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23 May 2005 @ 17:33, by raypows. Farming
Mother Earth News: Organic Seeds Are Becoming More Available
An article in the current issue of Mother Earth News reports that organic and heirloom variety garden seeds are becoming more widely available.
There's an increase in the number of specialty companies that focus on organic or heirloom vegetable seed, and large, mainstream seed companies are now adding some of these products to their offerings. The article features some seed company veterans and newcomers, discussing their offerings and operations, and offers an "Honor Roll" of sustainable seed companies.
Finding Great Garden Seeds
More >
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22 May 2005 @ 19:28, by vaxen. Economics, Financing, Banking
CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, UNLAWFUL CONVERSION, AND TREASON
On May 23, 1933, Congressman Louis T. McFadden brought formal charges against the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank system, The Comptroller of the Currency and the Secretary of United States Treasury for numerous criminal acts, including but not limited to, CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, UNLAWFUL CONVERSION, AND TREASON.
The petition for Articles of Impeachment was thereafter referred to the Judiciary Committee and has YET TO BE ACTED ON. More >
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 22 May 2005 @ 18:15, by jmarc. Broadcasting, Media
Because everybody needs free music More >
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 21 May 2005 @ 06:00, by skookum. Ideas, Creativity
Photo (c) 5-2005 Marissa A Spencer
The degree of the sweet joys of life I imagine are determined partly by the events in our lives and partly in our perceptions and attitudes of them. More >
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20 May 2005 @ 12:08, by vector8. Spirituality
"You bring me joy
When I'm down
Oh, so much joy
When I lose my way your love comes smiling on me" Anita Baker More >
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 19 May 2005 @ 16:12, by jerryvest. Medicine, Healthcare
In my previous log I introduced holistic health care practices that I teach in my classes for the US Army, for my university and for prisons and detention centers.
I find that by maintaining a daily health routine, my life, health, and relationships are more balanced. I developed a routine over several years of experimenting with lots of exercises and programs and have now narrowed it down to a few very effective activities.
I start my day with Master Level Exercise-Arica Psychocalisthenics by Oscar Ichazo. These 23 exercises are coordinated with the breath so I find that they balance the body, mind and emotions while also giving me the vitality to maintain high levels of fitness. I follow this practice with some yoga exercises and some movements that I learned from tai chi and quigong or specifically, The Kath State - The Energy of Inner Fire, also designed by Oscar Ichazo. Following these exercises, I sit in meditation for 30 minutes to calm and quiet my mind in the morning and evening.
I also receive a body massage and acupuncture treatments regularly and engage in a 15-Minute StressOut Program several times during the week. I enjoy lots of physical activity so I ride my bike, play golf and take walks with my dogs as well.
I have learned that by maintaining a routine of daily activities throughout the week, it helps build and maintain determination or willpower needed for living in a society that is so scattered and out-of-balance.
As a professional and teacher I have also found that our students appreciate and trust us when we practice what we teach.
Recently, while turning 70 years of age, I discovered that I have prostate cancer and arthritis, especially noticable in my 4th & 5th lower vertabrae. I have thoroughly appreciated the help and support from my family, Dave Chitick, our NewCiv community, especially the interaction with Richard(jassoLog) who shares my plight and experience with prostate cancer. I am in the process of receiving treatment for the prostate and plan to have a speedy recovery.
I am particularly interested in introducing a helpful tool for persons who have back problems in this article. I read in a journal that over 70% of our adult population have back problems. I've recently become part of this back pain group. It is even hard for me to believe that I have back problems with all of the health practices that I have been engaged in for over 40 years; however, some of it can be attributed to farm labor as a child, heavy lifting and some of my athletic activities that I have enjoyed throughout my life. Also, my mother, sister and three brothers inherited arthritis so I am not feeling alone with this pain.
The Inversion Table -- a spacy experience
Recently, I purchased an Inversion Table that has given me complete relief from the back pain and am now able to resume all of my activities, including golf. (I strongly recommend that anyone purchasing this "hang up" table that you follow the instructions given in the video which are included with top-of-the-line tables.) There are many Inversion Tables available on many websites. Honest, I am not a representative of any company--only my own.
Some of the benefits include elongating the spine, increasing the space between the vertebrae, which relieves the pressure on discs, ligaments and nerve roots. In the literature that came with my F5000 inversion table, it is noted that "...Your heart must work against gravity to pump blood up to your brain, which is the body's largest consumer of oxygen. Inversion is a simple way to improve circulation to the upper body." Furthermore, they show their honesty about this experience..."Sometimes there's an explanation for why inversin works and sometimes there isn't." [link] [link]
On a higher note, after hanging with our head down, totally relaxed, our body-mind feels totally free. I put some headphones on and listen to some great music--Enigma-Wispering Spirits.
You can adjust the table's level and balance by moving your arms up or down. I enjoy this experience of finding my equilibrium and harmony while reversing my energies.
Following this hanging or floating experience, I disconnect myself from the foot clamps, I lie down on my mat and observe my body-mind-emotions all evaporating into space. Anyway, I'm sure that you long time meditators and yoga practitioners will love the "table". Hey, even beginners could benefit as this is a very safe and pleasurable way to relax our skeletal and muscular systems.
I now have another addition to my daily health routine and love every moment with this new treasure. Anyone interested in joining an Inversion Table support group, do let me know. :) More >
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17 May 2005 @ 10:04, by lugon. Environment, Ecology
Howtos are a good thing. Recipies, manuals, stories ...
I'm helping a small community. They want to grow a howto about recycling animal waste into biogas and compost and much more. Just imagine, where I live we (humans) are about 2 million people - all of us producing waste every day.
Now, how fast can changes go? Here's my bet: we'll have a working version of the howto by mid-august 2005, and there will be 100,000 hectares (about 200,000 acres) emerging from that before the end of 2005 (there are already other initiatives before the howto). It might be 10,000,000 hectares before the end of 2006. That's 100,000,000,000 square meters in all, or about 12 square meters per person for the whole Earth. Not a bad start.
And why? Because it pays. More >
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 16 May 2005 @ 21:36, by spells. Government, Public Sector
They Said It Couldn’t Happen Here
(But It IS)
(by anonymous author)
I was told at the age of five by my German refugee Grandmother, “Don’t you ever believe that it can’t happen here”. In the pre-Nazi era my family believed, like the majority of others, that because we lived in a democracy that was founded in a civilized world, that nothing like what was to come could even be imagined, let alone expected. They had all seen the warning signs of insanity and blind hatred, stirred to a war-fever pitch, but had chosen to deny them for the most part, until it was too late. The Germany of that time was a place of hopes for the future, as a nation amongst many peaceful neighbors in the world community. The first World War, the one that was supposed to, “end all wars”, was now a memory from which the world had supposedly learned its lessons. But that was not to be the case, as history proves. The attention span of the public is short, and memories are even shorter.
Today we witness the modern America with its supposed reputation for being a haven of “peace, justice and democracy” taking the foremost role as aggressor, tyrant and world bully. All this talk of “keeping world peace”, “defending freedom and democracy” through warring ways and the disintegration of our Bill of Rights and Constitution, amounts to one single endpoint…things are not as we are told on our televisions. Today we find that the world is not a very peaceful place, and this is largely, if not primarily due to the constant threats issued, and wars of aggression waged, by the United States. The entire world community is up in arms. Nervous fears of wars and grave international instability abound. World War III looms large on the immediate horizon. Open talks of nuclear attacks of one nation upon another, boasted by world leaders like the bold promises of retaliation made by any grade school bully, are the common rhetoric of international relations. The proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons is skyrocketing, as every country on Earth looks to the examples of Afghanistan and Iraq, and sees the possibility of their own demise, and are thus convinced that if they are not properly armed with such weapons, they will have no means to deter wars of aggression by imperial super-power governments. Once again the people of the world are faced with the dilemma of their own support for governments which flaunt their ability to end the human race forever. Once again the same plea by intellectuals and progressive people the world over go basically unheard, while madmen race to destroy each other for the sake of imperial ambitions of world domination, and the filling of bank accounts.
The parallels between Nazi Germany and the current United States are just too striking to ignore. Yet most people seem bent on ignoring them. This too is a parallel between 1933 and 2003. Many people ask of history and of the German people, “How could a population of people have allowed such an evil as Hitler to arise, when they saw it happening, step by step”? The answer is being re-written by history in this present day, right before our eyes. Because millions of people didn’t WANT to believe what was happening in Nazi Germany they didn’t live to see 1945. They didn’t offer any significant resistance to the Nazi party as it rose to power, preferring instead to cower helplessly at each new imposition of civil liberty erosion, arbitrary arrests, and martial law. They believed that they were citizens of a great country, one that was based on democratic principles and which would balance itself politically and socially, by not allowing extremists and fascists to take it over. But they were wrong. Those that stayed were either killed in their homes, died in concentration camps or hid in attics and basements for the duration of the war. Others simply joined the Nazis and became the oppressors, so that they in turn might not be oppressed. Neighbor turned against neighbor, children against parents, man against wife, sword against reason. Then it was called “the Jewish Problem”. Now it’s called “the War on Terror”, a conflict that is literally scheduled to last decades.
