NABNYC

Mitt Romney Has $7-32 Million "Offshore." What are "Offshore" funds?

2012-01-20T19:39:00.001-08:00

Why do people hide their money in offshore accounts? What is an offshore account? Is there really some tiny little bank on a tiny little island, and all the rich people open accounts there? Of course not. The offshore accounts, often called hedge funds, private equity funds, capital funds, are simply secret accounts set up by Wall Street for their criminal friends to use to hide enormous amounts of money from the federal government.

Why do people want to hide enormous amounts of money from the federal government? The first and most obvious reason is to avoid taxes. As long as the money is hidden, no tax.

They open an account in someplace like the Cayman islands, but the money doesn't stay there. There are more important reasons people use offshore secret private accounts to hide their money. People like Romney, and all the other rich people, many of the politicians -- can send millions offshore, hide their money from troubling citizens who might ask where they got the money, turn it over to a trusted Wall Street insider to manage.

Their millions are then combined with millions from other people who want to hide their money, such as the major drug dealing cartels, sex traffickers, the child porn industry, businesses like Halliburton who do illegal dealings with countries like Iran and want to keep it secret, of course bribes and kick-backs paid to politicians, and the money most politicians in the world loot from their own countries such as the millions stolen by the leaders we installed in Afghanistan who now reportedly are head of the biggest drug cartel in the middle east. Remember the Carlysle Group, a private equity fund in which the Bushes and the bin Ladens both invested millions? You get the idea.

The "clean" upper class white men of the world deposit their money, pretend not to know anything, but in fact their money is combined with drug money and child sex trafficking money to create a huge fund. A powerful huge fund.Then what happens?

The fund collects a lot of money. They use the money to swoop into some country. Let's say Bulgaria. They secretly begin buying up homes, while at the same time encouraging the local banks to lend money to citizens because the citizens now want to buy a home. Why not? There's a shortage, prices keep going up, buy now, you can't lose in real estate. The prices for a home go up, maybe double, and when it hits the top the secret fund sells everything, the housing market collapses, the local banks collapse because people cannot repay the mortgage, the nation is bankrupt, people lose their jobs.

In many countries, if a person has a mortgage for $500,000, but the house is now worth $300,000, that person will be required to pay off the difference -- the $200,000. It will follow them to their grave. Even after they've been thrown out of the house and have nowhere to live, they will still owe the bank more than they will ever be able to repay.

Then guess what happens? Either the IMF or World Bank moves in and takes over the country, "loans" the government money, orders them to fire most of the state workers, shut down the schools, eliminate pensions, so they can pay back the IMF or World Bank. In some cases, the private funds go to the government and offer to loan them money directly. At a steep interest rate. And to ensure it will be repaid, they often demand that the government lay off half the state workers, shut down the schools, end healthcare. In either case, these nations become permanent debtor nations, never able to get out of debt. Just like most of Africa, which was forced into that position of permanent poverty by the Europeans.

Of course this is the same method that has been used in many countries around the world, as well as here in the U.S. On a global level, these funds will buy up wheat, for example, take it off the market, suddenly there is a shortgage, the price goes through the roof, they begin to sell at twice what they paid for it. Of course millions go hungry, many die of starvation. But the private equity funds make more money for scum like Romney, who hide that money in offshore accounts.

Any questions?

Republican Presidential Primaries: Is That All There Is?

2012-01-19T19:27:00.001-08:00

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Is that all there is? Is that all there is? If that's all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing. Let's break out the booze and have a ball, if that's all there is.

What does the crop of Republicans and their supporters tell us about that party, other than that it is disintegrating, that their little pet rattlesnake has come back to bite them? Anybody-But-Willard is one theme. They don't like Mitt Romney. Probably mostly because he's a mormon, and despite the recent propaganda campaign by the mormons, they're really not Christians, at least not like the southern baptist variety of the species, not like the evangelical born-again end-timers. So that's one thing. An Un-Romney is always the choice. Mitt Romney, somebody somebody, or "Other," a big crowd chooses "Other."

Romney is the rich white male with good hair, a predator, accomplished liar and plunderer of the nation, the perfect Republican candidate. But those damned born-agains, the teabaggers, the "values voters," they don't like him.

So who do they like? For awhile they liked Herman Cain, but I think they just liked him so they could say "see, we're not racist, we have blacks in our party too." Then Rick Perry had a few moments of hallelujahs, before he exited. The other mormon guy, supposedly the church elders told him to drop out. Ron Paul is not really a Republican so he doesn't count.

So we're left with Newt the Gnome, the most corrupt, lying, despicable, whoring, promiscuous politician we've seen in decades, a sinner with a one-way ticket to hell who changes wives like most men change socks, who changes religion like most women change hairdos. A man with no ethics, character or integrity. An ugly little troll. He was actually singled out in Congress for ethics violation. In Congress of all places! Everybody in Congress is corrupt and has no ethics. It's like being the one prisoner in Attica who's singled out for being a "real" criminal.

And Rick "Call Me Jesus" Santorum, a man who believes he is the second coming of Christ, who has made it his mission to rip the birth control out of the hands of America's (slutty) women to send them back into the bedroom to breed and be breeded by their husbands and masters. A moralist prig on a crusade, a man who always wears a sweater vest like some 90 year old, probably because he's afraid that without it, his nipples might show through the fabric of his shirt. That type of filth, body parts, disgusting, pornographic evidence of the forces of evil and temptation at work here on earth, Lord Hear Our Prayers. We know a lot about moralistic Catholic men who hate women. Our nation is littered with the victims of these men.

Apparently the born-again fanatic evangelical Christian end-timers would support a fanatic right-wing Catholic but not a mormon. Odd distinction, since those southern christians always secretly say that Catholics aren't "really" Christians. Maybe we're "Marys." You know -- for "worshipping" the mom. She was a virgin and she had a baby, so my hat's off to her. Not something you see every day.

Note that the one thing none of the candidates has articulated is a plan to save the country, create jobs, help the unemployed, provide our people with education and healthcare, fix our infrastructure, care for our elderly and disabled, end the wars (except Ron Paul -- he wants to end the wars). None of the candidates have a platform to do anything except talk shit (Gingrich), plunder what remains of our nation (Romney) and establish a forced-breeding program for all us females (Santorum). Lord help us.

Five Critical Components Of Business And Government

2011-12-21T12:29:00.000-08:00

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A business (or government) has five components: capital, creative, producer/workers, sales, customers. Each must have roughly equal say in what is produced, quality, price, and each should share roughly equally in the profits. Today, capital runs everything and takes most of the money, and sales (the least creative or productive) is elevated above all else. That's why our government and our economy do not work: two sectors have taken too much control.

A university teacher, for example, can be a fabulous teacher and writer with a great mind. But he is pressured to do "sales," i.e. fundraising, getting grants, and if he does not succeed in "sales," the area which is least suited to his talents, he will not be promoted or possibly even retained.

The biggest paycheck in a law firm does not go to the best attorney. It goes to the best salesperson. Bring in clients, promise them anything, guarantee you'll win, inflate your credentials and lie about your history, but land the client. Once you bring in the client, you will receive a big chunk of whatever they pay to have some other attorney in your firm do the actual legal work.

Most employees of wall street firms know very little about investments. They have charts prepared by the brains in their organization, computer programs, and they sit and fill in the information about age, assets, years to retirement, and the computer spits out the suggested allocation of investments. The employees' only function is sales: bring in the clients, promise them anything, get a cut of the commission.

I remember, not that long ago, when the salespeople were considered to be the low-end employees. Death of a Salesman. They're not creative. They make nothing. They often do not even understand the product. Their talent is in being attractive, glib, dishonest and persuasive. Why does your doctor prescribe a certain drug? Because the drug manufacturer sent him some hot young female in a low cut top and short skirt to take him to a special holiday lunch. That's it.

The people who create, invent, produce, do the labor, should be in charge, in cooperation with the customers. They should decide what to make, what quality, what to charge, and how to divide up the profits, fairly, so that everybody gets to have shelter, food, recreation, medical. When work is slow, instead of firing people set up a job-share and keep everybody working. Capital and sales care only about more money for themselves. Everybody else understands the concepts of loyalty, helping a neighbor, supporting your community.

A Charlie Brown Christmas Song

2011-12-08T16:24:00.001-08:00

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

2011-12-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

Let It Snow - Frank Sinatra

2011-12-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love

2011-12-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

The Job Of Unions Is To Organize Workers To Fight For Their Rights.

2011-08-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

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The job of unions is not to support democrats, but to force the democrats to support the working people of this country.

The job of unions is not to demand coffee breaks for workers in third world countries who are now doing American jobs -- it is to get those jobs back here.

The job of unions is not to make friends with Wall Street, but to tear it down, dismantle the system, and throw its leaders into prison.

The job of unions is not to get bigger pensions for their insiders, but to get jobs for the unemployed.

The job of unions is to get their members out in the street, to shut the whole country down if needed, to protect the jobs of American working people. It requires a commitment to action, which must be as radical as the economic conditions we face.

The job of unions is to organize working people to fight for their own rights, not to organize phone banks to get some millionaire elected.

The job of unions is not to have their inner circle spend two years out of every four in the national binge-drinking excuse they call "elections."

The job of unions is not to learn how to work with the fascists on the right-wing. The job of unions is to destroy the fascists on the right-wing and take away their power and their money.

The job of unions is not to debate the merits of the wars, but to demand an end to them. It is only the children of the working people who fight the wars, while the children of Wall Street learn to be just like their parents -- thieves, liars, murderers.

Milton Rogovin, photographer, dies at 101.

2011-01-24T17:41:00.001-08:00

This won the best short documentary at the Tribeca film festival a few years ago. It is about Milton Rogovin, a photographer who lived in the Buffalo area. He was called from Huac, his name and reputation were destroyed, and he lost his business as a result. He started taking pictures, and created a fabulous photo history of some neighborhoods in Buffalo.

Is Keith Olbermann Right? Is "Hate Speech" The Problem?

2011-01-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Last night Keith Olbermann had a special comment, his second about the Arizona shootings. In the first one, right after the shootings, he apparently called on politicians, the media, and all of us, to renounce language or communication which might be interpreted as calling for violence. He referred specifically to Sarah Palin's directive to her followers that they don't retreat, reload; her rifle-sights poster showing Democrats as the prey, apparently to be hunted down and eliminated; to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck's constant hysteria; to many politicians and their apparent intent to lie, mislead, deceive, convince the public that something false is true, and that there is a crisis, and some member of the public must stand up and apparently save the country by resorting to violence.

We all know this type of communication is rather constant from the right-wing. We all feel threatened by it. But is the solution less speech, or more?

We have freedom of speech in this country that allows people to speak openly, regardless of how stupid they area. Our media has been largely taken over by the right-wing which uses it as a neo-nazi propaganda network to spread fascism and terrorize the public. We all know that.

But is the answer less speech, or more?

We have no evidence that the Arizona shooter was influenced in any way by the media or by any politician's communications. His acts could have been simply the deranged conduct of a mentally disturbed person, the same type of thing we see from the assassination of celebrities like John Lennon: not political, but the result of an obsession and mental defect.

Since we have no evidence that the conduct of the Arizona shooter was caused by speech, then why would we use that shooting as an occasion to propose restricting speech?

I see that somebody attended a forum in which there was to be a discussion of the Arizona shooting, and this man in the audience stood up and screamed at someone on stage: "You're dead. You're dead." He was arrested. I don't think he should have been. It's a volatile subject matter, highly emotional. But I would not see those comments as being a real threat to commit an act of violence, but rather simply an emotional response to a highly-charged environment.

Should we authorize or encourage the police to arrest citizens for being stupid, or emotional? Should speech by itself be sufficient to warrant arrest and punishment? Generally, no.

Besides, this member of the audience didn't kill anyone. Isn't it more likely that common people, working people will be arrested and punished for protesting against the government, than it is likely that the powerful media personalities or the politicians will be arrested for their speech? Of course it is.

I think Olbermann got it wrong this time. The problem in Arizona is apparently that somebody who was mentally ill was nonetheless able to get automatic weapons. Shouldn't background checks include a requirement that somebody go out and interview the parents, spouses, neighbors, co-workers, teachers, fellow students of the person trying to buy the weapon, and require the persons interviewed to sign a statement under penalty of perjury saying that they have never seen the person act erratically or be drunk or drugged or threaten anyone. Is there any legitimate reason for any civilian to own an automatic weapon, under any circumstances, and why aren't they banned? Is there some reason we cannot err on the side of caution? Well yes, actually, it's the NRA which pays enormous bribes to our politicians to stop them from passing stricter background check requirements on gun dealers, and to stop them from keeping in place the assault weapons ban that we used to have.

Honestly, the problem in Arizona isn't speech, it's the unfortunate proliferation of guns and specifically of automatic weapons, and the availability even to the obviously disturbed people in our society.

As for the right-wing threats, the Democrats in national office act as if their only job is to solicit bribes from foreign countries and multinational corporations. How about if they declare one day a week that will be a Bribe-Free day, and they spend it going out to the public and speaking. More speech, not less.

Remember when the teabaggers were out brandishing weapons to intimidate their neighbors and prevent open discussion about proposed healthcare reforms? Every single Democratic politician should have been attending those hearings and directing the police in advance to arrest anybody who brandished a weapon -- waved it at anyone else in the crowd in a manner intended to intimidate. Personally I would have put the gun people in a cage, far away from the meeting, because their only purpose for being there was to terrorize their neighbors. But the Democrats should been out in force, openly speaking, confronting the lunatics, and standing up and for and beside their supporters. Instead, they remained mum, back in D.C. negotiating the exact amount of bribes to be paid by the AMA and the insurance industry for the Democrats failure to pass a non-profit option for the citizens.

We need more speech, not less. Anybody threatens violence, the response should be an overwhelming number of opponents showing up and getting in the face of those promoting the threats. Harass them for a change, go to their houses and schools and place of work with picket signs saying they are a threat and danger to the community, that they are terrorizing their neighbors. Most of these people are cowards, and if somebody got up in their face, they'd likely stop doing it.

I think Olbermann got it wrong. The problem is not speech, even "hate" speech. We need more speech, from the people who are supposed to be on our side. But the real problem is guns, particularly automatic "assault" weapons which serve no legitimate purpose except to kill other people. Maybe we could ask our politicians to start speaking out agains the proliferation of guns. Let's demand that our politicians stop taking money from the NRA, and start passing strict background checks, and a ban on automatic weapons. More speech, less guns.

The New Dark Ages.

2010-08-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

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Angry mobs are roaming the streets of New York City threatening and attacking a group that plans to use a building as a community center for American Muslims. The media is promoting this mob attack. The politicians are either silent, refusing to defend the American citizens who are being subject to the mob violence, or they speak out against the American citizens and talk about them like they have no rights in this country. Or some even just say flat out that the Muslims should go somewhere else. It's like a replay of the white flight hysteria in this country when the courts began ruling that a home seller could not refuse to sell to a black family. "They should go somewhere else," the angry white mobs screamed.

What is the lesson here? Both major political parties and all wings of them, from left to right, and the entire government (with the noted exception of President Obama) demand that an American citizen must swear an oath of allegiance to Christianity or its cousin religion Judaism. Those are the only two religions that are acceptable. Islam don't make the cut. It's a "foreign" religion. "Our" national religion is either christianity or Judaism.

Why would the government force Americans to become Christians as a condition to enjoying the rights of a citizen? Such as the right to build a community center, and to associate with others at that center? Those rights are being denied to one group of Americans, which consists of people who have not yet taken the oath to Christianity or Judiasm.

We have entered a new period of the dark ages. Our government is acting as the destructive force. We did not need invaders from other countries to tear down our nation and burn the books, destroy learning, because our government is doing it on behalf of multinational corporations. They have already taken away many of our jobs and sent them to foreign countries, an act which should land them all in prison. They have manipulated the stock market and created asset bubbles and crashes, repeatedly, to the point that they have succeeded in stealing much of the wealth and savings, retirement, college funds, of most people in this country. They are in the process of eliminating Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, and public education.

They are firing teachers and chaining children to tables inside cubicles where they will sit and look at a computer screen presumably filled with images created by monsters who seek to devour the world like Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, the Bush Boys, Rupert Murdoch and his fanatical Muslim Saudi prince financier. They are eliminating all rights of women to control their own reproductive decisions, and have struck down laws intended to give women equal rights in the nation. Now they are forbidding scientists from doing research to try to cure diseases, ruling that only "Christian" scientists can do faith-based research, apparently praying for a cure.

Most kids watch hours of TV every day, inside and outside of school. Most adults, if being honest, would list "watch TV" when asked what they do in their free time. What is the purpose of promoting images flashed on a screen to an audience, instead of promoting reading, writing, discussion, and literacy? That's what's going on in this country, in and out of the schools. Don't read or write, just show movies, make movies. What is the effect on the brain of only being exposed to images? A failure to learn the skill of critical thinking. Images only promote acceptance: it is, I see it. It's a limited form of thinking. Reading and writing requires the use of an entirely different part of the brain which requires us to weigh information, sort through, decide what is relevant, what is truthful or not, make decisions, put together an idea, then learn going forward whether our process was flawed or was solid. Watching images and listening to noise, like on TV, not only does not teach critical thinking, it actually numbs the part of the brain that would do it. Perhaps that part atrophies over time.

Why would our government and both political parties try to make us stupid? Easier to manipulate. What about the demand that all citizens must swear allegiance to Christianity or Judaism as a condition to enjoying basic civil rights? What's the purpose of that? How does that fit into this picture?

Religion promotes a magical and mythical way of looking at the world, childlike, a belief that we individuals have no power, have no right to try to figure out what is right or wrong, have no ability to change anything because God is in charge, and have no responsibility to ever make an effort. Remember that airplane in Pennsylvania (which some say was shot down by the U.S.) which crashed in a field on 9/11? Some people said that a group of passengers decided to rush the cockpit and try to overpower the hijackers because they realized (they'd gotten the news by telephone) that if they didn't do that, they all would die. But the reports also said another group of passengers sat in the back, held hands and prayed. It was so clear to me that the praying group reacted to the threat of their own death in exactly the way the killers wanted: they passively sat and did nothing, they made no effort at all to save themselves. Lambs to the slaughter. The other group, on the other hand, made an emergency plan and tried to do something to save themselves. Rational-based thought and action.

I think our government is conditionining the civil rights of people on citizens taking an oath of allegiance to Christianity or Judaism because they want us to be childlike, to believe in myths and fables, to believe we have no ability to think rationally or to understand the world, no right to try to affect it because, after all, God is in charge. God must want those politicians robbing us blind and destroying our children's future. We can't understand, because God has a plan.

I'll tell you what. I've got my own plans, and they do not include myths, magic thinking, of fables. I don't think God has anything to do with what is being done to our country, and the people who promote that view are the worst of all. It's like the priest fondling a little boy's penis and telling the boy that God wants him to do this. It's the grossest misuse of religion to promote greed, disloyalty, betrayal, even murder. George W. Bush claimed that God wanted him to kill a million Iraqis for no reason at all. And the churches in this country celebrated this monster, backed his play, enthusaistically got behind the idea of slaughtering a million human beings. That is a good description of where magical, mythical thinking will get you: dead.

People are so worried about having to carry a national ID card. They should be worried about having to carry a church membership card in order to be free to travel or live their lives, or work, or go to school. Because the people running this country are using religion to destroy us. As for me, when I look in the air I imagine drones falling on mothers and babies, not angels or virgin births.

Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010), American Jazz Legend.

2010-08-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Abbey Lincoln (1930-2010) died last Saturday in New York City at the age of 80. She was and is a legendary jazz vocalist, songwriter and actress. She was particularly influenced in her singing by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington.

(Exactly Like You)

Abbey Lincoln worked in different parts of the country until she recorded her first album in 1956, then moved to New York City and worked at the Village Vanguard. While singing at the Vanguard, Abbey Lincoln met Max Roach who was a jazz drummer and composer. The two later married.

Lincoln and Roach worked together on various projects during the 1950s and 1960s, including the album "We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Suite," which was released in 1960, at the height of the civil rights struggle.

Lincoln, Roach, and other well-known jazz musicians took up the cause of civil rights in the U.S. at a time of both heroic struggle by mass movements, and increasing violence by the racist right-wing. These jazz musicians performed at benefits and fundraisers for groups such as the NAACP, CORE, and other civil rights organizations and used their influence in speaking out in support of the demand for equal rights for black citizens.

"When everything is finished in a world, the people go to look for what the artists leave. It is the only thing that we have really in this world -- is an ability to express ourselves and say 'I was here.'" Abbey Lincoln.

Lincoln also was an actress, and got roles in such movies as "Nothing But A Man," and "For Love Of Ivy."

For more, see: http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/lincoln.html

(Sophisticated Lady)

Woodstock: August 15-18, 1969. A Celebration Of Freedom, Peace, and Love.

2010-08-16T08:51:00.001-07:00

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In August of 1969, a music festival was scheduled to take place on some open land, rented from a farmer, near the town of Woodstock in upstate New York. Outdoor music festivals were relatively common at the time, but the promoters did plan to draw a large crowd because of the terrific line-up of performers they had scheduled.

As it turns out, the number of young people who decided to go to this music festival grossly exceeded what had been planned. Hundreds of thousands of young people traveled to upstate New York for that three-day festival in brightly-colored vans, some hitchhiking, all planning to celebrate with other young people from around the country and listen to some good music. The rumor has it that the New York State primary freeway was shut down for a time because of the enormous number of vehicles headed to Woodstock. Eventually a half a million people ended up at the Woodstock Festival.

The young people who attended, cheered, celebrated Woodstock soon became known as the Woodstock Generation. They have been vilified, demeaned, ridiculed by the right-wing fascists who took control of this country under Reagan and kept control through two Bushes and one Clinton. But the Woodstock Generation was possibly the smartest generation in this country for decades. Had their ideas and views been followed, we would undoubtedly have a better country and more peaceful and humane world.

Melanie:

Among the performers at the Woodstock Festival were the following:
Richie Havens
Ravi Shankar
Melanie
Arlo Guthrie
Joan Baez
Country Joe McDonald
John Sebastian
Santana
Canned Heat
Grateful Dead
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Janis Joplin
Sly & the Family Stone
The Who
Jefferson Airplane
Joe Cocker
Country Joe and the Fish
Ten Years After
The Band
Blood Sweat & Tears
Johnny Winter
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Sha-Na-Na
Jimi Hendrix

Nice shot of the crowd:

The Woodstock Generation, although consisting of a loose connection of young and not always so young people, embraced certain beliefs and principles about life which at the time were considered revolutionary, and which terrified the ruling powers in this country. Here are just a few of the principles of the Woodstock Generation.

1. Stop Polluting The Environment. Rachel Carson brought the nation's attention to this issue in her book "The Silent Spring," and the Woodstock Generation was the first to demand that changes be made. Stop polluting the air and water. Simple concepts, but at that time the people who ran this country tried to cover up the truth. How much of the cancer in this country, and disease in the world, is the direct result of corporations dumping chemicals and poison in the earth and water?

2. Live Simply. Don't spend your life chasing more or competing with the neighbors. Consume less and contribute more. Help your neighbors. Don't hoard. Don't take more than you need.

3. Local Food Control. Eat simply. Eat locally-grown produce. Don't buy the corporate-produced food which is packaged or sprayed with poison. Take back control of food. And help people in other countries do the same.

4. Population Control. The churches oppose this, and encourage their members to breed as if there was no limit to our resources. But the fact is all people should be limited to 1/2 of a child. After that, get yourself fixed. We should cut the world's population in half immediately, and possibly cut it by another half after that. We are well on the way to destroying every living plant, all food stuff, and every single animal or fish in the world, because of gross and excessive and obscene overpopulation. And in the meantime, the Republicans on TV celebrate the stupid Americans who have 12 kids, or 18 kids, and act like this is all good fun. It's suicide. It's also likely to destroy the entire earth and all living things. If the demands of the Woodstock Generation for population control had been followed, we probably would not be facing the extinction of so many animals on this earth.

5. End All Wars. The Woodstock Generation was against the war in Vietnam. But they were also against all wars, preferring the idea of creating strong international organizations with the authority to send in peacekeeping troops to protect civilians. Possibly mandatory mediation of disputes. War consists of one macho male sending the young men from his country into another country to kill the women and children. That's always what it comes down to. Killing children and babies is wrong. We have the sophistication and wealth to end war for all time, if we wanted to. If this principle had been adopted, think of the millions of lives that might have been saved.

(Burning a draft card, refusing to go to Vietnam).

6. De-Criminalize Drugs. Who came up with the stupid idea that we should use the military to fight against addiction? The U.S. has troops all over Central and South America propping up dictators and despots, providing security for U.S. corporations that are stealing resources from those countries. And this military occupation is done under the guise of a "war on drugs." Nonsense. There is no war on drugs. Drug addiction is a medical condition and should be treated as such. If this idea had been adopted, our country could have saved billions of dollars that has been wasted on guns and wars used against poor people in other countries. And our massive prison population includes way too many young non-white people whose only crime is that they liked to get high.

7. End Racism. This went way beyond the minimal rights acquired during the 1950s civil rights movement. The Woodstock Generation promoted the idea that all people were equal, were the same, and should and must live together in peace. This included the idea that black and white or hispanic or Asian people should date, marry, form families without regard to racial or ethnic identities. This was an idea that was considered shocking to much of the country at that time.

(Huey P. Newton, Black Panther Party. The members of the Black Panther Party, standing in defense of their communities, were framed, imprisoned, assassinated, and exterminated by an illegal program of the U.S. government known as Cointelpro.)

