CITYBLOGGER..PENAFIAN Laman ini tidak bertanggungjawab atas hasil penulisan yang dipetik dari sumbe

howing newest posts with label War Profiteering. Show older posts
Showing newest posts with label War Profiteering. Show older posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Won't You Sing Along With Me?

Me, me, me, me.

♫♫

"A is for Altruism: the loftiest value I'm told; how quickly as an adult it appeared to be sold

B is for Bush: the evil aristocracts overseeing this turd; spoke of a New World Order, isn't that absurd?

C is for Compassion: told to practice towards others and mine; while authority did the opposite which was all fine.

D is for Devils: There are so many out there, don't get caught in the mire; wouldn't mind seeing them in a pit of fire.

E is for Equality: was striven for in large and small things; excepting economics, which have plenty of strings.

F is for False Flags: or FBI, which come in the same breath; for they are the instigators when you begin plumbing the depths.

G is for Gandhi: or God, it's the same; what can you say but what's in a name?

H is for Holocaust: and wouldn't you know; time to forget about the world's greatest show.

I is for Iraq: when the lies began to unravel; for that you need not have traveled.

J is for JFK: a brave man no doubt; why do you think they went and rubbed him out?

K is for Koran: a book under attack; it's what Zionists despise, don't you know that?

L is for Lord: please hear our prayers; could it possibly be he is sending a bear?

M is for MLK: he's one of the three that's all I can say; I consider him the greatest man of my day.

N is for 9/11: the shaping event of the 21st-century to date; looking back on it now it's a day that I hate.

O is for Opportunity: told to take advantage but not exploit; while war criminals told lies most adroit.

P is for Peace (and Palestine): the goal above all the others; for I have already seen too many weeping mothers.

Q is for Qui Bono: what it's all about; for when you ask that one question it leaves you no doubt.

R is for Rocker: that's me, the one typing this tome; I am only doing it because I love my home.

S is for Seder: I might as well say it because it's true; The United States government is controlled by the Jew.

T is for Truth: and thus back to 9/11; if that truth were spilled I'd be in heaven.

U is for Ululate: It's a Muslim cry, why not let out a scream?; The way I have written this sure feels like a dream.

V is for Victory: It is as clear as the cosmos, my friend; alas, there are those who will not see to the end.

W is for Wake Up From Your Slumber: Finally back which is why the post; I think all in all they are a mighty fine host.

X is for Xe: a war services firm once called Blackwater; give 'em a call if you are looking for slaughter.

Y is for Yarmulke: Part of the get-up, it's what they wear; I could never abide one for it musses my hair.

Z is for Zionist: At the bottom of everything, as we all knew; I 'm so sick of it all being for the Jew.
Now I know my ABZs, next time won't you sing with me?
Posted by Rocker at 5:55 AM Links to this post
Labels: 9/11, American Tyranny, Bush, Iraq, Islam, Israel, Life-Affirming, U.S., War Profiteering
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Avatar is Awesome
I'll add my thoughts after the review:

"AVATAR - A REVIEW

Normally I do not do film reviews. Even though my day job is in film and TV (I have worked in visual effects and computer animation for over 30 years) What Really Happened is a political web site, and I generally avoid crossing the line into the day job. There have been exceptions, to be sure, and today I am going to make a big one. Following a frustrating few weeks filled with social obligations, I was finally able to carve enough time out of a weekend to see the film.

The short version, and at the risk of descending into cheap cliche', is that this is a movie YOU MUST SEE! If you can catch it in 3D, so much the better. But catch it. This film is a masterwork on several levels, and I am going to start on the technical level and work upward.....

*******************************

Now to the story.

Avatar is a metaphor for the current US aggressions against other countries and Cameron is not shy about making this point. The best line in the entire movie is (I am paraphrasing here) "Someone lives over something you want, you call them the enemy so you can attack them."

