Author Archives: Benjamin Moore

About Benjamin Moore

When someone asks who you are, give them your name. When they ask but, who are you really? Remain silent.

Jade Helm – Exploding The Myth of Martial Law

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Jade Helm Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

 “The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling!!!” ~Chicken Little

There’s Money In Fear Mongering

If you spend any time on-line or watch certain news channels, by now you’ve heard the phrase, “Jade Helm.” You probably know it has something to do with a semi-clandestine military operation in several States in the South West United States. You’ve also probably heard the phrases, “martial law,” “invasion,” “FEMA camps” and “round ups.”

Jade Helm Mad Max

Mad Max

Those who speak about this subject, often speak with great conviction in matter of fact, “I told you so” terms. Like finally vindicated “prophets of doom,” the day of judgement they’ve long predicted has finally arrived! It’s as though they’ve conflated the movies, “Red Dawn and Mad Max” and taken them as holy writ, a foretelling of the “end times” which are now upon us!

There are rightwing talk shows and YouTube channels devoted to little more than scaring the pants off all who will listen. They combine a mix of flawed eschatology – Biblical “end times” theology – with  the latest conspiracy theories, spice it with some racist, “dog whistle” conservative ideology and serve this toxic brew up as if it were a gourmet meal. The beauty of it? Since you cannot prove a negative, it is near impossible to prove them wrong! “The bogeyman is under your bed!” You look under your bed and see nothing more harmful than “dust bunnies,” they’ll tell you “he moved to your closet!” You rush over to your closet, fling open the door then they’ll tell you, “he was too quick for you! He’s back under the bed!”

They get you rushing back and forth, between bed and closet so quickly, you don’t have time to consider, what if there is no bogeyman? In the meantime, a commercial break tells you to buy Gold and Silver or buy nitrogen packed food… and they get paid!

Jade Helm – What Is It?

Jade Helm Map

Map of States where exercise will occur.

Jade Helm is nothing more than a military training exercise to prepare our troops for operating in urban and suburban environments where there are non-combatant civilians. The days of armies lining up on battle lines and shooting it out with one another are largely a thing of the past. International borders are now fixed, Russia’s adventures in the Ukraine notwithstanding, and nobody is really interested in going to the headache and expense of annexing a recalcitrant Nation State into their national boundaries.

Warfare today is asymmetric. Insurgents attempting to take over a country, terrorist cells hiding amongst non-combatant civilians, carpet bombing a city or rolling in a tank brigade would be tantamount to taking a sledgehammer to a spider crawling up your wall. You may not like spiders, but a big hole in your wall? Really???

Our troops need to be able to operate within these environments with surgical precision. They need to be able to work with local governing bodies and their law enforcement personal. They need to be able to interface their intelligence gathering techniques with whatever the locals are able to provide. They need to practice the logistics of resupply and equipment movement in such a way as to interface positively with a trepidatious civilian population. Where exactly would you suggest they practice and perfect these techniques?

No Invasion. No Martial Law.

Let’s take Texas. There are 15 military bases in Texas already. Army, Navy and Air Force. There is absolutely no need for the United States military to bring in additional assets to take over Texas and enforce martial law. If that were their objective, they’d have done it already and they would not have put out a public notice telling you they were coming in July. Think critically!

Remember 2008? We literally were staring into the abyss. Our stock markets were in free fall. Our manufacturing industries were crumbling. Our housing markets were going up in smoke. Major banks were going bankrupt. People were losing their homes left and right. Their entire pensions and retirements were being wiped out. It looked like the end of the United States!

All this was because some idiot bankers figured out how to create profits out of thin air using “derivatives” – Calculus – and “sub-prime mortgages.” It wasn’t just us. Our collapsing markets brought the global economy to its knees. Europe, Japan, even China were reeling. Again, this was over something as innocuous as people not being able to pay the mortgage notes they’d been pushed into by greedy banks looking to make a fast buck.

What do you suppose would happen if the United States, declared martial law and began rounding up citizens in several of its States? How do you think the rest of the country would respond? How do you think the markets would respond? That type of disruption would make 2008 look like a minor hiccup! Wealthy people do not like to lose money! In 2008 while you and I were losing thousands – my portfolio dropped $100,000 – the wealthy were losing billions of dollars. They didn’t like it at all!

You must look at the big picture. Government instability would certainly impact you and I at a local level. Yes, we would quickly be up in arms. However, when the wealthy begin haemorrhaging cash, they pick up their phones and call all those congressmen they own and tell them in no uncertain terms to make it stop!

Jade Helm - Alex Jones

Alex Jones – Chicken Little Number One!

The “Chicken Littles” of the world – most of them racist – would like to make you believe that our first African-American President could simply suspend the Constitution, declare martial law and begin rounding up all the white people for some payback. Might make an interesting plot for the next dystopian movie, but in reality it’s not possible. The majority of our armed forces is neither Black nor Hispanic. The majority of our Generals and Admirals are neither Black nor Hispanic. Yes, he is the Commander in Chief, but each and every one of them swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. They would not obey an unconstitutional order whomever the President was who issued it.

Canary In The Coal Mine

Jade Helm - Mine Canary

Mine Canary

If our government were even contemplating such a foolish thing, they would not test it out in “Gun Toting Redneck Land!” They would first try it in some isolated area on a depressed, predominately minority community. Some place out of the way with people this country historically hasn’t demonstrated concern for. Or, they’d go try it on some Native American Reservation. They certainly wouldn’t start with Texas or Utah. Bad strategy! So you can rest secure, this isn’t the “Mad Max,” “Walking Dead” apocalypse you’ve been getting ready for.

Jade Helm - Walking Dead

The Walking Dead – Zombie Apocalypse.

What About FEMA Camps?

Jade Helm - Coffins debunked

Actually these are burial vaults for cemeteries

I, like some of you have seen the videos of these alleged FEMA Camps. I have even seen one video of these stacked plastic containers they said were coffins to bury all the people they were planning on murdering. Again, think critically! If you’re going to commit mass murder, you don’t need camps. Furthermore, you don’t need plastic coffins. All you need is a Bulldozer to dig a trench for the bodies and to cover them up. No need to go to all that expense.

FEMA exists for emergencies. No doubt it has been mismanaged and underfunded. However, it is needed. Hurricane Katrina taught us that. Remember all those people in the “Super Dome?” They then moved some of them to a stadium in Texas. Finally they began dispersing them all over the United States. Some even ended up as far away as Alaska. The plan was for them to return once New Orleans had been rebuilt, but some discovered they liked where they were, got jobs and put down roots.

FEMA Camps – clearly too small for such a large scale disaster – are for these types of situations. Why are they out of the way in hard to locate areas? Would you want a camp on your block? They’d have to be located on land the Federal Government owns. Fences and security are for the protection of the people in the camp. None of the pictures of these supposed camps would do much to prevent anyone bent on escape. We have inmates break out of much better secured prisons all the time. Think critically.

Jade Helm - FEMA Camp

A real FEMA camp. Frightening isn’t it?

Real Threats

Right now we’re coming to understand just how dangerous the world can truly be. Let me list a few possibilities for you.

  • Yellowstone Super Caldera.
  • Tsunamis.
  • Asteroid strike.
  • Dirty bomb.
  • Biological attack.

Any of the above could happen at any time. They would require moving survivors and caring for them, sheltering, feeding and medical treatment. These are the types of catastrophes only the full resources of the Federal Government can hope to address. FEMA is a pathetic nod at recognition of this need.

The ultimate goal is returning to normalcy. Our government needs people working, consuming and spending money in order for it to exist. Manufacturers need people buying their goods and services. We need farmers planting and harvesting crops. Grocery stores must have groceries. The phone company, cable company utility companies all need you healthy, happy, working and paying your bills. You cannot do that locked in a FEMA camp or under the societal disruption of martial law. Just think!

