As we all know only too well, the United States and Israel would hate to see Iran possessing nuclear weapons. Being “the only nuclear power in the Middle East” is a great card for Israel to have in its hand. But — in the real, non-propaganda world — is USrael actually fearful of an attack from a nuclear-armed Iran? In case you’ve forgotten…

In 2007, in a closed discussion, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said that in her opinion “Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel.” She “also criticized the exaggerated use that [Israeli] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears.” ¹

2009: “A senior Israeli official in Washington” asserted that “Iran would be unlikely to use its missiles in an attack [against Israel] because of the certainty of retaliation.” ²

In 2010 the Sunday Times of London (January 10) reported that Brigadier-General Uzi Eilam, war hero, pillar of the Israeli defense establishment, and former director-general of Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission, “believes it will probably take Iran seven years to make nuclear weapons.”

Early last month, US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told a television audience: “Are they [Iran] trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No, but we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability.” ³

A week later we could read in the New York Times (January 15) that “three leading Israeli security experts — the Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad chief, Efraim Halevy, and a former military chief of staff, Dan Halutz — all recently declared that a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel.”

Then, a few days afterward, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, in an interview with Israeli Army Radio (January 18), had this exchange:

Question: Is it Israel’s judgment that Iran has not yet decided to turn its nuclear potential into weapons of mass destruction?

Barak: People ask whether Iran is determined to break out from the control [inspection] regime right now … in an attempt to obtain nuclear weapons or an operable installation as quickly as possible. Apparently that is not the case.

Lastly, we have the US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, in a report to Congress: “We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons. … There are “certain things [the Iranians] have not done” that would be necessary to build a warhead. ⁴

Admissions like the above — and there are others — are never put into headlines by the American mass media; indeed, only very lightly reported at all; and sometimes distorted — On the Public Broadcasting System (PBS News Hour, January 9), the non-commercial network much beloved by American liberals, the Panetta quote above was reported as: “But we know that they’re trying to develop a nuclear capability, and that’s what concerns us.” Flagrantly omitted were the preceding words: “Are they trying to develop a nuclear weapon? No …” ⁵

One of Israel’s leading military historians, Martin van Creveld, was interviewed by Playboy magazine in June 2007:

Playboy: Can the World live with a nuclear Iran?

Van Creveld: The U.S. has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union and a nuclear China, so why not a nuclear Iran? I’ve researched how the U.S. opposed nuclear proliferation in the past, and each time a country was about to proliferate, the U.S. expressed its opposition in terms of why this other country was very dangerous and didn’t deserve to have nuclear weapons. Americans believe they’re the only people who deserve to have nuclear weapons, because they are good and democratic and they like Mother and apple pie and the flag. But Americans are the only ones who have used them. … We are in no danger at all of having an Iranian nuclear weapon dropped on us. We cannot say so too openly, however, because we have a history of using any threat in order to get weapons … thanks to the Iranian threat, we are getting weapons from the U.S. and Germany.”

And throughout these years, regularly, Israeli and American officials have been assuring us that Iran is World Nuclear Threat Number One, that we can’t relax our guard against them, that there should be no limit to the ultra-tough sanctions we impose upon the Iranian people and their government. Repeated murder and attempted murder of Iraqi nuclear scientists, sabotage of Iranian nuclear equipment with computer viruses, the sale of faulty parts and raw materials, unexplained plane crashes, explosions at Iranian facilities … Who can be behind this but USrael? How do we know? It’s called “plain common sense”. Or do you think it was Costa Rica? Or perhaps South Africa? Or maybe Thailand?

Defense Secretary Panetta recently commented on one of the assassinations of an Iranian scientist. He put it succinctly: “That’s not what the United States does.” ⁶

Does anyone know Leon Panetta’s email address? I’d like to send him my list of United States assassination plots. More than 50 foreign leaders were targeted over the years, many successfully. ⁷

Not long ago, Iraq and Iran were regarded by USrael as the most significant threats to Israeli Middle-East hegemony. Thus was born the myth of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the United States proceeded to turn Iraq into a basket case. That left Iran, and thus was born the myth of the Iranian Nuclear Threat. As it began to sink in that Iran was not really that much of a nuclear threat, or that this “threat” was becoming too difficult to sell to the rest of the world, USrael decided that, at a minimum, it wanted regime change. The next step may be to block Iran’s lifeline — oil sales using the Strait of Hormuz. Ergo, the recent US and EU naval buildup near the Persian Gulf, an act of war trying to goad Iran into firing the first shot. If Iran tries to counter this blockade it could be the signal for another US Basket Case, the fourth in a decade, with the devastated people of Libya and Afghanistan, along with Iraq, currently enjoying America’s unique gift of freedom and democracy.

On January 11, the Washington Post reported: “In addition to influencing Iranian leaders directly, [a US intelligence official] says another option here is that [sanctions] will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways.”

How utterly charming, these tactics and goals for the 21st century by the leader of “The Free World”. (Is that expression still used?)

The neo-conservative thinking (and Barack Obama can be regarded as often being a fellow traveler of such) is even more charming than that. Listen to Danielle Pletka, vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at America’s most prominent neo-con think tank, American Enterprise Institute:

The biggest problem for the United States is not Iran getting a nuclear weapon and testing it, it’s Iran getting a nuclear weapon and not using it. Because the second that they have one and they don’t do anything bad, all of the naysayers are going to come back and say, “See, we told you Iran is a responsible power. We told you Iran wasn’t getting nuclear weapons in order to use them immediately.” … And they will eventually define Iran with nuclear weapons as not a problem. ⁸

What are we to make of that and all the other quotations above? I think it gets back to my opening statement: Being “the only nuclear power in the Middle East” is a great card for Israel to have in its hand. Is USrael willing to go to war to hold on to that card?

William Blum is an American, historian and critic of United States foreign policy. He is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military & CIA Interventions Since World War II. He has described his life’s mission as: “If not ending, at least slowing down the American Empire. At least injuring the beast. It’s causing so much suffering around the world.“Mr. Blum can be reached through his website http://killinghope.org .

 Notes

1. 1.     Haaretz.com (Israel), October 25, 2007; print edition October 26 ^↩
2. 2.     Washington Post, March 5, 2009^↩
3. 3.     “Face the Nation”, CBS, January 8, 2012; see video^↩
4. 4.     The Guardian (London), January 31, 2012″ ^↩
5. 5.     “PBS’s Dishonest Iran Edit”, FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting), January 10, 2012^↩
6. 6.     Reuters, January 12, 2012 ^↩
7. 7.     http://killinghope.org/bblum6/assass.htm^↩
8. 8.     Video of Pletka making these remarks^↩

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This is Part III of our interview series on the Makings of a Police State. You can listen to previous segments here.

Philip Giraldi joins us to discuss the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act-NDAA, the claim by the White House that it will only use this new power carefully and with due process, and contrasts that to the well-established trend of law enforcement and security agencies, which is to expand on powers granted, not to rein them in or limit them. He provides us with his assessment of the recent case of former CIA operative John Kiriakou, and discusses President Obama’s horrendous track record on civil liberties- broadening its definition of war powers, silencing critics and government whistleblowers through the repeated exploitation of the state-secrets privilege, abuses of National Security Letters, continuation of Guantanamo Prison, supporting numerous dubious terrorism prosecutions.

Philip Giraldi is a former CIA and DIA counter-terrorism officer, member of the American Conservative Defense Alliance, and contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine. He has a regular column, Smoke & Mirrors, at Antiwar.com.

Listen to the preview Here

Here is our guest Philip Giraldi unplugged! (Subscribers only)

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BFP Nightly Quote

“You can’t say civilization don’t advance…in every war they kill you in a new way.” –Will Rogers

International Newsworthy

Israel: We Can Hit All of Iran’s Nuclear Sites

US Push to Arm Israel

Panetta: ‘Israel to Strike Iran in April, May, or June’

China Intensifies Criticism of Sanctions on Iran

Baghdad Wants Waiver on Iran Sanction

Afghanistan: US Seeks to Play down Panetta’s Afghan Comments

Taliban Eat into Afghanistan’s Core

Pakistan: 7 Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack

 …

Pepe Escobar: The Arab Agenda in Syria Exposed

Syria: U.S. & Allies Exploring Prospects for Assad Exile

Russia Will Not Stop Selling Arms to Syria

Israel Outsources Intelligence Gathering-Monitoring to Rightwing Groups

Turkish Jets Hit Kurds in Northern Iraq

Turkey: General Staff Knew Uludere Victims Were Civilians ahead of Strike

 …

Somalia: Unmanned US Drone Crashes in Mogadishu

Libyan Diplomat Dies Under Torture

Yemen Seeks to Enhance Military Cooperation with Powerful Countries

Nigeria: Boko Haram Refutes Claim of Spokesman’s Arrest

Egypt: New Clashes Erupt in Suez after Deaths

Egypt Clashes Continue, 4 Dead

…

Russia to Host NATO-Afghan Transit Hub?!

Russia Waiting for Tajikistan’s Decision on Military Base

Kyrgyzstan: Glass-Hurling World Bank Boss Sparks Scandal

Uzbekistan & Kazakhstan May Stop Gas Supplies to Kyrgyzstan

 …

German Intelligence Under Fire for Spying on Parliamentarians

Britain: IPCC Launches Reviews of Deaths in Custody

UK’s Gould-Werritty: The Continuing Cover Up

US-Backed Air Strike Kills 3 Philippines alleged ‘Terror Leaders’ 

National Newsworthy

Police State: Congress Calls for Accelerated Use of Drones in U.S.

Police State: US ‘No Fly’ List Doubles in Only 12 Months

How US Fascism Comes Out on Top via ‘Too-Big-To-Fail’

27 of 35 Bush Articles of Impeachment Apply to Obama

Feds Seize 307 Sport Websites Ahead of Super Sunday

Top Geithner Aid Headed to Goldman Sachs

Hackers: We Intercepted FBI, Scotland Yard Call

How a US Agency Cleaned Up Rwanda’s Genocide-Stained Image

Cryptome: Wiretap Reporting Instructions Revised

Wall Street Money Continues to Flow to Republican Mitt Romney

PAC Spending Hit $49 Million

Noteworthy Editorials

Robert Fisk: The President Stands No Chance against the Past

Jim Lobe: Rants & Raves for New US Pullout Plan

US Secrecy System “Literally Out of Control”

Anatomy of a Terrorism Prosecution

South Asia: The Cost of NATO’s Adventurism

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: Egypt Unrest

Video 2: Israel & the American Elections

Video 3: Syria & the Lies of UN

Video 4: George Carlin on US Foreign Policy

Podcast: Boiling Frogs Podcast Show- Police State Series: Philip Giraldi

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BFP Nightly Quote

“There is one modern political writer who saw very clearly that military centralization is helpful in undermining a federal republic. His name was Adolf Hitler. Chapter 10 of Volume II of Mein Kampf, which is devoted to an indictment of German Federalism as an obstacle to the triumph of national socialism, is well worthy of current attention by those who do not realize that a concentration of power can be used for evil as well as for good — and is perhaps much more likely to be used for evil than for good.” –Felix Morley

International Newsworthy

Nobel Peace Prize Jury under Investigation

Israel Sets Up Assassination Unit in Iran

War on Iran Propaganda: Israel Alleges that Iran Has Material for 4 A- Bombs

Slain Iranian Scientist’s Wife Urges UN for Action over Murders

India Delegation to Go to Iran to Boost Oil Exports

Afghanistan: ‘US to End Combat Role in 2013′ Says Panetta

Afghan Withdrawal Plan Outlined by ‘Downing Street’

Pakistan Wins WTO Go-Ahead for EU Deal

Pakistan Supreme Court to Indict PM Gilani for Contempt on February 13

Informant’s Treatment is Test of Pakistan’s ‘Loyalty’

…

Syria: Text of Leaked Arab League Mission Report Reveals Media Lies

UN Shenanigans on Syria

Russia will Veto “Unacceptable” Syria Resolution

Iraq: The Maliki Dilemma

Tear Gas Kills Two Bahraini Protesters

Israel’s New Allies

…

Libya: Rival Militias Fight Gunbattle in Capital-Tripoli  

Maltese Government Secretly Helped British Spy Operations in Libya

Libyans Sue MI6 Officer

Egypt Caught in Spiral of Disaster

Nigeria: Boko Haram Spokesman Arrested

… 

Russia: Zhirinovsky Outlines Plan for Russia Ruled by Czars

Echoes of War across the South Caucasus

Atlantic Council Hosts Conference Dedicated to U-Kazakhstan Relations

Will U.S. Bomb Iran from Georgia?

Uzbekistan to Get US Night Vision, GPS & Body Armor

…

Germany: Merkel Seeking Euro-Savior & Iran-Buster in China

Bulgaria: Clinton to “Donate” US Warplanes

Swiss Mull Energy Deal with EU

Colombian Paramilitaries Protected by Spy Agency

Australia: Defense Chief Says ‘Australian Special Forces Can Stay in Afghanistan Indefinitely’

National Newsworthy

Bribery & Corruption at US Justice Department

Police State: FBI’s “Communities against Terrorism” Suspicious Activity Reporting Flyers

ACLU Sues Obama Administration over Assassination Secrecy

Former US Policymakers Promote and Lobby for War on Iran

Obama Making it Harder for Military Families to Sue for Medical Malpractice

Washington State Lawmakers Introduce Bill Condemning NDAA

Columnist Calls for Internet ‘Quality Control’ to Quash Dissent

Facebook Fires Up Its Political Action Committee  

Porno Company Sues Unauthorized Downloaders

Cryptome: DHS Joint Cybersecurity Services Pilot

TSA Agent Suspected of Stealing iPads

The Saudis, a Twitter Investment & Arab Spring

Google Starting to Censor Blogs

Full Body Scanners at Super Bowl?

Noteworthy Editorials

Pepe Escobar: Fear & Loathing in the American Gulf

Ray McGovern: Divining the Truth about Iran

John Pilger: The Assange Case Means That We are All Suspects Now

Iran & the U.S.: From Words to War

The Real Reason Guantanamo Should be Closed

Paul Craig Roberts: The Real Economic Picture

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: Corbett Report- New World Next Week (Feb 2)

Video 2: Syria Resolution Part of Proxy War Against Iran

Video 3: Unspent Tax Dollars Earmarked for Congressional Offices  Go into ‘Blackhole’

Video 4: JP Morgan Silver Manipulation Explained

Podcast 1: Andrew Gavin Marshall- What is the Nature of Power?

Podcast 2: Corbett Report- Around the World with Michael Vail

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The Decision-Makers-of-Wars have decided to end one in 2013. That is, after twelve years, after they made the decision to make that war in the first place. No talk of terrorists, wins, or liberation – no more. At least on that one. Same as the other one. The one that they ended with no WMD, no terrorists, and no democracy; only with added massive civilian casualties, fallen and injured soldiers, and loss of billions of dollars- leaving behind a civil-war-torn nation in rubbles. And it looks like the Decision-Makers-of- Wars will be announcing another war to make. Just like the other ones, and the ones before that. And then there is you, my friends- my loyal patriotic American veterans and all those-that-are-yours.

I want you to take a few minutes and take a look at those involved in making decisions to make wars and continue those wars. Please do it. You don’t have to place them under a microscope or analyze them for hours. Just engage in a cursory evaluation. They are alive and well. They still have their legs. Yes. They all possess two legs. They still have their arms; and, their eyes, ears, and all ten fingers. They still get to see and be with their sons and daughters- that is, fully alive offspring. And their children too have their arms, legs, eyes, ears, and all ten fingers. Their wallets are thick, very thick, and have been getting thicker; nonstop. They are all much richer than they were before each one of these wars.

Now please look at the pictures of the loved ones you once had. The ones gone forever for the wars that made those who made them happier, healthier and much richer. Please take a different look at your loved ones missing arms, legs, or eyes. Then, think about the Decision-Makers-of-Wars ‘loved ones’ arms, legs, and eyes; still intact. Now take out your wallet and measure its size. Once you do that, compare it to the size of those who sent your loved ones to the wars they decided upon. Think about how it is that you get to pay the suckers’ price; twice. Once with the lives and body-parts of your loved ones, and then one more time with your wallet.

You see, there is ‘you’, and then there are the Decision-Makers-of-Wars. There are those that are ‘yours,’ injured or gone- forever, and then there is the safe and prospering that are ‘theirs.’ There is your shrinking wallet and diminishing future, and there is ‘their’ thickening wallet and ever-brightening future – thanks to you, your loyalties, and patriotism. It boils down to you and them. And it is not one and the same. It is more like ‘them’ versus ‘you.’

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The U.S. Congress created the Department of War in 1789.  One hundred and sixty years later, in 1949, it became the Department of Defense.  The various factors involved in the name change likely included fatigue with death and destruction after World War II.  But these factors may also have included salesmanship among the dogs of war, soft-selling their wares.  Two years after the name change, President Truman and friends took the nation to war with the newly named Department of Defense, albeit without a formal declaration of war by Congress.  He called Korea a “police action.” History has taken him to task on that one, and it is now commonly called the “Korean War.”  We’ve had lots of wars since then, as well, but not a single formal declaration of war since World War II.

In November 2002, a new entity arrived when the Department of Homeland Security was established.  The DHS had seemingly laudable goals, on the surface.  But the question arises — if we already had a Department of Defense, why did we need a Department of Homeland Security?  Back in 2003, I asked this question of a top political historian, and he responded “Bill, don’t be silly.  We need the Department of Defense to protect our troops overseas!”

Speaking of defense and wars and the like, there is another entity with an inward-looking name and a broader set of goals.  In 1849, the Department of the Interior was created.  Its responsibilities have been described in terms of land and resource management and conservation, and the Department manages millions of acres of federal lands and dams.  But “land and resource management” can also be a broad ambition, depending on how you define those terms.

In 1879, an act of Congress established the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).  This organization did a lot of mapping and energy exploration support services as the U.S. frontier moved west.  During World War I, the USGS intensified its efforts supporting energy and mineral exploration, and in collaboration with the War Department.

Today, the USGS remains within the Department of the Interior — and tied not to the War Department, but to the Defense Department.  This ‘Interior’ department conducts many studies of energy and mineral resources internationally, like these studies for Afghanistan.  Considering Afghanistan a responsibility of the Interior Department, well, it gives a little cause for pause. Afghanistan might be an interior responsibility, one imagines, given that the most direct way to get there is through the interior of the earth.

The pause may get a little longer given that the USGS released an appraisal of Afghanistan in the summer of 2001.  This appraisal included a review of the country’s mineral resources, as well as respect for the country’s location within the “Interior.”

Afghanistan has additional economic potential because of its strategic geographical position as a transit route for Central Asian hydrocarbons to the Arabian Sea. This potential includes proposed multibillion dollar oil and gas export pipelines through the country.

U.S. negotiations over energy issues with Afghanistan were intensifying at this time, and reportedly soured, with military threats from the U.S., soon before 9/11.  We will survey this area of our interior history more closely in future articles. Meanwhile we may need to rename the Defense Department the War Department.  This could make things a little more honest, as well as constitutional.  In turn, maybe we should rename the “Department of the Interior,” and call it the “Department of the Interior and Exterior,” if it is to retain its global mission.

# # # #
 

Bill Bergman has 10 years of experience as a stock market analyst sandwiched around 13 years as an economist and financial markets policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He earned an M.B.A. as well as an M.A. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago in 1990. Mr. Bergman is currently working with Social Movement Sciences LLC, a new enterprise developing evaluation and funding services for not-for-profit organizations.