Those that did escape before the era of the concentration camps were forced to leave everything behind, assuming they were lucky enough to obtain a passport. All their possessions, titles, lands, homes and personal histories were wiped out. This was the plight of the German Jews and millions of others throughout Europe, and it is one of those moments in time which has repeated itself over and over again throughout recorded history. Yet through all these travails and trials at the hands of oppressors, how much did the people learn regarding the wrong use of power? How much did they learn from the holding of materialistic and ideologically selfish values, the very ones which have brought about most wars throughout the world? How many people have actually changed their values as reflected in an honest appraisal of society and a real change of lifestyle? Almost no one. If the present norms of American living and the actions of modern Israel are any indication, people have learned almost nothing. In the short span of 50 years, people have already forgotten the lessons history has to teach, and they fall yet again for the very same ploys of fascists and government criminals, who give excuses for war and injustice.
Even in the time of the Roman empire, Caesar was quoted as saying,
“Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war,
In order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor,
for patriotism is indeed a double edged sword.
It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind.
And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch
And the blood boils with hate
And the mind has closed, the leader will have no need of seizing
the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism,
will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so.
How do I know? For this is what I have done.
And I am Caesar.”
What had the people learned from the Nazi era? Almost nothing other than to say a great tragedy was committed, yet without any bother to explain WHY it happened to start with. Even at the age of five I could see that my family, which had remained Jewish, had not changed their values or their lifestyle in any way. In fact they held onto it even more. Their main focus was, as ever, the making of money and the holding of social status in a materialistic society, which values possessions and bank accounts far more than people or life. My family was quite wealthy in pre-Nazi Germany, with house servants, a mansion-like house, artwork, silver, jewelry, fine furniture and china, fur coats and all the modern conveniences. Rather than learning some needed life lessons about how greedy and selfish values are the very foundations for fascism and war, my family went about seeking another fortune soon after they arrived in the United States. Spiritual values were never sincerely discussed, only traditional, shallow rituals and obligatory motions. Never did they ever speak of WHY the Nazis rose to power, or how they held it despite their obvious levels of corruption, fraud and abuse. Never did they speak of what THEY did to prevent Nazi-ism from gaining and keeping its power over a large portion of the world. In essence, they did nothing at all to prevent it, and yet went on and on about what a horrible tragedy the whole affair was. They spoke of how much they lost, but rarely spoke of the reasons why so many suffered, or how many died, or what social changes were needed to keep it from happening again. To me these attitudes were and are tantamount to being uncaring about preventing or solving anything, and only engaging in more selfishness, by emphasizing what victims the poor Jews were.
It is more than noteworthy to realize that in these modern times, those most prone to agreeing with and paying for unprovoked wars of aggression, such as with Iraq, are those “good” religious people in the Jewish and Christian traditions. Just like abused children who become abusive parents, the descendants of concentration camp inmates and Roman persecution have become the proponents of mass murder, so long as they think that might benefit them in some selfish way. If this were not so, then these religious communities would have long ago expressed their extreme discomfort and outrage at the moral and spiritual atrocity being contemplated in the Middle East. And just like the Jews and Christians, American “patriots” imagine that they are in many ways better than anyone else, that they are the “chosen” people to rule the world. Like the Nazis’, many Americans think that God is clearly on their side, and that whatever they want as the, “superior race” is what the world should immediately give, or face the consequences of war and mass death. Like early 1940’s Germany, America imagines that it can both make the rules by which the world should live, and simultaneously break them whenever it is convenient.
It’s a tried and true tactic of dictators everywhere, to pose false or even self-created threats to, “justify” the slaughtering of millions, to corrupt the due process of law, to excuse torture, the arbitrary cancellation of international treaties, the daily telling of the most bald-faced lies in the media and the imprisonment of anyone who might disagree. But people refuse to learn. In time they themselves become the aggressors and the fascists, through the holding of those very same corrupt and greedy values of, “my advantage before yours” mentality. Through their fear and their narrow minded selfishness they create yet again the repetition of the tragedies of history, in the name of patriotism and national self-protection.
In Nazi Germany fascism started with the public persecution of intellectuals, thinkers, artists and those of alternative politics, with the government doing everything in its “legal” power to sweep away all resistance to its own corruption and hypocrisy. Then there was the passing of legislation which increasingly made dissent of all kinds a grave offense against the, “best interests of the people” and in the name of, “patriotism”. In this way fascism was “legalized”. After this there was the ominous build-up of both military and domestic police forces to “enforce” the “law” and discourage anyone “radical” and “unpatriotic” enough to voice any significant opposition to government policy. At the end Nazi facism engaged in the widespread round-up, imprisonment and extermination of the Jews and anyone else who opposed them. What is the relevance of this to the modern day? These are exactly the trends we see set in motion through such legislature as the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, the gutting of the national treasury for the sake of private, corporate benefit, widespread government corruption, utter contempt for real democratic process, the rigging of elections, the huge enlargement of the prison system and population, the continuous erosion of civil liberties and the due process of law. Worst of all, we find that the American public has become too brainwashed by the media, (and particularly the television which the Nazis didn’t have) to understand what is really going on, or even really care.
