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[ Add A Comment ]Posted on December 26, 2011 by admin in Politics
Monday, December 26th, 2011One thing you may want to avoid if you ever go into politics is getting on our annual Best Politician list. Of last year’s contenders, two are dead, one was ousted by crazed bankers from his Caligula-like Videocracy, two are facing civil unrest on a scale not seen in Russia since the early 80′s, and one was terribly disfigured during his transformation into a Sith Lord.
One thing you may want to avoid if you ever go into politics is getting on our annual Best Politician list. Of last year’s contenders, two are dead, one was ousted by crazed bankers from his Caligula-like Videocracy
Occupy Libya
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on November 9, 2011 by admin in Politics
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011We are 99 percent sure this will happen. Put on your tin foil hat for a moment, and you will be too.
A few days after September 11, 2001, I was sitting talking with my nephew about the recent attacks on the US. Saddam Hussein was already getting lippy, and we joked that the Bush administration would use the Trade Center attacks as a pretext for invading Iraq, which seemed fairly preposterous at the time. We had a little cynical laugh that day, but a little over a year later, we weren’t laughing so much. Since then, I’ve found my tinfoil hat to be quite a stylish addition to my wardrobe. I put it back on recently when the alleged Iranian assassination plot made the news. I was having coffee with a friend, and before hearing any analysis about how looney it all sounded, we pondered what THIS could be the pretext for. Aside from that prepositional ending just now. One of the few figures that said it WASN’T looney was John Bolton, devoted Bush policy wonk and a key figure with the New American Century gang, the think tank that designed the bizarre and aggressive foreign policy implemented under Bush. I didn’t think much more of the fishy assassination plot until a few other things happened, inspiring me to do some superficial research. So make your own little tinfoil hat – it’s easy – and follow me for a moment down Conspiracy Lane. In six months, look back at this and maybe laugh, or maybe go “yeesh, that’s creepy”, but in either case I’ll bet you didn’t know about one of Libya’s greatest resources, which we’ll get to below. But first, a little refresher on recent events. Right around the time this kooky assassination plot was fed to the media, Libya was being torn apart by rebellion, and this of course was a handy way to get rid of another troublesome despot and his Prince-inspired wardrobe. So NATO pops in and does a bunch of the heavy lifting (or dropping, in this case), Gaddafi is hunted down like a dog, and conveniently killed before he can be brought to any kind of real international justice. This all is conveniently great PR too, it makes it look like America is supporting the “Arab Spring”, even though it’s already almost winter here. Almost at the same time, Obama announces the troop drawdown in Iraq, and while people are still jibber-jabbering about THAT, suddenly the IAEA releases the toughest report on Iran to date regarding their nuclear intentions, and Israel and Obama simultaneously start using the familiar “all options on the table” euphemism, which of course means Israel might strike Iran. So what does Libya have to do with Iraq, Iran, Israel, and the US? Well, the typical line of thinking of a paranoid conspiracist is that we’re going to “take Libya’s oil”. But that’s dumb, we’ll get the oil we need no matter what. It’s not like we suck oil out of Iraq and ship it to the US, we get it from a global cartel, and we’ll continue to get as much as we need until we have to fight China for it or something. Besides. Libya has something much more valuable in the middle east. Water. LOTS of water. In fact, more fresh water than the Caspian Sea, according to this source, and Gaddafi already did most of the work of making it accessible. We just have to stoke things up enough in the region by withdrawing from Iraq – which the media is already suggesting will encourage an Iran/Iraq Shiite uprising – let Israel get all testy and do some airstrikes, put some more Al Quaeda flags on government buildings in Libya, and VOILA! We have a full-blown occupation of Libya, a fantastically located place for US bases, with ALL THE WATER we need to whet our little war whistles. But wait, there’s a special bonus! It’s an election year coming up! How often do we elect a new president in the middle of a war that started the same year? To the best of my knowledge, never. Welcome to Occupy Libya. We are the 99 percent sure of this.
Occupy 101 – We Got 99 Problems But The Rich Ain’t One
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on October 30, 2011 by admin in Politics
Sunday, October 30th, 2011Some facts about the origin of OWS that even occupiers seem unaware of, and some thoughts about what and what not to wear, and what and what not to say.
