Malu 'Aina

The American Government’s Biggest Lie Today

By Eric Zuesse http://www.countercurrents.org/zuesse160315.htm (edited version below)

      “The American Government’s biggest lie in 2002-2003 was about Saddam Hussein and Iraq. (phony claims about weapons of mass destruction.) We’ve already seen what that lie produced. It cost the U.S. more than $3 trillion, produced ISIS, and caused death and destruction in Iraq that make Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship look benign by comparison. Are Americans still fooling themselves about that? (Some are; but most are not.)

“The American Government’s biggest lie in 2014-2015 is instead about Vladimir Putin and Ukraine — and it’s even worse, and far more dangerous, because this one can very possibly lead to a nuclear war, one with Russia that’s totally unnecessary for America’s national-security, and that actually places all of our nation’s security at risk, for the shameful reasons of aristocrats (“oligarchs”) in both the U.S. and Ukraine — not for any real reasons of the American people, at all. But, that’s where we are heading, nonetheless, because America’s aristocrats overwhelmingly want it …

“While it’s true that there is virtual unity (more than 98% among members of Congress) in Washington to supply arms to Ukraine, the U.S. public, when polled about this matter, are more than 2 to 1 opposed to doing so. In this regard, the U.S. public are far more in line with the leaders of the EU than they are with the leaders of the United States…

“Whereas the central focus of Obama’s foreign policy is to weaken if not destroy Russia, some in Washington are not satisfied with the intensity of that campaign, and want it to be even more, but Obama is trying to avoid pushing European leaders so hard on this that he loses them altogether. The difference between Obama and the Republicans on this is merely tactical. Both want to destroy Russia; the debate is over how to get the job done.

“As Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page found in their massive study published by the American Political Science Association during the Fall of 2014, today’s United States is an aristocracy (or as they call their findings, an “oligarchy”), and the will of the public no longer counts for anything in determining the federal government’s policies and laws: the aristocrats control the media so that they control the political personnel and outcomes that matter the most to politicians’ sponsors. …

“Aristocrats’ chief motive is dominance; the public aren’t like that: mere survival is more important to the bottom 99% of the population. Nuclear war is too much of a risk to take for our aristocracy’s global dominance, and we’re heading now straight into that risk… So: the lies are coming, thick and fast, to make us go along, purely on the basis of deception. If the public is deceived, then democracy is impossible. All choices become bad. And that’s where we now are. Things like this just can’t be explained any other way.”

Don’t Buy the Lies!

Say No to Arms & War!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
   Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
   Phone (808) 966-7622. Email:ja@malu-aina.org http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (March 20, 2015 – 704th week) –

Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

West Hawaii Today article on Hawaii TPP protest

March 16, 2015

Trans-Pacific trade talks stir opposition on Big Island

via Kerri Peterson Marks

TPP Forum in Kona March 13 2015 – YouTube

> Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsjI2tvm8k4

Dr. Jane Kelsey.Univ. of Aukland, New Zealand, Sanya Reid-Smith.Third World Network, malaysia, Juliet Begley, Americans for Democratic Action, Palikapu Dedman, Pele Defense Fund and Ohana Ho’opakele, and Eric Gill, UNITE HERE, Local 5.

Here is a brief report of the TPP protest:  (photos to follow)

Hawaii had a a very spirited protest against TPP on Sat. March 14th from 11-1PM at the Waikoloa Marriott Beach Hotel. More than 60 people gathered on the highway fronting the hotel property and held signs and banners against TPP for the first hour and leaflets were handed out to passing vehicles at the traffic light. (Leaflet below).  People came from all over the island and included Native Hawaiian leaders, ILWU  Union members, peace, environmental and anti-GMO activists, etc.  Signs and banners included: “Secret meetings taking place here.” “NO TPP –Backroom deal -License to Steal,” TPP Kills Jobs, Kills Nature, Kills Home Rule.”  “Stop TPP Fast Track –People Before Profits.” There were even signs in Japanese against TPP.  The response from those passing by in vehicles and on foot was very positive.

At 12 noon, about 30 people moved from the highway to the King’s trail area near the King and Queen marketplace areas of the resort complex to continue the protest and hand out leaflets to TPP delegates passing by on the sidewalks to and from the nearby restaurants and shops.  The King’s trail is a public trail where free speech rights must be recognized within resort private property.  Some delegates passing by wanted their pictures taken next to a protest vehicle truck with magnetic signs that read “No TPP: People Power Not 1% Rule.” and “No TPP –No License to Steal.” Hotel security were upset that the truck was parked in the parking area clearly marked “King’s Trail Parking Area.”  They wanted the truck removed but protesters stood firm.
At the King’s trail, several county police eventually arrived and I heard one of the officers falsely assert that the trail was private hotel property.  But the protests continued.

Another dozen protesters went to walk the public shoreline area carrying protest signs and offer informational leaflets to people on the beach fronting the resort.  Hotel security again tried to dispute people’s first amendment rights on the shoreline and the legal definition of the shoreline which is “the high wash of the high seasonal surf,” not the low or high tide mark.  When protesters turned their cameras on to record the encounter, the security supervisor refused to say another word and left the area.

No arrests were made throughout the day.  The protest was peaceful.  Still, people’s rights of peaceful protest need to be clarified and respected by hotel security and police on Hawaii’s public trails and shorelines.  And of course corporations, and things like TPP, trampling on peoples rights and destroying the earth need to be stopped by united global citizen action.
Jim Albertini for Malu ‘Aina

ALOHA ‘AINA “DAY OF ACTION”

AGAINST TPP & FOR

HOME RULE, SOVEREIGNTY,

DEMOCRACY AND TRANSPARENCY

      Secret international TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnershp) trade talks are taking place March 9-15, 2015 at the Waikoloa Beach Marriott and Waikoloa Hilton Hotels. TPP has been described as NAFTA (North American Free-Trade Agreement) on steroids. It is a totally non-transparent meeting of the world’s “1%” to negotiate a mega-treaty that would give ultimate power to corporations like Wal-Mart, Monsanto, Goldman-Sachs, Philip Morris, Apple, G.E., GM, etc.

      This is big!  We need to put the emergency brake on Fast Tracking of TPP. It will grant corporate domination of county, state, and national sovereignty, threaten native peoples’ land, sacred sites and traditional customs and practices, jobs, labor rights, and the environment. TPP will increase the gap between rich and poor, and result in further militarization in the Pacific. All to benefit corporate profits and the super rich 1%.

• TPP will offshore millions of good-paying jobs to low-wage nations, undercutting working conditions globally and increasing unemployment.
• TPP will expand pharmaceutical monopoly protections and institute longer patents that will  decrease access to affordable medications
• TPP will potentially limit GMO Home Rule laws, GMO labeling, and allow the import of goods that do not meet US safe standards.
• TPP will encourage the privatization of lands and natural resources in areas where indigenous people live.
• TPP will roll back Wall Street regulations, prohibit bans on risky financial services, and establish international corporate tribunals to collect damages from governments that hurt corporate profits.

Countries involved: U.S. Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Hawai’i Loa Ku Like Kakou! All Hawai’i & the Pacific Stand Together!

Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email: ja@malu-aina.org http://www.malu-aina.org