CORPORATE OWNED PARTIES

In this episode, Chris Hedges focuses on the harsh criticism Michael Moore’s new film Planet of the Humans has received in many quarters, including some with solid ecological qualifications in knowledge and activism. Guest is the film’s director, Jeff Gibbs.  The film is an indictment of a corporate-friendly environmentalist bureaucracy apparently incapable or unwilling of understanding the nature of corporate power. . 

PHILIP A. FARRUGGIO—Economic depressions feed into increased  cases of emotional distress, violent behavior, petty crime, spousal abuse, alcoholism, drug addictions of many types, suicide and streets filled with the homeless ( more than even now ) with more and more ‘ Lost children’ . Yet, through all of this from the ‘ looking glass ‘ of past drastic hard times, the Super Rich still live like the kings and queens they are NOT! Those current gated communities and secured high rises will see armed guards patrolling, chauffeurs with automatics and a new industry of domestic mercenaries to work with the local police.

CARL BOGGS—One daunting roadblock to reversing the crisis – the U.S. military-industrial colossus – could be responsible for five percent of the global carbon footprint, a problem never systematically addressed by Klein or the Dems. In On Fire we find a call for 25-percent reduction in worldwide military spending, but that exhausts discussion of the matter.

MARCO TERUGGI—Another phase is now being entered with the agreement reached between the Government and people’s mobilization mainly expressed in the indigenous movement. How will the decree be revoked? Will it be replaced by another to be debated later? Moreno promised a discussion after the meeting, while indigenous leaders reiterated that they would only accept a repeal.

When you consider Obama’s record after four years in office–a multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street, the continuing “war on terror,” more civil liberties shredded, the Employee Free Choice Act abandoned, deportations on the rise, a deepening assault on public schools–the answer has to be no. The list of broken promises and betrayed hopes goes on and on, outweighing anything that could be described as progress.