HOW the NeoCons Stole Freedom

Alexander, 13th Duke of Manchester – Making Sense of the Totally Bizarre

2012-02-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

In the past several weeks public interest has again been piqued regarding several items published on the web either by Alex, Duke of Manchester, his wife, Laura, and more mainstream journalists.. These varied offerings are fleshing out a picture of this unusual peer of the realm, adding to the barrage of articles published last summer around an unusual trial held in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division on July 19, 2011.

The trial took place due to a report by the Duke himself, admitting he was not divorced from his first wife at the time of his 1993 wedding to Wendy Buford, the mother of his children. Thus his children were illegitimate by law in England. The Chancery Court however found the children could continue to receive monies from the Manchester Trust, much to the Duke's displeasure.

This callousness and lack of empathy shown by the Duke bears striking similarity to one characteristic of a sociopath. But there is more to come.

An affidavit by second wife, Wendy Buford Montagu, given under penalty of perjury, revealed a time line suggesting motives, on the part of the Duke, which were simply appalling. The Duke seems to have believed he would benefit by $3,000 a month if the two children's support, which he refused to pay, and was being made up by the Manchester Trust, became unpayable by the Trust according to his former wife and the mother of the two children, Wendy Buford Montagu.

Wendy also believes the Duke married her because he needed a regular source of support and planned all along to eventually leave her, alienating the children to his own advantage. This view is supported by psychological reports in the divorce court documents and also conforms to sociopathic behavior.

The deluge of articles appearing in the wake of the July 2011 trial were typified by such language as this, appearing in the Telegraph by Philip Sherwell , "His scandal-ridden life has thus far seen him married three times, imprisoned twice in Australia, deported from Canada and exposed as a bigamist. But, even now, in his 50th year, the 13th Duke of Manchester shows no sign of tempering his famously erratic behaviour.”

In the wake of the trial the Duke's expressed concerns were to 'clear his name,' in regards the charges of bigamy, though an examination of the evidence leaves no doubt as to the sequent of events. Duke Alex blames everyone else, refusing to acknowledge or accept his own acts. He is glib, using his superficial charm to manipulate his listeners and readily changes his story, again the behavior of a sociopath.

On January 8^th this low in human decency was challenged by yet another appearance by Duke Alex, this time in a comment appearing on the Huffington Post website. The Duke intimated the Royal Family might be involved in the murder of a girl whose body was found on their Sandringham Estate while the Queen was staying there.

An article, written by journalist Richard Kay, writing for the Mailonline.com, soon followed, appearing on January 16^th. titled, “Duke in sick attack on the Royal Family.”

Duke Alex's first comment, now removed from the site, is quoted below without correction was, “This is not a Joke my name is Alexander Montagu the 13th Duke of Manchester I have been accused of bigimie and it is all a lie I have documented proof that my trust and lawyers and mother has set me up for something I have never done the Royal family has a lot of power and will do what ever they can to cover up any sort of embarasement even if the victim is 100% in the write and has the legeal documentation to proove this you should look up the duchess of manchester under google and you will see the documentation to see how the royal family will do what ever they can to cover any thing they can stop look investigate I can also let people know maybe people should look into the cameras around Sandringham around the Queens property.” It is all about him, no one else matters and he cannot even see how his inconsistency impacts those around him. Sociopathic.

The case of murder has no apparent connection to the Royal family except for the disposal of the victim's body, according to authorities. Alex, who must embarrass any member of the aristocracy, was, as of last November, living in Las Vegas and receiving his mail at “8414 Farm Rd. # 180, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89131” He has been using “220 Newport Center Drive Suit (sic)# 11, Newport Beach, California 92660” for years – but, according to his own statements, is afraid to return to California because, “the police want to kill him.”

However, the ducal removal from California was arguably more likely related to the evasion of debt collectors than these more lurid causes. Based on information from several sources, the first of these being the former wife of Duke Alex, and the mother of his two children and his present, or nearly present, wife, Laura.

It became known to Wendy in 2008 that Alex was buying cars with bad checks when a Detective Anderson from Redondo Beach contacted her in an attempt to locate one of these vehicles for repossession. At the time the newly estranged Duchess Laura was living with Wendy, having exhausted her other options for housing. Wendy assisted Detective Anderson in the repossession attempt. The vehicle in question was a red P. T. Cruiser. In late September of 2011 Laura, then reunited with the Duke for some time, told this reporter, “Alex always writes bad checks for cars.” The Duke lurches through life without any long range plan.

Laura lived with Wendy from mid-October 2008 until the end of the year when she returned to Alex because she was without funds to keep her cherished cell phone number, which she has had for twenty years, active. The number is 213-926-0952. While Laura was living with Wendy and the two children the youngest child moved in to her mother's room so Laura, their guest, could have her room. Wendy gave Laura regular cash so she would not be without funds.

Wendy Buford married Alexander on 7^th May 1993. The couple had met, according to an affidavit filed before the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division by Wendy Buford Montagu on 17^th April 1992 while she, “attended a country music night club,” located in Orange County, California. According to the affidavit she was then, as now, employed at a law firm in the same county.

The same affidavit states he asked her to marry him soon afterward, making claims of an income of around $150,000 a month. She was, she says, to find his claims were heavily larded with lies in the years to come, which statement is validated by court documents.

After giving birth to their first child, a son named Alexander Michael Charles David Francis George Edward William Kimble Drogo Montagu (Alexander),Wendy continued to work, bringing in their only regular income. Although the then Viscount claimed to always be on the brink of making money, usually by selling German Bonds left to him by his grandfather, these long and arduous negotiations always fell through. This writer has learned from dealers these bonds are deemed to be nearly impossible to cash. This source of income never materialized yet Duke Alex, still today, continues to scheme and depend on obtaining the money.

In 1999 a second child, a daughter named Ashley, was born to the couple. Wendy continued to work. Alex assumed the role of stay-at-home mother, according to Wendy, who has been employed continuously at the same firm since the time of the marriage.

Duke Alex, according to Wendy, occasionally found a job but these were of short duration, generally ending in his being fired for a similar reason on each occasion. This was Alex's assumption he knew better how to run the company than did his employer, in this exhibiting a Grandiose Sense of Self.

“Alex went upstairs to his room the moment I came in the door. I was responsible for shopping, cooking, cleaning, and other domestic needs,” Wendy said, when interviewed for this article.

Although he had assumed the role of care-taker Wendy also reports the Duke would take off at a moment's notice. Finding alternative care was then her responsibility. The Duke demonstrated the train of emotional shallowness and self-serving.

After the birth of a daughter and 13 years of marriage the two divorced, at which time Duke Alex demanded custody of the children and alimony, this affirmed by records from the Orange County Family Law Court. The divorce was long, drawn-out, and acrimonious by all reports.

After many attempts to keep his financial affairs secret Duke Alexander was questioned on the stand from the records obtained through subpoena from his bank. The court took note of an amount amounting to around a million dollars then in his possession, this, according to Wendy Montagu, obtained from the sale of Manchester family heirlooms.

The Duke asked for, and was denied, alimony and lost temporary custody. At a hearing in August of 2007 Duke Alex asked the issues to the divorce be bifurcated. This was granted, the remainder of the issues being finalized in 2008. But the judge cautioned him not to, “run out and get married again.” Less than a month after the divorce from Wendy was final, Duke Alexander married his present wife, Laura Ann Smith, and relocated, rarely seeing the children thereafter. He did, however, leave in his wake thousands in debts, which his former wife is now being forced to pay.

According to documents from the court record and recent witnesses, the Duke's finances have been severely reduced since the end of his marriage to Wendy. From a capital base of around a million in 2007 the Duke, last summer and autumn, was reduced to asking for money to pay for ongoing projects from the people he had retained to work for him. Reluctant to assist, the people involved found themselves conned into helping, later realizing they had been skillfully manipulated. Money 'loaned' to the Duke they believed were used to pay for his gas, food and medicine, which includes psychotropic prescription drugs.

These funds were transferred to him through services supplied by Walmart in Las Vegas, where he had noisily broken up with his wife, Duchess Laura, reporting her to police for stealing the only remaining copies videos he had taken of Michael Jackson while married to Wendy Buford Montagu, who also appears in the photos. As these were community property it is not clear Alex was in legal possession of these materials. They had been stolen from the family home at the time of the divorce.

The same people found themselves paying for the Duke to file a divorce action against his wife. They then asked a contract be signed, something he had asked them to 'put off, as they could trust him.” When they pressed their request he blew up and began attacking them verbally and then threatening to kill them. These ended when these threats were reported to both their local police and to the FBI.

The most perfunctory of glances at posts, emails, and letters written by Alex prove he can neither punctuate or spell. Comments from others note he also finds logical thinking somewhat challenging.

Probably no one posting subsequent comments on the Huffington site believed Alex was, in fact, the Duke of Manchester. But Alex, no matter how unlikely, given his educational deficiencies, is without a doubt the present holder of the title and was raised with the full attention of his mother and grandfather.

The education accorded to Duke Alex included highly respected and expensive schools on at least three continents.

While this lack of proficiency would be viewed as tragic, if exhibited by a person with a disadvantaged background, having it appear in a peer of the realm is far more shocking and difficult to explain without further thought.

A quick perusal of the Profile of a Sociopath reveal many of the characteristics associated with the condition as being present in the ducal behavior.

If the Duke of Manchester is, indeed a sociopath his behavior is perfectly understandable.

Mitt Romney accused of abuse

2012-01-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

NEWS RELEASE - Pillsbury-Foster Presidential Campaign
Pillsbury-Foster for President
pillsbury-foster4president@gmail.com

ROME, Ohio - Meow-Meow, animal companion to Arthur Foster, eldest son of Democratic candidate for president, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, today called for Mitt Romney to be strapped to the roof of the car for a trip to the dog house.

While Meow-Meow, an orange tabby, also known as M&M, is not overly fond of dogs he called all species to move for solidarity on this issue of outrageous cruelty. M&M pointed out the heinous act included washing the Romney animal hostage down with water when he could not hold himself and then, ignoring the wind-chill factor, returning Seamus to the POW camp on the roof of the car. (see news report)

At the same time M&M, calling for an investigation by a to-be-called pack of senators, averred that Romney should not be spayed until or unless there is a second incident.

END

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Mitt Romney Desperate to hide truth - Debate will take place

2012-01-14T19:51:00.000-05:00

Pillsbury-Foster, Democratic presidential candidate, says Mitt Romney is desperate to hide the truth.

NEWS RELEASE – Pillsbury-Foster for President

pillsbury-foster4president@gmail.com

ROME, Ohio - Two speeches made to different groups of supporters last Tuesday evening may change the world. The remarks were given by the winning and second place candidates vying to be the GOP nominee for president at two locations in New Hampshire minutes after the polls closed. Between these two, enunciated in word, delivery and the reaction of supporters, the watcher could see, in sharp relief, demarcation lines revealing ideas and values which define an America reaching for the future. If you have not watched the links below you should do so.

The two men themselves are both registered Republicans but live in, by and for, very different values. The winner of the GOP primary in New Hampshire was Mitt Romney, a monied and manicured contender whose campaign funds come from corporate sources. Leading the list provided through Open Sources is Goldman Sachs, donating $367,200, followed by Credit Suisse Group.

The second man is Dr. Ron Paul, whose campaign funds originate from the efforts of grass roots people, hungry for the truths Paul has lived all of his life. Paul's top donor - Beefcarver Restaurants contributed $1,000. It takes a lot of donors to raise over $12,000,000, the amount reported for Paul for money raised. U. S. military serving now contribute more to Paul than to all other candidates combined.

The words of Romney and Paul spoke the shattering truths which are today changing the face of the Republican Party, repopulating its ranks from the grass-roots.

Ron Paul, whose supporters are responsible for those changes, is the People's candidate, his supporters including a strong flow of Democrats and Independents who otherwise have no one to vote for.

The Tea Party, captured in its infancy, by money supplied by Charles and David Koch, have done all in their power to stave off the assault of the simple, direct words supplied by Dr. Ron Paul but they have, again, failed.

Both text and audio of the speeches are linked here. Dr. Ron Paul Mitt Romney

Commentators feverishly attempt to explain away the showing of a campaign entirely originating in the grass roots efforts of ordinary Americans with analysis. These graphs and exit polls caught on the question of 'electability.' The unspoken subtext, present but unstated being, “well, you can't have what you want so which corporate candidate is the least offensive?” These analyzes originated with the driving need to get people to forget Paul is in the race, necessary to the powers that be. Unlike the other candidates Paul's loyalty is not to the GOP, a corporately-controlled tool for political organizing, but to the people of our nation and to the Constitution.

Speaking straight off the cuff, as is his way, Dr. Paul thanked his supporters humbly, delight and gratitude for what they, not he, had done, clear in his face. As he said during the 2007 race, “thank you for inviting me to the Revolution.” Paul went on to enumerate, the wrongs done to Americans and the changes he would enact, if elected. It was a lengthy list, detailed and specific, leaving no doubt as to what voters will get the day he is inaugurated. Over and over again his supporters interrupted the speech with cries of “President Paul, President Paul,” and tumultuous applause.

Dr. Paul noted a first in election history, as did Romney on a very different subject. Ron Paul proudly noted he is the first to mention the Federal Reserve as a dominant issue and call for its end. He promised the 'token' of his intentions by pledging to cut one trillion from the budget in his first year in office. Our monetary system said Paul, is “sneaky, deceitful.”

Paul left no doubt as to his views on war, individual rights, the impact imposed by the regulatory role undertaken by the federal government ,or the hunger of people for the America, which once held so much hope to people around the world.

In 2007 Paul was also the first candidate to mention, “blow-back,” a term coined by the CIA to explain the growing hostility to America by countries where their operations are taking place. Paul called for the orderly withdrawal of troops and an end to the role of 'policeman to the world,' for America.

Paul's vision for America evokes a very different vision for the future than continuous wars, which profit no one but the corporations who donate to the campaigns of his opponents. Paul calls for a world at peace. His supporters chanted, “bring them home, bring them home.” Paul is a real conservative who showed visible concern for people attempting to subsist on Social Security today and the continued reduction of spending power which is causing real suffering for older Americans.

On the subject of the Constitution Paul said, “the Constitution was written for a very precise manner. It was not designed to restrain the individual -- not to restrain you -- it was to protect your liberties and to restrain the federal government.”

The Paul vision is clear, unambiguous, straight from the heart, and consistent. His delivery was unstudied, warm, sincere.

And then you have Mitt Romney. On a positive note Mitt's supporters were far more polite. They rarely interrupted with cheers or applause.

As Mitt's speech went on he had no problem blaming Obama for the disappearance of the Middle Class, the huge bail-outs, and the myriad of other problems plaguing Americans today. Unfortunately, though he, having a firm background in economics and the financial realities of recent years, was less than candid when he blamed Obama for the US loss of the AAA credit rating, now gone. The AAA was already going before Obama was elected due to financial decisions and legislation originating in the Bush presidency, indications of which were present in 2007.

Sometimes it is small things which are most telling.

In October of that year W. Leon Smith, publisher and editor of the Lone Star Iconoclast, wrote a check to Alltel, his phone company, to pay his monthly bill. The check was run through, debiting his bank account twice, causing him to bounce checks. Smith investigated how this could have happened, resulting in an article titled, “Paper or Pretense,” which ran in the Lone Star Iconoclast January 30, 2008.

Smith's article closes with the illuminating statement by the FBI, who Smith contacted to file a complaint, that they work for the banks. Now that is a real 'Ah Hah!' moment, the FBI takes orders from banks, such as JP Morgan, a leading donor to the Romney campaign.

The 'bank error,' ignored by most analysts, had, in this once instance, impacted 27,000 customers, each having their check run twice. As time passed Smith began to hear of other instances with other companies. The result had been to allow JP Morgan Bank, then attempting to maintain a AAA rating, to gain millions of dollars in interest on the combined small amounts held which staved off the loss of their rating until recently.

Today Mitt is not running against Obama. He, and all other GOP candidates, are running against each other. Therefore comments on the positions expressed by Paul, the second most popular candidate, would be most useful – if Mitt actually wanted to provide the public with a comparison of what they will do, if nominated and then elected.

Romney offered “I stand ready to lead us down a different path, where we are lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success. In these difficult times, we cannot abandon the core values that define us as unique -- We are One Nation, Under God. Make no mistake, in this campaign, I will offer the American ideals of economic freedom a clear and unapologetic defense.”

Can you tell what this means?

I'm sure the line causes shivers of happiness to ripple through the faces of Dave and Charles Koch as they cash government checks issued for cost plus contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Evidently, Mitt thinks what we have today is free enterprise, which is economic freedom and nothing could be farther from the truth. What we have today is corporate fascism, control by corporations through government.

Otherwise, the Romney speech was stilted, filled with platitudes and meaningless rhetoric, such as, “We still believe in the America that is a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom. We believe in the America that challenges each of us to be better and bigger than ourselves. This election, let’s fight for the America we love. We believe in America.”

Here is the translation.

The strategy underlying the highly repetitive Romney speech is entirely understandable if you realize this. If Mitt had been clear or specific it would be impossible for people to fool themselves into believing him. The only way to lie to large groups is to allow them to deceive themselves by using emotionally charged images with little real meaning. Words like, “America” “One Nation” and “God” allow the listener to substitute an image, idea, or words from their own minds. The listener persuades themselves to 'believe.' You would not hire a plumber like this, you should not hire a CEO in this fashion, either.

But Romney's haircut was perfect, his teeth shiny white. He was craggy and attractive.

But a real debate on the issues needs to happen and, fortuitously, one will be taking place.

Meow-Meow is ready

Along with being a columnist for the Iconoclast I was drafted to run, as a Democrat, for president, much to my surprise. The campaign is registered with the Federal Election Commission. W. Leon Smith is my Campaign Chairman. Leon's draft letter is here. While Obama might not want to debate me you will be able to view a debate between the First Dog, Bo, and my son's animal companion, Meow-Meow in a matter of days. There will be specifics, substance, and dollops of humor.

The debate will really dig in to all the things, as Mitt so ably demonstrated, candidates are desperate to evade. And although I'm running as a Democrat for the nomination of the Democratic Meow-Meow is ready for action

Party, no corporate candidate will be left behind to languish any longer in the present rhetoric of the absurd.

Even Meow-Meow knows about reality.

Short Platform

Ratify the ERA
Fully fund Social Security
Hold the Bankers accountable
Give our veterans what they need to heal
Give the world peace, withdraw the troops
Abolish the FED
And force restitution from the corporations for all those victimized

END

###

Occupy the .War Contractors

2011-11-18T22:04:00.002-05:00

.Greedville - The short name for the long game - Take the Greedville tour in Santa Barbara!

As America begins to awaken and take to the streets let us remember the happily profitable defense contractors who are scattered across the country. Over decades past, and up until today, they have received billions for designing, building, and transporting the weapons of war which have destroyed other nations and are now being deployed here at home against us.

Do you feel safer because a river of weapons is being produced from the money you sweat to make?

Some of these weapons, for instance the Sound Cannon, also known as the Long Range Acoustic Device, are already being used against us as we protest. LRAD Corporation and is only one example.

From the wikipedia:

“ Against protesters:

The LRAD device was on hand at protests of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City [6] but not used; it was extensively used against opposition protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia, in November 2007.[7]
The magazine Foreign Policy has revealed that LRADs have been sold to the government of the People's Republic of China. American companies have been banned from selling arms to China since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
Local residents of Dusit in Bangkok witnessed it in use during protests of Triumph factory employees against dismissals on August 28, 2009.[8] The LRAD was used for the first time in the United States in Pittsburgh during the time of the G20 summit on September 24–25th, 2009.[9][10] Pittsburgh police again utilized LRAD as a precautionary measure to prevent unruly crowds from getting out of control following the 2011 Super Bowl. LRAD systems were also purchased by Toronto Police for the 2010 G20 summit.
In 2009, the government of Honduras used it on at least two occasions, on September 22 and 25, to communicate to those seeking refuge in the Brazilian embassy. In addition to embassy staff, these included the deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, his family, and some supporters and journalists.
LRAD was also used against college students in the city of Macomb, Illinois at the Wheeler Block Party at Western Illinois University ("WIU")[11] on May 1, 2011.[1]
LRAD was also reportedly[12] used by the Oakland Police Department during the clearance of the Occupy Oakland encampment on the morning of 25 October 2011.
Polish Police also acquired LRAD on december 2010 and used them to communicate with protesters during 11 November 2011 riots in Warsaw city. [13]
LRAD use was also reported as the New York City Police department cleared protestors during the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park on the morning of 15 November 2011.”

LRAD Corporation is located at 15378 Avenue of Science, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92128 USA
Phone: 858.676.1112.

The company which produces tasers, Taser International, their subtext is "Protect Life,” has its international headquarters at 17800 N. 85th St. Scottsdale, AZ. Another office is located in Arlington, Virgina, and yet another, TASER Virtual Systems at 5464 Carpinteria Ave, Suite I, Santa Barbara, CA 93013.

On August 28^th Anonymous released the following information on the producer of drones, which many expect will soon be deployed against Americans within the United States, are all paid for by tax payers.

“August 28, 2011, Alastair Stevenson reports in the International Business Times: The hacker collective Anonymous has released a fresh batch of data taken from Vanguard Defense Industries, a Pentagon and FBI contractor.

The data release was revealed via a post on tor2web.org and later publicised (sic) on the group’s AnonymousIRC Twitter account. In it the group claimed to have released “1GB of private emails and documents belonging to Vanguard Defense Industries (VDI).”

But these are the obvious problems, the end products also imply subcontracters who provide software and other essentials without which the products could not be produced.

There are also the old line, military-industrial complex corporations which are very conscious they are a corporate military presence on alien territory, for instance Northrop Grumman. A friend of mine, a mind-mannered software engineer, and his partner, inadvertently drove into the company parking lot during broad daylight in Maryland to be met by 'security' wearing flack jackets and carrying AK47s.

Some defense contractors are open to their relationship with us. Others are covert.

Santa Barbara, that lovely resort where so many 1%ers live on the Pacific coast above Los Angeles, is also the headquarters for Green Hills Software, yet another defense contractor located at 28 Sola St., Santa Barbara, CA 93103. Notice the significant partners on their “defense customers” page for this company who are more easily recognizable.

Complex weapons systems, high level encryption, and other expensive toys used in war, are produced behind the seemingly safe and friendly doors of businesses which donate to local charities as they cash their government checks and pump out their products of death. We need to rethink our attitude here.

War is the health of the corporate state. General Smedley Butler said this of corporate war profits in his book, “War is a Racket,” written in 1937. “The normal profits of a business concern in the United States are six, eight, ten, and sometimes twelve percent. But war-time profits -- ah! that is another matter -- twenty, sixty, one hundred, three hundred, and even eighteen hundred per cent -- the sky is the limit. All that traffic will bear. Uncle Sam has the money. Let's get it.

Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket -- and are safely pocketed. Let's just take a few examples:
Take our friends the du Ponts, the powder people -- didn't one of them testify before a Senate committee recently that their powder won the war? Or saved the world for democracy? Or something? How did they do in the war? They were a patriotic corporation. Well, the average earnings of the du Ponts for the period 1910 to 1914 were $6,000,000 a year. It wasn't much, but the du Ponts managed to get along on it. Now let's look at their average yearly profit during the war years, 1914 to 1918. Fifty-eight million dollars a year profit we find! Nearly ten times that of normal times, and the profits of normal times were pretty good. An increase in profits of more than 950 per cent.
Take one of our little steel companies that patriotically shunted aside the making of rails and girders and bridges to manufacture war materials. Well, their 1910-1914 yearly earnings averaged $6,000,000. Then came the war. And, like loyal citizens, Bethlehem Steel promptly turned to munitions making. Did their profits jump -- or did they let Uncle Sam in for a bargain? Well, their 1914-1918 average was $49,000,000 a year!”

The Occupy Movement is about confrontation, about letting those profiting know we are on to them and will no longer tolerate their assumption of moral justification. Instead, we will non-violently disrupt their lives, never stopping until we, who produce the wealth, control what we justly earn so that our world can be safe for all of humanity.

.Research each contractor, each part and component of what they spend. Occupy all of them.

Reclaiming America - Enter the Man from Pray, Montana

2011-11-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

by Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, November 15, 2011 .

As the Occupy Movement gathers momentum against Wall Street and the corporate banks, a man stepped up to the lectern in Billings, Montana He quietly took his place among eight other candidates for the Republican nomination for governor. They faced an audience of around 200 Republican activists and scant media. Montana is a state rich in beauty and resources, home to fewer than one million Americans.

The forum, sponsored by the Yellowstone Republican Women on Saturday, November 12^th, had invited all the declared GOP candidates The candidate from Pray, Robert Fanning, stood out from the rest in every way. He came into politics with a fire in the belly and a plan for change which goes far beyond Montana.

During the forum Fanning announced his running partner, candidate for Lt. Governor, will be Chuck Baldwin, former presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. The slate will also include a candidate for Attorney General and a partnership with every county in the state. The issues are many, says Fanning, but have a common source.

A consummate expert on finance, Fanning learned about the markets during his years .at the Chicago Board of Trade, ending that part of his career at Gelderman Securities, Inc., Chicago, IL , Member NASD, SIPC and CBOE; Clearing House member CBOT, CME, Director, Institutional Sales, Associate Member. Other traders called him, “The Mayor.” He knows the Pit, its split second timing, and the realities of it's world.

Fanning also understands the fraud which has been carried out through securitization of mortgages and the other systemic financial cons which have transferred wealth into the pockets of the already bloated greedy from hard-working Americans.

Jobs, health-care, real security, education, the forum questions rolled on. Fanning took his 90 seconds to respond to each question read out. But his plan for change is founded on facts, not empty words, political rhetoric or glad-handing. Fanning knows Montana can turn from a growing poverty to real prosperity rapidly. He has the moves down cold.

Moving from trading into direct ownership as Sole Shareholder, Director and Officer as CEO of M. H. Detrick Co., Mokena, IL in 1994 Fanning confronted head on the problems visited on Americans by previous generations of irresponsible corporate action, steering the company through tort claims resulting from decades of asbestos issues while increasing profitability. Fanning negotiated multi-million dollar settlements and worked one-on-one with attorneys representing large blocks of claimants in 50 states. The plan was thereafter templated by other companies impacted by the asbestos mass tort contingent liability burden. The innovative solution was reported with respect in Fortune Magazine.

The troubled company exited bankruptcy in 2002, at which time Fanning retired and headed to Montana. to the life of a rancher, living his love of the land and hunting, tossing his cell phone out the window of his car. He believed he was leaving the corporate world behind him when he bought Next Best Thing Ranch. But the Federal government and the ugly realities of wolf reintroduction forced him to reconsider his options.

Fanning holds in his mind the image of a pack of wolves holding down a pregnant cow elk as they eat out her unborn calf before finishing her off, leaving her body to rot. The herd, once numbering 16,000 today waivers at around 4,000 and its members are aging rapidly as they are not being replaced.

The Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, beset by the reintroduction of wolves in numbers which guaranteed the end of their existence, needed a friend. They found that friend in Bob Fanning. Founded in 1999 Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd, Inc., in Pray Montana. The group, headquartered in Fanning's home, which overlooks Yellowstone, grew to 3,742 members.

