Friday, February 24, 2012

Stop Showing Up For the War

Can you hear them? The dogs of war are barking. They're getting very loud. These guys want to fight. They want to fight bad. They're growling, snarling and salivating as they think about all the glorious death and destruction they can cause. These animals can't wait to see the people melt. They hunger for the human misery they can cause,. They long to feast upon the mangled and dismembered bodies of their victims and wallow in the radioactive glow of rubble where fabulous cities once stood. This is the mentality of the sub-human leadership in a couple of well known nations. These vicious animals plan on being safe in their hardened bunkers while the peoples of their nations suffer from their arrogance and inept statesmanship.

It's sad to think that so many may suffer because the supposed leaders of nations can't act like adults. They're more like two punk bullies on the playground pushing each other back and forth. The other kids on the playground circle around and start to cheer and egg them on. The problem with these two kids is that they're going to drag others into this fight. They're grabbing the bigger kids and asking for back up. They're screaming at each other that their big brother can beat up the other's big brother.

If these two punks were to beat on each other until they were both just bloody pulps of quivering flesh it wouldn't be such a big deal. The kids could all watch a good fight and then go home shaking their heads and talking about how stupid the other two kids were to beat on each other so. But once those big brothers get involved, all hell breaks loose. Those guys got weapons that can do serious damage. The playground becomes a battlefield where no one is safe. Even the kids on the periphery could be pulled into the fray and severely injured.

This shows why the United States needs to seriously change its foreign policy. Getting involved in the internal affairs of so many nations can easily drag us into World War III. For all we know, and with the constant shifting of loyalties we always see, the United States of America might end with the entire world lining up against it. It certainly seems that's what's shaping up with the world's economic system. The federal government has squandered the goodwill and friendships the rest of the world's nations may have at one time felt for it by overextending its credit and devaluing its dollar through inflation. Much or the rest of the world is faulting the United States of America for the worldwide financial crisis, and for good reason. With the dollar as the reserve currency of the world many nations have their economies tied directly to the Federal Reserve and when the value of the dollar is decreased, whether through inflation or wasteful war, others suffer around the globe.

If two punk bullies on the playground are arguing and trying to draw their bigger, tougher siblings and friends into it, the best thing for those others to do is walk away. Let the two just have it out. Let them work out things for themselves. That way, no one else gets hurt. Besides, you just might be surprised how quickly those two decide that maybe they don't want to fight after all. Maybe they decide they have more in common than they thought. Maybe they find they can actually get along after all. The best possible outcome is that they actually become friends. Stranger things have happened. Even if the best possible outcome doesn't happen, at least by walking away no one else is dragged down into the depravity of the two who wish to fight.

The difference between real war and the analogy of kids fighting on the playground is that in real war we know that innocent people are going to die. Anyone with any kind of compassion is going to find war abhorrent. Anyone who cares at all about the masses of humanity is going to find war an abomination. The only just war is the war fought to defend, and everyone claims to be defending even as they attack and invade. Only angry, pouting, childlike personalities who can't get what they want through peaceful means resort to violence. Perhaps it's time that adult human beings replace the kids who have somehow managed to obtain positions of political power and are leading their nations and their peoples down a destructive path.

What's really frightening about this situation are the saber rattlers in our own nation. Our nation's reputation as a just nation has been destroyed due to these war crazed authoritarians. Our nation's coffers have been emptied and the US has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy due to its policies of war and occupation. Lives have been lost and shattered on both sides. The human suffering is terrible, and the blood is on our hands. We only had to stick to a wise foreign policy of trade with all, alliances with none, as our founding fathers advised, to avoid all that misery. We only had to practice a bit of forgiveness and perhaps some out of the box thinking and we would have had justice. Instead, we let our anger and dismay shut down our reasoning. We allowed the powers that be to lead us around by the proverbial nose to further their agenda. The American populace let their emotions of anger, fear and hatred get the best of them and responded as anyone who knows how to manipulate emotion would have expected.

Now, that same pot is boiling. The same war drums are beating. The same people are behind the scenes trying to rally the American populace to get their blessings to go to war with Iran. How will this play out? Are we going to see another 9/11? Will we see another Gulf of Tonkin? Another USS Maine? Is there another Operation Northwoods plan on the table? It's difficult to say, but the possibilities are frightening. I wouldn't put anything past these power mad psychos. They'd do anything to keep and grow their power.