8. Equality For Women. Again, this was a radical concept. Through the 1950s and early 1960s, women had to belong to some man, provide unpaid slave labor for life to a man and to however many children her body turned out, in order to have a place in society. Women had few opportunities to work or earn a living, often had no birth control, had no legal rights to prevent their husbands from beating them. Divorced women were considered whores and single women past a relatively young age were considered spinsters, completely banished from the rest of society. No options for women. The Woodstock Generation promoted the idea that all people, regardless of gender or race, are equal, and should have equal opportunities.

(Angela Davis)

9. Create And Nourish Community. It had already become apparent that the single family suburban neighborhood was destroying community. Imagine people living in cubicles, not even knowing their neighbors, working in cubicles and being prohibited from even speaking with their co-workers. I worked on a lawsuit once in which a worker was fired by a big retailer which claimed she was guilty of "theft." Based on that charge of criminal behavior, the worker was even denied unemployment compensation. But it turns out that the only "crime" the employee had committed was that she spoke with a co-worker during working hours, asked how her week-end went. The company's employee handbook said any conversations among co-workers unrelated to work were considered to be "theft" of company time. People have no community, live in isolation, and they therefore have no power. How can people organize to protect their own rights or their community when they don't even know who lives right down the street?

(Grateful Dead)

10. No Nukes. If only this idea had been pursued at the time, think how different the world might be today. Because the right-wing took control of our country, they promoted the widespread distribution of nuclear weapons to our "friends," which now means we live every day within minutes of having the entire world annihilated by some moron, either in a cave or in a government office.

11. Recycle. Stop Consuming. Stop filling the ocean and the earth with crap. Re-use. The U.S. corporations hate the idea of people using their own independent judgment to decide that they will not spend their lives buying the crap sold to them by the corporations.

12. Free Love. It is not the place of the government or the "community" to dictate to other adults when they may have sex, with whom, or in what manner. It is also not the place of the government or the community to dictate to other adults whether they may use birth control (as late as the 1960s, some states still made birth control illegal) or whether, or when to have children.

13. Workers Rights. The Woodstock Generation marched and demonstrated and boycotted along with the United Farm Workers to demand that all workers get a decent paycheck, have safe working conditions, healthcare, decent pensions, vacations and holidays.

14. Freedom And Independence For Other Nations. The Woodstock Generation promoted the view that all people are entitled to be free and independent, to run their own countries without interference from other nations. If only these views had been adopted, how different the world would be today.

(Che Guevara, hero of the Cuban revolution.)

In this 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the right-wing fascists who control the media and the Republican party will undoubtedly take this opportunity to ridicule everyone who was part of the Woodstock Generation, and to reaffirm the concept that "real" Americans love war, guns and violence, and hate their neighbors. The Republicans are trying to create a fascist nation, and the Democrats aren't doing much to stop them. The fact is that the Woodstock Generation consisted of true patriots, people who loved this country and democracy, and who were creative and innovative in trying to find new ways for all of us to live in peace in this world. Make Love Not War. No Nukes. Peace.

The Who:

In addition to having important and creative ideas about how to change society and the world to be cooperative instead of combative, there was also a tremendous flourishing of music, film, and fine arts during this time. The idea was that art became fun, a part of people's lives rather than something to be shut away inside museums and judged by a small panel of upper-class white men as to whether the art did or did not have merit. Young people all over the country decided for themselves whether they liked some art and, if they did, collected the reprints and posters and tacked them up all over their rooms. People's art, as it were, shown throughout this post.

During the entire history of the U.S., under or after slavery, it had always been understood that black and white people should live completely separate lives. In the 1950s, blacks spent years demonstrating and marching for such minimal rights as the right to sit down on a public bus, the right to buy food in a restaurant, the right to vote, the right to not be murdered by white men. Black people were often legally prohibited from buying homes other than in "black" neighborhoods, their children were legally prohibited from attending schools with white children, and they were legally prohibited from marrying a white person. Even in states which did not have those laws, segregation was strictly upheld in all classes of society.

The Woodstock Generation took enormous leaps forward on the issue of race, and demanded that all racism, all segregation be ended. This was a radical position at the time. The Woodstock Generation had a view that all people were equal and should live together in one community, in peace. Not that this was necessarily successfully implemented, but just the fact that these people embraced that idea was horrifying to the white men who ran this country.

For example, Jimi Hendrix performed at Woodstock to wild acclaim. Just a short time later, by the 1980s, under the regime of Ronald Reagan and the white boys who re-took control of our country, a black performer like Michael Jackson had to physically alter his appearance to make himself look white and female, in order to be "acceptable" to be presented to a white audience. Jimi Hendrix didn't appear white or female. He was a sexy black man, publicly celebrating his rejection of the stereotypes that confined previous generations, openly expressing his anti-war views and politics, something which had always been forbidden for black men in this country, and he was worshipped by many of the young white people who made up the Woodstock Generation.

Brooklyn Kickball: Community In Action.

2010-08-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

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We have lost community in most of this country. Community means something other than parallel dwellings inside which people sleep or observe electronic screens. Community means connection and involvement with all your neighbors -- old and young, married, divorced, single, widowed, black, white, hispanic, Asian -- all the religions -- all of it, having some interaction that is positive, getting to know each other or at least recognize each other.

But in Brooklyn, they've still got community. Community with a local flare, and lots of attitude.

Take Brooklyn kickball. What a riot. Started in 2003, the Brooklyn Kickball league now has over 30 teams that play in the league from April through October, usually on Sundays in McCarren Park in Brooklyn.

Here's the Brooklyn kickball league webpage with all the information. http://brooklynkickball.com/ Kickball, like the little kids play in school. Which means everybody can be on a team, pretty much, even if they're not some super athlete. And anybody who doesn't want to play can always come out to watch, hang out, eat, and cheer on their favorites.

The names of the teams are very clever: The Government Kick-backs; The Non-Committals; Brooklyn United; Never Scared; the Pony Boys; The Crucial Taunt; The Drinkers With A Kicking Problem. The players also have creative nicknames, such as Justin “Nipple” Taylor, Rob “Matzo” Lotzko, Lexi “Governor” Patterson, Autumn “Prison” Jorgensen, Tank “The Frank” Moylan, and Matt “Marquis De” Sadewitz.

They often have very creative costumes, too. Here are some team photos:

In addition to spending all day Sunday in McCarren Park from the spring through the fall, playing, watching the other teams, being a spectator, eating, drinking, laughing, hanging out, just getting outside and being part of it, the Brooklyn Kickball teams also sometimes have parties, dances, and other activities.

Like in all sports, there is a "commissioner" of kickball in Brooklyn, and there are sometimes conflicts between the players and the commissioner. It's just that the way in which these conflicts are discussed is a little different, a little more folksy in a Brooklyn kind of way, than the MBA/Harvard Law agents we're used to hearing when there is a dispute in professional (big money) sports in this country.

Here's how one such dispute between a Brooklyn kickballer Robert L. who played on a dominant team named Prison, and the Brooklyn kickball commissioner Kevin Dailey played out in the press:

"[F]ormer kickballer Robert L. confirms. 'I told [38-year-old Brooklyn Kickball commissioner] Kevin Dailey he was a fat fuck and to go sniff coke."

[Kickballer Robert L. continues]: "[Brooklyn Kickball] allows people to reinvent themselves... [Commissioner] Kevin Dailey is now the coolest guy on earth every sunday night to 32 teams with 10 or more people on it. And every person on every team is the coolest person who ever moved to Brooklyn."

[Kickballer Robert continues]: "I work out alot and have a typical "jock" build. So everyone skinny hipster is afraid of me ... and you have 120 pound boys who look like girls being scared and complaining about our team. ... [Commissioner] Kevin Daily hates me and my whole team!"

"For his part, Kickball Commissioner Kevin Daily wrote in a letter:"

"Despite all the bullshit swarming around me for the last couple of years, I'm still here. Not anonymous calls to the Parks Department, selective cutting and pasting, or Gawker.com will keep me away. Still standing. I have no reason to go. I've done a fucking excellent job...."

http://gawker.com/385873/a-rogue-williamsburg-kickballer-explains-it-all

A Guide to Friends: Accept, Ignore, Reject Or Block.

2010-08-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

When I get a friend request, I look at their page, and if I don't see anything too crazy I click Okay, but then I look again, and if I see anything that makes me suspicious, I quickly Unfriend them. What makes me suspicious? Pictures of guns, among other things. No thanks, not a gun fan.

People who call themselves Constitutionalists, or Birthers, or Teabaggers. No, no interest at all. Pro-war, pro-violence crazy stuff. No, not for me.

Bald-headed thick-necked tattooed steroid-infused men with rusty safety pins through their nipples, prominently photographed for their adoring fans -- not appealing. And what's up with the females that send around friend requests with a nude profile photo of their ass? Not my type. But I always think the rusty safety-pin guy and the nude-ass profile gal might want to hook up. Similar types of brain damage, they might comfort each other. Or form a support group.

Other friends I don't need: the Klan, the Nazis. Aryan Brotherhood. The Hooters Fan Club. Not really my thing. Dallas Cowboys need to look somewhere else for friends. I'm sure Area 51 is a nice place to visit, but I don't want to be friends with somebody whose profile picture is the little ET dude. Move on, I'm not the one you need. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney: don't even bother, I am not now, never will be your friends, I don't care how many friend requests you send me, it's not going to happen. Condi Rice: sorry sister, you hang out with the wrong crowd, I'll just ignore your friend request.

Too many of those little farm posts make me wonder if we really have anything in common, me and the person who wants to be friends (Mary wants your help in picking a nice basket of tomatos at her farmville -- I think maybe Funny Farm ville is where Mary belongs). Then there are the people who claim to be part of the mob and want me to help them wipe out the other gang. All in good online fun, of course. I've never really liked the whole "let's pretend to slaughter people" type of games. Jacks I could go for. Ping Pong is okay, too.

One final note: there is no way to know whether these so-called "friends" are lying or telling the truth about who they really are. All these friends could be lying with every comment they make. For example, I suspect that one of my online "friends" is really George Clooney using an assumed name, but he's too shy to just come out and approach me directly. And he doesn't want the model-girlfriend to find out, either. I respect his wish for privacy, and I shall continue to use discretion in our communications.

Other than all of the above restrictions, cautionary notes and prohibitions, I'm fairly tolerant.

(The last sentence is a lie).

The War On Terror Should Be Called The War On Resistance.

2010-08-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

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The "War On Terror" should be called the War On Resistance. Resistance to Empire. Resistance is futile. There is no escape. Anyone attempting to resist will be shot on sight, their nation bombed, homes and sanitation destroyed, wives and children murdered. Does that sound about right?

And oh yeah -- for anybody who says we're just invading and occupying and torturing and stealing resources and taking control of the drug trade in those terrible "Muslim" nations, ask them since when was Columbia a Muslim nation?

The Professional Left And The Enthusiasm Gap.

2010-08-11T12:43:00.001-07:00

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Yesterday Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, bitterly attacked the "Professional Left" for criticizing Obama. Who is the Professional Left? Apparently he means people who are ethical and conscientious in their political views, refuse to sell out in exchange for bribes or to collapse under the weight of institutional oppression. Is that what you had in mind, Bob?

Maybe he means that portion of the Democrats/liberals/left in this country who are avidly and actively interested and involved in politics and in their communities. These are the people who read the news, are concerned about the unemployment rate, the wars, global warming, Wall Street. You know -- those pests.

Why would the Democrats want to attack the Left? Rahm Emanuel did it before, calling them a bunch of "fucking retards." And much of the country rose up against the word "retard," but few seemed to realize that Rahm Emanuel, an employee of the nation, a public servant, has no business cursing at involved and interested citizens. Who is this little twinkle-toed ballet-dancing foul-mouthed unelected Wall Street agent to call the rest of us bad names? What makes him so superior to the working people of this country? The fact that when our nation was at war, he decided to go sign up -- for the Israeli military, abandoning his own nation, turning his back on his own people? Is that what gives this little traitor the right to call me a fucking retard?

I wonder if Robert Gibbs and the Democrats spend as much time worrying about the Enthusiasm Gap as they spend worrying about and attacking The Left. You know what the Enthusiasm Gap is? Most Americans do not vote. They do not believe the politicians will do anything to help them. They think the elections are rigged, and nobody cares what they think. It's really tragic to claim that we have a democracy when most of our citizens have been so beaten down and bludgeoned by the rich that they don't even bother to open their mouths. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781453.html#axzz0wLZYtgL9

Right now, the Republican Teabaggers are very enthusiastic about the upcoming elections. They're out aimlessly wandering around in parks with idiotic signs, improperly spelled, brandishing weapons and screaming about black or Hispanic people. They're stupid and racist, no question, but they are very enthusiastic.

Unlike the Democrats and the liberals, for example, who have no enthusiasm about the upcoming elections. People like "The Left" are angry with the Democrats for failing to make a public option available to Americans who want to buy into a non-profit medical care system. People like me who do not want corporations profitting from my future ailments. The Left are angry at the failure of the Democrats to create jobs. It's like the Democrats don't understand how bad it is out here. The Left are tired of the lies about these wars of aggression, and want them ended. The Left has so little enthusiasm for the Democrats' complete refusal and failure to do much of anything to help working people that The Left might just stay home this year.

I wonder if Robert Gibbs was thinking about the enthusiasm gap when he mouthed off about the Left. I wonder if he and the Democrats worried for even a minute that with so many people already disgusted with them, with so little enthusiasm remaining, maybe it wasn't really a good time for them to start attacking their supporters.

Robert Gibbs stood proudly before the cameras today and insisted that he would not apologize for anything he had said. Of course he won't -- he's a white male, they never apologize. Well, that's not true. They apologize to the right, they apologize to the fascists, and to Fox, and to Murdoch, they apologize if they "misspoke" and said anything to offend the gun-lovers and barrel-suckers. Obama came out and apologized to the criminals on Wall Street because people had spoken "harshly" about them, and Obama insisted those criminals were entitled to steal hundreds of millions of dollars, because they work hard.

I don't know. I work hard too. But nobody ever gave me that kind of money. I think that explains a big part of the enthusiasm gap. People like The Left are beginning to think that the Democrats aren't on our side at all. They're on the side of Wall Street, the WTO, Lloyd F-ing Blankfein and Twinkletoes potty-mouth Rahm Emanuel.

I'm feeling a lack of enthusiasm for the Democrats. Which might translate into a lack of votes. Keep it up, Bob. I feel a nap coming on. Hope I don't sleep right through the elections.

Yesterday, All Our Troubles Seemed So Far Away.

2010-08-10T19:37:00.000-07:00

These are photos taken in about 1939-1943. At the end of the Great Depression and the start of World War II, a terrifying and horrific war in which 80 million people were murdered. Yet look how beautiful our country was, how decent our people.

(Lousiana)

Despite the nationwide depression and poverty, we can look at these photos and see something fundamental and decent about our country, some shared belief in a future. I don't see that anymore.

(Washington, D.C.)

Instead of enemy planes flying over Pearl Harbor to bomb us, or enemy tanks in Germany knocking down borders to destroy the world, our enemies today are inside our country. Wall Street. The World Trade Organization, the corporate front group. U.S. Corporations. The politicians which they own.

(Washington, D.C.)

The Republicans and Democrats have done more in the past 25 years to destroy this country than Japan or Germany ever dreamed of doing during World War II.

(Chicago)

The rich, the corporations, Wall Street have stolen our money, given our jobs to other people, crushed the citizens, destroyed our industry, turned our farms into chemical sewers churning out foodstuff with chemically-manufactured seeds which we then spread throughout the world to crush small farmers and increase the hunger and starvation of the poor. All for the profits of the corporations and the rich people who hide behind them. Our corporations have turned on us and are destroying us.

(Chicago)

We are no longer on the same team. It is them against us. And we're losing.

(Nebraska)

We can go back and start over. Shut down Wall Street. Have local businesses, grow our own food, build homes locally not mass-produced. Bake bread locally. Make clothes and furniture, cars. Build mass transit. We can go back and rebuild our own country. We just need the will to do it.

The Anti-Mosque Brigades.

2010-08-10T13:39:00.001-07:00

A Muslim group recently applied to renovate a building they own and operate in lower Manhattan, New York City. They want to add a cultural center type of facility, and say that they plan to try to promote peace and understanding among all the faiths. I don't know -- that sounds to me like a good idea. As I understand it, they are building a "community center," not a mosque. But what if they wanted to build a mosque? Is there something bad about that? I've seen pictures of some mosques from around the world, and many of them are beautiful. So what's the problem, exactly?

Abe Foxman is the head of an organization grossly misnamed the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which, oddly enough, devotes its ample resources to defaming other groups, as well as chicken-little reporting designed to convince their donors that the nazis are coming. Good business there. ADL reports $200 Million in assets, raised $90 million in their last reporting year of 2007, and pays Abe about $300,000/year. http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=10657-- Abe Foxman decided that he would use the proposal to renovate the mosque to Fundraise! Yeah! Just like the Mormons used gay marriage in California to recruit members and fundraise! Just like the Republican Teabaggers use racism to recruit members and fundraise. What do they share in common? The same slogan: We're Bigots. Join Us.

Here's a funny quote from the Anti-Defamation League's website: "Now the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency, ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects civil rights for all." Maybe they should put a few asterisks at the end of that sentence: ***(we defend civil rights for everyone except for the Muslims).

The bigots in New York City demanded that the city refuse to allow the Muslim mosque or other religious facility to be constructed. They urged the government to refuse to grant the building permit. They even asked a city board to designate the existing building as a historical landmark to tie up any proposed construction with the nuances of renovating such buildings. The arguments raised by the unruly mob opposing the mosque included: (1) we don't need more religious buildings downtown; (2) it's insensitive to build "so near" the former World Trade Center because "they" (all Muslims, apparently) attacked "us"; (3) Islam is a violent religion, so our government should forbid them from operating anywhere in our country; or (4) just because. All arguments an absurd cover for the central unifying concept: We're Bigots. Join Us.

It does not matter what the Koran says, or whether anybody likes Muslims. Just does not matter in our legal system, period. Completely irrelevant. Our law prohibits the government from favoring or supporting one religion, or disfavoring or banishing another. Our law simply requires the government to stay out of it. If the zoning laws in a city allow religious structures to be built in a certain neighborhood, that is the beginning and end of the inquiry as far as government involvement. If the structure otherwise complies with height restrictions, architectural requirements, health and safety code (fire sprinklers), set-backs, the structure can be built.

I love the arguments about Muslims being violent. I would suggest a quick look at history would prove Christians to be the most violent religious group ever. But beyond that, if we want to narrow the field, our best position would be to acknowledge that white men are violent, and lock them all in prison until they are at least 70 years of age. Most violence in this country is done by white men, so if we are motivated to protect the citizens from violence, let's lock up the white men and start there. No? No takers? Is it possible that's because white men run everything? So it's easier to target Muslims, because they have no power in this country? What a bunch of cowards. As well as ignorant bigots. And hey, I don't like any religion, so it's not like I'm pro-Muslim. I'm just anti-Bigot.

Further, people who hate Muslims and claim they are responsible for all the evil in the world are just trying to distract Americans from the truth. The truth is that the men on Wall Street have caused most of the suffering in the world. They have worked together, plotting, paid bribes to politicians to corrupt all government, they pollute the water and earth, they manipulate markets, they try to steal all the resources of the world, they embellish themselves and their despicable spouses and useless spawn in gold and rare gems while children throughout the world starve as a result of their conduct. so please spare me the lectures about how bad the Muslims are. The most evil, despicable, murderous group of people in the entire world is sitting right down on Wall Street continuing their looting and pillaging. Anybody wants to picket somebody, go picket them, to get the big boys. Not some little mosque where religious people go to pray. Go to Wall Street where the people worship one thing, money, and will kill anyone just to get more of it for themselves.

One of my favorite performers is Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens. He is a Muslim. He wrote and performed "Peace Train," one of the greatest anti-war, anti-violence peace songs of all times. Unlike Lloyd F-ing Blankfein, and all his co-conspirators at Goldman-Sux who have never contributed one thing of value to the world because they are too busy destroying it. So who's violent? Who should be driven out of our country? I vote for the men on Wall Street.

Why Do We Need Net Neutrality?

2010-08-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

Google and Verizon control access to the internet. They want to use their monopoly control of access to the internet to make even more money for themselves. Here's what they want to do: sell the right to dictate the content on the internet to the highest bidder. If Rupert Murdoch and Fox are willing to pay, they will take over the internet, and the only information reasonably available will be the garbage and right-wing lies that they select.

Here's how it is going to work. Google and Verizon, and anyone else selling access to the internet to the public, will also offer major media groups the right to have top billing, so to speak. Rupert Murdoch and Fox will pay whatever money is charged to get the top billing. Then whenever any American tries to do a search online, all they will get are links to Fox News reports, meaning links to articles that are false, racist, right-wing, and stupid.

Try to find any real information on a subject, and you will end up having to scroll through multiple pages just to get a link to a reputable source. Now maybe adults can figure out how to find better sources of information. But think about the kids. Most schools now have kids using computers. What happens if the only information they get about history, for example, are the false and grossly ludicrous rantings of somebody like that sexual deviant and pervert O'Reilly, or the weeping catholic-mormon alcoholic Glenn Beck? An entire nation of idiot children believing what these men say is true. It sounds like Adolph Hitler's dream.

Fox is owned by Murdoch (an Australian) and a Saudi prince. Why should they own any news source in this country? Just to start, we should go back to our former laws which prohibited foreign ownership of the media. I think Murdoch unfortunately may be a citizen by now, but he still should be limited to owning one newspaper period -- not one per city, but one period. One TV station, nothing more. Go back to mandating broad ownership of the media to provide broad sources of information.

And ask yourself this question: what is Saudi Arabia, and why would a "prince" want to own and control the media of the U.S.? Saudi Arabia is a small nation in the middle east that has an enormous amount of oil in their ground. A small gang of murderers and thieves who call themselves the "Saudi Royal Family" have used war and and ongoing despotic dictatorship marked by extremely brutality towards their own people to steal most of the nation's money for themselves. Among other things, they have signed agreements to let U.S. and western oil corporations control all of the oil, take it from the country, and pay a percentage of sales to the Saudi Royal Family. The resources of the nation, in other words, are not used for the benefit of the people -- they are stolen by western corporations, with the small controlling gang taking most of the money from the sale. They don't even allow their own people to work in the oil industry because they know that if their people learned how to run it, they would throw out the westerners and take control for themselves.

So why would a Saudi prince want to own and control the media in the U.S.? First, the U.S. provides military protection to the criminal gang known as the Saudi Royal Family. We use our force to keep them in power because our corporations profit from the existing system that lets them steal all the oil. Second, the last thing that Saudi Arabia wants is for Americans to learn that the earth is in danger, that we must immediately develop and invest in green technology and stop using oil. If the U.S. stopped using oil, the Saudi Royal Family would not be able to keep selling their country's oil for so much money. So Saudi Arabia, along with Murdoch, uses the Fox media to lie to the U.S. public and tell them that there is no global warming, no climate change, no reason to stop using oil. They are working together to kill us all.

Google, Verizon and Fox are all monopolies, and should be busted up because they violate our laws of anti-trust. Who is supposed to stop predator corporations that use unfair business practices to eliminate competition and take control of the market? The federal government. The attorney general, to be specific, is charged with the responsibility to enforce the anti-trust laws of our nation. So why isn't our attorney general doing anything about it? We need to demand that our government enforce the antitrust laws and bust up these corporate predators, force them to sell off most of their holdings, and stop them from having such broad control in our lives, because all they do is promote fascism (corporate control of the nation).

We have Democratic control of Congress, and a Democrat in the white house. Why should we, the citizens, have to struggle for something as simple as having access to a variety of news sources and information? It seems more and more like we only get the "official" story dictated by right-wing fascists like Murdoch and his mercenaries. Why don't our Democrats do something to help us? They have the votes, they have the power. No spine, once again, they'd rather take bribes from corporations like Fox than actually do their job, which is to help the people of this country. Tell the Democrats to protect net neutrality and enforce the anti-trust laws to bust up Google, Verizon, Murdoch and Fox.

The WTO: A Trojan Horse Corporate Front Group For U.S. Corporations.

2010-08-09T17:28:00.001-07:00

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The WTO: A Trojan Horse Corporate Front Group For U.S. Corporations

How is it possible that Dow is up, the criminals on Wall Street have to bring dump trucks to their back doors to haul out the hundreds of millions of dollars of our money that they pay themselves as "bonuses," yet we have at least 20% unemployment and most Americans are flat broke and busted? It's all according to plan.

Here's how it worked.

The major U.S.-based corporations, businesses that got rich because of the sweat and ingenuity of American workers, began to move into other countries, other markets, trying to use their wealth to take over more of the world. But many nations had tariffs to protect their own local businesses, and prevent U.S. predator corporations from coming in, dumping their products into other countries' markets at radical discounts, and forcing local businesses to shut down. Once there was no other competition, the U.S. predator corporations jacked up the prices and robbed people blind.

A group of wealthy people from major corporations got together to create a Trojan Horse which they named the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). They hired slick PR companies to write up fictional stories about how "World" trade would make us all rich, we would all have good jobs, all have money to invest in the stock market. We would eliminate hunger, provide healthcare and housing for all through international cooperation and innovation. Ah yes, it would be paradise, or that's what they told us. And they came up with phony names to cover up what they were doing. They called it "Globalization," which has such a nice sound. They should have called it "Global Rape," because that's what it is.

