Tuesday, September 13, 2016

The farce of an election

The basic question is not who will win – we already know that. It is how a political system that purports to be democratic, that claims to deliver what people want, could offer up Clinton-Trump choices for November.

Andrew Levine Counterpunch article

I've thought exactly the same sentiment


Bill

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The End of the American Empire

Please see this article: The End of the American Empire by Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, Jr.

Mr. Freeman summarizes American foreign policy in a way that very, very few people can. What Amb Freeman does so brilliantly is arrange and summarize the most important facts in such a way that the reader comes away feeling properly briefed and the direction we should take is perfectly clear. If only every American could read this.

As it happens, he also bolsters the case for an internet based election system that will allow us to replace the whole rotten system. It can be done


Bill

Monday, April 4, 2016

My wish list

We need to use the Internet to build a publicly funded election system that allows us to develop the list of issues important to us; allows anyone to run for office with stated positions on our list of issues; helps us match our positions on issues to candidates. I've got a design for such a system to submit, but let the best design win.

My starter list of issues for our new election system

- bust up ownership of the mass media, from 6 players to 600 or 6,000, however many it takes to bring about competition and the free flow of ideas on all subjects.
- end foreign aid to all countries currently receiving it
- contribute heavily to the Red Cross and other relief organizations to help those in need around the world
- increase Peace Corp budget to put 1 volunteer (with a PC and the Internet) in every needy village in the world
- put Bush and the neocons on trial for war crimes. Necessary if America is to be a just country. Have Bush personally visit and apologize to every family that suffered a casualty in the invasion
- withdraw all American military forces from the Middle East
- reduce the size of the Military Industrial Complex to protect America only
- help the EU solve it's problems
- support the UN as the world authority for matters that must be handled at that level.
- tell Israel to settle with Palestinians within 6 months or lose our support
- pump new life into Post Offices by allowing them to do low-level banking functions and to serve as communities centers (as they once did)
- Medicaid for everyone as a minimum standard for health care
- free community college for everyone
- Constitutional amendment guaranteeing privacy
- convert the war on drugs from criminal to medical/mental health issues. See Portugal's example
- tax the top 2% to level the playing field.

This is not a definitive list, just what I believe to be representative of the America spirit if it's voice were heard through the din of the propaganda machine.


Bill

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Mass media as propaganda machine

Please see this article: How Israel's Media Propaganda Dominates the American Mind

I've been harping on this issue for years, since working in my teens for a business that provided services to small town publishers on Long Island. At the time I couldn't help but notice the degree of Jewish/Zionist control over the publications we serviced. This sparked a curiosity that took years to sort out.

The issue is Jewish/Zionist influence on our information supply, the so-called "mass media" or MSM. You probably know most of the big players since there are only six or so left and virtually all of them are either in or support the club. Do a little googling and you can read all about who the big players are.

The current focus of this groups attention is the American invasion of the Middle East. They expedited it and have no interest in putting an end to it. Quite the opposite. They (that is, we) are in it to win, nothing less.

The problem this represents is much bigger than getting people to support wars in the Middle East, it reaches into our collective psyche, making us believe we are what we aren't and that we believe things we don't. Might is right, an eye for an eye, targeted assassinations, the ends justify the means, and others. Worst case is the killing, the murderous rampage, the countless murders committed throughout the Middle East by our country, in our name, and owing to the propaganda machine, our support. Of course, unless you're in the military, our support doesn't mean much, but however much support there is, it's welcome ammunition in the hands of skilled propagandists, who whip up (puff) the support to make it look far bigger then it really is. There are well over 300 million Americans, but it only takes a few hundred for the propaganda machine to spin up support for their war and their drones.

Just one current example is our support for the use of drones. Do you think a majority of Americans support the use of these robotic killers? And if so, it certainly would not be true if the one-sided, belligerent bias (repeated a million times) didn't exist. This matter is of great concern to us because we're been duped into a "manufactured consent" to deploy the drones that are terrifying the lives of countless innocent people. Try to imagine what it's like

There is so much that isn't right in America today, and a portion of these problems exist or have been exacerbated by the influence of this propaganda machine.

What can we do? We can write. We can talk to people, and we can use repetition for our cause. Sure, one person talking is a whisper, but get a hundred million talking and it's a roar. And we need that roar now.


Bill

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

If you wish to understand the core thinking behind American - and consequently Western - behavior in the world today please read this article Zero-Sum in Brussels: the Savage Vision Driving a Terror-Ridden World by Chris Floyd.

