The End Anticipated...

It’s been fashionable of late—and certainly over the last three years—to denounce and denigrate the financial sector generally and bankers particularly. It’s a fair reaction in most respects, given the circumstances, but frequently I hear some of the same dire prophecies announced by the loudest and most persistent of these detractors, prophecies that seem to me to be so much frustration and resentment but not very heavy on honest circumspection and a broad appreciation of the real state of affairs.

I can give some easy examples of what I’m talking about. Washington’s Blog, for instance(http://washingtonsblog.com/), though very good at peeling away all of the awful layers of official and corporate greed and corruption, tends to end some his analysis with the familiar dire fate that awaits the “bankers” responsible for destroying the economy. It’s a reasonable accusation, but a poor conclusion. I am reminded of the many conspiracy theorists who conclude passages about specific, heroic figures who were mysteriously killed or disappeared just before they were about to blow it wide open! Of course! And the usual point about “if the American people knew what they were planning…” All very familiar, all very nice, neat , and tidy, all the ducks in a row from problem, injustice, culprit, and the path to justice clearly outlined.

Mind you, I am not calling into question at all the crimes of the accused, and for me the accused represents the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world. And likewise I am not saying that these scoundrels don’t deserve their due—I am saying they will never get their due, is all. These ideas of the people rising up and taking down their oppressor are cute little tirades, sometimes polite and other times downright crude. Take a recent example I pulled from Naked Capitalism, but originally posted on Market Ticker:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/video-the-bankers-as-the-enemy-of-humanity.html

Why intelligent critics of the status quo think this mass uprising could occur, or that the “bankers” are going to somehow roll over and die, is beyond me. What is missing, and consistently missing in my opinion, is the facts as we surmise them;

• the largest financial institutions in this country donate generously to the campaigns of our elected representatives—they have done so for decades and they do so because it is simply good business(http://www.opencongress.org/)
• these representatives shape law and policy from all three branches of the United States Federal Government—the idea that they are so easily “duped”, “deceived”, or “corrupted” independent of their own free will is a juvenile fiction at best and a willfully blind ignorance at worst. Trust me, folks, they know exactly what they’re doing
• the government of the United States under the Constitution(whether actually in force, in whole or in part, or not) is defended by the most advanced and most powerful military machine the world has ever seen. It is highly trained in combat operations of every kind and has, of late, been training specifically to deal with “domestic disturbances”(http://the-classic-liberal.com/pentagon-war-gaming-large-scale-economic-breakdown/). Again, the notion that a rabble of concerned citizens will one day, under extreme duress, overthrow “the bankers” that have driven them to poverty, when these same “bankers” are basically helping to run the table, is a lucid fantasy.
• Nothing of this sort happened in 1929, 1933, or 1937, all times when the very fabric of the nation seemed to be getting torn to pieces from every side. During the Great Depression the “bankers” were making out about as well they are now—which would be very good. There was unrest, there were strikes, the Progressives, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists saw swelling ranks, but the mass of the populace just kept on keepin’ on…
• this pervasive matrix we are all in has nine lives, and as soon you expose one or two tentacles and cut them off, six or seven more—having been seething in the underbelly waiting for air—take their place. It is all smoke and mirrors, parlor tricks, and sleight of hand(http://alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed). They have the media, the bread, the circuses, the left, the right, the center, and all points in between. Everything happens for a reason, and generally the reason is bad for common folks. They know how to steer the herd, people, they’ve been doing it for quite some time!
• any actual attempt to physically oppose the policies of the institution will be met with savage violence, incarceration, and/or murder outright(http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/09/24/G20-protests-turn-violent-in-Pittsburgh/UPI-46751253805260/). Let’s not forget that this government knows how to deal with dissidents, no matter how large their number. People in the streets is exactly what they want to happen! This only serves to accelerate the process we are in right now, which is….
• the process of creating the new world, pruning the excess population, and using the depressed energies and angers of an entire generation for the mass production of war goods and the military takeover of vast patches of a recalcitrant Earth—this nation included(http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/08/military-keynesianism-gone-haywire-paul.html)! For there to be global parity, there must be sacrifice in the West. You want industry? Be a slave! You want jobs? Sell away your rights! You want to keep your children from starving? Sign right here to become wards of the state where you will be housed, fed, and protected(from whom? that rabble in the streets of course, who are threatening “democracy”)

There will be another crash. I don’t argue that. It is obvious that the situation in Europe is not only unsustainable, but irretrievable as well. The situation in the US is much worse, but we are not as pressured by outside influences—yet. Nonetheless, expect the market crash to occur some time in October of this year. This will complete the pillage of all the pensions, the health care benefits, the stock portfolios, the Medicare and Social Security funds, EVERYTHING!

Don’t get too upset, though, because you will be begging them to do it, just like you will be begging them to raise taxes, to curtail or eliminate so many clean air, clean water, and environmental regulations. When the majority of the population is starving and the government can do little or nothing to “save” them, drastic measures will be taken to save the economy, save the nation, and save the future---and the beauty of it all is that the bankers become the saviors, the politicians become the saints, and we all grovel at their feet begging for what little scraps we plead from them. Why? Because it will just be that bad.

Not the endgame you were expecting? Sorry. But if you think these clever folks haven’t worked this all out in their heads already, if you think the mass media is suddenly going to report Truth and demand Justice the way the guardians of liberty should, and if you think the largest corporations and special interest foundations that have manipulated laws and regulations for private profit for over one hundred years are simply going to pack up and go home, then you are sadly mistaken!

Ponder it.

Understand it.

Prepare for it.

Things don't always happen the way the experts expect them to, especially premature announcements about the demise of the status quo. The powers that be are way too clever for that!

The Essence of Anarchy

I am not a citizen.

In the same way that I was not born a laborer or a commodity or a percentage factor in a calculation, I was not born a citizen. I do not wish to be a citizen, to act as a citizen, or to harbor the dreams and aspirations of a citizen. To have citizenship of any kind one accepts certain laws and obligations in exchange for certain rights and opportunities. There are things that I value, and what I am asked to surrender is more valuable than what I am expected to accept.

I do not honor Law. This doesn’t mean I am lawless. I know it is selfish to steal from others, to take from another person what isn’t mine, and I don’t need a law to keep me from doing that. I know that what is not mine belongs to someone else—life, dignity, respect, honor, money, a home, a car, etc. Governments write laws to enforce behavior, to underline mores and morals, but I don’t need a law to tell me these things. In fact, once one begins to write laws governing behavior, they never stop. That is because once an individual, or group of individuals, is appointed to make decisions for the general population they become automatically exempt from those decisions. The creation of law demands the creation of lawgivers, which demands the creation of an elite that has the power of determination for all.  First it was priests, then it was kings, and today it is Congress.

