Showing posts with label Corporation-Military Complex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corporation-Military Complex. Show all posts

Thursday, January 28, 2010

State of the Union Corporation






Where I am, there is a small blizzard and the girls are joyously rioting in the snow.

But for me, to paraphrase Shaky, this is the winter of my discontent.

The political landscape that is emerging from the cold here is one of catastrophic, epic shithole proportion.

Stephen Harper have decided that he doesn't need parliament to have a good time after all and decreed - by some imaginary superhero' s omnipotence - that they can all go take a hike until March... because the economy is getting better and he needs to think!

In my birth country, the judges of the Supreme Court have decided that corporation needed free reign on every political aspect of governance and could flux and influence as many 'guns-for-hire' they wanted to make sure their satisfaction was guaranteed.

And Haiti, birth place of my mother and her 12 long-exiled siblings, is oozing and burning like an infected blister in the sun, while every doctor on the planet is making promises of doing something very soon about it.

Obama - and this is no typo - Obama lost Massachussetts' election AND the Kennedy seat (!) because he believed- unlike every single voter that choose his name over McPalin - the right-wing dream pairing of the century- that he must represent the center and keep the Bushes' legacy alive. Even if it means taking the blame for all their failures, excesses, ugliness, law breaking craziness and their deficit.

Somehow, change meant not rocking the boat.

Believe me, I know he must feel pressured from all over to keep quiet, lay low and let the Big Boys handle it. He actually, like Colin Powell before him, spent all his political capital, credence and reputation for the status quo so as to make those Big Boys as comfy as possible.

All the while, the middle class and Main Street were ready to follow him anywhere as long as it wasn't to More of the Same.

But he's not the only one that should be blamed.

Those famous blue dog Dems should all be called teh 'We're in the Pockets of the Healthcare Industry ... and They're in Mine! Tee-Hee!' stupid coalition. They're exchangeable monkeywrenches needed to grind everything to a halt.

And the Supreme Court just gave them a raise. Indirectly, of course...

Now what?

What is wrong with this pictures? The entire population wants Obama to create jobs while keeping government spending low. Most gave a blank check to the private sector and are still waiting for the trickle down thingy to take effect. (Jobs? From the private sector? They have jets and bonuses to think of!) They want the Golden Days to come back but without any rules, unions, taxes, trade barriers and a war that eats 70% of all the government's budget.

Yeah... Right...

Mr. President. Good luck. And forgive the Middle Class because they just don't know in what mess they're in. Too bad they'll blame you for all of it.

But I can't help it, I still hope for you.
Read a lefty someday. Better yet: take one in your administration.
They might surprise you. Maybe even help you. You would need a friend.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Old Facts to be Aware of... U.S. Foreign Aid



Things to remember in 2009: How Georges Bush finalized the transformation of the concept of foreign aid from helping countries in difficulty to just another arm of the military "operational plans".

When you see children dying in Gaza, remember that we bought some of the weapons killing them. Ignorance is not a defense anymore, never was. "Aid" is never neutral or perfectly selfless.

From Parade Magazine, of all places:

Who Gets U.S. Foreign Aid

The U.S. will give an estimated $26 billion in foreign aid in 2008—70% more than when President George W. Bush took office (the figure doesn’t include funds related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). More than 150 countries get financial assistance from the U.S. Here are the six that received the most this year.

COUNTRY AID PURPOSE
1. Israel $2.4 billion Virtually all of this money is used to buy weapons (up to 75% made in the U.S.). Beginning in 2009, the U.S. plans to give $30 billion over 10 years.
2. Egypt $1.7 billion $1.3 billion to buy weapons; $103 million for education; $74 million for health care; $45 million to promote civic participation and human rights.
3. Pakistan $798 million $330 million for security efforts, including military-equipment upgrades and border security; $20 million for infrastructure.
4. Jordan $688 million $326 million to fight terrorism and promote regional stability through equipment upgrades and training; $163 million cash payment to the Jordanian government.
5. Kenya $586 million $501 million to fight HIV/AIDS through drug treatment and abstinence education and to combat malaria; $15 million for agricultural development; $5.4 million for programs that promote government accountability.
6. South Africa $574 million $557 million to fight TB and HIV/AIDS; $3 million for education.
7. Mexico $551 million Click here for details.
8. Colombia $541 million Click here for details.
9. Nigeria $491 million Click here for details.
10. Sudan $479 million Click here for details.

*Source: Estimates based on figures and documents from the U.S. Department of State. Click here for more information.

— Rebecca Davis O'Brien


Nigeria?

US Offers Nigeria Military Aid to Protect Offshore Oil

by Hector Igbikiowubo

THE United States, keen to develop new sources of oil supply outside the Middle East, has offered to help Nigeria protect the flow of oil in the Gulf of Guinea and combat terrorist attacks on the oil industry, officials said. The Gulf of Guinea, stretching from Liberia in the west to Angola in the south, currently provides about 15 per cent of US oil supplies. That share is expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2015, according to a recent report commissioned for the U.S. Congress.


Mexico?
The Merida Initiative in two words: immigracion no!


A good place for intelligible and very well dissected info is the Global Issues web site, especially this page here.

So Hillary, what do you intend to do?