FRONT PAGE - Archive File - 06-16-08  to  10-29-08

My assessment of American politics today
A quote...."October 28, 2008 "Information Clearinghouse - -- On one side of our struggle is normal American imperialist conservatism represented not by McCain, but by Obama. These are the forces of the old constitutional business republic which the USA has been for some two hundred years. (We euphemistically call this elite business republic a "democracy" which of course it is not. A democracy is a republic where the free members of society exercise the authority of government. This is not the USA in which government has always represented business, capital, the owning or ruling class, never the vast majority of people in society, the people.) -- On the other side of this political contest are forces that can be described with justice in many different terms: the extreme right, corporatist, Wall St. thieves and black mailers, thugs, international pirates, the military-industrial complex, militarists, the prison-industrial complex, totalitarians, liars, or fascists."

What Do They Have to Do to Lose Your Vote? -The Trail of Broken Promises
A quote...."Watching the Democrats in the final weeks of the presidential election has been a lesson in revisionist history. While they lament the terrible crimes perpetrated against the American people by George Bush and vow to keep fighting for our rights, they conveniently gloss over the fact that they have no standing to make such claims. Indeed, the Democrats, including Senator Barack Obama, have actually voted with President Bush’s agenda, making them complicit in his acts, not valiant opponents defending our liberties."

The Elections and the Responsibility of the Intellectual to Speak Truth to Power
A quote...."The presidential elections in the US, once again, provide an acid test of the integrity and consequential conduct of US intellectuals. If it is the duty and responsibility of the public intellectual to speak truth to power, the recent statements of most of our well-known and prestigious public pundits have failed miserably. Instead of highlighting, exposing and denouncing the reactionary foreign and domestic policies of Democratic Party candidate Senator Barack Obama, they have chosen to support him, 'critically, offering as excuses that even 'limited differences’ can result in positive outcomes,and that 'Obama is the lesser evil’ and 'creates an opportunity for a possibility of change.’

It's All Caught on Videotape Colin Powell, Not Qualified for Government Service
A quote...."Barack Obama would like to bring Colin Powell into his new administration. But Americans consider Powell only marginally more credible than how the rest of the world views him, and the rest of the world thinks he lies like a rug. Powell either wholeheartedly backed the biggest crime thus far this century, or he secretly opposed it but worked to make it happen anyway. I'm not sure which is worse, but either disqualifies him for future office." -- Also posted at CounterPunch
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We Have Met the Terrorists....And They Are Us - 10-27-08 - mpg
When Will They Stop Pretending? - 10-25-08 - mpg

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What “incredibly tough” foreign policy actions is Obama preparing?
False Flag Warning - Gulf of Tonkin Redux Warning -- A quote..."In remarks made over the weekend in Seattle, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden warned that Barack Obama, if elected president, would be compelled to take deeply unpopular actions in both domestic and foreign policy within months of taking office."  -- For more on this issue see....They're Going to do "It" Again

America Loses Its Dominant Economic Role
A quote...."The banking crisis is upending American dominance of the financial markets and world politics. The industrialized countries are sliding into recession, the era of turbo-capitalism is coming to an end and US military might is ebbing. Still, this is no time to gloat. -- There are days when all it takes is a single speech to illustrate the decline of a world power. A face can speak volumes, as can the speaker's tone of voice, the speech itself or the audience's reaction. Kings and queens have clung to the past before and humiliated themselves in public, but this time it was merely a United States president. -- Or what is left of him." -- If only it would lead to a graceful end of the New Roman Empire and the restoration of the United States of America.  But it won't, the wealthy elites who have totally insulated themselves from the economic calamity that will result from their ongoing and ceaseless attempts to prop up this unholy empire will not stop until the entire system collapses.  It's the way they think, it's in their blood, and it’s what they are. - mpg

A political farce, not a debate
A quote...."Wednesday’s nationally televised encounter between Barack Obama and John McCain was less a debate than a ritualized episode of a peculiarly American form of political theater. -- The two candidates, both multi-millionaire representatives of the upper crust of American society, shared the stage with another multi-millionaire, an aging TV anchorman who confined the subjects and questions to the banal and predictable, excluding anything that would call into question the overarching right-wing framework of the discussion. (Where in this debate, for instance, was there a question on the latest figures showing that 28 countries have a lower infant mortality rate than the US, or on the growth in the number of working poor, or on the plunge towards bankruptcy of state and local governments?)"

Zero: An Investigation Into 9-11
Prt1 - Prt2 - Prt3 - Prt4 - Prt5 - Prt6 -Prt7 - Prt8 - Prt9 - Prt10 - Prt11
Videos -- (YouTube - aprox 10 min each - Added:  July 26, 2008)
A quote...."ZERO: An Investigation into 9/11, has one central thesis - that the official version of the events surrounding the attacks on 9/11 can not be true. This brand new feature documentary from Italian production company Telemaco explores the latest scientific evidence and reveals dramatic new witness testimony, which directly conflicts with the US Government's account." -- For more on this issue see....9/11 & It's Fallout - Videos

9/11 Blueprint for Truth presented by Architect Richard Gage, AIA
(Google - 120 min  - Oct 31, 2007)
Video - From the history file - A quote...."Oct 31, 2007 -- 9/11 Blueprint for Truth: The Architecture of Destruction Commercial architect Richard Gage (founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth) presents a watertight case for controlled demolition of the three steel-building collapses at the World Trade Center, New York on 9/11/01. Includes physicist Steven Jones' updated evidence of thermite. Gage's website, www.ae911truth.org, is rapidly drawing building and engineering professionals to the 9/11 movement." -- See also....Speaking Engagements -- For more on this issue see....9/11 - WTC7 & 9/11 & It's Fallout - Videos

Keynesianism's Last Stand
A quote...."

The new Keynesianism is Keynesianism for bankers. The logic of the new version is this:

1. Banks lend to businesses.
2. Banks lend to other banks.
3. Loss of confidence by bankers regarding bankers has shut down the international credit markets.
4. Governments must run deficits to bail out banks.
5. Central banks should expand the monetary base to liquify frozen banking assets.
6. Banks will then lend to businesses.
7. Businesses will employ workers (consumers).
8. Any government money to consumers will be minimal.

This is the Keynesian version of what used to be ridiculed by liberals as trickle-down economics. It is hailed today as the solution to the credit crisis. The $700 billion bailout of the banks in the United States and the weekend bailout of European banks by European governments constitute the largest Keynesian stimulus package in history. But it was a stimulus of a unique kind: to bail out banks.. -- bold/underline by website editor. -- This is totally spot on point, tax the little guy, or worse, since he doesn't have any money, borrow from everyone, than give the money to the big guys....it's voodoo-reaganomics all over again. - mpg

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The God That Failed: The 30-Year Lie of the Market Cult
A quote...."Perhaps the most striking fact revealed by the global financial crash -- or rather, by the reaction to it -- is the staggering, astonishing, gargantuan amount of money that the governments of the world have at their command. -- In just a matter of days, we have seen literally trillions of dollars offered to the financial services sector by national treasuries and central banks across the globe. Britain alone has put $1 trillion at the disposal of the bankers, traders, lenders and speculators; and this has been surpassed by the total package of public money that Washington is shoveling into the financial furnaces of Wall Street and the banks. These radical efforts are being replicated on a slightly smaller scale in France, Germany, Italy, Russia and many other countries.

The Crushing Potential of Financial Derivatives
Financial Alert -- A quote...."George Soros, one of the world's foremost investor-speculators, has said many times that he stays away from financial derivatives because “no one understands them”. In the world of finance, derivatives might be comparable to the theoretical study of linear particle acceleration in nuclear physics. Such theories appear to be “understood” mainly based on current assumptions accepted in academic circles, often with little provable working knowledge of how such currently-held theories might ultimately manifest themselves over the long run in the real world. The problem with assumptions is that they generally change…often sooner than we think."

