Sunday, September 27, 2009

Misdirection Is Power


Have you noticed that you still can't buy ammo in America. Every store is out. It's been that way for months. Ammunition manufacturers are working around the clock. But ammo is getting bought up as soon as it hits the shelves.


Obviously, most of the people who've been hording ammunition are afraid. They probably think this is their last chance to buy ammo before it's illegal. This happened back during the Clinton Administration also. But not like this. The shelves weren't empty for months.


It appears that some people are effectively stocking up for a civil war. That may not be their intentions now; but they're angry, they have lots of bullets, and there's a lot of them. On top of all of that, they are being recruited by well financed right-wing organizations. Think about it; there are people with power and money who want to agitate these ammo hording masses.


Why would they want to do that? Do you really believe that Big Money sees President Obama as the next Hitler or Stalin? No. Of course not. But they might see him as the next Franklin D. Roosevelt. Our economy is approaching a replay of the 1920's and 30's. Many American people voted for Barack Obama hoping he would be another FDR. And many of the rich in the 30's hated FDR, and called him a socialist. Hmm...


So, is Big Money really all that pro-capitalism, anti-socialism as their Tea Party organizations claim? I think we all know better.


We're all angered by the socialism for the rich we saw back during the bank bailouts in 2008. We're all angered by the socialism for the connected we saw back during the no-bid contracts of the Iraq “war.” But deciding to draw the line on socialism – at helping out the sick?... who decided that? Who decided that it was OK to have socialism for the rich and well connected – but not for the sick? The Tea Party members may think they did. But in reality, it was the people who finance the Tea Parties who drew that line.


If you don't see puppet strings here, you aren't looking. Someone has taken genuine anger about legitimate issues and turned it around against us.


The misdirection is so obvious, so blatant, that you have to conclude that many within the Tea Party are more than willing to be mislead – because they have a hidden agenda. Some call it racism, but it's more complex than that. It is a mindset that doesn't want to see the truth of the consequences of our actions. The truth would paint us very ugly. Take the immigration issue, for example. It is almost laughable to recognize that often; this just amounts to white people telling red people they don't belong here.


It is not really news that for 500 years, white people have dominated the world. It must be very scary for some to realize that that domination may be coming to a close. For some people, the color of their skin was the only thing that allowed them into the dominant class. Now, even that may be slipping away. And what is left? The realization that in a way, we are being treated like slaves. We work until April to pay our taxes. And for what? You'd have to be a fool not to think that much of our money is being drained into undeserving accounts.


We should all be angry enough to be protesting in the streets. We should all be angry enough to want to vote out everyone in office. But what is actually happening? They're trying to misdirect us again. They're trying to get us to vote out the very people least effected by political graft.


Take for example here in Nevada. Senator John Ensign has supported an effort to weaken Net Neutrality. This is a blatant effort to reduce our freedom and liberty on the Net. (Side Note: One of the organizations behind the Tea Parties, FreedomWorks, a corporate lobbyist run conservative “action” group, has received funding from telephone giants Verizon and AT&T – and of course, has opposed Net Neutrality legislation.)


And where are the freedom loving Tea Party types on the subject of freedom on the Internet? My guess is that they don't even know about Net Neutrality. They're too busy going after our other Senator, Harry Reid. And why? Because the (bought and paid for) mass media has been attacking him for years now. And why? Obviously, because he isn't always doing (or saying) what those who control the media want.


One of the main gripes; Senator Reid used his freedom of speech to state the obvious – that we failed in Iraq. (Apparently, too many people were making way too much money to want to hear the truth.) And here in White Pine County, many of the locals are angry at Senator Reid because he stood up to big money interests that wanted to build two massive, polluting, coal-fired power plants here. Senator Reid instead wants to develop solar energy here. This seems wise to me. But the only signs we see here locally say; “Elect anyone BUTT Harry Reid.”

The misdirection is so obvious, so blatant, that you can't help but conclude that people really are being misdirected. Senator John Ensign is literally trying to take away some of our freedom. Yet some people are up in arms about Senator Harry Reid's support of what would likely be cheaper and better health care (overall). The irony is devastating. Many Nevada citizens have been convinced to vote against their best interests – and vote against the very people most likely to help us fix things.


Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that Senator Harry Reid is never effected by political graft. That wouldn't be possible for any politician with this electoral system. What I am saying is that there are other politicians who are so blatantly selling out on every occasion, who are so much worse than Harry Reid, that you have to wonder. Why aren't the Tea Party types after them?


The answer is simple; our system is failing us.


Big Money has control of our government.

