Corruption in New Jersey and the links to Washington D.C. and the Middle East

The recent news story of a group of New Jersey politicians taking bribes in return for political favors and Jewish Rabbis helping to launder money from the sales of kidneys taken from poor people for a huge profit, encapsulates the current legislative process in Washington D.C. to provide health care for all Americans. It is surprising more people and members of the press do not see the irony of how the story in New Jersey mirrors the way politics is played and paid for in the nation’s capital. Unlike the weapons of mass distraction media corporations, the Grand Prince will examine the ills of the patient also known as the U.S. Congress, and inject a dose of much needed truthfulness and candor into the story. This information will help the owners of this patient, the American public, gain advanced knowledge of the disease in order to prevent the disease of corruption from spreading any further in the U.S. Congress and further making the American people ill.

Recalling the case history of the patient, readers should remember how over 93 percent of incumbent members of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate get re-elected. Due in large part to the massive amount of campaign “donations” these members receive, the democratic process is negatively influenced by these “donors” and favors the incumbent politician. Just as a child is enabled to become obese by his parents, the American public has been enabled into accepting the word donation when it comes to giving money to a candidate. To donate is to give something and not expect a reward or return.

Most likely under reported in the American press due to the power of the Jewish lobby in America, the issue of human organs being trafficking should have been and is the more disturbing and important story. In addition to the immoral and sinister mentality of these people, making the issue more disturbing and warranting more attention is that Jewish religious leaders were involved in the human organ trafficking.

The actions by these Jewish rabbis of the ultra-Orthodox sect they belong to, also is connected to the futile struggle of the Palestinians to get a state created for their people. This is due to the fact that many of the illegal Jewish settlers on Palestinian lands are from the ultra-Orthodox community, which one of the organ traders; Levy Izhak Rosenbaum is a member of. Although he claimed to be a real estate dealer, he was described as a macher, or fixer in Jerusalem where he assisted renal patients in finding appropriate medical treatment in the U.S. According to the official complaint, Rosenbaum planned to give an Israeli donor $10,000 and then charge the client who requested the kidney $160,000. The payment would be laundered through what Rosenbaum described first as a "congregation," then as a charity. According to published reports, Rosenbaum ran the Brooklyn branch of Kav Lachayim, a charity for sick children that was once supported by convicted financier Bernie Madoff.

Most Americans do not realize how badly their system of government is being hijacked by the wealthy elites of corporations and the upper one percent of income earners in America, while they are being subjugated to all negative consequences of the unethical the influence money has on their representative members of government. All any American has to do is remember the recent TARP legislation ( Troubled Asset Relief Program) passed in the waning days of the Bush Administration, the 750 billion dollar handout given to the banking industry in early months of the Obama administration, and the yearly half trillion dollar budget for the military industrial complex approved by both political parties. The needs of the wealthy and politically connected always get taken first and with more urgency than the electorates’ needs.

Democracy does not repress power, it unleashes it.

This speech should be broadcast on the 24/7 cable news outlets. Until it is broadcast, the Grand Prince is doing his part.

Put thine house in order

An epigraph taken from the Bible, "Put thine house in order”, should be the rallying call and campaign slogan for a third political party in the 2010 mid-term elections. Appealing to both the social conservatives in America as well as everyday hard working American men and women, this campaign slogan could inspire the required grass roots movement needed to take America back from the special interest controlled and overly paid members of congress. It is time the American public begin to demand an end to the generous pay and retirement pensions members of congress and their staff enjoy. In a time of deep economic crisis for millions of Americans, the United States flirting with bankruptcy, and the growing discussion by the elite in society to reduce social security benefits, members of congress should first start and clean up their own house.

Although there are numerous examples of the special status members of Congress enjoy such as health care and an easy work schedule, this blog posting will only focus on a future campaign platform issue as salary and retirement benefits for members of Congress. With the current salary for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate at $174,000 per year, members of Congress also receive other generous perks like a pension after only 20 years of service. This means that a person who enters the Congress at an early age can retire by the age of 50. With some Congressional seats going to family members such as Duncan Hunter be replaced by Duncan Hunter the son in California and the Kennedy clan in the northeastern part of the United States, it is no surprise why these men want to follow in their fathers footsteps.

The double standard and elite privileges members of Congress enjoy gets even better when you consider the fact that even though a member of Congress is defeated in an election or has been convicted of a crime, the member of congress will continue to draw a pension. Only treason can strip federal lawmakers of their pension.

Although there was a recent bill passed in 2007 sponsored by John Kerry to strip away the pensions of members of Congress convicted of white-collar crimes such as bribery and fraud, the crimes committed by members of Congress before 2007 are not included. Some notable and recent examples include former Illinois congressman Dan Rostenkowski convicted of mail fraud and employing ghost workers on his payroll and Randall “Duke” Cunningham from California, who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. Therefore, after serving 36 years in the House, Rostenkowski who was chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee,receives an annual pension of over $126,000 a year, even though he was convicted of several federal crimes. Even Randall “Duke” Cunningham, a member of Congress and a benefactor of the military industrial complex who the purpose of the new legislation proposed by Kerry, will still receive over $ 100,000 a year in a government pension. Other notable honorary members of congress who will still receive a pension include, Rep. John Murphy, D-N.Y., convicted in the ABSCAM scandal in 1980, eligible for about $79,000, and Rep. Carroll Hubbard, an 18-year Democrat from Kentucky imprisoned for two years on conspiracy and official misconduct charges, who could be collecting more than $62,000.

Even the vote by the Senate on this moral and ethical vote show how some members of the U.S. Senate continue to show arrogance and contempt for the people they pander to for voted every six years. This was evident when only 87 of the 100 members of this elite legislative body voted on the bill to deny a convicted member of congress from receiving their pension.

Elected officials are servants of the people and need to be following the same rules and be held to the same principles as everyday Americans are. Not going to work on a regular base while still collecting a paycheck goes against most American citizens morals. Implementing a more robust measure of moral conduct and taking away the power they have to give themselves a pay raise, is a good place to start.

