Why Trial By Jury? - 2

Almost three years ago Dredd Blog did a piece on the reason for the requirement of juries in our Constitution.

In that post we pointed out that the jury specification includes the requirement that a grand jury must be used to ponder the validity of government assertions of criminality, a requirement for a trial by petite jury, if criminal charges are brought by a grand jury, then finally in non-criminal cases involving civil matters over money or property, our Constitution requires a petite civil jury.

That Dredd Blog post was moved to the Toxins of Power blog because, as explained in that post, one of the reasons for jury involvement in our legal system is the notion that power corrupts:

Once the grand jury returns an indictment, still another petite jury must be convinced unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual who was charged is in fact to be held accountable for those charges. And the person charged need not say a single word. The prosecutor carries the entire burden to prove it. Is that fair? No. But it is safe.

Let us look at some abstract examples. In the courts during trials experts are used. In the typical case experts will give their opinions to the jury. Typically this means an opposite opinion for each side. The experts are sworn in, list their degrees, and the court makes a ruling that they are experts.

Afterwards those experts explain that they looked at the evidence, and then they tell the jury what their opinion is. The expert for the defense has one opinion, but the expert for the prosecutor typically has another and different opinion. On the exact same evidence I should add.

Finally, the everyday folk on the jury make the decision as to which expert was right and who was telling the truth! Yes, the person who left the farm after a 5:00 AM breakfast, and then drove the truck into town for that day's jury duty, decides which rocket scientist had it right.

If you are still wondering why this is so, remember that the foundation of jury theory is that the people can determine facts better or more accurately than those immersed in governmental power can. By “better or more accurately" I mean in the context of the effects that governmental power has on individuals.

We have found that historically, by and large, the people tend not to oppress their fellow citizens like governmental agents have tended to do. The old saying that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely" is directed at governments. It is not directed at juries of the people.

Juries are the people's reaction to the oppression of tyrants who have inebriated themselves with the toxins active within governmental power.

Oh to be sure juries make mistakes. But the mistakes of the people are much easier to live with over the long run than the mistakes of government.

So say the sages of the ages.

(Why Trial By Jury?). The work of a jury is not always easy, for one reason because experts often disagree on the same set of facts.

In yesterday's post, The Memes of Penrose - 3, I discussed the fact that the experts who disagree can even be top experts in a given field.

The video at the end of today's post shows why a grand jury, then a petite jury, should be used to determine the ongoing expert disagreements concerning many 9/11 controversies.

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Two ex-Senators have sworn under oath that Saudi Arabia is likely linked to the 9/11 attacks.

Senator Kerry, a 9/11 Commission co-chair, and Senator Graham of Florida, submitted affidavits setting forth their testimony.

The Memes of Penrose - 3

In the previous post in this series we noted that the dogma, ideology, and the science of the world of quantum mechanics, below a certain line or level, is said to be chaotic in a way that scientist Dr. Roger Penrose says does not make sense. One Dr. Lynn Margulis (video) noticed the same thing with some evolutionary dogma, ideology, and science, then went on to cause quite a stir in the world of microbiology, the science that deals with the microscopic underworld. Brits like Dr. Penrose and Americans like Dr. L. Margulis are resourceful people, always questioning the world around them from many viewpoints. Then there are those who are called "fringe thinkers" who do not have the credentials of Dr. Penrose or Dr. Margulis, yet they also think that a lot of establishment science does not make sense:

Many people enjoy doing physics, and the vast majority of them work as professional scientists. Margaret Wertheim’s Physics on the Fringe, however, is about the minority, those who devote a significant portion of their lives to investigating the structure of the universe at their kitchen tables while their families sleep. These individuals (those she discusses are, with one exception, all men) did not train as scientists and then fail to find employment in their chosen field. And they are not amateurs who study physics textbooks and read scholarly journals. They are at the fringe, a place most of us ignore completely.

(Fringe Science, American Scientist). Then there are "those" who have some establishment folk running around in circles, trying to figure out where "those" fit. For example, consider Dr. Steve Pieczenik:

Pieczenik was deputy assistant secretary of state under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance and James Baker. His expertise includes foreign policy, international crisis management and psychological warfare. He served the presidential administrations of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the capacity of deputy assistant secretary ... On May 3, 2011 ... Pieczenik claimed that Osama Bin Laden had died of Marfan syndrome in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and that the attacks on the United States on 9/11 were part of a false flag operation ...

(Wikipedia, emphasis added, cf. PQ911). It is interesting that Dr. Margulis (considered a scientific heretic, for many years, later to be proven correct as to her revolutionary scientific papers, finally to be accepted by mainstream science, then given coveted awards) also said that the official government conspiracy theory is false. These are very competent people, who the government must try to paint as "conspiracy theorists" (through their lackey, McTell News), or else give in to criticism. If they give in to the criticism, then they must do the first criminal investigation of 9/11, which was the largest crime ever committed on American soil, without there ever having been a formal criminal prosecution of that crime (Grand Jury, Charges, Trials). A long video is available here, showing Dr. Niels Harrit, a University Professor of Chemistry, experiencing an attempted character assassination hit on him by McTell News. The McTell News does not want you to know that thousands of professionals, as well as hundreds of millions of people, at home and abroad, do not believe the government's conspiracy theory. They favor, instead, the memes of Penrose.

