Thank you, Julian.

I'm a supporter of Julian Assange and his Wikileaks tell-all journalism platform. I have a hard time understanding how flag-waving Americans could not support both.
I'm a little over fifty years old now, and I lived (Thank you, Jesus!) through the Cold War. I was raised on the ideal of American freedom. Back in the day, we were told freedom was the thing that made us better than our old Cold War adversary the Soviet Union. Freedom is better than totalitarianism. No one had to explain this to me. Thomas Paine would call it "Common Sense". 

Truth is better than lies.

Throughout the Cold War, we were told the American Free Press informed us of the truth. While back in the USSR the Communist propaganda mill spun a web of lies to inject its own people with the venom of deceit. 

Truth is better than lies. 

No one ever spelled that out for me. It seemed obvious. So, you can imagine my dismay, hopefully, because you share it, when Wikileaks exposed the lies of the United States government. Lies meant to cover up murder. Not just one murder, but between eight and twelve murders of unarmed reporters mistaken for insurgents. None were armed with anything but a camera. Cameras expose the truth.  So, the group of truth telling reporters were gunned down to a man. When the Department of Defense was asked about the incident the DoD spokesman disavowed any US involvement in the incident.  That's where public knowledge of the mass shooting would have ended in a perfect cover up. After all, it's only murder if you get caught. That's the lesson I learned from Uncle Sam's. . leadership by example.

To solve a problem you must first admit there is a problem. The Department of Defense lied and innocents died. Lesson learned...

Truth is better than lies.

A few minutes after the slaughter, a van driven by a good Samaritan arrived on the scene. The driver seeing the dead and dying stopped to help. With two young girls visible in the front seat of the van an Apache opened fire as the driver and another unidentified man carry one of the wounded reporters to the side door of the van. No one was engaging the helicopter. No one fired a single round at the crew. No threat of any kind was made towards American troops. These were angels of mercy, these were good, decent men helping wounded civilians. For their humanity, they too were gunned down in the street. 

If it happened to our soldiers there would be outrage, but these aren't soldiers. These were all unarmed  civilians. Live and let live is better than shoot first and cover it up later. 

Truth is better than lies. 

Now, imagine if some foreign power invaded America, gunned down civilians, and the civilians attempting to rescue the wounded while two little American girls sat in the line of fire. How would you react? Would you want it buried beneath the velvet words of denial from the perpetrator's military spokesperson? Would you accept, "Accidents happen?" Would you believe the aggressor was doing everything in their power to minimize civilian casualties? 

What we did was arrest the man and attack the platform who exposed out lies. That's another important lesson I learned from Uncle Sam's leadership by example. Silence those who expose your propaganda mill, and rally support back home for your venom of deciet. Cover your murder in Red, White, and Blue. Heavy on the Red. 

There is no patriotism less American and more Communist dictatorship than the blind variety. Heavy on the Soviet Red. Yes, accidents happen in wars, but neither wars nor lies happen by accident. 

Truth is better than lies. 

Throughout the Cold War, we were told our right to peaceably assemble and petition for the redress of grievances allowed the American People to publicly dissent. The Soviet Union's police state crushed dissent anywhere it was found. Free expression is superior to heavy-handed repression. No one had to spell that out for me. It also seemed pretty obvious. So, you can imagine my dismay, hopefully, because you also share it, when Julian Assange became a hunted man on trumped-up rape charges after showing the American People they had cause to dissent.

Truth is better than lies.

I'm not angry so much that my government is out doing heinous things. I come to expect that as par for the course. I'm angry that while they are out wreaking havoc and making of us mercenaries for merchants they still maintain the pretense of this...

That pisses me off because it advances the woefully wrong idea that Life and Liberty are only things we offer, not take. 

Let us offer truth...

Truth is better than lies.

I'm angry and I am more than just a little confused about what IT is "We the People" stand for in the Land of the [To Be Determined]. I feel like I'm on the Right side of the Wrong war. I feel like a foreigner among friends. Friends who are okay with just going along to get along and accepting whatever they're told by our perpetual warlords in Washington. Warlords who have taught me another valuable lesson: It's alright to commit any heinous act so long as you justify it the words "...to protect our Freedoms". That's the truth.

Truth is better than lies.

I don't know about you, but this isn't what I signed up for. I hope you didn't either, but I am coming to terms with the truth. The truth is I have a long history of being wrong about what America stands for. 

Truth is better than lies.

