The inspiration for this brief essay is Lao Tsu (or Tzu), generally accepted as the author of the classic, Tao te Ching, sixth century B.C. (or B.C.E.). I first read it in 1974. I believe it's one of the most important books ever written.
Should you become bored with this post, please at least read the last full paragraph.
The concept of Zero Aggression has been around for a very long time. Very simply, it puts forth the idea that violence should always be avoided...except in self defense. In other words, violence should never be initiated. I suspect that most sane people accept that concept...even embrace it whole-heartedly. The more I look at human history, however, the more it is apparent that we have a growing number of seemingly insane people on Earth...of course, not us, though. We only engage in self defense, or so we've been told.
History always has fascinated me; it still does. I remember being taught in elementary school that Jamestown (in New England) was the first permanent, European settlement in North America. Our history book made a big deal of that "fact". As I learned much later, that was totally false. In 1598, Spain established the first permanent, European settlement in what is now the State of New Mexico...several years prior to Jamestown. The Spanish had even earlier settlements in Florida, but they turned out not to be permanent. The point is, one must be careful when reading History written from only one point of view.
We've always had aggressors in our species, and it's looking as though we always will have them. Not always, but very often the aggressors win the day...and then write the history. Case in point: the invasion of the Americas by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and English (and a few others from Europe). After the history was written by them, one would have thought that the indigenous peoples of the Americas had been "saved", rescued from poverty, paganism, savagery, ignorance, and the like. Too bad there's almost no truth to that.
As far as I can see, every developed country has an Oligarchy, the elite, relatively few who "run" things...some of them in government, some not. They appear to be overwhelmingly aggressive...in the worst sense. If you disagree with that, objectively examine human history. I think you'll change your mind. Most of the time, the Oligarchs utilize propaganda to convince their People that the actions (involving violence or the threat of violence) undertaken are not aggressive, but rather are in self defense. Even Hitler used that very ploy. I never thought I'd see the day in the USA when pre-emptive war would be sold as "self defense". That now has become standard thinking at the highest levels of our Fed Gov't. Incredible. That concept is an abomination...and is based on the premise that somehow the Future reliably can be predicted. It can't be done with any consistent accuracy; there are too many variables. The point is, Oligarchs use Edward Bernays-style propaganda to mold public thinking and lead people to the use of naked aggression.
In my relatively long life, over and over it has been my observation that Aggression primarily is due to one or more of the following: propagandized "true believers"; history (whether accurate or inaccurate); and the insanity of some of the Powers-That-Be. These are the formidable enemies of a sane world and Zero Aggression. Throughout most of our history, we humans have relied almost exclusively on a top-down form of governance...at least, in the developed world. That has brought us untold riches, but unfortunately, aggression, wars, inequality, and a sort of suffocation of the spirit as well. Some probably feel that our system in the USA is bottom-up governance...representative government...but surely a truly objective examination of our situation will reveal that's simply not so. As Alexis de Tocqueville stated, we're subject to "mild despotism". More and more, it becomes less mild and more harsh.
There is an imperfect, but better way. First, though, we must stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. Examples--- Despite what we've been told--- Much of the History we've been taught is wrong. CIA "Blowback" is a fact. Our Gov't really does lie to us...and not just for our own good. War IS Big Business. Mega banks often have funded both sides of a conflict. The U.S. Fed Gov't really is bent on Empire. We really are inundated with Propaganda. Mega corporations really are setting up a world economic structure with unelected people as the Heads of it. The Constitution really is being violated almost every day by the Fed Gov't. Our Gov't (not We the People) really is an Aggressor. The NSA really is out of control. And on & on. Most importantly--- none of this is a "conspiracy". It's mostly right out in the open for all to see. Some secrets exist, but their existence does not prove a conspiracy. The words "conspiracy theory" are used by Oligarchs in order to cut off discussion of controversial subjects.
Just my opinion. Be Well
Monday, December 16, 2013
Friday, December 13, 2013
These Things are Un-American
For many years, I've seen an incredible amount of Edward Bernays-style propaganda foisted upon the inhabitants of this country. [That type of indoctrination aided our Gov't in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Guatemala in the '50s. The Feds did the same in Iraq, when Saddam worked for the CIA, and the same in Iran during that time period.] I've been here in the USA for a bit over seven decades, all my life, and love this land and its People... especially the American West. For decades, however, the U.S. Gov't (in collusion with mega corporations) has committed a long list of un-american activities. The list is so long, and still growing, that I can present only a few of those activities here today. The following are un-american...and are killing this country.
1. Holding suspects without any kind of trial for years and years is an obscenity. Gitmo is a shame. Even Bradley Manning was held for three years before a trial. This is as wrong as it can be...and violates our founding principles.
2. Murdering two American citizens, one of them a 16-year-old boy, is beyond an obscenity. His father was accused of running an Al Qaeda website and promoting jihad... so our President marked him for death. Never mind that Letters of Marque and Reprisal, permitted under our Constitution, can be issued only by the Congress. Why? Because that's too grave a thing to be left up to only one person. With the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), any U.S. President now can have any American terrorist SUSPECT executed without a trial, even on our soil...that's according to several sources, including an article in Forbes. That violates the U.S. Constitution.
