Friday, April 30, 2010

BOYS ARE NOT BECOMING MEN

REF:"Boys Don't Automatically Become Men" by Joel Hiliker,www.theTrumpet.com, 4/28/10

" Increasing numbers of boys have no clue how to be men. It is common to see grown boys who have cultivated no drive or ambition, no moral conviction, no ability or even desire to lead, and no bodily strength. They have few salable skills and a poor work ethic. They haven’t been taught any sense of honor toward women or responsibility toward children, nor of duty to provide for or protect them."

These roles for men, encompassing values, traits and duties used to be taught in the home. Father was the head of the house and was responsible for putting a roof over the family and food on the table. Mother was the homemaker, child rearer and keeper of togetherness. Her skills for detail, budgeting and grace provided the glue for the family, allowing, compromising and loving. Mother was home to greet the children returning from school.

This is a very disturbing and distressing result of our contemporary culture. When women "became men" in the late '50s and early 60's, they stormed into the workforce to get the things they wanted for themselves and families. Yes, at first they had menial jobs with low pay as compared to the men, then came the ERA, and hiring quotas. Later they were allowed into the military in combat roles. Education provided them with opportunity for executive and professional jobs.

"For 28 years running, more women have received college degrees than men, and the gap has widened every year. U.S. Census figures revealed last week that all told, more American women than men now hold undergraduate degrees. Women have also pulled even with men in advanced degrees, and could pass them this year."

"The education gap has also helped to flip the traditional family of a breadwinning father and homemaking mother on its head. Only one in five American families with children have a working dad and stay-at-home mom. The majority of America’s workforce is now female. In fact, nearly 40 percent of moms are their family’s primary breadwinner.

“How do you manage not to emasculate your husband?” a Telegraph reporter asked a friend who out-earns her husband. “I don’t manage,” was the answer. “If we disagree about how money is spent, I decide because it’s my money, and he hates it".

" Statistics suggest. . that men are settling into their diminished role as providers. “The idea that men see themselves as breadwinners is collapsing,” says Rob Williams of the UK’s Fatherhood Institute. One short generation ago, 72 percent of men believed a man should provide his family’s primary income and a woman should be the family’s primary caretaker and homemaker. Today only 42 percent of men believe that."

"It’s a shame. Because those traditional roles were not arbitrarily concocted by a primitive society. They were assigned by the Being who created human beings and made them male and female. . . The fact is, God is the source of everything that makes men men and women women. He designed differences in physique, in emotions, in intellectual and psychological composition. He is the author of masculinity and femininity. For the sake of order and organization, God created men to fulfill one role within the family and within society, and created women to fill a different and beautifully complementary role."

"This same God also prophesied that in our day, society would suffer curses as that order was disrupted—as men abdicated their responsibilities, women filled the leadership void, and ungovernable children oppressed them all . We are living that prophecy today."

Isaiah 3:12

O my people! Their oppressors are children,

and women rule over them.

O my people! Those who guide you lead you astray.

And confuse the direction of your paths.


Our culture or system got all screwed up somewhere along the way. We let greed get ahead of need and want. Money and things became more important than virtue and honor. Debt became a way of life and our successfulness was measured by our credit score.


We have been deceived.



With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN


Thursday, April 29, 2010

"THIS SUCKER IS GOING DOWN"

REF:http://Kunstler.com/blog/ April 25, 2010 "A Still Moment",by James Howard Kunstler


The following is an extract from the referenced article referring to a comment George W. Bush made " . . .this sucker could go down". and how in fact it is going down now:


"This sucker is going down because the train of bankruptcies underway has a remorseless self-reinforcing power to provoke more and more bankruptcies at every stop along the line as every promise to pay is welshed on. The mortgages will not be paid and securities will not pay their investors and the banks will choke on the bad paper promises in their vaults and the pension funds will not pay their beneficiaries and the states and counties and municipalities will go broke and not pay their employees and creditors, and the federal government will not be able to "print" new money in sufficient quantities fast enough to compensate for all the money not being paid up-and-down the line... and one morning we will wake up and discover that all those promises to pay were sham promises based on no productive activity whatsoever... and that will be a sad day. Perhaps the Dow Jones Industrial Average will hit 35,000 on that day.


Nothing can stop this chain of bankruptcy. It's already baked in the cake. There is probably some wish on the part of those in charge, like Mr. Obama, to try everything possible to postpone it. And there is likewise surely a huge effort underway in the banking sector right now to cream off as much cash as possible so that when this sucker does go down they will bethink themselves better positioned to survive the consequences.


Personally, I believe that the damage was mostly done during the tenure of poor dim George W. Bush, and his predecessor Bill Clinton. I suspect that Mr. Obama learned at the height of 2008 election campaign -- during those days of the Lehman collapse and the TARP -- just how completely the government -- and the people of the USA -- were in fact hostage to the banking system, and that it has been his unfortunate role to pretend that there is some other fate to bargain for besides this sucker going down. It is probably why he continues to smoke so much. He must be lighting one Marlboro off the tip of another, one after another, in whatever inner sanctum he repairs to when the midnight chimes toll around the White House. It's sad to think of this graceful, still rather young man going down in history as the chump-of-the-century, a reincarnation of Herbert Hoover on steroids, with sugar on top.


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

JUNK FOOD FARMS

We know Americans are getting fatter and fatter. We also know we are a nation addicted to junk food that is making us a nation of fat people, but where is junk food grown? Where are the junk food farms?


