Joseph A. Palermo: Corporate Power

The Huffington Post

"Citizens United" for More Corporate Power

by Joseph A. Palermo article link

Author/Associate Professor of History

Posted: January 24, 2010 12:51 PM

With the Supreme Court ruling by the "Fabulous Five," Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a single corporation will be able tap into its deep pockets and disfranchise a million citizens. A group calling itself "Citizens United" has just won a fight to give huge corporations more control over our politics. Even the 1886 "ruling," Santa Clara Co. v. Southern Pacific, that established a corporation as "a person" was fraudulent. Now these fictive "persons" have been granted more political rights than real human beings. What's to stop these conglomerates from using their vast stores of cash to implant their servants at every level of municipal, state, and federal government? ...

Corporations are immortal. They don't need health care, or minimum wages, or pensions, or food stamps. They don't raise children and have families. They have no morality or ethics other than maximizing their profits. They are sociopathic. ...

And there are countless other examples of corporations egregiously violating societal norms and humane conduct that far exceed the level of damage that an individual citizen could ever cause, such as when Big Coal chews up rural communities with "mountain top removal" mining; or the McWayne foundry brutalizes its workers; or Cargill uses meat processing subcontractors that spread E. coli across the country; or Nestlé's rips off Sacramento's municipal water supply in a time of drought; or Wal-Mart and other "big box" stores obliterate main street America; or Blackwater and Haliburton profiteer from war; or media conglomerates function as corporate propaganda ministries; or Aetna and other health insurance giants prey on the American people like vultures; or ExxonMobil and the energy monopolies flaunt environmental laws and gouge consumers; or the financial services companies bring down the American economy and trade derivatives based on life insurance policies betting that Americans are going to die sooner than later; and so on, and on, and on.

Today, we have levels of inequality worse than the Gilded Age and the "trusts" are bigger, more powerful, and possess a global reach that is greater than ever. The corporations have already given the country years of disastrous public policy. The health care fiasco shows their power to pull the strings in Congress. And George W. Bush's Supreme Court drops enormous new political powers in the laps of these corporate behemoths? So much for Chief Justice John Roberts' promises during his confirmation hearing to respect stare decisis. Just when you think our politics couldn't get worse you get surprised again.

Wikipedia stare decisis

Stare decisis (Latin) is the legal principle by which judges are obliged to obey the precedents established by prior decisions. The words originate from the Latin phrase Stare decisis et non quieta movere, "Maintain what has been decided and do not alter that which has been established".

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Joseph A. Palermo: "Citizens United" for More Corporate Power

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NAME: ljmck comment page

Now corporations won't have to buy elected officials (although they will). Just running ads, a corporation can swing an election--no messy dickering with candidates necessary. They do not "speak," they advertize!

Targets: any politician who supports minimum wages, consumer protections (e.g., child protection caps on medicine), environmental protections (look for turn-of-the-century-coal-blinded-London right here), building regulations (we'll be the new Haiti), corporate taxes (only actual citizens will pay taxes). OSHA supporting politicians--gone. Banking protection--gone. Privacy--not if a corporation wants to know something about you (but they'll definitely increase their own privacy).

Corporations have a citizen's most important rights, but without the responsibilities. They don't vote and they don't join the military (just usurp it). They have multiple, global citizenship; try achieving that as an actual citizen. They don't need passports. They don't have to take a citizenship test if they were born overseas. They certainly don't make a voluntary pledge of allegiance. They don't have to register to vote--but make no mistake, they do vote (on the floor of the House and Senate). And they do exercise their freedom of choice concerning religion--their god is mammon. The one way these person/hoods resemble actual citizens is that they do cheat on their taxes.

Ain't it just wonderful--the freedoms of this country have been extended to person/hoods that have neither brains nor hearts nor conscience. They do have fists and very big feet. Monsters.

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Joseph A. Palermo: Corporate Power

Robert Koehler: The Source Of Corporate Power

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

The Source of Corporate Power

by Robert C. Koehler article link

"If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech."

The words are those of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, writing for the majority in last week's landmark Supreme Court decision marking some sort of culmination in the long corporate trek to personhood. It's the word "simply" that gets to me: Exxon-Pinocchio is a real boy now, and has his opinions, and the government has no right to stop him from "simply engaging in political speech."

What a cheap cover story; it's up there with "bringing democracy to Iraq" in its tawdry manipulation of iconic national values to justify a raw power grab. The 5-4 decision in the long-awaited Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case overturns restrictions on corporate spending to influence election results, giving entities with millions (in some cases, billions) of dollars at their disposal unlimited license to electioneer for the candidate with the friendliest attitude toward their interests.

The tendency of money and power is to concentrate, of course. The big trick, from a human perspective, is to make sure our core values remain pre-eminent, that they are served by the ways in which we concentrate power. Democracy is the great mechanism for doing so, the hope of the world, or so we are told, but the wakeup message in this nakedly cynical ruling by the Roberts Court, with its slim (but sufficient) right-wing majority, is that the concept of democracy is mortally wounded. ...

The interests of Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Coal, agribusiness, the financial sector, the insurance sector and, of course, the military-industrial complex, have infinitely more clout in government than the collective popular will and the voices calling for eco-sanity, universal health care and an end to war. Note: This is already the case.

Corporate entities have thoroughly gamed the system, leaving us with little more than a textbook-democracy façade. What the latest Supreme Court decision does is legitimize all this, shoving the corruption in our faces by declaring the absurd: Corporations are people too! They have a right to weigh in on the candidates just like the rest of us - to get their billion-dollar opinions out to the public throughout the election campaign. ...

The good news is that the decision has generated a huge outpouring of anger around the country. Within a day of the ruling, the website MoveToAmend.org had garnered some 40,000 signatures (it's now close to 50,000) in support of a constitutional amendment to establish that money is not speech and only human beings have constitutional rights. The amendment would also guarantee our right to vote and participate in elections, and to have our votes count. ...

No matter what, though, the Roberts Court has hastened the propagandizing of the national discourse, mostly through the medium of television, as corporate interests amp up their thought-control machines in the name of free speech. I see little hope for a gullible nation that allows the tube to hemorrhage urgent inanities directly into its consciousness for 18 hours a day. This gullibility is the source of corporate power. Democracy can only thrive where people think for themselves.

CommonDreams home page

Robert Koehler: The Source Of Corporate Power

Evil Growing Deeper 1

BBC: Iraq inquiry hears defiant Blair say: I'd do it again article link

BBC: Blair questions remain after Iraq evidence article link

Friday, 29 January 2010

Evil Growing Deeper

The threat to an Islamic future perception; humiliation deeply felt by many Arabs; Arab helplessness, vulnerability to western power/force is being exploited to "the extreme" - the "manner" of US/UK Policy was-and-is the determinant, the "promise/reaction" equation vs. an imposed corporate oil-garchy, and its new economy addressing Iraqi nationalism/tribalism; the psychological impact of continued US/UK occupation !! - the Sunni [many still Ba'athist] vs. the majority Shiite [Kurds 20% of population]; Sunni/Shiite violence / retribution [EVIL GROWING DEEPER; ROOTS OF CONTINUED CONFLICT] -- the "corporate" western perception continually voiced by the media [the rhyme and reason], is a shell of deception: the imposed [SAGE] systemic and their imposed compliant regime(s) [FREEDOM | BUSINESS]; LIBERATION BY SYSTEMIC ENSLAVEMENT !! - DEMOCRACY DOES *NOT* ARRIVE IN A TANK !! - WINNING A WAR DOES *NOT* EXCUSE IT, especially when you are cleaning up your own mess [and creating another in the process] !!

"Post-conflict reconstruction" in the image-and-likeness of the US/UK [the imposition of "democratic-fascism", the corporate "blare" (media), the unholy, burning (war systemic) "bush" continues - the secular Thorn Ministry: the SAGE] -- the Arab and Islamic "world" perception of the US/UK "agenda", the (self-)protection of [corporate] interest(s), remains: WAR DOES NOT CHANGE EMBEDDED PERCEPTION(S), IT SHARPENS AND STRENGTHENS THEM !! - the imposition claimed by self-proclaimed friends and liberators [occupation denied] of a compliant government does not give "legitimacy" to the corporate agenda in Iraq / Afghanistan [by-and-through democratic imperialism; a single, sovereign authority] -- deep fundamental change in the culture(s) of the Middle East has been, and will be, sought and achieved by MAMMON [war is the first stage in its imposition], first by the Mammonization of elites [already achieved], then the populace [removing the whip from the elites, and putting the whip in the hands of the slaves] - Islamic Mammon | Christian Mammon [claim; democratic gradualism | Mammonization]: Mammon is Mammon no matter the flavor - THE COMMODIFICATION OF LIFE [GOD] WILL HOLD MOST IN SERVITUDE TO, OR IN MAINTENANCE OF, MAMMON !! - people are *held and (ab)used* by the commodification of life !!

