To understand the meaning of the U.S. election results, it is worth looking back to the moment when everything changed for the Obama campaign. It was, without question, the moment when the economic crisis hit Wall Street.
Up to that point, things weren’t looking all that decisive for Barack Obama. The Democratic National Convention barely delivered a bump, while the appointment of Sarah Palin seemed to have shifted the momentum decisively over to John McCain.
Then, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed, followed by insurance giant AIG, then Lehman Brothers. It was in this moment of economic vertigo that Obama found a new language. With tremendous clarity, he turned his campaign into a referendum into the deregulation and trickle down policies that have dominated mainstream economic discourse since Ronald Reagan. He said his opponent represented more of the same while he stood for a new direction, one that would rebuild the economy from the ground up, rather than the top down. Obama stayed on this message for the rest of the campaign and, as we just saw, it worked.
The question now is whether Obama will have the courage to take the ideas that won him this election and turn them into policy. Or, alternately, whether he will use the financial crisis to rationalize a move to what pundits call “the middle” (if there is one thing this election has proved, it is that the "peoples" middle is far to the left of its previously advertised address). Predictably, Obama is already coming under enormous pressure to break his election promises, particularly those relating to raising taxes on the wealthy and imposing real environmental regulations on polluters. All day on the business networks, we hear that, in light of the economic crisis, corporations need lower taxes, and fewer regulations—in other words, more of the same.
The new president’s only hope of resisting this campaign being waged by the elites is if the remarkable grassroots movement that carried him to victory can somehow stay energized, networked, mobilized—and most of all, critical. Now that the election has been won, this movement's new missions should be clear: loudly holding Obama to his campaign promises, and letting the Democrats know that there will be consequences for betrayal.
The first order of business—and one that cannot wait until inauguration—must be halting the robbery-in-progress known as the “economic bailout.” Author, Activist, Journalist, Naomi Klein, has spent the past month examining the loopholes and conflicts of interest embedded in the U.S. Treasury Department’s plans. She's just published feature articles in Rolling Stone, The New Trough, and her column in The Nation, Bush’s Final Pillage.
Both these pieces argue that the $700-billion “rescue plan” should be regarded as the Bush Administration’s final heist. Not only does it transfer billions of dollars of public wealth into the hands of politically connected corporations (a Bush specialty), but it passes on such an enormous debt burden to the next administration that it will make real investments in green infrastructure and universal health care close to impossible. If this final looting is not stopped (and yes, there is still time), we can forget about Obama making good on the more progressive aspects of his campaign platform, let alone the hope that he will offer the country some kind of grand Green New Deal.
Klein's best selling book, The Shock Doctrine details how terrible thefts have a habit of taking place during periods of dramatic political transition. When societies are changing quickly, the media and the people are naturally focused on big “P” politics—who gets the top appointments, what was said in the most recent speech. Meanwhile, safe from public scrutiny, far reaching pro-corporate policies are locked into place, dramatically restricting future possibilities for real change. Wonder where Cheney's been since the "collapse"... busy busy busy...
But it’s not too late to halt the robbery in progress, though it cannot wait until inauguration. Several great initiatives to shift the nature of the bailout are already underway, including bailoutmainstreet.com. I added my name to the “Call to Action: Time for a 21st Century Green America” and invite you to do the same.
Stopping the bailout profiteers is about more than money. It is about democracy. Specifically, it is about whether Americans will be able to afford the change they have just voted for so conclusively.
(lifted from Naomi Klein)
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Money. Show all posts
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Paulson's Dirty Litle Secret
In an article recently, Joe Nocera the economic writer for the NYTimes, revealed what he calls "the dirty little secret of the banking industry"--namely, it has no intention of using the [government bailout] money to save small business. Its essential aim was to engineer a rapid consolidation of the American banking system by subsidizing a wave of takeovers of smaller financial firms by the most powerful banks." In other words, our money is being given to help the financial aristocracy consolidate their wealth and destroy our society.
Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, wants to help his friends the speculative banks to acquire as many smaller, more stable savings banks as possible and is using his power to inject capital (our money) to force a new and hostile round of bank consolidation.
Nocera cites an employee-only conference call held October 17 by a top executive of JPMorgan Chase, the beneficiary of $25 billion in public funds. Nocera explains that he obtained the call-in number and was able to listen to a recording of the proceedings, unbeknownst to the executive, whom he declines to name.
Asked by one of the participants whether the $25 billion in federal funding will "change our strategic lending policy," the executive replies: "What we do think, it will help us to be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling."
Referring to JPMorgan's recent government-backed acquisition of two large competitors, the executive continues: "And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way, and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop."
As Nocera notes: "Read that answer as many times as you want--you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy."
Later in the conference call the same executive states that they will tighten credit and actually SHRINK loaning which will drive up the rates for loans... and their profits.
Paulson and other Treasury officials have made public statements calling on the banks that receive public funds to use them to increase their lending activities. That, however, is pure propaganda. The bailout program imposes no lending requirements on the banks in return for government cash.
The wealth consolidation is already starting to appear, early this month, (in a nearly unnoticed move) Paulson put in place a new tax break worth billions of dollars to his friends, allowing the acquiring bank to immediately write-off any losses on the books of the banks they take over. This will in fact, encourage bank mergers.
We already know the credit crisis bailout has prompted the takeover of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual by JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, Wachovia by Wells Fargo but last Friday, National City Bank was aggressively acquired by PNC ( a Pittsburg-based financial giant)
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday called the acquisition of National City a "strong-arm sale", but also provides a taste of what is to come. Paulson and his Treasury Department sealed the fate of the Cleveland-based National City bank by denying them any government bailout. But then it then Pittsburgh-based PNC $7.7 billion from to help takeover National City. Now PNC can write off all the debt of National City with Paulson's new tax write-off on mergers.
All of the claims that were made to justify the bank bailout seem to be as truthful as the lies BushCo gave for invading Iraq. President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Paulson told the Democratic congressional leadership and Barack Obama that the bailout had to be passed, and passed immediately, despite massive popular opposition. Those who opposed the plan were denounced for jeopardizing the well being of the American people.
Though this time, several Republican leaders, like Jim Sensenbrenner, held out for and additional $150B in earmarks—but more importantly, they now are on record as opposing the bill so when Americans finally realize this deception... these Congressmen will look like Russ Feingold did after the Patriot Act was exposed— as heroes of the people!
What a sham, what a clever move in a well- constructed plan to topple our rights and freedom.
In a nationally televised speech delivered September 24, in advance of the congressional vote on the bailout plan, Bush said it would "help American consumers and businessmen get credit to meet their daily needs and create jobs." If the bailout was not passed, he warned, "More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account.... More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs ... ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."
One month after his bailout was enacted... and all of the dire developments he said the bailout would fix--banks and businesses disappearing, the stock market plunging, unemployment skyrocketing- are happening with accelerating speed.
While Obama talks about the need for all Americans to "come together" in a spirit of "shared sacrifice" what he doesn't want to say--is that this bailout is sucking any and all money he might have used for his social programs.--meaning drastic cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security in addition to not affording universal healthcare, better schools and infrastructure.
But so too, would McCain find this "crisis" will also make it impossible for him to give the wealthy tax cuts and bailout plans he's been touting.... The darker side being... his handlers may actually push the tax cuts through and accelerate the collapse of our nation.
As Naomi Klein theorized in her book "The Shock Doctrine, the "economic rescue" plan is a scheme to plunder society for the benefit of the financial aristocracy. The American ruling elite, utilizing its domination of the state and the two-party political system, is exploiting a crisis of its own making to carry through an economic agenda, long in preparation, that could not be imposed under normal conditions.
The result will be at least greater economic hardship for ordinary Americans but possibly herald the death of Democracy. The few newly consolidated mega-banks will have near absolute market control to set interest rates and provide credit to workers, students, families and small businesses. The government is organizing a restructuring of the financial system that will enable a handful of mega-banks to have ultimate power over society.
How is this not unlike the same aristocratic elite plotting the wealth consolidation and overthrow of our government in 1933 during the last economic collapse?
This time, it seems they may well have succeeded.
Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, wants to help his friends the speculative banks to acquire as many smaller, more stable savings banks as possible and is using his power to inject capital (our money) to force a new and hostile round of bank consolidation.
Nocera cites an employee-only conference call held October 17 by a top executive of JPMorgan Chase, the beneficiary of $25 billion in public funds. Nocera explains that he obtained the call-in number and was able to listen to a recording of the proceedings, unbeknownst to the executive, whom he declines to name.
Asked by one of the participants whether the $25 billion in federal funding will "change our strategic lending policy," the executive replies: "What we do think, it will help us to be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling."
Referring to JPMorgan's recent government-backed acquisition of two large competitors, the executive continues: "And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way, and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop."
As Nocera notes: "Read that answer as many times as you want--you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy."
Later in the conference call the same executive states that they will tighten credit and actually SHRINK loaning which will drive up the rates for loans... and their profits.
Paulson and other Treasury officials have made public statements calling on the banks that receive public funds to use them to increase their lending activities. That, however, is pure propaganda. The bailout program imposes no lending requirements on the banks in return for government cash.
The wealth consolidation is already starting to appear, early this month, (in a nearly unnoticed move) Paulson put in place a new tax break worth billions of dollars to his friends, allowing the acquiring bank to immediately write-off any losses on the books of the banks they take over. This will in fact, encourage bank mergers.
We already know the credit crisis bailout has prompted the takeover of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual by JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, Wachovia by Wells Fargo but last Friday, National City Bank was aggressively acquired by PNC ( a Pittsburg-based financial giant)
The Wall Street Journal on Saturday called the acquisition of National City a "strong-arm sale", but also provides a taste of what is to come. Paulson and his Treasury Department sealed the fate of the Cleveland-based National City bank by denying them any government bailout. But then it then Pittsburgh-based PNC $7.7 billion from to help takeover National City. Now PNC can write off all the debt of National City with Paulson's new tax write-off on mergers.
All of the claims that were made to justify the bank bailout seem to be as truthful as the lies BushCo gave for invading Iraq. President Bush, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Paulson told the Democratic congressional leadership and Barack Obama that the bailout had to be passed, and passed immediately, despite massive popular opposition. Those who opposed the plan were denounced for jeopardizing the well being of the American people.
Though this time, several Republican leaders, like Jim Sensenbrenner, held out for and additional $150B in earmarks—but more importantly, they now are on record as opposing the bill so when Americans finally realize this deception... these Congressmen will look like Russ Feingold did after the Patriot Act was exposed— as heroes of the people!
