The 6th weekly Sojourner Truth roundtable will discuss: the economy and the
administration's jobs proposals; healthcare reform; world leaders meeting to
agree on climate change policy; President Obama's Nobel Prize acceptance
speech.
Our distinguished panelists are: Janet Redman, co-director of the
Sustainable Energy and Economy Network; and regulars Tom Hayden and
Professor Gerald Horne.
This is your host Margaret Prescod.
Look for Sojourner Truth on Twitter at Sotruekpfk
http://www.twitter.com/sotruekpfk
"When woman gets her rights, man will be right. Then there will be peace on
earth and goodwill to men (women and men)." - Sojourner Truth, former slave
Join host Margaret Prescod on Sojourner Truth, Tuesday thru Friday mornings
7-8 am on Pacifica Radio's KPFK 90.7 FM in Southern California, 98.7 FM in
Santa Barbara, and streaming and for pod cast worldwide on the web at
KPFK.org. Also you can listen to and or download or pod-cast any recent
Sojourner Truth Shows anytime from anywhere, nationally or internationally
www.KPFK.org, clicking on Archives, then on Sojourner Truth.
***
From: Peter Cohen
Behind the Curtain
By Peter G Cohen
SBSC: December 10, 2009
In 1960 the United States produced almost 40% of the world's Gross Domestic
Product. It was the unquestioned economic leader of a world left in ruins by
W.W.II. By 1991, at the end of the Cold War, the U.S. was producing about
25% of the world GDP. It was still far more productive than other economies,
but Japan, Germany and other advance nations had developed their own
production so that the U.S. percentage of world GDP was less.
Today the Asian and other nations have found their own path to economic
growth and the U.S. share has declined to about 20% of world GDP. Why then
are we now spending more than half of the world's military budget? The cost
has more than doubled from $307.8 billion in 2001 to $680 billion for 2010
(plus an expected war supplement in 2010.)
We are exhausting our military and going deeply into debt, primarily to
maintain a global military influence that is no longer justified by our
economy. Our nation is feeling the strain of trying to maintain a superpower
status that no longer exists.
The military budget is so out of proportion to the income of our government,
which has been borrowing to maintain this super status, that we now have a
debt of over $12 trillion, which takes 40c of every tax dollar to service
the debt. We are told that the purpose of this vast military spending is to
make us safer from terrorism. As the attack of 9-11 was organized in
Germany, and our intelligence has told us that al Qaeda people are living in
many nations, it is unlikely that these wars have made us any safer.
In fact, these huge war costs and our 865 foreign military bases around the
world are not about preventing terrorism or advancing democracy. They are
about "our interests," which in plain language means getting most of the
world's nations to share their human and natural resources with U.S.
corporations. The result is that we get cheaper products in our stores, and
fewer jobs at lower wages in our factories, while the corporations profit
from our sacrifice. It is for this that we are condemning our grandchildren
to a debtor's prison and our young people are fighting in Afghanistan.
The rest of the world gets by on a military budget that averages less than
2.5 % of their GDP. If we took this as a guideline for the U.S., our
military budget would be about $350 billion. This would be roughly half of
what it now costs to maintain the superpower facade.
It is time for the American people to face the fact that we are no longer
the world's superpower. In fact, taken together the Euro nations have passed
the U.S. in GDP. Let them police the world, if necessary. The cost of our
worldwide military power is more of a burden than our weakened economy can
bear. It is urgent that we put the bloated and wasteful Pentagon on a
stringent diet. We can give our troops in the field the very best, but we do
not need 865 foreign military bases or the development and purchase of
advanced weapons systems designed to provide "global dominance." As we end
our efforts to control the world, and rely for our defense on close
cooperation with other nations, the fires of deep resentment that motivate
terrorism will be reduced.
The fact is that Climate Change is a much greater threat than terrorism. It
will require a substantial investment to shift from fossil fuels to
alternative sources of energy. Our future economy and security will depend
on the success of that shift and the avoidance of the worst climate
catastrophes. If we focus on the human future, rather than world domination,
we can develop a more satisfying and more democratic prospect for our
nation.
Peter G Cohen, artist and activist, veteran and grandfather, is the author
of the website www.nukefreeworld.com and other writings. He lives in Santa
Barbara, where he can be reached at aerie2@verizon.net
***
From: Lane Anderson <andersonlane@hotmail.com>
Santa Barbara Social Justice: December 9, 2009
Hi Friends,
The current standoff in Copenhagen revolves around "climate justice'.
Sudan's representative insists that the African nations are owed the
right to a lifestyle like the industrial nations. (This comes from the
perpetrators of the most hideous genocide in recent history) When it
was suggested to Haiti's President Aristide, formerly a Catholic
priest, that Haiti needed to "develop", he replied that he only wanted
"poverty with dignity" for his people.
The bottom line is
really that we don't even have time to have the argument about the
undeveloped world getting their turn at over consumption, much less
time for them to do it (not that Sudan would spend any of the money
they are asking for on anything but weapons anyway). You don't have to
go far from Haiti to see poverty with dignity. The Dominican Republic,
occupying the same island, has preserved its natural resources for
their citizens in a vast national park system and in increasingly
producing food for its people through small agriculture. Less than a
hundred miles away, Cuba is increasingly growing local organically
grown produce for its people, Nicaragua's cooperatives are
flourishing. All four countries are among the poorest in the
hemisphere.
How can poverty be dignified?
My long visit to Cuba revealed a society with very little spendable money
that has quality health care from the cradle to the grave at no cost;
quality, free education for all. Part of the reason health care is so good
is
the availability of fresh local produce in every neighborhood and the
use of homeopathic and natural remedies. They are poor in lack of
xboxes and flat screen tvs, ipods and celphones. Motor vehicles are
few and far between and used for cargo or mass transit.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SBProgCoalition/message/4933
(Cuban Reflections)
So I propose to you that "climate justice" is not justice at all
but a call for extinction and what is needed is poverty
with dignity, not just for the poor but for all earthlings.
In solidarity, lane
"Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution
inevitable." -- John F. Kennedy
http://williamgreider.com/content/war-without-end
Security Through Localization www.laneanderson.org
http://www.smartvoter.org/2009/11/03/ca/sba/vote/anderson_r/
Ecotherapy: http://www.hopedance.org/soul/the-waking-up-syndrome
We are the antidote:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SBProgCoalition/message/4402?l=1
"Activism is my rent for living on the planet." Alice Walker
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