Good morning Andy, Helen and all survivors of the 3 day weekend.
Over the 231 years since the USA has been governed by the
Constitution, there have been never ending efforts to improve the
document to include and expand Liberties and Justice for all citizens.
The original Constitution was flawed in the sense that it protected
only White Males over the age of 21, who were Landholders or of
considerable wealth.
Improvements began immediately with the inclusion of the Bill of
Rights, and later the inclusion of non white citizens, and finally
even women were granted the right to vote, even though women and non
whites continue to struggle toward full equality.
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire
became the ninth and last necessary state to ratify the
Constitution
of the United States, thereby making the document the law of the land.
By 1786, defects in the post-Revolutionary War
Articles of Confederation
were apparent, such as the lack of central authority over foreign and
domestic commerce. Congress endorsed a plan to draft a new
constitution, and on
May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention convened at Independence
Hall in Philadelphia. On September 17, 1787, after three months of
debate moderated
by convention president George Washington, the new U.S. constitution,
which created a strong federal government with an intricate system of
checks and balances, was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at
the conclusion of the convention. As dictated by Article VII, the
document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the
13 states.
Beginning on December 7, five states—
Delaware,
Pennsylvania,
New Jersey,
Georgia,
and Connecticut—ratified it in quick succession. However, other
states, especially
Massachusetts,
opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to
the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political
rights, such as
freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a
compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states
would agree to ratify
the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately
proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in
Massachusetts, followed by
Maryland
and
South Carolina.
On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the
document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the
U.S. Constitution
would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the
Constitution, followed by
New York in July.
On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted
12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—the Bill of Rights—and sent
them to the states
for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In
November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S.
Constitution.
Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was
critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the
Constitution until the U.S. government
threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29,
1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the
last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today the
U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in
the world.
On 1/21/20, Helen Murphy via acb-chat <acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
> i will have to do my home work there is a senator lady senator who supports
> the ada
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 20, 2020 at 10:05 PM Andy Baracco via acb-chat <
> acb-chat@acblists.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> *From:* Edwin Cooney <edwincooney45@icloud.com>
>> *Sent:* Monday, January 20, 2020 1:18 PM
>> *Subject:* count down via pro-log
>>
>> Hello Everyone,
>>
>> This week I write about all of those "theys" out there who are so
>> corrupt,
>> inhuman, reckless, insensitive, and dumber than you, me and Uncle Dudley
>> regardless of political philosophy or ideology. We all have an Uncle
>> Dudley
>> who knocks fools on their fritters don't we? I know I do! The fact that
>> I've never met him doesn't mean he doesn't exist does it?
>>
>> Anyway, I invite you to read on, because now it's your turn!
>>
>> Warm Regards,
>>
>> Me, E.C.?
>>
>>
>>
>> MONDAY, JANUARY 20TH, 2020
>> COUNT DOWN VIA PROLOGUE
>>
>> Opening his second presidential nomination address at San Francisco in
>> late August of 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower told the following
>> story to the assembled delegates.
>>
>> Two new Republican office holders were riding in a Washington, D.C. taxi
>> early in 1953, when one of them glanced up at a building bearing a sign
>> that read: "What's past is prologue." "What does that mean?" one of them
>> asked the learned taxi driver. "Oh," said the cabbie, "that's just
>> bureaucrat talk. All that means is you ain't seen nothin' yet!"
>>
>> There are 8,760 hours as of today, remaining in President Donald Trump's
>> term, realistically assuming his likely acquittal of impeachment charges
>> in
>> the U.S. Senate. (I could offer the minutes and seconds as well, but,
>> that
>> would be absurdly absurd!) The question is: Who will use the time left
>> most
>> effectively, Trump or Trump's opponents!
>>
>> On the night of November 6th, 1984 that Ronald Reagan was re-elected,
>> referring to his upcoming term as compared to his nearly completed first
>> term, he said "What's past is prologue" right out loud - "You ain't seen
>> nothin' yet." However, rather than balanced budgets and lower taxes,
>> what
>> was next was Iran Contra, the 1986 tax increase, and a debt three times
>> Jimmy Carter's 1980 one trillion dollar record deficit!
>>
>> The key to America's socio/political and economic future is invariably
>> our
>> national attitude toward one another. Attitude governs outlook, which
>> together constitutes socio/political and economic results.
>>
>> In a critical commentary against Bernie Sanders last week, columnist
>> David
>> Brooks observed that Sanders and others live in an era of "theyism -
>> that's
>> T.H.E.Y.i.s.m." In other words, there are groups (outside the rest of us)
>> who are doing this or that to the national body politic. There's
>> president
>> Trump's theyism, which consists of all who disagree with, or oppose him.
>> There's Conservatism's theyisms consisting of gun grabbers, LGBTQ types,
>> pro-choice advocates, socialists, and of course secularists and climate
>> change suckers. Liberal's theyisms are: exploiting capitalists, racists,
>> anti-choice protestors, and sexists, as well as climate change deniers.
>> All
>> these "theys" are deliberately doing America socio/economic harm. Bernie
>> Sander's personal theyism, according to Mr. Brooks, is his ongoing charge
>> that capitalists are exploiting workers. Brooks says the flaw in
>> capitalism
>> is a lack of productivity rather than an abundance of greed inspired
>> exploitation. Brooks scolds Bernie Sanders for purposely exaggerating the
>> capitalist's genuine productivity dilemma. If we feed that which
>> produces,
>> employers and workers will all be profitably productive according to
>> David
>> Brooks. Thus, socialist exploitive theory constitutes Senator Sanders'
>> theyism!
>>
>> "Theyism" is apparently everywhere and crosses ideological lines. Just
>> the
>> other day I received two emails from a reader who doesn't think much of
>> my
>> "far left-wing BS" but at least this reader looks forward to it. In one
>> missive this reader sent he/she expressed utter contempt for Barack Obama
>> calling him scum, even though this reader voted for Obama in 2008.
>> Pointing
>> out that his/her family were once "Kennedy Democrats, but are no more."
>> this critic's theyism's are liberals like me who've "drunk the Kool-Aid
>> of
>> socialism instead of the tea of liberty." Finally, this reader expresses
>> regret for his/her past political choices. That's especially sad. I voted
>> for Nixon and would have voted for Goldwater at one point except that I
>> was
>> too young to vote for Barry. I don't regret past choices as they
>> constitute
>> what I understood and how I evaluated what I knew then. I highly
>> recommend
>> that this reader give him or herself credit for voting his/her conviction
>> in 2008 or in any other time. I look forward to hearing from this reader
>> again and again so that we might have a mutually enhancing dialog. All of
>> your responses to these musings make writing them worthwhile.
