CIVILIANISM PODCAST

Obama is being influenced by his bad angels, listening to the wrong people, and doing the wrong things in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. Giving him the Nobel Peace Prize for this was a mistake.

The drone attacks he orders are horrifying and illegal, killing innocent people even as they execute a few “real” targets.   The escalation of his war will not bring peace. Unfortunately, this war will drag on and on and on without the American people protesting it. There might not be a draft, but there are 56,000 contractors headed for Afghanistan too. . . . privatizing our military force in the Middle East even further, even as our peace/war president plans a “surge”.

Not only are another 30,000 troops being deployed to Afghanistan, “but also 56,000 military contractors will join them.”

Militarism grows and grows, even as we let other things go, like real health care reform, serious climate change work and the smart grid, etc.

An analysis of Obama’s Nobel speech and the “Just War”  and “Just Peace” theories is here.  I don’t buy it. I think no war that kills civilians, and keeps on killing civilians, can be anything but just another war.  Unless this war is solving some serious problem or threat, (and it’s not) we need to leave.

A good angel would know this.

This episode contains part of a protest rally including speakers Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney, and it also contains bits of President Obama’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

Get involved, contact your President and your Congressmen and tell them to stop this stupid war.  It might be the end of us if we don’t. War is still a racket.

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Artwork by Jay Long.

Respected journalist Amy Goodman was finally able to give her talk in Vancouver, Canada, in late November, 2009, after and despite serious harassment by Canadian police. She discussed this on her show Democracy Now in late November, but this is the actual talk. She discussed health care, her mother’s health care before death, media, Obama, Afghanistan, our military, feminism, and more. It’s often funny too.

She also talks about how she feels getting involved and dissent are very important. It’s an incredible talk, very revealing as she talks about her mother, and completely unedited.

Great line (among many): “What do I think of the mainstream media? I think it would be a good idea.”

“Information is power”, she said, something any student of journalism could tell you instinctively, but something many people don’t usually think about.

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Credit for the original recording: Radio4all.net

Music: (I Wish I Had a) Wooden Heart, by David Holmes

Sami Rasouli

Sami Rasouli, a well known Iraqi-American peace activist, traveled to central Minnesota last week and gave us an update on Iraq.   Iraqis need our help, and a lot of things need a lot of work in Iraq. They also need peace building and better relations with American citizens. He drops a couple of mostly unknown bits of info too, like that most of the scientists in Iraq were deliberately killed by Israeli intelligence (Mossad) during the war.

Shockingly, he said that Iraqis learned from John Wayne movies, not George Bush Sr., that America is a culture of force and violence. We have to reverse this perception. Learn more in this episode of Civilianism, which you can download here or subscribe to on the right.

There are two articles related to the topics in this podcast. One is “Oil Billions and Weapons of Mass Deception in Iraq” which you can read here, and the other is “Huge Rise in Birth Defects in Falluja” which you can read here.

The organizations that Sami Rasouli hopes you will check out and become involved in are found here:

The Iraq and American Reconciliation Project (IARP)  and the Muslim Peacemaker Team.

You can get involved as easily as helping to buy water sanitation equipment in Iraq, which is very much needed.

On September 8th I attended a presentation about occupied Palestine, given by a Christian Peacemakers team. These teams go in and accomplish some job or task while they live with the Palestinians. This team’s job was to escort Palestinian children to school so they would not get beaten up by Israeli settlers, whose settlement homes separated the Palestinian children’s homes from their school.

On Sept 9th, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published its findings on the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip.

According to B’Tselem’s research, Israeli security forces killed 1,387 Palestinians during the course of the three-week operation. Of these, 773 did not take part in the hostilities, including 320 minors and 109 women over the age of 18. Of those killed, 330 took part in the hostilities, and 248 were Palestinian police officers, most of whom were killed in aerial bombings of police stations on the first day of the operation. . . . .

B’Tselem’s figures, the result of months of meticulous investigation and cross-checks with numerous sources, sharply contradict those published by the Israeli military. However, B’Tselem visited homes and gathered death certificates, photos, and testimonies relating to all 252 children under 16, and has the details of 111 women over 16 killed.

The purpose of the presentation was to educate the public, but unfortunately the public does not attend these events; the people who already know what is going on do. Here are some recent facts they presented:

• The U.S. donates $23,000+ to every Israeli citizen in Israel, every year.
• In 2006, the Jewish settlement in Palestine total was 40 million, and the U.S. paid for it.
• In 2006 the total U.S. allocation to Israel from the U.S. was $4.36 billion, which we paid for.
• Israel took 95,989 acres of Palestinian land in 2006. We pay for this. We also pay for the wall, which snakes around strategically to cut off families and towns.
• The Berlin wall was only 96 miles long. The Israeli wall is planned to be 403 miles long, and it has nothing to do with preventing terrorists from entering Israel.
• Palestinians cannot even use Israeli roads, and their license plates mark them as Palestinians, which is a racist mark. These facts are just a few of many this CP team presented. At the end of the recording is an interesting Q & A also.

