The New Imperialist/Colonial Paradigm
The New Imperialist/Colonial Paradigm “Indeed, the global economy is new, but less so in form than in scale: the new global rules by which it now operates; the technologically enhanced speedup of global development and commerce that it facilitates; and the abrupt shift in global political power that it introduces. Surely it is also new that the world's democratic countries voted to suppress their own democratically enacted laws in order to conform to the rules of the new central global bureaucracy. Also new is the elimination of most regulatory control over global corporate activity and the liberation of currency from national controls, which lead in turn to the casino economy, ruled by currency speculators. But the deep ideological principles underlying the global economy are not so new: they are the very principles that have brought us to the social, economic and environmental impasse we are in. They include the primacy of economic growth; the need for free trade to stimulate the growth; the unrestricted "free market"; the absence of government regulation; and voracious consumerism combined with an aggressive advocacy of a uniform worldwide development model that faithfully reflects the Western corporate vision and serves corporate interests. The principles also include the idea that all countries - even those whose cultures have been as diverse as, say, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Sweden and Brazil - must sign on to the same global economic model and row their (rising) boats in unison. The net result is monoculture - the global homogenization of culture, lifestyle, and level of technological immersion, with the corresponding dismantling of local traditions and economies. Soon, everyplace will look and feel like everyplace else, with the same restaurants and hotels, the same clothes, the same malls and superstores, and the same streets crowded with cars. There'll be scarcely a reason ever to leave home. Globalization of the economy is a new kind of corporate colonialism, visited upon poor countries and the poor in rich countries.” Corporate Colonialism by Vandana Shiva http://theunjustmedia.com/Corporation/corporate%20colonialism.htm
We are witnessing and experiencing a two tiered model of modern imperialist colonialism also known as globalization and the New World Order. This model is not that different from the original European imperialist mercantilism sparked by fledgling capitalists, the trading companies and partnerships that launched the rape, pillage and plunder of the world by Europeans beginning in the fifteenth century. Just as their forefathers decimated the ecology and forced wholesale ecological devastation, human displacement, death and suffering via invasions, genocide, slavery and colonialism; modern transnational conglomerates will use globalization to accelerate that process to the detriment of both humanity and the global ecosystem. Politically and militarily they tout this under the rubric of The New World Order, economically they use the World Trade Organization, IMF, the Wold Bank and the resulting “trade agreements” like NAFTA, CAFTA and GATT they impose to manipulate the what’s left of sovereign countries’ economic infrastructures, expropriate their natural resources and take advantage of their human resources.
“Recall that our contemporary global corporations are direct descendants of the British East India Company and the Hudson Bay Company. The institutional form of the publicly traded, limited liability corporation was created to make possible the nearly unlimited aggregation of economic power under a centralized command authority for the purpose of colonizing and extracting the wealth of others without regard to human or natural consequences. Today, corporations, which command more economic resources than most states, are using their power to claim ownership rights to yet more of the productive assets of society and planet, including water, soils, air, knowledge, genetic material, communications. Here is where we see the link between corporate globalization and the commons. Corporations are pushing hard to establish property rights over ever more of the commons for their own exclusive ends, often claiming the right to pollute or destroy the regenerative systems of the Earth for quick gain, shrinking the resource base available for ordinary people to use in their pursuit of livelihoods, and limiting the prospects of future generations. The system is brilliantly designed to strip away any human sensibility from decisions that have profound human consequences. Even if the top manager of a corporation has a deep social and environmental commitment, he (it’s usually a “he”) is legally bound to act on this commitment only to the extent that it is consistent with maximizing returns to shareholders.” David C. Korten http://theunjustmedia.com/Corporation/What%20to%20Do%20When%20Corporations%20Rule%20the%20World.htm
The Multinational Corporation are not acting in a vacuum. Like their trading company prototypes who had the backing of the Church and monarchies; modern Multinational Corporations have the economic might of the IMF, World Bank and USAID (see
Confessions of An Economic Hit Man by John Perkins) and mainly the Anglo-AmeriKKKan military and covert forces to help implement their global agenda of expropriation, exploitation and rapine. Not to be left out, the former colonial powers of France and Belgium are also in the mix big time.
“More specifically, global financial markets and global corporations are programmed to destroy life — the lives of working people, the life of community, and the living wealth of the planet — to make money for the already wealthy. And they do it with extraordinary efficiency.” ibid
“During the 1980s, most Latin American countries adopted a neoliberal package of reforms aimed at economic growth. These included opening up their markets to increased imports, privatization of social services, selling off key natural resource industries, deregulating their financial sectors, and using exports, rather than production for local consumption, as the main engine for economic growth. The results have been disastrous: two decades of economic near-stagnation. Rising unemployment, devastating economic crises, increased poverty, and the erosion of access to social rights including education and health care have marked the decade operating under the 'free trade' system. Many Latin American countries had taken out huge loans from the World Bank during the previous decades of dictatorships and wars, the benefits of which had never reached the poor majority. But throughout the 90s, most Latin American countries paid the International Monetary Fund more money in interest on those loans -- leaving themselves with larger debt than they started -- than they received in loans. IMF-inflicted structural adjustment policies have left citizens of many countries with less social safety net, less access to health care, and more in debt than ever before. Currency crises, precipitated by the casino economy of deregulated financial sectors, devastated the economies of Mexico in 1994, Brazil in 1999, and Argentina and Uruguay in 2000-2002, to name a few. Latin Americans had lost control over their economies, and had very little to show in return. Public sentiment grew weary of Washington's broken record of the hollow economic promises of ‘free trade.’” Deborah James http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/ftaa/3070.html.pf
The New World Order is as Del Jones says, merely a reconfiguration of the old European imperialist model by a new generation of elites designed to prevent the devastating internecine wars amongst the European colonial powers ala WWI and WWII. If there are going to be wars let the victims be people of color as in Viet Nam, Africa, East Timor, Latin America, Iraq and Iran ( NATO’s ruthless war against the Balkans notwithstanding). Globalization is part of the New World Order. It is an expansion of the 1500-1960 model of European colonialism and the 1960-present NeoColonial paradigm where trading companies and their corporatist descendants in collusion with the government and social institutions (religion, “education” and the media) set out to subjugate and plunder the globe. The one big difference will be instead of raising the standard of living of the colonial powers (in this case the Multinational Corporations) the standard of living will decrease because much of the wealth, job opportunities and support services are being outsourced to “developing countries”, leaving gaping holes and gaps in the economy, wages and standard of living between the rich and poor in the US and causing massive disruption and often increasing displacement in the “developing Countries”.
“The only reason America is interested in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central America is oil, military land bases and other resources. However, most Americans have blindly incorporated the propaganda delivered into their homes. An objective analysis of media requires an understanding of the agenda it serves and role it plays. A small elitist group of exploiters manipulate mass opinion, in their best interest. America’s political and social system is based on capitalism. Under capitalism the resources and means for production and distribution are privately or corporately owned. Corporations elect and control government officials and governments. Twenty-three multinational corporations own over 80 percent of mass media. Their role is to influence the masses and create the perception of consent.” Harry Davidson, Ph.D. The Psychological Impact of Media Propaganda http://theunjustmedia.com/Media/Articles%20On%20media/The%20psychological%20impact%20of%20media%20propaganda.htm The mind control apparatus keeps us distracted, focused on inane and superficial manufactured issues, events and mind-numbing entertainment.
The young people took the lead in opposing the World Trade Organization when it met in Seattle several years ago. Now more and more AmeriKKKans are waking up to the reality 9-11 was an inside job, they are anxious and unnerved about the direction this country is headed. Unfortunately too many are caught up in the osterich syndrome, putting their heads inthe proverbial sand pretending not to know what is going on! Far too many still believe their elected officials have the country’s best interests at heart despite growing dissatisfaction with what is going on. Daily reports of new scandals, graft, corruption and malfeasance, have not reached critical mass where the populous says, “enough is enough”. Until that happens, it will be business as usual. Joe and Jane Sixpack, Jose and Rosita Workhard, Booboo and Shanaynay will slide deeper and deeper into an increasingly global fascist police state slavery system.
-30-
US Police State Tactics Are Nothing New
US Police State Tactics Are Not New “
This activity led the CIA to establish proprietary companies, fronts, and covers for its domestic operations. So widespread did they become that President Johnson allowed the then CIA Director, John McCone, to create in 1964 a new super-secret branch called the Domestic Operations Division (DOD), the very title of which mocked the explicit intent of Congress to prohibit CIA operations inside the U.S. This disdain for Congress permeated the upper echelons of the CIA. Congress could not hinder or regulate something it did not know about, and neither the President nor the Director of the CIA was about to tell them. Neither was J. Edgar Hoover, even though he was generally aware that the CIA was moving in on what was supposed to be exclusive FBI turf.” Domestic Surveillance: The History of Operation CHAOS by Verne Lyon Covert Action Information Bulletin, Summer 1990
Most of us are familiar with the FBI’s infamous Counter Intelligence Program known as COINTELPRO that was a major component of the illegal activities and egregious abuses during the 1960's and beyond. What many are not aware of is the fact the US government has engaged in domestic surveillance, spying, disruption, repression and murder since day one. Their first targets were dissident whites, Native Americans and Africans during the nation’s infancy. As the nation grew the ruling elites feared the masses might one day wake up to what they were doing to them, so they kept a tight reign on them and monitored them lest threats to their predatory and exploitative capitalist system crop up. The key to success for the ruling elites was cheap labor. To secure it, they first attempted to enslave the Native American population while at the same time clearing and expropriating their lands. The Europeans’ attempts to enslave the so called “Indians” failed miserably so they turned to importing whites to serve as indentured servants and when that did not work out well, to importing kidnaped Africans. They kept the Africans under constant surveillance and formulated extensive slave codes and spy networks to prevent insurrections, uprisings and mass escapes.
