Phillip Farruggio
Farruggio for President 2012 …solutions to save our nation
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farruggio
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I don’t intend to list countless measures that, as President, I would take. No, rather, in this world of one minute sound bites and KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) I have a streamlined platform that covers the really pertinent and key issues of our day:
· Cut the military spending drastically to save our states, their cities and our prestige as a nation. The 25% Solution Movement has a simple and novel approach to this: Congress cuts military spending 25% by an ‘Up and Down ‘vote, since this spending is considered Discretionary … As President I will use my bully pulpit to go directly to the American public, urging everyone to A) get out and continually demonstrate for this, and B) let their congressional representatives know that they will not vote for anyone who refuses to support this! Period!
· Use the added revenues from the above action ($ 170 billion a year) to send to all 50 states to help with their budget deficits .This would then allow the states to send money to the cities for the same purpose. No need to lay off police, firefighters, teachers etc or to close libraries and schools. You get my drift?
· End the occupations of Iraq & Afghanistan and send the troops home… ASAP! This would save us over $ 100 billion a year and stop the killing of our troops and the innocent civilians that they kill. It would also allow the UN, along with the Middle Eastern nations, to help stabilize those two countries.
· Flat Surtax of 50% on all personal income over and above one million dollars per year. Let’s leave the federal tax rates as is and begin taxing the millionaires and mega millionaires. If we are truly a nation entrenched in the Judeo- Christian traditions and precepts, are we not supposed to be ‘Our brother’s keeper ‘? Cannot a person who earns millions in income, whether it is from salary, bonus, interest, commissions, or inheritance, afford to live quite well on 50% of those millions? Did you know that 50% of working Americans earn less than $ 27,000 a year? How can a single mother or father raise a child or two on that meager amount? Do the math and see how taking half from a very wealthy person is perhaps the most spiritual thing we can do as a nation.
· Return the corporate tax rates to what they were in our recent past. Honor small business by instituting payroll tax forgiveness for up to the first $ 20,000 of wages, for both the employee and employer. This would return up to $ 1500 a year to each worker, tax free. The small business owner would have saved up to $ 1500 for each employee. I would cap this plan at a maximum of 100 employees. This plan would discourage‘off the books ‘hiring and give small businesses more capital to stay competitive, if they choose.
· Jumpstart a movement to get private money outof electoral politics… federal, state and local. Not an easy thing to accomplish, due to the 1976 Supreme Court ruling of Buckley vs. Valeo. That ruling stated that ‘Money is free speech ‘. How do we get around such an unfair interpretation without going insane and waiting 20 years for constitutional amendments? Well, as President, I would challenge you, the voters, who elect the moneyed interests time and time again. I would urge that you only support candidates who agree to limit acceptance of campaign donations to $ 100 per person. On top of that, we must not support any candidate who accepts PAC money at all. Period!
· I would push for Congress to open up Medicare for any American who wishes to buy in. Why even hassle with the private health insurers? Just charge a FICA like fee to any American who wants to be covered in the same manner as our senior citizens. Once the rates for this alternative are known by the private insurers, you can rest assure that their rates and deductibles will come down. Duh….free market enterprise anyone?
· Uncle Sam should A) negotiate to buy the bad‘ paper ‘ mortgages from the banks for tremendous discounts and B) then restructure the mortgages to allow the homeowner to stay in the foreclosed home, instead of having to either abandon or become a tenant of the bank. How about this: Why not have our federal government jumpstart community nonprofitmortgage banks? Imagine if your city, town or county opened, with federal loan guarantees, a nonprofit mortgage bank, charging only overhead costs? Translated: a current mortgage of let us say 5% from a for profit bank would now be perhaps 2% from a nonprofit community one. More home ownership, fewer renters and economic stimulus for the construction industry.
