Friday, December 19, 2008

Wring Out The Old, And Hurry


2009 will bring a new administration to the USA and new hope to many Americans and much of the world. But that new executive staff will continue to support and attempt to maintain an old system with current problems that could be the beginning of the end of finance capitalism, if not nature itself. They will offer a brief revival of industrial capitalism , but that is likely to bring only temporary relief . So when the celebration is over and the euphoria induced by high flown rhetoric wears off to reveal the ongoing disaster, what will we have to be hopeful about?

Maybe the end of our worst administration in history and the election of an at least half nonwhite man as president is enough, for the moment. But soon after the immediate gratification commodity Americans have been socialized to purchase wears off, for perhaps the last time , we’ll need to make changes that go far beyond what the new president implied with his rhetoric or indicates with his appointments.

Capitalism has been running on fossil fuel power and Ponzi scheme economics for so long that many think it is some natural way of life. But people have been fighting its colossal contradictions for generations and attempting to end its domination of social reality, even succeeding in the case of Cuba. Now that many more see the terrible crisis it has brought to the world, nations like Venezuela and Bolivia have elected governments that openly speak of the need to end capitalism before it ends civilization. They are working to develop a new phase of social organization that respects humanity and the environment in ways which the present system’s core principles cannot allow . We need to join them, and very soon, or it will be too late for us to affect the future in anything but a terribly negative way.

Present attempts to sustain capital at public expense would lead to a revolution if Americans were better organized and less confused about their political economic system. But even with the shaping of our collective consciousness by corporate mind managers, there are indications that we may not allow continued robbery of our national wealth. But passive consumers need to become still more active citizens in order to claim rightful control of what they create, but others somehow own.

As quickly as this old system is falling apart, we have to fashion a new one that will serve humanity and respect nature, rather than simply use and abuse them to generate wealth for a minority. We can’t do that under a leadership with undying faith that capital must endure and bring further material benefit to the old rich , so that they can allow their excess to trickle down to a majority which is becoming the new poor.

Capitalism is so out of control it may no longer be possible to bring it under control. Blood transfusions cannot revive a dead body, nor can infusions of make believe money reanimate a dead system. Belief in eternal life is hopeful religion , but our economic system is a debased religion which has been maintained by high priests teaching its dogma, and military power destroying any who question, criticize, or rebel against it . That has worked for centuries but now the planet and its people are saying that it cannot be tolerated any longer.

Signs of global rebellion are everywhere, and even if they don't label the oppressive system in the same way, they all speak to the social and environmental threat represented by a dominating force which benefits the few at the expense of the many. If we don't work to transform that system here at its disintegrating center, the rest of the world will have do it without us. That kind of continuation of present divisive politics will make the problems that need cooperative solutions in the future even more difficult, if not impossible to solve.

How much more debt can a majority endure to finance credit for a minority? A generation ago, the entire expense of the New Deal’s temporary salvation of capitalism was less than a trillion dollars in today’s money. We have thus far expended more than 8.5 trillion dollars to unsuccessfully breath life into a monstrous zombie that threatens to devour us all . Unemployment is increasing at a frightening pace, credit is sinking by the minute, and survival itself is becoming a serious problem for what used to be called a middle class. That marketing label was applied to working people who were induced to consume lots of stuff without paying cash, but instead incurring massive debts now impossible to pay.

One of the crippling contradictions of capitalism is that owners must pay workers less, so that they can profit more . But those workers must be able to consume what they produce, so capital has built a credit casino in which people make purchases with plastic instead of money. And despite the waste and immorality of an economy without health care for millions of humans but with medical care for millions of pets, Americans rely on credit cards in order to pay for the food, clothing and shelter which they depend on for their very survival. And now their credit is being denied by the same banks which they are financing with their public funds.

We are living on borrowed money and time, neither of which can be repaid under presently collapsing capitalism. We need to organically transform our economy before its synthetic malevolence totally poisons the earth and destroys civilization. That calls for a democratic structure we still need to create. Once we begin that process and join the emerging global culture of change we not only can believe in, but absolutely need, 2009 could turn out to be a significant turning point in history. But we need to work fast.

Copyright (c) 2009 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.


frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Frank Scott writes political commentary which appears in the Coastal Post, The Independent Monitor and on his shared blog at:

http://legalienate.blogspot.com

Monday, December 15, 2008

Season's Greetings?

We approach a new year with the problems of the old one looming larger, even as the dark age of the Bush era is ending. Reality is causing more pain and anguish as we try to celebrate the holidays and begin a more positive chapter in our history.

The season of massive consumption has not been what the commercial community needs, with many dependent on the annual shopping frenzy to show a profit for the year. The frenzy revealed itself in a tragedy that saw a mob stampede a corporate employee to death in the rush for bargains that have made shopping possible for many who face a survival crisis more than one of gift giving . But what’s needed for the real economy in which people produce material goods and services - not the financial fiasco that produces immaterial gambling and theft - hasn’t been there and may not be for some time, if ever again.

We’ve heard the present problems compared with the past Great Depression and Roosevelt’s New Deal solution , but we may be facing a combination of those terms. For all the rhetoric about change and notions that an African American president will automatically bring about something radically different, we face a crisis that could produce a New Depression.

We’re deeply immersed in the same old political economy, with new people appointed supposedly for change, but really dedicated to maintaining that system . Despite high flown rhetoric to the contrary, that means it , the system of private profit, comes before us, the public who create that profit .

In a form of relatively polite national socialism , public funds are being shoveled by the trillions into the coffers of private financial corporations, with the rationale that these entities are too big to be allowed to fail. But are taxpayers too small to be allowed to succeed ? With almost no questions asked, finance capital gets hundreds of billions, but when industry asks for a fraction of that aid , controversy and congressional hearings decide whether we might be better off if millions of jobs should simply be allowed to vanish.

Capital is being placed under government control, but this “friendly fascism” without any nationalization is at the expense of a public which, so far, is exercising no control at all. And we face total public failure if we do not act to transform the system that profits a minority by inflicting ever greater loss on the majority . If such economics are the result of a political democracy, then terminal cancer is the result of a healthy immune system.

The incredible debt we are incurring to bail out finance capital could make us all wealthy, if we used those trillions to create employment, education and health care for the entire population , and to achieve social peace and environmental balance. We will see some new policies of public spending to rebuild infrastructure and stimulate consumption , but what we really need and can well afford is full security guaranteed to all our people. That’s the way a rich society like our own should conduct itself, but it must first be removed from minority control and placed under the rule of a democratic majority.

The thought that such a situation prevailed with the last election is a dream worthy of a nation in deep slumber. Given our dreadful history of slavery and racism, there is genuine pleasure to be found in the election of Obama, but carrying that symbolic joy too far indicates a society still not facing a harsh reality. And it will get worse, until we demand that the economy works for the greater good of all the people, and not simply for the benefit of a chosen few.

Continued dedication to preserving capitalism and America's world domination spells future disaster. And if you think Obama is a socialist or mankind’s salvation because he’s indicated a willingness to talk to our alleged enemies, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. That might seem like progress after the Bush experience, but masters always talked to their slaves, and that did nothing to change the relationship . We have to not only talk but act as if we understand a reality in which we don’t own or control the world, and our power and wealth do not make us chosen people of the planet. Obama’s foreign policy appointments have shown no relationship to such thinking, which is what we must have to reach a future that gets us out of the present dilemma by transforming our society and its role in the world.

Real democracy in the USA could help achieve real democracy in other places, especially by not interfering in their political economies. Ending our foreign meddling will help bring international peace and a stop to what is called global terrorism. That is simply the bloody action taken by native amateur killers to defend their nations and cultures from the bloody action of foreign professional killers, and when those foreigners back off, terrorism will end. Then and only then will there be a chance for real peace in places like the middle east, where apartheid Israel can become democratic Palestine, with immigrants and natives living as equals and not as colonial superiors and colonized inferiors.

None of that can happen without an active population that is ready to agitate, educate and organize its citizenry to pressure the new president to do its bidding, and not continue the old order under the cover of new rhetoric. And so:

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, but please don't just wish or pray for a better future . Demand it as well , take action to get it, and make the future a newer and better reality, rather than a newer and more deadly depression.
Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Frank Scott writes political commentary which appears in the Coastal Post, The Independent Monitor and on his shared blog at:

http://legalienate.blogspot.com

Thursday, November 20, 2008

New Deal? We Need A New Deck!

We enter the season of frenzied consumption with our economy in its worst condition in more than a generation. This means we won’t be able to celebrate Jesus , Chanukah or the Solstice by recklessly spending money we never really had . Private sector credit and employment are declining as fast as the public sector burdens of a bankrupt system are soaring. What was deified as globalization - humanity’s forced worship at the market church of the profit - has revealed itself as the faster deterioration of nature and people, reduced to commodities by the plunder, waste and devastation of capitalism.

The least popular president in history will soon be replaced by an at least momentarily most popular realization of symbolic hope. Our ugly history of slavery and racism justify some genuine celebration for the election of Obama. Symbols are important for what they represent, but you can't eat a symbol of a meal, or live in the symbol of a house. A symbol won't do much for solving the problem of a system that both the outgoing dim bulb and the incoming bright light believe is god’s gift to the world. The new CEO is smarter than the old one, but the company is still in the same business, and our problem is the business, not simply the boss.


