Ramsay Mameesh

Mr. Gore, you are helping to destroy America, please stop. Reach into your pocket, take out your iPhone and turn it over, read what it says at the bottom: ”Designed in California - Assembled in China.”

That one sentence, on the back of your iPhone, explains America’s shrinking middle class and huge trade deficits. And as a corporate board member of Apple, you are profiting from, the destruction of the United States of America.

The reason why the U.S.A. became a world economic super power, was because in the old days, the iPhone would have been assembled in the U.S.A. This would have created middle and lower middle class jobs in the U.S.A. When someone in China bought an iPhone, it would create an American job, and a U.S.A. trade surplus.

We then could use this surplus to educate our people, provide health care to our old, feed our poor, build our roads and bridges, and bomb other people.

The way it works now Mr. Gore, is that the C.E.O and the “Designers” make a lot of money, while the middle class shrinks, and the poor either fight our wars or end up in jails.

Now you could say that jobs are being created for “Designers” and high-tech workers, replacing low skilled workers, with higher paying jobs. But that would be fibbing, because the numbers don’t back up that assertion, and because you are a senior advisor to Google.

Google’s 2nd quarter 2007 earnings missed analyst expectations and it’s stock dropped 7%. Whose fault was that - the workers. Google added 1,548 jobs and their stock sank 7%. But Google has a solution, as a senior advisor you must be aware, hire non-Americans for those “Designer Jobs”.

According to Businessweek:

“As part of its hunt for the right talent, Google also is looking overseas. In June, the company appealed to Congress to let more high-skilled foreign workers into the U.S. under a temporary work visa program known as H-1B. According to Google’s testimony, about 8% of the company’s employees are in the U.S. thanks to the program. Without more H-1B visas, Google maintains that it and other tech companies will have trouble growing in the U.S. “

So, Mr. Gore, no middle class assembly jobs, or higher paying “Designer tech” jobs for Americans, leaves only C.E.O’s and corporate board members, as the only Americans with jobs and making a decent living.

You made a movie “An Inconvenient Truth”, to warn your people, about a coming environmental and humanitarian disaster. Yet, you Mr. Gore, refuse to “inconvenience” yourself to try and regain, the one job that would have the greatest impact, on averting the disaster you so passionately preach to us about.

Mr. Gore, the “Inconvenient Truth” is that you are helping to destroy our country. The “Inconvenient Truth” is that you are a corporate whore. The “Inconvenient Truth” is that you continue to let your people down.

Your “Assembled in China” iPhone has been ringing for over a year, your nation has been calling you and getting the answering machine, you are too busy getting fat from corporate hand-outs to pick up. Shame.

There was another man, some of us alive today are old enough to remember, who faced similar circumstances as yours. He lost an election, lost the support of his own party, survived by writing travel articles for his friends’ magazines, and warned his people (though they largely ignored him), of an upcoming humanitarian disaster.

And when his people, came to realize the danger and finally called him, he picked up the phone - Winston Churchill.

Mr. Gore, do you still have the iPhone in your hand? Are you still looking, at the shiny reflective backside, where the “Assembled in China” words appear? It’s almost like a mirror isn’t it? Now take a long look at your self in the back of your iPhone and ask your self this question:

“Am I a Patriot or a Selfish Coward?”

Where are the protests? What happened to the Anti-war movement?

The United States of America, has seldom in it’s history, faced the crisis we are entering. Our military is being defeated at the same time we are considering starting an additional war, our economy is on the verge of collapse, and our Constitution is being desecrated.

And a few ladies dressed in pink are the only visible signs of protest.

Before I left the United States in 2003, for self-exile in Costa Rica, I was involved in massive demonstrations against the Iraq War. I joined hundreds of thousands of outraged Americans, in the freezing streets of Manhattan, to try and prevent an illegal war. The people of my home city, San Francisco, were likewise putting on great demonstrations.

Yes, I know Colin Powell lied to the nation, and took the air out of the Peace Movement. I knew he was lying and kept on demonstrating, before I left America during “Shock and Awe”, I attended one last small demonstration outside the “Today” show in Rockefeller Center. A few brave citizens, laid out in the street, and allowed themselves to be arrested.