· Windfall profits tax on Big Oil and Big Pharma. How can it be that the prices at the pumps and on medicines spiral upwards while our nation is in a depression, both financially and psychologically? We would use the added revenues to create more solar energy use and wind farms. Portugal is getting more dependent upon wind for energy use. Why can’t we? As far as medicines, let’s use the revenue increases from a windfall tax on Big Pharma to jumpstart an alternative care movement. We need more Americans to be able to get acupuncture and chiropractic treatment, massage therapy, psychological counseling to name a few such alternatives to established Western Medicine. Let’s be blunt: For too long our nation leads the world in the‘drug and cut ‘mindset of medicine.
I could go on and on. For now, this is my platform. If you agree with even 2/3 of it, then voice your support. You know and I know that I cannot win election, but… the word will get out that we have viable options to what this current Two Party / Tea Party has been offering.
PA Farruggio
January, 2012
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (usually found on the fine Dandelion Salad site), an environmental products sales rep and an activist. Since 2010, Philip is a spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net }
Stooge Time: Scripting the Empire
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farruggio
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Memories of the glorious 70s, at least compared to these terrible times, occasionally flow through me. I can recall the manager of the local pub near our small business that would regularly make the same announcement late each afternoon. “Stooge time!!” He would shout from behind the bar. It was time again for the re-runs of The Three Stooges Show. Well, aren’t we lucky to be able to see stooge time with regularity this election cycle? All one needs to do is tune in any Congressional debate and watch the stooges operate. Last night this writer was channel surfing and caught the debate for Virginal Senator between Allen and Kaine. Once again, the two candidates parroted each of their respective political party’s script on every issue presented to them. What really irritated me was when they discussed, as all debates do, foreign policy and military spending. The Republican candidate will go right to the Fox channel’s retorts about the attack on our embassy in Libya. They will use this to strengthen the argument for increasing our military presence worldwide… to stop the terrorists. Then the Democrat will laud how this president has curtailed Al Qaeda and has them on the run… oh yeah, we finally got Bin Laden under a Democrat’s watch. Then, both candidates will argue as to which party and which candidate is tougher on terrorism and a friend of the Military Empire. And many of you serfs will run out and vote for one of these two gangs of liars, hypocrites and….stooges.
In my almost 40 years of sales experience, I know that the old adage of KISS is relevant: Keep it simple stupid. Well, it is quite simple if you really wish to change the direction and conditions of our great nation. Before we can deal with the multitude of peripheral issues, the paramount one is staring us in the face… as this writer has written about perhaps too much. We need to pull back our Military Industrial Empire, drastically cutting the funding first, and then getting the hell out of the over 100 nations with our over 800+ bases. Imagine if instead of the 56 cents of each federal tax dollar sent to Uncle Sam going towards military spending, the figure was dropped to 30 cents. Translated: we would have tens of billions more each year to help our states and cities with the infrastructure upgrades and improvements to soften the blows of any natural disaster. Ask the folks in New Orleans and the NYC metro area about that. Instead we get twiddle dee and twiddle dum vying for your precious votes, and then handing it over to the ‘friends of the Military Empire’. How many weapons systems does one nation need to perform overkill? How many precious lives and precious dollars need we waste in invading and occupying countries that pose NO threat to our survival… only to that of our corporations?
Step # 1 is to stop voting for either of these two phony corporate run parties. Step # 2 is to get out regularly and let your neighbors and elected officials know that enough is enough! Do it with love in your heart, but with righteous anger. The more we get to join us, the quicker change may come. The stake of our nation and of the entire planet is dependent upon us.
PA Farruggio
November 4th, 2012
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Information Clearing house, Doomstead Diner, Op Ed News, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net }
…Or May the Heavens Fall
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farrugio
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From the bible: “Let justice prevail or may the heavens fall” Goodness me the heavens did fall yesterday over the entire northeastern part of our great nation. The damage to life and property, the power outages and the crippling of commerce was devastating. So many nine to five Americans were hurt… along with the super wealthy. Even the temple of corporate profit had to close down for two whole days! One television stock market pundit went so far as to say that there was no need to close Wall Street because of the hurricane. He did not even dare mention the tremendous losses or threats of no shelter, food, electricity, heating or transportation. No, this guy only cared about the loss of two trading days. Imagine if he was an Iraqi investment pundit in March of 2003, when the real Shock and Awe occurred? There must be this thing called karma after all.
