Does anyone else have this problem? We are in the “Do Not Call” era, but have had to use call blocking through Centurylink to stop the repeat offenders. However, we are only allowed 25 numbers to block, and quickly used up our quota. Our house phone allows us thirty more blocks, and it too is filling up.

The latest offender is the Denver Post. What they are doing is clearly telemarketing, but they can technically get away with it because almost all people who don’t take their rag once did, establishing a “business relationship.”

One outfit selling kitchen remodeling said that they were legal because a portion of their sales went to charity, thereby getting around DNC restrictions. I am guessing .0000002%.

The worst offender by far is Google. You cannot block enough numbers with them – they just keep rolling over to new ones. And it’s a recorded message, so you can’t swear at them. Nonetheless, fuck Google.

Sad thing is that the less than one percent who respond to telemarketers are enough to keep them annoying the rest of us.

His name is Pete Ashdown, and he is the owner of an ISP firm in Salt Lake City. (Link.) For fifteen years now he’s been refusing to comply with NSA demands for access top his clients. I highlight “fifteen” there because this would take us all the way back to Clinton. Even before the 9/11 false flag attack, NSA had already turned its eyes into our private affairs.

Ashdown is ready to go to jail, but will also comply with legal NSA information requests.

Whether it is a young man resisting a shakedown at a DUI checkpoint, as highlighted in the comments at this post, or a journalist risking her career by questioning the official 9/11 story (if you find one, let me know), we are a country with only a few bright lights in a sea of oppression, thought control, agitprop and fear. I suppose it has always been like this. I imagine the Germans were like this in the 1930’s and later during the Cold War under STASI. I imagine Saudi citizens are under constant surveillance, as are Chinese and Colombians. It is those countries that have the most to fear from their own population who are most extreme in their surveillance efforts.

They ain’t worried about terrorists. Get real. They’re worried about us. It’s sad we give them so little cause for concern.

I enjoyed the Rolling Stone article about Natalie Maines, former lead singer for the Dixie Chicks. The group was subjected to a severe lashing when Maines uttered aloud a thought crime about the Iraq war during a concert in London. She’s feisty as hell, and has not backed down, which is good to see. (I only urge that she avoid flying on small aircraft in the future.)

This part made me chuckle. I enjoy music but am not subtle or refined. Even so, country musuc has always grated on me. Mostly, I think, it is the 2-4 beat, which doesn’t lend itself to much diversity. Maines had another thought, which rang true:

I just didn’t like how blatant country music was. Nothing seemed poetic or subtle. Nothing could be interpreted two different ways! It’s all very spelled out. James Taylor can write ‘Fire and Rain’ and tell you it’s about a mental institution, this and that – and you listen to it, and you’re trying to decipher it all. And, you know, a country song would be like [sings twangily], ‘I’m in a mental institution!’

Regarding the current situation in Egypt, as with all news, it is best to avoid the American media. But it leaves us in a bind. Information is swirling about everywhere. What’s reliable? For myself, not that I even need to have an opinion but always have one anyway, I try to stick to what I know to be true, some large principles.

Egypt is ruled by its military in velvet glove fashion, that is, it is allowed apparent democratic governance, but if things get out of hand, the military cracks down. The US supplies virtually all military hardware and trains officers. Ergo, the US rules Egypt in a velvet glove fashion.

Those who write checks have power over those who endorse checks. (The same is true of Israel – it is inescapable.)

Public unrest was tripped in Egypt in 2011, some say as part of the so-called “Arab Spring.” But who can speak for mobs? They don’t think too well. General discontent led to replacement of Hosni Mubarek with Mohamed Morsi, but the US does not allow free elections where outcomes are not under control, so it was a safe bet that Morsi was a tool, as he quickly showed himself to be.

A common element of both administrations was the presence of the International Monetary Fund, and its austerity regime. It is probably safe to say that issues closest to home are what motivate people to take to the streets, and hunger, high prices, poor public services and unemployment naturally follow austerity, so that it’s not unreasonable to suggest that Egypt is in mass protest over IMF-imposed austerity.

So in reality the Egyptian people were given a choice between rule by a US puppet or rule by the US-controlled military. In taking to the streets to depose Morsi, they have effectively chosen rule by the military. There are no other options in a US client state.

It could get very ugly there. Moon Of Alabama, as always, offers insight and many varied voices on the matter. It’s a dangerous situation, but at least the fraudulent nature of Egyptian democracy is exposed. Perhaps it will be here someday too.
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Update: Washington’s apparent choice to replace Morsi is Mohamed El Baradei, like Obama, a Nobel Laureate. However, there is a backlash to yet another American puppet, so the coup faction is backing away from that choice. It must be emphasized that mere popular discontent expressed in demonstrations does not signal democratic reform, and often enough can be stimulated by factions who care even less about the native population than those in power. It’s complicated. Morsi proved himself inept in office, disappointing those who want a solid leader who serves western interests while keeping local factions in perpetual infighting.

“Camp David” freed Israel from a threat to its southern flank, allowing it to attack Lebanon and concentrate on stealing Palestine from its occupants. “Camp David” is essential to the USS Israel’s continuing threat to the region, and will not be undone. If local power does unite behind a non-western leader, a bloodbath will ensue. Egypt is too strategically vital to go it’s own way.

I read the following words at 4&20 and felt a sickness. It is Obama, the detestable mesmerizer, laying claim to the symbol of a man who sat in prison for 27 years courtesy of the government of South Africa, supported throughout by the United States. Here’s what our Con-Mander-In-Chief had to say:

“On behalf of our family we’re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit.”

In 2008, the same year that Obama won the presidential election, Nelson Mandela was removed from the U.S. State Department terrorist “Watch List.” The absurdity of that list, with the nation that is the greatest source of terror on the planet contending that it can designate and watch other terrorists … can pass without comment. More to the point, I lack words. However, if you felt a sense of absurdity when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in the face of near-genocidal behaviors, and again when Obama won it for no discernible reason, then we can agree that the award is cheap.

Nelson Mandela too won a Nobel. I think we can dispense with that prize. It doesn’t mean anything.

Nelson Mandela is a just a man. But he has also become a symbol, and because that symbol overcame apartheid, and we now all agree apartheid as practiced in South Africa is a bad thing (but OK in Palestine). In our propaganda system, it was necessary to transform Mandela from a “terrorist” to a symbol of courage and strength. So the man who presides over Guantanamo visited Robben Island and wrote the above words in the visitor’s book.

Absurdity: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one’s own opinion. (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary)

One of the toughest things to work through as a maturing American is the notion of “democracy.” In grade school we are given a grade school definition, “… by the people for the people…” and are expected to hold on to that fairy tale notion for the rest of our lives. But life is about moving forward, growing up, and it doesn’t take long to realize that we the people, as we are right now, are no more qualified to rule ourselves than the student council at any American high school. Just like in those schools, our democracy is an illusion fostered by the faculty.
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