Bush had 90% approval ratings, dissent was being crushed, everyone stopped protesting. I looked into the eyes of my people and saw nothing but fear. Everyone it seemed had bought the lies, duct-tape was in short supply, ignorance had replaced reason. I left.

While I was in Costa Rica, I convinced myself, that when the American People finally learn the truth, they will become so angered at having been lied to, at having their sons and daughters die for oil companies, at the crimes that have been committed with their money and in their names, that they will rise up and overthrow the regime.

Folks, the truth has been out, most of it, for some time now. Cindy Sheehan exposed the emperor, and ever since, their has been a flood of articles, books, newspaper columns, detailing the ugly details. The reaction?

You elected the Democrats, the same people who voted for the war, and the patriot act, and homeland security, what did you expect? Ms. Sheehan learned this lesson the hard way. 

I’ve been back in the United States since June, 2007, I have seen two bumper stickers, one itty-bitty sign on the highway that said “Impeach”, and no demonstrations. I’m in San Francisco, the most liberal place in the country, the silence is deafening, what’s it like in the rest of the country?

The president and the war are hugely unpopular, 70% of the people thinks he sucks, 10% are confused or retarded, and the remaining 20% are religious crazies - who will always be religious crazies. The opposition Democrats who control the congress, roll over for an unpopular president, and the American people shhh…

Why? What happened to the Antiwar Movement? What happened to protest? What happened to Civil Disobedience?

You all got Blogs! That’s what happened. You still exist, it’s just that you’re fighting the revolution in your pajamas, from the comfort of your home. The anti-war movement is alive and well, protest is occurring, it’s all on the blogosphere! And it’s dangerous for democracy. It’s also futile.

You fool yourselves into believing that you’re activists by setting up a blog, that your angry posts will have an impact, that leaving comments on a blog is a form of protest. No one cares, you’re preaching to the converted, your inconveniencing only yourself.

When women won the right to vote, did they do it by mailing angry notes to one another, on pretty stationary? No. They marched in the streets, and stopped having sex with their husbands, until they won the right to vote.

Did blacks win the right to vote, by reading Fredrick Douglas, and writing letters to the editor of the Negro Times? No. They hit the streets, boycotted businesses, burned down a few cities, got in the faces of the white people, until they got the right to vote.

Blogs are a wonderful communication tool - I’ve got three. Two for business and one personal. I’m going to keep blogging, I’m a writer, and I enjoy reading other peoples blogs and commenting. Blogs can be very useful, for informing and gaining knowledge, but blogs don’t replace action.

That’s why I’m going back on to the street. I’m making a sign and getting into peoples faces. I’ll be on Market Street in San Francisco, as often as I can, not just on September 15th.

I may be by myself, a one man protest, while everyone else blogs. But twenty years from now, I’ll be able to say that I did everything I could to save this country, not just jerk off in front of the computer - like the rest of America.

Naomi Wolf, a sheep by any other name, wrote an article on Huffington Post proclaiming presidential candidate Christopher Dodd as a defender of the Constitution. She is just one of many, so called “Progressive” writers who have touted a Democrat candidate, as great patriot and person of principle.

Beware sheep in progressive clothing.

These famous writers, columnists, pundits, self proclaimed progressives, main stream media labeled liberals, will continue to baaa one candidate or another to the flock.

It’s their job. Which candidate they are pushing, is really besides the point, they all belong to the same corrupt Democratic Party (I’m a registered Democrat).

Their objective is to keep the flock together. And after you have chosen your, inconsequential Democratic candidate, to get you motivated. It’s a strategy that worked beautifully in 2006.

And look at the results? Man, aren’t you glad the Democrats got elected and brought our troops home?

If you call your self progressive, you’re the Democratic Party base, and to win the election  you to be good compliant sheep. Either, motivated, deluded, or silent.

The “Progressive” writers will be in full spin, claiming that this candidate or the other, “get’s it” and is different. Don’t blame yourself if, their messages and rhetoric, sound vaguely familiar to that of an abusive spouse. “Honey, I’m sorry I slapped you around in ‘06, I swear I won’t do it again in ‘08.”

