Duty to Warn
Robert Turnbull: I guess I’ll start with a rather mundane question. How are you?
Jason Miller: I just looked at some horrific photos of extremely sick and emaciated people who suffer from a drug-resistant strain of TB and AIDS, so I’m feeling blessed because I’m relatively healthy and able to employ my personal strengths to carry out my purpose on Earth.
RT: What is that you consider your purpose on Earth to be?
JM: It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and socialism.
I realize that socialism is a loaded word, particularly in our benighted land here in the US. But as we talk you’ll get a better sense of what I mean when I talk about socialism, which I use as a bit of a catch-all term to describe a more logical and just way of interacting socially, politically and economically.
RT: What do you say to socialism’s critics who argue that it has failed each time it’s been tried and that it’s utopian in nature, and therefore impossible to implement?
Jason Miller: I just looked at some horrific photos of extremely sick and emaciated people who suffer from a drug-resistant strain of TB and AIDS, so I’m feeling blessed because I’m relatively healthy and able to employ my personal strengths to carry out my purpose on Earth.
RT: What is that you consider your purpose on Earth to be?
JM: It’s multi-faceted and complex, but if I distill it to its essence and put it succinctly, my primary purpose on Earth is to strive for two causes: animal liberation and socialism.
I realize that socialism is a loaded word, particularly in our benighted land here in the US. But as we talk you’ll get a better sense of what I mean when I talk about socialism, which I use as a bit of a catch-all term to describe a more logical and just way of interacting socially, politically and economically.
RT: What do you say to socialism’s critics who argue that it has failed each time it’s been tried and that it’s utopian in nature, and therefore impossible to implement?
My second day on the scooter I was a little too sure of myself.
My other bike, after all, is an aging V-twin 750cc Yamaha Virago (currently in need of repairs I can't afford) so how mean could a little 150cc scoot be? I twisted the throttle too fast in a parking lot and learned in an instant that my new eco-friendly ride has more pep than I realized, and doesn't turn as tightly as a motorcycle. Zooming right toward a parked car - a nice one - I had to drop the bike intentionally to avoid hitting it.
Both my new bike and my old ego emerged bruised, but luckily no serious injury to either.
To American motorists accustomed to the relative safety of gigantic SUVs and sedans, scootering is a dangerous proposition: The money you save on gas, maintenance, purchase price and insurance can dissipate in an instant with one bad move - yours, the other guy's or an act of Goddess.
My other bike, after all, is an aging V-twin 750cc Yamaha Virago (currently in need of repairs I can't afford) so how mean could a little 150cc scoot be? I twisted the throttle too fast in a parking lot and learned in an instant that my new eco-friendly ride has more pep than I realized, and doesn't turn as tightly as a motorcycle. Zooming right toward a parked car - a nice one - I had to drop the bike intentionally to avoid hitting it.
Both my new bike and my old ego emerged bruised, but luckily no serious injury to either.
To American motorists accustomed to the relative safety of gigantic SUVs and sedans, scootering is a dangerous proposition: The money you save on gas, maintenance, purchase price and insurance can dissipate in an instant with one bad move - yours, the other guy's or an act of Goddess.
I am writing this as someone who joins Americans and others across this planet in their elation over your victory.
Many of us want to join with you in working to solve the challenges that you, our nation and the world face. One of them is the decision you will make about Iran. According to Carol Giacomo’s article “ New Beltway Debate: What to Do About Iran” in the November 3, 2008 issue of the New York Times, a range of military and economic options against Iran are being considered by your new administration.
Because of the magnitude and possible repercussions of the decision you will ultimately make I encourage you to seek out a range of informed opinions on this subject to supplement the guidance you receive from your advisors.
One such source could be the current and past members of the upper echelons of our military who opposed the plans for such an attack under the Bush administration, some of whom resigned in protest or threatened to do so. In addition, available to you are the opinions of many groups that have carried on a campaign to prevent the Bush administration from attacking Iran.
Many of us want to join with you in working to solve the challenges that you, our nation and the world face. One of them is the decision you will make about Iran. According to Carol Giacomo’s article “ New Beltway Debate: What to Do About Iran” in the November 3, 2008 issue of the New York Times, a range of military and economic options against Iran are being considered by your new administration.
