In this edition of The Spirit of Gangjeong I bring you the latest news from the village: prisoners released from jail, those still in jail, the fraudulent Rep. of Korea national election and subsequent demands by the Catholic priests association for Pres. Park to resign, and the creative new protest taking place in Gangjeong.
Category Archives: Obama
Korean Sister Stella Soh Indicted
For the first time in the 200 year Korean Catholic history, a Korean nun has been indicted for her role in the peaceful, non-violent protest against the construction of the naval base on Jeju Island that will accommodate the U.S. “pivot to Asia.”
Today, many sisters from Jeju and the mainland came to witness the trial of Sister Stella Soh who has been going to Gangjeong Village to protest whenever she has time and money.
Catholic priests and nuns from Jeju and the mainland have been protesting daily for seven years along with the people of Gangjeong Village and activists from around the world.
I had the privilege and honor to meet Sister Stella while I was there in September of 2012. We had been seated together for dinner on the evening before Sister Stella would return home to Seoul when she asked if I would interview her. With darkness approaching, she positioned herself in front of a fire pit and let it rip without me even asking her a question.
This interview appears in my documentary The Ghosts of Jeju and has been seen now by hundreds of people in the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries around the world. Sister Stella’s sincerity, honesty, and blunt remarks about U.S. imperialism have moved all who have seen the film.
She will undoubtedly be fined a large amount of money as have the more than 600 peace activists who have already been arrested, and quite possibly she will serve time in jail.
Here is that interview again.
The Invisible Cartel Is Coming After the Real Prize
JFK was perhaps the last authentic U.S. President. He was murdered because he went against the ruling elite, the military industrial complex, the FBI, and the CIA. He was a threat to their power so they killed him. (JFK the Unspeakable by James Douglass)
Ever since 1963, every U.S. president has been a puppet in the hands of this oligarchy. Eisenhower’s warning to the American people about the danger of the military industrial complex and their partners in the world banks taking over the country has come to pass.
After 9/11, lets check back on what has happened to the American people, our Constitution, and our civil liberties. “W” signed the Patriot Act and the NDAA effectively stripping Americans of our freedoms and protections under the Constitution. Obama has further trampled on the Constitution by embracing the Patriot Act and the NDAA, by extending and expanding them.
Then came Citizens United, making corporations “people” and allowing the wealthy to buy elections at all levels of government effectively crushing democracy and nullifying our votes.
What is going on in Washington is merely theater to frighten and distract us from what is really going on. The recession and the subsequent bailout of those banks too big to fail was orchestrated by the sinister cartel of oligarchs to steal our money, force millions out of their homes, and drive millions more into poverty.
Every financial crisis over the budget and the debt ceiling is a fraud designed to distract attention from what is really the big prize: entitlement programs. The mainstream papers are already beginning to report “conversations” on capital hill about cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and social uplift programs. These sources report that both Democrats and Republicans are finding “common ground” and agreement.
No mention of the bloated “Defense” budget, or insanely expensive wars that were funded off the books, or the obscene tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations, or the Wall Street criminals who stole our future. The cartel is blaming it on poor Americans and those of us who EARNED Social Security and Medicare throughout our working lives.
Lest anyone forget, most on Congress is on the payroll of the ruling elite. It should be obvious they don’t represent the American people. The latest polls, one after another, indicate that Americans have no faith in the Congress….Democrats and Republicans alike. Really, they are expressing their dissatisfaction with government and that includes the presidency and the Supreme Court as well.
So, what we have now is a Congress full of puppets controlled by the cartel, the shadow government that nobody sees.
Back to the presidents. The cartel builds them up and sells them to the American public as the saviors, only to abandon them when it suits their agenda. “W,” Cheney, Rice and that gang of criminals took it all to another level.
Along came Obama streaking across the skies, out of nowhere. He was sold to America and the world as the savior with Madison Avenue slogans like Change you can believe in, Hope, and Yes We Can. During his first campaign, he made promises to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to bring all of the troops home. He promised to shut down Guantanamo and put an end to “rendition” and torture. Obama promised to prosecute the evil bankers who had defrauded the country. And, Obama promised the most transparent government in history.
The fact is, he lied about all of it, and he continues to lie about the budget, the deficit, that he won’t let them touch Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, and Head Start. Nearly all of his appointments have come from Wall Street. He has prosecuted and hunted down “whistle blowers.” He has his own “kill list” and uses drones everywhere to do it. As for transparency, this administration is the most secretive of all time.
