dinsdag 20 januari 2009

Obama 75



Obama: 'To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.' We zijn benieuwd, maar uiterst sceptisch. Het betekent namelijk het intomen van Israel als schurkenstaat en 'de joodse staat' dwingen het internationaal recht te respecteren.

President Obama zei ondermeer dit:


'Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works - whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.'




De vraag is alleen hoe een failliet rijk dat meer dan eenderde van zijn federale begroting besteedt aan iets dat officieel de nationale veiligheid heet, dit militair-industrieel complex met zijn nauwe relaties met het Congres, aan banden gaat leggen.



Het volgende verklaarde president Eisenhower na acht jaar presidentschap: “We annually spend on military security more than the net income of allUnited States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience.The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt inevery city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail tocomprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils ofgovernment, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence,whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger ourliberties or democratic processes.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a televised speech 1961



Die macht is meer dan een halve eeuw later alleen maar enorm gegroeid. Hoe leg je die macht aan banden en alle lobbygroepen die ervan profiteren. Nagenoeg alle Congresleden krijgen geld van een of andere lobbygroep, waarvan de machtigste de olielobby, de wapenlobby, de Israellobby, de landbouwlobby zijn. Dit hele corrupte systeem en een president die door de Amerikaanse elite naar voren is geschoven.

Geen opmerkingen:

Peter Flik en Chuck Berry-Promised Land

mijn unieke collega Peter Flik, die de vrijzinnig protestantse radio omroep de VPRO maakte is niet meer. ik koester duizenden herinneringen ...