Farms grow corn and soybeans. Both have a lot of sugar type molecules that makes us crave Doritos, Coca Cola, Hostess Twinkies, powdered sugar donuts and slurpies. Tons of corn and soybeans are turned into edible food-like products.


This is a very profitable business and is growing every year as our population is hooked on this type of product along with refined flour (white bread and pasta}, refined sugar and the deadly fructose which is in almost all processed foods.


A bushel of corn costs $3.70. From one bushel of corn, 440 packages of Doritos selling for $0.99 can be produced. That's a pretty fair gross mark up--$3.70 to $440.


Soybeans find their way into our food through soybean oil and feed for livestock. This not only fattens cattle, but also fattens people.


Corn is also used to make syrups, sweeteners, starches and oil. 55% of the sweeteners used to make food and beverages are derived from corn.


We are taking a lot out of our soil to produce these demanded crops. Competition from foreign sources is demanding an ever increasing harvest of these crops resulting in the soil being over worked stimulated with chemical fertilizers and insecticides and pesticides.


Thank you, Eric deCarbonel in www.MarketSkeptics.com for a stimulating look

at today's agriculture


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Tuesday, April 27, 2010

TOUGH LADY


Arizona's new immigration enforcement law was signed by Governor Jan Brewer

in spite of howls and hollers from the bleeding hearts, including our

communist led president, who labeled the bill as "misguided". He further said it could violate peoples civil rights.


He claimed that the federal government must enact immigration reform at the national level--or "leave the door open to irresponsibility of others"[ The others he is referring to are non-elite U. S. citizens who are sick of seeing non-enforcement of our borders and sick of the litter on our soil and spreading of disease and sick of the crowding of our courts and jails and sick of the freebie medical care and education provided to those who are criminally in this country]


"That includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe", said our illustrious leader.


Governor Brewer was under intense pressure from anti-illegal immigration groups and lawmakers in her own party to sign the bill. . Hundreds of protesters gathered at the State Capitol complex Friday called on Brewer to veto the legislation.

Demonstrators had been camped outside the Capitol since the measure passed out of the Legislature. Their numbers grew steadily throughout the week, with buses bringing protesters from as far away as Los Angeles.

It is unbelievable that these probably illegal hispanics would be allowed to demonstrate or otherwise influence the state officials, let alone our president who says one thing, but does another, in this case he is probably seeking the support of hispanic voters.

The new law orders immigrants to carry their alien registration documents at all times and requires police to question people if there's reason to suspect they're in the United States illegally. Other provisions of the bill allow lawsuits against government agencies that hinder enforcement of immigration laws, and make it illegal to hire illegal immigrants for day labor or knowingly transport them.


So in response to the Arizona voters, Governor Brewer stood her ground, not responding to the special interest groups including the ACLU and state democrats.

So, as it should be, the state is taking responsibility to solve a problem that the federal bureaucracy cannot or will not.


Arizona has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants and is the state with the most illegal border crossings, with the harsh, remote desert serving as the gateway for thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans


Michael Hethmon, general counsel for the Immigration Reform Law Institute, helped draft the language of the bill, said lawmakers from four other states have approached him asking for advice on how they can do the same thing where they live.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN

Monday, April 26, 2010

SOVEREIGN INSOLVENCY


DO YOU SEE THINGS AS THEY ARE OR AS YOU WOULD LIKE THEM TO BE?

“By a continuous process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. The process engages all of the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner that not one man in a million can diagnose.” - John Maynard Keynes, 1920

COMMON SENSE PRINCIPLES

You cannot spend your way out of a recession.

You cannot over regulate the economy and expect it to function.

You cannot over tax the population and businesses and expect these to keep producing.

You cannot create an abundance of money out of thin air without making all paper money worthless.

You cannot live beyond your means indefinitely.

You cannot solve the unemployment problem by hiring the out of work people and/or send them unemployment checks without limit.

You cannot buy without first producing something of value.

The collapse of the global economy based upon paper money that has no backing other than the idea that it is valuable is happening before our eyes, but we cannot see it. The economies of the world's largest states are zombies. Dead and hollow, but not yet transparent.

Using this fiat money to store value, as is the practice of nations and people all over the world is coming to a devastating halt as we rush toward an inflationary depression. Pensions, bonds, insurance annuities are all paper promises which are no better than the integrity of the ones who made the promises.

Governments, central Banks , hedge Funds and mega international banks are pouring gasoline on a burning fire causing the ultimate failure to accelerate.

We are heading into a tragic time when our collective eyes will be opened and be able to see the enormity of the fraud which is being and has been perpetrated by governments and banking systems manipulation of money they never had. This is a high speed stall, from which recovery is impossible.


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Saturday, April 24, 2010

THE TRUTH ABOUT CHOLESTEROL


These statin drugs like Zocor , (simvastatin) are dangerous! The FDA has issued a statement on March 19, 2010 warning that doses higher than 20mg can cause muscle damage. The medics already have a name for this that you can't pronounce: Rabdomomyolisis. [REF: www.WebMD.com "Muscle Injury Risk Higher With Higher Zocor

Doses, Certain Other Drugs" by Daniel J. DeNoon


Instead of removing this dangerous drug from the market, as is their charter, The FDA is again kowtowing to a large pharmaceutical company.


