Imprison All Reporters?

Bradley Manning is being tried by the U.S. military for "aiding the enemy" and now faces possible sentencing to life in prison. He's already been tortured & abused at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and at Quantico, Virginia.

The information allegedly released by Manning (link) included details of U.S. military brutality & murder, as well as transcripts of U.S. diplomatic backstabbing. We're all better-off (as civilized humans, as voting citizens, and as funder-taxpayers) knowing the reality of U.S. militaristic power, secret bumbling and corruption.

Too little attention was aimed at the contents of these sordid US embassy cables - and the "military justice" system prosecuting Manning declared such truth irrelevant.

But remember: Manning had no direct contact with any enemy.

The confidential information Manning is accused of providing was spread by The Washington Post, the New York Times, the BBC, and hundreds of other news organizations. They capitalized on information Manning provided. The weakest messenger is being sacrificed, while many corporate shills posing as reporters & politicians continue exploiting our world.

Journalist A.H. Shaye, another scapegoat who reported inconvenient truth, was imprisoned for three years in Yemen after following-up a U.S. cruise missile attack that killed dozens of civilians (link). He wrote for The Washington Post and the New York Times, and interviewed anti-American activists in the region.

Those providing information of crimes & corruption by officialdom are imprisoned, while in Boston admitted mass-murderers now walk free. Kevin Weeks provided information on where bodies are buried and agreed to cooperate with police. Pat Nee is an admitted terrorist released from prison decades early. Crooked cops & sleazy special agents of the FBI have been allowed to evade justice.

So sick & sordid !

Secret Police

The above gentleman is on trial in Boston, accused of 19 murders and assorted mayhem over many decades. Much of the time he was working with the FBI.

James "Whitey" Bulger spent nine years from his late 20s in the federal prison system, including stints at Alcatraz & Leavenworth Federal Penitentiaries. He allegedly then went on to become a gangland leader, extorting millions from Boston area businesses and terrorizing the New England region, all the while a confidential informant to the FBI.

Bulger was well-protected. The FBI leaked details about informants to Bulger & associates; some were subsequently murdered. What we know is tip of the iceberg.

This is a great lesson on the dangers of a secret police.

Billions of Accusations?

No money for basic education. No money for our crumbling domestic infrastructure.

But there are hundreds of billions for overseas military adventurism. Billions to prop-up the military coup in Egypt, and Israeli extremist scum bum Netanyahu.  Subsidies for dozens of oppressive dictatorships that impoverish their lands & peoples, enriching parasitic gangs of thieves.

We spend hundreds of billions spying on ourselves, with the generated "intelligence" filtered abroad. We spend further billions on our domestic prison industry. Justice is little more than "just is"...

Foolish demagogues like U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) team with deluded opportunists such as U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI), Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Pres. Barack Obama to funnel our money to militarism & the secret police.

Never vote for these people.  Agitate & oppose them if you've still a chance.

Who Runs Us?

A mix of Americans last Saturday at a barbeque were discussing government & political affiliation. Most (perhaps all) were disgusted by today's situation, and complaints about U.S. politics were aimed at assorted problems.

One person sought to distill to a basic choice: "Who should control policies & funding, the Government - or the People?"

Discussion ensued.  Sadly, nobody considered their own Government "of the people, by the people & for the people."

The U.S. Government claims to be benevolent: so protective of us and well-meaning. But the mammoth systems of militarism & defense truly enslave us, as pawns in a rigid system serving a tiny well-connected minority. Americans are spied upon & shat upon by their police services, who serve themselves and crooked creeps such as Bulgers of Boston. There are far too many cops who simply boss people around - as if we were farm animals.

Fixed Class, America

Poorer U.S. students are being told by wealthy officials they're being 'saved' from high interest rates on student loans. But in fact, they're being screwed -- in comparison to friendly agreements with crooked banks. How can this be?

U.S. government funds are loaned to the biggest banks at below 1%, though most such banks have been in default and have troubled histories. Clearly, the Federal Reserve is comprised of bankers who largely help themselves and their industry.

A Congressional "bipartisan compromise" for student loans would lend initially at 3.86% for undergraduates (capped to 8.25%). Ten years of this program would earn the national government an estimated $184 billion. Massachusetts Senators Elizabeth Warren & Edward Markey support legislation pegging student rates to the rate granted banks, presently 0.75%

But -- Don't hold your breath waiting. Agitate. Vote Green Party, or for those resisting the banker cabal. Poor students - thanks to Washington you'll remain poor.

