I like where you’re going but I would differ a bit on how you’re getting there. First, of course, Obama is not change as in turn the empire into a member of the world community.

The only document worthy of consideration, in my opinion, is not the constitution (which was designed to rule by an elite few not as a democracy but as a plutocratically run republic and it has pretty much provided that); it is the Declaration of Independence, a truly remarkable and revolutionary document. Like all documents they are only more than the paper their written on when we actually live by them. The DoI was a kind of appeasement and it too has worked. To this day progressive Americans and others walk around saying, “we’ve got to go back to what America once was.” or “we must take our country back.”

This is pure nonesense, but we’ve been brainwashed with the notion that this is a democracy of, for and by the people and YET the very structure of governance and that provided by the constitution has made that an impossibility.

The constitution is a corporate charter, not a declaration of freedom. It provides a “blueprint” for a small top-down elite to govern the masses in an orderly fashion.

This has always been a warring expansionist nation. It was set up by a few elite white men and with, but a recent change in color, it has not altered, in fact a woman president would simply be part of the same club.

The Declaration of Independence – beautifully written though it is – is a major RUSE. It makes you feel you ONCE had something called America, that it was once a great nation free and available to all. (There are occasions and spots on the map where some of this was transiently true, but never, ever universal and always short-lived.)

The LAT piece is typical Orwellianism. Every national security advisor, since oil was discovered outside US borders KNOWS that oil is part of national security.

This is NEWS!!!

Tax and 100% dividend. A “carbon tax with 100 percent dividend” is required for
reversing the growth of atmospheric CO2. The tax, applied to oil, gas and coal at the mine or
port of entry, is the fairest and most effective way to reduce emissions and transition to the
post fossil fuel era. It would assure that unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar shale and tar
sands, stay in the ground, unless an economic method of capturing the CO2 is developed.
The entire tax should be returned to the public, equal shares on a per capita basis (half
shares for children up to a maximum of two child-shares per family), deposited monthly in
bank accounts. No bureaucracy is needed.
A tax should be called a tax. The public can understand this and will accept a tax if it is
clearly explained and if 100 percent of the money is returned to the public. Not one dime
should go to Washington for politicians to pick winners. No lobbyists need be employed. James Hansen

How about three million.

Los Angeles Times

December 2, 2008

When Barack Obama introduced retired Gen. James Jones as his national security adviser Monday, he emphasized Jones’ understanding of “the connection between energy and national security.”

Obama touts that as a plus, but some environmental groups and global warming activists view Jones’ environmental record with suspicion.

Jones will not be directly responsible for environmental policy at the White House, but he has said energy is a “vital” national security issue. It affects domestic economic stability and international geopolitical relationships, particularly in the Middle East.

Jones sits on the board of Chevron Corp., and since March 2007 he has been president and chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for 21st Century Energy, which has come in for criticism from environmental organizations.

“They have a reprehensible record,” Frank O’Donnell, the outspoken leader of the Washington-based Clean Air Watch organization, said of the institute led by Jones.

The institute calls for immediate expansion of domestic oil and gas production, nuclear energy and use of clean coal technology, in addition to investment in renewable and alternative energy sources.

Chamber officials waved away the concern that the chamber represented extreme pro-industry views on climate change. “If you look at our reports, one thing you will see is balance,” said David Chavern, the chamber’s chief operating officer. “The general is a balanced, rational guy. That will serve him well as national security adviser.”

The nonprofit institute is an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s leading business lobby.

21st Century Energy the Chevron way. You have heard of that the Chevron way. There are two things that these people will have a very hard time with truth and knowledge.

Yes, we should be proud of ourselves for having overpowered the Republican rule and elected a black man as the president of the United States. Yes, George W Bush and his collaborators should be brought to justice and sent to prison. Yes, this is the only way for the Americans to right the wrongs of the past 8 years and to redeem themselves. But NO — don’t be expecting such an undertaking from the Obama administration. You WILL be greatly disappointed.

What gets the job done is grass-roots organizing. The momentum has been created. It is now up to the anti-war, labor, and social justice movements to go beyond the Democratic Party politics and take on the task of bringing these criminals to justice, and not just the US administration, but their counterparts: corporate CEOs. It might sound like a daunting or impossible task, but it can be done.

Wouldn’t we be better off with peace, goodwill and cordial relations between nations and checking global warming? Peace is eco-friendly . In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “The real and lasting victories are those of peace, and not of war.” N Kalyani, ET Bureau

So many reasons so little time.

as an optimistic afterword, prosecution coming from the public sector in possible collaboration with other willing government officials is more likely. The People vs George W. Bush, looks good on paper at least.

Best to you.

Joel, while many may sympathize with and delight in your sentiments, rationality is absent. First of all, Bush is not the only criminal, especially during the first five years that Chaney was likely calling the shots. Rumsefeld, Rice, Gonzalez and Powell are all just as guilty. So we’re not talking the prosecution of just one criminal, but up to at least a dozen complacent scumbags. How likely is it that Obama will jeopardize his far-sighted opportunity to have nearly absolute power as established by his predecessor? He would then be held accountable for any criminal activity that he subsequently commits, do you think he doesn’t know this? His advisors have already briefed him on this quixotic idea. Don’t wait around with high hopes for Obama to carry out such a heroic and noble act. That aside, how many presidents haven’t committed crimes of one form or another? You’ll be hard pressed to find any.

As for American democracy being redeemed by the election of Obama, far from it friend. It may have been redeemed if a third party candidate or a candidate presented from the ranks of a movement had claimed victory, but that’s NOT what happened. Anyway, the concept of American democracy is about as real as the American dream, the nation has never really been a democracy and that dream was a farce for the most part…although it did help sustain capitalism beyond its natural life expectancy. Sure, the people get to vote for politicians, but how about voting for policy, how about voting for social programs, how about more than a restrictive duopoly? These characteristics embody democracy.

The US is a plutocracy, an extension of the quasi-abandoned monarchy that only allows the wealthy to participate in governing. When was the last time our nation had a poor president climb through the ranks, or even one that wasn’t a member of the elite? Get back to me on that one.

It seems you may be confused about the reality of your government, and therefore not very practical of the implications in incarcerating George. Don’t give the gov so much credit. What you have is an admirable and justifiable claim, but so remote that it borders inconceivability. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Best to all.

I would have to say that the assumption right from the start, that this election has redeemed democracy, is rather naive to say the least. I am not certain what that even means, quite frankly. Perhaps it is because there were no mass reportings of malfesance concerning polling places-at least nothing that apparantly ‘worked’. Is that how low the bar for ‘democracy’ has become?

But the prayer-like attempt to implore Obama, as though he were a member of the pantheon of semi-gods is a bit unnerving. Yet i believe it captures the zeitgiest of this moment. And the closing sentiment, that after George Bush in imprisoned, God will once again “Bless America”?

I think this is absolutely idiotic and speaks to the fact that this kind of mindset- that of American exceptionalism and of the u.s. being in God’s favor are at the core of our hedgemonic exploits.