By Chris Hedges
January 11, 2010 "Truthdig" -- Power does not rest with the electorate. It does not reside with either of the two major political parties. It is not represented by the press. It is not arbitrated by a judiciary that protects us from predators. Power rests with corporations. And corporations gain very lucrative profits from war, even wars we have no chance of winning. All polite appeals to the formal systems of power will not end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must physically obstruct the war machine or accept a role as its accomplice.
The moratorium on anti-war protests in 2004 was designed to help elect the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry. It was a foolish and humiliating concession. Kerry snapped to salute like a windup doll when he was nominated. He talked endlessly about victory in Iraq. He assured the country that he would not have withdrawn from Fallujah. And by the time George W. Bush was elected for another term the anti-war movement had lost its momentum. The effort to return Congress to Democratic control in 2006 and end the war in Iraq became another sad lesson in incredulity. The Democratic Party, once in the majority, funded and expanded the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And Barack Obama in 2008 proved to be yet another advertising gimmick for the corporate and military elite. All our efforts to work within the political process to stop these wars have been abject and miserable failures. And while we wasted our time, tens of thousands of Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani civilians, as well as U.S. soldiers and Marines, were traumatized, maimed and killed.
Either you are against war or you are not. Either you use your bodies to defy the war makers and weapons manufacturers until the wars end or you do not. Either you have the dignity and strength of character to denounce those who ridicule or ignore your core moral beliefs—including Obama—or you do not. Either you stand for something or you do not. And because so many in the anti-war movement proved to be weak and naive in 2004, 2006 and 2008 we will have to start over. This time we must build an anti-war movement that will hold fast. We must defy the entire system. We must acknowledge that it is not our job to help Democrats win elections. The Democratic Party has amply proved, by its failure to stand up for working men and women, its slavishness to Wall Street and its refusal to end these wars, that it cannot be trusted. We must trust only ourselves. And we must disrupt the system. The next chance, in case you missed the last one, to protest these wars will come Saturday, March 19, the eighth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Street demonstrations are scheduled in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. You can find details HERE....
We are spending, much of it through the accumulation of debt, nearly a trillion dollars a year to pay for these wars. We drive up the deficits to wage war while we have more than 30 million people unemployed, some 40 million people living in poverty and tens of millions more in a category euphemistically called “near poverty.” The profits of weapons manufacturers and private contractors have quadrupled since the invasion of Afghanistan. But the cost for corporate greed has been chronic and long-term unemployment and underemployment and the slashing of federal and state services. The corporations, no matter how badly the wars are going, make huge profits from the conflicts. They have no interest in turning off their money-making machine. Let Iraqis die. Let Afghans die. Let Pakistanis die. Let our own die. And the mandarins in Congress and the White House, along with their court jesters on the television news shows, cynically “feel our pain” and sell us out for bundles of corporate cash.
Michael Prysner, a veteran of the Iraq War and one of the co-founders of March Forward!, gets it. His group is one of those organizing the March 19 protests. Prysner joined the Army out of high school in June 2001. He was part of the Iraq invasion force. He worked during the war in Iraq tracking targets and calling in airstrikes and artillery barrages. He took part in nighttime raids on Iraqi homes. He worked as an interrogator. He did ground surveillance missions and protected convoys. He left the Army in 2005, disgusted by the war and the lies told to sustain it. He has been involved since leaving the military in anti-recruiting drives at high schools and street protests. He was arrested with 130 others in front of the White House during the Dec. 16 anti-war protest organized by Veterans for Peace.
“I believed going into the war that we were there to help the Iraqi people and find weapons of mass destruction,” he said when we spoke a few days ago. “But it quickly became clear that these two reasons for the war were absolutely false. If you mentioned weapons of mass destruction to intelligence officers they would laugh at you. It was not even part of the mission to look for these things. If it was part of the mission I would have known because I was part of the only intelligence company in the north of the country. I thought that maybe we were there to help the Iraqi people, but all I saw when I was there was Iraqis brutalized and their living conditions deteriorate drastically. Iraqis would tell me we were worse than Saddam. I soon realized there was a different purpose for the war, that we were putting in place a permanent military occupation. It was my firsthand experience during my deployment that showed me the reality of the Iraq War and led me to begin to question U.S. foreign policy. I began to wonder what U.S. foreign policy as a whole was about. I saw that Iraq was a microcosm. The U.S. military is used to conquer countries for the rich, to seize markets, land, resources and labor for Wall Street. This is what drives U.S. foreign policy.”
“When Obama was elected in 2008 the majority of the country had turned against the Iraq War,” he said. “You could not be a Democrat running for office without giving lip service to being against the Iraq War. The reason people were against the war is because there was a constant, senseless death of U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. It was a squandering of our resources. This has not changed, despite the rebranding of the occupation. U.S. soldiers are still being killed, wounded and psychologically traumatized, especially those on their third, fourth and fifth deployment who were traumatized in previous deployments and are being re-traumatized. There were two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq a few days ago. The reasons that led people to oppose the war in 2003 are still in effect. All that has changed is that the U.S. has been able to recruit enough Iraqis to put in the forefront and take the brunt of the combat operations with U.S. soldiers a few steps behind. U.S. soldiers are still involved in combat. One of our members [of March Forward!], who joined our group about a month ago, is in Iraq now. He told me yesterday that he was hit harder than he has ever been hit on his nine months of deployment. Combat is still a reality. People are still being killed and maimed.”
“The war is still going on,” he lamented. “It is still bad for U.S. soldiers, and Iraq is completely destroyed. It is a catastrophe for the Iraqi people. To call this current operation ‘New Dawn,’ like this is a new day for the Iraqi people, ignores the fact that Iraqis have no electricity, live with constant violence, have no functioning government, have occupying forces still in their country and suffer rampant birth defects from the depleted uranium and other things. Iraq’s ‘New Dawn’ is a horror. It will remain that way until Iraq is given justice, which is a complete and immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces and heavy reparations paid to that country.”
Iraq, despite the brutality of Saddam Hussein, was a prosperous country with a highly educated middle class before the war. Its infrastructure was modern and efficient. Iraqis enjoyed a high standard of living. The country did not lack modern conveniences. Things worked. And being in Iraq, as I often was when I covered the Middle East for The New York Times, while unnerving because of state repression, was never a hardship. Since our occupation the country has tumbled into dysfunction. Factories, hospitals, power plants, phone service, sewage systems and electrical grids do not work. Iraqis, if they are lucky, get three hours of electricity a day. Try this in 110-degree heat. Poverty is endemic. More than a million Iraqi civilians have been killed. Nearly 5 million have been displaced from their homes or are refugees. The Mercer Quality of Living survey last year ranked Baghdad last among cities—the least livable on the planet. Iraq, which once controlled its own oil, has been forced to turn its oil concessions over to foreign corporations. That is what we have bequeathed to Iraq—violence, misery and theft.
It is not as if the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have popular support. The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll shows that 63 percent of the American public opposes U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. And the level of discontent over the war in Iraq is even higher. Yet we continue to accept the duplicity of bankrupt liberal institutions and a corrupt political process that year after year betrays us. Public opinion is on our side. We should mobilize it to fight back. When I and the other protesters were arrested outside the White House on Dec. 16, several of the police officers who had been deployed as military members to Afghanistan or Iraq muttered to veterans as they handcuffed them that they were right about the wars. The anti-war sentiment is widespread, and we must find the courage to make it heard.
“All these people join the military because there is an abysmal job market and tuition rates are skyrocketing,” Prysner said. “Many young people are cut off from a college education. People are funneled into the military so they can make a living, have a home, health care, take care of their children and have an education. If a fraction of the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was used to meet human needs, kids would be able to go to college at affordable rates. We would be able to create jobs for young people when they get out of high school. Vast amounts of wealth, which we create, are poured into these wars and the military while people here are facing increasing hardship. We have to demand and fight for change, not ask for it.”
“We supposedly elected the most progressive president we have seen in a long time and the Democrats took control of the House and the Senate, but the wars have only expanded and intensified,” Prysner said. “The wars are now going into other countries, especially Pakistan and Yemen. The Democrats had a filibuster-proof majority in Congress. We had a seemingly progressive president. But all we got was more war, more military spending, more bombing of innocent people abroad and more U.S. troops coming home in coffins. This should eradicate and shatter the idea that convincing the Democrats to be on our side will accomplish anything. Left to its own devices Washington will continue its war drive. It will continue to dominate these countries and use them for staging grounds to invade other countries. There has been no real change in our foreign policy. If we are hurting the Democrats at this point, then fine. We need to build an independent political movement that is outside of the Establishment. This is the only way we have ever won real victories in our history.”
Friday, January 14, 2011
More on the End of American Empire
Darwin Was Right
We are descended from monkeys. There is no other explanation.
By Fred Reed
January 13, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Pondering Whither America, I reflected on a story, probably apocryphal but which I am going to believe because I like it, about catching monkeys. Tribesmen somewhere craft a heavy pot with a hole in it large enough that a monkey could insert an open hand, but not withdraw a closed fist. They then put monkey food in the pot. The monkey reaches in, grabs the food and, refusing to let go when the hunters approach, is caught and eaten.
Here we have our politics in a paragraph. The American national monkey can’t let go. The party is over, boys and girls, but we aren’t going to adapt.
For example: When people recently found that they could no longer afford the SUVs, the McMansions, the buying of absurdities in a frenzy of competitive consumerism, they just put it on the credit card. The monkey can’t let go. And now they are screwed.
Same-same domestic policy. The US has played War-on-Drugs for half a century, with no results but to make drugs an integral part of the economy. The evils engendered are great. Yet the monkey can’t let go.
It is internationally that the monkey principle really bites. The country is well on its way to being a merely regional power militarily, economically, and diplomatically. Short of a miracle, short of a conceivable but unlikely catastrophe in China, Americans will soon be medium potatoes. There is nothing we can do about it, but we will bankrupt ourselves trying. We can’t let go.
