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9/11: Ten Years Later, Americans Still Stupid and Vulnerable
They say everything changed on 9/11. No one can dispute that. But we didn't learn anything.
Like other events that forced Americans to reassess their national priorities (the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, Sputnik) the attacks on New York and Washington were a traumatic, teachable moment.
The collective attention of the nation was finally focused upon problems that had gone neglected for many years. 9/11 was a chance to get smart—but we blew it.
First and foremost the attacks gave the United States a rare opportunity to reset its international reputation. Even countries known for anti-Americanism offered their support. "We are all Americans," ran the headline of the French newspaper Le Monde.
The century of U.S. foreign policy that led to 9/11—supporting dictators, crushing democratic movements, spreading gangster capitalism at the point of a thousand nukes—should and could have been put on hold and reassessed in the wake of 9/11.
It wasn't time to act. It was time to think.
It was time to lick our wounds, pretend to act confused, and play the victim. It was time to hope the world forgot how we supplied lists of pro-democracy activists to a young Saddam Hussein so he could collect and kill them, and forget the "Made in USA" labels on missiles shot into the Gaza Strip from U.S.-made helicopter gunships sold to Israel.
It was time, for once, to take the high road. The Bush Administration ought to have treated 9/11 as a police investigation, demanding that Pakistan extradite Osama bin Laden and other individuals wanted in connection with the attacks for prosecution by an international court.
Instead of assuming a temperate, thoughtful posture, the Bush Administration exploited 9/11 as an excuse to start two wars, both against defenseless countries that had little or nothing to do with the attacks. Bush and company legalized torture and ramped up support for unpopular dictatorships in South and Central Asia and the Middle East, all announced with bombastic cowboy talk.
Smoke 'em out! Worst of the worst! Dead or alive!
By 2003 the world hated us more than ever. A BBC poll showed that people in Jordan and Indonesia—moderate Muslim countries where Al Qaeda had killed locals with bombs—considered the U.S. a bigger security threat than the terrorist group.
In fairness to Condi Rice, Don Rumsfeld and Bush's other leading war criminals, everyone else went along with them. The media refused to question them. Democratic politicians, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, cast votes in favor of Bush's wars. Democrats and leftist activists ought to have pushed for Bush's impeachment; they were silent or supportive.
9/11 was "blowback"—proof that the U.S. can't wage its wars overseas without suffering consequences at home. But we still haven't learned that lesson. Ten years later, a "Democratic" president is fighting Bush's wars as well as new ones against Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Now he's saber-rattling against Syria.
American officials correctly inferred from 9/11 that security, particularly at airports but also in ports where container ships arrive daily from around the world, had been lax. Rather than act proactively to close gaps in transportation security, however, bureaucrats for the new Department of Homeland Security created a gauntlet of police-state harassment so onerous that it has threatened the financial health of the aviation industry.
"Aviation security is a joke, and it's only a matter of time before terrorists destroy another airplane full of innocent passengers," wrote Barbara Hollingsworth of The Washington Examiner after the 2009 "underwear bomber" scare. As Hollingsworth pointed out, the much-vaunted federal air marshals have been removed from flights because the TSA is too cheap to pay their hotel bills. (This is illegal.) What's the point of taking off your shoes, she asked, when planes are still serviced overseas in unsecured facilities? No one has provided an answer.
Ten years after 9/11, there is still no real security check when you board a passenger train or bus. Perhaps the sheer quantity of goods arriving at American ports makes it impossible to screen them all, but we're not even talking about the fact that we've basically given up on port security.
While we're on the subject of post-9/11 security, what about air defenses? On 9/11 the airspace over the Lower 48 states was assigned to a dozen "weekend warrior" air national guard jets. Every last one of them was on the ground when the attacks began, allowing hijacked planes to tool around the skies for hours after they had been identified as dangerous.
Which could easily happen again. According to a 2009 report by the federal General Accounting Office on U.S. air defenses: "The Air Force has not implemented ASA [Air Sovereignty Alert] operations in accordance with DOD, NORAD, and Air Force directives and guidance, which instruct the Air Force to establish ASA as a steady-state (ongoing and indefinite) mission. The Air Force has not implemented the 140 actions it identified to establish ASA as a steady-state mission, which included integrating ASA operations into the Air Force's planning, programming, and funding cycle. The Air Force has instead been focused on other priorities, such as overseas military operations."
Maybe if it stopped spending so much time and money killing foreigners the American government could protect Americans.
On 9/11 hundreds of firefighters and policemen died because they couldn't communicate on antiquated, segregated bandwidth. "Only one month away from the 10th anniversary of 9/11," admits FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, "our first responders still don't have an interoperable mobile broadband network for public safety. Our 911 call centers still can't handle texts or pictures or video being sent by the phones that everyone has."
Because the corporate masters of the Democratic and Republican parties love the low wage/weak labor environment created by illegal immigration, American land borders are intentionally left unguarded.
A lot changed on 9/11, but not everything.
We're still governed by corrupt idiots. And we're still putting up with them.
What does that say about us?
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200 Comments so far
Show AllIt says we are lied to and don't have a truthiness meter cas we don't know these leaders personally.
Although our "leaders" are certainly corrupt, they are not "idiots" as Rail alleges.
They are brilliant, devious masters of deceit because most Americans never question the actions or motives of the "leaders"..