3. Ignoring the Constitution is a violation of the Supreme Law of the Land. It makes our elected officials truly Outlaws. The instances of such violations are so numerous that I couldn't complete a list of them if I worked on it for 24 hours a day for the rest of my life. That's my best guess, and I don't believe it's an exaggeration. Following are just a few examples of those violations.
4. The PATRIOT Act and spying on Americans--- meta-data mining, and worse. The Fourth Amendment states VERY clearly that we are to be secure in our persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures...unless there's a proper warrant..."particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized". You don't have to be an attorney to understand that; an eighth grader knows the meaning of it. The PATRIOT Act does not supercede the U.S. Constitution; no law does. It does, however, violate the Constitution; therefore, under our system of government, it is automatically null and void. Period.
5. Article I, Section 8, Clause 5 (if I recall the Clause correctly) charges Congress with the task of regulating the value of our money...but that duty was turned over to the newly created Fed Reserve by the 1913 Fed Reserve Act. That law, in effect, amended the Constitution without the formal Amendment process. The trouble is...no law supercedes the Supreme Law of the Land. The Fed Reserve is a system of privately owned banks...and the Fed Reserve Act was written by a group of private mega bankers. The conflict of interest is blatant. Supposedly, the FED is overseen by the Gov't...that's an utter, cruel joke. As Greenspan stated, back when, on a PBS News Hour interview, "No one has authority over us."...unfortunately, that's true. As the former House Representative, Alan Grayson, discovered in a Hearing with former Fed Chairman Bernanke, billions of dollars have been sent to banks overseas, but the Chairman didn't know exactly where it went...not even vaguely. There is almost zero accountability when it comes to the FED.
6. As I've pointed out before, there are only three constitutionally permitted uses of the U.S. Military. Two of them are so similar that I usually say there are only two. The Supreme Law of the Land permits our military to be used only for these purposes: to repel invasions; to quell insurrections [in this country]; and to enforce the Law of the Land [if some group is defying our law, as in the case of integration of schools in the South in the '60s]. To increase the number of uses of the military, our Gov't has passed laws such as the War Powers Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. The problem is...no law supercedes the Constitution. Our Outlaw Fed Gov't (those at the highest levels) is aware of that full well. So, all of the current uses of the military in policing the world, are blatantly unconstitutional. There is no question about that.
7. Treaties and other International Agreements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA, TAFTA, and the TPP, along with membership in organizations such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, virtually have given away or sold for a song a large portion of our sovereignty. I've discussed all that in other posts on this Blog; no time or energy to repeat it now. Through the use of propaganda, our Gov't and the Corporatocracy basically have sold us down the river via these mechanisms. It all sounds great when they sell it, but then wealth is transferred to the upper crust and jobs go overseas or South of the Border. Worse still, we become subjected to binding rules not created by our supposed representatives in DC.
8. Perpetual War, including the so-called War on Drugs, has turned this beautiful land into a Fascist State...the Constitution essentially has been shredded, privacy is becoming a thing of the past, and the super-rich are getting exponentially richer at our expense.
There is a better way... but first, we must stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. [Do a YouTube Search for the 10-minute video, Financial Crime. That's a good start.]
Just my opinion.
1. Holding suspects without any kind of trial for years and years is an obscenity. Gitmo is a shame. Even Bradley Manning was held for three years before a trial. This is as wrong as it can be...and violates our founding principles.
2. Murdering two American citizens, one of them a 16-year-old boy, is beyond an obscenity. His father was accused of running an Al Qaeda website and promoting jihad... so our President marked him for death. Never mind that Letters of Marque and Reprisal, permitted under our Constitution, can be issued only by the Congress. Why? Because that's too grave a thing to be left up to only one person. With the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), any U.S. President now can have any American terrorist SUSPECT executed without a trial, even on our soil...that's according to several sources, including an article in Forbes. That violates the U.S. Constitution.
3. Ignoring the Constitution is a violation of the Supreme Law of the Land. It makes our elected officials truly Outlaws. The instances of such violations are so numerous that I couldn't complete a list of them if I worked on it for 24 hours a day for the rest of my life. That's my best guess, and I don't believe it's an exaggeration. Following are just a few examples of those violations.
4. The PATRIOT Act and spying on Americans--- meta-data mining, and worse. The Fourth Amendment states VERY clearly that we are to be secure in our persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures...unless there's a proper warrant..."particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things to be seized". You don't have to be an attorney to understand that; an eighth grader knows the meaning of it. The PATRIOT Act does not supercede the U.S. Constitution; no law does. It does, however, violate the Constitution; therefore, under our system of government, it is automatically null and void. Period.