Of course the original intent of the creation of an elite was to guide the masses. It was important, in the United States, for the law-givers to be a respected and educated class of people, the best and the brightest, and as it happened the best and the brightest were white, male landowners. So a group of white, male landowners overthrew the British crown and made a club called the Continental Congress. And the members of this core group laid laws governing the holdings of the white, male landowners. Over time they enlarged the franchise to include all white, male citizens, then all male citizens, and finally all citizens, male and female. As the franchise grew the elite became more entrenched and laws more complex. Today we have several hundred individuals from specific societal strata continuing to hand down legislation to a nation of 300 million people, and the heart of all legislation continues to favor the white, male landowner. In 200 years things have not changed very much
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There is no honor or privilege in being a “citizen”. It only means you can be taxed, drafted, imprisoned, and killed. Of course, you have the prestige that comes with being an “American”, but other than eating McDonalds and driving fast cars, what does being an American really do for you? The Constitution? It is basically the framework for the administering of a central government for a limited, democratic republic, or a “representative democracy”. The Bill of Rights? It is a loose afterthought of the original Constitution purported to outline the specific rights of the individual citizen. That these rights are so easily subverted, opined out of force, and changed reveals the ultimate value of the Bill of Rights. That is, it is only as powerful as the ability of the citizen to preserve it.
I don’t need a Bill of Rights to tell me that I can speak, to tell me that I can think, or to tell me that I don’t have to house US military persons in my home. These are rights that everyone has a human being, among any number of other rights we have as human beings. We are not born as citizens, we are born as human beings.

I have no compulsion to wave any mans flag, to sing any mans song, or take my sense of self and stick it to some supposedly hallowed tradition of nation and culture and populace. I can see clearly what is real and what is not. Land is real, guns are real, food and cars and buildings and resources and people are real. Ideologies, institutions, concepts, theories, conjectures, and beliefs are not real. To fashion a legal entity and accord it powers according to the laws fashioned by men is to worship a false god, a false creation, a false reality. Yet this creation of ours we call government has more power than we do, even the power to kill any one of us that it wishes. I don’t know of many data processors that program their computers to kill them if they violate the laws written into that computer, but I know there wouldn’t be very man computer programmers left if they did do that. So it is with government.

I am not a citizen.

I am not an employee
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I am not a cog in a machine.

I am a human being, first and foremost, and I surrender no rights to any man or man made creation that would seek to make me less than that.

That is my right, and I can take it from no one, nor can anyone take it from me.

This is the essence of Anarchy.

Outright Farce

The current news item concerns the deficit, raising the debt limit, and finding a way to manage the nation with less money than is currently required for it to function. At the moment the debt limit for the US Federal Government is about $14.3 trillion. Currently the annual Federal deficit is running roughly $1.5 trillion. If the debt limit is extended it will provide several billions more in spending for the Federal government, yet it will in no way solve the critical problem of chronic over-spending.

At this point it is worth noting some of the obvious "omissions" involved in what amounts to a total farce of a "crisis" where Federal spending is concerned. First, unless the level of Defense spending is severely curtailed, any discussions about annual deficit reduction are meaningless, and thus a complete lie. Likewise, discussions that do not involve a restructuring and overall increase in taxation ON EVERY LEVEL are likewise a farce, and an admission that this entire "crisis" is in fact a distracting charade perpetrated by our leaders to keep our attention away from the serious problem actually facing the country. Further, if discussions fail to include a comprehensive evaluation of trade imbalances, tax loopholes, tax breaks, and subsidies(as well as the now viral acquiescence to private contracting) where corporations are concerned, there is nothing to discuss about a "balanced federal budget", "mortgaging the future", or the "validity of the US federal debt".

The problem is that while millions of American workers are making do with less in a depressed economy corporations are sitting on billions of dollars in profits, banks are sitting on billions--even trillions--in reserves, and the federal government that should be working "to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity" has effectively forfeited it's authority in this regard to those whose influence in government is both greater and more effective than the interests of the "people". When representatives in government are promoted by powerful interest to run for office, gain office by the funding of those interests, and then proceed to enact, enforce, and rule on particular laws that favor those same interests, the entire system of public service has been perverted because the definition of the "the people" becomes a subjective object, and thus "serving the people" means whomever that elected individual chooses  to listen to. Because by US law a corporation is regarded as an "individual" or a "person" these also are considered among the "people" that government representatives serve.

 
In light of the above, it is no mistake that when the critical issues of the day are discussed between corporations and government the average working family is left out of the negotiations. It is no mistake that tax breaks, subsidies, and loopholes invariably favor the extremely wealthy, or that industry and finance have become a kind of aristocracy that effectively absorbs  the public wealth via federal laws and out-right profits. It is not a mistake that the new Health Care law basically serves up every individual in the US to both the health care industry and the pharmaceutical corporations. That is, the law has created customers for an industry rather than effectively addressing the health care needs of the population as a whole. In similar fashion, the financial industry has stripped the nation of $13 trillion of it's wealth, created 25 million unemployed Americans, and then proceeded to throw these newly unemployed out of their houses because a housing market that they manipulated was inflated and summarily deflated by a corrupt and unregulated market to the benefit of those same banks.

Today we are without justice. We are without domestic tranquility. We are without a common defense, especially as law enforcement has been handed greater authority to arrest, to detain, or to simply burst into a home unannounced and begin to shoot and kill Americans without due process--that is, the charge of wrong doing is now sufficient to allow home invasion by paramilitary units of the local police or any number of agencies that have somehow been given--without the knowledge or consent of the American people--the right to deprive US citizens of their person and/or property without the due process of law. We are without the general welfare as well, and surely the blessings of liberty, in light of the crisis that has so clearly overcome our nation, are no longer secured for ourselves or our posterity.

And now, aside from all of this, we are hearing about the squabbling over raising the debt limit. While children starve, while the elderly suffer , while families are thrown out of their homes and people are subjected to blatant and grotesque violations of their persons by the Transportation Safety Authority, and while we, as working class citizens, struggle with inflation, with joblessness, and with an obvious continued erosion of the overall economic health of the country, we are treated to the agonized debates over how BILLIONS and TRILLIONS of dollars of OUR MONEY can be spent in such a way as to please the wealthy, punish the poor, and satisfy temporarily the insatiable greed of the banking industry.
Our nation is $200 trillion in debt based on current and unfunded future liabilities.
Our military absorbs $700 billion annually--more than every other nation in the world COMBINED.

Our banking industry, by virtue of it's outstanding liabilities, is effectively insolvent, and requires ever increasing sums of hard cash simply to satisfy interest on maturing debt obligations, bad investments, failed ventures, and the ever growing $250 trillion derivative speculations.

The United States is insolvent.

There is no debt deal, nor compromise, nor "way out" that will change the fact that our way of life has been destroyed, our future decimated, and our livelihoods obliterated by the failed economic and fiscal policies of three generations.

This is why the debate in Washington is a farce. This is why the entire charade is a huge insult to the intelligence of working people everywhere.

This is why faith in this government is at possibly it's lowest point in United States history. The people know there is no way out. Our government continues to pretend we don't know, to act like we don't know, and to pat our little heads and say, "You just keep working and let us solve this problem. You can trust us."

No, we can't. And we never should have in the first place.

They Will Crush Us All

It's obvious to the global elite that the world is broken and it needs to be fixed. The current crisis in economics, ecology, and energy is their announcement that they intend to wipe clean this current post-industrialist system of political and financial control and replace it with another. They are effectively tearing the crown from the Emporers' head and forcing it down upon another brow....China's perhaps? or Russia's?
The logic is simple. Because these post-industrial nations can no longer afford to offer open wallets to cheap, disposable goods, nor continue the debt-slavery system, they would have to be reconstructed and "downsized" as it were. Others have voiced their warnings about a coming "world war", and to some extent they are right. However, it is more likely to begin like that of 1789 rather than 1914 or 1939. In order for such a sudden shift of power from one sphere to another to take place, there must be a decisive defeat of the intended victim, the very will of the people to resist having to be completely eroded. It spells utter ruin. And it is their way of exacting from us what they believe we owe them; a "settling of the books" you might say.
They are determined to crush us, we the people of the western world. Whether we fight back or not, they will crush us just the same.
They will crush us all, just the same.

