By William Pfaff
MARRAKECH, Morocco—As those bewitched (or intimidated) by China’s contemporary growth and new political claims know all too well, the world has been run by the Western powers since the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. World pre-eminence once belonged to China, from the high civilization of Hsuan Tsung in the eighth century to the Sung Dynasty in the 10th, as it once did to the contemporaneous Arab Caliphates, at a time when feudal Europe was a backwater. But times change (as modern American tea partyers, among others, are noticing).
The practice of those who run the modern world is to hold conferences to talk about what’s happening, what the future is likely to bring and what if anything can be done about it. These, in my professional lifetime, have always been conceived, organized and dominated by Westerners, mainly American and West European. Since 1973, when the rise of Japanese economic power made it imperative, Japan has been incorporated into these discussions, but has rarely asserted a claim to share the management of global affairs.
In short, the modern world’s political and economic systems have been controlled by the West since at least the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, which ended the Holy Roman Empire that was Rome’s successor and established the modern system of individual sovereign states, and the beginning of the 19th century and the Congress of Vienna, which ended the Napoleonic system. What was left of the great Christian and Muslim empires was finished off by the first and second world wars.
The Cold War proved to be a fluke, taken seriously because of the existence of nuclear weapons and the modern addiction to ideological violence, and finished in 45 years. It was a trivial historical event.
It left the United States to conduct what must now be concluded the misrule of what remained, with military interventions to “create democracy,” so that America’s own survival as a functioning and competent democracy must now be considered in doubt.
Americans today are in deep distress about their national future, with a belief (plausible, but in my opinion without serious substance) that China is shortly going to take the place of the most powerful state in the world.
Today, China is near to becoming the nation with the largest gross domestic product. Since most of what China produces is of foreign design or technology, this could be compared with saying that China produces more coal than any other country on earth. So what? It is quality of civilization and culture, and the nature of a nation’s actions in international society, that affords historical greatness.
Nonetheless, an epoch of Western world political domination is coming to an end. This is not simply an end to imperialism (new or old), but quite possibly the beginning of a probably long decline in the West’s primacy in industry, technology and scientific innovation. The political rise of Asia is obvious. China, Korea, India, Pakistan and the major Arab states (leaving out Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and rising states elsewhere) now are major influences upon the future not simply in their own regions but in the world. The American military eruption into Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, if it continues to fail, could easily end by destroying America’s global claims.
Europe has played a largely passive role in all of this since the two world wars, and the future of the European Union remains very different to assess, on the political level at least. But in Western Europe there is now serious recognition that the world is assuming an entirely new shape in which the Europeans, collectively or as individual nations, will be part of a system in which Turkey, Iran, China, Japan, Korea, a new Russia and certain Latin American and other states will have an importance they have not possessed since 1940, and in which the present institutions of global “governance”—the U.N. system of functional organizations, the economic assumptions embodied in the post-Bretton Woods and“Washington consensus” economy, the G-20 and its parallel meetings—are clearly inadequate to the new era, intellectually as well as organizationally.
In Marrakech, the third World Policy Conference has just concluded, in which nearly half the participants were from countries other than those of Western Europe and North America. This is all but unprecedented for a meeting with such eminent contributors and speakers. Although current events and politics intruded into the discussion, particularly concerning the economic crisis and the emerging powers, the program dealt with basic matters affecting the common future: food, population, climate, health, monetary and financial governance, energy and cyberspace. The affair, which is annual, is the work of the French Institute of International Relations, and its director, Thierry de Montbrial. It has been needed, is overdue and will make a difference.
Visit William Pfaff’s website for more on his latest book, “The Irony of Manifest Destiny: The Tragedy of America’s Foreign Policy,” at www.williampfaff.com.
© 2010 Tribune Media Services Inc.
Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)Tawo Seed CarrierPOB 1456South Pasadena, CA 91031@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
GRUESOME SYMPTOMS OF BP DISPERSANTS SICKNESS countercurrents.org BP Dispersants 'Causing Sickness'By Dahr Jamail27 October, 2010
Aljazeera
Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been sick with chemical poisoning since July [Photo/ Erika Blumenfeld] Two-year-old Gavin Tillman of Pass Christian, Mississippi, has been diagnosed with severe upper respiratory, sinus, and viral infections. His temperature has reached more than 39 degrees since September 15, yet his sicknesses continue to worsen.His parents, some doctors, and environmental consultants believe the child's ailments are linked to exposure to chemicals spilt by BP during its Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.Gavin's father, mother, and cousin, Shayleigh, are also facing serious health problems. Their symptoms are being experienced by many others living along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Widely banned toxic dispersants Injected with at least 4.9 million barrels of oil during the BP oil disaster of last summer, the Gulf has suffered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons of widely banned toxic dispersants, which according to chemist Bob Naman, create an even more toxic substance when mixed with crude oil. And dispersed, weathered oil continues to flow ashore daily.Naman, who works at the Analytical Chemical Testing Lab in Mobile, Alabama, has been carrying out studies to search for the chemical markers of the dispersants BP used to both sink and break up its oil.According to Naman, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from this toxic mix are making people sick. PAHs contain compounds that have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic.Fisherman across the four states most heavily affected by the oil disaster - Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - have reported seeing BP spray dispersants from aircraft and boats offshore."The dispersants are being added to the water and are causing chemical compounds to become water soluble, which is then given off into the air, so it is coming down as rain, in addition to being in the water and beaches of these areas of the Gulf," Naman added."I’m scared of what I'm finding. These cyclic compounds intermingle with the Corexit [dispersants] and generate other cyclic compounds that aren’t good. Many have double bonds, and many are on the EPA's danger list. This is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe."Commercial fisherman Donny Matsler also lives in Alabama."I was with my friend Albert, and we were both slammed with exposure," Matsler explained of his experience on August 5, referring to toxic chemicals he inhaled that he believes are associated with BP's dispersants. "We both saw the clumps of white bubbles on the surface that we know come from the dispersed oil." Gruesome symptoms"I started to vomit brown, and my pee was brown also," Matsler, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Dauphin Island, said. "I kept that up all day. Then I had a night of sweating and non-stop diarrhea unlike anything I’ve ever experienced."He was also suffering from skin rashes, nausea, and a sore throat.At roughly the same time Matsler was exposed, local television station WKRG News 5 took a water sample from his area to test for dispersants. The sample literally exploded when it was mixed with an organic solvent separating the oil from the water. Naman, the chemist who analyzed the sample, said: "We think that it most likely happened due to the presence of either methanol or methane gas or the presence of the dispersant Corexit.""I'm still feeling terrible," Matsler told Al Jazeera recently. "I'm about to go to the doctor again right now. I'm short of breath, the diarrhea has been real bad, I still have discoloration in my urine, and the day before yesterday, I was coughing up white foam with brown spots in it."As for Matsler's physical reaction to his exposure, Hugh Kaufman, an EPA whistleblower and analyst, has reported this of the effects of the toxic dispersants:"We have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And that’s what dispersants are supposed to do..."By the middle of last summer, the Alabama Department of Public Health said that 56 people in Mobile and Baldwin counties had sought treatment for what they believed were oil disaster-related illnesses."The dispersants used in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol," Dr. Riki Ott, a toxicologist, marine biologist, and Exxon Valdez survivor, told Al Jazeera.
"Solvents dissolve oil, grease, and rubber," she continued, "Spill responders have told me that the hard rubber impellors in their engines and the soft rubber bushings on their outboard motor pumps are falling apart and need frequent replacement.""Given this evidence, it should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to people, something the medical community has long known," Dr. Ott added."In 'Generations at Risk', medical doctor Ted Schettler and others warn that solvents can rapidly enter the human body. They evaporate in air and are easily inhaled, they penetrate skin easily, and they cross the placenta into fetuses. For example, 2- butoxyethanol (in Corexit) is a human health hazard substance; it is a fetal toxin and it breaks down blood cells, causing blood and kidney disorders." Pathways of exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitization, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage.Even the federal government has taken precautions for its employees. US military officials decided to reroute training flights in the Gulf region in order to avoid oil and dispersant tainted-areas.Growing number of casesAnd Al Jazeera is finding a growing number of illnesses across the Gulf Coast.Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been taking walks on Long Beach nearly every day since the disaster began on April 20, and she is dealing with constant health issues."I've had health problems since the middle of July," she said. "At the end of August, I came home from walking on the beach and for four days had bloody, mucus-filled diarrhea, dry heaves, and blood running out of my ear."Karen Hopkins, in Grand Isle, Louisiana, has been sick since the middle of May. "I started feeling exhausted, disoriented, dizzy, nauseous, and my chest was burning and I can’t breath well at times," she said.Dean Blanchard, who runs a seafood distribution business in Grand Isle, is Hopkins' boss. He too is experiencing similar symptoms."They [BP] are using us like lab rats," he explained, "I'm thinking of moving to Costa Rica. When I leave here I feel better. When I come back I feel bad again. Feeling tired, coughing, sore throat, burning eyes, headaches, just like everyone around here feels."Lorrie Williams of Ocean Springs says her son's asthma has "gotten exponentially worse since BP released all their oil and dispersants into the Gulf.""A plane flew over our house recently and sprayed what I believe are dispersants. A fine mist covered everything, and it smelled like pool chemicals. Noah is waking up unable to breath, and my husband has head and chest congestion and burning eyes," Williams said.Like others, when Lorrie's family left the area for a vacation, they immediately felt better. But upon coming home, their symptoms returned.Wilma Subra, a chemist in New Iberia, Louisiana, recently tested the blood of eight BP cleanup workers and residents in Alabama and Florida. "Ethylbenzene, m,p-Xylene and Hexane are volatile organic chemicals that are present in the BP Crude Oil," Subra said,"The blood of all three females and five males had chemicals that are found in the BP Crude Oil. The acute impacts of these chemicals include nose and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, lung irritation, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea and vomiting."Indications of exposureSubra explained that there has been long enough exposure so as to create chronic impacts, that include "liver damage, kidney damage, and damage to the nervous system. So the presence of these chemicals in the blood indicates exposure." Testing by Subra has also revealed PAHs present "in coastal soil sediment, wetlands, and in crab, oyster and mussel tissues."Trisha Springstead, is a registered nurse of 36 years who lives and works in Brooksville, Florida."What I'm seeing are toxified people who have been chemically poisoned," she said, "They have sore throats, respiratory problems, neurological problems, lesions, sores, and ulcers. These people have been poisoned and they are dying. Drugs aren’t going to help these people. They need to be detoxed."Chemist Bob Naman described the brownish, rubbery tar balls that are a product of BP's dispersed oil that continue to wash up on beaches across the Gulf:"Those are the ones kids are picking up and playing with and breathing the fumes that come off them when you crush them in your hand. These will affect anyone who comes into contact with it. You could have an open wound and this goes straight in. Women have a lot more open mucus membranes and they are getting sicker than men. They are bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids are bleeding from their ears. This stuff is busting red blood cells."Dr Ott said: "People are already dying from this… I’m dealing with three autopsy’s right now. I don’t think we’ll have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska, people are dropping dead now. I know two people who are down to 4.75 per cent of their lung capacity, their heart has enlarged to make up for that, and their esophagus is disintegrating, and one of them is a 16-year-old boy who went swimming in the Gulf."
Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)Tawo Seed CarrierPOB 1456South Pasadena, CA 91031@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Pathways of exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitization, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage.
Aljazeera
Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been sick with chemical poisoning since July [Photo/ Erika Blumenfeld] Two-year-old Gavin Tillman of Pass Christian, Mississippi, has been diagnosed with severe upper respiratory, sinus, and viral infections. His temperature has reached more than 39 degrees since September 15, yet his sicknesses continue to worsen.His parents, some doctors, and environmental consultants believe the child's ailments are linked to exposure to chemicals spilt by BP during its Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.Gavin's father, mother, and cousin, Shayleigh, are also facing serious health problems. Their symptoms are being experienced by many others living along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Widely banned toxic dispersants Injected with at least 4.9 million barrels of oil during the BP oil disaster of last summer, the Gulf has suffered the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Compounding the problem, BP has admitted to using at least 1.9 million gallons of widely banned toxic dispersants, which according to chemist Bob Naman, create an even more toxic substance when mixed with crude oil. And dispersed, weathered oil continues to flow ashore daily.Naman, who works at the Analytical Chemical Testing Lab in Mobile, Alabama, has been carrying out studies to search for the chemical markers of the dispersants BP used to both sink and break up its oil.According to Naman, poly-aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from this toxic mix are making people sick. PAHs contain compounds that have been identified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic.Fisherman across the four states most heavily affected by the oil disaster - Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida - have reported seeing BP spray dispersants from aircraft and boats offshore."The dispersants are being added to the water and are causing chemical compounds to become water soluble, which is then given off into the air, so it is coming down as rain, in addition to being in the water and beaches of these areas of the Gulf," Naman added."I’m scared of what I'm finding. These cyclic compounds intermingle with the Corexit [dispersants] and generate other cyclic compounds that aren’t good. Many have double bonds, and many are on the EPA's danger list. This is an unprecedented environmental catastrophe."Commercial fisherman Donny Matsler also lives in Alabama."I was with my friend Albert, and we were both slammed with exposure," Matsler explained of his experience on August 5, referring to toxic chemicals he inhaled that he believes are associated with BP's dispersants. "We both saw the clumps of white bubbles on the surface that we know come from the dispersed oil." Gruesome symptoms"I started to vomit brown, and my pee was brown also," Matsler, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Dauphin Island, said. "I kept that up all day. Then I had a night of sweating and non-stop diarrhea unlike anything I’ve ever experienced."He was also suffering from skin rashes, nausea, and a sore throat.At roughly the same time Matsler was exposed, local television station WKRG News 5 took a water sample from his area to