---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 07:58:02 -0700
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] The Abuses Of History
To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
Cc: Matthew <mcblack@gmail.com>, Jennifer Ford <dandjford88@live.com>,
delores selset <dselset@aol.com>, footballmania
<footballmania@gmail.com>, Sam Severo <5severos@sbcglobal.net>,
jamesjarvis98 <jamesjarvis98@gmail.com>
Chris Hedges is, in my opinion, the American Conscience.
We will never make America "Great again", as President Donald Trump
believes, because that "Great America" only exists in our bland,
sanitized history books. As my dad was fond of saying, "History is
written by the Victors".
But America has the potential of becoming "Truly Great", to parrot
Trump. But only if we make the time and effort to study *ALL of our
history, the good and the bad. The following article by Chris Hedges
is a keeper.
Carl Jarvis
*****
The Abuses Of History
History-Fish24Sept2017-850x729
> By Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com
> September 26th, 2017
>
> Above Photo: Mr. Fish
>
> Historians, like journalists, are in the business of manipulating facts.
> Some use facts to tell truths, however unpleasant. But many more omit,
> highlight and at times distort them in ways that sustain national myths and
> buttress dominant narratives. The failure by most of the United States'
> popular historians and the press to tell stories of oppression and the
> struggles against it, especially by women, people of color, the working
> class and the poor, has contributed to the sickening triumphalism and
> chauvinism that are poisoning our society. The historian James W. Loewen,
> in
> his book "Lies Across America: What Our Historic Markers and Monuments Get
> Wrong," calls the monuments that celebrate our highly selective and
> distorted history a "landscape of denial."
>
> The historian Carl Becker wrote, "History is what the present chooses to
> remember about the past." And as a nation founded on the pillars of
> genocide, slavery, patriarchy, violent repression of popular movements,
> savage war crimes committed to expand the empire, and capitalist
> exploitation, we choose to remember very little. This historical amnesia,
> as
> James Baldwin never tired of pointing out, is very dangerous. It feeds
> self-delusion. It severs us from recognition of our propensity for
> violence.
> It sees us project on others-almost always the vulnerable-the
> unacknowledged
> evil that lies in our past and our hearts. It shuts down the voices of the
> oppressed, those who can tell us who we are and enable us through
> self-reflection and self-criticism to become a better people. "History does
> not merely refer to the past . history is literally present in all we do,"
> Baldwin wrote.
>
> If we understood our real past we would see as lunacy Donald Trump's
> bombastic assertions that the removal of Confederate statues is an attack
> on
> "our history." Whose history is being attacked? And is it history that is
> being attacked or the myth disguised as history and perpetuated by white
> supremacy and capitalism? As the historian Eric Foner points out, "Public
> monuments are built by those with sufficient power to determine which parts
> of history are worth commemorating and what vision of history ought to be
> conveyed."
>
> The clash between historical myth and historical reality is being played
> out
> in the president's disparaging of black athletes who protest indiscriminate
> police violence against people of color. "Maybe he should find a country
> that works better for him," candidate Trump said of professional
> quarterback
> Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the national anthem at National Football
> League games to protest police violence. Other NFL players later emulated
> his protest.
>
> Friday at a political rally in Alabama, Trump bellowed: "Wouldn't you love
> to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say,
> 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's
> fired!' " That comment and a Saturday morning tweet by Trump that
> criticized
> professional basketball star Stephen Curry, another athlete of
> African-American descent, prompted a number of prominent sports figures to
> respond angrily. One addressed the president as "U bum" on Twitter.
>
> The war of words between the president and black athletes is about
> competing
> historical narratives.
>
> Historians are rewarded for buttressing the ruling social structure,
> producing heavy tomes on the ruling elites-usually powerful white men such
> as John D. Rockefeller or Theodore Roosevelt-and ignoring the underlying
> social movements and radicals that have been the true engines of cultural
> and political change in the United States. Or they retreat into arcane and
> irrelevant subjects of minor significance, becoming self-appointed
> specialists of the banal or the trivial. They ignore or minimize
> inconvenient facts and actions that tarnish the myth, including lethal
> suppression of groups, classes and civilizations and the plethora of lies
> told by the ruling elites, the mass media and powerful institutions to
> justify their grip on power. They eschew transcendental and moral issues,
> including class conflict, in the name of neutrality and objectivity. The
> mantra of disinterested scholarship and the obsession with data collection
> add up, as the historian Howard Zinn wrote, "to the fear that using our
> intelligence to further our moral ends is somehow improper."
>
> "Objectivity is an interesting and often misunderstood word," Foner said.
> "I
> tell my students what objectivity means is you have an open mind, not an
> empty mind. There is no person who doesn't have preconceptions, values,
> assumptions. And you bring those to the study of history. What it means to
> be objective is if you begin encountering evidence, research, that
> questions
> some of your assumptions, you may have to change your mind. You have to
> have
> an open mind in your encounters with the evidence. But that doesn't mean
> you
> don't take a stance. You have an obligation. If you've done all this
> studying, done all this research, if you understand key issues in American
> history better than most people, just because you've done the research and
> they haven't, you have an obligation as a citizen to speak up about it. .We
> should not be bystanders. We should be active citizens. Being a historian
> and an active citizen is not mutually contradictory."
>
> Historians who apologize for the power elites, who in essence shun
> complexity and minimize inconvenient truths, are rewarded and promoted.
> They
> receive tenure, large book contracts, generous research grants, lucrative
> speaking engagements and prizes. Truth tellers, such as Zinn, are
> marginalized. Friedrich Nietzsche calls this process "creative
> forgetfulness."
>
> "In high school," Foner said, "I got a history textbook that said 'Story of
> American History,' which was very one-dimensional. It was all about the
> rise
> of freedom and liberty. Slavery was omitted almost entirely. The general
> plight of African-Americans and other non-whites was pretty much omitted
> from this story. It was very partial. It was very limited. That's the same
> thing with all these statues and [the debate about them]. I'm not saying we
> should tear down every single statue of every Confederate all over the
> place. But if we step back and look at the public presentation of history,
> particularly in the South, through these monuments, where are the black
> people of the South? Where are the monuments to the victims of slavery? To
> the victims of lynching? The monuments of the black leaders of
> Reconstruction? The first black senators and members of Congress? My view
> is, as well as taking down some statues, we need to put up others. If we
> want to have a public commemoration of history, it ought to be diverse
> enough to include the whole history, not just the history that those in
> power want us to remember."
>
> "Civil War monuments glorify soldiers and generals who fought for Southern
> independence," Foner writes in "Battles for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of
> American History," "explaining their motivation by reference to the ideals
> of freedom, states' rights and individual autonomy-everything, that is but
> slavery, the 'cornerstone of the Confederacy,' according to its vice
> president, Alexander Stephens. Fort Mill, South Carolina, has a marker
> honoring the 'faithful slaves' of the Confederate states, but one would be
> hard pressed to find monuments anywhere in the country to slave rebels like
> Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner, to the 200,000 black soldiers and sailors who
> fought for the Union (or, for that matter, the thousands of white
> Southerners who remained loyal to the nation)."
>
> The United Daughters of the Confederacy, as Loewen points out, erected most
> of the South's Confederate monuments between 1890 and 1920. This campaign
> of
> commemoration was part of what Foner calls "a conscious effort to glorify
> and sanitize the Confederate cause and legitimize the newly installed Jim
> Crow system."
>
> Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, who Loewen writes was "one of the most vicious
> racists in American history," was one of the South's biggest slave traders,
> commander of the forces that massacred black Union troops after they
> surrendered at Fort Pillow and the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Yet, as
> Foner notes, "there are more statues, markers and busts of Forrest in
> Tennessee than of any other figure in the state's history, including
> President Andrew Jackson."
>
> "Only one transgression was sufficiently outrageous to disqualify
> Confederate leaders from the pantheon of heroes," Foner writes. "No statue
> of James Longstreet, a far abler commander than Forrest, graces the
> Southern
> countryside, and Gen. James Fleming Fagan is omitted from the portrait
> gallery of famous figures of Arkansas history in Little Rock. Their crime?
> Both supported black rights during Reconstruction."
>
> The American myth also relies heavily on a distorted history of the
> westward
> expansion.
>
> "The mythology of the West is deeply rooted in our culture," Foner said,
> "whether it's in Western movies or the idea of the lone pioneer, the
> individual roughing it out in the West, and of course, the main lie is that
> the West was kind of empty before white settlers and hunters and trappers
> and farmers came from the East to settle it. In fact, the West has been
> populated since forever. The real story of the West is the clash of all
> these different peoples, Native Americans, Asians in California, settlers
> coming in from the East, Mexicans. The West was a very multicultural place.
> There are a lot of histories there. Many of those histories are ignored or
> subordinated in this one story of the westward movement."
>
> "Racism is certainly a part of Western history," Foner said. "But you're
> not
> going to get that from a John Wayne movie [or] the paintings by [Frederic]
> Remington and others. It's a history that doesn't help you understand the
> present."
>
> Remington's racism, displayed in paintings of noble white settlers and
> cowboys battling "savages," was pronounced.
> "Jews-inguns-chinamen-Italians-Huns," he wrote, were "the rubbish of the
> earth I hate." In the same letter he added, "I've got some Winchesters and
> when the massacreing begins . I can get my share of 'em and whats more I
> will."
>
> Nietzsche identified three approaches to history: monumental, antiquarian
> and critical, the last being "the history that judges and condemns."
>
> "The monumental is the history that glorifies the nation-state that is
> represented in monuments that do not question anything about the society,"
> Foner said. "A lot of history is like that. The rise of history as a
> discipline coincided with the rise of the nation-state. Every nation needs
> a
> set of myths to justify its own existence. Another one of my favorite
> writers, Ernest Renan, the French historian, wrote, 'The historian is the
> enemy of the nation.' It's an interesting thing to say. He doesn't mean
> they're spies or anything. The historian comes along and takes apart the
> mythologies that are helping to underpin the legitimacy of the nation.
> That's why people don't like them very often. They don't want to hear these
> things. Antiquarian is what a lot of people are. That's fine. They're
> looking for their personal roots, their family history. They're going on
> ancestry.com to find out where their DNA came from. That's not really
> history exactly. They don't have much of a historical context. But it
> stimulates people to think about the past. Then there's what Nietzsche
> calls
> critical history-the history that judges and condemns. It takes a moral
> stance. It doesn't just relate the facts. It tells you what is good and
> what
> is evil. A lot of historians don't like to do that. But to me, it's
> important. It's important for the historian, having done the research,
> having presented the history, to say here's where I stand in relation to
> all
> these important issues in our history."
>
> "Whether it's Frederick Douglass, Eugene Debs, Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
> Martin Luther King Jr., those are the people who were trying to make
> America
> a better place," Foner said. "King, in particular, was a very radical guy."
>
> Yet, as Foner points out, King is effectively "frozen in one speech, one
> sentence: I want my children to be judged by the content of their
> character,
> not just the color of their skin. [But] that's not what the whole civil
> rights movement was about. People forget, he died leading a poor people's
> march, leading a strike of sanitation workers. He wasn't just out there
> talking about civil rights. He had moved to economic equality as a
> fundamental issue."
>
> Max Weber wrote, "What is possible would never have been achieved if, in
> this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible."
>
> Foner, like Weber, argues that it is the visionaries and utopian reformers
> such as Debs and the abolitionists who brought about real social change,
> not
> the "practical" politicians. The abolitionists destroyed what Foner calls
> the "conspiracy of silence by which political parties, churches and other
> institutions sought to exclude slavery from public debate." He writes:
>
>
> For much of the 1850s and the first two years of the Civil War,
> Lincoln-widely considered the model of a pragmatic politician-advocated a
> plan to end slavery that involved gradual emancipation, monetary
> compensation for slaver owners, and setting up colonies of freed blacks
> outside the United States. The harebrained scheme had no possibility of
> enactment. It was the abolitionists, still viewed by some historians as
> irresponsible fanatics, who put forward the program-an immediate and
> uncompensated end to slavery, with black people becoming US citizens-that
> came to pass (with Lincoln's eventual help, of course).
>
> The political squabbles that dominate public discourse almost never
> question
> the sanctity of private property, individualism, capitalism or imperialism.
> They hold as sacrosanct American "virtues." They insist that Americans are
> a
> "good" people steadily overcoming any prejudices and injustices that may
> have occurred in the past. The debates between the Democrats and the Whigs,
> or today's Republicans and Democrats, have roots in the same allegiance to
> the dominant structures of power, myth of American exceptionalism and white
> supremacy.
>
> "It's all a family quarrel without any genuine, serious disagreements,"
> Foner said.
>
> Those who challenge these structures, who reach for the impossible, who
> dare
> to speak the truth, have been, throughout American history, dismissed as
> "fanatics." But, as Foner points out, it is often the "fanatics" who make
> history.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] The Silencing Of Dissent
The American Working Class has always been under attack by the Ruling
Class. But in the days since Ronald Reagan, it has become a lopsided
war. And the reason is that the Working Class still trusts their
wealthy bosses far more than is good for them.
Chris Hedges article is a "must read and reread".
Carl Jarvis
On 9/24/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Please do read this piece very carefully. It is relevant to our access to
> the kinds of journalism and opinion pieces that Sylvie used to post and
> that
> I currently post. All of the journalists and thinkers whom I value are
> slowly being silenced. All of what Hedges describes, I've seen reported in
> pieces in other articles, aside from the statistics which show that Google
> and Face Book have made it impossible for people to search for information
> on certain subjects and individuals.
> Miriam
>
> The Silencing Of Dissent
> Fish-Tree-of-Knowledge-17Sep2017-850x765
> By Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com
> September 19th, 2017
>
> Above Photo: Mr. Fish
>
> The ruling elites, who grasp that the reigning ideology of global corporate
> capitalism and imperial expansion no longer has moral or intellectual
> credibility, have mounted a campaign to shut down the platforms given to
> their critics. The attacks within this campaign include blacklisting,
> censorship and slandering dissidents as foreign agents for Russia and
> purveyors of "fake news."
>
> No dominant class can long retain control when the credibility of the ideas
> that justify its existence evaporates. It is forced, at that point, to
> resort to crude forms of coercion, intimidation and censorship. This
> ideological collapse in the United States has transformed those of us who
> attack the corporate state into a potent threat, not because we reach large
> numbers of people, and certainly not because we spread Russian propaganda,
> but because the elites no longer have a plausible counterargument.
>
> The elites face an unpleasant choice. They could impose harsh controls to
> protect the status quo or veer leftward toward socialism to ameliorate the
> mounting economic and political injustices endured by most of the
> population. But a move leftward, essentially reinstating and expanding the
> New Deal programs they have destroyed, would impede corporate power and
> corporate profits. So instead the elites, including the Democratic Party
> leadership, have decided to quash public debate. The tactic they are using
> is as old as the nation-state—smearing critics as traitors who are in the
> service of a hostile foreign power. Tens of thousands of people of
> conscience were blacklisted in this way during the Red Scares of the 1920s
> and 1950s. The current hyperbolic and relentless focus on Russia, embraced
> with gusto by "liberal" media outlets such as The New York Times and MSNBC,
> has unleashed what some have called a virulent "New McCarthyism."