I agree. They are masters at appearing inept when it comes to the general welfare of the people, but when it comes to getting the consensus to commandeer an oil well, or impose austerity measures on a 'developing nation', or protect their asse(t)s from oversight and accountability, or start a war and make We the People pay for it, we should consider US politicians and their true overseers (i.e. real constituents, the bankster elites) as some of the craftiest, best coordinated, best funded, mass-psychology adept thespians the world has known...
The research done in the 60s with mind expanding drugs not only opened new vistas of psychic liberation for turned-on psychonauts, it also opened the door to a far better understanding of the application of manufactured consent, and collective suggestive influence psy-ops, helpful to those who would use this knowledge to our collective demise. Of course, these architects of consent figured the best leverage avaiable is the exploitation of uncertainty, and the implied threat of bodily trauma, iow, fear. And what better manifestation of fear than the age-old threat of the mongol horde.... today's 'Al Qaeda terrorists'.
What is implicit from this article is not idiocy of those falsely occupying positions of 'leadership'. It's the idiocy of those who have the power to change the equation -the only ones who have it in fact-... but these people (ourselves) keep putting up with the system thinking it will somehow 'fix itself' in the end, due to our systems'/our species inherent benevolence. That is what is truly stupid.
An example I often bring up: what supposedly should place humanity above the lower animals such as bacteria etc, is that we should be able to see what happens when the growth media upon which we are situated becomes threatened by our burgeoning population and consumption necessities, we should be able to slow down, consider our options, change course, figure out a way to not succumb to self-destruction by inability to alter our behavior.
Sadly, we appear almost incapable as a collective species/as a nation to look at the logical threats to our collective well-being, and do something intelligent or truly helpful about it. Therefore, effectively, we are not much smarter than bacteria... not each of us individually, but We as Americans, as a collective populace. We The People of the United States ARE MORONS for continuing to accept the frames, dialogs, usurpers and expropriators who helm the national wheel of state. We collectively have been psychologically reduced to dupes and patsies, moles and pawns for big business and the same multinational/ultra-rich interests railed against by FDR, and many many besides him who have fought valiantly but ultimately in futility against these societal vampires.
Voting? What the hell is that going to do for us America? Forget the polls, forget Obama, forget the Perrys Bachanns and Romneys of the world. That way lies destruction no matter which way you turn it. What is stupid, is even thinking there is a 'reasonable' solution to a highly unreasonable predicament, with those in power believing with good reason we're all simply children or chattel to be 'guided' and corralled into saving them from their own financial follies.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
--John F. Kennedy, 1962
Good post and glad to see you again btw. I was reminded of your earlier posts on left-leaning libertarianism when I was debating yesterday's article by Adele Stan. JFK's quote still stands today the more I see all that petty bickering and verbal abuse infighting within us all on the Left. As for voting, true, next year's election could get a lot lower of a voter turnout unless we can get Nader, Stewart Alexander, or some Green Party candidate up and running sooner. I wouldn't completely give up voting but neither would I give up trying to help organize and unite.
Hi max, good to see you're still here as well. I posted about a week ago a potential intention to throw my vote to Ron Paul considering the field. By no means should that be considered a personal endorsement (most of his policies make me ill). I'm practically committed now *more to collapse and rebirth* than any kind of reform... My calculus is based on who will end up being the most effective wrecking ball, after which we have the best chances of a timely recovery (i.e. before I die is my best hope).
My fear is if someone like Perry or Bachmann gets in (which I almost wish for in moments of schadenfreude against my fellow Americans), the country will not simply collapse or implode, but will likely explode, burning up all chances of any recovery and taking the rest of the world with it (Am I the only one who foresees either of these nuts potentially inflicting a holy holocaust upon the world?).
Four more years of Obama is certain to represent the complete sell-out of our national sovereignty to the international banking cartel, so that's outcome #1 to work to avoid. The tea-party nuts will kill us all. So who is left? Will Nader run? I think I heard him state he's decidedly against the idea. Who else is the least bit viable? Personally, I'm on board for peaceful, but decisive and righteously indignant revolution, today. To hell with elections. Its time for direct democracy the way I believe Jefferson intended. The tree of Liberty wilts and is on its last leaf. Peaceful revolution, restoring the original intent of the founders is my preference, but revolution regardless of means is the only prescription remaining from my pov.
Will a viable 3rd party ticket ever emerge? Will a friendly leftist elite come forward with popular faces such as Damon, Penn, Clooney, Dicaprio, Sarandon, or Moore to seduce us into a renewed 'belief in the American Spirit'? What would/should be a serious response be to such an possibility? Would it just be another actor's face put up to shield us from a far uglier truth?
If all the above sounds like crazy talk, it should... I honestly feel that crazy talk, and nothing but, is what we've been reduced to today in the US of A. When there are huge numbers of professionals employed to do almost nothing more than denigrate and ridicule true solutions and options, we're all screwed. And that's all we've got with the US media oligopoly.
Cheers, and Peace mp!
After reading about Anna Hazare's "fast unto death" campaigns against Indian corruption, I thought: what if one or more of our well-loved celebrities were to vow to fast until death for a good cause (take your pick)? Couldn't hurt. It would also be nice to see Common Dreams mention Hazare and his mobilization of Indians. We get a lot of gloom and doom here, but rarely is there coverage of options that might actually make things better.
If there's an article related to Anna Hazare, ask the CD editors (go to "About Us") and contact them from there. Good luck and look forward to reading about AH.