Nuclear Deformities? Nah

Assorted plant deformities are being found in the vicinity of the Fukushima nuclear disaster (link). Officials say there's no proven relationship to the radioactivity release.  Local people claim otherwise.

Entry to the evacuation zone is still prohibited, so the closest land area is uninhabited and monitoring is controlled. What's happening at sea? Nothing good...

Zimmerman Justice

George Zimmerman hunted down and confronted an unarmed high school boy, and shot the kid dead. It was just 7PM when Trayvon Martin was killed.

Zimmerman was acquitted of both second-degree murder and of manslaughter. He now walks free, but Trayvon Martin's ghost will forever haunt his killer.

Zimmerman claimed he feared for his life. He may indeed have been afraid before, during and after the killing - but Zimmerman initiated the confrontation, and he finished it by shooting the teenager dead.

NFL quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison for 23 months for dogfighting & killing a pit bull. Why is a dog more valued than a child who'd just gone shopping for ice tea & skittles candy? Zimmerman, the child-killer who refused to testify in his own defense, sniggered free: his supporters are well-pleased, and he himself seems unrepentant. The remains of Trayvon Martin lie violated, an ambushed child of racist & genocidal America.

 

Nuke Dude Dead

Masao Yoshida, nuclear engineer, died of cancer this week in Japan. He was chief of Fukushima Dai'ichi nuclear plant during the March 2011 explosions & meltdown. He remained based onsite, organizing Tokyo Electric Power Company's response to the disaster and monitoring the leakage of radioactivity into the surrounding air, ground and sea.

TEPCO has not acknowledged responsibility for Yoshida's collapsed health.

Yoshida was 58 years old.   吉田昌郎 ・ 元東電原発所長が死去

 

Invasive Government?

Does an individual have any abiding rights to their own DNA? Police followed a person they acknowledge was uninvolved in crime, and collected DNA from a drink bottle discarded at their workplace. The DNA was then used to link a dead relative to a series of crimes 50 years ago, and showed probable cause to force exhumation of the accused relative's remains.

The Boston Globe reports (13 July 2013, p.A7) that the extended family of Albert DeSalvo and his nephew "were outraged by collection of the DNA without their permission." A spokesman for the ACLU is quoted: "It's not hard to understand why people would be uncomfortable with having samples of their DNA collected and used without their knowledge."

Yet Professor of Law Rosanna Cavallaro of Suffolk University defends the police action. She claims: "It's pretty clear that any kind of discarded material is fair game for the police to retrieve and use to obtain information. If I take a cup and throw it in the garbage, that's saying to the world, 'I lost interest in this, it's not important to me, and I no longer care what happens to it.'"

One problem is technology is quickly developing. In the near future, if not now, cells and DNA are likely be bases for creating body parts or even cloned individuals. Would we have no say in such experimentation with our personal genetic material?

When we discard something in the trash, we've the expectation it's to be trashed, not that it serve as an experimental sample for the police, raw material for commercial laboratories, or a disqualification exhibit by our health insurance company.

Prof. Rosanna Cavallaro is a doofus. Or perhaps the newspaper printed only part of her comments. If "Rosanna+" clones were surreptitiously brought to market, she'd surely start singing a different tune...

Miss Deedy

Chris Deedy shot & killed a man in a crowded McDonalds in Waikiki. It was 2:30 AM. Both men had been drinking.

After the shooting, Deedy refused to be tested for drunkenness (see link).  Kollin Elderts was tested as a corpse, involuntarily.

Elderts is dead. Christopher Deedy is on trial for murder (second-degree).  No winners.

An inexperienced Federal employee, Deedy has worked for short periods in Baghdad (Iraq) and Benghazi (Libya). Deedy may have felt comfortable barking orders at the people of Hawaii as perhaps he'd done in the Middle East. Whatever the case, Deedy's use of deadly force, precipitous & ill-advised, was a major tragedy.

Sad!  (link)

Buying Egypt Misery

Each year the USA gives Egypt's military over $1.3 billion (link); $1,300,000,000 in "military aid"... Now Egypt's military has staged a coup overthrowing their elected government, and this week Egyptian military patrols are executing people on the streets.

Our monies flow continually. That's $25 million each week... (probably more in untraced funds).

America needs these multi-millions for its own development.

We need to get out of the overseas militarism business.

It's dirty, wretched & not our business.

Shadow Endurance?