It took twelve years, three experts in biology, a constant reiteration of the facts and six million dollars of Fanning's money to accomplish the goal achieving the delisting of introduced wolves who are destroying the existing ecosystem. .

Fanning, with his background in the corporate world, saw clearly where Maurice Strong's Agenda 21 was headed, forcing rural residents into towns and cities, and was determined to stop it.

Fanning's cowboy hat is in the ring for the governorship of Montana because he understands the noose tightening around the necks of Americans today. He will return Montana to the people.

Bob Fanning is better qualified to run for president than anyone presently campaigning for that office - but he understands the problem cannot be solved at the Federal level. Let the reclaiming of America begin in Montana, Fanning says. “We have the Tenth Amendment and we will use it.”

If you care about your freedom turn your eyes north to Pray, Montana.

Family law judge, Clay M. Smith, orders arrest of battered woman for crime of refusing to turn son over to abuser.

2011-09-23T03:22:00.000-04:00

Cypress, CA – Family Law Judge Clay M. Smith today ordered the arrest of Kimberly Bunn-Smith, a single mother raising a small son for refusing to turn the boy over to the man who, she says, battered her and tried to force her to abort when she was four months pregnant.

Bunn-Smith has been resident in a shelter for battered women as she fought to retain custody against the orders of Smith, who, according to her and friends, routinely refused to examine the evidence of Wayne 's abusive behavior, which was also visited on her son due to visitation forced by the same judge.

It was at the shelter that police arrested Bunn-Miller, shortly after sshe erving Judge Smith with two motions which remove the case from his court due to her status as a Native American. (see Motions on website). Specific law remands questions of the raising of Native American children to Tribal Courts. As a registered member of the Montauk or Shinnecock Indian Tribal Nation with land holdings on Long Island, New York Bunn-Miller filed to have the matter moved to the proper venue.

Kimberly Bunn-Miller's concerns did not begin, or end, with the venue, however.

Bunn-Miller finished her education to become a school teacher and was left unable to use her degree because of Judge Smith's false charges of domestic violence against her, which automatically disqualified her from teaching in the State of California. She lost her job because of the many court hearings forced by Wayne, as many as eight in one month. Wayne is 'self-employed,' which work includes sales of pornography, she commented.

“Judge Clay Smith would just glance at the evidence I provided – and there was a lot of it – and then look me in the eye and tell me I was lying,” said Bunn-Miller. “I wasn't. I never lied about anything.”

A google search of the name, “Judge Clay M. Smith” reveals that on sites for public rating of judicial performance most often includes the word, “terrible.” Bunn-Miller, and dozens of others agree with the assessment.

Asked about her son and his relationship with his father Bunn-Miller said, “My son wets himself when forced to spend time with his father. How would you feel if your child came home to ask you, “Why does Daddy call you a C**t?” What does it mean, Mommy?””

To join the effort to clean up the Orange County Courts visit For Our Children and Justice. [http://forourchildrenandjustice.yolasite.com]

Hear Charles Lincoln, III, Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, and Montana State Legislator Jerry O'Neil on Rumor Mill Radio Friday, September 23, 2011 at 1pm Pacific Time for an update on developing events.

END

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Stealing Truth: Murdoch, NeoCons, and Greed

2011-08-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

If the media had followed the clear rules they had written for themselves, would we now be on the express down elevator to a meltdown of global proportions? Likely not. We would have problems, but we would have seen them more clearly. We needed the truth. We did not get it.

The first problem was that journalists so blithely ignored the standards of their profession.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has established a code of ethics. The tenets of this code are short, clear, concise, and well-founded. But there is no means of enforcement. If journalists would follow them, we could trust the media. Today most of us do not. If a journalist ignores their ethical obligations, either from sloth or a desire to profit, nothing can be done. If raiding the cookie jar can be carried out with impunity, then there will be no cookies. I know this, having raised several children.

The SPJ has existed since 1909, four years before the Federal Reserve Bank came into being. Their founders could have included Ida Tarbell, the journalist who caused the break up of Standard Oil, though the site does not mention her – an indomitable truth teller. Tarbell told the truth, but a handful of years later the dispersed Standard Oil was larger than ever and still carried out the same exploitive pattern of business.

The takeaway: having the truth does not automatically solve the problem. You need to use the truth to build the cultural tools that enact accountability. We need that accountability today as the world melts down around our ears. Those responsible for the economic collapse got bailouts. Those who will be forced to pay are losing everything, even their Social Security.

It was not just banks or oil companies or the "military-industrial complex" of which Ike warned us, though the sense of immunity to accountability these corporate-cultural structures enjoy is another part of the problem. Many individuals made decisions they knew to be wrong. Along with those heading corporations, journalists were a pivotal part of this failure. They had ample opportunity to act ethically and make a decision that would have influenced the values by which all of us live, building the world through those uncounted separate choices. Unfortunately, they chose unwisely and unethically – and their bad choices drove out the good.
Large media (and non-media) corporations have swallowed up newspapers and other media outlets during the last few decades with alarming speed, with the goal being the use of these outlets as an extension of their control. Individual journalists did not have to cooperate – but they did, in large part. The lack of dispassionate, objective reporting in journalism morphed the profession towards use as a perpetual public relations service for those in power. The question became not "What is the truth?" but "What do you want the truth to be?" Power and profit became the unassailable be-all and end-all of corporate journalism.
These journalistic 'values' are best exemplified by Rupert Murdoch.

Sex, Lies, and Journalism

The following story, provided previously, illustrates how the cooperative efforts of the Bush White House, working with 'media,' such as owned by Rupert Murdoch, can eliminate potential exposure.

What did the culture of Page Six, combined with the Fox cadre of media outlets do to American culture over the last generation?

I first met Doug Dechert at a Fabiani Society Meeting in early 2000. The first words out of his mouth after being introduced was to offer me coverage on Page Six for payment to him of $10,000. My direct comments on Dechert appeared in, Stealing Truth: The John Fund Back Story, first published in January 2009. This article augments the previous version.

Over the next years Dechert occasionally surfaced for us through his relationship with John Fund and others we knew through the Fabiani Society. The period bridged the time when America was being sold the propositions George W. Bush had been legitimately elected President of the United States and Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction. Over those months I had opportunity to observe Fund and Dechert together and with others and reached the conclusion they were well acquainted, sharing many associates.

What else was going on, behind the scenes, besides hacking phone calls, about which we are now informed?

Most Americans, myself included, believed at the beginning of the first Bush W. Administration that the media was functioning as intended by our Founders, as the public source for truth. Today, most Americans understand this is not the case and the change over probably began with the placement of 'journalists' who did not respect or follow the tenets of traditional journalism, over a period of years.

The Manhattan Institute, Cato Institute & the Fabiani Society

During 2000 I had an apartment in New York at the Rivergate on 34^th Street. At the same time we met Doug Dechert at the Fabiani Society we met Barbara Herbich, who soon after began a relationship with Doug Dechert for a while wearing the infamous diamond ring, said to come with a rubber band leading back to Doug, as a sign of their engagement. Doug moved in with Barbara at her apartment located at 845 W End Ave, Apt 15B. It was there Barbara found her self at loose ends one evening in Doug's absence. She picked out one of the many videos he had brought with him and popped it in her player. It was not what she expected.

Barbara said she recognized the man, who was unclothed. The woman with whom he was having sex was, in her expressed opinion, a high-class call girl. Barb later expressed to us the opinion Doug was being paid to set up prominent NY men with prostitutes so their later actions could be 'managed' politically. Would this service have been provided for Murdoch or for Rove or both?

What prominent men in New York could have been blackmailed during those years? How might this have changed the outcome of events?

Barbara died suddenly in October of 2010. As a side note, the documentary she was then working on, “Nazi Persecution of Polish Christians,” remains unfinished. A talented documentary director, Barbara was working in New York when she met Dechert. MEMORIAL VIDEO

Domestic Violence
Morgan Pillsbury filed charges of domestic violence against Fund in early 2002. The Police claimed no photos were taken (see report, scroll to notes at the bottom of the page). The DA sat on the case. The NeoCon hate machine hit us like a tsunami. Fund's connections, political and journalistic, came to his aid. One article, especially, told me how personal the attacks would be.
Fund solicited other attacks. Wendy McElroy, a woman who calls herself an individualist feminist and individualist anarchist I had known since the 70s, who wrote "False Rape Charges Hurt Real Victims" for FOXnews.com (published July 22, 2003). In so doing she also violated the tenets of journalism, profiting thereby.
Journalists are required to ensure the principals are heard. McElroy failed to call either Morgan or myself. Since I had known her personally since the 1970s, this was a shock. Despite my best efforts I could not even get McElroy on the phone after she published. There was no notice given in advance what so ever.
Instead of carrying out her ethical obligation to seek the facts she wrote the article exonerating Fund and was within weeks hired at FOX News, the major Murdoch outlet long associated with Fund and his fellow NeoCons.
McElroy has made her living for decades writing effective spin for niche groups that want to hear justifications for their positions. These include why women need pornography and why women are as likely to be batterers as men, among other unsupportable assertions. Would she have been hired without providing the hit job under cover of journalism? Soon, we were calling it the John Fund Jobs Program for Needy Journalists.

For me, these events made the political and profit elements, present with Fox News and human ambition, very clear. The subsequent purchase of the WSJ by Murdoch made perfect sense as a political tool which allowed him to reward, punish, and carry out covert operations under the guise of journalism and business as usual.

Also clear, were the strong incentives not to see the 'elephant in the room' evidenced by those whose livelihoods depended on pay checks from a media which had been completely centralized, much of it under the control of Rupert Murdoch, then answering to the Bush White House. Political Operatives, disguised as journalists, were in positions of power and control.

Power & John Fund
As a member of the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal for 18 years, Fund was on a trajectory toward greater power in 1998. The power he already possessed provided him with a feeling of invincibility. Already accustomed to sexual access to many women who were attracted to power and money, he became accustomed to ignoring the consequences of behavior that was deceitful and ugly.
His personal and professional life matched in this regard. He knew no matter what he did he would be protected.
In October of 1998, he began a sexual relationship with my biological daughter, Morgan Pillsbury, who was raised by my parents. Morgan first met Fund at a convention I helped organize in Los Angeles in 1985. I had known Fund myself since 1980 when we met at a Libertarian Party Convention, where he came across as nerdy and bumbling but likable. The impression stuck. Over the years we kept in touch. He told the kids to call him Uncle John.
When I heard a rumor that Fund was involved with Morgan, I called him directly. He lied to me, telling me she lived nearby. He claimed that he had been feeding her cat for her while she had been away. I believed him.
Having had experience with Morgan over many years, I knew she could be less than honest . She needed strong evidence to disprove Fund's claims to me. That is why the audio tape often referred to as the "Weaselsearch tape" was made.
She and I were arguing about her claims of having had a relationship with John when she realized he was calling. Putting me on hold she recorded a conversation with him. The Beep noise is me calling back. I did not realize she was on the phone with him until she played the tape you will hear.
If you listen to the tape, it becomes immediately apparent that Fund did not want me to know the truth. He lied and pressured Morgan to lie about their relationship. There was no reason for this; if he had told me he was in a relationship with Morgan, I would have been surprised and appalled, but it had been many years since we had been more than friends. My time was occupied caring for my severely handicapped son, Arthur, and by my own health needs, not with his love life.
Morgan was no child. She was born July 5, 1967. John was born April 8, 1956. Adults make their own decisions.
If this had remained merely a case of a man lying about his love life, journalism would never have been an issue. But Fund wanted to continue the relationship with Morgan covertly so he could also have relations with other women.
Unfortunately for Fund, Morgan refused to be his dirty little secret – and it was she who brought computer savvy into the relationship. For much of the three years they were a couple, Fund used Morgan's computer for professional purposes and to receive personal e-mail. Why Fund would have overlooked the chain of evidence thus produced says nothing good about his intelligence of foresight.
And not only did Fund consistently lie about his relationship with Morgan while pursuing other women, he left the evidence on her computer. It was a strange relationship, and I do not pretend to entirely understand it.
At each point I demanded proof from Morgan for just these reasons. I talked to Fund over dinner, on the phone from the apartment the couple shared. I listened as he assured me he loved Morgan and wanted to marry her. I received e-mails and other proof that could not have been falsified, for instance this IM conversation on AOL between Matt Drudge and Morgan. Drudge had been IMing with Fund on Morgan's computer earlier. Fund went to bed, leaving the window up. Morgan continued the conversation.
Fund's lies would have exposed him, if not for his connections.
Fund lied to the daughter of Claire George, Leslie. He had told Leslie Morgan was not living with him. Ms. George called Morgan, demanding she stop stalking John. Morgan told her to call John's land line in two minutes. Standing by the bed she answered, spoke to Leslie, and handed the phone to John. Leslie then emailed Morgan, sharing her father's opinion that Fund is a sociopath.
Newt Gingrich was also briefed by Fund and responded to our request for intervention with this email. Newt refused to provide information on what had been said, making response impossible.
Morgan's 'relationship' with Sidney Blumenthal was limited to asking for help, being refused, and, according to Morgan, having a Blumenthal associate steal information for the book he was writing on the Clinton Presidency, The Clinton Wars.
Around January, 2002, Fund – despite claims to the contrary by himself and others – was fired from the Wall Street Journal, probably because of the scandal that exploded over his own behavior. A letter from Fidelity Investments advised him to, "make a decision about what to do with the savings you have accumulated in your former employer's retirement plan." That employer was the Wall Street Journal. The letter is in Morgan's possession. Fund opened it in her living room and, as Morgan told me, left it laying on the floor.
Morgan told me he had battered her on multiple occasions, first in New Jersey and then after he stalked her back to Manhattan and insisted on moving in with her in her new apartment. I heard several of those incidents via cell phone – as did Eric Buchanan of Roswell, Georgia.
She finally decided to file charges in both New Jersey and New York. Her hesitation, she later said, was the threat made by Fund to launch an attack on her with the cooperation of Rove and Dick Cheney, both friends and close associates of his. She did not share this threat with me until 2009.
Events escalated.
Fund coerced a false confession from Morgan to hide his acts, using threats of violence. Morgan sent this email to me and others immediately to refute what she had been forced to sign.
Fund solicited and received the cooperation of other journalists to spin what had taken place.

Fund's "Nuts and Sluts" Strategy

Eric Alterman, a New York based writer known for his partisan political writing, generally perceived as on the left but, in fact, a centrist, authored an article for the May 15, 2003 edition of The Nation, Who Framed John Fund? Morgan and I attempted to contact Alterman. On Mother's Day morning, June 11^th, Morgan received an email from Alterman urgently requesting a response to a list of questions. Alterman received her response within three hours. He used none of the material supplied, did not call to follow up on her reply, and did not ask for the further documents that Morgan had offered. On June 25, 2003 a response from another liberal, Mark Crispin Miller, was published with another from Alterman in The Nation. The exchange is titled, 'Ugly Tactics Make for Ugly People.'
Alterman sent Morgan a dismissive E-mail on July 4^th.
According to Fred Brown, vice chair of the ethics committee for the Society for Professional Journalists, many journalists would pause before writing an article requested by someone in Fund's circumstances. A journalist who followed the tenets of ethics would also be careful to ensure that all principals had fully aired their cases. Alterman violated every tenet of the code as outlined by SPJ. If you peruse his own website you will see this does not stem from a lack of “credentials.”
Fund was at that time working to have the charges against him in New York dropped. To accomplish that, he had been told he needed to destroy our credibility – Morgan's as the victim, and my own as a witness.
A perfunctory search of the journalists involved also leads to linkages between these individuals. Alterman states in articles he has written that he is a friend of Katie Rosman, about whom you will read more below. A Google search of their names showed they often appear at the same events and cite each other. Alterman "adores gossip," by his own report, and admits to being an avid reader of Page Six, a gossip column run by Richard Johnson with associates such as Doug Dechert.
Dechert was a regular attendee at the Fabiani Society, which met the second Tuesday at the Princeton Club, a place where Fund was also a regular. The organization was disbanded in 2007, according to the Manhattan Institute.
The first time I was introduced to Dechert at one of these events, he asked me for $10,000 to be in Page Six. I did not know what Page Six was and would have declined even more rapidly if I had known.
Selling print in this fashion is not news, it is not journalism, and it is not respectable public relations. Discussing the matter with Fred Brown, we agreed that the term "Slime Journalism" worked to describe it (with apologies to slime, which is an important part of the ecosystem). Reading Alterman's enthusiastic reports on the operation leads one to believe he expects dishonesty and scandal as standard, modeling his professional work on that of Murdoch.
The Fabiani Society was jointly sponsored by two NeoCon think-tanks, the Cato Institute and the Manhattan Institute. The speakers usually represent the opinions marketed by those institutions. Many came only for the opportunity to network or the excellent canapés and ample bar.
Fund sent this email to Morgan at the same time these articles would have been in the works, once again demonstrating his lack not only of professionalism, but maturity.
An article solicited by Katie Rosman, then at Elle, in the autumn of 2003, presents a strategy also intended to silence us using another tack. We met with Katie Rosman at a coffee shop in Manhattan where she asked for an exclusive on the story. We agreed. Soon her contact with us became sporadic. The story was stalled for months, during a critical time period, and then quashed (see correspondence).
Rosman's career received a real boost by not writing an article for John Fund.
Rosman received a job offer at the Wall Street Journal simultaneous to the article being dropped. Katie Rosman is still working at the WSJ and is a friend of Eric Alterman's, according to Alterman.
Fund solicited a woman law professor, Gail Heriot to assist him.
The site, John H. Fund, was originally registered at her address in San Diego, 4830 Hart Drive, San Diego, CA 92116. That has now been changed. Heriot put herself in the category of journalist when she wrote to Gene Gaudette, the editor of APJ, with a letter she sent across the Internet, effectively publishing it. Its content is libelous. (You can read that e-mail from Heriot to American Politics Journal and their demolishing response here).
Heriot had written an email to Fund on January 13, 2002 that reveals the reason she supported him. Morgan and Fund were still living together when she wrote, "So allow me to introduce myself. I am Gail Heriot, the woman whose hotel room you've found yourself in a few times over the last six weeks." See the full letter here.
Gail's articles also appear in the Wall Street Journal today.
Fund was offered support from a female journalist with whom he was evidently conducting an affair at Christian Broadcast Network. Her name was Christine Hall-Reis. Here is a semi-nude photo that she sent to Fund, which he downloaded to Morgan's computer and became her property,given to me to use as needed. Fund and Morgan were living together at the time the photo was sent along with the accompanying email.
One can reach no other conclusion that each and every one of these articles was clearly solicited by Fund.
One also has to relish the irony of Fund using women with whom he was intimately involved to deploy a "nuts and sluts" smear campaign.
Fund also received help from individuals hoping to benefit from the opportunity presented who were not compensated. Two such individuals were Eric Garris and Justin Raimondo, now of Anti-War.com.
Both men had known Fund and myself for many years. Both were members of a small but self-consciously radical group associated with the Libertarian Party and Murray Rothbard, a highly respected free market economist who died in 1995.
I made a call to Eric Garris in 2002 asking for help. Morgan was in hiding, in fear of her life. Fund was using every avenue to destroy my reputation and credibility. Eric refused to help. In 2006 Justin Raimondo wrote an article that appeared on Anti-War.com. The original has been altered. I responded in 24 hours with this article.
Soon afterward I talked to Lew Rockwell of Lewrockwell.com, founder of the Mises Institute, who employs Eric Garris as a webmaster. Eric had read my assertion that the hit piece on Fund was motivated by the realization neither he or Raimondo would never profit by covering for Fund. Lew told me he talked to Garris right after he read my article. Eric, he said, affirmed I was exactly right.

Black Box Road to the Rove White House

Fund's relationship with the Bush White House and the purpose of the book he was then writing, Stealing Elections, were less obvious in 2002. Fund has since admitted he has been routinely briefed by the White House, before and after he was fired from the WSJ. His road to being a willing tool of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was long and, in many ways, meteoric.
Fund first worked as a political operative in 1979, according to Justin Raimondo. His services were secured to ensure the nomination of Ed Clark for the Libertarian Presidential Nomination for 1980 by Ed Crane. Far from having an interest in stopping voter or election fraud, Fund himself committed a curious specie of fraud by claiming to be a candidate by taking out papers that year but never turning them in while claiming to be running for office and getting 46% of the vote. Justin Raimondo characterized Fund as "an expert lying propagandist of the sleazier sort."
Never in all the years I knew him did I hear Fund express any interest in the issues of election or voter fraud. His political interests were more sensational; his personal interests run to Star Wars and Star Trek. If you really knew him, this sudden change in principal interests should have raised questions about his role with those associated with the administration. It did for me.
The book he wrote is now considered by those in the clean elections movement to be a misdirective tool intended to muddy the water on the issue of voter fraud. It focuses in on purported fraud by individuals, ignoring the enormous issues of fraud now ascribed to such companies as Diebold and ES&S. Fund proposed centralizing control over elections as a solution – an idea completely in line with the big and well-connected "black box" mongers – and is nearly successful in undermining the issue by injecting his spin.
Bev Harris of Black Box Voting said of Fund's position, "It is amazing that this bogus solution is still being put forth. His solutions take us directly to ever more centralized control by a small group of insiders. What is needed is for the people to have local control and access to the results. Complete transparency."
Mark Crispin Miller was even more explicit, saying, "Despite his pose as an impartial expert on American elections, John Fund is in fact a dedicated party operative, who for many years has turned out rightist propaganda for the GOP. Specifically, he has abetted the Republicans' election theft by helping to promote the myth of widespread Democratic 'voter fraud'--a fiction that has been disproved by every reputable study, but one which Fund has pushed at every opportunity. And so whatever he may recommend to help 'reform' US elections should be rejected out of hand, as on this crucial subject he enjoys no credibility at all."
Vickie Karp and others involved in the clean elections movement also agree about Fund and his role as a propagandist and deceiver. All of the agree that Fund's "solutions," which provide cover for ever more centralization and displace real reform, are the opposite of transparency.
Inserting himself into that dialog would have been severely hampered had he been in jail for domestic violence. Yet Fund remains a high level political operative. Understanding how he accomplished his goals provides a clear understanding of the covert operation we know as the Bush Administration.
In all cases each of the individuals above achieved, or hoped to profit by using the appearance of journalism to sell lies.
Rupert Murdoch successfully converted journalism to propaganda, used to protect the interests of the elite of which he is a part and made a profit doing it. He acquired the WSJ in 2005, presumably after he realized how useful it would be to own the most prominent American publication on finance and covert politics. Journalists lined up with their hands out to help him.

For all these reasons it is time to lose your illusions, plant in your garden, and some reserve seed for next year.

The Corporate Greedy – When Psychopaths Cooperate

2011-06-06T06:32:00.000-04:00

The Case of Craig Franklin and Dan O'Dowd

By Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

Photo obtained from Anne Fisher

While we are coming to recognize the acts of individual, lone psychopaths in crime, business, politics and our personal lives as the source of tremendous trauma, and the monetary costs, arguably in the trillions today, we have failed to grasp the full magnitude of the problem.

As with all other segments of the population psychopaths run the spectrum of abilities and intelligent. According to Dr. Liane Leedom, a psychiatrist specializing in the study of the condition, at any time there are 20,000 psychopaths with IQs over 180 at large in the United States. This is cause for an entirely different degree of concern for several related reasons.

First, the condition is not presently curable or even treatable. It is a neurological, not psychological condition.

Professor Declan Murphy and colleagues Dr Michael Craig and Dr Marco Catani from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London have now published findings which move further in the direction of placing the source psychopathy as an organic malfunction of the brain itself. Differences in the brains of normal individuals and psychopaths point to this conclusion.

Dr Michael Craig said in an article published August 5, 2009 in Science News, ”If replicated by larger studies the significance of these findings cannot be underestimated. The suggestion of a clear structural deficit in the brains of psychopaths has profound implications for clinicians, research scientists and the criminal justice system.”
While Dr Craig did not dismiss the possibility for treatment all attempts to change behavior from the use of psychotherapy have failed utterly, professionals admit. Therapeutic approaches have only succeeded in producing more predatory psychopaths.
(Jan. 25, 2011) — People diagnosed as psychopathic have difficulty showing empathy, just like patients who have suffered frontal head injury. This has been shown in a new study from the University of Haifa. "Our findings show that people who have psychopathic symptoms behave as though they are suffering frontal brain damage," said Dr. Simone Shamay-Tsoory, who conducted the study.
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that finds expression in extreme anti-social behavior and intentional harm to others, including a lack of compassion and empathy. An existing explanation for such behavior suggests the inability to comprehend the existence of emotions in others. However, the fact that many psychopaths act with sophistication and deceit to intentionally harm others, indicates that they actually have a good grasp of the mental capacity of others -- and are capable of using that knowledge in order to cause them harm.
Earlier research by Dr. Shamay-Tsoory has examined individuals with frontal head injury, i.e., damage to parts of the brain that are responsible for emotional functioning. She has shown that people suffering this type of brain damage have difficulty showing empathy. Having observed similar emotional deficiency in psychopathic behavior, she set out to see if there is in fact a similarity between the two cases.
The current study assessed 17 people who had been diagnosed by psychiatrists as psychopathic -- and not suffering from any known brain damage; and another 25 individuals suffering frontal lobe injury. Each of the participants underwent a computerized test examining cognitive ability to recognize feelings in another and the ability to demonstrate empathy for another's emotions. They were also tested to gauge their capacity to understand another's thoughts. The results of these tests showed that both groups demonstrated a similar difficulty in showing empathy, while two control groups of individuals with no known mental disorders or brain damage and individuals with non-frontal brain damage both showed different results with positive empathy capabilities.
"Seeing as psychopathic behavior is similar to that of a person with brain damage, it could be that it could benefit from similar forms of treatment," Dr. Shamay-Tsoory noted, a hopeful note not supported by the body of evidence as of yet.
One psychopath acting alone can alter the behavior of those around him or her though carefully orchestrated manipulation.
What happens when psychopaths cooperate? Is the economic and cultural meltdown now ongoing related to the presence of these individuals, able act at will, in our world? Is this the outcome of psychopaths acting in the “lone wolf” model, or is it an illustration of what happens when psychopaths cooperate? By their nature, intelligent psychopaths are con-men, using our emotions to manipulate us for their own ends to carry out their personal agendas.

There is as yet little awareness of this potentially far more dangerous impact on our lives. The thoughtful might consider stepping back to consider what is taking place today, much of it so seemingly incomprehensible.

The story below is true in all particulars and demonstrates something of the hazards we face in a world which fails to see those without conscience for what they are and enact laws and practices to alleviate the problem.

Craig Franklin and Dan O'Dowd, cooperating psychopaths within a corporation.

Dan O'Dowd, President of Green Hills Software, Inc., hired Franklin as Vice President of Advanced Products Development because of his own inability to make a success of his business. At the time Franklin was hired he, Franklin, had facilitated the only sales the company had manged to make since their founding in 1982. Ignoring their marketing materials, Franklin had read the code and recommended the products to three other companies, who, trusting Franklin's judgment from experience, bought. In this way Dan was rescued from having to return to their venture capitalist, O'Dowd's former employer, Glenn Hightower, for more funding. As we will see, Dan's behavior later identifies him as highly psychopathic himself. Dan's goal was to become wealthier than Bill Gates.

