Money for War, Can’t Feed the Poor

The US loves to go on about how they are the greatest, most successful, richest and most prosperous country in the world. We sing of alabaster cities and glistening ivory towers. We have our gilded halls and our expensive rugs. There is something else Americans like to say too. “America is broke, we can’t afford these entitlement programs. We just don’t have the money to provide for food, education, healthcare or anything else for the poor. Just look at us, we’re broke!!”

You can’t have it both ways America. You sound like a deadbeat dad who has the money for the bar, but can’t cough up child support. No one is buying it. Seriously, no one (with half a brain) is buying it. The US has a GDP of over 14 trillion dollars a year. That’s nearly 10 trillion dollars more than the next contender China, or Japan right behind it in 3rd place. We throw away more food than any nation on earth. We spend more on health care costs per capita than any developed nation on earth. While McDonalds, your local supermarket, and high class restaurants throw out literally tons of food, people in the US starve, they go without the basic human necessities. The poor are deciding whether to pay their electric bill and have heat for the winter, or to forgo that and be able to eat. The elderly are contemplating whether to have medicine that keeps them alive, or have food to eat. Meanwhile the rich capitalist class is sitting on trillions of dollars. TRILLIONS. That could help pave our roads, pay our teachers,  feed the poor, send poor kids to college, etc etc etc.

“But we’re broke” they naysayers whine. Let me tell you just how “broke” we are most certainly not.

This link takes you to a chart that breaks down government spending by category: http://www.usfederalbudget.us/us_welfare_spending_40.html

Now let me give you some figures from 2011. Surely we poured money into welfare, entitlements, and those damn educational institutions, right? Wrong. Dead wrong.

We spent 903 BILLION dollars on defense in 2011. That’s almost a freaking trillion dollars in ONE year, just on our many wars. How much on education? 153 billion. oops. 131 billion on welfare for families and children, 109 billion for unemployment (be sure to blame that on the unemployed now,not the greedy selfish capitalists who fired them and made the remaining workers work harder for less),  and a paltry 75 billion on housing. Of course the government does cough up 37 Billion dollars to house its 2 million prisoners in this “land of the free”.

Americans live in a country that has a tangled messed up health care system that leaves millions without care for more than the cost of universal health care, the largest prison population in the WORLD (absolute, or per capita, either one), 800 plus military bases in 150 plus countries world wide. We can pay for pointless and destructive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can pay for thousands upon thousands of bombs and ships and missiles and guns, but no money for a poor child’s meal, or education. We say we don’t have enough to meet everyone’s needs, but that is a bold faced lie. We most certainly do have enough to meet everyone’s needs, and then some. We just don’t have enough, and will never have enough to satisfy the greed of the capitalist class.

All of this is the direct result of living in a country that has a capitalist system. The elite few who own the companies and corporations ride high on the hog while you toil away trying to survive. Their kids are guaranteed education in the hallowed halls of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, while you’ll be happy if you can afford to send your kid to community college. They make the profit, you do the work. The working class dies in the sands of Iraq, their kids dine on caviar and drive a Ferrari. Your house has leaks and crack and holes, they employ someone like you to make sure their topiary is always nicely groomed. They sell you out, use you up, throw you in the waste basket, and then America, then you praise them and admire them. You gladly wave their blood stained flag and are happy to sacrifice your children to the fires of their Moloch. You are happy to work you say, happy to have a job, they’re happy too. They are happy that you’re not aware that you are a wage slave, that you make them millions while you can’t make ends meet. Open your eyes, look around you and see that this is not a good system. The people are suffering, they are even dying. When they start to speak up, they get pepper sprayed, called dirty hippies, beaten, imprisoned, censored and stomped. NO MORE.

Reject this fake democracy, throw off the shackles of capitalism. How you ask? You won’t change things by voting for the two parties that control government, and get paid by the likes of JP Morgan Chase. You won’t change anything by spending a lot of time talking about how the cops (the running dogs of the capitalist ruling class) are really your friends. We can only change things one way in the US. That is to rise up and demand a new form of government. Please, join a socialist party (maybe the Party for Socialism and Liberation) ANGRILY demand an end to these useless deadly wars, call for a stop to US imperialism, resist the government. If you are in the military, get out NOW. Demand recognition as a conscientious objector, do what you have to. Do not fight any more for their bloody greedy bullshit. Your life is worth more. Start a union where you work. Start conversations with the people around you, show them what kind of a system it is. It is time to build class awareness. This is a class war, and it has been going on for a very long time. Fight for NOT JUST THE US, but the world as a whole. A socialist US is a good thing for the entire globe, and all its myriad peoples. Have courage, speak out, fight back. Workers of the world, UNITE!

“Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.”- Maggie Kuhn

 

Death in Libya

The world is still shocked. And by world I mean America. And by America I mean the ignorant people who couldn’t see something like this coming. You can already tell by the title what I’m talking about. Libyans, reportedly angry about a film that gravely insulted Islam, stormed the US embassy in Benghazi and killed several Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya, a Mr. Chris Stevens. They also seemingly dragged his corpse through the streets of the city triumphantly, as a hunter might display their captured trophy prey. That kind of behavior is barbaric, it is disgusting and it is wrong. I condemn in the strongest language possible the killing of diplomatic personnel from any country. That said, I think it’s not wrong to examine why this happened, and why the US can only expect more of this to happen.

Islam vs Christianity? A false dichotomy

There are many who want to frame all this ongoing violence from majority Muslim countries as being a cultural war between the forces of Judeo-Christian civility, and Islamic barbarism. This is a misdirection of the issue, and is completely off base. The issue is  much deeper than just religious differences, or hurt feelings. It goes to the very core of why the US is hated around the world.

