Livin' In The Foodchain

Fun With Numbers

2006-07-11T19:46:00.000-05:00

Our president, I've been given to understand, isn't crazy about reading.

Unfortunately, many Americans share his lack of passion for the written word. And many of those who do read ... well, let's just say I have a theory, the USA is possibly the only country in the world where as the population reads, the national IQ level plummets.

Perhaps I'm being overly harsh.

But then again, maybe not. Having been a bookseller for the past eight years, working in practically the only bookstore in town, a town with a population of almost 300,000, I feel I have my finger on the pulse of the reading public in my fair city. I'm priveleged to witness just what goes into the minds of the average red state American. Romance novels mostly, followed by a pretty substantial amount of mysteries, sci-fi and children's books.

Nationwide in our stores the current number 1 fiction best seller is Janet Evanovitch's latest and the number 1 non-fiction slot belongs to Ann Coulter. That tells me that reading habits here are probably not that far out of line with what most Americans are reading.

I think it was H.L. Mencken who said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the average American." Or something like that.

I ran across a great book today, a children's book called "How Much is a Million" by David M. Schwartz.

I think every American ought to read it. It only takes a few minutes but I found it very helpful in understanding just how big the numbers are that we're dealing with in our economy today.

Too often, numbers are just numbers .. we hear about millions and billions and even trillions of dollars being spent but the numbers are too abstract. Most of us don't have a frame of reference for understanding just how big these numbers are.

How much bigger than a million is a billion? And how much bigger than a billion is a trillon?

This is what I learned in Schwartz's book.

If one were to count to a million it would take about 23 days. That's a lot of counting. A million is a very big number.

But get this, to count to a billion it would take 95 years. That's a substantially larger number so when we hear that we're spending 450,000,000,000 for this year's war budget that means if one were to count this number off it would take 42,750 years. That's a shitload of dough.

I read the other day that our current debt level, taking everything into consideration .. personal debt, state, local, federal and unfunded liabilities, Social Security and Medicare, for example .. the overall debt level is almost 90,000,000,000,000 bucks. That 90 TRILLION, folks.

Well, you ask, how long would it take to count to a trillion?

Mr. Schwartz tells us it would take almost 200,000 YEARS to count to a trillion. Do the math, that means that if one were to count to 90 trillion it would take 18,000,000 YEARS.

Now maybe you'll understand why I don't get too excited when I hear the media and the economists tell us how great our economy is.

Mr. Bush needs to read Mr. Schwartz's book.

But then again, why bother. Only one number means anything to presidents and that's the number 4 or possibly 8, the length of time they get to spend in office running up these Titanic sized debts.

Longing

2006-07-07T14:30:00.000-05:00

I long to be free.

Given the choice to determine when and where in history I would like to have lived had not my soul been entrapped in this era, I've chosen the North American continent in the year 500 BEC, (before European Conquest).

I can only surmise what life may have been like then through books I've read.

Every era has its trials and tribulations, to be sure. It's tempting to romanticize the past, ignoring the hardships and foibles of human nature, and ascribing to it a pristine virtue no longer existant in our day.

I long for things I've never even remotely known, things completely alien to 21st century experience.

I imagine a state of nature of overwhelming abundance. Texts written by the first Europeans who settled here testify to that effect. Fish so plentiful that they could be scooped up in baskets, flocks of birds whose passage overhead darkened the skies for days, pure rivers and oceans teemed with life and forests so thick in some places they were near impassable.

All my life I've lived in an artificial environment. I'm sitting before a computer, listening to digital information processed to sound like live music, climate controlled by air compressed and cooled by machinery and chemicals, light emanates from a piece of glass overhead, made possible by my connection to the grid. As I go about my day I walk on concrete and asphalt which conveniently lead me to places where I can deposit my hard earned income credits into the eager hands of those who require those credits to maintain the artificiality that defines and necessitates my enslavement in American culture, which is rapidly becoming world culture.

The irony of ironies is that we who have come to rely so heavily on the artificial accept the artificial as 'natural.' We can no longer imagine life any other way.

And because we can no longer imagine life any other way we casually accept the banalities of culture as well as its exploitative and destructive character as the best of all possible worlds without deep reflection, without extrapolating the consequences, vaguely aware that disaster looms but assuaging those disturbing intrusions on our consciousness by surrendering more and more to the seemingly inevitable. The sense of defeat and hopelessness are endemic and pervasive, encouraged heartily by forces we can barely conceptualize.

Being neither a psychologist nor a philosopher nor a cultural scientist I can only glean from the works of others why this must be so.

What's most perplexing to me is how we can so easily believe the superficial non-explanation of the why of things. Where is our innate curiosity? Or is that just another contradiction .. how can a lack of something be innate?

The most over-hyped concept in America today is the delusional idea of 'freedom and liberty.' I'm free to go with the flow. I'm free to accept the reigning paradigm of our death culture. I'm free to participate and 'prosper' or to rebel and face ignominy and ridicule.

Whatever man may have faced in North America in the year 500 BEC, I doubt that he had to think through what 'freedom' meant. To be free wasn't a concept, he just was. He didn't have to work for wages for the right to exist on this planet. He understood his place in nature and shared bountifully in its gifts and acted responsibly in its maintenence. His life was sustainable, he lived in cooperation with his surroundings, not conflict.

And this is fact, not romantic fantasy. This was before Christianity and the idea that man is top of the foodchain and given divine right to subdue nature to his own profitable ends.

I can only imagine real freedom and this morning I long for it. I'm sick to death of our never ending war mentality. I hate traffic and telephone poles and strip malls and concrete and asphalt and Walmart and cell phones and SUV's with their banal 'Support Our Troops' stickers. I hate having to understand freedom vicariously, through the experience of a long dead, barely imaginable culture, exterminated by those who lusted for the uncivil progress of civilization.

I empathize with the caged animal.

I feel his anxiety as he paces to and fro.

I long to set him free.

Freedom.

It's more than just a word.

Celebrating The 4th

2006-07-02T20:29:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel like Rip Van Winkle. That I went to sleep one day and woke up in the Twilight Zone.

Does that ever happen to you?

Today is July 2nd, the last Sunday before the 4th.

Today I tuned in to TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Jesus' lifeline to a dying planet.

I should have known I was in for a treat when I saw a stage covered in flags and a whole bunch of white people dressed in flag shirts, white pants, white shoes and white gloves marching to 'The Stars and Stripes Forever.'

Being a religious ceremony as well as an orgy of nationalistic patriotic celebration the four major branches of the service were more than adequately represented.

All these white people were singing songs, "You're a Grand Ol Flag, Yankee Doodle, America the Beautiful, the National Anthem." It was quite the production and it wasn't done on the cheap. During one of the many songs I thought was the grand finale, a group dressed up as WW2 soldiers carrying the flag ran on stage and settled into the famous Iwo Jima Pose and stayed almost completely motionless for the length of a couple of songs. It was really very impressive.

Interspersed with all this flag waving and America Worship the moderator, decked out in red, white and blue like all the others, went into a long speech on the Constitution and how America was founded by Christians and how The Good Lord has given a special blessing to this country and how important it is to return to being "One Nation Under God."

I couldn't help recall past July 4th celebrations when I was filled with joy and pride as I imbibed the glory which is America. The land of the free, the home of the brave.

But that was before the 'day that changed everything.' Even before Video Game War 1 and the knowledge of Daisy Cutters and Bunker Busters and Depleted Uranium. That was before my education in unvarnished American history where I learned about Death Squads, Assassinations, Regime Change, Genocide, Ecocide, the Horrors of Chattel Slavery (sure, I knew some of these things existed but they hadn't really entered my consciousness with any force), this was before I was brutalized with the images of hideously deformed Iraqi DU babies and torture scenes from Abu Ghraib. This was before The Project For a New American Century and Neocons and Neoliberalism and Patriot Acts and Homeland Security and Gitmo.
In other words, these were the days I attended Fundamentalist Christian Churches and Voted Republican.

The overblown pastiche of Patriotic Propaganda displayed today felt like something obscene. An extravagant display of unthinking emotion that epitomizes what I view as the last gasp of an America in desperate need of feeling good about itself. USA and God and Flags and Songs all choreographed as if to say, "All is Well in America and God still Shines His Light on our Proud and Peculiar Land."

Rather than fireworks and picnics and weenie roasts, this particular July 4th maybe it would be better to step back and reflect on where we've been and how we've arrived at this particular point in history. Maybe black bunting and riderless horses alongside a caisson of flag draped coffins would be more in order. Maybe a time of Soul Searching would be more appropriate.

Maybe it's time to Sober Up.

Can America still be a Great Nation? Are we capable of True Repentance? Maybe one day but right now we're not even close. We still Believe. America is Great because it is Good. And if you disagree you'll probably be labeled Commie, Liberal Scum. You'll feel the Wrath of the Ann Coulter lead Red State Hordes. Ms. Coulter, the Face of American Conservatism, the Blond leading the Blind. The divide in this country is deep and it is dark. As dark as our bloody history.

What am I talking about you ask. America is the Light Shining on the Hill, we're Spreading Goodness across the Globe.

I have two questions for our nation. Where is our Thirst for Justice? Where is our Thirst for Truth?

America, in my view is storing up a Huge Karmic Debt for itself. Wherever we go, we go in Guns A Blazing. We leave Death and Destruction and Poverty and Broken Dreams. How do we love thee O World, let me count the ways. Native American Genocide, Chattel Slavery, Manifest Destiny resulting in the theft of lands from Mexico in the Mexican-American War, the occupation and theft of Hawaii, the Spanish-American War with the brutal Subjugation of the Phillipines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the ovethrow of the democratically elected leader of Iran in the 50's and the support of the brutal Shah, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Chile, Panama, Haiti, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, 12 years of deadly sanctions, and the never to be ended War on Liberty, I mean Terror.

Sadly, we're probably no worse than any other Empire in history but we're certainly no better either. We're not the first to rally around the flag and to Praise God for his generous Blessing.

But we claim to be so much more. We're the good guys in the White Hats. We have a Vision For the World. But our Vision so often is a third world country's Nightmare.

Maybe it's time not only to Sober Up but also to Grow Up. Let's be adults and seriously confront the problems that plague our land. Let's remove the blinders and take a deep, hard look at who we really are. Do we have the Courage? Do we have the Will?

We better. Because the alternative is too horrible to contemplate.

I wish you a soberly, reflective July 4th.

May God have Reasons to Bless America.

A Great Read

2006-06-27T10:35:00.000-05:00

I read lots and lots and lots of books. I read history, theology, science, literary fiction (and even the occasional schlock fiction) current events, social criticism, politics, philosophy and just about anything else that promises to shed light on the human condition.

Every once in a great while a book comes along which avoids stereotype and genre classification and is just a great read.

I'm referring to Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram."

Apparently, Mr. Roberts has lived a very unique and experience filled life. "Shantaram" is his autobiographic fictional account of those events.

Roberts, in real life, is an Australian .. a political activist in his early years who became addicted to heroin which destroyed his family life and lead to several armed robberies, landing him in prison, sentenced to 19 years.

He escaped over the wall in broad daylight and took flight to Bombay, India. He 'went native,' learned the language and lived for a while in the slums where he founded a free clinic for the poor. He earned his livelihood by working as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner, and street soldier for a branch of the Bombay mafia. Not exactly what one would consider a role model.

But that's what's so compelling about Roberts' story.

Despite the character flaws and the antisocial behavior, Roberts' story reveals a depth of character that many would want to emulate. His ability to see through human flaws by gaining an understanding of his own gives his characters a depth that transcends the superficial. His love for Bombay and the Indian people is revealed on just about every page of this long, 933 page novel.

Here's what some of the reviewers said of this work:

Pat Conroy; "If someone asked me what the book was about, I would have to say everything, everything in the world. Gregory David Roberts does for Bombay what Lawrence Durrell did for Alexandria, what Melville did for the South Seas, and what Thoreau did for Walden Pond. He makes it an eternal player in the literature of the world."

Moses Isegawa: "Shantaram has provided me with the richest reading experience to date and I don't expect anybody to unseat its all-around performance for a long time. It is seductive, powerful, complex, and blessed with a perfect voice. Like a voodoo ghost snatcher, Gregory David Roberts has captured the spirits of Henri Charriere, Robinson Mistry, Tom Wolfe, and Mario Vargas Llosa, fused them with his own unique magic, and built the most gripping monument in print. The land of the god Ganesh has unchained the elephant, and with the monster running amok, I tremble for the brave soul dreaming of writing a novel about India. Gregory David Roberts is a suitable giant, a dazzling guru, and a genius in full."

Jonathan Carroll: "Anyone who walks away from 'Shantaram' untouched is either heartless or dead or both. I haven't had such a wonderful time in years. 'Shantarum' is quite simply the '1001 Arabian Nights' of the new century. Anyone who loves to read has been looking for this book all their reading life."

I couldn't agree more.

In an age when schlock rules, Roberts' book deserves wide promotion. Unfortunately it's the 'crank em out' authors who get all the exposure and media coverage.

Do yourself a favor. Read 'Shantaram.' I think you'll find it time well spent.

Happy Thoughts

2006-06-25T12:40:00.000-05:00

Once again it is Sunday

Once again the airwaves are full of Sunday preaching.

Once again one of the most popular, Joel Osteen, facing his mammoth congregation and more mammoth teevee audience, proclaims the power of positive thinking.

The gist of the message today (and every Sunday ad infinitum) is that the source of all our ills, the reason we can't be happy, well adjusted individuals is because of our Gosh darned stinkin' thinkin.'

He told the story of how is sister lives next to a railroad track. Every night, just as she's drifting off into blissful rest, a monster of a train comes by rattling the woodwork and jolting her out of her slumbers. Because of the deletorius effects of this nightly assault she decided to train her mind to ignore this inconvenient reality.

After two or three weeks of consciously willing her mind to shut down, she was finally successful. No more disruption. No more intrusion. Mental mastery. Blissful rest.

Mr. Osteen's ministry is devoted to turning lemons into lemonade through the power of positive thinking. Let no negative thought enter your mind. Start the day with a smile. Don't let daily hassles and irritations upset your sensitive sensibilities.

Good advice when taken in moderation. But as a panacea Mr. Osteen's sunny cheerfulness is destined for failure because his approach fails to address root causes.

As the camera pans his congregation one gets the sense that most are moderately to highly affluent. Just a guess but many are probably captains of industry and influential business leaders. Many of the rank and file are most likely consumed by the daily stresses and frustrations of making a living in the Houston rat race.

And because of the consistency of Mr. Osteen's message .. your life is messed up because you don't think right ... one is left with the conclusion that all of life's problems, like that pesky, noisy train will just go away once one learns to ignore reality and just think happy thoughts.

No doubt, Mr. Osteen's congregation faces real problems. Failed marriages, conflicts with co-workers, a sense of futility brought on by a feeling of helplessness as world events become more and more mystifying ... fear and insecurity, potential job loss in our outsourcing economy, fear of losing all that one has accumulated through hard work by the insidious effects of a threatened inflation. These and many more are symptoms, not causes of our malaise.

Joel Osteen doesn't address root causes, just as our schools and media system refuse to address root causes. The best we can come up with is 'the enemy,' the devil, the Muslims, the 'fill in the blank' are conspiring to steal our joy. Rather than confront these enemies, identify them and learn the source of their anger and enmity we are told instead to 'let no negative thought enter our minds, don't worry be happy.

Above all, it is implied, don't investigate.

And why would that be?

Because, obviously, investigation may lead to disturbing answers. What if, upon investigation, we were to find that most all of our and even the world's ills are rooted in our political/economic policies? What if we were to find that our system, predicated on limitless expansion, unrestrained corporate profits, mass production and mindless consumerism is directly responsible for our sense of alienation from all that is real and truly good? What if we were to begin thinking about the effects of cradle to grave advertising campaigns and how they may be moulding us, creating a false reality where nothing is more important than fulfilling our patriotic duty to 'shop til we drop?'

What if, upon further investigation, we were to find that our prosperity, our highly idealized American Dream requires that countless millions in Third World countries subsidize our booming economy through sweat shop labor and 'free trade' policies that, in effect, confiscate their resource wealth and domestic food production capabilities ... all enforced by a strong armed, US backed local ruling elite bought and paid for to insure their cooperation in their own enslavement?

What if our 'liberal media' was to seriously challenge and critically analyze our root assumptions? What if our journalists were investigators into the afore mentioned root causes and not just the mouthpieces of 'official sources?' What if politics were absent from the debate over global warming and the environment?

What if?

Would we change?

Or are we content with the status quo? Are we content with the social destruction taking place before our eyes as the few get richer, the middle shrinks and the ranks of the poor continually swell?

Would it be better in the long run if we follow Mr. Osteen's advice and blot out every negative thought from our minds and convince ourselves that by thinking happy thoughts we will indeed be happy?

I would suggest that instead of a constant diet of positive thinking, Mr. Osteen would better serve his congregation by every once in a while investigating that 'broad road that leads to destruction' .. you know, that wide avenue that Jesus tells us most of us are on.

Maybe we've reached the point where our global problems are insurmountable. Maybe the coma that most of us are in is a blessing in disguise, maybe the illness is terminal and there is no hope ... delusion being the only treatment.

I don't think we're at that point yet but we'd better wake up soon. All indicators tend to reveal that time is short. Something dreadful perhaps this way comes.

And that's not a very happy thought.

Letter To My Sister

2006-05-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

Hola hermana,

Thanks for your email. Sometimes I do get depressed when I realize how few people I have in my life and how it got this way, then I get a note from my big sis and realize I'm not totally alone in this world.

I woke up this morning thinking about a line from Shakespeare, "The world is a comedy to those that feel and a tragedy to those that think." When I first read those lines many years ago, I thought he had it ass backwards but when those words popped into my head this morning I realized he was dead on.

If one word could be used to describe the complexity of a human being, the one word that would describe me is 'truthseeker.'

From my earliest years, I guess because I've always been a reader, I've understood that something wasn't quite right with what I was officially being told and taught. This gut feel, based on scraps of information gleaned over the years only intensified as I read more and more. I wanted to know why.

At first I thought the answers could be found in the church. As you know, I went full bore into it, wide eyed and trusting ... well, not completely, but enough to believe that all life's answers were there to be discovered. Going into it full bore I tried to conform to the church's view but I kept finding these nagging inconsistencies. Participation with a group of dedicated Jesus people satisfied for a long time my need for family, I guess. I suppose that's why I stayed with it as long as I did. And while there, I gave it my all .. I was willing to believe wholeheartedly in the 'inerrancy of scripture' and how I must use it to guide every area of my life.

But the things I read in the bible didn't match the facts 'on the ground.' One thing that always bothered me was why the church was so fractured. Why so many differing beliefs and why, if Jesus and the Holy Spirit were in fact in charge, did so many disagree (sometimes violently) on different matters of church doctrine. After all, Paul, the premier apostle prayed for unity and that all be of one mind. Because these words were written in the bible I thought it was possible. Not only possible but inevitable. Didn't Jesus say that anything you ask in my name would be done? It seemed to me that if anyone carried any weight in his prayers, it should be Paul.

Believing unity to be possible and inevitable, being the reader that I am, I took on a study of why different groups within the church believed as they did. I wanted to understand the reason for the division and hoped that in my small way, I could contribute to the eventual unity of the faith.

I studied all the 'isms.' Calvinism, Preterism, Dominionism, Catholicism, Dispensationalism, Fundamentalism, Universalism, Atheism .. and more.

What I found was that each and every ism based their conclusions, with much conviction and many references, on the bible...even atheism. Each separate group could argue it's case persuasively using the 'bible alone.' Of course, in order to do this they had to pick and choose which scriptures supported their views and ignore the many that may contradict.

Thus began a more in depth examination of the bible. How was it possible for so many competing viewpoints, each held with such unswaying conviction? And why did I believe that it was the 'Word of God,' from God's lips to man's ear? I won't go into all the details but I studied it out and came to the realization that I believed the bible was God's Word because that's what I had always been told. I accepted it like I accepted everything else having to do with Christianity ... on faith, not necessarily on fact.

Cutting to the chase this is my current position on the bible lest you think me a complete heretic. I believe all truth ( 'all' meaning all necessary for understanding man's condition) is in the bible but not all the bible is true. Man's clumsy pawprints are all over it and the truth contained within it is truly 'a great treasure hidden in a field.' A 'pearl of great price,' if you will.

How does one separate the wheat from the chaff?

By understanding the character of God. His perfection, the depth of his love. My criteria for determining whether or not something in the bible is 'true' is how it accords with the idea of perfect love working out a perfect solution to an imperfect world and a flawed people. That's why Universalism appealed to me so much. It was internally consistent and logical from a spiritual perspective. Universalism is the ism that believes that a perfect God will have a perfect result, that all creation will ultimately conform to the character of God, not unwillingly but by freewill choice. Love will indeed conquer death. And it doesn't matter if you're Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Atheist or anything else .. the plan is perfect and will not be thwarted.

That gets me around to the reason why I left the church.

The church teaches unending hell and eternal torment. Even the gentlest and most loving groups I've been acquainted with hold this abhorrent doctrine. When I tried to show them a better way, through scripture, I was told my view could not be spoken about in the church. 'We love you bro, but we think you'd be happier in another fellowship.' Trouble is, there is no other Christian fellowship other than those that believe the lie of eternal hell. 'A little leaven leavens the whole lump.' There are congregations that believe as I do, they're just few and far between and I haven't found one here.

It was there and then that the realization hit me full force that the search for truth was a lonely pursuit. But not without its rewards.

Whether for good or ill, along with being a truthseeker I'm also a loner. That's an indelible part of my character. I didn't plan it this way, as far as I can tell, it's just a foundational part of who I am. I prefer solitude and contemplation. My greatest joy is the finding of another piece of this puzzle called life. But I don't always like what I find, I guess that's the downside of wanting to know 'why.'

One thing I came to understand was that in the church's search for the eternal they seem to have forgotten about the here and now. Being freed from church dogma, I became more interested in how things are not just in the 'pie in the sky when you die' philosophy of the church.

My latest efforts have been concentrated on understanding politics and economics. The whole left v right thing.

What I've found confirms a lot of what I believe the bible is all about. The bible talks about 'good and evil,' heaven and hell, right and wrong. Politically these things get conflated into 'liberal and conservative,' 'right and left' ... with the overwhelming conviction in America that 'right' = 'good' and 'left' = evil. Watch the news and you'll be convinced that 'liberal' is a dirty word and that 'left' is positively satanic.

I've reached the conclusion that the exact opposite is true. And this matters ... a lot.

The subject is complex and I could go into all the reasons how I've arrived at my conclusion but that would be too lengthy and you're probably asleep already.

In a nutshell.

At it's most ideal the left is socialist, believing that the poor should receive a more fair distribution of its goods and resources, that those who create the wealth should particpate more fully in its benefits. This is anathema to the ultra rich, those who rule and dictate policy. The conservative right has always feared the leveling influence of the masses and have structured our government in such a way that the upper crust will always be in control. They own the government, the courts, the media and the church. All powerful institutions capable of maintaining its control through highly effective propaganda. Billions of dollars have been spent on think tanks and PR firms in order to manufacture your consent for their policies. This bodes extremely well for the elite class but it's disastrous for the poor and disenfranchised.

Here's something you've probably heard many times in your life .."Two things we don't talk about here, politics and religion.' Now why would that be? Why would the two most important subjects be considered off limits? I believe it's because talking leads to discussion, discussion leads to investigation, investigation leads to facts and facts bring light. The one thing Jesus says the world hates .. light .. because it exposes its deeds as evil.

Ok, in answering your question. Why do these things matter? Why do things happening in other countries matter? Why not just live day to day and take things as they come? Because .. as long as we think this way, as a herd, the closer our world comes to extinction. Grave problems face the world right now .. many scientists believe we're in the midst of the world's sixth great extinction. The first one caused by man. Species are disappearing at 120,000 times the natural rate. The big fish in the oceans are 90% depleted. The environment is a wreck. Globalism ...predatory, corporate capitalism, the unending lust for wealth... has made slaves of the world's indigenous populations, kept in hopeless poverty while our country lives off their resources. Globalism as a fiscal policy is turning our 'land of the free' into a police state. Forty percent of Americans believe that the NSA's monitoring of billions of its phone calls is a good thing. Meanwhile, the disparity between the world's richest percentile and the world's poorest is growing at an exponential rate. Unending war, scarcity of resources, and evironmental destruction are inevitable by products of the way we do things.

At its most extreme the political right has no heart. It's all about money .. which Jesus said the love of was the root of all evil. I believe him.

Because it has no heart, the right has counterfeited one through its hijacking of the American fundamentalist church ..the wackiest and goofiest, albeit most dangerous element of the faith. Jesus said that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He says that the deception will be so great that if possible, it would fool even the very elect.

Study what's really going on in Iraq. If you have a heart, the injustice of it all will break it. We've destroyed their infrastructure, brutalized and impoverished their people and set them at each other's throats ... all so the US can establish a dominating presence there in order to gain control of the last of the remaining oil. The peak oil problem is very real and will result in catastrophic changes in the way we live. The sad thing is, it didn't have to be this way. Intelligent answers are available to most of the world's most distressing problems but these viewpoints never get aired in our corporate controlled, news for profit, government worshipping media. The answers to the world's problems, I believe, are best articulated by the political left, the view that's constantly suppressed. If the American people had a heart and a brain they'd be outraged.

The book of Revelation is all about the overthrow of the status quo. It's about the end of all the injustice and man's inhumanity to man. Were Jesus alive today, I believe he would be a hardcore, radical, leftist revolutionary. The exact opposite of how the fatcat, comfort loving American church views him. American Christians believe GWB stands on Christian principle. What a joke. The real joke is that the church is so deluded that it can believe black is white and good is evil.

I'm not really depressed. I've just had my eyes opened to the reality of the world, and that is a depressing situation. I believe our country is on a crash course with it's destiny. 'As you sow, so shall you reap ..' Truer words were never spoken. I'm not looking forward to cataclysmic change but I really believe that change is inevitable. It is written. It's our fate to live on the cusp of monumental upheaval. It will be messy, ugly, and painful .. but here's where I have hope. IF we don't wipe ourselves out, perhaps the human race will learn something about living in harmony with the earth, that today's way of doing things is unsustainable and can only lead to disaster. Perhaps on the other side of whatever imminently awaits us, a wisdom will be gained. At least in the short term, til the greed and lusts of the human heart take over once again and the cycle reverts.

We're living in the Matrix. Virtually everything we believe to be true is a lie. It seems incredible and paranoid that that could be so, but it's true. At least, that's what this truthseeker believes. But you know what? I'm glad it's a lie. I'm glad that 'the way things are' are a lie. I'm glad that the way things are aren't the way they're meant to be.

Camus said, "In this world there are victims and executioners. It's the thinking person's duty to never side with the executioners."

We, as a nation, side with the executioners. Damn scary when you think about it. One of our early presidents, Jefferson, I think, said .."I tremble for our country when I realize God is just."

Food for thought.

More later.

G

Back From the Books

2006-05-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

As you can see from the date of my last post ... well, it's been a while.

So much depressing stuff going on, I decided I didn't like this century much anymore so I decided to do a little time traveling.

I wanted a clearer understanding of how we got to where we are. Hoping the past might provide some insight I began an American history reading project.

This thing took on a life of its own.

I figured I'd start with Pre-Colonial times. Simple enough, eh? Let me tell you, it's not that simple. Everything is connected to everything else so there's no clear cut beginnings. Start to read about the founding of the colonies and you realize you need a little background. After all, there were some major players on this continent, each with their own unique set of circumstances. You can't really understand American history unless you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, French and British history as well. And then there's that little matter of the indigenous population and their plight.

Starting with Alan Taylor's "American Colonies; The Settlement of North America," (excellent) I soon had, literally, 30 books going. From Prescott's "History of the Conquest of Mexico" I was also reading books in a multitude of categories; pre-colonial, colonial, the American Revolution, bios of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, "The Age of Federalism," Civil War stuff ... Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," a bio of Grant, McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom, Potter's "Impending Crisis" ... bios of Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forest.

Of course, with the interconnectedness of everything I couldn't leave out Britain .. so I added "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" to the mix as well as Churchill's "History of the English Speaking Peoples." Britain has always been entangled with France so I needed to know about Napoleon and I read the gut wrenching account of his ill advised foray into Russia , Zamoyski's "Moscow 1812; Napoleon's Fatal March." Which got me interested in Russia and a trio of books, Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra," and "Peter the Great, His Life and World" along with a cultural history of Russia, "Natasha's Dance."

These books catapulted me into a need to know about the Great War and its causes. Massie's "Dreadnought" was a great introduction and Churchill's, "The World Crisis 1911-1918" provided an insider's view. And since the seeds of one war are contained in the treaties of the last one, these books lead me ever onward to books about WWII .. Kennedy's "Freedom From Fear" about the Depression and America's involvement in WWII and Shirer's, "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich," along with Werth's, "Russia at War; 1941-1945."

You get the picture.

The foodchain has been soaking up some history.

These books are great at giving one the 'official view' of America's illustrous past.

But in order to be fair and balanced, one has to look at the not so popular view of America. The likes of which are found in Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States" and the multiple works of Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Naomi Klein and William Blum ... to name but a few.

It's been quite the project, 30 books or so done and 30 or so more in progress. I'll probably be at this for a while. It's been time well spent. I still don't like this century too much but at least now I have a better understanding of why.

It's The People

2005-09-06T17:10:00.000-05:00

So often we identify ourselves by our history, by our myths, by the illusions perpetuated by 'TV reality.'

We view our nation from the lenses of corporate media. From Fox, to MSNBC, to CNN, to CBS, ABC, NBC, etc.

History as it will be written will be greatly influenced by the perspectives of those who cover tragedies such as New Orleans.

Eventually, the hard heartedness of those with the means will be transformed into something resembling a 'failure of planning' .. no blame, after all the event itself overwhelmed our capabilities.

At least, that will become the official history.

If we've learned nothing else from this event, we've learned that beauracracy is woefully inadequate, perhaps even intentionally, to deal with indescrible catyclysms of this sort.

I'll leave it to future revelation to determine whether this was a planned genocide, whether the mass relocation of the poorest of New Orleanians was a coldly calculated ploy designed to clean out the 'undesirables' so that those who will profit from the disaster will no longer be confronted with the spectre of a population, almost 70%, below the poverty level.

How else can one justify the refusal of the 'powers that be' to accept the multiple offers of aid, aid which would have alleviated the horrors experienced by those entrapped in the Superdome and Convention Center?

No, the lesson to be learned here is that unless you are white and well connected, preferably a stalwart benefactor of the current administration, your chances of survival immediately following such a tragedy as Katrina are virtually nil.

Even so, DESPITE the neglect and delayed response of those entrusted to maintain order and establish order, the American people have responded with a generosity and outpouring perhaps unprecedented in American history.

The average American, despite stereotypical portrayal as a hedonistic, selfish individual has stepped up beyond the call of duty to provide for the needs of those left homeless and destitute by the ravages of Katrina.

Americans ... that mindless consumer of mass commercialism has eschewed the stereotype and stepped up in a BIG WAY to provide for those 'left behind' ... those who have nothing left other than perhaps a perverted understanding that somehow they will be spared even though events seem determined to conspire against them.

It's the everyday, 'boots on the ground' American who will ultimately decide the fate of the displaced. It's you and I, Americans, those still hanging on to the idea of the 'American Dream' who will determine the fate of those displaced by the horrors of Katrina.

Don't count on the government. Even though they have displayed their strength by deploying 50,000 + military and National Guard ... AFTER the initial crisis ... this point should not be minimized by those who interpret these events ... AFTER countless numbers have died due to neglect, the fact remains .. today's overwhelming response, AFTER most have been evacuated, may display nothing other than 'damage control.' A calculated response designed to protect the reputations of those who could care less .. truth be known.

Politics ...

However .. and I can't emphathise this point enough, it's the PEOPLE of the United States of America ... it's those who, many in poverty themselves, who have reached out and offered their assistance to those left in the lurch by the uncaring elite who make up our national government. It's IN SPITE of those who are recognized as the governmental caregivers who will guarantee the survival of those most destitute.

It's the core .. the people of the US who have the heart to intevene in a crisis such as this.

We will ALL have the opportunity to contribute to the ameliorization of this disaster.

And I have confidence that we will ... the Spirit of America remains, regardless the fact that its government could evidently care less.

It's the people who will care for the people.

It's the people who will do everything in their power to keep this from being an ummentionable tragedy.

It's the people who make this nation great.

Certainly not the mini-minds who supposedly represent us.

It's the people.

Don't count on Bush, count on your neighbor.

Therein lies salvation in the hard times to come.

God bless the hearts of the American people.

God bless those who really care.

The people of the USA.

The 100 Billion Dollar Question

2005-09-05T14:42:00.000-05:00

Just trying to wrap my mind around the catastrophe unfolding in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast.

The scale of the disaster is just too big, the consequences too appalling to contemplate.

Today, only 10,000 remain in a city whose population was around a half million, the remainder scattered to the 4 winds, 1200 of them here in my hometown.

A unique, vibrant, albeit poor city is no more ... at least for the indefinite future.

An estimated 100 billion in structural and economic damage. 100 BILLION, and that may prove to be a conservative estimate.

