Memorial Day Cliches

Let's honor our fallen veterans without mouthing tired cliches like, "Remember the price of freedom."

Let's remember the horrible price of war and its legacy, more war.

War is exactly what the corpocracy propagandizes with the help of mindless cliches.

What is a conservative/progressive?

A person who wants to keep what's right and change what's wrong. If most Americans were conservative/progressives America would be a much better, more peaceful nation.

Why isn't the U.S. a member of the International Criminal Court

If the U.S. were a member of the International Criminal Court, the supreme ruler of law on earth, how many U.S. presidents and other politicians would be indicted as war criminals? Several come to my mind.

Obama with the forked tongue

When Obama recently spoke in London and addressed the Israel/Palestinian stalemate he said this:

“We fight an enemy that respects no law of war, we will continue to hold ourselves to a higher standard — by living up to the values and the rule of law that we so ardently defend… We will proceed with humility… Ultimately, freedom must be won by the people themselves… But we can and must stand with those who so struggle.”

Israel and the U.S. are two of the countries that have never signed onto the International Criminal Court. It oversees an international rule of law.

Why hasn't the U.S. ever become a member of this court? My answer later.

Corporate/Political Balance Sheet vs Life's Balance Sheet

I'm writing this after yet another one of the endless news reports about the corpocracy's disregard for human rights and life.

The nearly 30 miners trapped and dead in a Va coal mine could have been prevented if the mining co had followed preventive maintencance and the federal government had been overseeing mine safety.

My American friends, millions of Americans have been killed over the decades because the corporate and political balance sheets overrule our life's balance sheets.

What is a "life balance sheet?" Read our Constitution. Its preamble promises that our government will promote the general welfare. On an ideal life balance sheet, one's standard and quality of living would be at least acceptable, not just bearable or intolerable. And America, among advanced countries, would not look like a third-world country in terms of joblessness, income gap and the like.

Secretary of War

The Secretary of War, preparing to leave his post, warned against dangerous cuts in the war budget. In a Washington Post article, Michael Gerson wrote that ""The most obvious defense cuts have already been made."

I responded: "Not true at all. The most obvious cut would be in cutting out all expenses for wars that profit the war industry and politicians, slay millions, and never settle conflicts. What would be the risk of doing so? Peace. It's too much of a risk for the corpocracy where peace doesn't pay."

America's corpocracy excells at turning plowshares into swords. 

I'm winning the bet, Mr. Feingold

Haven't heared from him personally yet. Did get this generic e-mail from Cole Leystra, Executive Director
Progressives United:

"Friend, Two days ago, Russ sent a message urging members of Progressives United to stand up to corporate power and support President Obama's proposed executive order.
The reaction has been huge.
And I'm not just talking about the thousands of members who have already contributed to help us run ads holding the anti-transparency legislators accountable.-----etc etc"

There you have it. Maybe I need to contribute $5 first. What do you think?

E-Mails from Russ Feingold

I get periodic e-mails from Russ Feingold addressed "Friend," which tells you we are not personal acquaintances.

In case you don't know him he's the founder of Progressives United. Here's what   Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post said about him when he launched the new political party: "When some senators retire, they decide to take lucrative lobbying jobs. Others go straight to Wall Street. But Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold, who lost his re-election bid in November, is continuing on his principled -- and often lonely -- path by starting an organization to combat corporate influence in politics, an effort he hopes will spark "a new progressive movement" that will truly hold elected officials accountable."

I sometimes send Russ, I mean, Mr. Feingold, a reply. He never never has acknowledged them.

So I'm going to repeat my reply to him today. 

In his e-mail to me today, May 17, 2011 he was asking me to: Contribute $5 now to help us shame some of the anti-transparency senators and representatives by running online ads targeting their constituents.

Here's my reply: Mr. Feingold, thank you for not being another Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin. Thank you for starting Progressives United even though there are already too many progressive groups divided and conquered by the corpocracy. Thank you for your attempts to "decorporatize" our government.  You have a long way to go.

I suggest you read my book, The Devil's Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy in the Lurch. There are in it scads of political, legislative, judicial, and economic reform proposals. If you buy and read it and also sign my petition at http://signon.org/sign/unite-to-end-americas?source=s.fwd&r_by=137064 I will contribute $5. 

Mr. Feingold, I bet you $5 you won't even respond to me personally in your own words and not those from or given to a staff member. 

Gary Brumback
http://www.democracypowernow.com/
http://www.democracypowerblog.spot.com/

What do you think, bloggers? Will I have to pony up $5? I hope so.

Stop Warfare, Not Medicare: A Pathetic Personal Experience but Still Undaunted

I’ve never been a street demonstrator, until now. Odd age to start, going on 76. 

What got me up from the PC and out onto the street was an e-mail from Daniel Mintz and his team members of the MoveOn.org Political Action Team this last April 20. Here’s the basic message.

