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Links 2/27/12

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The true fathers of computing Guardian.

The case for open computer programs Nature.

Wikileaks regains relevance with Stratfor doc-drop The Register (SW). Insider trading, one.

Massive leak reveals criminality, paranoia among corporate titans (SW). The Yes Men rule!

Judge Rules Refusing to Decrypt Hard Drive is Covered by Fifth Amendment.

Chinese “netizens” inundate Obama’s Google+ page BBC.

Greeks buy potatoes direct from farmers over the internet Reuters.

Greeks “fell trees for warmth” amid economic chill Yahoo News.

Calls to Greek suicide hotline doubled in 2011 Telegraph.

OECD: the average Greek works more hours than any other European country BBC.

Brazil would trade aiding the EU for more power in the IMF BBC.

The lesson for the Europeans is that the US fiscal stimulus worked Bill Mitchell.

Thousands from 10-mile human chain in anti-Putin protest AP.

What is really happening in Iran? Al Jazeera (MS). Pepe Escobar on Ayatollah Khamenei.

Bombing Iran Economist. If you must run an empire, ask the Brits how.

The best of the best are sought as Thailand readies for any rise in terrorist threats Bangkok Post.

Britain leads dash to explore for oil in war-torn Somalia Guardian.

Death in Syria Craig Murray (MS).

Anti-War Critics Forgotten on Oscar Night Truthout (SW).

Is Israel a failed state? American Conservative (MS). Interesting.

Pressure builds for civilian drone flights at home Yahoo News.

Grand jury probes Mr. X’s bent lust for Bachmann McClatchy (Buzz Potamkin).

Clarence Thomas trial balloon Daily Beast (SF).

Wisconsin locals pan Obama mortgage “settlement” The Northwestern. “What’s $2,000 going to do in many of these cases?”

The scientific argument for being emotional Salon.

Money can’t buy happiness Economist. No, really.

ETAP Yachts Rebranded as Armageddon Life Rafts (Buzz Potamkin).

LSU identifies community conditions related to malnutrition deaths among older adults (MS).

Little Free Libraries are taking root on lawns USA Today. Awesome. Anyone can do this.

Infiltration to Disrupt, Divide and Misdirect Is Widespread in Occupy TruthDig. From all across the spectrum. (One of the authors, Occupier Dr. Margaret Flowers, got herself arrested in Max Baucus’s hearing room for single payer.) UPDATE: Alternative link.

Antidote du jour: Mary Brunton’s Moe.

Thanks to all readers who sent in pictures of their cats. (And one of them was really sad. You know who you are.) I’ll collage them together next time I’m on. And, as always, if your cat is not the Antidote, that is my failure to recognize true cuteness, rather than any deficiency of cuteness on the part of your cat.

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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134 comments

    2. LeonovaBalletRusse

      rjs, Did you notice HOWARD ZINN, leading as drummer in the famous painting shown at time 2:13-16/22:52? Do you think the painting is prophetic? Really, the likeness is astounding. Surely the spirit of Howard Zinn lives now in us.

      Thanks so much for this timely, creative, informative link.

      Related in a curious way: I revisited Stanley Kubrick’s film, “Eyes Wide Shut” a few days ago, and was stricken with what a serious morality play it is for the lead couple, who–after their *awakening* to the glamour, depravity, and deadliness of the *demi-monde* of the Global .01% and their .99% Agency–recognize how fortunate they are not be be captive to this evil that seems to permeate the world around them. This recognition brings them to a state of intense GRATITUDE that they are not captive to it, coupled with cautious relief, and a re-investment in their marriage with a healthy sexual bonding as a couple *sadder but wiser*. This is a morality play of the *Immortals*.

      It brought to mind Balzac’s “La Comedie Humaine” – especially “Le Pere Goriot”- which shows the deadly depravity of the *demi-monde* of the Global .01% and their .99% Agency, to which ambitious *Citizens* of the lower orders crave admission. These deluded citizens crave the GLAMOUR of this *top-out-of-sight* world, its PROMISE of extravagant riches and social elevation. In his SET of novels, Balzac portrays the lives of his characters in exquisite detail, capturing their ecstasy and the agony as they succeed and/or fail in their vain quest for acceptance into the life of the *gods* of Paris. He illustrates the exhilaration, perversion, and devastation of personalities and whole families whose offspring ASPIRE to reach the *earthly paradise* of their imagination, who BURN [“ambire” (It.)–to burn] with DESIRE to reach the heights of the Global 1% of Paris. Balzac tells with dispassion how insane this quest is, how costly it is to families, how ruinous to all concerned, and how FALSE are its promises to others. The utter VACUITY, the DEPRAVITY, DANGER, and DELUSION of the world of the Global 1% is illustrated to perfection, springing out of the stories themselves and the point of view of the narrator, with Balzac nowhere to be found–hence the immortal genius and value of his novels.

      Balzac wrote his masterpiece SET of novels after experiencing *cosmic consciousness*, according to Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D. [1937-1902] (“COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS” with New Introduction by George Moreby Acklom (New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1969; 1923, 1922, 1901). Dr. Bucke’s own experience of what he called *cosmic consciousness* is related in Mr. Acklom’s New Introduction (q.v.). It was after this experience that Dr. Bucke investigated this phenomenon of natural, spontaneous (drug-free) *illumination* that he researched and wrote his book, “COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS”, a vast exploration of this phenomenon over millennia, especially with respect to how the experience changed the lives of such as Balzac, Blake, Francis Bacon, Shakespeare, Dante, Gautama, Jesus, and countless others. It is a masterpiece, and a timeless wonder. I am amazed it hasn’t captured the attention of all Neuro-Scientists.

      This book is highly recommended; as is a new look at “Eyes Wide Shut” viewed within Dr. Burke’s frame of *cosmic consciousness*.

      1. René

        “I am amazed it hasn’t captured the attention of all Neuro-Scientists.”

        Gestalt psychologists, such as Samuel Renshaw, have devised methods for widening the range and increasing the acuity of human perceptions. But do our educators apply them? The answer is, No.

        Teachers in every field of psycho-physical skill, from seeing to tennis, from tightrope walking to prayer, have discovered, by trial and error, the conditions of optimum functioning within their special fields. But have any of the great Foundations financed a project for co-ordinating these empirical findings into a general theory and practice of heightened creativeness? Again, so far as I am aware, the answer is, No.

        All sorts of cultists and queer fish teach all kinds of techniques for achieving health, contentment, peace of mind; and for many of their hearers many of these techniques are demonstrably effective. But do we see respectable psychologists, philosophers and clergymen boldly descending into those odd and sometimes malodorous wells, at the bottom of which poor Truth is so often condemned to sit? Yet once more the answer is, No.

        From: The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

        1. René

          HEAVEN AND HELL

          Foreword

          This little book is a sequel to The Doors of Perception. For a person in whom ‘the candle of vision’ never burns spontaneously, the mescalin experience is doubly illuminating. It throws light on the hitherto unknown regions of his own mind: and at the same time it throws light, indirectly, on other minds, more richly gifted in respect to vision than his own. Reflecting on his experience, he comes to a new and better understanding of the ways in which those other minds perceive and feel and think, of the cosmological notions which seem to them self-evident, and of the works of art through, which they feel impelled to express themselves. In what follows I have tried to set down, more or less systematically, the results of this new understanding.

