Who Owns Your Congressman?

From Masters in Accounting:

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The Bought and Paid For Black Misleadership Class and the Neutraization of Black Politics

Glen Ford, creator of Black Agenda Report, who so often writes about the "Obama delusional state", where Black politics has been essentially neutralized, presented “The Black Misleadership Class Versus the Movement and its Legacy," to friends of Black Agenda Report gathered at New York City’s historic Riverside Church to celebrate the publication’s 7th anniversary on Friday, October 18.

The "Black Mis-Leadership Class", according to Glen Ford, "sees its own personal financial and social interests as being synonymous with the progress of black people as a whole. This class does not seek transformation of society, it seeks only their own elevation within the existing structures. The rest of Black Amereica,, as far as they're concerned, is supposed to applaud their individual success no matter what is actually happening to the masses of black people at the bottom. It is the politics of putting black faces in high places and to hell with those of us stuck at the bottom, or those of us who are below the bottom in the U.S. prison gulag."

Ford used the examples of rising political star, Cory Booker and already established political star President Barack Obama, who, in reality, are both front men for capital, front men for "the man" and front men for the empire, to illustrate the inherent danger of the black establishment to the American black population. What danger? The disastrous consequences that will result if these self-serving politicians succeed--and it appears as if they most certainly are-- at eliminating the mass movement of African Americans who traditionally acted as a "countervailing force to the power of capital," becoming even more influential internally in Black America, leaving "little hope of effective progressive resistance to the rule of Wall Street, its servants in government, and for peace."

“Has the fake-progressive, fake-liberal and in fact deeply conservative FTBP not been granted far too much of a pass on the power-friendly and authoritarian content of his character by those who have been bamboozled into thinking there was something inherently and magically progressive, egalitarian, and democratic about the initially and outwardly startling fact of a black family entering the White House in the land of chattel slavery? As some of us on the Left said from the beginning of Obama’s celebrity, the real story behind the Obama phenomenon has been the ruling class playing the race card in a different way than in King’s time, flipping it, so to speak – a winning strategy for the Democrats at the national level in the post-Civil Rights era, when changing demographics and the more superficial victories of the Civil Rights Movement have made victory possible for nonwhite candidates in national elections. -- Paul Street

Martin Luther King, Jr. is, undoubtedly, rolling in his grave, ironically,  at the election of the first "Black" President, who has managed to crush MLK's dream of:

“...forcing America to face all its interrelated flaws – racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of out society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that radical reconstruction society of society itself is the real issue to be faced.”

Going "Beyond Obama" requires successfully passing through and politically defeating that ancient black American political current that holds that achieving the maximum number of black faces in high places is thee root to black progress, to black upward mobility, to black nirvana."



Links:

Black is Back Coalition

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Are the Beltway Elites Intentionally Throwing the U.S. Under the Bus?

Or just us Americans?  Between the on-going disaster of the incredibly complex Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, roll-out, which Nancy Pelosi famously said they have to pass to find out what it is;  the partial government shut-down spearheaded by a man married to a VP at Goldman Sachs; the threat of the first default in American history, which it appears will be ongoing (see quote below); the firing of top military leaders for what seem like trivial matters, not to mention, S&P rating downgrade of U.S. debt;  the fiscal cliff episode; sequestration, Wall Street provoked financial collapse in 2008, etc., the U.S. is a buffoon on the befuddled world stage right now, a continuous unfolding spectacle, and no one in power seems to give a damn. If anything, they're promoting that image for all it's worth. 

“Like the House GOP bill, the emerging Senate measure -- though not finalized -- would reopen the government through Jan. 15 and permit the Treasury to borrow normally until early to mid-February, easing dual crises that have sapped confidence in the economy and taken a sledgehammer to the GOP's poll numbers.

At the same time, beltway politicians have no problem allocating billions, if not trillions of dollars to fight unwanted, undeclared wars that extend  to nearly every corner of the globe; to supposedly "aid" other countries;  to prop up/bail out Wall Street; to fund the Department of Homeland Security, the NSA, the TSA, fusion centers, unconstitutional spying programs, etc,  yet we can't pay our own workers, feed our own people, or pay our troops?

From Asia Times:

“Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world by shifting financial risks overseas, instigating regional tensions amid territorial disputes, and fighting unwarranted wars under the cover of outright lies.

This is a nation that claims the moral high ground? American Exceptionalism? Hardly. Murder has become routine as civilians are slayed all over the world via remote-control drone attacks. Torturing prisoners of war is seen as par for the course. Covertly, or not so covertly, spying on American citizens is becoming normalized and a giant casino is what stands in as thee economy of choice. 

It seems the motive here is to pave the way for endless future extortion, plunder, fear-mongering, and the continuous subversion of the middle-class.

In Ted Cruz's own words:

“Everyone agrees that the debt ceiling is going to be raised,” Cruz told CNBC’s Larry Kudlow in an interview tonight.

“The question,” he continued, “is whether Harry Reid and the president will maintain the same negotiating position they have on the continuing resolution, which is we will bargain for nothing, give us 100 percent of what we want or we will threaten a default.” 

So, in my humble opinion, there is no question that the powers that be are throwing we, the Americans under the bus, but what about America, the nation?  What could possibly motivate the ruling class to do such a thing?  Well, in a nutshell, globalization.  Our privileged leaders are no longer loyal to our nation, only to the wealthy and powerful corporate elite, which has, "in effect, seceded". These magnates, capitalists, moguls, and banksters are global in every sense of the word, their only loyalty is to their ever-growing immense wealth, as they seek out the most beneficial havens with no regard for national boundaries. The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a transnational agreement brokered by corporations and negotiated largely in secret, that President Obama is pushing, is very good evidence that this is indeed, true.

I think the following, by bullingdonmorons sums it up much better than I ever could:

“ALL our politicians know exactly what they are doing.

Our politicians are simply service managers for the banks and corporations who now rule the world. We have been shafted. We were never given any choice, no-one ever put it in any manifesto, we never voted for it, but we got it all the same. The bankrupt ideology of Neo-Liberalism, with its dogma of economic liberalization, free trade, privatization and deregulation, and its mantra that all human activity is a market from which a profit can be made.

The ruling elite now own our land, gas, electricity, railways, water and media. They have corrupted our politicians and our police. They are now coming for our pensions, our NHS, our roads, our schools and our green spaces. They have systematically destroyed the unions, dismantled our protections, created mass unemployment and are dismembering the welfare state, They caused an economic crash which bankrupted our economy and yet they walked away with their wealth intact.

