Hey sit down and listen and they’ll tell you when you’re wrong.
Eradicate but vindicate as progress creeps along.
Puritan work ethic maintains its subconscious edge
As Old Glory maintains your consciousness.
There’s a loser in the house, and a puppet on the stool,
And a crowded way of life, and a black reflecting pool,
And as the people bend, the moral fabric dies,
The country can’t pretend to ignore its people’s cries.
You are the government.
You are jurisprudence.
You are the volition.
You are jurisdiction.
And I make a difference too.
– Bad Religion “You Are The Government” (Suffer 1988)

America is too democratic at home to be autocratic abroad. This limits the use of America’s power, especially its capacity for military intimidation. Never before has a popular democracy attained international supremacy. But the pursuit of power is not a goal that commands popular passion, except in conditions of a sudden threat or challenge to the public’s sense of domestic well being…….The economic self-denial (that is, defense spending) and the human sacrifice (casualties even among professional soldiers) required in the effort are uncongenial to democratic instincts. Democracy is inimical to imperial mobilization.

– Zbigniew Brzezinski in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard

Those who don’t read the news are uninformed, those who do are misinformed.

– Mark Twain

You Are The Government

For the last four or five years of my life I have spent most of my time and energy trying to further my understanding of how the control system operates globally and then to write what I saw in order to warn of the danger ahead to as many people as possible.  I am only one of tens of thousands if not more of such messengers out there, roaming and posting on that vast sea of collective consciousness that is the internet.  The battle thus far has been extremely rewarding and painstakingly challenging, but overall I can say that my post Wall Street life has been some of the best years of my experience on this planet.  In case you haven’t noticed, I have been writing a little less frequently as of late.  There are two reasons for this, one of which I have mentioned previously, the other I haven’t.  The first reason is that I used to write a lot about financial markets, but as I have seen them morph from somewhat free on most days to a completely rigged hologram of propaganda, I have decided it is best for the vast majority of humanity to not be involved.  I have said this before but I want to reiterate that I think for most people out there (unless they are professionals that think they can maneuver the end of the financial and monetary system as we know it) it is best to take any excess money and buy real goods.  Physical in your hand gold and silver and if you so desire do things such as plant a garden and get your home as self sufficient as possible.  I have been sending this message out for much of the last six months and I continue to think that this is the way to go.  Even though I haven’t taken my own advice, I say leave the casino and don’t go back unless the whole system is reformed.

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The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.

– Stephen Hawkings

Truth: the most deadly weapon ever discovered by humanity.  Capable of destroying entire perceptual sets, cultures, and realities. Outlawed by all governments everywhere.  Possession is normally punishable by death.
– John Gilmore

A man does what he must — in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures.
– John F. Kennedy

They Have No Philosophy

The one area where I sometimes have a difference of opinion with friends of mine that are “awake” relates to my certainty that TPTB cannot win this battle.  There are two main reasons I think they are completely doomed.  The first one is the internet, which I have written in detail on before so I am not going to belabor on it here.  Long story short, never in human history have we as a species been able to connect so efficiently and effectively with one another.  This makes one of the key methods of control, “divide, conquer, war” much more difficult for them to implement.  I have always felt that human disposition lies on a bell curve.  So let’s say for the sake of argument that 1% is just extraordinarily wicked, selfish, mentally deranged so along the lines of a Stalin like character.  Then let’s say the 1% on the other side is gentle, enlightened, and moral almost to a fault so a Gandhi like character.  Then the masses in the middle are not of any extreme disposition in either way, but are easily malleable and generally just “go along to get along.”  Well as far as recorded human history is concerned, the 1% of nasty, immoral parasites have dominated humanity through the various playbooks strategies that I and many others have outlined.  The 1% on the other side have generally been silenced or ostracized systematically by the control freak “leaders” and if that fails to work, they are simply murdered.  I mean even up until the 20^th Century think about the kinds of guys that have been murdered.  Gandhi.  Martin Luther King Jr.  John Lennon.  Oh and if we want to go back a couple thousand years there was Jesus.  The list is endless.  Guys that talk about a higher level of consciousness and love and actually make inroads in society are murdered.  Yet no one ever seems to take a shot at the genocidal, sociopaths that run our lives through politics and banking (nor would I ever want that as I do not condone violence as a solution to a violent system).  Interesting isn’t it?  I think it is pretty obvious why this is the case.  The 1% on the decent side of the bell curve aren’t murderers.  The guys on the other side of it are.

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“I am convinced that there was a direct line between at least some of the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks and the government of Saudi Arabia,” former Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, said in an affidavit filed as part of a lawsuit brought against the Saudi government and dozens of institutions in the country by families of Sept. 11 victims and others. Mr. Graham led a joint 2002 Congressional inquiry into the attacks.

