John Bolton: America's Wars Are For Oil

Oh, wow, John Bolton, thanks for the revelation!  All these wars are for oil, if you hadn't noticed, among other plausible justifications such as geopolitical control and revamping the military and god-knows-what on the financial side.  However, you cannot build true prosperity off destruction of whole countries for some fucking oil.  We need to think outside the box to solve our energy problems, not ruin countries and maim and kill millions.  Sorry, neocons, get a new modus operandi.

Avengelism, Rebellion, Going Over the Edge

I have been theorizing how to overcome all this economic slavery/eternal war bullshit that a small segment of our society thinks is great.  For people like me, it simply comes down to fighting this war (and it is a war, declared by the haves on the have nots, right Warren Buffet?) on two fronts, one against the rogue political and corporate entities fucking our collective future, and one fighting to wake people up to this fact.  The thing is, with such asymmetric power vis-a-vis the State to exercise such things as, say, political assasinations, war, and murder inc., we must focus on the idea front, to achieve power in numbers.  The inertia of a police state, a mostly docile population, thanks to the economic slavery system, and last but not least the assholes in the MSM who think ruining a national psyche is a rich activity - these things confine this movement to peaceful means.  And there is power in numbers, but it is a matter of reaching critical mass, which is inevitable but still remains in the future somewhere.  This is why it is a two front war, because we need to reach critical mass by first bringing into the fold the same people the power elite are fighting to keep in the dark.  People like me are bound to a trajectory of avenging the crimes of the organized political/corporate kleptocratic, oligarchic war party.  May we call ourselves Avengelists.

I can look to the 2012 election and make some assumptions about what will happen.  If Ron Paul is on a ticket, Republican, Independent, Non-Fascist, Whatever Party, I will be voting for him and I pray he wins.  But, if Ron Paul is not on a ticket, I can guarantee you there will be riots in the streets.  Everyone is sick of the bullshit, whether they have accurate understandings of the source of their woes or not.  If we are handed another rigged election, which will be clear once the Republicans select a candidate, at that point if it not Ron Paul there are going to be some problems.  Civil disobedience, rioting, political violence, vandalism and other guerrila tactics will be resorted to.  This is the first front of the war against the oligarchs and it will manifest itself if need be.  However, peace is the first resort.  But, if we are handed another non-choice I can tell you people aren't going to sit at home and go to work the next day like normal.  There will be reactionaries if it's an Obama/Romney nonchoice.  Hell, it's probably in their cards to put Paul on the Republican ticket just to string people along with enough hope until election day, as a way of buying time against political upheaval.  If anyone but Ron Paul wins the election, you can expect all the people like me to express their dissatisfaction in more serious ways than with only words.  Mark my words.

One final point, about the money system.  The shackles of continual and endless debt keep countless people under the thumb of the system while stealing their opportunity for improved economic/social/environmental circumstances.  If we are constantly on the edge from this money system, why don't we just go over the edge and start living beyond the dollars, beyond the slavery, let it implode.  How can we go over the edge to pressure the system?  If we make it clear the money system is making people destitute by choosing poverty over worthless, pointless jobs, maybe that action will be like going over the edge.  Stop playing the game.  An addendum to this idea is the obvious, more proactive choice to start dealing with truer forms of wealth (i.e. commodities, physical capital, precious metals).  The point remains that as long as we continue to play the game, we're getting rooked.

Going Going, Back Back, to Wall Street, Wall Street

I'll be heading New York City ways in two weeks.  I plan on spending as much time as I can talking, musing, and sussing it out with the people down in Zuccotti Park.  As much as I feel I am a part of "their" movement somehow, I am thousands of miles removed from it.  A fixation on where I live comes with ease, but I know there is serious work being done in New York that I have to contribute to.  Some things I would like to see as a result of the Wall St. protests:

1.)  Develop the ethos we need to eradicate the prevailing dichotomies inhibiting discourse.
2.)  Determine the most essential forms of wealth in all physical, metaphysical, natural, and future categories.
3.)  Establish a framework for political reconciliation, prosecution, and amnesty.

Notes from A Small Town Protest

Last weekend, I participated in a protest in the spirit of the Occupy protests in New York.  Some realizations I had about the problems we experience, day in day out:

Fiat money is a distraction.  It provides a foundation for debt slavery, where people become shackled to a future of menial, demeaning, and compromising tasks that steal the opportunity for unique creation, all for the salvation of having enough dollars for x,y, & z.  You could technically take all your fiat money and burn it and all your wealth would be gone.  There are better forms of value we should focus on.