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The True Axis of Evil - 10-10-08 - mpg

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Behind the panic: Financial warfare over the future of global bank power
Some quotes...."There is serious ground to believe that US Goldman Sachs ex CEO Henry Paulson, as Treasury secretary, is not stupid. There is also serious ground to believe that he is actually moving according to a well-thought-out long-term strategy. Events as they are now unfolding in the EU tend to confirm that. As one senior European banker put it to me in private discussion, ‘There is an all-out war going on between the United States and the EU to define the future face of European banking.’" -- "Knowing that at a certain juncture the pyramid of trillions of dollars of dubious subprime and other high risk home mortgage-based securities would come falling down, they apparently determined to spread the so-called ‘toxic waste’ ABS securities as globally as possible, in order to seduce the big global banks of the world, most especially of the EU, into their honey trap." -- See also....Debt Doesn't Matter When the Rubes Pay 02-29-08 - mpg

Just think about it this way, the "Savings & Loan" crisis of 1982 and the fall of the US housing market (caused by the exact same financial mechanics as has occurred in the current crisis, debt instruments like junk bonds, etc., unsupported by any real underlying economic assets or fundamentals) took about two and a half years to reach bottom and resulted in 800 bank failures.  This crisis, which is greater by an order of magnitude or two, is only one year old and has so far resulted in just 10 bank failures....we have a very, very, long way to go. - mpg

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The Kingdom of Leprosy - 10-07-08 - mpg
The Dollar's Spike - 10-06-08 - mpg

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Dennis Kucinich on the Democrats’ Bailout Betrayal
A quote...." The passing of the $850-billion bailout pulled the plug on the  New Deal. The  Great Society  is now gasping for air, mortally wounded, coughing up blood. It will not recover. It was murdered by the Democratic Party. -- We are on our own. And don’t expect any help from Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who lobbied hard for the bill and voted for it. Ignore their rhetoric. Look coldly at the ballots they cast against us. We, as citizens, have only a handful of representatives left in Washington, most of whom were left sputtering in rage and frustration on the House floor. The sad irony is that some of them were Republican."

The New American Century: Cut Short By 92 Years
A quote...."02/10/08 'ICH" -- - America's time as a superpower is coming to an end. The financial crisis was just the last straw. Whatever good faith was left after the invasion of Iraq, the shrugging off of international treaties and the shameless disregard for human rights, is now gone. The United States has polluted the global economic system with worthless mortgage-backed securities and, by doing so, has pushed 6 billion people closer to a long and painful recession. That's not something that can be easily forgiven."

Three-Card Capitalists: The Financial Disappearing Act of 2008
A quote...."The financial markets are in a crisis of confidence because the US government is debasing its currency and stiffing its creditors. Uncle Sam is a deadbeat and the world knows it. The world is worrying what to do about the useless paper it's holding. That's what the panic is about. -- It's a strange day when Barry Goldwater and the Chinese Communists are in agreement ....And they are both right." -- For more on this issue see....Debt Doesn't Matter When the Rubes Pay 02-29-08 - mpg

The Current Crisis: A Socialist Perspective
A quote...."The fundamental relationship between capitalist states and financial markets cannot be understood in terms of how much or little regulation the former puts upon the latter. It needs to be understood in terms of the guarantee the state provides to property, above all in the form of the promise not to default on its bonds – which are themselves the foundation of financial markets' role in capital accumulation."

The Facts Speak For Themselves - posted at 911Truth dot Org
A quote...."Before I begin, I would like to say that theorizing about what happened on 9/11, when you're not being given answers to your questions about that day by the people who SHOULD be able to do so, is PERFECTLY normal. As is suspecting that the reason these answers aren't being given is "sinister" in nature. As Ray McGovern said, "for people to dismiss these questioners as "conspiratorial advocates", or "conspiratorial theorists"... that's completely out of line because the... The questions remain because the President who should be able to answer them, WILL NOT." When you think about everything this Administration has done in almost 8 years, the idea that they might not be giving us the answers we seek because of something "sinister" is not crazy. In fact, it's the most logical conclusion one can come to at this point. After seven plus years of obfuscation, spin, lies, and cover-ups regarding the 9/11 attacks, it is unavoidable to think that criminal complicity is the reason why."

A Nation of Jerks? Culpably Accepting of Basic Dishonesty and of Unscrupulous Big Shots
A quote...."For it is quite easy to discount the suffering of Iraqis, Somalis, Afghanis, or earlier, the Vietnamese, along with the poor half of mankind who live on less than two dollars a day, but quite difficult to stomach discomfort of Americans in America. And so this complete bailout of corporations and banks becomes a 'real damn shame'. Its just too close to home. -- However there is something silly about Americans belatedly directing their outrage solely at its elected government leaders and their corporate finance buddies, as if Americans nationwide were pure and innocent children victimized by a big bad world; if America is big and bad, it is Americans that have made it that way."

Robert Fisk: ‘The Middle East Is Not a Complex Place’ - Telling it like it is. - mpg
Video Interview - A quote...."Truthdig interviews Robert Fisk -- The acclaimed journalist stopped by our offices this week, where he told Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer that the Middle East is a lot less puzzling than it’s made out to be: “It’s we who are there, not the other way round. ... It’s not our land. It’s not our religion. Our soldiers are in the Muslim world and they should not be there.”

The Happening - Also telling it like it is. - mpg
A quote...."It seems like a belabored point, but there is just no escaping it. Mainstream media continues to be the most critical ( and probably the most accessible ) impediment to the evolution of the species. The American ( and global ) populous remain physiologically corralled by the mock reality the media delivers, which makes any attempt to impart or understand the truth extremely difficult. -- The problem is that once you are part of the lie, you are part of the lie. This is why I repeatedly stress the importance of being honest with oneself at all times. It’s not a matter of being caught in the lie, it’s the fact that the lie will catch you. It is inescapable because you have made it part of your reality. As long as you choose to live by that lie that you have accepted, you have to support ( and do ) whatever is necessary to sustain that lie. -- This country is up to its neck ( actually well over its head ) in lies, and Obama has unfortunately accepted several of them."

How Economic Crises Are Overcome - Their Assets; Our Debts
A quote...."Keynes’ message about the least painful way to bring about the necessary redistribution of economic resources sufficient to get the economy expanding profitably is set out in his “General Theory,” where he underscores that inflation is the safest way to lower wage workers’ consumption and their portion of production.  Direct wage cuts, he cautions, would turn the workers against their employers. Significant injection of government spending into industrial production, rather than into the production of “consumer goods,” results in inflation.  The price of daily necessities goes up due to shortages or rationing, and the real value of workers’ wages goes down. (Milton Friedman has also advocated inflation as a most efficient tool for redistribution of economic resources and increasing profitability.)"

