Twelfth Bough

i run my own damn think tank

Archive for September, 2008

An event in which some people find out that they have been hung out to dry, to their astonishment.

Sep 23

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Corruption & Crime, Economy | No Comments

First off, let us consider the hinterlands, the great unwashed, the American people who have been forced to pay for the Iraq War and its consequences with their ever-stagnant salaries. What do they think about all this brouhaha?

The American people blame the GOP 2:1 for the unfolding economic disaster.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The financial turmoil that has rocked global markets appears to be benefiting US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, according to a new poll released Monday that finds the Democratic candidate pulling ahead of his Republican opponent John McCain with a 51 percent to 46 percent lead.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll also finds that by a two-to-one margin Americans blame Republicans for the current financial crisis.

Forty-seven percent of registered voters say Republicans are more responsible for the state of the economy, compared to 24 percent of registered voters who say Democrats are more responsible.

Yes. Of course we do. We may be flouridated and gamma-rayed into bright smiling idiocy, but we’re not dead yet. A few brain cells yet have the working synapses, ruthlessly connecting the Bush dot with the economic misery dot, over and over again.

Now let us move up a few socio-economic clicks, to the bustling corridors of Wall Street.

The title character of my 2007 novel, Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy, was inspired by a real-life shoeshiner who plied his trade among the Guccis and Ferragamos of the financial district. What a view he had! From the very bottom rung of the economic ladder, he watched Wall Street insanity of outlandish proportions: the shady world of unbelievable hedge-fund profits, the supermodel girlfriends, $5,000 bottles of wine, cocaine-fueled trading and partying, the jaw-dropping castles of the new superrich being erected in Greenwich and the Hamptons.
…Few people on the trading floor were inclined to make small talk with menial workers last week, one such worker told me, because 90 percent of the staff had put in full days over the weekend, trying to figure out the latest repercussions for their company. All day, he saw people staring at their monitors in disbelief, pausing only to yell, “What the [expletive]?” or “This is a [expletive]-show.” There was none of the usual horseplay or joking around. Instead, people were screaming into their phones and then slamming them down.

Many of the traders who were used to receiving six-figure annual bonuses have started brown-bagging their lunches instead of ordering in sushi or eating out at local restaurants. “Dude, we already passed the recession,” one trader explained to the worker. “This is the Depression. Save your money.”

The trading floor had always seemed, to one observer, rock-solid Republican — until recently. One staunch Republican stood up in his trading group’s row and announced, to the amazed stares of his colleagues, “I’m voting for Obama. I don’t care if I have to pay more taxes. I just want things to be fixed.”

Oh dear. Dear dear dear. My goodness gracious. This is just terrible. Brown-bagged lunches?? What is the world coming to?

And a step about them, many in the Republicans in Congress have been left bewildered.

Last week’s deepening financial crisis and the string of bailouts engineered by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke left Republicans bewildered, whipsawed and divided over how to respond….Some members of the Republican Study Committee, which represents conservative stalwarts, were decrying the bailout plan as a step closer to “socialism,” according to Roll Call.

No comment. But even farther up, in the hallowed halls, walk the people who are not confused, and not bewildered, and not upset. For these people, everything is under control and proceeding apace.

What happened on September 18-19 took years of preparation, capped by a faux ideology crafted by public-relations think tanks to be broadcast under emergency conditions to panic Congress - and voters - right before the presidential election. This seems to be our September election surprise. Under staged crisis conditions, Pres. Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson are now calling for the country to come together in a War on Defaulting Homeowners. This is said to be the only hope to “save the system.” (What system is this? Not industrial capitalism, or even banking as we know it.) The largest transformation of America’s financial system since the Great Depression has been compressed into just two weeks, starting with the doubling of America’s national debt on September 7 with the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (My computer’s spellchecker will not permit me to use the euphemism “conservatorship” that Mr. Paulson applied to bailing out the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fraudsters.)

