2014 MIDTERM ELECTIONS WILL CHANGE NOTHING

 The 2014 midterm election will change nothing in the United States ~ 2014 is set to be the most expensive non-presidential election in US history and unfortunately money buys elections. Not only do politicians do the bidding of the wealthy, they themselves are increasingly numbered among the rich and super-rich and they follow their corporate masters. Social inequality rules in America and the 2014 midterm election has been reduced to Kabuki theater as millionaire Republicans and Democrats rearrange the chairs on the deck of the sinking Republic while the main stream press tries to convince us that it all really matters: Allen L Roland, Ph.D

 

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to the point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or any controlling private power. ": President Franklin Delano Roosevelt  

 

The 2014 midterm election is a particularly menacing level of Donkey Kong for Democrats. But 2016 isn't. Why? Ezra Klein offers a simple explanation of this political game in this excellent three minute video ~  https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GANnzyFXVBU

 

To fully understand this reoccurring political theater we must fully understand the American Oligarchy. WSWS cuts to the chase in their recent article ~ THE AMERICAN OLIGARCHY ; " What accounts for this hollowing-out of American politics and the transformation of elections into empty biennial rituals? As with all significant political transformations, these changes are rooted in deeper social processes. One does not have to look all too far to identify them. Over the past several weeks, report after report has been released documenting the extraordinary growth of social inequality in the United States and throughout the world. Late last month, Forbes magazine reported that the 400 richest people in the United States saw their wealth grow 14 percent over the past year. The following week, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that global social inequality has eclipsed the pre-Great Depression highs of the 1920s."

How can these vast changes in economic relationships not have had a profound and transformative impact on political life?

Andre Damon, WSWS explains ~ "The historian Edward Gibbon once summed up the political form of the Roman Empire as “an absolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth.” Taking our cue from his definition, we can say that the United States has become an oligarchy disguised by the outward, increasingly threadbare trappings of a democracy…..Whatever the pretense of “one person, one vote,” the fact is that the top 0.1 percent dictates policy and essentially selects the personnel tasked with carrying it out." See WSWS article  ~  http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/18/pers-o18.html

 

The Supreme Court's 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission helped unleash unprecedented amounts of outside spending in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. The case, along with other legal developments, spawned the creation of super PACs, which can accept unlimited contributions from corporate and union treasuries, as well as from individuals; these groups spent more than $600 million in the 2012 election cycle. It also triggered a boom in political activity by tax-exempt "dark money" organizations that don't have to disclose their donors.

Citizens United, in essence, established corporate personhood where corporations have the same weight as individual voters but with obvious incredible financial clout and leverage.

 

It always seems to come back to George Carlin telling the truth about Banksters, Corporations and who really controls America ~ 3 minute video http://agreenroad.blogspot.com/2012/05/george-carlin-who-really-controls.html

 
As such, the most important under reported and ignored political event in the United States at the present time is the Move To Amend movement.

 

Move to Amend is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests. It calls for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.

 

Find out more and how you can participate so that our future elections will no longer mean nothing. Sign up now ~ https://movetoamend.org/november-6-10-arizona-barnstorming-tour-shara-smith

 

 

Jon Stewart on Corporate personhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allen L Roland, Ph.D

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/2014-midterm-elections-will-change.html

 

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and transformational counselor Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private Skype consultations allen@allenroland.com

 

Allen L Roland is also a lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

 

 

RON PAUL WON'T GO AWAY / NOR SHOULD HE

With a long list of corporate and Wall Street lackeys, including President Obama, running for President in 2012, Ron Paul continues to represent Main Street and a tattered constitution in his quest for the presidency ~ while the corporate controlled media either ignores him or wishes he would go away: Allen L Roland

Last week was a good birthday week for Ron Paul: a statistical tie at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa last Saturday, a thousand New Hampshire voters at the Concord, New Hampshire office opening Wednesday night, and on Saturday, a resounding victory in the New Hampshire Young Republicans Straw Poll in New Castle and a money bomb of well over 1.5 million dollars raised for his campaign on his birthday, August 20^th.
Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/08/20/3364033/ron-paul-takes-new-hampshire-young.html

The defining traits of our next president should be integrity, character and principle, not whether he is a Democrat or Republican. As such, I believe our next president should be 12 term Texas congressman Ron Paul. As a progressive and former 2008 Obama supporter ~ I would vote for Ron Paul in a heartbeat over Obama in 2012 for those very reasons.

