Hey Dick,
Indeed, I did read it and thought it was exceptional,, especially this part;
“”Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy.”
The report concludes: “No public relations campaign can save America from flawed policies.” (Christian Science Monitor, November 29, 2004)
The Pentagon released the study after the New York Times ran a story about it on November 24, 2004. The Times reported that although the board’s report does not constitute official government policy, it captures “the essential themes of a debate that is now roiling not just the Defense Department but the entire United States government.”
Yes, it was a great article, and I especially liked it because it was slightly hopeful,, admitting that more than a few folks in the Washington “Loop” know what is really going on,,,,,, that our federal government really has been hijacked by the mil/ind/cong complex.
You know how very depressed I have been about the blind faith/America is right/ the experts MUST know what they are doing/ mentality that we have all seen in the last ten years,, and especially the shallow lack of any intelligent debate about our foreign policies designed primarily with one main purpose; to create a climate of international chaos that will continue to create demand for more military products and services.
Hijacked is the word. And the ironic part is that it is the federal government who is acting as the hijacker.
I have seen reports that state that there are 23 million folks on our federal payroll, and that the average salary is more than $100,000 a year. Hmmm. Seems like a pretty powerful entity there don’t it Bucky ??
Figure 23 million as a voting block,, then add a couple of family members and a few friends to that, and then how big is that voting block ? Huge . Really big. Largo excesso. Doing everything they can to protect their own job and their own income, these federal employees dare not blow any sort of whistle on their own department.
Then, of course , add on top of that a media circus of “infotainment news” that is corporately controlled by a handful of the most powerful men in the world, one of them also the largest single military supplier,( General Electric), and you have a Fourth Estate that has effectively been almost silenced.
Now, take that formula for successful control, and top it off with a federal department of education to make certain that no real educational reform will take place to have any chance to develop critical thinking abilities in our public school students,( but will certainly allow the continued meddling and influence of the mil/industrial fellows and military recruiters into our schools),, then add to that the BILLIONS AND BILLIONS that our Defense Dept and Pentagon pump into our colleges and universities every year, ( in 2008 alone the federal govt dumped more than $600 million into M.I.T. alone !!),, and you begin to see a picture developing that even Hitler himself would envy.
The federal government that was initially created to SERVE the citizens of our nation, has now become an entity that is just as complicit as any driver of a bank robber’s getaway car in CONTROLLING our citizens,,, and dat’s a fact Jack !
So,,, where do we go from here ?
Well, we could follow along with the typically federal government approach to the problem.
That would mean funding a study group to write a report,, creating one more, or two more federal bureaucracies to analyze the report,, have a few experts read the expensive reports to a few elected officials wearing nice suits, acting as members of some senate sub-committee, while the C-SPAN cameras roll on making it appear all so above board and proper,, and then have those elected officials ask a few silly questions of the experts,, and then slam a gavel and adjourn for coffee and cake.
But isn’t this like asking the rat to guard the cheese ?
Isn’t this just like asking a crooked police chief to investigate his own police department ?
Yep, that’s exactly what it is.
All of these fellows are working for the same team,, the same company,, the same “corporation.”
And that “corporation” is the federal government of the United States of America. They are all on the same payroll, they are all employees,, even the federal judges who sit on the bench and somehow come to the conclusion that those giant corporations who are already controlling almost every elected representative, have the right to contribute to political campaigns and causes just as any single citizen might. All of a sudden the corporation can compete with the average citizen on the battlefield of politics on “equal” terms . That corporation can buy ads, and make contributions, and pay writers, and buy lobbyists, and on and on, and on down the line,, guaranteeing the control of most of our “democratic” system.
Now, as if this were not enough to buy the control and cooperation of almost every member of our society,, let’s add to this glorious mix a federal entitlement program and a support system of “disability” payment providers, and medical support payment providers to the already outrageously expensive and overpriced medical and pharmaceutical industries to act as sort of a cherry on top.
Now some of us get dependent on that federal “Daddy.” Gramma is on Social Security,, Grampa is on Medicaid, and how in the world could they afford all those outrageously expensive medications without these federal programs? ( Well, I guess I shouldn’t mention that these same medicines are available in Mexico, Canada and England for peanuts.)