>
> The corporate elites do not fear Russia. There is no publicly disclosed
> evidence that Russia swung the election to Donald Trump. Nor does Russia
> appear to be intent on a military confrontation with the United States. I
> am
> certain Russia tries to meddle in U.S. affairs to its advantage, as we do
> and did in Russia—including our clandestine bankrolling of Boris Yeltsin,
> whose successful 1996 campaign for re-election as president is estimated to
> have cost up to $2.5 billion, much of that money coming indirectly from the
> American government. In today's media environment Russia is the foil. The
> corporate state is unnerved by the media outlets that give a voice to
> critics of corporate capitalism, the security and surveillance state and
> imperialism, including the network RT America.
>
> My show on RT America, "On Contact," like my columns at Truthdig, amplifies
> the voices of these dissidents—Tariq Ali, Kshama Sawant, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
> Medea Benjamin, Ajamu Baraka, Noam Chomsky, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Rania
> Khalek, Amira Hass, Miko Peled, Abby Martin, Glen Ford, Max Blumenthal, Pam
> Africa, Linh Dinh, Ben Norton, Eugene Puryear, Allan Nairn, Jill Stein,
> Kevin Zeese and others. These dissidents, if we had a functioning public
> broadcasting system or a commercial press free of corporate control, would
> be included in the mainstream discourse. They are not bought and paid for.
> They have integrity, courage and often brilliance. They are honest. For
> these reasons, in the eyes of the corporate state, they are very dangerous.
>
> The first and deadliest salvo in the war on dissent came in 1971 when Lewis
> Powell, a corporate attorney and later a Supreme Court justice, wrote and
> circulated a memo among business leaders called "Attack on American Free
> Enterprise System." It became the blueprint for the corporate coup d'état.
> Corporations, as Powell recommended in the document, poured hundreds of
> millions of dollars into the assault, financing pro-business political
> candidates, mounting campaigns against the liberal wing of the Democratic
> Party and the press and creating institutions such as the Business
> Roundtable, The Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato
> Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Federalist Society and
> Accuracy
> in Academia. The memo argued that corporations had to fund sustained
> campaigns to marginalize or silence those who in "the college campus, the
> pulpit, the media, and the intellectual and literary journals" were hostile
> to corporate interests.
>
> Powell attacked Ralph Nader by name. Lobbyists flooded Washington and state
> capitals. Regulatory controls were abolished. Massive tax cuts for
> corporations and the wealthy were implemented, culminating in a de facto
> tax
> boycott. Trade barriers were lifted and the country's manufacturing base
> was
> destroyed. Social programs were slashed and funds for infrastructure, from
> roads and bridges to public libraries and schools, were cut. Protections
> for
> workers were gutted. Wages declined or stagnated. The military budget,
> along
> with the organs of internal security, became ever more bloated. A de facto
> blacklist, especially in universities and the press, was used to discredit
> intellectuals, radicals and activists who decried the idea of the nation
> prostrating itself before the dictates of the marketplace and condemned the
> crimes of imperialism, some of the best known being Howard Zinn, Noam
> Chomsky, Sheldon Wolin, Ward Churchill, Nader, Angela Davis and Edward
> Said.
> These critics were permitted to exist only on the margins of society, often
> outside of institutions, and many had trouble making a living.
>
> The financial meltdown of 2008 not only devastated the global economy, it
> exposed the lies propagated by those advocating globalization. Among these
> lies: that salaries of workers would rise, democracy would spread across
> the
> globe, the tech industry would replace manufacturing as a source of worker
> income, the middle class would flourish, and global communities would
> prosper. After 2008 it became clear that the "free market" is a scam, a
> zombie ideology by which workers and communities are ravaged by predatory
> capitalists and assets are funneled upward into the hands of the global 1
> percent. The endless wars, fought largely to enrich the arms industry and
> swell the power of the military, are futile and counterproductive to
> national interests. Deindustrialization and austerity programs have
> impoverished the working class and fatally damaged the economy.
>
> The establishment politicians in the two leading parties, each in service
> to
> corporate power and responsible for the assault on civil liberties and
> impoverishment of the country, are no longer able to use identity politics
> and the culture wars to whip up support. This led in the last presidential
> campaign to an insurgency by Bernie Sanders, which the Democratic Party
> crushed, and the election of Donald Trump.
>
> Barack Obama rode a wave of bipartisan resentment into office in 2008, then
> spent eight years betraying the public. Obama's assault on civil liberties,
> including his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers, was
> worse than those carried out by George W. Bush. He accelerated the war on
> public education by privatizing schools, expanded the wars in the Middle
> East, including the use of militarized drone attacks, provided little
> meaningful environmental reform, ignored the plight of the working class,
> deported more undocumented people than any other president, imposed a
> corporate-sponsored health care program that was the brainchild of the
> right-wing Heritage Foundation, and prohibited the Justice Department from
> prosecuting the bankers and financial firms that carried out derivatives
> scams and inflated the housing and real estate market, a condition that led
> to the 2008 financial meltdown. He epitomized, like Bill Clinton, the
> bankruptcy of the Democratic Party. Clinton, outdoing Obama's later
> actions,
> gave us the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the dismantling of
> the welfare system, the deregulation of the financial services industry and
> the huge expansion of mass incarceration. Clinton also oversaw deregulation
> of the Federal Communications Commission, a change that allowed a handful
> of
> corporations to buy up the airwaves.
>
> The corporate state was in crisis at the end of the Obama presidency. It
> was
> widely hated. It became vulnerable to attacks by the critics it had pushed
> to the fringes. Most vulnerable was the Democratic Party establishment,
> which claims to defend the rights of working men and women and protect
> civil
> liberties. This is why the Democratic Party is so zealous in its efforts to
> discredit its critics as stooges for Moscow and to charge that Russian
> interference caused its election defeat.
>
> In January there was a report on Russia by the Office of the Director of
> National Intelligence. The report devoted seven of its 25 pages to RT
> America and its influence on the presidential election. It claimed "Russian
> media made increasingly favorable comments about President-elect Trump as
> the 2016 US general and primary election campaigns progressed while
> consistently offering negative coverage of Secretary [Hillary] Clinton."
> This might seem true if you did not watch my RT broadcasts, which
> relentlessly attacked Trump as well as Clinton, or watch Ed Schultz, who
> now
> has a program on RT after having been the host of an MSNBC commentary
> program. The report also attempted to present RT America as having a vast
> media footprint and influence it does not possess.
>
> "In an effort to highlight the alleged 'lack of democracy' in the United
> States, RT broadcast, hosted, and advertised third party candidate debates
> and ran reporting supportive of the political agenda of these candidates,"
> the report read, correctly summing up themes on my show. "The RT hosts
> asserted that the US two-party system does not represent the views of at
> least one-third of the population and is a 'sham.' "
>
> It went on:
>
>
> RT's reports often characterize the United States as a 'surveillance state'
> and allege widespread infringements of civil liberties, police brutality,
> and drone use.
>
> RT has also focused on criticism of the US economic system, US currency
> policy, alleged Wall Street greed, and the US national debt. Some of RT's
> hosts have compared the United States to Imperial Rome and have predicted
> that government corruption and "corporate greed" will lead to US financial
> collapse.
>
> Is the corporate state so obtuse it thinks the American public has not, on
> its own, reached these conclusions about the condition of the nation? Is
> this what it defines as "fake news"? But most important, isn't this the
> truth that the courtiers in the mainstream press and public broadcasting,
> dependent on their funding from sources such as the Koch brothers, refuse
> to
> present? And isn't it, in the end, the truth that frightens them the most?
> Abby Martin and Ben Norton ripped apart the mendacity of the report and the
> complicity of the corporate media in my "On Contact" show titled "Real
> purpose of intel report on Russian hacking with Abby Martin & Ben Norton."
>
> In November 2016, The Washington Post reported on a blacklist published by
> the shadowy and anonymous site PropOrNot. The blacklist was composed of 199
> sites PropOrNot alleged, with no evidence, "reliably echo Russian
> propaganda." More than half of those sites were far-right,
> conspiracy-driven
> ones. But about 20 of the sites were major left-wing outlets including
> AlterNet, Black Agenda Report, Democracy Now!, Naked Capitalism, Truthdig,
> Truthout, CounterPunch and the World Socialist Web Site. The blacklist and
> the spurious accusations that these sites disseminated "fake news" on
> behalf
> of Russia were given prominent play in the Post in a story headlined
> "Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during the election,
> experts say." The reporter, Craig Timberg, wrote that the goal of the
> Russian propaganda effort, according to "independent researchers who have
> tracked the operation," was "punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping
> Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy." Last
> December, Truthdig columnist Bill Boyarsky wrote a good piece about
> PropOrNot, which to this day remains essentially a secret organization.
>
> The owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, also the founder and CEO of
> Amazon, has a $600 million contract with the CIA. Google, likewise, is
> deeply embedded within the security and surveillance state and aligned with
> the ruling elites. Amazon recently purged over 1,000 negative reviews of
> Hillary Clinton's new book, "What Happened." The effect was that the book's
> Amazon rating jumped from 2 1/2 stars to five stars. Do corporations such
> as
> Google and Amazon carry out such censorship on behalf of the U.S.
> government? Or is this censorship their independent contribution to protect
> the corporate state?
>
> In the name of combating Russia-inspired "fake news," Google, Facebook,
> Twitter, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Agence
> France-Presse and CNN in April imposed algorithms or filters, overseen by
> "evaluators," that hunt for key words such as "U.S. military," "inequality"
> and "socialism," along with personal names such as Julian Assange and Laura
> Poitras, the filmmaker. Ben Gomes, Google's vice president for search
> engineering, says Google has amassed some 10,000 "evaluators" to determine
> the "quality" and veracity of websites. Internet users doing searches on
> Google, since the algorithms were put in place, are diverted from sites
> such
> as Truthdig and directed to mainstream publications such as The New York
> Times. The news organizations and corporations that are imposing this
> censorship have strong links to the Democratic Party. They are cheerleaders
> for American imperial projects and global capitalism. Because they are
> struggling in the new media environment for profitability, they have an
> economic incentive to be part of the witch hunt.
>
> The World Socialist Web Site reported in July that its aggregate volume, or
> "impressions"—links displayed by Google in response to search requests—fell
> dramatically over a short period after the new algorithms were imposed. It
> also wrote that a number of sites "declared to be 'fake news' by the
> Washington Post's discredited [PropOrNot] blacklist … had their global
> ranking fall. The average decline of the global reach of all of these sites
> is 25 percent. …"
>
> Another article, "Google rigs searches to block access to World Socialist
> Web Site," by the same website that month said:
>
>
> During the month of May, Google searches including the word "war" produced
> 61,795 WSWS impressions. In July, WSWS impressions fell by approximately 90
> percent, to 6,613.
>
> Searches for the term "Korean war" produced 20,392 impressions in May. In
> July, searches using the same words produced zero WSWS impressions.
> Searches
> for "North Korea war" produced 4,626 impressions in May. In July, the
> result
> of the same search produced zero WSWS impressions. "India Pakistan war"
> produced 4,394 impressions in May. In July, the result, again, was zero.
> And
> "Nuclear war 2017" produced 2,319 impressions in May, and zero in July.
>
> To cite some other searches: "WikiLeaks," fell from 6,576 impressions to
> zero, "Julian Assange" fell from 3,701 impressions to zero, and "Laura
> Poitras" fell from 4,499 impressions to zero. A search for "Michael
> Hastings"—the reporter who died in 2013 under suspicious
> circumstances—produced 33,464 impressions in May, but only 5,227
> impressions
> in July.
>
> In addition to geopolitics, the WSWS regularly covers a broad range of
> social issues, many of which have seen precipitous drops in search results.
> Searches for "food stamps," "Ford layoffs," "Amazon warehouse," and
> "secretary of education" all went down from more than 5,000 impressions in
> May to zero impressions in July.
>
> The accusation that left-wing sites collude with Russia has made them
> theoretically subject, along with those who write for them, to the
> Espionage
> Act and the Foreign Agent Registration Act, which requires Americans who
> work on behalf of a foreign party to register as foreign agents.
>
> The latest salvo came last week. It is the most ominous. The Department of
> Justice called on RT America and its "associates"—which may mean people
> like
> me—to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. No doubt, the
> corporate state knows that most of us will not register as foreign agents,
> meaning we will be banished from the airwaves. This, I expect, is the
> intent. The government will not stop with RT. The FBI has been handed the
> authority to determine who is a "legitimate" journalist and who is not. It
> will use this authority to decimate the left.
>
> This is a war of ideas. The corporate state cannot compete honestly in this
> contest. It will do what all despotic regimes do—govern through wholesale
> surveillance, lies, blacklists, false accusations of treason, heavy-handed
> censorship and, eventually, violence.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Class. But in the days since Ronald Reagan, it has become a lopsided
war. And the reason is that the Working Class still trusts their
wealthy bosses far more than is good for them.
Chris Hedges article is a "must read and reread".
Carl Jarvis
On 9/24/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> Please do read this piece very carefully. It is relevant to our access to
> the kinds of journalism and opinion pieces that Sylvie used to post and
> that
> I currently post. All of the journalists and thinkers whom I value are
> slowly being silenced. All of what Hedges describes, I've seen reported in
> pieces in other articles, aside from the statistics which show that Google
> and Face Book have made it impossible for people to search for information
> on certain subjects and individuals.
> Miriam
>
> The Silencing Of Dissent
> Fish-Tree-of-Knowledge-17Sep2017-850x765
> By Chris Hedges, www.truthdig.com
> September 19th, 2017
>
> Above Photo: Mr. Fish
>
> The ruling elites, who grasp that the reigning ideology of global corporate
> capitalism and imperial expansion no longer has moral or intellectual
> credibility, have mounted a campaign to shut down the platforms given to
> their critics. The attacks within this campaign include blacklisting,
> censorship and slandering dissidents as foreign agents for Russia and
> purveyors of "fake news."
>
> No dominant class can long retain control when the credibility of the ideas
> that justify its existence evaporates. It is forced, at that point, to
> resort to crude forms of coercion, intimidation and censorship. This
> ideological collapse in the United States has transformed those of us who
> attack the corporate state into a potent threat, not because we reach large
> numbers of people, and certainly not because we spread Russian propaganda,
> but because the elites no longer have a plausible counterargument.
>
> The elites face an unpleasant choice. They could impose harsh controls to
> protect the status quo or veer leftward toward socialism to ameliorate the
> mounting economic and political injustices endured by most of the
> population. But a move leftward, essentially reinstating and expanding the
> New Deal programs they have destroyed, would impede corporate power and
> corporate profits. So instead the elites, including the Democratic Party
> leadership, have decided to quash public debate. The tactic they are using
> is as old as the nation-state—smearing critics as traitors who are in the
> service of a hostile foreign power. Tens of thousands of people of
> conscience were blacklisted in this way during the Red Scares of the 1920s
> and 1950s. The current hyperbolic and relentless focus on Russia, embraced
> with gusto by "liberal" media outlets such as The New York Times and MSNBC,
> has unleashed what some have called a virulent "New McCarthyism."
