Hunting the President 2

Fox “News” wants you to believe that President Obama is like Richard Nixon.

President Nixon had a secret “enemies list.” People on that list were harassed by the IRS, spied upon, etc. But only two people on Nixon's list were reporters. In contrast, the Obama administration doesn't want to deal with Fox News. That's a far cry from an enemies list. Moreover, Fox has earned this.

It's no surprise that Fox News has been carrying on a smear campaign ever since Obama was inaugurated. For example:

…

Fox News' War on the White House

Fox “News” has declared a propaganda war on our Nation's President. They want him overthrown. What they're doing should be illegal. If I had as many nasty lies told about me as Fox “News” has told us about President Obama, I wouldn't want to deal with them either. This isn't conservative media, this is spiteful GOP propaganda.

President of Media Matters, Eric E. Burns, has written in Huffington Post; “Fox is currently conducting a witch hunt against administration members. After Van Jones (whom I personally greatly admired) resigned, Hannity told a crowd, “We got rid of one, and my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other one.””

Doesn't anybody remember Monica Lewinsky? That fiasco was the culmination of a 10 year campaign to destroy the Clintons. There really was a massive right-wing conspiracy. They tried everything. They made up stories. They abused the press. They humiliated our President over personal matters. And ultimately they came up with nothing significant. But they kept Clinton too busy to accomplish much.

I highly recommend the video The Hunting of the President. It documents quite thoroughly how the Clintons enemies pulled every dirty trick they could think of – and almost succeeded at a coup de gras.

…

The Hunting of the President

The wing-nut back stabbers almost succeeded at image assassination of President Clinton. That's what it was – an attempt to kill the president, politically.

...And they're at it again.

Only this time, they have total control over a major television “news” source – and significant influence over all the others.

To not do something about Fox's relentless attacks would be a sign of weakness. (With the resignation of Van Jones, the “Fox” already smells blood.)

In case you didn't know, a US court has determined that it is perfectly legal for this quasi “news” channel to lie. They have free rein to say anything they want without fear of regulators. And since competing news agencies have skeletons of their own to hide, don't expect them to reveal the truth about what is happening at Fox.

If America is to survive and prosper, we need to make logical decisions based upon true information. Anything else is self destructive. And by now, it should be quite apparent that this is not happening. Our nation is literally on the verge of collapse because of a number of awful decisions made based upon manipulated information.

This is a matter of utmost national security. But only the citizens of this country have the real power to do anything about it. Most importantly, we need to utilize the free market. Just stop watching Fox “News.” And let their advertisers know why. If Fox goes broke, the other news channels will quickly tow the line.

Those who pay the propaganda pundits don't care about the truth. They care only about power. Apparently, they see using a multitude of lies to manipulate the masses – as “managing the human herd” – with emotionally charged false information. Neither President Obama, nor the American people should put up with this blatant manipulation of our minds.

Our present actions determine our fate. We need to speak up, now. Or we will again be ignored – with consequences we haven't begun to imagine yet.

The wolf is at the door. We need to see this for what it is; a conspiracy to overthrow our government. There are those who want our leaders, and therefore our nation, to fail. They are far more dangerous than any terrorist. And yet, they pose as patriots.

Where the hell is Homeland Security?

Not only is Homeland Security silent, but they appear to be helping the conspirators. We hear of reports that law enforcement squads are extremely lenient towards protesters supported by the powers-that-be, even if they bring guns.

These people are entrenched!

And they like to use Karl Rove (Rovian) tactics; lies, cheats, and character assassination.

Speaking of Karl Rove (you know, the guy who had to leave the Bush Administration in disgrace). Karl Rove now has a job as a writer for the Wall Street Journal! The Wall Street Journal! That's right, Rupert Murdoch (Australian rag magnate, who now owns majority interest in the Wall Street Journal), is turning the Wall Street Journal into another Fox “News.”

But it's much bigger than this.

1. Other elected representatives have also had to endure these politically motivated attacks.

   Example: Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have both been the subject of numerous political attacks – veiled as news. Even small local elections can be manipulated by local news affiliates. Consequently, the Rovians have a terrifyingly invasive amount of influence.

2. We have been manipulated into accepting exceptionally poor political decisions. Example: Documents show the Pentagon has used psyops (psychological operations) against the American people to manipulate us into supporting the invasion and occupation of Iraq. “The New York Times David Barstow won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting about how some retired generals, working as radio and television analysts, had been co-opted by the Pentagon to make its case for the war in Iraq, and how many of them also had undisclosed ties to companies that benefited from the policies they defended.”

3. A number of Rovian groups exist to extend the profits of numerous entrenched industry “leaders.”

   Examples: A leaked memo shows that the coal industry was coordinating a propaganda blitz attacking global warming science. And industry backed anti-health care reform groups spent the Summer disrupting health care town hall meetings.

4. This has been going on for a long time.

…

Wires That Control the Public Mind

There are unscrupulous people who intend to invisibly run our government by manipulating the gullible.

If we allow them to, they will eventually overthrow America.

