Before Katrina (BK), the Coastal Commission and the State of California refused the Bush administration to extend 36 leases for offshore oil drilling between Oxnard and San Luis Obispo. The skyrocketing price of oil is now pressing these filthy oil-addicted opportunists to exploit more resources to fulfill their habit. A significant part of what they call “energy” was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina. Yet it was the carbon dioxide residue produced by the burning of fossil fuel that heated the Gulf of Mexico so hot that it accelerated Katrina from a Category 1 storm over Miami, to a Category 5 storm by the time it reached Louisiana and Mississippi.
They are desperate to prolong their obscene profits among their oil industry kit and kin. There are those in Washington trying to score political points off this tragedy by calling for the opening of California’s coastline to more oil and gas drilling. The 2005 underhanded energy bill signed by President Bush, gives those voices the tools to begin to do just that. That same bill also opened the door for private companies to buy out (“privatize”) Public Utilities, which have until now been protected by Public Utilities Commissions. A Public Utility is an industry said to be “affected with a public interest” and therefore subject to a degree of government regulation. Private companies serve only themselves with as much profits as they can get away with irregardless of the consequences to the public or the environment.
By building bigger and stronger gas-guzzling cars, and the widespread replacement of natural renewable products with those made from petroleum byproducts, the oil industry has hooked America, and soon, all of the world, on the myth that “high class” means obscenely consuming petroleum products. From no-iron shirts to Nylon tents, to plastic laundry baskets, we have become addicted to petroleum products. And the billion Chinese in the PRC are striving fast to keep up with the Joneses.
Do you know plastic was originally made of cotton? That Diesel invented his internal combustion engine to burn vegetable oil? That the best engine lubricant before motor oil was hemp oil? That sails used to be made of hemp, as well as paper and clothing? That laundry baskets used to be made of wicker? That rayon and Dacron are made from tree fiber? That Saran Wrap used to be made from vegetable fibers? That cars can run on ethanol, which can be fermented out of biomass instead of edible corn? But instead our petrochemical industry brings in record profits as the whole world becomes more and more dependent on their products while petrochemical wastes are contaminating our planet and make it uninhabitable for living things.
Bush and his cronies are coveting the “energy resources” lying off the California coast. Don’t be fooled anymore. Buy a high efficiency car and only use your truck when you are moving freight. Get a pair panniers for your bike and pedal your way to shopping. Carpool. Take public transportation. The lesson of Hurricane Katrina is to stop burning fossil fuel.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
In Response to a German's point of view on Islam
A Mother's point of view on corporate fanatics running our government.
Once upon a time, our government was of the People, by the People, and for the People. Then the railway profiteers, fondly know as the "Railroad Barons," or "Robber Barons," found ever more creative ways to bilk the government, the settlers, the investors, and the indigenous people out of all their assets. Many ruined families lay in their wake.
The Robber Barons got a Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, to give "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, an entry in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.
We now have a government of extremist ideologues who believe that windfall energy profits and war profiteering are of higher value than the People. Having preplanned their wars and boldly posted their manifesto on the website of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) in 1998, corporate extremists rigged the 2000 election to put their man in office. They tried to create a threat big enough to install martial law with the distribution of anthrax through the mail to Congress, but it wasn't enough. They blamed it on Muslim extremists until the strain of anthrax was traced to a government lab in Maryland.
The neo-con corporate extremists contracted with their Saudi friends to finance a bunch of Saudis, and a few more from Pakistan, and fly hijacked planes into the WTC and the Pentagon on 9/11/01. They planted explosives in the WTC towers in order to destroy the entire buildings, and then cleaned up the evidence before the forensic investigators could piece things together.
Conveniently, Cheney was safely in a bunker at the time, Bush was in Florida, and the Strategic Defense Command was on exercises in Canada. I realized this truth when I saw the look on W's face when they told him what had occurred. The look said to me, "I didn't expect it to happen like this," as if he had been expecting it all along.
Our CEO President, who avoided his own military service to our country, transformed himself into the Commander and Chief, and ordered a war on Afghanistan, even though the hijackers were Saudi and Pakistani. We moved our troops into Afghanistan just in time to guard the areas where the Central Asian oil and gas pipeline was proposed to cross the country. In less than a year, our President ordered the preplanned invasion of Iraq, and made the Saudis and Pakistanis our best allies in the region. Saudi Arabia is a kingdom where capital punishment by beheading is still state sanctioned and rape victims are stoned to death. Pakistan was run by a repressive dictator, Musharraf. Something was clearly wrong with this picture.
Why do freedom-loving Americans become allies with repressive dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan while vilifying democratically elected leaders like Hugo Chavez, Avo Morales, Mohammed Mossadegh, Jacobo Arbenz, Salvador Allende, Ho Chi Minh, Jose Valasco, Patrice Lamumba, Juan Bosch, Joao Goulart, Sukarno, Juan Torres, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Daniel Ortega?
Why do freedom-loving Americans tolerate the corporate contamination of our air, soil, and water for private profit? How many people in the world have died as a direct result and indirect result of corporate pollution? Why do we sit passively and let it happen? Why haven't the corporate polluters who are ruining our American way of life been brought to task for the damage they have wrought to Americans, the American environment, and the rest of the people in the world? How many have died from Global Climate Change? How many more will die?
Then came the NSA information gathering operation that rivals the œberefficient census data Hitler gathered with the help of IBM. I wonder if IBM currently assists the NSA with data processing? The information gathering began in 2001 before 9/11. Pretty soon, the corporatist government began gathering intelligence on Peace activists within the USA. The Peace activists remained silent and allowed the secret domestic spy program to continue.
A month after 9/11 came the Patriot Act, which eroded the Bill of Rights and legalized the NSA spy program. By 2005, after holding thousands of enemy combatants in detention for half a decade without charges, the Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush, that even non-Americans must have their day in court. In response, the Democratic led Congress passed legislation that stripped enemy combatants of the rights awarded to them by the Supreme Court as well as laws that have been on the books since King Henry II (1133-1189), with an amendment to a defense spending bill which removed the right of habeas corpus from anyone designated by the President as an enemy combatant. Soon, Peace activists were being accused of being enemy combatants.
The extremists kill whomever gets in their way: Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Paul Wellstone (the only Senator the voted against the resolution to go to war with Iraq). They killed (or disappeared) Ken Lay before he could be sentenced. They killed our delegate to the 2004 Democratic convention by driving him off one of our steep mountain roads.
The neo-con corporate extremists that now lead our government have used the tragedy of 9/11 perform the hugest transfer of wealth in history from the US Treasury to Halliburton, Bechtel, KRB, Blackwater, and more. At the same time, they have destabilized the Middle East and turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that the wars are to spread Freedom and Democracy to subjugated peoples. Instead, they have perfected Orwellian Doublespeak and spread state sponsored terror in the name of Freedom and Democracy just like the medieval Crusaders did in the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace.
Our American way of life is in jeopardy. Our free elections are tainted by partisan voting machine manufacturers who boast victory for their candidates no matter which way the People vote. The checks and balances between the three houses of government are destroyed. The public can no longer visit their executive in the White House, and the executive branch creates secret policies in secret meetings. Our President holds himself and his cabal of cronies above the law and prohibits his cronies from appearing before Congress even when subpoenaed. No habeas corpus, no checks and balances, no right to assembly freely and dissent, Peace activists being accused of being enemy combatants, courageous dissenters being mysteriously killed without any investigation. What has happened to our American way of life? The freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh, now don't get me going about the pursuit of happiness!
Before the advent of the neo-cons, America was the richest country on Earth, had the largest middle-class, had thriving trade unions, a large manufacturing base, the finest schools, and was the breadbasket of the world. The neo-cons have stripped this country of all its wealth and left a battered nation in its wake, worse than the 19th century Robber Barons.
"...we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life." We must all pass this message on to everyone we know wake them up to take action and peacefully remove the corporations from the US government and return it to the benefit of the People. Let's get the Supreme Court to overturn Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad and all subsequent statutes. We must reverse every law enacted by this illegitimate fanatical President who says he is carrying out God's will in order to save our nation. Let's see if we can reverse the damage done by the neo-con corporate extremists before it is too late.
My sister wrote to me:
Dr. Emanuel Tanay is a well known and well respected psychiatrist.
A German's point of view on Islam.
A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War ll owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything, I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'
We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. The fact is that fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor killing. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority," the "silent majority," is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet Stalin was responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering number of people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War ll was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of millions Chinese and Filipino civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this message on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this - think about it - and send it on.
Emanuel Tanay, M.D.
2980 Provincial St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-997-0256
(Although Dr. Tanay's name is on this post, he actually is not the author.)
Once upon a time, our government was of the People, by the People, and for the People. Then the railway profiteers, fondly know as the "Railroad Barons," or "Robber Barons," found ever more creative ways to bilk the government, the settlers, the investors, and the indigenous people out of all their assets. Many ruined families lay in their wake.
The Robber Barons got a Supreme Court decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad in 1886, to give "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, an entry in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.
We now have a government of extremist ideologues who believe that windfall energy profits and war profiteering are of higher value than the People. Having preplanned their wars and boldly posted their manifesto on the website of the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) in 1998, corporate extremists rigged the 2000 election to put their man in office. They tried to create a threat big enough to install martial law with the distribution of anthrax through the mail to Congress, but it wasn't enough. They blamed it on Muslim extremists until the strain of anthrax was traced to a government lab in Maryland.
The neo-con corporate extremists contracted with their Saudi friends to finance a bunch of Saudis, and a few more from Pakistan, and fly hijacked planes into the WTC and the Pentagon on 9/11/01. They planted explosives in the WTC towers in order to destroy the entire buildings, and then cleaned up the evidence before the forensic investigators could piece things together.
Conveniently, Cheney was safely in a bunker at the time, Bush was in Florida, and the Strategic Defense Command was on exercises in Canada. I realized this truth when I saw the look on W's face when they told him what had occurred. The look said to me, "I didn't expect it to happen like this," as if he had been expecting it all along.
