June 10, 2008
Philip A Farruggio

Goodness, the Eastern philosophies have to be correct! This all cannot be real! This 'life ' as we know it must be some sort of illusion.... Or a delusion. The Hindus call this the Maya. Look around you. Size up the situation.

Ask yourself this, if you are under 70 years of age: have you ever seen things as bad as this? I mean, come on, forget the countless gadgets they sell you: you know, the I-pods and flat TVs and dish networks with their 5 million channels. The 'electronic this' and 'electronic that' you collect in some corner of your place of abode. Or the SUV that you now realize was a gas guzzling mistake. If you have kids, the army of unnecessary toys they really do not need. Or the never ending list of gymnastic schools, karate schools, Tae Kwando schools, soccer and baseball or basketball camps.

Too much bang for that ever shrinking buck. The buck you now need more and more to pump up that 6 or 8 cylinder monster in your driveway.

Face it gang, we, the regular folks, the '9 to 5 Americans,' as I refer to us, we have been first surrounded, then captured, and now held prisoner in a country, a culture, that has become a twisted never never land . How did it happen?

Don't look at me, or my friends who stand and protest and resist as best we can. We don't buy the gas guzzlers, or the endless supply of electronic junk. We read the alternative papers and magazines, watch and listen ( when available ) to the independent media. Few of us ( though more and more have been enticed ) follow the drumbeat of this Two party/One Party Scam.

They castigated this writer for supporting and voting for Nader in 2000. Well, as current events can tell you, I guess it was a good choice to have had a Vice President Lieberman, hah? No, we few out there stand on street corners, confronting both parties on issues like this illegal attack and occupation of Iraq, or the need for Medicare for All. We will be the 'baby thrown out with the bath water' when the economic crash hits rock bottom.

Historian Hannah Arendt summed it up, when explaining this dumbed down trip back into feudalism. She wrote:

Before they seize power .... Totalitarian movements conjure up a lying world of consistency which is more adequate to the needs of the human mind than reality itself, in which, through sheer imagination, uprooted masses can feel at home and are spared the never ending shocks which real life and real experiences deal to human beings and their expectations..... The force possessed by totalitarian propaganda.... Lies in its ability to shut the masses off from the real world.

Quite a mouthful, isn't it? It takes a few readings of her quote to finally 'connect the dots.' When a few mega corporations control most of the mainstream media, what we get is infotainment, not real news. Even the so called 'independent media' AKA PBS and dear Bill Moyers, is not immune to this.

Recently, on his Bill Moyer's Journal, he had a discussion of the Obama candidacy. On his show were Kathleen Jamison and Prof. Ron Walters, two run of the mill mainstream old style Liberals - nice and decent folks who would have supported any Democrat that the party leaders threw at them over the past decades.

Moyers allowed them to discuss Senator Obama and his run ( never really discussing core issues and core solutions offered by Obama ) through this 'looking glass' of the One party illusion. How he rallies young voters and the disenfranchised. How he reminds many of RFK.

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Well, Bill Moyers, you of all people should know better. You were an insider during the Vietnam War years. You knew that what the media told us and what the reality was always seemed to walk on opposite sides of the street.

RFK was no maverick.

He was what most politicians are: public opinion weathermen. RFK gave a candid speech in 1966, strongly supporting US presence in Vietnam. He was, at that time, strongly in favor of sending many more troops into that conflict (a surge?). His words were firm and steadfast, explaining how America could not leave Vietnam until we achieved victory.

It was only when Senator Eugene McCarthy did the legwork and the politically principled action of running against his president, and actually created a real momentum, did RFK decide to enter the fray. Moyers also knew that RFK was counsel to another, more sinister McCarthy, and his 'Witch Hunt' committee during the early 50s.

Moyers knew that RFK sat in on the meetings of the NSC during his brother's administration. There they plotted the illegal and unconstitutional acts of sabotage and assassination abroad. It was RFK that signed off on the illegal wiretapping of Martin Luther King.

No, Bill Moyers, you knew that RFK had too many political skeletons in his closet to dress him now as the maverick. Shall you allow others to do the same with Obama?

We know, or are learning quickly, the dirt on McCain. What of Obama? This so called 'grass roots' campaign, with all those millions of 'mom and pop' donors. All this talk of 'no lobbyists when my administration takes over.'  Then why is it, Bill Moyers and Kathleen Jamison and Prof. Walters, that Obama's handful of highest donors are --Duh, lobbyists?

While we are on the topic of donors, why is there no outrage amongst the Democratic public about this obscene amount of money being raised for the current presidential race? Estimates are that by November.... Are you all sitting down..... One billion dollars will have been raised by both parties together! One billion!! Do you think that comes mostly from ' Ma and Pa Kettle ' out there in Main Street USA? A disgrace!

The subject of public funding of elections has been totally taken off the table. Who benefits from that? Is it you and me, folks who need that $ 25.00 to fill up half our gas tank? Or is it this mega media conglomerate, who charge us nearly $ 100 bucks ( or higher ) a month to simply send signals into our television sets.

Take the time this summer, after all the media spin and hype for both these candidates has saturated your brains. Take the time to really check their records and whatever issues they actually will address. Then, re read this column. If you oppose the occupation of Iraq, see what Obama will really do.

Let's go one step further. I say, if Obama is elected, that we will still have soldiers in Iraq when his term is up ( 2012 ). I say that as far as health care, we will all receive no more than a 25% discount on status quo private insurance plans . Gasoline will hover around $ 4.00 a gallon, Big Oil will still be earning record profits, and President Obama will not demand Congress pass a 'Windfall Profits Tax' on Big Oil. Our defense budget will not be slashed, as there will be other concerns to justify our military presence throughout our empire..... OOPS , sorry, throughout the world.

Thus, if you want the 'lesser of the two evils' , then Obama is your guy. We all know the other joker, McCain, is tons worse. As Monte Hall would say: " Door number one or door number two "..... Me , I'll vote with my conscience and my principles and go for the lady behind the Green Door (with respects to Marilyn Chambers).

Paramahansa Yogananda was so correct. This all is but a grand delusion.

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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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