Happy Birthday

Happy 236th birthday, Marines

Semper Fi

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Re: Cain's real problem: On foreign policy he's as clueless as Bill O'Reilly

Yea, well, Iraq was going to attack us with Scuds that only had a 90
mile range. Some people are clueless.

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Herman Cain's Enron-esque Disaster

Herman Cain's Enron-esque Disaster
The story the GOP presidential candidate won't tell you about his years in corporate America.
By Andy Kroll
Mon May. 23, 2011 2:00 AM PDT

What GOP presidential contender Herman Cain lacks in political experience, he likes to say, he makes up for with decades' worth of success in corporate America. He climbed the corporate ladder at the Pillsbury Company, chaired the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and rescued the failing Godfather's Pizza franchise. That business-centric message has won Cain his share of admirers: a focus group convened after a recent Fox News presidential debate overwhelmingly declared Cain the winner.

"I think that over 40 years of business experience is resonating a lot more with people than simply having political experience," he said on a recent Iowa visit. "Knowing how Washington works isn't necessarily an advantage. As a businessman going in, I don't want to know how Washington works. I want to change Washington D.C. and so by not knowing how it is supposed to work I can ask tough questions that will help change the culture."

Cain clearly believes that his pro-business message is what GOP voters want to hear. So much so, in fact, that on Saturday he officially unveiled his candidacy for the 2012 GOP nomination. But scrubbed from Cain's official story is his long tenure as a director at a Midwest energy corporation named Aquila that, like the infamous Enron Corporation, recklessly dove into the wild west of energy trading and speculation­and ultimately screwed its employees out of tens of millions of dollars.

According to five lawsuits filed in federal court in 2004, Aquila's board of directors­which Cain joined in 1992­allegedly steered employees into heavily investing their retirement savings in company stock. At the same time, the company shifted its business model from straightforward energy generation to risky energy trading, an unregulated market made infamous by now-defunct Enron. The suits, later folded into a single, massive class action ( PDF), alleged that Cain and top company officials violated a 37-year-old federal law requiring that employers manage employees retirement programs responsibly. (Cain's presidential exploratory committee did not respond to a request for comment.)

Founded in 1917 as Green Light and Power, Aquila traditionally made its money operating electric and gas plants and selling the energy they produced. In the years after Cain joined the board, Aquila's earnings climbed, from $254 million in 1995 to $351 million in 1998. Then, in early 1999, the company's leadership decided running power plants wasn't lucrative enough; energy trading and speculation had grown popular, and as the class suit lays out, Aquila wanted a piece of the action.

It was a dangerous move­as a company spokesman later put it, "the risk was huge." In the end, it proved disastrous. Aquila's decision to join Enron, Reliant Energy, and the other heavy-hitters in the energy trading markets would ultimately wipe out 94 percent of Aquila's stock value between 1999 and 2004. The company also faced criticism for using some of the same trading tricks that Enron did as a way to puff up its stock price, the lawsuit says. That included using "roundtrip" trades, a scheme in which Aquila would sell a trading partner some energy and then that partner would sell the same amount back to Aquila, a deal that canceled itself out. In the end, nothing actually changed hands. But it boosted Aquila's trading volume and revenue, sending a positive signal to the markets. The company also engaged in megawatt laundering, or "ricochet" trading, the lawsuit alleges. In such transactions, Aquila and other companies would buy energy from California at a lower capped price, move that energy out of the state, then re-sell it back to California at a higher price for a tidy profit.

But this financial trickery couldn't save a listing ship. In 2002, Aquila teetered on the brink of collapse. And for Aquila's employees, the result of the company's foray into energy trading was devastating: The company's employee retirement fund, overseen by the board of directors, lost more than $200 million in 2002. The reason: At the same time Aquila's executives and directors were investing more and more in highly risky energy speculation, they were selling their employees on the conservative nature of Aquila and pushing them to invest their retirement savings in company stock.

For years, the lawsuit says, executives urged employees in company speeches to reinvest in Aquila, lauded those who did so as "Aquila partners," and even offered a 15 percent discount to buy company stock. Executives and board members also made it more difficult to sell off company stock by implementing lock-up periods, during which employees couldn't cash in their holdings. At the end of 2000, 85 percent of Aquila employees owned common stock in the company. What's more, 60 percent of the employees' retirement fund consisted of Aquila stock­even though financial experts say that total should never be more than 10 to 20 percent.

The spectacular failure of Aquila's trading venture practically wiped out the hard-earned retirement savings of veteran employees. Richard Itteilag, a plaintiff in the Aquila class action, lost 87 percent of his savings. Robert Goodson, a 20-year Aquila employee, lost 75 percent. Michael Reinhardt lost a staggering 94 percent. All told, thousands of employees saw their retirement funds eviscerated thanks to Aquila's Enron-esque activities. (In 2007, Aquila settled with the employees for $10.5 million. Not long after, Aquila merged with other Midwestern energy companies and now no longer operates as Aquila.)

Cain served on the board of directors throughout Aquila's ill-fated trading misadventure and the subsequent collapse of the company's retirement fund. In fact, he chaired the board's compensation committee, which, according to the lawsuit, had direct oversight of the push to get employees to invest more and more in Aquila stock. As chair of the compensation committee, Cain also saw fit to dole out $30 million in bonuses, not including stock options, to the top five execs at Aquila in 2002, with the company's stock plummeting. A month after the Kansas City Star reported on the hefty bonuses in July 2002, the company laid off 500 employees, and the losses to employees holding company stock had reached hundreds of millions of dollars.

As a board member, Cain would've had direct knowledge of Aquila's activities, says Fred Taylor Isquith, a New York attorney who litigated the employee class action. Asked if it was fair to place blame on Cain for the debacle at Aquila, Isquith replied, "Yes, I believe it is."