>>
>> What none of us knows, as the final months, days and hours of President
>> Trump's term begin passing by, is the effect his behavior will have on
>> how
>> people vote. As I see it, Donald Trump's conservatism is the least of his
>> offenses. His conservatism is enough to prevent my voting for him. The
>> question is whether Donald Trump really and truly is a conservative! I
>> know
>> some conservatives who've told me that they doubted Richard Nixon's
>> "conservatism" but for them his political instincts were sufficiently
>> superior to John Kennedy's, Lyndon Johnson's, Hubert Humphrey's or George
>> McGovern's liberalism to suit them. Ironically, there are apparently a
>> number of prominent 2020 conservatives who doubt President Trump's
>> conservative credentials!
>>
>> Change in times of tyranny or exploitation is what has kept this republic
>> afloat since 1776. Federalism replaced confederacy in 1788 with the
>> adoption of the federal Constitution leavened by the Bill of Rights in
>> 1791. Slavery was abolished by the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the
>> Constitution in the 1860s and '70s. The 16th amendment brought about the
>> progressive income tax replacing the government's reliance on tariffs.
>> The
>> 19th amendment gave women the right to vote. All of these changes
>> followed
>> eras of limited opportunity for Americans.
>>
>> If liberty-advancing change is the true prologue that dominates in 2020,
>> we'll be well served. If the era of "theyism" prevails, which once
>> represented 18th century confederacy, then the best days of our republic
>> may well be the new prologue which indicates regression into confederacy
>> and perhaps into a new era of medievalism.
>>
>> I don't know whose theyism is likely to prevail. What I am sure is that
>> tomorrow's nation and world will be different from yours and mine.
>>
>> Even more, that's the way it ought to be. History only informs, it never
>> dictates. Tomorrow belongs not to us, but to our children, who hopefully
>> will take the best of us and make a world suited to themselves, which
>> they
>> may regard as being better than our own. If they don't, perhaps their
>> children will out do even them!
>>
>> RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
>>
>> EDWIN COONEY
>> _______________________________________________
>> acb-chat mailing list
>> acb-chat@acblists.org
>> http://www.acblists.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-chat
>>
>
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Saturday, January 18, 2020
No winners here!
The American Empire's Media garbles World Events to a degree that
even the most astute can be confused or distracted. But whether he is
a good guy or a bad guy, President Nicolás Maduro is as much the
peoples choice as Hilary Clinton's aborted victory was the choice of
the majority of voters in the USA.
What we are witnessing is an all out power grab by a power hungry
cartel stretching around the planet. This is the beginning of a
massive power shift, not from the current Masters, but the passing of
control from National Governments, to the newly forming Mega
Corporations.
In my simplistic view, we have the Ruling Class and the rest of us. I
call us the Working Class for lack of a better term. But this Class
is far and away the majority of human beings. The Working Class
divides itself, both through misunderstanding of who it is and by the
encouragement by the Ruling Class.
We have been subjected to capitalism for such a long period of time
that we appear to be unable to think "outside of the box". The Ruling
Class moves among us, bribing some, threatening others and encouraging
dissension among various factions. It's a giant mind game, and the
Working Class are presently losing.
We, the Working Class, are fooled by the appearance that some of us
can rise to the level of Ruling Class membership. Few make the
transition. But many are rewarded by their Masters, giving the
appearance that they are "better" than the rest of us. In fact they
are in a far more precarious position than the rank and file. They
stand to lose their favored position in event of an uprising. So they
and their sons and daughters storm to the defense of their Masters.
They become the advance guard, the front line of defense for the
Ruling Class.
Anyway, so long as we lust after the material position and the
appearance of the better life afforded by it, we will continue to be
at the mercy of our Masters.
The only solution to our dilemma, other than extinction is the total
transformation from a Capitalistic base, to a pure form of Socialism.
Since we have proven that the two systems cannot live together, one or
the other must go.
Imagine such a world. Imagine it because I doubt we'll ever see it.
We have been too contaminated by the sly simpering of the Evil Serpent
urging Eve to bring the forbidden fruit to Adam.
We are about to be thrown out of our Garden of Eden, Planet Earth.
But none of us will remain to wander about in the Wilderness. Even
the Wilderness will be lost.
Ah, the sweet scent of that Forbidden Fruit, Wealth, Materialism,
money and the power and control it can buy...at the expense of,
Everything!
Carl Jarvis
even the most astute can be confused or distracted. But whether he is
a good guy or a bad guy, President Nicolás Maduro is as much the
peoples choice as Hilary Clinton's aborted victory was the choice of
the majority of voters in the USA.
What we are witnessing is an all out power grab by a power hungry
cartel stretching around the planet. This is the beginning of a
massive power shift, not from the current Masters, but the passing of
control from National Governments, to the newly forming Mega
Corporations.
In my simplistic view, we have the Ruling Class and the rest of us. I
call us the Working Class for lack of a better term. But this Class
is far and away the majority of human beings. The Working Class
divides itself, both through misunderstanding of who it is and by the
encouragement by the Ruling Class.
We have been subjected to capitalism for such a long period of time
that we appear to be unable to think "outside of the box". The Ruling
Class moves among us, bribing some, threatening others and encouraging
dissension among various factions. It's a giant mind game, and the
Working Class are presently losing.
We, the Working Class, are fooled by the appearance that some of us
can rise to the level of Ruling Class membership. Few make the
transition. But many are rewarded by their Masters, giving the
appearance that they are "better" than the rest of us. In fact they
are in a far more precarious position than the rank and file. They
stand to lose their favored position in event of an uprising. So they
and their sons and daughters storm to the defense of their Masters.
They become the advance guard, the front line of defense for the
Ruling Class.
Anyway, so long as we lust after the material position and the
appearance of the better life afforded by it, we will continue to be
at the mercy of our Masters.
The only solution to our dilemma, other than extinction is the total
transformation from a Capitalistic base, to a pure form of Socialism.
Since we have proven that the two systems cannot live together, one or
the other must go.
Imagine such a world. Imagine it because I doubt we'll ever see it.
We have been too contaminated by the sly simpering of the Evil Serpent
urging Eve to bring the forbidden fruit to Adam.
We are about to be thrown out of our Garden of Eden, Planet Earth.
