Peace Revolution

[This is the second of two posts which make comparisons between The Reformation that came on the heels of the Gutenberg Press and The Internet Reformation taking place today. ]

Exploring Media / Educating Ourselves to Live vs. Amusing Ourselves to Death

This episode is hosted by James Corbett (www.CorbettReport.com) joined by James Evan Pilato (www.MediaMonarchy.com) and Richard Grove (www.TragedyandHope.com) to discuss Media: Who created it, What it is, When it began, Where its going, Why its important- and How we can shape it in our image. It's an overview of the history of media, its various uses and misuses, and how to make sense out of what you see, hear, and read everyday; leaving the audience with the tools necessary to cut through the nonsense and realize useful facts which can be communicated to others.

“The UsuryFree Resolution” -

  Honouring The 11th Anniversary!!

By Tom J. Kennedy aka Tommy UsuryFree Kennedy

The UsuryFree Resolution was officially launched by The UsuryFree Network on May 13, 2001, at 13:13:13 - hours/minutes/seconds. The UsuryFree Network had been founded in the latter years of the 20th Century, as vehicle (a) to expose the design flaw of usury as the evil and immoral function on our orthodox, economic system of usury-based, debt money and (b) to promote the usuryfree community currency movement as our last, best hope to save ourselves (the debtors) from future financial enslavement.

Details of the launch of The UsuryFree Resolution are posted here. Some of the links may be broken and some of the information posted may be outdated, BUT the background information and the purpose of The UsuryFree Resolution is clearly explained and on May 13, 2012 - we are 11 years closer to experiencing the reality of UsuryFree Living than we were on May 13, 2001.

On May 13, 2012, we are honouring the 11th Anniversary of The UsuryFree Resolution, but we are not yet celebrating any heroic victory for usuryfree living, as debtors everywhere are still suffering severe, economic pain. The good news is that the usuryfree, time currency movement is slowly gaining momentum as more and more debtors awaken to the lies, deceits and deceptions being foisted upon them by the controllers of our orthodox, economic system of usury-based, debt money.

Indeed, it is the exacting of usury (interest) by creditors (the banking corporations), on loans and/or mortgages to debtors (individuals, families,  small to medium-sized businesses, major, trans-national corporations, provinces, states, cities, towns, municipalities and even countries) that causes devastation, destruction, poverty, scarcity, lack and even death - both locally and globally.

The evil and immoral impact of the function of usury (interest) on our orthodox, economic system of debt money has been causing havoc for debtors everywhere, simply because debtors cannot possibly survive financially in a rigged game - where there is a forever shortage of usury-based, debt money.

For lack of knowledge, debtors are agreeing to sign impossible contracts (promissory notes) when they apply for loans and/or mortgages from financial institutions. Unknown to most debtors, the creditors (banking corporations) are only issuing into circulation, the principal of any loan or mortgage when any loan or mortgage is granted to the debtor. The usury (interest) portion of any loan and/or mortgage is never created and issued into circulation by the creditor (the banking corporation) simultaneously with the principal portion of the loan or mortgage. 

Therefore, there is by design an ever-present shortage of money in this rigged game of financial chairs, whereby adult debtors are the willing players - who apparently have forgotten about the game of musical chairs which they played as children, whereby one child was knocked out of the game when the music stopped because there were less chairs than children. 

Applying that analogy to the adult debtors game of financial chairs and one realizes that, in fact, the creditor (the banking corporation) is risking absolutely nothing while the debtor is risking his/her asset by virtue of his/her signature on the promissory note. The result is obvious - bankruptcies, foreclosures, poverty, scarcity, lack and even death - are evident everywhere on planet earth. 

On my recent visit to the Philippines, it became evident to me that while in Canada, our social system makes a gallant effort to hide the visual effects of usury (interest), in the Philippines, the evidence of poverty, scarcity and lack is forever in your face as you travel in either urban or rural areas. This article titled "The Manifestation of Real Crisis and Its Deadly Effects To All," authored by Eric V. Encina, a native Filipino is compulsory reading for anyone who wants to understand the severity of the economic crisis in the Philippines.

It is unfortunate, that debtors, for lack of knowledge, continue to sign impossible contracts (promissory notes) drawn up by creditors (banking corporations) - who with the support of a corrupted Justice (JUST-US) system constantly swindle and steal real property and wealth from debtors who for any multitude of reasons, are unable to make the monthly payments for usury (interest) and principal on their respective loans and/or mortgages.

In English, the word for a house loan is mortgage. The French translation of mort-gage is death-gamble. The usual French word for a mortgage is “une hypothèque” - because the real meaning of the word “mortgage” is too obvious and the astute, French debtors would ask too many questions and question the answers.

It is true, that debtors everywhere, who are seeking house loans (mortgages) are being cajoled and coerced to sign contracts (promissory notes) prepared and presented by the creditors (banking corporations). For the most part, these ill-informed debtors are  actually gambling that they will successfully manipulate their local, economic marketplace, so that they will earn sufficient money to be able to repay both the principal and the usury (interest) portion of their house loan (mortgage). 

Indeed, judging by history, those debtors who hustle a little more than other debtors and given a bit of simple good luck, they may be able to pay back both the principal and the usury (interest) portion of their mortgage. Other debtors who learn to lie a little bit, cheat a little bit, and/or steal a little bit from the system, and maybe learn to be just a little bit greedy - just to survive financially, may come up with enough dollars to repay both the principal and the usury (interest) portion of their mortgage. But guaranteed, not all debtors will be able to repay both the principal and usury (interest) portion of their mortgages - simply because by design, there is a shortage of dollars in the economic system of debt money. The evidence of the shortfall of money is all around us - both locally and globally.

Most debtors in this world are what you might describe as “usury-burnt.” In almost every country on planet earth, you will find hordes of disgruntled, usury-burnt debtors who are pested and plagued by the ultimate effects of the function of usury (interest) on our local and global debt money systems - which are directly and/or indirectly controlled by the killer machine of usury (interest).

