Friday, December 12, 2014
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Mobile Network Hijacking: How to Protect Yourself & Your Data
Background
A couple of weeks ago, to my surprise, a Massachusetts local news station issued a report claiming that law enforcement has been driving and/or flying around civilian districts with mobile network hijacking equipment for the purpose of intercepting mobile phone connections in order to spy on the populace. Although I knew this type of attack is easy to perform these days, this report sounded a little bit far fetched to me, mainly because this is the type of relevant news that seldom makes it to the mainstream media. The technology certainty exists, and the attack is nothing new; it is simply a MITM (man-in-the-middle) attack on a mobile network. However, it's far easier to pull off on a cellular network than a secured WiFi network because cell towers offer no authentication to the phones.
Proof Of Concept: MITM Attacks & Lack of Tower Authentication
The concept is exactly the same as MITM attacks that occur on insecure, often public, and generally open WiFi networks. I know how easy it is to perform these kinds of attacks on any given network, because I have tried it out myself in the past (on my own network, of course.) Using simple ARP redirection, and even on a secured WPA2 network with a 63 character ASCII PSK, I have successfully injected custom malicious JavaScript into html web pages requested by the devices I was experimenting on.
Using the aircrack-ng suit, a WiFi chipset capable of packet injection, and a Linux machine, it was very easy to perform the following attacks:
-- Simple access point impersonation & redirection attacks. This attack impersonates the AP's mac address and LAN IP address, causing the device to connect to the internet through the rogue (fake, hostile) network adapter. This then allows the attacker to run a "Dumpcap", or in other words a program that logs all of the client's data packets to my hard drive, for the purpose of future analysis and data extraction. Typically, the analysis would consist of searching all of the stolen data packets for sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, etc.
-- After ARP redirection is established, "session hijacking" can then occur. The idea behind this attack is quite simple: cookies* are often used to store data on a client's computer (or browser cache) for easy authentication confirmation of a pre-established secure web session. Once the victims connection is compromised, cookies may be easily stolen, particularly when accessing non-secure web sites (http, as opposed to https. Pay attention to the URL's of the sites you visit. Browsers like Firefox warn you when an HTTPS connection is compromised.)
*Cookies were not invented with security in mind. A cookie is a tiny text file stored on your computer by a web server, which allows personal settings specific to the web site to remain on the client's machine. General reasons for this are: Either for convenience (like remembering personal settings or speeding up loading web pages you frequently visit), and also for authentication reasons as discussed above. For example, when you log into Facebook, a cookie is stored on your computer, which allows you to stay logged in even if you close the browser tab, so that every time you pull up Facebook again, you do not have to re-enter your password. The cookie tells Facebook's servers that you are already logged in, thus keeping the secure session open, and preventing you from having to enter your password every time you access the site. This is how many, many web servers keep track of authenticated sessions these days.
-- DNS hijacking and cross-site reference attacks can also be performed by a savy attacker on your local network. D.N.S. (Domain Name Service) is basically like the phone book of the internet. Every time you go to Google.com, your computer has to figure out where google's server is; this is called domain-resolution. Each domain name on the internet corresponds to one or more IP addresses. Just like you need a phone number to call someone, a computer needs an IP address to be able to connect to the requested server. DNS hijacking is the process of either spying on internet users simply by logging DNS requests (to see what sites you are visiting, even if your connection is encrypted, this is called a DNS leak), or by providing the victim's device with a false IP address, in order to connect them to a rogue server. Here is a classic example of this attack:
You need to check your bank account balance, so you grab your computer or phone. You then open a browser and go to http://www.yourexamplebank.com, but rather than actually accessing the banks real website, the attacker returns false DNS information, which causes your computer to connect to a malicious web site. It's not uncommon for malicious hackers to create official looking clones of real web sites, which look exactly the same as the site you think you are accessing. The victim, not knowing any better, logs in with their username and password, and the attacker logs that information, and then has access to the victims bank account. (This actually happened to my mother at the New Ipswich, NH town library a couple years ago. About $1000 was stolen from her bank account. Nobody helped or cared, including the police.)
-- Installation of malware. Most people tend to trust the sites that they use every day, and many do not think twice when their browser tells them that they need (for example) a new version of Adobe Flash Player to watch a video. The naive user follows the download link, installs the malware, and then unbeknownst to them, their entire system becomes infected, and compromised. Sometimes this happens without the user even knowing that they installed something, particularly when the victim is running an old version of Microsoft Windows.
-- Many, many other malicious things.
In addition to poisoning the data connection, all voice calls and sms messages can be intercepted too easily these days. GSM technology was designed to be defective and allow warrantless wiretapping. When cell phones were invented, the GSM protocol was supposed to use 128 bit keys for encrypting voice calls. However, governments wanted to be able to spy on eachother, so a compromise was reached, and the key size of A5/1 (original GSM encryption, still used today on many networks) was reduced to 56 bits. This may have been sufficient back in the 80's, but today the encryption protocol is totally broken. Often times cellular networks do not even use any encryption, whatsoever. To make matters worse, when you turn on your phone, it connects to whatever cell tower has the strongest signal. The phone authenticates itself to the tower, but not the other way around. Unlike HTTPS and other modern day encryption protocols, cellular networks offer no authentication to the users. This makes it far too easy for anyone with a little bit of money and time to intercept your communications. Furthermore, the authentication that identifies your device to the network has been cracked, allowing easy impersonation.
Networking In A Nutshell
The attacks explained above can be performed on any type network, including mobile networks. A mobile network functions similarly to a WiFi or local area network (such as your home or office's private network).
To understand how this works, a basic understanding of internet protocol and networking is helpful. The internet is just a bunch of networks connected together. These individual networks are often called Intranets, which I've always assumed translates to an 'internal' or private network.
Most households have one internet line, with one IP address, connected to a router, which the household members all connect to. The router also acts as a firewall, only allowing incoming connections from the websites that an internal client requests (as opposed to allowing all of the incoming traffic to simply pass through). In order to properly route the traffic to the correct device (for instance you probably don't want your router sending your porn stream to your mothers computer by mistake...), the router assigns a private, local, and unique internal IP address to each device connected, so that multiple devices may use the connection at the same time without interruption, while sharing the same public IP address.
The local IP should not be visible or identifiable to a specific device outside of the private network. All traffic coming from the household's network, regardless of which device it originated on, will appear to have the same public IP address. This is how the internet works. It is simply a pool of private networks (subnets) that are connected together through internet service providers and their main data hubs.
Mobile Networking
When your phone is in range of a cell tower, it identifies itself to the network using a unique code, typically known as an ISMI, or International Mobile Subscriber Identity. The phone then authenticates with the cell tower, in a manner similar to the process that occurs when you connect to a secured WiFi network. If you have mobile data enabled, your device is then assigned a unique local IP address, on the same subnet as the network operators entry gate (again, this is no different than the way a LAN works). Your phone is then connected to your cellular carriers network, behind their firewall, identified by the unique local IP address assigned by the DHCP server.
DHCP is a protocol for assigning IP addresses to clients on private networks. A DHCP server assigns all of the clients on the network a unique, temporary IP address. This allows many devices to connect through the same internet line, or public IP address, because the router (as the name suggests), is able to route the packets to the correct devices. As with WiFi or Ethernet networks, from outside the mobile network's firewall, the public IP address of each device connected to the network will share the same public IP address (except in cases when the network has several different IP addresses to compensate for more devices on the network, or when you are driving or moving from cell to cell and accessing different networks).
It is also important to note the different types of mobile networks, and why different protocols are more secure than others. For instance, 2G networks are far less secure than newer 3G networks, and 4G networks are likely the most secure networks available. This is because each generation of mobile networking protocols uses newer, more secure encryption standards than the last. Just like WEP WiFI network security can be cracked in about 1 minute with the correct equipment and software, 2G network encryption is old, and thus inherently insecure. I would advise disabling 2G data all together, because the security is so bad. In fact, one common tactic used for hijacking mobile network connections is to jam the 3G and 4G channels, which forces the device to revert to a 2G connection, which can then be very easily cracked, allowing an attacker easy surveillance or interception of your communications.
It is also important to understand the difference between the main cellular protocols, GSM & CDMA (also UTMS, but that's not terribly important right now).
GSM, or the Global System for Mobile Communications, is the protocol used on about 90% of the world's cellular networks. GSM phones have removable SIM cards, which allows a user to easily switch networks and phone numbers, simply by swapping the SIM card. Examples of GSM based provides in America are AT&T and T-Mobile, as opposed to Verizon or US Cellular, which strictly use CDMA.
GSM is generally considered less secure than CDMA networking, although over time GSM networks have adopted W-CDMA protocol for most 3G and 4G networks. If this makes no sense to you, don't worry about it too much.
CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access protocol has a few advantages over GSM protocol, but generally speaking, CDMA phones are locked to a specific carrier, and rarely can be used on any network other than the one that the phone is programmed to. This is a major disadvantage compared to GSM, because when you purchase a phone from Verizon, that phone will only ever work on Verizon's network, where as a GSM phone can usually be carrier-unlocked, and than used with almost any other GSM carrier in the world, simply by swapping the SIM card. This is a personal necessity for me, and the reason why I recently switched to AT&T and purchased a carrier unlocked phone. If I get tired of AT&T, I can always switch carriers, and I'll never be locked into a contract again. It gives you freedom of choice.
IMSI Attacks & Fake Mobile Base Stations
Okay, so now that you understand the background, let's get to the point. In recent years, devices have been developed that can act as a cellular signal amplifier. These devices are very convenient for people who live in rural areas with bad service coverage. Anyone can now purchase a cell service amplifier for their property, to improve their cellular reception at their homes or businesses. At least, that was the original idea. Even more recently, it was discovered that by modifying one of these devices, one can effectively turn the amplifier into an IMSI Catcher, or "cell connection hijacker", or "fake mobile base station" (fake cell tower, in other words). It did not take long for law enforcement to embrace this technology, and now mobile phone user security has been seriously compromised for everyone. It is now common for police to drive around with one of these devices in an SUV, or fly around with one in a helicopter, for the purpose of intercepting citizens mobile communications.
Just like a man in the middle attack on a WiFi network, these devices effectively trick your phone into connecting to them, rather than the actual cell towers, and then routing your internet connection through the rogue base station. This allows the foe to perform the same types of malicious attacks on cell phone networks as one can do on a WiFi network; including ease-dropping, stealing personal data, installing malware on smart-phones, and intercepting and decrypting your phone calls and sms messages on the fly.
Most people do not even notice a thing when this is happening. I for one believe that cellular providers need to development ways of protecting their customers against these types of attacks, because as far as I know, there is no native feature present on any unmodified cellular device sold today that even alerts the user when this is happening to them, or offering counter attack security measures. Since 2009 security minded people have requested that Google add a feature to Android to inform the user when no encryption is being used on the network. For whatever reason, it has not happened.
However, there is software in the beta stages of development available, written by concerned members of the open source community, that can detect this type of attack and warn the user.
This software works by comparing the geolocation of your phone to a constantly updated database of real cell towers, examining the cell ID's of the towers your phone is connected to, and making sure that these towers are supposed to exist. It also will detect if the cell tower appears to be moving, which for obvious reasons is a major red flag... cell towers do not just get up and start running around for fun. In other words, a moving cell tower is likely a fake cell tower.
This particular program, AMSICD, also gives you the option of anonymously uploading the data your phone picks up to the OpenCellID database, so that other people know where suspicious activity is occuring, and so that the program can warn you if the area you are in is a hostile network. This concept works quite well, because, well... last I checked, once a cell tower is erected, it stays in the same place forever.
If AMSICD detects a rogue base station or hostile service area, it will warn you. You can also set it to automatically turn Airplane mode on if this happens, which immediately shuts off all of your cellular radios, effectively protecting you from being compromised. The more people that run this app, the more accurate the data-base will be, and thus cellular networks will be safer for everyone.
In order to fully bennifit from this AMSICD, you will need to get an OpenCellID API key, so that you can access the database of known, legitimate cell tower locations, and also to contribute to the database (if you want to, that's not mandatory at all).
Conclusion
It is clearly a very sick society that we live in, considering these types of police operations are completely unconstitutional and thus illegal... Unfortunately, that does not seem to make a difference to law enforcement. As I watch all of our rights go down the toilet, the least I can do is spread awareness of what we are up against. Please spread the word, and be safe. Remember, there is nothing more personal and vulnerable than your cell phone. Be safe, and good luck.
A couple of weeks ago, to my surprise, a Massachusetts local news station issued a report claiming that law enforcement has been driving and/or flying around civilian districts with mobile network hijacking equipment for the purpose of intercepting mobile phone connections in order to spy on the populace. Although I knew this type of attack is easy to perform these days, this report sounded a little bit far fetched to me, mainly because this is the type of relevant news that seldom makes it to the mainstream media. The technology certainty exists, and the attack is nothing new; it is simply a MITM (man-in-the-middle) attack on a mobile network. However, it's far easier to pull off on a cellular network than a secured WiFi network because cell towers offer no authentication to the phones.
Proof Of Concept: MITM Attacks & Lack of Tower Authentication
The concept is exactly the same as MITM attacks that occur on insecure, often public, and generally open WiFi networks. I know how easy it is to perform these kinds of attacks on any given network, because I have tried it out myself in the past (on my own network, of course.) Using simple ARP redirection, and even on a secured WPA2 network with a 63 character ASCII PSK, I have successfully injected custom malicious JavaScript into html web pages requested by the devices I was experimenting on.
Using the aircrack-ng suit, a WiFi chipset capable of packet injection, and a Linux machine, it was very easy to perform the following attacks:
-- Simple access point impersonation & redirection attacks. This attack impersonates the AP's mac address and LAN IP address, causing the device to connect to the internet through the rogue (fake, hostile) network adapter. This then allows the attacker to run a "Dumpcap", or in other words a program that logs all of the client's data packets to my hard drive, for the purpose of future analysis and data extraction. Typically, the analysis would consist of searching all of the stolen data packets for sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, personal information, etc.
-- After ARP redirection is established, "session hijacking" can then occur. The idea behind this attack is quite simple: cookies* are often used to store data on a client's computer (or browser cache) for easy authentication confirmation of a pre-established secure web session. Once the victims connection is compromised, cookies may be easily stolen, particularly when accessing non-secure web sites (http, as opposed to https. Pay attention to the URL's of the sites you visit. Browsers like Firefox warn you when an HTTPS connection is compromised.)
*Cookies were not invented with security in mind. A cookie is a tiny text file stored on your computer by a web server, which allows personal settings specific to the web site to remain on the client's machine. General reasons for this are: Either for convenience (like remembering personal settings or speeding up loading web pages you frequently visit), and also for authentication reasons as discussed above. For example, when you log into Facebook, a cookie is stored on your computer, which allows you to stay logged in even if you close the browser tab, so that every time you pull up Facebook again, you do not have to re-enter your password. The cookie tells Facebook's servers that you are already logged in, thus keeping the secure session open, and preventing you from having to enter your password every time you access the site. This is how many, many web servers keep track of authenticated sessions these days.
-- DNS hijacking and cross-site reference attacks can also be performed by a savy attacker on your local network. D.N.S. (Domain Name Service) is basically like the phone book of the internet. Every time you go to Google.com, your computer has to figure out where google's server is; this is called domain-resolution. Each domain name on the internet corresponds to one or more IP addresses. Just like you need a phone number to call someone, a computer needs an IP address to be able to connect to the requested server. DNS hijacking is the process of either spying on internet users simply by logging DNS requests (to see what sites you are visiting, even if your connection is encrypted, this is called a DNS leak), or by providing the victim's device with a false IP address, in order to connect them to a rogue server. Here is a classic example of this attack:
You need to check your bank account balance, so you grab your computer or phone. You then open a browser and go to http://www.yourexamplebank.com, but rather than actually accessing the banks real website, the attacker returns false DNS information, which causes your computer to connect to a malicious web site. It's not uncommon for malicious hackers to create official looking clones of real web sites, which look exactly the same as the site you think you are accessing. The victim, not knowing any better, logs in with their username and password, and the attacker logs that information, and then has access to the victims bank account. (This actually happened to my mother at the New Ipswich, NH town library a couple years ago. About $1000 was stolen from her bank account. Nobody helped or cared, including the police.)
