The Last Word in 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, Opinione would like to thank all the readers and supporters of the blog for making 2009 such as great year for the blog. Opinione has enjoyed sharing information from various academic scholars and other experts in international relations to help combat the garbage being pumped out by the weapons of mass distraction media outlets. In 2010, Opinione will aspire to bring more important information to you on topics ranging from mass transit, China, domestic American politics, the mafia and Italian politics, and of course more issues related to national security and the military industrial complex in America.

To help Opinione to continue to offer fresh perspectives on domestic American politics and national security issues, the Grand Prince recently added some new books to his library. Some of the books the Grand Prince recently added to the library regarding national security issues include, The Complex – How the Military Invades our Everyday Lives by Nick Turse, Wealth and Democracy in America by Kevin Phillips, Blood and Oil by Michael Klare, and Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet also by Michael Klare. In addition to the already formable foundation of information regarding national security by the authors Andrew Bacevich and Chalmers Johnson, these new books should allow Opinione to continue to offer the reader of the blog important information they will not get from the weapons of mass distraction media.

Although Opinione will not be able to save the world, like Beppe Grillo says, it is in the status quo interests that the Grand Prince give up and be assimilated into the general population of an ignorant and naïve electorate. Until they give up, the Grand Prince will also never give up.

The Double Standard Policy Republicans have on National Security Issues

If you think President Obama is not taking the war on terror seriously enough for not rushing back to Washington DC from his Hawaiian vacation, than you have been watching too much weapons of mass distraction media programs and members of the political establishment trying to capitalize on a near catastrophic terrorist attack. If you however, had been following the story on the Internet and in newspapers as Opinione has suggested, instead of allowing the corporate media barons telling you what they want you to know, than you would have found out that it took former President Bush six days to even acknowledge the shoe bomber incident and that the problem lies more with a bloated inefficient national security state apparatus and a flawed American foreign policy strategy, than the reaction of President Obama and his administration.

A recent political analysis from the organization, Politico, discussed the double standard and hypocrisy some members of the political opposition such as Congressional Representatives Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.) are having with the recent near tragic terrorist attack. Aided by the weapons of mass distraction in the largest media market in the country, Peter King said on WCBS TV in New York City,

“I'm disappointed it's taken the president 72 hours to even address this issue. Basically nobody, the president, the vice president, the attorney general, nobody except [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano has come out. And she said yesterday everything worked well. What I hope the president would do is treat this in a bipartisan way, acknowledge that mistakes were made and promise we'll do all we can to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Discussing the same talking points undoubtedly issued by Karl Rove and other opposition chicken hawks, Peter Hoekstra speaking on the oppositions propaganda media outlet, Fox News, took a similar tack, arguing that the slowness of Obama’s reaction showed terrorism wasn’t high on his agenda.

“On many other instances and occasions the president is out front. He’s out front leading very early on a lot of different issues. When it comes to terrorism to the threat to the homeland, the president has decided to stay silent for 72 hours. He needs to explain that,” said the Michigan Republican, who is the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee. “Why this is not a priority? It should be his No. 1 priority.”

Demonstrating just how dissolute the political leadership has become in Washington DC, the statement by Peter Hoekstra is coming from the leader of the House Intelligence Committee who is supposed to be the committee overseeing the nation’s war on terror and other national security issues. Perhaps Mr. Hoekstra would like to answer why he is holding the Obama administration to a different standard, than the Bush Administration was held to after the show bomber incident in 2001, and how President Bush did not even make a statement about the incident until six days after the incident took place. For someone in charge of the Intelligence Committee, it doesn’t appear Mr. Hoekstra is not too intelligent on recent national security issues.

The political analysis piece by Politico also documented how pathetic the press was during the early Bush administration years when it failed to ask serious questions. Readers of the blog will remember a recent posting Opinione published of a video clip from a PBS broadcast regarding the press coverage in the early years of the Bush Administration. Although the shoe bomber attack occurred on 21 December 2001, only the foreign press agency, Agence France-Presse, wrote a story about the lack of discussion by the Bush administration when it wrote on Dec. 27, 2001: “

Four days after Richard Colvin Reid, 28, tried to set fire to his explosives-laden shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight, neither the White House nor other authorities had spoken officially on the alleged would-be suicide bombing,”

Further demonstrating how pathetic the press was in America during the early Bush years was evident during a wide-ranging 25-minute press availability meeting with President Bush the next day. During this meeting, reporters asked more than 15 questions, including non-important queries such as the president’s New Year’s Eve plans and about a tree he’d planted. President Bush was never asked about Reid, but only mentioned the attempt in passing.