So maybe without maximum credit and with only minimal cash, we will reach out to one another with love instead of commodities and make this an actual season of peace, joy, caring and sharing? Hope for the best, but always be prepared for the worst. This economy depends on us spending money we don’t have, on things we don't need, often for people we don't even like. While such contradictions are the core of the system , without that seasonal madness we will see even more unemployment , debt and hardship. What’s a nation to do?

Creating change we can believe in would be nice, but when we really need change in substance , what we’re likely to get is change in style .

We’re apt to see a return of primitive social democratic policies which existed before the regression to uncontrolled free marketeering. There will be money for infrastructure repair, perhaps another rebate to send us out shopping, and help for states and municipalities faced with severe cuts in support of those who need the most and always get the least. But what we require is a massive program for public works that creates full employment, environmental sensibility, and guarantees health care and education for all by spending trillions more than we have already squandered on finance capital and its imperial wars. In other words, spending to benefit the people and the country, not the people’s leaders and the country’s owners.

According to grade school civics, we are all the democratic leaders and owners of the nation, but it’s time to stop mouthing childishly empty words as though rote repetition was reality, and begin acting as adults in a real democracy by physically creating that reality.

Where would we get those trillions of dollars? From the same place we get them now, except that instead of spending them on waste, war and welfare for the wealthy, they’d be spent on saving America, and helping save the world . The last time we faced a Great Depression, as it was called, programs were introduced that made life better for many who were suffering, but they were a “New Deal” primarily created to save the political economy for capitalism. We have reached a point at which it is necessary to create programs to save the nation , humanity and the planet from capitalism . That means transforming our nation into something it has never been : a society that banishes inequality by practicing political economics that serve all of its citizens, not just some of them. We can invent a label for that democratic solution when we have it, but right now it’s important to understand that our problem is the global corporation of capitalism , and not the sex , race or religion of its CEO.

We’re likely to see domestic policy changes that will be helpful in the short term , as reactionary economics is replaced by a less fanatic tendency that doesn’t rely on totally uncontrolled market forces. But however secular it may seem by comparison to the previous holy war conducted against commoners on behalf of the rich, foreign policy will be handled by the same people who have been working to perpetuate America’s imperial domain . That global order is as near collapse as the domestic financial system, but attempts will be made to maintain America’s rule, which is plainly failing though our leadership still doesn’t seem to understand. Rather than wait for them to find out, it is for us to intervene, in truly democratic fashion, and demand action to turn this system around before it destroys not only our society, but a good part of nature and the rest of the world as well.

Obama has been praised for expressing a desire to speak with our supposed adversaries, in contrast to the belligerent idiocy of the previous CEO. But masters spoke to their slaves, all the time, and that did not change their relationship one bit. We need to not only talk, but act to end our false notion of superiority over others, the ridiculous idea that we are a chosen people by virtue of national wealth and military power, and that the world must bow to our superiority. It will take a social movement larger and more focused than the one that got him elected to affect such a change in American policy towards the more than six billion people of the planet. And we will need such a movement to transform our political economy at home to one of real equality, in order to help create that just and peaceful world.


Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Monday, November 10, 2008

New Package: Old Contents

The conflict between Joe Six-Pack and Two-Buck Chuck was resolved after the longest , most expensive presidential campaign in history. Consumers of budget beer and cheap wine were set against one another by the owners of both the brewery and the winery. Imaginary divisions have once again been used to keep manual and mental workers from noticing that they are employed by the same people:

The wealthy they currently bail out with their tax dollars, at the risk of their own individual and social bankruptcy. A new regime has arrived, and the old system prevails. So what's new?

Symbolism may be more important than any substance Obama is thought to have. Politically, he was never more than the John Kerry of 2004 , and far less a voice of the unrepresented than the Jesse Jackson of 1984. But his affirmative action team's light and bright contrast to the other affirmative action team's dark and dim made it easy. And his impact may be greater in a world in which most people are not white, and have been furious with the white western imperial menace. If international faith, like that of the multitudes here, can be rewarded with something more than symbolism, the world will change for the better. But don't hang by your lip waiting for such change.

The professional hysterics who claimed the election would be stolen will now have to find other employment, and broadcast media will suffer declining revenue with the spending orgy of the campaign ended. But the general public may suffer the greatest loss .

Evangelicals who believe Israel was ordained by god are momentarily subdued, but zionists who see Israel as sacred homeland for europeans who believe they are semites - the way Nigerians are native to Sweden - retain control. A holder of dual Israeli-US citizenship is the new White House Chief of Staff, and the tragedy of Gaza and Palestine will likely continue, as will the warlike policy towards Iran. We can only hope the corporate rulers who know that talk is not only cheap, but more profitable than war, which kills consumers, will keep the new president from going to extremes beyond normally brutal practice.

But the american military - political juggernaut remains , and it will continue threatening movements for peace , social justice and real democracy wherever they exist , even if its style differs from the regime it replaces. So, where are we?

In a world that has spread U.S. violence to Syria and Pakistan, with plans to increase the assault on Afghanistan. Our meddling in other nations will not stop under the new regime, though it may become lower key than it was under Bush . Will that represent change? About as much as a tax payer bail out of finance capital means we've changed to socialist economics. While that belief is popular among those who think the post office is socialism and the library is communism, we will see minimal financial redistribution under another affirmative action program for capitalism .

A return to primitive social democratic policies is at hand. That means money for some things we actually need, like infrastructure repair , slight regulation of the market and a few dollars for the majority who work for a living . At least until the next breakdown in our Ponzi Scheme economy, based on Vegas principles that guarantee profits for the house owners by assuring loss for the house tenants. The economy in which people work to survive is quite real, but the gambling casino that enriches our rulers is a creation of faith based belief, as much as any theory of intelligent design or the big bang as originators of the universe. But we pay a heavy price, in the material world, for these intrigues in the immaterial.

From 1979 to 2008 the top 1% income group in the U.S.A. gained $600 billion annually , while the bottom 80 percent lost that same $600 billion. That's an average yearly gain of $500,000 at the top, while the bottom lost an average $8,000. Do we need a radical redistribution of income? Will Obama bring it about? Are you serious?


Between October 2007 and October 2008, $8.3 trillion vanished from Wall Street, which is our economic Vatican, though that Roman religious center may have more substance than the myth that serves as foundation for capital's capitol. Where did those trillions come from? Where did they go? Let's put those mind boggling numbers into some perspective:

1 trillion seconds = 32,000 years. More than 8 trillion dollars?

Personal debt in the United States was $13.8 trillion in March of 2008, while total reported income for 2007 was $12.4 trillion. If we owe more than 100% of what we make, that leaves nothing for rent, mortgage, food, clothing, health care, burgers , ballet and whatever else we need to make life wonderful, without even more borrowing. How can we survive without going into even greater debt than we've already accumulated? And credit is tightening, fast, while jobs are vanishing, even faster.

These are much bigger numbers and more serious problems than any racial symbolism or choreographed celebration can solve without radical transformation of a system that Obama is sworn to serve, not change.

Let's hope that the spirit of celebration becomes a force demanding real change, before the dream of a bright new day becomes the nightmare of a very long dark night. That fan club for an individual needs to become a movement for society, before war, unemployment and unpayable debts turn their idol into a scapegoat, and our nation into a dead zone . People need to keep the faith, by all means. But we can’t just exult over surface change and pray that it gets better. We need to organize for democratic change of substance, and work to create it, very soon.



Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Friday, November 7, 2008

Obama and the Politics of Euphoria

After a seemingly eternal campaign in which Barack Obama shattered George Bush's record for gluttonous political expenditure, the U.S. has its first African American president. What it doesn't have is a president committed to a progressive agenda.

It would have been nice to have Cynthia McKinney as our first African-American president. She put Obama to shame by daring to intelligently discuss the dreadful problems the U.S. now faces, and how it might overcome them. She's got more balls than Obama and all the male members of Congress put together, but she's been run out of the House of Representatives twice by the Israel-forever fanatics, and therefore must be ignored.

Polls show the American people are much closer to Ralph Nader and McKinney in their political beliefs than they are to Obama. While the people favor a revived New Deal, Obama favors a revived U.S. Empire. His recent appointment of Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff does not bode well for the "change we need." Emanuel is an Israeli agent, a dual citizen, and a fanatic Jewish supremacist who once did a stint in the Israeli Army. In 2006, he was in charge of the Democratic electoral campaigns for Congress and worked to eliminate peace candidates in favor of "realistic" war candidates. Emanuel's brand of pragmatism worries that, in a worst-case scenario, pro-peace politicians might actually eliminate funding for the Iraq war. Since a large majority of Americans have long been opposed to the war, such a policy runs the risk of establishing an actual democracy in the U.S. This is intolerable. Elites must rule, and the people must stay on the sidelines.

As dismal as the political anticlimax of this election is sure to be, it is a victory of sorts that a bi-racial man has risen to the presidency in a deeply racist country that held black people as slaves for over two centuries. But it should be cause for alarm when that bi-racial man immediately appoints a Chief of Staff who has spent his career working to preserve Israeli apartheid. The stark hypocrisy calls for at least some reflection, but we're not seeing any. The evangelistic fervor on display at Obama rallies seems more like a religious revival campaign than it does a political movement. The adoring throngs have what Korean war veterans used to call the "forty mile gaze."

