Government Versus the People: Incompatible Objectives, Irreconcilable Differences

© OutOfSync by shutterstock.com

Government Versus the People: Incompatible Objectives, Irreconcilable Differences by Michael Payne

Government of the people, by the people and for the people; that's the form of government we Americans thought we had. That's now a thing of the past, it no longer exists. The government that now occupies our nation's capitol has become estranged from the people of America. This is an incompatible, rapidly deteriorating relationship in which the mounting differences are becoming irreconcilable.

We might think of this government as an oligarchy with its power vested in a relatively few persons, a dominant class. Then again, we could call it a plutocracy comprised of the wealthiest of Americans. Or we might refer to it as a corporocracy that has risen to great power over decades and now, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, has been given free license to contaminate and corrupt the American political system; to control elections and the legislative agenda in Congress with an endless stream of money. Whatever we wish to call this anti-democracy, anti-Constitution triumvirate, the fact of the matter is that is has now replaced the government of, by, and for the people.

This government continues to head in a direction in which the people do not wish to go. Poll after poll has indicated that up to 75% of Americans think this government and this nation is headed in the wrong direction.

This is clear evidence of the division that exists between the two parties. The people want jobs not unemployment checks, they want to see American manufacturing restored, they want banks to be regulated, elimination of mortgage fraud, help with foreclosures, a vastly improved education system, help with massive student loans, universal health care, campaign finance reform, the rebuilding of the nation's infrastructure, development of new sources of energy and, last but not least, an end to America's endless, costly wars.

So how many of these important needs are included on our government's list of highest priorities? Absolutely none, not even one. This government's priorities are entirely different; they are totally out of sync with those of the people. Banks are shielded from effective regulation, Wall Street remains untouchable, the 1% are not asked to pay their fair share of taxes, campaign finance is a dead issue, there is no attempt to reign in corporations' outsourcing of jobs; Congress will not appropriate funds for energy development or infrastructure improvement, and education and the scourge of student debt is never discussed. The highest priority and funding continues to go to maintaining the military machine and its associated defense industry corporations.

We have this massive gulf that has developed between the government and the people. Many millions of Americans are greatly disillusioned and they feel this government is letting them down. As this gulf widens there is an increasing feeling by those who monitor conditions in America that this nation may be arriving at a crisis point in the year 2012; a point at which the continued refusal of this government to address the nation's most critical domestic problems is going to collide with the despair and frustration of the mass of the American people.

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To add to this deteriorating relationship the situation was just recently exacerbated by actions of the Congress and President Obama that defy logic and rationality. The Congress, with the backing of the majority of Republicans and many Democrats created the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA),     rushed it through the legislative process and to the president's desk in record fashion. This legislation follows the previously enacted Patriot Act and adds further restrictions on the freedom and rights of the American people under the Constitution. This act, no matter what this president and its facilitators may say, allows the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without charge or trial.      

Take a look at this list and see if your senator(s) were among the 86 unpatriotic politicians who sold out the people of American and the U.S. Constitution. These 86 senators, by their shameful and disgraceful affirmative votes, deserve this nation's contempt and scorn. They are no longer qualified to represent the people of this nation and they have just violated their oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. They occupy the lowest rungs of this nation's corrupted political system and each of them should, at the earliest opportunity, be voted out of office.

Then there is President Obama who had threatened to veto the legislation because of its evident constitutional conflicts; he suddenly changed his mind and signed it into law on New Year's Eve when everyone was busy with celebrations and holiday cheer. He did add a signing statement, one which has no constitutional effect on this law, in which he stated: "I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation."

That statement is simply mind boggling. What he should have said is that this legislation is unconstitutional and it has no place in a nation that values it freedoms and follows the rule of law. And then, instead of a meaningless signing statement, he should have vetoed the legislation. But he signed it and allowed one of the despicable pieces of legislation to ever be enacted in the Congress become the law of the land.

To add to this dilemma there is a report that is more than shocking. A recent column   by Steve Chapman in the Chicago Tribune reports the following: "Obama pledges he will never use that power to hold an American. But Sen. Carl D. Levin, D-Mich., said the bill originally applied only to noncitizens. Citizens were included, he said, at the request of the White House." And "Even if Obama doesn't plan to use the power, it will be sitting on the shelf for Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum." If that report proves to be true and this president requested that American citizens be included, then he will have dealt this democracy a grievous blow, one that will shake its foundations.

To declare that citizens of this nation are, in the eyes of the law, to be treated in the same way as any suspected terrorist, without any right of habeas corpus, is an insult and a national disgrace. What this president did when he signed that legislation is beyond belief; an act that will be recorded in history as one that put the dismantling of the Constitution on a fast track and brought this nation one step closer to military rule. Now the people must clearly understand the magnitude of the danger that exists, the threat to our democracy and our Constitution, and strongly demand that this law be rescinded.

Time is rapidly running out and this government and the people must find some way to get back on the same frequency and work together to take this nation in a new, positive direction into the future.   If this massive gulf that currently exists between the two continues to widen, then this deteriorating condition will become irreparable and irreversible. That must not be allowed to happen.

Michael Payne

Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist who writes articles about social, economic and political matters as well as American foreign policy. He is a U.S. Army veteran. His major goal is to convince Americans that our perpetual wars must (more...)

A Portrait of False Activism and Deceptive Democracy: Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Fascist Seal of Approval

A Portrait of False Activism and Deceptive Democracy: Aung San Suu Kyi Receives Fascist Seal of Approval by Tony Cartalucci

 British FM William Hague awards her the "Chatham House Prize."

In the first visit to Myanmar by a British foreign minister in 56 years -- since the British were expelled from the nation, then called Burma after its declaration of independence in 1956 -- William Hague took it upon himself to present "democracy icon" Aung San Suu Kyi with the "Chatham House Prize."

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Photo: Hague hands Suu Kyi the "Chatham House Prize." Nothing quite says "democracy promotion" like a prize from an organization consisting of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BP, Exxon, Chevron, BAE, Boeing, Lockheed, and many more. This is just the latest in a long line of self-aggrandizing stunts the global elite pull to lend themselves otherwise non-existent legitimacy.

The "Chatham House Prize" is given annually to a "statesperson who is deemed by Chatham House members to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year." The decision process is conducted by research teams and the Chatham House's presidents who are currently John Major, Patricia Scotland, and none other than Paddy Ashdown, who just finished defiling the spirit of innovation and pragmatism at the TED Talks with his sales pitch for global governance run by the corporate-financier elite.

 The prize is given to those "deemed by Chatham House members" to have made contributions to the improvement of "international relations." The Chatham House membership is described as "individuals, companies and organizations who share a deep interest in international affairs, independent thinking and debate." Their membership includes, "academics, diplomats, the media, NGOs, politicians, policy-makers, researchers and business people."

Of course, an actual look at Chatham House's membership reveals what is essential a fraudulent convergence of corporate-financier elitist interests, government, so-called "NGOs," and media. Their "corporate & NGO membership" includes Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, British Petroleum, Amsterdam & Peroff, Bloomsberg, BBC, Coca-Cola, Dutsche Bank, BAE Systems, the Economist, GlaxoSmithKline, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Total, Texco, Reuters, Boeing, Standard Chartered Bank, Thales, Lockheed Martin, World Vision, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Barclays Capital.

When we look at the fraudulent concert with which these converging interests operated in the persecution of war against Libya and the subsequent genocide, destruction, and installation of a Petroleum Institute representative as "prime minister" of the nation as it began handing out the above-mentioned big-oil interests exclusive contracts, it is quite clear the potential conflicts of interest present at the Chatham House have bred atrocious improprieties. That it would later turn out that the claims of "humanitarian intervention" were based on admitted lies by "human rights activists" in Libya who were in fact working directly for/with the opposition, illustrates the absolute lack of legitimacy with which these global elite operate with.