          A.H.

          2001 Space Odyssey + Orbital Halcyon :-)

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc8ZE_1e4K8

          1. LeonovaBalletRusse

            Rene, thanks for the comments. I was deeply impressed by “The Doors of Perception” decades ago, after I had begun “My Quest for the Light.” I have never used mind-altering drugs or otherwise sought radical change and transformation. It has come to me *naturally*, from living an examined life.

          2. LeonovaBalletRusse

            Rene, the *Quest* was one of the imagination, but the reality was delivered by a force unkown, as I was living the examined life.

  2. The Emperor Jones

    Clarence Thomas for President? We might as well appoint Dick Cheney. Thomas’ criminal conflicts of interest while sitting as a SC juror should have him in prison breaking rocks. Is every Republican candidate or potential candidate a numbskull or criminal?

    2. LeonovaBalletRusse

      TEJ, there is a drive on to impeach Clarence Thomas. He should be impeached; someone should bring a RICO case against him and his colluding wife together.

  3. Goin' South

    Re: the Armageddon yachts–

    Their choice of background music was wrong, although I guess “Wooden Ships” might not fit for those fiberglass boats.

      1. Goin' South

        Nice video.

        I’m more focused these days on routes forward rather than critiques of this failed system, and found Octavia Butler’s Parable books interesting. Written in the 90s, she’s extraordinarily prescient about where Capitalism is taking us, and it’s an ugly place just one more disaster away. Her heroine manages to rise from the collapse, but not as an individual but as part of a growing group, one that recognizes people have suffered spiritual as well as physical and emotional wounds at the hands of this system.

        They’re worth checking out. Given the popularity of the Apocalypse genre in popular media, I’m disappointed that no one has attempted a screen version to date.

        1. mk

          what is spirituality/religion that isn’t rooted firmly in doing actual good deeds in the physical world day to day? a scam.

          “I’m more focused these days on routes forward” – I’m highly curious in this area too, solutions, routes forward, new ways to be a happy human, attract my attention first and foremost these days.

  4. fresno dan

    Anti-War Critics Forgotten on Oscar Night Truthout (SW).

    It is a remarkable thing to me – how just in 40 years a country that seemed to recognize the cost of foreign adventures not only has two ongoing wars, both at best not successful, and more probably evident failures, but appears itching to get into a third.

    Can oil alone explain such belligerence?

    1. David

      Overt control of the world Oil supply seems important to some. But how does that compare to the USA’s need to keep the trade / pricing of Oil strictly in terms of US dollars? I’d like to see more discussion of that issue.

        1. LeonovaBalletRusse

          Dan B, good questions you raise. The *petro-dollar* was Dr. Frankenstein’s, I mean Henry Kissinger’s, monstrous creation (“It’s alive!”), and the havoc wreaked by his insatiable monster is vividly expressed in:

          “A CENTURY OF WAR: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order” – New Edition – by F. William Engdahl (Weisbaden, edition.engdahl, 2011; 2004; first published in English1992;). Engdahl has mastered the topic succinctly.

          This book is worth paying for in any format: a mine of good information, and a ready reference for critical thinkers.

    2. Walter Wit Man

      We reached another stage of the plan . . . . meaningful dissent is no longer allowed and all the official institutions are corrupted . . . there is no politician, no Hollywood actor, no mainstream media organization that is going to save the day or even mount a serious resistance.

      In fact, their job now is to make sure we get nothing. We are in the stage where the elite have to pretend that they have total dominance and therefore they will crush any sign of dissent. This is why many would focus on non-existent protester violence rather than the massive violence our police and military are committing. They are engaging in psychological war against the people and all of this is planned.

      It used to be the people were thrown bones by having prominent dissenters . . . now they all support the basic rationale for the fascist empire.

    3. thump

      Since our main industry these days is to siphon money out of the markets rather than to make things or allow ordinary people to drive to work, fluctuations in oil price are good for the US economy. Win – win!

    2. LeonovaBalletRusse

      CE, – OK, I’ll confess: I grew up with adorable cats from infancy through adolescence. So please have mercy. Thanks.

        1. ambrit

          Mr. Strether ;
          I won’t even vocalize it, but you know what other term used to described coupled words I’m thinking of. (We’re in thrall to a feline ourselves. ‘Are you pondering what I’m pondering?’)

    1. Caveat Emptor

      heck yes.

      I subscribed to Stratfor for one year then realized the briefs were sounding like they were telling you something but really only telling you something that could be arranged from publicly available sources.

      all good experience. this rounds out what they are up to.

      i now stop in at

      http://www.phibetaiota.net/

    2. Walter Wit Man

      Wikileaks “partners” are spreading the documents? More like acting as a bottleneck and deciding what we get to see and redacting some material.

      And these are mostly establishment organizations. I notice the organizations on this particular project are less well known that the previous gatekeeper organizations like Freedom House, and the New York Times, but still.

      Here’s a good article from 2010 that explains the “partnership” (or gatekeeping/accomplice) function of Wikileaks’ partners: http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=22389

      1. Valissa

        Great article, thanks for the link!

        That article on STRATFOR was great too! STRATFOR is playing the money & power game… I’m SHOCKED, just shocked, I tell you ;) They have informants that they pay, some in questionably legal fashion? They discussed Wikileaks in their emails? They are trying to financially benefit from their contacts? Of course they play the money and power game, that’s part of their “charm” IMO. Personally I would be disappointed in them if they weren’t.

        I subscribe to them for their analyses and what those tell me about the “dirty” world of power and money. I do not consider them a primary news source so much as an education in the imperial way of looking at and analyzing the world (mostly for their multinational corporate clients). Some good history lessons there too. If you read up on Friedman’s past associations with the Defense Dept & Pentagon prior to starting STRATFOR their “perspective” should come as no surprise.

        Robert Steele’s Public Intelligence blog http://www.phibetaiota.net/ is a good source too, but comes at intelligence from a different angle. I first became a fan of Robert Steele because of his Amazon book reviews, which seemed to often show up in the books I was interested in. Steele’s history, and his idea of “open source intelligence” is fascinating as well.

        Steele is one of these… Seven CIA Veterans Challenge 9/11 Commission Report http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_alan_mil_070922_seven_cia_veterans_c.htm

        Steele is the author of numerous books on the intelligence services and is currently the CEO of OSS.net, a proponent of Open Source Intelligence. Steele has 25 years of combined service in the CIA and the U.S. Marine Corps. He also served as the second ranking civilian (GS-14) in U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence from 1988 – 1992 and was a member of the Adjunct Faculty of Marine Corps University.

        1. Walter Wit Man

          Thanks for the link. I will have to check it out. Like Danger Room, or Top Secret Files (? I think I’m misremembering the name of this one), or cryptome, these can be very good sources of information but I suspect they are also infested with disinformation and disinfo agents. It’s a double edged sword (but on the whole worth checking out).