Andy Kroll is a reporter at Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. Email him with tips and insights at akroll (at) motherjones (dot) com. Follow him on Twitter here. Get Andy Kroll's RSS feed.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/05/herman-cain-aquila-lawsuit-2012

Cain's real problem: On foreign policy he's as clueless as Bill O'Reilly

Cain's real problem: On foreign policy he's as clueless as Bill O'Reilly
Published: Tuesday, November 08, 2011, 12:40 AM     Updated: Wednesday, November 09, 2011, 3:26 PM
By Paul Mulshine/The Star Ledger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2xBEY7OvJhg

Again, I don't much care about the theoretical sex scandal concerning Herman Cain. It's his total cluelessness on foreign policy that bothers me.

As I noted in a prior post, Cain seems blissfully unaware that there is a such a thing as a "neo" conservative even as he parrots the neocon line - and even though he has stood a few feet away as Ron Pail has dismantled that heresy for the leftist-inspired fraud it is.

Note the discussion of policy toward Iran at the 13-minute mark. First Herman Cain starts talking about doubling the number of ships with ballistic missile defense. He mentions the Aegis defense system - which was largely designed in Jersey, by the way.

Then O'Reilly asks whether he'd put these ships off Iran.

We then sit through a discussion during which neither of the two shows the slightest knowledge that the Persian Gulf is patrolled regularly by the Fifth Fleet. If the Iranians feel like firing a missile at a U.S. ship, they plenty of opportunities already, all of which would presumably be defended by the Aegis systems already in use on the ships in question.

 Of course, the Iranians would  then would be starting a war they could not possibly win, given our massive retaliatory capacity. It's called "deterrence" and neither of these two seems aware of it.

And then there is Cain's insistence that these ships are needed for ballistic missile defense off Iran. Again neither he nor O'Reilly seems aware that any Iranian attacks on shipping would involve a cruise missile such as the Chinese Silkworm and not a ballistic missile.

Doesn't either of them recall the 1987 attack by an Iraqi aircraft on the U.S.S. Stark with Exocet cruise missiles?  It was in the news. So was the use of Exocets in the Falklands War.

As for ballistic missiles, they  are primarily employed for land-to-land attacks at high altitude. The Aegis can defend against both types, but if Cain  had a plan to install protection against ballistic missiles from Iran, then the ships should be in the Mediterranean off Israel, not in the Persian Gulf off Iran.

I actually like Cain's 9-9-9 tax plan, but he sounds like a complete dunce on foreign policy. What are the chances that if elected president he would be able to resist the entreaties of the neocons to get us bogged down even further in the Mideast?

After you finish with that, clear your mind by watching the passage below during which Ron Paul explains how the world works to the clueless O'Reilly. It's best  at the 5-minute mark when Ron Paul explains the concept of a letter of marque and reprisal to O'Reilly, who promptly drops the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHY_rv8ItUU&feature=player_embedded

http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2011/11/dumb_and_dumber_oreilly_and_ca.html

Karen Kraushaar sound familiar?

« If Herman Cain flames out, will Jon Huntsman rise? | Main | Obama beating GOP handily among Hispanics in 21 state-poll »

Karen Kraushaar sound familiar? Think Elian.

The name of the second woman to say publicly that she was harassed by GOP presidential contender Herman Cain may ring bells with Miami Herald readers. Karen Kraushaar was a spokeswoman for the then-Immigration and Naturalization Service during the Elian Gonzalez custody battle in late 1999 and early 2000.

Kraushaar was one of the two woman who spoke to Politico for the Oct. 30 story detailing complaints by female employees who worked for Cain at the National Restaurant Association. She and another employee "had complained about Cain's behavior to colleagues and senior officials at the NRA, and both women left the trade group with a cash settlement," Politico reported. Kraushaar's settlement was about $45,000, Politico reported.

According to several published reports, Kraushaar, 55, heads up communications for a bureau within the IRS. Although many news outlets were aware of her identity, they did not disclose it until the iPad-only publication The Daily revealed it Tuesday. Kraushaar told both Politico and the Washington Post that she would be willing to join together for a press conference with the other three women accusing Cain of harassment. Only one of the other women has so far come forward publicly. 

"I am interested in a joint press conference for all the women where we would all be together with our attorneys and all of these allegations could be reviewed as a collective body of evidence," Kraushaar told The Washington Post Tuesday.

Cain on Tuesday during his own press conference continued to deny the accusations, and said he had no memory of one of the women, Sharon Bialek, who said Monday that Cain made unwanted sexual advances toward her when he was in charge of the restaurant association in the late 1990s.

"Throughout my career I have had nothing but the utmost respect for any and all women, as well as those that have worked under my leadership and all of the different companies that I have worked," Cain said. "I can categorically say I have never acted inappropriately with anyone, period."

The story has started to seriously threaten Cain's public support, say neutral GOP observers.
"He was already slipping before these stories came out. This will accelerate his decline," Republican pollster Whit Ayres told McClatchy. 

As for Kraushaar, she was an "ideal employee," her former boss Maria Cardona said. Cardona, a CNN contributor, called Kraushaar's credibility "beyond reproach. She was the utmost professional, one of the hardest working individuals I have ever known … the consummate team player."

Here's a sample of her work in the Miami Herald in 2000 during the Elian Gonzalez custody fight. She's talking about INS Special Agent Betty A. Mills, who cradled the boy in her arms as they left his relatives' Little Havana home during the raid that led to his return to Cuba:

"Elian is very interactive with his adult caregiver. He was calm on the flight and he bonded with her immediately," Kraushaar said. "We determined very early on that she would be the appropriate person for this operation. She had all the pieces we were looking for. As a law enforcement officer she was wedded to a very scary situation and she performed admirably."

