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The Fourth of July
Why I celebrate the Fourth of July
I celebrate and support the Declaration of Independence as a revolutionary document. Due the present destructive course of American capitalism, which in its quest for a Pax Americana and its perpetual wars, puts the property rights of capitalism and their ‘right’ to make a profit before, to paraphrase the Declaration of Independence, our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness — the right to a safe habitat for humanity and our very existence as a species; it therefore follows, that, To secure these rights, it is our right and our duty, to throw off such an economic system and its government To provide our own ‘New World Order’ to provide for our future security. To quote Fidel Castro, “Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago.” — Roland Sheppard
What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sound of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants brass fronted impudence; your shout of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanks-givings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour. — Frederick Douglas, July 5, 1852
Images of the Day:
Before the Americans came, more than 2,000 people lived on the islands in the Indian Ocean, many with roots back to the late 18th century. There were thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a railway and an undisturbed way of life. The islands were, and still are, a British crown colony. In the 1960s, the government of Harold Wilson struck a secret deal with the United States to hand over the main island of Diego Garcia. The Americans demanded that the surrounding islands be “swept” and “sanitized”. Unknown to Parliament and to the US Congress and in breach of the United Nations Charter, the British Government plotted with Washington to expel the entire population. After demonstrating on the streets of Mauritius in 1982, the exiled islanders were given the derisory compensation of less than £3,000 per person by the British government. In the film, former inhabitants Rita Bancoult and Charlesia Alexis tell of how, in accepting the money, they were tricked into signing away their right to return home: “It was entirely improper, unethical, dictatorial to have the Chagossian put their thumbprint on an English legal, drafted document, where the Chagossian, who doesn’t read, know or speak any English, let alone any legal English, is made to renounce basically all his rights as a human being.” Today, the main island of Diego Garcia is America’s largest military base in the world, outside the US. There are more than 4,000 troops, two bomber runways, thirty warships and a satellite spy station. The Pentagon calls it an “indispensable platform” for policing the world. It was used as a launch pad for the invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq. — John Pilger: Stealing a Nation (Full Documentary)
Many of the fastest-growing jobs in America don’t require a bachelor’s degree, and many pay less than the median income in the U.S., according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. FORBES looked at Bureau of Labor Statistics data that predicted which jobs would have the highest growth between 2014 – 2024, and included the median pay for those roles in 2014. The results might surprise you. — The 20 Fastest Growing Jobs In America
For seven years now, President Obama has been telling the world to trust him. Time and again, though, he and his Administration have shown why they have earned no trust. Rather than reflect “the most transparent government in history”, the Administration has obscured the truth of the covert drone programme – the deaths of hundreds of innocent men, women and children, creating a more dangerous world. Much like President eorge W. Bush’s resort to torture, President Obama first denied this programme existed and now insists that his assassination programme works. But, like his predecessor, he has not been willing to back up that claim with information and evidence – perhaps because the facts will reveal that the programme betrays the very values of which America is most proud. President Obama must immediately constitute an independent commission to examine all of the evidence – not just the numbers, but the definitions of who counts as a civilian, the rules of engagement for taking such strikes, and the procedures for investigating mistakes afterwards. The results of that investigation must then be made public, along with the long requested legal rationale for such a programme. Only then can we begin to come to grips with our post-9/11 history — one that began with torture and rendition to a system of detention without trial, and has now bled into a global assassination programme. Only then can we begin the long overdue debate about whether this is an ethical, legal and effective way to counter extremism, or whether it simply exacerbates the problems that we face. — The Obama Administration and Its Opaque Transparency on Civilians Killed in Drone Strikes A report by Reprieve
In these conditions (economic crisis that has gripped Europe since 2008) we have seen social and political turmoil emerging from the economic turmoil. We have seen traditional parties collapse, small parties balloon into major forces, new parties emerging from nowhere, combined with social protests, such as the big trade union struggles in France. The crisis in Britain is a product of this, but in turn the political crisis in Britain can impact on the economic situation, having the function of accelerator, bringing forward processes that one expected to happen somewhere in the future. The political events in Britain can tip the whole of Europe into a deep economic crisis, which in turn will spread the political instability across the continent. All these factors explain why they are frantically seeking a way of delaying Brexit. The point is that there is no guarantee that in the long run they will be able to avoid it. In the meantime, the crisis will deepen all across Europe, creating the conditions for a growing anti-EU sentiment among ordinary people in countries like France, Holland, Italy and many others. So by the time they manage to put in place all the pieces for a possible second referendum, they may be facing a Europe that is tearing itself apart, with the EU facing a severe existential crisis. This opens up the scenario for an intervention of the working class. As it sees no solutions forthcoming from the traditional parties, the working class will be forced to move to take its destiny into own hands. The bourgeois can feel this, and that is why they are manoeuvring so desperately. — Will the British capitalists dodge Brexit?
Videos of the Day:
U.S.
Is There a Lesser Evil?
New Report Highlights US Legacy of Lies on Civilian Drone Deaths Rights group exposes contradictions between government statements on civilian casualties and independent reports showing much higher figures by Nadia Prupis 
John Pilger: Stealing a Nation (Full Documentary): ‘Stealing A Nation’ (2004) is an extraordinary film about the plight of the Chagos Islands, whose indigenous population was secretly and brutally expelled by British Governments in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for an American military base. The tragedy, which falls within the remit of the International Criminal Court as “a crime against humanity”, is told by Islanders who were dumped in the slums of Mauritius and by British officials who left behind a damning trail of Foreign Office documents.
Environment:
‘Guacamole-Thick’ Algae Takes Over Florida’s Atlantic Coast, 4 Counties Declare State of Emergency: The source of the severe bloom is believed to stem from the polluted Lake Okeechobee, which has become a hotbed of finger-pointing. ThinkProgress reported in February that local industries have long dumped an assortment of chemicals, fertilizers and cattle manure into the lake. David Guest, managing attorney of the Florida branch of the environmental law group Earthjustice, described the lake as a “toilet.” By Lorraine Chow
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters:
PG&E records show pipeline that blew up had 33 previous leaks: Pacific Gas and Electric Co. records in 2009 listed 33 past leaks with unknown causes on the same aging gas pipeline that exploded in San Bruno in 2010, a PG&E engineer told a federal court jury Friday. By Bob Egelko
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Economy:
Bill Clinton’s Airport Meeting With Attorney General Casts More Distrust of Elites: A rigged system of justice that protects elites was a constant theme under President Obama’s former U.S. Attorney General at the Justice Department, Eric Holder, who failed to prosecute a single Wall Street bank executive over the epic corruption that led to the financial collapse in 2008. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Will the British capitalists dodge Brexit?: There are some very powerful reasons why the British capitalists are not keen on Britain having to leave the European Union. Some of them have been looking at ways of getting around the result of the recent referendum. The question is: can they succeed? And what would the consequences be on the political front? by Fred Weston
Political Prisoners in Ukraine: A Crisis Ignored by Western Media: An investigative delegation of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture suspended an official visit to Ukraine last month after the Security Service of Ukraine denied the UN officials access to several parts of the country. The suspension of the visit highlights the dire situation of political prisoners in Ukraine. By Halyna Mokrushyna
Health, Education, and Welfare:
Globalism
Quotes of the Day:
Another Fed Fiasco: U.S. Bond Yields Fall to Record Lows The US economy has never been as mismanaged as it is today. Don’t take my word for it, just look at the bond market. by Mike Whitney