What a sham, what a clever move in a well- constructed plan to topple our rights and freedom.
In a nationally televised speech delivered September 24, in advance of the congressional vote on the bailout plan, Bush said it would "help American consumers and businessmen get credit to meet their daily needs and create jobs." If the bailout was not passed, he warned, "More banks could fail, including some in your community. The stock market would drop even more, which would reduce the value of your retirement account.... More businesses would close their doors, and millions of Americans could lose their jobs ... ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession."
One month after his bailout was enacted... and all of the dire developments he said the bailout would fix--banks and businesses disappearing, the stock market plunging, unemployment skyrocketing- are happening with accelerating speed.
While Obama talks about the need for all Americans to "come together" in a spirit of "shared sacrifice" what he doesn't want to say--is that this bailout is sucking any and all money he might have used for his social programs.--meaning drastic cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security in addition to not affording universal healthcare, better schools and infrastructure.
But so too, would McCain find this "crisis" will also make it impossible for him to give the wealthy tax cuts and bailout plans he's been touting.... The darker side being... his handlers may actually push the tax cuts through and accelerate the collapse of our nation.
As Naomi Klein theorized in her book "The Shock Doctrine, the "economic rescue" plan is a scheme to plunder society for the benefit of the financial aristocracy. The American ruling elite, utilizing its domination of the state and the two-party political system, is exploiting a crisis of its own making to carry through an economic agenda, long in preparation, that could not be imposed under normal conditions.
The result will be at least greater economic hardship for ordinary Americans but possibly herald the death of Democracy. The few newly consolidated mega-banks will have near absolute market control to set interest rates and provide credit to workers, students, families and small businesses. The government is organizing a restructuring of the financial system that will enable a handful of mega-banks to have ultimate power over society.
How is this not unlike the same aristocratic elite plotting the wealth consolidation and overthrow of our government in 1933 during the last economic collapse?
This time, it seems they may well have succeeded.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Disaster Capitalism
We’re seeing another very dramatic example of the Economic Shock-Thearapy right now with this extortionist kind of tactic playing out in Washington. BushCo says “Sign this blank check, or we’re all going down, Wall Street, your savings pensions and 401ks—you know, The Sky is Falling!!!”
Just like the days following 9/11 when BushCo pushed through the USA Patriot Act and forced Congress to vote on a (still hot from the duplicator machines) 597 page rewrite of the Constitution before noon that day! I think most every American can agree there are many parts of that "book" that turned out to not be in the best interests of freedom and democracy. But in his rhetoric, Bush said 'yer either with us or against us' and barring our own Russ Feingold it passed nearly unanimously.
Well here we are at the autumn of the Bush residency... and here again we're facing another "sky is falling—pass this by friday" shock doctrine. The game is the same, use fear to keep the flock in line. Scare America into doing the wrong thing because its their ONLY choice... and its gotta happen by tomorrow- or else!
So what is this Economic Shock-Therapy? Milton Friedman coined it as a way to bring about radical economic changes that would normally be highly controversial—Disaster Capitalism. Following a disaster, the citizens are softened up and rally behind perceived leadership. Precisely the time to slip-in radical changes (like torture, spying, wars, deregulation and consolidation) wrapped in the form of a security blanket (or flag).
Naome Klein has written a book detailing many historic examples of this technique and its use. The Shock Doctrine gives perhaps the blueprints for todays financial shock treatment delivered by Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
It’s interesting who Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is, he served as an assistant to Richard Nixon’s assistant, Watergate "plumber" John Ehrlichman. From there he moved right to Goldman Sachs, where he became the head of it.
BusinessWeek magazine ran an article just after Paulson was appointed by Bush in 2006, Mr Risk Goes to Washington, It says, “Think of Paulson as Mr. Risk. He’s one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in [their] pursuit of profits. By some key measures, the securities industry is more leveraged now than it was at the height of the 1990s boom." When Paulson took over Goldman Sachs in 1999, they had $20 billion in high-risk gambles—When he left, they had $100 billion.
Henry Paulson isn't speaking for Main Street, he's bailing out his colleagues for some of the very debts that he himself accumulated.
Last night the pResident addressed the nation urging Congress and the citizens to immediately accept and implement his Economic Plan. A plan he said his economic advisors have been working on for weeks. Well Folks, its all of three pages long.
Paulson said that he thought it would be presumptuous to put in clauses calling for regulation. But this is absolute nonsense. Section 2 of the same document talks about how they have the right to hire contractors to administer this huge operation, and we know that that means contracting with some of the very firms who are going to be bailed out. And then it says that it would be—they would be contracting them without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts.
Hello??? What are we, Iraq? This document grants complete immunity from oversight and prosecution that the contractors have in Iraq, if not more. Basically what they are saying is that Paulson can contract with private companies AND exempt those companies from the existing law. No conflict of interest, no whistleblowing, in fact way to prosecute them if we learn in six months that they've broken every law on the books.
...in times of crisis, when people are panicked, we’ve seen again and again the right push through radical pro-corporate policies, what they call “free market reforms,” precisely because it is in a crisis where the space for debate rapidly closes, and you can invoke this state of emergency to say we have no choice.
They’re getting this—they’re lobbying for this huge bailout, obviously, but this bailout is a kind of a time bomb, because it’s all these bad debts, and they are going to explode on the next administration. I mean, we know that the Bush administration has already left the next administration with huge debt and deficit problems. They’ve just exploded those, expanded them. And what that means is that whoever the next president is is going to be inheriting this economic crisis that is being exacerbated by this bailout.
Welcome to Disaster Capitalism -
and the next installment of The Shock Doctrine.
Just like the days following 9/11 when BushCo pushed through the USA Patriot Act and forced Congress to vote on a (still hot from the duplicator machines) 597 page rewrite of the Constitution before noon that day! I think most every American can agree there are many parts of that "book" that turned out to not be in the best interests of freedom and democracy. But in his rhetoric, Bush said 'yer either with us or against us' and barring our own Russ Feingold it passed nearly unanimously.Well here we are at the autumn of the Bush residency... and here again we're facing another "sky is falling—pass this by friday" shock doctrine. The game is the same, use fear to keep the flock in line. Scare America into doing the wrong thing because its their ONLY choice... and its gotta happen by tomorrow- or else!
So what is this Economic Shock-Therapy? Milton Friedman coined it as a way to bring about radical economic changes that would normally be highly controversial—Disaster Capitalism. Following a disaster, the citizens are softened up and rally behind perceived leadership. Precisely the time to slip-in radical changes (like torture, spying, wars, deregulation and consolidation) wrapped in the form of a security blanket (or flag).
Naome Klein has written a book detailing many historic examples of this technique and its use. The Shock Doctrine gives perhaps the blueprints for todays financial shock treatment delivered by Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
It’s interesting who Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is, he served as an assistant to Richard Nixon’s assistant, Watergate "plumber" John Ehrlichman. From there he moved right to Goldman Sachs, where he became the head of it.
BusinessWeek magazine ran an article just after Paulson was appointed by Bush in 2006, Mr Risk Goes to Washington, It says, “Think of Paulson as Mr. Risk. He’s one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in [their] pursuit of profits. By some key measures, the securities industry is more leveraged now than it was at the height of the 1990s boom." When Paulson took over Goldman Sachs in 1999, they had $20 billion in high-risk gambles—When he left, they had $100 billion.
Henry Paulson isn't speaking for Main Street, he's bailing out his colleagues for some of the very debts that he himself accumulated.
Last night the pResident addressed the nation urging Congress and the citizens to immediately accept and implement his Economic Plan. A plan he said his economic advisors have been working on for weeks. Well Folks, its all of three pages long.
Paulson said that he thought it would be presumptuous to put in clauses calling for regulation. But this is absolute nonsense. Section 2 of the same document talks about how they have the right to hire contractors to administer this huge operation, and we know that that means contracting with some of the very firms who are going to be bailed out. And then it says that it would be—they would be contracting them without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts.
Hello??? What are we, Iraq? This document grants complete immunity from oversight and prosecution that the contractors have in Iraq, if not more. Basically what they are saying is that Paulson can contract with private companies AND exempt those companies from the existing law. No conflict of interest, no whistleblowing, in fact way to prosecute them if we learn in six months that they've broken every law on the books.
...in times of crisis, when people are panicked, we’ve seen again and again the right push through radical pro-corporate policies, what they call “free market reforms,” precisely because it is in a crisis where the space for debate rapidly closes, and you can invoke this state of emergency to say we have no choice.
They’re getting this—they’re lobbying for this huge bailout, obviously, but this bailout is a kind of a time bomb, because it’s all these bad debts, and they are going to explode on the next administration. I mean, we know that the Bush administration has already left the next administration with huge debt and deficit problems. They’ve just exploded those, expanded them. And what that means is that whoever the next president is is going to be inheriting this economic crisis that is being exacerbated by this bailout.
Welcome to Disaster Capitalism -
and the next installment of The Shock Doctrine.
Monday, March 03, 2008
3 Trillion Dollar Lie
Last week, pResident Bush told Ann Curry on the Today Show that the problem with the US economy has nothing to do with our actions in the middle east, but rather it was because we built too many homes! Saying the war actually supports our economy because making weapons is providing jobs, our imperial pResident inferred that our carelessness and obsession to go shopping is what got us in this mess!
Can anyone say they don't want to ring this jerk's neck? This same scoundrel who within days of 9/11 told us to go shopping and who recently told us to take the silly $300 economic bailout check and go out to eat.... now says its our propensity to shop that got us in the is mess!
Polls show his popularity has dipped to 19% and still refuses to admit we are even headed for recession, let alone as most economists say... that we are IN one! So how can his criminal regime continue to assault anyone who disagrees with their "reality" and get away with it? How can anyone with an IQ greater than an acorn fall for these lies and propaganda?
All the MSM pundits and propagandists have the airwaves on fire with their next character assassination, Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Columbia University Professor and former Chief of Economics at the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz and his co-author Professor Linda Bilmes, who's book The Three Trillion Dollar War, conservatively and judiciously reveals the many lies and deceptions this corrupt administration is using to keep we citizens in the dark while dismantling our nation.
There is no other explanation but that they are soon to overthrow what's left of liberty and freedom to crush the last nation that stands in the way of a one-world rule. And remarkably, large numbers of ignorant conservatives in fear of losing what comforts they've been trained to enjoy... seem eager and willing to give up those very things as they become subjects serving their current masters.
