Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

WTF Has Obama Done So Far?

So,

I've been encouraged to visit the cult website a few times because this will somehow cultivate an acceptance in using violence to jam my opinion down someone's throat and kill or imprison anyone who doesn't see things my way.  I believe that I did visit the site a year ago or so but I have to admit that if I did visit it, it was so unmemorable that today, when I finally decided to see if I was missing something, I did not recognize the site at all.

For those of you that haven't been and have no desire in tazing anyone who disagrees with you, I'll give a quick description (admittedly based on the small part that I saw).  It's a collection of pages with one-liners of "inspirational" things that Obama has done.  There is one little, teeny, tiny, string attached to how inspirational the statements are.  The level of inspiration received from the statements is inversely proportional to the reader's level of morality, knowledge, and willingness to seek the truth.  Cult members eat this shit up.

What are you inferring?

I thought it was clear.

The first statement that popped up for me was that Obama has cut Medicare drug costs by 50%.  First off, the law is unConstitutional but at this point, that's Standard Operating Procedure for The Great and Powerful Oz.  From the cult member perspective, I think the Constitution is irrelevant when it's something that they want.  Not that they wanted this bill.  None of them have probably read it but they do want to support their prophet and gawd's laws are above man-made laws like the Constitution.  Tossing that aside, let's look at this claim.

Now, the thing about Obama's lies is that there is usually some bit of twisted truth in there somewhere.  It seems obvious that he's lying but I like to dig to find out what he's using for the basis of his lie.  What can he point to and say, "See?"

Certainly not his leadership abilities.

Or his very own set of balls.

After someone on Medicare spent over $2,700 in the year 2010, Obama send them a check for $250.  No one has yet claimed that Obama knows anything about math.

Or economics.

Or ethics.

Under the old law, grandma had to pay 100% of drug costs from then on until she had spent $4,550.  This crippling financial gap where grandma is more likely to die than cross the finish line is lovingly referred to as the "Donut Hole."  If she can survive on cat food and saltines until then, she only had to pay 5% of the drug costs until the new year started.

Under this great new law (which imposes a 10% tax on fake baking, oddly enough - and I'm not going to mention the other stuff in this bill), grandma only has to pay 50% for prescriptions after she passes that $2,700 mark.  Don't get me wrong, that's better than 100%, especially since Obama and his predecessors have created a system where drug companies can charge $150 for a pill that costs $.02 to make.  If you could escape their protectionary "laws", you'd cut grandma's prescription costs by more than 50% on all her prescriptions, even saving her from that initial $2,700 gouging.

It's close enough to the truth for cult members to get goosebumps.

It's really important for cult members to pretend like they care about people.

There's some truth to it and if you ignore the rest of the bill, you could say this was a "win".  I was thinking that I may be persuaded to the use of violence to solve any desire that I had after all.  I clicked to the next one.  It was about how Obama pays travel expenses for families to fly out to see the body of their dead son/daughter/husband/wife who died trying to make sure that Exxon and BP keep making record profits.

I threw up a little in my mouth and went out to play basketball with my son.

One thing, skipping back to the first wtf page that I read, that I have often wondered about is the possibility of some agreement, implicit or expressed, between cult members and minions.  Democrats and Republicans are constantly battling each other using talking points handed to them by talking heads, who most likely also have not read any of the bills. 

At this point, I probably don't have an cult members or minions as readers, which is unfortunate because I'd like to hear the rules of engagement for their arguments.  From what I've seen, there must be some sort of pact where they are only allowed to use propaganda from their team in these arguments.  My guess is that anyone who uses truth or morality is red-carded.

Anyway, if you want a chuckle, go visit the website.  You won't learn anything useful there but if you ever find yourself in an argument with a Republican minion, you can zing these statements at him like they are deadly ninja stars.

Made out of origami paper.

Folded by a three year old.

