Money isn't real. Here's proof: a parable

Amazon.com's books on the strange history of "money"

SlutWalk founder: Trump's not conservative

WARNING: Adult content and themes. Not suitable for children. Viewer discretion advised! NC-17

Amber Rose challenges Trump's conservatism: He's not very conservative after all

(Trendy Peaks) July 31, 2024: This video dives into sex-positive founder of the LA SlutWalk, pro-abortion, model, mother, and Internet celebrity Amber Rose's bold critique of Ex-Pres. Trump. Known for her outspoken nature, Rose recently questioned Trump's conservative credentials, sparking a heated debate. This AI-enabled analysis parrots her key points, including Trump's:

• mishandling of the national debt (making it grow),
• his erratic foreign policy (doing whatever whenever), and
• his inconsistent stances on social issues (because he's liberal).

Join the exploration as to whether Trump's actions align with traditional conservative values (which they do not) or if he represents a new wave of populism that will say anything and do anything to win votes without keeping his word.

Amber Rose on fighting against slut-shaming | The Scarlet Letter Reports

(VICE Life) In this episode of 'The Scarlet Letter Reports,' host [and accused murderer] Amanda Knox meets Amber Rose, who has been able to hold her head high despite all of the malicious scrutiny by mainstream media. WATCH NEXT: Amanda Knox opens up about harassment

#AmberRose #DonaldTrump #TrumpConservatism #PoliticalDebate #ConservativeValues #Populism #NationalDebt #ForeignPolicy #SocialIssues #PoliticalAnalysis

• Amber Rose (RNC, SlutWalk,Trendy Peaks); Jon Stewart, The Daily Show; VICE Life, 12/5/18; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

"Debt: The First 5,000 Years" (FREE)

Prof. David Graeber (libcom.org), London School of Economics; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber (libcom.org)

PUNK: "Clockwork Orange County" (video)

Amazing Studio; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Clockwork Orange County: The Rise of West Coast Punk Rock!

This is a documentary about punk rock on the west coast starting in the 1970s. It features concert clips from Iggy Pop, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, T.S.O.L., The Adolescents, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and more. They helped launch the careers of many legendary bands. Explore the history of Southern California punk rock as witnessed from the perspective of an infamous nightclub called the Cuckoo's Nest. Interviews with owner Jerry Roach, Henry Rollins, Chuck Dukowski, Jello Biafra, Jack Grisham, Keith Morris, Henry Rollins, take us back to the flashpoint of a vital and exciting new music scene suffering during the Reagan era.

• Amazon.com: Clockwork Orange County
• Clockwork Orange County doc (ocweekly.com, 2012) As OC Weekly readers know, I contributed a weekly column called "A Clockwork..."
• Punk rock picnic as world about to tend 2012
• Punk Rock Bowling 3-Day Festival was a win
• Punk Against Trump: big concert in L.A. 

Government reopens (cartoon)

Wisdom Quarterly; Scott Hilburn (TheArgyleSweater.com); Alan Fram, Donna Cassata (AP) 

Hooray? Partially closed government reopens...and US goes deeper into debt as the single party (with two wings) agrees with itself to raise its debt ceiling. Disaster averted?

 

Well, we got away with it. - Yeah, for now.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senate leaders announced a last-minute agreement Wednesday to avert a threatened Treasury default and reopen the government after a partial 16-day shutdown. Congress raced to pass the measure by day's end. The Dow Jones industrial average soared on the news... More

(RT.com) "We're just kicking the problem down the road."

US Economy: "We're Not Broke" (film)

Wisdom Quarterly; OnshoreDocumentary; OccupyTogether.org

(SFF) While covering the story of American corporations dodging taxes, documentary filmmakers Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce reveal how they ended up documenting the modern  rise in anti-corporation protests that helped spawn the Occupy Movement. It is gathering acclaim on the film festival circuit for its portrayal of what is going on in America today as multinational corporations (like Romney's Bain Capital) purposely transfer wealth out of the nation.

• Analysis: "We're Not Broke" (uprisingradio.org)

Confessions of an American Warrior (video)

We have been "Hoodwinked" economically. It is how the American Empire enslaves and rules.