I repeat, debtors everywhere are uneducated and unaware that they are being deceived as they are cajoled and coerced to sign impossible contracts with creditors (banking corporations) when they seek loans and/or mortgages. Ask any debtor this simple question: “Where do you think the creditor (the banking corporation) got the money to lend you for the loan or mortgage?” The most likely answer will be: “The creditor (the banking corporation) got the money for my loan or mortgage from “depositors’ funds.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

For clarity and a better understanding about modern money creation, John “The Engineer” Turmel, originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada offers two essential lessons of required study by debtors everywhere:

Lesson 1: LETS Banking Systems Engineering Math Banking System Blueprint

http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel/bankmath.htm

Lesson 2: The Big Lie Of Economics: Inflationgate: 

http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel/biglie.htm

As I mentioned earlier, you see the devastating effects and general destruction of usury (interest) everywhere, BUT it is much more obvious in the countries of the so-defined “third world.” The whole society of planet earth stinks and rots because of the immoral and evil effects of the design flaw of usury (interest) on our faltering and failing, orthodox, economic system of debt money.

As we enter our 12 year for The UsuryFree Resolution, let’s learn to create and spend our own usuryfree time currencies in our respective, local communities. Let’s learn from and follow the examples of Tamworth Hours (a project in Tamworth, Ontario, Canada, temporarily shelved) and Ithaca Hours, (a proven model in Ithaca, New York, U.S.A., that has been functioning since 1991 - that’s 21 years of success) and Mountain Hours (a more recent project in Summit County, Colorado, U.S.A.,launched earlier in 2012). Indeed, there are other successful model of usuryfree time tokens that I am not aware of. Readers are invited to share links to other working models of usuryfree time tokens in the comments section below this article.

BTW - there are various samples of usuryfree community currency posted at this link.

By the time we reach our 13th year for The UsuryFree Resolution, let’s aim to have multiple thousands of usuryfree, time token, economic systems fully functioning and enhancing the “shop local” movement. Let’s do it NOW!

When we have multiple thousands of local communities, scattered all around planet earth whereby local consumers are negotiating trades/exchanges with local entrepreneurs, while acquiring the truth about modern money creation, we will create that shift in consciousness. Mathematicians have explained that when 3% of the population, grasp and move ahead with an idea, the other 97% will soon follow. 

The knowledge and resources of how we-the-people can create and spend our own usuryfree, time tokens are readily available from experienced time-traders who have proven that the time-trading model is the optimal model to adopt - both locally and globally - simply because one hour of time (labour) have a value of 60 minutes on every continent.

So, instead of continuing to rely of their (the banking corporations’) money and paying them a fee - usury (interest), let’s learn to create and spend our own time tokens for FREE!

Astute debtors will no longer be subservient to creditors (the banking corporations) - that have been relying on lies, deceits and deceptions to trick the debtors into signing impossible contracts whereby the usury (interest) portion of loans and/or mortgages is never created and issued into circulation simultaneously, when the principal portion of the loan and/or mortgage is created and issued into circulation. 

Re-educated debtors everywhere, will unite when empowered and our ultimate reslove will be The UsuryFree Resolution - without the Revolution!! We simply resolve to promote and foster proven, economic models of usuryfree living, thereby allowing the broken model of usury-based, debt money to eventually collapse and disappear. The end result will be that usury (interest) will be abolished forever, and there will be peace, prosperity and abundance for every individual - anywhere on planet earth.

And we will forgive the former usurers. We will offer them amnesty, anonymity and a free credit line in out new economic model of usuryfree time tokens, therefore there will be no acts of revenge, nor will there be any bloodshed in a revolution for monetary reform. It will simply happen as the shift in consciousness evolves from “Life With Usury” to Life Without Usury.”

As the UsuryFree Resolution evolves to completion, two ways to mitigate the negative impacts of the design flaw of usury is to seek ways to immediately evade usury (interest) and avoid taxes. Yes, it is still legal to evade usury (interest) and it is still legal to avoid taxes, though it is illegal to evade taxes. It is important to avoid taxes simply because the majority of tax dollars extracted from one’s daily/weekly/monthly/yearly earnings goes directly to pay debt service for the various levels of government. Debt service is correctly defined as usury (interest).

If as a society, we-the-debtors evaded usury (interest) to the best of our ability and avoided taxes by implementing creative strategies, the entire world would lighten up and we could experience “peace and plenty by 2020.” Way back in the mid-20th Century, Buckminster Fuller predicted we could achieve that goal, so let’s do it NOW!

An example of a creative strategy to avoid taxes would be for every employee to launch a part-time, home based enterprise and thereby as an active entrepreneur s/he qualifies to deduct legitimate business expenses, not commonly available to employees. The Tax Benefits of an SDI Enterprise explains many ways that part-time, SDI entrepreneurs can legally avoid taxes - especially during the early years on any business launch. The additional benefit for becoming a part-time entrepreneur is that one would have access to products and/or services at wholesale prices. 


These products and/or services could then be listed on our participating databases of active time-traders who are negotiating trades/exchanges using a combination of usury-based, debt money and usuryfree time tokens during these transitory times. I recommend that debtors everywhere learn about the SDI (Self Directed Income) Industry - as the optimal sales and marketing industry of this 21st Century. There is an abundance of information about the SDI Industry at the blog titled - The SDI Eye Opener. This article titled: “Analysis, Projections, Observations & Proposals For The SDI Industry”  is perhaps the best starting point to learn about the SDI industry.

After becoming familiar with the SDI Industry, then make your choice on which company’s products you would like to add to your Portfolio for the purpose of bartering/trading with other participating time-traders in your local community.

Furthermore, as active time-traders we can divert any earnings of usury-based, debt money that is now saved on a monthly basis to (a) paying off any outstanding debts - for it is the growth of outstanding debt that causes the greatest economic pain and/or (b) donating to groups or charitable organizations that will use them to promote and foster the growth and development of the usuryfree time token movement in our respective local communities.

The restoration of usury-burnt debtors will help to re-vitalize local economies first and global economies later. Let’s make a gallant effort to re-educate our fellow-debtors who are evidently usury-burnt. In turn, when re-educated, they will first empower themselves and then they will reach out and empower others in their respective circles of influence.

We, the active usuryfree creatives have lots to do before the 12th Anniversary of The UsuryFree Resolution.


NOTE: Donations/gifts of (a) usury-based, debt money and/or (b) any usuryfree community currency gratefully accepted to help advance the mission to achieve usuryfree living for everyone on planet earth. 