>
> The corporate elites do not fear Russia. There is no publicly disclosed
> evidence that Russia swung the election to Donald Trump. Nor does Russia
> appear to be intent on a military confrontation with the United States. I
> am
> certain Russia tries to meddle in U.S. affairs to its advantage, as we do
> and did in Russia—including our clandestine bankrolling of Boris Yeltsin,
> whose successful 1996 campaign for re-election as president is estimated to
> have cost up to $2.5 billion, much of that money coming indirectly from the
> American government. In today's media environment Russia is the foil. The
> corporate state is unnerved by the media outlets that give a voice to
> critics of corporate capitalism, the security and surveillance state and
> imperialism, including the network RT America.
>
> My show on RT America, "On Contact," like my columns at Truthdig, amplifies
> the voices of these dissidents—Tariq Ali, Kshama Sawant, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
> Medea Benjamin, Ajamu Baraka, Noam Chomsky, Dr. Margaret Flowers, Rania
> Khalek, Amira Hass, Miko Peled, Abby Martin, Glen Ford, Max Blumenthal, Pam
> Africa, Linh Dinh, Ben Norton, Eugene Puryear, Allan Nairn, Jill Stein,
> Kevin Zeese and others. These dissidents, if we had a functioning public
> broadcasting system or a commercial press free of corporate control, would
> be included in the mainstream discourse. They are not bought and paid for.
> They have integrity, courage and often brilliance. They are honest. For
> these reasons, in the eyes of the corporate state, they are very dangerous.
>
> The first and deadliest salvo in the war on dissent came in 1971 when Lewis
> Powell, a corporate attorney and later a Supreme Court justice, wrote and
> circulated a memo among business leaders called "Attack on American Free
> Enterprise System." It became the blueprint for the corporate coup d'état.
> Corporations, as Powell recommended in the document, poured hundreds of
> millions of dollars into the assault, financing pro-business political
> candidates, mounting campaigns against the liberal wing of the Democratic
> Party and the press and creating institutions such as the Business
> Roundtable, The Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the Cato
> Institute, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Federalist Society and
> Accuracy
> in Academia. The memo argued that corporations had to fund sustained
> campaigns to marginalize or silence those who in "the college campus, the
> pulpit, the media, and the intellectual and literary journals" were hostile
> to corporate interests.
>
> Powell attacked Ralph Nader by name. Lobbyists flooded Washington and state
> capitals. Regulatory controls were abolished. Massive tax cuts for
> corporations and the wealthy were implemented, culminating in a de facto
> tax
> boycott. Trade barriers were lifted and the country's manufacturing base
> was
> destroyed. Social programs were slashed and funds for infrastructure, from
> roads and bridges to public libraries and schools, were cut. Protections
> for
> workers were gutted. Wages declined or stagnated. The military budget,
> along
> with the organs of internal security, became ever more bloated. A de facto
> blacklist, especially in universities and the press, was used to discredit
> intellectuals, radicals and activists who decried the idea of the nation
> prostrating itself before the dictates of the marketplace and condemned the
> crimes of imperialism, some of the best known being Howard Zinn, Noam
> Chomsky, Sheldon Wolin, Ward Churchill, Nader, Angela Davis and Edward
> Said.
> These critics were permitted to exist only on the margins of society, often
> outside of institutions, and many had trouble making a living.
>
> The financial meltdown of 2008 not only devastated the global economy, it
> exposed the lies propagated by those advocating globalization. Among these
> lies: that salaries of workers would rise, democracy would spread across
> the
> globe, the tech industry would replace manufacturing as a source of worker
> income, the middle class would flourish, and global communities would
> prosper. After 2008 it became clear that the "free market" is a scam, a
> zombie ideology by which workers and communities are ravaged by predatory
> capitalists and assets are funneled upward into the hands of the global 1
> percent. The endless wars, fought largely to enrich the arms industry and
> swell the power of the military, are futile and counterproductive to
> national interests. Deindustrialization and austerity programs have
> impoverished the working class and fatally damaged the economy.
>
> The establishment politicians in the two leading parties, each in service
> to
> corporate power and responsible for the assault on civil liberties and
> impoverishment of the country, are no longer able to use identity politics
> and the culture wars to whip up support. This led in the last presidential
> campaign to an insurgency by Bernie Sanders, which the Democratic Party
> crushed, and the election of Donald Trump.
>
> Barack Obama rode a wave of bipartisan resentment into office in 2008, then
> spent eight years betraying the public. Obama's assault on civil liberties,
> including his use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers, was
> worse than those carried out by George W. Bush. He accelerated the war on
> public education by privatizing schools, expanded the wars in the Middle
> East, including the use of militarized drone attacks, provided little
> meaningful environmental reform, ignored the plight of the working class,
> deported more undocumented people than any other president, imposed a
> corporate-sponsored health care program that was the brainchild of the
> right-wing Heritage Foundation, and prohibited the Justice Department from
> prosecuting the bankers and financial firms that carried out derivatives
> scams and inflated the housing and real estate market, a condition that led
> to the 2008 financial meltdown. He epitomized, like Bill Clinton, the
> bankruptcy of the Democratic Party. Clinton, outdoing Obama's later
> actions,
> gave us the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the dismantling of
> the welfare system, the deregulation of the financial services industry and
> the huge expansion of mass incarceration. Clinton also oversaw deregulation
> of the Federal Communications Commission, a change that allowed a handful
> of
> corporations to buy up the airwaves.
>
> The corporate state was in crisis at the end of the Obama presidency. It
> was
> widely hated. It became vulnerable to attacks by the critics it had pushed
> to the fringes. Most vulnerable was the Democratic Party establishment,
> which claims to defend the rights of working men and women and protect
> civil
> liberties. This is why the Democratic Party is so zealous in its efforts to
> discredit its critics as stooges for Moscow and to charge that Russian
> interference caused its election defeat.
>
> In January there was a report on Russia by the Office of the Director of
> National Intelligence. The report devoted seven of its 25 pages to RT
> America and its influence on the presidential election. It claimed "Russian
> media made increasingly favorable comments about President-elect Trump as
> the 2016 US general and primary election campaigns progressed while
> consistently offering negative coverage of Secretary [Hillary] Clinton."
> This might seem true if you did not watch my RT broadcasts, which
> relentlessly attacked Trump as well as Clinton, or watch Ed Schultz, who
> now
> has a program on RT after having been the host of an MSNBC commentary
> program. The report also attempted to present RT America as having a vast
> media footprint and influence it does not possess.
>
> "In an effort to highlight the alleged 'lack of democracy' in the United
> States, RT broadcast, hosted, and advertised third party candidate debates
> and ran reporting supportive of the political agenda of these candidates,"
> the report read, correctly summing up themes on my show. "The RT hosts
> asserted that the US two-party system does not represent the views of at
> least one-third of the population and is a 'sham.' "
>
> It went on:
>
>
> RT's reports often characterize the United States as a 'surveillance state'
> and allege widespread infringements of civil liberties, police brutality,
> and drone use.
>
> RT has also focused on criticism of the US economic system, US currency
> policy, alleged Wall Street greed, and the US national debt. Some of RT's
> hosts have compared the United States to Imperial Rome and have predicted
> that government corruption and "corporate greed" will lead to US financial
> collapse.
>
> Is the corporate state so obtuse it thinks the American public has not, on
> its own, reached these conclusions about the condition of the nation? Is
> this what it defines as "fake news"? But most important, isn't this the
> truth that the courtiers in the mainstream press and public broadcasting,
> dependent on their funding from sources such as the Koch brothers, refuse
> to
> present? And isn't it, in the end, the truth that frightens them the most?
> Abby Martin and Ben Norton ripped apart the mendacity of the report and the
> complicity of the corporate media in my "On Contact" show titled "Real
> purpose of intel report on Russian hacking with Abby Martin & Ben Norton."
>
> In November 2016, The Washington Post reported on a blacklist published by
> the shadowy and anonymous site PropOrNot. The blacklist was composed of 199
> sites PropOrNot alleged, with no evidence, "reliably echo Russian
> propaganda." More than half of those sites were far-right,
> conspiracy-driven
> ones. But about 20 of the sites were major left-wing outlets including
> AlterNet, Black Agenda Report, Democracy Now!, Naked Capitalism, Truthdig,
> Truthout, CounterPunch and the World Socialist Web Site. The blacklist and
> the spurious accusations that these sites disseminated "fake news" on
> behalf
> of Russia were given prominent play in the Post in a story headlined
> "Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during the election,
> experts say." The reporter, Craig Timberg, wrote that the goal of the
> Russian propaganda effort, according to "independent researchers who have
> tracked the operation," was "punishing Democrat Hillary Clinton, helping
> Republican Donald Trump and undermining faith in American democracy." Last
> December, Truthdig columnist Bill Boyarsky wrote a good piece about
> PropOrNot, which to this day remains essentially a secret organization.
>
> The owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, also the founder and CEO of
> Amazon, has a $600 million contract with the CIA. Google, likewise, is
> deeply embedded within the security and surveillance state and aligned with
> the ruling elites. Amazon recently purged over 1,000 negative reviews of
> Hillary Clinton's new book, "What Happened." The effect was that the book's
> Amazon rating jumped from 2 1/2 stars to five stars. Do corporations such
> as
> Google and Amazon carry out such censorship on behalf of the U.S.
> government? Or is this censorship their independent contribution to protect
> the corporate state?
>
> In the name of combating Russia-inspired "fake news," Google, Facebook,
> Twitter, The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Agence
> France-Presse and CNN in April imposed algorithms or filters, overseen by
> "evaluators," that hunt for key words such as "U.S. military," "inequality"
> and "socialism," along with personal names such as Julian Assange and Laura
> Poitras, the filmmaker. Ben Gomes, Google's vice president for search
> engineering, says Google has amassed some 10,000 "evaluators" to determine
> the "quality" and veracity of websites. Internet users doing searches on
> Google, since the algorithms were put in place, are diverted from sites
> such
> as Truthdig and directed to mainstream publications such as The New York
> Times. The news organizations and corporations that are imposing this
> censorship have strong links to the Democratic Party. They are cheerleaders
> for American imperial projects and global capitalism. Because they are
> struggling in the new media environment for profitability, they have an
> economic incentive to be part of the witch hunt.
>
> The World Socialist Web Site reported in July that its aggregate volume, or
> "impressions"—links displayed by Google in response to search requests—fell
> dramatically over a short period after the new algorithms were imposed. It
> also wrote that a number of sites "declared to be 'fake news' by the
> Washington Post's discredited [PropOrNot] blacklist … had their global
> ranking fall. The average decline of the global reach of all of these sites
> is 25 percent. …"
>
> Another article, "Google rigs searches to block access to World Socialist
> Web Site," by the same website that month said:
>
>
> During the month of May, Google searches including the word "war" produced
> 61,795 WSWS impressions. In July, WSWS impressions fell by approximately 90
> percent, to 6,613.
>
> Searches for the term "Korean war" produced 20,392 impressions in May. In
> July, searches using the same words produced zero WSWS impressions.
> Searches
> for "North Korea war" produced 4,626 impressions in May. In July, the
> result
> of the same search produced zero WSWS impressions. "India Pakistan war"
> produced 4,394 impressions in May. In July, the result, again, was zero.
> And
> "Nuclear war 2017" produced 2,319 impressions in May, and zero in July.
>
> To cite some other searches: "WikiLeaks," fell from 6,576 impressions to
> zero, "Julian Assange" fell from 3,701 impressions to zero, and "Laura
> Poitras" fell from 4,499 impressions to zero. A search for "Michael
> Hastings"—the reporter who died in 2013 under suspicious
> circumstances—produced 33,464 impressions in May, but only 5,227
> impressions
> in July.
>
> In addition to geopolitics, the WSWS regularly covers a broad range of
> social issues, many of which have seen precipitous drops in search results.
> Searches for "food stamps," "Ford layoffs," "Amazon warehouse," and
> "secretary of education" all went down from more than 5,000 impressions in
> May to zero impressions in July.
>
> The accusation that left-wing sites collude with Russia has made them
> theoretically subject, along with those who write for them, to the
> Espionage
> Act and the Foreign Agent Registration Act, which requires Americans who
> work on behalf of a foreign party to register as foreign agents.
>
> The latest salvo came last week. It is the most ominous. The Department of
> Justice called on RT America and its "associates"—which may mean people
> like
> me—to register under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. No doubt, the
> corporate state knows that most of us will not register as foreign agents,
> meaning we will be banished from the airwaves. This, I expect, is the
> intent. The government will not stop with RT. The FBI has been handed the
> authority to determine who is a "legitimate" journalist and who is not. It
> will use this authority to decimate the left.
>
> This is a war of ideas. The corporate state cannot compete honestly in this
> contest. It will do what all despotic regimes do—govern through wholesale
> surveillance, lies, blacklists, false accusations of treason, heavy-handed
> censorship and, eventually, violence.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Re: [blind-democracy] An American Oligarch‘s Dirty Tale Of Corruption
It's long been my contention that the American Working Class would
have a clearer view of why the government behaves the way it does, if
we could agree, at least in a broad stroke, that this nation was an
Oligarchy from its inception, regardless of what we were taught in
school. The Oligarchy established a Republic, but remember, it served
a very narrow part of the total Colonial Population. Even as the
Constitution was ammended to include other people as First Class
Citizens, the Ruling Class...the Oligarchy, began to devise methods of
restricting the number of registered voters.
Carl Jarvis
Here's part of an article written back in 2014:
By
Cheryl K. Chumley
- The Washington Times - Monday, April 21, 2014
America is no longer a democracy — never mind the democratic republic
envisioned by Founding Fathers.
Rather, it has taken a turn down elitist lane and become a country led
by a small dominant class comprised of powerful members who exert
total control
over the general population — an oligarchy, said
a new study
jointly conducted by Princeton and Northwestern universities.
One finding in the study: The U.S. government now represents the rich
and powerful, not the average citizen, United Press International
reported.
In the study, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest
Groups and Average Citizens," researchers compared 1,800 different
U.S. policies
that were put in place by politicians between 1981 and 2002 to the
type of policies preferred by the average and wealthy American, or
special interest
groups.
Researchers then concluded that U.S. policies are formed more by
special interest groups than by politicians properly representing the
will of the general
people, including the lower-income class.
"The central point that emerges from our research is that economic
elites and organized groups representing business interests have
substantial independent
impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups
and average citizens have little or no independent influence," the
study found.
The study also found: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with
economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose."
