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AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist
Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
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The War Against Us All
#6325293 - 12/01/06 06:38 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Below is the recorded speech by Mumia Abu-Jamal played at March 19 antiwar rallies around the country.
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I thank you for your kind invitation to speak at this protest against the war. This war in Iraq isn’t the end; it’s the beginning of wars to come all around the world at the whim of the neo-cons in the White House. This is the Bush Doctrine come to life: war, war, and more war. War brought to you by the big corporate masters who run the show.
This isn’t just a war against Iraqis or Afghanis or even Arabs or Muslims. It is ultimately a war on us all. That’s because the billions and billions of dollars that are being spent on this war—the cost of tanks, rocketry, bullets, and yes, even salaries for the 125,000-plus troops—is money that will never be spent on education, on health care, on the reconstruction of crumbling public housing, or to train and place the millions of workers who have lost manufacturing jobs in the past three years alone.
The war in Iraq is, in reality, a war against the nation’s workers and the poor who are getting less and less while the big defense industries are making a killing—literally. What’s next? Iran? Syria? North Korea? Venezuela? We’ve already seen the corporate media play megaphone to the White House to build and promote a war based on lies.
It’s been a long time ago, but that great Russian revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, said, “War is utilized by the imperialists, first and foremost, to crush internal enemies.” We’re seeing the truth of his insight when we see the sad state of American education, the rush of seniors to buy affordable medication from the Canadians because American drugs are just too expensive, the threatened privatization of Social Security, and the wave of repression that comes with an increasingly militarized police. Does the Homeland Security Department make you feel any safer?
In Black America things get grimmer every day as resources that are already scarce begin to shrink even further. Young people feel that prisons are rite-of-passage, an inevitable place to visit. And a decent job seems like a distant dream.
This is a war on all of us, and the struggle against war is really a struggle for a better life for the millions of folks who are in need here in this country. The fight against the war is really to fight for your own interests, not the false interests of the defense industries, or the corporate media, or the White House.
Down with the wars for empire! Ona Move! Long live John Africa! From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
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RandalFlagg
Stranger
Registered: 06/15/02
Posts: 15,608
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I think he's a murderer and a scumbag.
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MushmanTheManic
Stranger
Registered: 04/21/05
Posts: 4,587
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: RandalFlagg]
#6325492 - 12/01/06 07:50 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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While he is a pesky Marxist, I think this speech was pretty good.
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AlteredAgain
Visual Alchemist
Registered: 04/27/06
Posts: 11,181
Loc: Solar Circuit
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He could be a fascist dictator for all i know, but it's his words i posted here that resonate with me.
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Divided_Sky
Ten ThousandThings
Registered: 11/02/03
Posts: 3,171
Loc: The Shining Void
Last seen: 15 years, 9 months
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I don't know how credible a guy who is in jail for killing someone is on violence, but at least he makes a little sense.
-------------------- 1. "After an hour I wasn't feeling anything so I decided to take another..." 2. "We were feeling pretty good so we decided to smoke a few bowls..." 3. "I had to be real quiet because my parents were asleep upstairs..."
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niteowl
GrandPaw
Registered: 07/01/03
Posts: 16,291
Loc:
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: Divided_Sky]
#6326410 - 12/02/06 03:42 AM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Not all people who are in jail are guilty of the crimes that put them there.
Regardless of who this man is...his words do make some sense on some levels.
Even thought I can feel some fanaticism in this speech.....sometimes it takes one type of fanatic to over-run another type of fanatic.
-------------------- Live for the moment you are in nowDon't be bogged down by your pastDon't be afraid of what lies in your future
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Catalysis
EtherealEngineer
Registered: 04/23/02
Posts: 1,742
Last seen: 15 years, 8 months
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I don't see how privatizing social security (i.e. letting me keep my money) is a war against me. It seems more like the people trying to take my hard-earned money are waging the war against me.
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Economist
in training
Registered: 10/11/05
Posts: 1,285
Last seen: 16 years, 7 months
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Good Lord, people still listen to this nutjob.
Just to put some of this into perspective: First millions of workers have NOT lost manufacturing jobs. Infact, outside the auto industry, the entire manufacturing sector in the United States is up, as is employment as a whole. About 5 seconds on the Burea of Labor Statistics website will both of these facts. Whether Abu-Jamal likes it or not, unemployment is at historically low levels, and its gotten lower since the start of the Iraq war. Now, I don't think Iraq had anything to do with the creation of more jobs, but it certainly hasn't hurt the job market either.
Second, the US currently spends more money on education than every other developed nation except for Switzerland. (Source: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/41/13/35341210.pdf ) The US spends of average of $11,152 per pupil per year, while the average for OECD nations is $7,342. So, it's pretty clear that more money into the educational system isn't the solution. Maybe if the system were first fixed (and I'll give you a clue where to start, you can fire high school teachers in Europe, something you can't do in America) then additional money would help, but, garbage-in garbage-out as they say.