Their Story

Craig Franklin is a psychopath whose goals include enjoying incestuous relationships with very young girls or children who looked like his sister, P. Craig's first sexual arousal took place when he was 16 and the two siblings were wrestling. Craig's sister was then 12. In appearance, the sister, P, was highly neotonous, blond and blue-eyed.

P. was the only girl in a family comprised of four siblings, herself the youngest. The parents were emotionally unavailable and the four siblings were born within just a few years of each other, the first two, Craig and S, only 10 months apart. Not surprisingly, Craig received little maternal attention.

Craig's odd behavior was noted by those around him from the time was in grade school.

After a stellar performance in college, where Craig far out performed his peers while obtaining a degree in math at Stanford University in just over three years, Craig went on to do extraordinary work in a series of early software companies. Craig's IQ is 180.

However, his inability to cope with normal life, in his case evidenced by his inability to file his income tax returns each year, forced him to move on as soon as the penalties resulted in complete garnishment of his earnings. In fact, Craig never owed money, he made it a practice to have the maximum possible withheld. But he did not file the return. If he had, he would have received a large refund each year. More on Craig's non-filing here.

This took place approximately every two years, making it impossible for him to exercise the very generous stock-options he was always granted, by his own report. Craig's non-filing cost him hundreds of millions of dollars.

As is typical of psychopaths, Craig was profligate with money, spending every penny he had with no thought of the future. As a means of buffering himself in social situations he took up playing the guitar while still in college and began writing his own songs, most of which left the listener cold, as they, not unsurprisingly, were emotionally flat. This changed when he began studying the problem and emulating the emotional content of songs written by others, whose authentic emotions he could express. For years he tried to purchase the right to a song by a fellow Libertarian, Dean Ahmad, about Thomas Jefferson. Dean had written his version on the morning of April 3th, 1976 in honor of Jefferson's birthday.

Eventually, Franklin rewrote the song. Franklin told his wife, Melinda, on one occasion, he had to use a huge portion of his left brain to emulate having a right brain (empathy), which he admitted he lacked.

Craig continues to use music to gain access to possibly useful relationships today. These include songs about 'freedom' as well as children's songs. Those he works with who are probably unaware of Craig's history. The lyrics appearing in this album, “Celeste Sings,” include two examples of Craig's writing. Justin's Lullaby was written for his youngest son, the other song for his grand-daughter by Scott.

Craig's first marriage lasted 18 months, ending because his wife, also a mathematician, insisted their tax returns be filed. The wife, Elaine, was pregnant when Craig abruptly insisted on returning to college for a master's degree. She left him. Craig used the divorce and the son born to them in continued attempts to destroy her, apparently unconscious of the effects of his manipulations on the child.

No financial settlement took place until forced by both sets of parents and the court. His son, Scott, became a weapon to continue the war on his former wife, a war in which he maligned her endlessly.

Children are very vulnerable to a psychopathic parent.

While Scott was in his custody he was subjected to endless 'programming' designed to cause him to distrust and resent his mother. Craig also began to discuss sex with Scott, reflecting the idea he, as a member of his 'very elite family,' had a right to whatever they wanted. “Franklin men take what they want,” was a phrase he reported growing up hearing from his father, though there is no evidence this was the case in his father's sexual behavior. The father, Dr. Carl M. Franklin, a former double vice-president of the University of Southern California, now deceased.

But Scott learned this to be true. Saw this demonstrated in other parts of his grandfather's life. Craig's father, had often gloated about his cleverness in persuading wealthy alumni to donate to the USC instead of leaving the money to their children. These same sentiments where shared in his letters to his children, later. A set of these papers is available for study.

Scott's first sexual experience was a gang rape. Learning of this from a conversation overheard by his step-mother, Melinda, she demanded Craig take action. Craig immediately sent Scott back to his mother, but not before letting him know his behavior was not a problem, she later learned.

After Scott's violent behavior, directed toward his mother, forced his removal to the home of his father and step-mother, his attempted to strangle his older step-sister when asked to clean up after his cat. The Franklin family blamed the victim, minimizing the violence done to the step-sister, who was six or seven inches shorter than Scott and weighed only 100 Lbs.

Craig, to the shock of his wife, expressed no condemnation of Scott's behavior, using the event as an opportunity to go into counseling with Nathaniel Branden, who had previously had a sexual relationship with a woman Craig had stalked, Ayn Rand.

An inability to identify inappropriate and non-empathic behavior reoccurs throughout Craig's life.

Craig's impact on Scott played out over the next years.

Craig's second marriage to Melinda in 1987, a woman with three daughters who fit within the confines of his sexual target zone, was undertaken for several purposes. Two of these were to gain access to her daughters and provide cover for Craig's inability to function in the normal world.

As is common with psychopaths he manipulated events to gain control of assets. Craig insisted the house, property of his new wife, be sold and another home purchased in which he had an interest to convert the value to his own control. He demanded the settlement from Melinda's former marriage be used as a down payment and that he be allowed to adopt all of the children of her previous marriage, marginalizing the role of the children's biological father and allowing him to better position himself as 'Daddy.'

The marriage took place when Scott was still a young teenager. Craig immediately began a campaign of manipulation on the daughters, demeaning their mother, in preparation to obtaining sexual access. In this, he failed because his wife, Melinda, told him she would castrate any man who molested her children. Also, Craig's ability to manipulate the children was hampered by their day to day familiarity with him.

Craig had noted to Melinda it took only six weeks for most people to understand he would not react emotionally within normal expectations. Until Craig and Melinda were living together, Melinda did not realize how strange Craig's behavior could be. Craig, though highly intelligent, was not able to overcome what may have been a component of autism, thought by many to stem from the same root causes as psychopathy, in his functioning.

Melinda also had a son, who was of no interest to Craig except for purposes of manipulation, and a son the couple had together, again, used as a weapon when the couple divorced.

The marriage had placed Craig in a position where he had someone to blame for his inability to cope with normal life and who undertook to handle all parts except the taxes, which he concealed from Melinda until this became impossible due to their near bankruptcy in 1997.

In 1997 Melinda, discovering Craig's non-filing of returns but not his psychopathic nature, threatened to file using the Americans with Disabilities Act, against the IRS. Despite the expectations of attorneys and Craig, they received refunds in the neighborhood of $250,000. These, she used to pay off their debts. At the end of the year they were solvent for the first time.

In 1996 Craig had obtained a grant of stock options, larger than any other employee. Both he and Dan, the president of the company, Green Hills Software, Inc., knew the success of the company had been produced from their 'partnership.' The relationship allowed each man to advance toward his goals.

The company was now poised to go public. Craig was about to become very wealthy and, as another benefit of his employment, the company had covered for him on his non-filing and provided a corporate credit card which he could use without providing an accounting.

The cooperative arrangement between Craig and Dan now bore fruit for both men. Dan's partnership with his former employer, Glenn Hightower, who had funded Green Hills Software, Inc., was subject to a 'sudden death,' partnership agreement wherein either partner could demand to be bought out for a stated amount. If the challenged partner failed to come up with the funds in 3 months the other could exercise the buyout.

A recent graduate of Cal Tech, Dan had persuaded his employer to fund the Green Hills start up, which originally included another partner, Carl Rosenberg, who was eliminated in the early 90s using similar techniques as later used on Hightower.

Craig, with the assistance of the other vice presidents of the company, ensured their employees would reject the finance team brought in by the VC partner, Glen Hightower, this taking place during the summer of 1998. In return for Craig's help Dan had an attorney write a new stock option agreement, specific to Craig, in an attempt to characterize the options as his separate property. All grants to other employees, was identical, except for the number of shares, to the one originally signed by Franklin. By this time the 401K, marital property entirely earned during the marriage, disappeared. It is likely this was used to prepay for the options issued.

It was a 'throw Mama from the Train,' strategy, intended to distance each man from their collaborative acts and both criminal and unethical.

O'Dowd was well aware of Craig's sexual predilections. At least one sexual harassment law suit was quietly settled, filed by an employee.

Dan, acting on behalf of the company, expended time and money fighting off Melinda's demands for discovery on the issue of the stock options and the 401K. A compliant judge, Thomas Anderle, refused to enforce the lawful demand for information.

During this time, September 1997, Melinda's oldest son had suffered a major brain injury, and was not expected to live. Melinda herself had suffered a heart attack while clearing up the problems with the IRS and Craig's finances and now needed corneal transplants due to an eye infection she ignored while ensuring the returns were filed. Although this happened in September of 1997 no one from Green Hills contacted her to offer their help or sympathy, though the family home was just blocks from the corporate headquarters.

Following the plan laid out for him by his attorney, Craig's attorney went to the family home, rifled through Melinda's papers, and stole the record which documented their adoption agreement. The divorce was conducted like a war, utilizing all the unethical practices usual to Jacqueline Misho's practice, a methodology which would, several years later, earn her a starring role in the Post Divorce Tour of John Cleese, whose wife had been represented by Misho. Melinda was slandered and libeled to the court and her acquaintance, as had happened to Craig's previous wife.

Craig went into court and denied he was the father to any of Melinda's children, but set up trust accounts for each child. He then absconded with the money, not a penny ever being given to any of the children. Without the documents the court accepted his bald statement, leaving five children without a legal father. The court did, however, grant a small portion of the exercised stock to the ownership of Melinda, declining to have her “reimburse” Franklin.

Dan undertook to carryout another strategy to deny these to Melinda, which has succeeded for over ten years.

Neither man evidenced any concern for the badly handicapped son, Arthur. Craig expressed exasperation Melinda had not died, a fact later reported to her. This was what he and the others cooperating with him, expected as her heart condition was inherited and her other sisters had died of the condition.

For both Craig and Dan, Melinda dead would have cleared the path to her daughters for him and eliminated potential exposure.

During this time Scott graduated from college and married. When Scott's wife, K, gave birth to a daughter. Craig began visiting them. Craig allowed Scott's wife's parents to pay for stock, probably that stolen from Melinda. This was yielding a tidy income to the couple. Soon, Scott was, by the evidence, sharing his father's fascination with pornography, as reflected in court papers several years later.

Melinda, the sole caretaker for her disabled son, was left penniless, living in a half-finished cabin in the mountains at 6,000 feet. She and her son were often without food and firewood. She was close to being legally blind and suffered a stroke in the dead of winter, receiving no medical care. Against expectations, she survived, a fact pointed out by Green Hills attorneys to prove nothing untoward occurred.

Then, in 2009, Scott, then the father of two children, hired a hitman to kill his estranged wife. Scott had lost his job and instead of looking for work decided to return to college, paid for by Craig. However, he was spending most of his time playing online games and watching child pornography, according to the court records. Due to a sting operation the hit did not happen. While in jail awaiting arraignment Scott, again, attempted to solicit a hit. His uncle, Craig's brother, S Franklin, an attorney, expressed the opinion the police were making much out of a minor matter during a conversation with Melinda.

Asked by his father to return the stock Scott did so. Scott's wife's parents were not compensated and the only marital asset became unavailable to K, who was left destitute.

Craig ignored his son's confrontation with the law, hiring an attorney in an attempt to obtain unsupervised visitation with his grand daughter. It was reported by Craig's girl friend, Ann Fisher, that letters Scott wrote to his father remained unopened on a pile on his desk at work. Once Scott was no longer useful to Craig, he was forgotten.

The court refused Craig visitation, based on the observations of social workers. K and her children were admitted to a victims protection program and changed their identities.

Melinda's youngest daughter gave birth to a little girl. Craig immediately began plying the couple with money and planned to retire to their area to, 'help raise my grand daughter.' When Ayn, learned what had happened to K's daughter and Craig's monetary gifts were reported to the IRS, she cut all communication with her father. Craig had brought one of his paid companions down to hold, "his grandchild," in hopes she would have a little girl with him.

Throughout the time Dan, who had persuaded Melinda to sign a settlement agreement in 2001 with the assurance he, acting in her best interest, would ensure Craig paid the court-ordered support regularly, used the law to evade giving Melinda the stock the court had granted to her. O'Dowd was well aware she was disabled herself and sole caretaker for a severely disabled adult son. By so doing he eventually put his entire business at risk. A sense of invincibility is an indicator for psychopathy as is, of course, intentional, calculated, deceit.

While far less is known about Dan's personal life he is married to a woman of Chinese origin, Amy Chang. Amy, raised in a refugee camp before becoming a computer programmer, brought in relatives to raise the two children she had with Dan.

Around 2002 Green Hills Software had begun receiving government contracts for software. While other companies in their industry are now struggling last year Green Hills had its best year ever, contracts for war have continued to be funded. Dan and Amy, who personally own 97% of the company received dividends of over $300,000,000.00. Today, this announcement appeared via the Internet. Green Hills Software is in line for a renewal of one of their government contracts for Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. “The Government intends to issue a sole source contract in the estimated amount of $226,665.00 to Green Hills Software, Inc., 30 West Sola Street,Santa Barbara, CA 93101-2599.”

Amy continued to exercise control for a non-profit started by Green Hills Software Fallen Heroes Last Wish Foundation, founded in 2003. A call made to the company for a possible donation resulted in a referral to Amy at her home in Santa Barbara on behalf of Avon. In 2007, speaking for the Foundation, Amy declined to send toiletries to military serving in Iraq at Christmas time.

The organization's founding coincides with Green Hills' first winning of government contracts. Evidently, few grants were made and funds remaining in the Foundation's account were eventually returned to its founders.

Psychopaths have very different goals and the seemingly irrationality of risks taken and strangeness makes it difficult for many normal people to comprehend or believe, even when the evidence is irrefutable. The 'other than human' motives and nature of the behavior is believed by some to reflect in the representations of Devil in many human cultures.

Craig's driving goal was sexual gratification and experiencing a sense of power through betraying the trust of his victim. This scenario is evidently optimized for him when the victim is a female child to whom he has caused to bond to him as a father. Dan allowed him to live out his fantasies under the cover of Green Hills Software, Inc. Several years ago Craig had a couch placed in his office. At least one of his female acquaintances reported being raped there during business hours. Other employees have commented on wondering why Dan tolerates Craig's behavior, which includes bringing prostitutes to company functions, according to Anne Fisher.

Again, according to Fisher, Dan tried, unsuccessfully to place Craig in another location but Craig refused. His letters to women, which brought unwitting, hopeful contacts obtained through online dating services, went out using his corporate email address and from the company server. Craig deliberately chose unattractive women who would be unlikely to complain when they were raped and returned to the airport.

Craig, according to Fisher, started membership on high-end dating sites, using these to meet women. He stated as one of his relationship goals to have more children. Over the following years Craig built up a stable of 'paid companions,' who received checks or cash either for sex or for having dinner with him. These ranged from well known soft-core porn stars to first time prostitutes. Payment was made by the hour, for dinner of being part of a bevy of women who listened to him talk and play his guitar, or 'assistants,' and 'girl friends,' the latter expected to provide both personal services, such as tucking him in to bed with a glass of orange juice, making him meals, frozen and placed in his refrigerator, or sex.

Dan's goal was very different. His entire life was fixed on becoming wealthier and more famous than the founder of Microsoft. While he has not succeeded, he has achieved far more success toward his goal than would have been possible without Craig.

Today Craig is still the senior vice-president of the billion-dollar software company, which holds large contracts from the government for sensitive technology. He is, however, scraping by, month to month as he has continued his pattern of extravagance, spending every penny he receives, according to Fisher. The actual management of the company is limited to a small set of individuals who know the facts.

Neither man has reached his goal, but their psychopathic partnership continues. Dan, and Green Hills Software, Inc., just received an award for Entrepreneur of the Year on the West Coast.

Together, both men were able to obtain an astonishing degree of gratification. Separately, each would have failed. This parallels the dynamics between Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith, portrayed by Truman Cupote in his book, “In Cold Blood.”

The message in Capote's book and with the example above, each drawn from life, is that when psychopaths cooperate the innocent will pay the price. See Greedville.biz, for more on this case and other cases, soon to be published.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Having seen the problem from the inside in a way which is, perhaps, unique, the author has come to believe it is essential a means be found to stop psychopaths from living out their fantasies to the detriment of all humanity.

Surviving Swat Teams to Empower a Real America

2011-04-26T16:42:00.000-04:00

On Valentine's Day this year the home of Walter Reddy was invaded by a Swat Team. The Reddy home is located in an area of Weston, Connecticut which has seen the original modest homes, set on lots of around two acres, which still describes the Reddy home, replaced by mansions, owned mostly by wealthy members of the corporate elite.

The man who filed a police report on Walter is a long time neighbor, Rand McNeil. Rand frequently came over to have coffee with Walter, always inquiring about the possibilities of buying Walter's home. Walter would smile and decline all offers as he poured out another cup of coffee for Rand. Yet on this occasion Rand reported to the police Walter threatened the police – but refused to sign an affidavit.

Then, two Special Agents for the FBI named Walter as a 'person of interest' regarding domestic terrorism.

After being held in handcuffs for hours as his neighbors drove by, staring, Reddy was not charged with a crime, but the judge decided to keep his weapons. There as no evidence of any wrong doing on Reddy's part. Walter was astonished to hear he was supposedly a threat to others, or at least those were the boxes the officials had checked off.

Rand refused to sign an affidavit attesting to the truth of the statements he had made, covertly, to police. The mission, probably to kill Reddy, fizzled, the reason is not discussed in court or in the media but can be surmised, given the evidence.

Sometimes you have to look at the facts not immediately in evidence to see the likely chain of causality. In December 2010 Walter Reddy had a meeting with Stan Crouch of Herbert J. Sims & Co., Inc. The firm is located in Fairfield, Connecticut at 2150 Post Road, Suite 301. The meeting took place in Crouch's tastefully appointed office. Walter was hopeful this large and ,presumably, respectable firm would want to be involved in the plans he and a group of investors, economists, and activists had worked so hard to organize for the Sovereign State Depository. It was an ambitious plan, but one they believe Americans desperately need today, as the dollar continues to fail.

Across the expanse of polished wood, Crouch's partner, Victor Saul, had sat listening to the plan to provide the states with a way to use units of gold and silver bullion as money. Victor's eyes, bugging out with shock, said, “They are going to kill you.”

Stan Crouch's comment was, perhaps, even more illuminating. “They will send the military to come down on the states.” Walter was incredulous. He asked, “Are you out of your mind?” Clearly, they viewed the world very differently – or understood those in control to different degrees.

“We, the people, have a right to our life, our liberty, and our property.” Said Reddy. “Our property includes gold and silver.” Stan responded, “Gold and silver does not belong to the people. All of it belongs to the Federal Reserve. By the way, I have been down in the basement of the Federal Reserve. I've seen what they have stored there.”

Later, Walter was told by a friend, who is also a broker, that Stan Crouch was closely affiliated with Goldman Sachs. Walter had been told Stan was like-minded, in the cause of liberty, something entirely untrue.

The exchange clarifies the beliefs of of bankers and finance people, such as Stan Crouch. This relatively small and select group believe while ordinary Americans hold precious metals all of this form of wealth really belongs to the Federal Reserve. Your hold on your precious metals is temporary. The FED retains the right to confiscate gold, as happened in 1933 through the order of FDR.

Walter Reddy is an older man, a retired contractor, raised during the tumultuous 60s, he remembers with pride having circulated petitions to ensure passage of the 26^th Amendment, giving 18 year olds the right to vote. Young men, then going off to Vietnam, could at least cast a ballot. Walter always votes, remembering the importance of being an active and informed citizen. Today, as he votes, he remembers the men who died and those who returned to harassment and rejection.

Walter has been active in his community, doing volunteer work, for most of his adult life. No product of wealth, Walter Reddy was raised a military brat. He understands the sacrifices servicemen make when they are told they must fight to preserve freedom.

Walter loves his modest home. The stand of pines, over 100 feet in height, borders the property, providing a sense of peace, reminding him of his own life's journey, which has been full of unexpected discoveries. Along with his hands-on work as a contractor, he sees to the plants he raised, watching them grow and prosper, as he wants America to grow and prosper, leaving him time to work to strengthen his community.

One of the organizations to which Walter belongs is the SAR, Sons of the American Revolution. He is proud to be descended from Henry Adams, sharing the same lineage with Sam and John Adams, men to whom freedom and individual rights mattered more than life itself.

Walter studied the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence, for which his ancestors fought, and died, while first a member of the SAR. Understanding that all people, from every culture and place, have the same inherent, God-given rights, Reddy also knows, in his bones, governance must be local to affirm the individual power and rights of all people. Walter Reddy believes people should use persuasion, not coercion and force, governing through consensus, as was usual in much of New England when the Revolution was fought.

No matter where Walter is, or what he is doing, he carries in his mind the vision of a people who actively affirm their rights through self-governing and benevolence at the local level. Walter is a follower of Christ.

During the year Walter Reddy spent in Israel in 1983, first living on a kubbutz, he came to see how the message of Christ was carried through time in the actions of people who worked together, rejecting conflict to embrace brotherhood. While in Israel he worked side by side with Jews and Muslims who lived in peace. The two vital principles Walter found in the words of Christ which profoundly moved him in his study of Americans founding documents, he expresses and the Purse and the Sword.

For his last three months in Israel, Walter lived in Jerusalem, attending a Baptist Church. There, he realized a church is not a building or denomination. It is made up of the people, living in Christ. His congregation in Jerusalem was forced to meet in a tent behind their building. The church had been firebombed and they were raising money to rebuild.

Aware even then of the potential for violence in the world, Walter took to heart the words Christ spoke to his gathered disciples after the Last Supper. Jesus said to them, Gospel of Luke 22:35-36, “Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered. But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. “

The Purse refers to the exchanges of commerce. Americans must have sound money. The Sword refers to the right of all people to organize in defense of their homes and communities.

Walter is the founder of two organizations. The first is Committees of Safety, which reclaim these two vital powers. The second is the Sovereign State Depository, which Stan Crouch learned of in December, 2010 less than two months before Rand McNeil laid false reports against Walter, his neighbor for over 25 years.

Rand McNeil owns extensive real estate holdings. McNeil's ex-wife's family name is Goelet. McNeil told Walter her family owns the majority share in JP Morgan-Chase and have been majority stock holders, going back to the corn exchange and chemical bank. But, he confided in Walter years ago, you won't see their name very often because they take care it not appear in public.

McNeil owned an airport in Vermont before he retired. How, he indulges his interest in sailing. Rand grew up on the Gold Coast and his grandfather was a partner of John D. Rockefeller's in Standard Oil.

Rand's job, while he worked, was to do research on land titles to find property which was not claimed so he could claim it for himself, according to what he told Walter. While they have been neighbors for 15 years the two men have known each other for 25 years.

The meeting at H. J. Sims Company, Inc. took place December, 2010. Around February 1, 2011 Rand McNeil dropped by to see his old friend, Walter, and asked for advise on buying a shotgun for protection. It was the first time in 25 years the subject was raised. The area where their homes are located is remote from town.

Walter, had two legally owned firearms, one an antique revolver, and the other a 12 gauge shot gun, kept locked in a case. Rand asked to see the shotgun. Walter took him upstairs, to the case where it was kept. Taking it out of the case, Walter unloaded it, a normal procedure, and handed it to Rand, who examined it as Walter and he discussed the problem with home invasion by violent criminals, which are happening more frequently across the country. Rand handed the gun back, Walter replaced it in its case. The whole examination took around 10 minutes.

Walter has not fired the shotgun in 15 years. But he understands legally it is his responsibility to defend himself, as it is for all Americans. This is why he bought the shotgun originally, as do many people who live in remote areas. If the police fail to protect citizens they are not responsible because this duty belongs legally, first and foremost, to individual Americans. This principle has been upheld over and over again in court.

The day after asking Walter for advice on owning a shotgun Rand called and gave Walter a warning. “Walter, if you don't stop what you are doing, I'm warning you, you are going to be sorry.” He repeated himself several times, according to Reddy. The warning was explicitly about providing the states with the means to transact business using gold and silver.

The words of Stan and Victor resonate with those uttered by Rand. The three men share a common brotherhood in banking, investing, and and life-style.

On February 8^th Rand McNeil went to the police to make his report mentioned earlier. He falsely accused Walter of brandishing his shot gun in his bedroom and making threats against the police and the the banks. Walter is now disarmed and unable to defend himself from the next swat team they send. Knowing that has only increased Walter's determination to ensure Americans their power of Purse and Sword.

Please keep him in your prayers and visit his websites. Our next article on Walter will go into a program now being organized to help veterans come all the way back from war to peace.

Standing up for Real Free Markets

2011-04-07T20:50:00.000-04:00

This will be 'some weekend.'
From April 8th to 11^th a conference will take place at the historic Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Mount Washington was the site of the infamous 1944 event which launched the horrors which, we now realize, consumed every shred of wealth in the hands of the 'lowest 90% or so of the population. None of us, the lowest 90%, were invited to attend, of course.

Bretton Woods is the name of the 1944 conference which launched the World Bank, establishing a 'new post-war global economic architecture.' Today it is clear the event was not post war, but intended to plan out the covert war to be carried out on us.

Instead of just writing it off we should be thinking restitution.

The planners for this Conference are using the title, “Crisis and Renewal: International Political Economy at the Crossroads.” The event will host over 200 of the same kind of 'experts in economics and related fields' who were present at the last event to discuss “global reconstruction in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis.”
They freely admit their last effort had a few glitches, magnanimous of them.

Their Mission Statement burbles with excitement, conveying this choice rhetoric, “The Institute for New Economic Thinking’s mission is to nurture a global community of next-generation economic leaders, to provoke new economic thinking, and to inspire the economics profession to engage the challenges of the 21st century.”

The site goes on to promise hefty Grants, “INET awards individual grants in two cycles each year to individuals or teams proposing research in new economic thinking. Grants allow the in-depth examination of an issue or development of a concept, and at grant averaging $25,000-$250,000. In many cases INET funds projects that would not generally be funded through conventional academic funding channels.” The promise of 'funding' makes the cheery enthusiasm very understandable, on their parts.

Also funded, for their delectation, will be Task Forces, for those troublesome 'critical issues requiring in-depth research.' This is the equivalent of being paid to raid small villages for plunder, given past performances. Those shiny young economists, eager for largess and honors, should probably approach us with caution.

Conferences, such as this weekend's event at Bretton Woods, will also take place, giving them time to feel important and decide on the rationalizations for policy justifying continued manipulation of the next form of faux money, for which they enforce a monopoly. Videos will be available. Let's hope those appear on You Tube so we can anticipate their future moves.

Their Partnerships, with leading 'thought centers,' those universities, think-tanks and other research-oriented institutions, also stir excitement in their ranks. This is where these self-gratifying fellows hide from the harsh realities of the cause and effect with which we are now so familiar. These will also be generously funded.
Naturally, there is no thought of asking us what we thought about their morals, ethics, and competence or if we would permit them to diddle with the economy – again.

Generally, when you discover the highly paid professional caused the disaster which reduced your world to rubble a process of rational choice would indicate you fire him. Given the damage done, many among us would prefer these fellows change their professions to something for which they are qualified.

None of us asked them to meet, of course. It was the bright idea of George Soros, who, like a serial rapist, wants another go at the victim. The 'business plan' these folks enabled pumped nearly all of the wealth produced by humanity into the pockets of the 23 men who pay the salaries of these 'economists,' one way or another. So, while it makes sense these fellows eagerly anticipate the years to come for the 'challenge' it will present for inventing a 'new economy' it makes little or no sense for us to put up with them.