But none of us will remain to wander about in the Wilderness. Even
the Wilderness will be lost.
Ah, the sweet scent of that Forbidden Fruit, Wealth, Materialism,
money and the power and control it can buy...at the expense of,
Everything!
Carl Jarvis
Friday, January 17, 2020
Re: [blind-democracy] Anatomy of Bernie Sanders’ socialism
The American Corporate Empire(ACE), a two headed monster.
Democrats cry out, "Return the Democratic Party to the People", while
the Republican Party answers, "Return America to her former
Greatness".
Both of these lies are promoted with the goal of preserving Capitalism.
As long as capitalism continues to be the foundation upon which this
nation is built, the Working Class will continue to be screwed.
Period. Even the Great Reform, the New Deal of FDR's failed in the
long run because it attempted to protect capitalism. But capitalism,
especially Corporate capitalism, is political cancer, devouring all it
touches, smothering all other forms of political life.
When you allow a System to live, knowing that it's existence depends
upon the exploitation of others, and knowing that it depends upon
expansion and conquest of all other people and nations, then you are
simply taking your seat on the Ship of Fools.
Perhaps a day will come when common folk realize that they must
replace corporations and the Capitalist System with Co-ops and full
participation by all the people in the task of managing our nation's
well being.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/15/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2020/01/14/anatomy-of-bernie-sanders-socialism/
> Anatomy of Bernie Sanders' socialism
> Socialist Action
> /
> 24 hours ago
>
> By NICK BAKER
>
> A 2019 Pew Research Center poll of Americans' political views found that
> 42 percent support socialism, up from 31 percent found by Pew in 2010.
> Fully half
> of youth under 30 indicated their "positive or very positive impression"
> of socialism. The biggest change that the new poll registered was among
> those
> 30–49 years old, where 47 percent supported socialism today – up from 37
> percent in 2010. Reporting the new figures with a bit of obfuscation in
> mind,
> the Washington Post headline read "New Poll: Capitalism More Popular
> than Socialism." No doubt the Post editors, not to mention the corporate
> elite, were
> a bit concerned!
>
> Over the past decade we have seen the effects of modern capitalism
> operating with full force, including its inability to provide decent,
> stable jobs, the
> crushing debt it imposes on students and the broader population, lack of
> health care, apocalyptic threat of climate change-induced destruction of
> the planet
> and endless imperialist wars. Fully aware that sending already
> radicalizing American youth to fight in unpopular wars around the world,
> the U.S. warmakers
> increasingly resort to "quiet" wars, to drone wars, secret CIA wars,
> privatized/mercenary army wars, proxy army wars, as well as sanction and
> trade embargo
> wars. These are accompanied by record levels of corporate profit at the
> expense of workers everywhere.
>
> It's no surprise that socialism is gaining in popularity in the face of
> this blatant expression of capitalism's inherent evils. But what exactly
> does "socialism"
> mean to people who are now turning their eyes to it? They often aren't
> sure exactly what socialism is, and the ruling class would like to keep
> it that
> way. Last month, Pew published a follow-up report about the reasons
> given by the 42 percent who said they support socialism. The most
> popular reasons:
> 31 percent said socialism creates a fairer, more just society while 20
> percent said that it "builds on and improves capitalism," with some
> indicating their
> belief that the U.S. already had "some socialism" in the form of social
> welfare programs. Others pointed to European "socialist" countries.
>
> This kind of support for socialism, mixed with uncertainty about what
> exactly socialism is beyond better and broader social programs, will no
> doubt be
> exploited by the Democrats and Republicans, the two main parties of
> capitalism, in the 2020 presidential campaign. Democrats like Bernie
> Sanders and Elizabeth
> Warren have already gotten the message. At a time when socialist ideas
> are gaining prominence, the Democratic Party, the historic "graveyard of
> social
> movements," will once again aim to round up the disillusioned and
> disaffected with pledges of fealty to justice and fair play. While never
> neglecting to
> assert that their personal candidacy is the only surefire alternative to
> their incomparably evil Republican opponent, the corporate admission
> price exacted
> from all players in this "lesser evil" charade is an unconditional
> pledge in advance to support whichever Democrat emerges on top of the
> heap at the end
> of the primary process. Returning or delivering the disillusioned back
> into the fold of capitalist politics—a dead end for the working class
> that promises
> nothing but continued suffering—is the prime objective of the $8-9
> billion election time operation underway today.
>
> After the unexpected 2016 election defeat of Hillary Clinton, the
> Democrats have the Bernie Sanders campaign once again taking the
> temperature of the masses
> while providing an outlet to express their frustrations with the
> Democratic Party and the Obama administration for presiding over the
> jailing and torture
> of immigrants, the ongoing Afghanistan war of 18 years and the suffering
> during the Great Recession where the bankers, insurance companies and
> major corporation
> were bailed out to the tune of $32 trillion while mortgage foreclosures
> reached modern time highs. Former Republican and corporate attorney
> Elizabeth Warren
> has joined the field being posed as a progressive technocrat, while Joe
> Biden and Pete Buttigieg are assigned the role of safe centrist stalking
> horses.
>
> The Sanders campaign has a clear message: the barrier to "socialism" is
> the "Democratic Party establishment," not the capitalist class. Working
> people
> can "take back" the Democratic Party, according to Sanders – as if it
> were ever ours – and make it a vehicle for socialism that fights for
> the interests
> of the working class!
>
> But this can never be. The Democratic Party is the institutional
> expression of a wing of the capitalist class, and is inherently opposed
> to the interests
> of working people. Its only "base" is that section of the capitalist
> class whose method for disciplining and controlling the workers is, at
> this time,
> to tell them that their concerns are valid and need to be addressed, all
> the while ensuring that these concerns are channeled away from
> independent mass
> protests in the streets and away from the formation of independent
> working class-controlled organizations and parties.
>
> Sanders' campaign proposals
>
> Bernie Sanders' supporters write articles with socialist-sounding titles
> like "Bernie Wants You to Own More of the Means of Production." Real
> workers'
> direct ownership and control of the means of production is at the core
> of revolutionary socialism—that is, Marxism. Its achievement requires
> the abolition
> of the capitalist system of private ownership and its associated
> exploitation of workers to ensure capitalist profit. Headlines like
> Sanders' supporters
> employ are no accident. Offered as an "electoral road to socialism" and
> perhaps as a Marxist-oriented government, like his "political
> revolution," they
> are aimed directly at people interested in socialism. But when it comes
> to "owning more of the means of production," what does Sanders mean?