If you look beyond the Reader’s Digest patriotism of Fox News, and the high-school cheerleading of little Sarah Palin, if you look beyond the national borders, all of this is obvious.
By Chinese standards, America is a small country, having a quarter of its population. Their economy grows at close to double digits. Yes, it may slow down, or it may not. Short of unforeseen disaster, the question is not whether but when the Chinese economy will dwarf the American economy. Tell me why this is not true.
All power springs from economic power. While America decays, plays, and sucks its thumb, China invests. Everywhere. There is nothing unprincipled in this. It is just intelligent commerce.
Do not underestimate these people of the epicanthic fold. I have lived among the Chinese, in Taiwan years ago. I liked them, and still do. I know them to be smart, disciplined, studious, practical—as well as nationalistic and very racially conscious. No, we do not think these attitudes proper. It doesn’t matter what we think.
Note that China has that perfect government, an intelligent dictatorship concerned with advancing the country. The American government consists of self-interested lobbies and Wall Street looters. China is run by engineers, America by lawyers. Watch.
The US is midway through an inexorable suicide. If a country does not manufacture things, it does not have an economy, and manufacturing has fled American shores. Ship-building, steel, consumer electronics, railroads: gone. You may think your HP laptop is an American product, but in all likelihood every component was made overseas and it was assembled in Taiwan.
The country as a whole, as always, looks inwards and doesn’t understand, doesn’t know what stirs without. Communism no longer protects America from Chinese competition.
America is the world’s greatest debtor nation, China the greatest creditor. We cannot possibly repay what we owe, so we must either default or inflate. If another choice exists, I am unaware of it. And yet the government spends, spends, spends, and borrows, borrows, borrows. No one is in charge. No one cares. All line their own pockets. Wait.
Rationally, this would seem a good time to let go of unaffordable luxuries. But no. The US continues to buy things it can’t pay for, to play roles it can no longer maintain, because it pains the national vanity no longer to be the biggest kid on the block. The monkey can’t let go.
The millstone around the American neck is the Pentagon. The direct cost alone of feeding the military contractors is almost mortal to a sinking economy: $720 billion this year, plus another $120 billion requested for the unending wars, plus huge black programs, the Veterans Administration, and so on. A trillion wilting green ones, call it. The more perceptive note the opportunity cost of wasting so much engineering talent, so much money for research and development, on martial zoom-wowees.
China, Russia, the Moslem world, Latin America and all the rest who detest the US must be enjoying the spectacle. Spend on, spend on, oh round-eyed fools….
Vanity. We do not garrison South Korea because Pyong Yang may send its troops across our common border into Arkansas. We do it because we think it our birthright to rule the world. The monkey cannot let go.
Our practical choice is between retracting the military or going down hard. But we cannot retract. Once you have made your economy dependent on huge unproductive expendititures, there is no quitting. It might seem wise for example to reduce the military rolls by the 30,000 troops in South Korea. But they would simply increase the rate of unemployment, already dangeorusly high. Since most of the military contributes nothing to the defesne of the United States, releasing all unneeded soldiers into joblessness would probably precipitate an armed rebellion.
There is worse. Towns spring up around large bases to supply the troops and their families. Close the bases, and the towns die. Closing Camp Lejeune would kill Jacksonville; Fort Bragg, Fayetteville; Fort Hood, Killeen. Further, huge companies—Lockheed-Martin, much of Boeing, and dozens of others—being unable to compete in the civilian economy, have become obligate military suppliers. Cut their big programs and you unemploy tens of thousands for whom there are no civilian jobs.
The federal bureaucracy is much the same, employing vast numbers yet producing nothing. Politicians drone about wanting “smaller government.” How? Eliminate the Departments of Education, or Housing and Urban Development, or Commerce—and where do the people go?
We can pretend that the current recession is temporary, and not a manifestation of dying opulence, just as a fading beauty can pile on the make-up and hope that men don’t notice. We can spend while others grow, buy their goods on credit—for a little while longer. The monkey can’t let go.
And any who say that we ought to put our house in order and come to terms with reality? They will be said to Hate America. Well and good, until the bill comes due.
We are descended from monkeys. There is no other explanation.
By Fred Reed
January 13, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- -- Pondering Whither America, I reflected on a story, probably apocryphal but which I am going to believe because I like it, about catching monkeys. Tribesmen somewhere craft a heavy pot with a hole in it large enough that a monkey could insert an open hand, but not withdraw a closed fist. They then put monkey food in the pot. The monkey reaches in, grabs the food and, refusing to let go when the hunters approach, is caught and eaten.
Here we have our politics in a paragraph. The American national monkey can’t let go. The party is over, boys and girls, but we aren’t going to adapt.
For example: When people recently found that they could no longer afford the SUVs, the McMansions, the buying of absurdities in a frenzy of competitive consumerism, they just put it on the credit card. The monkey can’t let go. And now they are screwed.
Same-same domestic policy. The US has played War-on-Drugs for half a century, with no results but to make drugs an integral part of the economy. The evils engendered are great. Yet the monkey can’t let go.
It is internationally that the monkey principle really bites. The country is well on its way to being a merely regional power militarily, economically, and diplomatically. Short of a miracle, short of a conceivable but unlikely catastrophe in China, Americans will soon be medium potatoes. There is nothing we can do about it, but we will bankrupt ourselves trying. We can’t let go.
If you look beyond the Reader’s Digest patriotism of Fox News, and the high-school cheerleading of little Sarah Palin, if you look beyond the national borders, all of this is obvious.
By Chinese standards, America is a small country, having a quarter of its population. Their economy grows at close to double digits. Yes, it may slow down, or it may not. Short of unforeseen disaster, the question is not whether but when the Chinese economy will dwarf the American economy. Tell me why this is not true.
All power springs from economic power. While America decays, plays, and sucks its thumb, China invests. Everywhere. There is nothing unprincipled in this. It is just intelligent commerce.
Do not underestimate these people of the epicanthic fold. I have lived among the Chinese, in Taiwan years ago. I liked them, and still do. I know them to be smart, disciplined, studious, practical—as well as nationalistic and very racially conscious. No, we do not think these attitudes proper. It doesn’t matter what we think.
Note that China has that perfect government, an intelligent dictatorship concerned with advancing the country. The American government consists of self-interested lobbies and Wall Street looters. China is run by engineers, America by lawyers. Watch.
The US is midway through an inexorable suicide. If a country does not manufacture things, it does not have an economy, and manufacturing has fled American shores. Ship-building, steel, consumer electronics, railroads: gone. You may think your HP laptop is an American product, but in all likelihood every component was made overseas and it was assembled in Taiwan.
The country as a whole, as always, looks inwards and doesn’t understand, doesn’t know what stirs without. Communism no longer protects America from Chinese competition.
America is the world’s greatest debtor nation, China the greatest creditor. We cannot possibly repay what we owe, so we must either default or inflate. If another choice exists, I am unaware of it. And yet the government spends, spends, spends, and borrows, borrows, borrows. No one is in charge. No one cares. All line their own pockets. Wait.
Rationally, this would seem a good time to let go of unaffordable luxuries. But no. The US continues to buy things it can’t pay for, to play roles it can no longer maintain, because it pains the national vanity no longer to be the biggest kid on the block. The monkey can’t let go.
The millstone around the American neck is the Pentagon. The direct cost alone of feeding the military contractors is almost mortal to a sinking economy: $720 billion this year, plus another $120 billion requested for the unending wars, plus huge black programs, the Veterans Administration, and so on. A trillion wilting green ones, call it. The more perceptive note the opportunity cost of wasting so much engineering talent, so much money for research and development, on martial zoom-wowees.
China, Russia, the Moslem world, Latin America and all the rest who detest the US must be enjoying the spectacle. Spend on, spend on, oh round-eyed fools….
Vanity. We do not garrison South Korea because Pyong Yang may send its troops across our common border into Arkansas. We do it because we think it our birthright to rule the world. The monkey cannot let go.
Our practical choice is between retracting the military or going down hard. But we cannot retract. Once you have made your economy dependent on huge unproductive expendititures, there is no quitting. It might seem wise for example to reduce the military rolls by the 30,000 troops in South Korea. But they would simply increase the rate of unemployment, already dangeorusly high. Since most of the military contributes nothing to the defesne of the United States, releasing all unneeded soldiers into joblessness would probably precipitate an armed rebellion.
There is worse. Towns spring up around large bases to supply the troops and their families. Close the bases, and the towns die. Closing Camp Lejeune would kill Jacksonville; Fort Bragg, Fayetteville; Fort Hood, Killeen. Further, huge companies—Lockheed-Martin, much of Boeing, and dozens of others—being unable to compete in the civilian economy, have become obligate military suppliers. Cut their big programs and you unemploy tens of thousands for whom there are no civilian jobs.
The federal bureaucracy is much the same, employing vast numbers yet producing nothing. Politicians drone about wanting “smaller government.” How? Eliminate the Departments of Education, or Housing and Urban Development, or Commerce—and where do the people go?
We can pretend that the current recession is temporary, and not a manifestation of dying opulence, just as a fading beauty can pile on the make-up and hope that men don’t notice. We can spend while others grow, buy their goods on credit—for a little while longer. The monkey can’t let go.
And any who say that we ought to put our house in order and come to terms with reality? They will be said to Hate America. Well and good, until the bill comes due.
Geithner Says U.S. Insolvent
By Michael S. Rozeff
January 11, 2011 "LewRockwell" -- The U.S. government is insolvent. Who says so? Timothy F. Geithner, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner sent a letter to Congress on Jan. 6, 2011 asking for the debt limit to be raised. If it is not raised, he warned, the U.S. will default on its debt. In his words:
"Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States."
