Does The West Have A Future?

By Paul Craig Roberts

Paul Craig Roberts

west

Living in America is becoming very difficult for anyone with a moral conscience, a sense of justice, or a lick of intelligence. Consider:

We have had a second fake underwear bomb plot, a much more fantastic one than the first hoax. The second underwear bomber was a CIA operative or informant allegedly recruited by al-Qaeda, an organization that US authorities have recently claimed to be defeated, in disarray, and no longer significant.

This defeated and insignificant organization, which lacks any science and technology labs, has invented an “invisible bomb” that is not detected by the porno-scanners. A “senior law enforcement source” told the New York Times that “the scary part” is that “if they build one, they probably built more.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that “the plot itself indicates that the terrorists keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people.” Hillary said this while headlines proclaimed that the US continues to murder woman and children with high-tech drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Africa. The foiled fake plot, Hillary alleged, serves as “a reminder as to why we have to remain vigilant at home and abroad in protecting our nation and in protecting friendly nations and peoples like India and others.”

FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress that the fake plot proves the need for warrantless surveillance in order to detect — what, fake plots? In Congress Republican Pete King and Democrat Charles Ruppersberger denounced the media for revealing that the plot was a CIA operation, claiming that the truth threatened the war effort and soldiers’ lives.

Even alternative news media initially fell for this fake plot. Apparently, no one stops to wonder how al-Qaeda, which has become so disorganized and helpless that it is on the run and left its revered leader, Osama bin Laden, in a Pakistan village alone and unguarded to be murdered by US Navy Seals, could catch the CIA off guard with an “undetectable” bomb, to use the description provided by Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, who was briefed on the device by US intelligence personnel.

I am convinced that…Americans live in the Matrix. Nothing that they know or think that they know is correct.”

Notice that the Secretary of State has committed the bankrupt US and its unravelling social safety net to the protection of “India and others” from terrorists. But the real significance of this latest hoax is to introduce into the fearful American public the idea of an undetectable underwear bomb.

What does this bring to mind? Anyone of my generation or any science fiction aficionado immediately thinks of Robert Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters.

Written in 1951 but set in our time, Earth is invaded by small creatures that attach to the human body and take over the person. The humans become the puppets of their masters. Large areas of America succumb to the invaders before the morons in Washington understand that the invasion is real and not a conspiracy theory.

On clothed humans, the creatures cannot be detected, and the edict goes out that anyone clothed is a suspect. Everyone must go about naked. Women are not even allowed to carry purses in their hand, because the creature can be in the purse attached to the woman’s hand.

Obviously, if the CIA, the news sources, and Dianne Feinstein’s briefers are correct that defeated al-Qaeda has come up with an “undetectable” bomb, we will have to pass through airport security naked.

If so, how will this be possible? If each airline passenger must go through a personal screening by disrobing in a room, how long will it take to clear “airport security”? I doubt there is any place in North or South America that the traveler couldn’t drive there faster. Or perhaps this is an answer to depression level US unemployment. Millions of unemployed Americans will be hired to view naked people before they board airliners.

As the Transportation Safety Administration division of Homeland Security has taken its intrusions, unchallenged, into train, bus, and highway travel, are we faced with the total collapse of the clothing industry? Stay tuned.

A couple of years ago a noted philosopher wrote an article in which he suggested that Americans live in an artificial or virtual reality. Another noted philosopher said that he thought there was a 25% chance that the philosopher was right. I am convinced that he is right. Americans live in the Matrix. Nothing that they know or think that they know is correct.

For example, our non-truth-telling “leaders” continually declare that “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.” This myth is one of the many reasons rolled out to justify American taxpayers’ declining incomes being taxed to provide the Israeli government with the means to murder Palestinians and steal their country.

Israeli democracy a myth you say? Yes, a myth. According to news reports compiled and reported by Antiwar.com (May 8), the September 4 Israeli elections have been cancelled, because the “opposition leader Shaul Mofaz is joining the government.”

Mofaz sold out his party for personal power, a typical politician’s behavior.