BATTLECRY

Today we are standing at a crossroads. Behind us is the worst economic tragedy to ever occur in human history. With it has come the worst environmental catastrophe to ever occur. As we look forward, we look forward to continuing trials, continuing crisis, and ever more insurmountable challenges.

Do not think as you look back from this point that you are looking back at the night and are approaching morning. You are not approaching morning. You have barely yet seen the night, let alone midnight.

You are in darkness. You are entering night, and the day is far from you. You will not see daylight for a long time, and for those of you who have been paying close attention, those who have looked for the truth, those who have cast off the deceptive rhetoric of our corporate and government leaders and worked hard to untangle all manner of lies, diversions, and deceptions, you know this is true! You have studied your history, your economics, your globalization. You know what's going on. But for many, many people it is a great shock, a disappoint, even a terrible fear, that we have not yet begun to see the full consequences of a crisis that began ever so innocently in 2006-2007 and came to a head in the Fall of 2008.

Now these "professionals" are going to tell you that the stock market is up! Don't worry! We are actually in recovery! They will point to growth forecasts, to jobless numbers, to hiring practises, to manufacturing numbers. Yeah, okay. For an average citizen you look at this data and think that maybe there is something to it. Maybe you are just one person out of a few who is struggling. Maybe it isn't all that bad, right?

No, it's not that bad--IT'S WORSE! The numbers they give are skewed. The facts they present are lies. The data they provide is cooked like the financial books the banks use to say they aren't insolvent, and believe me, they are insolvent! Here we are with the home team down 53-0 and we keep dropping passes and fumbling the ball away. It feels like it's the fourth quarter, but it's only the FIRST HALF! Yeah, it's going to get worse, and it sucks to say that. It sucks to say, and you know why?

I'm saying our leadership is not incompetent, our banks are not reluctant, and corporations are not cautious. For any of that to be true, we would have to think that these guys have their heads under the hood and they are tweeking every spark plug and every wire and every spring and every gasket to get this car started. But that isn't what's happening. What they're doing is sitting down at the bar with the money you paid them to fix your car and they are drinking it away! They have no intention of fixing that car! They will do anything BUT fix it, because they are getting paid NOT to fix it, even as they insist that it's the first thing on their mind!

Our leadership can only be incompetent if they are attempting to do something, and then only if we really think they are. They told us they were going to turn the economy around and get people back to work, right? Technically they didn't lie. They never said how far they were going to turn it around or exactly how many people were going to get back to work. And in all honesty they have done a lot to help the people in trouble. Trouble is, we aren't those people. We're not CEO's, we aren't chairmen, owners, interests, managers, or any of that. In other words, we are at the bottom of this two-tiered society, and they are at the top. So, yeah, they are helping out the people---the people that count!

But what's worse than that is that instead of even trying to solve the problem, they are actually making it worse. They are forcing the dollar down, they are edging us closer to insolvency as a nation, closer to a lower overall rating, and closer to reneging on our national debt. They are making it worse, and they are making it worse because their patrons are the very people who destroyed our lives and destroyed our economy in the first place. These are campaign contributors. These are the folks paying $15,000 a plate to have dinner and maybe a little "face time" with the president. This is their game. This is their show.

This is their country.

It's always darkest before the dawn, right? Man, it aint even dark yet. It's not morning, it's not 3 am, it isn't even midnight! We are only just now entering the night and it will be a LONG night, it will be a DARK night, and it will be a HARD night. And we don't know when we're coming out of it!

They keep saying that this is the new normal.

Unemployment at 8%, 9%, or even 10% is NORMAL? Homelessness is the new normal! Poverty is the new normal! Foreclosure, food stamps, poison fish, and Fukushima radiation is the NEW normal!

Okay, so they have the night, right? They have the cards, they have game, they have the future, right?

I say, NO WAY!

They don't have my house! They don't have MY job! They don't have MY future! They are on the side of GREED, on the side of DISPAIR, on the side of DESTITUTION, on the side of WRONG!

It is WRONG that we should suffer these indignities, it is WRONG that we should starve while golden toilet seats and multi-million dollar yachts and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th homes are bought and sold and filled with the most ridiculous items at the most ridiculous prices, and WHY?

BECAUSE IT'S OUR MONEY!

They are taking OUR money and gambling on Wall Street, OUR money and building new slave factories in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and the Philipines, OUR money they use to grease the wheels of "democracy" in their favor, OUR money they use to keep us DOWN, to keep us DISTRACTED, and to keep us DEPRESSED!

I DONT'T WANT TO BE DEPRESSED!

I DON'T WANT TO BE DISTRACTED!

I DON'T WANT TO BE DOWN!

They aren't gonna take me down, I'M GOING TO TAKE THEM DOWN! Let THEM suffer penniless in the back alleys and abandoned parking lots, and under bridges and patches of woods, in tents, and cardboard cities, standing in line for a meal, for a handout for a better SOMETHING on any given day! Let them be EMBARASSED, HUMILIATED, SCORNED, and DENIED!

Let THEM go down!

Because I'm not going down! And no one SHOULD go down. Not one of us. Not today. Not tommorow.

Stay in your homes, hide your car around the corner, and stop them any way you can. If the choice is to go down because GREEDY WALL STREET POLITICIANS AND ECONOMIC TERRORISTS WHO STOLE $14 TRILLION ARE DEVALUING YOUR EXISTENCE, or to STAND, I say STAND!

This is MY life, this is MY future, this MY tommorow, and don't let anyone take that away. We don't have to bow our heads, we don't have to retreat, we don't have to buck up and take it, WE HAVE TO SPEAK, we have MARCH, we have to GET LOUD!

It's YOUR country, damnit, so TAKE IT! Stop listening to their lies, stop believing their nonesense, stop LETTING THEM DECIDE!

It's our country.

It's our world.

It's OUR decision.

And it's time to stand up and MAKE A DECISION.

Cardboard

It seems like the surging Dow Jones has finally hit a significant rut. Consider the period from 9/08 to 9/09 where it was steady decline followed by the sputtering from QE1 ramping things up a bit. I recall that around this time last year(really 2nd Quarter) it started to drop back, followed by significant stagnation in the economy as a whole heading into last summer. This year has repeated for the most part the same ups and downs, only the months above 12k have been short. As of last Friday the Dow is back under 12k again after spend most of 2011 above that.

Thought it might be a good time, therefore, to eyeball the nations ten largest banks and where their "assets" are at. I use quotations because these assets are really liabilities--that is, on the balance sheets and potentially redeemable, but who knows what they really are. At this point, the paint coloring the bricks on the outside of a banks headquarters could be somehow fixed into a security and collateralized for a quick turn on the repo market. Funny, huh? Yeah, well don't laugh too hard because that is about where it's at. For all intents and purposes our entire financial system is insolvent. These so-called assets couldn't be liquidated or even redeemed because they have already been leveraged against the banks debt. Thus the house of cards gets bigger, but it still couldn't support a single resident. 

 

Largest Banks in U.S.

(in thousands of U.S. dollars)

Rank Institution Headquarters Assets 1. Bank of America Corp. Charlotte, N.C. $2,340,667,014 2. J. P. Morgan Chase & Company New York, N.Y. 2,135,796,000 3. Citigroup New York, N.Y 2,002,213,000 4. Wells Fargo & Company San Francisco, C.A. 1,223,630,000 5. Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. New York, N.Y. 880,677,000 6. Morgan Stanley New York, N.Y. 819,719,000 7. Metlife, Inc. New York, N.Y. 565,566,452 8. Barclays Group US, Inc. Wilmington, Del. 427,837,000 9. Taunus Corporation New York, N.Y. 364,079,000 10. HSBC North America Inc. New York, N.Y 345,382,871

As of Mar. 31, 2010.