The previous post in this series is here.

The Fleets & Terrorism Follow The Oil - 4

We began this series in a post about this time two years ago, recently posting what was then the latest in the series.

In that recent post Dredd Blog pointed out a U.S. buildup in the Persian Gulf area, which is the province of MOMCOM's USCENTCOM.

This year we saw increased climate change effects in the form of destructive weather in the U.S. and abroad, caused by fossil fuel use:

By many measures, 2011 was the most extreme weather year for the United States since reliable record-keeping began in the 19th century -- and the costs have been enormous. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2011 set a record for the most billion-dollar disasters in a single year. There were 12, breaking the old record of nine set in 2009. The aggregate damage from these 12 events totals at least $52 billion, NOAA found.

(One Earth). Nevertheless, we see increasing tensions in the ongoing oil wars for control of the fossil fuels that are bringing climate change disasters:

Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi warned that "not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz" if sanctions are widened.
Iran's navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari later said closing the strait would be "easy".
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The Strait of Hormuz links the Gulf - and the oil-producing states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - to the Indian Ocean. About 40% of the world's tanker-borne oil passes through it.

(Iran threatens to block Strait, emphasis added). Clearly, if the Iranians do in fact attempt to block the strategic strait, it would cause an immediate military response.

Thus the behavior of oil addicted civilization mirrors the behavior of gangs who fight over drug turf, over the right to peddle the drug in a particular geographic turf.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Odd Bedfellows - Incompetence & Fear - 2

I thought a post two years ago would dove-tail well with yesterday's post about McTell News, yes would fit well here today, by adding some emphasis.

So, here is the text from that post two years ago:

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Sometimes it is difficult to tell what the military oil complex news outlets are selling, fear or incompetence.

The incompetent fool who burned himself in front of the world has the news media all aTwitter, tweeting out fear like incompetence was irrelevant.

Does the media actually think that incompetent fools like the young man who lived in the basement instead of in the home upstairs with his wealthy family is really a grave danger to the United States?

There are many thousands of them in the United States who have been through the military fog of war and who have come out all foggy & dangerous about what is real and what is not real.

Are these incompetent fools the real enemy of the people of the U.S. or is the government controlled media who sell war like all warmongers do, more of a danger?

The anniversary of Operation Northwoods may or may not have something to do with it:

Operation Northwoods, or Northwoods, was a false-flag plan, proposed within the United States government in 1962. The plan called for CIA or other operatives to commit apparent acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Castro-led Cuba. One plan was to "develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington".

This operation is especially notable in that it included plans for hijackings and bombings followed by the use of phony evidence that would blame the terrorist acts on a foreign government, namely Cuba.

(Wikipedia, emphasis added). Or perhaps Wikipedia is a conspiracy theory?

In either case, this Homeland Security is an expensive joke if it's security can be destroyed by a deranged kid with a chemistry set.

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The purpose of McTell News is to light up your smokestack (then blame it on you) baby:



The lyrics to this song are here.

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Blind Willie McTell News

"I will McTell you what I need you to know."

Recently, I focused on a particular portion of the life of Blind Willie McTell, in terms of the use of that portion of his life as being a suitable, if not a great, fit for the caricature of the for-profit main stream media ("McTell News").

The McTell News is owned by a very few for-profit U.S. and foreign corporations that are now called "persons" by the U.S. Supreme Court.

I also mentioned some stark effects that the McTell News has had on the MOMCOM 1% elite, as well as the effect McTell News has had on the general public, the 99% (See Stockholm Syndrome On Steroids - 2).

Today, I want to focus exclusively on that caricature of McTell News, as well as how the songwriter Bob Dylan (who wrote what some call a masterpiece, "Blind Willie McTell"), along with a certain portion the citizenry in the USA, are also represented in some degree by that caricature.

The race of those caricatured in this post is irrelevant as a source of the reason McTell News exists as it does, because that reason is not a racial characteristic.

What is relevant, as a source for the reason McTell News exists as it does, is the attitude we have toward the facts and truth of reality, and what the actual, missing news could mean to the people of America.

The heart of the story, then, is that the deeply meaningful news is all too often purposefully hidden in plain sight within our culture.

One quick, stark example is the portion of reality that Blind Willie McTell and millions of other Americans, for decade upon decade had to "agree" not to talk about in public.

During that time McTell News was play pretending that certain realities did not exist in any way that would require McTell News reporting:

"I wonder, John Lomax asked Blind Willie McTell, "I wonder if, if you know any songs about colored people havin' hard times here in the South" ... "Any complainin' songs, complainin' about the hard times and sometimes mistreatment [by] the whites? Have you got any songs that talk about that?" ... No, McTell said at once, he had no such songs, "not at the present time." Those were the songs of another era, but now "the white peoples is mighty good to the southern people, as far as I know" ... Read one way, Lomax's conversation with McTell is a tense social transcript from the Jim Crow South. Lomax, the overbearing if well intentioned white visitor, wants musical documents of poverty and racial oppression. The request may connote obliviousness on his part, as well as a condescending sympathy for blacks, but it is nevertheless rude and insulting, demanding that the singer violate basic, unspoken southern norms that should have been familiar to anyone reared in Texas. McTell knows better than to say anything against white people, let alone sing it, to a white man with even the hint of a southern accent and his wife, especially if ... a recorder is running ... McTell makes it clear that he knows songs that Lomax wants to hear ... he would never play them ... but to say as much and explain why would also violate the Jim Crow norms by making them explicit.