It hardly comes as a surprise that the political establishment is hostile to the film. L'Osservatore Romano, the official newspaper of the Vatican, condemned the film as "an anti-imperialistic, anti-militaristic parable". Many media critics, eager to de link the message of the film from contemporary events, describe the storyline as a metaphor for Europe's decimation of the Native Americans. Yes, it is that, but it is the story of every imperial power that invaded another peoples' lands for profit throughout history and up to the present time.

In brief, and without wishing to spoil the surprise for those who have not seen it, the storyline is of a corporate attempt to exploit the mineral resources of an alien world called Pandora. Pandora is inhabited by the Na'Vi, a humanoid race totally integrated with the environment of their world. As an "old school" Darwinist (and a farm kid), I view such synergy as the perfect result of evolution. Cameron borrows a great deal of the Na'Vi's ethos from the hunter-gatherer culture of the Native Americans (down to the giving of thanks to the animals one kills for food), which is probably where the confusion over the metaphor may arise.

Into this naturist harmony comes a major corporation from Earth, backed up by the military, intent on scraping away the surface of the Na'Vi's world in order to extract the riches beneath. The story centers on a paraplegic Marine who is inserted into the manufactured body of a Na'Vi (hence the name "Avatar") and sees the world through his new alien eyes. It is the 21st Century equivalent of "Walking a mile in the other man's moccasins, or "Dances with Wolves" meets "The Martian Chronicles." Critics may decry the story as contrived, but it does not feel that way. The whole point of any story is to force the protagonist to question his beliefs, and in that challenge, to grow.

At two hours and twenty five minutes, the movie is longer than the usual theatrical fare, but trust me, you won't know it. The film flows so smoothly you will be at the end before you realize it, and perhaps a touch disappointed that it is over and that you have to leave Pandora to return to your own portion of planet Earth. After living with the Na'Vi, Earth is going to be a bit of a let-down.

Some critics have decried the film's happy ending (no spoilers here) as unrealistically silly, in the idea that such a primitive people could overwhelm and destroy a modern mechanized army. No doubt they wish to quell any suggestion that the numerous indigenous peoples the United States is even now divesting of their homes and riches might succeed in fighting back. Obviously, I disagree that opposing a modern invader equipped with the latest horrors of death is a waste of time or I would not have run this web site for the last 16 years. And to such unromantic and indeed unheroic naysayers who insist that victory will always go to the most ruthless and well-armed, I have but one word. "Afghanistan."

In a way, I feel sorry for Jim Cameron. He is a brilliant man, and while I might be (hope to be) pleasantly surprised to the contrary at some point in the future, I think "Avatar" is his masterwork, never to be equaled let alone surpassed. He may even now be facing his "Neil Armstrong" moment, as in "what the heck do I do for the rest of my life, to top THAT?"

See this movie.
--MORE--"

I did, and I was very impressed! It didn't surpass "Titanic" for me;, but that is a matter of personal taste. I recognized the theme right away, and I thought what a brave man for having done this.

Of course, his record and success gave him the independence to do such a thing, and the future metaphor (much like what the classic "Star Trek" used to do) allowed him to avoid any direct controversy with the product. But there was no mistaking the message.

The reviewers noting of the time spent in theater and the film being Cameron's life work reminded me so much of my favorite film and its director, and while I am not elevating "Avatar" to that level (again, due to matters of personal taste), I was very impressed.

I agree with the reviewer.

See this movie. It will make you think.

Also see: Why AmeriKans Hate Avatar

Maybe that is why, huh, Americans?

1/31 UPDATE:

I will be seeing "Avatar" for a second time (basically at the unspoken request of another) this afternoon -- and am not complaining on bit. May go with notepad this time and scribble in the dark.
Posted by Rocker at 10:50 AM Links to this post
Labels: MSM, Neo-Con Plan, U.S., War Profiteering
Friday, December 4, 2009
Israel's Puppet
"Obama is Israel’s puppet

by Paul Craig Roberts

It didn’t take the Israel Lobby very long to bring President Obama to heel regarding his prohibition against further illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Obama discovered that a mere American president is powerless when confronted by the Israel Lobby and that the United States simply is not allowed a Middle East policy separate from Israel’s.

Obama also found out that he cannot change anything else, either, if he ever intended to do so.