And what do we get in return? Austerity, recessions, huge debts and deficits. A government conducting a systematic assault upon the sick, the poor and the disabled, slashing welfare budgets and forcing people off benefits. 500,000 of us now use food banks. They make it easier to sack us, make us work longer hours for less pay, force our kids to work for nothing, raise the retirement age whilst cutting our pensions and weaken our health and safety laws. And all just so a handful of people can be immensely rich. Frankly, it's sickening.

But by far the worst damage they have inflicted upon us is that they have destroyed our children's futures.

My generation grew up under governments that believed in full employment and a welfare state. We benefited from decades of struggle, hard won rights that enabled us to have a decent standard of living, own our homes and be cared for when we got old or sick.

However, for 30 years, we have let them slowly dismantle everything my parents and grandparents had fought for. For the millions born since 1980, the only assets they will own will be the ones passed on by their parents. They live in rented accommodation, or negative equity or have interest only mortgages. Their pensions are worthless. They spend every penny they earn, have no savings and buy everything with credit.

But it's even worse for our grandchildren. 50% of them are now loaded with debt before they even leave education. If they are lucky enough to have a job, it's on minimum wage, on zero hour contracts, or part time work, or stacking shelves for nothing. They have no protections, no rights. Pensions are just a pipe-dream. None of them have any hope of getting a mortgage. This is the true cost of the last 30 years. In our lifetime, they have managed to strip away everything our forefathers built for our kids, reducing them to the level of medieval serfs, possessing NOTHING. It's heartbreaking.

So, It's time to get angry, and we need someone to express that anger, because none of our politicians are going to do it. Someone to speak for the millions of hard working people who only want a decent life for themselves and for their kids to have a decent future. Someone that speaks up for all of us, not just a privileged few. Someone that tells us that our worth is not measured by our wealth, but our value as human beings. Someone that tells us that compassion and empathy are not bullshit. Someone that tells us that ordinary people can expect to have a decent job, a decent house and decent healthcare. Someone that tells us our elderly can live out their final years in a degree of comfort. Someone that tells us our sick and disabled should be allowed to exist with a shred of dignity. Someone that tells us that the most disadvantaged will not be looked down upon as scum.

Someone that tells us that our kids can still have hopes and dreams.

We should all be born equal, with an equal chance to develop, to achieve, to succeed. But far too many are now condemned to a life of struggle by a system that creates so many losers for the benefit of so few winners. It is not only unfair and unjust, it is unsustainable.

And it's time we all stood up and said, enough is enough.

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Merely the Method to Continue the Lie of a Fictitious Political Paradigm.

“Americans are being treated to political theater at its finest. It's not a theater of entertainment, however, but a coliseum of enslavement where in the world of deception, perception becomes reality. This theater requires audience participation, where we, the theater-goers, become part of the play. We are a truly captive audience, entranced into mindlessly choosing sides at the frenzied urging of the corporate media and partisan cheerleaders firmly seated behind the microphones and television cameras of the nationally syndicated media.

As the play progresses, we, the American people, become part of each act, believing that we actually have a voice in this pre-scripted performance. We are bombarded with lie after lie, each worse than the previous in an attempt to convince us that we can making a difference by choosing and cheering seemingly opposing sides on the stage before us. The biggest lie of them all is that there are not two sides, but just one. It’s “them versus us” in a fight to the death playing out before us in this 21st century Shakespearean tragedy. It’s not just death, but the premeditated murder of the middle class and anyone without a reservation at the globalists’ table. And the space at that table is limited.

The actors of this play are ostensibly at odds over funding the Affordable Care Act while a peek behind the curtain tells a different story altogether. Like any play, the ending of this has already been determined. The ending, however, is not the same as written in the commemorative program you were given upon your arrival at this theater.

The house lights have been dimmed not just for the performance, but to induce us into a hypnotic trance further enabled by the media mouthpieces of malice. As you gradually become accustomed to the theater lighting, you’ll see that it’s not just a play, but you’re being played. You’re being manipulated into believing that the government shutdown is the actual plot of the play, while it is merely the method to continue the lie of a fictitious political paradigm.

Audience members who remain seated and captivated by the stellar performances of the actors, while maintaining a mental death-grip on the media cheering “their side,” are sadly in the majority. They are yelling at just above a throaty whisper at us and others who see beyond and behind the curtain, telling us to sit down and shut up, as we are reaching a critical moment in the performance.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking toward the October 17th deadline when we the U.S. will officially run out of money in this scripted, manufactured crisis. As the play builds up to its epilogue of evil, it serves its critical purpose of entertaining the masses and diverting our attention from the real issue, which is the killing of the U.S. dollar. The premeditated murder of the United States Petro-dollar is the real act taking place behind the velvet curtain. The play merely buys the actors, the murderers of the working class and the world as we will have once known it, time to arrange their own exodus from this coliseum turned theater.

The actors. aided by the media of malice, continue to perform brilliantly and are effectively distracting the majority of us through the final curtain call. Then, as the actors take their bows amid thunderous applause by the uninitiated, the majority of the audience will never see “it” coming.

They will not see the stagehands open the cages of the lions while simultaneously closing the doors and blocking the exits. The thunderous applause at the curtain call will hide the sound of the engines on the Lear jets and the rotor noise on the helicopters that will whisk the actors to safety, away from the unspeakable carnage that was planned from the beginning.

By the time the screams from those who remained dutifully seated become unbearable, the globalist bankers, the money changers, the power brokers pulling the strings of the political puppets, will be far from earshot. When the house lights are turned on, the remaining theatergoers who survived will suddenly awaken to a different life. For it was never about what was seen, but always about what was hidden. It was never about the government shutdown, but the shutdown of the majority. The same majority that continues to cheer for their side, unable or unwilling to comprehend that there is only one side. Their side." -- -- Global Research

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Exiled Former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s Elevation to Number One Domestic Terrorist on the FBI List?

One must ask the question, why--especially in light of COINTELPRO repression, the FBI's counterintelligence program's effect on black leadership and their terrorism in the black community--since 2005, did the FBI double the $1 million bounty on exiled former Black Panther Assata Shakur’s head, naming her the number one domestic terrorist? Assata's a 60+ year old grandmother and this event--the killing of New Jersey officer--occurred forty years ago! Why, so many years later, are they putting former political activist, Assata Shakur in the limelight?  Why are they bringing this old issue back into the public eye?

And then, the mysterious death of Malcolm X's 28-year old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz in Mexico, where he was to meet with labor organizers, and who, much like his grandfather, was outspoken about the mistreatment of African Americans in the US. and who, much like his grandfather, has been maligned in the press, in the grandson's case, for his troubled past, in particular, an unfortunate incident that he was, indeed, responsible for when he was 12-years old, but an incident that he already paid the price.  Moreover, like his grandfather, he was constantly monitored by the U.S. government.  Back in February, Shabazz was arrested by the FBI on unknown charges while en route to Iran to attend the Hollywoodism International Conference. Shabazz released a lengthy statement via former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's Facebook page back in March addressing the arrest and stating that federal agents were not involved.