Our CEO President, who avoided his own military service to our country, transformed himself into the Commander and Chief, and ordered a war on Afghanistan, even though the hijackers were Saudi and Pakistani. We moved our troops into Afghanistan just in time to guard the areas where the Central Asian oil and gas pipeline was proposed to cross the country. In less than a year, our President ordered the preplanned invasion of Iraq, and made the Saudis and Pakistanis our best allies in the region. Saudi Arabia is a kingdom where capital punishment by beheading is still state sanctioned and rape victims are stoned to death. Pakistan was run by a repressive dictator, Musharraf. Something was clearly wrong with this picture.
Why do freedom-loving Americans become allies with repressive dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan while vilifying democratically elected leaders like Hugo Chavez, Avo Morales, Mohammed Mossadegh, Jacobo Arbenz, Salvador Allende, Ho Chi Minh, Jose Valasco, Patrice Lamumba, Juan Bosch, Joao Goulart, Sukarno, Juan Torres, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and Daniel Ortega?
Why do freedom-loving Americans tolerate the corporate contamination of our air, soil, and water for private profit? How many people in the world have died as a direct result and indirect result of corporate pollution? Why do we sit passively and let it happen? Why haven't the corporate polluters who are ruining our American way of life been brought to task for the damage they have wrought to Americans, the American environment, and the rest of the people in the world? How many have died from Global Climate Change? How many more will die?
Then came the NSA information gathering operation that rivals the œberefficient census data Hitler gathered with the help of IBM. I wonder if IBM currently assists the NSA with data processing? The information gathering began in 2001 before 9/11. Pretty soon, the corporatist government began gathering intelligence on Peace activists within the USA. The Peace activists remained silent and allowed the secret domestic spy program to continue.
A month after 9/11 came the Patriot Act, which eroded the Bill of Rights and legalized the NSA spy program. By 2005, after holding thousands of enemy combatants in detention for half a decade without charges, the Supreme Court ruled in Rasul v. Bush, that even non-Americans must have their day in court. In response, the Democratic led Congress passed legislation that stripped enemy combatants of the rights awarded to them by the Supreme Court as well as laws that have been on the books since King Henry II (1133-1189), with an amendment to a defense spending bill which removed the right of habeas corpus from anyone designated by the President as an enemy combatant. Soon, Peace activists were being accused of being enemy combatants.
The extremists kill whomever gets in their way: Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lennon, Paul Wellstone (the only Senator the voted against the resolution to go to war with Iraq). They killed (or disappeared) Ken Lay before he could be sentenced. They killed our delegate to the 2004 Democratic convention by driving him off one of our steep mountain roads.
The neo-con corporate extremists that now lead our government have used the tragedy of 9/11 perform the hugest transfer of wealth in history from the US Treasury to Halliburton, Bechtel, KRB, Blackwater, and more. At the same time, they have destabilized the Middle East and turned Iraq into a breeding ground for terrorists. We are told again and again by "experts" and "talking heads" that the wars are to spread Freedom and Democracy to subjugated peoples. Instead, they have perfected Orwellian Doublespeak and spread state sponsored terror in the name of Freedom and Democracy just like the medieval Crusaders did in the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace.
Our American way of life is in jeopardy. Our free elections are tainted by partisan voting machine manufacturers who boast victory for their candidates no matter which way the People vote. The checks and balances between the three houses of government are destroyed. The public can no longer visit their executive in the White House, and the executive branch creates secret policies in secret meetings. Our President holds himself and his cabal of cronies above the law and prohibits his cronies from appearing before Congress even when subpoenaed. No habeas corpus, no checks and balances, no right to assembly freely and dissent, Peace activists being accused of being enemy combatants, courageous dissenters being mysteriously killed without any investigation. What has happened to our American way of life? The freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Oh, now don't get me going about the pursuit of happiness!
Before the advent of the neo-cons, America was the richest country on Earth, had the largest middle-class, had thriving trade unions, a large manufacturing base, the finest schools, and was the breadbasket of the world. The neo-cons have stripped this country of all its wealth and left a battered nation in its wake, worse than the 19th century Robber Barons.
"...we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life." We must all pass this message on to everyone we know wake them up to take action and peacefully remove the corporations from the US government and return it to the benefit of the People. Let's get the Supreme Court to overturn Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad and all subsequent statutes. We must reverse every law enacted by this illegitimate fanatical President who says he is carrying out God's will in order to save our nation. Let's see if we can reverse the damage done by the neo-con corporate extremists before it is too late.
My sister wrote to me:
Dr. Emanuel Tanay is a well known and well respected psychiatrist.
A German's point of view on Islam.
A man whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War ll owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything, I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'
We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. The fact is that fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honor killing. The hard quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority," the "silent majority," is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet Stalin was responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering number of people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War ll was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of millions Chinese and Filipino civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghanis, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
Lastly, at the risk of offending, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious, is contributing to the passiveness that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and send this message on and on and on! Let us hope that thousands, world wide, read this - think about it - and send it on.
Emanuel Tanay, M.D.
2980 Provincial St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
734-997-0256
(Although Dr. Tanay's name is on this post, he actually is not the author.)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
19th Century Robber Barons Paved the Way
I just finished reading Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow by Dee Brown. It was a painstaking report of how the frontier was settled by the railroads. It began with a few honest visionaries who failed to get enough backers to fund a railroad project. Then big business got involved. They wrapped the railroads in the American flag and made it a patriotic duty. They convinced Congress of the necessity of connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific oceans, which then passed legislation that granted cash money and tens of thousands of acres of land for every mile of track that was laid. The corporate profiteers laid track on the longest routes possible to reap ever more money and land from Congress. Congress took federally granted lands from the Native Americans and transferred it to the railroad companies without notifying the tribes. Then they sent Civil War generals Sherman and Sheridan to wipe out the Indians that were blocking the railroad from entering tribal lands.
The railroad companies then subdivided the land grants and sold them for a huge profit. There was more profit in subdividing the land than in the RR itself. The railroad companies gave Congress doubly inflated estimates of the cost of building the railroads bilking the Treasury of huge amounts of grants. A couple of railroad companies even set up shell holding corporations to siphon off the biggest profits. They additionally sold stocks and bonds in the railroads; if your town didn't buy RR bonds, then the tracks didn't come your way.
Once the Native Americans were crushed and the land grants were subdivided, the RR companies sent solicitors all over Europe to bring whole communities to their dream of new hope in America. Europeans would give their life savings to the RR companies for the lots in the prairies and mountains of the west and get 3-year mortgages on their houses. Just like the sub-prime mortgage debacle of today, most of the European immigrants ended up broken and penniless. The railroads effectively ruined the lives of generations of settlers as well as generations of Native Americans from whom the land was stolen.
After all the tracks were all laid, and the immigrants were settled in the subdivided lots, then the RR monopolies charged enormous fees from farmers to transport their produce to markets. The high transportation fees made farming a money losing endeavor.
The Supreme Court ruled twice within 15 years against the railroad companies taking federally appropriated tribal lands. Yet, Congress ignored the Supreme Court. Many members of Congress were also involved in the RR profiteering. The railroads of the 19th century were akin to the war profiteers and oil companies of the 21st century. Both sets of profiteers own Congress on both sides of the aisle. Even our esteemed president Abraham Lincoln reaped profits from railroad land speculation. Don't forget, it was Democrat John Kerry who amassed the largest profits of anyone in Congress from his investments in Iraq.
In addition, a Supreme Court ruling in 1886, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, gave "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to the RR corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, the railroad barons got human rights for corporations inserted in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.
After all the profits were tidily secured in the private pockets of about 70 RR barons, the house of cards fell and the railroads went bankrupt. RR stocks and bonds became worthless. Tracks were left unused. Towns were laid waste without the RR to connect them to markets. The profiteers anticipated the fall and sold their stocks and bonds at a profit before the prices plummeted. It took two decades for the American public to notice the monumental rip off. Congressional investigations exposed the fraud, but they didn't want to go too deep into the details, since too many members of Congress had an embarrassing history of involvement.
One of the lessons I learned from this story was that the neo-cons have a longer history in America than the massive mid-20th century post-war immigration that I know about. Another lesson I learned is that corporate profiteers like Jay Gould, Durant, and Henry Villner can get ever more creative to invent ways to separate innocent victims from their money. Very Rovian. The third lesson was that fascists care nothing for the sanctity of life; they kill not only the enemies, but also kill their women, children and elders. Sherman and Sheridan killed whole villages of undefended Native peoples on tribal lands tantamount to genocide. Warriors would leave their villages undefended because they couldn't imagine that unarmed innocents would become targets. Nowadays, state-sponsored terrorism like the occupation of Iraq doesn't hesitate to kill everyone whether they are insurgents or not. What Che Guevara taught us was that protecting the innocents and only fighting the armed warriors wins the popular sentiment to your side. Batista killed anyone, which led to his defeat by the popular revolution.
The railroad companies then subdivided the land grants and sold them for a huge profit. There was more profit in subdividing the land than in the RR itself. The railroad companies gave Congress doubly inflated estimates of the cost of building the railroads bilking the Treasury of huge amounts of grants. A couple of railroad companies even set up shell holding corporations to siphon off the biggest profits. They additionally sold stocks and bonds in the railroads; if your town didn't buy RR bonds, then the tracks didn't come your way.
Once the Native Americans were crushed and the land grants were subdivided, the RR companies sent solicitors all over Europe to bring whole communities to their dream of new hope in America. Europeans would give their life savings to the RR companies for the lots in the prairies and mountains of the west and get 3-year mortgages on their houses. Just like the sub-prime mortgage debacle of today, most of the European immigrants ended up broken and penniless. The railroads effectively ruined the lives of generations of settlers as well as generations of Native Americans from whom the land was stolen.
After all the tracks were all laid, and the immigrants were settled in the subdivided lots, then the RR monopolies charged enormous fees from farmers to transport their produce to markets. The high transportation fees made farming a money losing endeavor.
The Supreme Court ruled twice within 15 years against the railroad companies taking federally appropriated tribal lands. Yet, Congress ignored the Supreme Court. Many members of Congress were also involved in the RR profiteering. The railroads of the 19th century were akin to the war profiteers and oil companies of the 21st century. Both sets of profiteers own Congress on both sides of the aisle. Even our esteemed president Abraham Lincoln reaped profits from railroad land speculation. Don't forget, it was Democrat John Kerry who amassed the largest profits of anyone in Congress from his investments in Iraq.
