American Survival

This is very much what I have been feeling over the past year or so. It amazes me that someone else also has this perspective. I watch television, I know, too much, but from this amazing medium comes such a combination of senseless idiocy and obssessive materialism that I am stunned by its pervasive ferocity. Absolutely stunned. Yet, I find myself caught up in this whirling dervish of endless products and smiling beauty that I begin to evaluate my own life against what I see there. I become dissastisfied that I am too fat, too poor, ill groomed, ignorant, and totally out of touch with the 'real' America. I am not rich and pretty. I don't drive a sleek sportcar and I don't command a large corporation or sail a boat on weekends. I just don't fit in with this 'American Image'.

Everytime I go to the store, any store, it dosen't matter which, I see an endless row of products to buy. The choice is staggering. The quantity is beyond reason. There is everything I could possibly want, and more. Sometimes I worry that the world is passing me by because I don't own more stuff.

Then I look at my garage and find that I don't know what to do with most of the stuff I have now. So I give it away to Salvation Army or Goodwill. Some I hang on to because I know I will need it someday, like that oak bathroom towel rack, those tennis shoes that still have life in them, countless tools and metal braces, a derelict vacuum sweeper, curtain rods, and more boxes of old ill fitting clothing than I can imagine. So I take it to Goodwill, turn it in, then head inside to see if they have any more junk I can buy. I have found myself buying my own donations back again, how is that for crazy?

We are a driven people, probably the only culture on earth whose entire economy us based on the citizens' accumulation of stuff. Consumer shopping has replaced factories, manufacturing plants, and farming. What is the business of America? Shopping. We buy endless dooddads and gimcracks; fru fru and 'what-cha-ma-call-its'. What is even more amazing is that we don't make any of this stuff. It all comes from overseas, some foreign place. While the rest of the world is busy making stuff and creating stuff, designing, planning, producing, Americans are mindlessly shopping.

Well, we are truly a product of our culture and our civilization will go down in history and one of the most pathetic and wasted efforts of humanity. Yeah, we did some good things, medicine, medical care, innovative manufacturing and supplying, designing and creating. But we don't do that anymore, we just shop.

Read this whole article here, this one is really well written.

Beyond Mere Survival in the American Economic Dystopia
by Jason Miller


“Most Americans still do not realize that they are enslaved to the ruling elite, a group with a savage, relentless devotion to avarice, the blind pursuit of money, and the domination of Earth's people and resources. Under the Bush Regime, the mask of civility, morality, and democracy has slipped to the point that the hideous visage of raw capitalism and imperialistic ambition is almost completely exposed. Yet somehow, as over a hundred thousand lie dead in Iraq, the Patriot Act strips our civil liberties, the wealth gap widens to a chasm, Big Brother has been caught watching (and is unrepentant), billions of dollars are wasted on occupations of sovereign nations, habeas corpus disappears, America engages in torture regularly, property rights precede human rights, and a major city lays in ruins due to the willful neglect of a government charged by the Constitution with promoting the general welfare, many Americans still cannot, or will not, dare to even glimpse at the lurid countenance of evil leering at them from Washington…”

But here is what is truly important;

“…This doesn’t have to stand. America has exhibited true greatness in the past. Think of the American Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. This is the nation that spawned the Abolitionist Movement. The powerful Labor Movement arose in the Twentieth Century and claimed unprecedented rights and protections for the working class. The Civil Rights Movement made powerful gains for minorities and the oppressed. Women won the right to vote. Populists made strides for farmers and the working class. Anti-war protestors broke the will of the military industrial complex to continue their genocidal “pacification” of the Vietnamese. Progressives have been a significant force for social changes to benefit humanity since the 1890’s. There are still champions for the oppressed in America and spiritually enlightened values are woven into the fabric of our culture…”

Gosh, makes ya just want to go out there...and shop.

Internet the enemy...

Well, we weren't really using those Constitutional Rights anyway....

Rumsfeld Zeros in on the Internet
By Mike Whitney 02/24/06

"The Associated Press reported recently that the US government conducted a massive simulated attack on the Internet called “Cyber-Storm”. The wargame was designed, among other things, to “respond to misinformation campaigns and activist calls by internet bloggers, online diarists whose ‘Web logs” include political rantings and musings about current events”.
Before Bush took office, “political rantings and musings about current events” were protected under the 1st amendment.

No more.

The War Department is planning to insert itself into every area of the Internet from blogs to chat rooms, from leftist web sites to editorial commentary. Their rapid response team will be on hair-trigger alert to dispute any tidbit of information that challenges the official storyline..."

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/022706_world_stories.shtml#0

Hunting Lawyers

In light of the recent unfortunate events concerning the VicePresident,a new bill has been introduced in the Montana legislature as follows:

Bill to Regulate the Hunting and Harvesting of Attorneys

370.01 Any person with a valid in-state rodent or snake hunting licensemay also hunt and harvest attorneys for recreational and sport(non-commercial) purposes.

370.02 Taking of attorneys with traps or deadfalls is permitted. The useof United States currency as bait, however, is prohibited.

370.03 Stuffed or mounted attorneys must have a state health departmentinspection for rabies, and vermin.

370.04 The willful killing of attorneys with a motor vehicle isprohibited, unless such vehicle is an ambulance being driven in reverse.If an attorney is accidentally struck by a motor vehicle, the deadattorney should be removed to the roadside, and the vehicle shouldproceed immediately to the nearest car wash.

370.05 It is unlawful to chase, herd or harvest attorneys from a powerboat, helicopter or aircraft.

370.06 It is unlawful to shout, "WHIPLASH", "AMBULANCE", or "FREESCOTCH" for the purposes of trapping attorneys.

370.07 It is unlawful to hunt attorneys within 100 yards of BMW,Mercedes or Porsche dealerships, except on Wednesday afternoon.

370.08 It is unlawful to hunt attorneys within 200 yards of courtrooms,law libraries, health clubs, country clubs, hospitals or brothels.

370.09 If an attorney gains elective office, it is not necessary to havea license to hunt, trap or possess the same.

370.10 It is unlawful for a hunter to wear a disguise as a reporter,drug dealer, pimp, female legal clerk, sheep, accident victim, bookie,physician, chiropractor or tax accountant for the purpose of huntingattorneys.

370.11 Bag and Possession Limits per day: Yellow-bellied sidewinders, 2; Two-faced tortfeasors, 1; Back-stabbing divorce litigators, 3; Horn-rimmed cut-throats, 2; Minutiae-advocating dirtbags, 4.

