I have agreed with what you have espoused so far and appreciate your open mindedness. I know that you visit this site and many of the others that I visit also. I have read many of Mr. Flo's LttE in the past and appreciate his candidness, but he is still stuck inside the box. There are many people who consider themselves to be mavericks and free thinkers who live inside the box.
Wanda, we are called Conspiracy Theorists because we are looking into issues that way too many people are too lazy to look into themselves. Alternative media is the real media. The television is an idiot box. It is there to mesmerize you and feed you pablum. It is entertaining; but like anything, overindulging is bad for your health.
Going to alternative media sources and learning how to read between the lines is how you stay ahead of the curve. With the corporate media, issues have to be funneled through the proper channels and meet various criteria before they can be mentioned -- ie don't upset Big Brother. Then they want to figure out how they can explain the information to the least common denominator mindset. Under such a system, only those well connected to the government and major corporations have the privilege of knowing the details of important issues.
Do you want to be the first to know or the last to know?
Mr. Flo gets into the matter of the Banking Industry. I don't know what world Mr. Flo lives in, but Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve's manipulations of the currency have not helped anyone, but the wealthiest of the wealthy. He did not keep us out of a Depression. By most legitimate measurements, we have been buried neck deep in one.
A little economic lesson for Mr. Flo, increasing the money supply decreases the value of the dollar. That means it takes more dollars to buy things. Inflation is a variable in determining interest rates. Only through the Fed's manipulated interest rate policies have the rates been kept absurdly artificially low.
What is the Fed doing with this extra money? Their policies have encouraged the Financial Industry to manipulate commodities across the board and across the world.The Fed is lending money to investment institutions who are placing bets in the worldwide financial markets. This is bidding up the price of commodities and creating unintended consequences and moral hazards in the markets. This manipulation of interest rates downward is like keeping a lid tamped down on a steaming pot. Eventually the billowing force in the pot will cause it to explode. That is what is going to happen to interest rates, if it doesn't end up making the markets completely seize up in the process. Ask people who have bought money market instruments how they feel about being paid 1% or 2% on their money. When interest rates spike, it is going to mean bad consequences for the United States Annual Deficit and the National Debt.
I am also not comfortable following Mr. Flo's advice and trusting the government to do what is best for me. I am not comfortable to allow them free rein without checks and balances to do what is right. In a free and open society there is nothing wrong with questioning authority. If necessary, there is nothing wrong with citizens redressing their grievances through civil disobedience.
I believed in the wars that occurred after 9/11 in the beginning, but after all of these years and looking back on what has occurred, I have felt foolish. Mr. Flo talks about feeling secure because of the security apparatus that has been put in place; I do not. Look at all of the money that has been spent and we are constantly told that we need to spend more and the reality is that it all is benefiting the very few at the expense of the very many.
Ben Franklin on Liberty:
They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.The debts racked up over the last decade have been directly attributable to this negative force of power. Mr. Flo talks about this mechanism preventing further terror attacks, while I say the real terror has been against our individual liberties. Why is it that our voice doesn't count and our monies are spent when we are against all of this... and there is no real debate of the issue?
They call us Conspiracy Theorists, because they don't want to debate the issues. We won't partake in their Kool-Aid and this frustrates them to no end. They can have my share, because I am not going to join the cult; I am not a Sunshine Patriot. Because we don't go along to get along and automatically support the Powers that Be, they want to take away our freedom to express ourselves. They want to shut us down.
Wanda, others, one more quote from Ben Franklin:
Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics and limited monarchies derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates. - "On Freedom of Speech and the Press", Pennsylvania Gazette, 17 November 1737.
1 comment:
After spending Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania and suspending my HDR delivery during that time, I have just now located a paper and have had a chance to read Mr. Flo’s rebuttal in Sunday’s Opinion Page. I also saw this morning’s post on your blog, Thom, and I thank you for the title of Patriot because it is one to take pride in.
My recent letters to the HDR were to encourage more discussion among the citizens of Hickory and, hopefully, to get them to start addressing issues of great importance to the future of us all. I haven’t seen or heard that much discussion about politics in Hickory since I moved here. (The exception was the recent referendum.) Obviously, since only 6% of all Americans approve of the job Congress is doing (most recent polls), there is bound to be some dissatisfaction and some complaints out there. Yet we don’t often see people sharing these opinions. Perhaps some feel it would be impolite to discuss political opinions. Perhaps others feel powerless to change anything.
Could it be the chilling influence that government spying and retributions are having on the free speech of Americans? Political correctness is being carried to a ridiculous degree so that no matter what you say, someone is bound to be offended. This is very, very dangerous in a democracy. Some say to me, “Don’t go stirring things up,” but the alarm bells are ringing in my mind and it distresses me that no one is willing to speak out. This is why I admire the work you are doing on the Hickory Hound. I can say that you have been responsible for introducing me to several important sources for alternative news, simply by including them in your weekly news updates. So you see, you are having a positive effect in your efforts to wake people up to the reality we now live in.
I thought again today of former President Bush saying, “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” followed by a room full of applause. This to me was a naked threat. You either accept what I am doing here, or you are an enemy of America. You either accept this or you are unpatriotic…end of discussion. This might be having the intended effect of shutting down discussion and independent thinking.
In all of my long years, I have never felt apprehensive about expressing any opinion that was critical of the government. Now I know that whatever I say is being filed away in that great NSA computer to be recalled by a few keystrokes whenever anyone wants to “correct my thinking.” And now I know that the government really might do it, without compunction. All Americans must now say, “Bring it on.”
Post a Comment