Thank you Mr Hayden, the linking of oil to the war machine is so essential. Until we deal with this reality, we are divided and conquered.

Hayden continues his Obama sing along ad nausea. What is it about this guy?

Obama is maintaining his rigid and inflexible position to insure drilling is expanded and increased when he advocates for opening the Eastern Seaboard to drilling but not a single word of condemnation by Hayden.

Hayden further links oil to the military industrial complex but avoids mentioning that Obama is in bed with the Stepford Generals like McCystal. Of course, McChystal was former VP Cheney's assassination general who was promoted by Obama to insure the body count of non combatants continues to rise in Afghanistan. Nor does Hayden mention that the biggest recipient of campaign cash investments by BP was the presidential run of Obama: (Note recent Common Dream article that ran a couple of days ago.) Least we not forget, Obama plays a good game of lip service after every tragic event; but when one looks at his legislative agenda, what you find are bills written by the corporate forces to insure their world class hegemony over the masses is complete. Take the For Profit Health Bill void of a Public Option as a case in point, or the recent revelation that Obama is also abandoning his promise on Net Neutrality as reported on another CD article by succumbing to corporate interests in the communication industry.

Hayden continues to demonstrate what a timid and cowardly Democratic 'yes" Man he has become, and how parroting the expected script takes place for those with linkages to the forces he now decries but failing to show the interconnections to the duopoly.

Well, Tom Hayden, why don't you get out there, put together a rally near some university town or city, put up flyers, publish in the area newspaper, maybe get a singer or a band, and get out there and speak and inpsire, instead of writing columns? Why don't more of you do that? Michael Moore, where are you? Sitting at a computer isn't helping. Start the "social movement" you write about. People will blog about it, Twitter, etc., if you do it. It may start out slowly, but it can catch on like wildfire. People are hungry for direction. Just tell us where and when.

The Democratic Platform which John F. Kennedy ran on in

1959 called for the NATIONALIZATION of the oil industry.

We're at least 50-70 years behind on doing just that!

.

"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"

What really seems appropriate at this juncture of the contemporary Democratic and Republican 'yes' men syndrome that bows to companies like BP and oil drilling in fragile eco systems,is best reflected by way of metaphor with the protests currently ongoing in Greece. Yesterday, massive demonstrations on the streets led Greeks to chant in unison the following phrase:

"Burn down the whore house!"

They were, of course, speaking about the legislative house run by their elected representatives.

"It remains for progressives to move beyond a single-issue focus to make the connections between Wall Street, war, and environmental destruction."

But many never do. Those who don't have their own favorite single-issue axes to grind just hop around (are led?) from the specifics of one symptomatic happening to the next, refocussing their attention on each "villain of the day" until they become too dizzy to focus on anything at all.

I suppose it's not easy for Americans to face up squarely to the real underlying systemic problem that is at the heart of all of those daily symptoms. Losing one's entire country, its governance and all of its supporting structures, including its systems of justice and mass communications, never is. And it's doubly difficult for an exceptionalist, intensely "patriotic" and nationalistic people who've been indoctrinated to believe that the actual culprit is the very essence of their prized "freedom and democracy" itself.

It's not really complicated, however. Capitalist economics is NOT synonymous with "freedom and democracy" for the people of any nation. It is, in fact, diametrically opposed in many respects. No matter how one views capitalism as an economic system, when its "corporate personhood" takes over the sponsoring ownership of an entire country and uses its military as a globalization tool, it's not really a great substitute for the democratic representation of natural persons.

And unlike their unfortunate dupes, the USA Incorporated conglomerate is not about to cede ownership without a hostile takeover -- VERY hostile.

Hayden may not have written the perfect indictment of governmental deregulation, leaving out many of Obama's sins, but his point, that deregulation of government's oversight responsibility, has led to war and financial and environmental disaster is 100% valid. The absence of laws mandating regulation of giant industries is the responsibility of Congress; the failure to enforce what laws are already on the books is the fault of administrations both present and past.