New York City, in addition to having so many good and decent Americans from all walks of life and nationality, also is the most negative place in the entire country of ours. The packs of corporate sharks who earn their corporate profits from the pain and suffering of the poor and the working stiffs operate in NYC and surroundings. The Occupy movement did not initiate in Chicago or LA or Dallas. No, it engaged itself in protesting the very core of the nest of greed and corruption, which happens to be in NYC. Where do most of these predatory skunks reside or have their summer homes and estates? Well, the rich are as equally enamored by the ocean as the rest of us. Sadly, as the universe rolled those 11 foot sea walls onto the land and destroyed many palatial properties, the homes of John and Joan Q Public got wasted away as well. Karma can be a bitch.
Governor Christie of New Jersey had to call out the National Guard to help with the hurricane. How many of them were around to help? How many of our Guard are still in the desert hornet’s nest? The governor spoke to the media about the amount of infrastructure that was destroyed or rendered useless. What he failed to connect is the fact that for every soldier we keep (and kept) in Iraq and Afghanistan for one year, that costs our treasury over one million dollars! How much New Jersey infrastructure could those one million dollars have helped improve and strengthen? Do the math, governor, and see what your support for phony wars and occupations has been doing. That goes for the Democratic governors who support their Democratic president and his foolish foreign endeavors. The only ones laughing are the corporate and Pentagon wolves who make their livings from more and more phony wars and threats of wars.
A storm held our greatest city and surrounding region hostage. Similar to what Wall Street and its Military Industrial Empire’s controllers have been doing to us serfs for Lord knows how long. When will the day come and the mass of our fine and decent citizens get off their duffs and stand in unison for a cause far greater than most: Save our nation by pulling back this empire before it totally pulls us under! ?
PA Farruggio
October 30th, 2012
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Information Clearing house, Doomstead Diner, Op Ed News, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net
The Hypocrisy called American Justice
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farruggio
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This snippet from the main section of today’s USA Today in Brief section on page 2: Hearings Begin At Gitmo for 9/11 Terror Suspects….” The military judge did agree with the defense lawyers who said their clients shouldn’t have to attend the rest of the week-long hearing because it dredges up memories of treatment in CIA detention. The pre-trial hearing includes an effort by prosecutors to prevent (my italics) the accused from revealing details of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.” Duh, that means torture folks! Take a guess who it was that instructed John Yoo and Jay Bybee to write the protocols to circumvent the Geneva Accords and embrace the use of enhanced interrogations AKA torture? You know the little guy with the glasses who sat there, during his confirmation hearing to become Bush Junior’s new Attorney General. It was none other than Alberto Gonzales, the one who Senator Joe Biden told “I like ya, and I’m probably going to vote for ya “(he did). Biden knew, well before those hearings even began, that Fredo Gonzales was directly linked to those protocols. Jay Bybee, for his immoral deeds, was promoted to a federal judgeship- why not? John Yoo was hired by that liberal UC Berkley for a professorship. The age of hypocrisy is center stage.
So, we have what they call enemy combatants remain detained at Gitmo, the place that Barack Obama promised us four years ago that he would shut down. Who are these people, many of whom have been incarcerated without their day in court for almost a decade? Are they terrorists by the textbook definition? Maybe handfuls are truly bad guys who want to kill Americans just for some fanatical religious cause. Then again, what we do know as fact is that after the (illegal) invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, the warlords AKA poppy producers, gobbled up and sold many Afghans to the Americans for very high bounties… I mean, like very high cash rewards. In many circumstances, the word of a warlord could send an Afghan off to Gitmo and our enhanced interrogations. Please watch Alex Gitney’s fine documentary Taxi to the Dark Side and see how things were working 10 years ago. We now know about what went on at Abu Ghraib prison, don’t we?
