September 11 and the birth of the "war on terrorism" was one such moment, as was the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan that followed.

In these moments, the true criminal nature of the world’s elite is readily apparent. So is the ignorance of the duped and manipulated mass populaces.

We are in the midst of another such moment as you read this, perhaps the most dangerous single collective moment since 9/11.

The attack and invasion of Lebanon by Israel (in coordination with larger Anglo-American war plans), and the creation of pretexts paving the way for a US-UN attack on Iran and Syria, has been enthusiastically and unanimously supported by neoconservative and neoliberal factions, as well as the vast majority of "liberals." Not since 9/11 has there been this overwhelming, unbroken and blatant an expression of criminal unanimity at the top. The atrocities and massacres on the part of Israel that have escalated for weeks have been applauded. Think about this: applauded. Israel’s plan to deepen their invasion will be greeted with the same zeal.

And, the Bush administration, spearheaded by the malignant Condoleeza Rice and the maniac John Bolton, is making sure more violence erupts, so that the the big end game, a multi-front war stretching from Africa across the Middle East, can begin. Scott Ritter has already written a book about what is happening, Target: Iran. It’s one of the scripts, read it.

"Cease fire?" Like hell. The criminal Middle East/Eurasian "road map" remains on schedule, and it rolls on, no matter how many die, no matter how many nations fall. These are not "failures."

Who or what is doing a damned thing about this? Who is paying attention?

Today, neoliberal Democrats across the US are too busy being delirious over a primary victory of Connecticut’s Ned Lamont over Bush/Cheney-supporting Republican-in-drag Joe Lieberman, as if this "portends November defeat for Republican incumbents, and Bush."

Yet a far more telling event occurred that should remove all blinders, remove any doubt that nothing in this country has changed: Cynthia McKinney was removed from Congress, in a run-off against a total unknown named Hank Johnson. McKinney was removed, courtesy of Diebold electronic voting machines. These machines have now erased her votes in two "elections." McKinney’s push out of Washington is a disaster for American democracy. With the exception of a tiny single-digit number, there are now officially no Washington politicians worth a damn. And these few will surely be gotten rid of, if they are not already blackmailed or bought off.

The machines, courtesy of Diebold, ESS, Sequoia, and SAIC, four fronts of the Bush/Republican apparatus, own the vote. Period. The New World Order is unified on this, too: there may be a "selection" in November, but there will not be an "election." It is literally insane to believe otherwise. (These are not "failures," either.)

Meanwhile, there is the biggest and most inconvenient of inconvenient truths of all, Peak Oil and Gas. Every person alive is feeling pressure generated from it, whether it is in the form of rockets and bombs in the Middle East, the unprecedented summer heat from a dying planet, the certain pain that will be created by the disruptions of US oil supplies from Prudhoe Bay, or the heat of a world economy on the verge of meltdown. This is the heat of oppression. A planetary solution for survival tomorrow will not come from those at the top who have done their best to worsen this nightmare, and profit from collective tragedy.

Until and unless the machines, and the corporations that operate them, are removed from all elections, there is no vote, and no democracy, anywhere in this world. Until and unless the "war on terrorism" is exposed for what it is, and stopped, there will be no change, and no hope. There is only fascism, and a gruesome reality that becomes more evident with the passage of time, and we, the long disenfranchised.

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