Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Potpourri: Levant, Wooldridge, Vieira, Roberts.
Today's post will be a potpourri of recent articles, all of them first rate, from columnists working outside the corporate media mainstream to bring you the truth as best they can tell it. Included are Nancy Levant's expose on takings, Frosty Wooldridge's hardhitting account of the cold war Mexico is waging on Americans, Edwin Vieira's answer to those who say the Constitution is dead, and Paul Craig Roberts's latest commentary on the hapless, hopeless Bush Regime.
Because of the length I've posted the first two or three paragraphs of each followed by a link where you can read the whole article.
Nancy Levant
TAKING AMERICAN'S RIGHTS AND LAND
March 14, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
Why the “New World” is so difficult to understand is not as complex as one might guess. While we naturally focus upon local issues and concerns such as community development, forest access, sportsmen’s rights, etc., one does need to understand the “whys” of local political decisions, and the decisions of local commissions and councils. There is rhyme and reason to our loss of rights, land, privacy, and public opinion.
Consider the following:
Every American citizen, no matter where you live, MUST buy your county’s Plat Book. Plat Books are maps that identify the owners of each and every parcel of land in your counties. You cannot know what is going on behind the scenes unless you buy your county Plat Book. Begin there.
You will then discover that most of the land in your counties is now owned by 1) state or federal government, 2) land development companies, 3) land “trusts” or “land funds,” 4) environmental organizations, and 5) large corporations.
If you are lucky enough to have several Plat Books covering a 2, 3, 5, or 10-year period (Plat Books are published annually), you will see a connection between land trusts, land development companies, land funds, and corporations. You will discover that they buy and sell to each other, and that they change the names of their organizations, and also create spin-off organizations, on a very regular basis.
Then, if you go to the websites of these land organizations, you will discover that they are “partnered” with 1) each other, and 2) with larger global corporations, and 3) with local universities and technical colleges, and 3) with “environmental” organizations.
In other words, you will find that the buying and selling of land in your counties is a highly organized business bureaucracy that circulates and perpetuates “profit and control” between revolving door “partnerships.”
[Read the entire article here.]
MEXICO’S WAR ON AMERICA
By Frosty Wooldridge
March 20, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
In 1836, legends Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis, along with 180 fearless men, fought Santa Anna’s two thousand Mexican troops at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. No contest! Santa Anna killed every last one of those brave men. Six weeks later, with a cry of “Remember the Alamo”, Texans beat back the Mexican army and established Texas as part of the United States of America.
Today, Mexico’s declaration of war on America moves with quickening speed. Their modern day general known as President Vicente Fox is not content with retaking Texas. He invades all American states.
As a premier, many of you watch the History Channel with WWII footage showing Germans and their tanks charging into Poland. You watched their tanks crush the French.
Did any of you watch the 100,000 illegal Mexicans and others storm Chicago, Illinois March 10, 2006? How many Mexican insurgents stand on American soil? At last count, in excess of 9,000,000 illegal Mexicans! It’s the largest invasion force without firing a shot EVER on American soil.
This invasion is encouraged, abetted and organized by the Mexican state and supported by all citizens in Mexican society. Fox provides his ‘troops’ with maps, water, provisions and aid to invade America’s border.
[Read this entire article here.]
IS THE CONSTITUTION DEAD?
Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
March 14, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
All too often when I propose returning America's monetary and banking systems to constitutional principles, or revitalizing "the Militia of the several States", I find myself assailed with the retort that "the Constitution is dead"; that attempts to apply its true principles--its "original intent"--as a means of limiting the powers of contemporary public officials are futile; and that my exhortations to the contrary are irrelevant, impotent, and even innately, if innocuously, screwball in character. Although no man is likely to be taken for a prophet in his own country, one's being spurned in that role does not, by itself, prove his pronouncements erroneous. Especially when the argument against his prophetic gift is as self-evidently nonsensical as that "the Constitution is dead".
Plainly, the Constitution is anything but "dead" with respect to certain individuals' access to and employment of political power that affects the lives of every American every day. To the contrary: It is very much alive and active in regard to elections to Congress and the Presidency, to the enactment of statutes, to decisions of the Supreme Court (and hundreds of other tribunals), to the President's command of the Armed Forces of the United States, and so on. Every transaction in these domains transpires under color of the Constitution, with at least tacit appeal to its authority, and at least in semblance according to its procedures.
True enough, many things done procedurally in the name of the Constitution are substantively unconstitutional. But no one in or seeking office in the General Government or the States dares to admit that he is acting outside, with disregard, or in contradiction of the Constitution, that he intends to violate it, or even that he may be justified in doing so in any particular future circumstances. Even those public officials who flout it in practice nonetheless acknowledge the Constitution to be just what it says it is: "the supreme Law of the Land" (Article VI, Clause 2), which everyone, themselves included, must follow.
[Read this entire article here.]