War is like any of other activity, choose a better one.

Bernanke, stop messing with everyone's future.

--

I live in a small community - I saw Dick Cheney today small.  Noticing his Lexus immediately, he drove by in silence wearing a baseball cap, the brim tilted somewhat lower than his natural gaze.  How many questions and how few answers, I think.  I struggle all the time with policies this man has enacted and we live within a fifteen mile radius.  Talk about a gap.  Something elusive occupies the space between us. 

LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Late night tune.  Nostalgic and inspired...but the sun is coming up.

Walstreetpro Redux, Jon Huntsman on Job Creation, Felonious Monk Rants

After getting aquainted with Walstreetpro, aka Kevin Rowland, via Zerohedge on Friday, I'd like to share his "Greatest Fuckin' Hits" for some comedic relief and to vicariously live through breaking lots and lots of Chinese-made products.  Virtual products, I like to call them, the Chinese, WTO-sanctioned crap that ends up in a landfill immediately because it doesn't actually work, or breaks upon first use.

Then there's Jon Huntsman in the news still campaigning on creating jobs at home, even though he was a major force behind China's accession to the WTO.  That's some doublespeak if I've heard it:  make no mistake about it, Huntsman Corp. has huge operations in China as a direct result of the WTO accession.  Also, his mention of attacking Iran over nuclear aspirations raises some suspicions over its timing, coinciding with the Eric Holder's accusations against two individuals for an assassination plot.  There's the ol' turrurist rationale, blame the ragheads for some pre-crime - what a charade.  Either way, the fact that Huntsman campaigns on job creation at home is seriously ironic considering his business history. 


For your entertainment:

Along similar lines, Felonious Monk:

Obama Press Conference Word Cloud, October 6, 2011

 

Obama seems to say folks a lot, which is nothing new, but it just became pretty clear to me reading through today's press conference.  Frustration is another good word they've been floating around, with Obama, Biden, and Bernanke noting in recent days the "frustrations" of the protesters in the occupy movements.  But the clincher of Obama's press conference today was, of course, his empathetic shrug, "[A] lot of practices going on weren’t against the law."  Were those laws maybe repealed by people like Larry Summers with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act?  

Without further mention of anything that might have happened in the past, Obama only wants to look forward to stimulate job growth the best way he knows how.  Spend another obscene amount of money that isn't yours.  But, people are over money and jobs;  people want justice, people want confidence in their institutions, and people want trust in their leaders.  And, unfortunately, you, Mr. President, have given nobody, except your 'folks' like Larry Summers and co., the slightest measure of any of these foundations of a social contract.  And other than that, you're so concerned at looking forward to next week's Senate vote for your jobs bill act, you absolutely fail to note the historical context of the criminal activity that has taken place threatening the economy.  Your next step should probably be either to a.) prosecute bank CEO's and others who knowingly gamed the system, or b.) resign.  You are after all, the President, the highest commanding officer of the country.  Your 'folks' definitely tell you what to do, so I expect more silence emanating from the White House concerning any investigations or prosecutions.  You're probably too busy worrying about covering your ass to light a fire under anyone else's.

But, I love the word cloud: "American People Know."  Yes, they do, Mr. President.  The American people know.  Game's over. 

Deepak Chopra @OccupyWallSt.: "I Think We Need to Create a Whole Culture of Social Entrepreneurship"

"I think we need to create a whole culture of social entrepreneurship, an entrepreneurship that is based on sustainability, social justice, on economic empowerment of the poor, on love and on compassion, and, you know, going after the basic ideas of truth, goodness, beauty, harmony and evolution."  -Deepak Chopra

Charlie Chaplin - "The Greatest Speech Ever Made"

The Occupy Protests: Silence and Injustice Will No Longer Be Tolerated

What's next for these 'Occupy' protests popping up across the U.S.?  If the protests have succeeded in perhaps one thing so far, it is the deliverance from a period of dormancy in political dialogue in the U.S..  How many times has it been uttered, "Why aren't the Americans protesting or doing anything?"  Many reasons have contributed to political apathy, but some of those same reasons are contributing to the groundswell of opposition to the political status quo.  Take the level of political discourse, for example.  Cloaking discourse in poorly defined terms keeps some assuaged but infuriates others.  The message is now resoundingly clear: people demand dialogue about the numerous socio-economic problems they face, and they will not be taken prisoner by the illusions of any false discourse.  What do the occupy protests stand for?  Goals that will not be swept under the rug.  Engagement of the issues that define our present is absolutely essential, but engagement of the issues that define our future is paramount. 