 From the lies told by Chatham House media members, to policies crafted by government members, to the immense profits now being reaped by its big-business members -- the Chatham House is an interlocking criminal enterprise of unprecedented proportions.

The Chatham House is one of many corporate-financier round tables that represent the collective interests of the global corporate-financier elite. Their policy papers and the agendas they support directly represent their collective corporate-financier interests. The "Chatham House Prize" therefore is in no shape, form, or manner, a testament to a recipient's service to the people, but rather their service to the powers that be -- globally.

Aung San Suu Kyi has just been granted the seal of global corporate-fascist approval, accepting the prize from Hague who has played an instrumental role in the destruction and genocide brought upon Libya, and a man who is busy attempting a repeat performance in Syria and Iran.

As described in depth in "Burmese "Pro-Democracy" Movement a Creation of Wall Street & London," Aung San Suu Kyi's entire political movement, the NGOs supporting her both inside Myanmar and abroad, as well as domestic and foreign media fronts that ceaselessly promote her and her agenda, are entirely funded by the US and British governments. A 2006 36-page document out of the "Burma Campaign UK" explicitly details the enormous amount of money and resources both the US government and its corporate-funded foundations have poured into Suu Kyi's image and her "movement."

The goal of course is to remove anti-Western, pro-nationalist cliques within the Myanmar government and replace them with compliant stooges like Aung San Suu Kyi. It is then ironic that 56 years after the British were expelled from Myanmar, they are now back along with the likes of George Soros, US-stooge Yingluck Shinawatra, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, bestowing accolades, praise, and support upon Aung San Suu Kyi, a proxy holding enormous potential to usher in a new age of neo-colonialism managed by Wall Street and London -- all part of the so-called American "Pacific Century" aiming at encircling and containing the rise of China.

The age of British imperialism never truly ended, its global spanning megalomania never went extinct -- rather it has evolved into a system of global corporate-financier fascism.

For those interested in what can be done to stop the building of this insidious empire, please see "Solutions." 

Tony Cartalucci's articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at 
Land Destroyer Report.  

Video: Identifying Different Psychopaths

38. Identifying Different Psychopaths

David Cobb on Occupy the Courts January 20, 2012

David Cobb on Occupy the Courts January 20, 2012

Occupy Detroit Movement

Jan. 6, 2012: Occupy Detroit Movement 

DHS Now Issuing Thousands of New Photo ID’s for ‘Voting Purposes’

© David Farley

DHS Now Issuing Thousands of New Photo ID’s for ‘Voting Purposes’ by Patrick Henningsen

 “As a nation, we will do everything in our power to protect our country.  As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division.  We will be guided by our hopes, our unity, and our deeply held values.  That’s who we are as Americans … And we will continue to do everything that we can to keep America safe in the new year and beyond.” - Barrack Obama’s opening address for the Department of Homeland Security 2011 Budget Report

The Orwellian overtones could not be more ominous. Contrary to Obama’s moral decree, America is already ten years into its latest social experiment – making fear and division its premier business.

One of the true hallmarks of any successful police state is a compulsory national ID. On this score, Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security has officially taken up challenge of making sure that no American will be left without one. Tennessee provided the launchpad for this new DHS police state project, but like anything with the DHS, it’s hard to actually pinpoint whose banner it is actually run under.

Originally conceived under the Bush Administration in November 2002, supposedly in response to the attacks of September 11, 2011 and the dubious anthrax attacks (both these events have not been proven to be carried out by foreign agents), the DHS along with its stepchild the TSA, have become a bottomless pit of federal and grant money, who’s only achievement to date has been to instigate increased control and monitoring of the US domestic population – bullying its way through the legislative branch at the same time as the USA PATRIOT Act.

The new DHS national ID card program was officially rolled out this week in the state of Tennessee. From January 1st, 2012, ID cards are longer optional, they are the law. The new state law requires that all Tennessee citizens must present a federal or state-issued photo ID in order to vote at the polls. The law also requires the DHS to issue photo IDs for voting purposes – at no charge. Residents appear to have given in without any serious fight, giving a new dimension to the state’s lofty moniker as a “Volunteer State”.

The program was quietly ushered in earlier in 2011, as reported today by Tennessee journal Clarksville Online:

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security today announced that 9,492 photo IDs had been issued for voting purposes from July 1st through December 31st, 2011. The vast majority (8,989) of those issued were non-photo driver licenses converted into photo driver licenses, while 503 were original photo identification cards.


If Tennessee passes another state law making the new ID cards a prerequisite for voting, which the current trajectory of this legislation seems to be aimed towards, then other states could follow suit, making it illegal to cast one’s vote without this new generation DHS Federal ID Card.

Notice here that the DHS has successfully embedded itself as a local franchise in each state – making initiatives like this latest voter ID card in Tennessee look and feel like a localized state program. This ID program is being rolled out under the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security. Rather than looking like a federal DHS project, this police state measure effectively delivers a fully federally mechanized ID card scheme – under the perceived banner of a state mandate. Clever.

Since its inception, the DHS has grown into one of the largest and most expensive federal bureaucracies on the planet, costing the country an estimated $57 billion. But the DHS isn’t like any of its other federal department or branch military forerunners. It is what one might describe as the “Haliburton’ of federal agencies, whose apparent role is to ‘reorganize’ federal and state emergency services, coordinate logistics, streamline interdepartmental communications and work out  Critical Infrastructure Protection. All this has been orchestrated and paid for under the assumption that, before Sept 11th, all these federal responsibilities were not being looked after, highlighting the need for a new layer of federal bureaucracy and making a number of existing federal bodies – including the FBI, all but redundant.

For all intensive purposes, like any other 21st century federal security program, this brave new idea was purposefully constructed around a feeling of national fear and division – the same one that Obama was unknowingly(or knowingly) alluding to in that DHS budget address.

The police state and big brother implications of this type of state-sponsored ID roll-out are quite evident. Already, all new US passports issued after 2008 are fitted with an RFID chip inside, allowing authorities to track and trace the movements of any US citizen over borders and through transit depots. It would only be a matter of time before this same feature would be implemented in the DHS national ID card. No doubt also, that some right wing xenophobic tendencies towards illegals can be used by government officials and media in order to sell the benefits of a voter-friendly  ID card.

“The Iowa caucus is over, and the presidential primary season is in full swing. Tennessee’s presidential primary will be here before you know it, so I strongly encourage anyone who doesn’t already have a valid photo ID to get one as soon as possible,” Said Tennessee’s Secretary of State Tre Hargett.

Tying these mandatory ID cards to voting will ensure that the program sticks, but this latest divisive move in Tennessee should be viewed by citizens of the Volunteer State, and Americans elsewhere too, as a step backwards in terms of rights and liberty.

Local liberty organizations around the country should mobilize now, in order to head-off a complete rout by the DHS of the our polling and democratic system. Once their system is in place, it will be near impossible to dismantle.

Related:

• US, Illinois: New Law Requires Photo ID To Buy Drain Cleaner
• Operation Shield: DHS Officers Armed With Semiautomatics Running Unannounced ID Checkpoints
• NDAA: Open Season for the Police State

EU Unemployment At Record High: WideShut News, Jan 6th, 2012

EU Unemployment At Record High: WideShut News, Jan 6th, 2012

Lying, Chaos, Confusion, Insanity – I Can’t Take It Anymore!

