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Guest Post: What Writing A Book Taught Me About Obama And Those Who Followed Him
Submitted by Brad Schaeffer
What Writing A Book Taught Me About Obama And Those Who Followed Him
My novel Hummel’s Cross takes place in pre-war (and wartime) Nazi Germany. In the course of writing the book I became fascinated by how a nation of such highly sophisticated and astute people as the Germans—who gave us Bach, Beethoven, Luther, Goethe, Schweitzer, Einstein, Handel, Nietzsche, Kant, Wagner, (and thrown in a few Austrians like Mozart. Strauss, and Haydn) etc. could be so easily led to their own destruction – taking much of the Western World with them – by a charismatic if empty man. I remember in the film Gladiator the observation is made that the Roman mob is fickle and easily led. Well, we have seen that in the case of this country in these times the mob is the intelligentsia in the media, the college campus, entertainment and some corners of high finance to name a few groups. In 2008, they looked to Barack Obama and like past societies feeling the need for guidance from on high projected upon him the their own needs, desires and (let’s be honest here) need to cleanse the sense of self-flagellating white guilt they continue to carry over a perceived racism in the country that is now more prevalent as a topic of media round-tables than it is a fact in day-to-day American life.
What gets me nervous is that they could project on him because this man Obama was and remains a mirage. An illusion. Someone whose greatness exists only in the minds of those who adore him for reasons they cannot even articulate because it is simply not rational.
Never has so much power been invested in a man about whom so little was known, over whose nefarious past associations was made or even questioned, and who presented so few real-world accomplishments as to not even have a resume worth note. But he possessed two key skills that come in handy during times of economic and social upheaval: 1) His ability to speak forcefully while offering little but platitudes to whip up an audience eager to be led; and 2) a ruthless pragmatism that would compel him to say and do whatever it took to present an image that would best gain him the levers of power. But that’s ok because Obama, knew what was best, even if the average Joe (except a certain plumber) did not, you see. A new golden age of top-down management of our daily ives radiating out of the central state in Washington D.C. for which we would eventually be grateful. All the people had to do was submit and get in line with the program. Many did willingly. Blindly. Fooled by a personality cult whose statist tendencies remained hidden by a fawning state media/propaganda complex.
By referencing Hummel’s Cross am I calling Obama “Hitler”? Oh stop. I understand the difference between an American president and a Nazi dictator so please do not belittle my concerns with such a knee-jerk accusation as you would be completely missing my point. We still have a long way to go down the slippery slope to hitting the sandbox at the bottom of the slide as Germany eventually did. It’s the lesson on mob psychology I’m talking about here. What I am saying is that a nation's collective intelligence and level of sophistication is by no means no stop-gap to demagogues and dangerous men of all political stripes when the times are right for 'hope and change.'
In the America of 2008, the times were right. I know a lot of bright, successful people whose opinions and expertise on so many matters I deeply respect who were passionately in the Obama tank even wearing his buttons everywhere they went—yet I noticed that they could never quite explain to me why, beyond uttering vague touchy-feely slogans or the deflective “he isn’t Bush.” Wow. As an independent-minded voter who grew up in Chicago and thus am aware of just what kind of pragmatic, even ruthless, ambition it takes to ascend the political ladder so rapidly there as did Obama, I needed more convincing than a cool campaign “O” emblem and Dave Matthews’ endorsement to earn my vote. Yet I found nothing but a paper thin image as the talking points. This vacuum of reasoning left me scratching my head. And the more I did my own research on this smooth-talking Cook County machine politician (as I would eventually conclude he was) the more anxious for my country I became. I realized that, for all too many, Barack Obama's appeal to them was purely emotional. Nothing more. An exercise in collective self-actualization that may have had its place in a 1920's München brauhaus, a plaza in 1940's Buenos Aires or 1960's Havana, but certainly no place in what I once thought was the most developed and wary of Republics.
We are a nation that should be skeptical of leaders. It has been a part of the American character for over two centuries. The Constitution codifies this suspicion of those who seek power with checks and balances that reveal a deeper distrust in human nature…one that is justified if the history of our species is any guide. As an American, it fills me with the greatest dread when I see
throngs of my countrymen searching for meaning to life and self-actualization not from within themselves but from a mere politician about whose biography they know far less than they do their favorite pop star’s.
In a way, having little enthusiasm for the McCain ticket, I found myself in 2008 observing in fascination from the sidelines as the two campaigns developed. And although he had his faults, no one could question who John McCain even was, or whether he had had served his country with honor. Obama, however, was a mystery…and in many ways still is. One who I saw protected by a praetorian guard in a media unable or unwilling to ask even the most basic of questions about what made him tick. That frightened me to no end. It still does.
In writing Hummel’s Cross I tried to throw myself into the mindset of an intelligent if detached German watching almost like a spectator as his country, indeed a member of his own family, slowly falls under the spell of a politician who says the right things at the right time and thus is given a pass on most everything else. A man upon whom the hopes and dreams of a people are mass-projected to the point where they lose themselves. And if it taught me one thing, it is that any people in the right circumstances can follow the wrong leaders to their own destruction—either through fiery cataclysm or, more insidious, slow economic and social decay too subtle for a populace to even realize what has taken place until it is too late to turn back.
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It's the system that's corrupt. Political contributions = political corruption.
Both sides should be equally funded by taxpayers. Outside contributions should
be considered as bribes. Candidates campaigns would be based on the merits of their
plans for the future of the country. [ like that's ever going to happen ]
That's how it's done in the UK...with the same end result (police state, destroyed economy, bankruptcy, oligarchy).
The problem is the lies that are told and complete lack of accountability for those lies. Without an independent media to perform 'due diligence' and 'follow up', the voters have no clue what they are voting for or the resulting outcome. Without an independent judiciary, the voters have no recourse for any subsequently uncovered fraud perpetrated on them.
I'm actually in favor of selling lottery tickets for the presidency, with proceeds going to the treasury to cover the national debt.
