nexi 37 MILLION FIRMS WORLDWIDE, 43,000 INTERLOCK TO RULE THEM ALL, BUT 147 RULE THE 43,000 newscientist 10-19-11

Your worst fears confirmed. At least, now we have an idea of how steep the climb will be for OWS and its successors.

 

This may take awhile.

 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228354.500-revealed--the-capitalist-network-that-runs-the-world.html

 

thanx to patrick.net for this one

 

Speaking of OccupyWallStreet, scroll down on the Tampa site for the OWS (in Washington Square Park) Consensus video - gives a rundown on what all the hand/arm signals mean. There has been a whole lot more thought put into this than meets the eye.

 NjW  431

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

rig `Americans Elect - 3rd PARTY INTERNET - A CON BY THE RIGHT?

I believe Americans Elect to be an elaborate, Right-Wing Trojan Horse designed to bleed votes from Obama. I'm injecting this observation into the Internet's bloodstream so that others may ponder and debate its validity or speciousness. Bring on your bouquets and brickbats.

 

Why would I think such a dumb thing? Thanks to Naomi Klein and others, we now see more clearly the many instances - some proven, some only surmised - of 'crisis opportunism,' aka 'disaster Capitalism.' The gradual run-up of partisan extremism, driven mostly by the Tea Party Right, has led to only an inappropriate type of 'congress' and almost manic gridlock on Capitol Hill. As this pathetic state-of-affairs can be laid at the door of the GOP - the party of NO (and they really need to update their 150-year old acronym - MAD or ZOO should do the trick), Ockham's razor tells me that where there's smoke, there may be a bloody raging bonfire. Consider how well Americans Elect fits in with these efforts:

1. GOP obsession with a one-term Obama - exacts poetic revenge on Dems when Slick Willie Peroted Poppy Bush's try #2;
2. A well-documented, pandemic predeliction to steal elections - on steroids since 1998;
3. Their tireless efforts to restrict the votes of black, browns, youth and anyone else with the temerity to vote for Democrats, mostly pushed through by state-elected Tea Party puppets, many of whose 2010 elections were, you know (see #2) - works out nicely, don't you think? Estimates say this effort alone may cost the Oh-Man upwards of 5 million lost votes;
4. Taking crash courses in CAD mapping in order to micro-manage the redistricting process house-by-house. The people of the Sunshine State - Florida - passed Amendments 5 &6, in 2010. These required the state lege to stop dicking around with the process and put together fair, contiguous and balanced districts. Guess what? They don't wanna and they ended up going to court (spending taxpayer bux in the process), rather than obey the clear (63%) will of the people. Are these driven ideologues, or what? Stay tuned for a fait accompli, take-it-or-leave-it gambit early next June.
5. Using dirty tricks to entrap and destroy the likes of ACORN and League of Women Voters, both of whose main mission is to enroll new voters. Apparently they don't care that these organizations would enroll even Beelzebub, uh, Karl Rove himself (the only alleged human I would gladly disenfranchise), or any other Republican, for that matter;
6. Finally, just look at the Herculean effort to bag Don Siegelman. If you'll go to those lengths, AE is no big deal after that level of skullduggery.

The plain fact is, cheating & lying is the ONLY way these misanthropic bastards can get elected dogcatcher, once the home folks get a whiff of their real agenda, in most states. The Americans Elect thingie seems to be cut from the same cloth as the rest of the Tea Party GOP's tapestry of turpitude.

 

That, or I could just be paranoid, eh?

 

The above may be sheer conjecture on my part, but it is based on my, not inconsiderable, knowledge of just how far these sociopaths appear willing to go to steal more, save the babies or whatever else they know is right for everyone else on the planet.

 

But, even if I'm in error as to this brainchild's parentage, for the Dems, this would be the time for them to shout "Fire!" from every mountain and molehill.

 

Forget about the manifold issues of security (if you thought electronic voting was 'leaky,' the Pentagon's site will fairly 'gush' info if you know which line of code to corrupt; what toggle to flip, where a 'backdoor' is), reliability, privacy, accountability and others. What in the world will we do if the AE (American Enterprise Institute, hmm?) candidate takes the roses? If you loved the Bush/Gore spectacle, the shambles in which this would leave our (normally fractious and bumptious anyway) republic will be high-dramady to die for. It will also bring the nation's worst character traits to the fore.

 

If any Progressive types are involved in this misguided venture, I would ask them to reconsider. This is the wrong approach, at the wrong time, in the wrong medium. It's probably the wrong election as well, but that last will have to wait as I'm almost out of paper.

NjW  432

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

Re: rev OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE CONSERVATISM OF - Frank Pasquale concurringopinions 10-27-11

Nigel

 

No one speaks for OWS or any of the movements unless authorized by the respective general assembly.