Evil Growing Deeper 1

Evil Growing Deeper 2

YOU CANNOT MANAGE AND CONTROL PEACE, ONLY CONFLICT; democratic-fascism has-and-will engender much "strife" in Iraq / Afghanistan, ensuring the conflict(s) needed by the corporate; media conditioned [social needs] perception(s) of Mammon will be stressed in the rebuilding process, COSTS WILL BE BORNE BY THE VICTIMIZED !! - the US/UK "military mission" has-and-will pause, and then continue "flush with new promises/claimed successes", even some opponents have-and-will be worn down/overcome by the political "promises" made [though never realized]; public opinion(s) Mammonized, the common emotive !! -- A CHRIST-IAN'S GOVERNMENT IS *OF* GOD NOT MEN, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY OF LIFE BUT BY-AND-THROUGH CHRIST(-systemic) [Christ's Blood (our being) and Flesh (our doing)]; again, our "choice" is MAMMON OR MESSIAH !!

Preemptive [preemption tactic] "war on evil" claim; a "just war" theory not applicable as lie even by the best liars; the consequence of sin [terrorism], as justification - "superficial" evil focus, not the "deep" evil of complicity - economic access [material, secular thought] assured, plus the military generation of its own economy [MIIM, ref: MM Addendum 1] vs. religious/moral [thought] intervention claim(s) !! - an "America First" Foreign Policy ensures contradiction in values/political decision making, all Nation States exude arrogance [disregard, inconsistency towards common obligations]; ** NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS PREJUDICE IS EVIL ** - WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A LIFE ?? - many innocent Iraqi / Afghan lives sacrificed / killed [collateral damage]; Coalition Troops lives lost [misused as corporate mercenary forces], together with the initial outright massacre of Iraqi combatants by massive fire-power that could NOT be matched [A MASSIVE FIST USED] - our humanity distanced: SLAUGHTER IS A WAR CRIME, SLAUGHTER IN THE NAME OF GOD IS AN ABSOLUTE EVIL !! - Predestination division into Good [morally superior] and Evil; MORAL ARROGANCE, HUBRIS [wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excess pride or from passion], WRAPPED IN PATRIOTISM - Christ did NOT pursue the "zealot" option [iniquity purged by MERCY and TRUTH], the "identity" group passions; GOD MAMMONIZED [God Bless "Corporate" America], MAMMON AS SAVIOR !! -- THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN ALL FROM US [the commodification of life], WAGE WAR IN OUR NAMES, TO TAKE MORE !!

Evil Growing Deeper 2

Secular Prophets: Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Mat 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.

Mat 10:17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.

Mat 10:18 And ye will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Mat 10:19 But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given to you in that same hour what ye shall speak.

Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that publish ye upon the house-tops.

Mat 10:28 And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mat 10:32 Whoever therefore shall confess me [Jesus = Salvation/Healing, Christ = Anointing/Responsibility] before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.

Mat 10:33 But whoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Mat 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Howard Zinn, the Boston University historian and political activist who was an early opponent of US involvement in Vietnam and the author of the seminal A People's History of the United States, died today at the age of 87 of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. He was in a swimming pool doing laps and was spotted immediately by lifeguards but died instantly.

Zinn's brand of history put common citizens at the center of the story and inspired generations of young activists and academics to remember that change is possible. As he wrote in his autobiography, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train (1994), "From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than ‘objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble." [Peter Rothberg, article below]

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Democracy Now!

We pay tribute to the late historian, writer and activist Howard Zinn who died suddenly on Wednesday of a heart attack at the age of 87. Howard Zinn’s classic work A People’s History of the United States changed the way we look at history in America. It has sold over a million copies and was recently made into a television special called “The People Speak.” We remember Howard Zinn in his won words and we speak with those who knew him best: Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove.

A Tribute to the Legendary Historian

with Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove video link

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by The Progressive

A Just Cause, Not a Just War

by Howard Zinn article link

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by The Progressive

Remembering Howard Zinn

by Elizabeth DiNovella article link

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by CommonDreams.org

A Memory of Howard

by Daniel Ellsberg article link

Published on Thursday, January 28, 2010 by The Nation

Howard Zinn: The Historian Who Made History

by Dave Zirin article link

Published on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 by The Nation

Goodbye Howard Zinn

by Peter Rothberg article link

Common Dreams home page

Secular Prophets: Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

The Cracked Idol, The Crumbling Pedestal 1

The US/UK Media/Gov claim all the results of war [combatant death, injury, "collateral damage", humanitarian crisis, etc., the use of force] was the result of the [evil] Iraqi and Taliban Regimes and now the result of fundamentalist/radical Islamic dogma/terrorism, its resistance to the "liberation", its continued misuse of its own people - US/UK "managing expectations" [media] of their populations; a long, brutal war made possible with denied responsibility for the chain-of-events set in motion; US/UK PEACE-HUMANITARIAN MASK covering mass murder for corporate claim !! - THE "GOD OF FORCES" HONORED: the corporate "phallick": kneeling down to power/pleasure, the instrumentation, mouthing it/worshipping it, RECEIVING FROM IT, IN LUST, THE SEED OF LIFE ITSELF [COG "woman" sexual adultery, harlotry; spiritual sodomy (the Corporate physically; spiritually, the COG Inc., Ministry)] !! - the media "myth-making" propaganda, the "shallow" politics(-ians), the brutality of corporate war, should be OUR AWAKENING [an entering into consciousness] !! - (re)turning to self [a defiance of God and/or in defiance of God] is a lessening [gratification substitution; self-masturbation; ego; right of claim; empty(-ing) self-lust] - sexual connotation(s) permeate our consumer society(-ies) [recognized and used in the Bible]; systemic psychological imprint/lock, definition(s) [the phallicy (fallibility: leading to error; "deceived" in judgement by *self*)] - GOD *IS* "A REACHING BEYOND THE SELF" *IN* AGAPE LOVE !! [vs. our self-fulfillment; a God-level mate-ing: seeking fulfillment in/with another, a *becoming* with someone else (ONE-FLESH: I AM WHAT I WILL BECOME)]; God will transform our mind [transforming: metamorphosic (changing the form, our form of being)] !!

The Cracked Idol, The Crumbling Pedestal 1

The Cracked Idol, The Crumbling Pedestal 2

CLAIM WITHOUT COMPLICITY is a contradiction; the very "claim" makes one complicit !! -- a running, flowing, dialogue with self and God [a reasoning together] is so very important, and must be shared !! - the SAVING GRACE of God, our God-ing, must be kept and shared [God's environment]; AGAPE COMMUNITY: OUR COMPLICITY IN EVIL RECOGNIZED AND REPENTED OF, *ALL* CLAIM REJECTED !! -- our metaphoric comprehension of God, or lack thereof, by our everyday existence/symbolism is so very important to realize: ** GOD IS FAMILY, PURE AGAPE LOVE ** !! - similitude and metaphor (similitude reduced to a single word) is understood by all; the Bible is literal *and* metaphoric, one does NOT negate the other: literal expresses the physical, metaphor expresses the spiritual, though not exclusively - Biblical "literal metaphor" use/misuse [ie., OT conflicts, the Divine Sanction taken/used].

The "appointment" of privilege and its attitudes; the lack of credibility, brain-dead perception; corporate puppeteers clearly seen; shallow, scripted politics(-ians): the CRACKED IDOL, the CRUMBLING PEDESTAL !! - 9-11 horror/tragedy *used* as excuse, yet underlying complicity denied, "innocence" claimed !! - "BLIND" TRUST is no longer prevalent: people are better informed, yet, the emotive identity [nationalism] remains - MOST ARE STILL HALF-SIGHTED AND DEPENDENT !! -- wealth built by greed is actually debt owed by others: WAR INCURES MASSIVE DEBT, GENERATING MASSIVE MONETARY WEALTH [human debt/cost negated] !! - the corporate victimization of the Iraqi/Afghan people *and* the US/UK population and military will continue: ALL OF HUMANITY IS BEING VICTIMIZED !! - the continued use of religious symbolism [as words of war], "we pray that God receives and blesses those killed [US/Mil]" ... White House/Media "spinning" God into a web of deception, a covering of lies !! - GOD RELEASES US FROM ALL CLAIM WHEN WE *REJECT* ALL CLAIM [of-and-by ourselves and others], especially/specifically "monetary" claim: FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS ... !!

The Cracked Idol, The Crumbling Pedestal 2

Giordano Bruno: Survival Is About Knowing

Surviving Economic Collapse: Tips, Tactics, And Gear

by Giordano Bruno article link

Neithercorp Press

01/26/2010

A large part of our society operates on a disturbing assumption, a belief that has been driven into the very fabric of our culture for generations; the assumption that preparation for disaster is unnecessary because all will remain the same as it always has been.

