“If one understands that socialism is not a share-the-wealth program, but is in reality a method to consolidate and control the wealth, then the seeming paradox of super-rich men promoting socialism becomes no paradox at all. Instead, it becomes logical, even the perfect tool of power-seeking megalomaniacs.

Communism, or more accurately, socialism, is not a movement of the downtrodden masses, but of the economic elite.”

- Gary Allen, JBS and author of The Rockefeller File

The audio is originally from TUC Radio in San Francisco. Please listen to the outro for information on how to support them. Here is the blurb from TUC’s site.

Robert Fisk, foreign correspondent for the London Independent, received an exuberant welcome when he came to the Bay Area in December 2006. He spoke on civil war in Iraq and Lebanon and the ongoing denial of the genocide of one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915.

Even though he consistently criticizes the New York Times they described him as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain” He has over thirty years of experience in international reporting. His best-selling books, based on his field notes and recordings, offer strong criticisms of Middle Eastern governments as well as British and United States government foreign policy. He spoke on December 14, 2006, in Oakland, CA.

Don’t look at this one drunk, it might trip you out.

Since some people on YouTube have put up video collages of famous people who challenge the official line on 9/11, I have to rotate the other way and put up a small collection of “9/11 Truth Haters.” What is fascinating to me about this issue is that, almost unilaterally, it’s not enough to disagree on the issue, but it has to be refuted forcefully and anybody who ascribes to such an idea has to be ridiculed more vehemently than any other group, including their political or ideological opponents.

Also, I have to challenge the most popular argument among most of these guys. Why do I have to choose between either inside job or government incompetence? Why couldn’t a group of high level insiders take advantage of an incompetent government? It’s too dismissive to say people think “the government” did it. There is a lot of research which names names, with supporting evidence.

Penn and Teller

Embedding disabled by YouTube

Honestly, I like Penn and Teller, and I knew they had an “anti-9/11 truth” episode out. I’ve read a LOT of 9/11 stuff and I’ve read a LOT of anti-and-debunking 9/11 stuff. I haven’t heard of half the theories these guys showcase. They do put in a bit of what I would consider legitimate evidence, but it’s in 2-second mentions of demolitions interspersed with bizarre segues about how the planes were flown to a military base and attached with remote control equipment. I guess that guy doesn’t know that remote control autopilot systems are standard issue in commercial planes.

It’s sad how they talk about how it was obviously fires that brought down the towers, while taking deliberate close-up shots of gaping holes in the tower with no fire, just a bunch of black smoke (a dead or dying fire). I’ve seen some videos of massive skyscraper fires (from buildings that stood, by the way) and they are truly breathtaking.

Greg Palast Disses 9/11 Truthers

Where do any of these people (some of whom make their careers out of chronicling the lies and conspiracies of the powers that be) get off acting so personally, morally outraged at the suggestion that the crooks of the military-industrial complex once again screwed over its own population? At least Greg Palast lost a friend who worked there. The sad thing is that he also broke half the stories that connects the dots of the conspiracy, such as the theft of the election, the Bush/bin Laden link, and the black-balling of CIA and FBI investigations, but just can’t take that last step.

Behind the Cut: Noam Chomsky, Bill Maher, Bill Clinton, Ron Paul, Danny Bonaduce

Noam Chomsky Talks Around 9/11 Question

Bill Maher Pwns 9/11 n00b5

Bill Clinton sez “It was an Osama bin Laden Job”

Ron Paul Doesn’t Know He Has a Bunch of Weirdo “Truther” Supporters

Danny Bonaduce Bout to Beat Somebody Up

There are some really great write-ups going on at some of the other blogs I read.

• Ultraviolet Garden has a must-read exposé on the Camp Lejune Toxic Water Contamination. Soldiers who stayed at this military base over several decades were knowingly exposed to regular doses of cancer-causing chemicals.
• Paul M. Peterson puts together some information on Operation Paperclip, the large-scale integration of Nazi scientists and doctors into the United States military-industrial complex.
• Tad runs a wonderful local blog called The PLAZOID, doing the unpopular work of standing up to the powers that be for the disenfranchised and writing with passion.
• Benamar Benatta has still not received any recognition from the Canadian government for the unlawful rendition and torture he faced. The fight goes on.

