a personal story
Last year a friend of mine left work at Fischers Aktien-Gesellschaft, Stratford ON (FAG Bearing) to discover her car had been stolen from the company parking lot. She made a police report. Later that night she spotted her car at a video rental store and called police again. As she relates: The police suspected her of stealing her own car for insurance reasons. She returned to FAG Security and asked if they could review the parking lot security tapes, in the hope of finding something to prove her claim of car theft. Sure enough, the security cam had taped 3 men and a woman stealing her car. Armed with that she returned to the police station who told her point blank - 'the investigation is over'. No further investigation. Case closed.
Makes one wonder why we have police - but - there are lots of them, so there must be a reason. My car was stolen and wrecked several years ago and I didn't fare much better with the police. There had been a large rash of car thefts here, when what was left of my car was recovered I asked the police if they had taken fingerprints or anything and they said they weren't bothered, and did I want my car towed home or to the scrap yard?
More and more cops, more and more expense, and less and less services? Doesn't quite add up. Who are these people serving? I think Aldous Huxley (author - Brave new World) said it best way back in the '30's when he said - 'to fear the highly structured MIC'. The cops are here to protect them -
From us.
Here is how they do it. http://www.brianreeder.com/2008/02/19/the-worst-police-actions-in-recent-memory/
Long time reader/posters at this site might remember I posted longitude and latitude coordinates for Fischer Bearing's state of the art precision bearing factory here in Stratford. It is where the US military gets their 'sensitive' parts from. Bearings for their helicopters, jets, and minuteman guns.
Why here? The safety factor of international 'anonymity'. If you know how to use this site you can enter 'arpidoodle' in the search box on this page and you will find those coordinates again. And the reasons why I posted them - one being that whatever the US does affects us here almost identically.
Secondly, emerging as most important in self governance issues is what can only be seen as conflict between the move toward social governance in a highly developed system of free enterprise - i.e. the resistance the NI4D is encountering in the US.
What happens when what we Canadians call 'official accountability' is left by the wayside?
More police - less police 'protection'? That is happening here, and in the US. The police state, a thin veil for totalitarianism, elitism, whatever label you want to append to it, that IS here and growing, rather quickly,
In my old, slow, and empirically logical way of thinking, I have to conclude that this most obvious form of MIC control - the police state - will have to produce more conflict than social / free enterprise challenges do BEFORE change is undertaken. I wish I was wrong, but the most valid pretense for ignoring the NI4D is that it compromises core values. Values which we no longer have benefit of. Stop and think. The average American does not have a say in whether his or her company stays in this country or goes to China or Mexico - what does free enterprise - which is 'allowing' these companies to move to cheaper labor markets - do for us? Face it - there is no free enterprise in the traditional sense of the word, because there is no traditional domestic labor market.
'Up' here a local TV station had the g-d audacity to boast that by 2010 all entry labor postions would be filled by itinerant immigrants. Sound familiar? As I said, we shadow you, step for step. We are losing our own country to a handful of those whose interests are purely self-serving.
Why? Because social accountability contradicts free enterprise?
Who needs that bullshit?
As long as the type of elitism Bush, Clinton and a long list of others have started under the guise of patriotism - or 'the American way' - as long as that continues, the more we - the middle class - the honest worker - lose.
Free enterprise, by practical definition, was a tool for expansion. Who is kidding who when they say we can continue to expand as we have historically? Our expansion has to be social if we are to survive, and we will need lots of enterprise for that to happen. Not the old kind. (the kind Bush is practising on the Iraqis, if anyone needs a reminder) but, the new kind, the kind Gravel is practising on us. If we can't keep with it we should be fully aware of the consequences. There isn't a lot of choice in the matter.
The initial excitement Mike generated has had its' day, anyone watching the viewers and posters numbers can see the 'thrill seekers have left for easier pickins' - now we have to brace for the long haul. My daily rants since I 'met' Mike - to anyone who would listen (or not) are bearing more fruit, not simply because of myself, or you, or Mike, but because what's happened nationally and internationally in the last 18 months has everyone talking. All the talk we have generated to those on 'the periphery' is starting to sink in as oil prices increase, jobs are lost, and civil and social benefits are lost. People everywhere are questioning, people who never had to question want to know why these things are happening, and everyone who took the initiative way back when is now being listened to more and more. Sticking it out through thick and thin takes time and strength but it does pay off. We are on the right track.
I think people visit this site because they feel used - that they are being betrayed via patriotic manipulation. I think we have to look beyond Gravel, Kucinich, Nader, Paul, Kennedy, Huxley, and look at reality, and call a spade a spade. Free enterprise has to give way to social enterprise.
I would like nothing more than for Mike's supporters to be in D.C. with him at the next inauguration, raising his arms in victory as the next president is being sworn in - all wearing NI4D t's - and keeping the movement alive during the long haul. I would definitely make an appearance to that showing of solidarity. (It wouldn't be my first appearance at a presidential inauguration ;)
Otherwise, it's just another long walk to a questionable home at the end of the day.