He didn’t say that the government will be inconvenienced. He didn’t say that the government would be forced to muddle through by delaying payments, raising taxes, and cutting non-obligatory programs and services. He said the government will default. This means that the government doesn’t have enough cash to pay its obligations to the many and sundry persons to whom it owes cash unless Congress authorizes an issue of even more debt.
After the government issues the new debt, its overall debt will be even higher than before. Unless its obligations that require cash payments are reduced, or unless it finds new sources of revenue, or unless the interest rates that it pays decline, the same situation will surely occur again and occur even faster because its overall debt will have risen. It will run short of cash to pay its obligations. MORE...
January 11, 2011 "LewRockwell" -- The U.S. government is insolvent. Who says so? Timothy F. Geithner, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Geithner sent a letter to Congress on Jan. 6, 2011 asking for the debt limit to be raised. If it is not raised, he warned, the U.S. will default on its debt. In his words:
"Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States."
He didn’t say that the government will be inconvenienced. He didn’t say that the government would be forced to muddle through by delaying payments, raising taxes, and cutting non-obligatory programs and services. He said the government will default. This means that the government doesn’t have enough cash to pay its obligations to the many and sundry persons to whom it owes cash unless Congress authorizes an issue of even more debt.
After the government issues the new debt, its overall debt will be even higher than before. Unless its obligations that require cash payments are reduced, or unless it finds new sources of revenue, or unless the interest rates that it pays decline, the same situation will surely occur again and occur even faster because its overall debt will have risen. It will run short of cash to pay its obligations. MORE...
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
In an Increasingly Ugly World: Incredible Beauty
Editor:
John Gary had the most beautiful voice of any popular male vocalist of the 20th century. His musicianship was simply amazing as was his vocal agility including his impeccable phrasing, three octave range and ability to smoothly negotiate the most demanding melodic line. He remains unsurpassed to this very day. What an absolute pleasure to be able to hear such unparralled beauty. I am extremely pleased to be able to bring him to the attention of the readership.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
Please visit John Gary's web site maintained by his family in his memory.
John Gary had the most beautiful voice of any popular male vocalist of the 20th century. His musicianship was simply amazing as was his vocal agility including his impeccable phrasing, three octave range and ability to smoothly negotiate the most demanding melodic line. He remains unsurpassed to this very day. What an absolute pleasure to be able to hear such unparralled beauty. I am extremely pleased to be able to bring him to the attention of the readership.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
Please visit John Gary's web site maintained by his family in his memory.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
American Mental Health Care A Disgrace
The tragic killings in Tucson Arizona highlight how inadequate the current Mental Health System in the United States has become.
Due to totally inadequate financial reimbursement for mental health care providers on the part of private health insurance carriers and the Federal and State programs of Medicare and Medicaid respectively, too many patients are either not treated at all or are ineffectively managed medically, many becoming homeless or imprisoned, which is not only immoral but extremely cost-ineffective in the long run.
Even though the incidence of violence among patients afflicted with major psychotic disorders is low (roughly 1-2%), it is nonetheless not negligible as can be seen by the murders in Arizona purportedly carried out by a young man presumed to be suffering from Schizophrenia.
It is absurd that the USA has managed to spend over a trillion dollars per year in war-making for what is admittedly cost ineffective and morally unjustifiable reasons and yet as a nation we cannot muster the will to provide adequate medical care to our population due primarily to the greed, selfishness and vested self-interest of financial elites.
The medical delivery system in the United States must be completely overhauled and represents one more among many reasons why the American Empire must come to an end! The trillion dollars plus spent on war-making per year could be reduced to < $250 billion while still managing to provide a very reasonable defense and deterrent. The over $750 billion dollars in savings should be spent on Medicare, Medicaid and if any is left; Social Security.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
See these for further background:
Texas Mental Health Care a Disgrace
Mental Illness, Chronic Homelessness: An American Disgrace
Due to totally inadequate financial reimbursement for mental health care providers on the part of private health insurance carriers and the Federal and State programs of Medicare and Medicaid respectively, too many patients are either not treated at all or are ineffectively managed medically, many becoming homeless or imprisoned, which is not only immoral but extremely cost-ineffective in the long run.
Even though the incidence of violence among patients afflicted with major psychotic disorders is low (roughly 1-2%), it is nonetheless not negligible as can be seen by the murders in Arizona purportedly carried out by a young man presumed to be suffering from Schizophrenia.
It is absurd that the USA has managed to spend over a trillion dollars per year in war-making for what is admittedly cost ineffective and morally unjustifiable reasons and yet as a nation we cannot muster the will to provide adequate medical care to our population due primarily to the greed, selfishness and vested self-interest of financial elites.
The medical delivery system in the United States must be completely overhauled and represents one more among many reasons why the American Empire must come to an end! The trillion dollars plus spent on war-making per year could be reduced to < $250 billion while still managing to provide a very reasonable defense and deterrent. The over $750 billion dollars in savings should be spent on Medicare, Medicaid and if any is left; Social Security.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
See these for further background:
Texas Mental Health Care a Disgrace
Mental Illness, Chronic Homelessness: An American Disgrace
NEWS ALERT---Canaries in the Coal Mine: Gulf Blue Plague Warnings
Editor's NOTE:
I have not been able to independently verify the startling claims made by Michael Edward although it is intriguing that Professor Samantha Joye is documenting some very strange findings on the Gulf sea floor HERE... that may be related to what Edward is referring to--time will tell.
Anecdotally, I have personally spoken with multiple people who worked for several weeks in the VOO (Vessel of Opportunity) program in close proximity to surface oil off the coast of Orange Beach Alabama who indicated that they have continued to suffer chronic respiratory problems which date to their employment with BP.
It is also clear that Gulf Coast residents who did not work in the oil clean-up effort have also reported suspicious illnesses that appear related to airborn exposure to both oil byproducts and chemical dispersants. For more information on this aspect see Dr. Ricky Ott's site and this CNN interview
I encourage all readers to visit Gulf Blue Plague and Vision World Portal on a frequent basis to follow the ongoing reports that Michael Edward is making on this critical environmental catastrophe. Consider listening to the lengthy videos below.
Please consider visiting Dr. Samantha Joye's Gulf Oil Blog for scientific updates on the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
At the very least, an extremely serious ecological problem still exists in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the direct result of the Macondo Well explosion and the resultant massive oil contamination that ensued.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
By: Michael Edward
The Gulf Blue Plague
08 Jan, 2011
“It’s technically possible that we could introduce a genetic material into indigenous bugs via a bacteriophage“—a virus that infects bacteria—“to give local microbes DNA that would allow them to break down oil”--Terry Hazen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab said.
“Either that, or a lab could create a completely new organism that thrives in the ocean, eats oil, and needs a certain stimulant to live…”
Hazen’s team found that microbes inside the plume samples were packed more than twice as densely as microbes outside it. Even more encouraging, the genes specifically geared to degrade hydrocarbons were more common in the plume as well, implying that it’s not just general bacteria that are taking on the plume.
For a very interesting discussion of the Gulf Blue Plague see:
The Gulf BLUE PLAGUE is Evolving
Michael Edward claims BP is using synthetically (laboratory produced) derived Oil-Eating bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico along with Nutrient (trace mineral elements used as bacterial fertilizer) seeded Corexit (chemical dispersant).
References:
Science Magazine
National Geographic
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
ABOUT Michael Edward:
On August 10, 2010 Michael Edward of the WORLD VISION PORTAL published his first findings regarding the BP Gulf Oil Disaster causing health problems and the symptoms of those living along the Gulf coast. The article was entitled THE GULF BLUE PLAGUE IS EVOLVING and was the first time this disease was given the name GULF BLUE PLAGUE.
Shortly after, Michael revealed how synthetic gene bacteria had been used by BP in the Gulf of Mexico and how microorganisms and bacteriophages in the Gulf were mutating as a result.
Michael has lived on the Gulf Coast in Southwest Florida for over 20 years and spent time sailing in the Gulf waters until the BP Oil Disaster. He is currently the caretaker for a non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary.
I have not been able to independently verify the startling claims made by Michael Edward although it is intriguing that Professor Samantha Joye is documenting some very strange findings on the Gulf sea floor HERE... that may be related to what Edward is referring to--time will tell.
Anecdotally, I have personally spoken with multiple people who worked for several weeks in the VOO (Vessel of Opportunity) program in close proximity to surface oil off the coast of Orange Beach Alabama who indicated that they have continued to suffer chronic respiratory problems which date to their employment with BP.
It is also clear that Gulf Coast residents who did not work in the oil clean-up effort have also reported suspicious illnesses that appear related to airborn exposure to both oil byproducts and chemical dispersants. For more information on this aspect see Dr. Ricky Ott's site and this CNN interview
I encourage all readers to visit Gulf Blue Plague and Vision World Portal on a frequent basis to follow the ongoing reports that Michael Edward is making on this critical environmental catastrophe. Consider listening to the lengthy videos below.
Please consider visiting Dr. Samantha Joye's Gulf Oil Blog for scientific updates on the effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
At the very least, an extremely serious ecological problem still exists in the northern Gulf of Mexico, the direct result of the Macondo Well explosion and the resultant massive oil contamination that ensued.
--Dr. J. P. Hubert
By: Michael Edward
The Gulf Blue Plague
08 Jan, 2011
“It’s technically possible that we could introduce a genetic material into indigenous bugs via a bacteriophage“—a virus that infects bacteria—“to give local microbes DNA that would allow them to break down oil”--Terry Hazen of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab said.
“Either that, or a lab could create a completely new organism that thrives in the ocean, eats oil, and needs a certain stimulant to live…”
Hazen’s team found that microbes inside the plume samples were packed more than twice as densely as microbes outside it. Even more encouraging, the genes specifically geared to degrade hydrocarbons were more common in the plume as well, implying that it’s not just general bacteria that are taking on the plume.
