The only way to ameliorate an unacceptable reality
is to first acknowledge its existence. In other words,
one cannot change a condition that one fails (or refuses)
to recognize.
After approximately two years of continued shenanigans,
double speak, and betrayal by the Obama / Biden regime
(and its ever-willing accomplices from both major
U.S. corporate-parties) the metaphorical "chickens"
are beginning to come "home to roost;" and no
amount of economic smoke and mirror politics or high sounding
rhetoric can any longer sufficiently mask this
growing unacceptable reality.
Everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people
are being mercilessly kicked in the posterior by the cold,
hard, unforgiving reality of political and economic betrayal--
combined with avaricious corporate hegemony. And the
peoples of this planet--Mother Earth--are being ravaged
& savaged by a relatively small corporate / military
elite bent on the absolute domination over the lives and
livelihoods of all of humanity. Gone is
even a semi-believable veneer of economic and
political justice at home or abroad. 'America's' 21st
century 'winter of discontent' has begun, and it will
continue well into the foreseeable future irrespective
of mother nature's varying seasons.
Barack Obama has shown who he really is and
it's not a pretty sight for just plain everyday people
to behold. Indeed, only the filthy rich (with their insatiable
appetites for the accumulation of wealth) are enjoying
the blood-drenched fruits of their legalized-thievery,
thanks to their de facto ally--Barack Obama.
It was apparently not enough for Obama to extend and expand
his predecessor's program of illegal international kidnapping
and torture--euphemistically known as 'extraordinary rendition.'
Nor has it been enough for Obama to continue and expand
upon the gutting of the U.S. Constitution and its rights
thereto. Nor has it been enough for this Nobel
"peace" prize laureate to continue
the U.S. empire's military occupation in Iraq--even as
he expanded the bloody, amoral, and unwinnable
war in Afghanistan, and has simultaneously and consciously
increased the human carnage, suffering,
and rage in Pakistan with intensified U.S. drone-missile
attacks raining down terror from the sky. No! None of
these outrages have been enough! Even as an ever-increasing
amount of U.S. men and women troops (i.e. the empire's
cannon fodder) return home in body bags, or physically
and/or psychologically maimed. Amazingly, as joblessness,
home foreclosures, and homelessness spiral upward, Obama
has most recently extended the utterly criminal
tax cuts for the rich! The demonstrated arrogance
and hypocrisy of Barack Obama are surpassed only by his
callousness and actual disdain of and contempt
for everyday people. Extending his predecessor's
tax cuts for the rich is a slap in the face
to everyday people, particularly in these times of pain,
home foreclosures, wars abroad, joblessness, and growing
despair. It is another in a long list of utterly
inexcusable betrayals of everyday people, dating back
to when Obama, and the corporate--U.S. Congress, bailed
out the vampiric banksters and barons of Wall Street.
Moreover, instead of vigorously supporting the building
of a strong, dynamic, and inclusive system of public
education for everyday people in this nation, Barack Obama
and his cabinet members are about the business of ferociously
attacking and destroying public education---in
the name of privitization---which is but another
form of corporate blood-sucking and domination of everyday
people in this nation.
Last, but by no means least, Obama and many of his
fellow Democrat and Republican [i.e. Republicrat] vultures
are doing their utmost to quickly (and relatively quietly)annihilate
internet neutrality in favor of a two-tiered system
that would limit the timely flow of information
to everyday people, while vastly increasing the presence
of corporations and/or corporate control and domination
of the internet. Once again it is everyday people
who are being sacrificed, and it matters not one iota
that this attack upon 'net neutrality' by Obama and his
corporate drones in Congress demonstrates yet another
reneging by him of his campaign promises of two years
ago. But what does it really matter to Obama? After all
is said and done, the fact is that he has demonstrated
time and time again that his loyalties are to,
and bound tightly with, the interests and well-being of
the corporate elite---the filthy rich. His own
actions have repeatedly demonstrated that he really
has not, and certainly does not, give a damn about the legitimate
economic needs or political and human rights of just plain
everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people.
Mr. "hope and change"- Obama has for two years
now, been doing precisely what he intended to do, as reflected
by the lavish praise he heaped upon the virulently anti
working people / "let them eat ketchup"--former
U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The sad fact is that no
one should really be surprised by Obama's betrayals of
the last two years.
Barack Obama, relies upon his slippery tongue [i.e.
double speak], subterfuge, and outright lies to cower,
control, and manipulate everyday people in this nation.
He and his ilk know full well that they can depend upon
the corporate-stream mis-media to continually
disseminate disinformation and/or to remain silent
and servile--in service to them. They drink from the
same corporate trough. Yes, Obama and his ilk depend upon
the very real terrorism of lies, misinformation, and
subterfuge; and thanks to the daily complicity
of the corporate-stream mis-media, the Obama /
Biden regime has been allowed to surround itself and its
inner-workings in a cloak of secrecy; and
any who dare to remove that cloak are moved against by
a White House and U.S. government who in fact fear
and despise everyday people. Transparency in the Obama
White House is but a sick joke. Nevertheless, all of
the people cannot continue to be fooled or cowered
all of the time.
These are the utterly unacceptable and
titanic realities pertaining to Barack Obama. They
are not pleasant--but they must be recognized for what
they are so that they can be addressed.
It is worth reiterating that the only way to ameliorate
an unacceptable reality is to first acknowledge its
existence. The reality of everyday people in this
nation today is similar to that of the third class steerage
passengers on the ill-fated RMS Titanic, many of whom
were callously locked-in--below deck by ship's officers--as
the mighty ocean liner descended into the cold unforgiving
depths of the Atlantic. However, unlike those
passengers, many of whom did not initially actually
know that the big ship had struck an ice berg and was
in serious trouble; we everyday people do now
know about our plight and we can and must take the appropriate
action. We must refuse to be engulfed and drowned
by Barack Obama and his corporate / military masters.
We must assume command of our own destinies and
turn the ship around! We must assume command by
collectively organizing around an actualized vision
and unabashedly speaking truth to power! We
must cease holding on for dear life to an illusion;
for this illusion is deadly. The sooner we face reality
and do this, the more lives and livelihoods of we everyday
people can be positively affected. This will not
be easy---but it must be done!
Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in this
nation and around the world deserve economic, social
and political justice, NOW! And the way to attain
this justice is to first recognize that it is we everyday
people to whom power belongs, and act accordingly.
All Power Truly Does Belong To The People!
The year 2010 is rapidly coming to a close. Let us
regird ourselves and look forward to making the year 2011--the
year of everyday people! Onward,
my sisters and brothers! Onward!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial Board Member, Larry Pinkney,
is a veteran of the Black Panther Party, the former Minister
of Interior of the Republic of New Africa, a former political
prisoner and the only American to have successfully self-authored
his civil/political rights case to the United Nations
under the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. In connection with his political organizing activities
in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was
interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS News
Hour, formerly known as The MacNeil / Lehrer News Hour. For more about Larry Pinkney see the
book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and
Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard
Zinn]. (Click here to read excerpts from the book). Clickhere to contact Mr. Pinkney.