Seriously, Jail the Bankers or This Economy Will Never Fully Recover

Seriously, Jail the Bankers or This Economy Will Never Fully Recover By Joshua Holland

"The Great Recession showed the world that the crimes that create the most victims are not committed by terrorists, gangbangers or drug traffickers, but by well-heeled crooks in Wall Street’s executive suites. Tens of millions of people have seen their jobs disappear and their pension funds fleeced, and had their homes taken out from under their feet as a result of the crash of Wall Street’s Great Casino. Yet so far, the culprits have been given little more than a slap on the wrist.

...

According to University of Missouri scholar (and veteran regulator) William Black, there was widespread fraud “at every step in the home finance food chain.” As Black and economist L. Randall Wray recently wrote:

The appraisers were paid to overvalue real estate; mortgage brokers were paid to induce borrowers to accept loan terms they could not possibly afford; loan applications overstated the borrowers' incomes; speculators lied when they claimed that six different homes were their principal dwelling; mortgage securitizers made false [representations] and warranties about the quality of the packaged loans; credit ratings agencies were overpaid to overrate the securities sold on to investors; and investment banks stuffed collateralized debt obligations with toxic securities that were handpicked by hedge fund managers to ensure they would self destruct."

Bill

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: We Aren't Getting Out of Afghanistan or Even Iraq

The Evidence Is Overwhelming: We Aren't Getting Out of Afghanistan or Even Iraq By Tom Engelhardt

"It looks and feels like the never-ending story, and yet, of course, the imperium is visibly fraying, while the burden of distant wars grows ever heavier. Those “embassies” are being built for the long haul, but a decade or two down the line, I wouldn’t want to put my money on what exactly they will represent, or what they could possibly hope to control."

Have you noticed that NOBODY is talking about those "embassies"? Why not? Because they aren't mentioned in the "news" - and our frame of reference is controlled by what the "news" says is important and what's not. This is a valid question, and an equally valid observation, yet because the scope of this proposition is so large, you can put it right into people's faces and they STILL wouldn't see it.

It is absolutely amazing - astounding - that we-the-people are allowing the warmongers to act as they have - and continue to - in our name. They tell us "this" and do "that" routinely.

TSA: Despite objections, all passengers must be screened

"In response to a video of a California man's dispute with airport security officials, the Transportation Security Administration said Monday it tries to be sensitive to individuals, but everyone getting on a flight must be screened."

The Origin of America’s Intellectual Vacuum By Chris Hedges

"Most of the professors ousted from universities never taught again. Radical and left-wing ideas were effectively stamped out. The purges, most carried out internally and away from public view, announced to everyone inside the universities that dissent was not protected. The confrontation of ideas was killed."

What Chris Hedges is talking about in this article is the origin of America's intellectual vacuum (as the title says!). If you've wondered what happened to the intellectuals in universities, here's your answer: they were purged.


Helen Thomas: ‘It Was a Sneak, Stealth Attack’ -Truthdig

"In this sit-down discussion with the Real News Network, Helen Thomas, deposed doyenne of the White House press corps, discusses her moment of infamy last spring that led to her resignation, claiming she didn’t know she was being interviewed at the time but standing by her controversial commentary about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Helen Thomas is high on my list of heroes. She had the tenacity, the nerve to actually speak the truth.

She's also a casualty of the Zionist led coupe d'etat that's been taking place in America for years now. Think about it. She got in their face - and they summarily canned her. Where were the protests? Not a word of support, yet I couldn't be more supportive. Now, either I'm that different then the ordinary American, or the ordinary American's voice is being filtered. I believe it's the latter - and I'm using this space to voice that information. In the information age, and the current coupe d'etat, our communications channels (the MSM) have been seized, lock, stock and barrel (Helen Thomas being a big chunk of evidence). Purchased or seized, when it comes to something like our information supply, our mindset, the things we think about and what we think about them, the result is the same. Our talking points agenda is established, and we either follow it or be declared "a loner" and a "a loser" - Helen Thomas' epitaph. Such, I fear, is also the epitaph for all of us who think for ourselves and outside of the Zionist-controlled box that is the American information supply.

Given the "thought control" nature of this attack on America, I will not assume you are really aware of what's happening behind the scenes, and the force of this influence cum control. If you goggle on "neocon video" you can watch the testimony of some independent thinkers - like Helen Thomas, who stood out, but is not alone. I, and all "seekers of truth" invite you to PLEASE peruse the mountain of material that's been put together on the Internet regarding this coupe.

I suspect - believe - it's only a matter of time before some national security excuse is used to seize control of the Internet. But until that happens, there are literally tons of information available on this subject for you to read and cross-check. I've been following this coupe for some 30 years now, and it's so big and in our face today that I find it astonishing so few people are doing anything about it. America today is not the America I thought it was growing up. It's very spirit has been seized.