People have often remarked to me, "Voting is the most direct form of democracy, that's how I participate."  Why are our some so inclined to view voting as a panacea for everyone's problems?   The idea is a trite palliative, reaffirming one's assumptions of the political process.  Voting is a small part of civic responsibility, I would argue, and there are better ways to affect the political process.  Alternative media and news, along with social media platforms, have created very effective channels for communicating pressing ideas and information.  The saying has been frequently attributed to Thomas Jefferson that, "Information is the currency of democracy."   However, when a political discourse has been so eroded by a bought government and mainstream media, there comes a point when it resembles nothing of the political reality that exists.  It's almost laughable, sometimes, too.  The 'occupy' protests signal that the silence and injustice surrounding so many of the issues that effect everyone's lives will no longer be tolerated.  I will repeat, the silence will no longer be tolerated.  Political grievances are vast and we will address them and we will not go away.  

--

My short, humble list of grievances:

1.)  The fiat, fractional-banking, Federal Reserve money system needs to be replaced with Congressional purse powers.  (I always question what amount of money the U.S. Treasury pays in interest payments to the Federal Reserve every year?  Where can one find this information?) 
2.)  The march towards a world war three scenario of geopolitical, imperial resource war has to be averted by any means necessary.
3.)  The truth about 9/11 must legally investigated and prosecutions must be held. 
4.)  The continuing influence of special interest money captivating political policy in lieu of sane, sustainable, and balanced policy needs to be reigned in somehow.   

Dylan Ratigan @OccupyWallSt: "Get the Goddamn Money Out"

Dylan Ratigan's got a novel idea: get the money out of politics.  Dylan made a call to reach out to the protesters on his TV show Saturday, and followed up with this speech at the protests later that night.  He alludes to the alliance between business and state, one of the hallmarks of fascism, and how it needs to be broken apart with a Constitutional ammendment.  Forbes just came out with piece blasting the protesters for whatever grievances they may think they have, but it only brings to light the dichotomy between those inside and outside Wall Street.  Shall never the twain meet?  It doesn't require being an outsider to Wall St., or the banking industry, or the military-industrial complex, or whatever other hideous incarnation of the fascism Ratigan rails against, to have an ethical or moral code that might make one say, "Hm, this seems somewhat wrong, maybe I shouldn't be involved with this."  Maybe that's why people are working outside Wall Street, instead of inside it, to achieve a change.  Isn't non-participation a form of participation, too?  

The Occupy Wall Street developments are reminiscent of the closing scenes of Zeitgeist II, where mass protests shut down the world economy and people realize the true value of the fiat money they're inundated with.  People don't want a designed economy that benefits few while keeping the majority shackled to forms of economic slavery and servitude.

Wolfensohn Foresees Chinese Agricultural Colonization in U.S.

Several weeks ago, James Wolfensohn spoke at a promotional event for his new book at the Center for the Arts.  I attended and unfortunately thought better of bringing a notebook and pen, for some reason?  Either way I do recall a few bits worth mentioning.

The most important things that I believe he referred are inextricably linked and have to do with our relationship with China.  One is the issue of water scarcity, and the other is the possibility that China will buy large swaths of U.S. land for agriculture.  Suffering from severe water problems, China faces social and health problems relating to the availability of clean water.  The common lore of China's economic miracle is merely a feel-good panacea, and it's only a mirage.  If China continues to pollute their water and air to no end, how do they expect to sustain their people in the future?

Well, buy land in the United States?  My generalized recollection of Wolfensohn's point weeks ago is that 'we live in a global world now, and when you look at China, a country of 3 billion people, expecting to swell substantially in coming years, there might be food shortages which will be met by perhaps the Chinese buying huge pieces of land in the U.S. for agricultural purposes.'  Wolfensohn also noted he believe there might be difficult political discussions about such a move, but his mention of "Chinese cities" in the U.S. brings to mind a number of questions.  Noting that Wolfensohn is a member of the International Advisory Council for China's sovereign wealth fund the China Investment Corporation, it would be interesting to see if such a topic gets swept up by the MSM in the near future.  What kind of dialogues are carried out about this within the China Investment Corporation?  They obviously know how big their water problems are. 