Thanks Salusa for the kind and thoughtful reply. Cheers and peace to you as well. By the way, do a google search on Stewart Alexander.
I suggest a google search on presidential candidate Harry Braun. He has very little chance of winning but his platform is impressive.
http://www.iahe.org/advisory.asp?did=46
Which party is he running for? I thought Stewart Alexander was the best candidate since he's combining Green, Socialist, and Peace & Freedom into one for his candidacy.
By the way, I have a mixed take on hydrogen energy but I'll discuss that under another topic.
He is an independent. Hydrogen is just a part of his platform. Here's a summary. I give it to you as info to use to measure any candidate's platform.
Summary of Harry Braun’s 2012
Presidential Campaign Platform
1. Implement a Solar Hydrogen Economy with wartime-speed (i.e., by 2020)
Many of the most serious energy, economic, environmental and foreign policy problems result from the continued use of oil, coal, natural gas and other fossil and nuclear fuels that are rapidly diminishing and highly polluting. .
2. Passage of an Article V Democracy Amendment
In order to end the "Robin Hood in Reverse policies that have been in place for the past 40 years, it is critical to eliminate a government run by lobbyists by enacting Article V of the U.S. Constitution in order to organize a Constitutional Convention in order to pass a Democracy amendment that will transform the USA from being a Republic, which in fact turns out to be is rule by a tiny few in secret, to a Democratic Republic, where the majority of voting citizens -- and not their elected representatives -- will have the power to approve all legislation and judicial decisions that affect the majority of citizens.
3. Passage of an Article V Fair Accounting Act Amendment
According to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), it is now critical to phase out all fossil fuels with wartime speed, and the only technically and economically practical path is to implement a Solar Hydrogen Economy with wartime-speed (i.e., by 2020). The Fair Accounting Act is the "trigger mechanism" for reindustrialization because it would empower the NAS to end the trillions of dollars in pollution subsidies that are used to make fossil and nuclear fuels appear to be less expensive than solar-sourced hydrogen.
4. Dealing with the National Debt
In order to balance the federal budget and begin reducing the national debt, a Solar Hydrogen Economy needs to be implemented like a large-scale Hoover Dam, so over $2 trillion annually can be kept in the U.S. and used to pay for government services and debt. In addition, the reckless military adventures in countries such as Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the stationing of U.S. troops in over 100 countries must be ended so that major cuts can be made in the Defense Department, the CIA and NSA. U.S. Foreign Policy needs to be based on treating others as we would want to be treated, rather than serving the financial interests of multinational corporations whose only golden rule is "Those who have the gold make the rules." Had the irresponsible wars and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans been avoided, most to the $14 trillion national debt would not exist.
5. Implementing a Universal Non-Profit Health Care System
To deal with the trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities for health care, a universal health care system for all Americans needs to be established based on the non-profit military health care systems in the U.S. armed forces. Approximately 30% of health care costs go to unnecessary health insurance companies and another 30% are now spent on terminally ill patients torturing them in the last six months of their lives so the doctors and hospitals can maximize profits from unnecessary procedures. This is why it is critical NOT to have doctors and hospitals "operating" on a commission basis, which is a primary cause of increasing medical costs and unnecessary pain and suffering of millions of patients.
6. Implementing Fair Markets vs "Free" Unregulated Markets
7. Providing Educational Excellence for Everyone
Details on this education proposal is posted on the "Papers" section of the PhoenixProjectFoundation.US website.
8. Ending the Drug Wars
Over $1 trillion has been spent on the Drug Wars that have turned brutal gang lords into billionaires. According to a CBS News 60 Minutes report, major illegal drugs, including heron, are no worse than alcohol from a medical perspective, and by making such drugs illegal, over 50% of the U.S. prison population is there because of drug charges. Prohibition did not work, and either has the worsening drug wars that have been going on for decades. Drug abuse is a medical problem, it doesn't need to be a criminal problem.
That's very promising of him and thanks. I think that he should go for the Green Party nomination and then apply his agenda from there. I would also be interested in his positions and intentions on other issues such as some of the cultural issues.
By the way, did I miss something on the site or is it my browser? I had to put a hold on Firefox since the latest version was having connection issues and try out Google and Safari since even IE9 can be a hoot.
I'm still using IE8. I tried IE9 and found it to be a real dog.
As to Harry Braun, I had his main site in favorites and now I can't get it. However, a google search gives a lot of data. There is also a wikipeda article on him (he is a scientist).
Thanks again.
Thanks for the info on both potential candidates mp and agelbert. I've been spending some time familiarizing myself with their platforms.
If I vote, I certainly will use it against the duplicitous duopoly, and not for it, but I still contend that with electronic voting, and without publicly financed elections, the whole thing (the US election process) has devolved into a corporate sham, so what's the use of touting anyone's bona fides? If there were a candidate who was both viable, and who had intentions to actually fix the real problems, he/she would be marginalized, ostracized then ridiculed into disrepute (remember the media's effective use of the UFO question on Kucinich? What about the Dean Scream?) at best, or at worst, and they became a real threat, they'd have to be 'Wellstoned'. Sorry, but that's my ultimate conclusion at this point. Smart people might be capable of reform, but Americans?
And just to be clear on this, I do not include all Americans in such a statement. Of course, most of the 'real' posters here on the CD discussion boards are the exception to the norm, and actually have a brain, and the wherewithall to use it.