The WTO has two direct financial co-conspirators, the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The WTO would go into a country, offer to "help" the politicians make a better nation such as by building water systems for home-delivery of water and to irrigate crops. They would help to build roads, do flood control. All would be provided with loans from the IMF and the WB. Eventually the borrower nation would default because of a disaster, or crop failure, or war, or the politicians would steal too much of the money to complete the projects, and then the WTO would "foreclose" on the whole country. The WTO, remember, is just a shell, like a Trojan Horse, and the real interested parties are major U.S. corporations. So the WTO would go into the foreclosed nation and steal everything, like locusts. They would tell the government that the people must stop using their fields to grow food to feed themselves, and instead must grow some luxury item to export to Europe. They would tell the government that it must pay back the money borrowed from the WB and IMF, which means they would have to shut down their schools and hospitals, shut down the bus system, stop paying the pensions of government workers, shut down the community-kitchens run across the country to prevent starvation. So what if people starve? Lloyd F-ing Blankfein, the head of Goldeman-Sux, wants his money. So the people die.

Gradually, the WTO has taken over most of the world, even the U.S. The only laws in most countries are those written by the WTO. They hand stacks of papers to the government, including to our congress, and tell them "Here is the new law for 'financial non-reform.' Pass it." And congress does it because they get bribes and kick-backs. All countries do it because they are coerced, they have no money, they have no choice. But if any country resists the demands of the WTO, then the WTO and the U.S. corporations simply go to the U.S. government and instruct it to declare war against the nation that refuses to submit to the WTO. That is exactly what happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, representatives of the U.S. government and the U.S. oil corporations offered millions of dollars to the Taliban if they would agree to let the U.S. corporations take the oil and gas from Afghanistan. The Taliban refused and, within a few months, surprise surprise, bush-cheney claimed that we had been attacked by Afghanistan even though we were attacked by Saudi Arabia. So our troops invaded and continue to occupy that nation and kill its people. And the U.S. oil corporations are firmly in place with authority to go ahead and steal all the resources from that country.

In the U.S., the WTO and the U.S. corporations bribed the politicians to start adopting WTO laws as our own, including signing binding treaties which would devastated the people of this country, such as Nafta. Clinton and Rubin worked together to eliminate laws regulating Wall Street, because that's what the WTO did, and Lloyd F-ing Blankfein and all the other Scum from Wall Street immediately set out on a mission to steal every single thing in this country of any value. Our government did nothing to stop them, and even today refuses to lift a hand to punish these predators and get our money back.

The U.S. corporations decided that once the WTO took control of other countries, the U.S. corporations would move their businesses to third world nations where they can dump poison into the land, spew it into the air, kill their workers, pay slave wages, hire child labor, and make even more money for people like Lloyd F-ing Blankfein and Goldman-Sux. And that's what they've done. To the extent possible, they just keep moving the jobs out of this country, and Wall Street just keeps making more and more money. Americans are unemployed and broke, and Wall Street stole all our money.

Wall Street is a criminal enterprise and its leaders need to be indicted, their assets seized and used for the public good, and their employees put into prison for life.

I read an interesting article this morning about Goldman-Sux and Wall Street, and how they never stop trying to create phony asset bubbles, cheat the public, and steal more money. They even do it under the guise of being "philanthropists." Don't believe it for a second. Here's what they've done in the world of "Art." Wall Street has created an asset bubble in the world of Art by manipulating the market, using insider information, and defrauding the public. Just like they do every day in every area of their business lives.

The Wall Street scum pay somebody in a big museum a bundle of money (which they write off) and buy themselves a spot on the Board of Directors. At the same time, the Wall Street Scum buy up certain art. Say, for example, they decide they want to run up the price of Hopper. They buy up some Hopper paintings. Then they use their position on the Board to get the museum to buy lots of Hopper, have special exhibitions of Hopper, tell the entire world that Hopper is the most brilliant artist, a must-have for the private collector. The price of anything by Hopper goes up ten fold, the Wall Street scumbuckets sell their Hopper that they bought for $2.0 million for $20.0 million and make an obscene return, and the public once again gets bilked when Wall Street moves on to the next artist, and declares that Hopper is, after all, a "lesser" talent. These guys should not be trusted around the collection plate in church, that's how big of thieves they are.

Wall Street is like the Mafia, except more ruthless, brutal, and deadly. They are predators. They have no loyalty to this country or to any of the people in it. They would be thrilled to take all their money to some other nation and live there, laughing all the way to the Hedge Fund. These people should be in prison. When will the Obama administration stand up and do what is right? And if they don't, how long will the citizens of this country sit here and let these scumbuckets on Wall Street continue to steal everything, make our kids slaves, destroy our future?

65 Years After The U.S. Dropped Atomic Bombs On Hiroshima And Nagasaki, We're Still Out Waging Wars And Slaughtering People.

2010-08-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The bomb was named the Enola Gay. The Enola Gay killed 140,000 Japanese, destroyed the city, and seriously injured another 100,000 residents.

On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan, this one on the city named Nagasaki. That bomb was named Fatman. It killed 74,000, seriously injured 75,000, and destroyed the city.

The death and devastation caused by those two bombs haunted the world for generations, showing the horrors of war, the suffering that could be inflicted by humans on each other, the need to avoid nuclear weapons proliferation and to avoid wars.

But those lessons were forgotten or ignored by greedy sociopathic men like bush-cheney and those who put them into office. So once again, the United States is leading the world in its atrocities against other nations. There are arguments that the atomic bombs were necessary because Japan refused to surrender, and so many Americans would have died tried to invade that nation. Some people argue that the bombs were not necessary. I don't have an answer. I do know that the bombing of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused all people in the world to stop, to back away from war, to think about the consequences of mass murder, which is all that war is.

We have outdone ourselves in the U.S. Wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. Neither nation declared war on us. Neither nation attacked us, or threatened to attack us. Neither nation had much of a military, if any, just poor men with hand-held guns, trying to stop the most sophisticated military in the world from taking over their countries. Why are we really there, other than to act as a private security goon squad for the oil corporations that want to steal the oil? No other reason.

The U.S. government has refused to allow the citizens of the U.S. to know critical information about these wars. Why do they refuse to let the citizens be informed about what is going on? Because they learned from Vietnam that if the citizens really know and see what is being done in their names, they will quickly turn against the wars.

Our government, for example, recently refused to allow the Rolling Stone reporter who interviewed former General McChrystal to go to Iraq as part of a media team. It's straight-up censorship and a first amendment violation to exclude the reporter who everyone admits told the truth, and only allow in the reporters who parrot the government's lies. It's our first amendment -- the people's constitutional rights --to have access to accurate media reporting about what our government is doing. By excluding this reporter, the government has violated the constitutional rights of all the people.

The government has also banned and censored photos -- such as no photos of Americans coming back from war in coffins are allowed to be taken by anyone, because the public during Vietnam was horrified at the sight of the coffins filled with young Americans, dead for no good reason. Photos convey the truth, and the government is trying to prevent the public from learning the truth.

Our government also refuses to allow any counting of the number of people we have killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is intended to cover up and avoid claims of international war crimes (which we have committed) and to keep the public ignorant about the slaughter that is going on in their names. Despite the government's efforts to prevent this from coming out, authoritative sources have done their best to estimate the total number of dead. They have concluded that at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died because of the U.S. War Against Iraq, and possibly well over One Million people have died. We've exceeded anyone's wildest nightmares, and have killed way more than we did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No celebration is in order. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/how-many-iraqis-did-we-li_b_673683.html

(Firestorm wiped out everything still existing in Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped)

The website Cost Of War keeps a running tab on the cost to the U.S. of the bush-cheney corporate resource wars being waged against Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, that cost is over One Trillion Dollars. Who profits? Oil corporations, the World Trade Organization which established its control over the occupied nations and their resources by use of brutality and violence, Blackwater, Halliburton, Dick Cheney and his evil spawn, Wall Street, the defense industry. Who loses? The people of Iraq and Afghanistan whose nations have been destroyed and are being militarily occupied and stripped of their resources, and the people of the U.S.

If you want to know why our nation is bankrupt, look to these wars of aggression for a big part of the answer. One Trillion Dollars of taxpayer money spent on these wars, and now our government has the nerve to tell us that they have wiped out the Social Security fund, and they want to change the law so that nobody can collect until they are at least 70 years old. They've stolen our money. We need to go get it back. We need to end these wars, have public hearings to hold the people who lied us into these wars responsible for their actions. We need an accounting of what they have done with our money, because apparently hundreds of millions of dollars have simply been stolen. And we need to make sure that our country will never again go to war unless another nation has attacked us, or there is evidence of imminent threat of attack. http://costofwar.com/

Cold Avocado Soup (Zabars Recipe)

2010-08-09T09:03:00.001-07:00

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Avocado in Vegetable Consomme
by Chef Boris

Ingredients
1.5 Quarts Zabar's vegetable consommé (vegetable stock or chicken stock could be used)
2 Avocados, medium dice
2 Avocado, mashed
5 Kirby Cucumbers, quartered and thinly sliced
1 bunch Scallions, whites and greens thinly sliced
1/2 cup Sweet Gherkins, finely sliced
1 Tbsp Mild Hot Sauce
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt to taste

Preparation
Prepare all ingredients and gently mix in large bowl, seasoning with the salt to taste.

Ghost Dancing With Lady Gaga.

2010-08-07T11:46:00.001-07:00

If you want to destroy a nation and enslave its people, you must first destroy their culture, erase all evidence of their history. That's why the accomplishments of women and minorities in the U.S. have never been included in our history books, never taught to the children: their history has been eradicted to keep women and minorities demoralized, weak, enslaved.

When Spain decided to invade and take control of California from their bases in occupied Mexico, they found land belonging to native Americans. Spain had the weapons and trained military so could fight when necessary, but their real weapon was the Catholic Church and its dogma. They set up missions up and down the coast of California in one of the first "Hearts and Mind" military occupations in the new world. Well yes, they admit, they did kill a lot of people, but they also tried to "help" the people. For example, they gave them a place to live -- imprisoned within the mission system, enslaved to the church. They tried to help the children -- by beating them into renouncing their own culture and belief system, and proclaiming adherence to the Catholic doctrine as a condition to the right to live. Invade, slaughter, indoctrinate, destroy the local culture, force them to give at least lip service to your dogma. Spreading freedom throughout the world. Along with smallpox and other western diseases that wiped out up to 90% of some native American communities. Dominus Vobiscum.

If you really want to own people, you have to strip them of everything they have. And the most important thing they have is their history, their culture, and their beliefs. The European settlors, invaders of the land later called the U.S., began stealing Native American land as soon as they got here, and kept it up all the way to the west coast. Eventually the U.S. came up with lofty theories to claim that they were destined by God to engage in this slaughter, reducing the Native American population from an estimated 18 million pre-Columbus down to a few hundred thousand. By 1830, the U.S. government had passed a law called the Indian Removal Act which required all Native Americans be either killed or moved to desolate barren land and confined in concentration camps.

"By 1872, the U.S. Army pursued a policy to exterminate all Native Americans unless or until they agreed to surrender and live on reservations 'where they could be taught Christianity and agriculture.' The Indian [was thought] as less than human and worthy only of extermination. We did shoot down defenseless men, and women and children at places like Camp Grant, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee. We did feed strychnine to red warriors. We did set whole villages of people out naked to freeze in the iron cold of Montana winters. And we did confine thousands in what amounted to concentration camps."
—The Indian Wars of the West, 1934
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States

So every decade or so our nation just takes out the same old fairy tale, dusts it off, and begins the extermination of another group of people. Like now, in the middle east, where we will kill all the people unless they agree to allow our country to occupy and control them while western corporations strip them of all their resources. And oh yes -- we also are there to teach those people "christianity," just like we did to the Native Americans.

As Native Americans from across the country were exterminated, and the last survivors in the west rounded up and sent on forced marches that make the Turks' treatment of the Armenians look like line dancing, the surviving Native Americans, weakened and in despair, turned to fantasy in their last pathetic hope to be saved. They turned to the Ghost Dance. The idea of the Ghost Dance spread among the survivors, and was fanatically embraced by these poor people as their communities were destroyed. The belief was that if enough of them engaged in the Ghost Dance, it would make all the white people disappear. The white people were really spooked by the dance, so they declared it illegal: No dance, no culture, no history, no belief other than that of the occupying force. When the people persisted in the Ghost Dance, they were slaughtered.

In Wounded Knee, 153 native Americans were slaughtered, many of them women and children. Resistance is futile. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dance

When the U.S. military invaded Iraq the most recent time, the occupying forces were told that they should do nothing to stop the looters (American?) who were emptying out Iraq's museums of all their national treasures. Iraq is sometimes called the Birthplace of Civilization (and its neighbor Afghanistan is called the Graveyard of Empires). Their antiquities contain much evidence of what really happened thousands of years ago, evidence which could undermine the Judeo-Christian claims about their version of history. The National Museum of Iraq includes antiquities that are almost Three Thousand Years Old. They were up, running, keeping records, long before Jesus. Imagine what invaluable, irreplaceable information was stored in that precious museum, before the Americans allowed if not directed that it be looted, the history and culture of Iraq, preserved for thousands of years, stolen and undoubtedly hidden away now in the secret rooms of many of the Wall Street Scum who profit from these wars. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/world/middleeast/24museum.html

The Iraq National Museum was partly re-opened for the dignitaries, but most of its antiquities are gone. Probably stolen, much of it destroyed. The history and culture of the people of Iraq has been deliberately erased by the U.S. It isn't war as we think of it. It wasn't really to remove Saddam Hussein. The purpose of the U.S. War Against Iraq is to destroy the nation of Iraq, turn it over to an outpost for the western corporations and their goon squad and muscle provided by the U.S. military and by private mercenary assassin groups like Blackwater. This ain't your mama's war. Destruction of the nation was not an accidental byproduct of a battle -- it was the purpose all along.

(Iraqi citizens,standing outside the museum fence and watching the dignitaries parade through).

Why destroy the country? Among other things, the U.S. has built 8 permanent military bases and a Billion Dollar Embassy there. Do you think that's for future tea parties for the neighbors? No. We plan to stay there until the oil is gone, which is estimated to be about 35 years.

There are other reasons that the U.S. (and its pitbull Israel) are trying to take control of much of the middle east, which is to grab antiquities so they can continue to lie to the world about what "really" happened in history. "Their" version of history, of course, is that set forth in the Bible. But other people, and other nations, have entirely different books, different national stories about history, some of which contradict the Judeo-Christian version.

Why does the Bible still control the "official" version of history? One reason is because so many other nations are invaded, attacked, their history and culture destroyed, their writings stolen or eradicated. Why does Israel really want to control all of Jerusalem? Is it possible that there are artifacts there that completely undermine Israel's version of history? Of course so, and in fact many antiquities have been unearthed in recent years that contradict the Jewish and Christian versions of "history." Why destroy conflicting evidence? Because we like having the "official" version say that we, the Christians and the Jews, should be in charge. God says we're in charge.

For example, what if the Red Sea did not part, what if Moses did not lead slaves through the sea with the Egyptians in hot pursuit. If that is not true, then pretty much the whole story about God promising all that land to the Jews really falls apart. Imagine the turmoil throughout the world of Christianity if it was discovered that Jesus did not die on the cross, did not arise from his tomb and go directly to heaven, but instead lived for decades. Him, the Mrs., the kids. Think of all the wealth that has been collected by Bible-based religions for the past 2000 years, and imagine what would happen to them if it turned out that much of the story was disproved in writing, by evidence discovered in the region.

Hiding or destroying history can be just as valuable as writing it, claiming "the" definitive version of "what really happened." Look at who wrote the history books, and you can bet those people have skewed the story to benefit themselves.

When the U.S. military invaded Iraq, they were given explicit instructions that they should do nothing to interfere with the looting and destruction of Iraq's national treasures, undisputable evidence in antiquities about what really happened in history, invaluable and irreplaceable evidence of the history of humans on earth. Who would want that result except a group of deceitful, murdering, lying, thieving criminals like the bush-cheney gang? And why? Possibly to destroy evidence of a history that is different from what we've been told. Certainly to destroy the history, the culture, the unifying bonds of the people in that country so they would be easier to enslave.

Now it's our turn. Our country has been targeted, invaded, is being taken over, our history erased and culture destroyed. It isn't a nation doing it -- it's a collection of the world's richest people, including some of our own. They operate in secret behind corporations, all working together through the World Trade Organization. But they are destroying our country and killing off our people as mercilessly as if they were distributing measles-infested free blankets to the kids.

Our nation, our democracy is being dismantled, as if termites were destroying the foundation of our homes. The politicians all take bribes and sell their votes, the public education system is being defunded and children are being shoved into cinderblock for-profit TV viewing rooms where they will learn to be boxboys (and girls) at Walmart and nothing else. The same corporations that have taken over Iraq and Afghanistan and slaughtered their people have taken our jobs to China and stolen our money. They have stolen all our money and given it to Wall Street, and now they claim they must cut back because the money has disappeared -- as if they weren't the ones who gave it away. I actually read someone today saying that people should not be eligible for social security until they're 70 -- but with the life expectancy going down, that just means you won't get it at all.

Rupert Murdoch owns the corporation that runs Fox and its related propaganda empire. Rupert and a Saudi prince own it, and they decide what information our nation should have, what lies to spread. They are erasing our history as we speak, lying about these wars, lying about all the thieves on Wall Street that have gotten away with the biggest theft in the history of the world. They lie, they breathe, all the same to them.

Our movies are garbage, and "art" is a collateralized asset bought and sold by Wall Street Scum just like they buy and sell people's lives. There is no inherent value in anything in this country anymore because the people who run the country destroy everything of beauty, every person with integrity, every idea that is original or creative. If they can't slap a barcode on it and sell it for an obscene price, it just does not exist. That includes people.

Our culture is being destroyed. That is a critical element. If you destroy the culture, there is nothing left to unify people or remind them of their common history. Instead of art, singers, musicians, composers, dancers, festivals, fairs, community events, local pride, regional and statewide recognition of accomplishments, we are left with guns, war and the flag.

Our culture glamorizes thieves, violence, guns, and young men who have been in war, men who steal and men who kill. Once again we are being told that we should read the books of young men who have been in war, vote for them to be our politicians and leaders, go see their movies, invest with them, buy insurance from them, trust them, follow them. I think we should not. I think our leaders in all fields should be only women, and only those who have never been in war.

As our treasury has been looted, and the rich have bribed the politicians to change the laws so they no longer have to pay taxes, the funding for our culture and arts has evaporated. Reading rooms for young writers, shuttered. Museums selling off assets because they can't afford to pay the air conditioning bills.

You go to bars around U.S. military bases in the third world and you find bar girls -- women who are prostitutes, hang around the bars and have sex with the military men for money. We recoil at pictures of them, thinking these are other people's young daughters whose lives are being destroyed. But our modern culture does much the same to our young women. Our entire media portrayal of American women makes them all Philippine bar girls.

Music is Lady Gaga, cheap tricks with cheap tricks. All women in the arts are sexualized, as are little girls in "beauty" contests, child trafficking in entertainment for pedophiles. TV is sex and violence and idiocy, and most of our radio has been taken over by the group that pushes the deaf drug addict as the new voice of America. Soon they will take over the internet so that when people try to search for information, they will only be taken to links provided by Rupert Murdoch's Whorehouse. Destroy the culture and you can destroy the people. That's what we've done in Iraq, and that's what our "leaders" are doing to us. That means it's almost complete. The End of a Nation.

What is the difference between child prostitution in third world countries and the way that the financial rulers force all young women in our popular culture to have breast implants, pose with lewd crotch shots, and simulate oral sex with various objects onstage. That's before they "sing," of course. You know what the real difference is? Ours get paid more. Other than that, in terms of destroying our culture, demeaning our people, cheapening our lives, no difference at all.

When it's over, I think they should rename the country. No longer the United States of America because our states are bankrupt and there will be nothing to unite us but shame. We should call it something corporate, like Principal Place of Business. Or, maybe World Trade Organization Headquarters. I like it: it's direct but catchy. I can see it on the T Shirts already. Now we need a new national hymn. How about that Coke song, but we could change the lyrics slightly: I'd like to teach the world to buy and borrow more money, I'd like to watch the nations die and Wall Street rule the earth. It's the real thing.....

Corporate News: Brainwashing The World.

2010-08-04T12:36:00.001-07:00

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I was watching a TV show from Mexico last night, which purported to be some kind of current events or news show. The format, the style was disturbingly similar to many of the "news" programs we see in the U.S. I was struggling with the language, but that helped me to step back and see the big picture.

They had two women hosts with breast implants dressed in nightclub attire, and one male. A frenetic musical theme kept playing in the background suggesting climax: This Is It, Get Ready! Each host would frantically describe some event, then a video would be shown depicting the event, each more awful than the next.

First there was a young woman who almost fell to her certain death into a raging river, but was miraculously saved by firefighters, followed by the excited claim: "Extremo." Then they showed two young men fighting, one pulled a gun out to shoot the other but the gun malfunctioned, finally it worked and he shot the young man on the ground. "Extremo." Then another brief video showing drug dealers standing on a corner while the cops drive by, describing how the dealers rule the neighborhood. "Extremo."

It was so obvious (in another language) that the purpose was to desensitize the viewer, create a constant and false sense of danger and hysteria mixed with with sexual provocation, and essentially destroy the brain, create a terrified, over-sexed, hopeless people who will do as told.

Then I remembered that scene from the terrific Alan J. Pakula movie "The Parallax View." There was a secret militaristic mercenary organization that recruited sociopaths and trained them to be assassins. Warren Beatty goes underground to investigate the organization after its name comes up in association with the assassination of a popular American politician.

At the time of this movie, in 1974, it was hard to imagine our country would ever have private mercenary corporations on contract, but of course that's exactly the arrangement that bush-cheney had with blackwater, which the obama administration continues to employ. Very disgusting and scary to have our government having its own private mercenary group loyal only to those that pay it, with no duty or responsibility to the people of this country. If there ever is a coup, you can bet that private mercenary groups like Blackwater will be out in the streets terrorizing and shooting our citizens on behalf of whichever government has employed them. We need to demand the government stop hiring private corporate mercenaries, cancel all the contracts. If we need something done during war, we should give our military the resources and support they need to get the job done. Not pay hundreds of millions of dollars to CEOs who are only in it for the money.

In the movie "The Parallax View," the private mercenary contractor organization recruited people to become trained assasins to work for them. Part of the recruitment phase involved having the applicant sit and watch a movie while hooked up to electrodes to measure the response. The ideal applicant should be aroused at signs of violence and insensitive to the suffering of others. It's scary how similar this video is to what is shown on our TVs every night around the world.

This is what Fox and the other Corporate-owned "news" TV channels are doing in their programming. They are desensitizing people to the sight of violence and suffering, lawlessness, and military and police control, terrifying people, constantly throwing sexually arousing photos into the mix to further escalate the sense of arousal, and destroying people's brains and ability to focus.

We, the people, the citizens, own the air in this country, own the airways. The corporations bid for the right to use our airways to transmit their Tv programs. We used to have procedures for shows to require that they be relatively honest and truthful in their broadcasts. Those were the days when Walter Cronkite went onto TV every night and told the American people, to the best of his ability to do so, what had actually happened that day in the world that might be of interest to them. He told the public facts, and did not skew those facts to support any particular position or opinion. He certainly did not waste our time (and pollute our airways) by tales of half-naked females with breast implants, or rumors of which celebrity got caught with his pants down, or even report on the obscene self-indulgent greed of Wall Street scum who steal hundreds of millions from the public then throw it away on parties for their useless children. Walter Cronkite reported the news. Why don't we have more news on the "news" shows, and a lot less garbage?

I think we should cancel all the contracts. We used to have laws that prevented any one person or group from owning more than one TV station. When the stations were split apart, hundreds created where there used to be just a few, Rupert Murdoch wanted to take control of as many TV stations as possible so he could promote his fascist world view. He made a deal with that toad Newt Gingrich to change the law and let Murdoch buy up many stations across the country. That would be Fox, partly owned by a Saudi prince. So our "news" is now provided to us, all across the country, by some undoubtedly fanatic scumbucket from Saudi Arabia and the equally fanatic scumbucket from Australia, Rupert Murdoch. How is it possible that foreign interests control the information we receive in our homes at night? This is wrong.

We need to go back to strict controls on who gets to run programs on TV, including absolutely no foreign involvement or ownership, and nobody -- this means you Rupert -- gets more than one TV station, period. Return the stations to the people, let smaller groups buy them up, and give us real diversity or at least shut down this fascist propaganda that has infected our airways. Why should we turn our property, our airways, over to foreign interests, who will use their money and control to broadcast lies to our people? Can't we do better than that?

Demand the government bust up the monopolies, restrict ownership of and access to our airways to only U.S. businesses, and only one station per corporate or individual owners. Bust them up and stop these few people (i.e. Rupert Murdoch and the Saudis) from taking over our television airways and spreading lies, ignorance and propaganda to our people.

Bill Clinton, Nafta, Rahm Emanuel and the Jack Abramoff Two-Front Squeeze.

2010-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

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I was thinking about Bill Clinton this morning. Maybe partly because of his daughter's wedding. $5.0 million spent on a party. I remember reading that when he left the White House, Bill Clinton's total assets had a value of about $800,000, but he owed several million in attorneys' fees that he had run up in defending against all the crazy charges that had been brought against him. Well, things sure worked out okay for him, didn't they? He went from being $1.2 million in the hole to having so much money that he can throw away millions for an afternoon party. To which President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama weren't even invited! (Me neither).

I remember both he and the Mrs. were given millions to write their "memoirs," which probably was an indirect gift by their supporters to help them crawl out of the financial hole. But that was just the beginning. Bill Clinton soon was being showered with so much money from so many sources that it was hard to keep track of it all.

When Hillary was a Senator, I ran out some of the disclosures of finances, and they showed Bill getting $250,000 from Citibank (his buddy Bob Rubin, co-destroyer of the U.S. economy) for showing up for lunch, then the same thing a month later, and again, and again. Various Israel, or Jewish groups were giving him enormous amounts of money. Then there were a bunch of princes, or royalty from Saudi Arabia. It was an unbelievable amount of money, and it just kept coming. Remember some guy from one of the Stans paid Bill Clinton $100,000, something like that, to go with him to Canada and try to schmooze a deal for him? At one point, I counted up the money that had been paid to Clinton by various corporate and foreign interests, and it was closing in on One Billion Dollars. Much of which he hides in his personal "charity," meaning he doesn't pay taxes on it. My, how the lad has prospered since leaving the White House.