For a very interesting discussion of the Gulf Blue Plague see:
The Gulf BLUE PLAGUE is Evolving
Michael Edward claims BP is using synthetically (laboratory produced) derived Oil-Eating bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico along with Nutrient (trace mineral elements used as bacterial fertilizer) seeded Corexit (chemical dispersant).
References:
Science Magazine
National Geographic
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
ABOUT Michael Edward:
On August 10, 2010 Michael Edward of the WORLD VISION PORTAL published his first findings regarding the BP Gulf Oil Disaster causing health problems and the symptoms of those living along the Gulf coast. The article was entitled THE GULF BLUE PLAGUE IS EVOLVING and was the first time this disease was given the name GULF BLUE PLAGUE.
Shortly after, Michael revealed how synthetic gene bacteria had been used by BP in the Gulf of Mexico and how microorganisms and bacteriophages in the Gulf were mutating as a result.
Michael has lived on the Gulf Coast in Southwest Florida for over 20 years and spent time sailing in the Gulf waters until the BP Oil Disaster. He is currently the caretaker for a non-profit animal rescue and sanctuary.
Spinning Unemployment Figures in a Collapsing Empire
by: Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research
January 10, 2011
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December--not enough to keep up with population growth--but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.
In truth, what fell was not the number of unemployed people but the number of unemployed people who are actively looking for work. Those who have become discouraged and have ceased looking for work are not considered to be in the work force and are not counted as unemployed in the U.3 measure. The unemployment rate fell because discouraged workers increased, not because employment rose.
The BLS counts short-term discouraged workers (less than one year) in its U.6 measure of unemployment. That unemployment rate is 16.7%. When statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) adds the long-term discouraged, the US unemployment rate as of December 2010 was 22.4%.
The question to ask yourself is: why does the media focus on the unemployment measure that does not count any discouraged workers? The answer is that the U.3 measurement only counts 42% of the unemployed and makes the situation appear to be a lot better than it is.
Where are the 103,000 new jobs? As I have reported for years, the jobs are in non-tradable domestic services: waitresses and bar tenders, health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services), and retail and wholesale trade.
Today the United States has only 11,670,000 manufacturing jobs, less than 9% of total jobs. Yet, despite America’s heavy dependence on foreign manufactures and foreign creditors, the idiots in Washington think that they are a superpower standing astride the world like a colossus.
John Williams reports that “the level of payroll employment still stands below where it was a decade ago, despite the U.S.population growing by more than 10% in the same period. The structural impairments to U.S. economic activity continue to constrain normal commercial activity, preventing any meaningful recovery in business activity.”
Another way of saying this is that American corporations have taken American jobs offshore and given them to the Chinese. So much for big business patriotism.
Williams also reports that, unless it is finagled, next month’s BLS benchmark revision of payroll employment data will lower the level of previously reported employment by more than 500,000.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee last Friday to warn that the U.S. government must get its budget deficit under control or “the economic and financial effects would be severe.” Here Bernanke is acknowledging that the Federal Reserve cannot indefinitely print money in order to finance wars and bailouts of the mega-rich.
But how is the government to get its budget under control? The U.S. government, regardless of political party or president, is committed to American hegemony over the world. The Congress has just passed the largest military budget in history, and there is no indication that any of America’s wars and military occupations are near an end.
The financial crisis is not over, with more foreclosures and more losses for the financial sector that will result in more taxpayer bailouts for those “too big to fail.” John Williams says that the double-dip is already happening, just disguised by faulty statistics, and that the deficit implications are horrendous and are likely to result in hyperinflation as the Federal Reserve will have to monetize the otherwise un-financeable deficits.
The dollar is also in danger, its role as reserve currency undermined by the Federal Reserve’s creation of more and more dollars. Temporarily, the dollar is buttressed by the grief that Wall Street’s sale of fraudulent derivative financial instruments to Europe has caused the euro.
The Republicans will try to destroy Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for wars and bailouts. If Americans are capable of realizing that they are threatened on a much greater level by the Republicans’ evisceration of the social safety net than they are by terrorists, the Republican assault on what they call “the welfare state” will fail.
The fallback target will be private pensions, assuming any survive plunder by the Wall Street investment banks. Pension funds could be required to invest in Treasury debt or they could face a levy. In the Clinton administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Alicia Munnell proposed confiscating 15% of all pension assets on the grounds that they had accumulated tax free. Certainly Washington will steal Americans’ pensions, just as Washington has stolen Americans’ civil liberties, in order to continue the empire’s wars of hegemony.
Increasingly, the rest of the world views America as the single source of its financial and political woes. While the superpower massacres Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia, people in the rest of the world have learned from WikiLeaks that the U.S. government manipulates, bribes, threatens, and deceives other governments in order to have those governments serve the U.S. government’s interest at the expense of the interests of their own peoples.
The American Imperial Empire rests on puppet governments that are increasingly distrusted and hated by the peoples under their rule. Like the Soviet Union’s Eastern European empire, the American Empire is ruled not directly but through puppet states.
Puppet governments are caught between the empire’s power and the power of the local population. To the extent that Europeans have a moral conscience, they will find America’s foreign policy increasingly repugnant. To the extent that Muslim solidarity grows, the Muslim puppet governments that support America’s and Israel’s massacres of Muslims will find themselves threatened from within.
The American Empire is on the rocks, (Editor's bold emphasis throughout) despite its vast arsenal of nuclear weapons and its control over the foreign and domestic policies of its subservient puppet states in Western and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, parts of Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Baltic states, Georgia, Kosovo, Mexico, Central America, Columbia, and, no doubt, others.
A country that is the font of war and oppression, whose dominance rests on the weak reed of puppet states, and whose economy is collapsing will not long remain dominant.
Global Research
January 10, 2011
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported Friday that the economy gained only 103,000 new jobs in December--not enough to keep up with population growth--but the rate of unemployment (U.3) fell from 9.8% to 9.4%. If you are confused by the report, you are among the many.
In truth, what fell was not the number of unemployed people but the number of unemployed people who are actively looking for work. Those who have become discouraged and have ceased looking for work are not considered to be in the work force and are not counted as unemployed in the U.3 measure. The unemployment rate fell because discouraged workers increased, not because employment rose.
The BLS counts short-term discouraged workers (less than one year) in its U.6 measure of unemployment. That unemployment rate is 16.7%. When statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) adds the long-term discouraged, the US unemployment rate as of December 2010 was 22.4%.
The question to ask yourself is: why does the media focus on the unemployment measure that does not count any discouraged workers? The answer is that the U.3 measurement only counts 42% of the unemployed and makes the situation appear to be a lot better than it is.
Where are the 103,000 new jobs? As I have reported for years, the jobs are in non-tradable domestic services: waitresses and bar tenders, health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services), and retail and wholesale trade.
Today the United States has only 11,670,000 manufacturing jobs, less than 9% of total jobs. Yet, despite America’s heavy dependence on foreign manufactures and foreign creditors, the idiots in Washington think that they are a superpower standing astride the world like a colossus.
John Williams reports that “the level of payroll employment still stands below where it was a decade ago, despite the U.S.population growing by more than 10% in the same period. The structural impairments to U.S. economic activity continue to constrain normal commercial activity, preventing any meaningful recovery in business activity.”
Another way of saying this is that American corporations have taken American jobs offshore and given them to the Chinese. So much for big business patriotism.
Williams also reports that, unless it is finagled, next month’s BLS benchmark revision of payroll employment data will lower the level of previously reported employment by more than 500,000.
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke used his testimony before the Senate Budget Committee last Friday to warn that the U.S. government must get its budget deficit under control or “the economic and financial effects would be severe.” Here Bernanke is acknowledging that the Federal Reserve cannot indefinitely print money in order to finance wars and bailouts of the mega-rich.
But how is the government to get its budget under control? The U.S. government, regardless of political party or president, is committed to American hegemony over the world. The Congress has just passed the largest military budget in history, and there is no indication that any of America’s wars and military occupations are near an end.
The financial crisis is not over, with more foreclosures and more losses for the financial sector that will result in more taxpayer bailouts for those “too big to fail.” John Williams says that the double-dip is already happening, just disguised by faulty statistics, and that the deficit implications are horrendous and are likely to result in hyperinflation as the Federal Reserve will have to monetize the otherwise un-financeable deficits.
The dollar is also in danger, its role as reserve currency undermined by the Federal Reserve’s creation of more and more dollars. Temporarily, the dollar is buttressed by the grief that Wall Street’s sale of fraudulent derivative financial instruments to Europe has caused the euro.
The Republicans will try to destroy Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for wars and bailouts. If Americans are capable of realizing that they are threatened on a much greater level by the Republicans’ evisceration of the social safety net than they are by terrorists, the Republican assault on what they call “the welfare state” will fail.
The fallback target will be private pensions, assuming any survive plunder by the Wall Street investment banks. Pension funds could be required to invest in Treasury debt or they could face a levy. In the Clinton administration, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Alicia Munnell proposed confiscating 15% of all pension assets on the grounds that they had accumulated tax free. Certainly Washington will steal Americans’ pensions, just as Washington has stolen Americans’ civil liberties, in order to continue the empire’s wars of hegemony.
Increasingly, the rest of the world views America as the single source of its financial and political woes. While the superpower massacres Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia, people in the rest of the world have learned from WikiLeaks that the U.S. government manipulates, bribes, threatens, and deceives other governments in order to have those governments serve the U.S. government’s interest at the expense of the interests of their own peoples.
The American Imperial Empire rests on puppet governments that are increasingly distrusted and hated by the peoples under their rule. Like the Soviet Union’s Eastern European empire, the American Empire is ruled not directly but through puppet states.
Puppet governments are caught between the empire’s power and the power of the local population. To the extent that Europeans have a moral conscience, they will find America’s foreign policy increasingly repugnant. To the extent that Muslim solidarity grows, the Muslim puppet governments that support America’s and Israel’s massacres of Muslims will find themselves threatened from within.
