Any strategy for ending the insane belligerence of US foreign policy that fails to adopt,
as job number one, breaking the back of Israel’s political power in the US, is laughably
inadequate.

Israel’s power is the only piece of the war-policy machine that guarantees the support,
or at least the meek submission, of so many “anti-war”, “liberal” politicians,
journalists, and intellectuals. This is the element that guarantees that we will never
have the votes, even when “liberals” are in power, to change these insane policies.

The historical association of American Jews with the left, the preponderance of Jews in
positions of power, the taboo against pointing out a glaring and passionately
combative attachment to a foreign power (even among so many Jews who are
supposedly liberal), and the conventional equation of opposition to Israel with anti-
Semitism — all these factors prevent liberals and the left from ever being able to
muster a coherent opposition to the war machine.

Squawk all you want about the power of Big Oil or even the Military Industrial Complex
— they have nothing like the almost magical power of Israel’s minions to shut us all up
and compel obedience. Israel’s devotees are the only constituency whose power cannot
safely even be mentioned by anyone who wants to keep any sort of influential
position in public life.

First of all I would like to thank Dennis Kucinich ,Cynthia McKinney ,Chris Hedges and all the folks that showed-up for the event ;I am proud of your courage and resolve.The movement must start somewhere and
though it is in it’s infancy at the moment ,it must be pursued and no doubt with perseverance it will grow.This movement requires that the Grassroots put aside their Fear and replace it with Faith.Faith in oneself,
Faith in the children and Faith in thy neighbor,for fear itself is a condition of Ice a freezing of the senses,whilst Faith offers a clearing of the mind and an opportunity to smite fear and challenge the regression which it attempts to impose.During the Viet-nam War the American people were subject to a vast array of emotional avenues;most protesters were demonstrating against the war ,which in turn led many to criticize the soldiers of which many were conscripts ,others found inspiration in the music of the times ,and others found illumination through drugs but very few if any challenged the Corporatist equation at the time .Many considered Mai Lai to be the epiphany towards ostracizing the soldiers that were sent overseas to do the bidding of the State,while neglecting to understand that big business was uncorking the Champagne bottles
at the time because the blame was now squarely on the soldiers shoulders.Thankfully that is not the case today,but the dubious laws implemented by Dabya and Dick against the law abiding citizens of America and other Nations to protect and promote their Corporate Ideology leaves the populace in a virtual Grey zone of uncertainty and undermines the Constitutional rights of American citizens.This battle for rights is
not America’s and her peoples alone ,it has become a Global struggle and there are Allies in many countries that are opposing this form of assimilation ,I guess you could call it the other Coalition of the willing and
it definitely will require a concerted effort to change the tide,but it has to start somewhere and why not in America.

here is a little inspiration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgmM0SR_R_k

thank you, Cynthia Mckinney.

By Cynthia_McKinney, December 14 at 6:06 pm #

Very impressive, I work in Washington DC and didn’t hear anything about this rally.

103.5 WTOP is a zionist shill reporting agency, content with brainwashing our federal workers daily.
Nothing like this would be reported until a week later.

Cynthia McKinney for President!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRobryliBLQ

(Sorry I posted it three times.  I wanted to correct the typos.)

This is the speech I would’ve given if I’d been there on Saturday:

Chris Hedges is right.  It doesn’t matter if we’re in the minority.  It doesn’t matter if we have a small crowd here today.  As long as someone is here, even one person, we know we’re in the right, and we can live with ourselves.  What if we didn’t speak out?  Like Chris said, what if we just follow along because it’s safe that way?  Then we’re no better.  We’re no better than the ones who make the wars.  We wage the wars for them with our silence.  But that’s why we’re here today.  We refuse to be silent.

