HOW-OF-WHY

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..." – John Donne, Meditation 17, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke the above verse during Nobel Lecture, on December 11, 1964. His lecture was entitled "The Quest for Peace and Justice", delivered in the Auditorium of the University of Oslo, Norway. At the age of thirty-five, he was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

Today is the Monday designated as a American National Holiday commemorating the birthday of Dr. King. He was born as Michael Luther King, Jr. in Atlanta on January 15, 1929 (his father was also originally named Michael). He was renamed when he was about 5 years old when his father decided that they should both change their first names to Martin.

The authorized, idealized, sanitized version of Dr. King's life story is that he fought for racial justice in America. The reality is, in the last years of his life, Dr. King articulated a far bolder, broader and very radical American revolutionary vision, encompassing a clear minded analysis and a severe criticism not only of the role of the United States in the world, but of the very nature of our political and economic system.

Dr. King's vision was articulated most powerfully in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech delivered at Riverside Church in New York City. He gave the speech on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City.

He was quickly condemned by the NAACP, civil rights leaders, the Democratic Party (he had campaigned for Lyndon Johnson) and the mainstream media.

It is doubtful that Dr. King would even be allowed to speak at any of the memorial events being held in his own name were he alive today. But he does speak to us still as we again find ourselves at a time, well as he said in 1967:

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered."
He also said:
"These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born.
The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We in the West must support these revolutions."

Others, wiser, much more experienced and articulate than I have pointed out that these are still revolutionary times. Our country was born of revolution.

I would argue that our society, our nation, our democracy can only be served by continuing the American Revolution each and every single day.

But now, it seems to me, we have, in fact, given in and given up.

The shirtless and barefoot people of the world continue to rise up.

But we do not support them.
In fact, in many places, we support and we are the very forces who use our overwhelming economic wealth, access to natural resources and unprecedented military power to enforce the conditions of poverty, insecurity, and injustice.

I suggest that we revisit Martin Luther King's words.
I suggest that we re-read them in the light of the present day.

"…A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Dr. Kings words are as meaningful, powerful, truthful and dangerous as they were in 1967.

Our own federal administration and many adult Americans condemn and trivialize anyone speaking out against the present invasions, escalations and war.

Exactly to the day, one year after breaking his silence and speaking out against his nation's injustice, materialism and war waging, Martin Luther King, Jr. was silenced. Assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Those who call for us to celebrate his birthday but dishonor his life and work and spirit dishonor all human beings. King spoke well to use Donne's poem to remind us of who we can be, who we need to be, who we absolutely now must be.

"…therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls: it tolls for thee."

Labels: 2012, politics, Revrend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, USA

Labels: bastards, evil, greedy, politics, Republicans, traitors

This was originally sent to me via an e-mail from Dr. Ingrid Buxton: The overturned Wisconsin Supremer Court election is not the first time Kathy Nickolaus has done this. Attention
seeking? or fraud?

Given that, County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus is just doing what comes naturally
in Sneezeville. Commenter "We Won" cited this rather impressive list of
County Clerk Capers as cited on Rachel Maddow In 2004, she [Nickolaus] gave voters the wrong ballots and their votes were counted anyway.
In 2005, she gave newspapers sample ballots that were pre-marked
with a vote for one of the candidates.
In 2006, her county was plagued with botched election problems;
including having an entire city's data misreported - overturning a
candidate's victory after it had been declared - just like this most recent
election.
In 2007, the same thing happened again, and Mrs. Nickolaus found
some "missing votes" that overturned another candidate's victory.
3 months ago Waukesha County audited her operation and recommended
she improve her security and backup procedures. She did not.

Labels: Elections, politics, Wisconsin

In light of the immoral political response by the GOP. My neighbor, a university professor wrote this:

"The far right wing and the silent Republican congressmen who are not out
front denouncing this crap are just setting up the conditions conducive to,
and whipping up the hatred that will lead to the assassination of President
Obama. If they arent denouncing the hatred, denouncing the birthers with
the obvious attempts to diminish President Obama thru questioning if he was
born in the US and therefore not rightly president, thru acquiescing when
the haters start throwing denunciations at President Obama, they are part
of the conspiracy to assassinate. Their actions in the Congress last night
is just another act of conspiracy by treating President Obama AS IF he
really isnt the president and worthy of respect. And I dont believe for a
moment they dont know what they are doing! They know and have their little
speeches of "plausible deniability" all ready. Others may think this is
silly, it is stupid, it is disgusting or even entertaining, for me this
just makes the awful lump in my stomach increase in size every day. Those
of you who lived thru the assassination of John, Martin and Robert know
about the lump in the stomach, know to what ends the heads of the
industrial complex will go to preserve their power and control of this
country. The Mafia has nothing on these guys.