Interchangeable Parts

So,

The mafioso president at the World Bank has stepped down and the rumor goin' 'round is that Hillary Clinton is going to get the job.  Her people are denying the rumor which is political speak for, "Hillary Clinton wants the job but needs a referral from the Great and Powerful Oz and isn't sure she's going to get it."  If she acts too confident and the job goes to someone that is better at sucking the cocks of the 1%, she could lose face.

Is that possible?

Seems like getting a 1% facial is the height of losing face.

A couple of months ago, the vice president of the EU bank gets appointed to be the prime minister of Greece.  In true political nature, prime minister Lucas Papedemos had this to say about his appointed subjects setting fire to Athens, "Violence and destruction have no place in a democratic country."

I suppose the obvious question is, "What does your statement have to do with the fires in Greece?"

Speaking of pretend democracies, I read an article tonight about Chicago Gangster Mayor Rahm Emanuel getting ready for the G8 summit.  In a new "law", Emanuel can purchase stuff without the city council's approval and without submitting the purchase for bids.  He can choose the person that offers the most in bribes and award contracts to that person.  Handy, n'est pas?  He has used this new power to buy new helmets for the police with face shields designed to allow officers to wear gas masks.

So they can't smell the stank of corruption?

Do they make gas masks that strong?  Might I suggest SCBA's?

Additionally, there will be aerial surveillance and snipers in place to deal with anything remotely looking like democracy.

Snipers are harder to catch on video.

The whole world is wat . . . BANG!

Back to the theme of this post . . .

It has gotten to the point where the parts between Wall Street and other large corporations are interchangeable with politicians.  It's like watching tag-team wrestling.

"Z-Man Zoellick reaches out and tags up with Battle Kat Klinton who takes Blankfein's dick out of her mouth and jumps in the ring."

Can you smell what the crock is cooking?

In the near future, it's going to be like watching hockey.  If a politician gets tired of Occupy Wall Street doing mic checks on him, he'll just head for Goldman Sachs in the middle of his term and someone from Goldman Sachs will jump the barrier and take over for him.  Like Papedemos, they won't wait for the next election, they'll just appoint senators to seats and call it democracy.

Will there be fires in Chicago?

Violence and destruction have no place in a demo . . . BANG!

Speaking of Chicago-style politics, Obama came down hard on the big five banks who have to pay about $40 billion in a settlement for foreclosing on people illegally.

See?  He's not Wall Street's bitch after all!

Wait for it.

As part of the settlement agreement, the banks can use tax payer money to pay the settlement.  The home owners lost their homes illegally to the banks and if they still have a job, they have to pay the settlement for the banks.  As good as I am with words, I really can't think of anything strong enough to describe how truly evil the 1% and their bitch puppet president are.

Not that the 1% care in the least what I, or anyone else, thinks of them or their parasitic spokesperson.  If the people get tired of Obama, the 1% will just sub in someone else.

Homework Help: Internet Sales Tax

So,

The homework help blog posts have made a return and today's topic is Internet Sales Tax.  What do you think the impact will be consumers, providers, supply chain, the growth of e-commerce, and the economy as a whole?

Currently, businesses only have to collect sales tax in states where they have a physical presence. 

California took an interesting stab at this wording a passed a law stating the businesses such as Amazon.com who pay referrals to people within the state have a physical presence and must pay sales tax but a 1% lower than normal state tax.  You would think that if the law already states that a company must pay taxes if it has a physical presence and referrals constitute a physical presence, no new law would have to be passed.

Amazon's response is also interesting, both in the context of the question for today and in terms of the power of lobbying.

Amazon and Overstock are going to stop paying referrals in California to remove their "physical presence".  California was hoping to raise over $3 million a year with this new (old?) tax.  Referral participants will need to move to another state to continue to take part in the program.

To buy some time to make the changes, Amazon threatened to fund a vote on the issue to have the bill tossed out by the people.  Lawmakers aren't going to enforce the law until September, which is a compromise that they obviously need to make.  There would be absolute chaos in the streets if voters got to vote on things that affected them.

There are proposals at the federal level to enact some kind of Internet sales tax.  The latest that I was able to find in a very brief search was the so-governmentally-named Marketplace Fairness Act.  The law would allow states to collect sales tax from online businesses who pull in more than $500,000 a year (which doesn't seem fair to brick and mortar business but laws are usually named the opposite of what they will actually accomplish).

