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Guest Post: Comfortably Numb
Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform
Comfortably Numb
Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone at home?
Come on, now,
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain
And get you on your feet again.
Relax.
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts
Can you show me where it hurts?
Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
As I observe the zombie like reactions of Americans to our catastrophic economic highway to collapse, the continued plundering and pillaging of the national treasury by criminal Wall Street bankers, non-enforcement of existing laws against those who committed the largest crime in history, and reaction to young people across the country getting beaten, bludgeoned, shot with tear gas and pepper sprayed by police, I can’t help but wonder whether there is anyone home. Why are most Americans so passively accepting of these calamitous conditions? How did we become so comfortably numb? I’ve concluded Americans have chosen willful ignorance over thoughtful critical thinking due to their own intellectual laziness and overpowering mind manipulation by the elite through their propaganda emitting media machines. Some people are awaking from their trance, but the vast majority is still slumbering or fuming at erroneous perpetrators.
Both the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement are a reflection of the mood change in the country, which is a result of government overreach, political corruption, dysfunctional economic policies, and a financial system designed to enrich the few while defrauding the many. The common theme is anger, frustration and disillusionment with a system so badly broken it appears unfixable through the existing supposedly democratic methods. The system has been captured by an oligarchy of moneyed interests from the financial industry, mega-corporations, and military industrial complex, protected by their captured puppets in Washington DC and sustained by the propaganda peddling corporate media. The differences in political parties are meaningless as they each advocate big government solutions to all social, economic, foreign relations, and monetary issues.
There is confusion and misunderstanding regarding the culprits in this drama. It was plain to me last week when I read about a small group of concerned citizens in the next town over who decided to support the Occupy movement by holding a nightly peaceful march to protest the criminal syndicate that is Wall Street and a political system designed to protect them. My local paper asked for people’s reaction to this Constitutional exercising of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Here is a sampling of the comments:
“What are those Occupy people thinking?! The whole concept is foreign to me. There are always going to be the haves and the have nots. Get over it. Blame yourself for not paying more attention in school or not working hard enough. Just wish people would take responsibility.”
“If they worked half as hard actually working as they do being a pain in everyone else’s ass, they’d be rich! Being born does not guarantee success or wealth. Only hard work does. Maybe we should let them all occupy a jail cell or two.”
“If the goal is to irritate hardworking suburban commuters on their way home, that sounds like the perfect time and location.”
“Let’s hope they don’t pitch tents and trash Lansdale. They need to look for a job, not occupy the streets.”
“I work, and even if I wasn’t working I wouldn’t (march); I would be out looking for a JOB!”
I was dumbfounded at the rage directed towards mostly young people who haven’t even begun their working careers and have played no part in the destruction of our economic system underway for the last 30 years. The people making these statements are middle aged, middle class suburbanites. They seem to be just as livid as the OWS protestors, but their ire is being directed towards the only people who have taken a stand against Wall Street greed and Washington D.C. malfeasance. I’m left scratching my head trying to understand their animosity towards people drawing attention to the enormous debt based ponzi scheme that is our country, versus their silent acquiescence to the transfer of trillions in taxpayer dollars to the criminal bankers that have destroyed the worldwide financial system. I can only come to the conclusion the average American has become so apathetic, willfully ignorant of facts and reality, distracted by the techno-gadgets that run their lives, uninterested in anything beyond next week’s episode of Dancing with the Stars or Jersey Shore, and willing to let the corporate media moguls form their opinions for them through relentless propaganda, the only thing that will get their attention is an absolute collapse of our economic scheme. Uninformed, unconcerned, intellectually vacant Americans will get exactly that in the not too distant future.
Greater Depression Hidden from View
“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.” – Aristophanes, Plutus
The anger and vitriol directed at OWS protestors by middle class Americans is a misdirected reaction to a quandary they can’t quite comprehend. They know their lives are getting more difficult but aren’t sure why. They are paying more for energy, food, tuition, and real estate taxes, while the price of their houses decline and their wages stagnate. More than a quarter of all homeowners are underwater on their mortgage and many are drowning in credit card and student loan debt. At the same time, government drones tell them the economy is in its second year of recovery and corporate profits are at all-time highs. Government statistics, false storylines, and entitlement programs are designed to confuse the public and obscure the fact we are in the midst of another Depression. Everyone has seen the pictures of the Great Depression breadlines, farmers forced off their land during the dustbowl, and downtrodden Americans in soup kitchens. The economic conditions today are as bad as or worse than the Great Depression. This Depression is hidden from plain view because there are no unemployment lines, bread lines, or soup lines. We are experiencing an electronic Great Depression, as food stamps, unemployment compensation, Social security payments and welfare benefits are electronically delivered to millions of recipients.
There have been over 12 million foreclosure actions since 2007, with millions of Americans losing their homes. Another 16 million homeowners are underwater on their mortgages as home prices continue to fall and the economy sinks further by the day. The value of household real estate has fallen from $22.7 trillion in 2006 to $16.2 trillion today, a loss of $6.5 trillion concentrated among the middle class. In contrast, mortgage debt has only decreased by $600 billion mostly due to write-offs by the banks that created fraudulent mortgage products to lure Americans into debt.
The unemployment rate in the United States reached 25% during the Great Depression. The government manipulated fictional unemployment rate reported to the public by drones at the BLS is currently 9.0%. They conveniently ignore the millions of people who have given up looking for work and those who have taken jobs as part-time pickle ploppers at McDonalds, when they previously assembled automobiles at GM. The true number of unemployed/underemployed is 23%.
Since 2007, unemployment has officially gone up by 7 million. In reality, the same percentage of the working age population should be employed today as in 2007 (63%). Since only 58.4% of the working age population is employed today (lowest since 1983), another 4 million needs to be added to the official unemployment tally. The fact is there are 240 million working age Americans and only 140 million are employed. This means there are 100 million working age Americans not working, but our government only classifies 14 million of them as unemployed. There is certainly millions of stay at home moms, students, and legitimately disabled among the 86 million people classified as not in the labor force, but you can’t tell me that another 20 to 30 million of these people couldn’t or wouldn’t work if given the opportunity.
The deception in government reported figures is borne out by the most successful government program of the Obama administration, which has been adding participants at an astounding rate. The Food Stamp program has been a smashing success as we’ve added 13.8 million Americans to this fine program since Obama’s inauguration, a mere 43% increase in less than three years. There are now 45.8 million Americans dependent upon food stamps for survival, 14.7% of the U.S. population. This program began in 1969 and enrollment always surges during recessions and declines during recoveries. But a funny thing happened during our current “recovery”. The government reported our recession over in December 2009. It was certainly over for the Wall Street psychopaths as they rewarded themselves with $43 billion of bonuses in 2009/2010. The number of Americans on food stamps has risen by 6.8 million during this government sponsored “recovery”. You’ll be happy to know that Obama’s good buddy – Jamie Dimon – and his well run machine at JP Morgan earns hundreds of millions administering the SNAP program.
Since 2007, Federal government transfer payments have increased from $1.7 trillion annually to $2.3 trillion, a 35% increase in four years. This is surely a sign of a recovering economy. Bernanke’s zero interest rate policy has stolen $400 billion per year from senior citizens and savers and handed it to the very bankers who caused the pain and suffering of millions. Personal interest income has declined from $1.4 trillion to $1.0 trillion, while Wall Street faux profits have soared. The game plan of the oligarchy has been to transfer hundreds of billions from taxpayers to bankers, report profits through accounting entries reducing loan loss reserves, pump up their stock prices and convince clueless lemming investors to buy newly issued shares at inflated valuations. The plan has failed. The zero interest rate policy’s unintended consequences have caused revolutions throughout the Middle East and massive food inflation across the developing world.
The single biggest reason the middle class feel frustrated, angry and like they are falling behind is due to the Federal Reserve and the relentless never ending inflation they produce in order to support their masters on Wall Street and provide cover for the trillions in debt spending by politicians in Washington DC. It is no surprise that beginning in 1980 when government spending began to accelerate much more rapidly than government revenues, the government decided to “tweak” how it measured inflation. The government reports inflation at 3.5% today. The truth is inflation is running in excess of 10% if measured exactly as it was in 1980. That’s right, we have a recession and we have inflation in double digits. No wonder the masses are restless.
The reason middle class Americans are being methodically exterminated and driven into poverty is the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. Since 1971, when Nixon extinguished the last vestiges of the gold standard and unleashed politicians to spend borrowed money without immediate consequence, the U.S. dollar has lost 82% of its purchasing power using the government manipulated CPI. In reality, it has lost over 90% of its purchasing power. The average American, after decades of being dumbed down by government sanctioned education, is incapable of understanding the impact of inflation on their lives. As their wages rise 2% to 3% per year and inflation rises 5% to 10% per year, they get poorer day by day. The Wall Street banks, who own the Federal Reserve, step in and convince the average American to substitute debt for real wealth in order to keep living the modern techno-lifestyle sold to them by mainstream corporate media.
The oligarchy of moneyed interests have done a spectacular job convincing the working middle class they should be angry at 20 year old OWS protestors, illegal immigrants and the inner city welfare class, rather than the true culprits – the Federal Reserve, Wall Street banks and mega-corporations. This is a testament to the power of propaganda and the intellectual slothfulness of the average American. U.S. based mega-corporations fired 864,000 higher wage American workers between 2000 and 2010, while hiring almost 3 million workers in low wage foreign countries, using their billions in cash to buy back their own stocks, and paying corporate executives shamefully excessive compensation. The corporate mainstream media treats corporate CEO’s like rock stars as if they deserve to be compensated at a level 185 times the average worker. The S&P 500 consists of the 500 biggest companies in America and while the executives of these companies have reaped millions in compensation, the stock index for these companies is at the exact level it was on July 9, 1998. Over the last thirteen years workers were fired by the thousands, shareholders earned 0% (negative 39% on an inflation adjusted basis), and executives got fabulously rich.
Man made inflation has stealthily devastated millions of lives over the last four decades. When the weekly wages of the average worker are adjusted for inflation, they are making 12% less than they did in 1971. Using a real non-manipulated measure of inflation, the average worker is making 30% less than they did in 1971. Sadly, our math challenged populace only comprehend their wages have doubled in the last forty years, without understanding the true impact of inflation. Thankfully, the Wall Street debt dealers with a helping hand from Madison Avenue propaganda peddlers stepped up to the plate and imprisoned the middle class with the shackles of $2.5 trillion in consumer debt. So, while real wages have fallen 30% since 1971, consumer debt has increased by 1,700%.
Americans have been snookered into renouncing their citizenship and converting to being mindless consumers. Citizenship requires a person to be actively engaged in the community with obligations to fellow citizens and future generations. Consumerism requires people to love things, embrace debt, worry about what others have, and become driven by the accumulation of possessions and the appearance of wealth. The disgusting exhibition that Madison Avenue maggots have coined Black Friday is the ultimate display of consumerism. In a nauseating display of senseless spending driven by retail conglomerates, Americans act like Pavlov’s salivating dogs by lining up for hours to stampede over and pepper spray other consumers to get the ultimate deal on that Chinese made toaster oven, Vietnamese made laptop, Korean made HDTV, or Mexican made tortilla maker. They don’t seem to grasp the irony of going deeper into debt buying cheap crap made in foreign countries by the workers who took their jobs. The mainstream media proclaims a hugely successful Black Friday as millions bought crap they didn’t need with money they don’t have, while millions more ate their Thanksgiving meals in food shelters – unreported by the media.This repulsive manifestation of consumerism is applauded and encouraged by our government, as described by George Monbiot:
“Governments are deemed to succeed or fail by how well they make money go round, regardless of whether it serves any useful purpose. They regard it as a sacred duty to encourage the country’s most revolting spectacle: the annual feeding frenzy in which shoppers queue all night, then stampede into the shops, elbow, trample and sometimes fight to be the first to carry off some designer junk which will go into landfill before the sales next year. The madder the orgy, the greater the triumph of economic management.”