Because of the magnitude and possible repercussions of the decision you will ultimately make I encourage you to seek out a range of informed opinions on this subject to supplement the guidance you receive from your advisors.
One such source could be the current and past members of the upper echelons of our military who opposed the plans for such an attack under the Bush administration, some of whom resigned in protest or threatened to do so. In addition, available to you are the opinions of many groups that have carried on a campaign to prevent the Bush administration from attacking Iran.
“Top priorities may not be any of those five. It may be continuing to stabilize the financial system. We don't know yet what's going to happen in January. And none of this can be accomplished if we continue to see a potential meltdown in the banking system or the financial system. So that's priority number one, making sure that the plumbing works in our capitalist system.”
—President-Elect Barack Obama
Ironically, it is the plumbing of that capitalist system that we are using as we flush the future of life on Earth down the toilet.
We can “elect” a charismatic, intelligent man from a brutally oppressed minority to be our president to purge our collective guilt, mouth “feel good” platitudes, celebrate the triumph of “democracy,” and delude ourselves into believing we are preparing to warp back to a fictitious golden era when America was a benevolent guardian of humanity and the Earth, but that doesn't change the fact that industrial capitalism is rendering this planet uninhabitable.
—President-Elect Barack Obama
Ironically, it is the plumbing of that capitalist system that we are using as we flush the future of life on Earth down the toilet.
We can “elect” a charismatic, intelligent man from a brutally oppressed minority to be our president to purge our collective guilt, mouth “feel good” platitudes, celebrate the triumph of “democracy,” and delude ourselves into believing we are preparing to warp back to a fictitious golden era when America was a benevolent guardian of humanity and the Earth, but that doesn't change the fact that industrial capitalism is rendering this planet uninhabitable.
Contrary to popular belief, the big change in America’s society stemming
from the recent presidential elections, was not the election of the first
black president. The most important event has taken place in the
intellectual community, in which a paradigm shift has taken place and few
have noticed.
The new era of voting for the lesser of the two evils has penetrated the core of America’s critical intellectual community, and some of the biggest voices for change have endorsed Obama. In effect, what has taken place is the union between those opposed to imperial ideology and those endorsing it. Although this serious event has gone largely unnoticed, American intellectuals will need to reflect on its consequences seriously if they are to contribute to the building of a stable future for humanity as a whole, and in particular to mending the tarnished corrupt fabric of American society.
The new era of voting for the lesser of the two evils has penetrated the core of America’s critical intellectual community, and some of the biggest voices for change have endorsed Obama. In effect, what has taken place is the union between those opposed to imperial ideology and those endorsing it. Although this serious event has gone largely unnoticed, American intellectuals will need to reflect on its consequences seriously if they are to contribute to the building of a stable future for humanity as a whole, and in particular to mending the tarnished corrupt fabric of American society.
My friend, Lucy Bohne, an English professor at a state college near Erie, Pennsylvania, wrote to her daughter today about Barack Obama’s victory. Lucy did a fine job describing how many people feel the day after the Senator's historic victory.
“Thank you for calling last night. It sounded like NYC had gone mad with joy!...I have spent the night in a roller coaster of amazement, shadowed by despair, counting the days between your birth and MLK's murder. Twelve, to be more or less exact. That was the joy--to think that 40 years later your generation would hand the White House over to the leadership of a black American. That is an amazing thing!
...The shadows--well, you know them. This amazing thing that happened in America--that only we, as Americans, can understand and share--won't make a difference to the world, to the children in Baghdad, Beirut, Gaza, and Teheran, and all the other places in the crosshairs of our guns--unless we make that difference. Might as well be brave and strong and admit that there is work to be done, struggles to embrace, disappointments to endure.
“Thank you for calling last night. It sounded like NYC had gone mad with joy!...I have spent the night in a roller coaster of amazement, shadowed by despair, counting the days between your birth and MLK's murder. Twelve, to be more or less exact. That was the joy--to think that 40 years later your generation would hand the White House over to the leadership of a black American. That is an amazing thing!
