We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, April 9, 2012

How the US uses sexual humiliation as a political tool to control the masses

Click here to access article by  Naomi Wolf from OpEd News. (My commentary updated as of 4-10-12 at 5:30 pm Seattle time.)

As the author puts it, the horror show of a growing police state continues in Washington.
In a five-four ruling this week, the supreme court decided that anyone can be strip-searched upon arrest for any offense, however minor, at any time. This horror show ruling joins two recent horror show laws: the NDAA, which lets anyone be arrested forever at any time, and HR 347, the "trespass bill," which gives you a 10-year sentence for protesting anywhere near someone with secret service protection.
The One Percent's favorite puppet regime, the Obama administration, and their stacked court system, continue their relentless attack on any remaining civil liberties that get in their way of total domination. One might considered this strategy as a domestic version of the military's "full spectrum dominance" concept. 

They are also aggressively going after any government employee who has the audacity to relay information to the public about what crimes and shady practices they have witnessed while on government duty.

Bill Van Auken from World Socialist Web Site writes in his article entitled "Obama Justice Department indicts ex-CIA agent for exposing torture":
In all of these cases, the World War I-era Espionage Act is being used to punish not spying on behalf of a foreign government, but exposing the US government's own crimes to the American people. The utter lawlessness of US foreign policy goes hand-in-hand with the collapse of democracy at home.

These cases make clear that it is the American working people whom the government views as its most dangerous enemy. It is determined to keep them in the dark as it systematically erects the framework for a police-state dictatorship
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Also, I read this morning about another government employee who is currently under attack for his book about his observations in Iraq while serving there as a Foreign Service Officer. He writes in his article entitled "Left Behind" (you will need to scroll down to the article):
I find myself a member of a new club I don’t even remember applying for: The Whistleblowers. I’ve now met with several of the whistleblowers I’ve written about with admiration: Tom Drake, Mo Davis, John Kiriakou, and Robert MacLean, among others.
Sibel Edmonds lost her government career as an FBI translator in Turkey, but is fighting back with her website and recently published book entitled Classified Woman. The blurb for the book states:
In this startling new memoir, Sibel Edmonds—the most classified woman in U.S. history—takes us on a surreal journey that begins with the secretive FBI and down the dark halls of a feckless Congress to a stonewalling judiciary and finally, to the national security whistleblowers movement she spearheaded. Having lived under Middle East dictatorships, Edmonds knows firsthand what can happen when government is allowed to operate in secret. Hers is a sobering perspective that combines painful experience with a rallying cry for the public’s right to know and to hold the lawbreakers accountable. With U.S. citizens increasingly stripped of their rights in a calibrated media blackout, Edmonds’ story is a wake-up call for all Americans who, willingly or unwillingly, traded liberty for illusive security in the wake of 9/11.
You may well wonder: why aren't the people in the US revolting, or at least, protesting. Well, some are, but far too many are not. You see, it isn't real to them. Most of them still limit their access to information from mainstream media which is full of trivia, celebrities, feel-good stores, misinformation, outright deceptions, and sensationalized crime reports. Important news coverage that serves the 99 Percent is simply omitted. I am approaching 76 years of age, and I have never seen such carefully managed mainstream news coverage designed solely to serve the interests of the governing One Percent: keep the 99% ignorant, distracted, misinformed, and afraid of each other.