What about those suitcase nukes and dirty bombs we hear about? What if one of those was to go off? Would the populace of America believe the government when they tell us Iran did it? How many times can they be lied to before they open their eyes? How would this go over in the United States? How would it look for Homeland Security if, after billions has been spent on setting up the monstrous bureaucracy, such a monumental failure takes place? What excuses would they use for their total ineptitude? Negligence? Miscommunication? Stupidity? Whatever the case, I'll bet no one gets fired.

I'll also bet that they'll ask for more money. I'll bet they'll ask for more control. While they were stripping grandma and grabbing Jr.'s privates at the airports, I bet the terrorists would have snuck across the southern border, or maybe the northern one. Or perhaps they would have stowed away on a Chinese merchant ship. Whatever the case, they'll ask us to give away the few precious freedoms we have left so that they can clamp down on every movement we make. How long will Americans continue to fall for this scam? Will we this time scream a resounding "No!" to their requests? Will we finally learn and tell them they've proven they're nothing but totally inept failures and they don't deserve more money or power, they deserve none? Or will the American people once again cower in a corner and beg them to do as they please, just make the boogeyman go away?

War is the ultimate policy failure. It means you have failed at diplomacy. It means you have failed at other coercive policies. It means you have failed humanity. Those who howl for war do so because they benefit from it, or at least they think they will benefit from it. They are the military industrial complex we were warned about. They are the power hungry politicians who want to control everybody's life from cradle to grave. They are the collectivists who think that their group is somehow superior to all other groups and that they can prove it through death and destruction. They are the dregs of humanity and they need to be opposed at every turn and stopped by people of compassion.

What if they have a war and no one shows up? What if the order is given to fire and no one pulls the trigger? What if the all the soldiers on a field of battle throw down their guns, turn their backs and just walk home? What if the CIA drone pilots all put down their joysticks and refuse to bomb any more weddings, funeral processions, or innocents of any kind? What if bomber pilots refuse to fly? What if enlisted men refuse to push the buttons that launch the missiles? What if they decide that obeying just isn't worth the possible collateral damage that occurs in war? What if the fog of war is lifted and everyone sees the truth and the horror of it, not just those caught in the fighting? What if the common folk simply stop obeying the sick psychopaths that long to kill their fellow human beings? What if peace broke out?

Humanity has a choice to make. I hope it makes the right one. You are part of humanity. You have a choice to make. I hope you make the right one.

I am working on a book. The working title is "The Blessings of Freedom: Creating Prosperity in the 21st Century." I am going to offer this work as a serial for those who are interested and can't wait for the book to come out. I hope to publish a chapter every week or so. I will offer the chapters for sale exclusively at smashwords.com as I finish them. The price is $0.99 for each chapter as it comes out. Here is the link to Chapter 1: "The Blessings of Freedom: Creating Prosperity in the 21st Century" Chapter 1. There is a bonus as the Introduction to the book is included with this download. Keep an eye out as further chapters will be announced as they come out. I wish to thank everyone in advance for their support in this endeavor.

If you like my writings, I am asking for your help. Please visit my website szandorblestman.com to see my archived articles and help support me by making a donation. I am also pleased to announce the release of my novel entitled "The Edge of Sanity"by Matthew Wayne. It is also available for the Kobo Vox, at Barnes and Noble and at Diesel. The download for this book is only $2.99. I have also released "The Ouijiers" at smashwords.com. The special pricing has ended so the book can be distributed to other venues. The download is $2.99, but you can still get the first 20% free. Even if you simply take a moment of your time to download the 20% of the books that is offered for free it will be of tremendous help to me in gaining exposure for my work which will help create sales.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

What if the GOP is Pulling the Wool Over the Eyes of Republican Voters?

Fox News has seen it fit to fire Judge Andrew Napolitano. His show "Freedom Watch" was, in my opinion, the only news program on Fox, perhaps on television, worth watching. He delivered the freedom message with great eloquence, consistency and integrity. He is certainly, again in my opinion, a much more watchable and likeable host than Bill O'Liely or Sean Scammity. He simply makes a lot of sense to me when he speaks.