-- Installation of malware. Most people tend to trust the sites that they use every day, and many do not think twice when their browser tells them that they need (for example) a new version of Adobe Flash Player to watch a video. The naive user follows the download link, installs the malware, and then unbeknownst to them, their entire system becomes infected, and compromised. Sometimes this happens without the user even knowing that they installed something, particularly when the victim is running an old version of Microsoft Windows.
-- Many, many other malicious things.
In addition to poisoning the data connection, all voice calls and sms messages can be intercepted too easily these days. GSM technology was designed to be defective and allow warrantless wiretapping. When cell phones were invented, the GSM protocol was supposed to use 128 bit keys for encrypting voice calls. However, governments wanted to be able to spy on eachother, so a compromise was reached, and the key size of A5/1 (original GSM encryption, still used today on many networks) was reduced to 56 bits. This may have been sufficient back in the 80's, but today the encryption protocol is totally broken. Often times cellular networks do not even use any encryption, whatsoever. To make matters worse, when you turn on your phone, it connects to whatever cell tower has the strongest signal. The phone authenticates itself to the tower, but not the other way around. Unlike HTTPS and other modern day encryption protocols, cellular networks offer no authentication to the users. This makes it far too easy for anyone with a little bit of money and time to intercept your communications. Furthermore, the authentication that identifies your device to the network has been cracked, allowing easy impersonation.
Networking In A Nutshell
The attacks explained above can be performed on any type network, including mobile networks. A mobile network functions similarly to a WiFi or local area network (such as your home or office's private network).
To understand how this works, a basic understanding of internet protocol and networking is helpful. The internet is just a bunch of networks connected together. These individual networks are often called Intranets, which I've always assumed translates to an 'internal' or private network.
Most households have one internet line, with one IP address, connected to a router, which the household members all connect to. The router also acts as a firewall, only allowing incoming connections from the websites that an internal client requests (as opposed to allowing all of the incoming traffic to simply pass through). In order to properly route the traffic to the correct device (for instance you probably don't want your router sending your porn stream to your mothers computer by mistake...), the router assigns a private, local, and unique internal IP address to each device connected, so that multiple devices may use the connection at the same time without interruption, while sharing the same public IP address.
The local IP should not be visible or identifiable to a specific device outside of the private network. All traffic coming from the household's network, regardless of which device it originated on, will appear to have the same public IP address. This is how the internet works. It is simply a pool of private networks (subnets) that are connected together through internet service providers and their main data hubs.
Mobile Networking
When your phone is in range of a cell tower, it identifies itself to the network using a unique code, typically known as an ISMI, or International Mobile Subscriber Identity. The phone then authenticates with the cell tower, in a manner similar to the process that occurs when you connect to a secured WiFi network. If you have mobile data enabled, your device is then assigned a unique local IP address, on the same subnet as the network operators entry gate (again, this is no different than the way a LAN works). Your phone is then connected to your cellular carriers network, behind their firewall, identified by the unique local IP address assigned by the DHCP server.
DHCP is a protocol for assigning IP addresses to clients on private networks. A DHCP server assigns all of the clients on the network a unique, temporary IP address. This allows many devices to connect through the same internet line, or public IP address, because the router (as the name suggests), is able to route the packets to the correct devices. As with WiFi or Ethernet networks, from outside the mobile network's firewall, the public IP address of each device connected to the network will share the same public IP address (except in cases when the network has several different IP addresses to compensate for more devices on the network, or when you are driving or moving from cell to cell and accessing different networks).
It is also important to note the different types of mobile networks, and why different protocols are more secure than others. For instance, 2G networks are far less secure than newer 3G networks, and 4G networks are likely the most secure networks available. This is because each generation of mobile networking protocols uses newer, more secure encryption standards than the last. Just like WEP WiFI network security can be cracked in about 1 minute with the correct equipment and software, 2G network encryption is old, and thus inherently insecure. I would advise disabling 2G data all together, because the security is so bad. In fact, one common tactic used for hijacking mobile network connections is to jam the 3G and 4G channels, which forces the device to revert to a 2G connection, which can then be very easily cracked, allowing an attacker easy surveillance or interception of your communications.
It is also important to understand the difference between the main cellular protocols, GSM & CDMA (also UTMS, but that's not terribly important right now).
GSM, or the Global System for Mobile Communications, is the protocol used on about 90% of the world's cellular networks. GSM phones have removable SIM cards, which allows a user to easily switch networks and phone numbers, simply by swapping the SIM card. Examples of GSM based provides in America are AT&T and T-Mobile, as opposed to Verizon or US Cellular, which strictly use CDMA.
GSM is generally considered less secure than CDMA networking, although over time GSM networks have adopted W-CDMA protocol for most 3G and 4G networks. If this makes no sense to you, don't worry about it too much.
CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access protocol has a few advantages over GSM protocol, but generally speaking, CDMA phones are locked to a specific carrier, and rarely can be used on any network other than the one that the phone is programmed to. This is a major disadvantage compared to GSM, because when you purchase a phone from Verizon, that phone will only ever work on Verizon's network, where as a GSM phone can usually be carrier-unlocked, and than used with almost any other GSM carrier in the world, simply by swapping the SIM card. This is a personal necessity for me, and the reason why I recently switched to AT&T and purchased a carrier unlocked phone. If I get tired of AT&T, I can always switch carriers, and I'll never be locked into a contract again. It gives you freedom of choice.
IMSI Attacks & Fake Mobile Base Stations
Okay, so now that you understand the background, let's get to the point. In recent years, devices have been developed that can act as a cellular signal amplifier. These devices are very convenient for people who live in rural areas with bad service coverage. Anyone can now purchase a cell service amplifier for their property, to improve their cellular reception at their homes or businesses. At least, that was the original idea. Even more recently, it was discovered that by modifying one of these devices, one can effectively turn the amplifier into an IMSI Catcher, or "cell connection hijacker", or "fake mobile base station" (fake cell tower, in other words). It did not take long for law enforcement to embrace this technology, and now mobile phone user security has been seriously compromised for everyone. It is now common for police to drive around with one of these devices in an SUV, or fly around with one in a helicopter, for the purpose of intercepting citizens mobile communications.
Just like a man in the middle attack on a WiFi network, these devices effectively trick your phone into connecting to them, rather than the actual cell towers, and then routing your internet connection through the rogue base station. This allows the foe to perform the same types of malicious attacks on cell phone networks as one can do on a WiFi network; including ease-dropping, stealing personal data, installing malware on smart-phones, and intercepting and decrypting your phone calls and sms messages on the fly.
Most people do not even notice a thing when this is happening. I for one believe that cellular providers need to development ways of protecting their customers against these types of attacks, because as far as I know, there is no native feature present on any unmodified cellular device sold today that even alerts the user when this is happening to them, or offering counter attack security measures. Since 2009 security minded people have requested that Google add a feature to Android to inform the user when no encryption is being used on the network. For whatever reason, it has not happened.
However, there is software in the beta stages of development available, written by concerned members of the open source community, that can detect this type of attack and warn the user.
This software works by comparing the geolocation of your phone to a constantly updated database of real cell towers, examining the cell ID's of the towers your phone is connected to, and making sure that these towers are supposed to exist. It also will detect if the cell tower appears to be moving, which for obvious reasons is a major red flag... cell towers do not just get up and start running around for fun. In other words, a moving cell tower is likely a fake cell tower.
This particular program, AMSICD, also gives you the option of anonymously uploading the data your phone picks up to the OpenCellID database, so that other people know where suspicious activity is occuring, and so that the program can warn you if the area you are in is a hostile network. This concept works quite well, because, well... last I checked, once a cell tower is erected, it stays in the same place forever.
If AMSICD detects a rogue base station or hostile service area, it will warn you. You can also set it to automatically turn Airplane mode on if this happens, which immediately shuts off all of your cellular radios, effectively protecting you from being compromised. The more people that run this app, the more accurate the data-base will be, and thus cellular networks will be safer for everyone.
In order to fully bennifit from this AMSICD, you will need to get an OpenCellID API key, so that you can access the database of known, legitimate cell tower locations, and also to contribute to the database (if you want to, that's not mandatory at all).
Conclusion
It is clearly a very sick society that we live in, considering these types of police operations are completely unconstitutional and thus illegal... Unfortunately, that does not seem to make a difference to law enforcement. As I watch all of our rights go down the toilet, the least I can do is spread awareness of what we are up against. Please spread the word, and be safe. Remember, there is nothing more personal and vulnerable than your cell phone. Be safe, and good luck.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Net Neutrality Explodes into a 'Bipartisian Thing' : Perfect Example of Our Flawed Two-Party System
Un-fucking-Believable, Incorporated
My oh my, where to even begin? Now that the president has taken a stance on the Net Neutrality issue, and issued a statement to the people, I am sure that you are all well aware of this problem by now. If not, see my previous blogs to fill yourself in. In a nutshell, Verizon, Comcast, Time-Warner, and At&t have gotten in bed with the FCC and have been trying to destroy the open internet as we know it.
The History of Deliberate Confusion in American Politics
We've all seen this before, over and over again; corporations taking over our country, one piece of government infrastructure at a time. For my generation, perhaps it started with the "Exporting of America" during the 90's, when many corporations outsourced their manufacturing jobs to countries like China and Hong Kong, to avoid paying U.S. taxes and exploit cheap labour. The result of that particular scandal was Americans being robbed of employment opportunities, because for every 20 year old American employment seeker, there are 10 more Chinese workers willing to do the same thing for 1/10 the wage. Call it 'capitalism', 'the way the world turns', or tell me 'tough luck, kid' if you want, but then ask yourself this:
Why do these corporations (that don't even pay taxes at home) still havethe same more rights, protections, and freedoms then private American citizens do? (Remember, corporations are now people too). But wait: How do they get away with paying lower taxes to Uncle Sam because they are 'officially' based in a foreign country, yet are allowed to claim American citizenship?
For example, I have a friend with dual citizenship; Canadian & American. When he works in Canada, he ends up having to pay taxes to both countries, and it ends up costing him more money in the end, than it does when he works in the U.S.A. However, this friend works for a company that exported to Hong Kong a couple years ago, and now that corporation is getting away with paying almost no taxes to Uncle Sam. How can that be? Are corporations not people after all?
While it depends on how to want to define a "person", it also depends on whether you consider the bribery that our politicians and leaders have taken from these companies. After all, it should be abundantly clear to everybody by now that our political system is a system of bribery, nothing less, nothing more. Foreign aid? Nope. It's foreign bribery. Campaign donations of undisclosed amounts from ultra-rich corporations? No, that's not called a donation, that is called a bribe.
You may be thinking: "Chev, we already know all this. So what is the point you're trying to make, and how does this relate to net neutrality, Republicans, and Democrats?"
Alright, let's talk about Net Neutrality
Recently, and finally, after millions of Americans called, emailed, wrote, protested, and even occupied the FCC in opposition to destroying Net Neutrality laws, (and with those laws the open internet a we know it), Obama finally took a stance and urged the FCC to "Adopt the strongest possible rules for net neutrality." This was big news, and appeared to be reason to celebrate our efforts. After a year of endless, seemingly futile political outreach, we finally got the president on our side! There is no way FCC chairman Tom Wheeler can ignore us now! At least, that is what I thought at the time. This happened because on November 6th, there were protests all over the country urging the president to do something (as he promised he would protect the internet during his campaign), and the FCC to honour the will of the American people. Prior to Obama's announcement, it seemed as if only one in ten Americans even knew what was going on with the internet, and why it mattered. Suffice to say, we had a sweet, but short lived moment of victory, until...
Ted Cruz Joins the Debate : Never Underestimate Stupid...
As if there wasn't already enough reason to despise the TEA party, after Obama made his statement, Ted Cruz issued perhaps the most ignorant statement of his life:
"...net neutrality is just ObamaCare for the internet..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, net neutrality blew up into a bipartisan issue, with ultra right wingers comparing it to 'Obamacare' simply because it was Obama that raised the desperately needed public awareness of this issue. Nice one Ted! Perfect timing... Now that the majority of America is actually somewhat aware of the net-neutrality issue, you have successfully twisted it into another ridiculous "Obama_X" debate. And we all know that there are many, many people who will, and do hate Obama simply because he is Obama, and they are Republicans. (Divide and conquer, remember?)
But I say no, not this time. I believe that this time the public will see through the bullshit and realize this is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the corporations that own the Tea Party (Koch brothers, anyone..?) to push their agendas in the midst of a serious threat; that threat being our president actually standing up for his people. God knows the TEA party will never allow that to happen without a fight.
Why Does Every Problem in American Become a "Party" Thing?
...because the political parties are responsible for all of the problems, every single time. This is probably the best example of bi-partisan manipulation I've ever witnessed. Take this into consideration:
Whether you consider yourself to be on the right, left, or independent, there's a good chance that until a couple days ago, you didn't even know that there was a heating debate over net neutrality laws. That's because the media has completely failed at doing its job (not to mention the mainstream media corporations also happen to be the same guys that want the authority to rape your wallet if you want to use Netflix or Youtube.) Now that you do know, I'm willing to bet that those of you who consider yourself members of the Republican party are already second-guessing the entire idea of net neutrality, simply because that's what you're party is doing. While that is probably not the case (because you're still reading this post) for you, it's pathetic when you consider that prior to Ted Cruz (stupid)'s remarks, you didn't even know what net neutrality was to begin with!
The Corporate/Bi-Partisan Link
Now ask yourself why the Republicans are taking this stance. The conclusion that I hope you arrive at it is because they are owned by these corporations. With that in mind, I urge each and every one of you to do your homework before taking a stance in the net neutrality debate. Please do not get suckered into working against your own best interests. Because after all, that is the sole agenda of the TEA party.
The Point
Keeping the internet open and free, while preserving equal access and opportunity for all is not an 'Obama thing', or a 'Democrat thing', it is a human rights thing. It's the single reason for the dot com booms we enjoyed in the 90's. It's the reason Google has had such success with it's open source Android operating system. It's freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of information, and freedom for entraprenours to innovate without a liscense from the rich. That's all I have to say. The ball is in your court.
My oh my, where to even begin? Now that the president has taken a stance on the Net Neutrality issue, and issued a statement to the people, I am sure that you are all well aware of this problem by now. If not, see my previous blogs to fill yourself in. In a nutshell, Verizon, Comcast, Time-Warner, and At&t have gotten in bed with the FCC and have been trying to destroy the open internet as we know it.
The History of Deliberate Confusion in American Politics
We've all seen this before, over and over again; corporations taking over our country, one piece of government infrastructure at a time. For my generation, perhaps it started with the "Exporting of America" during the 90's, when many corporations outsourced their manufacturing jobs to countries like China and Hong Kong, to avoid paying U.S. taxes and exploit cheap labour. The result of that particular scandal was Americans being robbed of employment opportunities, because for every 20 year old American employment seeker, there are 10 more Chinese workers willing to do the same thing for 1/10 the wage. Call it 'capitalism', 'the way the world turns', or tell me 'tough luck, kid' if you want, but then ask yourself this:
Why do these corporations (that don't even pay taxes at home) still have
For example, I have a friend with dual citizenship; Canadian & American. When he works in Canada, he ends up having to pay taxes to both countries, and it ends up costing him more money in the end, than it does when he works in the U.S.A. However, this friend works for a company that exported to Hong Kong a couple years ago, and now that corporation is getting away with paying almost no taxes to Uncle Sam. How can that be? Are corporations not people after all?
While it depends on how to want to define a "person", it also depends on whether you consider the bribery that our politicians and leaders have taken from these companies. After all, it should be abundantly clear to everybody by now that our political system is a system of bribery, nothing less, nothing more. Foreign aid? Nope. It's foreign bribery. Campaign donations of undisclosed amounts from ultra-rich corporations? No, that's not called a donation, that is called a bribe.
You may be thinking: "Chev, we already know all this. So what is the point you're trying to make, and how does this relate to net neutrality, Republicans, and Democrats?"
