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Van Jones is Dead. Long Live Van Jones!
"... the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy." --Alex Carey, Australian social scientist
Three years ago I traveled from Maine to the Ella Baker Center in Oakland, California, to meet Van Jones so I could paint his portrait for my Americans Who Tell the Truth series.
I had heard a lot about him & read his speeches & was incredibly impressed with his courage and articulate vision in taking on some of the world’s most serious problems: poverty, environmental racism, and climate change. More importantly, he understood the relationship between those issues, and that they could be confronted in the most efficient and just manner if seen as one problem: bring the manufacturers of green energy equipment into the poor and despairing ghetto where the jobs are most needed, educate poor minorities to do these jobs ( thus providing hope), and then construct the solar panels, windmills, and geothermal machinery that will be needed to power our future in a sustainable way. Everybody wins. Right? Van Jones invited the people of this country to begin dreaming again --- to dream that a future based in justice and sustainability was possible. He said, “Dr. King didn’t get famous giving a speech that said, ‘I have a complaint.’”
Well, it should come as no surprise that the ‘everybody wins’ scenario is not popular with everybody. It’s a loser if you are a big oil or coal corporation that doesn’t want a lot of attention paid to climate change. It’s heresy if you don’t care about the poor and consider them the necessary collateral damage of capitalism. It’s anathema if you believe that economic justice is for socialist wimps, and sustainability is a code word for cutting into corporate profit. It’s threatening if you are corporate media supported by the dissemination of corporate friendly news.
So, when Obama invited Van Jones into the White House as his guru for green jobs and innovation, the attack dogs howled. They smelled blood.
I suspect that most Americans had never heard of Van Jones then, and were still unaware of him until he resigned. And then they probably breathed a sigh of relief that this “communist,” “racist,” “9/11 conspiracy nut,” “enemy of America” had been ratted out.
How do I know he was these things? For the past month my website has been bombarded with vicious attacks on Van Jones. How could I possibly have supported and honored this monster who is trying to poison our apple pie? Didn’t I know that this gremlin was perched on Obama’s shoulder whispering his loathing of America into his ear?
I don’t really know who writes this nasty stuff. But I suspect, like with many of the people who are shouting lies to block health care reform, that it comes from people who have been easily manipulated with fear and racism to attack those who would actually make their lives better. It’s come to that --- to advocate for the common good is to advocate for communism. To defend justice is to commit treason. To be concerned for the future is to impede progress. To feel compassion, to walk a mile in another’s shoes, is to be an pathetic idiot. To think that democracy means equality rather than domination is naïve.
One might wonder why Obama did not do more to protect Van Jones. But when Jones referred to Republicans as “assholes” as a euphemism for ruthless, he was beyond protecting. It didn’t matter that Jones said he would have to become an asshole himself to fight for his policies. The soundbite was history. Nothing to do but cut him loose. But the deeper reason he had to be cut loose was that Obama would have had to tell the truth to protect him: yes, Van Jones is for economic justice; he is for conservation and alternative energy; he’s for prison reform; he’s for a re-structured economy based in sustainability, not exploitation and profit; he’s for a serious investigation of 9/11; he believes that ‘clean coal’ is absurd, etc. Obama could not protect him, because to do so he would have had to endorse Van Jones’ beliefs. He was not about to do that.
I think it’s all for the good. I don’t think that Van Jones should have ever joined the administration. He’s much stronger on the outside organizing people to fight for the things he believes in. But he’s tainted now. He won’t be able to get grants from the status quo philanthropic organizations. He’s a mongrel with a tin can tied to his tail. That’s good. This brilliant man will now have to embrace courage, truth, justice, nature and love and start over. Leading. Organizing. As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” And you can’t make demands if you hoping for crumbs while camped in the Man’s coat pocket.
86 Comments so far
Show All"But he’s tainted now. He won’t be able to get grants from the status quo philanthropic organizations. He’s a mongrel with a tin can tied to his tail. That’s good."
Good wishful thinking
Van Jones sounds like someone I would support if he ran for office. He clearly has an excellent grasp of reality and the knowledge required to fix many problems. No wonder they fired him.
Robert Shetterly:
Hear, hear! I agree! Jones was part of Obama's "progressive" image. That image is crumbling daily. This is a blessing in disguise.
America: The Grim Truth
Americans, I have some bad news for you:
You have the worst quality of life in the developed world – by a wide margin.
If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you’d be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker.
