Thursday, November 06, 2008

The comments since the night before the election have transcended even the usual level of intelligence we strive for on this blog. They've been impassioned on both sides.

The very notion of sides, however, may be illusory. Was anyone unmoved by the euphoria that exploded around the globe Tuesday night, even as we harbored some skepticism about how long it would last and what the hangover would feel like? (Pessimists, by the way, outperform other groups on reality tests.) Everyone knows about the fifty per cent divorce rate but we still cry at weddings.

I'm taking the unusual step of posting the following comment here because it is a fully fledged article in itself.

JO


REFLECTIONS ON REFLECTIONS

Andy Edwards


Mike, sir I've stuck it out with you for close to five years and I'm not backtracking now...but-

I think we might be getting a little off track here. “

Until we change the way money works…” Sir, we have not accomplished this and so must we not assume that Obama’s campaign money (largely bank and establishment money) was injected precisely to deliver this result of a leader who can bring people together?

And if so, for what purpose, because the last time the elites did anything for the good of the masses was….well when was that?

Isn’t it convenient that Obama represents, merely by his Democratic alliance, a bigger and more controlling government and yet he is hailed as our savior from the infringements on personal liberty by the state? What a perfect time facing multiple emergencies to bring in the face man. Is not the Patriot Act the most aggressively anti-freedom piece of legislation to come to pass?

Now, I am of the belief that a new world order is less a collected conspiracy than it is the direct result of the psychology of the perennial, imperial state mindset. A position in line with Ron Paul, Austrian economists and the libertarian message, but that sure as shootin’ doesn’t mean I’m against ANYBODY who can come in and make fundamental change. Black, white, space alien, democrat, green party-- you name it and as long as it embodies the truth I’ll get behind it.

I believe you probably understand state corruption and its roots in greed and power as well as anyone and I am guessing that by setting forth the idea that there is a ‘new dawn’ via an Obama presidency you are stepping beyond the rubble that’s falling right now, accounting for various obstacles, and ultimately seeing the moneyed interests pressed from the picture by way of the financial meltdown so as to allow (though not necessarily by orchestration) Obama to actually, truly make choices to tear away the controlling state apparatus which seeks at this moment to extract the residue of our civil liberties. Tell me this is true.

Or tell me that Obama will simply listen to the people. Tell me Congress will listen to him. Tell me anything so I can understand how another moderate liberal will not continue his empire’s path toward totalitarianism.

Tell me that what you foresee is the elite taking to the hills with their loot, peak oil stepping fully to the stage and Obama leading us in some kind of controlled capitulation/reconciliation to reality---the reality of depleted resources; a thing which simply does not allow business to continue as usual.

Because this requires me to believe that the elite is content with their aquifers and extradition treaties and their underground bunkers.

Please tell me you see Obama immediately coming to a number of realizations about our global situation and he, having been imbued with a truly humanitarian spirit and superior intellect will thus choose, against all odds, to steer the nation in manner as libertarian, constitutional and compassionate as possible. Even if that means defying the controllers of the Fed, Zbig, Zbig’s sons, the Trilaterals and whoever else.

Because this requires me to believe that these people who move smoothly between academia, politics and business and who have spent more money on luxuries than I’ll ever see in my life, are now resigned to give up the controls on the machine.

I hope this is what you’re looking ahead to because it cannot be that you’ve missed the facts of Obama’s campaign being managed for several years, funded by the global elite and suspiciously anti-Bush just when that’s exactly what we needed. What the left needed to get back on the boat, so to speak.

This requires me to accept that the same brand of men who manufactured the Fed and bombed millions of human beings in the name of empire and progress are now okay with turning things over to the “barbarian hordes” who they so loathed for so long such that they risked everything in their silent coups.

Now, I’ll return here to my disclosure: I like Obama as a man, I believe he is the most respectable, intelligent dude to step to the fore in many election cycles. More importantly, I shed my tears on Tuesday night because I saw, even if it was an illusion, the hem of the America we were intended to be. I saw people vindicated, shed of their guilt and honestly moved from the idiocy of the Bush years. I am human. I am American.

However, I will return promptly and properly to my skepticism while allowing for Barack Obama to actually be the man of heart and strength that we wish him to be and ask: how in the name of all that is holy will Mr. Obama come to grips with the near almighty power of the impersonal state seeking through money and momentum to push him where it wants him, and further how will he self manage his own complicity in that state as he has knowingly or unknowingly given a face and made personal this machine--this machine that has been dangerous to liberty since its inception—how? And why?