According to Dr. William C. Douglas II, this drug can melt you muscles into your bloodstream, and eventually cause kidney failure. Dosages of up to 80 mg are still approved. Many doctors according to Douglass start with 80 mg and increase from there. If you combine Zocor with other common medicines or even with niacin, found in most foods, you have even higher risk.


The cholesterol craze is an almost complete farce, promoted by the phamaceutical industry, and trumpeted by the MDs. Some, a few having exaggerated levels could benefit from lower cholesterol, but most need not concern themselves with high readings. Doctors get all worked up about over 200 and try to bring it down to 160, when in fact our bodies would thrive on levels of 300. Our cells and tissues are dependent on cholesterol. 25% of our bodies' cholesterol is in our brain. Our body manufactures the stuff for a reason.


Low cholesterol(less than 200) impairs brain function i,e, memory loss & depression.

Low cholesterol is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

Low cholesterol is linked to suicide--it makes you crazy.

Low cholesterol can make heart disease worse.

Low cholesterol can trigger massive stroke brought on by weak brain blood vessels.

Low cholesterol may raise your cancer risk.

High cholesterol super-charges your sex life, being the material for sex hormones.

You need it to make testosterone and estrogen.


So relax, forget the low fat, low salt nonsense and enjoy your life with delightful eating. "Cholesterol is not your enemy! When you tune out the mainstream's anti-cholesterol propaganda -- life is good... and I speak from experience. It means sinking your teeth into a juicy steak whenever you want instead of struggling through another bowl of cardboard granola. It means lounging on the front porch with a premium cigar while your neighbors suffer through another grueling jog. William C. Douglass II


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN



Friday, April 23, 2010

THE EXTREMISTS DESPERATION

"The Extremists are coming! The Extremists are coming" by Butler Shaffer, 4/19/10

The LRC blog.

A Well written article by Mr. Shaffer:

"It is interesting to watch the political establishment implode. Having slurred critics of the war system and the rapidly expanding growth of political power as “anti-Semites” and/or “racists,” the champions of a system of state-dominated society have kicked their sense of desperation into high gear. While Reuters reported an opinion poll showing nearly 80% of Americans saying they don’t trust the government, the voices of state power work feverishly to characterize critics of the state as did one historian who informed the New York Times that the Tea Partiers, for instance, “are the same angry, ill-informed, overwhelmingly white, crypto-corporate paranoiacs” who embrace the “blithely narcistic presumption that the vast majority of Americans . . . already agree with them.” Given the aforementioned opinion poll, one has to wonder just who is “ill-informed.” What with the American government conjuring up wars based upon lies, forged documents, and other acts of deceit; with the economic system in a state-created turbulence; with the shoveling of hundreds of billions of dollars into the coffers of corporations friendly to the state; with major corporations (e.g., General Electric, Bank of America) paying no federal income tax this year; and with Washington endeavoring to create a situation to justify an unprovoked, “preemptive” attack on Iran with nuclear weapons, it is the height of elitist arrogance to charge tens of millions of Americans as “extremists” for objecting to such moral and intellectual corruption. A twisted logic is now in place amongst the establishment voices: those who object to government practices = militia extremists = Timothy McVeigh (CNN has devoted numerous hours these past few days to the Oklahoma City bombing of fifteen years ago).

It is important to bear in mind the admonition of the late George Carlin: “I never believe anything the government tells me!” At the same time, be aware that political systems — ALL political systems — are grounded in the unprincipled use of violence. Their machinations — while outwardly cloaked in the language of “public interest” — very quickly erupt into the self-serving violence dramatized so effectively in the Godfather films. When their special interests are threatened, such as by most members of the public no longer buying into their racket, they have the legalized forth — and the willingness to exert it — to resort to whatever desperate measures they deem necessary."


Each day in many ways, that most of us are unaware--or at least unaware of the source and motives of the meemers, we are exposed to the propaganda of the elite and establishment. They are becoming more desperate, realizing that there control over the free men may become endangered.


With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN


Thursday, April 22, 2010

OBAMA ALMOST DID A GOOD THING

Our reckless spending president has had a lapse recently, and actually cut the Nasa space program's budget, cutting several moon landing proposals.


Well, you can't please them all--but he tries. After making the announcement,

amid howls and boos, he flew to florida and reversed himself, making like he was a big space supporter.


His voter base is largely unions, non-whites and greenies; whereas his political opponents are military and white males middle class managers and owners.

Whoops he mistepped! The space program pork has been spread out to many hands

from Colorado to California, from Michigan to Florida. Engineers, unionized manufacturing plants and military connected people are strong space program supporters.


Actually the cuts he proposed were six moon shots and landings. Romantic as all get out, but hardly of strategic value. Eisenhower called the moon landing program a "stunt" with absolutely no military value. Space travel to Venus or Mars that many envision is hardly worth the $ billions spent by a hopelessly indebted nation, who has to borrow in the $trillions to meet their budget needs.


The space program behind it's veneer of civilian purpose is and has been a military

program founded to improve rocketry and investigate strategic possibilities in space.

All hogwash and perfidious! Eisenhower knew what he was talking about and was honest and forthright to speak it.


The Space program is nothing more than a make-work socialist spending program to waste America's strength. As Margaret Thatcher remarked:" Socialism works good

until you run out of other people's money.