I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home.
I have lived all around the world, in wealthy countries and poor ones, and there is only one country I would never consider living in again: The United States of America. The mere thought of it fills me with dread.
Consider this: you are the only people in the developed world without a single-payer health system. Everyone in Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand has a single payer system. If they get sick, they can devote all their energies to getting well. If you get sick, you have to battle two things at once: your illness and the fear of financial ruin. Millions of Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical bills, and tens of thousands die each year because they have no insurance or insufficient insurance.
This is ironic, because you need a good health system more than anyone else in the world. Why? Because your lifestyle is almost designed to make you sick.
With a diet guaranteed to make you sick and a health system designed to make sure you stay that way, what you really need is a long vacation somewhere. Unfortunately, you probably can’t take one. I’ll let you in on little secret: if you go to the beaches of Thailand, the mountains of Nepal, or the coral reefs of Australia, you’ll probably be the only American in sight. And you’ll be surrounded crowds of happy Germans, French, Italians, Israelis, Scandinavians and wealthy Asians. Why? Because they’re paid well enough to afford to visit these places AND they can take vacations long enough to do so. Even if you could scrape together enough money to go to one of these incredible places, by the time you recovered from your jetlag, it would time to get on a plane and rush back to your job.
If you think I’m making this up, check the stats on average annual vacation days by country:
Finland: 44
Italy: 42
France: 39
Germany: 35
UK: 25
Japan: 18
USA: 12
The fact is, they work you like dogs in the United States. This should come as no surprise: the United States never got away from the plantation/sweat shop labor model and any real labor movement was brutally suppressed.
All this begs the question: Why would anyone put up with this? Ask any American and you’ll get the same answer: because America is the freest country on earth. If you believe this, I’ve got some more bad news for you: America is actually among the least free countries on earth. Your piss is tested, your emails and phone calls are monitored, your medical records are gathered, and you are never more than one stray comment away from writhing on the ground with two Taser prongs in your ass.
And that’s just physical freedom. Mentally, you are truly imprisoned. You don’t even know the degree to which you are tormented by fears of medical bankruptcy, job loss, homelessness and violent crime because you’ve never lived in a country where there is no need to worry about such things.
But it goes much deeper than mere surveillance and anxiety. The fact is, you are not free because your country has been taken over and occupied by another government. Fully 70% of your tax dollars go to the Pentagon, and the Pentagon is the real government of the United States. You are required under pain of death to pay taxes to this occupying government. If you’re from the less fortunate classes, you are also required to serve and die in their endless wars, or send your sons and daughters to do so. You have no choice in the matter: there is a socio-economic draft system in the United States that provides a steady stream of cannon fodder for the military.
If you call a life of surveillance, anxiety and ceaseless toil in the service of a government you didn’t elect “freedom,” then you and I have a very different idea of what that word means.
So what should you do?
You should leave the United States of America.
If you’re young, you’ve got plenty of choices: you can teach English in the Middle East, Asia or Europe. Or you can go to university or graduate school abroad and start building skills that will qualify you for a work visa. If you’ve already got some real work skills, you can apply to emigrate to any number of countries as a skilled immigrant. If you are older and you’ve got some savings, you can retire to a place like Costa Rica or the Philippines. If you can’t qualify for a work, student or retirement visa, don’t let that stop you – travel on a tourist visa to a country that appeals to you and talk to the expats you meet there. Whatever you do, go speak to an immigration lawyer as soon as you can. Find out exactly how to get on a path that will lead to permanent residence and eventually citizenship in the country of your choice.
In closing, I want to remind you of something: unless you are an American Indian or a descendant of slaves, at some point your ancestors chose to leave their homeland in search of a better life. They weren’t traitors and they weren’t bad people, they just wanted a better life for themselves and their families. Isn’t it time that you continue their journey?