The selective amnesia by members of the political opposition in America of former President Bush’s response to the first terrorist attack after the September 11 attack, show how bad the partisan rancor has become in Washington DC and just how low the political discourse has sunk inside the Beltway. Instead of addressing the real issues of why America is hated by members of radical Islamic groups around the world, which include America’s unbiased support for Israel or America’s support and backing of the ruling monarchy in Saudi Arabia, opposition political leaders are only trying to score cheap political points.

The lack of serious discussion on the core issues of America’s misguided foreign policy stems from the monetary and political control the Israeli political action committee known as AIPAC (American Israeli Political Action Committee) has in American politics. By the time the corporate weapons of mass distraction tells the American people this, the United States will be owned by the Chinese, and following the same fate as the last world super power who tried to hold onto military power with a crumbling economy-the Soviet Union

Statistical changes between 1999 and 2009- The numbers show the decline in American living standards

McClatchy Newspapers recently published an interesting article on various statistical changes between 1999 and 2009. Ranging from demographic changes in the United States population over the last decade to the composition of the US Congress and the value of the US dollar, numbers give a good indication of where the United States was as a country and where the country is heading. For regular readers of Opinione some of the data released in the news report vindicates the Grand Prince’s rhetoric of declining living standards of average hard working Americans, while the rich and wealthy, such as an average CEO ,further increase their living standards. Some of the more interesting figures include the amount of Millionaires in the House and Senate, median household income for Americans, and the amount of people living below the poverty line.

As the weapons of mass distraction media will most likely not report on these important changes, Il Principe (The Prince) hopes you will take the time to view the entire list here, and to consider how some of these statistics link back to the perpetual state of war the political establishment has embarked the country on, with no end in sight.

In addition to the full article by McClatchy Newspapers and a link to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator, Opinione has highlighted in bold the areas where living standards have declined for average hard working Americans.

U.S. POLITICS

Republican governors
31 (1999); 22 (2009)
Democratic governors
17 (1999); 28 (2009)

Female members of U.S. House of Representatives
60 (1999); 78 (2009)
Female members of the U.S. Senate
9 (1999); 17 (2009)

Openly gay U.S. members of Congress
3 (1999); 3 (2009)

Millionaires in the Senate
30 (1999); 67 (2009)
Millionaires in the House
66 (1999); 170 (2009)
Lobbyists registered with Congress
13,233 (1999); 13,426 (2009)

U.S. ECONOMY

Unemployed workers not included in jobless number because they haven't looked for work in the past month
1.1 million (1999); 2.3 million (November 2009)

Median household income
$44,900 (1999); $50,303 (2008)
In 1999 constant dollars
$44,900 (1999); $38,924 (2008)

Median sales price for existing homes
$138,000 (1999); $172,700 (2009)
In constant 1999 dollars
$138,000 (1999); $133,000 (2009)

Median sales price for new homes
$161,000 (1999); $212,000 (2009)
In constant 1999 dollars
$161,000 (1999); $163,265 (2009)

Number of foreclosure proceedings
450,000 (1999); 2 million (2009, estimate)

Banks seized by Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
8 (1999); 133 (through Dec. 11, 2009)

People living below the poverty line
32.8 million in 1999; 39.8 million in 2008

Poverty line for a family of four
$17,029 (1999); $22,025 (2008)
In constant 1999 dollars
$17,029 (1999); $17,043 (2008)

Federal minimum wage (hourly)
$5.15 (1999); $7.25 (2009)
In constant 1999 dollars
$5.15 (1999); $5.58 (1999)

Value of a dollar
$1 (1999); 77 cents (2009, in constant 1999 dollars)

Top CEO salary
$569.8 million (1999, Michael Eisner, Disney Corp.); $556.9 million
(2009, Lawrence Ellison, Oracle Corp.; $428.9 million in constant 1999 dollars)

Average CEO compensation for Fortune 500 companies
$8.4 million (1999, then the Fortune 800); $11.4 million (2009; $8.78 million in constant 1999 dollars)

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Number of federal executive branch employees
1.778 million (1999); 1.977 million (2009, estimate)

Total federal debt
$5.606 trillion (1999); $12.9 trillion (2009, estimate)

Total federal budget
$1.733 trillion (1999); $2.932 trillion (2009)

Gross tax collection by Internal Revenue Service
$1.769 trillion (1999); $2.745 trillion (2008)

Top individual tax rate:
39.6 percent (1999); 35 percent (2008)

Income subject to top tax rate
$283,150 (1999); $372,950 (2008)

