18 trends I find disturbing

Focussing on specific issues in depth, is, by and large, a good thing. However, noticing the long term patterns repeat themselves time and again in many spheres is critical to seeing the bigger picture.

Like a jigsaw puzzle, we must examine each piece of news and reality to see how it fits with other bits: but, unless we stand back and see the emerging picture of ALL the interlocked clues, we will be lost in minuitae and miss the direction in which we are travelling en masse.

I am not going to bother to 'prove' any of these trends; they are just my observations. If readers of this blog are interested in one or more of the trends below, leave a comment and I will do my best to address questions raised in a future blog with examples.

1. The increasing number of 'law and order' television shows over the last 20 years has desensitised people to the abuse of civil rights, justified by 'getting the bad guys'.
2. The television shows which exalt technology which invades our privacy, has created a culture where nothing is sacred or private if it can be used by government agencies to 'get the bad guy' (they will tell you who that is through media).
3. Destruction of free media has allowed those in power to construct a false universe which serves their purposes of controlling the masses.
4. Terrifying people with bogeymen keeps them from finding the curiosity and confidence to seek balanced information.
5. Democracy has become an inoperable ideal, used to provide people with the illusion that they are in control of their destiny.
6. Technology is enabling a new world order, in which every moment of our existences is monitored and controlled by government.
7. Labels which divide people, keep them busy fighing each other while others control world events behind the scenes.
8. Food and water, housing and healthcare are going to be the scarce resources of the future.
9. Corporations are morphing into global institutions which are not accountable to any government or people whose lives they control.
10. The 'rational' systemic paradigm of socio-economic progress trumps 'compassion and integrity' everywhere.
11. The people of the West are terrified by the specter of 'relative deprivation'; and willing to do almost anything to continue indulging in lifestyles the resources of the planet cannot sustain.
12. Overpopulation is upon us: there will be a cull - whether natural or manmade.
13. Most people would rather be right, than learn something which challenges their security.
14. Those in the most dire poverty and areas of imperial violence, are alone.
15. Banal discussions of irrelevant issues presented to us by the media occupy the majority of our time.
16. Our mileau rests on arrogance, as though tradegy could not affect such an advanced civilisation as ours. (No historical context)
17. The laws enacted by politicians which erode human rights are ignored by a panicked populace (see # 15).
18. The ignorant have become arrogant: everyone thinks they are right from their own point of view.

My conclusion is that we are doomed if we do not begin to figure out the context in which our lives are occurring. Divided we fall.

News you WANT to read - Hope is free.

US intel nominee promises no unlawful surveillance

Agence France-Presse
January 22, 2009
Source
President Barack Obama's nominee to head US intelligence Thursday flatly rejected torture, promised to end special interrogation regimes and refuse the unlawful surveillance of Americans.

Retired admiral Dennis Blair indicated major changes are in store for US intelligence agencies, which have been embroiled in controversy over secret prisons, interrogation practics, and warrantless wiretapping of Americans.

"Torture is not moral, is not legal, is not effective," Blair said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee he would welcome independent monitoring of the intelligence community "to prevent abuses and protect privacy and civil liberties of Americans."

However, he refused to say waterboarding, a form of simulating drowning, is torture, because he did not want to put in legal jeopardy intelligence officers who engaged in practices authorized at the highest levels.

"I don't intend to reopen those cases of those officers," he said.

Senator Carl Levin said he was "troubled" by Blair's answer.

For the most part, however, Democratic lawmakers praised Blair's candor while some Republicans expressed skepticism about abandoning the more hardline approach of the previous administration.

Blair sketched out a heavy workload for the US intelligence community -- three ongoing wars, concerns about developments in North Korea, Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, and newer issues like global warming and energy security.

"President Obama has made it clear, made it clear to me, made it clear to the American people, that he expects independent analysis," he said.

"He wants the facts. He wants all points of view. And if confirmed, I will strive to meet his expectations."

The Senate hearing came as Obama signed a flurry of executive orders directing the closure of the US detention center at Guantanamo within a year, shutting secret CIA prisons, and placing restrictions on interrogations and the treatment of detainees.

Blair acknowledged that striking the right balance between protecting Americans and safeguarding US values and international reputation will be difficult.

The United States, he said, has not yet found "the correct way to treat this new type of campaign that we are engaged in."

"On the one hand, we have to fight it like a war and detain people and get information from them and protect our citizens.

"On the other hand, we have to maintain our stature as the country that is governed by our values and governed by ideals. We've gone back and forth in many different ways.

"These executive orders are going to give this administration a chance to look at those tough issues and come up with creative solutions for them," he said.

He said he supported uniform rules of interrogation for the military and intelligence services, but he said the rules themselves should be developed as part of a comprehensive policy review.

Official: UN may prosecute Bush administration,
regardless of US action

David Edwards
Thursday January 22, 2009
Source
The UN's special torture rapporteur called on the US Tuesday to pursue former president George W. Bush and defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and bad treatment of Guantanamo prisoners.

"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening.

He noted Washington had ratified the UN convention on torture which required "all means, particularly penal law" to be used to bring proceedings against those violating it.

"We have all these documents that are now publicly available that prove that these methods of interrogation were intentionally ordered by Rumsfeld," against detainees at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Nowak said.

"But obviously the highest authorities in the United States were aware of this," added Nowak, who authored a UN investigation report on the Guantanamo prison.

Bush stepped down from power Tuesday, with Barack Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States.

Asked about chances to bring legal action against Bush and Rumsfeld, Nowak said: "In principle yes. I think the evidence is on the table."

At issue, however, is whether "American law will recognise these forms of torture."

A bipartisan Senate report released last month found Rumsfeld and other top administration officials responsible for abuse of Guantanamo detainees in US custody.

It said Rumsfeld authorized harsh interrogation techniques on December 2, 2002 at the Guantanamo prison, although he ruled them out a month later.

The coercive measures were based on a document signed by Bush in February, 2002.

French, German and US rights groups have previously said they wanted to bring legal action against Rumsfeld.

Go to source for video from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast Jan. 21, 2009.

Obama Revokes Bush
Executive Order on Presidential Archives
Forces release of Bush Records!

By Hal Turner
January 21, 2009
Source
"Hal Turner Show" -- Washington, DC -- Barack Obama today revoked President George W. Bush's Executive Order which makes presidential records secret for up to 12 years after leaving office!

This would be the first logical step for his Administration to take if they were/are considering going after Bush for criminal prosecution over. . . . . the fraud he perpetrated against the nation by lying to take us to war in Iraq.

The very last section of Obama's Executive Order issued today (Here) states "Sec. 6. Revocation. Executive Order 13233 of November 1, 2001, is revoked." This puts up for public consumption, most of the records from the Bush administration and I suspect those records will provide the legal basis for criminal prosecution of Bush and Cheney.

George W. may want to jump on a plane and head to his family's 100,000 acre refuge in Paraguay so he can be safe from extradition!

Personally, I would LOVE to see Bush criminally prosecuted and, if found guilty, hung by his neck just like Saddam Hussein.
Executive Order 13233
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Executive Order 13233 limited access to the records of former United States Presidents. It was drafted by then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and issued by President George W. Bush on November 1, 2001. Section 13 of Order 13233 revoked Executive Order 12667 of January 18, 1989. The Order was partially struck down in October 2007, and President Barack Obama completely revoked it by executive order on January 21, 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13233

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