lance i don't now who you think you are but you have written an excellent post, wide ranging and focussed at the same time, panoramic yet having detail
the only issue i would take with your entire post is this: the pentagon doesn't run america - it is a subsystem of the corporate oligarchs - the corporate enforcement tool - killer of peasants worldwide
as you note, the ignorance and delusion of the american people is pathetic. myopic and paranoid - the country has slipped so far into the rabbit hole there seems hardly a way out - other than to leave
most won't or can't realistically
there are countless good people in the country as well but many of them are infused with this bizarre world view that supports a maniac like cheney lying about everything that comes out of his mouth, lying us into a war or two, justifying torture and all the rest - why isn't this maniac in jail
to me, obama has been a disaster of epic dimension - david michael green has written a good piece here on cd this weekend about the incompetence and ineffectiveness that seems to have consumed his presidency or rather what we all hoped his presidency could have been
all dashed now we had the bank scam - over which obama was the point man from day one, even when bush was still in power - the bank scam helped obama separate from mccain in the race - which he had not done to that point
if you recall they were neck and neck - then the bank scandal appears literally out of nowhere - mccain looks every bit the fool and out of his element (i have no idea what the old fool's element is) and unable to grasp complexity
obama appeared cool and calm and i think it was the bank scam that put him over the top
completely fabricated
24 trillion dollars later (and counting) obama is about to "fix" healthcare in a piece of crap piece of non-reform that is the healthcare debate
the sheeple are beginning to realize who and what this shill is and brother it is murder to have our best (and last) hope go down so badly
but most of us are going to stay here and we will have to deal with the shit that is coming down the pipe right at us, like it or not
will we stand fast or will we be whisked off to the fema prison camps
in addition to all the issues you have listed for us to worry about we need to ask this question as well
dark days
I agree with the basic concept of your post but you come full circle with cause and solution.
The american consequence to immigrants and social profiling have been here since the beginning of the existence of democracy. Politics,money and democracy never have changed basic human nature - that is part of the seven deadly sins ;) -
I think world travel was always a 'part' of the american dream - just an extension of the full picture. I also think that redistributing jobs and cultures IS part of todays problems not the solution. Look at most EU nations - anger at jobs being redistributed and dissent at monetary policies. Fear of loss of their own countries cultures and overpopulation in areas due to massive immigrant changes. We all should be focusing on our own countries at this time of citizens hardships. Unfortunately you hit the nail on the head with our lack of drive to DEMAND this from our leadership. Bringing hope to this country means to stop the continued sucking on our tax money and the awful lack of legal protections for the citizens. Looking back over the prior administration we have been set up - changing the bankruptcy laws and altering laws that enabled our savings to be vulnerable and exposed to frauds. I think that if Obama had jumped in with guns blazing like a good portion of us thought - like FDR and the campaign indicated - we would be pepped up and motivated as a UNITED country.
I haven't given up the hope - yet - but things haven't really changed as far as individual rights and equality for all. There HAS to be a balance between capitalism and democracy -
apparently they don't get along well without oversight and mediation.
Sadly what has changed is that we need to get over the fear and demand change.
Find TIME and get involved - locally and as a whole.
In closing I would comment on your basis about our ancestors journey. I was told by my british cousin that "americans don't like to stay in one place long" ... that we move around alot.
Contrary to the thought that slaves and indians are the only entities who didn't have a choice I would say....
Since the beginning of time people have yearned for a place to be stable and to call home.
They have been warred off land and relocated for greed and others want of a "place of their own". LAND has ALWAYS been the cause of wars and death - not money .
Less than 400 years ago my family held a large part of Ireland - they were responsible for hundreds of families and villages under their protection. They were killed,imprisoned, sold and indentured, forced off their lands and eventually starved onto ships that led them penniless but STILL looking for a place to call home. I think they were hoping that the journey would stop here. It is a terrible cycle that COULD be broken but today continues with greed via bankruptcies and UNNECESSARY foreclosures.
Leaving our country wouldn't be right!! staying and trying to REGAIN our united states and utilizing what is left of our resources to convince government they need to re-read the part about FOR THE PEOPLE -
I think most americans choice for citizenship would still remain within their hearts - and that would be to end the journey not continue it.
Nation states are figments of our imagination.
The U.S. now represents almost nothing that I stand for and care about.
Politics is a sham, and the national dialog is childish and immature.
I left three years ago. I don't think I can go back.
Unless you are a Native American like this poster--who most definitely DID leave--it isn't YOUR country.
I shall forward your post to my son and daughter. It reflects what I've come to believe myself, but couldn't bring myself to admit. Life is too short to batter oneself against the prejudices of history.
Lance.Freeman September 7th, 2009 2:27 am.............Absolutely the best and most honest comment I have read on CD and other sites in a very long time. Having visited Cebu, Philippines last year, I can attest to the fact that there is a better, happier world beyond what is left of the US. The only way to bring this to reality is to have the experience. Getting out of the US is like visiting another planet. Even the people are very different. They don't seem to be angry at the world, even with a minimum wage of $6.50/day.