370.12 Honest attorneys shall be protected under the Endangered SpeciesAct .

(Thanks Mark)

Democracy on the edge

Saving Democracy
by Bill Moyers, copyright 2006

"This is a profound transformation in a country whose DNA contains the inherent promise of an equal opportunity at “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” and whose collective memory resonates with the hallowed idea – hallowed by blood – of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

The great progressive struggles in our history have been waged to make sure ordinary citizens, and not just the rich, share in the benefits of a free society. Yet today the public may support such broad social goals as affordable medical coverage for all, decent wages for working people, safe working conditions, a secure retirement, and clean air and water, but there is no government “of, by, and for the people” to deliver on those aspirations. Instead, our elections are bought out from under us and our public officials do the bidding of mercenaries.

Money is choking democracy to death. So powerfully has wealth shaped our political agenda that we cannot say America is working for all of America.

In the words of Louis Brandeis, one of the greatest of our Supreme Court justices: “You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or democracy, but you cannot have both.” ..."

The State of America

FUBAR


F&%$%# Up Beyond All Recognition.

cartoons o' the day

Detention Camps for Dissidents?

YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS!



Bush’s Mysterious New Programs
Nat Perry, Feb 21, 2006

Consortiumnews.com


“…there was that curious development in January when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with “an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs,” KBR said. [Market Watch, Jan. 26, 2006]

“…what kind of programs would require a major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people….”

“…Only a few independent journalists, such as Peter Dale Scott and Maureen Farrell, have pursued what the Bush administration might actually be thinking.

Scott speculated that the “detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law.” He recalled that during the Reagan administration, National Security Council aide Oliver North organized Rex-84 “readiness exercise,” which contemplated the Federal Emergency Management Agency rounding up and detaining 400,000 “refugees,” in the event of “uncontrolled population movements” over the Mexican border into the United States…”

I wonder if perhaps these camps are also in place to house Americans who dissent from the views of their government?….

“…There also was another little-noticed item posted at the U.S. Army Web site, about the Pentagon’s Civilian Inmate Labor Program. This program “provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations.”
The Army document, first drafted in 1997, underwent a “rapid action revision” on Jan. 14, 2005. The revision provides a “template for developing agreements” between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations.

The term 'Gulag' comes to mind. A place where criminals and dissents were sent for re-education.

“…The Army also cites various federal laws that govern the use of civilian labor and provide for the establishment of prison camps in the United States, including a federal statute that authorizes the Attorney General to “establish, equip, and maintain camps upon sites selected by him” and “make available … the services of United States prisoners” to various government departments, including the Department of Defense..”

The Internet, the one you are now using, the one you use to send e-mails to aunt Betty and to communicate with friends, and to read news that goes uncovered by the entire U.S. News Media, yeah, that Internet, that's the one they are going to close down with martial law….

“…The Pentagon plan also includes a strategy for taking over the Internet and controlling the flow of information, viewing the Web as a potential military adversary. The “roadmap” speaks of “fighting the net,” and implies that the Internet is the equivalent of “an enemy weapons system.” ..”

To sum it up, it would appear that the Bush Administration, with the collusion of both political parties holds that we are a war with Terrorism (Although how the hell you can be at war with a tactic, I really don't understand. You can be at War with the Taliban, but can you be at war with a weapon or manuever?)

“…the White House still asserts the right to detain U.S. citizens without charges as enemy combatants.

This claimed authority is based on the assertion that the United States is at war and the American homeland is part of the battlefield..."

We are at 'war' therefore anything goes, the President is beyond all law and can do no wrong....this would be somewhat more tolerable if that jackass was sane.

In obvious agreement with Mr. Perry above, is Maureen Farrell who pointed out:

"...By the fall of 2005, news that the US could continue to "confine US citizens without charges," prompted conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan to dig up the following quote: "The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist" -- Winston Churchill, November 21, 1943, describing what is now legal and constitutional in the United States, under president Bush.".." (Maureen Farrell, Detention Camp Jitters)

And this:

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe said on ABC's Nightline:

"It bothers me that the executive branch is taking the amazing position that just on the president's say-so, any American citizen can be picked up, not just in Afghanistan, but at O'Hare Airport or on the streets of any city in this country, and locked up without access to a lawyer or court just because the government says he's connected somehow with the Taliban or Al Qaeda. That's not the American way. It's not the constitutional way. . . ." (Farrell, Detention Camp Jitters)

The Bushites are preparing for martial law, and they mean it.

============================

By the by, when we discuss camps being established for immigrants and refugees, we must understand a little known fact. That as global warming proceeds, and petroleum becomes less and less available, we are going to see famine and ecological disaster on a scale beyond our imagination. Bush and his handlers know this. They know that if these predictions come to pass, there will be millions of refugees, crossing any border that shows the hint of food or safety. That means the U.S. is going to see a lot of people come pouring across the borders from the south.

These people are on a thin edge of poverty all the time, and with the massive changes in climate and shortage of oil, they are going to head north. I don't blame them, I would too. But this means that Bush and his minions know that disaster refugees are coming and they are getting preparded for them. If an occasional dissident gets thrown into the camps with them...oh well.

War with Iran

Sometimes things go on in this world that are so blindingly stupid it puts to risk the whole notion of humanity as an intelligent being.

Published on Saturday, February 18, 2006 by CommonDreams.org
WWIII or Bust: Implications of a US Attack on Iran
by Heather Wokusch

“…how can the US public be convinced to enter a potentially ugly and protracted war in Iran?
A domestic terrorist attack would do the trick. Just consider how long Congress went back and forth over reauthorizing Bush’s Patriot Act, but how quickly opposing senators capitulated following last week’s nerve-agent scare in a Senate building. The scare turned out to be a false alarm, but the Patriot Act got the support it needed.

Now consider the fact that former CIA Officer Philip Giraldi has said the Pentagon’s plans to attack Iran were drawn up “to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States.” Writing in The American Conservative in August 2005, Giraldi added, “As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States.”

Chew on that one a minute. The Pentagon’s plan should be used in response to a terrorist attack on the US, yet is not contingent upon Iran actually having been responsible. How outlandish is this scenario: another 9/11 hits the US, the administration says it has secret information implicating Iran, the US population demands retribution and bombs start dropping on Tehran…”

There are two reasons why Bush is going to attack Iran, if he can. The first is that Iran has the tremerity to begin selling its own oil in Euro’s, not dollars. Oh the living gall. Selling your own products in what ever currency you deem necessary, without consulting the United States of America on your choice. This move, one that good ole Saddam tried to make and brought him smart bombs and depleted uranium for breakfast, would bring into jeopardy the use of American Dollars as the world’s reserve currency. “Room for two” ya say? Sure Euro’s can share the economic stage with dollars, were all friends here aren’t we? Bullshit. The tottering dollar is as weak as my grandmother with a broken hip, palsey, and a heavy drinking problem. If the world moves to trade oil in Euro’s the Dollar will collapse as it is based absolutely nothing. That is because, it is, the dollar has no value other than is use as a reserve currency and the massive buying power of U.S.Citizens. The U.S. dollar is like wet tissue paper holding an apple. It looks cool at first, but it absolutely cannot last. The U.S. economy is based solely on the strength of the dollar for foreign governments. As long as the dollar is financially sound and brings good return on investment (ROI) they will continue to prop up the U.S. economy by using dollars. But, if all of these governments suddenly begin to get pissy with Bush because he has backhanded them once too often, then they will jump to the Euro’s, take whatever momentary financial hit they have to, and then stand back and watch the entire U.S. economy dissolve into memories, regret, and instant, massive, inflation. You think $2.67 is a tad high for our ‘god given’ right to gasoline? Try $15 to $20 per gallon. That’ll make your heart stop and your price of groceries too expensive to purchase.