          I do tend to trust former intelligence whistle blowers but sometimes they may be spreading lies. For instance, I linked the other day to Richard Clarke’s whistleblowing re 9/11 and I suspect that was actually intended to spread more disinformation than it was intended to reveal the truth.

          Similarly, I wonder if the leaked Wikileaks e-mails are even disinformation–intentionally leaked by the Wikileaks planners (who are actually U.S. assets/agents under this theory) to provide a back story for the creation of Wikileaks. Notice that people like Glenn Greenwald cited this information in defending Wikileaks from early attacks (shorter Greenwald: they consulted the NY Times–they are not irresponsible)!

          Anyway, the spook sites I’ve seen are suspicious to me but are focusing on the critical issues. That’s why conspiracy sites are the best sources right now, imho. They incorporate much of the information from these spook sites and news sites and then add in a healthy dose of skepticism.

          1. Valissa

            Many good points… I don’t think it’s even possible to know what the truth is here. Humans always have and always will conspire for some purpose or another, especially when pwoer and money are involved.

            My strategy is to maintain healthy skepticsm of ALL news sources and to read a wide variety of sources. Based on my sense of the bias of the source (and every one has some) I attempt to filter their reports, and try and stay cognizant of the limitations of my knowledge and my own biases. There is no way to know for sure what is true and what isn’t in these complex power games.

            There are 16 intelligence agencies in the US gov’t and despite all the post 9/11 rah-rah they still tend to stick to their own turfs (they don’t even know what each other is doing at the deeper secret levels). There are power games within power games just within our gov’t… and these expand exponentially when you start adding other countries, corporations, groups like CFR, etc.

            I assume conspiracies are commonplace, but also that they often are not successful and most don’t work out as planned, at which point the Law of Unintended Consequences (or Murhy’s Law) takes over and all kinds of crazy shit happens. Power has it’s limits too!

        2. Walter Wit Man

          Regarding the second link re the former intelligence people that doubt the official 9/11 story . . . thanks for the link. I hadn’t seen that.

          It’s similar to the 9/11 Commission Co-Chair who also now wants another investigation, as do other VIPs (are we seeing shades of the JFK assassination (or staged event)–first an official “investigation” like the Warren Commission and what next, a House investigation?) http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/09/the-co-chair-of-the-congressional-inquiry-into-911-and-former-head-of-the-senate-intelligence-committee-calls-for-a-new-911-investigation.html

          Like I also noted above, Richard Clark and others have leaked that U.S. intelligence, the Israelis, the Saudis, and the Pakistanis, or some combo thereof, are complicit or negligent etc., by either supporting or failing to stop the attackers. Here’s Clarke making revelations to two film makers whose film is supposedly being held up by the CIA (ha–this is an attempt to est. their bona fides imo): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEQKbYo5EC8&feature=fvsr He speculates (i.e. is laying down the cover story) that the CIA were trying to get an agent inside Al Qaeda.

          I’m dubious of these claims because I think the politician and intelligence agents’ calls for an investigation don’t go far enough. They could be gatekeepers admitting only a partial truth to gain confidence and then misdirect our attention.

          Specifically, they could be steering people away from the fact that the evidence is showing the main perps on 9/11 actually came from the U.S. and were in collusion with the U.S. media.

          The next layer of the cover story, after the 19 Arab “Al Qaeda” hijackers myth is revealed to be a fraud, is that the Israelis or Pakistanis or Saudis were the most complicit state actors, and the U.S. should never have trusted them to try to get an agent inside Al Qaeda, or whatever they were doing [plus, the U.S. will say, the law didn’t allow them to spy domestically so they handed the task over in good faith].

          2. Walter Wit Man

            Egypt Air 990 is something I have never considered. Interesting.

            A trial run for 9/11?

            The “interview” with the pilot is interesting. It’s a well crafted bit of disinformation and propaganda. I mean I don’t know the facts . . . . I only know the facts as the author(s) presented them, and he presented a good story and provided good background. Lots of interesting facts.

            But he was clearly biased against the Egyptians and is naively deferential to the U.S. position. He uses clever tactics like having a U.S. investigator describe frustration with Egyptian questions and quotes the guy as describing their efforts as “insane”. The way the author guides the reader into accepting the U.S. position is crafty. Which makes me suspicious of this piece and the incident itself.

            This jumped out at me (right after 9/11 too–planting the seed that doubt is “insane”):

            “The problem was that so many of the scenarios the Egyptians posited were patently absurd—stray missiles, ghost airplanes, strange weather, and the like. “

          3. Walter Wit Man

            The “pilot” is William Langewiesche, author extraordinaire. He published in the New York Times in 1990 and had a heck of a magazine and book career the last two decades. And he’s even written about 9/11.

            He claims he flew cargo planes in college then flew professionally.

            He won an award for reporting on the Egypt Air crash.

            I’m putting him on the potential perp list. Same thing with Atlantic Monthly. No wait. They’re already on it.

          4. securecare

            Any one familiar with accident investigation and normal aircraft behavior can see through the Egyptian smoke screen. Also the passenger list is informative.

            The NTSB is a solid organization of professionals with a very good record. Of course no bureaucracy is immune to politics but note that plays both ways.

            Then there is the Silk Air incident in Indonesia a few years back to consider.

          5. Walter Wit Man

            What smokescreen?

            Was putting their interpretation of the pilot’s invocation to God in the record the smokescreen? The Egyptian focus on whether or not the pilot committed a suicide mission? Don’t you think they made a number of good points?

            According to the Langewiesche, the NSTB was going to end the investigation and the Egyptians wanted to investigate further. Isn’t that the opposite of a smokescreen?

            Also, re the passenger list they are reported to be VIP Egyptian military guys so you are hinting at some sort of Egyptian plot to murder Egyptian officers?

            That’s possible, but the Egyptian behavior afterward does not fit with this theory. Why would they insist on pursuing the investigation? Would they expose this assassination in a public investigation in the U.S.?

          6. Walter Wit Man

            Wow. Silk Air 185 is another suspicious crash.

            Again, as with Egypt Air, the voice recording inexplicably cuts off at the last critical moments? Why? Is it simply a diversion? A rabbit hole?

            Like with 9/11 a plane totally disintegrates on impact, obviously applying cartoon physics. No bodies are recovered (similar to 9/11 and I don’t know about Egypt Air??).

          7. securecare

            the voice recording inexplicably cuts off at the last critical moments? Why?

            Well if you actually read the accident report you will find out that just before the dive started the captain turned off the power to the recorders. Also note the captain had a very interesting history.

            you are hinting at some sort of Egyptian plot to murder Egyptian officers?

            Absolutely not. You might want to check why those people were in the US and why they were on the flight.

          8. Walter Wit Man

            Well, securecare, I am very interested in your hints.

            I will have to look into it further and appreciate any links.

            Assuming the worst . . .

            one can almost see these previous attacks as either practice or a build up to 9/11, and whatever is to come.

            We had the building attacks:

            1. WTC 93
            2. OKC 95

            [I’m probably leaving some out]

            We also had the plane attacks:

            1. Silk Air 97
            2. Egypt Air 99

            [I’m probably leaving some out]

            And then on 9/11 the two styles of attacks were refined and combined into one big incident.

            Amazing. There are so many similarities and coincidences and I can’t help but look at each of them as part of a whole larger plan.