When I looked into the ratings issue, I found conflicting reports. There were those who claim his numbers were falling and that's why he was fired, and others who say his ratings were good and were not an issue. Personally, I don't know what any of the numbers I saw meant, so it's hard for me to say. I do know that I saw a chart that put his numbers higher than the numbers for the other shows in his time slot. I have no idea what that means, but I would think it was good. In any case, the numbers could always be manipulated. Anything of importance can always be manipulated, and I believe we've been manipulated for a long, long time now, so much so that I think many people are blissfully unaware or willfully ignorant of the manipulation.

I think "Freedom Watch" was cancelled because Judge Napolitano speaks truth to power, and he does it in an ingenious way. He doesn't make accusations or spout off opinion, he simply asks the question "what if?" and expects you to think for yourself. Of course when he asks the question it becomes obvious to everyone that what he is saying is very likely the reality of the situation. The powers that be are not stupid. They are arrogant, but not stupid. They knew what he was doing. They seem to believe that you're stupid, but apparently they don't believe you're that stupid. They certainly don't want you to start thinking for yourself.

In honor of the judge, I thought I'd use the rhetorical question myself, as I have been known to do in the past. I don't believe Fox can fire me for doing so.

What if the GOP is pulling the wool over your eyes? What if the voting machines they use are easily hacked so the winner can be determined before the vote is taken? What if they have already decided who they want to run for president and it doesn't matter who you vote for? What if the candidates are all selected rather than elected? What if the choices presented to you are all globalists with the same collectivist agenda? What if all these primary elections are just for show?

What if Ron Paul has really been winning all the Republican primaries and caucuses? What if the establishment doesn't want us to know this? What if the powers that be would cheat and lie simply to hang onto power? What if most people don't care if this is happening or not? What if those that do care have no way to prove it? What if those who do care are trying to prove it but are prevented from doing so by the powers that be? What if some whistleblowers announced they'd seen something and were saying something? What if whistleblowers were largely ignored by most media outlets? What if whistleblower protection laws didn't really protect whistleblowers? What if whistleblowers actually put themselves in real danger when they talked? What if people of conscious who wished to act as watchdogs to government agencies were ineffective because they were uniformed?

What if our so called republic was no longer a functional representative democracy? What if most politicians at the federal level are bought off by special interests that don't have the best interests of humankind at heart? What if most people are against many policies implemented by various administrations through the decades? What if most people are against wars of aggression? What if most people are against nation building? What if most people are against empire building? What if most people are against the drug war? What if most people want to live in an era of peace?

What if most people are against rights shredding legislation? What if most people would like to see the Patriot Act repealed? What if most people would like to see the National Defense Authorization Act repealed? What if most people would like to see the Military Commissions Act repealed? What if most people would like to see Obamacare repealed? What if federal elected representatives didn't give a damn about what most people want? What if they only cared about their own wealth and power?

What if nobody dissented? What if nobody ever pointed out the corruption? What if everyone simply hung their heads and silently went along to get along? What if they simply let federal officials get away with any crime they wanted to commit? What if no one cared about trying to enforce the Constitution of the United States of America? What if disobeying its mandates and violating oaths were not crimes, but mere roadblocks easily avoided because of an apathetic public?

What if most people really wanted a smaller federal government? What if they wanted to see an end to certain cabinet level bureaucracies? What if the powers that be didn't care and instead wanted bigger government and more power? What if most people didn't want to finance such a huge bureaucracy? What if they understood that the national debt was too high and spending needed to be cut? What if they understood that indebtedness meant that what you have is really owned by banks? What if the political class didn't care because they really work for the banking class who would end up owning everything?

What if most people didn't want to pay an income tax? What if most people wanted to audit the Federal Reserve? What if most congressmen sponsored a bill to audit the Fed? What if they didn't do a complete audit, but only a partial one? What if that was done only to placate a growing movement and to try to make the audit a non issue? What if it's really worse than we think? What if the people are tired of the super wealthy living off the backs of the middle class? What if nothing was done to stop this abuse and restore an economic system based on productive output rather than debt?