Defining Progress

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Defining Progressby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Defining Progress – What Is Progress? What Does It Mean??

“Don’t stick a knife in my back 8 inches, pull it out to 4 inches and tell me we’re making progress.” ~Malcom-X

When defining progress, it is important to realize progress is relative to something or some state that already exists. It is thus defined by where you are or what you have and where you want to be or where you want to get. If you ask me to tear down a building and hand me a sledgehammer and a crowbar, I can make progress on your project. Depending on the size of the building and whether or not I have any assistance, it might take me quite awhile… or, it might prove impossible.

I could not bring down a skyscraper with just a crowbar and a sledgehammer. That’s not going to happen. If you gave me a bulldozer I could probably make quick work of a house, but a skyscraper? Not going to happen. Although, I could certainly get to work on the project and day after day you could say, “I was making progress.”

If I were worth say, $8 billion dollars, and you were the trustee over my estate, charged with releasing money as needed, you could give me a couple of million dollars a year and with compound interest, I would die before ever actually acquiring my full $8 billion. You could argue that $2 million a year was nothing to sneeze at and call that “progress.” However, if my goal is to take over my complete estate, I may asymptotically approach that goal, but I’ll never reach that goal. All along the way it might be said that “I was making progress towards achieving my goal.”

Understanding An Asymptote

An asymptote is a line that continually approaches a given curve but does not meet it at any finite distance. It will forever approach the curve – destination – but never touch or reach it. When we talk about progress in the struggle for the civil rights of Black people in these United States, we’re looking at an asymptotic relationship.

Slavery is no longer economically viable. Free the Slaves. Progress. But what did that actually mean? Yes, suddenly we had a large population of African-Americans who were no longer enslaved, but whom had none of the wealth of this nation they were so vital a part of its building. “Give them all 40 acres and a mule.” First understand that very few freed Slaves actually received 40 acres and a mule… but let’s say they did. They had no money to buy seed. If they had seed, they needed implements to clear the land and till the soil. What exactly were they supposed to eat or live on until their first harvest? Were they making progress? that certainly was the argument. The question is, “progress towards what?”

Remember, progress is relative. They were making progress away from their previous state, but what were they moving towards? The only goal they could be moving towards in this country is full equality under the law as defined by our Constitution. It is 2015 now. Slavery ended in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment. It’s been 150 years now and we’re still making progress.

Your True Intentions Are Showing

 If I owe you $5,000 dollars I can do one of several things. I can write you a check and clear my debt. I can pay you in cash, get a receipt and clear my debt. If I don’t have the full amount, I can offer to make payments – progress – if you will accept that. Whether or not you accept anything less than payment in full, depends entirely on your assessment of what I am capable of paying you.

If you owe your bank $5,000 and your balloon payment comes due, the bank will simply take it out of your account. Why? Because they know you have it. The payment is due. It now becomes their money. What about other types of debts?

Defining Progress - Governor's GazeboThis actually happened to one of my brothers-in-law years ago. He was driving down a street and noticed this beautiful gazebo sitting on this park like lawn. There was a stately mansion in the distance but as there were several parks in the area, he and his wife figured it was a park, pulled over and took their picnic basket and set up in the gazebo to enjoy an impromptu picnic on a nice summer’s day.

They were surprised when shortly into their meal a golf cart pulled up and two men in dark suits got out. Come to find out, they had picked the Governor’s mansion to have a picnic. Security was cordial and allowed them to finish. They could have made them leave immediately. When you’re trespassing on someone else’s property, you owe them your immediate removal. The security detail after determining they were no threat allowed them to make progress in leaving. “We’ll give you 45 minutes to finish but this is private property… be advised.

If you live next door to me and you throw a party and some of your guest are blocking my driveway or park on my lawn. Depending on my mood or what projects I’m engaging in, I might tolerate it for just that one occasion. I do try to be a good neighbor. However, it happens again, I’m going to speak with you about it. If it happens after I speak with you about it. I’m going to make an adjustment in my thinking and conclude you’re doing it intentionally. At this point I’m calling the police and a towing company. Why? Because your true intentions are showing.

When Black people are denied their voting rights, their neighborhoods do not receive the same funding as white neighborhoods, their schools are under funded, their roads are not repaired, predatory policing tactics are employed against them, your true intentions are showing.

We see these intentions in Fortune 500 companies. Certainly they all employ minorities… in their lower levels. However, as one moves up their corporate chain, minorities rapidly begin to disappear. In fact, females begin to become scarce as you approach the top levels. Rather than promote a minority or a female from within their corporation, they will go and hire a white male from outside the corporation, put them over the people who’ve been there and actually have a much better understanding of the business. This is neither accident nor coincidence. This is strategy. The people from within the corporation have worked with and formed relationships with the people on and below their level. They feel a responsibility and a sensitivity to these people who’ve helped them achieve their success. The people brought in from the outside only have an allegiance to the people at the top who brought them in.

We’re No Longer Interested In Just Progress

When President Barack Obama was elected, many people marvelled and patted themselves on their backs and pointed to all the progress we’ve made and how far we’ve come. Of course on the very night of his inauguration, a group of racist Republicans was meeting to decide that no matter what he tried to do, they would block him at each and every turn. Some would call this treason! At the time President Obama took office, we were in the middle of not one but two wars. Our economy was in free fall. Major banks were failing, our housing market had collapsed, our automotive industries were teetering on bankruptcy and the President the American People had elected to fix all this mess… They were conspiring to thwart and oppose at every opportunity.

Do Black people now have the right to vote? Technically yes. However, Republican controlled districts have been busily closing polling places in areas where African Americans vote, requiring new and unnecessary identification – a poll tax – to target poor and minority voters. For instance, Texas won’t recognize a Student ID but they will accept a gun permit.

Let’s look at what all is involved in getting a gun permit. Since I happen to own one in the State of Indiana, you’ve got to first go and get two money orders. One made out to the State Police and one made out to your local police department. You then have to go and get fingerprinted. Struck me as odd since my local police department did it all over again once I got down there. You have to fill out the application form on-line which of course requires a computer and Internet access. I suppose you could go to your public library and use their computers. All in all, I had to go to 3 different places to assemble the documentation I needed. My total cost since I opted for a lifetime permit – going through this process, once is enough –  was around $130.00 not including my gas, time and parking. Of course implicit in this is that you actually own a firearm.

How many poor people have that amount of money or time to spend? How many even own handguns? Accepting a gun permit is facilitating a certain segment of the population in voting while trying to exclude another segment. If you don’t own a car, why would you need a driver’s license? Not to mention, driver’s licenses are not free! Okay, so they will give you a free State ID for voting. However, to get that ID you must first assemble all the other documentation they require and get to a License Branch. Of course if you don’t own a car, that too becomes problematic. This is a strategy plain and simple. Telling me I have the right to vote is not progress when you then turn around and make it difficult if not impossible for me to fulfill my franchise.

If you’ve got my 40 acres and a mule, don’t give me an acre, rent me my mule and tell me to take it slow. I want it NOW! There’s no debate, no discussion and no negotiations needed… just do it!

No Unarmed Person Of Any Race Should Ever Die Being Arrested Or In Police Custody

This is a very simple proposition. We train them, give them vehicles, radios and technology. If they cannot arrest an unarmed civilian without murdering him or her or causing serious bodily harm, they should be fired immediately. No debate. No negotiation. No taking it slow. Right now… no, make that yesterday!