European reactions to the financial crisis -- Covering their tracks and distancing themselves from the US -- A quote...."The call for a form of “regulated capitalism—that can prevent risky speculative transactions, cutting down to size the power of finance capital and giving priority again to production and trade—runs like a thread through the comments and statements of the press and politicians of all stripes. But it is an illusion. -- The clock of history cannot be rewound. The cancer-like growth of finance capital is not simply the result of wrong decisions by individuals. Greed and criminal intentions have certainly contributed, but these are rooted in social conditions that can only be overcome through a revolutionary transformation of society. -- The deregulation of the financial markets, which began approximately 30 years ago, was the reaction of the capitalist class worldwide to the economic crises and class warfare of the 1960s and 1970s. The abolition of existing regulations and the development of new forms of speculation served to overcome falling profit rates. They were accompanied by non-stop attacks on the rights and living standards of the working class, and with an aggressive foreign policy that took on an increasingly military direction." -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

Let's Play "WALLSTREET BAILOUT" The Rules Are... Rep Kaptur
(YuTb - 5 min 35 sec - Sept. 22, 2008) -- Must View Video - Action Alert -- She's outstanding!! - Everybody who sees this video, please post it and pass it on! - mpg

Coming Attractions: War Without End, Amen
A quote...."While our national leaders quibble and carp over just how much public money they should ladle out to Wall Street's den of thieves, and how many people should be in charge of divvying up this vast pork pie (one guy at Treasury? a panel of Establishment worthies? a couple of goobers in Congress?), the real business of the American empire -- war and rumors of war -- goes on without let or hindrance. -- Even now, the masters of war down at Hell's Bottom -- the fetid swamp where they planted the Pentagon way back when -- are laying plans for decades of "persistent conflict" against a host of targets: the poor, the young, the desperate, the deprived, the Chinese, the Russians -- and the American people."

America Pays the Piper, Big Time
A quote...."After a 28-year binge of drunken optimism and blind nationalism – often punctuated by chants of “USA, USA!” and “We’re No. 1!” – Americans are waking up with a painful hangover, facing a grim “morning in America,” not the happy vision that Ronald Reagan famously sold them on.

The Mugging of America
A quote...."If our business leaders and government leaders had learned from the LTCM collapse and NASDAQ collapse, we would not be experiencing this current crisis. Instead, Wall Street, Alan Greenspan, George Bush’s administration, and Congress attempted to put off the pain of recession by encouraging more risk taking by companies and citizens. We are now reaping what they have sown."

Quo Vadis, America?
A quote...."Contemporary America is rather like an overdosed crack addict sprawled face-down in the gutter. For decades, our economy has been smoking the heady drug of cheap credit, which served to "stimulate demand" and produce pleasurable but artificial booms. Unfortunately, each boom was followed by an inevitable bust as the credit-fueled bubbles burst – first in internet stocks, and now in real estate. -- Like every addict who finally "hits the bottom," America now faces a stark choice: Do we suffer through a violent, shaking withdrawal, or do we turn away from the painful rigors of "going clean" and reach for the bong one last time?"

E pluribus hokum or When the gamblers bail out the casino
A quote...."Paulson's dreadful scheme will become law, because Americans love their bankers. The bankers enable their collective gambling habit. Think of America as a town with one casino, in which the only economic activity is gambling. Most people lose, but the casino keeps lending them more money to play. Eventually, of course, the casino must go bankrupt. At this point, the townspeople people vote to tax themselves in order to bail out the casino. Collectively, the gamblers cannot help but lose; individually they nonetheless hope to win their way out of the hole.
Americans are so deep in the hole that they might as well keep putting borrowed quarters into the one-armed bandit. They have hardly saved anything for the past 10 years. Instead, they counted on capital gains to replace the retirement savings they never put aside, first in tech stocks, then in houses. That hasn't worked out."

Grasping at Straws
Financial Warning - A quote...."21/09/08 "ICH" -- - On Friday morning, Senator Christopher Dodd, the head of the Senate Banking Committee, was interviewed on ABC's “Good Morning America.” Dodd revealed that just hours earlier at an emergency meeting convened by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, lawmakers were told that  "We’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system.” Dodd added somberly, that in his three decades of serving in public office, he had "never heard language like this.”

Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle
A quote...."If Wall Street gets away with this, it will represent an historic swindle of the American public--all sugar for the villains, lasting pain and damage for the victims. My advice to Washington politicians: Stop, take a deep breath and examine what you are being told to do by so-called "responsible opinion." If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics--exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. As I have been saying for several months, this crisis has the potential to bring down one or both political parties, take your choice."

Is This the Stake Through Neoliberalism's Heart? It Should Be, But ...
A quote...."By all rights, this last crisis has brought us to the crossroads where neoliberalism should be buried with a stake through its heart. We’ve had thirty years worth of deregulation – the loosening of government supervision. This has been the neoliberal mantra preached by both major parties, the whole of the establishment press and almost every university economics department in the country. It is central to the current disasters. And if you want to identify symbolic figures in the legislated career of deregulation, there are no more resplendent culprits than the man at McCain’s elbow, Phil Gramm, and the man standing at Obama’s elbow at his press conference, Robert Rubin."

Impacts of the Financial Crisis: The U.S. Is Becoming an Impoverished Nation
A quote...."But even though all the attention has been focused on “Wall Street”; i.e., financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Washington Mutual, and AIG—with more to come—none of these would have gotten into so much trouble without the nation’s banks having acted to leverage speculative investments with money they themselves generated as electronic ledger entries. - And it’s the banks—or at least some of them—that may be the next to go. - You see, the catastrophe was accomplished with money lent on margin. Only a small fraction of funding by investment banks, mortgage companies, brokerages, equity funds, hedge funds, commodities futures speculators, etc., comes from actual investor capital. The rest—up to ninety-seven percent, in the case of commodities futures contracts—is credit self-created by the banks."

The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Financial Crisis Shattering the Glass-Steagall Act
A quote...."If you're looking for a major cause of the current banking meltdown, you need seek no farther than the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act."

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$1.3 Quadrillion and Counting - 09-18-08 - mpg
Who the Heck do They Think They're Fooling? - 09-15-08 - mpg

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Creative Destruction: The Solid Core Behind the Financial Crisis
A quote....."Fed’s $85 Billion Loan Rescues Insurer (NY Times)

"The bailout [of American International Group]... effectively puts taxpayer money at risk while protecting bad investments made by A.I.G. and other institutions it does business with."

"Do you get it now? The rich and powerful spend years making foolish deals in a market they rigged with the connivance of utterly corrupted politicians on both sides the aisle; their fraudulent scheme finally collapses, exposing them to some of the most horrific financial losses in history....and YOU will have to pay for it. For generations. Not only directly, with the tax money straight from your pocket, but even more so in the further degradation of national life: infrastructure, services, programs, amenities that will be starved or abandoned as even more of the government's money is poured out to shield the wastrel elite from suffering the consequences of their own rapacious folly."


An Open Letter to Christian Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan - America is Now Rome
A quote...."When I was baptized I continued to carry my history; but one identity was sloughed off in the water and a new one born out of it. I write this open letter to troops, brothers and sisters -- of all branches -- who profess the faith of Christ. I write you to ask that you remember your baptism, because at that baptism you declared your renunciation of evil. * The big preposition Note the preposition. I didn't say faith in Christ, I said faith of Christ. Christian is a diminutive term; it means "little Christ." To be a Christian is not to merely have faith in Christ. That's too easy, and Jesus of Nazareth was not about easy. To be Christian is to aspire to have the faith of Christ. Christ's call is not to go along with the program, say the magic words, then be rescued from death. Christ did not merely command belief. Christ commands you to follow him. That command does not wait until death for it to become effective in your life. "Love your enemy." This is not an etching at some altar that you visit; it is your path laid before you by the footsteps of Christ in this world."

The Baby Killers
A quote...."I keep promising myself not to mention the wars for these reasons: the invaders couldn't care less about their crimes or their critics, my friends think I've become a ranting bore and many of today's citizens have more pressing worries than the serial massacres of toddlers in badlands. Bad stuff keeps happening. It keeps being denied. And is soon forgotten. -- From the very first days of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the U.S. air force has specialised in dropping bombs on family compounds supposedly containing "militants". Often they are not at home, unlike the women and children and elderly, whose bodies are eventually spread on the ground in preparation for a mass burial, while the Pentagon issues a curt "regret". Then it bombs the funeral. It's happened more than once. Another target is wedding parties. Back in July 2002, snug in their AC-130 bombers, American pilots wiped out a celebration in Uruzgan province, killing 48 civilians - mostly women and children - and injuring 117 locals. It's happened more than once."

