BLOOD FOR OIL : BRING IT ON !

DUMB -- Now that's a misnomer for <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />America's education system and "No Child Left Behind."  The four R's -- Reading - Writing - Arithmetic - Rappin'!  And that’s counter to the counterintelligence of one's intelligence, provided that you can score a passing grade while counting on your fingers.  Below the college level America's education system, frankly, SUCKS (talk 'bout dumb-down)... but, from the standpoint of higher education for the brightest of America's brain-trust... there are few rivals to our top schools!

Everyone seems to be a bit confused about "HOW" we got into this mess?  And admit I was among the confused... but, have been looking for an answer (possibly, many exist) since the first Iraq War, however, if one is seeking the truth... Google the name of "Bernard Lewis" and/or "The Bernard Lewis Plan" and educate yourself as to "WHO" this man is beyond his nationality and his Princeton professorship.  And you just might enlighten yourself, as to what the game plan was that has come-back to haunt ALL previous administrations’ including the "Two Shrubs" warmonger adminstrations' since the 14-page, "Bernard Lewis Plan" was adopted as policy. 

While at it you might also look at the members of America’s CFR (Committee on Foreign Relations) and find that a high percentage of Anglophiles occupy chairs, thereby, which brings into question “WHO” is really controlling the foreign policy of the United States of America?

"If every fool wore a crown, we'd all be kings." -- Irish Proverb

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Indeed... thanks for the lead on "Bernard Lewis" !

"Kid's heads are filled with so many nonfacts that when they get out of school they're totally unprepared to do anything.  They can't read, they can't write, they can't think.  Talk about child abuse. The school system as a whole qualifies. Go to the library and educate yourself if you've got any guts... " - Frank Zappa

Another architect of this debacle (some would say the father of all this awful mindfuck ) would be Edward Bernays ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays

The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. - Edward Bernays

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Bernays.html

I would encourage everybody to watch this 5 stars documentary...

THE CENTURY OF SELF

http://freedocumentaries.org/theatre.php?filmid=140&id=984&wh=1000x720 

Adam Curtis' acclaimed series examines the rise of the all-consuming self against the backdrop of the Freud dynasty.

To many in both politics and business, the triumph of the self is the ultimate expression of democracy, where power has finally moved to the people. Certainly the people may feel they are in charge, but are they really? "Century of the Self" tells the untold and sometimes controversial story of the growth of the mass-consumer society in Britain and the United States. How was the all-consuming self created, by whom, and in whose interests?

The Freud dynasty is at the heart of this compelling social history. Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis; Edward Bernays, who invented public relations; Anna Freud, Sigmund's devoted daughter; and present-day PR guru and Sigmund's great grandson, Matthew Freud.

Sigmund Freud's work into the bubbling and murky world of the subconscious changed the world. By introducing a technique to probe the unconscious mind, Freud provided useful tools for understanding the secret desires of the masses. Unwittingly, his work served as the precursor to a world full of political spin doctors, marketing moguls, and society's belief that the pursuit of satisfaction and happiness is man's ultimate goal.

Episode One: Happiness Machines

The story of the relationship between Sigmund Freud and his American nephew, Edward Bernays. Bernays invented the public relations profession in the 1920s and was the first person to take Freud's ideas to manipulate the masses. He showed American corporations how they could make people want things they didn't need by systematically linking mass-produced goods to their unconscious desires.

Bernays was one of the main architects of the modern techniques of mass-consumer persuasion, using every trick in the book, from celebrity endorsement and outrageous PR stunts, to eroticizing the motorcar. His most notorious coup was breaking the taboo on women smoking by persuading them that cigarettes were a symbol of independence and freedom. But Bernays was convinced that this was more than just a way of selling consumer goods. It was a new political idea of how to control the masses. By satisfying the inner irrational desires that his uncle had identified, people could be made happy and thus docile.

It was the start of the all-consuming self which has come to dominate today's world.

Another crucial vector of this devolution is exposed in : THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES 1: THE RISE OF THE POLITICS OF FEAR http://freedocumentaries.org/theatre.php?filmid=135&id=976&wh=1000x720  

YOU ARE NOT DUMB, THEY JUST TALK TO YOU THAT WAY !