Please note this point. No free market economists have been invited to either attend or speak. With the exclusivity, or exclusionary impulses, usual to their kind the Bretton Woods Cabal have limited speakerships to 'post Keynsians,' and 'Chicago School,' savants, though they burble on breathlessly about the number of Nobel Prizes snagged for the event, three.

What would a Free Market economist say about what is happening this weekend? Fortuitously, Mr. Free Market, Murray Rothbard, left this comment regarding a new 'Bretton Woods.' The whole article is here.
Murray's prediction was, “The conservative Keynesians have long desired a new Bretton Woods, based eventually on a new world paper unit issued by a World Central Bank. Hence the new alliance. The alliance was made politically possible by the disappearance from the Reagan Administration of the Friedmanite monetarists, such as former Undersecretary of Treasury for Monetary Policy Beryl W. Sprinkel and Jerry Jordan, spokesmen for fluctuating exchange rates. With monetarism discredited by the repeated failures of their monetary predictions over the last several years, the route was cleared for a new international, fixed-rates system.

Unfortunately, the only thing worse than fluctuating exchange rates is fixed exchange rates based on fiat money and international coordination. Before rates were allowed to fluctuate, and after the end of Bretton Woods, the U.S. government tried such an order, in the international Smithsonian Agreement of December 1971. President Nixon hailed this agreement as "the greatest monetary agreement in the history of the world." This exercise in international coordination lasted no more than a year and a half, foundering on monetary crises brought about by Gresham's Law from overvaluation of the dollar.

How long will it take this new, New Order, along with its puerile secret index, to collapse as well?”

And now we know how long it took. Thanks Murray!

Despite the nauseating impact of the rhetoric and videos you will encounter it would be wise to view this one video on why small government is a mistake.

It is probably time someone told them we are not interested in their ideas about money and finance. Murray Rothbard, who died in 1995, is a better economist than the Bretton Woods crowd are breathing.
Gold, silver and lead will serve us far better than the faux fiat fantasies they will spin the the woods, though for the foreseeable future, our exchange will most likely be based in those mundane commodities, carrots, potatoes, and chicken eggs, and the occasional kumquat or avocado. Let us go local and remember the lessons of Murray.

Plan to be in Bretton Woods this weekend! Bring your camera, and ask Anonymous to take names and provide requisite information on attendees. Let the accountability begin.

Visit IntegrityCommons.com for articles encouraging the Left – Right Merger for Freedom.

Extending Human Vision - The Work of Arthur C. Pillsbury

2011-01-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

Extending Human Vision was Arthur C. Pillsbury's mission as he made and showed the first nature movies on the porch of his studio in Yosemite in 1909. The remainder of his life was spent providing the means for ordinary people see further into places beyond natural human vision. Refusing to patent any of these cameras, the circuit panorama, the lapse-time, the microscopic motion picture, the X-Ray Motion Picture or the Underwater Motion Picture, he left them as a source we could use.

It worked. Today we expect to see newly discovered insights through technology. What we see, we understand. We don't need theories when reality is available. The Twentieth Century has provided examples in countless ways. The further we see, the more we know and can choose for ourselves.

Pillsbury grew up seeing how people and our world were impacted by lack of the understanding which arose from systemic abuse of power and unbridled greed. The descendant of families dedicated to enacting social justice, Pillsbury was directly aware of both where there had been progress and of those areas needing change.

As a small boy he attended the graduation of his mother, Dr. Harriet Foster Pillsbury, from the Women's Infirmary of New York in 1880. A feminist, he lived in a world hostile to women. He visited the family homestead in Sandown, New Hampshire, where his grandfather, Benjamin L. Pillsbury and his wife, Mary Sargent Pillsbury, ran the first coeducational high school in their part of New Hampshire and provided a stop on the Underground Railroad. He grew up reading the works of Emerson and Thoreau, who were friends of his grandparents.

After the family moved in California in 1883 He witnessed the ongoing destruction of California's environment and, during college, the lack of innovation and objective thinking in an academia too often funded by the greedy who held the power of gate keeping, constricting and directing our future.

During the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire he bore witness to the devastation accompanying corrupt government as people died through abuse of the power. He recorded the imperial direction of American policy with the White Fleet in 1908 and watched as corporate interests began directly using government to achieve their ends as they used rhetoric designed to evoke trust in the vast majority of Americans who failed to see the bigger picture.

What we see today has deep roots in time.

Pillsbury believed seeing was the road to community, respect for the individual, and freedom.

What could one man do to turn back the rising tide of greed? He called it the Knowledge Commons. Today we say, Open Source. Knowledge shared enriches all of us. When we can see other people, and all other forms of life, we empathize, sensing our essential sameness, and are moved to love and protect.

Extending Human Vision, a short video less than six minutes in length, is his story, not all of it, but a beginning. Please take a few minutes and watch it.

Were National Parks the 'One Good Thing?” Think again.

2011-01-25T11:59:00.001-05:00

Lose Your Illusions No. 1

Today we think of government and corporations as big and impersonal. But then, and now, the people who run things are relatively small in number, a club. The Club follows its own rules, rules from a book nearly a century old, which mandate two standards of behavior, kindness, honesty and concern for Club members, real people, and an entirely different set of rules for ordinary Americans. Normally members of the Club do not discuss the difference in standards. But one member of their club did so, with stunning candor.

Edward L. Bernays said this about his use of propaganda, which he had deftly repackaged as public relations. “(The) American business community was also very impressed with the propaganda effort. They had a problem at that time. The country was becoming formally more democratic. A lot more people were able to vote and that sort of thing. The country was becoming wealthier and more people could participate and a lot of new immigrants were coming in, and so on.
So what do you do? It's going to be harder to run things as a private club. Therefore, obviously, you have to control what people think.”

Bernays clients were, for the most part, the large industrialists who wanted to sell product which Americans were resistant to buying. Using this simple plan of execution Bernays changed our diet, introducing a hearty breakfast with bacon as a nutritional improvement, persuaded women to smoke, and accustomed us to accepting his carefully selected 'experts' instead of thinking for ourselves. He viewed manipulation of opinion as both the road to riches and a fascinating intellectual challenge.

Edward Bernays, the brother-in-law of Sigmund Freud, viewed ordinary Americans as 'a herd,' needing guidance from an enlightened elite. Such guidance was provided by appealing to what he identified as 'need for security,' 'self-preservation', 'aggression,' or ' sex.'

Bernays can be viewed as an early Leo Strauss, who instead of creating a 'philosophy,' cherry picked 'expert' opinions without associating himself with any specific institution. The outcome is the same, in either case.

Mark Crispin Miller, a respected writer, sent out this video by Glenn Beck on Bernays recently. Ordinarily, this is not a film this writer would have encountered.

Edward Benarys and Robert Sterling Yard operated using the same standards. Robert Sterling Yard designed the PR campaign which sold Americans on National Parks as resorts.

Beginning in 1915, the campaign persuaded Americans lands held in perpetuity for them should be used to build high end hotels, following the elite model of Europe. A practiced public relations expert, Yard, paid partially by government and partially by the new Park Director, Stephen T. Mather, produced a book, also issued as a series of small booklets, on the National Parks. Other members of the Club, for instance the head of the National Geographic, also assisted.

As you leaf through the The National Parks Portfolio, all six editions, photographs of resort hotels resembling those found in Europe far outnumber photos of camp grounds. The building of roads and travel by automobile are strongly encouraged. Feeding the wildlife made the Parks seem like an outdoor zoo without bars.

The materials read like promotion for a time-share. They were aimed at ordinary Americans who knew little or nothing about the raging debate, only recently stilled by the death of John Muir in 1914, on conservation (orderly use of natural resources) and preservation (wilderness kept in its natural state).

The appointed head of Parks, Stephen Mather sold the plan using rhetoric glowing with superlatives, asserting the idea the public should view these wilderness areas as their personal 'resorts,' where they could encounter the world of nature while expecting the comforts of home. It was Mather's proven ability as an adman along with his wealth, which moved Franklin K. Lane to appoint him.

The original notion for National holdings of land was to reserve some limited land in perpetuity, as it was before Europeans arrived and such practices as hydrological mining and clear cutting of forests had remade the landscape of much of California, and North America. Not Conservation, but Preservation.

If the America had been a nation of people managing their own destiny and making their own decisions the issue would have been presented to the American people directly. Instead, Americans were presented with a public relations campaign, resulting in passage of the Organic Act in 1916, establishing a separate body to manage the Parks. Previously management was shared between three agencies.

The Club

The Club was not large, then or now. When you dig into the details, personal relationships pop up like mushrooms. It was a small, exclusive, club, very much as Bernays' quote indicates. The policy on Parks originated with Stephen Mather, who, with the help of his friends molded opinion and controlled what Americans believed.

Who Was Stephen T. Mather?

Stephen Tyng Mather was a descendant of Cotton Mather, the Puritan minister involved in the 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials. The Mather family later relocated to Connecticut. Stephen's father, Joseph W. Mather, suggested his son for a job with Pacific Coast Borax Company, for whom Joseph ran the New York office, in 1893. Stephen Mather had been working as a reporter for the New York Sun since soon after his graduation from UC Berkeley in 1887.

Robert Sterling Yard stood up as Best Man for Stephen T. Mather's wedding on October 12, 1893. The two were friends of long standing.

Mather was hired as advertising manager for Pacific Coast Borax Company, first in New York, and then at the main branch in Chicago. Mather, a talented writer and adept at enticing public interest by positioning products, proposed adoption of the theme, “20-Mule Team,” which dramatically increased company sales, and ran the ad campaign. In Chicago he met the man who would be his partner in Sterling Borax, Thomas Thorkildsen.

Thorkildsen, younger slightly than Mather, was a first generation American, the son of a Norwegian lumberjack from Wisconsin. Both Mather and Thorkildsen were skilled with sales. Thorkildsen reported to Mather as his superior. It was reported Thorkildsen suggested the two men share funds skimmed from their employer. These is no evidence Mather mentioned this proposal to Smith. Smith discovered Thorkildsen backdating orders in 1898 and fired him.

Mather and Thorkildsen then joined in a covert partnership. Mather continued working for Smith and so had access to his employer's customer base while the two established a company, Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company, of which Mather was president, in California. Mather, using his salary, provided funding, as Thorkildsen worked to establish Borax holdings in Ventura County, CA.

In 1902 Mather suffered an psychological break-down and was institutionalized for a period of time. Smith refused to continue his salary, of which, Mather complained. Soon Mather ended his employment and began publicly working with Thorkildsen in California, their company became profitable around 1905 and its name changed to Sterling Borax. In 1911 Sterling Borax was sold to Pacific Coast Borax for what today would be $500,000,000. Mather and Thorkildsen shared the profits and also received salaries from Smith for ten years.

No mention of the impact this scheme had on Smith's company was found but Smith's company was bankrupted soon afterward. Francis Marion Smith started again and recovered his wealth, spending much of it on charities.

Later, the Mather and Thorkildsen justify their behavior toward Smith for various reasons.

For the purpose of writing this article I contacted three long time, respected businessmen, their careers in stock brokering, sales, and mining, and outlined the actions of Mather and his partner without using their names. Each man condemned their actions as unethical and possibly legally actionable.

According to an article, 'Borax King' Cleaned Up, but Died Washed Up," published in the Los Angeles Times, March 12, 2000, written by Cecilia Rasmussen, Thorkildsen used physical threats to discourage competition and engaged in outrageous personal behavior which scandalized Hollywood. The two men remained friends and Thorkildsen was introduced to Mather's other friends and associates as he became involved in government.

The Park Service Public Relations Campaign

The National Park Campaign began in 1915 but the forces which determined its form were in motion much earlier. The appointment of Franklin K. Lane, as Secretary of the Interior, was a political pay-off by incoming President Woodrow Wilson, made to ensure Wilson's election. The Hetch-Hetchy would become the water supply for San Francisco, spending its crystal waters to start the flow of profits from lands awaiting subdivision around the city, according to Gray Brechin in his book, “Imperial San Francisco,” page 110.

Mather was offered the position of Director for the National Parks by Lane in early 1914. Despite traditions to the contrary, Lane was not previously acquainted with Mather personally and no letter was written by Mather resulting in the appointment. The recommendation came through a mutual friend, Adolph Miller, formerly a professor at UC Berkeley who accepted an appointment suggested by Lane in the Wilson Administration.

Horace Albright is admitted to the Club

Horace Albright, then newly graduated from UC Berkeley, had been working for Miller at the time Miller accepted the position as Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Miller invited Albright to come with him to DC as his assistant. When Miller moved on to a position as Governor for the Federal Reserve System the next year Albright remained at the Department of the Interior. Lane suggested Albright to Mather as an able assistant, in his position as Director for the Parks.

Initially, Albright hesitated. He was engaged to be married to woman living in San Francisco and planned to return and start a law practice.. Mather's proposal to him changed this. Albright reported in “Creating the National Park System – The Missing Years,” feeling elated at being part of the vision Mather enunciated while reluctant to delay his marriage. He agreed to stay on for a year, the term Mather set as his own time limit for the work.

Albright had been raised in Bishop, California and had hardly left there until beginning college at UC Berkeley in 1908. His parents were hard working and used every opportunity to enlarge the opportunities for education available to their children, but lacked the resources to support Horace in college. Albright worked to pay his living expenses and educational costs himself and luxuries were few. His relationship with Mather, who was always prepared to pay for incidental luxuries, enlarged his experience, showing him a very different world. Mather augmented Albright's government pay, a practice legal until 1919.

Mather could be the soul of generosity, awakening in those who knew him strong feelings of obligation and loyalty. His expenditures included a club house for the Park Rangers in Yosemite in 1924, which advanced his popularity enormously with a group not usually provided with such perks.

The first time Mather met Grace, Albright's fiancee, she and Albright were his guests for dinner at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Albright reported, “In one hand he (Mather) had a corsage of roses and, in the other, a small box. He handed both to Grace and laughingly said, "I don't know how Horace could ever have been lucky enough to get you. I wasn't around at that time, but I wish you all the happiness in the world." Inside the little velvet box was a small Tiffany brooch, silver with a diamond in the center.”

Mather said, when accepting the job, he wanted Albright as his assistant to, “keep him out of jail.” Mather, it turned out, was not entirely joking.

Mather brought the same values and ethics to government he had demonstrated in business. His style was autocratic and impulsive. He personally decided on a corporate monopoly to run each Park. This approach was adopted in opposition of advice from such men as Fred Harvey of Fred Harvey Company, whose experience with serving the public began in 1875 with service run in conjunction with railroads across America. Harvey advised against absolute monopolies.

Mather persisted, causing a series of disasters within the Parks, starting with Yosemite.

Mather ignored the causes of problems existing in the National Parks. Many of these were the result of government mis-management. For instance, in Yosemite Mather complained concessionaires, such as David Curry of Camp Curry, had inadequate septic systems. But concessionaires could not finance expensive capital improvements without an assurance their loans could be repaid and these had been withheld for decades. Those in charge, including Mather, ignored repeated requests for licenses to do business longer than one year, granted only at the beginning of the year.

Mather consistently abused the power entrusted to him, causing harm to people engaged in doing business within the Parks. He evidenced strong likes and dislikes, which appear to have driven his actions.

In 1915 Mather unilaterally gave the concession in Yosemite to J. Desmond, who started a corporation in which Mather and his friends covertly invested. Mather granted a twenty-year exclusive concession and also allowed the sale of liquor, forbidden to all other concessionaires, to ensure Desmond every possible avenue for success.

Desmond had no experience in running hotels or providing food services to the public. The corporation went bankrupt and Desmond departed to be replaced by A. B. C. Dahrmann, who as president of the next incarnation of the original Desmond interests, was quoted by the Stockton Record in 1924 as saying, ”The California Sierra is one of greatest undeveloped resources in the golden state.”

At the beginning of 1917 complaints and problems were increasing. At the close of a conference in January Mather suffered an 'emotional break-down' and was institutionalized for a year and a half in a posh facility, described by Albright, “It was a lovely large home, tucked into green lawns and lush forested land.” The next chapters describe Albright's efforts to ensure Mather is not subject to any pressure or problems.

Mather was not fired. Instead, his assistant, Horace Albright and others covered for him. The breakdown and his financial involvement with Desmond was admitted in Albright's book, “Creating the National Park Service – The Missing Years,” available for reading online. Albright knew what had happened and suppressed the facts. See Chapter 17.

Mather suffered another break-down in 1922, according to Park correspondence. Again, Albright and others cover for him.

Mather's business background and emotional instability should have raised questions on his suitability for any position within government. Mather was, however, a member of the Club, wealthy and connected. Therefore his interests and well being were a priority in the bifurcated system then being established.

While rhetoric was used routinely to deceive, as proven so thoroughly by Edward Bernays, examining the actions of individuals reliably reveals the truth.

How did the Club view ordinary Americans?

The Club operated on the view Americans, 'the 'herd,' were to be managed with lies. These events illustrate the world view, reflected in the propaganda used by Yard and later by Benarys, on behalf of both government and corporations, reinforcing the ugly truth of the quote from Bernays cited earlier, “So what do you do? It's going to be harder to run things as a private club. Therefore, obviously, you have to control what people think.”

The subtext is this: The only people whose property and well being matter are members of the Club. Albright's behavior illustrates the degree to which he had adopted Club attitudes and beliefs.

As these events unfolded Mather received enormous attention and concern as his emotional condition becomes impossible to ignore. This reflected in Albright's book and in correspondence within the Park Service. At the same time, the well being of those viewed as “just ordinary Americans,” was ignored, as in the case of those concessionaires such as Curry who objected to the theft of their years of time invested, the train of arbitrary demands issued by Mather and disregard of the conditions created by government mis-management.

Albright's comments, and lack thereof, at the time of David Curry's untimely death in April of 1916 and further justifications of behavior by Mather, which Albright later realizes pointed to his emotional instability, further illustrate the point. See Creating the National Park System – The Missing Years,” Chapter 8. and Chapter 13.

Horace M. Albright had been, not surprisingly, seduced by the privileges of power and was now a member of the Club.

In the interests of full disclosure, now nearly a century after these events took place, a full examination of the records is called for. While writing this article this writer attempted to access the Superintendent's Reports for Yosemite from 1916 – 1926. The reports from 1906 – 1915 are clearly available and complete and in our files. Those from 1916 – 1926, covering the years when Mather and Albright's management most demands examination, are fragmented. Parts of monthly reports appear to have been eliminated. This report, purported to cover years 1923 – 1925, inclusive, deviating in form from all other reports was requested.. Upon examining it this writer discovered a report spanning 1923 – 1925 which included less than 11 pages, all photographs, for three years of activity. SEE REPORT RECEIVED

A request for correction was made. SEE REQUEST AND RESPONSE

The request was also sent to Ken Salazar, Secretary of the Department of the Interior. A Freedom of Information Act demand will now be filed.

According to George A. Gonzalez in his book, “Corporate Power and the Environment,” published Rowman and Littlefield, 2001, Albright received gifts from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., beginning in 1926. Gonzalez also reports Albright's home in Washington D. C. was partially funded by a gift from David Rockefeller as Albright continued up the ladder of success after Albright left government service, moving on to work in the matrix connecting corporations and government, unfailingly courteous and kind to those who had assisted him.

According to the Albright's daughter and co-author, Marian Albright Schenck, writing in the Introduction to the book, “Creating the National Parks, The Missing Years,” Albright reviewed every letter and document and considered destroying materials while in the process of its writing. In the end the story of years 1917 – 1919 is told in a form while the reader takes away the sense much remains unsaid. Albright's acts in covering for Mather, during this period and later, bring illustrate how in a short period of time an individual can accept the idea a small elite can rightfully abuse power. His later history only raises the level of probability Albright's concerns were also for his own position as an attorney in the employ of government engaged in a cover-up.

Co-author Marian Albright Schenck wrote,"My father worshiped Mather and wanted to do nothing to damage his name." While her sentiments are understandable, she after all, grew up as a member of the Club through her father, evasion of the facts is not acceptable. Americans have a right to know.

A baronial system displaced a representative Republic, beginning in the first decade of the Twentieth Century. Inherently hierarchical, it was comprised of corporate interests and the more elevated levels of government. Those involved believed they were justified in deceiving the American people, acting out the openly enunciated beliefs expressed by Benarys, and slightly earlier, by Robert Sterling Yard. These self-identified interests in government and corporate America began to install gatekeepers, and routinely limit what Americans could know. Spin and propaganda displaced open dialog and disclosure of facts as the standard.

The bifurcated system which confronts us today was being solidified in outline and attitudes in the first and second decades of the Twentieth Century, its pattern perpetuated by the very different treatment accorded 'members of the Club' and 'ordinary Americans.'

Today, Americans face proposals the Parks be sold to pay for the profligate behavior of those same Club members. As millions suffer foreclosure and Main Streets ask in vain for help, banks and other corporate interests, other Club members, receive the sympathy and open support of Congress. The term, 'Barons of Industry,' is not a phrase, but a correct assessment of the system which was once America.

It started much earlier than you imagined and in the places you most trusted.

Debunking the excuses: Lose Your Illusions, No. 2 – Coming Soon.

The Octopus, Promis, and their offspring, molding the future of America

2010-10-07T01:35:00.000-04:00

A Review of The Last Circle

Cheri Seymour lived the events in “The Last Circle,” not usual for a journalist. Her book, which extends and provides essential elements for understanding the murder of journalist, Danny Casolaro, the author of “The Octopus,” along with so many others, is frighteningly personal. Her life threatened, Seymour continued to dig for the facts after Danny was found dead in a Martinsburg, VA, hotel room on August 10, 1991. Seymour has spent over twenty years immersed in a world fractured by nightmares. Her experiences touch all of us, ripping the cover off events which, finally, reveal unsuspected connections between many events.

The question which continues to intrude throughout the book is why the DoJ would break the law in multiple ways to place additions to a software program known as PROMIS, spreading the program across the globe, to friends and enemies alike. Slowly, the motives come into focus, though Seymour allows you, the reader, to find this for yourself.

Many people know part of the larger story. Seymour's book provides the essential nexus for understanding.

Touching down on the visit of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, to Yosemite in 1983, the book lays the ground for Seymour's entrance into the story. The Queen's visit, which brought 500 journalists to massive stands built at Inspiration Point to photograph the royal entourage, produced no news except for media reports of a collision taking the lives of three Secret Service, agents. The deaths were broadly reported as a tragic accident, the story falling off the front pages as rapidly as most accidents after the clean-up.

But for Cheri Seymour, formerly a small town journalist living in Mariposa, California, the event set in motion ripples which, in the fall of 1986, drew her into the miasma of corruptions which exist all around us, just out of sight around some corner of our individual perception. Cheri's awareness of the problems began with a note asking her to meet a sheriff's deputy at the Gold Coin Saloon after work. There, Cheri listened to a story of local corruption and the murder of Ron Van Meter, another sheriff's deputy, who refused to be silenced over corruption in his own department. The accident was caused by Rod Sinclair, a man with connections in high places who was addicted to drugs. A cover-up had begun immediately. Agreeing to investigate what Seymour thought was a matter of local corruption eventually lead to the shock of finding connections between drugs, the creation of the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the rise of the NeoCons, and the tentacles reaching out into the lives of both Americans and people around the world from places and people we thought we knew and could trust.

Why did Ronald Reagan leave show business in 1960, change his registration to Republican from Democrat and immediately seek to ingratiate himself to Conservatives, who he then betrayed, rebranding the meaning of the word entirely? What was the relationship between the agency which represented him, Music Corporation of America, MCA, those controlling government and organized crime? MCA had been scheduling talent into speakeasies run by notorious gangsters, such as Al Capone, since the 20s. Moving to Hollywood in 1939 along with Lew Wasserman, then an up and coming executive for MCA, the company began representing prominent stars, of which Reagan was only one.

It was Wasserman who would orchestrate Reagan's election as President of the Screen Actor's Guild and then, when Ronnie's acting career faltered, direct him as he entered a career in politics, ensuring Reagan's election to the governorship of California in 1966. Wasserman and his wife remained life long friends of President and Nancy Reagan.

MCA's nickname, “The Octopus,” provides a chilling parallel.

At each turning of one of these “corners of perception,” the reader sees, instead of the comfortable, familiar outlines of trusted institutions and public figures, the stark reality underlying us, like a film set of Oz, built out over the lurking horrors of a Stephen King novel.

As the pages turn you find yourself becoming involved with Cheri as she continues to delve into the puzzle only to discover, not answers, but ever larger questions, which return to a software program linking each aspect of the whole. With her you meet individuals, such as Michael Riconosciuto, now incarcerated for drugs, who reportedly wrote the first augmentation of the Prosecutor's Management Information System, (PROMIS) software, which was the property of Inslaw, Inc. These added functions began the transformation which changed a legitimate computer program, intended to track court cases, into something very different.

The PROMIS system had worked well. The founders of Inslaw, Inc., William Anthony Hamilton and his wife, Nancy Burke Hamilton, on contract to the Department of Justice in the mid 70s, had been asked to build a follow on augmentation of the system by the DoJ when, abruptly, their once cordial relationship with the agency changed. Instead of making agreed on payments for their work the DoJ stole the extended program while manipulating events so as to drive the Hamilton's into bankruptcy. Theft by the DoJ included selling the augmented product, produced by Inslaw, to foreign powers. These acts, which caused ripples reaching to Congress raised concerns which continue today. Throughout the book we catch glimpses of what is happening and of the software as its uses extend in all directions.

As the book takes you through events, separated in time and context, the same individuals confront your attention. Investigations into the mob, local and high level corruption, are abruptly ended just as answers seem imminent. Decisions which contradict all the facts are rendered by judges. Each event weaves back to the functions provided by the PROMIS software. At each new round of action the question of what the DoJ is hiding, intrudes more forcefully along with the two further questions. How many augmentations were covertly done to the software? What action was taken when those, now dependent on the system, faced the need to replace it with newer technology?

The PROMIS software tracked people and transactions. By the late 90s it would necessarily have been badly dated and filled with back doors and security issues. A replacement would have to be far more sophisticated and reliably encrypted. This leads to the question implied in Seymour's book. “What software replaced PROMIS, who built it, and is the same team supplying ongoing support?

Illicit transfers of funds in the billions, drug deals, weapons sales disallowed by law, millions in equipment disappearing into the gaping maw of the black market, all of these intrude. Now what we know today as Iran – Contra, suddenly makes sense. As America lives on the calm surface around this corner of perception another world roils with threats, torture, and murder, all powered by greed. With the murders of Danny Casolaro and others the immediacy of the danger to those who know too much becomes clear. All of these events are either cover-up for the ill-considered means used to produce software or related to the use of that same software.

Those who stole PROMIS and needed to replace it faced a significant challenge by the time George W. Bush took office. This time they must have a source for software which can reliably be controlled and contained. If this has happened, and along with carrying out the complexities of several wars other needs did not decline for the Bush Administration, the present suppliers are most probably a software company with large government contracts, dependent on the income, and very closely held and managed. This limits the possible candidates considerably.

Building a respectable front, combining elements of the mob within the US, foreign criminal elements, and U.S. Agencies, would have necessitated a cadre of individuals, such as those associated with Iran Contra, who would have acted as agents. Allowing them to move money, arms, and drugs smoothly would necessitate a shared system of tracking and communications. We see this developing, along with the parallel dependence on the system by those who put it in place.

