The 
                        corporate-controlled sham of national elections 
                        in this year of 2012 is once more upon everyday Black, 
                        White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people in the United 
                        States.
                      Yes, 
                        the corporate-stream “news” media is feverishly playing 
                        its fiddle of diversion and disinformation as the 
                        raging fires of corporate hegemony, economic austerity, 
                        legalized indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, and perpetual 
                        war burn to a cinder the hopes and dreams of everyday 
                        people. Buttressed by the U.S. corporate-stream media, the political vultures 
                        of both the Democrat and Republican parties are 
                        fanning the flames with a deafening crescendo of lies, 
                        obfuscation, and more lies. The economy of this 
                        nation, for ordinary everyday people, is in a shambles, 
                        as the corporate elite continues to rake in billions upon 
                        billions of blood-drenched profit.
                      As 
                        the politicians lie, the everyday people of this nation 
                        and world continue to die. Contrary to government propaganda, 
                        the war in Iraq 
                        is not over; well-paid U.S. 
                        corporate mercenaries have, in large measure, simply replaced 
                        certain U.S. troops in that nation. 
                        Moreover, U.S. 
                        sponsored wars rage on in Afghanistan, 
                        Pakistan, 
                        North Africa, and elsewhere on this 
                        planet. These wars are, of course, great for the 
                        tiny bloodsucking avaricious U.S. corporate elite but horrible for the everyday 
                        people of Mother Earth. Yet, like Barack Obama’s deadly 
                        predator-drone missiles, U.S. politicians (of both parties) 
                        and the corporate-stream media drone on, spewing 
                        forth their unending poisonous, thinly veiled and self-serving 
                        repackaged vomit of war mongering propaganda.
                      
                      Meanwhile, 
                        the so-called “war on terror,” which is itself a contradiction 
                        in terms, continues to enflame hatred and 
                        death around the world - all in the name of misguided, 
                        manipulated “patriotism” - under the guise of attaining 
                        some kind of always illusive, alleged “security.” 
                        The corporate-owned United 
                        States government sustains itself 
                        by active wars, the threat of wars and internal and 
                        external subterfuge.
                      For 
                        example, in the very name of striving for peace and security, 
                        the U.S. 
                        government is pursuing precisely the opposite in 
                        the case of Iran. The U.S. is attempting to isolate Iran’s monetary and oil revenue assets, etc., 
                        an extremely dangerous game that could lead to war, as 
                        the corporate-U.S. government well knows. This, however, 
                        is not merely about Iran, but also directly affects China and Russia, both of which are nuclear powers. 
                        For the U.S. 
                        government to demand that Iran 
                        not become a nuclear power while ignoring the fact 
                        that the nation of Israel is 
                        a nuclear power with stockpiled nuclear capability is 
                        hypocritical and insane.
                      It 
                        has nothing whatever to do with averting war and everything 
                        to do with corporate greed and U.S. geopolitical designs to control 
                        this planet’s natural resources. It is also a deliberate 
                        attempt to goad, bully, and provoke Iran, 
                        and by extension China 
                        and/or Russia, 
                        into a conflict with the U.S. 
                        and its puppet allies. It is a political conflict that 
                        could quickly lead to nuclear war and the concomitant 
                        annihilation of humanity on this planet.
                       In 
                        view of the United States’ own internal de facto corporate 
                        dictatorship, its numerous political prisoners, 
                        and its laws which provide for the indefinite detention 
                        of its own citizens without charge, trial, jury, 
                        or legal defense [i.e. the so-called National Defense 
                        Authorization Act-NDAA], etc., the United States 
                        government has absolutely no moral, ethical, or legal 
                        authority to demand Iran or any other government do 
                        anything! Only the ordinary everyday people of 
                        this nation have that right, but certainly not 
                        a U.S. corporate-government 
                        that does not even legitimately represent its people.
In 
                        view of the United States’ own internal de facto corporate 
                        dictatorship, its numerous political prisoners, 
                        and its laws which provide for the indefinite detention 
                        of its own citizens without charge, trial, jury, 
                        or legal defense [i.e. the so-called National Defense 
                        Authorization Act-NDAA], etc., the United States 
                        government has absolutely no moral, ethical, or legal 
                        authority to demand Iran or any other government do 
                        anything! Only the ordinary everyday people of 
                        this nation have that right, but certainly not 
                        a U.S. corporate-government 
                        that does not even legitimately represent its people.
                      The 
                        actual message of the U.S. corporate-government 
                        to the world is, “do as I say, not as I do!” 
                        Ironically, it is the U.S. 
                        government itself who first unleashed the terrible nuclear 
                        genie upon humankind, and who remains a foremost nuclear 
                        power to this very day - which fact is not missed 
                        by other nations of the world. Clearly, if the U.S. government truly desired 
                        nuclear disarmament - it would lead by example. 
                        Political saber rattling and war mongering is not the 
                        example, and though it may make for effective internal 
                        U.S. 
                        political propaganda, it is a sure recipe for war. To 
                        reiterate: The corporate-owned United 
                        States government sustains itself 
                        (not its people) by active wars, the threat of 
                        wars, and internal and external subterfuge.
                      As 
                        millions upon millions of people in this nation become, 
                        and increasingly remain, without jobs, and home foreclosures 
                        continue unabated , corporate executives of the corporate 
                        elite lavish themselves with six and seven figure, 
                        undeserved “salaries.” Young people, unable to pay 
                        for their student loans, etc., are offered the odious 
                        “opportunity” of becoming cannon fodder in the U.S. corporate-military 
                        machine , even as giant multi-national Wall Street corporations 
                        funnel much needed U.S. jobs to so-called “Third World” 
                        nations, where the skills of the people in those nations 
                        are economically pimped, as profits abound for the U.S. 
                        multi-national corporate elite. Life sustaining pensions 
                        of seniors in this nation have been made a thing of the 
                        past by the greedy vampires of the corporate elite, and 
                        the poor and dispossessed of this nation are in increasing 
                        agony.
                      
                      The 
                        farce of “democracy” and elections in this corporate owned 
                        nation has, in 2012, become self-evident. The questions 
                        remain however: What further subterfuge against 
                        everyday people will the corporate-controlled U.S. 
                        government utilize? Moreover, how much more can 
                        or will the people tolerate? Indeed, in the words of Langston 
                        Hughes, “What happens to a dream deferred?” Only 
                        the actions of and by everyday Black, White, Brown, Red, 
                        and Yellow people collectively can and will decisively 
                        answer these questions.
                      There 
                        is an enormous amount of work, political education, and 
                        organizing ahead. For this nation, for humanity everywhere, 
                        and for Mother Earth herself we cannot shirk in our tasks. 
                        Each one, teach one as we carry on in this people’s struggle.
                      Onward, 
                        then, 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.) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.
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.) Click here to contact Mr. Pinkney.