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.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
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, September 15, 2008
Obsession: War on the Truth
Sept 14, 2008 should most certainly be heralded as the day the term "Liberal Media" was finally exposed for the fiction from which it was coined. Yesterday a half-million of copies of a propaganda video were distributed in 75 newspapers across the US...
The Swiftboat-like 501c3 organization, the ClarionFund, paid an undisclosed amount for the inserts to be distributed in Key Swing States including the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and prominent papers within Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Nevada.
careful this is a loud and dramatic piece of propaganda...
click with care!
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, a hate-film touted as a documentary, produced in Israel by several right wing groups, who are also financial supporters of the McCain Campaign. The film played on FOX and CNN television during the run-up to the 2006 elections and has been repeatedly shown at the bush-controlled CIA and Pentagon as "learning tools" for new agents.
This propaganda is the latest stunt pulled by the right and its media partners. By reaching out to millions of readers with this ready-to-eat propaganda, they controlled the entire message without anyone being able to respond, review or refute the lies, deception and misinformation. Some newspapers who've already been inundated by angry subscribers have responded that the inclusion of paid advertisements with samples are not new.
But as one subscriber noted, "A box of cereal? Toothpaste? Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal -- to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor."
Touting ridiculous "awards" from right-wing film festivals like the Liberty Film Festival, this slick piece of Israeli propaganda stops at nothing to use the very techniques its sites as the "ways radical Islam and Nazi Germany" fooled their countrymen. It even goes so far as to co-opt several historic quotes by people who spoke against the very schemes and techniques THEY are using... to rally support.
People, you should be outraged. This is a blatant propaganda piece sponsored by a foreign nation, used to coerce the voters of the US to throw another election. If this is what we can expect from for-profit papers and media consolidation, this will become the future of propaganda.
Rich elitists, Multinational Corporations and Foreign Nations with deep pockets, can fabricate lies and deception with flashy packaging and full motion video to reach millions of voters. People, if we tolerate this violation of our public trust, we've truly lost our democracy.
What are you going to say to big media? Will you hold them accountable for the information they provide- or will you quietly sit by and watch fourth branch of government become as corrupt as the rest?
The Swiftboat-like 501c3 organization, the ClarionFund, paid an undisclosed amount for the inserts to be distributed in Key Swing States including the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and prominent papers within Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Nevada.
careful this is a loud and dramatic piece of propaganda...
click with care!
Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, a hate-film touted as a documentary, produced in Israel by several right wing groups, who are also financial supporters of the McCain Campaign. The film played on FOX and CNN television during the run-up to the 2006 elections and has been repeatedly shown at the bush-controlled CIA and Pentagon as "learning tools" for new agents.
This propaganda is the latest stunt pulled by the right and its media partners. By reaching out to millions of readers with this ready-to-eat propaganda, they controlled the entire message without anyone being able to respond, review or refute the lies, deception and misinformation. Some newspapers who've already been inundated by angry subscribers have responded that the inclusion of paid advertisements with samples are not new.
But as one subscriber noted, "A box of cereal? Toothpaste? Does a box of cereal or a tube of toothpaste encourage me to look with hatred and suspicion on my law abiding neighbors who have a different religion than mine? The trailer for this video is about hate, pure and simple, and shows the video has only one goal -- to instill fear and hatred of neighbor against neighbor."
Touting ridiculous "awards" from right-wing film festivals like the Liberty Film Festival, this slick piece of Israeli propaganda stops at nothing to use the very techniques its sites as the "ways radical Islam and Nazi Germany" fooled their countrymen. It even goes so far as to co-opt several historic quotes by people who spoke against the very schemes and techniques THEY are using... to rally support.
People, you should be outraged. This is a blatant propaganda piece sponsored by a foreign nation, used to coerce the voters of the US to throw another election. If this is what we can expect from for-profit papers and media consolidation, this will become the future of propaganda.
Rich elitists, Multinational Corporations and Foreign Nations with deep pockets, can fabricate lies and deception with flashy packaging and full motion video to reach millions of voters. People, if we tolerate this violation of our public trust, we've truly lost our democracy.
What are you going to say to big media? Will you hold them accountable for the information they provide- or will you quietly sit by and watch fourth branch of government become as corrupt as the rest?
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Whats right on Free Sppech
Andy Griffin tells Opie what the 4th Amendment means... Too bad our Justice System is too busy trampling the Constitution to watch... Do you care?
Some say that the rules have changed since 9/11...
I say yes... with the military Commissions Act and the covert actions of this admnistration the rules certainly hve changed... we're a police-state on the verge of bankruptcy. We're an agressor nation with Imperial motives... oh the bushies tell you we only want to make democracy for all nations. Hello? their definition of Democracy means sujugate that nation and take its resources. Prop up a ficticious government and have multinational corporations run the operations.