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BFP Nightly Quote

“Every war in which the United States has engaged since 1815 was waged in the name of democracy. Each has contributed to that centralization of power which tends to destroy that local self-government which is what most Americans have in mind when they acclaim democracy.” – Felix Morley

International Newsworthy

US Hypes Iran Terror Threat, Again

Mossad Chief in Secret US Talks on Iran

Group Urges US Military Action against Iran

No Exit in the Persian Gulf

Afghanistan: Taliban Ready for Talks with U.S. but Not Karzai Government

Leaked NATO Report: Taliban to Fight Afghanistan Back

Pakistan: Leaked US Document Can be “Disregarded”

Pakistan’s ISI Accused of Aiding Taliban Leadership

Amnesty Seeks Legal Basis of US Drone Strikes in Pakistan

11 Soldiers Killed in Balochistan Clashes

…

Syrian Troops Thwart Armed Infiltration from Turkey

Fighting over Syria at the UN

Russia & China Slam Sanction on Syria at UN

What is going on in Syria: Insider Update

Iraq Executes 17 after UN Rebuke

Israel to Subsidize Settlers & Legalize Outposts

… 

Yemen: US Drone Strike Kills at Least 12 People

Egypt Army Fires General to Boost Image

Libyan Shadow over UNSC

 …

Central Asia: Smaller ‘Stans’ Fret at Russia’s Dominance

Tethys Forges Uzbekistan Ties

Kazakhstan: Washington Insiders Nudge Nazarbayev on Succession

Georgia Opposition: Georgia Future is Decided in Washington

Britain to Deploy Destroyer to Falklands-Malvinas

Europeans First Victims of Sanctions on Iran

National Newsworthy

US Senate Hearing Accidentally Reveals Mossad Director’s Secret Visit

US Intel Director Prepares Public for False-Flag Event

New Lead Surfaces in Cold “House of Death” Drug War Case

Hundreds of slaughtered Civilians is not a big deal to Obama

Obama’s Policies to Increase National Debt 47 Percent to $21.7 Trillion by 2022

Ex-US Spy Chief: ‘US Has Engaged in Cyberwarfare’

AIPAC Quietly Met with Dem Thinktank to Deplore Writings Critical of Israel & Took its Leaders to Israel

Air Force tales against Corps-Dump Whistleblowers

Groups Says FBI Snoops on Wikileaks Supporters  

Twitter Subpoenaed over OWS

Government Workers Paid Better than in Private Sector

Jean Schmidt Legal Fund Gets One Donation

Noteworthy Editorials

Drone Warfare: the U.S. Acting Over and Above the Law

Paul Craig Roberts: the American Economy is Dead

Hassling the Innocent is TSA’s Specialty

The Haditha Massacre: No Justice for Iraqis

Financial Illiteracy of Those who Mock Conspiracy Theorists

Facebook IPO is US Intel Operation: Is Facebook a False-Flag?

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: The Girl Killed by Obama- She Never Saw it Coming

Video 2: NDAA in Action

Video 3: Golden Rule Perspective on Foreign Policy

Video 4: Economic Hit Men

Podcast 1: Lew Rockwell on Police State USA

Podcast 2: World Government & You

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How does power function? What are the effects of power? Is it necessary? This episode seeks to introduce the listener to some thoughts on the concept of power, in both the concentration of it on one hand, and the lack of it on the other. Power can be concentrated in both institutions and individuals, but if we seek to solve the big problems of our time, we cannot focus simply on changing those individuals, or abolishing specific institutions. We must, instead, come to ask questions about the nature of power, itself, and thus, how such institutions and individuals are able to exist in the first place.

Listen to the podcast show here:

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The passage of the Patriot Act in October 2001 is by now an all-too-familiar story. The American people, already suffering from the trauma of 9/11, were pushed into outright panic by the anthrax attacks, a series of anthrax-laced mailings that killed five, injured 17 and shut down Congress for the first time in modern history. The Act itself was introduced on a Tuesday and signed into law on Friday, before anyone had read let alone understood the sweeping changes it would introduce to American law.

Some of those changes were amendments to a little-known and little-used FBI instrument called National Security Letters, which allow the FBI and other agencies to issue businesses and institutions requests for private data on citizens, including financial transactions and communications records, regardless of whether or not they are even suspected of any crime, and to hold that data indefinitely. One of the most worrying aspects of the letters is the non-disclosure clause, which not only prohibits recipients from disclosing the contents of the letter, but even the fact that they have received a letter at all.

This is our EyeOpener Report by James Corbett, presenting the FBI’s National Security Letters and its predecessor- the 1978 Right to Financial Privacy Act, the aggressive expansion of the program’s scope with the passage of PATRIOT ACT, the gag order accompanying the letters – the non-disclosure clause, the collusion between the FBI, CIA and DOD in the issuance and implementation of these letters, and exposing the macrocosm of the police state control grid as a whole through this tyrannical tool.

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Watch the Full Video Report Here (Subscribers Only):

*The Transcript for this video is available at Corbett Report: Click Here

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BFP Nightly Quote

“Is a young man bound to serve his country in war? In addition to his legal duty there is perhaps also a moral duty, but it is very obscure. What is called his country is only its government and that government consists merely of professional politicians, a parasitical and anti-social class of men. They never sacrifice themselves for their country. They make all wars, but very few of them ever die in one. If it is the duty of a young man to serve his country under all circumstances then it is equally the duty of an enemy young man to serve his. Thus we come to a moral contradiction and absurdity so obvious that even clergymen and editorial writers sometimes notice it.” – H.L. Mencken  

International Newsworthy

War on Iran Propaganda: U.S. Officials See Increasing Threat of Domestic Attack from Iran

Iran: White House Recruits Southern Caucasus Allies for Attack on Iran

Persian Guile Drives Israel “Crazy”

Iran Sanctions Bring Political Unity but Economic Doom for EU

Iran Enters Nuclear Power Asia Confab

Afghanistan to Press Pakistan for Access to Taliban Leaders

Pakistan: 7 Soldiers, 25 Militants Killed in Kurram Clashes

Pakistan: Supreme Court Extends ”Coup Memo” Probe by Two Months

Pakistan Closes in on EU Trade Concessions

 …

Syria: Opposition to Assad ‘Game Over, You Shall Die Like Gaddafi’

Expatriate Syrian Kurds Call for New Government

Drones Over Iraq: When Pullout is Not a Pullout?

Saudi Arabia Says it Can Cover Any Oil Shortages

Israel: Netanyahu Poised to Win Likud Primaries

 …

Libya Rejects MSF Torture Allegations

UN Report: NATO’s Libya War Armed Al Qaeda

Egypt: US ‘Advisors’ aka NGO workers Hiding in US Embassy in Cairo

Somalia Islamist Rebels Ban International Red Cross

…

Russia Opposes ‘Libya Scenario’ in Syria

Russia Oil Slick for Croatia

Turkmenistan: Ashgabat Goes Through Caspian Seas Motion

Azerbaijan: Possible Iran Sanctions Offer Baku No Golden Energy Opportunity

NATO-US Experts to Visit Azerbaijan

Georgia: Saakashvili & Ivanishvili- Bonkers for Obama

EU Crisis Summit: 23 Million Unemployed Across Continent

National Newsworthy

Obama’s Police State: Former FDA Scientists & Doctors Sue Over Secret Surveillance

Obama Seeking to Base More US Troops in Iraq

Dennis Ross Redux: Haaretz Reveals White House-WINEP Hotline

Pentagon Unable to Account for Missing Iraqi Millions

Pentagon Paying Boeing $330 Million for Bigger Bomb

Obama Admits Drone Strikes in Pakistan as Drone Strikes Yemen

Freddie Mac Profits if Homeowners Unable to Refinance

More Solyndra-Like Failure: Obama-Tied Amonix Inc Lays Off Most of Company

“Unusual Event” at US Nuclear Plant in Illinois Not Threat to Public: Official

Occupy Oakland Arrests Reach 400

NY Times Gives Israelis its Magazine to Make an Attack on Iran ‘Normal’

Noteworthy Editorials

What Happened to the War Powers Act?

Reject the Ruling Psychopathology

Aggression Born of American “Exceptional ism”

With its Deadly Drones the US is Fighting a Coward’s War

China & the Blame Game

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: BFP EyeOpener- FBI National Security Letters

Video 2: The Real Truth of Wars

Video 3: “If the Government Calls you a Terrorist They Can Kill you- The Rest of us Take their Word for it”

Video 4: Iran & the Globalization of War

Podcast: Corbett Report- 9/11 & A Violation of Trust with Howard Cohen

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Update: Well, we did it. iWatch News corrected the order. Now Ron Paul is third from the top-as he should always have been. Not only that, they were ‘forced’ to correct the numbers as well, and use the correct quarter.The only thing left: changing that picture!

Update: Thanks to vigilant readers and their pressure, iWatch News has been scrambling since 3:00 PM EST, and the numbers on the post have been mysteriously changing …of course not the ‘order’ of listing, or the picture selection, or any explanation for such colossal belligerence …

Yesterday, as part of my daily news comb, I visited “iWatch News,” one of several dozen websites on my list of news outlets on government related scandals-revelations. I usually skim the headlines and stories to see whether anything gets my attention as coverage-worthy. Well, their top headline yesterday fit what I was looking for: “Candidate Super PACS.” It was brief, but boldly showcased data on how much money each major presidential candidate has raised and how much each has spent to date. I was happy to find an important but quick and hassle-free read without too many embellishing words or subjective spicing. So I began reading the list. Starting from the top they had the number 1 candidate based on money raised and spent:

 Barack Obama: Total Raised-$88.3 million Total Spent-$28.8 million  

Then came candidate number 2:

 Mitt Romney: Total Raised-$32.6 million Total Spent-$17.5 million  

After that came the third on the list, Number 3:

Newt Gingrich: Total Raised-$2.9 million Total Spent-$2.5 million  

Gingrich was followed by Number 4:

 Rick Santorum: Total Raised-$1.3 million Total Spent-$1.1 million  

And finally, there came the last one, the one all the way at the bottom, candidate Number 5, and naturally, I expected to see the loser of the bunch, the candidate with the least money raised and spent, in other words, the least viable candidate when it comes to raising money, which is one of the major indicators of the winner to come:

 Ron Paul: Total Raised-$12.7 million Total Spent-$9.1 million  

I was ready to get out of the site and move on to the next news site for my daily internet news surf, but then, my eyes caught the numbers listed as raised and spent for Ron Paul. As you know I usually don’t use cuss words, but the only way I can describe my strong reaction-surprise is ‘having a serious WTF!’ moment.

This list starts chronological, based on the amount of money raised and spent by each major candidate. The chronological ordering works as it is supposed to: starting with Obama with the biggest bucks raised, then to Romney with the second biggest money raised, and then something happens. What? They forget the number 3 candidate in the amount of money raised and spent, and instead list Gingrich as the Number 3 – who happens to have raised only a quarter of the amount raised by Ron Paul! Then, their chronological ordering starts working again, and they list the candidate with the least amount of money raised and spent- about 10% of Ron Paul’s amount. And finally, everything turns almost upside down: they list Ron Paul as the 5^th candidate, the last one, the bottom of the barrel, in raising money!

Not only that. I want you to look up and checkout the candidates’ photos above. I took these pictures from that same iWatch News story. Please do it. What do you see? A tough and confident looking number 1-Obama. A happy, confident and relaxed smiling Romney. Lip smacking and beaming Newt Gingrich. A typical silly male bimbo on his way out of the race, but too silly to realize it, thus semi-smiling-Santorum. And then, there comes the candidate they list as the last in money raising, bottom of the barrel, the one on the loser-spot – a real worried, grim and sour looking-Ron Paul.

Reality in this case: As far as raising money for the campaign goes, Ron Paul is the third candidate in the race overall, As far as Republican candidates are concerned, Ron Paul is number 2 in both raising and spending money.

We’ve been reading everyday on the establishment media’s belligerent attitude towards Ron Paul and all their attempts to avoid providing coverage when it comes to him. But this? At this level? Come on. This goes way beyond belligerence. It reaches ultimate pathetic levels and makes them look like fools. Or a better way to say it: their role as the establishment’s jokers. 

*You may want to check iWatch News’ fund-ers here to make a better sense of things. Here are two to give you an idea on what I mean by ‘establishment’:

George Soros’ Open Society Foundations

Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund

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BFP Nightly Quote

“War is the statesman’s game, the priest’s delight, the lawyer’s jest, the hired assassin’s trade.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley

International Newsworthy

Chief: Sanctions to Hit EU Buyback Firms

Iran Well Prepared for the Worst

Pentagon Seeks New Bomb against Iran

Pakistan: Drone Attacks Feed Insurgency

US Starts Negotiation with Taliban

Pakistan Central Bank Issues Deficit Warning

Doctor Who Led US to Bin Laden was CIA Agent

 …

Presidency of Arab League Seeks to Bury Own Experts’ Report

Syria: 10 Soldiers Killed in Syria Violence

New Draft U.N. Resolution Gives Syria 15 Days to Comply

New Blast Targets Oil Pipeline in Eastern Syria

Iraqis Terrified of US Drones

 …

African Union Opens Chinese-Funded HQ in Ethiopia

Tensions Escalate Over South Sudan Oil Dispute

Libya: The Beginning of Civil War in Post-Gaddafi Libya?

Yemen: 500,000 Yemeni Kids Face Death-UNICEF

Tunisia: Concerns Grow over “Morality Police”

 …

Kyrgyzstan: A Nazi & A Drug Lord in Charge of Police in Osh?

Azerbaijan: Oil Producers Hires Citigroup Banks for $500 Million Bond

Uzbekistan: US Starts Legal Procedure for Military Aid

Uzbek Gas Bypasses Population

Kazakhstan: Strike at US-Linked Oil Field

 …

MI5-MI6 Ordered to Declassify Litvinenko Death Files

UK Police Arrest Murdoch Tabloid Staff, Raid Offices

Belgium Shuts Down to Protest Austerity Measures

National Newsworthy

Fast & Furious: DOJ Dodges, Won’t Say if Holder Knew

Did Saudi Prince’s Investment Lead Twitter to Please Dictatorship-Government Censorship?

Obama Approves Arms Shipment to Bahrain-Despite Everything

Florida Police Roll Out Video Surveillance Truck Called a Peacemaker

Body and Vehicle Scanners Spreading & Using Higher Doses of Radiation

FDA Places Whistleblowers under Illegal Surveillance

British Pair Arrested in US on Terror Charges over Twitter Joke!

Occupy Oakland: Flash-Grenades & Tear-Gas

Cryptome: Google’s New Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Richmond, California, Takes on Military Spending

Noteworthy Editorials

Pepe Escobar: What is the GCC Up to in Syria?

Paul Pillar: Jeffersonian Exceptionalism

Paul Craig Roberts: Big Brother Internet

Russ Baker: Wag the Seal

Here’s Looking at You, Kid- Casey’s Extraordinary Technology

Review: The United States of Fear

Not a Peep about President’s Praise for War

Iran, Gold & Oil: The Next Banksters War

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: James Corbett-Beyond SOPA: The Past, Present & Future of Internet Censorship

Video 2: Israel Refuses to Stop Using Internationally Banned Bombs

Video 3: Occupy Oakland 

Video 4: Occupy DC

Podcast 1: Corbett Report- Monetary Reform

Podcast 2: Lew Rockwell on Right-Fascism vs. Left-Fascism

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Today Turkish Weekly ran an investigative piece on the newly appointed chief of police in Osh-Kyrgyzstan. The new police chief Suyun Omurzakov, who used to be a deputy minister of interior, has been known as a highly influential drug lord, a leader of organized criminal groups, and he was the subject of a criminal investigation in the past:

In October 2009, the Kyrgyznews.com published an article pointing to a direct link between the then Osh city deputy chief of police S. Omurzakov and organized criminal groups engaged into drug trafficking, referring to this person as one of the most influential drug lords in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

Another report that investigates the June 2010 events developed by a coalition of Kyrgyz and Uzbek human right defenders “Oshskaya Initsiativa” (Osh Initiative) speaks of Omurzakov as a leader of an organized Kyrgyz criminal group, along with the mayor of Osh Melis Myrzakmatov, and crime bosses Almanbet Manapiyaev and Kadyr Dusanov (“Jengo”), etc., who were directly involved into plotting, leading, financing and participating in anti-Uzbek pogroms and distributing arms and ammunition among Kyrgyz militia.
…

 

Since 2001 Kyrgyzstan has been hosting the Transit Center at Manas (formerly Manas Air Base) as the transit point for US military personnel coming and going from Afghanistan, and pays 200 million for continued use of the facilities. For years the base has been riddled with scandals and fiascos.  Last December Boiling Frogs Post EyeOpener Investigative Report took a closer look at “The Manas Question: Drugs, Revolution & Terrorism on the Road to Afghanistan”:

But as important as the base is to the Kyrgyz people, the true nature of Manas remains an open question. For years, it has been at the centre of a string of allegations revolving around drug-running, terrorism and stage-managed revolutions.One of the most surprising revelations to emerge from Manas centered around the story of Abdolmalek Rigi, the former leader of the Jundullah terrorist organization who was captured by Iran onboard a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Kyrgyzstan.

Jundullah is a Pakistani tribal militant group that concerns itself with plight of Sunni Muslims in the predominantly Shiite Iran. Despite widely-acknowledged links to al-Qaeda, the CIA has been funding the group for years as a proxy force to commit attacks inside Iran, where it is believed to have killed and injured over 500 civilians since 2003.As Rigi himself told his Iranian captors, his story included the air base at Manas, which he claims the US uses to conduct covert meetings with people like himself.

You can watch the full report here at Boiling Frogs Post.

Last year, Peter Dale Scott wrote a lengthy article outlining how US intervention in Kyrgyzstan, in the name of protecting its strategic air base, has led to the destabilization of Kyrgyz politics and to a drastic increase in the flow of drugs through the country:

“…that there is a deep force behind drug, intelligence, and jihadi activity, would be consistent with the legacy of the CIA’s earlier interventions in Afghanistan, Laos, and Burma, and with America’s overall responsibility for the huge increases in global drug trafficking since World War II. It is important to understand that the more than doubling of Afghan opium drug production since the U.S. invasion of 2001 merely replicates the massive drug increases in Burma, Thailand, and Laos between the late 1940s and the 1970s. These countries also only became major sources of supply in the international drug traffic as a result of CIA assistance (after the French, in the case of Laos) to what would otherwise have been only local traffickers.

As early as 2001 Kyrgyzstan’s location had made it a focal point for transnational trafficking groups. According to a U.S. Library of Congress Report of 2002,

Kyrgyzstan has become a primary center of all aspects of the narcotics industry: manufacture, sale, and drug trafficking. Kyrgyzstan’s location adjacent to major routes across the Tajik mountains from Afghanistan combines with ineffectual domestic smuggling controls to attract figures from what a Kyrgyz newspaper report characterized as “an international organization uniting an unprecedentedly wide circle of members in the United States, Romania, Brazil, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan….These are no half-literate Tajik-Afghan drug runners, but professionals who have passed through a probation period in the mafia clans of the world narcotics system….”

Mr. Scott goes on to shine a further spotlight on the importance of Kyrgyzstan as a critical US “Transit Hub”:

The Badakhshan drug corridor is a matter of urgent concern for Russia. The Afghan opiates entering Russia via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the chief smuggling route, come from Badakhshan and other northeastern provinces. The reductions of the last three years in Afghan drug production, while inadequate overall, have minimally impacted the northeast, allowing opiate imports into Russia to continue to grow. Meanwhile the much-touted clearing of opium poppy from the Afghan northern provinces has in some cases simply seen a switch “from opium poppies to another illegal crop: cannabis, the herb from which marijuana and hashish are derived.”

