

Contact John Conyers. Tell him to honor his oath to the Constitution and do the job the people expect of him.

johnconyersjr@gmail.com

john.conyers@mail.house.gov

John Conyers
United States House of Representatives
2426 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2214

Phone: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072

Details on removing Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker

Thanks to David Swanson from After Downing Street.
His comments in Ojai, California -4/22/08

PASS IT ON.