I live in fear every day. Ingrid"

Labels: government, haters, politics, Republicans, traitors

The last eight years show just how deceitful U.S. presidents can be. The past provides portraits of how it has changed history and how greed, ego, war and national armed force seems to guide Presidential power

As of 1940, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had failed for eight years to get America out of the Great Depression। FDR knew his historical legacy was destroyed if he couldn't come up with something big to overshadow his failure stoping the Great Depression. The mass media in America had been pushing for America to enter World War Two on England's side. Roosevelt decided to rescue his historical legacy and satisfy the media by pushing America into World War Two, despite the massive opposition to another war by the majority of Americans.

(A very few small nations such as Sweden and Switzerland have successfully avoided the bloodbaths of recent wars. Both of these nations are prosperous and have avoided amassing huge national debts that usually happens during major wars).

America was at peace until Pearl Harbor was attacked (Dec. 7th, 1941).The American public had pressured Congress into creating a series of Neutrality Acts during the 1930s. Most Americans saw World War One as a needless and costly war that America had been misled into entering. The USA lost 120,000 soldiers to warfare and disease, and another 200,000 had been injured. American’s perception is that our nation got exactly nothing out of World War One, but had insured that England avoided losing the war. The Neutrality Acts were designed to keep America from selling weapons to belligerent nations engaged in war.

FDR had promised the American public that he would keep America out of war during the Presidential campaign in 1940. Then as soon as he won the election, FDR began work, doing everything he could to push America into the war. Roosevelt secretly allowed tons of war material to be shipped to the English from the very start of the war in Europe. He completely ignored the Neutrality Act when he gave the British 50 destroyers in September 1940. England had illegally received long range Catalina observation aircraft from America, thanks to Roosevelt. One of these Catalinas played an important role, spotting the German Battleship Bismarck, which led to its sinking. Roosevelt passed the Lend Lease Act in March 1941. England then received unlimited military aid from the U.S. Shortly after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. FDR began sending military aid to the the Soviet Union, sending two billion dollars in war material before Pearl Harbor. Most Americans opposed Communism, yet Roosevelt sent Stalin two billion in weapons.

In August 1941 the U.S. was still at peace, FDR secretly met Winston Churchill in the north Atlantic on a British Battleship and established the "Atlantic Charter." The Atlantic Charter called for "free trade, self-governed nations and military disarmament." But Roosevelt and Churchill made plans to pull America into the war ignoring of what the American public wanted. The Atlantic Charter proved to be a joke. India and the Philippines somehow never got "self-determination" under Churchill and Roosevelt. The "free trade" provision was violated in just a few months when FDR ordered an embargo of scrap iron and oil against Japan. FDR was arming America to the teeth and reinstating the draft in despite to his call for "military disarmament."

The truth always comes out in the long run, and the more truth that comes out, the worse FDR looks. Two incidents were well known from 1941, which involved German submarines torpedoing U.S. destroyers. FDR had ordered US destroyers to hunt down German U-Boats. If the American destroyer sunk the U-Boat, it was covered up. If the U-Boat defended itself and sunk the American destroyer, the Germans portrayed it as an “unprovoked” hostile action. FDR traded the lives of American sailors on a destroyer for a chance to get into World War Two.

FDR discovered another way to World War Two by way of Japan. In July of 1941, Japanese assets in England and America were frozen, illegally confiscating Japanese property. Churchill and FDR cutting off 90% of Japan’s oil supply and 75% of its foreign trade, also imposed a trade embargo. During a meeting with Churchill in August of 1941, Roosevelt made an agreement with Churchill to declare war on Japan if Japan invaded British or Dutch colonies in Asia. On November 26th, 1941, FDR's Secretary of State Cordell Hull delivered an ultimatum to Japan; dictating what policies Japan must follow.

FDR approved a CIA operation in April 1941 to allow American fighter pilots to transfer to the "Flying Tigers" squadron to fight the Japanese in China. The CIA actually recruited fighter pilots from aircraft carriers and fighter bases during peacetime. The first pilots arrived in China in September 1941. The Flying Tigers had every intention of waging war on Japan whether war officially broke out or not.

Before the Pearl Harbor attack, 80% of Americans opposed getting involved in World Two. And FDR had covertly sent massive military aid to the English and the Soviets and did everything possible to ignore the interests of the majority of American citizens. FDR was another deceitful President. World War Two increasingly looks like a war that did not the highest interests of Americans.

It is clear that FDR and Churchill did all they could think of to get Japan to attack English or American Pacific islands.