            Take the 6 airplane incidents (combining all alleged 9/11 incidents and the other two). The voice recording cutting out or no voice recordings being made or even recovered, as the case in 3 of 4 on 9/11.

            Yeah, we got the explanation in the one incident that the pilot stopped the recorder when he powered down. In the others it cut out or the recording was never found or only the “victim” families were allowed to hear it and report back to the public. My understanding is it is *odd* that there would be no voice data from the crash for 6 of the 7 flights (and we didn’t get public disclosure of the other one). And I see the SilkAir pilot is accused of tampering with voice recordings previous to this incident so that provides a cover that bad guys can actually disable it . . .I don’t know the technical aspects.

            But I suspect this whole thing is a false rabbit hole. They probably invented this aspect of the attacks as a false lead to keep people (e.g. investigators) distracted from the bigger con.

            Such as the odd flight list for both Egypt Air and the 9/11 flights. I would have to look into those as well as SilkAir . . . .

          9. securecare

            I do not think that the SilkAir crash is related at all to the others. Research the captain’s history. I also think you are headed off track with your other jumps to conclusions.

            But I could be wrong, maybe.

      2. MIWill

        Fine article, but, yes exactly the point. The cables were only released to three media partners (initially), mainstream, including the NY Times and the Guardian.
        The above article lists 24+ media partners, hopefully to minimize/cure gatekeeping and revisionism.

    1. ScottS

      “Ambitions?” I think the Chinese need to wake up quicker if they aren’t more concerned than that.

    2. securecare

      The Chinese recognize this because they have the same designs.

      Don’t kid yourself or us about what is going on around the world these days. The different groups of 1%ers are fighting each other for who gets to be “King of The Hill”. The rest of us are simply cannon fodder.

      1. Valissa

        Yup!

        “Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me.”
        Napoleon Bonaparte

        “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
        Henry Kissing

        “In order to get power and retain it, it is necessary to love power; but love of power is not connected with goodness but with qualities that are the opposite of goodness, such as pride, cunning and cruelty”
        Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

          1. LeonovaBalletRusse

            Valissa, thanks. I’ll bet he hated MIT and the Dr. Strangeloves so cock-sure of their intelligence and *moral rectitude*.

  10. occupy my pants

    Funny you should mention infiltration. Yesterday I saw two furious Dem apparatchiks at a GA, making impassioned politburo perorations about how occupiers abandon the poor if they don’t vote for the Democrats who colluded to beggar them. These hacks were reading their totally standard talking points that your hear constantly, everywhere, absolutely verbatim, on and on and on. What happened to the ace marketeers who greased Obama in? These people go to where the dogs don’t like the dog food, and yell “Bad dog! Bad dog! You have to like to dog food!” Whap whap with the rolled-up paper. Imbeciles.

    1. Walter Wit Man

      Yeah, it’s Democratic operatives that are the real danger, along with the police operatives, and the “violence” concern troll brigade. Anonymous is another suspected perp group.

      I’ve also heard of some cults trolling at these events.

    2. Lambert Strether Post author

      Yes, D infiltration is a concern. At the link, Van Jones is going to be sponsoring some 99% events as part of Obama’s campaign (as a D front organization, I think, not openly).

      Best thing to do, I would think, is to Occupy them, much as the Occupiers occupied the Law and Order set in Zucotti Park.

      “Whose simulacrum? Our simulacrum!”

      1. LeonovaBalletRusse

        LS, D-Zombies can’t help eating every brain in sight. Disgusting.

        OCCUPY Charlotte 2012: “Regime Change Begins At Home” (Charles Derber)

        BILL BLACK/YVES SMITH 2012: JUSTICE FOR US!

        American Rebels Unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame.

          1. LeonovaBalletRusse

            LS, yes, that must be the anthem they sing on the sly each morning at *Goldman Sucks* and *JPMorgue*, and in the *Party System* our early Presidents so decried.

    1. mk

      I was thinking the same thing, but my birds tell me to be very careful. They say these cats are very dangerous and can’t be trusted at all!

      1. LeonovaBalletRusse

        mk, my mad love for wild birds and their glorious song caused me to forsake keeping cats decades ago. I do miss the beauty, independence/*dignity*, playfulness, warmth, and intelligence of wonderful domesticated cats, though.

  13. zephyrum

    “Money can’t buy happiness Economist. No, really.”

    In my favorite Zippy the Pinhead cartoon from decades ago he testifies: “They say money can’t buy happpiness, and it’s true. But it’s not happiness I want; it’s money.”

    1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      If some people obtain happiness with money and you can also get happiness without money, aren’t you happier?

        1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

          I like that one.

          Put me in that experiment.

          By the way, my cat has no money – the bank wouldn’t let her open an account anyway – and, she seems, here I am being presumptious, er, happy at times…as long as there is clean water in the bowl. But clean water is free, right? It used to be.

  14. Johnson

    Free libraries? NYC has been doing this forever and a day! Any given day a stoop has a box full of books out for the taking! Why is this new? Because it is online?

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      The libraries are circulating books, which aren’t just “free for the taking” (although that is good too):

      “Take a book, leave a book,” says Bol, explaining in a nutshell, the basic concept of these tiny libraries.

      Also, they’re permanent structures:

      The men provide logistical assistance and support to people who want to become mini-librarians. They have a Website, littlefreelibrary.org, that provides drawings people can use to construct the boxes. It also has a map that tracks the location of Little Libraries.

  16. Jeeves

    They could be muslem terrorist drones flying over your place, you never know.

    Overheard in Starbucks the other day that model airplane enthusiasts are out to create radio controlled patrol aircraft that can take down a drone with nothing more than a trailing weighted wire that trails behind their vehicle and breaks free when entangled in another’s propellers.

    The ultimate video game, in 3-d and with real objects!
    Think of the markets! Help raise the GDP!

    2. SidFinster

      If you have ever flown radio-controlled model airplanes, you’ll realize that executing this will be much harder than it may sound.

  17. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    I would think the education system has something to do with people’s inability to recognize cat cuteness.

      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        There is always one in the crowd…one exception, I guess. My cat is that one.

        She wags her tail when I say the word, ‘pretty.’ Of course, that might mean she’s annoyed. I don’t claim to understand the cat language. Lucky for me so far, no injuries to report…yet.

  18. jsmith

    Concerning Russia:

    Every sentient human being in the US should understand that there are 3 major fronts to the propaganda that we are being force-fed.

    1) Syria – Assad is massacring peaceful, unarmed protestors.

    2) Iran – is seeking to build a nuclear arsenal

    3) Russia – Putin is an illegitimate ruler and in trouble.

    All three of these threads are intertwined.

    Want to know what the story in Russia really is?

    Here’s an article about how the anti-anti-Putin rallies dwarf the anti-Putin rallies.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/07/the-tug-of-war-in-moscow/

    Here’s an article from Russia which shows that Putin is polling at 49 PERCENT. The next contender comes in at ELEVEN PERCENT!!

    http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120127/170984379.html

    That’s right, the evil corrupt Putin is polling more than 30 points ahead of his next rival.

    Someone please turn off the propaganda spout.