(Bob Dylan In America, Chap. 6, p. 173, by Sean Wilentz, emphasis added). Are there any journalistic, unspeakable, and publicly known words or ideas in America today, words or ideas that would be considered to be "unspeakably rude" by our "free press", our McTell News?

Oh YES indeed! (to be touched upon more towards the end of the post)

That is why Chapter 6 of the book, concerning the actual Blind Willie McTell, who Wilentz called "a songster", struck me well:

Blind Willie McTell

John Lomax, the archivist and collector, certainly wants what he wants, but ... McTell simply doesn't have it. The music that McTell knows best and prefers to perform carries no overt or even hidden social or political meaning. There are no old-fashioned sorrow songs about the black man's plight in his regular repertoire (and certainly not in his records, even though they are intended for the black "race record" market). His songs are up-to-date, and they are about sadness in love and gladness in love, drinking too much, benign nonsense, God, gambling, violence (much of it involving blacks attacking or killing other blacks), honoring life and death ... McTell is not a sharecropper or big-city laborer; he is a professional performer in a growing southern city. He lives within the iron structures of segregation ... and now he is making a very decent living playing music for whites as well as blacks and getting recorded commercially. For a black Atlantan in 1940, this amounted to a comparatively easy experience with white people -- while taking their money ...

(ibid, p. 175). That history shows Blind Willie McTell as the consummate caricature who is well suited (he always wore a suit and tie while performing) to symbolically represent McTell News, those who make their profits from selective news, just like Blind Willie McTell did from his use of selective music.

The book points out that Blind Willie McTell lived in a respectable neighborhood a few blocks from Martin Luther King, the father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King would go on to become a household name in America, during the civil rights uprising in the South during the 1960's, as did Bob Dylan and rock music.

However, the path Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took was more along the ways of the true path the U.S. Constitution sets for the real free press, at least when compared with the path Blind Willie McTell took.

To illustrate the contrary path McTell News has taken, notice:

The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine ...

(Associated Press Chief Executive Tom Curley). The McTell News jumped in bed ("embedded") with the masters of war, then McTell News feigned complaints about the propaganda that McTell News itself helped produce then spread far and wide.

The Pentagon replied to McTell News' feigned complaints with a feigned study which concluded that this well bedded relationship was OK, whether in war zones abroad or on TV at home, because the Pentagon has always used the very best prophylactics (Pentagon Says Its News Media Influence is OK).

The propaganda that Blind Willie McTell conformed to was a SCAD, and was the same propaganda that Dr. King rejected, which was the notion that it was OK for the South to practice racial discrimination, segregation, lynching black men, using the "N" word, and to generally oppress some Americans because of their race.

A clear, undisputed example from James Madison gives a foundation for showing that McTell News is what it is because it is owned by, and embedded within, the warmonger corporate system:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war ... comprises and develops the germ of every other [enemy to public liberty] ... In war ... all the means of seducing the minds ... are added to those of subduing the force ... of the people.

(James Madison, emphasis added). President Madison's phrase "seducing the minds" is an older English description for what we now call propaganda or, in "nice" company, "spin".

Another case in point, out of an endless supply, is the Fukushima cover up, where the McTell News says "everything is fine, go home now, nothing to see here folks", while a scientific report says 14,000 deaths, so far, have occurred in the U.S. due to Fukushima's radioactive fallout (14,000 Deaths in U.S. Attributed to Fukushima, PDF).

One more news story, for this post, is the psychotic refusal by McTell News to deal with the millions of people who want another 9/11 Commission, but this time with an independent, scientific process.

In the USA, citizen journalists with an innate ability to use the pen, as well as the largest federal circuit court in the USA, all comment on the fundamental result of "untruthiness" at the heart of the vast American propaganda engines:

Saints may always tell the truth, but for mortals living means lying. We lie to protect our privacy (“No, I don’t live around here”); to avoid hurt feelings (“Friday is my study night”); to make others feel better (“Gee you’ve gotten skinny”); to avoid recriminations (“I only lost $10 at poker”); to prevent grief (“The doc says you’re getting better”); to maintain domestic tranquility (“She’s just a friend”); to avoid social stigma (“I just haven’t met the right woman”); for career advancement (“I’m sooo lucky to have a smart boss like you”); to avoid being lonely (“I love opera”); to eliminate a rival (“He has a boyfriend”); to achieve an objective (“But I love you so much”); to defeat an objective (“I’m allergic to latex”); to make an exit (“It’s not you, it’s me”); to delay the inevitable (“The check is in the mail”); to communicate displeasure (“There’s nothing wrong”); to get someone off your back (“I’ll call you about lunch”); to escape a nudnik (“My mother’s on the other line”); to namedrop (“We go way back”); to set up a surprise party (“I need help moving the piano”); to buy time (“I’m on my way”); to keep up appearances (“We’re not talking divorce”); to avoid taking out the trash (“My back hurts”); to duck an obligation (“I’ve got a headache”); to maintain a public image (“I go to church every Sunday”); to make a point (“Ich bin ein Berliner”); to save face (“I had too much to drink”); to humor (“Correct as usual, King Friday”); to avoid embarrassment (“That wasn’t me”); to curry favor (“I’ve read all your books”); to get a clerkship (“You’re the greatest living jurist”); to save a dollar (“I gave at the office”); or to maintain innocence (“There are eight tiny reindeer on the rooftop”).