Linking the world of crime to the highest levels of government we find figures such as Robert Booth Nichols, Senior Vice President of F.I.D.C.O., whose links to arms sales involving the United States government. Nichols was for many years a close associate of Riconosciuto, the original reprogrammer for PROMIS. Nichols is said to have died in Geneva, Switzerland on February 14, 2009 while involved in moving assets amounting to $250 Billion, which linked also to the Bush family. Many believe his 'death' to have been a false report.

Nichols, a major figure in the unfolding story, was talking to Casolaro daily before his death and is believed to have arranged the Casolaro murder and maintained for years he was working with the CIA.

As figures such as Nichols and Riconosciuto lost their usefulness, they would, necessarily, have been replaced as the Octopus continued to grow.

Software, unlike many American jobs, cannot be easily outsourced. Software with capabilities of this magnitude needs to be the best you can buy and those in government writing the checks would have to know part of what they were buying was confidentiality. We must assume they have learned from their mistakes with Inslaw and, with the time to do so, found a provider of whose loyalty they could be certain.

As the end of the book draws near you find yourself walking with Seymour through two more investigations, one initiated by Canada and the other by Insight magazine. The Canadian investigation, lasting eight months, is quashed. The article appears but no further legal action results. In the final act, which brings you up to 2010, the daughter, Rachael Begley, of a murdered man, finally confronts Jimmy Hughes, the man who murdered her father and two of his friends. The murder was solicited because the three intended to blow the whistle over corruption in Riverside at an Indian casino on property being used to manufacture weapons. Jimmy Hughes, confronted by Begley, merely shrugged. His later indictment was quashed by a court, despite Hughes' admissions. Connections, again, cancel murder.

Wondering what will come next you feel the chill of death brushing your neck as you close the book. You know people have died for knowing these things, for becoming involved. Cheri Seymour's secrets, the secrets which could have killed her, and will soon be available at your local book store.

Turtle Soup for Tony Hayward

2010-06-28T00:20:00.000-04:00

Endangered Species of Turtles being burned alive

(Well, perhaps not all of them.)

If Tony Hayward really said what he and his 'peers' thought:

Americans are so unsophisticated, they fail to see the big picture, becoming obsessed with minor issues. For instance, Kindra Arnesen, of Podunk Venice, Louisiana. Oh My Gosh, has she ever had to grapple with the complexities of multiple divisions, plunging stock prices, minor technical problems? No, all she thinks about is, “the people she cares about.” Really, as if a motley collection of fishermen and their ratty children and wives matter in the larger scheme of things. It was in very poor form for this wretch to speak of matters, such as the carefully crafted public relations work intended simply to assuage public fears. While we may, jokingly of course, refer to these as Balloon and Pony Shows, really, no intention to deceive is present, you have my word as a gentleman on that.

And finally, Kindra, this world was intended for us, the elite, not for such as you. This, my dear, is real natural selection. Get used to it.

(To be includes in The Pillsbury Justice Cookbook - Cooking Up Justice for America)

British Prerogative Turtle Soup au Sherry

Turtle soup is a great delicacy everywhere, but especially today in Louisiana, at least for the select few. Rumor has it that Tony Hayward has a tureen especially made for him as often as possible, wanting nothing to go to waste. The flavor of the turtle meat is both delicate and intense, savory and piquant. Perhaps the touch of petroleum adds to the savor for Tony. Experts say there are supposedly seven distinct flavors of meat within the turtle which give this soup its evocative pungency, making it linger on the tongue and in the mind, as only the elite can appreciate fully.

But this special recipe you will not find in any of the famous eateries in New Orleans since turtle, and so many other things, are now off the menu. This is a very special preparation, its main ingredients not usually available. Dark, rich, thick, a stew-type dish, the barest whiff is redolent with all the things nature so generously provides. It can be a meal in itself for a busy executive like Tony Hayward, who, of course, has it specially made for his private delight.

British Prerogative Turtle Soup au Sherry

Designed for soon to be Knighted, Sir Anthony Hayward

10 ounces (2-1/2 sticks) unsalted Plugra butter
3/4 cup all-purpose Glad flour
1 pound turtle meat, fresh or slightly singed, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, from our private little supply
1 cup minced celery, add more if you like, it attracts women (4 stalks)
2 medium shallots, minced (2 medium)
1-1/2 teaspoons Allium sativum garlic, minced, the commonest variety, but best for taste and healing properties.
3 (Laurus Nobilis) bay leaves, I love the name!
1 teaspoon Spice Hunter Highland from Saigon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme, acquire it whole, assign a clean up worker to mince it.
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Lampong black pepper,
1-1/2 cups tomato purée, start with a heritage variety, naturally, have one of those trusty clean up workers carefully prepare the puree.
6 cups veal stock from preborn calf, acquired from unsuspecting 4H member.
- NOTE: If turtle bones are available, add them to the veal bones when making the stock for this dish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste, as needed
1/2 cup lemon juice, squeezed fresh by a convenient clean-up worker, tell him it is for the respirators.
5 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped, boiled using the French technique from fertilized chickens
1 tablespoon minced Neapolitanum Danert parsley, remember, same technique for your fresh minced sprigs!
6 teaspoons Massandra Sherry, never skimp when it really matters!

Melt the 8 ounces (2 sticks) butter in a heavy saucepan. Add the flour and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until the roux is light brown. Set aside while you check on the present balloon and pony show being presented to credulous politicians and regulators.

In a 5-quart saucepan, melt the remaining butter and add turtle meat, even if the little bugger is still twitching, the recipe called for FRESH, remember. Cook over high heat until the meat is brown. Add celery, onions, garlic and seasonings, and cook until the vegetables are transparent, though we all know how much you dislike the word.

Add tomato purée, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes as you, now annoyed, again tell you coterie of spin specialists BP CANNOT afford respirators for clean up crews. Add the stock and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the roux and cook over low heat, stirring, until the soup is smooth and thickened. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Add lemon juice, eggs and parsley.

Remove from heat and serve. At the table, add 1 teaspoon sherry to each soup plate.

Remember as you take that first sip, you are rich, and getting richer. You deserve anything and everything you can get as you suffer through this ugly fiasco, which is just another normal cost of business to be borne by those who have so benefited by your past largess. What are a few small towns filled with bumpkins, anyway? Not even one of them is a stock holder.

Life is sooo unfair. You have put up with so much! Cherish this moment because sometimes we just need a tiny little thing to remind us how really special we are, right?

The CIA - Murdering the Truth

2010-05-07T20:58:00.000-04:00

“A Terrible Mistake – The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments”

They did experiments on children in orphanages. Some never recovered. Most would be impacted all of their lives, haunted by fear and subject to the physical effects of what they endured. The same government agency drugged unsuspecting adults prepared only for a casual social evening,invited there expecting friendship. They ignored all standards of decent personal behavior, endangering and killing as it suited them. They cloaked themselves in the authority of government. Entrusted to spend billions with no accounting of the funds they showed no sign of conscience, no remorse.

The echo of voices filled with terror, now long dead and silenced, reverberate through the pages of, “A Terrible Mistake – The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA's Secret Cold War Experiments,” as the dispassionate voice of author Hank Albarelli lifts the long hidden history of CIA experiments on unsuspecting Americans into the light of day.

The book, 900 pages, which hefts and reads like a Stephen King novel, leaves the reader uncomfortably aware they have been living a fantasy, now ending.

This is a book you need to read.

The story is framed around the death of Frank Olson, a bacteriologist who had been working for ten years at Camp Detrick at the time of his death. Explained as a suicide after he plunged ten stories from his room at the Statler Hotel in New York City on November 28, 1953 to die horribly, broken but still trying to speak, you learn through the meticulous detailing of events Olson was actually murdered by paid assassins working for the CIA because of remarks made about his work.

Olson wanted to leave his job. He wanted to become a dentist. The CIA made sure that could not happen.

Olson himself probably witnessed the drugging with LSD of an entire town in France. Pont-Saint-Esprit and it was likely his comments on the incident which eventually motivated the CIA to silence him.

Albarelli's search for the truth takes you on a tour through the horror house being built by the CIA in its search for weapons intended to provide seemingly limitless options for death, control, and destruction. In this pursuit a burgeoning proliferation of weapons which, in common, were used covertly in acts of war carried out in times of peace, were originated. These included biological weapons crafted to impact specific categories of individuals and may well have included the AIDS virus. Read Albarelli's article on the likely source of AIDS.

Author Alberelli continues to add to the story through his articles, the second now available at Truth Out and soon on Lone Star Iconoclast traces the lineage of another project born at Camp Detrick,

MK Ultra, MK Naomi, Artichoke. These have been labeled as the bizarre stories of conspiracy theorists. But they are programs which existed and what they produced is still with us. With these other lines of research proliferated from the founding of the CIA in 1947 on.

Each project focused on a form of control, ignoring both the rules then applied to war and human rights. No one knows how many billions in tax dollars were expended in this fashion. No one in Congress wanted to know, as if ignorance carried with it absolution.

Albarelli's book reports the widespread use of so many animals in experiments that a farm on the base was used to breed them while primates were shipped in wholesale from around the world.

Americans paid for these projects while also serving as Guinea pigs themselves.

A Terrible Mistake is meticulously researched and sourced. It leaves no doubt in your mind, even when you wish you could doubt.

If the horror were in the past Albarelli's book would be less frightening, perhaps. But as recent events have shown, the world is only now beginning to discover the end results of the experiments which, today, are also products in the hands of corporations which show, disturbingly, the same concern for human rights as the CIA.

As you close the cover of the book you will understand the world which awaits us and, the author hopes, be moved to action.

Question All Authority (Except Mine)

2010-04-10T21:35:00.004-04:00

Or why decentralized forms of human organization will displace top – down hierarchies.

What I learned from 43 years of activism. Why I wrote this memoir.

When I originally became active politically I assumed others agreed with me on a common goal. For me it was very clear. Get government out of our lives. Affirm the Mission of the Declaration of Independence.
I was naïve, I confess it openly.
I assumed once freedom was firmly established we would fold up the then empty tents called political parties and go home to do something more productive. I was wrong. I discovered most people in the Movement did not connect words to reality. As time went on other alarming realizations came to light.
Disturbingly, few saw the LP as a strategic tool to be used to return power to individuals and then discarded. They had bought into the false assumptions shared by those who believe government is more than a means for a free people to handle a few commonly useful services. Many expressed the idea government, and not people, was sovereign.
To my horror, I confronted the expectation of loyalty to the organization. It was clearly the equivalent to pledging fealty to your plumber's helper, a touchy subject.

Other individuals focused on single issues. Gaining easier access to guns, pot, ending cultural standards for sexual behavior, all of these motivations were present. All other issues were irrelevant to these individuals, to be deep sixed if they proved bothersome.

“Freedom” for many involved perpetuating some benefit accrued through use of government. An example of this is the nearly universal hostility to ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment. Affirming previous injustice as “freedom” was all too common. This was not limited to the Libertarian Party.

As time went on the understanding of a term previously heard but dismissed finally sunk in. Psychopathy. It eventually dawned on me some people were more different than they appeared on the surface.

It was a clear case of Arrested Paradigm.

When this became clear to me I left and joined the Republicans. I began researching how a 'real' political or community organization looked from the inside. It was instructive.

This is a brief outline of what I discovered and finally my conclusions with suggestions on how to achieve the goal of freedom.

In September of 1955 I received my first political qua philosophical input a friend/cousin who was then 24. He and I were sitting in the back yard when he told me the story of Howard Roark from the Fountain Head. He did not tell me the names, or I did not remember. He told me about the integrity of living your life for your own purposes. It was, he said, a work of art which should reflect all you want to say about yourself. It should be lived, he said, with integrity. “Yours to live, yours to give.” His name was James Dean. It was the last time I saw him but everything he said stuck with me.

The history of the Freedom Movement as it exists today.
The wave of activism which resulted in the Goldwater Campaign began with folks, mostly women, going door to door selling cheap paperback books. Pausing on the doorstep, these foot soldiers for freedom provided information to ordinary Americans which resulted in the grass roots activism which became the modern Conservative Movement.
The Goldwater Movement was, arguably, the first spontaneous grass roots moment.
Women, active in politics, was a radical concept in the Western world. Alice Paul, following in the footsteps of Lucretia Mott, Quaker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony and a host of others, finally achieved for women the right to vote in America with the passage of the 19th Amendment, ratified on August 18, 1920.
Women went on to reshape American politics from every political viewpoint. The Republican Party, which had sponsored suffrage, was a natural haven for women and in 1938 the growing number of Republican Women's Clubs were gathered in to become the National Federation of Republican Women, still the largest political organization in the world. Women were very much involved in the growing Conservative Movement forged by Goldwater, but the meaning of Conservative was about to change sharply under the influence of two men whose names today are synonymous with the word.

Neither Ronald Reagan or William F. Buckley, Jr., were Conservatives. Instead they rebranded the word to mean Big Government, corporate-friendly, make war for profit, and love your friendly, fascist state. While using the rhetoric both men associated the word, by usage, with a very different agenda

Reference: Rise of Big Oil, Rockefeller Group, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, by Daniel H. Yergin, War is a Racket by Lt. General Smedley Butler

When the first grass roots revolution was taking place I was sneaking books from my parents cache and then into Goldwater Headquarters and continuing my own efforts to get people to read Conscience of a Conservative – or at least a piece of literature. No one takes you seriously when you are under 10 years old. I did collect some candy bars, however.
The surge of support for Goldwater, enthusiasm for the writing of Ayn Rand, fractured on the frustrations of Vietnam. Older efforts continued their work, the Liberty Amendment, the brain child of Willis Stone, promised hope of ending the Income tax, the Foundation for Economic Education, 1946 by Leonard E. Read, provided education on the free market. The work of Rose Wilder Lane and the Reverend James W. Fifield of the First Congregationalist Church of Los Angeles, continued to impact minds.

I picked up a copy of Atlas Shrugged and read it, riveted, around 1962. My mother later said she seriously considered forbidding my reading – but this would have conflicted with the family principle on self education, a principle in place since at least the early 1800s.
The John Birch Society withstood a serious take over attempt from Buckley in the 60s at the same time Reagan was beginning the run up to his campaign for the Governorship of California.

Soon Andrew J. Galambos was teaching his brand of individual property rights and volunteerism. A recent graduate from MIT who had been a leader in Students for Goldwater and Young Americans for Freedom married and moved to Denver Colorado.

ARTICLE NOW BEING WRITTEN – Take over of the Environmental Movement by elements including George H. W. Bush.
On August 15, 1971 President Richard Nixon went on live television and announced to the Nation his intention to institute Wage and Price Controls.

At that moment people across the country dropped their registration as Republicans. David Nolan, the former YAF member, MIT graduate, and Goldwater supporter, had just written an article, "The Case for a Libertarian Political Party,”for the Individualist, a libertarian oriented magazine.
In New York an attorney named Ed Clark called his wife, Alicia Cabo Clark, to vent his rage. Alicia, the daughter of a former Mexican Senator and the CEO of a multinational corporation, sympathized. One of the things that had brought them together was their shared belief in the ideas of freedom. The Clarks also left the Republican Party. Clark would become the third Libertarian candidate for President and Alicia would eventually serve as National Chairman.
Ron Paul heard the announcement at the same time, changing his own life course.
The Libertarian Party was founded in David and Susan Nolan's living room in Denver, Colorado on December 11th, 1971.
The article written by Nolan had called for the creation of a political party, not primarily to elect candidates, but to become a voice for the unadulterated ideas of individual freedom. Stated this way, starting a political party seemed like a good idea.

Wage and Price Controls would prove to be an absolute failure. The controls did not stem inflation and yet, with the logic of other government programs, continued to be used as a tool until 1980.

For those who had hoped to move toward individual freedom it was a time of devastation. I, for one, had not heard of the Libertarian Party until after I read, “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World,” by Harry Brown, published in 1973. I was pregnant with my third child and worried about the world I would leave them. The growth of government, the steady losses of our rights, were hard to contemplate. The LP came like a shock of new hope.
Similar scenes played out all over America as young people who had worked feverishly for Goldwater and burned their draft cards as members of the Libertarian Caucus of Young Americans for Freedom, began to coalesce into a group.
This was the second incidence of spontaneous grass roots action resulting in a wave of political action in opposition to the Corporate Group.
As Nixon settled into a grumpy retirement in Yorba Linda, California on August 8, 1974, the newly fledged Libertarian Party was experiencing a surge of growth and excitement along with internecine warfare. About that time I heard Toni Nathan on the radio. I sat there, crying and holding my baby daughter. Later that day I joined the LP.
The LP began as an organization that looked to individuals to take action themselves in accordance with their inherent, natural, rights, which pre-exist all government. This was the mission statement of the Declaration of Independence. As the structure of the organization congealed a conflict of visions began, pitting the top down style of traditional American political parties with the spontaneous, local organizing which characterized its first several years. The lack of formal structure and innovation fired ever more activism, a reprise of the Goldwater Movement.
Into this mix came a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, back in his hometown of Los Angeles and making his way as a financial adviser.
His name was Edward H. Crane, III. Crane was elected Southern California Vice-Chairman for the Libertarian Party of California. While doing research for this memoir I could find not one instance of local organizing or activism carried out by Ed Crane while serving in that capacity.
Crane was intent on moving up in the hierarchy of the Libertarian Party. To do that he needed to ensure one happened. A newly fledged financial planner, he came out of the office of Southern California Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of California and with the help of the man acknowledged to be the best floor manager for campaigns in recent history, John Hix, took the office of Chairman of the Libertarian Party at the Dallas Convention in 1974.
Crane's personal habits say a lot about who he is.
I was sitting on the floor with my daughters, Dawn and Ayn, ages 2 and 1, celebrating our success in qualifying Roger MacBride as the LP nominee for President in 1975 and fell into conversation with a woman sitting next to me. Her name was Maureen, as I remember. Maureen told me about her experiences in working for the LP and with Ed Crane. She said women were scheduled to come over to the 'office' every hour. The first half hour was spent typing. The second half hour in bed with Ed. As she left, the next woman was arriving. Nothing I later observed about Crane from that date to this caused me to doubt her honesty.
Beware those ambitious for fame, glory and sex and willing to deceive to achieve. They may be psychopaths.
Over the next years, under the direct management of Ed Crane, the Libertarian Party was converted into a top down organization, losing the networking, initiative, and innovation at the local level, which had provided its power. It would still retain its 'name brand power,' however, a value worth controlling.
One of the early respected leaders of the Libertarian Party was Roger MacBride. MacBride was the Elector from Vermont who bolted the GOP to cast his electoral vote for John Hospers in December of 1972. Roger, the adopted grandson and heir of Rose Wilder Lane, was well to do.
At first Crane sucked up shamelessly to Roger MacBride, according to those who were positioned to observe them. Then, after Roger introduced him to Charles and David Koch he transferred his allegiance. Talk of a think tank began almost immediately, rolling rapidly into fruition. Control of the formal structure of the Libertarian Party became the focus where before it had been local activism.
Roger's presidential campaign in 1976 had been very good for local activism.
William Hunscher, a successful entrepreneur and close friend of Roger MacBride's declared as a candidate for the Libertarian presidential nomination in 1978. Hunscher eventually spent a sizable chunk of money seeking the nomination, pledging to run a campaign focusing on encouraging local activism. Crane persuaded Ed Clark, Chief Legal Counsel for Arco, to run against Hunscher. Ed, highly respected for his good character, was a popular choice for those who had known and worked with him.
Hunscher was new to the LP and was far from being a perfect candidate. But he pledged to run full time for 18 months, a promise which weighed with activists.
To say it was a campaign of dirty tricks and payoffs understates the case. Crane, as Chairman of the LP used the resources of the LP for Clark, treating it as his personal property. In every way possible power was centralized under Crane.
The National organization, states and local groups, had a working arrangement whereby inquiries and donors were shared. The list of donors and inquiries were sent to National. National was to do the same. It soon became obvious this was not happening.
I had been elected Southern California Vice Chairman and noticed the names of large donors did not seem to be included on lists coming from the Headquarters in DC. I had a longish conversation with one woman, very well to do, who had lived nearby my family home while she and her husband were at UCLA. She had been told by the HQ, “there is no active organization in Los Angeles,” so she and other big donors, the names helpfully supplied to them by National, began organizing their own events. She was delighted to find us, but puzzled. For me the meeting was very illuminating.
Los Angeles was one of the largest local organizations, comprising seven local groups. This was not an oversight and explained many things which previously puzzled me.
Deviousness, I discovered, was the stock and trade of what we came to call the Crane Machine. To a person they reflected an attitude of arrogance, entitlement, and superiority entirely unsupported by their performance.
The Crane Group also issued White Papers for the Clark Campaign which repositioned Clark as a “Low Tax Liberal” while Ronald Reagan was explicitly using the rhetoric of freedom, rhetoric which Americans were hungry to hear, eager to believe. Using the rhetoric of freedom which originated in the Libertarian Movement, Ronald Reagan won the presidency, beginning the ongoing process of converting America to a fascist state while the Libertarian Party's Presidential Campaign said nothing much worth remembering.
Crane was responsible for the positioning of the Clark Campaign. He has never explained himself.
Reagan was personally charming, kind, charismatic. I first became aware of him through comments from my Father in 1962. I believe they met through the Republican discussion group my father ran at UCLA for many years. Father was asked to go to Sacramento with Reagan as governor and again to Washington when Ronnie was elected President. Father refused.
Reagan was not a Conservative. What happened to America happened to California during Reagan's two terms there as Governor. In 1975 United Republicans of California, UROC, had begged Americans not to support Ronnie if he ran for president or vice-president. No one listened. Here is the UROC Resolution. I rekeyed the last copy so you can get it online.
The Clark White Papers were issued to the media. Their message went along with the 'low tax liberal' positioning adopted by Ed Crane. Activists found it impossible to obtain copies. My own efforts to read them myself continued until 1984. I later learned from Bob Hunt, a long time Libertarian who lived and lives in DC, that piles of White Papers were still in their store room as late as 1999.
Even with David Koch on the ticket, Koch personally contributed millions, the 'big win' in votes or respect for the ideas of freedom promised by the Crane Machine died an ugly death, leaving the Clark Campaign in debt. Crane then abandoned the candidate leaving Ed and Alicia Clark to pay off the debt themselves.
The Kochs were not pleased either. Millions had been expended in large salaries, media, and for fundraising efforts which failed to break even. “Alternative 80,” a 'fundraiser' held which was to be, in effect, an early Money Bomb, both raising money and exciting mainstream interest, fizzled. The event linked events across the country which viewed the entertainment taking place at the Century City Hotel in the late summer, 1980. Phones were ready to receive the calls of eager donors. Calls did come in – but not enough for the event to break even.
I learned that even billionaires have limits in the elevator after the event. The doors opened and as I got in I recognized Ed Crane being quiet as Charles Koch expressed his unhappiness with the money spent, his commentary unimpeded by my rapt attention.
A subset of the Craniacs, organizing under Howie Rich, would become active in another deceptive and covert enterprise in the early 90s aimed at suborning the electoral process.
The names of contributors would be recycled into the Cato Institute. The only thing that surprised me was the cooperation Crane was receiving from Murray Rothbard, who was named to the Cato Board of Directors.
Rothbard was the only real Libertarian involved in Cato from my perspective. However, Murray was fey the way only a Jewish academic can be. He adored the mock danger of political battles but for the most part lived in the cerebral world of economic theory. After Ludwig von Mises Murray was The Free Market economist, clearly enunciating, despite his love of argument, the verities of a real free market.
About that time I sent a button to Crane at the Cato HQ in DC.On it was "Question All Authority (Except Mine)
I believed then, and now, when government is involved there is no free market. A free market defends our inherent rights as individuals by allowing each a 'Yes' to what we want and a 'No' to unacceptable choices. Where individuals are denied the exercise of their right to choose no free market can respond to provide the desired choices and there is no freedom, only privilege.
It was Rothbard's insistence on this position which, it was generally believed, caused him to be ousted from the Cato Board of Directors in early 1981. In the public eye he was replaced, as a spokesman for the “Free Market' by Milton Friedman. Friedman was no proponent of the free market, but a monetarist. Aaron Director, known for his integration of law and economics, married to Milton's sister, referred to Milton as, “his New Deal brother-in-law,” according to Butler Shaffer who knew Director well. Asked his opinion of Friedman on the free market Butler agreed, “as you cannot be a little bit pregnant so you cannot suggest withholding tax and call yourself an advocate of the free market.”
The Koch brothers were the major funders of Cato from its founding on. It was at the insistence of Charles Koch that Rothbard was thrown off the Board of Directors and denied compensation. By so doing the best defender of the free market was marginalized. The rebranding of the word, “Free Market,” followed.
Koch Industries advocated not free markets but markets manipulated to disallow choices which would not profit them and enforce choices which would. Koch Industries today profits from the Corporate War in Iraq with Halliburton as it did in Vietnam with Halliburton during the Vietnam Conflict.
One of the first acts of the Bush Administration in 2001 was to quash the nearly 400 major EPA violations enforced against Koch Industries.
Along with Phillips and TRW, Koch Industries shares a history of repeatedly violating workplace and environmental laws while being numbered among the nation's largest government contractors, according to Holding Corporations Accountable. The article on the Holding site originally appeared as US: Unjust Rewards, by Ken Silverstein, in Mother Jones, May 1st, 2002. According to the article, “the three corporations received a combined total of $10.4 billion in federal business-at the same time that regulatory agencies and federal courts were citing the companies for jeopardizing the safety of their employees, polluting the nation's air and water, and even defrauding the government.”
In August of 1996 two teenagers, Danielle Smalley and Jason Stone, both 17, were burned nearly beyond recognition in an explosion caused by the petroleum giant. “Koch officials conceded in court that corrosion control had been inadequate and that the company had not effectively distributed information to the public on how to recognize and respond to a pipeline leak,” the statement appearing on the site of the attorney who represented the grieving family, Jim Arnold Associates.
The deaths resulted in an award of “$296 million, the largest award for actual damages in a wrongful-death case in the nation's history. Koch appealed, then settled with Smalley.” The sum collected was between 25 and 30 million, which the family used to set up a foundation in their daughter's memory.
Rebranding is an obvious ploy once it is pointed out. The question must be posed to old timers in the movement as to why they did not speak out when the process was going on. Two other examples of rebranding which still haunt us are 'privatization' and 'deregulation.'
To privatize, used correctly, would be to return control to individuals. The correct word in this context is 'corporatize,' or 'converting the rights of individuals into commodified units, allowing these rights to be sold by government to corporations. This was true of garbage pickup, where your garbage became such a commodity in the 1970s. It is true of the toll roads in Texas today.
Deregulation removed limitations on the actions of entities who had abused the power they accrued through prior relations with government and in violation of both statute and common law. And example of this is Standard Oil, which profited from outright violent criminal behavior in establishing an effective lock on the market of oil. Other examples include power companies which received government subsidies in producing power generation or had those resources transferred to them and were classified by statute as 'semi-governmental entities' and excused from responsibility for their actions. The cancellation or limitation of liability is an intolerable interference with the market. Any limitation of liability makes a free market impossible.
Instead of regulating industries the solution was to ensure the legal system could assert accountability. In allowing corporations to exist the problem created with unequal parties in disputes was bound to occur, and did.
The 80's saw the continued conversion the ideas of Libertarianism to the use of ever bigger government and ever fatter corporations. The redefinitions of words, including 'free market, now installed in NeoConservatism as well, took place through the coordinated work of Ed Crane, Cato, and an array of think tanks and journalists who consistently used, and use, the words in their converted form.
Since most people pick up definitions by usage much of this would have been accidental.
Cato's assault on the Libertarian Party began when Alicia Clark was elected National Chairman in 1981. Alicia was a woman and had just experienced the ugliness of Crane's manipulations during her husband's campaign. The Crane Machine found a candidate for Chairman to oppose Alicia. He lost.
The Crane Machine immediately went into overdrive. The then Executive Director was ignoring orders from Alicia and spending hours on the phone with Crane, who was still in San Francisco at the time. Alicia fired him and changed the locks on the office, always a woman of decision.
At the moment Crane did not control the LP the Crane Machine began an overt drive to take Alicia out of office. It failed.
At the next presidential nominating convention the abrupt withdrawal of unopposed candidate Gene Burns, well known talk show host, just months before the nominating convention brought two candidates into the field. David Bergland had been the VP candidate for Roger MacBride in 1976. Earl Ravanel, the candidate fielded by Crane, was viewed as Crane's bid to rerun the Clark Campaign with Crane in control.
Crane and Ravenal lost. Crane and his cohort walked out, despite their promises to heal previous disagreements and work for the winning candidate. Immediately afterward attempts to destroy the LP began. Calls were made to valuable activists across the country urging them to leave the LP and reregister Republican. I received several such calls from John Fund who I had known since 1980.
After nearly a full decade the cadre of people around Crane, which was pretty much unchanged since their exit from the New York Convention in 1983, acquired a new toy. That was an organization the Koch Brothers had not been able to use effectively, the Citizens for Congressional Reform.
Acquiring this not for profit spawned an incredible proliferation of identical not-for-profit organizations, each dedicated to doing pretty much the same thing. Visually, their sites appeared to have been created by the same web designers. Each used a stealth approach to electoral politics, employing lavish rhetoric to justify using the initiative process to change the laws in states where this was allowed. This fit in exactly with the original game plan of the Crane Machine. Crane had always viewed local activists as an obstacle to action within the LP unless those acting locally were directly under his control.
In employing this growing collection of nonprofits Howie extended this approach to Americans as a whole. The first of these organizations, U. S. Term Limits, focused on limiting the number of terms for any elected legislator. It was followed by initiatives promoting an end to eminent domain, school choice, and spending caps by government and eventually measures such as legislation relating to end of life issues raised by the Terry Schrivo Case.
Many individuals in various states had worked for this kind of measure; the problem was not the use of the initiative process. The initiative was introduced by the Populists to allow local people to change government, making it responsive to their needs. The problem was who was using the tool.
The initiatives themselves did not reflect the will of those who had to live with the resulting law. Even more egregiously, the initiatives were deceptively run as 'grass roots' efforts to potential donors outside the state when they lacked support within the state. No minds were changed. No freedom happened. No body of local expertise or enhanced organization remained in Howie Group's wake.
It was a reprise of the Crane – Clark Campaign, this time run at a profit. Unused funds were, according to investigative journalists, transferred into the accounts of those who Crane and Howie had known and worked with since the 70s. At best the strategy came with the underscore, “Fool them into freedom.” But there was worse.
Worse than the misuse of the Initiative process was use of this tool for the profit of corporate outsiders to diminish control by local people.
In the original vision of American government the Founders had assumed that local towns and the people who lived in them would make their own rules in how they structured their lives. This could be seen as a multitude of small experiments in living, allowing for a learning curve, helping a free people to reduce conflict as they learned to live outside of a traditional hierarchy imposed from the outside.
In some cases the Howie Machine would outspend local activists six to one to get their measures passed into law. Eventually the left noticed through the research done by Hart Williams. William's work spawned a nonprofit which followed Howie's Group to some extent, focusing on the Ballot Fraud issue.
Howie's Group learned some things from their encounter with Williams and transparency. They now all blog.
During the time, 1990 – 2007, the Howie Business Plan was revving up there was another eruption of frustration which would reprise the early days of both the Goldwater Movement and the Libertarian Party. It started on Larry King Live with an interview of Ross Perot.
On February 20, 1992 H. Ross Perot said he was willing to run as an independent if his supporters could get his name on the ballot in all fifty states. Listeners liked what they heard. With a list of declared policies including balancing the federal budget, firm pro-choice stance, expansion of the war on drugs, ending outsourcing of jobs, support for gun control, belief in protectionism on trade, advocating the Environmental Protection Agency and enacting electronic direct democracy via "electronic town halls," he became a potential candidate overnight, soon polling well with the two major party candidates. The people wanted 'someone else.' Perot was someone else.
The next day people were opening campaign headquarters across the country. The leading expert in third party ballot drives, a Libertarian named Richard Winger, who runs Ballot Access News, was found and flown into the brand new Perot HQ in Texas. It could have been a revolution - but at the very least the people were flexing their muscles, finding ways to cooperate in pursuit of a common goal.
The Perot Movement was the third spontaneous political grass roots moment in the 20th Century. It resulted in the Reform Party.
Which brings us to the very unexpected outcome of Ron Paul's decision to run for president again and the eruption of the Ron Paul R3VOLution, the first grass roots action of the 21st Century.
Congressman and physician, Ron Paul had been around the Freedom Movement since the 1970s. His run for president as the LP candidate in 1988 was largely ignored by the public. After the 1988 campaign Paul returned to the Republican Party and again ran for Congress successfully. His campaign manager, Penny Langford, continued to run the Paul reelection efforts. As she describes it, these are highly decentralized and grass roots driven themselves. Ron, according to Penny, was never very involved in campaigning.
When Paul announced his candidacy at the Free State Project most old time activists doubted he would do more than use the opportunity to speak out on the standard Libertarian issues. They were half right. Ron was talking about the same issues. But now people were listening because of the Desperation Factor.
In any population 5% of the people will try new things, ideas, products, tools, with little resistance. These are first adopters. 15% will adopt a new approach, technology, idea, tool, if they are desperate for a solution to their immediate problem. 60% of the population will adopt as soon as it looks like everyone else is doing it or if someone they perceive as high status is using the new thing. We call them Ballast. The last 20% will die before they adopt something new. We call them Dead Men Walking.
From the first debate on the divergence between the official Ron Paul Campaign and the Ron Paul R3VOLution, so named by Ernie Hancock, owner of Freedom's Phoenix and a long time Libertarian, was palpable. Ernie began putting up bill boards promoting Ron's candidacy in February, 2007, even before the official declaration took place.
As in the early days of the Goldwater Movement, the Libertarian Party, and the Perot Campaign, the ones moving the action were volunteers. It was volunteers who hammered the Ron Paul HQ, insisting a check be cut so Ron could participate in the GOP debate in South Carolina. The fuel in the engine was always volunteers.
Many became active for the first time in their lives, leaving their jobs to work full time and unpaid for the candidacy of Ron Paul.
The Internet became the nexus point, allowing individual initiative and innovation to be multiplied many times over. Adoption of strategies became seemingly instantaneous, allowing a group of people who had never met to change outcomes which previously would have been impossible to achieve.
Media, unwilling to cover Paul experienced reports from their advertisers, concerned over the calls coming in to them from Ron Paul supporters threatening to boycott their products. Market pressures worked.
The power of the Ron Paul R3VOLution continued to build until Paul stopped campaigning. Looking for an outlet for frustrated energy other projects came into form. One of these was the Tea Parties, which may have been planned as a means for redirecting the energies of the grass roots into the GOP. If that was the intention it has not worked.
The Tea Party Movement was produced by the Ron Paul R3VOLution and the frustration all of us experience when no clear goals can be identified and we are facing disaster. But while the activities taken up were similar to those of the campaign they were, in effect, an after school program with rhetoric and signs and a tee-shirt. The people, hungry for real goals, are now again frustrated.
Electing Ron Paul was never really the goal. He only symbolizes the real destination which has always been a world where our individual rights are lived out peacefully, without war. Where prosperity follows honesty and hard work. Where we tolerate differences and build community.
This was and remains the vision of America which drew millions to a New World.
Which brings us to the series of articles now being written for Integrity, the newsletter for several related websites and organizations. Build a business for yourself putting the Grid out of business.