Cape Cod, Massachusetts is downwind of Entergy's Pilgrim Nuclear Power plant. In case of accident, survivors can't run away -- gateways to the peninsula are near the nuclear site.

As with many nuclear facilities, danger and horrors multiply due to radioactive stockpiles (link). Pilgrim is a nuclear waste storage site, located on a beach.

The disaster at Fukushima taught little or nothing.  It's a tragedy when radioactive fallout enters the food chain & contaminates towns full of children. Git some radionuclide wit yer fish, beach sand & lobster...

Japan's disaster teaches of great danger & irresponsibility by nuclear reactor operators. Nothing can compensate for an accident. Wake Up America.

 

Pansy Press

Major media in the USA is servile. Corporate interests don't equal public interest.

Duh

Sad the Washington Post eliminated its ombudsman earlier this year (link). Editorial independence is abandoned. American Democracy has become a farce. Media treats us as silly sheep - choosing either to be boiled or broiled.

Even an objective veneer is abandoned.
US media serves big money employers.

 

Involvement

Recent findings show happiness is integrally tied to involvement with friends, family, love & community. Abstract achievement means little when performed in a vacuum. Our links to those around us are important, and positively fuel active life.

Involve joy.

 

Commie Terror

The American people are being hoodwinked again with scare stories.

Remember the scare & horror of Communism - it was a word so terrible we'd spend any sum, and give up our lives to its eradication.

Now the Soviet system is gone, and we're in bed with Chinese Communists.

So the militarists & security specialists preach we must beware of Terrorism.

Detailed reasons & analyses of danger are kept secret by our national security services. They say the taxpaying public is untrustworthy, but our militant anti-terror services profit from new employment prospects while keeping oversight minimal. Fool citizenry can say little - we know nothing.

Government security services use private "partner" subcontractors for surveillance, analysis, and operations. We must trust (dumbly) that these companies appropriately manage valuable data among affiliates and associated firms. We must hope (faithfully) our confidential details are not shopped to other ventures. But specialists move between government and industry, domestic & foreign. Neither our data or we ourselves can be kept safe.

Who benefits? Those getting jobs profit. And the shareholders of insider firms get boosted corporate dividends. "Friends" in government service get payback later in the form of cushy big bonus private-sector jobs .

Is the United States truly under threat of survival? No.

Militant assholes might butcher a few of us. But they'll never capture our flag by such attacks. Our weakness is subversion from weasels inside the secret government.

We lost 3000 people on 9/11. In subsequent deluded invasions we lost many times that number. Our leaders are incompetent. Our leaders are murderers. These people left an evil legacy. We know of the CIA Phoenix Program (Phụng Hoàng) and Operation Condor - such crimes are little discussed because they are unforgivable.

We can't afford to spend huge sums in overseas adventurism. We need schools & transport & jobs close to home.

The security services are bleeding us dry; they gain from our discomfort.

Secrecy Strategy USA

The government of the USA is admittedly spying on its people. The people can't be trusted to know about it.

Why not enlist people in their own defense? Instead all are considered criminal by government.
This is poor strategy.

How can it make sense?

Sebastien de la Cruz

An 11-year old American kid is in the news for singing the national anthem before an NBA game (basketball finals in San Antonio, Texas, USA). Sebastien de la Cruz sang very well, but attracted huge comment for being an illegal alien or "wetback" -- though born & raised in Texas. 

Ignorant basketball fans around America criticized the kid, his family, Mexico, and those who allowed such a kid to sing. Some of the commentators seemed to feel their cherished anthem (which, by the way, glorifies bombs, rockets, fighting & conquest) was soiled.

Racism and hurtfulness are easy to find in America. Less easy to find are those who know the words to the Star Spangled Banner. Jeering from the sidelines is easy. It'd be educational to suddenly film these hypercritical assholes asked to sing their national anthem - in most cases you'd hear silence.

Differences in Americans are her strength. Unity through Diversity.

Prism & Watergate

 
The President of the United States claims to be acting in secret for our best interests. U.S. Pres. Richard M. Nixon claimed the same -- till resigning in disgrace.

These politicians are a nest of scum who cannot be trusted. Politicians use our blood & money to make their fortune. They're also belligerent & vindictive against enemies - real and imagined. Next political party convention, open your house for politicos to use; you'll get back an abused shell, a home destroyed.

The political leadership in the USA now targets & kills Americans without trial or judicial oversight. Crazy. As government secrets include murder, accountability will be involuntary.