>
> That headline referred to what Sanders calls his "Corporate
> Accountability and Democracy" plan, which he says will shift society's
> wealth "back into the
> hands of the workers who create it." In this plan, companies that record
> more than $100 million in revenue a year or are publicly traded would
> gradually
> transfer 20 percent of their stock into a trust held for the workers
> that pays dividends and provides voting rights at shareholder meetings.
> According
> to Sanders' campaign estimate, this would provide an average dividend to
> all workers of $5000 per year. Not nothing for workers whose wages have
> been declining
> for decades, but a far cry from owning the means of production.
>
> In the same plan, Sanders promotes limiting executive pay to merely 150
> times that of the average worker. CEO's currently make 278 times what
> the average
> worker earns, so 150 is certainly less—but it's also a far cry from
> socialism. In 1965, CEOs made 20 times the average worker's salary!
> Sanders' figure
> of 150 times would be a return to mid-1990's levels of CEO pay. In other
> words, the workers create the wealth and the CEOs should benefit 150
> times more—only
> a modest amount.
>
> The way Sanders proposes to promote this policy is telling as well – by
> penalizing companies that pay executives above that level by disfavoring
> them in
> the provisioning of federal contracts. That is, he poses his plan as a
> market-based reform, to be contested in the arena of the market, where
> the capitalist
> reigns supreme.
>
> This isn't socialism. It's a light reform of the most obnoxious excesses
> of modern capitalism in the past few decades, totally acceptable to the
> boss class
> and especially so when it allows for the pretense of restricting them
> without disturbing in any way their right to lord over the workers.
>
> Sanders' plan for the military
>
> Sanders, who voted for the largest military budgets in history during
> the Obama administration, today says he will ask Congress to "take a
> hard look at
> the military budget" and "try to pare it down." He frequently says that
> the U.S. should not spend more on its military than the next 10
> countries combined
> but declines to say anything more concrete about the military budget.
> These days asserting that the U.S. military budget should be cut at all
> sounds radical
> – but only because the preposterous profit-fueling growth of military
> spending has reached such incredible levels.
>
> U.S. military spending has grown over 75 percent in the last 20 years –
> nearly doubling. And indeed it is more than the next ten countries
> combined. Including
> the hundreds of billions each year in the secret "black budget" and the
> CIA's largely secret expenditures, total annual U.S. military
> expenditures exceed
> $1 trillion. After a 20 percent cut, the U.S. would spend more on the
> military than the next seven countries combined. Even after a 50 percent
> cut the
> figure would be far more than any other country in the world—and would
> only be slightly less than the war budgets of the Clinton administration.
>
> No self-respecting Democrat would ever propose any kind of substantial
> cut to the most profitable business on the planet Earth. Anyone who even
> thought
> such a thing would be laughed out of the Democratic Party. Here again,
> Sanders only proposes to mildly pare back the absurdities of the last
> couple decades,
> to put American imperialist capitalism on a stronger footing by making
> it appear able to fix itself—without any fix involved.
>
> Green New Deal
>
> Not even under his Green New Deal plan does Sanders say anything about
> cutting the military, even though the U.S. military is the world's
> largest polluter.
> Any plan that does not begin with eliminating the world's largest
> polluter is a farce. Sanders talks a lot about "taking on" the fossil
> fuel companies.
> His Green New Deal plan says repeatedly that he will "end the fossil
> fuel industry's greed." How does he plan to do it? By nationalizing the
> energy industry
> and removing the profit motive? Of course not. The main thrust of
> Sanders' plan is the introduction of strong regulations and market-based
> reforms that
> will supposedly force the fossil fuel industry to convert itself to
> green energy.
>
> But the real con in Sanders' rhetoric is the idea that the Democratic
> Party, a party of the ruling class capitalist elites, has any interest
> in ending
> the use of fossil fuels. There are 1.73 trillion barrels of proven oil
> reserves in the world today, and capitalism is incapable of doing
> anything but using
> its already existing rigs and drills to get it out of the ground and
> turn it into profit.
>
> The U.S. is the world's largest oil producer (17.94 million barrels per
> day, 18 percent of the world's total production) and largest oil
> consumer (19.69
> million barrels per day, 20 percent of total consumption—more than the
> next two, China and India, combined). The U.S. is the world's largest
> natural gas
> producer and also has the largest oil refining capacity of any country.
> All of these facts led the head of the International Energy Agency in
> 2018 to project
> that the U.S. will be the "undisputed global gas and oil leader" for
> decades. Readers will forgive our irony in noting that this top official
> declined
> to add that a Sanders election victory in 2020 would render his
> estimates inaccurate. In truth, Sanders' much touted Green New Deal
> pledge to allocate
> $16.3 trillion over the course of ten years to save the U.S., not to
> mention the earth itself, from climate Armageddon, is sheer bluster and
> bluff, unless,
> of course, he contemplates the abolition of capitalism itself, a
> proposition as absurd as the rest of his "socialist" hoopla.
>
> Much of U.S. warfare and trade policy is dedicated to securing control
> of oil in the countries with the largest proven reserves, such as
> Venezuela, Iraq,
> Iran, and Libya. Both Democrats and Republicans have dutifully refused
> to commit to any binding climate goals that might present even the
> smallest threat
> to the mega-profits of the fossil-fuel companies. The Obama
> administration ensured that the Paris Climate Agreement was non-binding
> and therefore meaningless,
> while overseeing the largest growth of fracking in U.S. history, making
> the U.S. the world's greatest fracker. Since the Paris Climate Accords
> in 2015,
> 30 major banks have invested $1.9 trillion in fossil fuel companies,
> knowing that their investment was more than safe.
>
> Working-class politics: the only way
>
> Millions of people in the United States are recognizing that capitalism
> is at the heart of the problems that they face every day and see around
> the world.
> They believe that socialism would make things better, but they aren't
> exactly sure what makes socialism different from capitalism. Some think
> of it as
> just a nicer form of capitalism.
>
> The purpose of the Sanders campaign is to bring the confused and
> disaffected back into the embrace of the Democratic Party. Sanders is no
> socialist. He's
> for keeping the ruling class in power through the Democratic Party and
> maintaining the means of production safely in the hands of the
> capitalists – while
> fostering illusions of real change to make the workers feel a little
> better about the whole thing in the hopes that they won't cause any
> trouble.