Declaration of Independence – America's Mission Statement
Constitution – First try.
Problem: Ignored the Mission Statement.

Other Terms:
Free Market – Exchange taking place when recognition of the inherent rights of all individuals allow their choices to drive market response.
Privatize – The act of selling off small slices of the rights of individuals to corporations. Properly: Corporatize
Deregulate – Ignoring prevailing conditions of injustice masked by statutes previously passed into law and removing statutes passed to mask the original problem.

Sociopaths: They See You as Prey

2010-01-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

He constantly asks for sympathy, takes risks , lies to you and when caught shows no remorse. It is unsettling, frightening. Somehow it is your own fault. But what or why would anyone do these things? There is an answer.

The terms, "psychopathy", "sociopath," "sociopath," and others refer to individuals who look human but, in elemental ways, are not. They harbor a condition which cuts them off from us. Their automatic emotional reactions, foundational to limiting wrong behavior, do not exist. These individuals emulate compassion, concern, affection, kindness and love – only to further their purposes. They feel no compunction about stealing, lying, or committing crimes to achieve their goals. They consistently demand sympathy, knowing perfectly well they deserve none.

They do not want or need sympathy. But they do need you to feel sorry for them, to want to help them. It is all manipulation, emotions emulated to get what they want. They know we feel sorry for them and project the existence of emotions they never feel, just another lie.

People catching their eyes report feeling a chill of fear, as if looking into the eyes of a predator. Psychopaths are predators among us. The pain and suffering of those around them mean nothing, is pleasure to them. Their motivations seem inexplicable to the emotionally normal, who comprise 96% of the population.

Psychopaths have no conscience.

Where before little was written on the condition outside of professional journals, now much more is known. This is changing.

The evidence, now mounting, indicates the condition has a genetic element which becomes activated when combined with the conditions in the life of the individual. The last few years have taken understanding of the condition known as 'psychopathy' to new levels.

While only 4% of the population have the condition Martha Stout, PhD., points out in her book, The Sociopath Next Door, you are likely to have contact with psychopathic individuals on many occasions during your life time. You therefore need to understand the danger signs.

Experts in the field of psychology have been researching the problem since 1980. Much is now known.

In 1999 Robert D. Hare, Ph.D. published Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. Today, thanks to Robert Hare, David Kosson, Pd.D, and others, the means exist to reliably diagnose the condition. The test, carried out by qualified professionals, allows us the tools needed to understand and to take steps to help victims. The test, known as Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) and the Hare Psychopathy Checklist when used by qualified professionals makes available the means to identify those with the condition. As with other tests it, presumably, will soon be commonly used in court proceedings.

Hare's new book, Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work, written with Paul Babiak, Ph.D., and published in 2006, opens the issue of the impact of the condition on the workplace, including large corporations.

Since psychopaths live and work in every part of our culture we must consider this issue. How many sociopaths have worked their way into the management structure of corporate America? Estimates vary widely and lacking documented evidence all numbers are open to question. However, the behaviors associated with psychopathy, lack of conscience, lack of concern for the well being of others, a pattern of blatant lies, and others, strike many as strongly present in corporate culture today. Both the recent banking and mortgage implosions are evidence of this conclusion.

What if the present meltdown is partly due to a growing presence of psychopaths in upper management? Disturbingly, this may well also be true in higher levels of government given the massive cross over which exists at the highest levels of each. Logic supports the theory.

The test originated by Robert Hare has proven to be a valuable tool both to help victims and, increasingly, to open the door for victims to find justice. The work of Hare and his associates may, possibly, be used to the benefit of business and politics as well.

Psychopaths can impact us from every direction. For individual victims there is also hope.

Through the Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy website victims participate with clinicians, therapists and others to move on with understanding. The site provides a Forum for victims, clinicians, and therapists for discussion and could well become the hub needed to generalize understanding of the condition in the general public.

Reading books on the subject, such as the excellent work by Martha Stout, Ph. D., The Sociopath Next Door, provide tools and tests which you can use personally. Dr. Stout, a practicing psychologist and clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, warns the reader to beware of those who fail the simple tests she outlines. Three lies and your out, is one of simple suggestions she proposes.

In dealing with the overall problem Stout raises other questions which are profoundly on point for all of us today.

On the question of war: Should sociopaths be tolerated as useful in time of war? Are we intentionally allowing psychopaths into the military? Perhaps recruiting them?

Has our toleration and ignorance smoothed the path for ugly behavior in other parts of our culture? What would a psychopath do, if elected to office? If they were the determining factor in deciding what matters, their profit or your health?

Have we considered the dangers the unchallenged presence of psychopaths present when combined with the tendency in most of us to defer to authority?

If winning is the only thing that matters there is nothing you will not do. Recognizing no limits, psychopaths ignore the damage to others. As any small, determined group can change the world for the good, as Margaret Mead said, so a small number of individuals could destroy it. We need, therefore to limit the access of psychopaths to power while identifying them to the public.

A short tour through the books and the Aftermath: Surviving Psychopathy site raise questions which may well open up new understanding of ourselves. As individuals, parents, activists, and businesspersons, as Americans, we need to know.

This is the first in a series of articles about psychopathy and how we can solve the problems it presents by the author. Thanks to David Kosson, Ph.D., for his help in generously providing information and for his editing. - MP-F

Truth: You need it to survive meltdown

2009-09-24T17:25:00.003-04:00

War is a Racket by Major General, Smedley Butler

This book is essential to your survival.

As the world melts down around us we look for answers. The media provides only spin. This book, by a man dead since 1940, provides to you the through line of action. Read it. It is free online. The first chapter delivers a message Americans need to understand. This message needs to sink in past the patriotic fervor and spin that sends our sons and daughters into ugly death and destroys other people, for the profit of corporations, around the world.

The real explanation for war and the devastation we face today here in America is written in the ugliness of greed and the ability of the greedy to persuade by the use of disinformation, stealth, and by using our own love of country against us.

War Is A Racket

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few -- the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.

And what is this bill?

This bill renders a horrible accounting. Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds. Broken hearts and homes. Economic instability. Depression and all its attendant miseries. Back-breaking taxation for generations and generations.

For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are today, I must face it and speak out.”

Smedley Butler died in 1940. Many believe he was assassinated while in the hospital. Smedley Butler was the most popular military figure in America when he was asked to carry out a military junta on behalf of wealthy businessmen. The planned coup d’état failed because Butler exposed them. Variously known as the “Business Plot,” the “Plot Against FDR” and the “White House Putsch” took place in parallel with Hitler's move towards power in Germany.

Imagine a group of the corporate greedy, many of whom like the Bushes, have investments there, seized with the excitement of emulation. Greed begets more greed, as we have learned to our sorrow.

The corporates have not changed, but they have become more efficient, skilled and organized in planning their disinformation campaigns and in their abuse of power.

Today you see Newt Gingrich posturing . Standing with the woman he finally married, seeing their happy smiles remember the woman Newt abandoned to die of cancer, the mother of his children who made his career possible. They want to tell you how to be a Christian. Does this seem odd? Samuel Adams was not the last of the Puritans, those who saw the real vision of Christianity, the coming together as one people. Descendants of the Puritans brought you the Abolitionist Movement, the Suffrage Movement, and today continue to work for peace, justice and care of the Earth. I know, my family was there, not selling supplies to the British.

The list of those employed by the corporations to pull the wool over your eyes is long. How they spin the world into cotton candy by Monsanto to destroy your health, steal the power of the people, and convert our institutions into tools of oppression is both complex and simple. But once you see it, you are immunized against their lies.

Read this site before you consider having a vaccination. Think about the motives and methods of those who would force you to comply.

Read the book, visit the links, your survival depends on it.

Survival Values - And a cheer for Joe Wilson!

2009-09-10T20:00:00.004-04:00

Get the Tee shirt and show your own balls

Yesterday in the grocery store the checker commented on having sold her cell phone. She had to. She could not afford the monthly expense and the phone itself had cost her $250.00. She sold it for $210.00 to a friend with a better paying job, at least for now. The checker, Emily, had had it for 3 weeks.

Tightening the belt is the theme of a rising consciousness around our nation. It is not all bad. The clerk, and many others, are beginning to focus in on what really matters.

Yesterday my email box was filled with comments about the coming address by President Obama to Congress about health care. Driving past the County medical facility I saw the many people waiting there. All looked Hispanic. I sighed. I was born in the middle of the 20th Century and I've had my fill of wars and taxes and tickets that never end. I'm tired of feeling trapped by government. Everyone I know feels pretty much the same.

The 20th Century was heady but it was more like a drug than reality.

Sex and power were the aphrodisiacs of the 20th Century. We were seduced by greed, consumed by needs that were seemingly without end. The high is fading now, leaving us with withdrawal pains and increased awareness.

Today as we face the meltdown of the American Empire we have the opportunity to consider what really matters, I know I am. I have grandchildren who are excited about starting school. I want a future for them.

As we peer into the unknown future we should take time to consider the rich potentials that still await us as well as the dangers we must confront without the familiar placebo of government as we knew it in the 20th Century.

Big government, top down structuring, did not work. We will of necessity return to local governance, low in cost and allowing the people to choose.

Big government can't work. The final test was the 20th Century. Big government was the dumb idea that's time has gone.

The concept of beta testing, produced by edge technology in the 20th Century, is one we need to take seriously right now. If a policy has not been beta tested DO NOT INSTALL!

Now, we need to consider what once worked for America as we face what more big government and corporations have in store for us and determine how to resist.

Local government, controlled directly by the people, works because the surveillance is built in and costs nothing. The eyes of the people should be enough, if government is local. When you have to sell your ideas to people who know you can't keep your own grass cut with your own lawn mower it cuts wanna be politicians down to size.

Ideas, especially ideas which reorient ownership of what once belonged to all of us, are dangerous. Someone should have put a warning label on Big Government.

Allowing anyone to patent DNA was dumb idea. Buying and selling water, the oceans, the air we breathe and the land which received our dead. These were dumb ideas. The Inventor made the Earth a Commons, thus negating anyone owning what is needed for us, and all life, to survive.

The number of Seniors now identifying as Democrat is dropping like lead balloons. All of us are worried. Last night a guy from South Carolina spoke out. It resonated. He was rude, rude, rude, and personally I loved it.

Last night no one could get on Joe Wilson's website. It was jammed. No one wants to be vaccinated so Big Pharm can improve its bottom line.

A big cheer for Joe, the rude guy with the balls. But the issue is larger than any one person – and smaller.

People, not profits, come first. It isn't 'stuff' that matters. It is the things that do not become obsolete. Ever.

The future will be about reinstalling values. Coming generations will refocus. As they do so individuals will connect with each other and the Earth of which we are a part. Not that it will be easy. We all know the months and years to come will be tough. But we shall overcome and we shall survive.

Thanks to Joe for a moment of spontaneous sanity. Go local and stay there.

The New Economy - A Modest Proposal for Building Community

2009-08-21T00:13:00.002-04:00

America is shifting. Most view the present trends in the market as destructive and with good cause. Banks are closing, sometimes several in a single day. Businesses going bankrupt are leaving the main streets of many American cities and towns mottled with boarded up store fronts. Families and individuals are canceling vacations, reusing items that formerly they would have replaced, shopping in department stores is down, replaced by shopping used stores and garage sales.

Refocusing gives you the opportunity to consider what really matters. Are you doing that now?

Concerns over police violence are increasing even while the actual incidence is dropping. Officers live in the areas where they work. Many are appalled at the violations of rights they have witnessed and are questioning what they have been taught. “The County Sheriff, America's Last Hope,” by Sheriff Richard Mack, is experiencing a steady rise in sales. Mack, the first of several sheriffs to file against the Brady Bill in the early 90's is constantly on tours. Quietly people gather to listen, both local law enforcement and ordinary people

Concern over forced vaccinations is rising. New Jersey passed an injunction to be followed by Washington State. California is expected to weigh in within the week. Across the country people are raising their voices in objection to the present trends.

Gardens are popping up in the inner city of Detroit on vacant lots where before only trash blossomed. Interest in bartering and trading, garden grown food for services and other necessities, is working its way through neighborhoods as families look for ways to survive the loss of jobs. Instead of viewing this as a short term survival issue see a transition taking place. We are moving from the Corporate Economy to the New Economy in small, incremental steps.

The Corporate Economy sucked us dry. Money and all we created was funneled through huge, impersonal corporations, banking, oil, pharma, big food etc, to accumulate in the coffers of a few individuals. They knew exactly what they were doing. It was fraud on a massive, global scale.

In ten years this period will be recognized as 'the shift,' the time when Americans began to change focus, seeing themselves differently. More families every day confront the need to make the mortgage payment, keep the lights on, put gas in the car, and exchange with those around then without that paper folding stuff PFS pronounced, “peefs”) or credit cards. Seeing yourself differently reveals unexpected strengths, as our ancestors could have told us.

Currency comes in many forms. The original idea for money as 'currency' was to facilitate the flow of exchange, a form of mutually beneficial cooperation. Many barter – trade and script alternatives are now springing into existence. What once was was can be so again.

One of the bills you get every month you must pay in the Corporate World (CW, pronounced ceeew) is your bill for electric power. The technology has long been available to move from centralized (on the CW model for money) to the decentralized local generation for power. It could have always been decentralized. That did not happen because corporations saw the opportunity for continuous income with little effort. Most people think decentralized power is too expensive. They are wrong and their wrong belief causes them to ignore a way to put people back to work, reduce the sucking of corporations, and at the same time make all of us more secure.

Centralized generation of electricity was promoted by government and corporations to provide regular income to them. Ignoring the decentralized model came with costs paid by ordinary people above and beyond that monthly electric bill, which is steadily rising.

Today many are out of work, small factories are closed We need jobs. All of us need to lower costs to ensure our own survival and choke off the flow of our lives to the corporations who continue to suck us dry.

The raw materials and components for wind turbines and other energy systems are surprisingly inexpensive. Parts could be produced locally, the designs are available on the internet. By cooperating locally we can ease our jobs problem and at the same time lower our costs for electric energy. Nearly every community in America has the resources to carry out this project.

Americans have taken on larger projects before, fighting wars far from home. This project refocuses our attention to the source of American greatness, caring for each other in absolute alignment with the mission laid out by one man who died for us 2,000 years ago. We begin and end in our own communities, growing to know each other better.

Existing organizations, the Elks, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the PTA, churches of all kinds, anyone could participate. They can machine, construct, take orders, schedule. There will be much to be done.

There are many designs for wind turbines that are highly cost effective. We can share designs, again through the internet.

Those out of work can earn their own installations through sweat equity. Those who have the money can pay, ensuring their energy needs are met. And we can make sure the needy, the elderly, never want for energy, staying warm in winter and comfortable through the summer. Central Valley of California lost 130 elderly to heat two years ago. It must have been a horrible dying for each of them.

Power lines are all too fragile, starting fires for which the corporations deny accountability and costing all of us while destroying billions in property. There are reasons going beyond the shut off notice so common today. The notice should be enough if we care about each other as that one man intended.

Count up your own reasons for change, practical or spiritual.

The Barn Raising, the Turbine or Solar Party. I can smell the big, steaming pots of chili and soup, almost taste the home-made garlic bread and salads fresh from the garden. When you walk away from illusions, like the corporate reality now receding into history, we may well find unexpected moments of grace in a new America.

Springtime in America

2009-04-07T19:34:00.000-04:00

We came so close to losing it all. Day to day we have been hearing the stark predictions of famine, want, civil unrest. We see the Google maps of FEMA camps and the 1984 redux of control, reflected in the simple minded fascist edicts, for instance the Missouri Directive, issued by the of small minded bureaucrats of that state. These still have the power to shock us.

But if you really watch you will see the unfurling of freedom happening like the springtime, blossoming out from every tree. Across America something profoundly wonderful is happening. People at the most local level are taking action to return the power of governance directly to the people. Without noise or the flurries of big fundraising and from both right and left people are coming together to say NO to a government and corporate presence that is out of control.

The Feds do not want to believe it. It has put a crimp in the plans of such figures as Arnold Schwarzenegger, who still wants to be president. But it is happening.

America is returning to its roots.

Progressives and leftists are teaching classes on the Constitution, Home Rule. The Community Environmental Defense Fund offers classes on these and more. In North Carolina the Citizens College provides seminars that put county officials together with citizens so that the reasons for their decisions can be explained and questioned. Coming at the issues from very different points each step on the way is changing how Americans view the tool we know as government.

It has been a long time coming and, as Thomas Jefferson put it in the Declaration of Independence,

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

But Americans have had enough suffering. As Americans wake up things will change fast. Today we understand how close we have come to losing what matters most.

Left and Right, the consciousness that corporations are fictitious constructions of government and greed is now moving into the mainstream with a revulsion that will eventually cause them to fold their tents and retreat to places unnamed. The rules and law are about to change as the Constitution is restored to use as originally intended. That will include the cessation of the fiction of corporate personhood and accompany a slap down for wrongdoings over the last two centuries of greed.

Standard Oil. Look out. Southern California Edison, your time is coming.

As the battles to fight off the confiscatory practices of corporations gain ground and the people take back control those responsible will learn what accountability means.

Over the last years corporations have moved to buy up everything we need to live, water, power, food, transportation, and health care. Americans are taking them back and will not take no for an answer.

Government got the idea it could sell off everything we own. You see that if you study your electric bill.

Most of the power generation facilities built were financed by government and then given to corporations who then charged us, arguably the real owners, for our power. Tax payers pay, the government turns the potential for profit over to their friends, and we pay again every month. This is why the fact there is no Statute of Limitation on fraud is a good thing.

Roads, water, your phone, your television, your automobile, the schooling your child receives that is actually propaganda, the health care that kills you but costs every cent you have. The list is seemingly endless. Add to that laws that stopped the growing of such robust and versatile crops as industrial hemp to make cotton growers happy. Government and corporations believed that absolute control was within their grasp. They were wrong.

“...when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. ”

Springtime is renewal. Let this one take us back to community as we find the freedom for which our spirits truly hunger.

Earth Day 2009 – Be The Change

2009-03-12T13:05:00.002-04:00

The Earth Society Foundation
cordially invites you to participate in the celebration of the

39TH ANNUAL UN PEACE BELL
CEREMONY ON EARTH DAY

on Friday, March 20, 2009 at 7:44 a.m. EDT (Equinox)

I first met Helen in 2000. The friend who introduced us warned me we would agree on nothing. I am a Republican and then was very active in the National Federation of Republican Women. Helen Garland is a Democrat and very liberal. She personally put together the people who founded Earth Day, introduced Margaret Mead to environmentalism, and has spent her life working tirelessly for peace, justice, and care of the Earth. That is the motto of the organization founded in 1968 that is the real originator of Earth Day, the Earth Society

Helen and I agreed about everything, including how the freedom movement and the environmental movement had been taken over by big corporations. Helen watched it happen in the 50s. I, in the 70's. I've written about my own movement and how it was rendered incapable of enacting change, instead becoming a money machine for such as Cato. But next week the world will tip towards what we know as the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere as the Southern Hemisphere moves towards winter.