Their affidavits, which were filed on Friday and have not previously been disclosed, are part of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that has wound its way through federal courts since 2002. An appellate court, reversing an earlier decision, said in November that foreign nations were not immune to lawsuits under certain terrorism claims, clearing the way for parts of the Saudi case to be reheard in United States District Court in Manhattan.

Still, Washington has continued to stand behind Saudi Arabia publicly, with the Justice Department joining the kingdom in trying to have the lawsuits thrown out of court on the grounds that the Saudis are protected by international immunity.

The senators’ assertions “might inject some temporary strain or awkwardness at a diplomatic level,” said Kenneth L. Wainstein, a senior national security official in the George W. Bush administration. Even so, he said, “the United States and the Saudis have developed strong counterterrorism cooperation over the last decade, and that relationship will not be undermined.”

– NY Times article from today http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/us/graham-and-kerrey-see-possible-saudi-9-11-link.html?_r=2

How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.
– Adolf Hitler

September 11, 2001: Our Big Lie

I wasn’t planning on writing this week, but so much stuff has come out in the last two days that I couldn’t help myself from trying to get this information out to as wide an audience as possible.  Those of you that have been long time readers are aware of the fact that I witnessed 9/11 firsthand.  On that fateful morning, I was getting breakfast at 3 World Financial Center when all of a sudden people started panicking and saying we were evacuating the building.  I never made it back up to my cubicle and instead took my toast and orange juice downstairs with me.  When I got down there I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There in from of me was a huge smoldering black hole in the first tower that was hit.  I was one block away just starring at this symbol of the city I was born in with sheer terror.  People all around starting speculating as to what caused it.  I heard ridiculous theories such as a “helicopter hit it.”  It looked like a bomb to me.  In any event, we all stood there very close until out of nowhere I heard a massive explosion and saw debris spewing from behind the building.  In case you are unaware of how the buildings were situated, from my viewpoint the first building that got hit totally blocked the second tower.  I didn’t see or hear a plane, just a massive explosion.  The ground shook and people started to stampede away.  I almost got tossed into a nearby trashcan as my opened orange juice container spilled all over me.  I retreated about one hundred yards back to regroup with the herd.

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It’s like a ride in an amusement park and when you go on it you think it’s real, because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, round and round, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored and it’s very loud. And it’s fun for a while. Some have been on the ride a long time and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And others have remembered and they come back to us and they say: Hey, don’t be afraid ever, because this is just a ride. And we kill those people.

Shut him up, I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry, my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real. It’s just a ride, but we always kill those good guys who try to tell us that and let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter because it’s just a ride and we can change it anytime we want. No job, no savings money, just a choice right now between fear and love.

– Bill Hicks 1961-1994 (great quick little clip here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfd0_7BcU-0)

The Playbook

It was always going to be a scary thing when the American Empire decided to turn its sights inward.  Americans like to look at “shock and awe” and cheer.  They think murder is fun and games.  They think we are winning when we lose a little bit more with every new bomb we hurl.  They think we are killing “the enemy” when in reality we are killing ourselves.  The truth is that all the shadow government in the U.S. (you know the unelected guys that never leave and tell the elected guys what to do) has been doing is what corrupt elites have been doing since the beginning of time.  Protecting their commercial interests.  While many here in the United States have been lulled back into another complete coma state by the garbage that spews from the television set and a stock market that marches higher every day with no volatility, the shadow government is using this time wisely.  They are passing laws such as the NDAA, which as we know allows for the indefinite detention of American citizens without trial.  In case you haven’t seen some of the commentary by several Senators on the matter take a quick look for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xytHJRmY0PI.  Joseph Lieberman is one of the most despicable and downright evil Americans to have ever “served” this country.

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It’s the first time we have power with people that don’t have courage. The people on top have power without courage. You cannot find any other society like it. Take the knights. The knights were people who of course, their trade was risking their lives. In theory, The President of the United States was supposed to be first in battle. Not someone pushing a button. The only way you can have a safe society is by moving these types of people (that risk nothing personally and take all the upside) out of their positions. Making them more accountable.

– Nassim Taleb (in this fantastic interview).

From our perspective, this is a critical idea. As we have said for several years, we do not see Iran as close to having a nuclear weapon. They may be close to being able to test a crude nuclear device under controlled circumstances (and we don’t know this either), but the development of a deliverable nuclear weapon poses major challenges for Iran.

Moreover, while the Iranians may aspire to a deterrent via a viable nuclear weapons capability, we do not believe the Iranians see nuclear weapons as militarily useful. A few such weapons could devastate Israel, but Iran would be annihilated in retaliation. While the Iranians talk aggressively, historically they have acted cautiously. For Iran, nuclear weapons are far more valuable as a notional threat and bargaining chip than as something to be deployed. Indeed, the ideal situation is not quite having a weapon, and therefore not forcing anyone to act against them, but seeming close enough to be taken seriously. They certainly have achieved that.