The generous pay and benefits members of congress receive should be one of the campaign platform issues the Progressive Party, Green Party, or Liberty Party would run on in the early months of 2010. A new American revolution needs to be started but it also needs to have a 10 point plan of action.

Paolo Borsellino (1940-1992)

During the month of July in Italy, Italians are busy looking forward to and planning their three week summer holiday in August. For anyone who has not visited Italy in the month of August, the entire country slows down to a virtual standstill, while all the Italians are either at the beach or in the mountains. In the weeks following the assassination of Paolo Borsellino, all the major cities in Italy would have been like a ghost town with the only a few stores open. Although the leaders of Cosa Nostra were not that strategic to time the assassination to coincide with the Italian summer holiday, in one aspect though, the public reaction of the assassination by Paolo Borsellino was somewhat muted when all the Italians went on their normal summer holiday. Although there were protests and a ground swelling of support, most Italians did not sacrifice anything close to the amount of hard work that Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone did. Like in America, most people expect other people to do the heavy lifting of civil service and do not realize that everyone needs to be more active in civil society for a democracy to properly function.

Anyone can admire the heroic and courageous work the two anti mafia prosecutors performed during the 1980s and early 1990s. Although trapped in a corrupt system that tried to prevent and slow down their work battling the mafia, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who faced the constant threat of assassinations also had a dedicated work ethic that is not often seen in Italian civil society. The days prior to his assassination give an example of the type of hard work Paolo Borsellino continued to do, even after his good friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone was killed only two months earlier.

Four days before his assassination was the holiday of Santa Rosalia, the patron saint of Palermo. While all his fellow work colleagues and all of Palermo was off enjoying a holiday at the beach or at home, Paolo Borsellino was hard at work preparing for the testimony of two new mafia members who had decided to cooperate with the anti-mafia prosecutors. The two-mafia members, Gaspare Mutolo and Giaocchino Schembri had decided to testify against their former organization when they saw how serious Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were at battling the mafia. For the first time, turn coat mafioso members felt safe talking to certain Italian prosecutors like Borsellino, after they saw how he continued to work even after his friend was killed.

To highlight the level of corruption in Italy at the time, two days before his assassination in Palermo, Gaspare Mutolo testified that the mafia had corrupted a member of the Italian Secret services, Bruno Contrada, who was also a former police investigator in Palermo. In addition to a member of the Italian secret services being on the mafia payroll, Domenico Signorino, a prosecutor with the anti-mafia pool at the Palermo Ministry of Justice, was also corrupted by the mafia. After Borsellino’s death, it would be revealed that the corruption in Italy went as high as the Italian Supreme Court when the political leaders in Rome worked on the behalf of the mafia to have all the appeals for mafia members convicted in court to be heard by one special judge in the Italian Supreme Court. Although there are several sections in the Italian Supreme Court, all organized crime cases on appeals were handled by Judge Corrado Carnevale, also known as l’ammazza-sentenze, “the sentence killer”.

In spite of all the corruption and betrayal by the political leaders in Rome, Paolo Borsellino continued to fight for a more civil society in Sicily. Perhaps a letter written by Paolo Borsellino on the morning of his assassination, can give some insight into why this man had so much courage and integrity to fight the mafia at all costs. The letter was a reply to a schoolteacher in northern Italy who had invited him to speak to her class. Unable to accept the invitation due to the unfinished business of completing the two confessions by Gaspare Mutolo and Giaocchino Schembri, Paolo Borsellino wrote a multiple page reply to the schoolteacher.

The following is an excerpt of that letter that was first published in the book Paolo Borsellino: Il Valore Di Una Vita by Umberto Lucentini. Alexander Stille, in his book Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and Death of the Italian First Republic also quoted the letter.

I became a magistrate because I had a great passion for civil law and…up until 1980 I worked on mostly civil cases…On May 4, Captain Emanuele Basile was murdered and chief prosecutor Chinnici asked me to handle the case. Meanwhile my childhood friend Giovanni Falcone had joined my same office and from that time forward I understood that my work had changed. I had decided to remain in Sicily and I needed to give that choice a meaning. Our problems were the very ones that I had begun to deal with, almost by accident, and if I loved this land I had to work on them exclusively. From that day forward I have never left that job….And I am optimistic because I see that young people, Sicilain or otherwise, have a much greater awareness than the culpable indifferences in which I lived until I was forty. When these young people are young adults they will react with much greater force than I and my generation have.

19 July 1992

19 July 1992, marks a somber and disturbing anniversary for Italy. It was on this day over 17 years ago that a prosecutor from Palermo, Sicily was blown up by a car bomb planted by the Cosa Nostra mafia clan, while he went to visit his mother. His name was Paolo Borsellino and he was one of two of the most famous and well-known Italian magistrates who was battling the scourge of the Mafia clan Cosa Nostra in Sicily during the 1980s and early 1990s. Like is often the case in contemporary Italian history, the killing of Paolo Borsellino and his close friend Giovanni Falcone just two months earlier, were killed for their efforts to challenge the status quo and help make Italy a better place to live. Contemporary Italian history has revealed that while more honest and noble men are assassinated like Aldo Moro, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the more corrupt and contemptible members of Italian society with links to the mafia rise to power.

Not to take away any credit or praise from the scores of other innocent Italian citizens who stood up to the mafia in Sicily or the scores of police and judges killed by the mafia, the killing of Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone highlight the true evil and dark facet of Italian politics in Italy. The sheer magnitude of the corruption and collusion of the mafia with the political leaders in Italy was demonstrated when both of its best-known citizens fighting the mafia were killed. The state failed to protect its own servants trying to bring the rule of law and justice to the people of Sicily.

Since the time of the killings of Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, the power of the Mafia has grown ever more powerful and the progress that both of these men made against the mafia has been reversed. It is now estimated that the mafia clans of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Naples Gomorrah, and the Calabria area Ndrangheta have a combined net income of 70 billion euros last year, producing a 54 percent profit margin. According to Rome-based research institute Eurispes, Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company, had a profit of about half that at $45.2 billion.