This collective assumption exists in very few countries. South America, Africa, most of Asia, and even parts of Europe experience and even anticipate upheaval and catastrophe from time to time, not only in respect to mother nature (as recently occurred in Haiti), but also in terms of economics and social unrest. Many Americans have attempted not only to insulate themselves from such events, but to also insulate themselves from the very idea that such events could ever happen to them. The concept of hyperinflation, loss of utilities, loss of police protections, loss of infrastructure, loss of grocery outlets, is so outside their pre-programmed world view that to dare discuss these subjects is seen as “absurd” and “alien.”

While many Haitians would see the act of survival preparation as entirely practical (for numerous reasons), many Americans would become incredulous, jeering, as if they are above and beyond such concerns. This must change, and it must change quickly.

Over the past few years, there has been a strong broad based and growing movement that opposes such presumptive thinking, and has opted towards independence and self reliance. They are often called “survivalists,” usually lumped in with “conspiracy theorists,” in a derogatory fashion as if the term is disparaging. But what many of us have come to realize is that what the mainstream considers “rational” is usually anything but, and what they call “common sense” sometimes borders on the insane, for only a madman would label the logical act of preparation as “crazy,” especially in the face of so much economic uncertainty.

In this article we will discuss how to prepare for a wide-spectrum financial breakdown, as well as why it is absolutely necessary, not just to ensure ones own survival and ones own future, but the future of an ideal, and a way of life.

Survival Strategies ...

The Survival Mentality

More important than any gun, any gear, any preparation, is the mental state of the survivalist himself. One must have confidence in himself and his ability to endure, otherwise he will not succeed. I am consistently confronted by nihilists, some who even claim to be part of the Liberty Movement, who state unequivocally that survival preparation is futile, that we are all “doomed,” that the

Elites who are ransacking our country cannot be stopped. Frankly, I don’t know that for certain, and neither do they. I do know it is better to stand and fight for what you believe and die in the attempt than to give up before the fight even starts and die from lack of trying. I wonder how many people told those that fought in the American Revolution that their effort was futile, that the British could not be stopped.

I also am sometimes dismayed by those that prepare for survival only for survival’s sake. To stay alive is important of course, and a primary human drive, but our survival success may hinge not only on our instinct to live, but to also remain free. Without a philosophical or spiritual ideal, without a greater purpose, surviving this economic collapse will be an empty affair with little meaning. To come through the chaos relatively unscathed is admirable, but pointless if the end result is the formation of a tyrannical world government and the loss of our liberties. Each individual who not only survives but fights for what he believes tips the scale away from elitism and oppression. Every person who works towards something greater than himself, a future where such pain and catastrophe no longer hang over humanity, each of these men and women send a shockwave through history that touches elements of society in ways we cannot yet even imagine.

What is the point of giving up now? What do we have to gain? What do we have to lose by fighting back that we are not already about to lose?

Survival is about more than living, it is about more than believing, it is about KNOWING. Knowing what the world should be, and knowing what the world should not be. Knowing in an intuitive way, beyond simple examination and observation. Knowing from a deeper perspective.

In the end, our survival and the survival of our ideals depends not only on our two hands, our cleverness, or even our fear of death, but the content of each man’s heart, and how much of that content he is willing to trust.

NEITHERCORP home page

NEITHERCORP PRESS web page

Giordano Bruno: Survival Is About Knowing

Larry LaBorde: Fight Back And Fire The Wall Street Banksters

Fight Back article link

by Larry LaBorde

01.26.10

... There is a movement afoot to go back to local banking. Go to www.moveyourmoney.info and visit their site. Say no to the Potters of the banking world and yes to Jimmy Stewart. Look in your wallet right now. How many of you have credit cards issued from the big banks? How many of you have IRAs or other accounts with or do business with the big 6 banks in any way? (Morgan/Chase, Citi Bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley). Fire them this month. Help make them smaller by removing your business from their banks. They will not even notice your loss but they will notice the loss of hundreds of thousands of customers leaving and going back to their local banks and credit unions. If they are "too big to fail" let's help them get smaller and make our national banking system healthier.

Most of the big 6 banks have quit or contracted their lending and are piling up all that TARP money on deposit at the Fed. Most local commercial banks and credit unions continue to lend in the local community. Go to www.solari.com and read Catherine Austin Fitts' articles on supporting your local community. It only makes sense after you read and think about the difference it makes in your long term quality of life. ...

Open up an account at a local bank or credit union. Check their rating out first at www.bankrate.com and choose a B rated bank or better. Go inside and meet them. Do not use the drive in too much. Go inside, shake hands and get to know each other. These people are your neighbors.

Grow up and cut up those credit cards (you know you have several) and use a debit card, write a check or even use CASH. The surest way to not overspend is to spend cash and to stop spending when you are out of it. Does the thought of cutting up your credit cards give you withdrawal symptoms? What about emergencies? Well how about doing what your grandfather did and keep a little cash close at home for emergencies. Hide a few hundred dollars at home and become your own ATM machine. Buy gold and silver for your long term savings and become your own central banker. Use the local bank for everything else.

Fight back and fire the Wall Street banksters. Pull your pension funds, IRAs, credit cards and other funds from the scam artists on Wall Street. One termite can not do much but thousands of us can make a difference. Support your local farmer, small businessman and local banker. You will live in a healthier community as a result.

Larry LaBorde home page

Silver Bear Cafe home page

Larry LaBorde: Fight Back And Fire The Wall Street Banksters

Mac Slavo: Getting Back To Basics

Wealth Preservation, Investing, and Prepping in 2010

Author: Mac Slavo article link

January 26th, 2010

The trend going forward during this economic depression is getting back to basics. We often discuss ‘prepping’ as a way to protect your family in the event of an unforeseen catastrophe (natural or man-made). Recently, we’ve seen more financial analysts and advisers recommend shifting from traditional investments like stocks, bonds, CD’s and money market accounts, to tangible assets that will gain value regardless of what stock and bond markets do. ...

For those interested in investing some of their wealth into real, tangible assets, consider the following as food for thought:

* Precious metals ...

* Food

As the US Dollar loses value and other countries become hesitant about fund our trillion dollar debts, the cost of food will continue to rise. Combine the dollar’s monetary issues with the fact the many farmers around the world are unable to gain access to loans to continue or expand operations, and you have the potential for prices increases no just because of dollar debasement, but supply problems. The other threat for food is that we may very well experience a perfect storm event, such as that experienced in the dust bowl of the 1930’s, meaning that heavy rains, or heat or cold may affect agricultural output, further straining supplies and pushing prices higher. Foods like rice, legumes, pastas, wheat, oats, and canned goods could be purchased today and stored, in some cases, for up to five years or longer. Consider the price increases that can happen in these food stuffs over the next five years and this investment may see significant gains. And again, you eliminate counter-party risk because you are holding the tangible assets yourself. ...

* Sustainable Living

Well known trend forecaster Gerald Celente has suggested that one of the mega-trends of this decade will be living on less and becoming more self sustaining. Individuality will return to America, and a push to distance oneself from the “grid” will take off for a variety of reasons. Rising food and energy costs are likely to be two of the major catalysts for this trend. How can you invest for yourself? First, consider investing your time and money into skills development like gardening, farming, sewing, woodworking, or hunting, as these skills can certainly be an investment that will pay off in the future. While it may not be feasible for most to become farmers in terms of commercial enterprise, it can be accomplished on a personal level by those who have a bit of desire and choose to expand their skills base. Urban gardens are already popping up all over America as the micro-farming trend continues to gain acceptance. Even in the suburbs, on a fifth of an acre of land, those with the ability to think outside the office cube can grow enough food to support their entire family for a year.

For those concerned with rising energy costs, your options are basically limited to investing in energy stocks and ETFs, or, investing in yourself and create your own supply of energy. Learning how to develop and implement a power grid in the comfort of your own home will not only give you the skills to earn a living in the future, but to provide nearly unlimited energy for your household through use of solar, wind and hydro power. Investments into alternative energies for your home may seem costly, but not if you consider the rising cost of your electric and gas bills over the next couple of decades. Sustainable living investments are not one-off investments, say, like storing a bucket of beans, but rather, pay dividends forever.

* Clothing/Footwear

Though not often considered as investments, extra clothing, especially things like socks, underwear, house shirts, shoes, sweat shirts and sweat pants, will likely move up in price as well. While adults may be able to stretch their close for several years without replenishing their closets, children are a whole different story. If you’ve got kids, this is one investment that can really pay off. Purchasing graduating sizes of clothing for your kids with a time horizon of 3 - 5 years can really save you money down the road. It is true that in America today, these items are readily available and imagining a scenario where these items will not be on store shelves is hard to do. But consider the East Block circa 1985, and you’ll have a different perspective. Because of isolationist policies, closed currency and price controls, these items were very difficult to come by. If the US experiences a currency crisis, it will have an immediate and significant impact on the USA’s ability to acquire goods from manufacturers around the world, as the price for goods will be difficult to determine because of the potential for massive currency fluctuations. If not for yourself, consider stocking some reserve clothing for your kids.

* Hard Assets in General ...