Let us stop giving opinions and quoting those pundits who know or think they know the what the priorities of OWS should be

Instead participate and contribute.

Peace,

Dwight

----- Original Message -----

From: Nigel

To: ,A POST from Nigel

Cc: ` ORBizen Memo to my blog

Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 10:15 AM

Subject: rev OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE CONSERVATISM OF - Frank Pasquale concurringopinions 10-27-11

from patrick.net

 

First, a cute little lampoon of the embattled 1% to get you in a happy mood.

 

Garfunkel & Oates SONG  Save the Rich #2.09  youtube  2011

 (My Apartment's Very Clean is a winner too)

 

 

Now, for those who want to delve a bit deeper into what's driving OWS...

rev OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE CONSERVATISM OF - Frank Pasquale concurringopinions 10-27-11

I agree with much this writer has to say. We part company mainly on the fundamental fix for these recurring crises. He (and maybe OWS) sees a return to the true Capitalism of Adam Smith (in truth, Ol' Adam would find his fair-minded treatise has been totally perverted by the Harvard/Chicago schools of pond-scum, race-to-the-bottom economic theory, where the risk of loss is equal only to government bailouts and back-handed subsidies sufficient to return the highly-ballyhooed, level playing field back to deuce. Unlimited profit, on the other hand, is theirs to keep).

 

Bottom line: 'we' are not to be trusted not to game any system 'we' set up. Humanity needs to reorganize itself so that one longitudinal half of us writes the laws the other half must live by, and vice-versa. While that particular pln may be impractical to institute, to say the least, the gist is that we must find a way to make laws that have equal effect on everyone, regardless of rank or station in society.

 

ISMS We need to put an end to all societal constructs - political and economic - that reward the basest instincts in our species and reorganize our societies so that contributions to 'the common' are among the most highly prized and greatly rewarded. All of the political and economic isms that I'm aware of carry within them the seeds of their own desruction as they imply a top-down order. We need real bottom-up systems - from the people - that provide incentives for all to participate while instituting strict penalties for those wretched few who attempt to restrict or manipulate such universal participation. 

 

A casual glance back in history reveals that top-down social constructs have all eventually wreaked catastrophic effect on humanity. This is due to the fact that all isms are set up, from the git-go, by the few for the few; like this republic. And it makes sense that these social set-ups come cloaked in the garb of 'democracy' or 'people's republic.' Who wouldn't vote for that? On the other hand, the nation of Weget99%ofeverythingyougetwhat'sleft would be a really tough sell to the citizenry.

 

 

In addition, all human legal constructs created to enable collaborative effort - guilds, unions, cities, nations, associations, societies, confederations, et al and, most especially, corporations, must defer, and be subordinate, to a set of strong 'individual accountability' laws in the event of harm to society at the hand of said organizations. No more hiding foul deeds under the skirts of a legal 'front.' All of those safeguards, and more, were in place as recently as 150 years ago. They worked well to blunt the urge to limitless profit and power. Only this time we might want to leave out the property before people legacy of the Founding Fathers. Adding a few Founding Moms might help.

 

It may take a global People's Constitutional Congress to fashion a long-term, sustainable social order that puts in place a series of indefatigable laws designed to specifically prevent the amassing of unreasonable and overweening wealth and the political power that inevitably accompanies it.

 

Until we do, we will remain continually conned and cuckolded by those few whose sole interest is to control the rest of us for their personal gain. Rest assured they will be trying their damnedest to defeat or co-opt any and all attempts to break up their little con. They would be quite content to have it carry on another 5,000 years.

 

But, 99/1 has had it's day and now it's time for it to go. 

 

Any more 'compromises' will be the death of us; that includes the moral pygmies among us whose battle cry is "More!"

NjW  434

 

PS to keep track of OWS's 'body count' (# arrested), St Pete For Peace has set up this handy site for you:

 

http://occupyarrests.moonfruit.com/ (I can has moonfruit?)

 

 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

rev OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE CONSERVATISM OF - Frank Pasquale concurringopinions 10-27-11

from patrick.net

 

First, a cute little lampoon of the embattled 1% to get you in a happy mood.

 

Garfunkel & Oates SONG  Save the Rich #2.09  youtube  2011

 (My Apartment's Very Clean is a winner too)

 

 

Now, for those who want to delve a bit deeper into what's driving OWS...

rev OCCUPY WALL STREET - THE CONSERVATISM OF - Frank Pasquale concurringopinions 10-27-11

I agree with much this writer has to say. We part company mainly on the fundamental fix for these recurring crises. He (and maybe OWS) sees a return to the true Capitalism of Adam Smith (in truth, Ol' Adam would find his fair-minded treatise has been totally perverted by the Harvard/Chicago schools of pond-scum, race-to-the-bottom economic theory, where the risk of loss is equal only to government bailouts and back-handed subsidies sufficient to return the highly-ballyhooed, level playing field back to deuce. Unlimited profit, on the other hand, is theirs to keep).

