|
|
Jesse Ventura Interview
(Governor Jesse Ventura)
He’s the former Governor of the state of Minnesota; he’s a former U.S. Navy Seal, he’s been a wrestler, a movie actor and a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a New York Times best-selling author and the host and executive producer of Tru TV’s Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura.
Jesse Venture is back out swinging with a new book titled “Demo Crips and ReBloodlicans: No More Gangs In Government (Skyhorse Publishing).
Always outspoken, Jesse Ventura talked with us about his new book and the current state of affairs in the U.S.
Q – It’s been a year since I last spoke with you. Seems about every year around Father’s Day you come out with a book.
A – Well, that’s because I live down in Mexico for 5 months of the year as does my writing partner Dick Russell. He comes down for about a month every Winter ‘cause he has a home not far from mine. And, that’s when we collaborate. We live so far reaching in Mexico that it allows us complete concentration so we can really pump the book out in pretty short order.
Q – So, that means next June (2013) there will be yet another book.
A – I don’t know. I’m kind of running out of things to say and I’m not going to repeat myself. At this moment I have no intention of writing another book at least for a while anyway. There’s nothing that’s inspired me to do so.
Q – What happened to your t.v. show on Tru TV? I think you mentioned your son was working for the show.
A – Well actually my son was working for A. Smith, the production co. out of L.A. not for Tru TV. We did eight episodes last Fall (2011). We finished them on time in November (2011) and normally they go on in January but they’re not seeing the light of day. So, we got 16 of ‘em out there. The current 8 they’re sitting on them and claiming they’re still editing them. I got a feeling these last 8 are so controversial that I’m not sure you’ll ever see them on television. I don’t know what’s going on. Maybe the powers that be decided they didn’t want the public to see anything on this particular subject matter.
Q – Maybe they’re waiting to see what happens in November 2012.
A – (Laughs). Or maybe they’ll be out in the Fall during the Election. That would be good too, but again, I’m not going to hold my breath.
Q – I saw you on Piers Morgan and he was sort of prodding you to make a run for the Presidency. You said you would have to have some kind of a sign from the public. The only sign that makes sense is if someone put a Billion Dollars behind you and said, “Jesse go out and hire a team behind you, get yourself a plane and get out on the road”. It’s all about money isn’t it?
A – Totally. We have a system today based completely on the concept of bribery created by the Democrats and Republicans. And then are illustrious Supreme Court with their ruling that corporations have the same rights as individuals and that money is a form of Free Speech, well now they’re getting boatloads of money, payola from the corporations. The sad part is, and I’m not opposed to that as long as there’s complete open disclosure, who you’re getting your money from, each candidate. They don’t even have to do that and it doesn’t even go directly to the candidate. It goes to these Super Pacs and they can run ads on television that can be totally false. There’s no way that you would know if what they’re saying is true. They don’t have to be accountable in any way and again it falls right into the laps of the Democrats and Republicans. And if I might add, people when I ran for Governor of Minnesota, mainstream media told the public in Minnesota that if you vote for Jesse it’s a wasted vote. He can never win. Well, I’d like to reverse that thought and tell people if you vote for a Democrat or a Republican it’s a wasted vote, because you’re not going to get any change. They’re the same thing. They truly are. I encourage people right now, especially all the Ron Paul supporters; it appears Congressman Ron Paul is dropping out right now, but he’s got a huge following. Remember, in 1988 Ron Paul was a Libertarian. Right now there’s former New Mexico Governor and used to be a moderate Republican but they drummed him out of the Party, Gary Johnson. He’s phenomenal. He’s running under the Libertarian banner and I encourage everyone to please vote for Gary Johnson. Even if he doesn’t win, if he were to get 15% or 20% of the vote, it would send shockwaves through this system. He’s a great guy. I know him personally. Again, you’re wasting your vote if you vote for a Democrat or Republican because it’s not going to matter. Take a look at George Bush and the change to Barrack Obama. The only difference I can see is the color of their skin.
Q – Maybe the job of President is just too overwhelming for one man to turn things around.