What if freedom was important to most people? What if they simply weren't told what the true meaning of freedom was? What if all their lives they had been given false choices and misinformation? What if they didn't understand what a free market truly was and how they'd been deceived into believing free markets were the cause of their economic woes? What if they'd been taught that freedom would lead to chaos, lawlessness and the collapse of society? What if they'd been told that if they didn't give up their freedoms their security was threatened? What if these were false and deceptive claims meant to give more power and control to the already powerful? What if one man who could eloquently and succinctly explain this to the masses had his platform removed?

What if many of my articles are correct and there is a conspiracy to create a new world order? What if that conspiracy includes violating the individual's right to express his opinions? What if it includes violating the right to freedom of the press? What if laws are being put in place to justify imprisoning and disappearing those who would dissent? What if there was a danger of all nations losing national sovereignty to an authoritarian plutocratic world government? What if we were in danger of devolving back into a society like 12th century Europe rather than evolving into the 21st century?

What if you could do something about it? What if all you had to do was speak out against the political leadership in the world? What if all you had to do was dissent? What if all you had to do was stop obeying? What if all you had to do was let them know that you are aware of what they're up to? What if all you had to do was stop living in fear and start living like a free individual?

If you like my writings, I am asking for your help. Please visit my website szandorblestman.com to see my archived articles and help support me by making a donation. I am also pleased to announce the release of Matthew Wayne's (my pen name) novel entitled "The Edge of Sanity." It is also available for the Kobo Vox, at Barnes and Noble and at Diesel. The download for this book is only $2.99. I have also released "The Ouijiers" at smashwords.com. The special pricing has ended so the book can be distributed to other venues. The download is $2.99, but you can still get the first 20% free. Even if you simply take a moment of your time to download the 20% of the books that is offered for free it will be of tremendous help to me in gaining exposure for my work which will help create sales.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Sun Tzu and Mankind's Destiny of Freedom

The Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu is best known for writing "The Art of War." He is recognized by many as the quintessential expert on that subject and one of the top war strategists of all time. Many people like to use his quotes. He simplified his strategies into wise maxims that many have extrapolated into other aspects of life. What does it say when one considers strategies of war to be appropriate to use in life's other endeavors? I thought maybe I'd take a closer look at some of his saws and see how they can apply to some situations I see cropping up in the politics of the times.

One saying that is attributed to Sun Tzu is that every battle is won before it is ever fought. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that, or even if he ever really said it. The closest I could find is a quote from the movie "Wall Street" where Gordon Gekko says, "Read Sun Tzu, "The Art of War." Every battle is won before it is ever fought." Anyway, many others have gone with it, so I shall also. I don't know exactly what Sun Tzu meant by this, but two schools of thought that have been brought out are he was either a fatalist, or he felt that a great deal of planning before battle guarantees victory. I have problems with both schools of thought, but I would agree that believing victory is achievable before engaging in battle will certainly improve your chances.

If we are to look at the two major philosophies in modern politics, individualism versus collectivism, and apply Sun Tzu's point of view, I would suggest that individualism has already won. There are many reasons for this, in my opinion. First off, there is persistence. It seems to me that mankind has been striving to achieve a state of freedom since the dawn of civilization. This is due at least partially, in my opinion, to the tendency for any form of government to devolve into tyranny. Yet I think there's more to it than that. It's something that I believe is bred into each and every one of us, with perhaps a few exceptions, the desire to strike out on one's own and make a mark in the world. Once one truly understands the principles of freedom, it is likely that person will settle for nothing less and will continuously strive in his own way to achieve freedom.

Second, freedom is morally correct and humans have a tendency to strive toward moral correctness so long as they are not being subjected to extreme conditions, and sometimes even in the face of tribulations. We have a tendency to spot unfairness and to battle against it. Collectivism, while it sells itself as bringing fairness to humanity, is often the most unfair system as it punishes hard work by taking away rewards the hard worker should expect and rewards laziness by giving to those who do nothing what should rightly go to the hard workers. While collectivism often sounds fair in theory, in practice it does not work and it becomes inherently unfair.