MILITARY

Defense budget (including supplementals)
$270.5 billion (fiscal year 1999); $680 billion (fiscal year 2010)
In constant 1999 dollars
$270.5 billion (fiscal year 1999); $524 billion (fiscal year 2010)

Percentage of new recruits who graduated high school
98 (1999); 73.8 (2009)

Number of troops based in Germany
65,540 (1999); 53,960 (2009)

Number of troops based in South Korea
36,000 (1999); 28,500 (2009)

Minimum pay for a major in the Army
$31,349 (1999); $48,322 (2009)
In constant 1999 dollars
$31,349 (1999); $37,214 (2009)

Minimum pay for a private first class in the Army
$13,417 (1999); $19,796 (2009)
In constant 1999 dollars
$13,417 (1999); $15,245 (2009)

EDUCATION
Percentage of science and engineering Ph.D.s granted by U.S. universities that went to foreigners
33 (1999); 42 (2009)

High school graduates
1.15 million (1999); 989,000 (2008)

Number of private high school students
1.278 million (1999); 1.319 million (2008)

Number of public high school students
14.638 million (1999); 15.397 million (2008)

National high school dropout rate
5 percent (1999); 3.5 percent (2007)

Number of students enrolled in four-year colleges, full and part time
11 million (1999); 9.6 million (2008)
Number of full-time students at four-year colleges
7.913 million (1999); 7.981 million (2008)
Number of African-Americans enrolled in four-year colleges
1.4 million (1999); 1 million (2008)

Salary and benefits of the highest paid college president
$878,222 (1999, Harry C. Payne, Williams College)
$1,598,247 (2008, Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; in constant 1999 dollars, $1,236,713)

Perpetual War in America - Part 3

As other Americans were busy returning or exchanging presents at the mall, members of the armed services deployed in Afghanistan were however returning to never ending combat patrols on steep mountainside goat trails and performing the everyday tasks demanded by wealthy chicken hawk politicians back in Washington DC. While the sons and daughters of these privileged elites in Washington DC carried on with their daily lifestyle of texting messages on their new iPhones, driving around in their big gas guzzling cars, and hanging out at the local Starbucks coffee shop, their peers serving in the All Volunteer Force in Afghanistan quietly carried on their jobs as the new strategic corporals of the 21st century and fighting a never ending war thousands of miles away from their loved ones while at Christmas. This disparity between 18-24 year old recruits serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and their peers stateside, is one of the more poignant examples of the unfair, unjust, and morally corrosive atmosphere the current civil military arrangement that Andrew Bacevich, William Astore, and other former members of the military talk about when discussing perpetual war. In addition to the inequality of sacrifice being asked of our 18-24 year old population, the perpetual war is beginning to bear evidence to the damage it has having on the military in the forms of the highest suicide rate in its history, a lowering of the quality of new military recruits, and a hallowing out of its more experienced members, due to the never ending combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of these factors will contribute to the ultimate failure of the United States military occupation of Afghanistan and will be another consequence of pursuing a perpetual war with most Americans with the exception of war profiteers having absolutely nothing to show for it.

To support the statement about the ever widening gap between the political establishment and chicken hawk politicians like Cheney, Palin, Obama, Clinton, etc. who have never served in the military but are not hesitant to send troops on never ending missions, this statement is based from a passage from the book, The New American Militarism by Andrew Bacevich. As long time readers of the blog will know, Mr. Bacevich is a retired Lt. Col US Army, has a BA from West Point, an MA from Princeton, and a PhD from Princeton.

“Exacerbating the prevailing level of strategic illiteracy is the fact that so few members (of Congress) have any first hand military experience. Among current sitting members of Congress, the percentage of veterans is now lower than at any time since the end of the cold war era, approximately three fourths of senators and more than half of house members were veterans. Those numbers have steadily declined so that following the election of 2000; only 36 percent of senators and 29 percent of House members were veterans.”

Since the beginning of the nation building exercises in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Bush’s Global War on Terror (GWOT) the trend lines have continued south. Opinione would like to add to the list of chicken hawk politicians, media air heads like Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Rush Limbaugh, who should all be included in this group of Americans who have had other priorities as Dick Cheney had when it was their time to serve their country and the nation’s national security.