5. Article I, Section 8, Clause 5 (if I recall the Clause correctly) charges Congress with the task of regulating the value of our money...but that duty was turned over to the newly created Fed Reserve by the 1913 Fed Reserve Act. That law, in effect, amended the Constitution without the formal Amendment process. The trouble is...no law supercedes the Supreme Law of the Land. The Fed Reserve is a system of privately owned banks...and the Fed Reserve Act was written by a group of private mega bankers. The conflict of interest is blatant. Supposedly, the FED is overseen by the Gov't...that's an utter, cruel joke. As Greenspan stated, back when, on a PBS News Hour interview, "No one has authority over us."...unfortunately, that's true. As the former House Representative, Alan Grayson, discovered in a Hearing with former Fed Chairman Bernanke, billions of dollars have been sent to banks overseas, but the Chairman didn't know exactly where it went...not even vaguely. There is almost zero accountability when it comes to the FED.
6. As I've pointed out before, there are only three constitutionally permitted uses of the U.S. Military. Two of them are so similar that I usually say there are only two. The Supreme Law of the Land permits our military to be used only for these purposes: to repel invasions; to quell insurrections [in this country]; and to enforce the Law of the Land [if some group is defying our law, as in the case of integration of schools in the South in the '60s]. To increase the number of uses of the military, our Gov't has passed laws such as the War Powers Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. The problem is...no law supercedes the Constitution. Our Outlaw Fed Gov't (those at the highest levels) is aware of that full well. So, all of the current uses of the military in policing the world, are blatantly unconstitutional. There is no question about that.
7. Treaties and other International Agreements, such as NAFTA, CAFTA, TAFTA, and the TPP, along with membership in organizations such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, virtually have given away or sold for a song a large portion of our sovereignty. I've discussed all that in other posts on this Blog; no time or energy to repeat it now. Through the use of propaganda, our Gov't and the Corporatocracy basically have sold us down the river via these mechanisms. It all sounds great when they sell it, but then wealth is transferred to the upper crust and jobs go overseas or South of the Border. Worse still, we become subjected to binding rules not created by our supposed representatives in DC.
8. Perpetual War, including the so-called War on Drugs, has turned this beautiful land into a Fascist State...the Constitution essentially has been shredded, privacy is becoming a thing of the past, and the super-rich are getting exponentially richer at our expense.
There is a better way... but first, we must stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. [Do a YouTube Search for the 10-minute video, Financial Crime. That's a good start.]
Just my opinion.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Whose Sarin?...and Good News
Thank Buddha-Mind (or "God", if you prefer) for journalists such as the Pulitzer Prize winner, Seymour Hersh. In case you missed it, and as reported in depth on the 12-9-13 newscast of Democracy Now, Hersh has an article out that challenges the Fed Govt's assertion that it was "preposterous" to believe that anyone other than Assad launched the sarin gas attack in Syria not long ago. "Preposterous" was the exact word used by the White House. Here's the story in a nutshell---
1. Hersh's unnamed sources, people in the Pentagon and the intelligence community, outraged by not only the misleading statements coming from the White House, but also by the unconstitutionality of the whole war proposal, revealed that Obama's claim that the attack had to have been launched by the Assad regime was nowhere near a certainty.
2. There are well over 1,000 jihadist groups opposing Assad, and at least a couple of them have sarin-launching capability.
3. Our Fed Gov't has in place some sort of passive sensors that indicate whenever the Syrian Army starts messing around with sarin gas. Those sensors indicated nothing, no action, during the time just prior to the attacks. [NOTE--- Sarin gas cannot be stored; it's too volatile, too reactive, and it degrades very quickly. Only its component chemicals can be stored, then mixed just prior to use.]
Obama completely screwed up with his (paraphrased) "Syria must not cross the red line" pronouncement, but he used that plus the misinformation regarding the sarin attacks to attempt to get us into another war. Why? In my opinion, the answer is clear and the evidence of it is overwhelming.
War is business...BIG business. The Corporatocracy, or Oligarchy, owns (lock, stock, and barrel) about 99% of all the elected officials in our Outlaw Fed Gov't. [I refer to them as outlaws because they violate their constitutional oath of office on an almost daily basis. I once saw a YouTube video clip in which a House member flat out stated, "Half of what we do is unconstitutional. What's the big deal?"...they violate the Supreme Law of the Land, and don't care.] As Lord Acton pointed out long ago, power corrupts. Despite popular opinion to the contrary, I believe that Obama (like most all politicians in DC) is in the hip pocket of BIG Business. That idea certainly was not original with me. I first heard it from Left-leaning scholars such as Noam Chomsky, and socialists such as the Australian documentarian, John Pilger... and others. As a result, I did my own research; the evidence is indisputable.
This is an essay, not a research paper. I don't have the time or energy to again look up and cite all those references. If you're interested, do your own digging. Here's a tiny start: in his first bid for President, Obama received more campaign donations from the speculative bankers on Wall Street than did McCain. That's a fact. It may not "prove" anything, but it's very suggestive, and when viewed with all the other evidence, results in the conclusion that there's about a 99% degree of probability that the man is a corporatist.