A – That could well be true but, we can’t give up the fight. It’s that simple. You know, people accuse me now of being unpatriotic because I question government, because I say the things I say. I believe the opposite is true. I believe that you are a Patriot when you stand up, when you stand up to the Patriot Act. What a name for that! How they call something a Patriot Act when all it does is strip us of our freedom? That’s not patriotic. I thought our country was supposed to be Home of the brave, Land of the Free. We’re hardly that today. As I show in my book the Bill of Rights has been shredded. I mean, it’s a worthless document now with the Democrats and Republicans. It only applies when they want it to.
Q – You won’t fly these days, because you have metal in your body and it sets off the scanners. I think they’re actually working on improving that situation with new scanners where that won’t happen.
A – Even if they do, what are the side effects of that machine? They offer you to go in that X-ray machine. If I fly four times a week for 10 weeks in a row, they’re not going to tell me that being radiated and I like to call it being put in the microwave isn’t going to have some ill effects on me? They won’t even allow TSA employees at the airport to wear radiation badges to see if they’re getting radiated. Well obviously if they won’t let them wear them – they are! Otherwise they would have no problem with someone wearing a radiation badge to see if there’s any radiation being thrown about that they could have ill health from. And, they won’t allow them to do it. That tells me right there that it surely is doing that.
Q – And, if you don’t go through the scanner, then you have to submit to a body search and that’s intrusive.
A – It’s a sexual assault. If they did it on the street they’d be charged with a crime. But, here’s the Big thing about my lawsuit people need to understand, when you go to any airport in the United States today, you are not protected by the Constitution or The Bill of Rights because I spent $20,000 preparing to go to trial, in front of a jury and I think I’d win. It would open up a huge bag of worms to their theatre security that they do out there. The Federal judge ruled; she said, ‘I don’t have jurisdiction.’ Now, I sued under the 4th Amendment. If a Federal Judge doesn’t have jurisdiction, then no one does. That’s precisely how they avoid it. They will not allow you in court to challenge it. It’s simple: the judges toss it.
Q – So, how do you get around? How do you travel from Minnesota to Mexico?
A – Well, I’ve always driven it. Like the media said to me, really indignantly ‘Well, if you’re not going to fly anymore, how are you going to get to Mexico’? I looked at ‘em and laughed and I said, ‘Six out of the seven years I’ve gone to Mexico I’ve driven it, three thousand miles one way’. The only time I did not drive it was unfortunately when I lost my brother-in-law to ALS and he passed away late January, early February and my wife sat by her brother’s side. By that point in time it was too late to drive, so that one year I flew. But other than that I’ve always driven it. It’s part of the adventure.
Q – The salary of the President of The United States is $400,000 a year. Four years ago (2008) Barrack Obama raised $700 million dollars to get that job. What is the attraction to be President? No matter what you do , you’re criticized. People want to kill you. What is in that White House that so many people find attractive?
A – Power. Always remember that quote from the late Jimi Hendrix ‘The power of love will always be exceeded by the love of power. We will never have peace until those change’.
Q – That’s a pretty deep statement.
A – Oh, it’s a phenomenal statement. ‘The power of love must overtake the love of power’, That’s how it is, ‘before we’ll have peace’. And, he’s correct. Totally correct. Let me tell you a story; When I was a teenager, I came home from school one day and my father a World War II veteran with an 8th grade education. I think he had 6 Bronze Battle Stars in World War II in Europe. He said to me one day, ‘You know all politicians are crooks’. I said, ‘C’mon Dad, You can’t make that blanket statement. They can’t all be crooks. And you know what he said to me and it’s always stayed with me. ‘They sure are. Why would anyone pay a million dollars for a job that only pays $100 grand a year? Nobody would do that in the private sector. You’re not gonna spend more money than you make for the job. It’s insane. And so here’s what I can say about me: When I ran for Governor of Minnesota I never took one PAC dollar. I didn’t take one Special Internet Dollar. I took $25, $50, $100 contributions from people. Well, I only raised $300,000 to be the Governor of Minnesota. The Demo Crips and Re Blood licans combined spent $12 million at that time to beat me. I won. Well, my father wasn’t around. Had he been he could have said his son isn’t a crook, because I made $120,00 a year as Governor, which means I made $480,000 for the 4 years and I only spent $300,000 to get the job. I bet I’m the only elected official in the last 50 years, Congress, Senate or President or Governor who can make that statement.