With Love and Kindness,




THE HATMAN

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

RESURRECTING ARAMAIC

The ancient city of MALULA, SYRIA is one of three hamlets where residents still speak the Aramaic that Jesus spoke. These three outposts were not swept up in

the Arabic of Islam.


Syria instituted a series of language courses to preserve its ancient heritage. Aramaic,

a 3000 year old language was the language of the ancient Middle East. The picture above is the Aramaic Institute, located in Malula.


Controversy bloomed early on with criticisms that the alphabet closely resembled the alphabet used in modern Israel. The Syrian government froze the program, which hopefully start up again this summer.


While both alphabets have similarities, Aramaic began using square lettering alphabet around the 12th century BC, whereas the Hebrew, now used began only 700 years after the ancient Jewish kingdom in 500 BC. The Persians adopted Aramaic ,as did the Babylonians like the Jews until 700 AD.


Some will be surprised to learn that not all peoples in the Middle East are not Muslins. Christianity is still alive and well in many of the countries e.g.The Syrian Orthodox Church, at least where U.S and U.K. led wars and persecutions have not eradicated the believers, or caused them to flee into exile.

Modern branches of the language are still spoken across southeast Turkey, northern Iraq, and northwest Iran. But the dialect spoken by Malula inhabitants – as well as the residents of two nearby, mostly Muslim, villages – is the only survivor of Western Aramaic, the closest modern descendant to the language spoken by Jesus and his disciples.


Although not a "normal" language, it is the language of Jesus of Nazareth and

therefor important to keep alive.


With Love and Kindness,




THE HATMAN

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

AMERICANS ARE INCREDIBLY ANGRY

Chris Stirewalt in" Hating the Government goes Mainstream"www.LewRockwell.com, states;". . .there's no doubt that hating the government and the powerful interests that pull Washington's strings has gone from the radical precincts of the Right and Left to the mainstream.


It turns out that watching Goldman Sachs, the United Auto Workers, public employee unions and a raft of other vampires drain the treasury at America's weakest moment in a generation will make a person pretty hacked off."

AND Michael Snyderwriting in www.BenZinga.com " 12 reasons Why Millions of Americans Are Incredibly Angry About the State of the U.S, Economy" states:"In fact, it is no stretch to say that millions of U.S. citizens are hopping mad about the economic situation. Most of them don't know exactly what is wrong, and even fewer of them have any idea about how to go about fixing things, but they do know one thing. They know that they are mad. As Americans, we were raised with the belief that our overwhelmingly powerful economic machine would always provide good jobs and prosperity for all of us as long as we worked hard. But we have come to learnmag-glass_10x10.gif that is not true. We have come to learn that our politicians and our leaders have squandered the great inheritance that our forefathers left for us. We have come to learn that the financial future of our nation is beyond bleak. We have come to learn that our government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. Now the foolish decisions of the past several decades are catching up with us. The U.S. economy is experiencing structural failure, and the American people are angry. They want answers. They want someone to fix things. They want things to go back to the way they used to be.

Not that they are aren't already incredibly steamed. The following are 12 reasons why many Americans are absolutely furious about the state of the U.S. economy....

#1) There simply are not enough jobs for everyone. The number of unemployed Americans per job opening has started to increase again, hitting 5.5 in February. Even many of those who are able to get some work find themselves only able to obtain part-time employment. Gallup's underemployment measure hit 20.0% on March 15th. This was up from 19.7% two weeks earlier and 19.5% at the start of the year.

#2) More Americans than ever find themselves having to rely on the U.S. government just to survive. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, about 39.4 million Americans, a new all-time record, received food stamps in January. This was up 22% from a year earlier. In fact, the number of Americans on food stamps has hit all-time records for 14 consecutive months.

#3) Foreclosures continue to set records across the United Statesmag-glass_10x10.gif. RealtyTrac, the California-based authority on property trends and valuations, projects that there will be 4.5 million home foreclosures before the end of this year. If you figure 4 people per household, that is another 18 million people that will be forced out of their homes.

#4) As unemployment and foreclosures continue to soar, "tent slums" have started popping up all over the United States. Is this why our founding fathers fought and died? So we could all live in "tent slums" as the big fat cats on Wall Street roll around in their bailout cash?

#5) But even with all of these economic problems, the price of food is going up. Rising demand and reduced supply drove supermarket prices for 16 basic foods up 6.2% in the first quarter of 2010.

#6) Due to the exploding government debt, the American people are going to be confronted with some tough choices. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the United States will soon have to make difficult choices between higher taxes and reduced social spending. Either alternative will slow down the U.S. economy.

#7) Meanwhile, corruption in the financial system is running rampant. The CEOs of bailed-out regional banks are actually getting big raises. The guy who helped bring down AIG is going to get off scott-free and will be able to keep the millions in profits that he made in the process.

#8) But the biggest fraud is being committed by the boys at the top of the food chain. A whistle blower has come forward with "smoking gun" evidence of price manipulation by major financial institutions in the precious metals markets. The scope of this fraud is in the trillions of dollars. The American people can't stomach much more of this type of thing.

#9) Almost all financial experts agree that the era of super cheap money is over and that interest rates are about to rise significantly. This is going to make it much more expensive for most Americans to borrow money to buy a home, to buy a car, to buy things with their credit cards or to borrow money for education. Those who already have adjustable loans are going to find a much larger portion of their income going to pay interest. Needless to say, this is going to cause the U.S. economy to experience a significant slowdown.