And we don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk, as reflected by the popularity of plastic surgery, elevator shoes, wood veneer paneling, cubic zirconia, toupees, artificial turf and cross-dressing. Last year, Americans spent $40 billion on cosmetics — an industry devoted almost entirely to helping people deceive each other about their appearance. It doesn’t matter whether we think that such lies are despicable or cause more harm than good. An important aspect of personal autonomy is the right to shape one’s public and private persona by choosing when to tell the truth about oneself, when to conceal and when to deceive. Of course, lies are often disbelieved or discovered, and that too is part of the pull and tug of social intercourse. But it’s critical to leave such interactions in private hands, so that we can make choices about who we are. How can you develop a reputation as a straight shooter if lying is not an option?

(U.S. v. Alvarez). According to that narrative, as well as others, industrial strength lying is now as American as MOMCOM and apple pie.

Like Blind Willie McTell, the songster Bob Dylan rejected his own playing of any activist role in the 1960's type movements:

In mid-1964, he explained to critic Nat Hentoff: "Me, I don't want to write for people anymore - you know, be a spokesman. From now on, I want to write from inside me ... I'm not part of no movement ... I just can't make it with any organisation ..."

(RedPepper). Dylan eschewed movements of the genre that Dr. King participated in which led to King's assassination.

Along that same line, the public resists their civic duty to chide McTell News, sensing, perhaps by gut feeling, that the real news is not so "good" ("so you listen to the real news, not me").

Thus, the bleep goes on as if there were no consequences for being unaware.

The next post in this series is here.

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A Bob Dylan song about McTell News:

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Double Down, Down, Down, and Downer

The Dredd Blog post yesterday quoted a December 22, 2009, Dredd Blog post that contained prescient observations.

Observations by those who saw the democrats going down big-time in November 2010.

About a year after that post, in the very next election, that is exactly what happened to the democrats.

In the 2010 election they hit the iceberg going full steam in the W Direction.

You would think, by now, that they would have picked up on the rhythm of that post, of that election, and stopped kowtowing to the right wing madness.

They have not, rather they have doubled down, evidently giving up on America to join the neoCon infestation.

In so doing they (democrats and republicans) have passed the most fascist bill in American legislative history, which the double down president says he will sign into law.

Even grandma is now in danger of Big Brother Dementia, since the entire mob in D.C. (except for very few), seems to have been infected by the lunacy going around, because the president and the other democrats doubled down and steamed full ahead in the W direction once again.

Now they (democrats and republicans) sanction the killing and imprisoning of Americans on U.S. soil without charges and without trial, for an indefinite period or for life if they feel like it.

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Merry Christmas Endless Wars to all ...
HO HO HO HOSE HOSE HOSE ...
Peace Piss on Earth ...
(from yo MOMCOM)

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So Obama Thinks I Am Critical? - 2

Sometimes it takes reflection to feel how things are going.

Two years ago on this date Dredd Blog posted a piece concerning whether or not I was being fair to President Obama, who I took up for in the first year of his presidency.

In that post, repeated verbatim below, I indicated that I had not been as critical as some others:

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Oh to the contrary, I have held my tongue compared to others who voted for him.

Take for example the University Professor, Psychologist and Neuroscientist:

What's costing the president and courting danger for Democrats in 2010 isn't a question of left or right, because the president has accomplished the remarkable feat of both demoralizing the base and completely turning off voters in the center. If this were an ideological issue, that would not be the case. He would be holding either the middle or the left, not losing both.

What's costing the president are three things: a laissez faire style of leadership that appears weak and removed to everyday Americans, a failure to articulate and defend any coherent ideological position on virtually anything, and a widespread perception that he cares more about special interests like bank, credit card, oil and coal, and health and pharmaceutical companies than he does about the people they are shafting.

The problem is not that his record is being distorted. It's that all three have more than a grain of truth. And I say this not as one of those pesky "leftists." I say this as someone who has spent much of the last three years studying what moves voters in the middle, the Undecideds who will hear whichever side speaks to them with moral clarity.

Consider the president's leadership style, which has now become clear: deliver a moving speech, move on, and when push comes to shove, leave it to others to decide what to do if there's a conflict, because if there's a conflict, he doesn't want to be anywhere near it.

(Huffington Post, emphasis added). Ouch! That rant goes on and on.

See, I have only criticized the administration in the hope that his advisers would wake up to the reality I reminded them of time and time again.