What were all those crazy charges against him? Travelgate? Allegations that Hillary Clinton fired somebody in the White House travel office? So what if she did? Somebody said the Clintons were running cocaine in and out of a private airfield in Little Rock. Who makes up this crazy kind of nonsense? Then they killed Vince Foster, for reasons no one ever could explain. The crazies said Hillary killed Vince Foster! Completely manufactured lies, even accusing them of murder! Then Whitewater: While Hillary was a partner in a firm in Little Rock, she billed 10 hours on a real estate development project that later got into some kind of trouble? So what?

We know the sex claims. Clinton had an affair with somebody Flowers. Okay. Then he supposedly wagged his weenie at Paula Jones. Yuck, but okay. Nobody said he attacked her, raped her, groped her, hit her. How did these unsubstantiated claims of a relatively unknown female become a nationally-financed lawsuit designed to bring down the Clinton White House? Who paid for this, and why?

How much money was spent in pursuing these claims, and for what purpose? Who financed it? Do you know how much it costs to engage in litigation at this level? Trust me: millions of dollars. So who financed it?

We were always told it was the crazed right-wing. But why were they so excited about Bill Clinton? Who was he but some moderate cracker from a poor southern state? He had no real national ties, no particular money-mob behind him. Why would they be worried about him?

Bill Clinton signed nafta in 1993. Rahm Emanuel was the finance guy on Clinton's white house campaign, then has a mysterious blank on his resume, then reemerges in 1993 just in time to push through nafta. Which Clinton must have known would destroy the country. So why did he sign?

Here's what I'm thinking. Jack Abramoff secretly got the "Christian" Ralph Reed to round up a group of lunatic Christians to picket against a proposed Indian casino gambling. Then Abramoff told the Indians that they would have to pay him a ton of money, so he could lobby the government and get the casino approved. It was the double-squeeze: secretly create the problem, put someone under intolerable pressures, threaten to destroy them, then come in and offer to rescue them -- for a price.

It occurs to me that may be what happened to Clinton. He was attacked by the right like the last morsel of food in a starving nation. Irrationally so. They spent millions to keep him under constant attack, and force him to run up millions in debt to pay attorneys to defend him. Then after he signed nafta, and became a cheerleader for the WTO, they kept the pressure on to force him to continue the corporate-sponsored program, finishing up his term by deregulating Wall Street and giving them the green light to steal all our money. He ended up receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the beneficiaries of his largesse.

Now Rahm Emanuel is back in the white house. Presumably putting pressure on Obama at the corporate direction, to make sure that every last piece of meat is shredded from the bones of our citizens before our nation is abandoned, and the WTO and their predator servants move on to their next victims. Is Obama receiving the Clinton treatment, the double-squeeze Jack Abramoff con job? It may have worked once.

Assuming they just can't find any scandal in Obama's history, is it possible that the threat, the pressure point would be to bring down every black politician or higher-level employee in the federal government if Obama does not do exactly as instructed by the corporate rulers, the WTO and their agents? I look at the Shirley Shirrod story, now we've got Charlie Rangel, rumors they're going after Maxine Waters next.

Rahm Emanuel received more money from Wall Street than did any other person in Congress, but nobody said a word against him. Instead, they go after little folks for small-potatoes claims, destroying by media instead of by evidence. It's beginning to smell like more than just a coincidence.

Here's an article discussing Obama's appointment of Rahm Emanuel right after the election:

But, it is Emanuel’s role in securing the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that seems most at odds with Obama’s campaign and the economic debate over NAFTA during the 2008 Democratic Party primary.

Emanuel and the Passage of NAFTA

The passage of NAFTA under President Bill Clinton was one of Clinton’s most controversial actions. It pitted environmentalists, organized labor, and activists against the Democratic Party’s corporate backers and ushered in a debate that still rages to this day. Many of these constituencies saw the passage of NAFTA as a betrayal and point to job losses, weakened environmental standards, and other problems as proof of their critique.

In facing down stiff opposition to the trade agreement from the Democratic Party’s base and grassroots groups, Clinton turned to Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel cut his teeth as a fundraiser during Clinton’s 1991 presidential campaign. Following the campaign, Emanuel become one of Clinton’s key operatives in the fight to pass NAFTA. Emanuel worked closely with the so-called “NAFTA czar”–William Daley, the son of late Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (and a friend of Obama’s who was recently appointed to his transition team)–in mustering enough votes for the trade agreement.

In The Selling of ‘Free Trade,’ Emanuel is remembered for his “aggressive” work on NAFTA and being a critical part of the administration’s NAFTA working group. Emanuel lobbied for votes, helped direct the media strategy (including one targeted leak to undercut news of an anti-NAFTA politician’s election in Canada), and participated in the administration’s campaign to get the agreement passed–over public opposition–no matter what the cost. An October 26,1993 article in The Hotline said that the White House’s NAFTA effort “came to life” under Emanuel, who served as its “operational director.”

Emaneul has reflected positively on the administration’s passage of NAFTA:

“You know, politics is about mending and tacking and so on, and setting your priorities. We were a very determined administration. We made a lot of compromises to get NAFTA passed and a lot of deals to get NAFTA passed.”

Emanuel’s Support for NAFTA and Obama’s Position: Not that Strange After All?

In his statement announcing Rahm Emanuel’s appointment, Obama makes no mention of Emanuel’s support of NAFTA–even when he highlights his work during the Clinton administration. Instead, Obama says:

“During his seven years in the Clinton White House, Rahm was the point man on some of the most difficult issues, from the passage of landmark anti-crime legislation to the expansion of health care coverage for children.”

Most press coverage of Emanuel’s appointment has mentioned that he played a key role in the passage of NAFTA, but none has explored how this may be at odds with Obama’s campaign.

During the primaries, Obama aggressively criticized NAFTA. However, following the end of the primary, Obama began to tone down his rhetoric and appeared to retreat on his NAFTA rhetoric. In an interview with Fortune magazine, Obama stated that much of the anti-NAFTA rhetoric was “overheated and amplified” and that he is a supporter of free trade and is looking for ways to make free trade agreements work for all.

Emanuel now has issued mild criticisms of NAFTA and has said that it would be negotiated differently now, but that the NAFTA issue is a distraction from larger problems with the economy. These mild criticisms are a lot like what Obama has said and are in many ways similar to Obama’s position: it isn’t the logic of free trade agreements and neoliberalism that is wrong, it’s how they are done. For his part, Rahm earlier this year urged the passage of several pending neoliberal trade agreements.

Rahm and NAFTA: Does it even Matter?

There is certainly a progressive case to be made against Rahm and a such critique certainly has merit. On issues from NAFTA to the Iraq War, Rahm’s position has been disappointing or at odds with what many progressives believe.

However, many progressives are defending Rahm as being necessary to navigate the difficult inter-workings of Washington politics. They argue that Rahm will not set policy priorities, but simply reflect Obama’s goals and direct his staff. Still, the Chief of Staff is responsible for determining the president’s schedule and controlling access to him–which gives Emanuel a key role in determining the voices Obama will hear.

At the same time, Emanuel is representative of some of the worst of Clinton’s politics and the rightward shift of the Democratic Party over the past two decades. Emanuel’s appointment–coupled with the appointment of a slew of former Clinton administration officials to Obama’s transition team–serve as important reminder that progressives need to be on their toes if they want to be represented in the Obama administration.

http://www.mediamouse.org/news/2008/11/obama-chief-of.php

Homeless And Hungry American Children, and Chelsea Clinton's Five Million Dollar Wedding. What's Wrong With This Picture?

2010-07-27T13:24:00.001-07:00

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Alexandra Pelosi has a new documentary showing on HBO, called "Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County." It's hearbreaking but well worth seeing.

The key economic problems facing these families are the grossly excessive run-up in the cost of housing (a bubble deliberately created by Greenspan and Wall Street to substitute for the tech bubble after Nasdaq collapsed), unemployment (the result of corporate trade deals which send jobs to other countries) and inadequate wages.

Most of these families have at least one person working full-time. Which, not that long ago, would have allowed these families to have a decent apartment or even a home, nutritious food, one parent at home to watch the kids, reliable transportation and clothing. But in today's world, with the crushing of American working people, all of that is gone. These children wander the streets of Anaheim at night watching the fireworks at Disneyland from a distance, usually hungry, searching through dumpsters for anything they can claim as their own. Since families are routinely evicted, the dumpsters contain the belongings of their former neighbors, the children's toys, yesterday's food. It's disgusting.

I'm thinking about Chelsea Clinton, a girl who has received the benefits of extreme privilege and wealth, and who decided that she would "give back" to the country by going to work for a hedge fund on Wall Street, and is now planning to marry another Wall Street scum. Chelsea has a new face and body (reportedly courtesy of the medical establishment) to fit her Wall Street life, and to show the world she is just like her despicable power- and money-hungry parents. They just reported that the Chelsea wedding will cost Five Million Dollars. I remember reading about Jimmy and Roslyn Carter's children doing things like going into the peace corps, becoming poverty workers, teachers -- giving back. Not Chelsea. She's a taker, like her parents.

I have a suggestion: maybe instead of Chelsea spending money like she's Anastasia in the last days, she could have a small wedding and give the Five Million Dollars she planned to waste on herself to the homeless families and children featured in this documentary. And to the homeless school that had been set up specifically to help these children, the wretched of the earth, who often spend nights sleeping in parks, and who rarely have enough to eat.

What do you say Chelsea? Do you think you've spent enough money on yourself now? Could you spare a nickel for the starving children of this country, children whose parents are unemployed because of what your parents did in sending their jobs to other countries. Sister, can you spare a dime?

Chet Baker (1929-1988)

2010-07-24T13:15:00.001-07:00

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Chet Baker (1929-1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer and singer. He dropped out of high school at 16 and joined the Army, becoming a member of a band at the Presidio in San Francisco. After he left the military, he began playing in San Francisco jazz clubs. Among his earlier successes were being chosen to play with Stan Getz, then with Charlie Parker. Baker was very handsome, and was given a part in a movie in 1955 and offered an acting contract, which he declined in favor of continuing his life as a musician.

Baker's style of playing was unique, different from established jazz groups, and became known as being part of what was called the West Coast cool school of jazz.

Baker started using heroin in his 20s, and that habit eventually destroyed him and his career. He was known to have pawned his instruments to get money for a fix, and spent time in prison on a drug conviction. He was also later deported from West Germany and from the UK because of drug offenses. He settled in the San Francisco bay area and played in local clubs. He was beaten up one night and had many of his teeth knocked out, which destroyed his trumpet-playing style. He had to relearn how to play with dentures. After that, Baker left San Francisco and moved to New York City, then went to Europe again in the 1970s, where he lived for about the last ten years of his life. Although he continued to record, he did not receive the critical or financial support of previous years. Elvis Costello invited him to play on one of his recordings, and a younger generation began to discover the music of Chet Baker.

Baker died in 1988 as the result of an accidental fall out of the window of his second-story hotel room in Amsterdam. The autopsy found heroin and cocaine in his body.

I Love Clouded Leopards.

2010-07-23T17:37:00.001-07:00

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Two clouded leopards just made their public debut in a zoo in Paris.

VoteVets? I Don't Think So.

2010-07-23T10:54:00.001-07:00

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I've been seeing commercials on TV funded by votevets.org, and they always strike me as odd. I would think a veterans group would be actively campaigning to end the wars, for example. Or maybe campaigning to get better medical care and treatment for the wounded, better support for those unable to work or for the homeless alcoholic/drug addict veterans we create in every single war among those traumatized by their experience. Or maybe they would be campaigning to help the victims of Agent Orange from Vietnam -- help the Americans who have gotten sick or died because of exposure to Agent Orange, to help the poor Vietnamese who have a radical increase in cancer and birth defects because of the indiscriminate soaking of their nation by the U.S. with Agent Orange and other chemical weapons.

Or, a veterans group might even lobby to get help for the veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome from the first time we invaded Iraq. I think the veterans from that war include about 40% disabled, from mystery disease and illness that is killing them and their families. The government denies it is because of the war, but come on. Some think it is depleted uranium disease. But they certainly need help. And if our government is using chemical warfare (another international war crime) and exposing our troops in the process, don't we in the public have the right to know that? Do you think the macho young "I Want To Be A Marine" thick-necked 18 year olds who want to go to war and kill people might have second thoughts if you told them that when they get back, they're going to get cancer and give it to their wives, girlfriends, and children? Is it possible our country would rise up and shut down wars if they knew that we were giving cancer to our military people?

But no. That's not the concern of VoteVegs.org. Instead, I see VoteVets.org sponsoring very slick commercials about the need to get off of oil, and about how terrible Iran is, which is why we should get off of oil. What? What does Iran have to do with it? Next they'll be saying it's all Shirley Shirrod's fault. It's Iran's fault that we use oil? What type of thinking is that, other than extreme right-wing militaristic pro-war b.s.?

Who's really funding this group? That old man Pickens who is trying to get the government to buy his gas fields so he can get even richer? The nuclear industry that has apparently already bribed Obama to support their goal of One, Two, Three Chernobyls, public be damned.

As for electing veterans?? No, thanks anyway. I wouldn't necessarily vote against someone because they are a veteran. It's not like they're lawyers, for example, who should be prohibited by law from holding public office. Or the feeble-minded, like George W. Bush. But I wouldn't vote for somebody just because they're a veteran. Come to think of it -- that was Rahm Emanuel's strategy, just run veterans for office to continue the nation's commitment to neverending war. Maybe Rahm is funding this group. Personally, I think we need more women, school teachers, nurses, librarians, factory workers, carpenters, and moms in government, people who know how tough it is just to get by in our society, and a lot fewer of those who love war, and just want the chance to "do it right," as is apparently the goal of this crowd. Somebody needs to tell them there is no way to ever make a war "right."

VoteVets? I don't think so.

Here's How They Keep Us Divided.

2010-07-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

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Here's how it works. The right-wing attacks, demeans, humiliates women by saying they are stupid, incompetent, weak, emotional, incapable of rational thought or cool heads, not qualified to be in charge. And further attacks any ambitious woman based on her appearance -- she's not thin enough or pretty enough, she dresses too provocatively and is a slut or dresses too conservatively and is a lesbian. What kind of a woman is she that she does not stay home with her kids, or what kind of a mother is she that she can spend so much time on her career. It is a "you can't win" situation. They convince enough women and enough men that these cruel assaults are proper, even using religious quotes to justify them (the woman who works is evil and should be put to death) that eventually a lot of women just learn to stay quiet, try to avoid drawing attention to themselves, just get by as best they can. They give up any hope that our society will ever be fair in its dealings with women, and come to accept the lower pay, lack of promotion, lack of political representation, lack of respect.

Now they've gotten rid of (silenced) half the population, so they start on the next group. Let's say non-whites. That would be another 20% of the country (half of the non-white citizens are female so are already excluded). And a similar approach is used on them.

Now we're down to 30% of the country, only white men. Lots of them are then marginalized, told they are stupid, given guns and sent off to war, given dead-end jobs and told they must stay home and control the women. So now we're down to what? 10% of the country, all white men, run everything, steal everything, dictate everything, destroy everyone else's life, keep everyone divided against each other.

These attacks on women and minorities are not done without thought, they are not just the crazy rantings of lunatics. They are part of a carefully-planned program of people like KKKKarl Rove, Dick-In-A-Dress Cheney, Rupert Murdoch, the deaf drug addict on the radio, the teabaggers, most of the Republicans, to take over the country, steal all the money for themselves, and keep everyone else paralyzed with self-doubt and a hatred of their neighbors which prevents them from working together to fight the real enemy: the people who have stolen all the money and sent our jobs to other countries, the people who are selling off our nation's future to corporations and letting them destroy our environment.

We are smarter than that, and we need to begin calling these people out, fighting back. The real problem with the Democrats' non-response this week is that it shows they do not want the public organized, they do not want us to fight back, they do not want us to stand up for our own rights. They think we should silently accept vicious assaults on innocent people based on race or gender, to avoid conflict.

But there already is conflict in this society. It is a war being waged against most of us. We need to start standing up and fighting back. And here's the good news: there are more of us than there are of them. And we've got right on our side.

Because We're Women
Joyce Stevens (1975)

Because women's work is never done and is underpaid or unpaid or boring or repetitious
and we're the first to get the sack
and what we look like is more important than what we do
and if we get raped it's our fault
and if we get bashed we must have provoked it
and if we raise our voices we're nagging bitches
and if we enjoy sex we're nymphos
and if we don't we're frigid
and if we love women it's because we can't get a 'real' man
and if we ask our doctor too many questions we're neurotic and/or pushy
and if we expect community care for children we're selfish
and if we stand up for our rights we're aggressive and 'unfeminine' and if we don't we're typical weak females
and if we want to get married we're out to trap a man
and if we don't we're unnatural
and because we still can't get an adequate safe contraceptive but men can walk on the moon
and if we can't cope or don't want a pregnancy we're made to feel guilty about abortion
and ….. for lots and lots of other reasons we are part of the women's liberation movement.

Let's Rescind The "Free" Trade Deals And Get Our Jobs Back!

2010-07-21T12:43:00.001-07:00

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The World Trade Organization (WTO) is just a corporate front-group, just like the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are corporate financial arms. They are not independent, they do not represent the citizens of any nation, they do not want anything better for the world. Their goal is to put corporations in charge of everything in the world so they will own all the resources and dictate all the laws that govern most issues affecting peoples' lives. The draft version of the treaties that leaders of governments sign -- like Nafta, for example -- are prepared by corporations to solidify their stranglehold, expand their rights, and prevent the citizens of countries from being able to legally do anything stop WTO and corporate control.

Bill Clinton signed nafta knowing full well it would cause millions of good paying jobs to leave this country (Ross Perot told him it would), and that there would be no new jobs created to replace them, which means a new condition of lower wages (because of competition in the workforce) and higher permanent unemployment. In other words, the majority of people in this country, the working people, would be crushed. When Bill Clinton left office he supposedly had a net worth of under $1.0 million. But he and the Mrs. invested in India, one of the nations that benefited enormously from Clinton's trade agreements. And Clinton received hundreds of millions of dollars after he left office from Wall Street, the banks, and the wealthy controlling elite from countries around the world. Why did they give him all that money? Because his actions in signing onto the "free" trade scam made these foreigners even richer, put Wall Street and the banks into a position to begin a looting spree in this country to steal everything not nailed down.

Given this background of betrayal, the only reasonable response is to rescind all these agreements and start over, with protective barriers in place to allow new businesses to start up without being undercut by overseas (i.e. American money that has been hidden oveseas) companies flooding the markets to drive the new industry out of business. We need to make everything here: clothes, shoes, coats, grow our own food, catch our own fish. Stop all food imports. We need to make furniture and computers, and we need to have an environment in which creative software businesses can develop new products without being crushed by predatory monopolies like Microsoft, which means Microsoft and all the other bloated businesses in this country need to be busted up in anti-trust lawsuits, broken down into smaller businesses that do not have the resources to dominate the market. This would include every business on Wall Street.

We don't need to fiddle with these treaties. Some people insist that if we enforce environmental and labor regulations, that would change everything. But honestly, unemployed Americans don't benefit just because Chinese workers get a fifteen minute break twice/day, or if their wages are increased from $1.00 to $2.00/day. This is backwards liberal thinking. It is not our job to control business in China -- they've got their own situation, let them take care of it. We need our own businesses here in this country, and that will not happen just by having environmental or labor standards enforced in China. Bring the jobs back here.

I would also ban imports from any American business that claims its principal place of business is in the U.S., but most of their products are made overseas. If they are made overseas, the business should permanently move overseas. Adios traitors. Or, if they want to stay here, they will have to begin making their products here in the U.S.

We, the working people of this country, have been betrayed. We have been betrayed by both major political parties, Democrat and Republican, which have sold us out for money. The politicians sell their votes, solicit bribes, get rich, and destroy our lives. They have more in common with each other and with foreign rulers than they do with the citizens of this country. We need to start telling them what to do, beginning with rescinding every trade agreement, and investment in new (worker-owned) businesses in this country.

Who Says The Teabaggers Are Racists? I Do, I Do!

2010-07-21T12:41:00.001-07:00

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"Teabaggers" is a cruel nickname used by most people to describe a group of Americans, many of them old, all of them feeble-minded or suffering from mental illness and incapable of rational thought or responsible behavior, most of whom should be institutionalized and probably medicated to keep them calm. But the authorities periodically allow them to have little "outings" to their local parks, where they wander aimlessly and shout things that make no sense at all.

They like to draw pictures with crayons, like little kids, so local communities often have little craft play-activities for them to make signs for their outings. What they write on their signs makes no sense, it's completely irrational, just the mindless ramblings of the criminally insane.

Sometimes they take individual teabags and tie the strings around their ears, then when they shake their heads, they like to watch the teabags swing around and hit them in the eyeballs. It's very disturbing to watch. The poor things. They are a pitiful group. There may be a genetic link that causes this, because it seems to be confined to "white" people, many of them from the southern part of our country.

It's Not Your Fault.

2010-07-20T09:18:00.001-07:00

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Being unemployed is a unique condition because our society teaches us that anyone who is out of work, or who does not earn money, is getting what they deserve. They didn't try hard enough, they didn't work enough hours and keep their mouth shut about illegal working conditions. So what if wages in the field were cut in half -- they should have gotten a second job. They should have gotten more education, gone to one of those schools that advertise on TV where you can get "specialty training" so you can become a receptionist in a doctor's office and earn $18,000/year, which will not be sufficient to ever pay off the tuition of $25,000 charged by the TV school. You should have, could have, might have, must have, done something to end up like this. It's your fault. Get a job, bum.

It's a lot like the social reaction to women who are beaten or raped. Lots of questions have to be answered before anyone will express even an ounce of sympathy. Why did she stay with him? Why did she move in with him? Why did she have kids with him? Why didn't she leave? She should have known better, her mother did not raise her like that. She had options, she didn't have to stay. She must have liked it. Or, for the rape victim, what was she doing out at 10:00 at night? Why did she go to THAT ATM machine in THAT part of town? Why didn't she go get money on her lunch break if she needed money? Why was she dressed like that? Why did she ALWAYS wear tight sweaters or short skirts or high heels or eyeshadow or dangly earrings or perfume.

We need a radical re-education. "We" are not the enemy, contrary to the cartoon, contrary to what the ruling class and politicians try to tell us. "We" didn't cause the looting of this country -- that was Wall Street. Wall Street told the local banks to loan money to anyone regardless of whether the borrower could repay, because Wall Street would buy those loans, slap a coat of cheap paint on them and re-sell to the world and claim they were the best loans ever. That's why the country's economy collapsed and that's why we had gross overbuilding of homes and now massive foreclosures across the land. It wasn't "us" who did it -- it was Wall Street. And they paid off the cops, too. The cops would be the government, which is supposed to monitor and control these predators on Wall Street but instead the politicians decided they'd rather take bribes and look the other way. "We" didn't cause this -- our politicians are corrupt, and they not only allowed it to happen, but they actually profitted from it.

"We" are not the enemy. "We" are part of the same team. We need to get T-shirts printed up that show which team we're on -- our team. Unemployed, broke, homeless, hungry, crime victims, sick, uninsured, denied healthcare, sent to illegal wars, had our family members murdered by the corporate effort to steal everything in the middle east, denied jobs, denied opportunity, denied fair wages, denied job security, replaced by slave labor, sold inedible garbage labeled as food, children denied education, parents denied retirement. That's us. That's our team. And if our team ever gets organized, we will be unstoppable.

Iraqi Deaths Due to U.S. Invasion

2010-07-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Let's Build An Anti-War Movement.

2010-07-14T16:43:00.000-07:00

How do we build an anti-war movement? Obviously whatever has been done isn't working. I'm guessing people are overwhelmed just trying to survive.

A "movement" does not consist or arise out of one person saying there should be a movement. Even Rosa Parks wasn't really Rosa Parks. She did not start the bus boycott. Lots of people around the country, in small groups, on college campuses, in churches, inside unions, in political party meetings, had begun to organize around the idea of civil rights. Thurgood Marshall's legal guidance was inspired and brilliant, which is why the Republicans hate him to this day. The NAACP, the lunch counter sit-ins, the freedom riders, of course Martin Luther King, Jr. , voter registration -- thousands of people worked on these issues. Rosa Parks was without question an incredibly brave woman who risked her life to sit in the front of the bus, but she was not alone. She had a solid group of people ready to come to her defense once she sat down.

I think the anti-war movement would have to be in combination with labor issues, for example, maybe vet issues. There are groups in existence already who would be likely to get out and demand the wars end, but the issues will have to be tied together.

But I suspect it would require lots of little groups -- 6 people here, 4 there -- maybe teach-ins, maybe speakers going to churches and talking about the money, the waste. It can't be mostly an angry invitation. It will not work if it is "what's wrong with you losers?" It has to be presented to people in a way that lets them decide, in their own group, that they want to do something to help.

I think unemployment and layoffs and state and city bankruptcies are ripe for organization. And they tie in logically with anti-war.

Maybe the unions, or what's left of them. Maybe organize at unemployment offices.

I've gotten out on street corners with other people, holding signs, and surprisingly we get mostly thumbs up from people driving by. Polls show the majority want the wars ended. How can we turn that into a demand instead of just a "hope."

I also don't think that screaming hatred at Obama is the way to go. The right has that position covered. Maybe another approach, something like "for the benefit of us all, to save the country, to stop the money, to bring the resources back home and create jobs for our own people." That has a certain appeal.