Highlighting the dangers of the consensual agreement the American public made about serving in the military and having callous political leaders in Washington DC embark in fool hearty military adventures of imperial conquest or nation building exercises, the US Army has been forced to take some questionable steps to maintain its force structure to support the operational tempo demanded by Washington DC chicken hawk politicians. Some of these steps as highlighted by William Astore in a recent TomDispatch article include:

boosting the maximum age of enlistment from age 35 to age 42 at a time when its operational tempo is burning out far younger men and women. It has authorized enlistment bonuses of up to $40,000 for new soldiers, and reenlistment bonuses to select soldiers, also for up to $40,000. As the Army attempts to entice enlistees with big-money bonuses and benefits, it’s also accepting more recruits who lack high school diplomas; the rate of new recruits with high school diplomas declined to 71% in 2008, a 25-year low. Counterinsurgency (COIN) campaigns -- the sort of wars promoted by Centcom commander General David Petraeus and Afghan War commander General Stanley McChrystal -- theoretically demand restraint, tact, and flexibility exercised at the squad level by so-called strategic corporals. What’s the likelihood that enough of today’s recruits will develop the sophistication, the so-called “soft” yet decidedly hard-won “people skills” they need to succeed as strategic corporals?

Backing up the statement about the All Volunteer Force being unrepresentative of democratic America that Opinione did in a previous post, it is necessary to again reference Bacevich who writes in the Limits of Power- The End of American Exceptionalism:

"Even middle class Americans, although professing deep regard for members of the armed services, tend to admire their soldiers from a safe distance. The All-Volunteer Force – a euphemism for what it is, in fact, a professional army, does not even remotely look like democratic America. As the New York Times reported at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, while the Nation’s wealthy and more educated youth have shunned the military,” minorities and the underprivileged, along with the offspring of the officer class, have picked up the slack. In 2000, for example, minorities comprised 42 percent of the Army’s enlisted force. In the growing population of female soldiers, African Americans easily outnumbered whites. Whereas 46 percent of the total civilian population has studied at the undergraduate level, only 6.5 percent of the 18-24 year olds filling the military’s enlisted ranks have all had any college education."

In addition to the lowering of the quality of new recruits joining the military, the recent TomDispatch article by William Astore highlighted are two very important groups within the military are leaving in large numbers. These include officers holding the rank of captain and enlisted members known as Non Commissioned Officers (NCOs). For anyone who has not served in the military, NCOs are the backbone of the military and have years of experience and skill. Leaving the military to become a paramilitary contractors with Blackwater, Triple Canopy, DynCorp International, to name just a few, the cost to the American taxpayer is costing over 14 times what it would to pay a soldier.

The lifestyles and responsibilities of members of the military and their civilian peers in college and at the mall demonstrate the disparity in responsibility and sacrifice among young Americans. Until all Americans of all ages question the civil military relationship or take to the streets and demand the perpetual war to end, the decline of the United States as global world power will continue unabated.

Perpetual war in America - Part 2

Shopping at the mall, flying home to spend time with family members, or celebrating at the company Christmas party, most Americans are living their lives this holiday season as if there is no war going on and forget the sacrifice members of the armed forces are enduring for yet another holiday season in far away countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Not asked to buy war bonds while watching the latest movie trailers at the local cinema or do anything for the war effort like driving less or volunteering at a local Veterans Hospital, the lack of involvement being asked of the American people in the perpetual war by chicken hawk politicians, is one of the most immoral and offensive displays of the ever growing unequal distribution of wealth and privilege in American society. The contemporary civil-military relationship supported by the American political establishment will be most likely seen by future historians as the Roman empire was 2,000 years ago, with a two class system of aristocrats and plebs.

Although most Americans say they support the military by putting a bumper sticker on their tax-deductible Hummer or showing members of the military the respect they are due if they see them in an airport or at a mall, most Americans tend to admire soldiers from a safe distance. This contemporary civil-military relationship is the result of the decision by the Nixon administration to do away with the draft and to rely on an All Volunteer Force to fill the ranks of the military. Although this decision by the Nixon Administration after the end of Vietnam War was suitable for a military force only responsible for maintaining an empire of bases around the world, acting primarily as a trip wire in places like Germany and South Korea, as the American military enters its ninth year of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, more Americans should be questioning their relationship with men and women serving their country in the armed forces.

While most Americans view the ending of the draft because of the end of the Vietnam War, the more accurate analysis of the Nixon administration of ending conscription in America was to weaken the anti-war movement. The move by Nixon was to cut the legs off of the anti-war movement and to get college age kids off the streets protesting a war being waged by American political leaders in a country thousands of miles away, which posed no strategic or military threat to America.

Sound a little familiar?

This decision by the Nixon administration appealed to all segments of the American electorate from liberals, conservatives, and centrists at the time, and who have now all grown accustomed to the new consensus of military service being voluntary. Unlike in other times during the history of the United States such as in 1865, 1918, and 1945, when the American military was demobilized after a war, the continual reliance on an All-Volunteer Force unrepresentative of the general American population will also be seen by future historians as one of the reasons the American empire and the American republic followed the same fate as previous global empires. These previous world powers include the British, Dutch, Spanish, and Roman Empires.