In addition, a Supreme Court ruling in 1886, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, gave "personhood" under the 14th Amendment to the RR corporations in order to have legal standing in court and be taxed. I read that Supreme Court ruling several times. It was not, in fact, the ruling itself that gave "personhood" to corporations, but, rather, the railroad barons got human rights for corporations inserted in the court reporter's headnotes on the case. Since that time, the mega corporations have exploited that single court reporter's note, and layers of statutes have built upon it.
After all the profits were tidily secured in the private pockets of about 70 RR barons, the house of cards fell and the railroads went bankrupt. RR stocks and bonds became worthless. Tracks were left unused. Towns were laid waste without the RR to connect them to markets. The profiteers anticipated the fall and sold their stocks and bonds at a profit before the prices plummeted. It took two decades for the American public to notice the monumental rip off. Congressional investigations exposed the fraud, but they didn't want to go too deep into the details, since too many members of Congress had an embarrassing history of involvement.
One of the lessons I learned from this story was that the neo-cons have a longer history in America than the massive mid-20th century post-war immigration that I know about. Another lesson I learned is that corporate profiteers like Jay Gould, Durant, and Henry Villner can get ever more creative to invent ways to separate innocent victims from their money. Very Rovian. The third lesson was that fascists care nothing for the sanctity of life; they kill not only the enemies, but also kill their women, children and elders. Sherman and Sheridan killed whole villages of undefended Native peoples on tribal lands tantamount to genocide. Warriors would leave their villages undefended because they couldn't imagine that unarmed innocents would become targets. Nowadays, state-sponsored terrorism like the occupation of Iraq doesn't hesitate to kill everyone whether they are insurgents or not. What Che Guevara taught us was that protecting the innocents and only fighting the armed warriors wins the popular sentiment to your side. Batista killed anyone, which led to his defeat by the popular revolution.
Myanmar Military Junta does a New Orleans
Many people in the world have been wondering why the military junta in Myanmar refused to accept foreign aid to its cyclone and monsoon victims. The answer is simple. They were following the lead of the most powerful neo-cons on the planet. George Bush showed them how to celebrate birthday parties and play guitar while the impoverished masses perished in New Orleans. Such a disaster is a golden opportunity for corporatists to make profits. Once the flood waters receded, the rif-raf will be either dead or in shelters far away, and the prime real estate will be free for corporate development with no-bid contracts. Remember, lobbyists for the Myanmar military junta have been helping run McCain's campaign. The Myanmar military junta doesn't have the hubris to call themselves neo-cons; they are old cons.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Some thoughts about Ernesto Che Guevara
I recently finished “reading” the biography of Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson. I chose the book on tape from our local public library while escaping from the spate of murder mysteries into the non-fiction section. It was the thickest set of cassettes on the shelf and I was anticipating a long 2 hr/day commute for at least six weeks.
I was amazed at the portrait of a learned prince of the Argentine upper crust driven to fight to the end of his life to defend social justice against corporate imperialism. It was nothing like the unlearned impression that I previously had of an insane, radical revolutionary. He reminded me of the characters my sons embody in their video games who fight overwhelming odds to defend the good.
When I sought to share my insights about Guevara, people would glare at me at the mention of Che’s name like I must be a pinko red communist armed revolutionary. I am shocked at the spontaneous negativity immediately generated at the sound of his name more than 40 years after his death.
Ernesto Guevara took a motorcycle journey in 1953 in his first year of college and saw the plight of the exploited masses in their own lands. It touched him to the core. He saw a pattern of colonial governments granting Latin American and African nations their independence, only to have North American or European corporations move into the wake. Che called the phenomenon “Neo-colonialism.”
He met Fidel after the popular uprising in Guatemala which ended the pro-corporate regime of General Jorge Ubico. The general elections that followed resulted in the socialist government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzán. After a year of sweeping land reform acts that antagonized the U.S.-based multinational company United Fruit Company, Arbenz was assassinated in a CIA-backed coup. Over the next four decades, the succession of military rulers would wage counter-insurgency warfare destabilizing Guatemalan society. The violence caused the deaths and disappearances of more than 140,000 Guatemalans, and some human rights activists put the death toll as high as 250,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
The short-lived success of Arbenz followed by CIA backed assassination left an indelible impression on the young revolutionaries, Ernesto and Fidel. Time and again they witnessed the same pattern: as soon as corporate interests were threatened, the democratically elected leader was assassinated with the help of the CIA, and replaced by a corporate friendly dictator.
Che reasoned that if you convinced the peasants that they could achieve self-determination, they would join the revolution. Castro and Guevara achieved this dream in Cuba where they overthrew the pro-corporate dictator, Batista, nationalized the natural resources, and have managed to maintain their sovereignty from neo-corporate invasion for over 50 years.
Guevara was a man of strong principles. He insisted on marital fidelity and treating women with respect. Rapists faced the firing squad after being tried in a court of their peers. He used to read Pablo Neruda poems out loud to his wife for entertainment. He was a Renaissance Man. Whatever he couldn’t do, he learned (except dancing). He was a military strategist, an economic strategist, a master chess player, as well as a medical doctor, healer, and philosopher. He was a published author and ran several newspapers and magazines. He was anything but a thug.
Like the heroes of old, Che sought to defend the lives of the common people which were being threatened by the evil of North American corporate exploitation. He led a revolution to free the people. Was Che any different than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson who were also products of the upper crust who took up arms to free their own country from the imperialist exploitation of Great Britain? Our founding fathers were militant revolutionaries inspired by radical philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Paine, and Frenchmen Voltaire and Rousseau. Che was driven by the philosophy of Carl Marx. Both our founding fathers and Guevara were militant armed revolutionaries driven by philosophies of social justice.
Today, as we watch the decline of American democracy guided by pro-corporate neo-con philosophy, the erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the government protection of corporate interests at the expense of the people, it becomes apparent that Ernesto Che Guevara predicted it all. He was a man before his time. He tried to nip the economic and political monster we face today in the bud. But with the help of our CIA, he was eliminated.
What really surprised me about reading his biography, was the powerfully negative reactions I encountered at the mention of his name. If I mention Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, I got responses imbued with positive energy. When I mention Che, I am assaulted with incredible negative energy. The propaganda machine that convinces people to vote against their own best interests has had a lasting legacy in the case of smearing the name of Ernesto Che Guevara, defender of the common people.
I was amazed at the portrait of a learned prince of the Argentine upper crust driven to fight to the end of his life to defend social justice against corporate imperialism. It was nothing like the unlearned impression that I previously had of an insane, radical revolutionary. He reminded me of the characters my sons embody in their video games who fight overwhelming odds to defend the good.
When I sought to share my insights about Guevara, people would glare at me at the mention of Che’s name like I must be a pinko red communist armed revolutionary. I am shocked at the spontaneous negativity immediately generated at the sound of his name more than 40 years after his death.
Ernesto Guevara took a motorcycle journey in 1953 in his first year of college and saw the plight of the exploited masses in their own lands. It touched him to the core. He saw a pattern of colonial governments granting Latin American and African nations their independence, only to have North American or European corporations move into the wake. Che called the phenomenon “Neo-colonialism.”
He met Fidel after the popular uprising in Guatemala which ended the pro-corporate regime of General Jorge Ubico. The general elections that followed resulted in the socialist government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzán. After a year of sweeping land reform acts that antagonized the U.S.-based multinational company United Fruit Company, Arbenz was assassinated in a CIA-backed coup. Over the next four decades, the succession of military rulers would wage counter-insurgency warfare destabilizing Guatemalan society. The violence caused the deaths and disappearances of more than 140,000 Guatemalans, and some human rights activists put the death toll as high as 250,000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Guatemalan_coup_d'%C3%A9tat
The short-lived success of Arbenz followed by CIA backed assassination left an indelible impression on the young revolutionaries, Ernesto and Fidel. Time and again they witnessed the same pattern: as soon as corporate interests were threatened, the democratically elected leader was assassinated with the help of the CIA, and replaced by a corporate friendly dictator.
Che reasoned that if you convinced the peasants that they could achieve self-determination, they would join the revolution. Castro and Guevara achieved this dream in Cuba where they overthrew the pro-corporate dictator, Batista, nationalized the natural resources, and have managed to maintain their sovereignty from neo-corporate invasion for over 50 years.
Guevara was a man of strong principles. He insisted on marital fidelity and treating women with respect. Rapists faced the firing squad after being tried in a court of their peers. He used to read Pablo Neruda poems out loud to his wife for entertainment. He was a Renaissance Man. Whatever he couldn’t do, he learned (except dancing). He was a military strategist, an economic strategist, a master chess player, as well as a medical doctor, healer, and philosopher. He was a published author and ran several newspapers and magazines. He was anything but a thug.
Like the heroes of old, Che sought to defend the lives of the common people which were being threatened by the evil of North American corporate exploitation. He led a revolution to free the people. Was Che any different than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson who were also products of the upper crust who took up arms to free their own country from the imperialist exploitation of Great Britain? Our founding fathers were militant revolutionaries inspired by radical philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Paine, and Frenchmen Voltaire and Rousseau. Che was driven by the philosophy of Carl Marx. Both our founding fathers and Guevara were militant armed revolutionaries driven by philosophies of social justice.
Today, as we watch the decline of American democracy guided by pro-corporate neo-con philosophy, the erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the government protection of corporate interests at the expense of the people, it becomes apparent that Ernesto Che Guevara predicted it all. He was a man before his time. He tried to nip the economic and political monster we face today in the bud. But with the help of our CIA, he was eliminated.
What really surprised me about reading his biography, was the powerfully negative reactions I encountered at the mention of his name. If I mention Thomas Jefferson or George Washington, I got responses imbued with positive energy. When I mention Che, I am assaulted with incredible negative energy. The propaganda machine that convinces people to vote against their own best interests has had a lasting legacy in the case of smearing the name of Ernesto Che Guevara, defender of the common people.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Che Guevara and Manifest Destiny
I have been listening to the biography of Che Guevara on tape as I drive an hour to and from work each day. Che’s life, even so many decades ago, sounded very modern and little different than the lifestyle we enjoy in this United States. The author portrays Che, and his buddy Fidel, as products of their environment. Both were descendants of the wealthy, privileged class, and were bothered by the social injustices brought about by the invasion of Europeans to the Americas. The European settlers confiscated the land from the indigenous people and treated them worse than dirt. In addition, the United States came in and exploited the natural resources for their own exclusive profit at the expense of the citizens of each country.