In these failures we see the power of the concentrated wealth of BP, Halliburton, Goldman Sacks, and the multitude of oligarchs who now run the US government.That the oligarchs are entrenched and beyond the power of the ordinary processes of electoral politics to control is clearly shown in the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, wherein Corporations are allowed unlimited investment in campaign contributions. In the absence of electoral control over the oligarchs, we the people of the United States are in the very same situation as the colonists were in on July 4, 1776 when they announced:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

In the absence of electoral remedies, we cannot otherwise free ourselves from the rule of the oligarchs and their mainstream media brainwashing than by revolution.

Thanks Mr. Hayden for supporting Obama who was a sham in the first place.

We could have a pres that will challenge big oil and big biz but not with obama!

Stop supporting DEMs and REPUBS!!

Hopefully we won't be hearing such nonsense about 'corporate capitalism' and 'predatory capitalism.' What we are witnessing are the normal operating procedures of Capitalism, plain and simple, stop making excuses. Just because it's showing it's teeth doesn't make it any different than it was the day before.

Reform? You may as well try to turn a barracuda into a vegetarian.

Regulate, you say. How's that working out for ya? The Roosevelt boys both tried their hands at that, it works until you turn your back. Every time it is shackled it bursts loose with renewed vigor and rapacity. Such is the nature of the beast, the pursuit of greater profits will not be thwarted, it is mandated by the system. The greed which some bemoan as being the problem is secondary, when the system rewards greed then greed is what you get.

So please, let's stop the parsing. If you're OK with the roller coaster ride which is inescapable with the capitalist system, the periodic misery, the institutional injustice, the imperialism, the degraded life support services of Earth and the collapse of biodiversity then by all means, declare yourself. Likewise, if you're ready for something completely different then say so and say it loudly, so that we know how strong we are. The time is coming when there will be no viable middle ground, the only thing on the center line is roadkill.

I would love to see an article or a newspaper headline connecting the dots with Halliburton and all its subsidiaries. It is amazing how every single time I read about this entity, there is some kind of horrible scandal associated with it. All over the world, they are profiting from war, misery and the like, and they are making wild profits for poor engineering and poor working conditions. They win no-bid contracts with our government.
Boston---the Big Dig (Bechtel, a subsidiary of Haliburton)---scandalous building on the cheap, leaks, the death of a local person when the ceiling of the tunnel fell
Iraq---(and probably Afghanistan)---the servicing of our troops with outrageous markups paid by the taxpayers of our country, and, for example, forcing the troops to use Haliburton's laundry services at $100 a bag. I saw this on TV. The soldiers are not allowed to do their own laundry by hand!
The Gulf oil rig---Halliburton was the firm responsible for the cementing process there...
Timor Sea oil rig blowout---Halliburton.
New Orleans---Subsidiary of Halliburton hiring immigrants in slave-like conditions

Just poke around on the internet a bit. It is shocking how Halliburton shows up everywhere, and everywhere there is war profiteering, Halliburton shows up. AND every time they show up there is some scandal having to do with doing their job on the cheap, while making astounding profits.

If anyone is interested, today's lead article on counterpunch is an interview by Harry Kreisler with Chalmers Johnson:

http://www.counterpunch.org/kreisler05062010.html

Let's not forget that "environmental" organizations like Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund and the Natural Resources Defense Council are in bed with big companies through their chummy US Climate Action Partnership.

http://www.us-cap.org/about-us/about-our-members/

Sioux Rose

Powerful posts: Carl, RV, & Bodhi. Thank you for sharing your insights and analyses.

The Buddha teaches that so long as we cling to our delusions - the cardinal one being that we are separate, autonomous beings - we cannot attain enlightenment and thereby transform our reality. The path out of this will begin with the simple, profound realization that we are manifestations of one and the same being. Our interconnection is absolute and literal. The harm we do to an"other" is done to ourselves. "Do no harm" sounds simple. It is not. But it is an essential basis for any progress.

Tom, you are dead on target when you say:

"The need for greater linkages between the environmental, peace and Wall Street reform movements grow by the day in the face of the epic oil spill caused by British Petroleum, a multinational firm tied to Goldman Sachs and Halliburton in oil wars from the Gulf of Mexico to the Persian Gulf."

Yes, all these crises are critically important and the 'linkages' all lead to one hidden cause and target: ---- Empire.

There’s a lot of undue concern, confusion, and spin about what caused this latest (nth) unprecedented, and “totally unpredictable” shock and disaster in ( ____ fill in the blank _____).