It wouldn't be fair to call Obama a sellout, since he has never challenged the imperial agenda in the first place. He just doesn't believe in democracy. His brand of "change" is slightly less obnoxious than John McCain's, but it's no bargain. He has no problem with the slow genocide in Gaza, favors a stepped up war in Afghanistan, and serenely contemplates a U.S. invasion of Pakistan and nuking of Iran in the interest of "fighting terrorism." In Iraq, he says the Bush "surge" has been a success, so he wants to draw down the troop levels to free up soldiers for expanding the war in Afghanistan. This is planned disaster masquerading as pragmatism. As Malcolm X used to say, you don't plunge a knife six inches into a man's back, then withdraw it two inches and call it progress. Progress would be an end to the politics-of-force altogether. Obama isn't going to stand up for that, we can be sure.

The good news from the election is that the American people have completely repudiated the ideology of the Reagan/Bush years. The bad news is that Obama hasn't, and won't.

-----Michael K. Smith is the author of "Portraits of Empire" and "The Madness of King George (illustrations by Matt Wuerker)," both from Common Courage Press.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Change? Yeah, Right

“It is now clear that the U.S. financial system is in cardiac arrest.”
– New York economist Nouriel Roubini

“The world is on the edge of the abyss because of an irresponsible system.”
– French Prime Minister François Fillon

“If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down.”
-George Bush

And those are supporters of capitalism. Here’s what one socialist has to say :

“The world will never be the same after this crisis. A new world has to emerge, and it is a multipolar world. We are decoupling from the wagon of death.”
-Hugo Chavez

Chavez is kind in calling global capitalism a “wagon” of death , given the speed at which this missile is hurtling towards destruction. Problems unnoticed by establishment leaders only a short while ago have become major threats to the superstructure of an economy which has been rotting at its foundation for quite some time. But present fears expressed by those most responsible for speeding up the process of decomposition never question the system. Only greedy people and bad ideas are responsible for market chaos , and it’s easy to find individual demons for the blame game. But we need to see the whole picture and not just the trees on which mind managers focus our attention, while they blur the rest of the forest. We live as renters in a fast deteriorating public environment , while we are directed to protect only specially chosen private landlords.

This system has always privatized profits and socialized loss, but never to the massive extent of recent experience. The sorry state of political disorganization allows this gigantic rip-off to go on without a furious demand for a new economic order. We collectively lend billions to the banks, and then go to them as individuals and plead for a loan or credit line. But don’t hang by your lip expecting leadership for a new order to come out of this election.

That seemingly endless Halloween Horror of a campaign will likely bring victory (?) to the lesser evil half-white, over the greater evil half-wit. Both serve corporate command, sharing slavish devotion to the privately controlled market, the global empire and the Jewish colonial state in Israel. Representing those with the highest capacity for accumulating wealth , the greater evil has directed his campaign at those with the lowest capacity for accumulating knowledge. The lesser evil has relied on a massive ad campaign stressing symbolic hope and is certainly less debased than the other, as polio is less deadly than cancer. But whichever one moves into the publicly subsidized usually All - White House , both assure that we will still be suffering a malignant disease . The taxpayer burden of support for rich welfare chiselers, now claiming billions in payments almost every day, will continue no matter which chairperson capital has had rubber stamped by a minority of the electorate.

A choice of Nader or McKinney would be for real change, but given the control still exercised in support of crackpot realism , few will cast such a vote. Perverse democracy reproduces perverse leadership, with differences that are physically minimal and only appear significant to the psychologically desperate. But they mean continued disaster for a society still addicted to the political drugs administered by servants of the status quo, presented to them as agents of a word without meaning in this context: change.

The drain on taxpayers is greatest in supporting a global killing machine of weaponry, armies and foreign military bases to make wars that preserve the empire . It will still be a while before this imperial energy guzzler finally runs out of gas, but its over extended forces were helpless in Georgia , and further signs of its diminished capacity are evident, for which we should be at least slightly grateful. The ghouls who wish to increase bloodshed in Afghanistan , like the half-white and the half-wit , can only do so by decreasing bloodshed in Iraq. The end may indeed be near, but it can’t come soon enough for those still in the path of this “wagon of death”.

But singling out presidents, CEOs and other market culprits only clouds the mind with satanic symbols so that a demonic system escapes perception, let alone understanding. For the present that system will continue bringing great wealth to some, but for the future, it threatens more wars, poverty and devastation for all .

We need real democratic change, from the roots of our political economy, and we need to create it before it is forced on us by further calamity . Americans should take heart at foreigners who, with far less material wealth, take control of their own social environments. They are ridding themselves of corrupt and unjust old orders run by and for minorities , and creating truly democratic new ones for the benefit of previously unrepresented and terribly exploited majorities. We will eventually have to do the same thing, for our own survival. The signs are clear that this farce cannot go on much longer, unless we believe in race suicide.

Just don't expect anything substantial to happen after November’s vote , except for; a possible market boom, tales of new riches , the survival of capitalism, and shortly thereafter , the next bust. Let’s hope it isn't the final explosion, and we’d best be working to uncouple ourselves from this “wagon of death” long before that occurs. While prayer for that outcome may be useful to some, action will need to be taken by all for real change to occur.

And that doesn't simply mean changing the age, sex or race of a leader, but the nature and practice of democratic organization of a society in order to truly serve all of its people. In the process of creating such change in the USA, we would not only save ourselves, but help serve humanity as well.

Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Great Depression and the Myth of FDR

For once the ticker tape was not exaggerating.

Panicked traders scrambling to dump everything at once bellowed like a herd of wounded beasts. On the floor of the exchange Post Two descended into outright madness as General Oliver Bridgeman's plummeting U.S. Steel stock flushed the entire economy away. Crouched down to scribble frantically on a pad of paper, Bridgeman leaped up shouting over the din in a vain attempt to stop the hemorrhaging prices.

At Post Four - Anaconda, Caterpillar Tractor, Southern Pacific, U.S. Pipe and Foundry, General Motors - a sweaty trader went insane, shrieking hysterical orders until friends took him by the arm and led him away.

Leading industrials dropped forty points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted a record 13% in a single day. With ruined investors devastated, a reporter announced that brokers were working "like shell shocked soldiers," sweat pouring down their faces, their collars and shirts torn to shreds.

Outside the exchange, a hint of violence charged the air as a silent crowd stood on the steps of Federal Hall, hands in pockets, hats pulled low, eyes fixed grimly ahead. A strange noise arose from the streets - first a murmur, then a hum, finally a roar of stunned disbelief.

At the House of Morgan Thomas Lamont dangled his prince-nez and addressed a mob of reporters: "There has been a little distress selling on the Stock Exchange . . ." Representatives of thirty-five of the largest wire houses on Wall Street issued a joint statement claiming that the market was "fundamentally sound" and that "the worst has passed."

So occurred the Great Crash of 1929. The reason was a growing disequilibrium between capitalism's immense productive capacity and its aggregate purchasing power. In the twenties low wages and high profits caused industrial productivity to outstrip consumer purchasing power. By the end of the decade a microscopic minority of investors possessed far more wealth than it could productively spend or invest while 70% of non-farm families lacked sufficient income with which to sustain an adequate diet. Six million families, 42% of the total, earned less than $1000 a year and could not make the profit system respond to their unmet needs.

Soaring productivity exacerbated the problem, as mechanization, increasing sophistication of industrial processing, and greater specialization of the labor force produced more for less and concentrated wealth in ever fewer hands. Foreign investment, installment credit, and stock speculation postponed the day of reckoning for a short time, but when hugely inflated stock prices and proliferating numbers of stocks spooked buyers in October 1929, the market went into a deep crash.

Amidst the vast economic misery occasioned by the collapse, an increasingly militant working class resistance emerged, ushering in social democratic reforms that had been won decades earlier in more civilized societies. In 1932, the Norris-LaGuardia Act was passed, exempting unions from antitrust prosecution. Three years later the Wagner Act legalized the right to organize, elevating workers from an anonymous mass of productive atoms to a legitimate class whose grievances had to be negotiated. The same year the Social Security Act opened the door to government funded old-age insurance - over the screams of private industry. (Old age pensions had been enacted in Bismarck's Germany in 1870, in Austria in 1881, Norway in 1894, Finland in 1895, Britain in 1897, and France, Italy, and Denmark in 1898.)

The upsurge of strikes, demonstrations, and factory occupations that made such changes possible alarmed the business community, which worried about revolution and the guillotine just a few years after having declared history over with an assumed permanent victory for the business classes. The National Association of Manufacturers warned in 1938 that "the newly realized political power of the masses" posed unprecedented danger. "Unless their thinking is directed," it added, "we are definitely headed for adversity." A corporate counteroffensive quickly developed new methods of strike-breaking, manipulative "human relations" policies in personnel, and enormous propaganda efforts dedicated to smearing union organizers as treasonous "Reds."

Contrary to much mythologizing, President Roosevelt sought to harness the working class to capitalism, not emancipate it from the exploitative system, and he actually started out more conservatively than Herbert Hoover. He handed government authority to people who wanted to control workers and retain power in the business classes. He was sincere in his efforts to ameliorate the worst symptoms of the profit system, but only in order to stabilize it and prevent stronger measures from being undertaken by angry workers determined to find a permanent cure to the booms, busts, panics, and breakdowns that had plunged millions of workers into untold misery for generations. For example, the Wagner Act was designed to reverse labor's radical direction and restore passivity and continuous production by institutionalizing the authority of conservative labor leaders over the rank and file. The goal was to direct labor militancy into legalistic procedure and away from sit-down strikes. In general, FDR's labor laws sought to make labor "responsible" by inducing its leaders to become dependent on state and corporate support that could later be contracted or withdrawn.