Hmm. False premise: Intelligence? Sophistication? Is that so?
If this really is how you view most of society, then you are only looking at shells. The majority of the apparent "intelligence", is just imitation without any deeper understanding... and most of the supposed sophistication, is just artificial complexity, to obscure.
And as for the famous people you initially mentioned (of whom i consider some just as dumb and fake - but really "good" at it)..... one in a million.
P.S.: Funny anecdote i heard from a buddy. Years ago, one of his teachers back then said "Well, i did read "Mein Kampf" - you have to as a teacher. And that was really horrible. But when i did read Kant... well crap, i threw the book at the wall in disgust."
Quit junking newcomers! This guy can Spell! Yen!
Jerimiah Wright and his Rahm e. Man Holes were a Fantastic influence on Chi town Obumma! Nice to see the site is fixed.
Anyone catch that crude drop?
Lehmann failed before Obama took office.
Sorry - that was supposed to be a reply to JW.
Bleh. This thread is perfect demonstration of why we're never gonna get anywhere. 75% of this is emotional puffery. You can't approach US politics from an emotional perspective--that's exactly why we get such shit every single time. The guys running elections *know* we're going to respond emotionally, and because of that, they don't have to tell us anything important about the candidates.
Last administration: big oil.
This administration: big banking.
We got what they paid for.
+1(
So who is next ...
Big Solar
Big Wind
Big Legal
Big Travel
Big Medical
Big Media
Big Telecommunications
Big Academia
Big Bigness
Big Government
?????
What a shallow piece of revisionist history!
For a start, Hitler spent a very active and very public and very vocal 14 years to come to power in Germany (from 1919, when he joined the DAP and gained a reputation as their strongest orator, until 1933, when he succeded in becoming Chancellor, by means of a 'false flag' event) ... followed by another 6 years of ardent nationalism before leading the Germans wholeheartedly into a very large war (co-incidentally, by means of a 'false flag' event).
On the other hand, Obama came from nowhere. Nobody even remembers him during his claimed academic pursuits! He could best be summarised now as simply a 'Trojan Horse' (for the bankstas).
The main similarities between Hitler and Obama are that both were financed and supported [in the background] by bankstas and wealthy industrialists and that both were installed to further a longer-term Marxist agenda on the road to a fascist New World Order.
Don't blame the voters, blame democracy and its dependence on the media for 'due diligence'!
I suspect that your books don't do very well.
+1(
Before reflexively +1'ing, perhaps consider that multicultural, postmodernist brainwashing has been going on for the last last three decades in this country (and by extension western civ) and that its insidious effects now permeate the entire culture/civ.
I'll keep that on my TREND LINE! junior.
So your main claim for "revisionist history" is that Hitler needed 14 years to gain full control (with the Enabling Act), but Obama only 2 years campaigning? (as the POTUS already has almost dictatorial powers)
What a crappy criticism.
You forgot the 2 years Hitler spent in the CAN! Then he went NATIVE.
1935:
John Foster Dulles who, through the robber barons' favorite law firm, Sullivan and Cromwell, is orchestrating arms and finance for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis for their takeover of Germany and ultimately all of Europe, is the author of a major article in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "The Road to Peace."
Dulles explains away Germany’s secret rearmament, which he has had a key role in arranging, as an action to "take back their freedom".
Dulles assures Americans that the Nazis and the Italian Fascists are interested only in peace.
Would John Foster Dulles lie?
Like a good Nazi shyster, John Foster Dulles sets up a convoluted maze of companies to hide the true, ultimate German ownership of the American Bosch Company.
Bosch is the world's leading manufacturer of Diesel injection pumps and fuel injectors, vital elements in military vehicles, tanks, boats and submarines.
American Bosch happily provides intelligence to the Nazis on U.S. war production.
To further hide the ownership of American Bosch, Dulles creates another layer of corporate deception which appears to transfer the ownership of Bosch to Swedish interests via a Delaware corporation, Providentia, of which Dulles himself is the sole voting trustee.
In July 1941, American Bosch refuses to provide the U.S. government with Diesel injectors for the U.S. military.
In May 1942, American Bosch is confiscated under the Alien Property Custodian Act by which time the great patriot Dulles has succeeded in delaying the widespread manufacturing of Diesel engines in the U.S. for five years during the critical period when America was trying to rebuild its military strength.
Nazi Schroeder Bank in New York merges with the Rockefeller interests to form Schroeder, Rockefeller & Company, Inc.
Carlton P. Fuller of Schroeder Banking Corporation is made president and Avery Rockefeller, nephew of John D. Rockefeller, owns 42% and is made vice president.
Baron Bruno von Schroeder and his cousin, Kurt von Schroeder of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Gestapo, own 47 percent.
Nazi shyster Allen Dulles serves on the board of the Schroeder Bank. Nazi shyster John Foster Dulles is the bank's legal counsel.
The German parent bank acts as the financial arm of the Nazi Party and will, in the next few years, siphon large sums of money from the U.S. to Nazi Germany.
Prescott Bush, grandfather of George "I'm A Lyin' Guy" Bush, hires Nazi shyster and financier Allen Dulles to create a massive legal smokescreen behind which to conceal his dealings on behalf of the Thyssen steel interests, major backers and financiers of Adolf Hitler.
..............................................................
Kennedy promised to "shatter the Nazi Cabal called the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter the remnants to the wind" and it was being carried out ... this infuriated almost everyone at the agency.
Wasn't one of those Nazi-loving Dulles brothers head of the CIA and fired by JFK only weeks before he was murdered in Dallas?
George Herbert Walker Bush was also pictured at the scene of the crime in Dealy Plaza.
