Bush & the Republicans’ Objective is Revealed, a Government Beyond the Law

The revelation that private contractors were involved and beyond doubt the causation of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib is instructive in understanding what the Republican party is intent upon doing to America. The Republican party is hell-bent upon turning America into a contracted government. A government dedicated not to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but rather a government that funds the bottom-line of corporations.

If they win this fall they will privatize all government. We, the people will be subjects of some contracted third-party. Our role will be to provide the funds through taxation, while the congress and the president hand out the commons to the money grubbing corporations.

We all know how well corporations are run. From Enron to Halliburton they are corrupt and mismanaged. We either defeat them this fall or get ready for a giant logo going up over this country.

Be it in the courts or in the streets, there will be Revolution if that happens. One way to avoid bloodshed would be to abolish corporate personhood (for starters).

Why do so few people understand how important an issue corporate personhood is?

Similar to the Roman Coliseum. Weapons of Mass Distraction.

We tried that already in the 60s, and no one bought the idea. We certainly aren't going to do so now, as we sit, saturated with self-aggrandizement and self-pity, in front of the TV. Revolution requires thought, passion, and effort. The total absorption of the Self into the ego has turned us into apathetic sops, so that now the only thing that means anything to us is sex and beer and the NFL.

The Republicans count on this.

That statement is WAY too simplistic. Keep in mind that MANY of our charismatic leaders of that period were out right assassinated and that many who wanted to be part of the revolution--young middle-class white kids--had NO IDEA what that actually meant----much less how much RESISTANCE they would get from establishment society.

Real revolutions are no small things. It isn't simply a matter of, say, replacing one man with another for the same office. Real revolutions change the system itself--including the cultural/social aspects of the system. From that vantage point, the 60s WERE a revolution of sorts.

As a "revolution" it didn't go far enough--just as the American Revolution of 1776 didn't go far enough. I think a "real" revolution is "possible" in the United States--but perhaps it isn't going to look like anything we've ever seen before.

It will happen as people take back their personal and economic power and refuse to buy into or participate in a lie.

Well, it's difficult to explore all the teleological and epistemological ramifications of extremely nuanced concepts in a limited forum such as this one. :)

Many of our "leaders" sold out (Abbie Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Bob Dylan). After Altamont, no one seemed to feel the same anymore, and once the War was over, there seemed to be no reason to continue the counterculture--which was brought into being largely by that conflict.

The Iraq invasion may change society for a short period also, but I would be willing to bet that most people will fight any real change.

but that doesn't mean we have to resort to oversimplifications.

What conditions create "revolutionary" situations? That is what we need to be asking.

The conditions created by the events of 9/11 made possible the 'counter-revolution' of the PNAC (et al) foreign policy. However, it also did something else: it awoke a sizeable minority in this country to social action for the first time in a long time. I took part in several demonstrations in San Francisco; the one just prior to the Iraq war was easily 250,000 people or more. Same or similar situations in Washington DC, New York, and Chicago. And for every one person who took part in such a demonstration, there were tens of others who did not but oppose this foreign policy.

Before the anti-Vietnam-war movement could make any headway at all, we had to educate ourselves about that war. This is a different situation, a far more grave situation, IMO, but where we are now is in this "self-education" phase. Before any mass movement can emerge in this society, people have to become educated about what is going on, who is behind it, and what we ACTUALLY can do to change the situation. It is complicated and it is going to take all of us making informed decisions about how we are going to confront the "powers that be" in our daily lives.

You're obviously very pessimistic about the possibility of revolution (and by this word at this point I could mean the implementation of Constitutional law--which is NOT the situation we currently have). This is understandable. However, be careful not to sell either yourself or your fellow human beings too short. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary people willing to engage in their lives in extraordinary ways.

that the American people can be brought to a point where they sicken of this invasion and throw * out of the WH because of it. There are signs that such a change of mind may actually be taking place.

But it's quite another thing to expect the country to change course drastically. The two men who spoke most about effecting such change--Dean and Kucinich--were soundly rejected by DEMOCRATIC voters, leaving us with a mainstream "SkullnBones Democrat" who has voted for virtually everything * wanted. Indeed, his indications are that he won't take us out of Iraq anyway.

So where is this "revolution" supposed to occur?

is that they have bought into the idea that "What is good for General Motors, is good for America". They see the corporation as their means of sustenance--their surrogate mothers--and don't dare pull themselves away from the teat. So they accept the false premises being disseminated by the government, and hope they don't get laid off.

Geez. I just realized how much sexual imagery is in that statement.:evilgrin:

"private contractors were... beyond doubt the causation of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib"

I agree with your larger issue, but I think Abu Ghraib is just another poster child for the arrogance and brutality of the U.S. occupation. I think the military is just as responsible as any of the other hired thugs.

But, like the CIA in nam, it would seem that the movers in this incident was other than military.