I sincerely appreciate the care and concern of the People over my well-being after Press TV’s report of the most recent events which have transpired regarding the F.B.I.’s harassment of me.

Given the storm of lies, and half-truths that come with being associated with being the descendant of El Hajj Malik el Shabazz, also known as Minister Malcolm X, any and everything that I do; great or small, good or not so good, real or imagined is subject to controversy. However, in this missive I will take this opportunity to properly and fully disclose what transpired.

In the beginning of 2012 I had been informed that I was under investigation by the F.B.I.’s Counter Terrorism Task Force Unit located in Goshen, N.Y.

The agents of this division-and in collaboration with others-have visited several residences of which I was known by them to frequent. However, they would never come when they knew me to actually be there. They would leave their cards with the residents asking them to tell me to call them, and then would tell surrounding residents to observe the house and to notify them if they saw me.

These are the homes of long-time friends, and very close supporters. Yet, when federal agents begin knocking on someone’s door on multiple occasions to snoop, and ask questions, whether one is guilty of an offense or not, it’s enough to coerce people into distancing themselves from you. This cheap tactic employed by the F.B.I. is a means of agitation and harassment. They seek to neutralize my networking abilities.

They have visited locations in California, Chicago, Miami and most aggressively in New York.

People were advising me that if I had nothing to hide, then I should just contact them as requested and cooperate. Though I must say that in these kind of matters I am of a particular ethic. For one, I have been engaged in no criminal activity of their concern, and they could have located me if they so chose. Secondly, I don’t recognize the authority in them beckoning me.

It wasn’t even until my mother informed me that they had been contacting her that I truly became agitated. She advised me to see what they had to say, and so I obliged the next time they came around looking for me. My encounter was with 2 federal agents of Goshen, N.Y.’s Counter Terrorism Task Foci Unit. The primary agent identified himself as Special Agent Tom Brozicky.

They expressed concern over-as they put it-my “international travels”; I have lived and studied in Damascus, Syria for over a year, and now the U.S. is instigating conflict within the very same region; I went on ex-congresswoman/former presidential candidate Cynthia Mckinney’s delegation along with Dr. Randy Short to Libya, and met with Leader Muammar Gadhafi one week prior to N.A.T.O. intervention and I was most recently getting ready to travel to Tehran, Iran to be a participant of the International Fajr Film Festival and give a lecture addressing the issues of Hollywood and violence:

- Modern Violence and Terrorism,
- Provoking clashes between religions and populations

I was picked up by authorities after I filed for a visa to Iran, and 2 days prior to my departure. A detective squad from the City of Middletown Police Department surrounded me in the street about 2 blocks from where I was residing. They asked me my name, and I gave them an alias, but they were already well aware of who I actually was. I didn’t tell them my real name because I didn’t know what was going on. When I was brought before a Judge of City of Middletown court I was surprised to be informed that I was being charged with Grand Larceny, and False Impersonation charge. Then I was sent to jail, and told to appear again 7 days later. Then following court date the bogus charge of Grand Larceny, which they only put to justify stopping me in first place, was dropped. And they left me to face the False Impersonation. I was offered 90 days for the offense of giving the authorities the wrong name which I declined before bailing out after 2 weeks.

When I was being held within the belly of the beast on trumped up charges, to my rescue came the journalist at Press TV based in Iran. My relationship with powerful and progressive news outfit began in April of 2012, and prior to that I had discussions with their journalist regarding current events internationally. I developed a positive rapport with some of them, and as a result was invited to travel to Iran to discuss the impact of Hollywood in stereotyping Muslims, Iranians and African people. From January 15th through 18th, 2013, I was a featured interviewee for the Press TV documentary “The Façade of the American Dream”. And prior to my date of departure to Iran, Lifetime television released a television bio-picture called “Betty and Coretta” which was a sensationalistic misrepresentation of my grandparents, my mother and me. This film aside from being poorly acted, and shallow in depth also threatened to inflame old controversies, and open unhealed wounds and to remind the public of sad outcomes without ever identifying B.O.S.S.I., the C.I.A., F.B.I. and other forces that set the climate for my grandfather’s assassination, and made my family a long-suffering casualty of COINTELPRO, and other anti-Black repression programs. Naturally, anything done to stir up old hatred of The Shabazz Family will impact me as the name-sake, and first male heir of Malcolm X, and whether I am high or low in fortunes does not exempt me from this reality.

The formula for a public assassination is: the character assassination before the physical assassination; so one has to be made killable before the eyes of the public in order for their eventual murder to then deemed justifiable. And when the time arrives for these hits to be carried out you’re not going to see a C.I.A. agent with a suit and tie, and a badge that says “C.I.A.” walk up to someone, and pull the trigger. What they will do is to out-source to local police departments in the region of their target, and to employ those that look like the target of interest to infiltrate the workings in order to set up the environment for the eventual assassination (character, physical/incarceration, exile) to take place.

For several months prior to my arrest in late January, 2013 I faced a pattern of harassment from law enforcement which is usually reserved for important figures. On Thursday, November 1, 2012 @ 11:53pm in the park circle area of Middletown, N.Y. I was stopped by officers of the Middletown Police Department, and given a ticket for “J-Walking” (crossing in the middle of the street), which then escalated into a “Disorderly Conduct” supposedly because of the exchange of words that I had with the officers. I told them that they couldn’t possibly be serious for writing me a “J-Walking ticket”, that I didn’t appreciate how they were treating me and that they

shouldn’t be looking at me as less of a man because they were in police uniform. For this I was arrested, the officers stole the little amount of money that I had on me, they then stripped me and threw me in a freezing precinct cell for the remainder of that early morning. I was finally taken before the “Judge Steven Brockett” around 1:30pm. He gave me an unreasonable bail, and then ordered that I be remanded to the Orange county Jail.

This penalty may seem a bit extreme or harsh to most of you, but here is where it gets worse: On Tuesday, October 30th, exactly 2 nights prior to this incident, the same officer “J Berman” who wrote me the ticket for “J-Walking” and “Disorderly Conduct” stopped me coming from out of a store in the same area, and questioned me as to what I was doing.

I told him that I was coming out of the store. He asked to see what I bought which was a pack of sun flower seeds. I had actually just so happened to be eating a few while he was talking to me, and I spit one of the shells on the ground. At this point officer “J Berman” threatened to write me a ticket for littering. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded, but I went home that night.