Some say that the rules have changed since 9/11...
I say yes... with the military Commissions Act and the covert actions of this admnistration the rules certainly hve changed... we're a police-state on the verge of bankruptcy. We're an agressor nation with Imperial motives... oh the bushies tell you we only want to make democracy for all nations. Hello? their definition of Democracy means sujugate that nation and take its resources. Prop up a ficticious government and have multinational corporations run the operations.
Monday, June 23, 2008
George Carlin RIP
He always played with our sense of the obvious...didn't he?
Were'nt we an interesting lot, for him.
Gonna miss his clarity and wit.
George Carlin Nails It
Were'nt we an interesting lot, for him.
Gonna miss his clarity and wit.
George Carlin Nails It
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
gMail's dirty lil secret!
Google, once a fantastic example of all that is good about Free Market Capitalism and the American Dream... now just another multinational publicly traded corporate monster. Yes Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the darling 20 somethings who, met at Stanford and decided conquer the world... Along the way they were offered an obscene amount of money to sell off their idealism to the devil... tell me, who could resist a $24 Billion IPO?
Fast forward, the company who claims its motto is "do no evil" has some interesting preactices in it gMail division... Yes as the giant internet corporations vie for total control of information, plenty of questionable evil is leveled on an increasingly uneven playfield. Lets look at their email program, which encourages people to keep their private email stored on their online servers as long as they like... because Google has so dog-gone much server space. no biggie!
They tell you to leave you mail on their system and tease you with an "our servers feel unloved" tag if you don't acquiese. But what do they really mean when they say this? Why would anyone encourage us to be messy, to not bother emptying trash cuz they got such big wastebaskets?
Well if the reason they want you to leave your private correspondence is so their internet bots and spiders can back up all your email into their "secure" servers... would you feel like loving their servers? True THEY may have the best of intentions for snooping on your mail... They say its only to help make a better internet experience for you... AdSense and the googleplex idea has been to learn your habits, your friends, your favorite sites and keywords... to help you find more online... And I believe them.
But ever since Dick Cheney gave Retroactive Immunity to the Telcos for giving the neocons access to our emails and browsing logs.... I really have no love for their huge servers. But I believed Google was still an honest corporation... not EVERY one is evil....
But now, their latest email feature has really got me wondering. Custom Time is is a way to backdate your emails so now you can send people emails and claim it went out on time. Have a deadline? not any more! How bout a birthday you missed? never again. Didn't file you eTaxes on time? send it dated April14th!
What the heck is this... Permission to lie? I think "do no evil" has been replaced with "allow for evil" - and thats just not cool. And look who's been invited to attend the ultra-secret shadow world government Bilderberg Group Meeting held last weekend in Virginia... Eric Schmidt, Eric-Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO at Google. No conspiracy or collusion of world corporate interests there... just a myspace party...er thats murdoch's social website.
Fast forward, the company who claims its motto is "do no evil" has some interesting preactices in it gMail division... Yes as the giant internet corporations vie for total control of information, plenty of questionable evil is leveled on an increasingly uneven playfield. Lets look at their email program, which encourages people to keep their private email stored on their online servers as long as they like... because Google has so dog-gone much server space. no biggie!
They tell you to leave you mail on their system and tease you with an "our servers feel unloved" tag if you don't acquiese. But what do they really mean when they say this? Why would anyone encourage us to be messy, to not bother emptying trash cuz they got such big wastebaskets?
Well if the reason they want you to leave your private correspondence is so their internet bots and spiders can back up all your email into their "secure" servers... would you feel like loving their servers? True THEY may have the best of intentions for snooping on your mail... They say its only to help make a better internet experience for you... AdSense and the googleplex idea has been to learn your habits, your friends, your favorite sites and keywords... to help you find more online... And I believe them. But ever since Dick Cheney gave Retroactive Immunity to the Telcos for giving the neocons access to our emails and browsing logs.... I really have no love for their huge servers. But I believed Google was still an honest corporation... not EVERY one is evil....
But now, their latest email feature has really got me wondering. Custom Time is is a way to backdate your emails so now you can send people emails and claim it went out on time. Have a deadline? not any more! How bout a birthday you missed? never again. Didn't file you eTaxes on time? send it dated April14th!
What the heck is this... Permission to lie? I think "do no evil" has been replaced with "allow for evil" - and thats just not cool. And look who's been invited to attend the ultra-secret shadow world government Bilderberg Group Meeting held last weekend in Virginia... Eric Schmidt, Eric-Chairman of the Executive Committee and CEO at Google. No conspiracy or collusion of world corporate interests there... just a myspace party...er thats murdoch's social website.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
ChangeCongress.org
Lawrence Lessig's speech at the National Conference on Media Reform in Minneapolis. Lessig has the best interactive presentation style today... and his message is no less important. Here his point that without a fair Congress, how can we begin to reform Media? Washington DC Lobbyists have DOUBLED since BushCo took office... even though an increasing majority of citizens are against Media Consolidation... Congress continues to consolidate media to Corporations.