Mofaz’s treachery produced protests from his followers, but, according to news reports, “israeli police were quick to crack down on the protest, terming it “illegal’ and arresting a number of journalists.”

Ah, “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.”

In truth Israel is a fascist state, one that has been in violation of international law and Christian morality during the entirety of its existence. Yet, in America, Israel is a hallowed icon. Like Bush, Cheney, and Obama, millions of American “Christians” worship Israel and believe it is “God’s calling” for Americans to die for Israel.

If you believe in murdering your opponents, not debating with them, dispossessing the powerless, creating a fictional world based on lies and paying the corporate media to uphold the lies and fictional world, you are part of what the rest of the world perceives as “The West.”

Let me back off from being too hard on The West. The French and Greek peoples have shown in the recent elections that they are unplugging from the Matrix and understand that they, the 99%, are being put by their elites in a position to be the sacrificial lambs for the mistakes of the 1% mega-rich, who compete with one another in terms of how many billions of dollars or euros, how many yachts, collections of exotic cars, and exotic Playboy and Penthouse centerfolds they have as personal possessions.

The central banks of the West — the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the UK bank — are totally committed to the prosperity of the mega-rich. No one else counts. Marx and Lenin never had a target as exists today. Yet, the left-wing is today so feeble and brainwashed that it does not exist as even a minor countervailing power. The American left-wing has even accepted the absurd official account of 9/11 and of Osama bin Laden’s murder in Pakistan by Navy Seals. A movement so devoid of mental and emotional strength is useless. It might as well not exist.

People without valid information are helpless, and that is where Western peoples are. The new tyranny is arising in the West, not in Russia and China. The danger to humanity is in the nuclear button briefcase in the Oval Office and in the brainwashed and militant Amerikan population, the most totally disinformed and ignorant people on earth.

Submitters Website: http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A quintessential establishmentarian at one point, Paul Craig Roberts was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, under, of all people, Ronald Reagan. He’s come a long way since those days. His latest book, HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, has just been published by CounterPunch/AK Press. He was awarded the Treasury Department’s Meritorious Service Award for “his outstanding contributions to the formulation of United States economic policy.” Roberts is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World.

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

ADVERT PRO NOBIS

IF YOU CAN’T SEND A DONATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND YOU THINK THIS PUBLICATION IS WORTH SUPPORTING, AT LEAST HELP THE GREANVILLE POST EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE BY MENTIONING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS VIA TWEET OR OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS! We are in a battle of communications with entrenched enemies that won’t stop until this world is destroyed and our remaining democratic rights stamped out. Only mass education and mobilization can stop this process.

It’s really up to you. Do your part while you can. •••

Donating? Use PayPal via the button below.

THANK YOU.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________



Game Over for the Climate

take a look at this elaborate nonsense, still all too common on the web and throughout the mainstream media. —PG

By JAMES HANSEN
The New York Times

GLOBAL warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening. That is why I was so troubled to read a recent interview with President Obama in Rolling Stone in which he said thatCanada would exploit the oil in its vast tar sands reserves “regardless of what we do.”

If Canada proceeds, and we do nothing, it will be game over for the climate.

Canada’s tar sands, deposits of sand saturated with bitumen, contain twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global oil use in our entire history. If we were to fully exploit this new oil source, and continue to burn our conventional oil, gas and coal supplies, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere eventually would reach levels higher than in the Pliocene era, more than 2.5 million years ago, when sea level was at least 50 feet higher than it is now. That level of heat-trapping gases would assure that the disintegration of the ice sheets would accelerate out of control. Sea levels would rise and destroy coastal cities. Global temperatures would become intolerable. Twenty to 50 percent of the planet’s species would be driven to extinction. Civilization would be at risk.

That is the long-term outlook. But near-term, things will be bad enough. Over the next several decades, the Western United States and the semi-arid region from North Dakota to Texas will develop semi-permanent drought, with rain, when it does come, occurring in extreme events with heavy flooding. Economic losses would be incalculable. More and more of the Midwest would be a dust bowl. California’s Central Valley could no longer be irrigated. Food prices would rise to unprecedented levels.