#10) One of the biggest things that the American people are upset about is the "health care reform" bill that was just rammed down their throats. It turns out that "health care reform" is actually going to be the biggest tax increase in American history. Not only that, but because of taxes and mandates imposed upon health insurance companies by the legislation, health insurance premiums are also about to increase substantially. So where will the average American family get the money to pay for these increases?

#11) In addition, the new health care law that was supposed to give all of us much better health care is actually going to force the cancellation of at least 60 doctor-owned hospitals that were scheduled to be opened according to the executive director of Physician Hospitals of America. Why? Well, it turns out that the new law singles out physician-owned hospitals, making new physician-owned projects ineligible to receive payments for Medicare and Medicaid patients.

#12) The reality is that Americans are increasingly becoming disenchanted with the lack of leadership in both political parties. Approval ratings for leaders in both parties are extremely low, and anger at politicians is at an all-time high. The Tea Party movement is just one symptom of the seething anger many Americans are feeling. While many Americans are gathering together at large protest rallies to demonstrate against the policies of the government, others are expressing their displeasure on blogs and websites. There has never been a moment when Americans have been so disenchanted with their political leadership.

This anger is not going to go away. It could be soothed a bit if the U.S. economy was fully fixed and things went back to the way they used to be. But as noted previously, that just is not going to happen. Harder times are ahead. Americans are going to get angrier and angrier.

But there is not much that can be done to prevent that anger. The politicians who are in office when things really hit the fan are going to take the brunt of the anger, but it won't be their fault. The truth is that this economic collapse has been building for decades. The American people are just not going to understand that the financial system cannot be fixed overnight.

Dark times are coming. It is not going to be pretty. There is going to be a lot of anger and a lot of hate. But all of these economic problems could be seen well ahead of time and there have been those who have been screaming and yelling about them for decades.

But very few people wanted to listen."

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Monday, April 19, 2010

LOST OUR SOULS?

In 2007 as we were pursuing " Iraqi Freedom" there was an attack by an American helicopter where our soldiers were firing upon and killing civilians including children and two Reuters news personnel. A 17 minute video of this appeared on www. Wikileak, and later on U Tube.


The revelation of this atrocity created an outrage because of the incident and also the mindset of soldiers who would gleefully do this with no sense of wrongdoing.

Some in the media justifying this incident said "this is war" , except it is not war, but an occupation of a foreign nation which has not attacked us, so we are not even in a 'defend our country mode'.


The Army has investigated the incident and has cleared the perpetrators. Secretary Gates has spoken out saying the operation was well within the guidelines laid down for operations in the area and Rules of Engagement. The laughter before they shoot and afterwards when they view the dead was not nervous laughter, but the laughter of bullies and thugs.

There used to be an aversion and frowning upon to the use of brute force or raw power. Where have we erred to arrive at a place where atrocities are excused as necessary or justified by the term "war".


According to www.truthout article 4/13/2010 "Iraq Vets:Coverage of Atrocities Is Too Little Too Late" by Dahr Jamail,

"Josh Steiber, a former US Army specialist who was a member of the Bravo Company 2-16 whose acts of brutality made headlines with the WikiLeaks release of the video "Collateral Murder."

Steiber told Truthout during a telephone interview on Sunday that such acts were "not isolated incidents" and were "common" during his tour of duty. "After watching the video, I would definitely say that that is, nine times out of ten, the way things ended up," Steiber was quoted as saying in an earlier press release on the video, "Killing was following military protocol. It was going along with the rules as they are."

Steiber was not with his unit, who were the soldiers on the ground in the video. He was back at his base with the incident occurred. While not absolving of responsibility those who carried out the killing, Steiber blames the "larger system" of the US military, specifically how soldiers are trained to dehumanize Iraqis and the ROE".[Rules of Engagement]

Steiber was one among many Vets who have come forward to testify that these attrocites were and are commonplace.

Now as to who trained these American boys to be murderers, there is no secret here, it was the United States Army and the U.S. Marine Corp. Notice they are described in this writing as murderers, not soldiers.. Most sources call them soldiers, as was the intention of the training; but, as with most actions against "insurgents" or "terrorists"it is murder when committed by those who are given orders to kill, being thought by their commanders to be justified and permissible. Yet outside of military actions murder is a is a crime.

From "God annd Monsters"by Tom Englehardt, www.LewRockwell.com "This is the indiscriminate nature of killing, no matter how "precise" and "surgical" the weaponry, when war is made by those who command the heavens and descend, as if from Mars, into alien worlds, convinced that they have the power to sort out the good from the bad, even if they can't tell villagers from insurgents. Under these circumstances, death comes in a multitude of disguises – from a great distance via cruise missiles or Predator drones and close in at checkpoints where up-armored American troops, fingers on triggers, have no way of telling a suicide car bomber from a confused or panicked local with a couple of kids in the backseat. It comes repetitively when U.S. Special Operations forces helicopter into villages after dark looking for terror suspects based on tips from unreliable informants who may be settling local scores of which the Americans are dismally ignorant. It comes repeatedly to Afghan Police or army troops mistaken for the enemy."

So should we criticize and reorganize the military, purging all of all training to kill and destroy? Absolutely not! The military is necessary to defend us from threats from without. Undo criticism of the military is not needed here, but the politicians and elite military/industrial influences on our government, which incite and support these excursions into innocent and mostly defenseless countries deserve our scorn and rebuke.

