Today commemorates the 12th anniversary of the most heinous act committed in recent history by my country’s government. Continue reading
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Author Archives: Philip A Farruggio
Brother, can you spare a Bitcoin?
During the 1930s a popular song asked, “Brother, can you spare a dime?” Well, that was their depression; we now have our own to focus on. Continue reading
Remembrance of the run-up to the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq
You remember when we still had to go to the local video store to rent our movies? Wow, it seems like an eternity! Well, this writer remembers well one incident that is engraved in my memory forever, from one afternoon in late 2002. Continue reading
When will American labor connect the dots?
A few years ago In Wisconsin and in two major cities in California, voters (made up mostly of working folks) chose to restrict the benefit packages and wage increases for public service, a.k.a. government, employees. Some say that since most of the workers in these places, and throughout America, are employed by the private sector, the attitude became one of resentment. Continue reading
Rollerball Amerika 2015
You must see or revisit Norman Jewison’s 1975 film “Rollerball,” starring James Caan as superstar player Jonathan E. In it, we see a world is no longer made up of countries, but of corporations that control every bit of life for the people. There are no longer wars, just a complacent populace who ‘go along to get along.’ A very select few are chosen by the corporations to become executives, giving them elite status. It seems everyone loves the violent sport Rollerball which is like our current NFL football on steroids. Continue reading
Barack, ya coulda been a contender, instead of a tool of the elite
Okay, Barack, from one Brooklyn guy to one Chicago guy, let’s talk straight and pull no punches. I don’t care how nice of a guy you want to be, or how intelligent and articulate . . . ya blew it, kiddo! Just like with your predecessors, especially Clinton and Junior Bush, you simply are a stooge of the wizards who control this empire. Continue reading
By any other name, terrorism sucks
When a suicide bomber blows away the lives of students and other civilians in an Israeli café, my eyes fill with tears. When Israeli Apache helicopters blast away the lives of innocent Palestinians, more tears flow. Terrorism has no parameters. It sucks no matter who does the killing and who does the dying. Continue reading
The fix is in
Sports have always been a keen reflection of the greater culture of our times. The Roman Empire was a devouring beast that ate up countries like its lions ate up the Christians in the Roman Coliseum. Rome’s violent aspect was mirrored by the so called ‘sport’of gladiator fights to the death (much like the new game in town, Ultimate Fighting, also done in a ‘cage’), or the chariot races which resembled rush hour down 7th Ave in NYC. Thus, when sports take on a more violent nature or focus, it must reflect the mindset of its greater culture. Interesting how pro football replaced baseball as our national pastime right about at the height of the Vietnam War. Continue reading
A New Year’s resolution: Get out of the box!
We’ve all always been ‘boxed in.’ Our rents and mortgages, higher than they should be, our too high cable and power bills, car payments . . . really a myriad of debts that box us into this empire. You see, it has all been orchestrated by not even the so called ‘one percent.’ Continue reading
The war for America’s soul and treasure
Investigative reporter James Risen has written a new book, “Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War,” that gets to the heart of our current American Empire. Continue reading
The man in the bathtub, December 1, 1940
He was born and raised in a little town just outside of Licata, Sicily. By the time he was 18, the young man was accepted into university in Tunisia, a far more scholastically advanced place than the Sicily of the early 1900s. Upon graduating, he decided to do what many young Italians chose to do, and he emigrated to the United States. Continue reading
The fog of empire
Have you noticed lately how often you hear the expression that someone is ‘in a fog ‘? So many of us are walking around in some lethargic state as we go about our business. There is no sense of direction as many just ‘go through the motions’ of existence. Truly, they are lost in the fog of empire. Continue reading
21st century Amerika: The Fourth Reich
In Joachim Fest’s fine biography of Adolf Hitler, aptly titled ‘Hitler,’ we learn many things never before taught in our World History classes here. To delve into it now with the needed detail from this 700+ page masterpiece would be futile for me the columnist. There is just so much to digest and comprehend about this Austrian of little education and no professional calling who became the Fuhrer. Yet, throughout the book one cannot help but realize just how much the movers and shakers of our Amerikan empire copied tactics and outright propaganda from the Hitler gang. Continue reading
America is lost with no moral compass
For all you out there reading this who already reject our current ‘Two Party, One Party’ political con job and understand that our nation is a Military Industrial Empire, the title above is not about YOU. However, this small (too small) group of us still has many friends and loved ones who are lost with no moral compass. We have associates, acquaintances , employers, coworkers and people we run into at the store or gas station who not only have no moral compass, but many are passionate defenders of this empire. The Why to this is most interesting and frightening. Continue reading
A baby boomer’s lament: August ’64
Living here in Florida during the dog days of summer invites memories of some 50 years ago . . . in Brooklyn NY. We, our little group of East 24th Street friends, waltzed through the hot summer days so easily. When you’re fourteen, fifteen and sixteen you are immune to stifling August heat attacks. Continue reading
The dinosaur from the sixties
What kind of country do we now inhabit? Where I live, a small city of 60,000, there is absolutely nothing reminiscent of the world I once knew. This town is one of boxstores, strip malls, third rate mass transit (duh, like hardly any), and subdivisions where few even know one another, let alone socialize that much. Even the suburbia of my youth offered more than this . . . yet they tell us we have evolved in this 21st century whereupon Walmart has become the new city market! Continue reading
Shark attack!