The United Fruit Company, and companies that owned the coffee plantations, the mines, and the forest products made huge profits and collaborated with oppressive militias to enrich themselves and keep the locals in servitude. Beginning with Guatemala in 1953, every time a populist leader was elected, the CIA would assassinate him and install a dictator who protected the North American industrialists. A few Caucasian locals who collaborated with the North American companies got filthy rich while the rest of the population lived in squalor. Both Che and Fidel descended from such wealthy landed families.
I mentioned this to T.A., an acquaintance of mine at the post office the other day. He replied that if the indigenous people weren’t organized enough to manage their own natural resources, it is only right that the North Americans would come in and take the natural resources, just like they did with the Native Americans. I am aware that T.A. is a Christian and I supposed he was referring to the Christian belief of “manifest destiny” which justified the robbery and exploitation of Native Americans in the USA.
I didn't reply to this at the time because I am slow on the uptake and try to think about things before I speak. The more I think about what T.A. said, the more I realize how immoral it is to take what someone else has just because I am bigger, stronger, more organized, or believe it is my manifest destiny. T.A. was partly referring to historical patterns; when rich natural resources exist, historically someone comes in to exploit it. But, just because the historical record illustrates the pattern, that doesn’t make it right.
The United Fruit Company, and companies that owned the coffee plantations, the mines, and the forest products made huge profits and collaborated with oppressive militias to enrich themselves and keep the locals in servitude. Beginning with Guatemala in 1953, every time a populist leader was elected, the CIA would assassinate him and install a dictator who protected the North American industrialists. A few Caucasian locals who collaborated with the North American companies got filthy rich while the rest of the population lived in squalor. Both Che and Fidel descended from such wealthy landed families.
I mentioned this to T.A., an acquaintance of mine at the post office the other day. He replied that if the indigenous people weren’t organized enough to manage their own natural resources, it is only right that the North Americans would come in and take the natural resources, just like they did with the Native Americans. I am aware that T.A. is a Christian and I supposed he was referring to the Christian belief of “manifest destiny” which justified the robbery and exploitation of Native Americans in the USA.
I didn't reply to this at the time because I am slow on the uptake and try to think about things before I speak. The more I think about what T.A. said, the more I realize how immoral it is to take what someone else has just because I am bigger, stronger, more organized, or believe it is my manifest destiny. T.A. was partly referring to historical patterns; when rich natural resources exist, historically someone comes in to exploit it. But, just because the historical record illustrates the pattern, that doesn’t make it right.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Pawn Fodder for Endless War
What amazes me is that the American public all realize that we were led into a war on false pretenses, and they all want the illegal war to end, but they vote for warmonger candidates and consider the peace candidates not viable.
Another thing that amazes me is that the Democrats continue to vote to fund the illegal occupation of Iraq. That they all know that the war funding is being drained into mercenary expenses yet choose not to discuss it. That they pretend that having voted to authorize the use of force, that they didn't know force was going to be used. And that the war in Afghanistan was obviously to protect the natural gas pipeline that now crosses Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq was to get control of Iraqi oil, yet our Congress pretends the wars were to apprehend terrorists.
I am amazed again and again at how the neo-cons can force their spin of the issues, and the Democrats and the American public accept the neo-con definitions of the issues as if carved in stone.
For example, the immigrant issue. This issue, from the start, has been for greedy businesses to be able to undercut minimum wage laws and worker rights and protections. The same folks who wink winked and looked the other way while millions of undocumented sweat shop and agricultural workers poured across the border to be exploited by the greedy businesses, are now using the very same issue that they created to be their bigoted hate-fomenting campaign issue. At the same time that their greedy policies have kept American food prices artificially low, the factories and farms have become dependent on undocumented immigrant labor. As the neo-cons talk about building border walls to keep the undocumented laborers out, factories and farms are going out of business due to the inability to pay legal wages to legal workers and still sell their products at a competitive price. It leaves the only survival strategy being to relocate their business over the border.
Our dear neo-cons who seem intent on collapsing the American economy are delighted when businesses move abroad. That furthers their agenda to eliminate birth control, education, and jobs in order to breed an endless supply of youths who have no other recourse than to join the military. The neo-cons want more pawn fodder for endless wars.
Another thing that amazes me is that the Democrats continue to vote to fund the illegal occupation of Iraq. That they all know that the war funding is being drained into mercenary expenses yet choose not to discuss it. That they pretend that having voted to authorize the use of force, that they didn't know force was going to be used. And that the war in Afghanistan was obviously to protect the natural gas pipeline that now crosses Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq was to get control of Iraqi oil, yet our Congress pretends the wars were to apprehend terrorists.
I am amazed again and again at how the neo-cons can force their spin of the issues, and the Democrats and the American public accept the neo-con definitions of the issues as if carved in stone.
For example, the immigrant issue. This issue, from the start, has been for greedy businesses to be able to undercut minimum wage laws and worker rights and protections. The same folks who wink winked and looked the other way while millions of undocumented sweat shop and agricultural workers poured across the border to be exploited by the greedy businesses, are now using the very same issue that they created to be their bigoted hate-fomenting campaign issue. At the same time that their greedy policies have kept American food prices artificially low, the factories and farms have become dependent on undocumented immigrant labor. As the neo-cons talk about building border walls to keep the undocumented laborers out, factories and farms are going out of business due to the inability to pay legal wages to legal workers and still sell their products at a competitive price. It leaves the only survival strategy being to relocate their business over the border.
Our dear neo-cons who seem intent on collapsing the American economy are delighted when businesses move abroad. That furthers their agenda to eliminate birth control, education, and jobs in order to breed an endless supply of youths who have no other recourse than to join the military. The neo-cons want more pawn fodder for endless wars.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Presidential Candidates for War Profiteering
Now that all the progressive peace candidates have been eliminated from the presidential primaries by the war profiteering big media companies, I was pondering on which corporate sell-out candidate I would choose to support in the upcoming primary, Clinton or Obama. Although I would love to see a woman president, Clinton is a warmonger and neo-con Democrat. Therefore, my heart goes toward Obama.
Obama has charisma but lacks a platform. He is walking a narrow line, self-censuring lest he rub anyone the wrong way with any definitive statements. His track record has voted unanimously for every war resolution and war-funding package that has passed through Congress. His platform of change was the exact same platform that George Bush ran on in 2000. We are all now reeling in shock with all the anti-democratic changes that George Bush has put through which has brought the 232 year-old American experiment to its knees. Can we tolerate more change? Change from what to what?
I looked into the future today and gagged with nausea at what I saw. If Barak Obama wins the Democrat (I hate to call it “Democratic” since it is anything but democratic when it excludes the voices of peace candidates and sabotages its own members) Party nomination, then the neo-con Republicans will play the race card and foment race hatred to frenzy levels to win the White Supremacist votes. And our neo-cons on the Supreme Court will ignore or eliminate penalties for hate crimes. The hate-mongering neo-cons will successfully divide the non-white majority of the population so that the White Supremacist minority will overpower the people of color majority. Although McCain isn’t necessarily a racist, he will collaborate with the neo-con racists to fulfill his need for power. He just can’t wait to be the new neo-con front man. We then may see another neo-con Republican having stolen the White House with a platform of hate and division.
If Clinton wins the Democrat Party nomination, the macho-chauvinist card won’t have as much weight with white voters as the race card. Dirty politics will ensue but Clinton will have a better chance of beating a neo-con Republican. If Clinton wins the presidency, she might consult with Bill to help pull the nation out of the economic pit the neo-cons have left it in. He has already successfully done this the last time the neo-conservatives left our nation deep in debt. Beside the chance of pulling the nation out of an economic slump, the rest of business will be as usual set in the precedent of the Bush presidency. I wonder how many signing statements Hillary might compose? Clinton is a neo-con, corporate sell-out. Under Clinton we still have more wars and more war profiteering at the expense of the people of our nation.
That leaves me and the American public in a real quandary as to which candidate to support in the upcoming primary. I still don't know who to vote for....
Obama has charisma but lacks a platform. He is walking a narrow line, self-censuring lest he rub anyone the wrong way with any definitive statements. His track record has voted unanimously for every war resolution and war-funding package that has passed through Congress. His platform of change was the exact same platform that George Bush ran on in 2000. We are all now reeling in shock with all the anti-democratic changes that George Bush has put through which has brought the 232 year-old American experiment to its knees. Can we tolerate more change? Change from what to what?
I looked into the future today and gagged with nausea at what I saw. If Barak Obama wins the Democrat (I hate to call it “Democratic” since it is anything but democratic when it excludes the voices of peace candidates and sabotages its own members) Party nomination, then the neo-con Republicans will play the race card and foment race hatred to frenzy levels to win the White Supremacist votes. And our neo-cons on the Supreme Court will ignore or eliminate penalties for hate crimes. The hate-mongering neo-cons will successfully divide the non-white majority of the population so that the White Supremacist minority will overpower the people of color majority. Although McCain isn’t necessarily a racist, he will collaborate with the neo-con racists to fulfill his need for power. He just can’t wait to be the new neo-con front man. We then may see another neo-con Republican having stolen the White House with a platform of hate and division.
If Clinton wins the Democrat Party nomination, the macho-chauvinist card won’t have as much weight with white voters as the race card. Dirty politics will ensue but Clinton will have a better chance of beating a neo-con Republican. If Clinton wins the presidency, she might consult with Bill to help pull the nation out of the economic pit the neo-cons have left it in. He has already successfully done this the last time the neo-conservatives left our nation deep in debt. Beside the chance of pulling the nation out of an economic slump, the rest of business will be as usual set in the precedent of the Bush presidency. I wonder how many signing statements Hillary might compose? Clinton is a neo-con, corporate sell-out. Under Clinton we still have more wars and more war profiteering at the expense of the people of our nation.
That leaves me and the American public in a real quandary as to which candidate to support in the upcoming primary. I still don't know who to vote for....