Ask yourself why cities will pay out multiplied millions in “wrongful death” suits and keep these Cops on the force? Cities will pay out multiplied millions in overtime pay to control a population inflamed by the murder of an unarmed Black 18 year old and still keep the murdering Cop on their payroll. If you owned a restaurant and the dishwasher broke over $100 dollars worth of your plates, you’d fire him. Yet these cities are willing to keep and pay Cops who’ve cost them multiplied millions of dollars. Why?

Freddie Gray

Defining Progress - Freddie Gray Arrest RecordI won’t say that Baltimore went up in flames, because in reality very few buildings were burned. The damage and unrest were actually limited to a relatively small portion of the city. The question nobody has asked as of yet, is “Why Did Freddie Run???” No, think about this for a moment. Think critically. I’m sure by now you’ve seen Freddie’s arrest record. What? Close to 20 felony arrests? Freddie was only 25 years old. Since juvenile records are sealed, we must assume that these felony arrests came after he reached the age of 18.

Any one of those felony arrests, had they got a conviction would have had him in jail or prison for at least 3 years. Any 3 felony convictions would have qualified him as a habitual offender and put him away for 30 years. He would not have been on the street walking around. He would have been in prison.

Next point. Did you notice that there were no outstanding warrants for Freddie Gray? It was not a case of “oh damn! It’s the ‘Po Po.'” They specifically said, “eye contact” was made and he ran. Ask yourself why. It is not like he’d never been arrested before. He knew he was clean, no warrants, so why run? Was something else going on?

Who Needs The Mafia When You’ve Got Cops?

Here in Indianapolis, the Cops control the drug trade and flow on our streets. I’m not making this up to cast disparaging remarks on my city. This is common knowledge on the streets. We’ve had numerous Cops arrested and sent to prison over narcotics.

Some years ago – back in the 80’s – there was a scandal involving at least 3 local police officers, speeding back from Detroit. They were doing well in excess of 100 mph in their personal cars. I believe a couple were driving a Porche and one was driving a Ferrari. Now I don’t know what they pay Cops up in Baltimore, but here in the “People’s Republic of Indiana,” Cops don’t make enough money to own those types of cars unless they married extremely well, or they’re dirty as hell! When they were pulled over by law enforcement for speeding, they flashed their badges, received “professional courtesy” and kept going. Several of the Cops who stopped them felt something just wasn’t quite right and reported them. It made the news. There were the normal noises about an investigation, and the story just sort of faded away. I figure it was a drug run.

I personally know of people who were small time drug dealers who were approached by the police to work for them and when they refused, they wound up dead. Execution style. I reported this to a homicide detective investigating one such murder and he dropped his head, nodded, indicated he knew about it and said that it was out of his hands and that Internal Affairs was looking into it. Well, they’ve been looking into it for over 15 years now evidently with no success. It is easy to overlook what you don’t want to find.

I remember the scene in the movie the “Untouchables,” where Sean Connery’s character is telling Elliot Ness, played by Kevin Costner, “everybody knows where the booze is. The question is how far are you prepared to go to stop it?”

What needs to be done isn’t easy. You cannot debate, negotiate or sneak up on it and tell yourself you’re making “progress.” Power is never ceded without force. Accepting the illusion of “progress” has now risen to the point of delusion. Everybody knows what needs to be done. If I walk into a convenience store and take a box of “Cigarillos,” that’s considered a justification for my murder. If a Banker loots the pensions, retirement plans of hundreds of millions of our Citizen, they don’t even worry about going to prison.

If a battered wife fires a warning shot into her own ceiling to stop her abusive husband, she faces over 20 years in prison. If two Cops murder a 12 year old boy in a park they’re not even charged. So, what are you prepared to do? How long will you settle for being told you’re making progress?

Monkey Dust – Blinded By Racism

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Monkey Dust - Blinded By Racism HeaderBy Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

MONKEY DUST: (noun)

Mythical powder thrown into the air to obfuscate, confuse and blind one’s adversaries thus allowing retreat and or an easy escape.

Buckle up. For some this may be a bumpy ride. Without a doubt, the election of Barak Obama has brought the subject of race relations to the front pages like we haven’t seen since the days of Dr. Martin Luther King.

While the true state of race relations is nothing new to people of color, what has happened is, white people have suddenly been forced to face a reality they’d convinced themselves no longer existed. The shock of discovering they were wrong has thrown many into a tailspin.

Monkey Dust Blinded by Racism - Paula Deen

Longing for the “Good Ol’ Days.

We’ve had Paula Deen reminiscing about the “Good Ol’ Days” and wanting to have an antebellum wedding served by Black people dressed as Slaves. No shame in her game. She actually made these statements during an interview with a reporter. Imagine the outrage if she’d said she wanted to have a Holocaust themed wedding served by Jews dressed in stripped pajamas with the guests dressed as Nazi officers.

Monkey Dust Blinded by Racism - Phil Robertson

Multi-millionaire posing as a backwoods hick.

Then there’s Phil – Duck Dynasty – Robertson. He knows Black people were happy before Civil Rights. How does he know this? Because he’s “white trash” and he was with the Black people hoeing fields and picking cotton. He heard some sing and saw some laughing. This for him was proof that Black people were happy before Civil Rights. Evidently, we’ve all stopped singing and laughing. Did you catch what Phil Robertson implied? It probably snuck right past you.

Phil Robertson equated being “white trash” – his words – with being equal to Black people. Thus, normal white people – whatever that means – are by definition above Black people… but “white trash?” “White trash,” presumably poor white people who are living the “hard scrabble life,” these white people are equal to Black people. Put another way, any white person who associates with Black people is by Robertson’s definition, “white trash.” Are you with me now?

How Monkey Dust Works

Enter one Cliven Bundy. This fool has been free loading off the taxpayers for over 20 years by grazing his cattle on federal land without paying the range fees other ranchers have been paying. Thus far he’s racked up over $1.1 million dollars in range fees which he refuses to pay.

Monkey Dust Blinded by Racism - Cliven Bundy

If this fool had a working brain cell, it would die of loneliness.

Not only is he grazing his cattle on federal land, the land in question has been set aside as a preserve for an endangered tortoise. So, we have a deadbeat tax evader who is trespassing on federal land who has been getting something for nothing for the past 20 years. It would seem cut and dried. Throw his ass in jail, take his property, sell it and recoup what he owes the American people. Isn’t this the treatment you’d expect if you did the same thing?

Out of the blue, Cliven Bundy decides to tell us “what he knows about the Negro.” What the Hell??? Where’d that come from? What have Black people got to do with his issues? He launches into a diatribe about Black people on welfare. Here’s a fellow that for the last 20 years has been living on welfare to the tune of $1.1 million dollars. The moment he threw “Monkey Dust” into the air, we all forgot about the real issues – his crimes – and focused on racism. Since there are significantly more white people on welfare, than any other race, it would have been more instructive for him to tell us all about white people.

Monkey Dust - Blinded by Racism - WelfareThe Curious Case Of Donald Sterling.

One of the most Kafkaesque things I’ve ever witnessed is the curious case of ex-Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. Here is an 80 year old white man who believes himself to be Jewish – more on this later – who is having an affair with a 31 year old woman of Black and Latino ethnicity. What could possibly go wrong with this? This is fertile ground for all kinds of problems without ever injecting race. Oh, it gets better!

Monkey Dust Blinded by Racism - Donald Sterling

Donald Sterling and his Black/Latina mistress.

Sterling is caught on tape – a lot of confusion here because it seems he was aware he was being taped – telling her that he doesn’t want her seen in public with Black people. It is perfectly fine by him for her to take them to bed… just don’t be seen in public with them. You know? I never did that whole drug thing in my youth, but I suspect a hit of LSD might help make sense of this. When reality gets twisted, often the only way to understand it, is to get just as twisted yourself.