9/11 and the “American Inquisition”
A quote...."Today’s “Global War on Terrorism” is a modern form of inquisition. It has all the essential ingredients of the French and Spanish inquisitions. -- Going after ” Islamic terrorists”, carrying out a Worldwide preemptive war to ” protect the Homeland” are used to justify a military agenda. -- “The Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) is presented as a “Clash of Civilizations”, a war between competing values and religions, when in reality it is an outright war of conquest, guided by strategic and economic objectives." -- Also posted at AmericanEveryman

Twenty-Six Things We Now Know Seven Years After 9/11
A quote...."Each year around the anniversary of 9/11, I summarize what we ordinary citizens have learned since that awful day in 2001. This is the seventh annual look backwards, a 2008 update that contains new information and surmisings about those horrific events and what followed."

FABLED ENEMIES - Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Part9 - Part10  - (YouTube - aprox. 10 min to 11 min each - Added:  August 31, 2008)
A quote...." Seven years after 9/11, the supposed mastermind behind the attacks is still at large, and the nation is entrenched in multiple wars in the Middle East. - Is Bin Laden the evil behind the attack or a mere front man in a larger picture, a Bogeyman? - We are told we are fighting a War on Terror, and that the Terrorists hate us for our freedom. If that is the case, why do our leaders take more and more of those freedoms away every day? - 10 part documentary by Jason Bermas and Alex Jones release date September 1st, 2008." -- For more on this issue see....9/11 & It's Fallout - Videos

Afghan Massacre - The Convoy of Death - (Google Video - 50 min  - Apr 10, 2006)
A quote...."Produced and directed by Irish filmmaker and former BBC producer Jamie Doran, the film tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military's Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to the film, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. When the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling road trip lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and even drank blood from open wounds. Witnesses say that when the trucks arrived and soldiers opened the containers, most of the people inside were dead. They also say US Special Forces re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as survivors were shot and buried. Now, up to three thousand bodies lie buried in a mass grave."

EXCLUSIVE: Democrats Pre-Authorized Use of Force at RNC
Must Read (for the outrage) - A quote...."Explosive News: Democrats' Collaboration at Republican National Convention Exposed. Secret meetings authorized excessive use of force. -- We know the stories of police abuse, mass arrests, targeting journalists, street medics, use of rubber bullets, plastic bullets, wooden baton rounds, mace, tear gas, tasering and other differently lethal methods of crowd control in St Paul and Minneapolis this week. What is not known is how the local Democratic Party and other so called progressive elected officials collaborated with authorities in the past weeks and months before the RNC Convention in St Paul, giving them legal authority for their excesses and abuses of power."

The Falling Land
A quote...."There is, apparently, to be no end to our falling. No bottom to the pit of moral nullity through which we keep plunging, no act of evil which we will not accept, and countenance, and even cheer."

Clash in the Caucasus: Rolling Back The "Unipolar" World
A quote...."10/09/08 "ICH" -- - For the past week, Dick Cheney has been traveling through the Caucasus trying to drum up support for punitive action against Russia for its role in the recent fighting in South Ossetia. The Vice President vowed that the Moscow's action "will not go unanswered". Cheney is determined to establish the United States as the regional "cop on the beat", taking charge of all security operations through it's cat's paw, Nato. Neither the Kremlin nor the EU are paying much attention to Cheney's fulminations. The negotiations for the security arrangements and the withdrawal of Russian troops are being conducted without US involvement. "

9/11 and the “War on Terrorism”: Facts and myths
A quote...."This is the talk, the article notes, in Dubai, in Algiers, in Riyadh, and in Cairo. A Syrian man living and working in the United Arab Emirates told the Times, “I think the U.S. organized this so that they had an excuse to invade Iraq for the oil.” -- This kind of thinking, the Times tells us “represents the first failure in the fight against terrorism — the inability to convince people here that the United States is, indeed, waging a campaign against terrorism, not a crusade against Muslims.” -- For more regarding the utter and complete mendacity of the Times, see.....US Support of Terror

“Modern Debt Peonage”?
A quote...."The best that this weekend’s bailout can do is to postpone the losses on bad mortgage debts. But this is a far cry from actually restoring the ability of debtors to pay. Mr. Paulson talks about more lending to support real estate prices. But this will prevent housing from falling to levels that people can afford without running deeper and deeper into mortgage debt. Housing prices are still way, way above the traditional definition of equilibrium – prices whose carrying charges are just about equal to what it would cost to rent over time."

Is it the 1930s all over again? By William Bowles
A quote...."The parallels with the situation in Europe prior to the outbreak of WWII surely cannot be avoided, for not only do we have an economic crisis that closely resembles the ‘29 Crash in its magnitude, the US-engineered invasion of South Ossetia could very well be a prelude to more dangerous provocations on the part of the US, in much the same way that German support for the fascist coup in Spain served as a testing ground not only for Hitler’s military machine but also to sew chaos and to test the reactions of two of the leading imperialist powers of the time, Britain and France. For what they all shared was a hatred of Bolshevism and ultimately, that’s what WWII was really all about, the destruction of the Soviet Union." -- Also psoted at Uruknet -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

A Major War: Not Just Rumors
A quote...."The most stable model of international relations that is both historically recurrent and structurally repeatable in the future is the balance of power system in which no single great power is either physically able or politically willing to seek hegemony. This model was prevalent from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) until Napoleon, from Waterloo until around 1900, and from Versailles until 1933....."  --  "If one of the powers becomes markedly stronger than others and if its decision-making elite internalizes an ideology that demands or at least justifies hegemony, the inherently unstable system of asymmetrical multipolarity will develop. In all three known instances—Napoleonic France after 1799, the Kaiserreich from around 1900, and the Third Reich after 1933—the challenge could not be resolved without a major war."

Russia, Europe and USA: Fundamental Geopolitics
A quote...."As details of the larger strategic picture emerge over what is at stake in the Georgia and larger Caucasus crisis, it is becoming clearer that Moscow is not determined to roll back the borders of Stalin and the Cold War of 1948. What Putin and now Medvedev have begun is a process of defusing the highly dangerous NATO expansion, led by the Washington warhawks since the end of the Cold War in 1990."

Rebel Yell: Resistance and Renaissance in the Age of Terror
A quote...."The "War on Terror" is a brutal and criminal enterprise launched by George W. Bush and fully supported by John McCain and Barack Obama, both of whom have pledged not only to continue its deadly operations but to expand them to new killing fields. Iran, Pakistan, Russia's "soft underbelly" in the Caucasus – these and other regions have been moved into the cross-hairs of the voracious war machine that drives the foreign policy of both parties. And of course, the countless "covert ops" carried out by the plethora of secret armies and agents of Washington's hydra-headed "security organs" will likewise continue unabated. --  Three nations have already been destroyed (or driven into further ruin) by the Terror War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. More than a million innocent people have been murdered, either by direct military action by American forces and Washington's various proxy armies and hired killers, or indirectly, in the savage internal conflicts spawned by the vast state terror of invasion and occupation."

Putin interview With CNN ~ Part 1/3 ~ Part 2/3 ~ Part 3/3
Putin interview With ARD ~ Part 1/3 ~ Part 2/3 ~ Part 3/3
(YouTube - aprox. 10 min each - Added:  August 30, 2008)
Videos - A quote re: CNN...."His famous interview from 28.08.08, which has never been shown in full anywhere except Russia. Will CNN show it to americans?"