If this sounds apocalyptic, it is. This is why we need to reduce emissions dramatically. President Obama has the power not only to deny tar sands oil additional access to Gulf Coast refining, which Canada desires in part for export markets, but also to encourage economic incentives to leave tar sands and other dirty fuels in the ground.

The global warming signal is now louder than the noise of random weather, as I predicted would happen by now in the journal Science in 1981. Extremely hot summers have increased noticeably. We can say with high confidence that the recent heat waves in Texas and Russia, and the one in Europe in 2003, which killed tens of thousands, were not natural events — they were caused by human-induced climate change.

We have known since the 1800s that carbon dioxide traps heat in the atmosphere. The right amount keeps the climate conducive to human life. But add too much, as we are doing now, and temperatures will inevitably rise too high. This is not the result of natural variability, as some argue. The earth is currently in the part of its long-term orbit cycle where temperatures would normally be cooling. But they are rising — and it’s because we are forcing them higher with fossil fuel emissions.

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen from 280 parts per million to 393 p.p.m. over the last 150 years. The tar sands contain enough carbon — 240 gigatons — to add 120 p.p.m. Tar shale, a close cousin of tar sands found mainly in the United States, contains at least an additional 300 gigatons of carbon. If we turn to these dirtiest of fuels, instead of finding ways to phase out our addiction to fossil fuels, there is no hope of keeping carbon concentrations below 500 p.p.m. — a level that would, as earth’s history shows, leave our children a climate system that is out of their control.

We need to start reducing emissions significantly, not create new ways to increase them. We should impose a gradually rising carbon fee, collected from fossil fuel companies, then distribute 100 percent of the collections to all Americans on a per-capita basis every month. The government would not get a penny. This market-based approach would stimulate innovation, jobs and economic growth, avoid enlarging government or having it pick winners or losers. Most Americans, except the heaviest energy users, would get more back than they paid in increased prices. Not only that, the reduction in oil use resulting from the carbon price would be nearly six times as great as the oil supply from the proposed pipeline from Canada, rendering the pipeline superfluous, according to economic models driven by a slowly rising carbon price.

But instead of placing a rising fee on carbon emissions to make fossil fuels pay their true costs, leveling the energy playing field, the world’s governments are forcing the public to subsidize fossil fuels with hundreds of billions of dollars per year. This encourages a frantic stampede to extract every fossil fuel through mountaintop removal, longwall mining, hydraulic fracturing, tar sands and tar shale extraction, and deep ocean and Arctic drilling.

President Obama speaks of a “planet in peril,” but he does not provide the leadership needed to change the world’s course. Our leaders must speak candidly to the public — which yearns for open, honest discussion — explaining that our continued technological leadership and economic well-being demand a reasoned change of our energy course. History has shown that the American public can rise to the challenge, but leadership is essential.

The science of the situation is clear — it’s time for the politics to follow. This is a plan that can unify conservatives and liberals, environmentalists and business. Every major national science academy in the world has reported that global warming is real, caused mostly by humans, and requires urgent action. The cost of acting goes far higher the longer we wait — we can’t wait any longer to avoid the worst and be judged immoral by coming generations.

James Hansen directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and is the author of “Storms of My Grandchildren.”

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

ADVERT PRO NOBIS

IF YOU CAN’T SEND A DONATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND YOU THINK THIS PUBLICATION IS WORTH SUPPORTING, AT LEAST HELP THE GREANVILLE POST EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE BY MENTIONING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS VIA TWEET OR OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS! We are in a battle of communications with entrenched enemies that won’t stop until this world is destroyed and our remaining democratic rights stamped out. Only mass education and mobilization can stop this process.

It’s really up to you. Do your part while you can. •••

Donating? Use PayPal via the button below.

THANK YOU.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________



REVEALED: Full List Of ALEC’s Corporate Members

Make a note of the devious malefactors on this list for they are your enemies. In fact you don’t have to: they’re basically the Fortune 500, la creme de la creme of US capitalism.

By Alex Seitz-Wald

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has been under fire lately after the 15 major corporations and organizations pulled their support for the conservative organization, which helps quietly implement corporate-backed legislation in statehouses across the country.