test for dispersants. The sample literally exploded when it was mixed with an organic solvent separating the oil from the water. Naman, the chemist who analyzed the sample, said: "We think that it most likely happened due to the presence of either methanol or methane gas or the presence of the dispersant Corexit.""I'm still feeling terrible," Matsler told Al Jazeera recently. "I'm about to go to the doctor again right now. I'm short of breath, the diarrhea has been real bad, I still have discoloration in my urine, and the day before yesterday, I was coughing up white foam with brown spots in it."As for Matsler's physical reaction to his exposure, Hugh Kaufman, an EPA whistleblower and analyst, has reported this of the effects of the toxic dispersants:"We have dolphins that are hemorrhaging. People who work near it are hemorrhaging internally. And that’s what dispersants are supposed to do..."By the middle of last summer, the Alabama Department of Public Health said that 56 people in Mobile and Baldwin counties had sought treatment for what they believed were oil disaster-related illnesses."The dispersants used in BP's draconian experiment contain solvents such as petroleum distillates and 2-butoxyethanol," Dr. Riki Ott, a toxicologist, marine biologist, and Exxon Valdez survivor, told Al Jazeera."Solvents dissolve oil, grease, and rubber," she continued, "Spill responders have told me that the hard rubber impellors in their engines and the soft rubber bushings on their outboard motor pumps are falling apart and need frequent replacement.""Given this evidence, it should be no surprise that solvents are also notoriously toxic to people, something the medical community has long known," Dr. Ott added."In 'Generations at Risk', medical doctor Ted Schettler and others warn that solvents can rapidly enter the human body. They evaporate in air and are easily inhaled, they penetrate skin easily, and they cross the placenta into fetuses. For example, 2- butoxyethanol (in Corexit) is a human health hazard substance; it is a fetal toxin and it breaks down blood cells, causing blood and kidney disorders." Pathways of exposure to the dispersants are inhalation, ingestion, skin, and eye contact. Health impacts include headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pains, chest pains, respiratory system damage, skin sensitization, hypertension, central nervous system depression, neurotoxic effects, genetic mutations, cardiac arrhythmia, and cardiovascular damage.Even the federal government has taken precautions for its employees. US military officials decided to reroute training flights in the Gulf region in order to avoid oil and dispersant tainted-areas.Growing number of casesAnd Al Jazeera is finding a growing number of illnesses across the Gulf Coast.Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been taking walks on Long Beach nearly every day since the disaster began on April 20, and she is dealing with constant health issues."I've had health problems since the middle of July," she said. "At the end of August, I came home from walking on the beach and for four days had bloody, mucus-filled diarrhea, dry heaves, and blood running out of my ear."Karen Hopkins, in Grand Isle, Louisiana, has been sick since the middle of May. "I started feeling exhausted, disoriented, dizzy, nauseous, and my chest was burning and I can’t breath well at times," she said.Dean Blanchard, who runs a seafood distribution business in Grand Isle, is Hopkins' boss. He too is experiencing similar symptoms."They [BP] are using us like lab rats," he explained, "I'm thinking of moving to Costa Rica. When I leave here I feel better. When I come back I feel bad again. Feeling tired, coughing, sore throat, burning eyes, headaches, just like everyone around here feels."Lorrie Williams of Ocean Springs says her son's asthma has "gotten exponentially worse since BP released all their oil and dispersants into the Gulf.""A plane flew over our house recently and sprayed what I believe are dispersants. A fine mist covered everything, and it smelled like pool chemicals. Noah is waking up unable to breath, and my husband has head and chest congestion and burning eyes," Williams said.Like others, when Lorrie's family left the area for a vacation, they immediately felt better. But upon coming home, their symptoms returned.Wilma Subra, a chemist in New Iberia, Louisiana, recently tested the blood of eight BP cleanup workers and residents in Alabama and Florida. "Ethylbenzene, m,p-Xylene and Hexane are volatile organic chemicals that are present in the BP Crude Oil," Subra said,"The blood of all three females and five males had chemicals that are found in the BP Crude Oil. The acute impacts of these chemicals include nose and throat irritation, coughing, wheezing, lung irritation, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea and vomiting."Indications of exposureSubra explained that there has been long enough exposure so as to create chronic impacts, that include "liver damage, kidney damage, and damage to the nervous system. So the presence of these chemicals in the blood indicates exposure." Testing by Subra has also revealed PAHs present "in coastal soil sediment, wetlands, and in crab, oyster and mussel tissues."Trisha Springstead, is a registered nurse of 36 years who lives and works in Brooksville, Florida."What I'm seeing are toxified people who have been chemically poisoned," she said, "They have sore throats, respiratory problems, neurological problems, lesions, sores, and ulcers. These people have been poisoned and they are dying. Drugs aren’t going to help these people. They need to be detoxed."Chemist Bob Naman described the brownish, rubbery tar balls that are a product of BP's dispersed oil that continue to wash up on beaches across the Gulf:"Those are the ones kids are picking up and playing with and breathing the fumes that come off them when you crush them in your hand. These will affect anyone who comes into contact with it. You could have an open wound and this goes straight in. Women have a lot more open mucus membranes and they are getting sicker than men. They are bleeding from their vagina and anus. Small kids are bleeding from their ears. This stuff is busting red blood cells."Dr Ott said: "People are already dying from this… I’m dealing with three autopsy’s right now. I don’t think we’ll have to wait years to see the effects like we did in Alaska, people are dropping dead now. I know two people who are down to 4.75 per cent of their lung capacity, their heart has enlarged to make up for that, and their esophagus is disintegrating, and one of them is a 16-year-old boy who went swimming in the Gulf."
Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)Tawo Seed CarrierPOB 1456South Pasadena, CA 91031@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Ten Questions for Tea Partiers
by Ralph Nader
Here are ten questions for Tea Partiers that they want or do not want to answer. I say it this way because people who call themselves Tea Partiers do not have the same view of politics, government, Big Business or the Constitution. Their opinions range from pure Libertarian to actively furthering the privileges of plutocracy. Their income and occupational background vary as well, though most seem to be middle-income and up. 
My guess is that most Tea Partiers come from the conservative wing of the Republican Party who are fed up with both the corporate Republicans like Bush and Cheney, as well as the Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
With the above in mind, the following questions can serve to go beyond abstractions and generalizations of indignation and get to some more specific responses.
1. Can you be against Big Government and not press for reductions in the vast military budgets, fraught with bureaucratic and large contractors’ waste, fraud and abuse? Military spending now takes up half of the federal government’s operating budgets. The libertarian Cato Institute believes that to cut deficits, we have to also cut the defense budget.
2. Can you believe in the free market and not condemn hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, subsidies, handouts, and giveaways?
3. Can you want to preserve the legitimate sovereignty of our country and not reject the trade agreements known as NAFTA and GATT (The World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland) that scholars have described as the greatest surrender of local, state and national sovereignty in our history?
4. Can you be for law and order and not support a bigger and faster crackdown on the corporate crime wave, that needs more prosecutors and larger enforcement budgets to stop the stealing of taxpayers and consumer dollars so widely reported in the Wall Street Journal and Business Week? Law enforcement officials estimate that for every dollar for prosecution, seventeen to twenty dollars are returned.
5. Can you be against invasions of privacy by government and business without rejecting the provisions of the Patriot Act that leave you defenseless to constant unlawful snooping, appropriation of personal information and even search of your home without notification until 72 hours later?
6. Can you be against regulation of serious medical malpractice (over 100,000 lives lost a year, according to a study by Harvard physicians), unsafe drugs that have serious side effects or cause the very injury/illness they were sold to prevent, motor vehicles with defective brakes, tires and throttles, contaminated food from China, Mexico and domestic processors?
7. Can you keep calling for Freedom and yet tolerate control of your credit and other economic rights by hidden and arbitrary credit ratings and credit scores? What Freedom do you have when you have to sign industry-wide fine print one-sided “contracts” with your banks, insurance companies, car dealers, and credit card companies? Many of these contracts even block your Constitutional access to the courthouse.
8. Can you be for a new, clean system of politics and elections and still accept the Republican and Democratic Two Party dictatorship that is propped up by complex state laws, frivolous litigation and harassment to exclude from the ballot third parties and independent candidates who want reform, accountability, and stronger voices for the voters?
9. If you want a return to our Constitution—its principles of limited and separation of power and its emphasis on “We the People” in its preamble—can you still support Washington’s wars that have not been declared by Congress (Article I Section 8) or giving corporations equal rights with humans plus special privileges and immunities. The word “corporation” or “company” never appears in the Constitution. How can you support eminent domain powers given by governments to corporations over homeowners, or massive week-end bailouts by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department of businesses, even reckless foreign banks, without receiving the authority and the appropriations from the Congress, as the Constitution requires?
10. You want less taxation and lower deficits. How can you succeed unless you stop big corporations from escaping their fair share of taxes by manipulating foreign jurisdictions against our tax laws, for example, or by letting trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street go without any sales tax, while you pay six, seven or eight percent sales tax on the necessities you buy in stores?
Let’s hear from you Tea Partiers. Meanwhile, see the work of video-journalist, Steve Ference, who has interviewed and given voice to those among you in his new paperback “Voices of the Tea Party” published by Lulu.com on July 4, 2010. ContactVoicesoftheTeaParty@gmail.com .
My guess is that most Tea Partiers come from the conservative wing of the Republican Party who are fed up with both the corporate Republicans like Bush and Cheney, as well as the Democrats like Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi.
With the above in mind, the following questions can serve to go beyond abstractions and generalizations of indignation and get to some more specific responses.
1. Can you be against Big Government and not press for reductions in the vast military budgets, fraught with bureaucratic and large contractors’ waste, fraud and abuse? Military spending now takes up half of the federal government’s operating budgets. The libertarian Cato Institute believes that to cut deficits, we have to also cut the defense budget.
