"The stakes are high. The corporate alliance is in the midst of conquering its final

[patrice]

frontiers: the closed oil economies of the Arab world and sectors of Western economies that have long been protected from profit making - including responding to disasters and raising armies. Since there is not even the veneer of seeking public consent to privatize such essential functions, either at home or abroad, escalating levels of violence and ever larger disasters are reuired in order to reach the goal. Yet because the decisive role played by shocks and crises has been so effectively purged from the official record of the rise of the free market, THE EXTREME TACTICS ON DISPLAY IN IRAQ AND NEW ORLEANS ARE OFTEN MISTAKEN FOR THE UNIQUE INCOMPETENCE OR CRONYISM OF THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE. IN FACT, BUSH'S EXPLOITS MERELY REPRESENT THE MONSTROUSLY VIOLENT AND CREATIVE CULMINATION OF A FIFTY-YEAR CAMPAIGN FOR TOTAL CORPORATE LIBERATION" (emphasis added).

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine

[checks-n-balances]

1. Nothing short of horrifying! Everyone should read this

TERRORizing OF the (American) people
BY the current Government
FOR the Corporations

[tbyg52]

3. Love your username (as a patriotic American)

and agree vigorously with your message!

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

2. And if that ain't fascism there IS no fascism. n/t

[EFerrari]

4. I have only seen Wolf on televised interviews but her time frame is right on.

It has been a fifty year campaign and we may be the last people who remember the bastards that started this conflagration.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Klein not Wolf

[EFerrari]

8. Oops!

[patrice]

6. We here at the DU were saying things to one another during the buildup for the Invasion and Occupati

on of Iraq about how an important part of what was driving PNAC LIES was a goal to permanently plant war-making in the American middle-class jobs base: get people to paying their mortgages by means of Death and Destruction and "you" can do anything anywhere "you" want.

[EFerrari]

10. I wonder if the militarism in our culture makes someone who is 25

as uncomfortable as it makes me at 50. Militaristic nationalism.

When I first came to DU, the frequent use of the words "hero" and "patriot" made me very uncomfortable, for example where many if not most DUers seems to have no problem with them.

[patrice]

11. I think by far most folks are habituated to it.

They have absolutely no idea what we're talking about and yet they consider themselves to be Free.

[AntiFascist]

13. Very important point...

I would also stress that this is not a form of healthy competitve capitalism, it is National Socialism. Increasing portions of the populace become dependent on the imperial and fascist alliance of corporations and government.

[patrice]

15. That IS the problem: Business is business is business to most people.

A job is a job is a job.

No one seems to wonder if they're doing "the right thing" with their lives anymore. All economic Development is good. No one thinks about how tax subsidies and political favoritism are like artificial fertilizers that create unsustainable growth. In the name of "potriotism" no one challenges business. Business = Nation and Nation = Business BUT - NONE of that matters to un-regulated trans-national corporations, when the top-heavy economic growth crashes down on those at the bottom, those who propagate that growth move on to greener pastures elsewhere.

[Octafish]

7. Odd how that coincides with the death of President Kennedy.

What a coincidence.

[mmonk]

9. Yes. When people say bush is a dummy, I say not.

The millions that support him and his policies and think he's one of them are.

[Beam Me Up]

12. W's intelligence is debatable.

Obviously, given who the Republican's want to put there next, an intelligent, thinking individual isn't necessary or even particularly desirable in the Oval Office. After all, the function of the man in the suit is more that of a flack catcher than anything else. The Office has become a foil for something far more sinister. What isn't debatable is the intelligence of those who put * in office (and I don't mean the voters) and those who have kept him there for eight years. However, you are right about those who access this administration as "incompetent." Those who benefit from its policies certainly don't see it that way.

[AzDar]

14. Kick!

:kick:

[bertman]

16. EXCELLENT!! Something none of us should ever forget.

For the record, it started before Kennedy. Reach back into the time machine and pull out Eisenhower's warning to US that the military-industrial complex was a huge threat to our republic. And if there was ever a politician who would have known about that connection, it was Ike. Allied Commander during WWII then President of the United States.

What is so very very scary is the way 90% of Americans have no idea about this stuff. Even hardcore Dems who are aware of other progressive issues have not been enlightened about this.

What Naomi Klein did was an International Public Service.

To supplement her Shock Doctrine, read Confessions of a Corporate Hit Man by John Perkins. He also has another book but about the mechanics of international corporate takeovers but I can't remember the name.

Then there is Naomi Wolf, who also has an excellent book entitled The End of America, which describes the similarities in the rise of Nazism and fascism in Germany, Italy with the types of governmental and civil actions that are taking place in America NOW.


Or, you could just read The Narnia Chronicles or some other fantasy. Or better yet, just watch Survivor. And fuggedaboud all this shit.

[Kaleko]

18. The big picture is finally beginning to emerge

into mass consciousness. We've got the net to thank for that.

A more comprehensive look at one part of our real history (as opposed to propaganda) was published today on Kos:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/27/65732/1557/694/557641

History: How the US Government Was Overthrown In Three Easy Steps
by TocqueDeville
Sun Jul 27, 2008

So what if I told you that the powers of financial capitalism (bankers etc.), had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands, able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.

This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations?

And what if I told you they had succeeded?

Wow! The most powerful bankers creating a world system of financial control, dominating the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole, with secret meetings. Surely you would think Tocque has fallen under the spell of a wild conspiracy theory.

But you can put away the cat in the tinfoil hat. Those are not my words. And it's not a theory. They are the words of one of the greatest, most eminent historians in modern times, the late Carroll Quigley - of Harvard, Princeton and the Georgetown Foreign School.

There are other parts to this history that are still taboo to touch upon, even on DU. But I have a sense that it won't be long until a lot of people know. The disclosures are coming hard and fast now, possibly because it is too late to turn this ship around.

I don't know. Somehow, I still hope...

[scarletwoman]

17. k&r -- glad I saw your post before the 24 hour rec period expired! (nt)

[yardwork]

19. k&r

[Kaleko]

20. kick to the top

[Ani Yun Wiya]

21. k&r

Thanks for the article.

[Cetacea]

22. Thank you for this thread.. n/t