Can anyone say they don't want to ring this jerk's neck? This same scoundrel who within days of 9/11 told us to go shopping and who recently told us to take the silly $300 economic bailout check and go out to eat.... now says its our propensity to shop that got us in the is mess!
Polls show his popularity has dipped to 19% and still refuses to admit we are even headed for recession, let alone as most economists say... that we are IN one! So how can his criminal regime continue to assault anyone who disagrees with their "reality" and get away with it? How can anyone with an IQ greater than an acorn fall for these lies and propaganda?
All the MSM pundits and propagandists have the airwaves on fire with their next character assassination, Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Columbia University Professor and former Chief of Economics at the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz and his co-author Professor Linda Bilmes, who's book The Three Trillion Dollar War, conservatively and judiciously reveals the many lies and deceptions this corrupt administration is using to keep we citizens in the dark while dismantling our nation.
There is no other explanation but that they are soon to overthrow what's left of liberty and freedom to crush the last nation that stands in the way of a one-world rule. And remarkably, large numbers of ignorant conservatives in fear of losing what comforts they've been trained to enjoy... seem eager and willing to give up those very things as they become subjects serving their current masters.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
What Does Democracy Mean?
Yesterday, citizens of Wisconsin went to the polls to decide who would represent their views and ideas in the November Election. At least thats what is supposed to happen in a primary election.
But what we are seeing start to happen here in Wisconsin... the first major primary after super tuesday and after the folding of the Republican party into one candidate... is something far more insidious and destructive of that fragile system we call democracy.
In large numbers, republican voters "decided" (well were instructed but thats the same word to these folk) -decided to jump ticket and vote for the democrat they felt most easy to beat in November!
Yep, thats republiklan for democracy... win at any cost, screw the will of the people, lie, cheat, steal - whatever it takes to keep in office... Oh, and do it wrapped in a flag wearing your lapel-pin with your hand cross your heart, mouthing the words to the national anthem -cuz you probably don't really know em after all! Hypocrites! We as a nation, starting here in Wisconsin, following Charlie Sykes' scheme to destabilize the democratic process (alright I'm giving sykes too much credit) have chosen to be as unethical as the very leadership we have all grown to dislike.
Is it any wonder our nation is in the condition it is? Economically strapped, more divided ideologically and financially than ever in history, acting more like an Imperial power than a representative republic, condoning treason, torture, spying, kidnapping and gross human rights abuses on a global scale, this cancer that has invaded our government has spread down to its citizens.
In 2006 the nation shocked Karl Rove and the GOP by turning out in such numbers to overwhelmingly defeat their agenda. An agenda that preached win at any cost, even if it means stealing elections. Many are still unaware of the antics employed by the radical wing of the GOP to secure the last four erections. But clearly the people were not represented in their vote.
And so today as many "citizens" take their "hot-showers" to cleanse the sin from jumping party-lines to vote for the lesser enemy, we see that the cancer has spread to the minions of the grand old party.
Just as we found in the last four erections, democracy is being transformed into some game like fear-factor or the apprentice... win at any cost, damn the rules or ethical behavior... damn the will of the people. Democracy has been turned into a winner-take-all cage-match with all the hype and pyrotechnics of a WWF pay-per-view event.
If we were to remove all the deceptor-votes from Hillary in yesterday's primary, she would have lost by a far wider margin of 18%... and Obama would have rightfully picked up more delegates... and the will of the people would have been heard.
But yesterday, the cancer spread to the hypocrites as they decided to join in undermining Democracy... They decided their will was more important than the will of the people, than true Democracy. And now the trend has been established... Wisconsin forged ahead "Forward" to spread the cancer of undermining democracy... to the rest of the primaries.
But what we are seeing start to happen here in Wisconsin... the first major primary after super tuesday and after the folding of the Republican party into one candidate... is something far more insidious and destructive of that fragile system we call democracy.
In large numbers, republican voters "decided" (well were instructed but thats the same word to these folk) -decided to jump ticket and vote for the democrat they felt most easy to beat in November!
Yep, thats republiklan for democracy... win at any cost, screw the will of the people, lie, cheat, steal - whatever it takes to keep in office... Oh, and do it wrapped in a flag wearing your lapel-pin with your hand cross your heart, mouthing the words to the national anthem -cuz you probably don't really know em after all! Hypocrites! We as a nation, starting here in Wisconsin, following Charlie Sykes' scheme to destabilize the democratic process (alright I'm giving sykes too much credit) have chosen to be as unethical as the very leadership we have all grown to dislike.
Is it any wonder our nation is in the condition it is? Economically strapped, more divided ideologically and financially than ever in history, acting more like an Imperial power than a representative republic, condoning treason, torture, spying, kidnapping and gross human rights abuses on a global scale, this cancer that has invaded our government has spread down to its citizens.
In 2006 the nation shocked Karl Rove and the GOP by turning out in such numbers to overwhelmingly defeat their agenda. An agenda that preached win at any cost, even if it means stealing elections. Many are still unaware of the antics employed by the radical wing of the GOP to secure the last four erections. But clearly the people were not represented in their vote.
And so today as many "citizens" take their "hot-showers" to cleanse the sin from jumping party-lines to vote for the lesser enemy, we see that the cancer has spread to the minions of the grand old party.
Just as we found in the last four erections, democracy is being transformed into some game like fear-factor or the apprentice... win at any cost, damn the rules or ethical behavior... damn the will of the people. Democracy has been turned into a winner-take-all cage-match with all the hype and pyrotechnics of a WWF pay-per-view event.
If we were to remove all the deceptor-votes from Hillary in yesterday's primary, she would have lost by a far wider margin of 18%... and Obama would have rightfully picked up more delegates... and the will of the people would have been heard.
But yesterday, the cancer spread to the hypocrites as they decided to join in undermining Democracy... They decided their will was more important than the will of the people, than true Democracy. And now the trend has been established... Wisconsin forged ahead "Forward" to spread the cancer of undermining democracy... to the rest of the primaries.
Or perhaps it was here,
on the battlefields of Wisconsin's polling stations
that Democracy proved, as it did in 2006,
that the will of the people can beat
the cancer of unethical greed.
on the battlefields of Wisconsin's polling stations
that Democracy proved, as it did in 2006,
that the will of the people can beat
the cancer of unethical greed.
The bigger question remains,
Has the cancer spread to the super-delegates too?
Has the cancer spread to the super-delegates too?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Bush Hides Our Economic Crash
The Bush Administration is Shutting Down a Major Website that Tracks U.S. Economic Indicators to Keep Citizens Ignorant of the Disaster Ahead!
The Bush Administration is so certain that the economy is collapsing, it plans to hide the indicators from the already distracted and despondent consumer masses. It might be smart to take your "economic stimulus rebate" and start buying Silver friends.
The U.S. economy is failing. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has exploded. So the Bush Administration and its GOP henchmen are attempting to draw attention away from the upcoming crisis, by blaming the media's negative coverage and STILL insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what most every economists is predicting.
The Bush administration's latest move is to simply hide the data. Even as Forbes Magazine awarded EconomicIndicators.gov one of its "Best of the Web" awards, explaining the government site provides an invaluable service to the public for accessing U.S. economic data:
This site is maintained by the Economics and Statistics Administration combining data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, like GDP and net imports and exports, and the Census Bureau, like retail sales and durable goods shipments. The site simply links the data of relevant departmental websites. While this might not seem like a big deal, try "doing it yourself "- Try to find retail sales data on the Census Bureau's site and tie it into the GDP figures, it will convince you why this website is so valuable and important.
Yet the Bush administration has the audacity to claim "Budgetary Constraints" have forced them to shut down the site March 1st ! It's a bit more than ironic that the Economic and Statistics Administration is facing such constraints considering Bush just submitted a record $3.1 trillion budget to Congress for FY ‘09.
The site's Economic Indicators were automatically tabulated from several sources and emailed to anyone who signed up. People received a free email as soon as new economic data from government agencies became available. While the data will still be available online at various federal websites, it will now be the users responsibility to ferret out the information buried deep in dozens of government websites. It will be much less readily accessible to the general public.
In its e-mail announcement on the closing of Economic Indicators, the Department of Commerce acknowledged the "inconvenience" and offered a "free" quarterly subscription to STAT-USA/Internet instead. BUT once this temporary subscription runs out, the public will be forced to pay a fee.
So not only will economic data be more secret,
it will now also cost money just to see it.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Charlie Wilson's War- the sequel
I recently went to see the Tom Hanks film Charlie Wilson's War. Last summer I shared a room with a fellow activist who, like me, was given a chance to lobby our Congress for the Alaska Wilderness Coalition. I noticed a thick book he was engrossed in and asked him about it. He was reading the best-selling novelby George Crile, Charlie Wilson's War and said it was a chilling revelation into the inner-workings of the Congress we were to meet with the next three days.
We talked into the night of the startling truths behind the veil of righteousness that was either required to keep our world at peace-or was the very reason for it being so horrific. Oddly enough, the book, and now movie mirror exactly the same conundrum... but as usual.. only a few will be privy to engage in such discussion. Privy-perhaps the wrong word for it infers elite or special when what I mean is few will have an opportunity to realize that there are deeper questions that need asking after watching this film.
Film Critic James Rocchi said it best-
I didn't leave Charlie Wilson's War, the new film from director Mike Nichols, dissatisfied or unamused. I walked out of Charlie Wilson's War angry. No reasonable person expects a film -- any film -- to capture the complexity and scope of real events with absolute precision; adaptations are translations, and as the old Italian saying goes, "The translator is a traitor." It's one thing to compress, combine and fictionalize a story to fit the sprawling, ugly mess of it onto the big screen; it's another to take only the best, shiniest parts of a real, ugly story and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Translation may be traitorous, but Charlie Wilson's War feels like a conscious act of treason against reason itself. As film critic David Thompson has said, "We learn our history from movies, and history suffers ...." Charlie Wilson's War isn't just bad history; it feels even more evil, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia.
The movie is ridiculously nearsighted and does a great disservice to our historic perspective. Summed up with the movie's final sentences spoken by Hanks which perfectly illustrate how the truth, like so many headlines, can be manipulated to tell only the part that paints the best reflection of what we want reality to be, rather than what it truly is. Sort of a Dorian Grey Portrait-this story snapshots a moment in time showing the best image possible, while the real truth lies buried, like the portrait hidden in the attic, in the untold history that followed those final words.