 

Posted by Erika Bolstad on November 8, 2011 in 2012 election , Herman Cain | Permalink

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/11/herman-cain-accuser-karen-kraushaars-name-sound-familiar-.html#ixzz1dF2ieaVs

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Re: Fwd: Resist the Occupation

so it could be a low  budget alternative to a Jamaican vacation

On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 2:56 PM, REEE SPECT WALK <reeespectwalk@gmail.com> wrote:

If you have an aversion to bathing, hate to work, want someone else to
give you money, like drugs, and don't mind being raped occasionally
then the Occupy protests are the place for you.

On Nov 9, 1:28 pm, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
>  Editor's Note: Occasionally, I send you a free sample of TIA Daily just to
> remind you of what you're missing. Below is my latest analysis of the
> Occupy Wall Street movement. To receive this kind of analysis all the time,

> subscribe now atwww.TIADaily.com/subscribe<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.—RWT
>
> [image: TIADaily.com]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>
>
> *TIA Daily* • * November 7, 2011 *
>
>  *FEATURE ARTICLE*
>
>  *Resist the Occupation*

>
> Occupy Wall Street Has Become a Roving Gang of Political Thugs
>

> *by Robert Tracinski*

>
> Well, that was quick. In less than two months, the Occupy Wall Street
> movement has gone through the full life cycle of a leftist movement and is
> beginning to lose its image as a group of idealistic and well-meaning (if
> naïve and misguided) college kids and is starting to be recognized as a
> dangerous lurch toward thuggish mob rule.
>
> It was inevitable. As they came under more scrutiny, the Occupiers weren't
> coming off well. An MTV documentary following young Occupiers made them
> look shallow, unfocused, and self-indulgent. And that's from a sympathetic

> reviewer<http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2011/11/true_life_i_m_o...>.

>
> Adding to the Occupation's "Flea Party" reputation is the news of an
> infestation
> of head and body

> lice<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>at

> Occupy Portland. The parasites have parasites.
>
> Then there is the Daily Caller's

> search<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of

> arrest records from the New York Occupation, which found that many are
> comfortably middle class and live in the kind of

> homes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>you

> would associate with the wicked 1%. Note to the mainstream media: this
> sort of investigation is called "reporting," and you might want to try
> doing some of it.
>
> Even one jaded leftist is

> lamenting<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>the

> "commodification of Occupy Wall Street," which "is now being exploited
> by corporate interests."
>
> As a result of further exposure, the Occupation is dropping

> fast<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>in

> the polls. In an utterly predictable irony, it is least popular among

> the poor and lower middle class. As the *Washington Examiner*
> notes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,

> "the highest net negative rating of Occupy Wall Street comes among middle
> income Americans earning between $30,000 and $50,000," and "with the media
> trying to portray this as a populist movement, it's worth noting that
> two-thirds of those earning under $30,000 either haven't heard of the
> movement or have an unfavorable view of it."
>
> So much for all of that "We are the 99%" guff.
>
> It is only going to get worse from here on out, because the Occupation has
> passed its initial phase, with its well-scrubbed façade of naïve youthful
> idealism. By its own inexorable logic, it is turning into something much
> uglier.
>
> A local CBS affiliate

> reports<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>that

> Occupy Boston is "deteriorating" as it gets overrun by crack dealers.
> One Occupier tells the reporter, "Things have changed drastically. It seems
> to be deteriorating. A lot of drug use, alcohol use, people getting into
> fights. It's deteriorating pretty quick." Hey, there's that "reporting"
> thing again. Maybe it will catch on.
>
> In Vancouver, the mayor is threatening to clear out the city's Occupation
> camp after a woman

> died<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>there

> from an apparent drug overdose.
>

> The *New York Post*, the center for hard-nosed, gimlet-eyed reporting from
> the Occupied territories, tells
> us<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>that

> "Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking
> women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only
> sleeping tent," which they call the "safety tent."
>
> This is what happens when you purposely set up zones of lawlessness in the
> middle of big cities: you create a safe space that attracts drug addicts
> and dealers, violent and crazy homeless people, and criminals.
>

> What is more significant is the increase in *political violence* coming

> from the Occupation.
>
> Oakland, California, has long been a hotbed of political radicalism, so it
> is no surprise that its Occupation was the first to branch out to a forcible

> shutdown<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of

> one of the nation's busiest container ports, which quickly devolved
> into

> a riot<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.
>
> And that is what they are trying to bring to *your* neighborhood: the

> latest idea from Occupy Oakland is to occupy foreclosed

> homes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.

> Meet the new neighbors.
>
> James Taranto has a good

> rundown<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of

> the general collapse of the Occupation into rioting and violence. And
> despite claims from the sympathetic press that this is just a "fringe" of
> the movement, some

> reports<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>indicate

> that Occupation organizers participated in the smashing of store
> windows and in running street battles with police, while one of Occupy
> Oakland's leaders turns

> out<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>to

> be a "political rapper" who once defined his "basic statement" as
> "death
> to the pigs," and who pumped up the Occupiers by performing "5 Million Ways
> to Kill a CEO."
>
> It's not just violence directed generally toward the police and big
> corporations. The Occupiers are now singling out and targeting individuals,
> particularly those whom they see as political opponents.
>

> Occupy Seattle surrounded<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>a

> hotel where JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was speaking, with the
> goal
> of detaining Dimon in a "citizen's arrest." But as with "civil
> disobedience," the Occupiers are horribly misusing this term. An unruly mob
> attempting to seize an individual who is guilty in their eyes, but who has
> not been found guilty in a court of law, is not a "citizen's arrest." It is
> a lynching.
>
> Incidentally, what is Dimon's guilt? That he took a government bailout?
> Those whose memory stretches back three years might remember that Dimon and
> other big bankers were strong-armed by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury
> into taking those bailouts. That's an evil pincer movement for you: the
> government elites force you to take a bailout, then the leftist mobs in the
> street want to "arrest" you for it.
>
> Occupy Philadelphia sent demonstrators to

> disrupt<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>a

> speech by Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, forcing him to
> cancel. Occupy DC then followed up last week by laying

> siege<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>to

> the Washington hotel where Americans for Prosperity, a right-leaning
> group with a lot of grassroots Tea Party links, was holding a conference.
> The valiant Occupiers bravely pushed a little old lady down the

> stairs<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.