China's pollution problems have only been exacerbated by a decade of intensive industrial growth since their accession to the WTO in late 2001.  It is no rumor that wistful figures characterize Chinese figures, but what they are doing to the environment is effectively a slow-kill pill, eating away possibilities in the future due to a lack of legal regulations, technology, or, perhaps, concern. 

While it would be ideal for the Chinese to have no food supply issues, the momentum of quality water and land depletion seems to make such a task harder to accomplish.  As a policymaker, one needs to question the utility of a system that produces such daunting pollution.  It has been frequently asserted over the years that the cost of China's pollution is about 9% of GDP every years.  Given that their  GDP growth over the past decade has been an average of about 9%, not accounting for excessive bookkeeping and other creative measures, China's GDP growth seems quite mythical.  Let's be serious, the really valuable things in life are the ones that provide a basis for health and safety for both now and in the future.  However, for someone like Wolfensohn who has several chips on the world table, it would be nice to hear his reflection on the true value of water and how it affects this Chinese agri-colonization.

9/11 (Truth)

The celebrated 9/11 anniversary has passed, and left in its wake further alienation for some of us, and, for others, entrenched justification for dismal foreign policy and ponzi-economania.  However, the balance continues to shift in favor of those demanding 9/11 truth and justice.   A major milestone came this past weekend with the Toronto Hearings, where experts from numerous fields gathered to submit evidence in support of finding the truth as to what really happened on the day of September 11, 2001.

Here's the schedule:

TORONTO HEARINGS: SCHEDULE
(Subject to Changes)

Thursday, September 8, 2011
9:00 – 9:30 Moderators: Opening Remarks
9:30 – 9:45 James Gourley: Introduction to the Hearings and the Panel
9:45 – 10:15 Lorie Van Auken (Video): Statement by a Jersey Widow
10:30 – 12:00 Lance deHaven-Smith: 9/11 & State Crimes Against Democracy
1:00 – 2:30 David Ray Griffin: Inadequacies of the 9/11 Commission’s Report
2:45 – 4:15 Kevin Ryan: Inadequacies of the Reports by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology
4:15 – 5:00 Audience Question and Answer
Friday, September 9, 2011
9:00 – 9:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
9:15 – 10:30 Jay Kolar: The Alleged 9/11 Hijackers
10:45 – 12:00 Paul Zarembka: Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11
1:00 – 1:35 Barbara Honegger: Eyewitnesses and Evidence of Explosions at the
Pentagon
1:35 – 3:10 Richard Gage: Evidence of the Demolition of WTC:
An Overview
3:30 – 4:45 Michel Chossudovsky: Global Consequences of 9/11
4:45 – 5:25 Cynthia McKinney: Attempts to Raise Questions about 9/11
5:25- 5:50 Audience Question and Answer
Saturday, September 10, 2011
9:00 – 9:15 Moderators: Overview of the Day’s Testimony
9:15 – 10:30 Graeme MacQueen: Eyewitness Evidence of Explosions at WTC
10:45 – 12:00 David Chandler: WTC 7:  A Refutation of the Official Account
1:00 – 2:15 Jon Cole: The Official Account and the Experimental Method
2:15 – 3:30 Kevin Ryan: Extreme Temperatures
3:45 – 5:00 Niels Harrit: Incendiary/Explosive Residue in the WTC Dust
5:00 – 5:30 Audience Question and Answer
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9:00 – 9:15 Moderators: Opening remarks and Moment of Silence
9:15 – 10:45 David Ray Griffin: Anomalies of Flights 77 and 93
10:45 – 12:00 Peter Dale Scott: 9/11 and Deep State Politics
1:00 – 2:00 Laurie Manwell: SCADs and Psychological Resistance to
Alternative Accounts
2:00 – 3:15 Senator Mike Gravel: State Deception in the Past and Today
3:30 – 4:15 Audience Question and Answer
  
A cursory glance at the schedule reads "Inadequacies..., Questions..., Explosions..., Demolition..., Deep State Politics."  The hearings included testimony from chemists, physicists, engineers, doctors, and scholars and I highly recommend watching some of the testimony here.

Laurie Manwell's presentation on State Crimes Against Democracy and Psychological Resistance to Alternative Accounts of 9/11 couldn't have been a better late than never introduction to the live hearings.  Having struggled with family and friends over 9/11 (truth), any insight into what makes it such a difficult topic to address is helpful.  For those who support 9/11 truth, there is plight in having to address the confounding subject.  
  