As a result, according to U.N. officials, Afghanistan is now also the world’s biggest producer of hashish (another drug inundating Russia).⁶⁷ This has added to the flow of drugs up the Badakhshan-Tajik-Kyrgyz corridor. In short, the political skewing of America’s Afghan anti-drug policies is a significant reason for the major drug problems faced by Russia today.

…

IN July 2010 I wrote a lengthy investigative piece at Boiling Frogs Post on Kyrgyzstan, Bakiyev, Mina Corp and the connected US operatives:

When we talk about the strategic importance of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and other ‘stans’ we are not talking only about strategic in the sense of traditional resources-oil, we also talk about ‘narcotics resources’:

At the moment the stock of pure heroin in Afghanistan is estimated at slightly below 3,000 tons, and the revenues of Afghan drug suppliers reach around $3 bn annually. The international drug mafia earns at least $100 bn annually on heroin from Afghanistan, the money nourishing organized crime not only in Afghanistan but also across Central Asia – in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

And no, the real lords of these resources are not the farmers in Afghanistan or the mules transporting them. The real lords of heroin enterprises happen to be those who’ve been ‘groomed and planted’ to rule the source and transit nations, and the ones who rule those rulers who reside in the United States and other Western countries:

The revenues generated by the drug business are distributed among the criminal groups controlling various segments of the supply chain linking poppy farms to narcotics consumers. While Afghan poppy growers are enduring extreme poverty, the owners of the fields mostly reside in the US, Great Britain, and other Western democracies.

…

I encourage you to take the time and read the entire investigative report on Kyrgyzstan here. Once you do that you’ll understand why it makes perfect sense to have a drug boss lead Kyrgyzstan’s police force. It takes far more than a few mules to transport tens of billions of dollars worth of poppies-heroin. And it takes more than a third-world shack to house-base the loads as a transit hub. What you need is a major airbase and a massive hub. A la USA.

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Every time I read lines pertaining to this ludicrous and completely illogical expectation that everything on the Internet should be free I am tempted to sit down and write a lengthy analysis of the illogical and ludicrousness of this unfortunately prevailing mentality among the new ignorant internet-dependent generation. However, each time I restrain myself and move on since the limited amount of time I have could instead be spent on far more critical and needed projects. This time I will slightly change my routine, take a few minutes of my limited time, and write a few words on this topic as it directly relates to our website and our efforts to keep it alive, running, and effective.

The other day I came across a well-written and argued commentary on this outrageously ridiculous and uninformed “everything free on the Internet” mentality:

“We created this culture. We’re the ones who have been giving stuff away for free for the past decade, not collecting anyone’s credit card information. We’ve conditioned users that everything should be free, always. This gives advertisers the upper hand in any negotiation, because they know that their way is the only way that most sites can make money. Why is this such a big deal? Relevant, contextual advertising isn’t bad, right? Not in moderation, no (see The Deck). But when ads become the only way out and advertisers are the ones calling the shots, users suffer. Also, as a matter of principle I firmly believe that it’s better to pay the makers of things directly than through some convoluted ad system.”

There is nothing that is free-on the Internet or anywhere in life. Period. There has never been, and will never be. Period. In almost all cases, when it comes to the Internet, “Free” has one meaning: someone or someones is paying for what is being offered. The only logical question then becomes: Why. If advertisers are paying- why would they? If corporate foundations and the sugar-daddies behind them are dishing out the money- why are they? If political parties and persons are chipping in- why do they? If a group motivated by a certain goal or agenda is shouldering the cost: Why is it?

This is why it is extremely hard to find information and news sources that can be considered truly independent. This is the reason it is a rarity to see those that are 100% nonpartisan. This is the explanation for way too many agenda-driven propaganda channels on the Internet posing as alternatives. And this is exactly why we at Boiling Frogs Post solely, completely, 100%, only, depend on our readers’ contributions and support.

You see, the question we face at BFP is not whether we should offer our diligently prepared podcast shows, time-consuming video productions, and in depth analyses and articles for free, or, not. The real question we face is: whether we continue this website and all that we provide, or, go out and work full-time and cease operation all together. There are no in-between points here.

You see, I first reduced my part-time contract work hours to start this project. I then reduced it again by half. And after that, last September, I quit it all together. If you have a chance please take a look at my qualifications under ‘About Us.’ For my ex-contract analyst-specialist contract work which also needed my linguistic skills I made $125 per hour. This is money my family no longer has. And there is no way I could manage full-time motherhood, part-time contract work, household work, and a full-time website. No one could. For me it boils down to: shut down BFP, obtain another 25-hrs per week contract, or, make far less, live on far less, have your modest support, and continue and expand this great news-information project.

One of our partners-producers had to quit his full-time academic job in order to provide greater and far more needed public good: investigative reports-production. He too has a family. He too has to sustain his family. He too must choose between living on far less, continuing this needed work by depending on your modest contributions, or, go back to a full-time teaching job and consider doing this an impossibility.

Another one of our partners-producers lost his primary part-time job (thanks to the corporate media!). This is a critical period for him to see whether he can make it through a couple of public-supported information sites, or, go out and enroll full-time with semi-mainstream operated channels out there. That decision too depends on you.

Yet another partner-producer-author is in the position of juggling a full-time student load, a part-time job, and our project here at Boiling Frogs Post. Neither I nor anyone else with common sense could expect him to choose getting evicted from his house or quitting his academic pursuits as the price for working for a far greater public good.

The other day I got an e-mail accusing us of being elitists and offering our work only to those who pay for a subscription. This is nonsense. It is uninformed and frankly, very ignorant. We have gone out of our way to find the right balance in being able to afford to run this project and yet offer all our services and news to everyone. That is why we are making all our archived podcasts and video reports open and free to all. And you know what? Without our supporters doing their share, contributing, however modest, we won’t be able to continue doing that. Again, this is why we call the maintenance and continuation of this project a collective responsibility.

This is Week 2 of our Quarterly Subscription-Donation drive.  The existence of this project is solely dependent on you. Our truly independent, nonpartisan, corporate-advertisement-free and corporation-foundation-free website can only be sustained through collective support; your support. We are doing our share. We are asking you to do yours. Please do your share and help us continue this truly independent news and views venue. Please subscribe or donate to Boiling Frogs Post.

SUPPORT US NOW

Winter sky drapes the land, like a canopy
dropped by unseen hands upon a cage.
Farm ground blurs between houses
at an imprecise place, over the creek, 
beyond my neighbors’ spruce.  Past
what we can see spreads
the topography of an uncertain age.
Fence posts pitch and lose themselves
in fog, like stick men heading off
to evening chores, or the dutiful poor
marched off to kill the poor in forgettable wars.
What I took for granted and thought I knew
when sunbeams slanted through
transparent pain, seems now
untenable and untrue.  Still, rockslides
and dying forests loom, like deficits
we must assume in this obscuring air.
The looted vault gapes, a victim’s mouth.
Herefords steaming under willows
birth their calves.  The little town rubs
its knees beside a flame and tunes
its set for a prompted reassurance.
I kick the empty streets in muffled gloom.
I bounce solid hopeful notes off walls
of unsold homes.  Kept birds balance
in dim rooms, each night, a new deception.
With sky this low, could it be more clear?
What we need to know we musn’t hate or fear.
On the Passamari, the dog star fluxes, red
to green, whether occluded or seen.

-G. Karl Marcus

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A few days ago presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich told the people of Florida about his plans for a permanent colony- base on the Moon, and promised to work toward turning the satellite into the 51st US state. I, and many others, including our leaders and representatives, thought we already had one- a 51^st State. Our current president, Barack Obama, has publicly and repeatedly recognized the 51^st State. So did our previous president, George W. Bush. The United States Congress has been treating ‘it’ as such. The ordinary but informed public has acknowledged ‘it’ for years. Thus, there was not anything new or groundbreaking about the notion of a 51^st state in Gingrich’s recently publicized statements and promises. That was not what quickly grabbed my attention. And certainly that was not what I consider a brilliant idea coming from a not so brilliant man. What I considered brilliant, both as an idea and a solution to a major problem, was sending the 51^st state up to the moon.

For years I have been thinking and pondering about possible solutions to our 51^st state, considered by many in the world as the greatest threat to global peace and security- far more dangerous than Iraq, Iran or North Korea. For a very long time I have been searching for a possible answer to stopping what world human rights organizations consider a major human rights violator. I know I am not among the minority when it comes to this 51^st state, which has been declared a “ Nightmare for Human Rights”, even inside the walls of the timid United Nations. As a life-long advocate for children, how could I not seek solutions to the 51^st state problem, known for its ongoing torture, abuse and imprisonment of children? I even thought about relocating the 51^st state from its current location, and considered various spots ruled by the 51^st state’s creators and backers.

I never considered Britain as a possible ideal location for the 51st state. Way too Europe.  Add to that their dense population, rainy and damp climate, more vocal anti-51^st state population not shying away from boycotts, and their government’s  preference for continuing their neo-colonialist practices subtly (unlike their flashy and boisterous counterpart-USA) made it a wrong fit. 

Next, I was thinking of Connecticut. You must admit, it makes practical sense in some respects. After all, the 51^st state has had one of its representatives representing it right from Connecticut … for a long time. But then again, other impractical factors such as the state’s size, high population density, and un-desert-like climate quickly eliminated Connecticut as an option.

After that, I seriously looked into deserts in Nevada. Its population density looked right, and so did its climate. Things were looking good until my libertarian-leaning friends and colleagues begged me to give them a ‘pass.’ Because admit it, with such a long and thick record of illegal wars, illegal settlements … who would want to take a chance? It might start as a limited state-colony in the Mojave Desert, and before you know it would get greedy, move toward Arizona and California, cross borders and start claiming the entire desert and beyond. They would end up with repeated aggressions, human rights violations and wars, all instigated by the 51^st colony-state, and relying on past history they would have no one come to the rescue! I value my friends, so I gave them a pass.

I then began looking past places within the United States’ borders. In this technology and communication age, with our military bases all over the world, there was no reason not to look for a place outside the US for our 51^st state, as a new colony with a fresh-er start.

Australia looked pretty darn good. A huge continent, all those deserts, so very little population, brand new, and heck, it has been serving our government-military pretty well. Many still consider it a UK-Colony now partially shared and ruled by the US. However, that idea too had to be discarded. Why? The 51^st state is known to be very touchy when it comes to titles-names-appearances. In this case it was Australia’s nickname-The Land Down Under. The 51^st state would consider this option as ‘moving down,’ thus not acceptable. They would claim that moving to a place referred to as ‘Down Under’ would have possible-potential discriminatory and pejorative implications … And with that, gone was my last possible option-location. That is, until …

Newt Gingrich came up with one of his most brilliant ideas. Let me correct myself: He accidentally came up with the only brilliant idea of his life; even if he is not nearly brilliant enough to realize it. I am not talking about the technological or political campaign strategy aspects associated with this accidentally brilliant statement. I am talking about the possible destination and solution he may have come up with for the 51^st state; however unintended. I am talking about the new Gingrich solution to end one of the major causes of global conflicts, human rights abuses, and the constant thorn in our side. Let’s move the 51^st State up to the moon. It’s a win-win situation. They would be moving up, and would have the entire moon as their colony base, where they wouldn’t be loathed, hated and despised by millions. The world will have one less major constant conflict to deal with, one less major threat, and one less instigator of atrocious acts against humanity. So yes, let’s pursue the Moon, and move our 51^st state up there.

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Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on your support. This project is brought to you without receiving a single penny in corporate money or advertisement, without getting any support from agenda-driven corporate foundations, while defying all partisan and status quo boundaries. Here is how you can support Boiling Frogs Post:

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I saw Hugh Masekela many many years ago at a small jazz club and was blown away by his music and his sound. His trumpet playing is incredible and I’ve been a fan of his for forty years. I will be seeing him again this February in Worcester, MA and can’t wait.

The emotion Hugh brings to this piece is absolutely astounding. This performance will knock your sox off. This week’s pick for Soothing the Beast is Coal Train by Hugh Masekela and his band…Enjoy!…PJ

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BFP Nightly Quote

“Under what concealment has this power lain hidden, which now for the first time comes forth, with a tremendous and baleful aspect, to trample down and destroy the dearest right of personal liberty? Who will show me any Constitutional injunction which makes it the duty of the American people to surrender everything valuable in life, and even life, itself, whenever the purposes of an ambitious and mischievous government may require it?” – Daniel Webster 


International Newsworthy

Iran Set to Turn Off Oil Supply to Europe

Iran Sanctions Backlash-Oil Buyers Ditch Dollar

Growing Elite Opposition to Strike on Iran

Pakistan: Rockets Hit Military Academy in Abbotabad

Pakistan Detains Three Alleged German Spies  

Fox News Analyst Vows to Expose ISI

 …

Iraq: Car Bomb Kills 28 at Baghdad Hospital

Syria: Car Bomb Hits Syria Security Checkpoint Causing Death-Injuries

Syrian Troops Fight Rebels Near Damascus

Western-Backed Resolution on Syria Doomed

 …

Egypt: Down to $10 Billion in Reserves

Will China Help Out the West in Sudan?

Libya’s New Rulers Resort to Old Tactics

UN: Libya Arms Could Reach Al Qaeda, Boko Haram

Nigeria Union to Stop Oil Production

…

Russia: No Unilateral Concession on NATO Missile Shield

Russian Military Intelligence to Change Tactics

Russia Wrestling Down South Ossetian Opposition

Ukraine: Activists Protest Arrival of US Navy Ship

Mongolia: Strategic U.S. Ally between China & Russia

Azerbaijan: NATO International School Session Begins

Armenia: Yerevan Wants to Open to Iran

…

Turkey-Greece-Italy: Caspian-Middle East Pipeline to Europe

Norway Spy Chief Quits in Secrecy Gaffe

UK: Calls for Inquiry into ‘Anti-Muslim’ Bias

Kosovo: Who Does the ISG Speak for?

US to Return to & Establish Military Presence in Philippines

National Newsworthy

Pentagon to Unleash Special Operations Troops Worldwide

Pentagon’s New Budget: Rise of the Machines

CIA to Pull Officer from NYPD after Internal Probe

Large Stash of Cocaine Arrives at UN HQ in New York

US Has Arrested Iranian Scientist

Many Largest Corporations Paid more for Lobbying than for Federal Income Tax

Obama’s Top Aides Don’t Like to Pay Taxes

Foreclosure Machine Grinds On

Cryptome: Audit of DOJ Implementation of Integrated Wireless Network

Big Brother Wants More

Freedom Fears over Twitter’s “By-country Censorship”

U.S. Pig Farmers Use Drug Banned in China as Unsafe

EX-BP Worker Files Whistleblower Suit over Cleanup

Noteworthy Editorials

Pepe Escobar: The Iranian Oil Embargo Blowback

Glenn Greenwald: The Human Rights “Success” in Libya

A Real Foreign Policy Debate

ACTA: A Corporate Usurpation of the Internet

Forced Expatriation Coming to USSA

Profile of a Rogue State

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: Libya’s Tortured Freedom

Video 2: Faking it- How the Media Manipulates the World into War

Video 3: Super Power- Official Movie Trailer

Podcast: Boiling Frogs Show Presents Fmr. FBI’s Coleen Rowley-Police State Part II

We Need Your Support

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on your support. This project is brought to you without receiving a single penny in corporate money or advertisement, without getting any support from agenda-driven corporate foundations, while defying all partisan and status quo boundaries. Here is how you can support Boiling Frogs Post:

Become a BFP Subscriber

You can sign up for our recurring annual subscription program for $50 or more, or if you prefer recurring monthly subscription payments you can sign up for monthly $5 or more. Your subscription will give you access to the following:

-Weekly Investigative Video Report ‘The EyeOpener’ with James Corbett

-Weekly Podcast Interview Series ‘The Boiling Frogs Show’ with Sibel Edmonds & Peter B. Collins

-Weekly Podcast Series ‘Empire, Power & People’ with Andrew Gavin Marshall

-BFP Exclusive Members’ Discussion Forum

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This is Part II of our interview series on the Makings of a Police State. You can listen to Part I here.

Coleen Rowley joins us to share her views and thoughts on the state of the misleadingly named ‘criminal justice system’ in the United States today, and the extent to which the apparatus has been transformed into a police state. She discusses the recently signed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the implications of this law for American citizens, and the troubling fact that many Americans are not aware of the serious threats to their liberties and rights posed by this police state enabling new law. Ms. Rowley talks about the Obama Administration’s increasing control of all information outlets together with the constant use of fear-hate-greed-false pride and blind loyalty propaganda to manufacture consent for the war machine as well as a panoply of other government-corporatocracy crimes, the escalating retaliation against government whistleblowers and government secrecy, FBI abuses and Director Mueller’s quietly extended term, and more!

Coleen Rowley, a FBI special agent for almost 24 years, was legal counsel to the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis from 1990 to 2003. She came to national attention in June 2002, when she testified before Congress about serious lapses before 9/11 that helped account for the failure to prevent the attacks. She now writes and speaks on ethical decision-making and on balancing civil liberties with the need for effective investigation.

Listen to the preview Here

Here is our guest Coleen Rowley unplugged! (Subscribers only)

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Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest oil producer, is from all evidence being systematically thrown into chaos and a state of civil war. The recent surprise decision by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to abruptly lift subsidies on imported gasoline and other fuel has a far more sinister background than mere corruption and the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) is playing a key role. China appears to be the likely loser along with Nigeria’s population.

The recent strikes protesting the government’s abrupt elimination of gasoline and other fuel subsidies, that brought Nigeria briefly to a standstill, came as a surprise to most in the country. Months earlier President Jonathan had promised the major trade union organizations that he would conduct a gradual four-stage lifting of the subsidy to ease the economic burden. Instead, without warning he announced an immediate full removal of subsidies effective January 1, 2012. It was “shock therapy” to put it mildly.

Nigeria today is one of the world’s most important producers of light, sweet crude oil—the same high quality crude oil that Libya and the British North Sea produce. The country is showing every indication of spiraling downward into deep disorder. Nigeria is the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States and twelfth largest oil producer in the world on a par with Kuwait and just behind Venezuela with production exceeding two million barrels a day. [1]

The curious timing of IMF subsidy demand

Despite its oil riches, Nigeria remains one of Africa’s poorest countries. The known oilfields are concentrated around the vast Niger Delta roughly between Port Harcourt and extending in the direction of the capital Lagos, with large new finds being developed all along the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea.  Nigeria’s oil is exploited and largely exported by the Anglo-American giants—Shell, Mobil, Chevron, Texaco. Italy’s Agip also has a presence and most recently, to no one’s surprise, the Chinese state oil companies began seeking major exploration and oil infrastructure agreements with the Lagos government.

Ironically, despite the fact that Nigeria has abundant oil to earn dollar export revenue to build its domestic infrastructure, government policy has deliberately let its domestic oil refining capacity fall into ruin. The consequence has been that most of the gasoline and other refined petroleum products used to drive transportation and industry, has to be imported, despite the country’s abundant oil. In order to shield the population from the high import costs of gasoline and other refined fuels, the central government has subsidized prices.

Until January 1, 2012, that is. That was the day when, without advance warning President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan announced immediate removal of all fuel subsidies. Prices for gasoline shot up almost threefold in hours from 65 naira (35 cents of a dollar) a liter to 150 naira (93 cents). The impact rippled across the economy to everything including prices of grains and vegetables.[2]

In justifying the move, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi insisted that “The monies will be used in provision of social amenities and infrastructural development that will benefit Nigerians more and save the country from economic rift.”[3] President Goodluck Jonathan says he is phasing out the subsidy as a part of a move to “clean up the Nigerian government.” If so how he plans to proceed is anything but apparent.

