the oil companies own our asses because we keep giving them money

The United States has become a banana republic. The mainstream media won't report it. But there is a pattern to the disintegration of our democracy. This has happened four times now since the year 2000 – where the frontrunner Presidential candidate, who had committed to do something about Climate Change, has lost due to cheating (such as gerrymandering, poll closures in poor communities, purging of voter rolls, likely remote control of vote counting, and essentially every other dirty trick in the book). Those unfortunate candidates were Al Gore, John Kerry, Bernie Sanders, and now Hillary Clinton.

Allow me to quote the Palmer Report about the 2016 election:

“In order to believe that the official vote tallies are legitimate, you have to accept that all of the above legitimately happened: African-Americans in the south went from turning out in droves for Hillary Clinton in the primary to not caring if she won the general election. Donald Trump got sixty-something percent of the same-day voting in Florida. The polling averages were wrong for the first time in modern history. Trump beat his poll numbers despite having spent the primary season tending to fall below them. Clinton fell below her poll numbers despite having spent the primary season tending to beat them. In every state where Trump pulled off a shocking upset victory, he just happened to do it with one percent of the vote. And in an election that everyone cared particularly deeply about, no one really turned out to vote at all. I can accept any one of the above things happening as an isolated fluke. I cannot accept all the above happening. And so for once in my evidence-driven career, I’m left to believe that the conspiracy theorists are right: the vote tallies are rigged.”

Want to know who's behind all of this? Follow the money. What giant industry has the most to gain by electing Climate Change denying Republicans? We all know the oil companies have pumped huge sums of money into the elections. We all know the oil companies spend huge sums of money advertising on mass media (obviously to manipulate our news). And we all should know that this is our money being used against us. 

 

They now have the capacity to steal a landslide election. And they may have had that ability for quite a few years now. Maybe that's why Obama's energy policy pretty much up until the end of his second term has been “all of the above.” Maybe that's why pro-renewable Energy Czar Van Jones stepped down without a fight. Maybe Obama suspected that there was literally no way he would ever win an election if he tried to do something about Climate Change – no matter how many people voted for him.

It's now blatantly obvious that the oil companies care more about keeping their multi-billion dollar income streams than the truth, our democracy, or even the future of life on the planet.

A recent study, published in Science (Advances) has concluded that if carbon dioxide emissions continue on their current trajectory, the U.S. West will have a greater than 90% probability of a megadrought. This is very serious. A megadrought decimated the Anasazi civilization – and there are millions more people now living in the Western States. Need I remind you that the most recent drought death toll for trees in California now is over 100 million trees. 

 

Twenty years ago, everyone (Republican and Democrat) agreed that we had to do something about Global warming. Yet today, with the scientists' most dire climate predictions literally coming true (or worse); there is controversy. It's so blatantly obvious that money, not common sense, has changed the politicians minds.

As former President Jimmy Carter recently said; America has become an “oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”

• Subsidies and tax breaks are the only reason fossil fuels are still competitive with renewable energy – and there is no end in sight for these subsidies – no matter how many billions the oil companies make.
• Fracking is essentially trading fresh water for oil and gas.
• Deep water oil drilling is so risky we're practically guaranteed more big spills.
• And going to war over oil hasn't made us safer. It has only driven us further into debt.

Nonetheless, for another four years, we can expect a repeat of Bush/Cheney oil politics. Which means there will likely be even more war.

(There has recently been a revolution in biology, and for the first time in history there may soon be biblically effective biological weapons. Which means that the election cheaters have likely given an obvious racist access to weapons that might be able to kill off whole races of people.

But do the oil companies care? The First World burns most of the gas. So, if the poor of the world were to die off, that would just mean the First World could burn more gas.

I'm not saying that a biowar is inevitable. But the destruction of our democracy is well under way. And the consequences of that could be far worse than we ever imagined.)

We now know that government really is the problem – so long as it is a puppet of the fossil fuel industries.

Fortunately, we can do something about the destruction of our democracy, the addictive dependence of our economy on oil, and the mass extinctions already happening in our Environment. This too, is obvious. We can stop buying oil products. That's it. Without as much money, they won't be nearly as powerful. Stop feeding the beasts!

This won't be easy. But the alternative appears to be living in a fascist state with a failing economy due to a collapsing Environment – or worse.

I already drive as little as possible, keep my earth-bermed house below 60 degrees in the Winter, installed solar panels, and grow a garden so I won't have to import all my vegetables from the other side of the planet… But that just isn't enough.

So I've decided to do this:

(Will it be enough? Of course not, but I've got to do something.)

I'm designing an electric scooter – that will hopefully replace some (maybe even many) cars soon. It will be different from all the scooters now available – especially how it will be marketed. I hope to start a local cooperative to help in making components for it from recycled materials. And then I plan to provide custom frame kits that can be assembled right in the local bike shop. I'm convinced that this fair marketing concept could provide promotable value to local manufacturers and independent bicycle retailers. We might even change Capitalism a little...

More on this later.

The Offender Feels Offended

Thom Hartmann recently quoted some Pastafarian (those who believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster) beliefs on XM radio. His point was obvious; to show that the recent absurd “Supreme” Court decision on Hobby Lobby has potentially serious consequences... But the very first comment call he got was somebody trying to shut him up – not about the “Supreme” Court decision – but about even mentioning the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

All I can say about this offended caller is that he really needs to study history and current events about what supposedly good Christians have done – and are still supporting – before he goes off about playful criticism.

I get Thom's point. If Hobby Lobby doesn't have to pay for womens' health care because it's against their religious viewpoint, that opens a huge can of worms on other religious viewpoints.

But that was of no concern to this caller. Though it was obvious that Thom picked Pastafarian beliefs as an absurd example of how far this could go, all the caller cared about was that Thom Hartmann dared to talk about the Flying Spaghetti Monster in the same paragraph as Christianity.

The caller was incensed that Thom would even mention what is blatantly a made up religion along side his authentic religion. This caller tried to convince us that somehow, Thom Hartmann said something horribly insensitive and politically incorrect.

Now wait a minute...

First; if somebody out there wants to start a religion just to point out how silly it is to believe in something without any proof, maybe they have a point. And if they do have a relevant point, it is repression to keep the Pastafarians from making it – not the other way around. I'm sick and tired of hearing religious zealots claiming they are being oppressed by being prevented from essentially oppressing others. And that's exactly what this guy was trying to do. He didn't want anybody to even know there might be alternative viewpoints to his. And I bet I know where he learned his tactic. The Christians learned it from the Jews.

For decades now, anybody who says anything negative about Israel is immediately branded an anti-Semite – thus inferring they are a Nazi. The tactic has worked time and time again – no matter what Israel has done.

Now; before you brand me an anti-Semite, allow me to say this. There are good and evil people who are Jewish, just like everybody else. Some Jews have a heart of gold. Some Jews have a heart of stone. And the Jews who misuse the anti-Semite accusation just to shut people up are evil. And borrowing this tactic to shut up free thinkers is just as evil.

Second; this “offended” Christian has no sense of history. My ancestry is Native American. Christians crushed my Native culture. My grandparents were both (legally) kidnapped and forced to attend Indian Schools – run by “good” Christians. My grandmother once told me that if they spoke their Native language, they would be beaten. In fact, if they were caught holding onto any of their Native culture, they would be beaten. By any reasonable standards, if this were to happen to adults; this kind of treatment would be considered systematic torture and brainwashing. But they were heathen children, so it was OK – even commendable. My culture was stolen from us by Christians – who used ridicule and abuse (not humor) to force my people to assimilate to their way of thinking. And moreover, no Christian church has ever spoke out against this kind of hideous behavior while it was happening. The silly acts of Pastafarians are in no way even close to injustices Christians have committed.

Third; what does this type of offended behavior actually represent? Was it an attempted act of repression? I would surmise what this caller was trying to tell us is: “Don't even think about questioning my perception of reality.” I guess I can see that point. Everyone has the same vantage point – through our own eyes. We're all only human. Maybe we don't have a right to question each others' perception of reality. But what if one of us were wrong, and the other saw that? Don't we have a duty to help each other? Don't we have a duty to help each other find the truth. If I worded this comment as a strategy for spreading his religion, the offended Christian would likely agree with me fully. But if I worded this as a strategy for changing his religion, the offended Christian might literally be willing to go to war with me. What does that tell us?

It sounds like this offended Christian has been brainwashed to me. (Let's face it, Christians use a milder form of the same manipulative techniques that they used in Indian Schools – on their own children.) And what shows me that he might be brainwashed? His anger at those who would question his perception of reality – which almost blatantly obviously is a psychological defense mechanism to keep him from even considering any alternative world view.

If someone made a point that challenged my personal beliefs, I would consider the point's merits and adjust my beliefs if necessary.

Yet, if someone were brainwashed; one would expect them to be programed to resist all efforts at reason. In that way, the brainwashing will hold.

But it isn't the churches I'm afraid of. For the most part, they really do want you to do good. But what if someone saw the power of the churches and decided to use fundamentalist religious manipulative techniques for political aims?

I'm suspicious that the powers that be (the oligarchy) saw that the religious fundamentalists were easy to manipulate, so they decided to create a political party based upon fundamentalist religion manipulation techniques. It wouldn't be necessary to start a political party from scratch (the oligarchy is inherently lazy and corrupt). So, they just took over a party. You know, like the Tea Party.

I'm suspicious that this offended Christian is a product of political manipulations that have driven him to outrage over anything that doesn't fit into his handlers' (the oligarchy's) political agenda (getting even richer – at the expense of everyone and everything else). This offended caller sounded so committed to his beliefs that it would be easy to consider the possibility that rather than question his own faith, he might kill anyone who did. I'm not exaggerating. There are plenty of examples of violent behavior at the hands of Christians.

My ex-wife once told me of her grandfather, who was an outspoken atheist. They found his dead body hanging upside down with a cross carved in his back.

Religion does not always manifest itself as sanity.

...Or as Hunter S. Thompson used to say; “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

Was this offended caller sane? We don't know. All we know is that he was willing to go on a nationally syndicated radio talk show and claim that an injustice was made by the reading of an article about a silly religion (not his own). Just the implied comparison to his own religion was enough to send him on a rant. Could he be a homicidal maniac? Thom Hartmann sure backed off quick.

Now before you go and call me a communist (the Christian propaganda equivalent to anti-Semite), remember; what we should be after is the truth.

I don't care what religion you are.

As long as your religious acts don't detrimentally effect me.

Be Pastafarian. Be Christian. Be Jewish. Be Muslim. I don't care.

Just don't mess up my life.

But the fanatics are never satisfied with that.

For the fanatics, like those in the Tea Party; it's either they rule or they tear down the walls. It's either they rule, or they shut down the country. It's either they rule, or those who do run things are the Antichrist – even if they're Christian too.

Finally, getting back to Thom Hartmann's point; a number of religions have religious beliefs that don't coincide with America's policies. No religions believe in unjust wars. Some religions don't believe in war at all. But let's just talk about one war for now.

There is a “war” going on in Palestine and Israel now. A very one-sided war.

America, for decades, has been giving Israel billions of dollars in military aid. And the Palestinians are no match for the military might of Israel. As a Native American, I see this occupation of lands in Palestine as a similar situation to what America did to Native Americans in the 1800s. The Palestinians were living in Palestine, bothering no one. Suddenly, some foreign country claimed that their land was now the property of Jewish settlers. The Palestinians didn't like it. So they were forced onto what looks a lot like Indian Reservations or even Nazi Concentration Camps. They didn't like it. So now they're being forced into the sea.

As a Native American, it is a fundamental conviction (call it religious if you want) that I not support the military invasion of an indigenous people by an aggressive culture. As the Jews once said; “NEVER AGAIN!” The repetition of the pain of what happened to my ancestors goes deeply against my personal beliefs. I can't think of any American foreign policy that would offend me more.

I suspect that many Native Americans find it repugnant that their tax dollars are going to support the violent oppression of a Native people in the Middle East.

Native Americans should not have to pay taxes to support the oppression of the Palestinian people. In a way, it is a further oppression of us – by forcing us to pay for the oppression of others. In time, I hope that some Native American religious organization will challenge this outrage, this oppression, this sacrilege; by utilizing the Hobby Lobby decision.

...And I bet this “war” would end in a heartbeat if America threatened to cut off our military “aid” to Israel.

 

The Astroturf Sagebrush Rebellion

This “standoff” wasn't about cattle.

It's about fracking wells. 
It's about neutering the BLM.  

Deadbeat rancher Cliven Bundy wasn't some kind of hero.

He was a tool.

He was a propaganda tool.

How do you think some guy who doesn't pay his fees to the people of America (it's our land), can recruit hordes of armed militants to chide BLM officers to commit some violent act?

In contrast, think about all those people who lost their homes, sometimes illegally, during the financial crisis – who never got militia protection.

What is this? If you don't pay the banksters; you're a bum. But if you don't pay the government, you're a hero? This doesn't add up. It's as if the militia showed up to protect a tax evader. This “confrontation” screams astroturf theater.

No... There's a bigger story here.

And it appears that ALEC is behind it.

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) is not just your typical lobbying organization. ALEC is also a corporate bill mill. This is where the dirty work gets done. This is where the laws that were written to protect Americans get watered down. This is the primary organization behind corporate anarchy in America. And ALEC has a long record of pushing legislation for States to seize control of Federal Lands. The reason why is simple; because it's easier to push around State legislatures.

As far back as 1978, members of ALEC were bragging that they helped spur the initial “Sagebrush Rebellion” in Northern Nevada.

And why?

ALEC doesn't care about ranchers who don't pay their grazing fees. They care about how powerful the BLM is. They want to push around, or in this case; eliminate the BLM.

Follow the money. The Koch brothers, Peabody Energy, Duke Energy, and American Electric Power are examples of big contributors to ALEC. And they want to mine any where they please:

BLM lands – drill baby drill!

Forest Service lands – dig'em up!

Wilderness Areas – frack till the water turns black!

National Parks – you can have 'em back when we're through...

Arizona Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D) has asked the Department of Interior to investigate ALEC's “aggressive effort” to change State laws relating to land use. He claims this amounts to unregistered lobbying.

Imagine that; militias doing unregistered lobbying. It sounds crazy. But think about it. They, and the mainstream media get the public all riled up about how oppressive the “government” is. ALEC steps in with a corporate written bill at the Nevada legislature. And the next thing you know, the public gets played – and most likely; they will never know what happened – until the frackers show up in their back yard.

• Contrast this Astroturf Rebellion with real, grass-roots organizations; like “Occupy.” The FBI, Homeland Security, and numerous local police organizations coordinated a sophisticated violent crackdown that crushed the Occupy movement.
• Contrast this gun toting standoff (in which the government backed down to avoid violence) with the treatment of environmentalists – of which 900 have been killed in the past ten years.
• Oh, and remember; in the past 100 years, American taxpayers have had to pick up the bill for 470 billion dollars in tax subsidies to the oil and gas industries. Moreover, the mining industry is still paying taxes designed to subsidize miners with picks and shovels.

You think they don't have the power to play us in the mainstream media? 
That's how they get away with it. 

 

...And the additional goal; to make Senator Harry Reid look like the face of tyranny. (While in reality, Senator Reid has been one of the few members of Congress to stand up to big oil, coal, and the military/industrial complex.) Gee, could the Koch brothers could have had something to do with that? After he legitimately called the Koch brothers “unAmerican,” wouldn't we expect something.

(This is what they want you to believe.)

I don't agree with Senator Harry Reid's claim that these armed protestors are “terrorists.” They're more like “operatives.” You know, like the CIA operatives who overthrew President Mosaddegh in Iran (likely for the oil companies). Most of these militia members didn't know that. I'm sure they believe the hype. But I wouldn't be surprised if some of their (secret, private intelligence) handlers knew exactly what they were up to: conning gullible Americans into fighting for their own oppression. 

Guns vs. Butter vs. ButterGuns

In the struggle for our future,

there are two kinds of people in America:

Those who see military spending as an expense,

and those who see military spending as an income.

...We all know who's winning – yes, America's military/industrial complex – who receive more “defense” money than the next 10 countries combined. American taxpayers have been reduced to part-time slaves to pay for an oppressive police state and a military “empire” – that essentially goes to war for multi-national corporations. (We are definitely not getting our money's worth of freedom.)

Moreover, in the long run; everyone loses when our infrastructure suffers, our scientists don't have the resources to help us adapt, and our natural resources get depleted rapidly. (Think about it; nobody wants to live in an apocalyptic world where all we have left are guns.)

We can blame this huge waste of resources on our corrupt government and our auction style elections, but there's more to it.

Recently, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi admitted that Congress is afraid of the CIA.

Recently, Senator Dianne FeinStein revealed that the CIA is spying on the Senate.

And the only rational explanation for (political transparency) candidate Obama's transformation to (staunch spy supporter) President Obama – is that he too, is afraid of (or even blackmailed by) spies for the military/industrial complex.

This isn't the first time an American President has had to deal with a rouge military/industrial complex. In fact, this has gone back as far as President John F. Kennedy.

...On more than one occasion President JFK voiced his fear, to numerous people, that he feared a coup.

...And then, something that looked very much like a coup happened.

 

What was that? Didn't John McCain call the JFK assassination an “intervention?” "Intervention" sounds like an Orwellian term for “coup.” No wonder most of us continue to doubt the magic bullet theory.

But no matter who pulled the trigger(s) to kill President Kennedy, the war mongers regained control – and they got their Cold War – and their Viet Nam.

...Warriors got to be heroes, military contractors got to keep their jobs, and a few merchants of death got even richer.

I highly recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr's recent article JFK vs. The War Machine.

Now, compare that to the Rolling Stone article Obama vs. The Hawks.

Some things never change.

Positions of power attract the power hungry.

The power hungry tend to be aggressive for power.

Tyrants are by definition aggressive, power hungry people.

Consequently, systems with concentrated positions of power typically creep towards tyranny and wars.

How do we prevent this?

With democracy.

And since American democracy hasn't been preventing tyranny creep, we need more direct democracy.

Fortunately, direct democracy might not be that hard to accomplish indirectly. Just vote for the candidates who promise to make decisions solely reflecting popular opinion.

Groupthink and the Koch Brothers

Wikipedia defines groupthink as; “a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people, in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an incorrect or deviant decision-making outcome.”

Of course, it makes evolutionary sense that members of a group would want to work together. Consequently, it makes sense that a beneficial form of assimilation might evolve. However, there is a potential for a catastrophically fatal flaw – groupthink. If the group is wrong; everybody in the group is wrong. The best the group can hope for to avert eventual catastrophe is that independent outliers might notice the fatal flaw.

I would like to cover two forms of groupthink in this post; political and economic.

Political Groupthink:

In a recent post of mine (Deny/Disrupt/Degrade/Deceive), I ended the article with a compliment to Senator Harry Reid.

...And as I expected, say anything nice about Senator Harry Reid, and I was bound to get trolled.

It's not very often you hear someone in political office speak the truth about corruption in Washington – not and name names too. What Senator Harry Reid said about the Koch brothers was not only true, but really needed to be said. Senator Harry Reid, in spite of all his faults; should be supported when he does the right thing. This should be true for everyone.

But a groupthink has developed that believes that Harry Reid can do no right. And if you know anything about politics, you know things like this don't just happen.

I live in Nevada. And I (vaguely) remember most of Harry Reid's career. But most importantly, I remember Nevadans' changing attitude about Harry Reid.

Years ago, there was no radical group of (Koch brothers financed / Fox “News” educated) haters who believed Harry Reid was the cause of everything evil. In fact, we all pretty much liked Harry Reid. That's why he got re-elected over and over again so many times I've lost count.

But now, those of us who still think Senator Harry Reid is a “keeper” (and the last election proves that it is most of us voters) don't often speak up in public. We know someone will attack us with a round of “how evil Harry Reid is for doing what almost all American politicians are doing.”

I'm not here to give a rousing praise of Senator Harry Reid's career. I'm here to point out the real reason the Koch brothers have already spent $14,500,000 on Senate races to oust anyone even like Senator Harry Reid.

...It's about money...

...It's about oil money...

But that's not what a recent Washington Post article said. The article; “Harry Reid really hates the Koch brothers. Here's why.” didn't even touch on why Harry Reid hates the Koch brothers. It just proclaimed essentially that this is all just politics and Harry Reid is just trying to counter all that money the Koch brothers are spending to influence American politics. They've trivialized what Reid said. They've trivialized what the Koch brothers have done. I think somebody put the wrong title on this article. It should have read; “Harry Reid really hates the Koch brothers. This is what we want you to think.”

Senator Harry Reid is the last of the old school politicians in power, and a lot of people want to take his power. And what do they want to replace it with? The Kochs want to replace it with “gas” power.

Nevada is a big state with lots of open range. California is right next to Nevada. There is a huge potential for solar power generation in Nevada, and obviously; the Koch brothers want to kill it. Apparently, they feel too many people will want to drive electric cars.

Harry Reid wants to support his home State, and obviously; the Koch brothers only want Nevadan's money (when we buy their gas). But somehow; the mass media (outside of Nevada) never mentions this. Could it be that it's because only the Koch brothers advertise with them?

In his last re-election, Reid ran against Tea Party candidate Sharon Angle. Though I don't know how much money they spent, the Koch brothers tried to oust Harry Reid by supporting a pathetically mediocre candidate. It appears that the Koch brothers didn't care at all about Nevada. They just wanted to kick Harry Reid out of office. (But there may be another reason they were willing to support such a mediocre candidate. She would have owed them big time.)

The Koch brothers wanted Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid's power.

And why? For the money, of course!

The Koch brothers want to force us to continue to buy their oil.

And with control of Congress, they could do it.

Examples of the oil industry's power in Congress:

Scotland already generates 40% of its power using renewables – and plans to have 100% by 2020. The United States, on the other hand only generates 9% of its power using renewables – and has no realistic plans for 100%. The difference; politics. Those with fossil fuel riches have manipulated our government to make it difficult for renewable energy to compete. “Our” government has given billions and billions in subsidies and tax breaks to fossil fuels – while ramping up and down subsides for renewables (which has repeatedly driven many renewable companies out of business.) In January of 2014, Congress did it again, when subsides for wind energy were not renewed. (Nonetheless, subsides for fossil fuel companies keep right on filling the bank accounts of the likes of the Koch brothers.) “Our” government allowed Texaco to purchase of the patent for the battery for the General Motors electric car, the EV1, and shut down all production of those batteries – setting back electric vehicles at least a decade. And “our” government has given the biggest polluters, the fossil fuel companies, exemptions to the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act (in the 2005 Energy bill).

This list could go on for pages.

And the Koch brothers want more.