The American Empire is on the rocks, (Editor's bold emphasis throughout) despite its vast arsenal of nuclear weapons and its control over the foreign and domestic policies of its subservient puppet states in Western and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, parts of Africa, the Middle East, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, the Baltic states, Georgia, Kosovo, Mexico, Central America, Columbia, and, no doubt, others.
A country that is the font of war and oppression, whose dominance rests on the weak reed of puppet states, and whose economy is collapsing will not long remain dominant.
The Gulf of Mexico is Dying
A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill
by Dr. Tom Termotto
Phoenix Rising from the Gulf
December 1, 2010
It is with deep regret that we publish this report. We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet. Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.
The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas. Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament. We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations. It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a betterconditionthan that which they inherited from their forbears.
After conducting the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference for over seven months, we can now disseminate the following information with the authority and confidence of those who have thoroughly investigated a crime scene. There are many research articles, investigative reports and penetrating exposes archived at the following website. Particularly those posted from August through November provide a unique body of evidence, many with compelling photo-documentaries, which portray the true state of affairs at the Macondo Prospect in the GOM.
The pictorial evidence tells the whole story.
Especially that the BP narrative is nothing but a corporate-created illusion – a web of fabrication spun in collaboration with the US Federal Government and Mainstream Media. Big Oil, as well as the Military-Industrial Complex, have aided and abetted this whole scheme and info blackout because the very future of the Oil & Gas Industry is at stake, as is the future of the US Empire which sprawls around the world and requires vast amounts of hydrocarbon fuel.
Should the truth seep out and into the mass consciousness – that the GOM is slowly but surely filling up with oil and gas – certainly many would rightly question the integrity, and sanity, of the whole venture, as well as the entire industry itself. And then perhaps the process would begin of transitioning the planet away from the hydrocarbon fuel paradigm altogether.
It’s not a pretty picture.
The various pictures, photos and diagrams that fill the many articles at the aforementioned website represent photo-evidence about the true state of affairs on the seafloor surrounding the Macondo Prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, which is located in the Central Planning Area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The very dynamics of the dramatic changes and continuous evolution of the seafloor have been captured in ways that very few have ever seen. These snapshots have given us a window of understanding into the true state of the underlying geological formations around the various wells drilled in the Macondo Prospect.
Although our many deductions may be difficult for the layperson to apprehend at first, to the trained eye these are but obvious conclusions which are simply the result of cause and effect. In other words there is no dispute around the most serious geological changes which have occurred, and continue to occur, in the region around the Macondo wells. The original predicament (an 87 day gushing well) was extremely serious, as grasped by the entire world, and the existing situation is only going to get progressively worse.
So, just what does this current picture look like. Please click on the link below to view the relevant diagrams and read the commentary MORE...
by Dr. Tom Termotto
Phoenix Rising from the Gulf
December 1, 2010
It is with deep regret that we publish this report. We do not take this responsibility lightly, as the consequences of the following observations are of such great import and have such far-reaching ramifications for the entire planet. Truly, the fate of the oceans of the world hangs in the balance, as does the future of humankind.
The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas. Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament. We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations. It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a betterconditionthan that which they inherited from their forbears.
After conducting the Gulf Oil Spill Remediation Conference for over seven months, we can now disseminate the following information with the authority and confidence of those who have thoroughly investigated a crime scene. There are many research articles, investigative reports and penetrating exposes archived at the following website. Particularly those posted from August through November provide a unique body of evidence, many with compelling photo-documentaries, which portray the true state of affairs at the Macondo Prospect in the GOM.
The pictorial evidence tells the whole story.
Especially that the BP narrative is nothing but a corporate-created illusion – a web of fabrication spun in collaboration with the US Federal Government and Mainstream Media. Big Oil, as well as the Military-Industrial Complex, have aided and abetted this whole scheme and info blackout because the very future of the Oil & Gas Industry is at stake, as is the future of the US Empire which sprawls around the world and requires vast amounts of hydrocarbon fuel.
Should the truth seep out and into the mass consciousness – that the GOM is slowly but surely filling up with oil and gas – certainly many would rightly question the integrity, and sanity, of the whole venture, as well as the entire industry itself. And then perhaps the process would begin of transitioning the planet away from the hydrocarbon fuel paradigm altogether.
It’s not a pretty picture.
The various pictures, photos and diagrams that fill the many articles at the aforementioned website represent photo-evidence about the true state of affairs on the seafloor surrounding the Macondo Prospect in the Mississippi Canyon, which is located in the Central Planning Area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The very dynamics of the dramatic changes and continuous evolution of the seafloor have been captured in ways that very few have ever seen. These snapshots have given us a window of understanding into the true state of the underlying geological formations around the various wells drilled in the Macondo Prospect.
Although our many deductions may be difficult for the layperson to apprehend at first, to the trained eye these are but obvious conclusions which are simply the result of cause and effect. In other words there is no dispute around the most serious geological changes which have occurred, and continue to occur, in the region around the Macondo wells. The original predicament (an 87 day gushing well) was extremely serious, as grasped by the entire world, and the existing situation is only going to get progressively worse.
So, just what does this current picture look like. Please click on the link below to view the relevant diagrams and read the commentary MORE...
Monday, January 10, 2011
Illnesses linked to BP Oil Disaster: Widespread Sickness due to Toxic Chemicals
by Dahr Jamail
Global Research
January 5, 2011
Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.
Independent scientists have confirmed that Gulf marine life is heavily contaminated by the dispersed oil and oil sheen in the water.
Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.
Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.
Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.
Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.
"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."
Chronic health effects
Lloyd Pearcey, from Bonsecour, Alabama, worked on a BP clean-up team as a foreman for four months.
During that time, he collected oil-soaked boom and drove a bulldozer "filled with the tar balls and tar mats we collected. Other times we stood in the water in Tyvek suits putting out shore boom with oil all over us. The fumes got to you."
"I just got my results from the blood tests," Pearcey told Al Jazeera, "I have the chemicals of the oil and dispersants in my blood."
Pearcey had experienced many of the now common symptoms of acute exposure to BP's chemicals.
Dr. Soto is testing his patients, and said he has ample documentation attesting to the levels of toxins people are being exposed to.
Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.
One of the more extreme cases he treated was a woman who developed acute respiratory problems after a visit to the beach.
"This is a young woman in good health, with good nutritional intake, no health issues, hates to take any medication, and ate only organic foods," he explained, "But shortly after going to the beach, where she was likely exposed to toxins, she developed respiratory illness and developed cancer within weeks. I think this was due to direct exposure to chemicals in the dispersants and VOCs."
According to the US Government, BP's oil disaster released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, that are banned in at least 19 countries, to sink the oil.
Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.
While there are many examples of acute exposures like Pearcey and Dr. Soto's patient who developed cancer, his concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later.
"This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera. "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems."
Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function."
The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble," meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto.
"The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "And these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children."
His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer."
Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes intravenous detoxification programs.
All clear?
State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters, and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.
Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.
US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.
In addition, most doctors in the effected coastal areas are not treating people as though they are suffering acute exposure to toxic chemicals.
While Al Jazeera has heard of incidences where doctors having received threats, and while many fear litigation for talking openly about patient illnesses being attributed to BP's oil disaster, most doctors are simply not trained to deal appropriately with acute chemical toxicity on a mass scale.
Dr. Mary Jo Ghory a general and pediatric surgeon, and a member of the American College of Surgeons, told Al Jazeera she believes most doctors along the Gulf Coast are unlikely to connect the illnesses they treat to BP’s chemicals, because of a lack of adequate training.
"Toxicology is not usually a course, and there is not much discussion of the toxic effects of chemical exposure," Dr. Ghory said. "When confronted with an array of confusing and widely varying symptoms related to chemical exposure, it is difficult for each individual physician to sort things out, especially without a definite profile of what to expect."
Dr. Soto says he is in a very unique - but isolated - position, as he is one of the only medical doctors he knows in the region who is treating people accordingly.
Like Dr. Ghory, Dr. Soto believes this is largely due to lack of training.
The Exxon Valdez legacy
Merle Savage was a cleanup worker for the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, and she is still suffering health effects from chemicals in the oil and dispersants.
"The first few weeks I was on the beach spraying hot water onto the oil covered rocks," Savage explained to Al Jazeera. She was soon promoted to a foreman working on the support barges where workers returned each evening.
"So when they started spraying the dispersant, the crews that came back in from spraying it returned with it all over their suits and boats. They were sprayed off with water, and the steam that came off them was dispersant chemicals and we all breathed this in."
"The symptoms mimicked the flu, and everyone was coughing," Savage added, "Then it came on and stayed. I went to the doctor during some time off the cleanup, and at that time I was congested with bronchial problems. Then it became a stomach disorder. My whole system since then has been jeopardized."
After finishing her work on the oil disaster clean up, she returned to her home in Anchorage, where her problems worsened.
Savage moved out of Alaska, thinking that would improve her health. Yet after moving, a liver biopsy showed cirrhosis of the liver.
"I have always been physically active and very healthy," she explained, "I don't drink or smoke, and I eat health food."
Savage, now 72-years-old, completed a chemical detoxification program three years ago, and is now feeling better.
"There was 21 years of watching my body break down like that, and nothing I could do helped, until I learned I was chemically toxified, and could treat that appropriately," she said.
Reacting accordingly
Independent scientists and activist groups have been carrying out their own blood testing of Gulf Coast residents.
Recent results released in a report involve a 46-year-old male who lives 100 miles from the coast. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was not a BP cleanup worker, yet tested as having higher levels of chemicals from BP's oil in his blood than the actual cleanup workers.
Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist and Mcarthur Fellow, analysed his blood and found the highest levels of ethylbenzene than anyone tested to date. Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down; it is also present in BP's crude oil.
