THE EMPIRE IS CRUMBLING / BRING IN THE CLOWNS

The last refuge of a scoundrel is patriotism and this Independence Day 2014 as we celebrate our independence with parades, picnics and fireworks ~ let us not forget the clowns and scoundrels who cloak themselves in patriotism and represent the worst of America. There is no more despised clown or scoundrel who still represents the worst of American values, yet continues to cloak himself in patriotism, than Darth Vader himself, Dick Cheney ~ the behind the scenes architect of the 9/11 attacks and cover up, the promoter of the illegal war with Iraq for Oil resources, the instigator of illegal rendition, Guantanamo as well as the torture memos and whose self-described travels on the dark side have left America's crumbling Empire morally barren and spiritually lost: Allen L Roland

Dick Cheney is like a deadly and now dormant vampire who lives in the darkness and can only be truly eliminated by a wooden stake of truth driven into his treasonous heart of denial whereas the truth of 9/11 will finally be revealed as well as Cheney's role in America's greatest act of treason ~ a 9/11 cover up which is still being protected and ignored by the Obama administration.

First, the crumbling Empire. Only Chris Hedges truly captures the true ghoulish face of a fading American Empire as seen in the current disintegration of Iraq ~ "The disintegration of Iraq is irreversible. At best, the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis will carve out antagonistic enclaves. At worst, there will be a protracted civil war. This is what we have bequeathed to Iraq. The spread of our military through the region has inflamed jihadists across the Arab world. The resulting conflicts will continue until we end our occupation of the Middle East. The callous slaughter we deliver is no different from the callous slaughter we receive. Our jihadists ~ George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Thomas Friedman and Tommy Franks ~ who assured us that swift and overwhelming force in Iraq would transform the Middle East into an American outpost of progress, are no less demented than the jihadists approaching Baghdad. These two groups of killers mirror each other. This is what we have spawned. And this is what we deserve"  See article ~ http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_ghoulish_face_of_empire_20140623

Next, the barely living symbol and still performing clown of this crumbling Circus or Empire ~ Dick Cheney.

Cheney at Obama's 2009 inauguration

Suggested Caption: Obama's on board with the cover-up, now it's time to write my memoirs.

Dick Cheney's recent words of projection speak for themselves ~ " Rarely has a U.S. President been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr. Obama has told us he is 'ending' the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ~ as though wishing is made it so." June 17,2014 op-ed with his daughter Liz in the Wall Street Journal.

Now let's review Dick Cheney's fabrications and wishful thinking during the concerted Cheney led effort to sell our illegal war and occupation of Iraq from 2003 to 2005.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." August 22, 2002

"We believe he has reconstituted nuclear weapons"  March 16, 2003

"My belief is, we  will, in fact be greeted as liberators" March 16, 2003

"In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. He gave support to terrorists, has an established relationship with al Qaeda, and his regime is no more."  Nov 7, 2003

" What we did in Iraq was exactly the right thing to do. If I had it to recommend all over again, I would recommend exactly the same course of action."  Oct 5, 2004

" I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency" June 20, 2005

Thom Hartmann briefly describes the true cost of the Iraq war ~ "The Iraq War was the single biggest foreign policy disaster in recent - or maybe even all - of American history. It cost the country around $4 trillion dollars, killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of innocent civilians, left 4,500 Americans dead, and turned what was once one of the more developed countries in the Arab World into a slaughterhouse."

The obvious question is why would Dick Cheney obviously lie and deceive both the public and everyone around himself in both the run up to and aftermath of our illegal occupation of Iraq?

The equally obvious answer is Dick Cheney sees himself as a patriot and was and is still committed to defending the lie of Iraq because if he didn't ~ he would have to defend his and the Bush/Cheney administration's role in the orchestration of the needed Pearl Harbor event or the Bigger lie of 9/11 which led to the attack of Iraq. Cheney's best defense has always been his belief in a strong offense which explains his current blatant denial of the facts regarding Iraq.

And here's the 11 minute YouTube must see documentary of the Cheney, Bush and the PNAC Criminal Conspiracy to invade Iraq which obviously was preceded by the PNAC announced need for a new Pearl Harbor ~ which lo and behold became 9/11 within a year and the now infamous and thoroughly discredited official 9/11 story. See video ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egqqCYSfV2k

And finally, in the spirit of this Independence Day ~ here's the world's shortest fireworks display when over 7000 fireworks went off at the same time because of a computer glitch  http://digg.com/video/happy-4th-america-heres-7-000-fireworks-going-off-at-the-same-time?