The Paypal account for The UsuryFree network is: tom@cyberclass.net

Otherwise donations can be mailed to: 

The UsuryFree Network, P. O. Box 9333, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada  K1G 3V1

Read more  of The UsuryFree Eye Opener

Internet Reformation

 [This is the first of two posts which make comparisons between The Reformation that came on the heels of the Gutenberg Press and The Internet Reformation taking place today. ]

The Internet Reformation is the culmination of the power and glory of Western civil society and free-market thinking. It is the apogee of all that is best in a sweep of history that began with the ancient Greeks and has culminated in the hearts and minds of millions of young men and women who industriously add to its impact every day via additional code, non-mainstream news or fundamental scientific commentary.

It is NOT an "Internet Revolution." The Internet Revolution is a standard "pat" phrase of the powers-that-be about the so-called empowering effects of technology. The Internet Reformation is a much more deeply disruptive concept. It is truly a revolutionary one, affecting every aspect of human society and human relationships with modern elites. It is focused around the insights generated by the Internet itself.

This concept is based on what happened during the era of the Gutenberg press. Almost from the beginning, the Gutenberg press was a revolutionary technology. As soon as people used the press to print Bibles, readers began to discover that the Holy Word differed considerably from what they'd been taught by the Catholic Church.

Until then, Bibles had been fairly rare. They were printed in Latin or Greek, and copied down by hand with elaborate engravings. The Catholic Church and its important functionaries and bureaucrats possessed Bibles. Priests performed Mass with their back to the congregation. The ceremony was a highly Romanized one, as the West had come to conceive of Rome within its most corrupt and centralizing phase, and highly controlled.

But printing Bibles in moveable type changed the power relationship entirely. Now, anyone could own a Bible and they were easily reproduced and increasingly inexpensive. Almost immediately, then Bibles began to be translated into "vulgate" and eventually the King James Version (English) would become a dominant variant. But in the meantime, the damage was done. First came the Renaissance and then the Reformation and finally the Age of Enlightenment, three powerful rolling waves of free-thinking that transformed the face of human society, first in the West and then around the world.

The changes ushered in by the Gutenberg press were fundamental. The Renaissance began the reconfiguration by allowing for the rediscovery of the scientific orientation of Greece and Rome. This set in motion a series of events that has not yet ceased to reverberate.

The fundamental motivating force of the Renaissance was to emphasize natural observation, and this can be seen in the obsession with great artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci who returned to the original source of knowledge whenever possible. This led both artists to dissect corpses rather than to rely on the standard anatomy books of the day, such as they were. Da Vinci's great scientific speculations were based on first-hand observation not sterile theory argued in debating halls.

The Reformation launched a second wave of attacks on the West's business as usual. But it actually involved the same animation. The Gutenberg press allowed readers to examine source material by making the sources available. This was the revolutionary act. The Renaissance emphasized conclusions derived from that fundamental inspiration. The Reformation in its way emphasized sources too. It sought, in its most radical incarnations, to strip out the interpretative layer of Church doctrine by emphasizing the Word of the Bible itself.

Martin Luther began this process in 1517 by publishing his Ninety-Five Theses attacking much of the ecclesiastical structure of Catholic Church. Interestingly, the Reformation's initial phase is seen as ending in 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia that put a stop to the religious wars by emphasizing the primacy of the nation state. The Treaty of Westphalia was overturned by the Security Council of the United Nations in 2005, when that body adopted R2P, which mandates that the "West" in aggregate interfere with a nation's sovereignty to "protect" citizens. The powers-that-be have therefore launched a counterattack on national sovereignty even as the Internet Reformation begins to gather power and undermines business as usual.

The Reformation was also known as the Protestant Reformation because despite its formal end-date of 1648, its ripples continue to spread and ultimately gave rise to the establishment of the New World, and the American and French Revolutions. Each wave of the so-called Protestant Revolt further deconstructed the formalized church and suggested doctrine that brought man closer in touch with God.

This process eventually led to the most radical sects such as the Quakers and "Shakers" that did away with Church trappings entirely and simply allowed the individual worshipper to communicate with God as he or she saw fit. The Quakers sometimes used to shed their clothes and worship nakedly in a penultimate effort to remove barriers to the spiritual conversation.

All across the world, the modern Internet Reformation is beginning to reshape the way people relate to power in the modern age. While it is not so obvious as during the era of the Gutenberg press, there is formal doctrine accepted by Western societies that is beginning to shatter. That formal doctrine may be termed regulatory democracy and it has been leavened with numerous assumptions that on closer inspection turn out not to be true. It is the Internet itself that allows for information to spread that undermines the various precepts of regulatory democracy.

Every social order needs a formal elite to organize and animate it. In the high Middle Ages, the hierarchy consisted of the Catholic Church leaders along with Royal families throughout Europe, as well as powerful merchants and bankers. In the modern era, the hierarchy is much less obvious and consists, from available evidence of the great banking, modern banking families led by the Rothschilds based in the City of London along with attendant Zionist influences and abetted by corporate interests and the so-called Dark Nobility and Dark Church.

It is this hierarchy that promulgates regulatory democracy and its various dominant social themes – the fear-based promotions that the Western power elite uses to control the conversation and to further centralize power and authority worldwide. Just as the Catholic Church leaders dreamed of one Pax Romana around the world, so does today's power elite dream of one world order driven by regulatory democracy.

The fear-based themes are many and include many scarcity memes among them. The world is commonly held to be running out of food, water, oil and energy. It is in imminent danger of plagues, unusual weather and asteroid strikes. In these and many other instances, the solutions that are heralded are focused directly on additional governmental agencies, preferably global ones. An entire global infrastructure is gradually being erected that includes an international court, a global legislature (UN), a global military (NATO) and various international agencies to adjudicate trade disputes and the like.

At the center of the new global order is central bank itself, printing money-from-nothing, perpetually devastating the economies of nation states through monetary (and price inflation) and through its ruin, creating the necessity for a global currency and a single global central bank, presumably the IMF. Within this latter meme, gold and silver are held to be barbaric elements, not needed anymore in a fiat money world.

In fact, what the Internet is increasingly showing us is a way to return to basic freedoms. The Internet in its various incarnations has already distributed information showing many of the precepts of regulatory democracy to be false. There is likely plenty of oil and gas around the world and it may be abiotic and reoccurring as well; its availability has simply been manipulated by the powers that be. Alternative sources of energy have likely been suppressed, but over the next decades may become available. Global warming has been shown to be another elite promotion and does not exist as popularly promulgated. Food and water, also supposedly in short supply, are being manipulated by the power elite within its highly controlled global markets. The War on Terror that the elites have begun is an evident and obvious falsity and the Internet reveals this in various ways every day.