It is important to be prudent with where one might invest their money, as it is impossible to say for certain that an inflationary environment is in our future, and which goods will be affected by increased prices. But all signs point to an eventual devaluation, officially or unofficially, of the US dollar. While the aforementioned “investments” are not traditionally accepted and your financial adviser might think you’ve gone off the deep end, they are worth considering and provide you with another option for protecting your wealth.

SHTF Plan home page

Mac Slavo: Getting Back To Basics

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 1

(employment, application of Being, the Doing (SONA=PERSONA) - MAMMON Systemic or MESSIAH (Christ Systemic))

Galatians 5:

19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are [these]; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things *shall not inherit* the kingdom of God.

Physical and Spiritual application (secular and religious): "IN VIOLATION OF GOD"

works <#2041> ergon - work - deed - doing - labour 1) business, employment, that which any one is occupied, enterprise, undertaking 2) any product whatever, any thing accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind 3) an act, deed, thing done.

flesh <#4561> sarx - flesh - carnal - carnally minded - fleshly 1) flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man and beasts 2) the body 2a) the body of a man 2b) used of natural or physical origin, generation or relationship; ie., born of natural generation 2c) the sensuous nature of man, "the animal nature": without any suggestion of depravity; the animal nature with cravings which incite to sin; the physical nature of man as subject to suffering 3) a living creature (because possessed of a body of flesh) whether man or beast. 4) the flesh, denotes mere *human nature*, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal <#4561> mind (the secular mind-ing, determinant character) [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God (God's very character, as expressed in the 10C; we are the "living stones" the expressed character of God), neither indeed can be.

manifest <#5318> phaneros - manifest - openly - known - abroad - spread abroad - outwardly - outward - appear 1) apparent, manifest, evident, known; manifest ie., to be *plainly recognised* or known.

adultery <#3430> moicheia - adultery 1) adultery (DOUBLE-MINDED; REJECTION; SELFISHNESS).

fornication <#4202> porneia - fornication 1a) illicit sexual intercourse [BUSINESS=PROFIT, OUR NATURE OF INTERACTION]; (from 1 Cor. 6:12, we learn how leniently converts among the heathen regarded this vice and how lightly they indulged in it) 1b) metaph. the worship of idols; of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols (meat offered to idols, ie., sermons in support of the COG Inc., sanction-blessing of God claimed (CONFORMING CHRIST TO THE WORLD (KOSMOS), etc., NATIONALISM, PATRIOTISM)).

uncleanness <#167> akatharsia - uncleanness 1) uncleanness, physically or morally the impurity of lustful, luxurious, *profligate living* (THE DIVINE RIGHT OF MONEY: MAMMON EXPRESSED, THE ** LEAVEN ** OF MONEY) (EATING OF SINS, BLOOD).

lasciviousness <#766> aselgeia - lasciviousness - wantonness - filthy 1) unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence (the "god complex", SUPERBIA (arrogant pride), FILTHY LUCRE, FILTHY ROBES).

idolatry <#1495> eidololatreia - idolatry 1) the worship of false gods, idolatry; used of the formal sacrificial feats held in honor of false gods, of avarice, as a *worship of Mammon* (the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, BUSINESS); in the plural, the vices springing from idolatry and peculiar to it (the false idol NATION STATE and all the crimes committed in its service, machinations and propagation)(HIERARCHY, HIRED-ARCHY PRIESTHOOD-MINISTRY secular-religious) (OUR SELFISH CITIZENSHIP CLAIM) (THE COMMODIFICATION OF LIFE (the very abrogation, the denial of God)).

witchcraft <#5331> pharmakeia - sorcery - witchcraft 1a) the use or the administering of drugs 1b) poisoning 1c) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it; the *deceptions and seductions of idolatry* (PROPAGANDA, ADVERTISING, etc., THE FAITH OF/IN MONEY).

hatred <#2189> echthra - enmity - hatred 1) enmity, cause of enmity (DEMONIZATION OF THE OTHER; DE-HUMANIZING; SYSTEMIC).

variance <#2054> eris - strife - debate - contention - variance 1) contention, strife, wrangling [VESTED/PRIVATE INTEREST].

emulations <#2205> zelos - zeal - envying - indignation - envy - fervent mind - jealousy - emulation I) excitement of mind, ardour, fervour of spirit 1) zeal, ardour in embracing, pursuing, defending anything; zeal in behalf of, for a person or thing; fierceness of indignation, punitive zeal 2) an envious and contentious rivalry, jealousy (BUSINESS, COMPETITION).

wrath <#2372> thumos - wrath - fierceness - indignation 1) passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again 2) glow, ardour, the wine of passion, inflaming wine (which either drives the drinker mad or kills him with its deadly heat) (REVENGE, WARFARE).

strife <#2052> eritheia - strife - contention - contentious 1) *electioneering or intriguing for office* (PARTY POLITICS); apparently, in the NT a courting distinction, a desire to put one's self forward, a partisan and fractious spirit which does not disdain low arts; partisanship, fractiousness (CLAIM OF SELF, ABILITIES (God's Gifts), SELFISH APPLICATION vs. GIFT-ING, GOD-ING).

seditions <#1370> dichostasia - division - sedition 1) dissension, division.

heresies <#139> hairesis - sect - heresy 1) act of capturing, capture e.g. storming a city 2) choosing, choice 3) that which is chosen 4) a body of men following their own tenets (sect or party) e.g. Sadducees 5) *dissensions arising from diversity of opinions and aims* (VESTED INTEREST, CLAIM; DEMOCRATIC FASCISM).

envyings <#5355> phthonos - envy - envying 1) envy; for envy, ie., prompted by envy.

murders <#5408> phonos - murder - slaughter - be slain 1) murder, slaughter (100 NEEDLESS DEATHS EVERY MINUTE IN SUPPORT OF MAMMON (the value of its fiat-debt-money): 50 MILLION EVERY YEAR (minimum number); the SACRIFICE OF WAR (selfish claim), incl., BUSINESS AS WAR SYSTEMIC (the murder of intellect, achievement, livelihood, community), the CRIME OF PROFIT)).

drunkenness <#3178> methe - drunkness 1) intoxication; drunkenness (STRONG DRINK: THEOLOGY, IDEOLOGY, PROPAGANDA, etc., MYTHOLOGY (the National Mythic); SELF-MEDICATION, DELUSION vs. the DISEASE OF MAMMON).

revellings <#2970> komos - revelling - rioting 1) a revel, carousal; a nocturnal and riotous procession of half drunken and frolicsome fellows who after supper parade through the streets with torches and music in honour of Bacchus or some other deity, and sing and play before houses of male and female friends; hence used generally of feasts and drinking parties that are protracted till late at night and indulge in revelry (HEDONISM; UNEXAMINED PRIVILEGE; REWARD OF MAMMON; NATIONAL(-ISM) CELEBRATION and HONORS; PARLIAMENT / CONGRESS (strong drink)).

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 1

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 2

Galatians 5: (1Cor13 LOVE defined)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we *live in the Spirit*, let us also *walk in the Spirit*. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. (THE PHYSICAL REFLECTS THE SPIRITUAL: BEING and DOING) (LIVE and WALK in the SPIRIT)

fruit <#2590> karpos - fruit 1) fruit; *the fruit of the trees*, vines, of the fields; the fruit of one's loins, ie., his progeny, his posterity 2) that which originates or comes from something; an effect, result 2a) *work*, act, deed, of Christian character (the 10C) 2b) advantage, profit (WELLBEING, OF THE OTHER AND SELF), utility 2c) praises, which are presented to God as a thank-offering 2d) to gather fruit (ie., a reaped harvest) into life eternal (as into a granary), is used in fig., discourse of those who by their labours have fitted souls to obtain eternal life.

Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called *trees of righteousness*, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. ... 11 For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are *sown in it* to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause *righteousness and praise* to spring forth *before all the nations*.