Source: Federal Reserve System, National Information Center.

Read more: The Top Ten: Largest Banks in U.S. — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/toptens/usbanks.html#ixzz1P6xCUXuP

Check out a website called RepoWatch and read up on the repurchase market--the "shadow banking system" that everyone has been talking about. You might walk away a little disillusioned, but better educated as well. After all, if you're on a boat in the middle of the ocean heading for a storm, you want to know what the hull is made of right? Sorry to be the guy who whispers "cardboard" in your ear.



Iniquity

The evidence of Man’s iniquity is in religion.

From the moment of his awakening through writing, Man has acknowledged a higher power. Perhaps this Power is called by “God”, or some similar Prime Deity, and Man in spite of his own ability has consistently bowed to this perceived “greater-ness”.  From where did Man derive guilt but from consciousness, and where from consciousness but knowledge of oneself.

Sin is when ability supersedes necessity.

Man finds guilt in desire, knowing he Can take even if he does not Need to. Man is what he is on account of desire. Knowing his guilt he acknowledges God, not as an idea, but as an Entity, Perfection in a Person.

All Would Speak Truth But For Fear.

Truth has always been the standard of Man.

Every voice could speak truth openly, yet other powers exist to induce Fear that they should. Those powers are both internal and external. Man’s God has reinforced the notion of Truth as an Absolute, and a measuring of his own standing. In this it is an acknowledgement of forces other than God that operate. We hold back knowing the consequences of Absolute Truth.

What is Mankind for, but God?

The existence we have here is inexplicable to naked facts. It doesn’t make any sense. Six thousand years after his Awakening Man has yet to understand from whence he came. What is Truth? What is God? What is Love? These ideas have been at the core of every human civilization. They are universal questions that Man will always struggle with. That Man struggles is not the issue. It is whether anyone else is taking notice.

Setting A Dangerous Precedent

With 112 missiles fired in the opening hours of this police action by a new UN Coalition against Libya, one might be feeling a little bit like its 1999. In that year a NATO Coalition attacked Serbia in response to that government’s retaliation against the subversive Kosovo Liberation Army. A three month campaign ensued that weakened the Milosevic regime and prevented—theoretically—an “ethnic cleansing” by Serbia of its’ Albanian people. No direct invasion, just an air campaign that can paralyze the victim, rendering them susceptible to domestic insurrection or any future ground assault that might be needed.

At the time of the Kosovo conflict it was a devious move by a thus far non-interventionist NATO.  Clearly    the voice of this suffering minority mattered more than others in that these sovereign nations saw fit to apply strict military discipline to a nation and leader suspected of committing genocide. Today we are engaging Libya in the same way, only this time it is to “protect civilians”. By a revealing “twist” on the logic of this particular “crusade”, the Darfur region of Sudan is just a few thousand miles from Libya and is directly south of Egypt. The people of Darfur have been pleading for years for someone to help them as the Sudanese government continues to employ Janjaweed death squads and massacres to intimidate the population. Estimates of the total casualties since the Darfur rebellion began in 2003 are 200-400,000.

In other words, the stated aim of the current coalition is obviously prejudiced and self-serving. On one hand the UN gets to kill some people while scaring the crap out of Quaddafi, and on the other the oil companies and their investors not only have their stash protected, but they get bonus dollars made off of the conflict due to the increase in oil prices. We haven’t even begun to discuss the obvious currency effects that can be played for additional profit! Why does the United Nations have a right—or even a mission—to arbitrarily intervene in matters where civilian lives are at risk? If we go by such a measure, how is the non-intervention in Darfur justified? Even as NATO jets were sending innocent civilians to their deaths to protect them, the US and Britain were maintaining their own “no-fly zone” over Iraq, an exercise that provided their pilots the opportunity to attack anything moving and let the politicians sort it out.

Of course, the aggression is mutual in Libya. There is a civil war going on, just like in Sudan. Only this time, the UN has decided to add aggression to aggression rather than mediate a cessation between both sides and promote a solution. If civilian casualties are a serious concern of the UN, so much so as to single out one aggressor over another, why are the repeated drone missile strikes by the US against civilians in NW Pakistan and Afghanistan “off the table”? Why do the Columbian military and the Israeli military not suffer reprisal from the UN when they are clearly killing their own civilians?

Consider yourselves warned—once again the UN has demonstrated   the amazing power of selective memory and selective response. Any weak, unliked, or uncooperative nation could face the wrath of the manipulated United Nations, and equally the arcane Security Council of the Allied Powers of World War Two. If I were Iran, I would be sitting most uncomfortably.

As it is, we can expect further violence out of Israel and the Occupied Territories as well as outright crackdowns and wipe-outs in other Middle East nations. Not only do we have the Libyan attack on the TV, we have the nuclear crisis in Japan, the descent of Charlie Sheen, the ruin of the world economy, and eventually a war of epic proportions.

How so, this war?

Many African and Middle East nations are finding a more just and respectable association with China than they had with the West. Sooner or later the events in the Middle East are going to invite a response from China, and when that happens, China will have seized the richest oil areas on Earth and made itself—with relative ease—the new Superpower. That’s what happens when a bankrupt system of debt crushes the global economy. Wealth evaporates, governments collapse, and the world becomes a different place.

It’s been a while since such a change. Maybe 1989-90, only this time on a larger scale. These days, it seems like the entire world is just boiling under the surface, waiting to explode.



The Age of Perpetual Disaster

Perpetual Disaster seems to be the new normal, at least in those disasters whose resolution hinges on man made structures. This current crisis is similar to the Gulf oil fiasco that seemed to get worse and worse everyday. It is the same slow motion escalation of events, moments of fear met by long periods of silent foreboding. In the case of the Gulf oil spill, it's magnitude wasn't appreciated early on, yet when investigations were made in earnest, the earliest estimates were found to be severely off the mark.
How could it not be the same here, where potentially six nuclear reactors may all be leaking radiation in the course of meltdown? The question is not if it could happened, but "Can we trust them to tell us if it already has happened?" Clearly a number of foreign governments do not trust the spokespersons for either the Japanese government or the Tokyo electricity company that runs the reactors. That so many are readily dismissive can only mean that the disaster is a clear threat, not only for the immediate time, but potential weeks or even months into the future.
WE ARE STANDING IN THE HEADLIGHTS!
A wave of radiation is about to sweep perpetually over the United States, California specifically! Our nation is in REAL DANGER and our government seems to be doing very little about it aside from coaching on the sidelines. No, the chance to smack around Qaddafi is too good to miss, and there are other issues besides the possible radioactive destruction of the northern hemisphere, like a trip to South America or sparring with the Congressional Budget Office.

Ask yourself, "What is being done, or needs to be done, to secure the reactors in Japan, and who is in charge of doing it?"
"What actions are being taken by the Federal Government on this crisis, as it is a clear threat to the United States?"
"Are there procedures in effect to deal with any quarantine of radiated areas or facilities that might assist in the care and supervision of victims of radiation exposure?"
"Are we taking the situation seriously enough, given ramifications that are absolutely detrimental to the country as this drama continues?"

