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ELeCTioN DaY 2012: ILLuSioNS oF CHoiCe
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Elections are making us choke
Illusions of choice are a joke
It's all just a ploy
For sheep to enjoy
Like rabbits enjoy a good smoke
The Limerick King
Wall Street has captured the State
Of this there can be no debate
Their power will rise
As liberty dies
And standards of living deflate
The Limerick King
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As Kleptos will always want more
Their Cronys get ready for war
Their force is prepared
And none will be spared
Their slogan is: "Death To The Poor!"
The Limerick King
"The really dangerous American fascist... is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism... But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power. They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
-- U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, quoted in the New York Times, April 9, 1944
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Too bad we don't have George Carlin to joke and comment on yet another illusory choice; but at least he is at peace and not having to suffer through another election.
Great quote at the end, never seen that one but apropos.
A fascist kleptoligarchy bitter pill wrapped in the flag, buttered by Wall Street, and forced down the people's throat by Washington.
Honey, I sold the kids!
Probably sold the Grandkids too (and the great-Grandkids . . .) ! !
Secure, almost unlimited asset wealth for those on the very top, effectively multigenerational slavery for everyone else.
That's why republicans hate abortion, your cutting into their income stream. Dead babies=dead profits. Also, if you down arrow me, and you don't have a vagina, fuck off. As I will never have an abortion, I'm not passing any judgement on it in this lifetime. If and when I have a vagina, I'll have an opinion. And when I have a vagina, be assured that I will work hard to rub out a solution, maybe not to this issue, but to something.
Frankly, I'd grown weary of the whold banzaii thing, but this compilation takes things to a whole different level. Very heartfelt.
The irony to me is that those who come to this forum are just a lower level of the whole banking industry scam they rail against incessantly. Stock and bond traders, FX traders, derivitives, calls/puts...it's ALL a scam. Another form of classism, but no actual real production of anything of value. When the traders "win" life is good and the US is the greatest country in the world. Losers complain of the unfair system and the fat cats of wall street.
One cannot have it both ways.
BTW, just so you know. I'm not resting on my laurels here. I'm constantly trying to up my game ;-)
Believe it or not, there is always level of seriousness and emotion in what I am doing, although it modulates. Today, however, is a very serious day indeed. Not because anyone's mind will be changed at this point, but because some sort of record is begging to be memorialized. People who spoke the truth in the past need to be recognized.
Don't call it the Banzai7 thang. Elements of your government are busy studying and wirting manuals about how to "shape" civilian populations using digital image warfare. I know, I have them. If people like me are not here working to effectively counter that, who will? The genesis of this inititatives has been the adept use of image propaganda by online jihadi recruiters. The lists of muslim symbols and icons is mind numbing.
I leave it to the traders to speak for themselves. I always thought of trading as a necessary element of productive capitalism. I know more than a few honest traders. The scale of it as driven by the TBTF banks, obscene capital accumulation with FRB funny money and the resulting difficulty of turning an honest profit is what turns certain corners of trading into a swindle driven ecosystem.
I understand perfectly well what "elements of government" are up to, although most of what I see can be classified as sheer stupidity. However, how much further shaping can occur before the laws of marginal returns dictate that any further investment is unproductive. I believe we are long past that point.
I am one of the "troublemakers" which refuse to be body scanned at the airport. I now have to build in an extra hour to put up with the low level harassment which becomes part and parcel of my daily travels. One unexpected benefit of this time wasting has been to audit non-compliance demographics. Of course, TSA does not approve of me standing with my (TSA approved) pencil and paper recording the results...roughly one in 300 who opt for the invasive rectal probing "choice". Most of the non-compliant are pregnant women and they receive some level of understanding. Being a white male and refusing the scan firmly establishes me as a THEY, in the with-us/against-us legacy of the bush jr administration. I am a THEY.