I can empathize with Julian Assange more than most. We're both coming to terms with the truth and how little truth is valued outside rhetorical banter within political forums. The word truth is spewed within state houses, people's assemblies, politburos, legislatures, and parliaments the world over. Wherever the powerful and preeminent gather the word truth will be heard like a banging gong and a clashing cymbal amidst the rest of the sounds emanating from their maws like sweet honey with the value of vomit. 

From those whose words we honor, from the mouths of those whose commands we obey, from those whose scribbles we call the law, the truth will always be nothing more than a theoretical tool. Like God, freedom, love, justice, honor, good, virtue, and all the other things we hold sacred. Those who issue the orders will invoke these theoretical tools properly to incite men to kill other men as a means to their own ends. 

Truth is never to be actualized or applied in respect to the words, thoughts, or deeds of our rightful god-kings. Never. 

Julian Assange is coming to terms with that truth as he sits a disposable hero in the Bastille of angry god-kings now. He will be made to pay dearly for his misguided misuse of truth.

Truth is better than lies.

Julian has shown me this truth... The best prophets walk you up to the curtain between ignorance and understanding. Then, allow you to peer through. I have peered through, and I will never believe their lies again.

Thank you, Julian, for showing me the curtain.

Truth is better than lies. 

Thank you, Julian.

Post-it Notes from a BIG Country

There are distinct disadvantages to living in a big country. Doubly so for a big country isolated from the other ninety-five percent of the world’s population. We can come, or jump, to some pretty strange conclusions. Big countries allow for a lot of jumping space. We might assume that the other people on planet Earth are out of their minds for not playing ball with us, instead preferring to play a far more exhausting form of “football”. Obviously, they’re only doing this to piss us off and threatening our interests overseas. One of the conclusions we don’t come to is those “interests overseas” are really other people’s. Other people’s countries, other people’s children, other people’s families, and other people’s lives. That’s what we’re talking about when we use the phrase, “our interests overseas.” In a big country they seem so remote, it’s as if they aren’t real people like us. They are more inanimate objects, even abstracts, but certainly not real people like us. As I said, some pretty strange conclusions.

Much of our foreign policy is driven by the need to protect our interests overseas. It seems perfectly reasonable. After all, they are ours. Personal property is the cornerstone of freedom, right? Pretty strange conclusions.

It’s a big country. So big we can forget where our boundaries lay.

10 Years Later...

It's been a decade since the Credit Crisis of 2008 which gave birth to misery for millions of Americans. The terms Under water (Negative home equity), The 1% (Richest 1% of society), and The 99% (Not The 1%) took on new meanings. As a result of the financial hardships suffered by the 99% (allegedly at the hand of the 1%) the Occupy Movement was born. Occupy was supposed to remedy the conditions which caused the hardships and hold those responsible for the Crisis accountable. Let's take a look at how successful Occupy has been ten years later...

(Click the image to enlarge)

Personally, I don't believe that most of these demands would have been beneficial, desirable, or even attainable, but what I am certain of is Occupy was an epic failure. Not only did the movement fail to have one of its demands met, it also served as a pressure relief valve which channeled the much justified frustration of the American people away from productive action. The bottom line results were a massive loss of momentum for real change. Keep in mind this was the largest grass roots movement America has had in living memory and it accomplished nothing. No change for the better whatsoever. The biggest criminals in the nation laughed at the bankrupt cliche, "Crime doesn't pay." 

One of the greatest errors of the Occupy Movement was aiming for the wrong target. Wall Street is not accountable to the People. Wall Street is only accountable to equity shareholders. Angry non-shareholders hold exactly zero weight on Wall Street. The Occupation target should have been Washington, D.C., which is (or should be) accountable to the People. The laws which allowed the Credit Crisis to implode were written in Washington D.C. Were the laws written at the behest of Wall Street? I'm sure they were, but don't lose focus on who can be held accountable to the People. Occupy never had that clarity of focus and look at the results. I can't decide which Occupy was more shame or sham. 

Today, ten years later, we sit and wait while wringing our hands for the next ticking time bomb to explode knowing it's not a question of "if" but "when"? 



Author's Note: As for the demands the only one I would agree with would be number ten. I would have also demanded that those responsible be charged with fraud, which is exactly what happened. They did it in Iceland successfully. As a "Rule of Law" nation we should have done it here in the United States, but our actions will always speak louder than our words. Our actions say the only Law we have is the "New Golden Rule". 

He who has the Gold makes the Rules, even Ten Years Later.