Author Archives: Kéllia Ramares-Watson

An end and a beginning: R.I.P. Michael C. Ruppert 1951–2014

On the morning of April 15, 2014, the only thing on my groggy mind was mailing out my tax returns. So I was shocked to see that my first piece of email, from the Fans of Michael C. Ruppert page on Facebook, was an announcement that Mike had committed suicide two days earlier. I had been boycotting Facebook for about two years, but had gotten the message because I had not disabled my account. I merely refused to log in. Then suddenly, I had to. Continue reading

Building a society based on social and environmental values

“Life Without Money” is a compilation of essays on theories and practices of non-monetary economics, which some people, including Anitra Nelson, call non-market socialism. It is a book intended primarily for academics who might want to consider teaching from this book, and those whom Nelson calls “thinking activists,” i.e., people who are primarily activists, but who are also interested in economic theory. Each chapter has many end notes and several gray boxes that mark out special points a teacher might wish to bring out during a lecture. Continue reading

‘The Last War Crime’: Censored movie envisions Cheney indictment

The independent movie “The Last War Crime” begins with a docudrama presentation of the events of September 11, 2001, using actual quotations where available, actual NYPD helicopter footage the production team had to sue to get, and using dramatic license to fill in the blanks where necessary. The film then transitions to an entirely fictional section in which the writer, producer and director, a person known only as The Pen, speculates on what would happen if a courageous US district attorney, who stumbles on a trail of evidence leading to Dick Cheney as the mastermind behind the torture that has occurred in Iraq, struggles to do something about what he has found out. Continue reading

The road to demonetization: Learning to say, ‘Enough!’

Even people who are not demonetarists, people who have not heard of it or who cannot conceive of a world without money, can act in today’s capitalist and market socialist societies in ways that reflect the values that a successfully demonetized society needs. Continue reading

When lack of money prevents work: FSRN ends daily broadcast

Free Speech Radio News, a daily international news program produced for and carried by community radio stations primarily in the United States, aired for the last time on Friday, September 27, 2013. Continue reading

Boston bombing suspect to be tried in civilian court

It is unconstitutional to try an American citizen as an “enemy combatant,” to the dismay of the pundits at Fox Spews. But what’s the constitution among Fox and Friends unless we’re talking the 2nd Amendment? Continue reading

When the terrorists ask the terrorized for their support

I live in Oakland, in California’s 9th Congressional District. It is represented by Barbara Lee of “Let us not become the evil that we deplore” fame. It is heavily Democratic and is considered one of the most liberal district’s in the nation. Continue reading

Demonetization would make moral choice more ‘normal’

On July 23, 2012, journalist Chris Hedges wrote an article for truthdig.com in which he blamed “careerists” for facilitating many of the great evils of the world, including the Holocaust. Continue reading

A must-read book that exposes the impact of Big Food, Big Ag and Big Pharma on our lives

Certain books are for certain people. Born with a Junk Food Deficiency is for people who eat, use prescription drugs, have or intend to have children, or care for or expect to care for aged parents. People who are concerned about women’s health, veterans’ health, animal welfare, consumer rights, truth-in-advertising, state or federal budget crises, or the undue influence of corporate money on democracy will want to read this book. Given that the food and pharmaceutical corporations that are mentioned in the book are transnational, I would also recommend it to anyone in the world who reads English. Continue reading

The elephant in the room: Who paid for the Aurora massacre?

In my perusal of progressive news sites on the Internet, I found that Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Michael Moore and other progressive pundits would have you believe that the main issue in the Aurora massacre is ghastly world leadership in gun violence. Our gun-loving culture and our interpretations of the Second Amendment to the Constitution create an atmosphere that leads to repeated breakouts of multiple murder by firearms. Of course, mass shootings are much more complicated than that. Continue reading

Money robs us of life and freedom

People invented money to make their commercial transactions easier. At first, money was a medium of exchange and a unit of account. Money was a symbol. What mattered were the things being exchanged or accounted for. But then money began to take on a life of its own. As the writer EM Forster said, “One of the evils of money is that it tempts us to look at it rather than at the things that it buys.” Money has become the über-asset that buys all other assets: materials, such as food, clothing and shelter, services, such as education and entertainment, and psychological well-being, such as status and security Continue reading

Tribunal finds Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and their lawyers guilty of war crimes

Beginning on Monday, May 7, 2012, the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal held an historic proceeding against George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and five of their legal advisers: Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo, to try them on charges of torture and other war crimes. After four full days of legal argument and presentation of evidence, including the live testimony of three witnesses, the tribunal found all eight defendants guilty in a 21-page opinion they issued on the afternoon of Friday, May 12, 2012, local time. Continue reading

Well-intentioned bills vs discrimination against the unemployed in hiring will do little good

The hearts of the representatives and senators who have introduced bills to eliminate discrimination against the unemployed in recruiting are in the right place. But, we know what is going to happen if this bill passes. The offending ads will go away, but employers will still discriminate. They will just do it in a different way. Continue reading

An investigative reporter takes on the controversial subject of UFOs

My own disclosure: I know Leslie Kean. For over a year, we worked in adjacent offices at KPFA, she with a daily investigative news program, I with the Evening News. During this time, she began her investigations into UFOs. I interviewed her once for a syndicated women’s program, but the interview never saw the light of day as Leslie did not feel she had done a good job. I would disagree, but I respected her assessment of her performance. I know her to be an honest person with a meticulous approach to journalism, no matter what the subject. Here is a brief description of her approach to the UFOs. Continue reading