Obama seems to have little sway or wiggle room over the directives delivered to him from the Corporate-Military, or he simply is on board with them. Either way, the direction is decided by corporate-banksters not the congress or the american people.

"According to the United Nations, a total of 1,057 Iraqis, including 928 civilians, were killed and another 2,326 were wounded in terrorist attacks throughout the country in July -- the deadliest month in Iraq since 2008."

This is just last month! I don't think there was a civil war in Iraq before the US "liberated" it from the evil ruler,. who just happened to threaten to move the counties oil sales off the Petrol-Dollar.

The military is a tool of the corporate-banksters, and their war for global domination by any means,. it is NOT used to help people,. their is no humanitarian bombing,. this is an oxymoronic idea.

You seem to avoid the track record of taking knives away from babies,. or was it candy.

If only it where that simple then sure we would all be for "taking the weapons away",. however it plainly is not that simple. Back one side or the other? Create a power vacuum, and more civil war, accidentally help the "wrong" people "win",. the list of possible unintended consequences is huge.

Like I have said over and over,. if you want to help,. stop the spook agencies CIA, NSA, etc. manipulating politics is foreign lands. Stop selling arms all over the world! Stop invading places for corporate/bankster benefits and focus solely on programs of social uplift. It really is that simple. However we can not because our democracy is overrun by corporate-military powers and we no longer have any democratic input into what they do in our names.

Should the government be able to hide things?

We pay for those things, and they are done in our name, we have every right to see, hear, and know about all the actions taken by our government through the spending of taxes.

We should not need leakers to keep us informed of these issues,. sadly the corporate-military state grows more and more secretive.

Tomorrow never comes.

Where are these machine intelligence today? Do we see any benefits from this growing tech. now? Or is it all in the "future"?

It is nice that you have a positive view of future events, however what about now, life in the present? Should we not use the last of the planet's fossil fuels to develop sustainable energy systems for our children and their future,. or should we just hope some geek builds us an AI, that will happen to be benevolent, and also solve all out troubles?

We have all the tech we need to live fulfilling lives now,. only some greedy few with sociopathic tendencies have taken control and are wrecking havoc for personal short term gain.

Sure tech makes some advances, however none of it has achieved an end to war, greed, poverty, or all the human suffering that comes with these things. Hoping for endless life tech truly misses the point, it is not about quantity it is about quality. Children are the future legacy, not some reanimated endless life sci-fi nightmare.

You do realize that the CIA, and other "clandestine" agency political manipulations emanate from America on a disturbingly regular bases,. and "our" spook outfits often back dictators and depose democratically elected leaders in favor of more corporate minded ones?

If we would simply not fight/cause wars, for corporations and banksters, and instead work at social uplift, the world would be a much better place.

reminds me;

“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people. "Shut him up! I've got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok … But it doesn't matter, because it's just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”

― Bill Hicks

Nothing to do with the Teabillies,. not a rethuglican plot to discredit Obama or the Democrats.

It is a fact of history, that corporate-banksters and their military mercenaries (NSA, CIA, Booz, Carlyle etc.) have taken over the system,. neither political party is immune to 1% control. How much of what Obama talked about BEFORE he got in has happened? There is simply no possibility of moving any direction but in the pattern devised by of the 1% corporatists,. the system is fully corrupted and co-opted. No real change will come from withing this rigged system.

I suggest withdrawing all support from the corporate mercenaries, get you wealth out of their system and invest in your future,. in you local community, in organic sustainable farms, breweries, small scale energy projects, things you are going to need when the 1% run the world into the ground. The more we withdraw support the more we slow their "progress",. . and the better chance we have of recovery when they fail,. their system is based on a lie (endless growth) and will inevitably fail.

Why the need for a techno fix,. most of what we need is already provided,. it is the sill war-mongers and corporate capitalists that cause all the strife,. and take up all the useful resources for needless destruction.

I can see the rise of DIY fabrication machines like 3d printers being used more extensively, however I hope mostly for small devices like phones and palmtop computers,. most of our real needs are readily provided for with the ancient 'tech' of seeds, sun, and dirt.

The core of United States government has been illegitimately seized by corporate-owned political fascists, who do not hesitate to suspend civil liberties and distort or defy the constitutional rights guaranteed to citizens.

Their prime directive is to discredit, divide and destroy all those agencies, civic organizations, labor unions,. . even community groups of individual citizens seeking to communicate their views and concerns.

Their goal? The permanent destruction of democracy throughout the U.S. and the world - replacing it with an institutionalized oligarchy that maintains its control by doing away with public education, worker rights, voting rights, etc, - creating a powerless underclass that will work to serve and fear to challenge their corporate masters,. now and for generations to come.

- slightly edited to expand the scope, making it even more accurate.

original comment by Diane Ayers

I have been fighting for years to wake people up to this reality; that the table it tilted that the game is rigged, that the bulk of our problems arise from this systemic corruption/theft the 1% continue to perpetrate.

My takeaway form all this effort, is that most people simply would rather ignore the situation, and focus of the mundane daily life issues that face them directly,. as my English collage roommate used to say on this subject (often after a few beers); "They just don't want to know!". So while I do commend your work and effort in studying these issues and taking the time to post here, it will sadly "wake up" a tinny number at best.

Then what to do for those of us who know the score and see this reality every day? For me, as I do continue to point to the problem, I try to spend more of my efforts on creating the solutions; getting out from under the corporate-military system, becoming more self sufficient, and linked into the local community of like minded people.

Once we realize the entire system is working against us, we come to know that another system must replace the corrupted one, as any system so badly broken can not be reformed, since it allowed itself to get this bad it simply does not protect against they corrupting forces. Real democracy is needed, a system without elected representatives, since voting them in gives them power to run amok till voting them out,. this is not a workable system, it invites corruption.

A participatory democracy, with direct voting on all issues of import is a possibility, "government" becomes the neutral implementors of the will of the people. Public debate and voting can be done on-line, and votes can be change at any time. If an issue changes shape you then change your position on it, and you can lobby your friends and neighbors to vote with you. Anyway, I have a worked out system in my head, I see as incorruptible, or much less so,. I will eventually write it down somewhere. The point is, this system is unfixable, and others are very possible.

I devote my efforts to not participating in the current corrupted corporate-military fake democracy,. and work to build the basics of a happy life; Permacuture is a guiding principle, along with Degrowth, Relocalization. Movements like Slow Money are already implementing large parts of this. The future is what we make it today.