Abused By Illusions

“A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.”

So declared George W. Bush in July 2001, just weeks prior to 9/11. This was at least the third occasion on which Mr. Bush spoke wistfully, in public and on the record, about exercising dictatorial powers.

Once would be a lame joke; twice, a symptom of a seriously impaired sense of humor. Three times, however, is suggestive of seriously malevolent intentions. In our system of government, which remains in form – if not in practice – a constitutional republic, chief executives simply do not joke about dictatorial ambitions.

Here's a useful parallel. It is a serious federal offense even to joke about wanting to kill the President of the United States. Doing so even one time is sufficient to provoke a visit from the Secret Service. Were someone to do so three times, he would almost certainly face prosecution, as well as an invasive psychological evaluation.

Shouldn't it be considered just as grave an offense for a president, who swore an oath in God's name to uphold our Constitution, to make jokes about murdering our republic in order to erect a dictatorship?

We now know that Mr. Bush wasn't merely repeating one of his favorite thigh-slappers. In the hours immediately following the 9/11 attacks, the legal alchemists in Mr. Bush's court sought to transmute his insipid, adolescent joke into a tangible reality.

Of course, the assumption that Bush can wield quasi-dictatorial powers has been woven into the extravagant claims he and his underlings have made regarding the supposedly illimitable “Commander-in-Chief” authority permitting him to imprison people at will, wage aggressive war without a congressional declaration, order illegal surveillance of American citizens, and otherwise do pretty much anything he is not explicitly forbidden by Congress to do. That is the gravamen of The Powers of War and Peace, John Yoo's book-length brief on behalf of the Bush regime's doctrine of unfettered executive power. As a second-tier functionary in the regime's legal directorate, Yoo was a primary author of that doctrine.

But thanks to a badly overdue disclosure offered by former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, we now have a better understanding of just how arrogantly lawless the Bush regime has become. In a December 23 Washington Post op-ed column that was prompted by the unfolding “Snoopgate” scandal, Daschle testifies that the Senate specifically denied to the Bush regime the plenary powers it now claims were given to it.

Read the full story at The New American!

Nancy Levant
August 23, 2005
NewsWithViews.com

Each and every day, people around the world are realizing that the one-world government is based upon a hybrid Socialism-Communism economics system – a system of corporate governance and ownership of natural resources, land, water, and complete control of human beings. It is a system based upon the marriage of corporations, science, and politics. It is a system that is funded by us, the world’s people.

But what do knowing people do? We can’t fight manufactured super viruses, HAARP and psychotronic weapons, and we certainly cannot fight global nuclear arsenals. But we can, however, refuse to think and participate in the global economics systems, which were set up to literally enslave humankind. For instance, the usury system, which was implemented to keep us in a perpetual state of un-payable and unsolvable debt, can go unused.

We have been sold a bill of goods that we are “successful” if we owned things – including homes (remember the push several years ago by our leadership that declared all Americans should own homes). In fact, “ownership” does not exist under the current Federal Reserve System and centralized wealth banking system. The usury system actually began with the birth of our nation. “Ownership” in America actually means that you, yourself, are owned and that anything you have accumulated, including land, homes, automobiles, and other possessions, can be taken. We are now realizing the truth of this system. The usury system also identifies people as bank-owned commodities. This comes in handy as the world switches to global Socialism and perceived “rights” are eliminated one by one.

It is time to reinvent America, but we cannot do so using the current bastardization of our Constitution. Congress has become corrupted in unimaginable senses, and representation has been steadily eroded over the last 200+ years. We have seen a steady march toward government by corporate aristocracy for 200+ years, but we allowed the taking of freedom in exchange for a perceived ownership of stuff. It is time to understand government for the first time in American history, and it is time to create the government of our choosing. To even have the chance to do so, we must stop thinking like controlled subjects and we must stop living under bureaucratic regulations of control. We must recreate ourselves by recreating our patterns of thinking and living. There is simply no other alternative but globally regulated enslavement by global aristocrats – and they have arrived fully armed and loaded to the teeth with weapons and taxation cash. Their entire system is based upon our money and their interest rates. We have to stop funding our enslavers


Read the rest of this story at Newswithviews.com!

Augustus was sensible that mankind is governed by names; nor was he deceived in his expectation, that the senate and people would submit to slavery, provided they were respectfully assured that they still enjoyed their ancient freedom. - Edward Gibbons, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Read more at Undernews!