Economic theory used to explain that profits and interest were a return for calculated risk. But today, the name of the game is capital gains and computerized gambling on the direction of interest rates, foreign currencies and stock prices - and when bad bets are made, bailouts are the calculated economic return for campaign contributions. But this is not supposed to be the time to talk of such things. “We must act now to protect our nation’s economic health from serious risk,” intoned Pres. Bush on September 19. What he meant was that the White House must make the Republican Party’s largest group of campaign contributors whole - Wall Street, that is - by bailing out their bad gambles. “There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it.” In other words, don’t make this an election issue. “In our nation’s history there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges. This is such a moment.” Right before the presidential election! The same guff was heard earlier on Friday morning from Sec. Paulson: “Our economic health requires that we work together for prompt, bipartisan action.” The broadcasters said that half a trillion dollars was discussed for this day’s maneuverings.

Yes. This is an emergency. It’s time to ram some new dictatorial powers down the American people’s collective throat quickly. OR ELSE!

Or Else WHAT, exactly? We could be somehow less screwed?

Not quite sure what to say here…

Sep 22

Posted by Marlena in Corruption & Crime, Economy | No Comments

I tried to call the senators and reps this weekend, just for shits and giggles. The following mailboxes were full: Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry. I was able to leave a couple of messages for other people.

What currently transpires is not wealth destruction, but a massive transfer. Some few people, somewhere, sit atop mountains of money.

Furthermore, as of this point, we have been left to the mercy and judgment of this man. I warn you, you will see a high definition close up picture of his face. Please note the eyes (as if you couldn’t).

WTF?

A Teaching Moment

Sep 19

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Psychology, Stupidity | No Comments

Regarding Sarah Palin, we have all seen and read much. Yes she has become an enormous distraction, but this is a teaching moment for the American people.We have been here before, eight years ago, and this time one can only hope (please, please God have mercy on your people) that we have learned something in the intervening period of pure misery. Why do we still find this all so shocking?!?

Someone at DKos parses the curious tale of how Sarah Palin reacted when John McCain asked her to be his VP.

This is something I can’t let pass–not without taking notice. Sarah Palin has just made her most blatant lie yet. It’s one that the average television viewer can catch. And most tellingly, it’s a lie that exposes not just mendacity, but a compulsion to lie.

In a transparent attempt to shore up her feminist appeal, she’s changed her story on how she accepted the offer to run for vice-president.

Which one is it, Sarah? The problem with lying isn’t so much putting the lies out there. It’s in sticking to them.

She has now given two completely different answers to explain/describe her reaction to the VP nod. In the one to Gibson, she bragged about not even blinking. Now she says she consulted with her family and they even voted. Oh sure. How democratic is that?
So which one is it? What has happened here?

Her answer to Charlie Gibson was the real answer. She is in all likelihood a psychopath, as I wrote here. I noticed that Charlie also said, in asking his question, that it might belie some hubris for her to accept the job, but she glided right past that little remark and nobody else seems to have mentioned it either. There’s a great deal of focus on her not knowing about the Bush Doctrine, and so forth. Be that as it may. But from a purely emotional level, her performance made it completely plain — if you have eyes to see — that she is ruthless and cutthroat, completely devoid of introspection or even a tiny shred of humility. This is not a nice person. I don’t care what she looks like on the outside.

Psychopaths do not experience normal human emotions, and they try to fake it. But sometimes they just get it wrong. Her no blinking answer was a clashing gong to many thinking, feeling Americans; and now she has to redo that answer by having a new answer, the answer that a normal human would have. The fact that it contradicts her previous answer is of no concern to her. You have to understand that’s how these people operate. Haven’t we seen this over and over again with Bush/Cheney and the GOP? Reality is what they say it is. They actually believe that. They do not understand why we get all hung up on consistency and principles because they have no principles.

As for the comparisons to Cheney, I think they are accurate and justified. The main difference being that Cheney has been inside Washington for what, 30 years?, giving him plenty of time to learn how to spin his lies. Also, he spends so much time behind the scenes where he doesn’t have to bother with all this pesky PR stuff. Sarah is a neophyte in comparison, but that does not mean that she is any less despicable. And if we’re stupid enough to find out, well heaven help us.

Bonus: Additional information from Alaska about her ruthless behavior toward Monegan.

What’s in your holster, human?