2. Can you believe in the free market and not condemn hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate welfare-bailouts, subsidies, handouts, and giveaways?
3. Can you want to preserve the legitimate sovereignty of our country and not reject the trade agreements known as NAFTA and GATT (The World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland) that scholars have described as the greatest surrender of local, state and national sovereignty in our history?
4. Can you be for law and order and not support a bigger and faster crackdown on the corporate crime wave, that needs more prosecutors and larger enforcement budgets to stop the stealing of taxpayers and consumer dollars so widely reported in the Wall Street Journal and Business Week? Law enforcement officials estimate that for every dollar for prosecution, seventeen to twenty dollars are returned.
5. Can you be against invasions of privacy by government and business without rejecting the provisions of the Patriot Act that leave you defenseless to constant unlawful snooping, appropriation of personal information and even search of your home without notification until 72 hours later?
6. Can you be against regulation of serious medical malpractice (over 100,000 lives lost a year, according to a study by Harvard physicians), unsafe drugs that have serious side effects or cause the very injury/illness they were sold to prevent, motor vehicles with defective brakes, tires and throttles, contaminated food from China, Mexico and domestic processors?
7. Can you keep calling for Freedom and yet tolerate control of your credit and other economic rights by hidden and arbitrary credit ratings and credit scores? What Freedom do you have when you have to sign industry-wide fine print one-sided “contracts” with your banks, insurance companies, car dealers, and credit card companies? Many of these contracts even block your Constitutional access to the courthouse.
8. Can you be for a new, clean system of politics and elections and still accept the Republican and Democratic Two Party dictatorship that is propped up by complex state laws, frivolous litigation and harassment to exclude from the ballot third parties and independent candidates who want reform, accountability, and stronger voices for the voters?
9. If you want a return to our Constitution—its principles of limited and separation of power and its emphasis on “We the People” in its preamble—can you still support Washington’s wars that have not been declared by Congress (Article I Section 8) or giving corporations equal rights with humans plus special privileges and immunities. The word “corporation” or “company” never appears in the Constitution. How can you support eminent domain powers given by governments to corporations over homeowners, or massive week-end bailouts by the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department of businesses, even reckless foreign banks, without receiving the authority and the appropriations from the Congress, as the Constitution requires?
10. You want less taxation and lower deficits. How can you succeed unless you stop big corporations from escaping their fair share of taxes by manipulating foreign jurisdictions against our tax laws, for example, or by letting trillions of dollars of speculation on Wall Street go without any sales tax, while you pay six, seven or eight percent sales tax on the necessities you buy in stores?
Let’s hear from you Tea Partiers. Meanwhile, see the work of video-journalist, Steve Ference, who has interviewed and given voice to those among you in his new paperback “Voices of the Tea Party” published by Lulu.com on July 4, 2010. ContactVoicesoftheTeaParty@
Ralph Nader [1] is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book - and first novel - is, Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us [2]. His most recent work of non-fiction isThe Seventeen Traditions [3].
Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org
URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/22-9
Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog)
Tawo Seed Carrier
POB 1456
South Pasadena, CA 91031
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Don't forget our Brother John T. Williams!
YouTube - Deaf Native American Man killed by cops!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWvLST_Qojw
YouTube - Deaf Native American Man killed by cops!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
There are a mere 681 signatures for this petition! TAKE A STAND IN UNITY NOW! If you won't do it, who knows, maybe you remain silent & this very thing happens to you or your loved one by racist cops. Brother John T. Williams was posing NO threat whasoever! He wasn't even facing that cop & was shot four times thru his side!!!!! Please lend your signature support: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/deafmankilled
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Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
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Urge BLM to Set Humane Standards in Augusta Mts., NV Treat-and-Release Plan
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a roundup of 294 wild horses living in the Augusta Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada. Unlike other capture plans, the BLM's Winnemucca District Office intends to treat mares with PZP fertility control and release all horses captured from within the HMA back to the range.The agency is accepting public comments on an Environmental Assessement of the plan. Help us let the agency know that the treat-and-release proposal is a step in the right direction toward managing our wild horses on the range and reducing or eliminating the need for future removals. We must urge the agency to set the humane bar high by postponing the roundup until after the dangerous winter months and ensuring that any capture plan is designed to keep wild horse family bands in tact. We also need to oppose the plan to remove 50 horses living outside the HMA and urge the BLM to seek on-the-range management alternatives for these horses as well.Although the agency has a long way to go to address the fundamental flaws in its wild horse program -- including the artificially-low allowable population numbers, unfair allocation of resources to livestock within designated wild horse and burro areas, and failure to protect predators that provide natural population control -- the Winnemucca District Office's treat-and-release plan for horses within the Augusta Mountain HMA is an encouraging sign that our letters, emails and phone calls are beginning to have an effect . . . let's keep them coming!