Celebrate Earth Day March 20^th at 7:44 am.

That Friday a figure will step up to the Peace Bell at the United Nations and a sweet chime will ring out into the early morning, lingering for all gathered to hear. At the same moment across the world other bells will ring, a symphony of sounds that speak a long and patient dedication to “Peace, Justice, and Care of the Earth.”

It was not political when Helen began putting it together. Everyone wanted clean air and water. There was not a controversy in sight.

You were had if you celebrate Earth Day in April.. That is Oil Day, surrounded by far more noise but dedicated to the motto of, “Profit, Power, and Exploitation of Earth.”

Lose your illusions because, now, today, they can kill you. A year ago I wrote urging you to get off the grids. I have been doing that for years now. (2008) (2007) (2006) I urged you to begin a garden, start a barter trade group, get active in your community, and lost your illusions.

Today Congress is preparing to vote to end the local growing of food. Co-ops. Private clubs for buying organic local food are being targeted by sting operations. You are looking at a world where the paraphernalia for growing marijuana out of the sight of authorities may be necessary to feed your family.

Today, getting off the grids is more important than hoarding gold or politics at either the State or Federal level. Go local now and lose your illusions about partisan politics.

Along with getting off the grids we must come together across the artificial lines that have been used to isolate us, Right, Left, Man, Woman, age, ethnicity, spiritual path. If you are a Conservative, hug a Liberal. Together we can get the needed traction to stop the manipulation that is killing our economy. Our illusions will have killed the future for all of us.

If you drop your illusions you can see who is profiting from the direction of all administrations for the last several generations. Each of us needs to take immediate action to get off the grids. It is the grids, installed by that ugly concatenation of government and corporations, that caused the problems and divided us. The people of greed need our lives and money to survive; you can stop them by climbing off the grids.

Take this simple yes – no test to find out just how entrenched you are in the grids.

• Do you pay a mortgage every month?

• Do you pay an electric bill every month?

• Do you pay to put gas in your automobile?

• Do you have car payments to make every month?

• Do you pay every month for cable television?

• Do you pay for your Internet access?

• Do you pay for your phone service?

• Do you pay taxes, not fees for essential services?

• Do you pay every month for the water you drink? Use to wash?

• Have you ever paid a traffic ticket?

• Do you pay for tags on your car?

• Do you believe politicians are telling you the truth?

• Do you believe that the media is unbiased and reports honestly and completely?

• Do you think that elections accurately reflect the votes cast?

• Do you know where the food in your refrigerator was grown?

• Was your food grown within just a few miles of your home?

• Do you know, for sure, that Monsanto had nothing to do with producing the food you eat?

• Do you take dietary supplements in hopes of being healthier?

• When you become ill, do you go to a physician?

• Do you take prescription drugs?

• Do you have investments in the stock market that you depend on for income?

• Are you dependent on a pension that is invested in the stock market?

• Do you have a credit card with an unpaid balance?

Count up your “YES” answers. If you answered 1 - 4 questions in the affirmative, you are on a grid, but you are close to being free; good for you. With 5--11, you are Grid Challenged; time to exit. If you scored 12--18, you are Grid Entrenched: you need serious help to extract yourself. Anywhere above 18, you are totally Grid Locked.

Unlock your life. The means are there. All you need do is reach out and pick them up.

You can change your situation, for yourself and for your children. At the same time, you can build a life that is filled with the things that bring solid community, real happiness, and the leisure to enjoy them. You can get off the Grids and be free to enjoy your life, to find those things you never had time for and which, on your current path, will never be yours.

Most of us work ceaselessly to have the time to do what we love. If you reduce the cost of just surviving, your life is effectively longer because you are spending it in ways that make you happy.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...”

Happiness is getting off the Grids. Happiness is greeting your neighbors with delight and knowing you matter to them, that you are respected. Happiness is knowing you and your family are safe. Happiness is caring for others and feeling your own life extended through strengthened relationships. Happiness is having the time to make each moment worth remembering.

This can be your future.

You can wake up in a home that you know will be there for your great-grandchildren. It keeps you cool in the summer, warm in the winter, without effort or cost: it is designed right. All energy is generated right there. You never worry about losing your electricity. This technology is available today.

You get up and go out to your garden to pick berries for breakfast. They are natural anti-oxidants, the kind of food your ancestors took for granted, that kept your great-grandparents healthy. Much of your food you grow yourself or get from local sources. You can see it growing, so you know it is being done right. The food is delicious, it makes your mouth water and satisfies you: you do not hunger for sweets.

Once, you worked in an office building. Now, you own your own business, which you run out of your own home. You could have chosen any of a dozen things to do, but you picked the one that you find most satisfying. You earn less in money, and much more in satisfaction. Your kids are doing the same; the whole world is their school now. They mastered physics by the time they were 14 or so, and now they are taking time to decide what they want to do. No one you know is worried about money.

All the money is local. Your local ‘bank’ is something you can visit online, but you don’t have to give it much thought. You know who runs it, the woman who used to be your son’s 4th grade teacher. She handles that part time, when she is not teaching weaving. The Board meets occasionally, and you were on it for a while before you cycled off. It is simple, transparent, and therefore impossible to steal.

There is little theft now. Honesty is reinforced by practices, all common law, that make stealing unprofitable. There are no big concentrations of money, no easy way to use power to steal. Those who thought otherwise have found out that it would not work and that trying was not a good idea.

There are not many elections: your community handles matters in your local town meetings. There are no standing armies: the rest of the world has followed the example of the Second American Revolution. Everyone you know can explain the principles contained in the Constitution. Your county went local early and you were right there speaking out and helping others to make their own transition to real freedom.

You are healthy; you stopped taking supplements years ago, after the Change. You have discovered the ways of healing that the Grids had worked to keep from you. Physicians earn less, but they now feel better about their craft because they are now assisting people to actually become healthy.

For you, the moment of change might have been when you discovered that the cancer that was killing your wife, could be cured. Or it may have been when they turned off your electricity. Or when your 19-year-old daughter came home from Iraq, the victim of rape that was ignored. She hanged herself from the tree where you had built her tree house back when she was 7. We all had that moment, one when we saw what was really happening.

None of us looked back.

Today, you love your life; you love waking up every morning because life today is exactly what nourishes your spirit and brings joy.

You are looking forward to being a grandfather. Your automobile uses no gasoline, and you know you can replace any needed parts yourself at low cost yourself. You have come to expect these qualities in all things. The furniture in your home will last for generations. The former attorney down the street built that furniture in the shop you helped him set up. We all changed, and it was a good thing.

Welcome to the real America – Celebrate Earth Day. Be the Change.

Melinda is now working on her new book. “Real Freedom.” Visit America Goes Home and Partnering for Peace & Prosperity

April's Future – Renewing America

2009-02-26T16:33:00.002-05:00

This last January a baby girl was born. Her parents named her April and hope mightily that the world she grows to know will be one of hope and prosperity. We can make it so for her and all our children.

That matters to me very personally because little April is my first grand daughter. Her mother looked just like her and worrying about April's future causes fractures in my heart. The world today is growing very personal, we are all frightened. As the meltdown continues we look into the eyes of our children and cannot help be that. And yet along with we are losing come gifts of enormous potential. Take a deep breath and keep reading.

America faces a challenge, one that has been rolling in like a tsunami for generations, unremarked because we accepted and trusted too easily.

The election of Barack Obama to the office of president provided momentary hope that is now fading as a night mist when sunlight breaks through to Earth. The integrity, good intentions, and decency of the new president have nothing to do with what is now hitting America. The flawed foundations on which we built our lives can no longer be supported by illusion. We believed a vision for America that disconnected us from our own substance and power. We believed tate power was elsewhere when it is in our own hands.

That illusion of America turned us from the values that made America truly great. We possess a heritage unique in human history. Our founding documents were written so that we could govern ourselves, not be governed. Small towns, communities of people who accept and embrace their power, learning how to use cooperation and persuasion instead of politics are the foundation on which America stood in 1775.

The vision of a mighty America striding across the world bringing peace and justice was fantasy. The reality is not flags waving in the breeze and hands on hearts pledging fealty to a piece of cloth but something far more profound. Americans must come together, doing what is necessary for ourselves, using the skills, values and knowledge that makes effective action possible.

We face problems. But this one is the most important. We must do it ourselves while understanding the heritage of individual power that made America possible.

Russia faced this in the 80s without the wealth of tools we have to draw from here in America. It is not military might that made America great. It was its people, communities that came together as those colonials who fought for their freedom with their own hands, hearts and will. What was so can be again. Coming together in community across the lines that divide is itself a healing. Our ability to trust in our values has been destroyed, kicked out from under us. We forgot about honesty, quietly doing right, the integrity of work done well. We accepted instead the excitement of greed and possessions. We allowed the values that matter to be disparaged and refuted by those who govern and the corporations for which they work. We accepted lies for truth and greed as good. In so doing we passively allowed the theft of all that matters.

Because of this we face what seem to be insuperable problems but those problems are also a gift. We were lost, wandering in a world without knowing the risks we faced. Now we do. Our challenge is to come together, heal ourselves, and demonstrate the God given power of love and community. A Man who lived two thousands years ago would tell you this is true. If you listen you can hear Him speak to you today. When you do the right thing security and prosperity will follow.

Know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Americans who trusted went to Iraq for freedom and were ordered to take actions that violated their core values. Most were young and vulnerable. Girls went clutching their teddy bears. Young men went who barely needed to shave. They are returning to us traumatized, and unable to function normally. The rate of suicide is increasing with many becoming rapidly homeless. They are our children and they need us.

We trusted too far. We were told to have faith in people who were picking our pockets and canceling the Constitution. By their actions we can identify them, ensuring that accountability is exacted. We must relearn discernment as the essential precondition to action and values. Returning to community means caring for each other, beginning with those treated as disposable.

The only effective treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder begins with community and with the values that stand as a firm foundation for right and wrong, honor and decency. After idling and wasting money on drugs the authorities now admit this.

Over the last 200 years Americans have not been idle. We have built an infrastructure that can take action in every community and the tools needed to enact the needed changes. From every point on the political and spiritual spectrum the answers have come. Marshall Rosenberg originated Non-Violent Communication. In the fifties a group of individuals wrote the 12 step programs. These have enabled hundreds of thousands to reestablish themselves as happy and productive people. The effective tools are there to be used, the gift of those whose creativity was focused on providing them for all of us.

We add to this the thousands of ways now entirely available, by which we can live sustainably, lowering our need for money and leaving more time for those things that nourish our spirits. These things are the basis of the America we will leave our children.

For me, when I think about that future I see a young woman named April growing up fulfilling the full range of her potential. That future will have healed the wrongs done to all of us, women and men together. She will understand physics, see the glories of nature in all of their complexities, find a future that brings her joy. I hope she also knows the deep happiness of holding a child in her arms to love and mother. She will do that from a neighborhood that is secure, part of a community that understands real freedom.

From our churches, from organizations that work locally the healing can flow like a cleansing balm, bringing renewal. Let this be the beginning. Doing it ourselves, from the heart and from community is our salvation. If you want to help go to Partnering for Peace and Prosperity.

Karl Rove and Bill Postmus, Soul Mates?

2009-01-30T01:40:00.001-05:00

Why we must demand accountability, objective standards, and absolute transparency

From Revolt in 2100 by Robert Heinlein

“When any government or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, “This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,”the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrawise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fusion bombs, not anything – you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”

Revolt in 2100 is about a revolution against an evangelical religious state that using disinformation, coercion, and deceit took over America. The good guys are pro-freedom and in the book you see them carry out the restoration of real American government. The bad guys use torture, absolute monitoring, and the force of a state that has rewritten history to control the American people.

Written in 1939 the book was read widely by those in now in the freedom movement, that movement from which such individuals as Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, Newt Gingrich, John Fund, among others originated. Heinlein was writing a juvenile science fiction yarn using elements he perceived as potential and threatening to our freedom. That take over worked. The elements present today with the attempted use of biometrics, as applied to the Real ID, the monolithic control reinforced by the evangelical no-think churches, and the routine use of torture and construction of American concentration camps are hauntingly like what you see in the Heinlein novel.

All of the individuals above grew up on science fiction. Heinlein, a libertarian, was the Grand Master of that genre. This is most probably the origin of the approach used to subvert power in America and hand control over to those who lurk behind foreign corporations tied to the military-industrial complex, banking, Big Oil, and Big Pharma. Those interests are the clients that Rove and these others named serve. Among those corporations are many that are closely and privately held. Instead of the transparency that, on paper, we as Americans were guaranteed, we see only lies and a closed door.

The individuals named took as their model what science fiction fans would call, “the forces of darkness.” Today they continue to work for the same employers as they continue to use the Republican Party to divide America.

The Republican Stimulus Package: War

On Friday afternoon, January 16^th, at 1:30 p.m., Congressman Joe Baca (D-43) hosted the first coalition of its kind to respond to Obama's challenge to stimulate the economy. Baca invited elected officials from both San Bernardino and Riverside Counties to sit down and discuss how the funds could be used to rebuild the badly decayed infrastructure in their area. The two counties, also commonly known as the Inland Empire have been the most heavily impacted by the meltdown in California. Foreclosures, lost jobs and despair light up the phones of food banks and in the offices of public officials every day.

Of the five Republican congressmen invited, David Dreier (R-26), Jerry Lewis (R-41), Ken Calvert (R-44), Gary Miller (R-42) and Buck McKeon (R-25) not one attended. All voted against the Obama package.

The cost of the Obama Stimulus Packages is high. The President has asked that billions be alloted for projects that rebuild desperately needed infrastructure while providing jobs lost during the last administration. But the same congressmen supported war in Iraq that destroyed the infrastructure of that country and cost far more. They also supported the exportation of American jobs to third world countries, placing many Americans out of work. They oversaw the administration of Federal funds that paid billions to companies building infrastructure, here and abroad, that are failing. Accountability and quality control have been non-existent.

The bridge which collapsed on Interstate 35 in Minneapolis in Aug., 2007 is just one example of a [problem of which many remain oblivious. The accident in Minneapolis killed 13 people and sounded a wake up call focusing attention on deteriorating infrastructure which cost millions to construct and billions to replace. Accountability for faulty construction is non-existent. Across the country, contractors involved figure among those who donate to Congressional campaigns, either directly of through their agents.

Inland Empire Toasted by Postmus

Simultaneous to the debate on the funding of the Stimulus Packages the Inland Empire witnessed the exposure of Bill Postmus, San Bernardino County Assessor. Postmus has long been known to idolize Karl Rove.

Postmus faces felony charges of drug possession. The disgraced Republican is under investigation by the District Attorney's Office for political malfeasance. $250,000 has been budgeted to pay the law firm retained to conduct the investigation. A recall petition by a broad spectrum of individuals and organizations will file a "Notice of Intention to Circulate Recall Petition" at the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters office on Fri., Jan. 30, 2009. There will be a press conference in front of the Registrar's office at 4:00 p.m.

Ordinary Americans are fed up with divide and profit politics.

The Stimulus Package meeting of January 16^th was attended by local officials who represented both major parties. The focus of their concern was their district and the needs of their constituents. Former California State Senator Don Rogers, a respected member of the Republican delegation, said of the Postmus indictment, “We need to clean our own house first. The man should resign and other Republicans should make sure that happens.” Anthony Adams, Republican County Chairman for San Bernardino has joined the call or Postmus to step down and save the millions a recall will cost.

Calls to the DC offices of the five Republican produced five press secretaries who were out to lunch or otherwise unavailable. Of the messages left none has been returned.

Will Republicans become obsolete?

Since the November election Republicans have confronted the need to take back their party. Taking it back brings into sharp focus from whom, bringing us back to the names above.

Locally both Republicans and Democrats agree in large that changes are necessary. They know money is in short supply and should not be wasted. Paul Pugh, the COO of Sequoia Valley Resource Corporation, who has worked in the Inland Empire said, “Politics has no part in this kind of decision. We need objective standards. And we need absolute accountability. We have the products to do the job. They cost no more and give us the same number of jobs locally. The age of greed is over.” Pugh is a life long Republican who also expressed concern for the direction his party has taken over the last decades. H proposed the following standard,

Stimulus funds should be granted only to companies that agree to:

High standards for quality for project longevity and durability in accordance to the guidelines provided by studies of technologies now available across the world. Products exist and can be used that reduce the carbon footprint at least 25% during construction. Longevity for high dollar projects must use only products that extend longevity to a millennium.

Absolute transparency – no contacts with private corporations.

To ensure that happens it is reasonable to exclude from consideration companies who have previously done work that failed the new standards.

Much is in motion. Will the Inland Empire exact accountability from Bill Postmus? Will Republicans meet the challenge to come together, despite the Republican delegation to Congress? The answers are coming and Robert Heinlein would have much to say if he still lived.

Healing America

2009-01-23T18:51:00.003-05:00

Update: Stealing Truth - The John Fund Back Story

The Attorney General of New York has received the complaint as well as the incoming US Attorney General.

At the stroke of noon on Tuesday, January 20^th, America breathed a sigh of relief that echoed across the world. I say that and I am a registered Republican who understands the cost of blowing the whistle on Bush and his associates. Of the many things that George Bush destroyed the Republican Party was only one institution. The GOP, once the proud advocate of freedom, was destroyed, its mission extinguished. Our economy, our rights, the Constitution, and the respect America once held across the world are also dead.

The least important of these is, of course, the GOP. It is not political parties that matter, but people. From the streets of America, where veterans pick through trash cans and from Gaza where children are dying from head wounds inflicted by bullets paid for by US taxpayers, it is people who are dying without hope.

At one second past noon on Tuesday, January 20^th, a new president took into his hands the power to enact change. People across the country wept tears of joy. In Santa Fe 40 children, young teenagers, held their own inaugural party, recreating the event. They will never forget that moment.

Barack Obama has began a task of daunting proportions. Along with accountability, and the President has said this is also coming, Obama is calling for stimulus packages. These will jump start the economy and put Americans back to work. Obama named as his first priority America's infrastructure. Our bridges, our dams daily grow more degraded and dangerous to all of us. Engineers hold their breath as they monitor the deterioration, knowing lives are at risk as we saw in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, 2007. In California fifty percent of bridges are unsafe and those in charge know this.

Our veterans, who fought a war both unnecessary and criminal, are returning to homelessness, afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. We moved into the danger zone, unconscious of what was happening around us.

War was made on us by Bush and his predecessors, converting our governmental and economic infrastructure. Those who did this were motivated by greed. They intended to steal everything, including our future. What are bridges and dams but the visible part of the future we leave our children?

Romans built for millennia. Our bridges, dams and other public works projects were built to last just long enough for the politically connected contractors to cash their checks, paying off their political cronies.

All of them need to be held accountable. Go here to blow your whistle.

The problems we confront are enormous. By coming together we can solve those problems. Sharing information, identifying what works, and refusing to accept the status quo brings its own power. There was a time when families sat down together then Dad lost his job. They looked at the problem, deciding how to stretch the pennies. The president has given us such an opportunity. To use it effectively we, the people, need to ensure that the funds from the stimulus packages are used wisely. Those who will make those decisions locally and in Congress need to know the same old solutions from the same contractors cannot be trusted. These funds must be used to ensure rapid deployment of new technologies that last and provide jobs.

Paul Pugh, a long time environmentalist who owns Sequoia Valley Resources and has produced and tested many of the new technologies said, “Engineers realize now it is all about using the right product for the application. Archeology has part of the answer. We rediscovered how the Romans did it and went them one better. Pieces of clay pottery lasted thousands of years. Our products can do the same.”

Infrastructure built this way can be in use in the year 3000 for the same or less money, generating as many jobs now. These are technologies in use around the world. As Pugh says, “This is not rocket science.” Politics denied them to us before.

Changing how we build will change your own home. That home can become the heritage you leave your great-great grandchildren, it will need no energy for heating or cooling and generate all the power you need.

Returning veterans suffering from PTSD can restart their lives. Many see PTSD sufferers as permanently marginalized. Instead they can became the core for new ways to live well in community. All of us can and must do the same, we need to be open to new and better ways of living. If we take up that challenge we can build prosperous futures for ourselves as we rediscover what it means to be an American.

Michael Olson, the owner of Metrofarm and the author of the book of the same name has helped many begin making a living providing products close into urban areas, solving the problem of transport while providing healthier food options. Multiply him by thousands who have spent their lives on solutions that work. From transportation to communications there are solutions, not one but many. America Goes Home examines and lists solutions and you can find more yourself.

We can build bridges that span the centuries, leading to a sustainable future for our descendants.

NOW Indict George Bush, Indict Them All

2009-01-23T18:18:00.004-05:00

UPDATE: Stealing Elections – The John Fund Back Story
January 16 – Nothing has been read from the District Attorney in New York. We now file the complaint with the Office of the Attorney General

American veterans are returning from Iraq to homelessness. As the economy melts down so do America's veterans. Tens of thousands who signed up to serve their country are now homeless, unable to function because of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or brain trauma Their condition was directly caused by the Bush Administration. They were told that war was necessary to our safety. It was a lie. Instead, it has lined the pockets of George W. Bush's core constituency.

Americans are struggling with conditions none of us ever imagined possible. Many are showing signs of PTSD themselves. They have never been to Iraq. The war came to them.

They used our banks, the stock market, the governmental agencies intended for our protection to allow them to put their hands in our pockets and steal us blind. By so doing they stole our homes, our retirement, our jobs, and all we need to survive. Then they put their hands back in our pockets and stole our future to reimburse their friends for the 'losses' they had suffered. Our veterans are victims of war, the war being fought not in Iraq but carried out against Americans in boardrooms, in Congress, from the White House, our courts, and through every institution for which we have paid.

If you follow the money you see who profited and who intends to continue being paid.

Last week I wrote an article about John Fund, pointing out how he abused the profession of journalism. Those who covered for Fund did so for profit. He went unpunished for the domestic violence he committed because he could and did use the power according him by the Bush White House and those who worked for them. A valuable operative, he was protected. That was one small story in a vast tapestry of action that has resulted in the present meltdown. But every story comes with links to other stories. George Bush did nothing alone. Every story will lead to others because, like Fund, few intend to go away as Bush will be gone next week.

The problems will still be with us until they are rooted out. They live lavish life styles. They intend to continue. Many of those whose direct action lead to the nightmare we are living are planning to spend June 7 - 19th on a cruise from London to Rome.

Dick Morris just announced in an email I received that, “John Fund, the famous Wall Street Journal writer and Fox News commentator will be onboard as well!” Morris goes on to say that, “John is one of the foremost pundits on economic and political matters. During today's turbulent economic times, he will offer you the insight you need.” and will be, “joining our roundtable as we discuss how to rebuild the Republican party after the 2008 disaster.”
The only disaster noted is their failure to continue in power.
While they cruise an 80 year old woman who a year ago lived comfortably in retirement will struggle to survive on the street. There are many like her. She was invested in Lehman Brothers. Close you eyes. Watch the lives of ordinary hard working people pouring into the pockets of men like Morris, Fund, Cheney and Bush.
We need the names, the facts, and the evidence. The men and women who caused the problems must be indicted along with Bush. We need to exact retribution or else it can and will happen again. Bad behavior always drives out good. When we see the guilty punished to the full extent of the harm done we will be on the way back to sanity.

Stealing Truth: The John Fund Back Story

2009-01-14T13:46:00.006-05:00

If the media had followed the clear rules they had written for themselves, would we now be on the express down elevator to a meltdown of global proportions? Likely not. We would have problems, but we would have seen them more clearly. We needed the truth. We did not get it, for perhaps as many reasons as there are individuals in journalism.
The first problem was that journalists so blithely ignored the standards of their profession.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has established a code of ethics. The tenets of this code are short, clear, concise, and well-founded. But there is no means of enforcement. If journalists would follow them, we could trust the media. Today most of us do not. If a journalist ignores their ethical obligations, either from sloth or a desire to profit, nothing can be done. If raiding the cookie jar can be carried out with impunity, then there will be no cookies. I know this, having raised several children.
The SPJ has existed since 1909, four years before the Federal Reserve Bank came into being. Their founders could have included Ida Tarbell, the journalist who caused the break up of Standard Oil, though the site does not mention her – an indomitable truth teller. Tarbell told the truth, but a handful of years later the dispersed Standard Oil was larger than ever and still carried out the same exploitive pattern of business.
The takeaway: having the truth does not automatically solve the problem. You need to use the truth to build the cultural tools that enact accountability. We need that accountability today as the world melts down around our ears. Those responsible for the economic collapse are getting bailouts. Those who will be forced to pay are losing everything.
It was not just banks or oil companies or the "military-industrial complex" of which Ike warned us, though the sense of immunity to accountability these corporate-cultural structures enjoy is another part of the problem. Many individuals made decisions they knew to be wrong. Along with those heading corporations, journalists were a pivotal part of this failure. They had ample opportunity to act ethically and make a decision that would have influenced the values by which all of us live, building the world through those uncounted separate choices. Unfortunately, they chose unwisely and unethically – and their bad choices drove out the good.
Large media (and non-media) corporations have swallowed up newspapers and other media outlets during the last few decades with alarming speed, with the goal being the use of these outlets as an extension of their control. Individual journalists did not have to cooperate – but they did, in large part. The lack of dispassionate, objective reporting in journalism morphed the profession towards use as a perpetual public relations service for those in power. The question became not "What is the truth?" but "What do you want the truth to be?" Power and profit became the unassailable be-all and end-all of corporate journalism.
Consider, for example, the case of John Fund.