INNworldreport.net; John Perkins; Wisdom QuarterlyInterview: INN with John Perkins on Hoodwinked

(TalkingStickTV) John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

The Secret History of the American Empire

• VIDEO: John Perkins as Amazon shaman
• Monster bird found in USA
• Trungpa's "Five Buddha Families"

Occupy: Essential Info for #OWS (video)

DavidIcke.com; Wisdom Quarterly

Recorded and filmed by Chris Williamson and Lucius Borich at Keysoundstudios, Sydney.

David Icke (pronounced Ike) imparts essential knowledge for the Wall Street protestor. Without understanding the banking system, what hope is there for changing the powers that be and saving the world? We need to know how not to be scammed by the ones -- the One Percent -- being protested. When demonstrating it must be clear that it is not the people in the banks but the laws on the books of a corrupt system.

If every "bankster" were thrown off the exchange and driven from their corner offices, absolutely nothing would change. But if the system were corrected, they could stay and everything would be different. The banking system is the problem not the banking criminals, money-corrupted politicians, and brutal paramilitary police who protect the system. This European style system is old and took hold in America, which was meant to be different. To finance wars, it became easier to become indebted to the Old World system of instant debt with the printing of money.

The "Federal" Reserve is a private bank, and this is not in dispute. For every dollar printed, more than a dollar is instantly owed. It can never be repaid without going into further debt -- and this is by design. This is the trick. This ensures the enslavement of anyone who participates in the system. Learn more from watching the first Zeitgeist movie on the monetary system, or short videos on how banking and American capitalism work, or the Shock Doctrine to see how our form of capitalism has become disaster capitalism. View the headlines at DavidIcke.com/headlines for more daily news.

HOW TO OCCUPY THE GAP?
Free Forum with Terrence McNally (KPFK.org)
Because our political process and the government it delivers are owned and dominated by the wealthy and the biggest corporations, there is a gap, a disconnect -- of identification, of engagement, of influence, and of trust -- between the people and politics and between the people and government. In this election year, how can the Occupy/99% Movement best occupy that gap? The answer is important for the movement, the electoral process, and ultimately for the world. Source

Scientists vote to move us closer to Doomsday

Created in 1947 following WW II, scientists place the world at five minutes from doomsday or midnight. A nuclear armed Iran is not a cause for war or worry, according to BAS (turnbacktheclock.org/dailymail.co.uk).

Eric Pfeiffer (The Sideshow)

The "Doomsday Clock," a measurement used by scientists to estimate humankind's closeness to catastrophic destruction, was moved one minute closer to midnight.

It is now 11:55 on the Doomsday Clock, just five minutes from a theoretical end of the world.

The clock is adjusted by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists [BAS], who use it to warn the public about the danger of nuclear weapons and other manmade threats to civilization, including climate change....

[According to England's Daily Mail, Stephen Hawking is a member who helps decide movement of the Doomsday Clock.] BAS writes in a formal statement:

"Faced with clear and present dangers of nuclear proliferation and climate change, and the need to find sustainable and safe sources of energy, world leads are failing to change business as usual. Inaction on key issues including climate change, and rising international tensions motivate the movement of the clock.... More

Occupy, the Top 1%, and Elections (video)

Adbusters, Fault Lines, Occupy Wall Street, Slate Magazine, Wisdom Quarterly

The richest 1% of Americans earn nearly a quarter of the country's income and control an astonishing 40% of its wealth. [The bottom 90% own essentially nothing and actually have a negative net worth called debt. The Occupy Movement will no longer camp quietly to call attention to this.]

Inequality in the US is more extreme than it has been in almost a century -- and the gap between the super rich and the middle class and poor has widened drastically over the last 30 years.

"The Top 1%" - With 1% of Americans controlling 40% of the country's wealth, Fault Lines examines the gap between it and the 99%. This episode first aired on Al Jazeera English.

Meanwhile, in Washington, a bitter partisan debate over how to cut deficit spending and reduce the country's $14.3 trillion dollar debt is underway. [The debt is actually far larger than ever reported.]

As wages stagnate and unemployment remains above 9%, Republicans and [their moderate wing known as the] Democrats are tussling over whether to slash funding for the medical and retirement programs that are the backbone of the US's social safety net and whether to raise or cut taxes.

Occupy (Wall Street) Los Angeles developing stories and interviews (KPFK.org)

The budget debate and the economy are the battleground on which the 2012 presidential election race will be fought. And the United States has never seemed so divided, politically and economically.

How did the gap grow so wide so quickly? And how are the convictions, campaign contributions, and charitable donations of the top 1% impacting the other 99% of Americans? Fault Lines investigates the gap between the rich and the rest.

• Slate: cartoonbox
• Adbusters.org (Top 1%)
• About.com: The Other 99%

The Protest in Pictures (video)

Amber Dorrian, Seven, Ryan (Wisdom Quarterly), Hollywood2NY, TheAtlantic.com/In Focus

The CONSERVATIVE "Carnival of Crazy" on TV and Tea Party phoniness on the ground are called normal. But diverse, grassroots organizations occupying the US are a plot.

Wall Street occupiers agree the rich (1%) are getting richer on the backs of average citizen (99%) who are being impoverished feed Wall Street (stock exchange) greed.

Did protesters benefit indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men? There has been speculation over who is financing the disparate protests (the "American Fall"?) now spreading across the country and the world in just four weeks.

Jesus Christ (Saint Issa) demonstrator takes part in the Occupy London Stock Exchange demonstration in England, on Oct. 15, 2011 (AP/Elizabeth Dalziel).

One name that has come up is investor "leftist" strawman [phony target] George Soros, 81, who in September debuted on the Top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a sinister Soros agenda.

This "99% is too big to fail!" Occupy LA protesters march in the Protest Against Corporate Greed on the Int'l Day of Action, Oct. 15, 2011 (Reuters/David McNew).

Soros and protesters deny any connection. But Reuters found indirect financial links between Soros and Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada that started the protests with an inventive marketing campaign aimed at sparking an Arab Spring-type uprising against Wall Street.

[That is some indirect link. By that standard, Republicans are guilty of "Nazi" involvement because George Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush and other Republicans' relatives were there during the atrocities.]

And Soros and the protesters share some ideological ground. [They both love FOX TV but loathe FOX News.] "I can understand their sentiment," Soros told reporters last week at the United Nations about the peaceful Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. They are expected to spur solidarity marches globally.

People sign banner at "Occupy DC" anti-corporate Stop the Machine co-protest, Freedom Plaza, Oct. 10, 2011, reclaiming American politics for the people (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images).

Pressed further for his views on the movement and the protesters, Soros refused to be drawn in. But rabid conservative radio host [and super-duper journalist] Rush Limbaugh summed up the speculation when he told his listeners last week, "George Soros money is behind this."

Soros is No. 7 on the Forbes 400 list with a fortune of $22 billion, which has ballooned in recent years as he deftly responded to financial market turmoil. He has pledged to give away all his wealth -- half of it while he earns it and the rest when he dies.


Don't think of it as a Police State; think of it as a "Secure Homeland" or "Tax dollar Torture."

Like the protesters, Soros is no fan of the 2008 bank bailouts and subsequent government purchase of the toxic sub-prime mortgage assets they amassed in the property bubble as people were foreclosed.

George W. Bush and B.S. Obama's cousin Dick Cheney rest on their laurels.

The protesters say the Wall Street bank bailouts in 2008 left bankers enjoying huge profits while laborers Americans suffered under high unemployment and job insecurity with little help from Washington.

Brown Univ. Socialists host US economist Prof. Wolff*

They contend that the richest 1 percent of Americans have amassed vast fortunes while being taxed at a lower rate than most people.

• More Amazing PHOTOS (theatlantic.com)
• AUDIO: Building a Powerful Left
  
• Sonic Youth duo split after a lifetime
• Dozens of US citizens may be on Obama's assassination list
• US long ago approved of targeted killings in Yemen
• Occupy protests eye diversity (businessweek.com)

Prison Hunger Strike (Democracy Now!)

