Voting in the absence of Choice

Too many Americans harbor the illusion that we live in a democracy simply because we have the right to vote. But let us be clear about something: voting matters only where real choices are allowed. It is universally understood that special interest money runs the American political system and thus defines what the choices will be. So we are left to choose between candidates who are financed by special interest money, which any fool can see, is no choice at all. The system is purposely designed to require enormous expense... Read article

The Spoils of Corruption

Like many Americans, since early childhood I was taught that good always triumphs over evil. But as I grew older and acquainted myself with the history of my country, my perspective became less naïve and better informed. My perceptions of reality were altered forever, and I am forced to live, like so many of my readers, with the burden of knowledge that often makes reality painful to bear. America could have been very different, but it has become a land of unfathomable corruption. It is a place where money rules and lords... Read article

The Assassins of Truth

It is evident to me that the United States government believes that any individual or group of people that works to prevent it from implementing its agenda are terrorists. Furthermore, I contend that the government’s plan is not the people’s agenda; but some of us will be required to sacrifice our lives in order to help them execute their will, and all of us will be required to sacrifice our freedoms. I also contend that the government overwhelmingly represents the interests of wealth and power; that its strength is... Read article

What if they gave a War?

“What if they gave a war and no one came?” was a popular slogan during the Viet Nam war. It remains a timeless and powerful motto, and is as relevant as ever. It is still a mantra that evokes thought provoking responses and suggests some intriguing possibilities. What if those who serve in the military were fully aware of what their government requires them to do? What if they understood the underlying purpose of war and refused to participate? What if military recruiters were unable to feed the war machine with our... Read article

Ethnic Cleansing in New Orleans

It was a year ago that hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast region of the USA, and left a path of death and destruction in her wake. Well over a thousand human beings lost their lives in the floods that followed the tempest. Who can say how many people lost hope in the aftermath of that terrific storm? Had Katrina hit an area of the country crowded with golf courses and country clubs the result would have been different. People with wealth and property matter in America; those without do not. America is a land where sharp... Read article

Why I am a Terrorist

Everywhere you go in America you see the slogan, “Support our troops.” You see it on bumper stickers, storefronts, flags and banners, yellow ribbons and even in the windows of private homes. But what does it mean to support our troops? Is it to send them into harm’s way; to invade and occupy sovereign nations in illegal wars for empire? Is it to ask them to commit heinous crimes, to maim and kill innocent civilians; to torture, insult, and to humiliate people who have done us no harm? Is it to steal the natural wealth... Read article

Corporate Globalization and Middle East Terrorism

By now the whole world knows that America is none of the things that she purports to be; that is, everyone except the Americans. It is said that America has fifty states but in fact she has fifty-one, Israel being the fifty-first. Perhaps Great Britain could be counted as the fifty-second. It is ironic that the people who think they are the freest are the most controlled people on earth. It is equally odd that those who think they are part of the greatest democracy the world has ever known do not participate in a democracy... Read article

Gods among Ordinary Men

When a man abuses the power that was entrusted to him by the people there is clearly a void between what the people want and what they receive. Such abuse stems not only from immense hubris, but from contempt for the people and for civil law. The president, we will recall, is a man who referred to the Constitution to one of his Whitehouse aides as “…just a god-damned piece of paper.” Bush and his cacophony of neo-conservative fascists clearly hold the most sacred institutions of this nation in contempt, including the... Read article

Militarism and the Corporate Welfare State

Right wing politicos and their conservative constituents are always bemoaning big government. Yet wealthy people of all political stripes constantly use big government to their own benefit. The rich widely assume, falsely, I think, that what is good for them is good for the country. By extension they also assume that what is good for the corporations is good for the people. But that has never been the case. No one should be allowed to make a living on the misery of others. The latter seems odd, given that business people... Read article

The Bourgeois Congress and Economic Violence

If the greatness of a nation is measured by how it treats its poor rather than its military expenditure, America must rank near the bottom of the heap. The disparity between rich and poor has never been greater and it is widening at an accelerating pace. Some pertinent statistics vividly tell the story: Of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 51 are corporations and 49 are nations. The world’s top 200 corporations account for over a quarter of the economic activity on the globe while employing less than 1% of... Read article

The Flag of the Corporate States of America

This, I know, is bound to be an unpopular essay that is likely to incite intense emotions and harsh accusations against me. Yet I feel compelled to express my thoughts on the matter in part because the commercial media does not allow dissenting views to be heard. Also, the majority of my fellow citizens have been drinking the mind altering kool-aide that distorts reality into fabulous forms that bears little resemblance to reality. Added to the formula is the fact that so many of us choose to live in denial rather than face... Read article

Sacred Ecology and Capitalism

“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” “To sum up: a system of conservation based solely on economic self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the land community that lack commercial value, but that are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy functioning. It assumes, falsely, I think, that the economic parts of the biotic clock will function... Read article

Fruit of the Poison Tree

Millions of citizens are rightly calling for the impeachment of George W. Bush due to his criminal and unethical policies. Bush is a cancer not only on the presidency but upon basic human decency. Any sane person, regardless how marginal they are, can see that Bush must go and the sooner the better. However, when Bush is gone the system that produced him will remain in place, as healthy and viable as ever. It will continue to bear a plentiful crop of poison fruit, perhaps even more sinister than Bush. The majority of the... Read article

Remembering the Haymarket Martyrs

Every now and then events transpire that cut through the rhetoric, the carefully contrived images purveyed in the press and historical texts, and reveal a nation’s dark soul in ghastly detail. Such an event occurred in the streets of Chicago on May 4, 1886, and continued through November 11 of 1887. They were set in motion years before. At noon on that day four of labor’s most courageous warriors: Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer and George Engel were hanged for a crime they did not commit. A fifth man, Louis... Read article

Fanning the Flames of Dissent

Let no man claim that the United States is not a representative government. There is no greater representative government on earth. The trouble is that the U.S. represents the interests of wealthy Plutocrats and multinational corporations, rather than the people. The vast majority of the citizens are essentially without representation. The government has fallen so completely under the spell of the corporations that it is virtually indistinguishable from them. The people have been shut out of the process and are left to fend... Read article

Ignorance by Content and Omission

As a nation and as a people we have come to where we are as a direct result of the information we receive through the commercial media. In terms of democracy creation the news is useless if its intent is to inform and to educate. It is effective if its intent is to purvey propaganda and to deceive the masses. So many well intentioned people fall in line behind the president because they fail to understand his policies. They lack historical perspective. Having the ability to understand current events from an historical perspective... Read article

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