Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Price Of Peace

It's $40 billion, in case you are wondering. The United States gives Israel $40 billion, bear in mind, we have no money for Social Security, people living on the streets, a heroin epidemic, people who can't afford healthcare, but we are all up in Israels grill, throwing money at them. Why?
Strange how the US "colluded" with and now the UN has handed down some 'harsh" criticism of Israel, God forbid! Anybody say anything about Israel.
The UN resolution demands that Israel stop all settlements in Palestinian Territory and East Jerusalem, and that the settlements that are there, are, basically, illegal.
Palestinian leaders say they will use this decision, to litigate in International Criminal Court.
This UN resolution is just basically a statement. It doesn't do anything, back in February, they handed down a decision about Julian Assange and he's still holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy. I am not sure what exactly the UN actually does, except try and remain relevant.
There's a huge refugee crises and the UN says it's broke, They have a budget of "$19.52bn (£12.84bn), but only $7.15bn of that has been raised from international donors."
 Let that sink in.
The pricetag for the United States is $8 billion. It looks like the refugee problem is taking up the entire allotment of US money. And well it should, since we have caused so many problems for the Middle East, we will probably never stop paying.
The United Nations humanitarian budget is somewhere between $20 billion and $30 billion.
We give Israel, $40 billion to buy what exactly?
Military aid, bombs and other weapons. We willingly give billions for weapons that make war, but money to take care of displaced, traumatized people?
Well sorry, we need to give way more to countries willing to keep our war corporations flush.
But we supposedly, desperately want peace.
Why is the go-to for every leaving administration in the US, a peace agreement with Israel? I mean why is that our job? Isn't there another country out there that could do better? Because we have failed at this again and again.
Looks like that didn't work out.
What about this time? 
                                                      What could possibly go wrong?
Here we are in 2016, will Obama get his Israel photo shoot? It's like a presidential rite of passage. So now, Ketchup Kerry is jetting his way around the world, trying to keep Netanyahu calm in an effort to stop a machine built to cause chaos and mayhem, known as the US military industrial complex in Israel. 
Why is Netanyahu angry about this UN Resolution? He's got everything he wants and more, he does whatever he wants, that's pretty obvious. The UN can only pass a resolution, it can't stop Israel from doing whatever it wants to do. 
Will we put sanctions on Israel, the way President Obama is planning to do with Russia over the supposed "hacking" of our election? Which was really a leaking and we don't know who did that.
It's completely confusing. 
The US can go into multiple countries and bomb the crap out of them, Israel does the same thing to the Palestinians, we don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to credibility or peace talks or treaties. Why not let Switzerland negotiate with Israel, aren't they neutral? 
These are the burning issues for President Obama, with the little time he's got left in office. Another useless gesture, there's no hope and change you can sell us this time, Mr. President, what we sell are weapons of mass destruction. What we need to sell are weapons of mass construction.
 I think Jimmy Carter had the right idea there, with Habitat For Humanity. 
We are the worlds greatest sales force for weaponry, polluting the planet and securing our own and everyone else's demise.
 No matter what we say, our actions give us away, it's a joke. 
We spend $598 billion dollars on our military. We give billions in military aid to other countries, we are global weapons trafficers. Americans don't even know what is done with all the money in our own military budget, because of the nature of  their covert, classified operations. Our supposed reason for giving so much money to other countries is to help keep them "stable". Our biggest war markets are Israel and Egypt. Jordan, also loves buying our military crap. 
You can't sell all of this violence and then act like you want peace, it doesn't quantify. It needs to stop. But what would happen to all those lovely corporations, if we cut our sales force? What if we stopped paying other countries to buy our weapons? Because that is what we are doing. You can't give Israel billions of dollars in military equipment and then tell them that they can't use it on Palestinians, not after what we've done in Iraq or South America or Iran causing coups and chaos. If we really want peace we've got to stop our meddling in other countries affairs, saying we want"stability" while we go about destabilizing on a global level. The UN can pass all the resolutions it wants, Here's a resolution for you, UNSC Resolution 1441, giving Iraq an "opportunity" to comply, back in 2002, and give up their weapons of mass destruction, they never had. That should tell you everything you need to know about the UN, peace on earth and goodwill towards men. 
It'll cost you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_UN_resolutions_concerning_Israel_and_Palestine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Make America Grate Again With Trumps Band Of Brigands