Why young people stay in this country is beyond understanding. I guess naivete is the best explanation. The healthcare system alone is reason enough to leave. The America that "was" (if it ever was) no longer exists. It's been sold out to the highest bidder. Hope is the opiate. Action is the cure.
Please, take the time to examine other possibilities. You will be opening up new worlds and a better future.
@ Lance.Freeman September 7th, 2009 2:27 am, excellent comment and well-put, and it agrees with what Europeans I've met have told me. The irony is that if every intelligent and educated American left the country, there would be no Pentagon nor much else. The gullible boobs and corporate grifters remaining would consume themselves in a tail-eating dance of stupidity, plus nothing would work as neither prayer, torture, nor violence has ever been known to fix a computer or keep a high-tech aircraft flying. The country would dissolve into a gloomy Dark Ages of cracker slave laborers overseen by not-much-brighter corporate goons operating at the end of strings held by wealthy corporate hucksters and marketing conmen, while the TV sets blared Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly assuring the maltreated idiots that they live in the greatest nation on earth. Wait a minute, that's already happening ...
Not only is it already happening, but it's been happening for much of my 65-year lifetime.
Americans get a full 12 days of vacation per year?!! I thought ten was the limit for most workers, and they usually take only half of them and even work during their breaks.
Even China gives its workers three weeks.
Sioux Rose
LANCE: Compelling post. I have lived outside the U.S. so let me add a few comments. First, many of us have children, perhaps grown children who are settled into lifestyles in "the homeland security state." There is the fear that should we leave, the border patrols may exercise their petty authority in preventing us access to family members. Any terrorist event, inside job or otherwise, can easily satisfy this closing of the guardians' walls.
There is also the matter brought forth by another poster, that some of us hope to play a role in bringing our nation through this awful tunnel, that it be afforded a resurrection back into The Light.
Having said these things, I often think of the German Jews who considered "getting out," but waited too long. Logic told them the rumors they were hearing about the misuse of authority--the blatant killing of citizens in the light of day--were probably more hyperbole than based on actual occurences.
I loved Singapore and was amazed at the modernity of many Asian nations. Furthermore, I found that most persons I met were interested in their education, their spiritual growth, and their financial well-being. In short, they were far more balanced in personal development than seems the case for many in America.
Lance, I understand that you are angry with the USA for being a current loser and the biggest laughing stock in terms of labor and health care but if you think Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore and New Zealand are gonna sustain, I got bad news for you. They've got economic problems of their own and so far nobody's paying attention to early warning signs of potential meltdowns. The single payer system will no doubt save them from severe damage unlike the US where we ain't got one. But just saying that the USA sucks ain't gonna help either. A lot of countries still do business with the USA and if the USA goes down and yeah God's punishing her like hell, then those other nations will also be impacted. I agree that the USA's lifestyle sucks big and is in serious need of health care reform. Unfortunately, thanks to that irresponsibility, GOD will continue to PUNISH America with lack of access to single payer until she cleans up her act first. We cannot have single payer in a nation where people eat at Mcdonald's every day like dumbasses. I don't watch the filthy TV and I eat healthy and I do support health care for all FYI. People may laugh at those of us who travel to work by bike, switch to local organic produce for their meals and learn to cook instead of eating outside habitually, and whatever it takes to go green but we're not giving up and we will not have others call the USA a loser nation even if it is a laughing stock !
Some people can say that we must leave the USA but others like me LOVE THE USA TO DEATH and won't give up trying whatever we can to pull it out of its misery. Running away won't solve your problems. I know I have some ways to go with catching up to following that phrase but let's see who can beat me to it. I'm staying and I'm not giving up yet.
Your last paragraph misses one thing. All of North and South America were invaded so you can't single out the USA. Native American Indians were destroyed throughout.
Sioux Rose
MAX: I have friends who study with expensive New age style behavior mod groups and they, like George Lakoff, speak of the power and importance inherent to our use of words. You have heard me rant about Mars, warrior and destroyer, and his influence over U.S. foreign and domestic policy. The intended counter-balance and Divine counterpart to Mars is Venus, the goddess of love. I relate this as the expression, "to love to death" is a sickening oxymoron. It presumes that to kill is to love, and it's reflective (if covertly) of the nation's Mars rules bankrupt value system. Similarly, when persons define "my cancer" or "my Diabetes" as a condition, they establish ownership of something horrific on energetic planes. Can you instead LOVE TO LIFE?