© lies

Lying, Chaos, Confusion, Insanity – I Can’t Take It Anymore! by Tom Valentine

Media whores dance together to inflate the great 0sama/Obama lie, Americans are dumbest subjects/slaves ever.

I just watched a CNN news blurb that talked up another “new” book by some alleged Seal team Insider taking some strawman issue with the White House over the great snowjob assault that killed a dead man for public relations purposes.

And I just read an Internet blurb with Congressional liar (redundant) Peter King supposedly demanding to know if somebody in the Pentagon “violated security” by “leaking details” about the great phantom death raid to some movie makers. Source—Huffington post, which is truly whoring journalism.

I don’t need the resources attributed to Duff and VT to put this together, but the unwashed, golfing broker-obsessed, white republican biddies and duffers appear to buy the garbage as truth, just ask their Gods of the radio waves, Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Boortz, Levin and Laura. They bought it with a straight face.

I hate to be racist, but the blacks from the mean streets are much brighter and aware of the cascading bullshit, than are the upper-middle whites, that are getting clobbered by their moneyed “brothers” as they sink economically and morally.

Like reverse psychology, this media trick creates “new news” that reinforces an old Lie; are we this dumb?

Obama, the change artist, got a huge PR boost for the fake/phony “raid at Abottabad” and the slick public relations crowd, using every Talmudic trick allowed against stupid goyim, are keeping the “thought” or seeds of the big lie alive; while continuing to squelch truth about 9-11, even though millions are up on the truth; wow, what a great trick!

I guess we at VT can talk about it in the yards at the upcoming FEMA camps shortly.

Everytime I read some Internet piece about the “hijackers” I cringe, just like I do with these phony “alerts” about Osama’s last stand.

Additionally, those Arabian patsies continue to earn brownie points for the 9-11 lie in Patsydom, while the real bombers enjoy television appearances in Tel Aviv, which our “media” will never report.

Since God helps those who help themselves, we can rest assured that (evangelical oxymorons notwithstanding) God will not reach into the bag to give us a hand.

This video has gone viral; my sentiments exactly:

Propaganda Alert: How to Jack Oil Terrorism and Make a Killing in Fascist Profits

'US intervention in Iran will drag China & Russia into war' - RT

Comment: This is a nearly a perfect piece of PROPAGANDA, with the addition of a front grope. What are the REAL REASONS for the hegemony on war? Think carefully, you know the answer.

Related:

Thousands of US troops deploying to Israel
And on cue...
Obama launches Bureau of Counterterrorism

Transcending The American Lockdown

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Transcending The American Lockdown by Zen Gardner

Hard to believe but it's happened. What's more alarming is how quickly and smoothly it's been pulled off without an apparent whimper of protest.

Or so they've led us to believe. In reality there's been a huge outcry from several corners about the virtual annulment of the Bill of Rights. The media's just so air tight we're not hearing a squeak.

That's what's scary.

And it's worked.

Mainstream America has virtually swallowed the ocean of sanitized lies and egregious omissions it's been dealt. The US is now officially part of the New World Order, by default. That's what's daunting. Any possibility of an uprising by the many is almost past.

Almost.

But you know what?

It's always been that way. The few with the truth have always led the way. And real change for the better inevitably followed the eventual collapse of every corrupt empire.

Psychotropic Stupor

Why don't the masses get it? Well, if you're not paying attention this might be puzzling. But if you are watching with any clarity of thought it's obvious. The medicated masses are benumbed. They've succumbed to a massively manipulated program of social engineering.

Chemically designed water, air, food and drugs along with a complicit mind-numbing media have given birth to an exponentially expanding generation of gnomes that carry out the whims of a corporo-fascist dictatorship that exceeds the dreams of George Orwell.

We're here...before the asteroids hit and after the antelopes play, we're here.

Read more..

WHY THE ELITE NEED TO KEEP US POOR - JOHN TRUDELL 1992

WHY THE ELITE NEED TO KEEP US POOR - JOHN TRUDELL 1992

America Doomed

© Lasha Darkmoon
“I realized America was lost. Evil had prevailed.”

America Doomed by Paul Craig Roberts

"In such a system as is being constructed in public in front of our eyes, there is no freedom, no democracy, and no liberty. What stands before us is naked tyranny."

 Writers who are critical of Washington's illegal wars and the overthrow of the US Constitution could soon find themselves in indefinite detention. This is because criticism of Washington's policies can be alleged to be aiding Washington's enemies - which might include charities that provide aid to bombed Palestinian children and flotillas that attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Bush/Obama regimes have put the foundation in place for imprisoning critics of the government without due process of law. The First Amendment is being all but restricted to rah-rah Americans who chant USA! USA! USA! Washington has set itself up as world prosecutor, forever berating other countries for human rights violations, while Washington alone bombs half a dozen countries into the stone age and threatens several more with the same treatment, all the while violating US statutory law and the Geneva Conventions by torturing detainees.

Washington rounds up assorted foreign politicians, whose countries were afflicted with civil wars, and sends them off to be tried as war criminals, while its own war crimes continue to mount. However, if a person exposes Washington's war crimes, that person is held without charges in conditions that approximate torture.

Read complete article..

Church of Filesharing Now Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden

© Minyanville
Religulous

Church of Filesharing Now Recognized as Official Religion in Sweden by Sterling Wong

 Hallelujah! Filesharing is now officially a religion in Sweden, as Swedish authorities have approved the Church of Kopimism as an officially religion.

Yes, in 2010, 19 year-old philosophy student Isak Gerson, a fervid believer in file sharing, founded The Missionary Church of Kopimism, which considers file sharing and copy to be sacred acts and hold up CTRL+C and CTRL+V as divine symbols.

Membership in the church grew swiftly, reaching some 3,000 in the latter half of 2011, which prompted Gerson to seek legal recognition so as to gain freedom of religion protection afforded by the Swedish Constitution.

According to TorrentFreak, the church's central tenets include the beliefs that:

• Reproduction of information is ethically right.
• The flow of information is ethically right.
• Remix Spirit is a sacred kind of copying.
• Copying or remixing information conveyed by another person is an act of respect.

The church is also acutely against DRM and other methods of protecting or hiding code.

"To appropriate software (to keep source code hidden from others), is comparable to slavery, and should be banned," they declare.

In an official press release, the church shared its thoughts on attaining official recognition:

"For the Church of Kopimism, information is holy and copying is a sacrament. Information holds a value, in itself and in what it contains, and the value multiplies through copying. Therefore, copying is central for the organisation and its members.

Being recognized by the state of Sweden is a large step for all of kopimi. Hopefully, this is one step towards the day when we can live out our faith without fear of persecution, says Isak Gerson, spiritual leader of the Church of Kopimism."

"I think that more people will have the courage to step out as Kopimists. Maybe not in the public, but at least to their close ones," Isak told TorrentFreak. "There's still a legal stigma around copying for many. A lot of people still worry about going to jail when copying and remixing. I hope in the name of Kopimi that this will change."

Of course, the church's formal status as a religion does not mean that members have carte blanche to download copyrighted material, even though that will change if Gerson has his way.

Comment: Even though this article is humorous, the argument has some validity in that true art is unique and a one time experience. To claim all these experiences as your own might be a little silly. You can devise some of the hardware built for the divine state from studying etymology.

A World of Thieves

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A World of Thieves - R. Mark Sink

Yes, you are cordially attentuated to understand that American voting is a bonafide happening by the main stream slime industry. However, we have already learned that only 11 percent of Congress is even approvable, and that now you are supposed to swallow the idea that a man who is wealthier than any previous candidate in history is the overall choice from the heart of Americans.

