Thread: Food For Thought

Food for thought

*** Are We There Yet? Fascism in America
- Stew Albert

Is America going fascist? Or has the cursed event already happened?
It depends on your definition of fascism. What usually occurs in a
fascist scenario?

* Labor unions are weak and the right to strike is denied by law.
In Bush's America, the unions and their solidarity are extremely
weak. The right to strike is still permitted by law, but strikes
seldom happen and when they do, as in the current case of Northwest
Airlines, scabs are brought in and management and the White House
collude about how best to crush the workers. A merging of giant
corporations and the State is well along.

* Civil liberties are declining in number and the right to assert
them grows increasingly chancy. When the Patriot Act is combined
with a variety of authoritarian laws passed during the Clinton
administration and fanatics are placed in charge of the secret
police, those who do speak out against the government must carefully
watch their words. Much of what was once permitted to rebels is now
against the law. Indeed, with secret trials, undisclosed prisons
and torture, one may question to what extent the law actually still
exists.

* The increasingly Draconian regime faces a weak, dispirited and
divided opposition. America is almost a de facto one party state
where the Democrats pay Bush the highest compliment by trying to
imitate him. And many in the radical left and progressive movements
(Cindy excepted) aren't able to go beyond silly sectarianism or
tactical and organizational incompetence. - The rise and
glorification of irrational philosophy. The current government
assault on scientific thought in the name of Christian extremism and
phobic nationalism easily fills that requirement. Additionally, a
cultural war rages where authoritarian religious values deride and
delegitimize their opponents as practitioners of decadence and
treason.

* Fascism tends to be warlike and criminally aggressive. The
invasion of Iraq combined with the flag waving, ultraviolence and
official big lies does the trick. And the ongoing threats to Syria
and Iran strengthens the case.

* We usually find a "Duce" in charge. A character created by image
manipulation and propaganda. Every attempt has been made to put
Bush over as a triumph of the will cowboy hero who flies big
airplanes and struts on flight decks in his special uniform. The
effort to create a sneering superman hasn't completely worked
because Dubya comes across as a little too dumb for the task.

* Racism is usually part of the fascist mix. The post 9/11
antidemocratic assault on Arabs and certain Muslim Asians combined
with the panic and minute man vigilantism taking place on the
Mexican border satisfies this similarity.

* Free elections no longer take place although fascism may permit
some stage managed electoral activity. George Bush was not elected
President in 2000. The Presidential election was fixed in Florida.
Doubts continue about the integrity of the 2004 election. There is
authentic concern about the introduction of non paper trail computer
voting. And Republicans are redistricting to assure their
Congressional power.

The leaders of this fascist construction have been following a
successful right wing version of Gramscian analysis. They have
gradually been building an authoritarian culture within the
framework of ordinary civil society and have now reached a point of
power where they have begun reconstructing the State.

When making judgments about fascism's presence we should not just
look at the final totalitarian model that developed in Europe during
the 1930s. Fascism passed through various stages and wasn't born
overnight in its final horrible form. And it's possible that
America will never go the full route. It may even develop am
Americo-fascism with a human face. But there is a difficulty with
this speculation. The fascisms of Europe evolved in opposition to
the rise of the proletariat and the challenge of socialism. Hence
it included and corrupted certain aspects of socialism in its
practice. It always contained an element of welfare state in its
structure and defined itself as a middle way between liberal
capitalism and socialism.

American fascism is flowering in a post socialist era in which
global capitalists feels fully free to bury the welfare state.
Because of this historical circumstance, American fascism has within
itself the potential for an unearthly collective barbarism.

*** Even More Food for Thought!

Democracy Is An Illusion
Foreign Bankers Hold Our Purse Strings
- Henry Makow

A "Far Side" cartoon describes our innocence about democracy.

A slave rowing a Viking ship puts up his hand and calls to the whip
master: "Yoo-hoo! Oh, yoo-hoo... I think I'm getting a blister."

Like this man, most people cling to the belief that our leaders
represent our interests.

"Yoo, hoo, Mr. Bush, you lied about Iraq having weapons of mass
destruction."

At an elite gathering, Bush peered under his lectern and quipped:
"Where are those weapons of mass destruction?"

A tiny cabal of international bankers chooses our "leaders". This
clique, which subtly controls every significant facet of our society
is gradually establishing an Orwellian global police state. Much of
the ruling class has been duped to think they are building a better
world.

Prove it, you say?

"The Naked Capitalist" by W.C. Skousen (available at www.abe.com &
www.bookfinder.com) is yet another smoking gun. It is based on the
revelations contained in Professor Carroll Quiqley's "Tragedy and
Hope: A History of the World in Our Time." (1966)

Quiqley, a Professor of History at the Foreign Service School at
Georgetown University was a trusted insider who had access to their
private archives. He felt the plot, which he supported, was too
important to be kept hidden. However, shortly after publication,
his book was taken off the market.