A question, though:  is addressing 9/11 (truth) the most effective means for treating our current socio-political dysfunctionality?  9/11 (truth) has some nasty implications (i.e. political violence, graft, fraud), which makes me ask (duh), what kind of larger, more treasonous threats do we face if 9/11 is someone's debut, inauguration, opus, if you will?   Are there motives which have yet to be uncovered behind the 9/11 facade, the obtrusiveness of which supersede any of our, what become, attempts to influence culture with the perhaps dim glow of 9/11 (truth).  Is 9/11 (truth) just in the past?  Is 9/11 (truth) a distraction from what is happening now?  

I saw James Wolfensohn speak at a promotional event for his book at the Center for the Arts a few weeks ago.  During the question and answer session of the talk, some young guy in the rear upper section of the auditorium stood up and asked, accusingly, how Bush and Obama were running free having been involved in egregious international crimes such as kidnapping and torture.  Wolfensohn's response; "I don't think anyone is going to drag them to the Hague."  Well, looks like no one Wolfensohn knows is dragging them to the pen.  Any other questions?

Charles Bradley with The Menahan Street Band - Why Is It So Hard

Tuned Out, Bob Grady @ the May Tea Party Event

July has flown by in a blur of sun, beer, and laughter.  All good things, among other things.  I have tuned out from the hype of polity and society.  Just waiting for the mofos at the top to start fingering each other to save themselves.  The debt deal?  More like the dead deal.  Who's dealing?  Kickin the can down the road, sure feels good, dodnt it now. 

I had an interaction with Bob Grady of Cheyenne Capital several weeks ago here in Jackson.  Some Senators were there but I didn't make out which ones.  Jackson's Tea Party organized the event and I was attended without any idea what it was other than an event "with a great speaker."  Great speaker, sure, but what was he speaking about?  Cutting Medicare.  All this shit has circulated the MSM by now (this event was in late May), but Bob Grady was on the front lines of the cut Medicare campaign.

Sitting in the back row for the entire Powerpoint presentation, I had a hard time watching all the bald and gray heads sit there in silence as Grady used his remote control as a wand streaming through slides explaining that Medicare is the primary problem with the U.S. budget deficit.  I'm sorry, Bobby, but  we cannot cut medical care for the poor to save money for the problem is much larger than Medicare, and you know it. 

At the end of the question and answer session, after I had raised my hand repeatedly, Bob finally looked in my direction with the fear that this young person in the back row may actually ask a real question, and indicated he relented to allow me to ask a question.  I stood up and said something to this effec; "I think Niall Fergusson would agree (in one of his last slides, he referced Fergusson) that the U.S. is facing a period of imperial overstretch with our interst payments, and furthermore, I would argue that our interest payments to the Federal Reserve resemlble a ponzi scheme.  Now, if you would, Mr. Grady, please explain the role of the Federal Reserve with regard to monetary policy, and where the Congress regulates such decisions?"

Grady responded, with at first a smile and his attention projected on all the graying babyboomers in his immediate radius, "Well, the mandate of the Fed is price stability..." after which he lost the smile and trailed off in a bullshit haze which I interjected with questions about the Fed's status as the largest holder of U.S. debt, as opposed to China, a common thread, and the Fed's role as a fiat money machine.   After two counterpoints I made, one of Grady's cohorts remarked from the aisle across the room, "We should have only one more question, the hot dogs are getting cold," or something like that.  Really, you old fart?  Whatever, the point is the debate is being stifled and people need to get loud.  I'm not sure what the U.S. Treasury pays to the Fed on interest, but let's face it, the U.S. is broke.  Why try to blame the poor for problems the rich create?  Oh wait, stupid question...next.  Why do you try to lie to hundreds of graying babyboomers about Medicare being the culprit of our woes?  Who's axe do you grind?  Your Bush namedropping is a giveaway.

Several weeks later, I saw Grady as I was walking into the Maverick Station in Jackson.  He was right inside the doorway as I was opening the door, entering the building.  I even held the door for him.  He looked me in the eyes and remembered me I think.  I should have asked him what it was all for.  What is it, Bob?  Why do you lie?  Where does your inside information come from?  What is the grand plan?


I should have thrown him a fake sucker punch.  Motherfucker.