The second issue is (TA DA!) Oil. The U.S. needs all of it we can get, after all, it is vital that multimillionaires become even more egregiously rich, that Neoconservatives gain even more power over life and death, and that the chubby Americans can still buy Chilean grapes out of season. The U.S. economy is absolutely and completely based on cheap and abundant oil. Any measureable drop in supply, or major increase in price will devastate the American life style in ways that equal the collapse of the Roman Empire. Look around your space right now and count how much is made from petroleum? Computer? Table? Clothing? Plastic anything? Additionally, everything you now enjoy has been brought to you by a petroleum based delivery vehicle. Everything. Right now your grocery store has only about 2-3 days worth of food on its shelves. Interrupt the constant flood of oil into this country and trucks will stop, deliveries will stop, and you will quickly starve. Iran has lots and lots of oil and we need it, all of it. Trouble is, so do China, Russia, India, all of the rest of the world. Therefore, if we have to lob a small nuke or two to control this precious commodity, well then, ‘so be it’.

Well, there is also a third reason why Bush will invade Iran…he’s an insane asshole. But that is for another column.

Brace yourselves folks, the insanity of America isn’t just relegated to foreign lands and foreign people, it will be coming to a locale near you as well. Either you will be conscripted into Bush ‘War on Freedom’, or one of the many countries that hate our guts because we fucked them over is going to blow apart one of our cities, or you will be ground under the boot heel of rampant Fascism that passes for democracy in this lunatic country. Perhaps all three will join hands and enter our world. And ‘War”? Well, it will be a part of our daily news broadcasts up until the lights go out.

When the power of love
overcomes
The love of power
The world will know peace.

Jimi Hendrix

Bush Lies Again! again and again and again...

This is George W. Bush with Abramoff...the man Bush said he'd never met. Now lets stop the bullshit Republican spin and demand the truth.

I swear, republican lies are so pervasive they are damn near hereditary, like warts.

Internet Control

I keep saying that the next inevitable step in the crushing of American freedoms and hope is for the Bush Administration, to take control of the Internet.

They have to!

Every one knows that the first thing revolutionaries grab are the radio stations. Well, we are at the ass end of a revolution…Plutocratic Tyranny over Democracy. The Bushites know they must have full control of something as threatening to them as free speech.

You will notice that there is no such program for the mainstream news feeds. Why? Hell, they already have them!

This is a good and short article from THE SMIRKING CHIMP…I love the name.

Mike Whitney: 'The Pentagon's war on the Internet'
Contributed by megsdad on Tuesday, February 14 @ 10:13:57 EST

"The Pentagon has developed a comprehensive strategy for taking over the internet and controlling the free flow of information. The plan appears in a recently declassified document, "The Information Operations Roadmap", which was provided under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and revealed in an article by the BBC.

The Pentagon sees the internet in terms of a military adversary that poses a vital threat to its stated mission of global domination. This explains the confrontational language in the document which speaks of "fighting the net"; implying that the internet is the equivalent of "an enemy weapons system."..”

“..The internet is the modern-day marketplace of ideas, an invaluable resource for human curiosity and organized resistance. It provides a direct link between the explosive power of ideas and engaged citizen involvement (a.k.a. participatory democracy).The Pentagon is laying the groundwork for privatizing the internet so the information-revolution can be transformed into an information-tyranny, extending to all areas of communications and serving the exclusive interests of a few well-heeled American plutocrats.

This is an important footnote.

(After this article was finished the Associated Press reported that, "The government concluded its "Cyber Storm" wargame Friday, its biggest-ever exercise to test how it would respond to devastating attacks over the Internet from anti-globalization activists, underground hackers and bloggers.

Bloggers?

Participants confirmed parts of the worldwide simulation challenged government officials and industry executives to respond to deliberate misinformation campaigns and activist calls by Internet bloggers, online diarists whose "Web logs" include political rantings and musings about current events.""Misinformation campaigns"? "Political rantings"? "Musings about current events"?The resolve to foreclose on free speech has never been stronger and continues apace

about current events."

"Misinformation campaigns"? "Political rantings"? "Musings about current events"?

(The resolve to foreclose on free speech has never been stronger and continues apace.)

Gee, I wonder if I made the Rumsfeld's list of subversives....well, if not, I will just keep trying.

Hey Rummy, come an get me! Your #&^$ is too short and your breath smells....

Farm Land Gestapo

The Federal Government, without fanfare, a press release, or news coverage of any sort,is in the process of registering every farm animal in this country. That's right, Animal Farm is now alive and well in 2006.

So if you are a small farmer or someone who just wants to have fresh eggs, you are going to be forced, it is a Mandatory program, to register every farm animal you possess. These animals would not only be tested for their DNA, but they would be fitted with a transponder that would give satellite data on where that animal is located.

The program is called National Animal Inspection Service, and it is run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Animal and Plant Health inspection Service, US Department of Agriculture.

In an interesting article on NAIA, John Silveira had this to say:

“…Here’s how NAIS will operate. On the individual level, you home (including you rname, address, telephone number, and Global Positioning Satellite Coordinates) wil have to be registered with the Government. Your livestock—every fish, fowl, cow, hog, sheep, pigeon, etc.—will have to be registered. Your animals may have to be electronically tagged so they can be tracked by satellite. They may also have to have blood drawn so they can be identified by their DNA. They may even have to have retinal scans…”(Backwoods Home Magazine, The Last Word, John Silveira, pg.95)


Although the exact punishment for keeping your flock secret is not spelled out in the USDA information, it may well be something like a county farm extension agent, deputized by the Government, will come to your farm or home, and inspect for unregistered animals. If you have them, and haven't complied with the Government, expect fines, confiscation, arrest, jail time. Or even worse, perhaps your fate will be decided by citizen tribunals or a special court that can judge you for your treasonous actions that undermine government control.