Last night’s second presidential debate AKA town hall meeting was one more round of hypocrisy at the highest levels. For the second time, and also with last weeks’ Biden vs. Ryan debate, little if nothing was even discussed about A) what in the hell are we even doing occupying Afghanistan and Iraq in the first place? ;B) when will all those innocent civilians we killed with our Shock and Awe and drone attacks influence the group conscience of our nation? C) the % of our tax dollars we spend for this military empire ( 56 cents of every federal tax dollar received in fiscal year 2011 ) ;D) why do we continue to maintain, at a costly expense, over 850 + bases in over 100 different countries? ; E) How drastic cuts in military spending could positively solve our state and city budget shortfalls?
Instead of real debate on what is truly bankrupting our economy and our soul as a nation, these 2 Party scam job debates only serve up hot button peripheral issues and lots of “He’s wrong! That‘s not true! “Four thousand young Americans are dead, along with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan citizens, for what? Did you ever hear McCain and Obama in 2008 discuss the run-up to the invasions? Of course, the whole 9/11 Truth movement has been marginalized and actually cartoonized by a compliant media and 2 Party politicians. You see, nothing of truth even exists anymore in mainstream Amerika. Instead, we have what we are now living through during this season of the horserace. Stop looking at the horse’s head and focus on the other end, and watch what comes out.
PA FARRUGGIO
October 17th, 2012
Update: POTUS Debate #3
Sellouts: An Empire Love Story
They were supposed to have a foreign policy debate last night between Obama and Romney. What you saw is exactly what you have been getting from the embedded politicians and mainstream media for God only knows how many years! Not one time during the pre debate and post debate talking heads shows, or during the actual 90 minute claptrap, was there ever a mention of just how much the military spending is. No one dared to bring up the fact that over 50 cents of each of our federal tax dollars goes to fund our War Empire. Readers of this writer’s work have read this over and over, and by now are most likely numbed by it. Yet, to any out there who still believe in the fairy tale of Two Party Democracy, please take caution before you go and vote.
This writer has a theory that seems each day to be closer to the truth. That being that anyone we find in political elected office, OR having any position of influence in (so called) mainstream media journalism (columnists, hosts of shows or talking head regular guests) has got to be a total sellout! For if they were not so, they would never see their name in lights or on a printed page. Period! The proof in the pudding is exactly what transpires during this latest 2012 Presidential horserace. Never has there been the issue of our 800+ bases worldwide and the obscene spending on our military empire. Both the president and his ‘ game show host Mr. Brylcream ‘ opponent love to talk about the deficit and the economy etc. Yet, they refuse to deal with the fact that it is the obscene military spending on phony wars and occupations that have the rulers of this empire happy as can be. The more the politicians sidestep the truth of what really ails us, the more the money is pumped out of our pockets and into theirs. So, with these two sellout candidates and their respective talking head media supporters, we get column A) and column B). Romney and his gang want column A) which is more and more military spending, in excess of the record breaking $ 563 billion last year ( which was almost double what we spent 10 years earlier- record-breaking at the time ). Column B) is Mr. Obama and his gang proud to say that he expects the military spending to remain the same or perhaps a wee bit higher. Meanwhile, we have Mom and Pop businesses going under, layoffs, severe state and city budget cuts… you know the drill?
No mention last night of the perils that the Palestinians are facing under the Israeli boot. No, only how Israel is our best ally and friend. Ask any member of the massive Israeli peace movement and they would say to both candidates “With friends like that…” The president was so proud of what we did to Libya with our bombing campaign that killed more innocent civilians than it did the regime’s military. Ditto for what we did to the Iraqis under Bush and Cheney, and now our drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan under a Democratic president. Boy oh boy, the movers and shakers of this Military Industrial Empire are laughing all the way to their banks, the money they are all making out of this ****. Yet, the majority of those who actually will go and vote only see the issues that the empire controlled media want them to focus on. Shame on them! Guess what? When all the smoke clears on November 7th, the Fat Cats who run this empire could not give a rat’s ass who the suckers put in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Most likely, they would rather see Obama re-elected so as to use him (as they have already) to ‘Keep the natives off the streets ‘when the next depression finally takes hold. To date, we have had only a mere foreshadowing of it… the rest is on the way.
