Truth's Truth

As writing of my previous post The Qualm before the Storm neared completion, I stumbled upon this fabulous bit of insight on the BikePortland Blog (see comment Post #5, by Truth). It’s so good I couldn’t resist sharing it with you.

At the author’s invitation, I took the liberty of reposting his or her comments, albeit in heavily edited form. Because the original appeared as one impossibly long paragraph, I broke the text up into paragraphs where it seemed logical to do so. Although I rewrote a couple of sentences for clarity's sake, I retained the original wording to the greatest extent possible, and otherwise limited editing to spelling, punctuation, and formatting.

The following was written by a person identified only as Truth:

Don’t believe one optimistic word from any public figure about the economy or humanity in general. They are all part of the problem. It’s like a game of Monopoly. In America, the richest 1% now holds 1/2 of all United States wealth. Unlike lesser estimates, this includes all stocks, bonds, cash, and material assets held by America’s richest 1%. Even that filthy pig Oprah acknowledged that it was at about 50% in 2006. Naturally, she put her own “humanitarian” spin on it, calling attention to her own “good will.” What a disgusting hypocrite slob.

The richest 1% has literally made world prosperity absolutely impossible. Don’t fall for any of their “humanitarian” crap. It’s a sham. These people are causing the same problems they pretend to care about.

Ask any professor of economics. Money does not grow on trees. The government can’t just print up more on a whim (actually, it can; it’s called inflation —Ed.). At any given time, there is a relative limit to the wealth within any economy of any size, so when too much wealth accumulates at the top, the middle class slips further into debt and the lower class further into poverty.

A similar rule applies worldwide. The world’s richest 1% now own over 40% of all world wealth. This is even after you account for all of this “good will,” “humanitarian” BS from celebrities and executives. It’s a sham. As they get richer and richer, less wealth is left circulating beneath them. This is the single greatest underlying cause for the current U.S. recession.

The middle class can no longer afford to sustain their share of the economy. Their wealth has been gradually transferred to the richest 1%. One way or another, we suffer because of their incredible greed. We are talking about trillions of dollars transferred from us to them over a period of about 27 years. That’s Reaganomics for you. The wealth does not ‘trickle down’ as we were told it would. It just accumulates at the top, shrinking the middle class and expanding the lower class, causing a domino effect of socio-economic problems.

But the rich will never stop. They will never settle for a reasonable share of anything. They will do whatever it takes to get even richer, leaving even less of the pie for the other 99% of us to share. At the same time, they throw back a few tax-deductible crumbs and call themselves “humanitarians,” cashing in on the PR and getting even richer the following year.

It can’t work this way. Their bogus efforts to make the world a better place cannot possibly succeed. Any “humanitarian” progress made in one area will be lost in another every single time. It absolutely cannot work this way. This is going to end just like a game of Monopoly.

The current U.S. recession will drag on for years and lead into the worst U.S. depression of all time. The richest 1% will live like royalty while the rest of us fight over jobs, food, and gasoline. Crime, poverty, and suicide will skyrocket. So don’t fall for all of this PR crap from Hollywood, Pro Sports, and Wall Street pigs. It’s a sham. Remember: They are filthy rich even after their tax-deductible contributions. Greedy pigs.

Now, we are headed for the worst economic and cultural crisis of all time. Send a “thank you” note to your favorite millionaire. It’s their fault. I’m not discounting other factors like China, sub-prime, or gas prices. But all of those factors combined still pale in comparison to that huge transfer of wealth to the rich. Anyway, those other factors are all related and further aggravated because of greed. If it weren’t for the obscene distribution of wealth within our country, there never would have been such a market for sub-prime to begin with, which by the way, was another trick whipped up by greedy bankers and executives. It makes them richer.

The credit industry has been endorsed by people like Oprah, Ellen, Dr. Phil, and many other celebrities. It makes them richer. Now, there are commercial ties between nearly every industry and every public figure. It makes them richer. So don’t fall for their “good will” BS. It’s a lie. If you fall for it, then you’re a fool. If you see any real difference between the moral character of a celebrity, politician, attorney, or executive, then you’re a fool.

Wake up, people. It’s all about the money. The 1% club will always say or do whatever it takes to get as rich as possible, without the slightest regard for anything or anyone but themselves.