Q – So, why did you want to be Governor of Minnesota? People hate you before you’ve even taken office. There’s constant criticism. That’s a lot of stress.
A – Yeah, but I proved it could be done. I was a Third Party candidate and the media will tell you a Third Party can’t win. You’re wasting your vote. That’s what they said in Minnesota. Lo and behold the Minnesotans said ‘Wait a minute. We decide who gets elected. If Jesse Ventura gets the most votes, he’s the Governor’. The key was the debates. If you notice they never let a third entity into the debates. They haven’t since ’92 with Ross Perot. He scared the hell out of him. Well, I was allowed in the debates. I went from 10% polling at the primary to winning in seven weeks. But, I’ve always maintained against Democrats and Republicans, if I could debate them I could beat them, because they have so much baggage. They’re so corrupt. I’ll even tell you the key to running against them: I don’t run against the individual opponent; I run against the Party. I expose the Party for what they are, not the opponent. He’s merely the face of the Party. But, ultimately it’s the Party or the Gang as I like to refer to them. I always wondered, and we show this in the book, why many of these Congressmen and Senators go in and they’re not millionaires, but they come out millionaires. Here’s why; Insider Trading. Again it’s illegal for you and I to do it. We’d go to jail. Ask Martha Stewart. We found the statistics. The average congressman and senator when they play the Stock Market, do you know what their rate of return is? 12%. That’s even higher than Warren Buffett gets. So, they make 12% on their money investing. Why? Because they’re privy to things you and I are not. That’s called Insider Trading. That’s illegal for us, but yet it’s alive and well in the Congress and Senate. They can do it as much as they want. Now, allegaedly they’ve passed a law that will stop it. I bet you won’t see one person prosecuted by that law.
Q – And they’ll probably find a loophole in there somewhere.
A – Sure. They always leave loopholes where they can prosper from.
Q – When I turn on the news and it’s reported Chase-Morgan lost $2 billion dollars, what does that mean? Money is something that is tangible. You can hold it in your hand. Who has that money? Where did that money go?
A – Well, unfortunately it’s not that tangible because we live in a debtor society. Look at our government. Our government has us so far in debt today that we’ll never get out of it. So to me the true power brokers are the Federal Reserve, the exact thing that Ron Paul railed against. And, did you know it’s unconstitutional? Our Constitution says there shall be no Central Bank and they looped it back to Woodrow Wilson. I call him a scoundrel for money reasons. Its got around it with the Wall Street people and they created the Federal Reserve which prints all the money. Well, I got news for you, it’s just like Deep Throat in Watergate, follow the money. The people that make the money are the power brokers. They’re the ones that run the country. So, essentially the Federal Reserve, this group of 5 or 6 bankers run the United States of America. Let me add this, you know this last Depression-Recession from 2008 that we’ve gone through? 99.9% of us have lost wealth, myself included. But that one tenth of 1% of Wall Street people, the billionaires, we show it in the book, they’ve actually during the last recession, increased their wealth 5 times. So, if you were worth $20 billion you’re now worth $100 billion.
Q – This wealth seems to be made from investors.
A – I don’t know if it’s investment driven or not. It’s investment driven if you have Insider Trading and know what to invest in. When they took the rules off Wall Street and allowed them to run amuck out there you saw it was nothing but a game of gambling with peoples money. Gambling with retirement funds and them they bet it on the reserve side that the money they would gamble they would lose. And that’s how they made money, by betting the money they were investing would lose.
Q – Is China really a Communist country?
A – No. I went over there on a Trade mission. Probably 80% of Chinese are not Communists. But, the Communist Party happens to run them. They’re certain Socialist things because of their population that they’re required to do. But, right underneath Communism is full-blown Capitalism going on. It just happens the Communists run the government but that’s where it ends. The rest of it is complete Capitalism.
Q – I don’t understand how McDonald’s can build one of their restaurants in a poor neighbourhood in China. Who can afford to eat there? I don’t understand how GM can open 2 dealerships a week in China for the next 3 years. Who’s buying their cars?
A – People need to understand something: You know how you hear cut spending, cut spending? You hear that all the time. People don’t understand it’s spending that is the gas that drives the engine. If you stop spending money – the economy will completely implode. You have to spend money. I just had my windows in my house done. Well, I spent money to do that. It creates jobs. Guys worked on it. So, if you withheld and don’t spend anymore, the economy will disintegrate. Spending is the gasoline that drives the engine.