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Comments
What if political corruption
Submitted on July 28th, 2008 by gravel08njWhat if political corruption is residual by-product of Roman culture that has crawled into and been disemminated through Western thought?
-- tomislav v. butkovic tomislav@gravel2008.us Gravel 2008 - New Jersey State Director http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gravel2008nj/ http://gravel2008.us
what came first - the chicken or the egg?
Submitted on August 6th, 2008 by arpidoodleIn answer to your question I will query the following: 'what came first - the chicken or the egg?'
I hope this doesn't come as a surprise but we probably have had much less corruption in the West, historically speaking, than the East, simply because the founding fathers undertook - strove - to eliminate usurial practices when creating the American constitution. It was, after all, that which they were escaping when leaving not only England, but, wherever new Americans came from. What we call corruption, to go beyond the rhetorical and into the semantics of physics with, are normal life forces at work - albeit solely within the framework of human artifice. Change is unavoidable, it is natural, the trick is for democracy to maintain its standards throughout the process. America set the standard for many years, but now being faced with more or less insurmountable economic/political issues, is beginning to buckle. Whether corruption appeared elsewhere - as it certainly has, and whether the 'evil seed' has lain dormant for several millenia, patiently waiting for the opportunity to leap onto some pulsing jugular vein and suck every last drop of decency and morality from it is - well, ummm - I don't know for sure - possibly questionable?
what came first - the chicken or the egg? - it doesn't matter - they're both gonna get laid anyways.
What is causing rampant corruption? Oil. If it weren't oil, in all likelihood, it would be something else, possibly of less noticeable stature, but then again, possibly more. The point is - oil is currently THE issue. For a long time it was money. What will the next 'issue' be? Possibly something that doesn't leave much time for rhetoric. Pity. Oil, money, and slavery merely reflect the catastrophic tendencies of mankinds abusive nature, and provide the opportunity to act as catalysts for speculation, profit, security and the so-called good life, but what do these things really produce? There is not an uglier picture than to be seen than when a member of the moral majority turns thir back on their fellow man to 'increase' his security. A sight so commonplace it is accepted as normal.
What came first - the chicken or the egg?
Actually - it just doesn't matter.
to take responsibility... or to jump over the cliff.
Submitted on July 27th, 2008 by jfl" My daily rants since I 'met' Mike - to anyone who would listen (or not) are bearing more fruit, not simply because of myself, or you, or Mike, but because what's happened nationally and internationally in the last 18 months has everyone wondering. All the talk we have generated to those on 'the periphery' is starting to sink in as oil increases and jobs are lost. And civil and social benefits are lost. People everywhere are questioning, people who never had to question want to know why things are happening, and everyone who took the initiative way back when is now being listened to more and more. Sticking it out through thick and thin takes time and strength but it does pay off. We are on the right track. "
Well, of course I hope you're right. I have encountered no one, outside of "the elect", who takes Mike or the NI4d seriously.
I note that Barak Obama just gave a speech calling for a New Axis of aggression... "The Afghani people need our troops and yours..." that was met by cheers from 200,000 Good Germans in Berlin.
People everywhere are not so much questioning in my view, as looking for the man on the white horse to put the wheels back on the wagon and "get us moving again". Into war in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran seems OK as a destination.
I know that I personally have taken the measure of what's afoot, as have you, but we'll have to see if the majority is ready to take responsibility for the clamitous state of affairs we find ourselves in at present, and to act, or to jump into Obamas arms and thence over the cliff.
--
Times have changed. We are going to empower the American people. Let’s work together. I am tough. I’m not afraid. None of this politics as usual. Mike Gravel
there is a Greek adage
Submitted on July 28th, 2008 by arpidoodleThere is a Greek adage - 'the first thing the intelligent individual does upon rising is 'generate' their mind'. Being a person of letters I'm sure you appreciate the difference between the cost of learning and the price of not doing so.
It takes a long time to turn a big ship around - the bigger, the longer. The fact it doesn't seem to be turning doesn't mean it isn't in the process. It may be all about perspective when it comes to direction. There is still time for change. At least Obama is not withdrawing via Iran.
Predictions are hard to make. I'm hoping a majority government equates to more accountability down the road. It would seem that more people would be taking notice. No one knows, but my perspective is that we will not allow ourselves to be physically or spiritually destroyed. Not completely.
At least Obama is not withdrawing via Iran?.
Submitted on July 28th, 2008 by jfl"At least Obama is not withdrawing via Iran."
I don't understand that line.
"Predictions are hard to make. I'm hoping a majority government equates to more accountability down the road. It would seem that more people would be taking notice. No one knows, but my perspective is that we will not allow ourselves to be physically or spiritually destroyed. Not completely."
Not completely.
