Tag: democracy
WHY WISTLEBLOWERS?
American foreign policy seems to have devolved into military promotion and action. This is in compliance to benefits for The Military-Industrial Complex. The Military-Industrial Complex is the engine for world-wide oligarchy. Military action has replaced declared war, giving unspecified bureaucrats and politicians ability to wage war according to personal whim (The Bush/Cheney “War in Iraq” is an example), and relieves Congress of its responsibilities the better to pretend to outrage and innocence. Our bureaucratically-labeled “Proxy War with Russia in Ukraine” is an insult to intelligence.
RELIABLE TRANSPORTATION OR EGO TRIP?
C-Span is a resource that is as good as it gets on the topic of transparency. Without information a democracy doesn’t function. And by the way, as heard on a Bill Moyers Show, government don’t do democracy, people do.
COOPERATION OR COMPETITION?
The concept that “we’re only human” can be used as an excuse or an inspiration. The system of capitalism has been described as offering the greatest good to the most people. This may be true until it isn’t.
MERGER BETWEEN STATE AND CORPORATE POWER
Definitely indicative of dictatorship. This is what “running government like a business” looks like.
EMOTIONAL MATURITY
The point is made that the US leadership might have served the US better by understanding Afghanistan, now that the Taliban is back in control……as though they ever weren’t. The Frontline guest Martin Smith was a guest on C-Span, and also intimated that Afghanistan may not be the only misunderstood nation into which deluded US leaders are forcing “Western values”. And so goes American chauvinism.
ENFORCERS OR AI?
Hierarchical capitalistic Establishment has espoused the concept that capitalism is democracy and that the foundation of this system is fair-market principle. And so Establishment has implemented a system of surveillance of “consumers” to ensure control of actions of citizens to the whims of marketing. Corporations and big-money interests seem to have a questionable access to the privacy of We The People. Therefore it feels only fair that the public, in self defense, be aware of and consider the motivation and profiteering by such entities.
COLONIZED MIND THOUGHT
Denial must be the official mindset to forget North America is colonized. The result seems to have been destruction of nature and and acceptance of Climate Change. The latest “breaking news”? Little Rock, Arkansas.
GROWTH MAKES US POORER
A welcome reminder that we may wish to consider our world from different viewpoints, just as a practice in intellectual honesty.
WESTERN VALUES
The following Organic Consumers link highlights several disturbing realities, not the least of which is masks for cows.
CODIFY NATURAL RIGHTS
Do we have to say it? Codify natural rights.
Have we spent too much energy on economic interests and not enough on natural rights and the application in a democratic Constitutional Republic? — https://billofrightsinstitute.org/resources/principles-and-virtues –Drawn from an examination of human nature, these principles and virtues shape the American republic with ordered liberty and help form the conscience of the nation. Together, the principles and virtues bind a diverse, self-governing people together in communities and promote a healthy civil society. The continuation of the American experiment in self-government requires we know and understand these principles and practice these virtues.
–end of billofrightsinstitute info–
The need to codify natural rights seem to follow growing violations of natural rights by some.
Just a thought….conflict of interest is often predicated on greed and power.
We can consider different ways to view life. — https://thenaturalhistorymuseum.org/events/unfence-the-future/?link_id=0&can_id=193d62b237484a25dee2367907a4dd04&source=email-unfence-the-future-taking-down-fortress-conservation-and-its-enduring-legacy&email_referrer=email_1857901&email_subject=unfence-the-future-taking-down-fortress-conservation-and-its-enduring-legacy –In the history of conservation, the logic of fencing was institutionalized in what critics call “fortress conservation,” a project of drawing boundaries between designated wilderness areas and their outsides, expelling perceived threats to ecological balance–from Indigenous Peoples, to predator species. In the process, habitats have been fragmented, and lifeworlds devastated.WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
2:00 pm – 5:30 pm EST / 11:00 am – 2:30 pm PSTTHURSDAY, APRIL 13
2:00 pm- 6:45 pm EST / 11:00 am – 3:45 pm PST
This is a 2-day symposium taking place on Zoom–feel free to register for one or both days.
–end of naturalhistorymuseum info–
C-Span hosted a discussion this morning about HR5, and a caller spoke of codifying parental rights. Some people see parental rights as a natural right associated with liberty, to the same extent that some people hold as a natural right a woman’s control of her own body.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America”…preamble to the US Constitution
That codification of actions of personal liberty seems to be the response to violations of human rights and natural rights. The rights of children should be protected unassociated with political ideology.