I am one of millions of Americans who want to vote for a man of integrity and clear principles in 2012 versus a shill for Wall Street and the corporate elite. However, the corporate controlled main stream media is well aware of the Ron Paul populist threat ~ which is why they either ignore or belittle his candidacy.

Watch this Jon Stewart Today Show video which tells the truth about Paul’s impressive success in Iowa and skewers the main stream media for ignoring this truth ~ in essence, pretending Ron Paul doesn’t exist. 4 minute must see video ~

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28857.htm

Now watch All Of Ron Paul's Questions & Answers at the Iowa GOP Debate of 8/11/11 ~ where Paul talks about our failed monetary system, the need to bring the troops home, the Federal Reserve, Iran, the rules of law, constitutional principles and in the process, he makes the other candidates, particularly Santorum and Bachmann, look silly or presidential pretenders. 15 minute video ~
http://www.dailypaul.com/173655/all-of-ron-pauls-iowa-fox-gop-debate-question-answers

When Paul was recently asked If he felt the media was treating him unfairly ~ Paul correctly responded: ''Sure. Yeah, they are and we need to ask them why,' he replied. 'I mean, what are they afraid of? We're doing well, we're certainly in the top tier, we did well in Iowa and we have a good organization, we can raise money. But they don't want to discuss my views because I think they're frightened by us challenging the status quo ... because my views are quite different than the other candidates', so they would just as soon us not get the coverage the others are getting and they will concentrate on establishment-type politicians."

Please watch this 30 minute video of Ron Paul’s The Revolution & The Anti-War Movement. Click to view http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article28904.htm

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/ron-paul-wont-go-away-nor-should-he.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

Living On The Edge Of Poverty

LIVING ON THE EDGE OF POVERTY

















Poverty in the U.S. today has many faces. For a homeless man on the streets of Los Angeles, it means not knowing where he will spend the night or where his next meal will come from. For a child in rural Alabama, it means going without breakfast and wearing tattered hand-me-down clothes. For millions of seniors, living from one social security check to the next, it means living on the edge of poverty.

In 2009, 4 million people fell into poverty which brings the total to over 43 million. Nearly 44 million Americans ~ one in seven ~ lived last year in homes in which the income was below the poverty level ~ and it's getting worse: Allen L Roland

Living on the edge of poverty is a far to common experience, particularly for seniors . In 2010, many seniors, including myself, are fed up with an Obama administration who evidently still feels that a top-down stimulus for Wall Street will eventually reach a down and out Main Street.

Geographically, southern and rural states tended to have the most poverty, with Mississippi faring the worst with 23.1 percent of people in poverty, with New Hampshire having only 7.8 percent.

Make no mistake about it , the current creeping so called economic recovery has been articifially induced by bailout funds while, in reality, we have been experiencing a full blown depression which will become obvious to all after the mid-term elections.

25.5 percent of consumers ~ nearly 43.4 million people ~ now have a credit score of 599 or below, marking them as poor risks for lenders. It’s unlikely they will be able to get credit cards, auto loans or mortgages under the tighter lending standards banks now use, according to AP.

As Christine Vestal writes in ICH ~ " More than 15 million Americans are unemployed, homelessness has increased by 50 percent in some cities, and 38 million people are receiving food stamps, more than at any time in the program’s almost 50-year history.. According to Richard Bavier, a former analyst for the federal Office of Management and Budget, already available data about employment rates, wages and food stamp enrollment suggest that an additional 5.7 million people were officially poor in 2009. That would bring the total number of people with incomes below the federal poverty threshold to more than 45 million. The poverty rate, Bavier expects, will hit 15 percent ~ up from 13.2 percent in 2008, when the Great Recession first started to take its toll."

Living on the edge of poverty numbs the spirit and replaces hope with fear ~ for millions of Americans are either living pay check to pay check or Social Security payment to Social security payment and an accident or major illness would take them over the edge into destitution.

This is Main Street reality and what politician is concerned about this and taking action ? Very few for Big money runs this country and Obama answers to them ~ not Main Street.