Alright, let's talk about Net Neutrality
Recently, and finally, after millions of Americans called, emailed, wrote, protested, and even occupied the FCC in opposition to destroying Net Neutrality laws, (and with those laws the open internet a we know it), Obama finally took a stance and urged the FCC to "Adopt the strongest possible rules for net neutrality." This was big news, and appeared to be reason to celebrate our efforts. After a year of endless, seemingly futile political outreach, we finally got the president on our side! There is no way FCC chairman Tom Wheeler can ignore us now! At least, that is what I thought at the time. This happened because on November 6th, there were protests all over the country urging the president to do something (as he promised he would protect the internet during his campaign), and the FCC to honour the will of the American people. Prior to Obama's announcement, it seemed as if only one in ten Americans even knew what was going on with the internet, and why it mattered. Suffice to say, we had a sweet, but short lived moment of victory, until...
Ted Cruz Joins the Debate : Never Underestimate Stupid...
As if there wasn't already enough reason to despise the TEA party, after Obama made his statement, Ted Cruz issued perhaps the most ignorant statement of his life:
"...net neutrality is just ObamaCare for the internet..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, net neutrality blew up into a bipartisan issue, with ultra right wingers comparing it to 'Obamacare' simply because it was Obama that raised the desperately needed public awareness of this issue. Nice one Ted! Perfect timing... Now that the majority of America is actually somewhat aware of the net-neutrality issue, you have successfully twisted it into another ridiculous "Obama_X" debate. And we all know that there are many, many people who will, and do hate Obama simply because he is Obama, and they are Republicans. (Divide and conquer, remember?)
But I say no, not this time. I believe that this time the public will see through the bullshit and realize this is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the corporations that own the Tea Party (Koch brothers, anyone..?) to push their agendas in the midst of a serious threat; that threat being our president actually standing up for his people. God knows the TEA party will never allow that to happen without a fight.
Why Does Every Problem in American Become a "Party" Thing?
...because the political parties are responsible for all of the problems, every single time. This is probably the best example of bi-partisan manipulation I've ever witnessed. Take this into consideration:
Whether you consider yourself to be on the right, left, or independent, there's a good chance that until a couple days ago, you didn't even know that there was a heating debate over net neutrality laws. That's because the media has completely failed at doing its job (not to mention the mainstream media corporations also happen to be the same guys that want the authority to rape your wallet if you want to use Netflix or Youtube.) Now that you do know, I'm willing to bet that those of you who consider yourself members of the Republican party are already second-guessing the entire idea of net neutrality, simply because that's what you're party is doing. While that is probably not the case (because you're still reading this post) for you, it's pathetic when you consider that prior to Ted Cruz (stupid)'s remarks, you didn't even know what net neutrality was to begin with!
The Corporate/Bi-Partisan Link
Now ask yourself why the Republicans are taking this stance. The conclusion that I hope you arrive at it is because they are owned by these corporations. With that in mind, I urge each and every one of you to do your homework before taking a stance in the net neutrality debate. Please do not get suckered into working against your own best interests. Because after all, that is the sole agenda of the TEA party.
The Point
Keeping the internet open and free, while preserving equal access and opportunity for all is not an 'Obama thing', or a 'Democrat thing', it is a human rights thing. It's the single reason for the dot com booms we enjoyed in the 90's. It's the reason Google has had such success with it's open source Android operating system. It's freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of information, and freedom for entraprenours to innovate without a liscense from the rich. That's all I have to say. The ball is in your court.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Update: Net Neutrality Protests will also take place in Boston & other cities
This is a quick update on the situation regarding the national emergency protest to save net neutrality on November 6th. I've just been informed that there will be demonstrations not only in Washington DC, but also in many major cities around the country, including Boston, Massachusetts. To find a city near you to participate, click here. Starting 6:00 PM EST on November 6th, all across the country, citizens will unite, bring their cell phones, candles, and flash lights and shine the light upon the corruption going on inside the government buildings (mainly statehouses, I believe). Find an event near you and help. This is our last shot at saving our digital futures. This is one of the most important things that will ever happen in our lifetimes.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
URGENT: Last Chance to Save the Net: We the People have been IGNORED, so..
Why This Matters
In case you have either been living under a rock of not paying attention, net neutrality is the concept that nobody's data on the internet gets priority over anyone else's data. In other words, the internet that we have enjoyed since its' inception has been operating on an even playing field. Sure, you can pay for faster or slower internet lines, but no matter what your connection speed is, your traffic has equal access and the same priority as anyone else's traffic once it is travelling through the data lines that connect us all together (the internet, or the world wide web).
Net Neutrality prevents ISP's (internet service providers) from discriminating against and blocking certain content, or throttling down your connection speed, or making you pay more money to access certain services (like video streaming, which uses a lot of bandwidth), or even putting data caps on your land-line cable internet, like the limits you have on your cell phone (usually 2 GB on average, depending on your phone plan). Imagine if Comcast could start charging you on a per gigabyte basis, like Verizon, ATT, and other cell phone providers do already on your phones. Wouldn't that suck? Or imagine if you suddenly had to start paying more money to access the same sites you have been using for years, like YouTube, Netflix, or Pandora. Basically, without net neutrality, the internet could turn into something like Cable TV, where you have to pay more to access certain content. That is something that nobody wants or needs, and only benefits corporate interests:
They Have Completely Ignored The Will of the People
This is really happening, despite the fact that millions of people have written the FCC and told them that we, the people, are very opposed. So many people have complained that the FCC's website has crashed not once, but twice due to so many people telling them to save net neutrality. Yet despite this, we have been completely ignored, and now our window is opportunity to fix this problem has gotten much, much smaller, as last week it was announced that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler plans to seal the deal much sooner than we anticipated. His proposal is terrible, and would only attempt to appear to appease public outcry, while failing to address any of our concerns. We have spoken, and they are not getting the message. So, as a last resort, on November 6th, we will peacefully assemble and protest against killing the internet, in Washington,DC as a last resort to save the internet as we know it.
Our Last Chance
The FCC has the power to put a stop to all of this! So, there will be an Emergency Protest on November 6th, in the nation's capitol, Washington, DC:
If this does not get their attention, I'm afraid I don't know what will. Perhaps now that this situation has blown up so terribly, more people will start to take it seriously. Even if you personally cannot be in Washington, DC on November the 6th, tell your friends, family, and anyone you know who may be able to make it to show up. The fate of our digital future now rests on the turnout of this demonstration.
And what kind of future will that be? There are only two possibilities: Will it be a future full of freedom to innovate, and friendly to entrepreneurs and small businesses? A future that continues to allow the limitless flow of information and truth to the people, via the internet, like we have taken for granted all along?
Or will it be a darker future, full of censorship and media/news blind spots, and inaccessibility of information because only the rich can afford to access it? One where you have to pay $100 a month to use YouTube or Netflix, or $25 a month strictly for web browsing and email, and with data caps? The fate of the future of the internet rests in all of our hands. Will you do your part? Will you say, "No, I will not accept this."? Or will you stick your head in the sand, go on with your daily lives, and pretend this does not matter? The choice is yours. America-- it's time to unite and say "enough is enough."
What Else Can I do?
In case you have either been living under a rock of not paying attention, net neutrality is the concept that nobody's data on the internet gets priority over anyone else's data. In other words, the internet that we have enjoyed since its' inception has been operating on an even playing field. Sure, you can pay for faster or slower internet lines, but no matter what your connection speed is, your traffic has equal access and the same priority as anyone else's traffic once it is travelling through the data lines that connect us all together (the internet, or the world wide web).
Net Neutrality prevents ISP's (internet service providers) from discriminating against and blocking certain content, or throttling down your connection speed, or making you pay more money to access certain services (like video streaming, which uses a lot of bandwidth), or even putting data caps on your land-line cable internet, like the limits you have on your cell phone (usually 2 GB on average, depending on your phone plan). Imagine if Comcast could start charging you on a per gigabyte basis, like Verizon, ATT, and other cell phone providers do already on your phones. Wouldn't that suck? Or imagine if you suddenly had to start paying more money to access the same sites you have been using for years, like YouTube, Netflix, or Pandora. Basically, without net neutrality, the internet could turn into something like Cable TV, where you have to pay more to access certain content. That is something that nobody wants or needs, and only benefits corporate interests:
 |
| The FCC might as well be a subsidiary of Comcast |
They Have Completely Ignored The Will of the People
This is really happening, despite the fact that millions of people have written the FCC and told them that we, the people, are very opposed. So many people have complained that the FCC's website has crashed not once, but twice due to so many people telling them to save net neutrality. Yet despite this, we have been completely ignored, and now our window is opportunity to fix this problem has gotten much, much smaller, as last week it was announced that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler plans to seal the deal much sooner than we anticipated. His proposal is terrible, and would only attempt to appear to appease public outcry, while failing to address any of our concerns. We have spoken, and they are not getting the message. So, as a last resort, on November 6th, we will peacefully assemble and protest against killing the internet, in Washington,DC as a last resort to save the internet as we know it.
Our Last Chance
The FCC has the power to put a stop to all of this! So, there will be an Emergency Protest on November 6th, in the nation's capitol, Washington, DC:
"The WSJ just reported that, after receiving nearly 4 million public comments calling for strong net neutrality, the FCC is still hurtling toward a FAKE proposal that leaves the door wide open for Cable company censorship and abuse of the Internet. We need a massive response RIGHT NOW to show President Obama, the FCC, and the world that the Internet will accept nothing less than lasting net neutrality through Title II reclassification.
On November 6th, we'll gather at the White House and government buildings nationwide and hold our cell phones, candles, and flashlights up to shine light on the corruption that is unfolding in Washington, DC, and demand a free and uncensored Internet for all."
If this does not get their attention, I'm afraid I don't know what will. Perhaps now that this situation has blown up so terribly, more people will start to take it seriously. Even if you personally cannot be in Washington, DC on November the 6th, tell your friends, family, and anyone you know who may be able to make it to show up. The fate of our digital future now rests on the turnout of this demonstration.
And what kind of future will that be? There are only two possibilities: Will it be a future full of freedom to innovate, and friendly to entrepreneurs and small businesses? A future that continues to allow the limitless flow of information and truth to the people, via the internet, like we have taken for granted all along?
Or will it be a darker future, full of censorship and media/news blind spots, and inaccessibility of information because only the rich can afford to access it? One where you have to pay $100 a month to use YouTube or Netflix, or $25 a month strictly for web browsing and email, and with data caps? The fate of the future of the internet rests in all of our hands. Will you do your part? Will you say, "No, I will not accept this."? Or will you stick your head in the sand, go on with your daily lives, and pretend this does not matter? The choice is yours. America-- it's time to unite and say "enough is enough."
What Else Can I do?
- You can call the FCC and tell them you do not support Tom Wheeler's proposal, and that you are angry that the people have been heard and ignored.
- Or you can email the FCC and tell them not to accept these monstrous new proposals. Tell them to use the Title II laws to reclassify internet service providers as 'common carriers'. This would allow the FCC to prevent all the terrible things that the Big Internet companies want to do to us. It's not perfect, but its' the best solution we have on hand.
- And as always, you can simple share this information on social media. Make people aware, spread the word, and be vigilant in general.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Come Together, Right Now
The Pledge of Allegiance
"...One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Almost all Americans know the pledge of allegiance by heart, because we would recite it every morning throughout our school careers. Until today, I never gave it much thought, and I've realized that it carries a very important message: That divided we fall indeed.
To Divide is to Conquer
Yet another old, overlooked phrase of wisdom is "divide and conquer." Something clicked when I then thought about the two party system and how it keeps our country divided and causes us to inadvertently work against our own mutual best interests. I've always considered myself politically independent because I believe the two party system is perhaps the worst enabler of government corruption. Consider what we have seen throughout the Obama administration's time. There has been so much bipartisan hatred and collision that congress could not even pass a budget, and the federal government shut down. That alone is unacceptable, and it does not need to be this way. By constantly re-enforcing this 'one side or the other' idea, it causes Americans to accept terrible things that the party they are loyal to does, because they believe it has to be that way, that they must choose the lesser of two evils. Jerry Garcia once said that when you do that, you are still choosing evil. Well, I am here to ask us all, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike to remember the pledge of allegiance, put our differences aside, and work together to better our futures and save our country.
Come Together
From this point on, this is the way I am going to approach my political outreach. I believe that there are issues that effect all Americans. We all have mutual interests, regardless of party affiliation. For instance, it's safe to say that most Americans agree that there is an unnecessary and unfair division of equality today. At least, I know that almost all of my generation feels that way. After factoring in inflation, the average American makes less today than we did in the 60's. Is it just me or are we going backwards here? This is the first time in American history that an entire generation is making less money than our parents did. Up until the financial deregulation that led to the stock market collapse in 2008, if you look at big picture, we did have almost a century of economic growth. Much of that can be attributed to the economic boost during World War II and the cold war years, because, (as every historian knows) war is good for a winning side's economy. Yet, we are still fighting ever-so-pointless wars and the economy is still getting worse. The system is so broken that we're now not only dependent on a perpetual war driven economy, but the economy is not even benefiting from all the horror.
From Wikipedia:
"Household net worth fell from 2007 to 2009 by a total of $17.5 trillion or 25.5%. This was the equivalent loss of one year of GDP.[7] By the fourth quarter of 2010, the household net worth had recovered by a growth of 1.3 percent to a total of $56.8 trillion. An additional growth of 15.7 percent is needed just to bring the value to where it was before the recession started in December 2007.[2]"
There is something seriously wrong with that picture. It seems that American citizens have been robbed blind since right after I graduated high school in 2007. Can we at least all agree that this is a fact, and a problem? If we can do that, than maybe we can all work together to fix it. For too long we have been a divided nation. Too often, our government's right hand does not seem to know what the left hand is doing, and I'm not speaking strictly about parties either. I'm also referring to all the covert operations that you pay for with your taxes, which your government then classifies under the same lame grounds of "National Security" (which also happens to be a very old tactic of dictatorial states). It's time to unite. It's our country, and I feel like I am barking in the wind when I try to remind America that the government is supposed to be one by, for, and of the people. Can you honestly tell yourself this is what we have today? I don't think any sane person could. In almost all social media circles, no matter what we are arguing about, it is apparent that more and more people are viewing the police as a threat, rather than a force here to protect and serve us. It's also apparent that more and more people agree that we have a serious wealth gap issue in this country, caused by corporate lobbying and greed.
In 2016
When the next presidential election starts, I am asking America to pause for a moment to put our differences of opinion aside, and focus on what we can work together on to change, instead of focusing on which party will occupy the Whitehouse. Forget about political parties and start thinking about the actual issues facing us as a nation. If that happens, well... who knows what could happen. The future may be brighter for all of us. What have we got to loose?
"...One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Almost all Americans know the pledge of allegiance by heart, because we would recite it every morning throughout our school careers. Until today, I never gave it much thought, and I've realized that it carries a very important message: That divided we fall indeed.
To Divide is to Conquer
Yet another old, overlooked phrase of wisdom is "divide and conquer." Something clicked when I then thought about the two party system and how it keeps our country divided and causes us to inadvertently work against our own mutual best interests. I've always considered myself politically independent because I believe the two party system is perhaps the worst enabler of government corruption. Consider what we have seen throughout the Obama administration's time. There has been so much bipartisan hatred and collision that congress could not even pass a budget, and the federal government shut down. That alone is unacceptable, and it does not need to be this way. By constantly re-enforcing this 'one side or the other' idea, it causes Americans to accept terrible things that the party they are loyal to does, because they believe it has to be that way, that they must choose the lesser of two evils. Jerry Garcia once said that when you do that, you are still choosing evil. Well, I am here to ask us all, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike to remember the pledge of allegiance, put our differences aside, and work together to better our futures and save our country.
Come Together
From this point on, this is the way I am going to approach my political outreach. I believe that there are issues that effect all Americans. We all have mutual interests, regardless of party affiliation. For instance, it's safe to say that most Americans agree that there is an unnecessary and unfair division of equality today. At least, I know that almost all of my generation feels that way. After factoring in inflation, the average American makes less today than we did in the 60's. Is it just me or are we going backwards here? This is the first time in American history that an entire generation is making less money than our parents did. Up until the financial deregulation that led to the stock market collapse in 2008, if you look at big picture, we did have almost a century of economic growth. Much of that can be attributed to the economic boost during World War II and the cold war years, because, (as every historian knows) war is good for a winning side's economy. Yet, we are still fighting ever-so-pointless wars and the economy is still getting worse. The system is so broken that we're now not only dependent on a perpetual war driven economy, but the economy is not even benefiting from all the horror.