What? It’s alright for Sterling to be seen in public with Black people… Hell! He’s dating one! Yet, he doesn’t want the same Black woman he’s dating to be seen with other Black people or bring them to his Clipper games. No, I think it’s going to take something even more mind altering than LSD to make sense of this.

The irony is that he calls himself Jewish and like many, has no idea that true Hebrews are Black.

Racism

Race is such a convoluted topic because there really is no factual definition of race or ethnicity. We started by identifying one another by geography. Wherever you were born is what you were. How you looked had nothing to do with it. This is why when you ask white people about their heritage you get a mathematics equation with geography thrown in. I’m 1/4th Welsh, 2/5ths German on my mother’s side and 3/8ths Italian. What the Hell does that mean? Stand them beside a Black person and ask them the same question and they’re likely to simply say, “I’m white.”

Did you know, prior to the African Slave Trade, your race was determined by your father? If your father was Greek and your mother was Chinese, you were Greek. Didn’t matter what you looked like. Teresa Heinz Kerry is African. Charlize Theron is African. Both women were born in Africa. When you point to so called “white people” born in Africa, suddenly it becomes all about skin color.

Evolution And Racism

There really is only one race of man on this planet. It’s the human race. Skin color is determined by geographical location. Populations found closer to the equator are darker. Dark skin is an evolutionary adaptation to protect us from solar radiation. If you took a white population and transplanted them to a location close to the equator, without intermarrying with other people living in that area. Within 16 generations or less, they’d all be Black. Think about that for a moment. Unless you’re naive enough to believe that geography somehow confers some sort of superiority upon a person, this entire race business is just a matrix of control to keep certain people wealthy and in power.

Monkey Dust Blinded by Racism - Skin Color Map

Your skin color is determined by how close to the equator your ancestors lived.

The worst part of racism? We are squandering the only real resource on this planet which is the human mind. The mind which held the secrets to immortality might have been born into a body in Sub-Saharan Africa. The mind which held the key to faster than light travel may have been born into a body in the Sudan. Because we have devalued these people, we may have doomed the human race to extinction. Racism… what a silly method of self-destruction.

Holding Court – Gospel Of The 1 Percent

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Holding Court Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

I Was Offended!

What follows is the account of an encounter I had the other day in our local Meijer grocery store. I see this more and more frequently these days. Some Apostle of the GOP, spreading the gospel of Fox News and the 1%, will begin loud talking someone. Most often this is a person whom they perceive to be uninformed or under informed and they promptly get busy planting the seeds of their delusion in what they perceive to be fertile ground.

I do try and mind my own business… However, when someone is playing to an audience and seeking converts… I don’t do “audience” well. I tend to talk back, object and ask questions. Hopefully you will enjoy the following exchange and perhaps join me in pushing back against these charlatans who seek to pull the wool over the eyes of people they believe are beneath them. Enjoy!

Holding Court – Gospel Of The 1 Percent

The other day I had to go down to our “City Hall” to pay our property taxes… I’ve had several bad experiences with their security check point – read: damn near had to strip – so, I figured I’d put on some sweat pants and a sweat shirt with nothing on me other than my wallet, keys, checkbook, a pen and my smart phone. All in all? I looked pretty grungy.

Weather report called for sub-arctic temps, so I figured while I was out I’d swing through Meijer’s and grab a few items so I wouldn’t have to go out again for a couple of days. Thus it was, with visions of a glowing fireplace in mind, I found myself on the dairy aisle heading towards the eggs.

Holding Court - Dairy Aisle My first intimation of an unusual exchange came when I heard this older white guy talking in what I call his “holding court voice.” I’m sure you’ve all heard and experienced this. When people talk way too loud for a conventional conversation such that people 20 or more feet away can hear clearly and follow along whether they’re interested or not. The second thing I noticed was… damn if they weren’t standing dab smack in front of the egg section!

Let me paint the picture for you. The older white gent was wearing some designer jeans, loafers and something like a members only jacket. He had silver hair, was about 6′ tall and exuded wealth and power. The poor employee he had “buttonholed” was maybe in his late 20’s, early 30’s. Rather scraggly faced. Ponytail, tall and lean. I’d seen him around numerous times. He was always pleasant but quiet and reserved.

My intentions were to grab my eggs and get the hell out of there… glowing fireplace, remember? What stopped me in my tracks was, I heard the younger employee defending himself by saying, “Meijer made quite a profit this year… to me that means they ought to be able to give us employees a raise.”

My eyes narrowed as the alarm bells begin to go off. This older fellow must have been pressing the employee quite a bit because this isn’t generally the topic of conversation that goes well… *on* company time and on company *property.* The older fellow – again in his “holding court voice” – proffered, “well, all these grocery stores are running quite a lean ship and there’s just not as much money as you think there is…” He rocked back on his heels smugly and gave a knowing smile.

Holding Court - Silver FoxI slowly turned, looked at him and said, “you seem to be as old if not a bit older than I? I’m sure you recall when we grew up, things really weren’t all that bad… back in the days when the CEOs of corporations didn’t make 700 times what their front line employees make? We did pretty well back then didn’t we? Just because something is a certain way, doesn’t mean it has to be, or should be that way…” Jamie Dimon, the CEO of Chase just got a $20 million bonus package… this same year Chase paid out over $29 Billion in fines… but the board still gave him a $20 million bonus package.

I noticed his spine stiffen a bit. Clearly he had foreseen things going a different way. He was game however and immediately argued that, “the federal government almost put a gun to J.P. Morgan Chase’s head and made them buy several banks which is how they incurred those fines.” At this point I tried to sort of clue him in that it is unwise to judge a book by its cover… namely me. I informed him that I knew all about it as my wife happened to be an executive vice president for the bank. I then pointed out that this did nothing to explain the investigation being carried out by the U.S. Attorney General’s office into criminal wrong doing at Chase.

At this point he became almost apoplectic! I had to step back a bit to keep from being sprayed as spittle formed at the corners of his mouth. “Eric Holder is a criminal he spat!” I did try to make allowances even though I felt myself begin to do a slow boil… nevertheless, I pushed the fury down, looked him directly in the eyes and said, “he’s the United States Attorney General and I choose to respect him as such.” A more prescient man would have detected the edge in my voice and noticed the fire that had begun to flicker in my eyes. Not so with this fellow…

“Well then he needs to start prosecuting criminals he bawled!” He had just crossed the Rubicon and there was no going back now. The game was afoot! Okay, I said. “Tell me which crimes he isn’t prosecuting.” “Well he can start with all those guns coming in from Mexico!” “Uh huh,” I said, “that’s ‘Fast and Furious’ and that was under George Bush.” “Next? Have you got anything else???” He turned beet red and began to sputter. No time like the present to start my evisceration of this fool. “Your problem” I said conversationally, “is you get all your news from Fox News. Studies have shown that people who don’t watch any news at all, actually know more about the news than people who watch Fox.”

At this point he literally began to shake, his fist clenched as he exclaimed, “I don’t watch Fox news… and I don’t watch CNN, ABC, CBS or NBC… furthermore, *watching any other station is useless!”* The more agitated he grew, the calmer I became. Lowering my voice a level I said, “so you’re a liar! You do get your news from Fox! You just admitted to it.” His mouth flew open and he began gulping air. Attempting to recover, he exclaimed, “no I don’t! I don’t watch any of the news channels!” He was shaking now… and I had him. Time to deliver the coup de grâce. “So where do you get your news?” I asked pleasantly. “Or do you just pull it out of your ass???”