Similarly, federal relief was implemented to cool off mass protest, defeat Norman Thomas's bid for the presidency as the Socialist Party nominee, limit violent upheaval, and banish the threat of revolution. Wherever organized labor was strong, the New Deal offered concessions, but where it was weak it declined to help; and when militant upheaval abated, aid was sharply cut, imposing suffering worse than any since the Crash itself.

Such policies were only to be expected from FDR's appointees, most of whom were decidedly anti-working class. His first Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, was from the overtly racist and anti-labor wing of the Democratic Party. Jesse Jones, a conservative millionaire newspaper owner, headed the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and later the Commerce Department, and was a great friend of the monopolists. War Secretary Henry Stimson was a Wall Street attorney who negotiated General Somoza into power in Nicaragua. The under-secretary of State was Edward Stettinius, a U.S. Steel millionaire. The Chief of the National Recovery Administration was General Hugh H. Johnson, who went to San Francisco and declared the 1934 general strike there a "menace to the government," which it certainly was. But he offered no clue why government that ushered in economic collapse shouldn't be menaced with workers' control.

New Deal reforms did go well beyond prior legislation, but they never contemplated far-reaching changes in the system that had created the disaster. The Roosevelt Administration's reforms called not for a realignment of classes, but for industry cooperation in implementing government-directed reforms. As a result, men were paid to rake leaves and build mausoleums, but not to work idle machines producing the means to feed and clothe themselves. Only massive public enterprise could have moved the U.S. fully into the era of social democracy, but the New Deal shunned social planning and rejected government responsibility for full employment, in favor of high joblessness and unemployment insurance. Charity for workers and entitlement for the corporations that held them down continued to be the operative values.

In fact, the New Deal was a boon to private industry. The "code authorities" of the National Recovery Administration were drawn heavily from the ranks of big business. They restricted production and set prices that benefited major corporations at the expense of their smaller rivals,, and primed the production pump by funneling torrents of public cash into the hands of financial elites. In nine years the Reconstruction Finance Insurance Corporation extended big business $15 billion in loans.

The federal housing program awarded subsidies to construction firms and insured the loans of mortgage bankers. Agricultural price supports and production cutbacks aided large producers while displacing tenant farmers and sharecroppers when federal acreage rental programs withdrew lands from cultivation. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided subsistence jobs for just three million of the 15 million people out of work. The Works Project Administration sporadically employed 9 million people at wages below the norm in private industry. Of twelve million people working for less than 40 cents an hour, only half a million benefited from the minimum wage law - just over 4% of them. The Social Security Act covered but half the population and offered no medical insurance or protection against pre-retirement illness. Welfare programs were funded not by a wealth tax, but by regressive payroll and sales taxes.

Finally, only the massive war orders of the 1940s lifted the economy out of the Depression, so if anyone deserves credit for curing that catastrophe it is Adolf Hitler, not Franklin Roosevelt.

As for the grotesquely lopsided distribution of wealth that precipitated this and every other economic crisis under capitalism, researchers have found that income inequality persisted unchanged through the Hoover, Roosevelt and Truman years.


Sources:

Professor Frank Stricker, "Causes of the Great Depression," California State University Dominguez Hills course materials 1993

Howard Zinn, "A People's History of the United States," (Harper, 1995)

Michael Parenti, "Democracy For the Few," (St. Martins, 1995)

Daniel R. Fusfeld, "The Economic Thought of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Origins of the New Deal," (Columbia, 1954)

I. F. Stone, "The War Years, 1939-1945," (Little Brown & Company, 1988)

Noam Chomsky, "Deterring Democracy," (Hill and Wang, 1991)

Noam Chomsky, "Year 501 - The Conquest Continues," (South End, 1993)

Richard O. Boyer and Herber M. Morais, "Labor's Untold Story," (Cameron Associates, 1955)

John Spritzler, "The People As Enemy - The Leaders' Hidden Agenda in World War II," (Black Rose, 2003)

Gardner, Lloyd C., "Safe For Democracy: The Anglo-American Response to Revolution, 1913-1923," (Oxford, 1984)

Wiesen-Cook, Blanche, "Eleanor Roosevelt - The Defining Years, 1933-1938," (Penguin, 1999)

------Michael K. Smith is the author of "The Madness of King George" (illustrations by Matt Wuerker), "Portraits of Empire," and "Rise To Empire" (forthcoming), all with Common Courage Press

Friday, October 10, 2008

CHANGE?

“It is now clear that the U.S. financial system is in cardiac arrest.”
– New York University economist Nouriel Roubini

“The world is on the edge of the abyss because of an irresponsible system.”
– French Prime Minister François Fillon

“If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down.”
-George Bush

And those are supporters of capitalism. Imagine what socialist critics of the system are saying? Here’s an example:

“The world will never be the same after this crisis. A new world has to emerge, and it is a multipolar world. We are decoupling from the wagon of death.”
-Hugo Chavez

Calling global capitalism a “wagon of death” might seem rather kind, given the sonic pace at which this missile seems to be speeding towards destruction. Problems totally unnoticed by mainstream economists and politicians only a short while ago have become major threats to the entire superstructure of the global economy. Its foundation has been rotting for quite some time, but present cries of fear and panic coming from those most responsible for speeding up the process of decomposition will not look to the system, but only the evil people and bad ideas which they blame for this deadly mess.

In the short term it will be easy to find demons for the individual blame game, but for the long term we’d better begin looking at the whole picture and not just which trees our mind managers choose to bring into sharp focus, while they blur the forest.

The shock and awe of murderous foreign policy has always been an extension of the shuck, jive and owe of domestic economic policy. But none of that works any more, even though it may still take a while for this imperial energy guzzler to finally run out of military gas. Already, the puppet in Georgia saw how weak the imperial protector was when he foolishly invaded Ossetia and expected aid from the U.S. and its NATO lackeys. But over extended global forces could hardly help, and the Russians easily prevailed while asserting themselves, once again, as a global power . Further signs of systemic diminished capacity are evident, for which the world should be slightly grateful. For the murderous ghouls who wish to do so , the only way to increase bloodshed in Afghanistan is to decrease bloodletting in Iraq. The end may indeed be near, but it can’t come soon enough for those still in the path of this “wagon of death”.

And the seemingly endless Halloween show of a presidential campaign will finally bring victory (?) to either the Democrat half - white lesser evil, or the Republican half - wit greater evil. Both are servants of the same corporate command, sharing slavish devotion to global empire and the Jewish colonial state of Israel. One may certainly be less debased than the other, as polio is less malevolent than cancer. But whichever one moves into the subsidized housing at the usually all-White House, both assure that we will still be suffering a malignant disease . It will only add to the taxpayer burden of support for the rich minority of welfare chiselers, now claiming hundreds of billions from the majority bill payers, every minute of every day.


Corporate media and members of congress responsible for letting things get out of hand are fond of singling out overpaid CEOs and other market culprits, but naming individuals only continues clouding minds with satanic symbols so that a truly demonic system cannot be perceived. That system works to continue bringing short term wealth to a few, but only by threatening everyone else with long term destitution.

A vote for Nader or McKinney will be for real and not simply rhetorical change, but only a few will cast it , given the control mind management still exercises over the population. That control may not last much longer, and good riddance. Like the perverse economy, perverse democracy can only reproduce perverted leadership, with differences that only look significant to those who can afford to pay for them. But they represent continued disasters for those unable to afford the drug of servants of the status quo , presented to them as agents of populist change.

We desperately need real democratic change, and not the kind that is forced on us by calamity and war. The kind being affected by foreigners who are demanding and taking control of their own social environments, ridding themselves of the old order by creating a new one. We will eventually have to do the same thing, for our own survival. The signs are clear that this farce cannot go on much longer, unless we consider committing race suicide.

Just don't expect anything substantial to happen after November, except for a possible temporary market boom and tales of new riches and the survival of capitalism, which will soon be followed by the next bust. Let’s hope it isn't the final explosion. But we’d best be uncoupling ourselves from this “wagon of death” before that occurs, and while prayer may be useful to some, action will need to be taken by all for real change to occur. And it must be not simply in the age, sex or race of an individual leader, but in the nature and practice of a democratic organization of society to truly serve all of our people. We could help save humanity in the process. We’d better get to it, fast.

Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Sunday, September 21, 2008

More Headline News from a Rational Empire

Market seesaws wildly on news that $85 billion taxpayer bailout resembles attempt to extinguish forest fire with a hypodermic needle. Treasury Secretary Paulson vows to "go the distance," promises taxpayers will "pay back every last dime that has been stolen from them." Fed Chairman Bernanke assures brokers that public will pick up tab for "anything you want to rob in the future, too." McCain declares economy "fundamentally sound"; Obama calls for "kinder, gentler piracy."

Obama accuses McCain of "same old, same old." Outraged Palin condemns Obama for ridiculing McCain's advanced age.

McCain accuses Obama of advocating sex education for infants. Obama praises McCain's service record, says getting shot down is "a magnificent achievement every American ought to take pride in." Independent voters form breakaway "Nausea Party," promise a "barf bag in every polling booth." Voter support soars.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement hires Mexican kidnapping ring . . . Impressed by record of 43,281 kidnappings this year, Washington contracts Mexican drug cartels to track down illegal immigrants in the U.S. "These people really know how hide and seek is played" said Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security. The drug barons' new duties will apparently only involve bookkeeping adjustments, since most of them are already on the Drug Enforcement Agency's payroll fighting the "war on drugs."