PA Farruggio
October 23rd, 2012
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Doomstead Diner, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and Smirking Chimp sites), an environmental products sales rep and an activist. Since 2010, Philip is a spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net }
The Empire’s ‘Servants’ Debate’… Round 1
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farruggio
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We got to see fantastic theater last night. Obama and Romney, servants of the empire and spokesman for their respective parties, the Repugnants and the Demoncrats, danced to the same tune, with but different lyrics. If you notice, neither of the two candidates, or their countless minions in the media and general public, ever discussed the real cause or our economic downfall: The Military Industrial Empire! You won’t hear Obama or Romney mentioning the obscene levels of military spending… record breaking levels that rake in over half the federal income taxes we suckers send to Uncle Sam. After all, the subject was about the economy, and what really is bankrupting it was and will never be mentioned. Is our economy affected by the 800+ military bases we have in over 100 different countries which drains both our treasury and our prestige as a nation internationally? Or that our drone attacks kill more innocent civilians than the targeted terrorists they claim to be after. How about our fine young soldiers dead or wounded for life in that desert heat, for a cause that many still doubt?
No issue has as lasting influence on our daily way of life, the way of life for us working stiffs, than this Military Industrial Empire… which both parties serve so well, and always have. Abortion and contraceptive choice are very vital issues for all of us. Yet, to elect a man president because he agrees with you on that, and then to watch him serve the interests of a War Machine that drains your wallets…. You got me on that one.
I love how the two servants of the elite interests argued back and forth on health care. Obama was so proud for his Affordable Care Act, that he liked it when Romney referred to it as Obamacare. Bottom line: both political parties are in bed with the private health insurance industry, and what little reform they will make is just that… little! This writer is against Obamacare, but for vastly different reasons than Romney. What could have and should have been done was for the president and the Congress to push for an option for anyone under retirement age to buy into the current Medicare system. This could be done in a similar fashion as we do with our FICA taxes. The more you earn (up to an income ceiling to be determined) the more you pay into the kitty. Regardless of what the actual costs would be, they could never equal the premium costs and restrictions (and deductibles) that a private plan entailed. The president’s new Obamacare plan, even with most of us being put into large pools, would perhaps save around maybe 20-25%. So, a plan that a husband and wife now pays for fairly decent coverage (with maybe deductibles of $ 1000, which is actually low nowadays) that currently would cost $ 12,000 to $ 15,000 yearly, would be discounted 20-25%. So what? Who in the hell can afford $ 1,000 a month, plus an out of pocket initial $ 1000 deductible? No, Obama and his corrupt party could have used the bully pulpit to say to Americans: “Hey, if you wish to come into this plan, fine. If not, then you can stay with private insurers. And, private insurers, we are not going to do anything to you legislatively… just to compete with you.” When this approach was taken by local towns that were fed up with the monopoly cable television company in their area, back around 10-12 years ago, the results were astounding! Local towns and cities went into the cable television business, nonprofit, and competed with the local for profit carrier. Soon after, when all the smoke cleared, the prices and service restrictions by the private carrier were lowered dramatically! Obama and Romney: competition works!
Imagine if we had a multi party system in place, and legitimate third party candidates and platforms were part of the debate process. Why in this the 21st century is that not the case here in America? Who is controlling things so that we cannot hear differing voices and differing ideas and solutions? The empire’s representatives were on that dais last night, and the guy asking the questions had his handlers as well. The deck has been stacked for so long, dear fellow citizens, that many of you do not even read the cards anymore. Sad.
PA Farruggio
October 4th, 2012
The “Hottest Place in Hell”
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farruggio
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Note from RE: As true today as in 2004 when Phil wrote this originally.