Citizens Would Also Have To Show ID

UPDATED: 7:22 pm EST December 19, 2005

CLEVELAND -- A bill on Gov. Bob Taft's desk right now is drawing a lot of criticism, NewsChannel5 reported.

One state representative said it resembles Gestapo-style tactics of government, and there could be changes coming on the streets of Ohio's small towns and big cities.

The Ohio Patriot Act has made it to the Taft's desk, and with the stroke of a pen, it would most likely become the toughest terrorism bill in the country. The lengthy piece of legislation would let police arrest people in public places who will not give their names, address and birth dates, even if they are not doing anything wrong.


WEWS reported it would also pave the way for everyone entering critical transportation sites such as, train stations, airports and bus stations to show ID.

"It brings us frighteningly close to a show me your papers society," said Carrie Davis of the ACLU, which opposes the Ohio Patriot Act.

There are many others who oppose the bill as well.


"The variety of people who opposed to this is not just a group of the usual suspects. We have people far right to the left opposing the bill who think it is a bad idea," said Al McGinty, NewsChannel5’s terrorism expert.

Read the full story at Newsnet5.com!

Mr. Gonzales this is true if the target of the war is say the American People?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's decision to eavesdrop on people within the United States was backed by the U.S. Congress' authorization of military force after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Monday.

"There were many people, many lawyers, within the administration who advised the president that he had inherent authority as commander in chief under the Constitution to engage in this kind of signals intelligence of our enemy," Gonzales said in an interview with CNN.

"We also believe that the authorization to use force which was passed by the Congress in the days following the attacks of September 11th constituted additional authorization for the president to engage in this kind of" electronic surveillance, he said.

Read the full story here!

Will they continue to allow him to keep doing it now that he's confessed? If WE THE PEOPLE don't act on this, and demand an end to it and serious, legal repercussions, the USA is lost.


by Rob Kall

Bush spends a few years, with the collaboration of right wing psycho members of congress, ordering a spy agency that's not supposed to operate in the US to spy on US citizens.

The sycophant mainstream media pick up the spoon-fed Republican spin that it was about national security. They fail to ask the big question. What the hell were you doing violating federal laws against non-court-authorized spying? If the nation was in danger, why couldn't you get court authorization? Why did you use the NSA to spy illegally. Why not use legal agencies that have conventional rules, oversight and protections?

But these pathetic media pawns, these stenographic transmitters of the right wings lying spin didn't ask any of these obvious questions. Or they gently offered them and let Bush's evasions pass.

That leaves the alternative media to ask the questions. And we can ask the right questions. The problem is, we don't get to ask Bush, or the NSA, or the criminal congressmen who he told, who abetted if not collaborated in his crime.

We don't get to broadcast an answer to millions of viewers.

But at least we are taking a shot at seeking the truth. At least we are concerned about the truth and about the law and about the safety and future of American democracy.

Somehow, this insane situation can not stand. Bush broke the law. His confidant congressional partners in crime also broke the law. They cannot spin their way out of this one. They cannot block an investigation. The chronically spineless, ineffectual Democrats are going to have to get off their asses and take this one. Russ Feingold did it. He got up in congress and expressed his outrage. And enough senators, including Republicans, who, perhaps have begun to wake to see that they have been supporting a stupid, lying, idiot criminal, got together to block the continuation of the patriot act.

Read the full article at Opednews.com!

U.S. Rep. John Lewis said Monday in a radio interview that President Bush should be impeached if he broke the law in authorizing spying on Americans.

Read the full article at AccessNorthGeorgia.com.

Check it out!

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=97737

And the Pat Act is off for now
By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Published Friday 16th December 2005 22:36 GMT



Washington Roundup Who would have believed that twitchy paranoiacs are actually onto something? Incredibly, they are: the New York Times has revealed that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on American citizens.


Read the full story at The Register!

It looks as though, if TSA gets its way, a large portion of the veterans returning from Irag and Afghanistan may be shit out of luck if they want to travel by airplane. Isn't it just insane how the military wonders why it is getting so hard to recruit? Serve your country in a war zone and come home traumatized and lose your right to free and unrestricted travel. Get put on the very same list as the terrorist they supposedly sent you to fight? How's that for a thank you?

Read about it at CQ.com!