Rice accuses newly installed Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo of "terrorism without borders." "He refuses to take any salary and says the elimination of poverty is his number one priority," complains U.S. Secretary of State, adding that his Christian Bolshevism is "spreading all over Latin America." She recommends that Lugo, a former priest, "stop reading that liberation theology garbage."

Obama says "Jesus died for my sins," McCain says he is "saved and forgiven," both candidates embrace "pulverize thy neighbor" foreign policy in name of Christ. Human Rights Watch condemns Hugo Chavez for not appointing more coup plotters to high office.

U.S. extends control to 3% of Afghanistan, declares victory amidst sea of opium poppies. With Kabul a maze of blast walls, sandbags, and concertina wire, U.S. airstrikes wipe out 12 orphanages and 18 schools, killing 541 Afghan children. President Bush declares "mission accomplished," expresses regret so many "Taliban militants" choose to live in "harm's way." Obama urges "tougher action" and more U.S. troops.

Washington hails preservation of "Iraqi sovereignty" with new security agreement calling for American control of Iraqi exports, investments, contracts, military bases, marital relations, and tooth decay. U.S. ambassador retains right to arrest and torture at will. U.S. soldiers awarded permanent immunity for anything they have done or will do. Joyous Iraqis turn cartwheels in the streets.

Treasury Department says Israeli helicopter gunships serve "charitable, religious, and educational purposes." I.R.S. confirms donations for blowing up Palestinian apartments do qualify for tax deduction. "Community development, that's what we're looking for," said Noam Schmuck of Peace Through Ethnic Cleansing. "And there's no question that Jewish community thrives on getting rid of Arab loiterers who've been hanging around for centuries to no visible purpose."

Obama and McCain campaigns declare bankruptcy. Fed nationalizes presidential campaigns on strength of news that both candidates are wholly owned subsidiaries of collapsed securities firms. Obama refuses to concede, declares determination to "get down on my knees and fight like hell."

Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's The System, Stupid

With major private institutions collapsing onto taxpayer’s shoulders almost daily, we continue to hear that our system is strong and sound. Sure. And the easter bunny created the universe. We are also told this is the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and that we can believe.

The 20th century depression was a phase in the long range disintegration of a system which has been living on borrowed time and money ever since. Nature and politics are now forcing it to repay some of its colossal debt, but with no collateral save a public willing to absorb further enormous burdens that jeopardize the future of all humanity. The official story holds only the financial community at fault, with greedy dealers and deregulators guilty of all that has gone wrong. Once we get rid of them things will get back to what they were before unregulated free market fundamentalism took over, and everything will be just fine. Sure. The way it was before the easter bunny created the universe.

Folks, we are not simply dealing with a part of an economy going wrong, but with an entire system that is in process of falling apart.

And we certainly won’t solve our problems with the next election, which will make the future seem less precarious for a few of us , while increasing the danger for all of us . The new executive gang will try making repairs at the top of a structure which is rotting at its foundation.The longer we continue supporting corporadoes who only differ on which group of millionaires to pay off with public funds, the shorter the time before we seal our own fate as victims .

Capitalism’s free market religion has brought fortune, comfort and affluence to millions the world over, but in the process it has murdered almost as many, impoverished many more, and brought devastation to the natural and social environment on which humanity depends for survival.

Whether its current stage is called a time of sluggish growth, which is official economc theory , or a time of chaotic collapse, which is the reality for those made homeless, jobless and lifeless by its practice, there is agreement that it is a crisis. So? We have these bust cycles all the time, say the high priests of the faith, and we always survive them with another economic boom. The late breaking bulletin for these fundamentalists is that the booms are getting shorter and are shared by less people, while the busts are becoming longer and taking more people to an economic graveyard which threatens to ultimately include society itself

The gap between a wealthy minority and the rest of humanity is greater than ever before in modern times, and resistance to the savage inequities of the system is growing. This resistance is not always unified and often unclear on exactly what it is against beyond injustice , but since injustice is at the system's core , it’s a worthwhile place to start.

That there is starvation , hunger and massive poverty in a world where affluent minorities go on diets while feeding their pets does not escape the consciousness of the majority doing the suffering. Millions of working people need no economic degrees to understand the injustice of some sitting around doing nothing and getting richer , while they struggle to survive and get poorer. That experience is balanced by a new breed of the educated middle class which lives its morality every day, instead of only once a week in a church, synagogue or mosque. That new class is attempting radical forms of social organizing , even if not always in the political parties necessary to affect long term change. Globally, they are not just raising money to feed the poor and unemployed , but raising consciousness and helping organize people to reclaim their land, their rights, their jobs and ultimately to end poverty, once and for all.

The system protectors and their employees will have none of it, whether in the USA, Bolivia , Venezuela, the Middle East , or anywhere else . And they will still run the world after the November election.

While our perverse democracy’s multi million dollar ad campaign grinds our brains into pulp , important issues are reduced to the race, sex and religious beliefs of the major presidential product line. The idiocy of the campaigns is matched by the emptiness of the candidates, a void which can make the simplest expression of moderate thoughtfulness seem a brilliant and probing argument for change. And despite surface political differences , they all support more war , increased military spending, the mythical market , and deep devotion to the Jewish state of Israel which is a major reason for our bloody conflicts in the middle east , and the hateful retaliation they provoke.

No matter which major party affirmative action team wins, it will attempt to strengthen this imperial anachronism by borrowing more billions from foreigners , floating fake electronic money to pay them off , and giving the real bill to taxpayers . New loans will pay off old loans made with other borrowed money to pay still older loans , until this massive Ponzi scheme reaches a climax . It could come sooner than we think.

The myth of a privately controlled free market is only sustained by the reality of publicly financed bail outs of wealth and capital. Unless we demand democratic control of any publicly funded operations in the marketplace, the bottom line will remain the same: They profit, at our loss. This system is morally and financially bankrupt, and we sustain it only by jeopardizing our own future. Some would revive the New Deal that saved capitalism after the last depression, but if we reshuffle those cards we only delay the inevitable. We need an entirely New Deck in order to save humanity from a system which will eventually lead us to total disaster.

Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Is Charlie Gibson Qualified To Be a Journalist?

Reading through the transcript of Charlie Gibson's September 11 interview with Sarah Palin gives an excellent view of corporate contempt for any form of populism. Rather than practice journalistic impartiality, Gibson prefers to frame questions that he hopes will make Palin look bad. He starts off asking her if she regards herself as truly qualified to be vice-president, and when she replies that she does, he asks her if it didn't take some "hubris" on her part to accept McCain's offer to be his running mate. Gibson could just as easily have asked her if it didn't take some nerve to accept the offer, but this much more common word would not have stood as good a chance of making Palin appear "ignorant," which is what Gibson was eager to do.

Gibson asks Palin if being commander of the Alaskan National Guard and hailing from a state so close to Russia are sufficient "credentials" to be vice-president in "a very dangerous world." He neglects to cite any evidence that support his assumption that "credentials" result in superior political judgment and better foreign policy. The long history of bloody U.S. interventions carried out by U.S. presidents and their cabinet secretaries strongly suggests that there is no positive correlation between establishment credentials and good government, quite the contrary. But Gibson either doesn't know or doesn't care about this. Furthermore, his use of the cliche "dangerous world" shows him to be an eager recipient of ideological hand-me-downs, and his lack of awareness of the massive contribution U.S. foreign policy makes to keeping the world far more dangerous than it needs to be highlights a very bi-partisan ignorance.

Gibson asks Palin if she has ever met a foreign head of state, as though meeting heads of state were a pre-requisite to international understanding, or even just made such understanding more likely. There is no evidence that suggests this would be the case. There are far better questions that Gibson left unasked, such as, "What should our policy be in Palestine?" Why didn't Gibson ask such an obvious question? Osama bin Laden has made it very clear that USrael's conquest of Palestine is a major grievance leading to attacks such as occurred on 911, and the Palin interview was conducted on the anniversary of those attacks, yet Gibson asks nothing about what is widely regarded as the "mother question" in the Middle East. His only interest in Middle East policy is to ask what to do about the allegedly "existential" threat Iran poses to Israel. He cites no evidence that Iran's nuclear program has or intends to produce an atomic bomb, merely assumes we are faced with a "nuclear Iran," with "nuclear" intended to be understood as nuclear weapon, not nuclear electricity. Furthermore, he uses the word terrorist uncritically, offering no definition of the term that would allow us to acquit the Bush Administration of the charge that it is a terrorist government for having killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and invaded a sovereign nation without provocation. In short, Gibson thinks ideologically, which is not what allegedly professional journalists beholden to value-free information gathering techniques are supposed to do.

On Iran, Gibson is completely subservient to the Israel lobby's view of the country. Here is how he asks about what the U.S. response to a nuclear Iran should be: "What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?" (italics added)

It is difficult not to be troubled by this response. Just how does one decide to feel something? And since when do feelings dictate bombing raids on foreign nations? Gibson is so intent on revealing Palin to be a moron that he overlooks his own stupidity.