I have zero problems with Germans. I'm Christian German!
lady GaGa is modern sexuality embodied... it goes beyond consumption by image alone
Actually not, Allen Dulles was fired by Kennedy for concealing the real Bay of Pigs Op (within 60 days of his inauguration) that Kennedy refused under immediate time-pressure to support with air cover from the fleet. It failed & Castro survived, Dulles was fired, but the Soviets took the lesson to mean the USA was led by a weak Prez, and they started installing nuclear missiles, which precipitated the [very serious] standoff in October 1962. The single closest moment in the post-war era to a full-out atomic war.
Oh, but it gets even deeper...read Russ Baker's book on the Bushes, Family of Secrets. Amazingly enough, George H.W. Bush (and Richard Nixon, too!) were both physically in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
Next you'll be telling me that Charles de Gaulle was in Dallas too on that day. As was Aldous Huxley's ghost, as he died that day...It seems like the only guy missing in Dallas who counted in those days was NK. That's why he was made the ideal candidate for having trained Oswald in psy-ops à la KGB...as related by the video above!
Salah:
Just a pop quiz ... which you easily aced !
Baker's book was good... but should be titled...
Family of Murdering/Treasonous /Nazi Scum
I'm sure you have seen this E-Book... a bit dated but excellent research into the four generations of the Bush Crime Family...
George Bush: The Unauthorized BiographyBy Webster Griffin Tarpley.
http://tarpley.net/online-books/george-bush-the-unauthorized-biography/
..............................................................
TD: Where is Webster?
I wonder why Tarpley, aka 'GeoPol', no longer contributes on ZH?
As an encore, Allen Dulles, served on the Warren Commission to investigate the death of the man that fired him.
Marxist agenda run by wealthy industrialists? Ummm, no. Marxism does not equal fascism. The growing disparity of wealth in this country is certainly not what you would see in a Marxist society. Geez. The education system in this country is pitiful. I am guessing that your only source of information is Glenn Beck. I would have given you a pass on the "New World Order" stuff, but when you throw in Marxism (!) you show your lack of knowledge.
You not only have some difficulty with reading and comprehension, but you also have no understanding of Marxism. I'll help you.....
Marxism101:
Starting from an autocratic and economically backward base (eg. tsarist Russia, or any number of current third world dictatorships), Marxists believe in firstly fostering an intensive development of industry, bringing into existence a strong capitalist class on the one hand, and a strong proletariat on the other hand. This must precede any attempt to create a Social Democratic state and was already in place in America by the time Marx started developing his theories as a student of Hegel and the Hegelian dialectic.
The Marxist's next step is to create a democratic constitutional system of government through political revolution. They recognise that this must come before the social revolution can be achieved. They accept that the achievement of this political revolution must be mainly the task of the middle classes (bourgeoisie), and that the working classes (proletariat) should co-operate with the enlightened bourgeoisie in attaining that political revolution without which there could never be a Socialist Commonwealth. Hence, they have very deliberately converted America from a constitutional republic to a federal social democracy.
Leninism failed in Russia and Marxism-Leninism failed in China on the first go-round, because Lenin wanted to bypass those steps and just go straight from an autocratic agrarian peasantry to dictatorship, which both Stalin and Mao attempted through authoritarian oppression.
However, in recent years, since a strategic review in Russia in 1960 of communism's obvious failures to date, Russia and China have reverted to straight Marxist tactics -- with generous assistance from wealthy western bankers and industrialists to foster economic development and massive technology transfers.
So, Russia went through their 'glasnost' (openness) and 'perestroica' (restructuring) with the [mock-]kindly Mr Gorbachev cosying up to the west, culminating in the fall of the Berlin wall and now a 'democratic' parliament under Putin and Medvedev. China did much the same under Deng's tutelage, opening up to the obliging Messrs Nixon and Kissinger and culminating in the 'one country, two systems' you see today (but still without any sham democracy on the Chinese mainland).
Now for the link between wealthy industrialists and Marxism:
Back in the mid-1800's in America, a clear trail through modern history develops that is unbroken to the present day. A group of powerful and wealthy WASP families -- who had arrived in America 200 years earlier -- started inter-marrying with a group of very wealthy jewish bankers (who had made most of their money in less than 100 years) and inserting their scions into critical components of the social and political life of America. They first 'took over' the education system in the 1860's, and began the dumbing down of middle-class America to become compliant tools of the State. They next took over the monetary system in 1913, enabling them to 'buy' congress from that day forth. They then started engineering wars, not only for profit but also finally to create a state of 'continuous war' until the west has been exhausted and impoverished. This is where we are today (first the 45-year 'Cold War', immediately followed by the now-20-year 'War On Terror').
It's a long and complicated story -- more suited to a book with annotated sources than a summary post on the internet -- that also involves other European players with family lines that go back thousands of years, but the aim of the NWO, I believe, is to opportunistically progress through an apparent Marxist global Socialist Commonwealth (separate autonomous socialist states working to a common Marxist objective) -- through a merger of the economies of Europe, Asia and North America with Russia and China, into a global neo-feudal aristocracy ruling over a number of regional fiefdoms after a massive global population reduction!
'Communism' (or, more popularly, 'socialism' or 'social democracy') is their apparent vehicle; fascism (or, more correctly, feudalism) is the ultimate objective of the return of the old ruling class and a wealthy aristocracy.
I hope that helps. Junks and criticisms welcomed. Ad hominems and cliches discouraged, so do some reading...there will be a test.
Ohhh i-Dog, that was a thorough spanking, well done!!! Enjoyed the read.
Did you see anything I didn't see? My male eye was distracted by the heavy print and I may have missed out on the fine print....Just kidding!
As for the post on marxist communism...being a round about way to getting to feudalism in a social democratic shell...Just read Plato, his republic and philosopher king. Its all there already. "Enlightened" aristocracy, the essence of elitist NWO, is deemed the best type of rule by him as well.
Both Napoleon and Charles de Gaulle agreed, as did all french kings when they created 'absolutism'. So its old hat this round about way of reaching the north pole when you publicly say "I am a son of democracy/ I am a son of Enlightenment"; you are overtly heading south knowing full well that the sheeple-world don't know that the world is round!