> The victim was a grassroots Tea Party supporter from Detroit, and I think a
> lot of us would agree with her

> reaction<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>:

> she initially regarded the Occupiers as earnest, misguided youth but now
> regards them as dangerous.
>
> This is what the Occupy Wall Street movement has become: a roving gang of
> political thugs who assault and intimidate anyone who disagrees with their
> politics.
>
> This is not a distortion of the movement but its logical development. From
> the very beginning, the whole point of the Occupation has been to create
> lawless spaces controlled by mob rule (they call this the "general
> assembly"), populated by black-clad figures wearing Guy Fawkes masks,
> an anarchist

> symbol<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>celebrating

> a man who tried to blow up the English parliament. Which pretty
> much sums up the degree of their commitment to representative government.
>
> The real significance of the movement's deterioration is that the violent
> anarchists are trying to take over left. The live-blog I linked to above
> about the siege of Jamie Dimon indicates the increasing prominence of
> anarchists in the movement: "Many of the protesters are covering their
> faces. Flags are flying, many of them the red and black of the
> anarcho-syndicalists." A recent blog report on Occupy Los Angeles

> describes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>how

> the "general assembly" was overthrown one night by a claque of
> criminals and anarchists who opposed the adoption of a "code of conduct"
> that would have discouraged drinking and drug use. Something similar has
> been happening in the Occupation camp in Zuccotti Park, which has become

> balkanized<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,

> with the college kids on one side and the criminals, bums, and anarchists
> on the other.
>
> But all of these groups stick together, for the same reason that Arab

> leftists are cooperating<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>with

> Islamists in the Middle East: they are united by their only real
> cause. In the Middle East, it's hatred of the West. For the Occupiers, the
> cause that unites them is hatred of capitalism and the desire to tear it
> down.
>
> Oh, and speaking of the unholy alliance between leftists and Islamists in
> the Middle East, the folks at Occupy Boston found time to

> invade<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>the

> Israeli consulate and chant in support of the Palestinian terrorist
> intifada.
>
> Take it all together and the best description for the Occupy Wall Street
> movement is the one that they chose for themselves, so you can't say they

> didn't warn us. They are an *occupation*, a violent and hostile force

> attempting to impose its rule on an unwilling population.
>
> The proper response is obvious. Resist the Occupation.
>
> Not much resistance is necessary. This self-styled "occupation" is small
> and weak, precisely because they represent something closer to the 0.01%
> rather than the 99%. We need to demand that the timid mayors of the
> Occupied cities clear out the mobs and reassert the rule of law in their
> city centers.
>
> Every occupation has its collaborators, and the current leftist-anarchist
> Occupation has benefited from the craven collaboration of local officials,
> like Oakland Mayor Jean

> Quan<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,

> who gave city employees the day off to join the riots. Other mayors are
> clearly terrified of being vilified in the press for doing their job by
> guaranteeing law and order within city limits. And that brings us to the
> press, which is where we find the most active collaborators.
>
> For the last two and a half years, the mainstream media has smeared the Tea
> Party movement as a gang of violent racists and murders. Yes, literally

> murderers: it was the *New York Times* that first tried to pin the blame on

> Tea Partiers for the actions of the deranged (and utterly apolitical) man
> whose shooting spree injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This is the

> same *New York Times* that refuses to report on anything bad that happens

> in Zuccotti Park and which excuses the violent anarchists as an
> insignificant "fringe" of Occupy Wall Street.
>

> The *Washington Post* has gone farther, suggesting new
> targets<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>for

> the Occupation. In short, the left-of-center mainstream media have
> become propagandists for the Occupation.
>
> In a way, though, they are merely reprising their role as unpaid press
> agents for the hippies and the "student rebellion" of the 1960s, which
> Occupy Wall Street is re-enacting in miniature. Since the financial crisis
> hit in 2008, I have argued that we are living through "20th Century Lite."
> We are doomed to relive all of the disastrous bad ideas of the 20th
> century, but on a smaller scale and with a faster timeline. The auto
> bailout and the Obama "stimulus" were the 1930s, the era of overweening
> confidence in big government and central planning, which were supposed to
> ensure prosperity and solve all of our problems. Now we've progressed to
> the 1960s, when a movement of supposedly "idealistic" college kids rises up
> to tear down the whole capitalist system, only to collapse into an ugly
> period of rampant crime, drug addiction, and decay and disorder in the
> inner cities.
>
> So when do we get to a re-enactment of the 1980s: the revival of free
> markets and the renewal of American prosperity and power?
>
> Well, first we have to get to the stage when the "silent majority" of
> decent, self-supporting Americans became disgusted by the destructive
> lawlessness of the hippies and rise up to resist the Occupation.
>

> *back to top* <#133895f15ffd4ab5_TOC>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
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>
> Copyright © 2011 by Tracinski Publishing Company
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Re: Fwd: Resist the Occupation

If you have an aversion to bathing, hate to work, want someone else to
give you money, like drugs, and don't mind being raped occasionally
then the Occupy protests are the place for you.