Mark Twain correctly wrote ~ Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it ~ and our government most certainly does not deserve to be supported when it comes to using a highly suspicious 9/11 attack as a justification for the illegal war and occupation of Iraq.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism ….and today we sorely need it.

 

  

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-empire-is-crumbling-bring-in-clowns.html
 

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

 

Allen L Roland is also a lecturer and shares a weekly 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

 

MARK TWAIN / AMERICA'S SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE DAY

America's greatest truth teller and spirit of Independence Day was Samuel langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) whose fierce independence and homespun humor personified the true American spirit before it was eventually diminished by greed, lies, unjust wars and apathy: Allen L Roland

Born: November 30, 1835 (with Halley's Comet)
Died: April 21, 1910 (also with Halley's Comet...Twain predicted that his own death would occur with the return of the comet)
Nationality: American
Education: Very little, other than self-education in a library
Occupation: Printer's apprentice, typesetter, printer, steam boat pilot, miner, actor, author, humorist, inventor
Interests/Hobbies: Cats, dogs, gadgets, parapsychology, science, travel and pundit on all things American.

"The mania for giving the Government power to meddle with the private affairs of cities or citizens is likely to cause endless trouble, through the rivalry of schools and creeds that are anxious to obtain
official recognition, and there is great danger that our people will lose our independence of thought and action which is the cause of much of our greatness, and sink into the helplessness of the Frenchman or German who expects his government to feed him when hungry, clothe him when naked, to prescribe when his child may be born and when he may die, and, in time, to regulate every act of humanity from the cradle to the tomb, including the manner in which he may seek future admission to paradise."  Mark Twain

Here are a few of my favorite Twain quotes;

On Patriotism ~

Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels.

On Love ~

The heart is the real Fountain of Youth. -- Notebook, 1898

When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.-- Notebook, 1898

Love is not a product of reasoning's and statistics. It just comes
none knows whence and cannot explain itself.-- Eve's Diary

On Education and the wonder of Discovery                                                                                

Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned. -- Notebook, 1898

What is it that confers the noblest delight? What is that which swells a man's breast with pride above that which any other experience can bring to him? Discovery! To know that you are walking where none others have walked; that you are beholding what human eye has not seen before; that you are breathing a virgin atmosphere. To give birth to an idea ~ to discover a great thought. -- Innocents Abroad

( Note that this was exactly what I felt when I walked into a precognitive vision of the Golden Gate bridge from Fort Mason, San Francisco in 1987~ a vision that I originally had at 6 years old while living in New England ~ and KNEW in that instant that I was in a Unified Field of love and soul consciousness that existed beyond time and space and my task was to own it with the world )

On Congress

CONGRESS: The only "Distinctly Native American Criminal Class".
-- from The Devil's Dictionary

"No country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law, and that the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more."-- The Gilded Age

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. -- Following The Equator

On War

"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."
...The Mysterious Stranger

By and by when each nation has 20,000 battleships and 5,000,000 soldiers we shall all be safe and the wisdom of statesmanship will stand confirmed.
-- Notebook, 1902

"Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out ... and help to slaughter strangers of his own species who have done him no harm and with whom he has no quarrel .... And in the intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and works for "the universal brotherhood of man" ~ with his mouth"

On Nature

Change is the handmaiden Nature requires to do her miracles with. -- Roughing It

But it was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer that revealed the childlike wondrous heart that existed within Mark Twain as well as his profound connection to nature ~ and his words touched the innocent and adventurous hearts of millions, including myself, who also sensed the miracles that Tom Sawyer witnessed ~ “It was the cool gray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in the deep pervading calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred; not a sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation ~ Gradually the cool dim gray of the morning whitened, and as gradually sounds multiplied and life manifested itself. The marvel of Nature shaking off sleep and going to work unfolded itself to the musing boy ~ All Nature was wide awake and stirring, now; long lances of sunlight pierced down through the dense foliage far and near, and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the scene.” Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Here's the trailer for the original Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1938 ~ two minute video   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbFzmQIw4ok

Now Journey to Arrow Rock Missouri for an old fashioned 4th of July celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the filming of the Hollywood classic, "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer". Actors Johnny Whitaker and Jeff East recall what it was like to play Tom and Huck in the great outdoors of central Missouri. Uploaded on Jun 30, 2010 / 3 minute video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy__o_TbMGg

Happy Independence day but as Mark Twain wrote ~ The less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it -- Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/mark-twain-americas-spirit-of.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 a practicing psychotherapist, author and 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

THE GREATEST BATTLE OF ALL TIME / STALINGRAD

Mamayev Kurgan is a war memorial like no other on earth ~ for it is dominated by an angry goddess. The most gigantic, impressive and eerie statue in the world, Rodina-Mat, the Mother Goddess of Russia, touts up 160 feet without any pedestal, 20 feet higher than the Statue of Liberty ~ it is the resting place for 35,000 Soviet soldiers who died defending their city, their country and eventually the world.