Gibson quotes Palin saying that U.S. leaders are sending soldiers "on a task that is from God" and asks her, "are we fighting a Holy War?" That political leaders regard war as sacred is not exactly news, so what is the point of the question? It can only be to discredit Palin for her strong Christian beliefs. But how are these beliefs any more politically dangerous than the conviction of virtually the entire political class that Israel is a Holy State? In his memoirs Jimmy Carter says Israel was "ordained by God." Nevertheless, Carter is not discredited for having made this claim, but for having pointed out that Israel is an apartheid state (though Carter believes that it is so only in the Occupied Territories). That Israel can torture and murder on a massive scale largely thanks to the "humanitarian" aid flowing by the billions from Washington and the tax exempt contributions of American Jewish donors, ought to be at least as alarming as Palin's belief that U.S. soldiers are on a Divine Mission, but Gibson is entirely unconcerned about it.

After Palin states that she would favor putting Georgia and Ukraine in NATO, Gibson asks whether the U.S. wouldn't then be obligated to intervene militarily to protect Georgia against Russia. His only expressed concern is whether or not such a war would be "worth it" to the United States. The lack of any moral concern in the exercise of force is exactly what allows the Bush neo-cons to masquerade as ethical idealists bringing democracy to a "backward" Middle East (except for Israel), but again, Gibson shows no concern about this, persisting in his "realist" political line. That the U.S. has supported the most reactionary political forces in Central Asia for decades, amassing a staggering civilian death toll, is not mentioned by Gibson, a rather significant omission of essential background information that makes it impossible for viewers to judge the policy question properly. And let us recall the by now classic statement on mass murder of civilians being "worth it" to the United States. Asked in 1996 by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes whether the economic sanctions on Iraq that killed "more children than died in Hiroshima" was truly worth whatever political gain the policy was alleged to have achieved, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright responded, "we think the price is worth it." This is the realist philosophy that presumes itself qualified to lead us to a bright future.

Furthermore, Gibson's use of the term "existential" to refer to the alleged threat that Iran poses to Israel is itself part of a religious ideology that holds the West possessed of civilized values and the Islamic republics permeated by wickedness that can only be overcome by force. Until this backward Western theology receives the attention it deserves we will all be caught up in Holy Wars that enrich the few and bring anguish to the many.

Socialism or Barbarism

Recent events solidify America's position as foremost practitioner of hypocritical policies which would be laughable if they weren't so dangerous. A nation that destroyed Yugoslavia in alleged defense of breakaway efforts by Kosovo can express horror at seeing Russia support breakaway states from Georgia. Russia’s possible over reaction but completely understandable crushing of Georgia over its attack on Ossetia, revealed the ridiculous military defense fiction of NATO in its imitation of America’s leading politicians - No Action, Talk Only. That helpless creature of the 20th century becomes more useless in the 21st.

While the dreadful Bush regime nears its end, the policies in place since long before it took power will continue destroying the American empire no matter which new gang attempts to control the crumbling operation. But so long as major media serve as stenographers for establishment power, the public will continue to be treated as preschool children and given naps between sweet treats and nursery rhymes. In fact, if we let under paid child care workers take over our government and media, we’d all be much better served.

Reference to an alleged Russian power play by political and media mind managers can lead people to swallow the worst forms of fantasy as representations of reality. The english speaking Georgian president who regularly cites american political heroes as models for what he calls his democracy is a case in point. Try imagining an American president speaking Russian and quoting Stalin and Lenin as his heroes and you get some idea of the suspension of thought needed to accept this lap dog as an actual leader of his people, and not an agent of fast fading western imperialism.

Many of us, especially our major party presidential tickets, believe that the awesome majesty of the universe was created by something with a penis, so nothing should surprise us when we who vote for them swallow the fantastic fables and lunatic legends perpetuated by our consciousness controllers. No better example, perhaps even beyond the foreign policy fiasco of Russia and Georgia, exists than the recently completed conventions of our ruling Hypocratic and Theocratic parties. These massive tv productions, with programmed crowds that make a reality tv show audience seem like a bunch of hermeneutics of philosophy grad students, approach the spectacle of American Idol or the Olympics but with less real meaning.

Accepting an increase in warfare in Afghanistan so we can decrease warfare in Iraq as its hopeful signs of “change we can believe in”, the ecstatic crowd at the Hypocratic Con indulged in group hysteria over selection of our first semi-black candidate, who will do exactly what his white owners demand. This amounts to positive change in a population reduced to finding progress in the look of a performer, while totally neglecting the substance of actual performance.

Meanwhile, the Theocratic party gang picked a previously unknown woman from Alaska for vice president, stressing the importance of whether the mens or ladyies room is used before the executive sends troops to their death. Should the Theocratic ticket somehow succeed - against all odds but given the dreadful nature of the Hypocrats, all things are possible - many may wish for a quick demise at the top so that this woman can take over and quickly bring down the entire facade of empire. While opposition hit teams dig up dirt and trash her character, she may turn out to be the closest thing to an average american in the entire multi billion dollar fiasco. She certainly believes in the penis bearing creator of all and everything, opposes abortion, shoots guns, supports the market, loves Israel and has a family. Perfect. She could take over tomorrow.

But seriously folks, as the old comics used to say, what can we do about a situation that gets crazier and more frightening even as mainstream mind shapers depict it as logical, democratic and sanity enhancing? More than ever, we need to question everything we are told by major media and our corporate government and to believe nothing until we are convinced by material evidence from sources we can trust. This means we should also question some of the gibberish that poses as independent media or online detective work, since many of the stories carried are on a par with the science fiction and fantasy we are given by our main stream consciousness corporadoes. Be critical and skeptical of all, and if you haven't the time to investigate, find someone you trust who has the time. And then continue being careful and critical of that source.

This government is a tragedy but it will be followed by one that is as tragic in that it will support the system with only cosmetic changes that may please some sectors - temporarily - while destroying others. Which is exactly what we are doing now, and have done for far too long. It is fast coming to a point at which we, and all inhabitants of the planet will have to act as though it’s all of us or none of us. And in the words of Rosa Luxemburg in the 20th century, echoed by Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and growing numbers around the world in the 21st, we will face a choice: socialism or barbarism.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Palin Haters Making Her a Hero

Liberals never learn. Having forgotten their hysterical claims that Bush would revive the draft and repeal Roe v. Wade if given a second term in office, they are now wetting their pants over the "threat" of censorship emanating from Sarah Palin. It's funny how they didn't protest in recent months when Amazon banned Michael Hoffman's book critical of Judaism. There's nothing like selective morality to keep the barf-o-meter at high nausea.

The surge in Iraq has "succeeded beyond our wildest expectations,"crows Obama, to the resounding silence of the liberals, who prefer to imagine him as an anti-war candidate, even as he fellates the Israel lobby and promises to slaughter more Afghans while celebrating our "triumph" in Iraq. This has to be the peace "that passeth understanding."

With their usual boundless stupidity, the Democrats are turning Palin into a hero with their condescending criticism of her beliefs and lack of qualifications for high office, as though Bush hadn't demonstrated for all time that the country can have, not a vice-president, but a president, who is an absolute moron. This little detail seems to have slipped by Charlie Gibson.

By the way, has Gibson forgotten the subtle and sophisticated Democratic statecraft that turned Vietnam into a land of wreck and ruin? Thanks to the finer understanding of the world possessed by JFK's "Best and Brightest," the U.S. dropped eight million tons of bombs and almost 400,000 tons of napalm there, leaving behind twenty-one million bomb craters. It killed over two million Cambodians, Vietnamese, and Laotians, wounded over three million more, and scattered fourteen million traumatized refugees throughout Indochina. It rained down 18 million gallons of Agent Orange and other defoliants, leaving forests bereft of trees, animals, or birds, and cursing Vietnam with extraordinary rates of liver cancer, miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects. Vietnamese mothers are still giving birth to mutant babies. Ho hum. The war grinds on.

Thank God the corporate media overlooks such trivialities, focusing on the real issues. For example this is sample criticism of Palin from the New York Times:

"...Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge..."

This horrifying revelation no doubt has left millions of high minded liberals ready to renounce their citizenship. Even worse, Palin's teenage daughter was impregnated and - gasp - didn't have an abortion. What is this world coming to?

We've seen this routine before, as when Teresa Heinz-Kerry looked down her nose at Laura Bush for being a mere librarian and housewife. Shocking though it is, millions of women find no shame in either occupation and persist in the peculiar belief that raising one's own children is preferable to paying someone else to do it while climbing the corporate ladder. There's just no accounting for taste.

The question which arises from all this nonsense has nothing to do with Sarah Palin, to wit: Are liberals qualified to make intelligent political judgments? Apparently not. There is no constitutional requirement to have a thick resume in order to become vice-president. Furthermore, there is no non-political way to select candidates for high office and Democrats make explicitly political judgments in appointing candidates to high office all the time. How else do you suppose we ended up with government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich? Because the rich are most qualified to rule? Please.

Furthermore, Joe Biden's long resume didn't prevent him from cheerleading for the invasion of Iraq from his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a disastrous decision that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people. And now this seasoned veteran has the nerve to brown-nose Obama by saying that Obama's vantage point from outside of the federal government may have given him the extraordinary insight that the invasion was not a good idea. Oh really? Then why did Admiral Shanahan and General Zinni and members of the U.S. intelligence community take out a full page ad in the New York Times warning that a war with Iraq would destabilize the Middle East, increase terrorism, invite blowback on the U.S., and waste resources essential to the U.S. economy? Were they outside the federal government too? And if they could see what was coming, why didn't Biden? Recall that Palin is faulted for not having given much thought to Iraq. Compared to what Biden has done, how bad is that?