So, I see literally hundreds of my fellow citizens mindlessly engage in a collectivist state slap-down that would make pol pot blush with shame. No one questions the science, no one questions the civil liberty issues...strict civil obedience in its most groveling form.
If even 10% chose to not comply, the present system could not function and change would be forced upon the system. It would also send a powerful message to those who claim to represent the people.I do not choose to vote because of the same dynamic. A vote for either party is a VOTE FOR THE PRESENT SYSTEM, not the individual candidate. For this reason, not voting is insufficient. One must resign their voting registration card...opt out of the system. As a registered NON-VOTER, the so-called elected are not representing you. As a non voting registered voter, you have opted out of having a voice, but are equally culpable for the results either way.
The voting registration process is freely entered into...a contract if you will...which binds you into the system. Revoke the contract and you als free a small portion of the ties which bind so tightly. It's a mental liberation as much as a contractual one. I watch the election cycle as a scientist might observe the activites of amoeba.
SO, how much more population shaping can be done, and to what end.
The traders have been very quiet.
From my perspective, the "traders" are exactly the same as the mopes in las vegas...high when they win and dejected when they lose. Both groups always have a "system" which they believe provides them an edge. Plied with alcohol and creature comforts, the traders and gamblers continue to chase that elusive dream on a micro scale, sublimely unaware that when they do win, it is simply because their positions have unknowingly aligned with some power bubble which is the real winner. Read the book by Das, which clearly states in no uncertain terms that the big players always trade with perfect certainty. The nobody traders on here are too blind to even contemplate that a force other than their intellect was responsible for their pitiful "profits".
As in the voting game, the choices are irrelevant..it is the PARTICIPATION which is everything. When traders are "out of the game" they are more difficult to control.
Seriously, sometimes the stupidity is enough to suck the oxygen out of a room.
Nothing new here. Politicians/governments/rulers lie cheat and steal under the direction of money-power. Nothing wrong with voting or not voting. Like they say around ZH, it's a rigged game. Even in the casino, a few smart, careful, observant people figure out how to beat or work the system. Keep your overhead low, your options open and GOOD LUCK!
My momma told me: "If you have a choice of being born smart, rich or lucky, pick lucky."
Today, the day before the day of little or no choice in America (as Steve Lendman put it, Vote independent or stay home! http://www.opednews.com/articles/Vote-Independent-or-Stay-H-by-Stephen-L... ), I thank you much for your images and thoughts, William. I sent the link to the above to all who I thought could stand the Truth of the matter, at least as I see it too. Probably some won't and won't bother to let me know, either.
To memorialize one's thoughts and position the day before has a spiritual quality. Though I do not trade or deal in financial matters other than to prepare and survive come what may (earning and spending Federal Reserve notes for tangible goods of more lasting value), I can appreciate there are those who do trade, and honorably. Perhaps they can help us lesser souls figure out alternative currencies and why in GOD's earth silver and gold rank so high in some people's minds.
I try to apply my visual style to sneak up on people. Even if you don't agree with what the image says, it will still have some kind of appeal. At least that is what I am trying to do. Sort of subliminal persuasion. The humor always helps as well.
I figured to day was the day to do this. Tommorow everyone will be on their way to the polls etc. It is spiritual in the sense that I have been thinking about how to connect it with others for day's. And by connect, I mean by means of emotional connection. It is a very emotional subject.
The combination of helplessness, disgust, anger, uncertainty, marginalization etc. I completely understand Carlin's mindset.
Plus ça change, plus ça meme chose . . . . .
Where on the ballot will they give you the option to choose to: Arrest them?
Carlin:I have this moron thing,that i do,i think:
They=0.1%, got a club(Steve Jobs got Venus,you know this one,when, Steve Jobs dies Millions cry,when millions die,nobody cry?I got this stuid thing to,I think,so, I am on to you),and your not in it,Like carlin said,think!So if we all made, OUR CLUB,where would it put the 0.1%???This is ,what would be Called Thinking:
Good luck Eumerica,your gona need it,actually, second thought,we are all gona need it!
