These little people don’t know about hatred, greed and killing yet!
Reuters reports that Fidel Castro’s sudden re-emergence after four years in seclusion has raised questions about what it all means.
But Reuters say his message has been consistent. Fidel said: “A devastating war is at hand if the United States, in alliance with Israel, tries to enforce international sanctions against Iran for its nuclear activities.” He has also predicted the United States will attack North Korea.
To contrast with Fidel’s dire predictions (which are echoed by many) and to feature hope, I have chosen an image which suggests peace, something that the deranged, neanderthal, warmongering American leadership and the Corporate Barons and Religious Fundamentalists who support them, have clearly forgotten the meaning of.
America’s insatiable, barbaric war machine must be destroyed.
Think peace not war!
How wonderful life would be if people could hold on to the innocense that those children possess!
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76-water Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 4:42 am
Beautiful thought! However, I find it hard to fathom maintaining ones innocense into adulthood. How quickly we learn of and recognise ego. We experence violence as young children and learn how to use it to manipulate those around us, (hitting, yelling, belittling). Ahhh, our innocense, how nice it would feel. It may not be impossible, but certainly not something promoted in the world we live in. Thanks for making me think.
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David -
There is a small movement in Congress to try and reduce the U.S. military budget. Barney Frank and others would like to cut it by a trillion dollars over the next decade. I think that the military budget should at least be cut in half in that amount of time. Think of what that money could do for the infrastructure of the U.S.! However, there is a catch. The Pentagon knows how to entrench itself into the economy. They have created a system of contracting companies that is spread all over the United States. This means that local economies are often reliant on Pentagon spending and the local congressional rep will be unlikely to vote for spending reductions that will hurt their local economies and, of course, make them less likely to be re-elected. The U.S. military is always looking for ways and “missions” to justify it’s appalling budgets. Aside from the Middle East (which one State Dept. official once called “the ultimate prize”) we are now creating a CentComm in Africa as well. We are the chief instigator in what may come to be known as the “Age of Resource Wars”. My country has always participated in this kind of thing but now it is going into high gear, The Investor Class that owns the great majority of my country will not be deterred from their greed. The military even has a phrase for the strategy. It is called “Full Spectrum Dominance”. From the depths of space to the bottom of the sea, it will cheeseburgers and Salad Shooters for everybody! “Pax Americana” has become “Bellum Americana”. In my pessimism I see this as our end just it was for Rome and other empires.
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Jeannie, the innocence they have is destroyed by the rubbish we pour into their heads.
76-water, we can reverse the process: expose the rubbish and encourage thinking.
Bruce, the ‘investor class’ should be taken out and shot. They are calling the shots and destroying what humanity humans have. Television is filled with channels dedicated to what shares to buy, how you can make a dollar in real estate, how you can trade currencies. You’d think that there was nothing in life only making money.
How pathetic. Is it any wonder that the Ancient Greeks despised business people!
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Bruce Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 12:51 am
Hello David -
Indeed. We look back on the Greeks as being the cornerstone of Western Civilization. In many ways they certainly were. It is tragic that their attitude about the “moneychangers” didn’t survive much to the present day. We claim to be a Christian nation, a laughable assertion at best, but we didn’t seem to get the message from Jesus about that rich man and the eye of a needle. We even have mega church pastors here who claim that God intends for us to make lots of money and live in splendor. No doubt these pastors want their well-off flocks to contribute big money for the glory of God which ends being being used to buy a private jet and a big house. The fraudulent and loathsome “faith healer” Benny Hinn comes to mind as one example.
The great tragedy is that the “market”, which we talk about in nearly reverential tones, has turned from a system of goods and services exchanged to one in which vast amounts of fake money (derivatives, etc.) make even vaster amounts of fake money. Money making more money for a small, elite investor class is not what Wall Street should be about but of course the power of greed in people seems to be overwhelming. When that bunch of gangsters basically owns the U.S. Congress (one representative from Illinois, Dick Durbin, came out and said as much) then the regulations and rules become a joke. The “bubble” that broke starting in 2008 was similar to the bubble that started the Great Depression in 1929. For years prior to 1929 the market had been exploited due to the almost complete lack of regulations on trading, etc. Many millions of Americans were buying stock “on margin” which meant they only had to pay a fraction (usually 10%) of the total value of their stocks. The whole thing became a house of cards and collapsed on Black Thursday in October.
I believed that the regulations put in place after that disaster, that was felt all around the world including your country of Australia, would prevent such a complete financial meltdown from happening again. I was naive. The Investor Class had other plans and represented by ruthless men like Robert Rubin, Larry Summers and Tim Geithner among many others they pushed through the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 which let the derivatives markets go wild with speculation. By the way, to give you an idea of how crazy this is – I once heard a banker being interviewed and the person asked him to please tell the listeners what a “derivative” was. He hemmed and hawed for quite a while and never gave a satisfactory answer. If that is the level of understanding among one of the moneychangers themselves then I can more easily understand why the whole thing came crashing down and the world now has untold trillions in worthless money sitting in it’s vaults. The suffering has begun and I’m tempted to go along with you about that firing squad fantasy. At least these gangsters should be brought before the World Court and charged with something like “economic crimes against humanity”. The World Court would be appropriate because banksters and their fellow goons operate outside of nationalities. They have no particular loyalty to any country and do whatever they need to do and wherever they need to do it to achieve maximum return.
