Monster Mash: Military Industrial Complex Song
The Military Industrial Complex (MIC) has become the MICIMATT
Monster Mash (Song Remix): Military Industrial Complex edition
Military Industrial Complex: Origins
President Dwight Eisenhower coined the term “The Military Industrial Complex” (MIC) in his Farewell address of 1961.
What is the MICIMATT?
Military | Industrial | Congressional | Intelligence | Media | Academia | Think Tank
The “MICIMATT” refers to the powerful network of persons and institutions with convergent interests enabling a militaristic US foreign policy to impose US liberal hegemony on the world.
In short: American elites control the world.
Origins of the MICIMATT (or “The Blob”)
The term “MICIMATT” was coined by Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who prepared the Presidential Daily Brief, before retiring and becoming a Peace Activist. (website)
The term "The Blob" refers to the same entity as the MICIMATT. “Blob” is easier to remember, but the name is less descriptive than the MICIMATT. The term “Blob” was coined by Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes.
Presentation by Haig Hovaness, 1hr 16 min Video | Slides
Lyrics: Remixed MICIMATT Song
1. Origin of the “Military Industrial Complex” term
Ike1 was working in the White House late one night
When his eyes beheld an eerie sight
The Military Complex began2 to rise
And suddenly to his surprise
(It did the MIC) It did the Monster MIC
(The Monster MIC) It was a graveyard trick
(It did the MIC) Eisenhower's Speech 3
(It was the MIC) “Alert Citizenry Preach”4
2. MIC Expands to MICIMATT
(Wa woo) 60 years have passed since Ike’s Farewell5
(Wa woo) And the Monster-MIC 6has really swelled
(Wa woo oh) The cancerous bodies have grown by five7
(Wa ooh) On greed and fear the MICIMATT thrives
(It was the MIC) It's now the MICIMATT
(The Monster MIC) And it's a graveyard trick
(They did the MIC) Known also as the "Blob"8
(It was the MIC) Our children’s futures rob9
3. Congress
(Wa hoo, tennis shoe) Each district has its working places10
(Wa hoo, tennis shoe11) To make hardware for arms races
(Wa hoo, tennis shoe) Each District Addicted12 by “Divide and Rule”13
(Wa ooh) Military jobs14 their Machiavellian tool15
-- Skip Chorus --
4. Intelligence
(Wa woo) Oh, the MICIMATT Monster still expands
(Wa woo) A surveillance state16 over all the land
(Wa woo oh) Whistleblowers like Snowden17 the MICIMATT smears18
(Wa ooh) Journalists like Assange192021 the MICIMATT fears22
(It was the MIC) It's now the MICIMATT
(The Monster MIC) And it's a graveyard trick
(It was the MIC) Clapper23 and Brennan24 lied25
(It was the MIC) On Feinstein’s Senate Spied 26
5. Media
(Wa woo) The Media hosts blob experts galore27
(Wa woo) Intelligence, Military, they adore
(Wa woo oh) On conflicted money, the media feeds
(Wa ooh) Conflicts of interest,28 no MICIMATT heeds29
(It was the MIC) It's now the MICIMATT
(The Monster MIC) And it's a graveyard trick
(It was the MIC) Call it Disinformation?30
(It was the MIC) Or merely Obfuscation?31
6. Academia & Think Tanks
(Wa woo oh) Corrupted by grants and a blob career track32
(Wa woo oh) Academia recruits more to the pack
(Wa woo oh) With Think Tank experts the Media spin33
(Wa ooh) Redefining a MICIMATT "WIN"34
(It was the MIC) It's now the MICIMATT
(The Monster MIC) And it's a graveyard trick
(It was the MIC) It wants "total control" 35
(It was the MIC) A monster, with no soul.
Outro
(Wa hoo) Mmgrrrr, (MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo) War is good (MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo) Easy Mic, you exceptional36 MICIMATT Monster (MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo) Mmgrrrr, (MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo) War good, Mmgrrr (MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo, MICIMATT)
(Wa hoo, MICIMATT)
What is the MICIMATT / Blob?