Because I wonder frankly how a president who owes so much to the Wall St. banking institutions with their CIA affiliations can actually operate within the beast---and I wonder this because I know that this is what we are actually wishing him to be.

We need to face the facts that we are asking of Obama that he become no less than JFK/Thomas Jefferson/Ghandi with better Secret Service protection.

Please tell me you see globalization crippled by peak oil ASAP and Obama using his mandate to promote actual production of actual goods here in America so that we might free ourselves of the illusion of the consumer based economy. Please tell me that when our President sees this real crisis, among others, that he will enact a Manhattan Project-like drive to rebuild our rail system.

Because I wonder frankly if he’ll even bring the troops home. And I wonder this because I know that George Bush didn’t get us there. The men behind the curtain did and we can’t know for sure what happens back there and if they have retreated. Why would they now?

Or is it rather that the best we can hope is that he’ll simply and quickly tell us the truth about our situation. Tell us that we can no longer live with the arrangements which make us a superpower consumer and global empire. Will he just step up and deliver the bad news like the doctor who diagnoses and prescribes and does not sell the latest bullshit big pharmaceutical placebo?

Because I’m thinking that the most important step in dealing with reality, is knowing what reality is. Lost in the woods, we must not wait for them to build a grocery store. Lost in the woods, we must survive. Will Obama be a voice in the wilderness or will he rather continue to spin the yarn until it is too late?

Mike, sir, please tell me that Mr. Obama will concede to China and Russia and step off the path to ceaseless resource wars.

Sir, I don’t believe that this is going to happen in four or even eight years.

I kind of doubt we’ve got even another one year of business as usual.

Sir, tell me that Obama is a bad enough mutha to open media outlets again or that he is merely inspirational enough that Chris Matthews will report the whole truth for once.

This letter is of course, unfair. No one knows what will happen. We predict.

And is there really any solid reason to predict that anything will be any different?

I’d be happy with Patriot Act repealed.

That alone would allow me to vote for Obama when next he fights.

But I predict not even that most glaringly tyrannous little document will change one bit.

Please prove me wrong Mr.Obama. Seriously, please.

36 comments:

Unknown said...

Channel One in Russia is going to show "Fun with Dick and Jane" starring Jim Carrey this Sunday (the movie is essentially about Enron's collapse). Watching the previews during commercial breaks I can't help comparing Jim Carrey's character to Mr. Obama. It looks like he's been elected as a scapegoat for one and only purpose: to make a dire announcement. Those who've seen the movie will understand what I am talking about.

Mike, I did not mean to taint your euphoric previous post, but this is the impression that's being casted. (Maybe my mood is overly influenced by 'Crossing the Rubicon' that I'm reading these days? I finally decided to order it from Amazon after following your works since 2005. Once I'm at it, I'm taking my chance to praise the book and recommend it to anyone who has not read it - it still sounds fresh and up to date despite that it was written some 4.5 years ago)

Keep up the good work!

Dmitri

sudeep bhaumick said...

i think you have nailed it on the head.

by the by, i am from India and over here things are much worse in terms of awareness. over here people quite literally have no ****ing clue of the corner we are turning around and what lies at the end of it.

sudeep bhaumick said...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/3394087/Obama-appoints-advisers-including-Buffett.html

NB Patton said...

Andy,
Well said, I posted a short something similar in yesterdays entry. And since then I have been giving it a lot of thought.

I think we have to take a step back here and realize who we are talking too and why this blog even exists! OF COURSE MCR knows all the things we are so shocked and appalled to assume he is naive to. This is the man that charted the very map from which we are so proudly and loyally reciting! (An obvious hint to this fact is the Pollyanna reference.)

I wont pretend to explain MCR's last post for him but I re-read it and I think I understood his sentiments better,... I also mentioned this in my last post.

I feel the liberation and freeing MCR spoke of was of a mental and emotional liberation of all people throughout America from the oppressive subconscious understanding that minorities are second class citizens because they could never be president. It was liberating for the minorities because they see that they CAN. And it was liberating for the white man because it took down an intangible barrier of inequality that (almost) NOBODY wanted.
THAT is what united us. Bringing down those lingering walls of racism and inequity! Now we can truly be a people united, puppet or no puppet, bank or no bank.