From Wikipedia:
"Household net worth fell from 2007 to 2009 by a total of $17.5 trillion or 25.5%. This was the equivalent loss of one year of GDP.[7] By the fourth quarter of 2010, the household net worth had recovered by a growth of 1.3 percent to a total of $56.8 trillion. An additional growth of 15.7 percent is needed just to bring the value to where it was before the recession started in December 2007.[2]"
There is something seriously wrong with that picture. It seems that American citizens have been robbed blind since right after I graduated high school in 2007. Can we at least all agree that this is a fact, and a problem? If we can do that, than maybe we can all work together to fix it. For too long we have been a divided nation. Too often, our government's right hand does not seem to know what the left hand is doing, and I'm not speaking strictly about parties either. I'm also referring to all the covert operations that you pay for with your taxes, which your government then classifies under the same lame grounds of "National Security" (which also happens to be a very old tactic of dictatorial states). It's time to unite. It's our country, and I feel like I am barking in the wind when I try to remind America that the government is supposed to be one by, for, and of the people. Can you honestly tell yourself this is what we have today? I don't think any sane person could. In almost all social media circles, no matter what we are arguing about, it is apparent that more and more people are viewing the police as a threat, rather than a force here to protect and serve us. It's also apparent that more and more people agree that we have a serious wealth gap issue in this country, caused by corporate lobbying and greed.
In 2016
When the next presidential election starts, I am asking America to pause for a moment to put our differences of opinion aside, and focus on what we can work together on to change, instead of focusing on which party will occupy the Whitehouse. Forget about political parties and start thinking about the actual issues facing us as a nation. If that happens, well... who knows what could happen. The future may be brighter for all of us. What have we got to loose?
Thursday, October 2, 2014
With BTC Prices Dropping, Which Altcoin Could Replace It?
Lately the price of BTC has been plummeting. We were sailing smooth around ~$600 for months and months, and then over the last month I've watched the price get lower, and lower, teetering just under $400 today. There are a lot of people freaking out about this, and there is a lot of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) going around as well. Meanwhile, there's over 200 noteworthy altcoins (alternative cryptographic currencies) such as Litecoin (LTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Darkcoin (DRK) emerging from Githhub. I wrote a blog a little while ago about Dogecoin, and what a joke I thought it was. Well, I've stopped laughing, as the 65,000 Dogecoin that I bought to 'mess around with' is now worth 400% what I paid for them. And despite LTC's price theoretically being intrinsically tied to BTC; the price of Litecoin has gone up, while BTC has gone down. In other words, there are people holding these alternative currencies for reasons other than just buying for the sake of reselling them for Bitcoin. That gives them value independent of whether Bitcoin lives or dies. Follow?
Bitcoin has been around for about 5 years now, and over those years the network has become slower, and slower. Since running a Bitcoin node is very resource intensive on a computer, the average Bitcoin holder does not operate a node, but rather uses a light wallet to store their coins. A light wallet does not require the user to download the entire 26GB (and counting, exponentially) blockchain and verify every single transaction before it's useable. Instead, a light wallet relies on other servers full (heavy) bitcoin nodes to operate. While this is very convenient for the user, it has slowed the network down immensely, because when you run a light wallet, you are not contributing to the network.
While I tend to use light wallets for BTC these days (on my personal computers anyway), I do operate a Bitcoin node on a lonely VPS server just to help the network out a bit. However, for altcoins like DOGE and DRK, I have no problem running a full node as my client on my computer. That's because the blockchain of these coins is much smaller, and thus much less resource hungry. Not only that, but I can send DOGE or DRK and have the transaction verified and confirmed within seconds, while it can take up to an hour to confirm a Bitcoin transaction. The network speed and blockchain bloat are just some of the problems that the Bitcoin developers need to fix if Bitcoin is to remain to worlds (shall we call it) reserve-cryptographic-currency.
If slow transaction speeds and blockchain bloat are not bad enough, there is one more little detail that the Bitcoin developers need to, but have been hesitant to address. That is, anonimity. You see, while Bitcoin does give one a great deal of anonymity when compared to say, credit cards, that does not mean that BTC transactions are anonymous at all! Say huh...? Well, every Bitcoin transaction that ever has and ever will occur is forever logged, publicly, on the blockchain. There are ways of 'laundering' your Bitcoin, but it's a real pain in the ass. This is another problem that some of the altcoins are trying to fix, particularly Darkcoin.
But not only is there Darkcoin, there is Anoncoin, Stealthcoin, Blackcoin, whateveryounameitcoin, and new ones coming out everyday. At the moment, it appears that ANC (AnonCoin) is the most valuable (second to DRK) of the ever-emerging and anonymity-promising coins. Third in line, (in my honest opinion) is XST (Stealthcoin). StealthCoin was gaining a lot of traction, and the developers were talking about opening up a decentralized marketplace called OpenBazaar where anyone could sell anything to anyone, anonymously. But then one of the biggest whales and earliest investors (or was it developers?) dumped a ton of XST and bought up his own new coin SSD (Sonic ScrewDriver), and then I heard that it turns out that XST was a direct clone of RZR (RazorCoin) to begin with! What a clusterfuck, right? But wait, it gets worse...
Today, I heard that bitcointalk forum accounts are being SOLD for Bitcoin! That means that a reputable developer could sell his reputation to some scammer who could then promote (OtherRipOff)Coin and so on... I am still trying to sort this one out. If it's not true, than XST may be the best buy on the market right now. If it is true, than... I just don't know. Any thoughts, anyone?
Bitcoin has been around for about 5 years now, and over those years the network has become slower, and slower. Since running a Bitcoin node is very resource intensive on a computer, the average Bitcoin holder does not operate a node, but rather uses a light wallet to store their coins. A light wallet does not require the user to download the entire 26GB (and counting, exponentially) blockchain and verify every single transaction before it's useable. Instead, a light wallet relies on other servers full (heavy) bitcoin nodes to operate. While this is very convenient for the user, it has slowed the network down immensely, because when you run a light wallet, you are not contributing to the network.
While I tend to use light wallets for BTC these days (on my personal computers anyway), I do operate a Bitcoin node on a lonely VPS server just to help the network out a bit. However, for altcoins like DOGE and DRK, I have no problem running a full node as my client on my computer. That's because the blockchain of these coins is much smaller, and thus much less resource hungry. Not only that, but I can send DOGE or DRK and have the transaction verified and confirmed within seconds, while it can take up to an hour to confirm a Bitcoin transaction. The network speed and blockchain bloat are just some of the problems that the Bitcoin developers need to fix if Bitcoin is to remain to worlds (shall we call it) reserve-cryptographic-currency.
If slow transaction speeds and blockchain bloat are not bad enough, there is one more little detail that the Bitcoin developers need to, but have been hesitant to address. That is, anonimity. You see, while Bitcoin does give one a great deal of anonymity when compared to say, credit cards, that does not mean that BTC transactions are anonymous at all! Say huh...? Well, every Bitcoin transaction that ever has and ever will occur is forever logged, publicly, on the blockchain. There are ways of 'laundering' your Bitcoin, but it's a real pain in the ass. This is another problem that some of the altcoins are trying to fix, particularly Darkcoin.
But not only is there Darkcoin, there is Anoncoin, Stealthcoin, Blackcoin, whateveryounameitcoin, and new ones coming out everyday. At the moment, it appears that ANC (AnonCoin) is the most valuable (second to DRK) of the ever-emerging and anonymity-promising coins. Third in line, (in my honest opinion) is XST (Stealthcoin). StealthCoin was gaining a lot of traction, and the developers were talking about opening up a decentralized marketplace called OpenBazaar where anyone could sell anything to anyone, anonymously. But then one of the biggest whales and earliest investors (or was it developers?) dumped a ton of XST and bought up his own new coin SSD (Sonic ScrewDriver), and then I heard that it turns out that XST was a direct clone of RZR (RazorCoin) to begin with! What a clusterfuck, right? But wait, it gets worse...
Today, I heard that bitcointalk forum accounts are being SOLD for Bitcoin! That means that a reputable developer could sell his reputation to some scammer who could then promote (OtherRipOff)Coin and so on... I am still trying to sort this one out. If it's not true, than XST may be the best buy on the market right now. If it is true, than... I just don't know. Any thoughts, anyone?
Friday, September 26, 2014
Warning *nux users: A potential BASH vulnerability has been discovered!
ShellShock Vulnerability Check & Fix
A vulnerably has been discovered affecting many different devices running Unix/Linux based distros. The exploit could possibly allow an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code on your system. To check to see if your system(s) have been infected follow the directions below.
On each of your systems that run Bash, you may check for Shellshock vulnerability by running the following command at the bash prompt:
The highlighted echo Bash is vulnerable! portion of the command represents where a remote attacker could inject malicious code;
arbitrary code following a function definition within an environment variable assignment. Therefore, if you see the following output, your version of Bash is vulnerable and should be updated:
Otherwise, if your output does not include the simulated attacker's payload, i.e. "Bash is vulnerable" is not printed as output, your version of bash is not vulnerable. It may look something like this:
If your version of Bash is vulnerable, enter the following command into the terminal to fix it (for debian/ubuntu systems, syntax may vary for other distros or operating systems):
A vulnerably has been discovered affecting many different devices running Unix/Linux based distros. The exploit could possibly allow an attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code on your system. To check to see if your system(s) have been infected follow the directions below.
On each of your systems that run Bash, you may check for Shellshock vulnerability by running the following command at the bash prompt:
env VAR='() { :;}; echo Bash is vulnerable!' bash -c "echo Bash Test"
The highlighted echo Bash is vulnerable! portion of the command represents where a remote attacker could inject malicious code;
arbitrary code following a function definition within an environment variable assignment. Therefore, if you see the following output, your version of Bash is vulnerable and should be updated:
Bash is vulnerable!
Bash Test
Bash Test
Otherwise, if your output does not include the simulated attacker's payload, i.e. "Bash is vulnerable" is not printed as output, your version of bash is not vulnerable. It may look something like this:
bash: warning: VAR: ignoring function definition attempt
bash: error importing function definition for `VAR'
Bash Test
bash: error importing function definition for `VAR'
Bash Test
If your version of Bash is vulnerable, enter the following command into the terminal to fix it (for debian/ubuntu systems, syntax may vary for other distros or operating systems):
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade bash
After updating your version of BASH, you are good to go! Stay up to date, and stay safe. Just to clarify, this discovery does not mean that Linux is insecure, in fact, the immediate update from the open-source Linux community tells us quite the contrary. We, (the people that use AND develope the systems we love) immediately issued a patch to fix this bug as soon as it was discovered. If this was a Microsoft problem, chances are that you would not receive an update for at least another month, because the people that work for Microsoft have little self interest in making their product secure, as they only want your money. Long Live Linux!
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Let's Crash the TEA Party...
There is little more infuriating to people that are actually trying to save our country than a phony "grass-roots" movement started by billionaire industrialists. Oh, you didn't know? The TEA Party, who's slogan is "Taxed Enough Already", was founded by the NeoConservative Fascist-Industrialist Koch Brothers. They pretend to be a "third voice" and seem to be the ones poisoning the Republican party's last shred of dignity.
David and Charles Koch own the 'biggest company you've never heard of.' They own a huge percentage of oil refineries, logging companies, coal mines, and others. They have had to pay a lot of taxes and environmental fines as a result. So, their answer to these terrible losses was to organize the ultra-right into fighting for big business, or fighting for them. Appealing to people who feel passionate about issues like, for instance, immigration, they have managed to sucker a lot of people with good intentions into helping their phony cause.
I don't even think that the majority of Right Wingers are true Republicans any more, hence I call them 'Neocons' for two reasons: First of all, there is a new type of conservative thinking today, who's ideas are not even remotely consistent with the old Republicans, (for example, they tend to associate words like 'war' with words like 'excitement'). Secondly, they truly are a whole new class of con artists. Would you be angry to know that $3 trillion of your tax dollars have been slaughtering people in Iraq? Have the gas prices even gone down... (no)? Are the Iraqi people better off than they were under Sadam (hell no). So, uh... what have we accomplished here? And why do the neocons want us to go back to Iraq so badly (they have succeeded, as of today...guess that makes me a profit) when it's so clear that the whole thing is a bad joke? As usual, the answer is that war is nothing more than a racket. Want to know why we're going back to Iraq? Find out who is manufacturing all the tanks, jets, and munitions, then find out who owns the company. But good luck finding out which politicians they are paying off, and how much money they're paying them, as that information is rarely disclosed.
I never really paid much attention to the joyous TEA Party before, because the United States has the lowest taxes of just about any other nation in the world, so when you run your campaign on being 'taxed enough already', in my mind you immediately loose credibility. But then the government was shut down in December, and I started to realize just how much damage the radical right is doing. But what infuriated me the most was discovering that the TEA party is backed by a group of billionaires trying to avoid paying higher taxes, and manipulate people into fighting for them to gain more control. Seriously, how much fucking money do you need? The wealth gap in the United States is the main reason why many of my generation still live in their mothers basement, when our parents were buying their first homes by my age. So it ought to infuriate you to learn that public opinion is being manipulated against your best interests so that a few ultra rich people can slowly take over our country.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like the Obama administration either, but the president is having a really hard time getting anything done these days due to the tp-neocons. But let's look at the facts.... Obama has issued less executive orders than any other president... ever. Not to mention that if Mitt Romney were president, there would have been no need for the Koch brothers to ever invent this disgusting organization. American conservatives are being seduced into betraying themselves. The pseudo-nemesis 'Liberal' wing is just part of the show, and considering 52% of my generation are independent, I think America is finally waking up to the fact that the political party system is nothing more than an illusion of choice. So then who's pulling the strings? I leave that up to you to figure out.
For anyone that doubts me, I ask you... Just how, exactly, does the TEA party benefit you? I'm dying to know...
David and Charles Koch own the 'biggest company you've never heard of.' They own a huge percentage of oil refineries, logging companies, coal mines, and others. They have had to pay a lot of taxes and environmental fines as a result. So, their answer to these terrible losses was to organize the ultra-right into fighting for big business, or fighting for them. Appealing to people who feel passionate about issues like, for instance, immigration, they have managed to sucker a lot of people with good intentions into helping their phony cause.
I don't even think that the majority of Right Wingers are true Republicans any more, hence I call them 'Neocons' for two reasons: First of all, there is a new type of conservative thinking today, who's ideas are not even remotely consistent with the old Republicans, (for example, they tend to associate words like 'war' with words like 'excitement'). Secondly, they truly are a whole new class of con artists. Would you be angry to know that $3 trillion of your tax dollars have been slaughtering people in Iraq? Have the gas prices even gone down... (no)? Are the Iraqi people better off than they were under Sadam (hell no). So, uh... what have we accomplished here? And why do the neocons want us to go back to Iraq so badly (they have succeeded, as of today...guess that makes me a profit) when it's so clear that the whole thing is a bad joke? As usual, the answer is that war is nothing more than a racket. Want to know why we're going back to Iraq? Find out who is manufacturing all the tanks, jets, and munitions, then find out who owns the company. But good luck finding out which politicians they are paying off, and how much money they're paying them, as that information is rarely disclosed.
I never really paid much attention to the joyous TEA Party before, because the United States has the lowest taxes of just about any other nation in the world, so when you run your campaign on being 'taxed enough already', in my mind you immediately loose credibility. But then the government was shut down in December, and I started to realize just how much damage the radical right is doing. But what infuriated me the most was discovering that the TEA party is backed by a group of billionaires trying to avoid paying higher taxes, and manipulate people into fighting for them to gain more control. Seriously, how much fucking money do you need? The wealth gap in the United States is the main reason why many of my generation still live in their mothers basement, when our parents were buying their first homes by my age. So it ought to infuriate you to learn that public opinion is being manipulated against your best interests so that a few ultra rich people can slowly take over our country.