...The shadows--well, you know them. This amazing thing that happened in America--that only we, as Americans, can understand and share--won't make a difference to the world, to the children in Baghdad, Beirut, Gaza, and Teheran, and all the other places in the crosshairs of our guns--unless we make that difference. Might as well be brave and strong and admit that there is work to be done, struggles to embrace, disappointments to endure.
In the last weeks of their struggling national campaign, the McCain-Palin ticket and the Republican National Committee have chosen to attack Barack Obama for his rare and insignificant contact with Bill Ayres, a former Weather Underground member charged but not convicted of bombing federal targets at the height of opposition to the Vietnam War four decades ago.
Palin has led the charge that Obama "pals around" with terrorists, based solely on the very limited contact he had with Ayres decades after his Weather Underground days. Some of that contact is due to education projects funded by Walter Annenberg, who is also donating to the McCain campaign. Annenberg has not been accused of funding terrorism by McCain or Palin.
Palin has led the charge that Obama "pals around" with terrorists, based solely on the very limited contact he had with Ayres decades after his Weather Underground days. Some of that contact is due to education projects funded by Walter Annenberg, who is also donating to the McCain campaign. Annenberg has not been accused of funding terrorism by McCain or Palin.
Soon we will have a new president. It is imperative that we, the members of the peace, anti-war and anti-imperialist movements, scrutinize his actions, starting with his acceptance speech, to determine whether he is taking actions that we believe will lead to real peace and justice in the world.
Although we may not agree on some of the specifics, I have made a list of possible points below that can used as a starting point to monitor how well he is doing over the course of his term in office. Even if he initially takes some actions that we agree with we should not let ourselves be misled into thinking that positive changes will continue to occur without continuous pressure from us. Your thoughts are welcomed. For one thing I may have missed important points.
Has the new President:
Although we may not agree on some of the specifics, I have made a list of possible points below that can used as a starting point to monitor how well he is doing over the course of his term in office. Even if he initially takes some actions that we agree with we should not let ourselves be misled into thinking that positive changes will continue to occur without continuous pressure from us. Your thoughts are welcomed. For one thing I may have missed important points.
Has the new President:
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1. Withdrawn U.S. troops from Iraq?
2. Ordered that the U.S. pay restitution to Iraq?
3. Withdrawn U.S. troops from Afghanistan?
4. Pledged to refrain from carrying out illegal cross border attacks into Pakistan?
For almost a decade, ACORN, a community organization of 400,000 families in neighborhoods across the country, has been fighting against the predatory lending practices that have robbed our members of their homes, destabilized neighborhoods, and roiled the global economy.
In his newest ad, John McCain's campaign bizarrely claims, "ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, ACORN has worked successfully to help working class families get good home loans on fair terms from legitimate banks and has fought vigorously against predatory lenders who have ripped off families in our communities. These predatory loans caused the crisis.
In his newest ad, John McCain's campaign bizarrely claims, "ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans, the same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today." Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, ACORN has worked successfully to help working class families get good home loans on fair terms from legitimate banks and has fought vigorously against predatory lenders who have ripped off families in our communities. These predatory loans caused the crisis.
The rage over the bailout of Wall Street is still boiling. In fact, the boil is just beginning. Last week the bailed out massive insurance giant AIG had a party for their executives – the bill $440,000 – this, after an $84 billion tax payer bailout. After the party the Federal Reserve gave them $38 billion more!
It is good the population is angry because we are at the beginning of this financial crisis not at the end. And, if the people get angry enough and organized enough this crisis will become the opportunity for a paradigm shift to a democratized economy built on new, clean energy sources.
During the bailout debate 50,000 letters were sent to Congress and the media through my organization’s site, the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net). And, we were one among many. This is just the beginning of our effort. We are now in the process of thinking through our economic agenda and seeking input from people on that topic. You can support these efforts by responding to a brief survey and donating to our efforts.
During the bailout debate 50,000 letters were sent to Congress and the media through my organization’s site, the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net). And, we were one among many. This is just the beginning of our effort. We are now in the process of thinking through our economic agenda and seeking input from people on that topic. You can support these efforts by responding to a brief survey and donating to our efforts.