Sep 18

Posted by Marlena in Injustice | No Comments

These people who have of late destroyed the world? What menace courses through their bodies where a soul belongs? Who are these people? What are these people?

I believe in aristocracy though, if that is the right word and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes and all through the ages and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. - From a 1941 essay by EM Forster

Some people will screw you at the slightest provocation. Some people go way out of their way to screw you. But others just won’t do it, even if you earned it. They are the true aristocracy. Why? Because they are better, bigger, deeper, made of a finer substance. More human. More humane. Generous. Compassionate. Plucky. Brave.

If you’re lucky, you will at least desire to be like one of them. You will freely recognize and admit their goodness, you will admire their quality, imperfect though your own life may be to the measure. You will not denigrate them for trying. You will understand that without this striving to guide you, you’re just wallowing around in muck; and you will disgust yourself, turning to alcohol or the addiction of your choice to self-medicate and numb your own profound disgust with your own pathetic self. Your unfulfilled goodness will be exquisitely painful.

If you’re so unlucky, you don’t even give a crap about any of this. You don’t even have the slightest idea what I’m talking about. It’s not real to you. You have no problems of interior conflict or remorse. You are the people who skip through life, blithely unaware of the devastation, with that fake smile on your face and those dead eyes blinking at us. To those I say, just because it’s not real to you, that does not mean it’s not real. I’m done with you people, or whatever the hell you are. Go. Away. From. Here.

But if you do understand what I’m saying, you need to be strengthened, and to have courage. Not just for your own sake, but for us all.

What you see unfolding in the world today…well, by their fruits shall ye know them. This is the world that good people created and psychopaths destroyed. Because they have no creative spark. They can only destroy, so everything they think they ‘built’ has been ultimately the instrument of destruction. It was never real. The fiat currency, adored by the greedy, was not real money; and now we all know. We have a giant, monumental crashing destruction taking place. Good. Let it fall down. Let it all come down and be pulverized into dust and ashes. It does not deserve to exist and suck the lifeblood out of good people, as it has done for generations. We can make something much, much better.

Good people can recognize each other, just like the psychopaths among us, ‘passing’ as human. Sometimes it takes a while, because many good people have been burnt so many times that they hold back a little out of caution. Good people know all too well the treachery of the evil, because we good people make such great victims. We know that. We learn that. But still, over time we find each other.

So here’s my shout out to the good people of the world, and there are a lot of you, though perhaps not so many as one would hope. Too many people have been dulled and compromised. They don’t dare to be good. Maybe they had a little good inside, once upon a time, and someone beat it out of them. Please have courage. Please don’t succumb. Please find the shred of goodness you once held in your heart, perhaps many years ago, and dare to expose it.

Goodness is a secret weapon. When you take it out of it’s holster, which is in your heart, it feels like you might die. But you probably won’t. (And even if you did, well shit we’re all going to die someday. Wouldn’t it be better to die for goodness’ sake?) This powerful weapon can have amazing repellent properties against evil. Amazing.

You have to have a little courage, people. I know its scary. I am scared, too. But you can’t cave into that. This is a numbers game, allright? We outnumber them. Good people outnumber evil people by magnitudes. And look at the evil. They have screwed up their own numbers game, the one they own, the very financial system. And you got burnt, too, no doubt. But so have we all. So many many times. And we have had the luxury of not being Iraqis, or Afghans, or Palestinians, or Lebanese, or Africans, or any multitude of people literally discarded and destroyed throughout the world by the rapacious evil.

It does not have to be this way. I just cannot accept that it has to be this way, and I hope you cannot accept it either. Our governments have created God-knows-what technology with their black-ops budgets, money siphoned off through their evil schemes of drug running and gun running. Who can count all the innocent lives destroyed to ‘buy’ this technology, which has been kept hidden from the human race? And what do they give us instead? They wage war on the world without our consent. They make us debt slaves. They give us a broken down country, infrastructure falling apart, pollution and poison in the sky, in the water, and in the food. I know someone who died of Mad Cow disease this week, here in the US. We have a poisoned food supply. I have young friends and family members fighting off mysterious, virulent autoimmune diseases which have robbed them of dignity and robust health. Something has gone desperately wrong. But we can’t give up. Don’t give up until they put you in the ground.