+1
lovin' the i-dog, excuse the hominem.
spot on
i-dog
The primary weakness of your essay lies in your attempt to conflate the plutocrats' intention to deceptively use the appeal of "social democracy", worker's rights, etc. to achieve their (fascist) objectives, with the actual implementation of social democracy, worker's rights, etc.
The denigration and dismissal of the goal "social democracy" as merely a step in an aristocratic plot is misguided.
Unhappily, such denigration and dismissal all too often also leads to a denigration and dismissal of workers, unionists, and socialists who are typically in the forefront of the struggle against plutocratic rule.
Belief in some sort of anarchist-free-market capitalism is a self-contradictory belief.
IMO the blindness of some begins with the belief that "private property" is "god-given", and not a creation of, defined by, and protected by the state.
That blindness results in an unqualified religious defense of "private property" per se, as though economic problems were due to its lack of worship, and the amassing of property were divinely (hidden hand) ordained. Taxation (or wealth redistribution) of even billionaires, owners of land and factories, is then assailed as "property theft".
With no recognition of the proper origination of property "rights", they falsely conclude that there should be no "government" interference (taxation) in property, ... falsely "beginning" the imaginary "non-interference" now BUT conveniently (for some) leaving the current distribution intact.
But of course, "property rights" are not God-given. Especially obvious if one separates personal property (such as one's clothing) from ownership of land, factories, and government issued money. Inheritance privileges, access to public lands, working conditions at the factory, environmental pollution, and other examples should dispel any notion of "guaranteed" ownership beyond what society permits.
What would perhaps be more exact than bemoaning "property theft" from billionaires, would be to bemoan excessive and self-serving concentrations of wealth and power.
That, coupled with the sociological ability of organizations (such as corporations) to oppress is what needs to be addressed, and NOT the protection of "property rights" per se.
"The bank is something else than men. It happens that every man in a bank hates what the bank does, and yet the bank does it. The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It’s the monster. Men made it, but they can’t control it.” - Grapes of Wrath
When humans create organizations for the common good, the benefits are often great. However, the organizations formed also are often capable of causing great harm, directly or indirectly. That is the human conundrum. The power of organizations must be continuously created, restrained, and abrogated.
here you peel back the onion and
my eyes, my eyes !
-2 ... for a straw man, and for a diversion.
You are the one who is attempting to conflate the plutocrats' [mis]use of Marxism with "workers' rights". I didn't even mention them.
As for your tangential ramble on "property rights" and "anarchist-free-market capitalism", I don't know why you attached it to my post, which was simply explaining why the 'Road to Serfdom' travels through the 'Lands of Marx'! (Shrug)....
i-dog
1. The gist of your argument is that "socialism" is a vehicle for the aristocracy to extend their power.
" 'Communism' (or, more popularly, 'socialism' or 'social democracy') is their apparent vehicle; fascism (or, more correctly, feudalism) is the ultimate objective of the return of the old ruling class and a wealthy aristocracy."
2.By focusing on the distribution of property, wealth, and power ... it should become clear that a 'socialist' program to redistribute control of property, wealth, and power downward is antithetical to plutocratic rule. Although the plutocrats may deceptively promise such a redistribution, their follow-through will be lacking as it would mean their abdication.
3. Finally, all organizations are fallible. But pursuing the common good is most unlikely to happen under a self-serving elite guided by a convenient organizational philosophy of greed disguised as the "profit motive".
If they're really that clever, may as well just give up now. It's kinda like someone saying the Constitution was just written as a cover for a plot to build a massive post-industrial welfare state here in the USA.
Truly diabolical. For sure.
Well, they are fairly clever ... and very determined ... but they have failed many times before to close the gate on us and they can [will?] fail again this time. We only need to pull one linchpin for the wheels to fall off [again]!
My recommendation is to attempt to quickly undo all that they have achieved so far ... by dismembering their grand unions back into the constituent sovereign states of Europe and the USA. It has taken them over 100 years to transfer the sovereignty of 50 separate commonwealth states to a single federal monolith, yet this could all be undone in just a few weeks if a few people (in state legislatures), tried really hard to enforce their constitutional rights. Much the same goes for Europe.
I don't believe the American Constitution was a plot -- though it was indeed a compromise between some plotters and some very well-meaning men. Like all written laws (and compromises), it contained loopholes that were subsequently exploited and provisions that have just been blatantly flouted ... whether they were deliberate or inadvertent loopholes is largely irrelevant now.
We've all been fed lies. Our "history" books are edited and approved by the very maniacs who destroy one nation after another and collect preplanned profits.
"Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler" by Antony Sutton is much closer to the ugly truth, although we will never know the whole truth.
Nice posts DOG's x2 . LMAO.
Brad Schaeffer is that guy who a month or so ago was advocating that people who don't pay Fed Income taxes should not have a right to vote. And now he calls bankers' saviour Hitler? How many Jews did Obama kill? Who knows, but, one thing for sure, he does like to pander to bankers and waste billions blowing up munitions in Afghanistan and Libya. .
It was not long ago when another banker, Stephen Schwartzman also referred to Obama as Hitler when Obama was floating his idea of taxing hedge funds and rent seeking blood suckers more than 15% to Hitlers' invasion of Poland. I don't understand these people: they see Hitler everywhere except themselves.
I thought that people voted for Obama because they did not want to vote for that short fair skinned guy with skin cancer living in Arizona playing the role of a rich conservative rancher.
+1
The ATM-Kiosk Luddite-like comment is a tell ... we will have full employment one way or another, even if it means force marching us dissidents out to the rice fields to ensure that "the people" have food.
I think Pol Pot is a better analog at this point.
Just when I think I've read the stupidest bullshit on ZH, someone comes along and tops it.
I hope not! My e/j trade on the Sunday open could let me down.
My MAMA taught me how to do (HOMEWORK).
Tyler, c'mon man ... WTF is wrong with you?!? ... this crap on the Frontpage?!
