MovieChat Forums > The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (2009) Discussion > Are things different now?

Are things different now?

posted 14 years ago by mypcforums
7 replies | jump to latest

I don't think so. Just as the American people didn't listen to Ellsberg then and voted Johnson and Nixon into office, they're not listening now and voted Obama into office, who is only a puppet and has just about ruined the economy to benefit big business. I'd like to hear tapes of the discussions in his oval office. It'd probably read like: *beep* the lower and middle classes. Open the borders for free trade and eliminate as many US jobs as possible. Allow as many foreigners into the country as want to come and give them the money they need for rent, food, health care and tuition. Give them green cards and citizenship IF they want to work so they can take even more jobs away from US born citizens."

None of what was shown in the documentary was taught in school.

The only thing new that I learned from this documentary was that John F Kennedy was pro Viet Nam war. I was only a child then and didn't know that.

There are no atheists in hell.

[–] Katz5 14 years ago

The late, great George Carlin once said "war is the only thing the U.S. is good at," and that sums up things perfectly. Every President since World War II has been a warhawk; even Eisenhower, to a degree, even though he coined the term "military industrial complex" (which he didn't blast until his farewell address). During his term, he too exhibited hawkish behavior. The Military Industrial Complex does rule the roost in the United States. Obama hasn't changed a thing. But if you think McCain would have been any better, think again. After World War II, the United States had one goal: Become the world's sole superpower. It took several decades of Cold War to do just that, but look what's happened. Thanks to the giant game of Risk played by chickenhawks and war profiteers Bush and Cheney, the U.S. is deep in debt with China, which is well on its way to become the world's only superpower.

The U.S.? The wealthiest in this country (about 2% of the total population) will sell the nation to China, and bail to Dubai or another tax-free paradise. The rest of us will be under absolute guard of the Chinese. It will happen. Just a matter of time. Unless one of the political parties (Dems or GOP, doesn't matter) grows a pair, tells the Military Industrial Complex to f--k itself, brings our troops home, brings the jobs outsourced to Bangalore back to the U.S., stops illegal immigration, and basically seals itself off from other countries, in order to stop the never-ending bleeding that has been going on since Reagan took office.

Dude means nice guy. Dude means a regular sort of person.

[–] oneseat 14 years ago

My analogy would have been that despite the revelation that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the Bush administration had manipulated data and engaged in deceptive rhetoric, Bush was reelected in 2004. Damning evidence registered briefly on the consciousness of much of the electorate, but they chose to ignore it out of fear--an outsized fear of terrorism, and just plain old fear of change.

As for the Obama administration, what you say about it is just silly. I mean really. Obama intentionally wants to take away jobs from US citizens?

But more to the point, no president since Nixon will ever be that frank in the Oval Office, or anywhere else official. Scrutiny has gotten too tight. Even if Obama is the nefarious schemer you think he is, he would never lay out his dastardly plans to destroy America in a place where it could be heard and recorded. You can thank Daniel Ellsberg in part for that.

[–] mypcforums 14 years ago

the Bush administration had manipulated data and engaged in deceptive rhetoric, Bush was reelected in 2004

You made my point. Things haven't changed since the Nixon Administration. It's business as usual at the White House with deception being alive and well.

Obama intentionally wants to take away jobs from US citizens?

The middle class is slowly and systematically being eliminated. The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. We're heading toward the systems that were in place prior to the 1900's where there was little to no middle class, which benefits only the rich. Opening the border to Mexico was a snafu for the rich and many thousands of Americans lost their jobs. As one example, middle management is just about gone, replaced by Administrative Assistants who do the work of receptionists, secretaries and middle management but get paid only a secretary's wage. In my home state, mathematicians and electronics engineers are now shampooing carpets for a living and the job market has bottomed out. Unemployment is extremely high. If Obama isn't the puppet of big business, the borders wouldn't have been opened up. He might be cleaning up after the Bush administration but he's making his own mess of the economic climate and the middle class is paying the price, with the economy constantly on a downhill slope.

Tricky Dicky wasn't very bright to have made tapes of the kinds of discussions that almost got him impeached. My take on an Ombama Oval Office discussion was plainly imaginery so it was silly of you to address it.

Politicians are very crafty as are their practices. They campaign on fear and the promises they make are never realized. Politics on the whole is completely corrupt.

There are no atheists in hell.

[–] OldDood 14 years ago

All I can 'suggest' to anyone is 'Follow the Money'.
Through out the ages I mean.

It is the people that control the money supply that call the shots.
Presidents are Middle Men (and I believe 'Hand Picked' to become president) and get their marching orders then carry them out.
The LAST president that went against the grain was JFK.
Look what happened to him...
Think OutSide of the 'Box'!

[–] NapoleonBender 12 years ago

JFK didn't go against the grain. He was a scumbag like literally every US president ever "elected". He just had the misfortune of being against a particularly powerful sect of the rich faction that rules the US empire.

The most important thing they don't teach in school is that the US is not a democracy. Allowing you to choose between 2 wings of the same party is not democracy. The rich are the only electors of real candidates, so our only choice is the face of the class who's going to screw us and the rest of the world.

[–] Owlwise 14 years ago

The only difference now, I fear, is that things are even worse. We've got a populace that doesn't want to hear the facts of our current misdeeds. It's not a matter of Obama or Bush, Democrat or Republican; both serve the corporate world. It's a matter of the monied & powerful doing all they can to maximize profit at the expense of the public. And for them, war is always good business. They've made more than one kind of killing out of Iraq & Afghanistan, sad to say, even as they crush the middle class more & more each day. Anyone who dares put the facts before the public (i.e., Wikileaks) is pilloried in the press.

[–] NapoleonBender 12 years ago

I don't think it's worse actually. The Gulf War was the only war in US history that had demonstrations before it even began. It's getting better, but the only question is if it's improving soon enough, either before we destroy ourselves or before the rich have enough technology to rule us without any fear of revolt. When they have an entire killer robot army (rather than just a small killer robot army) and surveillance all across the country and eventually globe, THEN we're completely screwed.