By Craig Winters
08/14/07 “ICH“
Multinational corporations sell our jobs to the lowest overseas bidders. The credit industry preys on our poor. The for-profit healthcare system is the leading cause of bankruptcy while hospitals dump indigent patients on skid row. Our country’s infrastructure is breaking down from New Orleans levees to Minnesota bridges even as we are mired in a war that drowns us in debt and advances only the interests of big oil and arms merchants. The Medicare prescription drug law leaves an enormous hole in coverage while it forbids the government from negotiating lower prices on behalf of the people. Bush signed into law a bill making bankruptcy harder and more expensive for people who need relief and now he threatens to veto health insurance for poor children.
How can the government ignore such obvious and immediate needs?
The regulatory and general welfare roles of the government have totally succumbed to the unassailable wealth that corporations have amassed over many generations. Blind quest for personal wealth and power now bind government officials (as well as universities, NGOs and think thanks) into an integrated corporate dominated power structure. Corporations use their money and vast resources to control every aspect of our public institutions. More than just campaign contributions and cash bribes, they offer a rich array of incentives to “team players” including private jets, resort vacations, in kind services, indulgence of vices, and obscenely high paying private positions when they leave government. Corporations use their influence over government officials not just to buy their vote or a favorable ruling, but to seduce them into playing the power game, a life-long pursuit of power and wealth at the expense of principles, allegiances, and common decency. Politicians have neither the will nor the capacity to dismantle this system.
So what can desperate citizens do in the face of a captured government?
Some suggest that efforts to reshape today’s world are pointless when today’s world will not exist in ten years. This view holds that “peak oil” will impose an inescapable world-changing transition to the “post-carbon” era. Without abundant cheap oil we will all be living local existences. Washington will be far away and insignificant in our lives. Wal-Mart will cease to exist due to the rising costs of materials and transportation. Sporadic or absent electricity will place a premium on manual skills and hand labor. The food we eat and much of the material goods we use in daily life will come from our local economy, and the Washington power crowd will be a vanishing relic of the past.
While I respect this view and believe that peak oil will drastically change all our lives, I also believe that there is time before the worst effects are felt. Now more than ever we need responsible collective action to begin making preparations, investing in alternative energy, and promoting sustainable living. The ruling class also sees these changes coming, but their response is to secure maximum assets for themselves, squeeze our economy for their short-term gain, and leave the common people to scrap among themselves.
The electoral process has failed us – it failed us in Florida, it failed us in Ohio, and it is failing us in Congress today. Seeking change through the political system will beget the usual political response – cosmetic reforms for us, and fat contracts for the corporate overlords. Our government no longer represents our interests so we must speak for ourselves, en mass, not asking but demanding change. For examples of true substantive change look back to the trust busting of Roosevelt and Taft that followed the Populist uprisings in the late 19th century, or the Civil Rights legislation following massive nationwide demonstrations by everyday people. History shows us that a popular uprising will bring about meaningful change. As recently as March of last year HR 4437 criminalizeing undocumented immigration was stopped in its tracks when a million people joined public protests across the country. If we want change now we need people in the streets, lots of angry people, not merely to get the attention of the powerful or to gain their respect, but to put them in fear for their opulent lives.
September 15th could be the day when the people declare they will no longer quietly suffer these corporate and political abuses. Protest events in Washington invite a massive outpouring of pent-up anger from people with many political concerns including issues of war, civil liberties, economic justice, climate change, and 9-11 truth, and it’s going to feel damn good to get out in streets and tell the world how we feel. United, we have sufficient power to threaten the existing structure, and I expect their enforcement machine will respond with disproportionate violence and large scale round ups and detention. The media will then be forced to cover these events and the public will awaken to the true face of the authoritarian system under which we live.
I think the best thing we can do to promote this day is to share with others the thoughts we have late at night when we are alone with our fears and hopes. As we find more like-minded people in our communities we gain confidence and clarity so that when that day comes we will not be cowed by authority but will rise to our feet and join our voices and our strength in challenging this illegitimate government. Politicians will rail and police will crack heads, but I pray we will stand our ground and demand a new balance of power that puts the needs of the people ahead of the insatiable desires of the wealthy few.
Craig Winters <craigwin@rmi.net> is a civil engineer and software professional in Las Cruces, NM who suffered a political awakening while trying to make sense of the US invasion of Iraq.
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Join Myspacers in Wash, DC for the Sept 15 March
I am inviting you to join me and others from MySpace at the Holiday Inn Capitol hotel on C Street SW before the Sept. 15 march for peace and impeachment. We are meeting in that hotel’s lobby at 10:30 a.m. Then, we will walk to the starting point of the rally and march, and we’ll join hundreds of thousands of others in protest. (Maybe millions)
If you have the chance to get to Washington DC on Saturday Sept. 15, come and meet up with other MySpacers.
Oh, and please forward this to others who might be interested. We’ll see you there.