Remember the film “Jaws”? Remember how the whole town was affected by the presence of the predatory Great White? Well, all we working stiffs out there in America are just as terrorized by the multitude of sharks that run this country. We have the corporate sharks and their political ‘Two Party, One Party ‘shark allies who run our government. Either way, if you work for someone else or have a small mom and pop business . . . you are meat for these economic predators! Continue reading
Dreaming life?
In Adrian Lyne’s 1990 film Jacob’s Ladder what appears to be one man’s reality is nothing more than a dream . . . Horrible, twisted and strange. Can this be what is going on with all of us? The great Hindu sage Yogananda taught the eastern precept that this thing we call reality is nothing but a great dramatic dream that the higher part of our consciousness is having. We all are the writers, actors and directors of it. My friend Jay tells me that this is nonsense. He, being a man of utter truth and fact, feels that for the entire population of this planet to be having the same dream of reality must mean that this all is real. Who then is correct? Continue reading
Look, Ma, no teeth . . . no future!!
A close friend of the family recently got some bad news. She was told that gum disease and bone loss had caused her five molars to be infected. The only recourse was to have them all pulled out. Even gum surgery would not help at this point. Continue reading
Nutworks!
Anyone who has seen the 1976 film Network can only imagine how CLAIRVOYANT the film’s writer, Paddy Chayefsky, turned out to be. The film, a dark satire, showed a future society where the media became the message and celebrity was greater than reality. Ratings were the only thing that mattered- as they apparently still are on today’s Nutworks! Continue reading
Media pile on: Don Sterling, yes; the empire, no!
Let me preface these thoughts by stating that what another billionaire says or does because he feels above the rest of we serfs is never surprising to me. What Don Sterling, owner of the Clippers basketball team, said and implied is murmured to this writer many times by many people . . . always in either whispers or in secure settings. Racism is alive and well in Amerika, as it always has been since our founding. Continue reading
The enemies of economic stimulus
Call me a socialist, a communist, a radical, whatever. What matters are the ideas one presents to make this a better place to live and grow. Period! Continue reading
Working stiffs, wake up!!
The lead story in the March 21 USA Today highlighted how “Corporate chiefs pull in $50 million or more.” The story went on to mention how these corporate gains were unmatched since the Internet IPO craze from the late 90s. These gains spanned the wide spectrum of American industries. Continue reading
Gimme shelter
“Ooh well the storm is threatening, my very life’s at stake. Gimme gimme shelter before I fade away . . .” Such go the words of the Rolling Stones, circa 1969. Continue reading
The death of innocents
For those out there who have never had a dog or cat as a pet for a long period of time, what I am about to share may seem overly dramatic. Yet, one hopefully realizes that these blessed creatures become like little children to us. They, like little children, need our focused attention and caring in order to survive. Continue reading
Karma: The elephant in YOUR room
One of the greatest books this writer has ever read was the “Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda. Continue reading
Save our cities . . . cut the real fat!
Once we who do not earn over one million dollars a year wake up, real ‘hope and change’ will occur. Continue reading
How shrewd this empire be!
The highly controlled mainstream news always does the bidding of our Military Industrial Empire . . . always! As most folks should know, there is this constitutional caveat called sequestration that requires cuts in federal spending, to help balance budgets. Continue reading
How about some truth in labeling?
You know, having been homebound for 9 days with the flu can really drive you crazy. Especially when you pass some of the time by ‘channel surfing ‘the mainstream boob tube. You go from the far right-wing Fox channels to the Democratic Party loving MSNBC, to the ‘We love em both’ CNN. Bottom line: all the mainstream media’s outlets serve the military industrial complex that even cold warrior President Eisenhower warned us of. Continue reading
The midnight visit from Reagan’s ghost
Barack was tired. He had just returned from a long trip to South Africa to memorialize Nelson Mandela. He had flown out and back with former President George W. Bush, a man that Barack inherently knew was nothing less than a war criminal. Yet, politics is what it is: A never ending series of compromise and accommodation. Clinton (Bill that is . . . well Hillary too for that matter) had taught him that this was the way it is and that was that, so why bother? It was late and he was really tired. He needed to finish drinking his night cap and go to sleep. After he rang for the White House butler, he gathered up some notes for an upcoming speech and . . . Continue reading
The man in the bathtub, December 1, 1940
He was born and raised in a little town just outside of Licata, Sicily. By the time he was 18, the young man was accepted into university in Tunisia, a far more scholastically advanced place than the Sicily of the early 1900s. Upon graduating, he decided to do what many young Italians chose to do, and he immigrated to the United States. Continue reading
Apache helicopter & Hellfire missile blues
Posted on March 26, 2015 by Philip A Farruggio
Investigative reporter Chris Woods wrote that since August of last year there have been more than 2,900 missile strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft . . . mostly perpetrated by our country. Continue reading →