There is a talking point among the talking heads of Western media, and how they love to drive it into the ground. “The Muslims are dangerous, they hold nothing but ill will towards us nice white Christian folk, we’re in danger yada yada yada”. Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Egypt, Libya et al. How true is that though? How many Americans have died from Muslim terrorism? Let’s look at the numbers. 2,600 some people dead on 9-11. 4 people dead in Benghazi. 17 dead on the USS Cole. Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut. OK. That’s pretty much it? Sure there’s been a couple others, but let’s not get off track here. “Now what did the US ever do to deserve that?” You may ask tilting your head quizzically to one side. Gee, let me think. Give me a moment here.

….. ummm….. ummmm…… ummm….. ummmm…..

Well, we support the genocide and blockading of the Palestinians, overthrew the rightful governments of Iran, Afghanistan, and others, bombed Libya, invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, again, propped up, still prop up brutal dictators in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran and others, purposely insult their religion “just because we can”, exploit their natural resources, abuse their governments and their people and shit all over their culture and sovereignty. “Yeah, but we didn’t kill that many people.” You may say. Oh really? The toll in Iraq and Afghanistan ALONE is in the hundreds of thousands at least. Families dead, cities destroyed, progress halted, elections thrown, protesters jailed, refugees imprisoned starved and murdered, drone attacks on civilians, Israeli settlements, US gifts of weapons to Israel that kills Palestinian civilians, bombs and missiles and warships and boots on the ground and shock and awe and torture and Gitmo and secret renditions by the CIA and more bombs and more troops and more US flag waving and more “freedom” and more capitalism and more coca-cola and more McDonalds and more ripping up the Koran, and more countries collapsing, and they are left with nothing.

Nothing but the only goddamn thing that the US and all its imperial might can’t take from them. Their religious identity. Let me note right here that I am not  Muslim, I don’t believe in that religion, but I understand. The anger. The rage. They’re people who have been shat on and walked all over for so goddamn long that religion is the only thing they have. They don’t have nice cars and houses and food. They have their belief in their god, it warms them at night, and shades them by day. It is their opium and their placebo. It is their blanket and their fortress. And the Western man sits in his nice house, bought with money drenched in the blood of the weak and powerless, watching these developments on TV. He sips his singe malt scotch on the rocks and says smugly “Those barbarians, how can they even be considered human when they do things like that.” Then he pays as little tax as possible, which will be used to rain down the brimstone of heaven on the heads of more innocent Muslims around the world.

And you wonder why they’re mad.

So before all you self righteous assholes go condemning all Muslims, try something a little bit different for once. Start advocating the end of imperialism. Start advocating the end of interventionism and war. Start advocating for socialism, start advocating for progress. And reach out to the Muslims in your neighborhood. They’re people just like you. Accept them, understand them, love them.

End the cycle of violence, move beyond imperialism. We can make a better world. Join me.

Keep Calm and Carry On

The comedian Bill Maher had some advice for the Occupy movement recently. On his popular show “New Rules” he stated that he thinks it’s time for Occupy to change their tactics, saying :

“Instead of organizing interstate hootenannies, maybe it’s time for Occupy Wall Street to actually participate in the American political process. That means, boring stuff like canvassing neighborhoods, raising money, running candidates for office, manning phone banks and making a baby with John Edwards.”

Yes, occupy. The whole marching in the streets thing, banging drums, getting arrested, fighting fascist cops, staying out in the cold and the rain day after day that was all leading up to this moment, when we realize our real goal, our real aim, the thing we have been working so hard for, for so many months. That goal, that aim is: (Drum-roll please)

GO BACK TO NORMAL.

You see, the real problem is that there aren’t enough Democrats in office. Now, I know we’ve held power, well, still hold power in the Senate and the Presidency, but those pesky Republicans just keep throwing monkey wrenches in our gears, screwing things up for us, being the rascally little obstructionists that they are. What’s that? We had control of the house and senate before 2010? We didn’t even pass a budget while we had the chance? What’s that? Democrats voted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What’s that? The democrats support giving more money to the racist state of Israel? What’s that? The democrats time after time after time have reneged on their promises of social and economic progress? What’s that? The Democrats are just as corporate owned as the Republicans? What’s that? What we really need is systemic political and economic change that overhauls and replaces our current system?

No. I will not stand by while millionaire assholes like Maher whine poetic about how occupiers need to just get involved in the American political process. We can’t because to succeed in the American political process you need the support and money of the capitalist class, the class we are aiming on taking down. Do you understand that Maher? Can you get that through your thick fucking skull? We aren’t going to ask permission to have human rights, we will only get them by TAKING them. Rip what you want from the hands of the oppressor. Don’t wait for them to throw you scraps from their almighty fucking table. Knock the goddamn table over and take what you want. For too long the proletariat has been forced to produce, produce, produce, while the capitalist takes all the profit. It has resulted in poverty, war, death, starvation, strife and the coming death of our planet’s ecosystems. No, I won’t just get involved electing another lame ass Democrat into a pointless office. This whole system is rotten and corrupt to its very core. Tear it down. Burn the buildings and monuments. Stop fucking asking for permission. Kick the ass of the bourgeoisie and let’s build a better society, a better world with our hands, together.

Do you get it now Maher? We’re not the left wing equivalent of the tea party. We’re the modern, updated version of the Sans Culottes.

Nah you don’t get it.