Breaking: Conyers Calls Committee Back From Summer Recess To Investigate Suskind Allegations

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has taken the highly unusual step of calling his committee back from summer recess in order to investigate allegations by Ron Suskind that the Bush administration forged a letter to buttress the links made between Saddam and 9/11, and Saddam and WMD. The congressional Authorization for the Use of Force Against Iraq, the ""War Resolution" which, as far short as it fell of a congressional declaration of war, gave the invasion its constitutional legal cover, and gave Bush the authorization to invade only after he had certified to congress the existence of these two critical links. If Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, and if he did not possess WMD, the war was off.

The justice charade goes on & on & on & on...

SAME AS IT EVER WAS ;)The 'Drill Baby Drill' Scandal

This week, the Interior Department Inspector General released the results of a two-year, $5.3 million investigation finding that workers at the Minerals Management Service (MMS) royalty collection office were "partying, having sex, using drugs and accepting gifts and ski trips and golf outings from energy company representatives with whom they did government business." MMS, which takes in royalties on oil leases on public lands, "came under fire two years ago for a costly bureaucratic snafu -- leaving out important language in some oil leases, written in 1998 and 1999, that may have cost the government as much as $7 billion in revenue." As Daniel J. Weiss of the Center for American Progress observed, "The federal watchdogs are in bed with the oil companies that they are supposed to oversee." The revelations come as conservatives have initiated a battle cry of "drill baby, drill" and "drill here, drill now" to push for expanded drilling. House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said his staff is investigating the scandal. Already, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) has called for MMS Director Randall Luthi, to resign. "This all shows the oil industry holds shocking sway over the administration and even key federal employees," Nelson said.

SALACIOUS CONFLICT OF INTERESTS: The IG report is full of accounts detailing the unethical relationships between government officials and the oil industry, calling it "a culture of ethical failure" and "a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity." The report notes that "employees frequently consumed alcohol at industry functions, had used cocaine and marijuana, and had sexual relationships with oil and natural gas company representatives," despite being subject to restrictions on taking gifts. Royalty in Kind (RIK) officials, however, attempted to rewrite the ethics rules to cover up their misdoings. Two employees engaged in "brief sexual relationships" with oil and gas representatives, yet they did not recuse themselves from work with those companies and officials. Oil giant Chevron gave roughly $2,500 over the course of five years, "most of it spent on meals and drinks." Three others, Shell, Gary-Williams Energy Corp. and Hess Corp., also were named as gift-givers. Other agencies, such as the Minerals Revenue Management (MRM), were implicated as well. MRM Associate Director Lucy Denett created a "lucrative contract" for her special assistant Jim Mayberry, upon Mayberry's retirement and later sought to increase funding for the contract. Gregory Smith, who managed RIK at MMS, was said to have demanded sexual favors from an employee; Attorney General Michael Mukasey in May 2008 "declin[ed] to prosecute Smith on various charges," the report notes.  

THE DRILLING DEBATE: The MMS, the agency that would oversee the expansion of offshore oil drilling, is now front and center in the oil drilling debate in Congress because of the IG report. This week, House Democrats announced that they would bring an energy bill allowing for expanded oil exploration off the coasts. "On the eve of Congress starting this big debate you've got a horror story of mismanagement and misconduct in programs that are going to be a key part of the discussion," Sen. Ron Wyden, (D-OR) observed. Conservatives are attempting to block the legislation because it would eliminate an estimated $17 billion in tax breaks for oil companies over 10 years. "So we're saying: OK, you want to drill, this is how it will be. No more subsidies," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters Thursday. Pelosi said the energy measure in Congress will now include a "strong integrity piece" to shield the government from oil industry influence.

SCANDAL-CLAD DEPARTMENT: The revelations from the IG are the latest in scandal-clad Interior Department. The IG previously found that the Department under-collected billions of dollars of revenue owed the U.S. taxpayer from oil companies that produce and sell oil and gas from public lands and waters. Government workers "routinely failed to seek out legal advice on complicated deals and that the agency used outdated computers and a $150 million software program that resulted in royalty money going uncollected." J. Steven Griles, former mining lobbyist and Interior Department Deputy Secretary, pleaded guilty in 2007 to obstruction of justice in the Jack Abramoff scandal. "Vice President Dick Cheney packed the top posts at the Department of the Interior with lobbyists who had spent their careers representing the very industries they were now being asked to regulate," the New York Times noted yesterday.