“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.” – H.L. Mencken
H.L. Mencken was a renowned newspaper columnist for the Baltimore Sun from 1906 until 1948. His biting sarcasm seems to fit perfectly in today’s world. His acerbic satirical writings on government, democracy, politicians and the ignorant masses are as true today as they were then. I believe the reason his words hit home is because he was writing during the last Unraveling and Crisis periods in America. The similarities cannot be denied. There are no journalists of his stature working in the mainstream media today. His acerbic wit is nowhere to be found among the lightweight shills that parrot their corporate masters’ propaganda on a daily basis and unquestioningly report the fabrications spewed by our government. Mencken’s skepticism of all institutions is an unknown quality in the vapid world of present day journalism.
The Roaring Twenties of decadence, financial crisis caused by loose Fed monetary policies, stock market crash, Depression, colossal government redistribution of wealth, and ultimately a World War, all occurred during his prime writing years. I know people want to believe that the world only progresses, but they are wrong. The cycles of history reveal that people do not change, just the circumstances change. How Americans react to the undulations of history depends upon their age and generational position. We are currently in a Crisis period when practical, truth telling realists like Mencken are most useful and necessary.
Mencken captured the essence of American politics and a disconnected populace 80 years ago. Even though many people today feel the average American is less intelligent, more materialistic, and less informed than ever before, it was just as true in 1930 based on Mencken’s assessment:
“The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
You can make your own judgment on the accuracy of his statement considering the last two gentlemen to occupy the White House. His appraisal of U.S. Senators and citizens in our so-called Democracy captures the spirit of the travesty that passes for leadership and civic responsibility in this country today.
“Democracy gives the beatification of mediocrity a certain appearance of objective and demonstrable truth. The mob man, functioning as citizen, gets a feeling that he is really important to the world—that he is genuinely running things. Out of his maudlin herding after rogues and mountebacks there comes to him a sense of vast and mysterious power—which is what makes archbishops, police sergeants, the grand goblins of the Ku Klux and other such magnificoes happy. And out of it there comes, too, a conviction that he is somehow wise, that his views are taken seriously by his betters — which is what makes United States Senators, fortune tellers and Young Intellectuals happy. Finally, there comes out of it a glowing consciousness of a high duty triumphantly done which is what makes hangmen and husbands happy.”
People still read newspapers in the 1930s to acquire credible information about the economy, politics and economy. Today’s corporate owned rags aren’t fit to line a bird cage. The mainstream media is a platform for the lies of their corporate sponsors. Each TV network or newspaper spouts propaganda that supports the financial interests and ideology they are beholden to. Does anyone think they are obtaining the truth from Paul Krugman, Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh? Evidently the answer is yes. The upcoming presidential campaign will be a nightmare of endless negative advertisements created by Madison Avenue maggots and paid for by rich powerful men attempting to herd the mindless sheeple towards their ultimate slaughter. Whichever corporate controlled party can more successfully scare the masses into pulling their lever in the voting booth on November 6th will get the opportunity push the country closer to its ultimate collapse. This collapse was destined from the time of Mencken when the Federal Reserve was created by a small group of powerful bankers and their cronies in Congress. Fear has worked for 100 years in controlling the masses, as Mencken noted during his time:
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
In the 1930s you needed to count on newspapers for the truth. The purpose of those who wield power is to keep the masses dumbed down and paranoid regarding terrorist threats and artificial enemies. By convincing the dense public that acquiring material goods on credit was a smart thing to do, they have trapped them in a web of debt. By making life an inexhaustible bureaucratic nightmare or rules, regulations, forms, ID cards, registrations, and red tape, those in power maintain control and accumulate power. H.L. Mencken would be proud:
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
Let’s See How Far We’ve Come
“The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.” – H.L. Mencken
The corporate / government / banking oligarchy started the fire. The world is burning to the ground and politicians have thrown gasoline onto the fire with passage of debt financed stimulus programs, Obamacare, bank bailouts, the Patriot Act, NDAA, and a myriad of other government “solutions”. To anyone willing to think for just a few minutes, the picture is unambiguous. This requires the ability to think critically – a missing gene among the majority of Americans.
Critical thinking is the careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim and the degree of confidence with which one accepts or rejects it. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness. Critical thinking requires extensive experience in identifying the extent of one’s own ignorance in a wide variety of subjects (“I thought I knew, but I merely believed.”)
One becomes less biased and more broad-minded when one becomes more intellectually empathetic and intellectually humble. I have observed little or no critical thinking skills in the pompous asses that write daily columns in today’s newspapers and zero critical thinking skills among the vacuous pundits and big breasted brainless fashion models that yap all day long on CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, Fox and the Big 3 dying networks.
Any thinking would be a shocking change of pace from the corrupt corporate owned politicians in Washington DC. Other than Ron Paul and a few other truth tellers, critical thinking from a politician or a government bureaucrat is about as likely as Obama not using a teleprompter. Everything being spewed at the public from the MSM, Wall Street, and Washington DC is intellectually dishonest, manipulated and packaged by pollsters and PR firms. I’ve come to the conclusion that those in power desire that public school systems of the United States churn out ignorant, non-questioning morons. A populace that is incapable or uninterested in critically thinking about the important issues of the day is a politician’s best friend. Half the population doesn’t vote and the other half unquestioningly obeys what they are told by their parties.