Our President, Mr. Obama, just won the Nobel Peace Prize.  It’s supposed to be a great prize, you know.  The highest honor humanity can bestow apparently.  And I listened to—well, no, I didn’t listen to his speech.  I read the text.  I couldn’t bear to listen to that man, with his soaring rhetoric.  No doubt he’s well intentioned.  He wants to keep the country safe.  He thinks—and I really believe he’s sincere—he thinks the terrorists are out to get us and that they’re gonna come get us from Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And so we gotta stop ‘em, before they come kill us.  He likens the terrorists, the extremists, the ... Muslims, to Nazis.  Of course, it’s just the fundamentalist, violent Muslims he’s out to get—not the average Muslims who keep quiet, or who don’t take up arms against our arms. 

And why is he out to get them?  Why is America still engaged in the war on terror?  They attacked us on September 11.  They’re going to attack us again unless we occupy their countries and kill ‘em all.  Yep, we gotta kill ‘em all.  That’s the only way we’ll be safe.  This is what Mr. Obama spoke about at West Point.  And this was the basic justification for war that he gave in his Nobel address.  Sometimes war is necessary, he said.  We have to see the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be.  We have to realize there’s evil in the world, and war is actually a part of God’s plan, because humanity is flawed, and sinful, and sometimes, in Mr. Obama’s words, unable to act within the bounds of reason.

But is it reasonable to believe that this war against the extremist Muslims, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, is going to turn out well for us?  Everyone with any sense, any reason, knows that we’re simply creating more terrorists by the second, every second we have our troops occupying their countries, killing their people, men, women, and, yes, children too.  Who is Mr. Obama to talk about the Nazis in his Nobel address?  Yes, the United States kills children just like the Nazis did.  Our killing isn’t intentional.  Now, I’m not a moral philosopher, but I think intention and action are pretty much the same thing.  They equal the same thing.  Maybe you didn’t intend to kill, but you still did kill.  Maybe you think your killing is for a good cause, for self defense, or national security.  But it’s still killing.  And don’t think God is going to pay attention to the nuances of your intentions.  It’s your actions that will be judged.

I’m speaking to you, Mr. Obama.  You want to quote from Martin Luther King and bring up the holy name of Gandhi in your Nobel speech?  That’s fine.  It’s good to look up to them.  But don’t sully their names with your justifications for war.  You’re not Gandhi, Mr. Obama.  You’re also not Jesus Christ.  You may be very powerful, but your kingdom is of this world. 

I’ll end by saying this: nonviolence may lead to failure.  Look, Jesus suffered and was crucified on a cross by the Roman state.  But how many people, about to celebrate Christmas, think Jesus Christ failed?  He wasn’t a failure.  His killers were failures.  Sure, they lived, and he died.  But life is not as important as truth.  And truth, my friends, is love.

God bless you and God help America.  Thanks.

This is the speech I would’ve given if I’d been there on Saturday:

Chris Hedges is right.  It doesn’t matter if we’re in the minority.  It doesn’t matter if we have a small crowd here today.  As long as someone is here, even one person, we know we’re in the right, and we can live with ourselves.  What if we didn’t speak out?  Like Chris said, what if we just follow along because it’s safe that way?  Then we’re no better.  We’re no better than the ones who make the wars.  We wage the wars for them with our silence.  But that’s why we’re here today.  We refuse to be silent.

Our President, Mr. Obama, just won the Nobel Peace Prize.  It’s supposed to be a great prize, you know.  The highest honor humanity can bestow apparently.  And I listened to—well, no, I didn’t listen to his speech.  I read the text.  I couldn’t bear to listen to that man, with his soaring rhetoric.  No doubt he’s well intentioned.  He wants to keep the country safe.  He thinks—and I really believe he’s sincere—he thinks the terrorists are out to get us and that they’re gonna come get us from Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And so we gotta stop ‘em, before they come kill us.  He likens the terrorists, the extremists, the ... Muslims, to Nazis.  Of course, it’s just the fundamentalist, violent Muslims he’s out to get—not the average Muslims who keep quiet, or who don’t take up arms against our arms. 

