Glenn Greenwald: Mike McConnell, the WashPost & the dangers of sleazy corporatism
In a political culture drowning in hidden conflicts of interests, exploitation of political office for profit, and a rapidly eroding wall separating the public and private spheres, Michael McConnell stands out as the perfect embodiment of all those afflictions. Few people have blurred the line between public office and private profit more egregiously and shamelessly than he. McConnell's behavior is the classic never-ending "revolving door" syndrome: public officials serve private interests while in office and are then lavishly rewarded by those same interests once they leave. He went from being head of the National Security Agency under Bush 41 and Clinton directly to Booz Allen, one of the nation's largest private intelligence contractors, then became Bush's Director of National Intelligence (DNI), then went back to Booz Allen, where he is now Executive Vice President.
Continued. . .
March 31, 2010
A Credible Third-Party Movement
Credible and truthful political leaders like Ron Paul, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Dennis Kucinich, Gary Johnson, Jesse Ventrua, and others need to come together and organize progressives, libertarians, independents, and generally discontented Americans into a strong third-party contender, and then elect a president that has both the experience and the honesty to serve in the White House in this period of international crisis.
It's hard to succeed at voting out members of the Congress and Senate because the Republicans and Democrats have their electoral power so consolidated, and the debates are so unfair, that it is wastes a lot grassroots energy and time. A more productive way is to elect a third-party president, and once he/she is in office, he/she can use the bully pulpit to encourage Americans to vote the democrats and republcians out of office. The voice of the president is more powerful than the voice of the major media channels and corporate newspapers.
And the platform has mass appeal, and more importantly, it will attract an energetic grassroots following. More than 60% of the citizenry agree that the two current wars are immoral and illegal, especially in the case of Iraq, which was based on false intelligence and misleading statements by Bush administration officials. Also, people across the political spectrum agree that Wall St. banks unfairly received the public's money, so building a grassroots base around these two issues is politically doable. The problem is media access to voice the platform of this new party, but with the internet and alternative media growing, it's not like ten years ago, a third party candidate, especially a famous and credible person, can draw huge attention.
The main obstacles include a lack of political will, and visionary leadership, but I'm sure a hybrid of progressive/libertarian voices will emerge and galvanize a grassroots movement to take back the White House from the Republicans and Democrats. Winning an election with a newly formed party is not rocket science. It has been done before in American politics. And it will happen again.
March 30, 2010
Joel S. Hirschhorn - 9/11 Reconstruction: Mental Before Physical
9/11 Reconstruction: Mental Before Physical
By Joel S. Hirschhorn
March 30, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- The failure to rebuild the World Trade Center site in Manhattan has received endless attention. But public anger about this failed reconstruction should not been seen so negatively. After all, mental reconstruction has also still not been successful and is surely more needed, with too many Americans still accepting the official government story about 9/11. This, despite a huge amount of compelling evidence that elements of the US government played some role, despite a very large, active 9/11 truth movement, and despite an impressive number of highly credible people demanding a new investigation as documented at patriotsquestion911.com.
In the recent Angus Reid Public Opinion survey of a representative national sample of American adults, 62 per cent of respondents disagree with the view that the “Sept. 11 incident was a big fabrication as a pretext for the campaign against terrorism and a prelude for staging an invasion against Afghanistan.” Far more Republicans disagree at 80 percent, compared to 66 percent of Independents and 55 percent of Democrats.
Consistent with this is that two-thirds of Americans (67 percent) agree with the government commission that investigated the events of Sept. 11, 2001, which concluded that an attack was carried out by 19 hijackers who were members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, led by Osama bin Laden. Though 12 per cent of respondents reject the commission’s findings, one-in-five Americans (21 percent) are undecided. In particular, 35 percent of Independents and 34 percent of Democrats do not accept the official version, compared to just 20 percent of Republicans.
These figures translate to about 100 million Americans that question or find fault with the official 9/11 story, far from a trivial number and far too many to dismiss as conspiracy nuts and part of the lunatic fringe. This is the important message that merits public appreciation.
A Little Perspective on US-Iran Relations
Many people have a selected memory about America’s role in international politics in the past sixty years. To some, the United States government can do no wrong, not now, not ever. And this is not in any way unique to America. In Russia, there are many individuals who believe that Russia is well led under any government whatsoever. If you had criticized the Communist dictatorship, you would have been tagged as unpatriotic to Mother Russia. In Nazi Germany, if you didn’t fall in line and respect Nazi authority, then your lack of loyalty was seen as not just directed to the Furher, but to the entire German nation, and German history. To these kinds of people, criticism is not allowed, especially not in a situation when the country is in danger from outside threats. But these people never ask themselves how their country became so hated in the first place. Their passion is deep, but their imagination is not wide.
Trying to understand the politics of a particular region of the world without first being knowledgeable about its history will get you nowhere. Without a firm grasp of the facts, you can’t make a rational judgment. Most of us never bother to look up the facts, and instead make guesses and generalizations that ultimately backfire.
Although I criticize America a lot, it is because I love America. A free America means a free world. An enslaved America means an enslaved world. It is that simple, at least for me. If America falls into tyranny, so does Canada, and Europe. That was true in 1941, and it is even truer now. The United States is the most powerful nation in the world, and as we know, with great power also comes great responsibility. Americans have accepted the power that they won in the post-WWII world, but they’ve fell short of accepting the responsibility. Rather than being a moral and honest nation in the world, America’s leaders decided undemocratically in the 1950’s that like all past powerful nations America should be an empire, whose role in the international sphere would center on overthrowing democratically elected leaders of strategically-significant countries, and sponsoring state-sanctioned terrorism around the world. The vision of America’s rulers for America has largely been kept hidden from the American people. Instead of leading by example, America has led with tanks, guns, and oil/drug money. And thanks to media propaganda and mass schooling, the idea that America is a democratic leader of the free world is almost unquestionable for a lot of people.
But Americans are more than capable to tap into their revolutionary tradition, and restore its great republic once more, and leave the empire game for good. Before that happens, though, it is likely that the United States in collision with Israel will attack Iran, and thereby unleash another world war. It doesn’t need to be said that if such an attack occurs, the consequences for the whole world, especially the Middle East, will be devastating. But let’s not fool ourselves, America is far from innocent in Middle East relations. It struck a large bee hive when it overthrew Mossadegh, and disgraced itself in the eyes of all Iranians. Robert Sherrill provides a brief summary of the CIA-led coup in his article “America’s 100 Years of Overthrow”:
In 1953 the brutal, venal shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was pushed into exile by Mohammad Mossadegh, the democratically elected prime minister.
“Modern Iran has produced few figures of Mossadegh’s stature,” Kinzer says.
Iranians loved Mossadegh. He made clear that his two ambitions were to set up a lasting democracy and to strengthen nationalism — by which he meant get rid of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., which had been robbing Iran for half a century. Indeed, the British company had been earning each year as much as all the royalties it paid Iran over 50 years. Mossadegh intended to recapture those riches to rebuild Iran.
In a scheme to get rid of Mossadegh, the British enlisted Secretary of State Dulles; he in turn enlisted his brother, CIA Director Allen Dulles, and what ensued was a truly masterful piece of skullduggery. First came a propaganda campaign to convince the West that Mossadegh was a communist, which in the U.S. of the 1950s put him on the level of a child molester. Actually, Mossadegh hated communists, but most of our press swallowed the lie. Time Magazine had previously called Mossadegh “the Iranian George Washington” and “the most world-renowned man his ancient race had produced for centuries.” Now it called him “one of the worst calamities to the anti-communist world since the Red conquest of China.”
The propaganda program on the outside was followed by a bogus “revolution” inside Iran, with a CIA agent-provocateur hiring such a huge army of thugs and terrorists to roam the streets of Tehran that the town fell into violent anarchy. The CIA plotters ousted Mossadegh and restored the shah to his Peacock Throne.
For Secretary of State Dulles and his old law clients — including Gulf Oil Corp., Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey, Texaco Inc., and Mobil Corp., who were subsequently allowed to take 40 percent of Iran’s oil supply — the shah’s return was a happy and very lucrative event. But, Kinzer reminds us, “The shah did not tolerate dissent [to silence some, he simply killed them] and repressed opposition newspapers, political parties, trade unions, and civic groups. As a result, the only place Iranian dissidents could find a home was in mosques and religious schools, many of which were controlled by” radical fundamentalists. So when the revolution against the shah finally broke out in 1979, it was inevitable that these clerics led it.
They then went on to sponsor acts of terror from Saudi Arabia to Argentina, mostly to humiliate the United States, and “their example inspired Muslim fanatics around the world, including those who carried out the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. None of this … might have happened if Mossadegh had not been overthrown.”
At roughly the same time Secretary of State Dulles was destroying democracy in Iran, he was also busy destroying democracy in Central America, and once again it was on behalf of a renegade industry: United Fruit Co. If any bureaucrat deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison for conflict of interest, it was Dulles. And several of his bureaucratic buddies would have been right there beside him breaking rocks.
In the ten-minute video below, the narrator covers the same basic facts about US-Iranian relations, and goes over the storyline from 1953 to 1979 to current times. It is by no means a definitive account, but it does a good job of making the important point that Iranian students didn't take American hostages out of sheer malice in 1979, but had a historical reason to be distrustful of the American government.