Q – In order to pay for those windows you had to have some kind of income.
A – Exactly.
Q – You had to have a job.
A – Yup. So, it’s all a circle. It goes full circle but if you simply stop spending the economy as I said will implode.
Q – I still don’t understand how the poorest of the poor in China can afford to eat at McDonald’s.
A – Let me tell you what was going on when I was in China, they’re now building a massive freeway system like we have. They got the same green signs on the freeway, right? Get this: the top is written in Chinese. Right underneath is English. So you will be able to drive to China. You’ll be able to know you’re whole way around because half of it is in Chinese and underneath of it is in English.
Q – So, they’re looking for tourism.
A – Well, while we’re involved in these idiotic wars, China is doing business. They’re not getting involved in wars. We’re following the recipe of the Roman Empire. And, we will fall just as the Roman Empire did. People are so dumb today. They don’t read History. If you don’t read History you’re dooming yourself to repeat it. In our country we seem to be doomed to repeat it. Everything you’re seeing happening today…..read Hunter S. Thompson. I dedicated the book to him. Go back and read what he was writing in 1972 during the Nixon Campaign for Rolling Stone Magazine. Everything Hunter wrote about back then is coming true today.
Q – Let’s face it, young kids could care less about politics. They’re more interested in partying.
A – Well, it may be because they feel a bit of hopelessness. Hey, if it’s hopeless, why not party and have a good time? I think it’s more the case that young people today, we’ve put them so far in debt and it’s our responsibility. We’ve put debt on our children and grandchildren that they will never get out of. I remember I was doing a thing on t.v. with Ben Stein, that economist guy, little short guy with the glasses. I came out and stated at the time and this was a couple of years ago that the economy was in the tank, even worse than it is now. I said, ‘If we go to war, we need to immediately implement a war tax so that people in the country feel pain’. You go to war everyone should feel some type of pain. Ben Stein looked at me and said, ‘That’s ridiculous. In the economy how can you talk about adding a tax? I looked at him and said, ‘You’re really patriotic. How selfish are you? You’re making these young people go fight the war and you won’t even pay for it’. They will have to when they come home because you’re putting it on the debt’.
Q – Will they bring back the Draft?
A – I’m a Vietnam Vet. When I got out I worked with the Stop The Draft movement because the Draft was so unfair. Poor kids went to war. Rich kids like Dick Cheney got 5 deferments from the Vietnam War and the Draft. They avoid it. They go to college. I now support, yes, bring back a Draft, but there should not be any deferments unless it’s medical. You should not get out of serving just because you go to college. I laughingly say, ‘If we’re going to fight a war shouldn’t we have our best and brightest fight it’?
Q – You wouldn’t see too many wars if that was the case.
A – Well, you also wouldn’t see too many wars. I was doing a Right Wing talk show in Minneapolis, Jason Lewis one time. He was talking about how difficult it is for a President to make a decision to go to war. I said, ‘It’s not difficult. The decision is simple. It should be simple’. He said, ‘How can you say that’? I said, ‘Easy’. A war is justified if you’re willing to send your kids. If you’re not willing to send your kids, how do you send someone else’s’? And you notice politicians kids very rarely ever go to war. When George Bush started the two wars, you didn’t see his daughters enlisting. Even though I admit, women don’t go to the Front Line very often. But, they could’ve enlisted. They could’ve done something. But you notice they didn’t enlist in the military to go fight the war. The most despicable thing I ever saw out of George Bush was that one time: we’re fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that he created. He was waiting for Laura to come out. He was going to some Black Tie thing. And, I don’t know if you remember but he was dancing around doing a little jig and he was laughing. He told the media, ‘Laura and I are having such a good time’. I thought you S.O.B. You got these kids dying in Iraq, dying in Afghanistan and you’re dancing around. He didn’t even care. You’re dancing around telling everyone how you and the First Lady are having such a wonderful time.
Q – Dick Cheney will tell you he visits the wounded soldiers in the hospitals every evening. But, after his visits are up, he gets to go back home.