On 9/25/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> An American Oligarch's Dirty Tale Of Corruption
> Flickr/ Charles Hutchins
> F. William Engdahl, www.journal-neo.org
> September 21st, 2017
> Above Photo: Charles Hutchins/ Flickr
>
> Rarely does the world get a true look inside the corrupt world of Western
> oligarchs and the brazen manipulations they use to enhance their fortunes at
> the expense of the public good. The following comes from correspondence of
> the Hungarian-born billionaire, now naturalized American speculator, George
> Soros. The hacker group CyberBerkut has published online letters allegedly
> written by Soros that reveal him not only as puppet master of the US-backed
> Ukraine regime. They also reveal his machinations with the US Government and
> the officials of the European Union in a scheme where, if he succeeds, he
> could win billions in the plunder of Ukraine assets. All, of course, would
> be at the expense of Ukrainian citizens and of EU taxpayers.
>
> What the three hacked documents reveal is a degree of behind-the-scene
> manipulation of the most minute details of the Kiev regime by the New York
> billionaire.
>
> In the longest memo, dated March 15, 2015 and marked "Confidential" Soros
> outlines a detailed map of actions for the Ukraine regime. Titled, "A short
> and medium term comprehensive strategy for the new Ukraine," the memo from
> Soros calls for steps to "restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without
> violating the Minsk agreement." To do the restoring, Soros blithely notes
> that "General Wesley Clark, Polish General Skrzypczak and a few specialists
> under the auspices of the Atlantic Council[emphasis added—f.w.e.] will
> advise President Poroshenko how to restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine
> without violating the Minsk agreement."
>
> Soros also calls for supplying lethal arms to Ukraine and secretly training
> Ukrainian army personnel in Romania to avoid direct NATO presence in
> Ukraine. The Atlantic Council is a leading Washington pro-NATO think tank.
>
> Notably, Wesley Clark is also a business associate of Soros in BNK Petroleum
> which does business in Poland.
>
> Clark, some might recall, was the mentally-unstable NATO General in charge
> of the 1999 bombing of Serbia who ordered NATO soldiers to fire on Russian
> soldiers guarding the Pristina International Airport. The Russians were
> there as a part of an agreed joint NATO–Russia peacekeeping operation
> supposed to police Kosovo. The British Commander, General Mike Jackson
> refused Clark, retorting, "I'm not going to start the Third World War for
> you." Now Clark apparently decided to come out of retirement for the chance
> to go at Russia directly.
>
> Naked asset grab
>
> In his March 2015 memo Soros further writes that Ukrainian President
> Poroshenko's "first priority must be to regain control of financial
> markets," which he assures Poroshenko that Soros would be ready to assist
> in: "I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US Treasury to sound him out about
> the swap agreement."
>
> He also calls on the EU to give Ukraine an annual aid sum of €11 billion via
> a special EU borrowing facility. Soros proposes in effect using the EU's
> "AAA" top credit rating to provide a risk insurance for investment into
> Ukraine.
>
> Whose risk would the EU insure?
>
> Soros details, "I am prepared to invest up to €1 billion in Ukrainian
> businesses. This is likely to attract the interest of the investment
> community. As stated above, Ukraine must become an attractive investment
> destination." Not to leave any doubt, Soros continues, "The investments will
> be for-profit but I will pledge to contribute the profits to my foundations.
> This should allay suspicions that I am advocating policies in search of
> personal gain. "
>
> For anyone familiar with the history of the Soros Open Society Foundations
> in Eastern Europe and around the world since the late 1980's, will know that
> his supposedly philanthropic "democracy-building" projects in Poland,
> Russia, or Ukraine in the 1990's allowed Soros the businessman to literally
> plunder the former communist countries using Harvard University's "shock
> therapy" messiah, and Soros associate, Jeffrey Sachs, to convince the
> post-Soviet governments to privatize and open to a "free market" at once,
> rather than gradually.
>
> The example of Soros in Liberia is instructive for understanding the
> seemingly seamless interplay between Soros the shrewd businessman and Soros
> the philanthropist. In West Africa George Soros backed a former Open Society
> employee of his, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, giving her
> international publicity and through his influence, even arranging a Nobel
> Peace Prize for her in 2011, insuring her election as president. Before her
> presidency she had been well-indoctrinated into the Western free market
> game, studying economics at Harvard and working for the US-controlled World
> Bank in Washington and the Rockefeller Citibank in Nairobi. Before becoming
> Liberia's President, she worked for Soros directly as chair of his Open
> Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
>
> Once in office, President Sirleaf opened the doors for Soros to take over
> major Liberian gold and base metals assets along with his partner, Nathaniel
> Rothschild. One of her first acts as President was to also invite the
> Pentagon's new Africa Command, AFRICOM, into Liberia whose purpose as a
> Liberian investigation revealed, was to "protect George Soros and Rothschild
> mining operations in West Africa rather than champion stability and human
> rights."
>
> Naftogaz the target
>
> The Soros memo makes clear he has his eyes on the Ukrainian state gas and
> energy monopoly, Naftogaz. He writes, "The centerpiece of economic reforms
> will be the reorganization of Naftogaz and the introduction of market
> pricing for all forms of energy, replacing hidden subsidies…"
>
> In an earlier letter Soros wrote in December 2014 to both President
> Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Soros openly called for his Shock
> Therapy: "I want to appeal to you to unite behind the reformers in your
> government and give your wholehearted support to a radical, 'big bang' type
> of approach. That is to say, administrative controls would be removed and
> the economy would move to market prices rapidly rather than
> gradually…Naftogaz needs to be reorganized with a big bang replacing the
> hidden subsidies…"
>
> Splitting Naftogaz into separate companies could allow Soros to take control
> of one of the new branches and essentially privatize its profits. He already
> suggested that he indirectly brought in US consulting company, McKinsey, to
> advise Naftogaz on the privatization "big bang."
>
> The Puppet-Master?
>
> The totality of what is revealed in the three hacked documents show that
> Soros is effectively the puppet-master pulling most of the strings in Kiev.
> Soros Foundation's Ukraine branch, International Renaissance Foundation
> (IRF) has been involved in Ukraine since 1989. His IRF doled out more than
> $100 million to Ukrainian NGOs two years before the fall of the Soviet
> Union, creating the preconditions for Ukraine's independence from Russia in
> 1991. Soros also admitted to financing the 2013-2014 Maidan Square protests
> that brought the current government into power.
>
> Soros' foundations were also deeply involved in the 2004 Orange Revolution
> that brought the corrupt but pro-NATO Viktor Yushchenko into power with his
> American wife who had been in the US State Department. In 2004 just weeks
> after Soros' International Renaissance Foundation had succeeded in getting
> Viktor Yushchenko as President of Ukraine, Michael McFaul wrote an OpEd for
> the Washington Post. McFaul, a specialist in organizing color revolutions,
> who later became US Ambassador to Russia, revealed:
>
> Did Americans meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine? Yes. The American
> agents of influence would prefer different language to describe their
> activities — democratic assistance, democracy promotion, civil society
> support, etc. — but their work, however labeled, seeks to influence
> political change in Ukraine. The U.S. Agency for International Development,
> the National Endowment for Democracy and a few other foundations sponsored
> certain U.S. organizations, including Freedom House, the International
> Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Solidarity
> Center, the Eurasia Foundation, Internews and several others to provide
> small grants and technical assistance to Ukrainian civil society. The
> European Union, individual European countries and the Soros-funded
> International Renaissance Foundation did the same.
>
> Soros shapes 'New Ukraine'
>
> Today the CyberBerkut hacked papers show that Soros' IRF money is behind
> creation of a National Reform Council, a body organized by presidential
> decree from Poroshenko which allows the Ukrainian president to push bills
> through Ukraine's legislature. Soros writes, "The framework for bringing the
> various branches of government together has also emerged. The National
> Reform Council (NRC) brings together the presidential administration, the
> cabinet of ministers, the Rada and its committees and civil society. The
> International Renaissance Foundation which is the Ukrainian branch of the
> Soros Foundations was the sole financial supporter of the NRC until now…"
>
> Soros' NRC in effect is the vehicle to allow the President to override
> parliamentary debate to push through "reforms," with the declared first
> priority being privatization of Naftogaz and raising gas prices drastically
> to Ukrainian industry and households, something the bankrupt country can
> hardly afford.
>
> In his letter to Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, Soros hints that he played a key
> role in selection of three key non-Ukrainian ministers—Natalia Jaresko, an
> American ex- State Department official as Finance Minister; Aivras
> Abromavicius of Lithuania as Economics Minister, and a health minister from
> Georgia. Soros in his December 2014 letter, referring to his proposal for a
> "big bank" privatization of Naftogaz and price rise, states, "You are
> fortunate to have appointed three 'new Ukrainian' ministers and several
> natives (sic) who are committed to this approach."
>
> Elsewhere Soros speaks about de facto creating the impression within the EU
> that the current government of Yatsenyuk is finally cleaning out the
> notorious corruption that has dominated every Kiev regime since 1991.
> Creating that temporary reform illusion, he remarks, will convince the EU to
> cough up the €11 billion annual investment insurance fund. His March 2015
> paper says that, "It is essential for the government to produce a visible
> demonstration (sic) during the next three months in order to change the
> widely prevailing image of Ukraine as an utterly corrupt country." That he
> states will open the EU to make the €11 billion insurance guarantee
> investment fund.
>
> While saying that it is important to show Ukraine as a country that is not
> corrupt, Soros reveals he has little concern when transparency and proper
> procedures block his agenda. Talking about his proposals to reform Ukraine's
> constitution to enable privatizations and other Soros-friendly moves, he
> complains, "The process has been slowed down by the insistence of the newly
> elected Rada on proper procedures and total transparency."
>
> Soros suggests that he intends to create this "visible demonstration"
> through his initiatives, such as using the Soros-funded National Reform
> Council, a body organized by presidential decree which allows the Ukrainian
> president to push bills through Ukraine's legislature.
>
> George Soros is also using his new European Council on Foreign Relations
> think-tank to lobby his Ukraine strategy, with his council members such as
> Alexander Graf Lambsdorff or Joschka Fischer or Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg,
> not to mention former ECB head, Jean-Claude Trichet no doubt laying a subtle
> role.
>
> George Soros, now 84, was born in Hungary as a Jew, George Sorosz. Soros
> once boasted in a TV interview that he posed during the war as a gentile
> with forged papers, assisting the Horthy government to seize property of
> other Hungarian Jews who were being shipped to the Nazi death camps. Soros
> told the TV moderator, "There was no sense that I shouldn't be there,
> because that was–well, actually, in a funny way, it's just like in
> markets–that if I weren't there–of course, I wasn't doing it, but somebody
> else would."
>
> This is the same morality apparently behind Soros' activities in Ukraine
> today. It seems again to matter not to him that the Ukrainian government he
> helped bring to power in February 2014 US coup d'etat is riddled with
> explicit anti-semites and self-proclaimed neo-Nazis from the Svoboda Party
> and Pravy Sektor. George Soros is clearly a devotee of
> "public-private-partnership." Only here the public gets fleeced to enrich
> private investors like Mr. Soros and friends. Cynically, Soros signs his
> Ukraine strategy memo, "George Soros–A self-appointed advocate of the new
> Ukraine, March 12, 2015."
> https://journal-neo.org/2015/06/12/an-american-oligarch-s-dirty-tale-of-corruption/
>
>
>
>
>
have a clearer view of why the government behaves the way it does, if
we could agree, at least in a broad stroke, that this nation was an
Oligarchy from its inception, regardless of what we were taught in
school. The Oligarchy established a Republic, but remember, it served
a very narrow part of the total Colonial Population. Even as the
Constitution was ammended to include other people as First Class
Citizens, the Ruling Class...the Oligarchy, began to devise methods of
restricting the number of registered voters.
Carl Jarvis
Here's part of an article written back in 2014:
By
Cheryl K. Chumley
- The Washington Times - Monday, April 21, 2014
America is no longer a democracy — never mind the democratic republic
envisioned by Founding Fathers.
Rather, it has taken a turn down elitist lane and become a country led
by a small dominant class comprised of powerful members who exert
total control
over the general population — an oligarchy, said
a new study
jointly conducted by Princeton and Northwestern universities.
One finding in the study: The U.S. government now represents the rich
and powerful, not the average citizen, United Press International
reported.
In the study, "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest
Groups and Average Citizens," researchers compared 1,800 different
U.S. policies
that were put in place by politicians between 1981 and 2002 to the
type of policies preferred by the average and wealthy American, or
special interest
groups.
Researchers then concluded that U.S. policies are formed more by
special interest groups than by politicians properly representing the
will of the general
people, including the lower-income class.
"The central point that emerges from our research is that economic
elites and organized groups representing business interests have
substantial independent
impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups
and average citizens have little or no independent influence," the
study found.
The study also found: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with
economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose."
On 9/25/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> An American Oligarch's Dirty Tale Of Corruption
> Flickr/ Charles Hutchins
> F. William Engdahl, www.journal-neo.org
> September 21st, 2017
> Above Photo: Charles Hutchins/ Flickr
>
> Rarely does the world get a true look inside the corrupt world of Western
> oligarchs and the brazen manipulations they use to enhance their fortunes at
> the expense of the public good. The following comes from correspondence of
> the Hungarian-born billionaire, now naturalized American speculator, George
> Soros. The hacker group CyberBerkut has published online letters allegedly
> written by Soros that reveal him not only as puppet master of the US-backed
> Ukraine regime. They also reveal his machinations with the US Government and
> the officials of the European Union in a scheme where, if he succeeds, he
> could win billions in the plunder of Ukraine assets. All, of course, would
> be at the expense of Ukrainian citizens and of EU taxpayers.
>
> What the three hacked documents reveal is a degree of behind-the-scene
> manipulation of the most minute details of the Kiev regime by the New York
> billionaire.
>
> In the longest memo, dated March 15, 2015 and marked "Confidential" Soros
> outlines a detailed map of actions for the Ukraine regime. Titled, "A short
> and medium term comprehensive strategy for the new Ukraine," the memo from
> Soros calls for steps to "restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine without
> violating the Minsk agreement." To do the restoring, Soros blithely notes
> that "General Wesley Clark, Polish General Skrzypczak and a few specialists
> under the auspices of the Atlantic Council[emphasis added—f.w.e.] will
> advise President Poroshenko how to restore the fighting capacity of Ukraine
> without violating the Minsk agreement."
>
> Soros also calls for supplying lethal arms to Ukraine and secretly training
> Ukrainian army personnel in Romania to avoid direct NATO presence in
> Ukraine. The Atlantic Council is a leading Washington pro-NATO think tank.
>
> Notably, Wesley Clark is also a business associate of Soros in BNK Petroleum
> which does business in Poland.
>
> Clark, some might recall, was the mentally-unstable NATO General in charge
> of the 1999 bombing of Serbia who ordered NATO soldiers to fire on Russian
> soldiers guarding the Pristina International Airport. The Russians were
> there as a part of an agreed joint NATO–Russia peacekeeping operation
> supposed to police Kosovo. The British Commander, General Mike Jackson
> refused Clark, retorting, "I'm not going to start the Third World War for
> you." Now Clark apparently decided to come out of retirement for the chance
> to go at Russia directly.
>
> Naked asset grab
>
> In his March 2015 memo Soros further writes that Ukrainian President
> Poroshenko's "first priority must be to regain control of financial
> markets," which he assures Poroshenko that Soros would be ready to assist
> in: "I am ready to call Jack Lew of the US Treasury to sound him out about
> the swap agreement."
