Resistance with Cameras not Guns

There is a movement happening in America of resistance with a camera.  Thousands of informed young people are getting active.  They are disillusioned with the government and are tired of losing their individual rights under the Constitution.

Groups like We Are Change and Checkpoint USA are using the internet to inform the general public about the true state of America.  Armed with knowledge and cameras they record town hall meetings on subjects relating to liberties.  They attend protests to cover the police state tactics being used on peaceful assemblies.  They go through random checkpoints to record themselves resisting  searches without probable cause.

This growing number of street reporters is not only clogging the system, but also turning some powerful heads.  We Are Change, for example, has been engaged in ambush journalism on many members of the powerful elite.  They are truly becoming a thorn in the side of the establishment with this NON-violent tactic.

Read a new article on this tactic here.

 

Waking up to the Truth

 

It is obvious to most reflective people that our culture is destructive in terms of peace, prosperity, liberty, social justice, and the environment.  This awareness started for me when observing a number of world events that didn’t seem to add up anymore.  My heightened curiosity was due to the profound awakening that I experienced at the birth of my first child.  Although I already did care about the world around me, it suddenly seemed far more vital to me.

I’ve been perplexed by the following:

• Environmental Devastation

• Unprovoked wars for false reasons

• Religious violence

• Anti-liberty legislation

• Severe economic injustice

• Global collapse of the financial industry with no accountability

• Massive consolidation of industry into cartels

• A 2-Party political system working in concert with these cartels

• New President with no significant changes

• A highly skeptical Swine Flu National Emergency

It seems like things have gotten crazy to me and I know I’m not alone.  Like many others, I woke up one day to discover that our culture was upside down and its destruction to our environment is utterly unsustainable.  It reminds me of the Michael Ellner quote, “Just look at us. Everything is backwards. Everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information, and religion destroys spirituality.”

Anger made it too easy to blame the “other” political party, the corrupt government, greedy corporations, different religions, crumbling education, or the mass media.   It eventually became clear that they are all fish in the same polluted sea, and so are we.  We were just as much to blame for we are the system, and only we can change it.

Through my information journey I realized a glaring truth, a universal truth some might say, that we are all profoundly connected to each other and our environment, that all of my actions affect the whole, good or bad.  Upon accepting the reality of that we are interconnected, my analysis of our upside down culture became much clearer.  Now, it appears to me that the promotion of a division has been blatantly manufactured to create social conflict and competition to feed a system that primarily benefits the empires of industry.

The truth is very simple to discern in our culture when something doesn’t make sense to you.  Just find out who benefits from a crazy event or confusing policy and follow their money trail.  It’s that simple to get answers in our culture based on greed and division.  The cultural ship is fueled by values of greed and power with complete disregard for human suffering while leaving environmental wreckage in its wake.

For example, you start to put the pieces together when you realize that our most common of resources on Earth, like water, are controlled by only a handful of private multinational corporations who benefit from humanity’s absolute need for it.  Consequently, when other industry pollutes fresh water they create value out of scarcity for the water conglomerates. When you follow their actions and political influence you begin to realize that governments and industry cartels are one in the same.  In other words, we are beholden to them for all vital resources which force us to participate in the system –thus our very survival enslaves us to the system whether we like it or not.

In fact, the oft referred to saying of the elite is “Order out of Chaos, Divide and Conquer.”  Division seemed calculated in every political speech, every advertisement, every religious sermon, every classroom, and every news cast.  The masses buy into this division and they form prejudices about their neighbors, who then form biases towards them.  This division feeds fear, breeds anxiety, which turns to hate, which leads to destructive actions.  It creates a “dog-eat-dog” economy where greed always trumps the environment, compassion, and fairness.  Clearly this is destructive and unsustainable.

The absolute truth that we’re all connected to everything leaves us one path forward – sustainability.  Everything from the way we relate to each other, build things, produce food, apply industry, operate government, and much more needs to be transformed with new values of harmony and sustainability if humanity expects to survive.  The good news is that all it takes is to change our values and apply them one person at a time.  In other words, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” – Gandhi.

