In the 21st century,
great corporations will bestride the earth,
replacing nations as the true creators of history,
amassing powerful private armies to do their bidding.
Category: big brother
Hillary: The Movie, a slashing critique of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton, is taking center stage tomorrow at the U.S. Supreme Court, where the film’s producers are using it to challenge the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.
During the 2008 presidential primary campaign, a conservative advocacy group called Citizens United produced Hillary: The Movie, a 90-minute documentary that was available on DVD and came and went quickly in theaters. The group wanted to run it on cable TV as an on-demand movie and maintained that it was not subject to federal campaign rules because the movie did not say explicitly that people should vote for or against Clinton.
Now this case, involving the Hillary movie, has morphed into a broad attack on McCain-Feingold again. It is also an attack on the notion, first put forth by the Supreme Court more than 100 years ago, that corporate contributions from general treasury funds can be banned.
Representing Citizens United on Tuesday is Ted Olson, who as solicitor general in the Bush administration successfully defended the McCain-Feingold law in the Supreme Court six years ago. This time he is on the other side, attacking the law as it has been applied and contending that corporations should be allowed to spend unlimited amounts of their general treasury funds in campaigns.
“What is the matter with corporations? Are they inherently evil? Corporations â just as much as individuals â are entitled to protection under the First Amendment,” Olson says.
But Larry Noble, former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, counters that this case is not really about small nonprofit corporations and their corporate contributors.
“What Citizens United is doing here is its actually making a broadside attack on the corporate prohibition,” Noble says.
(read more)
(Would you accept a ruling that gives corporate entities the same rights as a person?)
- Labels: big brother, corporations, corruption, greed, power
Individuals, companies and corporations have always taken advantage of warfare to make enormous economic profit. For centuries, ordinary people, who suffer most from war, have resisted these war profiteers. One of the major factors in Harry S. Truman’s (Give ’em Hell, Harry!) rise to the U.S. presidency was his relentless pursuit of war profiteers.
But now the nature and power of these war profiteers have changed. Instead of racing in after the war begins, they’re stepping up before a war even starts. In the last 20 years or so, these war profiteers have acquired more and more power over U.S. policy-making. Our Stop the Merchants of Death [SMoD] program uncovers the many ways these corporations are literally calling the shots when it comes to deciding what weapons systems to buy, what countries to invade, what foreign resources to seize. At the War Resisters League we say, It’s not so much true anymore to say that they make profit from war. They have such power that it’s more accurate to say they now make war for profit.
In 1992, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney hired a private company to answer the question: Is it economically feasible to outsource military logistics from the Department of Defense to private companies? That is, should we let private companies take care of building barracks, delivering fuel and ammunition, delivering and cooking and serving food, etc? Of course, the private company said, yes.
The private company’s name was Halliburton.
In 1992, Cheney left public office and with no previous business experience at all, became the CEO of a major private company.
The private company’s name was Halliburton.
For the next eight years, thousands of military logistics contracts were outsourced. One thousand of these contracts went to one private company.
The private company’s name was Halliburton.
In 2000, Dick Cheney became the Vice President of the United States. A little over a year later, the United States went to war against Afghanistan. Halliburton’s profits jumped.
About two years after that, the United States went to war against Iraq. Halliburton, whose former CEO was now Vice-President of the United States, got hundreds of no-bid contracts. That is, contracts for Iraq were simply given to Halliburton, with no competitive bidding at all. Half a billion dollars worth in 2003, three billion dollars in 2004, and eight billion dollars in 2005.
Halliburton’s profits spiked again. And so did the value of Dick Cheney’s 433,000 deferred stock options in Halliburton. We cannot help but wonder if there is a conflict of interest here. With so much personal profit at stake, can we honestly say that Dick Cheney was using his voice solely for the well-being of the United States?
The War Resisters League wants to stop all war profiteering. And we want to start by getting Halliburton out of the business of war-making. Halliburton has multi-billion dollar contracts for military logistics. Through their subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), they have a multi-billion dollar contract for Iraqi oil.
Make no mistake. Halliburton’s first priority is that of most corporations, to make as much money as they can. One set of results is predictable: shoddy supplies and service, and at least a billion dollars in charges not considered acceptable by the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
The other set of results is also predictable, the Merchants of Death and its agents are going to continue to push for war because there is so much profit in it.
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, control, fear, greed, profit
Where they burn books
they will also burn people
…Heinrich Heine…
SiCKO is a 2007 documentary film by American film maker Michael Moore. The film investigates the American health care system, focusing on its health insurance and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba.
Sicko opened to positive reviews, but also generated criticism and controversy. Some policy specialists have praised the film while others have criticized the film for its positive portrayal of the publicly funded health systems of Canada, the United Kingdom and Cuba, and for its negative portrayal of the health care system in the United States.
