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In the 1942 epic film King’s Row actor Ronald Reagan (of all people) played a down and out working stiff (Drake McHugh) who just had his legs amputated due to an accident. He was under anesthesia and did not know this. Thus, when he came to, he uttered that famous line: “Where’s the rest of me!?” This is a very appropriate query for all of us working stiffs as to the nature of this current economic state of affairs.
For decades this Military Industrial Empire has been whittling away at our safety net… from ALL sides! Funding for so many necessary services has been continually cut to the bone, while the empire keeps funding that militarism beast to the tune of over half of our federal tax revenue. No one or rather so few seem to care. At least Drake McHugh’s friends did when he screamed that famous scream.
We have a Two Party/One Party system that equally kneels at the altar of empire. Wall Street, Big Banking and the Pentagon call for more war related instruments of destruction and invasion.
Meanwhile, the Republican vs. Democrat political scam will have many ‘food fights’ over many issues, but never about the ones which could actually help pull back this empire. Yet, when it comes to saluting the flag and honoring our ‘brave warriors’ these two parties cannot give enough in way of accolades.
Well, the flag is MY flag too! As far as our’ brave warriors’, well, our military personnel should never have been sent to ANY of those places in that hornet’s nest called the Middle East.
What many other nations realize (even our empire’s allies), is that our illegal and immoral invasions and occupations have given rise to insurgencies/terrorists throughout the Middle East. Plus, and most important, is that the entire refugee crisis throughout Europe was instigated by Washington’s schemes to reprint the map of that region. While performing these non heroic deeds, our taxpayers are footing the bill.
To keep one soldier in Afghanistan costs you and me taxpayer at least one million dollars a year! Think how many more first providers we could hire for that money. Think of how many teachers, library books, infrastructure repairs that one soldier’s pay could finance. Multiply that by thousands of such military personnel and then add the cost of all those WMDs (one Apache Helicopter costs $ 55 million… just one!) and see how insane we are as a culture. Does anyone care?
The empire narcotizes us with sports and electronic gadgets up the Kazoo. Of course, as the 17th anniversary of 9/11 is upon us, they make sure we see lots of camouflage wearing military personnel all over. They stand at the openings of the football stadiums as the players enter the field. They have the honor guard to bring out the flag and prepare for the anthem. Then everyone, sadly even most of the black NFL players, cross their hearts and solemnly honor this empire. Why? Well citizens of the Fifth Reich, we are at war!! Maybe we need Grouch Marx to come out and lead the hoopla.
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Philip A Farruggio is a son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He has been a free lance columnist since 2001, with over 400 of his work posted on sites like Global Research, Greanville Post, Off Guardian, Consortium News, Information Clearing House, Nation of Change, World News Trust, Op Ed News, Dissident Voice, Activist Post, Sleuth Journal, Truthout and many others. His blog can be read in full on World News Trust, whereupon he writes a great deal on the need to cut military spending drastically and send the savings back to save our cities. Philip has a internet interview show, ‘It’s the Empire… Stupid’ with producer Chuck Gregory, and can be reached at [email protected].