As Alexander Stille skillfully explains in his book Excellent Cadavers, The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic, at the same time the mafia was being pressured in Sicily, the political corruption so rampant in Italian politics was bringing down the entire political class. Just a few days before the assassination of Paolo Borsellino, the Foreign Minister, Giovanni De Michelis a member of the Christian Democratic Party, was found to have skimmed a percentage of the humanitarian aid that Italy was distributing to the Third World.

This only highlights why the UN agencies located in Rome should be relocated to an African country due to all the corruption in Italy. Perhaps fitting, on the day the Foreign Minister was indicted, the American ambassador Peter Secchia was co-hosting a going away party for the Italian Foreign Minister, Giovanni De Michelis, which was planned weeks earlier. While the American ambassador was heading back to Washington, it appeared his Italian counterpart would be heading to jail. This was a major embarrassment for the United States but is also symbolized the warm embrace American leaders gave to people like De Michelis, while undermining people like Aldo Moro.

Instead of showing fortitude and resolve against the Mafia, the Italian political class and most Italians have opted instead for collusion and spineless behavior towards fighting the power of the mafia. One only has to look at the killings of Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone to see this is evident. The state and its servants like the macho acting Carabinieri forces are all but a joke and are not taken seriously by the Mafia.

If Silvio Berlusconi were truly a man who cared for Italy, than he would deploy all his power and authority to battle and defeat the mafia. However, with the entire island of Sicily and the entire southern region of Italy voting for his political party, there does not seem much chance of this happening.

The American Economy is imploding yet the Pentagon gets 4 percent increaes each year

Although President Obama inherited a comatose economy, both political parties in the United States are responsible for the current situation. Quoting the renowned and respected political analyst, Kevin Phillips, the Republican Party due to its favorable policies towards the wealthy and its control of the legislative and executive branch for the past eight years, should be help responsible for 70 percent of the blame. The democrats are also to blame for their continued support of the defense industry and the half trillion dollar defense budgets over the last 5 years. With more Americans out of work and only token legislation being proposed to put Americans back to work, it is time more Americans demand the Pentagon’s budget be downsized and those funds transferred to programs that benefit Americans. Re-investing in a mass transit rail based infrastructure has to be considered as a viable option to help start rebuild America and help make America a country and economy that produces things besides smart bombs, stealth battleships, and speculative financial products.

Having a majority in Congress since 1992 and a total majority of both the legislative and executive braches in the early years following the September 11 terrorist attacks, the republican party under the leadership of Dick Cheney and his pawn George W Bush, the United States incurred over 3 trillion dollars of new public debt between 2002 and 2006. A great deal of that new public debt was incurred by the Defense Department and the lucrative military contacts that politically connected companies like Halliburton, Blackwater, and KBR received.

In addition to the high public debt, the Republican leadership acting in unison with the Democratic Party, gave the President a blank check to wage a war in a country, solely for the aim of gaining access to its oil. This act of war and the powers it gave to the President contradict the U.S. Constitution and the goal the founders of the Republic had to limit the power of the Executive Branch. Several key Democratic leaders gave President Bush a blank check to wage war in total opposition to the intent the U.S. founders of the Constitution had intended for Congress. Some of these members of Congress include the two powerful democratic senators from California where a large defense industry presence in located in addition to the New York senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton.

Further highlighting the culpability both parties share in authorizing and funding the illegal invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq are the actions of the Junior Senator from Illinois Barack Obama from 2004 to 2008. Although the junior senator scolded Bush for invading Iraq and vowed he would "unequivocally" vote against an additional $87 billion to pay for it, since taking office in January 2005, he has voted for four separate war appropriations, totaling more than $300 billion.

It is difficult for Americans to understand the negative consequences the enormous sums of money the Pentagon and the related defense industry are causing on their decreased standard of living due to the indoctrination they constantly receive on how a strong defense (offense) is necessary and required for America to protect the world. With unemployment reaching 10 percent in many states and even passing 15 percent in Michigan, more Americans should be demanding that some of the 550 billion defense budget be trimmed back to help support more Americans who are out of work.

The fool hearted military adventure in the Middle East that further weakened the United States both militarily and economically was a response to Iraq wanting to be paid for its oil in Euros instead of dollars. Although the invasion and subsequent occupation reversed that policy decision of Iraq, the military invasion required the United States to borrow money from foreign countries, which actually weakened the power of the United States. With China holding more than 1.5 trillion dollars of US foreign reserves, the need to reduce the size of the U.S. defense budget could not be more imperative.

Some thoughts on the Proposed Health Care Legislation in America

In order to raise revenue to fund the health care package that President Obama wants and most Americans should have, the house Democratic leadership is considering raising taxes on individuals earning more than $ 280,000 and couples making over $ 350,000. Perhaps a better approach to fund the program is to take the European approach and raise the funding through higher federal gasoline taxes. The increase of the amount of federal tax could be phased in over a five year period in order for people to begin to adjust to the higher prices while at the same time encourage people to begin to conserve more energy. As the recent new CAFÉ standards passed by the Congress was long overdue legislation to help conserve energy in America and prepare for the upcoming era of peak oil, the leaders of Congress now need to align that legislation to an overall strategic plan to help rebuild the American economy and put millions of Americans back to work.

One of the reasons why the Italian car manufacturer has been able to purchase a 35 percent share in Chrysler is due to the Italian government providing the health care to all Fiat’s Italian workers. The national health care system of Italy has allowed private companies such as Fiat to now have a competitive advantage over American car manufactures. While the American worker is more productive, efficient and has a stronger work ethic than the Italian union worker employed in one of Fiat’s several manufacturing plants, the high cost of private health care in America is causing the automotive worker at GM and Ford to lose his comparative advantage.

As an individual knowledgably on the strength of Italian labor unions, it was disturbing to read in the news that the Fiat leadership was demanding UAW concessions in order for the financial help Fiat was offering to go through. With Italian workers enjoying some of the most generous union legislation in Europe, as an American, the concessions demanded by the Italian leadership of Fiat were audacious and hypocritical. If the Italian automotive company’s leadership asked the same kind of concessions of their domestic workforce, the Italian unions would have staged a strike and shut down production.