Salusa Secundus,
I agree that principled positions in politics are quixotic in our present corrupt fascist government and media.
I just try to get people to think that the actual status quo is fascist corruption so they can respond to this government and media outrage with ridicule in thought, word and deed.
Thank you for your excellent and thought provoking comments today. I enjoyed them immensely.
I agree with much of what you say but think it's possible that getting one of the true wackjobs in place might accelerate the process of collapse and transition. Capitalism is dead in all but the smoke and mirrors, and it will be someone who truly believes that it can continue to function (even as simply a funnel from bottom to top), who will unequivocally demonstrate to the masses that it can't. All over the world, people are beginning to seriously question the myths surrounding capitalism and the modern monetary system. The people of Iceland are rewriting their constitution as part of a process of separating corporate debt from public responsibility. The protests in Europe against austerity measures designed to facilitate debt repayment shows that people may be on the verge of rejecting the system that has created this servitude to the banking industry.
If someone got into office seriously proposing radical change, it would be easy for the populace to believe the rhetoric from the right about the god given importance of individual economic freedom, and restoring the "rugged individualism the country was built on", etc. We don't need another charismatic leader saying all the right things (even if they happened to believe them). We need someone in the driver's seat whose belief in the system is absolute, so that as it continues to crumble, no one can say "well, if we'd just give it the chance it needed....".
I disagree. Our leaders are not brilliant. They are capitalist shills with large egos and small brains. If devious, ruthless, violent behavior is considered brilliant, then I suppose they fit the definition. In today's political environment there are no shining stars, only black holes.
Ted Rall, ten years later and he still doesn't get it. He thinks we haven't learned? We learned a lot. We learned that politicians get into government, not to serve, but to sack the economy for Wall Street by hook or by crook.
And as to blowback, we learned a lot there too. We learned that letting greedsters run wild since Reagan would guarantee more and more outrageous money making schemes. We didn't get blowback from Afghanistan. We got it from Wall Street! That's what you get when you baby, nurture and grow a frankenstein greed monster.
Anyone who thinks 9/11 wasn't the grandaddy of all money making schemes , doesn't get it. Now things are a bit more invisible with credit default swaps, derivatives and other con jobs but the wars for Wall Street vampires continue.
And I hope Ted get's over this "WE" shit. The government of the USA ceased to be a democracy (representative or otherwise) decades ago. Most of us live in this country but less than one percent have a say on who governs it. "WE", my ass!
"... our first responders still don't have an interoperable mobile broadband network for public safety. Our 911 call centers still can't handle texts or pictures or video being sent by the phones that everyone has."
The corrupt f*cks in Washington and elsewhere in the country would rather send hundreds of millions of dollars to fight stalemated wars that kill hundreds of thousands of innocent human beings in foreign lands and drive millions more into exile (internal or external), than provide NYC with the proper networking system that would link all the agencies together (fire, police, ambulance services, etc.). How truly pathological can a nation get?
Everything changed on 9/11 ? No nothing has changed. " We are still governed by corrupt idiots. And are still putting up with them. What does that say about us " ? It says to me----- America: You have the government you deserve!
I agree with Michael F.
Paul Revere, how about it you try these analogies on for size. Possibly in doing so, you'll notice the nature of your own knee JERK Calvinistic response:
Were the homeowners tricked into unstable mortgages responsible for the great bamboozle?
Are college-oriented youngsters, saddled with excessive tuition debt, responsible for these costs?
Are persons living in ghettos, the accidental victims of gun violence, guilty for being there?
Is a population under the control of a corporately captured media, and thus propagandized on a 24/7 basis, responsible for what its government does?
Are Middle class workers, now divested of their home values, 401K investments, and other instruments responsible for what deregulation of the banking industry has caused?
Have you ever heard HONEST pundits on TV talk about these items in terms that were not designed to manufacture consent for disastrous policies and related endeavors?
No. The citizenry does NOT have the government it deserves. It has the government that elite powers have allowed. Candidates are vetted, candidates must raise enormous sums to purchase the air time GIVEN away in a very stupid move executed by Bill Clinton. Voting machines are under proprietary ownership and are not obliged to give away the codes that lead to the alleged vote count. ETC. This is not a matter of equivalence. It's the wicked fruit harvested by the plutocracy.
Anyone this late in the game who:
1. Still blames citizens (without at least making some noise about mind control & the media)
2. Still thinks 911 was done by Saddam Hussein or "The Arab enemy du jour"
3. Still thinks nuclear power is worth the risks
4. Still thinks massive changes to global climate are not underway, and the product of industrial effluents, added to CO2 emissions
5. Still thinks the media reports the truth
Is either brain dead, paid to lie, or incapable of discerning truth from the fictions that support their personal political platforms.
Wake up!
Touche, Siouxrose. Couldn't have said it better myself. I hope your book is finished. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Tonight's the night! Really. I sent 95% of the manuscript off to the publisher (before Mercury turned retrograde), and they sent the galleys back TOO soon. 360 pages of them. Every writer (myself included) could benefit from an editor, but my work has proven too controversial, so I must publish it myself. Hence, I have to wear both caps. Reading over every single line, and noting any mistakes, to later copy these to an obnoxious computer form... not for the faint-hearted. THAT task waits...