Secret database obtained by NBC News tracks ‘suspicious’ domestic groups
NBC VIDEO


• Pentagon spying?
Dec. 13: A secret Pentagon database indicates the U.S. military is collecting information on American peace activists and monitoring Iraq war protests. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.
Nightly News

Read about it at MSNBC!

It looks as though perhaps the mainstream media has become enamored with conspiracy theory. You think? Or has the tremendous loss of profits and thus jobs in the media over the past couple of years nudged the media into, gasp, beginning to investigate and report real news? Only time will tell I suppose. However, I think the MSM probably has a large hill to climb in regaining their credibility atleast among sentient human beings. Apparently government produced and released propaganda pieces do not sate the appetite of those that seek realiable news and information. It looks as though the population of "ditto heads" willing to tune in and nod their heads obediently is not sufficent to financially maintain the fourth estate in the manner in which they had become accustomed. Hopefully these free market forces have and will continue to awaken the MSM from their slumber. For their sake, I hope they have not waited too long to seek to restore some semblance of a free and honest American press.

Republican Congressman Says Totalitarian Regime a Danger
Bob Barr says military dictatorship close

Read the below excerpt from former Republican Congressman Bob Barr's interview and read the full interview here!

Barr said that legislation like the Patriot Act and its imminent re-authorization and expansion were more of a threat to the American way of life than any terrorist attack.

"Even when the leaders in Washington say we're not going to let the terrorists change our way of life, they are implementing policies that do precisely that."

Barr elaborated that the manipulation of fear was a key cornerstone in the government's coup de 'tat on constitutional liberties.

"They're using people's fear of another terrorist attack to move forward with various government programs that the government has wanted to gather and put in place for many many years. They're using the fear which is now driving public policy in this country which is very unfortunate and very un-American. Our leaders are shamelessly playing on that fear to implement and grab power."

John Gilmore is apparently getting ready to get his day in court. Check out the latest in the article over at Wired News!

Gilmore describes himself as being under "regional arrest," and said he would love to drive and fly again.

"I'm a millionaire," Gilmore said. "I can do whatever the fuck I want, right? Why should I run around without an ID? Because no one else was paying attention to that and letting our liberties slip down the drain. I figured it was worth some amount of money and some amount of personal sacrifice to keep a free society"

UNDERNEWS: BODIES OF IRAQ VETS SENT BACK TO FAMILIES AS BAGGAGE

When you get the chance check out Randy at Twain's Ghost essay Selfishness and Social Darwinism; in it he reexamines social Darwinism. He makes an excellent argument on how the corporatist misuse the words of, gasp, Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations. The essay also looks at the works of Stephen Jay Gould, Richard C Lewinton, and Peter Kropotkin. An excellent read for those that wish to delve into the truths and fallacies espoused in the name of the modern economic system.

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor
(December 1, 1940 - December 10, 2005)

UNDERNEWS: HUNGARIAN JOURNALIST ATTACKS U.S. CONCENTRATION CAMPS

UNDERNEWS: DEMOCRATS IN HOUSE - INCLUDING PELOSI - HAVE DEAL WITH GOP NOT TO FILE ETHICS COMPLAINTS AGAINST EACH OTHER

Read my earlier open letter as I think it outlines nicely my feelings on a statement like this. This statement by a sitting President of the United States of America perfectly illustrates all that is wrong with our country. Read the excerpt below and then read Mr. Thompson's full article here!


Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.

Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”

“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”

“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”

I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the shit that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “goddamned piece of paper” used to guarantee.

Read the Complte article at Capitol Hill Blue.

When you get the chance check out Steven Yates article on how the America you grew up in is being erased. You can find the full article over at Newswithviews.com. Here is a short excert to give you an idea of what a good read you are in for.

The United States of America, once—long ago—a Constitutional republic, is being erased. The erasure of America isn’t reported on the 6 o’clock news, of course. It isn’t much noticed, because it is happening too slowly—although the pace has increased over the past couple of decades. Be this as it may, there is no need to speak of “conspiracy theories.” For one thing, it isn’t a theory. It is as much a fact as gravity. It is being carried out in plain sight, not behind closed doors in smoke filled rooms. Anyone with Web access can follow the process. Those in the business of erasing America know, however, that they are operating in a culture whose educational system has been strip-mined, so to speak. America’s masses by and large don’t know what a Constitutional republic is, and use the Web the same way they use television—for entertainment. But all you need to know is there, and you don’t have to stick with NewsWithViews.com or Steven Yates’s blog.

Check out the full article at Newswithviews.com.