And if you believe that, you have also succumb to the nature of the beast in that what has occurred in Iowa is not the truth unless only those who are obsessed by the art of thief, which seems to be the main theme of financial stability.

The noun thief is an Old English thēof that is analogous to the human anatomy in that the word "thigh," (from the hip to the knee) may also be considered a thief in the way in which it constructs walking. If the main body is heading in a particular direction, the thieves will be providing the navigation. It could be said, if the main body is corrupted, the way of the thieves would reveal the pathos.

With that said, one might assume that it would be pretty easy for a life to be stolen and completely oblivious to the captain of the ship. They may have a tendency to cross each other as their simplified message of wanton. We might even consider that once they are touched, that access has been granted to their secret ballot and sacrosanct exception.

Once a thief is established, lying becomes much easier as it is assumed that lying is the basis of fact (thieve; transitive or intransitive verb), and soon the thieves will begin to run things. It may even be assumed the tumefacient is real and will begin to create its own fearless reality. The pathology may reveal it believes it has been chosen to perpetuate the tomb of the dead.

To conjugate them would surely offer balance within the system of logical thinking, and to prove to oneself what they truly offer if left to their demission. They hide the truth in which seldom is discussed but on the surface of the rhetoric provided from the thieves much talk occurs about the importance of it. But, when it comes to the right of the actual life-force, this is immediately rejected as only a servant to its master.

And the great sea will part for them, driven by the thief of the man.

Greece wants out of Eurozone. Now!

Greece wants out of Eurozone. Now! - RT



Greece has announced that it could ditch the Euro and exit the Eurozone in as little as 3 months - unless the EU and the IMF fund it with a second 130 billion euro bailout. Talks over the cash life-line have stalled for months over the poor performance of austerity measures and fears for the future. To discuss these latest development RT joined by Belgian business journalist, Johan van Overtveldt, live from Brussels.

Related:

Crisis Conditions Grip Eurozone - by Stephen Lendman

Gerald Celente Telling It Like It Is: MF Global, Fascism, and the Culture of Corruption

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Gerald Celente Telling It Like It Is: MF Global, Fascism, and the Culture of Corruption by Jim Puplava

 Transcript of an interview between Jim Puplava and Gerald Celente.

Jim: Joining me from Trends Research is Gerald Celente. And Gerald we have been covering a few stories of the implications of MF Global, of course the story about how Ann Barnhardt closing down her account because the system doesn't work. You had an experience that was not very pleasant. And you found out that even though you didn't have an account with MF Global in reality you did. Why don't you share that with our listeners?

Gerald: Yes. About two weeks ago on Monday and I have been trading gold now since 1978 was my first buy. And what I do I have a very simple strategy. It is just kind of like going to a store and buying something on layaway and that is the way I buy gold. I buy gold in very different ways; I buy coins, I buy bouillon and one of the ways I do it is I buy it through the commodities futures exchange. And what I do is I build up my account until l am ready to take delivery, just like a layaway. And all of a sudden you go to pick up whatever you bought at the store and the store is no longer there. And basically that is what has happened to me.

So I got a call two weeks ago on a Monday and I got it from my broker and he wanted a margin call. I said what are you out of your mind a margin call!?! I said I have plenty of money in my account. I am taking delivery at the end of the month. What margin call? And then he told me I had an account MF Global, I thought I had it with Lind-Waldock. And I hadn't paid attention they had been bought out because every time they would answer the phone it was Lind-Waldock and it just kind of registers in your mind like that. Then I found out they took all of my money - all of my money - out of my account and put it in the hands of a trustee. I said who decided this? He said the CME group and other parties. I said you mean Meyer Lansky and Al Capone decided to take my money, they are making up these rules and giving it to a trustee? I mean who is their trustee? What member of the crime family has my money.

Now, Mr. Celente don't get excited. I said what are you kidding me? That was my life savings. So now you don't hear anything for two weeks except they close out my accounts. They have closed out a number of my accounts because I refuse to send more money seeing I have all this money in there. So now, I'm hunting around seeing what is going on over here and there is a $700 million shortfall or thereabouts. You keep hearing it on the change day to day.

And I go to do some research and I say wait a minute this MF Global is run by the wonderful John Corzine, oh you remember him - the former governor of New Jersey and then Senator until he ran that into the ground. He was a top cat with Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs, boy the Rothschilds would be jealous if they could see what the Goldman Sachs gang has taken over. Anyway, let's not forget Henry Paulson under Bush was a Goldman Sachs guy, Robert Ruben under Clinton, the treasury secretary, was a Goldman Sachs guy that deregulated the industry, killed the Glass-Steagall act and made it legal for these guys to become open criminals. They call taking it down the firewall between commercial banking and investment banking.

It means that they're casinos that gamble. And that is what Corzine was doing. It's like you, Jim, going to Las Vegas, sitting down and putting a dollar on the table and making a $40 bet and the dealer would say hey, what are you out of your mind, buddy? You only got a dollar there. Hey don't you know who I am? I am John Corzine and my buddies over there at the Federal Reserve and at the commodities future trading association, they say it is okay. I can bet 40 to 1. You just do this and do as you told. Because you know who my buddy is over there at the commodities future trading association? Well his name is Gary Gensla. Oh yea, so big deal. What do you mean big deal. I knew Gary when I was over at Goldman Sachs. He was one of the boys. He said I could do this. So this is what he is doing.

What he did was he took the money out of my account. He stole the money out of my account and others and what he did was, brilliant John Corzine, bet on European bonds. Oh you know those wonderful Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Irish bonds...going down the toilet. So that is what he did. He took funds that are segregated and got them to fill his money junky habit of 40 to 1. So then I'm doing more research and I come up with this guy the head of the CME Group, you know the CME Group. They are the stock exchange for commodities and derivatives out of Chicago. Terry Duffy. Yes. Terry Duffy, the executive chairman. And I'm googling around and I find a speech of his with his good buddy Mayor Daley next to him. This was about a year ago. And here is what Terry says at this press conference.

This all ties together - he was trying to get tax breaks for the CME Group because of all the jobs that they create and how they deserve these breaks as the rest of us just have to live by the rules. And he goes on to say "no customer has ever lost a penny as a result of a clearing member default of the CME Group". Oh yea, Terry, guess what? I lost more than a penny. A lot more than a penny. And here is the smoking gun. This is the smoking gun that should bring down the entire criminal operation.

If you or I did this, Jim, we would be behind bars. But just like Corzine walks free, he is a member of the White Shoe Boys Club - there is no hard time for them. "Since we are the guarantor of every transaction that happens" says Mr. Duffy, "in our markets we have to guarantee the performance of each and every one of these contracts". Then he goes on to say that they have secured these contracts. To do this we hold more than $100 billion of collateral to support the transactions. That are being done on our markets. Where is the money, $100 billion? And they are talking about a $700 million shortfall and they can't come up with it. This is either a fraud or a con or a lie. What is this?

Jim: Gerald, what about the fact that if you had cash in your account which is collateral what about the comingling of accounts. It sounds like what they did is what Corzine was doing was rating these cash and accounts. Customers thought they had margin there that was segregated. It doesn't sound like it because it looks like $800 million is missing. How did that go?

Gerald: Exactly. And nobody is calling this guy out. You remember Jim, that guy Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF guy that was allegedly caught forcing sex on a maid at a hotel? And remember the perp walk he did and they sent him to Riker's Island. This guy Corzine screws tens of thousands of people and what does he do? He gets to throw $35,000 a plate fundraising dinners for Obama. Where's his perp walk? How comes he's not locked up? How come they don't have him in jail until they find this money?