It's too early to tell the fate of this coupe-in-motion. It is easy to see it growing in strength (witness recent elections). To my way of seeing it, they are getting bolder by the day, and the case of Helen Thomas is a very clear example.


Bill

The dangers of U.S. militarism

The dangers of U.S. militarism by William Pfaff

"It is time to ask a fundamental question that few in an official or political position in the United States seem willing to ask. Has it been a terrible error for the United States to have built an all but irreversible worldwide system of a thousand or more military bases, stations and outposts?

As the Country Falls Apart, It's Time for Our Revolution By Ted Rall

"It doesn't matter whether you feel it or not. It's happening. The story of the United States of America as we know it -- not merely as the world's dominant superpower, but as a discrete political, economic, and geographic entity -- is drawing to a close due to a convergence of emerging economic, environmental, and political crises."

Europe Map Video Shows Changing Borders, '10 Centuries In 5 Minutes' (VIDEO)


Very interesting video shows how the world's map has changed in 1,000 years - all in 5 minutes!


Bill

Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture

Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture By Nick Davies and Jonathan Steele and David Leigh

"A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crime"

The good news is that information wants to be free, and this is clearly another of history's finest examples of this truth. If we survive the current holocaust, we should never again forget this lesson.

The bad news is that our enemies will hold this information as further proof of what they've been saying: that their cause is just, and ours is not. This will add gravitas to their argument that they are just and we are not. This will attract still more people to support and even join their cause.

How long do you think it will be before that embassy in Iraq goes up in flames? Maybe this year, maybe longer to prolong the agony of it all. Let's make no mistake about some things: the Iraqi's have hated the occupier since day 1, the Green Zone is a giant symbol of that occupation, and it's either going down or the trigger happy Neocons still in power will start using our Big Guns. Our troops will not go back into Iraq, so when that embassy does come under siege, we're either going to accept that the utter failure this event will signify, or we're going to watch the trigger-happy Neocons escalate.

Afghanistan, the parking lot for some quarter million soldiers and mercenaries. How long do you think our kids want to continue killing, dying, maiming and destroying once it becomes clear they are fighting for no reason with no goal whatsoever?

Israel and it's enemies are gearing up for the Next Big Action as we speak. Despite the MSM filters we do have enough information to see this writing on the wall. Hatred for us is growing, and seemingly more justifiable. Factories around the world churn out more and more armaments, and while it's anyone's guess how many reach the Middle East, even the most conservative would see it's a net increase. Now combine hatred, terrible weapons, religious fever and righteousness and you've got a formula for disaster.

America has been suckered into an impossible position: an all-out military invasion of the Middle East, an area that we cannot conquer.

The Neocons still control the MSM and Congress (Google "neocon video" for all the evidence you might need, presented in video format. If you prefer writing, there's even more material to read ... we're years down their road by now, and a lot of really smart people have reporting on them, but their work doesn't exist in the MSM, so you'll need to turn to alternative sources - and cross check them).

If people continue to be guided by the MSM, then we can be assured the direction is towards escalation and not a peaceful solution. In fact, we know by now that the words "peaceful solution" aren't even in their lexicon. They are absolutely committed to securing military authority in the Middle East, let us not make the mistake of underestimating the truth and significance of this fact.

I believe we can avoid the calamity that awaits us by doing something dramatically peaceful. If we put the criminals who duped Bush, Congress and America into that invasion on trial for war crimes, and we do everything in our power to make amends for their crimes, we have a shot at stopping what they've set in motion. If we do nothing or let play out, it will be with very bad consequences for America.

By "very bad consequences", consider:

1. Our enemies have amply demonstrated their ability to use suicide bombers, and the fact that they use them so casually clearly indicates there is no shortage of supply.

2. Science has created NBC (nuclear, biological and chemical) weapons the likes of which we never want to see used on people again, and there are many, many thousands of them all around the world, and undoubtedly some have reached the black market.

3. The guy who tried to blow up a van in midtown NYC: he was on a mission to deliver a message. While the van didn't blow up as planned, he did demonstrate how easy it is to infiltrate a free society. Now suppose he was a suicide bomber armed with enough vials of some terrible biological weapon to kill huge numbers of people. Perhaps you may wonder, as I do, why this hasn't happened. The volunteers are there, the weapons are there, our society can be infiltrated, and we're at war.

This is more of a fait accompli then a perfect storm.

It's amazed me for a decade now that our enemies haven't used a suicide bomber + a terrible weapon in America. Sometimes I think they are actually enjoying their jihad. As weird as that may sound, our enemies have lived with war, terror and fear for so long that they are as accustomed to that as a way of life as we are to ours. I can imagine no other reason why they haven't use that simple formula to perform a terrible attack here.