 

Bottom line: 'we' are not to be trusted not to game any system 'we' set up. Humanity needs to reorganize itself so that one longitudinal half of us writes the laws the other half must live by, and vice-versa. While that particular pln may be impractical to institute, to say the least, the gist is that we must find a way to make laws that have equal effect on everyone, regardless of rank or station in society.

 

ISMS We need to put an end to all societal constructs - political and economic - that reward the basest instincts in our species and reorganize our societies so that contributions to 'the common' are among the most highly prized and greatly rewarded. All of the political and economic isms that I'm aware of carry within them the seeds of their own desruction as they imply a top-down order. We need real bottom-up systems - from the people - that provide incentives for all to participate while instituting strict penalties for those wretched few who attempt to restrict or manipulate such universal participation. 

 

A casual glance back in history reveals that top-down social constructs have all eventually wreaked catastrophic effect on humanity. This is due to the fact that all isms are set up, from the git-go, by the few for the few; like this republic. And it makes sense that these social set-ups come cloaked in the garb of 'democracy' or 'people's republic.' Who wouldn't vote for that? On the other hand, the nation of Weget99%ofeverythingyougetwhat'sleft would be a really tough sell to the citizenry.

 

 

In addition, all human legal constructs created to enable collaborative effort - guilds, unions, cities, nations, associations, societies, confederations, et al and, most especially, corporations, must defer, and be subordinate, to a set of strong 'individual accountability' laws in the event of harm to society at the hand of said organizations. No more hiding foul deeds under the skirts of a legal 'front.' All of those safeguards, and more, were in place as recently as 150 years ago. They worked well to blunt the urge to limitless profit and power. Only this time we might want to leave out the property before people legacy of the Founding Fathers. Adding a few Founding Moms might help.

 

It may take a global People's Constitutional Congress to fashion a long-term, sustainable social order that puts in place a series of indefatigable laws designed to specifically prevent the amassing of unreasonable and overweening wealth and the political power that inevitably accompanies it.

 

Until we do, we will remain continually conned and cuckolded by those few whose sole interest is to control the rest of us for their personal gain. Rest assured they will be trying their damnedest to defeat or co-opt any and all attempts to break up their little con. They would be quite content to have it carry on another 5,000 years.

 

But, 99/1 has had it's day and now it's time for it to go. 

 

Any more 'compromises' will be the death of us; that includes the moral pygmies among us whose battle cry is "More!"

NjW  434

 

PS to keep track of OWS's 'body count' (# arrested), St Pete For Peace has set up this handy site for you:

 

http://occupyarrests.moonfruit.com/ (I can has moonfruit?)

 

 

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

net INTERNET ACCESS FOR THE POOR... KINDA... SORTA... SOMEWHAT... please see fcc fine print mnn.com 11-09-11

via patrick.net

 

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/computers/stories/fcc-seeks-to-bring-cheaper-broadband-low-income-families

orb-pc  `Mother Nature Network  MNN  ENVIRO - neat little site - many less-covered items

 

 

 You know, as I look around this nation, it is impossible not to notice its constant state of comporomise. even when it appears to be trying to do the 'right thing,' There's always a catch; a condition; fine print (aka, roach doo-doo); whereases and 'ifs.' To use the old British adage, "You lose on the roundabouts what you gain on the swings." Just look at this latest Snakes & Ladders contraption put out by the FCC.

 

Pretend you are poor. I know it's tough for most of you, but give it the old college try. You hear about this program and you say, "That's for me!" You trot on down to your friendly, local Neterati * store and ask for the form. Giddy at your profound change of fortune (everybody else has only a decade's headstart), you carry the now filled-in (same as filled-out - go figure) form back to the counter and say (pleasantly) "Gimme my broadband!" (well, you are an American and you know your rights, right?).

 

To your utter (pick one) dismay/disgust/chagrin you now get the rest of the story.... According to this article, your first 'snake' is

 

A TWO-YEAR LIMIT! Perhaps the federal gov thinks you will be wealthy enough to afford the normal highway robbery rates after that. Horatio Alger made it, so can you, you slacker you. More likely, the largesse of the Neteratis is driven more by the prospect of a % of the poor becoming sufficiently 'hooked' at the end of all those months of happy surfing to cause them to sign up at the usual usurious rate and forego such frills as, say, food. And you thought it was all mushy altruism and compassion. Silly you! Now on to the next viper at your breast:

 

A THREE-YEAR SIGN-UP WINDOW! Does the FCC imagine that the Internet will expire then? The time limits on all those discount coupons have one clear purpose: to get you to act as if time's a-wasting. I guess I'm just not being cynical enough, but can anyone give me a reason for this time limit? Is it meant to fence out any immigrants who foolishly choose to arrive in 3 years and a day from now? Is there really a time limit on competition? Why didn't I get that memo? --> next viper please:

 

REFURBISHED COMPUTERS By now, I hope you (poor person, remember?) have learned to cringe when the term 'public-private whatever' rears its head. Not to look a gift horse in the teeth, but you may be forgiven if the term 'pork' or 'payback' crosses your mind. It looks as if your price to enter cyber-heaven will entail buying second-rate equipment (aka, refurbished). Not got the cash on hand? No worries, mate.  Building on the outstanding success of (among a slew of other things) their student loan fraud, your FCC has 'arranged' for Morgan-effing-Stanley to fix you right up with e-z payment microloans. I'm betting the only thing not 'micro' about these loans will be their macro-jumbo-ginormous interest rates.

 

It's really shameful that our culture is so marinated in self-serving philanthropy passing itself off as the real thing; makes it hard for the real thing to pass itself off as, well, the real thing.

 

The $4 billion's worth of braodband 'donated' by the industry is but a fraction of the super-profits (and to dire societal effect) garnered since 1996. All those hundreds of billions that were allowed under the Telecommunications Act of that year were given with industry assurances that they would give America a cyber-highway that would be "... the envy of the world." We were #1 in broadband penetration and quality then. We are now around #25 (2010), and falling. Our stupid spectrum policy doesn't help.

 

Now, aren't you glad you're not poor?

 

NjW 

 

*cable or telephone company

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

con EUROPE's BAILOUT SCHEME (European Stability Mechanism) MIGHTY LIKE A SUB-ROSA FED #3.53 telegraph.co.uk 10-28-11

via patrick.net

 

J.P. & the Jekyll Isle Gang would be well familiar with this contraption. However, we've seen this before. Going with their usual, if-you-don't-ask-you-don't-get tactic, the banksters (European and American) lose nothing if this is turned down. A 'compromise' will be reached moving the dial over to less national control over funds, until the next crisis (inevitably worse than this), when they'll do a rinse-and-repeat.

 

Almost 100 years ago, Woodrow Wilson was bamboozled into signing on to the Fed after a carefully contrived series of ginned-up 'crises,' each of which moved economic control of the country toward the Barons of that day. Would you sign this Euro-turkey after having lived with the results of a century under Federal Reserve economic tyranny?

 

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100114217/a-german-view-of-the-bailout-deal/

 from Mish:

 

Key Details of ESM Accord

• Article 8 says "Authorized Capital stock 700 billion Euros"
• Article 9 says "ESM members irrevocably and unconditionally undertake to pay capital calls on them within 7 days"
• Article 10 allows the ESM board of governors to "change the authorized capital and amend article 8 accordingly"
• Article 27 says ESM shall enjoy "immunity from every form of judicial process". Thus the ESM can sue member countries but no one can challenge it. No governments, parliament or any other body or laws apply to the ESM or its organization.
• Article 30 says "Governors, alternate governors, directors, alternate directors, the managing director and staff shall be immune from legal process with respect to acts performed by them (...) and shall enjoy inviolability in respect of their official papers and documents"

There are no independent reviewers and no existing laws apply. Thus Europe's national budgets will be in the hands of one single, unelected body that is accountable to no one and immune from all legal actions.

Is this the future of the EU or will the German supreme court and other governments put an end to it?

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Every member nation needs to tell these myopic sociopaths to take a hike. NjW 438

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti

fun rig THIS IS AMERICA's VOTING SYSTEM - ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? - Lee Camp #4.50 newsfromunderground 11-08-11

A fitting follow-up to my rant/essay/novella on this subject yesterday. Unlike that link-festooned, all-day sucker, you can enjoy this guy's art in a mere 5 minutes.

 

Just the break you need.

 

http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/11/this-is-is-americas-voting-system-lee-camp%e2%80%94brilliant/

 If the subject wasn't so gosh-darned, you know, existential.... Oh, wait, this is side-splitting hilarious anyway. Almost makes you forget to give a damn that this democracy is disappearing down a recurring rabbithole of royally rigged results (of elections).

 

Lee Camp's delivery is dead-on, his "can you believe this shit?" faux-incredulity strikes a perfect balance as he delivers his A-bombs of dismal truth with swashbuckling glee (amid the yuks, he's got the facts right, alas). His approach is reminiscent of that of Yakov "What a country!" Smirnoff.

 

I'd never heard of this dude, but he may be the next big thing in stand-up and a worthy sucessor to the dear-departed and much-lamented master of this genre, George Carlin.

 

Thanx for the intro, Mark.

 

And always try to remember, they really don't give a fuck about you.

Nigel Watson  freethinker  727.493.1990 skype orbizen2
Blog: ORBizen Memo  http://orbizenmemo.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

"There is no greater disaster than greed." – Lao-tzu

 "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Krishnamurti