They seem to think they can ramrod their notions down the voters ballot box, a notion that will be tested like it was in the last election when the people rejected that approach.

My criticism of the administration has been exclusively to criticize them for continuing what the people rejected in the election.

For an apologetic in support of all the administration's deeds, and a pro-con comment session afterwards, see this post.

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The Germ Theory - of Government - 2

In the previous post of this series we looked at government from a vantage point not often considered.

We peered out over the political landscape from a doctor's vantage point.

Then we went even further, to consider the constitution as one form of medicine or immunization designed to treat those who would sit in any of the seats of power.

In our view, expressed in that post, we examined the notion that those who sit in the seats of power (including religion) are constantly exposed to what we call the toxins of power.

We noted that the whole purpose for that constitutional treatment for exposure to those toxins, together with annual follow up elections to work as booster shots containing the anti-toxin called accountability, was to avoid an ongoing diseased government that more and more would oppress the people it purported to serve.

No doubt it seems strange, at first, to consider government from the perspective of a doctor, from the perspective of Epidemiology, nevertheless, at the same time it is common for people to react to some of the behavior of congress, the president, and the courts with the phrase "that's sick".

We bloggers, commenters, and posters at Dredd Blog have also expressed another notion, based on a review of the history of empires, that there is an increasing sense that the toxins of power can, over time, build up an immunity to those types of treatments (like the resistance of Streptococcus, for example).

We suggested, therefore, that we should "get modern" by developing an actual immunization vaccination that would have some capacity to protect those who are exposed to the toxins of power.

We noted that our microbiology scientists, researchers, and scholars, have made great inroads into the study of microbes, as well as the impact microbes have on the concept of what it is to be human.

We believe that we are now in a stronger position, medically and scientifically, to seriously begin to consider and to develop such a vaccine.

But note that this is not a vaccine for stupidity or incompetence, rather it is a vaccine for already intelligent, competent Americans who become government officials, and who are then and thereby exposed to toxins of power.

Toxins that will pull any and all of them toward behavior they would not otherwise normally conduct, prior to having been exposed to those toxins.

The Toxins of Power Blog now is advancing an ongoing, maturing hypothesis that encourages research and development which could move us closer to the day when we can discover what any such vaccine would be able to do to minimize the effects of the toxins of power.

Hopefully, those who have the capacity to do such research and development will take the idea and run with it for the benefit of people everywhere.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

Stealth Budget For Stealth Bailout - 2

Close to two years ago we considered an obscene war spending bill.

Nothing has changed, the congress and president are still obscene with the lust of war and plunder.

Meanwhile, a germ theory of government is emerging that explains their alien life form of behavior.

Here is the text of the post two years ago:

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The massive military build up and military drills in South America give new meaning to "drill for oil" and "drill baby drill".

Stealthy numbers also seem to be in the growing stealth budget somewhere, hidden from public eyes.

A secret amount in the hundreds of billions of dollars of the taxpayer money is classified each year.

Thus, we never really know what the actual deficit is, but never mind, the amount they tell us about is shocking enough.

The just before Christmas spending bill is out:

The Senate will soon follow the House in passing a $636.3 billion Fiscal Year 2010 defense appropriations bill, the government's largest spending bill. The legislation contains 1,720 earmarks worth $4.2 billion, 17 percent less in number and 14 percent less in value from last year (remember that this is only disclosed earmarks: Major additions such as the $2.5 billion for 10 more C-17 Globemaster cargo planes are not included). The four top Congressional appropriators are responsible for 15 percent of the take: Senate Defense Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) sponsored 37 earmarks worth $198.2 million, and Ranking Member Thad Cochran 45 worth $167 million. Over in the House, Defense Appropriations Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) sponsored 23 earmarks worth $76.5 million, while Ranking Member C.W. Bill Young (R-FL) got behind 36 worth $83.7 million.

(Taxpayers For Common Sense, emphasis added). We spend more on war machines and war each year, in the non-stealth budget, than all the rest of the world combined.

If we knew the amount they classify (Jekyl & Hyde) then spend on war machines and war each year, in the stealth budget, it would be more than all the rest of the world combined.

They are still hung up on that old domino theory where they have to destroy the economy in order to save it?

Manning Hearing - Live Updates

The Guardian has a live-update feed on the Bradley Manning pre-trial hearing: here.

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Nash / Raymond song about Manning:

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"Kill Senate Health Care Bill" - 2

Two years ago on this date Dredd Blog considered the debate going on then about health care.

Things have not changed that much, in the sense that the health care reform law is now before the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision as to whether or not it is constitutional in whole or in part.

Likewise, the health care reform law is still being heatedly discussed in the ongoing Republican Primary Debates.

Here is the text of the post of two years ago:

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After the latest Joe Lieberman escapades leading to Senate Leadership capitulation, Howard Dean said on last night's Keith Olbermann show Countdown, that the Senate bill on Health Care should be put out of its misery.

On radio he said:

"This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate," Dean said. "Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."

(Huffington Post). Is it not pathetic for a nation that exclaims peace to spend more on military than all the rest of the nations combined?

To spend less on health care than any other industrialized European nation?

