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Thursday, June 23, 2011

June Rant - It is an Honor to be called a Conspiracy Theorist

Paul Craig Roberts stated that it is an honor to be called a Conspiracy Theorist yesterday during an interview with Alex Jones and I have to concur. We are constantly sold propaganda by government sources, we are given misleading statistics and out-and-out lies about the condition of our economy. We see so many of our leaders who are perfect caricatures of used car salesmen from "B" movies. The whole governmental system that we see becomes more hokey every day. Why is it? Because the government has lost relevance and has no credibility. Being labeled a Conspiracy Theorist only means that they disdain you for critical thinking and not automatically taking for granted that you are being told the truth by these sources.

I know people who voted for Obama because he was going to get us out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and many are just supporting him for the sake of supporting him. Just look at the facts. Now we are nearly all over the equatorial region of the Afro-Asian continent from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean; five specific hostile actions taking place in Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan with implications of future action in Syria.  We also see connected action through NATO in the Ivory Coast and Tunisia. And yet these same people who supported Obama and derided Bush are nowhere to be found when it comes to accountability related to Obama's campaign rhetoric of three years ago. It is a joke that he was given a Nobel Peace Prize. What did he do or what has he done to deserve an honor of Peace. Actions mean a lot more than hyperbole.Our economy is faltering beyond any belief that I thought conceivable in the previous generations of my life. I don't care if a Republican or a Democrat is in charge. We cannot afford to continue these unlimited, infinite Imperial Offensive actions!!!

Then take a serious look at the United States economy. Go back to the beginnings of this blog. I told you that TARP would not fix anything. I told you that stimulus would not work. I told you that it was about fraud and padding people's pockets. I can see not understanding economics and giving the leaders that you believed in the benefit of the doubt. You see, that is what I am doing with you who gave these authorities the benefit of the doubt. I am giving you the benefit of the doubt. But now I am out of patience, because there comes a time when all credit and doubt is erased and all we are left with is the unvarnished, indistinguishable truth. It is time to separate the bologna from the real meat. These government officials are either corrupt or incompetent and folks we can't afford either scenario in these perilous times.

Gerald Celente says "Let the people vote. Let the people vote." He believes that we need to see direct democracy, because our representatives are not representing the needs and the interests of the people of the United States. Our supposed representatives have been for sale to the highest bidder for years. They represent the interests of the elite and the corporations that they own. They call it "Campaign Contributions" and we call it bribes and payoffs. That is the reason why capitalism has gotten a bad rap, because the sociopaths have perverted capitalism into crony capitalism, which is the neo-feudalistic, fascist model. We have a new aristocracy represented by these elite owners of these mega-corporations and you have a marriage of Wall Street and Washington and you see the sincerest form of flattery on the local level. You might think you are one of them, because you are a little higher up on the food chain in your small community, but soon they will gobble you up too, if we don't start working towards straightening this situation out.

A man that I consider a mentor of mine is Rick Smyre. I trained under him in a field that he calls "Master Capacity Building." It is all about making connections and seeing where one can put pieces together. Sometimes it can take years  for an opportunity to allow a connection to be made, but when that opportunity arises then you must recognize that opportunity and seize upon it. One of my shortcomings, in my opinion, in relation to Capacity Building is that I am not as diplomatic or patient as a man such as Rick. I want to see things happen while I am still relatively young and still have energy so that I can enjoy the fruits of this labor in my lifetime.

I also think that we are not going to leave this world in good shape if we leave it to the hands of the Corrupt and /or Incompetent. Rick has pushed a notion that he calls Mobile Governance that has been given to a friend and colleague Dewey Harris to formulate and relate to the public and move towards eventual implementation by governments that still are interested in more than a contrived relationship with the public that they are supposed to represent. You can listen to the Youtube presentation or read about this theory of Governance at the links at the bottom.

What is clear in my mind is that allowing the American people to have a direct say in their governance can't put us in any more of a bottom of the barrel position than we are currently in. I have started to believe that money and brains are like oil and water. We can't get back to being AMERICA, and all that is supposed to represent, until more of us begin to strive for excellence and start reaching for the stars. The possibilities are only limited by ourselves and those that we allow to control us. I don't think that the divine spirit wants us to punish ourselves through unnecessary artificial moral bondage. What the spirit of the higher power wants is that humanity be righteous and just. Are we striving towards those values today? Isn't that where we have gotten off track? Are the Power and Control mechanisms that are currently out of control in our society the root antithesis of Justice and Righteousness? I think so!



THE WEAK SIGNAL OF MOBILE GOVERNANCE by Rick Smyre

Bringing People to the table of Governance - A presentation on Mobile Governance

6 comments:

Michael E. Badgett said...

James,

Great Article!

Hope you are well,

Mike

Silence DoGood said...

And the same people who now deride Obama were vehement warhawks when George was in office. The same people who preached and lectured chapter and verse on the virtues of the Patriot Act. Lectured about how we needed to do something fast or else we would have something being blown up every other day in this country. The country was very close to economic failure then as well. The rapid rearmament and inflation of the Pentagon budget. Remember how Bush inspired us all to go out and buy a new car or some jewelry? We had to help mass consume our way back to fiscal solvency way back before we invaded Iraq. So he stalled the inevitable from 2004 to 2008 on a MIC consumption strategy bathed in blood.

Saddam had weapons of Mass Destruction and that was sold to the security council of the United Nations by then Secretary of State Colin Powell. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld were the marionettes of the Military Industrial Complex and that is who is making the decisions today coming out of the Oval Office and at almost every other level of the Federal Government. And that mentality pervades itself into the other governmental entities in this country like a cancer. It was true then, its true now. Every President since Kennedy was assassinated has been forced to succumb to this power vacuum in Washington. Or at least, pay it homage. The rest of the machine is constructed to support the head, in this case, the MIC. The news, the political spin, our own system of governance are configured to support that effort. Think about it. If the war is wrong now, it was just as wrong in 2003. Swapping Presidents and political parties doesn’t change what is right or wrong. As far as what is going on in that region of the country, well, I suppose it would be great if it were about democracy for the people. It’s about manipulative regime change. Why else do we allow those regimes friendly to the United States to perpetuate terror on their own people and vilify those who are not friendly to the US? If they want a say in how they’re ruled, let them have it. It is their country, let them decide how to run it. But it’s not about democracy or the people, it’s about oil and control. It’s about access to mineral rights and market share. In other words, it’s about what is truly God for most people; money. Money for some, not all.

So I suppose in a manner of speaking, we are both conspiracy theorists. It’s not dark or smoky however, there are no trenchcoat clad minions who blend into the crowd. There are just those who have, that continue to take, and then demand even more. And since as a shear ratio of proportionality there are fewer of those types than sincere people, they must keep the masses fighting with each other, over the menial things and to ensure their objectives and motivations aren’t interfered with and no one is the wiser to them. They hide in buzz words like, “Patriot, Hero, Sacrifice, Duty.” They cloak themselves in rhetoric to purport a notion of unity. But it is only about those select few. Everyone else is just cannon fodder. Who now is the real terrorist?

James Thomas Shell said...

Hey, I am somewhat guilty of supporting the initial action taken involving "The War on Terror," I bought in Hook, Line, and Sinker, but when something drags on forever and excuse after excuse is made to continue on a path to nowhere, to maintain a destructive status quo, then it is time to wake up and I did so along about 2006.

And I supported Bush, but I didn't really like a lot of those War Hawk Neo-Cons that surrounded him, because my idea for our actions involving the terrorist and supporting nations was to Kick @$$ and move on and get back to restoring the economy, but that never seemed to come into focus with the bunch that has usurped the Republican Party. It became embarrassing to defend the indefensible. The further I looked into what was I needed to justify the actions of My Country, the less sense it all made and then these other pieces started to form an alternative point of view that makes more and more sense every day.

That is where I am at these days and I think a lot of others are there also. They are just scared to speak up. There is nothing wrong with changing an opinion when provided more information. What is bad is when a person bases their own opinion on pure party politics and flip flops accordingly. If you change an opinion based on principal to me that means you are a principled human being.

I never supported John McCain. I don't think many Republicans were ardent supporters of McCain. He, like Bob Dole before, was forced upon us. I always like Jack Kemp. I think Jack Kemp would have made a good President, but instead we got Bob Dole who gave a half-hearted effort just like John McCain.

But I can tell you this. There is no way that I would ever support John McCain for Dog Catcher at this point in time. He holds no conservative values. He is just like Obama. He is a Globalist who is owned by Wall Street. And Lindsay Graham's schtick wore thin with me a long time ago. The only thing conservative about Lindsay graham is that like John McCain he hasn't seen a battle that he wouldn't send our troops to fight.

Silence DoGood said...