Don't get me wrong, I don't like the Obama administration either, but the president is having a really hard time getting anything done these days due to the tp-neocons. But let's look at the facts.... Obama has issued less executive orders than any other president... ever. Not to mention that if Mitt Romney were president, there would have been no need for the Koch brothers to ever invent this disgusting organization. American conservatives are being seduced into betraying themselves. The pseudo-nemesis 'Liberal' wing is just part of the show, and considering 52% of my generation are independent, I think America is finally waking up to the fact that the political party system is nothing more than an illusion of choice. So then who's pulling the strings? I leave that up to you to figure out.
For anyone that doubts me, I ask you... Just how, exactly, does the TEA party benefit you? I'm dying to know...
Sunday, August 10, 2014
War on Drugs Meets War on Terror: A Sadistic For-Prophit Smokescreen
America has another dirty secret. We consume the most drugs out of any country in the world. Why would that be? Is it because we're too spoiled, or accustomed to instant gratification? Or perhaps selfish, stressed out from over-achievement, or possess weak will? How about morally corrupt? No, I don't think so, even if the rest of the world does.
So what is then? Is it because we just happen to have a lot of greedy drug dealers running around, trying to steal our children’s souls? That's what the D.E.A. wants you to believe. If so, why can't our multi-trillion dollar failed drug war stop them? Allow me to offer an alternative theory...
What if the greatest country in the world also has the most hypocritical and corrupt government in the world? What if the same government that pretends to valiantly and diligently get the drugs off the streets is the same entity putting them there to begin with? What if I told you that since 2001, about 95% of the heroin on the U.S. market has been manufactured from opium imported from Afghanistan, a country under U.S. occupation since '01, where as prior to then, it was coming from opium grown in Nepal?
Just before the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban of all people, had successfully managed to curb the opium production in Afghanistan. As evil as they were, they were against the production of Opium in their territory. This was acknowledged by the U.N., but then immediately after the US invaded Afghanistan, NATO pretended that it never happened and started harvesting what the Taliban failed to eradicate, and replanting the poppies, while publicly pretending that the poppies were grown by the Taliban all along, and claiming a commitment to eradicate them. You can read the full story at the previous link.
So, what would our government want all this opium for? That answer likely is connected to what opium is used for, and we all know that answer; to make painkillers, to make money. The CIA has been running drugs for a long time, and has used their power to keep the African-American population in the grip of the criminalinjustice system. They use the prophits (presumably) to fund their own private wars and illegal operations without oversight. All of this is simply another link in the drug-war cycle. I've written about the privatized prison industry before, and how lucrative it is. Many Americans wonder why our drug policy is so senseless, and why despite the insane amounts of money spent on 'fighting drugs', the drugs are only getting cheaper and more available. Many of you wonder why there are so many people in prison who never hurt anyone but themselves, and why rather than helping these people, we incarcerate them.
I've been connecting this time-line in my head for a while now, and it's time to share it with you.. Although this could go back another 100 years, this blog is about more recent/current events.
1995: Oxycontin comes on the market, making prescription painkiller abuse a serious, well known public health threat. It is the best selling prescription drug since Bayer Heroin.
2000: Drug Addiction and Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) is enacted, allowing the partial opiate agonist buprenorphine to be dispensed by private doctors, both saving lives and making life as a junkie much easier to deal with.
2001: U.S. forces invade Afghanistan, and suddenly, highly pure heroin #4 hits the streets of the United States. President Bush says that "Remember, if you use drugs, you're supporting the terrorists," as well as things like "Lock 'em away, just lock them all away." [when asked about what to do with drug the increasing amount of drug addicts]
2004: The monstrous Prison-Industrial complex is booming. There are now about 100 times as many private prisons in the United States as there were 10 years ago, and the amount of incarcerated people has quadrupled. About 60% of the inmates are serving time for non-violent drug related offences.
2005: By now, about 95% of all heroin on the U.S. streets comes from Afgansitan, a country our government was, and still to some extent occupies.
2012: Obama is caught selling guns to Mexican drug cartels, in a joint effort with the CIA. He says he sold them the guns so that he could later catch the criminals who used them. Yes, seriously...
2014: Tens of thousands of immigrant children flee South America into the United States because of escalating drug-cartel related violence. Although this problem could easily be fixed by legalizing cannabis in the U.S. (putting most of the cartels out of business), and creating legal jobs both domestically and across the border, it hasn't happened.
"No sense makes sense." --Charles Mansion
So what is then? Is it because we just happen to have a lot of greedy drug dealers running around, trying to steal our children’s souls? That's what the D.E.A. wants you to believe. If so, why can't our multi-trillion dollar failed drug war stop them? Allow me to offer an alternative theory...
What if the greatest country in the world also has the most hypocritical and corrupt government in the world? What if the same government that pretends to valiantly and diligently get the drugs off the streets is the same entity putting them there to begin with? What if I told you that since 2001, about 95% of the heroin on the U.S. market has been manufactured from opium imported from Afghanistan, a country under U.S. occupation since '01, where as prior to then, it was coming from opium grown in Nepal?
Just before the Bush administration invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban of all people, had successfully managed to curb the opium production in Afghanistan. As evil as they were, they were against the production of Opium in their territory. This was acknowledged by the U.N., but then immediately after the US invaded Afghanistan, NATO pretended that it never happened and started harvesting what the Taliban failed to eradicate, and replanting the poppies, while publicly pretending that the poppies were grown by the Taliban all along, and claiming a commitment to eradicate them. You can read the full story at the previous link.
So, what would our government want all this opium for? That answer likely is connected to what opium is used for, and we all know that answer; to make painkillers, to make money. The CIA has been running drugs for a long time, and has used their power to keep the African-American population in the grip of the criminal
I've been connecting this time-line in my head for a while now, and it's time to share it with you.. Although this could go back another 100 years, this blog is about more recent/current events.
1995: Oxycontin comes on the market, making prescription painkiller abuse a serious, well known public health threat. It is the best selling prescription drug since Bayer Heroin.
2000: Drug Addiction and Treatment Act of 2000 (DATA 2000) is enacted, allowing the partial opiate agonist buprenorphine to be dispensed by private doctors, both saving lives and making life as a junkie much easier to deal with.
2001: U.S. forces invade Afghanistan, and suddenly, highly pure heroin #4 hits the streets of the United States. President Bush says that "Remember, if you use drugs, you're supporting the terrorists," as well as things like "Lock 'em away, just lock them all away." [when asked about what to do with drug the increasing amount of drug addicts]
2004: The monstrous Prison-Industrial complex is booming. There are now about 100 times as many private prisons in the United States as there were 10 years ago, and the amount of incarcerated people has quadrupled. About 60% of the inmates are serving time for non-violent drug related offences.
2005: By now, about 95% of all heroin on the U.S. streets comes from Afgansitan, a country our government was, and still to some extent occupies.
2012: Obama is caught selling guns to Mexican drug cartels, in a joint effort with the CIA. He says he sold them the guns so that he could later catch the criminals who used them. Yes, seriously...
2014: Tens of thousands of immigrant children flee South America into the United States because of escalating drug-cartel related violence. Although this problem could easily be fixed by legalizing cannabis in the U.S. (putting most of the cartels out of business), and creating legal jobs both domestically and across the border, it hasn't happened.
"No sense makes sense." --Charles Mansion
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Meet the Neocons: Our Criminal Government
It is well known to the people's of the rest of the world that the reason for America's success is not due to it's ideology of "exceptionalism", but due to it's ridiculous military superiority. It started with WWII. According to Eisenhower, the atomic bomb was not necessary...
"...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."
Near the end of WWII, the US intentionally went forward with nuclear warfar despite the fact that the Soviets were ready to invade Japan, and it was almost guaranteed that Japan would surrendered immediately. They knew they'd loose, and wanted their Emperor to live. But the bomb proved victorious for the US in other ways. We arrogantly thought that our 'atomic monopoly' would last forever, and we would lead the world, without question. That was dangerous thinking, and the world almost ended in October of 1963. If JFK were not in office during that time, it's possible that a nuclear WWIII would have commenced. Kennedy refused to listen to the old, victory-pride ridden WWII hardasses and did not strike Cuba or the Soviets, but reached a diplomatic solution, preventing an all-out nuclear war.
Kennedy was a figure of hope for many, but the neoconservative seeds had been planted long before he arrived, and many believe Kennedy was killed for his new resolve to stop the madness of the war monglers, and lead the world with peace. He even encouraged America to work together with the Soviets, instead of competing in the space-race. He wanted to withdraw from Vietnam. Both the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and even the chilling 'War on Terrorism' may not have happened. After all, the Arabs we've been spending trillions fighting since 2001 were the same guys the US backed to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War. Few seem to remember that. When JFK was shot, the reigns were passed back to the neocons. LBJ and Nixon inflicted a holocaust on the Vietnamese people. The history books do not read this, because we won (well, in all the ways that mattered to us anyway). What do you think we would have been taught in school, had the Nazis succeeded in taking over the world, and won the war? With military bases in hundreds of countries and the ability to be anywhere in 10 minutes, American omnipresence and domination could be argued as existent. Regan was a maniac as well, terrorizing South America and backing dictators in countries like Guatamala. He even ripped the solar panels off the Whitehouse as some sort of 'fuck you' to environmentalists. But the faces my generation is most familiar with are...
Bush. All of the Bush's were probably the worst thing to ever happen to America. George W.'s grandpa, Prescott Bush, owned a Nazi bank. Although J. Edgar Hoover discovered this in the 50's, the press completely ignored it, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone on the street who knows this today. Prescott helped Hitler rise to power and got away with it. George Bush (the first) had heavy ties to the CIA, which actually made it illegal for him to become president. Thus the CIA now achieved its goal of running the country, completely. The seeds of the cancerous Iraq war were planted, but America would not see it's true nightmare until George W. Bush took office. It was not even a nightmare for me, it was more like a fantasy that could never happen here. But in retrospect I remember these years very clearly. We were all so dangerously naive.
Whether or not you believe 9/11 was an inside job is irrelevant to the the fact that our government has committed atrocious crimes against humanity, that honestly are no better than the Nazi tactics that we have always strongly demonized, and depicted in the movies. Bush maniacally constructed a false reality, either by allowing, and then over-blowing, or simply inventing a global terrorist threat. Hidden behind the image of Christianity and what I'll call Texas American kick-ass syndrome, he deceived America, but not the world as he allowedDarth Dick Cheney to pull all the military strings and wage a ridiculous war on not so much a group of 'freedom hating' radical Islamics, but a tactic of gorilla warfar, nothing more. It had no true face, and could be anyone, anywhere, forever-more. We know that Cheney, just before 9/11 bought tons of stock in Halliburton, one of the same conglomerates that profited during the drawn out Vietnam war. He made hundreds of millions of dollars, although lost a lot of it in some scandal I can't remember, but still left the whitehouse with over $40 million prophits from his shameful war. Bush preached the gospel, Cheney gave him the devil. America was fooled, and the Middle East went to hell. Many of our civil rights were undermined with the insulting Patriot Act.
Despite Saddam having nothing to do with 9/11, Bush wanted to invade Iraq because Afghanistan isn't really an ideal place for a 'theatre war', of which the neocons outlined fighting and winning several of during the first Bush administration, as a front for 'rebuilding America's defences'. Talk of a 'new Pearl Harbor' event was even mentioned, as well as Bush's blatant admission of intent to incite a new world order. George W. Bush and Cheney ruled ruthlessly, and to the world's horror, Bush was re-elected in 2004. All of Europe asked "How could that many millions of people be so dumb?" The only answer I can give them is that ignorance can be lethal, and sometimes, even in America, it's possible to steal two elections. But by the time Bush was leaving office, his true nature was emerging as his approval ratings reached the lowest of any president, ever. America was forever stained as just another nation that got too powerful, and started torturing people. Obama actually acknowleged this, today.
Then in 2008 with the election of the change-promising, young, and charismatic Obama, our country took a big breather. I know I did. Bush was gone. I thought this president just might save us, and with the maniac Hilter equalivalent of America Neoconservative Bush gone, the future seemed brighter. Perhaps this is how Americans felt after JFK got elected.
Obama campaigned on ending all the madness that Bush started. Closing Gitmo, repealing the Patriot Act, blah blah you can read all this on my previous blogs, but he quickly turned into a disappointment. Although to his credit he got us out of Iraq, it probably won't matter, because as soon as we left, Iraq fell apart, and we've already started to pour troops and money into it again. I would like to believe that the covert warfare that Obama is currently and has been constantly involved in is just him trying to extinguish Bush's Frankenstein monster, but to my most sincere sadness, I know better than that. Either Obama does not have not the guts to stand up the Neocons, like Kennedy did, for fear of suffering a similar fate, or he was corrupted by them as well, contaminating any hope of the Democratic party delivering us from evil. (With the exception of perhaps an unlikely win in 2016 by someone like Bernie Sanders.) I will seriously leave this country if Hillary Clinton wins in 2016. That would be the last nail in coffin, along with the drop into the pit, considering she backed all of Bush and Obama's insane war tactics. Things like turning countries like Somalia into battle grounds to exploit by arming warlords and selling them guns. Our country now sells 78% of the worlds arms. They spy on our own people, and even ally countries like Germany, we condemn and jail white-blowers, and we torture. We created the terrorist threat the exists today, simply by imagining it into existence. If you kill enough innocent people, if you drop enough bombs, well... what the hell do you expect? What started as a farce could very well end the way Bush said it would if he did not do what he did to make it happen. Yes, only in America... home of the brave and the masters of war.
But I want peace. If that is to be achieved, our country need to wake up and acknowledge, peacefully, as a whole, this demon. Perhaps the history books could read that America, with it's incorruptible values and love of freedom overcame the Neocon Agenda incepted by Bush, and once more liberated the world from the threat of dominance, death, and sure destruction. We can't afford for the alternative to happen if our children are going to stand a chance. For the first time in our history, my generation will be less successfully than my parents. The financial deregulation by Clinton and Bush, and the rise of Wallstreet have stolen much opportunity from us. I admit, we have a seriously grim looking challenge ahead of us, but please do not simply submit to the Neocons and bury your head in the sand. Remember why America was founded to begin with, and for God's sake... stay vigilant.
"...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."
Near the end of WWII, the US intentionally went forward with nuclear warfar despite the fact that the Soviets were ready to invade Japan, and it was almost guaranteed that Japan would surrendered immediately. They knew they'd loose, and wanted their Emperor to live. But the bomb proved victorious for the US in other ways. We arrogantly thought that our 'atomic monopoly' would last forever, and we would lead the world, without question. That was dangerous thinking, and the world almost ended in October of 1963. If JFK were not in office during that time, it's possible that a nuclear WWIII would have commenced. Kennedy refused to listen to the old, victory-pride ridden WWII hardasses and did not strike Cuba or the Soviets, but reached a diplomatic solution, preventing an all-out nuclear war.
Kennedy was a figure of hope for many, but the neoconservative seeds had been planted long before he arrived, and many believe Kennedy was killed for his new resolve to stop the madness of the war monglers, and lead the world with peace. He even encouraged America to work together with the Soviets, instead of competing in the space-race. He wanted to withdraw from Vietnam. Both the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and even the chilling 'War on Terrorism' may not have happened. After all, the Arabs we've been spending trillions fighting since 2001 were the same guys the US backed to defeat the Soviets in the Cold War. Few seem to remember that. When JFK was shot, the reigns were passed back to the neocons. LBJ and Nixon inflicted a holocaust on the Vietnamese people. The history books do not read this, because we won (well, in all the ways that mattered to us anyway). What do you think we would have been taught in school, had the Nazis succeeded in taking over the world, and won the war? With military bases in hundreds of countries and the ability to be anywhere in 10 minutes, American omnipresence and domination could be argued as existent. Regan was a maniac as well, terrorizing South America and backing dictators in countries like Guatamala. He even ripped the solar panels off the Whitehouse as some sort of 'fuck you' to environmentalists. But the faces my generation is most familiar with are...
