InterOccupy Should Have No Ideological Litmus Test
NIGHTWATCH: US Invades Iraq, Creates first Arab Shi’ite State
UncategorizedALERT: Iraq becoming the first Arab Shi'ite state, allied with Iran.
Iraq: Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki urged Kurdish officials to hand over Sunni Arab Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on terror charges and threatened to replace ministers who belong to the Sunni Arab Iraqiyah bloc if they do not end a Cabinet boycott.
Continue reading “NIGHTWATCH: US Invades Iraq, Creates first Arab Shi'ite State”
Josh Kilbourn: New Military Detention Powers
UncategorizedPhi Beta Iota: US military leaders and US civilian intelligence leaders do not support this legislation–they merit our appreciation. There is no difference between the two parties that exclude the majority from power. The President, of either party, retains the right to imprison indefinitely any US citizen for any reason, without due process.
John Steiner: NYC / NYPD as Amerika the Police State Emergent
UncategorizedWhy is the NYPD After Me? Young, Black, and Frisked
NICHOLAS K. PEART
New York Times, December 17, 2011
EXTRACT:
For young people in my neighborhood, getting stopped and frisked is a rite of passage. We expect the police to jump us at any moment. We know the rules: don’t run and don’t try to explain, because speaking up for yourself might get you arrested or worse. And we all feel the same way — degraded, harassed, violated and criminalized because we’re black or Latino. Have I been stopped more than the average young black person? I don’t know, but I look like a zillion other people on the street. And we’re all just trying to live our lives.
As a teenager, I was quiet and kept to myself. I’m about to graduate from the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and I have a stronger sense of myself after getting involved with the Brotherhood/Sister Sol, a neighborhood organization in Harlem. We educate young people about their rights when they’re stopped by the police and how to stay safe in those interactions. I have talked to dozens of young people who have had experiences like mine. And I know firsthand how much it messes with you. Because of them, I’m doing what I can to help change things and am acting as a witness in a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights to stop the police from racially profiling and harassing black and brown people in New York.
Read full story.
Phi Beta Iota: This is a compelling story that documents and out of control police department that in passing spends $75 million a year arresting and incarcerating people for recreational use of marijuana. What Mayor Mike Bloomberg has done with his CIA pals in NYC is a foretaste of what the USA will be like if We the People do not reassert our Constitutional rights and restore the Republic.
We the People Reform Coalition: Public Goal #1
UncategorizedIdentify, promote, and help to secure those improvements to government, business, and society that will enable and encourage all U.S. individuals and institutions to act together in ways that strengthen the self-governing voice and power of We the People.
Sub-Goal
Build alliances and create effective public initiatives in areas that bear most directly on the functioning of a healthy and vigorous democracy — such as
- curtailing the influence of money in politics;
- government transparency (three branches);
- fair and open elections;
- access to highest-quality, unbiased news and information; and
- the development of scalable technological innovations designed to foster greater citizen engagement and participation.
John Robb: The End of Money Part II
UncategorizedBitcoin Reborn: As a Financial Wire Service for the $10 Trillion System D?
As a store of value or an asset Bitcoin's shady. Here's why: since the supply of bitcoin is limited and knowledge/use of it is growing (potentially virally) it's the perfect breeding ground for a speculative bubble. In a world awash with scams and financial speculation (a defining characteristic of our time), it was only a matter of time before the pump and dump mobsters moved in. So, for those of you with the stomach to take bets with eastern european mobsters and US financial boiler rooms or if your willing to bet on the fickleness of viral adoption, you might be interested in taking a look at bitcoin as an asset.
The Bitcoin Bubble June 2011, when Bitcoin was trading at nearly $20
Naturally, the Bitcoin bubble collapsed. It hadn't found a true use yet and the entire rise was based on mania. Also naturally, (when the tide goes out you get to see who is swimming naked) the collapse also revealed a large number of scammers.
When the price hit ~$2 a coin or ~$18 m in market capitalization, the big question was: would it recover because it had some intrinsic value or would it collapse to zero. My call was that it would hit a bottom and that's exactly what it did. It's now trading up around $4 a coin. This bounce might actually be the answer to its use as a currency: does Bitcoin have any intrinsic value?
The Currency Test
Mini-Me: The End of Money Part I
UncategorizedOCCUPY THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SYSTEM – BREAKING NEWS RE THE 99% ACTIVATING THE NEW
The first historic trades within the new financial system have taken place!
The many global, independent trading networks all over the planet are rapidly connecting with each other, forming an infinitely expanding web of local and international commerce, exchange and trade.
People have woken up to the fact: for most of what we spend WE DO NOT NEED GOVERNMENT ISSUED MONEY. In fact, so many different groups have been abusing the money system, it can no longer fulfil its original purposes, which were:
a) as a medium of exchange
b) as a unit of account, and
c) as a store of value
It is the last of these that has led to systemic abuse and criminality, along with usury – the charging of interest. Money stopped merely facilitating things (a job it can do supremely well) and started to be seen as value in itself – which is one reason why so much is out of circulation! The ‘value’ is being hoarded, availability manipulated, markets distorted. No wonder the older religions all forbade usury – for they knew that the usurer and his schemes means that he always ends up owning everything, and tends to manipulate ruthlessly to that end.