As American military members enter their eight consecutive year of fighting in far away countries, which former world powers have discovered cannot be won, such as the British Empire in Afghanistan, the American people, should stop supporting a foreign policy based on militarism and imperial conquest.

The lack of sacrifice and participation of the American public is allowing chicken hawk politicians in Washington DC to conduct a perpetual war with no end in sight, while at the same time, exploiting the fine men and women serving in the United States military. This lack of respect by the political establishment in Washington Dc and the unspoken but evident support of this policy by the American public is another example of the moral decay occurring in America. Undoubtedly most historians in the future will see this as one of the reasons for the demise of America as a global world power, due to the drag on the economy a perpetual war has on an economy and the moral leadership of the political class.

To help save the American republic and restore the principle of a small central government and the States in the Union having more power that the founding fathers had envisioned when they wrote the US Constitution, more Americans should demand that the political establishment in Washington institute some kind of new military conscription or end the small wars a declining world empire typically wages.

Perpetual war in America - Part 1

Although the American military has been involved in many foreign interventions over the last thirty years in addition to the two major wars it fought after World War II, including the Korean and Vietnam Wars, there is little evidence in American culture of the negative effects of this perpetual war. This can be attributed to the relatively large population of the United States and the small segment of society such as the lower and middle-income classes of American society who have sacrificed and contributed the most to this perpetual war and the associated imperial ambitions of the United States. As the holiday period approaches, opinione will be discussing and analyzing how the impact of the latest perpetual war is having on the small segment of American society who have sacrificed so much in last eight years, while the rest of the country continues to live a normal life and does not feel in any way the negative effects a country at war would normally feel.

To help put this in perspective, Opinione is beginning this series of articles by looking at how a European country, which lost over nine million people, still remembers the devastating impact a war has on a nation and its people.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine, resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million. In stark contrast to the United States of the 21st century, this staggering loss of life and destruction in that country is still remembered by its newest generation in the form of art.

A young 24-year-old artist by the name of Kseniya Simonova draws a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch. 
 
The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience. 
 



Nemesis and the ghosts of Piazza Fontana playing a visit to Silvio Berlusconi in Milano

Although political allies and supporters of Silvio Berlusconi are going to portray the recent attack on the Prime Minister as a result of the culture of hatred being spread by his political opponents or a left wing judicial system out to get him, the Prime Minister and most politicians in Italy are however the most responsible group liable for the poisonous political climate and the use of violence for political gain in Italy. Ironically, for Silvio Berlusconi, the date and location of his attack in Milan happened one day after the 40th anniversary of the first terrorist attack by extreme right wing political parties in Italy, which killed 17 innocent people and injured an additional 100 people. Located in Milano in almost the exact same area as the Piazza Fontana terrorist bombing 40 years earlier, the personal attack on Silvio Berlusconi may be the Greek god Nemesis, visiting Silvio Berlusconi for his past involvement and support of political violence in Italy.

Anyone with a fundamental understanding of contemporary Italian history should remember that the political establishment in Italy has long used violence as a political tool. The most prominent example of the use of violence for political gain was the Strategy of Tension in the 1970s by the prominent political party in Italy the Christian Democratic Party and the former neo-fascist political party Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI). While most political leaders of the Christian Democratic Party are no longer active,(with the exception of Guilio Andreotti) the former leader of the MSI, Gianfranco Fini, is a current member of the Berlusconi government, and will most likely be the next Prime Minister of Italy due to the political composition of Italian politics.

In the Strategy of Tension campaign, the extreme center right political parties supported by a secret Masonic lodge, known as P2, which contained several high-ranking government officials in the secret services, national police and wealthy members of society like Silvio Berlusconi, conducted three well-known terrorist operations in Italy. With the goal of blaming center left political dissidents for the terrorist attacks, the members of the secret Masonic lodge in addition to members of the extreme right wing political parties were worried that the communist party in Italy was gaining too much political power and that an over throw of the government would protect the interests of the status quo powers in Italy. In addition to members of the center right political parties benefiting from a coup d’etat wealthy individuals and owners of capital and industry such as Silvio Berlusconi would benefit from a right wing coup d’etat.