The President did not succeed in getting us into another war. Perhaps a small part of the reason for that failure was due to the American People saying, in essence, what a dumb idea. But that wasn't the main reason. Nor was it because Putin came up with a nonviolent approach to the Syrian problem. Obama and Putin don't like each other, that's obvious to anyone. I easily can imagine that Obama was somewhat humiliated by going the Putin route relative to Syria. The main reason for the President's failure, according to Hersh, was that he couldn't continue on with the misleading justification for launching another war...because some people in the Pentagon and the intelligence community were saying that the evidence was weak. There was no solid case.
The fact is, no one yet knows with any certainty who launched the sarin gas attacks in Syria. We may never know. The important point here is that yet another President believed he had the power to put us at war with a country that had not attacked us or even threatened us. There is zero constitutional authority for the President to do such a thing...there was no invasion of our land, no insurrection here, and no one here was defying any Law of the Land. Those scenarios are the only ones that can bring forth constitutionally permitted use of the military. Without a constitutional Amendment, nothing else qualifies. The DC Outlaws completely ignore the Constitution in that regard...they've been doing it for decades.
You may or may not have noticed, since the Syrian debacle, the Corporate Media have begun to turn against Obama. Little things so far, just hints of displeasure, but it looks to me like a trend is developing. The warmongers didn't get what they wanted. Mega, transnational corporations of many types benefit greatly from the Business of War.
This piece should not be construed as in any way excusing Assad or "picking on" Obama. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat; in fact, I believe that whole paradigm is a farce, nothing but propaganda. I have a Science background...am well versed in the Scientific Method of Inquiry. Am simply making observations and drawing a few conclusions. I was just as hard on Bush, Clinton, Daddy Bush, and even Reagan. By digging just a little, I think it's fairly conclusive that the Oligarchy rules this country.
In conclusion, I heartily recommend that everyone view the online Hersh interview on Democracy Now, December 9, 2013. Unfortunately, Obama is just another in a long line of political frauds.
Just my opinion.
1. Hersh's unnamed sources, people in the Pentagon and the intelligence community, outraged by not only the misleading statements coming from the White House, but also by the unconstitutionality of the whole war proposal, revealed that Obama's claim that the attack had to have been launched by the Assad regime was nowhere near a certainty.
2. There are well over 1,000 jihadist groups opposing Assad, and at least a couple of them have sarin-launching capability.
3. Our Fed Gov't has in place some sort of passive sensors that indicate whenever the Syrian Army starts messing around with sarin gas. Those sensors indicated nothing, no action, during the time just prior to the attacks. [NOTE--- Sarin gas cannot be stored; it's too volatile, too reactive, and it degrades very quickly. Only its component chemicals can be stored, then mixed just prior to use.]
Obama completely screwed up with his (paraphrased) "Syria must not cross the red line" pronouncement, but he used that plus the misinformation regarding the sarin attacks to attempt to get us into another war. Why? In my opinion, the answer is clear and the evidence of it is overwhelming.
War is business...BIG business. The Corporatocracy, or Oligarchy, owns (lock, stock, and barrel) about 99% of all the elected officials in our Outlaw Fed Gov't. [I refer to them as outlaws because they violate their constitutional oath of office on an almost daily basis. I once saw a YouTube video clip in which a House member flat out stated, "Half of what we do is unconstitutional. What's the big deal?"...they violate the Supreme Law of the Land, and don't care.] As Lord Acton pointed out long ago, power corrupts. Despite popular opinion to the contrary, I believe that Obama (like most all politicians in DC) is in the hip pocket of BIG Business. That idea certainly was not original with me. I first heard it from Left-leaning scholars such as Noam Chomsky, and socialists such as the Australian documentarian, John Pilger... and others. As a result, I did my own research; the evidence is indisputable.
This is an essay, not a research paper. I don't have the time or energy to again look up and cite all those references. If you're interested, do your own digging. Here's a tiny start: in his first bid for President, Obama received more campaign donations from the speculative bankers on Wall Street than did McCain. That's a fact. It may not "prove" anything, but it's very suggestive, and when viewed with all the other evidence, results in the conclusion that there's about a 99% degree of probability that the man is a corporatist.
The President did not succeed in getting us into another war. Perhaps a small part of the reason for that failure was due to the American People saying, in essence, what a dumb idea. But that wasn't the main reason. Nor was it because Putin came up with a nonviolent approach to the Syrian problem. Obama and Putin don't like each other, that's obvious to anyone. I easily can imagine that Obama was somewhat humiliated by going the Putin route relative to Syria. The main reason for the President's failure, according to Hersh, was that he couldn't continue on with the misleading justification for launching another war...because some people in the Pentagon and the intelligence community were saying that the evidence was weak. There was no solid case.
The fact is, no one yet knows with any certainty who launched the sarin gas attacks in Syria. We may never know. The important point here is that yet another President believed he had the power to put us at war with a country that had not attacked us or even threatened us. There is zero constitutional authority for the President to do such a thing...there was no invasion of our land, no insurrection here, and no one here was defying any Law of the Land. Those scenarios are the only ones that can bring forth constitutionally permitted use of the military. Without a constitutional Amendment, nothing else qualifies. The DC Outlaws completely ignore the Constitution in that regard...they've been doing it for decades.
You may or may not have noticed, since the Syrian debacle, the Corporate Media have begun to turn against Obama. Little things so far, just hints of displeasure, but it looks to me like a trend is developing. The warmongers didn't get what they wanted. Mega, transnational corporations of many types benefit greatly from the Business of War.
This piece should not be construed as in any way excusing Assad or "picking on" Obama. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat; in fact, I believe that whole paradigm is a farce, nothing but propaganda. I have a Science background...am well versed in the Scientific Method of Inquiry. Am simply making observations and drawing a few conclusions. I was just as hard on Bush, Clinton, Daddy Bush, and even Reagan. By digging just a little, I think it's fairly conclusive that the Oligarchy rules this country.
In conclusion, I heartily recommend that everyone view the online Hersh interview on Democracy Now, December 9, 2013. Unfortunately, Obama is just another in a long line of political frauds.
Just my opinion.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Good News and Bad News
1. After three years in prison and being beaten, tortured & initially held incommunicado for a month, earlier this year a Yemeni journalist by the name of Shaye finally was released. It wouldn't surprise me if you've never heard of him; the Corporate Media here pretty much ignored the story. Jeremy Scahill, a journalist for The Nation, covered the story in depth. Shaye is the journalist who broke the story of the U.S. cruise missile attack in Yemen (a few years ago) that killed a couple dozen civilians. Whether or not any of them were members of Al Qaeda is hotly contested. Shaye was set to be pardoned in 2011, but Obama's intervention apparently put a stop to that. The dictator of Yemen (one of our several Death-Squad-type allies), ever mindful of how to get more U.S. aid, caved in to Obama's "concern". The journalist, Shaye, had been convicted of abetting terrorism, or some such similar fantasy...according to a number of non-corporate media.
2. Jeremy Scahill's movie, Dirty Wars, has been short-listed for a possible Oscar nomination in the documentary film category. [Scahill is the guy who, awhile back, exposed the gross misdeeds of the private security company Blackwater in Iraq. The company has since changed their name.] The film, which is superb, details the largely unknown operations of JSOC, the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command--- assassinations of SUSPECTS, unreported attacks on various groups, etc. Whistle blowers are key to the content of the movie. The piece is on Netflix, and probably can be found elsewhere online.
3. The Corporate Media mostly missed or ignored this story yesterday. In about 100 cities here in the USA, fast-food workers protested wages less than $8/hour by walking out and marching. About half of all such workers also are on public assistance because of their low wages. This while the executives of such companies are subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer---companies get to deduct (on their taxes) "performance-based" bonuses paid to executives. My guess: some lobbyist wrote that amendment to a legislative bill. Then it was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. Both FDR and Mussolini would have called that Fascism---the power of the State married to the power of BIG Business.
4. In his second term as President, Obama continues his Justice Department's apparent policy of "too big to jail" relative to speculative banking fraud. J.P. Morgan Chase recently was fined $13 BILLION dollars for NYSE violations, that is, misleading investors...purposely. [With a fine that large, it makes one wonder what their annual net profit amounts to, given that they're still in business.] Criminal investigations are "ongoing", but my best guess, don't hold your breath. Not a single high-level mega bank executive has been criminally charged yet.
5. Also in his second term as President, Obama continues his completely unconstitutional program of assassination of terrorist SUSPECTS. Legally, only Congress can issue "Letters of Marque and Reprisal". It's called Checks & Balances in our system of government. Even as Commander-in-Chief, any President is limited by the Constitution...and again, no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution, not even the War Powers Act. He's not a King, and never should be treated as one.
6. In what seems to be an attempt to mollify the restless masses, just recently President Obama publicly expressed concern over "income inequality" in our land. It sounds good, but I agree with John Pilger who said this, "Brand Obama...and it's all fake."... and this, "Don't listen to what he says. Watch what he does.".
7. As expressed by Jeremy Scahill, there is an ongoing, escalating war on journalism worldwide, that is, on non-corporate journalism. [ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and even The News Hour on PBS mostly are safe from attack.] Number 1. above is but one example. In this country, the attacks usually are manifested as accusations of compromising "national security". The National Security State appears to trump the First Amendment. Even without that, the news is managed almost completely by the Corporate Media. Whistle blowers usually are portrayed as somehow violating the "American Way", or worse, "National Security"...never mind that in most of those instances the Gov't is violating the U.S. Constitution, or mega companies are violating not only U.S. Law, but common decency as well.
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For the best possible newscast in the USA, I heartily recommend Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report, with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales. They do not shrink from covering controversial subjects, and they do so in a manner not influenced by mega corporations.
Just my opinion.
2. Jeremy Scahill's movie, Dirty Wars, has been short-listed for a possible Oscar nomination in the documentary film category. [Scahill is the guy who, awhile back, exposed the gross misdeeds of the private security company Blackwater in Iraq. The company has since changed their name.] The film, which is superb, details the largely unknown operations of JSOC, the U.S. military's Joint Special Operations Command--- assassinations of SUSPECTS, unreported attacks on various groups, etc. Whistle blowers are key to the content of the movie. The piece is on Netflix, and probably can be found elsewhere online.