On the other hand; Senator Harry Reid has represented Nevada in Washington since 1983. That means he still remembers when America was more like an actual democracy. Harry Reid remembers what Washington was like before the “Patriot” Act. Harry Reid remembers what Washington was like before the “Supreme” Court decision on Citizens United. Harry Reid remembers what Washington was like before so much of the Government was privatized. Harry Reid even remembers what Washington was like back when America wasn't in a perpetual state of war. What this means is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has seen a better Washington and a better America. But apparently; many within the Deep State don't want us, or our elected representatives, to remember.

The Deep State wants us to believe that America is just fine with them running it. In fact, the very basis of conservatism is; don't change a thing. This isn't a coincidence. Conservatism is Deep State groupthink. And deep pockets keep it relevant.

The Koch brothers have discovered something about the vulnerability of the American psyche. In American elections; the candidate who collects the most money usually wins.

Political groupthink.

Want to know who's pulling the strings? Follow the money.

And why?

I suspect they just consider it an investment...

If you can't beat them in the marketplace, cheat. Buy some politicians to give you an unfair advantage. And if the present politicians say no, then bring in some new ones.

For example; the Tea Party started out with legitimate concerns. But it wasn't long before the Koch brothers essentially bought it. And a few years later, the Tea Party has the power to literally shut down the Federal Government. Talk about power. The Koch brothers have the power to tell America to do things their way or they will literally shut us down. 

No wonder Senator Harry Reid is so upset.

And the Koch brothers never could have done it without political groupthink.

Economic Groupthink:

Once one has enough money to pay for basic needs, money ceases to be a necessity.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the groupthink.

We all started to believe that we had to have as much money as we could get.

We hoard money. We waste money.

Some people steal money. Others pay people to steal it for them.

Our economy has devolved into a massive game of collecting money – with no real insight of the consequences.

Pillaging is definitely not the highest form of human activity.

And when humanity destroys, displaces, poisons, and ignores the fate of whole ecosystems, the consequences are ultimately disastrous beyond our comprehension.

To feel that money is more important than life on Earth?

That's not just insane... it's collectively suicidal groupthink.

But if you're old, like the Koch brothers, you just might be able to get away with environmental murder and die before you have to pay the price. But their children won't get away with it. Is it that the Koch brothers don't even care about their own children? No amount of money will protect their children from a total Environmental collapse.

Scientists have already informed us that we are well under way into the Earth's sixth great extinction event. Our climate is already changing. Our air, soil, and water are loaded with toxins, carcinogens, and endocrine disrupters. And the Koch brothers' strategy is to stay the course? Obviously, they've spent too much time isolated on their expensive estates – and they simply don't understand the real world.

The Koch brothers are zealous believers of oligarchy economic groupthink – you know, “free trade” (for everyone else). But that may not work out well for the Koch brothers for much longer. Everyone else is starting to catch on.

The prevailing economic groupthink is; more money, more status. But that hasn't worked out for the Koch brothers either. A significant portion of the population see the Koch brothers as the lowest, sleaziest, most despicable form of human life – with enough money to force their sick concepts on the world.

The Koch brothers have taken the money that was given them (they inherited it) and used it to make the world a more miserable place. For brevity, I'll only focus on their (and other oil companies') oil interests. The oil industry has a long cutthroat history of not giving a damn about anything but money. Examples:

• Lead in gasoline – the gasoline industry has known since the 1920's that lead in gasoline would drive people crazy and kill them. But the industry callously put lead in American gasoline until the 1970's, when they were forced, by law, to stop. By the 1990's, violent crime in America had dropped precipitously. And as other nations banned the use of lead in gasoline, their violent crime statistics repeated those of America – and dropped precipitously within 20 years. Lead also lowers IQ scores and can kill from lead induced heart disease.
• Other toxins in gasoline – Air pollution is now on the top 10 list of disease risk factors. And particulate matter from auto emissions is the root cause.
• Oil spills everywhere – Just in the year 2012, the sum of American oil spills exceeded the volume of the Exxon Valdez spill.

• Toxins in fracking fluids – as a consequence of some bizarre legal precedent, oil company “trade secrets” have priority over public health... They can put anything they want in fracking fluid, and don't have to tell us. What that means is they can literally get away with putting toxic waste in fracking fluids. And guess what? Water samples taken near fracking sites have found elevated levels of endocrine disrupting chemicals – which have been known to cause infertility, birth defects, and cancer.
• Climate change – even the biblically bad weather we have been experiencing lately hasn't been enough to convince the mass media that the oil company financed climate deniers are lying to us. The world's economy has already been effected, and it is only going to get worse if we burn more gas. Nonetheless, that's precisely what the oil industry wants.
• Endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastics – that's right, even petroleum plastics aren't actually safe. And what has the plastics industry done about this? They've hired exactly the same firms that the tobacco industry used to cover up the risks of second-hand smoke.

Scores of people have been (and will be) driven to illness and death because of burning of fossil fuels. Nonetheless, the fossil fuel industries continue to use their considerable political clout to hold back clean energy. Why?

Let's see... Koch Industries and affiliates stand to make as much as $100 billion on the Keystone XL pipeline. So it's no surprise the Koch brothers are so willing to spend millions on corrupting U.S. Politics.

The irony of all this is that if the Keystone XL pipeline can get Canadian oil to a world markets, they can charge higher world prices. In other words, the oil industry wants Americans to support the Keystone XL pipeline, so they can raise oil prices on us. (No wonder Senator Harry Reid called them unAmerican.)

The Koch brothers are worth billions. So why would they sully their reputations on such devious methods to make even more money? Economic groupthink? Rich American exceptionalism? A misplaced desire to keep their oil company afloat? Or just plain straight-up greed? My guess is that it is some combination of all of the above mixed with the unwillingness to accept the reality that they have done more harm in their lives than good. Like the oil they they want to force us to buy, the consequences of their existence are far worse than they would like to admit.

Deny / Disrupt / Degrade / Deceive

Well, it looks like the mass media has decided who will be the Democratic candidate for 2016.

Now wait a minute...