The bill is opposed by a lot of businesses of course but it's just a matter of time before it's passed.

What do you think the effects of an Internet Sales Tax will be?

Occupy Wall Street: A View from Outside the Box

So,

I have heard of the movement, uhh, I've seen it on TV.

You aren't going to let that one go, are you?

Did you think he would?

Okay, I've been following Occupy Wall Street closer than President Ohblahblah will admit.

You know it's part of his daily briefings right?

And night time briefings, and noon time, and . . .

Yes, I know.  He's a smacktard but that is not the point of this blog at all. 

Is there going to be a point?

Enquiring minds want to know.

Not a single point, no.  That would not be in keeping with the theme of this blog, would it?

Theme?

<shrug>

First, the good news.  The propaganda media, with the exception of Faux news, has finally come to grips that there is a very clear message to Occupy Wall Street.  It only took them a month to finally admit it.  They were probably hoping that the protesters would go away before now but, unfortunately for them, we are into month two with protests around the entire planet.  They, except for Faux news, have finally started letting the world know what we already knew.  You can't have a country by the people for the people when you auction off votes to the highest bidders.

Ya think?

Didn't we know that before the protests?

Now, the big question that seems to be on everyone's mind is what is the president going to do about this whole thing.  The consensus at this date is that he has to be very careful.  He needs to acknowledge the frustrations of the people that he has screwed over but at the same time he doesn't want to get in bed with him, as one of his spokespeople was quick to point out recently.  I was kind of glad to see that the Great and Powerful Oz was letting other people do the talking for him.  One of the reasons he was elected was because he was more articulate than King George.

So are my farts.

Hard to lower the bar from there.

Without a teleprompter, dude is losing His composure.  I think he'll get re-elected because the Republican candidates are utterly batshit crazybut by year seven, it's going to be like watching an episode of Beavis and Butthead.

Heh, heh, your name is Bush, heh, Bush, heh, heh.

He's got his people StatusQuo.org MoveOn.org and the unions down there trying to steer the whole mess but he can't get too involved.  Faux news is trying so hard to turn Occupy Wall Street into Tea Party Left that it's become a joke.  Now, it's possible and quite likely that many of the Faux news people are really as stoopid as they sound but it's also possible that they have been told to do everything they can to turn OWS into Tea Party Left.  The establishment cannot let this anarchist movement to go on indefinitely.  The people must be divided into the two sides and pitted against each other.  Right now, you have communists, Obama cult members, Independents, Ron Paul republicans, Anarchists, and everyone else meeting every day discussing solutions.  Actual, real, solutions.  This cannot be allowed to continue.  If the people ever figure out the solution, there will be an immense exchange of power and, quite frankly, this is not something that sits well with the people currently in power.

So, Faux news continues to lie to the point where their reporters are hazed if they even bother to show up near Wall Street. 

Because I care so much about the main stream media, I am going to do them a favor and list the top ten reasons why Obama has to pretend to empathize with the 99% while not getting any of their taint on Him:

1-8.  He's Wall Street's bitch.

9.     Faux news is already trying to say that the Tea Party is better than OWS because Tea Partiers don't get arrested.  Tea Partiers also don't get anything changed.

What a coincidence!

I know.

Every day that nothing is done to appease the protesters while beating them over the head with NYPD nightsticks brings this whole thing one day closer to massive violence.  If Obama cozies up to OWS and then it goes terribly awry, the Republicans will use that in the 2012 election.

"Yeah, we should be locked up in padded rooms but at least we aren't inciting violence."

10.   Obama has already alienated much of his base because of his hypocrisy* and getting behind the protesters today and then sending in the National Guard with water canons next week will only make this worse.  He would be giving the Republicans ammo while encouraging even more Democrat voters to stay home on voting day. 

He's stuck in a tough spot between the votes of the 99% and the money of the 1% and he has to walk a tightwire between them.