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Clinton vs. Obama
I would love to see a woman president. But not Clinton. She is the second most conservative Democrat in the Senate. Diane Feinstein is first; she has replaced Joe Lieberman as the swing vote. Neither Clinton nor Feinstein make good Democratic leaders. If we want to end the endless wars, get the big corporations out of bed with the politicians, withdraw from Iraq, restore our civil rights, rebuild our infrastructure, and bring in an era of Peace and growing prosperity, while balancing the budget, Clinton is not the candidate. She sold-out to the big corporations long ago.
In 2001, Madeleine Albright's name appeared on the PNAC website as a signer. By late 2003, all those signatures had been removed. Some people say that Madeleine Albright was as ruthless as Henry Kissinger. Yet, there she was standing right next to Clinton in Iowa in 2008. Bush came in with the old guard; so will Clinton. The destruction of Democracy will continue unhindered if Clinton wins the White House in 2008.
I believe Obama has sold-out to the big corporations also. The media seems to measure the candidates by the amount of money they raise rather than by their platforms. Anyone who wants peace and democracy won't even be included in the debates.
In 2004, we had a choice of one rich white male graduate of Yale member of Skull and Bones in favor of the Iraq war, or another rich white male graduate of Yale member of Skull and Bones in favor of the Iraq war. Where was the choice?
Now the media portrays the choice between a black man, a woman, a Mormon, a Baptist preacher, or Nostradamus. Yet the Constitution states that there be no religious test for president. Should there be a racial test or a gender test for president? Are we voting for a religious leader or a president? What are their platforms? The media doesn't exactly answer that.
Change? George Bush brought about a lot of change. In fact, George Bush brought so much change, we would like to reverse a lot of his changes in order to rescue Democracy. "Change" is a very flimsy platform.
Those who have clear platforms, like Kucinich, Ravel, and Paul, are excluded from the debate. I guess change means to keep trouble-makers who talk about real issues away from the leading candidates in order not to embarrass them. Any candidate worth their pluck would have boycotted the debates in which the more forthright candidates were excluded. They should have said it was anti-Democratic to exclude some candidates, and they should have refused to talk. But, in fact, the "change" touters were GLAD not to have Kucinich, Ravel and Paul on the stage with them. The leading contenders are all cowards.
Once again, the corporate media are choosing our presidential candidates for us. And we are letting them do so. I am so sick of talk about black man, woman, preacher, Mormon, corporate campaign contributions, etc. It is only a cut above the latest front-page slut gossip. Maybe Britney should run for president; no one would expect a platform from her.
In 2001, Madeleine Albright's name appeared on the PNAC website as a signer. By late 2003, all those signatures had been removed. Some people say that Madeleine Albright was as ruthless as Henry Kissinger. Yet, there she was standing right next to Clinton in Iowa in 2008. Bush came in with the old guard; so will Clinton. The destruction of Democracy will continue unhindered if Clinton wins the White House in 2008.
I believe Obama has sold-out to the big corporations also. The media seems to measure the candidates by the amount of money they raise rather than by their platforms. Anyone who wants peace and democracy won't even be included in the debates.
In 2004, we had a choice of one rich white male graduate of Yale member of Skull and Bones in favor of the Iraq war, or another rich white male graduate of Yale member of Skull and Bones in favor of the Iraq war. Where was the choice?
Now the media portrays the choice between a black man, a woman, a Mormon, a Baptist preacher, or Nostradamus. Yet the Constitution states that there be no religious test for president. Should there be a racial test or a gender test for president? Are we voting for a religious leader or a president? What are their platforms? The media doesn't exactly answer that.
Change? George Bush brought about a lot of change. In fact, George Bush brought so much change, we would like to reverse a lot of his changes in order to rescue Democracy. "Change" is a very flimsy platform.
Those who have clear platforms, like Kucinich, Ravel, and Paul, are excluded from the debate. I guess change means to keep trouble-makers who talk about real issues away from the leading candidates in order not to embarrass them. Any candidate worth their pluck would have boycotted the debates in which the more forthright candidates were excluded. They should have said it was anti-Democratic to exclude some candidates, and they should have refused to talk. But, in fact, the "change" touters were GLAD not to have Kucinich, Ravel and Paul on the stage with them. The leading contenders are all cowards.
Once again, the corporate media are choosing our presidential candidates for us. And we are letting them do so. I am so sick of talk about black man, woman, preacher, Mormon, corporate campaign contributions, etc. It is only a cut above the latest front-page slut gossip. Maybe Britney should run for president; no one would expect a platform from her.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Stop wasting time and money on the terrorist game
The "War on Terror" is a manipulative ploy to keep the American electorate terrified enough to justify giving up our civil rights to a creeping fascist invasion. When the Congress led by a Democratic majority falls prey to the fascist manipulations and propaganda, they are no longer serving the people.
3000 people died 6 years ago in one day from terrorists. To retaliate, we have killed countless 10's of thousands in Iraq, displaced millions, destroyed the infrastructure of an entire country, bankrupted the US Treasury, killed 4000 American GI's, countless thousands of mercenaries, and maimed 25,000 GIs. Yet we let the mastermind of that terrorist attack go free when we had him surrounded, and we protected his family members like royalty.
Since 6 years ago, countless 10's of thousands have died every year as a result of global climate change, but we continue to support the petroleum companies and polluting policies that have caused it. If petroleum companies are causing the deaths of so many people and species of wildlife, I would consider them to be homegrown terrorists.
Since 6 years ago, 450,000 Americans have died from alcohol related injuries. I would consider the alcohol companies to be homegrown terrorists.
Since 6 years ago, 500,000 Americans have died from tobacco. I would consider the tobacco companies to be homegrown terrorists.
The morbidity and mortality worldwide from air, water and soil pollution, from the effects of burning fossil fuel, drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco exceed the single act of terrorism on 9/11 by about 500X, yet we fall for the manipulative propaganda of a war on Muslim terrorists in order to justify the invasion and occupation of sovereign nations and the erosion of American civil liberties.
Wake up Congress and start defending the Constitution from the tyranny within our own government. Stop playing the game. Get real and start serving the people. America has some very huge real problems that are being totally ignored while you waste our time and money playing the terrorist game.
Just remember that Luis Posada Carriles, the terrorist that exploded an airplane in mid-air with a toothpaste tube full of C-4, is scott free on the streets of Miami while the rest of the world gets their toothpaste tubes confiscated at the airport.
3000 people died 6 years ago in one day from terrorists. To retaliate, we have killed countless 10's of thousands in Iraq, displaced millions, destroyed the infrastructure of an entire country, bankrupted the US Treasury, killed 4000 American GI's, countless thousands of mercenaries, and maimed 25,000 GIs. Yet we let the mastermind of that terrorist attack go free when we had him surrounded, and we protected his family members like royalty.
Since 6 years ago, countless 10's of thousands have died every year as a result of global climate change, but we continue to support the petroleum companies and polluting policies that have caused it. If petroleum companies are causing the deaths of so many people and species of wildlife, I would consider them to be homegrown terrorists.
Since 6 years ago, 450,000 Americans have died from alcohol related injuries. I would consider the alcohol companies to be homegrown terrorists.
Since 6 years ago, 500,000 Americans have died from tobacco. I would consider the tobacco companies to be homegrown terrorists.
The morbidity and mortality worldwide from air, water and soil pollution, from the effects of burning fossil fuel, drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco exceed the single act of terrorism on 9/11 by about 500X, yet we fall for the manipulative propaganda of a war on Muslim terrorists in order to justify the invasion and occupation of sovereign nations and the erosion of American civil liberties.
Wake up Congress and start defending the Constitution from the tyranny within our own government. Stop playing the game. Get real and start serving the people. America has some very huge real problems that are being totally ignored while you waste our time and money playing the terrorist game.
Just remember that Luis Posada Carriles, the terrorist that exploded an airplane in mid-air with a toothpaste tube full of C-4, is scott free on the streets of Miami while the rest of the world gets their toothpaste tubes confiscated at the airport.
Friday, November 23, 2007
My reponse to M.G. on Thanksgiving Day
M.G. wrote: On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas. Suspected gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. Yet, there was not a word about this on the national media this Thanksgiving, 2007. I consider that very strange and another condemnation of our national media.
My response:
It may be strange for a democracy that depends upon the press to inform the electorate in order for the best candidates to be elected. But it's not the least bit strange in a fascist dictatorship that wants to allay any suspicions of any historical foul play from the soporific masses. We didn't see anything about the big nationwide peace demonstrations on Oct. 27th either.
Don't rock the boat, M.G. Just let the fascists continue to creep in to every facet of our society and infect our neighbors around the world: Mexico, France, Britain, Italy, Pakistan, Russia. They have already started creeping into Mendocino County. I don't know the specifics, but I hear it between the words of our elected officials. No one wants to use the word "fascist," but I hear them saying things like, "Oh yeah. Politics in Mendocino County have DEFINITELY CHANGED in the last few years...."
Just look at our district attorney, Meridith Lintott. We'll never know if she beat Vroman posthumously, but she ran against 2 opposing candidates in the special election, which split the opposition and guaranteed her victory. She is one of THEM. Neo-con. Fascist. She subscribes to the culture of corruption and the arrogant remorselessness of a person with a shame based value system. Someone like that is capable of doing ANYTHING and rationalize any justification. Yet, I met good, intelligent social reformers who blindly voted for her.
You ask me how do I know she is one of THEM? I went to a debate before the first election between her and the dead guy. Later on, when some other candidates were debating, I felt this dark, ominous presence on my right. I turned to look, and found Ms. Lintott sitting not 3 seats away from me in my row. I saw a dark, evil aura around her and glimpsed a monster in her soul. You can poo-poo my intuition or ability to see through people like they are transparent, but I accurately identified the bloodless fascist coup d'etat in 2000 after the supreme court decision that made Bush the president. People considered me a nut-case then, but now I hear the radio commentators talk about creeping fascism every day. It only took 7 years for them to catch up to what was obvious to me back then. I have a pretty good track record of prognostication and character evaluation. According to me, Lintott is one of THEM.
Pretty soon, we will have a word in our American language: "doing a Musharraf." It will mean, taking over a democracy with the military, removing the uniform for a Brooks Brothers suit, arresting all the judges and lawyers, suspending the supreme court, and trashing the Constitution. Bush and Musharraf are kindred spirits in that effect. It is much better for the fascist corporate interests to support a military dictatorship in Pakistan than to learn lessons from Cuba, where everyone has health care, and the energy blockade resulted in an economy based on renewable energy and organic fertilizers. The fascists can't tolerate that. They need to turn Cuba back into a plantation which exploits the people and provides a new Club Med for the super-rich.