– Stratfor “Considering a U.S.-Iranian Deal,” January 24th, 2012

I’ve Always Loved History
I’ve always loved history. Even all the way back to grade school I remember it being my favorite subject. Very early on I noticed certain patterns in history and I wondered why they occurred. When I was first exposed to European history, I recall being absolutely floored by how certain countries could become so rich and powerful and then subsequently collapse so stunningly and rapidly. The one that really boggled my mind was Spain – the homeland of my maternal grandfather who I never met. Here was a country that conquered and viciously looted essentially all South America other than Brazil (thanks to the pope being magnanimous enough to grant that part of the world to Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas), Mexico, Central America and parts of the United States. The gold and especially silver that was taken back to Spain was the stuff of legend, yet almost at the same time they had defeated the native peoples overseas their kingdom at home was crumbling. Not to bore anyone with too much history, but by the mid 1500s the Spanish had essentially conquered the Aztecs (Mexico) and the Incas (Peru). At the time, the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan was estimated to be larger than any city in Europe. Despite these tremendous “successes” and the riches that came with them, the battle of Rocroi in Northern France in 1643 less than one hundred years later marked the end of Spanish dominance in Europe. What is so fascinating to me is that while the conquistadors were out raping and pillaging halfway around the world the domestic economy was experiencing economic crisis. There were episodes of major currency debasements in the homeland as the crown was forced to fight wars on their borders as well as fund the excursions abroad. It is important to note that the collapse came pretty quickly as it was only in 1627 when things were still looking pretty good for the empire that The Count-Duke Olivares famously stated: “God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days.” Does this story sound familiar?

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As long as the systems of control, crafted carefully over centuries by the entrenched elites, were able to sustain themselves within the illusions that they had embedded within the language, the mechanisms of control were possible. Stated another way for clarity; as long as the entrenched elite had control of the illusion, the illusion of control works for them. However, the opposite is also true, and this is where we find ourselves now; that is to say, at a point in time where the entrenched elite are using the control systems so badly that they are stepping outside of the inherent limitations imposed by the use of language as their primary control mechanism. Again, stated another way for clarity….when the ‘prime proponents of democracy planet-wide (e.g. usa senators)’ vote to ‘legalize their war on their constituent populace’ they are stepping outside of the inherent common consensus understanding of ‘USA democracy’ at such a level as to disrupt the illusion that allows them to control. Make any sense at all? The ‘herd’ is smelling the ‘slaughter house’, both metaphorically and actually. The stench of blood work travels on the air.

– Clif High

Building Tension

Everything seems extremely slow and boring right now.  After so much happened in bursts during various periods last year, we are currently in a gestation period.  We are in a period of building tension.  In retrospect, it seems that this period began in September/October of last year, thus it has now been building energy for almost five months.  This period of building tension happened after the last major release of energy in this Fourth Turning and that was in August/September, with the debt ceiling debt debacle, markets crashing, gold soaring and the emergence on the scene for the first time of a “progressive/urban rebellion” against bankster puppet Barack Obama from within his own set of perceived supporters.  Namely, the OWS movement.

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Now consider that an ideologue is not necessarily a fanatic.  What he does is adjust most of his ideas to circumstances, without recognizing the opportunism latent in such ideological adjustments.  The opportunism of a great statesman, on the other hand, rests on principles.  What John Morley once wrote about Edmund Burke may be applied to Churchill: “He changed his stand; but he never changed his ground.” Or what the aged Metternich once wrote: that an idea is like a fixed gun in a fortress, ready to fire and to hit error in one straight direction; but a principle is like a gun mounted on a fixed but revolving base, capable of firing at error in all directions. 

– John Lukacs in Churchill: Visionary, Statesman, Historian

Ron Paul

I hold a deeply held view of Ron Paul as an honorable, genuine and trustworthy American statesman.  In fact, I cannot really think of anyone else in the tepid cesspool of American politics today whom I could even remotely categorize as a statesman as opposed to a run of the mill politician (or ideologue as Mr. Lucas puts it).  Mr. Lucas moves on to explain that to an ideologue it is current ideas that matter, while to a statesman it is certain principles that matter.  He states that an ideologue’s view of the world and its inhabitants is political, while to a statesman it is historical.  These simple sentences are what I believe inherently separate Ron Paul at his very core  from everyone else currently running for president.  This is merely what separates the man’s character from the others.  This is reason enough to consider him, but not reason enough to vote for him.  His ideas about liberty, war and economics also separate him from the pack and it is his strongly held principles on these subjects that in my view make him the only one capable and with enough conviction to help heal this country’s wounds, get us back on the right and moral path and foster real change as opposed to a campaign slogan.

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