Ignorance is the state of being uninformed about issues and unaware about the implications of those issues. It is not about intelligence. A huge swath of America is ignorant due to lack of education and a low class upbringing. But, I know many college educated people who haven’t read a book in 20 years or could care less about economic issues. They made a choice to be ignorant. They prefer being distracted by their latest technological toy to dealing with reality.
Most Americans are incapable of looking beyond a 2 to 3 year time horizon. That is why the median 401k balance in the US is $13,000. That is why the average credit card debt per household is $16,000. That is why 25% of all homeowners are underwater on their mortgage. Politicians, banks, and marketers take advantage of this witlessness to enslave the average American. We’ve come to love our slavery. Appearing successful because you drive the right car, wear the right clothes or live in the right house is more important than actually doing the hard work to actually become successful, like spending less than you make and saving the difference.
An informed, interested, questioning public would be a danger to the government as described by H.L. Mencken:
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out … without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.”
There were already two fiscal hurricanes of unfunded liabilities and current deficits churning towards our shores before Obama and his non-critical thinking Democratic minions launched a third storm called Obamacare. No matter how many intellectually deceitful mouthpieces like Paul Krugman and Rush Limbaugh misrepresent the facts, the fiscal foundation of the country is crumbling under the weight of unfunded entitlement promises, out of control government spending and far flung military misadventures. Only someone who is intellectually bankrupt, like Krugman, would declare the National Debt at $8 trillion as a looming disaster when George Bush was President, but declare that a $15.6 trillion National Debt headed towards $20 trillion by 2015 isn’t a danger now that Barack Obama is President. The intellectual and moral credentials required to write for a major newspaper have fallen markedly since the days of Mencken.
The combination of educationally uninformed, ignorant by choice, and intellectually dishonest will be fatal for the country. Total US credit market debt as a percentage of GDP is just below an all-time high, exceeding 350% of GDP. It is 25% higher than it was at the depths of the Great Depression. Consumer debt fell in 2010 – 2011 because banks wrote off about a trillion dollars of bad debt, while government debt has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels. Now consumers are back racking up more debt, with government encouragement and subsidies responsible for the surge in student loan and auto debt. With GDP stalling out, government debt accumulating at $1.4 trillion per year and consumers back to their delusional selves again, this ratio will pass 400% by 2014.
The financial crisis was caused by excessive utilization of debt. In order to correct these imbalances, the country needed to undergo a deleveraging and reversion back to a country of savers. Savings equals investment. Instead, our “leaders” have reduced interest rates to 0% and have gone on an unprecedented government borrowing and spending spree. Savers and senior citizens are punished, while gamblers and speculators are rewarded. Anyone who thinks about this strategy for a few minutes will realize it is asinine and hopeless. It enriches the few and impoverishes the many.
Based upon a realistic assessment of our current spending trajectory, The National Debt of the U.S. will exceed $25 trillion by 2019. That is more than double the figure when Bush left office. George Bush almost doubled the National Debt from $5.6 trillion to $11 trillion during his reign of error. It seems one thing Republicans and Democrats can agree on is that spending money they don’t have will have no negative consequences (“deficits don’t matter” – Cheney). When you have a Federal Reserve willing to print to infinity there is no limit to how much you can spend. Only a fool would believe there won’t be consequences. That fool writes an opinion column for the NYT and has a Nobel Prize on his bookshelf.
We add $3.8 billion of debt to this figure each and every day. We add $158 million to this figure each and every hour. The interest on the National Debt reached an all-time high of $454 billion in 2011 with an effective interest rate of about 3%. Much of this interest is paid to foreign governments like China, Japan and OPEC nations. This is $1.2 billion per day of interest paid mostly to foreigners. With just the slightest bit of critical thinking one could easily perceive that with a National Debt of $25 trillion and a likely increase in interest rates to at least 6%, our annual interest costs would increase to $1.5 trillion per year. The United States needed to implement a long-term plan ten years ago to address the impossible to fulfill promises made by its corrupt, mentally bankrupt politicians. Americans’ inability to deal with reality and fondness for not thinking beyond tomorrow has shown them to be an inferior species, as Mencken noted:
“The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear – fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety.”
The entire revenue of the US government totaled $2.3 trillion in 2011, with $800 billion of those funds earmarked for Social Security outlays in the future. Does this appear sustainable? President Obama submits budgets of never ending trillion dollar deficits and then gives stump speeches declaring that we must get our deficits under control. He appears on the MSM declaring his dedication to fiscal responsibility and what passes for a journalist these days nods their head like a lapdog and lobs the next softball to the President. You have to be delusional to believe this claptrap. Luckily for the politicians, most Americans are delusional and apathetic. They just got another text message from their BFF. They are consumed by who will get booted this week from American Idol or Dancing With the Stars. The NFL draft is tonight and did your hear that Kim Kardashian is doing Kanye West?
H.L. Mencken understood the false promises of democracy 80 years ago:
“Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. It is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
We deserve to get it good and hard, and we will.
Oooo! Calling names! Ouch! You wish you had a good woman to f*** you so well that your dick hurt.
Now lets hear YOUR version, Admenstribator
I hate to admit this, but I do have a healthy dose of skepticism with regards to 9-11. Things just don’t add up.
That being said, its not the center of my argument against our government. You’d have to go back 100 years to encompass all the jackassery that currently is pissing me off.
WOW Jim, the morons are out in force today! I love the smell of nitwits in the afternoon.
