Obama targets humanity at home and abroad. Illinoisans paying attention knew long ago. He served as senator for the state's 13th district.

He sold out straightaway. Real estate interests had their man. Gentrification demolitions rewarded them. Poor folks were driven out. Most were Black.

Banking, finance, insurance, and real estate interests comprised his political base then and now. Needs of constituents he represented were ignored. Community uplift rhetoric disguised harming people who needed help.

Critics called his record kick back cronyism. Convicted felons and big monied interests funded him. Every dollar invested returned multiples.

Pay-to-play was always Chicago's way. City and state politics are notoriously corrupt. Obama played the game down and dirty.

He earned his bona fides. He was well suited for bigger and better things in Washington. He was singled out and took full advantage. Nationally he betrayed the poor and disadvantaged the way he did in Illinois. Globally it's much worse.

As US senator, his voting record told all. He supported power and big monied interests. He backed commodifying public education. He stood by medical providers in wrongful injury suits.

He opposed capping credit card interest rates. Mining companies loved him. He endorsed strip mining everywhere, including on public land.

He supported huge energy company subsidies, vastly expanded nuclear power, deregulation, harmful biofuels, other agribusiness interests, GMO food proliferation, and privatized healthcare.

He stood solidly for corporate friendly trade agreements, fraudulent financial deals, expanding America's prison-industrial complex, repressive immigration legislation, police state laws, military tribunals, spying and secrecy, controlling the media, and he was still just a senator.

Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) executive director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard said he "eviserat(ed)" civil and human rights. He exceeded the worst of Bush. He silenced acquiescent liberals. They support someone they should condemn.

On August 1, Gerald Celente headlined "The Next Four Years," saying:

"What will it take to change" America's future? Voters have no choice. Both candidates tout their credentials. "Obama the Osama Slayer vs. Romney the Corporate Commando."

Each says I'm your guy. "And what will they lead us to? Economic nirvana, world peace, environmental renewal, social harmony, cultural foment, spiritual enlightenment?"

Campaign 2012 comes down to "who is best qualified to destroy the most the slowest." Why can't people see what's obvious? Why do people who should know better wear blinders?

Why do they mindlessly "drink the Kool-Aid?" At issue is stop playing follow the leader and start "lead(ing) yourself." It can't be "bought, given, or imposed."

Grassroots activism alone offers change. It's "having the courage not to cower to power. The dignity to claim your rightful and sacred place on earth. To respect yourself, demand it of others, and show respect to all who merit it."

It means opposing corrupt political leaders "and the unprincipled and oppressive systems they represent." When enough people change, so will policies.

Washington and Jefferson's America "ended up led by freaks." It happened the same way in Germany and Italy.

Bach, Beethoven, Goethe, Michelangelo, DaVinci, and Galileo ended up Hitler and Mussolini. Modern-day equivalents await in America.

Reagan, Bush I and II, Clinton, Bush, Cheney, and Obama showed steady downward decadence. Expect Obama term two or Romney to be worse. They're two sides of the same coin.

European leaders and Arab League despots replicate their dark side. They're "two-bit freaks," says Celente. "And they're dangerous."

"They start wars, kill millions, destroy nations. They steal your money and give it to their friends." They treat ordinary people like garbage. Why don't they resist? "(T)hey argue among themselves why (one) freak is better than the other."

They defend what they should condemn. They let Obama, Cameron, Hollande, Merkel, Monti, Harper, Netanyahu, and others get away with murder. If they won't fight for what's right, who will?

America is ground zero. Policies made here affect everywhere. Wealth extraction, mass killing, destruction, and dominance define them. Crackdowns target nonbelievers. Expect current harshness to get worse.

Financial war rages on millions. Hot ones continue. Syrians struggle to survive. Washington picked Kofi Annan. He's a notorious imperial tool. He provided sham cover for regional ravaging. It masquerades as pursuing conflict resolution and peace.

Washington's strategy requires violence and instability. It features terrorizing Syrians to submit. Annan's a willing co-conspirator. He got marching orders and obeyed. He's no longer needed.

On August 2, he said he'll leave end of August when his mandate expires. He lied claiming Security Council inaction made him decide. Fellow imperialist Ban Ki-moon accepted his resignation with regret.

They partnered with Washington, other NATO countries, and regional despots against Assad. They blame him for Western death squad crimes. Expect conflict to persist. Imperial strategy demands it. Willful killing and destruction won't end.

Syrians courageously resist. They want freedom, not imperial subjugation. They're willing to die for it.

Obama admitted what's well known. Washington aids insurgents covertly. CIA and US special forces are involved. Heavy weapons, funding, training and direction are provided. Secret "finding" authorization approved more.

Washington's war on Syria is lawless. So are other US wars. Trillions go for mass killing, destruction, conquest, colonization, and plunder. Homeland needs go begging.

Imagine what's coming post-election. Expect greater wealth extraction, escalated repression, and new war theaters without end.

America's worst of all possible worlds sinks lower. Depravity defines it. Obama's a stealth neocon faking people-friendly credentials. Paul Craig Roberts calls hypocrisy Washington's hallmark. Global war crimes are committed in pursuit of peace.

Humanitarian intervention is sham cover for imperial ravaging. The late Gore Vidal addressed this and more long ago. He warned how it harms humanity. He called America decadent. It's not worth preserving, he said.

He called Cuba a place of hope. He said Americans haven't a clue about what they lost. He called US-style democracy fraudulent by design. It's illegitimate without choice on the ballot.

He said America is "rotting away at a funereal pace." He expected eventual military dictatorship. The late Chalmers Johnson predicted the same thing. He quoted Pogo saying, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

He expected eventual worst of times. He and Vidal agreed. America is plagued by the same dynamic that doomed past empires. Unwillingness to change assures demise.

It's not a matter of if, but when. At issue is will humanity perish with it? The possibility is terrifyingly real. Money power runs America. Policies it wants, it gets.

A nation without enemies remains permanently at war. A secret, unaccountable global gulag holds countless non-believers. Oppression targets anyone who resists. Wealth extraction impoverishes millions. Mind manipulation keeps people dumbed down.

Johnson said these policies produce military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent. America's republic always was more myth than real. Pretense ended long ago. It died and doesn't exist.

Democracy is a quaint artifact. Slogans and other rhetoric alone remain. Democrats are as neocon as Republicans. Most people haven’t a clue. Others who understand don't act.

America gets away with murder with ease. Lynne Stewart says "Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!" Nothing else works and won't now. It's needed more than ever. "It's the system, stupid," says Immanuel Wallerstein. Change it or it'll consume us.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour