Not counting aggression and violence, mega banks have to be the most vile, obscene permutation in the Universe. Take J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, for instance, the largest bank in the USA with $2.4 trillion in assets...that's enough by itself to qualify as an obscenity. The bank recently was fined $13 BILLION in a civil suit by the Fed Gov't for fraud related to the mortgage meltdown. To be fair, 70%-80% of the wrongdoings were committed by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, which had been acquired by J.P. Morgan...which further proves my point about mega banks. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and several others were fined huge amounts as well...a few were over a billion dollars each. Here's the kicker--- no criminal prosecutions as yet, and they're all still in business.
$13 billion...are you kidding me? And they're still in business! I realize full well that the value of today's dollar is only about three cents as compared to the 1913 dollar, but still...something's amiss here. A mega corporation is worth $2.4 trillion, had an income in 2012 of $32 billion (or so), and is fined $13 billion. In my view, there's some criminality going on there. Those dollar figures are atrocious. Many countries don't have those numbers of dollars. Something is grossly wrong when that kind of inequality exists. Don't blame Capitalism...only SMALL businesses practice that in this country; the Big Boys & Girls have Gov't puppets as Cronies...a situation that true Capitalism abhors. Besides, pencils don't misspell words, and economic systems don't swindle people---individual people do that, and they do it under any system.
Many mega bankers are not the only criminals involved. Criminal politicians were and still are responsible for setting things up so that their Cronies in Mega Banking could/can scam investors and the public in general. Think: who tore down Glass-Steagall? As to the fairly recent financial regulatory "reform"---are you fracking kidding me...that's a complete joke, pure window dressing to mollify an already distracted public.
So, why is any of this history important today? Simply put, there are not sufficient restraints in place, nor has sufficient punishment been meted out, in order to prevent something similar from happening again...probably sooner than later. Do you really believe that the greedy Mega Bankers have "learned their lesson"? Please.
By the way, I heard a rumor in New Mexico that the Wall Street criminals involved in the monumental scam are all on the South American drug, Ibocaine...still. This would seem to make sense because Ibocaine causes one to lose integrity and become a scumbag. It also makes sense because the effects of the drug are very long-lasting. Not only that, but Ibocaine (I'm told) gives one an Imperial sense of one's own self, the feeling that there are the "small people", and then there's your group. One of my investigators is looking into rumored use of the drug on Capitol Hill.
Here's another great documentary: "Gonzo".
Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo
Friday, December 27, 2013
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Part 2: Paying Homage to Gonzo
The other day in the grocery store, I watched as the lady just ahead of me paid an incredibly high total for her goods with a credit card. Shortly thereafter, that brought to mind the largest scam in the history of the USA.
When the Fed Gov't bailed out the speculative banks (and AIG, et.al.) a few years ago, I suspect that the public in general missed the biggest part of that scam. But before I get into that portion of the story, let's consider the following. [If this weren't so tragic, it would be comical beyond belief.]
Here's what happened. The richest one-tenth of one percent of the people in this country, through speculative banking, did this:
1. created bizarre financial instruments such as credit default swaps which were supposed to guarantee or "insure" investments; [Technically, they weren't "insurance policies", so no money reserves were required to back them up.]
2. created mortgage-backed securities, lied about their quality, and sold them to investors on a grand scale...along with the bogus credit default swaps.
As we all know, the whole scam went bust when subprime mortgages defaulted in large numbers. But they were just the trigger of the crisis. The underlying causes were: the lying about the quality of the mortgage-backed securities; and the phony credit default swaps which were backed by zero reserves. Then the investment banks told the Fed Gov't that they were "too big to fail", and the Gov't sold that lie to the public. Next came the $787 billion bailout. Unfortunately, that was just a small part of the scam.
The main ripoff was the following. The Gov't made approximately $13 TRILLION in loans available to those banks...at far less than one percent interest. They were the same banks that were the richest in the country, fraudulently sold shabby products, gambled it all...lost...and then had the Gov't bail them out AND loan them huge amounts of money at almost zero percent interest.