The masses have been brainwashed by those in power into thinking consumer spending utilizing debt is essential for a strong economy, when the exact opposite is the truth. Saving and investment are the essential ingredients to a strong economy. Debt based spending only benefits bankers, mega-corporations, and politicians.
Mass Manipulation through Propaganda
“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.” – Edward Bernays, Propaganda, 1928
Edward Bernays, the father of propaganda to control the masses, would be so proud of his disciples running our country today. He clearly believed only an elite few were intellectually capable of running the show. Essentially, he hit upon the concept of the 1% telling the 99% what they should think and believe over eighty years ago. The mechanisms for controlling the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of the population are so much more efficient today. The conditioning begins when we are children, as every child will be bombarded with at least 30,000 hours of propaganda broadcast by media corporations by the time they reach adulthood. Their minds are molded and they are instructed what to believe and what to value. Those in control of society want to keep the masses entertained at an infantile level, with instant gratification and satisfying desires as their only considerations. The elite have achieved their Alpha status through intellectual superiority, control of the money system, and control of the political process. Their power emanates from eliminating choices, while giving the illusion of choice to the masses. People think they are free, when in reality they are slaves to a two party political system, a few Wall Street banks, and whatever our TVs tell us to buy.
Our entire system is designed to control the thoughts and actions of the masses. In many ways it is done subtly, while recently it has become more bold and blatant. It is essential for the ruling elite to keep control of our minds through media messages and the educational system. It is not a surprise that our public education system has methodically deteriorated over the last four decades. The government gained control over education and purposely teaches our children selected historical myths, social engineering gibberish and only the bare essentials of math and science. The government creates the standardized tests and approves the textbooks. We are left with millions of functionally illiterate children that grow into non-critical thinking adults. This is the exact result desired by the 1%. If too many of the 99% were able to ignore the media propaganda and think for themselves, revolution would result. This is why the moneyed interests have circled the wagons, invoked police state thug tactics, and used all the powers of their media machine to squash the OWS movement. It threatens their power and control.
“Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
A highly educated engaged citizenry would be a danger to the existing social order. The 1%, educated at our finest universities, does not want average Americans to obtain a great education for a reasonable price. They want them to get a worthless diploma at an excessively high price tag and become debt slaves to the Wall Street 1%. They want uneducated, indebted consumers, not educated productive citizens. Our republic has been slowly perverted since the time of its inception. The insidious process had been slow and methodical until 1913. The establishment of the Federal Reserve by an elite group of bankers and their politician friends and the establishment of a personal income tax created the conditions that have allowed a small cabal of powerful men to dictate the course of our economic, political, social, and military policies for the last 98 years. Anyone that chooses to open their eyes and awake from the propaganda induced stupor can see the result of allowing a small group of corrupt authoritarian men using their power to pervert our government into tyranny. The majority remains oppressed, buried under trillions of debt, while the shysters reap obscene profits, poison the worldwide economic system, and walk away unscathed in the aftermath of their crimes.
The ruling oligarchy has become so brazen in the last few years that it has attracted the attention of the critical thinking minority. The advent of the internet has allowed these critical thinking few to analyze the un-sanitized facts, discuss the issues, and provide truth amidst a blizzard of lies. The proliferation of truth telling websites (Zero Hedge, Mish, Financial Sense, Naked Capitalism) has allowed truth seekers to bypass the government sanctioned corporate media. The pillaging of society by the politically powerful, corrupt 1% is plain to see in the graphs below.
The divergence in household income was not the result of hard work, superior intellectual firepower, or the media touted entrepreneurial spirit of the rich. It was the result of the 1% capturing the economic and political system of the United States and using it to ransack the wealth of the formerly working middle class. The fatal flaw which will ultimately result in a fitting end for the powerful elitists is their egos. They are psychopaths, unable to feel empathy for their fellow man. Enough is never enough. They always want more. Life is a game to them. They truly believe they can pull the right strings and continue to accumulate more riches. But they are wrong. They are blinded by their hubris. There are limits to growth based solely on debt and we’ve reached that limit. The world is crumbling under the weight of crippling debt created by these Wall Street psychopaths, while the corrupted bought off politicians try to shift the losses from the bankers who incurred them to the citizens who have already been fleeced. Nomi Prins captures the essence of our current situation:
“Today, the stock prices of the largest US banks are about as low as they were in the early part of 2009, not because of euro-contagion or Super-committee super-incompetence (a useless distraction anyway) but because of the ongoing transparency void surrounding the biggest banks amidst their central-bank-covered risks, and the political hot potato of how many emergency loans are required to keep them afloat at any given moment. Because investors don’t know their true exposures, any more than in early 2009. Because US banks catalyzed the global crisis that is currently manifesting itself in Europe. Because there never was a separate US housing crisis and European debt crisis. Instead, there is a worldwide, systemic, unregulated, uncontained, rapacious need for the most powerful banks and financial institutions to leverage whatever could be leveraged in whatever forms it could be leveraged in. So, now we’re just barely in the second quarter of the game of thrones, where the big banks are the kings, the ECB, IMF and the Fed are the money supply, and the populations are the powerless serfs. Yeah, let’s play the ECB inflation game, while the world crumbles.”
Those in power are beginning to lose control. You can sense their desperation. Their propaganda is losing its impact as the pain for millions of Americans has become acute. The outrage and anger flaring across the country on a daily basis, reflected in the OWS movement, is just the beginning of a revolutionary period descending upon this nation. The existing social order will be swept away, but they will not go without a fight. They will use their control of the police, military and media to try and crush the coming rebellion.
The Dream is Gone
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” – Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome
In addition to controlling the monetary system and brainwashing the inhabitants with relentless propaganda, the ruling class has used their control of the political process to impose thousands of laws, statutes, rules, and regulations upon the citizens. Again, an apathetic, distracted, trusting populace has been easily convinced that more laws will make them safe and secure. They have willingly sacrificed liberty, freedom and self reliance for the façade of safety, security and protection. The overwhelming number of government rules and regulations are designed to control you and insure your compliance and obedience to those in power. In a non-corrupt society inhabited by citizens willing to honor their obligations, government’s function is to insure property rights and defend the country from foreign invaders. Citizens don’t need to be herded like sheep with threats of imprisonment to do what is right. We don’t need 90,000 pages of regulations telling us the difference between right and wrong.
There were 400 pages of Federal Tax rules when the 1% personal income tax was implemented in 1913. Did the 18,000% increase in tax rules since 1913 benefit the average American or did they benefit the 1% who hires the lobbyists to write the rules which are passed into law by the politicians who receive their campaign contributions from the 1%? Do you ever wonder why you pay more taxes than a billionaire Wall Street hedge fund manager? Do you think our tax system is designed to benefit billionaires and mega-corporations when corporations with billions of income pay little or no taxes? Complexity and confusion benefits those who can create and take advantage of the complexity and confusion. Corporations and special interests have used their wealth to bribe politicians to design loopholes, credits, and exemptions that benefit their interests. The corruption of the system is terminal.
“The mistake you make, don’t you see, is in thinking one can live in a corrupt society without being corrupt oneself. After all, what do you achieve by refusing to make money? You’re trying to behave as though one could stand right outside our economic system. But one can’t. One’s got to change the system, or one changes nothing. One can’t put things right in a hole-and-corner way, if you take my meaning.” – George Orwell
The American people are paying the price for allowing a few evil men to gain control of our government. The American people cowered in fear as the 342 page Patriot Act was somehow written in a few weeks after 9/11, introduced in Congress on October 23, passed the House on October 24 with no debate, passed the Senate on October 25 with no debate, and signed into law on October 26 by George Bush. A law passed by the ruling elite that stripped Americans of their freedoms and liberties was passed using fear mongering false patriotism propaganda to squelch dissent and the American people had no say in the matter. The government has used fear to keep the American people under control. We now unquestioningly accept being molested in airports. We shrug as our intelligence agencies eavesdrop on our telephone conversations and emails without the need for a court order. It is now taken for granted that we imprison people without charging them with a crime and assassinate suspected terrorists in foreign countries with predator drones. Invading countries and going to war no longer requires a declaration of war by Congress as required by the Constitution. The State grows ever more powerful.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Americans sit idly by, watching their 52 inch HDTVs, as young people across the country are beaten, pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets and tear gas, and scorned and ridiculed by corporate media pundits for exercising their free speech rights to peacefully protest our corrupt system. The American tradition of civil disobedience is considered domestic terrorism by those in authority. Our beloved protectors in the Orwellian named Department of Homeland Security write reports classifying Ron Paul supporters and returning Iraq veterans as potential terrorists. If the powers that be get their way, the internet will be locked down and controlled, as it poses a huge threat to their thought control endeavors. Freedom to think, learn, question and organize resistance is unacceptable in the eyes of the elite. The country has reached a tipping point. Will enough right thinking Americans stand up and fight to bring down this corrupt system, or will we be herded silently to slaughter. The truth is there is something terribly wrong in this country. We are facing a myriad of problems that will require courage and common sense to overcome. We need only look in the mirror to find the guilty party. It is time to stop letting fear dictate our actions. Conflict is coming to this country due to the evil sanctioned by our corrupt leaders and the upright men and women who will bear the burden of destroying that evil.
Our civilization has adopted the worst aspects of the two most famous dystopian novels in history – Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World. The question is whether the population of this country is too far gone to recover. The answer to that question will determine whether the country chooses authoritarian dictatorship or a renewal of our founding principles. Aldous Huxley understood the three pillars of Western civilization fifty years ago and that their destruction would result in a collapse of our economic system:
“Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence – those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. If war, waste, and moneylenders were abolished, you’d collapse. And while you people are over-consuming the rest of the world sinks more and more deeply into chronic disaster.”
The three pillars sustaining the American empire edifice of never ending war, ever accumulating debt and excessive consumerism are crumbling. The growing corruption and weight of un-payable debt have weakened the very foundation of our grand experiment. The existing structure will surely collapse. My entire adult life has tracked the decline of the American empire. I had become comfortably numb. I came to my senses and began to question all the Federal government/Wall Street/Corporate Media sponsored truths about eight years ago. Many others have also awoken and begun to challenge the false storylines dictated by those in power.
The young people leading the protests across this land are showing tremendous courage and a tenacity of spirit that has been dormant for decades among the lethargic, distracted, over-medicated public. Despite being subjected to government education conditioning, these young people have zeroed in on the enemy. They may not have all the solutions, but they have correctly identified the corrupt banking system as the central nervous system of this vampire squid sucking the life out of our nation. I will support any effort to shine a light on our crooked system. My three young sons deserve a chance at a better life than they will get under the thumb of this oligarchic criminal enterprise. As a child I caught a fleeting glimpse of the American Dream. I turned to look, but it was gone. I choose not to become comfortably numb. I choose to do whatever it will take to renew the opportunity for my sons to achieve the American Dream.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
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My opposition to OWS is not apathy it's because they address the effect and not the cause. And deliberately so.