There needs to be an overall strategic approach in the legislation that congress passes and the linking of health care to encouraging energy conservation is a strategy that would serve the interests of the United States of America the best. Almost all the European countries take this approach and several of these countries have a lower per capital cost of health care than the American health care system. In addition to having an overall strategic approach to the problem of health care and the approaching era of peak oil and higher energy costs, this strategy would be the best political approach to the problem of providing more health care to all Americans. It is erroneous to target a specific social-economic demographic group and a pool of potential voters. Due to the fact that these high-income earners can afford the high cost of medical treatment already, they will feel they will not be getting any benefits from the taxation.

The gas tax approach is the best political approach and it accomplishes the strategic goal of reducing the need of oil imports from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and other OPEC countries.

American politicians need to stop talking down to American voters and demonstrate that they have a grasp on the larger issues. The time has come for congressional leaders to show they have the wisdom and fortitude to lead America and help the common good as opposed to the K street lobbyists and the status quo.

July 15, 1979

This day marks the thirtieth anniversary of former President Jimmy Carter’s “crisis of confidence" speech which the former President discussed the challenges Americans were facing in the financially difficult times of the late 1970s. The “crisis of confidence" speech which was later to be better known as the “malaise” speech was to be the fifth speech discussing the energy crisis and economic recession America was battling in 1979. Although Carter had originally intended to give another speech about the energy crisis, the crisis of confidence speech by Carter declared that the energy crisis of 1973 and later in 1979 were symptoms of a far greater crisis. While the speech was given thirty years ago, the same problems such as high unemployment, over dependence on imported oil, and a weaker dollar are evident in American society. Perhaps Mr. Obama and some of the national leadership in Washington could take a page from history and begin to talk to the American people in the same truthful and candor manner like Mr. Carter did thirty years ago.

The speech given by Jimmy Carter was a truthful and candor speech to the American public on the moral decay in America and the relationship Americans were putting with consumption and freedom. Carter argued in his speech that more Americans were tending to worship self-indulgence and consumption and had strayed from the path of righteousness that hard work offers.

With the American economy shedding more tangible and genuine manufacturing jobs for the more greedy and self indulgent jobs in the financial services sector over the last few decades following this speech, one does not have to look far to see the negative effects of valuing consumption and material goods over humility and hard work. This greed and moral decay is clearly represented in the collapse of the American car industry, for its over reliance on high profit gas guzzling SUVs as opposed to more fuel efficient and smaller cars. The financial sector, which has replaced manufacturing as the largest segment in the American economy, also demonstrates the greed and moral decay President Carter warned about with a series of financial bubbles starting with the stock market bubble of 1987, the dot com burst in 2000, and the housing bubble in 2007. The credit crisis of 2008 and the speculative capitalism that caused it are further examples of the moral and ethical decay that President Carter warned about in his speech thirty years ago.

Demonstrating the sort of complexity and humility that Carter tried to inject into the political debate at the time is how he went on to describe the major political institutions in Washington D.C., as paralyzed and corrupt and “a system of government that seems incapable of action”. President Carter candidly discusses the crisis of confidence Americans have in the political institutions in Washington D.C. and how the federal government had become “an island” isolated from the people. In a very candor manner, President Carter discussed the lobbyist financed congressional leaders often putting the interests of the special interests over the common good. With Barack Obama installing two former defense lobbyists in the two most senior positions right behind the Secretary of Defense, it signals that things have not changed much over the past 30 years in Washington D.C.

The leadership of Jimmy Carter was demonstrated when he followed up his observations with what was wrong with America with a six point plan for action. Some of the points in his overall strategy included creating a new energy mobilization board which, like the War Production Board in World War II, would cut through the red tape in government. In addition to this policy proposal the former President also wanted to set import quotas on oil, invest in alternative energy and set a goal of having 20 percent of American energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.

There are politicians and there are leaders. History is proving that Jimmy Carter was indeed a great leader of the United States.

Blogging on the Internet

Like the mission statement of the blog proclaims, this blog has the intent to deliver a fresh perspective on international relations and domestic American politics. Although the mainstream media journalists are often muzzled by their newsroom editors, who are in turn afraid of upsetting their corporate masters, independent blogs such as this one, allow readers to perhaps learn something new. Unlike other political blogs, this blog is not a partisan vehicle for the left or the right in the American domestic political context. Almost all the material I have written on the blog is based on academic facts by well-respected scholars and researchers such as Chalmers Johnson, Kevin Phillips, Andrew Bacevich, and Alexander Stille. Armed with an advanced education in political science and personal experience of serving in the military among other accomplishments, I feel confident in my ability to deliver on the mission statement of the blog title.

While most of the Cable news stations watch each other and carry all the same news, blogs such as this one, are not afraid to report on different or under reported issues in a plain and truthful manner that is often lacking from today’s news. Unlike the herd mentality of the American cable news outlets and the international press to a certain degree, bloggers have the ability to focus on a particular area of interest. Long time readers of this blog will know that the Grand Prince has focused on the negative impact of the large military expenditures the United States spends its limited resources on and some very disturbing stories linked to that issue such as the Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) electrocution case. In addition to military spending, I have also discussed and shared my experience and knowledge of Italians politics.

In the side bar of the log, I have a link to Tomdispath.com, an academic based blog, which covers the subject on the military industrial complex and the consequences of America being an Empire in a more in-depth manner. While most of the issues related to the military industrial complex all impact everyone’s lives in one small way or another, blogs also allow readers to interact with the author of the material posted.

The power of the new medium of the Internet has not escaped the political status quo leaders in some countries around the world. While most people are aware of the Internet restrictions that China and Iran have implemented in recent years to protect their power, countries such as Italy are also slowly beginning to pass legislation that is aimed at limiting the free speech and sharing of information the Internet is capable of.