The media is missing or hiding a key message from OWS but I'm not going to go into now.  I'm sure there will be time.  It doesn't look like this is going to end any time soon.  I know that several people have hoped that snow will drive the protesters away but none of them have sounded too confident that it will actually happen.  With the EU collapsing, there's a good chance that this thing is just barely getting started.

No matter were it goes from here, the conversation and a search for real solutions has been started.  People are waking up.  That has always been the most critical factor.

* It's only hypocrisy if you actually believed Him in the first place.

I saw his lips moving.

Always a clue.

Text Books 'n' Stuff

 
So,

I'm right back into the middle of the bedlam with school.  It's crazy.  Part of the reason is that the first week is just hard as I kind of, sort of explained earlier.  Have you ever driven down the road in the winter, pretty much sticking to the ruts when you get behind some person who is being so cautious that they are endangering everyone by driving way too slow?  You make the decision to switch lanes but in order to get to the other set of ruts, you've got to cross some rough, yet slippery, terrain while keeping your vehicle headed in the same general direction.  If you don't turn sharp enough, you don't get out of the ruts.  If you turn too sharp, you end up in the median or sliding down the road sideways.  No matter how good you are at it, the transition is bouncy and tense.

That's what my first week is like each time.  I still haven't put together my thoughts on the flag burning and I think that's due tomorrow.  I might want to get around to that soon.  At this point, it's triage.

Plus, I have this other problem.  I think.

Not, "I think I have this other problem."  The problem is that I think.  It makes it harder.

My wife is smart, made the dean's list last semester and is going to have her Bachelor's this December, but she has this cool ability that she was telling me about a couple of semesters ago.  She can read the text books and take in the information necessary to accomplish assignments and get high scores on tests while rarely giving a second thought to the stuff that doesn't seem to make much sense.

I, on the other hand, do not have this ability.

Lucky you, rather than keep it all to myself, I decided late yesterday to start throwing little post-it flags into the book so that I can share these things with all of you.  It would be incredibly rude of me to deprive you of the experience, donchathink?

On the topic of free speech, the text has this example:

"For example, suppose the speaker said, 'The senator is inside the restaurant.  Let's get some matches and burn the place down.'  Speech of this sort is not protected.  The speaker could be arrested for attempted arson or attempted murder."

Bzzzzt.  Wrong!  But thank you for playing.  Johnny, tell them about their wonderful parting gifts.

First, there aren't enough cops or jails to arrest everyone that says or jokes about killing someone.  "That's it!  That's the last bad call that ref is going to make, I'm going to kill 'em."  "Marge, you better come over here.  The kids are driving me crazy and I swear I'm about to kill one of them."  On and on.

Democrats have recently started talking about killing Michele Bachmann.  Is it hypocriticalto the upteenth level?  Yes.  Does it show how prone to violence these sociopaths are?  Yes.  Is it illegal?  No.

Not until someone makes some substantive act that supports the threat as being real.

Next!

On the subject of due process, we have this gem:

"The government deprives citizens or corporations of their property in a variety of ways.  The Internal Revenue Service may fine a corporation for late payment of taxes."

Really?  That's the example you're going to go with?  Seriously?  You're going to use the IRS as an example of taking property from people and say that they do it by fining people but somehow, miraculously, gloss over the taxes, which in most cases far outweighs any fines levied.  I've never been fined by the IRS but I sure in the hell have had my money taken from me using the threat of force but calling it "taxes" like robbery is okay as long as you call it something besides robbery. 

"Dude, I'm going to permanently borrow all the money you have on you or I'm going to shoot you in the face."

"Oh, okay, as long as you aren't robbing me, it's fine."

Jaysus!

Next!

Still on the Fifth Amendment but now talking about the Takings Clause instead of Due Process (which pretty much amount to the same thing), we have the use of magic words by the government.  They are able to create wonderful spells using sorcery and incantations and guns and tazers.  The authors are discussing the government's ability to magically and without harm, kick people out of their houses, bulldoze the houses, and sell the land to contractors for a profit by invoking the Petronis Eminent Domainus. 

"The government takes your land through the power of eminent domain."

The end.

No discussion on what eminent domain is or how the government gets such power.

"Uh, dude, we gave it to ourselves."

"But . . ."

"Talk to the tazer because the face ain't listening."

They even give an example just as I recounted above where the government low-balled 9 property owners, took the property with the threat of force, and sold the property off to real estate developers for a profit.  The land owners appealed to the Supreme Court, whose decision to the people ousted from their homes was thus, and I quote, "Tough titty!"

"What are we supposed to do then?" the people asked.

"Our suggestion," the chief justice replied, holding his hands out to indicate the other justices, "is to run out of the house when you hear the tear gas canisters break through the windows.  We've heard that stuff is a bitch."

On the ballot, the same year as Mr. "I can't believe you bought all that hope and change bullshit" was elected, was a Nevada referendum dealing with the hocus pocus chicanery.  A casino had attempted to buy a house and the property that it was sitting on.  The owner said no.  The casino went to city council, dropped a bit of grease, and the city council seized the house using Petronus Eminent Domainus, low-balling the owner, kicking her out of her house, then sold the house to the casino for a profit, claiming that everything the government does is for public interest and, as such, any way that it can raise money to spend for "the good of the people" entitled them to the use of Eminent Domain. 

The people of Nevada were supposed to vote as to whether this was allowable or not.

I know I joke a lot but believe me when I say that I am serious about these people being sociopaths.  If you have to ask whether or not it's okay to take bribe money to rob an entire house from a person, not only are you not fit for office, you shouldn't be allowed out in public unsupervised.

Luckily, the text book is only 1,164 pages long.  It would really suck if this was a huge text book filled with this shite.

Bubbles

 
So,

I had this wandering thought while mowing the lawn yesterday:

Some people think that the Currency Bubble will be the next to burst.  Some people think it will be the Student Loan Bubble.

I'm talking about in the United States since there are still housing bubbles around the world, which seem likely to pop in the near future when all possible gimmicks have been played out.

My hope is that the Illusion Bubble would go soon.  I know it won't be first. 

This list is in no way all-inclusive.  So, tell me, what do you think will be the next bubble to pop in the United States?

7th Day; 7 Words

 
State of Minnesota - Closed Until Further Notice

Leave your seven words in the comments

A *Little* BitCoin Info

 
So,

I did a little bit of research on bitcoin this morning before diving into homework.  I'm going to attempt to give a brief description here because I have much more homework to do tonight.  It's probably going to be difficult to keep it short so we'll see how it goes.

Chili described it as "dorky gamer currency" and there is a bit of truth to that but I'll need to backtrack a bit before getting to that.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a computer generated bit of bits that people have voluntarily decided to give value.  They have no intrinsic value to them like the US Dollar.  Except that in this case, the people using them have decided they have value and this sets them apart from the dollar, which has value because if you don't use it, the IRS or Secret Service will take all your positions, tase you, and throw your ass in jail.

There are other differences as well that are incredibly important.

There is no central bank for bitcoin.  Bernanke and Obama can't decide to put out $7 trillion to bail out their buddies at everyone else's expense.  In fact, there won't ever be more that 21 million BTC.  It's in the open source code.

The lack of a central bank plays another huge role in the grand scheme of things.  Somewhere around 2005 or so, e-gold was gaining in popularity.  For those that don't follow these things, e-gold allowed people to purchase shares of gold and then use gold-backed, digital money to buy things around the world with other e-gold users.  The US government was able to shut e-gold down in 2007 by indicting 3 e-gold execs and ordering them to knock it off.  The biggest threat to the US government is not terrorism, it's the creation of an alternate economy, what they lovingly call the "Black Market".  The black market is a loss of control by the government, something that cannot be tolerated in the least and must be squashed with a vengeance. 

Those of you that have been reading this blog for some time will remember what happened to a place called Liberty Dollar.  They made collector's coins out of silver and gold and people started using them as a barter system.  The government shut Liberty Dollar down and took all their gold and silver.  Again, everything was in a central location run by a few people.  An easy target for the power-hungry sociopaths scared someone might take their boot off the people's throat.