I thought people attacked the OWS people because "that gave 'em one up on those clowns"...kinda thing? Let me guess..."i'm not wrong again."
One of the best articles I've ever read. This should be left up all week in the prime spot. At least until Europe explodes, or we bomb Pakistan and/or Iran. Sadly, most idiots will stop reading as soon as they see OWS mentioned because they think they know where it's going. The propaganda artists have manipulated the sheep perfectly to stop thinking and, instead, reflex instinctively to their keywords and phrases.
That said, thank you ZH and Mr. Quinn.
EDIT: P.S. - "Our civilization has adopted the worst aspects of the two most famous dystopian novels in history – Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World."
Check this comic strip out: http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Deat...
"They seem to be just as livid as the OWS protestors, but their ire is being directed towards the only people who have taken a stand against Wall Street greed and Washington D.C. malfeasance. I’m left scratching my head trying to understand their animosity towards people drawing attention to the enormous debt based ponzi scheme that is our country, versus their silent acquiescence to the transfer of trillions in taxpayer dollars to the criminal bankers that have destroyed the worldwide financial system."
Most of the old suburbanites are cowards. They always have been. They direct their anger not to the people who are responsible because they are scared of standing up to anyone of consequence. They could lose their pathetic ass kissing jobs if they did.
You hit the nail on the head. The people working in this country and making good money are almost all involved in the financial and government sectors. They don't want the system "reformed." They're happy with it the way it is. After all, it grants easy 6 figure jobs to them and all their family members.
Anyone getting a slice of the pie right now doesn't want ANYTHING changed. More government spending. No changes to the banking system. Nothing.
And they will fully support outright murder of the OWS protesters or anyone else that threatens their comfortable status quo (Ron Paul). You don't need 50% or even 30% of the country to be in on the scam. You need about 20%, and they've got it. Between the military/police/government at all levels/financial sector you've got 20% of the population bought into this thing. Dictators overseas do it with even less.
Bullshit.
The cowards are the people for whom a job is a technical prerequisite for obtaining all that credit offers: cars, homes, toys, vacations, etc. The "old suburbanites" I know saw home ownership as the pennacle of responsible behavior, something not everyone was qualified to buy. They has 20 year mortages back then. And they had store credit but not crdit cards. My father regailled me about the "giveaway society" all my life, though when I was young I didn't listen. He could not bear to watch game shows, as he believed giving things away was a corrupting influence. We had only used cars when I was growing up. In fact, a report that millions of Americans are borderline poor described precisely how my life was growing up - paycheck to paycheck. We fixed our own cars and did our own home renovations. We cut our own grass and ate out at most once a week. And there was nothing wrong with that at all.
I'm remodelling a part of the house my dad built 35 years ago. It hurts him because he did the work with his own hands, and because of his upbringing he couldn't see tearing out old work that was still good in his mind (never mind the space has become a storage room for the past decade because it was no use anymore as previously designed).
It took real courage to live that way. Why should the childeren of the Depression who you call "old suburbanites" bail out the credit-dependent lifestyles of Americans today? Why not do the courageous thing and cut up the credit cards? Refuse the student loan? Rent until you have 20% downpayment saved and can afford a 15-year mortgage?
WE put the banker in the driver seat in America. and we fear loosing him (truth be told). We are inarguably dependent on him for our personal living standards, present and future. And our government is dependent on him to afford to give us the stuff we can't get ourselves. Courage is a ballanced budget. Courage is taking the 10%+ hit to GDP today so we have a sturdy economic foundation on which tomorrow can be built. Courage is cutting up the credit cards and living within one's means.
Why should the childeren of the Depression who you call "old suburbanites" bail out the credit-dependent lifestyles of Americans today? Why not do the courageous thing and cut up the credit cards? Refuse the student loan? Rent until you have 20% downpayment saved and can afford a 15-year mortgage?
The only reason that comes to mind is because we're paying for their medical care and giving them a stipend to live on, and a good percentage of the younger folks being billed for that expense are living in squalor.
Rent until you have 20% downpayment saved and can afford a 15-year mortgage?
Not to mention when I went into the service at 17 in the mid seventies there was no work or future outside of that "choice," unemployment at the time in my home county was well over 30%. I did try to save for a house though I had no credit, but the price of housing was rising faster than I could ever hope to save for such a down payment. When I started saving smaller "starter" houses were on average $35,000 and 20% would mean saving $7k, by the time I could save that much houses were $80,000 and the savings were inadequate. That did not change till I was over 50, which coincidentally was the year I bought my house only to see it's value drop by more than 50% in the first 18 months I owned it leaving me as cold and financially dead as any cadaver carved up in any med school.
You are the worst kind of bullshit artist excuse making enabler of the banksters, every thing bad that happens to a person is their own fault even when it happens to an entire generation. When there is less cash than one needs for survival no less debt service whether on an individual level or on a national governmental and generational level then the ONLY answer is more credit and that dear troll is not a choice at all. Without credit we would all be dining at the local mission. That dependency as you like to think of it is not something we choose but something foisted upon us by the banking/Fed cartel.
You see a certain stubborn streak, lack of understanding in your own father, but cannot see that it is your own blind spot as well. The world does not actually revolve around you and your opinions of other people.
Folks, if you really read over Quinn's article, then you should grasp following lines:
[Annual Consumer Inflation - graph]
"The reason middle class Americans are being methodically exterminated and driven into poverty is the monetary policies of the Federal Reserve. Since 1971, when Nixon extinguished the last vestiges of the gold standard and unleashed politicians to spend borrowed money without immediate consequence, the U.S. dollar has lost 82% of its purchasing power using the government manipulated CPI. In reality, it has lost over 90% of its purchasing power. The average American, after decades of being dumbed down by government sanctioned education, is incapable of understanding the impact of inflation on their lives. As their wages rise 2% to 3% per year and inflation rises 5% to 10% per year, they get poorer day by day. The Wall Street banks, who own the Federal Reserve, step in and convince the average American to substitute debt for real wealth in order to keep living the modern techno-lifestyle sold to them by mainstream corporate media."
[Real Weekly Wages - graph]
"Man made inflation has stealthily devastated millions of lives over the last four decades. When the weekly wages of the average worker are adjusted for inflation, they are making 12% less than they did in 1971. Using a real non-manipulated measure of inflation, the average worker is making 30% less than they did in 1971. Sadly, our math challenged populace only comprehend their wages have doubled in the last forty years, without understanding the true impact of inflation. Thankfully, the Wall Street debt dealers with a helping hand from Madison Avenue propaganda peddlers stepped up to the plate and imprisoned the middle class with the shackles of $2.5 trillion in consumer debt. So, while real wages have fallen 30% since 1971, consumer debt has increased by 1,700%."
I suggest all to peruse it several times to really have a thorough understanding!! Otherwise some may just talk senselessly here.
Great. I agree with everything the author states in this article. In the last sentence the author says, "I choose to do whatever it takes...". So just what exactly is that? Write a blog post? In the meantime, the Senate will vote this week on the National Defense Authorization Act which provides for jailing U.S. citizens anywhere in the world including the U.S. without charges and for any length of time without a lawyer or trial.
Possibly the most frightening piece of legislation ever seen in the U.S.
It will get 0 air time on the MSM. Nobody will even know about it until the first dozen Americans are "disappeared." At which point it will be debated by the "radicals" on the "fringe left" and "libertarians." But nothing will be done.
I'll tell you some people that WILL know about it. I've written to both of my senators (one of which has come out publically to support this traitorous bill) and ALL of my state representatives. I made sure the state reps have copies of the language with an explanation of what this means along with my express demand that they enact a bill recognizing the 10th amendment and start nullification procedures against all unconstitutional federal laws, which most of them are.
I'm not expecting any of this to happen but I'm making my voice heard while it is still legal.
As a start, begin to think locally:
Take care of family first
Build relationships in your community
Buy locally (support your community's businesses, i.e. keep the money in the "family", not Amazon et al, which likely has zero presence in your community)
Bank locally (credit union)
This National Defense Authorization Act looks like quite similar to the INTERNAL SECURITY ACT (ISA) from Malaysia and Singapore. And to think that the current govt of M'sia is seriously considering to abolish it or replace it with a more relaxed version, the USSA... you're really amazing... what a tragedy comedy!!!
I am not numb, most of the people I know are not numb, but we are at a point where we have only two choices, stay put and hope for the best which seems to be rebuild a better land after the nearing collapse, or pick up arms and go most likely to slaughter. This is not 1776, the playing/battle field is not level, the government/TPTB can kill us remotely, and we have all seen what happens to peaceful protesters. Part of the problem may well be just such websites like ZH because we sit here and bitch about the problems and argue the causes rather than going out and doing something. Like a pressure relief valve on a boiler.
If you are not dumb and have motivation, then the "field" is very even. You see... no matter who "they" are, and no matter at what level of operations they are at... at some point they have a private and individual life that they try to enjoy some freedoms.
It is a very even field... if you no longer are able to enjoy your personal individual freedoms, and you can spend your intellect and will to pursue preventing "them" from doing said, then this is the "battle."
The ultimate answer is that the only sollution is that we must all be content to pursue individual freedoms and happiness, not just a privilaged few... so find the privilaged few and prevent them from enjoying their private freedoms.
Important note: I'm not promoting violance or theft (freedom from harm and proporty rights are also important!). I suggest you clearly and consistenty explain to them how unhappy you are until they understand that they will also need to do something helpful or things will never change for them too.
Alternative media is not a pressure valve, it is a catalyst for change. I would rather classify mainstream media, entertainment, arena sports as pressure valves.
In a debt based monetary system, there is an excess of credit created from a much smaller foundation of actual capital. Similarly, if a government can manage to create a set of core beliefs that are wrong and ensure that they are widespread, they can then leverage this to legitimize and hence create a massive bureaucracy with a massive welfare/warfare state and associated inflation. These core axioms are created from the outset as blatant lies, out of thin air. It is a fiat system of ideas, "let it be a lie". There is no difference between fiat money and am outright lie, both are equally ridiculous at their core. The backing is a lie, thus the central construct is an empty space. There is only a void inside, hence, the need for such a thick shell.
You need to attack the heart of this system. There are only so many lies that back the entire system. These lies must be attacked viciously and ferociously. Attack this core to strike at the heart of the beast.
Example: Take a simple statement: "Money comes from the marketplace in response to the need of a means of exchange", this simple statement invalidates the intellectual base and hence the foundation of the entire structure of central banks and fractional reserve lending which is thus immediately exposed for what it is, a fallacy that can only exist as long as people believe it is special. There is no secret ingredient.
"The truth shall set you free"
I say fuck it. Push the button and connect the god-damned gods!
After yesterday's news from the Paki-Afghan border we might not be that far from your wish.
Rage grips Pakistan over NATO attack
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~3/A3Og6FQ3spY/us-pakistan-nato-idUSTRE7AP03S20111127
NATO came under fire from Pakistan before attack: sources
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7aq0af-us-pakistan-nato-urgent/
Russia's Putin accepts presidential nomination
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7aq053-us-russia-putin-pres4ency/
This is all spinning out of control faster than even I thought it would.
There is no solution other than bankruptcy at this stage of the game.