Big Money has control of our mass media.

Big Money even has control of some of our dissidents.


Until we find ways to keep Big Money out of politics, we will be bought and sold – just like slaves.


We need to start thinking like technicians; if it's broke, FIX IT!

Get off the couch and FIX IT!


We do not want to wait until things get so bad that America collapses. Because if America collapses, the first things to go will be the things we cherish the most. We won't lose Big Money's control of our political systems. We will lose most of our paychecks. We will lose the Bill of Rights! And you can bet that there are people out there waiting for our economy to collapse so that they can buy up everything at yard sale prices.


When the Soviet Union collapsed, there were people (in the former Soviet Union) who profited immensely. Some of the richest people in the world live in Russia – along with some of the poorest. This is not a coincidence. When those in power saw that there was more profit in letting their system fail, they let it happen. We here in America are not above the same process. It might even be that there are some here in power who are scheming to take over when America falls. They might even be financing some of these Tea Parties.


Back in the 1930's, in a covert response to FDR's New Deal; a coalition of rich, powerful Americans schemed to violently overthrow the American government. The scheme was leaked by Major General Smedley Butler – and ultimately “ the House Committee on Un-American Activities purported to report that a two-month investigation had convinced it that General Butler's story of a Fascist march on Washington was alarmingly true."


I personally don't think there is another scheme to take over the US military. There doesn't have to be. The collapse of the Soviet Union shows us that there is no need for a coup. All that they need to do is suspend the rule of law until America no longer has the strength to enforce it.


And if there is a Fascist march on Washington, Big Money will try to make it look like a grass roots movement.


History repeats. And it looks like the poorly informed are about to get played... again.


Misdirection is power.



Friday, September 18, 2009

The Secret To Life

Its so simple that millions have overlooked it.

Its so important that millions have tried to keep us from knowing it.


The secret to life is to give a damn.


Caring brings meaning to life.

Caring gives us a purpose or two.

Caring compels us to make things better.


But if you give a damn, you'll want to fix things – and some people don't want that. Change could take away their benefits.


America's two party political system has been very resiliently resistant to change that could take away benefits for those actually run our system. America's health care fiasco is a perfect example. There are dozens of examples of nations who do a better job at taking care of their citizens than the United States. But, do we learn from their successes? Do we rationally try to figure out what we could do make things better? We could. But that would only happen if we all really gave a damn.


Instead, we allow our “elected representatives” to handle it for us. And consequently, we will get the system we have earned - politics as usual.


It seems the Republicans don't have a heart, and the Democrats don't have a spine. This is not an accident. This is an illusion of democracy. And it's our fault.


We have forgotten the secret of life.


We have been misdirected – to pay attention to those things that don't matter as much. We have allowed ourselves to look the other way. Because it's easier. If you don't care about something, you don't have to do anything about it. If you don't care, you don't have to risk anything. Just let the “activists” do all the work. Just vote for the right person, and they can fix things for you. Believe the lie and you can spend your weekends drinking beer and watching sports on the television.


How convenient...


They can make millions selling us bland, mindless entertainment – which keeps us occupied – and out of their politics.


Our Nation's founding fathers warned us:

A functional democracy requires constant diligence.

Therefore, a dysfunctional democracy only requires that you not care.


Those who want a dysfunctional democracy want us to feel disconnected.

Those who want a dysfunctional democracy want us to feel weak.

Those who want a dysfunctional democracy don't want you to know the secret of life.

Those who want a dysfunctional democracy don't want us to give a damn.


For if we show up at the table, they won't always get their way.

You should realize by now that they ultimately want us to be their slaves.

(Not all the time, of course. Slaves have to be taken care of.)

However, even slavery wouldn't be so bad if our system didn't reward critically irresponsible behavior. We are destroying the Earth's ecosystems - which humanity so critically depends upon.


In case you hadn't noticed, we are collectively shitting in our mess kit. But for some reason, we've chosen to ignore this obvious fact. How convenient...


Face it; we are ultimately to blame for our own ignorance and irresponsible behavior. We want to maximize our profits (without considering all of the costs). We want to diversify our investments (without regard for the consequences of some of those investments). We want to maintain “sustainable growth” (which is an oxymoron).


We want to eat our cake and have it to. Effectively, we want the physically impossible.

Is it any wonder our political systems are dysfunctional?


We want a better world, but we want somebody else to pay the price for us.

Of course, simple physics should remind us that we ultimately will pay the price - plus interest.


The secret to life is to give a damn.

And the secret to giving a damn is to recognize what to give a damn about.