A Procession of Fools - International Social/Political

Nevertheless, we are indebted to the ‘idiot Texan prince’ for demonstrating to the world that all ‘sacred values’ and social codes that once defined who we were, are merely ink tracks on “pieces of paper” – so much for the founding documents of our respective nations!

The people, whether they choose to exercise their new freedoms or not, and members of the Bush regime remain free to this day. The Bush regime clearly demonstrated that the law was written for wimps and weaklings; a codification to be flouted or altered to accommodate activities once considered criminal/illegal!

Indeed, the Bush regime actually tested the strength of paper tiger ‘superpowers,’ Russia and China and correctly predicted both nations would not resist America’s military expansion into areas far removed from its former spheres of influence.

The USA and its ally Israel continue to wreak destruction and commit war crimes with a contempt unseen since the Nazis of Europe. But in contrast to the Nazi era, the Law today tolerates these crimes!

Armed with the knowledge that not one senior American official has ever been charged or held accountable for flagrant war crimes committed during the Indo-Chinese conflict – 4 million civilian deaths from illegal carpet bombing campaigns -- the Bush regime ‘went at it’ with a vengeance.

To date the civilian death toll resulting from Bush government policies numbers over one million souls in Iraq and hundreds of thousands in Central Asia.

However, underreported, American backed, genocide (of Tamils) in Sri Lanka is currently in progress as I write, as are other American instigated and supported massacres in the Congo, Sudan and Somalia.

These wars receive scant coverage in the Western media, however, India is acutely aware of the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Thousands of innocent Tamils have been killed in the conflict between government forces and Tamil independence fighters. Thousands more innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka are suffering horrendous hardship; the UN has warned of a humanitarian crisis if American SUPPORTED Sinhalese forces do not cease hostilities immediately!

The crisis in Sri Lanka is of such huge proportions that it promises to capture the attention of not only minor NGOs, and aid organisations but major powers around the globe. The world may soon put an end to Israeli and American genocidal tactics for good!

Notwithstanding the approaching battle of the juggernauts, the masses have come to realise their status as SLAVES, not the least reason being that bailout monies have been pocketed by Banksters rather than utilised (as promised) to prop-up failing economies! The reality is simple; the capitalist system is DEAD; it died from a flawed economic model. Wall Street barons and others know it! The Banksters and Wall Street rogues are acutely aware the US economy is beyond recovery, so they did what any red-blooded American capitalist would do given huge sums of money UNCONDITIONALLY; they pocketed it in executive bonuses and other in-house relief ‘efforts!’

The band played on as the Titanic went under and the American sheeple will drown to the screeching sound of the Fed's printing presses in overdrive!

And what do you suppose our fearless ‘leaders’ are doing in times of crisis? Spouting the same empty, useless rhetoric --I’m gonna luv watching Baa’raaack O’Rhetorical Flourish, chant slogans and try to spin his way out of the current mess facing America and the globe!

Regardless of how ‘powerful’ America imagines itself to be, it cannot do it alone; no nation can! The calamities that face us all are far too great for even the most skilled Texan gunslinger to overcome – there is something to learn here, President Ebony Fraud!

We wait patiently but the world does not!

Have you noticed the growing numbers of citizens hauled before the courts questioning the authority of the State? Why wouldn’t they, Bush taught them well!

One poor fellow, furious over a questionable traffic ‘offence’ quite spontaneously launched into a tirade of abuse at the ‘authorities’ and questioned the magistrate over the LEGITIMACY of the proceedings; he demanded to know who he had allegedly ‘offended’ and under what jurisdiction or authority he was being harassed.

“I am not subject to a British Monarchy that is responsible for untold suffering and the mass murder and abuse of innocent indigenous people around the globe, nor am I subject to a criminal State that engages in illegal wars and crimes against humanity. If I am imposed upon by either of these entities I reserve my SOVERIEGN RIGHT to be held as a prisoner of war, as I am vehemently and directly opposed to these criminal entities!”

An interesting tirade in an Australian local court – the magistrate failed to answer directly and chose to adjourn the case instead. Court reporters were taken aside after the proceedings. Bush, Blair and Howard have opened Pandora’s Box, it would seem.

[I would appreciate additional information relating to similar instances in our courts, particularly people asserting their SOVEREIGN RIGHTS and questioning the LEGITIMACY of the current court system.]

In the meantime we can amuse ourselves watching puppet politicians in procession uttering the hollow words of their masters. They have not yet become aware they are transparent to the majority of people.

It is the front the Generals disregard that constitutes the greatest threat -- not Sun tzu!

We are the people.

We are ONE.

Peace.

Just published is the latest book by political activist Mickey Z; similar to his previous works this one is also full of shit and packed with incisive analysis and engaging wit. Never reluctant to screw sacred cows, Mickey looks at our political culture and lays bare all of its pretensions and illusions.

[Q] Your new book, No Innocent Bystanders, is just out. It’s a book amply filled with food for thought and interesting insight. What were you looking to achieve with this book, and what audience do you hope to reach?

[A] I was looking to achieve radical immortality and was hoping to reach all 6.6 billion humans in the process. However, I’d settle for starting a little discussion among those who identify as "leftists" but seem too easily satisfied by Democratic Party propaganda.

[Q] Leftists comprise a tiny portion of the population, but your assessment does appear to be the norm for the U.S. Left. An examination of the post-World War II era would seem to indicate cause for skepticism about the Democratic Party. Yet regardless of how often the pattern repeats, support never wavers.