Yet, it still doesn’t even begin there. I had an encounter with other officers of the Midletown Police Department one week prior to officer “J Berman’s” threats to write me a ticket for spitting a sun flower seed on the ground: I was coming out of a restaurant with my mother, and her friend. As the 3 of us entered the car to leave 2 police cars converged on our vehicle, and boxed us in. My mother was petrified. With guns drawn I was then ordered to step out of the back seat. I asked them why to which they replied that I had several warrants for my arrest. I told them that they were mistaken, but I still complied with their request. Humiliated in front of all on-lookers I was then thrown on the car while the officers ripped through my pockets. After they were done they said that it was my lucky day because I actually didn’t have any warrants at all, and so I was free to go! One of these officer’s name was “R. Ribeiro”…

You may wonder if it could possibly get any worse than this. Well, it does! Approximately 3 weeks prior to the public humiliation of my mother, and me by “R Ribeiro” and another officer of the Middletown Police Department I found myself subject to the discrimination and prejudice of Mayor Joseph M. Destefano of Middletown, N.Y. himself. A friend, and I went out to eat at a restaurant in Middletown, N.Y. which is owned by the Mayor, and to our

surprise he appeared from nowhere and asked us to leave. When we inquired as to why he stated that officials of the Middletown Police Department told him not to let us patronize his establishment. Mind you that this goes without incident.

As I stand for the people, God-Willing, I would pray that the same people wouldn’t hesitate to stand for me. If these unjust and heinous actions are tolerated and allowed to be done to me without recourse, then no one is safe. Just as Huewy P Newton of the Black Panther Party stated that police are in the white community to protect and serve, yet occupy ours like a foreign troop… I tell you that we shouldn’t fall victim to the conditioning of feeling inferior or fearful at the presence of law enforcement for no apparent reason.

With that being said, I was not arrested by federal agents. I was taken in by a squad from the City of Middletown, N.Y.’s Police Department. I was not being held in an “undisclosed location” so to speak. I was actually being held in the Orange County Jail in Goshen, N.Y. However, from the time that I was booked at the precinct, to standing before a Judge the next day who told me to come back in 7 more, to being processed at the Orange County Jail and up until 7 days later I was not permitted to make any calls to notify anyone of my status; as though I had just been kidnapped from of the street.

Unfortunately, until this day my family hasn’t been fully abreast of my situation as I haven’t had the opportunity to properly consult with any of them. Dr. Randy Short who notified Press TV of my situation is a close comrade of mine who was on our delegation in Libya. Media reports from Press TV about my situation were not intended to create controversy. In reality, I have a few associates that are affiliated with this reputable International media outlet, and they had expected to meet with me in Iran. So when I disappeared, and rumors spread, the inability to get concise information from a credible source prompted them to rouse public attention on my behalf, for which I am grateful. In April of 2012 I had the opportunity to be a guest analyst/contributor on Press TV. This network has a large following all over the world, and millions find it’s news, documentaries and programming to be both an educational, and insightful alternative to the conglomerated, and highly biased mainstream American and British news media. Regarding the Source magazine, nothing that they published was vetted by me, and was made by persons, at best, vaguely familiar with my situation. Further, I have never had an affiliation or relationship with The Source, nor have they ever directly consulted with me about anything. -- Malcolm X's 28-year old grandson, Malcolm Shabazz

From Miguel Suarez:

"To who responds, I am Miguel Suarez, leader of a labor movement in the United States and I am accompanied by Malcolm X’s grandson. His name is Malcolm Shabazz and he wanted to see if it is possible to to speak and publish our history in their [publication]…what we saw in Mexico City."[..]He was murdered. He was in Mexico City and I believe they attempted to rob him and he didn’t allow it, so they beat him to death and he died on his way to the hospital,” said Ruiz. “This is all I can confirm, everything else is under investigation for the meantime.”

Regarding the Assata Shakur issue, Dhoruba bin Wahad, former Black Panther and co-founder of the Black Liberation Army claims that domestic law enforcement--FBI, Department of Homeland Security, etc.-- is at odds with Obama. Why?  President Obama's agenda to "reemphasize economic development and economic cooperation" in Latin America, in particular Cuba, and that will require covertly deconstructing the Cuba embargo and to "co-opt and counter the effects of the new so-called leftist geopolitics there".  In order to make this possible, the extraordinarily profitable--to domestic law enforcement--"war on drugs" will have to take a back seat, which probably means a substantial loss of funding.    The US is reasserting dominance in a post Castro-Chavez Latin America as the geo-economic center for Latin American nations.  Dhourba bin Wahad claims that “the recent Jay-Z/Beyonce trip was about opening up Cuba” to U.S. tourism, “to disrupt and undo the Cuban revolution.”  In other words, he believes that Shakur’s elevation to number one domestic terrorist on the FBI list “represents the disgruntlement of U.S. law enforcement” with this  new approach towards Latin America.

There is no doubt that Assata Shakur is a pawn in the chess game of US imperial diplomacy, but this the only explanation? Hardly.

"Assata Shakur could not have been named “most wanted terrorist” without the explicit approval of the first black president and his attorney general. In doing so, they have declared open war on the black liberation movement, something that J. Edgar Hoover and COINTELPRO were only able to do in secret. [snip]

Forty years later though, we live in the era of secret kidnappings, regular torture, ghost prisons and executive branch murder by drones or special ops teams. Today the federal Department of Homeland Security funds counter-terrorism fusion centers which openly disseminate the kind of inflammatory and fanciful disinformation to local police and security contractors about those the government wants targeted that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI agents had to come around and whisper in their ears. Now that is progress.-- Bruce Dixon

Here's another take:



One thing for sure, putting Assata on the Top 10 Most Wanted Terrorist list will keep Cuba on the state sponsors of terror list, along with Iran, Sudan, and Syria, and somehow, I doubt President Obama objects.

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Joe Biden: Super Servant of the Super Rich? Or the Working Man?

It wasn't all that long ago that I was gushing like a school girl at a Justin Bieber concert over Joe Biden, as if he were somehow above the political fray, when, in fact, he could be the poster boy for the ongoing tug-of-war inside the Beltway.  I truly believed he was a true friend of the working man,  making excuses for his despicable support of the bankruptcy bill, and waxing on about his integrity.

Well, those days are over. I  finally opened my eyes when I put the lovable gaffe-prone persona aside and looked at the most corporate friendly state in the U.S.: Joe Biden's state: Delaware. Not to mention his position in the Continuity of Government (COG) (set up after WWII to ensure continuity of government in case of a nuclear attack. Over the years, each presidential administration has expanded the powers of the Continuity of Government, whose members are permanent and not elected. On 9/11, the COG was officially initiated. Members include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Porter Goss, Joe Biden. The COG is classified Top Secret and neither the public nor Congress is allowed to review it. It is, in effect, a completely secret government that operates at the highest levels of national security, intelligence, military, and industry, with full authority to do whatever it wants without accountability) and last but certainly not least, learning that he drafted the core provisions of the Patriot Act in 1995.