There's this saying in art school; you have to break it down before you can build it up again. I believe that is what's going on in the US now.
If we can go  back (I know we aren't supposed to) to an example I have used many times.
Watch President Obama's face when this woman asks him basically, what in the hell are you doing? She's confused by President Obama's actions because they don't match his words.
What does he do? He laughs.
This is just one example of why the Democrat Party is the shambles it is, and the Republicans aren't better off either. I think that unfortunately, for America, Trump had to happen. Everything he does is in your face, Check out all the people he will be filling his cabinet with. This isn't much different from Obama's choices. We now know that Obama's choices were  influenced by Citigroup (see email here) How is it there is so much complaining about Trump? Seriously, it's weird.
Next is the "Russian Hack" of our election that "sources say" went on. Here's what I want to know; if Russia influenced our election, where was the NSA, Homeland Security, CIA, FBI? How is it when all my text messages, phone calls and emails can be swept up and dissected, Russia can just swoop in and hack our election? Who's watch would be responsible for protecting the American people from this? Is anyone stepping up saying they were derelict in their duty or why or how it could have happened?
Here's one, of the more cogent articles on the supposed Russian Hack, from The Intercept, stating that we need proof, Bearing in mind the CIA also told us there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, sending the US into one of the worst debacles in its history of war on the Middle East. Who are you supposed to believe anymore?
Certainly, not any mainstream media sources.
There's been a lot of "Chicken Little's" crying about Trumps choices for his cabinet. Rick Perry for Energy Secretary, Ben "I can't remember Running For President" Carson, HUD Secretary. Yes, it's all laughable. But Jack Lew, CEO at Citigroup was in Obama's cabinet. Eric Holder, who represented Swiss bank UBS, in private practice. Billionaire John Ketchup Kerry, Secretary of State, I don't have enough time to look up all these people. They are all corporatists, Trumps not any different, he's just lousy at finesse and nuance.
Hillary, and her shady Clinton Foundation connections would be no different.
Does anyone even remember George W. Bush's disastrous presidency and Haliburton, Blackwater-Dick Cheney? It just blows my mind that no one can see this trajectory of failure leading right to the election of Trump.
There has been nothing but status quo in this country for decades, resulting in a vanished and vanquished middle class, with half the country in poverty and half the country doesn't even vote. Coincidence? I don't think so.
So the only people that care who Trump is going to put in his cabinet, are the people who didn't vote for him. Even though Presidents have been doing what he's doing for a long, long time. He's not going to drain the swamp. He's having a laugh, the same way Obama laughed at that woman in that video.
If you don't get by now that the system is broken, that the government is a moneymaking opportunity and getting voted in can solve all of your financial problems permanently, then by all means keep voting.
 I won't comply with this system by voting, thereby giving my approval to walls and wars and all manner of nonsense that has nothing to do with every day Americans just trying to get by. Apparently, there haven't been enough examples of politicians ripping off the citizenry and they are endlessly surprised that things stay the same or get even worse. Go figure.
The whole thing needs to be taken apart and built from scratch again. We are living in a different technological age than the quill scratchers of over 200 years ago. It's not that they didn't have good ideas but we need to change, and that's not going to be easy. We have automation that's laying waste to millions of jobs and manufacturing is gone. No economist or the government has even begun to face the fact that the concept of work has changed and all this technology was supposed to make life easier, not harder! Yet, we are constantly told to bootstrap it. It's like running around quoting Socrates while you get into your Uber ride, that's driverless, as if that's going to explain the complicated chaotic life Americans are negotiating on a daily basis. This disconnect, like Obama laughing at that woman's confusion is what we are all up against, only it's just not very funny. We are living through a time unlike any other, maybe the dawn of the Industrial Age, but we seem to be no smarter, dealing with drastic social upheaval than we were 200 years ago. Enter Trump, to make America great again. Moving forward isn't happening, because voting is like getting into a driverless car that's going to get us to some magical destination. Where picnics and apple pie are waiting for us. Looking at the past to take us to the future.
I can't even pretend to know what it is going to take to change this country for the better, But I do know this, doing things the way we have been for the last thirty years or more hasn't made America great. The ideas I have would probably make FDR blush. I bet there are a lot of people out there, just like me, they have ideas, that won't be heard, because that would require change and that's not going to happen...at least not yet.