March 29, 2010
The Virtues of Non-Violent Resistance
"The military man gains the civil power in proportion as the civilian loses the military virtues." - G.K. Chesterton
The refusal to accept that we live in a very control-oriented, politically suppressed, and untruthful society is reaching the level of psychosis in a lot of people, regardless of their political orientation, economic background, or education level. Such denial is hard to understand, the problems are psychological and above my current comprehension.
To me it is clear that an unresponsive and authoritarian government is being set up deliberately in North America and Europe, and the reasons that will be given in the future for its establishment are not the real reasons. The police-state mechanisms that are being unleashed on the people have very little to do with providing indefinite security, and keeping the civil peace. If those were the goals, noble as they are, then why not create avenues whereby political and economic justice is brought into being, why not be truthful with the people about the government's role in past terrorist attacks, why not put forward real solutions for peace?
Establishing order in a community is not a difficult thing to do, all it requires is for the political leadership to be honest with the people, and that they be held to account in the same manner as everybody else if they commit a crime, or participate in a conspiracy or fraud against the public. It is really that simple. We go wrong when we abandon the rule of law.
But Western governments are not interested in solving the root problems of terrorism because their "secret-intelligence" seeds can be found at the very bottom of the modern terrorism dilemma. And that revelation will put everything on its head. Indeed, a new order will need to rise, but what kind of order will it be, and who will create it? It certainly can't be the same men who help caused the political and social crisis, or men who didn't raise their voices before it occurred.
There are those who still view the opinions that I hold as conspiracy theories. I have nothing to say to those people. I am concerned with the converted, and the committed. The loss of civil liberties in the West was a historical guess in Orwell's time, but not anymore. Today, we don't have the luxury to assume our shadowy decision-makers will reform, nor can we make guesses about our condition in ten years time. Our bleak future has already arrived. Most of us are just beginning to wake up to the apocalyptic situation. Western despotism, marked by corporate power and a glamorous Big-Brother surveillance system, is a fact of life. We must deal with it, and hopefully one day we can overturn it.
Habits of trained indifference to intimidating evidence about government-corporate corruption occurring at the highest levels must be broken. We can no longer deceive ourselves about the grave political reality inside the United States, Canada, England, and Western Europe. Freedom of speech, and the freedom to resist, are no longer allowed in any of these countries. It is as if the soldiers who fought for these countries in WWII died for absolutely nothing. Shame on us if we don't reverse the Western dictatorial police state, and maintain the legacy of those who bled and died for liberty before us.
I realize the fight for freedom will be hard, and long. I can't put faith in a single Messiah who will come down and save us from economic hardship, ecological catastrophes, political control, and psychological domination. Nor can I put faith in the majority of people to confront the troubling obstacles facing them, let alone engage in a peaceful and spiritual fight against the financial occupiers. Besides a huge societal-wide revelation that could only be described as apocalyptic and religious, the general public's ignorance will in all likelihood continue, and probably get worse as conditions in day-to-day life reach an even poorer state.
The only faith I have is in a fierce and independent minority that practices non-violent resistance, and becomes an example to the whole community. Richard B. Gregg, an American social philosopher and a student of Gandhi, wrote in the beginning of chapter eight in his most famous book, The Power of Nonviolence, "Nonviolent resistance is the key to the problem of liberty in the modern state." Gregg's thoughts and research about peaceful resistance are more timely today than it was in Martin Luther King Jr.'s time.
If the liberty of the individual and the world is to survive coming attacks, then a spiritually disciplined and peaceful minority of world citizens must organize across national boundaries, and work together to enrich the lives of each other's country, in all manners possible. We need to work towards political and economic liberty for all, specifically, the issuing of currency must become a public and national right; draconian laws must be repealed through each country's various democratic processes; anti-democratic and anti-capitalist institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO must be terminated; and free economic competition must be enforced worldwide with as little state regulation as possible.
Those who stand in for the financial occupiers, from the wise-cracking elitist journalists and snobby politicians, to the brainwashed Stormtroopers, are not the enemies of the people. Whether they knowingly or unknowingly do the elite's bidding is a matter of debate, with the exception of the bottom-level enforcers, who need to be educated and warned of the implications of their support for NWO-induced political repression. What these puppets need to realize is that sooner or later "We The People" will overpass them at every step. They can decide to either support the present unlawful and evil system through their actions and compliance, or resist with us. The choice is for them to make.
If you are unconvinced that a police state is upon us, then you haven't read the McCain-Lieberman "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act." You can read it here. "A close reading of the bill," writes Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic, "suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity." The bill is not law, yet, but with the way things are going, there is a high probability that America's fine representatives will pass it. As Stephen Lendman writes, "in a climate of fear and intimidation, everyone is potentially vulnerable to legislative lawlessness if congressional timidity lets S. 3081 pass in an election year."
We are not yet in a state of full-blown martial law, but it is coming. All the signs are leading to a 'happy dictatorship." Washington, Ottawa, and London will rule through fear and force, but also with love and kindness. Normal life will be no more. The only way a police state can be maintained is in an indefinite state of emergency, in which detention centers are filled to full capacity with political non-compliants, curfews are regularly enforced in the most sensitive areas, and everybody's daily movement are monitored by government and private authorities. How long such a state is going to last is anybody's guess.
But pursuing the strategies of propaganda, force, divide/conquer, and political demagoguery has its limits, and practicing such strategies in spite of an active and peaceful worldwide resistance movement will not work. The spirit of man is too mighty and powerful. As Napoleon said: "There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit." Napoleon's prediction has already been proven true in the cases of India's peaceful victory against the British Empire, and the achievements of the civil rights movements, so it only makes sense that a non-violent resistance campaign in our era will also be victorious.
II. An Active Commitment to Non-Violent Resistance
It is my feeling, as it is of many others, that tyranny grows when resistance to it falters. There are other reasons for it, of course, but it is the failure to rebel in the face of brutal terrorism and over-extension by the State that gives men in power the confidence to do anything under the sun. Murder. Lying. Stealing.
But as Gandhi revealed to us, violent resistance is not the only way to beat tyranny, in fact, it is the least desirable. A gun is not a symbol of defiance, it's just a tool, what is of greater important is the spirit of resistance. And both Jefferson and Gandhi were born with the same spirit of resistance.
But love of liberty is not enough. We must also sacrifice. And suffer. What I'm asking you, most of all, is to risk your life in the hope that liberty will be won peacefully. I intend to take the same path because it has shown to be the most effective and least bloody path in the historical pursuit of liberty and justice.
Will non-violence work against a hardened and equally committed United States Marine? Most definitely not. The professional military is well-noted for its discipline and execution of orders, which I have great respect for, but there are times when someone must take a risk. Will violence be done on the patient and the just? Yes. Will some peaceful resisters suffer unfair treatment at the hands of the Stormtroopers? Yes. But it's their job to "clear the area of all hostiles and non-compliant protesters," so it's not honest to hold it against them. Non-violent resisters take the oath to trade good with evil, and generosity with meanness. If I can't keep the oath at the most trying of times then I had no right to take it in the first place.
Non-violence demands of us our whole mind, body, and soul. When violence is being done to you, your spirit can't flinch. It also demands that we remain active, and focus on the ultimate goal at hand. Even soldiers aren't capable of doing this, they withdraw into their own heads in the heart of a battle, and go into a 'killer mode' where all discrepancy is removed from their actions. Minutes later, they can't register what exactly they did to defend themselves. When you are being attacked, your first reflex is to defend yourself, so it requires great awareness to keep on the track of non-violence, and not lose sight of your being, and aim.
If you fail even one time to remain non-violent, then there is a good chance that you will fail a second, third, and fourth time. I find it hard to contemplate the spiritual discipline and bodily courage that Gandhi and King each had. I respect them more than most military leaders. Gandhi couldn't have been passive even for a day when he was fighting to win rights for Indians in South Africa, and political independence for India. We have to be actively committed to non-violent resistance just like Gandhi and King were. "Passivity," writes Ken McLeod, "is insidious. It kills your mind (your attention, your intention, and your will) without you knowing it."
Although we are not yet in the same situation as France under Nazi rule, or of Japanese immigrants under American rule, anyone who dares to look can see that the road we're on leads directly towards a New-World dictatorship. The precedent of illegally arresting individuals for political behavior has already been set at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the SPP meeting in Montebello, Quebec, and elsewhere. Protesting global economic and political policies in any North American and European city has been essentially outlawed. Even more disturbing is that assisting protesters via social networking sites can also get you fined and arrested, which is what happened to Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger.
But such actions by our various governments shouldn't deter us to publicly express our disapproval and rage. Resistance to tyranny is what made the modern world so prosperous. Men cannot flourish as slaves. William Norman Grigg writes in his most recent article "Resistance" that submission in Russia was guaranteed for generations because the Russians failed to resist a Communist dictatorship in its early stages. It went all downhill after the first shot was fired and people fearfully laid down to the Communist thugs. According to Grigg, liberty will be but a theory in a book, and a memory in the mind, if "the right to resist," is not practiced openly. But how shall we in America, Canada, and Europe go about it? Grigg says:Going up against overdressed men with guns is a scary thing. I don't know I can face up to my fear if such an occasion as I have described is in store for us. Will a state of martial law be publicly enacted in the future? Will Stormtroopers rule the streets? Maybe. Or maybe not. But we should be ready just in case. And if we do find ourselves one day under a military occupation, we can take solace in the words of mankind's greatest resisters. Sartre would be a good start.