I saw what happened. The mass media has been endlessly talking about Hillary Clinton so much that most people don't even realize yet who else might be running.

...Disrupt.

So, did the powers-that-be pick Hillary Clinton? Things like this don't just happen. So, why?

(Personally, I like Hillary Clinton, and I think she should run for President.) But of the three most likely Democratic candidates, I suspect she would be the most like a Republican. Which may be why the mostly Republican oligarchy (who own the mass media) would rather promote her candidacy. However, there have also been two decades of bad press (ugly press actually) that has driven the right wing nuts to absolute hatred of Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton were to be the Democratic candidate, we can be guaranteed Republican Clinton haters will show up in droves to vote against her. (Could this just all be part of a scheme to promote a Democrat the Republicans can beat?)

...Degrade.

But what about those other two potential candidates?

• What about Vice President Joe Biden? Well; he's an environmentalist. We even saw him on TV welcoming back the EPA employees after the fiscal shutdown. That was more of a brave act than we might think. We know from what happened to Vice President Al Gore (in the 2000 election) how much the oligarchy hates environmentalists. If Joe Biden were elected President, the environmental pillagers might have to pay more of the true costs of their actions. (And they might even lose some of those multi-billion dollar subsidies they paid off our elected representatives for.) Moreover, Biden supports unions. Big campaign contributors don't support unions. Let's face it, only people who actually work for a living and want a reasonable pay support unions. Joe Biden isn't the oligarchy's candidate. Who cares if he schooled Tea Party Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan in the 2012 debate. It even appears the oligarchy wants Democratic candidates who can't win arguments... But ultimately; they want someone they can control – you know – like Obama (who would have fast-tracked the Trans-Pacific Partnership "Treaty.")
• What about Senator Elizabeth Warren? Well; she has spoken words against the big banks. She has a sense of fairness. That can't be tolerated. (Please read sarcasm in that last line.) 
   

...Deny.

We all know that the mass media makes its money from advertising. We all know that the mass media makes tons of money on election advertising. So, why would they want to spoil the horse race? They're not. This is how they change the horses in the race. The mass media still has two years to promote dark horse candidates of the oligarchy's choosing. This is how they manipulate our democracy. Misdirection.

...Deceive.

By now, most of us have heard of Edward Snowden – the former NSA contractor employee who has informed us of what our tax dollars are really being spent on – spying on us, killing poor people on the other side of the planet (they claim to be terrorists), and manipulating us into giving them even more of our tax dollars. His most recent release of information includes NSA online tactics for psychologically manipulating Americans and people of the world.

In the NSA presentation, the focus of their Online Covert Operations was to; Deny, Disrupt, Degrade, and Deceive. They called it the 4 D's.

But, as I have hopefully pointed out; the 4 D's have been around on the mainstream media for quite some time already.

...And what has that cost us? Let's see... billions of dollars of our taxes get pillaged, hundreds of billions of our tax dollars get wasted on something other than for the public good, corruption is required of our elected representatives, monopolies abound (example: though Americans invented the Internet, we pay the highest rate on Earth for the worst service), our food is tainted, what's left our water is being privatized, and our air is being polluted to the point that our climate has doomed our economy – and all the so-called “job creators” want to offer us is sweat shop pay.

It has been said that “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Compared to the cost we are now paying, that seems cheap.

It is to be expected that politically powerful people would want to control and monopolize the Internet like they control and windfall profit from the mass media. It is to be expected that someone would want to corrupt the free flow of information so that they can manipulate us, control us, and enslave us.

Bill Moyers wrote an excellent review of the “Deep State” – the members of the oligarchy and the secret operatives who actually run our nation.

“Yes, there is another government concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country according to consistent patterns in season and out, connected to, but only intermittently controlled by, the visible state whose leaders we choose. My analysis of this phenomenon is not an exposé of a secret, conspiratorial cabal; the state within a state is hiding mostly in plain sight, and its operators mainly act in the light of day.”

This Deep State has been around for a long time – controlling the things they care about. President Eisenhower called it the military/industrial complex, but it's bigger than that. And while we, the citizens of the United States have to struggle for years to get anything done, the Deep State gets its way almost without debate.

• Americans don't get to vote on America's wars – and we appear now to be in endless wars.
• Americans don't get to vote on what defines a terrorist – and now Americans with an opinion are being treated like potential terrorists.
• American consumers drive the American economy – but American jobs have been exported by the millions over the past 30 years.
• It is American consumers' own money which companies ultimately use to pay for advertising on American mass media – to manipulate us Americans.
• American taxpayers' money is taken to pay for “our” government to spy on and manipulate us. 
  
  ...And this isn't something new: 

 
(1975)

Moreover, our civilian police have been slowly transformed into a para-military occupying force in many parts of the country. Let's face it; this is what proto-fascism looks like.

All the while, the taxpayer supported “vampire squid on the face of humanity” (the banksters) continue to pillage our savings, investments, economy, and environment. Financially, the big banks are doing quite well – at the expense of the rest of us. (Which leads to an obvious conclusion; we may be better off without them.)

It is almost obvious that this is not really an economic recovery. It's just another bubble. And when it too bursts, we will be poorer. And we will be angrier. And we will blame whomever is in political office – probably President Obama and the Democrats (which might actually be the oligarchy's plan.)

But it is the unelected “Deep State” that is driving these decisions that only benefit the super-greedy rich. And quite apparently, the Deep State is often more powerful than our Constitutional Government. Our elected representatives still have to take their required bribes (campaign contributions), fear the (oligarchy controlled) mass media, and have to struggle against the sell-out politicians who themselves are a part of the Deep State.

The reality is that our “democracy” is in many ways nothing more than a facade, a shell of system – who's insides have been eaten away. We still call it a democracy though, because that sort of keeps us from fighting for a real one.

Nationally, what we do have is a form of corporatocracy that allows us to vote on which Deep State candidate we want to rule us. And if we vote for someone else, they have ways of bringing him in line.

