If you are reading this blog, and I know you are, what the
fuck is the matter with us? How did we
become so stupid that we would sit back and accept the rape and destruction of
ourselves and our children? Why would we
elect these people? Maybe the answer
lies in this article from Truth Dig:
Excerpt:
According to a new study from
Princeton University, American democracy
no longer exists. Using data
from over 1,800 policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, researchers Martin Gilens
and Benjamin Page concluded that rich,
well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of
the country, regardless of – or even against
– the will of the majority of voters. America’s political system has
transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where power is wielded by
wealthy elites.
Yeah no shit, democratic elections in America ended December
12, 2000 when those “wealthy elites” overturned a presidential election in
America.
…the doctrine that “all men are
created equal” – that all people have “certain inalienable rights,” including
“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” – is an American original. And
those rights, supposedly insured by the Bill of Rights, have the right to vote
at their core. We have the right to vote
but the voters’ collective will no longer prevails.
I guess America is pretty well screwed because we have a
“two party” system of government created by the two parties. Every election since 2000 has been completely
controlled by the two parties.
For instance in the 2008 primary the Democratic party
refused to acknowledge the votes of American voters in Florida and Michigan
because their preordained candidate Barack Obama lost those primaries.
The Democratic Party of Florida sued the National Democratic
Party to have their votes counted and a cherry picked court in Florida ruled
that the two parties are not bound by election laws. From LA Times.
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. — Congressional
Democrats from Florida sued their party Thursday, hoping to restore national
convention delegates stripped from the state because it scheduled an early
presidential primary.
The party violated the Constitution and federal voting laws by
taking away Florida Democrats' ability to have a say in choosing the
presidential nominee, says the lawsuit filed by Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Alcee
L. Hastings against the Democratic National Committee and Chairman Howard Dean.
"For the DNC to say to the fourth-largest
contingency of Democrats in the nation that their votes will not
matter in next year's presidential primary is not only shocking and ironic, but
we believe is illegal," Hastings said at a news conference in
Washington.
The national party's rules committee voted to take away Florida's 210
delegates after the state party chose to go along with a Jan. 29 primary. That
date was set by Florida's GOP-led Legislature and signed into law by
Gov. Charlie Crist*.
(*Crist has since changed his party from Republican to Democrat)
Thus democratic elections no longer exist in America. The two parties determine the order and
timing of state primary elections, control the debates and determine who may
participate and now, due to a spate of Republican led initiates to roll back
Civil Rights laws, control who is allowed to vote.
So America’s democracy is dead, killed like Julius Caesar by
the very people entrusted to preserve life, liberty and pursuit of
happiness. In the same Truth Dig
article, voters in countries around the world that choose anti-austerity candidates
are immediately punished, like in Greece.
Excerpt:
In Greece, the left-wing populist
Syriza Party came out of nowhere to take the presidential election by storm;
and in Spain, the populist Podemos Party appears poised to do the same. But for over a century, no third-party
candidate has had any chance of winning a US presidential election.
And what happened a century ago? The Federal Reserve Bank was formed by a
handful of Senators collaborating with Wall Street Bankers. These are the words of James Madison
regarding a central bank:
“History records that the money changers
have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to
maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
-James Madison
How prescient were the words of James Madison? Just look at what happened to Greece when
their people voted against the crushing austerity demanded by the central banks
of the world, all controlled by the Federal Reserve Bank.
When governments of any size need
to borrow money, the megabanks in a position to supply it can generally dictate
the terms. Even in Greece, where the populist Syriza Party managed to prevail
in January, the anti-austerity platform
of the new government is being throttled by the moneylenders who have the government
in a chokehold.
Thomas Jefferson summed up what would happen if the people
ever allowed their currency to be under the control of a central bank:
“If the American people ever allow private
banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by
deflation, the banks…will deprive the
people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent
their fathers conquered…. Thomas Jefferson
So the new anti-austerity Tsipras Government in Greece is at
the mercy of the European Central Bank who is playing hardball and demanding
more pain and crushing debt for the Greek people. From Forbes:
Excerpt:
The tensions between Greece and the
European Central Bank (ECB) have been palpable for some time – years even. But
they have recently become increasingly public and relations have become more
strained.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras
has described the ECB as “asphyxiating” the Greek economy by depriving it of
much needed liquidity. Unsurprisingly, this has provoked the ire of the
fiercely independent (at least in his mind) ECB President Mario Draghi –
reports abound of him shutting Tsipras down at a meeting on the side-lines of
last week’s EU summit.
Why have tensioned escalated
between the ECB and Greece?
Beyond its usual role in the Troika
(which oversees the EU bailout in Greece) and its hard-nosed insistence of
stringent economic reforms there are a couple of key decisions which have
brought tensions back to the surface…. the
ECB will not accept Greek government bonds as collateral – another decision
which still irks the Greeks.
Just as the ECB thought they had Greece just where they
wanted them, Tsipras had an Ace up his sleeve.
From The Telegraph.
Excerpt:
Greek defiance mounts as Alexis Tsipras turns to Russia and China
Two months of EU bluster and
reproof have failed to cow Greece. It is becoming clear that Europe’s creditor
powers have misjudged the nature of the Greek crisis and can no longer avoid
facing the Morton’s Fork in front of them.
Any deal that goes far enough to
assuage Greece’s justly-aggrieved people must automatically blow apart the
austerity settlement already fraying in the rest of southern Europe. The
necessary concessions would embolden populist defiance in Spain, Portugal and
Italy, and bring German euroscepticism to the boil.
Emotional consent for monetary
union is ebbing dangerously in Bavaria and most of eastern Germany, even if
formulaic surveys do not fully catch the strength of the undercurrents.
Sheesh, who has the upper hand now, Greece or the ECB that
has stripped the people in the EU of their wealth, health and general welfare?
Yet if the EMU powers persist mechanically with their stale demands… they risk
setting off a political chain-reaction that can only eviscerate the EU Project
as a motivating ideology in Europe….
Alexis Tsipras leads the first radical-Leftist government
elected in Europe since the Second World War…. There are faint echoes of what happened to
the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, a litmus test for the
Latin American Left in its day.
His experiment in land reform was famously snuffed out by a CIA coup in
1954, with lasting consequences. It was the moment of epiphany for Che
Guevara (below), then working as a volunteer doctor in the country.
A generation of students from Cuba
to Argentina drew the conclusion that
the US would never let the democratic Left hold power, and therefore that
power must be seized by revolutionary force.
We live in gentler times today, yet any decision to eject Greece and its
Syriza rebels from the euro by cutting off liquidity to the Greek banking
system would amount to the same thing, since the EU authorities do not have
a credible justification or a treaty basis for acting in such a way.
So the ECB loans are just another form
of coup against any populist government.
Seems the well laid plans of the Central Banks to strip countries of
their wealth, land and mineral rights have hit a snag. Enter stage right, Russia’s Vladimir
Putin. From The Telegraph:
Excerpt:
Russia ready to offer Greeks cash in return for assets
Kremlin could provide
cash-strapped Greeks a credit line and discounted energy supplies as Alexis
Tsipras meets with Putin
Ha, ha ha. That’s got
to piss off the Central Banks, it’s like Bonnie Raitt’s song Love In the Nick of Time.
Russia could offer debt-ridden
Greece controversial loans and discounts on supplies of natural gas in exchange
for the country's "assets", according to reports in Moscow.
Alexis Tsipras, Greece’s prime
minister, is due to arrive in the city on Tuesday and will meet Vladimir Putin,
Russia’s president, on Wednesday.
Athens overtures to Moscow have raised fears the Leftist government is
pivoting east in search of alternatives sources of finance as it bids to avoid
bankruptcy. Ahead of his visit, Mr Tsipras condemned economic sanctions on
Moscow as “a road to nowhere”.
Greece's dalliance with the Kremlin
has also attracted criticism for potentially undermining the EU's united front
against Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.
Aaah, yes that thorn in the side of the corrupt EU and the
“new” America, Vlad the Impaler strikes again.
But be careful, it sounds a lot like the deal Putin offered and was
accepted by Ukraine’s elected leader Yanukovych, who was promptly overthrown in
a CIA coup.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, said on Saturday that it
would be "unacceptable” if Mr Tsipras “jeopardised Europe's common policy
on Russia” in return for Kremlin aid.
But Kommersant newspaper quoted an
anonymous Russian government source on Tuesday saying that lines of credit were
on the table.
“We’re ready to consider the
question of providing Greece discounts on gas: the price for it is tied to the
cost of oil which has significantly fallen in recent months,” the source said.
“We are also ready to discuss the
possibility of granting Greece new loans. But here we, in turn, are interested
in reciprocal moves – in particular, in Russia receiving particular assets in
Greece.”
Oh boy, that Putin really knows how to play the game, giving
NATO, the EU and America a red ass spanking again.
The source did not identify the
assets concerned, but Russian media said the Greek gas company DEPA could be
among them. Stakes in train operator TrainOSE and sea ports in Athens and
Thessaloniki are also potential targets.
Moscow is Greece's largest trading partner on account of its huge reliance on
Russian natural gas.
Athens' energy minister has invited Russian companies to explore
natural gas and oil reserves off the country's eastern coast. In return, Greece
has indicated it is willing to support the Kremlin’s new pipeline plan though
Turkey, known as "Turkish Stream".
Looks like the EU and the ECB just experienced what Mohammed
Ali termed as “Rope-a-Dope.
EU officials fear any Russian rescue loans or other sweeteners could
persuade Athens to veto sanctions on the Kremlin over Ukraine, where Russia has
supported separatists fighting Ukrainian government forces.
Yes, America’s puppet government in Kiev needs heavy support
from America and the EU and Greece having the ability to veto Russian sanctions
would render Poroshenko just the latest Emperor with no clothes.
And guess what?
Bingo, Greece found love in the nick of time. According to CNN Money, Greece has made its
payment.
The government submitted a new list
of reforms last week, detailing the government's plans to tackle tax evasion
and fraud.
But the list also includes a number of measures that are likely to
spark a backlash from the creditors, including reversing earlier reforms that
could cost the Greek government an extra 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) this
year….
The government is reported to be facing a bill of 1.7 billion euros for
public sector wages and pensions by the end of the month.
The relationship between Greece and
its creditors has deteriorated after the new Greek government accused the
lenders of bullying over its 240 billion euros bailout, and demanded a
renegotiation of terms or even another debt haircut.
The Greek canary in the coal mine has survived another day, and
just like in Bonnie Raitt’s song, they found love in the nick of time.
By Patricia Baeten
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