Summary of above posts (read at your own risk ... I need therapy after compiling this shit):
+10
Banzai we need a Micky Mouse Club! R u getting my idea? I know Idio Synch is! I like that Guy!
I don't believe that Sarah Palin was an acceptable candidate for VP. I didn't want more of the same in terms of mind set on war, and we needed a president who is connected to the people and McCain didn't cut it. What do you want a president who talked to law enforcement and lobbyists? The people need help and President Obama is trying. Again he's president not dictator, he needed to navigate through "the party of no" instead of getting help and diologue and ideas. During the Great Depression there were 5 Fed Chiefs it time we had a new one, this is my only point that I disagree with the President There are a ton of things I wish were better but other people need to do things first, The worlds banksters need to pay up or real riots and anarchy is just around the corner.
Real riots and anarchy is exactly what the central banksters want. They cannot function like normal, productive people for they are mentally ill or at least disordered thinkers.
Order Out of Chaos, remember? When tempers are flaring and the blood flowing is when they do their best work. They instigate wars to redraw the map, so a few riots or massacres is nothing to them.
Read Antony Sutton's books
Wall Street and the Bolsheviks
Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler
It was all planned, and they reap benefits while the populace is fed propaganda about "the other" and kept distracted at each others throats for decades.
http://www.ihr.org/
You sir are an IDIOT!
This mess was made the worse by the BUSH II and his lackies. Where the heck were you when he was raping and pillaging the future of the nation? Where were you when he passed the Patriot Act? Where were you when he started wars on made up "evidence". BUSH II should be in jail. Cheney should be in jail. Paulson should be in jail. Phil Gramm should eb in jail. And that is just for starters.
Obama did not make this mess, and don't tell me unhinged President McCain (now that is one scary thought) would have done a better job.
The country is screwed but I doubt even divine intervention can prevent the coming decline. Once the hole is deep enough, its all but impossible to get out.
Bill? Suggestions are appreciated!
I know where I was when Obama couldn't wait one day and had the new Patriot Act robo-signed. I know where I was in March when Obama issued an Executive Order denying the right of habeus corpus and allowing for indefinite detention of human beings that the administration decided were terrorists. And I know where I was when Obama showed the true spirit of leadership when he said, "If you’re complaining about the price of gas and you’re only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know, you might want to think about a trade-in.”
Has Obama repealed anything? Do we have have Magna Carte back yet? I agree with you bout bush but I don't see obama doing squat about the damage ... just propping up the perps that were so 'very active' screwing the world while bush was in office and turning a convenient blind eye to it all.
What a banana republic the US is now .. . and for what ... so some schmucks can have some power for awhile and make some big money along the way ... nation of loser 'leaders' with zilch for principles or integrity
.
How to win an election:
1) Have no competition
2) Be a democrat when 40% of voters despise republicans, and particklelerly
3) Replace Dubya
4) Most importantly, kiss every Jewish PAC's ass right up to the asshole.
A democratic victory was a forgone conclusion. The real fight was amongst the democratic wannabes.
Without Jewish PAC support not even Bill Clinton could win that election.
The Jewish Pacs did it. And will do it again next year. Wait and see.
The POTUS is a popularity contest, "fixed" by a very few men and wimmin behind the scenes.
While the disciples of the favored candidate bask in his reflected light, the REAL power resides in the obscure hands of the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee----quick, voting people of the United States---Who is that?
Americans are morons who get exactly the kind of leadership they deserve. So if they are being economically raped, well they asked for it. A great man like Rona Paul is much too good for the white trash and Walmart shoppers fulfilling their own destruction. The country is committing mass suicide and frankly, it's a good thing for the world.
That is a little over the top.
I'm calling it.
Blah, blah, blah you half a pussy. "Rona" Paul would just as soon piss on your head. "White trash and Wal-Mart shoppers"? In The United States we call them God's children. Should your dream of our demise come true I expect the last thing your Godless ass will see are the plumes behind a full payload launched from a Virginia Class nuclear submarine. GFY you illiterate turd.
just a little news ... 'Rona' Paul's libertarian model is what we are living right now ... a literal libertarian uptopia ... corporations and bankers rule the nation ... except without the sound currency.
People in general are tools Berny. Z/H posters are smart! Even if I don't always agree.
It takes 2 sides to make a trade. I have a lot of respect for Tyler and the Crew.
I will never JUNK anyone. Calling them out on thoughts is "Fair Game"
I had to junk you just because I love you.
Hi, I wrote a book. I'm one of those guys who see things the way they really are. I lived in Chicago, which makes me an expert on Hitler and Obama. Did you know that Hitler, like Obama, came to power in a tumultuous time and by appealing to people's emotions? Fancy that. I think you're a smart guy, too. We're the only two to recognize Obama for the empty suit he is, really. Would you like to buy a signed copy of my book?
I'll buy your empty suit! That way I'll be an Obama look alike!
I understand your points. All 6 of them Hulk! At least we know where Hitler was born.
Yes, he was a bad person!
BeLieVe = Be (the) Lie (of) Ve ~ Fe ~ Faith
"Make Believe" (Positive belief) = fantasy / fairy tales. What was Obama's slogan again?
Do you Believe in Santa Claus? True love? Justice? Pursuit of Life, liberty, happiness?
YourSELF?
--
Spelling different in current European languages, but way it is used is almost exactly the same across the board (Not 100%, but very high percent)
Increible (Spanish) / incroyable (French) / Unbelievable! (Negative belief often = positive / unexpected KNOWledge/experience) "That chick is hot, she's unbelievable! --
Unbelievable home run!" You wouldn't say believe...
Ask intl friends / go to LOGOS.IT to verify yourself. Multi-language translator.
Better to KNOW. Even better to NOT KNOW anything at the same time.
One could always be wrong. To achieve this state, one must lower their PRIDE.
Pride = sin of Lucifer in mythology....but hey, they're just old stories aren't they?