When the mouth pieces of the Democratic Party, the Progressive writers pen their odious blog posts, slap them down hard. How’s it go “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, baaaaa.”

It’s time to become angry little lambies.

Once upon a time, I lived in a society, that was completely controlled. It was ruled by an unpopular authoritarian ruler. Dissent was not permitted, and if you didn’t conform to the harsh rules, you would be punished.  Most of the people accepted the conditons imposed, a few were not pleased but went along, this was high school.

Like many high schools, ours had a school newspaper, it’s purpose was to report sports scores and bake sale results. I had a long running feud with the leader of this “state within a state”.  Because I could form a complete sentence, and because my English teacher was able to recognize my handwriting in the grafitti I left on the school walls, I decided to use the school paper as my vehicle of dissent.

Knowing that I would not be afforded any “Constitutional” protection of free speech, this high school was located in a country that didn’t even bother with the need of a sham constitution, I used the only method of writing available to attack the administration - Satire.

I wrote a few columns for the paper, before the authorities caught on, and the publisher was forced to abandon me. Students and teachers enjoyed the cleverly disguised, and humorus jabs, I took at the principal. And the English teacher, never turned me in for my acts of vandalism, it helped that I had sprayed messages of support in the teacher’s lounge.

Satirical writing and political comedy, are sometimes the only literary tools left, by which writers may critique the policies of the ruling regime. Make it funny, and then if they throw you in prison and torture you, they look like insecure men who can’t take a joke. It helps if you live in a country, that makes a pretense at freedom, unfortunately we don’t live in one.

Wait a minute, in America, you can’t go to jail or lose your job for telling a joke? Can you? At least not a political joke? Not in America? Right? Wrong. Our country has no sense of humor.

If you have been in an airport, you may have heard the friendly voice over the intercom, remind you that joking about exploding things can get you arrested. Well, that’s kinda sorta like yelling “fire in a crowded theatre”, so maybe saying, “Will you quit fondling my swim suit. You act like I’m the inventor of the world’s first bikini b—b!  Hey, where are you taking me? Let me go. My planes’ leaving for Hawaii!” You’ll probably get to repeat the joke to Ahmed, the Afghan goat herder, who got to Guantanamo Bay Resort, by telling the joke about the drug lord and the camel…

If you tell a racist or sexist joke at work? In the iconic words of the pathetcally popular Mr. Ego “You’re fired!” It’s not nice to put people down and make them feel uncomfortable. Humor is not protected by the constitution. But what about political humor? Surely that’s protected right? You can’t lose your job…oh yeah Bill Maher.

Bill Maher is in the midst of a P.R. tour pushing the new season of his show on HBO. I’ve seen him interviewed a couple of times, once on Larry King, and the same question has dogged him, “Do you regret the comment you made after 9/11, on your show “Politically Incorrect”, about the hijackers not being cowards? Did it cost you your job?”

I remember seeing that episode, and thinking “You go boy! Tell it like it is. Let’s keep it honest.” I also knew as soon as he uttered the comment that his job was in jeopardy. ABC Television, not wanting to be accused of lacking a sense of humor, made Maher squirm for a few months before canning him. 

To his credit, Bill Maher does not publicly regret his comment, and admits it cost him his job. Looking relaxed and fit, he non-chalantly claims that the show had gotten tired, and ABC probably did him a favor. Well, that’s not how I recall it. Bill Maher, after ABC did not defend him (or free speech), from the attacks of Rove’s Brownshirts, looked anything but relaxed and fit. He appeared as a man defeated in spirit. And it wasn’t until he wrote an article on Huffington Post, defending Israel’s attack on Lebanon’s civilian population, did he really get to wield his shtick again.

Worse was the effect his firing had on political satire. Satire, the last tool of political dissent, had been crushed. The message was clear. Dissent in any form would not be tolerated. What followed were some very un-funny years.

However, dissent did eventually return, and of course it returned once again with satire.  Three men risked their careers to try and defend the constitution, and their country, through the use of satire on their t.v. shows. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Keith Olbermann.

They stuck their necks out, when everyone else cowered, and when they didn’t get fired for telling a joke - others felt safe enough to dissent.  “Girl, you look good in your suicide swim suit.”