Now, the watchdog advocacy group group Common Cause has released a complete list of corporations on ALEC’s task forces.

Not surprisingly, four of the five major oil companies are members, as are many other energy companies. Some houshold names on the list include Johnson & Johson, State Farm insurance, and AT&T. There are lots of major online businesses, including AOL (the parent company of the Huffington Post), eBay, Amazon.com, Yahoo, and Time Warner.

See the full list below.

ALEC Corporations

The following corporations are members of ALEC’s task forces. This list is current as of July 2011, except for the Tax and Fiscal Policy task force, correct as of March 2011.

 

Corporation

Headquarters

ALEC Task Force Membership

1-800 Contacts, Inc.

UT

Health and Human Services

Allergan, Inc.

CA

Health and Human Services

Altria Client Services

VA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development , Civil Justice, Tax and Fiscal Policy

Amazon.com, Inc.

WA

Communications and Technology

American Electric Power Company Inc.

OH

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

AMERIGROUP Corporation

DC

Health and Human Services

Amgen Inc.

CA

Health and Human Services

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

MO

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Tax and Fiscal Policy

AOL Inc.

NY

Tax and Fiscal Policy; Communications and Technology

Apotex Corp.

FL

Health and Human Services

Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics, LLC

FL

Tax and Fiscal Policy

Astellas Pharma US, Inc.

IL

Health and Human Services

AstraZeneca Inc.

London, UK

Health and Human Services

AT&T

DC

Communications and Technology, Tax and Fiscal Policy

Bank of America

NC

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Basell Industries

TX

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Bayer

Leverkusen, Germany

Civil Justice; Energy, Environment, and Agriculture; Health and Human Services

Bayer HealthCare

Leverkusen, Germany

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture; Health and Human Services

Best Buy

MN

Communications and Technology

BNSF Railway Company

TX

Civil Justice

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

CT

>Health and Human Services

BP

London, UK

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Bridgepoint Education

CA

Education

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

NY

Health and Human Services

Brown-Forman Corporation

KY

Tax and Fiscal Policy

Celgene Corporation

NJ

Health and Human Services

CenturyLink

LA

Communications and Technology

Charter Communications

MO

Communications and Technology

Chevron

CA

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Cintra

Madrid, Spain

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Civil Justice Reform Group C/o General Electric Company

  

 

Civil Justice

Cloud Peak Energy

CO

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Comcast Cable Communications, LLC

MS

Communications and Technology, Tax and Fiscal Policy

Con-way

MI

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Connections Academy (Division of Connections Educationcation, LLC)

MD

Education

Continental Resources, Inc.

OK

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Corinthian Colleges, Inc.

CA

Education

Coventry Health Care

MD

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Cox Communications

GA

Communications and Technology

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.

TN

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Crown Cork & Seal

PA

Civil Justice

CVS Caremark Corporation

RI

Health and Human Services

Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.

NJ

Health and Human Services

DCI Group, LLC

DC

Communications and Technology

Dezenhall Communications Mgmt. Group, LTD

DC

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Diageo North America, Inc.

MD

Tax and Fiscal Policy

Dominion Resources Services Inc.

VA

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Duke Energy Corporation

NC

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

EBay Inc.

CA

Communications and Technology

Edison Electric Institute

DC

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Eli Lilly and Company

IN

Health and Human Services

EMD Serono

MA

Health and Human Services

Endo Pharmaceuticals

PA

Health and Human Services

Energy Future Holdings

TX

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

EnergySolutions

UT

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Entergy

LA

Civil Justice

Express Scripts

MO

Health and Human Services

ExxonMobil Corporation

TX

Civil Justice, Energy, Environment, and Agriculture, Tax and Fiscal Policy

Farmers Insurance Group/Companies

CA

Civil Justice

FedEx Corporation

TX

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

General Electric Company

NY

Tax and Fiscal Policy

General Motors Corp.