Headlines (FULL EPISODE)

• Pacifica Radio: archived episodes
• Free Speech Radio (KPFK.org)
  
• Relatives say inmates on hunger strike getting sick
• State continues its "Disinformation Campaign"
• Statewide tortured prisoner hunger strike winding down
• Hunger strike challenges California prison system
• 11th Day of Hunger Strike (Public Radio)
• Go Harrison! (Pacifica)

Pelican Bay Prison torture unit (SHU)

Becoming part computer (common cyborgs)

Jerry lost half a digit and replaced it with a prosthetic finger with a USB drive inside. He explained on his blog that it's detachable: "When I'm using the USB, I just leave my finger inside the slot and pick it up after I'm ready."

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) - In Chris Harrison's ideal world, mobile phones would be the size of matchbooks. They'd have full-size keyboards. They'd browse the Web. They'd play videos. And, most importantly, you'd never have to touch them. Sound like too much to ask? Maybe not. Harrison, a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University and a former intern at Microsoft Research, has developed a working prototype of a system called Skinput that does just that, essentially by turning a person's hand and forearm into a keyboard and screen. "People don't love the iPhone keyboard. They use them. But they don't love them," Harrison said in a interview at the recent Computer-Human Interaction conference. "If you could make the iPhone keyboard as big as an arm -- that would be huge." Using Skinput, a person could tap their thumb and middle finger together to answer a call; touch their forearm to go to the next track on a music player; or flick the center of their palm to select a menu item. More

The People's Budget (cartoon)

Blendingthelines.com

Tax the rich? There would be no national debt if corporations paid their share of taxes and the US stopped its imperial wars ("This Modern World" by Tom Tomorrow).

Where is our tax money going? A third war overseas, and our congressmen have decided to increase the already-inflated defense budget. All told, over $1 Trillion will be spent on the U.S. military over the next year, while funds are cut from social services and education. With less federal support, state budgets are in the red. Local governments blame the unions and -- as in Wisconsin -- are peddling legislation to weaken our rights. Thousands of teachers will be laid off.

As we point out in our new documentary, Crossing the American Crises: From Collapse to Action, the nation’s priorities are skewed.

Inequality continues to rise. Homes are boarded up while homeless sleep on the streets. The sick are still turned away because of a lack of health care. The banks are bailed out, while the people are left to suffer. Hardworking Americans pay the bulk in taxes, while multimillionaires hide their assets abroad. Corporations are subsidized or encouraged to move their production overseas. We are gutting the American dream -- if there ever was one.

But there are answers. As The Nation pointed out last week, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has drafted a "People's Budget," which members, Representative Michael M. Honda (D-CA) and Representative Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) say, “eliminates the deficit, stabilizes the debt, puts Americans back to work, and restores our economic competitiveness.” More

"What Would Je$us Buy?" (comedy)

It's Black Friday. "What Would Jesus Buy?" follows Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir as they go on a cross-county mission to save the holidays from the Shopocalypse -- the end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption, and the fires of eternal debt! The Shopocalypse is upon us... Who will be $aved?

Rev. Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping on Glenn Beck

(Freedomlost2007) The documentary "What Would Jesus Buy?" follows Rev. Billy and his gospel choir on their cross-country tour, preaching their message in such destinations as the Mall of America, Wal-mart headquarters, Starbucks, and Disneyland. "Democracy Now!" speaks to Rev. Billy and the film's producer Morgan Spurlock ("Super Size Me").

• UFO predictor Stanley Fulham passes away
• VIDEO: Playing with dolphins underwater

Not Attached to Anything

(Flickr/h.koppdelaney)

"Not attached to anything" -- this digitally created image is the work of a German artist. The monk in this portrait is Tibetan. The Buddha is Indonesian. The signs are Japanese. The meaning is "international." See meditation images.