Saturday, Feb. 2 marked a very obscure date for Americans, but one that saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of young American boys in World War II ~ it is the 70^th anniversary of the final surrender of German forces at Stalingrad ~ The decisive battle of World War II

I was only nine years old when the invincible German sixth army was decisively beaten in the battle of Stalingrad and the tide of World War II permanently changed.

Here's a six minute video clip of what the fighting looked like at Stalingrad in the middle of the Winter ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=OVvoo1qFPDo&NR=1

I vividly remember the shock and elation of that event even as a young child in Nahant, Massachusetts ~ for quite suddenly a glimmer of  world wide hope replaced the growing despair of watching an apparently invincible German Wehrmacht, that had conquered the entire European continent in less than three years, brought to its knees by the courageous Russian defenders of Stalingrad.

Americans have never had to defend their country from a fierce fighting force intent on occupying them such as Russia endured in World War 2 ~ so to truly understand the depth of Russian patriotism, as well as other occupied countries and states, we must understand the battle and triumph of Stalingrad against insurmountable odds.

The human cost was truly horrific, as Martin Sieff explains in his commemorative article entitled ~ The Greatest Battle of All Time ~ and Why It Still Matters Today.

Excerpt: "The colossal scale of the fighting between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War was well recognized by Americans and Britons at the time but it has been virtually forgotten since. But it dwarfed every other battlefront of the war combined. Eight out of 10 German soldiers killed in World War II died fighting the Red Army. The colossal total of nearly 27 million Soviet military and civilian dead was more than twice the death toll of all Americans, Britons, Commonwealth, French and even Germans killed in the war combined.... According to British military historian Anthony Bevoir, 1.1 million Soviet soldiers died in the Battle of Stalingrad and that does not include the at least 100,000 and possibly three times as many civilian inhabitants of the city massacred by the repeated waves of indiscriminate Luftwaffe air attacks….Nazi losses were colossal, too. According to Russian estimates, 1.5 million German and Axis soldiers lost their lives in the entire campaign, more than five times the entire U.S. combat dead for all of the war and more than twice the combined Union and Confederate dead of the entire U.S. Civil War."

The Russian triumph at Stalingrad rapidly led to a German retreat and the inevitable encirclement of Berlin by allied forces. Here's the scene in the German film Downfall, where Hitler finally realises he is defeated in Berlin, and lets out his anger on his Generals. This is the original video, parodied so many times on Youtube ~ the film is excellent and English Soft Subs/Closed Captions are available, look at the bottom right. 4 minute video ~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7PmzdINGZk

My point here is that patriotism that is grounded in overcoming a foreign invader ~ such as Russia's victory at Stalingrad ~ is far more formidable than just waving flags and singing anthems. America should be conscious that our illegal occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in millions of civilian deaths and displacements. More importantly they have also become the breeding ground of patriotic freedom fighters who can no longer be labeled insurgents or terrorists ~ who we use to justify even more military spending.

And who is paying the cost of roughly 3 trillion dollars for these illegal wars and occupations?

American families are now paying at least $20,000 each for these occupations (including the hidden social costs) with no end in sight.

It's the biggest bubble of all ~ The so-called US government takes our money;
Then gives it to corporate thieves and uses it to create mayhem around the world.
We are poorer for it.
Our children are poorer for it.
The nation is poorer for it.
It's really no more complicated than that.

See three minute video http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/war-is-a-racket-1/what-the-war-costs-1.html

Now, 70 years later, the apparently invincible American  Wehrmacht, as recently represented by Vice President Joe Biden, set the record straight at the annual Munich Security Conference ~ as reported by WSWS ".. not only is this decade-long exercise in US militarism not ended, it is about to erupt in a whole number of new areas across the globe, threatening the lives of countless millions of people." See article ~ http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/05/pers-f05.html

"The greatest threat to our world and its peace comes from those who want war, who prepare for it, and who, by holding out vague promises of future peace or by instilling fear of foreign aggression, try to make us accomplices to their plans." ~ Hermann Hesse

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-greatest-battle-of-all-time.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 web log and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net