Following the Civil War, the US elites recruited more Europeans to immigrate into this country to counterbalance the growing population of Africans in AmeriKKKa and help with the imperialist expansion into the West. It was only natural the whites who came would chafe at their working conditions, lowly status and they attempted to organize to challenge the exploitation they experienced. This lead to serious and often violent confrontations. The owners and their managers were pitted against the laborers. The capitalists called on the government (police, militia and courts) and they intervened on the side of the owners. By the late 1800's labor strife was the norm and the state forces almost always sided with owner class in numerous violent confrontations. The federal and local governments kept an eye on what their propagandists called “radicals and anarchists” and waged out and out war on labor organizers (mine and railroad workers).
Coming into the early twentieth century the federal government spied on blacks, the fledgling labor movement and the new radicals called “communists”. WWI ushered in repression and spying under the aegis of “national security” (the Palmer Raids), by WWII John Edgar Hoover and the military were in full stride; spying on AmeriKKKans with impunity. Following WWII with the creation of the CIA things started to get really out of hand. “
For over fifteen years, the CIA, with assistance from numerous government agencies, conducted a massive illegal domestic covert operation called Operation CHAOS. It was one of the largest and most pervasive domestic surveillance programs in the history of this country. Throughout the duration of CHAOS, the CIA spied on thousands of U.S. citizens. The CIA went to great lengths to conceal this operation from the public while every president from Eisenhower to Nixon exploited CHAOS for his own political ends... During the life of Operation CHAOS, the CIA had compiled personality files on over 13,000 individuals including more than 7,000 U.S. citizens as well as files on over 1,000 domestic groups. The CIA had shared information on more than 300,000 persons with different law enforcement agencies including the DIA and FBI. It had spied on, burglarized, intimidated, misinformed, lied to, deceived, and carried out criminal acts against thousands of citizens of the United States. It had placed itself above the law, above the Constitution, and in contempt of international diplomacy and the United States Congress. It had violated its charter and had contributed either directly or indirectly to the resignation of a President of the United States. It had tainted itself beyond hope. ” Domestic Surveillance: The History of Operation CHAOS by Verne Lyon http://www.serendipity.li/cia/lyon.html.
Keep in mind the legislation that created the CIA forbade domestic activity on US citizens. But this did not stop the good ol’ boy network from engaging in illegal activities along with their counterparts in the FBI, DIA, NSA and a host of other alphabet agencies.
“We have seen segments of our Government, in their attitudes and action, adopt tactics unworthy of a democracy, and occasionally reminiscent of the tactics of totalitarian regimes. We have seen a consistent pattern in which programs initiated with limited goals, such as preventing criminal violence or identifying foreign spies, were expanded to what witnesses characterized as ‘vacuum cleaners’, sweeping in information about lawful activities of American citizens. The tendency of intelligence activities to expand beyond their initial scope is a theme which runs through every aspect of our investigative findings. Intelligence collection programs naturally generate ever-increasing demands for new data. And once intelligence has been collected, there are strong pressures to use it against the target. The pattern of intelligence agencies expanding the scope of their activities was well described by one witness, who in 1970 had coordinated an effort by most of the intelligence community to obtain authority to undertake more illegal domestic activity... Too many people have been spied upon by too many Government agencies and to much information has been collected. The Government has often undertaken the secret surveillance of citizens on the basis of their political beliefs, even when those beliefs posed no threat of violence or illegal acts on behalf of a hostile foreign power. The Government, operating primarily through secret informants, but also using other intrusive techniques such as wiretaps, microphone "bugs" surreptitious mail opening, and break-ins, has swept in vast amounts of information about the personal lives, views, and associations of American citizens. Investigations of groups deemed potentially dangerous -- and even of groups suspected of associating with potentially dangerous organizations -- have continued for decades, despite the fact that those groups did not engage in unlawful activity. Groups and individuals have been harassed and disrupted because of their political views and their lifestyles. Investigations have been based upon vague standards whose breadth made excessive collection inevitable. Unsavory and vicious tactics have been employed -- including anonymous attempts to break up marriages, disrupt meetings, ostracize persons from their professions, and provoke target groups into rivalries that might result in deaths. Intelligence agencies have served the political and personal objectives of presidents and other high officials. While the agencies often committed excesses in response to pressure from high officials in the Executive branch and Congress, they also occasionally initiated improper activities and then concealed them from officials whom they had a duty to inform. Governmental officials -- including those whose principal duty is to enforce the law --have violated or ignored the law over long periods of time and have advocated and defended their right to break the law.”- INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES AND THE RIGHTS OF AMERICANS BOOK II FINAL REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES UNITED STATES SENATE TOGETHER WITH ADDITIONAL, SUPPLEMENTAL, AND SEPARATE VIEWS APRIL 26 (legislative day, April 14), 1976.
This report, The Church Committee Report was filed in 1976, a little over thirty years ago; alas it’s just as timely and factual today, even more so than in 1976! George W.Bu$h is no different than his father, Clinton, Reagan, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy or Eisenhower. The executive branch abusing its’ power is nothing new. Bu$h has merely expanded these abuses and declared himself “the decider” on issues of spying on AmeriKKKans. The problem is, the citizens have no one in their corner, no one to figh on our behalf. The CIA’s
Operation Mockingbird and media deregulation are colossal successes having totally undermined the notion of a free press and tuned it into a mind control apparatus that would make the CIA’s MK Ultra program blush. Now the ruling elites are attempting to take over the Internet because they realize it is the last bastion of unfiltered information. So with the unprecedented expansion of the executive branch, the control of all information, total surveillance of the population, the enlargement of the AmeriKKKan gulag, AmeriKKKa has finally morphed into a totalitarian police state Hitler and Stalin would envy. The irony of all this is, the US Congress is more upset and concerned about the recent FBI raid on the offices of one of their own than the wholesale constitutional abuses, invasions of privacy or spying on millions of AmeriKKKans!
-30-
Has Operation Fruehmenschen Struck Again?
Has Operation Fruehmenschen Struck Again? “As details concerning possible bribery charges against Democrat Representative William J Jefferson emerge, the reaction from several top Republicans is worth noting:*Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, said Monday that he had concerns about the constitutionality of the search and was seeking a legal opinion.*"I think it is really outrageous," said Representative David Dreier, the California Republican who is chairman of the Rules Committee.*Speaker J. Dennis Hastert issued a statement highly critical of the search. ‘Insofar as I am aware, since the founding of our Republic 219 years ago, the Justice Department has never found it necessary to do what it did Saturday night, crossing this separation of powers line, in order to successfully prosecute corruption by members of Congress,’ Mr. Hastert said, promising to seek a means to restore ‘the delicate balance of power.’ Mind you, these are the same people who would defend to the death the right of the Bush Administration to conduct whatever domestic surveillance, including eavesdropping, the president might deem necessary against ordinary citizens, with or without probable cause. Yet a congressmen caught on video receiving $100,000 in cash, $90,000 of which was later recovered from his home freezer, may be the victim of abuse? Seems to me the powerful 'protesteth too much.'” http://americandaily.com/article/13684
“On January 27, 1988, Mr. Dymally, then chairman of the CBC, testified before Congress about a sworn affidavit given by attorney Hirsch Friedman, who had worked with the FBI in Atlanta. Mr. Friedman alleged that the FBI had an established official policy that initiates investigations of Black officials without probable cause. That policy was called ‘Operation Fruehmenschen’, a German word for ‘early man.’ Mr. Dymally said that while the affidavit offered "irrefutable proof" of government corruption, Congress took no action, which was one of the reasons he left Congress.” http://www.finalcall.com/national/1999/fbi_barry12-7-99.htm
Washington D.C. is abuzz about last weekend’s FBI raid on the D.C. Congressional office of Louisiana Democratic Congressman William J Jefferson. It seems members of both political parties are in a tither about the FBI's raid on an African-American congressman’s office. Our congress critters are upset the Department of Justice invaded the sanctity of their fellow Congressman’s office but not at the Bu$h administration’s illegal surveillance of AmeriKKKan citizens!? For me this issue poses several additional questions: is the very public raid and media centered “investigation” into the affairs of Congressman William J Jefferson part of an old and ongoing program targeting black elected officials by the FBI called Operation Fuehmenschen? Will the Republicans use Jefferson’s woes to fend off Democratic claims they are corrupt by using Jefferson as a poster boy for graft and corruption? Will this very public procedure further erode the public’s confidence in the government? And how will Bu$h's sealing of the seized documents for forty-five days resolve the brouhaha between him and the legislative branch?