To me it is clear that an unresponsive and authoritarian government is being set up deliberately in North America and Europe, and the reasons that will be given in the future for its establishment are not the real reasons. The police-state mechanisms that are being unleashed on the people have very little to do with providing indefinite security, and keeping the civil peace. If those were the goals, noble as they are, then why not create avenues whereby political and economic justice is brought into being, why not be truthful with the people about the government's role in past terrorist attacks, why not put forward real solutions for peace?
Establishing order in a community is not a difficult thing to do, all it requires is for the political leadership to be honest with the people, and that they be held to account in the same manner as everybody else if they commit a crime, or participate in a conspiracy or fraud against the public. It is really that simple. We go wrong when we abandon the rule of law.
But Western governments are not interested in solving the root problems of terrorism because their "secret-intelligence" seeds can be found at the very bottom of the modern terrorism dilemma. And that revelation will put everything on its head. Indeed, a new order will need to rise, but what kind of order will it be, and who will create it? It certainly can't be the same men who help caused the political and social crisis, or men who didn't raise their voices before it occurred.
There are those who still view the opinions that I hold as conspiracy theories. I have nothing to say to those people. I am concerned with the converted, and the committed. The loss of civil liberties in the West was a historical guess in Orwell's time, but not anymore. Today, we don't have the luxury to assume our shadowy decision-makers will reform, nor can we make guesses about our condition in ten years time. Our bleak future has already arrived. Most of us are just beginning to wake up to the apocalyptic situation. Western despotism, marked by corporate power and a glamorous Big-Brother surveillance system, is a fact of life. We must deal with it, and hopefully one day we can overturn it.
Habits of trained indifference to intimidating evidence about government-corporate corruption occurring at the highest levels must be broken. We can no longer deceive ourselves about the grave political reality inside the United States, Canada, England, and Western Europe. Freedom of speech, and the freedom to resist, are no longer allowed in any of these countries. It is as if the soldiers who fought for these countries in WWII died for absolutely nothing. Shame on us if we don't reverse the Western dictatorial police state, and maintain the legacy of those who bled and died for liberty before us.
I realize the fight for freedom will be hard, and long. I can't put faith in a single Messiah who will come down and save us from economic hardship, ecological catastrophes, political control, and psychological domination. Nor can I put faith in the majority of people to confront the troubling obstacles facing them, let alone engage in a peaceful and spiritual fight against the financial occupiers. Besides a huge societal-wide revelation that could only be described as apocalyptic and religious, the general public's ignorance will in all likelihood continue, and probably get worse as conditions in day-to-day life reach an even poorer state.
The only faith I have is in a fierce and independent minority that practices non-violent resistance, and becomes an example to the whole community. Richard B. Gregg, an American social philosopher and a student of Gandhi, wrote in the beginning of chapter eight in his most famous book, The Power of Nonviolence, "Nonviolent resistance is the key to the problem of liberty in the modern state." Gregg's thoughts and research about peaceful resistance are more timely today than it was in Martin Luther King Jr.'s time.
If the liberty of the individual and the world is to survive coming attacks, then a spiritually disciplined and peaceful minority of world citizens must organize across national boundaries, and work together to enrich the lives of each other's country, in all manners possible. We need to work towards political and economic liberty for all, specifically, the issuing of currency must become a public and national right; draconian laws must be repealed through each country's various democratic processes; anti-democratic and anti-capitalist institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, WTO must be terminated; and free economic competition must be enforced worldwide with as little state regulation as possible.
Those who stand in for the financial occupiers, from the wise-cracking elitist journalists and snobby politicians, to the brainwashed Stormtroopers, are not the enemies of the people. Whether they knowingly or unknowingly do the elite's bidding is a matter of debate, with the exception of the bottom-level enforcers, who need to be educated and warned of the implications of their support for NWO-induced political repression. What these puppets need to realize is that sooner or later "We The People" will overpass them at every step. They can decide to either support the present unlawful and evil system through their actions and compliance, or resist with us. The choice is for them to make.
If you are unconvinced that a police state is upon us, then you haven't read the McCain-Lieberman "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act." You can read it here. "A close reading of the bill," writes Marc Ambinder in The Atlantic, "suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity." The bill is not law, yet, but with the way things are going, there is a high probability that America's fine representatives will pass it. As Stephen Lendman writes, "in a climate of fear and intimidation, everyone is potentially vulnerable to legislative lawlessness if congressional timidity lets S. 3081 pass in an election year."
We are not yet in a state of full-blown martial law, but it is coming. All the signs are leading to a 'happy dictatorship." Washington, Ottawa, and London will rule through fear and force, but also with love and kindness. Normal life will be no more. The only way a police state can be maintained is in an indefinite state of emergency, in which detention centers are filled to full capacity with political non-compliants, curfews are regularly enforced in the most sensitive areas, and everybody's daily movement are monitored by government and private authorities. How long such a state is going to last is anybody's guess.
But pursuing the strategies of propaganda, force, divide/conquer, and political demagoguery has its limits, and practicing such strategies in spite of an active and peaceful worldwide resistance movement will not work. The spirit of man is too mighty and powerful. As Napoleon said: "There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit." Napoleon's prediction has already been proven true in the cases of India's peaceful victory against the British Empire, and the achievements of the civil rights movements, so it only makes sense that a non-violent resistance campaign in our era will also be victorious.
II. An Active Commitment to Non-Violent Resistance
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.” — Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1787
It is my feeling, as it is of many others, that tyranny grows when resistance to it falters. There are other reasons for it, of course, but it is the failure to rebel in the face of brutal terrorism and over-extension by the State that gives men in power the confidence to do anything under the sun. Murder. Lying. Stealing.
But as Gandhi revealed to us, violent resistance is not the only way to beat tyranny, in fact, it is the least desirable. A gun is not a symbol of defiance, it's just a tool, what is of greater important is the spirit of resistance. And both Jefferson and Gandhi were born with the same spirit of resistance.
But love of liberty is not enough. We must also sacrifice. And suffer. What I'm asking you, most of all, is to risk your life in the hope that liberty will be won peacefully. I intend to take the same path because it has shown to be the most effective and least bloody path in the historical pursuit of liberty and justice.
Will non-violence work against a hardened and equally committed United States Marine? Most definitely not. The professional military is well-noted for its discipline and execution of orders, which I have great respect for, but there are times when someone must take a risk. Will violence be done on the patient and the just? Yes. Will some peaceful resisters suffer unfair treatment at the hands of the Stormtroopers? Yes. But it's their job to "clear the area of all hostiles and non-compliant protesters," so it's not honest to hold it against them. Non-violent resisters take the oath to trade good with evil, and generosity with meanness. If I can't keep the oath at the most trying of times then I had no right to take it in the first place.
Non-violence demands of us our whole mind, body, and soul. When violence is being done to you, your spirit can't flinch. It also demands that we remain active, and focus on the ultimate goal at hand. Even soldiers aren't capable of doing this, they withdraw into their own heads in the heart of a battle, and go into a 'killer mode' where all discrepancy is removed from their actions. Minutes later, they can't register what exactly they did to defend themselves. When you are being attacked, your first reflex is to defend yourself, so it requires great awareness to keep on the track of non-violence, and not lose sight of your being, and aim.
If you fail even one time to remain non-violent, then there is a good chance that you will fail a second, third, and fourth time. I find it hard to contemplate the spiritual discipline and bodily courage that Gandhi and King each had. I respect them more than most military leaders. Gandhi couldn't have been passive even for a day when he was fighting to win rights for Indians in South Africa, and political independence for India. We have to be actively committed to non-violent resistance just like Gandhi and King were. "Passivity," writes Ken McLeod, "is insidious. It kills your mind (your attention, your intention, and your will) without you knowing it."
Although we are not yet in the same situation as France under Nazi rule, or of Japanese immigrants under American rule, anyone who dares to look can see that the road we're on leads directly towards a New-World dictatorship. The precedent of illegally arresting individuals for political behavior has already been set at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, the SPP meeting in Montebello, Quebec, and elsewhere. Protesting global economic and political policies in any North American and European city has been essentially outlawed. Even more disturbing is that assisting protesters via social networking sites can also get you fined and arrested, which is what happened to Elliot Madison and Michael Wallschlaeger.
But such actions by our various governments shouldn't deter us to publicly express our disapproval and rage. Resistance to tyranny is what made the modern world so prosperous. Men cannot flourish as slaves. William Norman Grigg writes in his most recent article "Resistance" that submission in Russia was guaranteed for generations because the Russians failed to resist a Communist dictatorship in its early stages. It went all downhill after the first shot was fired and people fearfully laid down to the Communist thugs. According to Grigg, liberty will be but a theory in a book, and a memory in the mind, if "the right to resist," is not practiced openly. But how shall we in America, Canada, and Europe go about it? Grigg says:
Wherever possible, resistance should be peaceful. Where violence is used it must be strictly governed by the non-aggression principle. Prudence has its proper claims to make as well: The right to resist unlawful violence may not be exercised in every appropriate circumstance, but it must be recognized as valid in all cases.