>
> He also calls on the EU to give Ukraine an annual aid sum of €11 billion via
> a special EU borrowing facility. Soros proposes in effect using the EU's
> "AAA" top credit rating to provide a risk insurance for investment into
> Ukraine.
>
> Whose risk would the EU insure?
>
> Soros details, "I am prepared to invest up to €1 billion in Ukrainian
> businesses. This is likely to attract the interest of the investment
> community. As stated above, Ukraine must become an attractive investment
> destination." Not to leave any doubt, Soros continues, "The investments will
> be for-profit but I will pledge to contribute the profits to my foundations.
> This should allay suspicions that I am advocating policies in search of
> personal gain. "
>
> For anyone familiar with the history of the Soros Open Society Foundations
> in Eastern Europe and around the world since the late 1980's, will know that
> his supposedly philanthropic "democracy-building" projects in Poland,
> Russia, or Ukraine in the 1990's allowed Soros the businessman to literally
> plunder the former communist countries using Harvard University's "shock
> therapy" messiah, and Soros associate, Jeffrey Sachs, to convince the
> post-Soviet governments to privatize and open to a "free market" at once,
> rather than gradually.
>
> The example of Soros in Liberia is instructive for understanding the
> seemingly seamless interplay between Soros the shrewd businessman and Soros
> the philanthropist. In West Africa George Soros backed a former Open Society
> employee of his, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, giving her
> international publicity and through his influence, even arranging a Nobel
> Peace Prize for her in 2011, insuring her election as president. Before her
> presidency she had been well-indoctrinated into the Western free market
> game, studying economics at Harvard and working for the US-controlled World
> Bank in Washington and the Rockefeller Citibank in Nairobi. Before becoming
> Liberia's President, she worked for Soros directly as chair of his Open
> Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA).
>
> Once in office, President Sirleaf opened the doors for Soros to take over
> major Liberian gold and base metals assets along with his partner, Nathaniel
> Rothschild. One of her first acts as President was to also invite the
> Pentagon's new Africa Command, AFRICOM, into Liberia whose purpose as a
> Liberian investigation revealed, was to "protect George Soros and Rothschild
> mining operations in West Africa rather than champion stability and human
> rights."
>
> Naftogaz the target
>
> The Soros memo makes clear he has his eyes on the Ukrainian state gas and
> energy monopoly, Naftogaz. He writes, "The centerpiece of economic reforms
> will be the reorganization of Naftogaz and the introduction of market
> pricing for all forms of energy, replacing hidden subsidies…"
>
> In an earlier letter Soros wrote in December 2014 to both President
> Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, Soros openly called for his Shock
> Therapy: "I want to appeal to you to unite behind the reformers in your
> government and give your wholehearted support to a radical, 'big bang' type
> of approach. That is to say, administrative controls would be removed and
> the economy would move to market prices rapidly rather than
> gradually…Naftogaz needs to be reorganized with a big bang replacing the
> hidden subsidies…"
>
> Splitting Naftogaz into separate companies could allow Soros to take control
> of one of the new branches and essentially privatize its profits. He already
> suggested that he indirectly brought in US consulting company, McKinsey, to
> advise Naftogaz on the privatization "big bang."
>
> The Puppet-Master?
>
> The totality of what is revealed in the three hacked documents show that
> Soros is effectively the puppet-master pulling most of the strings in Kiev.
> Soros Foundation's Ukraine branch, International Renaissance Foundation
> (IRF) has been involved in Ukraine since 1989. His IRF doled out more than
> $100 million to Ukrainian NGOs two years before the fall of the Soviet
> Union, creating the preconditions for Ukraine's independence from Russia in
> 1991. Soros also admitted to financing the 2013-2014 Maidan Square protests
> that brought the current government into power.
>
> Soros' foundations were also deeply involved in the 2004 Orange Revolution
> that brought the corrupt but pro-NATO Viktor Yushchenko into power with his
> American wife who had been in the US State Department. In 2004 just weeks
> after Soros' International Renaissance Foundation had succeeded in getting
> Viktor Yushchenko as President of Ukraine, Michael McFaul wrote an OpEd for
> the Washington Post. McFaul, a specialist in organizing color revolutions,
> who later became US Ambassador to Russia, revealed:
>
> Did Americans meddle in the internal affairs of Ukraine? Yes. The American
> agents of influence would prefer different language to describe their
> activities — democratic assistance, democracy promotion, civil society
> support, etc. — but their work, however labeled, seeks to influence
> political change in Ukraine. The U.S. Agency for International Development,
> the National Endowment for Democracy and a few other foundations sponsored
> certain U.S. organizations, including Freedom House, the International
> Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Solidarity
> Center, the Eurasia Foundation, Internews and several others to provide
> small grants and technical assistance to Ukrainian civil society. The
> European Union, individual European countries and the Soros-funded
> International Renaissance Foundation did the same.
>
> Soros shapes 'New Ukraine'
>
> Today the CyberBerkut hacked papers show that Soros' IRF money is behind
> creation of a National Reform Council, a body organized by presidential
> decree from Poroshenko which allows the Ukrainian president to push bills
> through Ukraine's legislature. Soros writes, "The framework for bringing the
> various branches of government together has also emerged. The National
> Reform Council (NRC) brings together the presidential administration, the
> cabinet of ministers, the Rada and its committees and civil society. The
> International Renaissance Foundation which is the Ukrainian branch of the
> Soros Foundations was the sole financial supporter of the NRC until now…"
>
> Soros' NRC in effect is the vehicle to allow the President to override
> parliamentary debate to push through "reforms," with the declared first
> priority being privatization of Naftogaz and raising gas prices drastically
> to Ukrainian industry and households, something the bankrupt country can
> hardly afford.
>
> In his letter to Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk, Soros hints that he played a key
> role in selection of three key non-Ukrainian ministers—Natalia Jaresko, an
> American ex- State Department official as Finance Minister; Aivras
> Abromavicius of Lithuania as Economics Minister, and a health minister from
> Georgia. Soros in his December 2014 letter, referring to his proposal for a
> "big bank" privatization of Naftogaz and price rise, states, "You are
> fortunate to have appointed three 'new Ukrainian' ministers and several
> natives (sic) who are committed to this approach."
>
> Elsewhere Soros speaks about de facto creating the impression within the EU
> that the current government of Yatsenyuk is finally cleaning out the
> notorious corruption that has dominated every Kiev regime since 1991.
> Creating that temporary reform illusion, he remarks, will convince the EU to
> cough up the €11 billion annual investment insurance fund. His March 2015
> paper says that, "It is essential for the government to produce a visible
> demonstration (sic) during the next three months in order to change the
> widely prevailing image of Ukraine as an utterly corrupt country." That he
> states will open the EU to make the €11 billion insurance guarantee
> investment fund.
>
> While saying that it is important to show Ukraine as a country that is not
> corrupt, Soros reveals he has little concern when transparency and proper
> procedures block his agenda. Talking about his proposals to reform Ukraine's
> constitution to enable privatizations and other Soros-friendly moves, he
> complains, "The process has been slowed down by the insistence of the newly
> elected Rada on proper procedures and total transparency."
>
> Soros suggests that he intends to create this "visible demonstration"
> through his initiatives, such as using the Soros-funded National Reform
> Council, a body organized by presidential decree which allows the Ukrainian
> president to push bills through Ukraine's legislature.
>
> George Soros is also using his new European Council on Foreign Relations
> think-tank to lobby his Ukraine strategy, with his council members such as
> Alexander Graf Lambsdorff or Joschka Fischer or Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg,
> not to mention former ECB head, Jean-Claude Trichet no doubt laying a subtle
> role.
>
> George Soros, now 84, was born in Hungary as a Jew, George Sorosz. Soros
> once boasted in a TV interview that he posed during the war as a gentile
> with forged papers, assisting the Horthy government to seize property of
> other Hungarian Jews who were being shipped to the Nazi death camps. Soros
> told the TV moderator, "There was no sense that I shouldn't be there,
> because that was–well, actually, in a funny way, it's just like in
> markets–that if I weren't there–of course, I wasn't doing it, but somebody
> else would."
>
> This is the same morality apparently behind Soros' activities in Ukraine
> today. It seems again to matter not to him that the Ukrainian government he
> helped bring to power in February 2014 US coup d'etat is riddled with
> explicit anti-semites and self-proclaimed neo-Nazis from the Svoboda Party
> and Pravy Sektor. George Soros is clearly a devotee of
> "public-private-partnership." Only here the public gets fleeced to enrich
> private investors like Mr. Soros and friends. Cynically, Soros signs his
> Ukraine strategy memo, "George Soros–A self-appointed advocate of the new
> Ukraine, March 12, 2015."
> https://journal-neo.org/2015/06/12/an-american-oligarch-s-dirty-tale-of-corruption/
>
>
>
>
>
Donald Trump, Poster Boy for American racism
Forwarded message ----------
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2017 08:23:10 -0700
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] Re: American racism
To: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com>
Cc: blind-democracy@freelists.org
One of my Directors, when I was an employee of the Commission for the
Blind, was a man who was hired by the Commission Board because he
belonged to none of the Blind Organizations, and claimed to represent
"All Blind People".(beware of such claims!)
The year was 1980, and the agency was in total chaos, being under
attack by the president of the NFB, as well as locally by the Seattle
PI paper and King TV. Agency employees were divided into small camps,
some never speaking to others. Client services were in danger of
being compromised. So this new "Leader" went to his office and began
writing memos as fast as his secretary could write...he was totally
blind and had no computer skills. After he sent a ton of memos out,
he sat back and waited for results. He had no "Vision", no "Big
Picture Plan", and so his memos sat on employee's desks. Since most
of them needed cooperative interaction, and since most workers were
"minding their own business" and not talking to anyone
else...including me, with my nose firmly in my classroom, the Agency
began to flounder. Commission meetings became screaming sessions.
Finally, after only one short year at the helm, the Director was
fired.
I tell this story because it reminds me that it is much easier to get
rid of an incompetent Director, than to fire an elected President.
Donald Trump should stand as a living reminder of what the White
Oligarchy pays big bucks to elect as a "leader". Trump has done
nothing to bring the nation together. Indeed, he is actually doing
the bidding of the Oligarchy, by dividing and turning one group upon
another. Now he's taken on the National Football Players. The man is
so blinded by his own privileged white skin that he claims that he is
not a racist!!!
He has no concept of Black and White football players joining together
to protest the divisive, racism being allowed to grow under the
careful nurturing of our President and His carefully selected Cabinet.
And just as scary is the fact that this "Leader" has no vision for a
World Peace. His vision is looking backward toward returning America
to her "former Greatness". Which, sad to say, never was.
Like my former Director, Trump sends out his little memos in the form
of Tweets, upsetting any efforts by others to bring folks together,
and then pointing to the disruption he has created, as proof that we
need to be spied upon and controlled by a military-like police force.
This has been the pattern of every nation that had its roots in some
form of popular rule.
When our "leaders" tell us that "We are under threat", just who are
they referring to? Working Class Americans have less and less to
lose, so it must be the Corporate Capitalists who stand to lose. And
we have the duty to protect their world-wide interest. For Free!
I say, let the Capitalists fight their own battles, while we go back
to our shops and fields.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/25/17, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Considering all the hurricanes, health care reform in the congress and
> certain countries setting off nuclear bombs I'm not sure that a true
> leader would spend the weekend tweeting twenty tweets bashing football
> players.
> On 9/25/2017 9:03 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
>> To Bob Evans, And All.
>> You wrote: " The United States is no longer the place of equal
>> opportunities.
>> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't."
>> Actually Bob, The United States of America is not now, nor has it ever
>> been a Land of Opportunity for All.
>> From the day this nation was formed from the 13 colonies, it was an
>> Oligarchy. True, the 13 colonies fought England and gained their
>> freedom. And true, the 13 colonies formed States and joined together
>> to form the United States of America, but most of those who fought in
>> the ranks of the Colonial Army, were never citizens of that new
>> nation. Only White Men, 21 years of age and older, Landholders or Men
>> of great wealth were allowed to participate in the new government.
>> Women were denied participation. Negros had no voice and in fact,
>> they were counted as only three fifths of a person, Native
>> Americans(Indians) could not participate in the new government, nor
>> could Mexican Americans and Chinese Americans. In short, most people
>> living in the Land that became the United States of America, had no
>> voice in the government that ruled their lives.
>> Although many of those mentioned, came to secure the right to vote and
>> to hold office, and to own land in their own name, the original
>> Oligarchy began to set in place road blocks to prevent many Americans
>> the rights afforded the original Citizens.
>> Today's struggle, although certainly a struggle over racial
>> discrimination, is really a struggle between those who proclaim that
>> all citizens have a right, and a duty to vote in the elections held in
>> their Land, and those who would turn back the hands of time to a time
>> when only the Elite White Men handled the nation's affairs.
>> Of course some of us also believe that even if we all did have the
>> right to vote, the Two Party System in America is so corrupt that it
>> must be replaced. But first things first. And that is to fight for
>> the right for all Americans to vote.
>> And so far as Donald Trump being a Leader, that is impossible. Donald
>> Trump is a shallow minded fool. He grew up scamming people, showing
>> disdain and contempt for those who looked to him for employment.
>> True Leaders watch out over all their people. They are leaders
>> because they are visionaries. Donald Trump is a showman, believing,
>> as did P. T. Barnum, that there is a sucker born every minute. That
>> is what separates a Leader from a Huckster.
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
>> On 9/25/17, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 9/25/17, Bob <ebob824@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically
>>>> superior
>>>>
>>>> to members of other races.
>>>>
>>>> white supremacists along with Donald Trump made their nation racially
>>>> nonreversible.
>>>> As he ignominiously disparaged soccer players, what a terribly
>>>> petulant
>>>> and infantile character.
>>>>
>>>> Their pride is wholly spurned.
>>>>
>>>> Their America first agenda brought them fractionation, tumultuousness,
>>>> racial disparity, detestable rhetoric and interminably factional
>>>> conflict.
>>>>
>>>> I urge my fellow Muslims to utterly ostracise American enterprises.
>>>>
>>>> I keep my sentiment stiff, these people are worthy of being relegated.
>>>> Their counterfeit mottoes of democracy are no longer believed.
>>>>
>>>> I urge immigration applicants from our Muslim world to seek settlement
>>>> in
>>>> Canada.
>>>>
>>>> At least, therein, they do not advocate for expatriating licit
>>>> occupants.
>>>>
>>>> I myself have the desire to submit an immigration form to Canada.
>>>>
>>>> I just await until I match their requirements.
>>>>
>>>> I do not exaggerate, Americanism certainly became a major threat to
>>>> cultural
>>>>
>>>> diversity.
>>>>
>>>> In Britain, they honour royalty and succession.
>>>>
>>>> Nevertheless, they do not embrace xenophobic temperament, even with the
>>>> rise
>>>>
>>>> of controversial Brexit talks.