To quote the proposed articles of “Patriot Act 2” the following provisions are likely to be pushed through congress;
From [link],1250,BDC_2489_1738465,00.html
Whereas the First Patriot Act only gutted the First, Third, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and seriously damaged the Seventh and the Tenth, the Second Patriot Act reorganizes the entire Federal government as well as many areas of state government, under the dictatorial control of the Justice Department, the Office of Homeland Security and the FEMA NORTHCOM military command. The Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, also known as the Second Patriot Act is by its very structure the definition of dictatorship. I challenge all Americans to study the new Patriot Act and to compare it to the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Ninety percent of the act has nothing to do with terrorism and is instead a giant Federal power-grab with tentacles reaching into every facet of our society. It strips American citizens of all of their rights and grants the government and its private agents total immunity. Here is a quick thumbnail sketch of just some of the draconian measures encapsulated within this tyrannical legislation:
SECTION 501 (Expatriation of Terrorists) expands the Bush administration's "enemy combatant" definition to all American citizens who "may" have violated any provision of
Section 802 of the first Patriot Act. (Section 802 is the new definition of domestic terrorism, and the definition is "any action that endangers human life that is a violation of any Federal or State law.") Section 501 of the second Patriot Act directly connects to
Section 125 of the same act. The Justice Department boldly claims that the incredibly broad Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act isn't broad enough and that a new, unlimited definition of terrorism is needed.
Under Section 501 a US citizen engaging in lawful activities can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a van never to be seen again. The Justice Department states that they can do this because the person "had inferred from conduct" that they were not a US citizen. Remember Section 802 of the First USA Patriot Act states that any violation of Federal or State law can result in the "enemy combatant" terrorist designation.
SECTION 201 of the second Patriot Act makes it a criminal act for any member of the government or any citizen to release any information concerning the incarceration or whereabouts of detainees. It also states that law enforcement does not even have to tell the press who they have arrested and they never have to release the names.
SECTION 301 and 306 (Terrorist Identification Database) set up a national database of "suspected terrorists" and radically expand the database to include anyone associated with suspected terrorist groups and anyone involved in crimes or having supported any group designated as "terrorist." These sections also set up a national DNA database for anyone on probation or who has been on probation for any crime, and orders State governments to collect the DNA for the Federal government.
SECTION 312 gives immunity to law enforcement engaging in spying operations against the American people and would place substantial restrictions on court injunctions against Federal violations of civil rights across the board. SECTION 101 will designate individual terrorists as foreign powers and again strip them of all rights under the "enemy combatant" designation.
SECTION 102 states clearly that any information gathering, regardless of whether or not those activities are illegal, can be considered to be clandestine intelligence activities for a foreign power. This makes news gathering illegal.
SECTION 103 allows the Federal government to use wartime martial law powers domestically and internationally without Congress declaring that a state of war exists.
SECTION 106 is bone-chilling in its straightforwardness. It states that broad general warrants by the secret FSIA court (a panel of secret judges set up in a star chamber system that convenes in an undisclosed location) granted under the first Patriot Act are not good enough. It states that government agents must be given immunity for carrying out searches with no prior court approval. This section throws out the entire Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.
SECTION 109 allows secret star chamber courts to issue contempt charges against any individual or corporation who refuses to incriminate themselves or others. This sections annihilate the last vestiges of the Fifth Amendment.
SECTION 110 restates that key police state clauses in the first Patriot Act were not sunsetted and removes the five year sunset clause from other subsections of the first Patriot Act. After all, the media has told us: "this is the New America. Get used to it. This is forever."
SECTION 111 expands the definition of the "enemy combatant" designation. SECTION 122 restates the government's newly announced power of "surveillance without a court order."
SECTION 123 restates that the government no longer needs warrants and that the investigations can be a giant dragnet-style sweep described in press reports about the Total Information Awareness Network. One passage reads, "thus the focus of domestic surveillance may be less precise than that directed against more conventional types of crime." *Note: Over and over again, in subsection after subsection, the second Patriot Act states that its new Soviet-type powers will be used to fight international terrorism, domestic terrorism and other types of crimes. Of course the government has already announced in Section 802 of the first USA Patriot act that any crime is considered domestic terrorism.