I also don't think one person can figure this out. Again, it needs to be a group organized around something, then group discussions, reach out to other groups. With the internet, it certainly should be possible to do research and develop a talking points (or maybe a monthly memo that people could put their own city's name on top of it, call it a blog). Let's say National Anti-War Blog, for example, then St. Louis Missouri Anti-War Blog. The basic information would be provided for use for whoever wanted in monthly blog or more often, but then local people would have to update to include local information.

Then put letters in the local paper with the updated information, send people to the blog. Make it local. How many people from your community are in the war, how many have died, how many injured, how many not receiving the services they need. How many unemployed, how many foreclosures, how many teachers and cops fired. No hope at all -- the federal government occasionally admits there is no hope, double-digit unemployment is the new norm, and if we don't like it, too bad. But if we weren't spending all that money on the wars, we could create our own jobs.

I would add in that we need to rescind every trade agreement, create worker-owned industry and pass protective laws to prevent imports. Period. No imports until our country is back on its feet. I would say no visa workers until our own unemployment is down to 3%.

People are terrified. They can't focus on the wars, which are far away, and rarely covered in the news, when their mortgage is in foreclosure. It all ties together, but different groups can provide part of the answer to the puzzle.

People do not hate Obama, except for the racist rednecks. It's possible, and I would say preferable, to create an anti-war movement that is not centered around saying Obama is a pig. Most Democrats won't accept that type of attack on him, would be embarrassed to be associated with that. The guy's got enough attacks from the right. Push, yes, disagree, yes, but attacking him, or attacking other people who are likely supporters, is not the way to build a movement.

Maybe reach out to some of the groups that have experience in organizing people, talk to them, see if they would get on board. Try to get groups in every state, have meetings, come up with a name (coalition to end the wars sound good), start with local activities and education programs, go from there.

As a last issue, the Democrats and their major supporting groups will argue that this is not the time, not now with the 2010 elections coming. After then it will not be the time because the 2012 elections will be coming. By corralling people into elections work, the democrats prevent us from doing the work that would actually help our country, focusing on the issues that might just save it. Obama has quoted Franklin D. Roosevelt in saying that if the citizens want him to do something, we need to get organized, get out in the streets, and make him do it. Let's take him at his word.

Naomi Klein - G20 - We Need Global Justice.

2010-07-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

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In late June, there was a meeting in Toronto of a group of nations which call themselves the G20. The streets in Toronto were filled with people protesting the G20, being chased, beaten, jailed by the police, amid scenes of general chaos.

What is the G20? It is a group of people, leaders of certain nations and their representatives, plus the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) who meet regularly and agree about how to control the economy of the world. When unemployment benefits in the U.S. are not extended despite double-digit unemployment and no jobs, you can look to groups like the G20, IMF and WB who, through the World Trade Organization (WTO) have taken over the control of the entire economy of the world. Who do they represent and in whose interests do they act? They represent rich people and corporations, and act in their interests. They do not represent the citizens of any nation. That's why they are so unpopular.

What did the G20 say after their little summer get-together in the beautiful city of Toronto? They said of the citizens, the poor, the unemployed, the children, the old, they said the same thing: "Let them eat cake." Or today's version of it, which is "We must pay down deficits."

What does that mean? Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine (if you never read another book in your life, you've still got to read this one) explains how the system works. First the wealthy loan money, cheap, to a country, inflate the value of assets (like they did to housing in this country), then pull all their money out and watch the market crash and, as it does, create massive widespread unemployment. People lose their jobs, homes, savings, and pensions. Then they lose hope.

Once the people are broken, then the wealthy, through their corporate ownership and control of the governments of the major nations, move back in and take over everything. They have the government tell the citizens that the country can no longer afford public education, so the schools must be closed. That's happening right now. They say that we cannot afford cops, so they are laid off. They say that we cannot afford Medicare and Social Security, so those programs will be eliminated (and the money which was paid into those programs for decades by working people will be stolen by the rich). They say that the nation must sell off its assets to private investors (the rich) -- sell the lakes, sell the oceans, sell all the water to corporations who will turn around and sell it back to us for a lot more money. Sell the freeways and the ports and the airports to foreign investors who will charge each of us a bundle every time we drive our car, or need to fly somewhere.

That is the role of the G20: to work on behalf of the rich and powerful to bust the people of the world, take away everything they have and crush them into submission.

The G20 and the IMF and the World Bank all work together as representatives of corporations. They make decisions that help corporations maximize their theft and minimize their liability. For example, the "free" trade agreements this country has signed often include provisions that would prevent our country from imposing restrictions on businesses operating inside our country. We lose the ability to control our own nation. The citizens have no say, because the government signed a treaty and took away our rights. That's why we need to demand that all trade treaties be rescinded.

Here are some brief comments from Naomi Klein about the G20.

Here's the link to the Toronto Globe & Mail article that Naomi Klein is discussing, about the origins of the G-20. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/g8-g20/news/how-canada-made-the-g20-happen/article1609690/

There is a link below to another article about the G20, this one posted at Counterpunch, excerpts below:

The Toronto Sixteen
Supporting the Prisoners of the G20 Police State
By PETER GELDERLOOS

This week, my mind is with the sixteen Canadians who will be transported between their maximum security jail cells and the court to determine whether they will be held in prison until trial or released on extremely restrictive bail conditions. They are accused of organizing the protests against the elite G20 summit of world leaders that took place in Toronto at the end of June. At these protests, thousands of people took to the streets in opposition to specific policies of these twenty leading world governments or in negation of the global political and economic system in its entirety. ...

In all, over 1000 people were arrested during three days of protest, many of them detained based on their appearance, put in cages, sexually harassed or assaulted, injured, denied food, water, legal and medical attention, and otherwise abused. ...

Some of them were arrested in early morning raids, forced half-naked out of bed at gunpoint, assembled on their lawns and handcuffed in the pre-dawn darkness, and hauled off to jail. Others were picked up while biking or walking around town, sometimes by plainclothes cops making lightning grabs, a tactic perfected by the Stalinist police (the cops are internationalists, you see, and their methods for control travel across borders with much greater ease than they allow the rest of us).

None of this should be surprising. Powerful men in suits convening to discuss world problems; heavily armed police kicking down a door and sticking a gun in your face—this is the most ordinary juxtaposition imaginable in a democratic society.

The G20, just like the G8 and just like the International Monetary Fund or World Trade Organization and just like capitalism as a whole, is an act of exclusion, and when the stakes are this high, exclusion is always a violent thing. The governments that compose the G20, like all governments everywhere, base their power on forcibly excluding anyone else from making decisions that affect their lives. When the G20 convene to talk about global warming or financial crises—problems which they largely created, which they profit from immensely, and which they will escape the worst effects of—they are not making decisions in any positive sense, so much as preventing all the rest of us from addressing teose problems....

The fact that the global economy functions simply to keep capital moving, regardless of who is harmed in the process, the fact that elite institutions and politicians can respond to capitalist crisis by funneling billions to the banks and kicking normal people out of their houses, and the fact that people who protest this are surveilled and brutalized through a program of counterterrorism, are all aspects of the same truth: being robbed of our ability to live with health and dignity and being prohibited from intervening in our own lives are the same thing. The gun in the face and the televised speech are two motions in the same process....

British Petroleum can kill their workers and destroy the Gulf of Mexico, ... but if protestors smash a bank window or light a cop car on fire, they are denounced as violent. ...

What matters is that when all those workers died, when all those people were evicted, when all that money was taken from us by the banks, when all those bombs fell, when all that air and water were poisoned, no one in power was punished and it didn't matter whether rules were broken or followed. To speak of rules and laws is to perpetuate one of the greatest lies of our society.

This is their vision of the future: cops and security cameras everywhere, preemptive arrests for simply planning or talking about resistance, people with masks or spraypaint or eye wash for the teargas being treated as terrorists.

Peter Gelderloos is the author of How Nonviolence Protects the State.

http://www.counterpunch.org/gelderloos07072010.html

Nathans Hot Dogs - Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York

2010-07-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

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Nathan’s Hot Dogs is a hot dog stand that was started in 1916 in Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York, by an immigrant from Poland named Nathan Handwerker. Nathans has been in business now for over 90 years, and the name Nathans Famous Hot Dogs is recognized throughout the world.

Nathans Hot Dogs was popular from the outset, but over the years has gained celebrity-level popularity with stars, international visitors, and politicians from throughout the country, all of whom want to have their picture taken at Nathans, eating a hot dog. It's just a very American thing to do. Nelson Rockefeller, one-time Governor of New York, made the statement that nobody could get elected to any office in New York unless they had a photo of themself eating a hot dog at Nathans.

Among the people who ate at Nathans Hot Dogs in Coney Island, Brooklyn, are Al Capone, Eddie Cantor, the Queen of England, Jimmy Durante, Jerry Lewis, Sandy Koufax, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Robert Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Princess Grace, Sammy Davis Jr., and Cary Grant. In 1939, still in the midst of the great depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt served Nathans Hot Dogs to the King and Queen of England. Jackie Kennedy loved Nathans hot dogs, and also served them at the White House. Nathans Hot Dogs were flown to Yalta and served in the famous meeting at Yalta between FDR, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Barbra Streisand flew a package of Nathans to London and served them at a dinner party.

The man who started it all, Nathan Handwerker, was eventually named one of the 100 top people of New York City, joining such luminaries as Joe DiMaggio and Irvin Berlin. The noted actor Walter Matthau had requested that Nathans Hot Dogs be served at his funeral, and they were.

Nathan's branched out, and today they are sold in all 50 states, with 360 million Nathans Famous Hot Dogs sold last year.

Of course Nathans is also well-known for the annual hot dog eating contest held each 4th of July at Nathans in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. In 2010, there were 40,000 people who went to the hot dog eating contest as fans, and it was broadcast on ESPN live to over a million viewers on TV. The winner ate 54 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. (Burp).

Bob Sheppard (1910-2010) New York Yankees Announcer, RIP

2010-07-12T11:15:00.001-07:00

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Robert Leo Sheppard, aka "Bob" Sheppard, died this week-end. He was a much-beloved figure in the world of Major League Baseball. Sheppard was the announcer for the New York Yankees from 1951-2001. He announced over 4500 Major League Baseball games. While he was with the Yankee organizations, his team won 22 American League Pennants and 13 World Series Championships.

Yankees players and fans sometimes called Bob Sheppard the "Voice of God." Derek Jeter, shortstop for the Yankees, loved Sheppard's work so much that even after Sheppard retired, Jeter asked that a recorded version of Sheppard's annoucement be used whenever Jeter came to bat.

Bob Sheppard was 99 years old, just months shy of 100. RIP Bob Sheppard.

Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan: Scapegoats Of The Day.

2010-07-10T18:34:00.001-07:00

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Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan have a lot in common. They both have foul-mouths, both are alcoholics, both are involved in a series of public scandals, can't seem to keep their mouths shut. We hear about both that this time they're done, nobody will hire them. But we know that's not true, and it should not be true. If they clean up and apologize, they should be allowed to work just like everyrone else.

If you read comments from people in Hollywood, and even some in the national political scene, they're fairly ridiculous. Ari Emanuel called for Mel Gibson to be "shunned" by everyone in Hollywood. Sounds Biblical, doesn't it? Who did Mel Gibson kill? Why, nobody, that's right. I wonder if Ari Emanuel has ever called for the public to shun his brother Rahm Emanuel who is a big supporter of the U.S. slaughter of citizens in Iraq and Afghanistan? No, I don't think that killing Muslims rates a shunning from him. Ari Emanuel, by the way, is a big agent in Hollywood. He probably was hoping others would shun Mel so he could sign him.

I'm reading others trying to rally the public, saying this is it for Mel, we must act in a unified manner, as if Mel Gibson was the Boston Strangler, and we needed to organize teams to walk the city streets and warn old ladies to keep the latch on their doors.

What is it he did again? What's the story of Mel Gibson? His father's a Nazi, we know from public comments made by Herr Father. Mel was raised in some cult religious group that claims to be Catholic although the Catholic church denies it. Mel Gibson is an admitted alcoholic, chain-smoker, addict with significant impairment throughout his life. He suffers from chronic depression and has been suicidal at different times. He's fanatically religious and has a rather odd obsession with violence which could arise from a childhood of acting as punching bag for some psychotic authority figure. His movies, notably Braveheart and the Jesus Slasher Film, focus on violence and suffering as if that was a good thing. Backwards, for sure. He was married for many years to some poor (but rich) woman and impregnated her at least 7 times. We know that much.

We also know that as soon as he and the Mrs. split, he hooked up with some pretty young babe who seemed to get pregnant on the first date or soon therafter. I'm guessing that Mel Gibson, a 50-something year old drunk with lots of money but publicly a disgrace, wanted to believe the young babe was in love with him, but recently learned that the pregnancy is the same as a lottery ticket. I want to know how much money her attorney demanded. Given that it's Hollywood, my guess is $20-30 million. For having sex with the guy. And now Mel is furious because he realizes he's been had. So he calls up the babe in a (drunken?) rage and rants, and she tapes it. And I would not be the least surprised if the tapes are being released to put pressure on him to settle, to give her the amount of money she's demanded. Sorry, but this lady is 40 or close to it, and I don't buy the "I'm just a sweet innocent victim" act she's putting on. Mel screwed her, and now she's screwing him.

In the process of screaming at the babe, Mel used the n-word. She taped it. He previously used the J-word (not Jesus, but Jews) when he said that the Jews started all the wars in the world. Okay, I've never heard that one, but okay. Stupid, but not the worse thing I've ever heard. Not as bad as all the "towel-head" and "rag-head" slurs we regularly hear from Hollywood insiders, not even close to the B*tch and C*nt words we hear from the Hollywood insiders every day when they talk about women. I wish somebody, somewhere, would stand up and demand that somebody "Shun" a major actor because he called a woman a B*tch! That'll be the day.

As for Lindsay Lohan, her crime apparently is that she is a drunk and/or a drug addict, she had a girlfriend instead of a boyfriend, her mother is skanky and wear skirts way too short for her age, her dad used to be a drunk, she hasn't had a successful movie in a few years, and she painted F-You on her fingernail and held it in front of her face in court, like she was saying that to the judge. Well I can sympathize with her on that one. I've known some judges who should be told that on a regular basis. But what is the serious, significant wrong she has done, other than being a substance abuser like so many others? She didn't start any wars. She didn't rob the country blind like the criminals on Wall Street did. So is she really Top 10 Most Wanted material? Or is this just silliness?

\What bothers me about the self-rightous gang-banging quality of the unified condemnation from those paragons of virtue in Hollywood is that they are so obviously disconnected to the real world. There are calls to boycott, condemn, shun Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan. Really? Because they are drunks and say bad words?

How about this, Hollywood insiders. How about shun every person who works on Wall Street, how about condemn them for destroying this country? How about shunning the people who support these wars of aggression, and shunning businesses that throw Americans out of work. Shun rich people who use tax dodges to bankrupt our nation and use slave labor to make themselves richer. Shun the politicians who take money and sell their votes.

I'm not saying Mel Gibson or Lindsay Lohan should be admired. Just put into context. They don't matter. Not nearly as much as the unemployed Americans who can't find jobs, and who can't afford healthcare, housing or even food. And for heaven's sake, if the elite and those drawn to the limelight want to call on the world to shun two drunken actors, they should at least take that arrogant condescending tone out of their voice before they say it, because all they're really doing is getting together with other rich and powerful people and gang-jumping a couple of drunks.

Summer Pasta (No-Cook Sauce)

2010-06-30T10:12:00.001-07:00

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Summer Pasta (No-Cook Sauce)

Ingredients

1 pound dried pasta
6 cups chopped tomatoes (combine different types of tomatoes)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese for topping: Parmesian or Feta.

Directions

1. In large glass bowl, combine tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper, gently toss to combine, cover with saran wrap. Leave out at room temperature. Can be left out all day if it's not too hot outside.

2. Toast walnuts or pine nuts over medium heat in frying pan.

3. Cook pasta.

4. Combine tomato mixture with the cooked pasta.

5. Serve. Sprinkle toasted nuts and cheese on top of each serving.

Serves 4

NOTE: you can add other ingredients to the "sauce," such as, for example, chopped mushrooms, zuchini, or olives. Whatever you like.

Mommy, Where Does LSD Come From? "A Bicycle Trip."

2010-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hair: Facing A Dying Nation.

2010-06-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hair was an anti-war musical which originally opened in a small theatre off-Broadway in New York City in 1967. The main story revolved around a young man who had been drafted, and did not want to go to Vietnam to fight in the U.S. War Against Vietnam.

The characters in the play were all "hippies," who smoked dope and had sex outside of marriage, wore long hair (the name) and cotton tie-dyed clothing. They were tree-huggers and earth-lovers, recycled before anyone knew what that meant, environmentalists who believed we should consume less, waste less, live more simply. The hippies, and those represented in this play, were both horrifying and fascinating to the rest of society because they represented such a radical break with the buttoned-down Dick Nixon 1950s suburban America which these young people were rejecting.

The show rejected and ridiculed the mindless patriotism of those who come to attention everytime they see a flag, which is exactly what has again taken hold of this country with the Flag-Lapel controversy about which we've heard way too much. Some young people at the time burned American flags to show their disgust with this nation's wars of aggression, and the right-wing to this day always wants more laws passed making it criminal for anyone to burn a flag. When is the last time you heard about somebody burning a flag?

But the main theme of Hair was anti-war. Although the U.S. War Against Vietnam would not end for many years, Hair helped to bring anti-war views into the mainstream, helped lay the groundwork for what eventually would turn the public against that war.

In the 1950s and 1960s in America, hairstyles for men were usually pretty limited to the military cut (like a flat top) and kept short. "Real" men had short hair. Longer hair, and that's just a tad longer, like Elvis Presley, for example, was something for the pretty boys, the lover boys, but not for normal men. But for the young men who joined the counter-culture, became hippies or just adopted some of the lifestyle, wearing their hair long became a symbol to the entire world that they were against the U.S. War Against Vietnam, and were against the typical limited role for men in this country.

That's why you get a song like "Almost Cut My Hair" by Crosby Stills Nash and Young. Young men with long hair at that time were verbally assaulted by other men, could be physically assaulted, and were often called queer, or faggot, or other derogatory names for homosexuals. When they were drafted, and their heads shaved, it was a double wound, one which reflected the loss of their individual choices and their recruitment into a brutal war where they would be sent to kill and die, like gladiators being set out to the slaughter. Hair, on young people's heads, took on enormous significance.

By the time Hair opened on Broadway, it also included nudity, something unheard of in legitimate theatre in the U.S. The show also contained "strong" language which led its performance to be banned in some countries. The show opened on Broadway in 1968 with a fully integrated cast, which also was rare in theatre, but fascinating to Americans who had been educated by the Civil Rights struggles, but still mostly lived and worked in segregated communities.

For women, the image and fashion of the hippies, and as portrayed in Hair, was a radical rejection of mainstream society dictates. In the 1950s and 1960s in the U.S., women's style and fashion was strictly dictated by men who ran the clothing industry, and who shared the Protestant view that women's bodies were evil, that sexuality was bad and women were bad unless restrained. Women's hair, for example, was permed, curled, "styled," teased or back-combed, then sprayed with tons of hairspray designed to keep the hair from moving. Because we all know how slutty it looks for a woman's hair to move.

Undergarments for women were harsh, starting with girdles made of stretchy canvas and worn very tight from the waist to the lower theigh, to make sure nothing on the woman "jiggles." Bras were also sturdy and big garments to prevent breasts from jiggling, although oddly enough, they were cone-shaped and sharply pointed at the end to make sure that men knew that yes indeed, this female specimen has a pair.

The female hippie fashion style, therefore, was almost the equivalent of a girl saying "Look at me, I'm a slut." The hair was not cut or permed or colored or curled. It was allowed to grow and grow, was never cut, and simply flowed around the head with no hairspray or artificial products. Hippie women did not wear bras or girdles, so they did jiggle, and they felt just fine about it. It was shocking.

After the New York Broadway version had taken hold, another theatre opened the show in Los Angeles. After that, nine other groups opened in cities around the nation, many of them travelling to additional places. By 1968, Hair was also showing on stage in London, followed by France, Germany, and Mexico.

By the early 1970s, Hair was an international success with productions in many nations including productions in Europe, South America, Japan, and Israel. The show was also an enormous financial success. The music has been recorded by many different artists, and some of the songs are now a well-established part of American popular music.

The music was written by Galt MacDermot, lyrics and book by James Rado and Gerome Ragni. Among the hit songs from Hair are the title song "Hair," "Let The Sunshine In," and "The Age Of Aquarius." After opening off-broadway in 1967, it moved to Broadway in 1968 and to London that same year, then to numerous productions throughout the U.S. and the world. It has been revived at least 3 times, most recently in 2009 in New York City and in 2010 in London. It was also made into a movie.

As the music and the play became more popular, and the songs played on the radio, so did much of the fashion and other views of the hippies become part of mainstream. The right-wing was opposed to everything represented by the Hippies, and by the anti-war youth of this country. The movie forrest Gump is an example of a right-wing revisionist propaganda piece that distorts everything that happened in this country in the 1960s and 1970s, and is an interesting contrast to the play Hair. In Hair, the young people supported peace and opposed war. In Forrest Gump, the protagonist and his friend support war, and go to war to kill, because they are "good" Americans.

In Hair, the women own and control their own bodies, and are comfortable with their own bodies, decide with whom and when to have sex. In Forrest Gump, the pretty young woman has sex outside of marriage then immediately gets Aids and dies (even though there was no Aids back in the 1970s). And so on.

Those battles continue today, and are commonly called the culture wars. Crew-cuts versus natural hair, burkas vs. cut-offs, the same underlying beliefs fuel both sides. One group (the heirs to the hippies) are anti-war and believe people should live simply, cooperatively, contribute to community, and take care of the earth. The other group, the Republicans and tea-baggers, believe in neverending war, that greed is good and people should acquire and consume as much as possible, live in gated communities separate and apart from others, and rape the earth, stealing everything from it.

Hair certainly did not end the war or, ultimately, control the obsessive greed of the people who run this country. But it did briefly present a different world view. It's a shame that the right fought back so hard. For example, if we had followed the direction of the hippies, there would be a lot more bicycles and fewer cars. People would work fewer hours and have smaller homes, develop their communities instead of their egos, be cooperative instead of competitive, re-use and re-cycle, wear old clothes, and when they're too old to wear, sew on a colorful patch and wear them anyway.

If we had made a national commitment to end wars and to live in harmony with nature, we would have so much money that we could have spent to help others, bring other people up to a good level with housing, medical, education, food, and we could have avoided all those wars, all those dead people.

It was a great story.

Let The Sunshine In
We starve, look at one another, short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Somewhere, inside something there is a rush of
Greatness, who knows what stands in front of
Our lives, I fashion my future on films in space
Silence tells me secretly
Everything
Everything

Manchester, England, England
Manchester, England, England
Across the Atlantic Sea
And I'm a genius, genius
I believe in God
And I believe that God believes in Claude
That's me, that's me, that's me

We starve, look at one another, short of breath
Walking proudly in our winter coats
Wearing smells from laboratories
Facing a dying nation of moving paper fantasy
Listening for the new told lies
With supreme visions of lonely tunes

Singing our space songs on a spider web sitar
Life is around you and in you
Answer for Timothy Leary, dearie

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in

Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in
Let the sunshine, let the sunshine in
The sunshine in

Senator Robert Byrd: 11/20/1917 - 6/28/2010

2010-06-28T08:57:00.001-07:00

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Senator Robert Byrd was born Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr., in North Carolina in 1917. One year later, in 1918, his mother died in the influenza pandemic that swept the world killing millions, which was commonly called the Spanish Flu. After his mother died, all of the children were sent to live with relatives. Robert was sent to live with his aunt and uncle Vlurma and Titus Byrd, who re-named him Robert Byrd, and raised him in a coal-mining town in West Virginia.

Byrd was first elected to Congress as a representative and later became a Senator, serving a total of 58 years in Congress representing the state of West Virginia. He was a Democrat whose reputation was clouded by his membership in the Ku Klux Klan when he was younger. He not only belonged to the Klan, but held various leadership positions including "Grand Cyclops." He later apologized for his membership in and support of the Klan, and became a supporter of civil rights.

“ I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times... and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened." (Robert Byrd, 2005)

While Senator Robert Byrd, who even then was an old man, stood up on the floor of the Senate and spoke at length against the proposed U.S. War Against Iraq, and logically laid out multiple reasons why the war was wrong, and would be a disaster, and why Democrats needed to use their brains instead of simply supporting war because they would receive corporate bribes from the defense industry if they did so, many of the Senate Democrats voted in favor of that war.

Robert Byrd's speech against the proposed U.S. War Against Iraq, Part 1:

Robert Byrd's speech against the proposed U.S. War Against Iraq, Part 2:

Some of the Democratic Senators who voted for the U.S. War Against Iraq, like Senator Diane Feinstein, have spouses or relatives in the war business, and they make money off of war. Was that her motive? Isn't she rich enough?

Others simply wanted to be part of the fascist military parades they knew would come, be "pro-military" for the next election. In fact, pretty much every Democratic Senator in a leadership position voted in favor of the U.S. War Against Iraq, including Biden, Edwards, Kerry, Clinton, Daschle, Dodd, Feinstein, Landrieu, Lieberman, Reid, and Schumer. They were wrong. They were wrong, and it has cost the American public $1.0 Trillion, as well as causing the deaths of over one million citizens of Iraq.

Democratic Senators, International War Criminals, Who Voted In 2002 In Favor Of The U.S. War Against Iraq.