In theory, this new government program is designed to track animal diseases back to their source and therefore eliminate contamination to our food source. While a system like this would then improve imports to other countries for the major food growers, it will have no direct benefit for the small farmer. Still, sounds pretty benign huh? It makes a kind of sense for the big meat packers and the agribusinesses that process thousands of animals. Buy why does the little Joe Blow Farmer have to comply?

Simple, control. By establishing an exact count of where farm animals are, the U.S. can determine how much food is available at any one time. KNowing this will allow the Federal Government to conviscate food products in times of national food shortages. Scientifically, it is easy to understand that Global Warming will mean droughts and damaging storms to this country this probably will have significant impact on food production. Couple this with the growing shortage of fresh, clean water, and the skyrocketing cost of petroleum to ship these animals to market, you have the US Govenrment sensing a significant threat to our food supply. With this system they will be able to nationalize food sources all around the country. The government agents will arrive at your door, state that you possess certain farm animals, and demand they be turned over to the state for "distribution". Non compliance means punishment for you and confiscation of the animals anyway.

Yet another angle to this is that the big AgraBusinesses, who have substantial money tied up in patents on various genes and whole breeds of animals, can enforce their will on the average small farmer. You must buy and register your animals from an approved agribusiness. Raising 'unauthorized' animals will be illegal. It is another way of forcing consumers to do business with only certain industry giants.

Lastly, it is pure simple social control. The U.S. government wants to know where you are, what your are doing, and why you are doing it. If you are busy being independent and raising your own food, therefore not spending money with Agribusiness, the Government wants to know this. I sense that the government fears anyone who stands up to it, or who demands their Constitutional Rights. Any independence from citizens is seen as an affront to government power and therefore it must be crushed.

Welcome brave new worlds.

If think it will do any good, write your Congressman, you can find their addresses and phone numbers at www.house.gov/ or www.senate.gov/ or www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/govemail.html

Top Ten Dick Cheney Excuses - David Letterman

10. "Heart palpitation caused trigger finger to spasm"

9. "Wanted to get the Iraq mess off the front page"

8. "Not enough Jim Beam"

7. "Trying to stop the spread of bird flu"

6. "I love to shoot people"

5. "Guy was making cracks about my lesbian daughter"

4. "I thought the guy was trying to go 'gay cowboy' on me"

3. "Excuse? I hit him, didn't I?"

2. "Until Democrats approve medicare reform, we have to make some tough choices for the elderly"

1. "Made a bet with Gretzky's wife"

Back To February 2006 Archive




Thanks lamar

This is how Warriors are Honored.

Wake for an Indian Warrior.


pama mine' gIcnIkan
iwkshe' e'zha majigon
kshe'mnito kapma yawok pama mine'
nwi matmo kshe'mnIto gin

jage nagonan


Farewell good friend, It is time to go, God be with you until we see one another again. I will pray to Great Spirit for you.

All my relations

(Potawatomi prayer)

Worst Adminstration of all Time

Bush hands out millions to old friends

Let me be absolutely straightforward here, NO country can afford War, Tax Reduction, and massive governmental looting of the State Treasury and survive as a free nation. Can’t be done.

Let there be no mistake, the intent of this move is to richly reward the administrations friends in the oil and gas business, stash away a few stray billions for the present administration and to bankrupt the Federal Government. A bankrupt federal government is a tame government, and can become just another useful tool of corruption, like congressmen.

Stay tuned, we know the democrats will shuffle and whine a bit, but they will no nothing. Most of the American people won’t even know about this. Many thousands, perhaps millions, of Americans who do know will become enraged and vow to stop it, but will be unable to. The days of this government fearing, or even noticing, public outcry is long passed.

When thievery and skullduggery is done in the open, it doesn’t mean the crooks are trying to be more honest. It means that they have nothing to fear. Cockroaches operating in the light, because they no longer fear.

Daily, the proof that America is no longer a democracy, but a tyranny grows stronger. Bush will either allow or ferment a new attack on America; killing thousands of his fellow citizens, then proclaim martial law and a new Bush Era. Bush will drive the wages to third world levels, crushing the working people into wage slaves. The American economy will reward only the rich, and provide unadequate crumbs to the rest. Rights and freedoms of Americans will continue to dissappear, some with no notice. The tyranny of a police state with an intrusive and belligerant government keeping track of ordinary citizens. Free speech will be stopped and people openly opposing the govnerment will dissappear. Perhaps, Bush will hand select his chosen successor, who will be elected after a sham election in which the votes of American Citizens will only be accepted if they support the state, because voting itself no longer means anything.

A friend of mine once told me that the Iranian people lost over 800,000 people in their war with Iraq and they take great pride in this. So much so, that they are willing to lose another 800,000, 900,000 maybe two millions more if they are forced into war again. This is a tough people.

Do you think the soft and pliable American Citizens would take that level of loss and continue fighting? Not a chance.

It isn’t that Americans aren’t capable of great courage, they are, the problem I believe is that they have been so cowed and manipulated by federal forces that they can no longer think for themselves. Americans wait to be told what to do, they accept it, and do it. Their churchs are founded on blind obedience to the words of the priest, or pastor, or reverend.

Additionally, there may be more freedom in Iran than we have here in this country. People are afraid to protest because they know the Bush Administration is keeping track and is swiftly punishing those who stand up to this juggernaught.

Think about it, everything you have, everything you own, everything you hope to achieve, lies with the government. With a change here or there in your credit score and you would be unable to buy a house, car, or you could become bankrupt. This administration can and does reach out and punish citizens who dare speak up against it. Witness the VA worker in New Mexico who complained about Bush handling of Hurricane Katrina, and who is now under investigation for ‘Sedition”. One letter to the editor, one instance of standing up and exercising free speech, and she is now under investigation.

Consider that it is now illegal for an American Citizen to wear an article of clothing unapproved by the ruling elite. Witness Cindy Sheehan being removed from the State of the Union Speech, even though she had a lawful ticket, because her shirt offended Bush. Even a Republican was removed for having a political statement on her shirt, the difference was that she wasn’t arrested and booked in to local law enforcement.

Witness the fact that the Patriot Act is passing in the Congress with only minor, superficial changes. Such as, if you are investigated by the Federal Government, you do not have the right to find out why, nor are you allowed to speack of this openly. Recently, the valiant opposition party, the democrates, fought hard and brutally for a compromise and they won. Now, if you are invaded by federal law enforcement, you are able to find out why they did this....after a year has gone by. After one year, you now have the right to questions why your home was invaded by federal law enforcement. Only thing is, even if you find out, and that is a long shot, you still can't tell anybody about it.

People that have a lot, have a lot to lose. In this society what we have and what we do for a living are our credentials. They define our worth, our success, and our status within our society. Threaten this, and you threaten everything of worth an American holds dear. It is a mighty strangle hold that chokes the words of freedom right out of their mouths.