By the way, if being outside the Beltway improves one's political judgment, shouldn't that count in Palin's favor? In Alaska she's about as far away from Washington as one can get. If that improves one's political insight, she should be among the smartest political minds in the country.

Turning to sex education, Sarah Palin is far from the only politician to preach abstinence. Bill Clinton did it regularly when he was president, lecturing black teens on the wisdom of sexual restraint, an amazing display of chutzpah given his own predilections. And so successful was Clinton in concocting a Blow Job Defense that millions of teens took to heart his theory that fellatio is not really sex and indulged themselves with what they took to be a presidential pardon. No one has accused Palin of anything like the sleazy sexual offenses committed by Bill Clinton, including routinely blackmailing his conquests, and Clinton is a much-celebrated elder statesman. What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

Revealingly, Charlie Gibson did not correct the most serious error Palin made in her interview with him, namely, that Iranian Prime Minister Ahmadinejad had claimed that Israel as a "stinking corpse, should be wiped off the face of the earth." Why anyone would want to attack a corpse was left unexplained by both parties, nor did Gibson bother to point out that what Ahmadinejad actually said was that Israel would "vanish from the page of time," as corpses habitually do. In short, it was a prediction, not a threat of destruction. But on this, as on all crucial matters, the two parties have very little to distinguish them.

The so-called Red state dummies have met their match in the idiot liberals. May the dumbest shit win?


Sources:

Michael Parenti, "The Sword And The Dollar - Imperialism, Revolution, And The Arms Race," (St. Martin's, 1989) p. 44 (for statistics on Vietnam)

"Iraqi surge exceeded expectations, Obama says," Associated Press, September 4, 2008,

BBC News, June 14, 2004, "Vietnam's war against Agent Orange," http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3798581.stm

Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, "After the Cataclysm - Postwar Indochina & The Reconstruction of Imperial Ideology," (South End, 1979) pp. 7-9

Alexander Cockburn, "Panic!" September 13-14, 2008, www.counterpunch.org

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Headline News From a Rational Empire

McCain decries Obama's "inexperience," says America needs a "tough leader" who knows how to get shot out of the sky and be captured by the enemy. Obama agrees, promises to spend remaining months of campaign being tortured by Al Qaeda.

Tegucigalpa joins Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. IMF condemns Venezuela for "meddling in the internal affairs" of Honduras, promises to cut off credit to any country questioning its "freedom and independence" under Washington's control.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez calls on Catholics to embrace socialism in the name of Christ. "'If you love me, feed my sheep'" calls for a life of sharing, not greed," insists Chavez. U.S. Embassy in Caracas expresses regret at Chavez's "mental problems," insists Sermon on the Mount is a blueprint for neo-liberalism. "Christ was the greatest advertising genius in history," said embassy spokesman Max Gaines. "He sold his salvation scheme to millions of people all over the world."

Kidnapping and sale of Guatemalan babies continues to soar. Wall Street praises the "magic of the marketplace" in reconciling supply and demand for the benefit of all.

Center for Science in the Jewish Interest announces that Palestinians have terrorist genes, calls for DNA cleansing in medical concentration camps. Euphoric Elie Wiesel hails new era of "anti-genocide."

Women for a Spineless Majority praise Oprah for praising Obama, shriek ecstatically at Illinois senator's genius for locating Democrats'"political G-spot."

No One Killed in Iraq Today, but Several Die of Old Age Waiting for Democrats' "New Ideas" To Materialize. "I've been waiting since Gary Hart," said 88 year-old Antonio Farkas of Mobile Alabama, moments before suffering a fatal brain hemmorrhage while listening to Obama intone the word "change" 93 times in four minutes.

Obama insists he is "ready to lead," vows to nuke Iran "in three seconds" if mullahs don't endorse Israel's right to run their country. McCain condemns three-second delay as "support for terrorism."

Congressman Tom Tancredo calls for border wall in Hispanic wombs. "With 45 million Hispanics in the country already, we have to stop more illegals before they get here," says the Colorado House member. Asked if such a policy wouldn't constitute genocide, Tancredo replied, "we have to preserve American culture and values."

Prison firm Wackenhut to begin building schools. Steven Cage, Wackenhut CEO, pronounces company's fortress-like designs ideal architecture for America's urban sinkholes. "Rather than send kids to jail when they're 18, we'll build the prison around them when they're five or six. It eliminates one process." Critics decry waste of young lives, urge company to change its name to "Wackenoff."

Gallup poll reveals 76% of Americans reject "handicapped," "crippled," and "differently abled" as labels for people with mental or physical injuries. 98% favor "differently crippled" label be applied to entire U.S. population. Government rejects term as "too accurate," offers tax cuts to people who stop thinking and watch more T.V.

Fecal contamination of U.S. currency traced to Treasury Department report revealing that toilet paper is more valuable than U.S. dollar. Toilet paper stock plunges. Wall Street sues government for unfair competition.

Mass apathy at corporately cloned candidates produces widespread hilarity at claim "this year's election is the most important in history." Organizers pronounce Vote Or Die campaign a bust, call for NRA to take over voter registration drive under new banner: "Vote, or else!" Mass apathy at ObaMcCaina continues.

Supreme Court rejects claim that apartheid public school system is result of "unintelligent design," insists "shit happens" sufficiently accounts for starkly racialized outcomes reminiscent of Jim Crow era.

Press reports that the fact that McCain denies having asserted that Obama's refusal to countenance having affirmed his previous denial of McCain's refutation of his original position on ingrown toenails among bisexual eskimos is evidence that "quality investigative journalism" is alive and well.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

CONVENTIONAL BULLETINS!

Dalai Lama, Bush, Congress, Brittany Spears, PETA and New York Yankees Vow Not to Watch Democratic Convention Until Democrats Stop Experimenting on Animals and End Genocide in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan , Georgia and all those other places.

TV Executives Sue Dalai Lama, Bush, Congress, Brittany Spears, PETA and San Francisco 49ers for Potential Defamation of Ratings.

Law Suit Replaces Yankees with 49ers because “San Francisco’s a smaller market ; we can’t afford to lose New York”


Biden’s Spellbinding Speech Begins

Democrats approach group orgasm after keynote address by Mrs. Obama. “ I loved when she said she loved America. It just made all of this worthwhile, you know?” said a Clinton delegate. “ This is what we’ve all been waiting for. We needed to hear that.”
All doubts about Michele Obama’s patriotism now having ended, Democrats feel victory in the air.

Biden Speech Continues

Mass rioting outside convention, mass partying inside, mass hysteria among pundits, mass confusion in Denver.

Biden Continues Speaking during breakfast, lunch and dinner breaks.



The Democratic Party Study group released a study indicating that hard working americans are having a hard time finding work to be hard at work at. “This seems to have something to do with the economy and the business cycle, which is currently in a bust mode, which usually precedes a boom mode, though the last bust was just before this bust, indicating that there is a trend towards busting the boom bust syndrome”, said the center director. “We will continue following this trend and report our further findings as soon as the check clears and the convention ends.”


Excited democrats pointed out that recent polls indicate the president has the lowest approval ratings of any president in history, but also show that a higher percentage of people have no idea who he is. “ Actually, i forgot his name. i thought the other guy was elected but i guess it’s still whatsisname?”


According to several party officials from the character assassination team, Senator McCain was alleged to have said he thought the Missile Screen around Poland was a new Polish joke, but he denied the charge and said he advocated more severe steps be taken against the Russian genocidal attack on the freedom loving innocent people of Ostentatia. “The ostentatious people need our support right now, not after Senator Obama takes office.” Corrected about his error, he said he would cancel his campaign in order to meet with president Sasquatch of Georgia - after his wife distributed beauty aids and foundation cream to Georgian women - to plan a counter attack . When asked where he would advise attacking, the senator said “ it’s one or two of those countries, check with my staff.”

When asked to comment on McCain’s comment, Senator Obama commented “ this is not a time when...uh...we should be divisive or...uh...rattling sabers...this is a time to come together as americans who cherish our god, our families and our freedoms and stand together as never before, with one voice and one viewpoint, that of working middle class multi racial gun owning god loving people united in getting our troops redeployed from Iraq to..uh...Afghanistan”


Biden fed intravenously, continues talking through speeches by Hillary, Bill, Barack, promises to finish before Shadrach Meshac and Appendigo arrive

Hillary repeatedly brings convention audience to its feet, electric shocks sited as cause by republican critics.

An anonymous delegate said “She was just so incredible. I never thought she’d endorse Obama. Weren’t you surprised that she didn't endorse McCain? This is so exciting and unexpected. What next? Who do you think will be nominated for president? Isn't this the most thrilling thing ever, or at least since American Idol? Last week?”

Obama’s acceptance speech brings mass orgasmic reaction

Grief counselors summoned for feminist supporters of Clinton

Obama throngs speak in tongues, freak out, weep tears of joy, experience multiple and repeated orgasms and generally Act Up. “ “This was the greatest speech since Christ’s sermon on the mount, or Marc Anthony’s defense of Caesar, or Bret Favre’s tearful retirement speech, the one last week. I’m so thrilled that i can hardly speak” said Marcel Marceau, one of numerous global supporters of renewed war in Afghanistan.