I get it.

And regardless of the horror that await us as a nation, I truly do feel this unifying moment will help us down the road.

And oh the horrors.

Pandabonium said...

Andy has expressed many of my own thoughts, but much more eloquently than I could, though I am not a libertarian. As a Buddhist I try to be "kind and gentle to every living thing and protect all who are weaker than myself", so I do think that the republic has a place in promoting social welfare - in a fiscally responsible way, of course.

As happy I am to see a person of color elected President (if over a century late), I do not see this man, Barak Obama, making any real changes.

Obama's presidency will be Republican-lite. He is ill equipped to take on the task of any meaningful change anyway — he has a "pleaser" personality and will be pushed around by the Pentagon, intelligence community, and corporations. Look at his website and you can see he has NO plan for rolling back the Patriot act or any other of the myriad attacks on our rights. Zero. His foreign policy is to take some troops out of Iraq (leaving 50K) so he can fight in Afghanistan and continue the illegal attacks inside Pakistan. He wants to "defeat al Qaeda" (the Orwellian Emmanuel Goldstein of our time). He also has pledged his support for Israel, no matter what they do to the Palestinians. Oy.

On energy he is clueless about peak oil and the huge problem we face right around the corner. The IEA is releasing a report next week which states that oil production will deplete at the rate of 6 to 9 percent per year. His platform isn't even close on that front. He will bend to big oil and agri-business, and squander more debt on propping up Detroit with fantasy cars that are too little too late and do nothing to change the "happy motoring" transportation/suburbia paradigm.

As for economics, no president could prevent the full blown depression that is unfolding, but again, he is already being pushed around and sending money to fatten the already fat cats on Wall Street rather than allow them to fail and focus on new energy, rebuilding rail, decoupling America from globalism, and helping the working class to adjust to a new economic reality. If he had the guts to do that, he certainly has the communicative skills and intelligence to connect with people and be a uniting, reassuring voice. But as I already pointed out, he doesn't have the guts, or as Ralph Nader calls it, the "fire in the belly".

I am afraid that his presidency will be a disaster and there will be no substantive change. Meanwhile what is left of the Republican Party will be form a hard core group bent on destruction. The sincere Republicans will migrate into the Democratic Party (Colin Powell?) which will serve to push that party and Obama even further to the right.

I don't see anything to celebrate here except that McCain/Palin didn't win, which is all the so-called "mandate" represents. Even racists voted for Obama just to defeat McCain.

In the coming weeks we can watch who he chooses to be in his cabinet. That will be very telling.

After the the confetti is swept up and the balloons loose their helium and sink to the floor, perhaps people will wake up to what just happened. Bamboozled again. When it really sinks in next year, it will be one hell of a hangover.

RanD said...

Andy Edwards speaks to us the words of a mind and soul stricken with cosmic consciousness. With enough numbers of his ilk coming on line we'll ensure humankind's world as-it-is-meant-to-be coming fully into place. Indeed, pass the word around, we need to begin freeing ourselves from such ultimately self-destroying diversions as whether oil is up or gold is down.

tim said...

Andy; That is the best short article I've ever read. Well spoken!

Unknown said...

Amen.

Jenna Orkin said...

"in the light" wrote in part:

I think the power of Obama being elected comes not through what he does with his presidency (because as you elaborated on, what can he rally do?), but rather the fact that the American people want the things that Obama promised us.

Besides, when the SHTF, it might just get too wild even for the elite powers to control. Then what?

I think skepticism can be a great tool. And it has to be used in balance with optimism and hope. Otherwise you lose your direction and your actions serve more to make victims of the rest of us than to awaken others.

If Mike seemed to be a little over the top, then Andy seemed to ground his light headedness pretty damn fast.

sunrnr said...

Andy has expressed the concerns of many, including myself in a thoughtful positive manner. Thank you for that. It's refreshing to see critical thinking dialog without all the viciousness, hate and negativity so many posting on other blogs hace.

The power of an Obama presidency will be that he's engaged us (and will continue to do so) as no one has in many generations.

Watching him walk among everyday people, listening to them, actually touching them is very heartening.

However, now that he's fallen through the looking glass will the security concerns once again wall our President away from his people?

Only time will tell what he can do and what he can get us to do. I think many will be suprised by him as a person and a leader.

I believe at this point in time that he has very strong convictions and that he's very much his own man.