If you haven't read my previous post, a reprint of Stratfor.com's "New Orleans; A Geopolitical Prize," I urge you to do so. In it you will discover why New Orleans is VITAL to America and the world's economy. It's loss cannot fail to have enormous economic implications.

I've scoured the internet for more analysis of this type. I haven't been able to find much. Instead, I read that according to Washington's top economic advisors the economic impact is expected to be 'minimal.'

Is this a reasoned response or carefully calculated propaganda designed to forestall any panic that may result should the true implications become widespread?

I don't know at this point.

But it doesn't take a genius to understand that the loss of the US's largest port, the world's 5th largest, will reverberate around the world manyfold.

So far the press and the blogs have concentrated upon the failure of the 'system' to react responsibly to the plight of those stranded in the fetid muck of New Orleans. The economic focus has been on rising gas prices and the loss of production suffered by the oil industry. These are important issues and worthy of much discussion.

My fear, however, is that the devastation caused by Katrina may well be the tipping point, the ultimate exposer of all the vulnerabilities inherent in our debt ridden economy.

My fear is that the myth of American prosperity is about to be exposed for the illusion that it is.

Billions upon billions of dollars wasted in Iraq and now this.

Where will the billions needed to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast come from? It's not like we have a huge treasure chest waiting to be tapped. This money will have to be manufactured. More debt added to the trillions already owed. Just exactly how deep is this well that we seem to be able to tap at will? Billions upon billions of dollars printed and added to the glut of dollars already in existance. How will that contribute to inflation, the hidden tax that drains more and more wealth from the public at large?

Whatever the economic impact turns out to be, I can assure you it won't be 'minimal.' It doesn't take a Harvard educated whiz kid to figure that much out.

I concur with the stratfor article. New Orleans exists as a city because it must. Its strategic economic importance is too evident.

So it will be rebuilt ... eventually. Reconstruction is not expected to be able to begin until perhaps the summer of 2006.

What will the US look like by then? How will the loss of America's largest port impact the lives of the rest of us?

This appears to be the 100 billion dollar question.

What's At Stake

2005-09-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize
www.stratfor.com

By George Friedman

September 01, 2005 22 30 GMT -- The American political system was founded in Philadelphia, but the American nation was built on the vast farmlands that stretch from the Alleghenies to the Rockies. That farmland produced the wealth that funded American industrialization: It permitted the formation of a class of small landholders who, amazingly, could produce more than they could consume. They could sell their excess crops in the east and in Europe and save that money, which eventually became the founding capital of American industry.

But it was not the extraordinary land nor the farmers and ranchers who alone set the process in motion. Rather, it was geography -- the extraordinary system of rivers that flowed through the Midwest and allowed them to ship their surplus to the rest of the world. All of the rivers flowed into one -- the Mississippi -- and the Mississippi flowed to the ports in and around one city: New Orleans. It was in New Orleans that the barges from upstream were unloaded and their cargos stored, sold and reloaded on ocean-going vessels. Until last Sunday, New Orleans was, in many ways, the pivot of the American economy.

For that reason, the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 was a key moment in American history. Even though the battle occurred after the War of 1812 was over, had the British taken New Orleans, we suspect they wouldn't have given it back. Without New Orleans, the entire Louisiana Purchase would have been valueless to the United States. Or, to state it more precisely, the British would control the region because, at the end of the day, the value of the Purchase was the land and the rivers - which all converged on the Mississippi and the ultimate port of New Orleans. The hero of the battle was Andrew Jackson, and when he became president, his obsession with Texas had much to do with keeping the Mexicans away from New Orleans.

During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.

Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina's geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson's days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.

The ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, the Port of South Louisiana is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A larger proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 57 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on.

A simple way to think about the New Orleans port complex is that it is where the bulk commodities of agriculture go out to the world and the bulk commodities of industrialism come in. The commodity chain of the global food industry starts here, as does that of American industrialism. If these facilities are gone, more than the price of goods shifts: The very physical structure of the global economy would have to be reshaped. Consider the impact to the U.S. auto industry if steel doesn't come up the river, or the effect on global food supplies if U.S. corn and soybeans don't get to the markets.

The problem is that there are no good shipping alternatives. River transport is cheap, and most of the commodities we are discussing have low value-to-weight ratios. The U.S. transport system was built on the assumption that these commodities would travel to and from New Orleans by barge, where they would be loaded on ships or offloaded. Apart from port capacity elsewhere in the United States, there aren't enough trucks or rail cars to handle the long-distance hauling of these enormous quantities -- assuming for the moment that the economics could be managed, which they can't be.

The focus in the media has been on the oil industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is not a trivial question, but in a certain sense, it is dwarfed by the shipping issue. First, Louisiana is the source of about 15 percent of U.S.-produced petroleum, much of it from the Gulf. The local refineries are critical to American infrastructure. Were all of these facilities to be lost, the effect on the price of oil worldwide would be extraordinarily painful. If the river itself became unnavigable or if the ports are no longer functioning, however, the impact to the wider economy would be significantly more severe. In a sense, there is more flexibility in oil than in the physical transport of these other commodities.

There is clearly good news as information comes in. By all accounts, the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which services supertankers in the Gulf, is intact. Port Fourchon, which is the center of extraction operations in the Gulf, has sustained damage but is recoverable. The status of the oil platforms is unclear and it is not known what the underwater systems look like, but on the surface, the damage - though not trivial -- is manageable.

The news on the river is also far better than would have been expected on Sunday. The river has not changed its course. No major levees containing the river have burst. The Mississippi apparently has not silted up to such an extent that massive dredging would be required to render it navigable. Even the port facilities, although apparently damaged in many places and destroyed in few, are still there. The river, as transport corridor, has not been lost.

What has been lost is the city of New Orleans and many of the residential suburban areas around it. The population has fled, leaving behind a relatively small number of people in desperate straits. Some are dead, others are dying, and the magnitude of the situation dwarfs the resources required to ameliorate their condition. But it is not the population that is trapped in New Orleans that is of geopolitical significance: It is the population that has left and has nowhere to return to.

The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time.

It is possible to jury-rig around this problem for a short time. But the fact is that those who have left the area have gone to live with relatives and friends. Those who had the ability to leave also had networks of relationships and resources to manage their exile. But those resources are not infinite -- and as it becomes apparent that these people will not be returning to New Orleans any time soon, they will be enrolling their children in new schools, finding new jobs, finding new accommodations. If they have any insurance money coming, they will collect it. If they have none, then -- whatever emotional connections they may have to their home -- their economic connection to it has been severed. In a very short time, these people will be making decisions that will start to reshape population and workforce patterns in the region.

A city is a complex and ongoing process - one that requires physical infrastructure to support the people who live in it and people to operate that physical infrastructure. We don't simply mean power plants or sewage treatment facilities, although they are critical. Someone has to be able to sell a bottle of milk or a new shirt. Someone has to be able to repair a car or do surgery. And the people who do those things, along with the infrastructure that supports them, are gone -- and they are not coming back anytime soon.

It is in this sense, then, that it seems almost as if a nuclear weapon went off in New Orleans. The people mostly have fled rather than died, but they are gone. Not all of the facilities are destroyed, but most are. It appears to us that New Orleans and its environs have passed the point of recoverability. The area can recover, to be sure, but only with the commitment of massive resources from outside -- and those resources would always be at risk to another Katrina.

The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States.

Let's go back to the beginning. The United States historically has depended on the Mississippi and its tributaries for transport. Barges navigate the river. Ships go on the ocean. The barges must offload to the ships and vice versa. There must be a facility to empower this exchange. It is also the facility where goods are stored in transit. Without this port, the river can't be used. Protecting that port has been, from the time of the Louisiana Purchase, a fundamental national security issue for the United States.

Katrina has taken out the port -- not by destroying the facilities, but by rendering the area uninhabited and potentially uninhabitable. That means that even if the Mississippi remains navigable, the absence of a port near the mouth of the river makes the Mississippi enormously less useful than it was. For these reasons, the United States has lost not only its biggest port complex, but also the utility of its river transport system -- the foundation of the entire American transport system. There are some substitutes, but none with sufficient capacity to solve the problem.

It follows from this that the port will have to be revived and, one would assume, the city as well. The ports around New Orleans are located as far north as they can be and still be accessed by ocean-going vessels. The need for ships to be able to pass each other in the waterways, which narrow to the north, adds to the problem. Besides, the Highway 190 bridge in Baton Rouge blocks the river going north. New Orleans is where it is for a reason: The United States needs a city right there.

New Orleans is not optional for the United States' commercial infrastructure. It is a terrible place for a city to be located, but exactly the place where a city must exist. With that as a given, a city will return there because the alternatives are too devastating. The harvest is coming, and that means that the port will have to be opened soon. As in Iraq, premiums will be paid to people prepared to endure the hardships of working in New Orleans. But in the end, the city will return because it has to.

Geopolitics is the stuff of permanent geographical realities and the way they interact with political life. Geopolitics created New Orleans. Geopolitics caused American presidents to obsess over its safety. And geopolitics will force the city's resurrection, even if it is in the worst imaginable place.

Katrina

2005-09-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the future.

Yes, it's been a bit quiet around here as of late, mainly because the foodchain has been absorbing world events and has felt that its view hasn't had anything neither original nor of value to add to the public discourse.

The world is going to hell in a handbasket.

That much is obvious.

But until now, reality hasn't really hit home with the American public.

We've cocooned ourselves to the point that we feel invulnerable, as if the madness that passes for common, everyday life is something out there .... beyond our concern.

We've collectively nodded our heads in agreement with the powers that be, those who assure us that all is well, that our economy is robust, that life is still somehow good here in the USofA.

Never mind that we're sinking in a sea of debt. Never mind that Iraq has become the 21st century's Viet Nam, never mind that the gap between the have's and have nots is growing at an incredible pace. You can buy a gas guzzling SUV for the same price that employees pay.

That's where the rubber meets the road.

We're drowning in our illusions of perceived wealth.

Katrina says 'fuck your illusions.' This is the real world.

Katrina, in many ways has exposed our vulnerabilites.

We're a nation whose very day to day existance is predicated on the premise that energy will always be cheap and abundant.

We're a nation who has sold its soul to the promises of an ever brighter technological future.

I'll leave it to Jim Kunstler over at Clusterfuck Nation to connect all the dots. He offers a very sobering view of our immediate future, a future threatened by the lack of essential resources. I suspect that one day soon he will offer some very sobering thoughts on where we are in light of the Katrina debacle.

A city of a half million people has been brought to its knees by the forces of nature.

Read today's article in the NY Times about the plight of those poor bastards stuck without food, water, sanitation and air conditioning in New Orelean's Superdome. It will break your heart.

30,000 people on the brink of disaster. Suicide and rape. Overflowing toilets and insufferable heat. A people on the brink of total despair.

It rends the heart.

It's easy to look upon those poor souls and praise the God we supposedly believe in that its not us suffering these dire circumstances.

But my initial impressions are that NO is a wake up call to the American public.

Our dependence on cheap energy and our vulnerablity to its inevitable decline promises that NO will be the opening salvo in a war pitting nature against this cancer we call 'civilization.'

Welcome to the future indeed.

Imagine our distress when the pumps run dry. And run dry they will, it's inevitable. Rising demand and limited supply is a forgone conclusion.

How will we react?

New Orleans is a precursor of what faces the American public. Total breakdown of infrastructure, unable to be maintained due to the stranglehold we'll experience as depletion becomes more and more a fact of life.

All our great cities are in peril.

What happens when the foodchain breaks down? What happens when we can no longer sustain 'just in time' inventory levels? What happens when gas hits 100.00 a gallon? Those days are coming.

Katrina is the tip of the iceberg.

Watch and learn.

Protect yourself.

Gaza Withdrawal, Who Pays? The American Taxpayer, Who Else?

2005-08-15T17:53:00.000-05:00

ABC News covered the Gaza withdrawal this evening, but no word about this.

U.S. Taxpayer Footing Israel’s Gaza Withdrawal Bill
from Aljazeera.com

In addition to the U.S. annual $3 billion aid to Israel, Tel Aviv has asked Washington to “pay” it some $2.2 billion for the withdrawal of settlers currently residing in the occupied Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.

The bill for the withdrawal from Gaza is expected to be paid by the American taxpayer.

To be more precise, the American taxpayer will be paying out from their own pockets something in the tune of $227,000 per Jewish settler. Unless a last minute hitch scuppers the agreement, it’s a deal that is signed, sealed and very soon to be delivered.

But this isn’t something new, simply because in Washington - whatever
Israel wants, Israel gets.

Shouldn’t the American people protest at funding Israel’s withdrawal?

First, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unilaterally decided to withdraw from Gaza – a move that was in following of President Bush’s "peace plan", which Sharon has ignored from the very beginning.

Where is it written that the head of a foreign government can decide to do something unilaterally and automatically send the bill to the American taxpayers?

For Americans, they will gain no benefits at all from the withdrawal.

Furthermore, an advisor to Sharon said in an Israeli newspaper interview that the withdrawal from Gaza is not part of any peace plan. It is just an excuse to put off serious peace negotiations.

Some 8,000 settlers from Gaza will be removed, four small settlements in the West Bank will also be shut and that's it. As Sharon's adviser admitted, there won't be any serious negotiations with the Palestinians until they "turn into Finns."

Any president would view Sharon's actions as unacceptable and his casual expectation that someone other than the Israeli government’s treasury would foot the bill should be seen as a personal insult.

But when it comes to Israel, President George Bush just like Congress goes “blind”.

Even with all the problems the U.S. is facing, with all the continuing
rising deficit, all the debts accumulated Washington has gifted Israel with more than $90 billion in recent decades and continues to gift it till today.

If the U.S. government agrees to “aiding” Israel in handing it money to
withdraw from Gaza, the American taxpayers will be spending about $227,000 per Jewish settler.

That's a pretty mighty hefty moving bill!

Where is it written in the U.S. Constitution that Congress can tax the
American people and hand the money out as a gift to foreign countries?

Following the Camp David peace treaty, Israel was paid by the Americans some $4 billion to get out of Egyptian territory it had no business occupying in the first place.

And as part of that deal, Egypt had also been paid an annual $2 billion for having signed the agreement.

The only way huge amounts of money being paid out to Israel would be brought to an end if the U.S. adopts the following policy: "We think, Israel, it is in your interests to make peace with your Arab neighbors.

That's your decision, however; if you would prefer to remain at war, that's OK with us, because either way – peace or war – we aren't going to pay for it".

Reality Check

2005-08-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

Seems there was a time not too long ago when I had a vague idea of some things I wanted to say.

Things that I'd observed and things I'd thought about ... things that if enough people thought about just a little might make a teensy bit of difference somewhere, somehow for the better.

As if ... duh.

You want to be clever, witty, a little rude perhaps, erudite, and hopefully .. coherent.

But really, what can one say that hasn't been said better a 1000 times before in today's blogosphere?

I cruise the information highway daily and discover real talent and real insight, though the search must be meticulous and unrelenting. Diamonds are rare, dirt abounds.

I fear my malaise stems from the realization that the evil bastards have won.

The internet will become a glitzier marketplace, full of sound and wonders but no conscience. The mainstream media will continue to lull us into a deeper and deeper sleep. The political hacks will trumpet 'values and morals' until the day they've completely gutted this nation of any real wealth or genuine morality.

And the war will rage on and on and on.

Because you see, what ails us in our consumption gone wild, profit uber alles, entertainment addicted, video pacified, hyper-marketplace of orgiastic self gratification, cannot be healed without great pain. Americans have never experienced first hand the effects of all out modern day war within our own boundaries. Sure, lurking somewhere deep in our memory banks are high school history versions of the American Revolution and the Civil War. We've seen the movies and read the books (at least a few have). But we haven't experienced, as a nation, anything near what we've inflicted to a horrific degree on the third world nations who've been forced to experience our peculiar way of liberating them from the evildoers.

And since we don't have any idea first hand what it's like to be occupied and liberated, we see our attempts to pacify others as a good thing. We suffer the delusion that America always uses its power for the good of the world, that our way of life is the only good way and that others are literally dying to have what we have for themselves.

Truth be known we really don't care that much about what it's like to be 'shocked and awed.' We don't care that much about anyone named Abdul being eviscerated by DU enriched weapons while the rest of his family becomes collateral damage statistics that no one seems interested in keeping anyway.

I say 'no one' but that's not true.

There are millions of Americans who hate what they see our country becoming and are working hard to bring some semblance of perspective to the minds of the media medicated.

The internet has great potential .. but the tube is the Almighty God of perception management. And the bad guys own the tube. Visual messages are powerful and damn near inescapable. Over and over and over and over again we are bombarded with the messages that consumption is good, Wal Mart is our pal, the corporations are building a better world through innovative technology, non English speaking foreigners with Arabic or other unpronounceable names are evil, Fox News is fair and balanced, liberals are anti-American, pharmaceutical poisons are good, marijuana evil. Hate homos and abortionists .. love the flag, love the god who blesses the wealthy of this great land .. venerate the powerful, abhor the homeless ...

Yeah, the evil bastards have won. But what price will victory extort?

The rest of the world HATES us. And that can't be good long term, nor short term for that matter.
---------------------------
Everyone's mother once told them, 'If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all.'

Maybe there's wisdom in that advice.

Maybe it's better to just ride off into the sunset and accept defeat gracefully.

Accept the inevitable and face our day of reckoning as adults. But in the meantime, using our powers of persuasion and our mental capabilities for the greater good. Mentally build a better tomorrow and who knows? It just may come to pass. Life post-apocalypse may contain the seeds to a wiser future.

Some of the hardiest of us may live to find out.

Blogging, Three Months In

2005-08-02T16:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I've posted a few things.

Relevant articles, methinks, on American democracy, media matters, political Christianity, etc.

But what does it accomplish?

I blog, therefore I am.

An apt description of today's quest for meaning.

Blogging allows one to express oneself .. to surf the info world and try to bring some of it home to roost, where hopefully, it may do some good.

But who are we kidding, really?

Blogs open up an alternative universe. One wherein a different truth resides.

In the world of realpolitick the status quo prevails. I fear that it shall always be that way. The forces aligned against us are just too great.

Who has the money to counter the billions spent to shape current reality?

No one.

We can rant and rave and talk sense and truth .. but ultimately, who gives a flip? What type of person concerns himself with the lunatic fringe? What can one possibly gain from such a stance?

Sanity, perhaps.

A sense of purpose, a sense that one day, just maybe, the truth will out.

That all will be swept up in a tide of understanding and that peace will reign on this war torn planet of ours.

But I don't believe it, not even for a minute.

I have NO faith in the collective wisdom of modern man.

As my favorite songster states,

"It's dog eat dog, and it's cat and mouse,
you know that it's close your eyes and you roll the dice and you shut your filthy mouth,
and it's dog eat dog,
it's time to push and shove, because everybody's hungry,
and there just isn't quite enough.

That's right I'm talkin about the good life, in the foodchain, love among the ruins,
I guess that you finally come to accept that its just nothing you can do about it,
It's kinda like carving the turkey, kinda like mowing the lawn, everything gets to this, certain to mention, winds up on a customer's plate and then gone."

And this,

"Just because we're hypnotized that don't mean that we can't dance."

I recently watched Alex Jones' "911; Road To Tyranny"

Many will write Jones off as a paranoid delusioniac but if just a fraction of what's reported in this video is true, we are 'knee deep in the hoopla' as Mott the Hoople once sang.

Hypnotized dancers. Damn if that ain't us.

Life goes on per usual in this once great land of ours and we pretend that all is well. The talking heads tell us the economy is robust. Truth is, we're bankrupt and getting deeper every day. Even the blindest of us realize this intuitively, though we prefer to believe the opposite. The myth of American ingenuity. Bears sit out the 'boom' while bulls fatten their accounts.

The whiz kids on Wall Street figure out how to turn shit into gold. If that ain't alchemy, nothing is.

Maybe Darwin was right. It all comes down to 'survival of the fittest.'

How sad that would be for us if this were true. The strong profitting at the expense of the weak.
It sure seems to play out that way in 'real life.'

But I don't buy it.

If I learned anything from biblical Christianity as represented by Jesus Christ, it's that it's the 'poor and the weak' that shall ultimately prevail.

It has to be.

Numbers are overwhelmingly on our side.

Which takes me back to one of Jones' hypotheses. That the few, the elite, realize the mismatch and are using all the forces at their disposal to minimize the potential of the masses.

Here's raw truth.

The few control the many.

Whenever the many stand up and demand a fair share, the few use every weapon in their arsenal to crush the many. That's why 'liberal' has become such a dirty word. That's why ideologies like 'socialism' have been so demonized.

In order for the 'few' to maintain its power over the 'many' it must succeed in its quest to make the needs of the 'few' seem much more 'American' than the needs of the 'many.'

Hence, the wealthy right's use of its greatest tool, the media, to create the illusion that to stand up for the weak is an assault on 'liberty.'

Clever.

And Highly Effective.

We have been sold the idea that might = right.

And we've bought into it hook, line and sinker.

I don't hate wealth. Just how it's distributed. Every last one of us, living on this planet deserves their fair share. But there's no concept of 'fair' in today's economies. The elite accept their advantage as 'God given.' And that advantage must be defended at all costs. The 'few' must maintain its hegemony over the 'many.'

That's the 'system' and the way it's always worked throughout history.

The 'few' espouse great belief in the transcendent. The power of the Almighty.

Yet they lack the faith to see that what's provided is adequate for all.

So they hoard and scheme.

And their hoarding creates the injustices and inequalites that are so prevalent in our modern world.

It's always been that way.

Does that mean it will always be that way?

I vote no.

I vote for 'liberty and justice for all.'

Even the hated 'terrorists.'

They deserve their fair share too.

Perhaps, in this view, there's a tiny seed that can grow into a great oak. The idea that the Earth abounds with plenty. The idea that the 'Creator' saw fit to provide enough so that even the least of us can be satisfied.

That's what I believe.

The task before us now is to wade through the myths of 'lack' and to come to the realization that there's plenty for all.

How we distribute this wealth is what our politics should be based upon.

Not the hoarding, 'me, me, me' rationalization that exists today.

We need to wake up to the fact that this world is all that we can know. We need to realize its potentials and strive to make these potentials 'reality.'

At least, that's how I see it.

A Month Without The Tube

2005-08-01T17:06:00.000-05:00

On July 1, the cable TV that I had had access to for 7+ years was cut off.

Prior to July 1, cable was included in my rent. I used it mainly to monitor the mainstream press... Fox News, MSNBC .. O'Reilly, Hannity, Matthews, et al.

No longer being included in my rent, I was faced with the decision to either 'feed the beast' through a new cable hookup .. at 40 bucks per month, or to do without.

I chose to do without.

I can't remember a time in my life without TV. It's such a part of American life that to be without it is almost to be un-American. It's what shapes our values and our worldviews. It's the window whereby we view the world.

The world portrayed by American television is a world wherein American values dominate. Our media constantly upholds the idea that America is exceptional in all that it does. Our wars are just wars, designed to further 'peace, democracy and human rights.'

To hold opinions counter to the myth of American exceptionalism is to be 'anti-American' and 'unpatriotic.'

Living without television and relying solely upon the Internet for news and views allows one to experience a very different reality. The beauty of the Internet is that anyone with a voice is able to express their view. Anyone with an opinion is able to express it.

Granted, many of these voices are biased and stilted towards a particular view.

Wide reading allows one to determine fact from fiction.

Still, all commentary on our complex society demands that we weigh carefully the information presented, that we use common sense and our inborn sense of what's good and right and truthful in order to divide fact from fantasy. This is a difficult task but one that is mandatory if we hope to be informed citizens, capable of being effective in a participatory democracy.

I went almost a month without TV. But a powerful force looms upon the horizon.

This force melts all resolve.

This force is so all-powerful that it's capable of overcoming the strongest resistance. This force demands the attention of every red-blooded American male and many of its women.

This is revelation.

This is 21st century truth.

ONE force is capable of perverting the best of the best laid plans.

And I shamelessly succumb to its power.

What is this great force?

NFL football.

Yes, I, your humble correspondent am incapable of envisioning a world without the NFL. Regardless of how shamelessly it presents itself.

So I'm back on the feeding tube.

But this time, it's the 'free TV' perspective.

All I have is ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, TBN and a smattering of local access channels.

All that I can get from an amplified antenna.

I find TBN to be the most entertaining of them all.

Joyce Meyer, Jessie Duplantis, Rod Parsley, Bishop Jakes, Benny Hinn, John Hagee, Creflo Dollar ... these are the voices that instruct red state America, and through them, the forces that shape our nation.

Pretty scary.

No wonder we opt for the escapist view.

The NFL.

Are you ready for some football?

I am.

Hypothetical Musings

2005-07-26T21:20:00.000-05:00

I framed a letter yesterday that contained a 'what if' scenario.

What if GW all of a sudden started believing his religion? The one that says 'love does no harm to its neighbor.'

What if he were to have a complete spiritual overhaul and speak unadulterated truth to the nation? What if he were to acknowledge the growing list of questions raised by the 911 truth movement? What if he were to fess up about the government's deceptions and prevarications which were instrumental in plunging us headlong into a never ending war on terror? What if this transformation lead to attempts to seek peaceful solutions to the mess the world finds itself in now?

More than likely he'd only have one shot. And once he was through, the media and pundits would go into full bore damage control in their attempts to assure us that what we had heard wasn't what we heard.

But would it make a difference and would the American people respond? And in what way? Would we examine our on failings and take steps to address them?

This is all hypothetical, of course, and as such, it's an exercise in questioning what we believe about what we 'believe' more than anything else.

First and foremost, is this type of spiritual overhaul even possible? Most evangelical Christians would automatically answer with an unequivocal and resounding 'yes.'

We've all known people who have made drastic turnarounds in their behavior, usually due to some type of spiritual influence. People who have acknowledged the damage they've done to others throughout their lifetimes and sincerely desired to make amends. Whatever the cost to themselves personally.

Is there a god actively working in the hearts of men, slowly refining and perfecting their character? Is this god accessible through words written in a book? Do these words have power?

Thinking along these lines was what made me frame my hypothetical situation. And I used GW because so many believe he's the 'real deal.' Plus, being the 'most powerful man in the world,' should he radically change, his change would gather lots of attention.

What I was seeking was a 'tipping point.' The point where enough people would wake up to the dangers confronting our nation enough to sacrifice their luxury of being apathetic and begin to seek understanding in order to do their part to turn the tide of history that appears to be threatening all that we say we love about our land. It would take something drastic.

One thing I'm NOT saying is that the answer lies in some type of simplistic, hyper-literalizing, fundamentalist, believe or burn, pseudo Christianity. It more than likely doesn't have anything to do with church Christianity at all. Maybe not even with Christianity at all.

Much of what is good that is attributed to Jesus in the bible is a wisdom common to all cultures throughout all time. The best of Native American culture and their respect for the land and the life giving Spirit, the wisdom from the east, from Lao Tzu to Gandhi. The quest for wisdom and the desire to live life responsibly and sustainably has been a common pursuit and yearning of all thinking peoples of all time.

Which takes me back to my former question. Is there a god 'out there' working through the hearts of us 'down here?' Does this god direct history and the lives of individuals? Would the high thoughts attributed to this god be able to penetrate the hearts of state figures who pay lip service to this power but deny it with their actions? Is this power capable of turning the hardest of hearts and the darkest of spirits to the light? If so, then what?

At one time I was sure I knew the answer to these questions. Today I am not as certain. My thinking about what god is has broadened ... things aren't as 'black and white' to me as they once were.

At one time I believed 'all things are possible with God.' That's what the book says. But I don't see enough examples to convince me any longer that this is absolute truth. Maybe all things are possible for 'man' .. if we react correctly to the Universal Mind that creates all ... our own minds being a part of the Universal Mind. But I remain unsure.

But I know a scenario that would go a long way towards convincing me.

A hypothetical scenario.

Blog Bytes, News and Tidbits

2005-07-25T16:20:00.000-05:00

From Urban Survival

Labor Self Destructing

Labor has failed to expose the "Big Lie" of "free trade" for what it really is - which has 2% to do with free trade and 98% with encouraging corporations to play labor rate differentials in order to fatten their "profits" while failing to realize that in doing so, they have rotted the core of American enterprise and thrown away any pretense of moral leadership by the U.S. Money first, people last. Forget self sufficiency and economy of scale - this is the world of big box stores and slave labor camps in the third world. But, mind you it's a profitable concept before the system implodes.

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CAFTA Is Bad For Your Health link

Just days ago, the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Rome approved a regulatory framework that would eventually phase out over-the-counter sale of vitamins, minerals, herbs, and other food-based nutritional aids. This ruling would nullify the Dietary Supplement, Health and Education Act of 1994, which was enacted after the federal Food and Drug Administration threatened to ban vitamins and other non-drug supplements. To enforce the terms of that ban, armed FDA agents conducted a highly publicized raid on the office of "vitamin doctor" Jonathan Wright, trashing his office, seizing records, and harassing his patients.

It is estimated that roughly half of the money spent by Americans on health care is invested in non-medical dietary supplements. Outraged over the FDA’s totalitarian ambitions and thuggish tactics, millions of Americans supported the 1994 legislation. Undaunted, proponents of totalitarian medicine – and their allies in politically connected pharmaceutical companies – simply appealed to a "higher" venue, the Codex Commission. Established by the UN in 1961, the Commission "establishes guidelines to harmonize trade in food," explains one European account of the recent decision.

Prior to creation of the World Trade Organization a decade ago (with the valuable help of Republican leaders Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole), the Codex Commission was an utterly toothless institution, providing a sinecure for bureaucratic place-holders and abetting the slaughter of innocent trees to generate paper cluttered with worthless pronouncements. But with the WTO in place, the Commission now has the means to enforce its rulings. Through the targeted use of trade sanctions, the WTO has the means to compel nations to obey its rulings; on several occasions, the Bush administration has meekly obeyed the global trade body’s edicts. Thus the Codex Commission has made it known that it expects all nations to "harmonize" their regulations governing dietary supplements with its new regulatory framework.

This is where CAFTA comes into the picture. Like the NAFTA agreement and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), CAFTA contains a provision called the "Sanitary Phytosanitary Measures Agreement," which would require all signatory nations to "harmonize" their domestic food safety standards to those issued by the Codex Commission. John C. Hammell of International Advocates for Health Freedom points out that the "safety standards" imposed by the Commission in essence treat vitamins as potentially dangerous drugs, imposing "Maximum Safe Permitted Levels" of potency that would make them practically useless.

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How Internet Freedom
Got The Federal Ax
And Why Corporate News Censored the Story
By Elliot D. Cohen Ph.D

The days are now numbered for surfing an uncensored, open-access Internet, using your favorite search engine to search a bottomless cyber-sea of information in the grandest democratic forum ever conceived by humankind. Instead you can look forward to Googling about on a walled-off, carefully selected corpus of government propaganda and sanitized information "safe" for public consumption. Indoctrinated and sealed off from the outer world, you will inhabit a matrix where every ounce of creative, independent thinking that challenges government policies and values will be squelched. Just a wild conspiracy theory, you say? No longer can this be rationally maintained.

Federal government--from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to the White House--and corporate mainstream media have worked cooperatively to quietly block open access to cyberspace. Seizing its infrastructure, corporate mainstream media have censored and covered up its logistical moves"including lobbies in Congress and the FCC, the filing of suits in state and federal courts, and quid pro quo with the highest government officials--to commandeer, monopolize, and turn the Internet into an extension of itself. From Fox News to CNN, there has been dead silence as the greatest bastion of democracy in history is being torn down and resurrected in its own image. Now, as the corporate newsrooms remain mum, it has gotten the green light from the highest federal court in the land. Read More

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From the current issue of Harper's

"Estimated total number of tons by which American adults are overweight; 1,180,000
Total weight, in tons, of the population of the Los Angeles metropolitan area; 883,000

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I continue to be impressed by the analysis of Jack Whelan at After The Future

Feeding the Beast. "Anything goes" is the mantra of Liberalism. It's really what we mean when we talk about "freedom" in the modern sense. The Liberal spirit is the spirit of bursting traditional restraints and reveling in limitless horizons. And it manifests first and foremost in the spirit that over the last 500 years has driven capital, science, and technological advance. And the spirit of Liberalism always saw itself as in a pitched battle with the forces of reaction--the church and the old landed aristocracy, who were always scheming for ways to bring back the old order.

The Liberal spirit was always the spirit of rationality as contrasted with superstition--of progress and growth as contrasted with the stagnant, authoritarian ancien regime. Progress was driven by technological innovation, by a new class or meritocrats, so many ambitious Ben Franklins who sought to do well for themselves while contributing to scientific and technological progress. It was the spirit of a nouveau regime that was very, very impressive in the results that it produced. It's at the heart of what we call Yankee ingenuity.

It's for this reason that the political right in this country doesn't have a problem with giving these three dynamos--capital, science, and technological advance--unrestrained license to do as they please so long as they produce wealth. "That's what makes America great," it reasons. "It's our tradition. It's what makes us Americans." And most Americans nod in agreement when such sentiments are expressed.

The political right has no problem with the unrestrained pursuit of profit, which in moral language is called Greed. And it gets into a major snit when anyone suggests that some restraints be put on that impulse. "That interferes with the mystic powers of the free market," they argue. "You can't interfere with the freemarket; everyone knows that. It's un-American. To do so is communistic. And everyone knows that communists are atheists, so therefore any program to control freemarkets must be atheistic."