A spending orgasm is just fine if it is spent on military or filthy rich banksters, but not fine if it goes to the middle class and poor?

No wonder we are falling from first place in significant areas of economics.

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Iraq: World's Number One Oil Producer? - 6

In this series that began in August of 2010, we have hypothesized that the Iraq war was about civilization's addiction to oil, and the resultant panic reaction to peak oil, a panic that will never end so long as we continue to traverse the downslope of the peak of sanity.

The showmen say that the Iraq war is over now, the oil barons say we won the war because we secured possibly the largest supply of oil known, and the statesmen say winning the peace is the traditional American way (because wars cannot really be won), but they also hope it is a real step in a better direction.

The propaganda engines of MOMCOM are talking about all that freedom we created in Iraq, even as the mid-east curse ("may America bring you freedom") is uttered incessantly to sectarian opponents.

Those in the know realize that the "freedom" which was created there was the freedom for oil barons to exploit and plunder the oil in Iraq, the oil that should have been used to enrich the Iraqi people, not the plundering invader drug warlords.

Those oil drugsters who run the U.S. government military and media now have the world's largest "embassy" in Iraq, overseeing untold numbers of mercenaries contracted from down the street in the U.A.E. where Haliburton of Cheney, Blackwater of Prince, and USCENTCOM of MOMCOM have set up headquarters.

The plan is going according to the schedule Dredd Blog has projected in this series:

“Crude oil expansion plans in the medium term are moving apace, with capacity now forecast to increase by 2.33 million b/d to 38.1 million b/d by 2016,” IEA said in its latest monthly report.

“Iraq accounts for 80% of the increased capacity, followed by the UAE and Angola,” IEA said, noting that capacity growth is 200,000 b/d higher than its previous forecast for the 2010-16 period.

(PO, 12/13/11, emphasis added). Those who thought oil had nothing to do with the Iraq war may stay in denial, but will look more and more foolish as time goes on:

Iraq hopes to increase production from the present 2.7 million barrels per day to 13.5 million by 2018.

That would easily top Saudi Arabia, the world’s top petroleum exporter, which pumps about ten million bpd. Current global demand is around 89 million bpd.

Three Western majors – BP, ExxonMobil and Eni – are hard at work developing Iraq’s massive southern oil fields at Rumaila, West Qurna and Zubair. Within six years, these fields could be pumping 6.8 million bpd.

(Scotsman, emphasis added). Will Syria and Iran be the next middle eastern nations to "secure the blessings of oil" for the homeland plutocracy?

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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The war is all over:

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Better Dead Than Red

Have any respect for your elders? I mean the freedom elders. For example: “Experience has shown that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson Don't misunderestimate the power of the dark side of the matrix, dear hobbit.

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Here is the defense presented by The 1% MOMCOM, spoken by another 60's band:

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The Judas Number - 30 - Pieces of Silver - 2

Two years ago on this date we discussed a mysterious number that kept repeating itself in the reports from Pentagonia, Capitol of Bullshitistan, concerning events in Afghanistan.

That number was 30.

We don't see than number any more, except when we hear how many years the generals want to stay there.

Or perhaps how many times the President of Afghanistan has said he would side with Pakistan (or the Taliban?) in a war against the United States.

We revisit these stories ever so often to show how the behind the scenes institutions that work in the shadows are more permanent than administrations or congresses.

Read the story between the lines:

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How about a Christmas story?

Remember the story of Jesus?

I mean the one where one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, sold him out to his enemies for 30 pieces of silver?

The civilians of Afghanistan can relate to the number 30, because it is trivial for 30 of them to be killed by Americans, who are there to teach them to be civil, modern, and democratic.

Yep, if any thing like serious killing is going to go on (like killing more than 30 Afghanis at a time) there must be permission given by the Secretary of State as a matter of law.

See, we are a nation of laws, which makes us exceptional, hence American exceptionalism.

The Afghanis don't know how lucky they are to have a great progressive American Commander in Chief pulling for them do they?

He is sending the Judas number 30 more thousand of those who kill 30 at a time, praise General Judas.

Well you know that law stuff always has loopholes, so have you noticed that when a bunch of Afghanis are killed these days there are always about 30 Afghani civilians killed?

You haven't?

Now that is some seriously exact killing folks, legal, exceptional, and fully Judas. All the military needs to do is report "30" civilians for it to be defined as trivial, exact killing.

But that being said, can you believe that some ingrates think the 30 number is being fudged? Yes it is true:

On Monday, the anonymous blogger Security Crank noticed something interesting: all the U.S. and NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan seemingly kill exactly 30 people every time. How can that be?

(Air America). How unpatriotic can some people get? Jesus would not be happy with them, pass the ammo, 30 boxes please, and learn what to notice, and what not to notice.

That security crank who is 30 challenged even said:

But look, hopping onto Google News and typing “30 Taliban” or “30 suspected militants” brings up literally dozens of stories each year, stretching back at least to 2005. Indeed, thirty seems to be the magic number when it comes to arresting or killing off Taliban and other militant fighters in Afghanistan.