Like the radical information that spawned from the Gutenberg press, the impact of the information available to counteract elite modern memes is not immediately visible but over time has a devastating effect. Human beings do have a kind of Hive Mind (via intimate communications between families and friends and various cultural exchanges) and once additional information is made available, that Mind incorporates it.

There are downsides. The power elite profits from the centralizing effects of technology. Spymasters and dictators profit from aspects of technology as they always have. And yet the positive elements are likely unstoppable as well. There is little possibility at this point of the Internet being shut down as simplistic formulations might have it. Instead, as with the Reformation itself, the Internet Reformation will continue to advance, undermining the memes of the powers-that-be and even creating, perhaps, a critical mass of decentralizing influences.
It is decentralization that the modern power elite fears most because decentralized spheres of influence are impossible to control. Unfortunately the Renaissance and Reformation were all about the decentralization of control built on the availability of real knowledge and a return to primary sources that undermined the "experts" of church and state.

The same process is occurring today. It may not be that any one Martin Luther emerges to create a formal Reformation but the larger evolution continues. (There is apparently some evidence that Luther himself was sponsored by a Venetian banking faction of the day to split the power of the church.) Essentially, however the power of the information being unleashed is what will carry the day in numerous manifestations. It is impossible for power elite memes to stand against the availability of information now presented online. It is beyond control, beyond collecting, beyond dampening.

Tomorrow's knowledge base may look much different than today's – and in fundamental ways. Ironically, the 20th century so celebrated by the centralizers must at least to some degree give way to a decentralized Renaissance in the 21st. Yes, the powers-that-be will fight back as they already are via wars and social chaos, just as the Catholic Church responded with its Counter-Reformation; but eventually they may be forced to take a step back as they have before.
Ironically, the proverbial dye was likely cast when America's DARPA dark-technologists invented the Internet but did not foresee, apparently, the evolution of the personal computer that would utilize it to allow average individuals to gain access to all the knowledge of the world. This may stand as one of the great miscalculations of the modern elite. It helped create a second wave of modern information technology that has already begun to undo a myriad of world-centralizing plans.

A new city (predicted in ancient Indian prophecies) has been discovered underwater off the coast of India – though the news has been much suppressed. Humankind is thousands of years older than the Western powers-that-be maintain. The current apogee of human achievement may not be the current one and certainly not the best-of-all-possible worlds. As the underlying certainties crumble, so do the building blocks of the modern elite themes – and the certainty of ongoing centralization.

In fact, the European Union is failing, various serial wars of conquest are not going well, the fear-based memes of the elite are continually being debunked by an Internet that adds more to humankind's real knowledge base every day. It will take decades if not centuries to control the damage that has already been done (from an elite standpoint), and what has been done cannot be undone.

There is a new Reformation taking place throughout the world, led by electronic communication technology. It is not being commented on by the nightly news, nor written about in the mainstream media. But if you understand the trends and look closely, you can see it playing out every day in every part of human culture. It is already convulsing the world. Out of these labor pains a new and freer society is being born.

A new enlightenment is taking place – a fundamental reforming of societies' knowledge base. It is far more important and fundamental than a "technology revolution." It is rewriting the basic relationship that human beings have with their knowledge base and with its impact on their lives. The centralizing architecture erected by the Anglo-American elites is even now being undermined. The darkness is lifting as it lifted long ago during the Renaissance. An Internet Reformation is coming. It will have numerous unpredictable ramifications. In fact, its dawn is already here.  READ MORE. . .

WHO's REALLY TO BLAME?

You see, Doctor,

God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her
and destiny didn't feed her to those dogs.

If God saw what any of us did that night, He didn't
seem to mind. From then on, I knew. . . .

God doesn't make the world this way.

We do.   [SELAH]

GARDENS OF DEMOCRACY

These two young men -- co-authors of two new books -- rank right behind E.F. Schumacher with their thoughts and ideas in critique of what is wrong today. And whether you are an American or not, ideas of this caliber are always valuable and always in vogue.

Eric Liu is an author, educator, and civic entrepreneur. Eric co-authored The True Patriot with Nick Hanauer, and together the two have created the True Patriot Network to advance the book's ideals of progressive patriotism.  His first book, The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, was a New York Times Notable Book featured in the PBS documentary “Matters of Race." He is also the author of Guiding Lights: How to Mentor – and Find Life’s Purpose, the Official Book of National Mentoring Month, and is founder of the Guiding Lights Network, an organization dedicated to promoting great citizenship. His book Imagination First, co-authored with Scott Noppe-Brandon of the Lincoln Center Institute, explores ways to unlock imagination in education, politics, business and the arts. Eric and Nick Hanauer have also co-authored the newly released book The Gardens of Democracy.

Eric served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President's deputy domestic policy adviser. After the White House, he was an executive at the digital media company RealNetworks. In 2002 he was named one of the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders of Tomorrow. He is a columnist for TIME.com 

@ericpliu 



Nick Hanauer is a Seattle-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist. His business accomplishments include founding aQuantive, Inc. which was purchased by Microsoft in 2007 (the largest acquisition in Microsoft history), early investment and board advisement to amazon.com, founding gear.com, and key management roles and investments in companies too numerous to list. Nick is actively involved in the Seattle community and Washington State's public education system. He co-founded the League of Education Voters and serves on the boards of the Cascade Land Conservancy, The University of Arizona's Mount Lemmon Science Center and the Biosphere2 climate research project. Nick is co-author of The True Patriot, an acclaimed work that presents a forward-looking, progressive definition of American patriotism. In 2007 he and co-author Eric Liu founded The True Patriot Network to advance the book's ideals. Nick and Eric Liu have also co-authored the recently released book The Gardens of Democracy.

@NickHanauer 

 "Whatever your party, faction, or faith, we hope you will agree that we owe our country and the next generation a more purposeful politics." 

Indeed, I encourage you to give respectful attention to their ideas. Where you think you disagree, be willing to contact them personally and respectfully ask questions, seek understanding, and share your opinions.

Eric and Nick express an interest in moving away from the Hegelian dialectic that offers us little to no real options: this or that, right or left, Republican or Democrat, big government or no government.

They, like so many today who are awake, realize that solutions are never limited to only "this" or "that". How many people are living on this planet? That is how many ways exist to solve any problem. Granted, some ideas will always be better than others, but options seldom are limited to two, a manufactured paradigm which needs to be replaced.

