Alternative Energy Fetishes and Temples to Technology

Click here to access article by xraymike79 from Collapse of Industrial Civilization. 

...the carrot of a civilization-saving technological breakthrough is forever dangled before our eyes. By all accounts, we appear hellbent on doing everything humanly possible to maintain and perpetuate industrial civilization by deploying “earth-friendly” renewable energy technologies which, in the end, turn out to be nothing more than “reconstituted fossil fuels”.

The role that fossil fuels play in the creation, maintenance and support of alternative energy technologies is not discussed or analyzed at all by those peddling it to the masses who live with the hope of a “green” economy and carbon-neutral civilization.

It appears that one more delusion spread by agents of the One Percent to prolong theirs addictions to wealth and power is now reaching its expiry date. Of course, energy analysts like Gail Tverberg have been arguing this for years, but when a major corporation such as Google offers a forum for the expression of this view as seen in one video in the article, then it becomes sort of "official".

However, I have little doubt that the ruling class gatekeepers of opinions will come up with other delusions and will keep insisting on existing ones that include fusion power, migrating to other planets, engineering climate fixes, etc. Meanwhile as we continue to be fed and distracted by such delusions, we will continue our descent into a dystopia of wars, massacres, racism, police states, poverty, climate destabilization, etc.--unless, of course, we target the deliverer of the system that supplies the drugs of wealth and power to the global One Percents and misery to the rest of us, and worst of all a system that requires growth to exist--the capitalist system.

Bomber Bernie Can’t Take the Heat

Click here to access article by Jay Moore from CounterPunch.

I love it when someone reveals the true nature of a liberal as another clever supporter of the Empire. Here arch-liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders is exposed in all of his pro-Empire glory. 

Many on the Left outside of Vermont think Bernie is just wonderful. But they don’t know him as we radical activist in Vermont do. He may be pretty decent on domestic issues, at least relative to the other set of bad to horrible choices in the U.S. political spectrum. He can talk a good talk about income inequality and the need to fix it Yet, ever since he’s been in the U.S. Congress, he has been consistently atrocious on U.S.-launched and U.S.-supported wars, especially in the Middle East.

It is interesting to note that Sanders appears to be the direct opposite of someone like Ron Paul or his son Rand Paul, both are, or have been, members of Congress. The latter both espouse very conservative views (pro-rich policies) regarding domestic issues, but in contrast to Sanders they are opposed to many foreign adventures of the Empire directorate. Because these people do support half of the shadow government's policies and none ever challenge capitalism, they are allowed to serve in Congress. It helps to preserve the illusion of "democracy" to have a few such dissenters.

The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Spoiled 23-Year-Old

Click here to access article by Ben Steverman from Bloomberg.

This is another contribution to my occasional practice on Saturdays to run articles about our fellow citizens of the One Percent (actually .01 of the 1%, or one out of every 10,000 of us) hoping that by doing this that we don't lose touch with their world and their concerns--you know, to promote understanding. It is important that we become better acquainted so that we can serve them better and make it easier for them to carry out the daily burden of making important decisions, decisions which affect whether we go off to war in foreign lands to kill their enemies, if we have jobs, if we live in a home or under a bridge, if we can afford their health care services, education, etc. 

Unfortunately, for some reason they tend to hide their lives from the rest of us behind walls of secrecy, literal walls of guarded gated communities, private clubs, esoteric publications, by traveling with private jets, etc. We should not let that deter us.
 
From this article in Bloomberg we learn that the One Percent have worries too--I'll bet you are surprised. 

Rich people have enough money to solve almost all their problems but one: children who grow up to be entitled, materialistic and unhappy slackers.

First class for superrich high flyers

Click here to access article by Jim Hightower from his blog. 

With so many things to worry about in our world, I'm glad that one of my big concerns has finally been resolved.

My worry was that, as a global society, we haven't been doing enough to meet the basic needs of the superrich. I'm talking about the 1-percent-of-the-1-percent. They have extra-special needs that we commoners never think about. Like first-class air travel. Sure, they can buy a first-class ticket, but come on – how special is that, really? 

Western-NATO ‘Machinations’ Propel Death Squad ISIS, As Iraqi PM Maliki Forced Out Amidst Division

Click here to access article by Shawn Helton from 21st Century Wire.

Empire operatives seem to be working overtime in many places and using every conceivable weapon in their vast arsenals to increase their domination of the world, and enhance their financial statements. If they weren't committing so many major crimes against humanity, one would have to admire their skill at deceiving the public while accomplishing their agendas. This article focuses on one of their latest, and most brilliant operations using their manufactured terrorist organization ISIS while executing "humanitarian bombing" missions.

