April 17, 2008
Philip A Farruggio

Stood on the same street corner yesterday for what..... the 38th month of Tuesdays. I may have personally missed perhaps 10 such Tuesdays in three and one half years of protest. There is now but a mere handful of us out there each week- mostly the same faces.

We get newcomers every so often, but few of them ever maintain the consistency of their passion. At least they took that step to show up, park and join us. We gaze at so many others, driving by our corner, who seem to agree with our position. Yet, they keep silent except for a momentary beep of the horn , a thumbs up or wave of the hand.

Then, they disappear into the abyss of a depressed society, factually and symbolically.

Our Congress has remained AWOL from the real debate that flows from that street corner, and vented through countless households and workplaces. This debate is not about the' He said She said' garbage of the Democratic candidates. Nor is it echoing the' fear card' rhetoric of the Republican party.

No, this debate is about what is so real and apparent to most working Americans: $600 billion dollars wasted on an illegal and immoral (so called) WAR has now' come home to roost' .

Our economy is in more than a shambles- its on a fast downward slope to an all out depression, not a recession. Gasoline prices spike along with the price of a barrel of oil, and Big Oil announces record profits.

Where is the outcry in Congress for 'Windfall Profits Taxes' on those who profit while Americans suffer? Where was the outcry and outright demand by the Federal Reserve (using our tax dollars) to Bear Stearns top execs to' give back' all salaries and bonuses and stock sales for the last year? If they need be bailed out, let the fat cats suffer as the taxpayer must!

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Silence, from the Fed and from the Congress. Silence from the candidates pleading for our vote (yours, surely not mine) in November. Where was the outcry from Congress on the recent news of' coordinated assent to use of torture' by the highest levels of this administration?

Not only should there have been' hearings of inquiry' into the run up to the invasion of Iraq, but this new revelation really takes the cake! How dare the University of California at Berkeley hire John Yoo as a professor! This is the man who CO wrote protocols daring to legitimatize torture, circumventing the sacred Geneva Accords. How dare any college allow (and actually pay) Karl Rove or Alberto Gonzales or any of the Bush gang to speak, or worse still, to teach, young minds!

So, as Rome burned, Nero fiddled.

As America stumbles as a world leader, we have a populace that emulates its Congress: 'Asleep at the wheel' .

When many awaken, the fires of economic, social and political destruction may be too great to overcome. Then, our great nation will be ripe for the ugliness of ultra nationalism AKA Fascism .

If only more of you out there would simply open your eyes, research history, pull over and park..... and stand for something!

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Philip A Farruggio [send him email] is a free lance columnist, small businessman and activist. Since the 2000 elections, he has written over 80 op ed columns- few if any get published or posted. to review some which have been shown, just google his name.

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