Dollars can be counted but Democracy cannot. Therefore, it must go.

a by on what is going on, they are all enemies of representative government. They are all guilty. Give a chance and they strip the rights of the citizen and hand the country to the corporations. The Republican Party is the enemy, not only Bush, he is just the latest and high profile destroyer.

floating around Congress giving blanket immunity from prosecution to corporations.

another nail in civil liberties.

Executive Order 13303

"As easy as A B C"--A Diversity of Creatures"
Whether the State can loose and bind
In Heaven as well as on Earth:
If it be wiser to kill mankind
Before or after the birth--
These are matters of high concern
Where State-kept schoolmen are;
But Holy State (we have lived to learn)
Endeth in Holy War.

Whether The People be led by The Lord,
Or lured by the loudest throat:
If it be quicker to die by the sword
Or cheaper to die by vote--
These are things we have dealt with once,
(And they will not rise from their grave)
For Holy People, however it runs,
Endeth in wholly Slave.

Whatsoever, for any cause,
Seeketh to take or give
Power above or beyond the Laws,
Suffer it not to live!
Holy State or Holy King--
Or Holy People's Will--
Have no truck with the senseless thing.
Order the guns and kill!
Saying --after--me:--

Once there was The People--Terror gave it birth;
Once there was The People and it made a Hell of Earth
Earth arose and crushed it. Listen, 0 ye slain!
Once there was The People--it shall never be again!

Privatization doesn't just mean "some contracted third-party." It's all the same companies. For example, CACI, one of the two companies involved as Abu Ghraib, has also been part of the Total Information Awareness project to spy on Americans:

http://www.2600.com/news/view/article/1411
http://www.breakyourchains.org/surveillance_whores.htm

And they're getting involved with Social Security as well:

http://www.caci.com/about/news/news2004/04_12_04_NR.html

"April 12, 2004 — CACI International Inc (NYSE:CAI) today announced that it has been awarded a five-year blanket purchase agreement, with a not-to-exceed ceiling value of $45 million, to provide information technology services to the Social Security Administration’s Office of Telecommunications and Systems Operations. The contract comes to CACI as a direct result of its acquisition of CMS Information Services, Inc., announced March 1, 2004.

"As the Social Security Administration increases its services to the American taxpayer, its need for IT support is expected to grow significantly. Under the contract terms, the former CMS team, now with CACI, will continue to help the Social Security Administration optimize its IT systems, installing and maintaining hardware and software, managing local and wide area networks, supporting computer operations, and providing help desk and related IT support."


The BlackBoxVoting companies are also intimately related to the defense and intelligence companies. See the listing at http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0308/S00174.htm which includes both CACI and Titan Corporation (the other player at Abu Ghraib.)


And these various government contractors are now merging with one another and growing even more powerful:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21702-2003Sep16.html

"September 17, 2003: Stocks of local technology companies that do business with the federal government surged yesterday as investors bet that consolidation among contractors is picking up steam.

"Anteon International Corp. and CACI International Inc. stock prices increased more than 6 percent. Anteon finished at $33.80 a share, up $2.05, and CACI closed at $48.10, up $2.82. ManTech International Corp. shares increased $3.26, or nearly 14 percent, to $27.16.

"Investors were reacting to Monday's news that Lockheed Martin Corp. would acquire Titan Corp., a San Diego defense company with a large presence in Northern Virginia, for $2.4 billion.

<snip>

"The purchase of Titan recalls two recent acquisitions of local technology companies by huge defense contractors. Computer Sciences Corp. bought DynCorp, a Reston contractor, for $677 million in cash and stock in 2002. In June, General Dynamics Corp. paid $1.5 billion for Veridian Corp., an Arlington firm that specialized in defense work."

This is not news. The question is: what are "we" going to do about it? How are "we" going to stop it? And don't tell me just to vote "no" in November. That's not enough.

America has beena Plutocracy for over 20 years. Nobody was informed about this, obviously.

Say, to someone in Luxembourg????

with the idea of reaching the same goal but not with the same actions or techniques...Not by violence or marching or protesting, but in a totally different way? This is not to say that protesting and marching should not be used at the appropriate times. However, we live in the information age. Our next revolution must be with the weapon of information, not emotion. Something to think about.

Right now I assume that you and I and everyone else on this bord and others like it who are sharing information about what is going on--outside the mainstream controlled media--are a potentially 'revolutionary' force.

I agree that the violent forms of change are not going to work in this situation. However, I do think there are things that CAN work--provided we begin to coalesce as a UNIFIED social/political/economic force. The problem has always been in the past that for such a force to come together, a charismatic leader was necessary. Someone who could inspire vision and dedication to a cause. However, such movements are vulnerable for obvious reasons. Is a 'leaderless' revolution possible?

Imagine that. Everyone taking full responsibility for the actions and inituitives of our government instead of leaving the deliberation and disposition of issues to the few who bother to participate. Imagine that.

I do not think that you will be able to leave the emotional component out of it though. A warrior fights because he is enraged at his foe, not just because he is ordered to. I believe that a balance between head and heart will gain victory in the revolution, the last attempt had too much heart and not enough head.

of the world as they can invade

See these Bastards do have a plan..