Contrary to its’ squeaky clean media image, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has along history of racism, dirty tricks, abuses of rights and “Constitutional protections” especially when it comes to Africans in America. Many of us are familiar with the virulent police state attacks on dissidents during the ‘60's and ‘70's called
COINTELPRO, but most don’t know that FBI Director J Edgar Hoover was an unrepentant racist who was instrumental in the government’s plot to frame and bring down Marcus Mosiah Garvey. From then on Hoover made it his business to monitor and actively destabilize the African-American community lest the fascists’ greatest nightmare actualize; a “black messiah” or righteous race first leadership arise to challenge AmeriKKKa’s onerous racial cast system. From this mind set came the FBI’s nefarious and vile Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). This program used the media to spread lies, besmirch and impugn the characters of black leaders. the FBI used the police and courts to frame and imprison outspoken community leaders and murder those they felt were too militant or posed "a threat” to the status quo. An adjunct to the FBI's more well known war on the black community is its
Operation Fruehmenschen, a program that specifically targets African-American elected officials. In an article that exposed an FBI plot to entrap D.C. Mayor Marion Barry the Final Call Newspaper quoted individuals who themselves had been targets of similar skullduggery, “
Former FBI agent Dr. Tyrone Powers, a 10-year veteran of the bureau, quit in1994 in part to expose what he characterized as systemic racism within the bureau. Now a full-time professor at Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Md., and author of the book, Eyes to My Soul: The Rise or Decline of a Black FBI Agent, Dr. Powers suggested that one would be naive to believe FBI denials about Operation Fruehmenschen, the alleged government operation that mirrors Cointelpro. ‘When we conclude that an agency that has no problem burning white children (in Waco) will have no problem targeting Black people, their leaders, and their organizations, we will know that Cointelpro (Fruehmenschen) is alive,’ Dr. Powers said. ‘We keep looking for evidence that the FBI has shown they are experts at hiding. So we continue to be targeted and the FBI maintains their motto of ‘Admit Nothing, Deny Everything, and Use a Pencil.’ ’ This isn’t to suggest that Black officials are incorruptible, those interviewed said. ‘The problem is that when the government throws a fish net (under Fruehmenschen), it gets some very innocent sardines along with the occasional sharks,’ Mr. Dymally said.” Court documents reveal a 1998 FBI plot against Mayor Barry by Rosalind D. Muhammad and Nisa Islam Muhammad http://www.finalcall.com/national/1999/fbi_barry12-7-99.htm
In the article the writers also point out Operation Fruehmenschen was often played out in the media but when the case went to court there was little or no validity to it and if a conviction resulted, many cases were overturned on appeal.
“Patterns of harassment of Black officials usually begin with an interplay that takes place between the news media and law enforcement agencies, usually beginning with a rumor started by the FBI or by an ill-founded news report. This usually spirals into a ‘trial by media,’ criminal investigations and sometimes culminates in an indictment. The indictment typically results in acquittal, or in a conviction which is ultimately overturned on appeal. ‘The reality is that both the FBI and the U.S. Attorney work hand and hand,’ Dr. Powers said. ‘If the FBI wants a case prosecuted the U.S. Attorney rubber stamps it.’ Concerning Mayor Barry, Mr. Powers noted the bigger issue is why the FBI was even involved in the 1990 case against Mr. Barry since the offense was a misdemeanor crime.” ibid.
Is the investigation of Congressman Jefferson part of Fruehmenschen? Time will tell. It could be, given all the media attention it has garnered. The corporate media is having a field day with this. Keep in mind, the FBI didn’t raid the D.C. offices of disgraced former Republican majority leader Tom Delay nor the California Republican congressman who just went to jail, Randy Cunningham, both prominent white guys; so why the high media profile raid on Jefferson’s office who is black? Why has this raid brought both parties together in a rare (except went they are shafting the AmeriKKKan people) bipartisan show of solidarity? Why did Bu$h elect to seal the contents of the raid for fort-five days after Congress complained so bitterly about the unprecedented raid on the office of one of their colleagues? What game is Bu$h playing? Is this scenario like the anthrax scare immediately following 9-11 (when the white House staff members were given the antidote to that particular strain a month before ), a warning to Congress not to derail Bu$h’s fascist agenda? One thing is for sure, Jefferson’s woes are a major respite and distraction for the Republicans who have ben taking a pounding in the ethics and scandal departments lately; especially with the ongoing Plame probes, the recent CIA Hookergate scandal, the Enron convictions and the Bu$h administration’s close ties to Ken Lay. Now with the 2006 mid term elections looming, Democrats cannot contend corruption is solely a characteristic of Republicans.
What’s ironic to me is that none of the congress critters’ leadership has shown anywhere near the concern or outrage about the NSA, FBI or military warrantless spying on ordinary AmeriKKKans as they have about the raid on Jefferson’s office. What’s up with that?!!! Obviously the leadership of neither house cares about the invasions of our privacy, evading the Constitutional protections and rights they are sworn to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic!!! Not that black elected officials can’t be corrupted, use extremely poor judgement or sell out their personal honor and integrity or betray their constituents; the Jefferson scenario just seems like more of the same ol’ FBI Operation Fruehmenschen.
-30-
Log Onto An Historical Internet Radio Forum
Log Onto An Historic Internet Radio Forum “More important than the ideological warfare between Afrocentric and neo-con academics in the battle to win the minds of the Afrikan masses is the absence of an effective Afrocentric ideology network which influences the popular as well as the academic mind. Such a network would include not only academic publications but more crucially, the mass media, i.e. popular books, magazines, newspapers, radio and television programs, community education and training seminars and rallies.” Dr Amos N. Wilson
Blueprint For Black Power A Moral, Political and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century p 233-34
On Sunday May 28th beginning at 12 Noon Eastern time, running until 2 PM; the Harambee Radio Network will host an impressive and historic Internet panel discussion. The members of this panel are all pioneer Webcasters and Internet radio station owners, who have been stalwarts in creating, shaping and molding African centered Internet radio in the face of overwhelming challenges and obstacles. This esteemed panel will consist of: Neil Blake the founder and CEO of the Blake Radio Network, www.Blakeradio.com Keidi Obi Awadu founder of LIB Radio www.LIBradio.com Brother Jamal long time broadcaster and founder of Inner Light Radio www.Innerlightradio.com and last but not least Dalani Aamon the founder and CEO of The Harambee Radio Network www.Harambeeradio.com. These stalwart pioneers will discuss a myriad of issues pertaining to the future of the Internet and Internet radio. This will be the first time all four have been together in a media forum that will be Webcast around the world.
With the fascists (corporatist elite who control the government) moving to hijack the Internet and undermine what is called Net Neutrality, this panel will offer and share insights into how liberation oriented Webcasters will address this and other pressing issues. All four of these Brothers have a consistent history of assisting one another, sharing programming and they have been extremely supportive of each other over the years. They have helped several of the new generation of Webcasters coming online find their won nitch in cyberspace.. Their examples of cohesion, co-operation and mutual support are role models for our community as we grapple with issues of improving the information available to Africans around the world. Their co-operation is helping to counter global white supremacy and Eurocentric propaganda by offering venues whereby African people program the content and take responsibility for the message. They provide the means whereby African people can uncompromisingly engage in what our venerable ancestor Amos N Wilson called” the battle to win the minds of the African masses”. Make plans to join us on Sunday May 28th for this history making panel discussion and forum.
This program will offer a window into the thinking and psyche of four innovative, creative, resourceful and dedicated Africans who are all committed to offering an alternative to the mind numbing, self-denigrating programming being broadcast on both terrestrial radio and the Internet. We are in a war. The forces of fascism, predatory globalization and cultural imperialism are arrayed against us. We must have not only the means but a strategy to fight back while developing what Amos Wilson called, “an effective Afrocentric ideology network” to battle global white supremacy, inform, build and edify the psyches of Africans world wide. Each in his own way has staked out a place in cyber-space to rumble and struggle against the status quo. The existence of their stations and the new stations coming online are a living testament to the determination and urgency of Africans to provide an alternative to the menticide, self-negation and buffoonery that passes for entertainment on terrestrial radio. Not only have they agreed to come together on this venue (The Digital Underground) but their willingness to work together, support each other and expand the medium of Internet radio offers’ new weapons in the war for the hearts and minds of Africans world wide.
As the digital divide narrows, these Brothers and their growing counterparts will continue to play pivotal roles in the mental decolonization of our people’s minds. Log on this Sunday to hear their stories, their views, struggles and triumphs. Listen as they share their vision of African media, what it will take to survive while reclaiming the minds of our people and building institutions that uplift, educate and transform Africans. The program will be interactive, we will provide an opportunity for you to E-mail your questions for the panelists. This is the first of many joint programs that will allow the giants and pioneers of Afrocentric media to publicly interact with each other and pave the way for continued co-operation and accomplishment. Log on and learn, engage in mental decolonization. Free your mind, the rest will follow.
-30-
Remembering and Honoring Malcolm X
Remembering and Honoring Malcolm X “We’re not teaching hatred. We’re anti-evil, anti-oppression, anti-lynching. You can’t be anti those things unless you are also anti the oppressor and the lyncher. You can’t be anti-slavery and pro-slave master; you can’t be anti-crime and pro-criminal. In fact Mr. Muhammad teaches that if the present generation of whites would study their own race in the light of their true history, they would be anti-white themselves.” - Malcolm X
Today we honor the natal day of a great hero Malcolm Little, Reds, Satan, Malcolm X also known as El-Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Malcolm X was the archetype of transformation, self-determination and self-actualization. He was born on May 19, 1925 in Omaha Nebraska into a home of fierce and outspoken Garveyites who taught him to love African people and seek racial redemption. His father Earl Little was a proselytizer for Marcus Garvey’s UNIA-ACL and he had his family were targets of vicious white terrorism and violence. Due to constant racial tension and threats the Little family was forced to move on several occasions. Finally in 1931 Earl Little’s mutilated body was found dead across the trolley tracks of East Lansing Michigan. Earl Little’s murder sent the family into an emotional and financial tizzy which resulted in Malcolm’s mother sinking into a deep depression and suffering an emotional breakdown. She was subsequently committed to a mental hospital. The eight children were dispersed to foster homes and orphanages. Malcolm was naturally bright and an ambitious student but the virulent racism of his day thwarted his development and discouraged him. He was sent to live in Boston and eventually got hooked into the negative hustle culture and street crimes. Malcolm made his way to Harlem and continued to ply his slickster game full time. He subsequnetly returned to Boston and brought his criminal lifestyle with him. He and a buddy were later caught and sentenced to ten years in prison.