I didn’t think it was possible for him to become any more red! He began to shake and then with the almost plaintive wail of a child, he said, “I get my news from sources…” “Which sources” I pressed. “Sources that *I* trust!” At this point I looked over at the employee, spread my arms, shrugged my shoulders and with a smile and a nod I said, “Fox!” I shook my head and calmly walked away, eggs in hand, to get the rest of my items.

A moment or two later the employee located me, walked up to me, shook my hand and said, “thank you so much. I really can’t debate these people while I’m working.” I smiled and said, “no worries, I had you covered.”

Technological Subjugation In Our Nuclear Age

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Technological Subjugation In Our Nuclear Age

by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Yes there is certainly validity to the argument that a nation who builds a nuclear reactor could also build a bomb. To be sure the by products of nuclear technology can be weaponized. These materials could also fall into the hands of terrorist. Although, given the relative paucity of security around some of our nuclear sites, one has to wonder if this really is a primary concern.

War – Incubator For Technology

Human beings are a twisted species. Wars often provide the blood soaked, fertile ground in which the seeds of advancement are sown. It seems throwing a party where we all agree to murder one another, certainly gets our creative juices flowing!

Advancements in metallurgy were a result of building better swords, knives and battle axes. The sharpest edge known to man is still the edge on a fractured piece of flint. That perfect edge goes down to one molecule of thickness which is far sharper than any metal blade can ever be. The problem of course is, stone blades while excellent at slicing and cutting, make poor weapons because they chip and break under impact. Hence metals.

Technological Subjugation - Composite Bow

Composite Bow

The simple bow and arrow, while more than adequate for hunting, when applied to war, caused us to learn about adhesives, the advantages of compressed fibers, the mechanical advantages of geometric shapes and the list goes on. Some of the early “composite bows” were simply works of art. They used backings of animal sinew – applied with natural adhesives – to allow them to store more energy when flexed. They used animal horn on their recurved tips to provide mechanical advantage. Some of these same principles – albeit using different materials – can be seen practically applied in the construction of skyscrapers today.

Technological Subjugation - Egyptian Chariot

Egyptian Chariot

Egyptian chariots employed highly sophisticated suspension systems. For the archer to hit his target, the ride needed to be as smooth as possible. Some of these same principles are in the suspension systems of the cars we enjoy today. The lightness of the spoked wheel that first appeared on war chariots can be seen on high performance sports cars today.

Technological Subjugation - German V2 Rocket

German V2 Rocket circa WWII

Hitler’s V-2 rockets designed to rain down terror and destruction on England and other Allied Nations, were the genesis of our space program. Without the V-2 rocket and the technologies developed making it and refining it, Neil Armstrong would never have left his footprints on our Lunar surface. The technologies we developed solving the problems of surviving the harsh vacuum of space, not only had their genesis in war, but they too spawned other technologies we take for granted today.

We ended WWII by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan. This was horrible, malicious, genocidal and brutal. In my opinion, there was no excuse for it other than the fact, we wanted to test out our new weapon on human guinea pigs. That said, out of our weaponization of nuclear physics, we have discovered technologies that have reshaped human existence on this planet and stretched the very concepts of what is and isn’t possible.

We’ve developed high flux components which are used in heavy duty electrical contacts. We’ve developed super-conductors that are used everyday in MRI machines. Microwave technology came about as a result of research into nuclear physics. Plasma physics was spawned with all its applications. The ability to create and use carbon fibers was yet another advancement that came out of our nuclear program.

Technological Subjugation - Microwave Oven

Microwave Oven

The vehicle you drive today, no doubt would not be possible were it not for the war that caused us to create the atomic bomb. That microwave oven sitting on your kitchen counter, would not be there had we not learned how to build atomic bombs.

Technological Subjugation

When we place a global embargo on nuclear technology what are we really doing? If you’ve been paying attention to “Political Speak,” by now you’ve no doubt learned, to really understand what they’re saying, it is often better to simply take the opposite meaning. For instance the whole “Right To Work” laws, really have nothing to do with anyone’s right to work and everything to do with giving employers carte blanche to abuse and oppress their employees.

Thus when you hear things like “nuclear non-proliferation,” what are they really saying? Are they saying that those nations who currently have nuclear capabilities will not build any more bombs? Bigger bombs? Of course not! Why is it that the European powers are so dead set against anyone other than them having nuclear capability? I suggest for two reasons and the second may be the most important.

  1. They don’t want any non-European nation with the power to use a nuclear weapon against them.
  2. They want to keep a monopoly on the the economic gold mine that comes out of spin off technologies spawned by nuclear development.

What would happen if say, Iran as a result of its nuclear program, cracked the secrets to anti-gravity? Suddenly Space exploration would open up and Iran would hold the keys. The biggest cost of Space exploration is lifting men and materials into Space. Anti-gravity would make that cost a non-factor.

If India or Pakistan solved the problems of fusion reactions, suddenly nuclear power plants capable of safely and cleanly running entire neighborhoods and cities or even vehicles would be small enough to fit on your kitchen table. The Oil cartels would become all but extinct within a decade.

Technological Subjugation - Star Gate Earth

Star Gate Earth

Then there are the exotic technologies. What if one of these so called “3rd World Nations” learned how to make “worm holes” through which people, goods and services could be transported instantly? The entire transportation industries would be overturned instantly. Think “Star Gates.” We could send robot probes to the moon and mars, set up gates on those planets and build bases and begin Terra-forming those planets. We could begin mining our asteroid belt.

Technological Subjugation - Piri Reis Map

Piri Reis Map showing Antarctica’s coastline 4,000 years ago before the ice.

All these things would be wonderful for humanity as a whole… but they would spell doom for the current power structures who exist to control and yes, enslave humanity. If there is a “New World” by definition, there must be an “Old World.” The Americas are called “The New World.” The European continent is referred to as “The Old World.” Interestingly enough, there is irrefutable evidence that knowledge of the Americas existed during the times of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Yet, there were myths that kept sailors from venturing too far out to sea. Stories of Sea Serpents, the Kracken, the belief that if you sailed too far you’d fall over the edge of our flat Earth. All these things were designed to inhibit exploration.

Yes, many of the sailors – simple men – believed these myths. However, there were a cadre of people who knew better yet continued to support and proliferate these myths. They feared a mass exodus of taxpayers to the New World where they would no longer be under their control. This nation – The United States – was founded on the principles of freedom. Why was freedom so important? The founders knew first hand what life under the despotic monarchies was like. They believed that a democratically elected, Constitutional Republic would protect them from the despots in the “Old World.” They underestimated the insidious nature of their resolve.

When you hear Israel screaming bloody murder about the possibility of Iran having a nuclear program, remember that Israel already has one. Iran is no more of a threat to Israel than any other nuclear power in the world today. With the exception of North Korea, all of them, any of them could deliver a nuclear payload to Israel if they wanted to. What prevents them from doing so? Simple! The rest of the nuclear powers would immediately exterminate any nation foolish enough to employ a nuclear weapon against another nation. Why would Iran be any different? If you’re worried about nuclear materials falling into terrorist hands, you need to be more concerned about Russia and the now independent members of the old Soviet Republic. Some of those countries pay the people guarding their nuclear stockpiles less than $20 per week.

Price Of Injustice?

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Price Of Injustice - Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

THE PRICE OF INJUSTICE IS ALWAYS HIGH… THE COST? HIGHER!

Almost everyone is familiar with the Star Wars movies. They’ve become a part of not only our national but the international culture as well. “May the force be with you…” “I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” “The dark side.” These are phrases we use – sometimes daily – and they’re so much a part of our culture everyone understands the meaning conveyed often without stopping to think about from whence the phrase comes.