Bush. All of the Bush's were probably the worst thing to ever happen to America. George W.'s grandpa, Prescott Bush, owned a Nazi bank. Although J. Edgar Hoover discovered this in the 50's, the press completely ignored it, and you'd be hard pressed to find someone on the street who knows this today. Prescott helped Hitler rise to power and got away with it. George Bush (the first) had heavy ties to the CIA, which actually made it illegal for him to become president. Thus the CIA now achieved its goal of running the country, completely. The seeds of the cancerous Iraq war were planted, but America would not see it's true nightmare until George W. Bush took office. It was not even a nightmare for me, it was more like a fantasy that could never happen here. But in retrospect I remember these years very clearly. We were all so dangerously naive.
Whether or not you believe 9/11 was an inside job is irrelevant to the the fact that our government has committed atrocious crimes against humanity, that honestly are no better than the Nazi tactics that we have always strongly demonized, and depicted in the movies. Bush maniacally constructed a false reality, either by allowing, and then over-blowing, or simply inventing a global terrorist threat. Hidden behind the image of Christianity and what I'll call Texas American kick-ass syndrome, he deceived America, but not the world as he allowed
Despite Saddam having nothing to do with 9/11, Bush wanted to invade Iraq because Afghanistan isn't really an ideal place for a 'theatre war', of which the neocons outlined fighting and winning several of during the first Bush administration, as a front for 'rebuilding America's defences'. Talk of a 'new Pearl Harbor' event was even mentioned, as well as Bush's blatant admission of intent to incite a new world order. George W. Bush and Cheney ruled ruthlessly, and to the world's horror, Bush was re-elected in 2004. All of Europe asked "How could that many millions of people be so dumb?" The only answer I can give them is that ignorance can be lethal, and sometimes, even in America, it's possible to steal two elections. But by the time Bush was leaving office, his true nature was emerging as his approval ratings reached the lowest of any president, ever. America was forever stained as just another nation that got too powerful, and started torturing people. Obama actually acknowleged this, today.
Then in 2008 with the election of the change-promising, young, and charismatic Obama, our country took a big breather. I know I did. Bush was gone. I thought this president just might save us, and with the maniac Hilter equalivalent of America Neoconservative Bush gone, the future seemed brighter. Perhaps this is how Americans felt after JFK got elected.
Obama campaigned on ending all the madness that Bush started. Closing Gitmo, repealing the Patriot Act, blah blah you can read all this on my previous blogs, but he quickly turned into a disappointment. Although to his credit he got us out of Iraq, it probably won't matter, because as soon as we left, Iraq fell apart, and we've already started to pour troops and money into it again. I would like to believe that the covert warfare that Obama is currently and has been constantly involved in is just him trying to extinguish Bush's Frankenstein monster, but to my most sincere sadness, I know better than that. Either Obama does not have not the guts to stand up the Neocons, like Kennedy did, for fear of suffering a similar fate, or he was corrupted by them as well, contaminating any hope of the Democratic party delivering us from evil. (With the exception of perhaps an unlikely win in 2016 by someone like Bernie Sanders.) I will seriously leave this country if Hillary Clinton wins in 2016. That would be the last nail in coffin, along with the drop into the pit, considering she backed all of Bush and Obama's insane war tactics. Things like turning countries like Somalia into battle grounds to exploit by arming warlords and selling them guns. Our country now sells 78% of the worlds arms. They spy on our own people, and even ally countries like Germany, we condemn and jail white-blowers, and we torture. We created the terrorist threat the exists today, simply by imagining it into existence. If you kill enough innocent people, if you drop enough bombs, well... what the hell do you expect? What started as a farce could very well end the way Bush said it would if he did not do what he did to make it happen. Yes, only in America... home of the brave and the masters of war.
But I want peace. If that is to be achieved, our country need to wake up and acknowledge, peacefully, as a whole, this demon. Perhaps the history books could read that America, with it's incorruptible values and love of freedom overcame the Neocon Agenda incepted by Bush, and once more liberated the world from the threat of dominance, death, and sure destruction. We can't afford for the alternative to happen if our children are going to stand a chance. For the first time in our history, my generation will be less successfully than my parents. The financial deregulation by Clinton and Bush, and the rise of Wallstreet have stolen much opportunity from us. I admit, we have a seriously grim looking challenge ahead of us, but please do not simply submit to the Neocons and bury your head in the sand. Remember why America was founded to begin with, and for God's sake... stay vigilant.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Jesse Ventura is a Good Man
Yesterday, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura won a lawsuit against the now deceased author Chris Kyle. The jury decided that Ventura was defamed when Kyle fabricated a story into his autobiography "America's Deadliest Sniper" claiming that a man referred to as 'scruff-face' made derogatory remarks about the Navy Seals at a bar, and that he punched him in the face as a result. Although not identified in the book, Kyle made public statements afterwards, claiming that the man was Governor Ventura. The entire story was proven to be a fabrication on Tuesday, when Jesse was awarded $1.8 Million for lost revenue over the last two years, due to damages to his reputation. (You can read the details here if you're unaware.)
This was a very difficult case for him to win, let alone even pursue. He had to prove not only that Kyle lied, but that he intentionally acted maliciously when he put this chapter in his book. If that was not hard enough, Chris Kyle was shot and killed during the case, effectively backing Jesse into a corner. His choices were to either drop the case and let his reputation be destroyed, or continue and face extreme criticism for pursuing a widow's estate. This was particularly difficult for him because Jesse is a former Navy Seal himself, and likes to fraternize with his fellow Seals during reunions. Well, that was taken from him along with his reputation because now he can't go to those reunions any more, as many members of the military now despise him.
It's all very sad, and nobody really won anything. Kyle's widow did not have to pay a cent, as her insurance covered all legal expenses and the 1.8 Mill of restitution fees. Besides, this case was not about money, it was about Jesse legally restoring his reputation and getting the facts out. Why the 1.8 Million then? Well, after this defamation occurred, Jesse was pretty much banned from mainstream media in the U.S. and as a result he lost a lot of income. He was making over $2 Million a year prior to this incident, and only pulled in $200 K last year, so I think it makes sense. Not to mention this case cost him a fortune, as plaintiffs do not get insurance coverage for legal expenses in lawsuits.
Now that the truth is out, Jesse is facing extreme hatred by many members of the military (and the misinformed public), they're claiming he took this too far and should have just dropped it when Kyle was killed. I disagree, and not just because I love Jesse Ventura. First of all, I stand with Jesse because I know that he would never say what Kyle said he said. Jesse always has been very clear in supporting the soldier, while criticizing the war and the government. "Wars happen because politicians fail, and the soldiers are all just victims." This is almost of a mantra of his, not to mention that he was a Navy Seal himself! Second, I agree with him because he actually took the higher road and defended himself legally, and against all odds won. That should be enough for most people. It was proven in court that Chris Kyle intentionally, maliciously, fabricated this story and Jesse was harmed as a result. He did not only loose revenue, he lost the admiration of an entire generation of military members. He lost what I would call a perfect record, in that prior to all this, there really was nothing bad that anyone could truthfully say about Jesse, no reason to dislike him at all other than disagreeing with him, which does not warrant disrespect.
Sure, he investigated a few wacky theories on his Conspiracy Theory show, even debunked at least one (that our presidents are reptiles, yeah some people actually believe that)! But so what? If one is to investigate conspiracy or anything for that matter, one must take a balanced approach and more importantly, sort out the bullshit from fact so that all conspiracy theorists are not viewed as crazy. He maintained the perfect balance of showmanship while taking on very serious conspiracies and exposing a lot of malice. He stood up to some really powerful characters over his career, and did a lot more good for America than America will ever care to admit.
Whether or not you agreed with the man, it was hard to disrespect him. He's been a pro-wrestler, Governor, Mayor, Rolling-Stones bodyguard, actor, TV-Personality, and was called "America's Favourite Every-Man."
But all that has changed, as anyone ignorant to the facts would not have a good impression of a man upon hearing that he sued a widowed veterans estate, for any reason. That kind of stigma just sucks, and most Americans will not even bother to do their homework and get the facts straight before casting judgement upon him. What's even more sad is that too many Americans are so politically asleep, and don't have a clue about what is happening around them. I mean, this is a guy that only ever stood up for the middle class, the working man, and the average person. That's what he devoted his life to. And although I've considered myself an independent long before I even knew who Jesse Ventura is, it was he whom made me realize that the Democrats and Republicans are responsible for almost every problem this country has. After all, as he put so well, they have been in charge for 150 years. It makes me pity people who will agree with and even go out on a limb to defend their political party of choice, completely missing the point... you don't have to take a ton of bad just to get a little bit of good into the whitehouse. For instance, my father once told me that if Democrats did not support abortion, he would totally be a Democrat, but since they do and he is a Christian, he felt obligated to stand with the Republicans. I just think that sucks. Why do we all have to submit to one of these two parties? If it were not for Jesse, I may never have fully understood just how deep the hypocrisy really is.
So hate me, bash Jesse, and do what you will; you are entitled to your own opinion. I only urge you to do some research before casting judgement upon a very good, honest, and genuine person who despite not even knowing you, has stood up against corruption, for you, more than you probably ever will yourself.
This was a very difficult case for him to win, let alone even pursue. He had to prove not only that Kyle lied, but that he intentionally acted maliciously when he put this chapter in his book. If that was not hard enough, Chris Kyle was shot and killed during the case, effectively backing Jesse into a corner. His choices were to either drop the case and let his reputation be destroyed, or continue and face extreme criticism for pursuing a widow's estate. This was particularly difficult for him because Jesse is a former Navy Seal himself, and likes to fraternize with his fellow Seals during reunions. Well, that was taken from him along with his reputation because now he can't go to those reunions any more, as many members of the military now despise him.
It's all very sad, and nobody really won anything. Kyle's widow did not have to pay a cent, as her insurance covered all legal expenses and the 1.8 Mill of restitution fees. Besides, this case was not about money, it was about Jesse legally restoring his reputation and getting the facts out. Why the 1.8 Million then? Well, after this defamation occurred, Jesse was pretty much banned from mainstream media in the U.S. and as a result he lost a lot of income. He was making over $2 Million a year prior to this incident, and only pulled in $200 K last year, so I think it makes sense. Not to mention this case cost him a fortune, as plaintiffs do not get insurance coverage for legal expenses in lawsuits.
Now that the truth is out, Jesse is facing extreme hatred by many members of the military (and the misinformed public), they're claiming he took this too far and should have just dropped it when Kyle was killed. I disagree, and not just because I love Jesse Ventura. First of all, I stand with Jesse because I know that he would never say what Kyle said he said. Jesse always has been very clear in supporting the soldier, while criticizing the war and the government. "Wars happen because politicians fail, and the soldiers are all just victims." This is almost of a mantra of his, not to mention that he was a Navy Seal himself! Second, I agree with him because he actually took the higher road and defended himself legally, and against all odds won. That should be enough for most people. It was proven in court that Chris Kyle intentionally, maliciously, fabricated this story and Jesse was harmed as a result. He did not only loose revenue, he lost the admiration of an entire generation of military members. He lost what I would call a perfect record, in that prior to all this, there really was nothing bad that anyone could truthfully say about Jesse, no reason to dislike him at all other than disagreeing with him, which does not warrant disrespect.
Sure, he investigated a few wacky theories on his Conspiracy Theory show, even debunked at least one (that our presidents are reptiles, yeah some people actually believe that)! But so what? If one is to investigate conspiracy or anything for that matter, one must take a balanced approach and more importantly, sort out the bullshit from fact so that all conspiracy theorists are not viewed as crazy. He maintained the perfect balance of showmanship while taking on very serious conspiracies and exposing a lot of malice. He stood up to some really powerful characters over his career, and did a lot more good for America than America will ever care to admit.
Whether or not you agreed with the man, it was hard to disrespect him. He's been a pro-wrestler, Governor, Mayor, Rolling-Stones bodyguard, actor, TV-Personality, and was called "America's Favourite Every-Man."
But all that has changed, as anyone ignorant to the facts would not have a good impression of a man upon hearing that he sued a widowed veterans estate, for any reason. That kind of stigma just sucks, and most Americans will not even bother to do their homework and get the facts straight before casting judgement upon him. What's even more sad is that too many Americans are so politically asleep, and don't have a clue about what is happening around them. I mean, this is a guy that only ever stood up for the middle class, the working man, and the average person. That's what he devoted his life to. And although I've considered myself an independent long before I even knew who Jesse Ventura is, it was he whom made me realize that the Democrats and Republicans are responsible for almost every problem this country has. After all, as he put so well, they have been in charge for 150 years. It makes me pity people who will agree with and even go out on a limb to defend their political party of choice, completely missing the point... you don't have to take a ton of bad just to get a little bit of good into the whitehouse. For instance, my father once told me that if Democrats did not support abortion, he would totally be a Democrat, but since they do and he is a Christian, he felt obligated to stand with the Republicans. I just think that sucks. Why do we all have to submit to one of these two parties? If it were not for Jesse, I may never have fully understood just how deep the hypocrisy really is.
So hate me, bash Jesse, and do what you will; you are entitled to your own opinion. I only urge you to do some research before casting judgement upon a very good, honest, and genuine person who despite not even knowing you, has stood up against corruption, for you, more than you probably ever will yourself.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Closer to the Carnage: A Navy Sailors Opinion on the War
The reason there is so much distrust in government these days is likely because we are lied to all of the time, and not because people enjoy a good conspiracy theory, as the CIA would love for you to believe. So it
might come as a surprise to some of you that most Ron Paul supporters
are ex-military personel. Considering Ron Paul stands for abolishing
almost everything that our military is involved with, I think that
the veteran support for Paul makes a big statement. My father played
in a rock 'n roll band in his younger days, and like so many others,
he wrote songs about Vietnam, and what a tragic waste the war was. I
remember my high-school history teacher telling my class that the
Iraq/Afgan war is just a repeat of Vietnam. At first this sounded
absurd to me; perhaps because my
parents were also big Republicans, my grandfather was a WWII hero and decorated
Naval commander, and I was simply young and naive enough to believe
that we we're actually fighting for our freedom over there. But my teachers' words
rang deep in my mind, and as I drew similarities between
this war and Vietnam, I started searching for truth.
I
recently had the opportunity to talk to an old friend who has been
serving in the U.S. Navy for years. I thought it would be insightful
to talk to someone that is close to the carnage, and has first-hand
experiences that could help us understand just what the hell our
government has been doing in the Middle-East this past decade.
Surely, if there actually is a threat to the United States over
there, our military members would know all about it. It's worth noting that his opinions are absolutely consistant with every other soldier/veteran I've spoken with about this. So I asked him
this question:
Me:
“You know, I've never seen a real, live terrorist in my life, and I believe that 9/11 was an inside job and false flag operation designed to justify starting the so called “war on terrorism”. I respect what you do, but I gotta ask you, I am correct in assuming that this war is a for-profit war started because our government wanted their oil & other natural resources?”
“You know, I've never seen a real, live terrorist in my life, and I believe that 9/11 was an inside job and false flag operation designed to justify starting the so called “war on terrorism”. I respect what you do, but I gotta ask you, I am correct in assuming that this war is a for-profit war started because our government wanted their oil & other natural resources?”
Anonymous
Navy Sailor:
"The facts as I understand them, are that there is
no link between Osama Bin Laden and Iraq, nor were there any weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq. This was clear to almost everyone in the
Government and CIA long before we invaded them. I also know
that there is a stupid amount of heroin coming in [to the United
States] from Afghanistan now, and this was not the case prior to our
occupation of the country. When our stay was extended for the second
time on my 2012 deployment, a three-star Admiral came on board to
speak to us. He said that since he was keeping us out there for such
a long time that he would answer our questions about why we were
there. He said "Oil. We are here for oil.”
However,
a successful lie must be partially true. To be believable, there must be
some fact. There is terrorism [in the middle east] and a lot of them
do hate America. I don't know all the reasons for that, but I do know
they have a few. For example, there have been a lot of Korean and
Japanese women raped by American soldiers. There could be a million
reasons other than 'because Allah told me to', or for the 77 virgins
or some other ignorant bullshit. So of course there are extremist
Muslim groups over there. When i was in turkey a few of the girls on
my ship had black bags put over there heads and were kidnapped. It
didn't last long. they were recovered the offenders were arrested.