Cleon Skoussen was an FBI agent for 16 years and the Police Chief of
Salt Lake City for four years. His "The Naked Capitalist" distills
the most shocking evidence from Quigley's daunting 1300-page book.

At just 122 pages, "The Naked Capitalist" (1970) is a concise, lucid
and absolutely convincing account of the international banker
conspiracy. Historians who have largely ignored this material have
betrayed the public trust.

OUR PREDICAMENT

Quigley confirms that a network of banking dynasties has, in
Skousen's words, "acquired a choke-hold on the affairs of
practically the entire human race." According to Quigley, they
include "Baring, Lazard, Erlanger, Warburg, Schroder, Selingman, the
Speyers, Mirabaud, Malet, and above all Rothschild and Morgan."
(Citations are from Tragedy and Hope, 51-52)

Quigley confirms that, starting with the Bank of England in 1694,
these dynasties organized themselves in a system of central banks
that charge their respective nations billions of dollars in interest
for the privilege of using currency backed by the nations' own
credit. In other words, they have carried off a swindle of
monstrous proportions.

Quigley quotes William Gladstone who as Chancellor of the Exchequer
said in 1852: "The government itself was not to be a substantive
power in matters of Finance, but was to leave the Money Power
supreme and unquestioned." (325)

Put another way, a private credit monopoly controls the governments'
purse strings.

Able to create money out of nothing, they naturally grabbed as much
of the world's real wealth as they could. Quigley writes about the
formation of their American cartels: "The period 1884-1933 was the
period of financial capitalism in which investment bankers moving
into commercial banking and insurance on the one side, and into
railroading and heavy industry on the other were able to mobilize
enormous wealth and wield enormous economic, political and social
power." (71)

Indeed their representatives, the "Eastern Establishment" i.e. the
Morgans and now the Rockefellers run the United States. (72) The
principle mechanism is the Council on Foreign Relations.

According to Quigley, the ultimate goal is "nothing less than to
create a world system of financial control in private hands able to
dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the
world as a whole. This system was to be controlled ...by the
central banks...acting in concert." (324)

Quigley confirms that the bankers have usurped mankind's collective
instincts by financing the Socialist and Communist movements.
Bankers love big government because the ultimate monopoly is the
State. Through it, they take over their competition and control
debt, resources, market demand and labor.

Speaking of the Communist takeover of the US government in the
1930's and 1940's, Quigley writes, "it must be understood that the
power that these energetic left-wingers exercised was never their
own power of Communist power but was ultimately the power of the
international financial coterie." (954)

In other words, millions of idealists committed to human brotherhood
and equality were (and are) duped into advancing a totalitarian
scheme to concentrate the world's wealth and power into the hands of
the superrich. More savvy Leftists, Communists, Feminists and
Globalists continue to prosper while unctuously pretending to serve
humanity.

The Money Power controls the debate and encourages gridlock by
backing all shades of the political spectrum and marginalizing
anyone who shines the spotlight on them. (Ever wonder why Noam
Chomsky never mention international bankers and the credit system?)
The media is controlled through direct ownership and advertising.

Quigley writes: "To Morgan all political parties were simply
organizations to be used, and the firm always was careful to keep a
foot in all camps. Morgan himself, Dwight Morrow and other partners
were allied with the Republicans; Russell C. Lewffingwell was
allied with the Democrats; Grayson Murphy was allied with the
extreme Right; and Thomas W. Lamont was allied with the Left."
(945)

The Lamont family was "sponsors and financial angels to almost a
score of extreme Left organizations including the Communist Party
itself." (945)

CONCLUSION

A small cabal of people who are not even citizens hold the financial
purse strings of every nation.

This goes a long way to explaining "globalization" and the push to
one-world government. It explains the assault on race, religion,
nation and family. The bankers want a homogenous world that offers
no basis of resistance.

It explains why in a time of supposed security danger, the southern
border of the US is practically porous. The bankers want to
undermine America's European character, which it perceives as a
threat.

It explains the war on Iraq, and the fact that there is no
opposition in the mainstream parties or press. This war desecrates
a cradle of civilization and assails the religion of Islam. It is
also an opportunity to create more debt and enrich the bankers and
their corporate allies.

It explains 9-11, the Patriot Repression Act and the phony "War on
Terror."

It explains the depraved mass media and stupefying education system.
I could go on but you get the picture. We are kril at the mercy of
a gigantic whale. At the very least, let's not waste energy
thinking we live in a free and open society. Our democracy is a
ruse.

Labor Unions Are A Thing Of The Past. Most Intelligent People These Days Know They Have No Use For Those Corrupt Unions In The Modern World

Originally Posted by rothronsr

Labor Unions Are A Thing Of The Past. Most Intelligent People These Days Know They Have No Use For Those Corrupt Unions In The Modern World

Fur shur fur shur!

The Perfect Storm
- Joe Blow

As I write this article, everything seems to be coming along quite
nicely.

