Artifice

As I was reading "The darker side of interest rate cuts" on CNN.com about the Fed's recent rate adjustments, I came upon an epiphany. Here's the paragraph that triggered it:

Rising inflation "is not a factor restraining the Fed at the moment," says James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. He says the Fed views the current situation as "maybe a little scarier than the typical downturn" because of problems in the credit markets that threaten to starve businesses of capital needed to fund expansion. [Emphasis mine.]

The last sentence says a lot. It says that businesses need to expand. I don't think they do. I don't think anything needs to expand. Isn't that how we learn to balance our first checkbook? Don't spend more than you have. Don't buy the new thing until you have the resources to acquire and subsequently maintain it. Why do credit markets need to expand, much less fund expansion? Don't they know they're playing a zero-sum game? Well, yes they do, and they win every time they play, which means consumers always lose.


Granted, anyone in business knows that penetrating a wider market or opening up new product lines is a good way to increase revenue. But is constant expansion a core goal for any business? If so, where among the priorities does it fit? At the top: expand at all costs? Or at the bottom: expand when it's economically and politically feasable, after all the other important goals have been achieved? Other goals might include affordable quality healhcare and better pay for employees, improvement of existing facilities, reducing existing operating costs, and reducing harmful impact on the environment.


You see, I believe a company, just like an individual, can remain highly profitable even when it's not expanding. And in fact, profit margins are wider when expansion is zero, because expansion requires lots of capital expenditure. So, in times of economic recession as we have now (despite the cries from some that we're not yet in a recession), why do businesses actually need to expand? It seems wiser to perhaps dig in, maximize revenue from existing streams, cut the fat from the equation, and sit comfortably while the rough water subsides.


It's a fallacy that to be better you must expand. But the Fed sees it differently, as do many. They see that consumers (you and I) are having a tough time making ends meet--what with unemployment at a high and new job growth slowing--so they tweak the rates and create a pleasant arificial sunrise for some and a blinding, oncoming train headlight for others, hoping that the situation will correct itself if they could just get more people to buy more stuff.


The buying of the stuff by comsumers drives the economy, I guess. Hence the drive for businesses to deliver "new" and "improved" and "faster" and "easier-to-use" products that aren't really better, they're just newer and by extension, somethig you don't have but which you "must get" in order to be cool or hip or otherwise as well-equipped as the Joneses. It really doesn't improve your lot by much, but it reduces the size of your cash reserves (or credit line) significantly. So the next step is to try and make more money (to get more stuff). Having money allows us to be good consumers and also to do our individual part to help pull the economy out of recession. (C'mon everyone! PULL! PULL!) So now consumers clamor for more money (so they can help the economy), but find out along the way that buying power, not mere money, is the real means to get stuff. And you don't have to have money to have buying power, you just need credit. And that's where the unraveling threads holding economic reality together can be found--amid the complexities of the mechanics of a credit-based (debt-based) economy. No longer is your money a factor (it's just a fiat paper currency after all--called a Federal Reserve Note); now it's how much debt you have versus how much credit you have. No one saves. No one plans. We just go about filling our lives with gadgets and gizmos, calorie-free nutrition, and fantastic loan products. No one even knows why we're here, so we assume it's to consume and multiply, and if possible, remain happy while doing it.


Expansion is not a good thing, necessarily. Too much population, too many calories, too many lungfulls of contamination and there is doom on the horizon. If we all just tried to maintain the status quo for a while, and maybe use the time to restructure some things in desperate need of fixing, we could possibly move toward a sustainable future. As it is now, we continue to walk along a narrowing balance beam, blindly striving to expand. We've become top-heavy, and no one wants to admit that the vanishing point is clearly on the horizon and we will all fall off eventually. Those who wisely stop progressing along the narrowing path in an effort to be sustainable at our current position will ultimately be bumped or bullied off the beam by those rushing to find the end of it--for there truly must be an economic opportunity to make even more money at the place where the width of the balancing beam becomes zero, a pot of gold I suppose (first ones there get to divvy it up!). But the real end result will be the rubble and shards of a system that should have abandoned greed and arbitrary expansion long ago.


So when the Fed says we have to adjust the rate because the credit brokers are losing money, it's like saying, "We should have kept slavery legal because now look: all the slave traders are having trouble feeding thier families."

A friend read this and sent me a link to the Story of Stuff. It's relevant and entertaining; I recommend it to everyone.