As it is often the case when a government passes a new law, the Italian government has added new Internet monitoring legislation to a broader wiretap bill. Ironically, this new law in Italy is designed to protect the status quo leaders in the government from prosecution, while implementing stricter laws on average citizens who have blogs. While other news organizations will not report it in this manner, this new Internet legislation is a direct response to the power that Beppe Grillo has shown and his ability to use the Internet to mobilize political forces.

With Silvio Berlusconi owning 80 to 90 percent of the television medium in Italy, a figure I am sure none of the weapons of mass distraction media outlets in America mentioned during their coverage of the G8 Summit, the blog by Beppe Grillo has allowed me to gain access to a valuable source of impartial and unbiased information regarding the politics in Italy. It is amazing how ignorant most Italians are of the political initiatives Grillo has undertaken and demonstrates the power of the traditional medium of television here in Italy.

Another blog link the Grand Prince has listed is a link to mikeb302000. This blogger discusses the explosive issue of gun control and capital punishment. His blog can get vivacious sometimes with all the firing of opinions on the subject of gun control and 2nd amendment gun supporters. I often explain to the gun owners that the second amendment is not a right but a privilege. As the actions of the post 9-11 Bush administration have demonstrated, rights Americans take for granted or think are protected by the Constitution, can be suspended quicker than a major league baseball player on steroids. After injecting my academic opinion on a few posts on that blog, I often wished I entered the blog with IBAS (Individual Body Armor System), to protect me from all the harsh words and rhetoric being thrown around on that blog by the second amendment crowd. It is too bad that more attention and rhetoric from those supporters is not applied to the subject of the military industrial complex in America.

I hope the readers of the blog continue to enjoy the posting the Grand Prince shares. It is one way of passing on some of the information I have learned on the subjects of international affairs, military spending and Italian politics.

Mr. Obama: Right Speech- Wrong Location

In my studies becoming a political scientist, I had a chance to visit and study first hand the country of Ghana, which President Obama and his family recently paid a state visit to over the weekend. The visit I had to Ghana allowed an up close and hands on learning experience to witness the challenges a developing country such as Ghana faces and to learn more about the history and regional geo-political situation of the area. Although I am happy to see that President Obama is continuing the visits made to Ghana by earlier presidents starting with William Clinton in 1998 and George W. Bush in 2008, I was disappointed to read that Obama choose this location to speak about the corruption and unstable governments in Africa. Mr. Obama and his administration should have highlighted the vibrant and healthy democracy and high level of press freedoms during his state visit to Ghana and spoken about the corruption and authoritarian governments in Africa during his recent trip to Egypt.

Perhaps the real reason why Obama did not discuss the corruption during his time at the G8 summit was due to the fact it was held in Italy, home to one of the most corrupt governments in Europe. According to the non-governmental organization (NGO) Transparency International, Italy is ranked as the 55th least corrupt government in the world, dropping ten spots from the 2007 rankings. Citing the 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index released by the aforementioned NGO, Italy is more corrupt than the African countries of Botswana, Cape Verde, South Africa, and Mauritius. Since the last report issued by Transparency International, Ghana has improved two places, and is now considered as the 67th least country in the world. While Ghana is becoming less corrupt, Italy is becoming more corrupt and less democratic.

Another reason why the Obama administration probably choose the location of Ghana to speak about corruption and good governance as opposed to Egypt in his famous Cairo speech is due to the higher level of press freedom and democracy in Ghana. While Ghana ranks as the 94th most democratic country in the world, Egypt ranks as an authoritarian regime and comes in 119th on the list of 167 countries for democracy.

One of the reasons for the low ranking of democracy in Egypt is due to the fact that the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, has been in power since 1981. In this entire time, he has authorized and implemented a "state of emergency" in Egypt. With these special powers, Mubarak and his supporters, enable the government the right to imprison individuals for any period, and for virtually no reason, thus keeping them in prisons without trials for any period.

Yet another reason it was disappointing to read that Obama choose to criticize Africa while in Ghana, is the higher level of democracy and rule of law that country enjoys. The people living in Ghana and the journalists working there also enjoy some of the best press freedoms on the continent. Perhaps Mr. Obama did not discuss this fact, because in addition to Egypt being ranked 146th for press freedom, America also has a lower level of press freedom than Ghana. In fact, Ghana and several African countries such as Namibia (24), Mali (34), Cape Verde (37), and South Africa (38), all have a higher level of press freedom and protections for the journalists working in those countries.

Like Mr. Obama, I also had a chance to visit the former slave castle in Almina and visit the room with the “Door of No Return”. However, unlike Mr. Obama, I also know the history of the castle and how it was a former Dutch possession before the British took it over due to demise of the former and the ascension of the other. Perhaps Mr. Obama and his administration should remember this, when they embrace authoritarian governments like Egypt due to America’s energy needs, while the more democratic country of Ghana is only given token recognition for its press freedoms and democracy. If Obama and his administration continue to make the unethical mistake of putting countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia before Ghana, than America will enter the “Door of No Return”. Moreover, like the slaves that left for the New World through the door of no return, the future of Americans will be difficult and degrading.

History can show us our mistakes, but it takes wisdom and fortitude to learn from those mistakes, and not make the same mistakes as previous empires. Could the 2008 economic crisis of American capitalism be a door of no return, or a chance for America to redeem itself?

Some Thoughts on How to Better Implement Food Aid

Armed with an advanced political science education in the field of international relations and first hand knowledge of how an international aid organization operates, it was agonizing to read in the news that Obama wants to pledge more money to Africa in the form of food aid. Instead of spending more money the United States does not have, perhaps Mr. Obama and his new administration can apply his famous campaign slogan to the area of international food aid and change the way the existing international aid agencies responsible for food aid operate. Throwing money at the problem of world hunger will only further enrich the already bloated and inefficient UN agencies responsible for proving aid to the poor and hungry people of the world. Just as the Obama administration did with the 787 billion dollar economic stimulus package for the American economy, world leaders and United Nation leaders need to do more economic investment and monetary stimulus in Africa, which will offer more job opportunities to the people living in Africa. A good starting point would be to relocate all the international aid agencies out of Europe and the high cost Euro zone, to an African country.