So it strikes me as richly ironic that many of the people who see the freemarket as the most sacred of American ideals are also the ones who are most upset about how America has lost its soul and has become morally corrupted. If 'anything goes' is the mantra of the economic sphere, why shouldn't it also be the mantra of the cultural sphere? If it's ok for the freemarket to operate according to the anything-goes, if-it-makes-money-do-it logic of greed, why shouldn't people in their private lives operate according to the anything-goes, if-it-feels-good-do-it principle of lust. Why is it ok for a traditional vice in one part of our lives but not another?

Consumer capitalism and cultural decadence go hand in hand. We're not talking about capitalism in the sense of independent self-reliant farmers and small business people here. We're talking about how large concentrations of capital and power corrupt. When economic of political institutions become so large and powerful, as they have become over the last 150 years, they function as voracious behemoths that exist outside of human control. This beast has to be fed, we tell ourselves, or the whole thing falls apart, and we'll all be hunters and gatherers again. So we find ourselves serving its needs rather than making it serve ours. Making the beast serve our needs is called interfering with the free market, and that is sacrilege.

There is in my mind one defining difference between the kind of Republicans who are running the country now and the ragtag coalition of people who call themselves progressives (some of whom are Democrats).The Republicans celebrate the beast and will do anything it wants; the progressives seek to tame it to make it serve real human needs. The former, like primitives propitiating a wrathful deity, say "Feed it, do as it commands, and it will not harm us." That craven sentiment is in my view at the root of our cultural and social decadence. It renders us passive and spiritually inert. It is the bargain slaves make in submitting to their masters: "If I surrender my freedom to him, he won't kill me. I will serve him, and he will keep me safe."

For me this is the most important meaning of the last election. A majority of Americans, frightened by terrorists abroad and the moral confusion posed by homosexuals at home, decided to submit to the Big Daddy party which tells them what they wanted to hear--that everything is going to be all right, that Daddy is in control, and that he will take care of the bad guys.

Well the Republicans are not in control, they don't really understand what is going on, and there is every indication that they are going to make things much, much worse. Everything they do is about feeding the beast rather than taming it. We've given them another four years, and the beast will just get bigger and stronger and harder to deal with during that time.

In any event this is the choice that is put before Americans: Rule or be ruled. Submit to the beast or tame it. Trying to understand what taming it means will be at the center of what I write about here in the weeks to come. *************************************************

My Letter to Jack Whelan

I agree with your hypothesis that the "old is over and the future paradigm is not yet."

Something different is coming .. what, we don't know yet. It could be horribly destructive or socially liberating. More than likely it will be a combination of the two.

I'm a bit of a flake so I consider all the views that interest me. I read the New Agey type of stuff, not giving lots of credence to it but accepting its premise that the possibility of a new awakening might be forthcoming.

In one of your posts you talk about it being winter and that seeds are scattered. We don't know yet what will issue forth from those seeds.

I remain optimistic about our future but conversely, I'm deeply concerned about where current policy will ultimately lead us.

A new vision is critical.

What will be the tipping point?

What if .. what if GWB's profession of faith is genuine? What if a mustard seed of faith has been planted in his heart and that it's germinating there even now as we speak?

I got to thinking about this last night and tried to imagine how that would play itself out.

What if, say, during a State of the Union address, GW was to all of a sudden, ignore the teleprompters and begin to speak from the heart?

What if the seed growing inside him, his daily bible readings, his profession turned out to be real?

I don't know about you, but I've had these moments of conviction where I realized that how I was living my life was not living up to my ideals.

Is it possible that GW could have that type of moment?

And if he did, what would be its ramifications?

Would he have his 'Howard Beale' moment and speak truth to power?

I've considered the condition of the world and have concluded that nothing short of divine intervention is capable of 'righting the course.'

What form would that take?

Does it mean a one on one type of revelation, ultimately tipping the scales, or could one who holds the fate of the free world in his hands profoundly affect how we see and react to our world?

Granted, this is a pipe dream, it's not realpolitick.

But what if it was?

Is God capable of shaping world events or is he a disinterested bystander?

Try as I might, I can't hate GWB. Even though I hate everything he represents. I hate his policies and I agree with you that he's instrumental in destroying the safeguards that protect the common man from 'Big Money.'

But does he answer to a higher power? And will the faith that he professes bear fruit in his political life?

How can one read daily the words of Jesus (as Bush professes to do) and not be convicted by their deeper meaning?

It's a long shot and highly unlikely yet nevertheless it's not outside the realm of possibility.

Maybe we should focus our prayers in that direction.

That is, if we believe in the efficacy of prayer.

I believe it's time to own up to what we profess. God is either moved by our pleas or he isn't.
He's either capable of responding to the heartfelt needs of his followers or he isn't.

I don't expect God to come down and 'rapture' us out of our condition. After all, 'as you sow, so shall you reap.'

I believe America has a lot of reaping to do. We have 'sowed a wind' and shall 'reap a whirlwind.'

And rightly so.

But there's such a thing as grace and therein lies our hope.

G

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More From Mr. Whelan

2005-07-23T19:08:00.000-05:00

What is Morality For? I've been struggling to put my finger on why I find the morality of the fundamentalists and dogmatists so offensive. And the main thing I come up with, and it's implied in what I've written about it in the last several months, is that it is counterfeit morality. This is not to say that the people who practice this counterfeit morality are not sincere. Sincerity has very little to do with genuine moral behavior.

The young fanatic Maoists in the cultural Revolution were quite sincere in believing they were doing the right thing for their country. The same is true for the devotion that is at the bottom of Islamic terrorism. All those who died in Jonestown were quite sincere in their belief that Jim Jones was their savior. There is a kind of sincere idealism that leads lots of people into behavior that propagandists tell them is moral, but which is profoundly immoral and destructive. And I see the idealism that is often characteristic of the people who are attracted to mainstream fundamentalism and dogmatism, insofar as it is belief in someone else's propaganda, as having a similar alienating and destructive effect in the soul.

Counterfeit morality is all about appearing good and being approved by the group, whoever that group might be. It's about feeling good about oneself as reflected in the social mirror. A genuine morality is about becoming good--deeply, genuinely good. Not just going through the motions--but being there. You can't just decide to be good, but you can decide to undertake the task by which one grows in goodness. And that is always a task that begins in humility and ends in love.

Such an undertaking, therefore, never has any room for self-righteousness or the sanctimonious condemnation of others who behave in ways that we don't approve. A counterfeit morality comes from the desire to believe that we are better than we are. In order to feel better about ouselves we need to have people upon whom we can look down. When we see people we care about acting in a self-destructive way, we feel dismay, not self-righteous. There's a difference when we love the wrongdoer, isn't there? Or there should be. There is an inverse relationship between real love and the sanctimony that is all about social approval and disapproval. Real love always trumps whatever tendencies we have to sanctimony, and we all have them.

This is the essence of Phariseeism and of the whited-sepulcher syndrome that comes with it. ("...for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones..." Matthew 23:27 ) And one the the most telling characteristics of whited sepulcher syndrome is resentment and hatred toward those who do not conform to the moral standards that one sets for himself. The psychological reason for this is well understood. We project onto others the unsavory parts of ourselves we refuse to acknowledge. We see in others what we cannot bear to see in ourselves. And we hate it.

That's why the path to a genuine morality begins in humility; it begins with owning our projections, with recognizing how deluded we are about our own goodness, and in recognizing that however moral we may appear to others, it is nothing but whited-sepulcher syndrome if there hasn't been a resurrection of the dead, rotting corpse inside. And when that corpse comes back to life, his attitude is more like that of the Father toward his prodigal son than that of the attitude of his brother. The Father, who is the image of deep, radiant goodness, longs for everyone to be good as he is good. And the point of the story is that the younger son is closer to becoming truly good because at least he recognizes how far from goodness he is, whereas the older son thinks he's already arrived. I would not say that the younger son is a better man than the older at the end of the story, but he has a better chance of becoming a truly good man because he has come to see himself more realistically.

What is this thing rotting inside the whited sepulcher? I think of it as the fallen image. We were all created in the image and likeness of God. It's in that that our dignity as human beings lies. But the image is like a mirror that has been shattered and must be restored. It's a heap of bones that must be reassembled and called back to life. And this is what in Christian language we mean by the difference between the natural man and the regenerate man. The natural man is well understood, and he operates according to laws and principles which the Darwinians and Nietzscheans have explained accurately and well. For them there is no image of God, shattered or whole, in the soul.

But the regenerate man or woman is the natural man "plus." And the "plus" is the thing that makes all the difference. It's this small subtle thing that starts growing in the soul, something the size of a mustard seed, but which as it grows has this tendency to turn things upside down or inside out. It is in this sense that we become Logos bearers. We grow the Logos, or image or reflection of the Logos, in the soul soil within. This growth is not something that happens overnight. It is a slow process. It's not something that we can will, although it requires our effort. As a gardener does not provide the life force that makes his flowers grow, he must nevertheless work diligently to drain and prepare the soil, and when the seeds germinate to keep his plot free of weeds and to nourish it with fertilizer and water. He must be vigilant to chase away the pests that would infect and destroy his plants.

Most of us are lazy gardeners when it comes to the care we must give for the growing of this new man or woman inside. I know I am. It's all the more difficult if we don't understand the nature of the task. But I have been privileged to meet a few people in whom this growth within advanced to a degree that I know I shall never attain. And to be with them is to bask in the radiance of the true, deep goodness. So the same is true for us if we are to have any success in restoring the shattered image within.

Borrowed from After The Future

Mixed Nuts

2005-07-23T14:56:00.000-05:00

This comes from Jack Whelan at After the Future.
I do a lot of blog surfing and this is by far one of the best ones out there imo. Thoughtful, solution based analysis, something sorely needed at this particular time in world history.

Paul Harvey Tells It like It Is. Here's an excerpt from his commentary on June 23:

We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and across this continent by giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans. That was biological warfare. And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever.

And we grew prosperous. And yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which--feeling guilty about their savage pasts--eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy.

It's true, and it's refreshing for someone like Harvey to articulate the mentality that is at the heart of the right wing of this country. Who's more American than Paul Harvey? But this is the American wolf without his sheep disguise. It's eat or be eaten. No attempt to sugarcoat it, because, well, real Americans aren't made of sugar candy, con sarn it. In my opinion this is essentially where neocons like Charles Krauthammer are coming from, but he wouldn't be so straightforward in saying it--he sugarcoats it. His columns are about putting the wolf back in its sheep disguise with talk of spreading democracy and freedom.

But if this grabbing is what has made us Americans great, we're no better than anyone else. I accept the argument that this is the way of the world, but Americans were supposed to be about creating something new, something unseen before. But if this is all we are, we're not about something new; this is just the same old, same old. We're not great; we're quite ordinary. We are, as Harvey suggests, just a very temporary king of the hill waiting to be knocked off by the next young buck. It is all so tediously predictable.

Look this wolf in the eyes and ask yourself if this is the America that you believe in. It's the one that people running things these days believe in. Harvey reinforces the point I made earlier this week. If this is really who we are, we are no better than all the dime-a-dozen warmongers who have lived throughout history. The idea that America was supposed to be better than that has been made a mockery by the right wing minority of this country. And the rest of us have let it because our fear has made us stupid.

America was supposed to be better than that. We aspired to be a light shining on a hill, but we've become just another tin-pot empire. If that's your idea of greatness, you don't understand what America stands for at all.

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Seems you can't swing a dead cat around the blogosphere these days without hitting a 'bird flu' link. The possiblity of an avian flu pandemic appears to be on the minds of a lot of people these days and they're quite concerned.

Should I be? Should you be?

I dunno, but here's a few links.

Effective Measure
Flu Wiki

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One of the more mind boggling things going on these days is the crop circle phenomenon.
What boggles is the incredible perfection of the designs. There's a lot of geometry that goes into the making of some of these things and if you were to draw them on paper you'd need to start with several underlying shapes, layering them until you get to the finished design, then erase all the superfluous lines. How do you do that in a field of wheat?

Suzanne Taylor at The Conversation.org has provided pictures of some of the best of 2005 so far. You can see them along with some of her commentary here.

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Here's a must see DVD.

"What The Bleep Do We Know?"

This movie/documentary will literally 'blow your mind.'

It's all about quantum physics and how we perceive the world through our consciousness. It poses some serious questions about what exactly is reality. I had been exposed to many of these ideas before but never in such a comprehensive, entertaining way. This film will challenge your perceptions and cause you to think deeply about how you see the world.

One of the subjects covered in the film shows how each emotion that we experience has a corresponding chemical generated in the brain called 'peptides.' These peptides are released into our bloodstream seeking receptors to link up with at the cellular level. These chemicals corresponding to anger, love, lust, rage, etc. are every bit as potent as heroin or any other addictive substance. By reacting in certain ways to certain situations we change our 'neuro-net' and literally become addicted to our emotions.

Change your thinking, change your life. This film provides scientific evidence for the possibility of life altering change.

Don't miss it.

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Part Four, Living the Carefree Life

2005-07-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

I left Port Arthur by bus, destination, Strawn, Tx. ... a small Texas town of approx. 500 ... equidistant from Ft Worth, Tx and Abilene .. about 76 miles, each direction.

I hit town with my new backpack having no clue what to expect. My brother in law had told me that I would be picked up by the fellow who would be employing us to haul hay for him.

Around three in the afternoon, a middle aged man approached me and asked my name. I told him and he said, "Let's go."

He took me to his house and introduced me to his wife. He showed me to my room and said that my brother-in-law should show up sometime in the next couple of days.

This was my introduction to West Texas hospitality.

And it was pretty good.

My host owned the only grocery store in town as well as two 18 wheelers that my bro in law and I were to use to bring back loads of hay from around Carlsbad, New Mexico and sell to the farmers/ranchers in the Strawn vicinity.

I was somewhat taken aback by the laid back, casual, easy-going trust that my presence engendered in my hosts. Not long after being settled into my room, my hosts took off to parts unknown for personal business and left me alone in their home.

It was a slice of small town Americana that I had never encountered before.

But I appreciated the dynamics of it and did what I could to 'settle in.'

The rain which greeted me in Strawn soon turned to all-out West Texas unabated cyclonic fury. For the first time I began to understand how fragile life on this planet is as I was accosted by violent storm, wind and tornado.

Welcome to West Texas, I guess.

My hosts returned the next morning and took me with them as we surveyed the damage of the previous night's storm.

Roofs ripped off, houses decimated, trees uprooted .. I was impressed by the sheer power of it all. The indiscrimination that nature reserves to itself as it casually upends the lives of the many who thought their existance was profitable and comfortable.

Thankfully, the sun was out, birds were singing and I was ready to see what this next stage of my life was about to reveal.

My brother in law, Beaudine .. an Okie from Muskogee, if there ever was one .. showed up a couple of days after my arrival.

By now, I was ready to do whatever it was that we were going to do.

And what we were going to do was this... we were going to take our host's 18 wheeler into Carlsbad, NM and purchase hay .. we were going to bring this hay back to Strawn and sell it to the farmers and ranchers of the surrounding area.

Sounded like fun to me.

And it was .. but a lot of work as well. Dispensing a truckload of hay is hard work. The bales weighed anywhere from 50 to 75 lbs. and there were a whole bunch of them in each load. Our job was to unload the hay in barns owned by ranchers who used the hay to feed their large herds of cows.

Needless to say, this wasn't like selling stereos.

It was hard work.

But satisfying labor nonetheless.

This was my introduction to the carefree, day to day, live it as it comes lifestyle.

And I loved it.

We'd drive to Carlsbad, load up with hay, sell it and unload it and repeat the process. There was barely enough time for a shower before we headed out again. We were on the road constantly and enjoying the trucker's life. We ate greasy burgers at truckstops and reveled in the seeming freedom of it all. For someone as structured as I had been, this was heady stuff.

Nothing tastes as good as a cold beer after a hot day's work.

And Strawn had two cafes, one across the street from the other and each attempted to outdo the other in its offerings.

Beaudine and I were the grateful recipients of their largesse.

Life had settled into an easy albeit, sweaty routine.

And after each trip there was always cash. Not a lot, to be sure, but enough to make for a fun, almost carefree summer.

This was the first time in my life that I had ever abandoned myself to such reckless dependence on 'luck.' And it couldn't have been much better.

Our hosts kept us well fed, provided shelter and seemed genuinely appreciative of the work that we were doing on their behalf.

But, there was a downside that threatened our cozy arrangement.

Every foray introduced technical problems that threatened our security.

We were constantly besieged with breakdowns to our transportation that seemed intent on destroying the easy life that hauling hay in W. Tex was providing for us.

One time, as we were southbound through southern New Mexico, on the JAL highway, my brother in law glanced in his rearview mirror and a look of consternation made me ask, "What's the problem?" He said, "Well, it's probably nothing but it looks like the brakes are on fire."

Excuse me, but anything having to do with fire and a load of hay seemed like big probs to me.

We pulled over, doused the fire, and continued on our way .. meanwhile we had other problems brewing. Seems the thermostat was giving us fits and we had to deal with a constantly overheating radiator.

This was just one trip .. every trip out presented us with a host of problems. I jokingly stated that we should name our venture the "SBW Trucking Company." SBW standing for spit and bailing wire as it seemed that that was all that was holding us together.

Beaudine had an affinity for hard liquor. Seems he really loved the spell that Jack Daniels put upon him. This was a cause for concern, to be sure.

I had never driven an 18 wheeler, but, one night, as my bro in law suffered the incapacitations of inebreiation, I found it necessary to step up and take on the duties of driving the truck and getting us to our destination in southern NM.

By the grace of God, we made it.

But, this was to be our last trip.

When we returned to W. Tx we found virtually no market for our product. Seems the barns were full. All of a sudden, we had to find other markets for our hay. And it wasn't that easy.

So we did what we had to do, eventually selling at a loss.

Our carefree days were numbered.

It was time to take stock of the situation and I, never one to overstate the immediate, decided to call it quits.

I asked my bro in law to return me to San Antonio and he said OK.

Now, I was back in the adopted hometown, looking for a way to maintain my existance.

What follows impacted my life beyond comprehension.

I'll tell you about it next time.

2005-07-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

Rainy Morning

Pottermania

2005-07-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

I work for a major bookselling corporation.

Harry Potter hit our world today in a big way.

Midnight parties, 100's if not 1000's of people lining up for the opportunity to be the first to get the new Harry novel.

I could be cynical.

Ok, I am cynical.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the mass hysteria.

It made the day fly by.

But then I think about the 'mass mind.'

Millions of kids chomping at the bit to get to the latest Rowling offering.

10.8 million was the initial printing.

That's a buncha books.

All these kids, experiencing the same thing. All reading the same books. All drawing the same conclusions.

Is this mass hypnosis?

Damn if I know.

But 10.8 million kids all experiencing the same 'reality' at one time. It has to make you think. Are kids being cloned?

Are they all being conditioned to think exactly the same way? Today it's Harry .. what will it be tomorrow?

Let your imagination run wild.

I've heard there's one more book in the series. One more shot at bookselling nirvana.

If today's sales are any indication, the next one will bust the already busted charts big time.

What do you do for an encore?

Hey, I've got an idea.

Perhaps Rowling could team up with Lahaye/Jenkins and write the ultimate apocalyptic novel. By that time, the world will be ripe for it.

Think about it, Harry is revealed as the Anti-Christ (which should fuel the Lahaye/Jenkins fires) ... all the little clones raised up on Harry will follow him to the end. An end that Lahaye/Jenkins longs for so fervently.

The fundy will be happy, Harry exposed as the evil corruptor of Christianity that they percieve him to be, the witch/warlock contingent will be happy to stick one to the Christians.

It's a match made in bookselling heaven.

The more I think of it, the more I think it has to be.

Harry, Left Behind ...

Sweet music to fundy ears.

The perfect ending for our 'moral majority' fundy Apocalypse Now crowd.

I can't wait to see how long this line will be.

Bookselling history in the making.

It will be grand.

the Saga; Part the Third: Prelude to the Cult Years

2005-07-13T23:41:00.000-05:00

So I'm on my trek of discovery.

My home is the road,

My possessions .. what I can carry in a backpack.

I left Tyler, Tx. and since I was so close to Arlington, Tx., I decided to visit my only begotten.

I spent 3 days there, graced with the hospitality of dear ex #1. We talked for hours and I bonded with her kids by her second marriage. I spent what I felt was meaningful time with my son who was in his early 20's by now.

A good time was had by all.

But the road was calling me. I was feeling somewhat "Kerouackian" by now. I needed to see what was out there, what this whole thing called 'life' was all about.

My son reluctantly dropped me off on the outskirts of town one bright, sunny morning. I don't think he was too pleased that dear old dad was a vagabond. But what could I do? I was impelled by a higher calling. I had 4 dollars in my pocket, my son generously gave me what he had on him .. ten bucks and said he thought I was crazy to take off with so little. My response .. God will provide.

My immediate destination was Port Arthur, Tx. where my brother lived. I hadn't seen him in years and I felt this was the time to re-establish connections.

But fate intervened.

My modus operandi at the time was to just start walking. I wouldn't stick out my thumb and ask for assistance but if someone offered a ride, I was willing to accept. I was open to whatever God wanted from me .. I would take what was offered.

About three hours into it, a car pulled over and the driver asked where I was headed. I told him. He asked if I'd mind considering a detour. He had been driving non-stop from Californina headed for Corpus Christi for a business thing. He told me that he would give me 100 dollars if I would drive the rest of the way while he slept.

Manna from heaven was my thinking.

Why not? I have no particular destination. I'm on a trek. I'll let God decide where I go.

So, at this point, rather circuitously, I had begun in San Antonio, made it to Tyler and from there to Arlington and now I would be going to my more or less 'home town.'

I had a sister there.

She was a falling down drunk who needed some guidance. Maybe God decided her big bro was the one to provide what she needed at this time.

I was willing. Plus, the 100 bucks seemed like a fortune by now.

I stayed with my sister in CC for about 2 weeks.

It was strange and wonderfully weird.

I met all her biker buddies and her spaced out boyfriend. During this time, even her ex-husband showed up .. and he invited me to spend the summer with him in W.Tex, hauling hay. I told him I would think about it.

Believe it or not, I had some very interesting in depth spiritual conversations with some very off the wall types. For instance, one guy .. a biker, took off stoned, riding on the back of his friend's Harley. Something happened and this guy, wearing nothing but a thin pair of shorts, ended up sliding on his ass and suffering major road rash burns on his posterior.We had some interesting conversations during his recovery.

One day, while walking to the store, I was propositioned by a crack-whore hooker.

This was at about 10 in the morning.

I wasn't looking for sex but I was looking to 'spread the word' should the opportunity arise.

This seemed like one of those opportunities.

I followed her through the window of the abandoned building where she was staying.

It was a bit freaky, to say the least.

But I was fearless ... I believed God arranged this encounter.

We talked for about 2 hours. Her situation was apparantly hopeless but I was convinced that the gospel had the power to change her life.

Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. I'll never know. But I tried. And after our talk I took her to the grocery store and loaded her up with food.

She was grateful and I was humbled.

Even though I was 'vagabonding' I still felt that I was rich beyond measure. To be able to share what I felt God had provided was powerful stuff.

It affirmed much of what I thought I was looking for. The ability to lend a helping hand .. that's what I wanted.

Even today, every once in a while .. I think back on that encounter and wonder if it did any good.

Let's condense things a little bit.

After two weeks, I left Corpus Christi.

I slept in a field.

I greeted each day with enthusiasm, having no idea what was going to happen next. But I was headed towards Port Arthur. I was curious to see if I would make it.

I walked.

And I walked.

And I walked some more.

Finally, as I reached Kemah, Tx. I was at the point that I felt that I could walk no more. The heat, the humidity .. a fatigue like I had never experienced before in my life was weighing heavily upon me.

I was almost to the point where I wouldn't be able to take another step. I remember thinking, 'God, if you're real, I need help now.'

I decided to ignore my 'only accept rides if they're offered' rule.

I stuck out my thumb.

Immediately .. a car pulled over.

Wow, that was quick.

The guy who picked me up was a throwback to the 'Jesus Freak, hippie days.'

He offered to take me to his house where I could get a shower and rest up before heading out again.

I met his wife and two daughters .. they treated me like family.

After a shower and meal, my host proceeded to pull out his esoteric spiritual literature. He read a passage from the pseudepigraphal 'Book of Enoch' and we were off to the races, so to speak.

I spent three weeks with these folks, sleeping in their broken down van parked in front of their apartment. We devoured his 'scriptures' .. the Pseudipigrapha, the Nag Hammadhi texts, 'the Lost Books of the Bible.' Interesting stuff.

It wasn't all kibbles and bits.

My host was convinced that I needed to be 'born again.'

He suggested fasting until I was able to speak in tongues .. thereby gaining undeniable proof that I was one of God's chosen.

I thought, 'what the heck, I'll give it a try.' I wanted desperately to have proof that I was indeed one of God's elect. If talking in tongues was what it took, and starving myself was the means, I was more than willing.

We fasted for 7 days.

I lived on water and Dentyne gum.

Visions of cheeseburgers were dancing through my brain.

But I persevered.

Earlier in the week I consented to be baptized by my host.

In the wee hours of the morning, we jumped the fence of a motel complex and I was baptized by my host in the motel swimming pool .. speakng in tongues was the all that was left to accomplish, that would 'seal the deal.'

But that was not to be.

One morning, we set out on a job that we had found .. driving Volvos off the boats and delivering them to a holding place where they would be distributed to the Volvo dealers in the Houston area.

As we left his house in the am, I said something like 'we're off to see the wizard ..' .. an innocent recitation of a song in memory,

He came unglued.

He felt I was still stuck in the dark side. This casual mentioning of the 'wizard' was enough for him to know that I was still hopelessly pagan and that no amount of fasting would bring me to the point of speaking in tongues.

We had a major falling out. My second experience of being rejected by
God's 'anointed.'

That was the day I left and continued my aborted journey towards Pt. Arthur, Tx.

Are you getting bored yet??

Ok, so I spent some quality time with my brother. Since I had decided to head west and take up hay hauling for the rest of the summer, my brother outfitted me for the experience. We went shopping and purchased all that I felt I needed for my continued journey.

I was headed west into parts unknown.

The uncertainty of it all was what was so appealing about it.

More to come.

Medical Care; The Dark Side

2005-07-10T22:23:00.000-05:00

People get sick.

Sometimes their sickness requires drug treatment and maybe even hospitalization.

While America is known for outstanding medical care, there is a dark side of the medical profession that rarely gets reported.

Until now.

If you're facing health problems that require doctor's care and/or a stay in a hospital, you owe it to yourself to be aware of the information contained in this report.

Death By Medicine
By Gary Null, PHD; Carolyn Dean, MD/ND; Martin Feldman, MD; Debora Rasio, MD; Dorothy Smith, PHD.

Cause For Real Concern

2005-07-10T21:31:00.000-05:00

There's so much shit going down in the land of Big Pharma (the pharmaceutical drug industry) that I'm not sure where to begin.

Let me preface my remarks by stating that the LAST thing the pharmaceutical industry cares about is the elimination of disease... they profit HUGELY from disease promotion (their number one reason for existance) and suffer GREATLY when inexpensive, natural cures .. time and again .. prove their effectiveness.

It doesn't take much to be convinced of the efficacy of natural cures .. vitamin supplementation, the use of minerals and micronutrients ... the evidence is overwhelming.

THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO PREVENT AND TREAT DISEASE IS TO NOURISH YOUR BODY.

It's so 'common sense' as to be damn near beyond dispute.

But Big Pharma (the world's NUMBER ONE investment business) has declared war on alternative medicine. They constantly market new, virtually untested drugs and foist them on an unsuspecting public.

And now they want to take away your access to vitamins and minerals. (Hint ... vitamins are non-patenable and therefore a huge loss of revenue for Big Pharma).

What happens if, lo and behold, we find out that NATURE provides the nutrients we need to combat 95% of ALL diseases?

I tell you what .. NATURAL CURES WILL BE OUTLAWED, or seriously curtailed.

Check this out .. I bet you didn't know that a seminar is going on as we speak whose sole purpose is to cave in to the desires of the pharmaceutical industry. Their purpose is to define worldwide standards for RDA's of vitamin use. If successful, IT WILL BE ILLEGAL to purchase vitamins such as Vitamin C in large enough doses to be able to treat yourself as you see fit.

They seek to make natural cures DANGEROUS and subject to regulation by ... guess who?... the goddamn drug manufacturers, and their shills, the AMA and the FDA.

Let me repeat .. THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IS THE NUMBER ONE INVESTMENT INDUSTRY IN THE WORLD.

If you want to understand just what that means in our day and age read this.

Interview with Matthias Rath, MD.

Dr. Rath is a major voice in exposing the multi-trillion dollar fraud which is our modern medical system. In this article he ties Big Pharma to the 'war on terror' and shows how their interests are a major reason for why we're fighting the war in Iraq. Please, read it all.

Big Pharma's Agenda
From New Dawn Magazine

Codex Alimentarius
A daunting international agreement of which many remain unaware is the Codex Alimentarius, a set of trade standards originally established to protect consumer health and fair practices in the food trade, but also incorporating guidelines for vitamin and mineral food supplements.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was formed as a joint effort between the United Nations and the World Health Organisation (WHO) back in 1963. Today, it consists of delegates who overwhelmingly represent large multinational pharmaceutical companies and government regulating authorities including the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia.

The guidelines are now intended to control the sale of supplements and herbs and to regulate them as drugs to be manufactured solely by drug companies. In accordance with these guidelines, and at each successive Codex meeting, supplements are being slowly withdrawn from the public domain.

One of the Codex’s main goals is total harmonisation of the food and drug laws of the world’s nations to their standards. This is part of the free trade and privatisation agenda. According to Dr. Zoltan Rona, MD, a well known defender of health freedom in Canada, “the name of the game for Codex is to shift all remedies into the prescription category so they can be controlled exclusively by the medical monopoly and its bosses, the major pharmaceutical firms.”

Codex is dominated by the largest pharmaceutical companies, and it is their profit interests that will determine – without any meaningful review – the health and safety of all of us. Ultimately, the radical measures being pursued by Codex will see the outlawing worldwide of all non-prescription vitamins and health products.

The Codex guidelines, which set the recommended daily intake levels of supplements, are gradually decreasing to a point so low as to make therapeutic or prophylactic doses of supplements impossible, and technically illegal.

One vitamin supplier in Scandinavia was pursued by police for supplying vitamin C tablets that exceeded 200mg. In other words, the amount of vitamin C contained in three oranges made this supplier a criminal. Further to that, possession of one popular supplement, DHEA, in Canada now attracts the same penalties as crack cocaine. The Canadian regulator is now empowered to classify any substance as a drug, even if it is a food that has been safely consumed for millions of years. They have the power to recall or remove it from the market.

Germany and Norway have already complied fully by regulating all supplements and herbs as drugs. In a country with an age-old tradition of natural medicine, no one can freely access these products now. Vitamin C (above 200mg) is illegal, except by prescription and then only from a pharmaceutical company. But first you have to convince your doctor you need it.

The patenting of herbs and other plants is granting authority to multinationals to “safely” lock up herbs for sale and profit. This is being done in the name of “standardisation”, another requirement of Codex. Patenting effectively grants not only sole rights to make or sell a product – in this case a natural “product” – but to actually own it. The ownership of a life form by an individual or corporation.

Australia signed the Codex agreement in 1992. There has already been a Federal police raid on a couple in northern NSW, who planting a Chinese herb in their garden to use as tea.

The TGA is attempting to persuade New Zealand to “harmonise” to the same level as Australia, including the prohibition of any therapeutic claim made with respect to nutritional supplements, even where medical studies exist to support these claims. So far New Zealand has resisted, placing value on health freedom for its citizens. However, failure to “harmonise” with Codex standards will result in sanctions against governments by the World Trade Organisation.

More on "Codex" 7/5/2005

Codex Adopts International Vitamin Guidelines
Global standards for vitamin and mineral supplements were adopted by Codex yesterday, despite some last minute requests for amendments and consumer group campaigns to stall the ratification, writes Dominique Patton.

The guidelines, under discussion by Codex committee members for more than 10 years, recognize vitamin and mineral supplements as a food category, and are expected to expand markets for supplement makers.

“You can’t underestimate the impact of these guidelines. They create a global category of vitamin and mineral supplements – in many countries there is no such category in place,” said Simon Pettman, executive director of the International Alliance of Dietary Supplement Associations (IADSA).

Codex Alimentarius, established by the United Nations in 1961, establishes guidelines to harmonise trade in food and although the standards are not binding, they tend to influence less liberal markets and those without a regulatory framework in place, particularly common in supplements.

Pettman told NutraIngredients.com that more than 60 countries worldwide, including China, India, Taiwan and Mexico, are currently looking at introducing new or amended regulations for vitamin and mineral supplements.

"This means more than 50 per cent of the global population," he said.

One element of the new Codex guidelines is set to be particularly influential for the supplement industry - the basis for setting permitted levels of vitamins and minerals. Last year the committee working on the draft guidelines agreed that maximum levels should be based on risk assessment rather than RDAs (recommended dietary intake), currently used by a number of countries but resulting in significantly lower levels than those based on risk assessment.