When they launched the prequel trilogy beginning with “The Phantom Menace,” we packed the theaters because we were invested in the tale. We wanted to know how things came to be. I remember watching the first Star Wars movie “A New Hope – Episode IV” and wondering where the hell were episodes 1-3. Thus, like most of you I found myself also sitting in a darkened theater, fully engaged to see the events that led up to the first 3 movies I had seen.

Price Of Injustice - Young AnakinWe were introduced for the first time to young Anakin Skywalker. I remember thinking, like many of you, “how in the world does this adorable child grow up to become Darth Vader?” We were told that he and his mother were Slaves. They were owned by “Watto” a Toydarian junk dealer/human trafficker in Mos Espa on Tatooine.

The reality of their Slavery was made comfortable to the audience. They seemed to have a home, own property and were able to host a meal for Qui-Gon Jinn and his party. Price Of Injustice - Qui-Gon Jinn AnakinSlavery was made to seem like just another job. You didn’t really begin to understand until Qui-Gon Jinn purchased Anakin from Watto. But hey! It was for the better wasn’t it? His mother Shimi Skywalker seemed to understand. Surely Qui-Gon Jinn would have purchased her too if he’d had enough money. The first episode left you with the feeling that they’d be back to get her. It was almost as though her gifted son was going away to college. Yes there were tears, but most mothers cry on their child’s first day of school. Were you *really* paying attention though?

Price Of Injustice - Anakin Mother Goodbye SceneIt turns out, they never did go back to get Anakin’s mother. Clearly this weighed heavily on him as he grew into a young man. There remains an unbreakable bond between mother and child and the full impact of this is realized in the second episode – “Attack Of The Clones.” Anakin senses his mother’s distress galaxies away and drops what he is doing to rush to her aid. He neglects his duties something anyone of us would do if our mother were in distress.

Price Of Injustice - Watto Toydarian Junk DealerIt turns out that Watto needed some money so he sold Shimi Skywalker to a group of “Sand People” who mistreat her sorely. It is the mistreatment she is suffering at their hands that Anakin feels. He arrives just in time for her to die in his arms. It is this hurt and rage that sets his feet firmly on the path to “The Dark Side.” He uses his Jedi training to murder them all. His rage makes him powerful. Were you paying attention?

Yes, Chancellor Palpatine – a Sith Lord – was certainly contributing by egging him on. However, the real message – almost subliminal – was the injustice of slavery, the need for retribution is what actually made him vulnerable to the suggestions of Palpatine. The Chancellor only acted as a catalyst for the explosive brew that was already present.

Price Of Injustice - AnakinYes, we see and understand the highly sanitized concept when it is surrounding by special effects and a well written musical score. However, we forget that everyday in our society we are allowing the creation of millions of people who are raised on the heady toxin of injustice to be loosed upon our society. No, they will never pick up a light saber, but they may pick up a gun. They cannot move objects with their minds but the seeds of pathology planted in the fertile soil of poverty, lack of opportunity and injustice are growing like weeds all around us.

Price Of Injustice - Darth VaderThe transformation from a young adorable Anakin Skywalker to the murderous Darth Vader whom without remorse slaughtered the “younglings” – children training to become Jedi – was jarring. Were you paying attention? Yet, it was a metaphor for what occurs on a daily basis within our society. We’ve got children murdering children. Mothers burying their young instead of the natural course of nature. Instead of paying attention, we look for the simple solution. Must be the guns! If we could just get rid of those, everything would be better. No it wouldn’t. We’re creating monsters wholesale in the test tubes of ignorance and lack. The price of injustice is high, the cost is even higher. Pay attention!

Poverty By Design – It’s No Accident

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Poverty_By_Design_Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

Poverty By Design – It’s Not An Accident

The poor define the middle class. The middle class define the wealthy. When social class becomes more important than the recognition of our common humanity, the upper classes will embrace policies that increase class differences.  ~Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

The stratification of society inevitably leads to the stagnation of progress. Human genius and innovation are random blessings bestowed without regard to race, creed, gender or social standing. Thus, when the poor are excluded from educational opportunity, or the quality of the education made available to them is substandard, society has effectively cut itself off from access to the most powerful resource on this planet, the human mind.

When you examine history, the Renaissance, Industrial Revolutions and rapid technological advancement have always been marked by a collapse in stratification of the societies in which they occurred. If you look at the most modern and advanced societies in existence today, they are the ones in which the most freedom and social mobility exists.

Poverty By Design - Walled Enclaves

The wealthy will live in enclaves, the poor in squalor.

Repression of the people may protect the wealth and power of the aristocracy. However, it also leads to a dystopian society where the wealthy live in walled enclaves and the majority of the people live in squalor. The energy which would be directed toward communal advancement is turned to maintaining the status quo. This continues until a critical mass is reached and and total societal collapse occurs.

We are well down the path to a dystopian future unless we change course immediately. While the masses have slept, lulled by the illusion of equal opportunity, the wealthy have worked to enact laws to maintain their power and control. Our tax laws have been written to nearly exempt them from taxation. Loopholes allowing offshore accounts and tax havens have allowed them to profit from the labor of the working class without reinvestment of that wealth back into our society.

Opportunity is gradually being reduced like an ever tightening noose. To be considered for gainful employment, you need a college degree. The cost of college tuition is rising faster than the economy is growing. In order to pay for college, those who were not born wealthy must incur the debt of student loans, with no guarantee of employment upon graduation.

Poverty By Design - Overcrowded PrisonInner city schools are being de-funded and closed. Most children successfully completing our public education system, find themselves unprepared to pass college entrance exams. While they’re de-funding inner city schools they are funding prisons. In fact, prisons are a growth industry. More and more goods and services are now being produced with prison labor. Prisons have become the new plantations.

Connecting The Dots

Most of the wealth of the middle class was in their pension funds, 401k and in their homes. Remember Enron? Remember WorldCom? Those were the big ones. These companies were looted by their executives. However, what many people – those who’s 401k’s were not heavily invested in these companies – missed, was the 100’s of thousands of people who saw their retirement savings vanish virtually overnight.

The next big hit was the collapse of the real estate market. The family home was the bank account for the middle class. If all else failed, they could look to their equity in their homes to see them through hard times. The family home was the vehicle for the transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. When the real estate bubble burst and the housing market collapsed, people who had built up equity saw that equity evaporate leaving many of them upside down. Many lost their homes.

Poverty By Design - Reverse Mortgage

Fred Thompson for AAG. Separating people from their wealth.

You cannot watch television for any length of time without seeing a commercial for “Reverse Mortgages.” If you survived the collapse of the real estate market, a reverse mortgage might seem attractive. However, what they’re not telling you is, a reverse mortgage prevents you from transferring the wealth you’ve built up in your home to the next generation. When you leave your home – read die – the bank acquires your home… unless your children want to apply for a mortgage and pay the bank back at interest rates that more than compensate them for whatever they paid you.

These are not coincidences. This is a well planned strategy for the stratification of our society. The only question is, how many of these things have to fall into place before we wake up? This is poverty by design, and it’s no accident!

 

Presidential Nullification – Death of Democracy

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Presidential Nullification Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY? The Nullification Of A Presidency!

Elections do and should have consequences. Congressional Republicans have been committed to nullifying the Presidency of Barack Obama since the night of his first inauguration. The will of the people be damned!

Whether you love him or hate him… is NOT the point. The office is larger than the man. Unlike our previous President, President Obama was not appointed President by a panel of judges on a court stacked by his daddy. He was duly elected by a majority of the American people. He deserves the opportunity to enact his agenda. He deserves… the American People deserve for him to have his full cabinet filled. He deserves to have his appointments either confirmed or declined.

When one Party – ANY Party – takes it upon themselves to subrogate the collective will of the electorate, replacing it with their own agenda, Democracy dies. We no longer have a Constitutional Republic. What we have becomes a fascist oligarchy which will quickly degenerate into tyranny and despotism.