With the US dollar losing 40 percent of value to the Euro since 2005 and the fact that all these institutions are funded by the U.S. dollar, any relocation out of Italy and the Euro zone would be more financially prudent and offer an African country the long lasting economic benefits these international organizations now give Italians and the international staff working there. In turn, this new wealth creation in the region of Africa would spur more development and lead to more wealth creation and a means for the people to support themselves, just as the Marshall Plan did for the Europeans after World War II. The relocation of these bloated bureaucracies would help spread some of the economic stimulus these organizations now provide to Italians and the international staff living the good life in Rome.

While the United States helped defeat fascism in Europe in the 1940s, in recent years there has been a strong reemergence of support for fascism in Italy and many people speak fondly of the Italian dictator Mussolini. This only sustains the argument to relocate the international food aid agencies out of Italy. Further reasons include the fact that Italy is home to one of the most corrupt governments in Western Europe, a country only listed as a partly free country in press freedom, and the lowest ranked democracy in Western Europe. Perhaps it is time the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) should all be relocated to an African country.

Relocating these institutions to an African city would not only provide the needed investment and economic stimulus the continent so desperately needs, but it would also make more logistical sense. With the bulk of their operations in Africa, it makes no sense why these institutions still have headquarters in Europe. In addition to the institutions being located on another continent, the airport of Rome is not even a major international travel hub. Many times when a staff member from one of these institutions has to fly to an African city, they often have to fly up to Amsterdam or Paris or make a connecting flight in some other city.

While Obama spoke of the corruption in Africa, perhaps he should be reminded of the corruption and graft in these aid agencies. As the old saying goes, when you point a finger at someone, there is usually three pointing back at you. The problem with the bully pulpit of politicians is that they do not allow for a robust debate and discussion of issues such as this.

Just as the location of Rome in the cold war era was a reward to Italy for supporting the policies of The United States and to further increase America’s soft power influence on the Italian government(s) during the Italian First Republic, a relocation of FAO, WFP, and IFAD to Ghana should also be promoted as a reward for that country’s long standing democracy. Supporting the argument of relocation further is the fact that Accra Ghana is already home to a United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), which is responsible for maintaining large quantities of pre-packaged emergency relief food aid and other supplies.

Perhaps Mr. Obama and the heads of these UN aid agencies should be reminded of a statement made by the President Kennedy who helped authorize the creation of these bloated bureaucracies.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

America needs the Economic Stimulus of NATO bases in their own country

Understanding the Italian way of life such as the month of August holiday and having a good understanding of the Italian economy ,it was preposterous to hear President Obama praise the Italians for the leadership in the global economic recovery process and Italy's moral leadership. While I will leave the moral leadership comment to the other bloggers to have a field day with, a closer examination of the comment by Obama and the economic leadership that Italy has shown deserves some attention. Many Americans are ignorant to the fact that they work much harder than most of the people living in western European countries. This is one of the reasons why Berlusconi and most of the other European leaders placate American Presidents and appear to be such good friends.

With millions of Americans working at night where food stores are open till at 10 pm at night and some big box retailers are open 24 hours, Italians don't think they should change their lifestyle in order to increase economic activity. A case example of this way of thinking involves almost all the grocery stores in Italy closing at 8 o’clock at night and only a handful open on Sundays. In addition to the limited hours businesses are open, Italians also enjoy a greater amount of national holidays. One of the reasons the summit was held in July in Italy, is that in the month of August, the entire country goes on vacation.

With the sole exception of France, who kicked out the US military in 1966, most of the countries except Russia, get economic support from the money the American military industrial complex spends in their countries. While the costs may not have been so high during the bi-polar era of the cold war, but now with the diminished value of the dollar and the United States estimated to have trillion dollar deficits for the next two years, the United States can not continue supporting these developed and wealthy countries.

Maybe it is time American leaders ask NATO members to build bases in America to help with the American economic recovery. I am sure the Spaniards would love to set up a base in south Florida, Texas, or any of the dozens of Spanish speaking areas in America. With the French warming back up to NATO, I am sure the residents along the New York-Canadian border in the French speaking province of Quebec would welcome some economic stimulus a new military base in their state would provide.

Two days of a Summit =Two Days of Political Analysis

During the recent Summit between The United States and Russia, President Barack Obama spoke of developing relations with Russia so that the two countries were not adversaries and moving away from the Cold War type mentality. However, with the United States refusing to consider abandoning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Cold War multi-national military alliance, how can Russia believe these kinds of statements from the new American President? If President Obama were serious about the rhetoric of his statements of moving from the cold war era relationship that has influenced the two countries relations, than surely the dissolution of NATO would be a very powerful statement of good will. However, due to the power of domestic American politics, this military industrial complex offspring will continue to hamper the relations with Russia, which will only further motivate Russia to realign herself with the new emerging Eastern powers of Asia.

The comments by the Obama administration that the United States desires to “share common interests” and help build together a secure, free and flourishing world are absurd when you factor in the NATO variable. If Obama and any other American president were truly serious about developing common interests and building a flourishing world, than abolishing NATO and the military alliance aligned against Russia would be a very big step in the right direction. Until any talk of dismantling NATO arises, the Russian people are justified to question the motives of the United States.

The unwillingness of the United States to consider the abolishment of NATO is an indication of where the power is in domestic American politics. As in the NATO example, the president of Russia and the President of The United States also mirror their own countries economies and the source of political power is in those countries.

Although several news sites such as the Fox News, New York Times, and even Wall Street Journal were checked before making this statement, there was no mention that President Dmitry Medvedev used to be the Chairman of the state owned Russian gas company, Gazprom. This prior position as chairman of the state gas company, which also possesses the world’s largest natural gas supplies, should have been mentioned in all the press coverage during the summit. Just as the close alliance with the oil industry helped finance the Bush political dynasty in America, the new Russian president also comes from the energy sector in Russia. These two examples demonstrate the power the energy industries have in each country and the continuing importance Russia is placing on her valuable natural resource.

