manifesto monday will come later today. in the mean time, read this article here. very, very good.
"it's time to take the obama t-shirts off"
6.11.2009
yes, it's that time...time for my soapbox. perhaps some of you enjoy this, but i probably enjoy it more. i truly do think it's important to have discussions about these things so that we can pressure our leaders, who are supposed to represent us, to take action as we hope they would.
well, as i suspected, obama isn't all he sold himself to be. watch this bill moyer's interview with jeremy scahill. he wrote that infamous book blackwater. it's a fascinating episode. here's a couple exerpts from the conversation:
"Well, I think what we're seeing, under President Barack Obama, is sort of old wine in a new bottle. Obama is sending one message to the world, but the reality on the ground, particularly when it comes to private military contractors, is that the status quo remains from the Bush era. Right now there are 250 thousand contractors fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's about 50 percent of the total US fighting force. Which is very similar to what it was under Bush. In Iraq, President Obama has 130 thousand contractors. And we just saw a 23 percent increase in the number of armed contractors in Iraq. In Afghanistan there's been a 29 percent increase in armed contractors. So the radical privatization of war continues unabated under Barack Obama."
"Well, I mean, we have two parallel realities here. We have the speeches of President Obama. I'm not questioning his sincerity. And then you have the sort of official punditry that's allowed access to the corporate media. And they have one debate. On the ground though, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, you hear the stories of the people that are forced to live on the other side of the barrel of the gun that is U.S. foreign policy. And you get a very different sense. If the United States, as President Obama says, doesn't want a permanent presence in Afghanistan, why allocate a billion dollars to build this fortress like embassy, similar to the one in Baghdad, in Islamabad, Pakistan? Another one in Peshawar. Having an increase in mercenary forces. Expanding the US military presence there."
interesting? the status quo continues. boo. boo. triple boo.
indeed, it is time to take off the obama t-shirts and remove the bumper stickers. it's time to put pressure on our president to end our military and empirical presence in the middle east.
no war is a "good" war.
well, as i suspected, obama isn't all he sold himself to be. watch this bill moyer's interview with jeremy scahill. he wrote that infamous book blackwater. it's a fascinating episode. here's a couple exerpts from the conversation:
"Well, I think what we're seeing, under President Barack Obama, is sort of old wine in a new bottle. Obama is sending one message to the world, but the reality on the ground, particularly when it comes to private military contractors, is that the status quo remains from the Bush era. Right now there are 250 thousand contractors fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's about 50 percent of the total US fighting force. Which is very similar to what it was under Bush. In Iraq, President Obama has 130 thousand contractors. And we just saw a 23 percent increase in the number of armed contractors in Iraq. In Afghanistan there's been a 29 percent increase in armed contractors. So the radical privatization of war continues unabated under Barack Obama."
"Well, I mean, we have two parallel realities here. We have the speeches of President Obama. I'm not questioning his sincerity. And then you have the sort of official punditry that's allowed access to the corporate media. And they have one debate. On the ground though, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, you hear the stories of the people that are forced to live on the other side of the barrel of the gun that is U.S. foreign policy. And you get a very different sense. If the United States, as President Obama says, doesn't want a permanent presence in Afghanistan, why allocate a billion dollars to build this fortress like embassy, similar to the one in Baghdad, in Islamabad, Pakistan? Another one in Peshawar. Having an increase in mercenary forces. Expanding the US military presence there."
interesting? the status quo continues. boo. boo. triple boo.
indeed, it is time to take off the obama t-shirts and remove the bumper stickers. it's time to put pressure on our president to end our military and empirical presence in the middle east.
no war is a "good" war.
Issue 2: Echo
1.16.2009
This is Emmeline Pankhurst. She and her daughters organized the WSPU in the early 20th century in England. They advocated violent acts as protests in order to get the vote for women. They were also the first group known to use the hunger strike.
I want to share with you the following passage from a speech she made in 1913:
To-day, women are working very hard for it [the vote]. And there is no doubt whatever that very, very soon the fight will be over, and victory will be won. Even a Liberal Government will be forced to give votes to women. Gentlemen with Liberal principles have talked about those principles for a very long time, but it is only just lately that women have realised that so far as they are concerned, it began in talk and ended in talk, and that there was absolutely no intention of performance. To-day, we have taken off the mask, and we have made these gentlemen realise that, whether they like it or not, they will have to yield. People ask us, "Why force it on just now? Why give all this trouble to the Liberals, with their great and splendid programme of reform?" Well, we say, after all, they are just the people to whom we ought to give trouble, and who, if they are sincere, ought to be very glad that we are giving them trouble, and forcing them to put their great principles into practice.
Sound familiar to anyone? How about all the hoorahs that Obama and the democrats are about to "change" things? I'm still quite pessimistic about what Obama will actually change. As far as I'm concerned his promises "began in talk and ended in talk, and there was absolutely no intention of performance." I wanted to remind all of you that he did promise to bulk up the military...he is not the person who will release us from war in the Middle East as everyone assumed. He is not the person who will help the poor and destitute of this country...he seems only concerned with the "middle class." He will not solve any environmental problems. I could go on and on...but I'll get to my point:
Now is the time to "give trouble" to the "liberals." (I guess "liberal" is defined by most people as anyone but an Evangelical Christian). We need to continue protests for what we as an American people want. This is not the time to just sit back because our savior, Obama, will enter the Oval Office on Tuesday. We need to, echoing Mrs. Pankhurst, force "them to put their great principles into practice."
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