You guys have no idea what you have started with Germany? Do you?
The PROZESS has started, I can see it, even smell it. And they are hellbent on saving Euro Empire on their terms by any means necessary! Once Germans start PROZESS it cannot be stopped until some greater force counterattacks! This is going to get NASTY!
Tim, did you really think anyone would be familiar with a posthumously published unfinished Kafka book even though it was a fascinating and so pertinent view of the modern world? For him to have seen this in 1924 does not mean to me that he was a crystal ball reading Nostradamus so much as he was writing a commentary on a system that already existed then in Europe. It is just larger (global) and far more pervasive and sophisticated in 2011 than it was in 1924. But, we can say the same thing for Fritz Lang's Metropolis can't we? As a comparison to our daily world Lang nailed it far better than any other visionary of the past. Right down to the robotics and the ruling elite. Had he made that movie a year or two later it would have had sound and probable we all would have seen it at some point, but for those not familiar with it you can rent it. Queen did a soundtrack to it and that is the version I like most, the film is the same but with great music to accompany. The only problem with Metropolis was the religious overtones and the utterly predictable victory by the underground dwelling workers who defeat the elite, at least partially by revealing the truth of the real world and appealing to the humanity of the powerful.
In light of what we are going through that seems a tad optimistic and from my point of view is actually a knee slapping howler.
So there's your BS "if Americans worked harder, they'd be rich," exposed as BS. ALL Congressional Republicans and Republican leaders need to be out looking for US jobs. Take Faux. Take the ACORN pimp and prostitute. Film each discreet step of the job search process, and show us where the US jobs are. If Republicans can't, they need to be called liars, to their face, voted out of office and kept out of office.
If you need to understand what Occupy Wall Street is about, read the paragraph above again.
Have you noticed that many die-hard Republicans work for the government? I guess the irony is lost on them.
A man's gotta eat. They only become completely unbearable after retirement. When they're off living on their fat government pension(s) (sometimes 2, one military and one federal) they get realllll preachy and anti-government. But don't ever talk about reducing or eliminating their pensions, they'll literally start shaking with anger.
Most people that work for the govt are die-hard statists. Statist want the control and govt offers control. The irony is this truth is lost on you.
You forgot the Democrats. You are on the right path, but still short by half a wit.
I can tell you first hand that shoppers are going wild out here in Los Angeles.
Went to pick up a Christmas tree for my girlfriend and it was totally nuts over at Home Depot.
..............................
By the way, for all the Pink Floyd junkies.....
Over 75 podcasts here, lots of bootlegged live concert audio going all the way back to 1968.
2005 - 2010 archived podcasts are on the right margin,
Hands down the best Floyd music site on the Internet.
http://braindamage.libsyn.com/
Now I know why its called creepo depot.
after this weekend, robo, sales will done. shoppers desperate to get the most out of bargains with limited money waited till black friday. the proverbial wad has been blown
Quote of the day: "It's a good move to try to get shoppers to spend sooner, before they run out of money," says Burt Flickinger, III, president of retail consultancy Strategic Resource Group.
Posted earlier...
I'm surprised you even have a girlfriend.. didn't you use to say you were screwing expensive eastern european hookers not so long ago?
I think this article is a bit one sided. I agree and am angry at the rampant corruption in this country. However, a lot of of the OWS protests are there because they feel entitled. The country owes them a job becuase they went to an expensive school. Or that they were only 18 and didn't understand what they were gwetting into. At some point, people need to take responsibility for themselves. I went to a state school because that is what I counld afford and got a degree in something marketable. The protestors themselves helped create a lot of the problem.
Your logic is flawed. On one hand you see and understand the rampant corruption. On the other hand you think every young person who works hard enough can make it in this world. Wrong. The corruption is hurting the young. It is destroying them.
The OWS list of demands is nothing more than the expansion of current give me programs. Free Health care, free college education, one demand states that they want Capitalism abolished. I will not take them seriously until they move to issues that will ultimatly solve the problem and not more gobment programs. This is what useful idiots look like. Also I see the same issues with the Tea Party. Shouts about smaller government but don't you dare touch my entitlements, IE Social Security and Medicare. Our broken economy is mainly due to Socialism and over spending on maintaining our over sized global presence. I know I know we just don't know how to do it. We need to look at Europe they know how to do socialism. I had been told for so long that we should follow Europe's lead and build a socialist system to mirror thiers but look how it has turned out. Margaret Thatcher knew the root of the problem "The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money". Once the great social democracies ran out of other peoples money is when they hatched these schemes for never ending debt to pay for grand social programs. This is our true problem. When or even if people wake up to the fact that you cannot have it for free, that somebody had to labor to produce it then we might have a chance but not till then. The movement I see afoot doesn't give me much hope that we will make it. Once we evolve into full blown Marxism we will end up like all the Marxist states that preceeded us. Marxism should have been abandoned on the ash heap of history for it does not take into account human nature.
I heard the exact same thing in the media many, many times even though I rarely listen and actively avoid the media for any 'news'. I interviewed hundreds of fresh-outs and experienced engineers some of whom moved to multiple cities in order to be 'local' to employers when all other means to an interview failed, many had excellent credentials including advanced degrees and superior GPAs. We could only hire a few, the rest have relegated to the trash heap of a disintegrated manufacturing sector. Wake up dude, you are comfortably numb
You can file most of these observations under: Self Evident. I don't mean just recently either. From one generation to another the deep set impoverishment of individuals has more or less become clear to all.
All this being retrospective, ahh, now what? Well that is the question on everyone's mind.
This is relevant:
http://exiledonline.com/austerity-fascism-in-greece-the-real-1-doctrine/
'This is how bankers deal with banana republics; it’s how they ran their colonies. Take care of the military, give them gifts and get them in your pocket. The people only exist to be extracted. And when they squeal, characterize them the way the Brits characterized the Irish during the Great Famine: lazy, profligate, it’s all their own fault, what they need is more painful medicine and a swift kick in the ass…for their own good, of course.'
It's a culture problem that has now created a financial crisis. The problem lies within a culture devoid of any long term thinking, just get me thru tomorrow cuz American Idol is on. Our corporations no longer have interest in taking young people and developing talent. They just offshore to the lowest bidder. A corporate pig like Jeff Immelt is an american before he is a CEO and needs to act like an american. But these profit monger pigs couldn't care less. They have built a society they don't have to live in. They live in gated mansions chauffered by limousines and coddled by handlers. They have no concern for the masses, they aren't interested in the welfare of the society. They just want the next million dollar payoff to add the next wing to their 3rd, 4th or 5th homes. At best they are cocksuckers of each other. I yearn for the day that their heads are on fence posts.
OK now I'm really depressed. Many may not like Naomi Wolfs article but she does nail it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-...
Also just finished reading Cryptomonicon - loved the ideas and exploration of technical advances but hated that nothing much has changed since the second world war. Humans are still pretty good at killing each other.
Aargh
Funny how TPTB disparage OWS verbally but feel it is necessary to send the ubermilitzarized police to deal with them. Actions speak louder than words, and TPTB are actually frightened. If a "dirty group of hippies" really represented no threat, the response would not be like what we have seen.
If you liked that book, do yourself the biggest favor of your life and read Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez. You will not regret it. Conrad Murray guarantees this.
http://www.amazon.com/Daemon-Daniel-Suarez/dp/B003L1ZXCU/
http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-TM-Daniel-Suarez/dp/B003MAJNUS
You might also like Neil Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy which explains the creation of our current money system and Sir Isaac Newton's role in stabilizing Britain's Pound Sterling. Three large volumes, but if you liked Cryptonomicon, you'll find them hard to put down.
Quoted from Naomi Wolf's article above.
THE THREATENING DEMANDS OF OWS MOVEMENT
"...The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process.
No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.
No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.
When I saw this list – and especially the last agenda item – the scales fell from my eyes. Of course, these unarmed people would be having the shit kicked out of them..."
A well phrased comment by one reader there:
"It's hardly surprising: The USA is a corporate fascist state. It's politically a ONE PARTY STATE (with two brands, obviously, but that's just to obfuscate) that is controlled by the corporate fascists."
"What we need to know is: What is the solution?"
That is a good question and I don't have the answer to that. But it reminds me of : "THINK, what we tell you to think"
Maybe part of the answer to your question is to stop waiting for an answer from someone else. Because I am sure TPTB already crafted some nice "solution" to our problems that they will be more than happy to impose to us after the collapse.
How about Occupying Eric Holder's office. In fact he is the US Attorney General who has yet to prosecute the Wall St. criminal syndicate.
placeholder is occupying that office, I'm sure he's nailed some jaywalkers and pot smokers to the wall though.
The reason nobody listens to you is because you talk too much. The problem with this rant is the same problem with those kids on Wall St. Nobody knows how to write, or how to communicate effectively.
To summarize for the benefit of everyone who couldn't get through this screed:
- Some people are awaking from their trance,
- The differences in political parties are meaningless as they each advocate big government solutions to all social, economic, foreign relations, and monetary issues.
- There is confusion and misunderstanding regarding the culprits in this drama.
- the only thing that will get their attention is an absolute collapse of our economic scheme. [...] Americans will get exactly that in the not too distant future.
- We are experiencing an electronic Great Depression, as food stamps, unemployment compensation, Social security payments and welfare benefits are electronically delivered to millions of recipients.
- The true number of unemployed/underemployed is 23%.
- The number of Americans on food stamps has risen by 6.8 million during this government sponsored “recovery”.
- The truth is inflation is running in excess of 10% if measured exactly as it was in 1980.
- The average American, [...] is incapable of understanding the impact of inflation on their lives.
- Over the last thirteen years [...] shareholders earned 0% (negative 39% on an inflation adjusted basis)
- Using a real non-manipulated measure of inflation, the average worker is making 30% less than they did in 1971.
- Saving and investment are the essential ingredients to a strong economy.
- The elite have achieved their Alpha status through intellectual superiority, control of the money system, and control of the political process.
- The government gained control over education and purposely teaches our children selected historical myths, social engineering gibberish and only the bare essentials of math and science. [...] We are left with millions of functionally illiterate [innumerate?, ed.] children that grow into non-critical thinking adults.
- Those in power are beginning to lose control.
- They will use their control of the police, military [...] to try and crush the coming rebellion.
- government rules and regulations are designed to control you and insure your compliance and obedience to those in power.
- Complexity and confusion benefits those who can create and take advantage of the complexity and confusion.
-The government has used fear to keep the American people under control.
- The State grows ever more powerful.
- the internet will be locked down and controlled,
The rest is filler.
The reason nobody listens to you is because you talk too much. The problem with this rant is the same problem with those kids on Wall St. Nobody knows how to write, or how to communicate effectively.
To summarize for the benefit of everyone who couldn't get through this screed:
- Some people are awaking from their trance,
- The differences in political parties are meaningless as they each advocate big government solutions to all social, economic, foreign relations, and monetary issues.
- There is confusion and misunderstanding regarding the culprits in this drama.
- the only thing that will get their attention is an absolute collapse of our economic scheme. [...] Americans will get exactly that in the not too distant future.
- We are experiencing an electronic Great Depression, as food stamps, unemployment compensation, Social security payments and welfare benefits are electronically delivered to millions of recipients.
- The true number of unemployed/underemployed is 23%.
- The number of Americans on food stamps has risen by 6.8 million during this government sponsored “recovery”.