Vioxx? Their idea. Sub-prime? Their idea. NAFTA? Their idea. Outsourcing? Their idea. The commercial lobbyist? Their idea. The multi-million dollar lawsuit? Their idea. $200 cell phone bills? Their idea. $200 basketball shoes? Their idea. $30 late fees? Their idea. $30 NSF fees? Their idea. $20 DVDs? Their idea. Subliminal advertising? Their idea. The MASSIVE campaign to turn every American into a brainwashed credit card-pharmaceutical-lovesick celebrity junkie? Their idea. Their ideas, all of which have been created and endorsed by celebrities, athletes, and executives, concentrate the world’s wealth and resources and wreak havoc on society. It makes them richer. So don’t fall for their “good will,” “humanitarian” BS. It’s a sham, nothing but tax-deductible PR crap.

Bottom line: The richest 1% will soon tank the largest economy in the world. It will be like nothing we’ve ever seen before, and that’s just the beginning. Greed will eventually tank every major economy in the world, causing millions to suffer and die. Oprah, Angelina, Brad, Bono, and Bill are not part of the solution. They are part of the problem.

Extreme wealth has made world prosperity absolutely impossible. Without world prosperity, there will never be world peace or anything even close. Greed kills. It will be our downfall.

Of course, the rich will throw a fit and call me a madman. Of course, their ignorant fans will do the same. You have to expect that. But I speak the truth. If you don’t believe me, then copy this entry and run it by any professor of economics or socio-economics. Then tell a friend. Call the local radio station. Re-post this entry or put it in your own words. Be one of the first to predict the worst economic and cultural crisis of all time and explain its cause.

We are in big trouble.

The Qualm before the Storm

Apprehension doesn’t begin to describe the way I feel about our country’s prospects for the future. To say that I have a qualm or two doesn’t begin to quantify my trepidation; widespread complacency among the citizenry and their mass inability to overcome inertia does nothing to assuage my fears or overcome my doubts.

While a perfect storm of ineptitude and neglect threatens to overwhelm the commonwealth, complacent Americans continue their embrace of 20^th-century ideology at the expense of 21^st-century reality. With blinders firmly in place, they pursue unsustainable lifestyles fueled by conspicuous consumption and driven by hope that the vague feeling of something amiss festering just below the level of consciousness is only a phantom. Living in denial of global climate change, peak oil, a looming recession, widespread corruption, and myriad other warning signs, they miss the big picture, the one that shows America is an emerging third-world nation desperately clinging to its first-world superpower status.

Signs of the imminent failure of the once-great nation known as the United States of America are plentiful and pervasive—and unmistakable. Our government, a former republic now well into its conversion to fascism, is riddled with corruption and failing the people at every level. In the manner of foxes tasked with guarding the chickens, control of the very agencies meant to protect the people has been handed over to the corporations the agencies were designed to protect against.

Under government protection, the environment has now degraded to a point where it might as well be called an international disaster area. Global climate change and air, water, and ground pollution push ocean ecology to the edge of collapse and threaten food and water security for most life on the planet.

Poor fiscal policies reduced the economy to a shambles. Fractional reserve banking made possible the growth of a debt-based economy, which became an impediment to accumulating real wealth for millions of people. Add to that a massive federal deficit, the decline of U.S. dollar value against other currencies, the off-shoring of jobs and the concomitant loss of our manufacturing base and subsequent rise in unemployment, stagnant wages, the long-predicted collapse of an unsustainable housing market (see Petey’s Pipeline E-zine, issues #16 & #22) and what we have are a few of the main ingredients in a recipe for global economic disaster.

U.S. energy policies haven’t been anything to brag about, either. Beyond high gasoline prices, few people seem to know anything about peak oil, and of those that do few seem inclined to do anything about it. Easy, quick and dirty are the corporate and political rallying cries for energy solutions, with petroleum, coal, and nuclear benefitting the most from political influence and absorbing the bulk of energy investment dollars. Renewable fuels and alternative energy resources, while making solid advances, still struggle to earn respectable seats at the energy solutions table. Wrong choices here will only add to environmental woes and increase the drag on the economy.