The deadline for comments is Friday, November 5, 2010, so please don’t delay.Click here to take action.
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Watch the Video: Rescued Calico Stallions Have Fun with Buddy!Last week, we reported that two Calico horses returned safetly to Nevada to join 18 rescued stallions who were also captured and removed from their homes and family in the Calico Complex. All have been rescued by Return to Freedom. We'd like to share some homevideo of Buddy - one of the recent arrivals. Buddy, a very friendly and outgoing youngster, spent his first days back in Nevada playing, grooming and making friends with a number of the Calico stallions. Click here to watch the video.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing a roundup of 294 wild horses living in the Augusta Mountains Herd Management Area (HMA) in Nevada. Unlike other capture plans, the BLM's Winnemucca District Office intends to treat mares with PZP fertility control and release all horses captured from within the HMA back to the range.The agency is accepting public comments on an Environmental Assessement of the plan. Help us let the agency know that the treat-and-release proposal is a step in the right direction toward managing our wild horses on the range and reducing or eliminating the need for future removals. We must urge the agency to set the humane bar high by postponing the roundup until after the dangerous winter months and ensuring that any capture plan is designed to keep wild horse family bands in tact. We also need to oppose the plan to remove 50 horses living outside the HMA and urge the BLM to seek on-the-range management alternatives for these horses as well.Although the agency has a long way to go to address the fundamental flaws in its wild horse program -- including the artificially-low allowable population numbers, unfair allocation of resources to livestock within designated wild horse and burro areas, and failure to protect predators that provide natural population control -- the Winnemucca District Office's treat-and-release plan for horses within the Augusta Mountain HMA is an encouraging sign that our letters, emails and phone calls are beginning to have an effect . . . let's keep them coming!The deadline for comments is Friday, November 5, 2010, so please don’t delay.Click here to take action.
Back to top
Watch the Video: Rescued Calico Stallions Have Fun with Buddy!Last week, we reported that two Calico horses returned safetly to Nevada to join 18 rescued stallions who were also captured and removed from their homes and family in the Calico Complex. All have been rescued by Return to Freedom. We'd like to share some homevideo of Buddy - one of the recent arrivals. Buddy, a very friendly and outgoing youngster, spent his first days back in Nevada playing, grooming and making friends with a number of the Calico stallions. Click here to watch the video.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Aay Sisters & Brothers.....I write to ask you to please visit a web site called Brothers Who Care, by Brother Andy Smith. For near fifteen years he has have been freely aiding our young ones & families in the Maryland community & across the states, at this time, the org is in desperate need of contributions, which are a tax write off.
His org is unique in the fact he does not limit services to Blacks only, but to this lands indigenous, Latino & Asians also. Something we all know is very rare indeed. He is a generous & tireless man.
Among the many things the org does to lend a hand up, he has contributed computers to a few people I know who were in need, (myself included), ones who actually work hard for our Sisters & Brothers, quite the expense, but in hard economic times, is in danger of closing for good, which would not be good at all.
If able to provide assistance, please visit the site for contact information, & please pass this far & wide.
BROTHERS WHO CARE: http://www.blackmenwhocare.org/home.html
If I didn't know him or of his org, I would not be asking of any of you, but truly he has a good spirit about him & it would be horrible for the org to close down, leaving many in need without assistance.
His email is included below.
Thank you for all you do! Many blessings to all,
Sister Teresa,
can you get the word out that our organization is preparing to raise funds for our next program year, and while United Way is competing for donations, we are not a part of them because our overhead is so low, people do not take us seriously.
Unfortunately, I will have to come out of my pocket for these expenses and it may have me shut down after about 15 years of helping the community.
We have to raise only $5,000 to allow us to maintain cost of our monthly news publication Speak Up and our computer outreach program which cost us about $100 to rebuild the machines that we give away in exchange for receipent volunteering 10 hours in their community.
Please let folks know about our work and our need.
Brother Andy Smith
Brothers Who Care*
Speak Up Community News
131 W. North Avenue, 2nd floor
Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center
Hagerstown, Maryland 21740
(301) 393-9290
*Brothers Who Care is a division of Brothers United Who Dare To Care
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Good Shield Aguilar, Lakota-Yaqui Musician, Sings about Origin and Honor
With all the terrible things going on around us every day, we sometimes need to be reminded of our identity, origins, connections and relatedness. After all, it is only our world view and spirituality that distinguishes us from the wasichus(whites).
One of the best ways to take a step back, contemplate, reflect upon and remember who we really are is through music.
Good Shield Aguilar - Lakota-Yaqui Musician is a native singer-songwriter living in "Yurok Country" who says and does it very well, indeed. To see a video of his performance of the following two songs, click on the YouTube link below. Better yet, click on his name and visit his MySpace page.