I tell you why, because of the word justice. Everybody has it spelled wrong it's J-U-S-T - U-S. Just us. Just like that woman in Arizona who they took a husband and her threw her to jail for not paying for a $5 chicken sandwich and put their kid in foster home. Just like the people who sell raw milk and the Garden Gestapo come in and break them and take everything that they have. Just like these little kids that get busted, you read about it all the time for lemonade stands. Just like I heard Mayor Bloomberg cleaning up Zuccotti Park because it was unsanitary and throwing out these peaceful protestors. Hey billionaire Bloomberg, how about cleaning up the crap a couple of blocks down the street over there called Wall Street? How about cleaning that up?

Jim: There is another book out called Throw the Bums Out. I don't know if you have heard of it but it is amazing the innerconnectedness of the very people you are talking about including the people like Warren Buffet who has gotten bailed out. They bail out the big bankers, Corzine throws a dinner party for a fundraiser and in the meantime $800 million are missing. I run a broker/dealer and if I did anything like that I would be doing this interview in prison.

Gerald: That's right and you know what else, they would be busting into your house ripping you apart throwing your wife down to the ground and handcuffing your kids. That's what you would get! How come nobody is at Corzine's Fifth Avenue penthouses? How come? And I am going to tell you Jim, I am so sick of hearing how, "Oh, this Obama is a socialist. He's a Marxist." No he is not. The merger of state and corporate powers is called fascism. Let's stop calling these people bankers. Let's call them by their proper names, loan sharks. The loan sharks have taken over this nation. They have just taken over there in Italy. They put this guy Mario Monti - they call him Super Mario. How about three card Monti?

How about this guy - look at him, look at the connections! I'm not making this up. Monti. The new Draghi head of the ECB. Papademos over there in Greece, three bankers just took over the deal. Where did what's his name, Draghi come from? Oh he was head of the Goldman Sachs group there in Europe wasn't he? Member of the Trilateral Commission and a senior member of the Bilderberg. I'm not making this up it is right here in Wikipedia. And how about that guy Papademos over there? Oh yeah, another trilateral member and also a roommate...a roommate of Draghi during college years. That's pretty tight isn't it? Yeah, but you know there is also three card Monti over there in Italy. No he's not another member of the Trilateral commission is he? Oh no...it just happens to be like that!

Jim: I want to move onto another topic that you covered in your trends journal and you had this exhibit - because I covered this on the show this week. You took the US government budget and it was $3.8 trillion - they got $2.2 trillion - the new debt is $1.7 trillion and the amount that they are cutting, the actual cut from the budget from the charade this summer, was like $38.5 billion. What a joke.

Gerald: Yeah, what a joke. The whole thing is a joke. And the joke is on us.

Jim: I just wonder how long whether it is Occupy Wall Street or The Tea Party, but do you see the American public is finally waking up and saying wait a minute. This things with Corzine and MF Global, he is giving fundraisers for Obama, meanwhile $800 million is missing. Your money is missing. They closed out your account, where are the indictments? From 2008 I interviewed Bill Black who was a prosecutor during the S&L crisis and he was saying that there were over 2000 white collar executives that did jail time. From 2008 there has been zero, zero prosecutions.

Gerald: I know. As I'm saying the whole system is corrupt from top to bottom. All you have to do is look at the facts. I just got a ticket. I didn't obey a stop sign and I have been driving for almost 50 years with no violations. So I get written up for $160. $160 for not obeying the stop sign. And this kid, 22 year old perfect little Nazi, I said to him, can I talk off the record here a little bit after I get this ticket. I said this is a lot of bologna. You are breaking people like me for this. I'm fortunate I can afford this. There was a time in my life when I couldn't.

How about all of these people where that kind of money means putting food on the table? And that is all this country has become. And the police should be ashamed of themselves some of these police. The violence that they are using to break up peaceful protestors. They got enough body armor to walk through the battle of the bulge unscathed and look what they do they protect Wall Street. They protect Wall Street. They become nothing more than enforcers for the criminal financial crime bosses and their enablers, the politicians. Look at the scandal that just came out - that continues to come in and out of the news again and again - about the insider trading that goes on throughout congress.

But hey Jim, it's not against the law - they made it legal. This is how they use the law. It came down from Christ. The 10 Commandments, the 11th and 12th and 13th and 150th were all made by God for congress. I mean you got a bunch of flunkies making this stuff up to protect themselves. And this is really important mentioning Christ. The only time Christ lost his temper and became violent was to take the whip against the money changers in the temple. Isn't that something? The Prince of Peace loses it because of the greedy money junkies.

And now they have taken over the country and they are going to take us all to war. What you are seeing going on - Occupy Wall Street - "they are nothing but a bunch of hippies that don't want to work." You know what this is, Jim, it's class warfare and it's as old as history and you can play back the clock. We are seeing it over and over again. Far too few have much too much and way too many have much too little. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is the widest of any of the industrialized countries. You picked it out. Have you seen any heads roll? Not one. Not one from the Wall Street gang. Oh they got Madoff over there. Madoff screwed with the wrong people. He hit the rich. He didn't hit the people that lost their pensions and savings and retirements.

Jim: You know you see this, this book Throw The Bums Out, these people that are on congressional committees that make 111 trades on healthcare stocks, get earmarks that enhance their property or get 15 to 20% of the TARP funds to bail out banks you have invested in, Gerald the whole thing is -

Gerald: The whole thing is sick and until we restore morality nothing will change. Values change. Morals don't. This all comes back to reality. As I said, people that call this socialism - the merger of state and corporate powers is by definition fascism and in every way you look at it fascism has come to America.

Jim: As we close, if our listeners would like to follow your work and as you point out a lot of these trends that are hitting how do they do so, please?

Gerald: Trendsjournal.com and again we know that people are having a difficult time and the trends journal is there to help you prepare for the future. And you know what we do and how we do it. There's a discount request page. We want everybody to be prepared. And enough people that know what they are doing, enough people that want the truth then we can have a brighter future something each and every one of us. This is a time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.

Jim: Alright, we have been speaking with Gerald Celente from Trends Research Journal and Gerald thanks for coming on and I wish you all the best with your situation you had with Lynn-Waldock. It is very unfortunate that $800 million can go missing and what they do is they ask you for more margin and there is no indictments in any of this. It is just another example of how the system is broken down.

Gerald: Yes, it is. Thank you so much, Jim.

Comment: I've added the gryphon (also griffin) to the cloud which was a fabulous beast with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion, which is in fact analogous to the federal reserve note and defined as debt.

US: New York City Police Arrest Another 68 Occupy Wall Street Protesters

© The Associated Press
Relentless: Occupy Wall Street protesters and
New York Police clash over barricades at
Zuccotti Park in Manhattan on New Year's Eve

US: New York City Police Arrest Another 68 Occupy Wall Street Protesters - World Socialist Website

 On New Year's Eve New York City police arrested dozens of people, including passersby, during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Manhattan.

The arrests came after several hundred protesters assembled in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan to protest the gross social inequality in the US and the police-state-like handling of their encampment, which was disbanded on the orders New York's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg on November 15.

Protesters had occupied the small public area in Manhattan's financial district on September 17 to draw attention to the domination of the super-rich in American political and social life.

The occupation and the numerous planned and spontaneous marches that it sponsored were met by escalating police harassment over the course of the next two months. This included resurrecting an old an unused law against covering one's face in public, mass arrests - including over 700 on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1 - gratuitous pepper spraying, routine kettling of protesters, and the use of special crowd dispersal equipment.