>>>>
>>>> I talk to people there and they never denigrated outlanders.
>>>>
>>>> So, what is the trouble in the States then?
>>>>
>>>> Basically, it is racism.
>>>>
>>>> They base their primal tenets on racial discrimination.
>>>>
>>>> Despite nullifying this statement, they explicitly are convicted of
>>>> doing
>>>> so.
>>>>
>>>> The United States is no longer the place of equal
>>>> opportunities.
>>>>
>>>> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't.
>>>>
>>>> Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
>>>> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>
>
From: Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2017 08:23:10 -0700
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] Re: American racism
To: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com>
Cc: blind-democracy@freelists.org
One of my Directors, when I was an employee of the Commission for the
Blind, was a man who was hired by the Commission Board because he
belonged to none of the Blind Organizations, and claimed to represent
"All Blind People".(beware of such claims!)
The year was 1980, and the agency was in total chaos, being under
attack by the president of the NFB, as well as locally by the Seattle
PI paper and King TV. Agency employees were divided into small camps,
some never speaking to others. Client services were in danger of
being compromised. So this new "Leader" went to his office and began
writing memos as fast as his secretary could write...he was totally
blind and had no computer skills. After he sent a ton of memos out,
he sat back and waited for results. He had no "Vision", no "Big
Picture Plan", and so his memos sat on employee's desks. Since most
of them needed cooperative interaction, and since most workers were
"minding their own business" and not talking to anyone
else...including me, with my nose firmly in my classroom, the Agency
began to flounder. Commission meetings became screaming sessions.
Finally, after only one short year at the helm, the Director was
fired.
I tell this story because it reminds me that it is much easier to get
rid of an incompetent Director, than to fire an elected President.
Donald Trump should stand as a living reminder of what the White
Oligarchy pays big bucks to elect as a "leader". Trump has done
nothing to bring the nation together. Indeed, he is actually doing
the bidding of the Oligarchy, by dividing and turning one group upon
another. Now he's taken on the National Football Players. The man is
so blinded by his own privileged white skin that he claims that he is
not a racist!!!
He has no concept of Black and White football players joining together
to protest the divisive, racism being allowed to grow under the
careful nurturing of our President and His carefully selected Cabinet.
And just as scary is the fact that this "Leader" has no vision for a
World Peace. His vision is looking backward toward returning America
to her "former Greatness". Which, sad to say, never was.
Like my former Director, Trump sends out his little memos in the form
of Tweets, upsetting any efforts by others to bring folks together,
and then pointing to the disruption he has created, as proof that we
need to be spied upon and controlled by a military-like police force.
This has been the pattern of every nation that had its roots in some
form of popular rule.
When our "leaders" tell us that "We are under threat", just who are
they referring to? Working Class Americans have less and less to
lose, so it must be the Corporate Capitalists who stand to lose. And
we have the duty to protect their world-wide interest. For Free!
I say, let the Capitalists fight their own battles, while we go back
to our shops and fields.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/25/17, Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Considering all the hurricanes, health care reform in the congress and
> certain countries setting off nuclear bombs I'm not sure that a true
> leader would spend the weekend tweeting twenty tweets bashing football
> players.
> On 9/25/2017 9:03 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
>> To Bob Evans, And All.
>> You wrote: " The United States is no longer the place of equal
>> opportunities.
>> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't."
>> Actually Bob, The United States of America is not now, nor has it ever
>> been a Land of Opportunity for All.
>> From the day this nation was formed from the 13 colonies, it was an
>> Oligarchy. True, the 13 colonies fought England and gained their
>> freedom. And true, the 13 colonies formed States and joined together
>> to form the United States of America, but most of those who fought in
>> the ranks of the Colonial Army, were never citizens of that new
>> nation. Only White Men, 21 years of age and older, Landholders or Men
>> of great wealth were allowed to participate in the new government.
>> Women were denied participation. Negros had no voice and in fact,
>> they were counted as only three fifths of a person, Native
>> Americans(Indians) could not participate in the new government, nor
>> could Mexican Americans and Chinese Americans. In short, most people
>> living in the Land that became the United States of America, had no
>> voice in the government that ruled their lives.
>> Although many of those mentioned, came to secure the right to vote and
>> to hold office, and to own land in their own name, the original
>> Oligarchy began to set in place road blocks to prevent many Americans
>> the rights afforded the original Citizens.
>> Today's struggle, although certainly a struggle over racial
>> discrimination, is really a struggle between those who proclaim that
>> all citizens have a right, and a duty to vote in the elections held in
>> their Land, and those who would turn back the hands of time to a time
>> when only the Elite White Men handled the nation's affairs.
>> Of course some of us also believe that even if we all did have the
>> right to vote, the Two Party System in America is so corrupt that it
>> must be replaced. But first things first. And that is to fight for
>> the right for all Americans to vote.
>> And so far as Donald Trump being a Leader, that is impossible. Donald
>> Trump is a shallow minded fool. He grew up scamming people, showing
>> disdain and contempt for those who looked to him for employment.
>> True Leaders watch out over all their people. They are leaders
>> because they are visionaries. Donald Trump is a showman, believing,
>> as did P. T. Barnum, that there is a sucker born every minute. That
>> is what separates a Leader from a Huckster.
>>
>> Carl Jarvis
>>
>> On 9/25/17, Carl Jarvis <carjar82@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 9/25/17, Bob <ebob824@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically
>>>> superior
>>>>
>>>> to members of other races.
>>>>
>>>> white supremacists along with Donald Trump made their nation racially
>>>> nonreversible.
>>>> As he ignominiously disparaged soccer players, what a terribly
>>>> petulant
>>>> and infantile character.
>>>>
>>>> Their pride is wholly spurned.
>>>>
>>>> Their America first agenda brought them fractionation, tumultuousness,
>>>> racial disparity, detestable rhetoric and interminably factional
>>>> conflict.
>>>>
>>>> I urge my fellow Muslims to utterly ostracise American enterprises.
>>>>
>>>> I keep my sentiment stiff, these people are worthy of being relegated.
>>>> Their counterfeit mottoes of democracy are no longer believed.
>>>>
>>>> I urge immigration applicants from our Muslim world to seek settlement
>>>> in
>>>> Canada.
>>>>
>>>> At least, therein, they do not advocate for expatriating licit
>>>> occupants.
>>>>
>>>> I myself have the desire to submit an immigration form to Canada.
>>>>
>>>> I just await until I match their requirements.
>>>>
>>>> I do not exaggerate, Americanism certainly became a major threat to
>>>> cultural
>>>>
>>>> diversity.
>>>>
>>>> In Britain, they honour royalty and succession.
>>>>
>>>> Nevertheless, they do not embrace xenophobic temperament, even with the
>>>> rise
>>>>
>>>> of controversial Brexit talks.
>>>>
>>>> I talk to people there and they never denigrated outlanders.
>>>>
>>>> So, what is the trouble in the States then?
>>>>
>>>> Basically, it is racism.
>>>>
>>>> They base their primal tenets on racial discrimination.
>>>>
>>>> Despite nullifying this statement, they explicitly are convicted of
>>>> doing
>>>> so.
>>>>
>>>> The United States is no longer the place of equal
>>>> opportunities.
>>>>
>>>> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't.
>>>>
>>>> Bob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
>>>> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>
>
Monday, September 25, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] American racism
On 9/25/17, Bob <ebob824@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior
>
> to members of other races.
>
> white supremacists along with Donald Trump made their nation racially
> nonreversible.
> As he ignominiously disparaged soccer players, what a terribly petulant
> and infantile character.
>
> Their pride is wholly spurned.
>
> Their America first agenda brought them fractionation, tumultuousness,
> racial disparity, detestable rhetoric and interminably factional conflict.
>
> I urge my fellow Muslims to utterly ostracise American enterprises.
>
> I keep my sentiment stiff, these people are worthy of being relegated.
> Their counterfeit mottoes of democracy are no longer believed.
>
> I urge immigration applicants from our Muslim world to seek settlement in
> Canada.
>
> At least, therein, they do not advocate for expatriating licit occupants.
>
> I myself have the desire to submit an immigration form to Canada.
>
> I just await until I match their requirements.
>
> I do not exaggerate, Americanism certainly became a major threat to cultural
>
> diversity.
>
> In Britain, they honour royalty and succession.
>
> Nevertheless, they do not embrace xenophobic temperament, even with the rise
>
> of controversial Brexit talks.
>
> I talk to people there and they never denigrated outlanders.
>
> So, what is the trouble in the States then?
>
> Basically, it is racism.
>
> They base their primal tenets on racial discrimination.
>
> Despite nullifying this statement, they explicitly are convicted of doing
> so.
>
> The United States is no longer the place of equal opportunities.
>
> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Racism is the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior
>
> to members of other races.
>
> white supremacists along with Donald Trump made their nation racially
> nonreversible.
> As he ignominiously disparaged soccer players, what a terribly petulant
> and infantile character.
>
> Their pride is wholly spurned.
>
> Their America first agenda brought them fractionation, tumultuousness,
> racial disparity, detestable rhetoric and interminably factional conflict.
>
> I urge my fellow Muslims to utterly ostracise American enterprises.
>
> I keep my sentiment stiff, these people are worthy of being relegated.
> Their counterfeit mottoes of democracy are no longer believed.
>
> I urge immigration applicants from our Muslim world to seek settlement in
> Canada.
>
> At least, therein, they do not advocate for expatriating licit occupants.
>
> I myself have the desire to submit an immigration form to Canada.
>
> I just await until I match their requirements.
>
> I do not exaggerate, Americanism certainly became a major threat to cultural
>
> diversity.
>
> In Britain, they honour royalty and succession.
>
> Nevertheless, they do not embrace xenophobic temperament, even with the rise
>
> of controversial Brexit talks.
>
> I talk to people there and they never denigrated outlanders.
>
> So, what is the trouble in the States then?
>
> Basically, it is racism.
>
> They base their primal tenets on racial discrimination.
>
> Despite nullifying this statement, they explicitly are convicted of doing
> so.
>
> The United States is no longer the place of equal opportunities.
>
> It used to be but, now it plainly isn't.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
>
>
Re: [blind-democracy] Trump: “We will totally destroy North Korea”
We talk about our modern civilization? Let's pause a moment in our
civilized lives and ask our civilized selves what we would do if we
saw our nine year old son and the nine year old boy next door tossing
lit firecrackers at one another.
Of course you are right. We'd immediately step between them, ordering
them to drop the matches and the fire crackers. And then, depending
upon how our parents handled such matters, we'd apply some discipline
to the seat of their pants.
But what would we do if the neighbor boy's dad came roaring out
snorting and pawing the ground and shouting insults at our son, while
urging his boy to "Aim to Kill! Blow that little snot nose off the
face of the Earth!"
Is that what we would call Leadership? Perhaps we could grab up our
cell phone and call 911. But what if our neighbor was the county
sheriff?
One thing for sure, we need to come up with a better answer than to
charge in and begin tossing more fire crackers.
But this is exactly what Donald Trump is doing, charging in, shouting
threats, bragging that he can wipe a nation off the face of the Earth.
Does he believe that this bluster will cause nations to stop their
pushing and shoving? It sure doesn't seem that he responds favorably
to the threats directed toward himself.
What has become of those wise leaders who can explain to President
Donald Trump that shouting threats never brings about peace or
cooperation. Threats only cause Fear. And Fearful People are more
concerned with developing methods of defense, rather than to make
peace.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/25/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2017/09/21/trump-we-will-totally-destroy-north-korea/
>
>
> Trump: "We will totally destroy North Korea"
>
> / 4 days ago
>
>
> Oct. 2017 Trump UNBy BARRY SHEPPARD
>
> Trump made this unprecedented threat not in a tweet or off the cuff
> remark but in a written speech before the United Nations General
> Assembly. No other country in the U.N. has ever openly stated its
> intention to destroy another country.
>
> Coupled with his earlier threat to rain down "fire and fury" on North
> Korea, this threat must be seen as one that at least includes the
> possibility of a nuclear attack.
>
> It is true Trump set conditions for this to be carried out, specifically
> that North Korea would threaten the U.S. or its allies. But he left
> vague what this means. He has repeatedly said that the U.S. would not
> tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea with the ability to deliver a
> weapon to the United States.
>
> North Korea is already a nuclear-armed state. Its recent missile tests
> demonstrate that it is well on its way to be able to hit the U.S., and
> it already has the capacity to hit Guam. North Korea has repeatedly said
> it will continue its nuclear and missile program unless the United
> States finally puts an end to the Korean War by signing a peace treaty
> with the North.
>
> No U.S. politician, from Bernie Sanders on the left to the most extreme
> rightist Republican (take your pick), is ready to do anything that even
> moves in that direction. On the contrary, with bipartisan support the
> U.S. just completed its annual belligerent "war games" in South Korea,
> whose aim is to threaten the North. These "games" include the South's
> army, but that army is under the command of the U.S. occupying force.
>
> South Korea's new president, Moon Jai-in, was elected on the promise of
> seeking dialog with the North, and restricting the deployment of the
> U.S. Thaad anti-missile system. But Trump bullied Moon into reversing
> himself on both. Now the South is deploying a special commando with the
> avowed public goal of assassinating the North's leadership.
>
> One purpose of Trump's threat to destroy North Korea is to force China
> to stop supplying oil to the North, which would devastate its economy,
> in the hopes that this would force the latter to abandon its nuclear
> program. In all likelihood, this will not come to pass.
>
> China does not want the North to collapse, which would be the case with
> an oil embargo for any length of time. That would lead to a U.S.
> invasion resulting in a united Korea as a militarized client state of
> the U.S. on its borders. Even if Xi groveled before Trump and cut off
> the oil, a desperate North, facing collapse, is likely to strike back.
>
> It should be recalled that when President Roosevelt imposed an oil
> embargo on Japan as part of the intensifying rivalry between the two
> powers at the time, Japan replied by striking at the U.S. naval base at
> Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, triggering WWII in the Pacific.
>
> It is obvious that the increasing tensions between North Korea and the
> U.S. pose a very serious danger, and Trump has just upped the ante with
> his U.N. speech.
>
> North Korea has solid reasons for fearing a U.S. attack, given
> Washington's hostility going back to the end of WWII. After the defeat
> of Japan, which had been the colonial power in Korea, the U.S. tried to
> occupy the peninsula as the spoils of war. However, it was only able to
> occupy the southern part of Korea, since the USSR occupied the northern.
> This stalemate explains why there are two Koreas.
>
> What became South Korea was ruled by the U.S. military directly from
> 1945 to 1948. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union withdrew its armed forces from
> the North. In 1948 Washington's military staged phony elections in the
> South, installing the first in a long line of dictators up until 1987.
>
> At the end of the war, the U.S. also tried to occupy parts of China,
> much of which had been occupied by Japan. China was the big prize the
> U.S. coveted. However, this plan had to be scrapped because of a mass
> uprising in the U.S. armed forces called the "bring us home" movement,
> which balked at invading what was viewed as a U.S. ally. The U.S. had
> influence with the government run by the Nationalists.