Let's imagine this--- I interview Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and several prominent economists, and they all agree... "Yes, obviously it was a scam. If those few banks had failed, the economy would not have collapsed. Things would have gotten bad, but with adjustments, the market would have corrected itself. Smaller banks would have filled in the gaps. We should have let them fail and made the $13 trillion in loans (at less than 1% interest) available to American housholds. They borrow money every single day with credit cards...at anywhere from 9% to 22% interest. Imagine what it would do for Main Street and the economy if every household had a $15,000 loan at less than 1% interest, instead of a credit card balance of thousands at, say, 12-15% interest."
Not only was the financial bailout and loan program a scam, but the money was not used as intended. Originally, the Gov't was going to buy up all the "toxic assets"; instead, the money was simply given to the banks to do with as they pleased. They made more bets. There are still approximately one quadrillion dollars worth of credit default swaps out there...guaranteeing nothing.
So, as I sit here sipping Wild Turkey and shooting through my window at a target outside, I wonder: why does the Gov't loan money to super-rich banks at almost zero percent interest instead of to households?...and, why do we commoners put up with mega banks at all? There are plenty of smaller, local banks that would love to have our business. I suggest we boycott the big boys. Immediately. Let them eat credit default swaps.
By the way, I heartily recommend the movie, Where the Buffalo Roam... and the documentary film, Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride. Gonzo galore.
Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo
When the Fed Gov't bailed out the speculative banks (and AIG, et.al.) a few years ago, I suspect that the public in general missed the biggest part of that scam. But before I get into that portion of the story, let's consider the following. [If this weren't so tragic, it would be comical beyond belief.]
Here's what happened. The richest one-tenth of one percent of the people in this country, through speculative banking, did this:
1. created bizarre financial instruments such as credit default swaps which were supposed to guarantee or "insure" investments; [Technically, they weren't "insurance policies", so no money reserves were required to back them up.]
2. created mortgage-backed securities, lied about their quality, and sold them to investors on a grand scale...along with the bogus credit default swaps.
As we all know, the whole scam went bust when subprime mortgages defaulted in large numbers. But they were just the trigger of the crisis. The underlying causes were: the lying about the quality of the mortgage-backed securities; and the phony credit default swaps which were backed by zero reserves. Then the investment banks told the Fed Gov't that they were "too big to fail", and the Gov't sold that lie to the public. Next came the $787 billion bailout. Unfortunately, that was just a small part of the scam.
The main ripoff was the following. The Gov't made approximately $13 TRILLION in loans available to those banks...at far less than one percent interest. They were the same banks that were the richest in the country, fraudulently sold shabby products, gambled it all...lost...and then had the Gov't bail them out AND loan them huge amounts of money at almost zero percent interest.
Let's imagine this--- I interview Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and several prominent economists, and they all agree... "Yes, obviously it was a scam. If those few banks had failed, the economy would not have collapsed. Things would have gotten bad, but with adjustments, the market would have corrected itself. Smaller banks would have filled in the gaps. We should have let them fail and made the $13 trillion in loans (at less than 1% interest) available to American housholds. They borrow money every single day with credit cards...at anywhere from 9% to 22% interest. Imagine what it would do for Main Street and the economy if every household had a $15,000 loan at less than 1% interest, instead of a credit card balance of thousands at, say, 12-15% interest."
Not only was the financial bailout and loan program a scam, but the money was not used as intended. Originally, the Gov't was going to buy up all the "toxic assets"; instead, the money was simply given to the banks to do with as they pleased. They made more bets. There are still approximately one quadrillion dollars worth of credit default swaps out there...guaranteeing nothing.
So, as I sit here sipping Wild Turkey and shooting through my window at a target outside, I wonder: why does the Gov't loan money to super-rich banks at almost zero percent interest instead of to households?...and, why do we commoners put up with mega banks at all? There are plenty of smaller, local banks that would love to have our business. I suggest we boycott the big boys. Immediately. Let them eat credit default swaps.
By the way, I heartily recommend the movie, Where the Buffalo Roam... and the documentary film, Buy the Ticket, Take the Ride. Gonzo galore.
Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo
Monday, December 23, 2013
Shifting Gears: Paying Homage to Gonzo, Part 1
The U.N. announced today that it's sending a Peace Keeping force to Texas. This action was prompted primarily by the following. A portion of the mini-series documentary (produced by Ken Burns), The West, describes how Mexicans and American Indians were mistreated and their lands stolen by Texans in the 1800s. In a cameo appearance in the film, the former Texas Governor, Ann Richards, had this to say (paraphrased) in her sickenly sweet, Texas drawl: "It is very unfortunate when things like that happen, but [when people say "but", nothing is important except whatever follows] that's what happens whenever people are conquered.". Such a statement, of course, begs for an answer to this: is that what supposedly honorable, God-fearing people do to others? And this: is conquering people something that Americans should have done?
In a related story, the U.N. (made into a totally anachronistic body by the Corporatocracy) further announced that after it was done in Texas, it would proceed to each of the other forty-nine States in order to seek redress on behalf of the American Indians. The Secretary-General, Kofi Obama (no relation), intimated to this reporter that he feared the whole exercise would be to no avail. "Basically, we've been castrated by Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, CitiGroup, Bank of America, and AIG [part of the Oligarchy].", he said. "How so?", I asked. "Well," he replied, "their wholly-owned subsidiary, your Fed Gov't, is---at their direction---way behind on U.N. dues payments. That puts us in a financial bind."
In another related story, the State of Texas (which generally believes itself to be a separate country, not subject to most U.S. laws) is preparing for the U.N. invasion by constructing a 15-feet-high, electrified fence around its entire border. I spoke with the Head of the Texas Dept. of Public Safety and asked, "What about U.N. helicopters and/or paratroopers?". He replied, "Oh, they can't afford those.". He went on, "Besides, even if they get in, we'll do them like we do the Fed EPA: just ignore them. There's not a damned thing they can do about it.".
I recalled the brief time that I had lived in Texas, and thought, yes, that's pretty much what Texas does---if it doesn't like something from a higher authority, it simply ignores it. The municipal water in the small town in which I lived did not meet EPA water quality standards (according to the town's own report). The explanation given in the Annual Water Quality Report was this (paraphrased): all water is contaminated to some degree. The report went on: we're working to correct the situation, but your water is safe by State Standards. The report was exactly the same a year later. Meanwhile, just to be safe, I drank bottled water.
Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo
In a related story, the U.N. (made into a totally anachronistic body by the Corporatocracy) further announced that after it was done in Texas, it would proceed to each of the other forty-nine States in order to seek redress on behalf of the American Indians. The Secretary-General, Kofi Obama (no relation), intimated to this reporter that he feared the whole exercise would be to no avail. "Basically, we've been castrated by Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, CitiGroup, Bank of America, and AIG [part of the Oligarchy].", he said. "How so?", I asked. "Well," he replied, "their wholly-owned subsidiary, your Fed Gov't, is---at their direction---way behind on U.N. dues payments. That puts us in a financial bind."
In another related story, the State of Texas (which generally believes itself to be a separate country, not subject to most U.S. laws) is preparing for the U.N. invasion by constructing a 15-feet-high, electrified fence around its entire border. I spoke with the Head of the Texas Dept. of Public Safety and asked, "What about U.N. helicopters and/or paratroopers?". He replied, "Oh, they can't afford those.". He went on, "Besides, even if they get in, we'll do them like we do the Fed EPA: just ignore them. There's not a damned thing they can do about it.".
I recalled the brief time that I had lived in Texas, and thought, yes, that's pretty much what Texas does---if it doesn't like something from a higher authority, it simply ignores it. The municipal water in the small town in which I lived did not meet EPA water quality standards (according to the town's own report). The explanation given in the Annual Water Quality Report was this (paraphrased): all water is contaminated to some degree. The report went on: we're working to correct the situation, but your water is safe by State Standards. The report was exactly the same a year later. Meanwhile, just to be safe, I drank bottled water.
Just my opinion.
Dr. Gonzo
Monday, December 16, 2013
Zero Aggression
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
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
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.
-------------------------------------------
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.
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