There has been a media firestorm over the Islamic State radical terror thugs, as Western outlets have been busy displaying dramatic pictures of mass-executions as ‘evidence’ of their takeover in Iraq, their bizarre victory parades, the heavily staged video productions,  along with their online merchandising campaign blamed for funding their rise. The ‘ISIS Crisis’ is a multilayered narrative that is partly real and partly fiction and is being used as yet another pretext to ramp-up military budgets and security threats throughout Europe and the US. Most of the ‘mass execution’ images put forward by the media have long since been exposed as a fraud but this hasn’t stopped US-European media ‘experts’ or US State Department and UK Foreign Office officials from continuing to fraudulently push this seemingly cooked up terror narrative.

US Begins Selling "Syria Intervention" Using ISIS Pretext

Click here to access article by Tony Cartalucci from Land Destroyer Report.

Cartalucci uncovers evidence that the US is using their "humanitarian bombing" in Iraq as a cover for going into Syria.

Following this he reveals once again how effective ruling class propaganda machinery is to mislead the gullible American public into supporting their war crimes.

The utter madness of US policy in the Middle East, and indeed around the world, is enabled by both public ignorance and apathy. It enables US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to stand in front of the world and shamelessly claim:

ISIL [ISIS] is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen," Hagel said. "They're beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess. They are tremendously well-funded. Oh, this is beyond anything that we've seen. So we must prepare for everything.

That the public never asks just how ISIS could achieve such regional prominence despite hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, weapons, and military backing allegedly being funneled to "moderate opposition" in Syria indicates a vast chasm between reality and where public opinion stands.

World's Largest Ice Sheets Melting at Fastest Rates in Recorded History

Click here to access article by Jon Queally from Common Dreams.

The world's two largest ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are melting at the fastest rates ever recorded, according to a new study based on detailed satellite imagery.

Presented by scientists at the Germany-based Alfred Wegener Institute, the new research was conducted with the help of sophisticated mapping technology and the use of an ESA satellite (called CryoSat-2) which used radar technology to generate highly accurate elevation measurements of the ice sheets.

What the detailed look at the ice shows is devastating. 

Bank of America agrees to sweetheart settlement with US Department of Justice

Click here to access article by Gabriel Black from World Socialist Web Site.

This brief article points to another example of how the ruling One Percent ensconced in major banks conceal their crimes with deceptions that are widely disseminated by mainstream media. In this example Americans have been lead to believe that justice has been served in the case of fraudulent practices committed by the Bank of America. You see, the system works! (sarcasm) 

However, the author uses financial media sources to reveal the real truth:  

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had reached an anticipated $16.7 billion settlement with Bank of America. The settlement related to charges that BoA and two banks it purchased, Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch, knowingly sold toxic mortgage assets to investors prior to the 2008 financial meltdown.

The $16.7 billion price tag is a deception. A majority of the money is either tax deductible or designed to support BoA while costing it nothing.

When members of the ruling class commits crimes which severely damages the economy of the entire society, nobody is prosecuted. When someone like Michael Brown in a St. Louis suburb allegedly steals cigars, he is executed. Ain't capitalism wonderful?

The EU and IMF Rape of Ukraine Agriculture

Click here to access article by William Engdahl from Boiling Frogs Post.

It appears that Western capitalists, like vultures, are flocking to Ukraine to feed on the spoils of their violent takeover of the government and the Empire's 5 billion dollar investment. Engdahl reports on the spoils they are going after first. 

Ukraine Crisis Continues

Click here to access article by Paul Craig Roberts from his blog.

The articles written by this former member of the Reagan administration are widely re-posted in many alternative websites because he has exposed so many lies of the One Percent's government and media. Because of many such writings in recent years, he is regarded as a political renegade by the One Percent, and often as a champion to many on the left. Clearly he deserves a lot of respect for rejecting the fascist slippery road that our ruling class is going down, and affirming the truth about their policies regardless of the personal costs that he has had to pay in relationships with his former class friends. 

However, the logic of his thinking as so well expressed in this article leads to very dangerous conclusions. Unfortunately, many other astute observers like William Engdahl and Pepe Escobar, including leftists, agree with his logic--and therefore his conclusions. But there is one major flaw in the logic of all these anti-imperialist critics: they all make the TINA (there is no alternative--to capitalism) assumption. With this assumption their logic inevitably leads them to favor other capitalist gangs in some kind of paradise that is often referred to as a "multi-polar world". 