What we have is a government run by Wall Street bankers, the very people behind the recession, the debt crisis, the military industrial complex, and the dismantling of the social safety net.
Obama, in fact, was hand-picked and groomed since his college days by the cartel. The Crown family of Chicago, owners of General Dynamics, a major profiteer from war, along with their partners in the cartel, funded Obama, schooled him in the ways of power, and created the persona who effectively deceived the American public.
The cartel owned the financial pillars, the media and the marketing behind this deception. I went to the polls believing that a vote for Obama was a vote for peace, but Obama and both major parties were committed to endless war, targeted killings, record war budgets, and the systematic destruction of the United States Constitution, as well as U.S. and international law.
And the cartel has used the basic psychological tools of fear mongering, false flag events, and lies to make the American public fall in line. They have also corrupted our educational system with the ridiculous emphasis on testing that every teacher knows if heresy, effectively dumbing down and creating a culture of obedient and subservient slaves. They are attempting to privatize education and our prisons…already well underway.
Look around! Just as in ancient Rome, they entertain us with outrageous and insulting to our intelligence reality TV shows; Ultimate Cage fighting; insidious and endless commercials creating an insatiable appetite to consume; 24/7 sporting events; and an endless cycle of movies that for the most part are destructive to our culture.
None of this has happened by chance. It has all been very carefully orchestrated for many, many years by the cartel of wealthy, elitist oligarchs. Their goal is to consolidate all of the wealth creating the greatest disparity of wealth ever, and power into their own hands and to force the populations of the entire world into subservience. This isn’t new. Every empire, every autocrat, every brutal dictator from time immemorial has done this. And when the pain was so severe, when the oppression became so unbearable and felt by the masses, there were revolutions that overthrew the powerful.
Throughout America’s own history there have been countless revolutions against those who have attempted to control and subjugate the people. There were those who rose up and died opposing slavery. There were those who died and were persecuted for demanding a woman’s right to vote. There were those who died fighting the corporate barons of industry for just wages, safety, the 40 hour workweek, paid vacations, health benefits and the abolition of child labor. More died fighting for civil rights and protesting the Vietnam War.
In the next few weeks, let’s see if Obama apologizes for cutting Social Security and Medicare. He’ll say “we all have to make sacrifices.” Let’s see if Obama approves the XL Pipeline. Let’s see if he puts and end to the NSA spying, to his personal kill list. Let’s see if he continues to try to take away American’s right to own guns. Let’s see if Obama continues to trample on the Constitution, taking away what’s left of our civil liberties.
Let’s see if Obama cuts the war budget, brings all of our troops home, and pours the $1 Trillion annually spent on wars into making America and Americans healthy and hopeful again.
And the really big one…let’s see if he sneaks through the TPP which will effectively be the end-game and the end of democracy, the rule of law, and the sovereign rights of nation states.
Obama and Congress are just pimps, prostitutes, and puppets of the evil, hidden cartel of the oligarchy. Obama and Congress are not in charge. They don’t make policy. They just do what they are told.
So, my guess is we will see all of this begin to unfold in the next few months, and then, let the revolution begin!
Who is the Evil One on the Korean Peninsula?
Deputy Foreign Minister of North Korea, Park Gilyeon gave a speech at the United Nations this week that Neo-Cons, warmongers, and the United States government will ridicule just as they did when the new president of Iran held out an olive branch last week. They will say that it is just a propaganda stunt and disingenuous. The U.S. has used that tagline against everyone that opposes it…forever!
Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, in his speech at the United Nations, focused on respecting the rights of Mother Earth and said that the rights of Mother Earth in the 21st Century will be more important that human rights.
Pres. Morales, said “the origin of this crisis (Climate) is the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth. The origins come from the system and an economic model of Capitalism. If we don’t share the truth of this crisis with one another nor the international community, we will disseminate a lie to our people whom expect more from their presidents, governments and these kinds of forums.”
Not a word from Obama about protecting Mother Earth, global warming, or climate change.
And prior to speaking at the United Nations, President Morales said in a press conference in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, “I would like to announce that we are preparing a lawsuit against Barack Obama to condemn him for crimes against humanity.”
Morales has filed a lawsuit against the US government for crimes against humanity wherein he decries the US for its ‘intimidation tactics’ and ‘fear-mongering’ after the Venezuelan presidential jet was blocked from entering US airspace.
As if this US bashing wasn’t enough, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil castigated the U.S. for violating Brazil’s sovereignty with what she called a “grave violation of human rights and of civil liberties.” She was referring the the NSA spying on governments and people in her country and the world.