Before we create fair Net Neutrality Laws, we need PUBLICALLY FUNDED ELECTIONS for Congress, State and Local Government, and for our Justices...
Get Big Business out of our Business!
Before we create fair Net Neutrality Laws, we need PUBLICALLY FUNDED ELECTIONS for Congress, State and Local Government, and for our Justices...
Get Big Business out of our Business!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Moyers @ Media Conference
Minnesota Media Reform Conference has Bill Moyers' 40 minutes of truth... like light in a dark shadowed corporate vaacuum... here we are now....
Communication Revolution
We are at an historic moment in our history where we are at a confluence of events that will determine the fate of free speech and access to information for generations to come.
The 2008 Media Reform Conference in Minneapolis is the epicenter of the resistance to Corporate-Owned Media and its newest attack on public property, namely to privatize the ownership, regulation and content of the internet.
Many citizens are as of yet unaware that all forms of communication content will soon be delivered via the internet: Telephone, Television, Movies, Video-links, Information Resources, Commerce, Websites, Blogs, Magazines, News, Games and adult entertainment.
Heretofore separated into a variety of government regulated mediums, like telephone, broadcast and commerce... this new medium, "a series of tubes" as the esteemed head of the Senate department who oversees the regulation of the internet, Republican, Sen Ted Stevens, calls it, is right now having its regulatory future decided by our politicians.
The model for conducting business is migrating to online delivery and now the rules for conducting that business, the policies and regulations are being formed in Washington. So this is the time for the citizens to help guide our leadership to create responsible and fair rules to govern the use, ownership, access and content distribution of the internet going forward.
Already, mighty Corporate Communications giants are heavily lobbying Congress to privatize the internet, granting them free reign to censor, limit and control access to information and content. They are trying to erase all the regulatory laws that have governed their use of telephone and television space by rewriting the internet laws at their discression.
This revolution is going on unbeknownst to the average citizen as these same Communication Giants are doing everything in their power to squelch, censor or discredit any effort to inform citizens and policymakers to keep the internet neutral and regulated.
This is the most important battle of our time. For without neutral access to information, truth can be concealed, access can be denied, ideas can be squelched and our future can be narrowed to fit in the pocketbooks of a small number of multinational corporate feifdoms who will have ultimate control of not only our nation, but our planet.
The 2008 Media Reform Conference in Minneapolis is the epicenter of the resistance to Corporate-Owned Media and its newest attack on public property, namely to privatize the ownership, regulation and content of the internet.
Many citizens are as of yet unaware that all forms of communication content will soon be delivered via the internet: Telephone, Television, Movies, Video-links, Information Resources, Commerce, Websites, Blogs, Magazines, News, Games and adult entertainment.
Heretofore separated into a variety of government regulated mediums, like telephone, broadcast and commerce... this new medium, "a series of tubes" as the esteemed head of the Senate department who oversees the regulation of the internet, Republican, Sen Ted Stevens, calls it, is right now having its regulatory future decided by our politicians.
The model for conducting business is migrating to online delivery and now the rules for conducting that business, the policies and regulations are being formed in Washington. So this is the time for the citizens to help guide our leadership to create responsible and fair rules to govern the use, ownership, access and content distribution of the internet going forward.
Already, mighty Corporate Communications giants are heavily lobbying Congress to privatize the internet, granting them free reign to censor, limit and control access to information and content. They are trying to erase all the regulatory laws that have governed their use of telephone and television space by rewriting the internet laws at their discression.
This revolution is going on unbeknownst to the average citizen as these same Communication Giants are doing everything in their power to squelch, censor or discredit any effort to inform citizens and policymakers to keep the internet neutral and regulated.
This is the most important battle of our time. For without neutral access to information, truth can be concealed, access can be denied, ideas can be squelched and our future can be narrowed to fit in the pocketbooks of a small number of multinational corporate feifdoms who will have ultimate control of not only our nation, but our planet.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Condi Must Go!
Rove Must Go, Rummy Must GO, Ashcroft Must Go,
Libby Must Go, Tenet Must Go, Abermoff Must Go,
DeLay Must Go, Gonzalez must Go, how many must go?
before the quietly content consevatives begin to add it up?
This administration is going... piece by piece...
when are people going to accept the reality that the leadership
MUST GO.... NOW!
This is the perfect example of what you get when you look the other way instead of confronting the truth... now these leaders have become so familiar with their lies and propaganda that they forgot the web they weaved to get to this point... and make careless mistakes....
But no slip of the tongue can compare with the slip of judgment the conservative right are content to accept in order to continue their comfortable lifestyles - at any cost. Well the cost is our freedom, our nation and ... yes... our lifestyles.