One thing can be asked: if there is able to be seen imagery from satellites that could clearly illustrate the growth and path of the radiation around the reactors as winds take it to and fro? Then we would have an accurate estimate of dose and proximity for each wave of radiation. Whether or not this has been done, can be done, or is available elsewhere--let me know!
But thus far there is no indication that a "cloud" or concentration of radiation is imminent. although the risk increases with each passing day, especially as there is no clear "endgame" in sight. With the Internet and social media, such a revelation would spread like wildfire.

For now,  just like the Gulf oil spill, we are paused and watching, fearful of the reality we're told about, yet more frightened for what isn't being said. In this case, it is the health of our people, our economy, and our well-being as a continent that is at stake.
Anxious, I watch and I wait...

Black-Holing In On Itself

It is in times such as these, more so than in "better" times, that all we perceive comes down to Truth.
On either side of political beliefs there is the conviction of one's own truth as opposed to the other's, each certain that they are holding to the "truest" principals. Law is stretched this way and that in order to make enforce one or other "truths", so to speak. And religion, the heartbeat of a human beings most intimate concept of order in the universe, hinges solely upon Truth.
It all boils down to who and what we believe in.
If our times could speak any one word, that it could echo across the coming decades, that word would be "deceit". Deceit in the media, deceit in the leadership, and deceit in the marketplace. All else plastic and recyclable is held up in grinning faces, pacifier films, and colored charts to the background of primitive music. It must be accepted that words from any government can not be trusted. If they have proved so futile up until now, why should any new promises, declarations, or reports change what has already been established as a trend?
Now we are hearing that the financial tsunami is rolling and our shores are ill-equipped to withstand it. A tsunami? Indeed, of abandoned Dollars coming in from the Middle East, Europe, and China. A literal flood of excess money, which is the absolute cause of inflation. Oil is going up, as there is a critical energy producing region being fed flames by it's western masters. The effect should certainly instigate the already savage eventuality of a fragile global economic construct black-holing on it's own enormous debt.
This is scary stuff.
If I could ask one thing, however, it is for our truths to be our own. We take comfort in it, and it shelters us from collapsing into the basest of creatures in the worst of times. I will take pride in my God, and you should all do the same. Don't worry about our opinions, because as this unfolds it is our shared humanity, our shared sense of self and others that our faith tells us to cherish. We have a truth, and it is our foundation.
Our own Truth, be it religion or no, our own personal truth is our guide. We must not allow our society, our neighborhoods--our civilization--to be devoured by the corrupt. If our collective law has failed us, it is not because we do not have Law even among ourselves. It is already part of our fabric as human beings. Our law is a law of freedom, justice, and truth. Not for myself, but for others. We will need this. We will need to cling, at times desperately, to our humanity.
When the pundits drag in the cameras and their commentary to the burning streets of the United States of America, show them the honor, show them the integrity, and the strength of our people that we held together. In towns and villages, rural and urban, let them find the working man, the working woman, the people of the land, organizing for their own general welfare. Not because we will want to, but because we will need to.

Peter Schiff Blog: CNBC Video: The Rug Is Going to be Pulled Out

Peter Schiff Blog: CNBC Video: The Rug Is Going to be Pulled Out: "Peter Schiff`s comments on the economy, stock markets, politics and gold. Schiff is the renowned writer of the bestseller Crash Proof: Ho..."

Notice the last comments by the host:
"Corporate profits have never been higher, so we can disregard his view."

Why have corprate profits never been higher? Is because they are operating at 50% of their workforce from two years ago and steadily increasing their productivity--while not paying sick days, holidays, or vacations? Is it because the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke has used his quantitative easing scheme to bolster commodity prices in order to "jump start" the economy(or, more clearly, create a false sense of recovery?)?

It's a sham, and shame on CNBC for perpetuating this BS while federal and state governments are trying vainly to pump all this debt water out of their flooded basements!

Why are these states in so much debt?
Because they refuse to tax the wealthiest citizens, and instead are attempting to cut their budgets by making everyone else suffer.

God bless America--our leaders sure haven't!

This Empire Must Fall

We will know people, Jesus said, by their fruit. There is no more obvious indication of a persons’ disposition than their outward manifestations, in the same way that an apple tree can only produce apples. It should be obvious to anyone watching the events in Egypt that Mubarak and his regime are every bit as vicious and vile as the protesters have been claiming in their demonstrations over the last nine days.  Not only has the Egyptian president refused to acknowledge that his time is at end as leader of that nation, but he has basically toyed with the peoples’ aspirations for change by tinkering with his cabinet and offering not to run for re-election in September. Such “concessions” are clearly little more than lip service, but of more than passing interest is the manner in which he finally spoke to the people late on Wednesday night.

In Tahrir Square, Cairo, in the midst of the anti-government protests, a large screen television was put up and at 11 pm Egypt time President Mubarak gave his ten-minute speech. It was late at night and delivered during the “curfew” that he has imposed to try to end the protests. At seven hours behind Egypt time, it was 4 pm on the US east coast—Washington time—when the speech came, and clearly the timing was meant to appeal to western interests, likely more especially European as their hour would have been closer to prime time.  Yet what occurred in the hours after the speech did more than anything else to expose the tyranny that Mubarak represents.

Suddenly, busloads of pro-Mubarak supporters arrived at Tahrir Square armed for confrontation. What ensued was prolonged street fighting between pro- and anti-government mobs and a clear resort to violence on the part of the Mubarak regime that left three dead and 1,500 injured. It is the way of the tyrant to resort to force when all else fails—that is, when you have failed to deceive, obstruct, or swindle your opponent, you must attack him. Now it will be a struggle not of words but of force, and it seems that Mubarak will simply weaken the will of the protesters enough to permit the military to finally act in sweeping them away.

The fruit of this US-backed dictator is clear to see.

Likewise, the fruit of the US leadership is also clear. These are the types of people the United States employs in order to maintain their global empire. Mubarak is certainly not the worst of the puppets the US has supported over the years. Latin America has had its’ share of murderers who held presidential office after violent military takeovers, ushering in years of brutal rule under the thumb of US corporations and death squads trained by the American military. This is the nature of US economic policy outside the US. This is the standard operating procedure for US interests to gain control of valuable resources in foreign countries and not only harness those resources but subject the civilian population to virtual slavery as “employees” of those corporations. It is no different in the Middle East where oil is more precious than gold and the lives of the people only that much more expendable. This is illustrated clearly by the US invasion of Iraq in 1991 and the twelve year operation conducted by the “western allies” to cripple, humiliate, starve, and some say decimate via genocide the Iraqi population.

When, after the 9/11 attacks, the US decided to launch their coup de grace against a sufficiently crippled and defenseless state, it was under the guise of “bringing democracy” to Iraq. The years 2003-2008 give no better indication of the US attitude toward democracy and Arabs as the ensuing events revealed the US to be a brutal and indifferent force for oppression and corruption. Instead of democracy, the Iraqi people were given bombs, cancer, starvation, torture, desolation, and fear.

This is the kind of empire that is run from Washington, DC. It is an empire that serves corporate power. It is an empire that has spent decades sacrificing the lives of working people for corporate profit and using its vast resources of money and guns to bolster one corrupt and hideously brutal regime after another, whether it is in Indonesia, Haiti, the Philippines’, Israel,  Colombia, Egypt, Honduras, or Saudi Arabia. The US Empire occupies 177 countries and has surface fleets patrolling every major ocean on the planet. Even when US leadership is professing its support of democracy and human rights it is busy torturing jihadists at Guantanamo Bay or protecting the interests of leaders they need in other nations who do the same—such as China, Russia, Great Britain, and Pakistan.