I remember when Barbra Streisand was interviewed on The Writer's Studio, and she explained how a song, or any creative work, remained alive and thus organic. This is a very true comment; and so I find that when I write, sometimes the material shapes itself, and takes me deeper into the things I might have said. In other words... it continues in length.
The final chapter (that I haven't yet submitted) is now 27 pages, and I hope to finish it tonight. The notes are in place. The story takes the BP event into account, and since there is no answer, recipe, or immediate solution to the ecological horrors humanity faces, the ending of my story is really the call to a new beginning. And I term the process a Grand Coalescence.
What was interesting to me, a phenomena that roughly correlates to Kurt Vonnegut's "Karass Theory," and my concept of "The Shell Route Collision," is that I started noticing that people in this forum began to use the word coalesce, or coalescence. It's one of those "Hundredth Monkey" things.
When I need inspiration, I either bike into the forest or drive a route where I seldom encounter another vehicle... it's me, the wild turkeys, occasional pigs crossing the road, deer, butterflies... and what COMES to me in that silence.
Thank you for asking, and thank you for the compliment. If I didn't think I had something valuable to say, I would have quit trying by now. At a writer's event I attended 16 months ago, it became clear to me how much literary agents had morphed into an adjunct of real estate agents. It was all about selling (would-be expensive) properties, as each one zealously followed the path to what sold yesterday. Cutting edge need not apply.
My children's allegory of the Zodiac using funny insects to portray the 12 signs is probably the work that is most timely. It's a cross between Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter, with lots of Madame Blavatsky and the wisdom of the mystics thrown in. I am yet to meet an agent who has found any merit in this work, while they climb all over each other to represent authors who speak of life's depravities, vampires, zombies and the unearthen ugliness of humanity's shadow.
It's not my imagination that The Light has great difficulty breaking in... till this Dark Age begins to crack apart. As it will. As it must. The wheel of time invariably turns...
Enjoy the new moon Virgo. It's a short phase that truly sharpens thought and the wit with which to express it.
Siouxrose,
I, too, would like to read your book. Even though I have no use for astrology whatsoever, I always look forward to reading your comments.
Shoe
Three of my 8 published books are about astrology. This one was intended as a movie script originally submitted in l988! It's been entirely rewritten and makes a minor reference to astrology on one page out of 360. It's entitled, "Dolphinity" and will probably be in print by October. Thank you for asking.
Sioux Rose: Thank you for your constructive criticism of my post. You said it much better than I did. When I said the American people have the government they deserve, I probably should have said they have the government they deserve because that is way the elites want it! I agree with numbers 1 through 5 but sooooo many sheeple to wake up! Peace. Paul
Paul the real lesson of 9/11 is the same alarm that your namesake shouted out ---- "the EMPIRE is coming, the Empire is coming, the Empire is here!"
Since 9/11 it is commonly said that, "everything has changed".
Yes, "We are all rubes now"
It is simply amazing that still no major media coverage (including the vaunted NYT) has related this (Libya and other) African/Middle East wars to Thomas Barnett's 2006 Naval War College book and strategy, "The Pentagon's New Map", which promulgated the current plan of the global corporate/financial/militarist Empire controlling our former country, to capture the entire 5000 miles swath of "GAP" countries from Mauritania to the Chinese boarder.
There remains no substantial recognition that our former country (and others like U.K. Israel et al) has been captured by a disguised global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE, which hides behind the facade of its TWO-Party modernized "Vichy" sham of faux-democratic government ---- just as the occupying Nazi Empire hid behind the far simpler single-party "Vichy" regime.
'Globalization' is simply the branded and polite marketing term for global EMPIRE!
This disguised global empire is the causal cancerous tumor that creates all 'symptom problems' like wars, economic oppression, massive inequality, environmental destruction, and all other 'issues' that are used to divide and distract resistance from attacking the core of the Empire.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy
over
violent
empire
New America People's Party 2012 -- our last change against the 'Globalism' that is the post-nation-state global empire
"The citizenry does NOT have the government it deserves. It has the government that elite powers have allowed."
Although, it is everyone's responsibility collectively. I would argue that the citizenry has been conned into letting the elites take responsibility for them. It takes work, creative energy, and the ability to communicate with you fellow human being to take this responsibility. Who want's to do that when you can just go home and watch CSI? People have been taught that it's OK for the few to make decisions for the many, that that's just the way it is. But as we are smothering our own ecosystems, the human populace as a whole will ultimately have to take responsibility for itself or face demise.
Many of our systems just add layers of abstraction in order to obfuscate what true intentions are - inhibiting communication. Culprits of this are our legal system, our corporate structures, and our political representatives. It is going to take confrontation and re-evaluation of all our institutions in order to make change. It's going to take work. Perhaps if we had some of our fine young minds engaged in this rather than going to the gambling house know as Wall St. we would make some headway.
9/11 SHOULD have been a lesson; it should have prompted any REAL leader to stop, to THINK, to act with level-headed judgement, not the cowboy hystrionics that that little John Wayne, AKA George W. Bush, displayed. We should have been told to get to know our neighbors, our neighborhoods, our society, and our country better. In other words, to get involved. He should have called for a world-wide police action , combined with well-directed, local military support, to root out the real terrorist cells. Instead, he and others herehelped send over 4,000 well-intentioned but naive and angry young men and women to a hell-hole and their horrifc deaths and horrific mutilation. And so many innocent, decent Iraqi's as well had their lives destroyed. And that idiot "president" of ours told us to "go shopping". Yeah, that really helped-the oligarchic corporations, not our nations security.