On Nov 9, 1:28 pm, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
>  Editor's Note: Occasionally, I send you a free sample of TIA Daily just to
> remind you of what you're missing. Below is my latest analysis of the
> Occupy Wall Street movement. To receive this kind of analysis all the time,
> subscribe now atwww.TIADaily.com/subscribe<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.—RWT
>
> [image: TIADaily.com]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>
>
> *TIA Daily* • * November 7, 2011 *
>
>  *FEATURE ARTICLE*
>
>  *Resist the Occupation*
>
> Occupy Wall Street Has Become a Roving Gang of Political Thugs
>
> *by Robert Tracinski*
>
> Well, that was quick. In less than two months, the Occupy Wall Street
> movement has gone through the full life cycle of a leftist movement and is
> beginning to lose its image as a group of idealistic and well-meaning (if
> naïve and misguided) college kids and is starting to be recognized as a
> dangerous lurch toward thuggish mob rule.
>
> It was inevitable. As they came under more scrutiny, the Occupiers weren't
> coming off well. An MTV documentary following young Occupiers made them
> look shallow, unfocused, and self-indulgent. And that's from a sympathetic
> reviewer<http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2011/11/true_life_i_m_o...>.
>
> Adding to the Occupation's "Flea Party" reputation is the news of an
> infestation
> of head and body
> lice<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>at
> Occupy Portland. The parasites have parasites.
>
> Then there is the Daily Caller's
> search<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of
> arrest records from the New York Occupation, which found that many are
> comfortably middle class and live in the kind of
> homes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>you
> would associate with the wicked 1%. Note to the mainstream media: this
> sort of investigation is called "reporting," and you might want to try
> doing some of it.
>
> Even one jaded leftist is
> lamenting<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>the
> "commodification of Occupy Wall Street," which "is now being exploited
> by corporate interests."
>
> As a result of further exposure, the Occupation is dropping
> fast<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>in
> the polls. In an utterly predictable irony, it is least popular among
> the poor and lower middle class. As the *Washington Examiner*
> notes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,
> "the highest net negative rating of Occupy Wall Street comes among middle
> income Americans earning between $30,000 and $50,000," and "with the media
> trying to portray this as a populist movement, it's worth noting that
> two-thirds of those earning under $30,000 either haven't heard of the
> movement or have an unfavorable view of it."
>
> So much for all of that "We are the 99%" guff.
>
> It is only going to get worse from here on out, because the Occupation has
> passed its initial phase, with its well-scrubbed façade of naïve youthful
> idealism. By its own inexorable logic, it is turning into something much
> uglier.
>
> A local CBS affiliate
> reports<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>that
> Occupy Boston is "deteriorating" as it gets overrun by crack dealers.
> One Occupier tells the reporter, "Things have changed drastically. It seems
> to be deteriorating. A lot of drug use, alcohol use, people getting into
> fights. It's deteriorating pretty quick." Hey, there's that "reporting"
> thing again. Maybe it will catch on.
>
> In Vancouver, the mayor is threatening to clear out the city's Occupation
> camp after a woman
> died<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>there
> from an apparent drug overdose.
>
> The *New York Post*, the center for hard-nosed, gimlet-eyed reporting from
> the Occupied territories, tells
> us<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>that
> "Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking
> women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only
> sleeping tent," which they call the "safety tent."
>
> This is what happens when you purposely set up zones of lawlessness in the
> middle of big cities: you create a safe space that attracts drug addicts
> and dealers, violent and crazy homeless people, and criminals.
>
> What is more significant is the increase in *political violence* coming
> from the Occupation.
>
> Oakland, California, has long been a hotbed of political radicalism, so it
> is no surprise that its Occupation was the first to branch out to a forcible
> shutdown<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of
> one of the nation's busiest container ports, which quickly devolved
> into
> a riot<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.
>
> And that is what they are trying to bring to *your* neighborhood: the
> latest idea from Occupy Oakland is to occupy foreclosed
> homes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.
> Meet the new neighbors.
>
> James Taranto has a good
> rundown<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>of
> the general collapse of the Occupation into rioting and violence. And
> despite claims from the sympathetic press that this is just a "fringe" of
> the movement, some
> reports<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>indicate
> that Occupation organizers participated in the smashing of store
> windows and in running street battles with police, while one of Occupy
> Oakland's leaders turns
> out<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>to
> be a "political rapper" who once defined his "basic statement" as
> "death
> to the pigs," and who pumped up the Occupiers by performing "5 Million Ways
> to Kill a CEO."
>
> It's not just violence directed generally toward the police and big
> corporations. The Occupiers are now singling out and targeting individuals,
> particularly those whom they see as political opponents.
>
> Occupy Seattle surrounded<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>a
> hotel where JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was speaking, with the
> goal
> of detaining Dimon in a "citizen's arrest." But as with "civil
> disobedience," the Occupiers are horribly misusing this term. An unruly mob
> attempting to seize an individual who is guilty in their eyes, but who has
> not been found guilty in a court of law, is not a "citizen's arrest." It is
> a lynching.
>
> Incidentally, what is Dimon's guilt? That he took a government bailout?
> Those whose memory stretches back three years might remember that Dimon and
> other big bankers were strong-armed by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury
> into taking those bailouts. That's an evil pincer movement for you: the
> government elites force you to take a bailout, then the leftist mobs in the
> street want to "arrest" you for it.
>
> Occupy Philadelphia sent demonstrators to
> disrupt<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>a
> speech by Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, forcing him to
> cancel. Occupy DC then followed up last week by laying
> siege<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>to
> the Washington hotel where Americans for Prosperity, a right-leaning
> group with a lot of grassroots Tea Party links, was holding a conference.
> The valiant Occupiers bravely pushed a little old lady down the
> stairs<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>.
> The victim was a grassroots Tea Party supporter from Detroit, and I think a
> lot of us would agree with her
> reaction<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>:
> she initially regarded the Occupiers as earnest, misguided youth but now
> regards them as dangerous.
>
> This is what the Occupy Wall Street movement has become: a roving gang of
> political thugs who assault and intimidate anyone who disagrees with their
> politics.
>
> This is not a distortion of the movement but its logical development. From
> the very beginning, the whole point of the Occupation has been to create
> lawless spaces controlled by mob rule (they call this the "general
> assembly"), populated by black-clad figures wearing Guy Fawkes masks,
> an anarchist
> symbol<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>celebrating
> a man who tried to blow up the English parliament. Which pretty
> much sums up the degree of their commitment to representative government.
>
> The real significance of the movement's deterioration is that the violent
> anarchists are trying to take over left. The live-blog I linked to above
> about the siege of Jamie Dimon indicates the increasing prominence of
> anarchists in the movement: "Many of the protesters are covering their
> faces. Flags are flying, many of them the red and black of the
> anarcho-syndicalists." A recent blog report on Occupy Los Angeles
> describes<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>how
> the "general assembly" was overthrown one night by a claque of
> criminals and anarchists who opposed the adoption of a "code of conduct"
> that would have discouraged drinking and drug use. Something similar has
> been happening in the Occupation camp in Zuccotti Park, which has become
> balkanized<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,
> with the college kids on one side and the criminals, bums, and anarchists
> on the other.
>
> But all of these groups stick together, for the same reason that Arab
> leftists are cooperating<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>with
> Islamists in the Middle East: they are united by their only real
> cause. In the Middle East, it's hatred of the West. For the Occupiers, the
> cause that unites them is hatred of capitalism and the desire to tear it
> down.
>
> Oh, and speaking of the unholy alliance between leftists and Islamists in
> the Middle East, the folks at Occupy Boston found time to
> invade<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>the
> Israeli consulate and chant in support of the Palestinian terrorist
> intifada.
>
> Take it all together and the best description for the Occupy Wall Street
> movement is the one that they chose for themselves, so you can't say they
> didn't warn us. They are an *occupation*, a violent and hostile force
> attempting to impose its rule on an unwilling population.
>
> The proper response is obvious. Resist the Occupation.
>
> Not much resistance is necessary. This self-styled "occupation" is small
> and weak, precisely because they represent something closer to the 0.01%
> rather than the 99%. We need to demand that the timid mayors of the
> Occupied cities clear out the mobs and reassert the rule of law in their
> city centers.
>
> Every occupation has its collaborators, and the current leftist-anarchist
> Occupation has benefited from the craven collaboration of local officials,
> like Oakland Mayor Jean
> Quan<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>,
> who gave city employees the day off to join the riots. Other mayors are
> clearly terrified of being vilified in the press for doing their job by
> guaranteeing law and order within city limits. And that brings us to the
> press, which is where we find the most active collaborators.
>
> For the last two and a half years, the mainstream media has smeared the Tea
> Party movement as a gang of violent racists and murders. Yes, literally
> murderers: it was the *New York Times* that first tried to pin the blame on
> Tea Partiers for the actions of the deranged (and utterly apolitical) man
> whose shooting spree injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This is the
> same *New York Times* that refuses to report on anything bad that happens
> in Zuccotti Park and which excuses the violent anarchists as an
> insignificant "fringe" of Occupy Wall Street.
>
> The *Washington Post* has gone farther, suggesting new
> targets<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>for
> the Occupation. In short, the left-of-center mainstream media have
> become propagandists for the Occupation.
>
> In a way, though, they are merely reprising their role as unpaid press
> agents for the hippies and the "student rebellion" of the 1960s, which
> Occupy Wall Street is re-enacting in miniature. Since the financial crisis
> hit in 2008, I have argued that we are living through "20th Century Lite."
> We are doomed to relive all of the disastrous bad ideas of the 20th
> century, but on a smaller scale and with a faster timeline. The auto
> bailout and the Obama "stimulus" were the 1930s, the era of overweening
> confidence in big government and central planning, which were supposed to
> ensure prosperity and solve all of our problems. Now we've progressed to
> the 1960s, when a movement of supposedly "idealistic" college kids rises up
> to tear down the whole capitalist system, only to collapse into an ugly
> period of rampant crime, drug addiction, and decay and disorder in the
> inner cities.
>
> So when do we get to a re-enactment of the 1980s: the revival of free
> markets and the renewal of American prosperity and power?
>
> Well, first we have to get to the stage when the "silent majority" of
> decent, self-supporting Americans became disgusted by the destructive
> lawlessness of the hippies and rise up to resist the Occupation.
>
> *back to top* <#133895f15ffd4ab5_TOC>
>
>  ------------------------------
>
> [image: TIADaily.com]<http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&et=1108568094365&s=8037&e=001...>
>
> Copyright © 2011 by Tracinski Publishing Company
> PO Box 8086, Charlottesville, VA 22906
>
> *Forward email<http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=bropbvdab&m=11034390512...>
> *
>
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Fwd: Resist the Occupation