Bitcoin doesn't exist physically and doesn't have a central location.  It's software, downloaded on countless computers around the world.  It can't be raided.  It can't be shut down.  Napster is to e-gold what BitTorrent is to BitCoin.  You can take someone's computer away from them in attempt to stop them but they can just pull another computer out of the closet, download the software, and be off and running again. 

Supposedly, there are a couple of US Senators looking at existing laws to see if BitCoin is illegal.  Good luck with that.  Even if they find a law that makes it illegal for someone to give another person what is essentially gaming scores in exchange for a sandwich, it will be impossible for them to enforce it.  If the US government was to be as stupid as Mubarak and shut down the Internet, all that would happen would be instant rioting.  Not to mention that their corporate puppet masters depend on the Internet as much as anyone else.  Remember when Goldman Sachs was caught doing their massive insider trading deal that makes Martha Stewart look like a petty pick pocket in comparison.  They would get the morning's numbers a couple of seconds before the rest of the world and have their supercomputer make a gazillion trades before the market opened.  And, obviously, if you found a way to shut down the Internets for everyone but the people paying you millions in bribes, riots again.

That doesn't mean they aren't going to try and I'm going to be watching with interest.

There's much more but I'm going to lightly (very lightly) touch on the "dorky gamer currency" and then get back to my homework, which I was hoping to complete tonight but it's looking unlikely.  New bitcoins are created about every ten minutes (out of thin air just like the US dollar with one incredibly massive difference - later).  The software creates a puzzle, a proof of work, that must be solved before the bitcoins are created.  The person that owns the computer that solves the puzzle gets the new bitcoins (currently set at 50 BTC and after 210,000 BTC are created, the reward will be halved slowing the introduction of new BTC - again, the opposite of the US Dollar).  The processing power for solving this puzzle comes from your computer's video card.  This is referred to as "mining".  It's like panning for gold but it's based on the power of your video card and your ability to keep the video card from overheating and your willingness to pay the electric bill for running 3 ATI 6990's ($740.00 each just to purchase) and to run these bad boys overclocked with fans running on turbo 24/7 (and replace them every year or so when they burn out).  Guess who already already had max-GPU sitting in their towers when bitcoin started up?

It has expanded beyond gamers though into a global cryptocurrency that is accepted at brick and mortar retailers and restaurants. 

Well, there's more but I'll just finish with the last difference that I mentioned (promise) and do what I'm supposed to be doing.  The Fed has deliberately inflated the money (just like bitcoin but with a massive difference - I think I mentioned that) and the effect has been a steady decrease in the value of the dollar, which is seen as increased prices at the grocery store.  The US Dollar is worth 4% of its initial value in 1913.  The bitcoin, on the other hand, is being inflated and is increasing in value, which means that prices are going down if you buy stuff in BTC.  How much?  Well, if things keep going like they have been since last July, the bitcoin will have increased in value by about 600,000% by this July.

Okay, I suppose I have to mention one other thing because of that.  Bitcoins are virtual and currently can be broken down 8 decimal places.  A dollar can be broken down to a penny, a bitcoin can be broken down to a millionth of a BTC, with people already looking ahead to breaking it down further (you have to when prices are going to decrease by a half million percent a year).  This means that if you own Grandma's Scrumptious Pie Shop, you can sell memberships to your pie of the month club for 3.14195265 BTC (at least until the deflationary pricing forces you to change it).

So, there you go.  Probably much more information than you really wanted to know about the bitcoin but I was (and still am) intrigued and had to check it out.

Peace as a Solution

 
So,

Let me get Part 2 of my thoughts on The Anti-American Manifesto out of the way right now because it could be a crazy few weeks for me.  If you haven't read Part 1 yet, go HERE or the rest might not make a whole lot of sense.

The assumption there being that you do make sense sometimes?

Shut it.