Will TPTB give up as was asked in Andy's post? I see several scenarios that could result in anarchy. I just pray nothing happens to Obama and that he's given a fighting chance to succeed.

namaste

rabbit hunter said...

I think we need to have hope in Obama. The jubilation he created was something I have never witnessed. In washington dc, people were literally dancing in the streets, hugging and kissing strangers. The feeling he gave us as a country was the hope that we can make it through this time.

He is in the toughest position. I believe by the rhetoric he uses that he understands ALL the problems we face, but it is hard to translate that to the disenfranchised public. They have no clue on what we are about to face, but they will know sooner than later.

As Americans, we must put our hope and faith in Obama and that he is able to make the American Public understand the sacrifice and new responsibilities that we will face.

optimistic1 said...

Well said Sunrnr! I agree with your post 100%

Conchscooter said...

Trying to predict the future is beyond human capacity. Better to sit back and ponder on what has happened. Obama this, Obama that; just wait and see. If nothing else Peak Oil teaches,or should teach, patience.You better start practicing patience because you will be spending lots of time waiting for bus, in the future, rather than just leaping in your car and zooming off to jump to conclusions.

kiki said...

personally i am happy there was an election - one step at a time........admittedly, i'm still not entirely sure there will be an inauguration but i can certainly see MCR's scenarios, if there is/is not............at this point, the thought has crossed my mind, there may be two guys in a room somewhere wagering a $1, for the fun of it and snickering at our spirituality, sense of honor and trying to create change within a corrupt government - it's beginning to look as though anything short of revolution isn't going to make a difference – perhaps keeping most of the people ‘in the dark’ ie. with a portion of hope, buys time for TPTB to get things in place to prevent that possibility? And until such time that most have limited resources with which to ‘argue’ ? - who's going to organize something like that on a scale necessary to accomplish the task? (rhetorical question) -

two people from other boards I’m on have posted of unusual, off main road troop movements – a major one in texas (took approx 2 ½ hours to get through the small town main street in the wee hours of the morning) and a small one (two black vans with govt plates filled with male military personnel and a map – as reported, this group appeared lost) in Michigan; the texas location quite a distance away from a military base – hmmmm wonder where they were going

it also seems pretty clear to me that the WH talking head isn’t the real power and hasn’t been for a long time so what happens if ‘he’ dares to go against the back room agenda? My guess is: the same thing that happened to Kennedy……. for me there is no real rest while so much mischief could still be done in the last 70 odd days – and of course that’s just the next ‘step’, leaving much more to come, in question re: what develops and in what order…………..i’m really having trouble genuinely believing bush/cheney and gang are done with us

an interesting aside that I haven’t studied in depth is the progression of ‘lost liberties’ associated with executive orders, looking at them from the first to the last – an overview would appear as though the net was set and has been progressively tightening under each president successively

NB Patton said...

Well Mike,
Intentionally or not you firmly shook the bush your readership was hiding in! Look at all the awesome critical thought that came flying out of it!

Whether we fully understood your post or not, the level of analysis and rational thought being displayed here by everyone is just so absolutely refreshing and empowering to see.

It is communities of free thought and ideas like this that give me hope for the future.
Keep fighting the good fight people, Spread the word!


conchscooter:
"Trying to predict the future is beyond human capacity. Better to sit back and ponder on what has happened."

I absolutely disagree. Matter of fact I think this statement goes against the whole philosophy behind this blog and the spirit that drives us. Why would we waste time pondering the past if we had NO capacity to predict the future? I think the very reason we study history is to help us make better decisions in the endless NOW that is to come.

sunrnr said...

What are the rules for sucession should (God forbid!) something happen to President-elect Obama and he can't officially take office? Would Biden then be President-elect or McCain?

Unknown said...

Kudos Andy Edwards! Mike, I have to agree with Andy that I myself have loved and feared Mr. Obama with such intensity and intellectual conflict. I cannot help but think of my favorite analogy as of late. It goes something like this... The modern Republican party represents Orwell's 1984, while the Democratic party represents Huxley's A Brave New World. If all the awful things we know could potentially come to pass in the next decade, we must wonder if the fascist Republicans could have inspired us all to rise to such events with our support and even lives? Or would it take an inspirational leader to stand up after the next "false flag" event to motivate us not of fear, but of pride to put on a uniform and go fight for whatever cause he decrees?

mrs p said...