On November 25, 1941 Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto sent a radio message to the group of Japanese warships that would attack Pearl Harbor on December 7. Publicly released naval records prove that from November 17 to 25 the United States Navy intercepted eighty-three messages that Yamamoto sent to his carriers. Part of the November 25 message read: “...the task force, keeping its movements strictly secret and maintaining close guard against submarines and aircraft, shall advance into Hawaiian waters, and upon the very opening of hostilities shall attack the main force of the United States fleet in Hawaii and deal it a mortal blow...”

Since World War II many people (notably Gore Vidal) have claimed that Washington knew the attack was coming. When Thomas Dewey was running for president against Roosevelt in 1944 he discovered America’s ability to intercept Japan’s radio messages, and thought this knowledge would enable him to defeat FDR. Dewey planned a series of speeches charging FDR with foreknowledge of the attack. General George Marshall, then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, persuaded Dewey not to make the speeches.

Japan’s naval leaders did not realize America had cracked their codes, and Dewey’s speeches could have revealed America’s code-breaking advantage. So, Dewey said nothing, and FDR was elected president for the fourth time.

Robert Stinnett, author of Day Of Deceit, provides the proof. Stinnett’s book is dedicated to Congressman John Moss, the author of America’s Freedom of Information Act. According to Stinnett, the answers to the secrets of Pearl Harbor can be found in the large number of documents he was able to attain through Freedom of Information Act requests. Cable after cable of decryptions, scores of military messages that America was intercepting, clearly showed that Japanese ships were preparing for war and heading straight for Hawaii. Stinnett, an author, journalist, and World War II veteran, spent sixteen years delving into the National Archives. He read over more than 200,000 documents, and conducted dozens of interviews. The research led Stinnet to this conclusion: FDR knew.
“Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars,” was Roosevelt’s campaign statement of 1940. He wasn’t being kidding. FDR’s military and State Department leaders agreed that a victorious Nazi Germany would threaten the national security of the United States. In White House meetings the strong feeling was that America needed a call to action. This is not what the public wanted, however. Again, eighty to ninety percent of the American people wanted nothing to do with another European war. According to Stinnett, FDR provoked Japan to attack the USA, let it happen at Pearl Harbor, and used it to lead the country into another war. Many who knew Roosevelt during that time hinted that FDR wasn’t being forthright about his intentions in Europe. After the attack, on the Sunday evening of December 7, 1941, Roosevelt had a brief meeting in the White House with Edward R. Murrow, the journalist, and William Donovan, the founder of the Office of Strategic Services. Later Donovan told an assistant that he believed FDR welcomed the attack and didn’t seem surprised. The only thing Roosevelt seemed to care about, Donovan felt, was if the public would now support a Declaration of War. In October 1940 FDR adopted a specific strategy to incite Japan to commit an overt act of war. Part of the strategy was to move America’s Pacific fleet out of California and anchor it in Pearl Harbor. Admiral James Richardson, the commander of the Pacific fleet, very strongly opposed keeping the ships in harm’s way in Hawaii. He expressed this to Roosevelt, and so the President relieved him of his command. Later Richardson quoted Roosevelt as saying: “Sooner or later the Japanese will commit an overt act against the United States and the nation will be willing to enter the war.”

If you believe that government conspiracies can’t possibly happen, Day Of Deceit proves otherwise. Stinnett’s well researched and documented book makes the case that the highest officials of the government—including the highest official—fooled and deceived millions of Americans about one of the most important days in the history of the country. It now is considered one of the most definitive book on the subject. Gore Vidal has said, “...Robert Stinnet has come up with most of the smoking guns. Day Of Deceit shows that the famous ‘surprise’ attack was no surprise to our war-minded rulers...” And John Toland, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the Pearl Harbor book, Infamy, said, “Step by step, Stinnett goes through the prelude to war, using new documents to reveal the terrible secrets that have never been disclosed to the public. It is disturbing that eleven presidents, including those I admired, kept the truth from the public until Stinnett’s Freedom of Information Act requests finally persuaded the Navy to release the evidence.”

Labels: government, politics, war and money

Don't listen to Bush or his crew of crooks.
Don't listen to Banks & Wall Street thieves.
Don't listen to the Presidential Candidates or other political puppets of the wealthy thieves.

Instead:
No bailout necessary ~ economist Dean Baker PhD

Labels: Bush/Cheney, corruption, desperate, government, money talks, politics

We citizens and organizations will be damaged by the Federal BAIL OUT scheme. I'll let the analysis of an older, funnier, wiser writer explain what is happening, how it works, and why WE THE PEOPLE have allowed our government to be hi-jacked (again).
THIS I BELIEVE
(edited to remove profanity)

"Forget the politicians, they're their an irrelevant...
The politicians are put there to give you the idea
that you have freedom of choice.

You don't.

You have no choice.

You have owners.
They own you.