Do You Know What They Know?

Has the National Security Agency referred your name to the F.B.I. as a result of information it picked up from its illegal domestic eavesdropping program?

You don't know, do you? And the Bush administration, which has linked its mania for secrecy with its fetish for collecting data on Americans, is not saying.

Read more...

House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill

This is the kind of stuff I'm trying to wake people up to. We are staring fascism in the face and grinning at it, because it promises security.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed HR 1955 titled the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. This bill is one of the most blatant attacks against the Constitution yet and actually defines thought crimes as homegrown terrorism. If passed into law, it will also establish a commission and a Center of Excellence to study and defeat so called thought criminals. Unlike previous anti-terror legislation, this bill specifically targets the civilian population of the United States and uses vague language to define homegrown terrorism. Amazingly, 404 of our elected representatives from both the Democrat and Republican parties voted in favor of this bill. There is little doubt that this bill is specifically targeting the growing patriot community that is demanding the restoration of the Constitution. Read the article.

The Constitution is being tread upon, no? And when you consider some of our fearless leader's recent power grabs and FEMA shenanigans, this issue should concern you more than who's beating who on American Idol, don't you think?

What do you think about Media Monopoly?

Dorgan Predicts Senate Will Reject FCC's Rush to Change Media Ownership Rules [via Atrios]

In a democracy, making sure that citizens are able to get news and information from a variety of independently owned sources is crucial," Dorgan said. "We already have too much concentration of media ownership. Before the FCC moves forward to allow even more, we need to have an informed, reasoned and unrushed discussion about that. The American people need to be heard.

The last time FCC tried to rush through a rules change on media ownership, Dorgan fought for, and won, Senate approval of a rarely used "legislative veto" - a resolution of disapproval -- to block it. Eventually, the courts blocked implementation of the rule.

Who Do You Trust?

Most of the time, most of the people get most of their news and information from the mainstream media outlets. I mean, it's everywhere we look or listen. But few people really understand that a handful of corporations own a controlling interest in 95% of all media outlets--Print, Film, Radio, Television and Cable, as well as Reuters news service which owns AP News wire, etc. This nearly complete control of what everyone sees and hears and reads and, by extension, feels, allows the people who manipulate those corporations to effectively design our belief systems from the ground up, proffering their reality, which magically fits perfectly with our common belief system, and assures us that all will be well if we purchase more and feel good about it, so good in fact that we'll seek endless lines of credit to acquire things--because we're conditioned that it feels good. And don't listen to conspiracy nuts, they're just wacko. And support the troops!

Yes, from within many areas of government and by the action of a small group of people in positions of extreme power and influence within the politico-economic structure and military-industrial complex, we have been fed half-truths (even lies) and been given a dog-and-pony show for entertainment (all slipped to us via the Mainstream Media), which surreptitiously distracts us from asking crucial questions: But isn't this supposed to be journalism? What's the other half of the story?

Don't you want to know the whole story? Don't we live best by learning what we can about our environment and then making informed decisions, with the hope that we'll be closer to achieving our long-term goals? Doesn't that makes sense? It follows then that if we are to make well-informed decisions, we should base them on learning that consists of true facts arrived at using logic and critical thinking, rather than just feeling our emotional, habitual--no, trained and conditioned way through life. Would it not be best then to be sure that the information we use to determine our individual fates is in fact true and correct?

How do we know if what we believe to be true is actually true? Can we trust the Media (the broadcasting and news agencies) to give us the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or does someone somewhere determine whether a story is published or ignored/covered up, or, spun and twisted so as to slant it positively or negatively toward some ideal or target, effecting a change in the popular psyche? If you examine the information that comes from sources outside the main stream, you will notice that some rather newsworthy stories have failed to make headlines or breaking news in the primary media outlets. Disturbingly, in the main stream media, these stories are given short shrift behind the want ads or are ignored altogether. This is done on purpose, not through ignorance or ineptitude. There are certain accounts for which the small group of people in positions of extreme power will go to great lengths to keep secret. The reasons for all this secrecy is becoming more clear as additional exhibits are produced by FOIA requests and whistle blowers and others who have dared to know. Sapere Aude - Dare to Know. If you take a forensic view of what is presented for your consideration, I believe you will come to some interesting and disturbing conclusions about what is the truth I am speaking of. It's a dark one, surely. But this truth, in the minds of enough people will liberate all of us from that darkness.