From Origin Song:
I am sitting here in my place of connection, a connection that indigenous creatures have as our flesh and features are mirrored within the geography, within the soil and our relatives, those who nourish us so that we'll go on, those who teach us so we'll understand, and those who remind us so that we won't forget our origin.
From Honor Song:
Awake. May the dream begin again from its dormant state as the great floodwaters have now parted. Rebirth is eminence, turbulence, inevitable. Part of the way of creation and perpetual balance, chaos and beauty. Awake now and carry the responsibilities of endlessness, messengers of timelessness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROJ0LHkl1Zs&NR=1
 | Good Shield Aguilar |
One of the best ways to take a step back, contemplate, reflect upon and remember who we really are is through music.
Good Shield Aguilar - Lakota-Yaqui Musician is a native singer-songwriter living in "Yurok Country" who says and does it very well, indeed. To see a video of his performance of the following two songs, click on the YouTube link below. Better yet, click on his name and visit his MySpace page.
From Origin Song:
I am sitting here in my place of connection, a connection that indigenous creatures have as our flesh and features are mirrored within the geography, within the soil and our relatives, those who nourish us so that we'll go on, those who teach us so we'll understand, and those who remind us so that we won't forget our origin.
From Honor Song:
Awake. May the dream begin again from its dormant state as the great floodwaters have now parted. Rebirth is eminence, turbulence, inevitable. Part of the way of creation and perpetual balance, chaos and beauty. Awake now and carry the responsibilities of endlessness, messengers of timelessness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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BP's Environmental Disaster: Fishermen Report Louisiana Bays Filled With Oil
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21653
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said a pollution investigator for the Coast Guard collected samples from the area, and while they had yet to be tested, said, "based on his observation and what he sees in the sample jars, he believes that to be an algal bloom."Fishermen who have traveled through and fished in the area over the weekend, however, refute these Coast Guard claims.
Webmaster's Commentary:
Governmental officials cannot continue to lie to the American people about this environmental disaster, and believe for one moment that the US public is buying any of it.This PR campaign is simply to enable Obama's administration the best political cover possible for one of his largest political contributors, BP.It is transparently obvious that there is absolutely zero concern for the health and welfare of the people living through this tragedy in the Gulf region, nor the safety of food harvested from the region.
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1 comment
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Oct 28 09:23
Reappearance of Huge Plumes of Oil is Making It Hard to Pretend that the Problem Has Disappeared
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/10/gulf-oil-spill-news-update.html
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
There is a flood of information coming out on the Gulf oil spill.
Why?
The reappearance of huge plumes of oil is making it hard to pretend that it has all gone away.
Here's a roundup of some of the Gulf oil headlines from just the last 4 days:
Oct 28 07:13
Environmental expert for the City of Gulf Breeze, Florida: “I would not recommend going into the water.”
http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/news/2010-10-28/Front_Page/Fort_McRae_oil_very_toxic_to_humans.html
By: Caldwell
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
http://globalresearch.ca/
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said a pollution investigator for the Coast Guard collected samples from the area, and while they had yet to be tested, said, "based on his observation and what he sees in the sample jars, he believes that to be an algal bloom."Fishermen who have traveled through and fished in the area over the weekend, however, refute these Coast Guard claims.
Webmaster's Commentary:
Governmental officials cannot continue to lie to the American people about this environmental disaster, and believe for one moment that the US public is buying any of it.This PR campaign is simply to enable Obama's administration the best political cover possible for one of his largest political contributors, BP.It is transparently obvious that there is absolutely zero concern for the health and welfare of the people living through this tragedy in the Gulf region, nor the safety of food harvested from the region.
»
1 comment
^
Oct 28 09:23
Reappearance of Huge Plumes of Oil is Making It Hard to Pretend that the Problem Has Disappeared
http://www.washingtonsblog.
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
There is a flood of information coming out on the Gulf oil spill.
Why?
The reappearance of huge plumes of oil is making it hard to pretend that it has all gone away.
Here's a roundup of some of the Gulf oil headlines from just the last 4 days:
Oct 28 07:13 Environmental expert for the City of Gulf Breeze, Florida: “I would not recommend going into the water.”
http://www.gulfbreezenews.com/
By: Caldwell
Tags:
GULF OIL DISASTER
Test results are in for oil material found in Pensacola Bay late last month, and the numbers are frightening.A lab experienced in testing petroleum products determined that the oil’s toxicity levels are sky-high.“In its natural state, the numbers are off the chart,” said Heather Reed, the environmental expert for the City of Gulf Breeze who made the discovery. “It’s extremely toxic to human health.”Lab workers had to dilute the sample 20 times just to get a reading. Reed said samples are usually diluted only once.
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"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
When evil people call you evil, you know that you are a good person.
When lairs call you a liar, you know that you are truthful.
Know who you are and don't let others tell you who you are." - Dave Kitchen
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