They own everything.
They own all the important land.
They own and control the corporations.
They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the State houses, the city halls, they've got the judges in their back pockets, and they own all the big media companies, so they control just about all the news and information you get to hear.

They gotcha by the %#@® s!

They spend billions of dollars every year, lobbying.
Lobbying to get what they want.

Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody, but I'll tell you what they don't want.
They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking.
They don't want well informed , well educated people capable of critical thinking.
They're not interested in that.
That doesn't help them.
That's right.

You know something?
They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table to figure out how badly they're getting %#@®ed by a system that threw them overboard thirty %#@®ing years ago. They don't want that.

Ya' know what they want?
They want obedient workers.
Obedient workers!
People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the moment you go to collect it.
And now they're coming for your social security money. They want your %#@®ing retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street.
And ya know something, they'll get it.
They'll get it all from you, sooner or later.
'Cause they own this %#@®ing place.

Its a big club, and you ain't in it!
You and I are not in the big club.
And by the way, its the same big club they use to beat you over the head with all day long, when they tell yo what to believe.
All day long beating ya' over the head in their media, telling you what to believe, what to think, and what to buy.

The table is tilted, folks.
The game is rigged.
And nobody seems to notice.
Nobody seems to care.
Good, honest, hard working people, white collar, blue collar. It doesn't matter what color shirt you have on. Good, honest, hard working people continue - these are people of modest means - continue to elect these rich cock suckers who don't give a %#@® about them!

They don't give a %#@® about you!
They don't give a %#@® about you!
They don't care about you!
At all!
At all!
At all!

Ya know, and nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care.

That's what the Owners count on, the fact Americans will probably remain willfully ignorant of the big red, white and blue
%#@® that is being jammed up their %#@® everyday.

Because the Owners of this country know the truth:
its called the American Dream,
'cause ya' have to be asleep
to believe it."

- George Carlin

Labels: corruption, desperate, government, money talks, politics, war and money

This is an historical moment in our nation's history.

The Bush/Cheny Administration transformed the USA into the
UNITED STATES OF FEAR.

Now the McCain/Palin team will transform the nation into
THE UNITED STATES OF STUPIDITY!

One nation, under stupidity:
When defending the phrase “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance, Governor/VP Wanna-be Palin said,

“If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.”

Really. Interesting.

Reality check time Mrs. Palin:

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892, long after the founding fathers died. The phrase “one nation under God” was added in 1954…

"Don't know much about history" I guess.

Or the Constitution.

Or evolution.

Or birth control.

Sarah Palin advocates abstinence.

Oh if she would practice what she preaches and abstain from running for public office, using a gun, teaching her nut-case, whacko beliefs to her kids, and ever speaking in public.

Labels: corruption, desperate, government, money talks, politics, war and money

I have nothing at all against Henry Winkler.
The Fonze made the NYC born performer a full time, working actor (a rare occurrence within the profession that boasts a 95% unemployment rate) and eventually a Hollywood/Big Apple celebrity, producer and TV/film director.
He paid his dues (as we say in the biz) and was educated in his art/craft at Emerson College and the Yale School of Drama.
A talented and fortunate fellow.

But the "Bronze Fonz" seems silly, expensive, ill conceived and bordering on another "Milwaukee desperate".
Plus it does not look like the character very much (as sculptures go).

I doubt people will visit Milwaukee specifically to have a photo op with a bronzed fictional mannikin.

The Calatrava (which looks like a big bread slicer to me, and attracts more drug commercial shoots than visitors), Miller Park (looks like an alien space craft crashed, and keeps a fair number of people away) and now the faux Winkler are another Milwaukee embarrassment (and all relatively expensive mistakes).

"Bronze Fonz" should include a 24/7 web cam and a digital counter per photo.
Maybe a coin operated Polaroid in place for instant pictures to pay for the up keep and ward off vandals.

Couldn't a few live Fonze look-a-likes be hired to show up in the warm months to pose for tourists?
Milwaukee actors need work. Spend the $$ on them.

The Chicago Bob Newhart statue makes perfect sense.
Newhart is actually from Chicago.
His original TV show pretended to take place there and used location footage in the intro.

The map is not the territory. In the case of HAPPY DAYS the TV show is not a representation of Milwaukee.

Cable's "IN PLAIN SITE" films in Albuquerque and New Mexico.
Why can't a current TV show film in MKE - WI? (good project for your organization)

Milwaukee has many worthy attractions to bring people here as well as many famous former residents.
How about public statues of Milwaukee area actual people who made a difference: Al Jarreau, Tom Snyder, Gene Wilder, or Liberace, to mention a few...

Visit Milwaukee seems to want to sell the sizzle and ignore the steak, hype gimmicks rather than the real deal.

Labels: desperate, milwaukee, money talks, politics

Labels: politics