Saturday, January 16, 2016

Another Big Blast of Bombastic Blather From U.S. Emperor Barack Obama

The yearly U.S. state ritual, the “State of the Union” address to Congress, was performed last night by the Federal politicians of America- the president, U.S. senators, and representatives in the House. [1]

Perhaps you've forgotten about it already. I'm a bit tardy since I've been under stress and distraction thanks to my U.S. secret police persecutors. I think I will start posting about that.

This speech, delivered by the president to Congress, is an increasingly empty political show, put on in an attempt by the elites (political and media) to reinforce the indoctrination of the populace. An empty display of pseudo-democracy, it is in part a self-report card by the president, who brags of alleged achievements, and in part yet another injection of America Is Wonderful and Getting Better propaganda.

No doubt the vast majority of the American populace does not sit in front of their TVs to watch this boring, anodyne political spectacle, yet the establishment propaganda system (“the media”) treat it as a Big Event, which it is decidedly not. So they will “analyze” it (make obvious, non-incisive comments about it) and the rival politicians of the Other Party (in this case the GOP, Gang Of Plunderers) will carp in ways that avoid mention of the real crimes of Obama. [2]

Bad enough I am forced to waste any part of my life thinking about Obama and his crimes against humanity.

Obama just this past week cruelly unleashed police state goons to round up endangered Central American women and children to forcibly deport them to what for at least some will be death at the hands of gangs. Some apologists for Obama on the left see this as an attempt to appease the right. But having deported over 2 million people during his reign- a record for any president- and failing to stop rightists from ignoring that fact completely (the white racists and xenophobes insist that “their” country is being “taken over” by Hispanics) I'm confident that Obama, an intelligent (and immoral) man, realizes that deporting a few hundred more won't win him any kudos from rightists, and from the racists and demagogues who insist he is a Kenyan-born Muslim socialist (cf. Donald Trump, e.g.).

Let's remember, Obama is never going to run for office again for the rest of his life. So what he does now isn't determined by electoral considerations. No one should still pretend that he's doing anything he doesn't really want to do.

Obama does these things because he is an oppressor. He has shown this in many ways. Under him, the civil liberties and human rights holocaust begun under the Bush regime has intensified, not abated. This has come about

Obama has treated the outrageous cases of police murders of blacks, even of 12 year old Tamir Rice, gunned down in broad daylight in Cincinnati, a crime captured on camera and yet exonerated by “the authorities,” with malign neglect. At most, he has tried to pour oil on troubled waters to trick the aggrieved into cooling out, to pacify them while doing nothing at all about the “problem.” Obama (and his “black” Attorneys General, first the millionaire corporate lawyer Eric Holder, Jr., and now Loretta “The Confiscator” Lynch) instead act as all their predecessors have, as aiders and abettors of police repression of the black underclass. The reason “bad apple” killer-cops are supported by state power is because the low level of terror these murders create is seen as a useful intimidation tactic to keep the black underclass submissive.

Once again, we see that class trumps race in determining political loyalty and action by particular individuals. And that the power system is so structured that only those dedicated to its underlying values and interests can rise within it.

But I do believe that Obama only fooled those who wanted on some level to be fooled. Unlike people who should have known better (prominently among them directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, and the very intelligent Christian philosopher and activist

Here's another massive ongoing crime against humanity that Obama is assiduously aiding and abetting: the relentless Israeli campaign to suffocate the Palestinian people. Obama currently is making a deal with Israel that will run for ten years after he leaves office to increase the handout of free military “aid” to Israel by 50%, to $4.5 billion a year.

By the way, it's “illegal” for Palestinians to even collect rainwater. The Israeli army, the so-called “Israeli Defense Force,” destroys cisterns and anything else constructed to collect rainwater. This on top of the “settlements” taking atleast 75% of the water of the West Bank for their own use.

One thing Obama said in his televised oration that was so outrageous in its brazen cynicism was his vow to “close Guantanamo,” the U.S. military prison-torture center in occupied Cuban territory.

He certainly has his nerve. When he was elected, seven years ago, way back in 2008, he vowed to close the prison within a year. What he has done instead is refuse to release even prisoners “cleared for release” years ago. [And it has just been revealed that the military- which he is the commander-in-chief of, as per the U.S. Constitution- has been deliberately obstructing the release of “cleared” prisoners for years by being uncooperative with foreign officials whose countries have agreed in principle to accept “detainees” for “relocation.” Tactics include refusing to provide medical records (with the cynical excuse of “respecting the prisoner's privacy”!) refusing to allow delegations to stay overnight at the sprawling base, and other forms of stonewalling.]