Biden continued speaking as the convention ended.

America: Zionist Colony

“ The zionist power configuration’s primary loyalty is to the state of Israel and its policy is designed to colonize the US congress... to the benefit of the ‘mother country’, Israel ”

James Petras

Petras addresses a problem rarely discussed, except in whispers ; unquestioned support for Israel . He mentions congress, but the executive has also been “colonized”. Major party candidates, whether bowing before the American Israel lobby in Washington or praying before the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, are evidence enough. The dominance of this “Zionist Power Configuration” is a very serious problem for Americans who remain generally unaware of its existence.

That power bloc has great control of government and media as well, and its political organizations bring enormous pressure on publications or individuals expressing criticism of Israel, quickly labeled anti -Semitism. If that criticism extends to questioning some aspects of the nazi persecution of jews, made even more horrible with constant repetition, they are labeled holocaust deniers. This heresy not only endangers individual freedoms, but the fate of nations , as the case of Ahmadinejad and Iran clearly shows.

America’s global position has establishment groups battling for control of foreign policy . Sectors of the old white anglo saxon protestant (WASP ) ruling class see dedication to the Jewish state endangering empire and are in a struggle with the newer Jewish power bloc. This clash of political mafias will hardly bring peace , but it has already brought out much about the previously unmentionable. Support for a colonial state that brutalizes its native population enough to shock survivors of South African apartheid can only continue with americans kept in complete ignorance.

Under a propaganda regime that depicts innocent Jews savageded by evil Palestinians, the U.S. massively finances and arms the Jewish state, while destroying other middle eastern countries on its behalf. Jewish persecution of Palestinians is somehow deemed acceptable because nazis persecuted jews. This illogical and morally degenerate policy has colonials settling where they believe they originated - with no evidence save mythology - and calling themselves semitic natives, while the semitic people who’ve lived there for centuries are expelled, made refugees , and called anti-semite terrorists when they resist.

This would be the ultimate black comedy if it were not so dangerous to all humanity. Israel is run by some seriously disturbed people ; we are not dealing with an individual nut case waving an ax, but with leaders of a state waving nuclear weapons - which nobody is supposed to know they have - and motivated by a cultural narrative which has it that everyone not jewish is ultimately dedicated to murdering everyone who is jewish .

A long history of suffering , both real and legendary , culminated in the dreadful nazi treatment of Jews in the 20th century, a terrible event that has become the fundamentalist holocaust religion. Its existential notion of pending doom has created a movement to destroy critics of any tenets of the faith. Such “thought crimes” can lead to social ostracism, professional failure and prison . For the zionists, the Jewish holocaust religion and the Jewish secular state are joined in necessity and meaning; one does not exist without the other, making it all the more difficult for reason, humanity or democracy to function when dealing with such contradictory fundamentalism .

The Zionist movement originating in a 19th century desire for a national jewish homeland has evolved into a belief that biblical mythology “proves” European jewish origins in Palestine. Religious freedom allows belief in any imaterialism we wish, even that the tooth fairy is responsible for modern dentistry. But when such mythology becomes the foundation for national policy, we are lowered to the mental status of primitive apes, but physically wielding nuclear weapons of mass destruction and not harmless war clubs.

How can americans tolerate this in the midst of a severe economic crisis and while carrying a colossal and growing debt which can never be paid? Only under mind management that convinces us all our problems originate outside America, and that Israel is our most important ally . An individual believing such nonsense would be judged insane and institutionalized. Our society is programed to treat delusions as real, lies as the truth, and psychotic behavior as evidence of mental health .


Once the Zionists achieved the destruction of Iraq their focus became Iran, with the most incredible claims fed to a public about that nation’s leader and policies. Ahmadinejad, having sinned against the holocaust religion by hosting a conference on that untouchable topic, has been transformed into a demonic monster who threatens Americans and Jews everywhere. He is called a nuclear madman who will exterminate Israel, based on a repeatedly twisted quote and oblivious of the facts of thousands of jews living quite well in Iran. But the zionist bloc brings us closer to war, writing belligerent legislation aimed at Iran and getting it rubber stamped by hundreds of its colony in the American, not Israeli, congress.


Tales of the Iranian threat stem from the same feverish source of psychotic fears and supernatural beliefs that transform Israel from a nightmare for Palestinians into a theme park for Jews . It is more vital then ever that we put a stop to this madness, but electing a new member of the colonized population to the presidency, whether in the USA or Palestine, will not make a substantial difference. Rather than minor change at the top , we need major democratic action by the whole population for a peaceful solution.

The colonization of American government will only end with creation of a real fifty state democracy in the U.S.A. , which could help bring about a real one state democracy in Palestine. Unfortunately, anything less will mean much more pain and suffering, possibly of epic proportions. And not only in Palestine, and not only for Jews.



Copyright (c) 2008 by Frank Scott. All rights reserved.

This text may be used and shared in accordance with the
fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law, and it may be
archived and redistributed in electronic form, provided that
the author is notified and no fee is charged for access.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this text on
other terms, in any medium, requires the consent of the author

frank scott
email: frankscott@comcast.net

Frank Scott writes political commentary which appears in the Coastal Post, The Independent Monitor and on his shared blog at:

http://legalienate.blogspot.com

Friday, August 15, 2008

CAMPAIGN BULLETINS!

Obama Accused of Playing Race Card

McCain Retaliates With Joker

Pundits Claim Mixed Deal

Nation Folds

“Why does he have to act like he’s different? Why can’t he be like all the other white candidates in history?” said Senator John McCain . “We both have white mothers, so what’s the big deal? And furthermore I got a correspondence school masters degree in Ebonics while I was recovering from those nearly endless torture sessions in my Vietnamese Gulag, so he don’t be the only brutha in this race, know what ahm sayin”?

Karl Rove was asked to comment on McCain’s comment and he commented “ yo, whuss up wit datt? he be flip floppin steada hip hoppin? ”

The NAACP threatened a hate speech law suit against McCain and Rove but Obama urged against bringing race into the campaign.

“ This skinny kid with the light skin and the funny name, about to be changed in a way our white friends can believe in, need not stoop to the depths of the politics which have brought us all to a place in which we may never be able to live as a nation of one people, tearing down barriers that separate us and walls that divide us, except in Palestine, and extending the hand of white brotherhood, white sisterhood, white gay marriagehood and white neighborhood to one and all in order to say, Free at Last?Just Do It? Yes We Can!


Obama to Honor Irrational and Racist Fear of Islam

The Obama campaign is in process of creating a new middle name for the Senator, since Hussein seems to really disturb Islamophobes and other racists , while making members of AIPAC extremely uncomfortable. In the interest of creating a comfort zone for his Jewish supporters, early leads for a new middle name were :

Yitzak, Schmulka, Putzel, Schmendrich, Hymie and Schmuckler.

Jesse Jackson has advised against selecting Hymie .
He said “ I think Putzel or Schmuckler would work better.”


Countering the McCain campaign's use of celebrities like Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton in ads that implied Obama was simply a celebrity, the Obama Mind Massage Squad planned to introduce ads featuring the Three Stooges and Adam Sandler, implying that McCain was simply a moron. Advised that this could backfire, given that the the current president actually is a moron, a decision was made to stress physical and not mental differences, so long as they did not include race .

Obama Campaign Says Short Men Are Threat To Nation’s Future

McCain is short, Obama, in patriotic tradition, is tall. Pointing out that McCain - rhymes with insane! - is always photographed standing next to dwarfs, pygmies and twelve year old Secret service Agents, the Obama campaign will alert the nation to the danger of a short president.

“Never in our history have we been ruled by anything but tall men, and Obama is very tall, whereas McCain - rhymes with cocaine!- is very short and only made to appear tall enough, young enough and white enough to lead our country into the future”, said a tall campaign spokesman . “Look at the short guy in Russia and the other short guy in France. Do we want to wind up like them?

The McCain campaign immediately responded that Senator Obama - rhymes with Osama! - is actually endangering the nation’s future with his large ears, since a strong tail wind could blow him away and if that happened while he was president, then where would we be?

“People need to understand the real threat that Obama - rhymes with yo mama! - represents to all we hold dear on this earth, since he could take off at any moment and leave us to cope with things on our own. What kind of leadership would that be?” said a short campaign spokesperson, standing on a box in front of a group of preschool children .

McCain announces strong moves against Russia for Invading Georgia.

“My friends, we cannot stand by while our friends in Georgia are being murdered, genocided and ethnically cleansed by the Soviets, especially when they threaten Alabama and Mississippi as well, and if they get to Florida, our Cuban and Jewish friends will be in a terrible fix. We must take strong action now. I will not be drinking Vodka or eating sturgeon until the Soviets pull back!”

Advised of his geographic, historic and political mistakes and his ethnic paternalism concerning Cuban Americans and Jewish Americans, McCain said “ just kidding...this generation got soul...bom-bom-bom-bom-bom japan...heh heh heh”

Brett Favre tearfully retires from Jets, after tearfully retiring from Packers, and tearfully announces desire to be on McCain ticket as Vice Presidential candidate

McCain tearfully refuses Favre’s offer, says “he was the greatest fullback in history, but his running days are over.” Advised that Favre was a quarterback, McCain says “ I was never good with fractions. Only wimpy, light skinned kids with funny names were ever good with fractions.”

Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney expressed deep sadness that voters would be led to think these two were their only presidential choices.