Sorry for the windy post ahead.
In spite of the bumpy probably permanent nightmare we are facing, (especially for the stubborn ones), we have taken a giant step forward as a country, as a people. I feel the same tearful release as Mike...after 8 plus years of mental anguish, disgust and contempt so strong it made me sick to the core of my very being. The world has been gripped by a beast and now the worldwide joy is that "We Can Change" and joy over the fact that part of the beast is dying. The people have spoken. Our world is small and watching. No, he's not perfect,(Obama) nor are the people surrounding him. The beast is still alive. When you cut off the head of a snake expect it to thrash around for a while. As with the caution of his electory road he must now go with some calculation. Maybe he'll deliver maybe he cannot. Mike should be in his cabinet! Maybe we can pull out of this nosedive or maybe not in my lifetime. ("Death is not an end of life but a transition to a higher state." Yogananda.) What happened last Tuesday was a transition to a higher state. Maybe just a baby step but a step toward healing after many years of deep sickness. A kind of syncronistic outcry, a huge thing to the whole world even if just for a moment. We climed a hill. Now the hard part begins. Maybe we'll have to hold our breath for awhile or give up everything we've ever known. We're so deep in the trench we can only climb out or die. The world is watching and demanding a conscious will. The UnPatriot Act must die next.

As for the hotspots on our planet, in my personal opinion the Israeli government and the U.S. support of it's agenda must also make some radical changes to stop their wicked ways. There are many good Israeli people who feel the same way. Some new standards must be set and quickly. And who knows what kind of bad ju ju the outgoing gang has already fired up in the other hotspots on the planet that may need fires put out. Not so easy to take your foot out of something once it's stepped into a pile of it. I can hardly wait for Jan 20th. Either way it's a new dawn it's a new day without McSame! Thank God! mrsp

kiki said...

correction to last post: not Michigan but Wisconsin near Rt 14 northwest of Madison

PeakedOut said...

I've been reading this blog since it started. The input just keeps getting better. I hope to see more comments from the new influx of contributors. I know Obama is not a panacea, but for the first time, I am not as worried about what I say on the Internet. Maybe I feel hopeful. If I do, it is due in part to the increase in intelligent discourse I see happening throughout the country and here on this blog. I’m interested in learning more about what others on this blog are doing to prepare. What websites does everyone read for news or other resources? I’ve also collected lots of educational material relating to growing food, drilling water wells, water purification, etc. Our Universities are a wonderful resource! I’d like to find or start a place to share and exchange information and experiences.
And thanks Mike, for teaching map making and not just selling your insights. Your newsletter and website were always greatly under priced for the value they provided. And now we get you for FREE!!
Most of my co-workers think I have a crystal ball because of the accuracy of your predictions. Now, my ability to continue that map based on your teachings greatly reduces my fear of being caught by surprise events. This blog is a great way to verify my own map making interpretations. Please keep it going!!

SkipGreeb said...

The thought that crossed my mind as I read this post and these comments makes me fear that my immersion in these subjects has produced a pessimism too deep and too ingrained. Anyway, here goes...

Wouldn't it make perfect sense for TPTB to produce such a beacon of light to the masses at a moment when they need it most? Someone who could unite the unwashed on a worldwide level? How long might they let the illusion and optimism germinate?

My guess would be long enough so that the love affair peaks.

The apex of an unrealized possibility.

Then they take him out.

The pain and the outrage would be too much to bear. Great enough and complete enough so that the anarchy they seek-the next 9-11/Pearl Harbor event they need-would unfold in massive violent passionate protest. Thereby making the population purge they crave an achievable reality.

And not just in the US.

I'd guess by the worldwide reaction to his victory that the civil unrest at his loss would spill across the globe. How convenient.

God, I need a drink.

Rice Farmer said...

Mostly, my statement is here.
http://ricefarmer.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-obama-no-change.html

Certainly there's a giant wave of euphoria -- a huge sigh of relief that the darkness of the Bush years is finally going to end (true or not). I think MCR's piece speaks eloquently to that. But Obama is with The Program. Already he has talked with the leaders of Japan and South Korea to further cement alliances. And look at the team he is putting together.

One more thing. There is still the question of why the Republican Party chose two cripples for its ticket. It the party that sick? Or did they intentionally hand the election to Obama? Of course there is room for endless speculation here.

sunrnr said...

skipgreeb,

My concerns, thoughts and fears
exactly!

