As the old saying goes, "the greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist". It is remarkable as to how applicable that this saying is when applied to President Barack Obama. Obama was widely hailed as the man who would lead the nation out of the dark wilderness of the Bush-Cheney years of war, torture, mass-surveillance, destruction of civil liberties and grand scale theft by the jackals of high finance. Now it is apparent that Obama is not only a fraud but is arguably far worse than Bush and Cheney because because he kills with a smile, in particularly when it is the extrajudicial murders of American citizens who just happen to be on the "kill list" that is brought to him alongside his morning orange juice.
Fozzie Bear fascism has been a hot seller in the USA! USA! USA! under Obama and far too many fail to realize that there has been not only a seamless continuity bridging the road to hell of Bush-Cheney but actually a codifying of their worst policies. President Obama and his criminal administration have enabled the worst thieves on Wall Street, enhanced and expanded the NSA's surveillance and data-mining operations, enabled and supported war criminals conducting ethnic cleansing and murder operations in Gaza and Ukraine and currently has the country on a path to World War III with Russia.
The corrupt state-corporate media never calls bullshit. They instead cover up the worst of Obama's policies and actions while focusing on minutiae, spinning identity group issues so as to cover his previous indifference - for example to gays - and painting him as a victim of a deeply entrenched racist opposing party hellbent at undermining his agenda. Nothing could be farther than the truth - Obama is carrying out his exact agenda and outside of the political circus of the dueling cults of the red elephant and the eblue jackass there is rock-solid bipartisan support for what really matters to these people: war, fascism and wealth extraction.
With the dismal failure of the media to provide honest coverage it is always great to see grass roots groups who are dedicated to freedom, justice and dignity getting their message out. As George W. Bush once flippantly remarked - "you need to catapult the propaganda" he was onto something.
Following up on an article that I recently wrote on a Florida activist group's efforts to get out the word on the U.S. support of Israeli war crimes and genocide in my piece "Florida Group Bypasses Media to Get Word Out on Israeli War Crimes" I am proud to have been able to participate in an email interview with St. Pete for Peace. The group is currently engaged in an informational campaign to spread awareness that the Democrats are truly no better than their more overtly fascist counterparts when it comes to the business of America: WAR. The group is also running a contest"NOT The Lesser of Two Evils" which this writer strongly encourages that you take a look at.
DONN MARTEN: Why is St. Pete for Peace doing this contest?
CHRIS ERNESTO: The contest was designed to get people to think about the still rampant believe among many liberals and progressives that the Democratic Party is better than the Republican Party.
For almost 12 years St. Pete for Peace has been presenting facts to dispel this myth, but we felt we needed to take it up a notch and challenge people via this contest. The contest is also designed to give people an outlet for expressing their disgust with the one party system here in the US.
DONN MARTEN: You say that Democrats are just as egregious as Republicans. Why is this?
CHRIS ERNESTO: St. Pete for Peace is non-partisan, which means we can be objective, unlike most people who label themselves Democrats or Republicans. Because of this objectivity, it's been very easy to conclude that Democrats are at least as egregious as Republicans.
Look no further than Barack Obama's foreign policy. We believe war is the worst possible thing that can happen in society. In part because war inevitably includes death, suffering, poverty, sexual assaults, depression, homelessness, child abuse, environmental destruction, drug addiction, disease, misery, anger, and much more, all of which is bad.
Many people believe Obama less of a warmonger than George W. Bush, but Obama has dropped bombs on 6 countries compared to the 4 countries bombed under Bush.
And Obama has simply replaced US boots on the ground with drones, mercenaries and Special Ops. In fact Obama has deployed US Special Forces to 134 countries- compared to 60 under Bush.
He has significantly increased the US military footprint in Africa - at least 27 African nations now have a US military presence.
He has waged war on Libyawithout congressional approval, he tripled the troops in Afghanistan, he sharply escalated the drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen, he's continued the proxy war in Somalia, he tried to start a war in Syria, he supports Israel's war on Gaza (as did every Democratic US Senator), and now he's started another war in Iraq. And yes, it is a war in Iraq - anytime you drop bombs in a country it is a war.
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