MI

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Georgia-Pacific Corporation

GA

Civil Justice

GlaxoSmithKline

London, UK

Civil Justice, Health and Human Services

Guarantee Trust Life Insurance Company

IL

Health and Human Services

Hewlett-Packard Company

CA

Communications and Technology

Honeywell International

NJ

Civil Justice

Insight Schools

OR

Education

InterMountain Corporate Affairs

CO

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

International Paper

TN

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

IntuCommunications and Technology Inc.

CA

International/Federal Relations; Communications and Technology

J.R. Simplot Company

ID

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

John Deere & Company

IL

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Johnson & Johnson

NJ

Civil Justice; Health and Human Services

K12 Inc.

VA

Education

Koch Companies Public Sector

WI

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture; Civil Justice; Public Safety and Elections; Tax and Fiscal Policy

LKQ/Keystone Automotive

IL

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

LoanMax

GA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

LogistiCare Solutions, LLC

GA

Health and Human Services

Macquarie Capital USA

Sydney, Australia

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Marathon Oil Company

TX

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

MDU Resources Group, Inc.

ND

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Medco Health Solutions, Inc.

NJ

Health and Human Services

MedImmune, Company of AstraZeneca

MD

Health and Human Services

Medtronic, Inc.

MN

Health and Human Services

Merck & Company, Inc.

NJ

Civil Justice; Health and Human Services

Microsoft Corporation

WA

Communications and Technology

MillerCoors

IL

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Public Safety and Elections

MV VeriSol

SC

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)

TN

Civil Justice

National Heritage Academies

MI

Education

National Tax and Fiscal Policypayers Union

VA

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture; Tax and Fiscal Policy

Norfolk Southern Corporation

VA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Novartis Corporation

NJ

Health and Human Services

NV Energy, Inc.

NV

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Occidental Oil & Gas Co.

CA

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Occidental Petroleum Corporation

CA

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Orchid Cellmark

 

OH

Public Safety and Elections

PacifiCorp

OR

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Parquet Public Affairs

FL

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Peabody Energy

MO

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Pfizer Inc

NY

Civil Justice; Health and Human Services

Philip Morris International

NY

Tax and Fiscal Policy

Pinnacle West Capital Corp.

AZ

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Publix Super Markets, Inc.

FL

Tax and Fiscal Policy

Purdue Pharma L.P.

CT

Health and Human Services

Qwest Communications International Inc.

CO

Communications and Technology

RAI Services Company

NC

Health and Human Services

Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals

NJ

Health and Human Services; Public Safety and Elections

ResCare

MD

Health and Human Services

Reynolds American Inc.

NC

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Health and Human Services; International/Federal Relations; Public Safety and Elections; Tax and Fiscal Policy

Rubber Manufacturers Association

DC

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Salt River Project

AZ

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Sanofi-Aventis

NJ

Health and Human Services

SAP America, Inc.

PA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Communications and Technology

Scantron

MN

Education

Security Finance Corporation

SC

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Civil Justice

Shell Oil Company

TX

Energy, Environment, and Agriculture

Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P.

MO

Civil Justice

Sprint

KS

Communications and Technology

State Farm Insurance Companies

IL

Civil Justice; Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Symantec Corporation

CA

Communications and Technology

T-Mobile USA

WA

Communications and Technology

Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America Inc.

IL

Health and Human Services

TASER International

AZ

Civil Justice; Public Safety and Elections

TEVA Pharmaceuticals

PA

Health and Human Services

Texas Roadhouse

TX

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

The DIRECTV Group, Inc

CA

Tax and Fiscal Policy; Communications and Technology

The Doctors Management Company

CA

Health and Human Services

Time Warner Cable

NY

Tax and Fiscal Policy; Communications and Technology

Transurban

Melbourne, Australia

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform

DC

Civil Justice; International/Federal Relations

United Parcel Service

GA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

UnitedHealth Group

MN

Health and Human Services

US Oncology

TX

Health and Human Services

Verizon Communications

NY

Communications and Technology; Tax and Fiscal Policy

VISA U.S.A. Inc.

CA

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

AR

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Health and Human Services; Tax and Fiscal Policy

Walgreens

IL

Health and Human Services

WellPoint, Inc.