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Breaux (D-LA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carnahan (D-MO)
Carper (D-DE)
Cleland (D-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Edwards (D-NC)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hollings (D-SC)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Miller (D-GA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Schumer (D-NY)
Torricelli (D-NJ)

Michael Jackson - 8/29/58 - 6/25/09

2010-06-25T15:15:00.001-07:00

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I want silver sparkly socks and a black sequined jacket. I want to be able to sing and dance on a stage in front of millions, with such grace and magic that everyone who ever sees the performance will swear that I took flight.

Jack Abramoff: Doing The Right Thing?

2010-06-24T10:13:00.001-07:00

Jack Abramoff, the convicted felon, is out of prison and, as the media tells the story, he's working in a pizza joint. Well, kind of. He won't really be rolling out the dough, slopping on the tomato sauce or driving around town in one of those cars with the sign on top that says "Hot Pizza." Remember the Spike Lee character from his brilliant film "Do The Right Thing?" Mookie? The pizza delivery guy who carried boxes of hot pizza up and down the stairs of hot New York City apartments? Not what Jack will be doing.

Instead, Jack Abramoff will be "advising" the business owner, coming up with new ideas. Who wants to bet Abramoff will invite the native american tribes from the region in for "pizza" night, then have Ralph Reed get together a group of Christian Fanatics to picket the joint, then Abramoff will offer his services to negotiate a settlement. For a fee. Yeah -- ideas he's got. The problem is, he's a criminal.

(From the AP): Abramoff's hiring doesn't change kosher pizzeria
By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press Writer Ben Nuckols, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jun 23, 7:14 pm ET

BALTIMORE – A lively mix of regulars and families with small children ate lunch at a kosher pizzeria in northwest Baltimore on Wednesday, and several said they have no problem with the restaurant's new employee: disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Tov Pizza's owner hired Abramoff because he thought his business savvy could jazz up the shop's marketing. Abramoff could not be spotted behind the counter, and owner Ron Rosenbluth said he would not be working in the kitchen.

"He's in the back. He's working," said Rosenbluth, who declined to make Abramoff available for an interview. He said it was his understanding that Abramoff could not speak to the media while he remains under the supervision of the Bureau of Prisons, which lasts until Dec. 4.

Abramoff was released from a minimum-security prison camp in western Maryland on June 8 after serving about 3 1/2 years for fraud, corruption and conspiracy. He spent three days in a halfway house in Baltimore before he was placed in home confinement, in part because he has a job, said Edmond Ross, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons.

Rosenbluth ... said he would look to the former lobbyist ... to provide some new ideas for his 26-year-old restaurant. ...

"There are certain things that I know that I'm short on. I'm not very good at keeping up on our website," Rosenbluth said. "It's always good to have a fresh eye on the place."

[Tov Pizza's] customer base comes from the conservative and Orthodox Jewish communities in northwest Baltimore and nearby Pikesville. Most of the men inside wore yarmulkes, and several women wore headscarves, long sleeves and long skirts on a sweltering, 95-degree day.

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Abramoff, who is Jewish, always claimed to be very religious, so I guess the theory is that other Jewish religious people might be more likely to trust him. I've got two words for these people: Bernie Madoff.

Famous Lady From Times Square / VJ Day Photo Dies At 91.

2010-06-23T14:19:00.001-07:00

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Edith Shain was her name. She was a nurse. When the announcement came that the war was over -- really over this time, VJ Day, Victory in Japan, August 14, 1945, Edith like many others gathered in Times Square to celebrate that joyous moment. And while she was there to cheer, a young sailor carried away by the moment grabbed her, threw her back, and landed a big kiss on Edith.

Edith died on Sunday in Los Angeles, at the age of 91. She is survived by three sons, 6 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. So it looks like she kept pretty busy after the war too. She'll certainly always be remembered, or at least her photo will.

Duder

2010-06-23T10:22:00.001-07:00

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Duder is a "show," currently available online, about some young guys in Brooklyn. The creators say that they were influenced by Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Office, among other shows. You can see the influence. It's very funny. Quite offensive, and very funny. Most of the episodes are available at you tube. Here's a link to their website: http://www.dudershow.com/

Episode 1, Part 1

Episode 1, Part 2

In The Land Of The Free: New Film About The Angola 3

2010-06-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

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The Angola 3 refers to three black American men, former members of or associated with the Black Panther Party, who have been imprisoned (collectively) for 100 years in the Angola prison in Lousiana. There is overwhelming evidence that these three men are innocent, but justice in Lousiana is hard to come by.

There is a new film coming out about the Angola 3. Maybe this would be the right time, finally, to put pressure on Kenneth the Page aka Bobby Jindal, Governor of Lousiana, to get him to free these men.

Angola prison, sometimes called "The Farm," is located in the state of Lousiana. It consists of 18,000 acres which formerly were a slave plantation. Most of the slaves who were brought in chains to work at that plantation had been kidnapped from Angola in Africa, and that's how the plantation, and eventually the prison, got its name. Angola has a long history of cruelty and brutality against its prisoners, many of whom will never be released from prison. There are 5000 prisoners at Angola with 1800 staff.

The prisoners still work in the hot fields of corn, sugar cane and cotton, sometimes for as much as 16 hours a day, and are paid pennies for their labor. 80% of the prisoners are black. The warden is a Christian Evangelical and claims that he believes the prisoners can be saved by hard work and prayer.

The prison is surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi River. The movies "Dead Man Walking"and "Monsters Ball" were filmed, in part, at Angola prison. The blues singer and guitarist Leadbelly served a four year sentence there. Angola is legendary for its cruelty, and many singers have written songs about it. There is a great book by James Lee Burke called Last Car To Elysian Fields that has a subplot about a black blues singer from Mississippi who had disappeared 50 years earlier while he was imprisoned at a brutal prison in Lousiana, presumably Angola. It's a haunting description of a prison in which southern white men were allowed to carry on the traditions of the Klan in brutalizing or even murdering black men.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Black Panther Party was formed to demand justice for black people in the U.S. The closet-dwelling and cross-dressing J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, created his own secret program called Cointelpro to frame, imprison, and/or have murdered any people or group that he considered to be a danger to society. Hoover said he thought the Black Panther Party was the most dangerous organization in the country. (No, Edgar -- that would have been the Republicans). Many members of the Black Panther Party were framed, many still are in prison, many were murdered. At around the same time, black communities around the country were flooded with drugs. The CIA was implicated in running drugs from southeast Asia, and some believe that the infusion of drugs into black neighborhoods was part of an overall program to destroy the black community and particularly its young men.

"The Land of the Free" is a new film about 3 men, members of or associated with the Black Panther Party, who were imprisoned in the former slave plantation known as Angola prison, in the state of Lousiana. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film tells the tragic story of the three men known as the Angola 3. Overwhelming evidence shows they were framed and wrongfully convicted of murdering a white prison guard. Even the widow of the murder victim supports their demand for freedom. International support has grown to demand justice for these men. One of the three, Robert King, was finally released from prison in 2001. The other two men, Herbert Wallace and Albert Woodfox have been held in solitary confinement for over thirty-seven years.

Wallace and Woodfox both were members of the Black Panther party. Angola was known as being the bloodiest prison in the country, and Wallace and Woodfox began organizing the prisoners to try to end the violence among prisoners. Because of these efforts, the prison block in which they are held became known as the Panther block, and Wallace and Woodfox were considered to be radicals. There were no black guards. The prison was violent, and had an organized sex-slave system by which prisoners were bought and sold for sexual purposes. The warden at that time was later himself sentenced to a 50-year prison term for the attempted murder of his wife (he shot her 5 times).

A prison guard named Brent Miller was murdered. He was stabbed to death. Wallace and Woodfox were charged with the crime, although they both deny having done it, and neither of them had any history of violence. The main prisoner witness who testified against them was quickly released from prison after the warden personally lobbied for his release. Other prisoner witnesses later recanted. One of the prisoners that the prosecution called to say that he "saw" Wallace and Woodfox kill the warden was a blind man. Four fingerprints including one bloody fingerprint and a knife were found near the murdered guard. The fingerprints did not match either Wallace or Woodfox, and their prints were not on the knife. Despite that, the warden refused to have the prints run against those of the prisoners which were already on file.

Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, learned about the efforts of Wallace and Woodfox to prove their innocence through an attorney who was representing them, and she became a big supporter of the efforts, and brought international attention to their situation. Roddick died in 2007, but others have stepped forward to continue efforts to gain freedom for Wallace and Woodfox.

Here's a link to a website that allows you to send a message to Attorney General Holder and Governor of Lousiana Bobby Jindal asking them to free the two members of the Angola 3 who still remain in prison: Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. It will just take a minute, and it might help. http://colorofchange.org/angola3/

One way you can help out and contribute a little money is by buying some of the Angola 3 support items available at their website, here: http://www.zazzle.com/angola3action
They've got T-shirts, canvas bags, posters, postcards -- even baby clothes, all supporting the demand to free the Angola 3.

See also:
http://angola3.org/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/10/erwin-james-angola-three/print

(Gwen Filosa, 3/17/08, Times Picayune)
http://blog.nola.com/news_impact/print.html?entry=/2008/03/lawyers_call_for_release_of_an.html

Angola 3 is a song produced by Dave Stewart in protest of the incarceration of the Angola 3 featuring Saul Williams, Nadirah X, Asdru Sierra, Dana Glover, Tina Schlieske, Derrick Ashong and Dave Stewart. Visit www.angola3.tv and www.angola3.org for more info.

The Prisons Video Trust: Angola 3, USA

2010-06-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Jerry Brown Says Meg Whitman is Like A Nazi. What Do You Think?

2010-06-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

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(Eva Braun - notice the hairdo?)

I can't get over Meg Whitman's pageboy hairdo. She's supposed to have spent $70 million of her own money so far, and willing to spend another $70 million, to become governor of California, a bankrupt state. Jerry Brown says Meg Whitman wants to become President of the United States (God help us all) and that's why she's insanely over-spending to buy herself the job.

Jerry Brown also complained that Meg Whitman is exceedingly manipulative and dishonest in her campaigning. He said that she'll probably be out telling people he's a pedophile, that's now dishonest she is. Like Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda for Hitler.

So now the big stink today is "Jerry Brown Says Meg Whitman Is Like A Nazi."

(Eva Braun: pageboy hairdo. Probably the last adult female I've ever seen with a pageboy. And check out the blonde color.)

Okay, here's the thing. The pageboy hairdo. I can't get over the fact that a woman who would spend $70 million on a primary couldn't afford to get her hair done. So there must be a reason she is wearing the preferred hairdo of 4th graders across the nation, the pageboy, with that odd gray-blonde coloring of a cheap bottle job.

So you decide. Is this her secret way of communicating to the nazis/racists/fascists/teabaggers: vote for me, I'm one of you? You decide.

Above are photos of the most famous Nazi lady of all, Adolph's gal-pal Eva Braun. Then a picture of Meg Whitman with a blonde paigeboy. Hmmmm.

(Meg Whitman: bottle-blonde with a pageboy. Just like Eva used to wear her hair).

Ask The Sick And Mourning People of Libby Montana What We Should Expect From British Petroleum.

2010-06-10T13:12:00.001-07:00

(Libby, Montana, mining operations)

We should ask the residents, the sick, the mourning in the dying town of Libby Montana what we should expect from British Petroleum. The town of Libby was the site of a mine owned by another multinational corporation, W.R. Grace. The mine was full of asbestos material, which Grace knew since the 1950s, but did not bother to tell the workers. Now the people of that small town are sick, many have already died, their graveyards are filling up with people too young to die, and they are the biggest environmental disaster site in the entire nation. Or at least they were. Maybe the Gulf Coast will now claim that title. But what did the residents of this town get as help from the exceedingly rich people who owned the mine? Not much.

As long as we allow for-profit privately-owned corporations to move around our country, our oceans, the world, and loot, pillage, and rape the earth to extract resources, for profit, they will continue to destroy the earth and kill every living thing. Including the humans that work for them. Profit is everything, and nothing else matters to a corporation. And our politicians take bribes from the corporations, then sit back and let them pillage our nation, destroy the environment, and kill our people.

In the early 1900s, the small town of Libby Montana had just a few thousand residents, about the same as today. Some of the residents worked in mining, and some of them worked in timber. One of the mines opened up around that time was for something called zonolite, which is a form of vermiculite. Zonolite would end up being used around the country for home insulation and in fertilizer.

Over the years of mining zonolite, the company that ran the mine realized that the materials being brought out of the mine included a form of asbestos called tremolite. Asbestos is extremely hazardous. But instead of providing the workers and the people in town with warnings, instead of providing special protective work clothes and gear, the company decided they would just keep the mine open, keep the workers digging, and make as much money as possible.

Asbestos in buildings is generally described as friable or non-friable. If it is non-friable, that means it's encased in some protective coating and cannot break free. If it is friable, that means it can float through the air, and the tiniest little particle, a speck, breathed in by a human, can turn into the deadly disease of asbestosis and kill. It is also associated with lung cancer and mesothelioma. In each of those deadly diseases, the lungs become scarred and no longer work properly, they eventually fill up with fluid, and the victim dies of suffocation. Asbestos, or the tremolite which was mined in Libby Montana, was friable, was floating through the air, inhaled by the miners, brought home on their clothes and spread through their homes. It spread through the community, in the air, into the schools and parks, across the roads, into the homes, into the earth.

One of the residents of Libby Montana who worked in the mine and got asbestosis was Les Skramstad. He was very happy to get the job, but he developed a chronic cough after working in the mine for only two years. Then he began having trouble breathing. Finally he went to a doctor. He was tested, and told that he had asbestosis, which was fatal, and there was no cure. Les Skramstad later spoke about the day he got that diagnosis from the doctor:

SKRAMSTAD: So, I went out and got in the car and started for home and I suppose, I guess we got about half way home probably, and I said to Norita [his wife], I said "Jesus you know what?" And she said, "what" I said, "I just got a death sentence."

Les Skramstad lived for 10 years after that initial diagnosis, although his health continued to fail. Instead of just waiting quietly to die, Les Skramstad started speaking out to the people in his community, talking about the fact that this mine which had been a part of their small town for generations, was killing them. A lot of the people did not want to hear about it, because so many of them made their living in that mine. They raised their kids there, they drank the water, they owned homes or land, and they did not want to believe that their entire town was deadly and poisoned. Some people spoke against Les Skramstad, called him a troublemaker and a radical. But he continued to speak to people about this problem until he died. And over time, more and more people in that small town also began being diagnosed with asbestotis, so finally they realized that what Les was telling them was true.

At last report, out of the town of 2700, 1400 had already been diagnosed with lung disease caused by exposure to asbestos, including asbestosis, and 270 had died from the disease.

(Mining operations, Libby, Montana)

The mine was owned by W.R. Grace, a multinational corporation which was also involved in the movie and film "A Civil Action" about another small town, that one in Massachusetts, in which the people got sick and died from toxic wastes dumped into the local river. W.R. Grace fought tooth and nail against the small attorneys representing the homeowners in Massachusetts, and I believe they avoided being held liable.

Once the problems in Libby Montana became public, W.R. Grace put its corporation into bankruptcy to avoid having to pay for the injures to the residents of Libby, or pay for the cleanup of that town. The corporation continues to do business, but its assets are protected by the bankruptcy court. In the meantime, guess who gets to foot the bill to conduct investigations and try to figure out how to clean up the town of Libby? The taxpayers of this country. The corporation loots the resources, takes all the money, and leaves it to the working people to pay for the damage they cause.

Watching the lackadaisical response of British Petroleum to its oil rigs gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, killing everything that is living for hundreds of miles, destroying the coastal land, putting people out of business, dumping dispersants into the water that could be even worse in the long run, exposing thousands of people to chemical cocktails with unknown future health damage, I thought of Libby Montana and W.R. Grace.

The conclusion is obvious: these corporations steal, loot and pillage, pay the local residents pennies for their labor, then they walk away when their looting causes massive environmental destruction, and kills many of the local residents from cancer and related diseases. They take the resources and the money, the working people die, and the taxpayers pay to clean up the corporate damage. As long as we allow privately-owned for-profit corporations to conduct these types of businesses, they will continue to destroy the planet and kill the animals, plants, and humans. And they don't care one bit.

Here's an excerpt from an article that ran in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper about Les Skramstad when he died:

A bittersweet farewell to a champ of asbestos fight (1/27/07 by David McCumber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Managing Editor)

Cowboys are supposed to be able to sing, sweet and clear and honest like the high-country air they breathe.

When I last heard Les Skramstad sing, at the American Legion club in Libby, Mont., his vocal cords were still tuned true, somewhere west of Willie and north of Merle, but he kept his lips up against the mike, and the amp was cranked to the max. His lungs were scarred with entirely too much high-country air, not clear and honest but laden with asbestos and corporate denials, and he could barely push enough breath to be heard.

Les ... had worked at the mine for only two years, and had been diagnosed with asbestosis -- the gradual, and fatal, thickening of the lungs caused by embedded asbestos fibers.

Les was a simple man, a cowboy, a mechanic, a millwright and a bar singer who raised his kids in the beautiful Cabinet Mountains of western Montana. He never dreamed they'd be in danger there.

Les won the first jury verdict against W.R. Grace, the company that had purchased the mine and ran it for decades -- not telling the miners about the danger they faced.

(Libby Montana: memorial to the residents who have died from asbestosis)

A few days after [the first stories about Libby Montana and the asbestos problems] ran in the P-I, an Environmental Protection Agency emergency response team showed up -- expecting to find the newspaper account was wrong. What they found instead was the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Eventually the federal government would do a health screening in Libby that showed nearly a third of the town -- more than 1,500 people -- showed signs of lung abnormalities that could signal asbestos-related disease.

After the P-I stories ran, Les kept up the pressure. He became personal friends with the then-governor of Montana, Judy Martz, who, in an act of considerable political courage for a conservative Republican, put Libby on the Superfund list. Les was on a first-name basis with U.S. Sen. Max Baucus and even traveled to the U.S. Capitol, wearing his trademark Resistol hat and a wild Western shirt, to lobby Congress on behalf of asbestos victims.

What turned Les from a soft-spoken cowboy into a hard-nosed activist was not his own health. It was the fact that his wife, Norita, and three of his children also have been diagnosed with the fatal disease.
Les told me that he loved his job at the mine. "I loved it so much that even if they had told me that I was endangering my life, I would probably have stayed.

"But if they had told me it was killing my wife and family, too, I would have run like hell."

So long, Les. We admired your courage and determination. We'll miss your voice, so sweet and clear and angry.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/301452_les27.html

Here's an update from Democracy Now with Amy Goodman:

Oliver Stone's New Film, "South Of The Border."

2010-06-09T17:16:00.001-07:00

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Oliver Stone's new film, "South of the Border," is being released this week. It is about Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and the exciting changes going on in South America as that region tries to throw off the bootheel of the United States. If you would like to see the movie, remind your local theatre to book it.

Music Worth A Listen.

2010-06-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

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(Stan Getz - Autumn Leaves)

(Charlie Rouse - When Sunny Gets Blue)

(Miles Davis - Summertime)

(Paula West - Fly Me To The Moon)

(Miles Davis Quartet - My Funny Valentine)

(Indiana Nomma - Night and Day)

(Chet Baker - Tenderly)

(Billie Holiday - The Man I Love)

(Miles Davis Sextet - Some Day My Prince Will Come)

(Sarah Vaughan - September Song)

(Nat King Cole - The Very Thought Of You)

(Cannonball Adderly and Miles Davis - Autumn Leaves)

(Al Haig - Isn't It Romantic)

Orly Taitz and Reille Hunter: Separated At Birth? You Decide.

2010-06-09T13:27:00.001-07:00

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Orly Taitz is an insane lunatic tea-bagger Republican Birther Lawyer who just tried to run for some office in California and lost. She's pretty nuts.

And Reille Hunger is the skanky 40-something woman who had sex with John Edwards and got pregnant (never heard of birth control?) then claimed she had to keep the baby because it had magical powers, all to the tune of millions of dollars she has received for -- having sex with a married man. Then she had sexy photos taken of herself for a magazine, lolling in bed, and just happened to mention that she wasn't wearing any "panties."

Where do these women come from? And why is it they are so successful? People just throw money at them. Is it the peroxide in their hair? Is it the orange they wear? Does the color orange attract money?

And more importantly, do you notice anything about these two women? They could be sisters they look so much alike.

(Orly Taitz -- crazed Republican lunatic birther-lady in Orange blouse)

(Rielle Hunter, 40-something skank who had sex with a married man but forgot about birth control -- oops -- also wearing orange).

I'll bet both of these ladies is worth several million dollars. For what?

I know this much. Friday is makeover day. I'm going to peroxide my hair to the palest shade of blonde, and I'm going to buy an orange blouse, an orange sweater, and an orange T-shirt. I'll let you know if it brings money my way. Or at least scandal.

June 6, 1944: D-Day

2010-06-06T12:39:00.001-07:00

(Americans in England waiting for D-Day).

Sixty-six years ago, on June 6, 1944, the allied nations invaded France on D-Day to begin taking Europe back from the Nazis.

The Allied forces involved in D-Day mostly were Americans, English, and Canadians. The men, weapons, tanks, and ships were all gathered in England in anticipation of crossing the English Channel and landing on the coast of France. The Germans knew that the Allies would come by ship, and knew they would come across the English Channel. They did not know when the attack would take place, and did not know exactly where it would take place.

There were months of decoy operations by the British to try to fool the Germans into thinking the landing would come from the North. Once the preparations were completed, the Allies waited on a day by day basis, controlled by the weather. They could not launch the attack if the seas were too rough, or if there were major storms anticipated. So they waited. And the Germans waited on the coast of France, which they had fortified with concrete and steel bunkers and cannons.

The Landing forces included gliders that were flown to France then released, gliding to the ground; paratroopers who were flown into France then dropped into areas where the Allies hoped the German presence would not be too concentrated. These airborne drops were made to have people in France in advance of the coastal landing. The Allies knew it was imperative to quickly take out the communications lines as well as blow up some bridges and prevent the Germans from communicating to Berlin that the invasion had begun and reinforcements were needed.

On June 6, 1944, the public was briefly advised that the invasion had begun: "Under command of General Eisenhower, Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France." The first ships and men hit the beaches of Normandy at 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1944.

There were 156,000 troops landed in France on D-Day, 73,000 from the U.S.. In addition to the airborne troops who landed by gliders and parachutes, the seaborne troops landed on the beaches in Normandy whose names became familiar to generations who followed: Utah Beach, Omaha Beach, Gold Beach, Juno, and Sword Beach. The allied aircraft flew almost 15,000 sorties that day.

The name of the naval part of the operation on D-Day was Operation Neptune. It included almost 7000 vessels consisting of naval combat ships, landing ships and landing craft, ancillary craft, and merchant vessels. Almost 200,000 personnel worked in the Operation Neptune part of the D-Day operation.

There is no "official" casualty number for D-Day because of the chaos of the invasion. But the unofficial figure is that 10,000 members of the allied invading forces died on D-Day. However, recent studies suggest the numbers may have been much higher. In addition, 24 warships and 35 merchant or auxiliary ships were sunk in June of 1944 in connection with D-Day.

From June 6, 1944 through the end of August, over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing in connection with the Allied advances after D-Day. This figure includes over 200,000 Allied casualties. Roughly 200,000 German troops were killed or wounded, and 200,000 Germans were taken as prisoners of war.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 French civilians were also killed on D-Day in the Allied bombing.

Seventy (70) Million people were killed during World War II.

http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm

When you look at photos of World War II, or newsreels, there is an obvious respect for the common men and women working and fighting to stop the Nazis, working together, as allies, to protect our world. Not worship, not the nonsense that we hear from the politicians about the military -- just respect for the simple men and women making sacrifices and putting their lives on their line out of a sense of duty to others.

It seems like this may have been the last time that we all were part of a team, working together, united against the clear evil of the Fascist governments of Germany, Japan and Italy. There was a very brief period after World War II when it seemed like our politicians and business leaders acknowledged that American men and women deserve to have jobs, education for their kids, nice communities and homes, living wages, so they created programs and policies to make sure tha happened. No more.

We don't have a team anymore. We have an elite group of incredibly rich people who would steal a lollipop out of the mouth of a child if they thought they could sell it on e-bay, people who see most of us as chumps, clearly not on the same team. These wealthy people have their own team which is made up of the richest people in the world. That's why Daddy Bush was hanging out with the bin Ladens and the Saudi Princes on the morning of 9/11 -- because they're on the same team, and it's not our team. As are Bill Gates, Lloyd Blankfein, Warren Buffett and the Clintons -- not on our team. As are the CEOs of the major corporations, and all the management insiders of Wall Street and the politicians they own.

They're on one team which is not tied to the U.S. or to its people. The entry fee for their team is that you must have hundreds of millions of dollars. We, the working people of the U.S., are on our own team -- but somebody stole our equipment and uniforms, sold our field and the lights, took all the food from our snack bar, stole our cars while we were waiting on the field for the game to start. Now what do we do?

Loch Lomond

2010-06-05T13:27:00.001-07:00

(Loch Lomond)

There is a famous Scottish folk song named Loch Lomond. Loch means lake, or sea inlet, and Loch Lomond is a lake in Scotland. There are different stories about the meaning of the song. The song refers to an uprising in the 1700s against England led by by Bonnie Prince Charlie. The English succeeded in putting down the uprising, and killed many of the rebels who had fought against England.

In one theory, the song refers to one of the rebels who is killed (and he will take the low road, beneath the earth) and one of whom lives and can follow the high road. Another view is that the song is sung by a young girl whose lover fights in the rebellion and dies. Another view is that the English chopped off the heads of the rebels and put them on stakes lining the most frequently-traveled roads, which would be the high road. Love the English. They have such a brutal and bloody history of oppressing people all over the world, yet they act like they are the most mannered folks ever to walk the earth. These rebellions were in the 1700s. A poem was written in the 1800s, and made into the song in the early 1900s.