Morons – Jim is honest, knowledgable, and almost as smart as me so I will answer for him…
1.NO ONE with an IQ over 81 supports Obamao. No more explanation necessary.
2. A 9/11 conspiracy would require AT LEAST 50,000 people and not 1 has spoken up?
Hmmm…
Thanks for playing though, your idiotic posts are most entertaining.
Truth Hurts: I am enlightened now.Please: Tell us more.
Mick: You’re heading that Retard Parade like a champ. You’re marching so magnificently, your knees are clicking against your chin-strap.
PissyChem: Skepticism is great… like you said, making something like that your center-piece in an argument isn’t wise.
Yammering on about it like these clowns is so classic these days, you gotta wonder if there’s something to that South Park episode. It makes far more sense.
Sound of crickets from Channel Serfing on my responses to his screed on nuclear power. He must be under a rock somewhere.
Here’s another Serf gem: “I find it very hard to believe that Mencken would have approved of wide-spread adoption of nuclear power given what he knew about mankind and the skepticism he brought to bear.”
News flash, Serf. Mencken died in 1956. Focus on the year 1956. You or I don’t have a fucking clue what Mencken would have thought about nuclear power. Yet your crystal ball tells YOU, and only you, that a man who has been dead for over a half century tells you he would have disapproved.
Somehow, I get the feeling I’m arguing with a mental midget or coward or both.
Dick Hurts is being careful to not reveal that he is David Pierre. I can smell a yellow bellied American traitor from a mile away. He had to pry himself away from the sheep in the barn to enlighten us with his lunatic 9/11 bullshit.
Dick Hurts/yardfarmer/David Pierre/sheep fucker
This is what I’ve been doing to you on Zero Hedge for the last three days.
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Dick Hurts favorite book
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David Pierre spreading the truth about 9/11
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Seems you have become a troll magnet admin.
Question. What do 9/11 and the assassination of JFK have in common? Answer: A small country in the middle east
PS, I believe the 57 likes for my Mencken quote constitute a TBP record. I wonder who is lone douchebag who gave it a thumbs down…
Wyoming Mike, While I had abandoned the entire concept of voting for the lesser of evils after 2000, ironically the only other time I ever did that was in 1998, (and I never voted for Reagan), I am reconsidering it if Paul doesn’t by some miracle, become the GOP nominee. We might…although probably not…survive one more Obama term. We certainly won’t after two terms of Mittens, especially if he anoits the hideous, piece of shit “teaparty” Rubio as his running mate. If not Paul then fucking go, Obama! I voted once for two Bushes. I can’t believe I did that, in retrospect. If I had a 757, I would joyfully fly it into a tower of neoconservativism, even if it means retaining the other tower (Obama’s foreign policy) that survives.
Jack Hunter’s magnificient deconstruction of Tea Party phony, Rubio’s speech to Brookings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQdD2_w23g
In 1925 Mencken translated Nietzsche’s The Antichrist, published (somewhat amazingly*) in the U.S. by Knopf; the introduction is nearly as long as the book, and utterly fascinating: he discusses Neitzsche (describes his as a cleric’s son who after painstaking study of the Scriptures comes to wonder of Christ was the only Christian) and his times, the American scene from Teddy Roosevelt (who he calls a warmonger) to the Scopes trial (which he covered) to much more, all with brevity and wit. The line that stood out the most for me, and which I always think of when the Fed is discussed, begins ” Of all the institutions created by the great practical jokers of the race…**)
* at one point, Mencken says the Jews deserved ten times the pogroms they suffered, but in virtually the next sentence sets them above Christians who he describes thusly**)
His description of being hounded by Federal agents in one of the Palmer raids is both comical and frightening.
P.S.: His Sahara of the Bozarts is not to be missed, either
Conspiracy Theorists, one day they will be right…..
[img]http://xkcd.com/1013/[/img]
Conspiracy theorists, one day they will be right…
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The greatest generation sure were great at milking that cow..
sheesh..
http://blog.nj.com/njv_paul_mulshine/2012/04/greedy_commie_geezer.html
Greedy geezers? Make that ‘greedy totalitarian geezers’
Published: Friday, April 27, 2012, 2:50 PM
Paul Mulshine/The Star Ledger By Paul Mulshine/The Star Ledge
Note the passage in which this guy proposes to have the government enslave my children to support him. I’ve put it in italics.
The bulk of our (seniors) health care insurance and costs should be subsidized by young, middle-aged, and even, by previous standards almost elderly, people who are still doing something for which they are being paid. If they are going to use developments in medicine to live to be 100 or more (see among others David Sinclair at Harvard and Aubrey deGray at Cambridge), they will probably want to retire at age 70 or 75 and need support the last 25 or 30 years of their life. This will require a complete change of intergenerational philosophy of life and dependence. If you wish to cease all efforts at extending the lifespan, then the Mulshine philosophy may be workable. If not, other ideas must come into play. My major suggestion has been to get all physically able high school graduates to give two to four years to government service, not necessarily military. Cleaning up messes from industrial operations of centuries ago would be a useful exercize. Here in Morris County filling in the mine shafts from iron mining is one possibility. After service, the youngsters would get any academic or vocational training they desired. Basically a general latter-day totally inclusive GI Bill. Of course this would cost money, anathema to the Mulshines of this world, but very useful to the young people with more than 75 years left, who in turn would be supported for 20 years or so by following generations. I was a beneficiary of the original GI Bill even though I was spared from flying over Japan in a B-29 because Harry Truman, who had seen war first hand in WWI, never misplaced his political testicles (unlike the current crop) and authorized using the only two A-Bombs we had at the time. The generation that preceded mine, the one between World Wars, was spared the horrors of war, but made few complaints about paying the costs of the war or the education of veterans, even the non-combat vets. Yes, I expect people who are still earning some money, especially those who are earning millions, to help support those in need (and we are not in need of outside support now at current rates of Social Security and Medicare).