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN


Saturday, April 17, 2010

MEXICO A FAILED STATE?


Not quite. Rumors of its death are a little premature.


Admittedly, Their oil revenues from the Cantrell field are diminishing as the reservoir is undergoing rapid decline,and the government was frustrated with trying to vanquish the drug cartel. After all the druggies were able to pay their 'soldiers'

dramatically more than the government troops, so mass desertions were plaguing the army.


The government failed to exert control over the Northern part of the country, particularly the areas and cities bordering the USA and the decisions made by the government against the cartels were and are not being implemented in ways that will guarantee success.


Despite these handicaps, Mexico's ruling group has developed strategies

designed to ride out the handicaps and maximize the benefits of the situations.

Even though the cartel is winning in the North, they do not have the upper hand in other areas of the country, where the vast majority of the population resides.


Drugs are a problem for all societies, but for Mexico they help to stabilize a

country which in many ways is still a 3rd world state. Drugs are a low cost,

easy to grow agricultural product and Mexico shares a long border with a major consumer of the illicit products, i.e. the USA, which facilitates smuggling

operations. Tremendous profits reward this activity, since the products are illegal, the 'prohibition' prices prevail. Estimates are that $35 to $40 Billion

flow into Mexico fro this illicit source.


With such a lucrative profit source, competion among the suppliers and transporters is a natural consequence, and as in the prohibition of liquor in this country, gangs and violence follow.


The money does not completely flow into the hands of the holders of the guns and knives in the border towns. The money is washed through banks and legitimate institutions, then redeployed to the general commerce and economy.


The government (Mexico City) tries to show it is trying to control this traffic, so as not to be accused of abetting, but in fact would be a foolish government to choke off this source of income.


Speaking of foolish governments, the USA's "War on Drugs" is an enormous failure,it is not preventing the flow and use of drugs, but in both cases, the fight was lost before it began. Even our own CIA is involved in the drug trade, presumably using the profits (which are not syphoned off by the banks) to further their subversive goals in foreign countries.


As usual with government programs the U.S. has it wrong. Choking off the supply and making the importation of drugs illegal just makes the enterprise extremely profitable. Drugs need to be legalized and controlled by the states as is liquor to take the profitability out of smuggling an sale.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Friday, April 16, 2010

THE POINT OF NO RETURN


REF: "The Writing is on the Stairwell" by Robert Morley, www.TheTrumpet


Popular TV shows, print and online articles are focusing on what is on people's minds: job losses, home foreclosures, food costs, new taxes and other economic stresses which are causing lifestyle changes.


Many Families are already in dire straits, while the majority are still apathetic, asleep

with the politically motivated soundbites about recovery and the return to prosperity.

Reminiscent of the Franklin Roosevelt campaign song of "Happy Days are here again". Happy Days were not here, then, nor later when they brought on WWII.


According to Morley, "America's leadership, or elite if you will, are setting us up for full-scale disillusionment.[ emphasis added] At the time of America’s most perilous economic predicament in 234 years, the White House has decided to throw a monkey wrench into one sixth of America’s economy. Admittedly, America’s health care system leaves much to be desired, but recklessly putting the nation on course to go trillions more into debt at a time when it is already running the largest deficits in history smacks of deliberate suicide.If national health care follows in the dubious footsteps of Medicare and Medicaid, the true cost of government-care will be many times what the salesmen in Washington claim.

Meanwhile, as the political elite fiddle, America’s cities show signs of rapid decline.

Kansas City is closing nearly half of its schools due to funding shortfalls. The city is broke. Detroit is closing 25 percent of the schools it has left. The housing market keeps deteriorating too. Half of all homeowners who have taken advantage of government aid to modify their mortgages have fallen back into default within nine months. White House economic adviser Diana Farrell said the government expects 10 to 12 million additional foreclosures over the next three years. That is 10 to 12 million families pushed out of their homes—and the government has consistently erred on the conservative side.The latest jobs report shows that 27 states show increased unemployment rates. Conditions have improved in only seven states, three of which were the small states of Nebraska and North and South Dakota."

Morley went on to say that the shape of America's recovery is going to be like a stairway to the cellar and the "writing was on the stairway wall".

Hope is going to be smashed by reality.

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Thursday, April 15, 2010

MEXICAN HAT DANCE


RE: Mexican Hat Dance, author unknown, www. TheBurningPlatform.com


Some mornings, web articles are used as themes, sometimes they are excerpted or extracted. Today the referenced article is reprinted here for the reader's edification-- a different look at the Mexico/USA drug import problem, noting also that the State of Arizona is in the process of passing stiff anti- illegal immigration legislation, which will give state law enforcement officials power to apprehend illegals and punish those who give aide, jobs, etc to them.


"Fascinating article about Mexico and their drug wars. Basically, the Mexican authorities have concluded that there is more benefit to their country by not intervening in the wars between the drug cartels. It is basically a U.S. problem. The killing is occurring on the border with the U.S. It isn’t bothering most Mexicans. Here is the rub. Drugs bring $40 billion per year into Mexico. That money is spent on cars, houses, electronics, etc. The Mexican economy benefits. As their oil revenue dwindles, drug money will be more important.