Peace,
Gita
Dandelion Salad 
The Baggies, Balloons, and Ball filled with paint are only to Identify Abuser’s of Police Power, and Constitutional usurpation’s.
The ropes and torches are only Symbolic, of course.
The (law) book Burning though, is still in order.
Rescind Nuisance laws, true Freedom
If your really pissed, are you bringing ropes and torches?
Perhaps the Elite will then realize that power is fleeting, and the peasants(Middle-Class) are no longer silent, content, nor affraid.
A good (law)Book burning is in order!
Suggest you take Vasoline, Pain rain Poncho’s, Gooogles, Breathing Appratices, and Milk/Water for eye irratations. Baggies, Balls, & Ballons filled with paint.
Peace will Expose the Beast for what it is, a
“Cruel and Unusual Creature”, Final Solution?
Rescind Nuisance Laws, True Freedom.
VIVA FREEDOM.
Namiste my friends,
Some vision,
What would have happened if Al Gore had been President and where would our Country be at now? Well we know that Al Gore has made a movie concerning global warming and the effects of Co2 gasses on our world. The many republicans scoff at Al Gore’s book and movie and don’t believe in global warming and the green house effect. He is an advocate against the use of oil and to find new ways to produce energy and to run cars. Doesn’t it make since to we the American people to make dramatic changes not only save our mother earth, but to also make it one of our first priorities to become non-dependent upon foreign oil, or domestic oil for that matter. If you as an American citizen or because you’re a brain washed Republican actually doesn’t believe that there is global warming then you need to take your collective heads out of the sand and take a serious look around at the world we live in today.. If the ice caps are to completely melt away then all of the oceans water will rise very dramatically and cites like New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Hawaii, Florida, Texas, and most of the other cities on or near the oceans water fronts will be completely covered by water. There is the possibility that with the huge deluge of ice cold fresh water added to the worlds ocean’s that the present days water currents that help to warm up places like England and others will be come a frozen and barren waste land. The book by Mr. Dole’s An Assault On Reason is very enlightening and should be read by anyone concerned with our mother earth and the problem that is awaiting us all. Maybe the DVD that he made would be better for some audiences AN Inconvenient Truth by AL Gore.
Can we not as Americans citizens imagine the possibility of building instead of nuclear reactors to which have fuel rods, which are so radioactive that they have to be buried inside a mountain? Do we not realize that it takes thousands of years for the radioactive isotopes to degrade enough that the rods wouldn’t cause any harm to man kind or any other creature. The American spirit for freedom should extend to being free from the Rich Oil Barons and rich oil Countries. We should no longer be in their control in any way and let them drown in their own oil. Let their people eat their oil America being one of the largest bread baskets in the world.
Our Government should have been starting multi billion dollar industries building wind propeller generating electric plants, and solar powered anything as sun light is a free fuel source. Just imagine whole deserts covered with solar panels collecting free suns energy instead of just empty barren dead rock…Unlike building the great dam like they did in China, the Three Gorges Dam, which is the largest dam in the world generating enormous amounts of electrical energy from driving the turbines with water running through the turbines creating the electricity. Maybe what America really needed was some one with true vision and a workable plan to be running things. What Americans should have done is to build like what Americans and other countries used to have in the old days, were water wheel houses that used to be used to turn a wheel. This wheel would turn gears that would grind the wheat into flour or other grains. Instead of using the water wheels force to grind grains the water wheel could be used to make electricity. There could be a viable amount of water wheels built on every river with out having to dam it up and have people loose valuable land and their homes. Swift running water could be directed into the wheel through a pipe fixed into the channel of the river and the force of the water would shoot the water faster through the telescoping pipe to the waters wheel making it run and spin even faster. Telescoping meaning the pipe would be bigger at one end and then gradually get smaller and smaller as it gets to the water wheel it’s self the water pressure generated would be a lot greater. I know that maybe many people wouldn’t like to have there rivers and water ways dotted up all along each of its sides with water wheels. The fact though is many people might in fact think that water wheels are beautiful and would add beauty to the landscapes. They also might think that having free energy from the running water as a good or if not a better idea than by using coal, oil, or petroleum products to run our energy needs of this country.
China, who is the second nation in the world only to the US in the consumption and use of Gasoline and oil products, has engineered plants that they are able to extract 50% oil out of a certain green plant where the plant looks like it has some kind of bean pods on them. I learned of this on my last trip to China through watching the channel 9 CCTV News. Most of the other countries had a lot of interest in this plants potential and wanted some of its seeds to reproduce in their own countries. Britain was one of the more notable nations who had attended. You notice hat there hasn’t been any articles or news coverage here in the US about this remarkable plant that it releases 50% oil.