A Collapsing Presidency
by Paul Craig Roberts
March 20, 2006
LewRockwell.com
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that President Bush’s support among the American people has fallen to 33%. Even more devastatingly, the survey finds that people’s most frequently used one-word description of President Bush is "incompetent."
The chief chaplain for the New York City Corrections Department told a Tucson audience that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." Two years ago when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was suppressing demonstrations at the Republican National Convention, the chief chaplain would have been fired for his remarks, but not today.
Abroad among peoples who formerly looked to America for leadership, American atrocities in Iraq have created sympathy and support for the Iraqi resistance.
When the Bush administration gets in trouble, it turns to war, which has worked for it in the past. Thus, this past week there was live coverage of "Operation Swarmer," which occupied a solid day on CNN and Fox "News." The venerable Washington Monthly reports that the hyped "assault on Samarra" was nothing but a Potemkin operation – a set propaganda piece to demonstrate US military prowess and the battle-ready "new Iraqi army," only there were no insurgents in Samarra to battle. The much-hyped "Operation Swarmer" was a photo op for TV cameras as troops fired into empty desert.
One can imagine the thoughts in Bush’s mind: "Thank goodness I didn’t capture bin Laden. Maybe he will strike again and bail me out."
[Read the full essay here. Read Robert's recent speculations on whether another "9/11" is in the offing here. No predictions, but I wouldn't put it past our government to employ Hegelian dialectic to finish the job of setting up a totalitarian police state in America, justified by the terrorist "emergency."]
Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous
by Paul Craig Roberts
March 21, 2006
LewRockwell.com
On March 17 William Rivers Pitt wrote that Bush is "deranged, disconnected, and dangerous." In his March 20 Cleveland speech, Bush proved Pitt right.
Bush gave a delusional speech that shows he is detached from reality. "We’re going to help the Iraqis build a strong democracy that will be an inspiration throughout the Middle East, a democracy that’ll be a partner in the global war against the terrorists."
Has no one told Bush that the Iraqis cannot even agree to form a government?
The day before Bush’s delusional Cleveland speech, Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister of one of our make-believe Iraqi governments, said that in Iraq the casualty rate from the sectarian strife is so high that "if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."
The day of Bush’s delusional speech, Patrick Cockburn, present on the scene in Irbil, Iraq, gave a much more truthful account of the situation. Writing in CounterPunch, he reported: "Iraq is a country convulsed by fear. It is at its worst in Baghdad. Sectarian killings are commonplace. . . . The scale of the violence is such that most of it is unreported. . . . Unseen by the outside world, silent populations are on the move, frightened people fleeing neighborhoods where their community is in a minority for safer districts. There is also a growing reliance on militias because of fears that police patrols or checkpoints are in reality death squads hunting for victims."
Not a word of this reality from our delusional president.
[Read this entire article here.]
Because of the length I've posted the first two or three paragraphs of each followed by a link where you can read the whole article.
Nancy Levant
TAKING AMERICAN'S RIGHTS AND LAND
March 14, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
Why the “New World” is so difficult to understand is not as complex as one might guess. While we naturally focus upon local issues and concerns such as community development, forest access, sportsmen’s rights, etc., one does need to understand the “whys” of local political decisions, and the decisions of local commissions and councils. There is rhyme and reason to our loss of rights, land, privacy, and public opinion.
Consider the following:
Every American citizen, no matter where you live, MUST buy your county’s Plat Book. Plat Books are maps that identify the owners of each and every parcel of land in your counties. You cannot know what is going on behind the scenes unless you buy your county Plat Book. Begin there.
You will then discover that most of the land in your counties is now owned by 1) state or federal government, 2) land development companies, 3) land “trusts” or “land funds,” 4) environmental organizations, and 5) large corporations.
If you are lucky enough to have several Plat Books covering a 2, 3, 5, or 10-year period (Plat Books are published annually), you will see a connection between land trusts, land development companies, land funds, and corporations. You will discover that they buy and sell to each other, and that they change the names of their organizations, and also create spin-off organizations, on a very regular basis.
Then, if you go to the websites of these land organizations, you will discover that they are “partnered” with 1) each other, and 2) with larger global corporations, and 3) with local universities and technical colleges, and 3) with “environmental” organizations.
In other words, you will find that the buying and selling of land in your counties is a highly organized business bureaucracy that circulates and perpetuates “profit and control” between revolving door “partnerships.”
[Read the entire article here.]
MEXICO’S WAR ON AMERICA
By Frosty Wooldridge
March 20, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
In 1836, legends Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis, along with 180 fearless men, fought Santa Anna’s two thousand Mexican troops at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. No contest! Santa Anna killed every last one of those brave men. Six weeks later, with a cry of “Remember the Alamo”, Texans beat back the Mexican army and established Texas as part of the United States of America.
Today, Mexico’s declaration of war on America moves with quickening speed. Their modern day general known as President Vicente Fox is not content with retaking Texas. He invades all American states.
As a premier, many of you watch the History Channel with WWII footage showing Germans and their tanks charging into Poland. You watched their tanks crush the French.