However the natural health campaigners Alliance for Natural Health (ANH), which has released a documentary this week describing the threat posed by Codex guidelines, fears that the method for setting maximum levels currently being investigated by a FAO/WHO committee will be based on previously developed systems that it believes are scientifically flawed. These would set the levels much lower than those currently used by many consumers.

The group has commissioned independent risk assessment scientists at the Netherlands-based HAN Foundation to develop new methods for vitamins and minerals.

However John Hathcock, vice president of scientific and international affairs at the US trade association the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), said: "The risk assessment values for vitamins and minerals is always severalfold higher than reference dietary intakes. Of course the risk assessment system could be abused, like any other, but the RDAs are already very low.”

Hathcock noted that the FAO/WHO risk assessment project attempts to harmonise risk assessment methodology across nations but “specifies no numbers whatsoever”.

Hathcock also said that consumer groups claiming that the Codex guidelines would lead to restrictions on supplements were misinformed.

“There are a lot of people who don’t understand what Codex does and how far the WTO powers extend. Codex does not force any country to adopt these guidelines, and the WTO will only force a country to raise standards up to Codex, rather than down from domestic policy.”

Around 85 of the 172 members of Codex Alimentarius are in Rome this week at the body’s Commission meeting, and they were largely in favour of adoption of the guidelines, which also cover packaging, labelling and sources of vitamins and minerals.

The Commission agreed to amend the text following a request from Australia that the word ‘only’ be added to section 1.3 so that it would read: "These guidelines apply only in those jurisdictions where products defined in 2.1 are regulated as foods."

Comments submitted by China that the guidelines should take into account the dietary limitations of each country were included in the minutes but not in the text. Making such changes would have required taking the guidelines back to the committee discussions stage.

“After more than 10 years of discussion it was felt that to bring the text back to the nutrition committee, when a consensus had already been reached last year, would jeopardize the guidelines,” said David Pineda, director of regulatory affairs at IADSA.

He added that the concerns went far beyond the scope of non-binding international standards, and would be more suited to national discussions.

The US-based National Health Federation (NHF), the only consumer organisation with NGO status at Codex, claimed that the Chinese comments were substantive and therefore should have been addressed at the committee level.

FAO is expected to produce a report in a few months on its risk assessment methodology but it will be several years before this is adopted.

Source: www.nutraingredients.com

"Left Behind" ... The Worst Books Ever Written?

2005-07-07T14:09:00.000-05:00

Millions upon millions of Americans have read or are reading the apocalyptic fiction series, "Left Behind."

The series, based on a 'literal' interpretation of the book of Revelation describes the much longed for 'rapture' event anticipated by fundamentalist Christians and the subsequent mayhem experienced by those left behind as the Antichrist comes to power and dominates the world stage.

Author Jerry Jenkins teams up with prophecy 'expert' Tim Lahaye to describe the horrors God has in store for those who don't make the cut.

Does the series accurately portray the message of the bible or are these "The Worst Books Ever Written" as the blogger 'slacktivist' wittily, scathingly, and imo, convincingly suggests?

I read the first book, "Left Behind" and half of the second, "Tribulation Force" before I abandoned the series altogether, finding them poorly written and seemingly aimed at those with about a 6th grade reading level. I was already pretty well versed in the pre-millenial dispensationalist view having been a fundamentalist Christian at that point for several years.

But, as another blogger pointed out, 'Slacktivist reads apocalyptic fiction so you don't have to.'

Click on the above link and see what he has to say about the series and why he (a concerned Christian who understands the greater message of the bible) considers the theology portrayed in the books to be dangerous and evil.

Start at the bottom of the page and work your way to the top so that you can read the posts in chronological order.

His posts are much more entertaining and reveal a truer view of the heart of Christianity than the Lahaye/Jenkins cash cow, Left Behind, is capable of.

The fact that these books represent the viewpoint of millions of Americans should be cause for great concern. Especially when foreign policy is dictated by a president who takes these views to heart.

This Pretty Much Says It All

2005-07-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

I got this from Smirking Chimp.com

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by liberals.

I was informed of this fact by Rush Limbaugh. And Thomas Sowell. And Ann Coulter. And Rich Lowry. And Bill O'Reilly. And William Safire. And Robert Novak. And William F. Buckley, Jr. And George Will.

And John Gibson. And Michelle Malkin. And David Brooks. And Tony Snow. And Tony Blankely. And Fred Barnes. And Britt Hume. And Larry Kudlow. And Sean Hannity. And David Horowitz. And William Kristol. And Hugh Hewitt.

And Oliver North. And Joe Scarborough. And Pat Buchanan. And John McLaughlin. And Cal Thomas. And Joe Klein. And James Kilpatrick. And Tucker Carlson. And Deroy Murdock. And Michael Savage. And Charles Krauthammer. And Stephen Moore. And Alan Keyes.

And Gary Bauer. And Mort Kondracke. And Andrew Sullivan. And Nicholas von Hoffman. And Neil Cavuto. And Matt Drudge. And Mike Rosen. And Dave Kopel. And John Caldara.

The mainstream media in this country are dominated by liberals. the rest of the story

A Glimpse of the American Dream

2005-07-04T21:55:00.000-05:00

This is Jim Kunstler's animation of R. Crumb's "Short History of America."

Worth a look.

2005-07-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

Early morning walk to work

2005-07-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

This is what my camera thought the streetlights looked like as I walked to work this morning.

Let Freedom Ring

2005-07-04T21:00:00.000-05:00

It's the 4th of July.

Fireworks and apple pie.

Today we celebrate our independence.

I would take the time to offer this for your consideration.

Toward An American Revolution; Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions

The foodchain would love to be a gung-ho, 'long may it wave' American.

Especially at this time of the year.

But we've got the blood of the poor on our hands. Try as I might, I'm unable to get into the spirit of the day.

I hope you take the time to read the above link.

Let it sink in real deep.

Now, more than ever, we need to understand our roots.

God Bless America ...

Because at this time in history, no one else will.

And that's a shame.

I lament what could have been and long for what still might be.

In that sense, I honor this land .. as is my duty.

Let us all stand up for the 'spirit' of America. The myth, however misguided.

Let us all act as if we mean it, even if our government doesn't.

"Freedom"

It's more than just a political talking point.

Especially at this time, on this day.

Let freedom ring.

Peace.

Batman Begins ... To Get Pretty Boring About Half Way Through

2005-07-01T22:09:00.000-05:00

I wanted to like this movie.

I had heard nothing but good things about it so I thought I'd check it out.

And I'm not just being a contrarian. "Cinderella Man" for instance... great reviews, great movie. I liked it a lot and recommend it highly.

But 'Batman Begins' .. (too bad he didn't adopt the role as a child, he could have been Batboy).

You've seen this movie a thousand times ... good conquers evil predictably, at the last minute, with lots of action and car crashes and special effects.

Disillusioned billionaire Bruce Wayne, traumatized by the brutal death of his parents, travels around the world to gain an understanding of evil and becomes Super Ninja in the process.

He returns to Gotham City (New York? Sodom?) to become a crime fightin' kind of guy. The city has become so corrupt that even the bad guys (who think they are good guys) want to wipe it out and start over.

Wayne adapts all the super weaponry his father's company developed but had abandoned seeing how it was too expensive and all for the govt to use in its everyday warmaking capacity. Fortunately, this stuff was lying around in the basement of the Wayne Tower where it was lovingly cared for by the avuncular Morgan Freeman character.

Gotham City (the system) is threatened with destruction... Wayne, the wealthiest of the wealthy uses the power of the system (all those neat gadgets and gizmos) to save the system. Yay .. the system works and lives to plunder another day.

I guess the message here is that those with the potential of wielding the greatest power are incorruptible though they labor in a corrupted system.

Wayne/Batman saves Gotham City from certain destruction, saves the damsel in distress, takes over his father's vast empire presumably intending to transform it into a kinder, gentler more benevolent means of capital accumulation.

It's the billionaires who will save the world from its poverty stricken, crime-ridden self. That's the message I got from 'Batman Begins.'

I would like to have seen how Gotham City became such a hellhole to begin with. Why the great disparity between the billionaire, Wayne and the trashcan digging homeless guy Wayne so generously gave his expensive coat to.

But I guess I'm asking too much from a comic book movie.

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

2005-07-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

From www.rense.com

US Radiation In Iraq
Equals 250,000
Nagasaki Bombs
There Are No Words
By Bob Nichols
Dissident Voice.org
6-30-5

As a writer, I do not have a set of words to describe what 142 Degrees in the shade is like. I've seen 120 D. in Phoenix and 110 D in the spa's sauna I use. One hundred forty-two degrees leaves me speechless. Try to imagine 142 D temperature while wearing a helmet, long sleeve shirt, long pants, a bullet proof vest, boots, and carrying a 70 pound pack.

By contrast the Inuit of Alaska and Canada have thirty-seven words to precisely talk about different kinds of snow.

So, since the temperature is heating up in Iraq it seemed like a good time to float this story to different Internet sites and news publications. There was one story in 2003 of one 19 year old British soldier whose military job was to work in a British tank. In Iraq. In the summer. Word is, from London, that he forgot to drink enough water and he literally cooked in his tank.

But, this story is not about the temperature in Iraq. You can bet, though, the weather will be really important for those Americans unfortunate enough to still be in Iraq this summer.

This story is about American weapons built with Uranium components for the business end of things. Just about all American bullets, 120 mm tank shells, missiles, dumb bombs, smart bombs, 500 and 2,000 pound bombs, cruise missiles, and anything else engineered to help our side in the war of us against them has Uranium in it. Lots of Uranium.

In the case of a cruise missile, as much as 800 pounds of the stuff. This article is about how much radioactive uranium our guys, representing us, the citizens of the United States, let fly in Iraq. Turns out they used about 4,000,000 pounds of the stuff, give or take. That is a bunch.

Now, most people have no idea how much Four Million Pounds of anything is, much less of Uranium Dust (UD), which this stuff turns into when it is shot or exploded. Suffice it to say it is about equal to 1,333 cars that weigh three thousand pounds per car. That is a lot of cars; but, we can imagine what a parking lot with one thousand three hundred and thirty three cars is like. The point is: this was and is an industrial strength operation. It is still going on, too.

No sir-ee, putting Four Million Pounds of Radioactive Uranium Dust (RUD) on the ground in Iraq was a definitely "on-purpose" kind of thing. It was not "just an accident." We, the citizens of the United States, through our kids in the Army, did this on purpose.

When the uranium bullets, missiles, or bombs hit something or explode most of the radioactive uranium turns instantly to very, very small dust particles, too fine to even see. When US Troopers or Iraqis breathe even a tiny amount into their lungs, as little as One Gram, it is the same as getting an X-Ray every hour for the rest of their shortened life.

The uranium cannot be removed, there is no treatment, there is no cure. The uranium will long outlast the Veterans' and the Iraqis' bodies though; for, you see, it lasts virtually forever.

But, it gets worse. Seems an Admiral who is the former Chief of the Naval Staff of India wanted to know how much radiation this represented. He also wanted to express the amount in a figure that the world, especially the non American world, could easily understand.

The Admiral decided to figure out how many Nagasaki Atom Bombs it would take to deliver the equivalent of the total amount of radiation deployed in Iraq in 2003 in Four Million Pounds of uranium.

The Admiral also wanted to figure out how much radiation the United States Military Forces have deployed in the last Five American Wars, the so-called Five Nuclear Wars.

That is a simple enough task for somebody like the Naval Chief of Staff for a country that is a member of the Nuclear Club. Using the Nagasaki bomb for the measuring stick is a particularly gruesome twist, though. For those of you in the States who do not know it, the United States Military Forces dropped two nuclear Bombs on Japan at the close of World War II. The whole world remembers that.

One Atom Bomb was dropped by Americans on the city of Hiroshima, the other on the city of Nagasaki three days later. About 170,000 people were incinerated immediately. It was a really big deal.

It is a measuring stick that plays very well in the rest of the world; but, not very well on Fox News (Fair & Balanced) (c) or the rest of the Fox-like American media. The Department of Energy still lists the Hiroshima and Nagasaki detonations as "tests." The admiral released the data months ago at a scientific conference in India. This article is the first report of the data in the United States. It will first be released on the Internet.

The admiral in India calculated the number of radioactive atoms in the Nagasaki bomb and compared it with the number in the 4,000,000 pounds of uranium left in Iraq from the 2003 war. Now, believe me, it is a lot more complex than that; but, that is essentially what the experts in India did.

How many Nagasaki Nuclear Bombs equal the Radiation loosed in the 2003 Iraq war? Answer: About 250,000 Nuclear Bombs.

How many Nagasaki Nuclear Bombs equal the Radiation loosed in the last Five American Nuclear Wars? Answer: About 400,000 Nuclear Bombs. Who would do something like this?

We would. The only people in the history of the world to engage in Nuclear Wars are Americans, citizens of the United States. Allegedly, the Germans and Japanese of WWII also wanted to engage in nuclear wars, except the American Military beat them to the draw, so to speak.

Respected academic scholars could debate forever whether or not Herr Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany, would have deployed uranium munitions in the Sudetenland if the weapons had been available. Certainly the Germans knew just as much about uranium wars as we did at the time. It seems doubtful that Adolph Hitler would have ordered the use of uranium munitions there because the Sudetenland was so close to the Fatherland, Nazi Germany.

An American General named Leslie Groves was in charge of the bomb making operation called The Manhattan Project. In 1943 The War Department knew exactly what uranium bullets and bombs were good for.

If the nuclear weapons did not detonate in Japan, the use of uranium bullets and bombs were the fall back position. It was not till Ronald Reagan was President in 1980 did the re-named Defense Department resurrect the deadly radioactive uranium bullets, bombs, and missiles. No wonder his popular nick-name was Ronnie Ray-Gun.

The American Military knew the symptoms of radiation poisoning in 1943 too; starting with the irritated sore throat through to an agonizing death from being cooked from the inside out.

President Bush promised to invade twelve countries in the 2003 State of the Union speech. I believe the man. For some reason, some misguided Americans do not believe him, or think he was "exaggerating." The rest of the world has every reason to believe him, though.

Not to worry, the President has plenty of raw material for radioactive uranium munitions left. There are more than 77,000 Tons stored at the 103 nuclear waste plants and the several Nuclear Weapons Labs in the US. Each one makes another 250 pounds of radioactive material a day for radioactive bullets, bombs, and missiles. Not to put too fine a point on it; but, that is enough for 40.5 more gloriously successful campaigns like the 2003 Nuclear War in Iraq.

Every year about this time the Southern winds leave a fine desert sand on the windshields of cars parked outside in Continental Europe and Britain. Soon this sand dust will carry a surprise. Thanks to the Americans. Thanks to us. We did this to the world. And, we wonder why they hate and despise us so.

These uranium weapons' indiscriminate killing effect gives a whole new meaning to the age old term: cannon fodder. In Iraq, what goes around, comes around. If not the uranium munitions themselves, the uranium dust will be in the bodies of our returning armed forces, time bombs slowly ticking away the lives of the gullible and the ignorant with their very own internal radiation source, the cannon fodder of the 21st Century American Nuclear Wars.

Put your ending to this article next.

A lot of people have done everything we can think of to stop these nuclear wars. Even more specifically to stop the use of uranium as a munition and shut down the nuclear power plants. We have tried and failed for years. Why don't you give it a try? Can't hurt anything! Write what steps you would take to turn this situation around. Contact me at: bobnichols@cox.net.

Bob Nichols writes in Oklahoma City and is the Editorial writer for DemoOkie.com. Bob Nichols is a contributing writer for LiberalSlant, Democratic Underground, OnlineJournal, AmericaHeldHostage, and other online dot com publications. Mr. Nichols is a frequent contributor to The Oklahoma Observer and other print publications. He lives and works in Oklahoma. He is a member of CASE -- Citizens' Action for Safe Energy, and President of the Carrie Dickerson Foundation. CASE has successfully killed two serious, well funded attempts to build Nuclear Power Plants in Oklahoma and several attempts to site what is now known as the "Yucca Mountain Reactor Dump" in Oklahoma. All these efforts to build nuclear facilities have failed. CASE won every time.

the Saga, Part 2

2005-06-30T22:39:00.000-05:00

When my dear 2nd ex decided to call it a marriage I asked her what she wanted. She said, "Everything."

At least she was honest about it.

And I, not wanting to stir the stink up any more said, "Go ahead, I just don't want to be here when the deal goes down."

So I disappeared for a while.

When I came home the house was empty. Empty with a capital 'E.'

The story of my life, turns out.

Emptiness.

But at the time it seemed the right thing to do. My reading of the bible left me with no worldly ambition. Gone were the days when I felt that it was my destiny to make my mark in the corporate world.

Instead, I wanted to save the world. I felt it was my duty.

In retrospect I can't blame the 2nd dear one for saying the number one reason she was leaving was because of my newfound desire to live the bible, literally.

"Give up what you have and follow me"

Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

So she left and there was no longer anything holding me back.

One bright summer afternoon ... I chunked my keys (the last remnant of the old life holding me to the real world) into an empty field and took off walking across the great state of Texas.

Even at this late date I'm still not sure what I hoped to accomplish. I felt that I would go wherever God was leading me .. my desire was to put myself into a situation where I had to live on faith. To me, this seemed the logical way to understand if 'faith' was worthy of focusing my attention on, to see if even the idea of it had merit.

My immediate destination was to find Keith Green's "Last Days Ministries" in Tyler, Tx and to see if I could join their group. After all, we were united in a common cause, right? We all wanted to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. I felt that my decision to break away from the mundane was somehow ordained from above. God was guiding my steps, of this I was certain.

This was my trek. My journey of self discovery. I was bound and determined to find out who I was really. Up til now, I had been shaped by my own desires and motives. I wanted to 'lose myself in order to find myself.' Which wouldn't have seemed so weird if I had been 28 but I was 38.

I guess I wanted to get my midlife crisis out of the way early.

I reached Tyler, Tx late in the evening as the sun was going down. I walked through the black part of town, alone, all the while reciting the 23rd Psalm to myself .. "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death ..."

Being a whitebread Christian, I expected the black hordes to descend upon me and give me unending grief, and possibly even put a knife in my back.

But this little walk through the wrong side of the tracks taught me a lesson I have never forgotten.

Fear is a manufactured sentiment.

Everywhere you go, people are just people. Doesn't matter what color they are. They live their lives out daily just like you and me. No one said 'boo' to me. It was as if I didn't even exist.

While walking along, a car pulled over and the driver asked if I'd like a ride. I said, 'sure.' He asked where I was headed and I told him.

In the late 80's, Tyler, Tx was the home of many Christian Evangelist groups. My ride was familiar with the 'Last Days Ministries' and took me straight to them.

Let me set the scene.

As we arrived at the wooded complex, there were long haired "Jesus Freak" types sitting outside their dormitories on balconies and whatnot, playing guitars and singing Christian songs.

I felt this was meant to be. I will become one with them, we will pool our energies and go forth to bring the gospel to all the world. I was thinking big in those days. After all, God was guiding my steps, remember? It had to be.

I approached one of my kindred spirits in the Lord (rather tentatively) and explained to him how I had just given up everything as instructed by Jesus in the bible and that I was fully resolved to follow the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength. (Or something to that effect).

He looked at me like I had three eyes and said, "Let me call the counselor."

A few minutes later a pickup truck pulled up and a lady, obviously the group overseer, stepped out and asked me what I wanted.

At this point, reality was starting to set in and I was feeling a bit weird but I told her how I had heard that the "Last Days Ministries" was set up to build up disciples with strong convictions in order to do what was necessary to win the world for Christ.

I explained to her that I had followed Jesus' instructions and that I had left all to follow the Lord. I told her about how I believed God had ordered my steps to bring me to their minstry and that I was willing to do whatever it takes .. that I was wanting to be a 'sold out' disciple ... I wanted to give my all because I believed nothing less would be accepted.

She stared out me kinda blankly and asked, "Have you mailed in your application?"

I said, "Well nooooo .. this was kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing .. the leading of the Lord" and all that.

She told me flatly that it cost 2000.00 to take their 'Discipleship Training Class.'

Needless to say, at this point I was beginning to feel just a little bit foolish if not a LOT naive.

Foolish me, I thought we were going by the book. The good book.

I didn't remember Jesus saying anything about any 2000 bucks.

I told the counselor that I didn't have 2000 dollars but what I did have was lots of business experience. I wasn't looking for a free ride, I felt that my talents could end up paying my way. I was sure that there was something useful I could do to 'earn my keep.'

She wasn't impressed.

She repeated rather sternly, "Our discipleship class is filled months in advance, if you want to take part I suggest you submit an application, along with the fee and we'll register you in the next class.'

Well, that wasn't going to happen.

I told her, 'Look, I've obviously been a bit starry eyed about all this .. I felt it was God leading me here, I didn't expect to have to come up with 2000 bucks in order to learn how to be a disciple, tell you what .. let me spend the night here, get a shower .. and I'll be on my way early tomorrow morning.'

I don't remember her exact answer but the gist of it was 'no dice... you ain't staying here tonight, but God bless you, Go in peace.'

Well, what could I say.

My ride told me I could stay at his house for the evening.

So we left.

The person who gave me a ride had a true Christian heart, even though he claimed to know nothing and to care less what the bible had to say. He invited me into his home, gave me food and a comfortable place to spend the night and we stayed up until the wee hours talking about what it means to truly live the Christian life.

The next morning I wrote a letter to the "Last Days Ministries" addressed to Melody Green, Keith Green's surviving spouse. (He had died a few years earlier in a plane crash).

The irony of the whole deal, to me, was the fact that Keith had written a song describing a situation very much like I found myself in. The song is called "Asleep in the Light." It deals with the fact that Jesus, in many guises, presents himself to those calling themselves Christians and is consequently rebuffed. No room at the inn, so to speak.

The lyric goes like this:

"And he brings people to your door
and you turn them away as you smile and say,
'God Bless You, be at peace,'
And all heaven just weeps...
Cause Jesus came to your door,
You left Him out on the streets."

Had Keith been alive, I believe the whole situation would have turned out much differently. At least I hope so.

His music reeks of selflessness and dedication to a cause much greater than himself.

But a second thing I learned by this experience.

Second hand revelation is worth zilch. Keith had great aspirations .. unfortunately, they didn't appear to survive his demise.

So here I was, on the road .. searching for the greater truths of God's love and I was told to 'go away.'

So I did.

The rest of the summer held many interesting experiences.

I'll tell you about them next time.

Car Commercial

2005-06-29T20:26:00.000-05:00

I turned on the tv after work to listen to the daily screed from Hannity and Colmes.

A Chrysler commercial was touting the reasons why we should run out and buy a Chrysler Crossfire for only $30,o70.00.

As if that was a good deal.

THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!.

Twice as much as my first house.

Are we doing that well economically that 30,000 bucks seems a good deal to the potential new car buyer?

Those whose ears perk up at this particular 'good deal' live in a different world than I do, that's for sure.

30 thousand .. that's a lotta goddamn dough.

My 17 year old Honda Accord LXI cost about 18k .. and I thought that was highway robbery. I bought it used for 9 .. a relatively good deal.

But 30 THOUSAND?

Geez Louise,

No wonder I'm riding the bus.

America 'Prevailing'

2005-06-28T20:32:00.000-05:00

Our fearless leader stood before the American public tonight and stated that 'we are prevailing' in Iraq.

Well, duh...

I sure as shit hope so.

Trillions upon trillions of dollars spent on the shock and awe-ability of the American military machine should put us in more of a position than just 'prevailing' if you ask me.

The fact that Rumsfeld suggests our involvement there could be 12 years makes me wonder just what the hell's going on here?

If we can't take on a backward backwater like Iraq in less than 12 years, what happens if we have to fight someone serious?

What if all our blustering and blowharding in the Middle East should bring us hard up against the Chinese or the Russians or some type of Eurasian confederacy? How long will that take? 25? 50? Another goddamn 100 years war??

Something is seriously wrong with this picture imo.

The US has proven itself totally incapable of dispatching the weakest of enemies. Twelve years of sanctions brought Iraq to its proverbial knees and yet they've still managed to stymie America's finest for going on 3 years.

Were this a boxing match it could be likened to the meanest, most awesome heavyweight of all time going against a flyweight amateur. Partway through the 3rd round (year) the underdog is more than holding his own. He's taken some heavy punches to be sure but still he bobs and weaves and every once in a while manages to get a pretty solid low blow in. The heavyweight has been staggered a few times and the amateur is gaining confidence. But there's still 9 and a half rounds (years) to go possibly. At this point it could go either way but, because of the weight advantage, the heavyweight is able to lean heavily on his weaker opponent to try and muffle some of the returning punches. In that sense I suppose you could say the heavyweight is prevailing.

If we ever come to blows (and we will) with a military powerhouse you can bet option A will be 'nuke them into the stoneage.'

Iraq has proven (as if Vietnam hadn't already) that the 'world's best fighting force,' with all its technological and monetary advantage is capable of nothing more than a standoff in a 'conventional' war. Conventional by 21st century standards being the guerrilla type war.

I don't know about you folks ... But I think we've been had. Our experience in Iraq appears to be proving, at least so far, that the American taxpayer has been shortchanged. We've paid through the nose for the best of the best.

I want a refund.

2005-06-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

Boats

2005-06-24T22:28:00.000-05:00

Bayfront Rest Stop

foodchain Saga

2005-06-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

What follows is an attempt to explain to those who know me and who are confounded by my 'changes' what lies behind my 180 degree change in religious outlook and politics.

It is also an attempt at clarity so that I myself will dig deeper into the events which have shaped my life and worldview to date.

The overriding paradigm of the majority of my adult life has been the fundamentalist Christianity paradigm.

At a very young age I was exposed to Southern Louisiana, small town, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist biblical doctrine.

Some of my earliest memories are those which found me sitting in the pew of a small town church as the starched haired preacher roared about how evil we all are and how we all deserve to burn forever in an unending hell. Needless to say, his fiery orations left indelible impressions on my tender psyche.

This idea of hell permeated much of my thinking as a kid. I remember asking my Sunday School teacher how long I would be in hell if I was so unfortunate to end up there. His answer, 'as long as it would take a bird to fly every grain of sand on earth to the sun and back ... and that would just be the beginning.'

Damn .. that's a long time.

I accepted his answer because his position as teacher lent him authority. After all, he was quarterback of the high school football team. He was wise.

Fortunately, the starched haired preacher offered a solution for my horrible condition ..."YOU MUST BE WASHED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB!!" he roared.

Meaning water baptism.

If I could just summon up the resources to believe the truth of Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice on my behalf, I too could be renewed by this washing away of sins and become a new creature, one whose old sin nature and sinful past had been swept away and replaced with a bright, shiny, new one ... God's Holy Spirit living within me.

I couldn't get in the water fast enough.

So one day soon, in the lake which gives Lake Arthur, La. its name, my sister and I both experienced the joys of new birth.

My bigger fear that day wasn't the fear of hell but the fear of water. My mother was deathly afraid of water and she did a great job of instilling that fear in me. Because she couldn't swim, she forbade me to as well.

So, on the day that my sins were to be washed away, the fear of drowning almost trumped my fear of hellfire ... I was afraid that I would literally die being 'born again.' Miserable sinner that I was, I'd probably deserve it.

I don't know if Brother Billy Bob, or whatever his name was, ever had a more reluctant convert. I fought the fear of being submerged by hanging on for dear life and in the process damn near took him down with me.

But I survived.

I don't remember too much more church going after that eventful day. As a kid, we were constantly on the move from one town to another, changing schools, etc ... I never really felt a part of any place that we moved to. My parents weren't big church goers so the church experience didn't dominate my youth.

But the fear of hell persisted.

Like many, I doubted the efficacy of my water baptism and wondered relentlessly if I was really 'saved.' But gradually, over time, I became a more or less normal kid as I entered my teenage years. The biggest influence of my high school years wasn't God but the high school band. I poured all my energies into it seeing it as a place where I would always be accepted as part of a group as we moved from town to town. It filled a void.

After high school I had a brief encounter with the college life. I attended a junior college on a music scholarship but I lacked the discipline to see it through. This was 1970 and the midst of the Viet Nam war.

I considered joining up. I even went so far as to drive to San Antonio to take a physical. There I suffered the indignities perpetuated upon the potential recruit ... 'turn your head and cough,' as I stood amongst the 100's of others there, stripped down to our skivvies. The deciding factor for me was probably the green turkey sandwich they served us for lunch. This kid likes food, I don't think I was made for assembly line victuals.

So, when the time came, I didn't sign on the bottom line as expected.

I continued my higher education but only half-heartedly. Before long I 'turned on, tuned in and dropped out.'

Not long after that I was married .. with a little one on the way.

My dear wife was headstrong and of the domineering German persuasion. It broke my heart ..literally .. when I drove her away and I still pine for her today .. even knowing what hell would be like by my having stayed with her.

Ahh .. but first loves .. they stay with you forever. At least the romanticized, idealized visions of what unending conubial bliss would have been like if only...

So we broke up .. after 3 short, turbulent years .... she moved on to California and places beyond ... I remained in the backwater which is Corpus Christi, Tex and attempted to pick up the pieces.

During the interval after our demise, I attempted to .. hmm, have relations with every female I met practically.

I can't deny .. life was pretty much fun. I lived in an 'adult only' complex ..when those types of places still existed .. and I used every opportunity to sow every wild oat that I was even vaguely cognizant of.

It was a blast.

Meanwhile, my religious convictions ... what remained of them ... pretty much faded into the background. I even considered myself somewhat of the atheist. There was a guy I worked with who was always talking about God and he drove me batty. I wanted to show him how smart and enlightened I was by doing everything in my power to trash whatever it was that he claimed to supposedly believe in.

I mean ... God .. come on .. who could possibly believe such things??

Life progressed.

I had a year with one of the most beautiful free spirits that I could imagine. But, as so often happens, this one ended abruptly .. leaving me more than a little bit disillusioned.

My spiritual life at this time was decidedly confused. I had begun to investigate the New Age. I studied astrology, numerology, the I Ching. I read about Edgar Cayce and T. Lobsang Rampa. I read 'The Crack in the Cosmic Egg' and Jane Robertson's accounts of the entity channeled through her, Seth.

As I read and considered these things, I attempted to harmonize what I was learning of the New Age with the fundamentalist Christianity I had been exposed to as a kid.

To me, there seemed to be a bit of 'truth' in all views. I was a mixed bag of spiritual beliefs.

During this chaotic spiritual time, I was working in a chemical plant. The department I was in made sodium chromate and sodium bichromate.

It was a dirty, nasty, filthy, fucked up, dangerous job .. and I did it for 7 years, hating every minute of it.

But it payed well. Union wages, union benefits. For a young man in his twenties it provided a pretty good lifestyle.

But after my divorce and shack-up breakup, it became intolerable. Money be damned.

One day I called in 'too well to work there anymore.'

I didn't know what I was going to do next but, even then, I believed the God I so reluctantly believed in was guiding my life.

After knocking around aimlessly, doing construction work, I was offered a job by a friend working in an electronics store.

I took to it like a duck to water. Seems I was made to be a salesman, at least I was very good in the consumer electronics field.

Bear with me, I'm trying to set a little background here.

After a very brief stint as a stereo salesman, I was made store manager and was so successful that the company I worked for moved me to the motherland, the home of the company, San Antonio, Tx .... to manage their worst store.

It turned out to be my crowning glory.

I turned that store into a money maker and my career in consumer electronics was on its way.

One day, out of the blue one of my customers invited me to a church social. I didn't want to go but he kept bugging me so I acquiesced.

It was there that I met my second dear ex.

She latched on to me from day one and it was inevitible that one day soon, we'd be married.

And so it was. She stuck with me through thick and thicker.

With her by my side I graduated from managing the worst store in the company to managing the highest volume store in the company. And, not to toot my own horn, I made it even more profitable.

It was here that one of the reps that I dealt with told me of an incredible opportunity with an up and coming video electronics retailer that was looking to expand into audio. They were a Utah based company that needed someone in the Texas market who could take their vision of owning the audio market in Texas and turn it into reality.

Turns out, I was their guy.

In retrospect, it was the high point in my life, career-wise.

I was with them and instrumental in transforming them from an obscure video retailer to one of the first audio-video superstore chains in the country.

As a buddy of mine said ... 'We had the bull by the balls on a downhill pull.'

It was awesome .. and a lot of fun.

But just as everything appeared to be turning to gold, it instead turned to shit.

Sales wasn't the problem. We generated HUGE sales .. I participated in some sales events that will probably never be equaled in my lifetime. For instance, we generated one million dollars in sales out of a single location during a 3 day event. We made all the news headlines and gained beaucoup recognition. We were the new kids on the block and, all of a sudden, we were BIG TIME.

During my tenure there I watched us go from 9 small stores in Utah and 6 insignificant stores in San Antonio and Austin to 15 MAJOR superstores. And much of it was because of me.

What's that I hear?? Pride comes before the fall??

WTF?

We were kings of the universe .. for one brief, shining moment. I always likened it to a fantastic fireworks display ... all the noise, all the color ... all the flash .. and then 'poof,' .. just like that ...gone.