Globalization is neither good nor evil. Globalization, like any creation of man, can be used for either purpose. Dynamite can blow a hole through a mountain, and connect two valleys, or it can be used to destroy villages. Nuclear energy can provide electricity, powering a nation, or it can be used to kill entire populations. A match can be used to light a fire, that cooks our food and heats our house, or it can be used to burn down the house.

Globalization as an economic force can similarly be used, to open markets and create employment opportunities, for people and their products. And Globalization can also be used, to force people from their land, and create slave labor factories. Sadly, we see more of the former rather than the latter, in the world today.

Likewise the Internet, a new form of globalized communication, is neither good nor evil. It can be used to share music, art, and ideas, that benefit all of mankind. And it can also be used to spread messages of hate, to spy on our fellow man, and rob us from the far reaches of the planet.

The question and the challenge before us today, is not whether globalization and the internet is good or evil, Or whether it should even exist. Exist it does and we shall decide how to use it. Inherent in the negative power of Globalization and the internet, to destroy our civilization, lies the positive power to create a better world. Do you recognize the power and are you up to the challenge? One laptop, one man, the power to change the world.

In a rare exhibition of honesty, Tony Snow announced that he would be stepping down as White House Press Secretary, due to finanancial reasons. Avoiding the usual cliche, of “spending more time with the family”, Snow explained “I’m not going to be able to go the distance, but that’s primarily for financial reasons.” Snow said. “I’ve told people when my money runs out, then I’ve got to go.”

Tony Snow, earns $168,000 annualy as White House Press Secretary, and apparently that’s not enough. Honest, arrogant and insulting would be the only way to characterize Tony’s reasons for leaving. At a time when American men and women, working for the same federal government, are sacraficing their lives and limbs (facing snipers and road side bombs) in Iraq, on starting salaries of $15,282.

Facing an un-armed and cowardly Washington Press Corp, Snow couldn’t continue on his current salary of $168,000, according to CNN “People close to Snow said that he felt he needed to make some more money to help his family, which includes children readying for college.”

If Mr. Snow’s children enlist in the Army, they will be eligible for up to $72,900 to pay for college with the Montgomery GI Bill, and an additional $23,724 if they join the reserves. The Snow childrens’ enlistment in the Army, will not only help their father remain as Press Secretary, and pay for their educations, they will also be a part of a war their Daddy supports. Other federal employees with children, house and car payments, and working in a much more hazardous war zone, find a way to manage - on a tenth of Mr. Snow’s salary.

Normally, I wouldn’t beat-up on a man with cancer, however Mr Snow should be aware, that their are millions of Americans earning far less than him, without health insurance, who are paying for his chemo-therapy.

Karl Rove’s departure from the White House, has stirred much analysis and debate, and almost universal joy among liberals and conservatives. Both Democrats and Republicans  hold him responsible for political defeats. What is missing from most of the talk is the central role Karl Rove played in the Iraq War fiasco. In fact, without Karl Rove’s participation, the Iraq War may never have occurred. One of the motivations to attack Iraq was domestic U.S. politics. Specifically, the 2002 mid-term Congressional elections. 

This is not a secret, the decision to attack Iraq in order to win the 2002 mid-term elections, is clearly outlined in a September 2002 Time Magazine article titled “General Karl Rove, reporting for duty”. The sequence of events leading up to the Iraq War, are not a mystery either, however Karl Rove’s Machiavellian political calculus gave it the green light.

The Neo-Cons, the American wing of the Israeli Likud Party, had long been advocating a war against Iraq. Their policy of creating instablility within the middle-east to enhance Israel’s security is well known. Their attempts to promote a U.S. invasion of Iraq can be seen publicly, a week before Bush takes power, in a January 2000 Wolfowitz and Perle Frontline PBS documentary. 

After Bush’s selection in 2000, the Neo-Cons found homes in both Vice-President Dick Cheney office, and Donald Rumsfeld’s Defense Dept., and continued to push war against Iraq – but nobody was buying. Even after the 911 attacks, the Neo-Con agenda of linking Saddam Hussein to Al-Qaeda, was rejected by the White House.