And why is he out to get them?  Why is America still engaged in the war on terror?  They attacked us on September 11.  They’re going to attack us again unless we occupy their countries and kill ‘em all.  Yep, we gotta kill ‘em all.  That’s the only way we’ll be safe.  This is what Mr. Obama spoke about at West Point.  And this was the basic justification for war that he gave in his Nobel address.  Sometimes war is necessary, he said.  We have to see the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be.  We have to realize there’s evil in the world, and war is actually a part of God’s plan, because humanity is flawed, and sinful, and sometimes, in Mr. Obama’s words, unable to act within the bounds of reason.

But is it reasonable to believe that this war against the extremist Muslims, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, is going to turn out well for us?  Everyone with any sense, any reason, knows that we’re simply creating more terrorists by the second, every second we have our troops occupying their countries, killing their people, men, women, and, yes, children too.  Who is Mr. Obama to talk about the Nazis in his Nobel address?  Yes, the United States kills children just like the Nazis did.  Our killing isn’t intentional.  Now, I’m not a moral philisopher, but I think intention and action are pretty much the same thing.  They equal the same thing.  Maybe you didn’t intend to kill, but you still did kill.  Maybe you think your killing is for a good cause, for self defense, or national security.  But it’s still killing.  And don’t think God is going to pay attention to the nuances of your intentions.  It’s your actions that will be judged.

I’m speaking to you, Mr. Obama.  You want to quote from Martin Luther King and bring up the holy name of Gandhi in your Nobel speech?  That’s fine.  It’s good to look up to them.  But don’t sully their names with your justifications for war.  You’re not Gandhi, Mr. Obama.  You’re also not Jesus Christ.  You may be very powerful, but your kingdom is of this world. 

I’ll end by saying this: nonviolence may lead to failure.  Look.  Jesus suffered and was crucified on a cross by the Roman state.  But how many people, about to celebrate Christmas, think Jesus Christ failed?  He wasn’t a failure.  His killers were failures.  Sure, they lived, and he died.  But life is not as important as truth.  And truth, my friends, is love.

God bless you and God help America.  Thanks.

This is the speech I would’ve given if I’d been there on Saturday:

Chris Hedges is right.  It doesn’t matter if we’re in the minority.  It doesn’t matter if we have a small crowd here today.  As long as someone is here, even one person, we know we’re in the right, and we can live with ourselves.  What if we didn’t speak out?  Like Chris said, what if we just follow along because it’s safe that way?  Then we’re no better.  We’re no better than the ones who make the wars.  We wage the wars for them with our silence.  But that’s we’re here today.  We refuse to be silent.

Our President, Mr. Obama, just won the Nobel Peace Prize.  It’s supposed to be a great prize, you know.  The highest honor humanity can bestow apparently.  And I listened to—well, no, I didn’t listen to his speech.  I read the text.  I couldn’t bear to listen to that man, with his soaring rhetoric.  No doubt he’s well intentioned.  He wants to keep the country safe.  He thinks—and I really believe he’s sincere—he think the terrorists are out to get us and that they’re gonna come get us from Afghanistan and Pakistan.  And so we gotta stop ‘em, before they come kill us.  He likens the terrorists, the extremists, the ... Muslims, to Nazis.  Of course, it’s just the fundamentalist, violent Muslims he’s out to get—not the average Muslims who keep quiet, or who don’t take up arms against our arms. 

And why is he out to get them?  Why is America still engaged in the war on terror?  They attacked us on September 11.  They’re going to attack us again unless we occupy their countries and kill ‘em all.  Yep, we gotta kill ‘em all.  That’s the only way we’ll be safe.  This is what Mr. Obama spoke about at West Point.  And this was the basic justification for war that he gave in his Nobel address.  Sometimes war is necessary, he said.  We have to see the world as it is, not as we’d like it to be.  We have to realize there’s evil in the world, and war is actually a part of God’s plan, because humanity is flawed, and sinful, and sometimes, in Mr. Obama’s words, unable to act within the bounds of reason.