I don't recall Robert's use of this term, but he uses the same basic logic. Thus, his logic regarding the aggressive policies pursued by the Empire in Ukraine leads him into arguing for an aggressive response by Russia that could easily lead to a major conflagration between nations armed with nuclear weapons. Having already argued that "Washington...relies on violence", he lamely advocates an attempt at diplomacy. Then he finally reaches a more realistic (in terms of his logic) conclusion:

If this very reasonable and diplomatic approach to Europe fails, then Russia and China know that they must prepare for war.

We the people of the world, sometimes known as the global Ninety-Nine Percent, represent the only force that can prevent the destruction of humanity either through a series of global wars over diminishing resources by capitalist gangs or an immediate nuclear holocaust by major capitalist gangs. It is finally up to us to save our species and many other species from the actions of the global capitalist gangs whose actions will inevitably lead to our extinction. We must destroy the system that is driving the actions of the global One Percents, and replace it with one that can sustain not only human life, but the lives of many other species. 

The Militarization of Racism and Neoliberal Violence

Click here to access article by Henry A. Giroux from Uncommon Thought Journal. 

I have long complained about liberal takes on current issues like Giroux's articles. While left-liberals frequently complain about the numerous current problems of wars, poverty, the lack of social justice, etc, they always stop short of blaming the system. One frequent method of accomplishing this is evident again in this article where Giroux points his finger at "neoliberalism" or "casino capitalism" as something like a recent creation, something very different than what we had before in which democracy existed. I have attacked this view for so long (look under my tag "liberal") that I am frankly tired of doing so. Thus, if you have doubts, I'm only going to refer you to one very excellent article entitled "The 'Ralph Nader' Illusion" explaining the fakery of this liberal view.

Still, Giroux, especially in this article, seems to come the closest that liberals ever come to revealing the real nature of capitalism. He just hides it behind terms like "neoliberalism" (a current stage of capitalism) and "casino capitalism". The strongest targets of his criticism of this current stage of capitalism are very characteristic of elements of fascism, but he never uses that word. To do so might reveal the hard core nature of earlier capitalism which hid behind a curtain with pictures of "democracy" all over it.

‘The Bull Move Has Lasted So Long Nobody Can See Its End’

Click here to access article by Wolf Richter from Wolf Street. 

See if you agree with what I see as an underlying message in this article and others he's written: the economy, wrecked in 2008 by years of risky bets promoted by banksters, has since been largely sustained by a bubble of cheap money supplied to capitalists and created by the Fed out of nothing, is now teetering on a precipice and will soon come crashing down.  

While noticing that Wall Street stocks seem to be levitating today to ever greater heights, I have a strong feeling that he is right. Because the cheap money party has lasted so long, many investors will have their delusions shattered in the coming collapse. Unfortunately, working people as always will suffer the worst damage. Ain't capitalism wonderful?

Former Mafia Boss Who Did a Lot of Business with Wall Street: Buy Physical Gold and Silver, Because Wall Street Steals Your Money

Click here to access article from Washington's Blog.

Sometimes it takes a crook to recognize another crook. 

The article contains a very interesting 7:15m video interview with a former organized crime boss.

The Colombo crime family’s former boss – Michael Franzese – says even he doesn’t trust Wall Street.

Franzese...spent 10 years in prison after he was convicted on federal racketeering charges.

When he was 35, Franzese ranked No. 8 on Fortune Magazine’s list of the 50 most wealthy and powerful mafia bosses (44 of those on the list are now dead, and three are doing life in prison without parole). He reportedly raked in up to $8 million a week.  Franzese is the only surviving high-ranking member of a major crime family to publicly walk away and refuse protective custody. 

'They Just Killed Him': New Video Betrays Police Depiction of Fatal Shooting

Click here to access article by Jon Queally from Common Dreams. 

This article includes two videos that illustrate how the police lie about their executions of people they profile as undesirable citizens.

Not at Home on the Range: Subsidized Fracking Hits Colorado

Click here to access article by Paul Thacker from Oil Change International. 

In response to public unease, the state has created a system to report complaints of oil and gas health effects. The subject has become so acute that it consumes Colorado’s politicians and electorate, who have been squaring off on multiple ballot initiatives to limit where companies can drill, in order to provide a buffer between gas wells and people’s homes.

But there’s one fact the industry would like to hide from the public (but uses in its lobbying of Congress): much of the drilling activity in Colorado would never happen were it not for generous tax subsidies.

The Double Identity of an "Anti-Semitic" Commenter

Click here to access article by Lance Tapley from Common Dreams.  

