-Caveat Lector- >From http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=374
}}}>Begin ''Ozzy Osbourne and the Chicken Hawks'' Printed on Sunday, June 09, 2002 @ 03:02:01 EDT ( ) By Matthew Riemer YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States) (YellowTimes.org) – Ozzy Osbourne had it right all along; that is, when it comes to the war machine of twentieth century imperialism. In Black Sabbath's immortal song "War Pigs" the Oz-Man breaks it down in understandable language for each and every one of us: "Politicians hide themselves away, they only started the war. Why should they go out to fight; they leave that all to the poor." The relevance of this statement lay in its explicit description of war as the inherently classist endeavor that it truly is. The politician-businessman class has full control over the war machine and, in fact, uses it as a means to protect its financial and strategic interests throughout the world, while not actually having to physically serve in any capacity that may endanger their well being. These are the proverbial war pigs. The tool of the politician-businessman class is, essentially, everyone outside of it - the vast majority of the middle and lower classes. Service to the war machine affects the public in many different ways: youthful warriors are recruited from among the mostly poor "masses," enticed with offers of paid-for higher-education where they will only become further indoctrinated; family members and friends suffer life altering trauma at the loss of loved ones; economic jockeying frequently lays-off thousands of workers as large corporations and elite executives ensure their own earnings, while ignoring even the most basic needs of those who have worked so hard to buoy their profits. It is this majority of the citizenry that sacrifices in all ways for the largely superficial (non-live threatening) needs of the elite few who run the political- economic machine. All the while, the virtual synthesis of government and big business only serves to strengthen this model. Today the U.S. government is virtually a conglomerate of former CEOs and oil and defense entrepreneurs. George W. Bush was an oilman and CEO of Bush Exploration, while making millions from his affiliation with the Texas Rangers baseball organization. Vice-President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton (1995-2000) - a Dallas-based energy company - implicated in humans rights abuses in Burma and heavily invested in many countries in the Middle East. Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of G.D. Searle and Co. (pharmaceuticals) in the late seventies and early eighties, as well as General Instrument Corporation (communications) from 1990-1993. Obviously, this exceedingly brief rundown is really only the tip of the iceberg, yet serves the purpose of illustrating the growing schism between the rulers and the ruled, the rich and the poor. (Our leaders are, essentially, millionaires parading as politicians and sages.) On the other hand, the grotesque abuse and subservience of the American and, to a greater degree, world citizen is highlighted by the despicable exploits of Enron, which feature attacks on the people of the state of California, as well as its own employees. In this case, the affected parties have almost no recourse to the semi-anonymous corporation, where suddenly, when something goes awry, no individual is to blame but only an unaccountable and nebulas "company." Similarly styled phenomena abound in the business world far beyond the domain of Enron: whether it be environmental violations that endanger the well being of the general public, workers' rights abuses such as dangerous workplaces or insulting wages, or financial fraud. The current ruling class also meets the requirement of having others do their dirty work. Obviously, while being too old to serve in physical combat, many of today's most prominent warmongers shirked their duties even when they were young and healthy. This group has come to be known as the chicken hawks: hawks who chickened out. (It must be noted here that the chicken hawk is a sub-species of the war pig; all chicken hawks are war pigs, but not all war pigs are chicken hawks. For example, Senator John McCain, though he is a war pig, is not a chicken hawk.) The New Hampshire Gazette (http:// www.nhgazette.com) has been so kind as to compile and post an ever- expanding list of the world's most famous chicken hawks on their hilarious website. Among the luminaries listed are George W. Bush himself, Dick Cheney, Trent Lott, George F. Will, Paul Wolfowitz, John Ashcroft, Tom DeLay, Bill O'Reilly, Wolf Blitzer, Rudy Guiliani, Dick Armey, and Dennis Hastert. All in support of the war machine and of all the great things it supposedly brings to the country and to the world; but, for some reason, unable to participate when it was their turn in the very process that they now so aggressively endorse. The chicken hawks, by their very definition, are the apotheosis of the simple and fundamental truth expressed in "War Pigs," whereby aloof leaders decide the fate, sometimes