The Shock Doctrine Disaster Capitalism: Congress Secretly Agrees to $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill, Releases Torture Report

With the news media engrossed in the $1.1 trillion dollar omnibus spending bill crafted in secrecy that slashes pensions and further deregulates Wall Street banks, along with the release of the “Torture” report, I was transported back in time to Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.

I would add the biggest shock to the American people in our history, was the 36 days that followed the 2000 Presidential election when our country was put on the “shock doctrine election roller coaster” that culminated in the overthrow of our government December 12, 2000.  From Vanity Fair:

Excerpt:

The Path to Florida

As the Florida recount ate away at George W. Bush’s margin of victory (1,784 votes . . . 327 . . . 154 . . .), the machinery of political power sprang to life. In Washington, stunned U.S. Supreme Court clerks watched justice become partisan, while in Florida, tens of thousands of citizens—thousands of them African-American— found themselves disenfranchised by misleading, faulty, and uncounted ballots, or inexplicably purged from the rolls. 

Zeroing in on the frenzied 36 days that followed the 2000 election, David Margolick, Evgenia Peretz, and Michael Shnayerson investigate the “Brooks Brothers riot,” Jeb Bush’s high-tech felon hunt, and the new voting machines that leave no paper trail, and ask, Could it happen again?

Happen again it did, in every election thereafter; William Jefferson Clinton would be the last President elected by the people of America.  Some of the horrors that resulted from the stolen election are laid out in a timeline of destruction by the Miller Center:

Excerpt:

George W. Bush - 12/12/2000: In a 5-4 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court stops the recount of votes in several contested Florida counties. The Democratic candidate, Vice President Albert Gore Jr., concedes the election, leaving Governor George W. Bush of Texas, the Republican candidate, as President-elect.

George W. Bush - 03/29/2001:  The Bush administration affirms its decision to abandon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed by 180 countries to reduce global warming that set limits on industrial emissions.

George W. Bush - 06/07/2001: President Bush signs a $1.35 trillion tax cut into law. Although the amount falls short of the $1.60 trillion the administration has been seeking, the bill does slash income tax rates across the board and provides for the gradual elimination of the estate tax.

George W. Bush - 09/11/2001: Terrorists hijack four commercial jets and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania countryside. It is the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, with fatalities numbering about 3,000. Addressing the nation twelve hours after the attacks, President Bush vows to hunt down those responsible.

The Hart-Rudman Commission, after two years of investigating airline safety and terrorism recommended a series of safety measures, such as securing cockpit doors.  The recommendations were laughed off by the Republicans in congress and the Bush Administration which opened the door for Disaster Capitalism and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

So now the congress is set to pass a $1.1 trillion dollar spending bill “under duress” because that is how disaster capitalism works.  A whole bunch of devastating poison pills are tucked into the “must pass or else” bill.  Most people are familiar with this Rothschild quote:

  "Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes its laws" — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild

But the quote that is more relevant today with our millionaire/billionaire congress is:

   "The few who understand the system, will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class." — Rothschild Brothers of London, 1863

Yes, the few who understand the system will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favors now have full control over congress and that is the problem in a nutshell.  So let’s take a look at what congress is shoving into America with a rectal feeding tube.  From CNN.com: 

Excerpt:

Here's what's tucked in the spending bill

By Deirdre Walsh, CNN

Dozens of policy provisions are tucked into a 1,603-page bill that will keep the government open through next September. The provisions affect everything from campaign finance laws to financial regulations, marijuana possession and even the government's purchase of white potatoes.

The bill, which was negotiated between Democrats and Republicans over several weeks, is expected to get a vote in the House on Thursday -- right as Washington faces a deadline to avert another government shutdown.

That’s the beauty of Disaster Capitalism, it’s fatal to democracy and that’s why it is so profitable for the lawmakers.  And, they are allowed to add poison pills anonymously under a cloak of darkness. 

The provisions are notable because House Republican leaders frequently tout a transparent process. But some of the items added at the last minute to this massive funding bill were never discussed in any committee hearing, or voted on as part of any of the nearly dozen spending bills that were rolled into one package to result in the 1,603-page legislation.

House Speaker John Boehner defended including all these so-called "policy riders" in the spending bill on Wednesday.

"Understand all these provisions in the bill were worked out in a bi-partisan, bi-cameral fashion or they wouldn't be in the bill," Boehner said.

That Rothschild knows this congress well.  So what’s been ground up like glass to insert in America’s ass through a tortuous rectal feeding tube?

Blocking new marijuana legalization bill in Washington, D.C.: Voters in D.C. approved a measure to decriminalize recreational marijuana use last month. But Congress has authority over the city's finances, so the bill bars the District from using any of its own money or federal funds to regulate the use of pot.

You know something, I think it’s time to have random drug testing and mental competency testing on all lawmakers.  They love having drug testing requirements for poor people receiving government benefits, so why not make any government paid person be tested for drugs before any tax payer money is given to them.