Security & defense are also grossly mismanaged. The war in Afghanistan and the occupation of Iraq siphon 43 cents of every tax dollar away from infrastructure maintenance and social programs, such as health care and education to benefit Americans. Money that could be used to build up our country is instead being used to destroy others. With the military under-equipped and overextended and with National Guard units deployed overseas, critical areas of US defense are severely compromised.

At what cost do we wage war in the Middle East? More than we can afford. More than our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren can afford. The cost of Bush’s Folly is truly astounding: Over $5 billion every week; $720,000,000 every day; more than $30 million every hour; $500,000 every minute; $8,333.33 every second. But, hey, it’s okay, because we’re doing it all on credit.

Conservative analysts estimate the final costs of Bush’s Folly at something over $3 trillion. Less-optimistic analysts predict final costs in the range of $5-7 trillion, which, in my opinion, is a more realistic estimate. Since when have there ever not been cost overruns?

But the costs of Bush’s Folly go far beyond those of wasted lives and misspent treasure. Neglected critical infrastructure—roads, bridges, dams, power plants, shipping ports, rail transportation, public transit, schools, libraries, hospitals, and water and sewage treatment facilities—continues to erode; deferred maintenance and extended construction startup times drive the costs ever higher. These, too, must eventually be paid for—or abandoned.

Nor do U.S. social policies and programs escape scrutiny and criticism. Due to years of neglect, misplaced priorities, bad practices or unintended consequences, a broad spectrum of social programs, services, agencies, systems and issues has fallen into states of disrepair, with Social Security, education, health care, the justice system, and many others in various advanced stages of crisis.

Over the next 20 years some 70 million Boomers are expected to retire from the workforce, making a huge impact on Social Security solvency. Had not various administrations raided the Social Security trust fund time and again to prop up military spending or general fund shortfalls, Social Security would be in fine shape.

Thanks to NAFTA, CAFTA and SHAFTYA, a huge wave of illegal aliens exacerbates immigration problems and threatens to overwhelm a wide range of human services, particularly those related to housing, public education, and health care. The price of cheap corn is paid not in dollars, but in human lives and livelihoods. Bush’s solution for illegal immigration? Build a fence!

Other signs that the nation has lost its collective sanity and soul include having the largest per capita prison population in the world, the second-highest level of infant mortality among industrialized nations, and a rank of 29^th in the world for life expectancy—among the worst of industrialized nations. It’s not a record anyone can or should be proud of.

Compounding all of the problems mentioned in the preceding paragraphs is the ongoing erosion of the Constitution, and of the rights and liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. Taken individually, each of these problems could be addressed and overcome. That all of these problems (and many lesser ones) converge at a single point in time exponentially increase the difficulties in successfully dealing with them and cast serious doubts about the nation’s ability to survive.

Suffice to say that no nation that subverts its Constitution and ignores the welfare of its citizens on so many levels can long endure.

Should Dynasties Rule the United States?

If, as I strongly suspect, George H.W. Bush was to Ronald Reagan as Dick Cheney is to George W. Bush, one family (plus a couple of well connected players—one a puppet, the other a puppet-master) has occupied or otherwise controlled the White House for 20 of the past 28 years. Only one other family—the Clintons, for eight years—claimed 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as its mailing address during that time.

And now, former First Lady Hillary Clinton would have us return the Clinton Family to the White House for a third term, which would give just two families a combined total of 32 years in the nation’s highest office. A two-family dynasty of consecutive Presidents over a nearly three decade time span is unprecedented in U.S. history. It’s a precedent that should not have been allowed to happen and should not be allowed to continue.

And no, I’m not opposed to a Hillary Clinton Presidency because Hillary’s a woman, but because she’s Hillary Clinton. To clarify, I’m opposed to Clinton because of who she is, not because of what she is.

There are several compelling reasons why all Americans should hope that Hillary fails in her bid to capture the Democratic nomination, foremost among them her deplorable environmental LCV score of 73% (2006) compared to Obama’s 100%. Yeah, folks, the environment is a very big deal, and Hillary is not the candidate best equipped to address the many problems it faces.

Hillary’s support for the Iraq war and the ensuing occupation is also problematic. I see no reason to believe that Clinton has any intention of diverting our nation away from the course that the Bush Crime Family so unwisely set for it. Pursuing failed policy is not a strategy for success, nor is it the way to achieve world peace.