Maybe the slaughterhouse entrance sums it up best. But like Jim Morrsion I'm gonna get my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.
Obama is going to give more kicks.
http://thinkingaboot.blogspot.ca/2012/11/obama-biden-2012.html
Dummy up!
Banzaii--you still want to believe, don't you? The truth is, your cartoons do far more good for the world than any votes you ever cast or ever will cast.
Yes, I am voting with my pen in a manner of speaking.
And I am recording or drawing upon the position of those who concur for posterity.
Speak now all who concur...
What's a pen? Is that a new app on Facebook? </sarc>
It's sad to see images of real tormented animals amid the photoshop work
Yes, unfortunately those pictures point to another unpleasantness in human nature.
I'm an animal lover, but I'm not afraid to use them to make a point. Curiously, when you google around with search terms like illusion of choice, coercion etc, those animal lab pictures come to the surface.
We are being manipulated like rats and monkeys by the Lords do the realm.
The same impulse that gave us crimes against humanity first saw practice in crimes against nature. The latter remains the shortest path to profit.
They say if you don't vote you should not critisize.I say "FUCK YOU".Now what i will say is when asked "can you believe this no good cock sucker"ill say,i had nothing to do with him being elected.
Inherently, by don't vote, they mean don't vote column A or B. Column C does not count to the people who say that,
I'll say it again. I have more respect for someone who says this is my stake and I am voting to protect it. OK that's ones right.
But what I can't stand is the hypocrisy of being lectured about good citizenship and the necessity of playing along with the farce that is put on offer.
This election is very different in my opinion. The financial crisis has really focused the attention of many people on what is really happening. It's not so easy to pull the old wool over everyone's eyes this time around. I know I never focused on the whole system in this much detail for four years straight.
It has been a real eye opener.
Inherently, by don't vote, they mean don't vote column A or B. Column C does not count to the people who say that,
I'll say it again. I have more respect for someone who says this is my stake and I am voting to protect it. OK that's ones right.
I've lost a sizable amount of friends on both sides by telling them simply that I am not voting and here is why. Number one reason for me.....My vote is too precious to waste on two umitigated turds.
There is a sign for a Real Estate agent in his parking lot that reads.....
HONK 1 time for Romney
HONK 2 times for Obama
And I always drive by there REAL SLOW and honk 3 TIMES....for none of the above turds !!!!
It shouldn't be that way. The vitriol and emotion is another element that is cultivated from the top.
The bastards are wearing us down, that we may turn agaisnt each other and not them. I am reminded of this line in the "Deseradata":
"But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself."
The danger is that out of fatigue and isolation -- and lacking any other target -- we end up doing violence against ourselves. That I imagine is the desired outcome from the point of view of those at or near the top.
Wow, really good Banzai, thanks :)
I second that. These are some really great ones!
TY
You and the Limerick King have your hearts and souls on display here today. Nothing shallow about it. I am swept away with sadness, anger, and hope.
Good job.
In all my decades of voting I don't think I have ever approached an election with so much trepidation and misgiving. It is clear to me that no matter what happens on election day America will not wake up the next day with a national leader, but with a glorified clown pandering to fantasy and distraction.
Just when we need leadership we will instead be left twisting in the wind, without.
One has the feeling that REAL Hope left the building around the same time as the current incumbent started promising his "new, improved" version of "Hope and Change", especially in view of what has happened locally and globally in the past four years.
Seems Mr Obama's "Hope and Change" may have referred to:-
Hope (you survive financially and physically, your home is not illegaly foreclosed on, your rights as a Citizen are not trampled by "Executive Order" no less, and we manage to avoid one or more major International confrontations)
Change (essentially something you'll have a lot less of in your pocket compared to 4 years ago. For the priveleged, their version of change is the opposite - far more of your money carefully excised via ever more inventive taxes, fees and fines, all channeled up to the top - the "trickle-UP effect" at work!).