A – Not only that, he got 5 deferments during Vietnam. When they asked him why? Here was his quote: ‘Well, I had other priorities. Well, so did every other kid that got drafted. Why do you think they get drafted? They had other priorities. (Laughs). It’s laughable. I call these guys chicken hawks. When it was time for them to go they were chicken. Then when they get old and don’t have to go, they become hawks.
Q – You told Piers Morgan you couldn’t get on Fox News or MSNBC to promote your book. I remember when you were running for Governor, you were on Chris Matthews Show. Certainly Chris Matthews would have you on. What’s the Big Problem?
A – Well, the problem is they’re nothing but stiffs for the two Parties. Fox News is the mouthpiece of the Republicans. MSNBC is now the mouthpiece of the Democrats. I wrote a book condemning both. CNN had me on and I found out the other morning they censored me because I talked about supporting Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico who’s running as the Libertarian. I urged people across the country vote for Gary Johnson. If you’re sick of what you’re getting, get some courage. Vote for Gary Johnson. They edited it. They censored it. So its shows you. I watched Dan rather the other day. Did you know that everything he said about Bush’s military record is true? He got fired over telling the truth. What was even more important, he stated how back 20 years ago there were literally almost 40 independent media outlets. Today we’re down to four through corporate take-over. So, not only are the corporations buying off your government, your politicians. They also now own the media which gives you your information. So, they’re in total control and when you get corporations running government in a country that’s called Fascism.
Q – Here’s what I don’t understand, why was Dan Rather fired over the George Bush story? Dan Rather wasn’t C.B.S. News and C.B.S. News wasn’t Dan Rather. Should Dan Rather have been fired? How about the people behind Dan Rather who gave the approval for the story to air. Shouldn’t the legal counsel who gave the nod for the story to air be the one to get in trouble?
A – Well, first of all, why should they get in trouble? How could the Bush people have that much power that they could get a nighttime news broadcaster fired for simply telling the truth? Here’s the deal. George Bush became a Born Again Christian at age 40. So, the feeling of the Born Again movement is that anything you did prior to age 40 you’re not responsible because now you’re Born Again. That’s one of the reasons they couldn’t look at anything Bush did before he turned 40. So they literally take it literally that life begins when you’re Born Again. You’re not responsible for anything you did prior to that.
Q – I believe that no one protected Dan Rather’s story about Bush in the beginning. It wasn’t until a Blogger pointed out the type on the paper didn’t exist when they said it did.
A – There was one falsified document. That’s what they all got in trouble over. But the essence of the whole story was true. George Bush never reported to two duty stations. He basically disappeared and I’ve always questioned how did he become an officer? He never went to ROTC in college, and he never went to the Academy. How did he get made an immediate officer and was allowed to be a pilot? I would’ve had to salute him and he wasn’t even qualified for my salute. He went to a unit out of Houston they called the Champagne unit. That was where all the politicians kids went to claim they did military service so they could stay out of Vietnam.
Q – Shouldn’t the people behind Dan Rather have lost their jobs over the reporting of the George Bush Story instead of Dan Rather?
A – Look at it this way: By firing the face that made people believe the story was false. That made the general public think that was a Witch Hunt on George Bush. By firing the guy that actually stood in front of the camera and said it, well, that gave the perception that George Bush did serve honorably when the truth of the matter is he did not.
Q – Did the U.S. really put a man on the moon?
A – I don’t know. I’d like to believe it, but my country lies to me so often. People get on me because I question 9-11. They say I have no credibility because I question 9-11. My response is my government has lied about the Gulf Of Tonkin incident that put us in the Vietnam War. I was at Harvard when McNamera came through and admitted it didn’t happen. The false flag operation. They lied to me about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. There were none. They lied to me that Iraq had ties to al Qaeda. Even the 9-11 Commission admitted there were no ties between Iraq and al Qaeda. They lied to me about the rescue of Jessica Lynch. And worst of all, the one that bothers me the most, they lied to me about the murder of Pat Tillman, the football player who was killed. They lied about that, burned his diary after he was dead because apparently they didn’t want any of the writings he was doing to reach the public. So, after lying to me so many times, how can anyone actually believe what the government says? They lie all the time. And, here’s your double standard again: if we lie to the government we go to jail. They lie to us all the time and I guess we go to War.
© Gary James All Rights Reserved
|