CNET reported:

It previewed the 2001 Patriot Act by allowing secret evidence to be used in prosecutions, expanding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and wiretap laws, creating a new federal crime of “terrorism” that could be invoked based on political beliefs, permitting the U.S. military to be used in civilian law enforcement, and allowing permanent detention of non-U.S. citizens without judicial review.* The Center for National Security Studiessaid the bill would erode “constitutional and statutory due process protections” and would “authorize the Justice Department to pick and choose crimes to investigate and prosecute based on political beliefs and assocblank Joe Biden Drafted the Core of the Patriot Act in 1995 ... Before the Oklahoma City Bombingiations.”

Russ Baker believes his gaffes are secretly brilliant. I'm inclined to agree.

All this makes me wonder if something else is not going on. It makes me wonder if these remarks were intended to have the exact effect they did.

Let me explain.

There is no question that Joseph Biden has a long history of putting his foot in his mouth. But the mere expectation that everything he says is accidental or ill-conceived also puts him in a good position to put out material that actually helps Obama. And it is not as if Biden is completely incapable of memorizing his lines—or at least reading them off a teleprompter.

Maybe these most recent remarks were mistakes. But mistakes tend to come in debates, in response to questions, not in prepared speeches. And these seem to have been prepared remarks, a carefully calculated effort, as with all good speeches, to create some theatre—and to include at least one “hot” phrase that will get picked up by the electronic media. There is simply no point to having Biden speak to a live audience without considering how to multiply the ultimate audience by a factor of thousands. And no point to having him speak at all unless he has some zinger that will appeal to news producers and headline writers.

So, is Joe Biden merely an "average Joe", a champion of the common man?  Or, an executor of plutocrat policy, who although his allegiance to capitalist imperialism, and neo-liberalism? Who can carry out his mission without provoking the wrath of the progressives, the liberals?

If nothing else, gotta wonder how he's lasted so long inside the beltway.

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America Shouldn't Rule Out a Third Bush Administration

Yep, it's true.  An unholy trinity of Bush Presidents is not only possible, it's probable, as the Bush dynasty family - George H.W. the father, George W. the brother, and George P. the son - is urging Jeb Bush to run for President. George P. Bush had the nerve to say said, "Make no mistake about it, I think a lot of people sorely miss and would relish some sort of return of that type of approach to leading our country."

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Bank of America's Dead Drop to Rick Perry and Goldman Sachs VP Changes Name to Lobby From Inside.

Bank of America is cutting 3,500 jobs this quarter according to an internal memo, as the biggest U.S. bank grapples with its $1 trillion problem-loan portfolio and growing economic concerns. Upon wider review, at least 10,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated in total.

Meanwhile, from Zero Hedge:

Right after Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry spoke at a Politics and Eggs breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire, an unknown gentlemen approaches a casual Perry like an Ian Flemming character, and proceeds to dead drop the following: "Bank of America... We will help you out"... and silently moves on. At least we know now who is funding what, and whose interests potential future president Perry will be paid to defend.



Full event can be found here. Before someone pulls it, that is.

Then, come to find out that a former Goldman Sachs VP, named Peter Simonyi (who previously worked for the SEC) changed his name to Peter Haller to lobby Congress from the inside. He ended up working as a top staffer for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) on the Oversight Committee, and went on to argue against regulations on Wall Street.

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Studies Suggest Wealthy Are Less Empathetic, More Selfish, and Less Altruistic.

This might not be news to most people, but now studies suggest that the upper classes really are different, and not in a good way. This, according to psychologist and social scientist Dacher Keltner. Their life experience, or lack thereof, makes them less empathetic, less altruistic, and generally more selfish.

In fact, he says, the philosophical battle over economics, taxes, debt ceilings and defaults that are now roiling the stock market is partly rooted in an upper class "ideology of self-interest."

“We have now done 12 separate studies measuring empathy in every way imaginable, social behavior in every way, and some work on compassion and it’s the same story,” he said. “Lower class people just show more empathy, more prosocial behavior, more compassion, no matter how you look at it.”

In an academic version of a Depression-era Frank Capra movie, Keltner and co-authors of an article called “Social Class as Culture: The Convergence of Resources and Rank in the Social Realm,” published this week in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science, argue that “upper-class rank perceptions trigger a focus away from the context toward the self….”

In other words, rich people are more likely to think about themselves. “They think that economic success and political outcomes, and personal outcomes, have to do with individual behavior, a good work ethic,” said Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Because the rich gloss over the ways family connections, money and education helped, they come to denigrate the role of government and vigorously oppose taxes to fund it.

“I will quote from the Tea Party hero Ayn Rand: “‘It is the morality of altruism that men have to reject,’” he said.

Whether or not Keltner is right, there certainly is a “let them cake” vibe in the air. Last week The New York Times reported on booming sales of luxury goods, with stores keeping waiting lists for $9,000 coats and the former chairman of Saks saying, “If a designer shoe goes up from $800 to $860, who notices?”

According to Gallup, Americans earning more than $90,000 per year continued to increase their consumer spending in July while middle- and lower-income Americans remained stalled, even as the upper classes argue that they can’t pay any more taxes. Meanwhile, the gap between the wealthiest and the rest of us continues to grow wider, with over 80 percent of the nation’s financial wealth controlled by about 20 percent of the people.

Unlike the rich, lower class people have to depend on others for survival, Keltner argued. So they learn “prosocial behaviors.” They read people better, empathize more with others, and they give more to those in need.

That’s the moral of Capra movies like “You Can’t Take It With You,” in which a plutocrat comes to learn the value of community and family. But Keltner, author of the book “Born To Be Good: The Science of A Meaningful Life,” doesn’t rely on sentiment to make his case.

He points to his own research and that of others. For example, lower class subjects are better at deciphering the emotions of people in photographs than are rich people.

In video recordings of conversations, rich people are more likely to appear distracted, checking cell phones, doodling, avoiding eye contact, while low-income people make eye contact and nod their heads more frequently signaling engagement.

In one test, for example, Keltner and other colleagues had 115 people play the “dictator game,” a standard trial of economic behavior. “Dictators” were paired with an unseen partner, given ten “points” that represented money, and told they could share as many or as few of the points with the partner as they desired. Lower-class participants gave more even after controlling for gender, age or ethnicity.

Keltner has also studied vagus nerve activation. The vagus nerve helps the brain record and respond to emotional inputs. When subjects are exposed to pictures of starving children, for example, their vagus nerve typically becomes more active as measured by electrodes on their chests and a sensor band around their waists. In recent tests, yet to be published, Keltner has found that those from lower-class backgrounds have more intense activation.