Nepotism turned out to be their downfall. Did I mention Utah was the homebase of the company? Who dominates the Utah scene? Mormons?

Yup.

And these boys had huge families. Everyone of them a vice president or officer of some sort. All bringing down BIG BUCKS.

Overhead killed us.

That and too big a vision coupled with too little experience over all. We were riding by the seat of our pants.

We ended up sinking like a stone.

But damn, it was a LOT of fun while it lasted.

However, end, it did ... and I was left with a dear wife who loved all the goodies that the high life brought. A nice home in a nice neighborhood, LOTS of disposable income. It was the American dream.

I could document the downfall, bore you with all the details, but, suffice it to say ... my beloved loved me for the good times. Seems she forgot the vows that mentioned sticking together through the downturns of life.

When my fortunes went south, she dropped me like a hot rock.

Live and learn.

This time, I wasn't near as devastated as I was after the first one. Just dissappointed. Hugely so .. so much so that now, almost 20 (damn!) years later, I still haven't recovered enough to try it again. Fool me once, shame on you ... fool me twice ...well, you get the picture.

After the Titanic went down, I landed in the car business ...selling Hondas. This was before the little lady packed it in ... I was still able to bring home the coin so the marriage had a few months left in it. But, think about it .. have you ever sold cars?

To say it sucked would be granting it much more dignity than it deserves.

Here I am, working a job I hate, after living the high life, and I've got questions. Boy, do I have questions.

Where are the answers?

I turned to the good book.

It spoke mightily to my sense of failure and self loathing.

(so ends part one of this life in the foodchain ... let me reflect upon it and part two will follow).

Stay tuned.

2005-06-20T22:07:00.000-05:00

Because I wanted to post a picture.

Comic Relief

2005-06-20T21:38:00.000-05:00

Chinese Factory Worker Can't Believe the Shit He Makes For Americans
www.theonion.com

FENGHUA, CHINA—Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets, expressed his disbelief Monday over the "sheer amount of shit Americans will buy."

"Often, when we're assigned a new order for, say, 'salad shooters,' I will say to myself, 'There's no way that anyone will ever buy these,'" Chen said during his lunch break in an open-air courtyard. "One month later, we will receive an order for the same product, but three times the quantity. How can anyone have a need for such useless shit?" (read more)
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HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS
IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
"How Come No One Fights in Big Famous Nations Anymore?" They Ask
www.satirewire.com

Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com) — A delegation of American high school students today demanded the United States stop waging war in obscure nations such as Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and instead attack places they've actually heard of, such as France, Australia, and Austria, unless, they said, those last two are the same country.

People claim we don't know as much geography as our parents and grandparents, but it's so not our fault," Josh Beldoni, a senior at Fischer High School in Los Angeles, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Back then they only had wars in, like, Germany and England, but we're supposed to know about places like Somalia and Massachusetts."

"Macedonia," corrected committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan.

"See?" said Beldoni.

Beldoni's frustration was shared by nearly three dozen students at the hearing, who blamed the U.S. military for making them look bad.

"I totally support our soldiers and all that, but I am seriously failing both geography and social studies because I keep getting asked to find Croatia or Yemvrekia, or whatever bizarre-o country we send troops to," said Amelia Nash, a junior at Clark High School in Orlando, Fla. "Can't we fight in, like, Italy? It's boot-shaped." (yep, there's more)
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Last night in his speech, President Bush called for a complete overhaul of the tax code. He said he was shocked to find out that some millionaires in this country were still paying taxes." --Leno
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Found this at www.rogerailes.blogspot.com

Complaints?
eatme@idontgiveashit.com
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One of my favorite blogs
WTF Is It Now?
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Another fave
Jesus' General
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NWO, Not a "Conspiracy Theory" But a Focused Agenda

2005-06-19T18:29:00.000-05:00

Richard Moore's analysis of the NWO and its global agenda is the best I've read anywhere. What he reports in these articles should be read by all who care about the immediate future and those who hold out hope for a better tomorrow.

The threat is real, the crisis is now.

America and the New World Order

By Richard Moore
www.newdawnmagazine.com

First Preface:
What is the New World Order?

Few would disagree that the dominant trend of our day is globalization - the elimination of trade barriers, the downsizing of governments, a greater reliance on the private sector, reduced regulation of business, and an increasingly global economy. A great many people interpret this trend as economic progress, and see it is a basically good thing. This article will argue that globalization is first and foremost political regression - threatening to destroy our Western democratic institutions, and turning the clock of human progress centuries backward to something resembling feudalism.

The role of the USA in the globalization trend is not entirely obvious. In some ways, America seems central to the process. It is the leading proponent of free trade; it provides the primary military muscle to shape and maintain global order; when the American President speaks on international issues, his words are taken as being decisive - he is (by virtue of his office) far-and-away the most powerful and influential world leader.

But at the same time, America seems hardly to be the primary beneficiary of the globalization process. Other countries, notably Germany and Japan, are faring better economically, while America suffers increasing debt and a declining standard of living. America, though the dominant world power, appears not to be exploiting its advantage in the traditional fashion of dominant powers.

The perspective of this article is that globalization is not about competition among nations - but rather about the increasing power of mega-corporations over nations, generally, and their peoples. America - the hotbed of this trend - is in effect acting as a proxy for elite corporate interests, not as a representative of the American people, nor even of American national interests in any traditional sense. Seen from this perspective, America’s seemingly ambivalent role becomes understandable.

In order to get a comprehensive picture of where globalization came from and where it is going, this article makes a whirlwind tour of American history, showing how that feeds into what has now become the mainstream of world history. If sovereign national states, sometimes competing and sometimes cooperating, have been the Familiar World Order, then globalization seems to be leading us all inexorably toward a New World Order where mega-corporations (and the wealthy elite who control them) reign supreme, and nations are reduced to a vestigial, subservient, policing role - controlling the populace on behalf of the elite - as we see already in much of the Third World.

Second Preface:
What and Who are the Elite?

During the era of feudalism, there were three elites. There was the church hierarchy, there was the landed aristocracy/nobility, and there were the royal families, who might also be seen as the topmost layer of the aristocracy. As feudalism ended, there was the rise of an additional elite - the business wealthy - who gained their status and influence through trade and manufacture, with or without benefit of inherited title. These elite groups competed for power, and different accommodations occurred from time to time and from place to place.

From the point of view of the general population, these elites represented security or tyranny, depending perhaps on ones perspective - but it was obvious to everyone that the elites ran society - no one pretended that society was democratic. With the advent of "democratic republics", beginning with the USA, the older elites were removed from power, but the wealthy business elite, which had evolved into the capitalist elite, remained relatively undisturbed.

Did this transformation bring about democracy, in any genuine sense, or was it merely the monopolization of power into the hands of the single remaining elite? This is a question that remains open - and it is a question that can be asked also of most of today’s modern "democracies", which have each to some degree been modeled on the American precedent.

Part One:
The Birth of Democratic Republics - American Independence

The Colonial Context

Although sentiment for independence in the American colonies was minimal prior to the latter half of the 18th century, there were objective conditions which made independence a natural, and comparatively non-disruptive step. The colonies were already largely self-governing, had their own social identity, had considerable natural resources, were mostly self-sufficient economically, and had their own extensive trading fleet. Boston was the third-busiest port in the British Empire.

The colonies were seen by Britain as economic investments, more than as administered territories. Some colonies, such as Pennsylvania, were privately-owned corporations, and in general the colonies were expected to take care of themselves. The colonies paid taxes to the Crown, lived under restrictions such as a prohibition on industrialization, and received in return the protection of the Crown and access to British markets. But in fact the benefits of being subject to Britain were questionable. When frontier war with French-backed natives occurred, for example, help from Britain was slow in coming and the colonies were then taxed for the troop expenditures.

There were many vocal advocates for independence, and there was widespread popular resentment of certain royal measures, such as the stamp tax. Nonetheless, until nearly the eve of revolution, most colonists wanted to remain subjects of the Crown, and sought reform of British policies toward the colonies, not independence. Even with the stamp tax, it is noteworthy that the tax burden of a typical colonist was less than that of someone of similar circumstances living in England.

In any case, it was independence that was at issue, not a social or political revolution. The existing colonial assemblies would presumably continue if independence occurred, with more or less the same people stepping forward as leaders, and with land ownership and economic activity continuing more or less as before (but without Royal interference).

The Colonial Elite - Differing Attitudes Toward Independence

As mentioned above, independence didn’t promise most colonists that much of a change. But for the elite - who possessed a highly-disproportionate concentration of wealth, land ownership, and influence in local affairs - there were more compelling economic considerations.

With independence, industrial development would be possible and international trade wouldn’t be directly limited by the vagaries of British imperial entanglements. The resources of the new continent could be developed without sharing the spoils with England. For the elite, a divorce from the empire represented profound and immediate economic opportunities.

The turning point in radical consciousness, when a majority of the populace came to favor independence, occurred in the form of a single earth-shaking essay: Tom Paine’s Common Sense. This essay, written in an unprecedented popular style that anyone could understand, broke all existing publication records and was read aloud in villages and towns everywhere, and not only in America.

Common Sense created in the popular Western mind, for the first time, perhaps, since the early Roman republic, the notion that government arises from the consent of the governed - that the people are the state. It marked the beginning of the popular concept of nationalism - the notion that citizens find their identity in their nation and its interests, rather than in their role as subjects of a domain belonging to royalty and nobility.

Paine was popularizing - and expanding the scope of - some of the radical ideas that had been developed by Enlightenment thinkers generally. He was concerned with promoting personal freedom, popular sovereignty, and - most particularly - creating an ironclad case for the legitimacy of a government based on the will of the people rather than on divine right or inherited dominion.

Paine was much less concerned with the other major thread of Enlightenment thinking, regarding market forces, the "invisible hand", and laissez-faire economics. Paine was so little motivated by economic gain, in fact, that he refused to accept royalties for his all-time best seller. He was, by personal disposition, much more interested in ending tyranny than he was in opening up opportunities for capitalist development.

The wealthy, and literate, elite did not need Paine to tell them about Enlightenment thinking. Nor were they as focused as Paine was on only the anti-tyranny ideas. They were at least as much taken with the laissez-faire thread, which justified their natural eagerness to pursue unfettered their economic opportunities. Many of them, in fact, were so afraid of the possibility of "mob rule", that they preferred that an American monarchy be established following independence, rather than a democracy.

Thus the War of Independence had different shades of meaning for two different constituencies. In both cases the rallying cry was "Freedom!" - but to the populace, this meant primarily personal freedom and popular democratic sovereignty, while to the business elite the emphasis was more on commercial freedom and the ability to pursue capital investment unfettered by the old regime’s elites.

In the end, the spectrum of visions for the new nation had to be pinned down into a single Constitution. This was a task that fell, as one would expect, to members of the elite. The resulting document was a compromise that included elements of democracy, but that included sufficient buffering mechanisms to insure that the elite, if diligent, could control the government sufficiently for their purposes.

The rule of Crown, Nobility, and Church was definitely ended, and the principle of popular sovereignty was definitely established - as an ideal. But, to repeat our earlier question, had the old tyrants been in effect traded for new tyrants, namely the capitalist elite?

In partial answer to the question, it seems fair to say that the new constitutional regime provided a forum in which the elite and the people could peacefully vie for control, and in which checks and balances attempted to prevent either side from fully dominating the other. And all would agree, presumably, that the new regime offered better opportunities for genuine democracy than the one it superseded.

Part Two:
Capitalism Unleashed - The American Experience

The Elite vs. the People - An Ongoing Struggle

Whatever one might think about the intentions of the (mostly elite) Founding Fathers - or of the theory of the Constitution - the actual fact is that American history has been characterized by a see-saw battle for control between the people and the capitalist elite.

At times, as in the late nineteenth century robber-baron era, the elite have brazenly ruled - J. D. Rockefeller bragged about how many government officials were "in his pocket". At other times, as during the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, government policy seemed more responsive, instead, to the needs and wishes of the general population.

One can debate whether the elite exert influence through secret conspiracies, or whether they simply act straightforwardly in their own perceived interest. The answer, surely, is that both mechanisms are and have always have been at work. Numerous conspiratorial "scandals" can be found throughout American history, but few would argue that without those episodes the elite would have been without major influence.

Propaganda & Credulity

Propaganda played a pivotal role in the birth of America and has been part of the American scene ever since. It was the elite, in pursuit of commercial self-interest, who were the vanguard of the revolutionary movement, while the populace was stirred up by high-sounding democratic principles and sensationalized rabble-rousing around the issues of Royal oppression and taxation.

Propaganda is by no means unique to the American experience - all governments and elites employ propaganda - but propaganda has played a uniquely intimate role in the American experience. Because America is endowed with democratic mechanisms - the government is elected, after all - such propaganda has been essential from the beginning in order for the elite to exert the influence to which it feels entitled. Propaganda is one of the elite’s primary antidotes to the dreaded disease of actual democracy.

America is the land of Hollywood, advertising, public relations, sugar-coated fairy tails, cult religions, the "Defense" Department, Disneyland, and "progress". It was of Americans that it was said "A fool is born every minute", "You can fool all the people some of the time", and "You can never underestimate the intelligence of the public". Certainly not all Americans can be so characterized, but in a land where majority rules, the effect is not much different.

The rhetoric of liberation and democracy captured the imagination not only of Americans, but of the whole world. America became an almost mystical symbol, spoken of in fable-like imagery: "the land of freedom", "the land of opportunity", "the American Dream", "streets paved with gold", "bastion of democracy". America was something people everywhere yearned to believe in - it seemed (and claimed) to be the fairy tale kingdom of everyone’s childhood dreams.

The War Culture & Expansionism

America was born out of a war it initiated and it has achieved its growth through periodic warfare ever since. There has been a significant war approximately every thirty years, often initiated (overtly or covertly) by America and more often than not achieving a new stage in the growth of American power and the expansion of American-based elite interests. Such aggressiveness is not particularly unusual among nations; what is unusual is the propaganda mythology that would have America acting always in "self defense", and in defense of "freedom and democracy".

A common scenario typically underlies American involvement in wars: there is usually an incident which is perceived as an outrage against America, and the populace then rallies to the common defense with a characteristic ferocity and self-righteousness. America’s contribution to causing a war is seldom acknowledged.

The incidents may be provoked, as with the Mexican War, arranged, as with the Lusitania, or fabricated, as in the Gulf of Tonkin - but they are always deftly exploited and enable the elite expansionist agenda to be further advanced, under cover of yet another crusade for "freedom and democracy". The elite is always well-prepared for the incident, has a plan ready for execution and its propaganda machinery goes into full gear as the incident unfolds.

The use of outrage-incidents to launch elite-planned military campaigns accomplishes several objectives. It triggers the in-built American war spirit, and channels the resulting righteous wrath toward the nominated enemy. It also concentrates power in the executive branch, where elite control is usually most undiluted by popular influence. Congress - where popular will is most likely to find expression - is then relegated to the role of loyal stores-supplier for the duration of the crusade.

This process is exemplified by the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which enabled full-scale U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. The incident itself was faked, but Congress promptly issued its usual knee-jerk Resolution, authorizing the President to "act in defense". The "authorized actions" were then incrementally escalated into a full-scale war, with Congress having minimal additional influence and popular will finding expression only in the streets.

The eventual scope of the war was completely beyond anything authorized by the original Congressional Resolution, but once America is on the warpath, its war-culture ethic does not include room for official dissent or reconsideration - it would be "betraying the boys at the front". Even when the fake incident was exposed, it was too late to put the war genie back in the bottle.

Immigration and the Melting Pot

While immigration to America has been heralded as "welcoming the huddled masses" - inspired presumably by humanitarian concern - the effect was to provide a constantly renewed pool of exploitable cheap labor. Instead of Britain’s static class system of tiered exploitation, America evolved a dynamic class ladder system (the Melting Pot), where new (ethnically identifiable) lower classes were continually placed on the bottom rung, willingly trading their home-country cultural identity to struggle for acceptance as bona fide Americans.

Ethnic rivalries helped divide-and-conquer the masses, preventing democratic solidarity. Each segment of the American socioeconomic ladder seemed willing to see lower rungs suppressed, while it viewed higher rungs as its future opportunity. Thus the prisoners of the class ladder system were motivated to embrace their own exploitation and the elite was spared the development of a general popular socioeconomic consciousness.

The Horatio Alger myth was born, of the poor immigrant who achieves immense wealth in one lifetime. Thus was fostered a "lottery" mentality regarding economics - attention is focused on the rare individuals who win big, distracting attention from the overall pattern of systematic subjugation and exploitation. The victim takes the blame for his own predicament: if he isn’t well-off, it’s only because he’s not clever enough. The question of why most things are owned or controlled by the elite goes unasked.

Capitalism, Development and "Progress"

Capitalism has only one goal: the increasing of a pot of gold into a larger pot of gold. National economic development, back when such was typical government policy, had the touted goal of providing general prosperity, but it also facilitated the growth of elite capitalist wealth. Now that the elite prefers global investment as a way to grow wealth, national economic development seems, significantly, no longer to be an objective of governmental programs.

Progress, says the myth, is about improving the quality of people’s lives. But from a capitalist perspective, progress is about continually scrapping one infrastructure (or product portfolio) for another - thereby allowing capital to go through another cycle of re-investment and profit-taking. Thus rail is superseded by highways, coal by oil and electricity, home-made by store-bought clothes, ovens by microwaves, main streets by shopping centers, small farms by agribusiness, family doctors by medical corporations, home remedies by high-priced pharmaceuticals, etc.

In most cases, people willingly go along with such "progress" because of perceived or actual advantage. In some cases, however, implementation of "progress" requires covert elite intervention. Functioning intra-city light rail systems, for example, were purchased (in Los Angeles and other urban areas) and dismantled, by automobile-related interests, to be replaced by far less efficient, more polluting, oil-hungry bus and auto traffic.

Part Three:
World War Two - America Gains Global Dominance

Background of the War

The rise of communist and socialist movements, following World War One, created considerable fear in elite capitalist circles. Marxist ideology emphasized the tyrannical aspects of the capitalist elite, and issued a strident call for solidarity among common workers, who Marx credited with creating all real wealth. This ideology, which was simplistic and one-sided, had nonetheless taken firm root in Russia and seemed poised to spread further.

In German, Italy, and Spain, in particular, anti-elite movements gained popular strength under the banners of socialism, communism, or anarchism. It is not surprising that the elite in those and other countries welcomed and encouraged the rise of fascist movements. Fascism was virulently anti-communist, pro-capitalist, and fully willing to brutally suppress any who opposed its agenda.

Hitler began his political career as an operative of German military intelligence and received funding and support from elite Western industrialists. While in prison, writing Mein Kampf, he kept a portrait of Henry Ford on his desk. During the Spanish Civil War, the Western elite kept the anti-fascist opposition disarmed, while it approvingly observed the efficiency of Hitler’s growing war machine. American volunteers who fought against Franco found their patriotism questioned when they returned home.

Mein Kampf made it unambiguous that the primary strategic objective in Hitler’s mind was the subjugation and economic exploitation of Russia. By ignoring their own prohibition on German re-armament, and providing loans, the Western elite were in fact collaborating with Hitler in the development of an invasion force targeted on Russia - socialism’s bastion.

Meanwhile, the West was watching with discomfort Japan’s growing economic power and imperial scope. Japan was building a formidable Asian economic zone backed up by a large, modern navy.

This was a significant threat to Western, and especially American, elite interests and designs. Not only would markets and investment opportunities in populous Asia be highly curtailed, but Japan would be dislodging the West from its accustomed role as collective master of the seas and arbiter of global imperial arrangements. And who knew what would be the bounds of this Asian empire? The aggressive expansionism of Japan seemed destined to force a war with the West, sooner or later.

America handled this complex situation with all the finesse and subtlety of a skilled martial-arts expert, guided by a strategic vision unsurpassed by the imperial masterminds of any previous age.

America Orchestrates Global Domination

In the prewar years, Japan and Germany enjoyed credit and trade with the West, while their aggressive designs and military machines were allowed to develop. They were being given enough rope to hang themselves with. Then, as was completely predictable, Hitler became embroiled in a war with Russia and Japan became similarly entangled in China and Southeast Asia.

It was only after this anticipated scenario had unfolded that Uncle Sam unholstered his guns and prepared to take charge of the sequel. The traditional war-popularizing incident, in this case, was the inevitable Japanese strike on America’s Pacific fleet. The incident-facilitating provocation, in this case, was the cutoff of Japanese oil supplies, which America convinced Holland to undertake.

When the anticipated incident occurred, President Roosevelt feigned surprise and outrage, and the most formidable, popularly supported military crusade of all time was launched. The well-funded and well-armed G.I. was loose on the world, and because of the eagerness with which Germany and Japan had hung themselves in world opinion, he was welcomed as a hero wherever he went.

While Japan was contained by rear-guard actions, peripheral pressure was applied against the Nazis. The full-scale landing in Europe was carefully withheld, to enable Germany to keep most of its troops on the Russian front, so that Hitler and Stalin could decimate one another to the maximum extent possible. Only when Stalin turned the Nazis around, and began to advance toward Berlin, was the landing carried out. D-Day, it would seem, was timed to minimize the Russian advance more than to hasten the demise of Nazism.

At the end of the war, America had managed to put itself in a position which was very close to total global hegemony. It had the run of the seven seas, an intact military machine and national infrastructure, a monopoly on nuclear weapons, greatly expanded influence in the oil-rich Middle East, and the lion’s share of the world’s disposable wealth and industrial capacity.

Meanwhile, most of the rest of the world was in shambles, in deep debt and/or under occupation. America had the prestige, power, and resources to guide the construction of post-war arrangements largely according to its own designs.

Hitler had threatened to conquer the world and lost a generation of his men instead; Uncle Sam lost a comparatively minuscule number of troops, with no proclaimed territorial ambitions, and yet world domination seemed to fall into his lap.

Part Four:
The New World Order - The Global Consolidation of Elite Power under Neo-Feudalism

The "Free World" - A Global Playground for Capital

Following the war, the Western elite, led by America, drew a line on the globe, separating the part they dominated from the part they didn’t. The "free world" (doublespeak for "elite-controlled zone") was organized into a new kind of global capital investment realm. While capital investment was afforded a new kind of global commercial freedom, much of the "free" population was systematically subjected to military dictatorships responsive to elite interests. The doublespeak usage of "freedom", originating during American independence, had now been globalized.

Meanwhile the "communist block" (doublespeak for "beyond elite control") was contained: ostracized, pestered around its periphery by provocative military deployments, and subjected to chronic economic destabilization by means of the "arms race", expensive brushfire engagements, and trade restrictions.

America could have used its position of strength to establish a traditional American-centered imperial system in the "free" world, relegating Europe to a secondary position, keeping Japan underdeveloped, etc. Instead America implemented a bold new global scheme. The elite had grander plans for capital growth than simply a larger American economy. The old European empires were disbanded and a seemingly democratic United Nations was set up, promising to maintain orderly international relations.

The "free" world seemed to be entering an era of national self-determination and democratic renaissance - a bright new day following the fascist nightmare. But the reality - as elite designs unfolded - turned out to be quite different from that.

Instead of an end to imperialism, as the propaganda myth would have it, what was introduced was a collective imperialism. Under a pax-americana military umbrella, an international economic infrastructure was established (IMF, World Bank, et al). Investment and trade were free to flow, increasingly, around the "free" world at will, without the territorial partitions traditionally imposed by a competitive European imperial system.

The result for the ex-colonies (soon to be dubbed the "Third World"), was that they found themselves dominated by the capital elite generally, rather than by the business interests of a single national power.

Megacorps - The Elite’s Frankenstein Monster

This semi-homogenized, semi-pacified, investment environment enabled large corporations (elite-controlled money-multiplying machines) to develop orderly operations on a global scale. Thus arose the era of megacorps (aka: multinationals, transnationals) - mammoth corporations with wealth and influence on a scale comparable to nations.

While Third-World peoples were acutely aware that megacorps were becoming the overlords of the "free" world, the First World did everything it could to encourage their growth - they were seen as the agents of First-World economic domination and necessary to maintaining "home-country" prosperity.

Megacorps are much more than simply giant units of economic enterprise, capable of executing large-scale business transactions. They are also significant political and economic powers in their own right on the world stage. They increasingly have outgrown any sense of home-nation loyalty, view regulations and trade barriers as provincial interference, and see themselves as autonomous masters of the globe. Their needs and demands are more often than not the hidden agenda behind the policies of the Western powers.

The rise of megacorps must be viewed as an historically momentous development: the emergence of a new species of political entity, a species in direct competition with its ancestor species, the modern nation state. Born out of limited-liability laws, nurtured in a capitalist culture, and lacking any natural bounds to growth or restraints on behavior, megacorps extend themselves as would cancer cells, poisoning and strangling their host planet in the process.

Megacorps, in the end, are capitalist investments, and their motivation, pure and simple, is to increase their own market value on behalf of their absentee owners. This means that the primary "drive" of the megacorp species is growth. Unlike natural species, where individuals grow only to a certain size and mating habits typically limit population to what the environment will support, megacorps are driven to grow without limit and have no natural concern with whatever stands in their way.

What would be the nature of a megacorp-governed world? There is no need to speculate or theorize about such a future - we can simply look at Third-World countries, many of which have been dominated by megacorps for some time now. What we see there are minimal regulation and taxation of megacorp activities, along with repressive regimes which are subsidized, armed, and otherwise bolstered by outside elite interests.

The Neoliberal Revolution - The Elite Changes Horses

For thirty-five years megacorps continued to spread their tentacles in the "free" world. Pressure was kept up on the "communist" hold-outs and the elite-controlled regions were increasingly consolidated into a tightening noose of international financial arrangements and dependence on megacorp operations.

Then in 1980 a new phase of elite power-consolidation was launched simultaneously in America and Britain, under the stage-management of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, respectively. This new phase was the "neoliberal revolution" and its platform was lower corporate taxes, reduced corporate regulation, privatization of public services, elimination of international trade barriers, and the self-demonization of democratic political institutions - "The only good government is less government" became the official kamikaze agenda in both countries.

What the neoliberal (no relation to "liberal") agenda amounts to is a wholesale transference of power, assets and sovereignty into megacorp hands. The thrust of government activity under neoliberalism is embezzlement on the grandest scale ever before attempted. Public lands, rights, responsibilities and assets are being given into private elite hands at undervalued prices and without effective public oversight. Government itself is being dismantled, defunded and prepared for the scrap heap. By rights, neoliberal government leaders should be indicted for conspiracy and high treason against the state.

The neoliberal revolution represents a declaration by the elite that nation states are no longer their chosen tools of power, and that megacorps are to become their primary vehicle not only of wealth accumulation, but also of organizing global society. The elite are now making it clear, under the rhetoric of neoliberalism, that First-World nations and their populations are no longer to be privileged partners in the elite game - they are scheduled to come under the same kind of corporate domination that the Third-World has long been accustomed to.

To this end, international arrangements such as the WTO, IMF, World Bank, NAFTA and GATT have been set up so that economic, and increasingly social and political, policies can be dictated on a global scale by corporate-dominated commissions. Mega-corps and their commissions are controlled directly by the elite - they include no democratic mechanisms and no pretense that they represent the "will of the people".

Neoliberal globalism, in all fairness, deserves the label neo-feudalism - with the corporate elite ruling in place of the three elites which dominated classical feudalism. Having served their purpose in dethroning the previous elites, and no longer needed by the corporate elite, these nation states and their populations are being betrayed and abandoned. "Democracy", the scam which unleashed capitalism, has now become a hindrance to elite hegemony.

Global Propaganda - Exporting the American Model

There are striking parallels between the propaganda techniques ushering in globalism and those which heralded American independence. On the one hand there is a propaganda cover story - modernization, competitiveness, greater efficiency, universal prosperity, reduced corruption - just as the earlier cover story proclaimed personal freedom and an end to tyranny. On the other hand there is the unspoken elite agenda - dismantlement of democratic institutions, firmer elite control, expanded exploitation opportunities - just as the earlier elite agenda unleashed capitalism from the shackles of earlier elites.

As happened in America, the myth-fantasy unfolds in the elite-controlled media, while the hidden agenda is being systematically implemented behind the scenes. The promise is to make the whole world a "land of opportunity", but that opportunity is to be for elite investments, not popular freedom or prosperity.

The globalization of American-style propaganda was critical to the orchestration of this scenario, and thus Milton Friedman and his Chicago conjurers were dispatched to Downing Street to help sell the package in the UK. Neoliberal mythology became a global media phenomenon, with CNN, Hollywood, Murdoch, et al, deftly spreading the phony gospel of free-trade, government inadequacy, deregulation and, as always, the American Dream. The film Independence Day, in which the world’s people are shown to embrace American mythology, perfectly exemplifies this propaganda genre.

A significant difference between the neoliberal and American revolutions, is the lack of propaganda emphasis on democracy and freedom. Today’s promises are related to "land of opportunity" much more than "land of freedom". The propaganda intent, here, is to portray neoliberalism as an economic movement, and to keep its political agenda hidden. Citizens are encouraged to assume that democracy is a fact of life, an unshakable institution, secure from any fatal dangers.

People are also, with mind-boggling irony, encouraged to perceive capital exploitation itself as a sign of democracy, particularly in formerly socialist states. As we watch those populations suffering under intentionally destabilized economies, while megacorps organize their own exploitive infrastructures, we are told that the locals are "slow to adopt to democracy".

The Police State - Public Order Under Neoliberalism

Traditionally in "democracies", police forces have been small and order has arisen from the spirit of citizenship - "This is our country", "We are benefiting from its existence", and order comes out of "following our own rules". Under neoliberalism, maintenance of public welfare is being abandoned - undermining public satisfaction - and nationalist ideology is being de-emphasized - undermining civic identity and voluntary compliance.

The elite is well aware that massive economic suffering and political discontent are an inevitable part of the megacorp future, with its obeisance to the religion of market forces and its abandonment of citizen motivation via democratic processes, as once-prosperous nations decline toward Third-World status.

Not surprisingly then, what we see growing up, in tandem with the neoliberal revolution, are police-state systems and an intense propaganda-myth campaign regarding crime, its causes and its cures. More police, longer sentences, and more prisons are the elite’s answer to the question of public order.

Third-World countries show where this leads: military dictatorships, systematic torture and killings, and suppression of unions, political parties, and non-compliant publications. In America, the First-World’s most fully developed neoliberal state, we can see clearly how such regimes are to incrementally impose on the First World.

The media plays its part by ignoring the obvious fact that planned high unemployment and the abandonment of national hope are primary causes of crime and the erosion of civic compliance. In place of this obvious truth, is offered a mythology which blames the victims: they lack "family values", they are lazy, they have a genetic predisposition to crime, they are habitual offenders - the only solution is to lock them up. How one can follow "family values", when one has insufficient family income, is strangely absent from "public debate".

The nature of the penal system is rapidly changing in America, reflecting the anticipated further increase in social unrest. A formidable prison capacity is being built - prison construction is the largest growth industry at present in the U.S. - and the concept of who the prisons are for is undergoing radical change.

It was formerly the case that punishment was a response to a crime, and when the debt to society was repaid, the offender was expected to join the ranks of the responsible citizenry. Increasingly, prisons are being seen as a place to permanently house certain segments of the population: those who can’t or won’t fit into the corporate system. That’s what "three strike" laws, mandatory sentencing, and soon, preventive detention, are all about.

In a very literal sense, prisons are to be the concentration camps of the neoliberal regime - a place to isolate and control those redundant to corporate needs. Never wanting to waste an exploitable resource, the elite in America are now developing an extensive prison-labor system, renting out inmates to fill lower-rung corporate labor needs. Thus, in the "land of the free", we see the development of a network of slave-labor concentration camps, without the fact seeming to reach public awareness.

In terms of America’s traditional "class ladder" system, what’s happened is that the lower rungs of the ladder have been shoved down into the mud. As feudalistic social arrangements are being re-introduced by neoliberalism, there comes also a re-introduction of slavery, with, as it turns out, a not unfamiliar ethnic bias. It is disproportionately blacks and latinos who are confined to crime-likely life scenarios by corporatization and it is largely blacks and latinos who seem destined to populate America’s slave-labor prisons.

The Gulf "War" - America Becomes the Official Elite Enforcer

With megacorps evolving into the world’s dominant political-economic-social institutions, and with their open grab for political power being reflected in the neoliberal revolution, the question remains as to how order in the world is to be maintained.

If nations are to be weakened - and especially if identification with nationalism is to be de-emphasized - then where are the armies to come from to maintain the elite-architected system? Nationalist spirit - with a feeling of everyone pulling together - has been central to modern war efforts. How can a disenfranchised, betrayed populace be expected to rally "to the defense" when the elite need their support?

And if strong nation-states are to be dismantled, whence will come the infrastructure to maintain systems of weapons and delivery? What will be the command structure and on behalf of what political entity will military operations be carried out? And what about public opinion? Even though the police state will have the capability to suppress troublesome dissent, the myth of continued democracy requires that some degree of popular sentiment be roused for dramatic military interventions.

The Gulf "War" and its aftermath demonstrate clearly how the elite has chosen to deal with these problems. This episode was a major historic precedent on several levels. It established new paradigms for global propaganda, weapons technology, blitzkrieg tactics, and international law. It established in the global public mind the principle that America has a justifiable global policing role, and it exported to the global stage America’s traditional war-incident scenario.