In his first television interview since leaving the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter tells Bill Moyers why he left his successful career as the head of Public Relations for CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest insurers, and decided to speak out against the industry. “I didn’t intend to [speak out], until it became really clear to me that the industry is resorting to the same tactics they’ve used over the years.
- Labels: big brother, control, corporations, greed, money, profit
Cover art for Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.#33.
Art by Adi Granov. Marvel Comics.
War Machine (James Rupert Rhodes) is a fictional character, a comic book superhero from the Marvel Comics universe. The character first appeared in Iron Man #118 (January 1979). Jim Rhodes, who became War Machine was introduced by David Michelinie and Bob Layton. The War Machine armor and character was designed by Len Kaminski and Kevin Hopgood.
James “Rhodey” Rhodes as the War Machine is one of the good guys, unlike the real war machine, the global arms manufacturers and the military-industrial complex.
Quote from President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1961 Farewell address:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
[The following is an excerpt from stopthewarmachine.org]
In his 1961 Farewell address President Dwight Eisenhower warned us of a rogue military-industrial complex (MIC). Ike said the post-World War II MIC had the potential to destroy our democracy and world peace.
We look around at the loss of our civil liberties, rising inequality and the wars we fight abroad every year with our huge one-and-a-half million military forces that are stationed on every continent and in every ocean and it appears Eisenhower was correct. No other county spends as much of its wealth on the war machine as us. No other country has a global military presence that even begins to match ours.
Why do we need such a large a standing army? Some people suggest we had a military coup in our country hidden behind the ’50s Cold War rhetoric and that now the war on terrorism is being used to create a global empire for the MIC.
Bob Anderson for the Committee to Stop the War Machine 2/21/03
- Labels: above top secret, arms trade, big brother, control, war
“There’s a secret government,
inside the government…
and I don’t control it.”
…Bill Clinton…
- Labels: above top secret, awakening, big brother, disclosure
I’m as mad as hell,
and I’m not going to take this anymore!
- Labels: awakening, big brother, control, media, perspective
This is what the rest of the world sees
when they look at U.S.
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, fear, slavery, violence, war
“Tibet has been turned into a living hell”
…His Holiness the Dalai Lama…
- Labels: big brother, buddhism, control, courage, fear
If you have a good telescope…..
you can see things…..
things people don’t want you to see.
- Labels: above top secret, arms trade, big brother, control
Our eyes are opening, as all is very unclear, there are lies, damn lies and things we may never know the truth about but what we can see, what is becoming clearer and clearer is that there is a plan, a thirst for power and you and I are not part of it! There is clearly a conspiracy that has been going on, possibly since the beginning of time, we may have been genetically engineered we are certainly being manipulated through propaganda and thought control.
We have looked and can see who are in the higher echelons of power, who has a vested interested in promoting thought control of the masses. Several families are implicated, these families are obsessed with blood lines and some, notably the Bushesâ and the Windsorâsâ are inbred to the point of idiocy, why they have inflicted this inbreeding on their own families is open to conjecture. I for one am glad that my genes come from entirely different stock!
The picture as is unfolding is hideous, huge, corrupt and nasty, it is hard to comprehend the true crimes against humanity that have been committed here, people have suffered and died, and still are, even we westerners have been lied to, stolen from, murdered, our souls, our spark of divine light has been corrupted and we have been taught to believe we are unworthy, our minds have been confused muddled and taught lies and propaganda as if it was the truth.
So letâs take a step back and holding our shock and horror down look at this as if we were not the victims of a dangerous and dirty game, lets look as if we ourselves are aliens, gods, divine beings from another place, there has been underhandedness and trickery on a scale that is hard to imagine from a sane and lucid perspective so letâs take a step back from the emotion and look coldly and clearly.
Who are the real slaves here? Who have been deprived of their humanity by a breeding programme that they have only occasionally tried to inflict upon us? Who are ruled by a psychopathic master? They have it all these families, all the money all the power, we are fooled into believing that oligarchy is democracy, drugged by the opiates of hope and by TV screens that as Orwell predicted tell us what to feel and when to feel it. But we can free our minds by an effort of will, of understanding.
We are thinking, feeling human beings, and they have weaknesses, they are scared themselves, and they have no imagination that has been bred out of them, did George W Bush have any choice himself whether to be president or not? Once he was president did he have any choice about what to say, how to act? Does he have empathy for his fellow man? Is he enslaved by a system that tries to enslave humanity?
They are clearly then not the masters of their own destiny, they have weaknesses, and one of them was clearly spoken while Bush was president
âBush does not like black peopleâ
Why not? Are black people harder to manipulate, more likely to form their own opinions? Is that why black people in the US have been targeted time and again by the powers that be? Maybe they have more soul, keep a tighter hold of their own divinity and can see through a lie more clearly that white people.
There are other clues as well to their weaknesses, they donât like to be mocked to be the but of jokes, they clearly thrive on hate pain and division, and donât thrive on laughter and joy and fun, even children are not allowed to create merry hell any more, but are drugged with Ritalin and other psychotropic drugs, we Brits are a lot less reverent than other nations may believe, we take hardly anything seriously, when Diana died there were jokes the next day in the pub, when Londoners were murdered in the tube there were jokes about that too.