 

***

Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer want to change the way Americans think about politics, and they want to do this with a new metaphor to describe how governance should work. This is the premise behind their new book, The Gardens of Democracy: that Americans politics can be greatly improved if we can agree that the country is like a garden.

Real gardens need to be tended to and cared for, but they are also alive and must be left alone to actually grow. Liu and Hanauer see a similar way to govern America: tend to the big objectives (for example, creating a green energy industry) and make sure the garden has no weeds, but don't try to micromanage each individual.

Liu and Hanauer write their book from the left-hand side of politics but are the arguments in this book applicable to both sides of the spectrum? Or will the right find this view completely objectionable? While the book makes its argument from a strong liberal and progressive background, this does not mean conservatives and the center-right have no claim to these ideas.

The metaphor that America is like a garden is not a gimmick, but powerful refutation of neoclassical economics. If you think that human beings are atomized individuals who only make rational decisions in a marketplace with the goal of maximizing their utility, Liu and Hanauer will not only disagree, they will argue that science has proven that view to be wrong.

Gardens of Democracy is like a Cliff Notes for the major advancements in social science that have occurred in the modern era. Liu and Hanauer are interested in presenting readers with summaries of major research that has occurred to justify their view that humans are much more social and co-dependent then we previously assumed.

The book provides quick overviews of where the research has lead us. (David Brooks The Social Animal is summed up as about how "Behavior is contagious, often unconsciously and unpredictably so." The field of behavioral science is described as "pulling us back to common sense and reminding us that people are often irrational to at least a-rational and emotional.") These summaries are short but the book does provides a reading list to set you up for further independent research.

So the question for the American right is, do you buy the premise and then argue over the implementation, or do you refute the premise entirely?  ****excerpt from The Daily Beast

Aristotle wrote, "It is the mark of an educated mind to entertain a thought without accepting it." Truly, this is not as easy as one might think, especially given the beliefs, biases and prejudices so many of us are attached to. But, it is possible to consider new ideas if we can force ourselves to get past that first twitch of discomfort at being confronted by an idea that seems to vulgarly offend. Out of respect, force yourself to sit in contemplation of that you would despise.

It is not necessary to accept and believe everything either of them says or suggests, nor would it even be reasonable, for no one person is ever completely accurate in their thinking. However, surely, if only because we share humanity in common, there must be one idea that would resonate with your own thinking. May I suggest you begin there?

There is so much you can know about these two young men before you even get their books in your hands:

The True Patriot Network

The True Patriot - Listen to the book or read the book online.

Essay: The "More What, Less How" Government

"Charlie Rose actually broke from his standard fare which is generally populated by the likes of David Brooks and Tom Friedman and their cohorts in the corporate media and had a conversation with authors Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer about their new book, The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government."

Interview by Kristen Cambell of National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC)

"American democracy is informed by the 18th century's most cutting–edge thinking on society, economics and government, but we've learned some things in the intervening 230 years. Now, Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer, the Seattle creators of the True Patriot Network and co–authors of "The Gardens Of Democracy," argue that some of those fundamental assumptions need updating. Instead of using a machine as the metaphor for understanding markets and government, they suggest viewing democracy as a garden: functioning best according to the tendencies of nature, but also requiring vision, tending and an understanding of connected ecosystems. They spoke about their book at Town Hall Seattle on December 8, 2011."  Speakers' Forum, KUOW-94.9

IRANIANS WE LOVE U

To the Iranian people
To all the fathers, mothers, children, brothers and sisters

For there to be a war between us, first we must be afraid of each other, we must hate.

I'm not afraid of you, I don't hate you.
I don t even know you. No Iranian ever did me no harm. I never even met an Iranian...Just one in Paris in a museum. Nice dude.

I see sometime here, on the TV, an Iranian. He is talking about war. I'm sure he does not represent all the people of Iran. If you see someone on your TV talking about bombing you ...be sure he does not represent all of us.

I'm not an official representative of my country. but I know the streets of my town, I talk with my neighbors, my family, my friends and in the name of all these people ...we love you. We mean you no harm. On the contrary, we want to meet, have some coffee and talk about sports.

To all those who feel the same, share this message and help it reach the Iranian people

join us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/israellovesiran

please donate and help us spread the message http://www.indiegogo.com/israeliran?a=499936

The Drums of War: Iran Edition

We Americans are not the best at history. Because of the spin of corporate-controlled media, we are not reminded of the consistent pattern of deception exhibited by our government when the ‘power behind the wheel’ wants a new conflict. Nor are we reminded of the tremendous profitability of war for the corporations who count on such conflicts to inflate their bottom line. It’s a disturbing and disgusting business.

Let’s review a bit. The United States has initiated over 50 wars and  conflicts since World War II, far more than any other nation and likely more than all other nations combined. Whether Vietnam, Panama, Kosovo/Serbia, or even the tiny island of Grenada, the U.S. government uses war to further the goals of empire [read enriching corporations] and to distract us from other, often more urgent, issues. And this at a phenomenal cost – in terms of money, ecology and most importantly human life.

Of course the more recent focus has been on the Middle-east, part of the U.S.plutocracy’s plan to dominate the arena of energy. Since that’s where the oil is, massive energy companies like Exxon, BP, Royal Shell, Total and Chevron have gamed the system to keep us enmeshed in Iraq, Afghanistan and now potentially Iran. In Iraq, these corporations have now secured new oil contracts after getting the boot by Saddam Hussien 30 year ago, thanks to the role our government played in this ongoing debacle.

Let’s not forget that, while we’re ‘officially’ troop-free in Iraq, there are still thousands of U.S. paid mercenaries in that foreign country, and that we left that country with estimates ranging from 200,000 to a million dead Iraqi citizens. From a human perspective, it’s unfathomable that we, as in the U.S. government, not only allowed but actually lead such actions. And let’s not forget all the lies and media manipulation that were part of the drumbeat to attack Iraq.

The story is similar in Afghanistan. Not as oil rich, Afghanistan has a wealth of minerals and more importantly is strategically located for pipelines to transport oil and natural gas. There are those who suggest that plans for attacking Afghanistan were laid well before 911 and the idea of removing Osama Bin Ladin, the presumed justification for an attack of that war-torn country.