Wealthy donors allowed to give more to political parties: The bill increases the individual limits that donors can give to national parties to help fund conventions, building funds and legal proceedings, such as recounts. The change would effectively allow rich donors to give ten times more than they can today to support political parties….

Yes, that’s what America needs, more wealthy donors buying elections and “paying for recounts.”

Farmers get a reprieve from some clean water rules: The deal prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing some of its clean water act rules in some agricultural regions.

Hmmm, just in time for Monsanto’s war on organic farms in California.

Go on, what else is in the “emergency” MUST PASS spending bill?

Banks allowed to use taxpayer money to engage in potentially risky trades: The bill rolls back a provision that was part of financial reforms for Wall Street banks. It reverses a rule that was enacted in 2010 that barred banks from using taxpayer backed funds from trading in derivatives. Democrats argue these often risky trades helped contribute to the financial collapse in 2008.

Unregulated, untaxed derivative trading in the U.S. exceeds $700 trillion on any given day.   From want to know.info:

According to many top financial analysts and the revealing news articles below, the $700 trillion financial derivatives market may be a time bomb waiting to explode with catastrophic consequences. $700 trillion is more than 10 times the GDP of the entire world and equivalent to $100,000 for each of the 7 billion inhabitants of our planet….

Derivatives continued their rapid climb even in the midst of the global recession that started in 2008. Most disturbing is the fact that 95% of all U.S. derivatives are monopolized by just five megabanks and their holding companies.

Seems like there’s a theme here, deregulation and pain for America, and “mo’ money for politicians.”  But there are some thing in there that CNN.com doesn’t cover so here’s Ed O’Keefe’s take at Washington Post:  

Excerpt:

PENSIONS:

For the first time, the benefits of current retirees could be severely cut, part of an effort to save some of the nation’s most distressed pension plans. The change would alter 40 years of federal law and could affect millions of workers, many of them part of a shrinking corps of middle-income employees in businesses such as trucking, construction and supermarkets. 

Not bad, see how The Shock Doctrine Disaster Capitalism works?  You deliberately cause crisis so that you can enact into law things that you could never pass under normal circumstances.  So let’s take a look at the torture report, so we know what we, as Americans are in for.  From USAToday:  

Excerpt:

Parts of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA-enhanced interrogations read like the script of a blood-soaked horror movie. Interrogating terrorist suspects is clearly not an activity for the faint of heart, but the committee argues that in many cases, the CIA interrogation program descended into a kind of mindless brutality.

Warning: Many readers may find the following material offensive.

Will it be as offensive as the “emergency” spending bill?

•Sleep deprivation: "According to CIA records, Abu Ja'far al-Iraqi was subjected to nudity, dietary manipulation, insult slaps, abdominal slaps ... stress positions and water dousing with 44-degree Fahrenheit water for 18 minutes. He was shackled in the standing position for 54 hours as part of sleep deprivation and experienced swelling in his lower legs requiring blood thinner and spiral ace bandages.

He was moved to a sitting position, and his sleep deprivation was extended to 78 hours. After the swelling subsided, he was provided with more blood thinner and was returned to the standing position.

"The sleep deprivation was extended to 102 hours. After four hours of sleep, Abu Ja'far al-Iraqi was subjected to an additional 52 hours of sleep deprivation, after which CIA headquarters informed interrogators that eight hours was the minimum rest period between sleep deprivation sessions exceeding 48 hours."

And you think I’m just kidding when I say it’s time to test lawmakers for mental competency.  The people who did the torture were contractors and they were paid $81 million for their “services.”  These contractors make Nazi torturers blush.

•Nudity: In November 2002, a CIA officer "ordered that Gul Rahman be shackled to the wall of his cell in a position that required the detainee to rest on the bare concrete floor. Rahman was wearing only a sweatshirt, as [CIA OFFICER 1] had ordered that Rahman's clothing be removed when he had been judged to be uncooperative during an earlier interrogation.

"The next day, the guards found Gul Rahman's dead body. An internal CIA review and autopsy assessed that Rahman likely died from hypothermia — in part from having been forced to sit on the bare concrete floor without pants."

This is the new America brought to you by the United States Supreme Court and United States Senate.  Don’t like it?  Too bad, the chance that you can elect a new government doesn’t exist anymore.

•Waterboarding: According to the report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — often described as the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks — was waterboarded at least 183 times. This is a technique that simulates drowning, in which the detainee is strapped to a board while water is poured in his mouth and nose…

"During these sessions, KSM ingested a significant amount of water. CIA records state that KSM's 'abdomen was somewhat distended, and he expressed water when the abdomen was pressed.' The medical officer later wrote ... that KSM was 'ingesting and aspiration [sic] a LOT of water' and that '[i]n the new technique we are basically doing a series of near drownings.' "

That’s right he was drowned and then revived to be drowned again.  Keep in mind, these people were suspects, not formally charged with anything, no due process and no legal representation.

America, the beacon on the hill still exists but it is in a CIA black site being tortured to death by unelected contractors.  That is life in America under Shock Doctrine Disaster Capitalism.   R.I.P. America, may God have mercy on your soul.

By Patricia Baeten