In the summer of 1959 there occurred a series of events...

[Viva_La_Revolution]

In the summer of 1959 there occurred a series of events which demonstrated our national ignorance in a shameful and nearly fatal manner. Briefly, the United States threatened intervention in a foreign country for reasons which, it turned out, had no basis in fact. The people of the United States were led to believe that Laos physically had been invaded by foreign Communist troops from across its northern border. Our Secretary of State called the situation grave; our ambassador to the U.N. called for world action; our press carried scare headlines; our senior naval officer implied armed intervention and was seconded by ranking Congressmen, including the Chairman of the National Committee of the Republican Party, which was then in power.

The entire affair was a fraud. No military invasion of Laos had taken place. Yet for weeks, neither our government nor our press bothered to investigate at first hand. As a result, we came close to triggering war, on false information not of our own gathering. We did in fat make fools of ourselves in the eyes of our friends and “imperialist warmongers” of ourselves in the words of our enemies and in the opinion of neutrals.

The case in Laos is not an isolated one; alas, it is typical. It is worth exploring in detail for what it shows about a nation uniformed.

exerpt from: A Nation Of Sheep – William J. Lederer


I find it fascinating that at least as far back as 1961, when this book was written, some enlightened individuals have been screaming at us to WAKE UP!

I wonder if we will ever achieve critical mass.

[Peace Patriot]

1. Oh, we achieved critical mass on peace and justice in this country long

ago, the most recent manifestation being that 58% of the American people opposed the Iraq war before the invasion, in Feb. '03, despite all the fearmongering, warmongering and lies. 58%! Across the board in all polls.

That was the lesson of Vietnam. Don't let some leader as half-cocked as George Bush go running off with Congress' power to declare war.

The people knew. But nobody was interested in their opinion, nor in the overwhelming majority who disapprove of torture "under any circumstances" (63%, May '04), or anything else that the great progressive majority in this country wants or believes.

And, in order to keep this military-industrial parasite growing, they now have to rig the elections, with Bushite corporations controlling the tabulation of our votes, with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, and virtually no audit/recount capability, and by DOCTORING the exit polls on everybody's TV screens on election night to make them confirm the "results" of the secret formulae, and by the illusion of a rightwing majority created by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies.

And that's not even to mention the people they assassinated back in the 1960s, to stop the antiwar movement from addressing the problem of the never-demobilized US corporate/military dependent economy. Upwards of TWO MILLION Vietnamese and Southeast Asians slaughtered, and over 55,000 US soldiers killed, and for what? For war profiteers.

Ah, me! But back to the present horror. We have to start by restoring the mechanism of our sovereignty: our vote.

Priority #1.

Throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. Paper Ballots

Hand Counted. Manditory recounts. Damn Straight!

[SoCalDem]

2. Every time we "install" a leader in a foreign country, we roll the dice

and usually the next generation has to clean up the messes, lonf after the money has been spent by the elders..

We have done it in

Iran with the Shah
Afghanistan with the mujahadeen
El Salvador
Nicaragua
Colombia
Panama
Viet Nam

and many others too numerous to remember now.

We invent "events" to crack down, but innocents always die, and the rich are always protected.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. I don't really think it's a gamble...

The outcome is always the same. It makes things worse, or in the case of the orchestrators, they get richer. I don't know of a single case of it turning out better for the citizens of those countries.

[McKenzie]

4. the history of US military interventions is a long one - link

http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/interventions.htm

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. I've know for years...

but reading a book published so long ago just makes it hit home.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. kicking for more imput

[Just Me]

8. We fail to learn because we are not taught,....

,...about either our mistakes or our leaderships' abuses of power (except in very rare circumstances). We are to focus on "the positive" rather than grow from a knowledge about our own weaknesses ("our" being those representatives who have proven to be failures rather than heroes for democracy).

Why? Why are we taught to be ignorant and/or irresponsible?

Because, in so doing, it makes it easier for the power-mongers to maintain control and to continue abuses here and abroad.

:shrug:

I mean, DAMN, we have wackos advocating "intelligent design" rather than THE TRUTH ABOUT U.S. FOREIGN POLICY OVER THE LAST HALF CENTURY!!!!

They don't want us to be knowledgeable. They want us to be controllable.