(Security Crank, [or GodlikeProd or Agonist]). As if that arithmetic of insubordination could not be topped, some one down in sweet home Alabama noticed the same thing:

Last August my piece Around the Hindu Kush, 30 is a Magic Number quoted 16 media items about different incidents in Afghanistan between February 2006 and August 2008. Each of those incidents involved "30 militants", "30 insurgents" or "30 enemies".

Since then the number 30 has not lost its magic. Here is an update with 18 incidents since August last year all of which involve the magic number:

(Moon of Alabama). That is Judas Priest ghastly to notice things like that with an unfaithful questioning mind. Doubt is of the devil!

Don't these dissidents know it is not a matter of magic, it is a matter of biblical proportions, as our high priest in chief explained to the French Fry dude?

Yes, our Judas Priest in Chief has specified a democratic number of 30 as the reason these things happen this way.

This biblical 30 is done so our wars are always just, and those we are fighting are always evil. Isn't that special? Isn't that magic!

It is a biblical proportion that should be told during Christmas Time, the season of heavenly peace we are bringing to lucky nations everywhere.

Notice the holy official foundation for this principle of Judas 30 law:

We don't know much about how it works, but in 2007, Marc Garlasco, the Pentagon's former chief of high-value targeting, offered a glimpse when he told Salon magazine that in 2003, "the magic number was 30." That meant that if an attack was anticipated to kill more than 30 civilians, it needed the explicit approval of then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld or President George W. Bush. If the expected civilian death toll was less than 30, the strike could be OKd by the legal and military commanders on the ground.

(LA Times). Hey detractors, you do know the meaning of "30 is ok" don't you? It means don't bother us with details of minor imperfection. Grace and forgiveness are the values of disciples of Christ doncha know?

This is sophisticated foreign policy based upon the King James Bible, which was good enough for Jesus, so it is also good enough for all our saintly body counters.

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On Public Discourse

Pat of SNL says: "Go figure while you tap your feet ..."






Here is the case of the 99% against the MOMCOM 1%, spoken by a 60's band:

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Here is the defense presented by The 1% MOMCOM, spoken by another 60's band:

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The Homeland: Big Brother Plutonomy - 3

In the first and second posts in this series we touched upon the militant foundation of the American Plutocracy, and its child the American Plutonomy.

In addition, Dredd Blog pointed out that on the way to the American Plutonomy, protected by that militant foundation, the plunder, which the American 1% has done to the American 99%, was kept "secret" in plain sight.

We pointed out that the 1% used the media to pull off this plunder with the form of "communication" known as propaganda, all the while calling it "journalism", "entertainment", or "the media".

A couple of generations of this abuse has generated a form of Mass Stockholm Syndrome, so that we are not talking about the dynamics of individual Stockholm Syndrome sufferers, but rather we are talking about how that syndrome works and manifests after being injected into an entire society.

Let's revisit some numbers before we get into the dynamics of how this plunder of America has taken place:

Upon closer inspection, the Forbes list reveals that six Waltons — all children (one daughter-in-law) of Sam or James “Bud” Walton the founders of Wal-Mart — were on the list. The combined worth of the Walton six was $69.7 billion in 2007 — which equated to the total wealth of the entire bottom thirty percent!

(The Few, the Proud, the Very Rich). This "30% of Americans" equates to about 100,000,000 American people, who have collectively as much "wealth" as those 6 Wal-Mart children.

We pointed out that those ~100,000,000 Americans are in poverty or on the edge of poverty, one paycheck or less away from falling through to financial ruin, something those six of the 1% won't worry about.

Is this concentration of power a result of equal opportunity and fair play, the supposed ethic of the Amercian Dream, or is it the result of a nightmare war on America that functions as Social Kuru, the social disease of financial cannibalism?

It is all of the above, but none of it is healthy or stable according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ):

The data may be a further sign that the U.S. is becoming a Plutonomy – an economy dependent on the spending and investing of the wealthy. And Plutonomies are far less stable than economies built on more evenly distributed income and mass consumption. “I don’t think it’s healthy for the economy to be so dependent on the top 2% of the income distribution,” Mr. Zandi said. He added that, “In the near term it highlights the fragility of the recovery.”

(The Graphs of Wrath, quoting WSJ, emphasis added). The heart, mind, and spirit of the method and means the 1% use has been known all along:

"One of the most important comments on deceit, I think, was made by Adam Smith. He pointed out that a major goal of business is to deceive and oppress the public.

And one of the striking features of the modern period is the institutionalization of that process, so that we now have huge industries deceiving the public — and they're very conscious about it, the public relations industry. Interestingly, this developed in the freest countries — in Britain and the US — roughly around time of WWI, when it was recognized that enough freedom had been won that people could no longer be controlled by force. So modes of deception and manipulation had to be developed in order to keep them under control"

(The Deceit Business, quoting Noam Chomsky). The institution that controlled the people by force previously, the militant institution, became the propaganda masters going forward, deceiving the public into thinking that the militants were the most competent American institution.

The citizen journalist is now the antidote to the social kuru, but it is a weak force than can only talk about and reveal the issues which the 1% media will not reveal and talk about.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post is here.