“These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world. And the people who deserved the credit are the ones who made the sacrifice. And then we fucked up the endgame.”
Does anyone realize the endgame was us disowning Afghanistan after arming it to the teeth and training its citizens to be efficient terrorists? That the subsequent struggle for power amid the aftermath, created the Taliban, bin Laden and alQaeda? At least there was a moment, originally in the film, but left on the cutting room floor by the producers, where Gust contacts Wilson years later to tell him to turn on his tv to see the 9/11 attacks.
gee-kinda wrecks the warm-fuzzy afterglow of the film doesn't it?
Charlie Wilson's War stops being funny
...when you realize we're living in the sequel.
We talked into the night of the startling truths behind the veil of righteousness that was either required to keep our world at peace-or was the very reason for it being so horrific. Oddly enough, the book, and now movie mirror exactly the same conundrum... but as usual.. only a few will be privy to engage in such discussion. Privy-perhaps the wrong word for it infers elite or special when what I mean is few will have an opportunity to realize that there are deeper questions that need asking after watching this film.
Film Critic James Rocchi said it best-
I didn't leave Charlie Wilson's War, the new film from director Mike Nichols, dissatisfied or unamused. I walked out of Charlie Wilson's War angry. No reasonable person expects a film -- any film -- to capture the complexity and scope of real events with absolute precision; adaptations are translations, and as the old Italian saying goes, "The translator is a traitor." It's one thing to compress, combine and fictionalize a story to fit the sprawling, ugly mess of it onto the big screen; it's another to take only the best, shiniest parts of a real, ugly story and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Translation may be traitorous, but Charlie Wilson's War feels like a conscious act of treason against reason itself. As film critic David Thompson has said, "We learn our history from movies, and history suffers ...." Charlie Wilson's War isn't just bad history; it feels even more evil, like a conscious attempt to induce amnesia.
The movie is ridiculously nearsighted and does a great disservice to our historic perspective. Summed up with the movie's final sentences spoken by Hanks which perfectly illustrate how the truth, like so many headlines, can be manipulated to tell only the part that paints the best reflection of what we want reality to be, rather than what it truly is. Sort of a Dorian Grey Portrait-this story snapshots a moment in time showing the best image possible, while the real truth lies buried, like the portrait hidden in the attic, in the untold history that followed those final words.
“These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world. And the people who deserved the credit are the ones who made the sacrifice. And then we fucked up the endgame.”
Does anyone realize the endgame was us disowning Afghanistan after arming it to the teeth and training its citizens to be efficient terrorists? That the subsequent struggle for power amid the aftermath, created the Taliban, bin Laden and alQaeda? At least there was a moment, originally in the film, but left on the cutting room floor by the producers, where Gust contacts Wilson years later to tell him to turn on his tv to see the 9/11 attacks.
gee-kinda wrecks the warm-fuzzy afterglow of the film doesn't it?
Charlie Wilson's War stops being funny
...when you realize we're living in the sequel.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
AT&T 'Ready to Filter' the Web
During a panel discussion at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, AT&T’s top lobbyist said the company was ready to implement new technologies that would allow it to inspect and filter Web traffic.
James Cicconi, AT&T’s senior vice president for external and legal affairs, said that the time was right to start filtering for content at the network level. “We think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” Cicconi said, according to a New York Times reporter who attended the panel.
It’s no secret that major ISPs have been working with technology companies such as Cisco to filter content with deep-packet-inspection software. Last year, AT&T revealed its plans to work with MPAA, RIAA and broadcasters to use and deploy “digital fingerprinting techniques.
According to public statements, their rationale for playing traffic cop is to ferret out pirated content: sniffing through our digital packets for material that infringe on copyright.
Can You Trust the Filter?
But the technology can be used for other purposes, and the phone giant has shown that it has no qualms invading our communications to hand over our private records to government, or censor speech or block service “without prior notice and for any reason or no reason.”
AT&T has also touted plans to become gatekeepers to the Web with public relations bromides about “shaping” Web traffic to better serve the needs of an evolving Internet.
In reality, Cicconi and his cohorts within the entertainment industry are waging a quiet campaign to control how video and other rich content gets distributed via the Web. The popular trend in video, however, is streaming in the opposite direction. More and more people are becoming their own creators and distributors of homespun video content. YouTube now boasts more than 100 million views each day, but it is just the beginning of this revolution.
Peer-to-peer traffic is spreading via popular technologies like BitTorrent and Gnutella, which allow users to upload and share videos, music and other rich media without a middleman or content gatekeeper. The bulk of this traffic is legal.
Peer-to-Peer Traffic ‘Not Acceptable’
Also at the Las Vegas panel was NBC Universal’s general counsel Rick Cotton, who told the Times that the volume of peer-to-peer traffic online was “overwhelming.”
“That clearly should not be an acceptable, continuing status,” Cotton said, and AT&T seems more than happy to step in.
These executives’ vision of a better Internet ” AT&T’s “Your World Delivered” ” is not one that is shared by the more than 1.5 million people who have spoken out in favor of a neutral, open and free-flowing Internet.
For us, the Internet isn’t about one company delivering our world or filtering our content. It’s about simply offering a high-speed connection at reasonable rates ” and then getting out of our way.
This article is from SavetheInternet.com. If you found it informative and valuable, we strongly encourage you to visit their Web site and register an account, if necessary, to view all their articles on the Web. Support quality journalism.
James Cicconi, AT&T’s senior vice president for external and legal affairs, said that the time was right to start filtering for content at the network level. “We think a network-based solution is the optimal way to approach this,” Cicconi said, according to a New York Times reporter who attended the panel.
It’s no secret that major ISPs have been working with technology companies such as Cisco to filter content with deep-packet-inspection software. Last year, AT&T revealed its plans to work with MPAA, RIAA and broadcasters to use and deploy “digital fingerprinting techniques.
According to public statements, their rationale for playing traffic cop is to ferret out pirated content: sniffing through our digital packets for material that infringe on copyright.
Can You Trust the Filter?
But the technology can be used for other purposes, and the phone giant has shown that it has no qualms invading our communications to hand over our private records to government, or censor speech or block service “without prior notice and for any reason or no reason.”
AT&T has also touted plans to become gatekeepers to the Web with public relations bromides about “shaping” Web traffic to better serve the needs of an evolving Internet.
In reality, Cicconi and his cohorts within the entertainment industry are waging a quiet campaign to control how video and other rich content gets distributed via the Web. The popular trend in video, however, is streaming in the opposite direction. More and more people are becoming their own creators and distributors of homespun video content. YouTube now boasts more than 100 million views each day, but it is just the beginning of this revolution.
Peer-to-peer traffic is spreading via popular technologies like BitTorrent and Gnutella, which allow users to upload and share videos, music and other rich media without a middleman or content gatekeeper. The bulk of this traffic is legal.
Peer-to-Peer Traffic ‘Not Acceptable’
Also at the Las Vegas panel was NBC Universal’s general counsel Rick Cotton, who told the Times that the volume of peer-to-peer traffic online was “overwhelming.”
“That clearly should not be an acceptable, continuing status,” Cotton said, and AT&T seems more than happy to step in.
These executives’ vision of a better Internet ” AT&T’s “Your World Delivered” ” is not one that is shared by the more than 1.5 million people who have spoken out in favor of a neutral, open and free-flowing Internet.
For us, the Internet isn’t about one company delivering our world or filtering our content. It’s about simply offering a high-speed connection at reasonable rates ” and then getting out of our way.
This article is from SavetheInternet.com. If you found it informative and valuable, we strongly encourage you to visit their Web site and register an account, if necessary, to view all their articles on the Web. Support quality journalism.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Banking System Revealed
This five part series explains Money and Debt. From the origins of money as beads and feathers, to the RFID chip, learn whos behind the globalization of a monitary system based on debt. The truth will set you free, what you do with that freedom is up to you. Use it for good, use it for evil, run and hide at what you see, or stand with others and champion our society and its rights under justice and equinimity.
.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Wolf in Henhouse
Followup to Vulture
February 16/2007 OdiousDebt.com
Wolfowitz takes actions to gear up World Bank for Iraq by The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Washington, D.C.: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned from inside sources that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is currently negotiating a contract with a new resident Iraq Country Director. This step strongly suggests that Wolfowitz intends to expand Bank-funded projects there dramatically in the near future, despite the deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in "reconstruction" efforts.
This development bears out the fears expressed by senior career staff and Board members when Wolfowitz was appointed by the Bush administration in June 2005. Only three months after Wolfowitz' arrival, the Bank's Board tried to restrain his management of World Bank operations in Iraq explicitly, issuing an unprecedented directive to his office to "[K]eep the Board regularly updated on developments in the country (Iraq) and implementation of the ISN" (Interim Strategy Note, September 2005, see GAP Web site). One year later, 30-year veteran Christiaan Poortman, vice-president for the Middle East, resigned from the World Bank rather than comply with Wolfowitz's directives to prepare to increase lending and add staff in Iraq.
The unilateral appointment of a resident Iraq country director can only aggravate an already tense standoff between Wolfowitz and the Bank Board. Members of the Board have already expressed concerns about misuse of other donorsí funds in the country and emphasized to the US-appointed President ". . . the need for compliance with the Bank's fiduciary and safeguard requirements," also according to the ISN 2005.
"Wolfowitz's apparent determination to use the World Bank to further questionable American military goals in the Middle East is a fundamental distortion of the Bank's mission, a violation of its founding Articles of Agreement, and a reckless waste of donor resources," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.
Appointing a resident Country Director for Iraq now puts Wolfowitz in opposition to Board members who have expressed increasing concern about the countryís deepening conflict and creditworthiness. Although the Board did approve a limited loan program for Iraq of U.S. $500 million in September 2005, funds were not approved for disbursal, as of December 31, 2006. Disbursement was contingent on "critical progress in several areas important to IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) creditworthiness, including security and external debt-relief," according to an internal memo from December 2006 (See GAP's Web site). The required progress has not occurred. Currently, regular staff travel to Iraq is prohibited, meaning that lending operations cannot be properly monitored.
To date, the Bank has relied on Iraqi staff based in the country, meetings with Iraqis outside the country, videoconferencing facilities in Baghdad, and long-distance supervision from the Interim Office for Iraq in Amman, Jordan. The current director for Iraq, Joseph Saba, is not a resident in the country ñ due to World Bank stipulations detailing terms for re-entry into a post-conflict situation. Instead, Saba manages five countries from Washington D.C.