"We were never more free than under the German Occupation. We had lost all our rights, above all, the right to speak; we were insulted daily and had to remain silent, we were deported, because we were workers, because we were Jews, because we were political prisoners. All around us on the walls, in the newspapers, on the screen, we met that foul and insipid image that our oppressors wanted us to accept as ourselves. Because of all of this we were free. Since the Nazi poison was seeping into our thinking, each accurate thought was a victory; since an all-powerful police was trying to force silence upon us, each word became precious as a declaration of principles, since we were hunted, each gesture had the weight of a commitment. The often frightful circumstances of our struggle enabled us finally to live, undisguised and unconcealed, that anxious, unbearable situation which is called the human predicament." - Jean-Paul Sartre
The McCain-Lieberman Police State Act
The McCain-Lieberman Police State Act
By Stephen Lendman
If enacted, it will advance what this writer addressed in a December 2007 article titled, "Police State America - A Look Back and Ahead," covering numerous Bush administration laws, Executive Orders (EOs), National and Homeland Security Presidential Directives, edicts, and various illegal acts targeting designated domestic and foreign adversaries, dissent, civil liberties, human rights, and other democratic freedoms.
March 28, 2010
Pro Libertate: Resistance
William Norman Grigg - Pro Libertate: Resistance
"Time to end this! Enough is enough!" With those words, Officer Troy Meade of the Everett, Washington Police Department fired seven rounds into the body of Niles Meservey, killing him instantly. At the time, Meservey was stupefied by alcohol and sitting behind the wheel of his Corvette. The car was completely boxed in by other vehicles and a chain-link fence. According to several eyewitnesses -- including another police officer -- the 51-year-old man wasn't going anywhere, and posed no threat to anyone. Meade shot the drunken man not because of any threat to himself or others; he did it because he was angry and frustrated over Meservey's non-compliance.
Continued. . .
"Time to end this! Enough is enough!" With those words, Officer Troy Meade of the Everett, Washington Police Department fired seven rounds into the body of Niles Meservey, killing him instantly. At the time, Meservey was stupefied by alcohol and sitting behind the wheel of his Corvette. The car was completely boxed in by other vehicles and a chain-link fence. According to several eyewitnesses -- including another police officer -- the 51-year-old man wasn't going anywhere, and posed no threat to anyone. Meade shot the drunken man not because of any threat to himself or others; he did it because he was angry and frustrated over Meservey's non-compliance.
Continued. . .
Ludwig Watzal: The Crimes of Empire
Ludwig Watzal: The Crimes of Empire
Successive governments of the United States of America like to designate other countries, whose leaders they do not like, “rogue states”. Noam Chomsky showed in “Rogue States” that this designation does not apply to countries such as Iraq but to the United States itself. According to him, the American superpower fulfills all the characteristics of such an entity. The U. S. and its “junior partner”, the United Kingdom, made Iraq a cartoon of an “outlaw nation” that threatens the entire world, and Saddam Hussein the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. If that would have been true, they should have turned to the U.N. Security Council. Instead they started an act of aggression against Iraq, thereby showing contempt for international law and the U.N. Charter, which would have provided a legal base to handle this crisis peacefully. Chomsky mentions that Libya, Cuba, and North Korea were also designated as “rogue states”, and the “boy emperor from Crawford, Texas” named Iran, Iraq and North Korea the “axis of evil”. U. S. President Ronald Reagan had already termed the Soviet Union an “evil empire”. Having red Carl Boggs book, one can doubt whether the right countries were stigmatized “rogue states” because “The Crime of Empire” is the criminal history of U.S. behavior in international relations.
Continued. . .
Successive governments of the United States of America like to designate other countries, whose leaders they do not like, “rogue states”. Noam Chomsky showed in “Rogue States” that this designation does not apply to countries such as Iraq but to the United States itself. According to him, the American superpower fulfills all the characteristics of such an entity. The U. S. and its “junior partner”, the United Kingdom, made Iraq a cartoon of an “outlaw nation” that threatens the entire world, and Saddam Hussein the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler. If that would have been true, they should have turned to the U.N. Security Council. Instead they started an act of aggression against Iraq, thereby showing contempt for international law and the U.N. Charter, which would have provided a legal base to handle this crisis peacefully. Chomsky mentions that Libya, Cuba, and North Korea were also designated as “rogue states”, and the “boy emperor from Crawford, Texas” named Iran, Iraq and North Korea the “axis of evil”. U. S. President Ronald Reagan had already termed the Soviet Union an “evil empire”. Having red Carl Boggs book, one can doubt whether the right countries were stigmatized “rogue states” because “The Crime of Empire” is the criminal history of U.S. behavior in international relations.
Continued. . .
March 27, 2010
Anthony Lawson: Treason by Members of the United States Congress
Though those that are betrayed Do feel the treason sharply, yet the traitor Stands in worse case of woe. - Shakespeare
Truth Excavator's Commentary: A charge of treason is deadly serious. Nobody is hated more than a traitor. Even a dictator is more liked. When treason is suspected in high places, the entire Kingdom is shaken with fear, and anger. Disloyalty to the citizens of one's country is one of the worst crimes that could be committed by a public official, if not the worst. Security, faith, trust, confidence, everything that keeps a government and society in equilibrium is jeopardized once an act of treason is committed.
Recently, 300 congressmen signed a letter, declaring their allegiance to the 'unbreakable bond that exists between [U.S.] and the State of Israel." The letter was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and can be read here.
According to Anthony Lawson, the signing of the letter represented an act of treason. Alan Sabrosky, a ten-year US Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the US Army War College, has also said treason is taking place within America. In his article "Treason, Betrayal, and Deceit: 9/11 and Beyond," Sabrosky states:
But, is what I'm saying right? Are the charges of treason by Mr. Lawson, and Mr. Sabrosky reasonable? Are they out of line, and am I out of whack? Is it blasphemous to suggest that Congress is two-thirds traitors? I don't know. The members of Congress who signed the letter probably believe very sincerely that the State of Israel has all the right to acquire the land within it's immediate reach, and that Israel should be allowed to construct all the settlements that it sees fit, even by any means necessary. And maybe they're right. Are they foolish to follow such a course? I don't know. Aren't they undermining the Palestinian people? Yes, but is that new? These questions are very clear-cut for a lot of people. For some, what Israel is doing constitutes grave crimes, and it should be adequately punished, but for others, Israel is entitled to claim Jerusalem, as well as other Palestinian land, and if the United States is her partner in this historic effort, then so much the better. Being on the fence is not a good place to be. Soon, the fence may even be gone.
Personally, I have decided to stay out of this fight. I don't have a dog in it. I am learning to reserve my passions for other battles. I'm not for Israel or Palestine. All I'm interested in is a peaceful world, and a wonderful future for a beautiful planet that is inhabited by all of God's children. But I am keeping my eyes, heart, and mind open. I'm starting to listen to the arguments of both sides, and won't make my final judgment until the moment arrives when a clear judgment must be handed down.
By Anthony Lawson: Treason by Members of the United States CongressTruth Excavator's Commentary: A charge of treason is deadly serious. Nobody is hated more than a traitor. Even a dictator is more liked. When treason is suspected in high places, the entire Kingdom is shaken with fear, and anger. Disloyalty to the citizens of one's country is one of the worst crimes that could be committed by a public official, if not the worst. Security, faith, trust, confidence, everything that keeps a government and society in equilibrium is jeopardized once an act of treason is committed.
Recently, 300 congressmen signed a letter, declaring their allegiance to the 'unbreakable bond that exists between [U.S.] and the State of Israel." The letter was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and can be read here.
According to Anthony Lawson, the signing of the letter represented an act of treason. Alan Sabrosky, a ten-year US Marine Corps veteran and a graduate of the US Army War College, has also said treason is taking place within America. In his article "Treason, Betrayal, and Deceit: 9/11 and Beyond," Sabrosky states:
If these Americans and those like them ever fully understand just how much of their suffering -- and the suffering we have inflicted on others -- is properly laid on the doorsteps of Israel and its advocates in America, they will sweep aside those in politics, the press and the pulpits alike whose lies and disloyalty brought this about and concealed it from them. They may well leave Israel looking like Carthage after the Romans finished with it. It will be Israel’s own great fault.
Although I agree certain members of Congress and the United States government are putting the State of Israel above the lives of their own countrymen, and even of their own country, and that their betrayal should be considered an act of treason, I disagree that Zionists are responsible for America's ills. Once blame gets handed out, a willfully ignorant nation and its traitorous leadership need look no further than themselves. Blaming a foreign entity for the failings and problems of one's own country is what a spiritually and psychologically weak people do. Instead of pursuing revenge; searching for peace is the answer. Only understanding, and forgiveness will benefit the world and humanity. No doubt, traitors and deceivers deserve the strictest punishment, but the righteous rage should end there. Anymore, and it will become explosively destructive. Violence is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, Gandhi, and all of humankind's greatest teachers and messengers.