I wonder when the fascists will buy up Ukiah's stupendously successful local electric industry? More than half of Ukiah's electricity comes from renewable resources. I bet that makes the fascists angry. Once the fascist corporations buy up all the local energy and water sources, that's when all of our fates will be sealed. Until then, the peaceful, cooperative people still have a chance to instigate a non-violent revolution to set the USA back on a course to serve the people.
My response:
It may be strange for a democracy that depends upon the press to inform the electorate in order for the best candidates to be elected. But it's not the least bit strange in a fascist dictatorship that wants to allay any suspicions of any historical foul play from the soporific masses. We didn't see anything about the big nationwide peace demonstrations on Oct. 27th either.
Don't rock the boat, M.G. Just let the fascists continue to creep in to every facet of our society and infect our neighbors around the world: Mexico, France, Britain, Italy, Pakistan, Russia. They have already started creeping into Mendocino County. I don't know the specifics, but I hear it between the words of our elected officials. No one wants to use the word "fascist," but I hear them saying things like, "Oh yeah. Politics in Mendocino County have DEFINITELY CHANGED in the last few years...."
Just look at our district attorney, Meridith Lintott. We'll never know if she beat Vroman posthumously, but she ran against 2 opposing candidates in the special election, which split the opposition and guaranteed her victory. She is one of THEM. Neo-con. Fascist. She subscribes to the culture of corruption and the arrogant remorselessness of a person with a shame based value system. Someone like that is capable of doing ANYTHING and rationalize any justification. Yet, I met good, intelligent social reformers who blindly voted for her.
You ask me how do I know she is one of THEM? I went to a debate before the first election between her and the dead guy. Later on, when some other candidates were debating, I felt this dark, ominous presence on my right. I turned to look, and found Ms. Lintott sitting not 3 seats away from me in my row. I saw a dark, evil aura around her and glimpsed a monster in her soul. You can poo-poo my intuition or ability to see through people like they are transparent, but I accurately identified the bloodless fascist coup d'etat in 2000 after the supreme court decision that made Bush the president. People considered me a nut-case then, but now I hear the radio commentators talk about creeping fascism every day. It only took 7 years for them to catch up to what was obvious to me back then. I have a pretty good track record of prognostication and character evaluation. According to me, Lintott is one of THEM.
Pretty soon, we will have a word in our American language: "doing a Musharraf." It will mean, taking over a democracy with the military, removing the uniform for a Brooks Brothers suit, arresting all the judges and lawyers, suspending the supreme court, and trashing the Constitution. Bush and Musharraf are kindred spirits in that effect. It is much better for the fascist corporate interests to support a military dictatorship in Pakistan than to learn lessons from Cuba, where everyone has health care, and the energy blockade resulted in an economy based on renewable energy and organic fertilizers. The fascists can't tolerate that. They need to turn Cuba back into a plantation which exploits the people and provides a new Club Med for the super-rich.
I wonder when the fascists will buy up Ukiah's stupendously successful local electric industry? More than half of Ukiah's electricity comes from renewable resources. I bet that makes the fascists angry. Once the fascist corporations buy up all the local energy and water sources, that's when all of our fates will be sealed. Until then, the peaceful, cooperative people still have a chance to instigate a non-violent revolution to set the USA back on a course to serve the people.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Charter schools are an exercise in grass roots democracy
If democracy is for the people, of the people and by the people, then charter schools are also for the children, by the parents, and of the families. Charter school are not necessarily private schools. But they are an exercise in democracy in education. I don't understand why some passionate freedom fighters are so down on charter schools. Maybe they belong to the teachers union.
I have founded one charter school, and helped build up another. When my son was approaching middle school in Vallejo, I was working as a substitute teacher. I saw a hostile social environment in Vallejo middle schools where kids divided up into racial and ethnic factions and assaulted each other verbally and physically. I didn't want my son in that kind of environment, and I couldn't afford a private school, nor was there a private school that I would choose to send my son.
I got together with a dozen other 4th and 5th grade parents and we designed a middle school. We wrote a charter and was chartered by Vallejo City Unified School District. Everything was about families. The families volunteered over the summer and remodeled a church into a school. Parent volunteers ran everything. They hired the teachers, hired the administrators, worked in the front office, worked as playground monitors, tutored students, wrote grants, and worked in the after-school program. It was the greatest grass-roots demonstration of democracy that I have ever participated in.
As a founder of the school, and Secretary of the Board of Directors, I found that the school was not going the way I had hoped. There was no PE program, no gardening program, and I couldn't get the teachers to cooperate with recycling. Although there were none of the racial and ethnic conflicts seen in the public middle schools, it was too academic, not holistic, and not enough hand-on time for my tastes. I resigned my position on the Board and we proceeded to home school our kids for the next 2 years.
There is no need to criticize this charter school for Neil Bush's COWs, nor stealing public funds for private education, or Milton Friedman's economic theories. I was democratically outvoted on the Board over issues of PE and recycling, and so I resigned. The school, like any other public school, had to accept any child that came to enroll. This was not an exclusive private school. Therefore, there were the full spectrum of below level students, outstanding students, involved parents, slacker parents, and behavioral issues like any other public school.
The teacher's union was totally against it because the charter school teachers were given the option to be unionized by the CTU, another union, or no union. The Board provided a competitive package of benefits for the teachers, and a couple of teachers served on the Board. The teachers voted not to join the CTU. I really don't think this school deserves the unfounded attacks I hear from critics about charter schools in general.
I have become involved in a charter school here in my current home town. I helped write the recent re-charter proposal, and serve as the school nurse there. The local public school district is hostile toward the school yet accepted the re-charter proposal. As a public school, it must comply with the testing required by No Child Left Behind, but follows a curriculum based on the theories of Rudolph Steiner. These children are taught social skills, fine motor skills, cooperative team work, nutrition, and conflict resolution skills from the get-go. They don't focus on academics until 3rd grade. Therefore, the 1st and 2nd grade students tend to do poorly on the STAR tests. In contrast, the 5th - 8th grade students tend to excel on the STAR tests. This school is dedicated to teaching to the whole child, and complies with the testing of NCLB only because it is a PUBLIC SCHOOL.
Yes, some charter schools are private. The Edison schools are a corporation of privately run charter schools. And yes, the Bush government has corrupted the law and found ways to give public funds to select private schools. And to his brother Neil's company, Ignite! Learning. But that is a function of unethical neo-con corruption, not a function of charter schools. I'd appreciate if the critics would withhold their criticism of charter schools until they find out more of the facts.
I have founded one charter school, and helped build up another. When my son was approaching middle school in Vallejo, I was working as a substitute teacher. I saw a hostile social environment in Vallejo middle schools where kids divided up into racial and ethnic factions and assaulted each other verbally and physically. I didn't want my son in that kind of environment, and I couldn't afford a private school, nor was there a private school that I would choose to send my son.
I got together with a dozen other 4th and 5th grade parents and we designed a middle school. We wrote a charter and was chartered by Vallejo City Unified School District. Everything was about families. The families volunteered over the summer and remodeled a church into a school. Parent volunteers ran everything. They hired the teachers, hired the administrators, worked in the front office, worked as playground monitors, tutored students, wrote grants, and worked in the after-school program. It was the greatest grass-roots demonstration of democracy that I have ever participated in.
As a founder of the school, and Secretary of the Board of Directors, I found that the school was not going the way I had hoped. There was no PE program, no gardening program, and I couldn't get the teachers to cooperate with recycling. Although there were none of the racial and ethnic conflicts seen in the public middle schools, it was too academic, not holistic, and not enough hand-on time for my tastes. I resigned my position on the Board and we proceeded to home school our kids for the next 2 years.
There is no need to criticize this charter school for Neil Bush's COWs, nor stealing public funds for private education, or Milton Friedman's economic theories. I was democratically outvoted on the Board over issues of PE and recycling, and so I resigned. The school, like any other public school, had to accept any child that came to enroll. This was not an exclusive private school. Therefore, there were the full spectrum of below level students, outstanding students, involved parents, slacker parents, and behavioral issues like any other public school.
The teacher's union was totally against it because the charter school teachers were given the option to be unionized by the CTU, another union, or no union. The Board provided a competitive package of benefits for the teachers, and a couple of teachers served on the Board. The teachers voted not to join the CTU. I really don't think this school deserves the unfounded attacks I hear from critics about charter schools in general.
I have become involved in a charter school here in my current home town. I helped write the recent re-charter proposal, and serve as the school nurse there. The local public school district is hostile toward the school yet accepted the re-charter proposal. As a public school, it must comply with the testing required by No Child Left Behind, but follows a curriculum based on the theories of Rudolph Steiner. These children are taught social skills, fine motor skills, cooperative team work, nutrition, and conflict resolution skills from the get-go. They don't focus on academics until 3rd grade. Therefore, the 1st and 2nd grade students tend to do poorly on the STAR tests. In contrast, the 5th - 8th grade students tend to excel on the STAR tests. This school is dedicated to teaching to the whole child, and complies with the testing of NCLB only because it is a PUBLIC SCHOOL.
Yes, some charter schools are private. The Edison schools are a corporation of privately run charter schools. And yes, the Bush government has corrupted the law and found ways to give public funds to select private schools. And to his brother Neil's company, Ignite! Learning. But that is a function of unethical neo-con corruption, not a function of charter schools. I'd appreciate if the critics would withhold their criticism of charter schools until they find out more of the facts.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Another big step toward fascism
Why all the data mining? The NSA wiretapping, expansion of FISA, etc.
Wasn’t it through data mining that Hitler efficiently located Jews and exterminated them?
IBM provided census machines to the Third Reich, which they used to mine census data for Jewish heritage. It was the financial boon to young data processing company IBM that initiated the age of data processing and made IBM one of the largest companies on Earth.