Unlike the current director, the soon-to-be-named country director will exclusively manage Iraq for the Bank and will be stationed in Baghdad, according to inside sources. Wolfowitz first floated the idea of a resident Country Director and staff in Iraq in May 2006, when optimists in his office predicted greater stability as 2006 advanced. But the past year has seen an increase in violence, and the Bank's lending and staffing plan remains unchanged.
"In fact, the Bank is prohibited from operating in a conflict like this," added Edwards. "In the simplest financial terms, there is no functioning banking system, the government does not control its territory and it cannot guarantee loan repayment. Any emergency or social funding in Iraq should come from donorsí grants, not loans."
To engage in Iraq, the World Bank must justify reconstruction spending on economic grounds. If the conflict is ongoing, and the government is unstable, this cannot be done. Even assuming that the conflict ends soon, which no one is predicting, Bank Procedure 2.30 ("Development Cooperation and Conflict") stipulates that, to operate in a country emerging from a conflict, the Bank must prepare a "watching brief," develop a transitional support strategy, begin transitional reconstruction, then begin post-conflict reconstruction, and finally return to normal lending.
World Bank management under Wolfowitz has not taken these steps. Naming a resident country director and sending Bank staff to Baghdad, although no solution to the conflict appears likely, signifies increasing disagreement between Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board. The Board representative for Germany has long opposed any increase in Bank activity in Baghdad. His government is worried about staff safety. In addition, poorly monitored "reconstruction" projects will constitute a lucrative new source of income for corrupt officials who are party to the ongoing conflict.
The Government Accountability Project is a U.S. whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA.
February 16/2007 OdiousDebt.com
Wolfowitz takes actions to gear up World Bank for Iraq by The Government Accountability Project (GAP)
Washington, D.C.: The Government Accountability Project (GAP) has learned from inside sources that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is currently negotiating a contract with a new resident Iraq Country Director. This step strongly suggests that Wolfowitz intends to expand Bank-funded projects there dramatically in the near future, despite the deteriorating security situation and recent disclosures of massive corruption in "reconstruction" efforts.
This development bears out the fears expressed by senior career staff and Board members when Wolfowitz was appointed by the Bush administration in June 2005. Only three months after Wolfowitz' arrival, the Bank's Board tried to restrain his management of World Bank operations in Iraq explicitly, issuing an unprecedented directive to his office to "[K]eep the Board regularly updated on developments in the country (Iraq) and implementation of the ISN" (Interim Strategy Note, September 2005, see GAP Web site). One year later, 30-year veteran Christiaan Poortman, vice-president for the Middle East, resigned from the World Bank rather than comply with Wolfowitz's directives to prepare to increase lending and add staff in Iraq.
The unilateral appointment of a resident Iraq country director can only aggravate an already tense standoff between Wolfowitz and the Bank Board. Members of the Board have already expressed concerns about misuse of other donorsí funds in the country and emphasized to the US-appointed President ". . . the need for compliance with the Bank's fiduciary and safeguard requirements," also according to the ISN 2005.
"Wolfowitz's apparent determination to use the World Bank to further questionable American military goals in the Middle East is a fundamental distortion of the Bank's mission, a violation of its founding Articles of Agreement, and a reckless waste of donor resources," said GAP International Program Director Bea Edwards.
Appointing a resident Country Director for Iraq now puts Wolfowitz in opposition to Board members who have expressed increasing concern about the countryís deepening conflict and creditworthiness. Although the Board did approve a limited loan program for Iraq of U.S. $500 million in September 2005, funds were not approved for disbursal, as of December 31, 2006. Disbursement was contingent on "critical progress in several areas important to IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development) creditworthiness, including security and external debt-relief," according to an internal memo from December 2006 (See GAP's Web site). The required progress has not occurred. Currently, regular staff travel to Iraq is prohibited, meaning that lending operations cannot be properly monitored.
To date, the Bank has relied on Iraqi staff based in the country, meetings with Iraqis outside the country, videoconferencing facilities in Baghdad, and long-distance supervision from the Interim Office for Iraq in Amman, Jordan. The current director for Iraq, Joseph Saba, is not a resident in the country ñ due to World Bank stipulations detailing terms for re-entry into a post-conflict situation. Instead, Saba manages five countries from Washington D.C.
Unlike the current director, the soon-to-be-named country director will exclusively manage Iraq for the Bank and will be stationed in Baghdad, according to inside sources. Wolfowitz first floated the idea of a resident Country Director and staff in Iraq in May 2006, when optimists in his office predicted greater stability as 2006 advanced. But the past year has seen an increase in violence, and the Bank's lending and staffing plan remains unchanged.
"In fact, the Bank is prohibited from operating in a conflict like this," added Edwards. "In the simplest financial terms, there is no functioning banking system, the government does not control its territory and it cannot guarantee loan repayment. Any emergency or social funding in Iraq should come from donorsí grants, not loans."
To engage in Iraq, the World Bank must justify reconstruction spending on economic grounds. If the conflict is ongoing, and the government is unstable, this cannot be done. Even assuming that the conflict ends soon, which no one is predicting, Bank Procedure 2.30 ("Development Cooperation and Conflict") stipulates that, to operate in a country emerging from a conflict, the Bank must prepare a "watching brief," develop a transitional support strategy, begin transitional reconstruction, then begin post-conflict reconstruction, and finally return to normal lending.
World Bank management under Wolfowitz has not taken these steps. Naming a resident country director and sending Bank staff to Baghdad, although no solution to the conflict appears likely, signifies increasing disagreement between Wolfowitz and the World Bank Board. The Board representative for Germany has long opposed any increase in Bank activity in Baghdad. His government is worried about staff safety. In addition, poorly monitored "reconstruction" projects will constitute a lucrative new source of income for corrupt officials who are party to the ongoing conflict.
The Government Accountability Project is a U.S. whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, GAP's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, GAP is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Bush's Vulture Doners
pResident Bush, The Great Deceiver
George Bush looked solemn in his State of the Union Address as he asked take on the" challenges of hunger and poverty and disease", he asked America to forgive Billions dollars in debt relief to help third world nations by paying off their debt at a fraction of the original price. But who'd have known, behind his face of "honesty" was another of the cruelest Deceptions of all time!
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty. When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage, and self-sacrifice of the American people."
Greg Palast, investigative journalist from the BBC and Guardian on DemocracyNow! broke this story and today John Conyers announced he'll take it up in Congress. Lets see if it hits the mainstream media and how they will portray this atrocious act of deception by the resident in the whitehouse. What will America think of the level of deception this administration stoops to?
In a followup, as expected Zambia lost case in UK must pay Vultures off to the US to see the ole Decider, George Bush!
For years many of us have been wondering what NeoCon Architect, Paul Wolfowitz would do at the World Bank? Not to disappoint, the wolf in charge of the world's bank has been assisting his friends to get rich bleeding the third world of their debt payments and fleecing gullible American citizens of their generosity.
pResident Bush begged Congress to "do the right thing" and forgive debt with taxpayer money but his REAL PLAN was to have his debt finance friends, like Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan, intercept the funds earmarked go to the struggling nations by buying the debts, and turning round and suing those very nations for penalty and interest worth hundreds of times more than the original debt!
But they can only collect this blood money in the Bush-Run US Court system. The Irony is that only the pResident has the power, with a simple signature to stop this practice. But he refuses as he is making his friends rich while bleeding America dry. The Great Deceiver again shows his disrespect for American citizens, when are we going to wake up?
George Bush looked solemn in his State of the Union Address as he asked take on the" challenges of hunger and poverty and disease", he asked America to forgive Billions dollars in debt relief to help third world nations by paying off their debt at a fraction of the original price. But who'd have known, behind his face of "honesty" was another of the cruelest Deceptions of all time!
"American foreign policy is more than a matter of war and diplomacy. Our work in the world is also based on a timeless truth: To whom much is given, much is required. We hear the call to take on the challenges of hunger and poverty and disease -- and that is precisely what America is doing. I ask that you fund the Millennium Challenge Account, so that American aid reaches the people who need it, in nations where democracy is on the rise and corruption is in retreat. And let us continue to support the expanded trade and debt relief that are the best hope for lifting lives and eliminating poverty. When America serves others in this way, we show the strength and generosity of our country. These deeds reflect the character of our people. The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage, and self-sacrifice of the American people."
Greg Palast, investigative journalist from the BBC and Guardian on DemocracyNow! broke this story and today John Conyers announced he'll take it up in Congress. Lets see if it hits the mainstream media and how they will portray this atrocious act of deception by the resident in the whitehouse. What will America think of the level of deception this administration stoops to?
In a followup, as expected Zambia lost case in UK must pay Vultures off to the US to see the ole Decider, George Bush!
For years many of us have been wondering what NeoCon Architect, Paul Wolfowitz would do at the World Bank? Not to disappoint, the wolf in charge of the world's bank has been assisting his friends to get rich bleeding the third world of their debt payments and fleecing gullible American citizens of their generosity.
pResident Bush begged Congress to "do the right thing" and forgive debt with taxpayer money but his REAL PLAN was to have his debt finance friends, like Paul Singer and Michael Sheehan, intercept the funds earmarked go to the struggling nations by buying the debts, and turning round and suing those very nations for penalty and interest worth hundreds of times more than the original debt!
But they can only collect this blood money in the Bush-Run US Court system. The Irony is that only the pResident has the power, with a simple signature to stop this practice. But he refuses as he is making his friends rich while bleeding America dry. The Great Deceiver again shows his disrespect for American citizens, when are we going to wake up?
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Too Busy to Watch?
Can you believe a larger percentage of people in several other nations will watch President Bush's State of the Union Address than the citizens in this nation? I find it appalling to think that people have become so disconnected from their duty as citizens in a Democratic society that they choose to not be bothered. Particularly at this time, when we stand at the precipice of war with Iran, a nation vastly more powerful and vital to our national energy interests than Iraq. Many say they prefer not to listen because Bush makes them angry or frustrated. Some say that time is precious, so why bother listening to him. What— Isn't that the point? If he makes us mad, perhaps we will do something to stop him. If time is so precious, than shouldn't we make the most of it? Isn't stopping the leader of the most powerful nation on earth from seriously messing up the next decade of time worth listening to just a bit— don't you think? Perhaps if we'd all have listened more, we could be doing much more personally satisfying things and not be in such dire straits today.