Despite the standard media ‘stories’ about what caused it, and how “everyone in charge of the government and corporations/banks” is “working to insure that this will never happen again, and we can ‘move forward’ toward lovely economic growth and jobs for all”, the real CAUSE of these multiple and continuing "symptomatic" and constantly repeating disasters is already known, but is not being honestly shared with the public.

The answer to these continuing and increasing ‘big stories’, “unpredictable disasters”, and symptomatic problems like the “financial crisis” in the US, the “Greek Crisis”, the “Portugal crisis”, the coming “Euro Crisis”, the “Oil slick crisis”, the “Afghanistan crisis”, the “Supreme Court corporate-campaign-unlimited-cash crisis”, the ‘immigration crisis”, the “unemployment crisis”, and “jobs crisis”, and “foreclosure crisis”, the “debt crisis”, etc, etc?

The real CAUSE is already known --- and it is that they are ALL CAUSED by the very same thing; the unmentioned, and unreported cancer of Global EMPIRE hiding beneath the surface of ‘our’ country, our politics, BOTH our ‘Vichy’ parties, our media, our economics, our wars, our society, our environment, our world, and our future.

Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine

Let’s stop wasting time reporting and endlessly talking about all the ‘symptoms’ of an unmentioned global empire, and start focusing on the single ‘cause’ --- Empire itself.

If money and unemployment woes keep mounting as seems to be the case, you can bet a few trillion dollars that as soon as the oil prices suddenly spike, just like it happened 2007 to mid 2008, will convince enough people to overlook the spill and go desperate on drill-drill-drill. I don't know how the oil companies operate but they will wait a few weeks for the news of the oil spill to slowly get out of the news to where the American people forget about it and then find some way to create another crisis. Unlike most of us here and some on Alternet who are at least sensible and remember well, the memories of most Americans are unfortunately short-lived. I will be shocked if even the clowns on Fluffy Post and Daily Hoax have the nerve to discuss the oil spill one week after it disappears from the MSM radar. The same applies to getting people to stop investing on the stock market even after the 2008 meltdowns should have made it obvious. The same will also apply to wars as a recent article pointed out that people have yet to learn from Iraq or even Vietnam.

Yes, now the connections are crystal clear. Our movements for social and environmental justice and against militarism must be One Movement - and we must refuse to cooperate any longer with these corrupt forces, by refusing to pay for it, refusing to participate in it. Let's all Move our Money, become War Tax Resisters, and go local NOW. That's gonna mean fewer plane flights, too, folks.

Watching the Summit for Mother earth in Cochamaba Bolivia last month was really exciting. How refreshing to hear a head of state- Evo Morales- stand up before a world assembly and say:

"We have two paths: either Pachamama or death. We have two paths: either capitalism dies or Mother Earth dies. Either capitalism lives or Mother Earth lives. Of course, brothers and sisters, we are here for life, for humanity and for the rights of Mother Earth. Long live the rights of Mother Earth! Death to capitalism!

Now that Corporations are legally people, isn't it about time that we consider imprisoning Corporations or even go so far as a Corporation Death Penalty when they cost lives and huge disasters, all in the name of a better bottom line? The case is clear with the oil spill. BP wanted to shave a few dollars off of their expenses so they lobbied hard to get an exemption for some safety equipment that would have saved lives, not to mention save the Gulf from their current mess. This wasn't an accident. It was homicide.

Great Article Tom...You've come A long way since the 1968 Democratic Election and being one of the "Chicago Seven"...I was actually there that day in Chicago...

This article makes me wonder how involved BP was in the "Invasion" of East Timor back in the mid 70s and beyond???
It was A typical Henry Kissinger affair where President Ford and Kissinger asked the Indonesian President Sukarno not to launch the bloody carnage until well after their plane departure from Jakarta...So, it wasn't only "shipping lanes" they were after but also "Oil"...BP Oil??? I watched A documentary of this wholesale slaughter on Link TV some time ago when Amy Goodman was nearly killed by Indonesian Military not long after an Australian news crew were murdered with American guns and helicopters...I truly believe Henry Kissinger must be Adolf Hitlers illegitimate, bastard child....BP and their crony's are looking awfull suspicious here...

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/