Estimates of drug revenue in the U.S. are around $400 billion. This is close to 3% of GDP. It doesn’t sound like the WAR ON DRUGS is working out too well. Or is it. I can vouch that the drug money is being spent in West Philadelphia. How do you explain 22 year old black men driving $80,000 Mercedes in these slums? Does the US Government actually encourage illegal drug trade in the US? Federal & State governments spend $50 billion per year on the drug wars. That is a poppylot of employees. No drug war, no employees. The US estimates that only 5% to 10% of the drugs being sold in the US are actually seized by authorities.

It does seem strange that Afghanistan is producing more poppy than it did in 2001. With all of our military technological prowess your would think we could obliterate these fields if we didn’t want these terrible drugs to make it to our shores. Police make 1.9 million arrests per year for drug violations in the US each year. 900,000 of these arrests are for marijuana. Our prisons are overflowing with inmates in jail for these minor offenses.

There are an estimated 10,000 homicides per year related to illegal drug trade. If it wasn’t illegal, crime would go down dramatically. The WAR ON DRUGS, started by Nixon, has been a complete failure. Anyone who wants drugs can get drugs. By decriminalizing drugs for adults the country could tax the shit out of it, control it, reduce crime, cut law enforcement budgets, and close prisons all over the country. Will it happen? NO. Government has more power with a fake WAR ON DRUGS. Just like they have more power with a fake WAR ON TERRORISM."

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A TERRORIST AM I?

REF: "One Day Soon ,We'll all Be "homegrown Terrorists"By Giordano Bruno,

NETHERCORP.us/n PRESS 4/7/10


"The word “terrorist” has assumed numerous presumptive connotations over the decades, and this trend of “redefining” the vicious label to suit certain governmental needs has only intensified in recent years, especially since 9/11.. . it has the ability to trigger abundant and subconscious emotional reactions in the populace. these reactions are usually based on mass delusions: false ideas of what terrorism is, what it is not, and who is actually guilty of these loosely classified crimes. It is a weighted word, filled with projections, biases, and faulty perceptions.


Governments across the world, and organizations such as the UN, have considered “officially” categorizing what a terrorist actually is, but claim that they have been unable to reach an accord that satisfies everyone. I feel it is much more likely that ruling bodies, most especially the UN, would like nothing better than to keep the specifics of the term as hazy as possible for as long as possible. The more elusive it is, the more powerful it becomes. . . While we tend to associate terrorism with Muslim extremism, because this is the image we have been force-fed for the past ten years, that association can just as easily be swayed or redirected to someone else depending on which person or people become most obstructive to the government’s immediate desires. At bottom, under the current cultural climate, anyone can be labeled a terrorist for any reason, even American Citizens liable for nothing more than exercising their Constitutional rights."

When corruption reigns in high places and criminals determine our fate, then our country will no longer be a republic guaranteed by law, but becomes a snake pit of liars and oppression of the many by the few. The media in the exclusive control of the elite, becomes a tool of oppression and Individual rights are subverted to the rights of the group, and rebellion or opposition to the ruling elite and their dictums becomes "un-patriotic" and dangerous. Those who would oppose are first ridiculed as crack pots, lunatics, reactionaries and finally deemed to be terrorists.

This process has been tried and refined in many countries before. The recipe is perfected. "It can't happen here" is nonsense, it not only can, but is happening. Your country is no longer your country.

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

ALL MUST BE WELL


Obama and the media tells us that all is well, the "recession" is over, recovery is at hand and more growth is the answer.


If you look around you, you see the freeways crowded, the shoppers are in the stores, and the restaurants are crowded--obama and the media must be right, your eyes and ears cannot deceive you.


Never mind, that your cousin just lost his job and cannot find another. Your neighbor is graduating from college this spring and has had no job offers. Your bank has been closed and taken over by a big wall street outfit. Your house is now worth 80% of what you borrowed on it . They are building more houses down the street, which you can buy with no money down and poor credit plus get 8 grand back on your taxes,

while older homes like yours are a drag on the market.


You worry about keeping your job, when others are being let go. You had to increase your credit card debt to help out your family , and now the interest rate is increasing. Food is costing more each month as well as your healthcare premiums. They tell us our heating and cooling bills are going to go up. You notice the price of gasoline is

creeping up again.


But all must be well, since the democrats are in. You've heard talk about deficits,

some say $12 trillion, some say $60 trillion, but things keep on going. The government spends more than they take in and many say they are broke and can't pay what the owe, yet they keep on borrowing and someone somewhere loans them more money.


What we must have is a "virtual" economy where nothing is real except the limit on what you can earn--like it is never enough to more than just get by. For awhile there you could borrow more money on the increased loan value of your house, but that goose is cooked. The only thing left seems to be to work for the government, where you can get raises and better benefits.


But all must be well if you don't believe that just listen to Obama or NBC, or maybe just worry about Jesse James and his martial marital problems.

Maybe they will just start another war to "jump start " the economy, like Roosevelt and the Bushes. Or maybe we need to all "bite the bullet" as President Ford advised

us.


But all must be well, even if it doesn't include you.


With Love and Kindness,



THE HATMAN


Monday, April 12, 2010

SYED FATAH HASHMI

RE: "The Ongoing torture of SyedFahad Hashmi", by Bill Quigley, www.Counterpunch.com

Who might Syed Fahad Hashmi be? And why should we care?