(Lucifer = BRINGER of light. Not one who IS the LIGHT....people appearing to be "something" but are SELF-serving in the end)
Look up who BeLIEl is on Wikipedia...also known as BAAL sometimes.
---
So who still here BeLIEves in DEMOcracy / DEMO(n)cracy or their own COUNTRY. Say -- did you know the word COUNTRY comes from CONTRA...as in we're against each other.
Check out Merriam-Webster for the etymology...
---
Who ever pays attention to the BS coming out of their own mouths?
Michele Bachmann
Obama isnt hitler.
Obama is that loser, weak german president that failed to show decisive leadership and who resigned at hitler's request. I forgot his name, but to lazy to look up that loser.
Kurt von Schleicher...who unlike von Hindenburg had no handle bar mustache.
Thanks. And i even threw you off by mistakenly saying president instead of chancellor.
no he's Chamberlin, he's sure he can reason with the Nazis, if he just gives them most of that they want
Extremely well written article. It takes chances that few will take in the media
and...I like Obama. Voted for him. My nephew worked for him. The challenges this
writer calls for are valid. We should always question those who have the power
that affect all of us, on some level.
This era of politics reminds me of the unbridled power given to FDR.
--James Goulding
Your Goulding quote seems very true.
Any article that favorably cites Joe the Plumber and calls John McCain -- Mr. "Hey, let's dump the sick, faithful wife in favor of Ms. Big Bucks" -- a man of honor will never impress me as perceptive.
This is a disease called "modern Liberalism" it can inflict the intelligent and well intentioned but renders them entirely irrational. The very process of critical thinking is undermined by the lack of contextual discrimination. Since reason and logic require contextual awareness it is here that groupthink, peer pressure and propaganda render the "modern Liberal" mind contextually ignorant and subsequently unable to reason. This "modern Liberalism" is primarily found on the Left but also can inflict those on the Right of the political spectrum. The irony, "modern Liberalism" is intolerant and really anti-liberal. There is no reasoning with a "modern Liberal" without contextual assimilation there is no common framework upon which reason can be built. They are everywhere, like zombies wandering aimlessly skirting rationality, watch for them, once you start looking you will see them everywhere and understand their thinking process. They live in a world void of context. Many are found at institutions of higher education imparting this "modern Liberalism" to disciples who, irrationally, have paid big bucks for this indoctrination.
15 yard penalty: intentional abuse of the word context.
Count De Monet: Don't be saucy with me Bearnaise!
1981 - History of the World Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCXHiMN1j0U&feature=player_detailpage#t=5...Good shtick. Thx.
Disagree.
Context is everything, but he should define the contextual issues which are ignored by socialists ( i cannot bear to sully a term from the enlightenment by using it for socialists).
All in all a good rant but being a little less vague could have earned you a maximum five troll rating, my best. But i can only give you one troll, sorry.
9 words is not a rant you top calling piece of shit
I was discussing the rant of your protagonist, kind sir!
Well in that case your point is well taken!
I hate that a great philosophical movement, liberalism, was co-opted by socialists.
The authoritarian right is infected with it too. They also feel that we need more laws limiting individual liberty.
Oh well. I cant change it. Party on.
Note to self: Avoid any fiction written by Brad Schaeffer.
If you don't want to be misunderstood as a racist, stop making an issue out of race at every opportunity - you merely reflect the affirmative action people you despise. You could have stopped after explaining that others around you wanted anyone else but Bush in 2008 instead of going on about it for 3 paragraphs - reasonable people do not have to explain themselves to you for not wanting to bathe in shit.
As for a nation's collective intelligence and level of sophistication, America doesn't have any. Factor that in to your convoluted rationalizing about the dangers of emulating Nazi Germany, and you might begin to see that it is already way beyond the dreams of the Third Reich in terms of its Global influence, military power, subjugation, and propaganda myth about its place in the world.
Misplaced faith, the dangers of the personality cult, lessons in mob psychology are completely irrelevant when the Empire state has not only duplicated the lessons of Nazism, but long improved upon it a thousandfold. The figurehead does not matter - Obama could be replaced by a Disney character tomorrow, and the bombings, the invasions, the thefts, the tortures, and the police state would still go on with its citizens happily cheering its Wehrmacht helmeted troops and singing jingoistic songs of praise.
Your reference to Empire State makes me imagine King Kong as lord of Ding Dong before he fell like the teetering USD...Dang!
I found the article pithy yet substantial.
Your avatar and attitude make me want to break your nose with a sharp right cross.
"I'm done with this guy."
2nd time you have you have threatened me physical violence. You must be dying to do some jail time, and I would be very happy to oblige.
Both of you have been way over the top. I'm calling it.
My attorney could kick your attorney's ass sissy boy.
what if your attorney was a girl and his a lesbian? Would they fall in love?
Gay-love making over male erection fencing must be hilarious.
FOREX just sent a message out to clients that their traders must DISCONTINUE PRECIOUS METALS TRADING as of end of day Friday June 17th!
Got Phyzz??
http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2011/06/forex-prohibits-us-residents-f...
A new low for Tyler.
You have a keen understanding of this site. Very impressive...
Brad, may I suggest for your next novel, the following scenario:
Hitler is killed in the Great War. Pastor Niemoller becomes Chancellor and slowly rebuilds a peace loving economy. You can fill in what Stalin does to a peaceful Europe.
We (Amerika) will eventually get our Hitler. But it's too early yet.
The existing political establishment must first completely discredit itself. Sadly, it looks like they are doing a pretty good job at that. Then the people will beg for a charismatic "outsider" to follow wherever he/she wishes to take them. He/she will almost certainly be an ultra-nationalist and yes, sorry to say it, anti-semitic.
as bon jovi so poignantly put it :
It's all the same, only the names will change
Everyday it seems we're wasting away
Another place where the faces are so cold
I'd drive all night just to get back home
I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride
I'm wanted dead or alive
Wanted dead or alive
McCain has this wierd infantilism speech defect - how does someone whose been tortured wind up with baby-talk? He's wierd. I don't know if it's possible to be tortured and not be wierd, but he's wierd.