But is it reasonable to believe that this war against the extremist Muslims, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, is going to turn out well for us?  Everyone with any sense, any reason, knows that we’re simply creating more terrorists by the second, every second we have our troops occupying their countries, killing their people, men, women, and, yes, children too.  Who is Mr. Obama to talk about the Nazis in his Nobel address.  Yes, the United States kills children just like the Nazis did.  Our killing isn’t intentional.  Now, I’m not a moral philisopher, but I think intention and action are pretty much the same thing.  They equal the same thing.  Maybe you didn’t intend to kill, but you still did kill.  Maybe you think your killing is for a good cause, for self defense, or national security.  But it’s still killing.  And don’t think God is going to pay attention to the nuances of your intentions.  It’s your actions that will be judged.

I’m speaking to you, Mr. Obama.  You want to quote from Martin Luther King and bring up the holy name of Gandhi in your Nobel speech?  That’s fine.  It’s good to look up to them.  But don’t sully their names with your justifications for war.  You’re not Gandhi, Mr. Obama.  You’re also not Jesus Christ.  You may be very powerful, but your kingdom is of this world. 

I’ll end by saying this: nonviolence may lead to failure.  Look.  Jesus suffered and was crucified on a cross by the Roman state.  But how many people, about to celebrate Christmas, think Jesus Christ failed?  He wasn’t a failure.  His killers were failures.  Sure, they lived, and he died.  But life is not as important as truth.  And truth, my friends, is love.

God bless you and God help America.  Thanks.

Brilliant speech Cynthia!

“Many people WANTED to come to DC on the 12th but couldn’t make it due to budget constraints, etc.”—Jeanine Molloff

Jeanine is absolutely correct! If I could have been there, I would have been—currently, about all I can do is pay rent and buy food. Beyond that—I’m tapped out and looking for work!

However, here in NYC, I attended an anti-war rally on December 3, following the official Obama announcement that he decided, after great deliberation, to escalate the war in Afghanistan, again. Sadly, very few people attended the rally.

Without a doubt, we need more people in the streets, but I have have to hit the streets where I live, I have NO resources to travel! 

Thanks to Cynthia McKinney for taking the time to add your speech and comments to ours! Maybe, truthdig can add the video so that we have access to it!

Truthdig omitted my participation in the rally even though I preceded Nader, Gravel, and Hedges; I include here my remarks:

My fellow Americans,

Millions of us are drinking dirty and contaminated water;

4 million of us will get foreclosure notices by the end of this year;

25 million of us are un- or underemployed;

47 million of us have no health insurance and millions more are under-insured.  My aunt was killed by the health care system in this country, not because she didn’t have insurance—she did.  What she didn’t get was quality care.  And amid all the talk about health care, no one is talking about quality care.

My cousin, who is no more than 24 years old, is now $100,000 in debt because she wanted to get an undergraduate college education.

But the trials of my family are not our story alone:

Millions of us are in the same boat.  And no matter how hard we wish for a better world, and a kinder country, our policy makers are not delivering on our hopes and dreams.

In fact, the dreams of our country stand deferred and drowned in debt.

Sadly, in the face of growing income inequality, our President chose to transfer over 23 trillion of our hard-earned dollars to the bankers and financial elite—who didn’t have to work hard for it at all, just tank our economy.

So huddled in fear, we pray together that the flu, a hurricane, the Great Depression, or the next terrorist attack doesn’t hit us.

Now, given all these problems what do our leaders do?

Bomb, maim, and kill people on the other side of the planet whose resources certain powerful people in this country want to steal and whose territory occupies the land needed for global conquest.

Instead of investigating war criminals in the Bush Administration, President Obama has chosen to become one.

Our President is now complicit in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace.

So what are we to do?

We will not give up and we will not go away.

We are not so demoralized that we can’t see the truth; we know that lies are not truth; ignorance is not strength, and war is not peace.

We see the power of the ballot in Latin America where voters in unrigged elections are choosing freedom.  Our freedom is under siege—as much right here as it is in Haiti or Honduras.

If U.S. politics was truly democratic, we would not have war.  That’s why I support Senator Gravel’s national initiative project.

Who has $100 million of their own money to spend to get elected, like New York’s Mayor did?

