Advertisement

Book Review: The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America

The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America
James T. Patterson
When I think of “the Sixties,” I think of two dates: 1963, the year President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and 1968, the year of Tet and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. James T. Patterson, author of the critically acclaimed The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America, posits that what we call the Sixties really began in 1965, the year after Lyndon B. Johnson won the presidency in his own right by a landslide.

What’s good for the planet is good for America

“…[I]ndividuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state.”
The International Tribunal at Nuremberg
“[A] supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers … is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries”
David Rockefeller at the June 1991 Bilderberg meeting in Baden Germany

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is among the most powerful, and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 134 nation-states, including the U.S., have ceded to its vast authority and powers…. The central operating principal of the WTO is that commercial interests should supersede all others.

Debi Barker and Jerry Mander – INVISIBLE GOVERNMENT—The World Trade Organization: Global Government For The New Millennium ?

“Democratic world government is possible in the near future now ….” George Monbiot – The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order.

Of Treaties, Trade and Treason

Presidential puppetry and revolt in Ashtabula County

None of the twenty-five activists for the Ashtabula County Charter Initiative, designed to move power back into the hands of Americans on how their county is governed, had read, or even heard of the newly released book, “Presidential Puppetry,” by Andrew Kreig.

They had come together in the tiny meeting room of the Board of Elections in Jefferson, Ohio, to let their voices be heard as the Board considered whether or not to honor the opinion issued by County Prosecutor Thomas Sartini, which cast doubt on the fate of a measure which has brought together people from every political viewpoint.

As they coalesced around returning power to the people they became another point of action in a country which is rejecting partisan politics and moving toward a civic model which echoes the vision which still lives in the minds and hearts of people around the world. Kreig's book provides the reasons why Americans must move past the politics of parties, embracing the power to locally determine how their government will work – for them.

Wartime U.S. Travelogue

In Washington Dulles airport I noticed a large advertisement. I'd seen it before and not paid attention. (No doubt that's why they saturate public space with the things.) It showed a woman's face with the words: "A car crash in California almost took her leg. A bomb blast in Iraq helped save it." It directed one to a website: orthoinfo.org/dominique

I'm against car crashes in California. I'm in favor of saving Dominique's leg. But at the website what we find is a claim that her leg was saved because her orthopaedic surgeon had experience in Iraq. And I don't mean in the Iraqi hospitals that existed before we destroyed that country. I mean he had experience in the destruction process.

A region too soon forgotten: U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia

As the Middle East encounters a proliferation of turmoil and angst concerning its future, the United States is struggling to define its foreign policy in the region. Weeks after the Obama administration decided to arm the Syrian rebels in a bloody civil war, the Egyptian people have taken to the streets to uproot an Islamist, U.S.-supported regime. As Iran continues to pursue its nuclear programs, Iraq continues to grapple with the remains of a botched American invasion and occupation. Meanwhile, Afghani security forces are facing the probability of a Taliban resurgence come America’s exit in 2014. Amidst this utter chaos, the United States has a murky position at best as it relates to the Middle East.

A moderate president

Dianne Feinstein: War profiteer and war criminal

Somewhere in northwest Pakistan Tuesday a sound was heard. Hellfire missiles streaked towards a residential compound. Eighteen people, possibly including civilians, were incinerated and another sound was heard in Washington: the sound of change dropping into Dianne Feinstein's purse.

Since the beginning of the recent revelations of a vast system of American and British government spying on nearly every person on Earth, Senator Feinstein has been quick to be at the forefront of defending these programs and denouncing leaker Edward Snowden as a "traitor." Does she mean that Snowden has betrayed America, or betrayed her own profits from illegal surveillance, indefinite detention and extrajudicial murder?

Obama’s climate change plan: Not enough steps forward

President Obama presented his climate change plan to the nation on June 25. He committed himself and his administration to the overarching goals of limiting and eventually stopping the buildup of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and promised to keep the planet a viable place for coming generations to live. In his speech, Obama said:

“Ninety-seven percent of scientists, including, by the way, some who originally disputed the data, have now put that to rest. They’ve acknowledged the planet is warming and human activity is contributing to it.” And: “So the question now is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.”

Flying while Brown: Boliva's President detained on suspicion of smuggling an illegal immigrant

A miracle of Western diplomatic cooperation was achieved today as the US State Department coordinated its allies Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal in a successful effort to deny Bolivian President Evo Morales a clear path and refueling rights on his way out of Europe. The presidential plane was forced to land in Austria, where it was held for 13 hours while Austrian police attempted to search the aircraft for fugitive American whistleblower Edward Snowden, who may be seeking political asylum without a valid passport. The Austrian President later came to the airport and the standoff was defused when Austrian police were allowed to walk through but not thoroughly search the aircraft.

The search was a clear violation of international law as there is no international arrest warrant for Snowden. All attempts by the United States to acquire Snowden have so far relied on bilateral extradition treaties. It is not known why Austria took the historically unprecedented step of invading Bolivian territory in an attempt to arrest a man not wanted for any crime in Austria.

Russian dolls: a whistleblower inside an oil forum inside a European surveillance crisis

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's fate may be in the hands of Russian and Venezuelan ministers, who met on Monday to discuss the oil and gas industry's future in the face of vital EU-USA trade talks due to take place. The former Booz Allen worker, who has supplied a string of highly damaging American surveillance leaks to Glenn Greenwald and the Guardian, has been warned by Vladimir Putin to “stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, as strange as that sounds coming from my lips.” With only a week to go before trade talks are due to begin in Washington DC, Snowden released new information over the weekend showing that American intelligence operations have been spying in secret on the European Union and its most powerful member states. Economically vital Russian energy interests may be harmed by Snowden's revelations if Europe finds America's behavior unpalatable for business.

Pages

Subscribe to ColumbusFreePress.com RSS