Occasionally however, one of our elected representatives speaks out. Senator Harry Reid has just recently made one of those statements when he outed the Koch Brothers for being “unAmerican.”

"It's too bad that they're trying to buy America, and it's time that the American people spoke out against this terrible dishonesty of these two brothers who are about as un-American as anyone I can imagine."

Senator Reid was right. The Koch Brothers may have been born in America, but they obviously don't believe in American ideals. From their efforts to “buy America,” we can see that the Koch Brothers don't believe in free trade, they don't believe in democracy, they don't believe in a well informed public, they don't believe in fairness, they don't believe in justice... but they do believe in money.

This reminds me of an old movie; Chinatown. In the movie the private detective asks the super-greedy rich old man what he can buy with all of that money. His reply was “the future.” If this is the case with the Koch Brothers and the Deep State; then they are buying the worst future we can imagine – a polluted and poor failing fascist state still reliant on diminishing resources on a planet with a collapsing environment.

What a waste.

Let's Connect the Dots - Part 1

These are my initial thoughts on a Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory.

With everyone's help, maybe we can transform it into a more accurate version of history.

At the end, I have a number of suggestions.

I welcome more suggestions. 

 

“The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.” John F. Kennedy

“You can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential problem run amok, but when you actually look at the details, then I think we've struck the right balance.” Barrack Obama

Two Democratic Presidents. Two significantly different opinions. One President was assassinated while in office. The other President backed off from his similar opinion on secret government organizations as soon as he took office – and is still alive.

Throughout history, there have been signs of the times.

The 50 year anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has come and gone and nothing has really changed. Though the Warren Commission (investigation into President John F. Kennedy's assassination) has been shown to be a farce (more on that later), and a 1977 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that there was a 95% probability that at least four shots were fired and that JFK was killed as a result of a conspiracy – and the Justice Department recommended a follow up investigation; no Federal investigations have been conducted in the 38 years since then.

Not only was JFK killed, but so was a thorough investigation into his assassination.

This is a sign.

This is a sign that those responsible for his assassination are still in power.

But that's not surprising considering the proto-facsist (corporatist-police) state we now live in.

Even President Obama has admitted in public that he doesn't know what the NSA secret police are up to. He too has been finding out about the NSA by reading newspaper accounts of Edward Snowden leaks. And yes, the NSA are now American secret police; because once they started to spy on Americans, they were no longer just analysts.

History has shown time and again that if one group of people has a combination of anonymity, power over others, and they are somewhat above the law; some among them will become corrupt and ruthlessly take advantage of that power.

I'm not alone in these assertions. Former President Harry Truman spoke out against the CIA. Retiring President Dwight D. Eisenhower made it a point in his last public speech (that would get nationwide coverage) to warn of the dangers of the military/industrial complex. And, as quoted at the beginning of this post; President John F. Kennedy found these secret government organizations' operations “repugnant.”

However, to my knowledge; no president since JFK has spoken out vigorously against America's “intelligence” agencies.

This too, is likely a sign.

The Presidents since JFK have been likely either afraid of the secret government organizations, or one of them.

Concerning President Barrack Obama, I suspect he is either afraid for his and his family's lives and/or he is being blackmailed (along with many members of Congress).

...When once pressed by some of his progressive supporters to do some of the things candidate Obama had promised, President Barrack Obama's reply was; “Don't you remember what happened to Martin Luther King Jr.?”

And what happened to Martin Luther King Jr.? He spoke out against the Vietnam war and the military/industrial complex – he went soft – and wound up assassinated. And like the JFK and RFK assassinations, many serious questions remain. (The jury in the 1999 wrongful death civil trial of Martin Luther King Jr. concluded that there was a conspiracy and that governmental agencies were parties to this conspiracy.)

These are signs.

These are signs that for the past 50 years, we haven't really been living in a democracy.

These are signs that a secret government has sway over our “civilian” government.

But how did we get here? How do we know these signs to be true? And just how bad is it really?

Let's attempt to connect the dots – and watch a pattern emerge – which the for profit mass media has been unwilling to share with us. (The reason I say “let's” is because I will read your comments and modify this story when I see fit and have the time.)

...We can start with Richard Nixon. Back when Richard Nixon was Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vice President; he worked closely with Allen Dulles, head of the CIA, on dealing with the newly communist country Cuba. Their goal was to overthrow Fidel Castro (or assassinate him). And if Richard Nixon had been elected President in 1960, the Bay of Pigs invasion might have had a much different ending.

But John F. Kennedy was elected President. And JFK didn't see the threat of Cuban communism as dangerous as the military/industrial complex did. JFK might have seen Cuba for what it really was; a tiny little island of poor people – no real threat to the United States – the most powerful country on the planet.

JFK had initially trusted American military leaders that the threat of communism was far worse than it really was – and sent 15,000 military “advisers” to Vietnam – another tiny country of poor people. But apparently, eventually JFK felt misled about the communist threat in Vietnam. President Kennedy's Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, wrote in his book In Retrospect; that on October 2 of 1963 President Kennedy made a decision to “begin withdrawal of U.S. Forces” from Vietnam.

The military/industrial complex must have concluded Kennedy had gone soft.

Fifty days later, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated; and Lyndon Johnson was left to deal with the “communist” threat.

[This has led to speculations that Johnson was in on the assassination. Even E. Howard Hunt accused him of being a part of the conspiracy. But this is silly. There was obviously no motive for Lyndon Johnson to participate in a conspiracy to assassinate JFK. Vice President Lyndon Johnson was next in line for the Presidency after Kennedy. Johnson was elected President in 1964 (and likely would have been re-elected in 1968 had it not been for the Vietnam war). It's quite possible E. Howard Hunt didn't actually know who the higher ups were in the assassination mission. But E. Howard Hunt was unrepentant, so he may have been trying to distract us. I suspect that there are many intentional distractions from the truth. That is possibly why there are so many conspiracy theories. There are very likely people who want to bury the truth. Wouldn't it make sense that they would try to bury the truth in a pile of distractions?]