Yet, to a large extent, they already have.

They might achieve a coup de gras with Senator Harry Reid.

And since they have still been able to stonewall the House and Senate, they have effectively made it impossible for President Obama to enact any real change.

But they didn't overthrow President Clinton.

They can be stopped.

Liberal Libertarianism

In my last entry, I attacked free-market economics. In this entry I will recommend we need more of it. But I am not contradicting myself – because free-markets are not utilized evenly.

If you are poor, you likely live primarily in a free market. However, if you are of the privileged class, free markets are for the other guys.

Consider this:

Although the poor outnumber the rich by a huge margin in this country, you've never heard the population of the poor referred to as “too big to fail.”

And, of course, though the big banks got themselves into trouble gambling with sketchy loans; the American government has decided that the rest of us shall be the equivalent of these problem gamblers' enablers.

...But don't take my word for it. Both filmmaker Michael Moore and Congressman Ron Paul have spoken out on this.

Michael Moore has been called a Socialist. Ron Paul has been a Libertarian. They may not agree on anything else, but they both agree that the American people have been robbed by the big banks... And they both agree that essentially nothing has been done about it – by our Government.

At this rate, it seems inevitable that things will have to get worse before they get better.

I highly recommend both Michael Moore's movie; CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY, and Congressman Ron Paul's book; END THE FED.

Michael Moore and Ron Paul both have it right – at either end of the spectrum.

A government's function (in its economy) should be to help the under-privileged out of poverty and the over-privileged out of complacency.

… And our government is failing at both.

How bad will things have to get before we face these truths?

No Nobel For That Ivory Tower Economist

With all this mass media opinion and “reporting” about President Obama not deserving the Nobel prize, allow me to mention someone else who didn't deserve the Nobel prize.

Milton Friedman didn't deserve the Nobel prize in Economics.

That's right, free-market economics is a farce in the real world. Since the 1970's, not one country on the planet who has embraced free-market economics has seen greater prosperity for a majority of their citizens. (Of course, some of the people in these free-market economies are extraordinarily rich – at the expense of the rest of the country's people and environment – which is why some influential people still support his assumptions... They're getting filthy rich!)

Milton Freedman was an ivory tower intellectual with a convincing argument that simply hasn't panned out.

His basic premise is correct – that economic markets have a tendency for being self-correcting. But so what? The real world is just not that simple or predictable.

Here are some of the weaknesses of Free-Market Economics:

1. A society that focuses on a simple free-market economy tends to neglect its health, education, social justice, sanity, safety, and sustainability – and is less able to report the truth about this neglect.

   Example: Almost 45 thousand Americans a year die in part due to lack of health insurance. Approximately 50 million Americans don't have health insurance. And every American with health insurance is at risk of being denied coverage by their insurer. Yet, in spite of these terrifying statistics, Americans are reluctant to change our health care system – because the information they receive from television is slanted towards insurance companies, drug companies, and the health “care” industry. The reason; just turn on your TV. You can't watch a show without seeing an expensive ad about some “treatment” for what ails us. In a simple free-market system, profits are more important than everything else – including the truth.

2. Irresponsible behavior in a real world “free” market system is often rewarded.

   Example: The big insurance companies have manipulated our government and our mass media to the disadvantage of everyone else. They have raised their rates and lowered their payouts. They have lowered their taxes and changed laws to make it very difficult to sue them, no matter what they do. Consequently, they've made obscene profits. And consequently, investors want to invest in their companies.

3. Free markets only respond to change. Simple free markets just cannot anticipate change well enough to make a real difference.

   Example: We have known since the 1970's that the world is running out of oil. Yet, here we are, over 30 years later, facing peak oil; and totally unprepared. Many of us live in homes in the suburbs, miles away from where we work. And for the better part of that 30 years, we have been buying bigger gas hogs to make the commute. We ship in all our goods, including food, from thousands of miles away. And we have no backup plan.

4. In the race to get rich in a free-market system, millions of people are bound to make poor decisions with horrendous consequences.

   Example: Scientists have known about Global Warming for decades now. (I first heard about the Greenhouse Effect in the mid-1970's – when the science had already been well established.) Scientists now predict that the Arctic Ocean will be melted during the summer within 10 to 20 years! And yet, corporate profits are still more important than the fate of the Earth's climate. Somehow, the free-market pundits have been able to convince many of us that the economy is more important than the environment. Of course, this is obvious nonsense, because any economy is only a subset of the Earth's environment. And if the balance of the environment topples, the economy (and therefore we) will eventually suffer immensely.

5. The self-corrections of economic free-markets can be very painful.

   Example: When the price of oil goes through the roof and coastal cities flood, the economic markets will self-correct – by collapsing. Millions of people will be left homeless and starving. Had we anticipated these risks and done a better job of preparing for them, we could have designed a far more resilient economy.