- The truth is inflation is running in excess of 10% if measured exactly as it was in 1980.
- The average American, [...] is incapable of understanding the impact of inflation on their lives.
- Over the last thirteen years [...] shareholders earned 0% (negative 39% on an inflation adjusted basis)
- Using a real non-manipulated measure of inflation, the average worker is making 30% less than they did in 1971.
- Saving and investment are the essential ingredients to a strong economy.
- The elite have achieved their Alpha status through intellectual superiority, control of the money system, and control of the political process.
- The government gained control over education and purposely teaches our children selected historical myths, social engineering gibberish and only the bare essentials of math and science. [...] We are left with millions of functionally illiterate [innumerate?, ed.] children that grow into non-critical thinking adults.
- Those in power are beginning to lose control.
- They will use their control of the police, military [...] to try and crush the coming rebellion.
- government rules and regulations are designed to control you and insure your compliance and obedience to those in power.
- Complexity and confusion benefits those who can create and take advantage of the complexity and confusion.
-The government has used fear to keep the American people under control.
- The State grows ever more powerful.
- the internet will be locked down and controlled,
The rest is filler.
I like it better the way Jim wrote it.
Of course I enjoy more the original, elegant article by Jim Quinn!
No offense, yet the summarized key points by batz are especially helpful for those who have some reading comprehension.
The main objectives are readers here do comprehend the actual situation and the underlying problems, and make preparation to cope with them!
sadly, when the masses start to starve, is when they wake up..... you would think the only brain in the masses human body is in their stomach
Gloom and Doomers, Birthers, Tea Partiers and all the rest better get ready.
I got a veggie garden, venison in the freezer (even though the numbers are way down, the Poachers are hungry) and some surprises for roaving bands of marauders.
You get that, GET READY, Doomasses! Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha. It is all over.
Hogs eat poachers and make for satisfying sausage
The country is fucked, get out while you can. Most of you are in the unfortunate position of being burdened with family and real estate and are therefore unable to move. I pity you.
If you're single or wealthy, the time is now. You've got maybe a year, year and a half before it's all going down in a flaming wreck.
And, sure, the rest of the world is going to suffer as well. But where would you rather be during what's coming?
-A country that already has the highest prison population on Earth?
-A country that executes more of its own citizens than any Western nation on Earth (and more than just about any other country as well)?
-A country that assassinates its citizens using aerial death drones with "secret legal authority from secret courts that cannot be disclosed"?
-A country that kidnaps and detains its citizens indefinitely in secret prisons to be tortured?
-A country with a massive and militarized police force, kevlar clad and carrying M4's?
-A country with the most advanced domestic surveillance program in the history of the world?
Or would you rather be in one of those "soft liberal socialist countries" where when a policeman shoots and kills a citizen it's a HUGE SCANDAL instead of a daily occurance?
I dunno. Seems like if shit's going down either way, you'd be better off in a country that doesn't have a long track record of murdering and imprisoning its citizens at record setting pace.
And spare me the nonsense about "staying and fighting." Most of you are too old and/or fat/weak to fight a 12 year old girl, let alone America's well trained and massively armed police force. Not to mention the military is training for domestic police action as well. And good fucking luck against hardened Iraq war veterans with heavy armor and air support.
Good. Fucking. Luck.
Holla atcha from New Zealand, bitchez.
Hey smart guy if the whole world collapses guess what your going to feel it as well. If the worlds reserve currency is no longer then I'd imagine you will also feel the impact. So get off of your pedestal and instead of spreading hate and fear try spreading solutions. Got any? Didn't think so.
LOLWUT?
Zero Hedge has gotten too big when retards like you are on the site. Your post reads like a typical response on a story linked to by Drudge report, you know, babbling run on sentences by someone with a 90 IQ.
Sigh...leaving the brutal American police state IS my solution. I address the fact that other countries will suffer as well. The main point of my post...you know what, never mind. See the above comment about your double digit IQ.
"And spare me the nonsense about "staying and fighting." Most of you are too old and/or fat/weak to fight a 12 year old girl, let alone America's well trained and massively armed police force. Not to mention the military is training for domestic police action as well. And good fucking luck against hardened Iraq war veterans with heavy armor and air support."
You forget sir, we have millions of mid-to-late 20 somethings, 30 something's and 40 something's that are veterans and remember how to fight (Big Mama at DHS knows this). We have more gun owners than any place on Earth. And as I have written before, how many of our active-duty, Guard or Reserve will go to war/martial law with our countrymen. Yes, many Americans are too fat or old to fight, but millions of us aren't.
Sadly, the crux of this article seems to forget, or not ask this question... What percentage of the US adult population even knows what OWS is, what MF Global is, who Timmy Geitner is, Ben Bernake, mortgage backed security, huh? And on and on. Those of us that read Zero Hedge type news everyday sometime forget that 90+ percent of the US adult population have no clue about anything. Sadly, I fear early commentators are correct, it will all soon end very badly and all we can now do is prepare for the collapse.
Huh, you must be talking about this girl. Yep, thought so.
Yes, I junked you.
Not because I believe you are wrong....what you say seems to be true for the most part.
You just seemed a little too comfortable and self satisfied in your cowardice.
I like living in the USA....and some of us are in the same kind of physical condition we were in when we served the "War For Profit" machine in the 80's and early 90's....so we don't have any respect for the prowess of the present day military service members. In fact, I regard them as a whole to be weak...and lacking in endurance and intestinal fortitude....propped up by the fancy new gizmos afforded them from the "Defense Whore-porations".
So yeah...I still have my pride...I don't feel like I should have to "Cut and Run" just yet. War and conflict is definitely a "Raquet"...and it's always been that way. The Republic has been lost many years ago...and it's being held hostage...and will remain as such until a line is drawn in the sand.
I can run off to a far away place....enjoy some measure of happiness for the rest of my term on this planet....and die knowing I left the problem to be resolved by my progeny.
The parasite will not stop and it will grow to reach all shores and borders eventually....they want "Power....Unlimited Power".....sooner or later somebody is gonna have to make a stand
....if they want something more than slavery within a global police state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_defense_contractors
What you read in my words is not cowardice, it is despair. I would be one of the first ones on the front lines with my rifles, tac gear, and body armor if it came to it. Yes, I have all the gear and the training/skill to use it. But I have realized that we few patriots true to the constitution and foundational principles cannot drag the sheeple into liberty with us. The American people do not desire liberty, they desire material comfort and safety above all else. Individual responsibility and liberty is a hard thing to face, with nobody providing for you or telling you what to do. It is much easier to embrace a highly regulated society where you are told what to do and taken care of from cradle to grave.
The choice has been made, to embrace security and comfort over liberty. The protesters in the streets are not fighting for freedom, but socialist tyranny and hand outs. There is no "stand" to take except a stand against American democracy. That's right, the people overwhelmingly desire to live under the police state tyranny you see around you today. Any "stand" you take will be one against your fellow Americans and their Democratically elected government. And that makes you an extremist at best, and terrorist at worst - depending on your methods.
From my perspective there is simply nothing left fighting for. The dream of America is gone. Nothing is left but a fantasy of a history lost. I see those too scared to seek a better life elsewhere as the true cowards because they are unable to face the truth of what America is today, instead happy to placate themselves with idealistic visions of an America that has disappeared, never to return. Ask Jesse Ventura, he knows the score.
Polish up your jack boots and get with the goose steppers. 4th reich won't last. We'll regain the republic but most likely it will cost our all on the line as laid down by our patriot forefathers for true freedom. Why should we expect to pay anything less than our all, even our lives, to release ourselves from the shackles of tyranny. Where the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered. The gathering has commenced. Isaiah 40:31. Appropriate today, yesterday, and forever. Still our choice. One nation under fraud or return to one nation under God!
Thanks Jim. Always a pleasure to read your contributions.
Fundamentally, people are getting it. We have years to go but I am quite upbeat about the outcome of this Fourth Turning. There is a lot of imbedded good and history in this Country. (and bad too). At the end of the day the bad guys will get their due. The internet changed the rules of engagement and the playing field. Ideas once set in motion have a way of spreading. The truth will win out. Albiet there may be some ugliness along the way.
Have no fear, Newt is going to save us all.
Yeah, it's such a shame that Ron Paul was murdered. Fortunately, Newt has God on his side now. Christians who have no resemblance to Jesus have chosen Newt as their Family Values candidate. I think they recently changed their divorce limit to 4.
Congress is the problem. The banking sector is the symptom. We should do away with the political class -- nobody should make a career out of being a politician or government worker for that matter. If you need a hand to get on your feet and need a government job, fine, but it should be temporary.
We need the incentives for these people to return to the private sector to generate value through entrepreneurship. Cap politicians at a total of two terms (regardless of position or level of government) and reduce government pension to get these people back in the game.
ne evening early this year, a red Ferrari pulled up at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Beijing, and the son of one of China's top leaders stepped out, dressed in a tuxedo.
State-controlled media portray China's leaders as living by the austere Communist values they publicly espouse. But as scions of the political aristocracy carve out lucrative roles in business and embrace the trappings of wealth, their increasingly high profile is raising uncomfortable questions for a party that justifies its monopoly on power by pointing to its origins as a movement of workers and peasants.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405311190449170457657255279315047...
Corruption & Hypocracy is not limited to the West.
For many of us, the narrative described in this article mirrors our world view. With every passing day, data points further confirm it. I am trying to get beyond intellectual masturbation concerning this sort of thing.
Others will wake up, or they won't, it is not my job to prompt others into adopting the worldview I have, they will be happier without doing so anyway. True change must come from within, people have to empty their cups first, re-examine their assumptions, check their prejudices at the door, become aware of their conditioning, etc. I'm sure you are all aware of this sort of thing though, that is one of the reasons this community exists, we are all "seekers" in a sense.
So, the question is, now what? We are becoming an echo chamber. Yes, everything is broken, the international finance cartel is gaining power, the State cannot counter corporate power and has effectively merged with it, the Sheep will kill themselves over $2 waffle irons, our elected officials are puppets, Republicans v Democrats offer false choice. Yes, yes we know all these things, and more. But now what? Having this knowledge alone will not free us and does not set us apart from the slovenly people of WalMart.
Now what? Now you plan and prepare.
Are you a fighter? Are you a survivor? Are you a refugee? Are you a sheep?
Answering that question should be your first step. If you can't answer it then you're in the sheep category, in which case you needn't worry because the SNAP cards and FEMA camps will take care of you.
I am a survivor fighting to become a refugee, thus the Irish passport I took out in 2002. But, my inner sheep has kept me from actually making the move till I can win the Powerball.
:)
"So, when you connect the dots, properly understood, what happened this week is the first battle in a civil war; a civil war in which, for now, only one side is choosing violence. It is a battle in which members of Congress, with the collusion of the American president, sent violent, organised suppression against the people they are supposed to represent. Occupy has touched the third rail: personal congressional profits streams. Even though they are, as yet, unaware of what the implications of their movement are, those threatened by the stirrings of their dreams of reform are not."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-...
Speaking of housing and foreclosures, the housing market is most stuck in a rut (despite all the resources thrown at it). And the FHFA Home Price Price Index continues to FALL. Somehow, the media only focuses on Case Shiller.