Today as well as for almost the last three years, Syed Fahad Hashmi has been kept in total isolation under constant video and audio surveillance. He is not allowed to communicate with anyone except his lawyer, nor allowed to write letters or make calls. Heis not allowed to have an attorney of his choice; only a lawyer investigated and approved by the U.S.


Under our constitution, people are entitled to be presumed innocent until

the matter is decided in a court of law. The 8th amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. After all we are not savages are we?


According to Quigley "He is not allowed to look at any translated documents unless the translator is pre-approved by the government. He is not allowed any contact with the media at all. One member of his family can visit through the heavy screen for one hour every other week unless the government takes away those visits to further punish him. The government took away his family visits for 90 days when he was observed shadow boxing in his cell and talked back to the guard who asked what he was doing.


Under international standards for human rights, extended isolation is considered a form of torture and is banned. The conditions and practices of isolation are in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the U.N. Convention against Torture, and the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

In 1995, the U.N. Human Rights Committee stated that isolation conditions in certain U.S. maximum security prisons were incompatible with international standards. In 1996, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture reported on cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in U.S. supermax prisons. In 2000, the U.N. Committee on Torture roundly condemned the United States for its treatment of prisoners, citing supermax prisons. In May 2006, the same committee concluded that the United States should “review the regimen imposed on detainees in supermax prisons, in particular, the practice of prolonged isolation

Mr. Hashmi is accused of helping al Qaeda by allowing rain gear (raincoats, ponchos and socks) that were going to Afghanistan to be stored in his Queens apartment, he allowed his cell phone to be used to contact al Qaeda supporters and he made post-arrest threatening statements. "The U.S. Constitutio

This is why we should care: "The U.S. Constitution and International Human Rights plus just good old common decency forbid torture or any form of coercive treatment of prisoners. Our government has a buzz word alQaeda and treats the name of this amorphous group as if it were a nation, not individuals organized to oppose U.S. and Western aggression.

Are we Americans or a nation of freedom and justice for all or paranoid psychopaths?

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN



Saturday, April 10, 2010

THREATS

RE: "MULTIPLE DEATH THREATS I HAVE RECEIVED",by Robert Wenzel.

www.LewRockwell.com


The author of the above article has been the subject of multiple death threats. "They

actually think threy have the right to kill me 'for my own good'.


Here is the situation.

You see, I pretty much mind my own business. Yet, these people some how think they should interfere in my life and force me to do things their way. Get this. They say they are going to force me to do things their way based on the Constitution. From what I understand, they have a tortured view of the commerce clause that is in the Constitution. They think it gives them the right to interfere in my life and ultimately kill me.


Basically, these people have designed a medical system that has pushed medical prices out of control. Medical prices are going up much faster than the rate of inflation. They think they are going to fix this problem by forcing me to buy a new kind of medical insurance they have invented. I know it sounds insane. I know the best way to keep prices low is to have many competitors, with many different options. But they have so road blocked the system that their are few competitors. And now they are limiting my options even more by forcing me to buy insurance from one of the insurance companies they have designated. And, get this, I know it will be hard to believe, but in addition to forcing me to buy insurance from these companies, they are going to tell these insurance companies what can and can't be in the coverage. This means there won't even be competition on the types of coverage offered.

Now, I know the common sense advice would be to just ignore such crazed people, but they have IN WRITING stated that they will throw me in jail if I don't pay up. I'm thinking of just staying in my house, but I have heard these people will come with something they call SWAT teams, break down my door and come after me. My friend tells me that, when the SWAT teams come, it could get very dangerous and I could get killed. He says it has happened before and he told me that they will consider me dangerous because I refuse to go to jail as a result of my not wanting their medical insurance. He told me to think Waco and Ruby Ridge. See how insane this is getting? And, honest, I did not provoke these people nor do I want to have anything to do with them. So I guess you can see my predicament. If I refuse them at any step of the way, there is no question they will use force and kill me if they think it is necessary.

Basically, these people have designed a medical system that has pushed medical prices out of control. Medical prices are going up much faster than the rate of inflation. They think they are going to fix this problem by forcing me to buy a new kind of medical insurance they have invented. I know it sounds insane. I know the best way to keep prices low is to have many competitors, with many different options. But they have so road blocked the system that their are few competitors. And now they are limiting my options even more by forcing me to buy insurance from one of the insurance companies they have designated. And, get this, I know it will be hard to believe, but in addition to forcing me to buy insurance from these companies, they are going to tell these insurance companies what can and can't be in the coverage. This means there won't even be competition on the types of coverage offered.

Now, I know the common sense advice would be to just ignore such crazed people, but they have IN WRITING stated that they will throw me in jail if I don't pay up. I'm thinking of just staying in my house, but I have heard these people will come with something they call SWAT teams, break down my door and come after me. My friend tells me that, when the SWAT teams come, it could get very dangerous and I could get killed. He says it has happened before and he told me that they will consider me dangerous because I refuse to go to jail as a result of my not wanting their medical insurance. He told me to think Waco and Ruby Ridge. See how insane this is getting? And, honest, I did not provoke these people nor do I want to have anything to do with them. So I guess you can see my predicament. If I refuse them at any step of the way, there is no question they will use force and kill me if they think it is necessary."

Sound extreme, maybe, but just think about where we have come to as a country whose citizens are thought to be free. Socialism is turning into fascism right before our eyes.

With Love and Kindness,


THE HATMAN