In contrast, President Barack Obama gave an embarrassing, hostile speech filled with lies and innuendo. (David Swanson http://warisacrime.org/content/top-45-lies-obamas-speech-un). Nothing new for the United States to lie and continuously abuse the United Nations. It has been going on for more than 60 years!
But, back to what North Korea’s, Park Gilyeon had to say. First, he said the UN is being abused by high-handedness and arbitrariness where infringement of sovereignty, interference into internal affairs and regime change continue to go unabated under the pretexts of “non-proliferation and human rights protection. Wonder who he’s referring to? Iraq, Afghanistan, Lybia, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Columbia, etc etc etc
Second, he stated that it is the unanimous demand of the international society to completely eliminate all nuclear weapons and to build a nuclear weapon free world through disarmament. Again, no surprise here who wants it both ways. Holding that “BOMB” over everyone’s head is the most egregious act of terrorism ever.
Third, he said despite international efforts for human rights protection and promotion, high-handedness and double standards are becoming ever more undisguised in the UN human rights fora, targeting developing countries selectively as before. I wonder, who could he be referring to with this swipe?
Fourth, he suggested that the UN General Assembly (not the Security Council) should be empowered to have the final say as it represents the general will of the entire membership and UN Security Council resolutions affecting peace and security such as sanctions and use of force should be made effective only under the authority and approval of the UN General Assembly. “The instances of the UN Security Council being abused by a certain state as a tool of its strategic interests should never go unchallenged.” Hmmmmmmm Can’t imagine which state that might be.
Continuing in the same vein, he said “The UN Security Council reform which is the key component of UN reform should be undertaken on the basis of principles of ensuring accountability, transparency and impartiality in its activities and ensuring full representation of developing countries in its composition.” And, why not?
Fifth, he states emphatically, “nothing is more precious than a stable and peaceful environment for the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea and the Korean people….as the general objective of the government.” What? They want peace and stability and not war?
Sixth, “60 years have passed since the end of the ….3-year-long war and the singing of the Armistice Agreement….Yet, a mechanism that guarantees peace fails to be in place, as a result of which the unstable situation neither of war nor peace continues on the Korean peninsula.” This is because the U.S., not Russia and China wanted it so. Only the USA did not remove its forces after the Armistice as did both Russia and China.
Then he blasts the U.S. directly and unequivocably…”With an aim of militarily dominating the northeast Asia with the Korean peninsula as a stepping stone, the United States, having designated the DPRK as its first attack target, beefs up its military presence in South Korea and its vicinity and on the other hand, stages a series of war exercises against the DPRK every year with massive builds up of hundreds of thousands of troops and modern military equipment, thus aggravating confrontation and tension without letup.” He must be talking about Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” committing 60% of America’s naval might to the region….not a secret operation, but a bold pronouncement. (The Ghosts of Jeju)
Mr. Park, reminds us that “The United Nations Command,” is the illegal manipulation and bullying of the U.S. and has nothing to do with the United Nations, and that “UN Command” claimed by the U.S. is the outdated legacy of the Korean War and continues to serve the U.S. military strategy by abusing the name of the United Nations even today.
He then moves in with the knockout punch when he states, “the repeated vicious cycle of mounting tension on the Korean peninsula has its roots in the hostile policy of the U.S. on the DPRK. He goes on to say, “the United States designated the DPRK…as its enemy from the very first day of its foundation and has been refusing to recognize its sovereignty and imposing all sorts of sanctions, pressures and military threats on the DPRK for more than a half a century. The only way to ensure lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula is to bring the U.S. hostile policy to and end.” AMEN to that!
We don’t see Russia or China, Iran or N. Korea staging war games off Manhattan, L.A. and in the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t see anyone placing missiles and radar installations on our borders. Why is it that America’s strategic military efforts always seem to be on other sovereign nations’ borders?
But Park concludes with a plea for a peace mechanism dismantling the “UN Command” and the lifting of all sanctions and military threats without delay, and for the reunification of the country.” That’s precisely what the Korean people….I say, people want! Unlike the puppet S. Korean government which is controlled and held hostage by the USA. But, the people want unification and peace.
Was any of this reported in the American media? Think again! These are hardly threatening words coming from a rogue state threatening the security of the United States. In contrast, Obama continues to threaten anyone who doesn’t go along. He threatens with drones and his own personal “kill list.” He threatens with over 1,000 bases in more than 130 countries. He threatens with sanctions and military threats everywhere on the planet.