Ms. Rose, I have read your posts over the weeks and months and what you're saying is not rant. I may not understand astrology well but you remind me of Harry of the movie Dante's Peak who tried to sound the alarm off warning of an acidic volcanic eruption. He was silenced until it was too late.
Speaking of Mars and Venus, the resignation of Van Jones to me signals that the Green Jobs Project is about to go up in smoke which means less hope of getting more people unhooked from the MIC in all walks of life. Looks like Obama says Mars rules much to our disgust.
My sisters and I say "I love you to wholeness" (we used to say I love you to pieces and realized how destructive that sounded).
~ Juliann
Lance, as we used to say in the 60s: RIGHT ON!
I left Gringolandia almost 20 years ago, and it was the single best life decision I ever made. In fact, I almost ran out of life several times there--having had systemic lupus since early childhood, the US lifestyle, eating style and toxic air--not to mention all the toxic white people that still believe that the only good Indian is a dead one--put me in the place of seeing the white light several times before I was 40.
Since I left for Mexico to make a new home, I have been relatively healthy--and my 65th birthday is coming up in a couple of months. I have also been able to save money for the first time in my life--despite low salaries in Latin America--and have done a fair amount of paid travel throughout Latin America and the Middle East. And I have met a lot of really nice people--not the smile and stab you in the back gringos that majoritively populate what used to be beautiful Turtle Island.
Mexico is also part of the Americas. You think leaving the USA for Mexico is an escape from gringo whatever you're talking about? Sir, both North and South America had Native Indian Americans. The USA was not the only country where they were massacred.
Would you consider the Spanish, gringo's? They were European, they were brutal, they enslaved and/or massacred hundreds of thousands, probably millions of natives, from California to the southern tip of South America, all before the so called Anglo gringo's ever set foot on the continent. Probably nearly every Mexican (and every other Central and South American) has gringo (Spanish) blood.
So what's you point? You sound very racist.
Lance.Freeman (September 7th, 2009 2:27 am) -- you've struck a nerve, as they say. I've had the same thoughts, exactly. However, remember that we all have moral obligations (not decreed by government) toward our families, friends, compatriots, and citizens all over the world. If the good people -- apparently you're one -- were to leave, would that really be fair to those left behind? To the people in the country you move to, who might be victims of a USA that lacks your kind of moral rudder?
I also think that despite everything you say, we still have in this country a strong commitment to civil liberties, as exemplified by the continuing efforts of groups like the ACLU. We have some semblance of democracy; I heard the other day that there's even one avowed atheist in Congress, although about 15% of the people claim to be atheists. Separation of church and state is still the most important invention ever developed, anywhere, in my opinion. Many of the minuses you mention are side effects of pluses, like wealth and power and diversity.
So I won't be leaving anytime soon, unless my health gets so bad I have to go elsewhere (and I'm on Medicare).
Lance - Happily for them and sadly for me and for the USA, my two talented, hard working and compassionate children have opted to live in other countries. And for the type of reasons you enumerate.
My grandchildren are growing up in a civilized country that has health care, vacations, free higher education, and an array of family-friendly benefits that most of us cannot imagine. They will not live here because living conditions are irrationally harsh and capricious instead of sensible.
My other child and his spouse are going to work on a good project in another country. I suppose they could do something similar here, but they feel more comfortable with the attitudes and values of the Africans with whom they have worked. There are more opportunities to do this type of work and still have enough to live on outside the USA.
Lance, you may have sensed the beginning of a period where we lose the finest young people to other shores. I wouldn't be surprised it this were to become a trend.
Joe
Wow, that's powerful, Lance. I have long suspected what you say, but did not have the courage to investigate and act.
Thank you.
Grant
I totally agree. This administration has shown itself that it has no place for progressive, straightforward, honest individuals concerned more for the welfare of the country and its citizens than their own backsides. It's true that most people had, quite unfortunately, not heard of Van Jones before this episode. But now that we have, let's do everything we can to support him in pursuing his vision in a more productive environment.