Since I’m growing a bit, I should lay out my goal with this site a bit. You can find it on the “About” page to the right.

Recommended books are ready.

New features coming soon

• More links (I have a ton), and an organized links section
• Better tagging scheme

Features coming someday, maybe

• A podcast
• Public access shorts, tie big picture to local

As I was going over that “left gatekeepers” picture, I realized there were some titles I hadn’t heard of. Maybe I should have heard of this one, but I had never heard of the Manhattan Institute before. Pretty pleasant bunch of guys. If I remember correctly, Mike Ruppert covers founder William Casey in The Truth and Lies of 9/11. He was the Director of Central Intelligence who ran the Iran/Contra operation. I don’t use the word “affair” to describe these atrocities of history, unless of course talking about Bill Clinton and his intern, because it is a deliberate soft word, to psychologically pre-soften the blow of the scandal. It was a black operation, black budget, black magic military operation, not an affair, and certainly not an “incident.”

Their “about” site opens up with the following warm, fuzzy endorsement from Rudy Guiliani.

“For twenty-five years, the Manhattan Institute has confronted old problems with fresh thinking. Many of the Institute’s emblematic ideas—from the notion that low taxes encourage businesses to the concept that police should be treated with respect—were originally greeted with skepticism but have since been embraced by well-run cities everywhere. Congratulations on a quarter century of making a difference.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, except for the congratulations part.

• About Manhattan Institute [their website]
• Giuliani, the Manhattan Institute, and Eugenics
• Manhattan Institute [Wikipedia]
• Think Tank Watch: Manhattan Institute
• William J. Casey [Wikipedia]

Hitler’s brutal attempt to exterminate the Jewish race was not as successful as Europe’s attempt to wipe the “Red savage” off the face of the Americas. It is estimated that over 50 million Native Americans were slaughtered using massacres, conflict, biowarfare, and the near-extinction of the Plains Buffalo (attack on food supply). It is silly to speculate if some of the widespread contamination and disease-causing was intentional or not; the countries of Europe had been using that dirty trick on each other for centuries, and was fair game for warfare and genocide.

Those that survived were herded like cattle and put on death marches to forts and reservations with the worst conditions, the worst land, in disease-prone areas, where they died and mourned, and tried to hold on. Their languages were forbidden. Their spirituality was forbidden and Christianity was shoved down their throats. They were not the first nor the last culture to suffer this horrible fate.

Even during the eugenics movements of the early 20th century, this depopulation program against American natives continued, being particularly targeted for sterilization on the grounds of physical and/or mental incompetence.

• Population history of American indigenous peoples [Wikipedia]
  
• Trail of Tears
  

It’s pretty obvious that the “mainstream media” is in bed with the right wing hawks. It’s no surprise since the big networks are owned by defense companies and war profiteers.

It’s not quite as obvious that the “alternative” and “left wing” media is owned, too. But it is. Clickable image below gives you the very broad look at this.

I used to be an Alternet junkie, but I started to get that sinking feeling I was being “altered” by some of their out-there stories and what I now consider to be reality-bending, especially on the issues of what is a real liberal, what is a real feminist, and so on. When I left, it had more or less developed into a celebrity (and political celebrity) gossip mag.

And you can’t watch a show on PBS without hearing about all the big foundations that funded this program or that.

“From now on, we at Diebold will see to it that we properly safeguard the illusion of democracy to all Americans.”

Courtesy of the Onion News Network.

Staring down the Russians - by Zbigniew Brzezinski

Here’s my contribution to the world of zany conspiracy theories. Did you notice how the Russia-Georgia war broke out right as gas prices were starting to drop? Cheaper gas is not something we’ve seen in a while, and probably won’t be seeing again anytime soon.