Putin's Ruthless Gambit - The Bush Administration Falters in a Geopolitical Chess Match
A quote...."Many Western analysts have chosen to interpret the recent fighting in the Caucasus as the onset of a new Cold War, with a small pro-Western democracy bravely resisting a brutal reincarnation of Stalin's jack-booted Soviet Union. Others have viewed it a throwback to the age-old ethnic politics of southeastern Europe, with assorted minorities using contemporary border disputes to settle ancient scores." -- Also posted at ICH

Super Imperialism
A quote...."29/08/08 "ICH"  -- As I explained in Super Imperialism, [Google, Amzn, GGB, B&N , PlutoPrs -- Special Note: some of these are the 2003 edition, some are the NEW Aug 2008 edition] central banks in other countries buy dollars not because they think dollar assets are a “good buy,” but because if they did NOT recycle their trade surpluses and U.S. buyout spending and military spending by buying U.S. Treasury, Fannie Mae and other bonds, their currencies would rise against the dollar. This would price their exporters out of dollarized world markets. So the United States can spend money and get a free ride. --  The solution is (1) capital controls to block further dollar receipts, (2) floating tariffs against imports from dollarized economies, (3) buyouts of U.S. investments in dollar-recipient countries (so that Europe and Asia would use their central bank dollars to buy out U.S. private investments at book value), (4) subsidized exports to dollarized economies with depreciating currency, and similar responses that the United States would adopt if it were in the position of a payments-surplus country. In other words, Europe and Asia would treat the United States as its Washington Consensus boys treat Third World debtors: buy out their raw materials and other industries, their export plantations, and their governments. -- *Michael Hudson* -- For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

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Russia - Just Relax! - 08-25-08 - mpg
9/11 the Sequel - Return of the Jihadi - 08-23-08 - mpg

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Economic Cycles and Political Trends in the United States
A quote...."Sometimes we measure these cycles from bottom to bottom, and sometimes from top to top. For the 10-year cycle (the Juglar cycle), it often coincides with normal recurring recessions. In the U.S., there were recessions, for example, in 1969, in 1973-75, in 1980 and 1981-82, in 1990-91 and in 2001, most of them within about a 9-10 year interval. According to this cycle, there could be a somewhat severe recession in 2010-11, possibly following the slowdown or recession expected to occur this year. -- What is of interest is that the real estate cycle or housing cycle (the Kuznets cycle) is also scheduled to bottom in this period. This is a cycle of about 12 years of price increase and of 5 or 6 years of price decline. The previous cycle, from top to top went from 1987 to the spring of 2005. A bottom would therefore be normal in 2010-11 and a future top around 2023." - -For more on this issue see....Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

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The US is After Europe Too! - 03-23-08 - mpg

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Rumours of War by William Bowles - Destabilisation is the name of the ‘game’
A quote...."And it’s not as if the US doesn’t have an awful lot of experience of invading and occupying foreign lands, they’ve been at it for centuries. - Thus to say that the US ‘miscalculated’ or ‘didn’t think it through’ is not only laughable but an insult to our intelligence. - We can only conclude that following the occupation, the US had no intention of rebuilding Iraq and indeed as I’ve pointed out, the US is on record as saying that it’s not in the business of ‘nation-building’, so, what is the ‘Plan’?"

Can India save the world?
A quote...."If both America and Europe lose confidence in their ability to compete, how can they remain custodians of the rules that ensure fairness and equity? To be fair, humanity should thank both first for creating the 1945 rules-based order at the end of World War II. To understand how visionary the Western founding fathers of this order were, just contrast what they did after World War II with what was done after World War I. After World War I, the world order forced Germany and Japan to go to war as they tried to expand their political and economic space. After World War II, both Germany and Japan significantly expanded their political and economic space without going to war."

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 2008 Election Early
Video - Spectacular satire - It's not that funny when you think about it, but the video sure is.  It is FLAWLESSLY done.  If it was on your TV you'd think it was a conventional faux-news broadcast until what they were saying actually started to register. - mpg

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What Ben Bernanke Said - 03-18-08 - mpg
Al Qaeda - Always There for the US Elites - 03-09-08 - mpg
Living Next Door to the Crazies - 03-06-08 - mpg

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This war on terrorism is bogus - The 9/11 attacks gave the US an ideal pretext to use force to secure its global domination  -- A quote...."We now know that a blueprint for the creation of a global Pax Americana was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice-president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), Jeb Bush (George Bush's younger brother) and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences, was written in September 2000 by the neoconservative think tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC)."

The Next War Will Pay for Itself
A quote..."You may think it a strange statement at first – but there is little to no doubt that the next war will pay for itself. It is just as true that the present unlawful, undeclared wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will pay for themselves. War pays! That’s one reason it’s so damned popular.

America Loves Peace? Odd, Since We're Always at War
A quote...."Americans love to think that we're a peaceful people and that we fight wars only when we must.  --  Unfortunately, you can count in nanoseconds how long those assertions hold up when exposed to such insidious commie dirty tricks as the application of logic or the examination of empirical history." 

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Debt Doesn't Matter When the Rubes Pay - 02-29-08 - mpg
Africa - the Next Target - 02-28-08 - mpg

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9/11 is the Litmus Test
A quote...."There is one thing that defines everyone over the course of these early years of this new century. That thing is the 9/11 attack. Everyone in government and every field of endeavor the world over is defined by their position on this event. It is not necessary to know the truth. It is only necessary to know the extent of the lies in order to define any leader in any position anywhere in the world. By what they have said and by what they have not said, one can accurately judge who is an enemy of the people’s of the world. One can accurately determine who is a tool of the psychopaths or one of them.  --  Think about what you allow yourself to know. Think about what you pass by; ignore, deny and defend ...that defines you. It defines the degree of your personal courage, your relationship to the truth, your values, your principles and what you will pass on to your children and everyone you meet. It tells you in that place where your conscience must once have lived whether you are a hypocrite and a fool or whether something greater still lives within you."

Crusade of Surge and Siege.....
Barbarians At the Gates - Part Four
Inside the Fires of Imperialism - Part Three
Cages of Conquest - Hear No Evil, See No Evil - Part Two
Homeland Born and Bred - Part One
A quote from Part Three...." 26/02/08 "ICH" -- - This Crusade is a neoliberal one, designed to inject American style debauched democracy and corrupt capitalism into the Middle East. This Crusade, this invasion and occupation, this folly into mass murder and mass destruction, this criminal enterprise to appease the gods of greed and of the Almighty Dollar, is an ideological struggle initiated by the masters of neoliberal economics, who, together with those enamored with American Manifest Destiny, have for decades decimated the lives of the people who inhabit this condemned region."

Causes and Consequences of Our Foreign Policy in the Middle East and What It Means for Americans   --  A quote...."The following is the text of a speech given at Virginia Tech on February 12, 2008. -- I want to thank the Libertarians at Virginia Tech, the Political Science Club and the Institute for Humane Studies for the kind invitation to speak to you tonight."

Financial Crisis: Asset Securitization-- The Last Tango - Endgame: Unregulated Private Money Creation   --  A quote...."What had emerged going into the new millennium after the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagall was an awesome transformation of American credit markets into what was soon to become the world’s greatest unregulated private money creation machine."