Can it be that humour, real humour, laughing out loud, fun and joy of life can also cut through their mind control? Iâm not sure but I think so, the energy from joy is much different from the energy from pain. These are proud and arrogant individuals, could they cope with being mocked, laughed at, and jeered at? At least it will make us feel better to have a laugh!
They have other weaknesses to, weaknesses that through their own secrecy have grown to monstrous proportions, thatâs what we have to focus on, look at. be aware of. They fall apart under the cameras too; last week in the UK is became illegal to take a picture of a policeman! I feel sure there is a weakness there, maybe the camera will show them for what they really are, show them in a way that our human eyes would never let us believe.
Keep looking, keep listening, the battle hasnât even begun yet, but when it does we need to know their weaknesses, need to see through the lies and propaganda, need to be armed with love, humour and joyâ¦â¦â¦â¦.
- Labels: big brother, joy, love, slavery, war
george orwell was indeed an extraordinary visionary
he would look upon the present day and say
truly, the nightmare of 1984 is beginning
surveillance is ubiquitous
and the nsa is listening and watching
perpetual war is exactly what we have with
the “war on terror”
robot drones kill “suspected” terrorists
…..judge, jury and executioner…..boom!
the global weapon$ trade is a force unto it$elf,
it is draining our very blood to do it$ bidding
secret space based weapon systems are being built
and will become the final solution for control of the world
eisenhower was right about the
“military-industrial complex”, warning us didn’t help
the united states spends nearly the same amount of
money on the war machine, as the rest of the world combined
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, control, economy, fear
The Predator B
General Atomics
new and improved
MQ-9 “Reaper”
robot warfare is here
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, execution, terrorism, war
We’re listening to every word,
we’re reading every e-mail,
we know who you are,
we know where you live.
- Labels: big brother, government, slavery, terrorism, truth
In the councils of government,
we must guard against the acquisition
of unwarranted influence, whether sought
or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.
The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power exists and will persist. We must never let the
weight of this combination endanger our liberties or
democratic processes. We should take nothing for
granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable
citizenry can compel the proper meshing
of the huge industrial and military
machinery of defense with our
peaceful methods and goals,
so that
security
and liberty
may prosper
together.
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation, 01.17.61
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, fear, terrorism, war
“Oh, it’s horrible, but you just can’t take your eyes away……..it’s like watching a monkey swallow a hand grenade.”
………The Simpsons………
- Labels: big brother, dear god, politics, the clown
They don’t pay any taxes……..they pass the taxes on to you.
It started with price fixing……..then it evolved into supply manipulation.
And then they get tax breaks……..for paying no taxes.
- Labels: big brother, economy, greed, money
People should not be afraid of their governments……
….governments should be afraid of their people…….V
- Labels: big brother, government, revolution, slavery
War is peace
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength
- Labels: arms trade, big brother, slavery, terrorism
Secret space based weapon systems have been, and are being built by defense contractors.
The stated goal of the United States Air Force is to secure the “high ground”……..in other words, space………”Dark Star” is a killing machine in space.
If you have a good telescope you can see where your hard earned tax dollars are going to.
This is an image from the telescope of John Lenard Walson.
- Labels: above top secret, big brother, Space, truth
Examples of well-known drugs that are considered hard drugs include heroin, morphine, cocaine, alcohol, nicotine, and methamphetamine. Drugs in this group are generally described as being physically addictive, easier to overdose on, and/or posing serious health and social risks, including death.
The term soft drug is most usually applied to cannabis (marijuana or hashish). The distinction between soft drugs and hard drugs is important because there is no evidence of physical addiction. Marijuana is far less dangerous than alcohol or tobacco. Around 50,000 people die each year from alcohol poisoning, not to mention the many thousands of alcohol related deaths from drunk driving. Similarly, more than 400,000 deaths each year are attributed to tobacco smoking. By comparison, marijuana is nontoxic and cannot cause death by overdose. According to the prestigious European medical journal, The Lancet, “The smoking of cannabis, even long-term, is not harmful to health. It would be reasonable to judge cannabis as less of a threat than alcohol or tobacco.”
Marijuana is the third most popular recreational drug in America (behind only alcohol and tobacco), and has been used by nearly 80 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 20 million Americans have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 11 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use. Our public policies should reflect this reality, not deny it.
NORML supports the removal of all penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults, including cultivation for personal use, and casual nonprofit transfers of small amounts. This policy, known as decriminalization, removes the consumer — the marijuana smoker — from the criminal justice system.
Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 872,000 individuals per year — far more than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
- Labels: big brother, logic, perspective, truth
There were many people, especially in America, who imagined that “Business” might ultimately unify the world and governments sink into subordination to its network…….H.G.Wells.
- Labels: big brother, government, slavery