Clinton’s bid for the Democratic nomination is all the more troubling since Ralph Nader threw his hat in the ring. That Nader would siphon more votes away from candidate Clinton than he would from candidate Obama is almost certain, and my gut feeling is that if Clinton wins the Democratic nomination the election will tip to John McCain. Sure, that would break the chain of dynastic rule, but it would put yet another Republican in charge of the White House. We have to ask ourselves if we can afford to have either one of these corporate shills ascend to the nation’s top position of power.

Finally, there’s my suspicion that Clinton’s run for the Presidency is but a poorly disguised attempt to give Bill a third term in office by letting him in through the back door. Slam that door, chain it, double bolt it, and set the alarm—before he gets in.

• • •

The problem with dynasties is that you tend to get the same stilted thinking, the same lack of vision, and the same corrupt policies from one administration to the next. The only thing that matters to the power elite is maintaining the status quo.

So, what would a continuation of the Bush-Clinton Dynasty look like in the years ahead? Hillary Clinton, two terms; Jeb Bush, two terms; Neil Bush, two terms, Chelsea Clinton; two terms; Jenna Bush, two terms; Barbara Bush, two terms. That’s another 48 years added to the 28 years already savaged by two-family dynastic rule. And who knows what future Bush/Clinton offspring will be waiting in the wings, awaiting their turn to occupy the Oval Office?

Okay, I’ll admit that this a little extreme. Chances are slim that this scenario will ever play out. Still, the potential is there, the possibility exists. Better to stop that juggernaut now, while we still have Constitutional protections—and voting rights.

Clinton Campaign in Meltdown Mode?

The tide seems to be turning against Hillary’s campaign, which can only be construed as a sign that sanity and reason are once again making inroads into the nation’s collective political consciousness. Despite Hillary’s specious claims of 35 years of political experience (do the years she spent sleeping with former Arkansas Governor/former US President Bill Clinton count as actual political experience?), her accomplishments as a US Senator seem to pale in a side-by-side comparison with Senator Barak Obama’s.

According to a comment posted on Hart Williams’ blog, over a full six-year term Clinton pushed through some 20 pieces of legislation, all but a handful of them so inconsequential (in my opinion) as to not be worth a serious politician’s time. In contrast, during his first year as a US Senator Obama wrote 152 bills and co-sponsored 427. Clearly, the facts contradict Ms. Clinton’s rhetoric that she’s a doer and Obama’s a talker.

Nor do Ms. Clinton’s verbal assaults against Obama cast her in a favorable light or win support for her from a majority of Democrats. Instead, she comes across looking like a shrewish, vindictive harridan flirting ever closer with the edge of psychological meltdown.

To his credit, Obama seems to be taking it all in stride, for the most part maintaining his composure while the Clintons, Hillary and Bill, berate his qualifications. Staying cool under pressure is a hallmark of leadership ability—something Hillary would do well to learn.

McCain's Agenda Consistent with GOP Record

Beginning with Reagan’s first term in 1980, Republicans have occupied the White House for twenty of the past 28 years. In two terms Reagan drove the country to the ropes; in one term George H.W. Bush put it against the ropes; Democrat Bill Clinton kept it against the ropes for two terms; and, nearing the end of his second term, George W. Bush persists in trying to bring the country to its knees. My greatest fear is that another term of Republican mismanagement could put our nation down for the count.

Front-running GOP Presidential candidate John McCain does nothing to inspire confidence that Republicans are even remotely interested in getting the country back on track and headed in the right direction.

A couple of weeks ago, McCain proclaimed that he’d have no problem with the US staying in Iraq for the next 100 years, if that’s what it took to win. This is the same John McCain that hopes to be elected President of the US, a nation in desperate need of moral leadership.

Last week, The League of Conservation Voters gave Senator John McCain a score of zero on its 2007 National Environmental Scorecard. McCain, who has a lifetime LCV score of 24, missed 15 of 15 important environmental votes in 2007. This is the same John McCain that hopes to be elected President of the US, a nation in desperate need of environmental leadership.