Steven Yates, Ph.D., is the most published professional philosopher in South Carolina. He teaches as a lowly adjunct instructor of philosophy at University of South Carolina Upstate (occupational punishment for his utter lack of political correctness and for pursuing issues from the standpoint of adherence to Constitutionally limited government, personal moral responsibility guided by a Christian worldview, and the rule of law as opposed to arbitrary rule by politicians, judges, and unelected bureaucrats). Later this month he will be joining the faculty at Greenville Technical College in Greenville, S.C., also as an adjunct.

He is the author of Civil Wrongs: What Went Wrong With Affirmative Action (San Francisco: ICS Press, 1994) and Worldviews: Christian Theism vs. Modern Materialism (delayed, but due out this summer). He also works on manuscripts with names such as In Defense of Logic and Philosophical Questions as well as on a science fiction novel, Skywatcher’s World. His articles and reviews have appeared on LewRockwell.com as well as NewsWithViews.com and other websites. He has also published in academic journals including Inquiry, Metaphilosophy, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Reason Papers, Public Affairs Quarterly, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and others. He recently held a year-long fellowship with the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala., has appeared at conferences ranging from the American Philosophical Association to the South Carolina Society for Philosophy, and made numerous talk radio appearances. He spoke on “The Real Matrix and Sustainable Development” at the recent 6th Annual Freedom 21 National Conference in Reno, Nev. He lives in Greenville, South Carolina, where he also directs the Worldviews Project and is a member of the S.C. Chapter of Citizens Committee to Stop the FTAA.
You can read more of his articles at his blog It's Happening Here!

Below is an exceprt from an excellent essay by Manual Valenzuela on how the media manipulaltes and manufactures reality in whole cloth. It is highly recommended read. The full article is available at Mr. Valenzuela's site at http://www.valenzuelasveritas.blogspot.com/.

The Keepers at the Gate are the creators of reality, of news and opinion, those that filter and whitewash and erase from memory, those whose job it is to distract and sensationalize and manage culture. It is they who possess the responsibility of altering mass thought and opinion in favor of the Establishment, pushing the goals of the few into the homes of the many. A nation that has been weaned away from the liberating mechanisms of knowledge and reason and free thinking must depend on the opinions it hears and the images it sees to create its own reality. Pushed away from and trained to detest reading, getting news only by watching television, trained to absorb the views of pundits and talking heads whose opinion always favors the interests of the elite, America’s population is robbed of divergent and diverse views, failing to grasp the dissenting opinions and debate needed for brains to analytically synthesize all angles of a story.

Instead, a population conditioned to have the attention span of ten second sound bites has been manipulated to hear the repetitive slogans and cheers and talking points emanated by the talking heads seen on television. Through repetition of catchphrases and words the opinion of the masses is generated, creating a consensus of mass appeal the easier to dictate the direction of the nation. In such a way, since 9/11, the corporate media, in partnership with the Bush administration, has methodically managed the “war on terror” through censorship of diverging opinion, by the repetitive use of slogans and catchphrases, by creating alternate realities and by controlling the views, images and sound bites allowed to fester on the airwaves.

For they are the Keepers at the Gate, the entities that decide what constitutes the programming and news and reality the masses should be made to watch. They are the puppeteers and we the marionettes, our actions and opinions controlled with the invisible strings of manipulation. We are mere pawns in their games of chess and monopoly, impotent to challenge their omnipresence. Our reality is their fiction, whatever they decide to filter into our lives.

They can manipulate us into an immoral and illegal war using the tools learned from Madison Avenue marketers, exploiting our mammalian passions, wants and emotions, tinkering with the buttons of human psychology. They can condition us to hate and fear and seek vengeance, using enemies, both real and imagined, to force us to give up freedoms and rights and democracy, in the process transforming once decent people into cheerleaders and supporters of torture, mass murder, illegal occupation, war crimes and the evisceration of both due process and habeas corpus. They can devise a fictional war on terror, using modern day bogey men to manipulate our fear-induced emotions, thereby enriching and empowering themselves, all the while we willingly concede our remaining freedoms and rights to the corporatists in power.

UNDERNEWS: ECONOMY BOOMING FOR BUSH'S FRIENDS, NOT OTHERS

Recently someone made the comment that I was antiestablishment and enamored with conspiracy theories. The following is an open letter replying to said comment.