Here at home, in “the land of the free” he imprisons whistle blowers like Bradley (Chelsea) Manning, and hunts down others like Julian Assange and Eward Snowden, even trying to intimidate China and Russia in the process. Furthermore, he extends the Patriot Act and the NDAA whereby he can detain anyone indefinitely without charges for protesting the illegal and immoral behavior of his administration, and he funds and empowers the militarization of local law enforcement to beat down popular uprisings like Occupy.
As if this isn’t enough to prove who is the “evil” in the world, he refuses to shut down Guantanamo and approves of torture and rendition for suspected “terrorists.”
President Morales put his finger on the root cause of all the problems facing human existence: “the exaggerated accumulation of capital in far too few hands. It is the permanent removal of natural resources and the commercialization of Mother Earth. The origins come from the system and an economic model of Capitalism.”
Capitalism, the military industrial complex, and a government of puppets bought and paid for by big money and large corporate interests. Far from being “exceptional,” the defender of freedom and human rights, America today looks more like fascism than a force for good in the world.
And as all of this plays out in the United Nations, this corrupt government is shut down and threatening to default on its debt payments which will throw the entire global economy into chaos. But fear not! Essential services like the War Department are exempt.
What an example of democracy, freedom, and exceptionalism!
Proof Washington Doesn’t Work For US
I’m not outraged at the government shutdown. Actually, I think it might be one more important step in the meltdown of the entire system which does not represent the people. In my opinion, it can’t come soon enough!
For as long as anyone can remember, Congress and the White House have been co-opted by Wall St, corporations, and the military industrial complex. Since the Wall St. bailout, income disparity between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of us is the largest since the 1920’s. The middle class is disappearing, and the ranks of the poor are expanding. The unemployed and under-employed are struggling and will never catch up in this environment.
The people in Washington, and that includes all the lobbyists and special interests groups, have kept the focus on greed and deception. They’ve succeeded in dividing Americans on everything from guns and immigration, and from healthcare to voting rights, all the while ignoring the most serious problems facing the U.S. and the planet.
So, while the planet continues to warm at a pace that will make life as we know it unsustainable in the next fifty years; while we do nothing to rid the planet of fossil fuels much less invest in renewable energy; while our educational system lags far behind the rest of the world; while college education is unaffordable; while our infrastructure is in disrepair; while states and municipalities are strapped and unable to provide basic services; and while those people in Washington continue to spend $1 Trillion a year on the business and export of war, they shut down the entire system that should be focusing on everything but Obamacare.
In two weeks, Washington will again play this ugly game of brinkmanship over raising the debt ceiling which will throw the entire U.S. and world economies into chaos, and will really put the hurt on everyone, including the 1% who risk losing their fortunes. Not even the greedy plutocrats want to see that happen. Maybe that would be a good thing. Maybe the order of the world would be transformed.
The answer to all of this is quite simple in my mind. A fundamental change is taking place, a natural, evolutionary demise of “the great American Way of Life” is underway. Claims of “exceptionalism” ring hollow. The belief that unlimited power and full-spectrum dominance can create a Pax Americana is falling apart. Perpetual war and an ever-increasing War Department budget not only has bankrupt the country economically, but morally.
The country that invented the atomic bomb, used it twice and continues to use it as a weapon of domination is on a march to destroy the planet either by its use, or by its inability to convert those war dollars into saving the planet.
With just $1 Trillion spent on the war machine every year, just about every problem in the world could be solved: poverty, hunger, clean water, clean renewable energy for everyone, education for everyone….Naive? I think it is naive to believe that Washington can solve any of these or do anything that is good for America and mankind. So, maybe, just maybe this meltdown is a good thing. From my point of view, that’s optimistic. Thinking that the present cast of thieves in Washington can do any good provides little hope for anything but more of the same.
The Ghosts of Jeju – Update
People the world over like The Ghosts of Jeju, yet 10 of 13 film festivals have rejected it. Currently, only the Berkeley Film Festival and the Portland, Maine Film Festival have accepted it.
To date, the film has been screened in several states, and over a dozen countries, all with wonderful reviews. Screenings are now being organized in Boston, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Portland, OR, and Seattle where I will present the film. Other screenings are in the planning stages for Charlottesville, VA, Chicago, and Daytona Beach, Fl.
So, while mainstream outlets have shown no interest in the documentary, peace and justice organizations and veterans groups are spreading it far and wide.