"So what?" you say? So what--if some of the information that we widely accept as true is in reality false? What does it have to do with me? Well, what if the guy who offers to "help you" (or a special someone) with roadside car trouble is actually going to steal the car? It happens. People are defrauded every day, all over the world. Sweet little ladies, lawyers, rich, poor: everyone is subject to being swindled. What makes any one of us immune? Except you, of course. You know better; you have your eyes peeled. You, are in control. I say, "So what!" Your eyes are peeled, but what are you looking at? Are you assuming the priest is right? Are you assuming the politician you voted for is good and has your family's interests tucked neatly beside his own? Are you assuming that when FOX News trumpets, "We report. You decide.", that they're actually giving you everything they uncovered, or that they uncovered all the pertinent details, or that any decision you make from their "report" is infallible? Have you or have you not ever believed in the Tooth Fairy? AND, do you now, if you ever did, still believe in the Tooth Fairy? See, most honest people would say, yeah they thought at one point she was real, but soon learned it was parents. Yep, same with Santa and the Gremlins under the stairs. They're stories. To distract you from the trauma of losing a tooth. To coerce you into being good boys and girls and receiving a reward. To scare out of you any activities or thoughts that may be contrary to proscribed norms and to keep you dependent on parental figures for survival.

There are two kinds of people in the world and gray zone of people in the middle moving from one side to the other. The first kind consists of those who dare to know the real truth and will examine the evidence. The other type includes all of those who refuse to examine the evidence.
You can close your eyes out of fear--its just a movie. You can bury your head in the sand and ignore the gorilla. Or you can choose to believe the lie--it's so incontrovertible after all. The problem you're going to have, though, is one you most likely have not considered--the contingency you haven't planned for because it's so unthinkable: the possibility that you are wrong.

Those who rely on the Network Media for news, are being provided information that is often incomplete or doctored to minimize or maximize its desired effect. Often, some stories that the public would deem front page news are never permitted to air and are thus only printed or shown in a very limited number of small outlets, or, more frequently, the media never receives the story because it is kept under wraps by the small group of people in positions of extreme power, or by their collusion with the justice department in squelching interest in and access to information, making research difficult.

All of this results in our inability to make informed decisions. And, well, the only remedy is to inform ourselves, instead of permitting the Media to inform us.

The best thing to do now is get caught up on the research; look at the videos and words and other Web sites I present. See if anything jumps out at you. And then please let me know what you think. Have a counterpoint? Found compelling evidence of the "official story" being true? Let me have a whack at it!

Feel free to direct other people here. We must all come to realize we have been deceived and robbed, continue to be further deceived and robbed, and eventually will be thus enslaved, held within in an invisible, happy cage from which there will be only one escape, revo--no, I'm not sure I should say it; don't wanna get black-bagged.

Death and Taxes and Sheep

Benjamin Franklin once wrote in a letter, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." I would say, except for death and taxes and sheep.

There is a pernicious lie that permeates my life, persisting in a seething weight upon my psyche. In fact this lie pervades all of our society. Americans are sheep; much of the "free world" are sheeple. You see there are two classes of global citizen: people and sheeple. Truth and Sheep is about the truth which the sheeple subscribe to, taking it on their faith that their government cares about you and wants to keep you happy and safe. But according to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." Sheeple are allowing this nation to fall into ruin. Time will prove these statements to be true unless enough citizens stand upon their Constitutional rights and reclaim our beloved Republic.

We must stop fighting among ourselves. Bipartisan battles are causing too many to think of the "other" parties as the enemy. But if we transcend party lines, we see that we are all American citizens. And it is from this perspective I wish to impart this message.

There's a sixty-million-metric-ton gorilla in the room, and we still believe that partisan issues are more important. Our multi-party system has been co-opted my the Media and reduced to a two-party system, effectively forcing the public to think in polar opposites. The original, and excellent, system forged in 1776 has been hijacked. This takeover began about a century ago, in 1913. We've been led/bred to think in mutually exclusive terms--Good and bad (or even evil, meaning "real bad"); right and wrong; guilty or not guilty; red and blue; Republican and Democrat. (Read another argument about just this fact.) We're so busy looking left and right that we aren't noticing what's going on in the attic or in the basement. Wake up. Take a flying lesson. Or try SCUBA. Whatever you do, think in more dimensions.