Like Mr. Medvedev, President Obama is also a reflection of where the economic and political power is in America. Unlike Russia however, the American economy does not have any energy to export and more workers are employed in the financial services industry. In addition to the financial industry having the largest share of the US economy, big money financial donors in the financial sector like Chicago hedge fund billionaire Kenneth Griffin helped to finance the Obama presidential campaign.

The power of the financial services industry is not lost on the Russian president, and Mr. Medvedev understands America is a weaker world power now due to the 2008 economic crisis that highlighted Americas’ lightly regulated financial industry and precarious financial situation. This is one of the reasons why Russia along with China and Brazil are discussing why the world needs to think about a new global reserve currency as an alternative to the dollar.

An Analysis of the US-Russian Summit

The mainstream media coverage of the recent meeting between The United States and Russia has been framed in the bi-polar era of geo-politics. Instead of framing the summit as two former nuclear-armed adversaries of the Cold War, the mainstream media should be reporting how the summit is associated to the multi-polar geo-political world that is emerging as we enter the second decade of the 21st century. The media in America and the international press is also missing an opportunity to inform the public of the new power Russia is going to have, due to her large reserves of natural gas and her membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O). This military-economic cooperation between China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which many analysts see as a possible challenger to NATO and the western Alliance, is an important development in the emerging new multi-polar world. However, with the national media emergency of the Michael Jackson funeral, one can understand why more Americans are not aware of the issues and do not care.

Unlike the 20th century where America was the global superpower due to her relationship with oil and leadership of NATO, in the 21st century, Russia with her large energy reserves and new relationship with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will shift the balance of power in the world towards Asia. The recent summit is being depicted in the American press with Cold War connotations because of the influence of the national security state apparatus in the media and the impact it has on public opinion. More Americans need to look at how their country will fit into a new world order and stop being reminded of the past.

In the new great game, world powers are jockeying for control of the increasingly needed energy resources that power the global fossil fuel based economy. The energy rich area of the Caspian Sea area contains 21.4 percent of the world's proven oil reserves and 45 percent of the world's proven natural gas reserves. The geo-economic and geo-political importance of this area is the main reason why the two leading members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, China and Russia, have admitted Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In recent years, Iran and India have also expressed interest in joining the newest Asian multi-national alliance.

Due to the economic sanctions America has imposed on Iran and the unfaltering support it gives to Israel, by mid 2007 Iran had reduced the dollar share of its central bank reserves to only 20 percent. Iran also demanded that countries purchasing its oil pay the National Iranian Oil Company in non-dollar currencies. In order to get the energy it needs, the Japanese oil firm Nippon Oil and several other large refiners had agreed to pay for their oil in Yen.

As the power of American dollar declines and her prestige weakens due to being over extended in two military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, more countries like Iran will want to become full S.C.O. members as the power axis shifts to Asia in the 21st century.

The Obama administration needs to continue normalizing diplomatic relations with Iran and try to keep that country from fully aligning herself with Russia and joining the S.C. O. America needs to reconsider her unwavering support for Israel, a country that holds no strategic or national security importance to the United States.

Great powers in decline and the politics of evasion in America.

The recent American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACESA) recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives has been passed off in the mass media as the governments’ response to global warming. Just as the Bush administrations’ Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) had nothing to do with fighting terrorism, but was actually designed at increasing the power of the national security state apparatus, the same can be said about ACESA. The recent Clean Energy and Security Acts’ main goal is to prepare the U.S. economy for a post fossil fuel economy and the ever-increasing price of oil and future dwindling availability and the energy regime America has relied on for the last 150 years. The politics of evasion and the lobbyist-influenced legislation will not have any significant impact on altering the continuing decline of America as a world leader. The effects of peak oil in the near future and a continuing weaker U.S. dollar will impact America much sooner than the effects of global warming.

Due to the need to get re-elected and the self-serving interests of Washington politicians, American politicians cannot talk about the trajectory of America’s global decline or the prospect of oil becoming limited and more expensive. Any talk of a politician in America of the global decline of the United States and the link it has to the debt and credit crisis of 2008, the weakness of the U.S. dollar, and the costs of over involvement in the Middle East, would be the equivalent of me talking about my favorite Fox News broadcaster. Even though most incumbents enjoy a 93 percent re-election rate, the power and influence of the corporations and owners of society in America is clearly demonstrated by the lack of talk by the political leaders in America on substantive and strategically important issues. America is not the only world power to suffer from the politics of evasion and is now experiencing the same issues that contributed to the demise of previous world powers from Habsburg Spain to the British Empire.

Perhaps a close look at the former world power of Habsburg Spain is helpful in examining the current American domestic political situation. Like the American economy having a large portion dedicated to financial services and wealth creation, the Spanish Empire in the early 1600s also suffered from the same problem. Attempts by reform minded Spanish leaders was challenged by entrenched interests of the church, wealthy nobles, and the bureaucrats in Madrid. Sound familiar? While some reforms were passed like the closing of brothels and enforcing dress codes on the population, the reforms had little effect on the decline of Spain as a world power. The social conservative issues most Republicans and more Blue Dog Democrats pursue are an eerily similar parallel to the Spanish Empire’s situation. The upcoming Supreme Court judge nomination battle in the United States and the needless attention it will draw from the media and the political class is a profound example of the deviation from more important matters concerning the national security of the United States.

With the collapse of Habsburg Spain as a world power, the following two world powers of Holland and Great Britain also made similar mistakes regarding the issue of inadequate revenues and the proposed and rejected issue of a redistribution of burden sharing. In 1902, the British government asked its former colonies of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa to help alleviate some of the financial burdens it had incurred. While America does not have any colonies, the relationship of proving military protection to Japan and South Korea in return for the purchasing of American debt and supporting the U.S. dollar is a similar parallel.