What is “hegemony”37 and liberal hegemony?38
Credits:
Monster Mash Original Song:
Original Lyrics: Bobby (Boris) Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (Composers)
Inspired by: James Brown (1959) and Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato" Dance/Song (1962)
Remixed MICIMATT Song Credits
Singers:
Lead Voice: Tom Kelley
Soprano Voice: Marty Kelley
Alto Voice: Rhea Miller
Tenor Voice: Dennis Maust
Lyrics:
John Stoner39
Project Support: Peace Action Network of Lancaster
Casting & Logistics: Marty Kelley
Website, and Video: Tim Langeman
Video Credits:
Download Music / Video:
mp4 (video)
Feature: Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal
Peace Action Network of Lancaster (sponsored the recording of MICIMATT song)
Weapons Manufacturers, Nov 12, 2023.
Through testimony of witnesses and documentary evidence — four U.S. weapons manufacturers which produce and sell products that attack and kill not only combatants but non-combatants as well. (link)
MICIMATT: In the News #
US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption (Jeffery D. Sachs)
State Department Official Resigns, Says Israel Is Using U.S. Arms to Massacre Civilians in Gaza (Democracy Now!)
Dennis Kucinich on endless war and our acceleration into the abyss (Chris Hedges Report)
“War is a Racket, Smedley Butler, cited by The Roots of American Fascism and the Domestic Objectives of the Cold War, Peter Kuznick. (The Analysis)
How Does Violence Corrupt the Soul? Ask AI. (Tim Langeman)
About me:
Although I’ve worked as a computer programmer for the last 20+ years, I was a History major at university and have rediscovered my love of research, writing, and creativity through recent projects.
If you or someone you know is aware of paid work doing research and writing please get in touch.
Other Music Videos
Puttin’ on the RITZ
The humanity of Gazans not portrayed by the American media.
Watch on YouTube because this video contains depictions of violence. (writeup)
Footnotes:
“Ike”: President Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower was Supreme Allied Commander during World War II and gave this speech warning of the Military Industrial Complex. (Wikipedia)
''The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving factor behind the relationship between the military and the defense-minded corporations is that both sides benefit—one side from obtaining war weapons, and the other from being paid to supply them.' (Wikipedia)
Joe Rogan & Jack Carr Interview, JRE # 1986 May 16, 2023
The Military Industrial Complex that President Eisenhower Warned Us About
( YouTube Clip | Spotify Full Episode : Starting @ 52:25)
President Dwight Eisenhower coined the term “The Military Industrial Complex” (MIC) in his Farewell address of 1961.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
The military industrial complex has become a monster.
Eisenhower described the ''burden of arms draining the wealth and the labor of all peoples; a wasting of strength that defies the American system or the Soviet system or any system to achieve true abundance and happiness for the peoples of this earth.'' Speech: ''The Chance for Peace'', Eisenhower, April, 16, 1953 (University Southern California, The American Presidency Project)
The 5 additional bodies are:
Congress
Intelligence
Media
Academia
Think Tanks
The term 'blob' originated with Obama adviser 'Ben Rhodes', author of ''The World as it is,'' 2018. (Green Party US)
A few characteristics of “The Blob”: (Responsible Statecraft)
Threat inflation
Manichaeism
American exceptionalism
Meddling
Naive do-goodism
Hypocrisy
Through Fiscal Year 2022, the United States federal government has spent and obligated $8 trillion dollars on the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and elsewhere. This figure includes: direct Congressional war appropriations; war-related increases to the Pentagon base budget; veterans care and disability; increases in the homeland security budget; interest payments on direct war borrowing; foreign assistance spending; and estimated future obligations for veterans’ care.
This total omits many other expenses, such as the macroeconomic costs to the US economy; the opportunity costs of not investing war dollars in alternative sectors; future interest on war borrowing; and local government and private war costs.
.. The current wars have been paid for almost entirely by borrowing. This borrowing has raised the U.S. budget deficit, increased the national debt and had other macroeconomic effects, such as raising consumer interest rates. Unless the U.S. immediately repays the money borrowed for war, there will also be future interest payments. We estimate that interest payments could total over $6.5 trillion by the 2050s.