Did any of you watch the 100,000 illegal Mexicans and others storm Chicago, Illinois March 10, 2006? How many Mexican insurgents stand on American soil? At last count, in excess of 9,000,000 illegal Mexicans! It’s the largest invasion force without firing a shot EVER on American soil.
This invasion is encouraged, abetted and organized by the Mexican state and supported by all citizens in Mexican society. Fox provides his ‘troops’ with maps, water, provisions and aid to invade America’s border.
[Read this entire article here.]
IS THE CONSTITUTION DEAD?
Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
March 14, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
All too often when I propose returning America's monetary and banking systems to constitutional principles, or revitalizing "the Militia of the several States", I find myself assailed with the retort that "the Constitution is dead"; that attempts to apply its true principles--its "original intent"--as a means of limiting the powers of contemporary public officials are futile; and that my exhortations to the contrary are irrelevant, impotent, and even innately, if innocuously, screwball in character. Although no man is likely to be taken for a prophet in his own country, one's being spurned in that role does not, by itself, prove his pronouncements erroneous. Especially when the argument against his prophetic gift is as self-evidently nonsensical as that "the Constitution is dead".
Plainly, the Constitution is anything but "dead" with respect to certain individuals' access to and employment of political power that affects the lives of every American every day. To the contrary: It is very much alive and active in regard to elections to Congress and the Presidency, to the enactment of statutes, to decisions of the Supreme Court (and hundreds of other tribunals), to the President's command of the Armed Forces of the United States, and so on. Every transaction in these domains transpires under color of the Constitution, with at least tacit appeal to its authority, and at least in semblance according to its procedures.
True enough, many things done procedurally in the name of the Constitution are substantively unconstitutional. But no one in or seeking office in the General Government or the States dares to admit that he is acting outside, with disregard, or in contradiction of the Constitution, that he intends to violate it, or even that he may be justified in doing so in any particular future circumstances. Even those public officials who flout it in practice nonetheless acknowledge the Constitution to be just what it says it is: "the supreme Law of the Land" (Article VI, Clause 2), which everyone, themselves included, must follow.
[Read this entire article here.]
A Collapsing Presidency
by Paul Craig Roberts
March 20, 2006
LewRockwell.com
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that President Bush’s support among the American people has fallen to 33%. Even more devastatingly, the survey finds that people’s most frequently used one-word description of President Bush is "incompetent."
The chief chaplain for the New York City Corrections Department told a Tucson audience that "the greatest terrorists in the world occupy the White House." Two years ago when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was suppressing demonstrations at the Republican National Convention, the chief chaplain would have been fired for his remarks, but not today.
Abroad among peoples who formerly looked to America for leadership, American atrocities in Iraq have created sympathy and support for the Iraqi resistance.
When the Bush administration gets in trouble, it turns to war, which has worked for it in the past. Thus, this past week there was live coverage of "Operation Swarmer," which occupied a solid day on CNN and Fox "News." The venerable Washington Monthly reports that the hyped "assault on Samarra" was nothing but a Potemkin operation – a set propaganda piece to demonstrate US military prowess and the battle-ready "new Iraqi army," only there were no insurgents in Samarra to battle. The much-hyped "Operation Swarmer" was a photo op for TV cameras as troops fired into empty desert.
One can imagine the thoughts in Bush’s mind: "Thank goodness I didn’t capture bin Laden. Maybe he will strike again and bail me out."
[Read the full essay here. Read Robert's recent speculations on whether another "9/11" is in the offing here. No predictions, but I wouldn't put it past our government to employ Hegelian dialectic to finish the job of setting up a totalitarian police state in America, justified by the terrorist "emergency."]
Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous
by Paul Craig Roberts
March 21, 2006
LewRockwell.com
On March 17 William Rivers Pitt wrote that Bush is "deranged, disconnected, and dangerous." In his March 20 Cleveland speech, Bush proved Pitt right.
Bush gave a delusional speech that shows he is detached from reality. "We’re going to help the Iraqis build a strong democracy that will be an inspiration throughout the Middle East, a democracy that’ll be a partner in the global war against the terrorists."
Has no one told Bush that the Iraqis cannot even agree to form a government?
The day before Bush’s delusional Cleveland speech, Iyad Allawi, the former prime minister of one of our make-believe Iraqi governments, said that in Iraq the casualty rate from the sectarian strife is so high that "if this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."
The day of Bush’s delusional speech, Patrick Cockburn, present on the scene in Irbil, Iraq, gave a much more truthful account of the situation. Writing in CounterPunch, he reported: "Iraq is a country convulsed by fear. It is at its worst in Baghdad. Sectarian killings are commonplace. . . . The scale of the violence is such that most of it is unreported. . . . Unseen by the outside world, silent populations are on the move, frightened people fleeing neighborhoods where their community is in a minority for safer districts. There is also a growing reliance on militias because of fears that police patrols or checkpoints are in reality death squads hunting for victims."
Not a word of this reality from our delusional president.
[Read this entire article here.]