The 2001 war in Afghanistan was, with the exception of Bin Laden’s escape, a tremendous success. The Taliban and their Al-Qaeda allies were quickly and easily defeated, Osama Bin Laden was hiding in a cave, and the United States was victorious.

However, on the domestic political front, things weren’t going so well. The country was still divided over the Gore v. Bush election, the economy hadn’t recovered from the dot-com bust and appeared to be headed for recession, and after Sen. Jeffords defection in the Senate it looked like the Democrats would capture the House of Representatives as well.

The war in Afghanistan provided a political boost to the President, but because victory had been so rapid and complete, the positive political effects quickly diminished. Post 911 phony terror alerts, at first very effective at silencing domestic opposition, with over use began to lose their intimidation factor. In the winter and spring of 2002 things weren’t looking good for the Republicans and President Bush.

In April of 2002, the U.S. backed a coup attempt against Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, after Chavez tried to take over the Venezuelan state oil company. The coup attempt failed and Dick Cheney and Big Oil had been defeated.

The Neo-Cons never gave up on their desire to invade Iraq, their people were in place within the administration, and they re-pitched their plan.

Oil had been trading at $20 per barrel, Haliburton was under investigation for it’s accounting practices, and was fighting for it’s corporate life in an asbestos lawsuit. It wasn’t very hard for the Neo-Cons to convince Dick Cheney to support the Iraq War plan. After having lost Venezuela’s oil, the thought of being able to capture Iraq’s oil, was too sweet a deal.

Donald Rumsfeld, a man of tremendous ego, saw how an Iraq War would increase his power and prestige within the administration. With his second in command, Wolfowitz whispering into his ear, he saw how he could crush his nemesis Colin Powell.

Colin Powell in the State Dept., the top generals in the military, and the President were the only ones remaining to get on board.

In the spring of 2002, it was not hard to convince Karl Rove ergo the President, that war against Iraq would be a good political idea.

In a time of war, the country unites, and the popularity of the president rises. Wars are a political act as much as they are a military one. And this war had many political upsides, with few political downsides, at least seemingly. Approaching the 2002 mid-term elections, with the Democrats poised to take over both houses of Congress, Karl Rove got on board the War Wagon.

Only Colin Powell remained as an opponent to invasion, and with the majority of the administration in favor, he was easily isolated.

Although large numbers of Americans opposed attacking Iraq, Congressional support was guaranteed, this was a war Israel wanted. When it comes to U.S. mid-east policy, what Israel wants Israel usually gets, and almost no member of Congress, either Democrat or Republican had the courage to oppose Israeli whishes.

The Democrats were silenced, Karl Rove was left free to frame the Attack, any member of congress who expressed dissent was labled soft on terror. The 2002 mid-term elections switched from a debate over failing domestic policies, to a debate on fighting terror, the Democrats lost both houses of Congress in the November elections.

Karl Rove would use the Iraq War once more, to silence the Democrats in 2004, and win the presidential election. Having supported the invasion, the Democrats avoided pursuing the failing Iraq War as a political strategy, even though large numbers of Americans increasingly opposed the war. The Democrats remained silent, as this time Karl Rove switched the debate from a failing foreign policy, to the threat of gay marriage at home. 

Of course, as we know now, the Iraq War finally caught up to Karl Rove in the 2006 mid-term elections. The Iraq War had turned into a disaster, and even though Democrats remained silent or called for half measures, large numbers of Americans turned out and gave both houses of Congress to the Democrats in any case.

Karl Rove was not an Iraq War ideologue or proponent. Like his boss he didn’t know the difference between a Sunni or a Shiite, was unaware of regional politics, or carefully considered the full range of consequences.

He saw the Iraq War as a tool to win elections, and it proved to be a successful strategy in two elections, however it cost him the last election.

In the spring of 2002, a debate raged in the White House over the decision to invade Iraq, Karl Rove saw the political advantage of going to war. He was central to pushing and promoting the war to gain domestic political victory. The consequences would be someone else’s problem, Dick and Don would take care of the details, and Bush would reign supreme.

In April of this year, Karl Rove stated “I wish the war were over. I wish the war never existed.” Karl Rove was central to starting something he couldn’t stop. Ultimately it cost him his job.