Third, freedom is part of the human spirit and the human spirit is indomitable. Throughout history tyrants have tried to crush the human spirit through imprisonment, force and torture. They have tried to use fear to keep silent those who would dissent and speak truth to power. They have cowed whole populations using police state tactics. Such societies have almost always eventually failed. Some of these tyrants have met gruesome ends. It's a tricky balancing act the collectivists engage in when they try to subjugate a people to their mandates. It seems to me that a people will, unfortunately, always allow for a bit of tyranny if they think they will benefit, but that almost always inevitably leads to more tyranny. Eventually there comes a tipping point where the people just won't take any more, where the kids on the playground decide to confront the bully. Often in history, again unfortunately, this results in violent, bloody, terrible revolution. It's cyclical. When enough people realize this, the cycle can be broken.

Sun Tzu also said "For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill." It seems that perhaps the general didn't so much want to engage in battle after all. I happen to agree with him. We used to be a nation of statesmen. In fact, we were supposed to be a nation of citizen statesmen. We have ended up being a nation bowing to the will of the international corporatists. We go to war too easily and occupy other nations to protect the interests of corporations that have no loyalty to any nation. Yet we also claim to be a peaceful nation which values the friendship of others. I believe the people of this nation do, indeed, wish to practice such principles, but those who control the federal government most certainly do not. You cannot be peaceful while engaging in warfare.

As government in this nation continues to turn on its own civilians and push them to do something rash and violent, it is important to keep Sun Tzu's words in mind. The people are peaceful and need to remain so, the government is violent. This is proven by the actions of the police. As they mindlessly engage in violent behavior because their superiors tell them to, it is important to remain steadfastly non violent and show to the world who the bullies truly are. After a time, the police will begin to see their mistake. They will begin to realize they are in the wrong. They will begin to side with the people, and when that happens then victory is at hand, and it should be a lasting victory. If you wish to see peace in the world, then you must be peace, you must remain peaceful, and soon enough even those who engage in the violence of the legal monopoly of government force will become peaceful. That is how the world changes.

Another notable Sun Tzu quote is "What is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations." Collectivism has been slowly creeping upon us for decades, if not centuries. I would suggest that it started in earnest back in the great depression when desperate people turned to the federal government for aid rather than insisting that government remain limited in its powers that the Constitution spells out. While I realize that many will point to the "good" that came out of this, I would ask what "good" would have come out of it if the federal government hadn't interfered? We will never know. Anyway, what did happen happened and over the decades it has morphed into the system we see today where so many are so dependent on the federal government that it will be nearly impossible to extricate them from their lives without serious repercussions. Still, extricate them we must sooner or later, for their prolonged operations has resulted in bankruptcy and something has to give or we'll see a financial collapse.

Finally, Sun Tzu said "Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win." We have won. Mankind will win. It is our destiny to find freedom. It is our destiny to live in a society where the individual is honored above the collective, where it is understood that when the violation of any individual's natural rights is allowed, violating everyone's natural rights is allowed. Remain peaceful even to the point of being beaten or worse by the authoritarian thugs, and you shall be victorious as were the followers of King and Gandhi. When the world sees who the bullies truly are, the bullies go home with their heads hung in shame.

I believe that most individuals know what freedom is and would prefer to live in a society that honors liberty rather than in a utopian socialist one, unless that individual is one of the control freaks that believes they know what's best for all people and strive to inflict their rule over others. I believe most people would prefer to be left alone to make their own decisions for what's best in their lives rather than having a nosy Nancy intruding at all levels and micromanaging every detail of their lives. You can raise to your feet and do something about intrusive government, voice opposition about their collectivist policies, and/or just simply refuse to obey their draconian mandates, or you can remain on your knees and grovel, allowing them to do with you as they please.

You win by simply resisting. You win by dissenting. You win by simply claiming your rights and insisting that they be honored. Even if they beat you, you have won. Even if they throw you in prison, you have won. No matter how they treat you, you have won, for you have stuck by your principles and acted like a free human being rather than some domesticated animal, and they have proven themselves to be no better than snarling, out of control beasts.

I am not a fatalist, but I do believe that some things are pre-destined. I do believe that every battle is won before it's fought, but it has to be fought anyway to see who wins it. Even the best laid plans can be foiled. Even the most ragged force can beat the best armed army. Even the most peaceful can defeat the most brutal. Even if there are no soldiers meeting each other on a field of bloodshed, the battle can be won in a different way. It's time we relearned the art of not only talking, but listening to each other. Only when we learn to respect each other's point of view and realize that we all need each other and one group should not rule over another will we realize a society where each individual can become the best human possible.