Psalms 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Proverbs 11:30. The *fruit of the righteous* [is] a *tree of life*; and he that winneth souls [is] wise. 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, *should live unto righteousness*: by whose stripes ye were healed. Revelation 22:14 Blessed [are] they that *do his commandments*, that they *may have right* to the *tree of life*, and *may enter in* through the gates into the city. (CHARACTER OF GOD, 10C)

spirit <#4151> pneuma - Spirit - Holy Ghost - Spirit (of God) (THE VERY MIND, THE VERY CONSCIOUSNESS, OF GOD OUR FATHER HIMSELF, HIS VERY AGENCY AND POWER; LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU THAT WAS IN CHRIST JESUS) - Spirit (of the Lord) - (My) Spirit - Spirit (of truth) - Spirit (of Christ) - human (spirit) - (evil) spirit - spirit (general) - spirit - (Jesus' own) spirit (FAITH *OF* CHRIST) - (Jesus' own) ghost - misc 1) a movement of air (a gentle blast 1a) of the wind; hence the wind itself 1b) breath of nostrils or mouth 2) the spirit, ie., the vital principal by which the body is animated; the rational spirit, the power by which the human being feels, thinks, decides; the soul 3) a spirit, ie., a simple essence, devoid of all or at least all grosser matter, and possessed of the power of knowing, desiring, deciding, and acting 3a) a life giving spirit 3b) a human soul that has left the body 3c) a spirit higher than man but lower than God, ie., an angel; used of demons, or evil spirits, who were conceived as inhabiting the bodies of men; the *spiritual nature of Christ*, higher than the highest angels and equal to God, the divine nature of Christ 4) of God, ie., *God's power and agency*, distinguishable in thought from his essence, in itself considered manifest in the course of affairs, and by its influence upon the souls productive in the theocratic body (the church) of all the higher spiritual gifts and blessings 5) the disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one; the efficient source of any power, affection, emotion, desire, etc.

love <#26> agape - love - charity - dear - charitably - feast of charity 1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence 2) love feasts (GIFT-ING, GOD-ING OF ALL THINGS, INCLUDING SELF).

joy <#5479> chara - joy - gladness - joyful - joyous - joyfulness - joyfully - greatly 1) joy, gladness 1a) the joy received from you 1b) the cause or occasion of joy; of persons who are one's joy.

peace <#1515> eirene - peace - one - rest - quietness 1) a state of national tranquillity; exemption from the rage and havoc of war 2) peace between individuals, ie., harmony, discord 3) security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous)(THE NAZAREAN-JUDAIC ANARCHO-COMMUNITARIAN WAY OF CHRIST) 4) of the Messiah's peace (MAMMON or MESSIAH), the way that leads to peace (salvation (HEALING)) 5) of Christ-ian-ity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is 6) the blessed state of devout and upright men after death.

longsuffering <#3115> makrothumia - longsuffering - patience 1) patience, endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance 2) patience, forbearance, long suffering, slowness in avenging wrongs.

gentleness <#5544> chrestotes - goodness - kindness - good - gentleness 1) *moral* goodness, integrity 2) benignity, kindness.

goodness <#19> agathosune - goodness 1) *uprightness of heart and life*, goodness, kindness.

faith <#4102> pistis - faith - assurance - believe - belief - them that believe - fidelity 1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it 1a) relating to God: the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ 1b) relating to Christ: a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God 1c) the religious beliefs of Christians 1d) belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same 2) fidelity, faithfulness, ie., the *character* of one who can be relied on.

meekness <#4236> praotes - meekness 1) gentleness, mildness, meekness.

temperance <#1466> egkrateia - temperance 1) self control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites).

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 2

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 3

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-5

Those within the hierarchy are guilty of "obstruction of justice," the *chain* of claim, of command vs. the liberation of humankind -- we are all complicit !! This is the first step, the realization that leads to the conversion process (EMANCIPATORY SPIRITUALITY, CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION):

* awareness, realization, alternatives;

* humility, a contrite heart [Isa. 66, "to this man will I look"];

* seeking truth, the beginning of conscientious objection to the corporate;

* a comprehensive critique of society; a process of refusals and developing critique; changing one's personal life, "everyday life," is ultimately the motivation for changing society [our only weapon is our refusal];

* if we're to come to grips with transforming this world, then we'd better get used, not to living with contradictions, but to striving with and against them, and make sure that we make the optimal use of our creative capacities to overcome them;

* seeking solutions, dialogue, co-intelligence, a shared experience, Circles Of REliance [CORE] group(s);

* expatriation and repudiation; we cannot serve two masters, it is either God or Mammon !!

* the communitarian way, the Kingdom of God.

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-25

The Gospel is NOT a product, it is a way of life; the ekklesia, the church, is NOT a corporate structure, it is a social organism, a community of thought guided by God; we have been enslaved by a system, a category of thought (the hierarchical), the false way, the wrong (with its apparent evils all around us) vs. the true, the right, the community-congregation [our inherent right]; a simple, earnest, free Christianity based on *equality* [neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female - *all one* in Christ Jesus], eldership (servant leadership), personal zeal (sincerity), the teachings of Christ and the gifts of God [Galatians 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the *free*; 1 Peter 4:10 As every man hath received the gift, [even so] minister the same one to another [ COMMON MINISTRANT ], as *good stewards* of the manifold grace of God].

A strong appeal to the religious conscience of the individual enlightened by scripture (DEFINED BY AGAPE LOVE); an exalted conscience and the Bible at the expense of clerical intercession [secular and religious; man in the way of God]; truth, love, and conduct; God's continuing creativity in our thoughts and deeds. God is the author of our salvation and of creation NOT man and his structures - the ekklesia strives to be worthy of the family name [for this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom *the whole family* in heaven and earth *is named*]; belief on His name [IN AND OF SALVATION AND THE ANOINTING, HEALING AND THE RESPONSIBILITY) carries with it all of the responsibilities and privileges of what His name(s) imply; we partake of the name(s), *they are our own*. The ekklesia is open and free, with a pure as crystal transparency that allows the Holy Spirit to shine through.

God's Names: Our Responsibilities web page

God's Names: Our Responsibilities MM research blog

Ye are the Temple of God, Ye Cannot Serve God and Mammon

MM Book 1 Chapter 4-26

What fellowship, what communion, what concord, what possible agreement can we have with the unrighteousness of Mammon? No man can serve two masters. We are commanded by God to come out from among this evil world, to separate, not touching the unclean thing [the corporate construct], not to be *unequally* yoked together. We are instructed to build *together* (AS EQUALS; EQUITY) for an habitation of God through the Spirit, the household of God, fitly framed together as fellow citizens in the Kingdom of God, as sons and daughters in the very Family of God !! ... [The spiritual and the physical are reflections of each other, they are lived and experienced together - the physical application applies to the spiritual, and the spiritual to the physical - they are one-and-the-same !!]

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 4 web page

The Spirit (Way) Of Life 3

Stewart Dougherty: America's Impending Master Class Dictatorship

America's Impending Master Class Dictatorship

by Stewart Dougherty article link

Jan 22 2010

... It is estimated that the top 1% of Americans control roughly 40% of the nation’s wealth. In other words, 3 million people own $21,400,000,000,000 ($21.4 trillion) in net private assets, while the other 305 million own the remaining $32,000,000,000,000 ($32 trillion). 77,000,000 (77 million) Americans (the lowest 25%) have mean net assets of minus $2,300 ($-2,300.00) per person; they live from paycheck to paycheck, or on public assistance. The lower 50% of Americans own mean net assets of $27,800 each, about enough to purchase a modest car. Obviously, it would be impossible to retire on such an amount without significant government or other assistance. Meanwhile, the richest 10% of Americans possess mean net assets of $3,976,000.00 each, or 143 times those of the bottom 50%; the top 2% control assets worth more than 1,500 times those in the bottom 50%. When you combine these facts with Wall Street’s typical multi-million dollar annual bonuses, you get an idea of wealth inequality in America. Historically, such extreme inequality has been a well-documented breeding ground for totalitarianism.

If the government decides to expropriate (steal) or commandeer (e.g., force into Treasuries) America’s private wealth in order to buy survival time, such a measure will be designed to destroy the common citizens, not the elite. Insiders will be given advance warning about any such plan, and will be able to transfer their money offshore or into financial vehicles immune from harm. Assuming that the elite moves its money to safety, there would then be $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion) in American debt and liabilities supported by only $32,000,000,000,000.00 ($32 trillion) in private net worth, for a deficit of $88,000,000,000,000.00 ($88 trillion). In that case, each American would owe $285,714.29 to balance the country’s books. (Remember to multiply this amount by every person in your household, including any infant children.) ...

When government “representatives” deliberately sell into slavery the citizens of a so-called free Republic, they have committed treason against those people. This is exactly what has happened in the United States: the citizens have been sold into debt slavery that they and their descendants can never escape, because the debts piled onto their backs can never, ever be paid. Despite expensive and sophisticated brainwashing campaigns emanating from Washington, claiming that America can “grow” out of its deficits and debt, it is arithmetically impossible for the country to do so. The government’s statements that it can dig the nation out of its fiscal hole by digging an even deeper chasm have become parodies and perversions of even totally discredited and morally disgusting Keynesianism.

The people no longer have elected representatives; they have elected traitors.

The enslavement of the American people has been orchestrated by a pernicious Master Class that has taken the United States by the throat. This Master Class is now choking the nation to death as it accelerates its master plan to plunder the people’s dwindling remaining assets. The Master Class comprises politicians, the Wall Street money elite, the Federal Reserve, high-end government (including military) officials, government lobbyists and their paymasters, military suppliers and media oligarchs. The interests and mindset of the Master Class are so totally divorced from those of the average American citizen that it is utterly tone deaf and blind to the justifiable rage sweeping the nation. Its guiding ethics of greed, plunder, power, control and violence are so alien to mainstream American culture and thought that the Master Class might as well be an enemy invader from Mars. But the Master Class is here, it is real and it is laying waste to America. To the members of the Master Class, the people are not fellow-citizens; they are instruments of labor, servitude and profit. At first, the Master Class viewed the citizens as serfs; now that they have raped and destroyed the national economy, while in the process amassing unprecedented wealth and power for themselves, they see the people as nothing more than slaves.