>
> In sharp contrast to Bernie Sanders and the whole range of today's
> posturing Democratic Party contenders, the goals of socialists and the
> means to achieve
> them are fundamentally at odds with the rapacious capitalist system
> itself – a system of war, racism, sexism, LGBTQI discrimination,
> environmental destruction,
> and the ceaseless exploitation of human beings for the profit of the few.
>
> That is why socialists fight for working-class opposition to and
> independence from all the institutional forms of ruling class rule,
> beginning with their
> twin parties. The only way forward to a just society – a truly socialist
> society – is to win ownership and control of society's wealth by the
> revolutionary
> action of the working class itself. The prerequisite to achieving this
> is the construction of a mass revolutionary socialist party fully
> inclusive of the
> best fighters who have won the respect and confidence of the vast
> working-class majority.
>
> If working people who consider themselves socialists are convinced to
> support Sanders based on the words he utters rather than the class
> interests of the
> party he represents, they will inevitably be disappointed with the end
> result – yet another capitalist politician in power regardless of party,
> personality,
> and populist-sounding rhetoric. On the other hand, if the present broad
> interest in socialist ideas finds expression in serious fighters for a
> better world,
> they will in time find their way to Socialist Action. Join us!
>
> Share:
> list of 3 items
>
> Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
>
> Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
>
> Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
> list end
> January 14, 2020
> in
> Uncategorized.
> article end
>
> Related posts
> article
> 05/may-2016-sanders
>
> Sanders, socialism and the U.S. left in crisis
> article end
> article
> 06/june-2016-grumpy-bernie
>
> Bernie Sanders' demise: What are the lessons?
> article end
> article
> dreamers-of-the-world-unite
>
> Dreamers of the world, unite!
> article end
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> --
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> ___
>
> Sam Harris
> " I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its
> people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs. "
> ― Sam Harris,
>
>
>
Democrats cry out, "Return the Democratic Party to the People", while
the Republican Party answers, "Return America to her former
Greatness".
Both of these lies are promoted with the goal of preserving Capitalism.
As long as capitalism continues to be the foundation upon which this
nation is built, the Working Class will continue to be screwed.
Period. Even the Great Reform, the New Deal of FDR's failed in the
long run because it attempted to protect capitalism. But capitalism,
especially Corporate capitalism, is political cancer, devouring all it
touches, smothering all other forms of political life.
When you allow a System to live, knowing that it's existence depends
upon the exploitation of others, and knowing that it depends upon
expansion and conquest of all other people and nations, then you are
simply taking your seat on the Ship of Fools.
Perhaps a day will come when common folk realize that they must
replace corporations and the Capitalist System with Co-ops and full
participation by all the people in the task of managing our nation's
well being.
Carl Jarvis
On 1/15/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2020/01/14/anatomy-of-bernie-sanders-socialism/
> Anatomy of Bernie Sanders' socialism
> Socialist Action
> /
> 24 hours ago
>
> By NICK BAKER
>
> A 2019 Pew Research Center poll of Americans' political views found that
> 42 percent support socialism, up from 31 percent found by Pew in 2010.
> Fully half
> of youth under 30 indicated their "positive or very positive impression"
> of socialism. The biggest change that the new poll registered was among
> those
> 30–49 years old, where 47 percent supported socialism today – up from 37
> percent in 2010. Reporting the new figures with a bit of obfuscation in
> mind,
> the Washington Post headline read "New Poll: Capitalism More Popular
> than Socialism." No doubt the Post editors, not to mention the corporate
> elite, were
> a bit concerned!
>
> Over the past decade we have seen the effects of modern capitalism
> operating with full force, including its inability to provide decent,
> stable jobs, the
> crushing debt it imposes on students and the broader population, lack of
> health care, apocalyptic threat of climate change-induced destruction of
> the planet
> and endless imperialist wars. Fully aware that sending already
> radicalizing American youth to fight in unpopular wars around the world,
> the U.S. warmakers
> increasingly resort to "quiet" wars, to drone wars, secret CIA wars,
> privatized/mercenary army wars, proxy army wars, as well as sanction and
> trade embargo
> wars. These are accompanied by record levels of corporate profit at the
> expense of workers everywhere.
>
> It's no surprise that socialism is gaining in popularity in the face of
> this blatant expression of capitalism's inherent evils. But what exactly
> does "socialism"
> mean to people who are now turning their eyes to it? They often aren't
> sure exactly what socialism is, and the ruling class would like to keep
> it that
> way. Last month, Pew published a follow-up report about the reasons
> given by the 42 percent who said they support socialism. The most
> popular reasons:
> 31 percent said socialism creates a fairer, more just society while 20
> percent said that it "builds on and improves capitalism," with some
> indicating their
> belief that the U.S. already had "some socialism" in the form of social
> welfare programs. Others pointed to European "socialist" countries.
>
> This kind of support for socialism, mixed with uncertainty about what
> exactly socialism is beyond better and broader social programs, will no
> doubt be
> exploited by the Democrats and Republicans, the two main parties of
> capitalism, in the 2020 presidential campaign. Democrats like Bernie
> Sanders and Elizabeth
> Warren have already gotten the message. At a time when socialist ideas
> are gaining prominence, the Democratic Party, the historic "graveyard of
> social
> movements," will once again aim to round up the disillusioned and
> disaffected with pledges of fealty to justice and fair play. While never
> neglecting to
> assert that their personal candidacy is the only surefire alternative to
> their incomparably evil Republican opponent, the corporate admission
> price exacted
> from all players in this "lesser evil" charade is an unconditional
> pledge in advance to support whichever Democrat emerges on top of the
> heap at the end
> of the primary process. Returning or delivering the disillusioned back
> into the fold of capitalist politics—a dead end for the working class
> that promises
> nothing but continued suffering—is the prime objective of the $8-9
> billion election time operation underway today.
>
> After the unexpected 2016 election defeat of Hillary Clinton, the
> Democrats have the Bernie Sanders campaign once again taking the
> temperature of the masses
> while providing an outlet to express their frustrations with the
> Democratic Party and the Obama administration for presiding over the
> jailing and torture
> of immigrants, the ongoing Afghanistan war of 18 years and the suffering
> during the Great Recession where the bankers, insurance companies and
> major corporation
> were bailed out to the tune of $32 trillion while mortgage foreclosures
> reached modern time highs. Former Republican and corporate attorney
> Elizabeth Warren
> has joined the field being posed as a progressive technocrat, while Joe
> Biden and Pete Buttigieg are assigned the role of safe centrist stalking
> horses.