Traffic Jam On The Highway To Hell
A quote...." I used to think Americans had been whipped by 9-11 terror confusion into some sort of national stupor. That's not so. We're trapped in a massive spiritual paralysis. Normal people are simply not equipped to deal with remorseless psychopaths. We were not prepared to come face to face with evil, nor to be manipulated by lies and controlled through stark fear. Our refusal to address the mounting list of Bush-Cheney war crimes could be because we cannot force ourselves to admit our "one nation under God" spies upon its citizens, imprisons them without due process, engages in grotesque acts of torture and delights in mass murder. And so we stand here on the precipice of our own destruction, waiting for evil to run its course."  --  "Evil never runs its course. With each success, it grows stronger, more ghastly and, like Dick Cheney, emerges a bit more from the shadows. Never doubt for a minute that these unfeeling creatures are not evil. They are incapable of compassion, of empathy, of mercy. Their eyes are on the prize of One World rule, and they will have it in spite of -- or as a result of -- all the chaos and carnage it takes to achieve it. There are no "Imps of the Perverse" among them who will be so overcome with guilt they will break from the pack and run through the populace shrieking, "We're guilty! We did it! We are murderers!"

Waving Goodbye to Hegemony
A quote...."Turn on the TV today, and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s 1999. Democrats and Republicans are bickering about where and how to intervene, whether to do it alone or with allies and what kind of world America should lead. Democrats believe they can hit a reset button, and Republicans believe muscular moralism is the way to go. It’s as if the first decade of the 21st century didn’t happen — and almost as if history itself doesn’t happen. But the distribution of power in the world has fundamentally altered over the two presidential terms of George W. Bush, both because of his policies and, more significant, despite them. Maybe the best way to understand how quickly history happens is to look just a bit ahead."

The New New World Order: A First-Strike NATO Über Alles
A quote...."The Lords of the West have called upon their elder chieftains of war to chart a course that will preserve their power and preeminence in the face of an ever-more uncertain future. The answer? A meaner, leaner NATO, openly committed to a nuclear first-strike strategy and stripped of all the "consensus" garbage that has sometimes hampered the organization's American bosses."

Going Bankrupt - Why the debt crisis is now the greatest threat to the American republic
A quote...."The military adventurers of the Bush administration have much in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. Both groups of men thought that they were the "smartest guys in the room," the title of Alex Gibney's prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global domination."

The Fraud of Bushenomics: They’re Looting the Country
A quote...."A more realistic -- and less idealistic -- view of Bushenomics is that the Bush administration and its cronies came at the economy with the attitude of oilmen."
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The Green Light 01-16-08 - mpg

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VIDEO: This is What A Police State Looks Like
A quote...."In Portland, the cops get up close and personal for the crime of exercising the First Amendment."  --  See also....Police State

Why is Iran Still in the Cross-Hairs? - Clues from the Project of a New American Century
A quote...."[T]here are still quite a few neoconservatives who want to go after Iran under these unbelievable conditions." 3 - The question is, why? One popular theory holds that the push for war is all about oil; but many countries have oil, and we don't normally invade them to get their assets. Why go to war for Iran's oil when we can just buy it?"

9/11 and the incompetence excuse: Could a bunch of sociopathic screw-ups really pull off the crime of the century?  --  A quote...."Many who deny government complicity in 9/11/01 maintain that some of the best evidence against official involvement in the crime of the century lies in the Bush administration's unbroken record of sheer incompetence, an argument bolstered by the perception that key members of the administration, notably The Commander Guy, spent that entire day running around like headless chickens."

AFRICOM: The Recolonization of Africa by Uncle Sam
A quote...."The spirit of John F. Kennedy's Peace Corps, a civilian program without any ties to the U.S. military or intelligence community designed to help steer newly-emergent nations, mostly in Africa, to self-sufficiency and development, is officially dead. - George W. Bush's Africa Command (AFRICOM) not only places oil and global military strategy as the number one and two goals of America's Africa policy but places the State Department's assistance program for Africa firmly under Pentagon control."

The Bipartisan Consensus on U.S. Military Spending
A quote...."Our military spending exceeds the rest of the world's spending combined, and we spend almost 10 times what the second-place country, China, spends. "Only" about $150 billion of the total U.S. amount is attributable to the two active wars we're fighting, in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, even if one wants to excludes those amounts, the basic picture remains the same. Nor do these amounts include the billions of dollars in military aid we give to fund the armies of other countries, such as Israel and Egypt, which alone comprise substantial portions of those countries' defense budgets."

Gates Led Realist Resurgence in 2007
A quote...."2007 will likely go down in US history as the year in which the balance of power in the long-running struggle between hawks and realists in the administration of President George W. Bush shifted decisively in favor of the latter."

Iran is still on the agenda, just not right now. - mpg

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The Butcher's Apron
A quote...." The real difference between the parties is minuscule but significant. The Democrats have become the party of traditional imperialism spearheaded by Brzezinski, Holbrooke, Albright and the other guardians of Empire. These are the master-puppeteers who operate behind the scenes for their well-heeled benefactors. Their focus is mainly on Central Asia; controlling resources from the Caspian Basin, “pacifying” Afghanistan, rallying the EU to a greater role in NATO, and continuing the apocryphal “war on terror” into infinity. It's the Great Game redux.

The Republican Party has become the party of neoconservatives. Their operational plan is “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”. It aligns the US with the foreign policy objectives of Israel's Likud Party. The focus is balkanizing the Middle East, undermining Arab nationalism, installing US-Israeli client regimes, and controlling the regions prodigious natural resources. It is a straightforward strategy for regional hegemony.

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The Slow Play Option - 12-11-07 - mpg

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Put Option On America - Part 1
A quote...."The entire American political establishment is so rotten the stench wafts around the world. Why is it that Americans seem among the least aware that the radical changes needed for America to regain its Constitution, and survive as a Republic, will never happen within our rotted-out system? All the tinkering and primping, lying, killing and pimping masquerading as hope aren’t touching the core problem."  --  Part II & Part III

Getting Past ‘Oh!’: Why Americans Misunderestimate the Depravity of the President They Hate -- A quote...."Bush is incompetent and Iraq is likely the greatest foreign policy blunder in two-plus centuries of American history. But to say that - and particularly to say that alone - does not truly do justice to either disaster, Bush or his war. The truth about this president and his motives for war are far, far uglier than the words ‘incompetence’ or ‘mistake’ imply."

Bully of the Playground: How Washington Makes - Enemies Abroad and Undermines Freedom at Home -- A quote...." On June 4, 2007, Ted Galen Carpenter gave the following Speech at FFF’s conference Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy and Civil Liberties. The speech can viewed below in its entirety. Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Dr. Carpenter is the author of seven books and the editor of ten books on international affairs.

Why America's Currency Is the World's Problem
A quote...."The ailing US economy seems to be driving the exchange rate of the dollar inexorably downward, with serious consequences for the global economy. Politicians and central bankers are looking on helplessly as the economic outlook worsens by the day and European companies rack up huge losses."

Consensus Against Neoliberal Washington Consensus
A quote...."DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 28 (IPS) - One thing is clear from debates at the third Helsinki Process conference, underway here: there is agreement among economic development experts, civil society representatives and government officials attending the meeting that the neoliberal Washington consensus is not a solution to the problems of developing countries, but rather one of the causes of these problems."

The Algebra of Occupation
A quote...."In 1805, the French army out maneuvered, outsmarted, and outfought the combined armies of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz. Three years later it would flounder against a rag-tag collection of Spanish guerrillas."