Not Really Mr. President - 2

On this date two years ago, in a Dredd Blog post, the issues we covered was war, jobs, and government spending.

Not deja vu all over again?

Well, the country did not like it then and still do not like it.

Here is the text of that post:

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I have been asking a question in two posts recently, and I hope the president did not answer when he said:

"We avoided the depression many feared," Obama said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. But, he added, "Our work is far from done."

(NPR). Lately when he says "we" he is also talking about right wing idealists he kowtows to, calling it "bipartisanship".

No, it is kowtowing.

So, I don't know who the "we" is, but his predecessor was a right wing idealist who did not prevent the recession.

Just before Obama took office, in economic effect terms, "the most expensive public works legislation in U.S. history" was passed to "create jobs until 2009" by "we" the government.

The last two presidents both like war, and spending like a drunken sailor, not realizing that the wars of forever are causing the problem in the first place.

Dick Cheney may have run things for Bush II, but it looks like Secretary Gates is running things in two administrations.

Running things into the bloody ground of war.

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Say It Forward

By now you have probably heard that President Obama gave "a good speech" yesterday.

A speech that Dredd Blog will call a "say it forward" speech, which will be explained below.

It was a speech like more and more presidents are doing, since government is a political realm, guided by the machinations of big money, big oil, big media, and big military.

In particular, the President's speech was purposefully tailored after a speech President Teddy Roosevelt gave at the same location about a century ago.

The speech that Roosevelt gave took place during a time of robber barons and banksters, a time when there was no middle class, a time when a plutocracy running a plutonomy threatened to set in and become the norm for American society.

One could wonder, then, if the unspoken message that President Obama was sending was "As a Nation We Have Gone Back To The Future", back a century, back to our nation's dark ages, yes, back to the time of Theodore Roosevelt?

One could also wonder "so now we must 'lean forward' to get back to where we once belonged?"

The novel and later movie "Pay It Forward" was about doing good deeds as a form of investment in the future:

Trevor does a favor for three people, asking each of them to 'pay the favor forward' by doing favors for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds.

(Pay It Forward). What is the difference, if there is a difference, between the notion of "pay it forward" and "say it forward", yes, what is the difference between now and then?

Noam Chomsky offers a clue when he says that our government, some few years after Teddy Roosevelt left the White House, became the purveyor of propaganda as a means of controlling the populace:

... this developed in ... the US — roughly around time of WWI, when it was recognized that enough freedom had been won that people could no longer be controlled by force. So modes of deception and manipulation had to be developed in order to keep them under control.

(The Deceit Business, bold added; see also The Ways of Bernays). The U.S. government has evolved to become the offspring of politicians who are the offspring of "say it forward" rhetorical propaganda masters who design promises that are not to be kept.

Whether this is because the promises either can't be kept, or in some cases are intended not to be kept, is irrelevant.

The coin of the election realm, the coin of election promises, is as worthless as money at 100% inflation (there is lots of it but it doesn't buy much).

The American people in general do not believe politicians because of the reality of history, the reality that campaign promises are not kept.

The plunder barons, the banksters, and the warmongers, through their bought and paid for politicians, have destroyed the integrity of public discourse in America.

Therefore, to get back to the time of Teddy Roosevelt, we would have to break the bullshit barrier, yes, we would have to leave Pentagonia, the Capitol of Bullshitistan, and travel to a place and time where honesty is paramount.

Isn't that a road too far?

The Damage Has Been Done - 5

In the previous post in this series we focused on the issue of worldwide drought.

The state and federal governments in the United States seem to be morphing into a stupor of thinking, or a lack of thinking.

These stupefied elected officials suppose that reports of environmental pollution, which is causing the mass extinction of species, climate change, and serious danger to civilization itself, is a political issue.

Not only that, a large group of House members in the GOP even think that global warming is a laughing matter, because they have been told as much by a for-profit "think tank" (see video).

That think tank also said the same thing about cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer, and convinced the courts and government of that lie for years, even as thousands died in reliance on their lies.

The criminal minded think tank is being paid by big oil to say that global warming is a big hoax which scientists the world over is playing on the seven billion people of the world.

Meanwhile, back in reality, in this post we focus on green house gas emissions once again:

Last year, emissions from burning fossil fuels rose by 5.9%, bringing the total rise since 1990, the baseline year for calculating emissions under the Kyoto protocol, to 49%, an average rate of increase of about 3.1% a year ... The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change, found that global carbon emissions were likely to carry on increasing at a rate of about 3% per year. It was accompanied by another study offering new proof that climate change is linked to human activities, in burning fossil fuel ... These two new results offer a stark message. Human carbon emissions are certainly disturbing the climate system upon which we depend, and in spite of the economic slowdown, and despite all the efforts by governments, businesses and people to reduce them, our emissions are reaching new highs. The climatic consequences, already emerging, will grow over time, and are irreversible.

(Guardian, quoting Journal Nature: Climate Change). The Obama Administration has been as bad or worse than those before it, so there seems to be no avoiding severe catastrophe and extinction of innumerable species.

And this comes at a time when the microbial sciences show that we humans are individual ecosystems composed mostly of microbe cells, not human cells.

The next post in this series is here, the previous post is here.