The huge unexpected price hike for domestic fuel triggered nationwide protests that threatened to bring the economy to a halt by mid-January. The president deftly took the wind out of protester sails by announcing a partial rollback in prices, still leaving prices effectively double that of December. The trade union federation immediately called off the protests. Then, revealingly, Goodluck Jonathan’s government ordered the military to take to the streets to “keep order” and de facto prevent new protests. All that took place during one of the bloodiest waves of bombings and murder rampages by the terrorist Boko Haram sect creating a climate of extreme chaos.[4]

The smoking gun of the IMF

What has been buried from international accounts of the unrest is the explicit role the US-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF) played in the situation. With suspicious timing IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was in Nigeria days before the abrupt subsidy decision of President Jonathan.[5] By all accounts, the IMF and the Nigerian government have been careful this time not to be blatant about openly announcing demands to ends subsidies as they were in Tunisia before food protests became the trigger for that country’s Twitter putsch in 2011. 

During her visit to Nigeria Lagarde said President Jonathan’s ‘Transformation Agenda’ for deregulation “is an agenda for Nigeria, driven by Nigerians. The IMF is here to support you and be a better partner for you.” [6] Few Nigerians were convinced.  On December 29 Reuters wrote, “The IMF has urged countries across West and Central Africa to cut fuel subsidies, which they say are not effective in directly aiding the poor, but do promote corruption and smuggling. The past months have seen governments in Nigeria, Guinea, Cameroon and Chad moving to cut state subsidies on fuel.” [7]

Further confirming the role US and IMF pressure on the Nigerian government played, Jeffery Sachs, Special Adviser to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, during a meeting with President Jonathan in Nigeria in early January days after the subsidy decision, Sachs declared Jonathan’s decision to withdraw petroleum subsidy  “a bold and correct policy.” [8]

Sachs, a former Harvard economics professor became notorious during the early 1990’s for prescribing IMF “shock therapy” for Poland, Russia, Ukraine and other former communist states which opened invaluable state assets for de facto plundering by dollar-rich western multinationals. [9]

Making the sudden decision to end the domestic fuel subsidy even more suspicious is the manner in which Washington and the IMF are putting pressure on only select countries to end subsidies. Nigeria, whose oil today sells for the equivalent of $1 a liter or roughly $3.78 a US gallon, is far from cheap. Brunei, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia all offer their petrol very cheap to their people. The Saudis sell their oil at 17 cents, Kuwait at 22 cents.[10] In the US gasoline averages 89 cents a liter.[11]

That means the IMF and Washington have forced one of the poorest economies in Africa to impose a huge tax on its citizens on the implausible argument it will help eliminate corruption in the state petroleum sector. The IMF knows well that the elimination of subsidies will do nothing about corruption in high places.  

Were the IMF and World Bank genuinely concerned with the health of the domestic Nigerian economy, they would have provided support for rebuilding and expanding a domestic oil refinery industry that has been let to rot so that the country need no longer import refined fuels using precious state budget resources to do so.  The easiest way to do that would be to expedite a two-year-old deal between China and the Nigerian government to invest some $28 billion in massive expansion of the oil refinery sector to eliminate need for importing foreign gasoline and other refined products.

Quite the opposite—the criminal cabal inside NNPC and the Government making huge profits on the old subsidy system are suddenly making double and potentially triple more to maintain the old corrupt import system, and, of course, to sabotage Chinese refinery construction that could put an end to their gravy train.

Cutting their nose to spite the face…

Rather than benefit ordinary Nigerians as the IMF proclaims to want, the elimination of the subsidies has further pauperized the 90 per cent living on less than $2 a day, according to Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Nigerian Central Bank governor.[12] An estimated 40 million Nigerians are unemployed in the country of 148 million.

Because transport costs are a significant factor in delivery of food to the cities, food price inflation has soared along with costs of public transportation for the majority of poorer Nigerians. According to the Nigerian Leadership Sunday, “prices of commodities which shot up as a fallout of the fuel pump price increase have refused to come down.” Everything from street vegetable sellers to carwashes to roadside photographers are feeling the shock of the rise in fuel prices. Unemployment is rising as small businesses fold. ^[13]

The argument of the IMF and  the Jonathan Administration  is that by freeing fuel prices, funds would be available to  more social services and rebuild Nigeria’s “infrastructure.” Both the IMF and the Government know it would have been far more economically viable to replace the current corrupt system of importing refined gasoline and fuels with investing in rebuilding Nigeria’s domestic refining capacity.

Son Gyoh of the Nigerian Awareness for Development organization stated, “Would it not be more expedient to pressure government to service the refineries to full production capacity given the implications on overhead and competitiveness for local industries?”  [14]

Gyoh pointed to the source of the problem: “Why have successive governments left the refineries in a state of disrepair while spending huge on subsidy? Is there any chance that the savings from subsidy withdrawal will go directly into rehabilitating the refineries? Does deregulation imply NNPC will no longer operate a monopoly in importation of refined petroleum product or is this lobby a self-serving lifeline to continue its monopoly? ” He concludes, “In any case, there is good reason to doubt subsidy removal will solve the fuel scarcity problem as the cabal will only regroup to change tactics, a fact Nigerians are only too aware of.” [15]

After Nigeria partly nationalized its oil sector in the late 1970’s they also took control of Shell Oil’s Port Harcourt I refinery. In 1989 Port Harcourt II refinery was built. Both refineries fell into serious disrepair after 1994 when the Abacha military dictatorship cut the “take” of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) from domestic sale of refined oil products such as gasoline from 84% to 22%. That caused a cash crisis for NNPC and a halt to refinery maintenance. Today only one of four refineries operates at all. ^[16]

What developed since was a system of NNPC importing foreign gasoline and other refined products for Nigeria’s domestic needs, naturally at a far more expensive cost. The price subsidies were to relieve that higher import cost, hardly a sensible solution but a very lucrative one for those corrupt elements in the state and private sector making a killing, literally, off the import process. 

NNPC criminal enterprise

The IMF is well aware of the real cause of Nigeria’s fuel industry problems. A Nigerian legislative committee examining the sources of the industry’s problems recently released a report documenting that at least $4 billion annually is taken from taxpayers in fuel industry corruption with the state Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) at the center. According to the commission, “every day, fuel importers drop off 59 million liters of fuel. The country consumes 35 million liters daily. That leaves 24 million liters of oil available for smugglers to export, paid for by government fuel subsidies. This costs the Nigerian people roughly $4 billion yearly, according to Reuters.” [17]

The Nigerian government has said that the 7.5 billion dollars spent yearly on fuel subsidies could be used to provide desperately needed infrastructure. But they omit any mention of the rampant siphoning off of $4 billion of oil by black market smugglers, reportedly with connivance of high NNPC government officials, to sell to neighboring countries at a hefty profit. The refined imported fuel is reportedly smuggled into neighboring countries like Cameroon, Chad and Niger where petrol prices are far higher, according to Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Deputy Governor of Kano State.[18] 

China as IMF target?

One major geopolitical factor that is generally ignored in recent discussion of Nigerian oil politics is the growing role of China in the country. In May 2010 only days after President Jonathan was sworn in, China signed an impressive $28.5 billion deal with his government to build three new refineries, something that in no way fit into the plans of either the IMF or of Washington or of the Anglo-American oil majors.[19]

China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited (CSCEC) signed the deal to build three oil refineries with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), in the biggest deal China has made with Africa. Shehu Ladan, head of NNPC, said at the signing ceremony that the added refineries would reduce the $10 billion spent annually on imported refined products. As of January 2012 the three Chinese refnery projects were still in the planning stage, reportedly blocked by the powerful vested interests gaining from the existing corrupt import system.[20]

A report in China Daily last November quoted Nigeria’s Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga, the minister of trade and investment that Nigeria was seeking added Chinese investors for its energy, mining and agribusiness industries. Last September on a visit to Beijing, Nigeria central bank governor Lamido Sanusi  announced his country planned to invest 5 percent to 10 percent of its foreign exchange reserves in China’s currency, the renminbi (RMB) or yuan, noting that he sees the yuan becoming reserve currency. In 2010 China’s loans and exports to Nigeria exceeded $7 billion, while Nigeria exported $1 billion of crude oil, Sanusi stated.  ^[21]

Until now Nigeria has held some 79% of her foreign currency reserves in dollars, the rest in Euro or Sterling, all of which look dicey given their financial and debt problems. The move of a major oil producer away from dollars, added to similar moves recently by India, Japan, Russia, Iran and others, augurs bad news for the continued role of the dollar as dominant world reserve currency. [22] Clearly some in Washington would not be happy with that.

The Chinese are also bidding to get a direct stake in Nigeria’s rich oil reserves, until now an Anglo-American domain. In July 2010, China’s CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) won four prospective oil blocks -two in the Niger Delta and two in the frontier Chad Basin, with plans to become core investor in the Kaduna refinery, and construction of a double track Lagos-Kano railway.[23]  As well China’s oil company, CNOOC Ltd has a major offshore production area in Nigeria.

The IMF and Washington pressure to lift subsidies on imported fuels is at this point in question as is the future of China in Nigeria’s energy industry. Clear is that lifting subsidies in no way will benefit Nigerians. More alarming in this context is the orchestration of a major new wave of terror killings and bombings by the mysterious and suspiciously well-armed Boko Haram. This we will look at next in the context of Nigeria’s recent transformation into a major narcotics hub.

F. William Engdahl is author of A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics in the New World Order. He may be contacted through his website at www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net where this article was originally published.

Endnotes:

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BFP Nightly Quote

“Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience. . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.” –Howard Zinn

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Debt owed by the United States federal government has risen sharply in recent years.  The worst recession since the Great Depression played a role in that increase, to be sure.  But the federal debt has been growing considerably faster than the U.S. economy since 1980. The total debt now comes to closely $15 trillion – about $50,000 for every person in the U.S. of A.

The chart below depicts the gross Federal debt since 1966:

Back in 1966, the federal debt came to 40% of nominal annualized GDP.  Today, the total federal debt is about equal to GDP.  In a sense, of course, we are comparing apples and oranges; the total debt is an amount owing at a point in time, while GDP attempts to measure the value of goods and services produced in an economy over a period of time.  Nonetheless, the ratio of federal government debt to GDP helps capture the fact the debt has been growing rapidly, relative to the ability of a taxed economy to support the debt.  And the growth rate in debt has accelerated since 2000, particularly in recent years.  Here is a look at the ratio of federal debt to annualized GDP since 1966:

One way or another, this debt will need to be serviced.  Interest payments on the debt are a source of burden for a taxed society, while substantial and growing principal obligations also require attention.  And unfunded obligations growing in federal entitlements programs can lead measures like bonded indebtedness to understate the extent of the problem.

The earnings capacity and growth potential supporting these obligations remains significant, but for a growing number of alarmed Americans, the national debt is becoming a national fear.  Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul can work for a while, but recent fiscal crises facing countries in Europe highlight risks in this regard.  Where we are in the US today, relative to the kinds of limits now evident in Europe, remains a matter of debate.  But for many of us, the use of government spending to support private gain at broader public expense has become a more fundamental matter. 

Even when a budget is balanced, government spending often enriches a few well-connected Pauls at the expense of many Peters.  Special interest groups can feast on the common good.  The proven incentives and ability for government to enrich the few at the expense of the many can be enhanced when borrowing gets involved.  Spending for a few Pauls may come at the expense of younger and unborn Peters as well, many of whom now face the prospect of paying down debt owed to a growing number of Wangs.  Down the road, many of our youngest and unborn Peters, Pauls, and Marys face harder, longer hours to pay for spending they never agreed to.   

Constitutional Amendments – In General, and as a Solution

In 1787, visionary leaders drafted a new United States Constitution.  It became a matter of considerable debate and compromise, but by June 1788 nine states had ratified it, and it became the supreme law of the land.  In the preamble, the Constitution articulated its mission statement.  Consider these goals as perspective for the implications that government spending and borrowing can pose for the common good:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

To this end, the constitution also included a means for altering itself.  In Article V, the new Constitution included amendment provisions.  The Constitution did not make amendments easy, but it did make them possible.   

There are four main routes for an amendment to become part of the Constitution.  They arise from two methods to propose an amendment, and two ways to ratify one.  The first way to propose an Amendment is through a joint resolution approved by two-thirds of members of both Houses of Congress.  Proposed amendments can then become actual amendments in one of two ways – they may be ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, or they may be ratified through conventions in three-fourths of the states.   The state ratifying conventions route has only been used to ratify one amendment — the 21^st Amendment.  (This amendment was also the only one to overturn a previous amendment — the 18^th Amendment, which first established federal alcohol prohibition.)  

As noted above, there is another way to originate and propose an Amendment, in addition to the joint resolution passed by two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Congress.   The other way to originate an amendment is through the state legislatures.  An amendment can be proposed if two-thirds of state legislatures agree to direct Congress to call a convention of the states, and this convention then proposes the amendment.  An amendment proposed in this way can then be ratified through either three-fourths of the state legislatures, or ratifying conventions in three-fourths of the states. 

So, to summarize, there are two ways to propose a Constitutional amendment.  There are also two ways to ratify a proposed amendment.   An amendment can be proposed through action originating in the Congress, or in the state legislatures.  In turn, an amendment can be ratified through state legislatures, or state ratifying conventions.  Either way, at the end of the day, ratification of a proposed amendment goes through the States of the United States.

And a state-based effort is now underway to do to direct Congress to establish a convention among the states for the purpose of a new constitutional amendment limiting the federal debt.  This amendment could provide a simple, effective tool that strengthens the original document as a tool for promoting the general welfare.

The National Debt Relief Amendment

A few years ago, two Arizona businessmen (Glenn Hughes and James Booth) founded RestoringFreedom.org.  They approached Charles Gray, a former Arizona state senator and earned his support for their idea.  In turn, Gray discussed the idea with leaders at Arizona’s Goldwater Institute (one of the original beneficiaries of the Liberty Markets Fund for Freedom).   After some research, Goldwater signed on enthusiastically.

Nick Dranias, director of the Center for Constitutional Government at Goldwater, has called the National Debt Relief Amendment “the single most powerful amendment idea that has come through the Goldwater Institute.”  The amendment reads, simply:

“An increase in the federal debt requires approval from a majority of the legislatures of the separate States.”

The leaders in this effort were originally focused on the second method for proposing an amendment – through a convention among the states.  The other path – through two-thirds majorities in both houses of the Congress— requires a principal source of federal spending and debt growth to discipline itself.  But our state and local governments aren’t necessarily shining beacons of financial responsibility, and a convention among the states to propose this amendment risks sparking some questions whether the pot is calling the kettle black.  Last week, another leader in this effort, Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, introduced a joint Congressional resolution proposing this amendment, with exactly the same language as the state-based proposal effort.

*Further information about the National Debt Relief Amendment can be seen at RestoringFreedom.org, while educational resources about the amendment that were prepared by the Goldwater Institute are available here.

Government spending can be abused when special interest groups establish and ride a gravy train funded by the Average Joe, particularly if debt financing is available and serves to cushion the cost for current taxpayers at the expense of taxpayers down the road. 

Entitlements aren’t the only programs susceptible to corruption.  In light of some of Andrew Gavin Marshall’s work here at Boiling Frogs and elsewhere, the costs of ‘globalization’ (a nicer word for ‘empire’?) include those directly incurred by parties participating in overseas markets, as well as their subsidies like government-guaranteed financing from the Export-Import Bank and even our extensive worldwide military presence. Hopefully, we aren’t at a stage like the latter days of the Roman Empire, after decades of supporting the few at the expense of the many — with untenable long-run financial consequences.

Bill Bergman has 10 years of experience as a stock market analyst sandwiched around 13 years as an economist and financial markets policy analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He earned an M.B.A. as well as an M.A. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago in 1990. Mr. Bergman is currently working with Social Movement Sciences LLC, a new enterprise developing evaluation and funding services for not-for-profit organizations.

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Last week Boiling Frogs Post broke the newly brewing story-line in the war propaganda against Iran involving an alleged Iranian terror plot in Azerbaijan. Yesterday we had a follow up on the emerging ‘alleged’ details in the ‘alleged’ plot claiming Israeli diplomats and religious figures were the intended targets of the alleged Iranian assassination plot [All Emphasis Mine]:

Three Azerbaijani citizens who were arrested by security forces last week planned to attack Jewish targets, including Israeli ambassador to Baku Michael Lotem, a local media outlet reported Tuesday. Israeli sources also speculated that the terror cell members plotted to attack the embassy in Baku and the ambassador… The men are suspected of plotting to kill a rabbi and a teacher at the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Day School in Baku as revenge for the recent killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran…Two of the suspects were identified as Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov. According to reports, they received instructions from Balagardash Dadashov, who was in contact with Iranian intelligence and received a sniper rifle, pistols and explosive devices to attack Chabad emissaries operating in Baku.

…

As with many stories, especially those involving ‘alleged’ terrorism operations conducted by the nations on the list of our to-be invaded-occupied nations it is important to pay specific attention to the context, and other ancillary and related details and facts. Before we do that let’s note the most important fact in the case of Iran: which actor in the current global imperial pursuits has been the primary and most active force against Iran and for its invasion? I believe everyone would unanimously and very easily answer this question. Israel.

While the pressure and the venues of attacks on Iran have been growing and escalating- think nuclear arms development accusations, meddling in Iraq accusations, alleged assassination attempt against Saudi Diplomat in the US accusations …, we suddenly get a brand new allegation accusing Iran of plotting a terror act in Azerbaijan. Not only that, the targets of this alleged terror plot happen to be none other than Israel. If that doesn’t give you pause, make it a long pause, followed by firm skepticism, well, your mental faculties may be in need of a serious check-up followed by a thorough tune-up.

Now, let’s review the latest details providing needed context in the new allegations pointed directly at Iran by Israel and Azerbaijan.

Four days after we brought the readers’ attention to this significant developing story, four days late, the mainstream media began its coverage, of course with their own version. Here is a report by Reuters:

Authorities in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic bordering Iran, have arrested two men suspected of plotting to attack prominent foreigners including Israel’s ambassador and a local rabbi, officials and media reported on Wednesday.

The National Security Ministry said the men were connected to an Iranian citizen who had links with Iran’s intelligence.

…

Here is an excerpt clarifying Azerbaijan’s position and its intimate ties to Israel and the US, but fails to mention its status as ‘To-Be-NATO Member’ soon:

Azerbaijan, a secular Muslim country, is home to more than 9,000 Jews and has friendly ties with Israel and the United States. A major energy producer, it exports oil to Israel and imports weapons and military hardware.

And here is the US setting the stage for the next wave of conspiracy in setting up Iran:

The U.S. embassy issued a warning to its citizens saying “the possibility remains for actions against U.S. or other high-profile foreign interests in Azerbaijan”.

…

Diplomatic ties between Azerbaijan and Iran are cool, but Iranian companies operate and have stakes in oil contracts in the Caspian Sea state, which exports around 1 million barrels of crude a day (bpd) westward through a pipeline operated by a consortium led by BP.

…

Also yesterday, Israeli President Shimon Peres personally saluted Azerbaijan for allegedly foiling the alleged terror plot:

Peres, attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, told Ilham Aliyev that Israel saluted his country for “saving lives on your land from a murderous terrorist attack.” Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry revealed last week that it uncovered a cell planning terrorist attacks. Two Azerbaijanis and an Iranian citizen living in Iran were implicated in the plot. The two Azerbaijanis were arrested.

…

Here is what Aliyev emphasized:

Aliyev, according to Peres’s office, said the plot showed “to what degree we are in a difficult and dangerous neighborhood…Aliyev said Azerbaijan would continue to cooperate with Israel, especially on homeland security issues.