Now the Democratically controlled Congress has expanded the FISA Laws to enable the government to collect data on anyone! All they need to do is say that a person is obstructing the policy in Iraq or Afghanistan and that gives them license to not only invade all our private communications but also freeze our assets. That includes Congressman John Conyers, the Quakers, Robert Kennedy Jr., Randi Rhodes, you and me. I also hear that they can track your individual location through your cell phone or GPS device. How dare the phone company cooperate with the spying agencies by freely giving them our location! But now all the illegal invasion of our privacy is sanctioned by law thanks to our spineless members of Congress.
When Congressional investigations push the Executive Branch into a corner and the Blackwater troops are let loose, will they march into your town?
Wasn’t it through data mining that Hitler efficiently located Jews and exterminated them?
IBM provided census machines to the Third Reich, which they used to mine census data for Jewish heritage. It was the financial boon to young data processing company IBM that initiated the age of data processing and made IBM one of the largest companies on Earth.
Now the Democratically controlled Congress has expanded the FISA Laws to enable the government to collect data on anyone! All they need to do is say that a person is obstructing the policy in Iraq or Afghanistan and that gives them license to not only invade all our private communications but also freeze our assets. That includes Congressman John Conyers, the Quakers, Robert Kennedy Jr., Randi Rhodes, you and me. I also hear that they can track your individual location through your cell phone or GPS device. How dare the phone company cooperate with the spying agencies by freely giving them our location! But now all the illegal invasion of our privacy is sanctioned by law thanks to our spineless members of Congress.
When Congressional investigations push the Executive Branch into a corner and the Blackwater troops are let loose, will they march into your town?
Saturday, July 21, 2007
A Message on Iraq to President Bush
As the President of a Democracy and defender of the Constitution, it is your role to carry out the will of the people. If you were the CEO of a large corporation, you would have to answer to your Board. In the case of the United States, your Board is Congress. They legislate and you carry out the legislation.
It is anti-American and contrary to the Constitution that you enforce legislation that favors big industry at the people’s expense, and derail legislation that benefits the people at the expense of big business.
You waged preemptive war on a sovereign nation, Iraq, which had nothing to do with avenging the 9/11 attacks. You are prolonging a bloody occupation of a sovereign nation, which is totally unConstitutional. You have enriched your war-profiteering cronies at the expense of thousands of American lives, countless Iraqi civilian deaths, millions of Iraqi refugees, and the unborn Iraqi generations that will be contaminated with the radioactive munitions that were deployed by the USA. Yet, the 9/11 attackers were mostly Saudi and a few Pakistani, both nations count among our best allies in the region.
Vengeance belongs to the Lord. You are not the Lord. Civilized nations negotiate using diplomacy. The military should be our last resort only for defense.
You discarded diplomacy in 2003 and declared preemptive war. You deceived the American People with a premeditated strategy to use fear to justify unConstitutional acts. You have twisted your priorities and sabotaged America to the point of its self-destruction. You depleted the Treasury, decreased revenues, expanded the budget and put our nation in debt for generations to come. Your business policies encouraged the exploitation offshore cheap labor, which terminated manufacturing jobs in the USA. The lack of funding toward education has caused a decline in the education levels, which lowers the quality of the American worker pool. There has been a sharp decline in University applications from abroad due to the declining quality of US education. Your derailing of the environmental protection laws has led to increased contamination and pollution of the common resources, food, water, and air. Your tax and economic policies have widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
You are a liability to America. I suggest you resign instantly!
It is anti-American and contrary to the Constitution that you enforce legislation that favors big industry at the people’s expense, and derail legislation that benefits the people at the expense of big business.
You waged preemptive war on a sovereign nation, Iraq, which had nothing to do with avenging the 9/11 attacks. You are prolonging a bloody occupation of a sovereign nation, which is totally unConstitutional. You have enriched your war-profiteering cronies at the expense of thousands of American lives, countless Iraqi civilian deaths, millions of Iraqi refugees, and the unborn Iraqi generations that will be contaminated with the radioactive munitions that were deployed by the USA. Yet, the 9/11 attackers were mostly Saudi and a few Pakistani, both nations count among our best allies in the region.
Vengeance belongs to the Lord. You are not the Lord. Civilized nations negotiate using diplomacy. The military should be our last resort only for defense.
You discarded diplomacy in 2003 and declared preemptive war. You deceived the American People with a premeditated strategy to use fear to justify unConstitutional acts. You have twisted your priorities and sabotaged America to the point of its self-destruction. You depleted the Treasury, decreased revenues, expanded the budget and put our nation in debt for generations to come. Your business policies encouraged the exploitation offshore cheap labor, which terminated manufacturing jobs in the USA. The lack of funding toward education has caused a decline in the education levels, which lowers the quality of the American worker pool. There has been a sharp decline in University applications from abroad due to the declining quality of US education. Your derailing of the environmental protection laws has led to increased contamination and pollution of the common resources, food, water, and air. Your tax and economic policies have widened the gap between the rich and the poor.
You are a liability to America. I suggest you resign instantly!
The 7 New Deadly Sins
You must check out this post of July 12, 2007 called "The 7 New Deadly Sins."
http://inmindseverywhere.blogspot.com/
http://inmindseverywhere.blogspot.com/
Friday, July 20, 2007
Germany in the 30’s
September 23, 2005
George Bush and the neo-cons remind me of my x-husband: they do "whatever the fuck they want whenever the fuck they want to.” Agreements, promises, treaties, marriage vows, etc. need not be honored. "Rules are made to be broken." And if you don't like it, we will fight. Either "he who yells loudest wins the fight." Or those with the biggest nuclear arsenal win the fight. Or those with the hardest punch win the fight.
I often think of the decent, ordinary Germans back in the 30's, trying to live a peaceful life while all around them they could see a political storm brewing. The youths were all indoctrinated early, but many adults could see what was happening. Any church pastor who didn't preach Nazi divine racism was incarcerated in a concentration camp. Anyone who aided a Jew could be killed. No wonder the whole population of the Third Reich was in unity!
And yes, Hitler made the extermination of Jews into a holy Christian act, just like the South Africans made apartheid into a Christian policy. Now, as during the Crusades, the Muslims, who do worship the biblical ONE G-D and circumcise their sons, have become the enemy of good Christians. Now good Christians believe it is their Christian duty to kill Muslims.
I see only one way out of the quagmire the USA has gotten into. At first I thought it would be an armed revolution. But the thought of peaceful, cooperative people taking up arms was to me an oxymoron. Anyway, the rebellion would be instantly crushed and many good people would lose their lives. But recently, I have understood a superior way. It is by the peaceful people within the USA making allies with peaceful people in other countries and applying pressure on the US Government from abroad, both diplomatically and in the courts. Our government has been seized in a bloodless coup and the US Constitution is about to be trashed once the illegal leader appoints an ultra right wing justice to the Supreme Court. The American Dream has ended and the fascists have taken over.
I suggest that Canada ally itself with Japan, Italy, and a few other European countries to pressure the USA to comply with both common decency and its agreements/treaties. (It didn't work with my husband. He chose to end the marriage rather than curb his arrogant, remorseless behavior.)
George Bush and the neo-cons remind me of my x-husband: they do "whatever the fuck they want whenever the fuck they want to.” Agreements, promises, treaties, marriage vows, etc. need not be honored. "Rules are made to be broken." And if you don't like it, we will fight. Either "he who yells loudest wins the fight." Or those with the biggest nuclear arsenal win the fight. Or those with the hardest punch win the fight.
I often think of the decent, ordinary Germans back in the 30's, trying to live a peaceful life while all around them they could see a political storm brewing. The youths were all indoctrinated early, but many adults could see what was happening. Any church pastor who didn't preach Nazi divine racism was incarcerated in a concentration camp. Anyone who aided a Jew could be killed. No wonder the whole population of the Third Reich was in unity!
And yes, Hitler made the extermination of Jews into a holy Christian act, just like the South Africans made apartheid into a Christian policy. Now, as during the Crusades, the Muslims, who do worship the biblical ONE G-D and circumcise their sons, have become the enemy of good Christians. Now good Christians believe it is their Christian duty to kill Muslims.
I see only one way out of the quagmire the USA has gotten into. At first I thought it would be an armed revolution. But the thought of peaceful, cooperative people taking up arms was to me an oxymoron. Anyway, the rebellion would be instantly crushed and many good people would lose their lives. But recently, I have understood a superior way. It is by the peaceful people within the USA making allies with peaceful people in other countries and applying pressure on the US Government from abroad, both diplomatically and in the courts. Our government has been seized in a bloodless coup and the US Constitution is about to be trashed once the illegal leader appoints an ultra right wing justice to the Supreme Court. The American Dream has ended and the fascists have taken over.
I suggest that Canada ally itself with Japan, Italy, and a few other European countries to pressure the USA to comply with both common decency and its agreements/treaties. (It didn't work with my husband. He chose to end the marriage rather than curb his arrogant, remorseless behavior.)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
A 2005 letter to Louise Slaughter
Representative Louise Slaughter asked my opinion. 9/16/05
Here is my reply:
Ever since the Supreme Court overruled the Florida Supreme
Court in a "State's Rights" issue by deciding NOT to count
all the votes, it has been apparent to me that the Project
for a New American Century was using George W. Bush to follow
the model of Adolph Hitler's rise to power.
Being a highly ethical person, and fiercly proud of the
American experiment in Democracy, I was plunged into despair
at the unconstitutional actions of the Supreme Court and the
lack of response from the opposition parties. I began a
vigorous letter-writing campaign at that time to try to wake
up our members of Congress who seemed either intimidated by
the neocon power, bought off, or otherwise asleep behind the
wheel.
By the 2002 elections, dirty politics became filthy. The
widespread use of electronic voting machines manufactured by
Republican partisans guaranteed Republican victories no
matter how anyone voted. Hope arose in the 2004 elections,
but rather than choosing a candidate for peace and social
justice, the Democrats decided to run John Kerry, a
candidate who was trying beat Bush using a right-wing
war-oriented platform.
When Kerry was defeated in 2004, once again, the party
providing the only hope of overturning the right-wing agenda,
silently walked away from the most corrupt election in
American history. Only the Green Party and the Congressional
Black Caucus had the courage to contest the corruption. Even
after the corruption was proven, states still plan to use
electronic voting machines manufactured by Republican
partisans. Something is VERY WRONG here!