    2. LeonovaBalletRusse

      jsmith, thanks. Can you and Lambert see if the above connects somehow with the videos being pushed on YouTube (search), saying that Putin has put out an arrest warrant for George Soros (warrant said to be issued by Putin in January 2012). This must be spurious, or it would be all over Fox News as a triumph.

      Is Putin a tool of the *Zionist* enemies of George Soros, an *American Jew*/*Jewish American* BY CHOICE–a Naturalized 100% American who was born in Hungary of Hungarian Jewish parents? Once again, not all Jews are Zionists, and the British Imperial .01% *State of Israel* is NOT the *Jewish Homeland*. The U.S.A. is HOME to *the Jews* of the U.S., especially of those whose forbears were here during the American *Colonial Era* of the original Colonies and the French-Scottish Colonies that became part of the United States of America via *The Louisiana Purchase*.

      We recall that George Soros went to Russian in 1987, just after Gorbachev had returned to Russia in 1986, and there was hope that Russia would have the opportunity to develop into a real Open System Democracy. We recall what happened next: Gorbachev was *shuffled off to Buffalo* while the YELTSIN COWBOY choice of the .01% rose to power to permit Big Oil and Kissinger’s PETRO-DOLLAR Cowboys to make Russia a corrupt *DOLLAR-STATE*, replete with *private equity* cowboys in the Club who cozied up to Harvard Agents for the .01% Global Reich and their 1% Lebensraum Agenda. Wasn’t this a case of “Economic Hit Men” in ACTION, with help from the Bush Dynasty CIA for the .01% Global Reich and its .99% Agency? (see: “The Confessions of An Economic Hit Man” by Tom Perkins, and “A Century of War” by F. William Engdahl for *How It Works*.

      This is when George Soros retired from the Russian scene, wondering how everything went so wrong. He didn’t realize that the FIX was in for the .01%, the arch-enemies of an *open democracy* and a self-critical Open Society not captive to them and their Neocon Economics agenda. Then came Putin.

      The enemies of Soros then are his enemies now. As a philanthropist, he has contributed to NEW PRACTICES for furthering open-system democracy, via the Open Society Foundations, thus crimping the despotic style of the .01% in their relentless putsch for the Bush Dynasty’s NWO and Big Oil’s power to hold the populations of the world hostage to their greed and despotism.

      Moreover, he has put Neocon Economics acolytes to shame, while offering the world an effectual alternative to Oligopoly and their *Big Business* tyranny, not only in theory (INET is the development arm), but in practice (OSF).

      Think. Why is it that even Rand Paul supporters are beginning to like George Soros? Could it be that he has offered We the People of every nation an alternative to SLAVERY to the .01% and their trickle-down .99% Agency?

      Why wouldn’t they want to ruin him? Or see him follow in Walter Rathenau’s footsteps? I hope his *security* is the best that money and GRATITUDE–of those he has enriched with robust funding for OSI branches and for *innovative entrepreneurial projects* at the local level–can buy.

      Truly, George Soros has provided We the People with the only real alternatives to slavery and despotism that can be seen today, within the frame of Sane Capitalism, which includes effective regulations. Those ignorant of the *good works* on the ground being done by innovators whose projects are too daring or original to be funded “by the usual suspects* should investigate the site of the Open Society Foundation at http://www.soros.org. Give the man a break.

      BILL BLACK/YVES SMITH 2012: JUSTICE NOW OR NEVER

      Disclaimer: I have never been, and do not expect to be, in the employ of George Soros or the entities he funds. His work has inspired my own since 1995, so I speak in gratitude for what I recognize to be his monumental contributions to humanity–especially his fostering of the positive participation of We The People in our JUST self-governance with a critical attitude within the Open Society frame, from America to Hungary to India and beyond. His wealth is our good fortune. I am not the only grateful one.

      http://www.youtube.com — only lately:

      “George Soros at the Azim Premji University” (AzimPremjiUniversity on Jan 11, 2012);

      “George Soros gives $7.55 million to CEU Business School to establish entrepreneurship center” (ceuhungary on Nov 4, 2011);

      Talk to Leon Botstein at BARD College;

      see http://www.ineteconomics.org for directions to Just, Merciful Capitalism in the working out–Something We the People Can Believe In.

      2. Walter Wit Man

        Please, Fox and Soros are on the same team. Like the Democrats v. Republican con, the Soros as renegade lefty is simply a cover–a con.

        1. LeonovaBalletRusse

          WWM, no. You haven’t been at political-economic de-contruction on a world scale throughout history long enough, you have not mastered Discovery of “la politique de Richelieu” in the New World since the 17th century. It’s very tricky. You must learn to see through the *House of Mirrors* that Orson Welles knew so well, and which he portrayed in “The Lady From Shanghai”.

          I’m 70 years old. I have been deconstructing insane systems since my days in the cradle. I experienced Burke’s *Cosmic Consciousness* on the order of Bacon and Balzac after Hurricane Katrina and the Great Flood of 2005, when I was granted (for the fifth time in my life), my life’s path was RADICALLY REVERSED, and I was then granted a long time for study, contemplation, and de-construction, within a huge frame of religion and politics from 2007. I experienced clairvoyance. I became an active participant in American democracy. My power to act justly, with a keenly critical eye, was inspired by the expansive vision of Karl Popper and George Soros, which empowered me as an Agent far beyond the Radical [at the root] Agency I had achieved in the past.

          I am well-acquainted with Death, through being an intimate caretaker to loved ones, *up close and personal*, through their dying breaths and beyond. The experience that George Soros has had *dancing with Death* in youth, and experiencing the death of his mother–which led to his funding of The Project On Death in America–tells me that George Soros cannot be the man you think he is. Moreover, at age 81, he is living for his legacy alone.

          This is not to say that he has never made grave errors. But, given the magnitude of his contributions to humanity, and the magnitude of his *learning process*, it is impossible that he could be so petty as to be a tool of a despotic, vicious Establishment, and especially of Fox News.

          Do you not realize that Rupert Murdoch is an arch enemy of George Soros? Murdoch and the .01% for which he is an active Agent are terrified that George Soros will be seen by We the People as a WAY OUT of bondage to the .01%.

          We are witnessing revolutionary history in the making, of which we are Agents also, regarding the forging of our quantum world into greater being in reality. This is life by application of *the scientific method*. IF we participate, We the People make our world through *trial and correction of error*–as Karl Popper declared long ago (see Karl Popper on YouTube for these words spoken).

          George Soros is the winning Dark Horse of the century. Bet to win.

          1. LeonovaBalletRusse

            See http://www.youtube.com —

            “Lawrence Lessig explores corruption and the US campaign finance system at CEU” (ceuhungary on Nov 8, 2011). Lawrence Lessig is the author of “Republic Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress–and a Plan to Stop It”.

          2. Lambert Strether Post author

            There are factional splits all the way to the top 0.01% of the top 0.01%. Not to say that any of them are on “our side,” but to say this is one reason the situation is fluid.

