Thursday, January 21, 2016

UK HYPOCRISY OVER POLONIUM POISONING

The U.K. citizenry and its political class are beating their chest in anger and pride as a result of the recent open investigation into the Litvinenko asssination. The judicial inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death (by polonium) of Russian spy turned MI5 informer Alexander Litvinenko has revealed a good deal of circumstantial evidence. None of the suspects were present or interviewed. The judge's conclusion that someone in the higher echelons of the Russian government must have given the OK for the hit against Litvinenko remains only a supposition. It is true Litvinenko died a horrible death after sipping tea laced with the radioactive element polonium. The people are rightly aroused and many support some sort of political action against Russia by PM David Cameron. In response, the Conservative government did call in the Russian Ambassador and imposed an asset freeze on the two main Russian suspects.

As an observer from across the "pond" I am happy to see the Brits so eager for justice. I only wish it was more equally disposed. Where is the logic and evenhandedness? Where is the balance? Not to absolve Putin, but why pick on the Russian strongman who is presently doing the heavy lifting in Syria to stomp on the neck of the ISIS serpent? Is there some other elelment of anti-Putinism involved here? Perhaps it is that he has shown himself to be a better chess player and angered the the west with his effective support for Mr. Assad.

But I wonder. Where was all this demand for justice when MI5, or the CIA, was stabbing, garotting, poisoning their supposed "evil doers"? In regard to the USA, Britain has remained (mostly) silent while President Obama meticulously and mechanically worked down his personal "hit list" of extrajudicial assasinations. Many of his victims were British and American citizens. Many were known to be innocent bystanders. We will never know if the actual targets were innocent or guilty, since all evidence and victims were blown to pieces. Will President Obama have to face British justice too? Not likely!

What about MI5 being complicitous in the American torture and rendition of suspects (many who proved to be innocent victims of misidentification) snatched from a city street corner? Why not investigate in open court Israeli Mossad known to have assassinated thousands of Palestinians and others perceived as enemies or potential enemies of the Israeli state. Another probe may be all those innocent Iranian atomic scientists who died at the hands of Mossad assassins? Not one word from British Justice on all those assassination cases. Why?

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

MEGADONORS, MONEY, FLINT WATER CRISIS RELATED

FLINT MICHIGAN WATER CRISIS/SCANDAL: A MICROCOSM OF WHAT AILS USA

MEGADONORS PUSH USA TOWARD A NATION OF FLINT, MICHIGANS.

Flint, Michigan is located on a piece of land between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan two of the largest bodies of pure, clean,fresh water in the world (aside from Lake Baikal, in Russia). When I read that the inhabitants of Flint were using the discolored, sediment-laden, polluted and corrosive water of the Flint River as a potable water source I was shocked. The Flint River drains past the old automotive plants and industrial sites around Detroit where decades of spills, dumping, misuse and poor planning by the city and state (in collusion with the automobile industry) contributed to the descent of that river into a an open GMC sewer, a virtual Cloaca Maxima of industrial waste.

By now we have all been informed of the water crisis/scandal of Flint, where beginning in 2014 and to the present time, some 6,000-12,000 residents ( mostly children) have been documented to have High levels of lead in their blood. Large numbers of children have been tested and have been shown to have as much as 5 micrograms of lead ions per deciliter of blood serum. There is also a concurrent Legionnaires disease outbreak which has killed ten and sickened more than seventy individuals, and which is likely water borne and associated with the water supply.

The problem occurred when the State of Michigan under the direction of the Republican governor, Rick Snyder, decided to switch the source of water supply for the residents of Flint from Detroit ( which in turn derives its water from Lake Huron), to the Flint River, a cheap, near-by source. The reason: a cost cutting measure which would save the state about $5 million over two years. The actual story is a complicated one with many players, City, State political donors and industry playing their roles..but the overall view is starkly simple. The State of Michigan and the governor put cutting taxes and costs at the behest of a group of ideologue mega donors ahead of the well-being of the health of the residents of the City of Flint. Flint is part of the decaying rust belt, an impoverished area, with a declining population, little industry and collapsing infrastructure. It is also an area populated mostly by an Afro Americans with little or no political clout. When a Republican governor is looking to cut spending...poor, impoverished areas like Flint are an easy target.

It is the same old story. Conservative businessman, Rick Snyder was elected as a "cut taxes and cut spending" Republican. Snyder was ably funded in his elections by his "billionaire buddies" to whom he was beholden for money and reelection funds. His support base....the oligarchs,Optimates, one percenters, mega donors, call them what you may have no interest in supporting infrastructure projects,such as those crying out for attention in poor Flint, Michigan. These wealthy individuals care little for infrastructure which they use not at all. Snyder's decision to attend only to the needs of his self- imposed narrow group of constituent/clients--- the wealthy mega donors are the underlying cause of the crisis. This situation is too common aross our wide land. These wealthy individuals have used their often vast wealth to manipulate the political process only to their own needs. They attempt to undermine our democracy and control the government agenda...only for their own narrow purposes---TO CUT SPENDING AND CUT TAXES. The end result is income inequality, and a woeful collapse of basic infrastructure, our schools, our government services, our water supply, the quality of life and in the case of Flint, life itself.

Does this situation sound familiar? It should. It is replaying itself over and over again across our great nation as the monied interests get their way with the politicaL class to the detriment of the nation as a whole. In the present Presidential primary season, with only a rare exception we are presently faced with the same set of "bought" politicians in both the Democrat and Republican parties. Sadly there are too many other "Rick Snyders' out there. The watchword and talking points of each one of them is the same, "cut taxes and cut spending". These are the watch words these self serving politicians must mouth over and over again to enjoy the flow of lucre from the MEGADONORS. If these bought pols fail to govern in the prescribed manner of their overlords, the rich donor class will stop the cash flow to them. Then turn their support to a new and well funded challenger against them at the very next primary election. Oh, how sad--- the poor politician, their fish belly white hands go sweaty atthe thought of a primary challenger. They are compelled by the money factor in politics to do the bidding of the monied power brokers. The result for the rest of us and our nation is a descent into failing schools, rickety bridges, pot holed roads, polluted lakes and rivers-----and sadly small children rushed to the hospital by their frantic mothers because they have a strange rash and their hair is falling out----then to learn it a result of a City water supply they were assured was safe---but not from lead poisoning.

The mega donor class is driving our nation to ruin. Look at Flint, Michigan, that is our future as nation...if we do not overcome the awful effects of money in politics.