Have you ever fallen victim to a practical joke pulled on you by friends? Remember the rage or terror you felt just before your friends could bare to see you suffer no longer and brought you back to reality? Remember the relief you enjoyed as reality sank back in? Remember the disillusionment you felt at the sudden learning that your situation was different than that which you had thought was credible?

Here's the part where I let you in on the big practical joke (the biggest scam in history). Only, it's one of those unfunny practical jokes that the perpetrator should have never attempted. The problem is that the perpetrators of this criminal hoax, this fraud, want very much for the world's public to remain ignorant of the overarching plans that were set in motion long ago. Their desire to preserve the secrecy of the scheme has led to most of the world living in a manipulated environment, provided choices as evidence of freedom and then given security at the cost of liberty. Most of the products you buy and most of the news you hear are designed to keep you engaged in an economic system of servitude so subtle that it ensnares its subjects by degrees, slowly enough as to be essentially unnoticed. Most of us are sleepily falling into line with our propaganda-instilled "desire for security," relinquishing yet more control to the New World Order.

What? Yes.

There are people rigging the political-economic system of the world to the advantage of a small group of powerful people and to the detriment of any citizens who are trapped within that system. They are seeking to dominate a global market for financial gain and absolute control of society. And you are trapped already, by the way. Most of us aren't aware of it, or if they are, they try to deny it and rationalize, so that they won't have to admit that they've been so misled for so long. But these people need to see it in the true light of reality (which they are of course not accustomed to) at which time they can easily see that they aren't so much wrong at all, but rather, they have been tricked. Duped. Bilked. Led down a path based on a few key lies that the government has allowed to be propagated so as to convince the public that they are true: a sad and terrifying truth to swallow, to be sure. Betrayal's a bitch; choke it down so we can move forward.

Recently, more and more citizens are waking up to the reality of the deception, swallowing their pride, and opening their eyes and ears to the truth. But many more still need to be shown the truth before we can hope to restore our Constitution and our Nation. When Francis Bacon, Sr. said, "Truth is the daughter of time, not of authority,” he meant that time--and not the authorities--will reveal the truth.

If you want to know the truth, there are many places to start investigating for yourself, if you care to take the time. I've compiled many of them here on my blog, and will continue to enhance the list, in an effort to streamline the process of discovery for others. I have spent considerable time and energy finding sites that evince this government fraud at many levels of government. My hope is that we can reach a critical mass and density within the public sufficient to overcome the control being wielded, unconstitutionally, over all of us.

As a primer, I invite everyone to watch one or all of the videos presented here to get a good look at what I'm talking about. Warning: if you are afraid to learn something bad but true about someone you love and trust, you may be too sensitive to watch. But you should watch anyway, for your own sake and that of our loved ones and our future progeny. My recommendation is to watch all three of these, but just watching one will convince you that something is very wrong, deep in America.

Watch War and Globalization (1 hr 56 min).

In this lecture by Michel Chossudovsky, he blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream media, that 9/11 was an attack on America by "Islamic terrorists." Through meticulous research, he has uncovered a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration.

According to Chossudovsky, the "war on terrorism" is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The "war on terrorism" is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the "New World Order," dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

September 11, 2001, provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington's agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the institutions of the Homeland Security State.

If you prefer a different format, try America: Freedom to Fascism (1 hr 50 min) and the interesting Interview with Aaron Russo (38 min).

Another excellent one is TerrorStorm 2nd Ed. (2 hr 14 min).

From the great mind that brought you documentaries such as "Martial Law 9/11: The Rise of the Police State" and "Dark Secrets Inside Bohemian Grove" comes a new movie to awaken the masses.

TerrorStorm goes into documented cases of government-sponsored terror before exposing the 7/7 bombings as an orchestrated event and brings another update on the current state of the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Thank you for reading and investigating these topics for yourself and for passing along this information to everyone you know who will listen.

PS: If after reading this you think I'm crazy, continue reading the words of these other crazy people from history.

Edmund Burke says, in his insane way:

"The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts... the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

And then consider what fellow nutcase Thomas Jefferson meant when he said,

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day. But a series of oppressions, pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly proves a deliberate systematic plan of reducing us to slavery."

Some guy named Ian Williams Goddard mused:

"A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their govt. and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get."

Now this guy really knew what he was talking about:

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."