And the contempt he had for Obama during the debates was off. the. charts. Review the tapes. Look at how he can't even look at him respectfully. Came off as racist, although it's p'prolly laced with a healthy dose of 'who the fuck are you?'.
I don't think we really know who McCain is. Look at his reactions to Obama. He's rageful.
McCain's got at least one screw loose; remember: "bomb bomb bomb, bomb-bomb Iran?"
I recall close Gitmo, now which is the bigger lie?
and he had to urge restraint from the crowd, talk about playing a tough house. the anti_obama crowd has only gotten bigger. But ask yourself this question. If McCain had wins, in some parallel universe and you can watch both of them, which one is the Liberal?
McCain has this wierd infantilism speech defect - how does someone whose been tortured wind up with baby-talk? He's wierd. I don't know if it's possible to be tortured and not be wierd, but he's wierd.
And the contempt he had for Obama during the debates was off. the. charts. Review the tapes. Look at how he can't even look at him respectfully. Came off as racist, although it's p'prolly laced with a healthy dose of 'who the fuck are you?'.
I don't think we really know who McCain is. Look at his reactions to Obama. He's rageful.
I'd like to see what you'd look and sound like after 6 years (3 of solitary confinement) in a North Vietnamese prison.
I really would.
All these Marxist conspiracy theories depend on hidden New World Order master planners. Having no historical model to point at, only modern day Russia and China's conjected future path, they try to place ill fitting pieces into a twisted puzzle that has no rhyme or reason.
I believe in KISS. The corporatists have gotten themselves into a sweet spot and our looting our wealth. That is their plan. They probably have piles of gold, artwork, and other valuables stashed away in their bugout locations, where they will retire to when the rest of us suckers are left with whatever power structure manages to take form out of chaos.
Well...since it cant be stopped and will play out the way it plays out no matter what we do........then you better get yours while the getting is good. Stash it all away.....then join the pitchfork mob and get some more! Liberate some of that expensive artwork while the proles are occupied with the burning and the poking and trying to figure out how many knots are in a hangman's noose.
Always think WWBD......what would Bender do!
Nope. Just live the life of quiet desperation, calling out the conspiracy theories that try to twist the sheeple when I see them, voting out the incumbents, trying to educate the young people I know, emailing my representatives, buying gold, stocking up my own little remote rural retreat, making friends with the natives there. Doubt I will ever have to relocate to the armageddon farm, but the future is threatening enough that I decided to have one.
Nobel Peace Prize with oak leaf cluster?
WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/africa/18powers.html
Well the bar was set pretty low with Henry Kissinger...
Yeah Kissinger . . . maybe he got it because he helped so many "rest in peace."
Kissinger deserves to rest in a cemetery in purgatory where he will have as companions Allende and Pol Pot. The one would reprimand him about his power play in Chile. The other would thank him for the same in Cambodia as it allowed him to rule as new Attila. Kissinger would then look smug at Saint Peter and say : "Well I learnt my lessons well, balancing is what politics is about, not having convictions."
Saint Peter would then bring him God's verdict... "When you leave purgatory you will go down below. There is much need for a balancing Nobel like you to find the mean between a murderer and a multiple rapist. You would be so bored above. Your talents are better used in that hot spot. Off you go!"
fraud!
Covering Delta Interviews Dr. Kiriakos Tobras
Posted on June 18, 2011 by stacyherbert| 17 Comments
Stacy Summary:From Covering Delta, a blog doing some amazing coverage of the crisis in Greece. Here he talks to Dr. Kiriakos Tobras, an economist who is suing several derivatives traders and individuals from the government for their roles in financial fraud.
http://maxkeiser.com/2011/06/18/covering-delta-interviews-dr-kiriakos-to...
Tyler ... while I am frequently impressed with your writing, I am particularly impressed here.
While of course, the behavior of a society speaks to its conscience as a whole, the failure even the most basic of empiracle outcomes to impress upon the minds of the group is even more alarming. When the same voting behavior produces the same, or consistently worse, elected officials, over decades, and yet the reality of this outcome eludes the body politic; the system is broken. [MUST I quote the definition of insanity here?]
While the Founding Fathers incorporated a method to avoid this (Electors), what they failed to foresee was the growth of manipulative methods of control that would (hundreds of years away) be made so easy with technology. I call it B&C 2.0.
This updated permutation of bread and circuses (B&C 2.0) is but one pillar of many which supports the cone of silence which envelopes the minds and protects the masses from any rational or analytical observation of what is around them.
The pillars are built over decades:
- Distracted by the ongoing need to consume
- The month-to-month burdens of ever increasing taxe/fees/costs (See MCC below)
- Consistent dependancy on government agencies and departments for needs
- Consistent abdication of rights (and the political need to usurp them)
- Ongoing inflationary pressures making the accumulation of more money more important to buy the same with less
- Four layers of ever expanding government, each of which has its own agenda, inflationary pressures, increasing costs, poor management and corruption that must be funded by an ever shrinking popluation able to support it.
All of the above REQUIRE individuals to concentrate increasingly more on INCOME and thereby displaces ANY time to think, rally together, consider the future or be involved in anything greater than the next bill that must be paid.
I am reminded of the old tale of "How to catch a pig" ... wherein it is not a single effort; by laying out food in the same place, and erecting a single fence side each week and ultimately having a large enclosed space with an open gate ... eventually to catch ALL the pigs is a matter of closing the gate as, over time they have come in greater numbers to eat ... and never a shot fired, a trap employed or any physical effort exerted ... the pigs have brought themselves to the pen.
While this is not a concerted effort or grand conspiracy of any master plan (it would be giving FAR TOO much credit to any group or collective IMO) ... it is nevertheless, evolving to this. Of course, a complete and well thought out article would best address these (as well as provide some solutions) but alas, this is just a comment on yet another well written article with some thoughts augmenting and/or found in concert with its theme.