The military/security lobby has war and a domestic police state on its agenda, and a mere American president can’t do anything about it.

President Obama can order the Guantanamo torture chamber closed and kidnapping and rendition and torture to be halted, but no one carries out the order. -Essentially, Obama is irrelevant.

President Obama can promise that he is going to bring the troops home, and the military lobby says, “No, you are going to send them to Afghanistan, and in the meantime start a war in Pakistan and maneuver Iran into a position that will provide an excuse for a war there, too. Wars are too profitable for us to let you stop them.”

And the mere president has to say, “Yes, sir!”

Obama can promise health care to 50 million uninsured Americans, but he can’t override the veto of the war lobby and the insurance lobby.

The war lobby says its war profits are more important than health care and that the country can’t afford both the “war on terror” and “socialized medicine.”

The insurance lobby says health care has to be provided by private health insurance; otherwise, we can’t afford it.

The war and insurance lobbies rattled their campaign contribution pocketbooks and quickly convinced Congress and the White House that the real purpose of the health care bill is to save money by cutting Medicare and Medicaid benefits, thereby “getting entitlements under control.”

“Entitlements” is a right-wing word used to cast aspersion on the few things that the government did, in the distant past, for citizens. Social Security and Medicare, for example, are denigrated as “entitlements.” The right wing goes on endlessly about Social Security and Medicare as if they were welfare giveaways to shiftless people who refuse to look after themselves, whereas in actual fact citizens are vastly overcharged for the meager benefits with a 15.30% tax on their wages and salaries.

Indeed, for decades now the federal government has been funding its wars and military budgets with the surplus revenues collected by the Social Security tax on labor.

To claim, as the right wing does, that we can’t afford the only thing in the entire budget that has consistently produced a revenue surplus indicates that the real agenda is to drive the mere citizen into the ground.

The real entitlements are never mentioned. The “defense” budget is an entitlement for the military/security complex about which President Eisenhower warned us 50 years ago. A person has to be crazy to believe that the United States, “the world’s only superpower,” protected by oceans on its East and West and by Canada and Mexico on its North and South, needs a “defense” budget larger than the military spending of the rest of the world combined.

The military budget is nothing but an entitlement for the military/security complex. To hide this fact, the entitlement is disguised as protection against “enemies” and passed through the Pentagon.

I say cut out the middleman and simply allocate a percentage of the federal budget to the military/security complex. This way we won’t have to concoct reasons for invading other countries and go to war in order for the military/security complex to get its entitlement. It would be a lot cheaper just to give them the money outright, and it would save a lot of lives and grief at home and abroad.

The US invasion of Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with American national interests. It had to do with armaments profits and with eliminating an obstacle to Israeli territorial expansion. The cost of the war, aside from the $3 trillion, was over 4,000 dead Americans, over 30,000 wounded and maimed Americans, tens of thousands of broken American marriages and lost careers, one million dead Iraqis, 4 million displaced Iraqis, and a destroyed country.

All of this was done for the profits of the military/security complex and to make paranoid Israel, armed with 200 nuclear weapons, feel “secure.”

My proposal would make the military/security complex even wealthier as the companies would get the money without having to produce the weapons. Instead, all the money could go for multi-million dollar bonuses and dividend payouts to shareholders. No one, at home or abroad, would have to be killed, and the taxpayer would be better off.

No American national interest is served by the war in Afghanistan. As the former UK Ambassador Craig Murray disclosed, the purpose of the war is to protect Unocal’s interest in the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline. The cost of the war is many times greater than Unocal’s investment in the pipeline. The obvious solution is to buy out Unocal and give the pipeline to the Afghans as partial compensation for the destruction we have inflicted on that country and its population, and bring the troops home.

The reason my sensible solutions cannot be effected is that the lobbies think that their entitlements would not survive if they were made obvious. They think that if the American people knew that the wars were being fought to enrich the armaments and oil industries, the people would put a halt to the wars.