Styrene, a chemical produced in industrial quantities from ethylbenzene was also found, along with Hexane. M,p-Xylene, a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is refined from crude oil and is used as a solvent, was also present in the man's blood.
"I've never even seen a tar ball," the man, from Louisiana, told Al Jazeera, "I tried to stay away from all of it. So for me to have the high levels I have, tells me that everyone must have it."
Gregg Hall lived in Pensacola, Florida, and also had his blood tested by Dr. Subra.
"I have a cough that won't go away, my feet have been numb for months, I have headaches and nausea all the time," Hall said.
Hall recently moved to Idaho, and is among a growing number of Gulf Coast residents who feel that they are victims of an environmental catastrophe that has received inadequate response from the federal government.
Dr. Soto, whose list of patients related to the BP oil disaster continues to grow, feels similarly.
"It's criminal for the government to tell people to eat the contaminated seafood, and that it's alright for people go to our toxic beaches and swim in the contaminated water," Dr. Soto concluded, "This crisis has to be taken seriously by the government and health care community."
Global Research
January 5, 2011
Doctor attributes widespread sickness to toxic chemicals from the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.
Independent scientists have confirmed that Gulf marine life is heavily contaminated by the dispersed oil and oil sheen in the water.
Despite BP having capped its well in the Gulf of Mexico in July, the health-related after-effects of the disaster subsist.
Gulf Coast residents and BP cleanup workers have linked the source of certain illnesses to chemicals present in BP's oil and the toxic dispersants used to sink it - illnesses that appear to be both spreading and worsening.
Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their blood stream. These are commonly referred to as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's). Anthropogenic VOC's from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects.
Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing.
"I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told Al Jazeera. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster."
Chronic health effects
Lloyd Pearcey, from Bonsecour, Alabama, worked on a BP clean-up team as a foreman for four months.
During that time, he collected oil-soaked boom and drove a bulldozer "filled with the tar balls and tar mats we collected. Other times we stood in the water in Tyvek suits putting out shore boom with oil all over us. The fumes got to you."
"I just got my results from the blood tests," Pearcey told Al Jazeera, "I have the chemicals of the oil and dispersants in my blood."
Pearcey had experienced many of the now common symptoms of acute exposure to BP's chemicals.
Dr. Soto is testing his patients, and said he has ample documentation attesting to the levels of toxins people are being exposed to.
Dr. Soto classifies two types of symptom groups: acute exposure that includes skin and respiratory problems; and a second, larger group of people with no symptoms, but who still have toxicity. He believes the pathways of exposure occur through air, skin, and contaminated seafood.
One of the more extreme cases he treated was a woman who developed acute respiratory problems after a visit to the beach.
"This is a young woman in good health, with good nutritional intake, no health issues, hates to take any medication, and ate only organic foods," he explained, "But shortly after going to the beach, where she was likely exposed to toxins, she developed respiratory illness and developed cancer within weeks. I think this was due to direct exposure to chemicals in the dispersants and VOCs."
According to the US Government, BP's oil disaster released at least 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants, that are banned in at least 19 countries, to sink the oil.
Many of the chemicals present in the oil and dispersants are known to cause headaches, nausea, vomiting, kidney damage, altered renal functions, irritation of the digestive tract, lung damage, burning pain in the nose and throat, coughing, pulmonary edema, cancer, lack of muscle coordination, dizziness, confusion, irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat, difficulty breathing, delayed reaction time, memory difficulties, stomach discomfort, liver and kidney damage, unconsciousness, tiredness/lethargy, irritation of the upper respiratory tract, and hematological disorders.
While there are many examples of acute exposures like Pearcey and Dr. Soto's patient who developed cancer, his concern is that most residents who are being exposed will only show symptoms later.
"This latter group develops symptoms over years," he told Al Jazeera. "I'm concerned with the illnesses like cancer and brain degeneration for the future. This is very important because a lot of the population down here may not have symptoms. But people are unaware they are ingesting chemicals that are certainly toxic to humans and have significant effect on the brain and hormonal systems."
Dr. Soto is most concerned about the long-term effect of the toxins, because they have "tremendous implications in the human immune system, hormonal function, and brain function."
The toxic compounds in the oil and dispersants are "liposoluble," meaning they have a "high affinity for fat," according to Dr. Soto.
"The human brain is 70 percent fat," Dr. Soto added, "And these will similarly effect the immune cells, intestinal tract, breast, thyroid, prostate, glands, organs, and systems. This is also why this is so significant for children."
His particular concern for children involves toxins which cause "development of the depressed immune system and a resurgence of cancer."
Dr. Soto believes that for residents along the area of the Gulf Coast affected by BP's toxic chemicals, the solution is either to relocate or to engage in an intensive, long-term detoxification regime that includes intravenous detoxification programs.
All clear?
State health departments in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama had issued swimming advisories while BP's well continued to gush oil into the Gulf of Mexico last summer. Since then, however, all three states have declared their beaches, waters, and seafood safe from oil disaster related toxins.
Florida never issued any advisories, despite many residents reporting illnesses they attribute to the oil disaster.
US federal government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Barack Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.
In addition, most doctors in the effected coastal areas are not treating people as though they are suffering acute exposure to toxic chemicals.
While Al Jazeera has heard of incidences where doctors having received threats, and while many fear litigation for talking openly about patient illnesses being attributed to BP's oil disaster, most doctors are simply not trained to deal appropriately with acute chemical toxicity on a mass scale.
Dr. Mary Jo Ghory a general and pediatric surgeon, and a member of the American College of Surgeons, told Al Jazeera she believes most doctors along the Gulf Coast are unlikely to connect the illnesses they treat to BP’s chemicals, because of a lack of adequate training.
"Toxicology is not usually a course, and there is not much discussion of the toxic effects of chemical exposure," Dr. Ghory said. "When confronted with an array of confusing and widely varying symptoms related to chemical exposure, it is difficult for each individual physician to sort things out, especially without a definite profile of what to expect."
Dr. Soto says he is in a very unique - but isolated - position, as he is one of the only medical doctors he knows in the region who is treating people accordingly.
Like Dr. Ghory, Dr. Soto believes this is largely due to lack of training.
The Exxon Valdez legacy
Merle Savage was a cleanup worker for the Exxon Valdez oil disaster in Alaska in 1989, and she is still suffering health effects from chemicals in the oil and dispersants.
"The first few weeks I was on the beach spraying hot water onto the oil covered rocks," Savage explained to Al Jazeera. She was soon promoted to a foreman working on the support barges where workers returned each evening.
"So when they started spraying the dispersant, the crews that came back in from spraying it returned with it all over their suits and boats. They were sprayed off with water, and the steam that came off them was dispersant chemicals and we all breathed this in."
"The symptoms mimicked the flu, and everyone was coughing," Savage added, "Then it came on and stayed. I went to the doctor during some time off the cleanup, and at that time I was congested with bronchial problems. Then it became a stomach disorder. My whole system since then has been jeopardized."
After finishing her work on the oil disaster clean up, she returned to her home in Anchorage, where her problems worsened.
Savage moved out of Alaska, thinking that would improve her health. Yet after moving, a liver biopsy showed cirrhosis of the liver.
"I have always been physically active and very healthy," she explained, "I don't drink or smoke, and I eat health food."
Savage, now 72-years-old, completed a chemical detoxification program three years ago, and is now feeling better.
"There was 21 years of watching my body break down like that, and nothing I could do helped, until I learned I was chemically toxified, and could treat that appropriately," she said.
Reacting accordingly
Independent scientists and activist groups have been carrying out their own blood testing of Gulf Coast residents.
Recent results released in a report involve a 46-year-old male who lives 100 miles from the coast. The man, who asked to remain anonymous, was not a BP cleanup worker, yet tested as having higher levels of chemicals from BP's oil in his blood than the actual cleanup workers.
Dr. Wilma Subra, a chemist and Mcarthur Fellow, analysed his blood and found the highest levels of ethylbenzene than anyone tested to date. Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down; it is also present in BP's crude oil.
Styrene, a chemical produced in industrial quantities from ethylbenzene was also found, along with Hexane. M,p-Xylene, a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is refined from crude oil and is used as a solvent, was also present in the man's blood.
"I've never even seen a tar ball," the man, from Louisiana, told Al Jazeera, "I tried to stay away from all of it. So for me to have the high levels I have, tells me that everyone must have it."
Gregg Hall lived in Pensacola, Florida, and also had his blood tested by Dr. Subra.
"I have a cough that won't go away, my feet have been numb for months, I have headaches and nausea all the time," Hall said.
Hall recently moved to Idaho, and is among a growing number of Gulf Coast residents who feel that they are victims of an environmental catastrophe that has received inadequate response from the federal government.
Dr. Soto, whose list of patients related to the BP oil disaster continues to grow, feels similarly.
"It's criminal for the government to tell people to eat the contaminated seafood, and that it's alright for people go to our toxic beaches and swim in the contaminated water," Dr. Soto concluded, "This crisis has to be taken seriously by the government and health care community."
Beware Of Dr. von Hayek’s “Austerity” Snake Oil
Exile TV
January 6, 2011
Mark Ames Rants On MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show: Beware Of Dr. von Hayek’s “Austerity” Snake Oil
By Mark Ames
Exiled Online editor Mark Ames delivers an address to the nation on MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show. The subject: A quick history lesson on why “austerity” is the worst, most insane idea imaginable to solve America’s economic woes–and how John Q. Galt III is going to force-feed every one of us a lethal dose of Dr. von Hayek’s Austerity Snake Oil, whether we like it or not.