Once again, Obama posed as a Friend of Immigrants- even placing a “dreamer” as a prop next to wife Michelle- while in the midst of launching vicious predawn raids on the abodes of refugee mothers and children. He's going to “continue the work that needs to be done- fixing our broken immigration system,” applause from Democrats starts- and a laundry list of faux-liberal items off a checklist- gun control, minimum wage, etc. In fact, in almost every case, he never lifted a finger to do a thing, except when he actively worked to make things worse, as in the case of the millions of immigrants forced to live quasi-underground existences in the U.S. In other cases he did very little. [3]

This is the same tune he sang during his national debut, the speech he delivered at the Democratic Party's national convention in 2004. I was revolted by that phony speech at the time, as it was standard Democratic Party deceit that could have been cribbed from an endless series of Democratic Party con men- Mario Cuomo, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, et al, who always talk liberal and behave as reactionaries in practice. (Cuomo's sole achievement as NY State governor was a massive prison expansion; Humphrey was a cheerleader for the criminal Vietnam war as LBJ's vice-president; Stevenson was a Cold War Democrat.)

He had to put in a boast about ordering the assassination of Osama bin Laden (he didn't phrase it like that, of course- he's far too dishonest for that) in the context of talking about how much he was “bombing” ISIS. These acts he labeled “bringing to justice,” the usual sinister euphemism he uses for violent retribution.

A sample of Obama's breast-beating bragging from The Speech: “The United States of America is the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It’s not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined. Our troops are the finest fighting force in the history of the world. No nation dares to attack us or our allies because they know that’s the path to ruin. Surveys show our standing around the world is higher than when I was elected to this office, and when it comes to every important international issue, people of the world do not look to Beijing or Moscow to lead. They call us.” Note the combination of national chauvinism and the implied self-serving compliment to his own “stewardship” of the empire this boast displays. This “pride” in their destructive power is surely scary to many of the world's people, who have been on the receiving end of the U.S. “big stick.”

His hosannas for the Greatness of the U.S., and his own fabulous achievements, naturally would have been spoiled by mentioning how the U.S. (and him) rushes bombs and bullets to Israel every time it devastates Gaza yet again, or now it is currently making possible the destruction of large parts of Yemen, and the starvation conditions there, by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf state lackeys, flying planes purchases from the U.S., and dropping bombs supplied by the U.S. The Saudis have bombed medical facilities 70 times in Yemen, including a facility for the blind. Taking after the U.S., they just bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital (Médecins Sans Frontières). MSF keeps giving out their GPS coordinates, thinking that will spare them attacks. They need to start giving out FALSE coordinates, for empty lots and such, instead. It's obvious that evil nations like Saudi Arabia and the U.S. only use the information for accurate targetting! [4]

I suppose I should mention his ''ruefulness'' about what is called partisan gridlock, the refusal of the rival imperialist capitalist parties (the Democrats and Republicans) to come together in one happy ruling clan. That's been a recurring theme throughout his reign. All I'll say is it is entirely due to GOP (Gang Of Plunderers) fanaticism.

Obama's eighth and last State of the Union speech. I'm glad that's over with. Another ritual of the power class we can do without, being force-fed their guff.

1] The U.S. has a bicameral national legislature, consisting of the “House of Representatives,” with 435 members, elected from 435 electoral districts roughly equal in population and encompassing all the area of the 50 states, and the Senate, with 100 senators, each state having two. Thus, the U.S. Senate is one of the most profoundly anti-democratic elected institutions on earth. The approximately 20 least populous states have forty senators, while California, with the same population as those states, gets two. As the least populous states are mostly very reactionary, such as the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming (Cheney-Land) and so on, this is yet another device that makes and keeps the U.S. a rightwing nation.

2] Here's a typical example of anodyne media “reaction” from the next morning's (January 13) “news” broadcast on U.S. government radio propaganda network, “Morning Edition,” as orated by co-host Steven Inskeep from his script. According to Inskeep, Obama's speech was “both sweeping and relaxed. He [Obama] offered a defense of his record along with a long term vision” blah blah.

Inskeep just last week did a brown-nosing “interview” with Obama, aired over two days on NPR. One thing the weaselly propagandists of NPR know how to do is genuflect before their political masters.

3] The “dreamers” are those cruelly duped young offspring of immigrants, who lack citizenship and grew up in America, whom Obama tricked into believing that somehow their status would be “regularized” and they could live in America without the constant fear of summary deportation (sans possessions and money), be able to go to college, work, live what is considered a normal life.

4] See “A Hospital Bombedin Yemen,” The Atlantic, January 10, 2016






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