The government of this country holds the life of every citizen in its hands. From the IRS to federal law enforcement, to subtle words to your employer that end your employment. This government controls its people very tightly, and most don’t have a clue how very fragile their well-being really is.

So, it will continue, for there are none left to stop it. The subjegation of America is nearly complete. We have a ruling class that care little for the plight of citizens, just as King George felt nothing for people he enslaved, tortured, and murdered. Our King George is just as brutal.

"Get used to it", the serial sexual molester told his tiny abused victims, "for there is more to come."

U.S. Royalty Plan to Give Windfall to Oil Companies
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: February 14, 2006

"WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 — The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

Royalty-Free Oil and Gas
New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.
Based on the administration figures, the government will give up more than $7 billion in payments between now and 2011. The companies are expected to get the largess, known as royalty relief, even though the administration assumes that oil prices will remain above $50 a barrel throughout that period..." (emphasis mine)

INSPIRING...catch myself singing this little tune quite often...

http://filmstripinternational.com/



Thanks Lamar

Global Tipping Point

The United States of America is a country ruled by corporate elitists and political Visagoths who demand that the citizens be kept as ignorant as possible...


Global warming: passing the 'tipping point'

Our special investigation reveals that critical rise in world temperatures is now unavoidable
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 11 February 2006

“A crucial global warming "tipping point" for the Earth, highlighted only last week by the British Government, has already been passed, with devastating consequences.
The implication is that some of global warming's worst predicted effects, from destruction of ecosystems to increased hunger and water shortages for billions of people, cannot now be avoided, whatever we do. It gives considerable force to the contention by the green guru Professor James Lovelock, put forward last month in The Independent, that climate change is now past the point of no return…”


“….Tom Burke, a former government adviser on the green issues, now visiting professor at Imperial College London. "It means we have actually entered a new era - the era of dangerous climate change. We have passed the point where we can be confident of staying below the 2 degree rise set as the threshold for danger. What this tells us is that we have already reached the point where our children can no longer count on a safe climate."…”

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article344690.ece


Want to bet this is serious….

Evil as a modern State

"Most difficult of all is having to face evil. Encounters with evil reduce oneself or another to the status of a thing or object. Evil has a variety of more benign forms. Lies, betrayals, gossip, objectifications and character assassinations are daily occurrences. More serious forms are sexism, racism, homophobia, heterosexism and socially condoned poverty. In every case evil treats another as if s/he does not have a history, loved ones, dreams or desires to grow through caring interaction. Evil seeks to diminish the other. Evil fails to recognize that people grow and become whole through human encounters. All humans need care and respect in order to develop and actualize their God given capacities to love self and others. To love another as oneself and to love God above all else lies at the heart of Christ's two main commandments. These attitutes are inherently spiritual for they recognize the interdependence of all living things. Reverence for life is diametrically oposed to exploitation and fragmentation. Evil is a pathological distortion of the capacity to relate. It is interested in fragmentation and not in interconnectedness. When partiality is revered and wholeness rejected evil is never far away. Evil demands control and requires that it be at the centre of things. Diversity is disparaged and not recognized as varied expressions of the Spirit. Evil desires to be a law unto itself and hence is a denial of the Spirit. It is the opposite of love. Love is freely given, involves reciprocation and is moved by another's predicament. Evil takes what it wants without concern for the other."

by Robert Grant, The Way of the Wound.

Sound familiar?

Bush will know everything about you.

US plans massive data sweep

Little-known data-collection system could troll news, blogs, even e-mails. Will it go too far?
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

"The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.

The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy..."


Lets be absolutely clear about this. What this means to this president and to the treacherous scum that inhabit the GOP is that this Government will be able to know everything there is to know about you. Privacy will be a thing spoken of only in whispers and forlorn nostalgia.

The political enemies of this cabal of cowardly miscreants will be studied thoroughly, weaknesses probed, probity tested. In short, political enemies, such as those of us who write blogs, will be known and dealt with.

By this I don’t mean arrested and imprisoned, although Bush is certainly not above that. No, more likely those of us who oppose this government will suffer the fate of financial ruin, personal embarrassment, and complete disruption of our lives. Every American today is just a bit of data or two away from financial ruin. Your credit rating is like a bloody axe raised above the chicken's neck. Plus, you think there is a plague of identity thefts now, wait till the bushies get started. The Bushites will use this collected data to ruin anyone who opposed them.

They can, and they will.

THE OUTRAGES JUST CONTINUE

George W. Bush failed last year to get the American public behind his boneheaded idea to privatize Social Security. So what does our leader do? He just goes ahead and does in anyway. Fuck the Public, Fuck Congress, Fuck everybody. George just does whatever he goddam well pleases…Got any doubts he is a fully fledged Despot?

Bush's Social Security Sleight of Hand
By Allan Sloan The Washington Post
Wednesday 08 February 2006

“ If you read enough numbers, you never know what you'll find. Take President Bush and private Social Security accounts.
Last year, even though Bush talked endlessly about the supposed joys of private accounts, he never proposed a specific plan to Congress and never put privatization costs in the budget. But this year, with no fanfare whatsoever, Bush stuck a big Social Security privatization plan in the federal budget proposal, which he sent to Congress on Monday…”
(emphasis mine)

Letter to Popular Mechanics

In the March 2006 edition of "POPULAR MECHANICS" there is a large article on Hurricane Katrina. Allegedly, it is a report on why New Orleans was so impacted by this overwhelming act of nature. I won't quote the article here, but I will publish a letter I have sent to this magazine cancelling my subscription. Needless to say, this article is filled with Bushite lies and propaganda in the guise of factual reporting. Further, most of this article has no place in this magazine, as it is purely political in nature.

Anyway this is my letter:

"Popular Mechanics


Dear Editors


I opened my anticipated Popular Mechanics for March 2006 and I am appalled. I buy your magazine for the technological wonders and advances you present. In this you do very well. But your report on Debunking Katrina Myths is an absolute whitewash and insult to America.

Without question you are pack of rabid republicans intent on spewing lies and distortions in the guise of factual information. What hypocrisy! If you wish to publish a noxious stew of republican propaganda and rumors go ahead, but label it for what it is: Ideological dogma and don't call it "Popular Mechanics"

George W. Bush is the worst president in U.S. history, and that pack of jackels called the GOP would have put Vlad the Impaler to shame. Obviously your own political blindness has overwhelmed any sense of justice, decency, or truth. Typical republican lies.