Allen L Roland

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on http://www.conscioustalk.net/

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

Quran Burning / Rationalized Islamophobia

QURAN BURNING / RATIONALIZED ISLAMOPHOBIA

The scripted threat of burning Qurans keeps alive the perception of America's hostility toward the Muslim World ~ thus reinforcing 9/11 fear mongering along with the rationalization for our ongoing illegal wars and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan: Allen L Roland

Note the timing of our latest bout with Islamophobia, the 9th anniversary of America's greatest bamboozle ~ the 9/11 cover up. See details ~ http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/911-cover-up-is-americas-greatest.html

As Lamis Andoni, Al Jazeera, rightfully points out on September 12th ~ Why does the US government think burning Qurans is less civilized than drone attacks on civilian Muslim populations?

Excerpt: " General David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan, warned that burning the Quran could endanger the lives of US troops who might become the target of retribution. But why do Obama and Petraeus think that burning the Quran is any less civilized or more dangerous than their use of unmanned drones to target suspected Taliban or al-Qaeda fighters and the subsequent civilian casualties these attacks often entail? Terry Jones, the pastor behind the planned Quran bonfire, may be insane, as some, including his own daughter, have suggested. But what excuse do sane and sophisticated people like Obama, Petraeus, and Robert Gates, the US secretary of defence, have? But in an atmosphere of 'Islamophobia' ( fed by a mistrust and ignorance of Islam ) and US wars against Muslim countries, the suggestion of a Quran-burning day becomes something much more significant. It also reflects the general dehumanization of Muslims and Arabs - particularly those who have been the victims of American and Israeli bombings - that has taken root, allowing some of the US public to become immune to the crimes committed by their own government or with their government's backing.... In the words of Kathy Kelly, an American peace activist who is currently facing trial for 'trespassing' in a drone-manufacturing plant during an anti-war protest, the mainstream media "does little to help ordinary [Americans] ... understand that the drones which hover over potential targets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen create small "ground zeroes" in multiple locales on an everyday basis". http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26346.htm

So there you have it, another Islamophobia smokescreen on the 9th Anniversary of 9/11 which conveniently covers up our own responsibility and a much needed re-investigation of this obvious false flag operation ~ while once again demonizing Islam. A recent Washington Post poll found that a plurality of Americans now have an unfavorable view of Islam, "the most negative split on the question" since Oct. 2001.

Mark Morford nails it ~ " America needs its demons. We need our enemies, our menacing and dark-eyed nemesis, that foreign and terrifying thing we do not understand and against which we must rally and wail, push and pull, fight and destroy." Certainly Fox News needs these demons ~ as it continues to feed Islamophobia to its angry, fearful and largely Republican right wing viewers.

Jon Stewart offers the most appropriate picture of this fear mongering with his Islamophobiapalooza / Terry Jones heeds God's call to not burn Korans, and Imam Rauf's reasonable answers sound like a threat to Fox News. Video ~ http://www.thedailyshow.com/

I rest my case ~

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/quran-burning-rationalized-islamophobia.html

This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on http://www.conscioustalk.net/

Cartoon courtesy of Tom Toles / Washington Post

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY

SEND IN THE CLOWNS / GLENN BECK SCHEME RALLY TODAY

Fox News host Glenn Beck, will be joined today on his march on Washington by former Alaska governor and fellow Republican buffoon Sarah Palin. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty Images

The only effective means of dealing with someone as outrageous and irrelevant as Glenn Beck is parody and Jon Stewart is more than up to the task: Allen L Roland

As Glenn Beck has his moment of infamy, at the Lincoln Memorial, on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's historic ' I have A Dream ' speech ~ I realize that Beck is just being Beck so why glorify his I Have A Scheme insanity with serious dialogue.

I agree with Simon Maloy who wrote ( Media Matters ) ~ "Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" is a cynical ploy that exploits the hopes, fears, and faiths of his followers, a "sick farce" in which Beck is trying to advance his own politics and ambitions while hiding behind "deranged posturing."

So why not ridicule it with satire and parody which is far more effective in exposing hypocrisy ~ and delivers its message while making us rightfully laugh.

No one is more effective in penetrating the bubble of hypocrisy than Jon Stewart ~ so here's his ten minute must see video take on Glenn Beck's ' Restoring Our Honor ' rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28th.
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2063?akid=151.3890.-DIkRP&t=16

Allen L Roland
http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/dend-in-clowns-glenn-beck-scheme-rally.html


This weblog is sustained through donations from people like yourself. Please send check or Money Order to Allen L. Roland, PO Box 1221, Sonoma,CA 95476 Also accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover .

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on http://www.conscioustalk.net/

ONLY THE TRUTH IS REVOLUTIONARY