Just as the psychopaths can recognize each other from childhood, every good person must cultivate the ability to recognize both other good people and the evil among us. You must also learn to discern those who have been horribly compromised but are essentially good. This is not easy, but it can be done. People with no conscience will leave their telltale signs. They will make strange remarks. You can figure it out if you know what to look for. Read up on it.

Come on people. You have what it takes. Just use it. Stand up for yourselves. Stand up for each other. Be a human being while we still have time. Dare to wield your inherent goodness in the face of cruelty and chaos.

All the chips are on the table

Sep 17

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, Iran, Israel, McCain/Palin, Military, Stupidity | No Comments

At the risk of sounding really crazy, I do think now is as good a time as any to think through the worst case scenarios which may lie directly ahead.

Obviously, the economy is collapsing; though so far the major tremors shake the shadow economy of big Wall Street firms. While scary to watch on the news, you may wonder how this will affect you. Aside from the fact that you, dear US taxpayer, your children, your grandchildren and your great great grandchildren have been made wage slaves — well aside from that — it probably doesn’t affect you at all, as long as you can keep your job. But it may affect your employer, like say if you work in the financial industry or the insurance industry, or if your employer relies on the financial industry or the insurance industry as a customer base, or any infinite number of scenarios by which we have all become trapped in a sticky spiderweb of financial interconnectedness.

However, and this is important, this disaster may possibly help avert an even larger disaster — WW III — by cutting off the source of financing. If the world economy refuses to lend us more money, since we don’t any longer seem capable of paying it back, then it would really put a crimp in the hose for funding military adventures. That is why I think the timing of this problem may be off by a couple of months, because the War with Iran has not happened yet. Events should have gone (ideally, to the psychopaths) along this trajectory: War with Iran (caused by an Israeli false flag operation, blamed on Iran), then financial collapse (blamed on the war and Iran via proxy, not on Bush), then martial law in the US (an unfortunate necessity, also blamed on the evil Iran). This would have greatly facilitated sliding McCain/Palin into the White House. But the financial collapse has occurred first, a significant handicap for McCain/Palin as well as the war planners. As it stands now you have the financial collapse (correctly blamed on Bush), and an excellent chance that everyone, being very pissy about the collapsed economy, will rightfully blame the War with Iran on Bush and Israel. It’s just not going to be so easy to pull this off and get away with it, too.

But that doesn’t mean they won’t do it. That’s the problem with psychopaths. You can’t rely on them to make good decisions. In fact, you can rely on them to overreach, and in this case their overreaching can cause millions of deaths.

Lord Stirling reports here that Bush the Idiot has agreed to sell Israel some bunker buster bombs, and one may conclude that Israel will use them to attack Iran, especially if that monster Netanyahu steps in as Prime Minister in a few days. And then what?

The Israeli and American war planners may be counting on all sides refraining from the use of WMD. Rather like Saddam held back his 29 WMD armed (chemical and anthrax) Scud-type guided missiles during the First Gulf War and like Hezbollah did during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. If this is the strategy it is one very, very, massive risk to all involved.

And if they don’t? If they don’t, Iran will possibly use their ABW (Advanced Biological Warfare) weapons, which are scary as shit, and cheap, and you wouldn’t know until two weeks later — or in other words — Too Late.

I just really think people should know that the minute you hear about an attack on Iran, you would be advised to get your fanny home, and pick up your kids at school, and plan to hang out at your house for the next month or so. Please God may I be wrong, and we can all have a good laugh about it someday. Nothing would make me happier.

Where does one even begin?

Sep 16

Posted by Marlena in Bush/Cheney, McCain/Palin, Media, Surveillance | No Comments

Following the news can easily become a full-time job, and interpreting the news takes the wisdom of Solomon. Since I am unqualified for that task, let me just wish all of you the best of luck and I’ll do what I can with the cards we’ve been dealt.

