Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

As we remain mired in two costly and endless wars, and emerge from the Great Recession, the timorous have taken control. Our national debt is far lower a burden than it was after World War II, but our deficit in confidence is far higher.

Robert L. Borosage, Huffington Post

Americans have grown fearful. Most believe, not surprisingly, that the country is headed in the wrong direction. For the first time ever, most Americans believe their children may not fare as well as they have. We spend nearly as much as the rest of the world combined on our military, chasing phantoms across the world. Conservatives in both parties rail about debt and deficits. They line up to support adding another $33 billion in emergency spending for the misbegotten war in Afghanistan, while blocking the $23 billion needed to forestall the layoff of a staggering 275,000 teachers across the country.

Washington is crazed about debt and deficits, but the real deficit is in fortitude, not finances. Consider the contrast between this country emerging from the Great Depression and World War II and now.

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IVAW editor's note: The 4th of July is a mixed experience for veterans.  While it is often looked at as a day to honor us, we often can be found indoors while civilians are out enjoying the fireworks.  In his blogpost below, our friend, Ryan Harvey, reflects on his own experience of this year's 4th of July celebration.  Ryan is a musician and an organizer with the Civilian Soldier Alliance, IVAW's main organizing partner in our GI and Veterans Bill of Rights Campaign.  He is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ryan Harvey, Iraq Veterans Against the War

I sat on the stone wall that lines Druid Lake tonight and watched Baltimore destroyed by bombs. I watched tracers light up the sky, followed by the deep pulse of distant explosions.

I watched huge clouds of smoke rise from downtown, escaping from the flaming buildings. I saw explosions as far as Dundalk, Curtis Bay, and Morgan State. I saw light emerging from deep in the West Side, illuminating the trees that line the park.

I saw the Belvedere Hotel hit by a series of missiles, a huge flame bursting out the East wall. I remembered when the bartender there took me and a friend on the roof to see the best 360 degree view I’d ever seen of the city. I wondered if he would survive the attack.

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For all the spin, analysis and hand-wringing going on over our economy of late, we often forget it got a start somewhere.

Gordonskene,  Newstaligia

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

For all the spin, analysis and hand-wringing going on over our economy of late, we often forget it got a start somewhere. Fingers often point in the direction of the 80's where conflicting stories abound, but it's a good bet that the "supply side" theory of the economy had something to do with it.

As this episode of Face The Nation from May 29, 1988 illustrates, Treasury Secretary James Baker <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baker>just couldn't break himself away from his rose colored glasses, even for a minute.

James Baker: “I noticed the intro to your program, the “yes, but . .” – but if I may say so, people have been out there saying “yes, but” since the spring of 1983. They’ve been telling us that “yes, things are okay now, but the wheels are gonna fall off, the economy’s gonna go in the tank, and it hasn’t. And it is not going to.”
Leslie Stahl: “How long is it not going to?”
James Baker: “Well . . .well into the foreseeable future. Well into the foreseeable future”

• "And if you go back and read David Halberstam’s 'The Best and the Brightest,' the State Department was where the action was at in the '50s and ’60s and that sort of shifted to, and I forget who I'm quoting here, but someone said, our defense policy is our foreign policy. So I think those are very serious structural issues." -- Michael Hastings
• The Runaway General
• General Discharge

Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

In a rare extended interview, we speak to Michael Hastings, whose article in Rolling Stone magazine led to the firing of General Stanley McChrystal. Hastings’ piece quoted McChrystal and his aides making disparaging remarks about top administration officials, and exposed long-standing disagreements between civilian and military officials over the conduct of the war. The Senate confirmed General David Petraues as McChrystal’s replacement on Wednesday, one day after McChrystal announced his retirement from the military on Tuesday after a 34-year career.[includes rush transcript]

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Related:

We cannot continue to stand by and watch our nation be raped and pillaged like this. We can no longer remain idle and passive while our families’ futures are destroyed as we are sentenced to a slow death.

David DeGraw, AmpedStatus

This is the sixth part of a six-part report: Overcoming the Divide and Conquer Strategy

Throughout this report, I have presented statistical and fact-based evidence to demonstrate that a strategic attack has been launched against 99% of Americans. Despite the efforts of the mainstream media and most current politicians, awareness of this reality is spreading throughout the United States.

A recent Rasmussen poll found that only 21% of Americans think that the government has the consent of the governed. An Opinion Research Corp. survey revealed that 86% believe “the system of government is broken.”

An overwhelming majority of the population has come to the realization that our government doesn’t effectively represent us anymore. It is just a matter of time before people start taking it upon themselves to begin organizing on a mass scale. Our survival instinct will soon overwhelm our conditioned passivity and erupt into a powerful countervailing force. However, the longer we hesitate and delay action, the harder it will be to obtain economic and political justice.

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