With regard to the above comment urging young people to leave, yes, they should realize that there is a world out there that will appreciate their efforts to improve life on the planet far more than the US does. That being said, one has to admire the poor kids who still have hope after Mr. Obama has done everything he possibly could do spit in their faces. This is perhaps one of the worst effects of his failure to follow through with any of his campaign promises: who will ever be able to believe, let alone work for, a so-called 'progressive' candidate again. Mr. Obama has potentially disabled an entire generation. That, to my mind, is criminal. It seems that the pressures and most probably threats of Washington are just to great. We (and I am not young, but I teach international law to undergrads and I hear them and share their sorrow) believed in him. He had every reason to make us believe he understood what the problems/issues were. And he let everyone down. 'Why bother' is almost irresistible.
"Asshole" is a term of endearment in my house.
Maybe Mr. Jones could help form a third party.
I helped start a 3rd Party back in the early 90's. It advocated for the common good, defended justice for all, and was concerned about the future of the entire planet. We called it the Green Party.
Anybody that's serious about creating an alternative to the Capitalist Duopoly is invited to join in and make the Real Change This World Needs To See Happen.
Van Jones should have realized that the first victim of a Washington job is the truth -- you can't call the Republicans what they are and get away with it.
But the telling and risible moment, and a perfect microcosm of what's wrong with our Big Media, was encapsulated by CNN's Ed Henry yesterday, proclaiming indignantly that Jones signing a petition to investigate the Bush Administration's role in 9/11 was "beyond the pale." Get that? Just asking for an investigation of this question is 'beyond the pale' for Henry, but covering every loony dive and dodge of the asshole Republicans over mythical Death Panels, Obama's 'radicalism,' and Mommie Dearest from Wasilla with a straight face is real, live journalistic reporting. Perhaps Time-Warner and the GOP rewarded Ed with a monogrammed set of gold-plated knee-pads for that bit of reportorial subservience -- maybe they even threw in a year's supply of lipstick for this ardent media hog farmer. This is what the pampered pups of the Meet the Press Gang mean when they talk about preserving 'access' in DC -- unspoken is that it's in the 'below the beltway' sense.
Could we spread around Lance's comments as a wake-up call to sleepy Americans?
My heart tells me we should stay and stand up, and reclaim our power, lest the cancer here finds a way to spread around the globe. Don't global trends show it could happen due to global corporate and military power?
Part of the condition we are in is that some other countries' governments JOINED with our government in some of the latest depredations (esp. Iraq), at least initially, lending our government credibility when it should have been censured.
So this guy owns up to his signing the petition like a man and says, "Yes I did."? No, he lies. Then blames others. Real good role model and inspirational character there. And then he starts pandering to all the varieties of brothers and sisters who are standing in line for their handouts of redistribution while his boss fiddles over a flaming economy? Here's a toast: Good riddance. Next?
you are obviously a right wing plant who knows nothing about Van-if you were a progressive you would know what he has been talking about and would not dismiss this incredibly smart, sensitive and productive human being. Don't bother to answer- you have no credibility. lk
Excuse me, lindak.reporting September 7th, 2009 12:25 pm, but I think you failed to identify Mr. Charles for what he is -- a racist asshole. Everything he said is untrue -- Jones didn't lie about signing the petition, he said he regretted it; he wasn't trying to hand out some kind of 'welfare' to the 'brothers and sisters' -- (catch the code words for black people) -- he was trying to set them up with good-paying green jobs. And he only blamed those who richly deserved it.
In the upside-down Bizarro world of the wingnut right, someone who tries to help the environment, provide people with good jobs, and be a decent person is condemned while lying corporate knuckleheads, immoral monsters, and sadistic torturers are exalted. Mr. Charles must be very proud of himself as he cracks open another bottle of Old Grand Dad each evening to obliterate any last shred of conscience he may harbor.
Here's a toast to you, Mr. Charles, in the manner of Jose Ferrer's toast to Fred MacMurray at the end of "The Caine Mutiny."
Here are some butt ugly truths about DC and places of white establishment power.
First, black folks have to tip-toe around confrontation in the white world no matter how pissed off they are. It doesn't matter if that Negro is absolutely right (Van Jones) or if he technically runs the joint (Barak Obama). Any Black person with a high paying career knows that. If you're seen as an angry militant troublemaker, you'll be lucky to keep your job. It pisses you off and if you don't pray and/or spend a lot of time in the gym, it could give you an ulcer. But as an educated African American, you learn to vent properly (adapt), leave the 'white power' world all together and do your own thing (move) or you become a complete lackey like Michael Steele (die).
Of course Barak Obama is a 'moderate', if he were a mau-mau flaming Hugo Chavez wannabe, he would have been shot by now.