          3. LeonovaBalletRusse

            WWM, see:

            “MASQUERADE: Dancing Around Death in Nazi-Occupied Hungary” by Tivadar Soros- Edited and Translated from the Esperanto by Hunphrey Tonkin; Forewords by Paul Soros and George Soros (New York, Arcade Publishing, 2000; 1965); and read the Notes for depth of research into the time.

            http://www.youtube.com —
            “George Soros parla di ‘Robinson in Siberia’ e Ballo in maschera a Budapest” (GaspariEditori on Nov 23, 2011) — re publication of the books of the father of Tivadar Soros in Italian; with comments in the video by George Soros, among which:

            “The two books are connected. It was really my father’s experience in the First World War that put him in a position to deal with the emergency in which we found ourselves in the Second World War (1:16/2:49).

            “There are times when the normal rules don’t apply; and those who follow those rules are liable to perish. That was the lesson that my father learned and that he taught me; and that is what has helped us to survive those times, although the circumstances were totally different–because we avoided being put in a concentration camp.

            “Still, the book [“MASQUERADE” may remind the readers of the Italian film, ‘Life Is Beautiful,’ because my father never lost his sense of humor; and guiding us through a difficult period where we were in mortal danger, he turned that into a positive experience, because not only did we manage to survive, but we also managed to help other people survive.” (1:39/2:49).

            Ironically, George fell into his father’s role when he saw parallels between Establishment tyranny under George W. Bush’s first Administration and that under the Nazi regime. His recognition of this parallel alarmed him, no doubt triggered by his memories of his father’s and his own experiences of WARY survival during the Russian Revolution and Hitler’s Third Reich. In a sense, he was compelled to draw this parallel, given his keen, first-hand knowledge of the progress of a Despotic Regime, and a sense of DREAD that he was living under such a regime in formation in the U.S.A.

            He had the courage to WARN We the People that this parallel existed in reality, and was not just imagined. He wrote–“THE BUBBLE OF AMERICAN SUPREMACY” (2004) and “THE AGE OF FALLIBILITY: Consequences of the War on Terror” (2006)–and spoke (when challenged by Wolf Blitzer at CNN, now on YouTube) with the voice of AUTHORITY as a direct witness to, and survivor of, such a regime. I recognized that his case was just, that this was happening in reality; and that’s when my *underground* campaign against the fascist regime of the Bush Dynasty began: I engaged in *participatory democracy* on the Internet, with urgency and conviction, as if the life of our democratic nation–as I had known it to be in the past (before accounting, business, and politics became a Criminal .01% Profit Game)–depended upon it.

            This is another reason I believe in the integrity of George Soros. He spoke with authority about something he recognized for certain, at the risk of his very life. Fortunately, the MMM made his claim a *non-issue*; but even so, there was an *American fatwah* declared against him: yes, an American called for someone to kill him. He became more cautious after that.

            So, how can anyone believe he is part of the Establishment of the .01% and its .99% Agency that began to form Bush’s New World Order with Nazi friends, the Fourth Reich, even before the Second World War ended.

          4. LeonovaBalletRusse

            Correction of omission: “MASQUERADE” is by the father of George Soros, Tivador Soros …”

          5. Walter Wit Man

            hmm, I’ll have to check out your links.

            Both Murdoch and Soros are in the .01% btw. So we are being encouraged to pick sides between two rich dudes. And I suppose Uncle Warren is supposed to be the centrist in the group?

            I just doubt that the solution is going to come from within the .01% . . . . although maybe I’ve got Soros wrong . . . and your experience and investigation is a good attribute so I’ll check the links out.

          7. LeonovaBalletRusse

            SR6719, I comprehend. But it seems to me that Soros is not the altruist in this sense. First, he does not just give money away, but sets up alternative infrastructures along with seed money for projects, to encouraging creative entrepreneurs to become active leaders in a vital democratic process, breaking the old Capitalist bonds of dead hierarchy. Secondly, his motive to *give* is plain, as he himself has expressed: it is a moral issue to him, the price he pays to citizens of a democracy as a kind of tithe–in recognition of the democracy’s gift to him of the freedom to earn and amass great wealth in his own way within the Law. So it’s not the *altruism* or the tacky motive that Wilde and Zizek had in mind.

            Also, don’t forget that Soros is Hungarian, a breed apart to start. The Hungarian language compounds the originality and complex thinking of those who speak it as their native language (language and neural circuitry). The language is related only to Finnish, distantly, and to none other. For this reason, it is quite difficult for *the West* to comprehend George Soros; but since I have known a few brilliant Hungarians, I have dared to do this to an extent. Hungarian may be my next foreign language.

  19. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    The lesson for the Europeans…

    Well, people are starving to death here just as in Japan. we have our failed cities like Detroit, Vallejo, Stockton, even with the fiscal stimulus.

    Perhaps someone might say the Europeans should make their nation-states balance their budgets like our state-states if they want to learn from us.

    Who knows?

    The only thing certain is that many voodoo doctors will be offering lessons.

    1. F. Beard

      The only thing certain is that many voodoo doctors will be offering lessons. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

      A balanced budget for money issuers is voodoo too.

      Your thinking tends toward very conventional in certain areas.

      2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        I was careful to say that is not what I think.

        That’s why I write some people might venture to say that.

        Also, you will note I further distance myself by saying, who knows?

      3. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

        By the way, if some ideas are conventional, they are conventional.

        Are they good? Are unconventional ideas good? Who knows?

    3. Lambert Strether Post author

      Thanks. This is a general survey from across the country that touches on infiltration and disruption by right wing activists, Democrats and their allies, and the usual suspects from the authorities. This always happens, so it’s good to be aware. It’s not just about OccupyDC.

      2. LeonovaBalletRusse

        LS, so then it is possible that the motives of Chris Hedges, in calling out the possible subversion of the Black Bloc, were *pure*?

          1. LeonovaBalletRusse

            LS, true, Rebecca Solnit takes the prize.

            She mentions the great wave, perhaps with the power of a tsunami in formation. I see this “Moral Revolution” as William Butler Yeats saw the Swans at Coole wheeling overhead in a vast arc; as the great arc of revolution seen in the mind’s eye and ear Sibelius, who set it to monumental music.

            O Fortuna! Her sweep is vast, decisive, ineluctable. And final, history shows.

            Maria Montessori: “Peace and Education;”

            Kwame Anthony Appiah: “THE HONOR CODE: How Moral Revolutions Happen.”

            It has happened before, it is happening now. There’s no turning back the tide.

            OCCUPY Charlotte 2012: “Regime Change Begins At Home: (Charles Derber).

            We reject violence, including violence against the truth. We embrace the New Moral Order. We are our own Agents of critical self-governance. We embody the Government of/by/for the People of the Constitution of the United States.

            BILL BLACK/YVES SMITH 2012: OUR TIME HAS COME

            If not now, when?

      1. LeonovaBalletRusse

        LS, I have been encouraging *OCCUPY Charlotte* 2012 for the Movement election of BILL BLACK/YVES SMITH 2012 (*BlackSmith: Forging a New America* has been presented in a Comment on NC). This is because the Democratic Party as governed by its leaders today is a BOGUS Democratic Party, and because history shows, up to now, that a *Third Party* alternative to entrenched 1% Agents in either *canned R or D Party* is fruitless.

