(8 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
FLASHBACK NOTE: This essay was originally posted here by me on October 11, 2007. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
I have to admit that as stupid as I sometimes portray Bush Obama, I really have problems with the idea that he is incompetent.
I doubt that anyone incompetent has a chance of becoming president, unless they are so unbelievably stupid that they really can be just a hand puppet.
I think it would show publicly more than it does, and I doubt he’d be able to carry off his deceptive ‘just a dumb good ole boy’ act if he was that stupid.
Bush Obama is a clown definitely, but I think stupid clown is a gross over-simplification.
Owning the World – The Great Illusion:
In the sixties and seventies, a group of right-wingers in the United States formed a society of vindictive and power hungry men who thought they could reinvent reality. Initially they received little notice and operated inside the American Enterprise Institute; that think tank became the womb for these megalomaniacs and their monstrous ambition of remaking the world. Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz were among them and the movement was to turn into a preposterous beast…
As the group assumed greater visibility, they established their goal as the creation of an artificial world which the U.S. empire would rule single-handedly. Ignoring history, they were set on creating an illusory world, one where they alone would set the rules, decide who would run big corporations, who would dominate the world scene, who would control the enormous oil wealth of the Middle East and Central Asia, who would dictate the fate of the world – without taking into consideration the ambitions of the rest of the world or the aspirations of human beings. This virtual universe began to turn into a frightening reality decades later when these men managed to seize power. And they did this through manipulating the Supreme Court into appointing a clown as President, a marionette to serve as their front man. The clown didn’t have to do anything other than smirk and occasionally lift his hand in a fist; they knew that would be enough to impress the world and, in particular, the American people. Oh yes, and he would pretend to be one of the people, just like your cousin Dave or your next-door neighbor.
Joshua Muravchik, American Enterprise Institute:
We got lucky with Reagan. He took the path we wanted, and the policies succeeded brilliantly. He left office highly popular.
BushObama is a different story. He, too, took the path we wanted, but the policies are achieving uncertain success. His popularity has plummeted. It would be pigheaded not to reflect and rethink.But we ought to do this without backbiting or abandoning
BushObama. All policies are perfect on paper, none in execution. All politicians are, well, politicians.BushObama has embraced so much of what we believe that it would be silly to begrudge his deviations.
Calling Bush Obama incompetent I think is making a too dangerous assumption.
Calling Bush Obama incompetent I think might be dangerously minimizing and masking real and deeper issues:
Absolutely convinced we possess the right to pursue our “happiness” and “security”, regardless of the cost to the Earth and the rest of its sentient inhabitants, we US Americans are in a race to hoard the most toys, to eat the most food, to have the most orgasms, to be the best looking, and to be the biggest winners as we engage in a repugnant orgy of narcissistic and gluttonous hedonism.
We wage war perpetually, strip the world bare like a swarm of locusts, and give virtually nothing in return. Ensuring our “happiness” and “security” extracts a tremendous price from the rest of the Earth.
Since it rose to military and economic hegemony at the close of World War II, the United States, its proxies, an array of US-installed ruthless reactionary tyrants, and the World Bank have worked in concert to slaughter, torture, and impoverish untold millions of human beings in the “developing world” in an endless quest to satiate our plutocracy’s insatiable thirst for power and treasure.
BushObama, his henchmen, and their multitude of war crimes are not anomalies.
the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang
heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams
like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea
She heard about a place people were smilin’
They spoke about the red man’s way,
and how they loved the land
And they came from everywhere
to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand
or a place to hide
Down in the crowded bars,
out for a good time,
Can’t wait to tell you all,
what it’s like up there
And they called it paradise
I don’t know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
while the town got high
Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
through the canyons of the coast, to
the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
hungry for power
to light their neon way
and give them things to do
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught ’em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes, and Jesus,
people bought ’em
And they called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind
and sail to Lahaina
just like the missionaries did, so many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: “Jesus is coming”
Brought the white man’s burden down
Brought the white man’s reign
Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
‘Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and
justify our bloody deeds,
in the name of destiny and the name of God
And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about
what it’s like up there
They call it paradise
I don’t know why
You call someplace paradise,
kiss it goodbye
Eagles-The last Resort – MyVideo
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Truthout, Feb 14, 2011:
Richard Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and currently a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University in New York. He has a PhD in Economics from Yale University as well as degrees from Harvard University (history BA) and Stanford University (economics MA). Wolff has authored or co-authored 10 books and over 50 scholarly articles and 75 popular articles. His recent work has concentrated on analyzing the causes and alternative solutions to the current global economic crisis.
His documentary film on that crisis, Capitalism Hits the Fan, can be previewed at http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com. He also published a book of essays on the current crisis in 2010 entitled Capitalism Hits the Fan: the Global Economic meltdown and What to Do About it. Detailed information on and copies of his many writings, audios and videos of his media interviews, lectures, and classes, and his speaking schedule are all available at his website: http://www.rdwolff.com.
Obama is a puppet of the globalist elite. A post turtle. A used car salesman selling lamestream ideas.
Truthout was actually one of my first politically oriented blogging spots until they just dumped what they called the town meeting blogspot. My comments there, now years ago were far less radical than they are today.
nor is he equivalent to Bush.
Obama is a guy who who a modest victory for POTUS, who had a lot of congresspeople in his own party who were well to the right of him.
Some people think Obama won a landslide. He did not. If you look at his margin of victory, it was about average for a POTUS from 1900 on.
If we want another FDR, we need to have another landslide winner … 60% of the popular vote, and nearly every state.
Votes have no meaning. I am sorry to be so realistic, but I am. Please enjoy this, and take it to heart. Meet the new boss, just the same as the old boss.
With the big money, it will NEVER get better.
Warmest regards,
Doc