The latest news from Jeju indicates that construction of the base continues at a frantic pace, and construction of a new U.S. Naval Operations Headquarters in Busan is underway. Without fail, the activists and Catholic priests and nuns block the gates seven days a week and where Catholic mass is celebrated daily at 11 am.
Three activists are still serving lengthy jail sentences among them Professor Yang, the noted Korean film critic who was visited by Oliver Stone when he visited Jeju in August.
My plea in The Ghosts of Jeju was that with knowledge comes responsibility, and the least all of us can do is to amplify their voices. In addition to letter-writing, sending donations to Gangjeong Village, and going there in person, one of the best ways is to use The Ghosts of Jeju to tell their story.
The Ghosts of jeju will not stop the construction of this base which will destroy Gangjeong, a 400 yr old farming and fishing village, but perhaps it is playing a small role in opposing the military advance of the United States and the march towards full-spectrum dominance of the planet.
My Reply to Washington Post Column by Gene Robinson
Robinson argues that America IS exceptional. I begged to differ.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/yes-vladimir-america-is-exceptional/2013/09/12/4b234320-1be2-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html?hpid=z3
America is no more exceptional than any other nation, village or tribe. Exceptionalism and The American Way of Life are the two biggest lies that have corrupted what could have been a grand experiment in democracy and the land of the free.
It is rather obvious that this exceptional nation has killed more people in wars of aggression to control and extract the earth’s resources than any other nation. This exceptional nation has used the most horrific weapons to commit genocide beginning with the Native Americans, the Philippines, dozens of countries in South and Central America, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. America has used napalm, white phosphorous, Agent Orange, depleted Uranium, and the most devastating and indiscriminate weapon of mass destruction of all, the Atomic Bomb. Not once, but twice. And, America has been threatening the world with the use of it again should any nation dare to challenge the imperial advance.
I guess in a way, that makes America exceptional. But look what exceptionalism has done to the American people: the greatest income disparity since 1927; foreclosures; good manufacturing jobs shipped overseas; a neglected infrastructure; a under-funded and lousy school system; college debt crippling graduates; the elimination of social uplift programs; the attacks on Social Security and Medicare; no universal health care; tens of thousands of injured vets without proper care; and trillions of dollars of debt. And oh, the nation with the most incarcerated people on the planet, and Guantanamo.
But there’s more. The Patriot Act, the NDAA, and the spying of the CIA, FBI, and NSA have all but deprived us of our freedoms and classified any who speak out against these evils as terrorists.
Vlaidimir Putin is not without fault. Russia itself has a terrible record of repression. He accomplished two things: he forced America to look in the mirror, and he slam-dunked Obama. Neither what we see in the mirror nor Obama are particularly pretty.
Vladimir Putin Was Right
I posted this in the comment section of the NY Times re the OP ED Valdimir Putin penned today. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html
Putin was dead on! America is no more “exceptional” than any other nation, tribe, or people. That is one of the biggest myths-lies ever perpetrated on the American people.
It is shameful and ironic that the Peace Prize president couldn’t and didn’t pen this op ed!
Kudos to Vladimir Putin for this Op Ed….America has demonized EVERYONE who has disagreed with her….and America has used that demonization to justify murdering millions of people of color all over the world. Russia certainly has not done that.
America is the only country to have used chemical weapons, napalm, white phosphorous, depleted Uranium, nerve gas, and the Atomic Bomb, not once, but twice.
Putin doesn’t have his own personal “kill list” that he reviews each week in his situation room. Putin isn’t ordering drone strikes that kill innocent men, women, and children. Putin isn’t attacking and destabilizing countries. Putin isn’t ratcheting up an arms race in space. Putin hasn’t shifted 60% of his military might to the Atlantic and Pacific. Putin is not placing a missile defense system on America’s borders. Putin doesn’t have a Guantanamo. Putin isn’t guilty of a rogue NSA and CIA.
Russia is no longer and really never was the enemy. Washington, the military industrial complex, the big banks and the oligarchs who profit from war are the enemy.
Americans need to look in the mirror and turn in disgust from what we see.
American Military Cancer is Killing Us All
This short video connects the dots as many are wont to say, but it is on point. 9:59 in length. Recommend everyone take the time to watch and then share widely. It is time to take our country back, save ourselves, and save the world.