>
> The Sanders campaign has a clear message: the barrier to "socialism" is
> the "Democratic Party establishment," not the capitalist class. Working
> people
> can "take back" the Democratic Party, according to Sanders – as if it
> were ever ours – and make it a vehicle for socialism that fights for
> the interests
> of the working class!
>
> But this can never be. The Democratic Party is the institutional
> expression of a wing of the capitalist class, and is inherently opposed
> to the interests
> of working people. Its only "base" is that section of the capitalist
> class whose method for disciplining and controlling the workers is, at
> this time,
> to tell them that their concerns are valid and need to be addressed, all
> the while ensuring that these concerns are channeled away from
> independent mass
> protests in the streets and away from the formation of independent
> working class-controlled organizations and parties.
>
> Sanders' campaign proposals
>
> Bernie Sanders' supporters write articles with socialist-sounding titles
> like "Bernie Wants You to Own More of the Means of Production." Real
> workers'
> direct ownership and control of the means of production is at the core
> of revolutionary socialism—that is, Marxism. Its achievement requires
> the abolition
> of the capitalist system of private ownership and its associated
> exploitation of workers to ensure capitalist profit. Headlines like
> Sanders' supporters
> employ are no accident. Offered as an "electoral road to socialism" and
> perhaps as a Marxist-oriented government, like his "political
> revolution," they
> are aimed directly at people interested in socialism. But when it comes
> to "owning more of the means of production," what does Sanders mean?
>
> That headline referred to what Sanders calls his "Corporate
> Accountability and Democracy" plan, which he says will shift society's
> wealth "back into the
> hands of the workers who create it." In this plan, companies that record
> more than $100 million in revenue a year or are publicly traded would
> gradually
> transfer 20 percent of their stock into a trust held for the workers
> that pays dividends and provides voting rights at shareholder meetings.
> According
> to Sanders' campaign estimate, this would provide an average dividend to
> all workers of $5000 per year. Not nothing for workers whose wages have
> been declining
> for decades, but a far cry from owning the means of production.
>
> In the same plan, Sanders promotes limiting executive pay to merely 150
> times that of the average worker. CEO's currently make 278 times what
> the average
> worker earns, so 150 is certainly less—but it's also a far cry from
> socialism. In 1965, CEOs made 20 times the average worker's salary!
> Sanders' figure
> of 150 times would be a return to mid-1990's levels of CEO pay. In other
> words, the workers create the wealth and the CEOs should benefit 150
> times more—only
> a modest amount.
>
> The way Sanders proposes to promote this policy is telling as well – by
> penalizing companies that pay executives above that level by disfavoring
> them in
> the provisioning of federal contracts. That is, he poses his plan as a
> market-based reform, to be contested in the arena of the market, where
> the capitalist
> reigns supreme.
>
> This isn't socialism. It's a light reform of the most obnoxious excesses
> of modern capitalism in the past few decades, totally acceptable to the
> boss class
> and especially so when it allows for the pretense of restricting them
> without disturbing in any way their right to lord over the workers.
>
> Sanders' plan for the military
>
> Sanders, who voted for the largest military budgets in history during
> the Obama administration, today says he will ask Congress to "take a
> hard look at
> the military budget" and "try to pare it down." He frequently says that
> the U.S. should not spend more on its military than the next 10
> countries combined
> but declines to say anything more concrete about the military budget.
> These days asserting that the U.S. military budget should be cut at all
> sounds radical
> – but only because the preposterous profit-fueling growth of military
> spending has reached such incredible levels.
>
> U.S. military spending has grown over 75 percent in the last 20 years –
> nearly doubling. And indeed it is more than the next ten countries
> combined. Including
> the hundreds of billions each year in the secret "black budget" and the
> CIA's largely secret expenditures, total annual U.S. military
> expenditures exceed
> $1 trillion. After a 20 percent cut, the U.S. would spend more on the
> military than the next seven countries combined. Even after a 50 percent
> cut the
> figure would be far more than any other country in the world—and would
> only be slightly less than the war budgets of the Clinton administration.
>
> No self-respecting Democrat would ever propose any kind of substantial
> cut to the most profitable business on the planet Earth. Anyone who even
> thought
> such a thing would be laughed out of the Democratic Party. Here again,
> Sanders only proposes to mildly pare back the absurdities of the last
> couple decades,
> to put American imperialist capitalism on a stronger footing by making
> it appear able to fix itself—without any fix involved.
>
> Green New Deal
>
> Not even under his Green New Deal plan does Sanders say anything about
> cutting the military, even though the U.S. military is the world's
> largest polluter.
> Any plan that does not begin with eliminating the world's largest
> polluter is a farce. Sanders talks a lot about "taking on" the fossil
> fuel companies.
> His Green New Deal plan says repeatedly that he will "end the fossil
> fuel industry's greed." How does he plan to do it? By nationalizing the
> energy industry
> and removing the profit motive? Of course not. The main thrust of
> Sanders' plan is the introduction of strong regulations and market-based
> reforms that
> will supposedly force the fossil fuel industry to convert itself to
> green energy.
>
> But the real con in Sanders' rhetoric is the idea that the Democratic
> Party, a party of the ruling class capitalist elites, has any interest
> in ending
> the use of fossil fuels. There are 1.73 trillion barrels of proven oil
> reserves in the world today, and capitalism is incapable of doing
> anything but using
> its already existing rigs and drills to get it out of the ground and
> turn it into profit.
>
> The U.S. is the world's largest oil producer (17.94 million barrels per
> day, 18 percent of the world's total production) and largest oil
> consumer (19.69
> million barrels per day, 20 percent of total consumption—more than the
> next two, China and India, combined). The U.S. is the world's largest
> natural gas
> producer and also has the largest oil refining capacity of any country.
> All of these facts led the head of the International Energy Agency in
> 2018 to project
> that the U.S. will be the "undisputed global gas and oil leader" for
> decades. Readers will forgive our irony in noting that this top official
> declined
> to add that a Sanders election victory in 2020 would render his
> estimates inaccurate. In truth, Sanders' much touted Green New Deal
> pledge to allocate
> $16.3 trillion over the course of ten years to save the U.S., not to
> mention the earth itself, from climate Armageddon, is sheer bluster and
> bluff, unless,
> of course, he contemplates the abolition of capitalism itself, a
> proposition as absurd as the rest of his "socialist" hoopla.