You can listen to this presentation of their experiences in Palestine last year by clicking here (opens a podcast file in a new window).

Today’s episode covers U.S. news, news about Karl Rove, news about diplomatic efforts, climate change, and the $ 819 billion dollar stimulus package that Obama wants passed. No Republicans voted to pass it in the House on Wednesday night and it passed anyway. That’s because President Obama has a mandate and intelligence on his side. Yes, dear Republicans, the Democrats won. Anyway, I defend the spending bill and one reason is the money for transportation and energy and the new electric grid, all of which we need badly.

See this train? Other countries have super-fast commuter trains and we don’t — yet. Why is that? Could it be due to Exxon or BP? We need super-fast, super-efficient transit in the U.S. and it’s ridiculous that we don’t have any. Something or someone must be obstructing their development. There are even solar-powered bullet trains in development, but I bet the U.S. will be one of the last countries to get one, thanks to the obstructionist Republicans.

I play a short clip of Al Gore’s very long testimony in front of Congress on Wednesday. I will have the entire recording (3 hours) shortly, and it will be available on Podcast Liberally only.

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Music clip: Runaway Train by Eliza Gilkyson

Wondering what President Obama is busy doing to promote peace in the Middle East? He started with returning the US to the “moral high ground” by ending torture and signing an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He then continued on Thursday at the State Department with Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East.

But, why are we still bombing Pakistan? These and other mysteries will be covered in episodes to come.

Played: Clips from Obama at the State Department and former senator, now Middle East special envoy, George Mitchell from last October.

Something on your mind? Send me news, tips, and music for the podcast by using the form here (Contact tab on the top), or email me with news and comments.

You can also call my Skype comment line 24/7 at : 320-300-4273.

The shorter episodes will continue for now, but Civilianism in its more in-depth format (i.e., really long form) will return at some point later on.

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It’s a New Year with all of the Old Problems, and then some.

The slaughter of innocent people in the Gaza strip continues with the blessing of the United States, while Dick Cheney and George Bush go on their media Fairy Tale Hour speaking tours. Both have admitted torture and are trying to avoid being prosecuted for war crimes by kissing up to the Obama administration and the media.

We get 30 seconds of news given to the war in Gaza, which we are helping to fund and supply with weapons, in our mainstream media’s nightly news. No wonder Americans are in favor of whatever it is that Israel is doing.

There were no Hamas rockets during the ceasefire of mid-June through November 4th, when Israel broke the ceasefire by attacking and kiling 6 Palestinians. Now, the propaganda wars are waging as fiercely as the bombing and shooting war in Gaza. As the death toll has gone over 1,000 with most of the dead being civilians, it’s hard to imagine why our Congress has endorsed this brutality, unless you reach the conclusion that the U.S. government is somewhat, ah, . . . . . . corrupt.

Pardon me, did I say that out loud?

Join me in my search for Happiness. I think I have found it.

Here is Froomkin’s little summary of the Bush legacy, ‘The Bush Verdict is In”. World Freedom ‘Retreats for Third Year‘

Livestation TV – watch foreign media in good quality. This episode contains news from Wednesday night from Al Jazeera. Max Blumenthal’s video about the pro-Israel rally he did for Alternet.org is here.

I wish everyone a happy and peaceful 2009.

Podcast artwork by Rami Abbas, for Palestine.

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End Song: Michael Heart, We will not go down (Song for Gaza)
Middle song: Tom Chartier, Death Don’t Have No Mercy

What can we expect from foreign policy in the Obama administration in 2009 – will U.S. imperialism take precedence, or will peace? We can’t have both. The U.S. continues to impose its will by force around the world, and there is no sign of this stopping any time soon, because our new president says he will increase troops to fight the so-called “War on Terror”.

Gore Vidal, Andrew Bacevich, and Arundhati Roy strongly disagree with U.S. imperialist policy, and so do I. I play portions of all three, and a portion of an interview from KBOO radio.

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The Taliban Control 72% of Afghanistan, Surround Kabul, and NATO is in Denial

“Armed clashes in Afghanistan have reached the highest level since the Taliban was ousted by American-led forces in 2001, according to the United Nations. Taliban leader Mullah Omar today warned violence will rise and urged foreign forces to withdraw, Agence France-Presse reported, in his first public statement in a year. Pakistan militants torched 50 NATO trucks carrying supplies for troops in Afghanistan, the second such attack in as many days, AFP reported today, citing a police official.”