The only reason I can see for this not being common knowledge is the power of the MSM propaganda machine. For a current example of how easy it is to spin things, take a look at the NY Times reporting on this Wikileaks dump: they are spinning it into an anti-Iran story, which buries the real significance, which is the psychological effect of the dump on our enemies.


Bill

The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Bankers Fleeced America, and Launched a Global Crisis

The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Bankers Fleeced America, and Launched a Global Crisis By Michael Hudson

A very interesting article on the mortgage swindle and it's perps.


Bill

Who is more deserving of contempt?

Obama's Cynicism by Mark Shea

“ Who is more deserving of contempt? The commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause, however misguided, in which he sincerely believes? Or the commander-in-chief who sends young Americans to die for a cause in which he manifestly does not believe and yet refuses to forsake?”

...

“When they stand up, we’ll stand down.” 2011 draw down. New boss, same old lies. Bush, at any rate, was a sincere believer in the messianic mission to save the world at American gunpoint. But Obama’s excuse is what?

When Banks Are the Robbers By Amy Goodman

"The big banks that caused the collapse of the global finance market, and received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, have likely been engaging in wholesale fraud against homeowners and the courts."

Corruption runs deep.

Here's the real kick in the ass: when the TV propagandists talk about economic problems, you'll notice they NEVER say A SINGLE WORD about the causes of the problems. Last night PBS (which I'm getting disgusted with, but there isn't any other channel to turn to!) had a story about the British austerity measures being enacted to deal with the economic problems. Not ONCE during the story was any mention made of the CAUSE of the economic problem.

Why not? Because to talk about it will lead to more talk, and eventually the need to put people on trial will get involved. So, to preempt that whole path to begin with, we don't talk about it. It's just like American's so-called devotion to Israel. If people were asked on a level playing field if our country should be on the line for that country, I have absolutely no doubt the American people would vote against any further support until they clean up their act. Maybe they wouldn't, but that isn't an American problem.

This isn't a Jewish problem because it's not all Jews causing these problems for America, but it's also true that a large percentage of those behind the problems are Jewish. Look at the signatures on the PNAC Statement of Principles, and look at media ownership and influence (now including PBS, the last bastion which died when Bill Moyers retired). I suppose many are Zionists, but I think that word misrepresents the gang somewhat as the majority who voted the Zionists in and support them may not be Zionists themselves. Anyway, I came up with the term "Soldiers of Israel", and to this day I can't come up with a better one. Too bad there needs to be a label, but the gang has to be called something, otherwise it's not real. Our plight today is very real, and if we want to set things right, we have to understand the root causes. So does England, BTW.

I want to say one thing very clearly: my problem isn't with people. I like all people. The problem I'm addressing has to do with philosophy. The Soldiers of Israel practice a philosophy that is completely unacceptable to me, yet was the driving force behind the American military invasion of the Middle East and the horror and suffering that resulted in for countless people. Media complicity in getting the invasion launched clear by so many facts, including the fact that the invasion of the Middle East has been called everything else but that. The invasion was never about Iraq or Afghanistan, it was to change the whole Middle East and insure it's countries are subordinate to America and our "ally" Israel. Finally, the treatment of the Palestinians is as barbaric as is the notion of preemptive war. These people do not deserve power, but they've seized it anyway. Now we have to take that power back, and time is of the essence.


Bill

Big problems, clear solutions. It's up to you

Proposition: Fix our election process and our information supply, and the rest will follow. 

Problem: Control of our government has been seized by special interests, and has grown so far removed from the concept of by/for/of the people that virtually everyone sees it, but since every major organization has been bought out (PBS being just one more perfect example!), we lack the organization to do anything. There are likely bunches of qualified leaders out there - we just don't know about them (think Ron Paul and how the machine dealt with during the so-called "debates")

Solution: Each and every one of us 300 million people need to do SOMETHING. I don't care if it's talking to a neighbor, writing a blog, challenging the propaganda machine, or any other thing you can come up with. It wouldn't be the weight of your effort that changes anything, it will be the combined weight of millions of people. If we all just jumped on one foot at the same time, we'd probably knock the Earth of our orbit, or certainly be felt around the world. If you're not doing anything at all today, start with just one thing.

With so many people talking, writing and communicating, SOMETHING will come into existence that will help us get to the next stage of organization, and then we can be - at long last - a truly democratic state with a gov't of/by/for the people.

Problem: Our information supply, the so-called mainstream media, is a giant propaganda machine, under editorial control of a handful of people who get to 'snuff' and 'puff' the issues, which results in a completely biased ("right wing") point of view that's been eating our country and way of life.

You know why Europe has a different attitude then America? It's all about information and who controls the editorial content. 

Solution: read alternate websites like  alternet, truthdig, counterpunch, antiwar, commondreams and others (and pass around links to these websites to your family and friends!)


Bill