…

Speaking of relations getting more intimate between Azerbaijan and Israel:

During the signing ceremony SCC head noted that the State Customs Committee is interested in expanding cooperation with the Israeli Customs Directorate, “The agreement signed between the Azerbaijani and Israeli governments gives an impetus to bilateral relationships, and will accelerate the process of cooperation and integration of the parties.”

Azerbaijan has become an important trading partner with Israel on security and foreign affairs. Economic cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan has grown significantly. In 2011, the trade between the two countries totaled more than $2.5 billion.

…

Remember those ‘conflicting’ reports on the ‘alleged’ Iranian assassination plot against the Saudi Diplomat in the US? You can refresh your memory here.  Well, this ‘alleged’ plot is also filled with ‘conflicting’ reports and details, already:

Conflicting reports have emerged about the terror plot. While local media said an Iranian-backed terror cell had planned to kill Jewish teachers at the Or Avner Jewish schooll just outside the capital Baku, other reports in the media claimed the men were offered $150,000 by Iran to assassinate Israel’s Ambassador Michael Lotem.

A spokesman for the Or Avner network of Jewish schools, however, denied on Tuesday night any knowledge of a planned attack. “The Jews of Baku and the administrators of the school have no information on what was reported in Azeri media last Thursday,” said the spokesman. “The community’s routine has not changed.”

…

Here is a video clip on this new alleged Iranian Terror Plot:

In the UK, the Telegraph also reported on the ‘alleged’ story, and of course, it added the usual UK twist and spice:

If true, the plot will be seen as the latest evidence of Iran’s intentions to strike at its enemies abroad. Last October, the US justice ministry said it had uncovered an Iranian conspiracy to use members of a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

…

Speaking of Britain, the following data is also noteworthy:

The volume of investments made by BP and its partners in Azerbaijan amounted to $ 35 billion during its activity in the country, BP Azerbaijan company head Rashid Javanshir said during a ceremony of signing the agreement on the support with the National Olympic and National Paralympic Committees… BP will continue its activity to develop the economy as a whole and oil and gas industry in particular in subsequent years, he said.

…

We were the first US site to break and cover this still-brewing story. We will continue our coverage and rely on you to disseminate this new scheme in our nation’s desperate attempt to invade-occupy yet another nation.  Please stay tuned.

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BFP Nightly Quote

“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” – Tacitus

International Newsworthy

Iranian Energy Poses Asian Dilemma

Iran Banned from Trading Gold & Silver

Saakashvili & Obama Plotting Attack on Iran

US Sees Iran’s Neighbor Azerbaijan as a Major Strategic Partner

UK Warns of More Firepower in Hormuz

GCC Countries Withdraw Observers from Syria

Russia Affirms Support for Syria’s Assad

Pakistan: Fox Analyst Mansoor Ijaz Not Going to Pakistan to Testify

U.S. Paying Millions in Cash for “Collateral Damages” aka Condolence Payments

Iraq: Two Car Bomb Blasts Kill Ten in Baghdad

…

 Libyan Arms Flood ”Nightmare” for Africa  

Egypt Parliament Gets Legislative Powers

Yemen Sends More Troops to Militant-Held Town

South Sudan Starts Halting Oil Pumping

…

China Questions US-Philippines Joint Military Drill

EU Passes the Oil Buck to China

Armenia, Azerbaijan to Speed Up Karabakh Settlement

Uzbekistan: Struggle in Name Only

Watchdog: Uzbekistan Human Rights “Appalling”

Bangladesh: Failed Coup

Japan: Nuclear Radiation Levels from Fukushima are Rising

…

Kosovo Organ Trafficking Case Gains New Dimension

UK: Tony Blair had Secret Group Preparing for Euro Referendum

France: Senate Passes Bill Criminalizing Armenian Genocide Denial

Germany:  Spy Agency Monitors Leftwing Politicians

National Newsworthy

Cryptome: Ex-CIA Officer John Kiriakou Indicted

Kiriakou Criminal Complaint-Document

Human Rights Chief Slams Obama’s Arbitrary Detention

Marine Gets 3 Months in Jail for Massacring Two Dozen Civilians

Ron Paul Starts Campaign to End the TSA

SOPA & PIPA: What Went Wrong?

Introducing the Mega Super Hybrid PAC

$5 Million More for Gingrich

Extreme Revolving Door: Ex-Rep Delahunt Profits from Earmark He Created

AIG Chairman Says People Just “Doesn’t Get it”-Bailout

NY Times Front-Pages Adelson Gift to Gingrich PAC without a Word About Israel

Crisis in America’s Political Landscape

Noteworthy Editorials

Pepe Escobar: Europe at War with Iran

Ron Paul: Stop Internet Censorship

Glenn Greenwald: Western Justice  & Transparency

Weapons ‘R’ Us: Confessions of a Recovering Weapons Addict

Why Obama’s “Targeted Killing” Worse than Bush’s Torture

Preparing for the Next Conquest: What Does Libya Tell us about Syria-Iran Intervention?

Who is Newt Gingrich?

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: Boiling Frogs Post- Resisting the Police State

Video 2: New Police Pre-crime Technique

Video 3: World Uprising the Antidote to the New World Order

Video 4: EU to Embargo Iranian Oil

Podcast: Corbett Report- The Tiny Dot with Larken Rose

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BFP Nightly Quote

“A good soldier is a blind, heartless, soulless, murderous machine. He is not a man. His is not a brute, for brutes kill only in self defense. All that is human in him, all that is divine in him, all that constitutes the man has been sworn away when he took the enlistment roll. His mind, his conscience, aye, his very soul, are in the keeping of his officer. No man can fall lower than a soldier—it is a depth beneath which we cannot go.” – Jack London 

International Newsworthy

Iran: In the Shadow of War

War on Iran Propaganda’s New Azeri Plot Thickens

Iranian Parliament Mulling a Plan to Cut Oil Exports to Europe

US Lures Pakistan with Cheaper Gas than Iran

Statoil Exempted from EU Ban on Iran Oil

Tehran Pushes to Ditch the US Dollar

…

Afghan Army’s Night Raiders to Take “Control”

Pakistan: Opposition Parties Stage Walk-Out in Senate over US Drone Killings

Pakistan: Gilani Reverses Earlier Criticism of Military  

Pakistan Memo Probe Heading for Stalemate

… 

GCC Nations Push for UN Intervention in Syria 

The Truth behind the “Coming Regime Change” in Syria

Iraq: Shia Casualties Rise after Withdrawal

Iraqi Authorities Hang 34 People in a Single Day

Bahrain, Yemen & Syria Get Worst Ever Press Freedom Ranking

Israel Plans to Launch Cyber Maneuver

…  

Egypt: State of Emergency Cracking Up

Egypt: The Plot to Topple the State?

Libya: Worrying Signs of More Troubles to Come

UN Envoy Moves to Somalia as Violence Rages

… 

China Losing Media War Over Self-Immolation

Russia to Deliver Combat Jets to Syria

Russia to Pull Helicopters from South Sudan

Kyrgyzstan: Authorities Confront Mass Prison Protest

Armenia: NATO’s Third Partner in Caucasus

…

Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA despite Massive Protest

Romanians Protest Austerity Measures

Julian Assange to Launch TV Show

Portugal May Need a Second Bailout

National Newsworthy

Criminally Corrupt- Eric Holder & Top DOJ Lawyers Partners with Big Banks

Obama Puppetmaster Warren Buffet Biggest Winner from Keystone Pipeline Rejection

Warren Buffet’s Secretary to Join Obama

CRS: Now that Obama Uses Them, Signing Statements Are OK

Court Dismissed Case Seeking to Hold US Officials Accountable for Torturing American Citizen

Obama’s Assault on Government Whistleblowers: New Leak Case (Kiriakou) Relies on 1982 Law on Intelligence Identities

EX-CIA Officer John Kiriakou’s Indictment Made Simple

Fifth Generation Warplanes & U.S. Global Domain Dominance

Charlotte City Council OK’s Expanding Police Power during DNC

K Street Defends Egyptian Raids

Court Says Review of Security Clearance Dispute is “Prohibited”

Obama’s New Fairytale: Peace & Prosperity for War-Bent US

Gingrich Promises to Overthrow Castro Regime if Elected

Noteworthy Editorials

Pepe Escobar: All That Glitter is … Oil  

Paul Craig Roberts: Drowning in Hypocrisy

Examining Terror Tipsters: “If You See Something, Say Something”

Israeli Assassinations & American Presidents

The Bigger Picture of Rand Paul’s Brush with the TSA 

Iran: Is this What NATO Has in Store?

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: LAPD Coordinated with CIA

Video 2: Libya Out of Control

Video 3: Internet Strikes Back- DOJ, FBI, Music Sites Crippled

Podcast 1: BFP- Punishing the Population: The U.S. in Haiti & the Dominican Republic

Podcast 2: Corbett Report- FBI Blackballing with Jason Leopold

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Last week we broke the newly brewing story-line in the war propaganda against Iran here at Boiling Frogs Post. The new scenario was originated, disseminated and promoted by a known member of the loyal propaganda machine of our global imperial pursuits, Radio Free Europe. According to the new story-line, our soon-to-be-NATO member intimate ally regime in Central Asia, Azerbaijan, claims it has allegedly exposed an Iranian assassination plot and Iranian terror cell in its capital city-Baku [All Emphasis Mine]:

Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry (MNS) says it has uncovered a terror group that was plotting to assassinate public figures, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports. The ministry said on January 19 that the group was planning terrorist acts and had illegally acquired firearms, military supplies, and explosives. The APA news agency quoted the MNS as saying that Azerbaijani citizens Rasim Aliyev, Ali Huseynov, and Balaqardash Dadashov — the latter of whom is living in Iran — coordinated efforts to acquire firearms and explosives.It said those materials were brought illegally to Azerbaijan from Iran.

The MSN said Dadashov was in contact with Iranian special service bodies and ordered the assassination of prominent foreigners living in Baku. It claims that Dadashov promised Aliyev — his brother-in-law — $150,000 for his work.The MSN said Dadashov had told his accomplices that he would discuss their plans with Iranian secret services.

…

Today, brewing in the background are new allegations and  further thickening of this new plot directed against Iran, providing further unsubstantiated details.  According to the unsubstantiated new claims those arrested by Azeri security forces last week planned to attack Jewish targets, including Israeli ambassador to Baku, Michael Lotem:

Three Azerbaijani citizens who were arrested by security forces last week planned to attack Jewish targets, including Israeli ambassador to Baku Michael Lotem, a local media outlet reported Tuesday. Israeli sources also speculated that the terror cell members plotted to attack the embassy in Baku and the ambassador.

…

The men are suspected of plotting to kill a rabbi and a teacher at the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Day School in Baku as revenge for the recent killing of a nuclear scientist in Tehran. The Iranian regime claimed Israel was behind the assassination. Two of the suspects were identified as Rasim Aliyev and Ali Huseynov. According to reports, they received instructions from Balagardash Dadashov, who was in contact with Iranian intelligence and received a sniper rifle, pistols and explosive devices to attack Chabad emissaries operating in Baku.

…

Azeri politicians are accusing Iran of creating provocations following the uncovering of an alleged terror plot to allegedly assassinate Israel’s ambassador to Baku.

“On one hand, Iran talks of Shiite Muslim brotherhood, but on the other it cooperates with and supports terrorists of Christian-Armenian,” said chairman of the country’s Civil Solidarity Party Sabir Rustamkhanly…

…

For the last few months the empire’s nuclear weapons allegations against Iran have produced very little results; they haven’t really stuck. Most likely the Saudi Prince-Ambassador Assassination Plot-Scenario was outsourced to a not very competent or bright Hollywood producer-director; it failed big time and it certainly was embarrassing to all secondary actors such as the FBI. The empire still hasn’t invaded Iran. The Caspian Sea is waiting, and so many are drooling. It must be time for a new scenario. A new script. A brand new actor. Welcome Azerbaijan, a thickening new assassination plot, an alleged scary terror cell in Baku, and alleged Israeli targets. The powers up there seem desperate, and desperation can do stupid things with irreversible damage.

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This podcast episode examines the early 20th century United States military occupations of Haiti (1915-1934) and the Dominican Republic (1916-1924), undertaken as an imposition of the Monroe Doctrine (1823) declaring Latin America as the “backyard” of the United States. The ruthless military occupations, inflamed by racism, supported by the media, and undertaken by the ruthlessly imperialistic and racist politicians who are today celebrated as champions of ‘democracy,’ resulted in the strengthening of state structures, establishment of brutal militaries, and exploitation by American corporations and banks, leading to the establishment of military dictatorships which dominated these countries for much of their recent history, while American economic interests reigned supreme. These incidents provide a brief, yet illuminating look at the nature of American imperialism as it progressed throughout the 20th century.

Listen to the podcast show here:

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With TSA abuses back in the headlines, continued concern over the NDAA and other legislation codifying martial law, President Obama’s unchallenged use of his self-proclaimed authority to assassinate American citizens without trial, and an increasingly bewildering array of tracking, tracing and pain-compliance technology being used against law-abiding citizens, more and more people are becoming aware of the police state that currently exists in the US, and indeed throughout much of the so-called “free world.”

With this understanding comes a certain amount of apprehension: after all, the enemies of liberty are organized and persistent, and they inhabit positions of authority. The defenders of liberty, meanwhile, seem few and far between, and more time seems spent convincing others that the police state even exists than in working to dismantle these systems of control.

This is our EyeOpener Report by James Corbett, presenting the police state as a system of coercion that relies upon the majority’s compliance, the myriad tracking technologies that are used to keep the population docile and compliant, the mental prison constituted by the police state, and the need to shatter the illusion that the system is all-seeing, all-knowing and all too powerful.

Watch the Preview Here:

Watch the Full Video Report Here (Subscribers Only):

*The Transcript for this video is available at Corbett Report: Click Here

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BFP Nightly Quote

“WAR, n. A time-tested political tactic guaranteed to raise a president’s popularity rating by at least 30 points. It is especially useful during election years and economic downturns.” – Chaz Bufe, the Devil’s Dictionaries

International Newsworthy

Iran: East Asian Energy Dilemma over Iran

Second US Aircraft Carrier Strike Group Arrives in Arabian Sea

EU Adopts Oil Embargo on Iran

Iran War: U.S. Eyes Covert Ops & Middle East Gendarme Role

Syria: Arab League Asks Assad to Delegate Power to Deputy

Syria Denounces New Arab Initiative

Saudi Arabia Calls for Military Intervention in Syria-Again

Pakistan Secretly Helping US Drone Wars

US Drone Raid Kills 5 in Pakistan

Has India Joined NATO’s Afghan War?

Human Rights Watch: Iraq is Becoming a Police State

Iraq: Kurds Caught in Middle as Tensions Stoked by Regional Jockeying

MEK Members in Iraq Ready to Return to Iran?

Saudis Rally against Al Saud Rule

Israel’s Al Jalame Prison: Palestinian Children in Solitary Confinement for Weeks

Egypt: Failed Treasury Auction Portends Disaster

Libya: Pro Gaddafi Forces Capture Bani Walid, 5 NTC Troops Killed  

Russia: Putin Outlines his Manifesto on Nationalism & Ethnic Strife

Azerbaijan Claims it Exposed Terror Cell in Baku

Asian NATO: US Senators Push for Increased Military Ties with Philippines  

Global NATO: Baltic Troops in Afghanistan, NATO Warplanes in Baltics

Iceland Declares Independence from International Banks

National Newsworthy

The Proposed Enemy Expatriation ACT: Sending American Citizens into Exile

Feds Claim Ex-NSA Analyst Had Top Secret Plus Info on Home Computers

GPS Spying: Supreme Court Says Police Need a Warrant

TSA: Brazenly Strip-Searching & Just as Brazenly Lying About It

TSA Turns Away Senator Rand Paul at Airport Checkpoint

Doctor Calls Police, Child Services on Mother who Refuses to Vaccinate Son

Thousands of Federal Retirees Receive 100K a Year Pension, Including Gingrich

US Lost 687,000 High-Tech Jobs in Decade

Newt Gingrich’s Long Money-in Politics Past

Super PACs Spends $30 Million  

The War for the Internet Has Begun

Noteworthy Editorials

Philip Giraldi: Police State USA & the NDAA- Creating American Terrorists   

Creeping Authoritarianism on Capitol Hill

A Fitting Symbol of American Empire

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Russ Baker: So Pa So Good … But Must Activists Always Align with Corporations to Win?

US-NATO War Crimes in Libya

In Praise of a Do-Nothing Congress

Eurasian Union & Russia’s Geostrategic Stability

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: James Corbett- India Fingerprinting, Iris Scanning over One Billion People

Video 2: America & Israel- An Unbreakable Bond?  

Video 3: Surviving Japan

Video 4: Hundreds of APCs on a Train in Watsonville, CA Heading South

Podcast 1: Corbett Report- Deconstructing the Panopticon

Podcast 2: Corbett Report- History Repeating: My Lai, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan

Podcast 3: Peter B. Collins Show-Attorney Carl Mayer Talks about Chris Hedges’ Suit against Obama

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You can sign up for our recurring annual subscription program for $50 or more, or if you prefer recurring monthly subscription payments you can sign up for monthly $5 or more. Your subscription will give you access to the following:

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-BFP Select Nightly News & Editorial Round Ups from Alternative Sources

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I was overseas during the most intense stage of the 2008 US Presidential Election; thankfully. However, I was not completely spared from this ludicrous ‘politics the American way’ even outside the country- think CNN international, think Wall Street international edition … basically think the inability to escape it all thanks to the globalization of the news, more like Americanization of the global news. The around the clock coverage of elections a la USA was booming in the background, more like foreground, of every single international (Western) hotel and resort, tourist hangout cafes and bars, and airport lounges. And I heard many comments from ‘outsiders’ on the ridiculously long, expensive, and show-like phony distraction called Presidential Election USA. Of course, deservedly, many of those comments were ‘snarly.’ Some were plain witty and truthfully hilarious-muckraking a la Brits.

I almost never disagreed with the outsiders’ assessment of and take on our painfully long, money-driven and for-show-scripted presidential election season. However, I slightly differed in one characterization:

Many referred to our uber costly and glitzy presidential race as ‘A Dog & Pony Show.’ I certainly saw, and still see, the appropriateness of this characterization of our presidential race: A Dog & Pony Show. But I had, and still have, my own characterization that applies equally well, and actually goes even deeper: A One-Man-Owned Cock Fight.

A Cock Fight is a contest in which gamecocks usually fitted with metal spurs are pitted against each other. Here is a bit more expanded description:

A cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters (cocks), held in a ring called a cockpit. Cockfighting is now illegal throughout all states in the United States, Brazil, Australia and most of Europe.

The combatants, referred to as gamecocks, are specially bred birds, conditioned for increased stamina and strength. The comb and wattle are cut off in order to meet show standards of the American Gamefowl Society and the Old English Game Club and to prevent freezing in colder climates. Cocks possess congenital aggression toward all males of the same species. Cocks are given the best of care until near the age of two years old. They are conditioned, much like professional athletes prior to events or shows. Wagers are often made on the outcome of the match. While not all fights are to the death, the cocks may endure significant physical trauma. In many other areas around the world, cockfighting is still practiced as a mainstream event; in some countries it is government controlled.

…

There are variations and regionally based differentiations in cockfighting shows and betting-gambling, but the two main ones are based on one owner-two cocks or two-owners-two cocks.