Other studies from other researchers have not produced the clear-cut results Keltner uses to advance his argument. In surveys of charitable giving, some show that low-income people give more, but other studies show the opposite.

“The research regarding income and helping behaviors has always been little bit mixed,” explained Meredith McGinley, a professor of psychology at Pittsburgh’s Chatham University.

Then there is the problem of Tea Partiers’ own class position. While they are funded by the wealthy, many do not identify themselves as wealthy (though there is dispute on the real demographics). Still, a strong allegiance to the American Dream can lead even regular folks to overestimate their own self-reliance in the same way as rich people.

As behavioral economist Mark Wilhelm of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis pointed out, most people could quickly tell you how much they paid in taxes last year but few could put a dollar amount on how they benefited from government by, say, driving on interstate highways, taking drugs gleaned from federally funded medical research, or using inventions created by people educated in public schools.

There is one interesting piece of evidence showing that many rich people may not be selfish as much as willfully clueless, and therefore unable to make the cognitive link between need and resources. Last year, research at Duke and Harvard universities showed that regardless of political affiliation or income, Americans tended to think wealth distribution ought to be more equal.

The problem? Rich people wrongly believed it already was.

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Congress Touring Israel for Free.

Despite the fact that accepting free trips from lobbyists is illegal for Congress members under US anti-graft and corruption laws, the American Israel Educational Foundation - affiliate of the largest Zionist lobby in the US: the American Israel Public Affairs Committee with its a tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization with two donors - is sponsoring an all-expenses-paid, week-long junkets to Israel. The top congressional leaders of both parties are leading the trips.

Unlike the far more numerous nonprofit 501(c)(3) organizations, which have to continually “means test” that they have a wide public funding base in order for contributor donations to be tax-deductible, contributions to 501(c)(4) organizations such as AIPAC (which actively lobbies Congress, the executive, and numerous government agencies) are not tax-deductible. There are no contribution limits to 501 (c)(4) nonprofit groups. Individuals, foreign nationals, partnerships, associations, and other organizations may contribute whatever amount they like to a 501(c)(4).

81 congressional representatives - 55 Republicans and 26 Democrats - from all over the country, led by Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, are traveling to Israel this month. Most are freshmen congressmen, and the group includes half of all the freshmen Republicans voted into office in 2010.

Don't you think the $3 billion in direct aid and $3 billion in indirect aid provided to Israel each year by the US Congress would be better spent reviving the declining US economy?



Israel-Palestine Missing Headlines

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Persuaded Below the Level of Choice and Reason

"All that is needed is money and a candidate that can be coached to look sincere...the personality of the candidate, the way he is projected by the advertising experts are the things that really matter." Aldous Huxley

Below, Mike Wallace interviews Aldous Huxley, author of "Brave New World" in 1958, in which, Huxley gives an eerily prescient forecast concerning our nation's future.

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What Would Debbie Downer Say?

Source:

America:  Osama Bin Laden's dead!  President Obama's the man!

Debbie: Until Fox News twists this to make Bush the hero. According to redstate.com, it's thanks to President Bush because of his “enhanced interrogation techniques” at Guntanamo Bay Prison that Osama is dead.

America:  Well, whatever the story is, it's the first time in a long time that all is right with the world!

Debbie:  Good thing that the millions of  lives lost/destroyed, the trillions of dollars spent, the implementation of "Big Brother" type surveillance/loss of our 4th amendment rights,   unmanned predator drones, piloted by gamers,  the shredding of our Constitution, unemployment, the foreclosure crisis, the bankster's plundering of the economy, is all behind us. Right?

America:  Right! It's a good thing that we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed because that's how we got the information that killed Osama.  This is pay-off! It's time to get out the kilts and bagpipes, prepared speeches, glow sticks, and head down to Ground Zero!

Debbie:  I wonder if any of  the sick and fallen 9/11 heroes will be able to make it.  Probably not. The ones who have not yet succumbed to toxic WTC dust are too busy trying to prove they're not terrorists. 

America:  Yeah, too bad for them, but, now that our bad-ass military brought down Osama, those sick and fallen heroes have not suffered in vain. For the first time in a long time, our future looks bright!

Debbie:  The  nuclear hell-storms that al-Qa'ida plans to unleash according to WikiLeaks should make it very bright. The Islamists vow bin Laden death will not mute Jihad call.  I'm sure the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and TSA are getting ready to roll out plans to escalate  the use of torture, fire up more predator drones, ratchet up the surveillance state, and...

America:  Alrighty then, well, it's May...no worries about frost interfering with our celebrations...

Debbie: Mr. Frost interviewed Benazir Bhutto in November of 2007, before she was murdered. She told him, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh – one of those convicted of kidnapping and killing U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl - murdered Osama Bin Laden.

America: You know what, Debbie? You're really taking a royal crap on our celebration of Osama's death. We, the people completely held our tongue when you showed us pictures of dead Iraqi babies, and we didn't say one word when you went on and on about the NATO strikes that took out a school for disabled children in Libya...

The US government, as Paul Craig Roberts said, has an  "unlimited belief in the gullibility of Americans".

Links:


Has Osama Bin Laden been dead for seven years - and are the U.S. and Britain covering it up to continue war on terror?

Osama bin Laden corpse photo is fake

YEARS OF DECEIT: US OPENLY ACCEPTS BIN LADEN LONG DEAD

U.S. anticipates al Qaeda 'threats of retaliation'

Preparing the Battlefield

Agenda 21

Building Moderate Muslim Networks - RAND's blueprint for the Muslim world. The protests we are seeing now are playing out exactly as prescribed: from protest organizers to the protest leaders, to the America's military leadership activity behind-the-scenes...it's all there

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Jesse Ventura's Letter to the Ruling Class

From Jesse's website:

You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. We are hit… we are bleeding… but we ain’t got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!

Sincerely,

The Serfs.

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Sovietology: Four Stages Necessary to Destroy a Nation

The two-party system is an illusion. In reality, the two parties are coordinated in a chess game that's being played against us and we are losing. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

So, it's time to take a new look at America, and to stop playing the politics of "divide and conquer" which will only divide and conquer...us. It's time to figure out who the real enemy is, and unite to build a coalition against this common enemy: the corporations, the banks, and, unfortunately, our government whose only interest is propping up the elitist power structure, no matter how much they deny it.

In the video below, someone who knows how the game is played - KGB defector, Yuri Bezmenov, a Russian born, KGB trained subverter - describes the four-stage process involved in destroying a nation. This interview was conducted by G. Edward Griffin in 1984.