 

White House Backs Bankers not People

Dan Froomkin

Huffington Post 10-28-09

Chicago Bank Protests

As the battle lines are drawn between the people and the bankers outside the ABA convention in Chicago, the question arises: Which side is the White House on, exactly?

Yes, the Obama administration is pushing to dramatically increase the regulation of consumer and other financial transactions that have run amok, but there is widespread concern from across the political spectrum that the White House is neither going far enough nor fighting hard enough. And time and again — most notably with the ongoing $700 billion bailout — Obama administration policies have put the interests of bankers and Wall Street ahead of those of impoverished families, unemployed workers or underwater homeowners.

One reason — which has never been directly addressed by Obama — may be that many of his chief financial advisers have pocketed extraordinary amount of money from banks and Wall Street, and presumably intend to do so again. They are part of the banker class, and their loyalties have been bought and paid for.

Back in April, when the White House released financial disclosure forms late one Friday, those few people paying attention learned just how stupendously beholden Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers, is to the financial industry that he is ostensibly trying to rein in. Read entire article here

Fox News Marginalized – Internet Blocked

“An expectation of unlimited Internet access during a pandemic is not realistic,” Jerald Levine Department of Homeland Security.

Now I’m not a big fan of Fox News.  I think they are a propaganda machine through and through (much like the rest of the media).  They just happen to be the opposition message, and the best at what they do.  The only last bastion of free-speech media is the Internet.  And now both are under assault.

The final move any dictatorship makes to secure their position is to marginalize or eliminate the opposing media.  Our corrupt system is being exposed to large numbers everyday and the puppet masters in the system are becoming hip to this awareness.  They may be going after the final step of silencing the opposition much quicker than they wanted to.

The Fox News fight may be a Red Herring that benefits both sides, but a clearly coordinated effort has been made to marginalize them as a “real” news channel.  Now under the flag of bogus National Emergency, Homeland Security is contemplating shutting down the internet or blocking some websites to prevent clogging.  Apparently there are more people home from school and work surfing the net.

Wake up sheep!  Read internet article below from Reuters.

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Securities exchanges have a sound network back-up if a severe pandemic keeps people home and clogging the Internet, but the Homeland Security Department has done little planning, Congressional investigators said on Monday.

The department does not even have a plan to start work on the issue, the General Accountability Office said.

But the Homeland Security Department accused the GAO of having unrealistic expectations of how the Internet could be managed if millions began to telework from home at the same time as bored or sick schoolchildren were playing online, sucking up valuable bandwidth.

Experts have for years pointed to the potential problem of Internet access during a severe pandemic, which would be a unique kind of emergency. It would be global, affecting many areas at once, and would last for weeks or months, unlike a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake.

H1N1 swine flu has been declared a pandemic but is considered a moderate one. Health experts say a worse one — or a worsening of this one — could result in 40 percent absentee rates at work and school at any given time and closed offices, transportation links and other gathering places.

Many companies and government offices hope to keep operations going as much as possible with teleworking using the Internet. Among the many problems posed by this idea, however, is the issue of bandwidth — especially the “last mile” between a user’s home and central cable systems.

“Such network congestion could prevent staff from broker-dealers and other securities market participants from teleworking during a pandemic,” reads the GAO report, available here

“The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for ensuring that critical telecommunications infrastructure is protected.”

BLOCKING WEBSITES

Private Internet providers might need government authorization to block popular websites, it said, or to reduce residential transmission speeds to make way for commerce….Read entire article here

Signs America is in Decline

9 Signs of America is in Decline

Rick Newman – US News & World Report

The sky isn’t falling, exactly. America isn’t on a fast track to irrelevance. Even in a state of total neglect, we could probably shamble along as a disheveled superpower for a few more decades.

But all empires end, and the warning signs of American decline seem to be blinking more consistently. In the latest annual “prosperity index” published by the Legatum Institute, a London-based research firm, the United States ranks as the ninth most prosperous country in the world. That’s five notches lower than last year, when America ranked No. 4.

The drop might seem inconsequential, especially in the midst of a grueling recession—except that most of the world has endured the same recession, and other countries are bouncing back faster.