>
> Much of U.S. warfare and trade policy is dedicated to securing control
> of oil in the countries with the largest proven reserves, such as
> Venezuela, Iraq,
> Iran, and Libya. Both Democrats and Republicans have dutifully refused
> to commit to any binding climate goals that might present even the
> smallest threat
> to the mega-profits of the fossil-fuel companies. The Obama
> administration ensured that the Paris Climate Agreement was non-binding
> and therefore meaningless,
> while overseeing the largest growth of fracking in U.S. history, making
> the U.S. the world's greatest fracker. Since the Paris Climate Accords
> in 2015,
> 30 major banks have invested $1.9 trillion in fossil fuel companies,
> knowing that their investment was more than safe.
>
> Working-class politics: the only way
>
> Millions of people in the United States are recognizing that capitalism
> is at the heart of the problems that they face every day and see around
> the world.
> They believe that socialism would make things better, but they aren't
> exactly sure what makes socialism different from capitalism. Some think
> of it as
> just a nicer form of capitalism.
>
> The purpose of the Sanders campaign is to bring the confused and
> disaffected back into the embrace of the Democratic Party. Sanders is no
> socialist. He's
> for keeping the ruling class in power through the Democratic Party and
> maintaining the means of production safely in the hands of the
> capitalists – while
> fostering illusions of real change to make the workers feel a little
> better about the whole thing in the hopes that they won't cause any
> trouble.
>
> In sharp contrast to Bernie Sanders and the whole range of today's
> posturing Democratic Party contenders, the goals of socialists and the
> means to achieve
> them are fundamentally at odds with the rapacious capitalist system
> itself – a system of war, racism, sexism, LGBTQI discrimination,
> environmental destruction,
> and the ceaseless exploitation of human beings for the profit of the few.
>
> That is why socialists fight for working-class opposition to and
> independence from all the institutional forms of ruling class rule,
> beginning with their
> twin parties. The only way forward to a just society – a truly socialist
> society – is to win ownership and control of society's wealth by the
> revolutionary
> action of the working class itself. The prerequisite to achieving this
> is the construction of a mass revolutionary socialist party fully
> inclusive of the
> best fighters who have won the respect and confidence of the vast
> working-class majority.
>
> If working people who consider themselves socialists are convinced to
> support Sanders based on the words he utters rather than the class
> interests of the
> party he represents, they will inevitably be disappointed with the end
> result – yet another capitalist politician in power regardless of party,
> personality,
> and populist-sounding rhetoric. On the other hand, if the present broad
> interest in socialist ideas finds expression in serious fighters for a
> better world,
> they will in time find their way to Socialist Action. Join us!
>
> Share:
> list of 3 items
>
> Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
>
> Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
>
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> list end
> January 14, 2020
> in
> Uncategorized.
> article end
>
> Related posts
> article
> 05/may-2016-sanders
>
> Sanders, socialism and the U.S. left in crisis
> article end
> article
> 06/june-2016-grumpy-bernie
>
> Bernie Sanders' demise: What are the lessons?
> article end
> article
> dreamers-of-the-world-unite
>
> Dreamers of the world, unite!
> article end
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>
> --
>
> ___
>
> Sam Harris
> " I know of no society in human history that ever suffered because its
> people became too desirous of evidence in support of their core beliefs. "
> ― Sam Harris,
>
>
>
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
Re: [blind-democracy] “Bullshit!” at Madrid COP25 climate conference
The Subject Heading says it all.
Trouble is, the day is coming when Bullshit will be as scarce as Hen's Teeth.
But the last few lines of the article say it all.
Carl Jarvis
"the future success of any serious fight against global warming must
in time take on an independent working class character directly in
opposition to the
capitalist system and all its advocates. The critical demand, "System
Change Not Climate Change!" must find expression among the only forces
in society
capable of challenging capitalism's march to doomsday. Corporate
funded NGO's, usually beholden to their sponsors, are simply incapable
of exercising the
class power required to win this historic battle."
On 1/1/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2019/12/29/bullshit-at-madrid-cop25-climate-conference/
> "Bullshit!" at Madrid COP25 climate conference
> Socialist Action
> /
> 3 days ago
>
> By JEFF MACKLER
> Socialist Action's 2020 candidate for the U.S. presidency
>
> Some 500,000 climate activists mobilized in Madrid by a broad array of
> NGO's around the world demanded that the United Nations-sponsored COP 25
> (Conference
> of Parties) agree on a series of critical measures to halt the world's
> march to planet catastrophe. After eleven days of "negotiations" ending
> on December
> 15 the result was zero. No significant agreements on any issue emerged
> from this 25th annual UN climate conference where representatives from
> 200 capitalist
> countries and fossil fuel energy lobbyists from the world's leading
> polluters once again ensured that whatever "accords" were reached were
> worthless in
> terms of preventing the near-term projected deadly increase of 1.5 – 2.0
> degrees celsius in the earth's temperature. The December 16 New York
> Times front-page
> headline bluntly read, "Climate Talks End With U.S. Ceding Nothing." Lip
> service verbiage aside, not a single one of the world's leading powers
> could agree
> on any concrete measures to fundamentally reign in their dependence on
> fossil fuels and the monopoly super profits derived from their continued
> and expanded
> use.
>
> The COP25 demand from representatives of the poorest nations on earth,
> including those threatened with inundation from sea water and massive
> ocean pollution,
> for compensation and aid was similarly met with contempt, if not counter
> demands for guarantees that the world's greatest polluters could not be
> held liable
> in future law suits!
>
> "Bullshit!" was the term applied in 2015 to the non-binding COP21 Paris
> Accords by leading climate theoretician James Hansen, former head of
> NASA's Goddard
> Institute for Space Studies and more recently head of Columbia
> University's Earth Institute Program on Climate Science, Awareness and
> Solutions. The same
> Bullshit! definition was applied by leading climate experts around the
> world regarding the final proclamation drafted at COP25. Indeed, some
> 300 participant
> activists entered the Madrid conference hall and demonstratively
> deposited sacks of manure to illustrate their contempt for the proceedings.
>
> What most disturbed these climate activists was the near total
> indifference of the world's great economic powers. The Trump
> administration's decision to
> withdraw entirely later next year from the UN COP process was matched in
> contempt for the earth's future by a loophole-filled proclamation of the
> European
> Union. China and Russia too joined those who opposed any serious
> restrictions on the world's dependence on fossil fuel. Trump's
> representatives attended
> with the sole objective of insuring that no limits were placed on U.S.
> corporations' optimizing profits. The present U.S. election cycle circus
> notwithstanding,
> the Democrats' opposition to any serious challenge to the corporate
> polluters and to the associated and never-ending U.S. oil wars matched
> Trump's policies
> to a T.