We are more paranoid, more scared, more unsure, and less aware than ever. We still don't understand our countrys history and why we are "hated" by some. We don't understand the imperialism that has brandd the US for over 50 years, and what is has done to so many people all over the world. Don't get me wrong-I love my country, at least the promise of what it could have been at one time. My father fought for it proudly in WW II, and he believed in the promise of democracy, and not living under the rule of people like Hitler, from whom his family luckily were able to flee. But it seems that time is gone. We are eviscerating ourselves, eating ourselves from the inside out, and the terrorists don't have to do anything except sit back and watch us finish what they, in part, started.
haleatus11, No, Bush should have FIRST called for a methodical criminal investigation of the 9/11 attacks. That's what you do when a major crime takes place--if you are interested in justice, that is. You launch an investigation so you can find out EXACTLY what happened and why. When you DON'T do that, neutral observers must question whether you really want justice, or whether you have another agenda.
There has to this day been no criminal inquiry into 9/11, using all the tools of forensic science that we have available.
HAL: You could take your post a good deal farther, if you dared to.
After the warming up of The Cold War, and no ostensible enemy on the horizon, how would the Military Industrial Complex continue to feed egregious profits to the arm's makers and dealers? How would the Carlyle Group continue to send its reps to dictatorial heads of state to profit from an unstable world's trafficking in weapons?An enemy was needed! Where none existed, one could be easily manufactured... isn't that what right wing think tanks, publications, and media fronts are for?
Secondly, there was a lot of evident circulating to invalidate the deplorable farce of an election that 2000 turned out to be. A distraction was needed less a SERIOUS recall get underway.
Third, there's evidence in support of the fact that gold, and records of the Bush family's trade in the glittery stuff, got conveniently lost in the 911 explosion.
Fourth, the right wing authoritarians, itching for absolute power since Nixon was nearly frog-walked off the Amerikan throne, had all 3 bases covered: the presidency, the courts, the congress/senate... and manipulating the press was easy. It just called for $ to change hands. Heck, with the likes of Murdoch owning the entire Fox network, and CNN amenable to its corporate masters, nary a voice for peace could or would be heard across the land. "Don't give' em cake... give 'em vengeance! Why the blood spilt from the Roman Arena stlll ran hot in lots of veins."
Fifth, it's always been the right wing's wet dream to trigger enough fear in the citizenry to convince them to give up their hard won liberties. What better motivational device than not one event (the towers collapsing, akin to the ancient visual depiction as taken from the Tarot), or two events (like the mysterious hole in the Pentagon that left no plane debris behind), but three events... think poisoned letters and Anthrax sprinkled envelopes.
This was an inside job. As some in this forum have posted, the PNAC actually went on record with portions of their agenda. Just as the dumb-bell went on record in Ohio (2004) stating that he'd deliver Ohio to the Republicans, and then that state shortly thereafter became the hotbed of all sorts of voting machine shenanigans.
It's important to think in terms of motive and opportunity. Many Americans have no trouble conjuring the image of leaders prepared to kill mothers and children in other lands, just to satisfy the delusion that our brothers and sisters "over there" somehow fit the designation of sinister enemies. For sociopaths, borders become diffused, and killing one people with efficiency, easily translates into killing another.
Only those with intact consciences have a "problem" with all that; and many still refuse to remove their blinders to take into full account what the criminals who've assumed power (in both R & D administrations) have done, and remain capable of doing.
Keep in mind that:
1. No one has ever been prosecuted for engineering a war (Iraq) based on FALSE, i.e. FIXED pretexts. Aggressive war happens to be defined as THE SUPREME CRIME against humanity by The Geneva Conventions.
2. No one (high up the command chain) has been prosecuted for torturing "enemy combatants" at off-shore U.S. prison camps
3. Obama, playing the ROLE of Mr. "Don't look back, nice-guy," having held no person of authority accountable, essentially has NORMALIZED behaviors so noxious that no sane citizenry should ever allow them.
Then these same skilled bandits stole from the citizenry to pad the coffers of the bankers. And now their paid sycophants tell the people it is social services that are to blame, that these services must be cut ... even as the hurricanes come to shore, the rivers flood, the nuclear power plants age at our peril, and more and more are made hungry, hopeless, and homeless.
We are seeing the FRUIT of evil, karmic blowback that hasn't let up in months. This nation has been paying a price for the deeds of its deranged "leadership," and those who have acted as sheep, by endorsing the unconscionable.
Record fires to the SW, record tornado outbreak, drought in Texas, earthquake striking the Washington Monument (what an omen!), hurricane to the NE, flooded Mississippi & Missouri rivers, and it's only August!
Even the insurance companies are quaking in their thousand dollar boots... and speaking the unspeakable--that this climate change thing is real, and costly!
And still the Prez and his paid sponsors continue to rape the planet for oil, gas, coal, and let off nuclear steam by lying to surrounding populations, that it's all so safe!
"The terrorists" are not some group of evil people that are not Christian and live in a foreign land. The terrorists rule in the United States and are threatening peace all over the globe to increase their profits. The big change that took place on 9/11 is that these terrorists used to attack people in other nations and now they are attacking the people of the United States.