The United States may well think of itself as the guardian of peace and democracy to the world, but the world knows better. It may think of itself as a tree bearing the fruit of prosperity, freedom, and human rights, but all that the world can see is the rotting fruits of greed, corruption, exploitation, fear, violence, deceit, hate, humility, brutality, and destruction.

For America’s own people, this is becoming only more apparent. After approving trillions of dollars of bailouts for criminally active financial entities such as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, AIG, and Wells Fargo, against the demands of millions of voters, the US government has ignored the 27 million workers unemployed, the millions of families foreclosed upon, and the 46 million people on food stamps. Instead, the government has gone ahead with more money for failing banks, more US dollars invested by the Federal Reserve in stocks to create the illusion of recovery, and more deficit spending for Wall Street and the Pentagon to continue draining the American people and perpetuating wars of greater violence and cost overseas. This continues even as the US steps up spying on its people, restricting their rights through more legislation that makes more and more people “terrorists” or “national security threats”, and doing little or nothing to create jobs and a better future for the millions of homeless, poor, unemployed, and under employed who have ALL been swindled by the big banks and corporations. Meanwhile the Gulf of Mexico has turned to toxic stew and hydraulic fragging has continued to poison the waters of lakes, rivers, and streams across the United States, all with the approval of US legislators and bloated energy companies.

Even the American people can see the truth, with or without the Egyptian example.

This Empire must fall.

I Predict 2011

Having been trained in the western Gobi Desert on deep meditation techniques inspired by bright moonlight, horse hair plumes, and porous rock sculpture, I have devined a number startling events that will shape the coming year.....

1. Fresh water fish will outlive migratory birds: This freak event will be occasioned by an increase in the electromagnetic forces that excite spawning along with a drop in the number of birds due to Gulf poison and air quality
2. Return of Jam: with households in decline and food prices up, jarring your food and making a toast spread a staple goes without saying
3. Buy Your Own Tank: Remember that movie with James Garner? With bank robberies on the increase and the very real possibility of armed gangs master-minding outright raids on rural towns  for provisions, it is not far from when folks with seek their own security measures
4. Return of the Horse: Buy stock in any saddle makers out there, leather producers, etc., because the horse will become the new normal by the end of next year, not only as a source of transportation, but also power--HORSE POWER!! The rise in gas prices will make this inevitable, and you will need any extra gasoline to fuel your M1 Abrams
5. Voluntary Servitude: look for folks to unload their personal freedom for food and shelter the same way they were unloading organs in the last decade with the new model of "domestic worker" influencing the larger corporations to add quarters to their factories--just like in China!
6. Messiah Movement: expect this on several levels--the Jesus version of a Second Coming, the Jewish version of an avenging Savior, and the Islamic version of a radicalizing prophet; one, two, or all three will make headlines in 2011 as these zealots take drastic measures to pave the way for their respective Almighties. Expect some leader to emerge as a source of inspiration which will cause lots of trouble for the other two religions(of the three who are intertwined of course)
7. Echo of Poets: folk art and music will awaken again on the airwaves--many of them pirate--as a grass roots embrace of simple, realistic songs that play to the concerns of the working poor, homeless, and downtrodden. This may spawn several movements for change
8. Terror, Disease, Weather, and Mayhem: any and all are to be expected in the next 12 months, but is that really a prediction? Call it a warning
9. "Things fall apart...the center cannot hold...": Yeats puts it so bluntly, but yes, the facade will crumble, the charade will end, the mask will drop, and western civivlization will find itself dropping back to punt from c. 1789
10. I Will Survive: Ah, the Gloria Gaynor anthem that will inspire the next generation--even if it's the Cake version! Yet we will, and the rediscovery of active, working communities will be a shock to the Overlords, especially when elements of anarcho-syndicalism prove a fresh step up from tyrant capitalism. Many millions will pool resources and restructure their towns and cities to deal with crippling unemployment, homelessness, starvation, and general poverty.

Wear a seatbelt, stock condoms, pray for rain, and read your bible. And good luck as the year goes on.

I Believe

·         I believe in the Lord God Almighty of Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus Christ.

·         I believe in Earth as the de-facto center of the Universe

·         I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God

·         I believe in loving one another, doing unto others,  knowing God, knowing Christ, and living a life of love, honor,  and sacrifice

·         I believe history is a testament to the ultimate folly of man

·         I believe progress means doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people as frequently as possible

·         I believe government in almost all cases is a tool used to control the will of the people

·         I believe no government, in this country or any other, exists for the fundamental benefit of its people

·         I believe that everyone has a right to their own beliefs, their own ideas, and their own opinions,  and the right to determine for themselves the justifications for such things

·         I believe there is no political purpose that is worth a single human life

·         I believe in Law as a just reinforcement of the collective ideals of honesty, integrity, and morality where harm to others is considered a violation against that collective will.

·         I believe Man needs salvation, and that Jesus is the only option

·         I believe the works of man’s hands has and will come to naught

·         I believe that no matter what happens, I love the Lord, I walk in righteousness on account of Him, and there are no worries to be had

·         I believe we are living in interesting times, strange days, and a troubling wind is ever blowing

·         I believe we will overcome despite this

Radiohead Live - Nude (Prague DVD - Radiohead Live in Praha)

Options

As a nation, where do we go from here? We have the perpetual unemployment and unrealized recovery staring our nation in the face, we have a two-party cat-fight over who can impress the ultra-wealthy the most, and we have tens of millions of people suffer the worst economic deprivations we ever seen--EVER.

The schools of thought coming out of Washington, D(edicated to)C(corporatism): one demands a continuation of the Bush tax cuts and the other insists on cutting "entitlement" programs. A third alternative is the ideas put forth by the Debt Commission which are advocating a combination of the two.

As far as the tax cuts are concerned, and here you have to have an ear for propaganda, imo, we are talking about CUTS that were initiated under Bush and were part of the cause of our overall calamity. I say because as a taxpayer I would see the $1500 I paid in taxes given back and an additional $2500-4000 added onto my refund. Sure, it was nice to get it, but in my mind it was insane. Why was the government, while posting consistently steep deficits, handing out money to me as if they didn't need it? Of course, the answer is that they were handing out a lot more to the super-rich and this "greasing the wheels", as it were. Call me crazy, but it didn't just seem ridiculous, it seemed dishonest. What we hear from the Republicans is that they want to see these cuts made permanent, especially for the rich.
Then there is the other side of the dime: the call to cut these entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. That these programs are being called entitlements(like, I am entitled to get cake at  a birthday party) is another dose of propaganda because it leaves the impression that these are handouts when in reality these are programs that have been paid into by EVERY tax-paying American at some point. I don't see how cutting these benefits does anything more than create another crisis that the government will just need to spend more money to resolve. I agree that the retirement age could go up, and I would understand an increase in Social Security payments from standard weekly deductions, but giving out less than was promised at a time when even what folks have is not enough seems to be a bad idea.
So, my solutions are as follows:
1. I am against extending the tax cuts. I understand that this means a serious rise in what folks would otherwise be paying, but the greatest benefit has been to the super-rich, and if this means regaining even $700-900 billion in annual revenues to offset the horrendous deficits we have been creating, so be it.
2. Cutting Federal spending on any number of programs is a must. It is inconceivable that with a roughly $3.5 trillion budget there can not be ways to bring this down. I say this because I have been looking at annual federal budgets since 1990 and the bulk is Defense, Social Security, Health and Human Services, and Debt Service. The Debt Service provisions have been less of late because we have sold so much of our debt to foreigners. However, this does not make it go away. It just means that they get returns on the interest instead of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Reserve can keep it off of our books. So, cutting spending in many areas in a small way is better than major cuts in only a few areas. Furthermore, I would advocate serious international military base closures, leaving perhaps a hand full, and only those that are needed. South Korea we need. Japan we need. We don't need troops in Germany or any of a 170 other countries where US servicemen are located. How much would this save? I don't know, but I imagine it could put a serious dent in Defense expenditures, especially if we likewise trimmed down a vast number of contracts and above all eliminated private contractor positions and services that the military has the means to perform on it's own!
Clearly these measures are just ideas. Worse still, they are ideas that a working class nobody in New Jersey is putting out there and what makes anyone think this is going to miraculously restore our economy?