$8 trillion: spent and obligated on post-9/11 wars
$6.5 trillion: interest on the debt, by the 2050s
= $14.5 trillion total by 2050s
Watson Institute, International & Public Affairs @ Brown University
Most Congressional districts have military contractors within them that “provide jobs,” making it difficult for a Congressperson to vote against legislation that would threaten military projects employing contractors in their district.
“President-elect Donald Trump is vowing to corral the "out of control" cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. But congressional Republicans and Democrats, aware of the tens of thousands of jobs the aircraft generates in 45 states, will be wary of any plans by Trump to cut the program.” (Chicago Tribune)
“Tennis Shoe”: The idea for the song came when Pickett began demonstrating his Boris Karloff impressions (actor who played Frankenstein). ..
Another memory about the song, Pickett couldn’t recall why the background vocalists were singing about shoes during the song’s bridge.
''They’re saying ‘Ooh, tennis shoe, wah-ooh,' he told Dr. Demento in 2006. ''We don’t know why.'' [Beaver 100.3 FM]
Once Military Contractors provide jobs in a local district, the Congress person will find it difficult to vote against increased military spending, no matter what their personal belief
Senator Bernie Sanders might as well accept funding for F-35s in his own state because otherwise some other district will get the benefit. This is a classic game-theory' 'prisoner's dilemma'''. Unless a politician is able to persuade other politicians not to accept the contractor basing jobs in their district, they will ''lose'' by opposing the program on principle. (Tim’s blog)
The MICIMATT spreads military jobs around in the districts of influential politicians, even MICIMATT opponents like Bernie Sanders (Vermont). Then these 'progressive' politicians face job losses should they ever vote against funding the F-35, etc. (Task & Strategy)
The MICIMATT has developed a cynical strategy for coopting politicians into their web of influence. They have figured out a way to ''WIN'' even if it is at the detriment of the country. [Boston University | Machiavellian tool]
The arms sector spends even more on lobbying than it does on campaign contributions, employing over 800 registered lobbyists in all — more than one for every member of Congress. Most of these lobbyists have come through the revolving door from senior positions in Congress or the Pentagon, and they use their connections with former colleagues to curry favor for their corporate employers.
For example, a recent study that my colleague Dillon Fisher and I did for the Quincy Institute found that 80 percent of four-star generals and admirals who retired in the past five years went to work on behalf of the arms industry in one form or another: as board members, lobbyists, executives, consultants, or advisers to firms that invest heavily in the arms sector. (Responsible Statecraft)
"Mass surveillance is the intricate surveillance of an entire or a substantial fraction of a population in order to monitor that group of citizens. The surveillance is often carried out by local and federal governments or governmental organizations, such as organizations like the NSA, but it may also be carried out by corporations (either on behalf of governments or at their own initiative). Depending on each nation's laws and judicial systems, the legality of and the permission required to engage in mass surveillance varies. It is the single most indicative distinguishing trait of totalitarian regimes. It is also often distinguished from targeted surveillance." (Wikipedia)
''Edward Snowden will go down in history as one of America’s most consequential whistleblowers (mass surveillance), alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world’s most secretive organizations – the NSA.'' (The Guardian)
A) House Report Slams Snowden as Biopic Opens
Snowden and his defenders have called the report, and the timing of its release, a transparent and dishonest smear designed to tamp down high-profile support the leaker has drawn from around the world. (Court House News Service)
B) Top Ten Ways the US Government will Smear, Slight Whistleblower Edward Snowden. (Juan Cole)
C) Chat GPT:
Question: How did people associated with the US government attempt to smear or discredit Edward Snowden?
Response: Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked classified information about the agency's mass surveillance programs in 2013. He was charged with espionage and other crimes by the US government, and he fled to Russia to avoid prosecution.
In the years since his leak, Snowden has been both praised and criticized. Some have hailed him as a hero who exposed the government's overreach, while others have condemned him as a traitor who damaged national security.
The US government has made a number of attempts to discredit Snowden. These attempts have included:
Accusing him of being a Russian agent: The US government has repeatedly claimed that Snowden is working with the Russian government, despite a lack of evidence to support this claim.