We need a real scientific investigation of the events of 9/11. An investigation that is not controlled by 'our' government. The investigation should only be concerned with the physical events of that day to determine just how those three buildings collapsed.
If this first independent investigation finds that the buildings came down due to a controlled demolition, we need a second investigation to find out who did it.
Hear, hear!
Mr Rall's points on 9-11 would be pertinent & very insightful, except one thing - The Bush / Cheney / Rumsfeld / Condi / NeoCon gang wanted to Bush to do his 'cowboy' / 'John Wayne' act. That was the one of the main point's of 9-11! In order for Mr Rall's points to make sense you have to assume that the 'official' 9-11 'Conspiracy' narrative is valid. But why would any-one simply take the Bush / Cheney / NeoCon cabal at their word regarding their 9-11 STORY - when they lied about everything else on their watch - IE: The HI-JACKED 2000 / 2004 'elections'... - Their 'Saddam's Got WMD & Worked w Al-Qaeda on 9-11' LIE, Their 'We don't torture' LIE, Their Stalling & obstructions regarding 'attempts' at official investigations into 9-11, Their 'Fundamentals of the Econ are Strong' LIE.... So they lied about EVERYTHING ELSE - YET We are to assume that they basically told the truth about 9-11??!!
It was/is much more than a hijacked election and a Republican cabal.
In Washington we have the Good Cops and the Bad Cops and they all work for the same police department. If either side were the People's Cops, either 9/11 would not have happened or folks would be doing time right now.
I agree with what you say but just to make sure, are you saying that this is the case even if we get enough Greens elected to Washington to change things?
Do you think the Good Cops and Bad Cops are going to allow the Green Cops near Washington? And if by some magical alignment of the planets the Greens do get in, do you believe the rest of the police department will allow them to govern?
The only way I see this happening is if there is a huge popular groundswell of sustaining support for the Greens. And I don't see that happening - not in today's USA.
The answer to both questions I would give is a resounding no and I certainly agree with what you said. From what you say, I take it that you're implying that the Green Cops will not get in easy unless they too go goof/bad cops, yes?
Yes.
But that is how Revolutions work!
Tomorrow's U.S.A. can and should be different from today's U.S.A.
And I think we would all agree that in tomorrow's U.S.A., more than just two political parties should have a chance of attaining Majorities in the Congress and the States (or even Minorities) as well as the Executives both Federal and State.
I personally don't see the point in being concerned about the Greens' -or any other democratic party- chances of success in the mockery of a democracy that rules the U.S. Empire and ourselves. Demonstrating the falseness of this system, and attempting to correct it from within is the good work of these parties, but it is still merely a small portion of the whole project of bringing Democracy to this country that I was under the impression was the general goal of us on the "looney left".
I agree, matti. I have advocated many times (too many) that our political system will never work for the better good in this country because the larger "system" is not designed to work for the people. If we really look at how this nation was started (taken) and how our founders created it to work (Zinn can help in this regard), then we will see just what a waste of time politics is. Not that we might not want to vote defensively, just that it's a waste of time pinning ANY hope on the next "leader."
I have noticed, over several years in this place (less, lately), that those who inhabit and post here are merely a cross-section of the public at large. Not much difference at all. Just look at where the majority of posts are, and the tone of the posts, and one can see that we really don't have a handle on things any more than Joe the plumber (with the exception of being a little more snarky).
If we truly wanted tomorrow's USA to be different from today's, we would stop. Just stop...and quit being so reactive and petulant. If it is the system that is working against us, we need to quit hammering at the actors and think of how we can stop acting in the play. What can WE do differently? How can WE help bring about the revolution of new ideas and ways of being (and it has already started)?
Well, these are questions I ask of myself, so have taken measures to answer them.
Ted, I'm with you all the way on that. I know that the current discussion on this thread doesn't bring this site or the left leaning causes any hope with all those personal and petty ad hominem attacks going this way and that but with some luck, we just might figure out how best to put aside our personal issues, resolve differences on issues, and make this site a powerful vehicle for organization just like people in some other countries are doing to their forms. Hang in there.
NIX: I think you make a most excellent point. I, for one, have looked at things from a similar perspective from the get go. Others may understand the physics for how and why building 7 collapsed, but for me, it was about motive and opportunity, and the way naked power enacts its dark bidding... the people in charge were murderers, and few of us expected the same levels of malfeasance to continue once the brand of state shifted to the proverbial OTHER team/side. It's tragedy and travesty rolled up into one blockbuster set of events that have not only spiraled out of control, they've virtually taken Nature, and the sustainability of ecosystems along for the rough ride to hell.
I could get into the Physics of: the collapses at near free-fall speeds, that no steel framed reinforced buildings before or since have EVER COMPLETELY COLLAPSED DUE TO FIRE ALONE, to the traces of ACTIVE hi-tech super nano-thermite found in WTC dust residue, to the pools molten steel that were on site, etc, etc, etc.
But some of the best evidence that WTC was likely controlled demolitioned is reviewing statements made not just by fireman, police & other first responders & on site witnesses [as important as that is]-BUT ALSO by well known MSNM News personalities [IE: ABC's Peter Jennings, CBS' Dan Rather, CNN's Arron Brown, CNBC's recently deceased Mark Haines of 'Squawk Box', & The BBC's infamous episode of announcing the collapse of WTC 7 25 mins before it actually did collapse] upon witnessing & describing those WTC Collapses! They all implied or basically said straight out that- ['Incredibly - For the 3rd time today a WTC Tower has completely Collapsed! It like those buildings we've so often seen on TV - that use WELL PLACED DYNAMITE TO KNOCK THEM DOWN'... CBS News Anchor Dan Rather - Tues, Sept 11, 2001]!
