Gen. Keith Alexander, the head of the nation's largest spy agency and its cyberwarfare command, is urging adoption of legislation to require companies providing critical services such as power and transportation to fortify their computer networks against cyber attacks.
Though he did not specify a particular bill, Alexander, commander of the U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency, said in a letter Friday to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that “recent events have shown that a purely voluntary and market driven system is not sufficient” to protect such networks.
Who is the biggest loser in the ongoing decline of the U.S. economy? Is it the wealthy? No, the stock market has been soaring lately and their incomes are actually going up. Is it the poor? Well, the poor are definitely hurting very badly, but when you don't have much to begin with you don't have much to lose. Unfortunately, it is the middle class that has lost the most during this economic downturn. According to Bloomberg, 95 percent of the jobs lost during the recession were middle class jobs. That is an absolutely astounding figure. Yes, some executives lost their jobs during the last recession as did some minimum-wage workers. But overwhelmingly the jobs that were lost were middle income jobs. Sadly, the limited number of jobs that have been added since the end of the last recession have mostly been low income jobs. A higher percentage of Americans are working low income jobs than ever before, and the cost of living continues to rise at a very brisk pace. This is causing an erosion of the middle class unlike anything we have ever seen in American history.
The first Occupy Wall Street May Day General Strike violence is reported in San Francisco and denounced as the work of Agent Provocateurs.infiltrated the Occupy Protests.
Reports On The Ground Blame Police Provocateurs Not Black Bloc
People directly involved with Occupy San Fransisco say something fishy is going on. They describe the vandalists as to clean cut and too “different” to be Black Bloc while saying the people are new and have no relation to Occupy San Francisco. The tell tale sign is the vandals are smashing private property and mom and pop stores while Black Bloc targets state property and big corporations. Fingers are being pointed at under cover law enforcement agents.
As much as I love all that it represents, Occupy is struggling. The dirty little secret of Occupy is that it is moderately organized in NYC, Chicago, Boston, and Oakland – and a mob everywhere else. The “general strike” called for 1 May is just around the corner, and the truth be told, Occupy may be about to implode for lack of leadership, focus, and financial attractiveness to the non-Occupy majority that actually shares Occupy’s anger and disdain for corruption across the public and private sectors. What I offer in this call to arms is a simple game plan that will allow Occupy to raise one billion dollars if not more, to cleanse the temples of government, and to restore the Republic.
Click on Image to Enlarge
I call on all citizens of the United States of America to coalesce around the spirit of outrage and patriotism that Occupy and the Tea Party represent. I present seven specific actions we can all take such that in November 2012 we elect an honest President and an honest Congress. Anyman can be president because all of us will be the coalition, the congress, and the committee of the whole.
This is a legal, ethical, non-violent call to arms.
In my opinion (more about me at http://tinyurl.com/Steele2012) NOTHING Ron Paul accomplishes from WITHIN the two-party tyranny will matter. Anyone believing that is simply out of touch with reality.
A brokered convention is NOT going to EMPOWER Ron Paul and the Paulistas UNLESS the ground work is laid now–that includes all of the action items below. Anything less is Ron Paul playing dead. IMHO.
Below the line is a 1,200 word essay with two graphics and multiple links including YouTube links that can be reprinted at will by anyone anywhere. The author's biography includes a graphic of the author and his new book cover. Continue reading “Robert Steele: Call to Arms Occupy 2012”
Phi Beta Iota: This is a long and interesting presentation of two points of view. In short, the US political system, the upper reaches of the US government, and the US military “clerk-leaders” are an incestuous self-sustaining circle of corruption. We do not have an “Obama” problem. We have an Israel / Goldman Sachs / Fed / Wall Street / two-party political tyranny problem. If Mitt Romney is elected, that just puts the drug cartel side of Wall Street in charge, instead of the Israeli rope a dope side of Wall Street. There is nothing honorable or useful about the two-party political system in the USA. That we should even be having this discussion of coups etcetera is a sign of how far from a Republic we have fallen.
The non-violent alternative has been clearly presented at We the People Electoral Reform Coalition (and is still viable), but not a single presidential candidate now running has the integrity to see the logic of supporting the Constitution instead of running their own one-man show. We project that Obama will win again with the lowest voter turn-out in history (i.e. the Independents will not vote for Romney, or vote), and that the US economy will implode in 2013 with major social disruption in 2014.