Technologically, the war was in fact a field test of significant new blitzkrieg weapons systems. Precise night operations, stealth defenses, guided weapons, satellite navigation, cruise missiles, bulldozers as mass-murder devices, air-fuel explosives, uranium-weighted shells, anti-nerve gas vaccinations - an entire new generation of weaponry - were tested on a modern, supposedly well-armed, industrial nation. With almost no loss of life in the elite forces, it was demonstrated that Iraq’s infrastructures could be systematically destroyed and that her population could be subjected to relentless terrorism from the skies.

This suite of technology and operating procedures solves the problem posed by the demise of strong nationalism, which formerly provided massive, motivated armies willing to risk their lives for "freedom". By emphasizing hi-tech weapons, operated from safe havens - and by using blitzkrieg tactics - the duration of an intervention is minimized, the number of casualties (on the elite side) is kept low, and the need for a large, non-professional army is eliminated.

The elite no longer needs public support for its military ventures, it only needs acquiescence. A gulf-style approach minimizes negative public responses, making acquiescence easier to achieve. But acquiescence is too important to leave to chance, and so the Gulf War also served as field test for a new generation of propaganda techniques.

Starting with the source of information itself, the propaganda was characterized by a complete lack of information regarding the objectives of the intervention, the targets of attack, the morale of the troops, the type of operations being carried out, and the behavior of the enemy. From this base vacuum of actual war information, an intensive PR campaign constituted the fare from which war entertainment could be constructed.

The propaganda campaign was launched by an arranged war-provoking incident - a direct exportation of the proven American scenario. The incident (Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait) was brought about by an economically provocative oil-dumping policy by Kuwait, followed by a "go signal" from the U.S. Secretary of State regarding the invasion. Once the incident occurred, outrage and surprise were feigned, and a world-wide media/lobbying campaign was launched to achieve UN approval of U.S. military action.

Once the approval was obtained, the U.S. then launched on a military campaign of its own design (the destruction of Iraq), and - as with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - the UN approval turned out to amount to a blank check, to be interpreted however the elite war-leaders wished.

This Gulf-War precedent has established itself very firmly on the media-managed "world stage". When the Bosnia situation advanced to the point where the U.S. wanted to jump in and manage events directly, it was able to get its way with very little fuss. The U.S. has all but been handed the official title of "Judge Dredd" - judge, jury and executioner of international law - and U.S. intervention, certainly not a new phenomenon, seems no longer to be viewed as imperialism.

The New World Order (NWO) - Global Feudalism & Corporate Overlords

These then are the essential elements of what amounts to an historic New World Order. Overall policies are to be set by non-elected, corporate-dominated commissions; the world’s economy, information and working conditions are to be managed directly by megacorps; governmental function is to shrink down to administrative matters and police-management of the populace. All this to be enforced globally by an elite-dominated strike force built around the U.S. military and NATO.

America clearly has a unique role in this scenario. Partly this is because America has the dominant military power. But it also reflects the fact that America, compared to other First-World countries, is the most thoroughly captured by megacorp interests (recall Eisenhower’s speech re: military-industrial complex), and that the American people, in their habitual credulity, are the most effectively mesmerized by the media mythology they are fed via television. America is a kind of "safe house" for NWO operations.

Humanity on the Precipice - Is a Second Dark Ages Inevitable?

There is now a brief window of opportunity in which First-World populations could rise up and reclaim their paper democracies through intensive political organizing and the creation of broad coalition movements. Soon their governments will be disempowered and that opportunity will be lost.

Such an unprecedented peaceful revolution will only become possible if people generally wake up to the true nature of the threat facing them. Helping them wake up becomes a duty of citizenship for anyone who’s managed to grasp the situation.

Given the dire consequences of globalization, one wonders why there seems to be such global acclaim for its steady progress. The answer, of course, is the sophistication and pervasiveness of the accompanying propaganda campaign, and the absence of any effective forum for the expression of alternate perspectives. If a Big Lie is repeated often enough, as the Nazis proved, people believe it.

Perhaps the single most telling observation, in countering the globalization rhetoric, regards the corruption of governments and politicians. Although we are reminded daily of such corruption, and invited to abandon our democratic processes in order to "solve the problem", it is never mentioned that what political corruption amounts to is the illegal intrusion of the corporate elite into the political process.

If people were to realize that government corruption is just another name for corporate influence, it would be difficult for global corporatization to pose as a "solution" to the problem.

Bibliography

Greider, William, Who will tell the People - The Betrayal of American Democracy (New York: Touchstone, 1993).

Lederer, William J, A Nation of Sheep (New York: Crest Books, Fawcett World Library, 1962).

Parenti, Michael, Make-Believe Media - The Politics of Entertainment (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992).

Parenti, Michael, The Sword and the Dollar - Imperialism, Revolution, and the Arms Race (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989).

Zinn, Howard, A Peoples History of the United States (New York: Harper & Row, 1980).

Keane, John, Tom Paine - A Political Life (Little, Brown, and Company, Canada, Limited, 1995).

© Copyright New Dawn Magazine, http://www.newdawnmagazine.com. Permission to re-send, post and place on web sites for non-commercial purposes, and if shown only in its entirety with no changes or additions. This notice must accompany all re-posting.

Musings

2005-06-18T23:20:00.000-05:00

If you follow the foodchain at all, I'm sure you're aware that our (my) opinion here is that there are some major difficulties facing the population of our once upon a time great nation.

Sure, there are thousands, if not millions of blogs out there with much better commentary and insightful views on the state of the world as it is here in the beginning of the 21st century.

The foodchain's only claim to fame is that we (he) is willing to invest the time to dig in to the nuts and bolts of what's actually going on 'out there.'

Coming from a public school education and very little higher learning we (I) understand that there are some limits placed upon our (my) limited understanding.

We (I) have to depend on constant input, hoping that eventually the puzzle will finally begin to unfold and enlightenment will result.

The foodchain, as stated before, ain't necessarily smart, but it is relentless in its pursuit of 'truth.'

We (I) could be characterized by the immortal words of the great H. L. Mencken who once defined those who read too much as 'bibliobibliu's.'

That's me.

One with too much time on my hands and one who reads way too much.

But you knew that going in.

It's stated proudly in my profile.

The foodchain is addicted to information.

And by golly, there's a shitload of information out there to sink one's teeth into.

So where are we in the foodchain's inestimable view of life on this here planet?

Well, things are fucked up. Anyone with a brain and an internet connection cannot help but reach the same conclusion.

The matrix analogy is apt, apropos, and right on the effing nose.

The majority in the USA have ingested the red pill. All is a-ok. The SUV payments are made, usually on time, the house is going up in value. What could be better for those in my position?

Meanwhile, those who swallow the blue pill are becoming aware that all is not what it appears to be.

Those with a heart, (usually identified as the hated blue staters) realize that much could be done to remedy the ills that threaten to overwhelm us. I mean, come on, who really believes that all is well?

Those benefitting off the largesse of the American way. The fortunate few who have the resources to play the game to their advantage. Those with enough credit cards to float the expenses that make up daily existence in the USA.

But those with the wherewithal to cope are becoming fewer and fewer. The American dream is rapidly becoming a nostalgic longing for most in our proud land.

But we continue to wave the flag and sing God Bless America, as if, in doing so, a benevolent higher power will feel flattered enough to continue his blessings ... regardless of what that entails for the majority of suffering humanity.

The foodchain views corporate capitalism .. the predominant economic system of our day as the velociraptor of economic systems. It is vicious in it's unquenchable thirst for profit. The system we find ourselves enmeshed in is relentless in its pursuit of the good life for the few at the expense of the impoverishing of the very many. Every day, more and more are alienated from the dream .. as the dream is outsourced and the heartland becomes a wasteland.

What is the endgame? And, undoubtedly, there is an endgame in view ... life is chess and chess is life. Power places itself in the most advantageous of positions ... after all, it is the power and has the strength to stack the deck in its favor.

Those with the juice call the tunes. That's just the way it is.

Where does that leave the rest of us?

In an eternal state of grovelization.

That's life in the foodchain writ large.

The way it is.

Well, fuck that.

I say it's too early to roll over and play dead.

The vaunted American Spirit has yet to rear its sleepy head.

Maybe it never will.

Perhaps the lure of the X Box is too strong.

It's been stated that Americans don't mind a little slavery, provided they're confined in a big enough box. The illusion of freedom is sufficient for most.

But maybe, just maybe ... all the lip service given to 'freedom' and 'democracy' for Iraqis will tickle the ears ... maybe just a wee bit enough .. that the sonambulists in our nation will take note, whiff the rhetoric and say 'whoa, we could use a little more of that here."

Maybe the whiff will awaken the olfactory systems of our dumbed out dulled out populace and they'll realize that the smell they're accustomed to is really a stench.

The stench of 'entertainment' taking the place of surrendered liberties.

The stench of viewing instead of doing.

The stench of life on the sidelines in place of life lived in the jet stream.

If nothing else, the sidelines are comfortable.

That's why so many of us are entrenched there. We dig our comfort.

But today's comfort is tomorrow's confinement. I fear that one day we'll wake up to the fact that the comfort we're so accustomed to is nothing but an illusion.

An illusion susceptible to being raped by the rigid rod of reality.

Hold your finger to the wind folks. See which way the wind blows. Are you content with being content?

The status quo will prevail, to our detriment, until the tipping point is reached.

What will it take?

What will it take for the herd to stand up and take notice? Another 911? Economic meltdown?

The foodchain ain't scared of much but it fears the answer to that question.

2005-06-17T23:32:00.000-05:00

Since the news is always so ugly, lets look at something purty.

Hannity and the Blond Twit

2005-06-17T23:22:00.000-05:00

Hannity at Fox and the Blond Twit Talking Head on Scarborough Country of MSNBC are all in a tizzy tonight because Sean Penn has gone to Iran to cover the election there as a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

He's a traitor they scream. Aiding and abetting the enemy.

The twit says, "If he likes Iran so much maybe he should move there." Wow, what else could a Twit say? Haven't heard that sentiment before ... that's journalism folks.

Heaven forbid that someone with a liberal viewpoint be given the opportunity to report his impressions to the American public.

I say fuck Hannity and fuck the Blond Twit.

The Twit, in her Twit wisdom was quick to point out that America is the good guy and Iran is the evil doing terrorist. Meanwhile, the text streaming below the Blond Twit read, "Is Iran Next?"

Well, hell yeah.

Haven't you heard? ... Osama Bin Laden is now in Iran, along with all those weapons of mass destruction that Saddam was deposed over.

WMD and Osama Bin Laden.

Same old shit.

What Time Is It?

2005-06-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

"Does anybody really know what time it is?
-Does anybody really care ... about time?"

Remember that tune? It's an oldie. Late 60's if I recall, by a band called the "Chicago Transit Authority" ... later shortened to just plain, "Chicago."

Of course we all know what time it is. Clocks are everywhere. Most of us wear them on our bodies. If not, and you're sitting in front of a computer you don't even have to turn your head, just glance down and to the right and your computer will tell you what time it is.

But what time is it really?

Do we really know what time it is?

The passage of time is inexorable.

Tick ... Tick ... Tick... goes the clock. Darkness turns to dawn, which turns into high noon .. the brightest part of the day ... tick ... tick ... on into the afternoon, the shadows lengthen and before you know it, another day has passed into twilight .. the last rays of light .. then the black of night.

Time is stamped indelibly upon the individual. From infant to toddler to teen to young adult ... the morning and high noon of life .... then encroaching middle age, the twilight of youth so to speak and on into old age ... then, the black of night ... death.

As it goes for the individual, so it goes for civilizations ... Civilizations come and go. Metaphorically they are born, suffer growing pains ... perhaps making a mark on the world during their golden years yet inevitably they die, their remains crumble and eventually turn to dust. Gone, mostly forgotten.

And so it goes.

It's no different for individual countries ... same story.

Which brings me back to my original question.

What time is it in America?

Morning? Noon? Twilight? Or black of night?

It's hard to say for sure but I think we can safely rule out morning and noon. That leaves twilight advancing into the black of night.

Perhaps you disagree. I won't argue.

The idealism of youth and its stamina coupled with the wisdom of its elders help to provide an environment for healthy growth in the life cycle of nations.

Where is that stamina and wisdom manifest in our day?

I search in vain for the signs of a pulse in this once great land and instead of youth I see the 'greying of America,'... I see cynicism instead of wisdom.

Do we as a nation have the will to confront what ails us? Or are we destined to consume ourselves into a bloated old age, unable to feed and care for ourselves like the geriatric crowds in the old folks homes, dependent on others to meet our needs?

Do we as a people have the will to stand up to the forces that threaten what liberty we have left as those forces run roughshod over the rest of the world?

'If not us, who? If not now, when?'

The foodchain would love to put on the happy face, think happy thoughts and say 'all will be well.' But all is not well. We're going the way of all nations before us who have known their day in the sun.

What time is it really?

Do we really know?

More importantly, do we really care?

About time.

The Natural Evolution of Corporate Capitalism

2005-06-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

The New World Order and What to Do About It

Part One

By RICHARD MOORE
www.newdawnmagazine.com

George Bush’s comment in 1990, that the Gulf War heralded a ‘new world order’, was the trigger that got me started on the path of analysing and writing about political power relationships. Bush was suggesting that the Gulf War was more than a special case, that it was establishing some kind of new pattern for international order. He didn’t tell us much about the details, and I found myself drawn in to figuring out what he could have meant.

The starting point for the investigation was the Gulf War itself. What was unique about it?

In some ways Desert Storm was a sequel to earlier events – it was third in a series of blitzkrieg invasions – blitzkrieg American style. “Blitzkrieg One” was the shameful invasion of the tiny island of Grenada – carried out mainly to test US public reaction. The “Vietnam syndrome” had been hampering US interventionism for years, and the Grenada invasion managed to make interventionism popular again. Then came “Blitzkrieg Two” in Panama – on a larger scale and again a hit with the American public. Desert Storm – “Blitzkrieg Three” – continued this pattern: bigger, more destructive, and again wildly popular. Americans were glued to their TVs. It was like 24-hour a day football, except that the violence was real instead of symbolic. But it would be unfair to conclude from this that American’s are a bloodthirsty lot – what they were being told by the media had very little to do with what was really going on.

In all three events of this blitzkrieg series, a new regime of control over the media was in evidence. Release of official information was highly centralised, and media channels made no effort to pursue independent sources – even though sources were often readily available. The result was more than simply slanted news – the coverage didn’t resemble previous war reportage at all, it was more like a real-time Hollywood movie – a story with black-and-white characters and a simple, clearly developing plot line. In the end, the bad guys were defeated and the good guys were victorious, and the whole tidy episode happened within the dramatic attention span of the audience. That last word sums it up – we in the US had become an audience to a presentation. As in the Roman Republic, the meaning of citizenship had been reduced to the act of watching circuses.

What was unique about Desert Storm was the way in which the project was internationalised. For the invasions of Grenada and Panama, ‘legitimacy’ came from the approval of the American public, and the propaganda was directed primarily at an American audience. In Panama, for example, Americans had been told that an unarmed US serviceman was shot by Panamanian guards. In fact the serviceman had sped through a Panamanian military checkpoint and exchanged fire with the guards – but this was not reported in the American press until much later.

In Desert Storm, the ‘legitimising audience’ became an international one, and the contrived war-provocation incident was one of international concern – the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. Iraq notified the US State Department about the planned invasion, and Saddam Hussein received an official response that the US would consider such a conflict to be an “internal Arab matter”. This raised two questions in my mind. Why did the US create an excuse for bombing Iraq, and why didn’t the US simply go ahead and carry out the bombing on a unilateral basis, as in the earlier blitzkrieg scenarios?

It seemed that the US was intent on achieving international legitimacy for interventions, as a goal in its own right. But the legitimacy sought was of a rather narrow variety. The US wasn’t really seeking allies as it did in WW II – joint powers acting from a shared consensus. Instead, the US simply wanted an official authorisation to pursue its own agenda, and token allies, whose presence was more symbolic than of military substance. Much was made of the need for an authorising UN resolution, but once the resolution was signed the US completely ignored the spirit and letter of the resolution – and proceeded to carry out the war in whatever way it wanted, releasing only the information it chose to release.

These considerations led me to a tentative hypothesis regarding the nature of the new world order to which Bush was alluding.

It seemed that a whole slice of American culture – the traditional warpath scenario – was being re-installed in a larger context. Under this scenario, the international (particularly Western) public would be managed with the same Madison-Avenue/Hollywood techniques which had been perfected in the US. Wars and interventions would be justified by contrived or fabricated incidents, and once underway would be pursued by means and toward ends that would be largely unannounced. The UN would be expected to emulate the American Congress, which traditionally gives the Executive a blank check in time of warfare.

This hypothesis, at the time, was highly speculative. It was based on three assumptions: (1) Bush was serious with his NWO remark; (2) his seriousness was linked to policies that some community of people had the power to implement; (3) the unique aspects of Desert Storm provided the necessary clues as to what those policies were about.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but subsequent events were to overwhelmingly validate the hypothesis in every one of its particulars. More about that a little further down. While waiting for on-the-ground validation, I used my time to investigate who this community might be, that could define and then implement new world orders – of whatever variety, and what else was involved in their new order besides the globalisation of US interventionism.

This led me to investigate corporate power, the Reagan-Thatcher revolution, the EU, the free-trade agreements, and the rapidly developing global bureaucracy centred in the WTO (World Trade Organisation), IMF, et al. This led to a review of the history of the old world order... the Enlightenment and the birth of republics, and the relationship between the growth of capitalism and the growth of ‘democracies’. Here are three paragraphs from “Common Sense and the New World Order”, which was published in New Dawn in September-October, 1995:

This nightmarish political regime is being expanded to the Second and First Worlds by means of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Area), GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), the WTO (World Trade Organisation), and other similar agreements and entities. Unlike the IMF, which controls via the purse strings, these so-called “trade agreements” control via intrusion into the regulatory power of signatory nations. By exploiting the treaty mechanism, which has the force of national law, these agreements become permanent parts of each constitutional system, making it all but impossible for future governments to choose different regulatory policies. Thus the transnationals are able to translate temporary political ascendency, attained at considerable effort and expense, into a permanent stranglehold over sovereign nations….

Over the past century, the US has felt free to “intervene” unilaterally in dozens of countries to support the operations of various corporate interests. As foreshadowed by the Gulf precedent, the NWO scheme is to “legitimise” such interventions, by embedding them within an international framework. That framework won’t be the UN – which includes too diverse a representative base – instead, it will be framed within organisations such as NATO, which fit better the technocratic model and are more easily managed by the NWO elite.

Thus the military agenda of the NWO can be foreseen by simply looking back at the history of US imperialism in the Third World. Whenever a country gets too uppity – pursuing its domestic interests rather than those of transnational corporate investors – it can expect to be subdued by overwhelming military force, preceded by an appropriate media demonisation campaign. Traditional international law – largely ignored in practice anyway – is to be formally replaced by an “internationalised”, but elite controlled, NWO Police Strike Force.

So far, I had been looking at two things: the events of the day and a few history books. I had not yet heard of Samuel Huntington and his “Crisis of Democracy” and “Clash of Civilizations”, nor had I looked into the Council on Foreign Relations and the well-documented history of elite planning as the basis for major US policies. The current genre of globalisation books had not yet been published, including two landmark works: Michel Chossudovsky’s Globalization of Poverty, showing how the IMF acts as a conscious agent of Western neo-imperialism, and Mander & Goldsmith’s The Case Against the Global Economy, which comprehensively covers the economic and political aspects of globalisation (but not the military aspects).

All of this later material, together with the continued unfolding of the NWO agenda on the ground, only served to confirm and to expand the original hypothesis. The evidence became overwhelming and conclusive. There is a new world order; it is a consciously organised project; it brings the end of national sovereignty and the destabilisation of Western democracy; it is based on the intentional maintenance of international conflict; it is to be backed by a ruthless and centralised military force; it represents the final stage of global capitalism, in many ways similar to the predictions of Marx & Lenin – but with some significant differences.

By the end of 1997 none of this, in my mind at least, was any longer in the ‘hypothesis’ category. The investigation had been carried out, and the conclusions were inescapable. I turned my attention to two new projects: (1) learning how to explain what I had learned in terms that could be received by those who have been conditioned by a lifetime of dis-education and corporate propaganda, and (2) investigating what could be done to change things.

Nonetheless, up until mid 1999, much of the NWO was still latent. The handwriting was on the wall, but the implementation had not been carried out. For the skeptical, Desert Storm could be seen as a one-off event, and even still today the WTO has not unleashed its full powers against environmental laws and the like. Most people still think they are living in sovereign nations, and link the term ‘NWO’ to right-wing conspiracy theories. Much of what I was writing could be categorised as ‘prediction’.

But in mid 1999, in the space of a few short months, the NWO hammer came down – the final implementation of the global military regime. Tony Blair and Bill Clinton have announced that Yugoslavia is only the beginning, that we can expect interventions throughout the world as routine policy. NATO is to be the vehicle, ‘humanitarianism’ is to be the pretext, and centrally-controlled wag-the-dog propaganda is to make sure events are interpreted with the white hats and black hats plainly assigned to the right characters.

Clinton made it all quite clear, when he spoke to NATO troops in Macedonia (“The Clinton Doctrine”, from the Washington Post, reprinted in The Guardian Weekly, July 1-7, 1999, p. 31):

We must win the peace. If we can do this here... we can then say to the people of the world, ‘Whether you live in Africa or Central Europe or any other place, if somebody comes after innocent civilians and tries to kill them en masse because of their race, their ethnic background or their religion and it is within our power stop it, we will stop it.’

You’ve got hand it to them... it’s a very effective formula. Who can resist the idea of ‘doing something’ to prevent genocide?

The problem with the tidy little formula is that the same folks who decide where to intervene are the ones who run the global system that intentionally creates the conditions which are destabilising societies globally and making pretexts for intervention plentiful.

It is the US who installed and supported Noriega, Marcos, Pinochet, the Shah, and the Ayatollah; it is the West that sold Saddam Hussein weapons of mass destruction; it is the West that supported Suharto and profited from his crony-capitalist regime and East Timor repression; it is the US and Germany who intentionally promoted the destabilisation of Yugoslavia over the past decade and repeatedly encouraged Milosevic, giving him enough rope so they could later hang him with it.

A band of arsonists has successfully usurped the role of global fire crew. They start fires all over the world on a routine basis, and whenever they want to intervene militarily, all they have to do is turn the media spotlight on the results of their own diabolical handiwork. Not only that, but when they do intervene, as we’ve seen in Iraq and Yugoslavia, they don’t put out the fire: they simply burn down the rest of the house.

If you seek alternative source of information, then you know ethnic repression is going on all over the world, including within staunch American allies such as Turkey and Israel, and Most-Favored-Nations such as China. But when the mass media gets around to ‘revealing’ such circumstances, then you know you’re being prepared for a sooner-or-later potential intervention.

Let’s move up one level, re/ strategic analysis... let’s ‘follow the money’.

In terms of global capitalism, what we are seeing in Yugoslavia is a large-scale redevelopment project. When a developer wants to build a new shopping centre, or housing estate, he bulldozes down all existing structures and starts over from the ground up. That’s exactly what happened in Yugoslavia, and that’s why the biggest bombs were aimed at the economic infrastructure.

As Marx and Lenin foresaw, the global triumph of capitalism has led to the exposure of contradictions inherent in the system. Growth and wealth concentration, the engines of capitalism, can only proceed so far. Real economic growth in the global economy has been relatively stagnant for more than a decade now. The paper-growth that we read about in the economic news and on the exchange ticker-tapes is related more to the final stages of concentration, where giant TNC’s gorge themselves with mergers and by taking over markets currently served by smaller businesses or by public agencies.

The engineered destabilisation of Southeast Asian economies was part of this concentration phase, knocking competitors to Western-based TNC’s out of global markets, and giving those TNC’s an opportunity to further gorge themselves on undervalued Southeast Asian assets.

But as I mentioned above, even this IMF-assisted concentration phase cannot last forever. The TNC’s already control something like 80% of global markets. They’re now rapidly squeezing the last few miles out of this growth vehicle.

Capitalism is far from ready to give up the ghost, and new growth vehicles are being developed. In Yugoslavia we see the latest model being deployed. NATO blitzkrieg is the bulldozer, and ‘recovery’ programs are the growth vehicle. The people of the world must understand that it’s “not nice” to resist the dictates of the new world order.

The Revolutionary Imperative

The course of world events, for the first time in history, is now largely controlled by a centralised global regime. This regime has been consolidating its power ever since World War II and is now formalising that power into a collection of centralised institutions and a new system of international “order”. Top Western political leaders are participants in this global regime, and the strong Western nation state is rapidly being dismantled and destabilised. The global regime serves elite corporate interests exclusively. It has no particular regard for human rights, democracy, human welfare, or the health of the environment. The only god of this regime is the god of wealth accumulation.

From the beginning, this evolving regime has employed dual-agenda propaganda. For each elite initiative there has been a public cover story which made that initiative seem palatable to public opinion. There has been a public reality and a hidden reality. In public reality the UN was to begin an era of peaceful international collaboration. In fact the postwar era has been dominated by US interventionism in support of international capital. In public reality the Reagan-Thatcher revolution was about freedom and individualism. In fact neoliberalism was about transferring power to corporations and dismantling democracy. In public reality humanitarianism has been the motivation for the recent acceleration in Western interventions in places like Iraq, Albania, Yugoslavia, and East Timor. In fact the global regime has been establishing – in the public mind – the “legitimacy” of its new world order.

In two centuries the Western world has come full circle from tyranny to tyranny. The tyranny of monarchs was overthrown in the Enlightenment and semi-democratic republics were established.

Two centuries later those republics are being destabilised and a new tyranny is assuming power – a global tyranny of anonymous corporate elites. This anonymous regime has no qualms about creating poverty, destroying nations, and engaging in genocide.

Our elite rulers did not lead us into tyranny and environmental collapse because they are evil people, but because they were forced to by the nature of capitalism. Capitalism must continually grow in order to survive. If investors have nowhere to increase their funds then they stop investing and the whole system collapses like a house of cards.

Propaganda myth tells us that capitalism and free enterprise are one and the same thing. They are not. Under free enterprise a business can provide a service or product, make a profit in the process, and continue on stably for many years. Under capitalism such a business would be considered a failure – it does not provide a growth opportunity for an investor. Under capitalism society is forced to continually destroy old ways of doing things and adopt new ways – not because it is good for society but because that is how wealthy investors can increase their wealth still further. That’s why General Motors and Firestone banded together to destroy excellent urban transit systems throughout the US in the 1940s and 1950s – so that people would be forced to convert to automobiles and create growth for the automobile, tire, and petroleum industries. For exactly the same reasons, and during the same period, rail systems were destroyed in Great Britain and Ireland.

The history of the past two centuries can be understood as a process of creating new growth vehicles as required by the capitalist system. Imperialism provided immense room for capital growth and enough wealth was generated to be shared with Western populations. This process continued up until the late 1960s. At that point growth through external imperialism began to slow down. Neoliberalism permitted growth to continue by consuming the nest of capitalism – by dismantling Western societies and subjecting them to intensive capitalist exploitation. Globalisation takes this process even further – creating capital growth through intensive exploitation on a global scale. The new world order system of global tyranny is a necessity for capitalism – in order to force the world’s people to submit to the exploitation which globalisation represents.

Humanity can do better than this – much better – and there is reason to hope that the time is ripe for humanity to bring about fundamental changes. For the past two hundred years capitalism has employed an unbeatable formula to maintain its stranglehold over the world. That formula has been based on the relative prosperity of Western populations. Popular support maintained Western regimes and those regimes had the military might to dominate the rest of the world. That formula reached its culmination in the postwar years when Western prosperity reached unprecedented heights.

With neoliberalism and globalisation, this formula has been replaced by another. Western populations and democracy have been abandoned and capitalist elites have bet their future on the success of their WTO new world order tyrannical system. In a few years this regime may be so thoroughly established that it will be invincible. But in the meantime – if Western populations wake up to the fact that they are being betrayed – they have the opportunity to rise up and assert the democratic sovereignty which they in theory yet possess.

Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. The nature of capitalism is forcing revolutionary changes. Those of us in the West have a choice. On the one hand we can acquiesce to global tyranny so that capitalism can continue its insane growth. On the other hand, we can assert our rights as free peoples – we can oust the elites from power and reorganise our economies so that they serve the needs of people instead of the needs of endless wealth accumulation. This is our Revolutionary Imperative. Not an imperative to violent revolution, but an imperative to do something even more revolutionary – to set humanity on a sane course using peaceful, democratic means.

Part Two

The theory behind our current democracy-model is that people – by joining parties or various other kinds of voting constituencies – can collectively achieve some measure of representation in the body politic. As we are all aware, this process inevitably devolves into a game of power-brokering. What could theoretically be a bottom-up process of democratic input becomes instead a top-down process of demagoguery and manipulation. Such a system of ‘competitive factionalism’ is ideally suited to enable power usurpation by well-organised wealthy elites, and that is precisely what has happened throughout the West. In the case of the US, James Madison and other Constitution-framers were well aware of these dynamics, and it was their express goal to avoid ‘too much’ democracy, what they called ‘mob rule’. They felt the nation should be run by ‘those who own it.’ They succeeded. And the mechanisms of usurpation work increasingly effectively as the scale of operation grows larger.

But my own critique of electoral systems is at a more fundamental level. Instead of focusing on the corruption aspect, which is scale related, I suggest that we start by looking at the problem of democracy in-the-small – the decision-making process at the local level. Our standard Western model for this process, I suggest, is Robert’s Rules of Order. That is, proposals are made and voted on, and when a proposal is adopted by a majority, then the matter is settled.

In this small-scale microcosm can already be seen the phenomenon of competitive factionalism. It is a win-lose scenario. Instead of the best-solution for the whole community, some majority faction achieves something favourable for itself – and the rest are simply out of luck. Majority voting leads to competitive faction formation as surely as fire leads to smoke, even at the smallest scale.

Robert’s rules, in typical practice, are about deciding among alternatives. My central observation, as regards democracy, is that ‘decision making’ is the wrong frame for the democratic process. I suggest instead that the proper frame is ‘problem solving’. As one argument for this frame shift, I – with some irony – point to the process that occurs in a typical working team meeting in a modern corporate setting.

In such a meeting a group assembles to solve a problem (technical, managerial, marketing, or whatever). Ideas and knowledge are pooled, via discussion, and the group moves toward identifying possible solutions. Suggestions might be rejected, refined, combined, modified, elaborated, etc, in a process of open discussion and mutual education. In decades of work in industry, I never saw anyone suggest a vote in such a meeting. It would be seen as absurd. How can you possibly solve a problem by voting? You can only do it by thrashing out the issues. I believe the argument for a consensus-like democratic process can be made more strongly by looking at these kind of models, than by emphasising the history of consensus, and its apologists, in the political domain.

Majority voting functions as a mechanism to externalise the problem solving process from the official political process. Problem-solving tends to move offline, into factional groupings (caucuses, party meetings, etc.) where legislative proposals (solutions) are worked out by other processes, not documented in any rules of order. Thus society’s path (at each level of scale) is ultimately decided by these other, offline processes – depending on which faction wins the majority in each case. Wherever the actual sleeves-rolled-up problem-solving is done is where the future is designed. That place – the place where trade-offs are considered – is, in some real sense, where power lies.

For democracy to work, and I think this could in some sense be rigorously demonstrated, the problem solving process must be brought online. That is to say, the problem solving process must become the official political process. Participatory democracy (suitably defined) is not just a good idea – it is a provably necessary condition if sovereignty is to truly lie with the people themselves. Genuine democracy requires that people collaboratively solve the problems that affect their lives, that they discuss together the trade-offs of different alternatives. If they’re ‘outside the loop’, they’re out of power.

Consider what this means at the local, community, level. Presumably we’re talking about some kind of town-hall scenario in which issues are talked through, leading to an actionable ‘sense of the community’ regarding the ‘best overall solution’ to the issues at hand – using collaborative problem solving instead of divisive voting. Clearly there are problems to be faced in making such a scenario workable (modern busy schedules, ethnic divisions within the locality, etc.) – but for the sake of discussion let’s assume that a town-hall meeting scenario can be made workable at the most local level. This very thing does in fact seem to work in Cuba, where upwards of 85% of the population participate actively in such local meetings. Meaningful involvement in societal problem-solving is inherently motivating, and the community-collaboration process helps build a sense of community even in places where we now see only alienated consumerist family units.

Consider what kinds of issues need to be deliberated at this local level, in order to achieve a democratic society. Some might presume that ‘local issues’ would be discussed, and that ‘wider issues’ would be handled somewhere else. Not so. Not if “Genuine democracy requires that people collaboratively solve the problems that affect their lives.” TNC’s affect my life, GM crops affect my life, the inadequacy of public transportation affects my life, NATO affects my life, the existence of nuclear weapons affects my life. National issues, and global issues, are also local issues. The community is the only place where ‘the people’ can get together face-to-face, and anything not discussed there will a priori be decided in some non-democratic way. It is generally only at the local level that you (and you and you) ever get to express yourself. If something important is not discussed there, then you have no input to it.