New Home Sales and Existing Home Sales Still Stuck in a Rut - Needs A Jump Start In The Economy
http://confoundedinterest.wordpress.com
If you're looking for movie rights look no further:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYp9WtbMo2k&feature=player_detailpage
Read Eric Fromm's, "Escape from Freedom" to understand... people get lazy and what happens when they give up their freedom and civic involvement...this ushered in Hitler in the 1930's and seems to inform us on what our future will be...perhaps.
Good job.. I know people very well in both the ultra- liberal camp which may or may not be OWS and the tea-party. They are both pissed about the same thing but both hate the other....... WHY?
Best as I can tell it comes down to gay marriage, Christmas trees in schools and other trivial bs.
Both groups are both for liberty and getting rid of the ruling class..... somehow the ruling class has been able to keep them divided, someday that will change, I hope !
Long live boobs!
When I watch a Republican debate and the question is about some social issue, I want to scream at the television set. Why are they talking about gay marriage, Halloween/Christmas in schools, any religious issue, ANYTHING other than the fact that we're going over a financial cliff even as they blather on. Right now we're barely holding onto a root while we look at a strawberry or two growing on the dirt in front of us. Oh, and those spatters of moisture falling on our forehead? It's not rain, that's tiger drool, in case we manage to get back up.
So long as TPTB keep the two sides divided thinking that the other is WRONG, they rule with impunity.
"...somehow the ruling class has been able to keep them divided..."
Because the Teabaggers allowed the right to occupy them. The tea party for all intents and purposes does not even exist anymore except as a radical wing of the GOP base. OWS was shut down via pervasive media attacks that were subtle but effective, and by use of draconian and concerted nationwide physical attacks upon their persons.
Oh and if a CITIZEN wanting freedom just like any citizen is supposed to be GUARANTEED under our constitution, (equal protection under the law) happens to be gay then marriage equality is not TRIVIAL. This is why I cannot side with the mass of Americans though I love my country, you mostly are outraged when you think it is your ox being gored but side with your masters when it is mine, you do not understand even remotely that when I am denied my freedom and equality so are you.
"...marriage equality is not TRIVIAL"
Any man, gay or straight, can marry any woman, gay or straight. What's not equal about that? No, what's being demanded is a special right for a certain few to change the meaning of a word with many centuries of societal and cultural significance behind it, so those few can enjoy the same priviledges as married people, without regard to the change in meaning of all policy and legislation incorporating the word "marriage" for whom contemporaries, without question or debate, meant a man and a woman.
It would be no different for apple growers to petition the courts, if their fruit sold for only half of what an orange brings even though production costs were the same, to allow them to sell their apples as oranges for the sake of equality. In the end it makes no difference what part or level of government declares an apple to be an orange: as long as the apple-oranges don't sell until put on clearance for half retail (thus on par with other apples in the store) there is no acceptance of the legally contrived apple-orange in society.
Or, I could go judge shopping to have myself declared a Native American. Yes, we all know what Native American means, but piss on it, I'm going to evolve the language dammit. I want a minority set-aside contract, so I find a judge to declare me a Native American because in my state that makes me a minority and therefore elligible to sponge, er, apply for the minority contract, or have a greater weight given to my proposal. I mean, obviously I'm not native German or Polish, Spanish or Chinese. My ancestors simply imigrated to this continent a few thousand years after those from Asia, who had the advantage of a land bridge whereas we had to invent a boat that would get us here. And besides, in geological terms ten thousand years is but a blink of an eye, so what we had in our race to the New World between Asians and Europeans, geologically speaking, was a photo finish.
How many other well-established words do we want judges and politicians to twist until all meaning is wrung out?
What a flaming asshole. Now I, we all know you are not that stupid which means you either forgot your sarc/ or you are a batshit fascist. You don't have to tell us which, we will figure it out for ourselves. But, when you use bigoted, obtuse, and flimsy reasoning to uphold your hatred and denial of citizen rights to fellow Americans do not expect people to respect you.
Speaking of which, I cannot remember where I saw the post by another flaming asshole today about how students taking on university loans had no right to complain because they knew the debt would one day have to be paid.
It strikes me that even an average lawyer could make a really good case that not being able to discharge student loans in chapter 7 bankruptcy is a violation of the 13th amendment. Especially when several other laws taken together act to garnish wages of the indebted. People cannot be placed into indenture or slavery either involuntarily or by their own wishes.
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
I am not gay, and i have no desire to be married.
However.
Why do we allow a repressive government to enforce and uphold a definition of marriage originally promulgated by an oppressive ruling church in the dark ages? Furthermore why allow government to define the terms of marriage contracts? All contracts should serve the needs of the participants, not those of government.
What is wrong with freedom?
Any adult should be able to enter a marriage contract with any number of other consenting adults. The participants should be free to write a marriage contract as fits their needs. If they wish to grant their church or state participation in this regard or follow church or state guidlines, that is fine, as long as it is their voluntary choice.
The marriage contract is between the couple and society. That's why government administers it. When society no longer cares about marriage, making licensure nothing more than simple revenue generation, then I suspect licenses will be phased out.
You may call yourself married to whomever, but when you request a license from the state or a ceremony from a religious institution, you are inviting those entities to dictate terms of their involvement.
The government has no legal authorization to make ANY law that does not apply equally to all citizens. Oh yeah, I forgot your ever so plastic ethics when it comes to denying constitutional rights to all citizens equally, but I wonder how it is you think some citizens have a contract with society while millions do not and cannot? Or that the social organization you describe is somehow deserving of BILLIONS in special funding, and talk about special rights, married heterosexuals have more than 2,800 laws on the books that favor them above unmarried persons and while unmarried straight people can change that least favored status gay people are permanently barred from doing so . They are less deserving of the constitutional gravy train because you and your ilk personally do not like them. A law that says blue eyed people cannot marry each other would be unconstitutional on it's face, a law that said dyslexic persons may be denied marriage licenses at all would be unconstitutional outright, and the only thing different about gay people is that the majority (a very slim majority) hate gay people. Gay people neither need or particularly care if you approve of them, but they will never go away and they are going to eventually get equality, so learn to live with it, or let your head explode, I really don't care.
The really bad news for you is this, if you and a few others can so capriciously void the most personal and important basic rights of millions of citizens out of sheer bigotry and closeted self loathing because you are indeed a closet case then your rights are not rights at all, they are privileges that can be revoked at any moment by the whim of those that wake one day decided not to like YOU!
We can’t forget how the unfortunate coincidence of getting Barack Obama at this time in our history is playing into the numbness.
Remember, we have a mainstream media that during Reagan wasn’t interested in top line stats – they were only interested in the “human angle,” scouring under every bridge interviewing every homeless person they can find.
Today we have the diametrically opposite. Barack Obama represents the very culmination of all the hopes and dreams of most of the media. From minute 1 he was John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King rolled into one for them. They don’t want the human angle; they want only top line stats they can twist into making Obama look good.
So we have the media literally at war with the collapse. Collapse and corruption are the facts on the ground, but the mainstream media is literally at war with these facts. They’re at war with the facts because the facts don’t make Barack Obama look good. And once we understand that making Barack Obama look good is the #1 thing that most of the mainstream media defends first, it starts making more sense.
Americans aren’t jumping because there is no unanimity of message. The blogosphere tells the truth, what they see and experience in their lives tells the truth, but the mainstream media is at war with this, and so most Americans still aren’t sure if perhaps everything actually is OK, and they’re afraid to get caught listening to loonies when CNN says everything is fine.
Throw into this the banking cartel which directly and indirectly keeps 5-10% of the population rich and happy, stocks inflated etc., and it’s created a confusion and paralysis that has the bulk of the people bedazzled by the bullshit.
http://darknetplan.org/
http://www.reddit.com/r/darknetplan
Even if that would work, which it won't beyond a campus size network, what's to stop the government from regulating it anyway? The thing you don't get is that IF IT EXISTS GOVERNMENTS WILL SEEK TO CONTROL IT. These people, these politicians and bureaucrats are BORN TYRANTS. They want to dominate human existence. Period.
At best you can hope to stay under their radar with something that presents difficult technical hurdles to them. They have infinite money to throw at MIT grads working for big federal IT contractors to solve your "problem" if you ever get big enough to be on their radar.
Small darknets built on the existing TCP/IP infrastructure is your best bet. Freenet comes to mind as one so inconsequential that nobody would probably bother throwing any resources at it.
Exactly! Technology projects like this will be the salvation of us all, or least that's my theory. It's difficult to prevent innovation in the technology space and that's where we need to take this fight. Digital currency like bitcoin and co-op's that are popping up across the country are just the beginning.
Nerds cannot innovate their way around tyranny. You can't engineer your way around the barrel of a gun in your fucking face. And that's exactly what it will come to if you piss off the wrong people. Where'd those "lulzsec" kids go anyway? Oh that's right, the FBI came and fucked their faces off. Not so "anonymous" anymore eh? Bu..but...we had TOR and i2p and foreign VPNs and blah blah blah. Shit didn't save you did it?
Cyber anarchists/libertarians (crypto-anarchists) are living in a fantasy world. There is no technical solution to tyranny. You can fly below the radar, but once you're on it, the only question is how badly do they want to get you.
Comfortably numb or intentionally dumb?
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=14949
At the end of World War II, the US government sent Charles Eliot Perkins, a research worker in chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pathology, to take charge of the vast Farben chemical plants in Germany. The German chemists told Perkins of a scheme which they had devised during the war and had been adapted by the German General Staff. The German chemists explained of their attempt to control the population in any given area through the mass medication of drinking water with sodium fluoride, a tactic used in German and Russian prisoner of war camps to make the prisoners "stupid and docile"(Stephen 1995). Farben had developed plans during the war to fluoridate the occupied countries because it was found that fluoridation caused slight damage to a specific part of the brain, making it more difficult for the person affected to defend his freedom and causing the individual to become more docile towards authority. Fluoride remains one of the strongest anti-psychotic substances known, and is contained in twenty-five percent of the major tranquilizers. It may not seem surprising that Hitler’s regime practiced the concept of mind control through chemical means, but the American military continued Nazi research, exploring techniques to incapacitate an enemy or medicate an entire nation. As stated in the Rockerfeller Report, a Presidential briefing on CIA activities, "the drug program was part of a much larger CIA program to study possible means of controlling human behavior"(Stephen 1995).
Funded by US industrialists, in an attempt to encourage public acceptance of fluoride, Edward Bernays, known also as the father of PR, or the original spin doctor, began a campaign of deception to persuade public opinion. Barnays explained "you can get practically any idea accepted if doctors are in favour. The public is willing to accept it because a doctor is an authority to most people, regardless of how much he knows or doesn’t know"(Bryson 2004). Doctors who endorsed fluoridation didn’t know that research discrediting fluoride’s safety was either suppressed or not conducted in the first place. Fluoride became equated with scientific progress and since it was introduced to the public as a health-enhancing substance, added to the environment for the children’s sake, those opposing fluoride were dismissed as cranks, quacks and lunatics. Fluoride became impervious to criticism because of a relentless PR offensive, but also because of it’s overall toxicity. Unlike chemicals that have a signature effect, fluoride, a systemic poison, produces a range of health problems, so it’s effects are more difficult to diagnose.
http://cdc.gov/fluoridation/statistics/2006stats.htm
2006 Water Fluoridation Statistics
These statistics were prepared using water system data reported by states to the CDC Water Fluoridation Reporting System as of December 31, 2006, and the U.S. Census Bureau estimates as reported in Bailey W, Duchon K, Barker L, Maas W. Populations receiving optimally fluoridated public drinking water – United States, 1992–2006. MMWR 2008; 57(27):737–741.