I happen to view our presidential race as a one-owner-two cocks show. Of course, initially, during the primaries it all starts with several cocks-one owner, and after that it gets narrowed down until we have two cocks-still-standing and one-owner. To understand this a bit better you must look at the major backers of our presidential candidates; take the last round in 2008: Obama-Clinton-McCain. Take a look at the fund-ers, owners. What do you see? Military Industrial Complex mega players, Financial Industry mega players, Oil industry mega players …All spreading their bets between three cocks, and later on two. They train and groom their multiple cocks, write the show scripts for the PR-Marketers (mainstream media), let the cocks put on the show, and no matter which cock wins, they get to win.

So yes, we Americans love everything big: big cars, big houses, big food portions, and big-glitzy and ludicrously long presidential election races with way too many bells and whistles, which  can appropriately be called ‘A Dog & Pony Show.’ When examined closer a better analogy seems to be a One-Man-Owned Cockfight.

*** A few readers have suggested that we cover the 2012 presidential election here @ Boiling Frogs Post. I personally would rather stay away from all that nonsense glitz. After all, the entire MSM is covering it 24 X 7, and almost all popular blogs-forums have committed their entire sites to it. However, I would like to hear from more of you.

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Those of you who’ve been listening to our podcast series know how impatient I sometimes get when the question boils down to ‘what do we do? Where do we go from here?’ Look, I understand and agree with the general consensus out there among the intellectuals and activists: We must educate the people- We must inform. After all, isn’t it what we’ve been doing with our podcast series, investigative video reports, hard-hitting editorials, bold and eye-opening editorial cartoons, and propaganda-free real news? Right. But that doesn’t make me any less impatient and restless. I simply can’t stand the idea of spending decades to just  keep informing, meanwhile have no idea or even a certain degree of consensus on the next two important steps: organize & action.

If you’ve listened to our last podcast, our first episode on the making of a police state, you know exactly what I mean. I frankly admit to being very naïve once-upon a time when I wasted time and energy organizing whistleblowers, went around collecting petition signatures, held rallies in the congressional corridors here in our own little Red Light-District …Yah, all that jazz; futile jazz. So yes, one side of me understands and sympathizes with those who are engaged in all that waste of time and energy, yet, another side of me gets impatient and exasperated. It ain’t gonna happen with sending thousands or millions of petitions to the sold-out Congress, which happens to be one of  the main players-actors responsible for the terrible state we are in. Why do you think the corporate moguls-Soros, Rockefellers, Ford …put so much money into NGO operatives who have been re-channeling people’s restlessness-dissatisfaction-anger into writing and signing petitions to Congress-President and the rest of the enemy cabal, or lobbying to pass more ridiculous legislation? Look, last year alone, those red light  district porkies drafted and passed 40,000+ new laws-legislation. With each legislation-law adding further links to the chains that have turned us into slaves.

What I am trying to say here is this: what we are doing is great-working hard to inform. But we must not disregard or put aside the other two important needed ingredients for ‘real’ changes: organize and then, action. How do we challenge and overcome this ‘partisanship’ paradigm created by the united masters to divide and box in the people? What forms of action do we engage in to directly target our enemies and where they can be hurt? And many other related questions we must try to answer …

Meanwhile we’ll continue our efforts to educate and inform-despite my frequent frustrated and impatient outburstsJ This is a collective effort. We need your support to continue, remain independent, grow stronger, expand our reach, and hopefully soon get to the next two stages: organize and take ‘real’ action.

Boiling Frogs Post is solely dependent on your support. This project is brought to you without receiving a single penny in corporate money or advertisement, without getting any support from agenda-driven corporate foundations, while defying all partisan and status quo boundaries. This quarter we need to add 300 new subscribers-donors. Here is how you can support Boiling Frogs Post:

Become a BFP Subscriber

You can sign up for our recurring annual subscription program for $50 or more, or if you prefer recurring monthly subscription payments you can sign up for monthly $5 or more. Your subscription will give you access to the following:

• Weekly Investigative Video Report ‘The EyeOpener’ with James Corbett

• Weekly Podcast Interview Series ‘The Boiling Frogs Show’ with Sibel Edmonds & Peter B. Collins

• Weekly Podcast Series ‘Empire, Power & People’ with Andrew Gavin Marshall

• BFP Exclusive Members’ Discussion Forum (Open to members – beta stage)

• Members Monthly News Letter (Coming Soon)

Donate to Boiling Frogs Post

You can make a one-time contribution to support our team and projects. Those of you who do not wish to subscribe to our multimedia projects or commit to recurring annual- monthly payments but want to support our team, all the daily news, editorials and other features provided by BFP can make a one-time contribution. Your donation will help us continue and expand upon the following daily coverage and features brought to you by Boiling Frogs Post:

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• Select Editorials & Analyses by Independent and Nonpartisan Experts

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Welcome to Soothing the Beast. All week we work, stay involved, fight and just try to survive and come to grips with everything in this world around us. We need a break and that’s what this segment is all about. At Boiling Frogs Post when Saturday night rolls around it’s time for “Soothing the Beast” with some music. So every Saturday night (make that on a lot of Saturday nights) we’re going to take a break and listen/watch a music video. Some nights our pick for the night will be low key and other times raucous or somewhere in between. No matter where it falls, it’ll be an escape that we all really need. So check it out, feel free to comment and most of all take a deep breath and enjoy.

This week’s music pick is all about keyboard, vocals, guitars and drums. This song has a great beat and I love her voice. Give it up for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals performing “Treat Me Right” from their album Nothing But The Water … PJ

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Grace and her band, check out Grace Potter at Wikipedia.

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The imperial establishment’s desperation to militarily go after and take over the last ‘real’ domino – Iran, has truly reached a peak, and with that desperation comes a new farfetched and fantastical scenario. Last time the script of their scenario was written based on a Saudi Diplomat actor. It was only three months ago when the puppet mainstream media jumped in with a made-up, dubious, far-reaching, murkily and vaguely-sourced story of the thwarted Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador in US. Here are a few excerpts from CNN’s fabulous-ized headline story that played around the clock for days, beating the war drums for its masters:  

U.S. agents disrupted an Iranian assassination-for-hire scheme targeting Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, U.S. officials said Tuesday…The Saudi ambassador was not the only intended target, U.S. officials said. The suspects also discussed attacking Israeli and Saudi embassies in Washington and possibly Buenos Aires, Argentina, a senior U.S. official said.

…

Of course CNN was not the lone wolf in the intense broadcasting and dissemination of this Washington script. The rest of the MSM puppets followed the same trend: Washington Post, New York Times, FOX … Not only that, the pseudo-alternative con outlets did exactly the same thing. Just check out the verbatim dissemination by Huffington Post and other ‘popular’ so-called alternatives. Thankfully we had enough facts, critical thinkers, and independent news fronts to expose all the holes in that concocted story:

A close analysis of the FBI deposition reveals, however, that independent evidence for the charge that Arbabsiar was sent by the Qods Force on a mission to arrange for the assassination of Jubeir is lacking. The FBI account is full of holes and contradictions, moreover. The document gives good reason to doubt that Arbabsiar and his confederates in Iran had the intention of assassinating Jubeir, and to believe instead that the FBI hatched the plot as part of a sting operation.

…

So that scenario script kinda failed. Of course the other long-cooking concoction on Iran’s nuclear weapons development has not gotten the establishment hawks far either. Even the mainstream has been grudgingly admitting the holes-filled allegations on dangerous nuclear weapons armed Iran!

You’d think all the debunked allegations and failed attempts would give the imperial hawks a bit of a pause to come up with a better concoction. At least go away for a while and rethink their strategy; no? Obviously not. Desperation can do amazingly stupid things to greed-driven, wild-eyed and blood-thirsty bullies in pursuit of expanded turf.  They just came out with a new concocted scenario and allegations. This time their lead actor happens to be Azerbaijan.

Our soon-to-be-NATO member intimate ally regime in Central Asia, Azerbaijan, claims it has allegedly exposed an Iranian assassination plot and Iranian terror cell in its capital city-Baku [All Emphasis Mine]:

Azerbaijan’s National Security Ministry (MNS) says it has uncovered a terror group that was plotting to assassinate public figures, RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reports. The ministry said on January 19 that the group was planning terrorist acts and had illegally acquired firearms, military supplies, and explosives.

The APA news agency quoted the MNS as saying that Azerbaijani citizens Rasim Aliyev, Ali Huseynov, and Balaqardash Dadashov — the latter of whom is living in Iran — coordinated efforts to acquire firearms and explosives.It said those materials were brought illegally to Azerbaijan from Iran.

The MSN said Dadashov was in contact with Iranian special service bodies and ordered the assassination of prominent foreigners living in Baku. It claims that Dadashov promised Aliyev — his brother-in-law — $150,000 for his work.The MSN said Dadashov had told his accomplices that he would discuss their plans with Iranian secret services.

…

Now, interestingly the first place/source to start to disseminate our script writers’ new concocted scenario involving another ‘Iranian Plot’ was no other than … yes, you guessed it: Radio Free Europe. Check out this news’ origination by this long-propaganda machine of our global imperial pursuits here. The second source to pick up on it was no other than a Soros-Funded site on Central Asia here. Guaranteed: the other MSM outlets will be having a field day with this new propaganda. In fact, they’ve been hot on another related side story with the same actor written by the same writers. I kid you not; here it is: Azerbaijan claims that the recent cyber attacks that destroyed its government and news websites originated in … Iran! Let’s check out the headline on this today at …Business Week:

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — Cyber attacks that destroyed government and news websites in Azerbaijan this week mostly originated in Iran, government minister Ali Abbasov said. An investigation by Abbasov’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology found that of 25 attacks, 24 came from Iran and one from the Netherlands, Abbasov told reporters in the Azeri capital, Baku, today.

…

For the last few months the empire’s nuclear weapons allegations against Iran have produced very little results; they haven’t really stuck. Most likely the Saudi Prince-Ambassador Assassination Plot-Scenario was outsourced to a not very competent or bright Hollywood producer-director; it failed big time and it certainly was embarrassing to all secondary actors such as the FBI. The empire still hasn’t invaded Iran. The Caspian Sea is waiting, and so many are drooling. It must be time for a new scenario. A new script. A brand new actor. Welcome Azerbaijan, a thickening new assassination plot, a scary terror cell in Baku, and savvy Iranian cyber-terrorists obsessed with this dingy little country’s dingier-littler government and news websites.

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Every weeknight we’ve been presenting to you ‘BFP Select Nightly News & Editorials,’ a thorough round up of international and national news, select editorials, videos and podcasts. We have been consistent in providing you with balanced selections from sources other than disreputable US mainstream media such as CNN, FOX, NY Times, Washington Post or News Week.  We have been highly conscious of giving equal platforms to the news organizations representing those intruded upon and violated by our nation’s foreign policy and practices. Isn’t it only fair to provide both sides? We have been daring in presenting controversial, truly independent and bold editorials and analyses feared, resented and censored by many mainstream and pseudo alternatives wary of their funding sources.

I invite you to check over 120 nightly news roundups provided to you here at Boiling Frogs Post for our track record on banning the repeatedly-discredited and long-proven illegitimate propaganda outlets. I encourage you to check our selections and see our consistency in ensuring the credibility of what we bring to you night after night. And I ask you to compare our nightly news-editorials with others who boast ‘alternativeness and independence’ but do exactly the opposite. Today, I checked one such site, and here is what I came up with:

Of approximately 50 or so headlines provided on Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Turkey … They have 11 Headlines taken straight out of ‘Washington Post,’ 14 from ‘BBC,’ and 4 selections go directly to ‘NPR,’. Meaning: over 50% of their supposed alternative news came from 3 or 4 major mainstream media sources with very little or no credibility who have been consistently serving the Neocon and War Machine propaganda for decades.

Every day we spend several hours researching  the news and editorial selections brought to you every night. We don’t resort to the lazy-easy way of receiving headlines from 4 or 5 mainstream RSS feeds, and turning around and feeding those to you under the con game called ‘alternative.’ And we are determined to continue our ban on disgraced mainstream media sources that have long lost credibility with the true irate minority and activist citizens.

Please help us continue this work. We do not have foundation bosses or fund-ers. We do not serve the corporate fund-ers by being their advertisement platform-stage. We solely depend on you and your direct support. Please support this home of the irate minority, and thank you for all you do.

SUPPORT BFP

Sibel Edmonds

BFP Nightly Quote

“NATIONAL DEFENSE, n. In U.S. political discourse: 1) The pauperization of the nation through expenditures for deadly weapons systems; 2) The bombardment and invasion of small countries. The United States is, of course, the only nation entitled to such ‘defense.’ If the inhabitants of other countries resist the U.S. government’s ‘defensive’ measures, they become guilty of ‘internal aggression’; and if governments of other countries practice U.S.-style national defense, they become guilty of ‘naked aggression.’” – Chaz Bufe, The Devil’s Dictionaries 

International Newsworthy

New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran

Iran Scientist’s Killer May have Used U.N. Info

Iran: The Murder of Ahmadi Roshan Elicits 1000 Vocations

Iran’s Press TV Loses UK License

Arab League considers Extension of Syria Mission

Pakistan: Parliament to Decide on NATO Supply Resumption

France Suspends Afghan Operations after Four More Soldiers Killed

Iraq: Maliki Accused of Detaining & Torturing 100s of Political Opponents

Bahraini Regime Attacks Protesters, Kills a Child

Saudi Arabia Pivots toward Asia

Turkey: 1000s Protest Dink Murder

Rights Groups Report: NATO Committed War Crimes in Libya

British Troops Were on the Ground During Libya Crisis

China, Vietnam Drift in South China Sea

US actions make China-Russia alliance appealing

Russia: Hands Off Iran & Syria, China & Bric Countries Behind Russian Initiative

Moscow Slams Hacker’s Extradition to US

Obama Commends Azerbaijan for NATO War & Energy War Support

Turkey to Boost Military Aid to Kyrgyzstan

Freedom Survey: Central Asia Still Home to “Worst of the Worst”

Power Shifts in South Thailand

Australia Appoints First Ambassador to NATO

National Newsworthy

Pentagon Outsources War on Drugs to Blackwater

UN Asked to Probe US Efforts to Squelch Torture Probe

Ron Paul Introduces Bill to Repeal Indefinite Detention of Americans

House Approves Resolution Opposing Obama’s Debt Limit Hike

Fed Probes Shuttered GE Lender

Government Lawsuit Says Bank of America Mortgage Fraud even Worse than Countrywide

South Carolina Governor Got $65,000 from Romney-Affiliated PAC

Florida Consider Bills to Privatize Government Functions … Secretly

PIPA Postponed Indefinitely

FBI Hacked in Retaliation

Dronology: America’s Flying Eye Pries on Americans

Noteworthy Editorials

Stop the Madness: Iran’s Nuclear Program has yet to Violate International Law!

Another Letter from America for Iran

Power, Propaganda & Purpose in American Democracy

Alan Greenspan’s Ship of Fools

The Road to Iran Goes Through Damascus

From Guantanamo to Palau: Exchanging One Prison for Another

Occupy Wall Street at a Crossroads

BFP Nightly Video-Audio

Video 1: SOPA & PIPA

Video 2: Dronology

Video 3: Tom Woods on Rick Santorum

Video 4: Fukushima-Cancer Risk to Young Children Underestimated

Video 5: Spain’s “Indignados” & the Globalization of Dissent

Podcast 1: BFP Presents Shahid Buttar- Police State USA Series

Podcast 2: Corbett Report- Solutions: People Power

Podcast 3: Peter B. Collins Show- “Pitty the Billionaire” & “America Beyond Capitalism”

This is Part I of our interview series on the Makings of a Police State.

Shahid Buttar joins us to discuss the continuous erosion of our civil liberties from illegal domestic surveillance to Guantanamo, NDAA and its discretionary detention provision authorizing the President to detain Americans accused by the government of supporting terrorism. Mr. Buttar talks about the many abuses committed by the unchecked Federal Bureau of Investigation, the extension of FBI Director Robert Mueller’s Term quietly and readily by Congress, its significance and troubling implications, the capacity of the FBI to be used for political purposes established since the Hoover days, the US media’s silence on this significant issue, and more!

Shahid Buttar is the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the People’s Campaign for the Constitution (PCC). He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2003, where he served as executive editor of the Stanford Environmental Law Journal and as Professor Lawrence Lessig’s teaching assistant for Constitutional Law. In addition to his work leading BORDC, Shahid serves on the advisory bodies of the Rights Working Group, the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, and the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights. He also supports populist constitutionalism as a civil rights lawyer, independent columnist, community organizer, and hip-hop and electronica MC. In his creative capacities as a poet and musician, Mr. Buttar has performed around the world, co-founded several grassroots art and culture groups around the country, facilitated workshops for young people and emerging artists.

Here is our guest Shahid Buttar unplugged! (Subscribers only)

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One central facet to the development of the modern institutional society under which we live and are dominated today, was the redefining of the concept of ‘democracy’ that took place in the early 20^th century. This immensely important discussion took place among the educated, elite intellectual class in the United States at that time, and the consequences of which were profound for the development of not only American society and democracy, but for the globalization that followed after World War II. The central theme that emerged was that in the age of ‘mass democracy’, where people came to be known as “the public,” the concept of ‘democracy’ was redefined to be a system of government and social organization which was to be managed by an intellectual elite, largely concerned with “the engineering of consent” of the masses in order to allow elite-management of society to continue unhindered.

The socio-economic and political situation of the United States had, throughout the 19^th century, rapidly changed. Official slavery was ended after the Civil War and the wage-slave method of labour was introduced on a much wider scale; that is, the approach at which people are no longer property themselves, but rather lend their labour at minimal hourly wages, a difference equated with rental slavery versus owned slavery. While the system of labour had itself changed, the living conditions of the labourers did not improve a great deal. With Industrialization also came increased urbanization, poverty, and thus, social unrest. The 19^th Century in the United States was one of near-constant labour unrest, social upheaval and a rapidly growing wealth divide. And it was not simply the lower labouring classes that were experiencing the harsh rigors of a modern industrial life. One social critic of the era, writing in 1873, discussed the situation of the middle class in America:

Very few among them are saving money. Many of them are in debt; and all they can earn for years, is, in many cases, mortgaged to pay such debt… [We see] the unmistakable signs of their incessant anxiety and struggles to get on in life, and to obtain in addition to a mere subsistence, a standing in society… The poverty of the great middle classes consists in the fact that they have only barely enough to cover up their poverty… their poverty is felt, mentally and socially, through their sense of dependence and pride. They must work constantly, and with an angry sense of the limited opportunities for a career at their command.[1]

As immigrants from Europe and Asia flooded America, a growing sense of racism emerged among the faltering middle class. This situation created enormous tension and unease among middle and working class Americans, and indeed, the industrialists who ruled over them. Yet many in the middle class viewed the lower class, which was increasingly rebellious, as well as the immigrant labourers – also quite militant – as a threat to their own standing in society. Instead of focusing primarily on the need for reorganization at the top of the social structure, they looked to the masses – the working people – as the greatest source of instability. Their approach was in attempting to preserve – or construct – a system beneficial to their own particular interests. Since the middle class survived on the backs of the workers, it was not in their interest as a class to support radical workers movements and revolutionary philosophies. Thus, while criticizing those at the top, the call came for ‘reform’, not revolution; for passive pluralism not democratic populism; for amelioration, not anarchy.

This is what became known as the ‘Progressive Movement’ in American history. Influential journalists became leading ‘Progressives,’ and prominent social thinkers and social critics began further analyzing and arming the journalists with reformist ideas. The middle class was itself a major audience for progressive journalists. They acknowledged the need for social change and reorganization, and pushed for a method of achieving such change through the rational approach of ‘social science’ and “social evaluation.”[2] One of these leading progressive journalists, Edward Bellamy, wrote a book in 1888, “Looking Backward,” in which he argued that, “it would be the force of public opinion – opinion bolstered by the instrument of reason – that would perform the task of remaking the world for the benefit of all humanity.” Thus, “an informed and intelligent ‘public’ would be the agency through which a new historical epoch would be initiated.”[3]

This progressive form of journalism came to be known as “muckraking,” a term coined by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906, as this reform-oriented investigative journalism “began to reshape the discourse of public life,” driven by increasing discontent over governmental and corporate corruption.