Initially Malcolm was so hostile, rebellious and recalcitrant to prison authority; he earned the nickname “Satan.” While in prison Malcolm took advantage of the time to expand his mind, read and learned to debate. Eventually his brother Reginald contacted him and told about his and several other siblings conversion to the Nation of Islam and encouraged Malcolm to look into it. The teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad rekindled a dormant flame deep within Malcolm and he sought membership in the Nation of Islam. Malcolm’s innate genius, charisma and people skills made him a natural leader. Malcolm studied under Elijah Muhammad himself in Chicago and Mr. Muhammad soon recognized Malcolm’s talents. With the backing of Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm rose steadily within the organization. He took on the challenging task of starting and organizing Temples up and down the Eastern seaboard. Under Malcolm’s guidance and tutelage they grew and the NOI gradually became a force to be reckoned with in the black community. Malcolm spread the word of Elijah Muhammad and helped found the weekly newspaper Muhammad Speaks. Between Elijah Muhammad’s growing presence on numerous black oriented radio stations, the newspaper’s growing popularity, the developing unrest generated by the Civil Rights movement and the negative and often violent reaction to it by whites, the Nation Of Islam began to expand exponentially. While Malcolm was a good soldier for Mr. Muhammad, his view of the world tended to not be as parochial as his mentor’s. This independent streak and the jealousy of some of his peers within the NOI would eventually lead to Malcolm’s fall from power within the NOI.
Examining Malcolm’s speeches you can see a slight digression from the teachings of Mr. Muhammad especially around the time racist LA police shot up the Mosque and killed several brothers. Mr. Muhammad urged caution, admonishing his followers their god Allah would punish the devils who did it. Malcolm on the other hand, openly advocated “an eye for a eye”. When four small girls were brutally murdered by psychopaths who bombed a Birmingham Alabama church, Malcolm was incredulous there was no retaliation for such a vile act. When Malcolm spoke out following the assassination of John F Kennedy implying it was retribution for the evil AmeriKKKa was doing around the world, Mr. Muhammad suspended Malcolm. Malcolm’s detractors within the Nation used the opportunity to further marginalize him and plot his ouster. The internal bickering and allegations eventually lead to an irreparable split between Mr. Muhammad and Malcolm which the US government exploited to eliminate Malcolm altogether several months later.
Once he left the NOI, Malcolm was no longer fettered by Mr. Muhammad’s isolationist doctrine. Immediately he attempted to link up with other civil and human rights leaders and organizations. Seeing the struggle from a global perspective Malcolm actively sought African and Asian leaders’ support in his efforts to bring the US before the United Nations World Court on charges of human rights violations and genocide. Like Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Dubois before him Malcolm’s bold move unnerved the ruling elites in AmeriKKKa. His move threatened to expose their wolf in sheepskin con game at a time when the United States global imperialism was expanding.
Despite knowing the US government had targeted him for elimination and knowing the NOI leadership had made him persona non grata, Malcolm pressed on. Undaunted, he continued to speak, organize and build linkages with other groups and organizations. Malcolm was extremely popular with young people. They liked what he said. Malcolm unabashedly urged defiance and courage in the face of virulent racism and brutality. As a result he was one of the early high profile hits on the US government’s COINTELPRO list.
Whether or not members of the NOI actually murdered Malcolm is not the issue. It is known the NY Police Department’s Bureau of Special Services (BOSS) had infiltrated his organization, kept him under surveillance and the CIA and FBI were all part of the logistics of Malcolm’s murder on February 21, 1965. His death did not stop the new militancy in the inner cities of AmeriKKKa. In fact is, Malcolm X did not preach violence for violence sake nor did he advocate racial hatred. He challenged us to judge white folks by their actions not their rhetoric. He urged black self-love, self-defense, organization and unity. Malcolm even in death was a prime mover in the rise of a whole generation of freedom fighters, human rights activists and revolutionaries.
As a result, the US government stepped up their repressive police state tactics via COINTELPRO and Operations Chaos which were designed to undermine all challenges to the status quo. To minimize his influence, the ruling elites have attempted to co-opt Malcolm’s legacy by placing him on a US postage stamp! The children of white leftists Malcolm exposed as total and utter hypocrites now quote him, totally out of context of course. What will our remembrance of Malcolm X entail? What will we do to honor his memory, his work and legacy? Will we do like we do for Martin Luther King Jr, say a few words, sing a few songs and acquiesce to business as usual? Or will we do as Malcolm urged, take up the study of history, decolonize our minds, love ourselves and our people enough to galvanize, unify and demand our right to exist on this Earth, in this time and space to secure our freedom from oppression and exploitation by any means necessary?!
-30-
The Problem Reaction Solution Con Game
The Problem Reaction Solution Con Game “I have been watching with keen interest how the illegal immigration debate has unfolded lately. I always try to keep in mind that what passes for public policy debates is mostly orchestrated theater to set an agenda for the few who rule. Keeping this in mind helps to understand how we are manipulated and laws like the USA PATRIOT act, the Brady Bill and others are passed. Last week, millions of mostly Mexican illegal aliens (I refuse to call them undocumented workers) took to the streets, Mexican flags in hand, to protest the bills currently winding their way through the House and Senate, which would make it a felony to be here illegally. The Hegelian Dialectic is composed of three parts: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. These could be clarified as problem, reaction and solution. Alex Jones talks about this a lot in his analyses of the New World Order. The idea is that you create a problem, foment a reaction to the problem, thus forcing a change in the system, which is the desired solution. The problem and the desired solution may not have anything directly to do with each other.” Too Much Tinfoil http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~tmiley/wordpress/?p=44
The ruling elites are using the bogus issue of immigration to ratchet up their surveillance gulag system of repression and lock down. This is a classic example of what some call the problem-reaction-solution scenario where the shot callers manipulate or foment a situation like illegal immigration ( allowing immigrants to stream across porous borders spurred on by devastating economic conditions in their home countries exacerbated by IMF and World bank policies and unbalanced trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA) and they use the media mind control apparatus and staged events like the massive nation wide demonstrations we witnessed two weeks ago to create tension and controversy about an issue. This allows morons like Dubeyah to push for more border guards, the use of reservists to patrol the borders and for more money to fund prosecution of illegal aliens. Couple this with the $385 million contract Kellogg Brown and Root recently secured to build “emergency immigration detention centers” and we have more prisons, more prisoners, more government intervention and more money for the escalating prison profiteering complex. Call me paranoid (just because they are out to get you doesn’t make you paranoid) but when we look at Bu$h and Co.’s whole program since he was given the presidency by his father and James Baker III’s cronies on the US Supreme Court they have embarked on a series of problem reaction solution gambits that have made AmeriKKKa more like Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia! 9-11 was one. The Bu$h administration was indeed forewarned warned by the US intelligence community of potential terrorist plots.
“The recently released Report of the Joint Congressional Inquiry Into The Terrorist Attacks Of September 11, and its dismal findings, have been well reported by the news media. What has not been widely reported, however, are the inescapable conclusions that must be drawn from a close reading of this bipartisan study. Bluntly stated, either the Bush White House knew about the potential of terrorists flying airplanes into skyscrapers (notwithstanding their claims to the contrary), or the CIA failed to give the White House this essential information, which it possessed and provided to others. Bush is withholding the document that answers this question. Accordingly, it seems more likely that the former possibility is the truth. That is, it seems very probable that those in the White House knew much more than they have admitted, and they are covering up their failure to take action. The facts, however, speak for themselves. One of the most important sets of documents that the Congressional Inquiry sought was a set of copies of the President's Daily Brief (PDB), which is prepared each night by the CIA. In the Appendix of the 9/11 Report we learn that on August 12, 2002, after getting nowhere with informal discussions, Congress formally requested that the Bush White House provide this information. More specifically, the Joint Inquiry asked about the process by which the Daily Brief is prepared, and sought several specific Daily Brief items. In particular, it asked for information about the August 6, 2001 Daily Brief relating to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist threats against the United States, and other Daily Brief items regarding Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and pre-September 11 terrorism threats. The Joint Inquiry explained the basis for its request: ‘the public has a compelling interest ... in understanding how well the Intelligence Community was performing its principal function of advising the President and NSC of threats to U.S. national security.’ In short, the Joint Inquiry wanted to see the records. Bush's public assertion that his intelligence was ‘darn good’ was not sufficient.” The 9/11 Report Raises More Serious Questions About The White House Statements On Intelligence By John W Dean http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20030729.html
In addition to the US CIA both the Clinton and Bu$h administrations were also warned by Russian intelligence about the goals of Al-Qaeda,
“While it could be argued that there have been intelligence failures, the more critical issue is why there was such a determination on the part of both administrations to avoid any serious action against the Al-Qaeda network or the Taliban. As JID revealed last year, Russia's intelligence services had been extremely active in using their extensive operations in and around Afghanistan to build up a very detailed blueprint of the Taliban regime, its close links with the Al-Qaeda organisation and the extent to which both were actively supported by the Pakistani military and the Inter-Service Intelligence agency (ISI). The Russian permanent mission to the United Nations provided a report on this subject to the UN Security Council on 9 March 2001 (see JID 5 October 2001). However, it is becoming clear that this was only the most high profile of a number of attempts by the Russians to alert the US and other members of the Security Council to the extent of the inter-dependence between the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and the ISI. According to JID's Russian sources, there was a regular flow of information from Moscow to the US dating back to the last years of the Clinton presidency. It seems apparent, however, that although this intelligence was being received by the CIA and other US agencies, there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm within political - as opposed to military - circles for the launch of pre-emptive strikes against either the Taliban or Al-Qaeda. However, given the detailed intelligence being provided by the Russians - and the fact that Bin Laden was making very clear threats to launch further strikes against US targets - it seems bizarre, to say the least, that no high-level political decision was taken to focus US intelligence efforts on Al-Qaeda and its international network, particularly following the bomb attack on the USS Cole in Aden harbour, Yemen, in October 2000.” Avoiding the real questions by Jane's Intelligence Digest Jane's Intelligence Digest 28 May 2002 http://globalresearch.ca/articles/JAN205A.html.