This week, McCain found himself embroiled in controversy over his relationship with a certain corporate lobbyist and what he may or may not have done to grease the wheels for said lobbyist’s client. This is the same John McCain that hopes to be elected President of the US, a nation in desperate need of ethical leadership.

By now it should be apparent to everyone that McCain’s agenda serves the interests of the corporate establishment and the power elite, not those of the American middle class. Assuming that he wins the Republican nomination, voters would be wise to send him home in November—and I don’t mean home to the White House.

Not Just Reefer Madness, but Reefer Stupidity, too!

Despite the best efforts of the pro-legalization movement, nearly two-thirds of the American public still believes the government’s negative propaganda regarding marijuana. But please, let’s not call it marijuana. That’s a Mexican slang term, made popular in the 1920’s by yellow journalism’s founding father, William Randolph Hearst, that characterizes a relatively small part of one of the most amazing and useful plants ever to grow upon planet Gaia—cannabis hemp.

Marijuana, pot, reefer, ganja, weed, hay, and many lesser-known terms all refer to the flower tops (buds) of cannabis sativa and/or cannabis indica, both of which are known to possess numerous medicinal properties. A close cousin, cannabis ruderalis, is too low in THC content to be useful for smoking purposes, but it excels as a renewable industrial resource for users of fiber (rope, cordage, textiles, paper), cellulose (building materials, biofuels, bio-degradable plastics), and seeds (food, oil). At the time it was banned in 1937, there were known to be some 25,000 different uses for cannabis hemp. How many more might be discovered, today, using modern technologies and processes?

Why, then, does the government persist in maligning such a valuable plant, in disseminating false information about it, in criminalizing its use, when all credible scientific evidence suggests that the world would be a saner, safer, healthier place were it legalized and put into widespread use? As it turns out, there are a multitude of answers to that question, none of which agree with the government’s publicly stated reasons for banning cannabis hemp.

Government agencies responsible for fostering the current climate of anti-cannabis ignorance and hysteria include the ONDCP, the FDA, and the DEA, all of which regurgitate a litany of false premises in order to defend and promote a cannabis prohibition agenda. These agencies have long argued that marijuana (their term, not mine) contains no known medicinal properties, that it’s a gateway drug, that it’s an addictive drug, that it’s a dangerous drug, that it’s a health hazard, yada, yada, yada, despite thousands of university studies conducted over a ten-year period between the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies that reached opposite conclusions on every point. Add to that anecdotal evidence based on the personal experiences of millions of cannabis users and the government’s case for cannabis prohibition falls apart. Still, the government persists.

The feds claim that marijuana lacks enough research to determine its relative safety and medical efficacy. Of course, the feds have, for nearly 30 years, used every means available to block legitimate cannabis research by denying legitimate researchers the necessary permits and access to cannabis they need in order to do the research. The government’s lack of credibility on this issue further erodes its case for cannabis prohibition.

Nor do cannabis foes gain any traction for their cause in the way they demonize their nemesis. A recent anti-marijuana ad, which played on one of the cable channels a few weeks ago, was no better conceived than any of its predecessors; stupidity is stupidity, no matter how you package and present it.

In one segment of the ad, a supposedly stoned teenager (or he could simply be a disgruntled environmental activist who’s incensed over global climate change) sets fire to a car in a driveway. None of the stoners I have known—and I’ve known many—would behave in this way, so this specious bit of nonsense flunks the straight face test.

A second segment depicts another teenager, also supposedly stoned, piling his broken-to-pieces guitar onto a barbeque. Give me a break! While a stoner might strum his guitar until it’s a-smokin’, no music-loving stoner I’ve ever known would mistake a guitar for a hamburger, not even in a worst-case scenario of the munchies. Once again, government-inspired lunacy gets a failing grade.

Archaic laws, and the draconian criminal penalties meted out for breaking them, also undermine the government’s case for cannabis prohibition. The public is growing weary of invasions of privacy, of no-knock raids gone awry, of wrongful deaths, of low-level non-violent marijuana offender emerging from lengthy prison sentences as hardened criminals. Eventually, even the politicians who could hasten real change are bound to get a clue.