The recent “reform” legislation hailed by Barry the Liar as a significant step toward regulating Wall Street (one economics commentator facetiously said that, when the bill was approved by the Senate, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was seen doing cartwheels down Wall Street) will have little effect. The plunder will continue. This financial “reform” is similar to the reform we have seen in education and healthcare. It gives the illusion of change but offers more of the same. HMO stock prices went UP after the healthcare reform bill was made into law and, as I stated in my earlier post they installed one of their lackeys to oversee the process and make it work for them.
Yes, I have just about had enough. I cautiously voted for Obama hoping against hope that he would turn out to be somewhat like FDR, a man we desperately need now in the U.S. But Barry turned out to be an excellent campaigner but a gutless President, who resorted to his old Chicago style of politics. He had an opportunity to rally many people around him (including disaffected Republicans) but he blew it. He was a stealth candidate installed by the corporate Democratic National Committee. In November the Republicans may make big inroads in both houses of Congress and, if that happens, we will never get out of this profound mess. One Republican said that his party is in favor of lower taxes and more military spending. In other words keep the Imperialist War Machine primed and lower the revenues so that you can crush social services and “entitlements” like Social Security and privatize the hell out of everything. That is quite a bleak future to me and I am considering another country where I could actually survive on my small savings and Social Security. This is not exactly the country they told me it was when I was in school. That was back in California when it was called “The Golden State”. Now it can’t even balance it’s budget.
I hope that things turn out better in Australia.
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76-water Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Bruce- Greatly enjoy your insight and informative post. I also voted for Obama believing in the hope and change that was strongly desired after eight years of what I thought was a republican problem, I erroroniously thought anything had to be better than Bush like policies. I now realise there is not a nickels difference between the two political parties. That said, the future does not look very bright as the November election looms in the near future the sheeple will squable among themselves as to which cantidate whistles the best tune. When all of the above will strive for the same goals, but maybe by different routes. Thus we are left in the same mess with the same results. Obama being a Democrat only proved to enforce the former Republican doctrine. I furiously detest Obama as I allowed myself to be deceaved by his lies to passify a disgruntled population looking and hoping for (change). We got none of what we desired and don’t see it changing (theres that word again), anytime soon. If allowed, thanks for letting me rant. Cheers!
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Bruce, I understand and sympathize with your disappointment and concern. Australia is not in America’s situation yet but we do tend to ape America here and, of course, we do get a lot of American input via television.
This would be a good country for you to emigrate to.
76-water, you never rant. Keep up your great comments.
Cheers!
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Bruce Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 10:43 am
Hello David -
Thank you for the suggestion about emigrating to Australia. Perhaps from my posts you can’t tell but I am 61 years old and I have a minor medical condition. I would be interested in moving to Australia but I was under the impression that I am too old and there are points taken off if you have a medical situation. I love your system of health care and I sincerely hope that it continues and doesn’t devolve into the U.S. model. You have mentioned the treatments you have been receiving lately and I’m sure that it doesn’t represent as much of a threat to your budget as it would have if you lived here in the States. More than half of the bankruptcies here are caused by medical bills! Absolutely shameful but entirely consistent with “sink or swim” capitalism.
I have to say that two of my fantasies about visiting involve taking the train across Australia on the Nullaboor Plain and also I would like to visit the South Island of New Zealand. I tend to be an atypical tourist and prefer the out of the way places. That is why I fell in love with Alaska many years ago and have lived there. Cheers!
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David G Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Hey, Bruce, you’re never too old! I’m unsure what the entry requirements for Down Under are but a call to an Australian Embassy will reveal all. We need perceptive, wise people like you!
My treatment cost me nothing. Can’t do better than that, eh!
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Israel to get MEGA military handout from it’s special relationship with US.
“It is the largest such request in US history,”
Don’t worry it’s not just a hand out, but a reach around too~
“Washington also plans to sell Israel’s new fighter jets.”
“..should help Tel Aviv reach tough decisions in peace talks with the Palestinians.”
Damn, those Palestinians are Tough!
OK, humor done! I wait with breathe held. Exhale people – Don’t let this happen. This plans to be the biggest massacre of Palestinian people ever! This is beyond horrible. WTF!
http://presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135072§ionid=351020202
Shout out to John LJ! hence, Press TV.
This is the New Americanism.
Diplomacy at the point of a gun. It is sickening and evile. Shame to US and Israel.
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David G Reply:
July 19th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Grace, the U.S. is deliberately fueling the Middle East fire. It knows that Israel will provoke a confrontation with the Muslim world soon and that will give America the excuse it needs to make war on Iran, etc.
America truly is the greatest danger the world faces. It can’t seem to realize that once a nuclear war begins, it won’t stop and our world will be irreversibly damaged. There will be no winners.
The warmongering American leadership is clearly deranged!
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David, they stoke fires in one corner and “try” to put the fire out in another corner!
“US to ‘buy’ hearts and minds”.
A noble cause indeed.
“The US has announced $500 million in new aid projects for Pakistan aimed at fighting anti-American sentiment ”
Apparently,
“Civilian fatalities caused by US drone attacks in northwest Pakistan have fueled anger among the public.”..
Anger, much?
Now I know where our school lunch money and summertime pool allowance went.
The Bully took it to give to one of their victims.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=135395§ionid=351020401
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David G Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
The Bully is a good description of America, Grace. It runs around the world lecturing and threatening all and sundry. Who gave it this mandate?
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