President Johnson also initially trusted his military advisers. And they told him to send more troops to Vietnam – and more – and more – and more. (For more information on the Vietnam War watch the documentary Hearts and Minds.) And when it all failed – when the resolve of the Vietnamese people proved stronger than the massive military might of the United States – President Johnson was left with the blame.

“Follow the money.”

That was the advice given to Woodward and Bernstein while they were investigating the Watergate break-in. And it has been excellent advice on most conspiracy investigations.

Lyndon Johnson didn't profit from the cold war. But a lot of people did profit – handsomely. These are the people we need to ask questions about. War costs billions. There are bound to be people who would willingly blow threats out of proportion, lie, or even kill for that kind of money.

I won't talk a lot about the Kennedy assassination. There are people who have studied this in much greater detail than I have. I recommend the movie JFK (director's cut) by Oliver Stone.

In my attempt to connect the dots; the question I would like to pose is; since LBJ probably had a good idea that the Kennedy assassination was at least aided by very powerful people, was President Johnson afraid? My guess is that he was often sitting there pinching his seat in fear. His boss had just been executed in public, the crime story sounds like a cover story, and with exception of one patsy, they got away with it. Let's face it, even if the alleged assassins had been on LBJ's side, he still had good reason to be afraid of them. And he would probably be afraid enough to do what they ask – like escalate the war in Vietnam (even if it might cost him the next election). In fact, he might even have been afraid enough to aid the assassins in throwing off the Kennedy assassination investigation (the one thing the conspirators would have wanted the most). How would he do that? By appointing Allen Dulles to the Warren Commission.

Yes, that Allen Dulles. The former head of the CIA. In fact, the longest serving head of the CIA (kind of like J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI). The man who must have thought he was the most powerful man on the planet, until he was fired by President Kennedy for the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

When Allen Dulles was head of the CIA working “for” President Kennedy, he attempted to force President Kennedy into a war with Cuba. The invasion plans had already been made (back when Nixon was Vice President). The Cuban Nationalist troops were ready. But if America had openly invaded Cuba, a sovereign nation than had never attacked the U.S.; then the Soviet Union would have invaded Berlin – and the Cold War would have inevitably escalated – possibly to nuclear war.

[This sounds horribly frightening to us now, but there were U.S. generals (parodied in the movie Dr. Strangelove) who believed a nuclear war was winnable at the time – and were quite tempted to make the first stike.]

Initially, President Kennedy supported the Cuban Nationalist invasion of Communist Cuba. But he didn't want the world to know the U.S. was supporting them with bombers. The CIA had used obsolete World War II bombers painted to look like Cuban air force planes. But it was a lousy cover, and after the first bombing raid, pictures came out that showed they were American planes. At that point, President Kennedy backed down.

So, Allen Dulles' top man, Richard Bissell, schemed up a way in which President Kennedy had to participate. Bissell OK'd the Cuban Nationalists to invade Cuba. The troop odds were 1,200 to 20,000. Without an air attack, the Cuban Nationalists wouldn't stand a chance. But they invaded anyway believing that Allen Dulles would convince President Kennedy to win the war for them from the air. But Kennedy stood firm. There was no more air support, and the Cuban Nationalists either died or were captured. Consequently, the many in the CIA and the Cuban Nationalists blamed Kennedy – for essentially standing up to them – for telling them no.

Now this too is a sign.

This is a sign that as far back as the Kennedy administration, America's secret government has been very powerful on some issues.

Apparently, Allen Dulles believed he was so powerful, he could politically force the President of the most powerful nation in the world into war... Wow.

...And then Allen Dulles gets fired by President Kennedy.

...And then President Kennedy gets assassinated.

...And then President Johnson appoints him to the Warren Commission?

There isn't a human being I would trust less on the Warren Commission than Allen Dulles. This was the one man on the planet who knew most about conducting coups and assassinations – because he oversaw them back at his old job as head of the CIA. If there was a conspiracy kill Kennedy, it was quite likely Dulles' old buddies were involved. Even retired, Allen Dulles would have done everything he could to protect the CIA. He might have even been willing to derail the investigation.

This too is a sign.

To appoint Allen Dulles to the Warren Commission, President Johnson must have suspected that there was CIA involvement in the Kennedy assassination – and that Allen Dulles would cover it up. And why would Allen Dulles accept the appointment if he knew his participation would permanently taint the conclusions of the Warren Commission? Right from the start, it only makes sense that both President Johnson and Allen Dulles suspected CIA involvement in the Kennedy assassination. Right from the start, they both must have suspected a conspiracy. It simply makes no sense that President Johnson would appoint Allen Dulles to investigate the assassination of the man who fired him if Johnson did not think there was a conspiracy. It was politically a lose/lose situation – unless Johnson appointed Dulles to covertly influence the outcome. Which means either President Johnson was a participant in the conspiracy (which makes no sense also), or he knew they could kill him too. So he gave them what they wanted – a kangaroo court.

But apparently, Allen Dulles didn't have to do the dirty work. Arlen Specter and Gerald Ford were the ones accused of tampering with the evidence. And yes, that was the Arlen Spector who later became a powerful Senator – and the Gerald Ford who later became America's first un-elected Vice President and President.

House Majority Leader Hale Boggs also sat on the Warren Commission. Later, in 1971 and 1972; Hale Boggs claimed that the Warren Commission was false and a cover up. He accused Arlen Specter as the major cover-up artist... Hale Boggs died in 1972 in an airplane crash. (Later, airplane crashes would become commonly suspected as CIA assassinations.)

Even today, 50 years later; the CIA is still resisting the release hundreds of secret documents relating to the Kennedy assassination.

Continue to Part 2