Once Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast, I have been
writing letters like mad. I write to my elected
representatives in Congress, politically oriented people I
know, and Letters to the Editor. During the week after
Hurricane Katrina, I experienced so much anguish that I was
unable to sleep. When I did catch a nap, I dreamed of piles
of dead bodies in the street of my friends and neighbors.
Meanwhile, I saw my President leisurely playing golf and
playing guitar.
The amount of space in this text box is not ample enough to
describe what I see coming. Once John Roberts is confirmed
to the Supreme Court, I see a fascist takeover of our
government in a bloodless coup d'etat. I see fascists taking
over of our public utilities including drinking water, gas
and electricity. I see shanty towns of underpaid laborers
creating a new population in poverty as Halliburton reaps the
benefits of the $60 billion relief package and Blackwater
mercenaries shoot people without recourse to law. I see the
remuddleing of the Constitution and an end to the Bill of
Rights. We are already there in practice, but John Roberts
will assure that it becomes a reality in law.
Being known as a compassionate liberal, I was fired from my
job over a year ago on the grounds that I was dangerous.
They fired me in a moment's notice although they had it
planned out for many weeks. They prepared a dossier of every
minor incident that had ever occurred in my entire career
with the company and invented a few more. They refused to
allow me to rebut the charges, and gave me no other choice
than being fired. Having been fired, it is very difficult to
find another job. Since my unemployment insurance expired, I
have been living solely on my savings. Jobs are few and far
between, and I am not willing to risk the rest of my savings
on opening a small business in a declining economy.
As the toxic wastes from the neglected Superfund sites around
the Gulf Coast, the oil spills, and the human wastes, get
pumped into the Gulf of Mexico thereby contaminating all Gulf
seafood, the coasts of every state and country touching the
Gulf, and eventually contaminating the Atlantic Ocean, the
polluters go scott free not responsible for their toxic
wastes, and with their profit margins rising. Pumping the
toxic wastes out to sea exceeds the contamination illustrated
in the movie "Sahara." It is disaster compounded by disaster.
Almost all of it is manmade, from the global warming that
accelerated Katrina to a Category 5, to the Superfund sites,
to the incompleted levees, to the poor foundations on the oil
tanks, to the global addiction to petroleum products, to the
lack of an evacuation plan in areas that inevitably get
hurricanes, to the pumping of highly toxic wastes out to sea.
I have 2 sons. After spending $60,000 - $100,000 each on
their college educations, where will the jobs be? Where will
the clean water be? Where will the clean air be? What kind
of world will they be growing up into? With so few jobs
available, how does the Bush government expect our children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren to pay off the
exponentially rising debt?
Every day I wake up in despair. When the fascists come to my
town, the only ones I will be able to turn to will be my
local community. I am working tirelessly to develop and
cement together our local community. It is the sphere of
influence in which I have the most effect.
A 2005 letter to Representative John Conyers
6/12/05
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." --Theodore Roosevelt
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." --James Madison
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." ----President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952-----
Honorable Representative Conyers,
The following is a copy of the Letter-To-The-Editor that I sent out about a month ago to newspapers around the planet. I am sending it to you today because it is still very relevant to what is happening today in our government. Thank you for your efforts to make an issue of the new evidence of what has been obvious for the last 5 years.
5 1/2 years ago, when the Bush neo-cons took the White house in a bloodless coup d'etat, I could see how Bush was following the same formula designed by Adolph Hitler to rise to power.
At that time, I warned our members of Congress not to allow Bush to suspend the powers of Congress. The Hitler formula includes eventually removing all power from Congress in order to consolidate power unto himself. I began calling Bush our "New American Fuhrer."
I thought, for sure, when the Republicans sent themselves Anthrax in the mail and then had to close down the halls of Congress, that it was the end at that time of the House of Congress. But I was wrong. Once they found the source of Anthrax to be a US government lab, the Anthrax incident evaporated from the news and Congress was back in business. I breathed a sigh of relief!
Then, when the neo-cons arranged the attack on the World Trade Center, suppressing the accurate intelligence from the CIA operatives that tried to warn them, and commanding the defense jets to stand down and let the hijackers perform multiple attacks without any opposition, I expected Bush to declare military rule and suspend the powers of Congress at that time. It was equivalent to firebombing the Reichstags that Hitler used to declare war and make the Jews the scapegoats. I was right as far as Bush using the acts of 14 Saudis to declare war and make all Muslims the current scapegoats. But I was wrong again about the timing to suspend the powers of Congress.
Now, the neo-cons, who so conveniently used the filibuster to block many debates during times of Democratic majorities, were unable to attain a super majority in the Senate and have consequently begun to legislate away the powers of Congress by limiting or eliminating any discussion on new laws. Chip by chip, they are eroding any ability of the minority party, or any member of Congress who has a conscience or actually wants to serve the welfare of their electorate, from posing any opposition to their insane plans to bankrupt the American economy, totally reverse the New Deal, and rape the natural resources of the planet to enrich themselves and their corporate cronies.
The American government used to be a TRI-CAMERAL system. The designers of our government set up three houses as a way to keep checks and balances on the government. They well knew how greed for wealth and power could corrupt legislators to favor laws that benefit big business at the expense of the common people. The TRI-CAMERAL system has come to an end. There is only one small power left to block a totalitarian regime: the filibuster.
Once the neo-cons eliminate the filibuster, the Democrats might as well resign their Congressional posts. Why waste time going to the Senate or the House of Representatives when there is absolutely nothing they can do to change the neo-con steamroller?
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." --Theodore Roosevelt
"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." --James Madison
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes that you can do these things. Among them are a few Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid." ----President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1952-----
The 2003 coup of California
9/29/03 Comments about the recall election of Gray Davis in California
There is no conjecture in the fact that the Republicans, in cahoots with Enron, set up the bankruptcy of CA to take it over in a similar bloodless coup like it took over the White House. This plan has been unfolding since they began stacking the courts with right-wing judges since the Reagan era. You don't have to be psychic to understand that the Republicans, backed by the New American Century Project <www.newamericancentury.org>, has a plan all laid out as to how they are going to rape the planet to myopically enrich themselves and their handful of corporate cronies. They don't even think about what they are doing to their own grandchildren! And the ironic thing is that when the Earth becomes unlivable, it will be their great-grandchildren that be able afford passage on the rocket ship that colonizes the new virgin planet.
The thing that bothers me is how the American public and the Congress got mesmerized into letting it happen. Even now that Bush and his administration has been exposed as unethical liars and abusers, no one is moving to impeach him. It was OK to try to impeach a president for having adult consensual sex in a closet but it isn't OK to impeach a president that has transformed a national surplus into a $450 Billion debt, waged two wars against regimes originally fostered by the US but now vilified, sacrificed over 300 American lives while Bush himself was AWOL during his own military service, and has turned every regulatory agency into an agency of rape and destruction. Which is worth impeachment, consensual sex in a closet and a budget surplus or raping the planet and bankrupting the nation?
I've been giving money to an internet impeachment process but they don't seem to be able to make any progress. Why, when it is obvious that Bush and his administration are criminals, are we all so powerless to stop them? I have been more active than any other time in my life writing letters, signing petitions, donationg money, going to meetings, and praying, yet the fascist coup continues to expand unscathed. What happened to the "checks and balances" in the government?
Sometimes I think it is all in G-d's plan. But what's the point? Many Christians believe it is the time of the apocalypse. Maybe it is. Maybe that's why we are all powerless to stop the impending disaster. G-d's plan/apocalypse or not, I am driven to right the wrong. I'm not going to sit by idly letting it happen. As far as peaceful means, if Bush is re-elected in 2004, I expect to see an armed revolution. Unfortunately, I will probably be one of the first to die. I have small children, which will leave them motherless. I'm not sure my death in an armed insurrection will help anything at all, and certainly it won't help my children. But what can one do when the Congress is mesmerized, the Supreme Court is sympathetic to the fascists and the American public is opiated by TV drivel?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Fascist coup d’etat
9/11/05
The confirmation of John Roberts and another neoconservative on the Supreme Court will be the crown jewel in the plan of the neo-cons to fully seize control of America in a bloodless coup d’etat. At that time, all three houses of the US Government will be lock, stock, and barrel in the hands of the corporate fascists. We are already slave to their petrochemical industry, which is polluting our soil, air and water, making the Earth uninhabitable. And now that the latest energy bill opened the door to privatization of public utilities, our municipal water-works will soon be in the hands of a greedy, multinational profiteering corporation financed by Paul Wolfawitz and the World Bank. Once the fascists have control of all clean water in the world, we will see price gouging and ever increasing pollution. The logical end of this excessive exploitation for profit of the requisites of life while remorselessly polluting the only planet we have, will be that the great-grandchildren of the obscenely rich will buy passage upon a flotilla of rockets ships to colonize new planets while the rest of us perish in the toxic wastes. Some people say that the opposition party will retake a majority in the 2006 election; not if the voting machines are produced and controlled by biased partisans, again.
Are we powerless to do anything to stop the neo-con scourge? We need to reach out to our allies abroad for help. There are still those among them who see clearly and recognize that if the neo-cons aren’t stopped, that their country could be next….
The confirmation of John Roberts and another neoconservative on the Supreme Court will be the crown jewel in the plan of the neo-cons to fully seize control of America in a bloodless coup d’etat. At that time, all three houses of the US Government will be lock, stock, and barrel in the hands of the corporate fascists. We are already slave to their petrochemical industry, which is polluting our soil, air and water, making the Earth uninhabitable. And now that the latest energy bill opened the door to privatization of public utilities, our municipal water-works will soon be in the hands of a greedy, multinational profiteering corporation financed by Paul Wolfawitz and the World Bank. Once the fascists have control of all clean water in the world, we will see price gouging and ever increasing pollution. The logical end of this excessive exploitation for profit of the requisites of life while remorselessly polluting the only planet we have, will be that the great-grandchildren of the obscenely rich will buy passage upon a flotilla of rockets ships to colonize new planets while the rest of us perish in the toxic wastes. Some people say that the opposition party will retake a majority in the 2006 election; not if the voting machines are produced and controlled by biased partisans, again.
Are we powerless to do anything to stop the neo-con scourge? We need to reach out to our allies abroad for help. There are still those among them who see clearly and recognize that if the neo-cons aren’t stopped, that their country could be next….
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