The U.S. Congress Legislates Genocide Of The Mind
A quote...."11/17/07 "ICH" -- A close reading within an historical context – keeping especially in mind the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and Presidential Executive Orders, pursuant to which the government has engaged in massive surveillance of its own citizens, as well as detentions, extraordinary renditions, assassinations, and torture – leads me to the following conclusions:

·         This is a “Thought Crime” bill of the type so often discussed in an Orwellian context.
·         It specifically targets the civilian population of the United States.
·         It defines “Violent Radicalization” as promoting any belief system that the government
considers to be extremist.
·        “Homegrown Terrorism” and “Violent Radicalization” are defined as thought crimes.
·         Since the bill does not provide a specific definition of extremist belief system, it will
          be whatever the government at any given time deems it to be.

A few extracts of the Bill are presented below to show you its tone or “flavor.”

See also....Thinking for yourself is now a crime
See also....The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act: A Tutorial in Orwellian Newspeak
See also....Civil Libertarians Warn of 'Patriot Act Lite'
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America's Invisible Empire
A quote...."The American imperial empire has remained largely invisible: only very recently have Americans just begun to learn about their imperial history. But information about empire is fragmented and extensively filtered and the American public remains by and large unaware of the reality and costs of empire. Until empire is placed on the public agenda, it can never be effectively criticised or made an object of basic policy change.   --  David Ludden --

Averting World War III, Ending Dollar Hegemony And US Imperialism
A quote...."David Ludden’s article ‘America’s Invisible Empire’(4) sums up the problem of the world’s most recent empire with remarkable clarity. Constituting itself at a time when decolonisation was well under way and other empires were disintegrating, US imperialism could never openly speak its name. Initially, it disguised itself as the defender of democracy against communism; when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, the pretext became the “war against terror”. National security and national interest were invoked as the rationale for global dominance."

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Despotism (1946) Encyclopedia Brittanic...(Google - 9m 56s - Feb 22, 2006) @ ICH
A quote...."Measure how a society ranks on a spectrum stretching from democracy to despotism. Explains how  ... all » societies and nations can be measured by the degree that power is concentrated and respect for the individual is restricted. Where does your community, state and nation stand on these scales?"
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A Remarkable Achievement - 10-17-07 - mpg
Go Build Your Neo-Roman Empire - Just Leave Us Out Of It - 10-14-07 - mpg

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The "Great Game" Enters the Mediterranean: Gas, Oil, War, and Geo-Politics
[Part II of a series see Part I]  -- Some quotes...." It is no mere chance that before the upcoming summit in Tehran that three important post-Soviet organizations (the Commonwealth of Independents States, the Central Security Treaty Organization, and the Eurasian Economic Community) simultaneously held meetings in Tajikistan. Nor is it mere coincidence that the SCO and CSTO have signed cooperation agreements during these meetings in Tajikistan, which has effectively made China a semi-formal member of the CSTO alliance. It should be noted that all SCO members are also members of CSTO, aside from China."

"Two blocs are starting to manifest themselves in similarity to the geographic boundaries of George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and Mackinder’s Islander versus Continental scheme; a Eurasian-based bloc and a naval-based, oceanic bloc based on the fringes of Eurasia as well as North America and Australasia. The latter bloc is NATO and its network of regional military alliances, while the former is the reactionary counter-alliance formed by the Chinese-Russian-Iranian coalition as its nucleus."

Take a guess at which "bloc" started this whole thing in the first place, the MIOC elites of this country initiated their plans for "global dominance" more then twenty years ago. The "Eurasians" are belatedly forming a defensive alliance to combat their efforts. Viewed against this context, the sweeping vastness of it all, setting up and murdering three thousand Americans must have been considered a bargain, just peanuts, or chump change by this nation's MIOC elites and those who continue to support their plans.

It was a price they were all perfectly willing to pay.

This is the true "clash of civilizations" and it's about time that we as a people put a stop this madness...before time runs out for all of us.  – mpg

For more on this see....White Man's Burden - 12-20-06 - mpg
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You Can STILL Vote to Stop the Madness 10-07-07 - mpg
Brother can You Spare a Few Hundred Billion More? 10-07-07- mpg
The Strength of the New Roman Empire 10-07-07 - mpg
The Great Pretenders 09-22-07 - mpg

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Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
From the history file - A quote...."From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all"

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Economic Crisis: The U.S. Political Leadership Has Failed
A quote...."As the 2007 economic collapse picks up speed, it’s time to take a hard look at the performance of the U.S. national political leadership in meeting some of their most fundamental responsibilities. It’s time to face the fact of serious failure over the last quarter century."

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The Two Methods Which Lead to the Same End - 08-25-07 -mpg

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No Light, Just Tunnel: The Bipartisan Guarantee of Continuing War in Iraq
A quote....Most people persist in believing that the Bush Administration has "mishandled" or "bungled" the war in Iraq, when in fact they have achieved almost all of their goals. (A reality that we have examined here, here and here, among other places.) They have vastly enriched their cronies. They have installed a U.S. military presence in Iraq. They have expanded the size, power and scope of the armed forces and the intelligence services (which now have their own secret armies) beyond the wildest dreams of the most hawkish Cold War militarist. They have not only gutted the Constitution but proved that you can get away with it -- an invaluable lesson for dictators to come. And, as noted, they have committed the American Establishment to continuing the radical course they have set in motion -- because the Establishment will never allow the election of any candidate who would seek to institute the rollback of the empire and the restoration of genuine constitutional government. Especially as the latter would entail bringing justice to the war makers and the war profiteers, all of them honored stalwarts of the Establishment."

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They STILL can't say the words - 07-28-07 - mpg
Hitler Would Have Sympathized - 05-26-07 - mpg
The Method - 05-07-07 - mpg
Effective Fed Funds Rate 03-24-07 - mpg

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Pork and Piggy Banks: U.S. Defense Contractor Campaign Contributions and Political Influence  --  Multiple Resources -  A quote...."Total U.S. Department of Defense prime contracts increased from $144.6 billion in FY 2001 to $294.9 billion in FY 2006, a 103.9 percent growth, according to a report by William D. Hartung and Frida Berrigan of the World Policy Institute.  The five largest—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Raytheon—received a total of $84 billion in defense contracts in FY 2006."

Check out Halliburton's 1,325.2% percent increase in government contracts from 2001-2006 !! - mpg

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War Profiteering and the Concentration of Income and Wealth in America
posted 04-13-07 - A quote...."Critics of the recent U.S. wars of choice have long argued that they are all about oil. "No Blood for Oil" has been a rallying cry for most of the opponents of the war.  -  It can be demonstrated, however, that there is another (less obvious but perhaps more critical) factor behind the recent rise of U.S. military aggressions abroad: war profiteering by Pentagon contractors.  -  Frequently invoking dubious "threats to our national security and/or interests," these beneficiaries of war dividends, the military–industrial complex and related businesses whose interests are vested in the Pentagon’s appropriation of public money, have successfully used war and military spending to justify their lion’s share of tax dollars and to disguise their strategy of redistributing national income in their favor."

The Economic Impact of the Iraq War and Higher Military Spending - PDF - or in HTML
A quote...."There has been relatively little attention paid to the Iraq War's impact on the U.S. economy. It is often believed that wars and military spending increases are good for the economy. This is not generally true in most standard economic models. In fact, most models show that military spending diverts resources from productive uses, such as consumption and investment, and ultimately slows economic growth and reduces employment."

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Ghawar is Dead - Long Live PNAC 03-07-07 - mpg
Sour 9/11 Grapes - 02-22-07 - mpg

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From Afghanistan to Iraq: Connecting the Dots with Oil
Excellent sumation regarding many aspects of the "Great Game" - A quote....The oil wars are abject failures. The Project for a New American Century wanted, in a fantasy of retrograde imperialism, to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

President George Bush launched an overt act of military aggression to do so, at a cost of more than 3,000 American lives, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, and half a trillion dollars. In the process he has exacerbated the threats from international terrorism, ravaged the Iraqi culture, ruined their economy and their public services, sent thousands of Iraqis fleeing their country as refugees, created a maelstrom of sectarian violence, dangerously destabilized the Middle East, demolished the global prestige of the United States, and defamed the American people.
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Chalmers Johnson: Republic or Empire  Audio Interview By Jeff Blankfort PDF
A quote...."Chalmers Johnson, author of Blowback and Sorrows of Empire, discusses the build-up of the US empire based on Keynesian military spending, its conflicts with the concept of the US as a republic, and its inevitable downfall."