Calling him a traitor: The US government has frequently labeled Snowden a traitor, a term that is typically reserved for people who commit treason against their country.
Revoking his passport: The US government revoked Snowden's passport in 2013, making it difficult for him to travel internationally.
Issuing an indictment against him: The US government indicted Snowden on espionage charges in 2013, and he is still wanted by the FBI.
Pressuring other countries to not grant him asylum: The US government has pressured other countries, such as Brazil and Ecuador, to not grant Snowden asylum.
These are just a few of the ways that the US government has attempted to discredit Snowden. The US government's attempts to smear Snowden have been criticized by some as being heavy-handed and vindictive.
(Chat GPT)
Real Change Is Impossible While Our World Is Shrouded In Secrecy. Caitlin Johnson writes: I saw a video clip of Julian Assange speaking in London in 2010 where he made an important observation while explaining the philosophy behind his work with WikiLeaks. He said that all our political theories are to some extent “bankrupt” in our current situation, because our institutions are so shrouded in secrecy that we can’t even know what’s really going on in the world. (Caitlin Johnstone)
YouTube Video: The War on Journalism: The case of Julian Assange
Lawless “law-enforcement”
''[T]he US has defined Assange’s journalism as espionage ..
and by implication asserted a right to seize any journalist in the world who takes on the US national security state .. The reason, Melzer observes, is that WikiLeaks’ model of journalism demands greater accountability and transparency from all states.'' (Middle East Eye)
Many of the accounts in establishment-based media (and Wikipedia) seem to be heavily influenced by the “Intelligence” agencies. The charges against Assange in Britain (as well as allegations of of rape in Sweden) appear to more of an attempt by the MICIMATT to defy accountability than an exercise of justice.
The “Intelligence” agencies spied on Assange when he was in the Ecuadorian embassy, recording his meeting with his lawyers and his doctor. This alone should have been enough to get the US government’s case thrown out. Remember that in the case against Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times, Ellsberg’s case was thrown out after the it was revealed that the government had broken into his Psychiatrist’s office to retrieve Ellsberg’s medical records.
Stories about Julian Assange:
Daniel Ellsberg On Assange Arrest: The Beginning of the End For Press Freedom
Legendary whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg says, “This is the first indictment of a journalist and editor or publisher…And if it’s successful it will not be the last.” (April 11, 2019)
The CIA plot against Julian Assange | The Listening Post
The CIA’s attack on Julian Assange has given ammunition to authoritarian leaaders in other countries to attack press freedom there (Al Jazeera)
Fear the Wrath of the “Intelligence Community”:
Not only does the MICIMAT fear exposure from vigorous transparency, such as through Wikileaks, it appears to use its power and access to information as a weapon against critics.
A) Schumer Warns Trump: Intel Community Has Many Ways to 'Get Back at You'.
In January of 2017, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump that the Intelligence officials “have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” (MSNBC mirror)
B) The “Intelligence Community” may employ Blackmail:
There is massive potential for “Intelligence” to use blackmail, made easier by the existence of our current mass surveillance system, as well as through agents, like what Jeffrey Epstein is rumored to have been.
More Info: 1) Rising, The Hill 2) Insider 3) Rising, The Hill 4) Shawn Ryan Show
IA Director James Clapper lied to Congress about NSA Surveillance. His lie was outed by Edward Snowden's whistleblowing. Snowden is now in exile in Russia because the US government cancelled his Passport while he was transiting through [the country]. The government wants to charge [Snowden] under the espionage act, which has no public interest defense. (The Federalist)
CIA Director John Brennan lied about spying on Senator Diane Feinstein's torture oversight committee." (Defense One)
"Made Men" like James Clapper can lie to congress with impunity because they know they will not be accountable for perjury. (USA Today)
While Diane Feinstein's senate committee investigated the CIA for torture, the CIA spied on the oversight committee. Feinstein accused the CIA of attempting to intimidated congressional staffers by accusing Feinstein's staffers of hacking computers to obtain information (that made the CIA look bad) (The Guardian)
John Brennan denied spying on Senator Diane Feinstein’s committee.
Many of the experts that the Media turn to are members of the MICIMATT, with biases, or conflicts of interests.