If you like my writings, I am asking for your help. Please visit my website szandorblestman.com to see my archived articles and help support me by making a donation. I am also pleased to announce the release of the latest book by Matthew Wayne entitled "The Edge of Sanity." It is also available for the Kobo Vox, at Barnes and Noble and at Diesel. The download for this book is only $2.99. Even if you simply take a moment of your time to download the 20% of the book offered for free that will be of tremendous help to me in gaining exposure for my work which will help create sales. I have also released "The Ouijiers" by Matthew Wayne at smashwords.com. The special pricing has ended so the book can be distributed to other venues. The download is $2.99, but you can still get the first 20% free.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Corporate Mass Media and the Secret Empire

Not too long ago I read a story about a court case in Georgia involving the current president of the United States of America and whether or not he is legally eligible to hold that office. I'm not big into the whole Barack Obama birth certificate thing because I think that nearly all politicians at that level are going to be puppets of the elite, but isn't it interesting to observe the reactions from different quadrants? Personally, I was surprised to hear that a court in this country would even hear this case, but I think it's great that one finally did. That in and of itself should have been big news, but the fact that Barack Obama himself was subpoenaed and neither he nor his lawyer showed up to refute the evidence presented makes the story even bigger. Think for a moment what would happen to you and your life if you deliberately ignored a court's subpoena. Now, Barack Obama decided to ignore the court even after his lawyer's argument that a sitting president is too busy to deal with such constitutional matters was rejected, yet nothing of any consequence happened to him. Is that equal protection under the law? I think not. Perhaps that's the real story. It seems the president in this country is above the law, even the supreme law of the land that is supposed to be implemented to restrict his power.

I am reminded of a story I was extremely interested in and wrote a couple of articles about a few years back. A couple in New Hampshire, Ed and Elaine Brown, were summoned to court to answer charges of tax evasion. They didn't believe there was a law requiring them to pay income taxes and as much as said so. The court refused to allow them to present over thirty different defenses for their actions to a jury. At that point, the couple figured the court system to be unjust and corrupt and so refused to take part in their own railroading. At that point their house came under siege by federal agents. I wonder if the same thing will happen to Barack Obama. Wouldn't that be something, to see the White House surrounded by federal agents as Mr. Obama refuses to surrender? I very much doubt that will ever happen. Perhaps if he decides to become a tax protester? Maybe not.

This isn't the only time that what should be a major news story is all but completely ignored by the corporate mainstream media. An interesting example is the Ron Paul phenomenon that's been going on for quite awhile now. It seems that when people wake up to the message of freedom they feel empowered and many will do what they personally can to help spread the message. That's why one sees so many Ron Paul supporters actually becoming involved while supporters of other candidates simply sit in their chairs, watch the tube and huff and puff about how "crazy" those Ron Paul people are. They prefer to sit in denial and vote for politicians that have proven themselves corrupt rather than look into a candidate who has a verifiable record of honesty, or they'd just as soon vote for a continuation of the criminal status quo for fear of what real change might bring to their personal lives.

Here's something that made me go "hmm." There was a special late night caucus in Nevada involving orthodox Jews and other religious folks who couldn't vote on the Sabbath and had to wait until past midnight. These are folks you would figure would be voting for anyone other than Ron Paul because they would disagree with his stances on foreign policy. Somehow he managed to capture 58% of their votes. I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that they counted the votes, on paper ballots, right there in front of everyone so all could see. Complete transparency makes it very difficult to rig an election. Just saying.

Well, I guess that election fixing isn't really all that important to Americans, at least not if you ask the corporate mainstream media. If it was, maybe they'd pay more attention to Bev Harris at Black Box Voting who's been investigating such accusations for years. Seems that maybe our elections aren't so fair and honest as the corporate media would have you believe. But, hey, the people of the United States aren't raising that much of a stink about it and most people line up on election day every four years to cast their vote for president and slink away for another four years believing they've done their bit to maintain a free society. Why get any more involved than that?