China and India have recovered smartly from the recession, for example. Brazil seems to be barreling ahead. Australia is growing faster than expected, prompting worry among government officials who fear they may have overstimulated the economy. The United States, meanwhile, is muddling through a weak, jobless recovery, and we have a lot of problems that could make prosperity feel elusive for a long time.

Real household income in America has flat-lined, for instance, which means many middle-class families are barely keeping up with inflation. The exploding federal deficit hamstrings the government’s ability to help. Healthcare is too expensive, America’s manufacturing base is eroding, and two open-ended foreign wars are draining the national treasury. This is not a recipe for building national wealth….Read Entire Article Here

Swine Flu Emergency Fraud

WAKE UP America! They are selling fear.  Swine flu is not a National Emergency.  Which begs the question why declare it one?  There was surprisingly little coverage of this “Emergency” on the news stations who call a weather balloon for 8 hours Breaking News. And there was absolutely NO coverage on what a National Emergency means except for fluff about health professionals being able to move quicker to “help” people.

It always starts as a voluntary measure until authorities make it so painful to resist that all must comply.  And now they have the authorization through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to force action with military use.  It smells like another “mushroom cloud” FEAR moment and the consequences for Americans may be far more dramatic than an unprovoked war for oil.  This is about quarantine power, Martial law power,  travel restrictions, profits for Big Pharma, and the blatant poisoning of you and your children.  This is a false flag event to to implement a “benevolent” war against your liberty to make choices about your own health.  Refuse the vaccination!

The helpless pregnant sheep and young lambs are now following fear orders and flocking to “health” centers to get their multi-dose inoculation.  Be sure and get your tattoo as well to prove to authorities that you have been protected so you don’t get rounded up in the coming raid.  Wake Up Sheeple!

Federal Reserve Bets on Dollar to Fail

Is the Federal Reserve betting on the dollar to fail?  There is stunning new evidence that The Fed is greatly benefiting from the collapse of the dollar.   For the first time ever, The Fed’s balance sheet grew by over $500B by swapping currencies with foreign central banks. Consequently, they profit tremendously when the dollar falls against those currencies. It appears to be blatant manipulation of U.S. Dollars by the very entity that creates them. In other words, The Fed is literally betting on its own product to fail.

Fed Chairman Bernanke admits this is a new practice for The Fed and even claims they also make interest on these swaps with foreign central banks. However, those same foreign banks are now following The Fed’s lead (or orders) to dump the dollars they just received at record rates, according to an October 12th investigative article by Bloomberg. This is putting massive downward pressure on the strength of the dollar.

The  Bloomberg article says:

Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Nations reporting currency breakdowns put 63 percent of the new cash into euros and yen in April, May and June, the latest Barclays Capital data show. That’s the highest percentage in any quarter with more than an $80 billion increase.

World leaders are acting on threats to dump the dollar while the Obama administration shows a willingness to tolerate a weaker currency in an effort to boost exports and the economy as long as it doesn’t drive away the nation’s creditors. The diversification signals that the currency won’t rebound anytime soon after losing 10.3 percent on a trade-weighted basis the past six months, the biggest drop since 1991…

Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s Dollar Index, which tracks the currency’s performance against the euro, yen, pound, Canadian dollar, Swiss franc and Swedish krona, fell to 75.77 last week, the lowest level since August 2008 and down from the high this year of 89.624 on March 4. The index, at 76.104 today, is within six points of its record low reached in March 2008.

And many predict continued demise of the dollar  as the trend to dump dollars continues to gain steam.

“The diversification out of the dollar will accelerate,” said Fabrizio Fiorini, a money manager who helps oversee $12 billion at Aletti Gestielle SGR SpA in Milan. “People are buying the euro not because they want that currency, but because they want to get rid of the dollar. In the long run, the U.S. will not be the same powerful country that it once was.”

The Fed is betting on its own product to fail. Incidentally, they’re betting on America to fail.  They’re shorting their own stock as if they plan for the end of the dollar experiment.  And as a private for-profit entity, The Fed is only accountable to PROFIT like every other private company on the planet.  They seem to have complete disregard for the ramifications to the American people.