After suffering criticism from donors critical of frequent atrocious anti-Semitic comments following articles critical of Israel, Common Dreams' staff launched their own investigation of the people behind the comments. What they found was a new twist of the Jewish victimization technique used by Zionists in which they attack people who are critical of the actions of Israel as being "anti-Semitic". 

Read the article to find the details of what they discovered about one individual's devious use of the web to discredit websites like Common Dreams that post articles critical of Israeli actions. Also, the article reveals interesting information about organized efforts to defend and promote Israeli policies on the web and social media.

Jewish and evangelical-Christian groups and other organizations outside Israel have long promoted Israel's interests--some by attacking what they perceive as bias in newspapers and on television and radio. In the U.S., the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), founded in 1982 (with a newer offshoot, CAMERA on Campus), has aggressively pushed pro-Israel narratives in American news media.

Israeli-government-promoted internet activism--reactive and proactive--is a newer effort. News reports show it was ramped up in recent years, in step with other governments, including the U.S. government. Some civilian Israelis apparently are paid by the government to work the internet. The Associated Press reported from Jerusalem last year that the government was "looking to hire university students to post pro-Israel messages on social media networks."

New York Fed’s Answer to Cartels Rigging Markets – Form Another Cartel

Click here to access article by Pam Martens and Russ Martens from Wall Street On Parade.

These two authors have specialized in investigating and writing articles about the corrupt practices found in Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, the nerve center of US capitalism, following the 2008 economic collapse. 

If you agree with my contention that the ruling class in the US and the US-led Empire is located most predominately in the private banking consortium deceptively called the Federal Reserve, then you must read this piece, and follow this website, to discover what they have found: the incestuous relationship of regulatory agencies with the banks that they are supposedly monitoring to insure compliance with laws, and both groups are tied closely to the Fed. Is it any wonder that are economy serves only the One Percent?

‘Mission Blue’ Warning: The Ocean Is Not Too Big to Fail

Click here to access article by Sylvia A. Earle from The Daily Beast.

I originally found this article at The Greanville Post, a website whose articles I have often posted because they have contributed a lot to understanding the major issues of today: the destructiveness of capitalism both on societies and the environment. However, occasionally I see articles posted like this on their website which, I am convinced, serve capitalist elites. Let me explain.

I doubt that Earle intentionally designed the piece to pander to the interests of the One Percent ruling classes, but such articles could easily have been written by design to lull unsuspecting, un-critically thinking people into acquiescing with their dangerous activities. My argument is that such articles do, in fact, serve the interests of capitalist actors, like this major corporation that owns The Daily Beast, and their directors who are actively destroying societies as well as the environment while satisfying their addictions to power and profit.

The article performs this function first by seducing unsuspecting readers who are increasingly concerned about the environment with material that recognizes the serious problems that have been caused by man-made actions on the ocean. But then the article cleverly steers them into a solution which will protect capitalist "business as usual" by suggesting that all that needs to be done is to establish ocean reserves. This solution reminds me so much of the establishment of reservations for indigenous people whom European-Americans failed to destroy in the 19th century. Does anyone seriously think that such reserves could be immune to the massive assault on the environments of the rest of the planet; but more importantly, that we can save the planet for humans and other species by such as scheme?

The New Ulster: The Nature and Purpose of The State of Israel

Click here to access article by Brandon Turbeville from Activist Post.

Turbeville provides us with an absolutely excellent piece of analysis examining the historical uses of the "divide and conquer" strategy so effectively employed by the British Empire, and now continued by the new US-led Empire, particularly in the fossil-fuel rich Middle East.

While a Forward Operating Base is one way to describe Israel, it is also much more than simply a territorial staging ground for Western imperialist motives. It is, in fact, a carefully constructed destabilization organ that was planned and implemented long ago for the purpose of dividing and conquering the entire Middle East....

Order Out of Chaos: The Global Elites Plan for a “Middle Eastern Union”

Click here to access article by Steven MacMillan from New Eastern Outlook. 

The Middle East has been engulfed in a state of chaos for decades now, with the region becoming increasingly unstable in recent years largely due to western sponsored proxy wars. The current map of the Middle East was created in 1916 through the surreptitious Sykes-Picot agreement, a deal which divided the Ottoman-ruled territories of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, into areas controlled by either Britain or France. Today the chaos we see in the Middle East is the creation of Anglo-American-Israeli power, which is attempting to redraw the map to meet their present strategic and imperial objectives.

MacMillan offers a very solid piece of geo-political analysis of this war-torn region of the world.