America’s public finances are now so completely dysfunctional and chaotic that something far worse than debt enslavement and monetary implosion, terrible curses unto themselves, looms on the horizon: namely, a Master Class-sponsored American dictatorship.

Throughout history, the type of situation in which America now finds itself has been a fertility factory for tyranny. The odds of an outright overthrow of the people by the Washington and Wall Street Axis, or more broadly, the Master Class are increasing dramatically. The fact that so few people believe an American dictatorship is possible is exactly why it is becoming likely.

Dictatorships have blighted history and ruined lives since the beginning of civilization. In recent times alone, tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, Ceausescu, Amin, Hussein, Mussolini, Tojo, Kim, Pinochet, Milosevic, Tito, Batista, Peron, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Marcos, Somoza, Mengistu, Bokassa, Sese Seko, Franco, Ho Chi Minh, Mao, and Castro have power-sprayed blood onto the screen of time and ravaged mankind with murder, torture and human oppression. A full catalog of history’s tyrants would require a book of hundreds of pages. In the past 100 years alone, over 200 million human beings have been annihilated by wars, ethnic cleansings and government assassinations. Just when we think that civilization has been able to rise above tyranny’s inhumanity and disgrace, a new dictator appears on the scene to start the process all over again. Every time this happens, fear and submission paralyze the vast majority of the affected masses, leading them to “follow orders” and lick autocracy’s blood-stained boots.

History has proven to tyrants that oppression works. In fact, it is easy to control a populace, once you control the money, markets, military (including police), media and minions (the recipients of welfare, social security, free health care, government jobs and the like, who are dependent upon the state and likely to be compliant). This is exactly where the United States is today. ...

Governments that openly defy the people are either already totalitarian or in the process of becoming so. Monetarily, the United States clearly functions as a totalitarian dictatorship already, with a Federal Reserve that operates in secrecy, creates limitless amounts of debt and currency at will, and showers trillions of dollars upon favored Master Class insiders with zero transparency or accountability whatsoever. The Federal Reserve is so shameless about its dictatorial powers that it flatly refuses to provide details about multi-trillion dollar bailouts and rescues of privileged elites, in open defiance of Congress and the people. The fact that they get away with these blatant acts of defiance demonstrates the true extent of the Master Class chokehold on America. ...

Despite what you may hear from State Media, which includes virtually all establishment news organizations, particularly financial ones (e.g., CNBC), America is on the precipice. No bankrupt nation in history has ever defended or preserved the freedoms of its citizens. In fact, it has been the exact opposite: in desperation, bankrupt governments have routinely plundered their citizens’ wealth and imposed totalitarian controls. What will make things different for the United States, the largest debtor nation in all of recorded civilization?

The United States government cannot ever, possibly pay its debts, is pathologically incapable of controlling its spending or curbing its hunger for both domestic and international empire and persistently refuses to tell the American people the truth. If America’s citizens were told the truth and given the benefit of true leadership, as opposed to the guile and dishonesty of an endless array of political liars and hacks, perhaps they could rally and defeat the problems that afflict them. But instead, they are fed by the Master Class a steady diet of narcotic propaganda that deludes, confuses and enervates them. The truth cannot set people free if it is never told, and that is the essence of America’s gathering tragedy. ...

KITCO home page

Stewart Dougherty: America's Impending Master Class Dictatorship

Charles Eisenstein: The Ubiquitous Matrix of Lies

Global Citizen Research and Media Group - Discussions

The Ubiquitous Matrix of Lies article link

Article written by Charles Eisenstein

We live in a ubiquitous matrix of lies, a culture of mendacity so pervasive that it is nearly invisible. Because we are lied to all the time, in ways so routine they are beneath conscious notice, even the most direct lies are losing their power to shock us. The most shocking thing about the lies of the Bush administration is that those lies are not actually shocking to most people. Why do we as a society seemingly accept our leaders' gross dishonesty as a matter of course? Why does the repeated exposure of their lies seem to arouse barely a ripple of indignation among the general public? Where is the protest, the outrage, the sense of betrayal?

The answer to these questions lies deeper than the machinations of one or another faction of the power elite. It lies deeper than the subversion and control of the media. Our society's apathy arises from a subtle and profound disempowerment: the depotentiation of the language itself, along with all other forms of symbolic culture. Words are losing their power to create and to transform. The result is a tyranny that can never be overthrown, but will only proceed toward totality until it collapses under the weight of the multiple crises it inevitably generates. ...

What are we to do, then, when words, our primary creative tool in the modern world, have become impotent? Surely radical activists and writers must ask this of themselves, as they shout the truth from the rooftops, loud and clear, to so little effect (yes there are some small victories, but the inferno rages on). We feel the urge to stop talking and get out there and DO something. But to do is to speak.

The exception is activists who, impatient with all the talk, go out there and do good work on a local, individual basis. They help prisoners or poor children or the sick or some other victim of the world-devouring machine. They teach teens how to become conscientious objectors. They offer legal aid or friendship to people on death row. They go into the inner city and plant gardens. They staff soup kitchens. They lie down in front of tractors. They spike trees. They blow the whistle on an injustice. They become healers. On an individual level, they make a huge difference in many people's lives, and their own lives are spiritually rewarding and emotionally fulfilling. On the societal level or the civilizational level, however, they do little to stem the tide, because on that level the main impact of such operations lies, ironically enough, in their symbolic power, which has quickly diminished (in the public consciousness) to the status of clichés, gimmicks, or stunts.

The crisis of our civilization comes down to a crisis of language, in which words have seemingly lost their ability to create and can now only destroy. We have all the technology and all the knowledge we need to live in beautiful harmony with each other and the planet. What is needed are different collective choices. Choices arise from perceptions, perceptions arise from interpretations or stories, and stories are build of words. Today, words have lost their power and our society's stories have seemingly taken on a life of their own, propelling us toward an end that no sane person would choose and that we seem helpless to resist. And helpless we are, when all we have are impotent words.

What are we as writers, then, to do? Shall we stop writing? No. But let us not labor under any illusions. The truth has been exposed again and again, but to what effect? What have forty years of correct analysis of the environmental and political state of the world brought us? The reason that the entire staff of your favorite left-wing website is not in a concentration camp is that it is not necessary. Words themselves have been robbed of their power. Thoreau said, "It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak and another to hear." Who hears now but the already-converted? ...

Like words, images have become divorced from the objects they are supposed to represent, until the very word "image" itself has taken on connotations of inauthenticity: a corporate image, a politician's image. In a world of lies and images, nothing is real. Immersed in such a world, is the political apathy of the American public so difficult to understand?

The danger when we operate wholly in a world of representations and images is that we begin to mistake that world for reality, and to believe that by manipulating symbols we can automatically change the reality they represent. We lose touch with the reality behind the symbols. Grisly death becomes collateral damage. Torture becomes enhanced interrogation. A bill to relax pollution controls becomes the Clear Skies Act. Defeat in Iraq becomes victory. War becomes peace. Hate becomes love. Freedom becomes slavery. ...

Take heart: the evisceration of the language that makes our tyranny impregnable also ensures its eventual demise. The words, numbers, and images over which it exercises complete control are less and less congruent to reality. Such is the folly of the infamous "Brand America" campaign, designed to burnish America's "image" abroad. The image has become more important than the reality. Bombs blow up innocent civilians to send a "message" to the "terrorists". No matter that this message exists only in the fantasies of our leaders. They are, like those they rule, immersed in an increasingly impotent world of symbol and cannot understand why the world does not conform to their manipulation of its representation, the pieces on their global chess board.

However we play with the statistics to cover up the converging crises of our time, the crises continue to intensify. We can euphemize the autism crisis away, the obesity epidemic, the soil crisis, the water crisis, the energy crisis. We can dumb down standardized exams to cover up the accelerating implosion of the educational system. We can redefine people in and out of poverty and manipulate economic statistics. We can declare -- simply declare -- that the forests are not in precipitous decline. For a while we can hide the gathering collapse of environment and polity, economy and ecology, but eventually reality will break through. ...

Increasingly isolated in a virtual world, the mass of people fear authenticity even as they crave it. Except in the young, the fear usually prevails over the craving until something happens to make life fall apart. Following the pattern experienced by Cindy Sheehan, the fundamental corruption of first one, then all of our civilization's major institutions becomes transparent. In my various areas of activism I have seen this many times. Someone discovers that the pharmaceutical industry, or the music industry, or the oil industry, or organized religion, or Big Science, or the food industry is shockingly corrupt, but still believes in the basic soundness of the system as a whole. Eventually, in a natural process of radicalization, they discover that the rot is endemic to all of these and more. As activists for the truth, we are midwives to this process.

