Carl,
We agree that there are powerful people in this world, who have an undue
influence over those who are less powerful. The power comes, in America in
2021, from those who are the most wealthy and who can use various means,
military strength and the media and education system. But whether we're talking
about Colin Powell or the substitute home health aide who supposedly assisted
me for a time, who stole my Visa card, individuals are motivated by self
interest. People who are members of the working class or who are poverty
stricken, are not superior in their motivations because they are being
exploited. The mainstream media are praising Powell because it fits their
narrative to do so. Along with the very long article about him from Consortium
News that I posted, there were several shorter articles that told the truth.
Even Amy managed to be a bit truthful about him on Democracy Now. But these
days, the majority of people choose the news stories that fit with their
preconceived conceptions, to believe.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 7:43 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] ‘Don’t feel sorry for me,’ Powell said as the end approached
Miriam,
Of course it's never a clean cut situation, but my point is that each of those
individuals made choices that served the needs of the Ruling Class, as well as
serving their own needs. I don't blame their choices on anyone other than
themselves. But I do not need to have these people's lives "shaped" to make it
appear that they were working on behalf of the Middle Class...whatever that is.
FDR was my boyhood hero. Learning later on that he cut deals with the
Dixiecrats, or was responsible for the interments camps during WWII, or had a
mistress, only proved to me that even people who claim to be looking out for my
needs, are also caught up in Life, and prove that they are just as human as I
am. So I don't get caught up in the need to create "bigger than life" heroes
out of the likes of General Powell, who should only be remembered as a dutiful
soldier who served above and beyond his call.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/19/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
All of those people whom you list and describe as, "serving the ruling
class", made individual ethical choices. Powell's origins were in the
working class, as were Bill Clinton's. Those two individuals made
choices to advance their own interests in opposition to what was
morally right. The two Bush Presidents came from a family that was
part of the ruling class. Obama came from a family on his mother's
side, who were enmeshed in the military and security state apparatus
and Obama made very specific choices from college on, to become part
of the ruling class. These people were serving their own interests,
and I hold them responsible for what they did. I'm not going to blame
some shadowy 1% for the individual choices that men and women make to
discard the interests of other human beings in order to serve their own needs.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2021 4:45 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] ‘Don’t feel sorry for me,’
Powell said as the end approached
I certainly do not feel sorry for Colon Powell. Nor do I feel anger,
or that he sold out his people, or failed to stand for the Middle Class.
General Colón Powell made his choices in life, and those choices
worked quite well for him.
What I find troubling is that many Americans have been led to believe
that he was "one of us". He was not. He was the Servant of the Ruling Class.
And I believe that he served them far better than they treated him.
But that seems to be the lot of so many folk who serve the Ruling Class.
His behavior does not make him a bad person, any more than George Bush
was, or his disgusting son, George II, or for that matter, Bill
Clinton or Barack Obama. Regardless of what they said, all of them
ended up serving their Masters well. The only one who probably gave
the Ruling Class cause for heartburn was Donald Trump. Even as he
loaded up the Courts and the Government High Places, he had a
different agenda than that of the Ruling Class.
But my heart is not breaking for them, either.
So, rest in peace, General Powell. You received Status, even if you
did not earn respect.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/18/21, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
‘Don’t feel sorry for me,’ Powell said as the end approached By Bob
Woodward Today at 8:18 p.m. EDT
As death approached, Colin L. Powell was still in fighting form.
“I’ve got multiple myeloma cancer, and I’ve got Parkinson’s disease.
But otherwise I’m fine,” he said in a July interview.
And he rejected expressions of sorrow at his condition.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, for God’s sakes! I’m [84] years old,” said
Powell who died Monday. “I haven’t lost a day of life fighting these
two diseases.
I’m in good shape.”
0:00/0:40
Colin Powell to Bob Woodward: "Don't feel sorry for me"
Over 32 years beginning in 1989 after the United States invasion of
Panama, I conducted about 50 interviews with Powell, who was the
first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first Black
secretary of state. The last interview was a phone call, three months
ago on July 12 for
42 minutes and recorded with Powell’s agreement.
Of his visits to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he
said “I have to get all kinds of exams and I’m a former Chairman, so
they don’t want to lose me so they make me come there all the time.
I’ve taken lots of exams and I get there on my own. I drive up in my
Corvette, get out of the Corvette and go into the hospital. I also go
to a clinic to get the blood tests taken. I don’t advertise it but
most of my friends know it.”