But, is what I'm saying right? Are the charges of treason by Mr. Lawson, and Mr. Sabrosky reasonable? Are they out of line, and am I out of whack? Is it blasphemous to suggest that Congress is two-thirds traitors? I don't know. The members of Congress who signed the letter probably believe very sincerely that the State of Israel has all the right to acquire the land within it's immediate reach, and that Israel should be allowed to construct all the settlements that it sees fit, even by any means necessary. And maybe they're right. Are they foolish to follow such a course? I don't know. Aren't they undermining the Palestinian people? Yes, but is that new? These questions are very clear-cut for a lot of people. For some, what Israel is doing constitutes grave crimes, and it should be adequately punished, but for others, Israel is entitled to claim Jerusalem, as well as other Palestinian land, and if the United States is her partner in this historic effort, then so much the better. Being on the fence is not a good place to be. Soon, the fence may even be gone.
Personally, I have decided to stay out of this fight. I don't have a dog in it. I am learning to reserve my passions for other battles. I'm not for Israel or Palestine. All I'm interested in is a peaceful world, and a wonderful future for a beautiful planet that is inhabited by all of God's children. But I am keeping my eyes, heart, and mind open. I'm starting to listen to the arguments of both sides, and won't make my final judgment until the moment arrives when a clear judgment must be handed down.
It must have been realised that the letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, signed by nearly 300 members of the U.S. Congress, affirming their commitment to Israel, would be widely publicised and fall into the hands of that illegal Apartheid State, so the writing and signing of that letter should be considered an act of treason.
The letter has totally undermined the power of the President of the United States by virtually telling Israel: "It does not matter what you do to the Palestinians, how many illegal structures you build on the territory you stole from them; how you behave towards the Lebanese, or what you have in mind for Iran, we, the signatories on this letter are with you, all the way."
I am not a citizen of the United States, I am a citizen of a world that is being ruined by Zionism and its practitioners' thirst for power and greed for land that does not rightly belong to them. Having goaded the United States to attack Iraq, it is now attempting to draw it into a pre-emptive attack on Iran, while continuing to lie about the reason. The Iranian president did not threaten to "Wipe Israel off the map". Juan Cole, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at University of Michigan who reads Persian, has explained that President Ahmadinejad actually stated (quoting the late Ayatollah Khomeini): "The Imam said that this regime occupying Jerusalem (een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods) must [vanish from] from the page of time (bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad)."
What Israel and the perverse mainstream media has turned this into can be compared to a Farsi speaker saying: "Nothing lasts forever." And having this turned into, by the likes of the BBC and CNN and the press: "I'm going to kill you."
Alexandria's Link.
Glenn Greenwald: The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters
Glenn Greenwald: The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters
A newly leaked CIA report prepared earlier this month (.pdf) analyzes how the U.S. Government can best manipulate public opinion in Germany and France -- in order to ensure that those countries continue to fight in Afghanistan. The Report celebrates the fact that the governments of those two nations continue to fight the war in defiance of overwhelming public opinion which opposes it -- so much for all the recent veneration of "consent of the governed" -- and it notes that this is possible due to lack of interest among their citizenry: "Public Apathy Enables Leaders to Ignore Voters," proclaims the title of one section.
Continued. . .
A newly leaked CIA report prepared earlier this month (.pdf) analyzes how the U.S. Government can best manipulate public opinion in Germany and France -- in order to ensure that those countries continue to fight in Afghanistan. The Report celebrates the fact that the governments of those two nations continue to fight the war in defiance of overwhelming public opinion which opposes it -- so much for all the recent veneration of "consent of the governed" -- and it notes that this is possible due to lack of interest among their citizenry: "Public Apathy Enables Leaders to Ignore Voters," proclaims the title of one section.
Continued. . .
The Shadow Government's Healthcare Bill Rules.
The Shadow Government's Healthcare Bill Rules.
By J. Speer-Williams
J. Speer-Williams can be reached at jsw4@mac.com
By J. Speer-Williams
I recently wrote what I had hoped was a satirical article, poking fun at the fact President Obama could not feasibly have read all the legislation he has signed into law, centering on the on the mammoth 2,700 page Healthcare Reform Bill. And although some people appreciated the article, a couple of readers did not.
One lady reader condemned the piece as being negative, with no discernible point; while, she invested no more of her own thought in it than that. A male reader (who showed some thought) bought the truth that while Obama probably didn't read the Healthcare bill - due to time constraints - he was certainly briefed with a detailed summary of it, highlighting the bill's major points.
This gentleman, like many others, does not see the absurdity of legislation that is so long it could take weeks or months to read; after all, our Constitution was handwritten on about four or five pages.
Our Declaration of Independence was handwritten on one sheet of paper.
Our lawmakers and president should not be briefed on proposed laws, they should scrutinize every line, of every proposed law, as it is that important to the American people. And the American public should be given the opportunity to do the same, as President Obama promised.
If a proposed law is too long for the average, literate American to read and understand, in one sitting, then it should be thrown out. Convoluted, long passages in legislation is simply an effort to hide tyrannical intentions. And with “voice votes” becoming popular, in congress, we are even denied the knowledge of knowing just who supports tyranny.
All points of legislation should be debated in Congress, by senators and representatives, not given “talking points” by unseen agents of the International Monetary/Banking Cartel, to memorize and parrot to the corporate media.
In response, I asked the gentleman, who seem to think a briefing was adequate, to consider what a colossal briefing Mr. Obama would have to have had to cover all 2,700 pages of just that one bill - the mislabeled Healthcare "Reform" Act.
If Mr. Obama was briefed in detail on the steady stream of hundreds of thousands of legislation pages proposed in congress, he'd be spending every waking moment being briefed, without doing any of it real justice.
Divinity students spend years in college studying the detailed summaries that highlight the major points in the 1,300 page Bible, and still not cover it all. Does the gentleman really think Obama can be briefed on something the size of ten novels, or two Bibles, in a month or so, especially considering all the other thousands of pages of Executive Orders (written for him) that he signs, or the thousands of pages of regulations that are annually issued by Executive Branch agencies?
Mr. Obama - and our lawmakers - read (from teleprompters) or repeat "talking points" given to them by shadowy sources -the minions of the Shadow Government, that are beholden to the International Monetary/Banking Cartel.
Mr. Obama, and all other politicians, avoid the subjects of who reads or writes the thousands of pages of legislation, orders, directives, and regulations that pour out of Washington annually, as they do not know who writes it all, and do not want to have to admit they don't read much of any of it in any case. With one exception.
That exception, that was probably read by Obama, et al, was written into the Healthcare Reform Act as a loophole for the privileged: The president, his staff and family, Joe Biden's staff and family, Nancy Pelosi's staff, Harry Reid's staff, and many other insiders are all exempted from the mandates of Obamacare. How nice, they've given it all to us taxpaying Americans to have, to hold, and to pay for.
It would seem to me that if the tenets of the Christian religion could be contained within 1,300 pages, America does not need 900,000 to millions of pages of legislation, orders, directives, and regulations to be governed. How can we obey those laws if we don’t know what they are?
But, the critical questions all thinking Americans will ask themselves run along the lines of who wrote the hundreds of thousands of pages of US legislation, orders, directives, and regulations that so severely affect our lives. That Madame and Sir was the point of my satirical piece, and is the important point of this article.
J. Speer-Williams can be reached at jsw4@mac.com
Clunker Healthcare Bill Protects Private Insurers Damages Democracy
Clunker Healthcare Bill Protects Private Insurers Damages Democracy
By Billy Wharton
25 March, 2010
Countercurrents.org
Americans desperately need healthcare. The need is so desperate that many are buying into a “something is better than nothing” philosophy to support a healthcare bill that actively works against their own interests. The bill that Barack Obama plans to sign into law is being dubbed a “reform,” but actually amounts to a corporate restructuring that will solidify the reliance on the same private insurance companies that have caused the crisis in the nation’s healthcare system. As single-payer activist, Dr. Margaret Flowers stated, “The Democratic Party has now moved so far to the right that they have just passed a Republican health bill.” This is no surprise, private insurers and pharmaceutical companies have flooded the electoral system with money in order to guarantee their continued ability to accumulate profits.
March 26, 2010
Chris Floyd - An Unaccustomed Truth: American Commander Admits Afghan Atrocities
Chris Floyd - An Unaccustomed Truth: American Commander Admits Afghan Atrocities
Let's repeat the much-media-lauded general's statement again: “We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat." Now, what would the authorities say if you or I shot "an amazing number of people who have never proven to be a threat?" Why, they would call us murderers -- even mass murderers. Yet this is precisely what "the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan" has just declared, on videotape.
Continued. . .
Well, John the Baptist after torturing a thief
Looks up at his hero the Commander-in-Chief
Saying, “Tell me great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?
-- Bob Dylan, "Tombstone Blues"
One can only assume that the regular editors of the New York Times were all out at a party, or left early for a weekend in the Hamptons, or something -- but somehow, the paper published a front webpage story that stated -- without the usual thousand excuses and extenuations -- that American troops are routinely slaughtering Afghan civilians at checkpoints. What's more, the story unequivocally ties the civilian killings to the "surge" ordered by the noble Nobel Peace laureate, Barack Obama.
Here's what the Times says:
American and NATO troops firing from passing convoys and military checkpoints have killed 30 Afghans and wounded 80 others since last summer, but in no instance did the victims prove to be a danger to troops, according to military officials in Kabul.