arbitrarily, of millions of people who have no capacity for physical resistance and no viable, political leverage with which to resist peacefully their virtual slavery. The chicken hawk, from its pristine feeding ground of various brown and green flora, casually sends others to do its bidding, usually for reasons other than the protection of the citizenry or territory it claims to represent; in fact, frequently such adventures (wars, proxy or not) are undertaken with the sole purpose of financial gain, through the profit of transnational companies who actually, many times, function more like official organs of the government: influencing policy and manipulating the economy. This is already being seen in Central Asia where the "new great game" is well underway. The fact that the corrupt politician and the greedy corporation, as symbols, have been so caricaturized as to lose any real, potentially catalytic, meaning is both sad and destructive; it takes away the ability to see the spectacle of the politics of warmongering and decipher it for what it is - a flagrant undermining of Democratic principles. This is systematically carried out by the war pigs and chicken hawks, along with their business brethren, and passes for the status quo in the new-fangled "global economy." For fear of appearing idealist many refrain from overly hopeful critiques of capitalism, in terms of its equitable performance, and its occasional pathological bouts of kleptomania; however, this intellectual hip-ness and cynicism shouldn't force one to turn a blind eye to glaring flaws and abuses within a given system. The events of the last several months have repeatedly shown that the poor, the innocent, and the uninvolved are most frequently the victims of our civilization's penchant for "spasms of violence," our leader's juvenile love of brinkmanship, and the blood lust of out of control capitalists. Afghanistan and the West Bank are examples of this, where thousands to millions of people who had nothing to do with the armed conflict going on around them were displaced or killed. Civilians from both regions became refugees after they were transformed into the homeless, starving, and poor as a result of needless conflict and destruction. All those who have died as a result of the economic sanctions against Iraq, not to mention the countless more suffering each day, are all victims of the global, petty tyrants posing as leaders and their childish vicissitudes. Saddam Hussein is a fabulously wealthy, pathological megalomaniac who calmly oversees the absolute destitution of his people, while occasionally and opportunistically, using their plight to his political advantage. The U.S. toys with him and plays dangerous games of wars left unfinished, which destroy the country and its people significantly, but only entrench him further. And who suffers? The innocents randomly murdered in the U.S. and Israel also fall into this category. What do you or I, or anyone else for that matter, have to do with who the CIA trains and arms for its own short-term and self-serving goals or how our government's actions infringe on other's rights? What do we have to do with any of the nuances of policy and action that portray Americans negatively? The government is its own entity. Carrying out its clandestine proceedings while the blame is laid at others' doorsteps. What do we have in common with the ruling class? Do we really think we're intimately involved in the decision making progress simply by participating in this charade known as the political process? In fact, what do we have to do with anything that any war is fought for today? We're simply serving others with our most precious possessions - our hearts, minds, and souls. So all of these people in all of these countries - all the destroyed lives - each and everyone of them is a victim of their collective government's inhumane policy of "human lives are our expendable pawns with which to win the world’s riches." Our brains need to be retuned: forget about left and right, liberal and conservative, Democrat and Republican, and start thinking about the rich and the poor, the ruler and the ruled. As another aged British rocker once said: "It all makes perfect sense expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence. Can't you see, it all makes perfect sense." [Matthew Riemer has written for years about a myriad of topics, such as: philosophy, religion, psychology, culture, and politics. He studied Russian language and culture for five years and traveled in the former Soviet Union in 1990. In addition to his work with YellowTimes.org, he's also maintaining http:// www.rottenindenmark.org, as well as being in the midst of a larger autobiographical/cultural work. Matthew lives in the United States.] Matthew Riemer encourages your comments: [EMAIL PROTECTED] YellowTimes.org encourages its material to be reproduced, reprinted, or broadcast provided that any such reproduction must identify the original source, http:// www.YellowTimes.org. Internet web links to http://www.YellowTimes.org are appreciated. 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