[A] Sounds like Chicago Cubs' fans, huh? Anyway...it may be that only a "tiny portion" identify as being leftist (because that term has been so effectively demonized), but I’ll bet that if you asked most people, they’d often choose what amounts to a "left" stance. They’d want universal health care, a cleaner environment, affordable housing, etc. I think so many Americans cling to the two-party fantasy because - on some level – they understand that to believe otherwise would then require them to take action.

[Q] That’s a good point. Your book covers several topics of importance, some of which are eloquently laid out in your chapter, "America's Top Exports: Grief, Sorrow and Loss." The intent of your book seems to be to hold painful facts before your readers and ask them to not turn away. Some of the information you provide lacks nothing for drama, yet the public at large remains largely indifferent. What are your thoughts on this?

[A] That thumping noise you hear is me hitting my head against the wall...repeatedly. All it takes, so it seems, is a modicum of creature comforts and mindless diversions to keep the Average American (AvAm) from displaying even a hint of social consciousness.

The Average American is hoodwinked supporting a sociopathic culture underwritten by materialism and mendacity (SCUMM). Conditioning, propaganda, fear tactics, programming, a modicum of creature comforts and mindless diversions - all designed to dupe us out of both our tax money and our critical thinking faculties thus turning us into a nation of pawns with lawns, scattered across this coast-to-coast mall,

choosing denial over duty. Comfortably numb - as they say (although the "comfort" part is increasingly in question).

[Q] Is it that the corporate culture in the U.S. is so effective at what it does? Or are people here socialized at home and school to conform? It seems that there is more than just contentment with creature comforts at play here.

[A] I’d have to say that the corporate culture has become indistinguishable from the socialization at home and school. The corporate mentality has become engrained in most aspects of daily life. Murray Bookchin said it well: "Our lives prior to that war (WWII) were, to a great extent, pre-industrial. We still had the extended family, communities, neighborhoods, and small retail stores, usually of the Mom & Pop variety. We were not thoroughly absorbed into capitalism in our daily lives...so you had a capitalist economy but not a capitalist society. This was undone by the war as capitalism permeated into every aspect of our daily lives. The family, the culture, the neighborhood have been integrated into the market. People have become atomized and our very language has been corrupted."

Think about it, we no longer pass time, we spend it. We no longer fall in love, we invest in relationships. Everything we care about has been turned into a commodity. This perception is shaped by institutional structures. Since the power elite does not want people to understand that, yes, they can provoke drastic changes, there is nothing in the official culture to tell us we can inspire change.

We must reinvent everyday life; steal it back from businessmen and reintroduce the joy of living. Stop settling for less pain and start demanding more pleasure. Today’s radicals can provoke dramatic changes simply by refusing to submit to the societal formula they’re presented with. Sometimes, thoughtful introspection is all it takes to move out of the current profit-motivated web and into the realm of free-thinking and individuality. Breaking away from the omnipresent, primitive message of "work, consume, and obey authority without question" is this generation’s way of starting to challenge the status quo.

[Q] Your book comments on the "support the troops" phenomenon, which is generally treated as something sacred and above criticism.

[A] Indeed. I can’t tell you how many e-mails I’ve received over the years that read something like this: "While you sit at home in your luxurious apartment, making money off your writing (insert laugh track here), those brave men and women are putting their asses on the line to fight for your freedom to write your anti-American garbage. To which I say: Bullshit. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are not fighting for my freedom. They are fighting to keep the world safe for petroleum. If anything, since 9/11, our freedom has been slowly eroded and the presence of the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan makes it harder for anyone to speak up in dissent. If I were in an airport, and I spoke aloud what I’ve said in this interview, I’d likely be detained or arrested...here in the land of the free.

[Q] Clearly your goal is to bring the awareness to your readers that it is possible to do more than just passively observe and think about the world. One can be an active agent in the life of the nation. As Marx wrote, "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it."

[A] Well, Marx certainly did succeed in changing the world. It’s odd to contemplate that someone from his time period could reach so many people while today - with information having never been more accessible – human thinking is so narrow, homogenous, and downright cowardly.

[Q] Do you see any realistic prospects of that narrowness of vision broadening?

[A] Fortunately, societal norms and habits aren't static and in times of monumental change and danger, things can change rapidly. Perhaps, as the powers-that-be become less and less capable of distracting us from what is two inches in front of our faces, we will witness drastic and previously unimaginable social change. Then again, maybe not.

[Q] You have your own web site. Would you tell us something about that?

[A] Thanks to Nancy Ryan and Mark Hand - two of my favorite people in the world – I’ve had a blog since mid-2004. For me, it's a cross between a journal and zine and my posts run the gamut from radical articles I’ve written to personal stories I’d like to share. Best of all, I’ve been fortunate enough to attract a group of regular visitors (a.k.a. "The Expendables") that have made the site more like a community than anything else.

[Q] It is like a community, and I encourage readers to visit the site. Finally, is there anything that you would like to add concerning your new book?

[A] Yes, thanks. I’d like to say that the book is presented in an unorthodox format...vignettes, lists, stories, etc. This, I believe, makes it more accessible and allows readers to pick it up and start anywhere...read it out of order, so to speak. My style isn’t dry, academic writing. It’s the kind of book you can pass on to anyone you think needs a little shock therapy about the state of global affairs. Also, in the unlikely event of a water landing, the book can be used as a flotation device.

Copyright applies somewhere.

[Relevance, please! Ed.]

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