And what is the paper's authority for this astounding admission of atrocity? Not the usual "unnamed sources" or "senior official in a position to have knowledge of the situation," but none other than Obama's hand-picked commander on the Af-Pak front, General Stanley "Black Ops" McChrystal his own self:
“We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat,” said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who became the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan last year. His comments came during a recent videoconference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties.
Let's repeat the much-media-lauded general's statement again: “We have shot an amazing number of people, but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat." Now, what would the authorities say if you or I shot "an amazing number of people who have never proven to be a threat?" Why, they would call us murderers -- even mass murderers. Yet this is precisely what "the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan" has just declared, on videotape.
Continued. . .
Nathan's Economic Edge: Damon Vrabel - Renaissance 2.0
Posted in full from Nathan's Economic Edge.
Nathan's Economic Edge: Damon Vrabel - Renaissance 2.o:
Damon is proving to be a dedicated warrior trumpeting the sovereign money song. His message is in tune and it is loud and clear. Damon is producing a series of videos explaining the money, power, and control structure of the United States. As new videos are added, I will post them here and at SwarmUSA.com under the Freedom’s Vision and Media Tabs, “Renaissance 2.0.”
I think you’ll find that Damon has a unique way of putting our world into perspective. You might even find it ‘mind-blowing,’ but you’ll have a hard time making a case against what he presents. That’s because it’s all true. No conspiracies needed, just facts about the way our money and markets really work.
What Damon is really describing is WHO controls the money power. This is the same exact thing that Bill Still is describing, just expressed in a much different way.
I, for one, am really looking forward to more…
Here’s Damon’s introduction:
SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION:
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 1 - Revisiting American History - Financial Empire (9:43)
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 2 - Revisiting Economics 101 – Debt (8:16)
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 3 - Revisiting Civics 101 – Ownership (8:01)
Nathan's Economic Edge: Damon Vrabel - Renaissance 2.o:
Damon is proving to be a dedicated warrior trumpeting the sovereign money song. His message is in tune and it is loud and clear. Damon is producing a series of videos explaining the money, power, and control structure of the United States. As new videos are added, I will post them here and at SwarmUSA.com under the Freedom’s Vision and Media Tabs, “Renaissance 2.0.”
I think you’ll find that Damon has a unique way of putting our world into perspective. You might even find it ‘mind-blowing,’ but you’ll have a hard time making a case against what he presents. That’s because it’s all true. No conspiracies needed, just facts about the way our money and markets really work.
What Damon is really describing is WHO controls the money power. This is the same exact thing that Bill Still is describing, just expressed in a much different way.
I, for one, am really looking forward to more…
Here’s Damon’s introduction:
I've recently started an online video series, Renaissance 2.0, in the hopes of engaging a group dialogue to discuss where we want to head in the future as I believe we're facing the end of our monetary system, or a serious reset, which some of you probably detected in my articles. Will we move into Dark Ages 2.0 or Renaissance 2.0? No doubt many people would want their voice to be heard regarding this question. That's my hope with this series.
This effort may lead to something called the Council on Spiritual, Psychological, and Economic Renewal (CSPER), but I have not decided whether to formally pursue that or not. For now I'm moving forward with the videos.
The first 3 chapters are online but they don't look into the future yet. They revisit History, Economics 101, and Civics 101 to correct the myths about the system within which we live today--a monolithic financial empire. My goal with these first 3 is to establish the common baseline from which we can dialogue about the future. Continuing to swing between the establishment right and left, which both take us down the same path, has failed for generations and will continue to fail because both sides are media creations controlled by higher powers, explained in these videos.
At the same time, a couple other efforts are hoping to fix 2 massive problems:
1. Debt-based money from the Fed and Wall St. We need a system that serves the people. This one does not. Nathan Martin is leading an effort to accomplish this at SwarmUSA.com. Even if you're not particularly interested in this issue, you can still signup at the swarm and then forward the emails we pump out to target key politicians, media personalities, and others who can help us solve this problem. It takes just 30 seconds to forward the periodic emails.
2. Political parties controlled by corporations/banks. America only exists if people run politics from the bottom-up, but 80% of the county offices are empty!! Why are we surprised at who runs the parties? So Phil Glass has launched the National Precinct Alliance to start getting local people in these offices. As long as they remain vacant, the mega Dem/Repub machine will control things from DC. If you're interested in helping rebuild local power or becoming a county precinct officer, check NPA out at National Precinct Alliance.
Warmly,
Damon
SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION:
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 1 - Revisiting American History - Financial Empire (9:43)
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 2 - Revisiting Economics 101 – Debt (8:16)
Renaissance 2.0: Lesson 3 - Revisiting Civics 101 – Ownership (8:01)
Tit for tat
Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim
The snub marked a fresh low in US-Israeli relations and appeared designed to show Mr Netanyahu how low his stock had fallen in Washington after he refused to back down in a row over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem.
The Israeli prime minister arrived at the White House on Tuesday evening brimming with confidence that the worst of the crisis in his country's relationship with the United States was over.
Continued. . .Why I Am Not Asleep
It is a school night. But I cannot sleep. If I wake up late for class, who cares. Grades don't matter. What good is a diploma when society is in a big coma? Who can sleep at such a time in history? The hearts and minds of men are under siege. Liberty is defenseless, and has been for some time. The enemy breached her gates long ago. And yet, I and others are called crazy and paranoid for sensing the danger and speaking out about it. What a world we live in! If this isn't the Apocalypse, then what is?
The enemy I'm referring to is the shadow elite, and as Professor Janine R. Wedel, and numerous other analysts have said, their influence knows no bounds. They present a clear and constant danger to the public's liberty, safety, and sanity. Silently and violently, they acquired unprecedented economic and military power, and infiltrated the highest ranks of government, think tanks, corporations and officialdom. Unknown to the public, they have posed as the guards of the Kingdom. And it is a Kingdom ruled by secrecy and terror.
And what outlets do Americans have left to get the attention of their representatives? Sadly, breaking the windows of party headquarters. Sending letters doesn't work. And since the elections are not freely held, accountability is just a word. To put it another way, the snake from the famous "Join or Die" poster has been seized by the national security state at the neck. It can't speak. Once a while it lets out an impotent scream, but as long as it is controlled, it is powerless. And who is doing the choking? The corporate press. The CIA. The White House. Wall Street. The Military-Industrial-Congressional-Medical-Media-Complex.
In such a state, liberty can't put up a fight without being branded as domestic terrorism, or right-wing/left-wing extremism. The funny(and sad) thing is that through a divide and conquer strategy that's been waged by the empire's crooks, hookers, weasels, and liars, critics from both the left and right constantly accuse each other of being "crazy nutcases" engaging in "uncivilized dialogue," and aroused by "unwarranted anger." Neither side has any idea that the battle for the Republic has never been between Left vs. Right, but Top vs. Down.
Imagine sheep eating each other alive. That is the political and human tragedy that is slowly developing in America. But it's a tragedy that can still be avoided.
And the media is not an aid to rational dialogue and peaceful civility, instead, it is the single greatest source of deception, and propaganda, which incites even further anger from the public. The trials of O.J Simpson, Michael Jackson, and Tiger Woods, are examined to death, but there isn't any mention of the greatest crime and cover-up in the history of the world: 9/11. Any mention of 9/11 being a cover-up is immediately dismissed. Questions even approaching the subject are censored in the mainstream media. But there are some hopeful signs that things are starting to change on that front. Last month, Jennifer Harper asked the question in The Washington Times: "A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds?"
Also, The Independent recently published an op-ed by former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who asked an even more distressing question, "Why must the world continue to live inside a lie?"
Some of us still believe in the lie, but that does not change the reality that we currently live under the thump of liars, and the most painful and monstrous of lies; the lie that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were carried out by members of Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden. It is a lie that has been repeated endlessly by government leaders around the world. It is a lie that has benefited authoritarianism, and destroyed free-will. It is a lie that tramples my soul every day. The thought that evil men run the world is not a happy thought.
Those of us that are awake and care about humanity's future are functioning normally by raising our voices. We're under mental duress, sure, but the ugly and disheartening facts that we have become aware of over the years are giving us a mental boost to fight for liberty, and more importantly, a clear conscience. Some have woken up by watching illuminating documentaries on the internet, others by reading engaging books; some through friends, others because of the helpful work of thoughtful strangers. It doesn't matter how we got here. We're awake now. And we must wake up our fellow human beings, at whatever platform, and whenever. However little we can do is worth a lot.
History will vindicate the truth. But it will also help very much if the truth attains victory. Undoubtedly, the Bubble Lie will crash sometime in the future, as the housing bubble crashed, and all the other bubbles that preceded that. America has reached the point where the survival of the nation is at stake. The same is true for the world's liberty and economic prosperity. No country can lie to itself forever. A massive public outrage is heading the politicians and media's way. Government authorities and leading newspapers have betrayed the American people, and the public trust, by refusing to examine the questions and complaints of 9/11 skeptics, and other enraged citizens.
The time has come when secrecy must be abandoned, and a new non-government investigation formed to weigh all the evidence of the conflicting theories about 9/11. With the exception of the clueless and gullible, it is an established fact that the official story doesn't hold any water. Anything else, we don't know. But ignorance is never a good excuse. I don't know what really happened on 9/11, but I want to find out. Instead of breaking windows, let's break social taboos, and confront the 9/11 lie with all our minds and wills combined.
