We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

On Afghanistan, We Know a Distraction When We See It (4:01m video & article)

from FireDogLake. Richare Holebrook, the Empire's man in Afghanistan, inadvertently reveals how insignificant the military-industrial complex regards the US Congress. But, of course, unfortunately for us, he's right. The formal apparatus of government in the US is a facade behind which governs the informal rulers of the Empire. Many of these people just finished meeting in secret at the Bilderberg conference in Spain.
I’m not surprised that a member of the executive branch would want us all to believe that a little thing like actual congressional authorization for the use of military force is a "technicality."