Media profits from high levels of campaign funding through advertising profits. The Corporate Media has a clear conflict-of-interest. The little coverage corporate media gives of campaign finance reform is at odds with American popular opinion. The Corporate Media are a big part of the Racket. (CNBC)
What’s more, many campaign managers have a conflict of interest because they are incentivized to prioritize spending money on corporate advertising because their contracts call for them to get a cut ( ~15%) of all advertising dollars spent.
Some media commentators also work for the military industrial complex. Fox News's Jack Keane was was critical of Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan. His conflicts of interest are:
he was former board member at weapons maker General Dynamics,
is chair of AM General, the company that makes Humvees. He also
sits on the boards of Cyalume Technologies Inc., which manufactures military chemical lights and other technology deployed on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and
the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that publishes defense policy proposals with the aim of “developing the next generation of national security leaders” and is
backed by CACI International Inc., General Dynamics, and other defense contractors.
''There’s a symbiotic relationship between
media outlets who need sources,
the weapons industry that needs favorable news coverage, and the
former military officials who need jobs, and it all works out together.''
Did former CIA Director John Brennan spread disinformation about the Nord stream pipeline bombing?
“Russia is certainly the most likely suspect”
Was New York Times national security reporter David Sanger playing “dumb” about the Nord Stream pipeline bombing when he said: .. "it's hard to imagine others with a significant motive" (CNN Interview within Matt Taibbi’s Racket News)
The influence of University Research Contracts inhibit criticism.
Advancement comes through internships and fellowships that only comes to those with Blob-compatible views.
Blob-aligned Think-Tanks:
All of the Top 10 think tanks are Blob-aligned.
Think Tanks are mainly funded by government and industry.
Think tanks provide direction on how to harm other states
Think Tanks recycle personnel
Losing Wars are still a “WIN” for the MICIMATT. What else explains the country's continued losing streak?
The military wants “Total Spectrum Dominance” -- the achievement of control over all dimensions of the battle space, effectively possessing an overwhelming diversity of resources in such areas as
terrestrial,
aerial,
maritime,
subterranean,
extraterrestrial,
psychological, and
bio- or
cyber-technological warfare. (Wikipedia)
.. what has been the exceptional part in the delusion of absolute exceptionalism is Pax Americana, liberal hegemony, and the hubris that animates them having gone uncontested and unchecked for so long. That confrontation could begin in earnest by directly challenging the Boomer blob itself—and by propagating a counter-elite offering a starkly different worldview.
What is “hegemony”?
The term hegemony is today often used as shorthand to describe the relatively dominant position of a particular set of ideas and their associated tendency to become commonsensical and intuitive, thereby inhibiting the dissemination or even the articulation of alternative ideas. (Brittanica)
Why Liberal Hegemony? by James Carden, The Nation
And for nearly 30 years, US foreign policy has been oriented around the idea, known as liberal hegemony, that it is in America’s interest to turn as many countries as possible into liberal democracies, and to spread, in the words of Max Boot, “the rule of law, property rights and other guarantees, at gunpoint if need be.” (The Nation)
“John Mearsheimer, observes that foreign-policy elites “are so invested in pursuing liberal hegemony” that they have “constructed a comprehensive narrative outlining its purported benefits which they disseminate through think tank reports, public speeches, op-eds, and other forms of mass outreach.”
“A quick inventory of what the series of post–Cold War wars has wrought include: an erosion of Fourth Amendment protections against warrantless searches and seizures, a program of secret detention (rendition), and an “off the books” assassination program, among other niceties.”
.. “Still worse, according to Mearsheimer, a foreign policy of liberal hegemony tends to foster illiberalism at home.”
.. “As it turns out, by pursuing wars of choice that are designed to spread “our values,” the US executive branch has often succumbed to authoritarian temptations. Take, for instance, the government’s fetishizing of secrecy.”
.. “If liberal hegemony can fairly be said to have given rise to the malignancies of the national-security state, all the while proving to be a poor strategy with which to navigate the shoals of international politics, its record can hardly be said to be any better with regard to the American economy.”
John Stoner Lyrics: 2 lines
Each District has its working places / To make hardware for arms races