Kucinich: "America is in the fight of its life..."

[katty]

more: http://rawstory.com/2009/12/kucinich-war-threat-national-security/

“America is in the fight of its life and that fight is not in Afghanistan -- it's here," Kucinich declared. "We are deeply in debt. Our GDP is down. Our manufacturing is down. Our savings are down. The value of the dollar is down. Our trade deficit is up. Business failures are up. Bankruptcies are up.

“The war is a threat to our national security. We’ll spend over $100 billion next year to bomb a nation of poor people while we reenergize the Taliban, destabilize Pakistan, deplete our army and put more of our soldiers’ lives on the line. Meanwhile, back here in the USA, 15 million people are out of work. People are losing their jobs, their health care, their savings, their investments, and their retirement security. $13 trillion in bailouts for Wall Street, trillions for war; when are we going to start taking care of things here at home?”

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Correct...sadly.

[katty]

2. he is the people's town crier-the military corporation of the u.s.

firmly grinding its home base, the people, into the ground.

[stray cat]

5. And like the town crier in a position where he is a sounding gong or clanging cymbal

who will accomplish nothing beyond his sound.

[katty]

6. well there is not enough clanging WITH him-that's for sure

[Kermitt Gribble]

9. Why is it so few in DC stand with Dennis?

Maybe because the vast majority don't give a flying fuck about us (the people for whom they supposedly work)? You obviously support the way things currently operate in DC?

[katty]

10. yeah, they don't give a fuck-it's painfully obvious

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Dennis is right!

And no one is in our corner.

Well, a handful of people like Kucinich and Grayson, but it's a scant few.

[LakeSamish706]

4. As usual, Dennis tells it like it is... This country is so screwed! n/t

[Laelth]

7. k&r for the Honorable (and accurate) Dennis Kucinich. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[tabatha]

8. The world is in the fight for its life.

[Kermitt Gribble]

11. K&R for one of our few honest voices in DC. n/t

[bvar22]

12. Meanwhile, Obama says funds for jobless Americans are limited.

GOTTA GET THE WAR ON!
Hoo-Ha
Send your kids TODAY!

[mother earth]

13. Thanks for posting this, katty. I couldn't agree more

with Kucinich, and your sentiments over the situation.

K & R

[CHIMO]

14. Rep. Kucinich on Afghanistan War: “We’re Acting Like a Latter Day Version of the Roman Empire”

REP. DENNIS KUCINCH: First I would like to respond to the voices of the Afghan people. It’s very clear they do not want to be saved by us. They want to be saved from us. And President Obama’s escalation of the war, sending an additional 30,000 troops, will bring—as you pointed out-–the total strength to about 100,000.

That’s $100 billion a year and that doesn’t even include the private contractors we’ll be paying for, which adds up to about $160 billion dollars a year. It really begs the question about whether the nation-building that we seek to do in Afghanistan would be better directed to rebuilding America, to creating jobs here, to rebuilding bridges here instead of blowing them up in Afghanistan.

I think our priorities are misplaced. And I think that all those who really support this President, who really like him—and I like him—need to challenge him on this. Because we can’t just let this go by the boards because we may have some sympathetic feelings for the difficult task that he has undertaken as President of the United States.

REP. DENNIS KUCINCH: First of all, it will remain to be seen what the level of opposition is in the Congress. And I want to point out why: On October 8, 2009, the Congress of the United States passed a bill that authorizes the expenditure of $130 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/2/rep_kucinich_on_afghanistan_war_were
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2009/dec/video/dnB20091202a.rm&proto=rtsp&start=00:13:38

[chill_wind]

15. K & R katty. As always, DK wastes no words

getting straight to the painful realities.