Excerpts:

"All the American has to do is unplug the bananas from their ears and they can see it. There is nothing to do with espionage. But the main area is not in the area of intelligence at all. Only about 15% of time, money and manpower is spent on espionage. The other 85% is a slow process which we [KGB} call ideological subversion or "active measures" or psychological warfare.

One of the basic elements is to change the perception of reality for every American, to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country. It's a great brainwashing process which goes very slow and is divided into four basic stages:

Four stages:

1.Demoralization - a process whereby the goal is to create an environment of confusion that capitalizes on the naivete and deliberately created ignorance of the people. That encourages dependence rather than self-reliance; powerlessness rather than empowerment; and that fosters fear rather than courage.

"Most of of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to a lack of moral standards" Once demoralized, "exposure to true information won't matter anymore. A person who is demoralized will not be able to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof: documents, with pictures...even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him concentration camp, he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When a military boot crashes his ass, then he will understand, but not before that. That's the tragic of the situation of demoralization."

2. Destabilization (Takes 2-5 years to destabilize a nation.) "This Time subverter does not care about your ideas, your patterns of consumption..whether you eat junk food and get fat and flabby doesn't matter anymore. What matters is essentials: Economy, foreign relations and defense systems. The influence of Marxist/Leninist ideas in the US is absolutely fantastic [remember, this is 1984]."

3. Crisis "It might only take 6-weeks to bring a country to verge of crisis. You can see it in Central America now."

4. Normalization - "With the violent change of power, structure and economy, you have the process of normalization. It may last indefinitely. Normalization is a cynical expression, borrowed from Soviet propaganda."

More excerpts:

"This is what will happen if you allow the schmucks to bring this country to crisis...to promise all kinds of goodies, and the paradise on earth; to destabilize your economy; eliminate principle of free market competition, big brother government in Washington DC, who will promise lots of things, never mind whether the promises are fulfilled or not....never mind, he will create false illusions that situations is under control. Situation is not under control. Situation is disgustingly out of control. It is only an illusion of being in control"

"Stop the military industrial complex from destroying whatever is left of the free world. And it is very easy to do: No credits. No technology. No money. No political or diplomatic recognition, and of course no such idiocy as deals to [fill in the blank]. [...] Stop aiding a bunch of murderers [...]

Educate yourself, understand what's going on around you. You are not living at a time of peace. You are in a state of war. And you have precious little time to save yourself. There is no other place to defect too."

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The Hidden Wealth of U.S. Incorporated.

In the following documentary, Clint Richardson begins by taking on  former United States Comptroller General, David M. Walker, regarding the trillions of dollars not reported on the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) that all governments (corporations) must file under federal law. From there, he proves that the United States is indeed a corporation, as did the other documentary, Hijacking Humanity, that I posted in January. 



In a nutshell, the United States is comprised of over 185,000 incorporated state, county, city, town, municipality, district, councils, school district, pension fund, enterprise operation, and countless other private and for-profit corporations (at least that explains why we the people serve the government, rather than what we've been led to believe: the government serves us). Moreover, the hidden wealth and investment totals well over 100 trillion dollars.

Oh, and you know those 2-letter abbreviations that all 50 states have been assigned? They are federal district locator codes.

"A gang is a group of men under the command of a leader, bound by a compact of association, in which the plunder is divided according to an agreed convention. If this villainy wins so many recruits from the ranks of the demoralized that it acquires territory, establishes a base, captures cities and subdues peoples, it then openly arrogates to itself the title of kingdom, which is conferred on it in the eyes of the world, not by the renunciation of aggression, but by the attainment of impunity" - St. Augustine

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God, Gold, and Guns, But Hold the Gay.

Amidst Glen Beck's tearful patriotic schtick, and his dehumanizing talk of cockroaches, rats, viruses and disease, in one of his "lessons", he told his audience about the "three G system" he cooked up for survival should the United States face collapse, and that consists: "God, Gold, and Guns".

The third one is Collapse. That's 'Get out of debt and save,' plus, 'Have a fruit cellar,' plus -- I like to call the "three G system" here for this -- it's, uh, God, Gold, and Guns.

Now personally, you might take God and put him as an umbrella over the whole thing. And then you got your gun and your gold down here too. But that's your choice. -- Glen Beck

However, as much as Glen's devoted to words that start with the letter 'G', it appears he's not to keen on one 'G' word: gay.  He "has surrounded himself with religious and secular figures who share a fervent opposition to the "homosexual agenda."Glenn Beck's anti-gay army of God

Alexander Zaitchik on his book "Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance"

"Right. Well, his more recent controversies are pretty well known. But even going back to the '80s and ’90s, he was known for a racist, sexist shtick. He famously, or infamously, called up the wife of a competing DJ in Phoenix in the mid-'80s and mocked her for having a miscarriage live on the air. He made fun of a guy named Malik Jones in New Haven, who was an unarmed black man shot by a white police officer, and it was quite a big police brutality case at the time. He went on air that week making fun of Jones, talking about how he used to smoke crack with his grandmother. Stuff like this. So, you know, this Glenn Beck that is so divisive today has been there the whole time. And the idea that he had this, you know, transformative experience when he became a Mormon and became a good guy and is this sort of moral beacon is just ludicrous."-- Alexander Zaitchik

Beck said "People don't recognize Obama's version of Christianity", nevertheless, gauging by the numbers that follow Glen Beck, too many people recognize his twisted version, a version that takes everything Jesus stood for, and transforms it to promote the only person who matters to Glen Beck, that is, Glen Beck.

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A Wisdom Tool to Predict Future Political Outcomes.

Dr. Bruce Bueno de Mesquitait, whether you want to call him political scientist or futurologist - because he uses objective scientific and mathematical methods to foresee future events within an 18-24 month time period - or the "Next Nostradamus", has created an amazingly accurate computer model that predicts the outcome of future events.

Bueno de Mesquitait teaches "game theory" or “rational choice theory,” at New York University and Stanford. He does not use a traditional approach when analyzing political situations, because he does not factor in culture, history, economics, or any of the other considerations that more traditional political scientists weigh, yet he makes predictions about various human affairs and conflicts with astounding accuracy. He uses a computer/mathematical model that starts with a set of assumptions (each actor’s motives in this case) and then breaks them down as mathematical equations and proceeds from there to see what follows logically from those assumptions.

A study, by the C.I.A., his most regular client by far, found that Bueno de Mesquita’s predictions “hit the bull’s-eye” twice as often as its own analysts did. The computer’s advantage over humans is its ability to spy unseen coalitions, but this works only when the relative positions of each actor are described accurately when he conducts his fact-gathering interviews. An astute observer, Bueno de Mesquita asks for clarification the moment an interviewee expresses doubt or contradicts himself.

