From
Military Resistance: "At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing
argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation's
ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach,
withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke." Frederick Douglass, 1852
"We Are Drowning" On A Road To Nowhere: New War on the Horizon?
By Danny Schechter, Author of Occupy: Dissecting Occupy Wall Street
Oil prices are rocketing.
Iranian warships are moving into the Mediterranean to shadow the US warships
already there. Propaganda news is
growing with rumors of Al Qaeda links with Iran, and, then, less speculative
news about real links between the terror groups and the armed opposition in Syria.
As Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi puts it, the smell of war is in the air and on the air, "You can just feel it: many of the same newspapers and TV stations we saw leading the charge in the Bush years have gone back to the attic and are dusting off their war pom-poms."
CLG adds: "Officials in key parts of the Obama administration are increasingly convinced that sanctions will not deter Tehran from pursuing its [alleged] nuclear program, and believe that the US will be left with no option but to launch an attack on Iran or watch Israel do so."
The timing now seems to be for war in October, just before the next Presidential election. Does that mean that the White House believes that war fever will generate more support for an embattled Commander in Chief seeking reelection?
Was Orwell right in his classic 1984 when he wrote, "the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact."
Here in the "homeland," the FBI busts a "terrorist" on his way, we are told, to blow up the Congress. Turns out he was supplied with phony weapons by the FBI itself, a specialist in entrapment. The G-Men supposedly became suspicious when they heard that this young Moroccan, living illegally in Virginia, told someone who told someone that the war on terror was a war on Muslims. That's probably a majority view in the Middle East, but to them it was menacing and proof of evil intent.
After their puppet "suspect" was in custody, they reassured one and all that the Congress was never at risk. (Nor, now, is the FBI's next appropriation!)
What a relief! Congress has survived to fight another day in its own war-- a partisan war without end. For the most part, the political logjam and stalemate continues and not just because of warring ideologies.
Unseen and only rarely
commented upon by pundits who know how to cover political horse races but not
political skullduggery is the role that big money plays behind the scenes. That
is kept out of sight and out of mind.
Bill Moyers and Michael Winship write: "Watching what's happening to our democracy is like watching the cruise ship Costa Concordia founder and sink slowly into the sea off the coast of Italy, as the passengers, shorn of life vests, scramble for safety as best they can, while the captain trips and falls conveniently into a waiting life boat.
We are drowning here, with gaping holes torn into the hull of the ship of state from charges detonated by the owners and manipulators of capital. Their wealth has become a demonic force in politics. Nothing can stop them. Not the law, which has been written to accommodate them. Not scrutiny -- they have no shame. Not a decent respect for the welfare of others -- the people without means, their safety net shredded, left helpless before events beyond their control."
Yes, "we are downing here."
But is not just money perse that is the problem, but those one percenters that are manipulating it as a weapon to drive our democracy into the dumper.
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