The action at Zuccotti Plaza sparked similar occupations of public spaces around the US and internationally that articulated the frustration and anger that hundreds of millions of people feel about high unemployment, declining wages, cuts in social programs and pensions, and the domination of the economy by a tiny oligarchy of billionaires and multi-millionaires.

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The Silver Cord - Potential Evidence

The Silver Cord - Potential Evidence

Comment: The video above is a great example for an experimental review. If we observe only the surface features according to our universe, this is called Apoc (apo- + to cover; or a book of revelation); instead our universe is bound by both a perceived time and space. The following is a vague idea of the nature of light and dark incorporated with this concept, which are the primary stigmas in our universe applied to specific etymological preferences that have been used as label interactions. A label is just a form of capacity (receive or read, hold, or absorb), see below and ponder. When letter L used: Trojan horse; humanoid (see Solaris) item and anomaly are same capacity is light defined as "spacious" list1 = time (capacity; iteration) (clue; identity) (shade; amount2) anomaly = space (capacity; hear) (clue; electricity)(shade; item) In the lexicon, clue (kleu-) is embedded in the moving mechanism discovered in the Avatar  which certainly raises questions about the sexuality of mammals in that their language reflects a copulative form that is seemingly revealed by combining some of the doublets on meaning. Uniqueness (hear) is always working and you can feel it when you pet your dog, the relative (iteration) however, seems attracted and may have claws. Happy New year..Food for thought..

Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis … And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power

© au.news.yahoo.com

Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis … And They Will Do It Again and Again Unless They Are Removed From Power - Washington Blog

Psychopaths Caused the Financial Crisis

Bloomberg notes:

The “corporate psychopaths” at the helm of our financial institutions are to blame [for the financial crisis].

Clive R. Boddy, most recently a professor at the Nottingham Business School at Nottingham Trent University, says psychopaths are the 1 percent of “people who, perhaps due to physical factors to do with abnormal brain connectivity and chemistry” lack a “conscience, have few emotions and display an inability to have any feelings, sympathy or empathy for other people.”


As a result, Boddy argues in a recent issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, such people are “extraordinarily cold, much more calculating and ruthless towards others than most people are and therefore a menace to the companies they work for and to society.”

How do people with such obvious personality flaws make it to the top of seemingly successful corporations? Boddy says psychopaths take advantage of the “relative chaotic nature of the modern corporation,” including “rapid change, constant renewal” and high turnover of “key personnel.” Such circumstances allow them to ascend through a combination of “charm” and “charisma,” which makes “their behaviour invisible” and “makes them appear normal and even to be ideal leaders.”
***

Until the last third of the 20th century, he writes, companies were mostly stable and slow to change. Lifetime employment was a reasonable expectation and people rose through the ranks.


This stable environment meant corporate psychopaths “would be noticeable and identifiable as undesirable managers because of their selfish egotistical personalities and other ethical defects.”

For Wall Street — a rapidly changing and highly dynamic corporate environment if there ever was one, especially when the firms transformed themselves from private partnerships into public companies with quarterly reporting requirements — the trouble started when these charmers made their way to corner offices of important financial institutions.


Then, according to Boddy’s “Corporate Psychopaths Theory of the Global Financial Crisis,” these men were “able to influence the moral climate of the whole organization” to wield “considerable power.”

They “largely caused the crisis” because their “single- minded pursuit of their own self-enrichment and self- aggrandizement to the exclusion of all other considerations has led to an abandonment of the old-fashioned concept of noblesse oblige, equality, fairness, or of any real notion of corporate social responsibility.”
***

He says the unnamed “they” seem “to be unaffected” by the corporate collapses they cause. These psychopaths “present themselves as glibly unbothered by the chaos around them, unconcerned about those who have lost their jobs, savings and investments, and as lacking any regrets about what they have done. They cheerfully lie about their involvement in events, are very convincing in blaming others for what has happened and have no doubts about their own worth and value. They are happy to walk away from the economic disaster that they have managed to bring about, with huge payoffs and with new roles advising governments how to prevent such economic disasters.”

The Independent reports:

Mr Boddy is not alone. In Jon Ronson’s widely acclaimed book The Psychopath Test, Professor Robert Hare [the world's leading expert on psychopathy] told the author: “I should have spent some time inside the Stock Exchange as well. Serial killer psychopaths ruin families. Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies.”
***

A senior UK investment banker and I [were] discussing the most successful banking types we know and what makes them tick. I argue that they often conform to the characteristics displayed by social psychopaths. To my surprise, my friend agrees.

He then makes an astonishing confession: “At one major investment bank for which I worked, we used psychometric testing to recruit social psychopaths because their characteristics exactly suited them to senior corporate finance roles.”

Here was one of the biggest investment banks in the world seeking psychopaths as recruits.

***

A 2,200-page report by Anton Valukas, the Chicago-based lawyer hired by a US court to investigate Lehman’s failure … revealed systemic chicanery within the bank; he described management failures and a destructive, internal culture of reckless risk-taking worthy of any psychopath.

So why wasn’t Mr Fuld spotted and stopped? I’ve concluded it’s the good old question of nature and nurture but with a new interpretation. As I see it, in its search for never-ending growth, the financial services sector has actively sought out monsters with natures like Mr Fuld and nurtured them with bonuses and praise.
***

Take Sir Fred Goodwin of RBS, for example. Before he racked up a corporate loss of £24.1bn, the highest in UK history, he was idolised by the City. In recognition of his work in ruthlessly cutting costs at Clydesdale Bank he got the nickname “Fred the Shred”, and he played that for all it was worth. He was later described as “a corporate Attila”, a title of which any psychopath would be proud.

Psychopaths Have Different Brain Chemistry from the Rest of Us

In October, we observed:

I noted last year:

Vanderbilt researchers have found that the brains of psychopaths have a dopamine abnormality which creates a drive for rewards at any cost, and causes them to ignore risks.

As PhysOrg writes:

Abnormalities in how the nucleus accumbens, highlighted here, processes dopamine have been found in individuals with psychopathic traits and may be linked to violent, criminal behavior. Credit: Gregory R.Samanez-Larkin and Joshua W. Buckholtz

The brains of psychopaths appear to be wired to keep seeking a reward at any cost, new research from Vanderbilt University finds. The research uncovers the role of the brain’s reward system in psychopathy and opens a new area of study for understanding what drives these individuals.

“This study underscores the importance of neurological research as it relates to behavior,” Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said. “The findings may help us find new ways to intervene before a personality trait becomes antisocial behavior.”

The results were published March 14, 2010, in Nature Neuroscience.

“Psychopaths are often thought of as cold-blooded criminals who take what they want without thinking about consequences,” Joshua Buckholtz, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology and lead author of the new study, said. “We found that a hyper-reactive dopamine reward system may be the foundation for some of the most problematic behaviors associated with psychopathy, such as violent crime, recidivism and substance abuse.”

Previous research on psychopathy has focused on what these individuals lack—fear, empathy and interpersonal skills. The new research, however, examines what they have in abundance—impulsivity, heightened attraction to rewards and risk taking. Importantly, it is these latter traits that are most closely linked with the violent and criminal aspects of psychopathy.

“There has been a long tradition of research on psychopathy that has focused on the lack of sensitivity to punishment and a lack of fear, but those traits are not particularly good predictors of violence or criminal behavior,” David Zald, associate professor of psychology and of psychiatry and co-author of the study, said. “Our data is suggesting that something might be happening on the other side of things. These individuals appear to have such a strong draw to reward—to the carrot—that it overwhelms the sense of risk or concern about the stick.”