As the crises of our age converge and infiltrate the fortresses we have erected to preserve the virtual world of euphemism and pretense, the world is falling apart for more and more people at once. The truth is closing in. Let us speak it loud and clear, so that when they emerge into the stark glare of our true condition, someone is there to say, "Welcome to the real world."

Ragingdebate.com home page

Global Citizen Research and Media Group web page

Charles Eisenstein: The Ubiquitous Matrix of Lies

Bob Chapman: What Kind Of Monsters Are These People?

International Forecaster Weekly
We Are In A Depression, Not A Recovery article link

by Bob Chapman
Posted: January 23 2010

Few professionals are yet willing to admit we have been in a depression for the last year. You have to understand the position that economists and analysts are in. They work for corporations, insurance, Wall Street, banking and government and if they thought we were in a depression and they publicly announced that all chances for advancement would be lost or they would be squeezed out of the firm or simply fired. Under such circumstances can you ever expect that you get the truth? We don’t think so. Furthermore the depression we are enveloped in is far from over. The recession encompassed a drop in real GDP in the midst of a credit crisis. The crisis was the result of over-extended credit, prohibitively low interest rates, massive speculation by banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies, and corporations worldwide. It just didn’t happen it was planned that way. We saw that recently in testimony before Congress when CEOs of these financial firms admitted they made a mistake in the process of enriching themselves. The worst sin was the criminal securitization of mortgages and the deliberately criminal mislabeling of their ratings. Then making matters worse those who sold this toxic garbage to their clients such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup were shorting the product that they had just sold to their best clients. What kind of monsters are these people? Unethical doesn’t go far enough. It was criminal. These are the same characters, along with the Fed, and others, who gave us the dotcom boom and collapse and then foisted the real estate boom on our economy. The result has been deflating assets and contracting credit offset by massive lending, money and credit creation by the Fed and monetization, all temporary expedient measures, which in the context of history has led to failure. This has been in process for seven years. This second major abuse of our system in 14 years has presented a terrible dilemma and that is where we are today. Our monetary policy hasn’t worked and won’t work and there has been and presently is little fiscal control in Washington. This is no normal recession; it is a depression. ...

The International Forecaster home page

Bob Chapman: What Kind Of Monsters Are These People?

Community Currency: Berkshares

What are BerkShares?

BerkShares are a local currency for the Berkshire region. Dubbed a "great economic experiment" by the New York Times, BerkShares are a tool for community empowerment, enabling merchants and consumers to plant the seeds for an alternative economic future for their communities. Launched in the fall of 2006, BerkShares had a robust initiation, with over one million BerkShares having been circulated in the first nine months and over two million to date. Currently, more than three hundred and sixty businesses have signed up to accept the currency. Five different banks have partnered with BerkShares, with a total of thirteen branch offices now serving as exchange stations. For BerkShares, this is only the beginning. Future plans could involve BerkShare checking accounts, electronic transfer of funds, ATM machines, and even a loan program to facilitate the creation of new, local businesses manufacturing more of the goods that are used locally. ...

The purpose of BerkShares is to function on a local scale the same way that national currencies have functioned on a national scale—building the local economy by maximizing circulation of trade within a defined region. Widely used in the early 1900s, local currencies are again being recognized as a tool for sustainable economic development. The currency distinguishes the local businesses that accept the currency from those that do not, building stronger relationships and a greater affinity between the business community and the citizens of a particular place.

The people who choose to use the currency make a conscious commitment to buy local first. They are taking personal responsibility for the health and well-being of their community by laying the foundation of a truly vibrant, thriving local economy.

BerkShares will not, and are not intended to, replace federal currency. Their use will help strengthen the regional economy, favoring locally owned enterprises, local manufacturing, and local jobs, and reducing the region's dependence on an unpredictable global economy.

BerkShares, Inc. web page

E. F. SCHUMACHER SOCIETY blog home

Community Currency: Berkshares

BigBear: Under The Control Of The People

The People Are Irrelevant article link

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.

By a 5-4 vote, the court on Thursday overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

Unlimited corporate spending on campaigns means the government is up for sale and that the law itself will be bought and sold. It would be political bribery on the largest scale imaginable. This issue transcends partisan political arguments. We cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations.

The Supreme Court ruling mandates that the American people push an Amendment to the United States Constitution removing person-hood from corporations or completely submit to the Corporate/Government complex.

Local Banking Local Currency article link

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

After posting record profits and issue massive bonus in the banking industry for 2009 the American Bankers Association said today that if Obama imposes a fee on banks to recoup the bailout cost the banks will stop lending.

I say fine.

It is time for each state to create a state run bank that actually serves the needs of the public not massive corporate profits and bonuses for its executives. Nebraska has a state ran bank and guess what...the people of Nebraska are still able to get loans and the state is in the best economic health in the nation with the lowest unemployment rate. The model obviously works.

Take it one step further. The states should start issuing their own currency which is perfectly legal. Local currencies help keep the money in the state stimulating local economies and building local business. Many American communities issue local currency for just this purpose. Local merchants simply need to sign onto the program and accept the local money usually discounting products purchased with the local currency or better charge a premium on goods bought with the unstable U.S. dollar.

State authorized and controlled localized currency would cut the strangle hold that the privately owned Federal Reserve has on our economy and greatly reduce their influence over our elected leaders. It also reigns in the "to big to fail" banks that trashed the American economy in the first place.

If the Federal government is unwilling or unable to fix the problems with out economic system and bring the Federal Reserve under the control of the people then local communities must band together to protect their citizens and ensure their freedom.

Bear Ridge Project home page

BigBear: Under The Control Of The People

We Must Exist In Sanctuary

MM Book 1 Chapter 2-14

JEHOVAH: Lexicon H3068 the *existent* One; H1961 to be, become; happen; “I AM”, THAT I AM [I AM what I shall become] … GOD IS, WHAT WE ARE … WHAT YOU ARE, I AM, WHAT I AM, YOU SHALL BE … the GOD FAMILY, we become God, God becomes us: we *determine* our God(-ing) at this time, the *existent* ONE [LOVE] !! – WE ARE THE CO-CREATORS OF “JEHOVAH” [Christ the "first-born" of many brethren / sisters, the beginning (G746 arche) of the "creation of God" (Theos) (ingenerate, sense 1; created in Christ Jesus), INTO THE *ONE* ETERNAL GOD (ingenerate, sense 2)] ["ingenerate" sense 1 adj. (innate; inborn) -ated, -ating vt. (to produce or create within; engender); sense 2 adj. (not generated or produced, but originating and existing in itself); Jehovah] — the only hope for the world is God’s Anointed(-ing) [Christ-ian] !! – “His Name’s Sake” must be our primary consideration, it has become our response-ability, GOD’S NAMES ARE OUR NAMES [characteristics] !! – JEHOVAH *IS* RIGHT OF EXISTENCE; CHRIST-IAN COMMUNITY-SANCTUARY, FAMILY !! — life should NOT be a fixed game that plays you !! – we must reduce and finally eliminate our complicity with the Systemic; we eventually must refuse to even “touch” its corporate monies [its instrumentality of evil]; WE MUST EXIST IN SANCTUARY, AS RIGHT OF GOD, FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE [and ours] !! – man’s “value” [debt and oppression (limiting life)] vs. God’s value [gifting; unlimited life]; WE MUST SACRIFICE THE CORPORATE IDOL [its monies]; we must release its [systemic] hold on/over us !! – OUR EXISTENCE MUST *EXEMPLIFY* OUR GOD [WE ARE ONE] !!

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 Chapter 2 web page

Mammon or Messiah Book 1 blog home

We Must Exist In Sanctuary

Profile: WantToKnow.info

From the site:

For Those Who Want To Know

This website provides a concise, reliable introduction to vital information of which few are aware. We specialize in providing fact-filled news articles and concise summaries of major cover-ups which impact our lives and world. All information is taken from the most reliable sources available and can be verified using the links provided. Sources are always noted, with links direct to the information source provided when possible. The WantToKnow.info team presents this information as an opportunity for you to educate yourself and others, and to inspire us to strengthen democracy and to work together for the good of all.

Secret Societies News Articles web page

Excerpts of Key Secret Societies News Articles in Major Media

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The WantToKnow.info Team

The WantToKnow.info team is composed of researchers and concerned citizens from around the globe dedicated to empowering transformation of our lives and world. Some of these team members have written key books which are summarized on this website. Others have sent valuable information revealing major cover-ups. All are courageous citizens who venture where many dare not go. We share a deep commitment to inspiring us all to work together to strengthen democracy, and to build a brighter future for us all.