Sex, Lies, and Journalism

As a member of the Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal for 18 years, Fund was on a trajectory toward greater power in 1998, and that power provided him with a feeling of invincibility. Already accustomed to sexual access to many women who were attracted to him as a figure possessing power and money, he became accustomed to ignoring the consequences of behavior that was deceitful and ugly. He was also accustomed to lying politically. His personal and professional life matched. He knew no matter what he did he would be protected.
In October of 1998, he began a sexual relationship with the daughter of a long-time friend he had once dated. The woman's name was Morgan Pillsbury, my biological daughter. I had known Fund since 1980 when we met at a Libertarian Party Convention, where he came across as nerdy and bumbling but likable. The impression stuck. Over the years we kept in touch.
When I heard a rumor that Fund was involved with Morgan, I called him directly. He lied to me, telling me she lived nearby. He claimed that he had been feeding her cat for her while she had been away. I believed him. Having had experience with Morgan over many years, I knew she could be dishonest . She would need strong evidence to disprove Fund's claims to me. That is why the audio tape often referred to as the "Weaselsearch tape" was made. If you listen to the tape, it becomes immediately apparent that Fund did not want me to know the truth. He lied and pressured Morgan to lie about their relationship. There was no reason for this; if he had told me he was in a relationship with Morgan, I would have been surprised and appalled, but it had been many years since we had been more than friends. My time was occupied caring for my handicapped son and by my own health needs, not with his love life. And Morgan was no child. She was born July 5, 1967. John was born April 8, 1956.
If this had remained merely a case of a man lying about his love life, journalism would never have been an issue. But Fund wanted to continue the relationship with Morgan covertly so he could also have relations with other women. He did not want his professional life impacted.
Unfortunately for Fund, Morgan refused to be his dirty little secret. For much of the three years they were a couple, Fund used Morgan's computer for professional purposes, but also to receive personal e-mail. Why Fund would have overlooked the chain of evidence thus produced is perhaps explained by the fact that at that time he knew next to nothing about computers. During that time, Fund consistently lied about his relationship with Morgan and pursued other women. It was a strange relationship, and I do not pretend to entirely understand it. But at each point, I demanded proof from Morgan for just that reason. I talked to Fund over dinner, on the phone from the apartment the couple shared. I received e-mails from him and other proof that could not have been falsified, for instance this IM conversation on AOL between Matt Drudge and Morgan. Drudge had been IMing with Fund on Morgan's computer earlier. Fund went to bed, leaving the window up. And so Morgan continued the conversation.
Around January, 2002, Fund – despite claims to the contrary by himself and others – was fired from the Wall Street Journal, probably because of the scandal that exploded over his own behavior. Morgan told me he had battered her on multiple occasions, first in New Jersey and then after he stalked her back to Manhattan and insisted on moving in with her in her new apartment. I heard several of those incidents via phone – as did others.
She finally decided to file charges in both New Jersey and New York.
A letter from Fidelity Investments advised him to, "make a decision about what to do with the savings you have accumulated in your former employer's retirement plan." That employer was the Wall Street Journal. The letter is in Morgan's possession. Fund opened it in her living room and, as Morgan told me, left it laying on the floor.
The lies then escalated.
Morgan told me that Fund coerced a false confession from her to hide his acts. He used threats of violence to get the confession. Morgan sent this email to me and others immediately to refute what she had been forced to sign. Documentation exists to support the truth.
Fund solicited and received the cooperation of other journalists to spin what had taken place. One can only conclude that Fund was very willing to make it worth their while or misrepresent the facts. Evidence almost immediately surfaced that Fund was sexually involved with at least one journalist who then lied for him in print. Some journalists knew the truth. Others were clearly taken in by Fund's lies. All were guilty of a lack of due diligence. If they had followed the tenets set out for journalists today might be different for all of us.

Black Box Road to the Rove White House

Fund's relationship with the Bush White House and the purpose of the book he was then writing, Stealing Elections, were less obvious in 2002. Fund has since admitted he has been routinely briefed by the White House, before and after he was fired from the WSJ. His road to being a willing tool of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was long and, in many ways, meteoric.
Fund first worked as a political operative in 1979, according to Justin Raimondo. His services were secured to ensure the nomination of Ed Clark for the Libertarian Presidential Nomination for 1980 by Ed Crane. Far from having an interest in stopping voter or election fraud, Fund himself committed a curious specie of fraud by claiming to be a candidate by taking out papers that year but never turning them in while claiming to be running for office and getting 46% of the vote. Justin Raimondo characterized Fund as "an expert lying propagandist of the sleazier sort."
Never in all the years I knew him did I hear Fund express any interest in the issues of election or voter fraud. His political interests were more sensational; his personal interests run to Star Wars and Star Trek. If you really knew him, this sudden change in principal interests should have raised questions about his role with those associated with the administration. It did for me. The book he wrote is now considered by those in the clean elections movement to be a misdirective tool intended to muddy the water on the issue of voter fraud. It focuses in on purported fraud by individuals, ignoring the enormous issues of fraud now ascribed to such companies as Diebold and ES&S. Fund proposed centralizing control over elections as a solution – an idea completely in line with the big and well-connected "black box" mongers – and is nearly successful in undermining the issue by injecting his spin.
Bev Harris of Black Box Voting said of Fund's position, "It is amazing that this bogus solution is still being put forth. His solutions take us directly to ever more centralized control by a small group of insiders. What is needed is for the people to have local control and access to the results. Complete transparency."
Mark Crispin Miller was even more explicit, saying, "Despite his pose as an impartial expert on American elections, John Fund is in fact a dedicated party operative, who for many years has turned out rightist propaganda for the GOP. Specifically, he has abetted the Republicans' election theft by helping to promote the myth of widespread Democratic 'voter fraud'--a fiction that has been disproved by every reputable study, but one which Fund has pushed at every opportunity. And so whatever he may recommend to help 'reform' US elections should be rejected out of hand, as on this crucial subject he enjoys no credibility at all."
Vickie Karp and others involved in the clean elections movement also agree about Fund and his role as a propagandist and deceiver. All of the agree that Fund's "solutions," which provide cover for ever more centralization and displace real reform, are the opposite of transparency.
Inserting himself into that dialog would have been severely hampered had he been in jail for domestic violence. Yet Fund remains a high level political operative. Understanding how he accomplished his goals provides a clear understanding of the covert operation we know as the Bush Administration.

Fund's "Nuts and Sluts" Strategy

Fund solicited several articles attacking both Morgan and myself.
Eric Alterman, a New York based writer known for his partisan political writing, generally perceived as on the left, authored an article for the May 15, 2003 edition of The Nation, Who Framed John Fund? Morgan and I attempted to contact Alterman. On Mother's Day morning, June 11^th, Morgan received an email from Alterman urgently requesting a response to a list of questions. Alterman received her response within three hours. He used none of the material supplied, did not call to follow up on her reply, and did not ask for the further documents that Morgan had offered. On June 25, 2003 a response from another liberal, Mark Crispin Miller, was published with another from Alterman in The Nation. The exchange is titled, 'Ugly Tactics Make for Ugly People.' Alterman sent Morgan a dismissive e-mail on July 4^th.
According to Fred Brown, vice chair of the ethics committee for the Society for Professional Journalists, many journalists would pause before writing an article requested by someone in Fund's circumstances. A journalist who followed the tenets of ethics would also be careful to ensure that all principals had fully aired their cases. Alterman violated every tenet of the code as outlined by SPJ.
Fund was at that time working to have the charges against him in New York dropped. To accomplish that, he had been told he needed to destroy our credibility – Morgan's as the victim and my own as a witness. Along with soliciting journalists with whom he had relationships or could compensate in some way, he solicited libelous letters from at least two individuals, each with a motive for wanting either myself or Pillsbury silenced.
A perfunctory search of the journalists involved also leads to linkages between journalists to be pointed out. Alterman states in articles he has written that he is a friend of Katie Rosman, about whom you will read more below. A Google search of their names shows they often appear at the same events and cite each other. Alterman "adores gossip," by his own report, and admits to being an avid reader of Page Six, a gossip column run by Richard Johnson with associates such as Doug Dechert. Dechert was a regular attendee at the Fabiani Society, which meets the second Tuesday at the Princeton Club, a place where Fund also regularly showed up. The first time I was introduced to Dechert at one of these events, he asked me for $10,000 to be in Page Six. I did not know what Page Six was and would have declined even more rapidly if I had known. Selling print in this fashion is not news, it is not journalism, and it is not public relations, a profession having its own tenets for ethics. Discussing the matter with Fred Brown, we agreed that the term "Slime Journalism" worked to describe it (with apologies to slime, which is an important part of the ecosystem). Reading Alterman's enthusiastic reports on the operation leads one to believe he expects dishonesty and scandal as standard. Certainly that is how his reports read.
The Fabiani Society is jointly sponsored by two NeoCon think-tanks, the Cato Institute and the Manhattan Institute. The speakers usually represent the opinions marketed by those institutions. Many come only for the opportunity to network or the excellent canapés and ample bar.
Fund sent this email to Morgan at the same time these articles would have been in the works, once again demonstrating his lack not only of professionalism but maturity.
An article solicited by Katie Rosman, then at Elle, in the autumn of 2003 presents a strategy also intended to silence us using another tack. We met with Katie Rosman at a coffee shop in Manhattan where she asked for an exclusive on the story. We agreed. Soon her contact with us became sporadic. The story was stalled for months, during a critical time period, and then quashed (see correspondence). Rosman received a job offer at the Wall Street Journal simultaneous to the article being dropped. Rosman is still working at the WSJ and is a friend of Eric Alterman's, according to Alterman.
Fund solicited a woman law professor, Gail Heriot (who was having a sexual relationship with Fund) to assist him. The site, John H. Fund, was originally registered at her address in San Diego, 4830 Hart Drive, San Diego, CA 92116. That has now been changed. Heriot put herself in the category of journalist when she wrote to Gene Gaudette, the editor of APJ, with a letter she sent across the Internet, effectively publishing it. Its content is libelous. (You can read that e-mail from Heriot to American Politics Journal and their demolishing response here).
Heriot had written an email to Fund on January 13, 2002 that reveals the source of her support for Fund: at that time Morgan and Fund were still living together she wrote, "So allow me to introduce myself. I am Gail Heriot, the woman whose hotel room you've found yourself in a few times over the last six weeks." See the full letter here.
Fund solicited other attacks. Wendy McElroy, who wrote "False Rape Charges Hurt Real Victims" for FOXnews.com (published July 22, 2003), also violated the tenets of journalism, evidently profiting thereby. Journalists are required to ensure the principals are heard. McElroy failed to call either Morgan or myself. Since I had known her personally since the 1970s, this was a shock. Instead of carrying out her ethical obligation to seek the facts she wrote the article exonerating Fund and was within weeks hired at FOX News, a media outlet long associated with Fund and his fellow NeoCons. McElroy has made her living for decades writing effective spin for niche groups that want to hear justifications for their positions. These include why women need pornography and why women are as likely to be batterers as men, among others.
Fund was offered support from a female journalist with whom he was evidently conducting an affair at Christian Broadcast Network. Her name was Christine Hall-Reis. Here is a semi-nude photo of her that she sent to Fund, which he downloaded to Morgan's computer and became her property. Fund and Morgan were living together at the time the photo was sent along with the accompanying email.
One can reach no other conclusion that each and every one of these articles was clearly solicited by Fund.
One also has to relish the irony of Fund using women with whom he was intimately involved to deploy a "nuts and sluts" smear campaign.
Fund also received help from individuals hoping to benefit from the opportunity presented who were not compensated. Two such individuals were Eric Garris and Justin Raimondo, now of Anti-War.com. Both individuals had known Fund and myself for many years. Both were members of a small but self-consciously radical group associated with the Libertarian Party and Murray Rothbard, a highly respected free market economist who died in the 90s. I made a call to Eric Garris in 2002 asking for help. Morgan was in hiding, in fear of her life. Fund was using every avenue to destroy my reputation and credibility. Eric refused to help. In 2006 Justin Raimondo wrote this article that appeared on Anti-War.com. I responded in 24 hours with this article.
Soon afterward I talked to Lew Rockwell, who employs Eric Garris as a webmaster. Eric had read my assertion that the hit piece on Fund was motivated by the realization neither he or Raimondo would never profit by covering for Fund. Lew told me he talked to Garris right after he read my article. Eric, he said, affirmed I was exactly right.
Among journalists on the right, the left and the libertarian realm, Fund had succeeded in persuading journalists to write in his defense.
In each instance they ignored the truth.
In all cases they hoped for some benefit for themselves.

John Fund: Above the Law?

The criminal case to be heard through the District Attorney was still hanging over Fund's head. He needed the charges to be quashed. Photographs of the injuries had been taken by the police. I had given testimony on what I had witnessed. Documents proving that Fund had systematically lied both to many women and to other journalists for years existed and were available, freely offered as proof. Instead of looking at all the evidence, the focus was placed solely on Morgan's veracity. Fund had solicited letters that perpetuated statements that were provably libelous and untrue. He had cooperation from the DA's office in Manhattan to ignore all of these forms of evidence.
When the DA replaced the first ADA assigned to the case, Eric Arnone, with Bonnie Saar, it was clear that the investigation would be neither fair nor thorough. Saar spent hours hammering Morgan with questions as if she were the perpetrator, ignoring the laws and practices usual with victims of domestic violence. Morgan was not even allowed to see her own case file, and that is another violation of existing law and practice. Through a back door into the DA's office, we learned that the letters were from my former husband, Craig Franklin, and one Eugene Volokh, a former boyfriend of Morgan. Both men had reasons for wanting to destroy either Morgan's or my own credibility, and those motives can be documented. In one case, the motive was to cover a felonious fraud amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
But that is another story for another day.
Fund's motives were more obvious and also deeper. For years I had been questioning Fund's actions. Beginning with obvious issues, for instance how Hillsdale College used its large endowment, I asked questions. I moved on to research Fund's associates. As the Arkansas Project unfolded and the bizarre information I heard from Fund grew, I began to ask more questions as I observed the NeoCon strategies for winning. By 2000, the issue of election fraud was very present in my mind. During a conversation Fund, Morgan and I had at dinner in 2000, Fund told us that writing the book on elections was his "consolation prize" for not getting the job as Bush speechwriter. He might have been lying, but that is what he said. I was surprised, and said so. Fund shrugged. In what had already become a pattern of "Wingnut Welfare" for the NeoCon right's roster of propagandists, the book would be financed, published and promoted – that was what mattered.
Destroying my credibility along with Morgan's accomplished several goals, for Fund and others. Fund knew I was researching him. The conversation we had had regarding Hillsdale had told him I doubted his stated motives. His lack of action on these issues decreased the frequency of his calls to me from 1996 on. Over the years I continued to write about Fund and his connections, branching out from there into the impact on the economy, on our institutions, and on the future.
I had told Fund in 2001 that his highest purpose in life was as an example of what is wrong with journalism. Fund has illustrated in thorough detail what needs to change. Journalism is not spin provided to sell a political agenda. Journalism is a trust essential to ensuring our continued freedom. The public must have the facts, the truth, and the means to decide for themselves.
It is time to start in that direction.
This week a group of journalists will be filing a FOIA demand for the information long withheld by Morganthau's office in Manhattan. Ethics matter. Doing the right thing matters. The file on the case against John Fund for domestic violence may clarify issues. It may raise issues yet unknown. But it must be public. The victim is willing to have you see it. This case can tell us what went wrong with the courts, with the police, with journalism and how political figures and corporations distort and use each of these. This case leads you down the rabbit hole.
No matter who is impacted – just plain folks, social elite, poor or wealthy, black or white, gay or straight – the truth matters. The sign of a healthy society is a system that does right by everyone. A working media, courts that deliver justice, and communities of people who handle things for themselves give us the means to know we are secure.
Concern is growing and some are already taking action. On the Internet and elsewhere, people are looking for solutions. We need to find what works. The Madoff fraud has awakened many to the need for action.

There are many today, for instance Dan Rather, who understand what it means to go through the crucible of fire for truth, emerging on the other side. We need those who were willing to speak out and we need to listen.

Blighted Christmas

2008-12-16T13:21:00.002-05:00

This year give the truth.

My family, 1952

This year Americans are confronting a melting economy, the massing of troops within our own borders, aimed at us. We are losing our homes to foreclosure and the Chinese are coming over with the faux dollars issued by the FED to buy them up. The shock waves of reality are hitting even those who normally lose themselves in football.

This Christmas give the only thing that can make a difference. America was founded on truths, truths that those in power have endlessly tried to suppress. Those truths show us what happened so we can take action. They don't want that. Our First Amendment has its roots in the common law principle that no one has a right to use their power to suppress the truth. The Zenger Case, heard in New York in 1735 was in the minds of the Founders when the subject was debated. John Peter Zenger was a publisher who printed the truth about the corrupt Royal Governor of New York. He was jailed. Eight months later a jury, exercising their right to determine the validity of law and pass on the facts, freed him.

Know the truth. The Truth will set your mind free to act on the facts.

Christmas, and our futures and those of our children and their children, have been blighted through lies that allow the abuse of power. When you see the monumental scale on which this has been perpetrated you understand. You see what must be done.

While we focus on the stories of just a few the reality is that nearly all of us have been harmed by the grasping deceit and abuse of power by corporations and their partners in government. Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud, made himself wealthy by abusing the trust of ordinary people. Credited as the father of PR, he said,

“"If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway", he said. In order to promote sales of bacon, for example, he conducted a survey of physicians and reported their recommendation that people eat heavy breakfasts. He sent the results of the survey to 5,000 physicians, along with publicity touting bacon and eggs as a heavy breakfast.

Bernays also drew upon his uncle Sigmund's psychoanalytic ideas for the benefit of commerce in order to promote, by indirection, commodities as diverse as cigarettes, soap and books.”

Bernays is responsible for many of the ills of our century and for promoting the ugly assertion, now reaching its full fruition, that in contradiction to the founding principles of our right to the truth that it is proper for government and those whose profits depend on government, for instance corporations, to lie to us.

Bernays bears responsibility for a mind boggling number of manipulations of opinion, including the perception that smoking among women was a strike for freedom.

“In the 1920s, working for the American Tobacco Company, he sent a group of young models to march in the New York City parade. He then told the press that a group of women's rights marchers would light "Torches of Freedom". On his signal, the models lit Lucky Strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers. The New York Times (1 April 1929) printed: "Group of Girls Puff at Cigarettes as a Gesture of 'Freedom'". This helped to break the taboo against women smoking in public.”

The most prevalent correlation between heart attacks in people in early middle age is that of their mothers having smoked during pregnancy. My mother smoked. Of her five children I am the oldest yet living. Earlier this year my brother, who had suffered a heart attack and brain hemorrhage, died after four years of hardship. He was stricken with aphasia, unable to see, speak, or care for himself in his late 50s. My sister Carol died at 36 of a heart attack in 1974. My sister Anne died of a heart attack after suffering brain death in 1994. My younger brother had a triple bypass in his early 40s. I have had two heart attacks.

Carol was the mother of a young son. She had bucked the glass ceiling to achieve success in the corporate world in the 50s and 60s. What else might she had accomplished for herself and those she loved?

Anne was a mathematician, an early programmer who ran a successful business. She had two children but will never know her grandchildren, or they her. She was a force for good in her community.

Charles was a systems analyst in the Governor's Office in California. He had been decorated many times while serving in Vietnam. He went on to a law degree and then to serve his state, trying to stem the ever rising costs that have destroyed the financial integrity of California. His wife and two children lost him far too early and, believe me, they miss his fey sense of humor, his abiding care, and his courage.

Every day I live with the fact I may die before I am able to ensure the continuing care of a disabled son. My younger brother lives with the uncertainty his condition brings to his own family. Our mother smoked all of her life, thanks to Bernays manipulation. If she had known, if smoking had not been misrepresented to her and her generation, that is a choice she would not have made. We are not going to sue, but we will be heard. Smoking and profiting from false advertising is only one relatively minor issue. But consider what it cost our one family.

Lies and deception kill as they enrich the worst among us. Worse, they destroy our ability to see what is is true so that we can invest our lives in what will sustain us and bring joy to ourselves, our families and our larger communities. I miss my siblings every day, no matter how long it has been and will until the day I die.

This is just one family, one set of deaths. Multiply that at least a million times. My siblings were all good, decent people, people who loved their families and supported themselves honestly and transparently.

Bernays lived a profitable life at a cost to all of us that is is yet to be calculated. But the cost of corporate greed and government corruption that directly enables that greed must be understood, calculated, and an accountability exacted from those who profited. And he was only one man. Multiply that by the number of attorneys, politicians, and corporate greedy who view Bernays techniques and entirely justified.

Think about what corporate greed has cost you. Then go to Blight Christmas and tell your story, let those who harmed you know what they did. If we are to change the world we need to begin with our own truth. Know the truth. Be heard, and we can change the future for all of us.

Giving Love

2008-12-12T01:04:00.002-05:00

Christmas is coming and with the joy most of us experience the stress of not having finished our buying. This year most of us are also suffering through the pangs of not having enough money to buy the gifts that would we would normally give.

Across the country people are reexamining the choices they would have made and finding a wealth of possibilities that change their relationships with each other in unexpected ways. Instead of giving from the wallet they are giving from their hearts.

This trend made me smile, recalling to mind the gifts that have stayed with me over the years, many of them from my children. Small objects made by hand with the finger prints will visible; the plates from preschool with their artwork; the small things remind us of days past. The best gifts keeps giving. My daughter, Dawn, gave me a packet of coupons one year. Those memories still make me smile today. I should have Xeroxed them, looking back. I was tempted to keep them but Dawn insisted THEY BE USED, after all, she had worked hard thinking up the contents of each coupon. So I used them, every single one. My favorite was the coupon that promised her room would be cleaned, that once, without argument and to my entire satisfaction. Wow.

Dawn, now very much grown and married and firmly committed to saving the world through going green, went through some interesting times when she was entering her teens. The state of her room was an ongoing issue for the entire family. Our house cleaner eventually told me she was afraid to enter and I had to agree that she had reason.

Dawn's room was accessible only up a narrow staircase, over the garage. It had its own bathroom, with tub and separate shower. It was roomy and had a lovely view of the back yard where various interesting events took place over the years we lived there. The aging Walnut Trees nodded through long, sun warmed summers. When we moved in the room, very private and inaccessible, had a new and crisply clean light blue carpet on the floor. The walls were a creamy white. The bathroom sparkled. As time went on these things changed. At first I tried reminding her. Then I began sending her off on short trips and cleaning it myself. Dawn objected to my invasion of her 'private space.' My pleas did not avail. Nothing kept it fit for human habitation.

A pot pie disappeared there to be found six months later compressed into a flat, green patty in Dawn's bed. Dawn had searched all over the house, complaining someone had stolen it. The cat's viewed her room as a place to relieve themselves since they determined, correctly, no one would notice. I acquired bright yellow hazardous waste tape which I put up, a not so gentle hint. Dawn ignored it. She liked her room just as it was with a foot of waste on the floor and a bathroom that would make any reasonable being blanch. The smell could be intense.

As you can imagine, it was a point of conflict between us and also a cause for humor and horror from her siblings who generally had far more tidy habits.

That was why the gift she gave me that Christmas still makes me smile. The coupon was hand made with an edging of holly and berries. It came with others, one for breakfast in bed, another for any chore I chose. But that one was the best.

I do not recall how many garbage bags it took to clean her room when I finally used the coupon. She took care of it all her self on that occasion But the pile was monumental. Looking back over these many years, and knowing that now she is an impeccable house keeper for herself and her husband and their family of cats, still makes me smile. Dawn knew what would make me happy. She proved she was entirely competent to deliver. She was a woman of her word.

This kind of gift showed she knew what would make me happy. Receiving that small sheaf of coupons had surprised me, telling me I was visible as a person and not just as a mother. I do not recall any other present I received that year. But I remember the coupons and that gift links to another gift she did not know she was giving me. I used to have a lot of keys which lived on a copper ring heavy enough to be used as a minor weapon. Dawn once said that the sound of those keys jingling let her know she was safe, Mom was on her way.

Gifts can come consciously, as something we intend to give. They can also come straight from the heart to warm us long afterwards without our even knowing.

At this time in our Nation's history we are all reaching out for what lasts, sustains us, warms the heart and makes life worthwhile. We will forget most of the things we get this Christmas. But some gifts we will remember forever. The best gifts last a lifetime and never wear out, break, or lose their power to move us. When we use our knowledge of others to show them we really know them, see them, understand what we can do to bring them happiness, we are giving greenly, now and to last.

Today Dawn lives in El Cerrito and has a lovely website dedicated to her passion for growing locally called Garden2table. Growing her own food locally has become another form for giving green, connecting her to those around her. As we move from this year to 2009 growing and giving will become ever more central to our lives. As individuals, as members of families and communities, we need to see each other, care, and ensure no one is forgotten. The moments that nourish us spiritually build love, and that is always a good thing,

Ms. Pillsbury-Foster is the author of the book,“A Star for Christmas,” which warm-heartedly explores an enduring family tradition founded on her memories of James Dean. The book, published by Ship Stone Press, is available online at http://www.lulu.com/content/5029575 and is this year’s “must have” Christmas treasure.

Your Wishes Can Change the World

2008-11-26T15:45:00.003-05:00

This year, as we watch the world around us collapsing, we are learning that Christmas is not about money. Christmas is about loving each other, about gifts that have nothing to do with the green folding stuff, or even silver and gold.

Our money is melting down into worthless goo. Stores are closing; cameras are going up at intersections across the country. This morning I received a call from a friend in Florida who argued for twenty minutes at her bank where she has done business for twenty years. The problem? They wanted to photograph her eyes biometrically. She refused, but not many are as determined as she.

The things that really matter will endure. Gifts like compassion, empathy, humor, familial love and friendship, last a life time and cannot be devalued. This Christmas we need to hold on to those things.

Christmas is being family. It is coming together to create communities. It is being conscious of how our actions and lives touch through time.

For months, years, I have been writing about what was going to happen to our nation and to the people we love. Last year I predicted the end of the world as we know it. Every week I have hammered on the same subject and on what needs to be done so that we can change direction. I have been writing and thinking about the problems for what seems like a life time. What I write is generally politics, but this time I want you to see why I know that change is possible. I know what it is like to feel helpless and lost.

Christmas is loving each other as we are loved by One Who Loves Absolutely.

When you find the strength of love anything is possible. This past week I took a story I had originally written for my children and rewrote it for you. Is a story about a time when I was lost and desperate. Instead of giving up I found the Christmas that glows through the hard times, endures through hardships and seemingly insurmountable problems.

The Star for Christmas was my response to circumstances beyond my control in 1979. There is always strength to sustain us, if we reach beyond ourselves to That One Who Loves Absolutely. Today, we are all reaching. When we extend ourselves we grow spiritually, finding things more wonderful than we could possibly have imagined as long as we do not give up. One of the things we will find is each other.

In 1979 I experienced a time of terrible anguish but I still had small children who needed me, needed to feel the wonder of Christmas. I reached into my own past and found strength from the memories of someone who had taught me the importance of courage, of holding on to my dreams and wishes.

The Star for Christmas custom began that year, drawn from the memories of wishes I had shared with James Dean. In 2001 I began writing the book explaining the custom to my children soon after Thanksgiving Day. Ayn, my youngest daughter, had asked me a question as we sat around the table after dinner. It had been a perfect holiday filled with happy memories revisited and cooperative efforts over turkey and stuffing.

The year was sliding towards the upcoming holidays. We were remembering Christmas' past.

Ayn asked me one of those questions that you never anticipate being asked. That question lead to many insights and eventually to their book and then to this one. The question Ayn asked was about the star in which our family had traditionally placed our wishes for the year to come on Christmas Eve. “When and where did this custom begin?” Ayn asked. She assumed it to be an old New England custom. Although I told her this was not the case it occurred to me that I had not actually explained the custom's origin to my children. I did not share my pain of 1979 with them, feeling it would be inappropriate.

I promised to write the Star’s history for them.

Later, as I sat down to write, I revisited my thoughts that year the custom began. Seeking the Star’s origin became a quest into the dusty reaches of my mind and heart, then, via paper trails, to memories of people long gone. I had never revisited those events, simply sealing them off and moving on. Through this journey I found not just the Star but many more unasked questions. I also found answers to questions that I didn’t know needed asking.

My wishes of 1979 had been answered in ways I did not expect when I considered them. I had never understood the power of hope and the strength of my dreams until then. We need to look at the world, ourselves, and realize what really matters.

Our dreams and wishes can be transformational.

Let this Christmas become a time of renewal for all of us. Savor the love that extends your life into those around you. Bake cookies and let them melt in your mouth. Enjoy every bite. Then plan for a very different future than the one being planned for us. Your wishes can change the world.

A Star for Christmas benefits America Goes Home, a spiritual association dedicated to making tools available that you need to make your wishes reality. Go to Star for Christmas to read more and join our FaceBook group, Gifts From the Heart, to share your ideas for Christmas Gifting.