Third, I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll have to say it again, anyone who thinks that the Iraq war was created for profit purposes is just silly. President Bush could far more easily make a fortune for himself and his friends through less conspicuous means: like currency manipulation and bond issues. Agree with him or not, he genuinely believes the crap he spews.
Fourth, Trotsky are you KIDDING?
Fifth, Canadian drugs are cheaper because Canadians are getting a free ride on American medical achievement. As of 2003, 70% of all global drug development takes place in the United States. (source: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/294/11/1333.pdf ) Why do you think that is? Because drugs developed in the United States can generate more money. The problem occurs when nations like Canada decide that they want to limit the cost of drugs. Since the drugmakers are already turning a patent-related profit in the US, there's no harm in selling at what would otherwise be a loss in the Canadian market.
So, Canada is getting a free ride on US research.
Now, if you want to see that research stop, go ahead and pass some legislation similar to Canada's, but don't expect to see quality of life increase any time in the near future after you do that.
Sixth, the corporate rhetoric is bull. Halliburton doesn't represent the vast majority of corporate interests or culture in the United States. Last I checked, Microsoft, Walmart, and Morgan Stanley (you know, an actually representative sample of American corporations) weren't taking a position on the war, and if anything many were against it (McDonald's and KFC don't like having their unrelated overseas restaurants trashed) but I guess it's the right of anyone on death row to talk out of their ass.
Finally, to use a quote from the Big Lebowski "Walter, there's no connection to the [Vietnam] War!" Just like Walter Slobcheck, I'm sure Abu-Jamal sees a "litteral" connection between the plight of the black community and the Iraq war, but prison time being viewed as a "rite of passage" has absolutely nothing to do with the conflict in Iraq.
But hey, if people want to get all angered and hyped up about what Abu-Jamal has to say, more power to them, I just wish they'd spend some time on the internet doing a little research.
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Conservationist
Stranger
Registered: 12/02/06
Posts: 435
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: niteowl]
#6326974 - 12/02/06 11:28 AM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
niteowl said: Not all people who are in jail are guilty of the crimes that put them there.
You have to be on crack to presume that Mumia Abu-Jamal is innocent. The guy shot a cop in the back with his own gun and admitted as much in court before he came up with this challenge about "the racist system keeping me down."
He told you the obvious in his speech, and you're listening because... because you couldn't have these ideas yourself? Who are you kidding?
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DieCommie
Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 29,258
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Fuck that guy! I want privitized social security!
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs
Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 5 months, 8 days
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: DieCommie]
#6327490 - 12/02/06 02:19 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Me too!
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niteowl
GrandPaw
Registered: 07/01/03
Posts: 16,291
Loc:
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: DieCommie]
#6327508 - 12/02/06 02:31 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Do you think your gonna get all your money back from the Social Security System that you put into it, if that happens?
-------------------- Live for the moment you are in nowDon't be bogged down by your pastDon't be afraid of what lies in your future
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs
Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 5 months, 8 days
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: niteowl]
#6327838 - 12/02/06 04:21 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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You could back even more if you're a skilled investor.
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Silversoul
Rhizome
Registered: 01/01/05
Posts: 23,576
Loc: The Barricades
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: Redstorm]
#6327844 - 12/02/06 04:24 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Redstorm said: You could back even more if you're a skilled investor.
But as for the other 95% of us...
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs
Registered: 10/08/02
Posts: 44,175
Last seen: 5 months, 8 days
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: Silversoul]
#6327859 - 12/02/06 04:31 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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Then you invest in gov't-backed mutual funds or other low-risk, low-gain investments.
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Luddite
I watch Fox News
Registered: 03/23/06
Posts: 2,946
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: Redstorm]
#6328313 - 12/02/06 07:37 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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I started investing heavily in REITs because they are low risk (mainly equity REITs, mortgage REITs are interest rate sensitive) only to see them beat the S&P 500 6 years in a row. By law they have to pay out 90% of their earnings to share holders as dividends and in that way you have a more or less reliable stream of dividends with growth. A real estate mutual fund is a good investment. Its diversified and the ones that aren't index funds are professionally managed. Cohen and Steers funds and Ken Heebner's real estate funds usually beat the NAREIT index. http://www.cohenandsteers.com Some closed end bond funds have dividend yields of 9-10% which has been consistant for years. Look at PHK and FHI for instance. http://www.bigcharts.com
ADVDX is a good fund for dividend paying stocks.
Some ideas for getting richer faster than you thought possible with low risk. http://www.streetauthority.com/cmnts/cp/archive.asp
Edited by Luddite (12/02/06 07:39 PM)
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Luddite
I watch Fox News
Registered: 03/23/06
Posts: 2,946
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Re: The War Against Us All [Re: Luddite]
#6328328 - 12/02/06 07:41 PM (17 years, 3 months ago) |
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This article is a must read for everyone. http://h1.ripway.com/SriBaba/pdfs/MoneyJan1996-Scheiber.pdf If she can become a millionaire, so can you. Become a millionaire made easy.
Edited by Luddite (12/02/06 07:42 PM)
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