If the government agencies responsible for waging a war against (some) drugs told the truth about cannabis, that truth would look something like this:

• If marijuana were legalized, millions of Americans would turn to low-cost, high-efficacy marijuana-based remedies, thus depriving the pharmaceutical industry of billions of dollars in annual profits. Doctors and hospitals would also lose billions.

• If marijuana were legalized, it would go a long way toward ending America’s dependence on foreign oil, thus costing Big Oil billions of dollars in annual profits.

• If marijuana were legalized, the rationale for waging war in the Middle East would collapse, and the Pentagon would lose billions of dollars in annual funding.

• If marijuana were legalized, law enforcement and the private prison industry would lose billions of dollars in annual funding and profits.

• If marijuana were legalized, the annual timber harvest decline would cost timber companies billions of dollars in profits.

• If marijuana were legalized, family farms might find it possible to stay in business, thus threatening the ongoing expansion and industry dominance enjoyed by Big Ag factory farms.

• If marijuana were legalized, certain petrochemical companies would suffer huge losses (potentially billions of dollars) when their poisonous products suddenly become irrelevant.

• If marijuana were legalized, it would cost the tobacco and alcohol beverage industries billions of dollars in lost profits.

• If marijuana were legalized, it would upset entrenched economic interests and rearrange the status quo by opening new windows of opportunity for the millions of workers and would-be entrepreneurs who now cling to the economic ladder’s lowest rungs.

Faux patriots and hardcore capitalists will be comforted to know that the federal government values corporate profits over the global environment, civil liberties, public health, and human life. The federal government’s anti-cannabis bias has never been about protecting the public’s health and safety; it couldn’t care less about these things. From its inception, cannabis prohibition has been all about protecting corporate profits, the public be damned. The demon drug marijuana has always been the excuse for—but never the reason behind—cannabis prohibition.

Gradually, the public’s perception of cannabis is changing as true knowledge and understanding of this remarkable plant’s potential to revolutionize and revitalize the nation’s economy infuse themselves into the national consciousness. Although much remains to be done, there are now some clearly defined blueprints to aid in bringing about the necessary changes.

Time, logic, and necessity favor cannabis legalization; the public mindset is shifting from ignorance, fear, denial and skepticism to fearless acceptance and informed optimism. When human needs and environmental degradation reach critical tipping points, cannabis legalization will be a done deal.

An Abundance of Apathy, a Dearth of Optimism

It’s hard to feel optimistic about America’s future, or the future of mankind, for that matter. At a time when most things need to be going right, almost everything seems to be going wrong. The environment, the economy, pending global and national energy shortages, food and water security, health care, public education, public infrastructure, an overextended military, and a flagging national reputation all suffer the ill effects of corruption, incompetence and neglect.

Recent changes in American domestic and foreign policy clearly show that America is a nation in decline. Although the decline began some years ago, the past seven years of the Bush Administration hastened the nation’s journey along the road leading to its ultimate demise. The death of America will forever be a part of the Bush legacy.

Today’s America is not the country I was born into; it no longer resembles the country I once knew. Neocon nitwits write, speak and teach revisionist history, to the detriment of all but those in the top few percent of the social hierarchy. As a consequence, an entire generation of young people is rendered oblivious to the loss if its Constitutional heritage.

When the federal government extended to corporations the same rights of citizenship it granted to ordinary citizens, it sealed the nation’s fate. Corporate interests, powered by big money and represented by lobbyists, eventually seized control of the government, thus ensuring the gradual disenfranchisement of the people. And the people, whose attention is easily diverted by celebrity and media sensationalism, didn’t see it coming.

Nothing the Bush Administration has done in seven years inspires trust or confidence in the government’s ability to address the nation’s problems. Good ideas go unrecognized while the power brokers—bankers, investors, corporate titans, various movers and shakers and others of the privileged class—clamor for business as usual. What few people understand is that business as usual is the primary cause (but not the only cause) of the problems.

Unless the corporatocracy that now controls the world is planning a mass human extermination event for the near future, it would do well to set aside its policy of business as usual and implement policies that lead to sustainability. Remaining on the present course—short of mass extermination—means that the Vampire Elite will also feel the stings of environmental and economic backlash.

But I have no great hope that the powers-that-be will do the right thing. As always, they’ll do the expedient thing. They’ll do it because greed always trumps good sense.