Visualizing Breakdowns
04/09/2010

Here’s a small slice of a scenario I built for the new book (still in process):

In a little more than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis, the steady hum of portable generators was a common feature of most cities and suburbs in the formerly prosperous nations of the G8. They usually kicked on shortly after lunch, when the central power systems shut down. In some built up areas, particularly in the favelas that had sprung up around many of the major cities, complete multi-megawatt electricity grids had been built with bailing wire and twine.

The arrival of the generators and ad hoc power networks arrived not long after the second financial collapse. In that crisis, many of the less financially able power companies went bankrupt, caught the crossfire between high commodity prices (oil, natural gas, and coal), customers unable to pay, and a global financial market unwilling to extend credit or facilitate transactions. The loss of power only lasted a couple of months, but people remembered, and those able to afford it began buying generators in bulk. Fortunately, the temperatures that summer only reached the mid nineties in most of the country, and the deaths due to heat exhaustion were limited to just over ten thousand, mostly elderly, citizens.

What I am unable to figure out is the following:

• Is this the fantasy of a independent technological sci-fi dreamer;
• Or, is it a psychopathic brain that views this future with glee;
• Or, are we looking at a globalist military actor seeking to predictively program this “vision” into their audience, contributing to the eventuation of this bizarre future?

Or, is this merely a tactic of psychological warfare – seeking to increase general fear levels in order to create an environment within the human brain that is more conducive to propaganda programming?

No matter the determination, whether listed here or not, one can be pretty damn sure that the material Robb is publishing is authorized by establishment circles.  For if it was not, Robb’s credibility would be attacked, in the media and elsewhere, for actively promoting a chaotic and dystopian future.  In short, he’d be framed as another Patriot nutcase, and hauled on to the most politically dialect television programs available and chastised.  The fact that he is left alone to discuss this material is very telling.

- John Kay, “Financial Times”.

In regard to Clay Shirky’s, The Collapse of Complex Business Models, Clay should do a little more historical homework, because the elite always crash the system to transfer enormous wealth while blaming it on the public. These are not organic events, as Shirky would want us to believe, but come about through system design that is intentionally deceptive to those with normal human biology (ie. the vast majority that are not psychopathic).

Here’s some of what Shirky would like for us to believe:

“Complex societies collapse because, when some stress comes, those societies have become too inflexible to respond….When societies fail to respond to reduced circumstances through orderly downsizing, it isn’t because they don’t want to, it’s because they can’t.

In such systems, there is no way to make things a little bit simpler – the whole edifice becomes a huge, interlocking system not readily amenable to change. … Furthermore, even when moderate adjustments could be made, they tend to be resisted, because any simplification discomfits elites.

When the value of complexity turns negative, a society plagued by an inability to react remains as complex as ever, right up to the moment where it becomes suddenly and dramatically simpler, which is to say right up to the moment of collapse. Collapse is simply the last remaining method of simplification.”

While reader of Shirky’s blog may want to become familiar with Jean Baudrillard’s work on Simulacra & Simulation, Clay might want to start with this book by Fred Harrison…

The Predator Culture: The Systemic Roots and Intent of Organized Violence
Fred Harrison

Fred Harrison draws on global-wide case studies to show how the violent birth of nation-states, whether the result of territorial conquests or colonialism, splits the population into two classes, victors and vanquished. This division is perpetuated and legitimated through the system of land tenure. The pathological consequences – as diverse as failed states, organized crime (mafia), religious fundamentalism and the re-emergence of piracy – are the result of the violent uprooting of the original inhabitants from their homelands. Understanding the territorial basis of political power and wealth is the pre-requisite, Fred Harrison argues, for making sense of issues as diverse as genocide, narco-gangsterism, terrorism and fascism. The struggle over land and resources, he contends, is at the root of all of today’s global crises. Some attempts are being made to restore land to those in need, ranging from the offer of land in Afghanistan to the Taliban as an inducement to set aside their violent strategies, to the sharing of the rents of oil in Nigeria to entice eco-warriors into mainstream politics. But these piecemeal tactics fail to synthesise the conditions for peace and prosperity. “The Predator Culture” provides a framework for truth and reconciliation in what has become a violent world that is slipping dangerously out of control.

“I Get Out” (lyrics)

[Singing Chorus]
I get out, I get out of all your boxes
I get out, you can’t hold me in these chains
I’ll get out
Father free me from this bondage
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must change

[Verse 1]
Your stinkin’ resolution
Is no type of solution
Preventin’ me from freedom
Maintainin’ your pollution
I won’t support your lie no more
I won’t even try no more
If I have to die, oh Lord
That’s how I choose to live
I won’t be compromised no more
I can’t be victimised no more
I just don’t sympathize no more
Cause now I understand
You just wanna use me
You say “love” then abuse me
You never thought you’d loose me
But how quickly we forget
That nothin’ is for certain
You thought I’d stay here hurtin’
Your guilt trip’s just not workin’
Repressin’ me to death
Cause now I’m choosin’ life, yo
I take the sacrifice, yo
If everything must go, then go
That’s how I choose to live

[Pause]

[Singing rest of Verse 1]
That’s how I choose to live…
Hehehehe, awhh
No more compromises
I see past your disguises
Blindin’ through mind control
Stealin’ my eternal soul
Appealin’ through material
To keep me as your slave

[Singing Chorus]
But I get out
Oh, I get out of all your boxes
I get out
Oh, you can’t hold me in these chains
I’ll get out
Oh, I want out of social bondage
Knowin’ my condition
Oh, is the reason I must change

[Singing Verse 2]
See, what you see is what you get
Oh, and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet
Oh, I don’t care if you’re upset
I could care less if you’re upset
See it don’t change the truth
And your hurt feeling’s no excuse
To keep me in this box
Psychological locks
Repressin’ true expression
Cementin’ this repression
Promotin’ mass deception
So that no one can be healed
I don’t respect your system
I won’t protect your system
When you talk I don’t listen
Oh, let my Father’s will be done

[Singing Chorus]
And just get out
Oh, just get out of all these bondage
Just get out
Oh, you can’t hold me in chains
Just get out
All these traditions killin’ freedom
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must change

[Singing Verse 3]
I’ve just accepted what you said
Keepin’ me among the dead
The only way to know
Is to walk then learn and grow
But faith is not your speed
Oh, you’ve had everyone believed
That you’re the sole authority
Just follow the majority
Afraid to face reality
The system is a joke
Oh, you’d be smart to save your soul
Oh, when escape is mind control
You spent your life in sacrifice
To a system for the dead
Oh, are you sure…
Where is the passion in this living
Are you sure it’s God you servin’
Obligated to a system
Getting less then you’re deserving
Who made up these schools, I say
Who made up these rules, I say
Animal conditioning
Oh, just to keep us as a slave

[Singing Chorus]
Oh, just get out
Of this social purgatory
Just get out
All these traditions are a lie
Just get out
Superstition killing freedom
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must die?
Just get out
Just get out
Just get out
Let’s get out
Let’s get out
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must die?
Just get out

Posted in Culture, Multimedia Tagged: I Get Out, Lauryn Hill, Sony Music, Tupac Shakur ]]> http://hive2.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/lauryn-hill-i-get-out/feed/ 0 xHive http://hive2.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/tweet-review-obamas-healthcare/ http://hive2.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/tweet-review-obamas-healthcare/#comments Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:19:54 +0000 Hive 2.0 http://hive2.wordpress.com/?p=202 ]]> Peter Fleckenstein has been reading through Obama’s Healthcare Bill and tweeting what he’s found. Here’s his extensive list of comments and references on the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009:

PG 22 MANDATES the Government will audit books of ALL EMPLOYERS that self insure!!

PG 24 Line 116 Government effectively sets prices for ALL private health plans.

PG 30 Line 123 THERE WILL BE A Government COMMITTEE that decides what treatments/benefits you get.

PG 37 Line 132 The Government will be reviewing grievances about themselves and will decide on appeals for rejected claims.

PG 29 Line 4-16 YOUR HEALTHCARE IS RATIONED!!! Additionally you can reference PG 15 Line 19-25.

PG 42 The Health Choices Commissioner will choose your HealthCare Benefits for you. You have no choice!

PG 50 Line 152 HealthCare will be provided to ALL non US citizens, illegal or otherwise.

PG 58 Government will have real-time access to individuals’ finances & a National ID HealthCare Card will be issued!

PG 59 Line 21-24 Government will have direct access to your banks accounts for electronic funds transfer!

PG 61 Line 22-24 Congress has no clue what Electronic Medical Records will cost. Asks for estimate.

PG 62 Protection of Data, Government shows they will have database of your personal & financial info.

OK peeps a big one – PG 64 Line 21-25, pg65 Line 1-5 which refers to processing payment transactions by financial institutions

PG 65 Line 164 is a payoff subsidized plan for retirees and their families in Unions & community organizations (ACORN).

PG 72 Line 8-14 Government is creating an HealthCare Exchange to bring private HealthCare plans under Government control.

PG 84 Line 203 Government mandates ALL benefit packages for private. HealthCare plans in the Exchange.

PG 85 Line 7 Specs for of Benefit Levels for Plans = The Government will ration your HealthCare! #AARP members – your Health care Will be rationed.

PG 89 Line 6-10 The FAR is not applicable. Government can write contracts any way they want.

PG 95 Line 8-18 The Government will use groups i.e., ACORN & Americorps to sign up individuals for Government HealthCare plan.

PG 98 Line 8 Americans – You will be paying for others HealthCare while paying for your own.

PG 100 Line 15-19 The Government Will be using ACORN and other community groups to promote & enroll.

PG 102 Line 12-18 Medicaid Eligible Individual will be automatically enrolled in Medicaid. No choice.

PG 109 Line 207 Health Trust Fund. The Government will raise taxes on EVERYONE to fund HealthCare as they see fit. Correction

PG 110 Line 7-12 Employment taxes on ALL employers NOT offering Government HealthCare. No choice.

PG 110 Line 13-18 An excise tax on ALL goods from companies not offering Government HealthCare. ALL Americans pay.

PG 110 Line 19-24 the Treasury can take $$ from Soc Line to pay HealthCare.

PG 111 Line 208 The Federal Government will usurp all State powers in State Based HealthCare Exchange. Violation of 10th Amend.

PG 119 Line 1-3 Establish geographically-adjusted premium rates for public option Can you say ACORN census?

PG 121 Line 223 PAYMENT RATES FOR ITEMS AND SERVICES. Can you say Government price fixing & monopoly?

PG 124 Line 24-25 No company can sue Government on price fixing. No “judicial review” against Government Monopoly.

PG 126 Line 10-15 The Government can make up prices for anything at anytime for any reason.

PG 126 Line 22-25 Employers MUST pay for HealthCare for part time employees AND their families.

PG 127 Line 1-16 Doctors: The Government will tell YOU what you can make.

PG 129 The public option will be subsidized. Credits = your tax dollars. Redistribution of wealth.

PG 130 Line 10-23 Federal Government will subsidize State Medicaid = Even Higher State & Federal taxes for ALL.

PG 145 Line 15-17 An Employer MUST auto enroll employees into public option plan. NO CHOICE.

PG 149 Line 16-24 ANY Employer with payroll 400k & above who does not provide public option pays 8% tax on all payroll.

PG 150 Line 9-13 Biz with payroll btw 251k & 400k who doesn’t provide public option pays 2-6% tax on all payroll.

PG 151 Line 1-3 Aggregate Rules-tax on employers payroll not on public option include payroll of other biz.

PG 167 Line 18-23 ANY individual who doesn’t have acceptable HealthCare according to Government will be taxed 2.5% of inc.

PG 170 Line 1-3 Any NONRESIDENT Alien is exempt from individual taxes. (Americans will pay)

PG 195 Officers & employees of HealthCare Administration (Government) will have access to ALL Americans financial/personal records.

PG 198 Line 1-3 1.5% ADDITIONAL TAX on peeps who have income of 500k to 1mil. Redistribution of Wealth.

PG 198 Line 4-6 5.4% ADDITIONAL TAX on peeps who have income of $1mil+. Redistribution of Wealth

PG 199 Line 1-4 Surtax rates on raised AGAIN on Americans in 2012.

PG 201 Line 12-19 Government will ignore whatever costs they see fit to show savings. (Cooking the books)

PG 203 Line 14-15 “The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax” Yes, it says that.

PG 202-215 is a Government rewrite of the tax code ensuring more taxes for EVERYONE, Everywhere.

PG 239 Line 14-24 Government will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors, low income, poor affected.

PG 241 Line 6-8 Doctors, doesn’t matter what specialty you have, you’ll all be paid the same.

PG 236 Line 22-25 PG 237 Line 1-3 National rate of uninsured defined by Census. Can you say ACORN corruption?

PG 239 Line 10-12 Medicare DSH payments will be increased. Can you say even higher taxes for all?

PG 238-249 Line 1121 Doctors-Government mandates your growth, costs, value, services, & income. Peeps- Welcome to rationing

PG 253 Line 10-18 Government sets value of Dr’s time, prof judg, etc. Literally value of humans. We’re next.

PG 260 Line 1125 Fed Government will adjust Medicare Payment Localities for California based on Census. ACORN?

PG 265 Line 1131 Government mandates & controls productivity for private HealthCare industries.

PG 268 Line 1141 Fed Government regulates rental & purchase of power driven wheelchairs.

PG 270 Line 1144 Government Mandates that all private ambulatory surgical centers submit cost data & other data

PG 272 Line 1145 TREATMENT OF CERTAIN CANCER HOSPITALS – Cancer patients – welcome to rationing!

PG 276 Line 3-20 Oxygen Equipment & Supply Companies – Government MANDATES you will provide supplies NO MATTER where individual is.

PG 287 Line 14-25 PROOF that Government will ration HealthCare by mandating waiting periods for readmission.

PG 298 Line 9-11 Drs, treat a patient during initial admission that results in a readmission – Government will penalize you.

PG 303 Line 12-25 Post Acute Care Services Data – Government will collect data including personal information as they see fit.

PG 304 Line 17-19 BIG ONE HERE: Expedited Data Collection – More information here

PG 304 Line 17-19 Government does NOT have to protect your private, share with anyone, & is not resp (more on expedited data collection)

PG 306 Line 3-6 The Government can expand the scope & size of Post Acute Program Services anytime & as they see fit.

PG 313 Line 9-14 Government MANDATES Health Services providers will state ownership, invest, & compensation arrangements.

PG 317 Line 13-20 PROHIBITION on ownership/investment. Government tells Drs. what/how much they can own.

PG 317-318 Line 21-25,1-3 PROHIBITION on expansion- Government is mandating hospitals cannot expand.

PG 318-319 Government is mandating how hospitals & physicians conduct business & investments. We’re next!

PG 321 2-13 Hospitals have opportunity to apply for exception BUT community input required. Can you say ACORN?!!

PG 328 Line 1157 Government study disguised. Its a HealthCare workforce study mandated by law for unionization.

Pg335 Line 16-25 PG 336-339 Government mandates estab. of outcome based measures. HealthCare the way they want. Rationing.

PG 341 Line 3-9 Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Adv Plans, HMOs, etc. Forcing peeps in to Government plan.

PG 354 Line 1177 Government will RESTRICT enrollment of Special needs people!

PG 355-369 Line 1181 Government disguises tax on Drug Companies as rebate to Government to subsidize Drugs. We pay in the end.

PG 379 Line 1191 Government creates more bureaucracy – Telehealth Advisory Committee. Can you say HealthCare by phone?

PG 399 If your a subsidy eligible individual under Medicare part D and you don’t enroll, the Government will auto enroll you.

PG 401 Section 1221 Americans will fund Medicare Language & Translation Services Program. Can you say MORE taxes?

PG 404 Lines 12-16 Government exempts itself again from – Chap 35 of title 44, USC including privacy of Americans.

PG 404 Lines 17-19 Government doesn’t know the cost of Language services but states that money is there.

PG 425 Lines 4-12 Government mandates Advance Care Planning Consult. Think Senior Citizens end of life.

PG 425 Lines 17-19 Government will instruct & consult regarding living wills, durable powers of atty. Mandatory!

PG 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3 Government provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death.

PG 427 Lines 15-24 Government mandates program for orders for end of life. The Government has a say in how your life ends.

PG 429 Lines 1-9 An “advance care planning consultant” will be used frequently as patients health deteriorates.

PG 429 Lines 10-12 “advance care consultation” may include an ORDER for end of life plans. AN ORDER from Government.

PG 429 Lines 13-25 The Government will specify which Doctors can write an end of life order. Logan’s Run anyone?

PG 430 Lines 11-15 The Government will decide what level of treatment you will have at end of life.

PG 432 Lines 18-21 The Government will publish “quality measures” for individual’s end of life in Federal Register.

PG 434 Section 1234 Military Active, Reservists, Families – If you’re not enrolled in Tricare it is mandated.

PG 434 Section 1234 Military Active, Reservists, Families – Once HealthCare bill is passed your premiums will go up.

PG 438 Section 1236 The Government will develop a patient decision making aid program that you & Dr. WILL use.

PG 443 Lines 7-24 Government at taxpayers expense test out an “Accountable Care Org” program (Government doesn’t have plan.)

PG 444 Lines 1-6 Government’s Accountable Care Program will mandate services & infrastructure thru reward/penalty system.

PG 448 Lines 4-17 Government will set performance targets for ALL Accountable Care Organizations including private.

PG 455 Lines 3-4 Government exempts itself from Chapter 35, Title 44 Paperwork Reduction & Citizens Privacy Protection Act

PG 460 Section 1302 Knock, Knock – It’s the Government and I’m here with the Medical Home Program – YOUR home.

PG 460 Section 1302 The Government WILL provide medical services in your home. Paging Nurse Pelosi!!

PG 464 Lines 17-22 Independent Patient Center Home Medical Services – Drs. don’t have to be at your home just some directed by D

PG 469 Community Based Home Medical Services=Non profit organizations. Hello, ACORN Medical Services here!!?

Page 472 Lines 14-17 PAYMENT TO COMMUNITY-BASED Organization – 1 monthly payment to a community-based organization Like ACORN?

PG 476 19-20 Chapter 35/ title 44, (Privacy of personal records) shall not apply Home Medical Services. ACORN ACCESS

PG 489 Section 1308 The Government will cover Marriage & Family therapy. Which means they will insert Government into your marriage.

PG 494-498 Government will cover Mental Health Services including defining, creating, rationing those services.

PG 502 Section 1181 Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research Established. – Hello Big Brother – Literally.

PG 502 Line 5-18 Government builds the “Center” to conduct, support, & synthesize research to define our HealthCare Services.

PG 503 Line 13-19 Government will build registries and data networks from YOUR electronic medical records.

PG 503 Line 21-25 Government may secure data directly from any department or agency of the US including your data.

PG 504 Line 6-10 The “Center” will collect data both published & unpublished (that means public & your private info)

PG 506 Line 19-21 The Center will recommend policies that would allow for public access of data

PG 518 Line 21-25 The Commission will have input from HealthCare consumer reps – Can you say unions & ACORN?

PG 524 18-22 Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund set up. More taxes for ALL.

PG 525-620 deals with the Government basically taking over nursing homes, … Read More here

PG 620 Line 1-9 The Government will define, prioritize, and nationalize your Health Care Services.

PG 621 Lines 20-25 Government will define what Quality means in HealthCare. Since when does Government know about quality?

PG 622 Lines 2-9 To pay for the quality Standards Government will transfer $$ from to other Government Trust Funds. More Taxes.

PG 624 “Quality” measures shall be designed to assess outcomes & functional status of patients.

PG 628 Section 1443 Government will give “Multi-Stake Holders” Pre-Rule Making input into Selection of “Quality” Measures.

PG 630 9-24/631 1-9 Those Multi-stake holder groups including Unions & groups like ACORN deciding HealthCare quality.

PG 632 Lines 14-25 The Government may implement any “Quality measure” of HealthCare Services as they see fit.

PG 633 14-25/ 634 1-9 The Secretary may issue non-endorsed “Quality Measures” for Physician Services & Dialysis Services.

PG 635 – 653 Physicians Payments Sunshine Provision – Government wants to shine sunlight on Docs but not Government.

PG 654-659 Public Reporting on Health Care-Associated Infections – Looks okay.

PG 660-671 Doctors in Residency – Government will tell you where your residency will be, thus where you’ll live.

PG 676-686 Government will regulate hospitals in EVERY aspect of residency programs, including teaching hospitals.

PG 686-700 Increased Funding to Fight Waste, Fraud, and Abuse. LMAO!! You mean the Government with an $18 mil website?

PGs 701-704 Section 1619 If your part of HealthCare plan that isn’t in Government HealthCare Exchange but you qualify for Federal aid, no payment.

PG 705-709 SEC. 1128 If Secretary gets complaints (ACORN) on HealthCare provider or supplier, Government can do background check.

PG 711 Lines 8-14 The Secretary has broad powers to deny HealthCare providers/suppliers admittance into HealthCare Exchange.

Pg 719-720 Section 1637 ANY Doctor who orders durable medical equipment or home medical services MUST be enrolled in Medicare.

PG 722 Section 1639 Government MANDATES Doctors must have face-to-face with patient to certify patient for Home Health Services.

PG 724 Lines 16-22 Government reserves right to apply face-to-face certification for patient to ANY other HealthCare service.

PG 724 23-25 PG 725 1-5 The same Government certifications will apply to medicaid & CHIP (your kids)

Pg 735 lines 16-25 For law enforcement purposes, the Secretary of Health & Human Services will give Attorney General access to ALL data.

PG 740-757 Government sets guidelines for subsidizing the uninsured (That’s your tax dollars peeps)

Pg 757-762 Fed Government will shift burden of payments to Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) to States. (Taxes)

Page 763 1-8 No DS/EA hospitals will be paid unless they provide services without regard to national origin

Pg 765 Section 1711 Government will require Preventative Services including vaccines. (Choice?)

Pg 768 Section 1713 Government – Nurse Home Visitation Services (Hello union paybacks)

Pg 769 3-5 Nurse Home Visit Services – “increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.” Government Abortions anyone?

Pg 769 11-14 Nurse Home Visit Services include-economic self-sufficiency, employment advancement, school-readiness.

Pg 769 3-5 Nurse Home Visit Services – “increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.” Government ABORTIONS anyone?

Pg 770 SEC 1714 Federal Government mandates eligibility for State Family Planning Services. Say abortion & State Sovereign.

Pg 789-797 Government will set & mandate drug prices, controlling which drugs will brought to market. Bye innovation

Pgs 797-800 SEC. 1744 PAYMENTS for grad medical education. The government will now control Drs education.

PG 801 Sec 1751 The Government will decide which Health care conditions will be paid. Say RATION!

Pg 810 SEC. 1759. Billing Agents, clearinghouses, etc. required to register. Government takes over private payment system.

Page 820-824 Sec 1801 Government will identify individuals ineligible for subsidies. Will access all personal finances.

Pg 824-829 SEC. 1802. Government Sets up Comparative Effectiveness Research Trust Fund. Another tax black hole.

PG 829-833 Government will impose a fee on ALL private health insurance plans including self insured to pay for Trust Fund!

PG 835 11-13 fees imposed by Government for Trust Fund shall be treated as if they were taxes.

Pg 838-840 Government will design & implement Home Visitation Program for families with young kids & families expecting kids.

PG 844-845 This Home Visitation Program includes Government coming into your house & telling you how to parent!!!

Pg 859 Government will establish a Public Health Fund at a cost of $88,800,000,000. Yes thats Billion.

Pg 865 The Government will MANDATE the establishment of a National Health Service Corps.

PG 865 to 876 The NHS Corps is a program where Drs. perform mandatory HealthCare for 2 years for part loan repayment.

PG 876-892 The Government takes over the education of our Medical students and Drs.

PG 898 The Government will establish a Public Health Workforce Corps. to ensure supply of public health professionals.

PG 898 The Public health workforce corps shall consist of officers of Regular & Reserve Corps of Service.

PG 898 The Public health workforce corps shall consist of civilian employees of the U.S. as Secretary deems.

PG 900 The Public Health Workforce Corps includes veterinarians.

PG 901 The Public Health Workforce Corps WILL include commissioned Regular & Reserve Officers. HealthCare Draft? WTF!

PG 910 The Government will develop, build & run Public Health Training Centers.

PG 913-914 Government starts a HealthCare affirmative action program thru guise of diversity scholarships.

PG 915 SEC. 2251. Government MANDATES Cultural & linguistic competency training for HealthCare professionals.

Pg 932 The Government will establish Preventative & Wellness Trust fund – intial cost of $30,800,000,000-Billion.

PG 935 21-22 Government will identify specific goals & objectives for prevention & wellness activities. Control You!!

PG 936 Government will develop “Healthy People & National Public Health Performance Standards” Tell me what to eat?

PG 942 Lines 22-25 More Government? Offices of Surgeon General -Public Health Services, Minority Health, Women’s Health

PG 950- 980 BIG Government core public health infrastructure includes workforce capacity, lab systems; health information systems, etc

PG 993 Government will establish school based health clinics. Your kids wont have a chance.

PG 994 School Based Health Clinic will be integrated into the school environment. Say Government Brainwash!

PG 1001 The Government will establish a National Medical Device Registry. Will you be tracked?

PG 1003 9-11 National Medical Dev Reg ‘‘(iii) other postmarket device surveillance activities” you WILL be tracked.

PG 1018 States give up some of their State Sovereignty.

The simulacrum hypothesis deserved
better than to become a reality.2

Le Nouvel Observateur: Your reflections on reality and the virtual are some of the key references used by the makers of The Matrix. The first episode explicitly referred to you as the viewer clearly saw the cover of Simulacra and Simulation.3
Were you surprised by this?

Jean Baudrillard: Certainly there have been misinterpretations, which is why I have been hesitant until now to speak about The Matrix. The staff of the Wachowski brothers contacted me at various times following the release of the first episode in order to get me involved with the following ones, but this wasn’t really conceivable (laughter). Basically, a similar misunderstanding occurred in the 1980s when New York-based Simulationist4 artists contacted me. They took the hypothesis of the virtual for an irrefutable fact and transformed it into a visible phantasm. But it is precisely that we can no longer employ categories of the real in order to discuss the characteristics of the virtual.

Nouvel Observateur: The connection between the film and the vision you develop, for example, in The Perfect Crime, is, however, quite striking. In evoking a desert of the real, these totally virtualized spectral humans, who are no more than the energetic reserve of thinking objects… .

Baudrillard: Yes, but already there have been other films that treat the growing
indistinction between the real and the virtual: The Truman Show, Minority Report, or even Mulholland Drive, the masterpiece of David Lynch. The Matrix’s value is chiefly as a synthesis of all that. But there the set-up is cruder and does not truly evoke the problem. The actors are in the matrix, that is, in the digitized system of things; or, they are radically outside it, such as in Zion, the city of resistors. But what would be interesting is to show what happens when these two worlds collide. The most embarrassing part of the film is that the new problem posed by simulation is confused with its classical, Platonic treatment. This is a serious flaw. The radical illusion of the world is a problem faced by all great cultures, which they have solved through art and symbolization. What we have invented, in order to support this suffering, is a simulated real, which henceforth supplants the real and is its final solution, a virtual universe from which everything dangerous and negative has been expelled. And The Matrix is undeniably part of that. Everything belonging to the order of dream, utopia and phantasm is given expression, “realized.” We are in the uncut transparency. The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the matrix that the matrix would have been able to produce.

Nouvel Observateur: It is also a film that purports to denounce technicist alienation and, at the same time, plays entirely on the fascination exercised
by the digital universe and computer-generated images.

Baudrillard: What is notable about Matrix Reloaded is the absence of a glimmer of irony that would allow viewers to turn this gigantic special effect on its head. There is no sequence which would be the punctum about which Roland Barthes wrote, this striking mark that brings you face-to-face with a true image. Moreover, this is what makes the film an instructive symptom, and the actual fetish of this universe of technologies of the screen in which there is no longer a distinction between the real and the imaginary. The Matrix is considered to be an extravagant object, at once candid and perverse, where there is neither a here nor a there. The pseudo-Freud who speaks at the film’s conclusion puts it well: at a certain moment, we reprogrammed the matrix in order to integrate anomalies into the equation. And you, the resistors, comprise a part of it. Thus we are, it seems, within a total virtual circuit without an exterior. Here again I am in theoretical disagreement (laughter). The Matrix paints the picture of a monopolistic superpower, like we see today, and then collaborates in its refraction. Basically, its dissemination on a world scale is complicit with the film itself. On this point it is worth recalling Marshall McLuhan: the medium is the message. The message of The Matrix is its own diffusion by an uncontrollable and proliferating contamination.

Nouvel Observateur: It is rather shocking to see that, henceforth, all American
marketing successes, from The Matrix to Madonna’s new album, are presented as critiques of the system which massively promotes them.

Baudrillard: That is exactly what makes our times so oppressive. The system produces a negativity in trompe-l’oeil [a reference to illusion painting], which is integrated into products of the spectacle just as obsolescence is built into industrial products. It is the most efficient way of incorporating all genuine alternatives. There are no longer external Omega points or any antagonistic means available in order to analyze the world; there is nothing more than a fascinated adhesion. One must understand, however, that the more a system nears perfection, the more it approaches the total accident. It is a form of objective irony stipulating that nothing ever happened. September 11^th participated in this. Terrorism is not an alternative power, it is nothing except the metaphor of this almost suicidal return of Western power on itself. That is what I said at the time, and it was not widely accepted. But it is not about being nihilistic or pessimistic in the face of all that. The system, the virtual, the matrix – all of these will perhaps return to the dustbin of history. For reversibility, challenge and seduction are indestructible.5

Endnotes

Notice they spin it like Baudrillard is supporting their methods….but I don’t think he really is when one evaluates Baudrillard’s work. Just listen to the following speech, where Baudrillard discusses The Murder of the Real, pointing out that when reality is entirely artificial the people in it experience nihilism.

Government surpluses are funds that are not required or needed for the operation of all government operations, funds, accounts, agencies, etc., directly or indirectly, for the year(s) covered by the budget which is usually one year. Theoretically, at the end of every fiscal year, governments should have little or no cash/investments on hand. But what we have found is that most governments have huge amounts of cash and investments on hand at the end of the fiscal year. And somehow these cash and investments are not being recycled back through the budget process the next year, but are being held year-after-year.

A Government Can Have Budget Deficits/
Shortfalls, and Financial Surpluses at The Same Time.

This is the most deceiving topic that governments, politicians, and the news media have conveyed to the public about governmental financial matters. In realty, a government can simultaneously have a budget shortfall and a financial surplus of the taxpayers’ money. The problems are focused in the following areas:

1. The budget only covers a small portion of the State’s financial condition. There are a group of funds not part of the budget process. The complete list of funds and budgetary requirements are found in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). This report depicts the complete financial status of the State. The budget only covers a portion of the financial resources of the government. The CAFR typically includes the following categories.

Governmental Funds involve activities of the government including most basic services such as environmental resources, general government, transportation, education, health and human services, and protection of persons and property. Most of the cost of these activities are financed by taxes, fees , and federal grants.

Proprietary Funds are used when a government charges customers for the services it provides, whether to outside customers or to other agencies with the state. For example, Enterprise Funds, a component of proprietary funds, are for activities that provide goods and services to outside (non-government) customers, which includes the general public. Fees, charges for services or goods, assessments, fines, licenses, etc. are the major revenue sources.

Fiduciary Funds are activities in which the state acts as a trustee or fiduciary to hold resources for the benefit of others. These funds are pension trust funds, investment trusts, and agency funds (which are for assets held for distribution by the government as an agent for other governmental units, other organizations, or individuals).

Component Units reportedly are legally separated organizations for which the government is financially accountable. Usually fees, charges for services or goods, assessments, fines, penalties, licenses, etc. are the major revenue source.

The budget, as commonly known to the public, only involves the Governmental Funds and may not even include all of the governmental-type funds. The remainder of the Funds shown above are not part of the budget and are commonly called “off-budget” items.

2. Next year’s budget consists only of next year’s estimated revenues and next year’s estimated expenditures. Previous years’ revenues not used (spent) are normally not considered in the next year’s budget, but should be. In other words, the previous years’ revenues (as shown in the CAFR) are not recycled back to the budget process.

Historically, a budget consists of three parts: 1) Funds brought forward (funds not previously spent); 2) Next year’s estimated revenues; and 3) Next year’s estimated expenditures.

But somewhere along the way the funds brought forward category was lost. In accounting, the previous years’ revenues are no longer called revenue but have been converted to Cash and Investments. Since they no longer called Revenues governments have forgotten about them to the public. They are there but not considered in the budget process, but should be.

3. The budgeted items and non-budgeted items (off budget) should be budgeted to zero (usually referred to as zero-based budgeting). In addition, the government should be on a pay-as-you-go basis, no reserves for future years. What this means is that you budget to have a zero fund balance. If you plan to spend $100 you budget for $100 with no excess or reserve allowed.

For example, the State of California Special Revenue Funds (Governmental Funds), considered part of the budget, have fund balances of $8.6 billion that probably will not be considered in the yearly budget. The total cash and investments, funds that were not used during the current year, was $ 8.5 billion (surplus) and should be part of the next year’s budget. So if there is a “budget deficit” ask about these funds not being considered or used.

4. Budgeted expenditures should be last year’s expenditures (as shown in the CAFR) with an adjustment for increase in requirements (costed out) or reductions in requirements. In most cases the CAFR expenditures are not considered in the next year’s budget because the CAFR in many cases is published after next year’s budget is considered and sometimes approved.

Running Surpluses is Stealing

Although taxation is legitimate, running a government surplus isn’t. It represents a taking by the state, because it exceeds the government’s contract with the community. It is no different than if a federal agency were to take a person’s land or possessions without just compensation (an activity barred by the Fifth Amendment). Excess taxation isn’t what the people bargained for.

In presuming entitlement or authority not ceded by the community, the state abrogates its moral pact with those it governs. Its power is no longer derived from the people, whose rights to liberty and property it boldly denies.

“Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery” – Calvin Coolidge

Reprinted from:

http://cafrman.com/Articles/Art-CA-S1.htm

On February 7, 1972, there was held a White House Conference on the Industrial World Ahead, which was called:

“A Look at Business in 1990.”

On May 18, 1972, Roy Ash (Chairman of the President’s Advisory Council on Executive Organization) and his fellow White House panelists — multinational industrialists, international bankers, government appointees — tell American businessmen that a [B]World Economic Community will be in operation by 1990, that “some aspects of national sovereignty will be given over to supranational authority,” that the IMF will be “the source of all of the primary reserves of all of the banking systems of the world,” and that the Socialist countries of the world will join in the creation of this New World Society, and finally, that this is “natural, inexorable, and beneficial.”

On September 1, 1972, the Wall Street Journal of published a leading editorial which labeled as fantasy, hallucination and big lie, the charge that there is “a long-time conspiracy financed by the Rockefeller family and programmed through the Council on Foreign Relations, aimed at imposing a one-world Socialist government.”

On September 8, 1972, Don Bell reported in his weekly commentary what Roy Ash told the Los Angeles conference audience regarding the White House directives (excerpt of Ash’s speech is quoted below).

The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce,
in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Commerce
and the White House Staff, is presenting The White House Conference.

The world Ahead, A Look at Business in 1990.
Thursday, May 18, 1972.
Los Angeles Hilton.
3 :00-6:30 p.m.

It’s a privilege to be with you this afternoon and, together, to peer into the future toward 1990. Some of you may have wondered why the White House conferees were advised to direct their prognostications to the year 1990, rather than to some other specific date in the decades ahead. Unfortunately, there is little I can provide in the way of edification; I rather wondered about it myself. Alright, I reasoned, George Orwell long ago appropriated 1984. Herman Kahn more recently laid claim to 2000. So there were not many good numbers left. Possibly 1990 was selected for the benef it of the panelists. They will all be retired and safe from harm if their predictions are wrong.

At the White House conference held earlier this year my fellow panelists and I discussed the subject of world business and the economy of 1990. Our particular panel, I should add, was comprised of Jean Frere, Managing Partner of Banque Lambert, Brussels, Belgium; Robert V. Roosa, partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., United States; Roberto Campos, president of the International Bank, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Peter G. Peterson, then Assistant to President Nixon for International Economic Affairs and Executive Director of the Council on International Economic Policy, and now the Secretary of Commerce.

While we did not always achieve unanimity, our conclusions on the general subject of the future of world business tended, for the most part, to be strikingly similar. In the time alloted me today, I will attempt to summarize those conclusions . However, in all fairness to Messrs. Frere, Roosa, Campos and Peterson — none of whom are here to cry foul if their panel chairman goes astray — I will hedge by saying that what follows represents essentially my own views, reinforced where appropriate with their comments .

The threshhold question is, why is world business so important to us anyway? Why don’t we just concentrate on improving the U .S. business and economy? Isn’t that enough challenge?

The answer is that increasing economic and business interdependence among nations is the keynote of the next two decades of world business — decades that will see major steps toward a single world economy evolve out of today’s increasingly interacting, but still separate, national economies. As city, state and regional economies in this country have become melded into a single and highly interacting national economy, so individual national economies will meld into a single world economic system . And as the economic development of the United States made obsolete self-contained U .S. state, or even regional, economies, so the natural development of the world between now and 1990 will make obsolete a free standing French economy, a Japanese one, and even a U.S. economy in isolation from others.

Such an evolution is natural and inexorable — and beneficial. For an intelligent civilization always has and always will seek more and more efficient, and thus productive, means of converting its limited resources, energy and manpower into useful products and services. More highly integrated economic structures — based on specialization of its many elements and on interdependency among the specialized parts-is the inevitable answer. A single world economy is that higher order integration for the decades ahead.

The obstacles and hazards in the way of realizing a beneficially functioning single world economy are many. More effective multilateral governmental institutions must be developed and brought into operation. Some aspects of individual sovereignty will be given over to supranational authority. Even as critical, the relative roles of the world’s governments, on the one hand, and of globe circling business enterprises on the other, need to be worked out. Some have likened the upcoming issues between sovereign nations and multinational business to the test of earlier times between church and state.

We need only look at the long road the European Common Market countries have taken, and are still on, as they step by step reconcile national interests with the mutual advantages of a more broadly based economy, and as they embrace the activities of multinational business, to visualize the even more complex issues as we move toward a single world economy. But the Common Market countries are all industrialized and all operate under the private enterprise system. In embracing all the countries of the world, special attention needs to be given to the less industrialized countries and how they relate to the already industrialized ones, and to the place of the socialist countries in a developing world economy.

Roberto Campos, of the panel, maintains that great strains will arise in embracing within a single world economy countries of widely disparate development levels . He sees a strong bipolarity of interests and objectives. One of the bilateral poles of the future, as he sees it, will be comprised of emerging post-industrial, mass consumption societies — the largely developed societies — by 1990 perhaps 30 per cent of the world’s population when taken together. The industrial-transitional and pre-industrial societies, representing over 70 per cent of the world’s population, would constitute the other pole. And, as he notes, these two groups will greatly differ in the nature of their priorities and in the range of options available, thus a continuing source of international tension. Campos foresees, in the post-industrial societies, a humanistic revolt against technology and the surfeit of materialism it has produced; and in the developing nations, a technological revolt against hedonistic humanism — because for them the most urgent concern is the eradication of poverty — through stepped up “materialism.”

As importantly, international agreements between the socialist and the private property economies add a different dimension to the problems for which solutions need be found over the years ahead. But as Jean Frere forecasts, the socialist countries will take major steps toward joining the world economy by 1990 . He goes so far as to see them becoming members of the International Monetary Fund, the sine qua non for effective participation in multilateral commerce. Then also, by 1990 an imaginative variety of contractual arrangements will have been devised and put into operation by which the socialist countries and the private capital countries will be doing considerable business together, neither being required to abandon its base ideology. (The economic theories of Adam Smith and Karl Marx are not without their common points.)

These special dimensions of the next economy — the economy of the world, as it first permeates the industrial countries and then reaches out to embrace both the pre-industrial and socialistic ones — present challenging tasks for the next two or more decades. . . .

The industrial world ahead . . . will turn increasingly on the use of massive amounts of capital, the development and application of a cascading flow of new technologies, and highly professionalized management . Yet these relatively scarce resources are not equally available to all the world’s countries. Thus the role for the multinational company.

For, the fundamental reasons the multinational corporations are here to stay and will conduct much of the world’s business of the future, are simple ones. These powerful factors of production — that is, capital, technology and management — will be fully mobile, neither contained nor containable within national borders. They can be employed wherever in the world they will be most productive . World-wide transportation systems — extensive, economic and rapid — will make the world smaller in 1990 than California was in 1920. New management techniques, aided by computer processed data and instant communications, will allow as effective direction and control of world-around business activities in 1990 as a fifty man factory was controlled by the on-the-floor visual supervision of 1920.

The multinational corporation will be the natural outgrowth of the driving force of industrial enterprise that continually seeks out ways of producing and distributing more goods at lower cost to the consumer. Having a world perspective and operating in conducive national environments, it will combine labor, materials, capital, technology and management in the most productive combinations and distribute the fruits of this combination to world markets . Such maximum efficiency in the use of all the world’s productive resources is essential for the demanding period ahead . The multinational corporation — domestic in all countries, foreign in none — will become the mechanism to realize the potentials of world business for all the world’s citizens.

Yet the very scale and dimension of the multi- national corporation will require new forms of relationships between business and national governments. To reflect this need for reconciling the roles of sovereign nations and multinational corporations, Robert Roosa is convinced we are going to have to develop and apply clear “rules of the road.” It cannot now be predicted whether they will come about from case by case development in the courts of international law or by treaty among major nations. In any event, effective international rules of the road are as essential for the world economy ahead as they are for Los Angeles traffic.

As a framework for their development and application will be the establishment of more effective supranational institutions to deal with intergovernmental matters, and matters between governments and world industry . A key intergovernmental institution that needs to work well in a world economy is the International Monetary Fund. Roosa predicts that the IMF will reach new capabilities and dimensions. It will become, in Bob’s words, the most advanced embodiment of the aspirations that so many have for a world society, a world economy. The IMF, he forecasts for 1990, is going to be the source of all of the primary reserves of all the banking systems of the world.

Jean Frere observes that monetary stability is going to be as critical for the 1990 world economy as the finer standards for distance, weight and time that are now required by modern technology. To bring this about is no small task; inflation must be licked and gold restored its rule; he concludes.

It would be my own forecast that within two decades the institutional framework for a World Economic Community will be in place and operating just as today’s European Economic Community structure provides the strong supranational framework for the European economy.

So, as we look ahead to the world economy of 1990 we already see some parts falling into their places. World business already is rapidly increasing. Multinational corporations are increasingly a fact of world business. Governments are beginning to perceive the meaning, problems and opportunities of a world economy. High on official agendas, world-around between now and then, will be programs to reconcile national interests, the forces of world business, and international objectives.

For, in the final analysis, we are commanded by the fact that the economies of the major countries of the world will be interlocked. And since major economic matters in all countries are also important political matters in and between countries, the inevitable consequence of these propositions in that the broader and total destinies — economic, political and social — of all the world’s nations are closely interlocked. We are clearly at that point where economic issues and their related effects can be considered only in terms of a total world destiny, not just separate national destinies, and certainly not just a separate go-it-alone destiny for the United States.

In simpler words: We shall have World Government whether we like it or not. And the oligarch’s who say this know whereof they speak; because they have their plan, it has been put into operation, and it is now working and being worked at every level of society: international, national, regional and at State, County, City and Community levels.

If the fate of the mankind were to hang on one philosophical term, it would be the word ‘dialectic’. This is because the dialectic a thinker endorses is the key to the inner rooms of his hidden intentions and true values. From this point of view, the safety and sanity of the world hangs on which dialectical system a society underwrites.

There is no denying the importance of the term dialectic but scholarship in this area is fraught with confusion. We rarely discuss the issue. In conversation — even among educated people — the subject is taboo. People in the academic world talk at cross purposes while we, the lay public, remain virtually unaware of the role The Dialectic plays in shaping the fortunes of our families. Vast numbers of ordinary citizens are blindly unaware of how their lives are influenced by various dialectical movements.

Some few are in on the secret. An elite pool of super thinkers know the power of The Dialectic. These worthies can discuss dialectical differences among Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Sorel, Sartre and relate past theories to modern trends. To this handful, it is no secret that The Dialectic is the hinge on which the philosophical enterprise swings.

However, the number of those who genuinely appreciate the significance of dialectical theory is small indeed. As we mentally play with nuclear weapons and flirt with doom, most of us muddle class Americans are blissfully ignorant of the importance The Dialectic exerts on our lives. Even worse, we are critically unaware of how much our future rides on the choice we make as to which dialectical style we lend our support.