What Harry Reid did by changing the Senate rules ending the abuse of the procedural filibuster was to strike a blow for Democracy. Don’t be naive! Sequestration and the shutting down of the Government were both designed to deliver a one, two punch to the Affordable Care Act. Both came at a time when the federal government needed resources to launch the program correctly. The timing wasn’t an accident. Now of course, the Republicans are holding hearings to find out why things are going poorly. Republicans need look no further than their own mirror.

Presidential nullification is not just insulting and disrespectful to our first Afro-American President, it is a slap in the face of the American electorate. We voted him in not once but twice.

 

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot

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Shooting Oursleves In The Foot Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

“If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” _Joseph Goebbels.

 

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot - Shoot Foot How many times have you heard the phrase, “liberal media?” “Mainstream media?” Or as some like to call themselves, “progressive media?” Let me give you a little clue. No such thing exists! It’s a myth and I’ll prove it by citing relatively recent history.

Remember when Al Gore ran against George Bush for President? This was the first time Bush ran. George Bush was never actually elected. I remember watching the election returns that night and everything came down to that mess we call “Florida.” By the way this is when I lost my virginity with the media. It wasn’t pleasant. They didn’t even kiss me first.

Liberal Media? Yeah Right!

ABC, NBC, CBS and CNN were watching the returns come in and they called the election for Al Gore. Then something peculiar happened. FOX News suddenly called the election for George Bush. They were the only news organization to do so. Now a reasonable person might expect there to be some disagreement. If everyone else is seeing it the same way and suddenly *ONE* person sees it differently, logic says you give more weight to the consensus not the outlier.

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot - John Prescott Ellis

John Prescott Ellis cousin of George Bush.

It gets better! It later came out that only one person at the FOX news agency was responsible for calling the election for George Bush. Turns out he was a cousin of George Bush. So, based on a relative of George Bush making a proclamation backed by neither evidence nor fact, all the other News Agencies, halted and fell in line with FOX News.

I submit, this never would have happened had these news agencies been truly independent. Imagine everyone looking up at the sky and saying, “it’s blue,” then one person exclaims, “no, it’s red!” Normally everyone would look at this person and conclude that he had the problem. If everyone around you said, “well I guess we were wrong, it must be red,” you would be convinced you were in the middle of either a very strange dream or a nightmare. Yet this is pretty much what happened that fateful election night.

George W. Bush – Our First Appointed President

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot - Hanging ChadsRemember, the governor of Florida at that time was George Bush’s brother Jeb Bush. Due to voting chicanery – the blueprint for what we now see with every election in a “red State” – hanging chads, machines casting votes for persons other than people attempted to vote for, many votes were not counted. Many votes were simply thrown out. You knew there was a problem when Pat Buchanan received a majority of the vote in Florida’s Jewish communities.

Bottom line? The whole thing wound up before the U.S. Supreme Court. This was when I lost my virginity regarding our legal system and it was even worse than the first time. George Bush’s father had previously stacked the Supreme Court with his appointments. Not surprisingly, they handed the election to George Bush. Thus, they nullified all those uncounted votes in Florida and technically, our democracy ended. We now had a President for, of and by the plutocrats. I refer to the reign of George W. Bush as America’s Dark Ages.

“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night…” _Dylan Thomas

America Strikes Back

Rather than simply fasten our shackles about our necks and walk into their prison camps, Americans fought back. In 2008 we did something nobody saw coming. We elected our first African-American President. Personally? I think one of the things that made it possible was the GOP’s right wing machine was all geared up to take on Hillary Clinton. They had ads sitting on the shelves ready to go. They were caught completely flat footed, and a step behind by the candidacy of Barack Obama.

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot - Dr. Jeremiah Wright

Dr. Jeremiah Wright

All they could do was to try to paint him as “other.” Remember? First he was a secret Muslim, because his father whom he never really had any interaction with was supposedly Muslim. They rode that horse right up until they discovered Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Then, no he wasn’t a Muslim, he was a Baptist who believed in “Liberation Theology.” Sure would have been nice to have that so called “Liberal Media” to come to his defense. Hardly a peep!

Where Exactly Was The Liberal Media?

Shooting Ourselves In The Foot - Kenyan Birth Certificate

Date of Birth? Correct. However, Kenya didn’t exist until 1964

Next they slandered the entire State of Hawaii, by claiming his official birth certificate was fraudulent. Their claim? He was actually born in Kenya. Never mind that Kenya didn’t exist when President Obama was born. British East Africa didn’t become Kenya until several years after our President’s birth. I got a good laugh at those photoshopped birth certificates they claimed to have discovered. They all had the date of his birth correct… which of course proved they were frauds because they had Kenya on the masthead. If they’d simply Googled Kenya they would have seen they’d of needed to change the date, making him 3 years younger. Of course, never missing the opportunity of shooting ourselves in the foot, our so called, “Liberal Media” must have been on vacation somewhere. Perhaps they were hanging out with Donald Trumps Private Investigators whom, by the way, we still haven’t heard from.

Of course, changing his date of birth would have created another can of worms since his birth announcement was carried in two Hawaiian newspapers and those newspapers are on microfiche in the Library of Congress. President Obama’s parents would have to of been the greatest psychics the world has ever known, to foresee their son becoming President of these United States and orchestrate such a fraud, when their interracial marriage wasn’t even recognized in many of the Southern States at that time. But I digress.

The fact is, if we truly had a liberal media, many of you my readers, wouldn’t be hearing some of these things for the first time. A truly “liberal media” would have been all over this and stamping out the outright lies. They were strangely silent weren’t they?

Predator Drones Make Me Moan

This latest fiasco deals with the use of Predator Drones. Who needs the Republican party when we are so insistent on shooting ourselves in the foot? From February 2002 up through the end of he Bush Presidency in 2008, Predator Drones were used to good effect. Yes, President Obama increased their use, however the protocols and methodology remained the same. If a Predator Drone gets shot down, malfunctions or crashes, we don’t lose American military personnel. No rescue missions to retrieve an American airman stranded in hostile territory. It is just an expensive piece of military equipment. No piece of equipment is more precious than the life of a son, daughter or father serving in a theater of war.

And Now For Their Objections

If you pay careful attention to what the real objections are, they are as follows:

1.) Use of Predator Drones is unsportsmanlike. The enemy has no chance against them.

That seems to be a problem for some. War is not a sporting contest. It is not like a football game to be watched for entertainment. War is a bloody business. You want to be able to strike down your enemy from a place of safety.

2.) Predator Drones have killed civilians.

Yes, I’m sure they have. However, let us not be naive. What do you expect *them* to say? “Damn you got us?” We’re fighting an asymmetrical war. Our enemies don’t wear uniforms and march in formation. That group of civilians they show you may have just finished planting a road side bomb. Would it be somehow better if instead of a Predator Drone, an F-117 stealth fighter did the deed?

3.) Predator Drones have been used to kill American Citizens.

Depends upon what you call a citizen. If a person goes to a foreign land… one we happen to be at war against, dons the attire of our enemies, takes up arms against us and or incites, encourages or recruits others to murder our soldiers, I’m comfortable with the notion that he has given up his citizenship.

A Really Inconvenient Truth

Where is our so called “liberal media?” Why am I having to make these arguments? Why? Because they’re taking their marching orders and agendas from the right wing news sources. The question you ought to be asking is what even makes these right wing nincompoops relevant?

What’s changed? Could it be that our President is Black? I would hate to think so, nevertheless, given our propensity for repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot, I’m inclined to believe this has a lot to do with it.