Editor's Note: Occasionally, I send you a free sample of TIA Daily just to remind you of what you're missing. Below is my latest analysis of the Occupy Wall Street movement. To receive this kind of analysis all the time, subscribe now at www.TIADaily.com/subscribe.—RWT

TIA Daily • November 7, 2011

FEATURE ARTICLE

Resist the Occupation

Occupy Wall Street Has Become a Roving Gang of Political Thugs

by Robert Tracinski

Well, that was quick. In less than two months, the Occupy Wall Street movement has gone through the full life cycle of a leftist movement and is beginning to lose its image as a group of idealistic and well-meaning (if naïve and misguided) college kids and is starting to be recognized as a dangerous lurch toward thuggish mob rule.

It was inevitable. As they came under more scrutiny, the Occupiers weren't coming off well. An MTV documentary following young Occupiers made them look shallow, unfocused, and self-indulgent. And that's from a sympathetic reviewer.

Adding to the Occupation's "Flea Party" reputation is the news of an infestation of head and body lice at Occupy Portland. The parasites have parasites.

Then there is the Daily Caller's search of arrest records from the New York Occupation, which found that many are comfortably middle class and live in the kind of homes you would associate with the wicked 1%. Note to the mainstream media: this sort of investigation is called "reporting," and you might want to try doing some of it.

Even one jaded leftist is lamenting the "commodification of Occupy Wall Street," which "is now being exploited by corporate interests."

