Well if this banking and finance stuff is too hard to keep track of and you are interested in what’s really happening right now, watch this video. Its 30 minutes and plus it s cartoon. Kid safe and educational.

At the very least, watching this video will make you aware of why things are the way they are in the world currently. For me personally, I felt like this as I was watching the video.

It looks like a great great time… and surprisingly, the police are present for the event but instead of beating and teargassing the party goers, they do what all cool cops should do and let the fun loving, peaceful people enjoy “the outdoors”.

For those of us who have watched the Pirate bay trial followed by the stunning verdicts, some breaking news has come out of Swedish National Radio. According to the Wired article:

One of the four men convicted in The Pirate Bay trial is seeking to have his guilty verdict thrown out after learning that the judge in the trial is a member of two pro-copyright groups, including one whose membership includes entertainment industry representatives who argued in the case.

Stockholm district court judge, Tomas Norström told a Swedish newspaper that his previously-undisclosed entanglements with the copyright groups did not constitute a conflict of interest.

The groups include the Swedish Association of Copyright, a discussion forum. Henrik Pontén of the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau, Monique Wadsted, a motion picture industry lawyer, and Peter Danowsky from the recording industry’s IFPI are members of the organizations, and were largely responsible for pressing the case against The Pirate Bay before the judge.

Looks like justice is not blind in Sweden either. Lets hope the Pirate bay guys escape the noose and sail off into the sunset. Go pirates, go!

Hey, what do you know? More relevant news that the Mainstream media isn’t reporting. They would rather have you wring your hands over Michael Phelps’ olympic sized bong hits and totally remain oblivious to the fact that 8 different state legislatures have drawn a line in the sand and are introducing bills declaring sovereignty from the United States!

So far the tally is includes the following:

1. Washington

2. New Hampshire

3. Arizona

4. Montana

5. Michigan

6. Missouri

7. Oklahoma

8. Hawaii

The main precedent on the claims by the states are recited by the 9th and 10th amendment of the Constitution (part of the bill of rights). Most of this legislation is in the preliminary stages and is not earth shattering news but this is definitely something that should be a blip on the medias’ radar. The most serious and tangible of these eight are surprisingly, New Hampshire of all places.  From Pat Dollard’s blog:

The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a “breach of peace” with the states themselves that risks “nullifying the Constitution.”

This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war!)

The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress “That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever;. . . . . therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force;”

Federal gun crime laws? Void. Federal drug crime laws? Void. The gazzillion other federal criminal laws that deal with anything other than the specific enumerated crimes? ALL VOID.

Looks like states are fed up and no longer trust the federal government to look out for our best interests as a nation. Just look at California…

Maybe the federal government knew this was coming? I can’t help to think that this is why Northcomm plans to deploy 20,000 active duty troops in the United States by 2011 (“Just in case” of some civil unrest!?!?). Coincidence?

Stay tuned chiiiildren!

If you’ve been paying attention to the events happening in this country as of late, you should notice that the consciousness of our government and people are slowly moving towards a fascist direction. I don’t know if we are a full fledged fascist empire yet but we sure seem to be exhibiting a lot of the symptoms of one. Take for instance this quote from Benito Mussolini:

“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”

– Benito Mussolini (from Encyclopedia Italiana, Giovanni Gentile, editor)

What used to be a free and democratic state, we have collectively been dragged into a new social paradigm. The moves have been slow and deliberate much like a pick chipping away at a monolithic stone. One thing is for sure, the country we have known and grown up with is a thing of the past. The acceleration of the loss of our liberties have been severe within the last 8 years especially. So lets list the 14 core tenants of fascism and see if we here in the U.S. have fulfilled these conditions;

From Rense.com:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

I wont go into specifics but I will leave you, the reader to decide if we have met these conditions yet. The next logical question one would ask is “How can we turn the tide and reverse these events?”.

A truism from George Bernard Shaw that I refer to occasionally:

Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.

The answer? WAKE UP! Get involved!

Publicintegrity.org was kind enough to compile the mostly complete list of failures of the Bush Administration during these last 8 miserable years. Of course some of the “failures” can be disputed but most of them are verified and abject failures in policy and outright inaction. See whe whole list here.

Of course listed here are mostly policy failures, this isn’t taking into account the other statistics like the skyrocketing deficit, the fact that “W” has taken more vacation than any other president in history and the fact that under Bush’s watch, over 200 years of representative democracy has been transformed into to a quasi facist state that no longer follows free market principals.

You’re doing a hella of a job W! Good riddance!

What is the “Constitution Free zone”? Well according to the article:

The ACLU says a “Constitution-free zone” exists within 100 miles of the US border, where DHS claims the authority to stop, search and detain anyone for any reason. Nearly two-thirds of the US population lives within 100 miles of the border, according to the ACLU, and the border zone encompasses scores of major metropolitan areas and even entire states.

So what kinds of things happen in “The zone”?

Wednesday’s event also featured a video testimonial from Vince Peppard, another San Diegoan who faced trouble from border agents. Peppard said he was stopped at least 20 miles inside the border on a return trip from Mexico. He refused to open his trunk “on a matter of principle” and was detained for about 30 minutes.

“I didn’t feel like I was in the United States,” he says. “I felt like I was in some kind of police state.”

Alarming information from the various media outlets are becoming more frequent and overt the closer Bush is to the end of his second presidential term. I can’t help but to ask myself “Is this feeling in my gut what consciencious german citizens felt when they witnessed the birth of the 3rd Reich?”.

In an article from commondreams.org- In an inevitable and unfortunate new decree by the Maryland Police department, they are now classifying non violent anti war protestors as “terrorists”. Evidentaly, if one opposes the death penalty or is against the war in Iraq in Maryland, you are now a threat to the state.

One of the most stunning draconian statements came from the former state police superintendent who authorized the operation, Thomas E. Hutchins:

“I don’t believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government,”

First amendment? Wow, down the chute we go! weeeee!