The good news is that Ron Paul (R-TX) and Alan Grayson (D-FL) are beginning to ask the tough questions and have received nearly 300 house sponsors for HR 1207  to Audit The Fed. Meanwhile, the private Federal Reserve appropriately hired former Enron head lobbyist, Linda Robertson, to protect them from the investigation.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke ridiculously contradicts himself while being interrogated by Grayson.  Bernanke first claims that the authority of The Fed to give $500B+ to foreign central banks “is not an emergency authority of any kind.”  When Grayson exposes the Fed’s balance sheet to reveal no previous history of this activity, Bernanke then admits “it was zero before the crisis.”  Any poker player will tell you Bernanke’s lip biting at the end of his clearly uncomfortable explanation is a major tell of a nervous bluffer.

Their bluff is finally being called and it will soon be common knowledge that the Fed is a private for-profit company that manipulates the global economy for its ends only.  It will be fascinating to observe, but painful to live.

Open Letter to G-20 Security Forces

Dear Public Servants,

First, I would like to congratulate you on your show of force at the recent G-20 protests in Pittsburgh. You successfully tested new tactics, suppressed the peaceful crowds, and protected private material property. Job well done!

However, as your boss, I found myself confused while watching the coverage unfold.  I suppose it was those darn Memorial Day parades and the learn-about-the-police day in Kindergarten that confuses me.

See, us regular Americans were taught that the police were supposed to protect and serve innocent citizens and fight crime, while the National Guard is supposed to protect our homeland from foreign enemies.  I’m wondering when the American people gave you the new authority to assault, batter, and arrest peaceful Americans?

Okay, I’m not that naïve.  I’m sure some politician inserted small print into legislation that makes it perfectly legal for you to perform as you did.  So I imagine that policy protects you legally.

Now, I’m not accusing you of illegal action, but I am wondering who my public employees have allegiances to -

American citizens and the Constitution, or something else?  I’m only asking because your actions appear to the layman to conflict with the First Amendment of the Constitution.

And visually, you looked strikingly like the Gestapo closing in on innocent civilians.  You were downright frightening! What with the bullet proof armor, tear gas, beanbag guns, sound bombs, and nightsticks, you looked like badass Storm Troopers.

Man, if I was a corrupt corporate executive who just stole tens of billions of dollars from the American people, I would be scared shitless of the likes of you.  Those criminals are going to piss themselves when you come for them.

You are going to arrest these hardened criminals right? I don’t expect you to arrest the stupid politicians though because they are just order takers.  I mean it would be like arresting privates at a torture prison for just following immoral orders.

Anyways, keep up the good work boys.  We, your boss (the peaceful American taxpayer who enjoys hanging out in safe public parks), are looking forward to you using that futuristic gear that we provided to go kick some hardened criminal ass.

Best wishes,

American citizens

First, I would like to congratulate you on your show of force at the recent G-20 protests in Pittsburgh. You successfully tested new tactics, suppressed the peaceful crowds, and protected private material property. Job well done!

However, as your boss, I found myself confused while watching the coverage unfold.  I suppose it was those darn Memorial Day parades and the learn-about-the-police day in Kindergarten that confuses me. See, us regular Americans were taught that the police were supposed to protect and serve innocent citizens and fight crime, while the National Guard is supposed to protect our homeland from foreign enemies.

Perhaps my deficient public education has not equipped me to understand the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Okay, I’m not that naïve.  I’m sure some politician inserted small print into legislation that makes it perfectly legal for you to perform as you did.  So I imagine that policy protects you legally. Now, I’m not accusing you of illegal action, but I am wondering who my public employees have allegiances to; the American citizens and the Constitution, or something else?  I’m only asking because your actions appear to the layman to conflict with the First Amendment of the Constitution.

And visually, you looked strikingly like the Gestapo closing in on innocent civilians.  You were downright frightening! What with the bullet proof armor, tear gas, beanbag guns, sound cannons, and nightsticks, you really looked like badass Storm Troopers.