As for the financial meltdown currently taking place, I see it but I’m not sure what it really means yet. It appears to be planned event, but the timing seems off. Perhaps “they” hoped to forestall it until after the elections to insure that McCain could get in first. In addition, it does not seem that everyone expected to have both feet on the reservation about McCain got the memo. Perhaps Palin is a bridge too far. The overall problem appears to be that events are happening so quickly that they defy coordination and control. Considering how orchestrated our lives have become, the advantage accrues to those paying attention — as long as you can keep up. Good luck.

Meanwhile, the revelations about the DOJ and Cheney’s cabal back in 2004 are very, very interesting. Clearly Cheney and Addington have been making all sorts of decisions and using a combination of secrecy and bullying to make it all stick. Addington whined:

“I’m sure when we leave office we’re all going to be hauled up before congressional committees and grand juries,” Addington told one colleague in disgust.

God Willing!

But we still don’t know what was this surveillance ‘thing’ that prompted such intense pushback from the DOJ.

While all this rages on, we’ve had other news about the mysterious weapons that Bob Woodward told Larry King about. He couldn’t say more because someone could get killed, by which he must have meant a “good guy,” since obviously, plenty of people have been getting killed by the said unknown technology, but I digress…

And what the hell is going on with Hurricane Ike? Gee whiz the Republicans were so attentive to people’s needs when Hurricane Gustav displaced their convention. They were paragons of virtue. But here we are, just two weeks later, and they’re right back to the Katrina playbook.

These things are connected. It’s all connected: mysterious weapons, surveillance, the lethargic and brain-dead American public, weather modification. We must discover the connections, and they have to do with technology.

The surveillance state is well in place and all pervasive. The government here employs one in 25 people (2001) to snitch on their neighbors and clientele, and there are many more recruits available who do this out of some misguided zealotry: fundamental churches are sponsored to provide candidates for this role, as well as any other organization including but not limited to motorcycle club/gang members. Two way television surveillance is rife, and in place just about anywhere there are cable TV facilities. Many monitors and televisions are equipped with a camera OUT, letting law enforcement into your living room whenever they feel the need. The legislation enacted recently by boy george (Since 9-11) is just an attempt to make all this legal on paper.

Watching people in their homes, through their TVs and computers? Was that what pushed Ashcroft and Comey over the edge? I mean, were they ok with monitoring all our phone calls and emails, but they drew the line at the peep show? I don’t know. That’s just the problem — we don’t know. So much secrecy surrounds our government, and what they’re really doing, and to what nefarious ends.

The New World Order is wireless, and will never end unless the antennae come down. That is the stark truth. Get up close to them, see how they are made.

I encourage you to explore the links at this site, especially if you have some background in science.

A Little Treasure

Sep 13

Posted by Marlena in Uncategorized | No Comments

I went to a yard sale today and bought a little antique book with gilded pages from 1929. I paid ten cents. It is full of beautiful things like this:

41. The Sparrow, by Ivan Sergiewich Turgenev, Russian novelist, 1818-1883

I was returning from hunting and walking along an avenue of the garden, my dog running in front of me.

Suddenly he took shorter steps, and began to steal along as though tracking game.

I looked along the avenue and saw a young sparrow, with yellow about its beak and down on its head. It had fallen out of the nest (the wind was violently shaking the birch trees in the avenue) and sat unable to move, helplessly flapping its half-grown wings.

My dog was slowly approaching it, when, suddenly darting down from a tree close by, an old dark-throated sparrow fell like a stone right before his nose, and all ruffled up, terrified, with despairing and pitiful cheeps, it flung itself twice towards the open jaws of shining teeth.

It sprang to save; it cast itself before its nestling, but all its tiny body was shaking with terror; its note was harsh and strange. Swooning with fear, it offered itself up!

What a huge monster must the dog have seemed to it! And yet it could not stay on its high branch out of danger. A force stronger than its will flung it down.

My Tresor stood still, drew back. Clearly he too recognized this force.

I hastened to call off the disconcerted dog, and went away, full of reverence.

Love, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.