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US: Iowa - The Meaningless Sideshow Begins

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images;
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images;
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

US: Iowa - The Meaningless Sideshow Begins by Matt Taibbi

The 2012 presidential race officially begins today with the caucuses in Iowa, and we all know what that means ...

Nothing.

The race for the White House is normally an event suffused with drama, sucking eyeballs to the page all over the globe. Just as even the non-British were at least temporarily engaged by last year's royal wedding, people all over the world are normally fascinated by the presidential race: both dramas arouse the popular imagination as real-life versions of universal children's fairy tales.

Instead of a tale about which maiden gets to marry the handsome prince, the campaign is an epic story, complete with a gleaming white castle at the end, about the battle to succeed to the king's throne. Since the presidency is the most powerful office in the world, the tale has appeal for people all over the planet, from jungles to Siberian villages.

It takes an awful lot to rob the presidential race of this elemental appeal. But this year's race has lost that buzz. In fact, this 2012 race may be the most meaningless national election campaign we've ever had. If the presidential race normally captivates the public as a dramatic and angry ideological battle pitting one impassioned half of society against the other, this year's race feels like something else entirely.

In the wake of the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, and a dozen or more episodes of real rebellion on the streets, in the legislatures of cities and towns, and in state and federal courthouses, this presidential race now feels like a banal bureaucratic sideshow to the real event - the real event being a looming confrontation between huge masses of disaffected citizens on both sides of the aisle, and a corrupt and increasingly ideologically bankrupt political establishment, represented in large part by the two parties dominating this race.

Let's put it this way. What feels more like a real news story - Newt Gingrich calling Mitt Romney a liar for the ten millionth time, or this sizzling item that just hit the wires by way of the Montana Supreme Court:

HELENA - The Montana Supreme Court restored the state's century-old ban on direct spending by corporations on political candidates or committees in a ruling Friday that interest groups say bucks a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court decision granting political speech rights to corporations...

A group seeking to undo the Citizens United decision lauded the Montana high court, with its co-founder saying it was a "huge victory for democracy."

"With this ruling, the Montana Supreme Court now sets up the first test case for the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its Citizens United decision, a decision which poses a direct and serious threat to our democracy," John Bonifaz, of Free Speech For People, said in a statement.

The Iowa caucus, let's face it, marks the beginning of a long, rigidly-controlled, carefully choreographed process that is really designed to do two things: weed out dangerous minority opinions, and award power to the candidate who least offends the public while he goes about his primary job of energetically representing establishment interests.

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Iran threatens action if US returns to Persian Gulf

Iran threatens action if US returns to Persian Gulf - RT & James Corbett

Imperialism and the “Anti-Imperialism of the Fools”

© n/a

Imperialism and the “Anti-Imperialism of the Fools” by James Petras

"By lending moral support and a veneer of respectability to the imperial war, by swallowing the propaganda of “war to save victims” the progressives become the prototype of the “anti-imperialism of the fools”. "

One of the great paradoxes of history are the claims of imperialist politicians to be engaged in a great humanitarian crusade, a historic “civilizing mission” designed to liberate nations and peoples, while practicing the most barbaric conquests, destructive wars and large scale bloodletting of conquered people in historical memory.

In the modern capitalist era, the ideologies of imperialist rulers vary over time, from the early appeals to “the right” to wealth, power, colonies and grandeur to later claims of a ‘civilizing mission’. More recently imperial rulers have propagated, many diverse justifications adapted to specific contexts, adversaries, circumstances and audiences.

This essay will concentrate on analyzing contemporary US imperialist ideological arguments for legitimizing wars and sanctions to sustain dominance.

Contextualizing Imperial Ideology

Imperialist propaganda varies according to whether it is directed against a competitor for global power, or whether as a justification for applying sanctions, or engaging in open warfare against a local or regional socio-political adversary.

With regard to established imperialist (Europe) or rising world economic competitors (China), US imperialist propaganda varies over time. Early in the 19th century, Washington proclaimed the “Monroe Doctrine”, denouncing European efforts to colonize Latin America, privileging its own imperial designs in that region. In the 20th century when the US imperial policymakers were displacing Europe from prime resource based colonies in the Middle East and Africa, it played on several themes. It condemned ‘colonial forms of domination’ and promoted ‘neo-colonial’ transitions that ended European monopolies and facilitated US multi-national corporate penetration. This was clearly evident during and after World War 2, in the Middle East petrol-countries.

During the 1950s as the US assumed imperial primacy and radical anti-colonial nationalism came to the fore, Washington forged alliances with the declining colonial power to combat a common enemy and to prop up post-colonial powers to combat a common enemy. Even with the post-World War II economic recovery, growth and unification of Europe, it still works in tandem and under US leadership in militarily repressing nationalist insurgencies and regimes. When conflicts and competition occur, between US and European regimes, banks and enterprises, the mass media of each region publish “investigatory findings” highlighting the frauds and malfeasance of its competitors — and US regulatory agencies levy heavy fines on their European counterparts, overlooking similar practices by Wall Street financial firms.

In recent times the rising tide of militarist imperialism and colonial wars fueled by Israeli proxies in the US state has led to some serious divergencies between US and European imperialism. With the exception of England, Europe made a minimum symbolic commitment to the US wars and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Germany and France concentrated on expanding their export markets and economic capacities; displacing the US in major markets and resource sites. The convergence of US and European empires led to the integration of financial institutions and the subsequent common crises and collapse but without any coordinated policy of recovery. US ideologists propagated the idea of a “declining and decaying European Union”, while the European ideologues emphasized the failures of Anglo-American de-regulated, ‘free markets’ and Wall Street swindles.

Read complete essay..

Video: 28c3: The coming war on general computation

Dec. 29, 2011: 28c3: The coming war on general computation

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War

Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War - James Corbett and GRTV

As the US and Iranian governments escalate tensions in the already volatile Straits of Hormuz, and China and Russia begin openly questioning Washington's interference in their internal politics, the world remains on a knife-edge of military tension. Far from being a dispassionate observer of these developments, however, the media has in fact been central to increasing those tensions and preparing the public to expect a military confrontation. But as the online media rises to displace the traditional forms by which the public forms its understanding of the world, many are now beginning to see first hand how the media lies the public into war.

Learn more about the media manipulations behind the beginning of war in this week's GRTV backgrounder.

SOURCES AND TRANSCRIPT: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=3588

As the drums of war begin to beat once again in Iran, Syria, the South China Sea, and other potential hotspots and flashpoints around the globe, concerned citizens are asking how a world so sick of bloodshed and a population so tired of conflict could be led to this spot once again.

To understand this seeming paradox, we must first understand the centuries-long history of how media has been used to whip the nation into wartime frenzy, dehumanize the supposed enemies, and even to manipulate the public into believing in causes for war that, decades later, were admitted to be completely fictitious.

The term “yellow journalism” was coined to describe the type of sensationalistic, scandal-driven, and often erroneous style of reporting popularized by newspapers like William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal. In one of the most egregious examples of this phenomenon, Hearst’s papers widely trumpeted the sinking of the Maine as the work of the Spanish. Whipped into an anti-Spanish frenzy by a daily torrent of stories depicting Spanish forces’ alleged torture and rape of Cubans, and pushed over the edge by the Maine incident, the public welcomed the beginning of the US-Spanish war. Although it is now widely believed that the explosion on the Maine was due to a fire in one of its coal bunkers, the initial lurid reports of Spanish involvement stuck and the nation was led into war.

In many ways, the phrase infamously attributed to Hearst in reply to his illustrator “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war,” apocryphal as the story may be, nevertheless perfectly encodes the method by which the public would be led to war time and again through the decades.