Next up was collateral damage.  The idea of dropping out of the system as much as you are willing to risk changes the view and also reduces the number of bystanders that might be hurt.  The point is to try to live as freely as possible.  At some point, the government might take notice and attempt to make an example of you.  If that happens, you have a couple of choices to make: resist or don't resist.

I'm not going to tell you which is the right choice because it all depends on you and your circumstances.  Either way places a burden on the system.  How many people can be held in an over-populated jail system for not having a driver license?

If you choose resistance . . .

Viva la resistance!

Ferme la bouche.

If you choose resistance, you set up a scenario where you are the defender and the government is the attacker.  Not only that but the only people likely to be injured or killed in the struggle are you and the government agents.  This is a far better approach than firing into a crowd of people surrounding a senator.  If the IRS is storming your house because you haven't paid taxes for a few years and you accidentally shredded all the late notices they sent you, you won't be seen in near the same light as someone that guns down a 7 year old girl.

Waco demonstrated this.  Most people didn't believe in what the Davidians were doing but no one thought that government had a right to kill them all.  Women and children huddled together, scared to death, and then slaughtered. 

By the way, I have been using taxes as an example here just because it's so universal.  You can pick and choose from amongst the millions of laws that are out there as to which ones you want to ignore. 

The last point to all of this is what comes out on the other side.  Ted Rall points out that the US government is corrupt and violent.  He wants to get rid of it.  Then he wants to put into place the US government.

But didn't he just say . . .

I think he did.

Rall's Freedom Fighters aren't really fighting for freedom.  They are fighting for control of the most powerful organization on the planet.  He wants to completely wipe this one out and put a whole new one.  It's like "Vote the bums out" on steroids but in the end, new bums will be put into place.  These new bums would be sprinkled with magic pixie dust that makes them completely impervious to bribery and corruption.

Do they have to think happy thoughts?

Like what they will buy with their bribe money?

This takes me back to a point I made in Part 1.  For now, I'm happy to travel right along with Rall's Freedom Fighters and the Zeitgeisters and anyone else that thinks that there needs to be a change.  Not hopey-changey business as usual but an actual, perceptible, barefaced change.  The idea of cooperation will be very broad.  No one will have to believe the tenants of any other group and there doesn't have to be any planning done between them.  In fact, there shouldn't be.  The more factions there are, the more resources it takes to track them all, plus they can't just take out the top tier and hope the rest goes away.

If Step 1 were to be completed in my lifetime, it would then become my goal to prolong the interregnum for as long as possible.  With any luck, all those factions fighting for control would fight for a long time while we all live in freedom for a while.

***

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Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Violence as a Solution

 
So,

Yesterday, I finally got around to giving an overview of Ted Rall's Anti-American Manifesto and some sticking points that I had.  There was one other thing that I left off that list that I'll cover today but first I think it's important to point out one of the basic tenants of the book.

I have pointed out previously that if you voted for anybody that has funded or directed the wars or the puppet dictators that torture, kill, and starve people for the United States government, you are, obviously, accountable for those murders.  You voted for and authorized these policticians to initiate violence and kill anyone that stands in their way.

Rall takes it a step further.  He states that if you know that the US government is killing people and you do not do anything to stop it, you are complicit in all those murders.

I have given this some thought and I have to agree.

Now, the fourth concern that I have with Rall's call-to-arms for the couch potatoes of America is that it's such a huge leap.  He wants them to turn off American Idle, grab an assault rifle, and attack some part of the established government.  That's huge for people that spent 12 years in the public propaganda system pledging allegiance every morning.  It's especially huge for the demograph that he's addressing that has spent the last few years mocking tea partiers and their gun-toting ways.  How do you create a leftist Tea Party? 

He's hoping that they get angry enough and fearful enough of a right-wing coup that they will take up arms and take to the streets.  I think that it might be more appropriate to take baby steps with these people.  Now, like Rall points out in his book, you take help where you can get it so if he is able to get liberals to disrupt parts of the government, that works in everyone's favor so I am in no way dismissing his efforts.  Anyone he can move along the spectrum from True Believer in The Great and Powerful Oz toward being a defender of freedom serves us all.

