SOTU

It is truly unfortunate that when we finally elect a human being to the Presidency we have to witness his public struggle to assert his integrity in a role that all but precludes it. I don't think Obama really believes Obama anymore. He's just mouthing empty promises and lies.

Michael Moore on Haiti, the Supreme Court Decision on Corporate Campaign Financing, and Why He Calls the Democrats "Disgusting"

Michael Moore on Haiti, the Supreme Court Decision on Corporate Campaign Financing, and Why He Calls the Democrats "Disgusting"

MICHAEL MOORE STOPS DRINKING THE KOOL-AID, SOBERS UP, AND TAKES OFF THE GLOVES WITH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION!

The Supreme Court Takes Off the Gloves

I say it's about time that our money-choked political system is simply handed over to naked, predatory capitalism. I mean, all this pretentious talk about government of, by, and for the people keeps the population feeling as though it’s in control. Now we can openly declare that we have government of, by, and for the militarized corporate plutocracy, and when we vote, all we are really doing is ratifying what the corporations have already decided. As Rabelais said on his death-bed: “Draw the curtains, the farce is over.”

From now on, democracy takes place in the streets.

Sure, I’d hoped for better things—I have children. And I fear it’s going to get ugly. But it’s always darkest before the dawn.

Be of good cheer, and get ready to march.

If You Can't Elect a Democrat in Massachusetts....

The good people of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts have voted against their collective self-interest by sending a Republican to the Senate. But like most physical suicides, this act of political suicide is a cry for help. It is time to dismantle the two-party system. In the meantime, take a moment to rub this loss in the faces of the Democratic Party leadership and demand that they return to the health care reform drawing board--lest in 2010 we find ourselves back where we were in '94 with another Republican contract ON America.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

King's speech, "Beyond Vietnam," delivered at Riverside Church one year before his murder, was the occasion on which he went public with the connections he had made between MILITARISM, CAPITALISM, and RACISM. Once he had the audacity to do that, his fate (like the fates of the Kennedy brothers) was sealed.

The Plebiscite Is Just A Placebo

Leo Tolstoy pointed out this paradox a century ago: democracies are, in his view, more tyrannical than monarchies for the simple reason that the subjects of a monarch understand themselves as the subjects of a monarch whereas the citizens of a democracy believe that the fact that they cast ballots every so often makes them the rulers of their own destinies. But the plebiscite is just a placebo! The election of Barack Obama regrettably illustrates Tolstoy's point. On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman reported that:

A new analysis estimates President Obama received over $20.1 million in healthcare industry donations during his 2008 campaign. The Center for Responsive Politics says Obama’s health industry donations nearly tripled Republican rival John McCain, who pulled in an estimated $7.7 million.

When the American people voted for Barack Obama in November 2008, they believed that they were voting for authentic health care reform (single payer or government option) among other things. What they did not know was that the Obama campaign had already sold the future of health care reform to the industry that he was elected to overhaul.

The Obama Administration will go down in American history as the emblem of the manner in which the militarized corporate plutocracy thwarts the popular will by means of the ballot box.

The political responsibility of people of conscience in this country is, henceforth, to eschew the placebo of the plebiscite and to work outside of the tightly crafted political system to build a viable Left that will force concessions from the ruling class.

It is the only option the ruling class has left us.

The Difference Between a Leftist, a Liberal, and a Neo-Con:

A Leftist will condemn water-boarding as torture and, on that basis, will refuse to participate in its use and advocate that the practice be abandoned once and for all.

A Liberal will condemn water-boarding as torture and on that basis advocate that the practice be abandoned once and for all--then look the other way while the practice continues and feel conflicted about the difficult decisions that must be made in the "real world."

The Neo-Con will not condemn water-boarding, will refuse to recognize it as torture, and will advocate its use in the difficult situations that occur in the "real world."

I am a Leftist, not a Liberal. And certainly not a Neo-Con.

No Liberal will bring authentic "real world" change to this country. For that, we need to build a viable Left.

Join a Socialist party today.

The Machine Is Set On "Kill"

Allan Nairn sums up the on-going crisis that is the Obama Presidency in this interview with Amy Goodman.

They Don't Call Him "O-Bomb-A" For Nothing

What did he think was going to happen?