Kelisa Wing is free to write books transparently expressing her thoughts, if she wishes. Use of a taxpayer-funded position in promoting her personal work is the topic for question. Would an educator sincere in intentions to ensure honesty in history curriculum use her position to self-promote? Capitalistic hierarchical Establishment has accomplished too well it’s apparent intention of superimposing capitalism in place of democracy. They are not the same and may be contradictory to each other.https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/military-stonewalling-on-controversial –However, we filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain her contract, salary, job description, and any conflict-of-interest paperwork she’d completed. The government produced a heavily redacted offer letter and job description. For example, the agency even redacted her name from the offer letter out of “privacy.”
–end of openthebooks info–
The good points articulated by Ms. Wing are shadowed by conflict of interest. But then the entire political body at this point is pretty much tainted by the corruption buoyed by Citizens United.
Teaching of the basics such as reading, writing, and rithmatic (sic) is actually less glorious but more useful in permitting each individual to learn how to think rather than what to think. This gives the tools to support personal journeys.
By the way, to partner with the Pentagon hearkens back to the notion of strange bedfellows. If you want to be taken seriously on the topic of human and natural rights……..
The work of authority should be to ensure barriers are removed on that journey for everyone, not just for some.
A governmental response would be to guard against violation of human rights and environmental rights, for a start.
The standard by which we measure ourselves needn’t be patriarchal. — https://mronline.org/2023/03/24/you-strike-the-women-you-strike-the-rock-you-will-be-crushed-the-twelfth-newsletter-2023/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=you-strike-the-women-you-strike-the-rock-you-will-be-crushed-the-twelfth-newsletter-2023&mc_cid=30b53ca844&mc_eid=2833cdb99b — Within hours, Western governments and central banks secured billions of dollars to bail out the financial system. This crisis could not be allowed to escalate.
Other serious developments in the world might be called a crisis, but they do not elicit the kind of urgent response undertaken by Western governments to shore up their banking system. Three years ago, Oxfam released a report that found that the ‘world’s 22 richest men have more wealth than all the women in Africa’.–end of mronline info–
War crimes happen in military actions. —
https://popularresistance.org/20-years-after-iraq-corporate-media-defends-us-war-crimes/ –United States troops began the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003 under the direction of president George W. Bush. The death toll estimates for Iraqi civilians vary between 275,000 and 654,000 as a direct result of warfare, with one study estimating as many as 1 million deaths . If even the lowest figure is correct, the U.S. committed a horrific war crime, a deliberate attack on a civilian population.
–end of popularresistance 8nfo–
From Remaloeb and included in appreciation for acknowledgement of real value. — https://www.facebook.com/rema.loeb/posts/pfbid02k3tCCwffHJZrvtFop2iDdW1twkN3Rjf9VbHqrwR9ZayeV1tUWWtCSJFpasDty8cMl —
Bristlecone Pine.
These trees are the oldest living thing on earth. The information that scientists learned from studying them led to adjustment of carbon dating procedures. –end of tweet —
From gatewaygreens — https://mailchi.mp/730ddc72bab7/green-party-of-st-louis-meeting-wed-april-19-2017-recent-and-future-elections-6231429?e=d624642c9f —
Were you at the showing of “A Sewer Runs Through It: A History of the River des Peres” or did you miss it? If you came, please send the message below to your friends and urge them to register for the REPEAT SHOWING at 7 pm, Tuesday, March 28. If you missed it you can reserve your spot with a NO COST Eventbrite ticket (see below). We anticipated 40 – 60 people registering for the first event but had vastly more interest than expected. Space limitations caused us to shut off registration at 160. Please notice that the March 28 repeat event is at the University City High School Library. Since the second event might also “sell out,” it would be good to reserve your spot as soon as you get this. All panelists will speak at the second showing.
20 YEARS OF WEALTH TRANSFER
Apparently this is the 20th anniversary of the “War in Iraq”. Many callers to C-Span expressed belated regrets for this anomaly of a military action by the USA. Better late than never. Many people were vehement in condemnation of this ill-fated military self-indulgence in the time and place. We also remember the media frenzy over “freedom fries” and “supporting our President”. Too bad our Presidents don’t support We The People.
IS TRANSPARENCY DANGEROUS?
On the topic of whether the USA is a democracy, neither is it capitalistic. The republic will be what we make of it; and when the public is treated as irrelevant, democracy will not result.