National Water Fluoridation Statistics
Total U.S. population, persons 299,398,484
U.S. population on Public Water Systems, persons 262,690,043
Total U.S. population on fluoridated drinking water systems, persons 184,028,038
Percentage of U.S. population receiving fluoridated water 61.5%
Percentage of U.S. population on public water systems receiving
fluoridated water 69.2%
FLOURIDE? That is the problem? Pass the tinfoil I need a new hat.
“The truth is not always a pleasant thing.” -Buck Turgidson
Drink up!
Bite me?
This information is not only accurate but an effective conditioning breaker. A big part of ZH is the links. People helping each other try and figure out what the hell is going on and why they have a sense that it may, somehow, be really wrong. You have been happily consuming Sodium Flouride, an industrial waste and a poison your whole life. You do need a new hat pal.
What happened to the EDIT button? How can we correct typo's without our beloved EDIT button Tyler?
Eight red down arrows because fluoridation=mind control is absolutely bogus bullshit? I had no idea there were that many people that felt so strongly about junk science posing as an imminent threat to your mental health. Germany did not put fluoride in the water in the 20's and 30's yet look what happened. Somehow I doubt fluoride can be blamed for anything other than a waste of a few tax dollars to do it. Not that I am FOR putting anything in the water, but really, anybody that dons the tinfoil hat to cry about the evils of fluoride in water and the mind control conspiracy that is doing this to us loses any further credibility on any topic where knowledge is required to be cogent. Not to mention we have slightly larger problems to work on don't you think? We have government in our bedrooms and bankers in our wallets but you want to post bullshit about fluoride mind control? Jesus Fucking Christ, you need something in your water but it ain't fluoride, try Clozapine.
You realize you're replying to yourself don't you?
Both the Nazis and the Russians used it on prisoners who were totally unaware of what their government was feeding them. Sure you're not a prisoner too?
You might want to try Thorazine if the cognitive dissonance gets any stronger LOL.
P.O.E. - Purity of Essence.
"Now feed me that ammunition belt, Mandrake."
Queue "We'll Meet Again" by Marlene Dietrich.
By the way; why does a word that is pronounced Q get spelled queue?
And why do some of our posts have an edit button and many do not, only a reply button?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcHNYenN7OY
"Vodka not water Mandrake"
Scientific dictatorship not communism
http://www.oldthinkernews.com/?p=1586
Wow it's Colonel Ripper from Dr. Strangelove!
Fluoridation of his precious bodily fluids...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY
We have some pretty awesome well water where I live. Does that mean that all the people who live in town are fluorobots? They all appear to be human. Thanks for the paranoia.
You are very lucky to have well water. And yes, if the water in town is flouridated then those who are chronic consumers are probably impared mentally to some degree as well as having one more risk factor in play as regards their physical health.
The key distinction between healthy skepticism and paranoid fear is understanding the difference between truth grounded in scientific fact and documented history and propaganda (Bernays et al). Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove danced the satirical razor’s edge brilliantly with a mix of prescience and/or possibly revelation of the method.
Ask yourself, “How reliable and trustworthy is my government?”
Based on what they have been selling in many forms lately THEY are are the real fear merchants...
Why are most Americans so passively accepting of these calamitous conditions?
how dare you say most americans are so passive about this!!!!!! have you not seen the black friday numbers!!! americans took their rage and depression and did what they do best.......SHOP!!!! dont you know that when americans are ecstatic they SHOP, when they are depressed they SHOP, when they are angry they SHOP....when they are in love they SHOP!!!!! when they are confused they SHOP!!!!! baseball apple pie and big box stores baby!!!!!!!! SHOP till ya DROP!!!! and DROP they will, just a matter of time.......
I suppose comfortably numb is an apt descriptor of the mindset of most people these days, yes there are a number of people who are in various states of awareness as well, but most are CN in their cocoons of self indulgence. So long as the madness doesn't effect them directly there is little or no impetus to take action (I am guilty of this at times). I also find that as awareness increases, so does the probability of denial, (nah, this shit cannot be happening), and along with that there seems to be a tendency to bury-the-head-in-the-sand by many when it comes to the increasingly self-centered and hostile actions recently exampled by people going after wants on black Friday. Then there is the knock-out or stomping games played by groups of feral youth on the elderly or seemingly weak which take me to my limits of what I can tolerate. The lack of apathy too that is being demonstrated, I'm thinking is probably the direct result of just a few things, not the least of which is the unhinging of morality from an absolute to a constantly sliding scale of relativity. That multiplied by the indoctrination centers thinly disguised as institutions of "higher" learning, and the reduced importance of the nuclear family structure and it is no wonder(imho)that we see things that were unthinkable 20 years ago all around us today.
How to fix it? I suppose it starts by individuals doing the right things for the right reasons and setting examples as well as clear boundaries of what is and is not acceptable. For those other times a "nine" and two full mags will have to serve as adequate deterence.
(MONROE, WA) -- This one might have escaped the nightly newscasts this week. Even many of the newsies on the Internet, including this one, have been oddly silent about the story given its broad implications for the safety and security of all Americans not to mention the constitutional protections all Americans enjoy.
Yet critics of the soon to be voted on National Defense Authorization Act bill say we should all be concerned; very concerned about what could happen to any one of us if this bill is approved.
The U.S. Senate is getting set to vote on Monday or Tuesday on what critics refer to as a “worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial power for the military” which is at the heart of the act.
http://tiny.cc/r3mz8
That's right, the government will soon have the legal authority to deploy the military on U.S. soil and "disappear" anyone they wish at any time.
Welcome to the New World Order.
How could a "yes" vote for that NOT be a violation of a Senator's oath to uphold the Constitution? They needed something like 9-11 to get the so-called Patriot Act through--now they just do it.
The constitution is effectively no longer the guiding force of our government. In so many ways.
Anyone choosing to stay in police state America rather than head overseas because "at least we still have the Bill of Rights" is deluded. That is one big mental hurdle for many people when deciding to flee the American police state.
Right, you want to see what the law really i do not look to the constitution, read the Code of Federal Regulation. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/
I don't think I will live in a place where people who "ran away" congregate.
The United States was populated with people that ran away from the religious and economic tyranny of feudal Europe. The U.S. is past the point of no return.
The worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial provision is in S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which will be on the Senate floor on Monday. The bill was drafted in secret by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) and passed in a closed-door committee meeting, without even a single hearing.
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/senators-demand-military-lock...
https://secure.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=386...
Let me sum it up: we're constantly told that violence is not the answer. Meanwhile we're fighting how many wars? Our forefathers weren't as passive for obvious reasons. Time for people to shake the notion that an ass_whoopin won't solve this problem.
Violence is not the answer unless you possess an overwhelming capacity to inflict extreme violence on your opposition. It's all a matter of scale and proporionality.
So violence is not the answer when your guy doesn't win an election because that just makes you a lone nut. Violence isn't the answer for OWS because they're a bunch of disarmed kids.
Violence is the answer for the Syrian government, the Chinese government, and the American government when it comes to suppressing civil unrest among their people. Violence is also the answer when it comes time for NATO to impose its will on Libya, as another example.
It's all a matter of scale and proporionality.
you mean to say it's a matter of the size of one's balls. Tell me, have you had quite enough of our petulant, child-like, government yet? I've been protesting and calling my critters quite a bit these past few years as well as voting them out and I feel that no progress has been made what so ever. instead we get things like solyndra fast and furious and project gun runner and the constant looting of the american public.
I'm just waiting for the moment...
When it comes to the use of force we are the children and the government is daddy. Daddy doesn't negotiate with his children when it's bed time. He uses force to impose his will upon his children, because his strength is overwhelmingly superior to that of his children.
The validity of the use of violence as a tactic depends on your ability to use it effectively to accomplish your goals. That's what I'm saying.
I don't anticipate an armed mass movement against federal power. One reason is that I think they'd turn off the SNAP cards and let food riots start as an excuse to impose martial law well before they'd let any popular movement for states rights or whatever occur. Those 45 million people on food stamps are a 45 million man angry mob that the government can unleash AT WILL. That's one thing I don't see being addressed anywhere by anyone.
Bed time--ha --- I guess you never snuck out at night after the parents where in bed-- we kids used to run the streets for hours after sneeking out-- ----maybe you are better off in New Zeeland.
I think you have it swapped around. The gov is like petulant child who thinks stealing daddy's money from his wallent won't go un-noticed; and when daddy does get his stick out, the boy calls in his gang.
No sir.. it's the other way around..
There is also the racial dynamic in this scenario as well. Shit will get ugly in a hurry and anyone who doesn't think that's the case is just lying to themselves.
I don't speak to that much but it influences my stance. The U.S. is on an inexorable track towards a white minority within my life time. I don't want to live in this country when that threshold is reached. Nor am I willing to accept higher taxes and "austerity measures" to redistribute my money to illegal aliens and their anchor babies.
Furthermore, it seems likely that the "1 percent" will continue to be as diverse in the future as it is now, i.e. about 96% white. So you'll have a majority non-white country with 85% of the nation's wealth in the hands of the top 1% white families. Yea, I'm sure that'll end well....in a brown communist revolution.
American society demonizes white males in the education system and media. Do you really want your white sons/grand sons growing up in an America that is 55% non-white? How do you think this is going to go for your descendents you leave here in the U.S.?
absolutely, a powerful narrative - i admire you sir,... for a story, little like talking about or take the time to appreciate - i too was comfortably numb, but only as a child - thankyou
My comment will focus on several aspects of the article. Firstly, I wish to remind readers that the "Takedown" of the Republic probably began with the creation of the corporate United states in 1871. The second step was the creation of the Federal Reserve.
Much water has flowed under the bridge since those times to bring us to this day. Now without insisting that it was inevitable, surely the combination of corporate power concentrated by World Wars and the nature of the Republic to have revolving doors between politics and corporations created a monster and now the monster is globalized. There is no accident in the global collapse and there is no accident in the totalitarian response. As William Blake said "There is a class of men whose whole Delight is in destorying." In my opinion the political solution is simple-disbanding the corpoation of the United States. The path to get there is hard to see in the fog of propaganda. OWS is financed by George Soros foundations for instance, like the Democratic party relies on financed foundations and private wealth and the Republicans rely on private wealth and financed foundations. Speech costs money. The possible solution to disbanding he corporate United States involves community action by way of community currency-like Ithaca dollars.
"lay waste your scorn - you venomous viper,... stay your naught`les course of cowardice - disparaging the naysayers, but,... leave thy truthsayers their due sanctuary - amongst the shadow of a wintry willow - where only the sultry wind embrace ones whispers of pure humility"
Of course you have firm sources of George Soros financing OWS, right? Care to share them with the rest of us?
of course idiots will flame me, but I couldn't get through this.
OWS is similar to Tea Party but Tea Party is more accurate. The focus on this should be on our government. The young people so 'courageously' marching for freedom with their ipods, columbia sportswear, oakleys and macbookair, northface tents, etc are not so noble and courageous. They are being led by their teachers and idiots like michael moore, and seized upon by the likes of Jay Z (net worth 350 million and counting).