>
> Then in 1949 the Chinese Revolution completely tore the country out of
> the U.S. imperialist's hands. China now became Washington's enemy. The
> U.S., using hostilities between North and South Korea as the pretext,
> invaded Korea in 1950 and quickly moved deep into the North and
> threatened to continue into China. China countered by sending its army
> into Korea, blocking the U.S. advance.
>
> At that point U.S. President Truman considered using atomic weapons
> against the Chinese and North Koreans. Nine nuclear bombs were
> transferred to the U.S.-occupied Japanese island of Okinawa, along with
> bombers to deliver them. Fortunately, Washington decided against using
> them, which would have meant a major war with China and the Soviet Union.
>
> The war continued until 1953, when a cease-fire recognized that it had
> become a stalemate. The North and South were again divided along
> basically the same lines as before the U.S. invaded. An armistice was
> signed, but not a peace treaty. The U.S. and its puppet regime in the
> South remain in a state of war with the North.
>
> China withdrew its troops from the North, but the U.S. has maintained
> its occupation force in the South up to the present. Washington
> continued its hostile stance toward the North since, including its "war
> games" practices for invasion of the North.
>
> In 1958, the U.S. stationed tactical and strategic nuclear weapons in
> the South, aimed at the North, which would also be used against China
> and the Soviet Union in case of a general nuclear war. At its height,
> there were 950 U.S. nuclear warheads in South Korea. The U.S. weapons
> were removed in 1991 as part of the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty. The
> U.S. threat against the North then resided in the atomic weapons in the
> U.S. Naval fleet in the western Pacific, as well as other parts of
> Washington's nuclear arsenal.
>
> Beside the enormous inequality between small North Korea and the heavily
> armed U.S., there is the gross hypocrisy of Washington. The U.S. was the
> first country to develop atomic weapons and tried at first to keep a
> monopoly on them. That began the nuclear arms race.
>
> The U.S. is the only country to unleash atomic weapons against
> civilians, in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The purpose of
> those bombings had nothing to do with Japan, which had already been
> defeated, but to demonstrate that the U.S. had the inhumanity and will
> to repeat such bombings of cities, first as a threat against the Soviet
> Union before the latter developed its own nuclear weapons, then also
> against China, which did likewise, but also against any potential enemy
> of the U.S.
>
> The U.S. has never renounced the first use of nuclear weapons, and is
> opposed to any possible treaty to abolish such weapons.
>
> Trump's belligerent "America First" speech at the U.N. aimed at the rest
> of the world included much more than the threat destroy North Korea. He
> made stepped-up threats against Iran, Cuba, Syria and Venezuela among
> others, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
>
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> September 21, 2017 in Anti-War, East Asia, Trump / U.S. Government.
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civilized lives and ask our civilized selves what we would do if we
saw our nine year old son and the nine year old boy next door tossing
lit firecrackers at one another.
Of course you are right. We'd immediately step between them, ordering
them to drop the matches and the fire crackers. And then, depending
upon how our parents handled such matters, we'd apply some discipline
to the seat of their pants.
But what would we do if the neighbor boy's dad came roaring out
snorting and pawing the ground and shouting insults at our son, while
urging his boy to "Aim to Kill! Blow that little snot nose off the
face of the Earth!"
Is that what we would call Leadership? Perhaps we could grab up our
cell phone and call 911. But what if our neighbor was the county
sheriff?
One thing for sure, we need to come up with a better answer than to
charge in and begin tossing more fire crackers.
But this is exactly what Donald Trump is doing, charging in, shouting
threats, bragging that he can wipe a nation off the face of the Earth.
Does he believe that this bluster will cause nations to stop their
pushing and shoving? It sure doesn't seem that he responds favorably
to the threats directed toward himself.
What has become of those wise leaders who can explain to President
Donald Trump that shouting threats never brings about peace or
cooperation. Threats only cause Fear. And Fearful People are more
concerned with developing methods of defense, rather than to make
peace.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/25/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> https://socialistaction.org/2017/09/21/trump-we-will-totally-destroy-north-korea/
>
>
> Trump: "We will totally destroy North Korea"
>
> / 4 days ago
>
>
> Oct. 2017 Trump UNBy BARRY SHEPPARD
>
> Trump made this unprecedented threat not in a tweet or off the cuff
> remark but in a written speech before the United Nations General
> Assembly. No other country in the U.N. has ever openly stated its
> intention to destroy another country.
>
> Coupled with his earlier threat to rain down "fire and fury" on North
> Korea, this threat must be seen as one that at least includes the
> possibility of a nuclear attack.
>
> It is true Trump set conditions for this to be carried out, specifically
> that North Korea would threaten the U.S. or its allies. But he left
> vague what this means. He has repeatedly said that the U.S. would not
> tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea with the ability to deliver a
> weapon to the United States.
>
> North Korea is already a nuclear-armed state. Its recent missile tests
> demonstrate that it is well on its way to be able to hit the U.S., and
> it already has the capacity to hit Guam. North Korea has repeatedly said
> it will continue its nuclear and missile program unless the United
> States finally puts an end to the Korean War by signing a peace treaty
> with the North.
>
> No U.S. politician, from Bernie Sanders on the left to the most extreme
> rightist Republican (take your pick), is ready to do anything that even
> moves in that direction. On the contrary, with bipartisan support the
> U.S. just completed its annual belligerent "war games" in South Korea,
> whose aim is to threaten the North. These "games" include the South's
> army, but that army is under the command of the U.S. occupying force.
>
> South Korea's new president, Moon Jai-in, was elected on the promise of
> seeking dialog with the North, and restricting the deployment of the
> U.S. Thaad anti-missile system. But Trump bullied Moon into reversing
> himself on both. Now the South is deploying a special commando with the
> avowed public goal of assassinating the North's leadership.
>
> One purpose of Trump's threat to destroy North Korea is to force China
> to stop supplying oil to the North, which would devastate its economy,
> in the hopes that this would force the latter to abandon its nuclear
> program. In all likelihood, this will not come to pass.
>
> China does not want the North to collapse, which would be the case with
> an oil embargo for any length of time. That would lead to a U.S.
> invasion resulting in a united Korea as a militarized client state of
> the U.S. on its borders. Even if Xi groveled before Trump and cut off
> the oil, a desperate North, facing collapse, is likely to strike back.
>
> It should be recalled that when President Roosevelt imposed an oil
> embargo on Japan as part of the intensifying rivalry between the two
> powers at the time, Japan replied by striking at the U.S. naval base at
> Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, triggering WWII in the Pacific.
>
> It is obvious that the increasing tensions between North Korea and the
> U.S. pose a very serious danger, and Trump has just upped the ante with
> his U.N. speech.
>
> North Korea has solid reasons for fearing a U.S. attack, given
> Washington's hostility going back to the end of WWII. After the defeat
> of Japan, which had been the colonial power in Korea, the U.S. tried to
> occupy the peninsula as the spoils of war. However, it was only able to
> occupy the southern part of Korea, since the USSR occupied the northern.
> This stalemate explains why there are two Koreas.
>
> What became South Korea was ruled by the U.S. military directly from
> 1945 to 1948. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union withdrew its armed forces from
> the North. In 1948 Washington's military staged phony elections in the
> South, installing the first in a long line of dictators up until 1987.
>
> At the end of the war, the U.S. also tried to occupy parts of China,
> much of which had been occupied by Japan. China was the big prize the
> U.S. coveted. However, this plan had to be scrapped because of a mass
> uprising in the U.S. armed forces called the "bring us home" movement,
> which balked at invading what was viewed as a U.S. ally. The U.S. had
> influence with the government run by the Nationalists.
>
> Then in 1949 the Chinese Revolution completely tore the country out of
> the U.S. imperialist's hands. China now became Washington's enemy. The
> U.S., using hostilities between North and South Korea as the pretext,
> invaded Korea in 1950 and quickly moved deep into the North and
> threatened to continue into China. China countered by sending its army
> into Korea, blocking the U.S. advance.
>
> At that point U.S. President Truman considered using atomic weapons
> against the Chinese and North Koreans. Nine nuclear bombs were
> transferred to the U.S.-occupied Japanese island of Okinawa, along with
> bombers to deliver them. Fortunately, Washington decided against using
> them, which would have meant a major war with China and the Soviet Union.
>
> The war continued until 1953, when a cease-fire recognized that it had
> become a stalemate. The North and South were again divided along
> basically the same lines as before the U.S. invaded. An armistice was
> signed, but not a peace treaty. The U.S. and its puppet regime in the
> South remain in a state of war with the North.
>
> China withdrew its troops from the North, but the U.S. has maintained
> its occupation force in the South up to the present. Washington
> continued its hostile stance toward the North since, including its "war
> games" practices for invasion of the North.
>
> In 1958, the U.S. stationed tactical and strategic nuclear weapons in
> the South, aimed at the North, which would also be used against China
> and the Soviet Union in case of a general nuclear war. At its height,
> there were 950 U.S. nuclear warheads in South Korea. The U.S. weapons
> were removed in 1991 as part of the Strategic Arms Reduction treaty. The
> U.S. threat against the North then resided in the atomic weapons in the
> U.S. Naval fleet in the western Pacific, as well as other parts of
> Washington's nuclear arsenal.
>
> Beside the enormous inequality between small North Korea and the heavily
> armed U.S., there is the gross hypocrisy of Washington. The U.S. was the
> first country to develop atomic weapons and tried at first to keep a
> monopoly on them. That began the nuclear arms race.
>
> The U.S. is the only country to unleash atomic weapons against
> civilians, in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The purpose of
> those bombings had nothing to do with Japan, which had already been
> defeated, but to demonstrate that the U.S. had the inhumanity and will
> to repeat such bombings of cities, first as a threat against the Soviet
> Union before the latter developed its own nuclear weapons, then also
> against China, which did likewise, but also against any potential enemy
> of the U.S.
>
> The U.S. has never renounced the first use of nuclear weapons, and is
> opposed to any possible treaty to abolish such weapons.
>
> Trump's belligerent "America First" speech at the U.N. aimed at the rest
> of the world included much more than the threat destroy North Korea. He
> made stepped-up threats against Iran, Cuba, Syria and Venezuela among
> others, but that is beyond the scope of this article.
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Tuesday, September 19, 2017
respect for the dead can only come with respect for the living
Reading the following interesting and moving account brings to my mind one
wish. But I hasten to say that my wish in no way detracts from the
lives of those Americans buried at Arlington. They deserve the
respect for the lives they lived.
But my wish is that somehow we might pay the same respect to our
living Americans. As I look about me, seeing the disrespect being
given some Citizens, the poverty we are allowing to grow, the
fragmenting of our different People and different Faiths and different
political beliefs. Rather than Uniting us, we are allowing our
disrespect for one another to tear us apart. Is there anyway of
finding some Special Guards to march in front of a monument for the
Living? Protecting our Human Rights? Respecting our lives and the
lives of our children? How can we respect our dead when we cannot
respect our living?
Carl Jarvis
******
All of you who receive this have the "option" of forwarding this. Some
of us do not consider it an "option" but consider it an "honor" to
share this information
by forwarding this email every time we receive it. We're proud of our
men and women who have served, who do serve, and who will serve no
matter where they
may be!
God Bless and keep them!
ARLINGTON CEMETERY
Jeopardy
Question:
On
Jeopardy the other night, the final question was
"How many steps does the guard take during his
walk across the tomb of the Unknowns?"
All three contestants missed it!
This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance.
Fascinating. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1.
How many steps does the guard take during his
walk across the tomb of the Unknowns
and why?
21 steps:
It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute which
is the highest honor given any
military or foreign dignitary.
2.
How long does he hesitate after his about face
to begin his return walk and why?
21 seconds for the same reason
as answer number 1.
3.
Why are his gloves wet?
His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his
grip on the rifle.
4.
Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all
the time and, if not, why not?
He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his
march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle
to the outside
shoulder.
5.
How often are the guards changed?
Guards are changed every thirty minutes,
twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
6.
What are the physical traits of the guard
limited to?
For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he
must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and
his waist size cannot exceed 30.
They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb,
live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot
drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of
their lives. They cannot swear in public for the
rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the
uniform or the tomb in any way.
After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that
is worn on their lapel signifying they
served as guard of the tomb. There are only
400 presently worn. The guard must obey
these rules for the rest of their
lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles
to keep the heat and cold from their feet.
There are metal heel plates that extend to
the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.
There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for
duty in front of a full-length
mirror.
The first six months of duty a
guard cannot talk to anyone nor
watch TV.
All off duty time is spent studying the 175
notable people laid to rest in
Arlington National Cemetery.
A guard must memorize who they are and where
they are interred. Among the notables are:
President Taft,
Joe Lewis {the boxer}
Medal of Honor winner Audie L. Murphy, the most
decorated soldier of WWII and of Hollywood fame.
Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was
approaching Washington,
DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days
off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC
evening news, it was reported that because of
the dangers from the hurricane, the military
members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier were given permission
to suspend the assignment. They
respectfully declined the offer, "No way,
Sir!" Soaked to the skin, marching in the
pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that
guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment,
it was the highest honor that can be
afforded to a service person. The tomb has been patrolled
continuously, 24/7, since 1930.
God
Bless and keep them.
I'd be very proud if this email
reached as many as possible. We can be very
proud of our men and women
in the service no matter where they serve.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE WHO KEEP IT THAT WAY!
wish. But I hasten to say that my wish in no way detracts from the
lives of those Americans buried at Arlington. They deserve the
respect for the lives they lived.
But my wish is that somehow we might pay the same respect to our
living Americans. As I look about me, seeing the disrespect being
given some Citizens, the poverty we are allowing to grow, the
fragmenting of our different People and different Faiths and different
political beliefs. Rather than Uniting us, we are allowing our
disrespect for one another to tear us apart. Is there anyway of
finding some Special Guards to march in front of a monument for the
Living? Protecting our Human Rights? Respecting our lives and the
lives of our children? How can we respect our dead when we cannot
respect our living?
Carl Jarvis
******
All of you who receive this have the "option" of forwarding this. Some
of us do not consider it an "option" but consider it an "honor" to
share this information
by forwarding this email every time we receive it. We're proud of our
men and women who have served, who do serve, and who will serve no
matter where they
may be!
God Bless and keep them!
ARLINGTON CEMETERY
Jeopardy
Question:
On
Jeopardy the other night, the final question was
"How many steps does the guard take during his
walk across the tomb of the Unknowns?"
All three contestants missed it!
This is really an awesome sight to watch if you've never had the chance.
Fascinating. Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
1.
How many steps does the guard take during his
walk across the tomb of the Unknowns
and why?
21 steps:
It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute which
is the highest honor given any
military or foreign dignitary.
2.
How long does he hesitate after his about face
to begin his return walk and why?
21 seconds for the same reason
as answer number 1.
3.
Why are his gloves wet?
His gloves are moistened to prevent his losing his
grip on the rifle.
4.
Does he carry his rifle on the same shoulder all
the time and, if not, why not?
He carries the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After his
march across the path, he executes an about face and moves the rifle
to the outside
shoulder.