Isn’t this intriguing? The most important happening of our day is a secret known only to a few. It stays that way because it is a forbidden subject of conversation. Even though our society is technically advanced beyond dreams of bygone days, most of us stubbornly refuse to examine the motor we use to drive our society? What is the answer to this mystery?

After stewing over dialectical conundrums for years, I see two solutions, one simple and one complex. The simple solution is to continue as we are and drive by “the seat of our pants”. Perhaps our native commonsense and good will holds enough power to bring civil discourse into dominance in the land.

We could. We, the moderate middle, have the power, by sheer numbers, to subdue the nefarious force of radical negative dialectics and demand that cultivated logical commonsense and fair play become the dominating method of political discourse. If we keep our feet on the ground, our head on our shoulders, and our heart in the right place we could squeeze out totalitarian propensities of social manipulators and not let the crazies in our society spoil the good life. This is a simple solution.

However, this simple solution does not always work. If the millions of tortured victims of Soviet Dialectic could speak, they would say it takes more than workaday commonsense to stand against the mesmerization of sophistic imperial dialectic once it penetrates the engines of power. Using the power of Radical Negative Dialectic, a deft autocrat can gain control behind the backs of the many and grab the wheel. If the dead victims of despotic dialectics could speak, they would tell us that there is an ever present danger, even in societies that claim to be free.

When logical intuition and rational commonsense are not enough to meet the challenge, we must have the courage to enter the realm of critical philosophy and intellectually study the matter. This brings us to my second answer, the complex solution. If we are to introduce a measure of intelligent control over powerful dialectical trends, then we must intellectually study the situation and make a conscious choice about which dialectic we prefer. This takes time and effort.

To gain a notion of the power of the term dialectic, we need to go back in time and learn how the idea has been used in the past. This means opening history books and at least glance at the role of the dialectic in history. If we do this, we will find that the power of the dialectic comes not only from its present role in directing our lives but also from the role it has played in years gone by.

The Roots of Sound Rational Thinking is a full length book that explores elemental ways to cultivate commonsense and advance our abilities to progress in peace.

Play Max & Stacy’s June 13th Podcast

What Max & Stacy are doing is helping to strengthen the establishment’s creation of a global dialectic, whereby the problem (ie. affirmation) is an unregulated global system and the response (ie. negation) is destablization, fraud, theft, global poverty, etc. The solution Max & Stacy propose (ie. negation of the negation) is a globlal system of checks and balances.

In fact, Max goes so far as to say, “if you are against the global system you are against global accounting.” The setup is now complete and the appropriate frames (ie. dialectics) established. Hence, if the public wants to clean up this global financial mess, irrespective of who created it, there is only ONE way, and that is to establish a global accounting and auditing system. To be against this solution is to be for continued fraud, theft, poverty and destabilization of society.

It’s a perfect setup! The public must now support a global infrastructure of checks and balances in order to stop the economic madness. We’re now just one more step closer to a full spectrum globalist system. But doesn’t that support the global oligarchs, and I though Max and Stacy were for the public and opposed to the global oligarchs? Hmmm.

Aristotle said…

“People that can’t think dialectically aren’t really human beings at all, they just look like human beings.”

Perhaps it is time for the public to heed and respond to Artistotle.

Play Interview

[Audio http://www.filefreak.com/files/19803_monqx/Henry%20Liu%20Interview%2C%202009-06-09.mp3]

Download Audio

For the first time in our history, Americans have to be fearful of what they say, of what they write, and of what they think. They have to be afraid of using the wrong word, a word denounced as offensive or insensitive, or racist, sexist, or homophobic.

The Sword & The Dollar

Listen to audio

Below are a few clips from Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1969 movie, Burn (“Queimada“), which Parenti cites in his talk as an example of a movie who’s distribution was squashed because it attempted to honestly portray the British colonialisation of Portugal.

In this first clip, Brando gives a complex, intelligent portrayal of a man who is both gentlemen & scoundrel, revolutionary & colonialist. It’s the mid 1800′s and the Slaves on vast Portuguese sugar plantation are ready to turn their misery into rebellion. Brando is ready to provide the spark.

In this clip, Brando persuades some Portuguese colonists to take the revolutionary road.

This video is the first I’ve seen where it is demonstrated that religious teachings were stolen, then co-opted & corrupted. It argues that disregarding the core of religion is a mistake, for religion was deliberately co-opted & corrupted in order to set a trap for the dismissal of its core teachings: biblical faith.

The video continues by arguing that the teachings of Jesus weren’t made up by those who told them. It continues by claiming that the religious teachings introduced by these usurpers were counter-to and unlike anything Jesus would have taught.

It is these subtleties that I believe most people don’t see, as we have witnessed here how so many are willing to throw-out all religious teaching, without understanding the differentiation between core religious teachings from Christ and those of its usurpers.

In Jacques Ellul’s Subversion of Christianity, he ably holds to the essential core of Christian teaching while showing how the church throughout history has consistently been led away from truly living out the gospel — whether by outside forces or by the weight of its own success, the church has continually done exactly the opposite of what the New Testament writers tell us to do. In this book, Ellul takes us through some of the most important missteps in church history and shows how the good news of Grace and Freedom was forced to the side, even with the best of intentions.

Ellul challenges us to find a new way of living out the Gospel, without either conforming ourselves to our present age or rejecting the essential elements of Christian doctrine. If the church is to have any effect, he says, we must return to our origins as a group of subversive individuals who refuse to play along with society’s expectations. Only by being subversive ourselves (as all the heroes of faith have been), can we return Christianity to its place as bearer of good news to a world which needs to hear it.

“The essence of technique is to compel the qualitative to become quantitative”

From the introduction of The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul…

“The term technique, as I use it, does not mean machines, technology, or this or that procedure for attaining an end. In our technological society, technique is the totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency (for a given stage of development) in every field of human activity. Its characteristics are new; the technique of the present has no common measure with that of the past.” (p. xxv)

“Capitalism did not create our world; the machine did. Painstaking studies designed to prove the contrary have buried the obvious beneath tons of print. And, if we do not wish to play the demagogue, we must point out the guilty party. ‘The machine is antisocial’, says Lewis Mumford. ‘It tends, by reason of its progressive character, to the most acute forms of human exploitation.’ The machine took its place in a social milieu that was not made for it, and for that reason created the inhuman society in which we live. Capitalism was therefore only one aspect of the deep disorder of the nineteenth century. To restore order, it was necessary to question all the bases of that society — its social and political structures, its art and its way of life, its commercial system.” (p. 5)