Marcus Aurelius Sends:
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: I assess that the current crop of key military leaders will never revolt in any way against the President, the Commander in Chief. I see it as beyond the realm of the possible.
Here's why:
FIRST, you can take it to the bank that every key three or four star leader appointed since POTUS was inaugurated in 2009 has already pledged personal obedience to him. Count on it as being a part of the screening process for these “Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed” (PAS) positions.
All O-9 and O-10 (Lieutenant General/Vice Admiral and General/Admiral) positions are PAS. Count on it being done very slickly, with the candidate being asked to confirm something like that, if nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, he/she will be and perform as a full member of “the President's team.”
SECOND, if the firing of GEN McChrystal and the passover of GEN Petraeus for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff didn't trigger a coup, nothing is likely to.
THIRD, if you observe what the Chairman, the Service Chiefs, and other key leaders are saying in public and writing, it's pretty clear that they've pledged their full support to DoD as the principal bill payer for Federal deficit reduction, even though that imposes military and strategic risks on the Nation.
FOURTH, uniformed military leaders are moving expeditiously to execute POTUS' will in such strategically questionable areas as withdrawal from Afghanistan. They are doing what their training and centuries of developed ethos have conditioned them to do: subordinating themselves to civilian masters.
FIFTH, at least for the Army, our 237-year old Service culture is such that we never protest anything. Soldiers, enlisted and officer, are the ultimate obedient servants. GA MacArthur was a clear aberration and everyone knows his efforts didn't work out well for him personally or professionally. We Soldiers lead all other Services in “yes sir, yes sir, three bags full”. No matter how much a President or a Congress abuses American citizens, American Soldiers, or the Army as an institution, the Army will quietly suck it up and come back for more. Check out Carl Builder's Masks of War if you want to explore this dimension further.
So, to recap: I dispute Mr. Perry's assessments and assertions and counter-assert that POTUS is absolutely safe from a hard or soft coup attempt by any element of the Armed Forces of the United States.
Below the line: the original article quickly removed from the original site.
If the OWS movement had only gotten behind the Electoral Reform Act of 2102, it could have worked to their advantage in a way they may not have considered. If they could have gotten Washington to take action and get behind the act, it would have been a foot in the door for the OWS movement that would have enhanced their prestige and increased their power. In other words, once the act was in the works it would have allowed the OWS movement to coast a little without looking like it was running out of steam. Because how can a movement be running out of steam when Washington insiders are working to meet the demands of the movement? And if OWS had succeeded in getting Washington to pass the act, if would have turned the OWS movement into a force to be reckoned with. A lot of it would be based on illusions of perception. But illusions of perception can be very powerful.
The failure of the OWS movement would be laughable if it wasn't so sad. While they were wasting time having encounter groups and “playing house”—-creating makeshift libraries and giving “teach ins” about consensus building techniques, etc.—-time was passing them by. Opportunity got tired of knocking on their door and walked away to find some other door to knock on. There's nothing wrong with teaching consensus building techniques. But there's a time and a place for everything. And the learning curve was so slow that the OWS movement wasn't able to stay ahead of unfolding events and capitalize on their momentum. It was a breakdown of efficiency; it's as simple as that. Indecision, inaction, lack of clear objectives, lack of resolve, all led to squandering the moment. If the OWS movement still hasn't learned this lesson, they're living in fantasyland.
The Electoral Reform Act of 2102 had a real chance of working. Why? Because virtually every voter would like to see electoral reform and because the act is based on common sense. And because it was based on common sense, politicians would've had a very hard time fighting it once it became part of mainstream awareness. Being against electoral reform would be like being against God, mother, country, and apple pie. What politician could have resisted it without looking like an ass?
In the end, I'm not sure the OWS movement proved anything except that trying to get anarchists to agree on anything is like trying to herd cats. OWS had politicians right where they wanted them, and they decided to take a nap. And when they woke up the politicians were gone. They knew the heat was off and they got back to business as usual. Or maybe the OWS movement is still napping. It's hard to tell. Anyway, the politicians have moved on.
Is it too late to make an issue of the Electoral Reform Act of 2012? I don't know. I don't think anyone can say. But if the OWS movement ever regains momentum, I wish they would consider making it one of their demands. It may work to their advantage in ways they can't predict. It may get the public back on their side, and it may serve notice to the politicians that the OWS movement still has a few tricks up their collective sleeve and aren't quite ready to be tossed on the trash heap of history. Here's hoping.