The US was drawn into World War I by the sinking of the Lusitania, a British ocean liner carrying American passengers that was torpedoed by German U-boats off the coast of Ireland, killing over 1,000 of its passengers. What the public was not informed about at the time, of course, was that just one week before the incident, then-First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill had written to the President of the Board of Trade that it was “most important to attract neutral shipping to our shores, in the hopes especially of embroiling the United States with Germany.” Nor did reports of the attack announce that the ship was carrying rifle ammunition and other military supplies. Instead, reports once again emphasized that the attack was an out-of-the-blue strike by a maniacal enemy, and the public was led into the war.

The US involvement in World War II was likewise the result of deliberate disinformation. Although the Honolulu Advertiser had even predicted the attack on Pearl Harbor days in advance, the Japanese Naval codes had already been deciphered by that time, and that even Henry Stimson, the US Secretary of War, had noted in his diary the week before that he had discussed in a meeting with Roosevelt “how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into the position of firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves,” the public were still led to believe that the Pearl Harbor attack had been completely unforeseen. Just last month, a newly-declassified memo emerged showing that FDR had been warned of an impending Japanese attack on Hawaii just three days before the events at Pearl Harbor, yet the history books still portray Pearl Harbor as an example of a surprise attack.

In August 1964, the public was told that the North Vietnamese had attacked a US Destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin on two separate occasions. The attacks were portrayed as a clear example of “communist aggression” and a resolution was soon passed in Congress authorizing President Johnson to begin deploying US forces in Vietnam. In 2005, an internal NSA study was released concluding that the second attack in fact never took place. In effect, 60000 American servicemen and as many as three million Vietnamese, let alone as many as 500,000 Cambodians and Laotians, lost their lives because of an incident that did not occur anywhere but in the imagination of the Johnson administration and the pages of the American media.

In 1991, the world was introduced to the emotional story of Nayirah, a Kuwaiti girl who testified about the atrocities committed by Iraqi forces in Kuwait.

What the world was never told was that the incident had in fact been the work of a public relations firm, Hill and Knowltown, and the girl had actually been the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador. Once again, the public was whipped into a frenzy of hatred for the Hussein regime, not for the documented atrocities that it had actually committed on segments of its own population with weapons supplied to them by the United States itself, but on the basis of an imaginary story told to the public via their televisions, orchestrated by a pr firm.

In the lead-up to the war on Iraq, the American media infamously took the lead in framing the debate about the Iraqi government’s weapons of mass destruction NOT as a question of whether or not they even existed, but as a question of where they had been hidden and what should be done to disarm them. The New York Times led the way with Judith Miller‘s now infamous reporting on the Iraqi WMD story, now known to have been based on false information from untrustworthy sources, but the rest of the media fell into line with the NBC Nightly News asking “what precise threat Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction pose to America”, and Time debating whether Hussein was “making a good-faith effort to disarm Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.” Reports about chemical weapons stashes were reported on before they were confirmed, although headlines boldly asserted their existence as indisputable fact. We now know that in fact the stockpiles did not exist, and the administration premeditatedly lied the country into yet another war, but the most intense opposition the Bush administration ever received over this documented war crime was some polite correction on the Sunday political talk show circuit.

Remarkably, the public at large has seemingly learned nothing from all of these documented historical manipulations. If anything, the media has become even bolder in its attempts to manipulate the public’s perceptions, perhaps emboldened by the fact that so few in the audience seem willing to question the picture that is being painted for them on the evening news.

Later that year, CNN aired footage of a bombed out Tskhinvali in South Ossetia, falsely labeling it as footage of Gori, which they said had been attacked by the Russians.

In 2009, the BBC showed a cropped image of a rally in Iran which they claimed was a crowd of protesters who assembled to show their opposition to the Iranian government. An uncropped version of the same photograph displayed on the LA Times’ website, however, revealed that the photo in fact came from a rally in support of Ahmedinejad.

In August of 2011, the BBC ran footage of what they claimed was a celebration in Tripoli’s Green Square. When sharp-eyed viewers noticed that the flags in the footage were in fact Indian flags, the BBC was forced to admit that they had “accidentally” broadcast footage from India instead of Tripoli.

Also that month, CNN reported on a story from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claiming that eight infants in incubators had died in a hospital in Hama when Syrian authorities cut off power in the area. Some news sites even carried pictures of the infants. The images were later admitted to have been taken in Egypt and no evidence has ever emerged to back up the accusations.

As breathtaking as all of these lies, manipulations and so-called “mistakes” are, they in and of themselves don’t represent the only functions of the media for the war machine. Now, the US government is taking the lead in becoming more and more directly involved with the shaping of the media message on war propaganda, and the general public is becoming even more ensnared in a false picture of the world through the Pentagon’s own lens.

In 2005, the Bush White House admitted to producing videos that were designed to look like news reports from legitimate independent journalists, and then feeding those reports to media outlets as prepackaged material ready to air on the evening news. When the Government Accountability Office ruled that these fake news reports in fact constituted illegal covert propaganda, the White House simply issued a memo declaring the practice to be legal.

In April 2008, the New York Times revealed a secret US Department of Defense program that was launched in 2002 and involved using retired military officers to implant Pentagon talking points in the media. The officers were presented as “independent analysts” on talk shows and news programs, although they had been specially briefed beforehand by the Pentagon. In December of 2011, the DoD’s own Inspector General released a report concluding that the program was in perfect compliance with government policies and regulations.

Earlier this year, it was revealed the the US government had contracted with HBGary Federal to develop software that create fake social media accounts in order to steer public opinion and promote propaganda on popular websites. The federal contract for the software sourced back to the MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.

As the vehicle through which information from the outside world is captured, sorted, edited and transmitted into our homes, the mass media has the huge responsibility of shaping and informing our understanding of events to which we don’t have first-hand access. This is an awesome responsibility in even the most ideal conditions, with diligent reporters guided by trustworthy editors doing their level best to report the most important news in the most straightforward way.

But in a media landscape where a handful of companies own virtually all of the print, radio and television media in each nation, the only recourse the public has is to turn away from the mainstream media altogether. And that is precisely what is happening.

As study after study and report after report has shown, the death of the old media has accelerated in recent years, with more and more people abandoning newspapers and now even television as their main source of news. Instead, the public is increasingly turning toward online sources for their news and information, something that is necessarily worrying for the war machine itself, a system that can only truly flourish when the propaganda arm is held under monopolistic control.

But as citizens turn away from the New York Times and toward independent websites, many run and maintained by citizen journalists and amateur editors, the system that has consolidated its control over the minds of the public for generations seems to finally be showing signs that it may not be invincible.

Surely this is not to say that online media is impervious to the defects that have made the traditional media so unreliable. Quite the contrary. But the difference is that online, there is still for the time being relative freedom of choice at the individual level. While internet freedom exists, individual readers and viewers don’t have to take the word of any website or pundit or commentator on any issue. They can check the source documentation themselves, except, perhaps not coincidentally, on the websites of the traditional media bastions, which tend not to link source material and documentation in their articles.

Hence the SOPA Act, Protect IP, the US government’s attempts to seize websites at the domain name level, and all of the other concerted attacks we have seen on internet freedoms in recent years.

Because ultimately, an informed and engaged public is far less likely to go along with wars waged for power and profit. And as the public becomes better informed about the very issues that the media has tried to lie to them about for so long, they realize that the answer to all of the mainstream media’s war cheerleading and blatant manipulation is perhaps simpler than we ever suspected: All we have to do is turn them off.