Man, if I was a corrupt corporate executive who just stole billions of dollars from the American people, I would be scared shitless of the likes of you.  Those criminals are going to piss themselves when you come for them.

You are going to arrest these blatant criminals right? I don’t expect you to arrest the stupid politicians though, because they are just order takers.  I mean, it would be like arresting lowly privates at a torture prison just for following immoral orders.

Anyways, keep up the good work boys.  I know you’re just following orders.  We, your boss (the peaceful American taxpayer who enjoys hanging out in safe public parks), are looking forward to you using that futuristic gear that we provided to go kick some criminal-CEO ass.

Best wishes,

American citizens

The Republic Run by Cartels

“It’s Socialism”, the republicans scream in the crowded theatre.  “Obama’s a goddamn Fascist”, chant the milky-white teabaggers.  “We need unregulated Capitalism”, shout the free-market economists who were silent before the crash.  Meanwhile, the corporate-backed democrats whine that the problem is greed-driven Crony or Cowboy Capitalism.  And the liberals cry that we are becoming a Corporate Welfare State.

No wonder why nervous Americans are angry, confused, and cynical.  How do we fix what we can’t define?  Or is it, perhaps, that old definitions simply no longer apply?

Modern socialist countries in the western world like Switzerland, France, or Canada are hardly Nazi Germany and Sarkozy is clearly not Mussolini.  To compare modern socialism to Nazis, or Fascism, is intellectual dishonest and an insult to these countries that thoroughly kick our ass in any study vital to a healthy and happy society.

Michael Moore tells us capitalism is evil in his new movie Capitalism: A Love Story, and suggests we need to replace it with democracy.  He implies that we have a sort of totalitarian pyramid economy where the top 1% control as much wealth as the bottom 90%.  But I thought voting with our wallet is democracy?

The truth is, our economic-political system has become a far more dangerous and uncontrollable monster.  All the regulation in the world can’t keep this creature caged, and its obvious growl is muffled by the very noise written above.

What we have is, too-big-to-fail Cartelism masquerading as the free market capitalism whose government is desperately trying to pick up the debris from their financial 9-11.  And this economic terrorist attack is provably an inside job, but the silence in accountability is deafening.

Cartelism is defined as; an economic system where a small group of companies in a given industry control a large majority of the market-place and act as “competitors”, but ultimately they work in concert to influence industry policy by purchasing legislative votes in their industry’s favor.

That’s a mouthful.  Let me break it down for you pragmatics.

Cartelism is:

• An seemingly free market economic system

• A small group of companies control entire industries

• They work together to shape industry policy

• And purchase legislators to vote their interests

These cartels dominate every major industry in the United States and they own nearly all public officials.  That is an indisputable fact, and until we recognize the nature of the beast we cannot slay it.  What’s even more disturbing is that these Cartels have spun a global web.

Follow this blog for individual Cartel reports coming soon.

“It’s Socialism”, the republicans scream in the crowded theatre.  “Obama’s a goddamn Fascist”, chant the milky-white teabaggers.  “We need unregulated Capitalism”, shout the free-market economists who were silent before the crash.

Corporate-backed democrats whine that it’s greed-driven Crony or Cowboy Capitalism. And the liberals cry that we are becoming a Corporate Welfare State while looking for their handout.

How can we fix an economic system that we can’t even define?  No wonder why Americans are angry, confused, and cynical.  Or is it simply that old definitions no longer apply?

Modern socialist countries in the western world like Switzerland, France, or Canada are hardly Nazi Germany, and Sarkozy is clearly not Mussolini.  To compare modern socialism to Nazis, or Fascism, is intellectually dishonest and an insult to these countries that thoroughly kick our ass in any study vital to a healthy and happy society. Shouldn’t our ultimate goal be a healthy and happy society?

Michael Moore tells us capitalism is evil in his new movie Capitalism: A Love Story, and suggests we need to replace it with democracy.  He states that we have a sort of totalitarian-pyramid economy, where the top 1% control as much wealth as the bottom 90%.  He’s mostly right, but I thought voting with our wallet is democracy?