And now, it’s apparently time for the Iran Edition of war. With Iran the dynamics are a little more complex due to the long-standing animosity between Iran and Israel, America’s favorite client state. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to enjoy tweaking the Israeli establishment, proclaiming that the Holocaust was fabricated. And yet the ever-over-reactive Israeli government now feels it has little choice but to ‘defend’ itself by attacking Iran. This even though Iran is still years away from a nuclear weapon, if that is even its intent. [Iran claims its nuclear ambitions are strictly energy-related.] And of course, Israel will not act without at least implicit support from the U.S.

So, what can we, the people do to prevent such nefarious behavior by our government? This is a challenge. The millions that protested globally back in the spring of 2003 did not prevent the U.S. from attacking Iraq. Even the hundreds of thousands of protesters that marched on Washington in September of the same year were almost completely ignored by politicians and corporate-owned media.

But there is hope. First, let’s recognize that the dynamics have changed. There was no Occupy Movement when we attacked Iraq. While the Occupy Movement is in a bit of disarray right now as it finds its grounding, I do not doubt that an attack on Iran would be a wildly cohesive event for Occupy. We Occupiers understand the sharp connection between war and profit.

Also, there are more voices than ever reminding us of the U.S. government’s predilection toward war. Peace groups are coalescing, building coalitions and gaining members and strength. The new lies about the ‘Iran Nuclear Threat’ [always there is the threat to justify the despicable behavior called war] are less believable after the lies of Iraq and Afghanistan.

And finally, there is little taste among the vast majority of Americans for another war. We’re broke and we’re wounded and we’re burnt out from these recent fiascoes, and it seems likely that those elected representatives that encourage and/or vote for war with Iran will pay a price come this November’s election.

I do not expect ‘wiser heads will prevail’ to be the sentiment in Washington. There are few wise heads left in that desert of integrity. And being in middle of this circus we call an election cycle, the rhetoric is even worse. But the politicians will see the writing on the wall if we make the effort to raise our voices condemning this idea of war on Iran. They are self-preservation minded.

Raising our voices. This is what we require in these uncertain times and stuck within this broken system. Today’s lesson? Democracy is not a spectator sport.

If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!

Jim Prues

Visit Authors Website →

TSA Out of Our Pants

 This video is here to demonstrate that the TSA’s insistence that the nude body scanner program is effective and necessary is nothing but a fraud, just like their claims that the program is safe (radiation what?) and non-invasive (nude pictures who?). The scanners are now effectively worthless, as anyone can beat them with virtually no effort. The TSA has been provided this video in advance of it being made public to give them an opportunity to turn off the scanners and revert to the metal detectors. I personally believe they now have no choice but to turn them off.

Please share this video with your family, friends, and most importantly, elected officials in federal government. Make sure they understand that your vote is contingent on them fixing the abuse that 200,000 passengers face from the TSA on a daily basis.

My legal battle against the TSA’s nude body scanner and pat-down molestation program continues in court, soon with a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. If you’d like to donate to this effort, send PayPal to: jon [at] fourtentech.com

Transcript of Video

I’m publishing this video because I want the world to know how much danger the American Transportation Security Administration is putting all us all in with their haste to deploy the expensive, invasive nude body scanner program. When the machines came out, we were told that the invasion on our privacy, doses of radiation, and trashing of our Constitution were necessary because the old metal detectors weren’t good enough. That “non-metallic explosives” were a threat, even though no one has boarded a plane in the US with any type of explosive in nearly 40 years. But while America was testing these devices, Rafi Sela, who ran security for Ben Gurion airport in Israel, which is known for being one of the most secure airports in the world, was quoted saying he could “overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to take down a Boeing 747,” and Ben Gurion therefore refused to buy scanners. The US ignored this warning, and Mr. Sela never publicly explained his statement. But it stuck with me.

 As a scientist, engineer, and frequent traveler, as well as the first person to sue the TSA when they rolled out the scanners as primary in Nov. 2010, I studied and learned about both kinds of scanners currently in use by the TSA. Here are several images produced by TSA nude body scanners. You’ll see that the search victim is drawn with light colors and placed on a black background in both images. In these samples, the individuals are concealing metallic objects that you can see as a black shape on their light figure. Again that’s light figure, black background, and BLACK threat items. Yes that’s right, if you have a metallic object on your side, it will be the same color as the background and therefore completely invisible to both visual and automated inspection.

It can’t possibly be that easy to beat the TSA’s billion dollar fleet of nude body scanners, right? The TSA can’t be that stupid, can they?

Unfortunately, they can, and they are. To put it to the test, I bought a sewing kit from the dollar store, broke out my 8th grade home ec skills, and sewed a pocket directly on the side of a shirt. Then I took a random metallic object, in this case a heavy metal carrying case that would easily alarm any of the “old” metal detectors, and walked through a backscatter x-ray at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. On video, of course. While I’m not about to win any videography awards for my hidden camera footage, you can watch as I walk through the security line with the metal object in my new side pocket. My camera gets placed on the conveyer belt and goes through its own x-ray, and when it comes out, I’m through, and the object never left my pocket.

Maybe a fluke? Ok, let’s try again at Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport through one of the TSA’s newest machines: a millimeter wave scanner with automated threat detection built-in. With the metallic object in my side pocket, I enter the security line, my device goes through its own x-ray, I pass through, and exit with the object without any complaints from the TSA.

While I carried the metal case empty, by one with mal-intent, it could easily have been filled with razor blades, explosives, or one of Charlie Sheen’s infamous 7 gram rocks of cocaine. With a bigger pocket, perhaps sewn on the inside of the shirt, even a firearm could get through. It’s important to note that any metal object of any size can use this technique. …and I don’t urge you to try to bring contraband through security, as the nude body scanners often have false positives: so while the metal on your side might get through, a button on your shirt or a sweaty armpit might “look suspicious” and earn you a pat down anyway.

Now, I’m sure the TSA will accuse me of aiding the terrorists by releasing this video, but it’s beyond belief that the terrorists haven’t already figured this out and are already plotting to use this against us. It’s also beyond belief that the TSA did not already know everything I just told you, and arrogantly decided to disregard our safety: anything to force Americans to give up our liberty to the federal government and our tax dollars to companies that are in bed with that government. The nude body scanner program is nothing but a giant fraud, which should come as no surprise after the Fast & Furious scandal that sent thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels and cost a Customs and Border Patrol agent his life. THIS is a disgrace. So let’s fix this problem — now — before the terrorists take this opportunity to hurt us: the TSA must immediately end the nude body scanner program, and return to the tried-and-true metal detectors that actually work, and work without invading our privacy, as well as implement better solutions for non-metallic explosives, such as bomb-sniffing dogs and trace detection machines.