Again, I was impressed with your thoughts and, as always, it is excellent to be given the opportunity to stretch ones gray matter :)
Thank you for your amazing work and well considered articles.
MCC: Micro-Cost-Creep where 20-30 different taxes, fees, costs are raised from $.05 to $10 per quarter/year. These costs increase upwards of 200-300% at a time. Case-and-point, notice the "FCC FEE" on cable and telecom bills has risen from .03 to .08 in three years? This is but one of the many that work on the principle of raising a fee less than $10 and factor in millions upon millions paying that required fee and it is hidden/secret tax.
Tyler:
Two flaws with your thesis.
(1) If the US intelligensia has been snookered by Obama, why did Obama's legions leave him so soundly in 2010 elections?
(2) "McCain served his country with honor." This is laughable. McCain went through school as an entitled elite. Barely graduating (bottom ten, not ten percentile, but bottom ten ranked) at the Naval Academy. Only due to his pedigree did he get to "fly jets." None of us should have to end up in a Vietnam prison camp like he did. But as a prankster with a clear record for crashing jets in training, there is a good question about why he ended up in Vietnam at all, versus the safety of a desk job where he belonged. The simple answer is he got promoted because of the Lucky Sperm Club.
While you (Tyler) are focusing on the current shinny object (Obama) you are totally missing where the US is headed: a disgruntled middle class and religious right are likley to embrace Michelle Bachman in 2012. A women who rose to fame by stating "all the Anti-Americans in Congress (she meant Dems) needed to be rounded up." While you think the well-healed are behind Obama, you are missing the wave of support that Fraulien Bachman has garnered.
My advice: Your thesis is close to correct, but look ahead not behind.
its not TD's thesis its a guest post.
Obama is all about slogans, phylosophical politics and absurd visions.....this prez lives in a dream all the while causing nightmares for main street America !!!
His main goal in life was to be President, and now he's fulfilled that ambition....so as far as he's concerned there's nothing left for him to accomplish. Therefore he's just enjoying the ride as a sightseer/passenger on the presidential bus!
Don’t blame the German people for Hitler’s election. In the second round of the 1932 election (Weimar Republic law provided that a candidate needed to receive an absolute majority of votes), Paul von Hindenburg of the Independent Party and an incumbent, received 53.1% of the vote, or 19,359,983; Hitler of the National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party (NSDAP), 36.7% or 13,418,517, and Ernst Thalmann of the Communist Party, 10.1% or 3,706,759 votes.
Hindenburg played an important role in the coming to power of the Nazis by appointing Hitler under political pressure as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933.
Although Hitler lost the presidential election of 1932, he succeeded Hindenburg as head of state only two years later when Hindenburg's death brought his term to a premature end in 1934. After the president's death Hitler abolished the office entirely to replace it with the new position of Führer und Reichskanzler ("Führer and Reich Chancellor"), and cement his dictatorship. Thus Hitler used the presidency to aid him in his goal of over-throwing the democratic system and establishing a totalitarian regime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_presidential_election,_1932
That's why God blew up Hindenburg's ghost in that vessel in 1937. For having betrayed the German people...A hydrogen explosion that would prefigure the H bomb for future generations. God thinks of everything. Even of the fall of the USD.
Well written Brad. Two observations:
1. Arguably MSM is worth 10 points. Remember in the primaries when MSM thought Obama was an inexperienced empty suit? Almost overnight, he became a heroic savior. How and why? Any answer to your article must include the MSM.
2. After watching 2 Obama speeches, I concluded he was petulant man-child with significant socialist leanings. I was not unique. IOW, part of the Obama answer is that it is now culturally unacceptable to deride Progressive policy in public. It is the 'science' or 'intelligent' party. You will be branded an idiot if you question Keynes and the stupidity of central planning. I suggest part of Obama's attraction is that he was riding a Progressive brand after 6 years of the worst President bashing I ever heard.
I have conversations with die-hard NYC "liberals" who love Obama, and I don't get branded an idiot for criticizing him and his policies. I hate the bastard, and have no trouble sharing these feelings with friends who still love him.
Maybe you're being branded an idiot for some other reason.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615377114/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B003X283EW&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0XRZT1MR5RRZKCE4CWZX
What a great read...Bravo...Brad Schaeffer!!!
yes, strangely enough, american laws by and large apply in america.
and in a "capitalist" society, playing bingo with candlestick charts can be described
as activity with no net benefit, and thereby subject to sanction.
it's amusing to see people who might otherwise believe in "zero hedge" complaing
when the law says to act like it.
obama is a liar.
obama is in power because the bankster-plutocrats wanted him there. he is an indonesian citizen who most likely was born in kenya. the fake birth certificate he supplied was manufactured by some ignorant hacks who know that americans are boobs and would as unquestioningly accept the forgery as real as they would his presidency in the first place because he appealed to emotional guilt and appeared as the anti-bush when in fact he is bush's twin brother.
obama was a favorite of the plutocrats because they could rub americans' noses in george bush's famous quip about the constituions being nothing more than a goddamn piece of paper. and indeed it is....laws are for the little people as is deception.
What you say is true.
However, McCain is every bit as much a front man for the predators-that-be and predator-class, and every bit as much a war monger.
The real stories are:
#1: How can the predators-that-be and predator-class so effectively and so completely prevent anyone with even a faint trace of honesty and ethics from becoming a candidate since the late 1950s to early 1960s?
#2: How can human beings be so stupid, and so vile as to accept and even support such an endless stream of absolute, complete, total scumbags?
Obama is pure evil. But so are 99.8% of the people in congress [and the courts, and etc]. That's the real point.
And the real question is... why do human beings accept a world totally controlled by:
predators DBA government
predators DBA corporations
predators DBA central banks
The 21st century == predators gone wild.
wow. +1e5.