[katty]

23. yes, he does and I am grateful for even the little bits o' truth we get

[midnight]

16. I know we need a miracle....

[Daveparts still]

20. Not a Miracle

Just a Real Deamocrat

"It is the habit of the unthinking to turn in times like this to the illusions of economic magic. People suggest that a huge expenditure of public funds by the Federal Government and by State and local governments will completely solve the unemployment problem. But it is clear that even if we could raise many billions of dollars and find definitely useful public works to spend these billions on, even all that money would not give employment to the seven million or ten million people who are out of work. Let us admit frankly that it would be only a stopgap. A real economic cure must go to the killing of the bacteria in the system rather than to the treatment of external symptoms." FDR


"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
FDR

[Vidar]

17. K&R.

[democracy1st]

18. K & R

[Enthusiast]

19. I hate to agree with this.

I mean it. But there is no way staying in Afghanistan helps our problem with terrorism. For the amount we will spend in Afghanistan we could probably scrutinize every human being that crosses our borders.

[Major Hogwash]

21. Damned good article.

It's a shame that not very many people will listen to his message, though.

[parasearchers]

22. I should have campaigned more for him instead of Obama,

[RoccoR5955]

24. It will be a fine day...

When the military have to hold bake sales to fund their wars,
And bankers have to sell apples from pushcarts to bail out their banks,
And we have money to heal people, and keep them healthy,
And no money to kill people on foreign soil.

Why is there ALWAYS money to kill people, but when we want to make people better, there is none?

Kucinich/Sanders 2012!

[sabrina 1]

25. Obama has told us not to expect too much for the American

people because 'funds are limited' for the people. Has he said anything about the cost of sending tens of thousands of troops to a useless war? How much of that money will go to Mercenaries eg? I haven't heard him complain or warn the military, that 'funds are limited' for that war.

Good for Dennis, telling the truth as always. But with little backing from the rest of the Dems in Congress.

[secondwind]

26. I'm starting to like Kucinich more and more each day. And taking him more SERIOUSLY.

[winyanstaz]

27. K & R....and another big thank you to Kucinich...

The voice of the People.

[Quantess]

28. Yes, it's true. But, the Pentagon and the private contracting companies demand their funding.

[bertman]

29. Too late to recommend but thanks to katty for posting this and to Rep. Kucinich for

speaking out on OUR behalf. Seems that those voices are few and far between these days.

[Peace4us]

30. Dennis Kucinich will Introduce Monetary Reform

On September 24th, 2009 at the American Monetary Institute Conference in Chicago, Congressman Dennis Kucinich called and told the group that he would be introducing the American Monetary and Financial Security Act in a few weeks.

At this moment his staffers are putting the finishing touches on the bill (which will be close to the one developed by the AMI), which briefly does three things:

1. Nationalizes the Federal Reserve and puts it under Treasury - making it a government function and eliminating Private Bankers from the issuance of the money of the people of the United States.

2. Ends the Fractional reserve banking system and replaces it with one that has a 100% reserve requirement (meaning banks can no longer print money into existence through loans). It would also cap interest on loans at 8%.

3. Spends U.S. dollars (not debt money) into the economy to stimulate it and provide financing for infrastructure projects.

This would essentially end the Federal Reserve banking system that has been in place since 1913 and return the money power to the people via their elected representatives in Congress.

There are functions in place in the bill to keep Congress from inflating. They would be required to publish how much money they are putting in circulation. There would be a monetary board to oversee the process and make sure inflation and deflation were prevented.

The Federal Reserve has presided over the loss of 95% of the value of the dollar in it’s 96 year reign. They precipitated the current economic crisis through their policies. Is it time for them to go? Congress will have a chance to decide.

There is more information here at www.monetary.org.

[fasttense]

31. If history were fair, we would have a President Kucinich right now.

After 8 horrible years of fascism and elitism from a group of idiots who thought they were smarter than everyone else, after 30 years of war on the middle class and trickle on economics, after the shocking realization that torture, though not impeachment, was on the table, after all this horror we deserved a President who would stand up and fight for us - the middle class, the poor, the lowly suffering masses.

Instead we got a compromiser. It is not what we needed nor deserved. Unfortunately in modern history, compromisers seem to follow after Pinochet types.

[Deja Q]

32. Our tax laws give incentives to corporations that help push all the things Kucinich said.

Prove to me otherwise.