Still the Same Old Song

We're in This Together

We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For from PuppetGov on Vimeo.

Thank you, Howard

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist, died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 87.

Zinn was an early voice against the war in Vietnam and in his best-known book, "A People's History of the United States" (1980), he presented as heroes not the Founding Fathers (many of them were slaveholders,as Dr. Zinn pointed out) but instead the likes of the common farmers of Shays' Rebellion and the union organizers of the 1930s.

Howard Zinn was a stand-up guy and one of the few men I have ever admired.

If you want to know what an American patriot really looks like, look to him.

sj

One of Howrd Zinn's best pieces:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/28-7

The State of the Union (in B flat)

We don't need you to tell us what the state of the union is, Mr. Obama.
We're living in it.
Maybe you should ask us instead.

You want to know what the state of the union is?
It stinks.
And you can’t blame Bush anymore.
This god-awful mess is all yours, Baby.

What have you accomplished in your first year?
It’s an impressive list.
Here are just a few of the highlights:

1. You’ve escalated unlawful wars in Pakistan and Yemen.

2. You’ve continued the unlawful war in Iraq and you’ve escalated the unlawful war in Afghanistan.

3. You’ve escalated rhetoric to expand unlawful war in Iran, including an official policy of first-strike use of nuclear weapons if we think Iran might possibly be a threat. Maybe. Someday.

4. You’ve refused to prosecute torturers and other war criminals and in so doing have become an accessory after the fact in their crimes.

5. You have claimed the authority to torture, imprison or even murder American citizens upon pronouncing them ineligible for the inalienable rights guaranteed by our Constitution.

6. You’ve continued and expanded the shamefully unlawful and tyrannical practices of indefinite detention and rendition.

7. You’ve facilitated the largest transfer of taxpayer wealth to the elite corporate class in American history. No easy task, that.

8. You’ve increased the already-bloated military budget to even more staggering heights while neglecting everything else.

9. You’ve increased the militarization of law enforcement to the extent that we’ll now have the same trigger-happy nitwits patrolling our streets as we have indiscriminately gunning down innocent people in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

10. And, oh yes, now you’ve apparently invaded Haiti.


People are unemployed.
They’re losing their homes.
They can’t afford health care, and more and more of those troops you and your cronies use once then throw away, are living on the street.
Our roads and bridges are in ill repair, half our kids can’t read and the other half can’t find America on a world map.
Fire/rescue/EMS resources are strapped, the cops are out of control, and the Supreme Court has decided that while Guantanamo prisoners are not “persons,” corporations are.

That’s the state of the fucking union, Mr. President.

And it stinks.

Thanks a lot.



sj

Show Me Where It Says THAT in the Constitution....

"Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose "a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests." They're entitled to no charges, no trial, no ability to contest the accusations."

- Glenn Greenwald

Read the rest here:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/27-9

Better Check those Pants...

"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank. "

- Candidate Barack Obama, October 27, 2007.

It Only Hurts When I Laugh...

Or maybe I have to laugh because it hurts.

Anyway, here are a few comments about the economy that are going around.

Maybe you've got one to add?

sj



The economy is SO bad......

,,,I can’t even afford to pay attention

…the Crips and the Blods are car-pooling

…it’s now the Fortune 100

…I got a pre-declined credit card in the mail

…CEO’s are playing minature golf

…rich people are having to fire their nannies and learn their kids’ names

...I'd have to get a second-mortgage just to weigh myself

…at fast food joints they now say “Can you afford fries with that?”

…and Exxon-Mobile has laid off 25 Congressmen

and

...Instead of saying "Don't take any wooden nickels," take 'em. The lumber in them is now worth 9 cents.