6. There can never be a truly free market.

   Example: Markets are being manipulated by the greedy – whether we like it or not. The fossil fuel industry suppresses sustainable power generation. The drug industry suppresses alternative health options. Lobbyists manipulate regulators. Astro-turf organizations manipulate gullible people to manipulate the tax structure. The military/industrial complex manipulates government spending. Insiders manipulate the stock market. Bankers manipulate the money supply. And of course, advertisers manipulate consumers.

Our only option is to minimize the detrimental manipulations and design into our economy intelligence, fairness, resiliency, and the ability to adapt.

Allow me to make one thing very clear. Capitalism is not inherently evil. We need some limited amount of free market economic thinking. However, history has shown us that given the freedom to choose; we all choose to act irresponsibly sometimes. And some of us choose to act criminally. If we don't set boundaries and responsible rewards; some people will simply take advantage of everyone and every thing they can.

Humanity has already lost 30 critical years to an oversimplification of how our economy operates within our planet's environment – an oversimplification that was validated by a Nobel prize in economics.

Milton Friedman was wrong.

But Milton Friedman is dead.

Milton Friedman can't send his Nobel back and say he's sorry. And his followers are getting too rich pillaging.

It's up to us to figure out a better way.

A Nobel Prize for what He Didn't Do

Congratulations President Barack Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize!

However, I checked out some of the titles of mainstream American news reports:

Washington Post – Obama's Prize: Misunderstanding or Mockery?

Associated Press – GOP, even some liberals, dismiss Obama peace prize

Wall Street Journal – Nobel Committee's Decision Courts Controversy

Bloomberg – Obama's “Premature Canonization” by Nobel Panel Draws Criticism

Fox News – Obama Doesn't Deserve the Peace Prize

Geez... I tell you...

He doesn't get any respect.

Why is the American press so unhappy with Obama's success?

The truth is; President Obama hasn't really done much yet. We're still in Iraq. There are more troops in Afghanistan now. And we still could end up at war with Iran.

But then again; if you listen closely to what the Nobel presenter said, Obama has done something altogether extraordinary – nothing (a fascist government would do).

As I have mentioned in a previous blog entry; the United States was slipping into fascism during the Bush years. President Barack Obama put a stop to that.

Yes, the verdict is still out.

Yes, we still have a long way to go.

But for a while, America was well on the way to fascism. And now we are not.

Amazingly, some Americans have associated Obama with Hitler. But the rest of the world knows better. President Obama has, at least for a while, kept a new Hitler from rising in America.

Thank you, President Barack Obama!

...And why are so many American news reports so negative? Follow the money... It is very likely that some of those who own the mass media stood to profit immensely from America's demise as a Democratic Republic.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

Americans admire honesty, responsibility, and bravery.

We're desperate for heroes.

So, why are these qualities so rare in Washington?

We know the answer.

Because heroes don't often last long.

So; it's exhilarating when we do see someone in Washington taking a stand (which everyone should be taking).

These are the type of elected representatives we want. The American people want officials who have the will to stand up and speak the truth. We're tired of lies. We're tired of the ruthless getting richer. We're tired of our future being destroyed.

Americans overwhelmingly voted for President Obama hoping that he could be our hero. As we have now seen, he's only going to stick his neck out so far without millions of us to back him up (or push him). Even as the President of the United States, there's only so much Obama can do. We need the Senate and House to stand up for us too. And it isn't happening.

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Capitalism should not mean legislation to the highest bidder.

Americans are sick and tired of practically evil sell-out Republicans and wimpy sell-out Democrats. If this keeps up, 2010 will be the year of the Third Party.

Our system is not working right:

• Over 44,000 people in America die annually because they lack health insurance!

• The Lupus Foundation of America reports that there hasn't been a new drug approved for the treatment of this deadly disease in 50 years!

• When it comes to regulating the toxicity of chemicals, the US lags so far behind Europe we have become dependent upon their regulations to protect us!

• We're still in two unnecessary “wars,” working on three!

• The 2008 $750 Billion bailout (TARP) was a flop – or more likely a scam! And there still hasn't been legislation written to reinstate the Glass/Steagall regulations!

We need heros – now!

And a few people have stepped up – sometimes under unusual circumstances.

It is disgusting that for years now, the likes of Karl Rove have gone after an organization like ACORN – with the obvious intent of keeping poor people from voting – and they've been getting away with it. Karl Rove seems to even have gotten away with the mass firing of US Attorneys – for not prosecuting ACORN.

In this travesty, there is a ray of real hope. The “ACORN Standard” for policing federal expenditures just might get used on some real criminals – unscrupulous federal contractors.

Senator Bernie Sanders recently said; "The sad truth of the matter is that virtually every major defense contractor in this country has, for a period of many years, been engaged in systemic, illegal, and fraudulent behavior, while receiving hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money."

Thank you Senator Sanders. We just might see some improved standards for Government contractors – if we step up and support what few heroes we do have in Washington.

The brutal reality in America's government is that a candidate can't get elected these days without piles of dollars to support their campaign.

Our politicians have just adapted to their environment...

It's time to change their environment.

All we have to do is NOT vote for the candidates with the big contributions from the usual suspects. In a very short time, we'll see a different group, with a far better agenda.

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.

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.