SECTION 126 grants the government the right to mine the entire spectrum of public and private sector information from bank records to educational and medical records. This is the enacting law to allow ECHELON and the Total Information Awareness Network to break down any and all walls of privacy. The government states that they must look at everything to "determine" if individuals or groups might have a connection to terrorist groups. As you can now see, you are guilty until proven innocent.
SECTION 127 allows the government to takeover coroners' and medical examiners' operations whenever they see fit. See how this is like Bill Clinton's special medical examiner he had in Arkansas that ruled that people had committed suicide when their arms and legs had been cut off.
SECTION 128 allows the Federal government to place gag orders on Federal and State Grand Juries and to take over the proceedings. It also disallows individuals or organizations to even try to quash a Federal subpoena. So now defending yourself will be a terrorist action.
SECTION 129 destroys any remaining whistleblower protection for Federal agents.
SECTION 202 allows corporations to keep secret their activities with toxic biological, chemical or radiological materials.
SECTION 205 allows top Federal officials to keep all their financial dealings secret, and anyone investigating them can be considered a terrorist. This should be very useful for Dick Cheney to stop anyone investigating Haliburton.
SECTION 303 sets up national DNA database of suspected terrorists. The database will also be used to "stop other unlawful activities." It will share the information with state, local and foreign agencies for the same purposes.
SECTION 311 federalizes your local police department in the area of information sharing.
SECTION 313 provides liability protection for businesses, especially big businesses that spy on their customers for Homeland Security, violating their privacy agreements. It goes on to say that these are all preventative measures - has anyone seen Minority Report? This is the access hub for the Total Information Awareness Network.
SECTION 321 authorizes foreign governments to spy on the American people and to share information with foreign governments.
SECTION 322 removes Congress from the extradition process and allows officers of the Homeland Security complex to extradite American citizens anywhere they wish. It also allows Homeland Security to secretly take individuals out of foreign countries.
SECTION 402 is titled "Providing Material Support to Terrorism." The section reads that there is no requirement to show that the individual even had the intent to aid terrorists.
SECTION 403 expands the definition of weapons of mass destruction to include any activity that affects interstate or foreign commerce.
SECTION 404 makes it a crime for a terrorist or "other criminals" to use encryption in the commission of a crime.
SECTION 408 creates "lifetime parole" (basically, slavery) for a whole host of crimes.
SECTION 410 creates no statute of limitations for anyone that engages in terrorist actions or supports terrorists. Remember: any crime is now considered terrorism under the first Patriot Act.
SECTION 411 expands crimes that are punishable by death. Again, they point to Section 802 of the first Patriot Act and state that any terrorist act or support of terrorist act can result in the death penalty.
SECTION 421 increases penalties for terrorist financing. This section states that any type of financial activity connected to terrorism will result to time in prison and $10-50,000 fines per violation. S
ECTIONS 427 sets up asset forfeiture provisions for anyone engaging in terrorist activities. There are many other sections that I did not cover in the interest of time. The American people were shocked by the despotic nature of the first Patriot Act. The second
Patriot Act dwarfs all police state legislation in modern world history. ---
*********
On top of all this, the current national debt now runs at the astronomical figure of 6.4 Trillion dollars. See this excerpt from;
[link]
demonstrating the criminal and unaccountable nature of the current American regime. A total lack of accountability on the part of state and federal law makers as to the reasons WHY the budgets are so indebted and imbalanced, is considered common place. Not only do government officials offer no logical explanation why the richest economy in the world is so in debt, they rarely offer any explanation at all. Nor do a sheep-like American public demand one…
Government Hits $6.4 Trillion Debt Limit
Thu Feb 20,11:18 AM ET
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON - Replaying a drama from last year, the government is once again bumping against the debt limit of $6.4 trillion and the Treasury Department (news - web sites) has begun taking evasive actions to prevent an unprecedented default on the national debt.
Treasury Secretary John Snow informed leaders of Congress on Wednesday that the government would reach the borrowing limit on Thursday and he would begin pulling investments out of a $48 billion government pension fund to make room for normal public borrowing auctions.
In a reference to the looming possibility of a war with Iraq, Snow urged Congress to act without delay to raise the borrowing limit.
**********
In a contemptuous and completely routine manner, President Bush effectually stated that the protests of the people mean nothing to him, and wont change his policies of aggression in the slightest. This is not democracy, it is dictatorship.
Bush Shrugs Off Global Antiwar Protests
By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) on Tuesday shrugged off global protests against a possible U.S.-led war with Iraq and the White House said a new U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing military force could be proposed this week.
In a huge wave of demonstrations not seen since the Vietnam War, more than 6 million peace protesters took to the streets in 600 towns and cities from Cape Town to Chicago on Saturday.
Bush told reporters that "democracy is a beautiful thing and people are allowed to express their opinion" but that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) is a risk to peace.