The song is a favorite through generations, among nations, and to many different musical groups. It has been recorded and performed all over the world, including by the following:

- 1938, Benny Goodman performed the song with Martha Tilton doing the vocal. The audience loved it so much they demanded an encore.

- 1957, Bill Haley and the Comets, an early rock and roll group, performed a popular version which they renamed Rock Lomond.

1976 - Australian rock group AC/DC released their version and began performing it live during their concerts.

1980s - progressive rock group Marillon made their own version of the song and played it in a medley along with other traditional songs.

1995 - The Real McKenzies, a Canadian punk band, included their version of the song in their debut album.

2007 - Runrig, a Scottish folk-rock band, has been performing the song for over 25 years. They had a top ten version of it in 2007 released in connection with an aid for children concert.

- Dan Zane and Natalie Merchant did a version of the song on a Zane album.

- A Serbian band named "Orthodox Celts" recorded their version of the song.

Loch Lomond (Lyrics)

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love will ne-er meet again On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomon'.

O you'll take the high road and I’ll take the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland before you
For me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomon.

Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen
On the steep, steep sides of Ben Lomon
Where in purple hue, the hielan hills we view
And the moon coming out in the gloaming.

(Chorus)

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again
Though the world knows not how we are grieving

Support the Rachel Corrie and Demand an End to the Israeli Siege of the Gaza Strip.

2010-06-05T12:58:00.001-07:00

Let's Use "Extraordinary Rendition" and "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" On All The Management Of BP. And Declare Britain A Terrorist State.

2010-06-01T09:23:00.001-07:00

Don't blame Obama for this British Petroleum mess in the Gulf Coast. Blame Cheney and the oil regime of bush-cheney, and the oil corporations that push for offshore oil drilling. I don't think the federal government knows how to solve the problem, so they can't really move in and take over, as some suggest. And just think about it: BP has bribed our politicians in congress to get them to vote to say that no matter what BP does, no matter how awful, it could never be required to pay more than -- I think it's $75 million in damages.

So if the Obama administration pushes BP, tells them to get the job done or get out of the way, why wouldn't BP just say fine, Obama, you take over and we'll leave and go to some other place where we have billions of dollars worth of income coming in. This is a liability for BP at this point in time, and I'll bet everything they are doing is directed by their attorneys, not by their engineers. They will take minimal steps, shrug their shoulders, until finally the federal government steps in and takes over. Just like the federal government stepped in to bail out Wall Street. Just watch.

That's why I would grab BP's top management, use "extroardinary rendition" or kidnapping as it used to be called, stick them in some black hole secret CIA prison, used "enhanced interrogation techniques" until the problem is solved. And declare Britain to be a terrorist nation, then invade them. I never liked the English, anyway. Our government is committed to that method when dealing with those who commit acts of terror on our country. What would you call destroying our ocean then refusing to do anything to try to fix the problem? I call it an act of terrorism, with the oil being the weapon of mass destruction.

We routinely kidnap, torture, and murder people from other countries, people we say are friendly with the terrorists. What could be a worse terrorist attack on our country than what BP has done? Who has caused more damage to the U.S.: Osama bin Laden or BP? Honestly, I think BP wins. Maybe only 10 oil rig workers are dead today, but in the future thousands of people will likely die from the exposure to the chemicals being dumped in that part of the ocean by BP. So why doesn't our government use "extroardinary rendition" on the BP top management, stick them in CIA black holes somewhere until they "talk," because of "enhanced interrogation techniques," and until the fix they problem. Then send drones to London to randomly blow up houses and kill their citizens. Isn't that what we do to "terrorist" nations?

There's another little problem no one's discussing. What happens when the corporations destroy a sufficient part of the ocean, when there are more "dead zones" than live zones? Do we all die? Isn't that the inevitable result of these types of industrial pollution and destruction of the ocean? That we all die? I believe that is correct, that the ocean is necessary for our survival. Everybody has a doomsday scenario in mind of a nuclear war, but what about the doomsday that results from the corporate destruction of our ocean? Gives new meaning to the classic book "On the Beach." Everybody On the Beach will soon be dead.

Why doesn't our government get tough with BP? Why not waterboard their management? Televise it. It could be a pay-per-view special event, raise money to save the birds. I'll tell you the answer, save you some time: the people who run BP are rich powerful white men. They're "our" kind of guys. They are just like the criminals on Wall Street: white powerful rich men who rape, loot, plunder, pillage, and murder, destroying everything in their path. And our government never enforces the law against the rich and powerful. You just watch, most of our politicians have probably taken advantage of this disaster to shake down BP for more money in exchange for the politicians going easy on them.

I say the solution to the BP gulf coast oil spill is extraordinary rendition of their management, and "enhanced interrogation techniques" conducted in some black-hole CIA site until they finally fix the problem. Then bomb England, get some justice for my Irish ancestors. Then seize BP, liquidate its assets, and use the money to build a new green industry in our nation so we can get off of oil. And finally, get serious about electing politicians who refuse to take money from corporations, and who agree to enforce the laws even against the rich and powerful. It is once again true: the rich and powerful can get away with anything in this country, even murder.

The Gaza Strip: Israel's Own Warsaw Ghetto.

2010-05-31T15:16:00.001-07:00

(Israel Has Stolen Most Of The Land Of The Palestinians. The green shows the land of Palestine in 1946; the white shows land stolen by Israel from 1948 to 2000.)

During World War II, Germany and its Nazi government decided to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. Six million Jews were slaughtered by being starved, rounded up and placed into concentration camps, worked to death, used in gross medical experimentations, forced into open-air prisons such as the Warsaw Ghetto where nobody could get out, and no food or aid could get in, until enough of them had died that the Germans moved in for the final slaughter.

There were between 80 and 100 million people who died during World War II. Poland had 6 million dead, only half of whom were Jewish. Russia had 24 million of their citizens who died during World War II. The Philippines lost between 1/2 and 1 million people. Yugoslavia had 1 million dead. And China had between 10 and 20 million who died. So it's important to keep in mind that an awful lot of people were killed during World War II, but most of them did not leave the nation of their birth and their heritage to go to somebody else's country and steal their land.

If we're going by the number of people killed, then I suppose the Soviet Union is the big winner with 24 million dead, and they should have gone to the middle east and stolen somebody else's land. But being the victims of a war has never been seen as a justification to go steal somebody else's land. Most people return to their own country and live alongside their former persecutors, even though they may never do more than co-exist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties

Some of the Jewish survivors of that genocide in Europe wanted to leave Europe forever. Unfortunately, a group of Jewish people who called themselves zionists encouraged survivors to move to Palestine, a territory controlled by Britain and occupied by Palestinian and Jewish people. The zionists, however, had a secret plan to expel the Palestinians and steal the land for themselves. And that is what happened. In 1948, the zionists attacked their Palestinian neighbors and drove them out of their homes, off of their lands, and out of Palestine. Israel seized and held a section of land, which they named "Israel," and the U.N. and most nations of the world agreed to recognize this as a jewish state. Of course any religious state is a bad idea.

Since that time, Israel has been conducting a persistent siege and attack on all Palestinians who remain within what was formerly Palestine, using military and economic means to force the Palestinians further off of their own land. The official Israel policy is to commit genocide against the Palestinians, to kill as many as possible, if not outright with bullets and bombs, more indirectly by starving people and denying them medical assistance. The second tool of Israel is ethnic cleansing, to drive all Palestinians or non-Jewish people out of all the new land that Israel continues to steal from the Palestinians.

The goal of Israel is to have a Jewish nation in which only Jewish people live. The government of rabid right-wing religious and racist fanatics, who, much like the Nazis in Germany, decide people's merits based on the percentage of "good" Jewish blood in their veins, wants to have an all-Jewish nation purged of the discards, the people who have the "wrong" blood in their veins. In most respects, Israel's law and policies are mirror images of those of Nazi Germany, right down to evaluating the percentage of different kinds of blood in people's veins to determine whether they are worthy, they may stay, they may have the rights of citizens, or determining that they are discards and must be expelled or killed. Like the Klan and the Aryan nation does in our country.

It is almost too obvious to point out, but if the approximately 6 million mostly European Jewish people living in Israel did not want to live around any Arabs, they picked the wrong neighborhood to move into. There's 6 million really angry Palestinians who want their land back, for starters. And there's about 90 million other Arab folks in the immediate vicinity. So either the Jewish people in Israel need to find some way to live in peace with their Arab neighbors, or they need to get out. Go somewhere else.

The map above shows the land Israel has stolen from 1948. Its theft continues, funded by U.S. donations in the billions, and "reparations" from various European sources paid to Israel for people killed during World War II, since Israel somehow claims to be the spokesperson, the representative for all Jews everywhere. I have never heard of reparations being paid to the Soviet Union, or to China, both nations having the largest number of citizens killed during World War II. It's ironic that Israel has stolen so much of the Palestinian's land and refused to pay even a penny for it, has killed so many Palestinian people but never paid for the wrongful deaths, destroyed homes and institutions and buildings and never paid a penny. I guess reparations flows in only one direction.

One of Israel's policies is the "right of return." In order to bolster their claim that God wants them to steal this land and murder the Palestinians, Israel declared that any Jewish person (with the right percentage of "Jewish" blood in their veins) has the absolute right to move to Israel and steal land from any Palestinian.

Of more interest, the millions of Palestinians who have been expelled have the legal right to return to the nation of Palestine, according to international law, which luckily is not so concerned with the percentage of blood in people's backgrounds or veins. If the Palestinians whose land has been stolen and who have been driven out of Palestine were allowed to return, they would be the majority.

How can Israel have a religious state, controlled by Jewish laws, with rights only for Jewish people, if the majority of their citizens are Palestinians and not Jewish. That is precisely why Israel is committed to genocide and ethnic cleansing to force out all the Palestinians. The Jewish settlors from Europe never had a right to steal that land of Palestine in the first place, and the demographics of the region make it unlikely they will be able to hold the land for the long-term, unless they kill every single Palestinian. And maybe that's what they're trying to do.

Below is a map showing the Gaza strip. It is a small segment of land that Israel has not yet completely stolen, although they keep trying. Israel wants to kill or drive out every Palestinian living in the Gaza strip, all 1.5 million of them. The Gaza strip is bordered on 2 sides by Israel, on one side by Egypt, and on the 4th side by the Mediterranean sea.

(The Gaza Strip)

In order to force out the remaining Palestinians from the Gaza strip, Israel has established illegal settlements, stealing land and building homes, then sending armed settlers out to live on Palestinian land. Of course the "settlors" are just thieves with another name, and tend to be the most fanatic, racist, right-wing religious zealots in the world. Think Sarah Palin and Jerry Falwell's love children, ignorant, insane, home-schooled, on meth and heavily-armed.

In addition, when that wasn't forcing the Palestinians out quickly enough, or killing them off quickly enough, Israel declared that the Gaza strip would be subject to complete boycott/barricade. Nobody can go in, nobody can go out, nothing can go in, nothing can go out. Just like the Nazis did with the Warsaw Ghetto.

Israel hopes the Palestinians in the Gaza strip will die off from starvation and a lack of medical attention, plus will be murdered by routine attacks by the Israeli military, including the dumping of white phosphorous in the area which has radically increased the cancer rates and birth defects among the people in the Gaza strip. (Human Rights Watch report on Israel's use of white phosphorous against the palestinian people in the Gaza strip: http://gazasiege.org/docs/mar09/HRW_Gaza_Report_March2009.pdf).

Egypt receives a lot of money from the U.S., so they went along with Israel's demands to barricade off the Gaza strip and leave the people to die. Re the barricade, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007%E2%80%932010_blockade_of_the_Gaza_Strip

How can Israel barricade the Gaza Strip? Among other things, Israel claims that it owns, and has the right to control, the entire Mediterranean sea that fronts on the Gaza strip. It is an illegal, a reprehensible policy, an absurd claim (maybe God told them they own the oceans too) but nonetheless that is the justification that Israel used in attacking the aid boats this morning, which were filled with medical and food aid being delivered by humanitarian groups to the people in Gaza strip. Those boats were in the Mediterranean sea, and Israel said "I own the sea," attacked the boats, killed and wounded and people, stopped the aid from being delivered to make sure the Palestinians will continue to die.

Israel has its PR machine cranked up, and has called the humanitarian aid workers on the boat, the ones they killed, as being "pro-palestinian activists," whatever that means. Apparently Israel thinks they have the right to kill an aid worker trying to bring some antibiotics to sick people. They killed 10 of the aid workers outright and wounded another 30. It was an act of barbarism and an international war crime.

Of course Israel claims that when they attacked the aid boats (which supposedly happened in international waters, which nobody owns), that the aid workers attacked the Israeli millitary. The Israeli military, that is, that attacked in the pre-dawn hours, a few bucket-of-bolts old boats filled with humanitarian aid, and the Israeli military came in with their naval ships and helicopters. It's ridiculous to claim that the aid workers attacked them.

But here are two additional important points: (1) Israel had no right to attack those boats, and if the aid workers had fought back, they would have been within their rights of self-defense; and (2) since the attacks, in which Israel murdered 10 people and wounded another 30, Israel has held all the aid workers incommunicado -- nobody has been allowed to speak, to communicate with the outside world, or to tell their story. I wonder if Israel is torturing them, or murdering more of them. "Where'd you hide the bandaids? Beat him, make him tell. Where'd you put the aspirin?"

Attacking humanitarian aid workers is like attacking kittens. Ireland, among many other nations, has condemned Israel for this murderous assault.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/10195838.stm

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-israel-anger-20100531,0,839429.story

There are humanitarian groups which have been desperately trying to get aid into the Gaza Strip, including food, water, and medical supplies. When israel last attacked the Gaza strip, they deliberately targeted and blew up the hospital, the school for the children, and the aid relief buildings. The people are therefore left with nothing. And they are dying, just like the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto died.

It is an international war crime to attack humanitarian aid groups trying to bring medical and food supplies to people under siege. Israel is a criminal nation. They should be indicted. The U.S. needs to cut off all relations with Israel, boycott all business or other relations with that nation, people should stop going there on these religious tours which just gives more money for their bullets which are used to kill Palestinian children. There is nothing religious about murder. And we need to cut off all money to Israel. Our politicians take money from israel "support" groups. It's like selling out of the people of the U.S. in exchange for money from a foreign country. It's treason. It needs to end.

U.S. Out of Israel.

More:

Here's a link to an NPR story from 2008. The wall between the Gaza strip and Egypt was knocked down in one section, and Palestinians poured into Egypt to buy such basic staples as food and water which they could not get because of Israel's barricade. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18349120&ps=rs

Here's a statement from Amnesty International:

Israeli killings of Gaza ship activists must be investigated
31 May 2010

Amnesty International has called for Israel to launch an immediate, credible and independent investigation into the killing by its armed forces of at least 10 activists on boats protesting the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“Israeli forces appear clearly to have used excessive force,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"Israel says its forces acted in self-defence, alleging that they were attacked by protestors, but it begs credibility that the level of lethal force used by Israeli troops could have been justified. It appears to have been out of all proportion to any threat posed.”

As a first step, Amnesty International has called on the Israeli authorities to make public immediately the rules of engagement issued to the troops who carried out this lethal attack.

“The activists on the ships made it clear that their primary purpose was to protest against the continuing Israeli blockade, which constitutes a form of collective punishment and so a breach of international law,” said Malcolm Smart.

For nearly three years, Israel, which is the occupying power in the Gaza Strip, has implemented a policy of banning all movement of goods and people, except for the most basic humanitarian necessities, which are imported by international aid agencies. Only a fraction of patients in need of treatment outside Gaza are allowed out, and dozens have died waiting for Israeli permission to travel.

“The blockade does not target armed groups but rather punishes Gaza’s entire population by restricting the entry of food, medical supplies, educational equipment and building materials,” said Malcolm Smart.

“Unsurprisingly, its impact falls most heavily on those most vulnerable among Gaza ’s 1.5 million people: children, the elderly and the sick. The blockade constitutes collective punishment under international law and must be lifted immediately.”

Israel has a duty under international law to ensure the welfare of Gaza ’s inhabitants, including their rights to health, education, food and adequate housing.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/israeli-killings-gaza-ship-activists-must-be-investigated-2010-05-31

More re the siege of Gaza: http://gazasiege.org/index.html

The Campaign for Peace and Democracy is asking people to call the White House and the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.:

... The U.S. arms Israel to the tune of billions of dollars a year and hence shares responsibility for this atrocity. How many more must die before the Obama Administration cuts off the aid we give to Israel each year?

On board were 750 people of conscience from 40 different countries, including 35 international politicians intent on breaking the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. We offer our sincerest condolences to family and friends who have lost loved ones in the attack. One of the boats was named after Rachel Corrie, to honor this strong young woman killed by the Israel Defense Forces in April 2003.

Contact the White House!

Call or email to demand an immediate cutoff of U.S. aid to Israel.
Email the White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact.
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414

Contact the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and demand that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice vote to support a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's action and initiating an investigation. 212-415-4062

Memorial Day Order, 1868: To Strew With Flowers The Graves Of Comrades Who Died In Defense Of Their Country.

2010-05-28T09:33:00.001-07:00

(Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: "Here Rests In Honored Glory An American Soldier Known But To God.")

Memorial Day was established in 1868 to honor and remember those military people who died in defense of the nation against the "rebellion" (the U.S. Civil War). So the guys who fought for the North were to have their graves strewn with springtime flowers. For all the dead guys who fought for the South, nothing.

It's time we stopped filling our cemeteries with young dead men who have died needlessly in war. Putting flowers on somebody's grave doesn't bring them back to their families, and doesn't give the dead guy back the 60 or so years of his life which were stolen because his nation went to war.

If we absolutely must go to war, let's make it a rare occurrence rather than something we do routinely. Let's stop resource wars -- wars of aggression we wage against other countries to help corporations go into other countries and steal their resources. We need to get out of the war business. Our nation is broke. One reason is because we keep starting resource wars, stealing all the money of our citizens and giving it to the war industry. Our nation is also morally bankrupt from the inevitable slaughter of innocent civilians.

It's important to remember that the rich people, the powerful, and their children, rarely go to war. Even back in the days of the Civil War it was common for rich people to pay to have some poor young man take their place, so the rich could stay home and live in luxury while the poor went off to die. Dick Cheney got five deferments so he could avoid going to war in Vietnam. George W. Bush's dad pulled strings to get him into the Texas National Guard, and W gave explicit instructions that he did not want to go to war. He wanted to stay in Texas and party. Bill Clinton didn't go into the military. Neither did Barack Obama. Neither did the children of Dick Cheney and George W. Bush. Neither did the Clinton girl -- she went to work on Wall Street for a hedge fund.

The government and the media no longer show news reporting of the war, photos and videos of the slaughter, because they want the American people to be ignorant, they want young people to enlist in the military believing that it will be fun, they will be manly studs, instead of the truth, which is that they will be indoctrinated into believing that everyone in the middle east (or wherever they are sent) is bad and should be killed, that nobody seems to know exactly who the enemy is or what is the goal or or how do we know when we have "won" the war.

The war is perpetual, it never ends. We are told that next year, or five or ten years from now it will end, but it won't. By refusing to ever explain when it would mean to "win" the war, it allows the governments (both parties) to never end the wars. Just keep them going, continue the expansion of empire, keep bribes and kick-backs being delivered timely to the politicians so they can all be even richer, keep the people at home fearful and poor, ignorant, breeding the next crop of young people to be sent off to die.

It doesn't matter the party: the rich and powerful do not go to war. They send the children of the working class instead. If Congress decides we must go to war, then they should be the first ones in. They should all resign and go to boot camp, regardless of their age, and be the first troops in. If they're convinced it's important enough for other people's children to die, then they should be the first to die.

We cannot have a democracy when we continue to wage wars against the poorest people in the world to steal their resources, lie about why we're invading them and murdering their people, kidnapping, torturing, murdering generations of young men to prevent them from defending their own countries. We are on the wrong side of history. Most of our politicians take bribes and kick-backs to support these resource wars, while the citizens of this nation are going broke. End the Wars, stop the killing. War is disgusting.

("Harvest of Death," by Timothy H. O'Sullivan (photographer) 1863.)

"Slowly, over the misty fields of Gettysburg--as all reluctant to expose their ghastly horrors to the light--came the sunless morn, after the retreat by [General Robert. E.] Lee's broken army."

"Through the shadowy vapors, it was, indeed, a 'harvest of death' that was presented; hundreds and thousands of torn Union and rebel soldiers--although many of the former were already interred--strewed the now quiet fighting ground, soaked by the rain, which for two days had drenched the country with its fitful showers."

(Photographic Sketch Book of the War. Alexander Gardner wrote these words to describe the now-famous photo above, taken by Timothy H. Sullivan, and commonly referred to as "Harvest of Death." This was a picture taken of the dead in the U.S. Civil War after the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1 - July 3, 1863).

Memorial Day Order, 1868

I. The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit

We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull and other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan
II. It is the purpose of the Commander in Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to call attention to this Order, and lend its friendly aid in bringing it to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

III. Department commanders will use every effort to make this Order effective.

—General Orders No. 11 Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters

We Are A War-Mongering Nation.

2010-05-27T10:39:00.001-07:00

This week-end we will celebrate Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor those who died in defense of this nation. We have new graves for every generation of Americans, but the newly-dead did not die defending this nation -- they were sent by cowards and liars in our government to wage wars of aggression in the middle east to expand empire and steal resources. We are a war mongering nation.

If we stayed out of war, and let other nations work out their own problems (with the exception of the obvious need to intervene to prevent genocide), everybody would be much better off. Certainly the U.S. would be because we would have enough money to pay for everyone to go to college, work a 35-hour week, retire at 50, have complete medical and dental coverage provided by the government. And we could live like the Europeans do, taking long vacations and holidays. Actually live our lives instead of just working from cradle to grave to make the criminals on Wall Street rich and pay for endless wars.

The world would be better off, too. We could have a world tax on wealth, and use that to help people in third world countries to improve their own communities, build housing and schools and hospitals, develop local sustainable agriculture, preserve their own culture, and protect against their exploitation by corporations and puppet dictatorships who serve them. Instead of using our tax money to murder our neighbors, we could use it to help them.

The politicians and media tell us that we can determine the cost of war by adding up numbers: number of U.S. dead and wounded; number of dollars spent. But this is silly. We need to add up the number of people we kill in other countries when we attack them, then multiply that by 50 because that's how many family members, co-workers, friends, neighbors knew that person we killed, and will hate the U.S. forever for having done so.

Nobody has ever included in the domestic cost of war the mental deterioration and damage caused to the people that we send to war. Now there is some small effort to quantify something that the medical community has created, a disease-model name, called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The military wants to convince the public that only a small percentage, a few of those we send to slaughter, have mental problems when they return. But the truth is that they all have mental problems when they return. If they witnessed or participated in slaughter, they will have mental problems for the rest of their lives, and their family, neighbors, and community will pay a terrible cost.

What the military is labeling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is just the preliminary evidence of the natural and inevitable response to having witnessed or participated in slaughter. For some, it will not surface for years after the return, but everyone is damaged. People who we send to war are changed, forever changed. When they come back to this country they bring their trauma with them.

The damage done to the Americans who return from war significantly adds to our national level of alcoholism and drug addiction, spousal and child abuse, suicide, homicide, and early death. But nobody includes those numbers when determining the "cost" of war. Those are the hidden costs borne by the shamed women hiding inside their homes with black eyes and broken bones. They are the hidden costs borne by the children who are terrorized by their own father's neverending rage. The streets of our cities are constantly replenished with the newest crop of homeless mentally ill addicted veterans. Which generation gets to skip this, which generation is allowed to grow and heal, war-free in this country? None. The wars never end.

Below is a partial list of U.S. wars against other nations, involvement in wars, and interventions. I did not include everything from the list, just for about the last 100 years. It's simply too much war.