        Nevertheless, I realize that *Party Dems* are trying to appropriate the Occupy movement for their *canned* corrupt purposes. But can they not be overcome by a vast, determined, peaceful movement in Charlotte? Is it possible, is it desirable, to *forge* a new Democratic Party on the spot?

        I realize that one or more Presidents have expressed their contempt and despair at the inevitably corrupt *Party System*. What, then, can we do?

        I am a Democrat, and I see Obama as a Republican-lite FALSE choice as Democratic Party President. How can I vote for him when I see him as a Criminal Agent of the .01% Reich, and a Traitor to our nation while in office?

        1. Lambert Strether Post author

          LBR, I think we have to watch and do what we can. There must be many people who are thinking along the same lines. What I liked about Occupy was that it was a parallel structure that was transparent and accountable (and still is, except for the Occupations that are shutting down streamers). Perhaps something similar can emerge in Charlotte. I think that would be a lot more constructive than a replay of Chicago ’68…

  21. George

    Welcome to the Neo-Serf States of America…

    “Well, what if I do start crying?” I ask the woman who warns me to keep it together no matter how awfully I’m treated. “Are they really going to fire me for that?”

    “Yes,” she says. “There’s 16 other people who want your job. Why would they keep a person who gets emotional, especially in this economy?”

    Still, she advises, regardless of how much they push me, don’t work so hard that I injure myself. I’m young. I have a long life ahead of me. It’s not worth it to do permanent physical damage, she says, which, considering that I got hired at elevensomething dollars an hour, is a bit of an understatement.

    As the sun gets lower in the curt November sky, I thank the woman for her help. When I start toward the door, she repeats her “No. 1 rule of survival” one more time.

    “Leave your pride and your personal life at the door.”

    http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor

    1. LeonovaBalletRusse

      George, that’s right: “Shape up. Be a Robot Like Us. If you reveal that you are a human being with feelings, who still can have the natural response to inflicted pain and injury, you remind us of our weakness. So stuff it and suck it up, or hit the bricks, Bitch!” — “That’s the way they like it.”

  22. Webb Traverse

    “The pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Parmenides taught that the only things that are real are things which never change… and the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus taught that everything changes. If you superimpose their two views, you get this result: Nothing is real.”

    – Philip K. Dick

  23. Hugh

    That article from the imperialists at the Economist is funny as all unadulterated ventings of the Conventional Wisdom. I mean I suppose it is something that they don’t back a military attack against Iran. They place their face in the new sanctions.

    But what is funny are the omissions as for example how they play up a multiplication of nuclear players in the Middle East if Iran gets the bomb without a single mention of the one to two hundred nuclear weapons the Israelis possess. There is also the bit about how Iran’s nuclear program began under the shah without again any mention of who (Hint: the US) gave Iran the first components of its nuclear program.

    The al Jazeera article is better because it actually looks at Iran’s internal political dynamics, something that gets consistently loss in the reporting of our propagandizing media.

    The Unmaking of Israel is interesting but Gorenberg’s case for a return to a two state solution in order to save Israel and Zionism is out of date. That ship has sailed. The two state solution died with Rabin in 1995. Gorenberg may not be crazy like almost all of Israel’s political spectrum certainly is, but he is in denial as much as they are. What he needs to start thinking about is how Israel/Palestine can become a successful binational state.

  24. kevinearick

    Family Law, Charge Separation, & Constitutions

    Many populations are now writing constitutions to enter the new economy. As usual, the majority is happy to clutch any convenient rail in the old economy as it sinks, having invested their lives, implicitly or explicitly, in the proposition that the nuclear family doesn’t matter, so convinced by the empire perception surrounding it.

    The greater the mal-investment, the greater the loss of sight. A cursory sample of the data demonstrates the outcome of replacing either parent with empire. The resulting family falls into poverty and their genes are returned to the churn pool.

    The empire pays individuals for make-work to the extent they participate in the ponzi. The empire is a wave of History, repeating itself at least cost possible, through the path of least common denominator resistance, pulling the genes back through the neutral line of DNA for recombination. Your program requires a relay.

    This is not the first civilization that has approached space exploration and turned back. Empires have always employed technology to short natural law in a bait and switch control mechanism. Do you see any other critters walking around with a constitution in their back pocket, pulling it out to navigate their way through life?

    California is a good example. The registered majority claims it wants to conserve the environment, but to what, or who’s, end? It has the most resources of any State on its coastline, but no critters in the food chain on land except replicating humans, because the “environmentalists” locked out the flow of natural trade to the end of legacy asset inflation, to print money through debt sold into the ponzi, with an implicit federal and multinational guarantee.

    Ironically, the Caltrans preacher rails against the homeless in his church as the cause, and not the outcome, of the Welfare State, as he extends his cost-free property leverage anxiety, in a positive feedback loop to the State’s liquidation, which he attempts to delay by extending the ponzi with discretionary expansion of government union control over the economy. Government co-opts unions when it can measure them, every time, always has, always will. Building the bomb is easy.

    The empire simply exchanges fathers with more mothers to artificially pump consumption, pulling demand forward and warping it in the process. Women choose empire as a mate when they are not presented with sufficient intelligence in the environment. There is no getting around the fact that female humans are designed as biological nesters. Their window to have children is much shorter, and children are the future, which becomes the present. Of course the empire will present the future as a prison to be avoided, creating the present prison.

    Like anyone that has practiced medicine for any length of time, Ron Paul knows that current practice was prototyped in the concentration camps during WWII. Nothing productive comes from tyranny, but the example of its outcome for the next iteration. A constitution limits common behavior, which the majority repeats out of fear, but it frees the individual to pursue own religion in relative terms. That is the nature of any population’s unique angle of incidence. What to write depends upon the nature of empire gravity conveniently available at start-up. Turn the threat into an opportunity, to increase return and decrease risk.

    Take a look at your food. Most families cannot afford nutrition. Your metabolism has chemistry, gravity and exercise all on its side. The empire wants you to sit in a chair at work, watch TV at home, and eat processed foods triggering hibernation, as fast as possible, resulting in fat, slow, and thoughtless behavior, dependent upon artificial healthcare at inflating cost in a positive feedback loop. Perfect.

    Take a look at your energy. The empire placed a small population of Jews, with the burden of selling each other out to the Germans at the gunpoint of technology in WWII, adjacent to the choke point of global distribution profit, and told them to defend it, because God says so. Perfect

    (The empire placed the Iranian government in power, and could replace it tomorrow, but what would it do with all the so-stupefied economic slaves as a result? Controlled replication of ignorance is what empire is all about. The power of nuclear bomb is relatively insignificant to current technology, but if you live in a cave…)

    Take a look at your housing. Most populations are at the beginning of die-off, because the cost of raising intelligent children, capable of providing for the aged, exceeds the intelligence of the middle class cohort between them, and the empire banks its future on the NPV of their future tax burden. Perfect.

    Take a look at your technology. It is specifically designed as a one-way compliance road, indexed to the empire, with blind alley IPOs along the way, baited to capture individuals evading peer pressure in the opposite direction, in a system of artificial technical borders within artificial geographic borders, designed to isolate the individual in a cubicle of mirrors, which collapses the individual economy to the end of empire. Once those individual income collapses aggregate to hit the 0 NPV tax wall, the empire collapses. Perfect.