The TSA is worse than ineffective: they are an epic fail placing us all in danger. Beyond the scanners, Demand of your legislators and presidential candidates that they get rid of this $8B a year waste known as the TSA and privatize airport security. Ask for their commitment to our rights in exchange for your vote. And no matter which party is in the White House or holds on to Capital Hill, the issue of ending TSA abuse is of interest to all Americans; it’s NOT a partisan issue. We must all stand together and demand an end to the organization that molests our families while placing us in danger by directly ignoring blatant security flaws.

Thank you.

Jon Corbett

The Anti-Empire Report

February 3rd, 2012

by William Blum

www.killinghope.org

The Lord High Almighty Pooh-Bah of threats. The Grand Ayatollah of nuclear menace.

As we all know only too well, the United States and Israel would hate to see Iran possessing nuclear weapons. Being "the only nuclear power in the Middle East" is a great card for Israel to have in its hand. But — in the real, non-propaganda world — is USrael actually fearful of an attack from a nuclear-armed Iran? In case you've forgotten ...

In 2007, in a closed discussion, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that in her opinion "Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel." She "also criticized the exaggerated use that [Israeli] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears." ¹

2009: "A senior Israeli official in Washington" asserted that "Iran would be unlikely to use its missiles in an attack [against Israel] because of the certainty of retaliation." ²

In 2010 the Sunday Times of London (January 10) reported that Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, war hero, pillar of the Israeli defense establishment, and former director-general of Israel's Atomic Energy Commission, "believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons."

Early last month, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a television audience: "Are they [Iran] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No, but we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability." ³

A week later we could read in the New York Times (January 15) that "three leading Israeli security experts — the Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad chief, Efraim Halevy, and a former military chief of staff, Dan Halutz — all recently declared that a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel."

Then, a few days afterward, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio (January 18), had this exchange:

Question: Is it Israel's judgment that Iran has not yet decided to turn its nuclear potential into weapons of mass destruction?

Barak: People ask whether Iran is determined to break out from the control [inspection] regime right now ... in an attempt to obtain nuclear weapons or an operable installation as quickly as possible. Apparently that is not the case.

Lastly, we have the US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, in a report to Congress: "We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons. ... There are "certain things [the Iranians] have not done" that would be necessary to build a warhead. ⁴

Admissions like the above — and there are others — are never put into headlines by the American mass media; indeed, only very lightly reported at all; and sometimes distorted — On the Public Broadcasting System (PBS News Hour, January 9), the non-commercial network much beloved by American liberals, the Panetta quote above was reported as: "But we know that they're trying to develop a nuclear capability, and that's what concerns us." Flagrantly omitted were the preceding words: "Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No ..." ⁵

One of Israel's leading military historians, Martin van Creveld, was interviewed by Playboy magazine in June 2007:

Playboy: Can the World live with a nuclear Iran?

 Van Creveld: The U.S. has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union and a nuclear China, so why not a nuclear Iran? I've researched how the U.S. opposed nuclear proliferation in the past, and each time a country was about to proliferate, the U.S. expressed its opposition in terms of why this other country was very dangerous and didn't deserve to have nuclear weapons. Americans believe they're the only people who deserve to have nuclear weapons, because they are good and democratic and they like Mother and apple pie and the flag. But Americans are the only ones who have used them. ... We are in no danger at all of having an Iranian nuclear weapon dropped on us. We cannot say so too openly, however, because we have a history of using any threat in order to get weapons ... thanks to the Iranian threat, we are getting weapons from the U.S. and Germany."

And throughout these years, regularly, Israeli and American officials have been assuring us that Iran is World Nuclear Threat Number One, that we can't relax our guard against them, that there should be no limit to the ultra-tough sanctions we impose upon the Iranian people and their government. Repeated murder and attempted murder of Iranian nuclear scientists, sabotage of Iranian nuclear equipment with computer viruses, the sale of faulty parts and raw materials, unexplained plane crashes, explosions at Iranian facilities ... Who can be behind this but USrael? How do we know? It's called "plain common sense". Or do you think it was Costa Rica? Or perhaps South Africa? Or maybe Thailand?

Defense Secretary Panetta recently commented on one of the assassinations of an Iranian scientist. He put it succinctly: "That's not what the United States does." ⁶

Does anyone know Leon Panetta's email address? I'd like to send him my list of United States assassination plots. More than 50 foreign leaders were targeted over the years, many successfully. ⁷

Not long ago, Iraq and Iran were regarded by USrael as the most significant threats to Israeli Middle-East hegemony. Thus was born the myth of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the United States proceeded to turn Iraq into a basket case. That left Iran, and thus was born the myth of the Iranian Nuclear Threat. As it began to sink in that Iran was not really that much of a nuclear threat, or that this "threat" was becoming too difficult to sell to the rest of the world, USrael decided that, at a minimum, it wanted regime change. The next step may be to block Iran's lifeline — oil sales using the Strait of Hormuz. Ergo, the recent US and EU naval buildup near the Persian Gulf, an act of war trying to goad Iran into firing the first shot. If Iran tries to counter this blockade it could be the signal for another US Basket Case, the fourth in a decade, with the devastated people of Libya and Afghanistan, along with Iraq, currently enjoying America's unique gift of freedom and democracy.

On January 11, the Washington Post reported: "In addition to influencing Iranian leaders directly, [a US intelligence official] says another option here is that [sanctions] will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways."

How utterly charming, these tactics and goals for the 21st century by the leader of "The Free World". (Is that expression still used?)

The neo-conservative thinking (and Barack Obama can be regarded as often being a fellow traveler of such) is even more charming than that. Listen to Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at America's most prominent neo-con think tank, American Enterprise Institute:

The biggest problem for the United States is not Iran getting a nuclear weapon and testing it, it's Iran getting a nuclear weapon and not using it. Because the second that they have one and they don't do anything bad, all of the naysayers are going to come back and say, "See, we told you Iran is a responsible power. We told you Iran wasn't getting nuclear weapons in order to use them immediately." ... And they will eventually define Iran with nuclear weapons as not a problem. ⁸

What are we to make of that and all the other quotations above? I think it gets back to my opening statement: Being "the only nuclear power in the Middle East" is a great card for Israel to have in its hand. Is USrael willing to go to war to hold on to that card?

Please tell me again ... What is the war in Afghanistan about?