Katrina was another problem reaction solution scenario. In 2001 the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) warned the Bu$h administration of the three most likely and potential devastating disasters: a level 4 or 5 hurricane hitting New Orleans, a major earthquake hitting San Francisco and a terrorist attack on New York City. As with 9-11 the Bu$h administration claimed not to have any foreknowledge or preparation to prevent such an event. So naturally when Katrina hit and they did nothing for several days their draconian solution was to lock down New Orleans using FEMA to prevent evacuations, stifle rescues, discourage volunteer first responders from coming in and limiting ingress of supplies, then they employed the military and mercenaries to enforce martial law once the situation became untenable! Finally, they got what they really wanted, use of the military during disasters and trying to do away with the Posse Comitatus Act! See a pattern here? The last example I’ll offer is the NSA spying flap. The NSA using its super secret
Echelon global spy system has been spying on all US citizens and the whole world for decades. This is an incontestible fact. Out of the blue, the NY Times “leaks” the existence of a domestic spy program, more revelations ensue in the controlled media and we get hypocritical calls for Congressional intervention and oversight by Republicans like Arlen (single bullet theory) Spector no less!? Next we will see Congress rubber stamp both the NSA head who initiated the domestic spy program as Director of the CIA
and they’ll expand domestic spying!!
See the pattern? The leaders deny they know anything about a problem, meanwhile theruling elites' agents foment and allow a problem to fester, then the media repetition and exposure create public controversy. Finally the leaders step in and pass laws that undermine constitutional rights and protections (USA PATRIOT ACT, use of military/mercenaries as disaster responders, increased border patrols, new detention facilities, society wide domestic surveillance etc). AmeriKKKa has become a fascist police state via the use of fear mongering to further the ruling elites' well worn problem-reaction-solution paradigm. A little historical research and critical thinking and you can see right through their scam. To make matters worse, theyflaunt it in our faces by doing it over and over. Unfortunately in a dummied down, media distracted (Bobby Bonds steroid use/home run chase etc) culture like AmeriKKKa; critical thinking, analysis and counter stratagems are the last thing going on.
-30-
The Ruling Class' War on US Citizens
The Ruling Elites’ War on US Citizens “Given the massive documentation of illegal and unconstitutional activities conducted by the United States’ highest law enforcement agency against its own citizens, the paucity of legal analysis of these activities is quite stunning. There is a tendency to dismiss the COINTELPRO era as ‘an awkward period in the history of the FBI’ rather than recognizing, as the Church Committee did, that it was, in fact, a war against social and political dissent in the United States... First, we must look at the “excesses” of the COINTELPRO era in light of the earlier history of the FBI and its predecessor organizations. While the earlier efforts to suppress political dissent were not nearly as well funded or efficiently organized, this country has a consistent history of using its police powers—federal, state, local and private—not to enforce the law and uphold the Constitution, but to crush what are perceived as threats to the status quo. The purposes of COINTELPRO, as articulated by the Church Committee, illustrate that it was the logical extension of this history.” Whose Liberty? Whose Security? The USA PATRIOT Act in the Context of COINTELPRO and the Unlawful Repression of Political Dissent NATSU TAYLOR SAITO http://www.law.uoregon.edu/org/olr/archives/81/81_Or_L_Rev_1051.pdf
Ask yourself, why would the Bu$h-Cheney cabal want to institute an extensive national surveillance program on all US citizens? Who and what are they afraid of? Why are the US military and intelligence communities spending more time and effort spying on us, than they spent on the hunt for public enemy number one, Osama bin-Laden? Even with questionable (bogus?) bin-Laden tapes popping up periodically why is the Bu$h-Cheney cabal spying on ordinary US citizens? Think about this, the US government persuaded three of the four major telecommunications giants to engage in culling, recording the length and duration and keeping track of all our telephone and cell phone calls, why? There aren’t that many “terrorists” in the world, that millions of AmeriKKKans should be considered suspects by the US government. What’s up with that? Who and what are they really afraid of, that they would deliberately and arrogantly break the law to secretly spy on us?
“For all the hemming and hawing in Congress and in media editorials, the lawless character of the Bush administration’s telephone spying is unquestionable. The Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution spells out the right to be free of illegal searches in unmistakable terms: 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'” http://wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/nsag-m15.shtml
Bu$h and Cheney are sock puppets for the ruling elites, who have, from their behavior and policies declared war on the AmeriKKKan people. The AmeriKKKan people have done nothing to warrant the government spying on them. What probable cause do Bu$h and Co, the FBI, CIA, NSA and a plethora of governmental alphabet organizations have to spy on your mother, you and the people in your neighborhood? What have the masses of AmeriKKKans done to engender illegal surveillance by the government? The answer is nothing It is not us, it is them
“The patently illegal government surveillance has nothing to do with preventing terrorist attacks, as claimed by President Bush and echoed by both the media and Democratic Party politicians who criticize various aspects of the program. It has been implemented by a state apparatus which sees its major opposition as coming from among the American people, not scattered bands of Islamic terrorists. At a time of growing social opposition, the government is systematically collecting data to find out what people are thinking and to whom they are talking... The phone companies were asked to provide the complete past telephone history of all their customers, as well as regular updates of contemporary phone usage. This means that the NSA now possesses a historical database that extends back at least to the 1984 breakup of the old AT&T monopoly, if not back to the oldest records available. The lifetime telephone usage of virtually every living American is now in a government dossier. The NSA database could be used to track down anyone associated with political organizations opposed to the policies of the Bush administration, such as socialist, antiwar, civil rights and civil liberties groups. Anyone in regular telephone contact with such organizations is undoubtedly flagged as a potential ['terrorist' in the NSA database. In the event of a roundup of such political opponents, the database would supply the names and phone numbers of all those in close contact with those targeted for arrest, thus providing a road map for further arrests and detentions.” http://wsws.org/articles/2006/may2006/nsag-m12.shtml
Couple this secret national surveillance activity with the initial passage of and subsequent extension of the USA PATRIOT ACTS and the existence of federal detention centers, the US Army’s recent move to institute labor camps using federal and state prisoners and the Neocons war on New Deal and Great Society programs; we are witnessing what is ostensibly a war on the public by the ruling class. The sycophants and sock puppets who defend Bu$h’s spy program are either unwitting dupes or willing supporters of the Nazification of AmeriKKKa. No one in their right mind can say the Bu$h cabal has the best interests of the AmeriKKKan people at heart. From the massive job losses, to 9-11, to the lies about WMD in Iraq, to Katrina, to the economy and escalating federal deficits, Bu$h and Co. and their corporatist benefactors have shown they cannot be trusted and their primary loyalty is to their upper class constituents.
“The real class warfare in America today is top-down, as it has been ever since Ronald Reagan. The proposed Bush tax cut, which would bestow 43 percent of the money on the top 1 percent of earners, is just the beginning. The general conservative assault on social endeavor is occasionally principled and libertarian, but can be usefully understood in terms of class. The rich don't need government because they can simply opt out-to private schools, exclusive clubs, gated communities, personal physicians, nannies, limousines, and helicopters. The rest of us depend on basic public services and social infrastructure. Starve Medicare, and you ration health care for those with a limited ability to pay. Cut federal help to schools, and you deny upward mobility to the children of the non-rich. Refuse to address the job-family straddle faced by working parents, and you assault every child whose parents cannot afford expensive private day care. That's class warfare, big-time.” Top-Down CIass Warfare by Robert Kuttner http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Class_War/Top_Down_Class_War.html
We have been duped to believe this is a “representative democracy” but in reality it is an elitist oligarchy.
“We call this ‘democracy.’ In fact, it's a distorted variant of it that's only a democracy for the few - the privileged class sociologist and social scientist C. Wright Mills called ‘The Power Elite’ in his notable 1956 book by that title. Mills' elite included those ‘in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society ....the ones who rule the big corporations......run the machinery of state.... direct the military establishment. They occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure....’ In Mills' day, large corporations had great power but would be judged small or medium-sized compared to their largest behemoth counterparts today. Since 1950 the nation's gross domestic product has increased in size over 35 fold in constant dollars. It's well over $10 trillion today. The largest U.S. corporations, however, have increased even faster because of their many mergers and acquisitions in addition to their growth. A single division of General Electric today, with its many divisions, is larger than the entire company was 50 years ago. With that size has come enormous power and influence, so much so that if Mills were alive and revised his book today, corporate America would dominate and virtually own ‘the strategic command posts’ he wrote about. All other institutions are now subordinate and function to serve these omnipotent giants. Using part of the title of David Korten's book, today giant transnational ‘corporations rule the world.’” Democracy In America - It's Spelled C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N by Stephen Lendman http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEN20060201&articleId=1864
The corporations with their interlocking boards of directors and their hired PR (propaganda) agents and bagmen (lobbyists) who smooze (bribe) elected officials actually run the government and dictate the laws and policies. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini called his form of government “corporatism” the blending of corporations and government. AmeriKKKa is definitely a fascist country by Mussolini’s definition. And like every Western oligarchy, the ruling elites want to lord it over and abuse the lower classes. Corporations have only their share holders’ dividends and profits at heart and to focus on. Their CEOs don’t care how much turmoil, disruption, dislocation, depopulation or death their policies cause around the world. For them, war is very profitable and the Bu$h cabal has set its course for perpetual war, which means greater profits for his corporate benefactors.