Who is listening? Israel is listening to several neo-conservative hawks like Richard Perle and former CIA director, James Woolsey tell the people of Israel to ready for war with Iran. Today at a summit conference in Herzliya, several presidential hopefuls started their campaign trails far from American Soil but not too far from an influential political lobby- Israel. Candidates Edwards, Guilani, Romney and McCain took the opportunity to give their own State of the Union address and the citizens of Israel appear to be listening with greater interest than here in the USA.
Who's listening... a billion Muslims that this President seems to want to kill off are interested in what Bush will say. Who's listening... the soldiers and families who are on deck or in the battlefields, desperate to hear some good news from a chaotic hell-hole formerly known as Iraq. (recent polls show more than 74% of ground troops in Iraq feel ending occupation is the only strategy) Who's listening... all the right-wing pundits and mouthpieces who need to deliver the message to the mainstream media so tomorrow and in the days to come, everyone who was too busy to listen tonight can hear the corporate view of the President's message.... yeah, there's no reason to watch the President's most important address since September 12, 2001.... isn't American Idol on? LOL in the years to come, when energy costs soar as Iran cuts off our supply of oil. Don't worry, Bush and his GOP thieves can still afford the gas with all the money they got while we were too busy to watch.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Stranger Than Fiction
In Adam Curtis' BBC documentary, find out how Neocons fear "possible devastating effects" from individual freedom and self-expression, and how their desire to maintain order and stability propel them to to extremes by implementing false policy and national direction based on an ideology joining patriotism and religion rooted in fear, concocted from deliberate fantasy. The real problem begins to snowball as they, and their disciples begin to believe their own myths. To start, we witness the striking similarities and ideological origins of both Neocons and Jihadists (like Bin Laden). Are Neocons and Jihadists alike?
This documentary leaves the viewer wondering if, in the words of Delbert Grady, the steely-eyed british-accented ghost waiter/caretaker of the Overlook Hotel to the completely crazed Jack Torrance (Nicholson) in The Shining,
"I'm sorry to defer with you, sir. But you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here."
In this BBC documentary, the Neocons (students of Leo Strauss, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and William Kristol) create an imaginary threat with the help of new disciple, Donald Rumsfeld. Later attracting dozens of GOP luminaries to form PNAC Project for a New American Century, which then influenced the entire party and its constituents.
In the late 70's, the Neocons seized their opportunity to lay the grass roots that would one day lead to 911 and beyond. The Neocons allied themselves with Donald Rumsfeld and began a fear-mongering campaign that would convince President Ford to authorize an inquiry on the intentions and technological capabilities of the Soviet Union. Thought the idea sounded noble enough, the inquiry dubbed "Plan B" was authorized by Ford under the full-biased control of none other than the Neoconservatives (AKA the "Team-B").
The Neocons had one huge obstacle however, the CIA as well as other international agencies had already proven that the Soviet Union was headed for a collapse and had no intention of attacking America. Regardless of the fact, the Neocons began their assessment. "But however closely they looked" at the CIA's findings, "there was little evidence of the dangerous weapons or defense systems they claimed the Soviets were developing" at the time.
Since Neocons were on a quest to create a simplistic view of the world as "good and evil" and nothing in between, the truth was not about to get in their way. Team-B simply made an assumption: "The Soviets had developed systems that were so sophisticated, they were undetectable." Sadly, with the help of Rumsfeld's hypnotic, all-out chanting and ranting of fear and impeding doom (as shown in the video), the quivering politicians and the government 'ate it up' -- and thus began the era of the Neoconservatives.
The story will continues in the next installments to show how the Neocons help finance, arm, and train the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, which would later become known as "terrorists."
This gives foundation to the question — Well, How did we get here?
additional resources:
UK Indymedia
Philosophy of Deception
You Can't Handle the Truth
PNAC in Wikipedia
Sayed Kotb(Sayyid Qutb)
BBC producer Alan Curtis
This documentary leaves the viewer wondering if, in the words of Delbert Grady, the steely-eyed british-accented ghost waiter/caretaker of the Overlook Hotel to the completely crazed Jack Torrance (Nicholson) in The Shining,"I'm sorry to defer with you, sir. But you are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker. I should know, sir. I've always been here."
In this BBC documentary, the Neocons (students of Leo Strauss, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and William Kristol) create an imaginary threat with the help of new disciple, Donald Rumsfeld. Later attracting dozens of GOP luminaries to form PNAC Project for a New American Century, which then influenced the entire party and its constituents.
In the late 70's, the Neocons seized their opportunity to lay the grass roots that would one day lead to 911 and beyond. The Neocons allied themselves with Donald Rumsfeld and began a fear-mongering campaign that would convince President Ford to authorize an inquiry on the intentions and technological capabilities of the Soviet Union. Thought the idea sounded noble enough, the inquiry dubbed "Plan B" was authorized by Ford under the full-biased control of none other than the Neoconservatives (AKA the "Team-B").
The Neocons had one huge obstacle however, the CIA as well as other international agencies had already proven that the Soviet Union was headed for a collapse and had no intention of attacking America. Regardless of the fact, the Neocons began their assessment. "But however closely they looked" at the CIA's findings, "there was little evidence of the dangerous weapons or defense systems they claimed the Soviets were developing" at the time.
Since Neocons were on a quest to create a simplistic view of the world as "good and evil" and nothing in between, the truth was not about to get in their way. Team-B simply made an assumption: "The Soviets had developed systems that were so sophisticated, they were undetectable." Sadly, with the help of Rumsfeld's hypnotic, all-out chanting and ranting of fear and impeding doom (as shown in the video), the quivering politicians and the government 'ate it up' -- and thus began the era of the Neoconservatives.
The story will continues in the next installments to show how the Neocons help finance, arm, and train the "freedom fighters" in Afghanistan, which would later become known as "terrorists."
This gives foundation to the question — Well, How did we get here?
additional resources:
UK Indymedia
Philosophy of Deception
You Can't Handle the Truth
PNAC in Wikipedia
Sayed Kotb(Sayyid Qutb)
BBC producer Alan Curtis
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The Decisive Ideological Struggle of Our Time!
Last night the pResident painted an interesting picture of a world that he and the writer of his speech, and his most trusted advisors hope the American Public will buy. Bush figures we haven't succeeded for two reasons, 1) The Iraqis haven't trained enough troops- perhaps cuz they keep getting blown up in the recruiting lines or executed and having their bodies dumped in the streets with hands bound and electric drill holes through their skulls. 2) Cuz our troops have had too many restrictions put upon them in the past- pesky old Geneva Convention, didn't we eliminate that with the Military Commissions Act of 2006?
Bush says Iraq needs a "Green Light" to solve its problems. The reason we've been unsuccessful there the past four years, we've had to be courteous and respectful to the citizens of Iraq. So Bush called for a troop surge of 21,000 and a lifting of any remaining civil rights the citizens of Iraq might have left. Yes, our Army along with who ever's left fighting for Iraq, will go kicking doors into every home in Bagdad.... door to door busting into homes and shooting anyone hostile... Never mind that the soldiers can't understand the language and civilians might panic when frightening green soldiers all jacked up with adrenaline, eyes a blazed in green night vision goggles, come busting down their doors screaming commands they don't understand in the middle of the night... Never mind that Bush's initial strategy in the first days of the "liberation" was to fire the entire Iraq police and militia with no pay, and let them keep their weapons! ... Now after the whole nation has descended into total civil war and chaos with more than 650,000 innocent iraqis brutally murdered in the name of freedom and democracy, Bush figures alls he needs to do is "smoke em out".
Well the pResident has certainly taken a fresh perspective on his policy. He replaced all the Generals-again. Commanding General John Abizaid now joins the huge number of demoted leaders who completely disagree with the pResident's vision... what do they know, they are just highly trained military strategists that were our eyes and ears in the front lines of the battle... Bush and his band of merry ChickenHawks who've never seen a round fired in anger know better than these brass monkeys-right?? So his new leadership recruits are all gung-ho about taking it to the streets and again he's listening to them... He's also decided to take an active role in attacking Iran and Syria... yes the excellent way the liberation is working in Iraq has incentivised him to take on the entire muslim world. He plans to "seek out and destroy the networks providing training and weaponry" and "bolster our interests in the region using our allies to help eliminate the threat of Iran's nuclear weapons" - translation: Israel will launch a first strike and we'll respond by bombing Iran's military and communications, while protecting the flow of oil.
Bush says "we'll engage our full diplomatic resources to rally allies within the region to bring about change" translation: Utilize the newly created propaganda wing of the pentagon to spread lies and misleading news information, spend millions with right-wing think tank the Lincoln Group to fabricate stories at home, and send in covert operatives to destabilize Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
He has his work cut out for him though, it seems the rest of the free world has real media outlets that still practice the old art of Journalism... you know- the kind that reports the facts, speaks truth to power. Last night our media rendered his visionary painting of Iraq's faded watercolor-- a loose impressionist rendering of a dream needing our troops to help their nation's leaders (our puppets) take a role in their own future. They effectively hid the truth held by a very few industrialists and elites, neo-conservative extremists seeking to gain global domination. Glaringly absent from the airwaves last night, were any responses from the opposition. I can't recall a time when a standing head of State was able to speak freely on such an important topic and not have any debate or opinion from the opposition... must be new rules for Democracy. Still, Bush was very rigid as his beady eyes nervously read the teleprompter. A few cable networks FOX and MSNBC did air some commetary but the major mainstream networks went back to scheduled programming.
And how ironic was their regularly scheduled programming... CSI:NY tracked down a brutal femme stiletto heel shoe killer; Criminal Minds caged a serial rapist; Medium conjured a mystery killer, and worst of all, number one with a bullet...
Armed and Famous the new lowest common denominator for television... Celebrities become Cops and go after bad guys.... starring Janet Jackson, Jack Osborne (ozzy's boy), a WWF wrestler babe, the Jackass midget, and Erik Estrada from Chips (I'm not making this up!) - So right after listening to pResident Bush tell us of how the insurgents are going to "make sure our televisions are filled with images of death and suffering" viewers are returned to the regularly scheduled images... of death and suffering!
Bush amazingly heralded "the decisive ideological struggle of our time: on one side are those who believe in freedom and moderation, on the other side are the extremists who kill the innocent and who have declared their intention to destroy our way of life." I'm just thinking in truth, he got the roles mixed up.