When you know what there's already to know about just how insider-esque our politicians and their business goons are and can be, physics isn't necessary anymore. Don't just focus on 9/11. Use that example as one more powerful helper to join and fight the insider PTBs.
Once again, thanks to the editors of CD for permitting these comments on 9/11 as an inside job, as some popular internet sites don't permit this discussion.
Good comments here. Thoughts and prayers that some day the truth of 9/11 be revealed, accepted, and the criminals brought to some justice. Hell, I'd accept some revelation of truth on the JFK execution 48 years ago!
Bill in Dubuque
Talk About Means Motive & Opportunity -&- so-called 'Conspiracy Theory' vs 'Coincidence Theory' - Lets Examine this Scenario:
Marvin P. Bush [Ex-Pres George W Bush Jr's younger brother], along w their cousin Wirt Walker were principals in a company called Securacom [Stratesec] that provided security for the WTC Center, United Airlines, and Dulles International Airport.
Securacom had an ongoing contract to handle security at the World Trade Center "up to the day the buildings fell down"....
The PNAC NeoCons talked about the need for 'A New Pearl Harbor'- ['This process of transformation {their plans for total Global Full-Spectrum-Dominance} is likely to be a long one, absent a Catalyzing & Catastrophic Event - LIKE A NEW PEARL HARBOR...'{PNAC Doc pg 51]- in Sept 2000 [1 yr before 9-11]- Key PNAC players include- Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Scooter Libby, Jeb Bush, William Krystol, Rich Perle, Rich Armatage, Dan Quail [Bush Sr's VP], etc... In the same PNAC doc they talked about- 'Advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific GENO-TYPES can transform biological warfare from the Realm of TERROR to a POLITICALLY USEFUL TOOL [PNAC Doc pg 60]...' [PS: The Anthrax attacks {w a Hi-Tech US Bio-weapons' Lab's Strain} began within a week of 9-11]!...
Bush Jr & Brother Jeb Bush [then FL Gov] Hi-jacked the 2000 'election'....
Then on morning of 9-11 Papa GHW-Bush Sr has a Carlyle Group Board meeting w Osama bin Laden's brother, Shafig bin Laden, in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Washington DC, just a few miles from where alleged 9-11 hijackers supposedly under the orders of Osama bin Laden, allegedly flew a plane into the Pentagon!...
NOW THOSE ARE SOME AMAZING COINCIDENCES!
Not much defense in the Defense Department, but lots of offenses. The US has been unabashedly imperialist since its birth, but the masses are fed and blissfully consume ridiculous spin. The PTB just keep on hammering, spreading the spin worldwide and orchestrating 'revolutions' using just a few well-placed agents (e.g., Tea Party, Libya). Defense industry jobs seem to be more important than having moral integrity, and greed has become a Christian virtue.
The funny thing is, none of the spin is remotely justifyable or supportable. It's pure gobbledygook. The same jobs could be dedicated to sustainable energy, and the "Defense" budget (or the tax cuts for Billionaires) could be used to provide education and healthcare for all, raising the quality of life for everyone. The spin only helps the top 0.01%.
But the spin wins every time.
PEACE: I agree with your post, and applaud the points you made... however, as to "the spin wins every time," let's look deeper at that, shall we?
If ONLY one basic perception is repeatedly telegraphed throughout the media bandwidth, how could it NOT win? I mean it's like putting Woody Allen in the ring against the latest heavyweight boxing champion.
When Phil Donahue had the "temerity" to interview an individual who represented a challenge to the make-war state, he lost his show!
How many were fired or told to shut up or they would be fired? The make-war state cannot (and will not) tolerate peace or peace keepers. Notice whose offices have been infiltrated by the FBI...
Do we see much of Nader on the MSM? How about Chris Hedges? Chomsky?
Statistics show that huge sums of $ have moved to the top of the fiscal food chain. With that much capital at its disposal, hiring guards and PR people is made all the easier. Do you really think with that much at stake, with so much blood-stained treasure in the hands of the morally least of these, that this body of power will allow the Truth to be known?
C'mon. They Litmus tested blaming Acorn for the housing collapse and to LOTS of people, the lies told often enough worked... which is to say, were, as Goebbels instructed, perceived AS true.
They lied about who was responsible for the 911 attacks, and to THIS day, millions still don't know the truth. And I mean JUST the part about it NOT being Saddam Hussein.
Millions still believe there WERE weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
When a media is as controlled (i.e. in for-profit only corporate hands) as ours, the making of The Official Narrative is a breeze! No need for big Nazi-like parades, or public hymns as homage to the dominant powers. Behind the scenes works fine, as it convinces a population it's still free, when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Hence Sheldon Wollin's incisive insight that it's an INVERTED form of totalitarianism that's got a strangle-hold on our land.
Just as dangerous microbes, viruses and the like, learn to adapt by mutating... why wouldn't their political equivalent do likewise? In other words, fascism's latest mutation is such a dazzlingly new amalgam, that for too many, it's not noticed for what it is... at essence. Clever defense. Let's hope it doesn't kill us all!