Another truth is progressive causes take time because progressive causes are an anathema to how Washington works its going to get tough. Barak Obama, Van Jones and others represent a death toll to the white male power structure, its not going down without a fight.
Why are progressives so shocked? Healthcare debates have been going on in DC since my parents were kids in the 50's. We honestly think HMO's and Big Pharma are going to stop this gravy train without a fight? Do you think redneck-ran coal companies were going to let not one, but TWO uppity Ivy League Negroes put clean energy jobs in the ghetto without things getting nasty? I'll put it another way, the day that we've won is they day that Fox News is off the air and Amy Goodman is the anchor of Nightline.
A third truth is that progressives don't have a real stomach for the knock down fighting if DC politics, hence they go running (Jones) or backpedal (Obama). But we only have ourselves to blame. Its easy to blog & complain. It takes no real energy to wish upon a star for some great liberal Jesus come over the hill. As a former Naderite, I know this for a fact myself. Its a totally different game to get yourself involved in the brawl. Where we at these town hall meetings? Why aren't we trying to educate folks that you can't maintain a 16% GDP going to the insurance industry? The President said it the night he won -- you want change, make him do it. He can't do this alone. And as usual, liberal have left 'our leader' out on his own because he isn't 'radical'.
Which leads to my fourth truth -- liberals love intellectual masturbation. We REALLY like to hear ourselves talk about how pure we are. Its almost a badge of honor to get our butts handed to us by the Right. Then we go back to our hookah smoking crew and tell everyone how we valiant fought for freedom without selling out. I think we all secretly want Obama to fail -- if Obama actually succeeded in moving us slight forward as a nation, we might actually have to admit that - gasp - government can work for people. And we would have to abandon our 'hippies vs hardhats' mentality that has defined liberals since the 60's.
So is it a shock that Van Jones got ran out of Washington or that Obama is running away from a public option? Nope. But its also no shock that progressives have sat on our collective thumbs until it was too late.
I am offended by this description:
mau-mau flaming Hugo Chavez wannabe.
Chavez is half indigena, too. And we Native Folks are not mau maus.
Get your races right, please.
hugo chavez, unlike even ONE of the whores we call leaders has thrown out corrupt american corporations from his country to a large extent has allowed a re-birth in his country that is centered on the phrase we throw around in a hollow way: the people
he has raised millions of people out of poverty and in his country there is 100% literacy with schools being provided for free to all oh yeah and free health care
he has also led the rebirth of the whole continent and inspired people all over the world. his efforts to battle the american corporations have set a standard that many others in south america are trying to follow
after being raped, robed and murdered by american corporations for hundreds of years the south americans are ultra aware of the evil that has been brought to them in the name of corporate profits
no wonder the senators and congressmen in the us call him "dangerous" which is nothing more than absolute slime and smear. if they were to have actually work on behalf of their constituents or if they had to do a real day's work they wold whine like bitches. not that they would ever do that, its not a worry for them at all. they are so bought and sold by the corporations and they are so gutless - working on behalf of the people is not an option they would even consider.
they would call you dangerous if you made them work like that, just like chavez
at the end of the day - here we are in fascist america, trying to hold the rotting imperium together using increasingly desperate measure (wars of choice, psyops at home, special ops/assassins deployed in many countries to kill assassinate and cause social upheaval) and who are are friends: the insane state of israel, the corrupt state of pakistan, the oppressive and evil states of saudi arabia and egypt, the cocaine producing colombia and so on
our enemies are countries who are trying to make life better for their people and to provide, in a democratic way, improvements in the living conditions of its citizens.
that says a lot about how fucked up we are
How could a "nation" founded on genocide and slavery be anything BUT fucked up?
But genocide also had to happen in the rest of the Americas. There were natives there too who were massacred. How can you not pay attention to this ?
I pay it a LOT of attention--especially since I have lived in Latin America for nearly 20 years and am a specialist on the region!!!!
Not to mention that Las venas abiertas de América Latina has been my pillow book since 1971....
Don't try to get cute and play relativity games with me.
nativeson: right on
so sorry - but i still applaud your comment and i will be careful not to confuse you again
thanks bro
I think everyone missed my point....as usual in the blogosphere. My point wasn't to demonize Chavez. My point was that Obama couldn't do half the things that Chavez did in Venezuela without finding a dead horse's head in the Lincoln bedroom or locks of Michelle's hair in a manila envelope in the Oval Office.