Some problems – the ones usually called ‘local’ – can be dealt with entirely at the local level. I think it is self-evident that the more autonomous the locality, the more democratic the society – other things being equal. A mandatory ‘national curriculum’, for example, would be anathema in a democratic society, as perhaps would be a uniform building code. There are many exceptions – areas where laws and regulations need to be adopted more widely which constrain localities – including civil-liberties, child-labour, pollution controls, etc. etc. But by and large, in a democracy, a community would feel in control of its own destiny. The community is the fundamental governmental unit in a democratic society.

The other problems – those that involve a larger scale of society – obviously require a more complex process. I’ll skip the theoretical arguments and simply point out that this process scales up very nicely. Not only that, but we can see one implementation of the model working well in practice in Cuba. The way they do it, after discussing a wide range of issues locally – not limited to the ‘local’ – is to select a slate of delegates to represent their locality at the next ‘higher’ level of government. These delegates are typical community members, sent off temporarily to represent the positions of the community – as discussed in session. They are not full-time politicians who, as in the West, consider that being elected gives them a blank check to go off and pursue their own (or their party’s) agenda.

In terms of the more abstract model, the system scales up this way. Besides handling its own affairs, the locality talks through the wider issues about which the community is concerned, especially those that are expected to come up for discussion in ‘higher-level’ sessions. The goal is not to come up with hard positions which are to be ‘sold’ or ‘bargained’ elsewhere, but rather to develop a ‘sense of the community’ regarding their values and preferences, as regards each particular issue. Unless the community discusses an issue, no one can possibly know what its ‘sense’ is – and there is no way anyone could ‘represent’ the community. (One reason our existing systems couldn’t possibly work.) The ‘sense’ only exists because it is developed in community discussion. Just as in a business meeting, this is a mutual-education, problem-solving process. It is creative work to come up with a community ‘sense’, and that is the work of real democracy – the true meaning of empowered citizenship.

What happens at the next level is again a collaborative, problem solving process. This is a fractal model, you might say. In the local meetings, individuals don’t come in with fixed positions, ready to sell them. Instead they come in with their own concerns, in all their subtlety, and participate in a collaborative process to find a mutually advantageous solution to problems. Similarly, at the next level, delegates come in armed with their ‘community sense’ – which is again a subtle fabric of ‘concerns’. And as in the local meeting, the assembled delegates collaborate together to find solutions that address the various concerns, to everyone’s mutual advantage. Threatened minorities (those whose local interests are somehow in conflict with wider tides of concern), rather than being ignored as in a majority system, are more likely to be at the centre of the discussion, since their concerns are the ones most problematic to incorporate into a mutually acceptable outcome.

That’s basically the model. It’s collaborative problem solving all the way down, and all the way up, with common-citizen delegates representing articulated agendas – and no professional politicians. There are countless peripheral issues, such as accuracy of media, which bear on democracy. But my investigation of democracy, over several years, both theoretical and empirical, leads me to this basic model as being both necessary and sufficient (!), as the core paradigm for genuine democracy. That is a very strong statement, and I don’t claim to have proven it here. But I think the sketch has the appropriate structure for a more complete exposition.

In Cuba, fortunately for them, this process is more or less the official government structure. For this model to be applied in our pseudo-democracies, with their majority systems, a bit of thought is required. And again, there is a real-world example that can be used for illustration. It is only on the scale of a single city, but all the mechanisms are there. I refer to the “Participatory Budgeting project” (PB), which operated for a time in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The city officially operated under a majority electoral system. But there was a massive grassroots, bottom-up collaborative process (PB), which was empowered to work out the city’s budget. PB’s process was consistent with the model I’ve described, and it was large enough to exhibit several levels of deliberations. What happened in practice is that whatever the PB process came up with, was implemented verbatim by the elected officials. And the budgetary results were considered, by objective outside review, as being quite sound. The system worked.

Speaking more generally, there would be two parallel structures – the official governmental structure, and the collaborative problem-solving structure – the civil-society structure. The first provides the mechanism to carry out the bureaucratic necessities of implementing policy; the second provides the democratic process by which policies are formulated. Formal elections would become ritual formalities, much like America’s ‘electoral college’ that has no volitional charter. A slate of delegate-candidates would be selected, at whatever appropriate level of the civil-society structure, and essentially everyone would vote for them – since everyone has participated in the collaborative process and is invested in its success. These elected officials would then carry out their implementation responsibilities using a similar collaborative problem-solving approach, and representing the articulated agendas of the constituencies which selected them.

Ironically, this parallel-structure system is extremely close to the system we already have in the West! In our current system we have a formal governmental system, and it acts as the rubber-stamp implementation agent for another structure – a structure which actually sets policy. That ‘other structure’ is the backroom deal-making environment in which moneyed interests and power brokers work out who the candidates will be, how the election issues are be framed, how the campaigns are to be staged, and what the legislative priorities will be once ‘their men’ are in office. Our policy-making process has always been separate from the official ‘democratic’ process, a point that I developed above in terms of ‘competitive factionalism’, ‘off-line problem solving’, ‘corruption’, and ‘usurpation of power’.

The two-structure scheme is a sound one. Our governmental structure functions well in its bureaucratic aspects, generally speaking, despite neoliberal smear campaigns to the contrary. The perceived ‘bunglings’ of government are due to misperceptions of what governments are actually trying to accomplish. Their actual (unannounced) task is to serve the interests of corporations – and they do a very efficient job of that. They only ‘bungle’ if you believe their pseudo-progressive lies about why they’re doing things. We simply need to replace the wealth-dominated structure that currently sets policy with a democratic structure. There’s no need to storm the bastilles, dismantle the parliaments, nor write new constitutions. The official governments can continue to do what they do now rather competently – carry out policy set by someone else. In this case, by the people.

But where is this civil-society structure to come from – the parallel structure which is to set policy. The answer is embarrassingly obvious. You’ve probably already figured it out. That parallel structure is the matured revolutionary movement itself. ‘The victorious movement’ = ‘The renewed, empowered civil society’ = ‘The collaborative policy-setting parallel structure’.

That is to say, the model for democracy is also the model for movement structure. The means are the ends. As Gandhi personified it, paraphrasing, “You must become the future you seek”. The movement itself must begin as a bottom-up, collaborative, problem-solving process. Activist groups, the scenario goes, come together and say “What are our different goals? How can we combine forces and accomplish them together? Let us articulate a platform that benefits us all, and promote it collectively.” From such a seed, everyone can be brought in, for in truth we are all in this together and all really want the same basic things. The process by which the movement plans its strategies and actions serves as training for how the movement – renamed eventually as ‘civil-society’ – continues into its ongoing task of guiding society’s evolutionary path.

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The Matrix is Real

2005-06-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

Beyond Left and Right; Escaping the Matrix

By RICHARD K. MOORE
www.newdawnmagazine.com

The defining dramatic moment in the film The Matrix occurs just after Morpheus invites Neo to choose between a red pill and a blue pill. The red pill promises “the truth, nothing more.” Neo takes the red pill and awakes to reality – something utterly different from anything Neo, or the audience, could have expected. What Neo had assumed to be reality turned out to be only a collective illusion, fabricated by the Matrix and fed to a population that is asleep, cocooned in grotesque embryonic pods. In Plato’s famous parable about the shadows on the walls of the cave, true reality is at least reflected in perceived reality. In the Matrix world, true reality and perceived reality exist on entirely different planes.

The story is intended as metaphor, and the parallels that drew my attention had to do with political reality. This article offers a particular perspective on what’s going on in the world – and how things got to be that way – in this era of globalisation. From that red-pill perspective, everyday media-consensus reality – like the Matrix in the film – is seen to be a fabricated collective illusion. Like Neo, I didn’t know what I was looking for when my investigation began, but I knew that what I was being told didn’t make sense. I read scores of histories and biographies, observing connections between them, and began to develop my own theories about roots of various historical events. I found myself largely in agreement with writers like Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti, but I also perceived important patterns that others seem to have missed.

When I started tracing historical forces, and began to interpret present-day events from a historical perspective, I could see the same old dynamics at work and found a meaning in unfolding events far different from what official pronouncements proclaimed. Such pronouncements are, after all, public relations fare, given out by politicians who want to look good to the voters. Most of us expect rhetoric from politicians, and take what they say with a grain of salt. But as my own picture of present reality came into focus, “grain of salt” no longer worked as a metaphor. I began to see that consensus reality – as generated by official rhetoric and amplified by mass media – bears very little relationship to actual reality. “The matrix” was a metaphor I was ready for.

In consensus reality (the blue-pill perspective) “left” and “right” are the two ends of the political spectrum. Politics is a tug-of-war between competing factions, carried out by political parties and elected representatives. Society gets pulled this way and that within the political spectrum, reflecting the interests of whichever party won the last election. The left and right are therefore political enemies. Each side is convinced that it knows how to make society better; each believes the other enjoys undue influence; and each blames the other for the political stalemate that apparently prevents society from dealing effectively with its problems.

This perspective on the political process, and on the roles of left and right, is very far from reality. It is a fabricated collective illusion. Morpheus tells Neo that the Matrix is “the world that was pulled over your eyes to hide you from the truth.... As long as the Matrix exists, humanity cannot be free.” Consensus political reality is precisely such a matrix. Later we will take a fresh look at the role of left and right, and at national politics. But first we must develop our red-pill historical perspective. I’ve had to condense the arguments to bare essentials; please see the annotated sources at the end for more thorough treatments of particular topics.

Imperialism and the Matrix

From the time of Columbus to 1945, world affairs were largely dominated by competition among Western nations seeking to stake out spheres of influence, control sea lanes, and exploit colonial empires. Each Western power became the core of an imperialist economy whose periphery was managed for the benefit of the core nation. Military might determined the scope of an empire; wars were initiated when a core nation felt it had sufficient power to expand its periphery at the expense of a competitor. Economies and societies in the periphery were kept backward – to keep their populations under control, to provide cheap labour, and to guarantee markets for goods manufactured in the core. Imperialism robbed the periphery not only of wealth but also of its ability to develop its own societies, cultures, and economies in a natural way for local benefit.

The driving force behind Western imperialism has always been the pursuit of economic gain, ever since Isabella commissioned Columbus on his first entrepreneurial voyage. The rhetoric of empire concerning wars, however, has typically been about other things – the White Man’s Burden, bringing true religion to the heathens, Manifest Destiny, defeating the Yellow Peril or the Hun, seeking lebensraum, or making the world safe for democracy. Any fabricated motivation for war or empire would do, as long as it appealed to the collective consciousness of the population at the time. The propaganda lies of yesterday were recorded and became consensus history – the fabric of the matrix.

While the costs of territorial empire (fleets, colonial administrations, etc.) were borne by Western taxpayers generally, the profits of imperialism were enjoyed primarily by private corporations and investors. Government and corporate elites were partners in the business of imperialism: empires gave government leaders power and prestige, and gave corporate leaders power and wealth. Corporations ran the real business of empire while government leaders fabricated noble excuses for the wars that were required to keep that business going. Matrix reality was about patriotism, national honour, and heroic causes; true reality was on another plane altogether: that of economics.

Industrialisation, beginning in the late 1700s, created a demand for new markets and increased raw materials; both demands spurred accelerated expansion of empire. Wealthy investors amassed fortunes by setting up large-scale industrial and trading operations, leading to the emergence of an influential capitalist elite. Like any other elite, capitalists used their wealth and influence to further their own interests however they could. And the interests of capitalism always come down to economic growth; investors must reap more than they sow or the whole system comes to a grinding halt.

Thus capitalism, industrialisation, nationalism, warfare, imperialism – and the matrix – coevolved. Industrialised weapon production provided the muscle of modern warfare, and capitalism provided the appetite to use that muscle. Government leaders pursued the policies necessary to expand empire while creating a rhetorical matrix, around nationalism, to justify those policies. Capitalist growth depended on empire, which in turn depended on a strong and stable core nation to defend it. National interests and capitalist interests were inextricably linked – or so it seemed for more than two centuries.

World War II and Pax Americana

1945 will be remembered as the year World War II ended and the bond of the atomic nucleus was broken. But 1945 also marked another momentous fission – breaking of the bond between national and capitalist interests. After every previous war, and in many cases after severe devastation, European nations had always picked themselves back up and resumed their competition over empire. But after World War II, a Pax Americana was established. The US began to manage all the Western peripheries on behalf of capitalism generally, while preventing the communist powers from interfering in the game. Capitalist powers no longer needed to fight over investment realms, and competitive imperialism was replaced by collective imperialism (see sidebar). Opportunities for capital growth were no longer linked to the military power of nations, apart from the power of America. In his Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II (see recommended reading), William Blum chronicles hundreds of significant covert and overt interventions, showing exactly how the US carried out its imperial management role.

In the postwar years matrix reality diverged ever further from actual reality. In the postwar matrix world, imperialism had been abandoned and the world was being “democratised”; in the real world, imperialism had become better organised and more efficient. In the matrix world the US “restored order,” or “came to the assistance” of nations which were being “undermined by Soviet influence”; in the real world, the periphery was being systematically suppressed and exploited. In the matrix world, the benefit was going to the periphery in the form of countless aid programs; in the real world, immense wealth was being extracted from the periphery.

Growing glitches in the matrix weren’t noticed by most people in the West, because the postwar years brought unprecedented levels of Western prosperity and social progress. The rhetoric claimed progress would come to all, and Westerners could see it being realised in their own towns and cities. The West became the collective core of a global empire, and exploitative development led to prosperity for Western populations, while generating immense riches for corporations, banks, and wealthy capital investors.

Glitches in the Matrix, Popular Rebellion, and Neoliberalism

The parallel agenda of Third-World exploitation and Western prosperity worked effectively for the first two postwar decades. But in the 1960s large numbers of Westerners, particularly the young and well educated, began to notice glitches in the matrix. In Vietnam imperialism was too naked to be successfully masked as something else. A major split in American public consciousness occurred, as millions of anti-war protesters and civil-rights activists punctured the fabricated consensus of the 1950s and declared the reality of exploitation and suppression both at home and abroad. The environmental movement arose, challenging even the exploitation of the natural world. In Europe, 1968 joined 1848 as a landmark year of popular protest.

These developments disturbed elite planners. The postwar regime’s stability was being challenged from within the core – and the formula of Western prosperity no longer guaranteed public passivity. A report published in 1975, the Report of the Trilateral Task Force on Governability of Democracies, provides a glimpse into the thinking of elite circles. Alan Wolfe discusses this report in Holly Sklar’s eye-opening Trilateralism (see recommended reading). Wolfe focuses especially on the analysis Harvard professor Samuel P. Huntington presented in a section of the report entitled “The Crisis of Democracy.” Huntington is an articulate promoter of elite policy shifts, and contributes pivotal articles to publications such as the Council on Foreign Relations’s Foreign Affairs (see recommended reading).

Huntington tells us that democratic societies “cannot work” unless the citizenry is “passive.” The “democratic surge of the 1960s” represented an “excess of democracy,” which must be reduced if governments are to carry out their traditional domestic and foreign policies. Huntington’s notion of “traditional policies” is expressed in a passage from the report:

To the extent that the United States was governed by anyone during the decades after World War II, it was governed by the President acting with the support and cooperation of key individuals and groups in the executive office, the federal bureaucracy, Congress, and the more important businesses, banks, law firms, foundations, and media, which constitute the private sector’s ‘Establishment’.

In these few words Huntington spells out the reality that electoral democracy has little to do with how America is run, and summarises the kind of people who are included within the elite planning community. Who needs conspiracy theories when elite machinations are clearly described in public documents like these?

Besides failing to deliver popular passivity, the policy of prosperity for Western populations had another downside, having to do with Japan’s economic success. Under the Pax Americana umbrella, Japan had been able to industrialise and become an imperial player – the prohibition on Japanese rearmament had become irrelevant. With Japan’s then-lower living standards, Japanese producers could undercut prevailing prices and steal market share from Western producers. Western capital needed to find a way to become more competitive on world markets, and Western prosperity was standing in the way. Elite strategists, as Huntington showed, were fully capable of understanding these considerations, and the requirements of corporate growth created a strong motivation to make the needed adjustments – in both reality and rhetoric.

If popular prosperity could be sacrificed, there were many obvious ways Western capital could be made more competitive. Production could be moved overseas to low-wage areas, allowing domestic unemployment to rise. Unions could be attacked and wages forced down, and people could be pushed into temporary and part-time jobs without benefits. Regulations governing corporate behaviour could be removed, corporate and capital-gains taxes could be reduced, and the revenue losses could be taken out of public-service budgets. Public infrastructures could be privatised, the services reduced to cut costs, and then they could be milked for easy profits while they deteriorated from neglect.

These are the very policies and programs launched during the Reagan-Thatcher years in the US and Britain. They represent a systematic project of increasing corporate growth at the expense of popular prosperity and welfare. Such a real agenda would have been unpopular, and a corresponding matrix reality was fabricated for public consumption. The matrix reality used real terms like “deregulation,” “reduced taxes,” and “privatisation,” but around them was woven an economic mythology. The old, failed laissez-faire doctrine of the 1800s was reintroduced with the help of Milton Friedman’s Chicago School of economics, and “less government” became the proud “modern” theme in America and Britain. Sensible regulations had restored financial stability after the Great Depression, and had broken up anti-competitive monopolies such as the Rockefeller trust and AT&T. But in the new matrix reality, all regulations were considered bureaucratic interference. Reagan and Thatcher preached the virtues of individualism, and promised to “get government off people’s backs.” The implication was that everyday individuals were to get more money and freedom, but in reality the primary benefits would go to corporations and wealthy investors.

The academic term for laissez-faire economics is “economic liberalism,” and hence the Reagan-Thatcher revolution has come to be known as the “neoliberal revolution.” It brought a radical change in actual reality by returning to the economic philosophy that led to sweatshops, corruption, and robber-baron monopolies in the nineteenth century. It brought an equally radical change in matrix reality – a complete reversal in the attitude that was projected regarding government. Government policies had always been criticised in the media, but the institution of government had always been respected – reflecting the traditional bond between capitalism and nationalism. With Reagan, we had a sitting president telling us that government itself was a bad thing. Many of us may have agreed with him, but such a sentiment had never before found official favour. Soon, British and American populations were beginning to applaud the destruction of the very democratic institutions that provided their only hope of participation in the political process.

Globalisation and World Government

The essential bond between capitalism and nationalism was broken in 1945, but it took some time for elite planners to recognise this new condition and to begin bringing the world system into alignment with it. The strong Western nation state had been the bulwark of capitalism for centuries, and initial postwar policies were based on the assumption that this would continue indefinitely. The Bretton Woods financial system (the IMF, World Bank, and a system of fixed exchange rates among major currencies) was set up to stabilise national economies, and popular prosperity was encouraged to provide political stability. Neoliberalism in the US and Britain represented the first serious break with this policy framework – and brought the first visible signs of the fission of the nation-capital bond.

The neoliberal project was economically profitable in the US and Britain, and the public accepted the matrix economic mythology. Meanwhile, the integrated global economy gave rise to a new generation of transnational corporations, and corporate leaders began to realise that corporate growth was not dependent on strong core nation-states. Indeed, Western nations – with their environmental laws, consumer-protection measures, and other forms of regulatory “interference” – were a burden on corporate growth. Having been successfully field tested in the two oldest “democracies,” the neoliberal project moved onto the global stage. The Bretton Woods system of fixed rates of currency exchange was weakened, and the international financial system became destabilising, instead of stabilising, for national economies. The radical free-trade project was launched, leading eventually to the World Trade Organisation. The fission that had begun in 1945 was finally manifesting as an explosive change in the world system.

The objective of neoliberal free-trade treaties is to remove all political controls over domestic and international trade and commerce. Corporations have free rein to maximise profits, heedless of environmental consequences and safety risks. Instead of governments regulating corporations, the WTO now sets rules for governments, telling them what kind of beef they must import, whether or not they can ban asbestos, and what additives they must permit in petroleum products. So far, in every case where the WTO has been asked to review a health, safety, or environmental regulation, the regulation has been overturned.

Most of the world has been turned into a periphery; the imperial core has been boiled down to the capitalist elite themselves, represented by their bureaucratic, unrepresentative, WTO world government. The burden of accelerated imperialism falls hardest outside the West, where loans are used as a lever by the IMF to compel debtor nations such as Rwanda and South Korea to accept suicidal “reform” packages. In the 1800s, genocide was employed to clear North America and Australia of their native populations, creating room for growth. Today, a similar program of genocide has apparently been unleashed against sub-Saharan Africa. The IMF destroys the economies, the CIA trains militias and stirs up tribal conflicts, and the West sells weapons to all sides. Famine and genocidal civil wars are the predictable and inevitable result. Meanwhile, AIDS runs rampant while the WTO and the US government use trade laws to prevent medicines from reaching the victims.

As in the past, Western military force will be required to control the non-Western periphery and make adjustments to local political arrangements when considered necessary by elite planners. The Pentagon continues to provide the primary policing power, with NATO playing an ever-increasing role. Resentment against the West and against neoliberalism is growing in the Third World, and the frequency of military interventions is bound to increase. All of this needs to be made acceptable to Western minds, adding a new dimension to the matrix.

In the latest matrix reality, the West is called the “international community,” whose goal is to serve “humanitarian” causes. Bill Clinton made it explicit with his “Clinton Doctrine,” in which (as quoted in the Washington Post) he solemnly promised, “If somebody comes after innocent civilians and tries to kill them en masse because of their race, their ethnic background or their religion and it is within our power stop it, we will stop it.” This matrix fabrication is very effective indeed; who opposes prevention of genocide? Only outside the matrix does one see that genocide is caused by the West in the first place, that the worst cases of genocide are continuing, that “assistance” usually makes things worse (as in the Balkans), and that Clinton’s handy doctrine enables him to intervene when and where he chooses. Since dictators and the stirring of ethnic rivalries are standard tools used in managing the periphery, a US president can always find “innocent civilians” wherever elite plans call for an intervention.

In matrix reality, globalisation is not a project but rather the inevitable result of beneficial market forces. Genocide in Africa is no fault of the West, but is due to ancient tribal rivalries. Every measure demanded by globalisation is referred to as “reform,” (the word is never used with irony). “Democracy” and “reform” are frequently used together, always leaving the subtle impression that one has something to do with the other. The illusion is presented that all economic boats are rising, and if yours isn’t, it must be your own fault: you aren’t “competitive” enough. Economic failures are explained away as “temporary adjustments,” or else the victim (as in South Korea or Russia) is blamed for not being sufficiently neoliberal. “Investor confidence” is referred to with the same awe and reverence that earlier societies might have expressed toward the “will of the gods.”

Western quality of life continues to decline, while the WTO establishes legal precedents ensuring that its authority will not be challenged when its decisions become more draconian. Things will get much worse in the West; this was anticipated in elite circles when the neoliberal project was still on the drawing board, as is illustrated in Samuel Huntington’s “The Crisis of Democracy” report discussed earlier.

Management of Discontented Societies

The postwar years, especially in the United States, were characterised by consensus politics. Most people shared a common understanding of how society worked, and generally approved of how things were going. Prosperity was real and the matrix version of reality was reassuring. Most people believed in it. Those beliefs became a shared consensus, and the government could then carry out its plans as it intended, “responding” to the programmed public will.

The “excess democracy” of the 1960s and 1970s attacked this shared consensus from below, and neoliberal planners decided from above that ongoing consensus wasn’t worth paying for. They accepted that segments of society would persist in disbelieving various parts of the matrix. Activism and protest were to be expected. New means of social control would be needed to deal with activist movements and with growing discontent, as neoliberalism gradually tightened the economic screws. Such means of control were identified and have since been largely implemented, particularly in the United States. In many ways America sets the pace of globalisation; innovations can often be observed there before they occur elsewhere. This is particularly true in the case of social-control techniques.

The most obvious means of social control, in a discontented society, is a strong, semi-militarised police force. Most of the periphery has been managed by such means for centuries. This was obvious to elite planners in the West, was adopted as policy, and has now been largely implemented. Urban and suburban ghettos – where the adverse consequences of neoliberalism are currently most concentrated – have literally become occupied territories, where police beatings and unjustified shootings are commonplace.

So that the beefed-up police force could maintain control in conditions of mass unrest, elite planners also realised that much of the US Bill of Rights would need to be neutralised. (This is not surprising, given that the Bill’s authors had just lived through a revolution and were seeking to ensure that future generations would have the means to organise and overthrow any oppressive future government.) The rights-neutralisation project has been largely implemented, as exemplified by armed midnight raids, outrageous search-and-seizure practices, overly broad conspiracy laws, wholesale invasion of privacy, massive incarceration, and the rise of prison slave labour. The Rubicon has been crossed – the techniques of oppression long common in the empire’s periphery are being imported to the core.

In the matrix, the genre of the TV or movie police drama has served to create a reality in which “rights” are a joke, the accused are despicable sociopaths, and no criminal is ever brought to justice until some noble cop or prosecutor bends the rules a bit. Government officials bolster the construct by declaring “wars” on crime and drugs; the noble cops are fighting a war out there in the streets – and you can’t win a war without using your enemy’s dirty tricks. The CIA plays its role by managing the international drug trade and making sure that ghetto drug dealers are well supplied. In this way, the American public has been led to accept the means of its own suppression.

The mechanisms of the police state are in place. They will be used when necessary – as we see in ghettos and skyrocketing prison populations, as we saw on the streets of Seattle and Washington D.C. during recent anti-WTO demonstrations, and as is suggested by executive orders that enable the president to suspend the Constitution and declare martial law whenever he deems it necessary. But raw force is only the last line of defense for the elite regime. Neoliberal planners introduced more subtle defences into the matrix; looking at these will bring us back to our discussion of the left and right.

Divide and rule is one of the oldest means of mass control – standard practice since at least the Roman Empire. This is applied at the level of modern imperialism, where each small nation competes with other for capital investments. Within societies it works this way: If each social group can be convinced that some other group is the source of its discontent, then the population’s energy will be spent on inter-group struggles. The regime can sit on the sidelines, intervening covertly to stir things up or to guide them in desired directions. In this way most discontent can be neutralised, and force can be reserved for exceptional cases. In the prosperous postwar years, consensus politics served to manage the population. Under neoliberalism, programmed factionalism has become the front-line defense – the matrix version of divide and rule.

The covert guiding of various social movements has proven to be one of the most effective means of programming factions and stirring them against one another. Fundamentalist religious movements have been particularly useful. They have been used not only within the US, but also to maximise divisiveness in the Middle East and for other purposes throughout the empire. The collective energy and dedication of “true believers” makes them a potent political weapon that movement leaders can readily aim where needed. In the US that weapon has been used to promote censorship on the Internet, to attack the women’s movement, to support repressive legislation, and generally to bolster the ranks of what is called in the matrix the “right wing.”

In the matrix, the various factions believe that their competition with each other is the process that determines society’s political agenda. Politicians want votes, and hence the biggest and best-organised factions should have the most influence, and their agendas should get the most political attention. In reality there is only one significant political agenda these days: the maximisation of capital growth through the dismantling of society, the continuing implementation of neoliberalism, and the management of empire. Clinton’s liberal rhetoric and his playing around with health care and gay rights are not the result of liberal pressure. They are rather the means by which Clinton is sold to liberal voters, so that he can proceed with real business: getting NAFTA through Congress, promoting the WTO, giving away the public airwaves, justifying military interventions, and so forth. Issues of genuine importance are never raised in campaign politics – this is a major glitch in the matrix for those who have eyes to see it.

Escaping the Matrix

The matrix cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Under the onslaught of globalisation, the glitches are becoming ever more difficult to conceal – as earlier, with the Vietnam War. Last November’s anti-establishment demonstrations in Seattle, the largest in decades, were aimed directly at globalisation and the WTO. Even more important, Seattle saw the coming together of factions that the matrix had programmed to fight one another, such as left-leaning environmentalists and socially conservative union members.

Seattle represented the tip of an iceberg. A mass movement against globalisation and elite rule is ready to ignite, like a brush fire on a dry, scorching day. The establishment has been expecting such a movement and has a variety of defences at its command, including those used effectively against the movements of the 1960s and 1970s. In order to prevail against what seem like overwhelming odds, the movement must escape entirely from the matrix, and it must bring the rest of society with it. As long as the matrix exists, humanity cannot be free. The whole truth must be faced: Globalisation is centralised tyranny; capitalism has outlasted its sell-by date; matrix “democracy” is elite rule; and “market forces” are imperialism. Left and right are enemies only in the matrix. In reality we are all in this together, and each of us has a contribution to make toward a better world.

Marx may have failed as a social visionary, but he had capitalism figured out. It is based not on productivity or social benefit, but on the pursuit of capital growth through exploiting everything in its path. The job of elite planners is to create new spaces for capital to grow in. Competitive imperialism provided growth for centuries; collective imperialism was invented when still more growth was needed; and then neoliberalism took over. Like a cancer, capitalism consumes its host and is never satisfied. The capital pool must always grow, more and more, forever – until the host dies or capitalism is replaced.

The matrix equates capitalism with free enterprise, and defines centralised-state-planning socialism as the only alternative to capitalism. In reality, capitalism didn’t amount to much of a force until the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s – and we certainly cannot characterise all prior societies as socialist. Free enterprise, private property, commerce, banking, international trade, economic specialisation – all of these had existed for millennia before capitalism. Capitalism claims credit for modern prosperity, but credit would be better given to developments in science and technology.

Before capitalism, Western nations were generally run by aristocratic classes. The aristocratic attitude toward wealth focused on management and maintenance. With capitalism, the focus is always on growth and development; whatever one has is but the seeds to build a still greater fortune. In fact, there are infinite alternatives to capitalism, and different societies can choose different systems, once they are free to do so. As Morpheus put it: “Outside the matrix everything is possible, and there are no limits.”

The matrix defines “democracy” as competitive party politics, because that is a game wealthy elites have long since learned to corrupt and manipulate. Even in the days of the Roman Republic the techniques were well understood. Real-world democracy is possible only if the people themselves participate in setting society’s direction. An elected official can only truly represent a constituency after that constituency has worked out its positions – from the local to the global – on the issues of the day. For that to happen, the interests of different societal factions must be harmonised through interaction and discussion. Collaboration, not competition, is what leads to effective harmonisation.

In order for the movement to end elite rule and establish livable societies to succeed, it will need to evolve a democratic process, and to use that process to develop a program of consensus reform that harmonises the interests of its constituencies. In order to be politically victorious, it will need to reach out to all segments of society and become a majority movement. By such means, the democratic process of the movement can become the democratic process of a newly empowered civil society. There is no adequate theory of democracy at present, although there is much to be learned from history and from theory. The movement will need to develop a democratic process as it goes along, and that objective must be pursued as diligently as victory itself. Otherwise some new tyranny will eventually replace the old.

It ain’t left or right. It’s up and down.
Here we all are down here struggling while
the Corporate Elite are all up there having a nice day!
— Carolyn Chute, author of The Beans of Egypt Maine and anti-corporate activist

Footnotes

1. Primarily Western Europe, later joined by the United States.
2. See “KGB-ing America”, Tony Serra, Whole Earth, Winter, 1998.

Recommended Reading

Michel Chossudovsky, The Globalization Of Poverty - Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms, The Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia, 1997.

This detailed study by an economics insider shows the consequences of “reforms” in various parts of the world, revealing a clear pattern of callous neo-colonialism and genocide. Definitely red-pill material.

Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith, eds., The Case Against the Global Economy and for a Turn Toward The Local, Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1996.

This fine collection of forty-three chapters by knowledgeable contributors analyses the broad structure of globalisation, and explores locally based and sustainable economic alternatives. An excellent introduction, textbook, and reference work.

Richard Douthwaite, The Growth Illusion, Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1992.

A fascinating and wide-ranging look at growth and capitalism, their historical roots and their consequences. Offers a healthy dose of common sense, and a vision of stability and sustainability.

Frances Moore Lappй, Joseph Collins, Peter Rosset, World Hunger, Twelve Myths, Grove Press, New York, 1986.

Another red pill. Debunks Malthusian thinking, among other things. Here’s a sample: “During the past twenty-five years food production has outstripped population growth by 16 Percent. India – which for many of us symbolizes over-population and poverty – is one of the top third-world food exporters. If a mere 5.6 percent of India’s food production were re-allocated, hunger would be wiped out in India.”

Hans-Peter Martin & Harald Schumann, The Global Trap, Globalization & the Assault on Democracy & Prosperity, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1997.

A best-selling European perspective on globalisation. Recommended for American audiences in order to understand more about the European context.

William Greider, One World Ready or Not, the Manic Logic of Global Capitalism, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997.

A tour by a superb journalist showing how the global economy operates in various parts of the world. Not much emphasis on political issues or economic alternatives.

James Goldsmith, The Response, Macmillan, London, 1995.

A critique of neoliberal thinking presented as a debate with those who criticised the author’s previous book, The Trap. It may be pointless for the author to attempt logical debate with matrix apologists, but the book is informative for readers.

Third World Resurgence, a magazine published monthly by the Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia, http://www.twnside.org.sg.

This magazine deserves widespread circulation. It covers a wide range of global issues, presents a strong and sensible third-world perspective, and is a very good source of real-world news. Martin Kohr is managing editor and a frequent contributor.

The New Internationalist, a magazine published monthly by New Internationalist Publications, Ltd, Oxford, UK, http://www.newint.org.