The truth is, our economic-political system has become a far more dangerous and uncontrollable monster.  All the regulation in the world can’t keep this creature caged, and its obvious growl is being muffled by the very noise written above.

What we have is best described as too-big-to-fail Cartelism, masquerading as free market capitalism whose government is desperately trying to pick up the debris from their financial 9-11.  This economic terrorist attack is provably an inside job and the silence in accountability is deafening.

I define Cartelism as an economic system where a handful of companies in a given industry control a large majority of the market-place.  They act as “competitors”, but ultimately they work in concert to influence industry policy by purchasing legislative votes.

That’s a mouthful.  Let me break it down for you pragmatics.

Cartelism is:

• An seemingly free market economic system

• A small group of companies control entire industries

• They work together to shape industry policy

• They purchase legislators to vote for their interests

These cartels dominate every major industry in the United States and they own nearly all public officials.  That is an indisputable fact, and until we recognize the nature of the beast we cannot slay it.  What’s even more disturbing is that these Cartels have already spun a global web that we’re all caught in.

Follow this blog for individual Cartel reports coming soon.

Congressman Grayson Speaks Truth to Power

Let’s be clear – health care reform is a LIFE or DEATH issue. Insurance companies maximize their profit by running monopolistic “death panels”, where they deny coverage, drop coverage, and influence doctors.  They, unlike the government, have motivation to get between you and your doctor – it’s called PROFIT.

Americans are growing increasingly angry at the government’s ineptness to fix health care and their outright pandering to every industry. People are needlessly dying or going broke under the current system and it’s got to change.

Freshman Congressman Alan Grayson (D – Florida) recently gave a controversial speech on the House floor where he claimed Republican’s lack of a health care plan encourages the sick to “die quickly” because that helps insurance company profits. Grayson’s theatrical antics angered Republicans who immediately demanded an apology.

He answered those calls the very next day on the House floor with an apology to the “dead” and the uninsured sick who will continue to die as Republicans stonewall any meaningful reform of the broken health care system.

Grayson’s deliberately over-the-top comments successfully put opponents of health care reform on the defensive for the first time in decades. He pointed to a recent Harvard study that determined the current system is killing ten times the amount of Americans as 9-11 or the Iraq War – EVERY YEAR.

So rare is it that a democrat uses offensive rhetoric that his comments created a huge stir in the media. To answer the media feeding frenzy, Grayson glided on to the set of CNN’s The Situation Room just as the panel was referring to him as a “nut job”, and he graciously acknowledged the entire group individually.

Wolf Blitzer and his regular pack of political “analysts”, regrettably smelling easy prey, feverishly interrupted each other to take a bite at the congressman. Clearly believing he has truth on his side, Grayson fearlessly dominated the hack pack with conviction, passion and sincerity in defense of his position.

Not only did he not back down and apologize to republicans or foaming-at-the-mouth TV news “repeaters”, he insisted that it is they who should apologize to the American people for stonewalling while more citizens die. When accused of insulting republicans, without pause, he countered “what the republicans have been doing is an insult to America…these are foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals.”

The panel, including Blitzer, was clearly outmatched in the face of fiercely defended principles. The satellite observer, James Carville, was impressed with the Congressmen’s courage, and later warned that the Congressman’s life would be different now that he took the gloves off.

Grayson drew a line in the sand on health care with “Roveian” political brilliance. His bold statements made two clear political choices on health care reform, you’re either for it or you’re…
1. Causing more Americans to die
2. Owned by the insurance industry

Additionally, feeling as though the republicans are not going to concede on anything, he became the Alpha dog for the democrats, by reminding the spineless majority leadership that it’s their turn to govern and solve problems with or without republican approval.

Speaking truth to power in today’s political arena is so rare that even folks like Carville who used to appear as mavericks, are now seemingly on the take along with the majority of elected officials and their supporting hacks.

Grayson is fast becoming a truth to power Hero going after the Federal Reserve for more transparency, as well as his battle with private contractors that defraud the American taxpayer.  Support Grayson…there aren’t many more like him.