650,000 dead civilians, complete chaos and civil war, no security in any region of that country... and all because we are there. No one can solve their own problems as our soldiers go shooting everyone in sight. Its insane and we have to stand up against this insanity! What are you going to do?
Get out and make a scene on Water and Wisconsin at 5pm tomorrow. Join others across the nation as DemocracyForAmerica, TrueMajority, MoveOn, and PeaceAction come together for a protest. Write the press, Contact your elected officials... make a difference!
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Lets Revisit the Ten Commandments
Do you know the ten commandments?
Its amazing to think folks actually post them to DEFEND the use of religion in government.... but if they'd read the words rather than just beating their breasts with the tablets... they might find themselves closer to understanding what the true values our nation was founded upon... and maybe rethink their loyalty.
I applaud the conviction and do not question the motives or passion of those who cry out the Commandments for justification... I just don't understand the logic they employ to make their conclusions and choose their allegiance.... They are unknowing victims of a deliberate plot to capture their old-time sense of values for the misguided needs a few, drunk on power who've become corrupt by it's intoxicating allure.
So lets quickly review those Ten Commandments that Republican Neo-Conservatives hold so dear to their core value.
1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Aside from actual idol worship... what have we americans done with this commandment? We worship the vanities as though they were god-like... don't we? Beauty, fame, wealth, status, desire and possessions... hell even our tv shows are all about idols and our satisfying our desires. As for Bush... he serves a God greater than the lord.... that's why he used the Lord's own commandments to buy the christian vote.... that's sick.
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Kinda screwed here too. no mercy and love from god cuz we're not observing all his commandments- so what's the point ? And I don't know about you.... but the way we honored the death of Ronald Reagan surely bordered on idol-worship...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
I'm guilty of this one- every time I'm in rush hour traffic and some a-hole in an SUV with a Bush sticker cuts me off. Ol GW doesn't take the name in vain, no- he uses the lord's name as a means to win an election, wage war on other nations, and strike fear and respect in the hearts of his own nations people... no there's no vanity in that is there?
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
oops, messed up on this one too. No delivery of the sunday paper... heck, no making of the Monday paper too! No TV, no football, no golf, no bars open... just quiet time at home- oh the horror! might actually spend time getting to know our family! And groceries? better have all the fixins in advance, cuz no quick trip to the store for butter.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Sure, we are all good with this one right? Isn't defiance an act of adulthood? And look at George W himself- defying his father's instructions not to invade Iraq- as written in Bush41's book.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
This ones a real tuff one- don't kill eggs in a woman's fallopian tube cuz they could possibly become a baby one day... but kill prisoners, detainees, political figures who don't agree with your party, civilians who accidentally were born in countries that you want resources from... insignificant peasants who can be exploited to make merchandise for our society- who die from mistreatment, poor living conditions and/or excessive demands on their productivity. Hmm, how bout giving arms and ammuntion to others that they might be better at killing our enemy... see- then we're just accomplises, not the actual perpetrator. Lets see, kill a three-time offender for petty crimes while letting a corporate leader off with hundreds of offenses-(lets call them counts, sounds much friendlier) offenses of knowingly and deliberately perpetrating wrongdoings resulting in the bilking of tens of millions of family's pensions and stock retirements... or corporations who deliberately proceed with known harmful products because their figures show the cost of settling with the few unfortunate victims, will be far less than the profits yielded by continuation of the product.... surely God would understand that!
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lets see, more than half the marriages in America in the last 30 years have resulted in divorce... and the most watched show on television is desperate housewives... hmmm..... nothing wrong here eh ?
8. Thou shall not steal.
Gee God didn't mean other nation's resources, or our social security, or an election or two.... he didn't mean steal our nation's wildlife and nature preserves by contaminating them with business ventures that exploit. He couldn't have meant stealing our money like the response in the 6th commandment.... he certainly wasn't referring to stealing from the coffers of government entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid... not stealing money through the junk bond fiasco of the former pres bush.... he didn't mean steal our trust with false witness or deception.... he was just referring to taking candy at a drug store... or those bad inner-city people who steal stuff from us rich white folk... to pay for their addictions... heck- do you think God doesn't know that through our marketing and legislating, we are stealing a future from our struggling lower and now middle class? Na nothing wrong here.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Oops- another tuff one to deal with.... or maybe not eh? No, God didn't mean it was bad for the Bush administration to lie to all of America about the need for war with Iraq, of the confirmed knowledge of the location and quantities of WMDs.... naw, its not lying to tell america you are not going to advocate "nation-building" as Geo W said repeatedly in his first term of office.... heck even I believed him and gave him my vote in 2000.... but heck he didn't mean to lie.... "it just worked out that way.... honestly"... Just like the miscalculation on mistreatment of prisoners... not a lie, just didn't have all the facts yet.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Yeah this one's a real pickle eh, God obviously wasn't referring to a nations resources.... or on a smaller scale a person's rights and entitlements... God wasn't referring to our penchant for taking advantage of others less fortunate than ourselves... raiding their stocks... coveting their desire for health by allowing drug companies to charge outrageous prices for products they manufacture- then creating a demand through advertising with false claims (refer to commandments 9, 8, and 6- and 4 regarding advertising on the sabbath).
So yeah, you're right... i don't know what all the fuss is about the ten commandments. We obviously are a nation who holds God in great trust... a nation who leads by example... and shows all other nations the truth that freedom brings... and that's why every nation on earth is begging to become free- just like Americo®....er America! I'm glad the Ten Commandments are on the actual Door to the Supreme Court... and written above their heads so our justices can clearly see how many of the Lord's laws they treat with the same respect and piety they use with our laws. Thank you for helping me to reaffirm my faith in this county and all we stand for..... NOT!
wake up my friends...
These are thinly veiled ploys to gain the respect and vote of true God-Fearing, God-Loving folks like you and me! It's time we stand up for what is true... stop listening to their rhetoric and commandment-breaking. And yes it is both sides of the aisle... Dems and Reps... but to tell you the honest truth, I'd rather have a President who breaks the 7th and 10th commandments than one that only seems to respect the 7th! Either way- we're not in good shape according to God or our Constitution.
Its amazing to think folks actually post them to DEFEND the use of religion in government.... but if they'd read the words rather than just beating their breasts with the tablets... they might find themselves closer to understanding what the true values our nation was founded upon... and maybe rethink their loyalty.
I applaud the conviction and do not question the motives or passion of those who cry out the Commandments for justification... I just don't understand the logic they employ to make their conclusions and choose their allegiance.... They are unknowing victims of a deliberate plot to capture their old-time sense of values for the misguided needs a few, drunk on power who've become corrupt by it's intoxicating allure.
So lets quickly review those Ten Commandments that Republican Neo-Conservatives hold so dear to their core value.
1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Aside from actual idol worship... what have we americans done with this commandment? We worship the vanities as though they were god-like... don't we? Beauty, fame, wealth, status, desire and possessions... hell even our tv shows are all about idols and our satisfying our desires. As for Bush... he serves a God greater than the lord.... that's why he used the Lord's own commandments to buy the christian vote.... that's sick.
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Kinda screwed here too. no mercy and love from god cuz we're not observing all his commandments- so what's the point ? And I don't know about you.... but the way we honored the death of Ronald Reagan surely bordered on idol-worship...
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."
I'm guilty of this one- every time I'm in rush hour traffic and some a-hole in an SUV with a Bush sticker cuts me off. Ol GW doesn't take the name in vain, no- he uses the lord's name as a means to win an election, wage war on other nations, and strike fear and respect in the hearts of his own nations people... no there's no vanity in that is there?
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
oops, messed up on this one too. No delivery of the sunday paper... heck, no making of the Monday paper too! No TV, no football, no golf, no bars open... just quiet time at home- oh the horror! might actually spend time getting to know our family! And groceries? better have all the fixins in advance, cuz no quick trip to the store for butter.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Sure, we are all good with this one right? Isn't defiance an act of adulthood? And look at George W himself- defying his father's instructions not to invade Iraq- as written in Bush41's book.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
This ones a real tuff one- don't kill eggs in a woman's fallopian tube cuz they could possibly become a baby one day... but kill prisoners, detainees, political figures who don't agree with your party, civilians who accidentally were born in countries that you want resources from... insignificant peasants who can be exploited to make merchandise for our society- who die from mistreatment, poor living conditions and/or excessive demands on their productivity. Hmm, how bout giving arms and ammuntion to others that they might be better at killing our enemy... see- then we're just accomplises, not the actual perpetrator. Lets see, kill a three-time offender for petty crimes while letting a corporate leader off with hundreds of offenses-(lets call them counts, sounds much friendlier) offenses of knowingly and deliberately perpetrating wrongdoings resulting in the bilking of tens of millions of family's pensions and stock retirements... or corporations who deliberately proceed with known harmful products because their figures show the cost of settling with the few unfortunate victims, will be far less than the profits yielded by continuation of the product.... surely God would understand that!
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lets see, more than half the marriages in America in the last 30 years have resulted in divorce... and the most watched show on television is desperate housewives... hmmm..... nothing wrong here eh ?
8. Thou shall not steal.
Gee God didn't mean other nation's resources, or our social security, or an election or two.... he didn't mean steal our nation's wildlife and nature preserves by contaminating them with business ventures that exploit. He couldn't have meant stealing our money like the response in the 6th commandment.... he certainly wasn't referring to stealing from the coffers of government entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid... not stealing money through the junk bond fiasco of the former pres bush.... he didn't mean steal our trust with false witness or deception.... he was just referring to taking candy at a drug store... or those bad inner-city people who steal stuff from us rich white folk... to pay for their addictions... heck- do you think God doesn't know that through our marketing and legislating, we are stealing a future from our struggling lower and now middle class? Na nothing wrong here.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Oops- another tuff one to deal with.... or maybe not eh? No, God didn't mean it was bad for the Bush administration to lie to all of America about the need for war with Iraq, of the confirmed knowledge of the location and quantities of WMDs.... naw, its not lying to tell america you are not going to advocate "nation-building" as Geo W said repeatedly in his first term of office.... heck even I believed him and gave him my vote in 2000.... but heck he didn't mean to lie.... "it just worked out that way.... honestly"... Just like the miscalculation on mistreatment of prisoners... not a lie, just didn't have all the facts yet.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Yeah this one's a real pickle eh, God obviously wasn't referring to a nations resources.... or on a smaller scale a person's rights and entitlements... God wasn't referring to our penchant for taking advantage of others less fortunate than ourselves... raiding their stocks... coveting their desire for health by allowing drug companies to charge outrageous prices for products they manufacture- then creating a demand through advertising with false claims (refer to commandments 9, 8, and 6- and 4 regarding advertising on the sabbath).