Another good source of real news and commentary, with a global perspective.

Holly Sklar ed., Trilateralism - the Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management, South End Press, Boston, 1980.

This well-researched anthology explains the role in global planning played by such elite organisations as the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Bilderbergers. Examples from various parts of the world are used to show what kinds of considerations go into the formation of on-the-ground policies.

Michael Parenti, The Sword and the Dollar, Imperialism, Revolution, and the Arms Race, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1989.

One of many red-pill books by a prolific and well-informed author. Here he talks about the reality of imperialism and the matrix of Cold War rhetoric. For an insightful examination of how matrix reality is fabricated, see also his Make-Believe Media, and Inventing Reality, also from St. Martin’s.

Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, HarperCollins, New York, 1989.

A superlative and well-researched treatment of American history from 1942 to the present. The material on grass-roots social movements provides valuable lessons for present-day movement organisers.

William Blum, Killing Hope, U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, Common Courage Press, Monroe Maine, 1995.

A comprehensive review of how the US government manages world affairs by force and intrigue when persuasion and economic pressure fail to do the job. A red-pill antidote for anyone who feels tempted to trust the “international community” to pursue “humanitarian interventionism.”

Covert Action Quarterly magazine, published quarterly by Covert Action Publications, Inc., Washington D.C. 1994, http://www.covertaction.org.

Keeps you up-to-date on covert activities, cover-ups, military affairs, and current trouble spots. Contributors include many ex-intelligence officers who saw the error of their ways.

William Greider, Who Will Tell the People, the Betrayal of American Democracy, Touchstone - Simon & Schuster, New York, 1993.

This best seller shows in detail how the American democratic process is subverted at every stage by corporate interests. Greider was a highly respected journalist for many years at the Washington Post and his high-level contacts permit him to present an insider’s view of how the influence-peddling system actually operates. A chilling eye-opener.

Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash Of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Simon and Schuster, London, 1997.

Another classic by one of the foremost spinners of matrix illusion. In the guise of historical analysis, Huntington fabricates a worldview designed to justify Western domination under globalisation. According to The Economist, Huntington’s civilisation-clash paradigm has already become the “sea” in which Washington policy makers swim. The book reveals the backbone structure of modern matrix reality, putting day-to-day official rhetoric into an understandable framework. And it clearly reveals the real intentions of elite planners regarding the tactics of global management through selective interventionism.

Foreign Affairs, a journal published quarterly by the Council on Foreign Relations, New York.

The best source I’ve found to track the latest shifts in the matrix and to glean an understanding of current elite thinking. Some reading between the lines is called for, as the journal frames its analysis in terms of US national interests, failing to make the obvious links between geopolitical and economic regimes.

© Copyright New Dawn Magazine, http://www.newdawnmagazine.com. Permission to re-send, post and place on web sites for non-commercial purposes, and if shown only in its entirety with no changes or additions. This notice must accompany all re-posting.

Let Us Pray

2005-06-12T16:57:00.000-05:00

To: God@aol?/hotmail?/yahoo? (thank God you're omniscient, you'll figure it out)

From: The foodchain@aol.com

Subject: It's Starting to Really Suck Down Here

Dear God (or should I address this to Jesus? Is He you or are You he? It gets so confusing sometimes ... some say he is some say he ain't ... does it matter? ... I'm just looking for a few answers so, no semantics, please).

I know it's been a while since we talked (or at least, I talked ... one way conversations can get kinda boring if you know what I mean .. of course you do .. you know everything).

I hope you don't hold that against me.

Hey, I read your book!!

Many times actually.

Wow ....

Lots of stuff going on in there. I especially liked that story where, who was it, Jael? ... yeah, that's it .. I thought that was pretty cool when she drove that tent peg into Sesera's temple.

Ouch!

And Samson tying all those foxtails together. That must have been something.

Oops, sorry didn't mean to get off track.

God, Jesus, to whom it may concern ... if you read my subject line, you gotta understand that the foodchain believes it's really starting to suck down here.

People running around in your name doin' all kinds of weird and abominable things.

They say they learned it from you.

Ok, I know in the OT you did a lot of smiting and stuff .. but that was before you got religion, right??

I mean ... Jesus and all ... you repented, right? I guess those old world dudes were pretty barbaric and needed a little smiting. I won't hold it against you. But many do ... I'll try to talk them out of it ...ok??

Give a little, get a little .. that's how the world works, at least that's how Congress works and they represent you .. at least they're trying to.

Heavy burden ... I wouldn't want to be in their shoes.

Anyway ... point blank.

Do you hate the Arabs or what??

These guy have gotten the s**t end of the stick for a long time. Look it up .. it's even in some history type books.

I know, I know .. they follow some cat named Muhammed. And he ain't Jesus. But damn, check it out, they throw themselves on the ground five times a day praying to you know who. Hell, they're just as confused as we are .... Jesus, Muhammed, Allah, God? ... moxnix to me but it's a big deal to those folks.

Our prez likes to talk about how great the Muslim religion is ... but then he goes out and bombs the bejesuz out of them.

Are you ok with that?

If you are .. well, I guess I gotta be too.

Say the word, I'll slink back into my hole and not bother you with this again.

But I don't get all my news from Fox. I've seen the pictures.

Kids with their arms blown off ... women wailing over lost husbands and bombed out homes. It gets to me sometimes.

It gets to you too, right?

Please say yes.

Have you ever heard this question before?? It's only one word ... cuts to the chase.

Why??

I know we're not supposed to ask why .. your inscrutable wisdom and all that. But if you ever deem it necessary to answer just one of my prayers, let it be this one.

Why?

Why do the poor and the weak ... usually those who love you the most .. why are they always singled out for the slaughter?

Why do we here in the USA prosper as the world sweats and bleeds and suffers all kinds of indignities so we can have all the things we have? Why should giant shoe corportations be able to pay those who make their products 3 cents per pair while charging the American public 120 bucks for their shoes?

I know .. 'blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'

Did you write that?

Or did the predecessors of Nike write that? I vote for the predecessors. You love the poor. At least that's what you wrote in your book.

But if you love them ... why can't they catch a break once in a while?

Nicaragua, Guatamala, East Timor ... and so many other places ... movements have risen up that would squash the ruling elites and yet they lose ... time and time again .. usually with our help.

I know you bless America.

It's evident.

But does the freedom of those in Central America and East Asia threaten your beloved that much??

I gotta take a break here.

Just thinking about it all gives me a headache.

Hang on, I'll be back in a minute.

Ok.

So what's to be done about all this?

Don't give me the pat answer. One day Jesus will come back with his avenging angels and right all the wrongs.

Is that good enough?

Meanwhile ... all the poor bastards worldwide have to suffer continuously ... waiting... hoping ... PRAYING for justice.

Who will tend their wounds and assuage their downfallen spirits?

NOT the religious right in America.

Those not fortunate enough to be Americans are just 'ragheads, gooks, camel jockeys.'

Worthy of our contempt and our bombs but NOT worthy of our compassion.

Is Jesus weeping over this yet?

I don't want a weeper ... I want a MIGHTY AVENGER!!

Godammit.

Sorry, didn't mean to take your name in vain.

Regrouping here.

Look,

I know we're supposed to look at the long term.

I know, (according to the book you wrote) everything will work out in the end.

You'll remove all the tears from our eyes.

But please .. please, PLEASE ... understand that some are crying NOW. They can't wait for the hereafter. They need relief NOW.

This is a prayer so I get to make my requests.

You promise that ANYTHING I ask in Jesus' name will be done.

Well, I'm praying this.

In Jesus' holy, righteous name, I'm praying that GW Bush, our president, will grow a heart towards the weak, the lowly, those not connected to the oil industry.

I'm praying that the USA will carefully examine its foreign policy and LIVE UP to what the world supposedly expects of us.

That we'll stop.... just stop our dedication to the strong of the land and look to the needs of the weak.

That we'll live up to what America is supposed to be all about.

The defender of human rights and the revealer of its abusers. ( Looking intently at ourselves as we do so).

That's all I ask.

I leave it to you to work out all the details.

In Jesus' name,

The foodchain.

Church and State; Separated for a Reason

2005-06-12T14:21:00.000-05:00

Though no longer a fundamentalist Christian I am not anti-Christian.

I recognize that many born-againers are deeply concerned about the many abuses done in their names. They search the scriptures looking for light in a darkening world. They respect the fact that Jesus empathized with the lowly sinner while lambasting the hypocrisy of the religious hierarchy who were nothing more than quislings to the power of Rome.

Many of the authoritarian voices in today's visible church seek to align themselves with the power of the state. In doing so they hope to 'win back America for Christ,' believing that in some nebulous past America was more righteous and Christ-centered than it is today.

But history reveals otherwise.

The US has always been a richly diverse nation, the world's 'melting pot.' If anything, our loftiest ambitions have always been for the free expression of all points of view, a noble idea but one that to date has been unrealized.

The marriage between church and state is yet to be fully consummated but the ring is poised, the Judas kiss of betrayal soon to follow.

Let's pray that the bride is left standing at the altar.

The Religious Right ... An Anti-American Terrorist Movement
by Carolyn Baker
Dissident Voice. org

Excerpt:

The religious right of 21st Century America is anti-American, inherently violent, and a cruel, tyrannical, punitive, force of death and destruction. In its mindset, adult human lives do not matter because the human condition itself is inherently evil resulting in eternal and everlasting punishment in hell unless its members are redeemed in a prescribed manner by the fundamentalist God/man/savior, Jesus Christ. Moreover, with an embarrassingly adolescent flamboyance, Dominionists shamelessly rape, pillage, and desecrate the earth because in the first place, their Bible has given them authority over all things human and in the second place, their “imminent” apocalyptic rapture, transporting them from the human “veil of tears” to live happily ever after in heaven, entitles them to do so. Meanwhile, we the unredeemed, the unbelievers, the poor, the feminists, the gay and lesbian, the disabled, the homeless, the mentally ill, the addicted, and those who are conscientiously following divergent spiritual paths of their choice, are suffering in the wake of Christian fundamentalism’s devastation of the economy, the earth, and the human race. But this is what we deserve for not becoming born-again devotees of their Jesus. And we deserve even worse -- to burn in hell for all of eternity. Hence, we are expendable, inconsequential, and a force to be conquered, broken, imprisoned, or killed. (full article)

Dominionist Dementia
by Carolyn Baker
Dissident Voice. org

Excerpt:

Were Jesus with us today, he would be an enormous problem for the Dominionists, and we can be certain that he would be perceived by them not unlike a homeless street person or an antiwar protestor. Jesus and his followers would be marginalized, arrested, and imprisoned. Contrary to the Jesus contrived by the Dominionists, the historical Jesus did not perceive himself as a savior of anyone. Whereas today’s fundamentalist Christian insists that one must accept Jesus as one’s “personal savior,” Jesus never taught this concept. Rather, he was a spiritual mystic and an activist on behalf of human rights and social justice.

Christian fundamentalism, a byproduct of Western industrialism and free market capitalism, offers a “product.” Not unlike the promotion of term life insurance or membership in an exclusive club, it “sells” eternal salvation in heaven and a “guarantee” that all sins prior to being born again are forgiven and that one becomes privy to its “infallible” interpretation of the bible and Christian doctrine. Thus, Dominionists assert that they possess the ultimate truths of the universe and, on the basis of their “personal relationship with Christ,” have every right to establish a Christian theocracy in the United States. After all, those stuffy intellectual founding fathers were Deists who essentially believed that a Supreme Being had created the universe, walked away and left it to humankind to manage. The principles on which they founded the American republic need to be reworked, say the Dominionists, so that the United States can be a fundamentalist Christian theocracy ruled by the born-again elite. And, it is crucial to understand that if one is “born again,” one is “in”, and if one is not “born again”, one will remain “out” until one has the born-again experience. (full article)

More foodchain Fodder

2005-06-11T13:59:00.000-05:00

This was kinda fun ... take a typing test online
( My results; 48 wpm, 0% error rate ... yay)

*************************************

American Empire For Dummies
by William Blum
original link Znet

Excerpt:

Well, if I were to write a book called The American Empire for Dummies, page one would say: Don't ever look for the moral factor. US foreign policy has no moral factor built into its DNA.

Clear your mind of that baggage which only gets in the way of seeing beyond the clichés and the platitudes. I know it's not easy for most Americans to take what I say at face value. It's not easy to swallow my message. They see our leaders on TV and their photos in the press, they see them smiling or laughing, telling jokes; see them with their families, hear them speak of God and love, of peace and law, of democracy and freedom, of human rights and justice and even baseball ... How can such people be moral monsters, how can they be called immoral? They have names like George and Dick and Donald, not a single Mohammed or Abdullah in the bunch. And they even speak English. Well, George almost does. People named Mohammed or Abdullah cut off arms or legs as punishment for theft. We know that that's horrible. We're too civilized for that. But people named George and Dick and Donald drop cluster bombs on cities and villages, and the many unexploded ones become land mines, and before very long a child picks one up or steps on one of them and loses an arm or leg, or both arms or both legs, and sometimes their eyesight. And the cluster bombs which actually explode do their own kind of horror.

But our leaders are perhaps not so much immoral as they are amoral. It's not that they take pleasure in causing so much death and suffering. It's that they just don't care ... if that's a distinction worth making. As long as the death and suffering advance the agenda of the Empire, as long as the right people and the right corporations gain wealth and power and privilege and prestige, as long as the death and suffering aren't happening to them or people close to them ... then they just don't care about it happening to other people, including the American soldiers whom they throw into wars and who come home -- the ones who make it back -- with Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome eating away at their bodies. Our leaders would not be in the positions they hold if they were bothered by such things. It must be great fun to be one of the leaders of an empire, glorious in fact ... intoxicating ... the feeling that you can do whatever you want to whomever you want for as long as you want for any reason you care to give ... because you have the power ... for theirs is the power and the glory.

And this:

If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize -- very publicly and very sincerely -- to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce that America's global interventions have come to an end and inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the union but -- believe it or not -- a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to our victims and repair the damage from our bombings. There would be enough money. Do you know what one year's military budget is equal to? One year. It's equal to more than $20,000 per hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. That's what I'd do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I'd be assassinated.

And finally, this:

Let me close with two of the laws of politics which came out of the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, which I like to cite: The First Watergate Law of American Politics states: "No matter how paranoid you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." The Second Watergate Law states: "Don't believe anything until it's been officially denied." Both laws are still on the books.

There's a lot of good stuff in between these excerpts, check it out.

***********************************************

Switching gears:
Over at Rapture Ready

The Worse (sic) News Of All
Many times in life we receive revelations of bad news. The news comes in a wide range of magnitudes. It might be the news that a favorite pet hamster has run away, the arrival of a shockingly high heat bill after a cold winter snap, or the news of the unexpected death of a loved one.

There is a type of undesirable news that ranks above all other forms of bad news. I cannot think of a more horrific scene that experienced by those realizing they missed salvation and are bound for the lake of fire.

Once we pass from this world to the next, our fate is forever set. We become helpless to alter the choices we have made. This is why the decision need to be made now while the Holy Spirit still calls, and there is yet time.

Sadly, many who email us are obviously on their way to hell. We know this to be true because many of them boldly admit to their unsaved state.

I guess the folks who look forward to going to hell will be just as shocked as those who never thought they would end up there. In both cases, people underestimate the penalty that comes with sin.

Here is a way to turn the ultimate bad news into the ultimate triumph: Put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior, thereby repenting of your sins, and determining to serve him as Lord. You will then become part of the Kingdom of God forever. The simplicity of this task is what makes failure so regrettable.
(the foodchain no longer suscribes to the hell theory believing it to be the last thing an 'all loving, all powerful' god type entity would devise for his wayward creation. But hell is the fundamentalist Christian's nuclear bomb and many Christian's main motivation for doing good. The fear of hell is useful for taming the rebellious mind and ordering the steps of the 'obedient.'
But flawed creature that I am, I could very well be wrong. Perhaps we're stuck with the vindictive 'god' portrayed in Christianity who 'so loved the world that he beat the living shit out of his only begotten son.'
If that's so, you'd best read the following too ... just in case).

The Post Rapture Survival Guide
by Kurt Seland

The purpose of this manual is twofold:

First of all, it is to warn those who receive this manual prior to the rapture of the events that will take place in the last days as foretold in the Bible. Based on what the Bible has to say about future events, nobody in their right mind would want live on earth after the rapture. Hopefully, many will read, believe, seek God, repent and be saved. Salvation is very simple, so simple to attain, in fact, that most people cannot accept its simplicity; thereby reject it completely. However, it is complex because it is life-changing and based on that which we cannot see; it is based on faith. Simple, because Jesus does all the work. If you want to be saved and have eternal life, simply pray in belief and humility to Lord Jesus:

"Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and ask you to forgive me of my sins and prepare for me a new heart. I surrender my life to you."

Secondly, to those left behind after the rapture, this is indeed a survival manual. You still have an opportunity to repent and have eternal life. The same prayer of salvation is applicable to you; the only difference is that you will spend a little time experiencing a taste of hell while you remain on earth.

Let me be really frank with you. If you are reading this manual and the rapture has already occurred, then you probably are not going to physically survive; you most likely will die sometime in the next few years. This manual is about the survival of your soul. You are going to go through terrible suffering. The only question that remains is whether you will go to Heaven or go to hell when you die. (entire article here)
I don't get it. God allowed Jesus to be turned into a bloody pulp on the cross supposedly paying the price for man's sin. Fundy preachers tell us that ALL God's wrath was poured out on his beloved son. If that's the case, why must we sinners bear the brunt of God's wrath as well? Didn't Jesus say 'it is finished?'
Back when I knew it all, when I was a devout Christian, I was able to justify this blaring theological contradiction. But now that I've left the fold and lost my spiritual wisdom I can only see the whole deal as double jeopardy.
"You are going to go through terrible suffering ..."
Gee, all this and hell to boot. So much for 'joy to the world; peace on earth, good will towards men.'
Something ain't adding up, imo.

A Liberal Education

2005-06-11T00:44:00.000-05:00

I've been poking around ZNet and have found all kinds of thought provoking articles and courses designed to heighten awareness on all types of issues .. from foreign policy to media affairs to in depth analysis on alternatives to corporate capitalism. They call it "Participatory Economics" or "Parecon" for short.

The following might be a good place to start. It offers an overview of the motivations behind US Foreign Policy.

This is the introduction:

Part One: The Driving Forces Of U.S. Foreign Policy

Introduction

What I'd like to do is take five different explanations of U.S. foreign policy and analyze them. Some of them I think are bogus, and some of them I think are real. I'm not going to tell you which I think is which -- but don't worry, you should be able to figure it out. The five I'm going to talk about are: First, morality: is that's what's driving U.S. foreign policy? (Control your laughter, please.) Second, democracy: is a concern for democracy what's driving U.S. foreign policy? Third is capitalism: is that's what's driving U.S. foreign policy? Fourth is racism, and fifth is sexism and heterosexism. So let me go through each of these in order.

Morality as a driving force of U.S. Foreign Policy

Democracy as a driving force of U.S. Foreign Policy

Capitalism as a driving force of U.S. Foreign Policy

Racism as a driving force of U.S. Foreign Policy

Sexism and Heterosexism as a driving force of U.S. Foreign Policy

The entire course can be accessed here.

If analysis of the US's role in world affairs is of interest to you I think you'll benefit greatly from the ZNet website. Even if you don't agree with their politics you'll be exposed to information that is virtually nonexistant anywhere else, other than the internet. ZNet's particular contribution is their ability to organize a mass of information in a way that is accessible and informative, organized in such a way that whatever your interests are, you can start out wherever you are. If this information is new to you you'll find that much of it starts with the basics and progresses from there.

Dig in.

2005-06-09T21:36:00.000-05:00

Rest comfortably, HE'S looking out for you!

News and Stuff

2005-06-09T20:24:00.000-05:00

What he wants he usually gets

Bush Presses Congress to Renew the Patriot Act

But do you want it?
www.guardian.co.uk/
********************************************************

From today's Financial Times online:
Greenspan Sees No Serious Economic Slowdown

“The US economy seems to be on a reasonably firm footing and underlying inflation remains contained.”
The Fed Chairman

Reasonably firm footing? How a nation 37 TRILLION dollars in debt can be said to be on 'reasonably' firm ground economically is beyond me. Whateva you say Mr. G
********************************************************

Now for an opposing view:
The Cure is the Killer

"Getting a diagnosis on the health of the economy from Alan Greenspan or Wall Street is like asking the Tsetse-fly how your malaria is. Greenspan’s actions and Wall Street’s schemes are the diseases that sickened the economy. They aren’t going to be the best sources for an unbiased analysis on its health."
www.cornerstoneri.com/
********************************************************

Here's what the foodchain believes to be the real news on the economy.
Will You Survive the Coming Financial Crash?

Get ready folks, it's inevitable.
********************************************************

There's some serious s**t going on at Gitmo. In a recent report Amnesty International voiced their concerns. US reaction was predictable citing AI's report as 'absurd.'

This article sheds light on why.
US Government Versus Amnesty International: A Short History

Absurd or not? You decide.
link provided by www.antiwar.com
******************************************************************************************

What's going on down on the farm?
The Meatrix

Another short animation concerning the state of our food industry.
www.themeatrix.com
********************************************************

2005-06-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

Why Not?

Lamentations

2005-06-08T16:12:00.000-05:00

"Where have all the flowers gone ...?"

Sometimes the foodchain longs for the return of the hippie days.

The days when the youth of the land believed they had the power to change the world.

The days of day-glo posters and peace symbols and flower power. The days before the money machine learned to market idealism.

Where is today's equivalent of Country Joe and the Fish and Crosby, Stills and Nash ... the Doors and Hendrix and Joplin? Where are those who stand up and stand out ...?

The Dixie Chicks made one little comment and were crucified in the press.

Lesson learned, I guess. Don't bite the hand that feeds.

I get sick to death with how corporate culture has so effectively co-opted the angst of youth.

Everything is a goddamn market .. useful for plunder and profit.

This generation thinks it's so hip with its tattoos and body piercing. Last time I looked, there were at least 4 or 5 magazines profiting off those who think self mutilation is an individualistic art form.

Look around you, pal. You're a damned clone. A marketing niche.

Not that you ever had a chance.

The hippie generation was the last generation to have had at least the faintest opportunity to not grow up sucking the television teat.

Sure, we grew up with the tube ... but a tube that hadn't been to Harvard yet. A tube not yet at the height of its powers.

That shit fell on you.

We had "Leave it to Beaver" and "Ozzie and Harriet."

You've had "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Baywatch."

We had the Beatles, you have Miss Spears.

We watched the Super Bowl for the game, you watch it for the commercials.

Our motto .."Let it all hang out." Yours ... "Just Do It" Capital D, capital I. A marketing slogan.

We both were public school 'educated.' Taught to conform and not question deeply. Neither of us were taught real math or logic or rhetoric.

We both were taught to fit into a commercial culture designed to drain us of every cent and to keep us forever in debt. "Shop til you drop." Another apt colloquialism.

We were both taught that gratification MUST NOT be delayed. Ours was 'make love not war.' And 'if it feels good, do it.' Social imperatives eagerly obeyed.

Yours is 'party til you puke.'

Meanwhile, as my favorite songster states, 'the war rages on.'

It's not just Iraq.

A bigger war is being fought.

A war fought with deadly determination by powers that have a huge advantage because they control what you and I even allow into our thought processes.

We believe wholeheartedly in 'freedom of speech' and the rights to a 'free press.'

But those are just words. We have no clue what they really mean because corporate culture is all too willing to constantly define them for us.

For the most part, we accept without investigation whatever is presented to us in the press and on our tv's. We don't understand history because we were never taught real history. We believe America is true and good and right ... protectors of freedom and defender of the impoverished.

Turn off your tv and read a book.

Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and William Blum would be a good place to start.

Click on my link to 'A Healed Planet' and read a non-revisionist account of American history.

As another of my favorite bands, Lynrd Skynrd sang, "There are things going on that you don't know."

There's the crux.

We don't know.

And we don't know because it's not in the elite money's interest that we do know.

An ignorant populace is an easily controlled populace.

The ignorant will gladly wrap themselves in the flag and sing God Bless America til the cows come home.

Which may be pretty soon.

Them cows are gettin restless.

I read today that GW's approval rating is 20 points lower than Clinton's on the day he was impeached.

And yet, you red staters still think he's a great president. A Christian. One of us.

I think he's the worst thing to ever happen to the US of A.

He's not even a real Texan, though he plays one on tv. Not that Texans are all that great, I grew up here, I know better.

Bigger point being .. the man's an imposter. He poses as a man of peace as he wages unending war. He bends his knee in prayer while authorizing the slaughter of the innocent in Iraq.

Having been a devout Christian at one time, I often wonder what his prayers consist of.

I know what mine were.

And they had nothing to do with the promotion of war and the condemnation of 'them evildoers.'

The true Christian realizes that he's no better than the rest of humanity. He realizes that the faults and foibles of the common man are representative of his own. He prays for light and the wisdom to heal.

Your president is NOT a Christian. If he were, in the sense that I understand the term, he would do everything in his power to promote the interests of you and I and all other peoples of the world.

But instead, he defines himself as a 'war president.' A defender of democracy. Another buzzword having lost all its meaning.

Democracy these days has nothing to do with the people but with the artificial legal status as citizens granted to corporations.

Of, by, and for the corporation. A souless surrogate for the will of the 'people.'

Where have all the flowers gone?

Far, far away.

One day, the nation will weep.

Boeing Jetliner?

2005-06-08T10:02:00.000-05:00

A short video relating to the 911 attack on the Pentagon.

Pentagon Strike

foodchain Sports Update

2005-06-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

You may recall that the foodchain weighed in with its NBA playoff predictions a couple of weeks ago.

We (I) here at the 'chain went out on a limb and predicted that the Western Conference series would go 7 and the winner would have to face a rested Miami Heat team, expecting them to sweep or, at worst take 5 games to vanquish the Pistons and that the Shaqdaddy would hoist the NBA trophy ultimately.

I had it exactly bass-ackwards.

The Spurs whupped the Suns in 5 and the Pistons took care of the Heat in 7. And now they will face a rested Spurs team in the Finals.

To whom it may concern.

I have no clue who will take it all.

I'm just happy the Spurs have a shot.

Guess I'll have to wait for that call from ESPN offering me their next sports prognosticator opening.

And you wonder why I don't bet sports.

2005-06-07T18:38:00.000-05:00

World's fanciest Whataburger

2005-06-07T18:30:00.000-05:00

One of those bigass homes I saw on my longass walk

2005-06-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Downtown CC

2005-06-07T18:03:00.000-05:00

Home of your Corpus Christi Hooks

2005-06-07T18:00:00.000-05:00

Whataburger Field

Longass Walk

2005-06-07T16:52:00.000-05:00

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Out early in the crisp, clean air.

A pretty day, think I'll take a walk.

Jury update:

I called the number after 5 last night as instructed and found out to my intense satisfaction that my jury panel was no longer needed. "Your jury requirements at this time are over."

There is a god.

Halleleujah, Praise Jehovah!

So I'm freeeeeeeee.

And on vacation again.

Where were we??

Oh yeah .. crisp, clean air .. walking.

Methinks to meself .. why not walk down to the brand new Whataburger Field (the home of your Corpus Christi Hooks, Texas League Double A baseball team) and take some pictures with this new digicam of mine?

Are you familiar with the phrase "biting off more than you can chew?"

I live in Flour Bluff, "The Gateway to the Island."

Whataburger Field is down under the Harbor Bridge.

For those of you who know Corpus Christi .. that's what you'd call 'a fer piece.'

About 13 miles ... add a couple more when I double back to where I can catch the bus home and we're talking ...oh, about 15 miles.

But I'm in pretty good shape. I've been working out.

Why not? What else do I have to do today?

About 8 miles into it I start thinking about things like ... sunscreen ... and possibly... heat stroke.

This is S. Texas and I think I told you before .. it be hot ... damn hot.

But I'm stubborn. As one of my Colorado friends used to say, "You can tell a Texan, but you can't tell him much."

I've made up my mind ... I'm going to do this thing. I'm committed.

One foot in front of the other ... stop, take a pic .. sweat ... onward towards the goal.

The scenery is real nice on the Bayfront. Lots of water, SUN, blue skies ... multi million dollar homes. I shoot a LOT of pictures ... 106 to be exact. 99.9 MB worth ...ouch! So if you don't believe I did this, I can prove it.

When I get downtown, I stop for lunch at the world's fanciest Whataburger. I hose myself down in the restroom, clean the sweat off my glasses, comb my sweat plastered hair and then sit down to the #1 with cheese.

Health food.

At least today it is.

This 30 minute break gives me the strength to power on. I could have abbreviated the trip at this point, I can catch my bus about a half mile from here.

But I decide to go on.

Did I mention it's hot down here?

Finally I reach my destination ... Whataburger Field ... and I take several pics.

I'm done.

But it's another couple of miles to where I can catch my bus.

Misery. It's about 2:30 now and the pavement just oozes heat. The glasses are sweat streaked, my neck and the back of my legs are burning.

Finally, there's the courthouse .. just a few short steps from there to the bus stop.

Think I'll take a break. Hose myself down again in the restroom, grab an ice cold Dr. Pepper from the vending machine.

But of course .. the damn things don't work. Or else I'm not smart enough to figure out how to use them.

Put in a dollar, select F3 .. simple.

But the machine does nothing. And there's no instructions posted. I try another machine ... same deal.

How hard can this be?

It's not rocket science.

Is it ??

Must be. I can't get anything to happen.

So I settle for the water cooler.

Then back out into that godawful S. Texas blowtorch of an afternoon.

I'd give anything for a collar.

Or a pair of baggy assed jeans.

My neck and the back of my legs are on fire.

But my luck is running good. I get to the bustop about 45 seconds before my bus takes off.

If you ever ride the bus, you'll notice something about many who depend on mass transit.

Especially on a hot summer afternoon.

They smell.

And today it's me. I'm covered in salt, my cap is soaked with sweat.

Sorry folks ... I sit as far away from everyone as I can. The bus is relatively empty so it's not a big problem.

The ride home takes about 40 minutes.

When I reach my stop, I can barely stand up ... those two short steps out the back door are a major ordeal. I've stiffened up and my legs just don't want to work right.

But I muddle on. I have one more stop to make.

A cold 6 of Corona has my name on it over at the Circle K and I want it ... bad.

Now it's about a hour and a half later.

I'm showered, sitting in front of my computer in my darkened apartment. I don't want to see any more sun today.

I've had a few cool ones.

I'm relaxing ... on vacation.

After one longass walk.

Store Wars

2005-06-06T17:33:00.000-05:00

Every once in a while, when blog surfing, you find something that just absolutely has to be linked.

This is one of those.

Enjoy.

One of Life's Little Curveballs

2005-06-06T14:37:00.000-05:00

At last ...

Vacation is here.

Time to kick back, take it easy ... relax.

I've never been one to pack up the suitcase and venture out to points unknown when vacation time rolls around. If I want to sightsee, I'll move there ... Colorado for example. I always wanted to see all Colorado has to offer but I never wanted to spend vacation time to do it. Too many hassles .. getting there, trying to fit everything you want to do into a couple of days .. then getting back. You get home more tired than when you left.

So I moved there .. lived there 8 years .. every day off was a vacation, so many places to see, so many trails to hike ... It was vundebar.

But today .. I just want to kick back.

Play with my new computer and digital camera ... read some books .... take it easy.

But noooooooooo.

This vacation ain't gonna be that way.

Why?? (you ask).

Because the foodchain has been summoned to exercise his civic duties through the time honored tradition of JURY DUTY.

Yep .. up before the goddamn roosters because I have to be there at 8 and the courthouse is clear across town .. it couldn't be farther from where I live and still be in the same damn town.

So it's up at 5 (groan) 30 to catch the bus (still hoofing it) at 6:30. That gets me there early enough to grab a cup of coffee and a taquito from the courthouse cafe.

Well, I'm there with about 500 of my 'peers,' thinking god I hope I never have to put my fate in the hands of this particular lump of humanity.

I work in the ONLY bookstore in town, practically ... I've never seen ANY of these people there. That doesn't give me a lot of faith that I'm amongst the most aware group in our fair city. But hey, there's the Internet, hopefully they read something and aren't the total dolts they appear to be.

Anyway ...

We're sitting there ... waiting .... waiting ... and waiting a little more.

The guy sitting next to me takes out his jury summons card and points out to the lady on his left the paragraph which states:

"Proper Clothing Required: All persons entering the courtroom should be dressed in clothing reasonably befitting the dignity and solemnity of the court proceedings."

I'm wearing shorts.

Ooops ... didn't read the fine print.

Well, sue me .. I'M ON VACATION!

I guess baggy assed jeans and and fading t shirts barely covering gi-nourmous guts 'reasonably befit the dignity of the court' ... yadda, yadda, yadda ... because that's what most are wearing.

But not to worry. Why?

Because I get to go back TOMORROW.

That's right. I get selected for a jury panel and find out they're not ready for us today, we get to go back tomorrow to find out how big an ordeal this is really going to be. That effectively ruins TWO vacation days .. and who knows yet how many others.

But at least I'll be properly attired in my own baggy assed jeans.

Pity the fool who's fate I have to decide in this frame of mind.