As a result of further exposure, the Occupation is dropping fast in the polls. In an utterly predictable irony, it is least popular among the poor and lower middle class. As the Washington Examiner notes, "the highest net negative rating of Occupy Wall Street comes among middle income Americans earning between $30,000 and $50,000," and "with the media trying to portray this as a populist movement, it's worth noting that two-thirds of those earning under $30,000 either haven't heard of the movement or have an unfavorable view of it."

So much for all of that "We are the 99%" guff.

It is only going to get worse from here on out, because the Occupation has passed its initial phase, with its well-scrubbed façade of naïve youthful idealism. By its own inexorable logic, it is turning into something much uglier.

A local CBS affiliate reports that Occupy Boston is "deteriorating" as it gets overrun by crack dealers. One Occupier tells the reporter, "Things have changed drastically. It seems to be deteriorating. A lot of drug use, alcohol use, people getting into fights. It's deteriorating pretty quick." Hey, there's that "reporting" thing again. Maybe it will catch on.

In Vancouver, the mayor is threatening to clear out the city's Occupation camp after a woman died there from an apparent drug overdose.

The New York Post, the center for hard-nosed, gimlet-eyed reporting from the Occupied territories, tells us that "Zuccotti Park has become so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent," which they call the "safety tent."

This is what happens when you purposely set up zones of lawlessness in the middle of big cities: you create a safe space that attracts drug addicts and dealers, violent and crazy homeless people, and criminals.

What is more significant is the increase in political violence coming from the Occupation.

Oakland, California, has long been a hotbed of political radicalism, so it is no surprise that its Occupation was the first to branch out to a forcible shutdown of one of the nation's busiest container ports, which quickly devolved into a riot.

And that is what they are trying to bring to your neighborhood: the latest idea from Occupy Oakland is to occupy foreclosed homes. Meet the new neighbors.

James Taranto has a good rundown of the general collapse of the Occupation into rioting and violence. And despite claims from the sympathetic press that this is just a "fringe" of the movement, some reports indicate that Occupation organizers participated in the smashing of store windows and in running street battles with police, while one of Occupy Oakland's leaders turns out to be a "political rapper" who once defined his "basic statement" as "death to the pigs," and who pumped up the Occupiers by performing "5 Million Ways to Kill a CEO."

It's not just violence directed generally toward the police and big corporations. The Occupiers are now singling out and targeting individuals, particularly those whom they see as political opponents.

Occupy Seattle surrounded a hotel where JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was speaking, with the goal of detaining Dimon in a "citizen's arrest." But as with "civil disobedience," the Occupiers are horribly misusing this term. An unruly mob attempting to seize an individual who is guilty in their eyes, but who has not been found guilty in a court of law, is not a "citizen's arrest." It is a lynching.

Incidentally, what is Dimon's guilt? That he took a government bailout? Those whose memory stretches back three years might remember that Dimon and other big bankers were strong-armed by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury into taking those bailouts. That's an evil pincer movement for you: the government elites force you to take a bailout, then the leftist mobs in the street want to "arrest" you for it.

Occupy Philadelphia sent demonstrators to disrupt a speech by Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, forcing him to cancel. Occupy DC then followed up last week by laying siege to the Washington hotel where Americans for Prosperity, a right-leaning group with a lot of grassroots Tea Party links, was holding a conference. The valiant Occupiers bravely pushed a little old lady down the stairs. The victim was a grassroots Tea Party supporter from Detroit, and I think a lot of us would agree with her reaction: she initially regarded the Occupiers as earnest, misguided youth but now regards them as dangerous.

This is what the Occupy Wall Street movement has become: a roving gang of political thugs who assault and intimidate anyone who disagrees with their politics.

This is not a distortion of the movement but its logical development. From the very beginning, the whole point of the Occupation has been to create lawless spaces controlled by mob rule (they call this the "general assembly"), populated by black-clad figures wearing Guy Fawkes masks, an anarchist symbol celebrating a man who tried to blow up the English parliament. Which pretty much sums up the degree of their commitment to representative government.

The real significance of the movement's deterioration is that the violent anarchists are trying to take over left. The live-blog I linked to above about the siege of Jamie Dimon indicates the increasing prominence of anarchists in the movement: "Many of the protesters are covering their faces. Flags are flying, many of them the red and black of the anarcho-syndicalists." A recent blog report on Occupy Los Angeles describes how the "general assembly" was overthrown one night by a claque of criminals and anarchists who opposed the adoption of a "code of conduct" that would have discouraged drinking and drug use. Something similar has been happening in the Occupation camp in Zuccotti Park, which has become balkanized, with the college kids on one side and the criminals, bums, and anarchists on the other.

But all of these groups stick together, for the same reason that Arab leftists are cooperating with Islamists in the Middle East: they are united by their only real cause. In the Middle East, it's hatred of the West. For the Occupiers, the cause that unites them is hatred of capitalism and the desire to tear it down.

Oh, and speaking of the unholy alliance between leftists and Islamists in the Middle East, the folks at Occupy Boston found time to invade the Israeli consulate and chant in support of the Palestinian terrorist intifada.

Take it all together and the best description for the Occupy Wall Street movement is the one that they chose for themselves, so you can't say they didn't warn us. They are an occupation, a violent and hostile force attempting to impose its rule on an unwilling population.

The proper response is obvious. Resist the Occupation.

Not much resistance is necessary. This self-styled "occupation" is small and weak, precisely because they represent something closer to the 0.01% rather than the 99%. We need to demand that the timid mayors of the Occupied cities clear out the mobs and reassert the rule of law in their city centers.

Every occupation has its collaborators, and the current leftist-anarchist Occupation has benefited from the craven collaboration of local officials, like Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, who gave city employees the day off to join the riots. Other mayors are clearly terrified of being vilified in the press for doing their job by guaranteeing law and order within city limits. And that brings us to the press, which is where we find the most active collaborators.