5.
How often are the guards changed?
Guards are changed every thirty minutes,
twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.
6.
What are the physical traits of the guard
limited to?
For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, he
must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and
his waist size cannot exceed 30.
They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb,
live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot
drink any alcohol on or off duty for the rest of
their lives. They cannot swear in public for the
rest of their lives and cannot disgrace the
uniform or the tomb in any way.
After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that
is worn on their lapel signifying they
served as guard of the tomb. There are only
400 presently worn. The guard must obey
these rules for the rest of their
lives or give up the wreath pin.
The shoes are specially made with very thick soles
to keep the heat and cold from their feet.
There are metal heel plates that extend to
the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.
There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform. Guards dress for
duty in front of a full-length
mirror.
The first six months of duty a
guard cannot talk to anyone nor
watch TV.
All off duty time is spent studying the 175
notable people laid to rest in
Arlington National Cemetery.
A guard must memorize who they are and where
they are interred. Among the notables are:
President Taft,
Joe Lewis {the boxer}
Medal of Honor winner Audie L. Murphy, the most
decorated soldier of WWII and of Hollywood fame.
Every guard spends five hours a day getting his uniforms ready for guard duty.
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was
approaching Washington,
DC, our US Senate/House took 2 days
off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC
evening news, it was reported that because of
the dangers from the hurricane, the military
members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier were given permission
to suspend the assignment. They
respectfully declined the offer, "No way,
Sir!" Soaked to the skin, marching in the
pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that
guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment,
it was the highest honor that can be
afforded to a service person. The tomb has been patrolled
continuously, 24/7, since 1930.
God
Bless and keep them.
I'd be very proud if this email
reached as many as possible. We can be very
proud of our men and women
in the service no matter where they serve.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE WHO KEEP IT THAT WAY!
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Re: [blind-democracy] Re: Utah nurse arrested for defending patient's rights
So, the good citizens of Huntington, West Virginia have a problem.
What to do about the drug abuse in their fair town. The "City
Fathers" gather and ponder the problem and look for a solution. They
find that they are looking at two distinct courses of action. They
might begin a rehabilitation project, one that not only rehabilitates
people, but their living conditions. The towns citizens might begin a
massive cleanup of the housing where these drug addicts live. They
might begin a Works Program, training and placing the unemployed in
community jobs such as cleaning streets, vacant lots, parks and trash
dumped along the local roads. They might even learn to fill pot holes
and clean up the yards of elderly and disabled folks. The townspeople
might even go so far as to offer credit courses to assist in future
jobs.
Or they could levy a fine on the landlords if they fail to kick the
drug violators out of their apartments and rental homes. In other
words, simply move the problem from one place to somewhere else. As
an old rehabilitation teacher, I have certainly had my share of
"failures", heartbreaks, people who might have turned a corner and
made a new start, but who could not do so. But I have seen a greater
number of folks, given just a nudge, a small bit of kindness and
attention and positive support, pick up and go forward. The small
budget we work with has paid for greater dividends to both the
individuals and to the entire community, than to have not put one dime
toward their plight. Left alone, these elderly blind people, the
folks we are charged with serving, if left alone a great number of
them will end up costing the community for their upkeep. Not only
does the community lose, but so do the individuals.
Too many years have passed since the lessons learned from
"Hoovervilles" around the nation in the 30's and early 40's, and FDR's
solution by setting up WPA and similar projects to train and employ
people rather than to abandon them. But this is exactly what the City
Fathers of Huntington, West Virginia have chosen to do, abandon the
drug abusers. Return in twelve months and I can assure you that these
same City Fathers will be sitting at the same conference table facing
the same problem...only worse.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/13/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> It is interesting that the city of Huntington, West Virginia just passed
> an ordinance that if tenants are arrested for drug offenses the landlord
> must evict them or pay a stiff fine.
>
>
> On 9/13/2017 5:08 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>> Bonnie,
>>
>> That's a terrible story. My feeling is that the root of the problem has
>> to
>> do with the fact that our society criminalizes addiction rather than
>> seeing
>> it as a medical problem and treating it. People who are given drugs under
>> medical supervision, don't have to engage in criminal behavior. In
>> Portugal,
>> where they have a different approach from our's, they don't have the same
>> kinds of issues. There's an excellent book about this which I've read,
>> but
>> of course, I can't remember the name offhand. I understand that it's very
>> complicated. I was married to someone who had a severe drinking problem.
>> Addiction is an illness, one that is terrible to live with, if you're
>> impacted by it.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Bonnie L.
>> Sherrell
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:40 PM
>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Utah nurse arrested for defending
>> patient's
>> rights
>>
>> My first teaching contract was with the White River School District,
>> teaching in the Rainier Institution and School for the Retarded in
>> Buckley,
>> Washington. One of our teaching assistants was a former police officer
>> who
>> had lost a good deal of his hearing by refusing to wear ear protection
>> while
>> on the firing line doing shooting practice. He admits he was too macho
>> to
>> live at the time. Marv admitted that he was glad he lost so much hearing
>> to
>> the point he had to leave the force, as he'd begun to realize that
>> constant
>> exposure to the worst of human behavior was driving him to become abusive
>> and so cynical he wouldn't listen to explanations as to what had really
>> happened. He suspected that if he'd not been forced to leave when he
>> did,
>> eventually he'd probably end up being arrested himself for beating up
>> prisoners who would prove to be innocent of any crime.
>>
>> A few years after I moved to my present home, I rented my barn to a guy
>> who
>> had been close friends for years with Jack, whom Tony and I had known for
>> close to fifteen years. Even though he'd not seen this Dave for over
>> twenty
>> years, Jack was certain that Dave would be an okay tenant. After a year
>> of
>> tenancy, Dave and his live-in girlfriend got back into methamphetamines
>> and
>> began reverting to typical druggy behavior, which included stealing
>> everything that wasn't nailed down and a few things that literally had
>> been.
>> By the time they began openly stealing to me, every complaint made
>> against
>> them was responded to with, "We're sorry, but our hands are tied." I
>> couldn't get anyone to help retrieve stolen property or to help force
>> them
>> off my property, even when they'd not paid rent for months and had been
>> caught in possession of stolen cars and goods and selling drugs from the
>> barn. I had to go through the whole eviction process, which involved
>> having
>> to hire a lawyer as the judge in my county who handled eviction cases
>> would
>> not allow private citizens to represent themselves in his courtroom. Not
>> until they were finally gone did I learn that they'd been recruited as
>> police informants and thus were being protected by the very officers and
>> institutions intended to protect the general public from them, and
>> although
>> most of the officers in the region wanted them put away for good they
>> were
>> threatened when they arrested them until they accepted they couldn't do
>> anything to protect anyone from almost anything the pair did. I don't
>> know
>> what agency was protecting them, but even when they proved no help at all
>> in
>> weeding out other drug offenders or car thieves, IF they got arrested
>> they'd
>> be released usually before the arresting officer finished the paperwork
>> necessary to process them into jail. I could have lost everything I
>> owned
>> because of these yahoos, and I was powerless to do anything about it
>> except
>> to go to court to have them evicted, even when they'd begun threatening
>> me
>> with physical harm and were constantly turning off the water to the house
>> (the controls for the well and water were there in the barn where they
>> could
>> easily manipulate them while I couldn't as easily turn the water back on)
>> during the hottest summer we ever had. This summer may have been the
>> driest
>> summer on record, but the year these two were constantly denying me water
>> was the hottest I ever remember, with the heat being at record levels
>> starting in May.
>>
>> It's hell when good police officers are forced to allow people they are
>> dying to see go to prison for well documented crimes to continue on with
>> their criminal careers and decent people are forced to endure
>> exploitation
>> and threats until some legal sham is enacted forcing the criminals to
>> begone. Officers who responded to my complaints and those of my
>> neighbors
>> finally told me they could do nothing until I managed to get them evicted
>> (and the judge would not allow me to list their criminal activities among
>> the reasons for the eviction--he'd only accept the fact they'd not paid
>> rent
>> for five months as THE reason) and legally off my property. But even
>> then
>> they were not allowed to do anything to stop them from ranging around two
>> counties squatting on property and continuing to steal except finally to
>> evict them from said counties as vagrants. Oh, yeah--force them off the
>> Peninsula to become similar problems elsewhere in the state.
>>
>>
>> Bonnie L. Sherrell
>> Teacher at Large
>>
>> "Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the
>> very
>> wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
>>
>> "Don't go where I can't follow."
>>
>> We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
What to do about the drug abuse in their fair town. The "City
Fathers" gather and ponder the problem and look for a solution. They
find that they are looking at two distinct courses of action. They
might begin a rehabilitation project, one that not only rehabilitates
people, but their living conditions. The towns citizens might begin a
massive cleanup of the housing where these drug addicts live. They
might begin a Works Program, training and placing the unemployed in
community jobs such as cleaning streets, vacant lots, parks and trash
dumped along the local roads. They might even learn to fill pot holes
and clean up the yards of elderly and disabled folks. The townspeople
might even go so far as to offer credit courses to assist in future
jobs.
Or they could levy a fine on the landlords if they fail to kick the
drug violators out of their apartments and rental homes. In other
words, simply move the problem from one place to somewhere else. As
an old rehabilitation teacher, I have certainly had my share of
"failures", heartbreaks, people who might have turned a corner and
made a new start, but who could not do so. But I have seen a greater
number of folks, given just a nudge, a small bit of kindness and
attention and positive support, pick up and go forward. The small
budget we work with has paid for greater dividends to both the
individuals and to the entire community, than to have not put one dime
toward their plight. Left alone, these elderly blind people, the
folks we are charged with serving, if left alone a great number of
them will end up costing the community for their upkeep. Not only
does the community lose, but so do the individuals.
Too many years have passed since the lessons learned from
"Hoovervilles" around the nation in the 30's and early 40's, and FDR's
solution by setting up WPA and similar projects to train and employ
people rather than to abandon them. But this is exactly what the City
Fathers of Huntington, West Virginia have chosen to do, abandon the
drug abusers. Return in twelve months and I can assure you that these
same City Fathers will be sitting at the same conference table facing
the same problem...only worse.
Carl Jarvis
On 9/13/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> It is interesting that the city of Huntington, West Virginia just passed
> an ordinance that if tenants are arrested for drug offenses the landlord
> must evict them or pay a stiff fine.
>
>
> On 9/13/2017 5:08 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
>> Bonnie,
>>
>> That's a terrible story. My feeling is that the root of the problem has
>> to
>> do with the fact that our society criminalizes addiction rather than
>> seeing
>> it as a medical problem and treating it. People who are given drugs under
>> medical supervision, don't have to engage in criminal behavior. In
>> Portugal,
>> where they have a different approach from our's, they don't have the same
>> kinds of issues. There's an excellent book about this which I've read,
>> but
>> of course, I can't remember the name offhand. I understand that it's very
>> complicated. I was married to someone who had a severe drinking problem.
>> Addiction is an illness, one that is terrible to live with, if you're
>> impacted by it.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org
>> [mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Bonnie L.
>> Sherrell
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:40 PM
>> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
>> Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Utah nurse arrested for defending
>> patient's
>> rights
>>
>> My first teaching contract was with the White River School District,
>> teaching in the Rainier Institution and School for the Retarded in
>> Buckley,
>> Washington. One of our teaching assistants was a former police officer
>> who
>> had lost a good deal of his hearing by refusing to wear ear protection
>> while
>> on the firing line doing shooting practice. He admits he was too macho
>> to
>> live at the time. Marv admitted that he was glad he lost so much hearing
>> to
>> the point he had to leave the force, as he'd begun to realize that
>> constant
>> exposure to the worst of human behavior was driving him to become abusive
>> and so cynical he wouldn't listen to explanations as to what had really
>> happened. He suspected that if he'd not been forced to leave when he
>> did,
>> eventually he'd probably end up being arrested himself for beating up
>> prisoners who would prove to be innocent of any crime.
>>
>> A few years after I moved to my present home, I rented my barn to a guy
>> who
>> had been close friends for years with Jack, whom Tony and I had known for
>> close to fifteen years. Even though he'd not seen this Dave for over
>> twenty
>> years, Jack was certain that Dave would be an okay tenant. After a year
>> of
>> tenancy, Dave and his live-in girlfriend got back into methamphetamines
>> and
>> began reverting to typical druggy behavior, which included stealing
>> everything that wasn't nailed down and a few things that literally had
>> been.
>> By the time they began openly stealing to me, every complaint made
>> against
>> them was responded to with, "We're sorry, but our hands are tied." I
>> couldn't get anyone to help retrieve stolen property or to help force
>> them
>> off my property, even when they'd not paid rent for months and had been
>> caught in possession of stolen cars and goods and selling drugs from the
>> barn. I had to go through the whole eviction process, which involved
>> having
>> to hire a lawyer as the judge in my county who handled eviction cases
>> would
>> not allow private citizens to represent themselves in his courtroom. Not
>> until they were finally gone did I learn that they'd been recruited as
>> police informants and thus were being protected by the very officers and
>> institutions intended to protect the general public from them, and
>> although
>> most of the officers in the region wanted them put away for good they
>> were
>> threatened when they arrested them until they accepted they couldn't do
>> anything to protect anyone from almost anything the pair did. I don't
>> know
>> what agency was protecting them, but even when they proved no help at all
>> in
>> weeding out other drug offenders or car thieves, IF they got arrested
>> they'd
>> be released usually before the arresting officer finished the paperwork
>> necessary to process them into jail. I could have lost everything I
>> owned
>> because of these yahoos, and I was powerless to do anything about it
>> except
>> to go to court to have them evicted, even when they'd begun threatening
>> me
>> with physical harm and were constantly turning off the water to the house
>> (the controls for the well and water were there in the barn where they
>> could
>> easily manipulate them while I couldn't as easily turn the water back on)
>> during the hottest summer we ever had. This summer may have been the
>> driest
>> summer on record, but the year these two were constantly denying me water
>> was the hottest I ever remember, with the heat being at record levels
>> starting in May.
>>
>> It's hell when good police officers are forced to allow people they are
>> dying to see go to prison for well documented crimes to continue on with
>> their criminal careers and decent people are forced to endure
>> exploitation
>> and threats until some legal sham is enacted forcing the criminals to
>> begone. Officers who responded to my complaints and those of my
>> neighbors
>> finally told me they could do nothing until I managed to get them evicted
>> (and the judge would not allow me to list their criminal activities among
>> the reasons for the eviction--he'd only accept the fact they'd not paid
>> rent
>> for five months as THE reason) and legally off my property. But even
>> then
>> they were not allowed to do anything to stop them from ranging around two
>> counties squatting on property and continuing to steal except finally to
>> evict them from said counties as vagrants. Oh, yeah--force them off the
>> Peninsula to become similar problems elsewhere in the state.
>>
>>
>> Bonnie L. Sherrell
>> Teacher at Large
>>
>> "Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the
>> very
>> wise cannot see all ends." LOTR
>>
>> "Don't go where I can't follow."
>>
>> We gave the Goblin King control of our nation!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
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