(From PBS Website: A Chronology of U.S. Military Interventions From Vietnam To The Balkans) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/military/etc/cron.html

Also see: http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

1898-1910

China Boxer Rebellion
Philippines Seized from Spain, killed 600,000 Filipinos
Cuba Seized from Spain
Puerto Rico Seized from Spain
Guam Seized from Spain
Nicaragua Marines land at Port San Juan del Sur.
Samoa
Nicaragua Marines land at port of Bluefields
Panama Annexed Canal Zone 1914
Honduras Marines intervene in revolution
Dominican Republican U.S. troops sent in
Korea Marines land, Russo-Japanese war
Cuba Marines land
Nicaragua Protectorate set up
Honduras Marines land during war with Nicaragua
Panama 1908 Marines intervene in election
Nicaragua 1910 Marines land in Corinto

1911-1920

Honduras U.S. military intervenes in civil war
China Continuous occupation 1911-1941
Cuba U.S. troops intervene
Panama 1912 U.S. troops intervene
Honduras 1912 U.S. troops intervene
Nicaragua 1912-33 U.S. troops, 10-year occupation
Dominican Republican, 1914
Mexico 1914-1918, series of interventions
Haiti 1914-34, 19-year occupation by U.S. military forces

1920-1950

Cuba 1917-1933: U.S. military occupationeconomic control.
World War I
1918-1922 Numerous interventions in Soviet Union.
Panama 1918-1920 Military control.
Honduras 1919 U.S. Marines land.
Guatemala 1920 U.S. troops intervene in labor dispute.
China 1922-1927 Naval troops deployed to China.
Honduras 1924-1925 Military landed twice during unrest.
Panama 1925 Marines used to suppress striking workers.
China 1927-34 Marines stationed throughout the country.
El Salvador 1932 Warships sent during Marti revolt.
World War II 1941-1945

1950-1970

Puerto Rico 1950 U.S. assisted in crushing rebellion.
Korea 1951-1953 U.S. War Against Korea.
Iran 1953 CIA overthrows democracy, Shah installed.
Vietnam 1954-1975 U.S. War Against Vietnam
Lebanon 1958 Marines occupy against rebel group.
Cuba 1961 U.S./CIA directed invasion by exiles.
Iraq 1963 U.S. coup kills leader, brings Saddam Hussein back to run the Secret Service.
Indonesia 1965 CIA-assisted army coups kills 1.0 million.
Dominican Republican 1965-66, Marines land during election dispute.
Guatemala 1966 U.S. Green Berets intervene, work against rebels

1970-2000

Cambodia 1969-75 U.S. illegal war
Laos 1971-73 U.S. directs South Vietnamese puppet government invasion, carpet-bombs the country.
Chile 1973 CIA/Henry Kissinger-backed coup ousts democratically elected president Allende and installs military dictator Pinochet, leading to the torture and murder of thousands.
Angola 1976-92 CIA assists rebels backed by South Africa.
El Salvador 1981-1992 U.S. military "advisers," pilots, soldiers assist military dictatorship in war against citizens.
Nicaragua 1981-1990 CIA-directed and secretly funded war against citizens on behalf of dictatorship.
Lebanon 1982-1984 U.S. Marines support Phalangists; U.S. military bombs and shells Muslim population.
Grenada 1983-1984 U.S. invades country.
Honduras 1983-1989 U.S. troops engage in various activities in support of dictatorship.
Libya 1986 U.S. sends pilots, drops bombs to assist in overthrowing the government.
Bolivia 1986 U.S. troops conduct raids in various parts of the country, purportedly in "war on drugs."
Iran 1987-1988 U.S. sides in Iraq in war against Iran, delivers to Iraq various weaponry including chemical warfare for Iraq to use against Iran.
Panama 1989 U.S. sends in troops, overthrows government.
Saudi Arabia 1990-1991 U.S. stations troops and jets in Saudi Arabia, plus over one-half million other troops in Oman, Qatar, Behrain, UAE, Israel.
Iraq 1990- U.S. conducts air strikes, invades Iraq and Kuwait, creates no-fly zone, blockades.
Somalia 1992-1994 U.S. leads United Nations occupation.
Bosnia 1993 U.S. involvement in war between Bosnia, Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Haiti 1994 U.S. troops intervene against sitting government, restore Aristide to office.
Sudan 1998 U.S. missile strike on apparent pharmaceutical plant alleged to be a weapons plant.
Afghanistan 1998 U.S. missiles strike inside Afghanistan allegedly attacking Islamic fundamentalist groups.
Yugoslavia 1999 U.S. and Nato air strikes re Serbia, Kosovo; occupation of Kosovo through NATO.

2000 - present

Macedonia 2001 U.S./NATO forces intervene against Albanian rebels.
Afghanistan 2001- U.S. bombs, invades, occupies after 9/11 attacks on U.S.
Columbia 2003 - U.S. military engage in warfare on behalf of dictatorship and against rebels, either as "war on drugs," or as security mercenaries for oil corporations protecting their oil pipelines, used to take oil from the country.
Iraq 2003 - U.S. invasion, bombing, occupation.
Haiti 2004-2005 U.S. marines land after Aristide is ousted by local rebel group.
Pakistan 2005 - CIA missile, air strikes, special forces raid alleged al Queda and Taliban villages.
Somalia 2006 U.S. Special Forces assist Ethiopian invasion to topple government of Somalia; air strikes and missile attacks, plus naval blockade.

Why should the United States be invading and attacking all these other countries? China, Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, the Soviet Union, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Yugoslavia. Is there any place on earth that people are safe from us? Why do we keep invading Haiti? Why don't we help them instead of killing them? The U.S. has military troops all over the world. We, the citizens, pay for that. Who benefits from it? The corporations who use the presence and threat of the U.S. military to force countries to turn over their resources to the corporations, turn over their citizens to become slaves in corporate factories.

Our military is used as private security, mercenaries, hit-men for the corporate CEOs. Much like the state-sponsored Explorers of Europe from hundreds of years ago would go out in big ships, well-armed, "discover" some country, claim to own it, then kill all the people and steal all the resources. We are doing the same thing, just with a modern twist. Instead of the King, or Queen getting all the gold and jewels, now we have the CEOs who have the military come back and lay this wealth at their feet. It's so ludicrous that people claim we are a religious nation, when the truth is that we spend most of our money, time, effort, and resources in murdering other people around the world and turning our backs on the misery and suffering that we cause.

The citizens pay for this. Our treasury goes to paying for more and more wars and military invasions and occupations. This does not make us safer. It makes everybody in the world hate us. And the government tells us that there is no money left for us. No money for roads, no money for schools, no money for healthcare. We are taught to expect nothing for ourselves, as if we are the lowest of the low: no job security, no education, no healthcare, no homes, no public transportation, no vacations, no sick leave, no holidays. We get nothing. In contrast with people in every other developed country in the world, who have relatively comfortable lives compared to the misery and exploitation of working people in this country.

We need to stop these wars, and we need to tell our government that from now on, we are out of the war business, and we are in the nation-building business, starting with our own nation. Instead of sending bombs to blow up other countries, let's use the money to re-build our own nation. Instead of sending the navy to provide protection for the shipping industry that is carrying resources away from third world countries, we should let those people keep their own resources, and use our money to protect our own people from illness by creating a national healthcare system. Help our neighbors instead of killing them.

Masters Of War (Bob Dylan)

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desk
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

It Ain't Armageddon, But We Certainly Need A Judgment Day.

2010-05-26T16:54:00.001-07:00

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This massive corporate oil dump in the Gulf Coast brings up so many things. First and foremost a feeling of complete helplessness. Seeing all those birds and fish being slaughtered, it's just a speeded-up version of extinction of species. Partly it exposes the irrational hopes many of us had that Obama could somehow make everything okay, when we know that it's the corporations who are in control, and all of our politicians are on the corporate payroll. It sears cynicism and despair into the flesh.

Part of me was thinking today, as I watched a parade of politicians before cameras demanding immediate government help, that I do not recall seeing national politicians out in front of cameras demanding help when it was the people of New Orleans whose lives were being destroyed. Now I hear politicians demanding the entire military and all its abilities (are there any left? Aren't they all in the middle east?) be sent to help. But again, I don't remember this level of concern after the levees broke.

No talk of criminal indictments. It just rubs it in our faces again -- these people can do anything they want, even murder, and get away with it. When a nation refuses to apply the laws to the rich and powerful, it is no longer a nation of laws, no longer a democracy. It is just a dictatorship. In our case, it is a corporate dictatorship. The lives of people murdered by corporations are waved off, like irritating flies at a summer picnic. Workers killed in a coal mine which refused to comply with safety orders: so what? Workers murdered on an oil rig? Yeah, what're you gonna do about it? People's lives, ability to support themselves, a big chunk of our ocean, land, all destroyed: so what're ya gonna do?

The Democrats and Obama refused to indict bush and cheney for international war crimes, refused to indict people who kidnapped, tortured, and beat to death, actually murdered others -- murderers without excuse -- but Obama and the Democrats did nothing. The AJ is not independent but is a lackey of the white house. There can be no justice when the Department of Justice is just a political wing of the next reelection campaign.

Wall Street? Not only have Obama and the Democrats refused to indict these criminals and throw them in prison and seize their assets, which is what they should have done, but Obama actually stood up and defended their looting, saying "Oh, they work hard." So do I, but nobody ever gave me ten million dollars as a little something extra for my efforts. You want to know who works hard? Coal miners work hard, but the government won't even enforce the most minimal safety standards to protect their lives, and when many are killed, the government refuses to indict. The head of Massey is a murderer, and he should be indicted as such, and tried, and convicted, and spend the rest of his life in a cell. Preferably without a window, so he can live just like those miners died, without air or light or hope.

I don't believe in Armageddon, and I think people who believe that nonsense are morons. We don't need to search supernatural texts or read tea leaves or look to the skies for an explanation of what is going on. It is all caused by greed and corruption. These wars represent greed by the oil industry, and corruption by our politicians. Wall Street is the same. Unemployment, the devastation of the world's economy, all the same: greed and corruption. The perpetrators? All white men. We know who they are, but our government simply refuses to enforce the laws against them.

Maybe we do need a judgment day, but skip the angels and the horns, forget about the heavens opening up. Judgment by a jury of 12. Demand criminal indictments. Let the drug users out of prison and make room for the criminals from Wall Street, the oil industry, and the politicians they own.

Remember, This Is The Bush-Cheney Depression.

2010-05-25T10:56:00.001-07:00

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Chart from Andrew Sullivan:

Look at the wars. End the wars and get rid of bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, and we might be able to pull out of this depression. Keep them going, we're doomed. Look at this chart: even 10 years in the future it shows disastrous levels of debt and costs in excess of anything we can sustain. Don't listen to the Republicans talk of closing schools and firing cops. If we want to end this depression, we need to end the wars and get rid of bush's tax cuts for the rich.

If Obama Cuts Social Security Benefits, He Should Be Thrown Out Of Office.

2010-05-25T09:29:00.001-07:00

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The Obama administration, while devoting trillions of tax dollars to war and to Wall Street give-aways, is caving in to the right-wing's demand that more social services for the citizens of this country must be slashed, so there is still more money available for Wall Street bonuses. When Wall Street gets their bonuses, they give generous kick-backs to the politicians in Congress, so that's why the politicians support bonuses for Wall Street.

How to pay for Wall Street bonuses, never mind the billions spent on war and on propping up the dictatorship in Columbia? Well, the neo-cons say, let's slash benefits for the public. Let's cut back on the schools, fire the teachers, take away the desks and books, no more summer school. Fire cops and firefighters. Take all the money that is supposed to be used to maintain the infrastructure, and send it to Wall Street instead. Of course the financial problems our country has right now are primarily the result of bush's tax cuts for the rich. Rich people and businesses no longer pay much if any taxes at all. That plus these insane wars are what's bankrupting our country. End the wars, tax all income above $250,000 at 90%, and solve the problem.

Now Obama has created a "commission" to come up with a list of other citizens' benefits that can be eliminated or reduced. Top of their list: Social Security. The conservatives want to eliminate Social Security altogether. Let Grandma starve, she's old and sick, no longer productive, half-blind, takes a bunch of drugs just to live, and nobody likes her anyway. So take away her Social Security and she'll die even faster.

Back when Ronald Reagan became president, he wanted to cut taxes for rich people and businesses, and he did. But the government soon did not have enough money to meet its obligations. Reagan didn't want to eliminate his tax cuts for the rich, so he asked that smarmy suck-up Alan Greenspan to fix the problem.

Alan Greenspan came up with a really sneaky plan. He increased the social security taxes that working people have to pay, so more money flowed into the social security fund. Then Reagan had the government "borrow" the money from the social security fund, money paid in by working people, and he took that money and used it to run the government, to make up for the deficit he created by cutting taxes for rich people.

In other words, the Social Security money belongs to us, to working people, but Reagan essentially stole the money and used it to cover big tax kick-backs to his rich friends. Our money was stolen and given to the rich. That's why we have a potential problem with Social Security: the Republicans have stolen the money from the Social Security fund.

There is no need to cut Social Security. If anything, Obama should eliminate the cap on incomes that are subject to the tax. Right now, only the first $106,000 of income is subject to the Social Security tax. Eliminate that cap so that rich people, including the criminals on Wall Street, have to pay a Social Security tax on every bloody penny they pay to themselves.

If Obama cuts Social Security, he should be thrown out of office. And every politician who supports cutting Social Security should be run out of town. Or better still, run out of the country.

There is always more money for Wall Street, more money for wars. But for the people, for the citizens of this country, there is nothing. This has got to stop. If we need 90-year-olds in wheelchairs sitting in government offices, then everybody needs to go to the old folks' home and start wheeling them out, because this looting and plundering of our country has got to stop.

AP Exclusive: Social Security needs small 'tweaks'
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER (AP) – May 17, 2010

WASHINGTON — Social Security faces a $5.3 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years, but a new congressional report says the massive gap could be erased with only modest changes to payroll taxes and benefits.

Some of the options are politically dangerous, such as increasing payroll taxes or reducing annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security recipients. Others, such as gradually raising the age when retirees qualify for full benefits, wouldn't be felt for years but would affect millions.

Many wouldn't affect current recipients, according to the report by the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Sen. Herb Kohl, chairman of the committee, said small "tweaks" are all that is needed to bolster Social Security's finances for future generations of retirees.

Currently, 53 million Americans get Social Security benefits averaging $1,067 a month. In 75 years, 122 million, or one-fourth of the population, will be drawing benefits.

On its current path, Social Security is projected to run out of money by 2037, largely because of aging baby boomers reaching retirement. For the first time since the 1980s, Social Security will pay out more money in benefits this year than it collects in payroll taxes. The longer action is delayed, the harder it will get to address the program's finances.

"Modest changes can be made over time that will keep the program in surplus," Kohl, D-Wis., told The Associated Press. "They are not draconian, as the report points out, and they can be done and will be done."

The committee is scheduled to release its report Tuesday. The report, obtained by the Associated Press, lays out options for fixing Social Security, but doesn't endorse any of them.

Kohl said lawmakers will probably combine several options to ease their impact. No action is expected this year, with midterm congressional elections looming in November. Lawmakers have said they hope to take up the issue next year.
Social Security is financed by a 6.2 percent payroll tax on wages below $106,800. The tax is paid by workers and matched by employers. Older Americans can apply for early retirement benefits, starting at age 62. They qualify for full benefits if they wait until they turn 66, a threshold that is gradually increasing to 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

The entire $5.3 trillion shortfall over the next 75 years would be wiped out if payroll taxes were increased by 1.1 percentage points for both workers and employers. It would also disappear if Congress started taxing all wages, not just those below $106,800, said the Senate report, citing projections by the actuaries at the Social Security Administration.

On the benefits side, more than three-fourths of the shortfall would vanish if Congress reduced annual cost-of-living increases by 1 percentage point each year. Social Security recipients get annual increases based on inflation. This January, for the first time since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975, there was no increase because prices decreased last year.

About 23 percent of the shortfall would be gone if Congress gradually increased the age when retirees qualify for full benefits from 67 to 68. Nearly a third of the shortfall would disappear if the full retirement age were gradually increased to 70.

The Social Security trust funds have built up a $2.5 trillion surplus over the past 25 years. But the federal government has borrowed that money over the years to spend on other programs. The government must now start borrowing money from public debt markets — adding to annual budget deficits — to repay Social Security.

The Senate panel's report will be presented to President Barack Obama's deficit reduction commission, which is expected to review all entitlement programs in the search for savings.

Many of the options sound simple, but most would have widespread ramifications, said Barbara Kennelly, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

"If you raise the retirement age and you don't do anything about the pension law or anything about retraining, and there's been no discussion on that, where are the jobs?" asked Kennelly, a former Democratic congresswoman from Connecticut. "It's not so simple."

One expert cautioned that adjustments designed to fully fund Social Security for only 75 years will almost certainly have to be revisited well before then.

Here's why: In 15 or 20 years, the Social Security trustees will be looking at a new 75-year window, one that includes future shortfalls beyond the current 75-year horizon. Those shortfalls will have to be addressed years in advance to avoid dramatic tax increases or significant benefit cuts, said Kent Smetters, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton business school.

"If you only fix it for 75 years at a time, the same problem suddenly reappears every 15 to 20 years," Smetters said.

___

Social Security Administration: http://www.ssa.gov

Senate Special Committee on Aging: http://www.aging.senate.gov

A Mysterious Naked Man (Alden Nowlan)

2010-05-24T11:00:00.001-07:00

A Mysterious Naked Man by Alden Nowlan

A mysterious naked man has been reported
on Cranston Avenue. The police are performing
the usual ceremonies with coloured lights and sirens.
Almost everyone is outdoors and strangers are conversing
excitedly
as they do during disasters when their involvement is
peripheral.

'What did he look like? ' the lieutenant is asking.
'I don't know, ' says the witness. 'He was naked.'

There is talk of dogs-this is no ordinary case
of indecent exposure, the man has been seen
a dozen times since the milkman spotted him and now
the sky is turning purple and voices
carry a long way and the children
have gone a little crazy as they often do at dusk
and cars are arriving
from other sections of the city.

And the mysterious naked man
is kneeling behind a garbage can or lying on his belly
in somebody's garden
or maybe even hiding in the branches of a tree,
where the wind from the harbour
whips at his naked body,
and by now he's probably done
whatever it was he wanted to do
and wishes he could go to sleep
or die
or take to the air like Superman.

Go Home, Johnny Reb. The War Is Over. You Lost.

2010-05-21T17:44:00.001-07:00

(Rand Paul; photo by Gage Skidmore)

Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, just won the Republican nomination to run for Senator from the State of Kentucky. He's mostly on the right, being endorsed by Sarah Palin as well as others, but oddly opposes the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. He's also against the erosion of civil liberties begun on the bush regime.

Immediately after his primary victory, he stuck his foot in his mouth, and cannot seem to get it out. Among other things, he stated on national television that he "questions" the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and basically thinks that business owners should be able to refuse to provide services to anyone they want based on race, religion, or national origin. He went on to say that he personally is opposed to such discrimination, but thinks businesses should be able to do so.

This entire issue about all Americans being able to eat in a restaurant or buy a soda in a store was resolved fifty years ago. It's kind of like the people who keep waving the Confederate Flag: It's over Rebs, you lost. Go on back to the farm.

The U.S. Constitution gives the federal government authority over, among other things, interstate commerce. There are a whole series of cases involving mudflaps on trucks that were litigated all the way to the Supreme court on this issue. If Rhode Island requires mudflaps four feet square, and Massachusets prohibits mud flaps bigger than 3 1/2 feet, then how in the heck can a trucker haul goods from New York to Maine, or back again? The courts decided early on that nobody, no state has the right to interfere with the free flow of interstate commerce. That is an issue that is exclusively entrusted to the federal government.

The court also is very protective of the first amendment protections for the rights of individuals, natural born rights, to associate with others, to speak, to believe, and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Anybody who is unhappy with what the government is doing has the absolute right to go to the seat of government (Washington D.C.), go see their politicians, make a complaint, and ask them to fix it.

If local businesses are allowed to refuse to sell food, or serve food in a restaurant to certain people based on race, if a bus or train can refuse to allow certain people to ride based on race, if a motel can refuse to allow people to rent a room, and the gas station can refuse to sell gas or a soda, it essentially would prohibit people of the excluded race from being able to travel. If they cannot travel, they cannot petition the government, cannot associate freely with others. They could not even move from one state to another. They would be denied fundamental rights as citizens. For that reason, as well as others, the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government has the authority to prohibit businesses from discriminating against groups of people based on race, gender, religion, or ethnicity.

Rand Paul is waving the confederate flag when he raises this issue. He's appealing to the racists in Kentucky who are still pissed off that they have to sell a soda to a black person who comes into their little store.

This battle has been fought for over 200 years now. They won't let it go. Back in the early 1800s, there were blood battles between people trying to make states pro-slave or to abolish slavery. In the early 1800s there was such an upheavel across the nation around this issue that you had revivalist religious tent-groups traveling the country preparing people for the end times, or their version of it. One of the areas in upstate New York was such a popular route for the revivalist tents that it was similar to what we today call the Bible Belt, and one of the residents of that area, apparently affected by the religious fervor, claimed that God talked to him and told him to form a new religion, the Mormons, and God assured him that black people were always intended to be slaves. Racism is so ingrained in this country that people actually use religion to support their racist views.

During the 1950s, black people in this country put their lives on the line to get out and demand civil rights, the right to vote, the right to go to school and get an education, and the right to be free from violence and persecution from the state and the police. The right to justice. It is because of these struggles, and the violent brutality, including murder, which was used to beat down the people fighting for basic civil rights, that the federal government finally intervened and passed some laws to protect the rights of black Americans as citizens. These are generally called Civil Rights Laws, one of which, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Rand Paul does not support. He thinks that business owners should be able to refuse to have black customers if that's what they want.

(George Wallace blocks the door at the University of Alabama)

George Wallace, governor of Alabama during the 1960s, vowed he would fight anyone who tried to integrate his state. He personally stood in the doorway of the all-white University of Alabama to prevent two black students from walking through the door, and he dared the federal government to try to stop him. They did, and he backed down, but he became a hero to racists across the nation.

In 1963, on his election as governor, George Wallace gave his most famous inaugural speech in which he fervently supported the rights of Americans to maintain a segregated country. This is George Wallace's most famous phrase still chanted today by racists: Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever.

I'm surprised Rand Paul didn't use that in his acceptance speech when he won the primary.

When George Wallace ran for president on his segregationist racist platform, he was met with large crowds of anti-war and anti-racist young people around the nation who were tired of listening to the racist and militaristic leaders of the country.

This has been a sickening rot at the core of our nation for over 200 years. Now Jim-Crow Paul wants to bring it up again, pretend that he's a nice guy, and he didn't really mean it, but you just watch to see how many Confederate Flags show up at his next campaign stop. He knows exactly what he's doing: appealing to the Southern racist white men who are still pissed off that their kids go to school with black kids. They should be pissed off about the fact that they're poor, they can't get ahead, and there is no hope they will ever retire, or pay off their credit cards, or have enough money to go on a nice vacation. But instead, they're pissed off about the fact that they lost the Civil War.

Go home Johnny Reb, you lost. Go back to your dirt farms and your ignorance, your shotguns and gas-guzzling trucks, your crappy jobs and dead-end lives. Stop being manipulated by politicians who ridicule you behind your back. Go meet your black and Hispanic neighbors and organize together to demand good jobs, schools, and healthcare for everybody in your community. Stop being clowns for the entertainment benefit of rich white southern men who think you are fools. Just like everybody else in the country thinks.

Art Deco: Parisian Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

2010-05-19T17:58:00.001-07:00

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In 1900, a group of French artists worked together in a collective which they called La Societe des artistes decorateurs (society of decorator artists) (the "Society"). The Society organized an international art exhibition in 1925, called the Exposition Intgernationale des Arts Decoratirs et Industriels Modernes (the "1925 Exhibition"). The term "art deco" comes from the title of the 1925 exhibition.

The 1925 Exhibition was held in Paris, and intended to solidify Paris as the center of art, style and design. Similar exhibitions were held in later years. Works from around the world were displayed, and millions of people attended the 1925 exhibition. The French Deco which was so popular at the time often included exotic flowers, drawings of animals, and great luxurious colors such as black and gold.
By 1930, Deco changed and embraced the architectural, engineering and structured forms of an industrial style of work. This Deco evolved to be based more on geometric shapes, and abandoned the lavish luxurious flourish for a structured line. The interiors of many movie theaters used an Art Deco style of decoration. Many Ocean Liners used Art Deco as part of their design style.

Art Deco was the basic architectural style used on buildings in many parts of the world. Some still survive in the U.S., most notably the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in New York City.

Materials commonly used in Art Deco include aluminum, stainless steel, and lacquer. The forms were often stepped, chevron patterns, and in general reflected a focus on the industrial development of the world.

The people who began this art movement considered themselves to be quite modern and forward-thinking. If we look back on history, from 1900 until the start of World War I, much of Europe considered themselves the cultural and political and economic center of the world, so it is natural they should take upon themselves the position of artistic leaders.

After World War I, it gets more interesting. The 1920s, the roaring twenties as they are called, were years of great optimism in much of the world. People believed that even if they didn't have money now, they would someday. They also believed in a liberation through modernity -- the idea that modern developments would somehow bring prosperity throughout the world.

Once the stock market crashed in 1929, all that changed. People were broke. Entire nations were broke. People had nothing, no future, no hope, no jobs, often no food. The mood turned to despair and in some countries, the fascists began to gain support with a nationalistic and militaristic ideology that told their supporters they were better than everyone else, and they had the right to go take what wealth and respect they deserved as a nation.

Some people contend that the Art Deco industrial style of post 1925 was a fascist style of design, that the focus on tough materials and strong lines were the same ideas as those promoted by fascists in Europe.

I don't know that deco art was or was not fascist. But as a group artists are interested in expressing what they see in the world, which for them, at that time, was a commitment to a future based on industrial strength and the ability to create through work, materials and ideas.

(The Jazz Bowl by Victor Schreckengost - 1930)

"The Jazz Bowl" is a well-known American Art Deco piece, originally created by Viktor Schreckengost when he worked at Cowan Pottery Studios. The bowl is a punch bowl, commissioned by a New York City gallery for one of its clients: Eleanor Roosevelt. The bowl was purchased by Eleanor to use at the celebration of her husband's election as Governor of New York. The Cowan Pottery Studio eventually produced other pieces in the Jazz series including other bowls and plates.

http://www.journalofantiques.com/Sept04/featuresep04.htm

I Never Knew

2010-05-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

I Never Knew When I Arrived In This Country

That my pillow might hold your scent
as I tried to sleep, beginning to know
you were with your first wife and son

That my dowry bought
you and your parents
a larger house in Richmond.

That if I believed you each time you warned
you'd hurt me and our baby if I left,
I would only feed the rakshas inside you.

That our elders' protests, our daughter's
brimming eyes, and my shame
might mean nothing to you

That I did not have to live
with a man shouting,
"I didn't choose to marry you!"

That the library and the internet
are such private places
to find shelters and friends

That if I threatened to show your boss
my bruises, it could stop you, mid-strike
and I'd smell your thwarted breath

That I wouldn't be raped
by a policeman or prostituted
in a shelter if I called for help.

That other women have seen
the noose of Yama move behind
their husband's eyes, and survived

That I wouldn't have to take
my three-year-old girl and leave
our home --- instead, you would.

That if I did decide to leave and divorce,
someone in this country
would pay fairly for my work

That I could find one room with a stove
and a fridge, and live with
my daughter, on my own.

But I know now.

by Shauna Singh Baldwin
from The Fieldstone Review,
Issue 3, May 2008

Posted at: http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/05/tuesday-poem-2.html