 We have a strict policy of not criticizing Anonymous around here, so if you’re with Anonymous, wear what you like. But for the rest of you, this is not recommended attire. It’s licensed property, so every mask you buy puts money in media conglomerate Time Warner’s pockets. |
As the Occupy Wall Street movement enters its sixth week, I find it remarkable that the most basic facts about it remain a mystery to many. And perhaps more remarkable that so many who complain daily about the issues that the Occupy movement seeks to address sit on the sidelines, still bellyaching. I personally have been bellyaching about the banksters since 2008. After writing a few dozen articles about bailouts, corporate capture of government , and pork-bellied politicians and having even my best friends shrug nonchalantly, I sort of gave up. But my interest in social justice was revived in early September of this year, when I first read of plans for protesters to assemble in NYC. I wasn’t surprised when the media ignored them the first week, but before the end of the second week, I told like-minded friends that if they made it past the second weekend, I might have to go join them. When 700 protestors were arrested on October 1, I knew it was “on”, and also knew there was no way I’d get to New York within the next several weeks. So that day, I set up simple site at OccupyAnnArbor.org, and started looking locally for other people who were interested. Don’t believe everything you read about social networking enabling civil protest. It may work in some situations, but in many areas, the multitude of conflicting Facebook and Meetup.com postings actually caused as much confusion as solidarity. And in my opinion, Facebook discussions tend to do more damage than good – intellectual liberals engage in wheel-spinning debate that makes them feel like they’re actually DOING something, things get factionalized, and as I’ve felt compelled to point out – clicking “Like” won’t change the world. So, in spite of the fact that this hardly qualifies as a revolution yet, Alexis de Tocqueville’s statement that “In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end” is relevant all the same. We’re mostly going to stick to history and a little opinion here. As this clip about the 1946 Oakland strikes makes clear, things can change on an epic scale in a single day when people who just want a decent living for a day’s work are deprived of that simple luxury. Read the rest of this entry »
GOP To Beef Up Class Warfare With Tanks, Cruise Missiles
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin in Politics
Sunday, October 9th, 2011Wealthy republicans declare war on nation’s starving, unemployed and homeless.
 “We won’t rest until the Middle Class Menace is wiped out”, promises Gingrich |
In yet another assault on the fragile, humble lives of the nation’s more affluent Republicans, hordes of educated but impoverished people nationwide are carrying homemade cardboard signs in public parks. To counter these senseless and brutal acts of aggression, Republicans like Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and former CEO of BET Robert Johnson are declaring war. “Class War”, as they call it. “The violence and brutality of these working class people is horrifying! My wife can barely work up the nerve for a simple trip to Saks, for fear of having to look at all their hateful unemployedness”, a well-known GOP figure said, adjusting his flak helmet as he squared up for a putt on a secluded golf course guarded by Blackwater security teams and an array of surface-to-surface missile platforms. “Even my chauffeur is on edge lately”, he added. The Kevlar-clad chauffeur, who was standing nearby sipping a Compari and soda, nodded in agreement. “You should see the dirty looks we get when we have to drive near middle class neighborhoods”, he said, “it’s appalling”. As another gentleman set down his Chateau d’Yquem to tee up, he chimed in: “What is probably most frightening is the tattered frocks of entitlement they wear. I mean, if these working class people would just manage their hedge funds better, they could AFFORD all that silly healthcare they’re always whining about, right?” As the caddy set the ball on the tee, the group suddenly threw themselves to the ground in unison, shouting “INCOMING!” After a moment of awkward silence, everyone stood up and dusted themselves off, realizing the “invader” was just the butler walking across the green with a fresh tray of drinks. “JEEZUS, Jackson, why do you have to sneak up on us all ‘working classy‘ like that?”, one of the group asked. “War is hell”, he went on, “if the middle class is going to keep terrorizing us with their insane demands for things like employment, affordable medical care, and a decent education, they’ve got another thing coming. And you know what that thing is? A PREDATOR DRONE, that’s what. They want war, we’ll give it to ‘em. You think Iraq and Afghanistan were a big deal? Just wait ’til we’re done with the working class”.
Presidential Campaign 2012 – Bachmann Swingrich Overdrive
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on March 26, 2011 by admin in Politics
Saturday, March 26th, 2011With a field that so far includes Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and her understudy Michele Bachmann, the 2012 campaign trail promises to be more fun than a bucket full of clown noses.
 Gingrich eats his words so he can spit them out with a new preposition this fall. |
I’ve always felt that politicians embody the most vile manifestation of celebrity, with newscasters hot on their tails. We like “real” celebrities – movie stars and music artists – because they’re pretty, or funny, or put a song in our heart. Newscasting has always seemed to draw people who want to be admired in this way, but fall a little short of silver screen level “star quality” or “It Factor”. But politicians? Dear God. They’re often not very attractive, they talk about things you don’t understand, care about, and exactly 50% of the time don’t agree with, and then they want you to LIKE them so much you actually have to trudge out and SAY SO in a voting booth. Since they’re generally so unattractive and disagreeable, that means that in order to secure this love and admiration they so desperately need, they have to lie and cheat almost constantly. Which is why I was so excited about the idea of the Newt Swingrich 2012 campaign. As such a despicable spouse cheat and hypocrite, he’s well on the way to winning our 2011 Best Politician award. Let’s not forget that Newt was not only cheating on his wife while engineering the Clinton/Lewisnky impeachment circus, he also was one of the key architects of the Contract with America. An interestingly titled document, since the only Americans that actually signed it were all GOP politicians. A document that was also interesting in that it is often credited with giving the GOP a congressional majority for the first time in decades, when this was in fact already well on the way to happening. It was sort of like Reagan shouting “tear down that wall” at a time when this was almost certain to happen anyway. Good timing and good politics, but not really “good leadership” in the conventional sense. In any case, I have much more to be excited about this week than last week regarding the 2012 presidential race. If historians record this era in America with any accuracy, it will be remembered as the era that turned politics into the DC version of “American Idol”, and Frank Luntz – GOP pollster, strategist, and author of the brilliant Words That Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear