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Collapse in Living Standards in America: More Poverty By Any Measure
by Christine Vestal
globalresearch.ca
15 million unemployed, homelessness has increased by 50 percent in some cities
More than 15 million Americans are unemployed, homelessness has increased by 50 percent in some cities, and 38 million people are
receiving food stamps, more than at any time in the programs almost 50-year history.
Evidence of rising economic hardship is ample. There's one commonly used standard for measuring it: the U.S. Census Bureaus poverty rate.
It guides much of federal and state spending aimed at helping those unable to make a decent living.
But a number of states have become convinced that the federal figures actually understate poverty, and have begun using different criteria
in operating state-based social programs. At the same time, conservative economists are warning that a change in the formula to a
threshold that counts more people as poor could lead to an unacceptable increase in the cost of federal and state social service
programs.
When Census publishes new numbers for 2009 in September, experts predict they'll show a steep rise in the poverty rate. One independent
researcher estimates the data will show the biggest year-to-year increase in recorded history.
According to Richard Bavier, a former analyst for the federal Office of Management and Budget, already available data about employment
rates, wages, and food stamp enrollment suggest that an additional 5.7 million people were officially poor in 2009. That would bring the
total number of people with income's below the federal poverty threshold to more than 45 million. The poverty rate, Bavier expects, will
hit 15 percent up from 13.2 percent in 2008, when the Great Recession first started to take its toll.
Still, the U.S. Census Bureaus new numbers will offer only a partial picture of how the nations sputtering economy is affecting the
poorest American's a problem state officials and the Obama administration want to address.
Overestimating food costs
The current formula for setting the federal poverty line unchanged since 1963 takes the cost of food for an individual or family and
multiplies the number by three, under the assumption that people spend one-third of their income's putting meals on the table. While the
formula may have been a good way to estimate a subsistence cost of living in the early 1960's, experts say food now represents only
one-eighth of a typical household budget, with expenses such as housing and child care putting increasing pressure on struggling
families.
In addition, the official measure fails to account for regional differences in the cost of housing, it doesn't include medical expenses or
transportation, and at $22,000 for a family of four, the poverty line is considered by many to be simply too low.
Equally worrisome for policy makers is the Census Bureaus failure to consider in-kind federal and state aid in calculating income. The
existing formula counts only pre-tax cash income, leaving out such benefits as food stamps, housing vouchers and child-care subsidies, as
well as federal and state tax credits for the working poor.
As a result, the nations official poverty count is unaffected by the billions spent on safety-net programs. Yet it remains by far the
most frequently used measurement of how well governments are taking care of their most vulnerable citizens.
Conservatives have consistently argued that if safety-net programs were taken into account, the poverty rate would be much lower. At the
same time, advocates for the poor have argued that poverty counts would be much higher if the cost of housing, child care and other
expenses were factored in.
Nearly two decades ago, Congress asked the National Academies of Science (NAS) to revisit the official poverty measure and come up with
recommendations for a new measure that would satisfy critics on both ends of the spectrum.
This past March, the Obama administration said it would use the NAS 1995 guidelines to update the federal governments poverty calculation
and promised to unveil the first new supplemental poverty measure in September of 2011.
The new supplemental poverty measure will provide an alternative lens to understand poverty and measure the effects of anti-poverty
policies, Under Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank said. Moreover, it will be dynamic and will benefit from improvements over time
based on new data and new methodologies.
Under the NAS recommendations, Commerce Department expenditure data for food, clothing, shelter and other household expenses would be used
to set a poverty threshold for a reference family of four two adults and two children. Then a family or individuals resources would be
compared to that line by including income and in-kind benefits, with taxes and other non-discretionary expenses, such as medical expenses
and child care, excluded.
Because many expect the new calculation will result in a higher poverty count, the March announcement met with fiery criticism from some
conservatives who charged the federal government could ill afford to increase its safety-net spending.
State experiments
But state and local policy makers applauded the move because they said it would give them the tools they need to assess the effectiveness
of anti-poverty programs.
In New York City, for example, where an NAS-type poverty measure was adopted three years ago, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the new data
would allow the city to pinpoint who needs assistance most and which of the citys social services have been most effective at improving
its residents standard of living.
Using an updated measurement, New York City found that children the recipients of a broad range of social welfare programs were less
poor than originally thought, while elders, who were struggling with previously unaccounted for medical expenses, were poorer.
As states become increasingly challenged by shrinking revenues and rising numbers of people in need, more than a dozen have set up
commissions to help low-income families and many have set poverty reduction goals.
Among them, Minnesota and Connecticut have used NAS-like formulas to assess the effectiveness of current and proposed anti-poverty
measures.
With technical assistance from the public policy research group The Urban Institute, both states used the results to support aggressive
anti-poverty campaigns. Minnesota has a Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota by 2020, and Connecticut created a Child
Poverty and Prevention Council with the goal of cutting child poverty in half by 2014.
Connecticut found only a slight increase in the number of people living in poverty when using the updated calculation 21,000 people in
2006, compared to 20,000 using the existing Census measure.
But it got very different results when determining which public assistance programs did the most to reduce poverty. Under previous
assumptions, child care subsidies and adult education and job training were seen as the most highly effective at moving people out of
poverty over time. But the new formula showed that increasing enrollment in programs such as food stamps, energy assistance and subsidized
housing was a more effective way to reduce child poverty in the near term. As a result, the state redoubled its outreach efforts to sign
up as many low-income families as possible for these federally-funded programs.
In Minnesota, where the results were similar, a bipartisan legislative committee recommended the state refine its definition of poverty,
build public awareness, and carefully monitor the impact of all major legislation on existing anti-poverty programs.
Both states joined 12 others earlier this year in calling on the federal government to adopt an NAS-like formula that would consider the
increased financial burden of housing, child care, and health care on the modern American family while recognizing the benefit of critical
work supports such as tax credits, food stamps, and other non-cash subsidies.
The administrations supplemental poverty measure remains controversial, and some leaders on both ends of the political spectrum are
urging Congress and the administration not to adopt the new formula for purposes of allocating federal funding or determining individual
eligibility anytime soon.
If used to parse federal grants among states, it could radically change the amount of money each state receives. It stands to reason, for
example, that a family of four trying to make it on $22,000 would have an easier time in rural Alabama than they would in suburban
Massachusetts. And should the new measure be used to set individual eligibility for safety net programs, some are fearful that current
recipients would be disqualified if all of their federal and state benefits were counted.
For the Obama administration, the Census Bureaus current measure is problematic because it will fail to show the benefits of at least
$100 billion in 2009 stimulus money spent for low-income families. Even so, as those direct subsidies and
other job-creating federal funds are phased out, advocates expect the poverty rate will shoot up again next year, when the data is in for
2010.
Comment:
Ben Said:
don't understand... We need some change in America... What can I do to make America open
her eyes?
Today I find myself very upset with our government. The politicians in particular piss
me off! I don’t understand why we, the people, continue to elect these corrupt
individuals to office… Is it because no one that truly wants to help their fellow
Americans has stepped up to run? Is it because the politicians degrade and push away
people that aren’t in their corrupt circles? Does anyone in the United States really
want change? I did and I didn't get it and either did about 360 million other Americans.
No matter who is in office it will be the same old stuff. Like greed and power is there
number one concern.
President Obama ran for office on the premise of change and here we are at day 559 of the
Obama Administration and absolutely nothing has changed… We still don’t have a working
Health care system, the deficit at 10:30 AM on July 21 2010 is 13,083,709,999,999 and
climbing,and we are still giving $30 Billion a year to other countries that need it more
than we do! So how do we expect to help our own. I'm so tried of feeding the world when
our own people are starving. It doesn't matter what President we have people, he is not
making up the rules! We attack the man in office, when it is the others that are making
the decision about our country in some secret place. The President is a deversion or
should I say a fall guy.
America is coming apart, decomposing, and...the likelihood of her survival as one
nation...is becoming improbable -- and perhaps impossible if America continues on her
current course. We seem to be on a path to national suicide. The Third World invasion
through Mexico is a graver threat to our survival as one nation and nothing sane is being
done to address that problem. If you look at what our president and Congress continue to
do in 2010, add national suicide via apathy as our ultimate destination. Most Americans
resemble sheepal following the one before them down a chute into the killing zone. By
then, it's too late. There is no forum whatsoever to ask the hard questions, and demand
factual truthful answers. In the past, we relied upon the media to ask the hard questions
and uncover the cover ups. Not any more...it has become part of the government, and you
will never see any such thing again. Don't believe what you see on T.V.
The Unanimous Declaration
of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of
the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God
entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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. That to secure these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That
whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most
likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shown 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 when a long train of a!
buses 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. --Such has been the
patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them
to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present Government of the
United States of America is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in
direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. Dont Think for
one moment that our Government cares if we starve or how people are treated, because they
don't. I think we need to step in and put our over powered Government out of business. We
the people need to take back our rights and stop the tyranny that is so rampid today.
Well I don't want to bore too many, but these are my views and I hope they hit home for
some. This article that I'm commenting on is just many I think that are important to get
out and send a message to the people loud and clear. OUR GOVERNMENT IS TAKING OVER AND
THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT. No there is something we can do, educate the
American people of what our countries policy makers are doing and how to stop them.
Hopefully John can do this. Keep up the good work: UGA BUGGA!!!!!!
=====
Da Said:
A citizen in the same economic situaion qualifies for all of that stuff too. And
as for SSI checks you might want to remember that no one can claim or recieve social
security benefits unless they have a vaild social security number. And being non citizen
aliens clearly they would not have a valid number to provide in order to recieve a penny.
While on the flipside, if a person is working at a job no matter what their status is,
they get income taxed just the same as a citzen. If they are not being taxed then it is
the employer that is screwing the employee, the taxpayers and IRS.
When I was growing up, I learned in school that one of the reasons the United States of America was better than the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics was because we didn't hold political prisoners in our jails. That was something the bad, bad communists did. That
was something that was done in communist countries to keep dissidents in line and to silence them. Such a thing could never be done in
America. I don't know if this is still taught in the schools, but if it is then I believe our children are being grossly misinformed.
The United States of America has become the leading nation when it comes to jailing its citizens, and the vast majority of them have
been jailed for non violent crimes. We are, in effect, being jailed by the political class for disobeying rules they have deigned
necessary, not for actions that have harmed another human being or his property. Most of those jailed are, in effect, political
prisoners.
The federal government of the United States of America has declared war on its own civilians and the majority of those spending time
in jail are prisoners of that war. They call this war many things, the war on drugs and the war on terror being the most prevalent, but
it is really a war fought against people in order to try to keep a concept hidden from the public consciousness. That concept is the
concept of freedom, the concept that individuals own their own bodies, their own labor, their own property and best know how to run
their own lives.
The power elite and their political puppets use such emotionally charged terms as "war" to elicit specific
responses from the populace. They want people to believe that anyone with a differing or divergent point of view from that of the
establishment is a bad person. They want people to believe that anyone with a difference of opinion is a menace to society and a threat
to all that is good and just. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the people who are spending time in prison are not only
ordinary non violent folk who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they are likely kind, loving individuals with
family and friends who care for them and miss them dearly. Many of them were likely hard working, productive members of society until
they were caught or reported breaking one of the multitude of "laws" created by control freaks who seem to see us common folk as cash
cows meant to be milked for their benefit.
This war has spilled across the borders of the United States and is affecting the
population worldwide. The DEA seems to think it has the right to enforce the laws of the United States in whatever country it deems
necessary. I don't know that the DEA has the right to do this, but it certainly has the power thanks to your tax dollars. A good example
of this is the case of Marc Emery. Mr. Emery is a Canadian. He was simply selling marijuana seeds. This is a practice that is not illegal
in Canada. Yet it is illegal in the US, though hardly ever enforced. Mr. Emery was set up by the DEA in a sting operation in which he
sold seed across the border. The DEA then used its power as a federal agency of the United States to coerce the federal Canadian
government into extraditing Mr. Emery to the United States.
Mr. Emery's business harmed no one. It only maybe hurt the
feelings of a few bureaucrats who felt perhaps Mr. Emery's opinions were becoming too popular. You see, Marc Emery not only sold
marijuana seeds, he ran a magazine named Cannabis Culture and used the money to fund marijuana legalization activism worldwide. He
believes, as I do, that everyone owns their own bodies and can determine for themselves which substances to use and which to avoid. He
would likely still be free if he had just pocketed his profits rather than using them to promote his marijuana legalization efforts. It
appears as if Marc Emery was targeted not for his illegal activity, but for his political activism. And they had to use an unethical
sting setup to make it look legitimate.
The same is true of tax protestors. People fighting the unethical, unconstitutional
income tax have been forced into prison despite the obvious unpopularity of this theft. Even though the vast majority of the populace
seems to be brainwashed into thinking the federal income tax is legitimate, the arguments against it are intriguing and compelling on
both legal and moral grounds. Ed and Elaine Brown were two such protestors who wished to make such arguments during their trail. The
federal judge presiding over their trail denied them the opportunity to make over thirty such arguments in their defense. As a result,
they realized the court system was rigged in favor of the state and refused to take part in it any longer.
Ed, a
contractor, and Elaine, a dentist, gathered together such a following that the Feds determined that the only way to get to them would be
to unethically infiltrate their supporters. It appears as if the Feds are worried about their image and don't want to be thought of by
the general public as the violent agency they are. They want people to forget such incidents as Waco and Ruby Ridge, but a leopard cannot
change its spots. Ed and Elaine Brown were productive members of society until the Feds put them in unproductive prison cells.
People such as Ed and Elaine Brown and Wesley Snipes aren't in jail because they didn't pay their taxes, they're in jail because they
refused to obey. They refused to knuckle under to the coercion and threats of the federal government and decided to exercise their
rights. They refused to cower in fear before the political gang that runs this nation and decided to show them for what they are, a
violent gang of thugs who believe they own us and a portion of our labor. These are arguments the authoritarian power mongers don't want
to hear because they're true, and the truth is sometimes hard to face. They would rather do harm to those who have never harmed another
than face the reality that they are greedy failures in a coercive monopoly funded by theft and unable to compete in a legitimate
marketplace.
What happens when the practices used by the policing agencies are used against them? Barry Cooper is a good
example to look at. A former narcotics officer, he created a sting operation to catch the police breaking the law and disobeying the
constitution. His police training served him well as he had learned to setup drug dealers. He filmed the police breaking their own laws
and streamed it to the web in such a way so that their guilt could not be denied. This angered the cops. As a result, Barry Cooper and
his family have been harassed by authorities ever since. Candi, his wife, lost custody of her eight year old son. They have both been
arrested and charged with filing a false police report. They await trial on said charges. It seems what's good for the goose is not good
for the gander. It seems that the police can setup and harass ordinary folk to catch them breaking laws, but when ordinary folk do the
same to the police, the ordinary folk better watch out.
The system is plagued with unfairness. It is set up so that those
with authority aren't burdened with any personal responsibility for their decisions. They are not held accountable for their actions
even when such actions harm others or are financially unsound. It takes those who rail against it and make honest, sensible arguments
and silences them by removing them to cold prison cells. We might not have the cruel and unforgiving gulags the Russians had under
communist rule in the last century, but we have prisons populated with political prisoners who don't even know they are political
prisoners. Our government has interrupted and ruined the lives of millions for its political power, expediency and agenda.
The war against the people needs to end. The federal government needs to step aside. The common folk need to reestablish their lust for
freedom. The bureaucrats need to start respecting the rights of the individual once again. The federal government needs to be recognized
for the monstrous mechanism of tyranny it has become. Hopefully, the cogs inside that mechanism will start refusing to allow it to run
smoothly. We should be allowed to spend our money as we see fit, to smoke what we want to smoke, to say what we wish to say, and to live
our lives as we wish to live them without fear of government intrusion and imprisonment. The disobedience of a few have shown us the
ugly truth. The disobedience of many will help set us free.
Among the limited duties of the US Government enumerated in the federal Constitution is Article. IV. Section. 4. “The United
States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against
Invasion.” However, for several decades now, the federal government in Washington, D.C., has shown great ambition and propensity to
engage in activities to which it was never authorized, and to ignore those responsibilities with which it is specifically charged. The
responsibility of the federal government to protect each State against invasion is a classic example of the latter.
Can anyone deny that the states on the US southern border (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) are being invaded by an ongoing
onslaught of illegal aliens (many of whom are violent and dangerous criminals)? Somewhere between 12 and 30 million illegals now reside in
the US. The entire country is feeling the effects of this invasion, but the Border States are literally under siege. And not only does the
federal government do nothing to protect the states against this invasion, it actively wars against states such as Arizona when they
attempt to protect themselves. Yes, I am saying it: the Washington, D.C., lawsuit against the State of Arizona’s immigration laws
should be regarded as an act of war against the State of Arizona in particular, and against the states general in principle.
Please consider what Arizona and the other Border States are dealing with. According to published reports:
*In Los Angeles, 95% of all outstanding warrants for homicide in the first half of 2004 (which totaled 1,200 to 1,500) targeted illegal
aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) were for illegal aliens.
*Some private reports state that 83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix and 86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are
for illegal aliens. These reports cannot be verified, of course, because the feds discourage law enforcement agencies from releasing such
statistics.
*At any given time, up to 75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
*23% of all inmates in LA County detention centers are “deportable.”
*LA police estimate that violent gangs, such as MS-13 and 18th Street Gang, are “overwhelmingly” composed of illegal
aliens.
To read one very enlightening testimony given before Congress by an expert on illegal immigration containing some of the above
information (and much more), go here:
In addition, the Pew Hispanic Center (an organization friendly to all things Hispanic) reports that by 2007, “nearly one-quarter
(24%) of all federal convictions” involve illegal aliens. And “among those sentenced for immigration offenses in 2007, 80%
were Hispanic.” The PHC went on to report that illegal Hispanics “represented 29% of all federal offenders.”
Remember, too, that illegal aliens murder (on average) 12 American citizens EVERY DAY in the United States. That means illegals murder
more Americans EVERY YEAR than in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan COMBINED, TO DATE. Plus, illegal aliens who drive drunk kill an
additional 13 Americans EVERY DAY.
At this point, I will not again chronicle the financial costs and job losses exacted upon the American taxpayers by these invading
illegals, but I encourage you to read a previous column I wrote on this subject. See it here:
Plus, my web site contains an exhaustive page dealing with the problems and costs of the ongoing invasion by illegal aliens against
this country. See it at:
Add to the above the blatant rhetoric and public statements of activists within radical Hispanic revolutionary groups such as La Raza
that incessantly call for the “reconquista” of the southwestern United States, and one can easily discern that the invasion by
(mostly) Mexicans in the US is much more than “poor people trying to find a better life.” There is some of that going on, of
course, but the invasion also includes violent criminal gang members, drug dealers, human traffickers, rogue government troops, and covert
provocateurs who are attempting to destabilize US cities and states, promote crime and violence, disrupt honest elections, and even
facilitate revolution against the American citizenry.
And what does the Barack Obama administration do? Instead of obeying the Constitution and helping to protect the State of Arizona (and
the other Border States), it sues the State of Arizona for trying to protect itself. Again, by this action, has not Washington, D.C.,
declared war against the State of Arizona (and, by implication, the other 49 independent, sovereign states)?
Please understand: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and her allies in the Arizona legislature are not only defending their State, they are
working to protect every State in the Union. Very obviously, the line is being drawn in the sand against a federal leviathan that
increasingly shows blatant disregard for not only its own responsibilities and duties, but for the rights and freedoms of the individual
sovereign states, and for the American citizenry as a whole.
And for those misguided Christians and pastors out there who are prone to defend and facilitate this invasion of illegal aliens in the
name of Christian compassion, I would like to remind them of the words of our Lord, who said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He
that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1 KJV)
Thus, our Savior plainly categorizes illegal aliens (or anyone who refuses to enter through a door–or across a
border–honestly) as thieves and robbers. Unfortunately, many are also rapists, murderers, violent drug dealers, and slave
merchants.
If Barack Obama had even a smidgen of honesty and integrity, instead of attacking the people of the State of Arizona for simply trying
to defend themselves against a very real and dangerous foreign invasion, he would take seriously his responsibility to help protect them
against this invasion, which Article IV. Section. 4. of the US Constitution clearly requires him to do.
/////////////////////////
Update: Gulf Oil Spill Sea Floor Leak Now Confirmed
(examiner.com) BP has confirmed that there is an oil leak on the sea floor several miles away from the Deepwater Horizon's damaged blowout preventer. The undisclosed specific location of the sub- sea leak is reported to be billowing oil and deadly methane gas.
While the live BP video feed has been focused on the BOP, some oil industry experts have suggested that the leak being reported today has been played down, despite a report from Florida Senator Bill Nelson last month. (See video below)
The third oil leak, which was admitted to by BP shorty after the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20,1020, may now be emerging from behind what many believe has been an oil spill media blackout.
On May 5, 2010 BP confirmed that one of three initial leaks had been plugged. The second leak is the one millions of people have been watching through the BP live video feed. However, the third leak has been virtually ignored.
In the early stages of the 90 day-old disaster, oil industry expert Matt Simmons told NBC News that a major area of seepage was coming from an area about 7 miles from the well. Simmons called it the “elephant behind the mouse.”
Residents in the Tampa Bay area have been concerned over the lack of available information on the potential risks from the disaster.
Should the sea floor leak announced today be confirmed in same location as the one Simmons and Senator Nelson have reported, then BP and the government have been aware of it all along, further substantiating fears of an oil spill media blackout.
MSNBC July 15: Matt Simmons still says BP covering up MASSIVE HOLE miles away, cap test is "absurd"
In George Orwell's
chilling novel, 1984, the author depicts a future society in which citizens are controlled by an all-seeing, all-knowing big government,
referred to as 'big brother.' Orwell's nightmare is here, now.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais). Obama gives a bear-hug to
Harry Reid.
A sampling of the major news stories today merely prove we are now living under the very tyranny about which Orwell
warned and about which stalwart defenders of liberty such as Ayn Rand, Barry Goldwater, M. Stanton Evans, and Whitaker Chambers kept an
ever-watchful eye.
Here are but a few troubling examples:
**The FCC and the FTC are now planning a government takeover of the
news industry, complete with a tax on conservative radio and Internet websites in order to subsidize liberal media outlets that are
losing revenue to the point of bankruptcy. This would effectively silence conservatives and give the mouthpieces of the Obama regime
full control of the news. Does anyone care that Hitler and Stalin did the very same thing?
**Obama's penchant for appointing unelected, unaccountable 'czars' is
continuing with a vengeance, this time promoting the
White House chef to the position of senior policy adviser on health food.
**The Obama regime shut down the WordPress host of 73,000
blogs this week, citing 'abuses.' Since when, in a free society, does the government have the authority to shut down the free
speech/communication of its citizens?
**The regime uses its enormous influence over academia and research grants by favoring
scientists who mouth the party line of 'man-made global warming,' even to the point of continuing to fudge the figures on climate. In the
latest figures supplied by the government which show that supposedly 2010 is the 'hottest on record,' the report fails to mention that
temperature gauges are placed in the hottest areas possible, such as in urban areas, on pavement, or near air conditioning exhaust units.
How very convenient.
Totalitarian regimes routinely pull such sleights of hand in order to bolster their grab for more power.
If the peons in the populace don't know any better because they are not provided with healthy dissent in the media, then governments
can and will justify continued control over the individual choices of citizens by using the manipulation of facts, such as we see with
'global warming.'
These examples all point to a deadly disturbing fact--not only is the United States of America headed toward
the Orwellian nightmare of tyranny but, in fact, we are already there.
It will only get worse until the citizens take
action.
As the late Barry Goldwater stated during the 1964 Republican Convention, 'Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,
and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.
Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, grunt and 100% disabled vet. He has been a featured commentator on TV and radio including Al Jazeera and his articles have been
carried by news services around the world. He has been a UN Diplomat, defense contractor and is a widely published expert on military and defense issues. He is active in the
financial industry and is a specialist on global trade. Gordon Duff acts as political and economic advisor to a number of governments in Africa and the Middle East. Gordon Duff
is currently working on economic development projects in Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter the effects of poverty and global extremism.Email : gpduf@aol.com
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor
For the last decade, America has been shuffling its entire military, including hundreds of thousands of private contractors, in and out
of the Middle East on little more than a “snipe hunt.” Time for a reality check. Iraq never attacked the US. Reports say Al
Qaeda may have fewer than 30 men in Afghanistan.
The Taliban has been asking for a cease fire for months. Turkey and Brazil negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran ending any possible
threat, one we strangely, very strangely ignored. “Thermo-nuclear Israel’s” continual whining and manipulation is
wearing thin. America’s economy, her Army and her suffering veterans demand an end to our Bush era phony war.
General Petraeus is now in Afghanistan. The endless games, paying the Taliban for security, protecting drug dealers and propping up a
failed dictatorship can come to an end. OK, some news; the Taliban is sick of the war and ready to settle. The only thing keeping the
war going is the Karzai brothers and their business partners. They aren’t worth it, they aren’t America’s allies, they
are hated in Afghanistan and they need to be ‘retired’ to the south of France. I suspect they will be able to live quite
well, no financial help needed.
Iran isn’t the problem, it never was. Since the 1960s, America has been running interference for Israel’s territorial
ambitions. They are now occupying part of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and what had been 4 million Muslim and Christian residents of Palestine
are now 1.5 million Gaza detainees and 2.5 million refugees. Iran had already agreed to a proposal from Turkey and Brazil that would have
gotten rid of any nuclear material that may have been used for a weapon, a “workable” deal that seems to have been opposed
only because it is preventing a war that Israel wants.
Of course, Israel wants to attack Iran while hundreds of thousand of American troops are standing by. America’s occupation of
the Middle East has proven to be a destabilizing influence for sure, making war on a whim attractive, a war really being fought as in
Afghanistan over money, always oil and gas, drugs or arms profiteering. Without America’s military power, her ability to project
force in the Middle East, a capability put in place after the first Gulf War, history might be very different.
With 75% of Guantanamo detainees winning release based on illegal detention, even under almost whimsical “rules of war” now
in place, we are getting a new look at a decade of deception and even treason. Information is even leaking out indicating that the first
Gulf War may have been grossly misrepresented with Kuwait now beginning to no longer be a victim but rather part of a partnership gone
bad. The first invasion may be just as bogus as the second were it not for a better deception plan and the competent plotting of the
elder Bush compared to his bungling son.
What has really happened is that America has spun out of control with one “lobby” after another banding together into a
phony political front that wants nothing but endless war. America’s most powerful lobby is the Israeli’s, myth makers and
storytellers peddling biblical prophesy to the rednecks, terror scares to the American Jewish community that controls over 40% of the
nation’s wealth and “Islamophobia” to the rest of the country over the controlled news and entertainment industry. Do
we begin to mention how our corrupt electoral process has made any honest discussion of this problem political suicide for any genuinely
“American” candidate?
Did we forget the oil lobby? Why do you think war with Iran is being pushed? The second the attack begins, the Straits of Hormuz are
closed, oil prices skyrocket and oil company profits quadruple just like they did during the last wars. How do you think low oil demand,
low oil prices and the doubled price of gasoline came about? Last week we learned that BP, the company famous for destroying the Gulf of
Mexico, ordered the British government to free the “Lockerbie Bomber.” Consider that only a peek at the real power the oil
companies have over our governments.
What used to be the “military/industrial complex” has gone well beyond that. With many financial institutions now deeply
into ownership of intelligence and “black-ops” companies that make up much of America’s defense capabilities, we
haven’t simply privatized war, we have privatized war policy.
Using the term “Middle East” is, in itself, a deception. The Mediterranean is an American lake. The Indian Ocean is being
treated as a war “front.” Europe, from Britain to Germany to Italy and into Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, exists as little
but a staging area for operations against what could be 30 terrorists. American bases dot each of these countries, continually expanded
and new ones added to every day. Even the Black Sea is being “occupied,” with warships and ringed with bases.
Has the United States established exactly what its strategic interests are in the region? Oil is flowing freely as is heroin. Money
is flowing into the region by the plane load and back out, into banks in Dubai, Tel Aviv and Switzerland. Is $500 billion a year being
spent to defend Israel from invasion by, well, we aren’t sure? What is being spent to secure Israel, or empower Israeli
recklessness, is nearly one third of America’s entire budget. Wouldn’t it simply be cheaper to give Israel the United States
or do they own it already?
Gordon Duff is a Marine Vietnam veteran, grunt and 100% disabled vet. He has been a featured commentator on TV and radio including Al Jazeera and his articles have been
carried by news services around the world. He has been a UN Diplomat, defense contractor and is a widely published expert on military and defense issues. He is active in the
financial industry and is a specialist on global trade. Gordon Duff acts as political and economic advisor to a number of governments in Africa and the Middle East. Gordon Duff
is currently working on economic development projects in Pakistan and Afghanistan to counter the effects of poverty and global extremism.Email : gpduf@aol.com