We Like War
As President Obama and the war hawks beat the drums for war, the American people overwhelmingly oppose any military intervention in Syria’s civil war. Right now, Obama is chastising the international community in St. Petersburg Russia claiming that their credibility, not his, is at stake. This is not only outrageous and embarrassing, be despicable from someone who has won the Nobel Peace Prize, from someone who tortures people, persecutes the likes of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, has his own “kill list,” and continues to strike with drones anywhere he pleases.
Obama claims he has irrefutable proof – evidence – that President Asaad used chemical weapons on his people. I say, prove it. Show US all the evidence. Who provided it? Can it be corroborated? Russia submitted a 100 page document to the United Nations proving otherwise. I am no longer willing to accept their proof on faith any more. I do not trust this government. They asked us to just “trust them” when Bush-Cheney and his gang took us to war in Iraq. They lied. The reason was really oil.
Obama and his gang, include the military industrial complex, the big banks and all those who make money from war want us to just “trust them” again. Once again it is abot OIL. I say no more. Never again.
The Ghosts of Jeju proves unequivocally the U.S. plan to dominate the world through full-spectrum dominance – read brute military force. It has never been about spreading democracy and freedom. Never been about championing human rights. Those claims are disgusting and patently false. The government has lied to us for over 200 years.
Only America has committed genocide repeatedly beginning with the Native Americans. Just in my life time, America has used weapons of mass destruction designed to kill large numbers of civilians with the carpet bombing and fire-bombing of Germany. America followed that up with the carpet bombing and napalming of Japan in 1944-45, then carpet bombed and napalmed Korea into oblivion. Remember, it was General Curtis LeMay who directed those bombings who said, “if you kill enough of them they quit fighting.”
America didn’t stop there but carpet bombed, napalmed, and used Agent Orange in Vietnam. America didn’t object when Israel used white phosphorus on the Palestinians. We didn’t complain, but actually aided our ally at the time, Saddam Hussein when he used chemical weapons on the Iranians and his own people. American has single handedly destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan using cluster bombs, white phosphorus, and depleted Uranium causing irreparable damage to the DNA and genetic composition of those innocent people who are suffering from incidence of cancers and birth defects never before seen.
America has been killing innocent civilians, mostly all people of color and indigenous since the early days of this country all in the name of the biggest lie ever to be perpetrated, that of the American Way of Life. The American Way of Life has duped us into believing that consumption based on the evil of capitalism has been good for us.
It is rather obvious to anyone who is paying attention that the middle class is disappearing; all the good jobs have been shipped overseas; our Constitutional rights have been trampled upon; corporations are now “people” with more rights and power than real people; our educational system is in shambles and college creates unbearable debts on students and families; our infrastructure and social programs are sacrificed when 65% of our discretionary spending goes to the war machine…to making war, perpetual war.
The American Way of Life has always and only been about making the “few” more money and all-powerful. The American Way of Life has never been for the poor, people of color, the middle class. It has never been about spreading democracy and freedom around the world. The American Way of Life really means wealth, prosperity, and power for the elite oligarchs, who ironically refused to be subjects of the totalitarian government they rebelled against in 1776.
Freedom and voting rights for women, Blacks, Native Americans, and the working class were never entered the minds of the “founding fathers.” Those rights had to be fought for, and those rights are being systematically reversed right in front of our very eyes today.
If Americans knew and were paying attention to what the people we elect and this government has been doing, we would not only march on Washington, we would burn it down.
America’s number one export product is war…weapons of war which we sell to friend and foe alike, and perpetual war. The only good jobs left in America are in the research, manufacture, and use of the weapons of war.
Perhaps the worst crime of all: America has been making war on the planet. Every war destroys ecosystems that sustain life. War destroys wildlife and poisons water necessary for life. The U.S. military, in addition to killing the planet through war has the largest carbon footprint on the planet. It takes oil, lots and lots of oil to fuel planes, tanks, armored vehicles, drones, and war ships. It takes oil to manufacture and build all of the weapons of war. America is the worst offender in global warming with no intention of stopping or slowing the process, which by the end of the century will see temperatures rise to a level that life as we know it will be unsustainable.
Rather than spend our money, our creativity, our ability to solve problems on taking care of rebuilding America, relieving human suffering and poverty world-wide, on making peace in the world, in halting climate change, America can only make war.
I believe it is time for Americans to wake up and take this country back. It already may be too late. Hopefully the fall of the Roman Empire will not be a precursor of what awaits the American Empire and the world. “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die.”
Are you ready for some football?
Enjoy one of America’s real prophets who speaks truth to power, George Carlin on “We Like War.”