The AmeriKKKan people are slowly waking up to the vile, repressive and disastrous domestic and foreign policies the ruling elites, their corporations and sock puppet politicians are fomenting. We know the military-industrial-technological and political complex does not have our best interests at heart. People are getting upset about what is going on and some are beginning to organize resistance to the Nazification of AmeriKKKKa. This is why the Bu$h administration is spying on the AmeriKKKan people, preparing for and testing massive lock downs (New Orleans) and expanding the AmeriKKKan gulag (prison-industrial complex)
-30-
Can We Really Trust The Government?
Can We Really Trust the Government? “
As on-going revelations about the Denver “spy files” illustrate, these are not practicesthat can be safely relegated to the past. Nor are they limited to a ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of expression. The federal government has subjected the American people, those it is charged with protecting, to false and deliberately misleading propaganda, wrongful arrests and arbitrary detentions, physical assaults and assassinations, and the crushing of law-abiding organizations. What has been ‘disrupted and destroyed’ in the process are not only the targeted individuals, organizations and movements, but the core values the government claims to be protecting: freedom, democracy and the rule of law.” Whose Liberty? Whose Security? The USA PATRIOT Act in the Context of COINTELPRO and the Unlawful Repression of Political Dissent-NATSU TAYLOR SAITO
If George W Bu$h were Pinochio by now his nose would be as long as the Empire State Building or the Sears Tower, given all the lies he and his administration have told. When the New York Times broke the story about the NSA spying on AmeriKKKan citizens (after suppressing it for over a year) Bu$h and Co said the monitoring was only on international calls. That proved to be another lie. When it was leaked the tapping and monitoring was more wide spread, then they said it was not a tapping system but harmless data mining. Missing in all this is the fact Bu$h and Co, including his nominee for the position of Director of CIA General Michael Hayden who oversaw the NSA spy program, did all this in direct violation of the FISA Law and the FCC Communications Act of 1933 and without Congressional over sight. Now we have learned the big three telecommunications giants: AT&T, VeriZon and BellSouth colluded with the government to cull and monitor millions of AmeriKKKans phones and E-mails.
“The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.” http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm Only Qwest Communications refused to cooperate with the Bu$h administration’s illegal invasion of US citizens’s privacy.
Big Brother has been exposed and it is ugly. The NSA has been spying on the whole world via its’ global Echelon spy network for decades. It’s just the AmeriKKan public has not known about this super secret spy system until recently. The NeoCon spin machine/corporate media mind control apparatus are attempting to spin this as part of the president’s responsibility to defend AmeriKKKa from the omnipresent “terrorists” under our beds and protect national security. Funny thing is, Echelon was in use prior to 9-11 and that didn't stop 9-11 from happening! In many ways this whole process can be viewed as a trial balloon the ruling elites floated to see if Joe ad Jane Sixpack would make a fuss about being spied upon. Thus far they have not. At least there haven’t been massive demonstrations or civil disobedience as a result of this information being leaked and reported. Perhaps some citizens believe their elected representatives (those not caught in a Web of corruption, white mail and graft) will make an issue of it and fight for their constitutional right to privacy. Time will tell. However, Bu$h’s approval ratings continue to plummet, perhaps this is a clear indication the people no longer trust him or the direction he is leading the country?
Every day more and more information comes out about the nefarious and secretive dealings of this administration. The NSA information gathering is by far more extensive and sophisticated than during J Edgar Hoover’s pernicious COINTELPRO. The dangers and potential abuses are even greater during these times of intentional fear mongering, media induced xenophobia, deceit, secrecy and power grabbing.
“Two of the most frequent and most apt criticisms made about the secret Presidential order authorizing spying by the National Security Agency (“NSA”) are:1) the order violates the Constitution’s separation of powers by authorizing activity in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”) and by thus usurping legislative authority; and 2) the secrecy of the Presidential order violates principles of democratic accountability. While each point independently has merit, it also is important to understand the connection between the two points. Presidential adherence to legislative mandates is so important in large part because of the protections that are built into the legislative process, including the relative openness of that process. It is no accident that the Constitution both leaves room for the President to operate in secret and subjects the President to substantial legislative control. This constitutional design suggests that while secrecy often is a legitimate tool for the President to use in executing legislative policy, the propriety of such usage itself must be subject to reconsideration and to checking by the legislature to prevent it from turning tyrannical. White House arguments in defense of the secret spying program -- that a general military force authorization should be read so broadly as to encompass such a program and that such a program is within the President’s inherent powers even absent legislative authorization -- fly in the face of a constitutional design meant to keep the President, and Presidential secrecy, under careful control. This interpretation follows from the Constitution’s text and structure. The Constitution brilliantly provides for relatively public, dialogic, dual-branch review before legislation may be passed. The Constitution also provides for substantial legislative control with respect to military and domestic matters. Thus, while the President is the 'Commander in Chief,' it is for Congress to declare war in the first place, to provide for the common defense, to raise and support the army and navy, to 'make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces' and to make other laws 'necessary and proper' to effectuate its own powers and those of the President. And it is the legislative process through which new policy affecting citizens’ rights generally must pass. The arduous public and dialogic process through which policy must be made is among the Constitution’s most important protections against government tyranny. Among other things, it reflects the founding generation’s well-known fear of monarchical power. It would be antithetical to this careful system were the President permitted to formulate and to execute secret policies that are immune from public and legislative checking.” Presidential Secrecy and the NSA Spying Controversy Heidi Kitrosser http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/02/presidential-secrecy-and-nsa-spying.
Some people see Bu$h as an incompetent frat boy or an imbecile. Others see him as a cunning sociopath and pathological liar. Most of the world sees him as a clear and present danger to global peace and environmental security. Only his hard core following of religious fanatics, the super rich and Necon crazies are in his corner now. Bu$h’s approval ratings are subterranean and the disdain the common people hold for Cheney is unanimous. Both have been caught in so many devious policies and lies that have resulted in so much loss of life, they are like the boy who cried wolf. If they ever told the truth, no one would believe them!
Random Musings About Current Events
Random Musings About Current Events “The fact that the government is trying to track (but not wiretap) every call you make and every call you receive — at home or on your cellphone is, to say the least, disturbing. It means that your phone company (if you are a customer of AT&T, BellSouth or Verizon) tossed your privacy to the wind and collaborated with this extraordinary intrusion, and that it did so secretly and without following any court order. That is, unless you're lucky enough to be served by Qwest, the one major phone company that had the integrity to resist government pressure. It means that unless public opposition changes the government's course, this database will be compiled, updated and expanded into the indeterminate future, through countless administrations with who-knows-what interests and motives.” www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-05-11-phone-records
Things must be really getting bad the corporate mind control apparatus is actually pumping up rather than continuing to suppress (ala the New York Times) information about the government’s abuses of privacy and the construction of a massive snooping system to spy on millions of AmeriKKKans. Come on, George Bu$h is an imbecile but there aren’t that many terrorists out there. So who are the NeoCon crazies really afraid of? Perhaps they are afraid of dissenters who will not lay down and go along with the Nazification of AmeriKKKa. Maybe they are fearful the snoozing AmeriKKKan public will actually wake up and begin to connect the dots and discern how they are being duped, lied to and manipulated. This is not just a case of a few folks inadvertently being bugged, tracked or spied upon. No this is wholesale illegal invasion of privacy. It will make COINTELPRO look tame by comparison.
"The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA Today. The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans -- most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. ‘It's the largest database ever assembled in the world,’ said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is ‘to create a database of every call ever made’ within the nation's borders, this person added.” Leslie Cauley, USA Today
Hmm, so let me get this straight George Bu$h approved massive culling of phone calls and patterns of ordinary citizens in direct violation of the FISA Act and FCC Act of 1933 and on top of that he is recommending the may who did it, Air Force General Michael Hayden to head the CIA?!!! Is it me or do you smell something fishy here? Is this like Bu$h putting Michael Brown in charge of FEMA or Bu$H not reprimanding, court marshaling or firing any of the Joint Chiefs, the heads of the CIA, FBI or FAA following 9-11? Do you see a pattern here? Is Dubeya mimicking another fraud and fake the late Ronald Reagan and his out and out illegal Iran Contra dealings as well as his failed Voodoo economics which have destroyed the federal government’s budget?!!
Benito Mussolini called his brand of fascism “Corporatism, the blending of the state and corporations”. Do you see any similarity with Mussolini’s 1925 Italy and Bu$h’s 2006 AmeriKKKa?
“AT&T recently merged with SBC and kept the AT&T name. Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T are the nation's three biggest telecommunications companies; they provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers. The three carriers control vast networks with the latest communications technologies. They provide an array of services: local and long-distance calling, wireless and high-speed broadband, including video. Their direct access to millions of homes and businesses has them uniquely positioned to help the government keep tabs on the calling habits of Americans. Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.” The fact that AT&T, Verizon and Bell South willingly and knowingly colluded with the government to violate the law makes the situation doubly alarming. It is a clear example of government and corporatist collusion to undermine the rights of ordinary AmeriKKKans. Will this information drive Bu$h’s approval ratings even lower? Will this be the event that sparks a grass roots backlash/revolt? Will this be the telling point when AmeriKKKans rolled over, acquiesced and played dead in the face of full fledged fascism? Citizen groups are taking Bell South AT&T and Verizon to court for violating their rights, anyone planning to join their class action suits?