The Piazza Fontana bombing in Milano Italy at the Nationale dell’ Agricoltura (National Bank of Agriculture) just a short distance away from the site of the attack on Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday was the Italian extreme right wing’s and secret Masonic lodge P2 fist attempt at a coup d’etat in Italy. In addition to killing 17 people and wounding another 100 mainly farmers and tradesman in their weekly visit to the bank, an additional two other bombs went off in Rome wounding an additional 18 people. Although the President of Italy at the time President Saragat wanted to declare a state of public emergency, something that had never occurred before in the history of the Italian Republic, and would have led to future elections favoring the extreme right, Aldo Moro opposed the move. Showing the same moral courage and respect to a pluralistic democratic society for which he would later be betrayed for, by his own friends in the government in 1978, Aldo Moro stood up to the proponents of violence and fear.

In addition to the Piazza Fontana bombing, the extreme right wing with the certain support of the secret Masonic lodge members conducted two additional terrorist attacks in the 1980s, killing an additional 98 innocent people. These attacks included the bombing of the main train station in the center left stronghold of Bologna, Italy killing over 82 innocent people, and later a bombing of a train in transit between Florence and Rome killing 16 innocent people. Demonstrating the utter contempt for protecting the very people they are responsible to protect and the depraved behavior of some members of the Italian right wing political parties, the train bombing in 1984, was conducted by the Neapolitan mafia clan the Camorra and supported by right wing political members of the government. The collusion between the mafia in Italy and Italian politics is well known and is perhaps the best well-known dirty little secret of a major European power.

With this addition information, the attack on Silvio Berlusconi will undoubtedly fuel the pages of behindologists, people seeking dark and intriguing explanations for public political events such as when a major mafia member is captured in Sicily or people who believe nothing happens in Italian politics by accident. Due to the decades long political collusion of the Sicilian mafia with several high ranking government officials such as seven time Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, to the political assassination of Aldo Moro for his willingness to bring the Communist Party of Italy into a governing coalition, the history of Italy is littered with numerous examples of political violence. Most often, these political acts of violence were conducted with the support and instigation of politicians back in Rome, who have also incidentally benefited the most from these previous acts of political violence.

2009 Nobel Peace Prize given to Commander in Chief and military industrial complex stooge- Barack Hussein Obama

The recent speech by President Barack Obama would have made George Orwell proud.

Speaking before an international audience, with a straight face and the demeanor of a dishonest cars salesman, President Barack Obama had the audacity to declare to the world “the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.” Perhaps the blog War in Context put it best when it wrote;

Only within a nation that has largely managed to insulate itself from the effects of war could such a statement be made.

Akin to a smoker declaring that his addiction is not serious because everyone eventually dies anyway, the support of the military occupation and combat operations by American forces in Afghanistan by President Obama demonstrates how strong the allure of power is to individuals. Afraid to confront the domestic power of the military industrial complex in America and wanting to hold onto power after the next election, President Obama is proving to the world that he is no Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, or Desmond Tutu.

Although it is unfair to place all the blame on the shoulders of Barack Obama for accepting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, an equal or larger amount of the blame should also be placed on the Nobel Committee for awarding the prize to Mr. Obama. Unlike previous individuals and institutions the Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to such as Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, or Amnesty International, The Nobel Peace Prize Committee giving the 2009 Peace Prize to Commander in Chief, Barack Obama, is like giving the peace prize to the Pentagon or the CIA.

Although it is reasonable to consider if the decision by the Nobel Peace Committee awarding the prize to Obama was some kind of Machiavellian tactic to try and influence American foreign policy, the subsequent decision by Commander in Chief Obama bowing to the power of the American military industrial complex, is proving the decision by the Nobel Prize Committee to be in error. Mr. Obama has thus shown the Nobel Committee and the world that he is nothing more than a little puppet on the end of the strings of the military industrial complex and the national security state apparatus. Afraid to take the courageous and moral decisions other former Nobel Peace Prize laureates have demonstrated, Barack Obama has instead taken the easier and more craven political decision to increase the amount of American soldiers fighting in the Afghan civil war.

The decision to increase the amount of American soldiers and military power in Afghanistan was not to pursue peace, as President Obama declared in his acceptance speech, but intended to satisfy the demands of the American military industrial complex and maintaining a military presence on the western flank of Israel’s enemy in the Middle East, the Islamic republic of Iran. This decision and future decisions by Commander in Chief Barack Obama will not only prove to the world he was not deserving of the award, but will also diminish the prestige and recognition the award used to carry for future Nobel Peace Prize recipients.

Blogging about Guns, the Mafia and American Foreign Policy

One of the inspirations to starting a blog and continuing it has come from the blogs Mikeb302000, Beppe Grillo, and TomDispatch. All of these blogs are enjoyable and offer a unique insight into vastly different topics and subject matter. Although all the blogs have a completely different style with Beppe Grillo taking a more comical approach to his subject matter, MikeB302000 an interactive approach and TomDispatch a more academic approach, all the blogs have allowed Opinione to become more knowledgably in the topics discussed on these blogs.

Ranging from the topics discussed on Mikeb302000 like gun control and capital punishment to topics on Beppe Grillo which include the privatization of water in Italy to efforts to remove Italian politicians from government who have been convicted of crimes, Opinione highly recommends other bloggers and Internet users to book mark these blogs. While Opinione, TomDispatch, and Beppe Grillo are more of a depository of information and political analysis, the blog of Mikeb302000 is a blog with a lot of user comments. However, be forewarned though, visitors thinking about visiting this site and dropping an anti-gun comment should enter the site with their body armor on and their sensitivity checked at the door.

As a political analyst and a former member of the military and the military industrial complex, Opinione enjoys the blog postings on TomDispatch that deal mainly with the power projection and imperial nature of American foreign policy. Started by Tom Engelhardt in November 2001, contributors to the blog include academic intellectuals such as Chalmers Johnson, Noam Chomsky and Andrew Bacevich, in addition to foreign investigative reporters such as Pratap Chatterjee, Pepe Escobar, and Nick Turse. The site is highly recommended for readers wanting to get a factual and unbiased account of what is happening in regards to American foreign policy and domestic American politics. For people accustomed to getting their news and information from the weapons of mass distraction media, visiting TomDispatch will be like a blind man regaining his sight.

Rounding out the blogs and anyone wanting to get a more knowledgably opinion of a country where the mafia controls over 8 percent of the entire GDP of a country, Opinione highly recommends Beppe Grillo. While Opinione has discussed on many occasions in some detail the control and influence of information in Italy by Silvio Berlusconi and the political establishment in Italy, the blog by Beppe Grillo has been a great source of unbiased and critical information concerning a NATO member and one of the founding members of the European Union.

Started in 2001, the blog by Mr. Grillo is the seventh most popular blog in the world and gets an average 200,000 to 250,000 thousand visits a day. Demonstrating the international audience the Internet is able to draw, the blog by Beppe Grillo is available in three languages; Italian, English, and oddly enough Japananese. Considering Japan is the third most powerful economy and a country with over 200 million people, Mr. Grillo is undoubtedly more than happy to employ someone from Japan to translate his material into Japanese.

Other blogs Opinione recommends are; Laci the Dog,War in Context, Secrecy News from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy, and Nukes and Spooks.

So put down that remote control, turn off the TV and regain your freedom from the weapons of mass distraction media.

Why Italy is classified as having the least efficient legal system in Europe

The weapons of mass distraction media has yet again lived up to its nickname with the way it has covered the story of an American student living in Italy, who was recently sentenced for allegedly killing a fellow student she was living with in the town of Perugia. Although most Americans who watched the story of Amanda Know being sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly killing her British flat mate were given the facts of the case, most viewers were not made aware of how the speed or lack of speed a defendant receives in a criminal trial in Italy plays a major factor in how a final verdict will be established for a defendant. In addition to the speed of the trial, or lack of speed, the three levels of conviction or appeals is another fact that went under reported or not reported at all by the media. This crucial factor is perhaps one of the most important differences between the American and Italian judicial legal systems and contributes significantly to why Italy is classified by the international financial institution, The World Bank, as having the least efficient legal system in Europe.

Although Opinione did not review every single news article or television news story, Opinione however could make the statement with reasonable assurance that almost all of the reports by the weapons of mass distraction media did not begin their coverage by reporting that the prime minister where the story was taking place, was also currently on trial and has been found guilty (at the first level) in the past for various white collar crimes. Ranging from fraud, bribing tax officials, to engaging in false accounting Silvio Berlusconi has been tried in Italian courts in 12 cases. Demonstrating the weakness of the Italian justice system, in all of these cases Silvio Berlusconi was either acquitted by a court of first instance, on appeal, or stopped due to the expiry of the statute of limitations. It could be safely assured that most viewers would quickly surmise that the quality of Italian justice was suspect and politically tainted.

Just as in most political systems, the laws of a country are created and enforced by a political establishment. Depending on how corrupt or efficient these political systems are, the quality of their trial and the speed in which it takes place in that country’s judicial system is a reflection of the corruption level of that country. Unfortunately as a foreigner in Italy, Ms. Knox did not receive some of these judicial benefits that previous members of Italian society have received such as mafia members like Tommaso Bruscetta or well known national political leaders like the founder of Silvio Berlusconi’s political party Forza Italia, Marcello Dell’Utri, who was found guilty at the first level of collusion with the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra.