All the fear, hatred, bigotry, reptilian politics, as evidenced on the web during and after the elections, would feed the maelstrom.

Would we survive? Would the United States of America survive? Would the masses even want to try or would they either take refuge or try to take control?

Or would we be like the Phoenix and raise out of the ashes stronger, more united than ever?

I guess I'm a pessimistic optimist and continue to work as I can to support Obama's administration in his quest to help us save ourselves.

namaste

Jenna Orkin said...

NB Patton wrote in part:

Ricefarmer,
I agree 100%.

Regarding the Republican ticket;
There was room for doubt until Lord Vader gave McCain the kiss of death. The instant I saw that, I erupted into laughter with how inconspicuously the vindication of my thoughts was delivered to me by CNN. For me, there is no doubt that this election was "rigged" for Obama. When you feel pretty strongly about that, as I do, you must concede to Obama being just the continuance of the same. You know what, I think he represents something even more sinister because now it is under the guise of the change we all want so much. That is evil in its purist form if you ask me.

And even with McCain's self destructing, horrible excuse of a campaign, looking at the popular vote results scares the living hell out of me! Is close to half of America THAT stupid?!?

We're f***ed.

Dave Z said...

I get it. I get it!

We have hit a sort of turning here and it is global. A bright ball of hope is burning on our horizon.

The structures of greed are tumbling around us.

A black man has been elected president.

We are at a global consciousness turning.

Keep your eyes on hope. Be creative. Start singing a new song of which you don't know the end of it. Gather your community. Speak of joyful things. Go out in the wind and feel the sunlight on your face. Pick up your drawing pencils. Swing your partner. Take a walk with a friend and talk of joy. Laugh.

We are at a turning. Let hope shine forth.

Jesus is Lord.

NB Patton said...

Wow,
I have for the first time on this blog been a victim of totally needless censorship. Before today I thought FTW Admin (JO) was only editing vulgarity in blogger's posts. I didn't understand the validity of their claims until now.

To Lara Braveheart and others,...
I sincerely apologize for dismissing your anger, I didn't fully understand it because I didn't see what was being edited! I guess being the victim wakes you up a bit. I am very much appalled that this is happening on this blog, no matter how minor the edits are.

We are all grown adults capable of rational, clear, and critical thought, we don't need you to protect us from anything. I want to go on record as being VEHEMENTLY opposed to FTW admin editing the intellectual content of MCR's readership's blog entries!

Note: what was removed from my last entry was NOT vulgarity! It was simply my opinion, and it was not at all radical. As a matter of fact it was regarding an unalienable right. Not to mention that obviously the 1st in the bill of rights means little to FTW Admin.

I'm so confused right now... This should be the LAST PLACE ON EARTH that one would encounter censorship...

I hope, in the name of honor and justice, this entry is posted in its original unedited form.

guitarbuddy said...

I just wanted to add my two cents that this has been an excellent discussion jump started by Andy's inspired and thoughtful post. I admit to being mostly cynical and jaded with regards to the elections after watching the obvious roll over by the Kerry/Edwards team in '04. When Obama began his ascent, and powerful, moneyed people began lining up in their support of him, it appeared quite obvious he was being chosen for us, a "change we could believe in" in a marketing-driven world where such phrases are just as likely used to sell toothpaste as candidates. Obama's pledge that he would go after the terrorists in Pakistan seemed all I needed to know that he was playing for the same team.

In spite of it all my wife and I watched the election results in real time on my computer (we don't own a TV) via the BBC, which we trusted more to give us the lowdown than any of the US networks. And I was very happy Obama won. A McCain/Palin administration would have meant the end of the world as we know it, or what's left of what we thought we knew of it. It's hard to take "change" seriously when so of the world has been clear-cut, bulldozed, paved over, and "made safe for democracy" via the most hellish means of modern science and industry. "In wildness is the preservation of the world" said Thoreau, but what we've gotten instead are gated garden communities for the rich and powerful and toxic waste dumps for the rest of us. Change I can believe in would start with reclaiming some of this lost wildness, ripping up a portion of the millions of square miles of pavement so that we can have some trees, flowers, and critters to rejuvenate our battered spirits.

los doggies said...

Larry Chin says it best!
CHIN!!!

NewMatrix said...