* * *
Several weeks ago I wrote the immigration issue was bogus, now I’m not so sure. I was watching C-SPAN and I saw a protested demanding more border security, more federal and state prosecutors to try illegal aliens. Then I remembered a subsidiary of Haliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root recently received a contract to build “emergency immigration detention facilities”
“Plus, there was that curious development in January when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Haliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with ‘an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs,’ KBR said. Later, the New York Times reported that ‘KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space.’ Like most news stories on the KBR contract, the Times focused on concerns about Haliburton's reputation for bilking U.S. taxpayers by overcharging for sub-par services. ‘It's hard to believe that the administration has decided to entrust Haliburton with even more taxpayer dollars,’ remarked Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Less attention centered on the phrase "rapid development of new programs" and what kind of programs would require a major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people. Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to elaborate on what these ‘new programs’ might be.” http://www.alternet.org/rights AmeriKKKa already incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation in the world! Given what we know about the Bu$h-Cheney/NeoCon crazies’ megalomaniacal tendencies, this does not look good or bode well for Joe and Jane Sixpack. Now looking at a table top picture, I see Bu$h and Co using the bogus immigration issue to push more draconian laws, executive orders, domestic martial law and internment camps as a way to stifle dissent and squash resistance to their plummeting approval ratings, fascist programs and perpetual wars. As Charles Barkley would say, I may be wrong, but I doubt it.
-30-
The Truth Revolution
The Truth Revolution “A revolution happens when the many at the bottom get together and overthrow the few at the top. At least that's the theory. In practice, it isn't quite that simple. The American Revolution was led by wealthy, well-educated deists, many of them slave holders. The French Revolution involved the hungry masses, but the instigators were businesspeople, not street people. The Russian Revolution was led by a self-proclaimed vanguard. The anti-imperial revolutions that ended European colonization 50 years ago were led by the colonies' Euro-educated elites... The neoconservatives, who underestimate the intelligence of other people almost as much as they overestimate their own, apparently thought that their monopoly media could coerce the poor dumb masses into lapping up outrageous lies indefinitely. What they didn't realize was that new communications technologies, in the hands of smart, brave people, can spread the truth with absolutely no help from traditional top-down, one-to-many media systems. The truth is that people in power are no smarter than the rest of us. They are just greedier. As the French saying goes, "plus haut qu'il mont, plus que se voit son cul" — the higher up he climbs, the more you can see his ass.” http://www.serendipity.li/wot/revolution.htm
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” - US British Colonies Declaration of Independence from England
Increasing numbers of whites are starting to admit to themselves and face the very serious reality their ruling elites/leaders lie. Some are even beginning to admit their leaders do horrible things around the world in the name of “freedom” “peace” and “democracy”! AmeriKKKa is at a pivotal crossroad facing a moral and governance crisis. The government, for the most part is unredeemably corrupt. Every day we see more and more evidence of this, despite the fact the corporate media does its’ best to suppress the extent to which the cancers of corruption and moral decay have metastasized throughout the body politic. To be sure it is not only the Republicans who are guilty. But since they control the White House Congress and the judiciary, they are the prime targets of the growing awareness of skullduggery, chicanery malfeasance and fraud. Every day there is a new leak about some Congressman or other government official caught taking bribes, peddling influence or engaging in some pay to play scheme. First World people have known for the past five hundred years white people are not to be trusted. The Native Americans found out very early “The white man speaks with forked tongue.” and he has no morals.
In AmeriKKKa there are whole industries based around lies, disinformation and deceit: lawyers, public relations, advertising, Hollywood and journalism just to name a few. Africans in AmeriKKKa knew, the invasion of Iraq was not about weapons of mass destruction! We knew oil was a factor and some of us even knew US dollar hegemony and Israel were factors in the decision to invade and occupy Iraq. But even before that many black folks knew 9-11 was an inside job. I remember talking to my cousin a few months after 9-11 and we both marveled at the gullibility of white AmeriKKKans who were not able to discern the buildings were imploded ala a controlled demolition. Soon after the US bum rushed Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban, I wrote pieces about the trans-Afghani pipelines a consortium of US oil and gas companies wanted to construct to transport oil and gas from the Caspian Sea area to ports in the Indian Ocean. The US brought Democracy to Afghanistan in the person of Hamid Karzai a US sock puppet who was the CIA’s pick to run the country once the Taliban were removed. “
The CIA identified Hamid Karzai as the man who could lead Afghanistan even before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, according to retired Gen. Tommy Franks. The general -- who led the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq before his retirement in July 2003 -- says the United States began looking for a Pashtun alternative to the Taliban soon after the repressive religious regime established itself in Kabul in 1996. Franks, who served in the U.S. Army for 36 years and is the former head of the U.S. Central Command, made these revelations in his book, "American Soldier," published in this month. Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun from southwestern Afghanistan, had drawn the attention of U.S. diplomats in Islamabad in the early days of the Afghan war.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040817-031840-8736r.htm The CIA played on Karzai’s background, tribal affiliations and Westernization to install him via rigged elections (the CIA are pros at that) and use him to be their puppet in Afghanistan. Once they deposed the Taliban who were no threat to the US or their neighbors in the region and who merely asked the US to provide proof Osama bin-Laden was behind 9-11 (of course they couldn’t since 9-11 was in inside job false flag operation) the Bu$h cabal turned their attention to Iraq.
More and more AmeriKKKans are now convinced something is fishy about the government’s version of 9-11.
“In the latest CNN poll, over 80% of respondents agreed with Charlie Sheen that the official story of 9/11 is a cover-up. Earlier polls showed that half the citizens of New York, the city that was so brutally attacked, and Atlanta, the biggest city in the nation's most conservative region, believe their leaders guilty of high treason and conspiracy to mass-murder.Despite the best efforts of the treasonous billionaires who control all of our major institutions, the popular groundswell for 9/11 truth is unstoppable. The people have refused to be cowed into silence by inane fear-mongering and cowardly name-calling. All across the nation people are rising up and talking truth. 'Have you seen Loose Change yet?' 'That Charlie Sheen is amazing — how could CNN let him say that?' 'You've got to read The New Pearl Harbor — here's a copy, pass it on.' People are burning hundreds of DVDs and passing them to their friends, who are burning hundreds more. If the video-makers were getting full royalties on every copy, they'd be richer than self-confessed WTC demolisher and billionaire insurance-fraudster Larry Silverstein.” http://www.serendipity.li/wot/revolution.htm The key to unraveling the whole ball of lies, aside from the obviously rigged elections of 2000, 02 and 04, is 9-11! Once AmeriKKKans come to grips with the reality their “leaders” plotted to kill innocent AmeriKKKans on 9-11 and have subsequently murdered innocent Afghans, Haitians and Iraqis then the question becomes what to do about it? The US Declaration of Independence offers one option,
“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” I wonder if all these white folks who have discovered the criminality of their government leaders will follow the admonishment of their “founding fathers”?
-30-
Military Recruiters Having Problems Getting Cannon Fodder
Military Recruiters Having Problems Getting Cannon Fodder “Tracking by the Pentagon shows that complaints about recruiting improprieties are on pace to again reach record highs set in 2003 and 2004. Both the active Army and Reserve missed recruiting targets last year, and reports of recruiting abuses continue from across the country. A family in Ohio reported that its mentally ill son was signed up, despite rules banning such enlistments and the fact that records about his illness were readily available. In Houston, a recruiter warned a potential enlistee that if he backed out of a meeting he'd be arrested. And in Colorado, a high school student working undercover told recruiters he'd dropped out and had a drug problem. The recruiter told the boy to fake a diploma and buy a product to help him beat a drug test. Violations such as these forced the Army to halt recruiting for a day last May so recruiters could be retrained and reminded of the job's ethical requirements. The Portland Army Recruiting Battalion Headquarters opened its investigation into Jared's case last week after his parents called The Oregonian and the newspaper began asking questions about his enlistment.”-www.newhousenews.com/archive/roberts
The US military is having problems recruiting young people to sign on the dotted line to serve as dupes and cannon fodder in their ruling elite bosses' imperialist follies. Things are so bad recruiting abuses are wide spread. In recent years we have seen how recruiters have lowered the standards to admit high school drop outs, substance abusers and now there are reports the Army is accepting young people with physical and mental disabilities. Even with all this the military is still missing their monthly goals.
“The study, completed by the General Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, shows that 41 percent of the military's 1,484 job specialties have been consistently understaffed over the past five years, while 19 percent maintained staffing levels beyond what the Pentagon had authorized. The report suggests that for the active-duty Army, the Reserves, and the National Guard, the recruiting shortfalls of the past year have been even more severe than the aggregate numbers imply. The policy of overfilling positions while others languished, the report said, raised concerns about whether the Pentagon had given Congress an accurate picture of its ability to maintain the force it needs for Iraq and Afghanistan.” http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Militarys_recruiting_woes_worse_than_previously The military is struggling to keep a steady infusion of new recruits flowing and the sane people realize this will be a major problem as the NeoCon crazies attempt to foment additional wars around the world. The real deal is that the US military is straining to prevent a total collapse in morale as the hubris of the fascists attempt to establish AmeriKKKan hegemony around the globe.
“The war in Iraq is the United States’ first sustained conflict since the military shifted to an all-volunteer force in 1973. As the casualty count of U.S. forces climbs past 2,000, strains are beginning to show in areas such as soldier morale, recruiting numbers, and retention rates. Nowhere is this issue more pressing than in the Army’s National Guard and Reserve, which are facing severe personnel and equipment shortages and 'rapidly degenerating into a broken force.' So wrote Lieutenant General James Helmly, the commander of Reserve units in Iraq, in a leaked memo to the Pentagon back in January. Reservists, whose numbers deployed overseas have swelled in recent years, now make up nearly half of the 152,000 forces in Iraq (49,000 National Guard, 22,000 Army Reserve, and 4,000 Marine Reserve). With one-third of all reservists deployed around the globe, this has added further strain to domestic operations, including the cleanup of the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.” http://www.cfr.org/publication/9101/recruitment_woes_for_us_guard_and_reserve.html
We are witnessing a strain on both active duty and reservists that is merely the tip of the iceberg.