January 6, 2011
Mark Ames Rants On MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show: Beware Of Dr. von Hayek’s “Austerity” Snake Oil
By Mark Ames
Exiled Online editor Mark Ames delivers an address to the nation on MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show. The subject: A quick history lesson on why “austerity” is the worst, most insane idea imaginable to solve America’s economic woes–and how John Q. Galt III is going to force-feed every one of us a lethal dose of Dr. von Hayek’s Austerity Snake Oil, whether we like it or not.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Sunday, January 9, 2011
GOP Victory Bankrolled by Wall Street Executives
MSNBC The Dylan Ratigan Show
112th Congress brought to you by Wall street
Posted January 07, 2011
112th Congress brought to you by Wall street
Posted January 07, 2011
A Destructive Crossroads
Dylan Ratigan
January 8, 2011 06:54 PM
Huffington Post
We find ourselves at a violent crossroads. Whether you are a national voice or an individual without a voice -- there are simple questions we all must ask ourselves today. As individuals wrestle with either a modest or an extreme sense of unfairness in the American political system, the question we have to ask ourselves is "What are we going to do with that energy?
Whatever is to be said about the state of the gunman today, whether he had psychological issues or not, he was angry. Across America today, people are angry. They may choose to channel that anger in a number of either self-destructive or destructive ways. But whatever any of our feelings are, our challenge and our obligation is to channel that energy into a path based on resolution. For a path based on destruction is just that, destruction.
There are two categories of people. The first category is those in the powerful elite -- whether you are an active serving political leader in the legislature, a former political leader, governor or president, a leader of a non-profit group, or the leader of a political organization ranging from the NRA, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club, or whether you are a national or local broadcaster focusing on political issues or some form of political strategist or advisor. This is the power class: The group that has a clear avenue of expression and power inside the political process, inside the political media, and inside politically organized institutions.
Or you may find yourself as the vast majority of Americans do, as a passive observer with little sense beyond your ability to vote -- without having an avenue to express your beliefs and ideas when it comes to the national conversation.
Both the power class and the passive class are experiencing this sense of frustration and unfairness to one degree or another. As the internalization of that energy is self-destructive, it begs the question... How do we as a nation, both as the power class and the passive class, express and ultimately resolve the ongoing unfairness that exists in this country to this day? Though we may not like to believe it, grave unfairness has existed since this country's founding. Yet, the beauty of the idea that is America is the principle of a government beholden to all of its citizens. As frustrating as the unfairness may appear to be, it is imperative we understand the context that this country has always represented: the ideals of quality and freedom. But our country has always fallen short -- it has always been an ongoing process of trying to close the gap between that unfairness and our ideals.
Today, we find ourselves at a violent crossroads in American history as a result of our inability, or unwillingness to find a healthy outlet to resolve these problems. We now have two options. Internalize the energy into a sea of bile and resentment that will cause you to become less effective, productive and beneficial to those in your life. Internalizing this energy without finding a positive recourse is a recipe for personal disaster. I speak from experience. Internalizing that energy of unfairness, that frustration and that anger is a recipe for self-destruction from a personal to a national level. We now find ourselves with a desperate need for an outlet for that energy, a need for an outlet that solves our problems rather than destroying ourselves or those around us. So I pose two questions: For the power class, how are you using the energy of frustration and anger that revolves around the unfairness of this country? Are you using it as a tool to manipulate your environment in order to accumulate power, wealth, fame, or some other self-serving manifestation?
For the passive class, have you chosen to deal with your knowledge of this unfairness either through denial of its existence, or through a logical apathy founded upon the belief that nothing you do will matter?
It goes without saying that the events of today are a wake-up call for every American, regardless of their position in this society. And as we stand as a group at this violent fork in the road, will those within the power class take this wakeup call to acknowledge the responsibility they have to utilize their influence to serve the interests of increased fairness in America -- even if that requires the suffering of personal losses or losses among your powerbase ?
Understand that whether we like it or not, the personal indulgence of this exploitation by some in order to accumulate wealth and power is done so at a mortal danger to all Americans -- each likely as concerned for the wellbeing of this country as you, the passive class, may believe yourself to be.
America is in a desperate need of engagement by all of its citizens, and we all must understand that the luxury of denial and logical apathy among the passive can no longer be afforded. What we witnessed today is the worst expression of human nature. The unresolved frustration that led to today's events not only took the lives of at least five people, but also destroyed the life of the shooter himself in the ultimate act of self-destruction. Shockwaves will be sent through the legislative body of America for months to come.
The path of destruction of ourselves, or of others, is an easy path. The path of resolution, shared sacrifice, and the brutal honesty necessary for those who are benefitting the most from the culture of unfairness that plagues this country today must be addressed.
It is easy for someone like myself or anybody else to get up on a soapbox and point fingers as to who may be given bad guy, or where a given failure, may exist. But, setting a path to resolve the unfairness that plagues this country will originate not by looking outward at those whom we believe are perpetrating a given unfairness, but through a period of brutally honest inward reflection into the values that each of us apply to the ways we make the decisions in our days, from one minute to the next.
It is through investment in internal reflection that we can open the door to the knowledge that only our own happiness and fulfillment can manifest a peaceful path to resolving the problems that we face as a nation.
Through that reflection, those in power can ask themselves whether they can muster the necessary courage to reject the forces of their own ego and their own paycheck to make what they know is the right decision.
Through that reflection, the passive class can muster the strength to shed the protections of denial and apathy.
While your voice may feel hollow by itself, the possibility of becoming part of a national chorus of awakened can serve as a deeper foundation for the compassion and wisdom to accept our own shortfalls and those of our leadership as we continue the national trip toward a more fair and free America We find ourselves at a violent crossroads. Whether you are a national voice or an individual without a voice -- there are simple questions we all must ask ourselves today. As individuals wrestle with either a modest or an extreme sense of unfairness in the American political system, the question we have to ask ourselves is "What are we going to do with that energy?
Whatever is to be said about the state of the gunman today, whether he had psychological issues or not, he was angry. Across America today, people are angry. They may choose to channel that anger in a number of either self-destructive or destructive ways. But whatever any of our feelings are, our challenge and our obligation is to channel that energy into a path based on resolution. For a path based on destruction is just that, destruction.
There are two categories of people. The first category is those in the powerful elite -- whether you are an active serving political leader in the legislature, a former political leader, governor or president, a leader of a non-profit group, or the leader of a political organization ranging from the NRA, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club, or whether you are a national or local broadcaster focusing on political issues or some form of political strategist or advisor. This is the power class: The group that has a clear avenue of expression and power inside the political process, inside the political media, and inside politically organized institutions.
Or you may find yourself as the vast majority of Americans do, as a passive observer with little sense beyond your ability to vote -- without having an avenue to express your beliefs and ideas when it comes to the national conversation.
Both the power class and the passive class are experiencing this sense of frustration and unfairness to one degree or another. As the internalization of that energy is self-destructive, it begs the question... How do we as a nation, both as the power class and the passive class, express and ultimately resolve the ongoing unfairness that exists in this country to this day? Though we may not like to believe it, grave unfairness has existed since this country's founding. Yet, the beauty of the idea that is America is the principle of a government beholden to all of its citizens. As frustrating as the unfairness may appear to be, it is imperative we understand the context that this country has always represented: the ideals of quality and freedom. But our country has always fallen short -- it has always been an ongoing process of trying to close the gap between that unfairness and our ideals.
Today, we find ourselves at a violent crossroads in American history as a result of our inability, or unwillingness to find a healthy outlet to resolve these problems. we now have two options. Internalize the energy into a sea of bile and resentment that will cause you to become less effective, productive and beneficial to those in your life. Internalizing this energy without finding a positive recourse is a recipe for personal disaster. I speak from experience. Internalizing that energy of unfairness, that frustration and that anger is a recipe for self-destruction from a personal to a national level. We now find ourselves with a desperate need for an outlet for that energy, a need for an outlet that solves our problems rather than destroying ourselves or those around us. So I pose two questions: For the power class, how are you using the energy of frustration and anger that revolves around the unfairness of this country? Are you using it as a tool to manipulate your environment in order to accumulate power, wealth, fame, or some other self-serving manifestation?
For the passive class, have you chosen to deal with your knowledge of this unfairness either through denial of its existence, or through a logical apathy founded upon the belief that nothing you do will matter?
It goes without saying that the events of today are a wake-up call for every American, regardless of their position in this society. And as we stand as a group at this violent fork in the road, will those within the power class take this wakeup call to acknowledge the responsibility they have to utilize their influence to serve the interests of increased fairness in America -- even if that requires the suffering of personal losses or losses among your powerbase ?
Understand that whether we like it or not, the personal indulgence of this exploitation by some in order to accumulate wealth and power is done so at a mortal danger to all Americans -- each likely as concerned for the wellbeing of this country as you, the passive class, may believe yourself to be.
America is in a desperate need of engagement by all of its citizens, and we all must understand that the luxury of denial and logical apathy among the passive can no longer be afforded. What we witnessed today is the worst expression of human nature. The unresolved frustration that led to today's events not only took the lives of at least five people, but also destroyed the life of the shooter himself in the ultimate act of self-destruction. Shockwaves will be sent through the legislative body of America for months to come.
The path of destruction of ourselves, or of others, is an easy path. The path of resolution, shared sacrifice, and the brutal honesty necessary for those who are benefitting the most from the culture of unfairness that plagues this country today must be addressed.
It is easy for someone like myself or anybody else to get up on a soapbox and point fingers as to who may be given bad guy, or where a given failure, may exist. But, setting a path to resolve the unfairness that plagues this country will originate not by looking outward at those whom we believe are perpetrating a given unfairness, but through a period of brutally honest inward reflection into the values that each of us apply to the ways we make the decisions in our days, from one minute to the next.
It is through investment in internal reflection that we can open the door to the knowledge that only our own happiness and fulfillment can manifest a peaceful path to resolving the problems that we face as a nation.
Through that reflection, those in power can ask themselves whether they can muster the necessary courage to reject the forces of their own ego and their own paycheck to make what they know is the right decision.
Through that reflection, the passive class can muster the strength to shed the protections of denial and apathy.
