Much Ado About Something » Democracy

Scott Ritter: Very few Americans function as citizens anymore

aman — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 18:33:21 +0000

I came across this Scott Ritter interview on Truthout a while back and some of what he said really stood out.The abject apathy of the US citizenry has always astounded me and I have always wondered what will it take for them to march and say they won’t take it anymore. For those that don’t know who Scott Ritter is; he was a UN weapons inspector and was shouting from rooftops that Iraq didn’t have any weapons of mass destruction before the invasion of Iraq, but alas our “fair and balanced” media was more interested in being cheerleaders for the invasion.

Here, Ritter tries to explain why there is no real public outrage about what is going on and the opposition to the Iraq war:

It’s difficult to explain [the opposition]. First of all you have to note, from the public side, that very few Americans actually function as citizens anymore. What I mean by that are people who invest themselves in this country, people who care, who give a damn. Americans are primarily consumers today, and so long as they continue to wrap themselves in the cocoon of comfort, and the system keeps them walking down a road to the perceived path of prosperity, they don’t want to rock the boat. If it doesn’t have a direct impact on their day-to-day existence, they simply don’t care.There’s a minority of people who do, but the majority of Americans don’t. And if the people don’t care – and remember, the people are the constituents – if the constituents don’t care, then those they elect to higher office won’t feel the pressure to change.

Read the whole interview here. On the same topic, also read what Iacocca has to say; where the hell is our outrage:

“Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening?” Iacocca writes. “Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’”

Good reading. I doubt whether it makes any difference to anyone whatsoever anymore, but it is good to see that there are still people who aren’t afraid to speak the truth.

Welcome to the Fascist states of America

aman — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:50:08 +0000

It is incredible seeing the complete apathy of the populace in face of actions such as these. If actions such as holding a journalist from a Pulitzer prize winning AP journalistic team for 19 months without any charge alarmed you, that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Now the fire fighters are being trained to report people who express discontent with the government. Absolutely mind numbingly amazing! This is the sort of stuff that goes on in Burma and North Korea and used to happen in Eastern Europeans states like Poland, in Chile under Pinochet, in Russia under Stalin not to mention Hitler and Mussolini. State spies are everywhere and USA is definitely moving in that direction. This should be alarming but except the Keith Olberman show, this hasn’t even been mentioned in the so called liberal media. Here are some details that have emerged:

It was revealed last week that firefighters are being trained to not only keep an eye out for illegal materials in the course of their duties, but even to report back any expression of discontent with the government.

A year ago, Homeland Security gave security clearances to nine New York City fire chiefs and began sharing intelligence with them. Even before that, fire department personnel were being taught “to identify material or behavior that may indicate terrorist activities” and were also “told to be alert for a person who is hostile, uncooperative or expressing hate or discontent with the United States.”

This program seems to be turning [firefighters], essentially, into legally protected domestic spies, does it not?”

And before the Bush apologists come in here and try to defend this and call it a liberal conspiracy, this is not a partisan view. LewRockwell, one of the prominent conservative magazines says the same thing about the current state of affairs in the US of A.

Thought police anyone? It is pretty amazing that George Orwell’s predictions are all coming true in a hurry.

As Sinclair Lewis said: When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.

Land of the free, with exceptions

aman — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:34:06 +0000

The highly delusional state of the US populace would be mildly entertaining, were it not for the gravity of the situation and the respect of basic human rights and the tenets of International law and democracy. United States is called the “land of the free and home of the brave”. Bravery, it seems, has taken on a different meaning. It now means invading a country that caused no harm to the United States and dropping cluster bombs from high up in the sky and killing civilians. And “land of the free” means, you can hold a journalist for 19 months without laying any charges because he dared to publish pictures and stories that the objective (pun intended) embedded journalists never cared to show.I am talking about the AP journalist Bilal Hussein who has been in custody for 19 months without any charge whatsoever. From this report in the Washington Post:

Bilal has been imprisoned by the U.S. military in Iraq since he was picked up April 12, 2006, in Ramadi, a violent town in a turbulent province where few Western journalists dared go. The military claimed then that he had suspicious links to insurgents. This week, Editor & Publisher magazine reported the military has amended that to say he is, in fact, a “terrorist” who had “infiltrated the AP.”

We believe Bilal’s crime was taking photographs the U.S. government did not want its citizens to see. That he was part of a team of AP photographers who had just won a Pulitzer Prize for work in Iraq may have made Bilal even more of a marked man.

In the 19 months since he was picked up, Bilal has not been charged with any crime, although the military has sent out a flurry of ever-changing claims. Every claim we’ve checked out has proved to be false, overblown or microscopic in significance.

And if the above sound ridiculous, it doesn’t stop there. Now suddenly the military is going to charge him with something. Yes, something. What the charges are won’t be discussed, not even with his lawyer.

And there’s still some more, as if the above wasn’t enough. According to this report by Associated Press:

The Pentagon also raised the possibility that Bilal Hussein, who was part of the AP’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team in 2005, could continue to be held even if the Iraqi court acquits him.

So why have a trial at all? Why not just hang him like Saddam with a puppet court.

USA is indeed the land of the free and home of the brave. Shameful!!

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