These kids are marching to be forgiven for their debt that they knowingly entered into. Not ONE FUCKING clown has gone to jail for the grand larceny pulled off by wall street and the government and the fed and these fucks continue to support obama. He is the most corrupt of the corrupt. He is the problem, and again, they shouldn't be marching on wall street but governement, the people that gave the money to the banks, instead of letting them fail, as they should've. Unless these marchers are marching on washington, and refusing to vote for people because 'he's on my side', unless we call home all these assholes, this will not change. We all know serfdom is here....we still have a chance to change it, but this OWS horseshit isn't doing anything.
I've been aware of what's happening to this country, to the world, for at least the past 15 years, but folks like me are derided as lunatics, crazy, etc. I am not as smart or financially aware as all of you but I know that we can do this without bloodshed and without misery. OWS goal, the goal of the elites wanting to collapse the economies of the world, they don't care, they will take the millions upon millions that will die in order to institute their plan, just asa long as they are in charge.
So, we know the problem is the elite, the problem is the government and those entrenched in govt/business. What are we to do, save a violent and bloody revolution, to change this. OWS is not an answer and those that continue to cling to the idea these are noble and great people, yes, there may be some but the majority are just as ignorant and suggestible as the rest of the majority, to do this, to get our country back without blood and large scale mass death I ask....in the immortal words of Doug Kenney, God Rest his soul,Stork, in Animal House, "What are we supposed to do, you moron."
I agree, the OWS kids are massively deluded. But they still have a right to be out there protesting in all their glorious ignorance.
You're right, though, they don't want change in government they simply want hand outs. They want to use the force of the government to take from the "1%" and give to themselves. That's all they want, more material comfort. Not liberty, not small government, MORE tyranny and MORE government.
While I admire their spirit, I can't directly support them for that reason.
Yes, that certainly wasn't a point I made, protesting and making their point is great.
And, the point I meant to make when I started my tirade was the one you made, these kids are screaming for MORE government. Less Freedom.
Thanks for making these points.
Ironic, isn't it? Since it is their government pepper spraying them. Were these children all raised in abusive homes?
If they were allowed to watch tv all the time....it would explain alot!
You 2 must be worn out from all that shopping on Thursday night at ChinaMart. While the rest of the country was giving thanks you were both fighting other Americans for a megascreen tv and a 4 gig memory plug. Your feet follow what your mind worships.
You couldn't be more wrong. I am not getting anyone anything for xmas.
by the way, before any of you f'ing knowitalls get smart, the reason I'm not buying anything is because I don't have any money. I haven't worked in three years, I'm getting my shit together but you people are fucked if you think a collapse of the economy is going to be a good thing. and I wiil say it right here if you are one of those people, go f yourself. If you want to come visit me with your condemnation please do and I'll greet you with my G22, 15 rounds hollow point FMJ. Go screw with your end of the world stuff, you have no idea what it would mean to have a hundred million dead in the name of this fucking bullshit. F*ck you and f*ck OWS. Jesus Christ Lord above, get real you jerks.
And yes, I've been drinking, Jim Beam. God Bless America. The original one. Let's get it back and keep it great!
It's a serious mistake to generalize about the goals of the participants in OWS or the TEA Party.
The TEA Party originally started off as a protest about government spending, but how many TEA Party initiatives are focused on cutting SocSec or Medicare or military spending?
The OWS ...well honestly it looks to me like that mostly started because there are too many young folks without jobs who can't afford good ways to amuse themselves. Sure, there's a political gloss on it, but it's really just free-floating anger and dissatisfaction with the status quo.
The two groups are spawned from the same sense of frustration. NEITHER group has a coherent platform or specific set of goals. They are far more alike than they are different.
But overall--the fact that such groups have formed and finally begun to ACT in any way is nothing but good news. They may be manipulated into hating each other because of the color of their armbands or their median ages, but they really should be allied.
I think the ideal outcome would be for one of the groups to become sort of an American Hezbollah. A parallel structure of organization which is independent of the (clearly failing) municipal systems in place here. I'd suspect OWS has greater potential for such an achievement than the TEA Party, but it hardly matters.
I disagree. Hezbollah is a vicious bunch of murderers. Fuck them. OWS MAY have had some kind of noble beginning but I highly doubt it. Tea Party definitely was a grass roots thing. I also disagree, the tea party went ahead and voted for and supported people that were, or said they were anyway, for limited government. OWS is just a big party for a bunch of people that don't have anytning better to do. OWS is pushed by Soros, ACORN, NYCC, and any of the socialist/communist/anti-american assholes. The kids are being used. No one and I mean NO ONE, would tell these kids that after having knowingly and voluntarily entered into loans to support a decrepit and bullshit education system in order to get, an education, and finding that the degree in comparative literature got them nowhere, and it's somewhow someone elses fault? Bullshit. These kids are being used. Useful idiots they are. And again, if they knew what they were fighting they'd be marching on DC, not on Wall St.
You are wrong. Black and white, and you are wrong.
Hezbollah's a government, just like ours.
But given that you already know everything, there's no point talking to you.
Sure, a government of vicious murderers.
I know nothing, just guessing based on what I read and hear on Fox News
I hear you.
We are all touching different parts of the elephant and we all arrive at different conclusions.
In answer to your closing question.
1. Term limits for all politicians. No political class.
2. Public funding of elections. Political contributions become illegal. Lobbying, illegal.
3. Transparency. Other than the nuclear codes, there are no government secrets.
4. Glass Steagall re-enacted. Insurance regulated. Derivatives illegal.
5. Repeal too big to fail.
6. Balanced budget amendment.
7. Government role is a "referee" to keep game fair. Nothing more.
8. Close the FEDERAL RESERVE. Sound money statute or gold standard.
I have more, but that will get us started.
Impossible you say? Look at Ghandi. He beat the British Empire. We have the bastards outnumbered. We need passive resistance and protest until our demands are met. No justice, no peace. We will gum up the system in every way possible.
Great start. The one I question is 6...balanced budget means more taxes, definitely!
Maybe the answer to number 6 is yes, a balanced budget amendment but that amendment MUST include zero balance budgeting each year.
Good point. I agree.
Oh, and I forgot one, legislation that declares that Corporations are not people and do not have the rights of individuals.
Also, need something to prevent government officials from going to work for industries they oversaw.
or vice versa, the proverbial revolving door.
The revolutionaries yearn for a whiff of grape shot in the air, the exhilaration of storming the barricades, the victory of throwing open the doors of the Bastille. What follows is a reign of terror. If you want to unwind the kakistorcacy, pay attention to politics. Forget about party politics. Vote out the incumbents that support the banks and attack your civil liberties. Insist on the rule of law. Insist that the frauds be stripped of their ill gotten gains. Insist that the criminals be put in prison.
Come to understand that the federal government is largely redundant. Almost every federal agency is duplicated on the state level. Many are even duplicated on the county and city level. We are awash in bureaucrats, technocrats and would be aristocrats of every stripe. There are so many laws that not even the law makers know what they are. As a result, almost everything is illegal somewhere but the law is enforced almost nowhere except at the very lowest levels. Steal a purse and go to prison, steal by not paying your taxes and become secretary of the treasury. Come to understand the greatest danger to our civil liberties and our personal well being is the government itself. The solution is not more government. Government cannot legislate more oil. It cannot legislate more food. Government cannot save us. It will however grind us into the dust in an effort to save itself.
"steal by not paying your taxes and become secretary of the treasury."
I assume you're talking about Geekner. The fact that he gets away without paying taxes just goes to show how the system is broken. You don't fix it with more enforcement. Not paying taxes isn't stealing; it's asserting your sovereignty. Taxes aren't voluntary, you know, so who is the thief here? There's only one thief when it comes to taxation and I'll give you a hint it's not the tax evader. Thievery is a bit of an understatement. A thief doesn't threaten or force anyone for anything; that's what a robber does.
Ah, so Timmy didn’t pay his taxes and that makes him some kind of hero because you think paying taxes is unconstitutional. Trust me, he will not go to jail but you will. It is precisely this inequity that will set the streets afire.
I don't use the federal government or its services so whether somebody pays taxes or not doesn't effect me. I don't pay taxes either.
That's why bold is useful -- helps shake the sheeple up.
There are solutions. There are always solutions. First, we must remember that the corporate media proxies of the ruling monopolists would not pump the masses full of propaganda 24/7 if it wasn't absolutely necessary for controlling the country and maintaining power. They wouldn't need to demonise the Tea Party or OWS if they didn't fear that their anti-corruption message could resonate with the majority of Americans and change the ease at which they have been robbing the majority of Americans of their wealth through taxation, inflation and bad policy.
It may not feel like it sometimes, but we are still a Democracy and there are a lot voters in this county, we can still make a difference if we move our butts to take action. Ultimately, the government is scared of what would happen if the sheeple woke up and stopped voting for politicians that took donations from monopolists. The monopolists need our purchases to make their sales numbers. These companies are sensitive to mass boycotts and bad PR. The mega banks need our deposits to use as collateral for their gambling.
It only takes 10% of the people to determine what 90% of people think and only takes small numbers of committed people to enact change. Think about how easily and through word of mouth a fad like the hoola hoop took off globally. Everyone can make a difference by engaging, just by talking about the reality of our current situation with others. We all need to think for ourselves and stop believing the corporate media and we need to tell our friends and family so that they stop believing in everything that the corporate media says.
We can all do something every single day to liberate ourselves and weaken those that are oppressing us. We can move our money to credit unions. People on this site that are still banking at the mega banks, need to move to credit unions today. How can anyone complain and still be banking at the mega banks?
We can vote congress and other elected officials out of office, starting with all of the Attorney Generals that are protecting the TBTF banks against the best interests of the people. We can all boycott the monopolistic credit card companies and choose to pay in cash whenever we can, even if it is a pain in the ass. We can get out of debt. If we're lawyers, we can file class action lawsuits. We are all investors and shareholders in the stock market and we have all been defrauded. We can demand that anti-trust laws are enforced on the TBTF banks and credit card companies.
We can support local businesses this Christmas even if it means paying a little more. If we don't feed the beast, the beast will become weaker.
Well said. That is what I am talking about.
>>>First, we must remember that the corporate media proxies of the ruling monopolists would not pump the masses full of propaganda 24/7 if it wasn't absolutely necessary for controlling the country and maintaining power.<<<
Take it from a former talking head on the teevee news: it's much simpler than that. The People want this. It is an impulse identical to the one in those men who have no drive, no ambition and no direction looking to Mama Military for what to do, think and eat.
Media gives us what we want. Why else do we call it a television "program"?
While I agree with a lot of what is said in this post it has the same talking points and phrases I've heard a hundred times before. It's something to think about especially since the author quoted Edward Bernays.
>>Edward Bernays<<<
I simply adore his sauce. Et tu, Benedict?
Thank you Mr. Quinn!!! I have always been challenged at putting my thoughts to paper but, you have read my Heart and Mind fully and beautifully. As a recently retirerd military veteran that awakened from slumber about 3 years ago, I remain in depression, on one hand keeping my family intoxicated with the Blue Pill, but, on the other, slowly preparing/continuing my retreat from the system. Your words at least help me and comfort me to know that I am not alone, that the path I have chosen is sane and logical. Maybe I should be running for the exits, but I walk, hoping not to stir a panic and be trampled upon or locked up. Comfortably Numb, indeed!!!