I posted a comment on another Virginia blog--Bearing Drift--today and encountered someone named Little David. I really like his approach and am hopeful of more civil dialogue among greater numbers of people in Virginia with more attitudes like his cropping up everyday along the entire political spectrum.
I don't know about others but I'm tired of the name calling and labeling that corporations and their mainstream corporate media tries to make as the only way to hold a dialogue in this country.
How about all of us recognizing that we are all people (except of course those corporations that only the Corporate US Supreme Court recognizes as living breathing human beings) and let us have dialogues about ideas, facts, and various solutions to problems and let's leave the name calling out of our public discourse?
I believe this will help our democratic process. It is not in the people's interest to be so split and divisive. But it has served the banksters and Wall Street agenda which has basically been shoved down all of our throats.
I love Virginia and have lots of faith that Virginians can rise up and speak out in a democratic and civil discourse that will serve us and our communities well. I hope others will join in and create a vibrant civil dialogue about issues that impact us all.
Here are Parts 7 and 8 of War on Democracy by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker, a documentary that has been making its way through the Internet.
Part 7 gets into the nuts and bolts of the School of the Americas (School of the Assassins) and the Death Squads of El Salvador in particular:
Part 8 deals with the "sophisticated" economic model known as Neo-Liberalism that Milton Friedman and the "Chicago Boys" foisted on Latin America, enriching the few and impoverishing the many, somewhat like serfdom, while keeping Latin America economies in lockstep with US Corporate profits in the same way that a vampire attaches his fangs to a victim's neck. Crush labor, keep wages low, open everything up to American investments until foreign capital owns most of the country:
Stay tuned for the last two parts of this hard-hitting documentary.
Here are Part 5 and 6 of War on Democracy by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker, a documentary that has been making its way through the Internet.
Part 5 begins with an expose of how the CIA overthrew the Arbenz government in Guatemala back in the 50s, ushering in decades of Fascist rule, civil war and genocide against the Mayan Indians. Also covered in 5 and 6 is the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile and his replacement by the Fascist dictator, General Pinochet.
Here is Part 4 of War on Democracy by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker, a documentary that has been making its way through the Internet.
Part 4 ties up the failed ending of the coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and the official American denials of any involvement in the coup.
Here is Part 3 of War on Democracy by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker, a documentary that has been making its way through the Internet.
Here is Part 2 of War on Democracy by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian journalist and filmmaker, a documentary that has been making its way through the Internet. Part 1 is just below in the previous post.
This documentary by John Pilger, the award-winning Australian born journalist and documentary filmmaker from Sydney, has been making its way through the Internet. It is perhaps the most penetrating history of official and clandestine U.S. government policies, strategies and operations to bend Latin America to its will ever produced. You cannot understand our relationship with Latin America, nor what is going on in Latin America, without knowing this history. So here is Part 1 of 10, with more to follow.
According to George Bush, ""There's a lot of really good people here . Look, you can't deny the fact that some, a majority, of the terrorists came from Saudi, but you should not condemn an entire society based upon the actions of a handful of killers." Say what George? Isn't that exactly what you are doing with another country--Iran??
"The American president doesn't come and lecture somebody. The American president develops a relationship where he can work with somebody. And as I told you, his majesty is, he is modernizing his society. Is it going to meet somebody's standards sitting in Washington, D.C.? Probably not overnight. Can it eventually? Yes.… And for us to say that you can't have a democracy if you've got a king is just not right." So George Bush 'thinks" that Saudi Arabia is democratic? Or is he thinking he's in England and not Saudi Arabia?
I don't know about your thoughts but this President is a major embarrassment. This is almost as sad as Bush learning that the Russian President would have a longer fligh home from the summit than he would....so the dummy went around to folks like Tony Blair exclaiming that Russia is a BIG COUNTRY...he's got a longer flight home than me.....sheesh....this man should not be allowed to travel.
Our FCC, paid for with our tax dollars is NOT doing it's job--regulation and oversight of the monopolized power of the corporate media. Instead it is using our tax dollars to act like corporate lobbyists. The FCC has proposed new rules that grants the corporate media more power and less accountability. In spite of Americans speaking out in an incredibly united voice on this issue...where else will you see organizations such as the Christian Coalition, MoveOn.org, National Rifle Association, and NOW stand side by side and demand that media ownership rules be strengthened not weakened?
Here's an issue that we can unite us all....unfortunately, a rare occurrence these days. It would do all of us some good to join together whenever possible....here's a golden opportunity for us.
The Media is fundamentally a crucial issue. No matter what your political issues are (civil liberties, gun control, immigration reform, anti-war) it is incredibly difficult to get folks activated if the media distorts your message or refuses to cover it. The media is fundamental for a democracy to function...that's why our constitution has an amendment for the "fourth estate." They wanted to protect the press from government censorship. However, our founding forefathers (who had a healthy fear of corporations) did not anticipate that the corporations would end up controlling the media and censoring us.
It's not to late!! Something can be done.....Congress has the power to throw out the FCC's new rules. Here's the FreePress info: Throw Out the Rules
The FCC approved new rules that will unleash a flood of media consolidation across America. The new rules will further consolidate local media markets -- taking away independent voices in cities already woefully short on local news and investigative journalism.
Congress has the power to throw out these rules -- and if hundreds of thousands of people demand it, they'll have to listen. Sign the open letter to Congress urging them to stop the FCC and stand with the public interest. In addition, you may want to contact your Senator and Representative.
Mumia Abu-Jamal, on Death Row for several decades, whom many feel was wrongly convicted, continues to speak out from the executioner's shadow. Here is a recording he made on democracy in fantasy and reality. Guilty or not, he has powerful things to say about society, philosophy, politics and history.
Here is his Wikipedia bio as well for your info:
Mumia Abu-Jamal
(born Wesley Cook on April 24, 1954) was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1981 murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner, and is currently a prisoner at State Correctional Institution - Greene near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. In December 2001 a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania affirmed the conviction but quashed his original punishment and ordered resentencing. Both Abu-Jamal and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appealed. The case was orally argued before a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia on May 17, 2007, and is pending.
His case has received international attention. Supporters and human rights campaigners variously assert that he is innocent, that he was setup, that he did not receive a fair trial, and/or oppose the death penalty. Opponents assert that he is guilty, that he received the benefit of due process and was legitimately convicted of murder. Execution proponents among these assert that under Pennsylvania law his eventual judicial execution is warranted and mandated by the nature of his crime.
Prior to his arrest he was a Black Panther Party activist, cab driver, and journalist. During the period of his imprisonment he has courted controversy as an honoree of municipal, educational and civil society organizations, and as a spoken word commentator and published author of several works - most notably Live from Death Row.
Mosquito has been taking one of those unexpected "breaks" this week....but thoughts are brewing.... Thanks so much to Mac for getting his thoughts out into the universe and keeping us online.