Dream Tales and Prose Poems
Trans. Constance Garnett

Totally Unacceptable

Sep 12

Posted by Marlena in Israel | No Comments

Army: Settlers have crossed the red line

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1221142452189&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

No no no, silly, it’s not a problem that they’re attacking Palestinian civilians. That kind of thing is routinely overlooked.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011977.html

The problem is they are attacking the IDF. That, my friends, is crossing a line.

She can blink, but she don’t think

Sep 12

Posted by Marlena in McCain/Palin, Media, Psychology | No Comments

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…

I’m sure the Society of American Sociopaths will be duly impressed. You have conveyed the secret meanings to them. They know you are one of the tribe. Normal people, of course, will be horrified. But that’s the fun of it, no? To horrify the normal people, those saps every one of them, who have such silly expectations, who persist in earnest effort against the pitiless tide of corruption? Aha. It must be so entertaining for you to play the role of American folk hero alongside the American war hero.

Charlie Gibson asks Sarah if she has the experience to be Vice President, and perhaps, heaven forfend, President of the United States.

Palin says she immediately accepted the VP offer from Sen. McCain, despite misgivings Gibson suggested she might have. “I didn’t hesitate,” she said. “I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

In true psychopathic fashion, Sarah admits to being ‘wired’ in such a way that self-reflection has no role in such important, monumental decisions. Why would she stop for one nanosecond? To consider whether this might be good for her family? To consider whether she deserves to represent the American people in this way? To consider whether she can do this job?

Are you kidding me? This is like the Best Job Offer EVAH!! Why would Sarah Palin hesitate? She is no fool. This will make her rich and famous. Who gives a crap about all that other stuff? This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and thus she didn’t blink, and she didn’t think. That kind of reflective bullshit is for conscientious people, also known as saps. When you have no conscience, you have no problem taking on jobs and responsibilities above your pay grade. As a matter of fact, this is the preferred method for psychopaths to fill the upper echelons of business and government with other psychopaths, greatly facilitatating massive corruption.

The ‘mission’ she speaks of? To ‘reform the country’ and secure ‘victory in the war’? If only Charlie had pushed her to define those platitudes, perhaps she could have given even more secret dog whistles to the religious right.

But wait there’s more!!

Charlie pressed Sarah about whether it was acceptable for the US to violate Pakistan’s sovereignty. He asked the question several times.

PALIN: “In order to stop Islamic extremists, those terrorists who would seek to destroy America and our allies, we must do whatever it takes and we must not blink, Charlie, in making those tough decisions in where we go and even who we target.”

GIBSON: “And let me finish with this. I just, I got lost in a blizzard of words there. Was that a yes? You think we have the right to go across the border, with or without the approval of the Pakistani government, to go after terrorists… ?”

PALIN: “I believe that America has to exercise all options in order to stop the terrorists who are hell bent on destroying America and our allies. We have got to have all options out there on the table.”

Yes, Charlie. YES YES YES. She is ok with murdering Muslims, who hate us for our freedoms, and she does not have to ‘think’ about that either. No conscience required. Tough tough tough. All options on the table. Have to protect our ‘allies.’

But would you look at her? She is so pretty. She is so charming. She’s a mom, and a ‘Christian,’ so we have nothing to worry about.

It should be emphasized that psychopaths are quite often interesting - even exciting! They exude a captivating energy that keeps their listeners on the edge of their seats. Even if some part of the normal person is shocked or repelled by what the psychopath says, they are like the mouse hypnotized by the torturing cat. Even if they have the chance to run away, they don’t. Many Psychopaths “make their living” by using charm, deceit, and manipulation to gain the confidence of their victims. Many of them can be found in white collar professions where they are aided in their evil by the fact that most people expect certain classes of people to be trustworthy because of their social or professional credentials. Lawyers, doctors, teachers, politicians, psychiatrists and psychologists, generally do not have to earn our trust because they have it by virtue of their positions. But the fact is: psychopaths are found in such lofty spheres also!

At the same time, psychopaths are good impostors. They have absolutely no hesitation about forging and brazenly using impressive credentials to adopt professional roles that bring prestige and power. They pick professions in which the requisite skills are easy to fake, the jargon is easy to learn, and the credentials are unlikely to be thoroughly checked. Psychopaths find it extremely easy to pose as financial consultants, ministers, psychological counselors and psychologists. And that’s a scary thought.