Truth is, we are not going to restore the economy. The steps necessary to do so are politically impossible and everyone knows it. My only purpose here is to offer ways for our government o get closer to a balanced budget before we drive right off a cliff.
Many people feel--and rightly so--that there is no avoiding that cliff no matter what we do. I reluctantly agree, and only reluctantly because I have always felt that there are realistic solutions to any problem, and that with honesty, diligence, and a sound plan that everyone follows ANY PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED!

Again, however, I'm just an upholsterer from New Jersey.
That's my two cents.
What do you think?

Constitution Has Been Suspended

A more readable version of what was previously posted and then removed by me(the colors were just too annoying for reading purposes!) This excerpt is from the following site: http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/constitution-has-been-suspended

Another good site is the following: 
http://www.barefootsworld.net/srwep.html

The barefootsworld site has even more information and more facts to support the ideas presented.

From the nowpublic site:

"But the Constitution of the United States, as a restraining influence in keeping the federal government within the carefully prescribed channels of power, is moribund, if not dead. We are witnessing its death-agonies, for when this bill becomes a law, if unhappily it becomes a law, there is no longer any workable Constitution to keep the Congress within the limits of its Constitutional powers."What bill is Congressman Beck talking about? In 1933, "the House passed the Farm Bill by a vote of more than three to one." Again, we see the doctrine of emergency. Once an emergency is declared, there is no Constitution. The cause and effect of the doctrine of emergency is the subject of this Report. In 1973, in Senate Report 93-549 (Exhibit 10), the first sentence reads:
"Since March the 9th, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency."Let's go back to Exhibit 9 just before this. What did that say? It says that if a national emergency is declared, there is no Constitution. Now, let us return to Exhibit 10. Since March the 9th of 1933, the United States has been, in fact, in a state of declared national emergency.
Referring to the middle of this exhibit:
"This vast range of powers, taken together, confer enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes. Under the powers delegated by these statutes, the President may: seize property; organize and control the means of production; seize commodities; assign military forces abroad; institute martial law; seize and control all transportation and communication; regulate the operation of private enterprise; restrict travel; and, in a plethora of particular ways, control the lives of all American citizens"and this situation has continued uninterrupted since March the 9th of 1933.
In the introduction to Senate Report 93-549 (Exhibit 11):
"A majority of the people of the United States have lived all their lives under emergency rule."Remember, this report was produced in 1973. The introduction goes on to say:
"For 40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by laws brought into force by states of national emergency."The introduction continues:
"And, in the United States, actions taken by the government in times of great crisis have from, at least, the Civil War, in important ways shaped the present phenomenon of a permanent state of national emergency."How many people were taught that in school? How could it possibly be that something which could suspend our Constitution would not be taught in school? Amazing, isn't it?
Where does this (Exhibit 12) come from? Is it possible that, in our Constitution, there could be some section which could contemplate what these previous documents are referring to? In Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States of America, we find the following words:
"The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion, the public Safety may require it."Habeas Corpus - the Great Writ of Liberty. This is the writ which guarantees that the government cannot charge us and hold us with any crime, unless they follow the procedure of due process of law. This writ also says, in effect, that the privilege of due process of law cannot be suspended, and that the government cannot not operate its arbitrary prerogative power against We the People. But we see that the great Writ of Liberty can, in fact, under the Constitution, be suspended when an invasion or a rebellion necessitates it.
In the 5th Amendment to the Constitution (Exhibit 13), it says:
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger..."We reserved the charging power for ourselves, didn't we? We didn't give that power to the government. And we also said that the government would be powerless to charge one of the citizens or one of the peoples of the United States with a crime unless We, the People, through our grand jury, orders it to do so through an indictment or a presentment. And if We, the People, don't order it, the government cannot do it. If it tried to do it, we would simply follow the Writ of Habeas Corpus, and they would have to release us, wouldn't they? They could not hold us.
But let us recall that, in Exhibit 13, it says:
"except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in times of War or public danger."

Source: beyondthechurch.spaces.live.com

On Prophecy

What is it that is transpiring as we watch events unfold? The explanations are many, the prophetic illustrations written over and over again in countless “best sellers” by any number of self-proclaimed “experts”. The most popular timeline is as follows:

1.       The known world comes to economic ruin, setting the stage for the introduction of the “anti-Christ”. He makes peace between Israel and the Arab world for “seven years”(Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24)

2.       This anti-Christ gains world power as a Hitler-type and gains influence over the worlds governments in order to destroy Christianity for three and a half years, which is termed the Great Tribulation(Daniel  7:25, Revelation 13:5-8)

3.       Israel builds the third Temple, where, at its dedication, this anti-Christ proclaims himself God, thus ushering in the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the final three and a half years before Christ’s Second Coming, to be filled with the Wrath of God on unbelieving and unrepentant Man(Daniel 9:27, 2 Thessalonians 2, Matthew 24, Revelation 13-19)

4.       At the end of these seven years Christ returns to lay claim to the Earth and set His kingdom for 1,000 years(Revelation 20-21)

Of course, this series of events has been taught for many years, and I have watched as the identity of this ”beast” in Revelation and Daniel has gone from being the Soviets to the Chinese to Barack Obama with little circumspection or regret on the part of the mainstream “prophets”. For all of the Cold War the fundamentalist Christians were convinced that Russia would launch an attack on Israel and the United States, ever identified as the “good guy” by virtue of our obviously “Christian” nature, would be there to defend her. Notice that it is the US that rises to defend Israel and not Christ—an interesting change in persona that these “prophets” shamelessly promoted.

Few people today consider the beast to be exactly what the Reformation preachers believed it to be—the Roman Catholic Church, or the Pope at the very least. Today only fringe denominations of Christianity hold to this view as the Pentecostals and the Charismatics have usurped the very message of service to our fellow men and fellow Christians and have perpetuated a message of selfish blessings instead. In fact, it now seems as if there is no room for the generosity and service we learn about from Christ and the Apostles or the imminence of the fulfillment of scripture at all. It very much feels as if the Christian faith has taken a “dig-in” approach to their walk with Christ wherein we are instructed to grab any blessing we can and hold onto it, waiting for the Rapture to take us out of here.

Certainly this seems a defeatists approach for a faith of Victory. Of course, once Christians feel they have discerned the clear pace of events and what worldly crisis must be unfolding, they feel free to sit on their hands and await their proscribed “end”.

What happens when things don’t go quite according to plan?