One might ask the questions, "Why would the press not want to report such important stories? Wouldn't breaking such news stories help increase their circulation or viewers? Wouldn't that lead to more earning potential for them?" These are valid questions and the answers would be "I don't know" and "yes" if we had a truly free press in this nation. The problem is we haven't had a free press in a very long time, if we ever truly had one at all. The most watched networks and the most read newspapers are owned by a very exclusive group of but a few people. These people are very wealthy and very powerful, and they certainly do not want to easily surrender that power. If you think any of these corporate news entities are going to honestly inform you, think again. Sure, they might report honestly on some stories of no real consequence, but anything that has to do with issues that will be truly important to the way the world works and how that affects your life, forget it. They are going to either ignore such issues and hope you do too, or "spin" (a code word for lying or disinforming) them in such a way to help their friends and colleagues benefit.

Controlling the dissemination of information and keeping knowledge hidden in order to obtain more power and wealth is nothing new. It goes far back into the ethers of history, perhaps to the very beginnings of organized society. We can certainly trace it back to the beginnings of the Christian church and the council of Nicaea where certain books were included or excluded from the official version of The Bible. It took over a thousand years and the advent of the Guttenberg press before Martin Luther could begin to spread a viewpoint alternative to that of the church to the masses of humanity. Since that time the powers that be have been trying to put the genie back in the bottle and limit the freedom of the press through fear, force and coercion.

For a time it looked like this tyranny would end with the creation of the United States of America. It's constitution guaranteed that government would not violate the freedom of the press, nor the natural individual right to speak one's mind. This did not guarantee, however, that influential media outlets would not be purchased by very wealthy and influential men and then cartelized to the benefit of other wealthy and influential men and institutions. Certainly at one time these powerful media outlets may have somewhat served as a watchdog to government corruption and a disseminator of honest, factual information, but those services were slowly eroded over the decades as editorial liberties were slowly tightened due to financial considerations from advertising clients. The mass media slowly bent to the will of corporate interests to the detriment of the interests of the common folk.

Today's corporate media is not there to inform or investigate or even care about the truth or principles. They are there to entertain. They are there to sell product. They are there to market the agendas of those who pay them the most money. It seems to me that is how they operate. They've sold out to the corporate elite long ago and now their job is to keep the masses mesmerized to the extent that they don't even know which issues are important to them and which are not. This is why they ignore Ron Paul and politicians like him, they don't want to bring the freedom debate to the fore and they certainly don't want to talk about the criminal reality of the Federal Reserve and central banking in general. That is information you simply don't need to know, and it's only the tip of the iceberg.

There is a secret empire in this world. It has been growing since the end of the dark ages. It's roots may even go further back. This empire knows how to manipulate masses of humans. They know which strings to pull, which buttons to push. They know how to use this knowledge to their advantage. This secret empire has discovered that the best way to stay in control is to remain hidden from view. They set up a curtain of politicians to help accomplish this. You cannot vote them out of office, for they buy the office, not the person holding it. They cartelize the important products and services to give the impression of a free market with plenty of choices when behind the scenes they are friendly toward each other and work together to prevent competition from materializing, let alone getting a foothold in the market.

I believe that thought is possibly the most powerful force on Earth. The secret empire of international corporations realized long ago that they could harness this power through the power of mass media. They realized they could market their soft tyranny through such mechanisms. They realized they could make people believe that war is peace, ignorance is strength, truth is false, and reality is what they say it is. I think they underestimated the human mind. I think they underestimated the human desire to determine one's own destiny. I think they underestimated the human capacity to understand what's really going on when presented in the correct manner.

It took a thousand years before the Guttenberg press was able to break the Church's chokehold on information. It has taken less than half that from the time the Guttenberg press was invented until the time the Internet was started. I wonder if the powers that be foresaw the power it would have in terms of disseminating information. I wonder if they underestimated what it could do. I know that now the powers that be are trying to put the Internet genie back in the bottle by attempting to regulate its content. I know they have passed laws that can disappear people indefinitely and without trial simply for using it for political dissent. They simply have to make the accusation that such people are terrorists. This is chilling. These are interesting times we are living in. Will freedom win, or will tyranny? Only time will tell.

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