Psychopaths make their way by conning people into doing things for them; obtaining money for them, prestige, power, or even standing up for them when others try to expose them. But that is their claim to fame. That’s what they do. And they do it very well. What’s more, the job is very easy because most people are gullible with an unshakable belief in the inherent goodness of man which, I should add, has been programmed into normal people by psychopaths.

The Price of Sanity is Now Happiness

Sep 11

Posted by Marlena in 9-11, Bush/Cheney, Citizenship, Iraq, Israel, McCain/Palin, Media, Military, Nuclear Weapons | No Comments

Well here we are again. The seventh anniversary of the day of infamy. What can one say about today? Well, that really depends on where your mind has gone over the past seven years. I am going to keep this personal, and tell you how 9/11 has changed my life.

I used to be a happy person. When George Bush stole the 2000 election, I knew he was stealing and I knew things were bad. What the hell was the matter with people? How come they could not see through this man? Real men did not need to strut around like roosters and talk with an affected phony accent, but millions found this act charming. The destruction of the American mind, the withering away of our ability to discern reality, had already been sufficiently advanced to allow a complete and obvious impostor like GWB to be taken seriously. Of course, the corporate media shills moved mountains to make this happen. None of this could have happened without their constant facilitation, an unforgivable betrayal that will land many of them in the ninth circle of hell, where they belong.

Of course I believed that terrorists attacked us on 9/11, but I couldn’t bring myself to support Bush even then. He always creeped me out. Somehow I was immune to his wiles and knew we had to get rid of this guy in 2004. People were digging up the truth about his National Guard service and other lies, like the ones used to get us into Iraq; and many blatant lies were documented. But no. The cancer had spread. Republicans refused to hear the truth, and they became vicious in Bush’s defense.

Around that time I also began doing a little research into 9/11. Questions had been bubbling, but the commission had people that we thought we could trust, like John McCain. Surely, after being eviscerated by Rove’s machine, he would sidle up close to Bush and stick the shiv in. Wasn’t that what he was doing? How could he let these treacherous liars get away with it — all these dead Americans? McCain was a war hero. He would save us from Bush using his position on the 9/11 commission. Ha! Wrong again. He never did anything of the sort. On the contrary, he overlooked everything and tucked in nice and cozy.

One thing led to another, and I became hooked on finding out why nothing makes sense in this country. And I found out enough. Do I have the answers to every question? Certainly not, but I found out enough to know that we are ruined, and how, and by whom. I found out enough to know that I brought three children into this world and their future is bleak, and my heart is broken. I found out enough to understand why this country constantly talks about Israel, and Israel’s security, and what’s good for Israel. I found out enough to know that for just two or three percent of our population, Jewish people hold a truly amazing number of key government and corporate media jobs from which they shape both policy and narrative. I found out enough to know that this whole war on terror is a big cock-up designed to keep us at war because some people profit handsomely from death and destruction. I found out enough to know why the vast majority of Americans have to work harder and harder to maintain a declining standard of living. I found out enough to know that the official story of 9/11 makes no sense, and even if the truth movement has been littered with misinformation designed to discredit honest people, the official story still makes no sense and they obviously have much to hide. I found out enough to know that our Constitution no longer protects us, but our government doesn’t even have the balls to admit that we live in a dictatorship because they’re so greedy and cowardly they want everything for free, even unlimited power over the American people. And I found out enough to know that all these things are connected.

That’s what I did since 9/11/01. And now I am no longer happy. I ceased to be happy five years ago, and in fact, I live in a state of grim depression. But that is the sacrifice I made to understand, in an imperfect way, what has happened to our country. It is the price of living in reality. I am depressed, but I am sane. I am depressed because I am sane. And I encourage every American to start somewhere, and to start to apprehend the truth in all its depressing darkness, because that is the only way to honor all the people, and there are so many, who have been murdered as a result of this day seven years ago. It is the only way out of the growing insanity that we have become. The entire world watches in horror, wondering if we will emerge from the swoon in time or take the entire planet down in a final fit of insane delusion.