Index of Key Team Members

* Kristina Borjesson - Emmy award-winning journalist, radio show co-host

* Fred Burks - Presidential interpreter, website manager, cover-up researcher

* Norma Carr-Ruffino, PhD - Professor of management, author of nine books

* Steven M. Greer, MD - ER physician, author, founder of Disclosure Project

* David Ray Griffin, PhD - Professor, theologian, author or editor of over 20 books

* Leonard Horowitz, DMD - Author, speaker, authority in public health education

* Michael Levine - 25-year veteran of DEA, award-winning author, radio show host

* Peter Lindemann, DSc - Author, researcher, expert in field of new energy

* Pamela J. Monday, PhD - Professional counselor, lecturer, researcher

* Peter Phillips, PhD - Professor specializing in media, director of Project Censored

* Carol Rutz - Author, lecturer, researcher, recovered mind control survivor

* Peter Dale Scott, PhD - UC Berkeley professor, author, cover-up researcher

* Paul Thompson - Author, researcher, creator and manager of the 9/11 Timeline

* Charles S. Viar - Expert in intelligence and counterintelligence, 30 years experience

WANT TO KNOW.INFO home page

Profile: WantToKnow.info

Secular Prophets: Indicant 6

Prophecy is not prediction, it is an "indicant", a "determinant" - two ways of life presented: the blessings or the curses - the "high" road or the "low" road.

The Surveillance Society: Trading Freedom For The Illusion Of Safety

by Giordano Bruno article link

Neithercorp Press - 01/18/2010

Governments, regardless of their political structure or historical background, have always striven to not only control information, but also to gather it from the people by covert means. Often, this secretive observation of the citizenry escalates into a completely open and full-fledged surveillance state. The U.S. in particular stands on a precarious edge: the line between abhorring invasion of privacy, and embracing invasion of privacy as necessary for the “greater good.” Many people assume that such a mindset is forced on the masses by the elite, that strength of arms is somehow required to make them accept the conditions of a police state, but this is not always so. It is very difficult for governments, despite any technological developments or resources they may have, to enforce and maintain a fascistic political construct. In order to retain control, they must build a “Surveillance Culture;” a society in which the people watch each other, and where individuals censor themselves instead of being censored by the authorities. In the end, a police state cannot exist without the help of the people it means to dominate. By spying on each other, we destroy ourselves. ...

China is a good example of the “modern police state,” and is in itself a construction of Western financial interests. Americans often wonder why we continue to deal with the Chinese Communist regime, even owing them tremendous debt, while they murder and oppress their own citizens. I remember the Tienanmen Square protests and subsequent massacre vividly. I also remember the U.S. government’s response to be muted, even flaccid. All the grandstanding by our politicians and the supposedly hard nosed George H.W. Bush on the horrors of communism suddenly disappeared. The truth was, Western governments who posed as democratic actually had no interest in supporting the Chinese people fighting for liberty. Westerners had made China a police state and they planned for it to remain that way. ...

What this shows is that the Chinese form of tyranny is not so alien as the average American might think. In fact, China is a “testing ground” for policies that Western Globalists wish to implement all over the world, including here in the U.S.

But what are some of these policies?

* Replacing Independence With Interdependence: ...

The birth of the Surveillance Society is not possible unless a collectivist mentality is first instilled in the populace. This is accomplished by a common cultural bond which is misused to manipulate the masses, such as a spiritual movement, or as in the case of China, a common enemy. The Chinese people’s general hatred of the previous feudal system of royals and landlords led them to revolution, but a revolution guided by international globalists. They ended up with a system just as bad if not more insidious than the former, and still without freedom to decide their own destines because they chose to be driven by collectivism, rather than individual liberty.

This is the ever present M.O. of the New World Order. Using a common enemy, or creating an enemy from thin air (terrorism), to frighten a particular society into conforming with collectivist ideologies. Once this way of thinking has taken root, personal freedoms can be negated more efficiently, and a surveillance grid can be instituted. ...

* Instituting A National ID ...

* Convert The Census Into A Surveillance Tool ...

* Make Privacy A Privilege, Instead Of A Right ...

If The Surveillance Society Succeeds, What Do We Have To Look Forward To?

Because it is the Globalist model for the future, again we must turn to China. China, while often being praised by many Western governments for its “progressiveness,” has become a living nightmare for those people who cannot or will not conform.

Dissenters in China, even if they are peaceful, are harshly punished with beatings, imprisonment, and even death. Some are simply “disappeared”: ...

There is a serious mental block in the average American mind that dictates to us that such things are not possible in this country. The facts show though that most of the criminal activities by governments described above have already occurred in the U.S. at one time or another. We must also understand that these are not Chinese policies, Israeli policies, or British policies; these are Globalist policies, and they are intended eventually for the entire world, including America.

The difference between us and other nations, the reason we are such a threat to Globalism, is that a greater percentage of us are informed, armed, and aware of the costs of freedom. Many cultures do not have the historical experience of self governance. Few have fought successfully for individual liberty. As Americans, we know intimately the price, the joys, and the pain of safeguarding our inborn right to determine our own destiny beyond the prying eyes of politicians and aristocrats. Of all the people in the world, we are the most capable of putting an end to globalism and centralization, if for no other reason than we know better than most exactly what a free society is, and what it is not. This puts us in a terrifying position, a position of responsibility beyond what any generation before us has dealt with. We are the last chance for emancipation from a planet-wide Surveillance Society. If we falter, if we relinquish our liberty in exchange for a pledge of security that can never be fulfilled, if the U.S. is allowed to fall into such despair, the rest of the world will likely follow.

NEITHERCORP home page

NEITHERCORP PRESS web page

Secular Prophets: Indicant 6

The Crime of Christ 1

MM Book 2 Chapter 8-18

Christianity articulates a very radical view: equity and righteousness – this is sedition to the business world [the very "crime" of Christ; WE MUST COMMIT "THE CRIME OF CHRIST"]; GOD-THINK vs. BUSINESS-THINK – this is anathema to the carefully maintained climate of public opinion based on fear, the very fear that would be eradicated by the equity and righteousness the fear-threat is predicated on [that equity and righteousness would take what is "rightfully" theirs] !! – the wall of oppression and ignorance holds back, shelters them from the winds of change; the manufactured, manipulated, consensus viewpoint is protected in their business interest, taking what is *not* “rightfully” theirs; the unrighteousness of MAMMON - what is rightful in the business context is NOT what is rightful in the God context !! – GOD GIVES / IS LIFE *NOT* MONEY – ** MONEY AS RIGHT [MAMMON] IS ABSOLUTE EVIL !! ** — we endure, tolerate each other, we put up with each other, as long as “they” are not too much in *our way*, or we are getting something from them, or if there is an advantage to be gained, or a law to be feared [impure, evil motives]; GOD IS PURE LOVE, PURE MOTIVE, AND SO MUST WE BE !! – if someone is regarded as “in our way” then we are regarded as “out of” God’s way, His path, in effect “in the way” of God, blocking Him; there is no “our way” as Christians, there is only God’s way: His character.

Mammon or Messiah Book 2 web page

Mammon or Messiah Book 2 blog home

The Crime of Christ 1

The Crime of Christ 2

The Treat of Truth vs. Oppression:

Vietnam jails democracy activists for subversion

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

BBC article link

A court in Vietnam has convicted four activists, including prominent human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, of trying to overthrow the Communist government.

The four men received sentences of up to 16 years on charges of subversion.

Dinh was sentenced to five years, while internet entrepreneur Tran Huynh Duy Thuc received the longest term. The case has drawn strong criticism from rights groups abroad, who see it as a sign of an increasing clampdown on democracy and freedom of expression.

The four accused - who were arrested in June - were initially charged with spreading anti-government propaganda. But early last month, state prosecutors decided to bring more serious charges against them.

After a day-long trial, Le Cong Dinh, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, Nguyen Tien Trung and Le Thang Long were all convicted of "activities aimed at subverting the people's administration".

Re-think on allowing the poor (2/3 of movie viewership) to realize and identify with their common plight:

China axes 2D Avatar from cinemas (with insert)

Wednesday, 20 January 2010

BBC article link

China has pulled the 2D version of Avatar from cinemas amid claims the plot mirrors forced land evictions in the country. Authorities insist the decision was a commercial one, saying the 3D version made up two-thirds of ticket revenues (1/3 of viewers).

Critics claim the film's plot parallels the removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.

In Avatar, a ruthless corporation tries to force the native Na'vi from their homes in order to mine their planet's precious natural resources. ...

Writing in English-language newspaper China Daily, columnist Huang Hung said the smash-hit film mirrored China's rules on forced eviction. "All the forced removal of old neighbourhoods in China makes us the only earthlings today who can really feel the pain of the Na'vi," she wrote. ...

Avatar had been showing on 2,500 screens across China. One-third were Imax and 3D screens while the rest were regular 2D screens.

The cinema is still considered a pricey treat in China, with tickets for the 2D version of Avatar costing 30 to 40 yuan (£2.60 to £3.50), with 3D tickets from 60 to 80 yuan (£5.20 to £7).

Avatar is already the highest-grossing film of all time in China, pulling in more than 300m yuan (£27m). ...

China restricts the number of foreign films shown in the country to 20 each year, a policy that has led to complaints from the US.

BBC News front page

The Crime of Christ 2