Monday, December 5, 2016

#NoDAPL Won The Battle, The War Is Not Over

I wanted to congratulate all the brave water protectors at Standing Rock. I have been reading with horror, the absolute madness that has been going on there for far too long. Those people endured violations to their safety and civil rights in the name of clean water, on their own sacred land, while Obama decided "Let's play it out a few more weeks."
Since that time, countless injuries from rubber bullets, pepper spray, concussion grenades and water cannon, reminiscent of the Civil Rights protests from the 60's scenes were playing in most sane people's heads, who actually have a memory of that time. Unbelievable.
Once I saw that 2,000 veterans were heading to Standing Rock, I thought that this was a pivotal point. When the military gets involved in a revolution, that's a game changer. Is it any coincidence that now we hear from the government? The Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit to keep this abomination of a pipeline going. That's all it took to stop it. Why so long?
It's a disgrace.
Most Americans that I cross paths with could care less, they are too busy watching TV "reporters" decipher Trumps tweets. They have very little knowledge and are engaged in a battle for their financial lives, they don't have the time or energy to research what is really happening at Standing Rock or anywhere else, but their own dinner table. There was not much I could do besides blog about it, sign petitions, try and explain this situation to normal people just trying to get through their day, and for the most part they just think I am just some crazy old lady who paints and draws, you know, one of those weird 'artsy" types. Like anyone else, I just want a peaceful life, with time to pursue my work and enjoy nature. Unfortunately, I have a weird sense of justice, when I see people getting taken advantage of it pisses me off. Standing Rock, was one such situation. Their war isn't over, but they won this battle.
Most days, when I am going about my business, I have this weird question in my mind of what it is to be an American? It is a strange thing to live in a country that causes so many problems worldwide, in an attempt to prop up the Petrodollar with misadventures in violence based on lies, everywhere. We give billions of dollars to Israel while we bleed out our own country, and millions of Americans are living in poverty. Drone wars and military hardware sales to Saudi Arabia rule the day, while Native Americans who don't have anything, live on land this country keeps trying to take back, gave enough pushback to finally get some sort of satisfaction.
We will see for how long. This country is so screwed up,
No civilized nation should act this way, denying healthcare and safe clean drinking water to it's citizens, who have the potential to be harassed or even killed just walking down the street, by a militarized police force.
This is a weird place, it makes no sense.
The only thing that finally made some sort of sense to me was that the Native American people we have abused for centuries, finally have something to celebrate on their sacred land in North Dakota.That maybe, just maybe, there is still hope for the American people. That there is hope for the Native American people who live in abject poverty. That there may be justice in Detroit, for people still dealing with a massive water crises.
 However, until we all start getting real and stop thinking we are going to magically have a fair and just country, where basic human rights are inalienable, where all people are created equal and we stop pillaging this country of resources and trashing the entire planet with our insane out of control policies, while our government just takes what it wants whenever and where ever it sees fit.
There can be no justice.
This is just a step, but thousands of Native Americans and American veterans came together and something happened. I can only hope this is the beginning of real change. I hope they are all dancing and cheering in North Dakota. They deserve it. Thank you, for your courage.