Senior politicians demand respect. Many highly partisan politicians do little or nothing. Some are deeply corrupt and deserve prison. Sadly, they grab weapons to require our respect- we're wary of dangerous critters.

Sure, a few public servants are less bad than the others, but certainly an opportunistic weasel politician is just around the corner with a big smile & shoddy insider scheme.

With good reason the nation was founded on the rule of law & transparency.

Officials now ignore the U.S. Constitution; they've stopped serving the people.

Dark secrets serves the devil, not the people.

Guvment Inc.

The U.S. Government blatantly favors insider corporations. The neutrality of government is violated by corporate criminals enjoying public funded gifts, grants and low-interest bailout loans. Almost all such firms employed the people's traitors prior to their entering government "service" -- and they offer key officials post-government jobs. It's just business - corrupt business...

Cheney's Old Heart

 
What happened to Dick Cheney's rotten old heart?

Was it put into President Obama?

Skynet says "=!*@%  you ! "

Who's Behind Government Spying?

Americans and the rest of the world are waking up to the fact that wholesale monitoring of the citizenry is established, pervasive, and perverse.

The tricky point is not the grey unaccountable bureaucrat. Such information is funneled through assorted private contractors, "specialists" who'd like to earn more money. Our information is exposed. Bluntly, bureaucrats can't protect squat. Even if they try.

Sure, there may be a prosecution, or a few terminations, but the population slowly understands : to give huge powers to even well-meant leaders is stupid. These leaders are not independent - many are political puppets, some are sadly opportunistic scum. Least-cost contracts? Overpaying to insiders?... Yo info is fo sale...

Which side is ours?

In today's BBC business news:   (link)
"The International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Apple infringed on a Samsung patent, which could mean some older models of the iPad and iPhone are banned from sale in the US. The patent relates to 3G wireless technology and the ability to transmit multiple services correctly and at the same time.
Apple said it plans to appeal. The ruling could also be reversed by a US presidential order within 60 days."

What an odd bit of phrase: "...could also be reversed by a US presidential order within 60 days."

Why might that happen? Why tell us this? We're now prepared for what might seem corrupt. 

Inside words:  The fix is in.

Is this America vs. Korea? No.
Apple Inc.has most of its production abroad, and "owes" large amounts to offshore entities (thus neatly avoiding much American taxation) - Apple's core is foreign... as American as apple barley pudding.

This week (link) US Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, cut heartlessly into Apple Inc.:   "Apple’s products are justifiably well known and used throughout the world. What may not be so well known is that Apple also has a highly developed tax avoidance system – a system through which it has amassed more than $100 billion in offshore cash in a tax haven. ... Apple Inc. has created three offshore corporations, entities that receive tens of billions of dollars in income but which have no tax residence - not in Ireland, where they are incorporated, and not in the United States, where the Apple executives who run them are located. Apple has arranged matters so it can claim that these ghost companies, for tax purposes, exist nowhere. One company has paid no corporate income tax to any nation for the past five years; another pays tax to Ireland equivalent to a fraction of one percent of its total income... The offshore tax avoidance tactics ... offload Apple’s tax burden onto other taxpayers – in particular, onto working families and small businesses."

In other words, Apple vs. Samsung -- Foreign Firms Fight for Funds. 

America's Story

"When arrogance meets access."

Criminality and butchery are on trial in the U.S. state of Maryland. Sadly, we only witness a vast criminal conspiracy falling on a former servant.

In the case of Bradley Manning, arrogance is on trial... Militarism is on trial. Manning's case also threatens the lapdog corporate media, which does far too little to root-out corruption and murderous dishonesty by the powerful.


Why has the USA waged aggressive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Military operations by the USA undoubtedly killed & maimed innocent people by the tens of thousands, including thousands of Americans. Led by dishonest politicians and scheming political appointees, a corps of militant goons continues to stomp on justice & human rights with impunity. Duplicity, callous disregard for human life, and murder are proved by the government materials (films & documents) allegedly leaked by Manning. People sworn to protect & defend the Constitution of the United States are simply fraudulent criminals cloaked in lies.

"When arrogance meets access..." is the sound-bite reported widely around the world. Surely the US military prosecutor's catchy phrase wasn't meant as ironic. But the bottom line -- the U.S. government is criminally arrogant to the rest of the world.

Until America's people pay proper attention, "Arrogant" could label most mirrors around the country.

Liberty Looted

Liberty Reserve's banking system was brazenly attacked this week.