See also HTML
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Petrocurrencies and the Emerging Multi-Polar World - (PDF file)
Major Summation of the "Great Game"

A quote...."This essay is intended to inform others of the challenges and choices that are directly ahead. Three decades of wasteful US fiscal and energy policies have placed the US at risk for an economic downturn of considerable depth and duration, and we are woefully unprepared as a nation to reduce our fossil-fuel consumption. Unfortunately, recent US foreign policies are exacerbating global tensions and could lead to even worse warfare than the Bush years have already wrought. Their must be no misunderstanding — global resource warfare will ultimately leave even the so-called “winner” in a ruined state of energy deprivation along with economic and moral bankruptcy."

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The Flipping of Iraq - Interruptus  12-14-06 - mpg
The Litvinenko Assassination & the Flipping of Iraq 11-24-06
Fruits from the Poisonous Tree  12-08-06 - mpg
Thirty Five Acts to Restore Americans' Rights 11-10-06 - mpg
One Real Solution for Demorcracy 11-04-06 - mpg
The Nuclear Game 11-04-06 - mpg
The 236 Gang - blog 10-08-06 -mpg

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PNAC ring leader William Kristol confronted on 9/11
Must see video.  It appears there are a lot of people out there who are really, really  angry because they don't believe in what this country's "mass media" or "government" or "elites" have had to say about 9/11.

Hey, what's the big deal about almost three thousand Americans being set-up for death by this nation’s wealthy patrons?  It's not like the guys in the video got killed

Hey, that's right..... maybe they don't want themselves, their families, their kids or their communities being targeted for the next "Pearl Harbor style event" when the rich in this country get the itch to make a little more money.
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Strangers In the Night 10-04-06 -mpg
November Warning 10-01-06 - mpg
The Scourge of the Wealthy - Deflation / The Balm of the Wealthy - War 09-30-06 - mpg
Texas Five Card Draw or Texas Hold'em(up) 09-27-06 - mpg

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09-26-06
MPG

Connect the Dots.
Follow the Money
Truth is the Enemy of the State
Those Who do not Learn From History are Doomed to Repeat It.
Knowledge is Power
The Truth Shall Set You Free

Olbermann's special commentary on Clinton vs Fox

911 press for truth

Please Watch These Videos.....if you wish to be Free.
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The Empty Vessel 09-20-06 - mpg
ABC and the "Great Game" 9/11 and the Swift-Boating of Truth 09-10-06 - mpg
We'll Make Them an Offer They Can't Refuse 09-06-06 - mpg
The CONversation 09-04-06 - mpg

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The Big Lie Continues
09-02-2006
MPG

Clinton, 9/11 and the Facts
ABC, one of America's corporate "mass media" infotainment conglomerates intends to air a mini-series on September 10 and 11th about 9/11 that blames the entire event on the president………. President Clinton that is.  

What a surprise.... for all those who support the truth, for all those who suffered and who continue to suffer, this is the sort of stuff that they will continue to shove down your throats as long as you let them.

How about a truth day? How about two? During the 10th and 11th I propose everyone turn off your TV's, stop reading your newspaper's, stop listening to your radio's and get on the web. Find out what is really going on in the world. Step outside, get some fresh air.....read a book.

Who knows, maybe you'll like it and never watch a commercial broadcast, read a commercial newspaper, or listen to a commercial radio program again.  Now wouldn't that be nice.

For my take on this issue see - "abysmally stupid" blog


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End of the Game 08-11-06 - mpg
Israel Marches to the Drums of PNAC 07-16-06 - mpg
How Not to Follow the Money - The Sequel 07-12-06 - mpg
How Not to Follow the Money 06-24-06 - mpg
The Cold War Never Stopped 07-06-06 - mpg
The Innocent get Punished; The Guilty (Rich) go Free 07-04-06 - mpg
Got Passport? - 07-01-06 - mpg

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Something Humorous
posted 06-30-2006
MPG

The case of the Miami Seven

Jon Stewart takes a look at the case known to many as "The Miami Seven." He examines the careful and decisive evidence told to us by Alberto Gonzales. Click here to view

While watching this hilarious video I was struck by Aberto Gonzales’s performance, he looked slightly crazy in a sort of craven, servile way and  I swear he almost spoke with a  lisp.  I couldn’t quite place were I’d seen such mannerisms before until it suddenly struck me, he’s Igor in Frankenstein.  “Yeth mathter I’ll do anything for you my mathter, who do you want me to kill my mathter?”

Yeah…… that’s him.

Also, it’s been out there for a while, but for those who haven’t seen it yet, watch Stephen Colbert as he roasts, toasts, and Julian fries President Bush and the White House Press Corps at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner.

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posted 06-20-2006 MPG
Music Against the War

Instead of reading protests about the unfolding tragedy engulfing the world,
here's a little music to help one protest.  It's music to stir the heart and
 gives one courage to appose all the evil that is out there.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11924.htm
Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic Vol. 1
"Lives In The Balance" (Exclusive Video)
From Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1
An animated editorial by Andrew Thomas
http://www.jacksonbrowne.com/

http://www.hiphopmusic.com/best_of_youtube/2006/04/
pink_dear_mr_president_live_on.html
Pink "Dear Mr. President" Live on MTV TRL April 22, 2006  (Video)
From Pink performing her much-anticipated anti-Bush anthem "Dear Mr. President" live in Times Square, on MTV's TRL.
http://www.pinkspage.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwc5YSAc-7g
"Not Ready to Make Nice"  (Video)
From Dixie Chicks
http://www.dixiechicks.com/

http://www.eslbee.com/cobaq/ballads/protest_song_lyrics.htm#War
"War" -- Streaming Audio
From Jonatha Brooke
http://jonathabrooke.com/index.php

http://anon.salon.speedera.net/anon.salon/mp3s/billybragg031303.mp3
"The Price of Oil" -- Streaming Audio
Music and Lyrics by Billy Bragg, 2002
http://www.billybragg.co.uk/

http://www.eslbee.com/cobaq/ballads/protest_song_lyrics.htm#Ladder
"Jacob's Ladder" (Not in My Name) -- Streaming Audio
by Chumbawamba
http://www.chumba.tv/music.asp

A LIST OF SITES WITH WAR PROTEST SONGS

http://www.salon.com/ent/music/review/wmd/2004/09/01/25/
http://www.topplebush.com/music.shtml
http://www.benfrank.net/nuke/Free_Peace_mp3s.html#new
http://www.protest-records.com/mp3/index.html
http://indymedia.all2all.org/news/2003/04/58267.php#websites

Some Articles :

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0604/p11s01-almp.html
Protest song is back - with a vengeance
Christian Science Monitor
from the June 04, 2004 edition

http://www.salon.com/ent/music/review/wmd/2004/09/01/25/
Crank the volume
Where are the new Marleys and Lennons?
Download the 25 best protest anthems today -- for free --
Salon Mag - Sept. 1, 2004

http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/20060428_the_nation_protest/
Songs of Protest
TruthDig
Posted on Apr 28, 2006

End.  MPG

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A Prescient Fictitious Interview - Transcript - Goodwill Hunting - 06-16-06

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