In actual fact, the American people have no say about what “their” government does. Polls of the public show that half or more of the American people do not support the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan and do not support President Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan. Yet, the occupations and wars continue. According to General Stanley McChrystal, the additional 40,000 troops he asked for are enough to stalemate the war, that is, to keep it going forever, the ideal situation for the armaments lobby.

The people want health care, but the government does not listen.

The people want jobs, but Wall Street wants higher priced stocks and forces American firms to offshore the jobs to countries where labor is cheaper.

The American people have no effect on anything. They can affect nothing. They have become irrelevant like Obama. And they will remain irrelevant as long as organized interest groups can purchase the US government.

The inability of the American democracy to produce any results that the voters want is a demonstrated fact. The total unresponsiveness of government to the people is conservatism’s contribution to American democracy. Some years ago, there was an effort to put government back into the hands of the people by constraining the ability of organized interest groups to pour enormous amounts of money into political campaigns and, thus, obligate the elected official to those whose money elected him. Conservatives said that any restraints would be a violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech.

The same “protectors” of “free speech” had no objection to the Israel Lobby’s passage of the “hate crime” bill, which has criminalized criticism of Israel’s genocidal treatment of the Palestinians and continuing theft of their lands.

In less than one year, President Obama has betrayed all of his supporters and broken all of his promises. He is the total captive of the oligarchy of the ruling interest groups.

Unless he is saved by an orchestrated 9/11-type event, Obama is a one-term president.

Indeed, the collapsing economy will doom him regardless of a “terrorist event.”

The Republicans are grooming Palin. Our first female president, following our first black president, will complete the transition to an American police state by arresting critics and protesters of Washington’s immoral foreign and domestic policies, and she will complete the destruction of America’s reputation abroad.

Russia’s Putin has already compared the US to Nazi Germany, and the Chinese premier has likened the US to an irresponsible, profligate debtor.

Increasingly the rest of the world sees the US as the sole source of all of its problems. Germany has lost the chief of its armed forces and its defense minister, because the US convinced or pressured, by hook or crook, the German government to violate its constitution and to send troops to fight for Unocal’s interest in Afghanistan. The Germans had pretended that their troops were not really fighting, but were engaged in a “peace-keeping operation.” This more or less worked until the Germans called in an air strike that murdered 100 women and children lined up for a fuel allotment.

The British are investigating their leading criminal, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, and his deception of his own cabinet in order to do Bush’s bidding and provide some cover for Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq. The UK investigators have been denied the ability to bring criminal charges, but the issue of war based entirely on orchestrated deception and lies is getting a hearing. It will reverberate throughout the world, and the world will note that there is no corresponding investigation in the US, the country that originated the False War.

Meanwhile, the US investment banks, which have wrecked the financial stability of many governments, including that of the US, continue to control, as they have done since the Clinton administration, US economic and financial policy. The world has suffered terribly from the Wall Street gangsters, and now looks upon America with a critical eye.

The United States no longer commands the respect it enjoyed under President Ronald Reagan or President George Herbert Walker Bush. World polls show that the US and its puppet master are regarded as the two greatest threats to peace. Washington and Israel outrank on the most dangerous list the crazy regime in North Korea.

The world is beginning to see America as a country that needs to go away. When the dollar is overinflated by a Washington unable to pay its bills, will the world be motivated by greed and try to save us in order to save its investments, or will it say, thank God, good riddance?
--MORE--"
Posted by Rocker at 2:04 AM Links to this post
Labels: American Tyranny, Iraq, Israel, Neo-Con Plan, Obama, Palestine, War Profiteering
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Rocker's First Advertisement
It was unavoidable. There is no job (save for this frustration) and no income. I had no choice. I'm not expecting big money or anything; to just get by would be enough for me.

So here it is, readers. You can decide for yourself whether you like the products or services.

You will now "interpret it, that's your right, but as I leave you, I want you to know, think how much you are going to missing. You won't have [Rocker] to kick around anymore."

Oh, I'm sorry, do I sound bitter, too?