3. The Corporate Media mostly missed or ignored this story yesterday. In about 100 cities here in the USA, fast-food workers protested wages less than $8/hour by walking out and marching. About half of all such workers also are on public assistance because of their low wages. This while the executives of such companies are subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer---companies get to deduct (on their taxes) "performance-based" bonuses paid to executives. My guess: some lobbyist wrote that amendment to a legislative bill. Then it was passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. Both FDR and Mussolini would have called that Fascism---the power of the State married to the power of BIG Business.
4. In his second term as President, Obama continues his Justice Department's apparent policy of "too big to jail" relative to speculative banking fraud. J.P. Morgan Chase recently was fined $13 BILLION dollars for NYSE violations, that is, misleading investors...purposely. [With a fine that large, it makes one wonder what their annual net profit amounts to, given that they're still in business.] Criminal investigations are "ongoing", but my best guess, don't hold your breath. Not a single high-level mega bank executive has been criminally charged yet.
5. Also in his second term as President, Obama continues his completely unconstitutional program of assassination of terrorist SUSPECTS. Legally, only Congress can issue "Letters of Marque and Reprisal". It's called Checks & Balances in our system of government. Even as Commander-in-Chief, any President is limited by the Constitution...and again, no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution, not even the War Powers Act. He's not a King, and never should be treated as one.
6. In what seems to be an attempt to mollify the restless masses, just recently President Obama publicly expressed concern over "income inequality" in our land. It sounds good, but I agree with John Pilger who said this, "Brand Obama...and it's all fake."... and this, "Don't listen to what he says. Watch what he does.".
7. As expressed by Jeremy Scahill, there is an ongoing, escalating war on journalism worldwide, that is, on non-corporate journalism. [ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and even The News Hour on PBS mostly are safe from attack.] Number 1. above is but one example. In this country, the attacks usually are manifested as accusations of compromising "national security". The National Security State appears to trump the First Amendment. Even without that, the news is managed almost completely by the Corporate Media. Whistle blowers usually are portrayed as somehow violating the "American Way", or worse, "National Security"...never mind that in most of those instances the Gov't is violating the U.S. Constitution, or mega companies are violating not only U.S. Law, but common decency as well.
-------------------------------------------
For the best possible newscast in the USA, I heartily recommend Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report, with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales. They do not shrink from covering controversial subjects, and they do so in a manner not influenced by mega corporations.
Just my opinion.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Oligarchs, Propaganda, & Fascism
This all is not unique to the USA; it's a worldwide phenomenon in the developed world... at least, in general. Perhaps a country such as Norway, for example, is not yet Fascist...really, I don't know. As usual, I'm using FDR's and Mussolini's definition of Fascism: the power of the State married to the power of BIG Business. And as always, I maintain that none of it is a "conspiracy"; most of it is out in the open for all to see. First, though, we have to stop drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid.
Let's take a tiny example of that Kool Aid; it's here in the USA and goes by either of two names--- Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It should be called, the Affordable Insurance Act. As the Roosevelt Institute points out, the ACA is a "bonanza" for private health insurance companies. It bails them out. Apparently, people were dropping their policies or switching to cheaper, "catastrophic care" coverage. Contrary to what some may think, insurance premiums have not decreased with the ACA; our Gov't is making up the difference...a bailout. The availability of health CARE has not increased, and the COST of health care has not decreased. Before the ACA, there already were long lines of folks at clinics with cash in hand. Obamacare is not health care reform... instead, it's a bailout of private health care insurers, who now are even more entrenched in our health care system.
Notice that the Corporate Media here in this country rarely, if ever, speak of any of the above; rather, they focus on the "need" for the ACA, or on the basically unimportant fiasco regarding tech problems of the website. Is their lack of coverage of what's really relevant a "conspiracy"? No, I don't believe so. It's more like individuals and groups with similar interests and mutual goals working sometimes individually, sometimes together, to promote BIG Business. It's no more a conspiracy than is that of AT&T working to maximize profits. Corporations are required by law to maximize profits for their shareholders. It wasn't always that way, but that's another story. [Google: How did John D. Rockefeller change the rules for corporations.]
What are the "similar interests and mutual goals" of the Oligarchs? Rather than repeat it, I refer you to Item number 4. in my November 2 post, "The New World Order...Again". David Rockefeller stated it quite well...in 1991.
For two startling and brief depictions of more Propaganda in America (and the world), do a YouTube Search for each (separately) of these videos: Political Fraud; and, Financial Crime. They're both by ClassWarFilms, and each one is only about ten minutes in length. They're somewhat shocking, but right on the mark. The History of the USA is quite different from the History of the People of the USA, the former being to a large degree, nothing but propaganda...geared to benefit the Powers-That-Shouldn't-Be. :)
Some Inconvenient Realities---
1. In 1998, the richest 1% of this country owned 30% of the wealth; today it's between 40 & 50%. [Estimates vary within that range.] That's not because the other 99% of us are lazy...the game has been engineered in favor of the one-percenters.