“This past fiscal year, which ended September 30, the National Guard missed its targeted goal of signing up 63,000 recruits by 19 percent. This marks only the second time the Guard has missed its targeted level since 1994 (by contrast, the Army and Navy Reserves missed their goals by 16 percent; the Marine Corps and Air Force Reserves met their goals). The Guard’s retention of troops has also declined in recent years. Previously, about one-half of new recruits were prior-service members of the Army. That figure has shrunk to 35 percent. All told, the National Guard is roughly 15,000 troops short of its stated goal of 350,000, according to Jones. Part of the recruitment problem stems from the war’s unpopularity. Recent polls indicate that slightly more than half of Americans say the war is not worth the costs. Television images of dead or wounded soldiers have had a negative impact on so-called influencers such as parents or relatives. Williams says parental support for enlisting their children has fallen in direct proportion to the waning support for the war. As such, recruiters have targeted their advertising campaigns increasingly at parents, of whom polls show 75 percent said they would not enlist their children in military service. ‘We’ve had to reset our entire messaging,’ Jones says”. http://www.cfr.org/publication/9101/recruitment_woes_for_us_guard_and_reserve.html keep in mind this quote is from one of the ruling elite’s primary organization’s Websites. The nefarious Council on Foreign Relations is one of the groups that promoted and pumped up the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Africans in AmeriKKKa are shunning the military. Unlike previous years when the military offered options for opportunity not found in the broader US culture, blacks are avoiding the military like they would a skunk at a garden party. The Iraq invasion was never popular with black folks and our people are really not interested in being cannon fodder for Bu$h’s wars for oil, US dollar hegemony and Israel. “
Defense Department statistics show that the number of black active-duty enlisted personnel has declined 14 percent since 2000.The decrease is particularly acute among the troops most active in the Middle East: The number of black enlisted soldiers has dropped by 19 percent and the number of black enlisted Marines has fallen by 26 percent in the same period. Even in this area near Fort Bragg, where serving in uniform is a family tradition, the drop in Army enlistment by blacks from 2000 to 2005 matches the national average.” http://www.armytimes.com/story While the corporate mind control apparatus is spinning revulsion against the military in purely economic terms (booming economy more jobs etc), the fact of the matter is, in an economy that is experiencing a prolonged “jobless recovery” many blacks who would normally view the military as a viable option are not getting jobs. The proof of the pudding is the unemployment rate for blacks remains in double digits. Black boys’ mammas don’t raise fools, they’re not going to sign up to get killed for a lie!
“The lack of support for the war by blacks — in uniform or not — is striking. A poll of Cumberland County residents, commissioned last year by The Fayetteville Observer, showed that 69 percent of whites said the war in Iraq was worth the costs. Only 19 percent of blacks agreed. The survey, conducted between March 31 and April 18, found that 71 percent of whites with military ties believed the Iraq war was worth fighting, but only 21 percent of blacks with military ties. Curtis Gilroy, who works on recruiting issues for the Department of Defense, said that sentiment has been noticed nationwide — and with concern. ‘We want to make sure all recruits see the military as a viable career option. But we also understand the reservations that individuals might have,’ he said. He noted the influence of adults such as parents, teachers and ministers on young people — and how their opposition to the war would make them less likely to recommend a military career. ‘Mothers, in particular within the black community, play a more prominent role and are far less likely to recommend military service,’ Gilroy said.” http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1578841.php
The ruling elites, their NeoCon, Republican and Democratic sock puppets have a major dilemma on their hands. The war is viewed as a waste, morally and fiscally and Bu$h and Cheney have lost all credibility except amongst their looniest fascist groupies. In a climate like this, even shameless chicken hawks like Bu$h and Cheney wouldn’t dare revive mandatory conscription (draft). A draft would set off massive social unrest, wide scale grassroots resistence and bring the Bu$h administration to its knees. At this point the NeoCons will be forced to stay with their extended tours of duty and their back door draft. This policy is creating major morale problems, which is why the retired generals are lashing out at Rumsfeld. They know technology alone cannot win an imperialist war. They also know the US military is being stretched to the breaking point by the NeoCon’s hubris and their delusions of empire. Inadequate equipment, low troop morale, mission disconnect, and the military’s inability to recruit more cannon fodder are causing the wheels literally and figuratively to fall off the US military imperial machine. The US in its’ arrogance has failed to learn the lessons why empires fall.
-30-
Spin, Spies, Bribes and Hookers
Spin, Spies, Bribes and Hookers
“For more than a decade, Cunningham-linked defense contractor Brent Wilkes curried favor with lawmakers and CIA officials by hosting weekly parties at lavish hospitality suites at the Watergate and Westin hotels in Washington. Guests would gamble, socialize, and sometimes receive prostitutes; according to Harper’s magazine, the festivities ‘began early with poker games and degenerated’ into what one source described ‘as a ‘frat party’ scene — real bacchanals.’ GOSS’ NO. 3 ADMITS ATTENDING PARTIES: The highest-ranking CIA official to admit he attended the poker parties thrown by Wilkes is Executive Director Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, the agency’s third-ranking official. (Foggo even “occasionally hosted the poker parties at his house in northern Virginia,” though he denies ever seeing prostitutes at the gatherings.) Foggo’s connections to Wilkes and fellow contractor Mitchell Wade are now the focus of an investigation into CIA contracts by the agency’s inspector general, first made public in March. One of Wilkes’ companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq despite having ‘no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted.’” http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/05/breaking-cia-director-porter-goss-resigns
Washington is abuzz about the latest scandal that would sink the Bu$h administration if he and his cronies didn’t have their hands on the throttle of the corporate mind control apparatus or the Republicans had opposition with any guts or integrity. It seems the FBI is investigating the goings on of several “contractors” who allegedly bribed convicted California Congressman Randall “Duke” Cunningham to determine whether or not other US representatives were involved in what even the kept media is reporting as, “as a ‘frat party’ scene — real bacchanals.’” involving late night poker parties, free limousine service and attendant call girls at the Watergate and Westin Hotels in D.C.. One figure named is a high ranking CIA deputy who supposedly was a frequent guest at the poker games and hotel rooms where the “frat party scene” took place, “
The highest-ranking CIA official to admit he attended the poker parties thrown by Wilkes is Executive Director Kyle ‘Dusty’ Foggo, the agency’s third-ranking official. (Foggo even ‘occasionally hosted the poker parties at his house in northern Virginia,’ though he denies ever seeing prostitutes at the gatherings.) Foggo’s connections to Wilkes and fellow contractor Mitchell Wade are now the focus of an investigation into CIA contracts by the agency’s inspector general, first made public in March. One of Wilkes’ companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq despite having ‘no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted.’” http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/05/breaking-cia-director-porter-goss-resigns There is no indication or evidence Porter Goss the CIA Director who resigned last Friday was involved with the prostitutes. Interestingly the media is spinning the story that Goss was pressured out by Intelligence Czar John Negroponte and this is another Bu$h administration shake up.. However Bloggers are viewing the situation differently.
“This isn't part of some White House shake-up. This is a scandal-plagued Bush appointee resigning just as an investigation into another Republican corruption scandal hits too close to home. Former Republican lawmaker and current CIA Director Porter Goss's name has surfaced time and time again in the Republican bribe scheme, which began with a focus on disgraced Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham and his Republican lobbyists (hmm, do I think I mentioned ‘Republican’ enough in that sentence?). It is Goss's hand-picked #3 man at the CIA, Kyle ‘Dusty’ Foggo who is under serious investigation in connection with a massive bribery scheme that touches on sweetheart deals, million dollar contracts, and yes, even hookers.” http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/5/5/141116/9565 Not surprisingly a Wall Street Journal article dated April 27, 2006 did not even allude to Goss or connect the dots to his deputy Foggo.
“In recent weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women from escort services, potential witnesses and others who may have been involved in the arrangement. In an interview, the assistant general manager of the Watergate Hotel confirmed that federal investigators had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel. But he declined to disclose what the records show. A spokeswoman for Starwood Inc., Westin's parent company, said she wasn't immediately able to get information on whether the Westin Grand had been contacted by investigators.” http://online.wsj.com/public/article
Don’t you find it odd that in a culture where sex is used to sell everything and sex and violence are used whenever possible as lead ins for the nightly news; that a Washington D.C. corruption story involving sex and bribes stays on the front pages only a few days? I realize the FBI is still investigating, but that never stopped a media feeding frenzy before. (Plus this is the type of thing the FBI did in the old days under J Edgar Hoover to white mail and control politicians) Think back, the media was obsessed with the race, sex and violence trifecta of the O.J. Simpson case. The media went wild over the Chandra Levy disappearance and her affair with Congressman Gary Condit. Remember how the media dogged Bill Clinton about Monica Lewinsky? Look at how the media is spinning the Duke lacrosse team rape incident, trying to discredit the African-American victim. Those stories were in the news day and night for months. Yet this story about businessmen influencing politicians, securing major contract with the CIA and Department of Homeland Security by using bribes and prostitutes has had such a short media examination! How come no one is saying Republicans are degenerates, hypocrites and crooks? Not that I’m into sensationalism or anything, but what’s up with that?
Perhaps Bu$h thinks accepting the resignation of the CIA Director now will head off another scandal. Meanwhile the administration is spinning it as part of a deliberate shake up by Bu$h. If that is so, why isn’t the alternative media dogging Goss about his resignation and the fishy contract situation with regard to the FBI investigation? While it takes time to figure out the spin and misdirection the Administration is using, if a ruling class vehicle like the Wall Street Journal is intimating wide scale government corruption, shouldn’t the few honest alternative outlets and bloggers address it also?
-30-