Destroying America In 3 Easy Steps

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Destroying America Headerby Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

EVERYTHING THE TEA PARTY AND THE GOP ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT… Were in full swing for 8 years under George Bush. Odd we heard not a peep from them then isn’t it? Wonder what’s changed???

How do you bring down the United States? It is easy!

Destroying America In 3 Easy Steps

STEP ONE: Get rid of the Glass-Steagall act.

This was a firewall between retail banking and investment banking. Investors want a certain amount of risk. Taking risks can lead to windfall profits. Yes, you can lose your shirt, but heretofore, people who played in the investment markets, were the wealthy and only played with money that they could afford to lose.

With Glass-Steagall out of the way, suddenly people’s mortgages became investment instruments. Retirements became pension funds tied to the success or failure of your corporation. The middle class was built on home ownership. The majority of people’s wealth was in their homes. These homes were then passed down to their children giving them a leg up into the middle class.

Destroying America - Fred Thompson AAG

For God’s sake! Don’t pass that wealth on to your children!!!

I can remember when ARMs – Adjustable Rate Mortgages – became all the rage. People were encouraged to re-finance their homes, take their equity out and spend it. Now they’re pushing “Reverse Mortgages,” Can’t have the “middle class” passing their wealth to the next generation. They might actually become really wealthy! You surely don’t think the collapse of the housing market was accidental do you?

STEP TWO: Cut the tax revenue coming into the United States

Destroying America - Debt Chart

Click for full size.

The Bush era tax cuts, which the Republicans made permanent, are what has caused our national debt to sky rocket. Under Bill Clinton, we balanced our budget and had begun paying down our debt such that had we followed through, our entire national debt would have been paid off by the year 2010. Our nation would have been debt free! Once debt free, we could kiss the Federal Reserve goodbye! However, as I recall, the GOP simply hated Bill Clinton. Matter of fact, they impeached him! If the future of their grandchildren were truly as important as they’d like to pretend… They would have embraced Bill Clinton’s policies and remained on track to America becoming debt free. Bill Clinton left George Bush a $1.9 trillion dollar budget surplus.

STEP THREE: Burn through the national savings account.

George Bush went on a spending spree along with the congressional Republicans that would make a drunken sailor blush. Yes, we were attacked on September 11, 2001. I won’t go into the plethora of facts that make the official story absolute nonsense, but let us examine our response.

First, “Terror” is not a person. It is not a nation State. It is not an organization such as Al’Qaeda. Terror is a TACTIC. You cannot wage war on a tactic. Of course, caught up in the fervor of blood lust with our thirst for revenge, very little critical thinking was going on back then. We went into Afghanistan – which made sense – but, when we had the chance to capture Osama Bin Laden and decapitate the head of Al’Qaeda, we let him escape in order to rush into Iraq which had absolutely nothing to do with the attacks on the United States. Al’Qaeda wasn’t even in Iraq until they followed us there.

Remember how we effectively cut our income by giving tax cuts to the top 1%? By launching two wars simultaneously, we were burning through billions of dollars a day and there was no revenue stream incoming to replace our outgo. Thus we simply threw everything on the national credit card. In point of fact, George Bush didn’t even include the costs of these wars as a budget item. What could possibly go wrong???

Destroying America - Bush Painting

He is a better painter than he was a President… And his paintings suck!

The only thing that did go wrong was George Bush’s timing. I am firmly convinced that the plan was to mortally wound the United States and then let a Black President preside over its demise and of course take the blame. Things came to a pimple just a bit sooner than Bush had planned thus the TARP bailout was on his watch. Yes, that’s right. It was George Bush who signed the TARP bailout, Republicans rail against. If only things had taken a few more weeks to come together, George would have been back in Crawford Texas painting his water colors and acrylics, pretending no involvement.

The media propaganda has been working hammer and tong to rewrite history such that even now, most Republicans and TEA Party nit wits will argue vociferously that President Obama was responsible for the TARP, Of course, history – and spelling – were never really their strong suits.

We Are In Much Better Hands Than We Should Be

Destroying America - Mitt Romney

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt!

So, here we are. What they never counted on was President Obama being as competent as he is. Remember Mitt Romney’s article, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt?” Can you imagine having a President who would so cavalierly recommend the total destruction of an industry? Let us forget for a moment the human impacts of his advice. We all know that Mitt was born without a soul. Think for a moment what it would mean to the safety and security of these United States if we lost our manufacturing base.

If we have to have our weapons of war, manufactured and shipped to us, this creates a logistics problem and a critical supply line that could be cut by an enemy we were at war with. No need to bomb over here. Just bomb the factories that are producing our tanks, planes and other weapons of war in the various nations we’d be forced to buy them from. Think having a shotgun for home defense, but storing it at your neighbor’s house.

During WWI and WWII, it was our automotive manufacturing facilities that were tooled up and re-purposed to produce the Tanks, Jeeps, Half-Tracks, Heavy Trucks and fighter planes that helped us to win the war. The big foundries that were producing engine blocks began producing armor plating, hull sections for ships and submarines, and a host of other items we don’t even think about. Our automotive industries and their manufacturing capabilities are crucial to the safety and survival of this nation. Any person who doesn’t know this, shouldn’t be President.

Other than the Bush tax cuts, the next biggest drain on our budget is health care costs. I don’t want to live in a 3rd World Nation where people are left to die on the side of the roads. I want people around me to be healthy. My health and well being depend on it. So do yours. However, equally important is the fact that our population is greying, getting older. Older people require more and more medical attention. The question is not whether we’re going to pay for this, the question is how do we get the best service while keeping our costs down?

Let me share with you something from my own personal experience. A year or so ago, I had to have vein surgery to correct some varicose veins in both of my legs. Thus I had to have two surgeries. One on each leg. We spaced these about 4 weeks apart.

The bill for each leg was roughly $16,000 dollars or $32,000 for both. Mind you, this is routine outpatient surgery. I did not spend the night in the hospital either time. Of that total $32,000 my surgeon who actually performed the surgery, his two surgical nurses who assisted him and the Anaesthesiologist who put me to sleep and woke me back up, combined they got a total of a little over $5,000 dollars in total for both procedures. Where did the other $27,000 go? The Hospital received that for renting out it’s surgical suite for less than 4 hours.

Destroying America - Operating SuiteWhat did I use in that suite that amounted to $27,000 dollars? Since I saw the inside of the suite twice, I can tell you that the lights were the same each time, the stainless steel table was the same, the monitors and equipment were the same. Nothing had to be replaced between operations. So what exactly cost $27,000 dollars? That’s $6,750 per hour. Just like a gas station attempting to explain why the price of gas jumped 60 cents in 24 hours, the Hospital will try and explain the cost they’re charging those of us who can pay. You know? The ones of us with insurance. Their explanation is, we’re paying for all those people who do not have insurance. The ones who are treated in the Emergency room and never pay their bills.

It is a vicious circle. Insurance Companies raise your premiums because hospital costs keep rising. Hospital cost keep rising because people who’s only option is to use the “Emergency Room,” often cannot pay their bills. So, ultimately who is paying for people not having health insurance? You are. Just because you don’t see it as an itemized figure on your bill, doesn’t mean it is not there.

We need to address this and we’ve known since the 40’s we’ve needed to address the rising cost of health care. When people don’t pay their hospital bills, the hospital corporations write those off as losses on their income tax statements. In essence, they are double dipping. They’re claiming a loss to the federal government, while raising their rates to cover that loss through each paying customer. It is a sweet system… if you’re a hospital.

Saving America

To save America we need to simply reverse what has been done to her. Regulate the banks. Get rid of the Bush tax cuts. The 1% were doing just fine under the Clinton era tax rates and we need to fix health care so that people can protect their income. It is just that simple.