>
> The leading spokespersons from the NGO's could only denounce the COP25
> results while expressing hope for the future election of more climate
> friendly officials
> and governments that they might influence at next year's Glasgow COP26
> conference.
>
> Greta Thunberg
>
> Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg's stinging indictment of
> the world's politicians and all governments' deadly blindness to the
> consequences
> of ignoring an impending climate Armageddon and her leading role in
> rousing some 7.6 million worldwide in the recent worldwide Student
> Climate Strike notwithstanding,
> the future success of any serious fight against global warming must in
> time take on an independent working class character directly in
> opposition to the
> capitalist system and all its advocates. The critical demand, "System
> Change Not Climate Change!" must find expression among the only forces
> in society
> capable of challenging capitalism's march to doomsday. Corporate funded
> NGO's, usually beholden to their sponsors, are simply incapable of
> exercising the
> class power required to win this historic battle.
>
> Share:
> list of 3 items
>
> Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
>
> Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
>
> Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
> list end
> December 29, 2019
> in Uncategorized.
> article end
>
> Related posts
> article
> 11/nov-2017-germany-coal
>
> Bonn talks underway; scientists see grim future for climate
> article end
> article
> 10/oct.-2019-climate-johannesburg-cnn
>
> Millions say: Change the system, not the climate!
> article end
> article
> climate-movement-across-movements
>
> Climate movement across movements
> article end
> navigation region
> Post navigation
> ← British Election: A Victory for the Far Right. A Crisis for the Left
> Workers Shut Down France to Defend Pensions! →
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>
> --
>
> ___
> Carl Sagan
> "Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open
> mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
> everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind
> the fallibility of all the human beings involved?"
> ― Carl Sagan
>
>
>
>
Trouble is, the day is coming when Bullshit will be as scarce as Hen's Teeth.
But the last few lines of the article say it all.
Carl Jarvis
"the future success of any serious fight against global warming must
in time take on an independent working class character directly in
opposition to the
capitalist system and all its advocates. The critical demand, "System
Change Not Climate Change!" must find expression among the only forces
in society
capable of challenging capitalism's march to doomsday. Corporate
funded NGO's, usually beholden to their sponsors, are simply incapable
of exercising the
class power required to win this historic battle."
On 1/1/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2019/12/29/bullshit-at-madrid-cop25-climate-conference/
> "Bullshit!" at Madrid COP25 climate conference
> Socialist Action
> /
> 3 days ago
>
> By JEFF MACKLER
> Socialist Action's 2020 candidate for the U.S. presidency
>
> Some 500,000 climate activists mobilized in Madrid by a broad array of
> NGO's around the world demanded that the United Nations-sponsored COP 25
> (Conference
> of Parties) agree on a series of critical measures to halt the world's
> march to planet catastrophe. After eleven days of "negotiations" ending
> on December
> 15 the result was zero. No significant agreements on any issue emerged
> from this 25th annual UN climate conference where representatives from
> 200 capitalist
> countries and fossil fuel energy lobbyists from the world's leading
> polluters once again ensured that whatever "accords" were reached were
> worthless in
> terms of preventing the near-term projected deadly increase of 1.5 – 2.0
> degrees celsius in the earth's temperature. The December 16 New York
> Times front-page
> headline bluntly read, "Climate Talks End With U.S. Ceding Nothing." Lip
> service verbiage aside, not a single one of the world's leading powers
> could agree
> on any concrete measures to fundamentally reign in their dependence on
> fossil fuels and the monopoly super profits derived from their continued
> and expanded
> use.
>
> The COP25 demand from representatives of the poorest nations on earth,
> including those threatened with inundation from sea water and massive
> ocean pollution,
> for compensation and aid was similarly met with contempt, if not counter
> demands for guarantees that the world's greatest polluters could not be
> held liable
> in future law suits!
>
> "Bullshit!" was the term applied in 2015 to the non-binding COP21 Paris
> Accords by leading climate theoretician James Hansen, former head of
> NASA's Goddard
> Institute for Space Studies and more recently head of Columbia
> University's Earth Institute Program on Climate Science, Awareness and
> Solutions. The same
> Bullshit! definition was applied by leading climate experts around the
> world regarding the final proclamation drafted at COP25. Indeed, some
> 300 participant
> activists entered the Madrid conference hall and demonstratively
> deposited sacks of manure to illustrate their contempt for the proceedings.
>
> What most disturbed these climate activists was the near total
> indifference of the world's great economic powers. The Trump
> administration's decision to
> withdraw entirely later next year from the UN COP process was matched in
> contempt for the earth's future by a loophole-filled proclamation of the
> European
> Union. China and Russia too joined those who opposed any serious
> restrictions on the world's dependence on fossil fuel. Trump's
> representatives attended
> with the sole objective of insuring that no limits were placed on U.S.
> corporations' optimizing profits. The present U.S. election cycle circus
> notwithstanding,
> the Democrats' opposition to any serious challenge to the corporate
> polluters and to the associated and never-ending U.S. oil wars matched
> Trump's policies
> to a T.
>
> The leading spokespersons from the NGO's could only denounce the COP25
> results while expressing hope for the future election of more climate
> friendly officials
> and governments that they might influence at next year's Glasgow COP26
> conference.
>
> Greta Thunberg
>
> Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg's stinging indictment of
> the world's politicians and all governments' deadly blindness to the
> consequences
> of ignoring an impending climate Armageddon and her leading role in
> rousing some 7.6 million worldwide in the recent worldwide Student
> Climate Strike notwithstanding,
> the future success of any serious fight against global warming must in
> time take on an independent working class character directly in
> opposition to the
> capitalist system and all its advocates. The critical demand, "System
> Change Not Climate Change!" must find expression among the only forces
> in society
> capable of challenging capitalism's march to doomsday. Corporate funded
> NGO's, usually beholden to their sponsors, are simply incapable of
> exercising the
> class power required to win this historic battle.
>
> Share:
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> December 29, 2019
> in Uncategorized.
> article end
>
> Related posts
> article
> 11/nov-2017-germany-coal
>
> Bonn talks underway; scientists see grim future for climate
> article end
> article
> 10/oct.-2019-climate-johannesburg-cnn
>
> Millions say: Change the system, not the climate!
> article end
> article
> climate-movement-across-movements
>
> Climate movement across movements
> article end
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> --
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> ___
> Carl Sagan
> "Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open
> mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says
> everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind
> the fallibility of all the human beings involved?"
> ― Carl Sagan
>
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