Then there was rioting and protesting and the men were released.
I've
done a lot of research into 9/11, and it doesn't really add up.
Theres a lot of shit that doesn't make any sense, like complete
absence of any evidence of a plane in certain situations, or the fact
that when the buildings collapsed they did so at a perfect 180 degree
angle [demolition style], or that there are photographs and first
hand reports of explosions at the base of the towers. Then there's
the fact that we spent God only knows how much money apparently
chasing one man around the world? Who we find and kill immediately
without asking any questions [or evidence, or trial]? Then for some
reason we dumped his body at sea before anyone could even see him.
I've drawn the conclusion that who fucking knows. I sure as fuck
don't.
I'm
not in the Navy because I'm a patriot. I picked a branch where i
wouldn't have to carry a gun or kill anyone; the medical field. They
are paying for me to fix people and stitch people up and prescribe
antibiotics for people who get infections. Best of all, they're
paying for my college. I'm about to transfer to shore duty where i
won't have to deploy anymore. I'll also get more free college, and
they will pay me another $1400 a month for an apartment or house,
plus $360 more a month for food, on top of my pay check. After my
benefits run out in three years, I'm going to get out. My post 9/11
G.I. bill will pay for yet another three years of college and
housing, at which point ill have a masters degree as a physicians
assistant.
Its
hard to say if i believe in what I'm doing. On one hand, fuck no--
this is retarded. I'm on a something-trillion dollar aircraft carrier
with a $300 million monthly budget sailing around the Pacific in
circles. We fly our jets and helicopters every single day, and we
have four destroyers and a submarine with us at all times, and were
not actually doing anything. On the other hand, despite the entire
operation being a big, scummy waste of resources and money, I just
don't know what we would do without all this. If we did away with all
our [military industry] shit it wouldn't end well. We're not the only
shark in the world either. The only real reason for us to be here is
to keep other countries from attacking us or our allies. For
instance, Taiwan, which is right off the coast of China, had a civil
war. Now they're independent, but the only reason China doesn't take
a big breath of air, blow it at them, kill everyone, and take it
back, is because we're here and we said 'please don't do that'. In
reality we probably wouldn't do shit, like when Russia marches into
other counties fucks them up and says “You're mine now” all we do
is say "Hey! Your not supposed to do that!
If
you really want to know, the middle east is basically garbage. There
is no real enemy there that could do any serious damage to our
country. Even if 9/11 was real [as opposed to an inside job], sure it
was a big deal, but in comparison to other wars, or even minor
conflicts, its relatively insignificant. Then again, there is China
and Russia to consider. I'll probably never know the truth about any
of this, and I accept that. But my experiences have caused me to
develop an inherent distrust of everything in the world. The damage
beyond repair.
Consider
what's happened to ancient Egypt or Greece, Annapolis, France, or
England. It's only getting worse, and I'd hardly even consider them
countries anymore. Yeah, there's still America, but then again,
America is now run by [and for] corporations. They are the real
government, and they don't give a fuck about borders. I don't trust
any of it, I don't think it can be fixed. Maybe one day I'll move to
Costa Rica and live in the mountains. Thats my rant, sorry if its all
over the place, I'm at the end of a 12 hour shift."
[Edited
for clarification & readability.]
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Further Examining the Border Crisis
The country appears to be very divided right now. The left says that the president cannot get anything done because the right keeps stonewalling him. The right is pissed off because they feel the president is abusing his executive powers and refusing to work with them. It's clear that starting with Bush the executive branch has become too powerful. Personally I think it's grown worse under the Obama administration. But it in the case of the border crisis, this petty arguing and political stalemate is helping who..?
The president has proposed a bill to secure the border and enact a pathway to citizenship law, which would make it take 10 years before becoming a citizen. The Republicans apparently do not want to vote on it because they want to secure the border first. Whether or not it's more beneficial to deal with these issues separately, rather than at once, it is much worse to do nothing and watch the country burn. This is the problem with the party system in America. They're so hypocritical it is astounding. And yes, they are both guilty of executive over-reach, but that does not mean we should say 'well they did it too so it's okay'. In any case, I want to fire them all.
If there is a bigger picture here, and corporations are profiting off of this mayhem as I suggested, than maybe that would explain why these too parties cannot put their own pride aside and act. I mean, would you really be so surprised if lobbyists were intentionally bribing these guys to manipulate a situation for their own benefit? It's not like that hasn't happened before...
I can only hope that America will think back 16 years rather than just 8 before they vote in 2016. The people feel betrayed by the government for a reason. For me, it's because I voted for Obama is '08 because he promised to close gitmo, stop federal pot raids, increase transparency in government, protect the open internet, end the war (and not start multiple covert wars after...), and even repeal the patriot act. Instead, he renewed it, started all sorts of little wars, let the NSA run wild (don't tell me he didn't know, the executive branch has so much authority there's no way he was not involved) and gitmo is still open.
Not that the Republicans are any better. They created this situation, Obama campaigned on ending it, and then whether or not he's playing along with them or really cannot get anything done because of bi-partisan stubbornness, it really doesn't matter. The point is both these parties suck.
The president has proposed a bill to secure the border and enact a pathway to citizenship law, which would make it take 10 years before becoming a citizen. The Republicans apparently do not want to vote on it because they want to secure the border first. Whether or not it's more beneficial to deal with these issues separately, rather than at once, it is much worse to do nothing and watch the country burn. This is the problem with the party system in America. They're so hypocritical it is astounding. And yes, they are both guilty of executive over-reach, but that does not mean we should say 'well they did it too so it's okay'. In any case, I want to fire them all.
If there is a bigger picture here, and corporations are profiting off of this mayhem as I suggested, than maybe that would explain why these too parties cannot put their own pride aside and act. I mean, would you really be so surprised if lobbyists were intentionally bribing these guys to manipulate a situation for their own benefit? It's not like that hasn't happened before...
I can only hope that America will think back 16 years rather than just 8 before they vote in 2016. The people feel betrayed by the government for a reason. For me, it's because I voted for Obama is '08 because he promised to close gitmo, stop federal pot raids, increase transparency in government, protect the open internet, end the war (and not start multiple covert wars after...), and even repeal the patriot act. Instead, he renewed it, started all sorts of little wars, let the NSA run wild (don't tell me he didn't know, the executive branch has so much authority there's no way he was not involved) and gitmo is still open.
Not that the Republicans are any better. They created this situation, Obama campaigned on ending it, and then whether or not he's playing along with them or really cannot get anything done because of bi-partisan stubbornness, it really doesn't matter. The point is both these parties suck.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Raise Police Officer's Salaries!
I may come off as over-critical of government, my views may even be considered 'extreme' by some, but everything I write about it here is for the sole purpose of obtaining peace. Perhaps my lack of faith in the establishment stems from my younger years when I was incessantly harassed by the local police. I was harassed for years, so often that I could, and very well may, write a book about my experiences.
For example, one day during the summer of 2012 I was cruising down the road with a friend from New Ipswich, NH to Milford, NH. We were on the back roads in Wilton when suddenly the world became black, and then painful. I started to come to, and realized that we had gone off the road, and were now in an upside-down car in a river-bed. The windows had shattered, and water was rushing into the vehicle. I had my Canon EOS camera in the car, which I paid about $800 for, so I instinctively grabbed the camera and managed to exit the vehicle without ruining the camera, and I put in on the side of the road. I then realized my friend was screaming in pain, he had broken his thumb pretty bad so I called 911. The police arrived, and I was being loaded in the ambulance when I remembered my camera. I asked an officer to please get my camera and put it in the ambulance with me. I do not remember much else, as I had a concussion. My friend and I were taken to the hospital where he was charged a DUI, and after several hours my friend picked me up and I went home.
The next day I realized I never got my camera, so I called the Wilton PD and asked about it. I was told that the chief would call me back. He never did, and over the course of a month I played phone tag with the cops, always getting the same run-around. Finally, about 6 weeks after the fact I got a call from the Chief and he asked me to come down to the station for questioning. I said "Okay, is this about Mr. X's ( my friend who was driving, who's name I've held for privacy reasons) charges? I'm happy to answer questions, but I really just want my camera back." He replied "No, Mr. Young, this is about your criminal charges."
My heart sunk as I realized that I was being targeted again, about to go through months of bullshit for no good reason at all. I said "What are you talking about? I have broken no laws." He told me that my camera was missing a sticker with the serial number of the device, and in NH it is a crime to possess an electronic device without a serial number. I thought this was a bad joke at first, but it turned out he was serious. I then remembered that the sticker he was referring too was in fact on the camera, and that the corner had begun to peel off from age. It was incredible. They were seriously going to drag me to court over a missing s/n on a camera that I had owned since 2008. I had bought the camera from a well known and respectable photographer named Peter Simon whom I had worked for during the summer of '08 on Martha's Vineyard. I told this to the Chief, and he said that I needed to get a notorized statement from Mr. Simon to prove that this was indeed my camera, or else they would forever confiscate it and charge me with a misdemeanour level offence. It was simply unbelievable. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream.
I called Mr. Simon, and he told me he would get me the document. He was aware that the police had been harassing me with stupid nonsense for years, but thought that this was just frivolous. So I contacted my lawyer, who told me how to word the sworn statement that I would then have Mr. Simon sign and get notorized, which to my everlasting gratitude, he did. But when I went to court the judge (Judge Crocker of Milford District Court), who never really liked me very much was not happy with the document. She wanted Peter Simon to come to her court in New Hampshire and testify! Can you imagine? I told her that he is an older gentleman in his 70's, and that this was a lot to ask over such a small matter. Eventually she said okay, but you need to get me another statement from him, because this one was not official enough. I honestly can't remember her reasoning for that. So to make a long story short, Peter had to go out of his way to do the exact same thing again for me, and finally after a third court appearance, and 6 months after the accident, I was able to get my camera back. If this is not a perfect example of jurisprudence, than I don't know what is.
Why do police terrorize civilians?
Surely one can agree that the experience I just explained is not an example of our boys in blue either protecting or serving anyone. And this just one incident, if you continue to follow my blog, I'll be writing other stories of other ridiculous police related shit-shows I've dealt with. So the question remains, why? Why do police go out of there way to make citizens lives difficult? Why do they constantly pursue petty crimes like pot possession and 'possessing an electronic device without a s/n' when there are people being raped and murdered all the time? I used to think it's because in a rural, small town like Wilton, there really are not many real crimes to go after, leaving them bored with nothing to do. But this happens all over the country, in many different places. It turns out that when a cop makes an arrest, he is paid overtime for all the paperwork, booking, processing, court appearances, and so on. So there is a money incentive built into the system that ensures this kind of thing will continue. The starting salary for a cop in a town like I grew up in is about $25,000. That's hardly enough money to raise a family on, and I think it's actually an insultingly low figure. The police ought to be the backbone of a free people's society, not the tumour. The current system encourages petty non-violent drug arrest, does not honour those who put their lives at risk for us, and turns good men into criminals.
Pay Them More
I believe that we ought to at least double police officers salaries, after all it is a risky and honourable job to protect and serve the community. Furthermore, we need to remove incentives that do nothing other than increase the number of arrests that police make. Perhaps there should be a bonus if a cop manages to bring to justice violent criminals, rather than ordinary people. If a Judge signs a warrant and it does not produce results, than he is held accountable. Shouldn't police be held accountable for frivolous arrests as well? How about a system where the bonus for catching a real criminal is worth the time it takes to do so. It does not take any skill or real police work to catch drug offenders. All you have to do is start shaking down people on the street any time you need to make an arrest. Furthermore, if we paid cops what they deserve, than they would feel like society appreciates what they do. Then they would start to see themselves more like members of a community, working together with their brothers and sisters to make their community a better place.
For example, one day during the summer of 2012 I was cruising down the road with a friend from New Ipswich, NH to Milford, NH. We were on the back roads in Wilton when suddenly the world became black, and then painful. I started to come to, and realized that we had gone off the road, and were now in an upside-down car in a river-bed. The windows had shattered, and water was rushing into the vehicle. I had my Canon EOS camera in the car, which I paid about $800 for, so I instinctively grabbed the camera and managed to exit the vehicle without ruining the camera, and I put in on the side of the road. I then realized my friend was screaming in pain, he had broken his thumb pretty bad so I called 911. The police arrived, and I was being loaded in the ambulance when I remembered my camera. I asked an officer to please get my camera and put it in the ambulance with me. I do not remember much else, as I had a concussion. My friend and I were taken to the hospital where he was charged a DUI, and after several hours my friend picked me up and I went home.
The next day I realized I never got my camera, so I called the Wilton PD and asked about it. I was told that the chief would call me back. He never did, and over the course of a month I played phone tag with the cops, always getting the same run-around. Finally, about 6 weeks after the fact I got a call from the Chief and he asked me to come down to the station for questioning. I said "Okay, is this about Mr. X's ( my friend who was driving, who's name I've held for privacy reasons) charges? I'm happy to answer questions, but I really just want my camera back." He replied "No, Mr. Young, this is about your criminal charges."
My heart sunk as I realized that I was being targeted again, about to go through months of bullshit for no good reason at all. I said "What are you talking about? I have broken no laws." He told me that my camera was missing a sticker with the serial number of the device, and in NH it is a crime to possess an electronic device without a serial number. I thought this was a bad joke at first, but it turned out he was serious. I then remembered that the sticker he was referring too was in fact on the camera, and that the corner had begun to peel off from age. It was incredible. They were seriously going to drag me to court over a missing s/n on a camera that I had owned since 2008. I had bought the camera from a well known and respectable photographer named Peter Simon whom I had worked for during the summer of '08 on Martha's Vineyard. I told this to the Chief, and he said that I needed to get a notorized statement from Mr. Simon to prove that this was indeed my camera, or else they would forever confiscate it and charge me with a misdemeanour level offence. It was simply unbelievable. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream.
I called Mr. Simon, and he told me he would get me the document. He was aware that the police had been harassing me with stupid nonsense for years, but thought that this was just frivolous. So I contacted my lawyer, who told me how to word the sworn statement that I would then have Mr. Simon sign and get notorized, which to my everlasting gratitude, he did. But when I went to court the judge (Judge Crocker of Milford District Court), who never really liked me very much was not happy with the document. She wanted Peter Simon to come to her court in New Hampshire and testify! Can you imagine? I told her that he is an older gentleman in his 70's, and that this was a lot to ask over such a small matter. Eventually she said okay, but you need to get me another statement from him, because this one was not official enough. I honestly can't remember her reasoning for that. So to make a long story short, Peter had to go out of his way to do the exact same thing again for me, and finally after a third court appearance, and 6 months after the accident, I was able to get my camera back. If this is not a perfect example of jurisprudence, than I don't know what is.
Why do police terrorize civilians?
Surely one can agree that the experience I just explained is not an example of our boys in blue either protecting or serving anyone. And this just one incident, if you continue to follow my blog, I'll be writing other stories of other ridiculous police related shit-shows I've dealt with. So the question remains, why? Why do police go out of there way to make citizens lives difficult? Why do they constantly pursue petty crimes like pot possession and 'possessing an electronic device without a s/n' when there are people being raped and murdered all the time? I used to think it's because in a rural, small town like Wilton, there really are not many real crimes to go after, leaving them bored with nothing to do. But this happens all over the country, in many different places. It turns out that when a cop makes an arrest, he is paid overtime for all the paperwork, booking, processing, court appearances, and so on. So there is a money incentive built into the system that ensures this kind of thing will continue. The starting salary for a cop in a town like I grew up in is about $25,000. That's hardly enough money to raise a family on, and I think it's actually an insultingly low figure. The police ought to be the backbone of a free people's society, not the tumour. The current system encourages petty non-violent drug arrest, does not honour those who put their lives at risk for us, and turns good men into criminals.