While your voice may feel hollow by itself, the possibility of becoming part of a national chorus of awakened can serve as a deeper foundation for the compassion and wisdom to accept our own shortfalls and those of our leadership as we continue the national trip toward a more fair and free America
January 8, 2011 06:54 PM
Huffington Post
We find ourselves at a violent crossroads. Whether you are a national voice or an individual without a voice -- there are simple questions we all must ask ourselves today. As individuals wrestle with either a modest or an extreme sense of unfairness in the American political system, the question we have to ask ourselves is "What are we going to do with that energy?
Whatever is to be said about the state of the gunman today, whether he had psychological issues or not, he was angry. Across America today, people are angry. They may choose to channel that anger in a number of either self-destructive or destructive ways. But whatever any of our feelings are, our challenge and our obligation is to channel that energy into a path based on resolution. For a path based on destruction is just that, destruction.
There are two categories of people. The first category is those in the powerful elite -- whether you are an active serving political leader in the legislature, a former political leader, governor or president, a leader of a non-profit group, or the leader of a political organization ranging from the NRA, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club, or whether you are a national or local broadcaster focusing on political issues or some form of political strategist or advisor. This is the power class: The group that has a clear avenue of expression and power inside the political process, inside the political media, and inside politically organized institutions.
Or you may find yourself as the vast majority of Americans do, as a passive observer with little sense beyond your ability to vote -- without having an avenue to express your beliefs and ideas when it comes to the national conversation.
Both the power class and the passive class are experiencing this sense of frustration and unfairness to one degree or another. As the internalization of that energy is self-destructive, it begs the question... How do we as a nation, both as the power class and the passive class, express and ultimately resolve the ongoing unfairness that exists in this country to this day? Though we may not like to believe it, grave unfairness has existed since this country's founding. Yet, the beauty of the idea that is America is the principle of a government beholden to all of its citizens. As frustrating as the unfairness may appear to be, it is imperative we understand the context that this country has always represented: the ideals of quality and freedom. But our country has always fallen short -- it has always been an ongoing process of trying to close the gap between that unfairness and our ideals.
Today, we find ourselves at a violent crossroads in American history as a result of our inability, or unwillingness to find a healthy outlet to resolve these problems. We now have two options. Internalize the energy into a sea of bile and resentment that will cause you to become less effective, productive and beneficial to those in your life. Internalizing this energy without finding a positive recourse is a recipe for personal disaster. I speak from experience. Internalizing that energy of unfairness, that frustration and that anger is a recipe for self-destruction from a personal to a national level. We now find ourselves with a desperate need for an outlet for that energy, a need for an outlet that solves our problems rather than destroying ourselves or those around us. So I pose two questions: For the power class, how are you using the energy of frustration and anger that revolves around the unfairness of this country? Are you using it as a tool to manipulate your environment in order to accumulate power, wealth, fame, or some other self-serving manifestation?
For the passive class, have you chosen to deal with your knowledge of this unfairness either through denial of its existence, or through a logical apathy founded upon the belief that nothing you do will matter?
It goes without saying that the events of today are a wake-up call for every American, regardless of their position in this society. And as we stand as a group at this violent fork in the road, will those within the power class take this wakeup call to acknowledge the responsibility they have to utilize their influence to serve the interests of increased fairness in America -- even if that requires the suffering of personal losses or losses among your powerbase ?
Understand that whether we like it or not, the personal indulgence of this exploitation by some in order to accumulate wealth and power is done so at a mortal danger to all Americans -- each likely as concerned for the wellbeing of this country as you, the passive class, may believe yourself to be.
America is in a desperate need of engagement by all of its citizens, and we all must understand that the luxury of denial and logical apathy among the passive can no longer be afforded. What we witnessed today is the worst expression of human nature. The unresolved frustration that led to today's events not only took the lives of at least five people, but also destroyed the life of the shooter himself in the ultimate act of self-destruction. Shockwaves will be sent through the legislative body of America for months to come.
The path of destruction of ourselves, or of others, is an easy path. The path of resolution, shared sacrifice, and the brutal honesty necessary for those who are benefitting the most from the culture of unfairness that plagues this country today must be addressed.
It is easy for someone like myself or anybody else to get up on a soapbox and point fingers as to who may be given bad guy, or where a given failure, may exist. But, setting a path to resolve the unfairness that plagues this country will originate not by looking outward at those whom we believe are perpetrating a given unfairness, but through a period of brutally honest inward reflection into the values that each of us apply to the ways we make the decisions in our days, from one minute to the next.
It is through investment in internal reflection that we can open the door to the knowledge that only our own happiness and fulfillment can manifest a peaceful path to resolving the problems that we face as a nation.
Through that reflection, those in power can ask themselves whether they can muster the necessary courage to reject the forces of their own ego and their own paycheck to make what they know is the right decision.
Through that reflection, the passive class can muster the strength to shed the protections of denial and apathy.
While your voice may feel hollow by itself, the possibility of becoming part of a national chorus of awakened can serve as a deeper foundation for the compassion and wisdom to accept our own shortfalls and those of our leadership as we continue the national trip toward a more fair and free America We find ourselves at a violent crossroads. Whether you are a national voice or an individual without a voice -- there are simple questions we all must ask ourselves today. As individuals wrestle with either a modest or an extreme sense of unfairness in the American political system, the question we have to ask ourselves is "What are we going to do with that energy?
Whatever is to be said about the state of the gunman today, whether he had psychological issues or not, he was angry. Across America today, people are angry. They may choose to channel that anger in a number of either self-destructive or destructive ways. But whatever any of our feelings are, our challenge and our obligation is to channel that energy into a path based on resolution. For a path based on destruction is just that, destruction.
There are two categories of people. The first category is those in the powerful elite -- whether you are an active serving political leader in the legislature, a former political leader, governor or president, a leader of a non-profit group, or the leader of a political organization ranging from the NRA, MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club, or whether you are a national or local broadcaster focusing on political issues or some form of political strategist or advisor. This is the power class: The group that has a clear avenue of expression and power inside the political process, inside the political media, and inside politically organized institutions.
Or you may find yourself as the vast majority of Americans do, as a passive observer with little sense beyond your ability to vote -- without having an avenue to express your beliefs and ideas when it comes to the national conversation.
Both the power class and the passive class are experiencing this sense of frustration and unfairness to one degree or another. As the internalization of that energy is self-destructive, it begs the question... How do we as a nation, both as the power class and the passive class, express and ultimately resolve the ongoing unfairness that exists in this country to this day? Though we may not like to believe it, grave unfairness has existed since this country's founding. Yet, the beauty of the idea that is America is the principle of a government beholden to all of its citizens. As frustrating as the unfairness may appear to be, it is imperative we understand the context that this country has always represented: the ideals of quality and freedom. But our country has always fallen short -- it has always been an ongoing process of trying to close the gap between that unfairness and our ideals.
Today, we find ourselves at a violent crossroads in American history as a result of our inability, or unwillingness to find a healthy outlet to resolve these problems. we now have two options. Internalize the energy into a sea of bile and resentment that will cause you to become less effective, productive and beneficial to those in your life. Internalizing this energy without finding a positive recourse is a recipe for personal disaster. I speak from experience. Internalizing that energy of unfairness, that frustration and that anger is a recipe for self-destruction from a personal to a national level. We now find ourselves with a desperate need for an outlet for that energy, a need for an outlet that solves our problems rather than destroying ourselves or those around us. So I pose two questions: For the power class, how are you using the energy of frustration and anger that revolves around the unfairness of this country? Are you using it as a tool to manipulate your environment in order to accumulate power, wealth, fame, or some other self-serving manifestation?
For the passive class, have you chosen to deal with your knowledge of this unfairness either through denial of its existence, or through a logical apathy founded upon the belief that nothing you do will matter?
It goes without saying that the events of today are a wake-up call for every American, regardless of their position in this society. And as we stand as a group at this violent fork in the road, will those within the power class take this wakeup call to acknowledge the responsibility they have to utilize their influence to serve the interests of increased fairness in America -- even if that requires the suffering of personal losses or losses among your powerbase ?
Understand that whether we like it or not, the personal indulgence of this exploitation by some in order to accumulate wealth and power is done so at a mortal danger to all Americans -- each likely as concerned for the wellbeing of this country as you, the passive class, may believe yourself to be.
America is in a desperate need of engagement by all of its citizens, and we all must understand that the luxury of denial and logical apathy among the passive can no longer be afforded. What we witnessed today is the worst expression of human nature. The unresolved frustration that led to today's events not only took the lives of at least five people, but also destroyed the life of the shooter himself in the ultimate act of self-destruction. Shockwaves will be sent through the legislative body of America for months to come.
The path of destruction of ourselves, or of others, is an easy path. The path of resolution, shared sacrifice, and the brutal honesty necessary for those who are benefitting the most from the culture of unfairness that plagues this country today must be addressed.
It is easy for someone like myself or anybody else to get up on a soapbox and point fingers as to who may be given bad guy, or where a given failure, may exist. But, setting a path to resolve the unfairness that plagues this country will originate not by looking outward at those whom we believe are perpetrating a given unfairness, but through a period of brutally honest inward reflection into the values that each of us apply to the ways we make the decisions in our days, from one minute to the next.
It is through investment in internal reflection that we can open the door to the knowledge that only our own happiness and fulfillment can manifest a peaceful path to resolving the problems that we face as a nation.
Through that reflection, those in power can ask themselves whether they can muster the necessary courage to reject the forces of their own ego and their own paycheck to make what they know is the right decision.
Through that reflection, the passive class can muster the strength to shed the protections of denial and apathy.
While your voice may feel hollow by itself, the possibility of becoming part of a national chorus of awakened can serve as a deeper foundation for the compassion and wisdom to accept our own shortfalls and those of our leadership as we continue the national trip toward a more fair and free America
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