Mike Gravel for President
While our elected officials and the Mainstream Media put on their good cop/bad cop soap opera to entertain and divert the attention of the public, at the same time quietly supporting the Military Industrial Complex, Big Pharma, and passing laws favoring corporations, one actor may be playing his part too well. His name is Maurice Robert “Mike” Gravel.
Some of you may remember Mike Gravel. He’s the former two-term Democratic Senator from Alaska. He’s the Senator that helped Daniel Ellsberg get the Pentagon Papers released. He’s the Senator that in 1971, by means of a one-man filibuster and various other parliamentary tactics, blocked Nixon’s renewal of the U.S. military draft.
And, Gravel is running for President of the USA.
Yes, Gravel has about as much chance of winning the Democratic nomination as Britney Spears becoming a nun. But regardless his chance at POTUS, Mike’s recent voice has ripped a larger hole in the status quo facade that the other candidates are hiding behind. And he’s ignited the minds of citizens.
Loose cannon? Yes. Breath of fresh air? Yes.
Watch him in action:
Read More: Mike Gravel, Iraq War, Democratic debate
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April 29th, 2007 at 9:12 am
I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.
Politicians make no difference.
We have bought into the Military Industrial Complex (MIC). If you would like to read how this happens please see:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703
Through a combination of public apathy and threats by the MIC we have let the SYSTEM get too large. It is now a SYSTEMIC problem and the SYSTEM is out of control. Government and industry are merging and that is very dangerous.
There is no conspiracy. The SYSTEM has gotten so big that those who make it up and run it day to day in industry and government simply are perpetuating their existance.
The politicians rely on them for details and recommendations because they cannot possibly grasp the nuances of the environment and the BIG SYSTEM.
So, the system has to go bust and then be re-scaled, fixed and re-designed to run efficiently and prudently, just like any other big machine that runs poorly or becomes obsolete or dangerous.
This situation will right itself through trauma. I see a government ENRON on the horizon, with an associated house cleaning.
The next president will come and go along with his appointees and politicos. The event to watch is the collapse of the MIC.
For more details see:
http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/inside-pentagon-procurement-from.html
April 29th, 2007 at 6:49 pm
If all of the candidates spoke like that, and did not pitch those same old lines fed to them daily by their handlers.
Getting a bit tired of the daily pie in the sky speeches by Obama. Or the change of accents by Hillary at each stop.
Just once I would like to hear them come up with a little bit of substance. We all know there is need for change, but how are they going to go about it.
And for Xman a little gold star for watching Bill Moyers. Now I know that there were at least two of us that watched and learned what a joke our news media is.
April 29th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Ken: Thanks for the links. Just starting to read the Vanity Fair article and the article at your site. Looks like lots of good, enlightening info.
Pelmo: You and Xman deserve gold stars for watching. I need to catch up…I read ABOUT the show, but would like to see it unabridged myself. I heard Moyers did a number on the media.
April 29th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
If you do get a chance to see it pay close attention to the Cheney and the New York Times bit.
It hit me like a ton of bricks. Here we have Bill O’Reily always chastising the Times as a tool of the liberals and how they are biased to the left. But leading up to the war Cheney made the Sunday Morning Talk Shows quoting articles from the Times that supported his position on WMD’s.
So the question arises, which side is the Times on? Is the bashing by O’Reily just a ploy, to give credence to the conservative view?
April 30th, 2007 at 8:59 am
Pelmo,
I think you just touched it. O’Reilly (like everyone else in the public spotlight promoting an agenda) ALWAYS need someone to go to war against…in order to get followers. Humans like to go to war and are easily elisted in any fight. “Showmen” (media, ploticians, businessmen, etc.) all know this and just push our buttons whenever they want a certain reaction.
Sure, there are conspiracies. They are everywhere. Whenever a group of people have a common interest, there are conspiracies. Some we agree with, some we don’t. The showmen believe their own stuff. If their stuff supports their needs/wants, etc., why wouldn’t they believe it?
Does it all boil down to people just going after what they want?
April 30th, 2007 at 11:18 am
Just as they said on the show REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT even if it is false, people starting believing it.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:41 am
I do like what Gravel has to say…for the most part. Unfortunately, his “packaging” is all wrong. He looks goofy, talks slow, stutters, hesitates, searches for words, spits when he talks, is sometimes imperious, and looks like a raving maniac (I’ve seen other speeches) sometimes.
Oh wait, that describes Bush.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Yep…it’s amazing that Bush was elected twice during the radio/tv era. Oh, wait, he WASN’T elected. I forgot, they used Diebold machines, James Baker, and a stuffed supreme court to get it done the first time, and who knows what the hell happened in Ohio in 2004.
April 30th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Just like in Chicago, they worked hard and got the voters out. Even dead people get to vote here, and since your all ready there, vote a couple of times.
April 30th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Gravel was fantastic and that video is really making the rounds which it should. Check my site Joe for more info about my ANNOYANCE with that video.
You can watch Buying the War in its entirety online at Bill Moyers Journal
And Joe if you want a copy of the show, email me, but don’t tell anyone. HA!
April 30th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Petulant: THANKS for getting the Gravel on youtube (even if the rest of the world downloaded and uploaded it under their own names a gazillian times without proper credit…) And thanks for the link to the Bill Moyers show; I had no idea it was online; thought I’d missed seeing it for good. Preparing to be up late tonight watching it, catching up…