myWhidbey because we don't live under the rock.

George bush and his goon squad are a symptom of our problem as a nation not the problem itself. We are caught staring into the glaring headlights of their awesome stupidity while continuing to allow the real issues to go mostly unaddressed.

The US military/industrial/congressional complex is presiding over a failing empire that is increasingly dependent on mercenary armies who are being paid with borrowed money. while we face world-wide environmental stress sliding to collapse, with all of it being permitted and accepted by the American people. We will be left paying for this irresponsible behavior with our taxes and our children’s lives. There have always been -and probably always will be- psychotic assholes willing to do anything to get in power and jam their brutal little view of reality down our throats. The problem is the rest of us are too busy shopping, or hustling up a living, or being entertained, to notice, or to pessimistic to take any responsibility for allowing the bullies to run the kindergarten

Most of us who would love to;
· do something about all this carnage, senseless exploitation and suffering of the peoples and other life here on earth for the massive enrichment of the fortunate few,
· direct our efforts towards developing political systems that are based on mutual respect and a understanding of the commonalities between all life and the problems we face together,
· make big changes -with sacrifices- to get to a sustainable world where everyone can have a reasonable chance at a decent and healthy life,
· move our economy to one that encourages less consumption, more conservation and thoughtful choices for quality goods and services,
· shut off the oil taps and pour technology and ingenuity towards a power supply that is clean and will last,
· be a part of a worldwide peoples movement that insists on sanity, sustainability and health from our leaders and ourselves.

But we feel frustrated and overwhelmed in our efforts by the well moneyed machine that seems bent on creating hell here on earth. Our capitalist system ensures that those with the most purchasing power have the loudest voice. They project this voice through the media they own to constantly tell us how divided and irreconcilable we are so we don’t find out how similar our ideas and goals actually are and then organize our selves into a movement that would inevitable reduce their power and influence ( see http://www.pipa.org/ ). The bush team are foot soldiers for the mega-rich power culture that has been running our country for many years. ("I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs."--Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President. “The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.” - President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a letter written to Colonel House November 21, l933 )
Recently I read a biography of Benjamin Franklin who firmly believed that all governments were run by the opinion of the people. In thinking about this I still believe it to be true. That is why so much effort goes into creating opinions for the people through media/government propaganda, the run up to the Iraq war being the perfect example. So the question is how do we of less means but apparently a greater interest in surviving this century really make a change towards life and away from our currently death centered political culture? (740 billion dollar defense allocations for 2008 and 32 billion for the state department and all foreign aid. Weapons are the US,s number one manufactured export and we spend just over half of the world total military spending. If you include our allies we then spend ninety percent.) The mega-rich with their private armies and homes all over the world will probably be able to survive global warming another world war (?) and a mass extinction event (we are in the sixth largest in earths history) but will we the people?

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