2. Capitalism has been replaced by Financialization...credit derivatives and other inventions of Wall Street that do not involve any production of goods. The only true capitalists left in the world are owners of SMALL businesses.
3. Most all mega corporations are owned & run by Crony Capitalists, aka, Fascists. The Crony Capitalists don't influence elections here; they own them.
4. We're in the largest class war in U.S. history, and as Warren Buffett lamented, "unfortunately, my class is winning."...he's correct.
5. Taxpayer bailouts go to Wall Street, not Main Street. Most of those who receive such bailouts do NOT use them to create jobs...and they're not required to do any such thing. The game is rigged.
6. Propaganda is viewed by the Oligarchs as both a necessary & beneficial component of any democracy...and obviously, the same is true of any totalitarian society.
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I view them both (those at the top of each heap, anyway) as branches of the same, un-named political party: the Mega Transnational Corporatist Party. I'll give them this much, they surely know how to put forth the Propaganda.
Just my opinion.
Let's take a tiny example of that Kool Aid; it's here in the USA and goes by either of two names--- Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It should be called, the Affordable Insurance Act. As the Roosevelt Institute points out, the ACA is a "bonanza" for private health insurance companies. It bails them out. Apparently, people were dropping their policies or switching to cheaper, "catastrophic care" coverage. Contrary to what some may think, insurance premiums have not decreased with the ACA; our Gov't is making up the difference...a bailout. The availability of health CARE has not increased, and the COST of health care has not decreased. Before the ACA, there already were long lines of folks at clinics with cash in hand. Obamacare is not health care reform... instead, it's a bailout of private health care insurers, who now are even more entrenched in our health care system.
Notice that the Corporate Media here in this country rarely, if ever, speak of any of the above; rather, they focus on the "need" for the ACA, or on the basically unimportant fiasco regarding tech problems of the website. Is their lack of coverage of what's really relevant a "conspiracy"? No, I don't believe so. It's more like individuals and groups with similar interests and mutual goals working sometimes individually, sometimes together, to promote BIG Business. It's no more a conspiracy than is that of AT&T working to maximize profits. Corporations are required by law to maximize profits for their shareholders. It wasn't always that way, but that's another story. [Google: How did John D. Rockefeller change the rules for corporations.]
What are the "similar interests and mutual goals" of the Oligarchs? Rather than repeat it, I refer you to Item number 4. in my November 2 post, "The New World Order...Again". David Rockefeller stated it quite well...in 1991.
For two startling and brief depictions of more Propaganda in America (and the world), do a YouTube Search for each (separately) of these videos: Political Fraud; and, Financial Crime. They're both by ClassWarFilms, and each one is only about ten minutes in length. They're somewhat shocking, but right on the mark. The History of the USA is quite different from the History of the People of the USA, the former being to a large degree, nothing but propaganda...geared to benefit the Powers-That-Shouldn't-Be. :)
Some Inconvenient Realities---
1. In 1998, the richest 1% of this country owned 30% of the wealth; today it's between 40 & 50%. [Estimates vary within that range.] That's not because the other 99% of us are lazy...the game has been engineered in favor of the one-percenters.
2. Capitalism has been replaced by Financialization...credit derivatives and other inventions of Wall Street that do not involve any production of goods. The only true capitalists left in the world are owners of SMALL businesses.
3. Most all mega corporations are owned & run by Crony Capitalists, aka, Fascists. The Crony Capitalists don't influence elections here; they own them.
4. We're in the largest class war in U.S. history, and as Warren Buffett lamented, "unfortunately, my class is winning."...he's correct.
5. Taxpayer bailouts go to Wall Street, not Main Street. Most of those who receive such bailouts do NOT use them to create jobs...and they're not required to do any such thing. The game is rigged.
6. Propaganda is viewed by the Oligarchs as both a necessary & beneficial component of any democracy...and obviously, the same is true of any totalitarian society.
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I view them both (those at the top of each heap, anyway) as branches of the same, un-named political party: the Mega Transnational Corporatist Party. I'll give them this much, they surely know how to put forth the Propaganda.
Just my opinion.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
This, That, and the Other--- The Arrogance of the Oligarchs
1. Hopefully you've heard of the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It's another so-called "Free Trade" agreement...that has almost nothing to do with trade, but almost everything to do with the Corporate Oligarchy re-writing the laws of individual countries, creating extra-judicial, binding tribunals, and allowing foreign corporations to sue countries for perceived economic losses due to the laws & policies of those same countries. [I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.] That means a European corporation, for example, could sue the US (to get some of your tax money) claiming that some health & safety law of ours caused them economic loss. The "case" would be heard in a "tribunal" outside of this country...and would be binding.