IN

Health and Human Services

Western Union

CO

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development

Wine Institute

DC

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Public Safety and Elections

Wise Carter Child & Caraway, PA

MS

Commerce, Insurance, and Economic Development ; Communications and Technology

Yahoo! Inc.

CA

Communications and Technology

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

ADVERT PRO NOBIS

IF YOU CAN’T SEND A DONATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND YOU THINK THIS PUBLICATION IS WORTH SUPPORTING, AT LEAST HELP THE GREANVILLE POST EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE BY MENTIONING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS VIA TWEET OR OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS! We are in a battle of communications with entrenched enemies that won’t stop until this world is destroyed and our remaining democratic rights stamped out. Only mass education and mobilization can stop this process.

It’s really up to you. Do your part while you can. •••

Donating? Use PayPal via the button below.

THANK YOU.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________



Obama caves in on fracking: Another widely anticipated “surprise” from this phony

By Tara Lohan, AlterNet

 

The Obama Administration’s new campaign to piss off environmentalists is fully under way. The New York Times is reporting that the administration has caved on an important issue regarding fracking:

The Obama administration on Friday issued a proposed rule governing hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on public lands that will for the first time require disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

But in a significant concession to the oil industry, companies will have to reveal the composition of fluids only after they have completed drilling, not before — a sharp change from the government’s original proposal, which would have required disclosure of the chemicals 30 days before a well could be started.

The walkback of the rule followed a series of meetings at the White House after the original regulation was proposed in February. Lobbyists representing oil industry trade associations and individual major producers like ExxonMobil, XTO Energy, Apache, Samson Resources and Anadarko Petroleum met with officials of the Office of Management and Budget, who reworked the rule to address industry concerns about overlapping state regulations and the cost of compliance.

It’s awesome that the Administration would take the time to meet with industry in order to avoid inconveniencing them as they milk our public lands for all they’re worth. And then insure that industry won’t have to tell us until they’re done spilling chemicals, just how toxic they really are. Clearly any kind of concern for the health of the environment or people nearby is a complete charade — how else could you justify allowing an operation to take place before you know what the risks will be? The Administration policy appears to be, “drill first, ask questions later.”

________________

The Editors Say:
Meanwhile, from the lying horse’s own mouth, this is what their front website, “Energy Tomorrow” is insidiously proclaiming:

Shale oil and natural gas development in the United States has been a clear economic success story during a time when successes have been few.  Our industry has been producing energy, jobs and revenue at a strong clip.  And yet we’ve only begun to realize the benefits of energy from shale.  

The industry is committed to producing this energy safely and responsibly, and in addition to strong industry standards, there are appropriate federal and state regulations in place for oil and natural gas operations, including those that employ hydraulic fracturing.  And many state rules have recently been strengthened. 

So it is a concern that there are now 10 separate federal government agencies looking to study and potentially add new and unnecessary layers of regulations on hydraulic fracturing, the technology on which 70 percent of future gas wells depend. 

Unnecessary (sic) layers of federal regulation could increase costs and delays for operators, which could harm new projects, sacrificing thousands of new jobs and depriving government of billions in revenue.

  Or any other profession, for that matter. Corporate money can corrupt anyone, all the more easily those who are already in that ignorant or reactionary frame of mind.

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

ADVERT PRO NOBIS

IF YOU CAN’T SEND A DONATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND YOU THINK THIS PUBLICATION IS WORTH SUPPORTING, AT LEAST HELP THE GREANVILLE POST EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE BY MENTIONING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS VIA TWEET OR OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS! We are in a battle of communications with entrenched enemies that won’t stop until this world is destroyed and our remaining democratic rights stamped out. Only mass education and mobilization can stop this process.

It’s really up to you. Do your part while you can. •••

Donating? Use PayPal via the button below.

THANK YOU.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________



A Nation of Morons

by Stephen Lendman

Widespread public ignorance keeps major abuses out of public consciousness and concern enough to demand political Washington address them responsibly.

 

Jefferson called an educated citizenry “a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”

Madison warned that “A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or, perhaps both.”