Dante wrote that the “hottest place in Hell is reserved for those, who in time of crisis, remain neutral.” One would ascertain that our America, circa 2001- present, is without a doubt in a terrible time of crisis. Many who know me consistently state how much of a “doom and gloomer” I have become these past four years. Mea culpa. As history, hopefully the “revision less “kind, looks back at our nation throughout this dawn of the new century, gloom has in fact taken center stage. One can now imagine what transpired in Salem Massachusetts when a cult of overzealous ‘so called’ Christians held sway. More recent in our history, we know, from historical and eyewitness accounts, just how comprehensive were the propaganda of Goebbels and Co. To ponder how that many Germans, rich in such political diversity, could just stand there as the brown shirts and swastikas took control of everything, certainly boggles the mind. Yet, look no further than two decades later, when America was held hostage by witch hunts and red baiting. This climate of irrational aggressive thought was precursor to the fallout shelters and shouts of “Kill a commie for Christ” during the early 60′s. James Bamford, in his fine work ” Body of Secrets”, states how US Intelligence knew, from the successful use of U2 flights, just how militarily weaker the Soviets were… hear that Dick Cheney?
On a treadmill at the gym yesterday, I found myself next to a 30 something female member who I had spoken with before. She is a pleasant, no nonsense kind of person. Unfortunately (for her) she is not well read at all. When she heard me rambling on (as I do a lot these days) about the need to defeat Bush and crew. The young lady interrupted me with “Kerry is a jerk, and not fit to lead this country.” Why, I asked? “He is not a true man of faith like our president. He doesn’t understand that this whole thing over there is what Revelations spoke about… right now!” I asked her if Jesus, Bush’s ‘role model’, (Bush said it, not I) would preemptively attack another nation, one that was not even a threat to us? “Oh, come on”, she snapped back, “they were all in on 9/11; the whole bunch of them… read Revelations.” All of them, meaning that Iraq was in with Osama bin laden on the 9/11 attack, I asked? “They’re all Moslems, aren’t they?” Wait a minute, I countered (my voice rising along with my frustration level), are you aware that there are ONE BILLION Muslims in this world? The percentage of them that are fanatical and aggressive is about this much (placing my thumb as close to my index finger as possible). How can you indict an entire religion!? “It’s all in Revelations” was all she could respond. She then stated that she, in fact, was a Democrat. She just did not like Kerry at all. I told her that at least we had one thing in agreement.
Ben Franklin stated: “Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy.” Frederick Douglas more eloquently stated: “Power concedes nothing without demand. It never has. It never will.” These are truly times that try our souls. A wise person once said that “knowledge brings with it added responsibility.” Many of us ‘know better’, by studying all of historical perspective, not just what Fox news and middle of the road authors feed us. What follows from this knowledge should always be some kind of action. For what good is it to just know and then remain mute? The challenge of a keener understanding of history and facts and motive etc… Is to share what we know with our community of fellows. That is how change can, and in fact, does occur. That is how we, as a people, can hold our leaders accountable to our needs, our truth, and our demands. To do, as Dante wrote, nothing deserves but only itself in return.
Smedley, Ike and Me & Sins of the Empire
Off the keyboard of Phillip Farrugio
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Smedley, Ike & Me
In 1935, an essay was published, War Is a Racket (Google it), by retired Marine General Smedley Butler. In it Butler embellished his belief that our nation’s foreign policy was controlled and manipulated by private corporate interests… all in the name of greed. Wars, invasions and occupations by our military, according to General Butler, were all predicated on the desire for profit by corporations. He himself called his past life as a Marine general as being a gangster for these private industrial interests. He used WW1 as an example of who made the profits for our military being sent ‘Over there’. Apparently, most of the American public at that time could not care less for what Smedley Butler was selling.
In January of 1961, retiring President Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address (Google it). In it, this cold warrior made a sort of indirect mea culpa as to the “vast military industrial complex…” as he labeled it. Ike knew just how diabolical this network of war making corporations could be. As president he allowed many dirty deeds in the name of ‘fighting communism’. A whole list of countries that the United States pushed our sabers into, whether overtly or most often covertly, defines how we will be recorded by truthful historians… however few and far between they may be. Our current position as the world’s superpower is the bastard child of this greedy and corrupting military industrial complex… simply known to many as an empire.