With the US war in Iraq supposedly having reached a good conclusion (or halfway decent ... or better than nothing ... or let's get the hell out of here while some of us are still in one piece and there are some Iraqis we haven't yet killed), the best and the brightest in our government and media turn their thoughts to what to do about Afghanistan. It appears that no one seems to remember, if they ever knew, that Afghanistan was not really about 9-11 or fighting terrorists (except the many the US has created by its invasion and occupation), but was about pipelines.

President Obama declared in August 2009: "But we must never forget this is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans." ⁹

Never mind that out of the tens of thousands of people the United States and its NATO front have killed in Afghanistan not one has been identified as having had anything to do with the events of September 11, 2001.

Never mind that the "plotting to attack America" in 2001 was devised in Germany and Spain and the United States more than in Afghanistan. Why hasn't the United States bombed those countries?

Indeed, what actually was needed to plot to buy airline tickets and take flying lessons in the United States? A room with some chairs? What does "an even larger safe haven" mean? A larger room with more chairs? Perhaps a blackboard?

Terrorists intent upon attacking the United States can meet almost anywhere, with Afghanistan probably being one of the worst places for them, given the American occupation.

The only "necessity" that drew the United States to Afghanistan was the desire to establish a military presence in this land that is next door to the Caspian Sea region of Central Asia — which reportedly contains the second largest proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the world — and build oil and gas pipelines from that region running through Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is well situated for oil and gas pipelines to serve much of south Asia, pipelines that can bypass those not-yet Washington clients, Iran and Russia. If only the Taliban would not attack the lines. Here's Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, in 2007: "One of our goals is to stabilize Afghanistan, so it can become a conduit and a hub between South and Central Asia so that energy can flow to the south." ¹⁰

Since the 1980s all kinds of pipelines have been planned for the area, only to be delayed or canceled by one military, financial or political problem or another. For example, the so-called TAPI pipeline (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) had strong support from Washington, which was eager to block a competing pipeline that would bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran. TAPI goes back to the late 1990s, when the Taliban government held talks with the California-based oil company Unocal Corporation. These talks were conducted with the full knowledge of the Clinton administration, and were undeterred by the extreme repression of Taliban society. Taliban officials even made trips to the United States for discussions. ¹¹ Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on February 12, 1998, Unocal representative John Maresca discussed the importance of the pipeline project and the increasing difficulties in dealing with the Taliban:

The region's total oil reserves may well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels ... From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, leaders, and our company.

When those talks stalled in July, 2001 the Bush administration threatened the Taliban with military reprisals if the government did not go along with American demands. The talks finally broke down for good the following month, a month before 9-11.

The United States has been serious indeed about the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf oil and gas areas. Through one war or another beginning with the Gulf War of 1990-1, the US has managed to establish military bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.

The war against the Taliban can't be "won" short of killing everyone in Afghanistan. The United States may well try again to negotiate some form of pipeline security with the Taliban, then get out, and declare "victory". Barack Obama can surely deliver an eloquent victory speech from his teleprompter. It might even include the words "freedom" and "democracy", but certainly not "pipeline".

Love me, love me, love me, I'm a Liberal (Thank you, Phil Ochs. We miss you.)

Angela Davis, star of the 1960s, like most members of the Communist Party, was/is no more radical than the average American liberal. Here she is recently addressing Occupy Wall Street: "When I said that we need a third party, a radical party, I was projecting toward the future. We cannot allow a Republican to take office. ... Don't we remember what it was like when Bush was president?" ¹²

Yes, Angela, we remember that time well. How can we forget it since Bush, by all important standards, is still in the White House? Waging perpetual war, relentless surveillance of the citizenry, kissing the corporate ass, police brutality? ... What's changed? Except for the worse. Where's our single-payer national health insurance? Nothing even close. Where's our affordable university education? Still the most backward in the "developed" world. Where's our legalized marijuana — I mean really legalized? If you think that's changed, you must be stoned. Where's our abortion on demand? What does your guy Barack think about that? Are the indispensable labor unions being rescued from oblivion? Ha! The ultra-important minimum wage? Inflation adjusted, equal to the mid-1950s.

Has the American threat to the environment and the world environmental movement ceased? Tell that to a dedicated activist-internationalist. Has the 50-year-old embargo against Cuba finally ended? It has not, and I can still not go there legally. The police-state War on Terror at home? Scarcely a month goes by without the FBI entrapping some young "terrorists". Are more Banksters and Wall Street Society-Screwers (except for the harmless insider-traders) being imprisoned? Name one. The really tough regulations of the financial area so badly needed? Keep waiting. How about executives of the BP Oil Spill Company being arrested? Or war criminals, mass murderers, and torturers with names like ... Oh, I don't know, let's see ... maybe like Cheney or Bush or Rumsfeld or Wolfowitz or someone with a crazy name like Condoleezza? All walking completely free, all celebrated.

"A major decline of progressive America occurred during the Clinton years as many liberals and their organizations accepted the presence of a Democratic president as an adequate substitute for the things liberals once believed in. Liberalism and a social democratic spirit painfully grown over the previous 60 years withered during the Clinton administration." — Sam Smith¹³

"A change of Presidents is like a change of advertising campaigns for a soft drink; the product itself still tastes the same, but it now has a new 'image'." — Richard K. Moore

Notes

1. Haaretz.com (Israel), October 25, 2007; print edition October 26 ^↩
2. Washington Post, March 5, 2009^↩
3. "Face the Nation", CBS, January 8, 2012; see video ^↩
4. The Guardian (London), January 31, 2012" ^↩
5. "PBS's Dishonest Iran Edit", FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), January 10, 2012^↩
6. Reuters, January 12, 2012 ^↩
7. http://killinghope.org/bblum6/assass.htm ^↩
8. Video of Pletka making these remarks ^↩
9. Talk given by the president at Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, August 17, 2009 ^↩
10. Talk at the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC, September 20, 2007 ^↩
11. See, for example, the December 17, 1997 article in the British newspaper, The Telegraph, "Oil barons court Taliban in Texas". For further discussion of the TAPI pipeline and related issues, see this article by international petroleum engineer John Foster. ^↩
12. Washington Post, January 15, 2012 ^↩
13. Sam Smith was a longtime publisher and journalist in Washington, DC, now living in Maine. Subscribe to his marvelous newsletter, the Progressive Review. ^↩

–

William Blum is the author of:

• Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
• Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
• West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
• Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org

Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.

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