I don’t have any claim to being an expert by any means in the War, or in the politics, of why who was elected, and how that happened, or about our current depressing addiction to oil from the big oil companies. I don’t know that Bio fuels is the right answer as there will still be lots of CO2 emissions from the combustible engines which would still be harmful to our atmosphere that protects us from the harmful rays emitted by the sun that our atmosphere helps too block out.
August 5, 2007 – 11:51pm.
By PHIL HOSKINS
This is a call to arms for Democrats, those of you who know our country is headed down the toilet and who hope to see a pulse in their party’s Presidential hopefuls. Hillary Clinton has unquestionably shown that she has the balls, Barrack Obama the charisma, and John Edwards the heart, but the only candidate in the race for President in 2008 that is right on the important issues of the day is Dennis Kucinich. I heartily endorse him and will vote for him.
Like many Americans, I have thought that the field of candidates on both sides of the aisle has looked dismal for a long time. The “viable” candidates fight each other to show how electable they are, raising large sums of money and avoiding all “third rail” issues like the plague. Dennis Kucinich alone has staked out clear, unequivocal and honest positions. The darling to the right, Ron Paul tries to portray himself as the candidate of liberty, but too often he is missing for key votes or passes off his bias to the states rather than make a clear stand for equality and freedom for all.
The stand by Kucinich that got my attention was his introduction of impeachment articles against V.P. Cheney, after all the hand wringing by others in his party over tactics, Dennis had the guts to stand for what is right.
Yes I am an unrepentant liberal. I am proud of that and if you had listened to me all these elections ago we wouldn’t live in the messed up world we do today. Seriously folks, you have been paying attention to frauds and charlatans. Here are the key issues that Dennis stands for:
-Creating a single-payer system of universal health care that provides full coverage for all Americans by passage of the United States National Health Insurance Act.
-The immediate withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq; replacing them with an international security force.
-Guaranteed quality education for all; including free pre-kindergarten and college for all who want it.
-Immediate withdrawal from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
-Repealing the USA PATRIOT Act.
-Fostering a world of international cooperation.
-Abolishing the death penalty.
-Environmental renewal and clean energy.
-Preventing the privatization of social security.
-Providing full social security benefits at age 65.
-Creating a cabinet-level “Department of Peace”
-Ratifying the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol.
-Introducing reforms to bring about instant-runoff voting.
-Protecting a woman’s right to choose while decreasing the number of abortions performed in the U.S.
-Ending the war on drugs.
-Legalizing same-sex marriage.
-Creating a balance between workers and corporations.
-Ending the H1B and L1 Visa Programs
-Restoring rural communities and family farms.
-Strengthening gun control.
-Balance Between Workers and Corporations
-Environmental Renewal and Clean Energy
-Restored Rural Communities and Family Farms.
It would be difficult to find anyone, much less a candidate for President, that is as much in line with the real needs of real people, the average, above average and under average American who has to work for a living, pay for their family’s needs, support their communities, and lend a hand for those less fortunate.
With income disparity growing to obscene levels, with more and more of us unable to afford decent healthcare, with more and more of the good jobs being sent to wherever big money wants to set up shop and rape the population, we need a leader who will speak for the citizens of this country, not for the interests of the top 1% who increasingly own and run everything.
Long ago Kucinich was elected to be the youngest mayor of a major city in the U.S. and despite huge pressures to cave in he stood for the interests of the people of Cleveland. At the time he was ridiculed for opposing the sale of a municipal electricity facility. Not until years later did people realize that he was wise beyond his years and that he was right. We need leaders who can stand up to big money, and the candidate who has shown this time and time again is Dennis Kucinich.
Instead of trying to handicap the race for President trying to figure which candidate might get past the Karl rove vote suppression juggernaut, this year show that you have the guts to vote your principles. Don’t vote for someone who is second or third best. At least not in the primary election. Don’t wuss out.
By the time the millions have been spent and either tweedle dee or tweedle dum is selected as the Democratic candidate, vote for the candidate that stands for true Democratic principles, the principles that made this nation great and grateful. Come out of the political closet and stand for progressive, liberal and honest policies.
Vote for Dennis Kucinich for President.
Oh our great Congress and Senate of the US defenders of the Constitution…Where have you been? OH yeah off on a month long Vacation!!!
Due to our Majority led Congress who decided right before they left on vacation to sign away our bill of rights and the US Constitution which they swore to uphold we no longer have the rights we used to have. We no longer have the checks and balances to the fear of propaganda of the evil terrorist regime. Yes we can Trust our Congress and we can also trust Roberto Gonzalez with our freedom of speech and the head of the CIA they make good judgments I am sure as a court or judge might make in any civil matter or might that be considered under national security? I feel so violated!!!!
Sorry we no longer have our civil liberties as they were given away recently,
Vote for Kucinich is the only one who has a plan to end WTO and NAFTA and ending the war, universal health care for everyone!!!
No More Nukes, No More Nukes, No More Nukes, No More Nukes, No More Nukes, No More Nukes,
Namiste and peace,
William
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