“Violence is to the dictatorship what propaganda is to democracy." Noam Chomsky
I think the problem often is that people lose sight of the difference between what can be construed as a self-organising system, such as a supposedly free society, and what is being artificially organised behind the scenes by networks of self-interested individuals. But instead of popular intellectuals constructing darkly complex open-ended theories that seek to implicate all kinds of self-determining boggie men in the act of manipulation, where this is rightly overlooked as conspiracy, rather they should help people understand the dynamics of pecking order, “social nepotism“ and general elitist behaviour. Hopefully one day people will understand that the powerful just can’t help themselves from doing what they do, just like dogs cant help themselves pissing on lamp posts, only then will they develop the right method for managing concentrations of power. Now let me count the ways that will never happen…
I wish you were right.
However, when you stop to consider what the pyramids tell us about human nature, hierarchy is in our DNA. Everything is a pyramid scheme.
At least the pyramid workers were better kept by the rulers.
Unfortunately, Intelligence is the only thing that can overcome DNA programming.
With paper ballots here in Canada, we have a better alternative than not voting when we don't like what we see - spoil your ballot (not used often enough.)
The great difference is that spoiled ballots are counted. Imagine a larger proportion of spoiled ballots vs. good ones! Revolution, or at least a new election.
Have no idea if US voting machines will allow that, or even count them?
m.
You are still consenting to be part of the machine.
Myself, I see elections as being no more valid in ruling over me than anyone else with a gang, or a gun. They all rely upon the coercive violence of "Do as I say, or else..."
I'll retain my moral high ground by refusing to legitimize criminal activities, and instead, point out the evil of enslaving one man under the thumb of another.
Is voting compulsory in Canada?
Certainly is in Australia - a $100 fine if you fail to turn up.
So much for the "Democratic Right NOT to vote"!
NO VOTE IS PROTEST VOTE AGIANST IDIOTS (RomBama)
Mr. Bonzai, I have always enjoyed your art, and when it is coupled with The Limerick King, it's awesome. But, this is your best so far. Well done.
the two dominant parties have made my choice easy...i will vote against every incumbent. I will continue to do so until the idiots learn we want limited government, unapologenic American sovereignty and original interpretation of the Constitution. If Ron Paul was the nominee it would be even easier, RP all the way. To stay at home accomplishes nothing and makes no statement. Shows you cannot compromise on the lousy choices you have to work with. This federal republic is made for compromise....something Congress and the Emperor Owe needs to come to understand. I too am tired of holding my nose. I have had to vote other people in with which I had little to agree with, but, I certainly did not want the likes of Owl Girl, Kerry, Obama, and a host of other losers over the years. Come to think about it, I can't remember how many times I had to write in for Mickey Mouse.
Your statement?
"I'm a powerless idiot who believes that hollow gestures helps the battle against corruption."
As long as you support the system, YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!
Honestly, this shit isn't that hard to understand. Of course, logic isn't in play here, but rather belief systems are. Yours has been been designed to be fully incoherent, before you were even born.
How is it you intend to fix things by playing along, again?
Staying home allows me to have my peace--I had to make my peace with it all. I'm just a passenger, I understand that and it's okay. I don't have to live a lie and have the cognitive dissonance needling me like a splinter in my brain. I have gained understanding, wisdom in fact, and I have learned how to let go.
As GC said, Americans get to have a front row seat ;-)
Maybe of the End of the Western World, courtesy of whoever gets the comfy seat in the Oval Office.
(Same "invisible people" pulling the puppets' strings though, irrespective of the voting outcomes . . . . . .)
George Carlin - Voting is meaningless
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMGqTwWA6U&hd=1
I find it interesting that the DOE has raised the amount of oil reserves in North Dakota by a thousand fold AFTER the oil started flowing out of the ground. By some estimates they're still lowballing by another factor of 100! Not that the Government would low ball any other so called "reserves" cuz that would mean the Givernment would want prices to...er, wait a minute...