I am in no way antiestablishment with but one simple caveat. The caveat being that when one says establishment they mean lawful constitutional government constituted of legally elected representatives of the several states. I also hold that these representatives should maintain their oaths of office while serving and should be free from graft and corruption. I hold these beliefs sacred in that I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic and served honorably for a period of 10 years in under this oath.

That being said if it makes me antiestablishment to speak out against those that fail to fulfill their oaths of office or are corrupt while serving then perhaps by that definition I am antiestablishment. Unless the verbiage of the United States Constitution has been changed it begins with the words, “We the People.” Notice that it does not begin, “We the Government.” Each person that serves in government office, be it high or low, serves by the will of the people. Each person in goverments very position exist solely due the very fact that the United States Constitution exist. For this reason persons serving in elected office are known as constitutional officers. They swear an oath to uphold and defend the constitution and to carry out the duties of their respective offices faithfully. Note that at the time the United States Constitution was being signed that there was a great struggle between two sides and it was unclear that we would get a constitution and thus have a country. But, as often has been the case in the more enilightened eras of the Republic, a compromise was forged between the two sides and the constitution was signed. What was that compromise? That compromise was the Bill of Rights. Now we have a current compliment of legislators that have seen fit to limit or in some cases obliterate elements of the bill of rights. How is this upholding and defending this document that by its existence forms their only claim to legitimate governance?

The genius of the founding fathers of this country lay in their foresight to see that the new countries citizens would always be the front line in insuring that the government carried out the will of, “We the people.” This august group of men did have one failing when laying their longterm plans. They never envisioned a citizenry that would become so lazy and generally apathetic as to gather the information that they needed to stay abreast of the actions of their government through thirty-second sound bytes delivered by a monopolized media. They never envisioned foreign money pouring in through political action committees becoming the dominant voice in the political struggle that they had reserved for, “We the People.” In short they never imagined the halls of government from the state houses all the way to the White House becoming houses of high priced political prostitutes for sale to the highest foreign or corporate John.

What does one mean when they say someone is enamored by conspiracy theory? First what is a conspiracy theory? The dictionary definition reads something along the lines of: A theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliace rather than an individual or isolated act. What is a coincidence? The dictionary definition reads something like: A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged. So someone that is not a conspiracy theorist believes in coincidence theory correct? Was Franklin D. Roosevelt a conspiracy theorist when he said, “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” Is 18 U.S.C. 371 a conspiracy theorist when it lays out the legal definition of what exist for someone to be charged with the Federal crime of conspiracy? How many things ever get done at your home or office merely by coincidence? How are those people defined that continue to believe the lies of the mainstream media after their lies and omissions are exposed over and over again?

Am I a person enamored of conspiracy theory because I seek out all available sources and refuse to rely solely on a mainstream media that has been proven a liar? Does it make me a conspiracy crank to want to read the press from within and from without our borders and try to piece together a larger picture than that provided by a mainstream media sound byte or rant? Is it being antiestablishment or unpatriotic to be critical of our government? What did Thomas Paine and Republican President Teddy Roosevelt have to say on this very topic? Thomas Paine said, "It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government." Republican President Teddy Roosevelt said, To announce that there must be NO criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President Right or Wrong, is not only UNPATRIOTIC and SERVILE, but is Morally TREASONABLE to the American Public." So I suppose if I am antiestablishment I stand in honorable company at least. Below you will find some quotes that I felt relevant and timely based on my above thoughts. Is this a list filled with quotes of antiestablishment conspiracy theorist? We report! You decide!


There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which can not fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
 Herbert Spencer

"I don't trust government. And neither should our citizens."
—US Senator Larry Craig, United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, "DOJ Oversight: Terrorism and Other Topics", testimony by US Attorney General John Ashcroft re President George Bush Jr.'s Executive Orders to "legalize torture" of US citizens and refusal to release that memo (felony Contempt of Congress), C-SPAN2, June 8, 2004

"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction."
—James Baldwin

Freedom is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear - George Orwell

“The citizen who sees his society’s democratic clothes being worn out and does not cry it out, is not a patriot, but a traitor.”
--Mark Twain

If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
James Madison

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.
James Madison

Learned Institutions ought to be favorite objects with every free people. They throw that light over the public mind which is the best security against crafty and dangerous encroachments on the public liberty.
James Madison

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
James Madison

Of all the enemies of public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
James Madison

The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home.
James Madison


"I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime."
--Albert Einstein, 1947