Dear Gary, Unbelievable. They really voted to eliminate Medicare. Last week, all but four House Republicans voted for a budget that eliminates Medicare for anyone born after 1957. It's time Representative John Mica heard from us, loud and clear: voting to end Medicare is completely unacceptable and we will hold you accountable.

This week the House is on recess and Rep. Mica will be at home in his district. Can you drop by Rep. Mica's office in Palm Coast at noon on Thursday to deliver the message with other MoveOn members? 

It's critical that Rep. Mica hears from his constituents how angry they are about his vote. Put a personal message inside an empty prescription drug bottle and deliver it any time during business hours.

Thanks for all you do. –Daniel, Stephen, Wes, Carrie, and the rest of the team

I decided to make my own poster on cardboard and paste it to the back of a beach ball wood paddle; “STOP WARFARE, NOT MEDICARE.” And off I went to Rep. Mica’s office.

What happened next was no more effective than if I had aimed a crowd’s flatus at an oncoming tornado trying to repel it. There was no crowd. Two people in the parking lot, three prescription bottles at the foot of Mica’s door. Period. Zippo. I left a bookmark about my new book and a note, returned home and started thinking about writing this blog.

But I remain undaunted. I will stay the fight against the corpocracy. I hope you will, too.

Get free copy of my new book

The corpocracy is strong and united, with allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Its opposition is weak and divided, just what the corpocracy wants.

We need, as a start, a U.S. Chamber of Democracy to unite non-governmental organizations fighting like Lone Rangers and unsuccessfully the corpocracy.

Get a free copy (limited time offer) of my book, The Devil's Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lurch, by getting 20 signatures on a petition to these NGOs. See my website for details.

Gary brumback

www.democracypowernow.com

My Note to the President of the American Humanist Association

May 10, 2011

Note to David Niose

I applaud you for your article, Corporate Power and Today’s Humanist, in the May/June, 2011 issue of The Humanist.

There would be little corporate power today if corporations and their allies got no “power gifts” (e.g., corporate welfare, corporate personhood, lax corporate charters, lax regulations and law enforcement, etc., etc) from “our” government. These gifts are part of the government’s overflowing, uneven, and unending dowry in its Devil’s marriage to powerful corporate interests that created the “corpocracy.”

The modern-day corpocracy began during the “corporate revolution” in the early 1970s and has become America’s worse enemy. It is ruling and ruining America. Among advanced countries America has the greatest income inequality; highest unemployment; greatest insecurity over putting food on the table; lowest life expectancy at birth; and largest prison population (minus unaccountable corporate criminals). The corpocracy has also shrunk the middle class; catered to the wealthy elite; left millions of Americans without health insurance coverage; and has started endless, unwinnable, costly wars for profit and power that snuff out millions of lives, fuel terrorism against America, and sacrifice the general welfare. 

The corpocracy is omnipotent and omnipresent. Its opposition is weak and divided. Mr. Niose, you were absolutely correct in concluding  your article by saying that “---returning corporations to the role of the public’s servant, not master, must be a primary goal of the humanist movement of our generation, working together with [the wider progressive movement].”

The corpocracy will never be ended, true democracy will never be reclaimed, or the general welfare of the people ever restored if the corpocracy’s opposition remains fragmented. It needs to be united, guided by a strategic plan of political, legislative, judicial, and economic reforms backed by mobilized and organized public pressure.

Mr. Niose, I would like to refer you to the new book, The Devil’s Marriage: Break Up the Corpocracy or Leave Democracy in the Lurch. It is described in the website, www.democracypowernow.com. This book has garnered considerable praise. It contains numerous proposals for sweeping political, legislative, judicial, and economic reforms. I can see many ways in which your organization (and mine, since I am a member), the American Humanist Association, could take an active role. For example, AHA could spearhead the creation of a U.S. Chamber of Democracy, a counterpoint to the corpocracy’s strong ally, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The new USCD could be the fulcrum for organizing opposition to the corpocracy.   

Non-theists and theists alike with conscience will surely agree that the corpocracy must be ended through peaceful and legal means. If the corpocracy is not ended, it will some day end America. Abraham Lincoln once said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

I am posting a copy of this note to my blog site in the hope it will rally support behind you in opposing America’s own worse enemy.

Please let me hear from you. And if I can be of any help to you, please let me know how.

Best regards for humanity and for America’s future,

Gary Brumback

www.democracypowernow.com

Help Unite the Corpocracy's Opposition

The corpocracy is America's own worst enemy. The corpocracy is powerful, its opposition weak and divided.

There are over 100 non-governmental organizationals opposed to the corpocracy but they are acting like Lone Rangers. Please go to this link: http://signon.org/sign/unite-to-end-americas?source=s.fwd&r_by=137064  and sign the petition to these NGOs to unite in their fight against the corpocracy. Thank you!