In this article your state, “Myth: “The aftermath of Katrina will go down as one of the worst abandonments of Americans on American soil ever in U. S. History.” Your Response? “…In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest—and fastest—rescue effort in U.S.History…” How dare you print this political hogwash! The Federal Government’s response to Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst and most criminal acts in American History. The slow almost torpid response characterized by nonchalant indifference to the plight of thousands of Americans will go down in history and infamous betrayal. The complete abandonment of American men, women, and children by Bush’s Government was a national disgrace. Further, this massive failure of the U.S. Government was a direct failure of both Bush and the GOP due to your inbred believe that dogmatic loyalty is more important than ability.

Your pathetic efforts to spew the party line by distorting the truth is an ongoing insult to Democracy and especially to those Americans who suffered and died as a result of GOP indifference and blatant chronyism. Lying is so typical of you republicans that I swear it must be congenital, like warts.

In summation, What in the hell has the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina have to do with “Popular Mechanics” anyway. Not one damn thing. Except to promote extreme right wing dogma and blood- curdlings lies.

Cancel my subscription you republican assholes.


name and address"

Bush Bullshit

Bush Bullshit

"We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press," the president said.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/08/D8FL7GNO0.html

Oh really..how many Iraqi people have your killed you twisted liar!

Thesis: Hemp would be a better biofuel than ‘switchgrass’ or other grasses, contrary to what our dearly beloved president said in his State of the Empire Speech this week. Unfortunately, political hysteria and ignorance induced hyperventilation prevents a thorough and scientific study of this plant. The lies and distortion that surround Hemp are historical, political, economic, sociological, and prevent rational, intelligent research and objective study. I haven't the space to delve into the reasons why Hemp is banned, it is a fascinating study of politics and corporate power, but I will leave it for another time.

So, why is hemp superior to other plant material? Well, first off, lets get rid of the ridiculous notion that Hemp and Marijuana are the same thing. They are not. Both Hemp and Marijuana are a variety of Cannabis sativa L. such as, say, you are to your mothers' sisters' son. That's cousin, to you republicans. Hemp and Marijuana are different yet related. Hemp is a plant in which the stem and seeds are used for a wide variety of products: Rope, food, clothing, paper, biofuel, lubricant, body care, building material, and medicine. Marijuana is a different plant in which the flowers and leaves are used, either for psychoactive recreation, or for medical usages. Marijuana has some fabulous medicinial properties, but that is another story.

One of the most significant differences, and there are many, between Hemp and Marijuana is the presence of THC or Tetrahydrocannabinol. This is the substance that makes the marijuana plant psychoactive, and curiously, enough, makes the Hemp plant NON-psychoactive. In marijuana there is approx. 5% to 10% THC, in Hemp there is approx. .3% to 1.5%. This represents a huge difference in these two plants. Simply put, marijuana can be utilized as a psychoactive substance, Hemp cannot be. You would get CO2 poisoning, severe smoke inhalation, and very raw throat long before you got high from smoking Hemp. This difference is so profound, yet so mistunderstood it would be laughable if it wasn't so pigheaded. Hemp is a COUSIN of Marijuana, it is NOT Marijuana. Lets go back to your Mothers' sisters' son, your cousin, as an analogy to Hemp/Marijuana. Lets suppose that your cousin robs a bank, yet the police come and arrest you. Why? Well your the cousin aren't you? You must be guilty because you are related. Further, the police and the judge refuse to listen to any factual distinction between you and your bank robbing cousin. You get 20 big one's in the slammer. Unfair you say? Same thing with Hemp and Marijuana.

"...Botanically, the genus Cannabis is composed of several variants. Although there has been a long-standing debate among taxonomists about how to classify these variants into species, applied plant breeders generally embrace a biochemical method to classify variants along utilitarian lines. Cannabis is the only plant genus that contains the unique class of molecular compounds called cannabinoids. Many cannabinoids have been identified, but two preponderate: THC, which is the psychoactive ingredient of Cannabis, and CBD, which is an anti-psychoactive ingredient. One type of Cannabis is high in the psychoactive cannabinoid, THC, and low in the anti-psychoactive cannabinoid, CBD. This type is popularly known as marijuana. Another type is high in CBD and low in THC. Variants of this type are called Industrial Hemp. In the United States, the debate about the relationship between hemp and marijuana has been diminished by the dissemination of many statements that have little scientific support. ..." (Votehemp.com)

Ok, I have said enough. Hemp is not Marijuana.

So what is it?

Hemp is a plant that has been domesticated by humanity for thousands of years. It was first reported in China in 100A.D. for making paper. it is a strong, fast growing plant that takes direct sun, water, and good soil, but it requires no pesticides and no herbicides. It can be harvested in as little as 100 days. Lastly, it takes significantly less water than do crops such as cotton. That alone makes it superior to almost all other products. But there is more. Hemp can be grown in a wide variety of climates, from temperate to tropical. It is currently grown in Canada, China, Japan, Europe, Africa, well actually most of world is growing it. It is only in this backward isolated country that Hemp is outlawed. Hemp could easily replace significant parts of the Cotton Industry and the Timber Industry, and the Petro-chemical Industry, and that is the problem.

Hemp has been used world wide for: Food: "..The whole seed contains roughly 25% protein, 30% carbohydrates, 15% insoluble fiber, Carotene, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron and zinc, as well as vitamins E, C, B1, B2, B3 and B6. Hemp seed is one of the best sources of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) with a perfect 3:1 ratio of Omega-6 Linoleic Acid and Omega-3 Linolenic Acid, good for strengthening the immune system. It is also a source of Gamma Linoleic Acid (GLA) which is otherwise available only from specialty oils like evening primrose oil or borage oils..."

Seed Oil:

Hemp seed is 30% oil and is low in saturated fats. Hemp seed oil is good for lowering cholesterol levels and strengthening cardiovascular systems..."

In fact it is one of the most complete foods known to human beings.

Also,"...lamp lighting, printing, lubrication, household detergents, stain removers, varnishes, resins and paints. In this area, hemp seed oil is similar to linseed oil..." Fiber: "...Short fibers are used to make textiles, non-woven matting, paper, caulking, auto parts, building materials and household goods..." As Fiber, Hemp can also be, "...made into paper, packaging and building materials, as well as plastic composites for making skate boards, auto bodies and interior auto parts such as door panels and luggage racks..." Source: Hemp Industries Association (http://www.hempindustries.org) Further, Hemp can be used for body care, mechanical lubricants, and, last but not least, fuel. It is with this last produce that we now turn.

Fuel:
"...The hemp stalk can be converted into a charcoal-like substance through a process called pyrolysis, and used for power generation and to produce industrial feed stocks. Auto giant Henry Ford was a pioneer in the pyrolysis process, and operated a biomass pyrolytic plant at Iron Mountain in northern Michigan. Hemp as an auto fuel is another potential use. Almost any biomass material can be converted into methanol or ethanol, and these fuels burn cleanly with less carbon monoxide and higher octane. In fact, the diesel engine was invented to burn fuel from agricultural waste, yet ended up burning unrefined petroleum. Hemp seed oil can also be refined to produce a type of biofuel..."