"Defense Industry a Win-Win for Engineers

Jobs in sector prove recession-proof

The best defense against layoffs? For job-seeking engineers, it just might be employment in the defense industry itself. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) continues to roll out hefty contracts, despite a deepening recession, drawdown of forces in Iraq, and uncertain war strategies in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, for example, it announced more than $407 million in commitments to U.S. companies for electro-optical sensors, audio-frequency amplifiers, maintenance services, and construction work -- and that was a single day alone.

And I got a HISTORY DEGREE!!!

Defense, in fact, is one of the largest employers of skilled engineers in the world; in the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics's estimates a defense labor force of more than three million people. Defense-related spending accounts for 4.6 percent of the Bay State's economy, with top defense contractors including Raytheon, MITRE, Northrup Grumman, BAE Systems, and Textron.

There are also numerous opportunities for small businesses to subcontract with MIT Lincoln Labs, a DOD research lab, and Hanscom Air Force Base. And in the thriving I-495 beltway alone, rapidly expanding technology companies associated with homeland security government contracts as well as the defense industry are working on projects ranging from bomb-detection products to embedded computing.

"Engineers are needed in the defense sector for [making products from] the science, especially in key areas such as electronics, computers, and advanced propulsion," says Wayne Plucker, an analyst at Frost and Sullivan.

"Right now the military is all about network-centric warfare, meaning everyone is on network, down to the individual soldier, so defense companies are especially involved in communications, command and control technologies, information assurance, cyber security, all these things play into the network," says Don Quenneville, director of the Defense Technology Initiative, a coalition aimed at establishing New England as the global leader in the defense technology industry." And companies are diversifying to not only support the defense industry but also re-channel into other high-tech domains."

IKE?

You didn't listen, America.

The Massachusetts military sector is not about building tanks and aircraft; it's about technological innovation.

Then again: Meet Your Antiwar New England Liberals

The U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick and the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base are among the preeminent military academic, and industrial technology complexes that conduct cutting-edge research and development, with technology often transferring from the military out to the public. "There is sort of a synergy that goes on in the broader defense community," says Rogers Starr, president of the Jacobs Technology, a Boston-area company that works on DOD electronic system command systems. "All of our work is converging together into connected technology and devices."

They way they talk about their "community" of fascist, mass-murdering, war-profiteering ways makes on ill.

Although individuals programs will come and go, due to long-term contracts and military contracts that are determined years in advance, the defense industry overall has been shielded from economic ups and downs and is expected to be stable for the next five years, says Placker. A shortage of specialized scientists and engineers continues to plague the sector, especially because of the need for security clearances, which limits the pool of available workers. "The supply of engineers is nowhere near what the demand is, especially for females and minorities," says MIT Lincoln Labs recruiting manager Dave Gentes. "The engineering is constantly shifting, and we're looking for people who are able to apply technology to tough problems."

Jacobs Technology, like many government contractors, is weathering the recession quite nicely, helping to develop military systems and providing technical support for defense and aerospace. With recruiting programs aimed at hiring engineers, from project engineers to electrical, "name any engineering discipline and we usue it in the defense and aerospace work we do," says Starr. "We couldn't do the work we do without engineers. They're the heart and soul of what we do."

And working for the defense industry has intrinsic benefits as well. Over at MIT Lincoln Labs, Gentes says, "Like almost everyone here, I feel good knowing that the work that I am doing is important and helping to contribute to the national security. It's challenging, interesting work with smart people, backed by good resources."

Don't forget to Sig Heil when you say that!

The special advertising section was produced under the auspices of the Advertising Department of the Boston Globe. It did not involve the reporting or editing staff of the Boston Globe. Editors: Spence and Sanders Communications LLC (Boston Sunday Globe November 6, 2009).

Oh, so the AGENDA-PUSHING, WAR-PROMOTING BUSINESS AGENTS at the BOSTON GLOBE OVERSAW the WHOLE "advertisement," huh?

By HELPING, SUPPORTING, and PROTECTING?

I just lost my appetite, readers -- just in time for lunch.
Posted by Rocker at 10:37 AM Links to this post
Labels: American Tyranny, Business, Education, MSM, U.S., War Profiteering
Thursday, October 15, 2009