“His ability to pick up on body language, to pick up on vocal intonation, to remember what people said and challenge them in nonthreatening ways — he’s a master at it,” -- Rose McDermott, a political-science professor at Brown

The Prisoner’s Dilemma, best explains Dr. Bueno de Mesquitait rational choice theory.

Two burglars are apprehended near the scene of a crime and are interrogated separately by the police. The police know these two goons did it, but they don’t know how, so they offer each one a deal. If they both confess and cooperate, they’ll both get a minor sentence of five years. If neither man confesses, they’ll both only get one year (for having been caught with some of the stolen loot on them). But, and here’s where it gets interesting, if one confesses and the other doesn’t, the one who confesses walks out scot-free while the other will do 10 years. What will they do? Will they trust each other and do what’s obviously in their best interest, which is not confess? Based on game theory’s assumptions about human nature, the math derived from this dilemma tells you squarely that the two goons will turn each other in.

Bueno de Mesquitait says “If you liberate people from the constraint of having to satisfy other people in order to advance themselves, people don’t do good things.” In other words, his model assumes the worst of people, and thus far, it's proven itself very capable of providing a correct reading.

“When people are asked to make personal sacrifices for the greater good in the longer term, they seem to find 1,001 reasons why their particular behavior is so virtuous that this one particular deviation is really O.K. I have to drive an S.U.V. because I want to protect my little children from a car accident! ”-- Bueno de Mesquitait

There is much skepticism that a computer model can truly predict the outcome of any situation in which parties can be described as trying to persuade or coerce one another. Yet it seems that his model has continuously proven itself since the 1980s, however it also appears as if it's accuracy is very dependent on it's inventor.

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Taking Advantage of the Crisis That They Created

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who engineered this financial crisis.  Yet Republicans, Wall Street, and the corporate/government elite,  expect us to believe that they, who made huge fortunes understanding the way the economy works, were clueless about the possibility of the largest economic disaster since the Great Depression...even today, as they continue to prosper more than they ever have, two years after the economic collapse. And now they want us to foot the bill...endure the consequences that they should eagerly bear the brunt (see chart below).

Yeah right. The only thing the teflon-coated power/money brokers are eager about is tapping we the people for more and more money.

They preach deficit cuts, tough austerity measures and sacrifice, trying to convince us, once again, that these measures are in our own best interest. Meanwhile they continue to take advantage of the crisis they themselves created, feathering their personal nests at the vast expense of all the rest of us.

Take GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner, in addition to predicting a GOP political rebellion (despite the fact that the Bush administration who squandered the fairly found fiscal position inherited from the Clinton administration over his 8-years in office)  wants to raise the eligibility for retirement to age 70 , scale down health reform, undermine social security, medicare and other bedrock social programs.

As anyone out of work, over 45-years old, can tell you, finding employment, never mind at their previous salary level, is damned near impossible.  And now Boehner wants to add another 8 years to retirement eligibility?  That's great. He will collect anywhere from $80,000-$100,000 annual, upon retirement.

Paul Krugman says we are facing a third depression. And as he says, it doesn't matter that "the Obama administration understands the dangers of premature fiscal austerity — but because Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress won’t authorize additional aid to state governments, that austerity is coming anyway, in the form of budget cuts at the state and local levels."

But one has to wonder why the elites want these severe austerity measures. Don't they benefit when the economy grows? Don't they prosper when there's more stimulus, under conditions of full employment?

The answer according to Dr. Robert A. Johnson - Executive Director of The Institute New Economic Thinking (INET) in an interview with Real News is that

"if you're a big bank right now that's loaded up on Treasury bonds, paying zero and earning 3.5 percent, the thing that can hurt you is interest rates go to 5 percent, which they would do if the economy recovered. So you have essentially used what I'll call the yield curve trade, the riskless yield curve trade of the Treasury market on the balance sheet of big banks to create a coalition for maintained austerity."

Why should we suffer the consequences of their criminal behavior? Why are we facing long-term structural unemployment, cuts to social programs, delayed eligibility for retirement...in other words, the deterioration of our wealth and security, while they continue to reap the rewards of the massive crime they committed?  Where are our 0% interest loans guarnteed to yield at least 3-5%?

"We have a financial sector that was 46% of corporate profits in 2007. I think last year it approached 40% again in the recovery. It's only 3% of the workforce. We have a system of politics that's very dominated by finance. Financial services beg the question: what are you—if you're taking that much of the profit, if you're taking that much of the income, if you're taking an $800 billion bailout, what are you doing for society? What's the basic function?

And once finance becomes so overgrown [that] instead of taking 5 or 6 or 7% of profits it's taking 30 to 40%, we have to ask ourselves: are we not as a society paying an enormous tax to a system that is designed to be a—.

You know, finance is supposed to be a servant to commerce. Commerce and economy and markets are a service to social goals. Well, the servant's servant has become the master's master, and it's time to re-invert that. I think the political process we see underway and the hostility and the anger and the pressure on legislators is an early—what you might call an early stage of that rebalancing. But it will be a hard and tough road. And it was in Great Britain. And they didn't really get out from the clutches of the control of finance for quite a long time." - Dr. Robert A. Johnson

“Liberty without equality would be as empty as equality without liberty would be authoritarian.” - Alan Wolf, author of Future of Liberalism

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You Didn't Get Mad.

As far as I know the following came from wall dude posting on the democratic underground. It's well worth the read:

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans... well fuck that. That about right? You know it is.

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Will Multinational Corporate Lobbyists Define America Now?

The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision opened up a huge loophole in the restrictions that we have on foreign entities participating in our elections. Now, foreign corporations with U.S. subsidiaries will be able to make 'independent expenditures' to American political campaigns.

Democrats have already begun drafting legislation that could restrict the possibility of foreign influence in our election campaigns. However, it is doubtful that anything, short of a constitutional amendment, will impact on the ruling.

Democrats are also eyeing restrictions on U.S. companies that are subsidiaries of foreign-owned corporations; they believe the public will be outraged by the possibility of foreign influence in U.S. election campaigns. The high court's majority opinion avoided addressing possible implications for foreign-owned firms, which are barred from direct participation in U.S. elections but can use their American subsidiaries to form political action committees.

Foreign subsidiaries are already "lashing out at reports that congressional Democrats are looking to block foreign-owned corporations from seizing on the Supreme Court's campaign finance ruling last week".

Saudi Arabia has already asserted that the development of renewable energy is their biggest threat. Now, they can do something to stop their "biggest threat". Saudi Arabian-owned subsidiaries operating in the U.S. can and will expend as much as they want to advocate for the defeat of candidates who support clean energy legislation.

Tough legislation must be drafted to keep domestic corporations from operating on their own as if they were not foreign-controlled companies.

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