Endurance

The limited focus by the state of Chile on development dialogue for indigenous territories is disrespectful toward the inherent owners dispossessed by Chilean colonialism, and is an impediment to plurinationalism. As a signatory to ILO Convention 169, as well as to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Chilean government displays a remarkable state of ignorance, an ignorance that, says Milka Castro, professor of legal anthropology and interculturalism at the University of Chile law school, is intentionally cultivated. As anthropology professor Jose Bengoa notes, "Mapuche people are seeking a different relationship with Chilean society...What they want is a process of decolonization".

In their video From Tar Sands to Tankers, Green Planet Productions examines the perilous passage of the proposed Enbridge pipeline, a project that would turn Northern British Columbia into The Land of What Used To Be.

The purpose of putting down hippies by both conservative and liberal pundits is to undermine the values of conservation, cooperation and reciprocity. If hippies are against war, then peace is bad. If hippies are against profit, then cooperatives, community clinics and credit unions are bad. If hippies are against nuclear power, then alternative energies are bad. Hippie values existed before hippie lifestyles, and they -- not fads -- are what the culture war is all about.

American civilization is dying, our culture in the process of becoming.

Some US presidents retire to their privileged haunts never to be heard from again, others engage in humanitarian enterprises. For William Jefferson Clinton, who like his political party's successor is the ultimate opportunist, gaming the system is an avocation that continues to be wildly profitable.

But while Clinton and Obama both enjoy the privileges bought and paid for by Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street houses of ill repute, Clinton has parleyed his connections to include some of the most brutal dictators and corrupt entrepreneurs on the planet. Living in the lap of luxury at the expense of tyrants who boil their political opponents alive may not trouble Bill, but they should be a source of concern for his U.S. Secretary of State spouse.

Leaving aside for the moment the gargantuan conflicts of interest illustrated by Hillary's position of power and how Bill is using it to profit handsomely, a quick look at the activities of the Clinton Foundation should be enough to show where his motives lie. The recent teaming up with Shell and Chevron on the REDD initiative pretty much says it all.

Akin to the workshop floor color-coded teams, the Democrats, Republicans, and Tea Partiers compete within the rules laid down by their owners; in the end, it doesn't matter how many teams the corporate aristocracy has, as long as they perpetuate the myth of competitive democracy. As in capitalist-sponsored activism, if you take their money, they own you.