Additionally, with Hemp we actually have two types of fuel that could be developed to drive the American economy, unlike grasses.

"...Research into natural fuel sources suggests that hemp has two valuable contributions: stalk and seeds. This gives it an advantage over many other experimental crops that produce only one raw material. Hemp has other advantages over traditional crops such as corn, despite the multiple uses for corn byproducts. Any attempt to develop alternative uses for food crops will increase food prices, by increasing demand for the crop and because of the complicated economics of crop-support programs.


The Stem and leafy parts can supply the biological material that may be distilled into a biofuel substance, ethanol. This type of biofuel is currently in production in this country, in Washington State in particular, and corn is one of the primary sources for biofuel. Unfortunately corn is also a food and it makes no logical sense to use a food product to make fuel. That's short sighted. But grasses and Hemp would be highly useful, as easily grown, non-food vegetable material.

Also, the seeds of Hemp can be used to make BioDiesel. This is a usage that grasses cannot meet. BioDiesel is potentially one of the most significant fuels because vehicles that burn diesel get much better gas milage than regular fuels. With so much of our major transportation system made up of diesel trucking the savings on petroleum could be immense. If we are wean ourselves from petroleum dependence, development of a biodiesel is crucial.

Read through the following excerpts and see what I mean. Hemp really is a stable, significantly useful product that could contribute to reduction in our petroleum dependency, be more enviromentally friendly, and would also save our trees and soil from further agricultural degradation.

Hemp and The New Energy Technologies
Source: High Times, December 1995, Volume 244 Author: Jon Gettman

"...Biomass for energy is now a major policy of the US Government. Alternative crops are in development as future energy sources, as is solid municipal waste. The United States now has 60 million idle acres of farmland (an area almost as big as Oregon), including 34 million acres in conservation programs, which the Department of Agriculture wants to see devoted to erosion-resistant energy-crop farming. Energy farming does not require the use of marginal land, but hemp’s versatility may also help transform marginal land into productive acreage. Seed oil is a viable fuel source now. Louis Wichinsky, who powers his car with vegetable oils (“Hemp-Ready Car Takes Off Across America,” Apr. ’95 HT), wasn’t the only one who realized during the 1970s energy crises that biodiesel fuel was the trend of the future, and the US Government now knows it’s trying to catch up in this area of research. Rosenthal’s primary issue remains unchallenged. The massive scale of potential bioenergy production presents considerable environmental problems. These problems must be solved before hemp, or any crop, can satisfy large percentages of US energy needs, and these issues are now being addressed by current research. “..The issue in the hemp-for-fuel debate is not how, but how long before the federal government realizes the benefit of investing funds in hemp research…” “…In 1990 Congress authorized the USDA to set up a division, the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Center, to promote and assist in the development of alternative agricultural crops. “…Herbaceous energy crops—which regrow from stubble, like hay does—and short-rotation woody crops—which regrow from stumps, like poplar—make up a new class of cellulosic bioenergy crops. Five variables provide the standards of competition for them: technical feasibility, availability of suitable land, economic viability, implementation and environmental impacts. The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment reports that estimates of land area available in the United States for energy-crop raising range from 37 million acres (about the size of Georgia) to 250 million (as big as Texas and New Mexico). The theoretical yield is 6.6 to 8.8 tons of biomass per acre. Whether this is competitive with fossil fuels or not, it is the OTA’s opinion that “energy crops may still be desirable if other benefits—such as environmental advantages, offsets of oil imports or financial returns to the rural economy—justify the costs.”..” “…At three to four tons per acre, hemp would not seem competitive with the theoretical yields from herbaceous and woody crops, but no one has yet realized those theoretical yields. However, these are developmental crops slated for optimum environmental niches. The technology developed to exploit them will make hemp more competitive as an energy source.

The DOE’s Herbaceous Energy Crop Program is evaluating a number of grasses, including Bahia grass, Bermuda grass, eastern gama grass, Johnson grass, napier (elephant) grass, reed canary grass, rye, Sudan grass, switchgrass, tall fescue, timothy and weeping love grass. Legumes such as alfalfa, bird’s-foot trefoil, crown vetch, flatpea, clover and sericae lespedeza are also being investigated. At present, these crops are yielding 3 to 7 tons of biomass per acre. Fiber crop expert James Dempsey reports that hemp produces 6.6 tons of dry, unprocessed stalks (producing 17 percent fiber and tow by weight if processed). Hemp is competitive with other herbaceous energy crops as a source for biomass..." (emphasis mine)



“…While the theoretical standard for bulk biomass production exceeds the standards for hemp production, hemp is very competitive with the actual yields of experimental energy crops. Factor in hemp’s diverse ecological adaptability, and it becomes a very appealing energy crop. “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in the course of time as important as petroleum,” declared Rudolf Diesel in 1912. Alcohol fuels will not power diesel motors, but vegetable oil will. According to the DOE, “Biodiesel’s major advantage is that it is environmentally clean. Unlike conventional diesel fuel, biodiesel contains neither sulfur nor aromatics. Aromatics contribute to particulate emissions.... Biodiesel is biodegradable..." “…According to the USDA, all the oil from oilseed crops is valuable to biodiesel efforts: “Currently the United States squeezes 13 billion pounds of oil from soybeans and another 1 billion pounds of oil from the corn crop each year. For both of these prime sources of vegetable oil, the crop is grown for other purposes, with the oil (18 percent for soybeans, 5 percent for corn) as a byproduct. Other potential biodiesel crops with a higher oil content include industrial rapeseed, canola, crambe, safflower and sunflower—all presumably could be bred for still-higher yields and oil content if biodiesel provided a market.” Hempseed contains 35 percent oil, and like linseed oil has a high iodine value, an indication that it is high in unsaturated fats. Many alternative crops have seed-oil content between 30 and 50 percent, so hemp is competitive. Seed-oil yields vary. Jojoba plants provide a yield of 3,000 pounds per acre, but only after the shrubs are 10 years old. Rapeseed produces 2,500 pounds per acre, and crambe 1,500. The British report seed yields from hemp of 1,200 to 1,500 lbs/acre in India. (The Council of Scientific and Industrial Resources in 1950 published a 13-volume encyclopedia titled The Wealth of India, which contains technical specifications on thousands of plants and raw materials, including cannabis.).." “…The USDA is studying dozens of plants, many with overlapping potentials. If they deserve study, why not hemp? Do not accept excuses that the plant lacks modern economic value, for technological developments are providing many old products with new value. Again, why not hemp?