Iraq is now a civil war, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission
(BRAC) is as good as over, New Orleans is about to be hit with a
Category 5 hurricane, Louisiana and Mississippi were declared
disaster areas in advance of the storm, and FEMA is on full alert.
Even the Red Cross is leaving town.

The national housing bubble is deflating, the dollar continues its
slide, interest rates are headed up, oil prices are over $70 per
barrel, gas is over $3 a gallon in California, the Treasury just
confiscated some very rare privately-held gold bullion coins, the
summer slump is here, and much tighter bankruptcy rules go into
effect on October 17th.

Thousands of Americans are marching in the streets to protest the
Iraq war, the war's tipping point was reached two weeks ago, D.C.
pols are preparing to attack Iran, and the wildfire season is in
full swing.

California just had another large power outage, the drought in the
Midwest has ruined most crops, Arizona and New Mexico have declared
border emergencies, and Mexican drug lords control our southern
border instead of the Border Patrol.

The Army and Marine Corps are both exhausted, recruiting goals will
not be met for the year, Bush's poll numbers are in a death spiral,
the body bags are still piling up, and Cindy Sheehan has the
attention of the world's media.

Hawaii just fixed wholesale prices for gasoline, foreign central
banks are sounding alarms, Greenspan is sounding the alarm, and now
even conservative pundits are sounding alarms.

Meanwhile, George Bush continues his five-week vacation. "Stay the
course and prepare for more casualties. I must get on with my
life."

While some people think this is simply outrageous, the truth of the
matter is that Bush has as much control over the approaching Perfect
Storm as he has over Hurricane Katrina or events in Iraq or Iran :
zero.

Bush has already done the only thing that he can do: sign a piece of
paper to start the flow of federal tax revenue to the pending
disaster in the bayou. When it's over, he will again do the only
thing that he can do: fly over the devastation in an aircraft while
making all the right noises.

This is the best that the most powerful man in the world can muster?
Actually, yes. Bush is powerless to control what is about to happen
to this nation. While he still thinks that he can manufacture his
own reality, he is about to receive another object lesson in
humility. Reality therapy, isn't it great!

The 9-11 anniversary is less than two weeks away. Stand by for a
crisis. All indications suggest nothing but more bad news for
September and October.

If terrorists strike in September, it probably won't be until the
12th, a Monday. Any attack will probably not occur on a weekend.
You can anticipate a higher state of alert in September and maybe
even martial law in the immediate vicinity of a strike. The dollar
will be way down after the strike and gold will be up, but I do not
expect a stock market crash because the bubble is in the housing
market instead.

(Several small strikes, several days apart would still have the
desired effect.)

The following sequence of events appears likely: terror strike
(real, induced, or fabricated), national crisis, U.S. dollar crash,
the Fed will raise interest rates to prop up the dollar, housing
market crash, stock market slump, and a recession. The wild card is
an October surprise (U.S. attacks Iran ).

Come Thanksgiving, you will be thankful if you are over 40 too old
to be drafted. (The good news is that the recession may solve the
recruiting crisis in the short term.)

I expect that all of the above may occur even with only a small
increase in interest rates. The Fed-induced national housing market
bubble has run its course, the mania is already over in some local
markets, and it will only spread with more bad news, including the
recent BRAC closure recommendations.

In the past five years, millions of Americans spent the equity in
their homes while also moving up, that "equity" will soon be gone
for good. It will not be available for second mortgages, lines of
credit, consumer spending, credit card debt reduction, paying
monthly bills, putting food on the table, cash savings, buying gold
bullion coins, or as investment capital for the stock market. It is
as good as gone, it was never real in the first place, and soon the
bills will be coming due. More reality therapy!

The massive liquidity that the Fed made available to stimulate the
economy following the tech crash is gone; it was consumed by
Americans buying expensive toys, electronics, GM cars on sale, and
homes that people will soon owe more on than they are worth.

I expect a recession by the end of the year, early spring at the
latest. If the Fed overcompensates (as is typical) by raising
interest rates too much, a depression is also a distinct
possibility.

But don't expect to hear any of this from George Bush. What you
will hear instead is a famous line from the 1978 classic movie
"Animal House," uttered by a very young Kevin Bacon playing a
student named Chip Diller in the final parade scene as all hell
breaks lose. Bacon is standing on the sidewalk, wearing his Army
ROTC cadet uniform, waving his arms, and attempting to calm the
clearly panicked crowd by screaming, "All is well!" He turns around
just in time to be trampled into the pavement by the fleeing crowd.

This scene is about to be repeated, with Bush playing Bacon's part,
and he will be just as successful as Bacon was in attempting to
convince the crowd that all is well.

As the Perfect Storm approaches, even former believers now recognize
Bush's mantra as often-repeated propaganda from a pol who is clearly
disconnected from reality, the same reality over which he believes
he has control.
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