The enemy I'm referring to is the shadow elite, and as Professor Janine R. Wedel, and numerous other analysts have said, their influence knows no bounds. They present a clear and constant danger to the public's liberty, safety, and sanity. Silently and violently, they acquired unprecedented economic and military power, and infiltrated the highest ranks of government, think tanks, corporations and officialdom. Unknown to the public, they have posed as the guards of the Kingdom. And it is a Kingdom ruled by secrecy and terror.
And what outlets do Americans have left to get the attention of their representatives? Sadly, breaking the windows of party headquarters. Sending letters doesn't work. And since the elections are not freely held, accountability is just a word. To put it another way, the snake from the famous "Join or Die" poster has been seized by the national security state at the neck. It can't speak. Once a while it lets out an impotent scream, but as long as it is controlled, it is powerless. And who is doing the choking? The corporate press. The CIA. The White House. Wall Street. The Military-Industrial-Congressional-Medical-Media-Complex.
In such a state, liberty can't put up a fight without being branded as domestic terrorism, or right-wing/left-wing extremism. The funny(and sad) thing is that through a divide and conquer strategy that's been waged by the empire's crooks, hookers, weasels, and liars, critics from both the left and right constantly accuse each other of being "crazy nutcases" engaging in "uncivilized dialogue," and aroused by "unwarranted anger." Neither side has any idea that the battle for the Republic has never been between Left vs. Right, but Top vs. Down.
Imagine sheep eating each other alive. That is the political and human tragedy that is slowly developing in America. But it's a tragedy that can still be avoided.
And the media is not an aid to rational dialogue and peaceful civility, instead, it is the single greatest source of deception, and propaganda, which incites even further anger from the public. The trials of O.J Simpson, Michael Jackson, and Tiger Woods, are examined to death, but there isn't any mention of the greatest crime and cover-up in the history of the world: 9/11. Any mention of 9/11 being a cover-up is immediately dismissed. Questions even approaching the subject are censored in the mainstream media. But there are some hopeful signs that things are starting to change on that front. Last month, Jennifer Harper asked the question in The Washington Times: "A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds?"
Also, The Independent recently published an op-ed by former Congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney, who asked an even more distressing question, "Why must the world continue to live inside a lie?"
Some of us still believe in the lie, but that does not change the reality that we currently live under the thump of liars, and the most painful and monstrous of lies; the lie that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were carried out by members of Al Qaeda, and Osama Bin Laden. It is a lie that has been repeated endlessly by government leaders around the world. It is a lie that has benefited authoritarianism, and destroyed free-will. It is a lie that tramples my soul every day. The thought that evil men run the world is not a happy thought.
Those of us that are awake and care about humanity's future are functioning normally by raising our voices. We're under mental duress, sure, but the ugly and disheartening facts that we have become aware of over the years are giving us a mental boost to fight for liberty, and more importantly, a clear conscience. Some have woken up by watching illuminating documentaries on the internet, others by reading engaging books; some through friends, others because of the helpful work of thoughtful strangers. It doesn't matter how we got here. We're awake now. And we must wake up our fellow human beings, at whatever platform, and whenever. However little we can do is worth a lot.
History will vindicate the truth. But it will also help very much if the truth attains victory. Undoubtedly, the Bubble Lie will crash sometime in the future, as the housing bubble crashed, and all the other bubbles that preceded that. America has reached the point where the survival of the nation is at stake. The same is true for the world's liberty and economic prosperity. No country can lie to itself forever. A massive public outrage is heading the politicians and media's way. Government authorities and leading newspapers have betrayed the American people, and the public trust, by refusing to examine the questions and complaints of 9/11 skeptics, and other enraged citizens.
The time has come when secrecy must be abandoned, and a new non-government investigation formed to weigh all the evidence of the conflicting theories about 9/11. With the exception of the clueless and gullible, it is an established fact that the official story doesn't hold any water. Anything else, we don't know. But ignorance is never a good excuse. I don't know what really happened on 9/11, but I want to find out. Instead of breaking windows, let's break social taboos, and confront the 9/11 lie with all our minds and wills combined.
"We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it. Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions. Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it." - JFK
March 25, 2010
Cenk Uygur Laid It Down!
Finally! Someone who is angry for the right reasons and articulate enough to express his anger is on television. Cenk of The Young Turks is an American patriot! God bless him.
Wow, What a Guy ...
How long is the new health care legislation. See for yourself. If you strain your eyes after reading through it all, and require eye care, you need not worry, because ALL AMERICANS HAVE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE NOW! Right?
Wow, What a Guy ...
By J. Speer-Williams
J. Speer-Williams can be reached at JSW4@mac.com
Wrong!
I love America. Or, more accurately, I love what America is supposed to stand for: Freedom, opportunity, abundance, free choice, diversity...
But I'm increasingly noticing that America's leaders don't believe in those ideals at all. They are betraying the American people by selling out our futures to the corporate monopolists. They are turning America into a corporatocracy, and the passage of this monopoly sick-care system is yet another perfect example of just how easily our own lawmakers will sell out the People just to appease the powerful chemical industrialists who dominate medicine today.
To read about the wonderful work that President Barack Obama and his elves/colleagues have accomplished, read this great article by Mr. J. Speer-Williams.
Wow, What a Guy ...
By J. Speer-Williams
Wow, What a Guy ...
After congress passed the so-called Health Reform bill, I felt more like screaming than laughing. But, what is there to laugh about? Oh yes, Obama. He has, indeed, become laughable.
The Holy Bible has less than 1,300 pages. But, how would you like to be tasked with having to read all those pages, until you understood them, in a month, a week, or a day, while having what some say is the most difficult job in the world?
President Obama did something far more heroic than that. He carefully read twice that many pages, and all of it was in some of the most poorly written, most abstruse legalese imaginable. It was the 2,700, plus, pages of the Healthcare "Reform" bill, commonly called Obamacare; and since this bill was always changing, add another 300 pages poor Obama had to read.
Perhaps, the president enjoyed reading something that is over twice as long as the Bible, twice as hard to understand (due to poor writing), but only half as interesting. But, Mr. Obama had an advantage: It's been scientifically proven that pathological liars are faster readers than those not so gifted. And as a corollary all democratic congressmen, and most republican ones, are also fast readers.
And maybe, just reading that tome of legislation so inspired Mr. Obama he couldn't stop reading it, even missing the basketball games of March Madness, and Michele's pleas of "Put down that office stuff and come to bed, dear."
Undoubtedly, our poor president hasn't slept in weeks. Remember he also had thousands of pages of other bills to to read, all written by the little wordsmiths in tax free "think-tanks" run by the oligarchs of the International Monetary/Banking Cartel, who have sponsored Barack since he was in college.
Our president - a self proclaimed man of the people - must have smiled when he read how heavy taxes on his people will start immediately, while benefits for his people are to take place in later years, plenty of time for future legislation to nullify those benefits.
A satisfying sigh of pleasure must have escaped his lips when he read that Obamacare mandates the hiring of 16,000 more IRS agents, to ensure all taxpaying Americans do their patriotic parts by paying more confiscatory taxes: "Ah my liberal base will be so pleased my green shoots are producing more jobs," he must have thought.
But the lying skill, so perfected by our president many years ago, seemed to have lost some of its magic. But, what do you expect? Undoubtedly our poor president hasn't slept in weeks. Actually, he hasn't slept in years, due to all the legislation he had to read as a senator before he'd dare vote on any of it.
I guess President Obama is very thankful for the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, which stipulates a 30 day congressional recess each August. So, if we don't see much of President Obama in August, we'll know why - he'll be catching up on his sleep.
Wow, what a guy ...
J. Speer-Williams can be reached at JSW4@mac.com
March 24, 2010
Kevin Carson - The Healthcare Crisis: A Crisis of Artificial Scarcity
Obama's health care "reform" is about one thing: control. The bill exempts Washington's top staffers and top political leaders. Essentially, it allows special treatment for one class of Americans, the beneficiary class, and unkindly treatment for another class; the slaves who are tricked and forced into paying burdensome taxes. And if they refuse to comply, they'll have to face these guys.
Politico: "The health care reform bill signed into law by President Barack Obama Tuesday requires members of Congress and their office staffs to buy insurance through the state-run exchanges it creates – but it may exempt staffers who work for congressional committees or for party leaders in the House and Senate."
The health care bill is a corporatist dream bill, according to long-time industry insider Wendell Potter. Potter gave an interview to journalist Greg Palast at Fighting Bob Fest in 2009, where he told Palast: "I just couldn't stand by and watch the industry use the same tactics, and the same fear-mongering, and kill reform." Despite his noble efforts to speak out and warn the American people, the new health care bill passed and is now the law.
To gain a different perspective about the health care crisis, read Kevin Carson's excellent paper, The Healthcare Crisis: A Crisis of Artificial Scarcity.
THE HEALTHCARE CRISIS: A Crisis of Artificial Scarcity, By Kevin A. Carson
Politico: "The health care reform bill signed into law by President Barack Obama Tuesday requires members of Congress and their office staffs to buy insurance through the state-run exchanges it creates – but it may exempt staffers who work for congressional committees or for party leaders in the House and Senate."