The notion of “the public” was born in the eighteenth century Enlightenment, fused with the notion that the public was a rational body of persons, able to comprehend, identify and organize facts, premised on – as philosopher Jürgen Habermas articulated – the “informed, literate men, engaged with one another in an ongoing process of ‘critical-rational’ debate.” Thomas Jefferson reiterated such notions, suggesting that, “the creed of our political faith” rested at “the bar of public reason.” Progressive journalism gave profound emphasis to the promotion of facts and “social documentation.”[4]

Mass circulation media had changed the nature of “the public” in the late 19^th century. In particular, the newspaper industry grew, and like with other industries between the 1880s and World War I, “financial consolidation and technological innovation combined to alter the character and scale of big-city and small-town journalism,” as newspapers became big business. Thus, news was becoming ‘standardized,’ and the growth and business of magazine publishing followed suit.[5]

Yet, the proliferation of mass media was of a dual nature. While more people were able to gain access to more information from more places simultaneously, there was also the development of a trend in the emergence of a “public” increasingly defined as “spectators,” no longer active participants in the ‘public square,’ but observers from afar, in their geographically segregated middle class.[6]

As the first decade of the 20^th century drew to a close, and World War I drew nearer, a new concern was increasingly developing among the ‘Progressive’ movement and its ideologues and journalists. While continuing to push for reform, there was a growing rumbling and sense of revolution brewing from below, among the working class people. This concern increasingly moved to the forefront among Progressive intellectuals, who saw their own class and social conceptions threatened by the grumbling masses trapped in poverty beneath them. Perhaps the most influential intellect of the early 20^th century was a man named Walter Lippmann, a Harvard graduate who joined with Progressive publicists and had even joined the Socialist Party in 1910. By 1914, however, Lippmann had turned from his socialist inclinations, and wrote the well-received Drift and Mastery, which prompted Teddy Roosevelt to refer to Lippmann as “the most brilliant man of his age,” at just 25 years old. Lippmann’s principle concern was with the notion of the people ruling:

Ongoing middle-class hostility toward big business – once understood as a constructive catalyst for social reform – had now become, to Lippmann’s increasingly conservative mind, an inadvertent stimulus of social disintegration. As attacks on the practices of big business mounted and an increasingly militant working-class movement challenged the very concept of privately held wealth, Lippmann became more and more alarmed… In a country once “notorious for its worship of success,” Lippmann wrote, public disfavor was being heaped “savagely upon those who had achieved it.”[7]

Lippmann held the muckraking journalists increasingly responsible for this change on social perception, in which social unrest “threatened to spin out of control.” Lippmann described what he saw as an atmosphere of “accusation,” largely aimed at big business, which he viewed as “a collective psychological malady, a dangerous condition of paranoia, that, unless checked, posed a greater danger to society than the excesses of wealth.” Society was a pot on the verge of boiling over. As Lippmann wrote:

The sense of conspiracy and secret scheming which transpire is almost uncanny. “Big Business,” and its ruthless tentacles, have become the material for the feverish fantasy of illiterate thousands thrown out of kilter by the rack and strain of modern life… all the frictions of life are readily ascribed to a deliberate evil intelligence, and men like Morgan and Rockefeller take on attributes of omnipotence, that ten minutes of cold sanity would reduce to a barbarous myth.[8]

In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt gave an interview with the New Haven Register in which he lamented that the excesses of big business, coupled with the challenge of muckraking journalism, was creating a deeply precarious situation, in which, “sooner or later, unless there is a readjustment, there will come a riotous wicked, murderous day of atonement.” Thus, a “search for order” had come to dominate the minds of the once-reformist intellectuals of the day. As Stewart Ewen wrote in his excellent book, PR! A Social History of Spin:

Progressives looked for new strategies that might be employed to contain this impending social crisis. In this quest, a growing number turned toward the new ideas and techniques of the social sciences, hoping to discover foolproof instruments for diagnosing social problems and achieving social stability… To Lippmann and a growing number of others… the social sciences appealed less in their ability to create an informed public and more in their promise to help establish social control.[9]

Lippmann felt that the “discipline of science” would need to be applied to democracy, and that, “social engineers, social scientists, armed with their emerging expertise, would provide the modern state with a foundation upon which a new stability might be realized.” Thus, explained Ewen:

[N]ovel strategies of social management and the conviction that a technical elite might be able to engineer social order were becoming increasingly attractive… Accompanying a democratic current of social analysis that sought to educate the public at large, another – more cabalistic – tradition of social-scientific thought was emerging, one that saw the study of society as a tool by which a technocratic elite could help serve the interests of vested power.[10]

One of the most important works of this period was the 1895 work by French social psychologist, Gustave Le Bon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, in which he analyzed the changing nature of politics from being middle class oriented to transforming into popular democracy in which “the opinion of the masses” was becoming the most important opinion in society. Le Bon wrote that, “The destinies of nations are elaborated at present in the heart of the masses, and no longer in the councils of princes.” He lamented that, “the claims of the masses are becoming more and more sharply defined, and amount to nothing less than a determination to destroy utterly society as it now exists,” and that, “The divine right of the masses is about to replace the divine right of kings.” The “crowd,” postulated Le Bon, was only able to ‘react’ and was driven not by logic or reason, but by passion and emotion.[11]

An associate and friend of Le Bon’s, Gabriel Tarde, expanded upon this concept, and articulated the idea that “the crowd” was a social group of the past, and that “the public” was “the social group of the future.” The public, argued Tarde, was a “spiritual collectivity, a dispersion of individuals who are physically separated and whose cohesion is entirely mental.” Thus, Tarde identified in the growth of the printing press and mass communications, a powerful medium through which “the public” is shaped, and that, if managed appropriately, could bring a sense of order to a situation increasingly chaotic. The newspaper, Tarde explained, facilitated “the fusion of personal opinions into local opinions, and this into national and world opinion, the grandiose unification of the public mind.” A German sociologist named Ferdinand Tonnies argued that the newspaper became a channel through which one faction of society could “present its own will as the rational general will.” Thus, “objective reality” was in actuality, managed and controlled. The press, in this case, as the “organ of public opinion” could be a “weapon and tool in the hands of those who know how to use it and have to use it… It is comparable and, in some respects, superior to the material power which the states possess through their armies, their treasuries, and their bureaucratic civil service.”[12]

One of Walter Lippmann’s most influential teachers at Harvard, Graham Wallas, wrote that, “Organized Thought has become typical.” Thus, the idea of “the public” – malleable to suggestion, organized and controlled – came to manifest a type of ‘solution’ to the problem of “the crowd” – irrational, emotionally driven, and reactive. While the crowd was irrational, the ‘public’ could be reasoned with.[13]

One individual who was greatly influenced by these ideas was a man named Ivy Lee, a newspaperman who graduated from Princeton in 1898, and had come to offer his services to major industrial executives as one of the first corporate public relations practitioners. In 1916, he told a group of railroad executives that, “You suddenly find you are not running a private business, but running a business of which the public itself is taking complete supervision. The crowd is in the saddle, the people are on the job, and we must take consideration of that fact, whether we like it or not.” Thus, Lee felt that it was essential for the business community to “manufacture a commonality of interests between them and an often censorious public to establish a critical line of defense against the crowd.”[14]

Ivy Lee defined the job of public relations persons to that of a “news engineer,” and described himself as “a physician for corporate bodies.” The aim was to “supply news” to the press and the public so as to “understand better the soundness of a corporation’s policy or perspective.”[15]

One notable event was what came to be known as the Ludlow Massacre. The Colorado coal strike began in September 1913, in which roughly eleven thousand miners (mostly Greeks, Italians and Serbs) went on strike following the murder of one of their organizers. They went on strike against the Colorado Fuel & Iron Corporation, which was owned by the Rockefeller family, and against their low pay, horrible living conditions, and the “feudal domination of their lives in towns completely controlled by the mining companies.” The strikers were immediately evicted from their shacks in the towns, and subsequently set up tent colonies, when the Rockefellers hired gunmen (using Gatling guns and rifles) to raid the tent colonies. The Colorado governor called out the National Guard (whose wages were paid by the Rockefellers), and raided the colonies. On 20 April 1914, the largest tent colony at Ludlow, housing over one thousand men, women and children, was machine gunned by the National Guard, with the strikers firing back. When the leader of the strike was called up to negotiate a truce, he was shot dead, and the machine gun fire continued, with the Guard moving in at nightfall to set fire to the tents. The following day it was discovered that one tent included the charred bodies of eleven children and two women. This became known as the Ludlow Massacre.[16]

The Rockefeller Foundation emerged in this era, and became immediately interested in the ‘construction of knowledge’ as a means to defending the interests of the Rockefeller Group and capitalist society as a whole. The Rockefeller Foundation secretary, Jerome Greene, identified “research and propaganda” as a means to quiet social and political unrest. It was felt that “public opinion on the labor question could be shaped through the foundation in order to counter leftist and populist attacks on both the Rockefeller business enterprises and on capitalism.”[17]

Following the Ludlow Massacre in 1914, a government commission – the Walsh Commission – was appointed to study the issue, and the Rockefeller Foundation began preparation for its own study.[18] As the Walsh Commission began their work, the Rockefeller Foundation sought to join forces with other major corporate leaders to advance their formation of ideology, and attended a conference “held between representatives of some of the largest financial interests” in the United States. This conference resulted in two approaches being pushed forward in terms of seeking to “educate the citizenry in procapitalistic ideology and thus relieve unrest.” One view was the interpretation that the public was provided with “poor quality of facts and interpretation available on social and economic issues.” Thus, they felt there was a need for a “publicity bureau” to provide a “constant stream of correct information” targeted at the lower and middle classes. However:

The Rockefeller representatives at the conference proposed an alternative strategy of public enlightenment. Although they accepted the usefulness of such a publicity organization, they also wanted a permanent research organization to manufacture knowledge on these subjects. While a publicity organization would “correct popular misinformation,” the research institution would study the “causes of social and economic evils,” using its reputation for disinterestedness and scientific detachment to “obtain public confidence and respect,” for its findings. And, of course, the research findings could be disseminated through the publicity bureau as well as other outlets.[19]

While the Rockefeller Foundation sought to manufacture ideology in response to the Ludlow Massacre and industrial relations in general, on the corporate side of the matter, the Rockefeller group employed the ideas of an emerging field of public relations, and specifically utilized the talent of Ivy Lee, one of the first PR men in America. Lee’s efforts were employed in “damage control” for the Rockefeller name, which was highly despised by the general public in the early 20^th century. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. hired Ivy Lee on behalf of the Rockefellers to “secure publicity for their views.” What Lee did for the Rockefellers initially was to produce a series of circulars entitled, “Facts Concerning the Strike in Colorado for Industrial Freedom,” which were sent to “public officials, editors, ministers, teachers, and prominent professional and business men,” in an attempt “to cultivate middle-class allies.”[20]

Based around the concept that “truth happens to an idea” – a famous phrase of Ivy Lee’s – his bulletins were operating on the basis that “something asserted might become a fact, regardless of its connection to actual events.” As Lee explained to the Walsh Commission in 1915, in regards to his definition of ‘truth’: “By the truth, Mr. Chairman, I mean the truth about the operators’ case. What I was to do was to advise and get their case into proper shape for them.”[21] When asked the question, “What personal effort did you ever make to ascertain that the facts given to you by the operators [the Rockefeller group] were correct?,” Lee responded: “None whatever.” As Lee stated to a grouping of railroad executives in 1916:

It is not the facts alone that strike the popular mind, but the way in which they take place and in which they are published that kindle the imagination… Besides, What is a fact? The effort to state an absolute fact is simply an attempt to… give you my interpretation of the facts.[22]

With World War I, the term ‘propaganda’ became popularized and took on negative connotations. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson established the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI) as a “vast propaganda ministry.” The aim of the CPI was to build support in the public for the war, and such an effort was especially challenging in the face of significant anti-war sentiments and potential resistance. This potential was especially ripe in immigrant communities, cramped in urban ghettos and lost to the failed promises of “opportunity” that drew them to America in the first place. Before U.S. involvement in the war, “working-class and radical organizations, pacifists, anarchists and many socialists, maintained that this was nothing but a ‘rich man’s war’.”[23]

It was not only in America that working class sentiments were extremely anti-war, but in Britain and other major nations as well. To add to this situation, in 1917, Russia was in the midst of revolution, leading to the exacerbation of fears on the part of many leading intellectuals and social analysts that revolution was possible anywhere. Thus, many of these analysts and intellectuals had begun lobbying President Wilson “for the establishment of an ideological apparatus that would systematically promote the cause of war. One of these analysts was Arthur Bullard, a leading Progressive, who had been a student of Wilson when the president had been a history professor at Princeton.” Bullard advocated a strong wave of publicity for the government in promoting the war, to “electrify public opinion.” Bullard thus suggested the formation of a “publicity bureau” for the government, “which would constantly keep before the public the importance of supporting the men at the front. It would requisition space on the front page of every newspaper; it would call for a ‘draft’ of trained writers to feed ‘Army stories’ to the public; it would create a Corps of Press Agents,” and to organize a propaganda campaign aimed at making the struggle “comprehensible and popular.”[24]

Walter Lippmann, who was the most respected and influential political thinker of that era, wrote a private letter to President Wilson supporting Bullard’s recommendation, adding that the chief aim of such an agency should be to promote a vision and advertise the war as seeking “to make a world that is safe for democracy.” According to Lippmann, war necessitated the nurturing of “a healthy public opinion.” The President asked Lippmann to develop a plan for the specifics of such an agency, for which Lippmann developed a grand strategic vision, mobilizing communications specialists, and the motion picture industry. Thus, in April of 1917, the Committee on Public Information (CPI) was formed, whose membership included the secretary of state, the secretary of war, and the secretary of the navy, as well as a civilian director, George Creel, a Progressive journalist. Creel, who had been central in the original generation of Progressive writers and publicists, had developed an extensive list of contacts and understood well “the importance of public opinion.” Thus, as Stuart Ewen wrote, “When war was declared, an impassioned generation of Progressive publicists fell into line, surrounding the war effort with a veil of much-needed liberal-democratic rhetoric.”[25]

As the concepts and ideas of “public opinion” and “mass democracy” emerged, the dominant political and social theorists of the era took to a debate on redefining democracy. Central to this discussion were the books and ideas of Walter Lippmann. With the concept of the “scientific management” of society by social scientists standing firm in the background, society’s problems were viewed as “technical problems” intended to be resolved through rational professionals and experts. Scientific Management, then, would be applied not merely to the Industrial factories to which the concept was introduced by Frederick Taylor, but to society as a whole. Lippmann took it upon himself to describe the role and means through which “Scientific Management” could be applied within an industrial democratic society. Lippmann felt that the notion of an “omnicompetent, sovereign citizen” was “a false ideal. It is unattainable. The pursuit of it is misleading. The failure to produce it has produced the current disenchantment.” Further, for Lippmann, society had gained “a complexity now so great as to be humanly unmanageable.” Thus, there was a need, wrote Lippmann, “for interposing some form of expertness between the private citizen and the vast environment in which he is entangled.” Just as with Frederick Taylor’s conception of “scientific management” of the factory, the application of this concept to society would require, in Lippmann’s words, “systematic intelligence and information control,” which would become “the normal accompaniment of action.” With such control, Lippmann asserted, “persuasion… become[s] a self-conscious art and a regular organ of popular government,” and the “manufacture of consent improve[s] enormously in technique, because it is now based on analysis rather than rule of thumb.”[26]

Thus, arose the panacea of propaganda: the solution to society’s ailments. “In a world of competing political doctrines,” wrote Lippmann, “the partisans of democratic government cannot depend solely upon appeal to reason or abstract liberalism.” Henceforth, “propaganda, as the advocacy of ideas and doctrines, has a legitimate and desirable part to play in our democratic system.” Harold Lasswell, a leading political scientist and communications theorist in the early 20^th century, wrote that: “The modern conception of social management is profoundly affected by the propagandist outlook. Concerted action for public ends depends upon a certain concentration of motives… Propaganda is surely here to stay; the modern world is peculiarly dependent upon it for the co-ordination of atomized components in times of crisis and for the conduct of large scale ‘normal operations’.” In other words, propaganda is not merely a tool for times of war and crisis, but for times of peace and stability as well; that propaganda is the means and method through which to attain and maintain that stability. Lippmann added to the discussion that, “without some form of censorship, propaganda in the strict sense of the word is impossible. In order to conduct a propaganda there must be some barrier between the public and the event.”[27]

In 1922, Lippmann wrote his profoundly influential book, Public Opinion, in which he expressed his thoughts on the inability of citizens – or the public – to guide democracy or society for themselves. The “intellectuality of mankind,” Lippmann argued, was exaggerated and false. Instead, he defined the public as “an amalgam of stereotypes, prejudices and inferences, a creature of habits and associations, moved by impulses of fear and greed and imitation, exalted by tags and labels.”[28] Lippmann suggested that for the effective “manufacture of consent,” what was needed were “intelligence bureaus” or “observatories,” employing the social scientific techniques of “disinterested” information to be provided to journalists, governments, and businesses regarding the complex issues of modern society.[29] These essentially came to be known and widely employed as think tanks, the most famous of which is the Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921 and to which Lippmann later belonged as a member.

In 1925, Lippmann wrote another immensely important work entitled, The Phantom Public, in which he expanded upon his conceptions of the public and democracy. In his concept of democratic society, Lippmann wrote that, “A false ideal of democracy can lead only to disillusionment and to meddlesome tyranny,” and to prevent this from taking place, “the public must be put in its place… so that each of us may live free of the trampling and the roar of a bewildered herd.”[30] Defining the public as a “bewildered herd,” Lippmann went on to conceive of ‘public opinion,’ not as “the voice of God, nor the voice of society, but the voice of the interested spectators of action.” Thus, “the opinions of the spectators must be essentially different from those of the actors.” This new conception of society, managed by actors and not the “bewildered herd” of “spectators” would be constructed so as to subject the managers of society, wrote Lippmann, “to the least possible interference from ignorant and meddlesome outsiders.”[31] In case there was any confusion, the “bewildered herd” of “spectators” made up of “ignorant and meddlesome outsiders” is the public, is we, the people.

Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud and former member of Woodrow Wilson’s wartime propaganda machine, the Committee on Public Information (CPI), was another ‘actor’ who played his part in redefining democracy in the age of public opinion. In his 1923 book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, Bernays explained how the ideas of individuals could be shaped into mass opinions through the use of propaganda and ‘public relations.’ Known commonly as the “Father of Public Relations,” Bernays, returning from the post-War Paris Conference in 1919, believed quite strongly in the idea that if propaganda could be used effectively in times of war, it can and should be used effectively in times of peace.

