MEET MR. BIG

• When you mix corporate power with the government, and the military, you get the toxic mix of fascism.  Mussolini in Italy identified their WW II era fascist state that way - the wedding of corporations and the government.

As the global economic and environmental crisis worsens we will be constantly given the notion that a massive military intervention and occupation are absolutely necessary in some tragic place and circumstances.  The average person might wonder for a moment, but then they move on and accept what they hear from their government.  We humans are a bit lazy and most interested in the day-to-day grind of life.  Why bother getting involved?  After all, it is Mr. Big we are up against.

• Yesterday I went to nearby Brunswick for the annual "All Species Day Parade" that drew several hundred parents and children dressed as their favorite species.  I held a homemade version of a sunflower and joined the parade.  Our former Addams-Melman House mate Maureen Block has been organizing the parade for the past several years.  She works at a place called Spindelworks that has a wonderful arts program for people with disabilities.  Maureen wanted to get kids and the public thinking more about our connection to nature.  A great vision.

• I stuck around Brunswick on the cold and drizzly day so that I could attend the PeaceWorks vigil along Main Street by the town green.  The vigil, led by Christine DeTroy, has been going on since 9/11 trying to get the public to call on our government to stop its endless wars.  Through the rain, the cold, and deep snow, the vigil continues each Friday.  People respect the vigilers too and frequently honk when they drive by. 

• My mind is on Ukraine so much these days as you can see on this blog.  I am reading so much and watching tons of videos.  I am trying to learn as much as possible.  The really compelling video for me was the one I put below showing US State Department official Victoria Nuland try to insult us by saying that grandmothers and children helped topple the recently past government of Ukraine.  It took a right-wing Republican congressman to get Nuland to 'sort of' acknowledge that we are supporting Nazi's in Kiev. 

I wish my 'liberal' Democratic Party congresswoman Chellie Pingree would raise the question of US support for the Nazi's in public.  But the Navy builds destroyers in her district and the warships are seeing increasing action in the Black Sea.  Outfitted with so-called 'missile defense' systems these Aegis destroyers are ready to fire SM-3 interceptor missiles at any Russian retaliatory nuclear strike after the Pentagon hit them first.  The US Space Command has been war gaming such an attack for years.

Oliver Stone’s recent TV series The Untold History of the US gave us the historical picture of how the US has been playing nuclear threat politics ever since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

My congresswoman's husband is a hedge fund $$$$$ man who owns the Portland Press Herald newspaper.  He heavily funds Democratic Party front groups around the state including some progressive organizations.  They become the grassroots door-to-door operation for the party on issues and campaigns that it wishes to focus on.  The Dems work the social and economic issues but steer clear of Maine's own role in the military industrial complex that is draining the national coffers which helps contribute to these social problems in the first place.

Everybody is chasing the dollar.