Pay Them More
I believe that we ought to at least double police officers salaries, after all it is a risky and honourable job to protect and serve the community. Furthermore, we need to remove incentives that do nothing other than increase the number of arrests that police make. Perhaps there should be a bonus if a cop manages to bring to justice violent criminals, rather than ordinary people. If a Judge signs a warrant and it does not produce results, than he is held accountable. Shouldn't police be held accountable for frivolous arrests as well? How about a system where the bonus for catching a real criminal is worth the time it takes to do so. It does not take any skill or real police work to catch drug offenders. All you have to do is start shaking down people on the street any time you need to make an arrest. Furthermore, if we paid cops what they deserve, than they would feel like society appreciates what they do. Then they would start to see themselves more like members of a community, working together with their brothers and sisters to make their community a better place.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
This Note Is Redeemable in Debt
What Gives the American Dollar it's Value?
"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." Every bank note in your wallet proclaims this, so you ought to know what that means. To do so, it requires another lesson in history; the inception of the Federal Reserve Bank. If we do not understand our history, then we are doomed to repeat it, and in this case we already are. The Dollar Bill used to say "This note is redeemable in gold." That's because every dollar that was printed could only be printed if there was a certain amount of gold backing it up, to give it real value. Thus, the notes were redeemable in gold, which is an asset that history has proven to be stable. The gold standard was abolished shortly after the Fed was incepted. Henceforth, all money was created out of nothing. So the logical question is: What gives our money value? I've been searching for the answer for years, and it did not hit me until this morning, as I was walking through the city in the sunshine, marvelling at all the buildings, churches, side-walks, businesses, and people, while wondering how all this came to be with the fraudulent currency that we've operated on for the last 101 years. I noticed that for every well off person I saw, there were probably 10 more dirt poor people. This is not because there is anything wrong with these people, it is because the system is designed this way. For anybody to get rich, others must go broke. When you consider the shrinking Middle Class in America, this makes a lot of sense. So what gives our money value? Nothing other than the fact that the government has promised to pay back each and every dollar (and at interest) that was ever in circulation. How is this payed for? By taxes, or in other words, people like you working your ass off. That's what gives the dollar it's value. Perpetual enslavement of the people.
How Money is Created Today
This process has been well documented and finally put in simple terms. Let's examine the process:
We shall start with the need for money. The Federal Government, having spent more than it has taken from its citizens in taxes, needs, for the sake of illustration, 1 billion. Since it does not have the money, and Congress has given away its authority to "create" it, the Government must go to the "creators" for the $ 1 billion. But, the Federal Reserve, a private corporation, doesn't just give its money away! The Bankers are willing to deliver 1,000,000,000 billion in money or credit to the Federal Government in exchange for the Government's agreement to pay it back -- with interest! So Congress authorizes the Treasury Department to print 1,000,000,000 billion in bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve Bankers.
The Federal Reserve then pays the cost of printing the 1,000,000,000 (about 1,000 dollars) and makes the exchange. The Government then uses the money to pay its obligations. What are the results of this fantastic transaction? Well, $ 1 billion in Government bills are paid all right, but the Government has now indebted the people to the Bankers for $ 1 billion on which the people must pay interest! Tens of thousands of such transactions have taken place since 1913 so that by the 1980's, the U.S. Government is indebted to the Bankers for over $ 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) on which the people pay over $ 100 billion a year in interest alone with no hope of ever paying off the principal. [Get this!! If the principle were ever paid back, there would be NO more money in circulation.] In 1995, the total Federal Debt has grown to over $ 5 trillion, with an annual interest payment of $ 203 billion, 14% of the federal budget. Supposedly our children and following generations will pay forever and forever!
And There's More...You say, "This is terrible!" Yes, it is, but we have shown only part of the sordid story. Under this unholy system, those United States Bonds have now become "assets" of the Banks in the Reserve System, which they then use as "reserves" to "create" more "credit" to lend. Current "reserve" requirements allow them to use that $ 1 billion in bonds to "create" as much as $ 15 billion in new "credit" to lend to States, Municipalities, to individuals and businesses. Added to the original $ 1 billion, they could have $ 16 billion of "created credit" out in loans paying them interest with their only cost being $ 1,000 for printing the original $ 1 billion! Since the U.S. Congress has not issued Constitutional money since 1913, in order for the people to have money to carry on trade and commerce they are forced to borrow the "created credit" of the Monopoly Bankers and pay them usury-fees!
And There's Still More...In addition to the vast wealth drawn to them through this almost unlimited usury, the Bankers who control the money at the top are able to approve or disapprove large loans to large and successful corporations to the extent that refusal of a loan will bring about a reduction in the price that that Corporation's stock sells for on the market. After depressing the price, the Bankers' agents buy large blocks of the stock, after which the sometimes multi-million-dollar loan is approved, the stock rises, and is then sold for a profit. In this manner billions of dollars are made with which to buy more stock. This practice is so refined today that the Federal Reserve Board need only announce to the newspapers an increase or decrease in their "rediscount rate" to send stocks up and down as they wish. Using this method since 1913, the Bankers and their agents have purchased secret or open control of almost every large corporation in America. Using that control, they then force the corporations to borrow huge sums from their banks so that corporation earnings are siphoned off in the form of interest to the banks. This leaves little as actual "profits" which can be paid as dividends and explains why stock prices are so depressed, while the banks reap billions in interest from corporate loans. In effect, the bankers get almost all of the profits, while individual stockholders are left holding the bag.
Millions of working families are now indebted to the few hundred Banking Families for twice the assessed value of the entire United States. And these Banking Families obtained that debt against us for the cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping!
How The Fed Came to Be
Our founding fathers well very opposed to central banks. They were well aware of the perils of such institutions, the very dangers that Americans today are now having to relearn for themselves. The American Revolutionary war began primarily because the English King George III decided to outlaw to the American Greenback, which was the currency that the colonies had been using, and quite prosperously. This forced the people to borrow currency from the English central bank at high interest rates. It immediatly put the colonies in a state of debt, because they were forced to pay back interest on the money. Now, if all the money is coming from the same bank, and at interest, where the hell is the money to pay the interest back supposed to come from? It did not exist, creating a perpetual debt cycle. So the revolution was fought, many people died, and for a short, sweet period of time, we were truly free. The Fed is not the first evil monetary structure that our country has dealt with. There were a few preceding prototypes. The fed is the reason why the national debt will only ever increase:
"In fact, the last time in American history the national debt was completely paid off was in 1835, after President Andrew Jackson shutdown the Central Bank that preceded the Federal Reserve. In fact Jackson’s entire political platform essentially revolved around his commitment to shut down the Central Bank, stating at one point: ” the bold efforts the present bank has made to control the government are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.” Unfortunately his message was short lived, and the international bankers succeeded to install another central bank in 1913…The Federal Reserve. And as long as this institution exists, perpetual debt is guaranteed." *
On December 23rd, 1913, while most of congress was at home with their families, the Federal Reserve Act was passed by a few well-paid-off politicians and then signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. This was largely a response to a false panic is 1907 that caused a serious recession. Although those responsible have gone through great lengths to conceal the truth of this financial panic, as well as the crash of '29, and every crisis in between and up to the mortgage crisis of '08, the truth is that every single financial crisis America has ever endured could have been avoided, and was caused by the same small group of people that still run the banks (and thus the country) today.
"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
-Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence
“Give me control of a nation’s money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” --Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Where to Go from Here?
The Federal Reserve Bank is the end result of the international banking cartels completing what they have always wanted to do: control everything. All money comes from them, and is owed back to them (and then some). So, we can never truly prosper as a country as long as this institution exists. Every period since 1913 when the country seemed to be doing well was a result of the Fed making it so. And every time all seems to be going well, the economy collapses. The last time that happened was 2008. Not only did J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sacks, and a few other large corporations declare bankruptcy (thus removing the obligiation to pay back their debts), they forced the government to pay them back for the money that they lost by betting against whether John Smith will pay his mortgage. It was one of the biggest heists in history, all made possible thanks to the Fed.
War, poverty, drug abuse, and just about every other national problem that exists can be traced back to these banking cartels in one way or anther. Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate I know of that ever challenged the Federal Reserve. We must elect into office a president that is willing to stand up to this insane institution and end this cycle. When a presidential candidate promises to eliminate the national debt, now you know why he is full of shit. It's simply impossible by design, and will only ever happen if we get rid of the Fed.
There are other ways to undermine the Fed than politicians. For example, you can use alternative currencies such as bitcoin. Now that you understand what gives the dollar its value, maybe it won't be so hard to understand that what gives bitcoin it's value is trust in the currency. That's better than the trust in debt that backs the dollar. Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a direct threat to the banking cartels. I encourage everyone to look into alternative currencies, question current policies, and to keep your minds open.
*Source
"This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." Every bank note in your wallet proclaims this, so you ought to know what that means. To do so, it requires another lesson in history; the inception of the Federal Reserve Bank. If we do not understand our history, then we are doomed to repeat it, and in this case we already are. The Dollar Bill used to say "This note is redeemable in gold." That's because every dollar that was printed could only be printed if there was a certain amount of gold backing it up, to give it real value. Thus, the notes were redeemable in gold, which is an asset that history has proven to be stable. The gold standard was abolished shortly after the Fed was incepted. Henceforth, all money was created out of nothing. So the logical question is: What gives our money value? I've been searching for the answer for years, and it did not hit me until this morning, as I was walking through the city in the sunshine, marvelling at all the buildings, churches, side-walks, businesses, and people, while wondering how all this came to be with the fraudulent currency that we've operated on for the last 101 years. I noticed that for every well off person I saw, there were probably 10 more dirt poor people. This is not because there is anything wrong with these people, it is because the system is designed this way. For anybody to get rich, others must go broke. When you consider the shrinking Middle Class in America, this makes a lot of sense. So what gives our money value? Nothing other than the fact that the government has promised to pay back each and every dollar (and at interest) that was ever in circulation. How is this payed for? By taxes, or in other words, people like you working your ass off. That's what gives the dollar it's value. Perpetual enslavement of the people.
How Money is Created Today
This process has been well documented and finally put in simple terms. Let's examine the process:
We shall start with the need for money. The Federal Government, having spent more than it has taken from its citizens in taxes, needs, for the sake of illustration, 1 billion. Since it does not have the money, and Congress has given away its authority to "create" it, the Government must go to the "creators" for the $ 1 billion. But, the Federal Reserve, a private corporation, doesn't just give its money away! The Bankers are willing to deliver 1,000,000,000 billion in money or credit to the Federal Government in exchange for the Government's agreement to pay it back -- with interest! So Congress authorizes the Treasury Department to print 1,000,000,000 billion in bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve Bankers.
The Federal Reserve then pays the cost of printing the 1,000,000,000 (about 1,000 dollars) and makes the exchange. The Government then uses the money to pay its obligations. What are the results of this fantastic transaction? Well, $ 1 billion in Government bills are paid all right, but the Government has now indebted the people to the Bankers for $ 1 billion on which the people must pay interest! Tens of thousands of such transactions have taken place since 1913 so that by the 1980's, the U.S. Government is indebted to the Bankers for over $ 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) on which the people pay over $ 100 billion a year in interest alone with no hope of ever paying off the principal. [Get this!! If the principle were ever paid back, there would be NO more money in circulation.] In 1995, the total Federal Debt has grown to over $ 5 trillion, with an annual interest payment of $ 203 billion, 14% of the federal budget. Supposedly our children and following generations will pay forever and forever!
And There's More...You say, "This is terrible!" Yes, it is, but we have shown only part of the sordid story. Under this unholy system, those United States Bonds have now become "assets" of the Banks in the Reserve System, which they then use as "reserves" to "create" more "credit" to lend. Current "reserve" requirements allow them to use that $ 1 billion in bonds to "create" as much as $ 15 billion in new "credit" to lend to States, Municipalities, to individuals and businesses. Added to the original $ 1 billion, they could have $ 16 billion of "created credit" out in loans paying them interest with their only cost being $ 1,000 for printing the original $ 1 billion! Since the U.S. Congress has not issued Constitutional money since 1913, in order for the people to have money to carry on trade and commerce they are forced to borrow the "created credit" of the Monopoly Bankers and pay them usury-fees!
And There's Still More...In addition to the vast wealth drawn to them through this almost unlimited usury, the Bankers who control the money at the top are able to approve or disapprove large loans to large and successful corporations to the extent that refusal of a loan will bring about a reduction in the price that that Corporation's stock sells for on the market. After depressing the price, the Bankers' agents buy large blocks of the stock, after which the sometimes multi-million-dollar loan is approved, the stock rises, and is then sold for a profit. In this manner billions of dollars are made with which to buy more stock. This practice is so refined today that the Federal Reserve Board need only announce to the newspapers an increase or decrease in their "rediscount rate" to send stocks up and down as they wish. Using this method since 1913, the Bankers and their agents have purchased secret or open control of almost every large corporation in America. Using that control, they then force the corporations to borrow huge sums from their banks so that corporation earnings are siphoned off in the form of interest to the banks. This leaves little as actual "profits" which can be paid as dividends and explains why stock prices are so depressed, while the banks reap billions in interest from corporate loans. In effect, the bankers get almost all of the profits, while individual stockholders are left holding the bag.
Millions of working families are now indebted to the few hundred Banking Families for twice the assessed value of the entire United States. And these Banking Families obtained that debt against us for the cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping!
How The Fed Came to Be
Our founding fathers well very opposed to central banks. They were well aware of the perils of such institutions, the very dangers that Americans today are now having to relearn for themselves. The American Revolutionary war began primarily because the English King George III decided to outlaw to the American Greenback, which was the currency that the colonies had been using, and quite prosperously. This forced the people to borrow currency from the English central bank at high interest rates. It immediatly put the colonies in a state of debt, because they were forced to pay back interest on the money. Now, if all the money is coming from the same bank, and at interest, where the hell is the money to pay the interest back supposed to come from? It did not exist, creating a perpetual debt cycle. So the revolution was fought, many people died, and for a short, sweet period of time, we were truly free. The Fed is not the first evil monetary structure that our country has dealt with. There were a few preceding prototypes. The fed is the reason why the national debt will only ever increase:
"In fact, the last time in American history the national debt was completely paid off was in 1835, after President Andrew Jackson shutdown the Central Bank that preceded the Federal Reserve. In fact Jackson’s entire political platform essentially revolved around his commitment to shut down the Central Bank, stating at one point: ” the bold efforts the present bank has made to control the government are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.” Unfortunately his message was short lived, and the international bankers succeeded to install another central bank in 1913…The Federal Reserve. And as long as this institution exists, perpetual debt is guaranteed." *
On December 23rd, 1913, while most of congress was at home with their families, the Federal Reserve Act was passed by a few well-paid-off politicians and then signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. This was largely a response to a false panic is 1907 that caused a serious recession. Although those responsible have gone through great lengths to conceal the truth of this financial panic, as well as the crash of '29, and every crisis in between and up to the mortgage crisis of '08, the truth is that every single financial crisis America has ever endured could have been avoided, and was caused by the same small group of people that still run the banks (and thus the country) today.
"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
-Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence
“Give me control of a nation’s money supply, and I care not who makes its laws.” --Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Where to Go from Here?
The Federal Reserve Bank is the end result of the international banking cartels completing what they have always wanted to do: control everything. All money comes from them, and is owed back to them (and then some). So, we can never truly prosper as a country as long as this institution exists. Every period since 1913 when the country seemed to be doing well was a result of the Fed making it so. And every time all seems to be going well, the economy collapses. The last time that happened was 2008. Not only did J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sacks, and a few other large corporations declare bankruptcy (thus removing the obligiation to pay back their debts), they forced the government to pay them back for the money that they lost by betting against whether John Smith will pay his mortgage. It was one of the biggest heists in history, all made possible thanks to the Fed.
War, poverty, drug abuse, and just about every other national problem that exists can be traced back to these banking cartels in one way or anther. Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate I know of that ever challenged the Federal Reserve. We must elect into office a president that is willing to stand up to this insane institution and end this cycle. When a presidential candidate promises to eliminate the national debt, now you know why he is full of shit. It's simply impossible by design, and will only ever happen if we get rid of the Fed.
There are other ways to undermine the Fed than politicians. For example, you can use alternative currencies such as bitcoin. Now that you understand what gives the dollar its value, maybe it won't be so hard to understand that what gives bitcoin it's value is trust in the currency. That's better than the trust in debt that backs the dollar. Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies are a direct threat to the banking cartels. I encourage everyone to look into alternative currencies, question current policies, and to keep your minds open.
*Source
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