For the last two and a half years, the mainstream media has smeared the Tea Party movement as a gang of violent racists and murders. Yes, literally murderers: it was the New York Times that first tried to pin the blame on Tea Partiers for the actions of the deranged (and utterly apolitical) man whose shooting spree injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords. This is the same New York Times that refuses to report on anything bad that happens in Zuccotti Park and which excuses the violent anarchists as an insignificant "fringe" of Occupy Wall Street.

The Washington Post has gone farther, suggesting new targets for the Occupation. In short, the left-of-center mainstream media have become propagandists for the Occupation.

In a way, though, they are merely reprising their role as unpaid press agents for the hippies and the "student rebellion" of the 1960s, which Occupy Wall Street is re-enacting in miniature. Since the financial crisis hit in 2008, I have argued that we are living through "20th Century Lite." We are doomed to relive all of the disastrous bad ideas of the 20th century, but on a smaller scale and with a faster timeline. The auto bailout and the Obama "stimulus" were the 1930s, the era of overweening confidence in big government and central planning, which were supposed to ensure prosperity and solve all of our problems. Now we've progressed to the 1960s, when a movement of supposedly "idealistic" college kids rises up to tear down the whole capitalist system, only to collapse into an ugly period of rampant crime, drug addiction, and decay and disorder in the inner cities.

So when do we get to a re-enactment of the 1980s: the revival of free markets and the renewal of American prosperity and power?

Well, first we have to get to the stage when the "silent majority" of decent, self-supporting Americans became disgusted by the destructive lawlessness of the hippies and rise up to resist the Occupation.

back to top

---

Copyright © 2011 by Tracinski Publishing Company
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Newt, Favorite of ‘Conservatives’: Put FDR on Rushmore

November9th
Newt, Favorite of 'Conservatives': Put FDR on Rushmore
Tom Woods

Newt Gingrich, who has been rising in the polls, is another candidate perfectly suited for what the average GOP voter appears to want: an Establishment candidate offering insignificant changes. I wrote a little about the real Newt several days ago.

Now he says he'd choose Franklin Roosevelt for Mt. Rushmore. That's right, the man against whom the modern pro-freedom, anti-D.C. movement originated is the man Gingrich wants to honor.


http://www.tomwoods.com/blog/newt-favorite-of-conservatives-put-fdr-on-rushmore/

Stirring Up Crises and Wars

Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Stirring Up Crises and Wars
by Jacob G. Hornberger

Talk of war with Iran is back in the air. Conservatives and liberals alike are doing exactly what they did when the U.S. Empire was ramping up the crisis environment in the build-up to the Empire's undeclared war on Iraq. Interestingly, the same rationale is being cited by the statists: WMDs. "The Iranians are acquiring WMDs!" the warfare statists are crying. "If the Empire doesn't bomb Iran now, mushroom clouds will soon be appearing over American cities. We have to trust our government officials. They have access to information that we don't have."

It was no different with the U.S. war on Iraq ­ a war and resulting 9-year occupation that have killed and maimed thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, not one single one of whom had anything to do with the 9/11 attacks.

The new crisis environment over Iran should not surprise us. James Madison, the father of the Constitution, explained why:

A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending have enslaved the people. (Emphasis added.)

While there are no violent revolts taking place in the United States, there certainly is a lot of restlessness with the domestic situation, as reflected in the Tea Party and Occupy movements. An increasing number of people are protesting the dismal economic conditions in which the United States is now mired -- out of control spending and debt, inflation, unemployment, negative savings rate -- a nation increasingly headed into bankruptcy, just like Greece and Italy are.

On top of all the economic misery are the ever-increasing infringements on civil liberties, through such things as the PATRIOT Act, indefinite detention, airport body groping, assassinations, torture, cover-ups, immunity for criminal acts, Internet monitoring, highway VIPR checkpoints, and on and on.

To explain why things are so bad, government officials spout their standard nonsensical bromides about "It's because of the failures of free enterprise" or "The terrorists hate us for our freedom and values" or "We're infringing on your civil liberty only temporarily to keep you safe."

Or they look for scapegoats on which to blame the problems, such as immigrants, or at least illegal immigrants, or the debt crisis in Europe.

Or they resort to the time-honored strategy that the Roman officials employed ­ stir up crises and wars overseas, as they are now doing with Iran. If not Iran, they always have North Korea, Cuba, China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, or some other such regime to stir up trouble with.

The problem facing our country is not Iran or any other nation. The problem facing our country is the U.S. government ­ yes, our very own government.

Specifically, the root cause of America's economic woes lies in the U.S. welfare state ­ a socialistic system that has now held our nation in its grip for some 80 years. It has brought out-of-control spending, debt, inflation, monetary debasement, poverty, and a mindset of dependency to our nation. It has turned America into a political warzone in which large segments of the populace fight hard to plunder and loot the income and savings of other people. The welfare state is threatening to take our country down ­ into bankruptcy ­ just like it is doing to Greece and Italy.

The root cause of America's terrorism woes lies in our nation's warfare-state empire, which has now held our nation in their grip for more than 60 years. It too has brought out-of-control spending, debt, inflation, monetary debasement, and a mindset of dependency among the vast number of contractors, companies, and cities that receive military largess. The warfare state empire has brought the constant threat of terrorist retaliation to our land with its sanctions, embargoes, invasions, occupations, torture, meddling, and support of brutal dictatorships.

Moreover, the U.S. government has used the threat of terrorism that it itself has produced to infringe to an ever-growing degree on the civil liberties of the people. That's what such things as the Patriot Act, the airport body groping, indefinite detention, torture, spying, Internet monitoring, GPS and cell phone tracking, VIPR highway checkpoints, and assassination are all about.

So, what better time than now to ramp up a crisis or a war, when people are getting restless under the burden of the big government that the welfare-warfare state has brought into existence?

Madison was a wise man. His insights about empires and standing armies apply as much today as they did back when he expressed them.

http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2011-11-09.asp