So yeah, you're right... i don't know what all the fuss is about the ten commandments. We obviously are a nation who holds God in great trust... a nation who leads by example... and shows all other nations the truth that freedom brings... and that's why every nation on earth is begging to become free- just like Americo®....er America! I'm glad the Ten Commandments are on the actual Door to the Supreme Court... and written above their heads so our justices can clearly see how many of the Lord's laws they treat with the same respect and piety they use with our laws. Thank you for helping me to reaffirm my faith in this county and all we stand for..... NOT!
wake up my friends...
These are thinly veiled ploys to gain the respect and vote of true God-Fearing, God-Loving folks like you and me! It's time we stand up for what is true... stop listening to their rhetoric and commandment-breaking. And yes it is both sides of the aisle... Dems and Reps... but to tell you the honest truth, I'd rather have a President who breaks the 7th and 10th commandments than one that only seems to respect the 7th! Either way- we're not in good shape according to God or our Constitution.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Merry Consumerism Day!
Happy holidays to all my friends... on both sides of the aisle.
Thank God we passed that assault weapons bill in time for the holidays. It's hard enough to shoot one deer, let alone eight and that fat liberal, Santa. Hopefully we’ll get that concealed weapon amendment through so we don’t have to lug these heavy rifles around come Easter and St Patty’s day.
Glad we were able to put a stop to this foolish myth in time. Christmas is about consumer spending... er and Jesus Christ... Our Lord and Savior... Defender of our troops- watching over our fair and balanced-and just war, against terror -wherever we may take it. Thankfully someone brought an end to this silly ritual. This fat guy in red, telling us who's been naughty and nice... When we all know that's Donald Rumsfeld's job! Ah yes, now we can safely run out and charge our hard-earned money knowing our future is safe because social security is being transformed to allow us to take a "stake" in our future... and we all know how good we Americans are at saving and investing.
Thank God the gifts we are told we need to purchase to show we really love our family and friends- are made by multi-national corporations who are able to bring us such affordable prices- Helping us to spend even more- and thereby benefitting all those fabulous workers at home and abroad who've labored long and hard-and taken so little... that our christmas tree might show a great bounty beneath it... helping to ease any uncertainty and doubt about our leadership.
And thank God with the death of this Santa fellow, those poor small people in the north pole, can now be free from Santa's tyranny and unjust labor sanctions- We can now take the North Pole off our terrorist-threat nation status- allowing us to focus on Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.
And thank you Congress for clearing the anti-monopoly laws away for Wal-Mart to acquire the entire North Pole toy factory-making them the largest toy distributer in the world... and insuring fair and just treatment of the little elf people.
-- At least until their jobs can be exported to the Chinese Wal-Mart Division... Giving us even better prices next Christmas!
And not to fear, the fat man’s sleigh will no longer terrorize rooftops and radar screens. Your nation’s leaders will carry presents along with it’s suspects and citizens who are extraordiniarily-renditioned to and from far away lands.
Those large cargo planes will now have their flight logs altered to say carrying “presents”... Because to those “good” jailers in Egypt, Morrocco, Jordan, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia... the terror suspects are actually “gifts” from America’s CIA.... thereby allowing our leaders to continue to “not lie” when asked by journalists about transporting prisoners... they’re “gifts”!
(special thanks to Karl Rove for coming up with that spin!)
God Bless Us - One in Oil ...er One and All!
With Santa gone,
Its up to us. Dare-
to be different.
ReThink the season.
Thank God we passed that assault weapons bill in time for the holidays. It's hard enough to shoot one deer, let alone eight and that fat liberal, Santa. Hopefully we’ll get that concealed weapon amendment through so we don’t have to lug these heavy rifles around come Easter and St Patty’s day.
Glad we were able to put a stop to this foolish myth in time. Christmas is about consumer spending... er and Jesus Christ... Our Lord and Savior... Defender of our troops- watching over our fair and balanced-and just war, against terror -wherever we may take it. Thankfully someone brought an end to this silly ritual. This fat guy in red, telling us who's been naughty and nice... When we all know that's Donald Rumsfeld's job! Ah yes, now we can safely run out and charge our hard-earned money knowing our future is safe because social security is being transformed to allow us to take a "stake" in our future... and we all know how good we Americans are at saving and investing.
Thank God the gifts we are told we need to purchase to show we really love our family and friends- are made by multi-national corporations who are able to bring us such affordable prices- Helping us to spend even more- and thereby benefitting all those fabulous workers at home and abroad who've labored long and hard-and taken so little... that our christmas tree might show a great bounty beneath it... helping to ease any uncertainty and doubt about our leadership.
And thank God with the death of this Santa fellow, those poor small people in the north pole, can now be free from Santa's tyranny and unjust labor sanctions- We can now take the North Pole off our terrorist-threat nation status- allowing us to focus on Iran, North Korea and Pakistan.
And thank you Congress for clearing the anti-monopoly laws away for Wal-Mart to acquire the entire North Pole toy factory-making them the largest toy distributer in the world... and insuring fair and just treatment of the little elf people.
-- At least until their jobs can be exported to the Chinese Wal-Mart Division... Giving us even better prices next Christmas!
And not to fear, the fat man’s sleigh will no longer terrorize rooftops and radar screens. Your nation’s leaders will carry presents along with it’s suspects and citizens who are extraordiniarily-renditioned to and from far away lands.
Those large cargo planes will now have their flight logs altered to say carrying “presents”... Because to those “good” jailers in Egypt, Morrocco, Jordan, Romania, Poland and Yugoslavia... the terror suspects are actually “gifts” from America’s CIA.... thereby allowing our leaders to continue to “not lie” when asked by journalists about transporting prisoners... they’re “gifts”!
(special thanks to Karl Rove for coming up with that spin!)
God Bless Us - One in Oil ...er One and All!
With Santa gone,
Its up to us. Dare-
to be different.
ReThink the season.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Invade for Oil?—Invade for BEER!
Speaking of Brewers.... I'm kinda fond of German Beer. This administration, by their actions, is justifying a policy of "If you see something you want... just take it."
So I'm all for invading Germany and overthrowing that beer-hording nation's supply of Weiss Beer. There is overwhelming evidence of a growing danger that more Weiss beer may be going to satisfy their own people than we, the deserving American Consumers are being allocated. There are several internal sources who feel there reason to launch a preemptive strike on their population centers to vanquish their weiss-leeching loyalist insurgency . We must take the campaign through the population centers on into the forests and hillsides to rout out the covert storage tanks hidden in rathskellers through out the countryside.
Special agents embedded in beer gardens throughout Germany have given undeniable evidence of stockpiles of WMDs (Weisses of Mass Drunkification). Our Administration has been working round the clock to garner world support. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Fleisher and Coldi Rice have been sponsoring 'Toga Parties' and Beer Bashes around the globe in hopes of gaining allies in their efforts to crush the German threat of Weiss Hoarding.
The President has appointed ANHEUSER-BUSCH to head up of the bureau of stockpile management for Weiss beer. Their expertise in rice-beer production makes them a cinch for understanding the complex carbonation and refridgeration requirements necessary for the safe transferrence of the stockpiles to our shores. Additionally the President liked the fact that his name is the same as the contractor. Once the threat level dimnishes there will be a fair assessment of other companies capable of handling the job.
An A-B spokesperson said they hope to not only liberate the Weiss stockpiles, but also successfully procure substancial volumes of ales, lagers, stouts, and pilsners. By helping the german people raise their production quotas for America to
6 million barrels per day, we feel the infrastructure will be sufficient to support the yield.
Opponents to the Bush Weiss offensive elude to the fact that once beer is liberated, there is a danger that other commodities to become targets of the Bush Machine. The French are worried about baguettes, wine and cheese; Belgians, their Chocolates; Portuguese, their Port.
The Bush Administration is actively seeking 'contractors' to help consume vast commodities of Weiss beer both in Germany and domestically. Applicants may submit a one-time fee of $75 US to the RNC to receive details of how to participate in the Drunkification. "We must take the Battle to the Enemy" said President Bush of the need for the nation to take to the streets- visit the pubs, and drink the beer... we need to show support for our National Effort.
So I'm all for invading Germany and overthrowing that beer-hording nation's supply of Weiss Beer. There is overwhelming evidence of a growing danger that more Weiss beer may be going to satisfy their own people than we, the deserving American Consumers are being allocated. There are several internal sources who feel there reason to launch a preemptive strike on their population centers to vanquish their weiss-leeching loyalist insurgency . We must take the campaign through the population centers on into the forests and hillsides to rout out the covert storage tanks hidden in rathskellers through out the countryside.
Special agents embedded in beer gardens throughout Germany have given undeniable evidence of stockpiles of WMDs (Weisses of Mass Drunkification). Our Administration has been working round the clock to garner world support. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Fleisher and Coldi Rice have been sponsoring 'Toga Parties' and Beer Bashes around the globe in hopes of gaining allies in their efforts to crush the German threat of Weiss Hoarding.
The President has appointed ANHEUSER-BUSCH to head up of the bureau of stockpile management for Weiss beer. Their expertise in rice-beer production makes them a cinch for understanding the complex carbonation and refridgeration requirements necessary for the safe transferrence of the stockpiles to our shores. Additionally the President liked the fact that his name is the same as the contractor. Once the threat level dimnishes there will be a fair assessment of other companies capable of handling the job.
An A-B spokesperson said they hope to not only liberate the Weiss stockpiles, but also successfully procure substancial volumes of ales, lagers, stouts, and pilsners. By helping the german people raise their production quotas for America to
6 million barrels per day, we feel the infrastructure will be sufficient to support the yield.
Opponents to the Bush Weiss offensive elude to the fact that once beer is liberated, there is a danger that other commodities to become targets of the Bush Machine. The French are worried about baguettes, wine and cheese; Belgians, their Chocolates; Portuguese, their Port.
The Bush Administration is actively seeking 'contractors' to help consume vast commodities of Weiss beer both in Germany and domestically. Applicants may submit a one-time fee of $75 US to the RNC to receive details of how to participate in the Drunkification. "We must take the Battle to the Enemy" said President Bush of the need for the nation to take to the streets- visit the pubs, and drink the beer... we need to show support for our National Effort.
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