I don’t see a measure of culpability or guilt. You were drawn in just like everyone else. MaoZeTung once said, “kill 10, scare 10,000.” When you can work and manipulate the weapon of fear, what else is it you need to do to perpetuate your interests? After the precipitating act, you need only make mention of a terrorist act to foment angst and fear in your target population. You can’t fight terrorism as a short-term proposition and expect to make any headway. There is no going forth and taking this hill or that city and winning the day. Goals are fuzzy, non-specific, and almost always political in context. And too, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
As far as partisan politics are concerned, it was explained this way to me a long time ago. That explanation was sufficient enough that it has formed my views to the extent they will never change insofar as party is concerned. A wise man once explained the differences between the parties however. It was a very simple and basic explanation and I’ll share it with you. “Republicans are for the big man. Big Business, Big Money. Democrats support the common man.” Without getting bogged down in a myriad of terms and statements, that’s a true analysis. It was true during this person’s lifetime, which dates prior to the Great Depression and it’s true today. For that reason, I will never change of alter my views. Does the Democratic Party support things I have no use for? Certainly. But the end result is, what I stated above. As a common person, I fail to grasp how anything that is good for big business or big money is good for me. They use that money and power to buy influence as a means of getting more and more and more. They never have enough and life is a zero sum game. That is the very simple and common truth that is lost on everyone it seems. Well, it goes beyond that you say. Perhaps, but the overall predominant goal is the same now as it was when the likes of Herbert Hoover sat in the White House. Is that an unsupported conclusion? Hardly. I could write another 5 pages citing examples, most of which transpired in the last 2.5 years. The rich get richer.

People get lost in the terms ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ and they have no clue what the connotations of either are. I don’t think they understand what those terms mean or even how they’re used, except as means to denote ‘Democrat’ or ‘Republican’. Then they mix words like Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, or even Fascism to formulate arguments of support or protest. Relying on what they think those words mean as opposed to what they do in fact mean, or worse, parrot them in a manner they’ve heard them used, which may or may not have been correct in context.

So that is my take on political parties and my affiliations. All politicians bend words or restate the facts as a means of telling the story they want to convey, in the light they wish it be viewed. People in general do that as well. Facing up to the consequences of their actions is low on the responsibility equation. The important thing to remember and keep in mind when listening is to keep the topic in mind, think of it in a narrow context, and then ask, “what is not being said.”

By the way, exactly what are, “Conservative values?!?!?!” :-D

James Thomas Shell said...

To me, and I mean me, Conservative values mean that you do not overstep your bounds as a personal being and impose your will on others. You don't take the easy road when you have made a mistake. When you are given an opportunity you are appreciative of it. When you can help others you do. When you make a mistake and are given a second chance, you are respectful of the people who forgive you and you don't repeat the mistakes over and over again and use people.

You are humble and admit your faults. You don't waste, which means that you are respectful of the Earth and you are thrifty with the assets that you are given. You are efficient with resources. You don't look at ways to take another person's assets for your own personal use. We have seen that done by the the rich and connected and by the poor and used.

I do believe that taxation is a necessary evil, but any spending that the government does should be public and justified. And there should always be accountability, checks, reviews, and verification related to any projects or use of public funds. Those who serve in government should not be given a permanent structure to rest upon. This is what causes elected and bureaucratic interests to become entrenched. There should be no revolving door of connections between the public and private sector. Conflicts of interest should never be tolerated.

I have no problem with local public-private partnerships where the government sows seeds and helps entities connect to help public good projects to be developed in the interest of a entire community's "Quality of Life."

As you have said I can go on for five pages as to why I have supported the Republican Party, but as you point out you are voting against these Republican interests and I personally have voted against Democrat interests in the past and I have voted against Republican interests in the past. I certainly don't feel like I am a part of the local Republican establishment by any means.

What I do get tired of is voting against people, because I want to get behind someone who I support and believe in. It doesn't have to be on 100% of the issues. What I am looking for is an interest that supports what I espoused above. someone that doesn't bend over and touch toes to get a campaign contribution or conform to party leadership. Now that is stuff of pure fictional fantasy isn't it? Too bad!!!

Silence DoGood said...

I would say that those values are mostly necessary to being a decent person. Before someone takes that as my conceding Republicans are on the moral high ground, as you stated earlier, those of the Republican party don't hold those values. It isn't a Democratic premise either. So I'll swing that sword both ways. I'm sure those things are held by many on both sides of the party divide. I myself hold them. But in the grand scheme, we have two parties to keep track of each other. Power is absolute and corrupts absolutely. In that regard we need one party to keep an eye on the other. Here in Catawba County, we don't have that oversight and haven't had it in over 30 years. If for no other reason than that, political parity needs to return to this County; oversight.

I would like to find one of those people too. One who is completely candid, genuinely sincere, and does what they say they will do. Which means they don't make big promises knowing they can't keep them. I fear though that we won't ever find one of those people of which you speak. In today's world, a pretty face and saying whatever it is the masses want to hear gets votes better than substance. Vanity and pandering are virtues of desire in politics today.

But with diligence perhaps, and a bit of luck, we might see those things we see as wrong change. We know change is perpetual, why can't it change for the better? If enough people get fed up, there is always a chance. With that chance, there's hope and that is what we have left. Hope for something better. Promises from the outside are hollow, hope must come from inside ourselves, like faith. So in that regard, I hope for a time things will improve for everyone.