--
Times have changed. We are going to empower the American people. Let’s work together. I am tough. I’m not afraid. None of this politics as usual. Mike Gravel
speaking of ' the tattered reins of power"
Submitted on July 28th, 2008 by arpidoodleby Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed
(afghani chronicler, journalist, native)
Unsurprisingly, calls by human rights organisations for the meaningful intervention of an international body have continued unanswered. This is despite the fact that two key members of the international community, America and Russia, bear primary responsibility for the state of war that has plagued Afghanistan to this day, due to their respective self-interested manipulations of the country. Disregarding their responsibility, these nations refuse to undertake a significant intervention, be it diplomatic or otherwise. Meaningful pressure that could be exerted upon the Taliban to change its policies is not exerted. As Amnesty notes: “For two decades, the international community has mostly averted its eyes from the human rights catastrophe in Afghanistan... The United States, its West European allies and the former Soviet Union have failed to bring to an end the very human rights crisis that they helped to create.” In fact, the systematic, ethnically-motivated killings of thousands of Hazara Afghans has not been enough to elicit other than a rhetorical response from the Western powers, who have thereby clearly illustrated their lack of genuine concern for this tide of genocide. While issuing a statement condemning the killing of Iranian diplomats at Mazar-e-Sharif and calling for investigations into their death, “The UN Security Council... has remained silent about the deaths and arbitrary detention of thousands of ‘ordinary’ people.” As AI emphasises, international pressure combined with condemnation in public “has been shown to be effective in revealing the truth about human rights abuses” and “prevent[ing] further massacres”. Yet, the Western powers refuse to impose such pressure. Twenty years of such ongoing refusal and failure have - quite predictably - given effective consent to the Taliban to continue with its policies, in the knowledge that the Western powers are simply unconcerned about a crisis regarding which they can undertake significant stops to halt - as AI has made clear. The West has, rather, strangely refrained from implementing even the most simple of such steps, suggesting that there may be other more important interests in allowing the Taliban to rise to power.
An article appearing in the prestigious German daily Frankfurter Rundschau, in early October 1996, reported that UNOCAL “has been given the go-ahead from the new holders of power in Kabul to build a pipeline from Turkmenstein via Afghanistan to Pakistan. It would lead from Krasnovodsk on the Caspian Sea to Karachi on the Indian Ocean coast.” The same article noted that UN diplomats in Geneva believe that the war in Afghanistan is the result of a struggle between Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and the United States, “to secure access to the rich oil and natural gas of the Caspian Sea.”Other than UNOCAL, companies that are jubilantly interested in exploiting Caspian oil, apparently at any human expense, include AMOCO, BP, Chevron, EXXON, and Mobile.
http://www.mediamonitors.net/mosaddeq2.html
Obama has a mixed record on Iran.
Submitted on July 28th, 2008 by arpidoodleObama has a mixed record on Iran. ( mixed? - is that a polite way of saying he bends anyway the wind blows? ) Let's not forget he is a lawyer and can do things even God can't do - make wrong right and right wrong. His integrity is dollar driven. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Not good, but, not all bad. G.W. on the other hand, has all the earmarks of a born loser. Cowardice, stupidity, meaness, liar and cheater. All Bush ever had going for him were his powerful connections. Obama is playing up to those people, but he is not as bereft of conscience as G.W. is. When Bush started his greed and hostility campaign it took the world off guard. People are no longer off guard. Putin was a loud voice of dissent (" Bush is a madman on the loose with a razor" re: Iran invasion plans). There is much more going on behind the scenes internationally with regards to what amounts to America's energy piracy plans than meets the eye. And there is absolutely no way American media is going to give that topic a fair shake. I wonder how the conscience of the American black voter will play in this. I think Obama would turn his back on them, but, - will they let him. That forecast may be too early to hazard a guess at, but economically at home, things are ever worsening and domestic political economic confrontation is a certainty.
Using the intentionally designed energy crunch as a platform for profit and aggression IS wearing thin. If Obama continues to use Bush's policies to keep America going he will be knocked off his horse very quickly. (... not saying there isn't an energy crunch at all, just to reiterate upon the way it is being dealt with a la Bush Cheney - so wrong!)
We had to know that whoever replaced Bush would have to be capable of picking up the tattered reins he is leaving, and that is proving to be not a pretty picture. In Bush's day, Iraq was to be a springboard to Iran - while the choice may seem to be whether blood is going to continue to be spilled for energy, the writing is on the wall - alternate energy is needed. Are Americans (let's throw in the rest of the energy grabbers while we're at it - Russia, China, Korea, Europe) ... are we all going to look like complete madmen before we come to our senses?
The one thing we aren't is good problem solvers, and the one thing this world will always offer is problems. We just seem to have this retarded mentalilty where: if we solve one problem - all the rest will magically evaporate - wooo-o-o-o-hooo-o-o-o!!!