Jack Kennedy said “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”

In 1748, Montesquieu said “The tyranny of a principal in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.”

In a June 1950 commencement speech, Boston University President Daniel Marsh said, “If the (television) craze continues….we are destined to have a nation of morons.”

Well before television arrived, journalist Walter Lippmann called the public “the bewildered herd.” In policy matters, their function is to be “spectators,” not “participants.” 

“The common interests elude public opinion entirely,” he said, and that’s the way it should be. 

America’s privileged class alone should manage them. Only they need proper education and training. Treat others like mushrooms – well-watered and in the dark. In other words, distracted by bread and circuses. More on that below.

In his book, “Amusing Ourselves to Death,” Neil Postman said “Americans are the most entertained and least informed people in the world.” Most know little or nothing about what matters most.

Public ignorance isn’t universal, but a significant majority’s affected. Henry Ford once said:

“It is well that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” 

It’s also true for out-of-control imperialism, war and peace overall, political corruption, corporate power, illusory democracy, elections little more than theater, police state lawlessness, an unprecedented wealth disparity, shocking poverty, unemployment, hunger and homelessness levels, and numerous other issues in the world’s richest country.

Widespread public ignorance keeps these and other abuses out of public consciousness and concern enough to demand political Washington address them responsibly.

Instead, officials serve wealth and power alone. As a result, popular needs go begging, especially under mandated austerity to pay bankers and wage imperial wars.

A nation of morons literally lets America get away with murder, erode human and civil rights, and leave millions uninformed, on their own, out of luck. 

Public Education in America

Diogenes called education “the foundation of every state.” Father of American education Horace Mann called “(t)he common school….the greatest discovery ever made by man.” He meant public, not private, ones to educate all students responsibly.

Today, US public education’s targeted for privatization. At issue is commodifying it as another profit center. Bottom line priorities only will matter. As a result, in cities across the country, schools are closed, teachers fired, and students left out in the cold. 

Moreover, those in inner city public schools aren’t taught. Why bother when high-pay skilled jobs move abroad, and they’re left to scramble for low pay, no benefit, unskilled part-time or temp ones at home.

Half a century after the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling, Jonathan Kozol called segregation worse, not better, in his book titled, “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.”

At the same time, Harvard civil rights researchers commemorated Brown’s 50th anniversary saying, “At the beginning of the twenty-first century, American public schools are now 12 years into the process of continuous resegregation.” 

Desegregation from the 1950s through late 1980s “has receded to levels not seen in three decades.” Martin Luther King’s dream became a nightmare with respect to education, civil liberties, and inability of growing numbers of underprivileged Americans to get by because help keeps shrinking when they most need it. 

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published a report titled, “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform.” It found academic performance poor at nearly all levels. It warned that America’s educational system was “being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity.”

Today, it’s a national disaster by design. So-called education reform’s a fraud. It masks privatization schemes, a society of growing haves and have nots, and no desire to educate masses for low pay, low skill jobs if they can find one. 

Critics warn of dire consequences to no avail. Several books discussed it. They include Jared Diamond‘s “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” Cullen Murphy‘s “Are We Rome: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America,” and Adrian Goldsworthy‘s “How Rome Fell.”

They explain the decline and fall of powerful states, and apply what’s highlighted to failing education in America. Combined with out-of-control greed, imperialism, corruption, duplicity, and lawlessness, it’s a prescription for failure. 

In his book titled, “Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter,” Rick Shenkman discussed profound public ignorance. He asked, “How much ignorance can a country stand,” and said one day we’ll find out, perhaps to our dismay. 

Numerous examples provide evidence.

University of Michigan studies categorize Americans as follows: 

  • few know much about politics and world affairs;
  • around half know enough to answer elementary questions; and
    all others know virtually nothing.

In the 1980s, less than a third knew Roe v. Wade was a 1970s Supreme Court abortion ruling. Only one-fourth understood senators serve six years. Only 20% knew America has 100 senators. Around 40% knew the nation has three branches of government, but few can explain what separation of powers entails.