"Evidently some in the world don't view Saddam as a risk to peace. I respectfully disagree," Bush said.
********
Additionally, the current U.S. government works to;
1) continually erode all environmental protections and international treaties for the sake of corporate profits.
2) Provide arms and weapons of mass destruction to countries around the world, as the biggest supplier of these materials the world has ever known. [This includes Iraq in the 1980’s, which the U.S. supplied such materials to during the Iran-Iraq war.]
3) Encourage cut-throat economic practices that are designed to strangle the third world with debt, and create sweat shop labor for the sake of corporate profits. To undercut the economies of developed nations, rather than seeking to cooperate with them.
4) Threaten the international community with war or economic measures in the event that they seek to act in any way that is contrary to Washington’s demands, through the use of “pre-emptive” war, nuclear weapons and trade sanctions. Recent dealings with NATO and the UN prove this point beyond a doubt.
5) Bribe foreign officials with the tax money of American citizens, so as to achieve their political and imperial aims, such as in the case of the “foreign aid package” now being offered to Turkey, in exchange for its’ compliance as an Iraq battle-front.
6) Usurp and otherwise install puppet regimes throughout Central and South America, for the sake of exploiting those country’s natural resources.
7) Silencing dissenting voices through the cancellation of funding to universities and other public institutions, who express their discontent with foreign and domestic policy. This includes the making of death threats and firing of professors, and the disbanding of student groups who are vocal about opposing imperialism. It also includes a strong measure of increasing police brutality at peacefully organized protests.
8) Pass legislation which is transparently geared to give free handouts, such as enormous tax breaks and legal loopholes to big business, even in the midst of the biggest national budget crisis in history, while simultaneously forcing states to raise their taxes as a burden to the people.
9) Impose an increasingly police-state version of martial law, in the huge bloating of “law enforcement” beaurocracies, such as the DEA, Homeland Security, the FBI, the CIA and a whole host of minor agencies, all working to keep the public under their imperial thumb. The United States already has the largest per capita prison population in the world, and there is every indication that they intend to build even more prisons, and imprison even more people.
10) Maintain a nearly air-tight control of the major media, on television, radio, magazines and newspapers.
11) Spend by far the most money for the military than any country ever known, and whose total exceeds the military budgets of the next 12 largest countries in the world COMBINED. This expense is in excess of 500 billion dollars a year, and constantly growing.
12) Create laws designed to be followed only by the great mass of the working public, who are under that threshold of economic status known as, “the ultra rich” or “wealthy elite”. Such laws do not apply to the rich, nor do they apply to the United States government. This government has made it perfectly clear that it is bound by no laws at all, or only those which are deemed momentarily convenient, for the sake of domestic or international advantage.
13) Creating programs like “TIPS” which encourage people to spy on each other, to report any “suspicious behavior”. This where the guy who reads your electric meter can look into your window and report you for having politically incorrect books on your bookshelf, or where the person sitting next to you on an airplane doesn’t like the comment you just made about the government, or that you simply “look nervous”.
*********
It takes no great leap of logic or intuition to conclude that the American government has been taken over by big-money interests, who are little more than glorified mobsters. These ring leaders of organized crime create laws that seem to justify their criminal negligence, but which any logical analysis of their activities will reveal as quite illegal. The current “budget deficit” is a perfect example. Although the average person is required to show where and how they spend their money, and to balance their books in order for taxes to be paid, no such requirement is made of the government. In fact, the U.S. government couldn’t possibly show an honest account of its books, since it’s spending practices are thoroughly illegal and fraudulent. How else can one conclude, given that we are supposedly strongest economy and richest nation in the world, but at the same time have the biggest public debt ever known, to the tune of 6.4 Trillion dollars? Where has all this money been squandered? No one can clearly say, least of all the corrupt politicians running the show.
The fact is, the United States is already broke, and that it’s money has been siphoned off in leech-like fashion by private interests, such as the major corporations of the world. The treasury of America is basically insolvent, since it owes more than it can realistically repay for decades to come. No business could hope to operate in such an inefficient and fraudulent manner, but since the government is little more than a parasite infecting the labors of the people, it carries on, and with each year that passes more debts are added to the backs of the working class. When will the last straw break the camels’ back, both here at home, and abroad in foreign policy? Who knows. But what is certain is that this current state of affairs cannot possibly last much longer, and MUST simply collapse due to sheer corruption and wrong spending values.