This administration has been AGAIN caught in lies. Caught in acts of treason that are punishable- not by simply firing a few close allies- but by jailing and perhaps executing the leadership... if capital punishment is good for minorities and small time offenders... then isn't it good for politicians, businessmen, military leaders and the media leadership guilty of treason?
Yes Condi Will Go... but only if you take action... because the mainstream corporate media is not covering this issue... they are on Pope-a-Dope watch... and this story is being silenced but for a few mentions to keep the illusion of balance.
As long as this administration- CHENEY and Bush, remain in power... amnesty, immunity, and pardons are given away like treats at the dentists office. We can expect no justice or ethics to come til someone hangs like Saddham from a rope.
So much for conservation or belief in ethical moral conduct...
Conservative (as it is presented today)- MUST GO!
<
Libby Must Go, Tenet Must Go, Abermoff Must Go,
DeLay Must Go, Gonzalez must Go, how many must go?
before the quietly content consevatives begin to add it up?
This administration is going... piece by piece...
when are people going to accept the reality that the leadership
MUST GO.... NOW!
This is the perfect example of what you get when you look the other way instead of confronting the truth... now these leaders have become so familiar with their lies and propaganda that they forgot the web they weaved to get to this point... and make careless mistakes....
But no slip of the tongue can compare with the slip of judgment the conservative right are content to accept in order to continue their comfortable lifestyles - at any cost. Well the cost is our freedom, our nation and ... yes... our lifestyles.
This administration has been AGAIN caught in lies. Caught in acts of treason that are punishable- not by simply firing a few close allies- but by jailing and perhaps executing the leadership... if capital punishment is good for minorities and small time offenders... then isn't it good for politicians, businessmen, military leaders and the media leadership guilty of treason?
Yes Condi Will Go... but only if you take action... because the mainstream corporate media is not covering this issue... they are on Pope-a-Dope watch... and this story is being silenced but for a few mentions to keep the illusion of balance.
As long as this administration- CHENEY and Bush, remain in power... amnesty, immunity, and pardons are given away like treats at the dentists office. We can expect no justice or ethics to come til someone hangs like Saddham from a rope.
So much for conservation or belief in ethical moral conduct...
Conservative (as it is presented today)- MUST GO!
<
Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Brass Is Back
The Brass Monkey and Lyin Ryan Crock-r shit took to the hill
to spin more yarn about our empire-building in Iraq.
Remember that old Thin Lizzy tune???
Guess who went in front of Congress today?
Those two-faced boys that had been away
Haven't changed much of what they say
like man, those cats are crazy
They were being asked to expound
How Iraq was, whether WMDs could be found
They told us it were safe, living downtown
dodgin all those mortars in the green zone town
The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town
You know that schtick about success
Spewing lies for the corporate press
Man when I tell you they was cool, they was red hot
I mean tellin lies as truth-they was a spinnin'
That day on Capitol Hill, on cspan as the pundits began to grill
Well this congress chick got up and she yelled in Patraeus' face
Man the media all went to commercial break
If the media don't want us to know, we'll forget her
Tuesday morn they'll be dressed to kill
duded up with their suits, shiny stars and frill
The lies will flow about the blood they spill
Cuz these boys want to fight, and congress' gonna let em
The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town
They'll tell us the surge, it worked great-
ignore the mortar fire blowin up all over the place
Increase our troop strength, it won't be long
It won't be long till they'll do the same in Iran
Now that the Brass is here again
The brass are back in town.
their lies, the media expounds
Will justice ever be found?
the brass is back
..... the brass is back
to spin more yarn about our empire-building in Iraq.
Remember that old Thin Lizzy tune???
Guess who went in front of Congress today?
Those two-faced boys that had been away
Haven't changed much of what they say
like man, those cats are crazy
They were being asked to expound
How Iraq was, whether WMDs could be found
They told us it were safe, living downtown
dodgin all those mortars in the green zone town
The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town
You know that schtick about success
Spewing lies for the corporate press
Man when I tell you they was cool, they was red hot
I mean tellin lies as truth-they was a spinnin'
That day on Capitol Hill, on cspan as the pundits began to grill
Well this congress chick got up and she yelled in Patraeus' face
Man the media all went to commercial break
If the media don't want us to know, we'll forget her
Tuesday morn they'll be dressed to kill
duded up with their suits, shiny stars and frill
The lies will flow about the blood they spill
Cuz these boys want to fight, and congress' gonna let em
The brass are back in town, the brass are back in town
They'll tell us the surge, it worked great-
ignore the mortar fire blowin up all over the place
Increase our troop strength, it won't be long
It won't be long till they'll do the same in Iran
Now that the Brass is here again
The brass are back in town.
their lies, the media expounds
Will justice ever be found?
the brass is back
..... the brass is back
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.
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