This Blog Kills Fascists

That is a picture of Woody Guthrie and his guitar.
Many people told Woody to sit down and shut up, to quit talking about corrupt corporations and governments, to quit singing about the trials and tribulations of the working man. Most of those people are forgotten. But not Woody.
Woody put the words, “This Machine kills fascists” on his guitar because he new that fearlessly telling (and singing) truth to power would eventually bring down power built on lies and corruption.

American history is filled with protesters, agitators, and annoying truth tellers who would not do the polite thing and just sit down and shut up: Martin Luther King Jr., Abbey Hoffman, Woody Guthrie, those guys who dumped all that tea into Boston Harbor, and many many many more. America remembers these people and honors them. We do not remember the countless millions who were polite and didn’t make a scene, who worked quietly through channels, who were civilized and allowed those more powerful than them to lie and cheat and steal.

Now I wish that I could say that the Democratic (or even the Republican) party had leaders in it who were willing to tell the truth to power, to call a lie a lie. But I don’t see that happening. No disrespect to John Conyers and the handful of politicians who do a better job than most, but as a group our elected representatives have failed us and show no signs of growing a conscience or a backbone any time soon.

So the responsibility falls to us: the normal citizens who have been so busy living our lives that we have delegated our responsibility to others. We have to stand up one person at a time and tell the truth, agitate, get in the faces of the government that does not represent us any longer. We need to make it clear that government will work for the benefit of all or we will fire these corporate cronies and elect a new government.

This will be a slow process. But we have no other choice. Keep on agitating. Keep on telling the truth. Keep on resisting the lies. Keep on marching and organizing. Keep shining light on the dark secret corners of Washington DC and we will see the cockroaches run. And once in a while we may be able to smash a roach or two.

We have these bastards out numbered. Keep on keeping on.

This Blog Kills Fascists.

Good Americans

Good Americans don't lie and cheat, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't favor the rich over the poor, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't bomb neighborhoods, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't invade other countries, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't torture prisoners, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't choose war over peace, but criminals do.
Good Americans don't support criminals...

There were a lot of Good Americans marching last weekend.

It is a shame that the mainstream media ignored them or treated them like some kind of lunatic fringe. The marchers represent a majority of Americans who want our troops to withdraw from Iraq.

It is also a shame that our elected representatives did not participate. I guess it would be asking a lot for Republicans to participate, but even the Democrats do not feel it is safe to be seen as an anti-war candidate. With the notable exceptions of the only Democratic officeholders who planned to address the rally, Reps. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia and John Conyers of Michigan. Thanks you Cynthia and John. Good Americans will remember your participation.

But where were Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Russ Feingold, John Kerry, John Edwards, Ed Kennedy? The so-called Democratic leadership is still waiting for better poll numbers I guess. When will it be safe to call for a withdrawal from Iraq? When 75% of Americans call for an end to the war? 85%? 95%

My guess is they are waiting for 50% of Lobbists and Corporate Contributers to call for an end to the war.

So maybe Good Americans need new representatives.

Why We're Marching

I can't say it any better than Media Benjamin:

Published on Friday, September 23, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
Why We're Marching
by Medea Benjamin

On Saturday, September 24, tens of thousands of Americans from all walks of life will come together in Washington, DC to call on Congress and President Bush to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home now.
When hundreds of thousands of us marched against this war before it began, the Bush administration called us a "focus group." Now that focus group represents the majority of the American public, who in all the most recent polls are saying this war was a mistake, it's unwinnable, it makes us less safe at home and it should end.

It's time for both the White House and Congress to start listening to those of us who have been and continue to talk with our feet. Here are some of the many reasons why we will be out on the streets of Washington DC this weekend:

We're marching because we are distressed over the continued war in Iraq, an unprovoked, unnecessary war that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 2,000 US soldiers. We grieve for those families who have already lost loved ones in this war, and we want to stop other families from suffering such painful losses.

We're marching because we want to hold George Bush accountable for dragging us into this war on false pretenses. The September 11 Commission officially acknowledged that Iraq was not involved in the terrorist attacks on our nation, and the U.S. military gave up its search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction because they don't exist.

We're marching because we support our troops, and we are convinced that the best way to show that support is to bring them home and fully attend to their economic, physical, and psychological needs when they return.

We're marching because we're convinced that we can't afford to continue spending over a billion dollars a week on this unwinnable war, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Our tax dollars should be channeled away from war and destruction and into rebuilding the Gulf Coast, rebuilding Iraq, and investing in our nation's healthcare, schools and infrastructure.

We're marching because we're appalled by the war profiteering of companies such as Halliburton and Bechtel. We believe the Iraqis should rebuild their own country. And we want to stop the corrupt practice of awarding lucrative contracts to US companies with close government ties, as we have done in Iraq and are now repeating in the Gulf Coast.

We're marching because we want to seriously address our nation's addiction to oil. We see our ruinous policies in the Middle East and the global warming-induced fury of Hurricane Katrina as consequences of an oiligarchy that must be replaced by an economy based on conservation, efficiency and clean, renewable sources of energy.

We're marching because we fear that our government is building 14 permanent bases in Iraq. Our military bases in Saudi Arabia were one of the reasons given by Al Qaeda for the September 11 attacks. We should not provoke new attacks against us by maintaining an ongoing military presence in the Middle East.

We're marching because we're convinced that the war in Iraq is endangering our security. It is inflaming anti-American sentiment all over the world, it has turned Iraq into a terrorist training ground and it has actually increased the ranks of terrorist groups. It has also diverted attention and resources from capturing and bringing to justice those who attacked us on September 11.