The fact that America is already broke is not the main issue in the minds of the international community at present, which is why foreign nations still treat the dollar as a valid form of exchange. The dollar is essentially worthless. But what goes as a surrogate for worth is the fact that the world views America’s international influence as the standard for the world economy. Why is this so? It’s because the U.S. military still holds the primary power-position in world events. Given this, the world fears what the international bully might do to THEM next, and so, is intimidated into complying with the idea that the dollar is the standard currency by which all things monetary are judged. This is the true and underlying reason behind the U.S. military build-up and the “War on Terror” that has been carried to the world. It is also the secret reason why the Department of Homeland Security has been so amplified, so as to keep the probable revolts of the American citizenry in check, as more and more needed social services are removed. Government leaders behind the scenes know that the whole economic mess is on the verge of collapse, and only military intimidation of the world can keep it from faltering completely.
Like pre-Nazi Germany, American corporate interests are on the verge of collapse, while the economy is being held up by the thread of an illusory “recovery”. Only the toils of the vast majority of wage-slave employees, are keeping the current machine sufficiently oiled to get by one more year at a time. Corporate America knows this and has invented the War on Terror as an excuse to invade and occupy one country after the next, particularly those with special resources and strategic positioning. And just like the Nazis they plan to destroy one country after the next in the most cold blooded fashion, all in the name of “national security” and “freedom”.
If you enjoy the thought of contributing to World War III, then by all means remain silent like the Jews were, prior to 1940. Or better yet, continue to be deluded by the idea that changing the system through “getting out the vote” or writing letters to Congress people is going to do any good, when the voting machines are rigged and most Senators are on the corporate payroll…
“Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war”….. More >
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 15 May 2005 @ 15:32, by ming. Communication
It seems to be an integral part of our culture that we're inundated with phony messages that pretend to be useful information, but that really isn't.
The way it works is often that the more loud and visible and important a message is presented to be, the more likely it is to be complete irrelevant junk.
That's obvious in my e-mail inbox. Any message that is marked as URGENT, IMPORTANT, READ IMMEDIATELY, or that has its priority flag set to high, is almost certainly worthless spam.
And the more a message is written with strange words in small print, trying to be invisible, the more likely it is that it is covering up something you actually ought to know.
Most products you buy come with voluminous pieces of text which serve no useful purpose other than legally covering the asses of whoever produced it. They're usually in the smallest possible font and in a language that is meant to discourage you from reading it. But it will state that it is very important that your read it carefully. The text will usually either outline some monstrous contract you're entering into by accepting this product, or it will outline a lot of horrible things that could happen to you if you use it. Both of which might or might not be important or useful. You can't easily know.
I don't know anybody who routinely reads all the Legal Notices, User Agreements, Terms of Use, etc that they're presented with. Even if, legally, they implicitly have agreed to a lot of stupid things when they clicked on OK, or took the shrinkwrap off a package. Like that you won't sue the company that made it, or they own everything you do with that product, or something.
If I buy a piece of equipment, like a computer, it is quite normal that it might come with a thick booklet, which is nothing but legal stuff, talking about nothing but radio interference and electrical standards, in a bunch of different languages, page after page after page. And that they actually altogether leave out the instructions for how to use the computer.
People who consume pharmaceutical drugs have gotten very used to going right past all the small print. Even if it is stated in the commercials. "Might cause irreparable kidney damage", "Has caused cancer in laboratory animals". They actually say that on TV in the commercial, but very quickly, in a voice that makes you tune it out. But they can legally claim that they told you, and you were warned, and it is your own fault.
Advertisements are of course full of misdirection and false information. That is, the message that actually is conveyed isn't the truth, and it isn't what you need, and it isn't what would actually be useful to you.
The advertiser can claim that they didn't do anything wrong. They just show you some beautiful or fun images and some nice words, and the legal stuff is covered in small print somewhere. The cigarette ad shows you the freshness of a mountain spring, or high society elegance and beautiful dresses, and if you somehow end up thinking that has something to do with cigarette smoking, and that you'll be cool and fresh if you smoke, they can say it's your own fault. And that they included the warnings they were supposed to. But none of those communications actually convey anything very useful.
If I buy pack of cigarettes, it carries a message in bold letters telling me I'll die painfully of Emphysema or something like that. Which isn't overly helpful if I plan on going home and smoking it. It might be more useful to tell me that if I get plenty of exercise, eat healthy, take extra anti-oxidants, and drink plenty of water, it might be a good idea. And, by the way, that I would probably be a good deal healthier if I didn't smoke, or I smoked less. There's not a word about that. It is either mountain fresh elegance or it is instant death. Both of which are untrue.
We supposedly operate in a free market economy where a lot of things should sort themselves out by market forces, by supply and demand, by many people making little decisions on values. And the theory is that the people who make economic decisions in principle are perfectly informed. I.e. they make the correct value decision based on their situation. So the price of bread or gasoline would sort itself out, and if something is too expensive one either produces more or alternatives emerge, and so forth.