Van Jones is gone and Obama is faltering for the same reason -- the wingnuts love a street fight and progressives (as usual) are running for the tall grass and yelling at Obama to throw a punch from a good 100 yards away. Yes he's the President, but right now he's a man going against an army with a handgun.
** Here's another classic moment of Glen Beck stupidity. A few weeks ago he was claiming that the statue outside of 30 Rock -- a man beating a sword into a plowshare -- was a symbol of communism. That might be, but it was original from Isaiah 2:4.
"And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
And this dumbass calls himself a Christian?! Glen, his producers at FOX or his good 'Christian' viewers didn't know that they were attacking the Bible?!! Shows you the kind of ignorant feces flinging chimps we're allowing to halt democracy. Shame on Obama and us for running from this freak.
And I am offended that after all the time that has elapsed since Chavez was elected President of Venezuela, many of us progressives still follow the US propaganda line when it comes to Hugo. Hugo is bad. Hugo is a madman. Hugo is a dictator. Hugo is a communist. And so on.
I respect this man, this supposed pariah of the Americas. Read an unbiased biography of Hugo Chavez, and you will finish it with admiration for his untainted concern for Venezuela's indigenous people ( he's one of them ), his disdain for the government preceding his which was democratic in name only, & made the rulers richer and the rest poorer (sound like a country you might be familiar with?). That earlier 'democratic' government incurred tremendous debt and left it for Chavez to deal with.
Last time I went through JFK in NY, I was headed for Cairo. All along the route leading to the X-ray and metal-detector machines were signs warning passengers that the U.S. could not guarantee that the airport in Caracas provided adequate security for travelers. Only Venezuela! Not Yemen, not Kenya, not Iran, but VENEZUELA!! Talk about petty propaganda!
The U.S. can't abide Chavez only because he refuses to be a "yes" man to D.C. For the hemisphere, at this point in time, he is a blessing and we should be singing his praises, not demonizing him.
Mau-mau is a general term for flaming radicalism. I'm quite aware that Hugo Chavez isn't of African decent.
THIS is entirely off topic but I can't help it. I'm about to fly!
I've been trying to get a local chain to donate 30 or 40 cases of canned goods to our Food Pantry. I just got a call from their CEO (on a holiday no less) whom I've never gotten to speak to more than once.....He just told me they are going to donate a Bob Tail truck full. 1/2 the truck this month and half the next!!!!
Its even anonymous so they aren't doing it for credit...all CEO's are not bad!
YEE_HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There is going to be dancing tonight!!!!!!!
I apologize for off point posting, but I couldn't help it.
Posted on one other string and I will now restrain myself! Hot Dog!!!!
YAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Going local means going green for real. We're getting our food banks all geared up in Tidewater too. It's cool. Van Jones would be proud of you for that one to say the least.
Watch out for the slime here Max.
henry - yeh its off topic and its - with all due respect - pathetic
nothing like a docile peasantry who are happy with their crumbs
your deference in noting that this ceo (whooooo) actually took the time to call (a nobody like you is implied henry) while on vacation is a little uncomfortable to watch and it shows your servitude has been internalized on a profound level
you say they may be doing it anonymously - don't count on it - but i'm sure they'll take the tax dodge
a relative and equivalent donation would be like a teenager giving you a dollar, now worth 53 cents.
i would, again respectfully, urge you to try to regain your sense of self-respect or at least keep your peasant like tendencies to yourself - in free america it is unbecoming
finally, if your post is real and if it happened like you say - so what - corporations are psychopathic entities who are destroying the world - your two half loads notwithstanding
and don't try to lecture me about poverty and need, i have been working with the poor for 25 years
again, with all due respect
IO have never seen such drivel. Intellectual midget goober. It makes me wonder what type of people are on this site.
I want to thank you and the other idiot who chastized me foe being happy about a whole Bobtail of food for our fiood pantry.
Regain my self respect? You are a sorry excuse for a human being.
What bitter and hollow people you are.
I am quite sorry I shared this with anyone on this God Damned site. What a pathetic bunch of whiners.
By the way you SOB, I never lie.
I see both sides of this Henry/Labeau feud. Labeau is correct about corporations, and most can agree with his/her assessment. But why not let Henry celebrate a small victory of his, to get a corporate CEO to donate some food. Sometimes that first tiny act of compassion can open the heart to even greater awareness, or maybe not, but it's a start.