    Family Law places a premium on choosing a mate that will produce intelligent children for the future, to open the NPV window, or replicating children to ground them in the past, in a balance to produce the necessary organic growth to feed internal and external systems with quantum diversity, to reach the energy of catalysis. Civilizations are delay devices, stepping stones along the way to building gravity for the ones to follow. The earth is a launching pad for life, not death. The empire feeds upon replicating genes, to remove and recycle the spoil, which includes itself.

    So, the US Constitution was designed with relatively open geography and vast relative resources to exploit. The notion of property was coined accordingly. Under the notion of divine providence, Family Law, the settlers were employed as the first wave of tax farmers for the empire, taxing the natives out of existence, with ponzi population growth.

    First comes Church, then School, then Bank, and then Emperor, a non-profit corporation that owns everything and pays no taxes, leaving a rentier economy built on the foundation of mythological property rights in its path. Family Law is implicitly embedded, open to Court debate, under the general powers not vested clause, and is explicitly reconnected over time back to the common, along the pathway of the best, best being the enemy of better, practice oxymoron. Expect that and design accordingly.

    Net, the individual chooses whether or not, or how much, to be measured, depending upon intelligence, disciplined imagination. You cannot legally enforce intelligence; it is distilled from willful ignorance. When you do the math, which has the language problems discussed in the relay, do not error by replacing balanced forces, which grow, with opposing forces, which collapse.

    Romney and Paul are moving toward a balanced orbit, which should have been of no surprise. The bookies in Vegas made that bet months ago, because Romney is “style” and Paul is “substance,” the order in which empires are built.

    The empire wants the i(whatever) to be a mirrored cubicle for the user, and a camera for its cloud computing system. Treat it accordingly. You cannot move forward stuck in the past. Throw down non-performing assets for traction and rock the car back and forth, changing the definition of assets and income as necessary to change the angle of incidence.

    “ Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did only backwards and in high heels.” That’s something to think about when you see the obey clause, the public consumption relay to the sh**-show, in the standard religious contract. Make Friday Monday and Monday the start of a new job, lest you dance off the cliff. Make your own history, by not repeating the history of others for them.

    A constitution is, above all, about respect for the religious beliefs/belonging of the minority, which depends upon free speech against it, down to the individual, because that is what opens external markets to feed internal organic growth. You don’t have to believe in the nuclear family to respect it, you don’t have to believe in religion to give others courtesy, and you never know who has the key to your future.

    You will never find a key within the house of mirrors, unless someone operating beyond the empire places it there. The casino is built upon the foundation of willful ignorance. It may be demolished at any convenient time. In balance, an economy grows; in opposition it collapses, in a dimension of dimensions, at any level you care to examine.

    Sex makes you a slave to the empire. Loves frees you. Believe in anything you like, but the majority is completely dependent upon technology it cannot comprehend, and an individual may distribute it, or retract it, at will. When the majority finally awakens to the bomb, the still invisible fuse reaches ignition threshold.

    Careful where you step when the boss sends you to the door. Empires are designed to self-destruct accordingly. You cannot protect a faith, or an individual, from self. The only way to protect yours is to protect others, which is why the despot hides behind it. That is the constitution.

    The environment places an increasing premium upon intelligent integral adaptation by penalizing future generations for their parents’ errors, in the DNA negative feedback loop. Government individual aggregate irresponsibility is the response, creating the positive feedback loop. Mr. Santorum, why are churches tax-exempt, and why are they government funded? Why are churches enforcing Family Law? Where is the separation?

    1. LeonovaBalletRusse

      kevinearick, keen observations, as usual. Empire is so over: Done. *Dead and don’t know it* comes to mind. This explains *Zombie Banks*.

      We the People WILL be *honorable* ourselves, by ourselves, for ourselves alone and together. Who needs celebrity proxies to act for us?

      OCCUPY Charlotte 2012: “Regime Change Begins At Home” (Charles Derber)

      BILL BLACK/YVES SMITH 2012: JUSTICE FOR THE PEOPLE

      American Rebels Unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame.

      1. LeonovaBalletRusse

        “THE HONOR CODE: How Moral Revolutions Happen” by Kwame Anthony Appiah (New York, W.W. Norton & Company, 2010).

        We the People are the Moral Revolution right now.

    2. kevinearick

      thought this might be helpful for some:

      So, what happens is the empire education system shorts your forebrain hash table function, and disables the lobe fulcrum, then your priorities enter the queue from the back end and the empire bumps into the front of the queue with impulses, so you go faster and faster and get farther and farther behind. And if the majority measures resistance, it engages peer pressure to conform. Those that are hopelessly captured by the queue need an out. That’s what the obey clause exists to do. Choose your mate constructively.

  25. MyLessThanPrimeBeef

    For people who are not ignorant, at least in some areas, here is one instance where ignorance improves the quality of life – I am unfortunately vaguely aware of an award ceremony last night (I think), but I am much better off not knowing more than that.

    Ignorance is, in this case, good…for me, at least. But not always.

    We are ignorant of when ignorance is good though.

    In that sense, life is one big ‘Who knows?’

  29. kravitz

    Spin, spin me round round baby round round…

    Okay, the same survey. Two media publications. And then, the actual press release. A lesson in media bias and interpretation.

    JD Power did a survey on the impact of Bank Transfer Day in 2011 versus previous years. New fees in particular caused folks to switch. The question is the percentage.

    HousingWire thinks not much…

    Small percentage of big bank customers move accounts
    http://www.housingwire.com/article/small-percentage-big-bank-customers-move-accounts

    “The still-small trend of customers leaving large banks is increasing, especially on the heels of “Bank Transfer Day” on Nov. 5, 2011. Last year’s 9.6% transfer rate was up from 8.7% the year before, and 7.7% two years ago.”

    The same stats play differently at MortgageOrb…

    Bank Customer Loyalty Continues To Decline
    http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.11004

    “According to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 U.S. Bank Customer Switching and Acquisition Study, 9.6% of customers indicate they switched their primary banking institution during the past year to a new provider. This is up from 8.7% in 2011 and 7.7% in 2010.”

    But JD Power’s finding was that the percentage is rising. Quickly.

    Bank Customer Switching Rates Rise Again, Fueled by Issues with Fees and Poor Service 
    http://businesscenter.jdpower.com/news/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2012017

    “On the heels of “Bank Transfer Day” on November 5, 2011, the beneficiaries of the increased exodus from larger banks are primarily smaller banks and credit unions. Acquisition of new customers by smaller banks and credit unions has increased by 2.2 percentage points to an average of 10.3 percent in 2012 from 8.1 percent in 2011. Among big banks, regional banks and midsize banks1, switching rates average between 10.0 and 11.3 percent, while the defection rate for small banks and credit unions averages only 0.9 percent, a significant drop from 8.8 percent in 2011. “

    1. LeonovaBalletRusse

      kravitz. What are the investment rules and regs for credit unions and S&Ls.

      Lethargy/entropy of a spent populace in stupor is hard to change.

      “Our world in stupor lies” — “September 1, 1939” by W.H. Auden.

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