It would seem to be that the world is going down in economic ruin. Only a fool would think otherwise. Whether or not this means an anti-Christ will come along is anyone’s guess, but the critical reaction to this ever-approaching catastrophe should be willingness to serve our fellow man and aid those who are going to be homeless, hungry, lost, and fearful. Isn’t this the very harvest we have been called upon to reap? As for our own fate, aren’t we told not to worry what we will eat or drink or wear because our heavenly Father will look out for us? But that isn’t the message today from the pulpit. Today they are telling us to go through the motions to make sure God’s blessing for us is not being interrupted by our actions. That is, we won’t be blessed if we aren’t observing communion correctly, or if we aren’t speaking our faith correctly, or if we are having any doubts, thus not walking in faith correctly.

Seems kind of harsh, doesn’t it? Seems a bit legalistic, as if we are to be so careful to observe every conscious act we engage in, from thought to motion, for fear that the transmutation of spiritual blessing into physical reality may not actually manifest itself in our lives. What? Are you kidding me? So Almighty God, who gave the free gift of SALVATION from SIN is hampered in His ability to sufficiently bless us as BLAMELESS CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM because we are not correctly praying over our food or taking EVERY thought captive? Isn’t that a message that puts works ahead of faith? Aren’t we freed from the law by the Love of Christ and His sacrifice on the Cross? Yet when legalism rears it’s ugly head and the people look to their shepherds for guidance, this is what they get.

Today we stand at the precipice and no one knows what lies ahead. What we who are Christian know is that no matter what happens we are saved. Not from material desire, not from hunger or cold, or from violence or persecution, but saved from the judgment fire of Hell. We are blameless in the sight of God, forgiven from our sin, and our one Holy Spirit guided mission is to go into the world and preach the Gospel to all men. Can we know what is before us? Perhaps, and we should be aware of what is going on in the world—in this day and age, how can we not?

But there will be no temple rebuilt, and there will be no “seven year peace” either. This is a distraction put upon us to keep us from doing what we are told to do and that is to preach the word of God. It isn’t time to build bunkers, but bridges. It isn’t time to store up for ourselves food and water against the events of Man, but to go out and HEAL by our faith the sick and poor and the hungry. Of course our very nature tells us to buy gold and silver and stock up on food, but that is not what our FAITH tells us to do.

“Do not store up your treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal. But store up your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21

Too often we hear advocates of violence, of retreat, of "survivalism", of desperation, and of fear, and even I have been one of them. These warnings may be true, truer than many would otherwise care to believe. I don't deny that the road ahead will be at least as bad as the past three years, but the focus, the objective of the faithful in Christ should not be deterred. If ever there was a time to be a light unto the world, to lay down ones life for their friends, and to walk a life of faithful dedication to Christ in utter love and obedience, now is that time.
Recall that Paul warned us that the houses would be shaken? Remember that our faith is tried by fire? Now is that time when what we honestly believe bears it's fruit. It will not be easy for anyone, but for those of us who are adjusting our perspective, taking root in the Word, and setting those feet forward by the will of God alone, these are the days we have been preparing for. This is call we have waiting to hear.
This is the reason we are all here now and not being swept up in the Rapture. Not now, that glorious transformation in the blink of an eye. Not yet. We have a 2,000 year old harvest to reap.

Spectacles

Brain Candy Tuesday

Wow! What an exciting election season! Money all over the place, revolution of the dusty, pull-the-lever variety heightening anticipation of a general congressional renewal at the expense of a party disgraced. And don't forget the dashing sweep upward into notoriety and legitimacy of the rabid and biting Tea Party movement. This is great stuff to watch! And that is what I did. I watched.
   It shouldn't surprise any intelligent television viewer that the "He Bad, Me Good" neanderthal mantras of deep-pocketed campaign committees and manipulating corporations has been all over the broadcast spectrum. Will this one win or that one boils down to one simple question--have we pummeled the electorate with enough propaganda nonsense to drive even more people away from the polls? That's the idea, after all. You don't want people actively participating, you want the fewest number of voters as possible, because that gives you best shot at winning. Think of it as a poker game. Your objective is to bring the odds of winning as much in your favor as possible, and when you put money down, you are doing so to drive players out, not bring players in.
   Every politician "knows" that the voting population is a pack of morons. These stupid animals would gnaw their own tongues off if they had nothing to talk about, right? And heck, you want to give the average citizen more credit, a bit higher of an average IQ rating, but they are just such suckers for anything you tell them! Well, best to keep those idiots away from a ballot because as well as being stupid, they are also highly emotional. If they get cut off at a traffic light between here and the polling station, they could be voting the other way in an instant! Which doesn't matter anyway because with all the rigging going on, the lower real numbers that come in the better. We want the zombie votes to be the swing, right?
   Of course, the comedic value of political incompetence goes way down when you drive around seeing closed up stores, empty houses, a surpising number of people walking or riding a bicycle, and the ever increasing price of...well, everything.

Begin Year Three

Yup, here we are still in economic decline, or at best, stagnation. Again, this is what we were all warned would would happen if Congress did not approve the $700 billion bail-out of 2008! Yeah. Well, they approved it, and here we are 24 months later(and change, really) with the same problem we had to begin with, only now that problem is getting worse and worse. Of course, the Federal Reserve feels that our problems aren't enough and he is creating more as we speak.
   Case in point--inflation. Now me, I always thought that paying more for something than you did yesterday was a bad thing, but according to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, it is actually a good thing and we should want more of it. Why?
   Hmmmm. Why? Good question.
   He doesn't have any good answer either. All he knows is that his mandate is make slaves out of Americans(north and south, mind you--we've been halfway there for a couple of hundred years), and ensure the profits of the entrenched business classes--which are the conglomerates and the bankers who made it all possible. Meanwhile, our nation, the US, goes further into debt and closer to complete economic ruin.
Isn't it funny that the same man who claimed Federal Reserve responsibility for the Great Depression of 1929-1941 continues to follow the same policies that perpetuate the Great Depression of 2008-2020?
   Yeah, you read it right--The Great Depression of 2008-2020!
   There is nothing new to learn in economics, folks. It's a math, not a science.

In The Trenches

As of this writing I am again layed-off from work. The writing was on the wall for the past few months, of course, but this year is the earliest that I have ever been let go. Likely they will call me back in January some time and we'll see what the next few months after that shape into.
   The new labor stats are all BULLSHIT by the way. They will not take into account the fact that 350,000 unemployed will be moving off of assistance, and not on account of finding a job. These will be the next wave of "99ers" that have officially exhausted their benefits. Why they do not rate as "unemployed" I am not sure--except that is one more accounting tool in the government toolbox they use to manipulate numbers and deceive the people as to how bad it really is.
   How bad is it really?
* technically, the US debt is around $50 trillion
* there are approximately 27 million unemployed workers today, which is an unemployment rate of 19.2%
* US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to attempt to occupy nations against the will of fierce and persistent resistance--while contractors continue to feed from the public trough to the tune of several trillion dollars to date in these conflicts
* thanks to the newly announced cash infusion of almost $1 trillion by the Federal Reserve, we are that much closer to international abandonment of the dollar, the beginning of hyperinflation, and the utter collapse of society as a whole in the United States. Everybody say "Thank You, Ben!"
   "Thank you, Ben!"

Follow the facts on these informative sites and blogs:
National Inflation Association
Zero Hedge
Washington's Blog
Market Ticker
Nathan's Economic Edge
Economic Policy Journal
Information Clearing House
Naked Capitalism
Financial Armageddon
The Economic Collapse
Neithercorp Press