The health care bill is a corporatist dream bill, according to long-time industry insider Wendell Potter. Potter gave an interview to journalist Greg Palast at Fighting Bob Fest in 2009, where he told Palast: "I just couldn't stand by and watch the industry use the same tactics, and the same fear-mongering, and kill reform." Despite his noble efforts to speak out and warn the American people, the new health care bill passed and is now the law.
To gain a different perspective about the health care crisis, read Kevin Carson's excellent paper, The Healthcare Crisis: A Crisis of Artificial Scarcity.
THE HEALTHCARE CRISIS: A Crisis of Artificial Scarcity, By Kevin A. Carson
Spies, War Crimes, and World War III
A spy unsettles US-India ties
By M K Bhadrakumar
By Charles Glass
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Any Attack on Iran Must be Full-Scale
By David Corn
p.s. God help us.
By M K Bhadrakumar
Covering up American War Crimes, From Baghdad to New York
News that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reached a plea bargain with David Coleman Headley, who played a key role in the planning of the terrorist strike in Mumbai in November 2008 in which 166 people were killed, has caused an uproar in India.
The deal enables the US government to hold back from formally producing any evidence against Headley in a court of law that might have included details of his links with US intelligence or oblige any cross-examination of Headley by the prosecution.
Nor can the families of the 166 victims be represented by a lawyer to question Headley during his trial commencing in Chicago.
Headley's links with the US intelligence will now remain classified information and the Pakistani nationals involved in the Mumbai attacks will get away scot-free. Furthermore, the FBI will not allow Headley's extradition to India and will restrict access so that Indian agencies cannot interrogate him regarding his links with US and Pakistani intelligence.
Continued. . .
By Charles Glass
BBC correspondent John Simpson reported on March 4 that the number of defects in newborn babies in the Iraqi town of Fallujah had risen dramatically since the American assault there at the end of 2004. Some people in the town blame the abnormalities in their children on whatever chemicals the US Marines may have used in their conquest of the Sunni Muslim redoubt. Dr. Samira al-Ani, a paediatrician at Fallujah’s General Hospital, told Simpson that two or three children were born each day with serious cardiac problems. Before the first American attack on Fallujah in two years earlier, she noticed similar ailments in one baby every two months. “I have nothing documented,” she admitted, “but I can tell you that year by year the number [is] increasing.”
The Iraqi government, which supported the American attack with troops of its own, denies there has been any increase. “The US military authorities,” Simpson said, “are absolutely correct when they say they are not aware of any official reports indicating an increase in birth defects in Fallujah—no official reports exist.” Nor are any likely to. By any standard, though, this was a big story. John Simpson is a serious journalist and a friend, and I listened carefully to his report that morning on the BBC World Service. I waited in vain for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other serious American journals to take up the story. All I read was a brief item on the CBS News website quoting Simpson.
The US denied it anyway, perhaps out of habit. Military spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick responded predictably, “No studies to date have indicated environmental issues resulting in specific health issues.” But, as Simpson said, there have not been any studies. American spokesmen were reluctantly forced to admit the use of White Phosphorous—or Willie Pete, as the troops call it—in Fallujah when someone noticed that Field Artillery Magazine, a U. S. Army publication, had already documented its deployment in its March/April 2005 edition. The magazine wrote, “We fired ‘shake and bake’ missions at the insurgents, using WP [White Phosphorous] to flush them out and HE [High Explosives] to take them out.” After Dahr Jamail, a brilliant freelance journalist, reported during the battle in 2004 that American forces were using WP on Iraqis, Project Censored gave him an award for the second most under-reported story of the year. It is still under-reported, but it is not difficult to understand why. The US government does not want it known that it was using chemicals on human beings in a country whose leader it overthrew ostensibly because he retained the capacity to do the same thing. And the US Treasury does not want to compensate foreigners for any harm its troops might have done. Let us turn now to New York and what has become the secular-sacred site of the former World Trade Center.
Continued. . .
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Any Attack on Iran Must be Full-Scale
By David CornSenator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) laid it on thick at AIPAC's annual gala banquet on Monday. Referring to the pro-Israel lobby, Graham declared, "The Congress has your back." (What other lobby would he say that to?) He declared that Israel is "our best friend in the world." (Does that tick off Canadians?) But Graham went especially far when he endorsed the idea of a military strike against Iran.
The former Navy judge advocate told the thousands of AIPACers that when it comes to dealing with Iran and the possibility it will develop nuclear weapons, "all options must be on the table" and "you know exactly what I'm talking about." He then made the obligatory comments, saying that war is a "terrible thing" and that he hoped it could be avoided. But added Graham, a member of the Senate armed services committee, "sometimes it is better to go to war than to allow the Holocaust to develop a second time." And he told the crowd that "time is not on our side" and that this AIPAC conference could be the last of the lobby's annual get-togethers before Iran possesses nuclear weapons. Military action ought to be taken against Iran, he said, before the country acquires a nuclear bomb.
Continued. . .
p.s. God help us.
Glenn Greenwald - The creepy tyranny of Canada's hate speech laws
Glenn Greenwald - The creepy tyranny of Canada's hate speech laws
I've written many times before about the evils of "hate speech" laws that are prevalent in Canada and Europe -- people being fined, prosecuted and hauled before official tribunals for expressing political opinions which the State has prohibited and criminalized. I won't rehash those arguments here, but I do want to note a particularly creepy illustration of how these laws manifest.
Continued. . .
I've written many times before about the evils of "hate speech" laws that are prevalent in Canada and Europe -- people being fined, prosecuted and hauled before official tribunals for expressing political opinions which the State has prohibited and criminalized. I won't rehash those arguments here, but I do want to note a particularly creepy illustration of how these laws manifest.
Continued. . .
"The Insurance Industry Loves It" Whistleblower Wendell Potter on the Health Care Law
GregPalast.com:
"The Insurance Industry Loves It"
Greg Palast interviews Wendell Potter at Fighting Bob Fest 2009
"The Insurance Industry Loves It"
Whistleblower Wendell Potter on the Health Care Law
Greg Palast interviews Wendell Potter at Fighting Bob Fest 2009
Good-Bye. Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It
Good-Bye. Truth Has Fallen and Taken Liberty With It
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTSThere was a time when the pen was mightier than the sword. That was a time when people believed in truth and regarded truth as an independent power and not as an auxiliary for government, class, race, ideological, personal, or financial interest.
Today Americans are ruled by propaganda. Americans have little regard for truth, little access to it, and little ability to recognize it.
Truth is an unwelcome entity. It is disturbing. It is off limits. Those who speak it run the risk of being branded “anti-American,” “anti-semite” or “conspiracy theorist.”
Truth is an inconvenience for government and for the interest groups whose campaign contributions control government.
Truth is an inconvenience for prosecutors who want convictions, not the discovery of innocence or guilt.
Truth is inconvenient for ideologues.
Today many whose goal once was the discovery of truth are now paid handsomely to hide it. “Free market economists” are paid to sell offshoring to the American people. High-productivity, high value-added American jobs are denigrated as dirty, old industrial jobs. Relicts from long ago, we are best shed of them. Their place has been taken by “the New Economy,” a mythical economy that allegedly consists of high-tech white collar jobs in which Americans innovate and finance activities that occur offshore. All Americans need in order to participate in this “new economy” are finance degrees from Ivy League universities, and then they will work on Wall Street at million dollar jobs.
Economists who were once respectable took money to contribute to this myth of “the New Economy.”
And not only economists sell their souls for filthy lucre. Recently we have had reports of medical doctors who, for money, have published in peer-reviewed journals concocted “studies” that hype this or that new medicine produced by pharmaceutical companies that paid for the “studies.”
The Council of Europe is investigating the drug companies’ role in hyping a false swine flu pandemic in order to gain billions of dollars in sales of the vaccine.
The media helped the US military hype its recent Marja offensive in Afghanistan, describing Marja as a city of 80,000 under Taliban control. It turns out that Marja is not urban but a collection of village farms.
And there is the global warming scandal, in which NGOs. the UN, and the nuclear industry colluded in concocting a doomsday scenario in order to create profit in pollution.
Wherever one looks, truth has fallen to money.
Wherever money is insufficient to bury the truth, ignorance, propaganda, and short memories finish the job.
Continued. . .
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Although there is an anti-Southern/anti-Republican bias in Hedges' statements, which is part of his overall 'holier than thou' narrative, I think his last sentence has a great deal of merit. He is speaking from experience, so he knows what he is talking about. We must stand up to the Democrats and Republicans right now. That is a given. Both parties are equally responsible for the bankruptcy of the nation, as well as the two unpopular wars that have unnecessary caused the loss of innocent lives and precious wealth. But America is not "yearning for fascism," it is instead yearning for genuine political and social change.
On both sides of the isles, leaders have strictly maintained a centrist/corporate status quo since the 1980's. So the solution is obvious: a new political party. And not just any kind of party. But a party that brings together both progressives and libertarians around some basic and popular political stances, such as no bailouts for Wall St., no immoral wars, no corporate subsidies for health insurance companies, no police state laws, and no drug war. I bet a majority of people can agree to that platform.