And there you have it.
We are forced by our tax men to continue to pay into a federal government that is controlled by the giant corporations, who in turn control the federal government “corporation.”
Is it all bad? No, certainly not.
Some of the federal services are worthy of praise, and some are indeed of value.
But here is the real problem.
We, as citizens, have lost all control.
We have lost all control of where our nation goes in the world, and what it does when it gets there.
Most of us, as casual and friendly American citizens, would never consider going down the street with an automatic weapon and a satchel of grenades to our local grocery store and robbing and looting the place, and killing a few innocent people in the process.
That would be fucking crazy !
But not many of us mind too much if a few brigades of armed soldiers go off to live in some distant land and shoot it up. We don’t seem to mind if a few billion dollars worth of predator drones bomb this piss out of some skinny Afghan chap trying to take a crap behind a big rock on a hill . We say,”Gee, what a shame,” when we hear a report of an Afghan wedding party being blown to pieces by a two thousand pound bomb. ” “Golly,,” we say,, “Sure wish I could do something about that,, it just seems so very wrong.”
And then we listen.
Are any of our neighbors talking about it ?
Is it being discussed on the television? Radio ?
Are we even discussing it with our family members ?
Is it ever mentioned in a classroom,, an AA meeting, or in church ?
I know what I’ll do.
I’ll write a letter ! Oh heck,, I’ll write several !
I’ll write my senator. I’ll write my representatives !
Surely they will read it and come to their senses !
You might as well write a short letter to your neighborhood crack dealer telling him about his failed moral state. He’s in it for the money. That is the way his world works. That is the way he pays his bills.
Same thing in Washington. They are hooked.
For many of them it started in law school.
That’s where they were taught that they were just a little smarter, and just a little more clever than the rest of us. They could read and practice “The Law.”
They graduated,, bought a couple of nice suits,, and started visiting their local courthouse, and that is where they first learned how the system really works.
Where I now live, there are about 44,000 cases each year that head to our county courthouse to be resolved.
This is one county ! Hello ??!
Think there are more than a few deals being made there every single day ?
Duh.
Client number one has a lot of money. He hires the big money attorney.
His son, a good old boy, a sophomore at Clemson ,got stopped by the police for driving drunk, and the police found six grams of cocaine under the front seat of his car.
Looks like a jury trial to me ! Oh yeah baby,, a jury trial.
But with 44,000 cases coming into the courthouse,, there cannot be a jury trial for all the defendants.
And so it begins. Favors are requested,, they go through the proper channels,, and some money is exchanged.
Meanwhile the poor black fellow who got stopped on the same night in the same county who had .04 grams of cocaine in his pocket does not get a request for a jury trial, because he cannot give his public defender the $8000 needed to grease the machinery. Rich boy gets his allowance cut so he can’t afford his cocaine and community service and probation. Poor black kid gets six years in our state prison system.
My point?
The corruption does not begin in Washington D.C. It begins in your local community.
It spreads to Washington, D.C. .
Well enough of this shit for one morning. I’m off to hit tennis balls with my good friend Lee Edge.
We’re gonna hit a few thousand balls back and forth,, and I’m not gonna let my mind wander to any of this depressing shit. Not for one moment.
I’m gonna feel this wonderful sunshine on the top of my head,,, I’m gonna watch those balls,, I’m gonna anticipate every ball coming off his Racquet and back up or move forward just a little bit, and swing as smoothly as possible and try to put that ball exactly where I want it to go.
I’m not gonna think about one fucking thing except for that tennis ball and what I want to make it do, and where I want to make it travel.
My little escape. My meditation time. A quiet space for my mind to sit and relax.
Better for me mentally than sleep. No wars, no crooked cops,, no attorneys,, no politicians,, no dim reporters,, no entertainment news,, no Hollywood gossip,, no preachers asking me to send them money so that they can send it on to God,,,,, just tennis balls.
My little piece of Heaven,, right here on Earth.
Cheers,, and peace,
Shea.