• Great Golden Island Buddha (photo)
• Utah congressman GOP leader nude in hot tub with minor
• Sen. Schumer says plans China currency bill
  WASHINGTON, D.C. – [The U.S. is in debt to China to such an extent that it will never be able to pay that debt. It is therefore trying to make sure it is not forced to.] Senator Charles Schumer said on today he plans to move forward soon on legislation aimed at stopping China from "manipulating" its currency. "Now more than ever, there is a consensus to finally confront China's currency manipulation," the New York Democrat said...
• Judge rules on presidential candidate John Edwards' sex tape
• Japan arrests whaling activist for boarding ship
• Corey Haim died of prescription drug overdose

Trillions? Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

Debt clock runs out of digits
The National Debt Clock has run out of digits to record the growing amount. » Debt total when it started

• BBC News: VIDEO
• History of the National Debt Clock
• Polygraphs used in political debate?

NYC National Debt Clock runs out of digits
NEW YORK, Oct. 8, 2008 -- One year ago today, the stock market reached an all-time high (14,164). In a sign of the times, the National Debt Clock in New York City has run out of digits to record the nation's growing debt.

As a short-term fix, the digital dollar sign on the billboard-style clock near Times Square has been switched to a figure — the "1" in $10 trillion. It's marking the federal government's current debt at about $10.2 trillion. The Durst Organization says it plans to update the sign next year by adding two digits. That will make it capable of tracking debt up to a quadrillion dollars. The late Manhattan real estate developer Seymour Durst put the sign up in 1989 to call attention to what was then a $2.7 trillion debt.

• American government now admits spying on Americans (ABC News 4:11)

How Much is a "Trillion"?

Wikipedia/NPR/NASA/Carpe Diem

If you spent a $1,000 a day, how long would it take you to spend a trillion dollars? The answer may surprise you: 2.7 million years. If you took a stack of hundred dollar bills, a million of them would be four feet high. A billion would be three Sears Towers high. A trillion would be 789 miles high (or 144 Mt. Everests stacked on top of each other), to say nothing about the National Debt. We get closer to a Buddhist nahuta (a staggering number) or a kalpa (a bogglingly long aeon).

Technically it is either of the two numbers (see long and short scales for more detail):

• 1,000,000,000,000 (one million million; 10 to the 12th power; SI prefix: tera-) -- for all short scale countries -- increasingly common meaning in English language usage.
• 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one million million million; 10 to the 18th; SI prefix: exa-) -- for all long scale countries - increasingly rare meaning in English language usage but frequent in many other languages.

But how much is it really?

• Listen Now (NPR)

Talk of the Nation, 2/8/08: The 2009 budget proposed this week by President Bush weighs in at $3.1 trillion [raising the national debt to $10.2 trillion]. But just how large is a trillion, anyway? It is a thousand, thousand, thousand, thousand, or a million million. To put it into perspective, current estimates put the number of stars in the Milky Way at somewhere between 100 and 400 billion. The U.S. population is slightly over 303 million, and the world population is around 6.6 billion. $1 trillion would be enough money to buy about a 1,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies for every person in the United States.

Author David M. Schwartz talks about other ways to visualize a trillion, and how to wrap our heads around really big numbers. If we started counting from one to a trillion at the rate of one number per second, it would take 317 centuries before we were done.

A trillion seconds ago, no one on this planet [we know of] could read or write. Neither the Roman Empire nor the ancient Chinese dynasties had yet come into existence. None of the founders of the world's great religions today had yet been born.

Six trillion seconds equals 189,276 years.

• One year of clock time = (60sec/min) x (60 min/hr) x (24 hr/da) x (365.25 da) = 3.16 x 107 sec
  One trillion seconds of ordinary clock time = ( 1012 sec)/( 3.16 x 107 sec/yr) = 31,546 years.

Along with the nearly six trillion miles in a light-year, there are nearly five trillion dollars in the current U.S. national debt [uh, make that 10 trillion and growing thanks to Bush]. Is it any wonder even Republicans in Washington are concerned?

If one were to count the National Debt at the rate of one dollar per second, one would have to use a mechanical counter to click off the digits. If the counting were done out loud -- "one, two, three..." -- there would be numbers whose names are so large, it would take more than a second of clock time to pronounce them. For example, "nine hundred and ninety nine billion, nine hundred and ninety nine million, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine" takes about 9 seconds to pronounce.

• Iraq war could cost US over $2 trillion, says Nobel prize-winning
• The Web is now one trillion webpages big and growing (by billions a day)