As we've come to expect from the mainstream media, the attack in Brussels has set off yet another wave of the drums of fear, to remind us that we really need to be afraid.

The supreme irony with all this is that Western policymakers are the very people who have created the situations that produced the fear in the first place. And now it's a vicious circle and it's played out for so long that you'd think common sense would have gotten involved to demand an end to it with some semblance of justice. Or at least you'd think this mentality would have withered because it can't stand the test of time (an eye for an eye and we're all blind). But no, not yet anyway, it hasn't. The same mentality/mindset that suckered us into the military invasion of the Middle East in the first place is still on power. And now they are even richer, more powerful, and more determined then ever. They truly believe in the zero-sum game Chris Floyd describes so well.

As evidence look at the fear being whipped up over Brussels, which of course will lead to more tightening of 'security' (aka surveillance), and very likely an escalation of war in the Middle East.

How do we get out of this mess? I think the solution lies in revising our election system so our best people can rise to the top based on their positions on issues important to us. Such a system would first be used to develop the list of important issues. With this done, the system can collect candidates and their positions on the issues. Then it can match our individual positions on the issues to the candidates, to help us identify candidates with matching positions. In other words, we develop the list of issues - as opposed to being told what they are, so we can decide who to vote for based on a comparison of our own positions on these issues with candidates positions. Anyone can announce candidacy for any position by registering and stating their position on the issues relevant to the position. Think of it as a giant matching process, made possible by computer and Internet technologies. All it needs to work is our participation. Who would operate it? The USPS would be my choice. Like it or not they are in the "mail protection" business, and whatever they wind up doing to secure our snail mail will apply to protecting electronic messages as well.

It's a whole concept that has probably been debated since the ancient Greeks that fell into the "good idea but we can't do it" bucket. But times have changed and now we have these amazing computer and Internet capabilities that could support such a system without breaking a sweat.

I'm saying all this because I have absolutely no doubt there are many truly capable and qualified Americans out there, we just need to give them a path to governance. There is still time to start undoing the damage wrought by the fear-mongers.


Bill



Wednesday, March 16, 2016

The heroin epidemic in perspective

It seems we fail to appreciate the magnitude of the opiates drug problem. Reading yet another particularly good article on this problem.

I also couldn't help but notice that almost all of the articles I read on this subject neglect to connect the dots between the opiates problem and the massively flooded drug supply chain, a giant piece of it coming from Afghanistan. From here we can connect the dots back to the invasion of that country because prior to the invasion the Taliban had virtually stopped poppy production in that country. It was post invasion that the Taliban allows poppy production and so it can suck revenue from it.

When our troops are finally withdrawn from the Middle East and the true cost of the loss to this country by the invasion is calculated, let's be sure it includes a fair share of the cost of opiates addiction here at home.


Bill

Monday, February 29, 2016

What's war good for?

Because the invasion of the Middle East has been going on for so long, writers/thinkers have had ample time to study, evaluate and present on the situation.

Two articles published today stand as excellent examples

"1. We’re Never Winning These Wars: America Has Zero to Show For Its Decades of Bloodshed in the Middle East" by Tom Engelhardt


2. Failed US Policy in the Middle East by Ellen Rosser



Bill

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Chris Hedges interview

Chris Hedges is one of the great thinkers of our time. If only people would take the time to listen to him.

This CSPAN interview with him seems to have been made in 2012, but it's timeless.

Why Is America in Decline? Chris Hedges on the U.S. Empire & Death of the Liberal Class (2012)



Bill

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Article and song

One of the most informative articles I've seen on privacy/security re the Internet and social activities
http://www.wired.com/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/

Heads up on a great song that may be an oldie but I hadn't heard before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt2PnfdqzTg


Bill

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

catching up

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, but as the situation in America keeps worsening I feel I have to do something. Since my means are limited, basically to what I can accomplish with writing, I've decided to revive this blog.

Some time back, I stopped writing what I thought was original material when I discovered other writers who are better equipped and more talented saying the same things I tried to say, so I turned my attention to reading what they have to say and passing on the better articles I come across.

Today's picks are:

1. "America Is Being Destroyed By Problems That Are Unaddressed" by Paul Craig Roberts

2. Why "WWIII Is On the Horizon" also by Paul Craig Roberts


Paul Craig Roberts website can be found here

Also, a link to Wikipedia's article on the Project for a New American Century, which should be required reading for anyone taking current events seriously.


Bill