This writer stands with sign in hand each week to once again sound the alarm bells that General Butler and President Eisenhower rang. I join with many others who want to finally curtail and pullback this military industrial empire. Many of us are progressives and libertarians politically… it does not matter. The truth of it all is that if this obscene and financially disastrous military spending is not cut drastically, our great nation will crumble from within. No terrorist attack could do as much damage as that! There is a movement nationwide to get the Congress to cut this tragically high spending by a minimum of 25%. Since 2001, military spending has almost doubled! It now hovers at over $ 560 billion a year, or 56 cents of every tax dollar we each send to Uncle Sam. Even if only half of the 25% in savings was passed on to the cities, Daytona Beach, nearby to my town of Port Orange, would receive 35 million dollars a year. That amount would wipe out all of the cuts in services for that community, perhaps even allowing a lowering of property taxes.
It is time for the fine and dedicated Occupy members and the equally important labor union movement to get on board with but one focus: Pullback this military empire! All the other peripherals such as greedy Wall Street, terrible foreclosures, viable and real health care reform, layoffs etc are all connected to this overzealous military empire. It is time for we who ‘know better’ to be role models for the majority of Americans who still buy into the mainstream media’s hype and spin. There is no major difference, so far as this military industrial empire goes, between the two dominant political parties. Yes, the Republicans are more caustic, but the Democrats are more diabolical by their hypocrisy. When, on foreign policy, a libertarian conservative like Ron Paul agrees with a lifelong progressive like Ralph Nader…
Sins of the Empire… Does Anybody Really Care?
I love the public library system, always have. From my earliest remembrances as an eight or nine year old, the local library was sacred to me. Each Friday afternoon after grade school, I would walk to the library and immerse myself inside the aisles of dreams. All kinds of wonderful books were there for my enjoyment. That little card with my name, address and signature was a passport to adventure. Walking home with an armful of new books, I was on cloud nine.
The movers and shakers of our American empire could not care less for the public library system or, for that matter, the public education system. What they do not need at all are well versed and thinking citizens. No, the more dumbed down the populace is the more they can be propagandized and controlled. If only those who enter and exit the local library in my town would realize the ramifications of our government spending the obscene sum of $ 1.2 million per year to keep a soldier in Afghanistan. The poor soldier only sees about $ 30,000 or $ 40,000 for that year long service to the military industrial empire, in a country that our nation has no damn business occupying in the first place! That is for another column… Let’s focus on waste and mismanagement of our taxes, ok? Here is the kicker to that one soldier being sent to Afghanistan for one year: That amount of money ($ 1.2 million) is the budget for ONE MONTH of the entire library system in my Florida County (Volusia) – which covers THIRTEEN branches! Doing the math and you will find that it would take but the cost of sending TWELVE soldiers to Afghanistan to cover the budget for the county’s 13 branches for one year. Imagine that a whole entire system of staffing and book buying and community rooms and special events… the maintenance of each facility, all equaling what we spend on sending twelve GIs to Afghanistan. Outrageous!
Here is the real tragedy of this all: Since fiscal years 2005-2007 my county’s library budget has been cut down by 33%! What once was a whole wall dedicated to New Fiction Books and another equally massive wall for New Non Fiction Books has been combined into one wall… with less and less new books! Down the line there have been cuts in everything, so as to meet the budget ceilings. Someday soon, and mark these words, you will hear the trumpeting for privatizing library systems. So, once again, the suckers will pay for the sins of the empire! Isn’t it time for the good folks of our towns and cities of America to speak out and demand a pullback of this military industrial empire, before the bankruptcy is complete?
PA Farruggio
September 26, 2012
{Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on the fine Information Clearing House, Activist Post, and Dandelion Salad, Dissident Voice and Smirking chimp sites), an environmental products sales rep and an activist. Since 2010, Philip is a spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net }