BBC article: Drivers halt Afghan supply route — Lorry Drivers in north-west Pakistan say they will no longer deliver supplies to NATO. If this means the war will have to end, that’s OK.
BBC: Countering the Taleban’s 20-year war
The Taleban is planning for a 20-year war in Afghanistan, so we must too, the article argues. I hope they are completely wrong.

Gore Vidal’s interview was about his book Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace
(here is another interview with him, for more information, not the one I played)
Arundhati Roy’s anti-war talk Come September can be downloaded from iTunes
You can read the transcript here.

Times Online: US accuses Britain over military failings in Afghanistan.

(The In These Times magazine article, “Obama’s Burden” that I read from, is not online.)

Also see: More U.S. troops to Afghanistan? by Russ Feingold

Also see: Official Calls for Sensitivity to Afghan Demands

Also see: Brzezinski: Surge In Afghanistan Risky, Some McCain Backers Want World War IV
Obviously, let’s not let them have it.

It’s time for American imperialism to end and peace to prevail.

This is the last episode of Civilianism for 2008, Happy New Year!

Details of the auto bailout are coming to light. GM might even dump the Cadillac! Cars really do need to evolve, for the good of the economy, the climate, the end of resource wars, and jobs. The auto industry is tied to all of these things, so solving its problems, not just putting a little bandage on it, would help everything.

Why does the U.S. need so much energy? Part of it is our temperature-moderated and leaky buildings, but even more of it is our cars. So along comes the $15 billion auto bailout, promises from the remaining auto makers to modernize, and 3 million jobs are saved. Or are they? It remains to be seen. What we do know is that this is NOT the fault of unions. The auto makers’ failures are the results of their own short-sightedness and lack of vision. We should have 75 mpg cars by now and millions of electric cars on the roads! That last part is exactly the vision of Shai Agassi, the founder and CEO of Better Place.

Better Place is an electric car and electric car powering station plan that is already in development. Cars are being designed, power stations are being put in place, and countries and states are being signed up to get on board. Already signed up are Israel, Japan, Denmark, parts of California, and the state of Hawaii. That means they are going totally green and emissions free with their transportation in these areas. You can read about this great plan here. My podcast includes a good audio recording of Shai Agassi describing his vision of our car future.

The Better Place car

This episode also includes the peak oil/economic collapse story of Dmitri Orlov. He witnessed the transformation of the former Soviet Union to current day Russia through economic collapse, and he describes what he thinks will happen here in the U.S.A. the reasons why. His blog Club Orlov, contains links to his famous “Five Steps to Collapse” presentation.
The Five Steps of collapse, explained in detail. And Introducing the Light-hearted Moment!

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Here are the links to things I read and mentioned in this episode: The Short History of the Electric Car

Thomas Friedman: While Detroit Slept

Saving US Autos the American Way by Brent Budowsky

The Encyclopedia of Country Living
How to live if the bottom falls out! Practical, not violent, survival guide.

Music: Japanese Car by Gideon Freudmann and Unsustainable by Eliza Gilkyson
(and she’s actually from TX)

Baby it’s cold outside! But that doesn’t mean it’s not warming up out there. Heat shock is hitting the public consciousness. Can we do what’s necessary for climate change, and is there time? This episode explores that very serious question. Our hope is that Obama will take action in time to prevent runaway climate change. His new national security team, including Hillary, might help out with that.

Terrorism and wars continue to rage overseas. Bush continues to try to push through last-minute anti-environmental laws that our next president won’t be able to change. Examples are discussed in this episode.

But In America, with new leadership, we hope there is a brighter day coming.
Civilianism will be talking about these changes and asks for your help in letting our politicians know they have to act, and that we are behind them. There have been conferences going on in several locations lately, in preparation for Copenhagen in December 2009, a long 12 months away. The main conference going on at the moment is called the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-14).
You can read about it here and here at Climatechange.org.

You can also read about the Interfaith Climate Summit in Sweden. You can follow the Poznan Twitter feed for constant updates here — #Poznan UN Climate Summit tweets

It’s time for action, not talk, but the politicians have to get their cooperation hats on. This is the beginning of a new era of cooperation for the world.

This episode contains an interesting story connected to climate change as an introduction to the 2007 documentary “Life At the End of Empire” which you can find on a site full of information, including where to buy the movie at Whatawaytogomovie.com

The latest science suggests that preventing runaway climate change means complete decarbonization. I read most of George Monbiot’s recent article, One Shot Left

Edited testimony of James Hansen, and Tom Helweg-Larson of the Public Interest Research Centre in front of parliament on November 26 is in here too. You can download the whole 68 minute testimony from the Climate Page at ecoshock.org

Song at end: Here’s Your Future by The Thermals

I’m not sure, but I think it’s a song about global warming.

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