In 1928, Edward Bernays wrote an article for the American Journal of Sociology entitled, “Manipulating Public Opinion: The Why and the How.” Public opinion, explained Bernays, “is the thought of a society at a given time toward a given object; broadly conceived, it is the power of the group to sway the larger public in its attitude.” Bernays was also influenced not simply by his own experiences in the wartime Committee on Public Information, but also by his uncle, Sigmund Freud’s ideas which regarded people as irrational and driven by subconscious emotional desires. With such a conception of the psychology of individuals and groups, Bernays and others felt that people must have their beliefs and opinions shaped by others, others who presumably are the exceptions to the rule regarding the emotionally driven irrational mind. Reflecting this belief, Bernays wrote: “Public opinion can be manipulated, but in teaching the public how to ask for what it wants the manipulator is safeguarding the public against his own possible aggressiveness.”[32] Today – claimed Bernays – the swaying of public opinion “is one of the manifestations of democracy that anyone may try to convince others and to assume leadership on behalf of his own thesis.”[33]

Bernays’ attempt to present the manipulation of public opinion as a “manifestation of democracy” crudely neglects the reality of those who have access to the apparatus and mechanisms that sway public opinion, itself. If that apparatus, which it largely is, is confined to the upper class of society, is that not a bastardization of democratic ideals? Bernays further explained:

The manipulation of the public mind… serves a social purpose. This manipulation serves to gain acceptance for new ideas.[34]

Bernays described the nature of propaganda, explaining that one major experiment on the manipulation of public opinion concluded that “attitudes were often created by a circumstance or circumstances of dramatic moment.” Thus, Bernays explained, “very often the propagandist is called upon to create a circumstance that will eventuate in the desired reaction on the part of the public he is endeavoring to reach.”[35] In other words: problem, reaction, solution. Create a problem to incur a specific reaction for which you provide a desired solution. For the propagandist, “analysis of the problem and its causes is the first step toward shaping the public mind on any subject.”[36] Bernays wrote:

This is an age of mass production. In the mass production of materials a broad technique has been developed and applied to their distribution. In this age, too, there must be a technique for the mass distribution of ideas. Public opinion can be moved, directed, and formed by such a technique. But at the core of this great heterogeneous body of public opinion is a tenacious will to live, to progress, to move in the direction of ultimate social and individual benefit. He who seeks to manipulate public opinion must always heed it.[37]

Bernays later wrote on the development of the public relations industry, of which he was a central and pioneering actor. “Public relations,” wrote Bernays, was “a relatively new profession, and its practitioner, the professional counsel on public relations, serve a constructive function in our complex, free society.” He elaborated: “public relations came about because organized activity, which depends on public support, needed a societal technician to counsel it – the counsel on public relations.” This, Bernays felt, was vital to a “democratic society”:

New and faster means of communication and transportation furthered the growth of the profession. Social science research increased understanding of human behavior. The greater complexity of the society and the overlapping and interwoven network of communications that hold it together almost made the evolution of the new profession inevitable.[38]

As Bernays explained, “[i]n a democratic society almost every activity depends on public understanding and support,” and thus, he concluded, this can only be brought about “by public education, persuasion, and suggestion by effective public relations. This profession makes it possible for minority ideas to be more readily accepted by the majority.” He referred to this as “the marketplace of ideas,” but neglected to explain that, like other markets, this one, too, is rigged. His conception of “democratic society” is very much an elitist view of democratic society, articulated best by Walter Lippmann in seeking to “engineer the consent” of the public, which was viewed as irrational and incapable of true democracy. Reflecting on his 1923 book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, Bernays discussed the concept of the “manufacture of consent,” a term coined by Walter Lippmann but which Bernays was eager to present as his own. He stated: “I refined the approach and called it the engineering of consent”:

In the engineering of consent, determination of goals is subject to change after research about the relevant publics. Only after we know the state of public opinion through research can we be sure that our goals are realistic.[39]

In 1947, Bernays re-examined his support for propaganda in a democratic society, writing that:

Today it is impossible to overestimate the importance of engineering consent; it affects almost every aspect of our daily lives. When used for social purposes, it is among our most valuable contributions to the efficient functioning of modern society.[40]

Naturally, it seems, “efficiency” is held in high regard as an objective of social planning and thus, an aim of society itself. As such, “effect” is often left by the wayside, as in: the effect of an “efficient” modern society is secondary to the actual efficiency of it. Thus, if the effect of a modern society is dehumanization, so long as that process is “efficient,” social planners may view it as desirable, present it as “functioning,” and see whatever means which bring it about as “valuable contributions.” But then, it must be conceded, the ‘desired effect’ for social planners is always social control. Regardless of the human or dehumanizing effects of such a system, if the result is “order and control,” and so long as this is achieved “efficiently,” the system functions well.

In 1928, Edward Bernays wrote a book entitled, Propaganda, which later became used by infamous propagandists such as Hitler’s propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels. On the first page of his book, Bernays wrote, and it is worth quoting at some length:

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.

We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

Our invisible governors are, in many cases, unaware of the identity of their fellow members in the inner cabinet.

They govern us by their qualities of natural leadership, their ability to supply needed ideas and by their key position in the social structure. Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons… who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.[41]

These ideas, among many others, have had incredible influence on the philosophy, actions, intentions, and perceptions of not only American society, but the world at large. They spurred on the development of the consumer society, along with other projects of social engineering that have, through the course of the 20^th century, been focused on the application of social control. It is fundamentally though the notion of “engineering consent” that we have come to the point where so few are able to control so much, leaving little to nothing for the vast majority of the world’s people. This elite intellectual discussion which took place in the early 20^th century came to define democracy not only for America, but the world as a whole. Thus, we have a new understanding when it comes to our leaders expressing their desires and objectives of spreading democracy around the world. In short, they seek to “engineer consent” on a much larger, grander scale than ever before imagined. It is the globalization of social engineering which we are witnessing in the modern era, and its origins lay in the discernable past.

Andrew Gavin Marshall is an independent researcher and writer based in Montreal, Canada, writing on a number of social, political, economic, and historical issues. He is also Project Manager of The People’s Book Project.

NOTE: The above article is the documented transcript from the second episode of a new podcast show, Empire, Power, and People with Andrew Gavin Marshall. You can listen to the podcast episode here.

Notes

[1]            Stuart Ewen, PR! A Social History of Spin (New York: Basic Books, 1996), page 42

[2]            Ibid, pages 44-46.

[3]            Ibid, page 46.

[4]            Ibid, pages 49-50.

[5]            Ibid, pages 50-54.

[6]            Ibid, pages 58-59.

[7]            Ibid, pages 60-61.

[8]            Ibid, pages 62.

[9]            Ibid, pages 63-64.

[10]            Ibid, page 64.

[11]            Ibid, pages 64-66.

[12]            Ibid, pages 67-71.

[13]            Ibid, pages 71-73.

[14]            Ibid, pages 74-75.

[15]            Ibid, pages 76-78.

[16]            Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Harper Perennial: New York, 2003), pages 354-355.

[17]            Robert F. Arnove, ed., Philanthropy and Cultural Imperialism: The Foundations at Home and Abroad (Indiana University Press: Boston, 1980), page 67.

[18]            Ibid, page 68.

[19]            Ibid, pages 69-70.

[20]            Stuart Ewen, PR! A Social History of Spin (New York: Basic Books, 1996), page 78.

[21]            Ibid, page 79.

[21]            Ibid, pages 80-81.

[22]            Ibid, pages 104-105.

[23]            Ibid, pages 104-105.

[24]            Ibid, pages 106-107.

[25]            Ibid, pages 108-109.

[26]            Frank Webster and Kevin Robins, “Plan and Control: Towards a Cultural History of the Information Society,” Theory and Society (Vol. 18, 1989), pages 341-342.

[27]            Ibid, pages 342-343.

[28]            Sidney Kaplan, “Social Engineers as Saviors: Effects of World War I on Some American Liberals,” Journal of the History of Ideas (Vol. 17, No. 3, June 1956), pages 366-367.

[29]            Sue Curry Jansen, “Phantom Conflict: Lippmann, Dewey, and the Fate of the Public in Modern Society,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies (Vol. 6, No. 3, 2009), page 225.

[30]            Walter Lippmann, et. al., The Essential Lippmann: A Political Philosophy for Liberal Democracy (Harvard University Press, 1982), page 91.

[31]            Ibid, page 92.

[32]            Edward Bernays, “Manipulating Public Opinion: The Why and the How,” American Journal of Sociology (Vol. 33, No. 6, May 1928), page 958.

[33]            Ibid, page 959.

[34]            Ibid.

[35]            Ibid, pages 961-962.

[36]            Ibid, page 969.

[37]            Ibid, page 971.

[38]            Edward Bernays, “Emergence of the Public Relations Counsel: Principles and Recollections,” The Business History Review (Vol. 45, No. 3, Autumn 1971), page 296.

[39]            Ibid, page 297.

[40]            Edward Bernays, “The Engineering of Consent,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (Vol. 250, Communication and Social Action, March 1947), page 115.

[41]            Edward Bernays, Propaganda (New York: Ig Publishing, 1928), page 37.

If a few years ago someone had told me that I was going to start a blog, gather a team of like-minded irate partners, expand, and turn the site into an alternative news and information site with daily news, top-notch editorials, independent analyses, weekly podcast programs and investigative video reports, commentaries, political cartoons and more, I’d say ‘are you nuts?!’ Don’t get me wrong. I was one of the major advocates for truly alternative news and information sites to challenge the illegitimate, stinky, completely dependent and sold-out, meek, weak, government propaganda machine, corporate pet-boys mainstream media. However, as a very private recluse foreign to the blogging-forum sphere with zero technical knowledge or abilities, I never saw ‘me’ in that scenario. You know, I was one of those a bit lazy ‘they’ should do this, ‘they’ should start that, ‘they’ must challenge it … cases. See, I admit.

Today, if someone were to tell me that I should stop all this hard-work trying to counter and to a certain degree replace the lies-filled news and views industry, that doing so is so very futile and impossible, that I should give up and do something else, I’d say ‘Are You Nuts?! No way!’ Why? Because so far we have succeeded in reaching some of our objectives. Because we have actually become a current, and are becoming a force to reckon with. Because we’ve made a difference; however humbly or little-far better than sitting, knowing, complaining yet making no difference.

So what really happened between a few years ago and the point where I decided to make a go at it; at least try?

It was not so much the mainstream media. Hey, I think almost everyone, unanimously, would declare the corporate mainstream as a lying knifing propaganda machine at the end of its shelf life. No. It was those who claimed to counter and replace the mainstream media-the so-called ‘alternative media’ brought to you by corporate foundation sugar-daddies (Soros, Ford, Rockefellers …) and corporate advertisers galore.

When independence is the most important determinant of and factor in being an ‘alternative’ to the mainstream, how can one receive mega dollars from mega corporate foundations ruled by mega corporate bosses, and dare to claim ‘independence’? Is there anyone out there, at least among the readers of this article, who disagrees with ‘Nothing in this world is free’? Then how could anyone, any institution-organization, dare to claim and pretend ‘independence’ and being an ‘alternative,’ when its entire  existence and livelihood depends solely on the funds-money given to them by the super-agenda-holding corporate powers behind the corporate-driven politics?

Let me give you an example:

In May 2011, the Media Research Center reported that from 2003-2001, Soros had spent more than $48 million “funding media properties, including the infrastructure of news — journalism schools, investigative journalism and even industry organizations.” Among the beneficiaries of Soros’s money were such entities as: NBC, ABC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Lens, the Columbia School of Journalism, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Organization of News Ombudsmen, National Public Radio, the Pacifica Foundation, The American Prospect Inc. (the owner and publisher of The American Prospect magazine), the Nation Institute, the Media Fund, the Independent Media Center, the Independent Media Institute, Media Matters For America, and Free Press. Below are some brief descriptions of a few of organizations:

Just ask yourself why this mega corporate mogul who is funding and influencing the crooked mainstream media outlets such as the NY Times, Washington Post, ABC, for his own crooked political-power purposes, is supporting, funding-bankrolling the supposed ‘alternatives’ that are ‘supposedly’ anti-corporate media such as Nation Magazine and Pacifica and the boldly named Independent Media Institute? Come on, it doesn’t take a real brainer to recognize and interpret this not so much an oddity. Right? Well, this is only one little specific example. The so-called alternative media market, at least those loaded with funds and resources, is filled with such examples-some of them ‘self-servingly’ omitted and classified; think ‘mysterious fund-ers & mega donor angels.’

It was this new con game, the posers of independent and alternative media, these phonies, that motivated me to start my own website, at least attempt to be a real independent alternative, and see if it is indeed possible. With that goal in mind I set the most important mission statement-objective for Boiling Frogs Post:

We do not receive a single penny from corporate-foundation shills or corporate advertisement trap setters. This home relies only on the support provided by a like-minded irate minority like you and me.

I have kept my word. I intend to keep my word. I would rather shut down this website than compromise our integrity and independence by getting on ‘their’ payroll. And thanks to you we have remained, grown, expanded, and are set to go even further.

Today we are beginning our second quarterly fundraising-subscription campaign for Boiling Frogs Post. We are determined to continue and expand this site and our reach as a truly independent alternative news and information outlet, and do so solely based on your support: your subscriptions and contributions. Our loyalty is to you, and our work is for you, thus, our existence, survival and success solely depend on you. Please help keep us alive. Donate and or Subscribe to Boiling Frogs Post today. Thank you.

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This podcast examines a concept of power that emerged in the early 20th century United States, born of social unrest and elite fears of revolution, this new conception sought to redefine democracy for the 20th century. That new definition was based upon using propaganda in order to “engineer consent” of the masses – “the bewildered herd” – as they were referred to, with the purpose of allowing the modern industrial democratic society to be run by an intellectual elite in service to the financial wealth of the nation. Democracy, then, came to be: of the few, by the few, for the few, and with the ‘consent’ of the many.

Listen to the podcast show here:

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Podcast: “Systemic Indoctrination & the Culture of Outsourcing”

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In the last few decades one never-changing modus operandi in our imperial pursuits and operations overseas has been the formation, financing, training, control and domination of our target countries’ military force. Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia … whether here right in our backyard under joint Pentagon and military industrial complex mega corporations or abroad, through our tentacles-NATO member nations, we’ve always ensured holding the most important string in ruling and managing our overseas puppetries- their military. Because, admit it, the figure-head dictators come and go; rise and fall; are made and destroyed, easily and frequently. On the other hand, their ruling military elite are more of a constant. Think Egypt: ‘Bye-bye Mubarak, stay put military regime.’ However, all that seems to be changing. We are getting savvier, more ambitious and far greedier. We want more: more control. Thus, welcome our new extended imperial sphere: Police Force a la USA.

According to the latest news, of course not covered by US media, our NATO Member Turkey will be training the new Libyan Police Force. Let’s read this extremely important new development with even more important implications [All Emphasis Mine]:

Turkey has started negotiations with Libya to begin training the country’s police force, which is being rebuilt after Libya’s violent revolution that began in February 2011 and ended the 42-year dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi.

A delegation from the Turkish General Directorate of Security, headed by Deputy National Police Chief Ahmet Pek, traveled to the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Saturday to discuss projects related to Libyan police training in Turkey. The Turkish delegation considered the issue with Libyan Interior Affairs Minister Omar al-Hadravi on Sunday.

The meeting was also attended by high-ranking Libyan security officers. The officials talked about the resumption of Libyan police education, which was interrupted during the civil war, in Turkish police academies. They also discussed the possibility of including primary vocational training in the Libyan police force for former armed insurgents, in Turkey.

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Pek stated that the Turkish delegation supplied necessary equipment for Libyan police forces during their recent visit and said they will be delivered to Libyan leaders during an official ceremony in Tripoli this week.

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We all know about Turkey’s ‘water-bearer’ position for the West as an important and the only Muslim NATO member. However, what is not well-known here in the United States, thanks to its media’s complete submission to government, military mega corporations and foreign lobby powers, is Turkey’s internationally recognized status and fame for its atrocious police brutality and abuses.

In a damning report, Human Rights Watch said complaints against the police for excessive force had risen sharply since the start of last year while the number of officers convicted had dropped. A total of 3,339 people had complained about police ill-treatment in 2007, up from 2,854 the year before, but only 48 of those complaints had led to convictions.

The 80-page report, Closing Ranks Against Accountability, recounts numerous cases of suspects dying or suffering serious injury at the hands of police, sometimes after being stopped for routine identity checks. Police frequently cover up evidence while accused officers are routinely exonerated after internal disciplinary proceedings, the report says.

The rise in violent incidents was partly attributable, he said, to laws introduced by the governing Justice and Development party (AKP), which has built its image on a reform programme designed to aid Turkey’s EU membership bid. These include a law permitting police to use lethal force before it becomes a “last resort” necessary to prevent a threat to life, another allowing officers to conduct identity checks without reasonable grounds for suspicion, and anti-terrorism legislation enabling suspects to be detained for 24 hours without access to a lawyer.

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Turkey has held on to its record as one of the world champions in extreme torture practices thanks to the direct financial and training support from its US masters:

When a harsh report asserting that torture is widespread in Turkey was released this week, the surprise was not just the amount of damning evidence it contained, but also the source. Rather than being prepared by a private advocacy group, the report was the work of the parliamentary committee on human rights.

For years, Turkish leaders have sought to play down accusations that torture is widely practiced here. That will be harder after what the parliamentary committee found. Its report contains transcripts of interviews with many prisoners who said they had been abused. It also includes photos of torture equipment and floor plans that show where torture cells are supposedly located in various police stations. No report by a government human rights body has ever been nearly this extensive or graphic.

Committee members and investigators interviewed more than 8,500 prisoners during a two-year period. They also conducted unannounced visits to 50 prisons and two dozen police stations, said the vice chairman, Sebgetullah Seydaoglu.

“This committee has existed for seven years but it hasn’t been functioning properly,” said Mr. Seydaoglu, who represents the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, where the mostly Kurdish population has long complained of bad treatment by police. “In the last year we’ve become very decisive about our mission.”

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Even Turkey’s financial and procedural backers in torture practices couldn’t help but admit to its status:

The United States State Department said in its latest human rights report that during 1999 “torture, beatings and other abuses by security forces remained widespread, at times resulting in deaths.”

Human rights advocates are unhappy with the government’s record. The bluntness of the new parliamentary report suggests that impatience for change is growing.”This report says what we have been saying for years, that torture is extensive and systematic in Turkey,” said Nazmi Gur, chairman of the Human Rights Association, which has often been at odds with the government. “This could be the beginning of progress toward meeting European legal standards.”

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Maybe a few videos would better depict the Turkish police’s claim to fame:

Rather than filling many hundreds of pages with examples and reports I invite all readers to run a search for credible reports and documentations on Turkish police and its record on torture, violence and other brutalities.  This is the kind of police force and practices that have been deemed appropriate for the New Libya by US-NATO powers. The new trend has begun – we not only form, train, finance and command these nations’ military forces, but we now extend our ruling into their daily lives on the street via selecting, training, arming, financing, and controlling their police forces.

The United States has fulfilled its main objective on Libya: regime change; replacing it with its own regime, one that will be equally if not more brutal and abusive of its people. The only difference – the strings will be fully in its hand.

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With the National Defense Authorization Act, the Enemy Expatriation Act, and other startling measures by the US government to crack down on their own population making headlines around the world at the moment, the idea of an American police state is becoming an all too familiar tale. Less examined, however, are the international aspects of this encroaching police state, a high-tech 21st century control grid which adheres to no national boundaries and whose influence is increasingly being felt in countries throughout the so-called “free world.”

Just as the tracking, surveillance, pain-compliance and database technology behind this control grid is manufactured and marketed by multinational corporations who profess no loyalty to any nation state, so too is the police state itself nothing more than an idea for the consolidation and leveraging of power in the hands of a select few at the apex of business, government and finance. This idea in turn can be marketed, adapted and adopted from nation to nation, and that is the exact process that has been developing for decades now.

This is our EyeOpener Report by James Corbett, presenting the internationalization of the police state through the increasingly sophisticated technological control grid, and the collusion of international corporations and institutions to implement a homogenous and interconnected system for tracking, tracing and controlling the citizenry of the world regardless of nationality.

Watch the Preview Here:

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*The Transcript for this video is available at Corbett Report: Click Here

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