Less than half knew America dropped the atom bomb on Japan. In response to a 2005 Gallup poll asking to name America’s greatest president, only 14% choose Lincoln and 5% Washington.

Only a third know Congress alone can declare war, or that it can override a president’s veto. Around half think the chief executive can suspend the Constitution.

In their book titled, “What Americans Know about Politics and Why It Matters,” Michael Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter found only 5% could answer basic economics questions, 11% domestic issues ones, 14% foreign affairs topics, and 10% on geography. Only 25% answered most history questions right.

In 2003, the Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad said, “America’s ignorance of the outside world” is so extreme, it threatens national security.

One survey showed nearly one-fourth of Americans able to name all five Simpson family members, compared to one in 1,000 correctly stating all five First Amendment freedoms. 

They include free expression, a free press, freedom of religion, the right to assemble peaceably, and to petition government for redress of grievances, as well as the implied rights of association and belief.

Free expression in all forms is most important. Without it, all other rights are at risk.

In 2011, Newsweek magazine gave 1,000 Americans the US citizenship test. The results showed profound ignorance:

  • 38% failed;
  • 29% couldn’t name the vice president;
  • 73% knew little or nothing about the Cold War;
  • 40% didn’t know why America fought Germany, Japan and Italy in WW II;
  • 63% didn’t know the correct number of Supreme Court justices, let alone their names;
  • 65% knew nothing about the Constitutional Convention;
  • 70% didn’t know the Constitution is the supreme law of the land;
  • 23% didn’t know Martin Luther King fought for civil rights;
  • 40% couldn’t explain the Bill of Rights; and
  • 6% didn’t know July 4 was Independence Day.

In total, 100 questions were asked. Simple ones included:

  • where’s the White House located?
  • what’s the US capitol?
  • where does Congress meet?
  • how many states are there in America?
  • who’s the military commander-in-chief?
  • name America’s two major political parties; and
  • — similar questions most everyone should answer easily. Most can’t.

Results showed appalling civic ignorance levels. Other tests on reading, math and computer skills are just as dismal. Americans are profoundly ignorant.

In May 2011, the Chicago Sun Times headlined, “Report: Over a third of students entering college need remedial help,” saying:

“Nationally, in 2010, only 24 percent of ACT-tested high school graduates were deemed college ready in all four subjects tested – English, math, reading and science.” In addition, most lack computer skills.

Columbia University’s Community College Research Center found students finish high school unprepared. At the same time, around 80% needing remedial help graduated with GPAs above 3.0.

University of Illinois Professor Debra Bragg called it “a problem for all types of (public) high schools.” They don’t teach. They shove students through untaught and unprepared. It’s why over a third drop out and never finish. In fact, in America’s 50 largest cities, rates exceed 40%, and in some major ones approach 50%.

Problems begin in first grade. Columbia University senior research associate Dolores Perin said:

“Students aren’t learning strong reading and writing skills and math, and the problems get worse and worse. As kids get older, it just gets harder and harder to do well in school,” no matter what grades they’re given to shove them out in preparation for the next crop behind them. 

In contrast, Western Europeans and Asians score much higher on skills mattering most, as well as knowledge of international issues. Whatever deficiencies affect their schools, they way outperform America’s.

Corporate controlled education reform assures worse ahead. For business, only profits matter. Marketplace solutions don’t work, especially when they sacrifice vital needs for bottom line priorities and prevent children from fulfilling the American dream. 

For growing numbers today, it’s a nightmare getting worse.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.  

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

ADVERT PRO NOBIS

IF YOU CAN’T SEND A DONATION, NO MATTER HOW SMALL, AND YOU THINK THIS PUBLICATION IS WORTH SUPPORTING, AT LEAST HELP THE GREANVILLE POST EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE BY MENTIONING IT TO YOUR FRIENDS VIA TWEET OR OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS! We are in a battle of communications with entrenched enemies that won’t stop until this world is destroyed and our remaining democratic rights stamped out. Only mass education and mobilization can stop this process.

It’s really up to you. Do your part while you can. •••

Donating? Use PayPal via the button below.

THANK YOU.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________