The trouble with that is that a large amount of the available information is false. Most companies have a huge budget for producing false information, so it is usually the misleading stuff that is most prominent.
Ideally our economy would be a bit like ants operate. You walk around, and the other ants give you simple messages. There's food over there, the anthill is over there, we have some dead ants to remove over there, we've got eggs over here. That works great for ants. But for us humans it is unfortunately much more complex. And most of the messages are misleading. There's tasty and healthy food over there, there are good deals over there, sign this contract without reading it, you're gonna be beautiful, you're gonna die. Most of it isn't correct, and it is meant to trap you into somebody else's self-serving business plan or political agenda.
Even when authorities of various kinds try to be helpful, it rarely works well. Most company cars and trucks in the U.S. have a sticker on the back bumper that says "How's my driving? Call 1-800...". What the hell is that supposed to mean? Should I call that number and say "Your driving is fine, your cornering is a work of art". I think it is meant for reporting bad driving, but that's not what it says. Most elevators carry the same one sign that says something like "If this elevator fails to operate, don't be alarmed, press the button marked 'Alarm'". Hey, I'm going to press the button marked 'Alarm' exactly because I'm alarmed that I'm stuck in the elevator, not for any other strange reason. Who invented that awkward sentence?
We're surrounded by signs and messages. Colorful, bold, verbose communications that people have been paid for writing and manufacturing. But rarely do they actually say the things we need to know.
The only reasonable anti-dote I can think of, other than most of us somehow getting very educated in honest and effective communication, would be to overlay a collaborative grassroots information network on all of it. Which is the kind of stuff that tends to happen on the Internet, and which will become more prevalent as more technologies become available. You know, instead of relying on somebody's advertisement you research it on the net and find what other people are saying about that product or company. Instead of relying on the company telling you about their products, you rely on enthusiast communities that catalog everything that's worth knowing. Instead of just ignoring somebody's terms of purchase, you might run into an independently produced cleartext explanation of what they say. Instead of just believing what is the "cheapest" or the "best" from a colorful message, you access some comparative database that tells you so. Instead of relying on road signs, you look up the route on the net before you leave.
It is still a bit too much work to find it and access it. Ideally you should be able to bring up that kind of stuff instantly and anywhere. Which might come with location based services. You see a building and you click on it and hear what other people say that it is, rather than relying on the sign by the door. You see a product or a brand name, and you click on it and hear what information other people have gathered about it.
We might very well get to a point where most of the phony information becomes irrelevant, however expensively produced it is, because we bypass it right away. I.e. you never rely on it, but you instantly access an unbiased cleartext overview of what it is about. Nobody would buy a product based on its ad or its packaging in the store, because they would always know if it really is the best choice.
If we could do that well enough, a lot of otherwise well-established businesses would suddenly fail, because it would be clear that they aren't producing anything useful, and they can no longer cheat. But at the same time economic activity could operate at a much higher level, because more people would make more informed decisions, so value assessment and exchange would be more productive. More >
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15 May 2005 @ 11:02, by lemus. Philosophy
SPANNER TO SPIN AN ATOM
With a spanner to spin an atom,
A rocket to reach eternity, the
New millennium voyager
Stares at visions of discovery.
In antique words made long ago
Before there was any techno-science
How can anyone express the vision
Of this revealing knowledge?
The poet needs an alien tongue,
An extraterrestrial language
In which to descibe the revelation
Which far-seeing science has made.
Who can describe in any terrestrial tongue
The incomparable beauty of Orion's Nebula?
In any terrestrial tongue who can describe
The wonders of quasar and super nova?
In what words shall we capture the splendour
Of microscopic molecules, telescopic galaxies,
The strangeness of the quark, the charms of quanta?
Where can a poet find the words to tell
The scales between parsec and particle,
Billions and billionths measured,
Between vast intergalactic spaces
And microscopic nanometers?
Mathematics is the language of science
But equations do not speak to the heart.
Science is a cold objective art
But we are warm-hearted humans.
With the power to split atoms apart
And to send rockets into space,
We need the words to invoke our awe,
Science as true revelation.
Have you seen the double helix?
Have you seen a foetus in the womb?
Have you seen the rings of Jupiter?
Have you seen our Earth from space?
It is not a case of theoretical equations,
Not a matter of complex hypotheses,
Nor a question of expert opinion:
It's the passion of your human heart.
In ancient days prophets prophesied,
Creating scripture's revelation.
The revelation is now written in
A new language of divinity.
The universe is no less divine today
Though not inhabited by the ancient gods.
Life revealed by science is no less sacred
Than it was to Moses or the Buddha.
Machines have revealed new wonders,
But even machines with eyes are blind.
Only in the human heart will be discovered
The new vision revealed by science.
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