My suggestion is less radical and may take more patience (but might not if he can't get the people off the couch).  It's much less dramatic and isn't fueled by anger.  It's calm (until that calm is broken) and possible and addresses my four concerns: baby steps, spin, collateral damage, and violence replacing violence.

Baby Steps starts with education, like the first half of Rall's book and this blog.  Everyone who sees what's happening needs to keep on pointing it out in attempt to reach as many people as possible.  Corporate Media has been reduced down to a handful of companies that have a lot to gain from the continuation of governments and they are going to keep spouting bullshit to anyone that will listen.  The more people that quit listening to them and start looking for the truth, the faster this government will fall.  The whole thing is built up and sustained on falsehoods and each person that stops clapping and yelling "I believe" brings the fictional faerie closer to death.

From there, people need to just drop out of the system as much as they are willing.  For some, this might mean nothing more than not voting . . . for now.  I know quite a few people that have quit paying their taxes.  Others don't obey laws that are established for government control, like getting a driver license or registering their car, and regularly go to jail.

"What're ya in for?"

"30 days for no driver's license."

"Hardcore."

There are some things that anyone can do and will be more commonplace as the greater depression continues over the years like bartering for services.  When the plumber fixes a problem for the person that cuts his hair and they trade services instead of fees, neither of them has to pay taxes.  Some communities are expanding this out by creating their own barter system.  As long as you don't pay with Federal Reserve Notes and don't record the sale, you don't have to pay taxes.  Some places are already switching back to gold and silver.  Other places use Euros (which is still a fiat currency but tax free in this country).  Hell, even buying things from Amazon reduces the amount of taxes that states get.  Amazon doesn't charge sales tax.  Instead, Amazon gives purchasers notice that it is their duty to pay the taxes to their home state for items purchased.  Yeah, no one does this.  No one likes taxes and no one volunteers to pay more than the IRS forces at gun point. 

This is where Spin changes sides.  Many of these things seem so minor, especially compared to Rall's idea of tossing a Molotov cocktail into the White House but there is sympathy to be gained here which will lead to recruitment.  I just saw a new graph a couple of days ago that shows that taxes for the top tier are just about at an all-time low while taxes and fees for the middle class are going up.  People see this and they are going to feel it more as inflation continues to bite the purchasing power of their Federal Reserve Notes.  My dear and close friend, Ben Bernanke, doesn't count fuel and food when he discusses inflation and that's because it would be too telling.  The price of things that people actually need are going up and going up fast.  When people are given the choice of putting food on the table or paying taxes or for some new government fee, the choice is going to be simple.

People around the country won't blame them and many will copy the ideas that get them out of the Federal Reserve System.  Bartering and counter-economies will flourish and at some point, the government will take action against some of these people.  They can't take action on everyone.  In fact, as small as the activities are now, the government isn't taking actions on many of them now. 

Yeah, the IRS sends letters to people that don't pay taxes but those can be thrown away.  Eventually, they may garnish your wages, if you have a job and you work for someone else.  After that, what?  Throw you in jail?  Is there any room?

If they come to haul these people away and the people resist?  First, that places even more burden on the system.  If they can send two guys with small guns to your house and you walk out with them, it might work.  If they have to send a SWAT team for every person who keeps their own money, well, it obviously can't be done.

Not only that but the spin has switched sides.  When the government starts attacking families in their homes who are just trying to make it from day to day, it's going to be hard to put much force into the "evil tax evader" story.  People are prone to side with the defender.  When Rall suggests attacking the government, it's in defense yes, but it's easy for the government and their lapdog media to spin it as an attack.  When the government goes around kicking in the doors of families whose only crime is trying to take care of themselves, the picture of the defender becomes true to life and people around the country are going sympathize and support the defenders.

Each time the government attacks the people, the movement toward freedom will gain strength.

In my next post on the topic (Monday? but no promises), I'll cover collateral damage and violence replacing violence.  I also want to touch on desensitization and cooperation, time permitting (or maybe another post).

***

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Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.