As we speak, Obama is attempting to get Congress to vote him "fast-track authority" to approve this obscene treaty. For more detailed info on the whole shabby affair, go to the "Democracy Now" news website, search for the 11/21/13 webcast, & look for a sidebar piece entitled "TPP Exposed..." (under "Most Popular"); there's also a sidebar entitled "A Corporate Trojan Horse". I'll put the link immediately below, but I don't believe that Google allows embedded links on Blogspot anymore...I may be wrong about that---
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/14/tpp_exposed_wikileaks_publishes_secret_trade
2. TAFTA, the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement...ditto number 1 above. Details are at citizen.org slash documents slash TAFTA-top-ten-factsheet.pdf ...the factsheet describes the top ten threats of this agreement to Americans' daily lives. Again, I'll attempt to place the link immediately below---
http://www.citizen.org/documents/TAFTA-top-ten-factsheet.pdf
3. Henry Kissinger once stated, " 'Illegal' we [the Fed Gov't] can do immediately; 'unconstitutional' takes a bit longer.". Various laws (or portions thereof) are being used by the Fed Gov't to accomplish things that are violations of the U.S. Constitution, especially the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments; never mind the Ninth & Tenth Amendments... for all practical purposes, they no longer even exist. Those laws include, but are not limited to, the PATRIOT Act (what a misnomer), The War Powers Act, and the National Defense Authorization Act. Especially those three need to be [if we are to protect our Freedom] either fixed or repealed.
I cannot emphasize this more strongly: no law supercedes the U.S. Constitution; only Treaties can do that. If a law contradicts/violates the Constitution, it is automatically null and void under our system of government. The Oligarchs don't want us to remember that...just my opinion.
Friday, November 8, 2013
The Propaganda Kool Aid
Remember Jim Jones and The People's Temple, the guy who convinced (or forced) about 800 of his congregation to kill themselves by drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid? That's the metaphor for the essay below.
There's no nice way to say this, or perhaps it's that I don't have the time to find a nice way. So please forgive me if I sound harsh. I've been observing this scenario for decades, and I'm a bit fed up.
You folks who still believe that voting (in the present system) makes a difference just keep electing the same types of people over & over & over...candidates chosen, groomed, and financed by the Oligarchs. And you both (Repubs & Dems) keep blaming the other side. Here's a clue: they're all on the same side.
What if they put on an election...and nobody showed up to vote? Now THAT would send a message! But it will never happen... because Americans just keep drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. "Oh, don't you know---it's the Republicans' fault." "Oh, don't you know---it's the Democrats' fault."
Here's another clue: it's the voters' fault...all of you. No one else puts those clowns in office. ALL of them represent the one-percenters, the Oligarchs...ALL of them vote for deficit spending... ALL of them shaft the common people... ALL of them pass laws & implement policies that transfer wealth from the Middle Class to the 1% upper crust. [40% of the wealth of this land now is owned by 1% of the people...& that's not because 99% of us are lazy.] But go ahead, keep voting for them...keep drinking the Kool Aid that says this one is different, this one is on our side, that one over there is the problem. Sorry, but you're dead wrong.
American voters (all of you) are getting exactly the type of government that you deserve...because you just keep drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. The Oligarchs have divided & conquered us completely. When it comes to politics, I no longer have any sympathy whatsoever for American voters...apparently all you see is the false surface of American politics...the propaganda...Right v. Left, Conservatives v. Progressives, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
There is a better way...actually, almost anything would be better than the fraudulent, dictatorial, crony political parties that run the show now... puppets of the mega corporations. But first, voters have to stop drinking the Kool Aid.
Just my opinion.
There's no nice way to say this, or perhaps it's that I don't have the time to find a nice way. So please forgive me if I sound harsh. I've been observing this scenario for decades, and I'm a bit fed up.
You folks who still believe that voting (in the present system) makes a difference just keep electing the same types of people over & over & over...candidates chosen, groomed, and financed by the Oligarchs. And you both (Repubs & Dems) keep blaming the other side. Here's a clue: they're all on the same side.
What if they put on an election...and nobody showed up to vote? Now THAT would send a message! But it will never happen... because Americans just keep drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. "Oh, don't you know---it's the Republicans' fault." "Oh, don't you know---it's the Democrats' fault."
Here's another clue: it's the voters' fault...all of you. No one else puts those clowns in office. ALL of them represent the one-percenters, the Oligarchs...ALL of them vote for deficit spending... ALL of them shaft the common people... ALL of them pass laws & implement policies that transfer wealth from the Middle Class to the 1% upper crust. [40% of the wealth of this land now is owned by 1% of the people...& that's not because 99% of us are lazy.] But go ahead, keep voting for them...keep drinking the Kool Aid that says this one is different, this one is on our side, that one over there is the problem. Sorry, but you're dead wrong.
American voters (all of you) are getting exactly the type of government that you deserve...because you just keep drinking the Propaganda Kool Aid. The Oligarchs have divided & conquered us completely. When it comes to politics, I no longer have any sympathy whatsoever for American voters...apparently all you see is the false surface of American politics...the propaganda...Right v. Left, Conservatives v. Progressives, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
There is a better way...actually, almost anything would be better than the fraudulent, dictatorial, crony political parties that run the show now... puppets of the mega corporations. But first, voters have to stop drinking the Kool Aid.
Just my opinion.
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