I've no money in the Liberty Reserve system. I don't know much about them. But it's now clear the forces of good and "justice" are themselves corrupt.

Can we expect anything else? The 'haves' protect themselves.

I've no doubt crooked people may be involved with Liberty Reserve. But many or most depositors & workers were normal people.

Justice officials did not close NASDAQ when former NASDAQ Chairman Bernard L. Madoff was arrested for Securities fraud; Investment advisor fraud; Mail fraud; Wire fraud; Money laundering; False statements; Perjury; Making false filings with the SEC; (and) Theft from an employee benefit plan.

HSBC, one of the establishment's biggest banks (largest bank in Britain) was deeply involved in money laundering, and last December was allowed to pay the US Department of Justice $1.9 billion in fines. Big penalty, but no criminal charges, and rather quietly handled. "HSBC expressed its regret" and "top executives will defer part of their bonuses" (link) -- Meanwhile, Liberty Reserve is dismembered, its executives arrested, and depositor funds frozen. Monies are now in serious danger of being lost or stolen in the huge mess.

The case is a huge gift to the large established banks. Putting your money with smaller startups risks confiscation or prosecution. We're buggered again by big capital.

Local Plus

So many benefits with local focus !

Service to America

How many Americans have served the nation, threatened with horrible combat death? Many did not return, and each death disfigures many lives. Some suffer massive injury, and we celebrate their sacrifice. But such words are too easy to say -- Walk in a military graveyard: even in properly maintained grounds, the dead are largely forgotten. The world moves on.

These days few people look with understanding at elders who sacrificed so much.

Sadly, such places as Korea or Germany would prefer to forget...Tens of thousands of young people were butchered. It's an insult -- America's youth was tasked to protect lands now ashamed of their efforts.

Illegal & Proud

"Guantanamo has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law."
 --- U.S. President Barack Obama, 23 May 2013

Nuclear Hell? Sorry

Cape Downwinders is an organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA) working to educate a trusting local population they may be in mortal danger in a nuclear accident -- trapped and exposed to deadly radiation.

As of today, 14 towns have endorsed a shutdown of the aging Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth. I believe the risks of accident are unacceptably high.

Corporate officials from New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. claim the 41-year old nuclear plant is safe, although it shares many design features and exposure weaknesses with the Fukushima nuclear plant - also "perfectly safe."

Entergy should not be allowed to operate as a limited liability corporation. Entergy's owners (board and shareholders) should be liable for all future damages, including threat of garnishing personal property and retroactive wages.

Entergy businesspeople will simply walk away if the Pilgrim plant suffers a meltdown.TEPCO corporate officials at Fukushima have already demonstrated: -- Big Capital gets away with any outrage.

US Govt. Kill List

It is wrong that the U.S. Government has a kill list. It is wrong for U.S. government bureaucrats to assassinate people, whether citizens or foreigners, without due process of law.

Personally, I believe capital punishment is unacceptable. But among those supporting state executions, most people would demand a transparent judicial process as prerequisite.

Unknown unnamed bureaucrats secretly deciding who to kill is outrageous. There is no accountability, and there've been admitted mistakes.  The USA has gone rabidly rogue.  Governments collaborating with the USA share murder guilt.

Invest for Tomorrow

The educational system in the USA needs investment, but selfish wealthy resist taxation. Ultimately, offering education & opportunity is far cheaper than trying to imprison the many dissatisfied with a flim-flam  system of fraud and corruption.

Crony capitalism burdens America.

Newt Gingrich & Mitt Romney never cared a rat's ass for anyone. The only reason they'd slow down seeing someone in distress is to pick valuables from your carcass.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel dismantles schools & neighborhoods in the poorer parts of Chicago, hoping troubled families will move from his city.

Teachers are painted as the enemies of education. We've each been helped more by teachers than by school building construction firms or school equipment companies - it's stupid to assault teachers. Big media, who lead the attacks, never helped any of us; rupert murdoch & family are assholes. Don't support that sourpuss. Turn off his media streams. Invest in your own neighborhood.

President Obama generated great ideas when a candidate, but he's still on five year vacation. He's now done plenty for wealthy folk, and squat for the rest of us.

The big capitalists of GM, Ford, Goldman-Sachs, JPMorgan, etc. get public subsidies and no-interest loans; while working university students, factory workers supporting family, restaurant employees struggling to pay a mortgage, get exhaust blasts of capitalist pig flatus.