My sentiments exactly. I'm not holding my breath over the potential for a PROGRESSIVE Obama administration. Look at the Zionist he's picked as his Chief of Staff (Rahm Emanuel) for example. Expecting change? Count on an Obamanation (thanks to George Ure for coining that one) for the next 4 years -- if he's lucky enough to last that long.

Anonymous said...

The unity among Obama's supporters who want change, does not guarantee that Obama will deliver that change. Chris Floyd has proposed a nice litmus test for any future actions Obama might take, simple ask yourself: "What if Bush did it?"

If Obama is truly the vehicle for change his supporters believe he is, then we need some firm metrics to measure this needed change. At a minimum, return to the rule of law and the Constitution are critical. I suggest everyone write down a list of abuses that occurred during the Bush Dark Ages that must be addressed, lest Obama take his supporters down the slippery slope of acquiescence to Bush's New World Order. Start with:

-Repeal of the Patriot Act
-An end to CIA torture in any form
-Closure of Guantanamo and other secret prisons abroad
-Complete withdrawal from Iraq; no 50,000 troop occupying army should be stationed there
-It's time to dismantle the empire. Closure of many of the USA's 700 military bases around the world would help balance the budget, and improve the USA's political standing abroad
-Adopt a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons
-Act as an honest broker for peace between Israel and Palestine
-No telecom amnesty for spying on U.S. citizens
-An end to corporate welfare for Wall Street
-Most importantly, prosecution of the war criminals in the Bush administration, to restore faith in the USA as a nation of just law and order

Think of your list of expectations for Obama as a line in the sand.

In short, Obama needs to be judged by his record, not his rhetoric. And his record to date is just a few steps short of the extremist right. The election of Obama has just steered much of the dissent in the USA back into that dead-end known as the Democrat Party. There is no hard evidence to believe the Democrat Party once again stands for labor, civil rights, and the environment as it appeared to in the 50's and 60's.

The very grave danger right now with Obama's victory, is that if the stockholders of the empire want war with Iran, or Pakistan, or Russia, that half of the nation that would have opposed Bush on such a move will, as Chris Floyd cautions: suddenly discover the wisdom and effectiveness of judiciously applied, expertly managed "pre-emptive" strikes..."You can trust Obama; he's too cool and rational to go off half-cocked the way Bush would. If he says we need to do this, then you know that it's been well thought-out and the right thing to do."

Howlin_Dog said...

I type this while thinking of the words to the song "Both Sides Now". Just like that song, I am happy and proud when I talk to my foreign friends about being an American. The people have temporaily set aside their differences and have embraced a common desire. The sign "Rednecks for Obama" I saw at one rally shows how far we have come.
Now on the other side. The voting record as well as the finacing record of Obama tells me it ain't so.
Even more is the map Mike taught us so well. Create a Crisis... Fix the Crisis... and make money on both sides. That as well as the need for future "demand destruction" that must occur leads me to vision that scares the hell out of me.
There can be no crisis unless there is a "them" or a boogey man to blame it on. With Obama being a man of color and the questions about the MLK assisination and the continual divide and conquer method used by the true rulers scares the hell out of this old progressive hillbilly.

Unknown said...

Hopefully this post will not get censored...

youtube : Webster Tarpley The men behind Barack Obama

It's 2 videos, really interesting commentary on the Obama machine.

I'm really curious to hear what Mike's take on Webster's analysis...

guitarbuddy said...

This is an addition to Mark's list below. Stop construction on the so-called "Border Wall" between the US and Mexico. This has already wreaked a tremendous amount of environmental and spiritual damage to both countries needs to go away immediately.

Kim said...

The fact "The elites" realised someone like Obama had to be elected, in order to channel and contain public sentiment, is (in itself), a victory for the people. But if the "The elites" intend to use Obama as "Front" for business as usual (as I'm sure they do), they'll quickly discover those who arrogant enough to think they hold The Fates on a leash, get eaten for breakfast by them . . .

Unknown said...

check this:
http://www.kareldonk.com/karel/2008/11/05/barack-obama-more-of-the-same/

mskitty said...

Obama's money was from big banks? Please! Maybe some, I honestly don't know. But what I do know is that many many people donated $50-$100 to a campaign for the first time ever in their lives. The long voting lines showed that many many people voted for the 1st time ever in their lives.

They say he is a good listener, so let's talk to him. Let's also work really hard for 3rd party ballot access. because if the Democrats don't get it right this time, it's time for a 3rd party revolution.