This e-mail highlights problem with the World War II generation. Most of them adopted a totalitarian mindset during the New Deal and the war. This call for income redistribution and universal service belongs in a socialist country, not in a free country.
So do most the older voters in America. And as you can see from the above e-mail, they’re not shy about admitting it.
ALSO: Before the New Deal came along there were people in America who actually believed in liberty. Not many, though. Here’s a great 1923 quote from H.L. Mencken in that regard:
The fact is that the average man’s love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. He is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.
We have our own H.L. Mencken. His name is Jon Stewart.
Democracy is truly stupid.
There should be an exam that all politician wanna-bees have to pass before they can run for office.
There should be an exam that all citizens who want to vote have to pass before they can vote.
I never did understand how a popularity contest somehow determines the BEST person to lead the country.
Seems to me that the popularity contest results in the prettiest, most vacuous person to end up the winner. Just who we want to lead the most powerful nation on earth.
Neat.
PChem:
I don’t know why, but word press won’t post a p.b. photo unless you edit the paste and take out the capitalized IMG prompt copied from the url on p.b…. give it another go.
WPES
Hi!, Patrons Of The Burning Platform Et Al:
Along the same lines of H.L. Menchen we read the truths too of Bertrand Russell whe once commented; “Why do we call upon politicians to solve our problems; when they themselves are the root of our problems?”
RUSS SMITH, CALIFORNA
[email protected]
Truth Hurts says:
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“OK Colma. Physics 101”
Indeed, Mencken’s views on democracy and politics were 100% accurate. Proof of this is delivered to us every minute of every day.
The idea that there is actually a difference between say, democratic or republican contenders for the presidency, or that voters actually face a ‘choice’ is a complete mirage. I have begun to refer to elections as selections. No candidate that is actually challenging the ‘statist quo’ and thus lacks the endorsement of the establishment (such as e.g. Ron Paul) has the slightest chance to win.
The Democratic ad Republican parties both fully support the welfare/warfare state and its crumbling fiat money foundation. Both fully support central economic planning, as countless editorials by both current and past politicians from both parties reveal daily.
In short, there is no ‘choice’; consequently, fewer and fewer people actually cast a vote and from the 40% of eligible voters that actually do go to cast their vote, half are probably merely trying to vote for what they regard as the slightly ‘lesser evil’.
Hi!, Patrons Of The Burning Platform Et Al (again):
Before leaving all you outstanding strokes of genius, kids & adults, please let me tell you ONE for the road: The worst inflation ever recorded in all of economic history was the Hungarian Pengo. It was almost too difficult to track, because their final way of measuing their economic data was by measuring them in light years. Compared to that dilusion, how much further does Helicopter Ben Bernanke need to take OUR Nation, in order that we by comparison can catch up with the Hungarian methods of inflaton? Enough said?!
RUSS SMITH, CALIFORNIA
[email protected]
Wait a second, what’s this about Kim Kardashian dating Kanye West?
Compared to that dilusion, how much further does Helicopter Ben Bernanke need to take OUR Nation, in order that we by comparison can catch up with the Hungarian methods of inflaton? Enough said?! -Russ
The difference is that the USD is a global reserve currency when Hungaries was not.
Hey Colma and Admenstibator:
Obviously physics and facts do not exist in your pathetic worlds. All I see from both of you is a bunch of adolescent ad hominem attacks that in no way refute my argument.
Motive for 911? How about massive expansion of power and budgets for the bedwetter fear-factory agencies complicit in the attacks, (anti)-patriot act, NDAA, trillions for war to the MIC, bankrupting the US with war debt all helps to fulfill the NWO agenda.
The culprits? Ask the Bilderbergers, CFR, TC, Bohemian Club, Vatican, and especially the Rothschilds.
Oh
It was the Bilderbergers with the candlestick in the study. Now I understand.
Dick Hurts – go fuck yourself and get the fuck off TBP. We don’t need your complete bullshit staining this blog.
Truth Hurts: Your best bet when it comes to 9/11 conspiracy theory stuff is to just cite the actual facts. Conjecture just makes you sound like a nutjob with a hard on for stupidity.
9/11 nutjobs have NO Facts. They say things couldn’t have happened, blah, blah, blah.
I’ve never come across a 9/11 truther nutjob that had a rational theory to back up their blather.
9/11 truthers will be obliterated on TBP whenever they rear their nutjob heads.
I believe the fall of the buildings merits closer scrutiny, as well as more transparency in that scrutiny. Metallurgy was not a study of mine, however I have studied fuels at great length and the explanation that jet fuel softened steel beams really doesn’t jive with me.
That being said this website is not devoted to conspiracy theories, so this is really the last time I’ll ever bring the topic up. Too much constructive conversation takes place to derail it with the modern day equivalent of the Kennedy assassination.
I don’t want to get into a debate about 9/11, except just to make a couple of points.
Best evidence against the truthers: That the towers collapsed exactly at the points of the aircraft damage. That would be tough to plan in advance if thermite was used.
Best evidence for the truthers:
a) Building 7. The office fires were negligible. It was a free fall completely uniform collapse that cannot be explained by conventional means.
b) Molten steel pulled out of the site during cleanup
c) The “dancing jews” video. “We were there to record the event.” wtf????
d) The pentagon strike. Seriously…a guy who had just a few hours of training was able to hit a four story building in the side with a 757 at 600 mph? You’d think he would have put it into the roof; that would be a lot easier.
Excellent commentary. H.L. Menchen was a great American.
Oh, and I forgot.
e) Dr. Alan Sabrosky
bring back the OTTOMAN EMPIRE
once i was blind but now i see……………just kidding…………very well done again.
Truth Hurts says:
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“The culprits? Ask the Bilderbergers, CFR, TC, Bohemian Club, Vatican, and especially the Rothschilds.”
The REAL CONSPIRACY:
Any time someone criticizes the system we live under with facts and logic, some vocal and stubborn folks will arrive waving the 9/11 flags.
Where is the Mencken connection? NOWHERE. Way to motherfuck a thread, dickweeds.
No matter what, the conversation will be turned to an elaborate ploy by “THEM”.
Because of this arrival by obsessed, wild-eyed, purveyors of an ever-reaching conspiracy, people who critique this system we live under are associated with this:
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Not wishing to be associated with that ^^^^^, folks who seek actual analysis of financial shennanigans and the actual workings of this odd system we live under run… wisely, actually, and associate those who criticize with a level head with those who, like a broken record, continue to elaborate with intricacy only those within the deepest cells of a loony-bin could hatch.
So please, Truth Hurts, cut your bullshit. You’ve damaged enough conversation for so many for so long that I can only conclude that you’re the real culprit and conspirator…
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Or, more than likely a useful idiot.
How the F did this Mencken article get to be a discussion about 9/11, the Bilderburgers, conspiracy theories, and nut jobs?
Re 9/11. Anyone looking at the government’s 80+ videos of the Pentagon site attack can see that a commercial airliner hit the Pentagon. It wasn’t some missile. There was no bomb. The government’s meticulous reconstruction of the four plane crashes, just as has been done in every commercial plane crash for decades, and black box data show that the government’s account of the hijackings and crashes are accurate. Building 7 was so heavily damaged it had to be destroyed. Larry Silverstein, on a video you’ve probably all seen, admitted that. So now, what’s the deal with 7 when we know why and how it came down? No secrets or conspiracy there.
As for the B’s, ther’re are always some who think the rich and powerful get there heads together and try to control the rest of us. Think it though folks. Why should they have to? Playing fair and square they do very well. Why would they need to conspire and manipulate?
People always look for an evil hand or a conspiracy behind tragic political events. Whether it’s the German or American entry into WW2 – both popular conspiracy topics in recent years, or other matters, many theorists have to impune bad motives to good leaders. In America’s case it’s been a slander on George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their staffs in recent years. Such slander of American heroes should stop.
Whoa whoa whoa, I NEVER slander Bush or Cheney!
….direct quotes do all the work for me. 🙂
Bush and Cheney “American heroes?” Now I don’t know if that is more pathetic than it is funny.
Well said.
This is the kind of article we should be reading in our mainstream media. You never will of course.
Probably the best article I have read on this site so far. How insightful was Mr Mencken. His commentary is very much applicable world wide. I very much enjoyed the quote:
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.”
Unfortunately it’s just so true.
More articles like this please. Thank you.
Jackson
Says
“As for the B’s, there are always some who think the rich and powerful get there heads together and try to control the rest of us. Think it though folks. Why should they have to? Playing fair and square they do very well. Why would they need to conspire and manipulate?”
How long have you been on the fucking planet?
Have ave you ever considered how and why the how the Federal Reserve Bank was formed. Maybe you should do a little reading about that or maybe you have your own custom definition of what the words conspire and manipulate mean. What would you call a few congressmen, some lobbyists or a few corporate contributors getting together for a meeting and some lunch. Now it be just a meeting but there is a good chance it’s a conspiracy too. A legal one no doubt, but that does not mean its fair or a good thing.
After decades and decades of headlines, irrefutable evidence and facts as to scandals, lies, crimes, cover ups, deceptions, false flags, aggressive wars, intrigue, mismanagement, corruption, graft and waste by the politicians and the elite only an idiot would think that people are not manipulated, lied to or conspired against. The overwhelming evidence for manipulation conspiracy, unethical behavior and crimes by politicians, bankers and corporations is backed by historical fact and so common in just recent times that a thinking person would suspect that there must be a lot more mischief going on in the world than just what we know about. Those that are not manipulated live in places where they are simply dictated too. Influencing people or forcing people to do things or act a certain way has become the process of government and big business…..even a moron should be able to grasp that.
The government doesn’t even level with us on things as plain and basic as employment figures. What reasonable person would expect them to report the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about 911 or anything else if their interests or friends interests were at stake and contrary to the facts? When so many things reported by our government and corporate leaders have proven to misrepresentations, fabrications, and half truths how can anyone even think we get the straight dope on anything? Democrats have one set of facts and Republicans have another set of facts and in the end the only fact is they both deceive and everything becomes so convoluted that nobody knows what the truth is. Most Folks just go with what ever lie they like the best and don’t ask any too many questions about it.
Then you go one to ask something as incredibly naive as
“Why would they need to conspire and manipulate?”
Well maybe they don’t need to………….but it ‘s much more profitable and expedient to conspire and manipulate than to play fair and go by the rules unless of course you make the rules. It’s hard for sheeple to understand how in the grand scheme of things even a relatively small amount of money and power has the potential to turn a human into a monster. If you really want some stacks of cash and a little power you don’t have to sell your soul but you will probably have to lease it out for awhile. I have had business dealings directly with bankers, brokerages and securities dealers. If you assume all these financial types or even most of them are ethical, fair playing great guys you are very mistaken. Some of these folks are great people but they are systemically corrupted if not personally.
Examine the history of Mankind, the history of governments, the history of commerce, the history of business, the history of banking, the history of money and the history of war. If you can not understand that at all times in all places that there are those who manipulate, deceive, betray or even murder their way dominance over the love of money, the addiction of control and lust for power then you delusional or ignorant about the demonstrated nature of man.
Finally you say something as incredibly dishonest like this…………..and its not just you having an opinion its a flat out fucking lie.
“People always look for an evil hand or a conspiracy behind tragic political events. Whether it’s the German or American entry into WW2 – both popular conspiracy topics in recent years, or other matters, many theorists have to impune bad motives to good leaders. In America’s case it’s been a slander on George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their staffs in recent years. Such slander of American heroes should stop.
How about that many of these people happen to be looking at the facts asshole?
Bush and Cheney are not heroes. They are treasonous bastards. Heroes are guys like my dad who fought in the mud, dirt, horror and death. My dad got a twenty one gun salute and my mom got a flag, And you give praise to a compliant bumbling imbecile like Bush and a career villain like Cheney. You disgust me.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
Look at these quotes from Mencken – look at them again & again. What do they say…?
They Scream loud & clear, that although time and technology change, human nature does not, nor does man’s desire to Rule over his fellow man – by any means necessary. Our Founding Fathers came the closest to providing a framework whereby structures were set in place to provide a bulwark against abuse by those in ‘authority’. You need not be a died-in-the-wool ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ to figure out that liberties you cherish have been purposely eroded over time by members of both mainstream political parties. Put aside your petty differences – that is of course, assuming you place any value on Liberty in the first place…
Bruce,
Well said. Thanks for taking the time to write your above comment, even though the truth is often times negative and repugnant.
All the best,
John
Government is a great fiction and the ultimate way in which one can punt personal responsibility. It is an organization designed to market the notion that if you only place your belief in the institution you won’t have to worry about private vultures and swindlers taking advantage of you and stealing your hard-earned money, all the while that very institution robs you blind. It is this instilled belief that has allowed the government to work its way into nearly every aspect of your life. Once the lie is accepted, there is no limit to a government’s dominance over you. As evidenced by the current state of affairs, the gullibility and ignorance of the population will permit in this country an evermore overbearing and tyrannical force, sold to the public under the guise of “government knows best” and “it will be far worse than if we don’t act” while presenting no evidence to the contrary. The public at large will lap this up at face value and never question the cost of their acquiescence.
Bruce,
A lot of rant, generalization, and slander is what I read in your post above. Where are the facts? In your head, of course, and in the minds of a small percentage of others is where they are and in no other place.
Witness that no MSM source, which includes national and local newspapers, tv, the internet, books, and magazines, has taken up your slander about Bush and Cheney being treasonous bastards. Nor have they even hinted at the claim. It’s only the frustrated fringe that spits. It’s the same with false flags, crimes, and 911. Trained, experienced, and trusted journalists all reject the fringe arguments about those events.
There are several issues that you’ve raised above: Bush and Cheney, false flags, (governmental) crimes, and 911. Give us some facts to back up each of your claims of lies, coverups, etc. Give us facts about those subjects instead of rant, opinion, and defamation. So do please convince us, Bruce, why we should believe you instead of thousands of respected editors, columnists, and journalists? You can’t do it, can you?
Jackson,
So now you have a few items of documentation. I know it will make no impression as showing you this is like showing a card trick to a dog. So now I’m done with you, go fuck with someone else somewhere else.
SSS – I am curious as to whether you would still support existing and expanded nuclear power if you actually realized how dangerous and deadly it is. Perhaps you’d start looking around at the real alternatives. OR perhaps you think that economic growth upon growth (and therefore energy demand) no matter what the cost, is what we must do? Is this what you think? Have you thought to wonder if that’s a fundamentally flawed idea? Perhaps not physically possible let alone desirable?
Are you aware of the vulnerability of most nuclear power plants in the event that the grid goes down? Did you know that:
“most current reactors are of a similarly outdated design as the Fukushima reactors, where the cooling systems require electricity to operate (FROM THE GRID, NOT FROM THE POWER PRODUCED BY THE REACTOR), and huge amounts of spent radioactive fuel are housed on-site, requiring continuous cooling to prevent radioactive release.” Washington’s Blog – April 8, 2001 ( parenthesis mine)
Do you think that the utility executives, politicians and regulators give a flying fuck about the safety of the public and the planet? Do you think the NRC is any less captured than the SEC? Stick with this one, it might give that searing insight you so desperately need. Nuclear power is not in the hands of responsible, caring scientists and engineers. It is in the hands of sociopaths and sycophants.
You can argue for new designs that are fail safe, low waste, etc. all you want, but until you fix existing structural problems such as the need to harden the grid (not very expensive actually) and the need to store spent fuel in dry casks (expensive) and the need to fix the flawed designs of existing reactors (expensive) your demand for more nuclear is a very bad idea
Until you fix the corrupt business and regulatory environment that exists here and across the globe, your demand for more nuclear is a very bad idea.
Until you can assure essentially ALL future generations of humanity and life generally, that there will be NO accidents, NO earth quakes, NO wars (that cause intentional or collateral damage), NO short-term greed, NO short cuts taken, NO terrorism, AND you can figure out what to do with the radioactive waste from operation not to mention from mining, you have NO business demanding more nuclear.
SSS, if you don’t address the human factor, then you are not credible and might as well argue about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
I suspect that you have a near religious belief in science and engineering and those who practice it. The biggest problem here is that your acolytes are not in charge.
Here’s a real world test for you – were they in charge in Japan?
If so, how did the disaster happen? If not, then how are you going to fix THAT little problem for all time at all plants built and to be built? Or do you have some other convoluted explanation as to why Japan will never happen again, and that somehow the acolytes will be always be in charge from here until the end of time and will never make a critical mistake.
Remember this is a GLOBAL problem. Even if by some miracle, the People ruled this country wisely and benevolently for all time, from here on out, are you prepared to gamble that every nuclear country in the world will remain stable and responsible to the level nuclear requires, essentially for eternity?
Why do you have so much faith in private enterprise, government and individuals? I am a lot kinder than you are, but have no such delusions about humans or their institutions.
Humans need to play with safe things to stay safe.
Have you been to Fukushima lately? Do you think that problem is solved?
Here are a few choice headlines from http://www.enenews.com, which you should check at least a few times a week.
Some Recent Headlines:
03:57 PM EST on April 27th, 2012 | 40 comments
Japan medical doctors coming to America to tell of Fukushima’s under-reported health consequences
01:39 PM EST on April 27th, 2012 | 24 comments
One year later Forbes resumes Fukushima coverage — Jeff McMahon continues reporting on EPA and Fukushima radiation
12:13 PM EST on April 27th, 2012 | 15 comments
Highest hydrogen levels of year inside Reactor No. 2 containment vessel
10:50 AM EST on April 27th, 2012 | 26 comments
Mainichi publishes report on thyroid cancer: 30% in Fukushima now with tumors of 2cm or less, thyroid gland only 5cm by 3cm total — Claims cancer increases after 10 sievert radiation dose, so Japan ok (10,000 millisieverts)
12:59 AM EST on April 27th, 2012 | 30 comments
Official: Plutonium detected in black substance from Minamisoma (PHOTOS)
10:59 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 8 comments
Gov’t: “Almost impossible” to restart Japan nuclear plant — Tsuruga reactor will ’tilt’ if fault moves — Chances “virtually nil” -Kyodo
09:07 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 10 comments
Gundersen featured on PBS — Host: “Growing movement” to keep California’s San Onofre nuclear plant shut down permanently (VIDEO)
07:49 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 68 comments
*Warning – Graphic* Photographer: “My first reaction was I was looking at a different race of people” — Brain outside of skull, kidneys outside of torso, legs resembling elephant — Some doctors feel strongly there will be no more Belarus people in future (VIDEO)
enenews_ 2012-04-26 19.50t
04:50 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 11 comments
7-fold increase in radioactive cesium being released from Reactor No. 2 during April (CHART)
03:55 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 11 comments
Watch: Local Fukushima official films radioactive whirlwind — “All black dust has been also blown away” (VIDEO)
enenews_ 2012-04-26 16.02t
01:19 PM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 15 comments
Russian Gov’t Radio: “The number of victims has reached one million people today” — Consequences of Chernobyl meltdown are endless and uncontrollable
06:36 AM EST on April 26th, 2012 | 43 comments
Japan TV news program films plant life mutations in Tokyo — Fasciated dandelions reported “very often” (VIDEO)
07:28 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 18 comments
UPI: Active geological fault lies directly beneath Japan reactor — Yomiuri: “Extremely uncertain” if it can be reactivated
06:35 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 11 comments
M4.5, M4.2 hit Fukushima since 5p ET
05:50 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 37 comments
NHK: “Unclear” whether any of Japan’s stopped reactors can be restarted
02:35 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 9 comments
Fukushima fallout lingered just above ground to be inhaled — While Chernobyl particles appeared to be at higher elevations, or were rained onto surface without floating at low elevation (DIAGRAM)
Latest Headlines:
01:46 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 12 comments
150km from Fukushima Daiichi: Radioactive plumes continued during summer — Fallout was re-suspended during daytime by daily convection due to sunshine
01:02 PM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 8 comments
Study: Radioactive ‘black rain’ HELPED Japan after meltdowns — Substantial amount of fallout was floating near ground, and rainfall “ceased its re-suspension” — Area was at “High Risk” beforehand
11:15 AM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 8 comments
Worse than radioactive rain? After Fukushima, fallout was suspended near Earth’s surface without settling down, says new study — “Potentially a health risk, especially for children as they breathe closer to ground”
09:56 AM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 43 comments
Epidemiology Scientist: The slower you spread radiation dose, the more effectively it produces cancer and inherited defects — “Japan is going the very best way in the world for destroying the human race” (1993 VIDEO)
08:31 AM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 24 comments
New Gundersen Interview (AUDIO) — Hundreds turn out to see presentation at city council meeting near San Onofre nuclear plant; Mother speaks about brain cancers in neighborhood
07:02 AM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 21 comments
Mainichi: Decontamination failed and abandoned after Chernobyl — Residents allowed back, then forced to leave again — Now no return for centuries says Zone official
12:11 AM EST on April 25th, 2012 | 23 comments
Japan nuclear plant may be permanently shut down because of quake risk — Fault line found 500 feet from reactor on Tuesday (VIDEO)
08:46 PM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 29 comments
Intense M5.5 hits Chiba, outside Tokyo — Followed by M4 aftershocks at same location (MAPS)
05:05 PM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 111 comments
Professor: Japan newborns were treated like guinea pigs for study of nuclear weapons and radiation — Stillborn babies secretly shipped to US for research
02:18 PM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 53 comments
Wall nearly 100 feet tall to be built underground at Fukushima Daiichi to prevent further spread of radioactive contamination — Construction begins tomorrow, ends June 2014 (PHOTOS)
12:57 PM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 22 comments
Kyodo: Fukushima Daiichi reactors are “riddled with meltdown holes”
11:57 AM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 25 comments
Pressure doubles inside Reactor No. 2 containment vessel since start of April — Tepco making effort to reduce pressure
10:52 AM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 58 comments
Gov’t Report: EPA’s ability to protect human health with RadNet was “potentially impaired” for Fukushima — Officials questioned why they were using “dramatically less strict” standards for radiation contamination
08:43 AM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 45 comments
Washington Post: Closing reactors causing a “mess” after “non-catastrophic” Fukushima crisis — Argues for building more nuke plants in US
07:34 AM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 41 comments
Tepco to dump groundwater from under reactor buildings into ocean — Kyodo: 1,000 tons a day; “Tepco would check contamination level before releasing it”
06:33 AM EST on April 24th, 2012 | 14 comments
The Economist: ‘Astounding’ that health of people near Fukushima Daiichi not being tracked
10:25 PM EST on April 23rd, 2012 | 49 comments
Book by Fukushima Worker: Bottom of Daini reactor may be ‘broken through’ — Rumors of possible explosion
06:19 PM EST on April 23rd, 2012 | 30 comments
Nuclear consultant examines No. 4 spent fuel pool scenarios: Loss of Water vs. Scattering of Fuel Rods
03:38 PM EST on April 23rd, 2012 | 32 comments
Nuclear expert raises doubts about support columns under Spent Fuel Pool No.4 at Fukushima Daiichi (PHOTOS)
Jackson says:
“Building 7 was so heavily damaged it had to be destroyed. Larry Silverstein, on a video you’ve probably all seen, admitted that. So now, what’s the deal with 7 when we know why and how it came down? No secrets or conspiracy there.”
So Jackson did Larry assemble a cracker jack team to wire the building with explosives while it was burning, so that it could be “pulled” safely?
According to you, to the following miracles occurred on 9/11:
1. some time after Building 7 was damaged (now that would be from buildings 1 and 2 collapsing at 9:59am and 10:28am) Larry instantly assembled and materialized a team of at least 30 or 40 demolitions experts.
2. not only did this team materialize instantly, so did the plan for wiring the building
3. so did the wire, ordinance, controls etc. required for the “job”
4. this miracle team then had 6.5 to 7 hours (assuming everything materialized instantly on site remember) to wire the building and demolish it
5. remember that this miracle team of yours and Larry’s had to set LIVE ORDINANCE WHILE THE BUILDING WAS ON FIRE (“heavily damaged” as you say)
Wow Jackson – you believe this? If not, let’s hear your version.
Could it possibly, just maybe possibly be that Building 7 was ALREADY WIRED for demolition BEFORE 9/11?
Now how the fuck are you going to explain that Jackson?
Bruce 3 Jackson 0
Funny thing, in Arizona, I ran and lost to Miranda’s moron sister-in-law. She basically stole all of her clean elections money. Legislature’s a family business down there.
Geez Admin – just saw that you too accept the gubmint’s explanation of 9/11. So how about you answer how that amazing team assembled, planned, procured and wired building 7 while it was burning, so they could bring it down by 5pm, having started at 9:59am that morning, at best.
What possible explanation do you have that could explain how the building came to be wired so it could be demolished, other than that it was wired BEFORE 9/11?
Doesn’t that make you the LEAST BIT SUSPICIOUS?
Channel Surfing/Afeared of my gubmint
Please explain to me how hundreds of demolition experts wired Building 7 for demolition prior to 9/11 without anyone noticing.
You actually want me to believe that these same people arranged for two jetliners to hit the twin towers just so they could demolish Building 7.
You truthers must smoke some really crazy shit to come up with this drivel.
Here’s a fact for you. Hours after the first plane hit, SOMEONE “found” Mohammed Atta’s passport on the street in New York. The story was that it went through the flaming building and was found on the opposite side. You believe THIS?!?
Here come the nutjobs.
Mohammed Atta’s passport on the street in NYC. Now I understand. It surely was an inside job. All the buildings were rigged with explosives by thousands of demolition experts and NO ONE noticed. And now, 11 years later not one of the thousands of demolition experts that murdered 3,000 Americans has had a guilty conscience and come forward.
It all makes sense now – TO A FUCKING MORON!!!!
You truthers are the dumbest fucking losers on the fucking earth.
Go troll some other site where morons are welcome.
There are none so blind as he who will not see!
I’m done here; you are an idiot.
Hit the fucking road you douchebag.
AND DON’T COME BACK or I’ll kick you in the balls so hard they come out your nose.