Americans can no longer tolerate the politics of evasion that many elected leaders in Congress practice. More Americans need to understand the upcoming changing world order and how long term relations that oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Asian countries such as Japan of burden sharing arrangements such as buying and holding U.S. currency reserves, will arrive much sooner than the effects of global warming.

American Independance in the New World Order

As America celebrates the 4th of July, other wise known as Independence Day, it is rather ironic that Americans are losing the very independence and some of the rights they value so much. Due to the decisions by both political parties in America over the last 60 years and the consequences of being an Empire, many of the civil liberties and now even the economic independence many Americans cherish so much is diminishing more and more each passing year. To help reverse this alarming trend, Americans need to ask themselves what kind of freedom and independence they want. In many important categories for freedom and democracy, America is not even in the top 10 and sometimes not even in the top 30 rankings for these important categories. If the country continues on the course it has been on for the last 25 years, America will soon lose its economic freedom and most likely more of the civil liberties as is usually the case when a great power declines.

Most people like to get the good news first, so I will begin with the only two world rankings where America comes in first and third respectively. These two lists include annual government expenditures on the military and the best countries to do business in. According to The International Institute for Strategic Studies, the United States is the leading country with the highest amount of annual defense spending. While most other analysts or reporters would use this euphuism expression for the United States, I think it would be more appropriate if we started and continued to call the Department of Defense, the Department of Power Projection.

As regards to the other list where America is in the top five, The World Bank report entitled, Doing Business-Measuring business regulations is a report that provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 181 economies and selected cities at the sub-national and regional level. Although the U.S. comes in third in this ranking, part of the reason is due to the ease employers have in firing people and some other unfriendly labor practices.

In more important world rankings that concern democracy, press freedoms, and human development America fails to be in the top ten in any list. While America used to be perceived as the leader of the free world and the beacon on top of the hill, America only ranks as the 20th most democratic country in the world. Due in part to the power of the two party system and the barriers they enact for other parties to form and challenge their duopoly of power, is one of reasons why countries like Japan, Malta, and Spain are considered to more democratic and pluralistic. In addition to the power of the two parties, the low voter participation of the electorate is another leading factor for the low ranking of America’s democracy.

Perhaps the most disturbing and alarming list more Americans should be aware of is the list for press freedom. Two respectable groups, Freedom House International and reporters Without Borders, both list the United States in the mid 40s. Countries such as Jamaica, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, and even Ghana has a higher quality of press freedom and protections those countries offer its journalists. Making this list so important is the level of importance the writers of the United States Constitution placed freedom of the press. Most Americans know that this right is the first one on the Bill of Rights. Although this document should be renamed the Bill of Privileges due to the fact that these “rights” can be taken away as Bush/Cheney/Rodriguez showed in 2002, 2003, and 2004.

While some people may call me un-American or un-patriotic for the things I have an opinion on, I would counter those critics and argue that I am more patriotic than most Americans due to my education and involvement with my country. Just as St. Paul used to carry a sword to protect him from the pagan non-believers and Roman soldiers, I too have a sword. However, my defense is intellect and reason, and I will strike down any neo-conservative,blue dog democrat,chicken hawk military industrial complex stoog that challenges my intellect and reason.

A Political Analysis of the 2008 Election by Kevin Phillips

If you take the time, this short 9-minute video interview with Kevin Phillips explains the current domestic political landscape. It should be a must watch for anyone who wants to clearly understand the political makeup in America and how Obama and the democrats are torn between the big money donors interests that got them elected to power and the desires of the electorate and minority voters who also got Obama into power.

Kevin Phillips gained a great deal of credibility for his political analysis of the upcoming republican majority that would emerge in the early 1970s and help republicans govern the White House for the next 20 out of 24 years. He based his political analysis for the republicans to pursue a Southern Strategy after reviewing voting patterns following the Richard Nixon election. In a powerful quote to the New York Times, Kevin Phillips said,

“The more Negros who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republican”.

While he began his career as a republican strategist, he then broke from his party and became an independent analyst. He has written several books on domestic American politics explaining how the republican party favors the rich, the political dynasty of some political families like the Kennedy’s, Gore’s, and Bush’s to the link between oil, religion, and the recent financial credit that burst in America.

His political analysis demands attention and his current book, Bad Money and the Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism should be read by more people.

Kevin Phillips w/ Bill Moyers on the New Electorate - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

As the Price of Oil Rises,the Prestige of Washington Declines

Since Richard Nixon took the United States off a limited gold standard in 1971, the value of the United States dollars has been on an unofficial oil standard with oil. While some observers and pundits will not use these phrases in the main stream press, some analysts have also called referred to this relationship and have used the phrase, petrodollar. This close relationship with the price of oil and the linkage to the dollar is going to play a major factor in the next five to ten years. Just as the British Pound did not lose its status as the world’s currency reserve overnight, the recent credit bubble and precarious levels of debt the United States is carrying is helping the dollar follow the same path towards losing its status as the global reserve currency. If OPEC nations like Saudi Arabia demand their oil be paid for in euros, the unofficial oil standard relationship to the dollar will have very painful consequences on America.

In the past, a high oil price used to mean a strong dollar as oil exporting countries put their money in dollars. Now with the weakest dollar in decades, oil-exporting countries are losing the purchasing power for their own imports, which OPEC countries generally purchase from Europe and Britain. This is one reason why when the price of oil has gone up the value of the US dollar has gone down. In 2008 when the price of oil skyrocketed to 150 dollars a barrel, the U.S. dollar sank against the Euro and four other major currencies. Since 2002, the U.S. dollar has lost 30 percent of its value against the Euro, the Canadian dollar, the Swiss Franc, and the British Pound. In the same time period, the price of oil jumped from 25 dollars a barrel to 100 dollars a barrel.

Indications of the continued decline of America as a great power can be seen in the recent moves by some oil exporting countries to remove the pegging of their own currencies to the US dollar. Kuwait, the country the United States help during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and then later helped liberate from the military occupation of Saddam Hussein, recently un-pegged its currency from the U.S. dollar. In Lord Palmerston’s oft-quoted words, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies; there are only permanent interests.