Cannabis provides just as much usable cellulose and seed oil as many other plants being developed as energy crops, but uniquely produces two energy-source materials from a single plant. There are plants that produce more biomass or more seed oil than cannabis, but how many can provide both at once, in one plant?.."

(Emphasis is mine)


Sources:

The Hemp Industries Association (http://www.hempindustries.org)

Nutritional/Medicinal Guide to Hemp Seed by Ken Jones, Rainforest Botanical Laboratories

The Great Book of Hemp by Rowan Robinson, Inner Traditions International

Hemp: Lifeline to the Future and Hemp for Health by Chris Conrad, Creative Xpressions

Hemp Today edited by Ed Rosenthal, Quick American

Journal of the International Hemp Association, International Hemp Association

HempWorld -- The International Hemp Journal, updated from Hemp Pages, 1997, published by Mari Kane

Vote Hemp

Hemp Industries Association

About Hemp

Hemp Net

Hemp the Plant that can save Mother Earth

Some days, ya don know wether to laugh or cry....

This is everything an editorial cartoon should do...it compresses a huge amout of obeservation into a very simple story. And it makes the point beautifully.

There's hope yet....

End of the Internet

The End of the Internet?
By Jeff Chester The Nation
Wednesday 01 February 2006

“The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online.

Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency…”

“…companies, such as Comcast and Bell South, can simply grab greater control over the Internet. For example, in a series of recent white papers, Internet technology giant Cisco urges these companies to "meter individual subscriber usage by application," as individuals' online travels are "tracked" and "integrated with billing systems." Such tracking and billing is made possible because they will know "the identity and profile of the individual subscriber," "what the subscriber is doing" and "where the subscriber resides."..”

“..The future of the online media in the United States will ultimately depend on whether the Bells and cable companies are allowed to determine the country's "digital destiny." So before there are any policy decisions, a national debate should begin about how the Internet should serve the public. We must insure that phone and cable companies operate their Internet services in the public interest - as stewards for a vital medium for free expression.

If Americans are to succeed in designing an equitable digital destiny for themselves, they must mount an intensive opposition similar to the successful challenges to the FCC's media ownership rules in 2003. Without such a public outcry to rein in the GOP's corporate-driven agenda, it is likely that even many of the Democrats who rallied against further consolidation will be "tamed" by the well-funded lobbying campaigns of the powerful phone and cable industry. …”

---------------------------------

In truth, I don’t know if this represents the end of the Internet. This effort to commercialize it, restrict it, and shape it to fit purely profit and propaganda model may succeed. Or it may not.

One thing is absolutely certain though, in order for the Neoconservatives and the Bushites to gain complete and absolute control over this country, they must control the Internet. At present, they control all three branches of government and the majority of news outlets in this country. This gives them a powerful base. Further, they have a mob of the religiously insane to do their filthy rabble rousing in the streets and in their lie spattered churches.

But the Internet, ah this stands proud and free. It is an example of everything freedom and democracy represent. It is bold, profane, joyous, heart breaking, proud, loud, personal, spiritual, lying, filled with truth, shouting with individual perspectives and thoughts, rigid in hierarchy and intolerance, bigoted, blighted, wonderfully rich and refreshing, filled with new ideas and old explanations. It can be nasty and pornographic, or deeply filled with saintly grace and wisdom. It can swirl lies and truth in equal portions. It is all and everything. What ever you can imagine people will be, they can be it here. It is the freest of all media. It has no censors, no rigid lipped, taunt-jawed ministers, their voices dripping with venom and hypocrisy, to stop the joyous expression of personal liberties. By God, it is truly a democratic world out there.

Therefore, it must be stopped.

America is one of the mostly tightly controlled societies on earth. To have this continuation of freedom right under the noses of the ruling elite and hair-shirted religious zealots is unthinkable.

The perfect means of reining in these free horses is to turn it over to the corporations, whose soulless and ever obsessed search for profit will fence off the open meadows and fields, narrow the limits and running room, enclose the free beings with private boards and one way gates. Those who comply and acquiesce get more, the rest get nothing…let em starve.

The great and powerful political movement of MoveOn.org and Center for American Progress who formed in opposition to the evident tyranny of Bush and Cheney would be rendered voiceless. Without the internet, only the filthy lies of George W. Bush would be heard. Only the official propaganda would rule. Whatever nascent movement of free people we have now in this country would shrivel and disappear.

The clawhammer of Bush, the FCC, is in the process of finally beating to death the last vestige of hope and freedom in this country. Fight Them! Write letters, call Congressmen, do what you can to alert others to this catastrophic plan to silence the internet we now know, and replace with the scorched earth of Tyrannical lies and misdirection.

Ignorance

“There are some people that if they don’t know, you can’t tell ‘em”
Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, 1997

“Being Ignorant Is not so much a Shame, as being unwilling to learn.”
Benjamin Franklin, 1755

BRITAIN SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
AMERICAN MEDIA YAWNS
byMichael C. Ruppert

“BRITAIN: BLAIR WARNING ON CLIMATE CHANGE The threat posed by climate change may be "greater than we thought," and global warming from the emission of greenhouse gases, is advancing at a "rate that is unsustainable," Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a new report based on government-sponsored research. The report, Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change, warned that the huge West Antarctic ice sheet might be starting to disintegrate, an event that could raise sea levels by 16 feet. A previous report played down worries about the ice sheet's stability and characterized it as a "slumbering giant." The new report says, "It is now an awakened giant," adding, "There is real concern." (AP)..”


The world, and this, curiously enough, includes the United States, is facing humanity ending climate change...and the U.S. press says nothing. The Tyrant-in-Chief says nothing. The Politicians of either stripe say nothing. It is not the topic on talk shows or Oprah. No newspaper headline shouts the threatened future and the well groomed stars of nightly Television News are silent.

The rest of the world knows...how come we don't?

In some cases this is due to obvious political manipulation and secrecy, but there is another factor: Many Americans just don't want to know.

"I've got enought to worry about, the kids need braces and my roof leaks."

"Global Warming? What's so bad about that, it will be warmer. I like summer."

"Oh that's just the liberals screaming about the 'sky is falling'."

Global Warming is a fact.

• Impacts of Europe's changing climate. European Environmental AGency. EEA Report No 2/2004
  

• Has the Planet Been Warming? What is the Cause of Global Warming? What Might Be the Effects of Global Warming?

Testimony of Prof. S. Fred Singer to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation on Global Warming.

• Global Warming Q&A

Questions and Answers on Global Warming
Questions for Journalists to Ask About Global Warming

• Facts on Global Warming: Selected Global Warming Articles, Documents & Links

If you don't know about Global Warming, you'd better start reading while you still have lights....and a roof....