Although it is understandable that Senator Maria Cantwell, the senator from Washington state where Ms. Knox is from, tried to exert her political influence, the decades long failure of American leaders to hold the Italian government more accountable for its collusion with the Sicilian mafia, is one of the reasons why the Italian judicial system is considered the least efficient (or fair) system in Europe. Making this ranking more alarming for other Americans visiting or living in Italy and getting involved in the Italian judicial system is considering how many countries are now a part of the European Union.

Instead of explaining the Italian judiciary system to their viewers or the fact that Italy has the least efficient judiciary systems in Europe, the weapons of mass distraction media also missed an opportunity to remind viewers of the recent laws the mafia tainted Prime Minister has tried to pass on his behalf elevating him above the law in direct conflict with the Italian Constitution. Furthermore the weapons of mass distraction media in America and the international press when discussing the case of Amanda Knox the American student accused of killing her British flat mate, also failed to discuss how several members of the Italian government although being convicted for colluding with the Sicilian mafia, Cosa Nostra, are still in government. These political leaders include former seven time prime minister Giulio Andreotti and the previously mentioned Marcello Dell’Utri. Both members of the Italian Senate.

This failure of the mass media in America to discuss the mafia links of several high-ranking government officials, and the related link to the inefficient judicial system in Italy, further enables the Italian government to avoid being held to the same high standards of law and order that most Americans value.

With the United States bleeding billions of dollars of red ink everyday due to the bloated military industrial complex, and the quality of life of most Americans deteriorating because of these expenditures, the links of the mafia to political leaders in Italy is a compelling argument for the United States to stop funding and supporting the over 40 military installations in Italy.

The challenges mass rail supporters have to overcome in America

Another economic summit held by the Obama administration has again resulted in another missed opportunity for the Obama administration to take advantage of a once in a generation opportunity to help America begin to regain some of her previous economic prosperity by investing in mass rail and light rail transportation systems. Instead of proposing tax cuts for small businesses and further increasing the national debt, the Obama administration missed yet another opportunity to take the courageous step of asking the Congress to redistribute federal resources from the bloated national security state apparatus, to fund national, state, and local mass rail infrastructure projects. This repeated failure of the Obama administration and a lobbyist influenced Congress, is yet another example of how the established political class in Washington D.C. in addition to most state and local governments across the country, are more concerned about pleasing the powers from above that influence them, than the people from below who they are supposed to represent.

Although President Obama and his white collar inner circle advisors bear some responsibility in failing to demand that more national resources and attention be invested in the national transportation network, an equal amount of fault should be placed on local and state legislatures around the country. Like the national security state apparatus influencing politicians in Washington D.C., many local and state politicians are also more concerned about pleasing the powers from above, than helping the people they are supposed to represent. Perhaps the largest most powerful interest group in local and state governments that opposes the creation of mass rail projects is the car insurance interest group.

Gaining a disproportionate amount of political power from decades of suburban sprawl, facilitated by national leaders influenced by the petroleum industry, and grown fat by over priced insurance premiums, the car insurance lobby is perhaps the most powerful lobby state and local politicians have to resist while in office and the largest obstacle to mass rail projects. Concerned that mass rail projects will diminish their profit margins because of fewer customers needing their clients over priced insurance premiums, the power of the insurance lobby was recently demonstrated in the state of Florida in 2004.

Although voters in that state had approved a high-speed rail project known as the Bullet Train, powerful interest groups undoubtedly led by the insurance industry influenced then Governor Jeb Bush to put another referendum on the ballot to ask voters to overturn the previous support of the mass rail project. To no surprise, the fear and smear tactics of mass rail detractors succeeded in derailing a mass rail project that would might have been nearing completion as the residents of Florida began to feel the negative effects of $ 4.00 a gallon gasoline prices.

Just as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) support of local warlords in Afghanistan has undermined the over strategic goals of the United States military and State department, the local and state resistance to mass rail projects in America has resulted in a similar chaotic approach to improving the transportation network in the United States and ultimately leading to America becoming less energy independent.

To correct this, members of the Obama administration and the members of Congress in their Ivory Tower, need to devise a long-term strategic plan for the country and to uphold their responsibilities to the average hard working American taxpayer. Short term policies like tax breaks and the refusal to downsize the military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, indicate that the national political establishment is too preoccupied with satisfying the interests of the military industrial complex, the national security state apparatus, and the owners of capital. , than creating programs that will help put millions of Americans back to work and provide steady employment for hundreds of thousands on Americans in the future.