We're marching because the war in Iraq is undermining the capacity of the US military. The military has been unable to reach its recruiting goals for months now, because young people don't want to be sent off to fight in a war they don't believe in. And as we have seen in the case of Hurricane Katrina, sending a significant portion of our National Guard troops and heavy equipment to Iraq has undermined our capacity to respond to emergencies here at home.

We're marching because our presence in Iraqi is not helping the Iraqis. The US troops are not providing security to Iraqis - in fact more than 200 Iraqis died in the past two weeks alone. The US troops are not preventing a civil war, but provoking the insurgency and increasing the violence. We believe the Iraqi people would have a better chance of encouraging disenfranchised Sunnis to join the government and bring peace to their beleaguered nation if the US troops withdrew.

We're marching because there are many indications that the Iraqis want us to leave. Polls taken just before the Iraqi election in January showed that a majority of both Sunnis and Shiites said U.S. forces should leave. In fact, one-third of the elected officials signed a letter calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops, and the Iraqi Sovereignty Committee of the National Assembly recently issued a report saying that Iraqi sovereignty was hampered by foreign forces and calling for a timetable for their withdrawal. And in June of this year, one million Iraqis - mostly Shiites - signed a petition calling for an end to the occupation.

We're marching because we don't want to see our nation ever again engage in an unprovoked, pre-emptive war. We want our government to adhere to international law and to use force as an absolute last resort. We want to see our nation embrace the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including the obligations of the nuclear powers themselves to disarm, since this is the only way we will truly rid the world of the dangers of weapons of mass destruction.

The people in the streets this weekend will be speaking loud and clear, and reflecting the sentiments of the general public. It's too bad our government refused to listen to us before invading Iraq. It's time they start listening now.

Mad Cows Block Food Aid

According to the UK paper The Mirror, tons of food aid donated by the British for Katrina evacuees has been impounded by the FDA and ruled unfit for human consumption. The reason, apparently the meat in 400,000 NATO ration packs comes from the UK. Officials may be afraid of BSE or Mad Cow disease. But we have had BSE in America and we allow the evacuees to eat American MREs. Apparently food from Spain and Italy has been held up also.

We allow US Troops in NATO to consume these ration packs. We also allow Halliburton to serve rotten food to our troops in Iraq. But it is better to destroy millions of dollars in food aid from a trusted ally rather than cut through the red tape and distribute food to evacuees who need it now.

I think the Mad Cows are in Washington DC.

Waging Peace

The Buck Stops Here

The Bush Administration has done a horrible job of responding to hurricane Katrina. They have let a great city and huge numbers of people languish without basic aid and comfort while they held press conferences and staged photo ops.

I want to blame Bush. He has been the worst American President of my life time.
I want to blame the Neo-Cons who have dismantled American social services and safety programs in the name of privatization and corporate profits.
I want to blame the Republicans (and others) who voted for him not once but twice.

It is your fault.
And it is mine.

Bush has made it increasingly clear that he serves the 10% of this country that own 90% of everything. Bush is an Aristocratic snob who works for the rich. I blame him.

The Neo-Cons have perpetrated this hijacking of our democracy. I blame them.

The Voters bought their hog wash and elected and reelected these criminals. I blame them.

And I let you hand our country and our democratic values over to these corporate elites. I obviously did not protest enough. I obviously did not annoy my friends and family enough with those annoying “facts” about the criminality and destructive malice this Administration has unleashed on our country. I blame me. The Buck Stops Here.

We are to Blame. This is our country and we have sold it to a gang of corporate pirates for a few trinkets. And we let them do it and we have never held them accountable.

Bush ignored the intelligence and 911 happened. And we let him get away with it.
Abu Ghraib and Camp X-ray happened. And we let them get away with it.
They lied about WMD. And we let them invade another country.
Bush took huge surplus and turned it into the biggest deficit in history. And we let them.
Bush used our National Guard overseas. And we didn’t hold him responsible.
Bush slashed the budgets for levees and flood control. And we let him do it.
Bush put FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security. And we let him do it.

And after all this looting and plundering of our country by Bush and the Neo-Cons we are not safer. We are not more secure.

We are poorer. We are at higher risk to terrorism. And our social security network has been privatized and plundered so that it only works for the rich. And we let them do it. We voted for this genius and his cronies not once but twice.

So go ahead and blame the victims of the hurricane for being poor and without a car.
Go ahead and try to blame the major of New Orleans or the Governor of Louisianna.

I think it would be better if we admit that we do not have a leader who represents Americans. And that is our fault.

We didn’t make it clear that this is our country and that our government must represent us. And if our representatives make mistakes they will be held accountable.
We made a mistake and let Bush and the Neo-Cons hijack our country.
We hired this jackass and are as much to blame as Bush.
We hired the President and he hired his team.
The team that left tens of thousands of people to die in New Orleans.

Katrina is simply Bush’s latest in a long line of failures.
How many more failures do we allow?

We are the people of the United States of America.
We are not powerless.
We deserve better.
We want better.
But to get better, we have to admit we have a problem.
And then we need to fire some incompetent employees.
And I think we know where to start.

Treated like criminals for using a mail truck to escape flooded New Orleans, Aug 31st.

Will We Hold Them Accountable This Time?

"Governments at all levels failed," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said at the Capitol. She announced that the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee would hold hearings, adding, "It is difficult to understand the lack of preparedness and the ineffective initial response to a disaster that had been predicted for years, and for which specific, dire warnings had been given for days."

We did not hold the government or the administration accountable after the failures of 911.

We did not hold the governement or the administration accountable after no WMDs were found in Iraq.

We did not hold the government or the administration accountable after the torture camps in Iraq and Cuba.

Now in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the government and the administration have made it clear that if you are poor you do not recieve timely disaster relief.

Will we hold them accountable this time?
Or are we okay with an administration that administers only to the rich and the incorporated?