We are ready to act on our dreams—to create the kind of change that graduates students from college—free of charge.

That treats medical ailments—free of charge.

That reflects our interests, not the special interests.

That gets peace candidates for Congress elected all over this country.  And that elects a peace President!

While our fellow Americans are afraid to get sick; struggle to keep a job, educate their children, stave off foreclosure, and make ends meet, we will not rest.

As long as bombs drop and civilians die, we will not rest.

While the oligarchs and the war machine get our money, we will not rest.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lamented that both political parties failed to take a stand for what was right; he said that our scientific power had outstripped our spiritual power; that we possessed guided missiles and misguided men.

Well, President Obama:  Don’t be misguided!!

Stop shielding war criminals from justice in our courts;

Stop supporting the Patriot Act and spying against us environmentalists and peace activists;

Stop granting power to the Federal Reserve;

Close Guantanamo!

Stop torture and rendition, secret prisons, and building military bases all over the planet.

President Obama:  Stop the saber-rattling at Iran!

Stop the drones and depleted uranium; Stop bombing Somalia.  Stop using war as an energy policy!

Stop bankrupting our nation!

We will not rest; we will not stop; and our peace candidates will win!

I got mad heart for Ralphy!  Always will…

mr obama is going to go down as one of the biggest disappointments in recent history…right next to good ol Jimmy Carter.  I think its funny how the world is lavishing this dude, yet, the contrasts between O & W are few at best and in my opinion, more superficial than political.

with that said, i felt this quote by our former president was prudent:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

—President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

What does Mike Gravel have to lose, that he can’t stand up and demand of his colleagues that they produce the evidence on which their pro-war stances are not only based but dependant?

When my representative tells me that the evidence is so secret that even he can’t see it, I tell my representative that he’d better find a way to make that evidence available to those he expects to do the dying in the war he’s so hot to have, or else he can look for another job.  What’s he going to do: Represent the people of his state by telling soldiers on their way to die that they can’t be trusted?

thecrow, December 14 at 10:10 am

Mostly I remember Larry King, who, after he’d interviewed all the other candidates, turned to Kucinich and challenged him with, “What are *you* doing here.”

It wasn’t only as though King considered Kucinich to be something foolish or grotesque, seated among royals.  It was what King was saying of Kucinich’s constituents, and all those who, until that moment, had been relying on Kucinich.

Hedges calls-out the Beast as boldly as anyone:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/forever-war/

Study how Kucinich, Gravel, Nader and McKinney were ignored or smeared to the margins in ‘08 and you will know all you need to know about the Machine and how it selects its Oval Office salesmen.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/belling-the-cat/

Remember this double-tap of the courageous Kucinich by St. Timothy Russert?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/31/kucinich-i-saw-a-ufo/

“What if they had a war and nobody went? What about a rally? What if they had a
rally and no one came? Well, Chris Hedges helped organize a rally which is what
many on Truthdig wanted, even though he is a writer. The rally became a reality,
minus the participants. Does this give strength to Obama, the military complex
and Wall Street? You tell me.

Nader said something very interesting; he said Obama’s
constituency has no place to go, that’s why he ignores
them. Telling, very telling.

It is unfortunate that there were so few in attendance. Had this been a pro war rally attended so sparsely Fox News would have been forced to show crowd clips of some other rally in some other place at some other time.

I think this event indicates a small but important turning point. Obama has overreached himself on the war and on the continuation of welfare for crooked financiers. Those who spoke here are speaking for a majority of Americans and they are speaking truth. I believe that, albeit slowly, more and more will make their opinions and their opposition known.

Obama may have doomed himself to a single term.

Nice to see the video clips here of Messrs. Nader, Hedges, & Kucinich, who delivered great speeches… But why only these big-name white guys?  Where’s Cynthia McKinney, another headliner at the rally, who also gave a rousing speech?

Fortunately, you can watch Ms. McKinney on the End US Wars web site (http://www.enduswars.org), which has lots of clips of other speakers too, and also on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60U_AlCim9A).  End US Wars deserves the credit for organizing the rally.