Colin L. Powell, former secretary of state and military leader, dies
at 84
We quickly switched to defense issues and foreign policy. I asked him
about President Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. troops
completely from Afghanistan?
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“I thought we had to get out of there eventually,” Powell said. “[We]
can’t beat these guys. Well, let’s get it over with. Afghanistan,
you’re never going to win. Afghans are going to win.
“They have hundreds willing to fight and die for this country of theirs.
That’s why I don’t have any problem with us getting out of there. We
can’t go from 100,000 [U.S. troops] down to a few hundred and think
that’ll prevail.”
At one point during our phone call, Alma Powell, his wife, called to him.
“Hang on a minute,” he told me. “I’m on the phone, Alma!” he said
shouting back to her, and then in a whisper he added, “She never
liked me talking to you, but here we are.”
In Powell’s memoir, “My American Journey,” he recounted how he and I
had talked in 1989. He wrote in his book that my story in The
Washington Post the next day “was not inaccurate, but neither was it
helpful.”
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He added, “I continued dealing with Woodward, though Alma warned me
to handle with care.”
His thoughts on Afghanistan were among several ruminations on current
foreign policy issues.
“How does anybody think that North Korea would find a way to attack
us without us destroying them the next morning,” he said, “How can
anyone think equally of Iran. Iran and North Korea cannot be our
enemies because they cannot stand the results of such a conflict.
We’re going to be terrified of these people? No. Would they dare?”
“But sometimes you get a leader who’s suicidal,” I said.
“True. True . . . The Chinese are not going to let us start a war
with North Korea. They love North Korea. They want North Korea. I don’t.
North Korea doesn’t bother me. Let the little jerk [Kim Jong Un] have
his parades and what not. He’ll never try to attack us because he
knows it would be assisted suicide.”
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“And I felt the same way about Iran. I felt the same way for the most
part about Russia. They can’t afford it. They’ve got [145] million
people. We’ve got 330 million people.”
We returned to one of the defining moments in his life and discussed
how the first Gulf War had taken only 42 days. The ground war
component lasted only four days before President George H.W. Bush
declared a cease-fire. The U.S.
and coalition forces overran Kuwait and Southern Iraq, destroyed
Saddam Hussein’s army, routed the Iraqi Republican Guard, dictated
the terms of peace and killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. Kuwait was
liberated. American casualties were 137 killed in action and seven
missing in action.
“That’s close to it,” Powell said. “Had another couple hundred killed
in accidents.”
Overall, given the low American casualties, he said of the war, “I’m
so proud of that I can’t see straight.”
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Powell continued, “Before the ground war started, I went to a White
House meeting and pulled [Secretary of Defense Richard B.] Cheney and
the president aside. And I said, ‘You know, I got to tell you about
something, the ground [war] is about to start.’
“ ‘And I need to warn you a little bit, that when we lose an
airplane, it crashes and I lose one guy. If they hit a tank, you’ll
see four burning guys come out of it and you will see terrible things
in ground war that you will never see in air war. So be prepared for
that and be prepared to respond to it and defend us when we’re in
ground war.’ I didn’t know it was going to be as easy as it was or as
well-prepared as it was. And they took that seriously.”
Iraq War role was a stain on Powell’s record — one he openly said he
regretted
I mentioned that in a journalism class I teach, one of the students
asked, “What does the truth accomplish?”
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“This is scary,” Powell said. “You just scared the hell out of me if
this is what our kids are saying and thinking. Where are they getting
it from?
Media?” He sighed.
President Donald Trump was not reelected, he noted, “but Trump
refuses to acknowledge that he wasn’t reelected. He has people who go
along with him on that.”
What about the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol?
“It was awful. He was going in there to overturn the government.”
I asked Powell, “Who was the greatest man, woman or person you have
ever known? Not . . . a leader, not necessarily, but the inner person.
You know, the moral compass, the sense of propriety, the sense of the
truth matters.
Who is that in all of your life? Who?”
“It’s Alma Powell,” he said immediately. “She was with me the whole time.
We’ve been married 58 years. And she put up with a lot. She took care
of the kids when I was, you know, running around. And she was always
there for me and she’d tell me, ‘That’s not a good idea.’ She was
usually right.”
Clare McMullen contributed to this report.
Updated October 18, 2021
