The OWL

Monday, July 8, 2013

"THE DOG THAT DOESN'T BARK"

The "Experiments"

In 1939, the year of my birth, Adolf Hitler and his Nazis initiated World War II. That War dominated my consciousness for the next six years, as it did every citizen; especially after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The level of tensions were so strong, until this day, I have clear and vivid pictures in my mind of daily events like convoys, black-outs, etc. Mother died the year the War ended, searing those memories forever.

We fought that war to defeat the Nazis, and, (after Pearl Harbor), the Japanese. The Communist Russians were our ally in that war. We quickly forgot these facts, and swept them out of consciousness in favor of mounting tensions and a Cold War against the Communists and the Russians. Baby-boomers grew up learning very little about Hitler and his Nazis, as a result. Except for Holocaust stories and children's stories about Ann Frank, very little emphasis in our education systems was placed on the events from 1939 to 1945.

That protracted "silence" masked critical knowledge, for our citizenry today, of Nazis "scientific" and "medical" experiments. I was privileged to meet and learn from several World War II veterans (both black and white) who were present and personally witnessed the evidence of Nazi atrocities. One veteran told me about an experiment performed on mother-and-child pairs. In the "experiment" the mother was subjected to steadily increasing levels of pain; to a point where she would destroy her own child to relieve the pain. The Nazis wanted to measure the "limits" of instinctual human bonds between mother and child. The Nazis learned from a long history of Eugenics (much of it from the Americas) and acted to perfect their theories of a Master, (Super-human) Race.

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005168

I remembered that story as I watched Trayvon Martin's mother being very skillfully manipulated, through her pain, by the Defense Attorney, to get her to blame her son for his own death. Most citizens will not recognize a connection, here, to Nazi "research". The Attorney then contrasted Trayvon's mother (the Sub-Human?) to Zimmerman's mother (of higher "status") providing her the opportunity to "save" her son from the consequences of his crime.

There are several, more serious, consequences to our failure to learn adequately from our World War II experiences with Naziism. At a time when Media dominates every aspect of our lives, it would serve us all well to review the techniques the Nazis perfected to propagandize the public. It might be argued that their Media efforts enabled them to take over Europe so rapidly.

Stay Vigilant! Discover what lurks in "silence"?

Sunday, July 7, 2013

FLIPPIN' A CITY ??

The REAL "Survival" Issue ??

Chakrabarti's new book, A Country of Cities, covers a topic that our Media shuns, but should be on the tip of the tongue for all of us! We all need to "survive", and we need two things to do that: water, and energy. We all live on a planet where the population has grown from 1.6B in 1900, to a projected 7.0B in this century! Regardless of our skin color, or birth circumstances, we all need clean water to survive! Next, comes energy, if we continue to base our global economy on our ability to "plug in" to power. These tribal wars that are springing up around the planet are wrong-headed, and stupidly focused.

In 1965, while I was still stationed at Fort Meade, my brother, an Army Officer, asked me to find a place for him and his family in the Washington, D.C. area. He was returning from his 2nd tour in Vietnam, and needed a place to live while he attended graduate school at George Washington University. The District was almost completely segregated, then, and under the strict control of Southern Rednecks (jobs on the D.C. police force were "patronage" handed out to their fellow rednecks). There was no place to rent or buy in the District if you were not white.

In less than five years, the District was "flipped" from white to black! It remained under the control of a mostly Redneck Congress; it was called "The Plantation" by my black friends there. The whites fled the city for residences in the all-white suburbs. They kept their city jobs, however; commuting back into the city daily, putting heavy financial burdens on the District government; for which they paid little or nothing.

Fast forward to 2013. We have massive crime and gun-violence in all of our major cities; they also have almost solidly black inner-cores. From gun deaths to school-to-prison factories, the "dysfunction" of our cities has been socially engineered by white citizens, and their racial beliefs.

Yet, another "flippin' may be in our near future. Energy costs and the availability of clean water are emerging as prime concerns for the survival of our "way(s) of life". But whites don't live where they can't be "safe"; so, I guess, the blacks will be moving again?

Stay Vigilant! Think about the real issues??

Saturday, July 6, 2013

"M-M-M-MADNESS" ??

"Fair-Play" and, NOW "Democracy" TRASHED !!

As the world "turns" through 2013, its becoming clearer that, perhaps, the world DID end in 2012!

The financial, white, and male interests in the United States have shown that "Democracy" here does not mean sharing power with non-whites; even when they have the "votes". Now, we learn that those same interests, on the world stage, have come to that conclusion concerning Egypt. This may boggle some minds. Didn't "European" education go to great lengths to separate the African Continent in such a way that Egyptians could be declared "white"? Well, yes; and no: apparently! (Why are the "noses" missing from all those Egyptian statues in European museums?)

After driving the North Africans out of Spain, the Papal interests turned toward exploration, and the spread of their version of "civilization" to lands, in what became, the Americas. The combination of three interests (Missionary, Mercenary, and Military) ruled the events from that time until 2012. (Those Mayans were pretty smart, after all).

Two forces: "demographics" and a technology-driven explosion in "awareness" have invaded the planet and Europeans cannot survive under their original 3-M model. So, they have erected a new one: (Media, Money, and Munitions). Under the original 3-M model, the Missionary, or "religious" element, proved to be the most powerful. The Catholic original "morphed" into multiple sects (all of which retained the Euro-focus). The Europeanization of Christianity seeped into the psyches of the "conquered", and serves, to this day, to keep them "in their places". That is rapidly waning under the influence of the revolutionary "awareness" sweeping the planet.

Media is emerging as the ultimate weapon in the new world order (oops!). The mind "blowing" (not the best word) power of the Media is limitless. Fueled by Money and backed up, when necessary, by Military forces (or other Cold War weaponry); the new model is ready for action.

It works on the "excuse for a trial" taking place in Sanford, FL (and on T.V. everywhere else).

It works for the "overthrow" of a fairly-elected President in Cairo. It works for an end to legitimately-elected Presidents in the United States. Having failed to hold power when they were "granted" control of the Executive Branch of our Federal Government; and, failing again in 2012 to install a cult-leader as their "Man on a White Horse"; the white, male element within this society is reverting-to-type by returning to methods of the past: to "simulate" majority rule, when they clearly don't have the "votes". Got it?? Get Busy!!

Stay Vigilant! Free your mind! Read, don't just Watch!

Friday, July 5, 2013

HUMAN BEING ??

"Who is? .. Who ain't" ??

While viewing the Autopsy Testimony, given in the Trayvon Martin trial today, I was struck by the varied responses of media talking heads, and different elements of our society. Most were highly judgmental and critical in terms that denote class, racial, and regional differences. The world is engaged, in a similar way, in its media responses to events in Cairo. In both places, the people judging are mostly white and those judged are not.

As Europeans have roamed the world, racking up conquests over the past 500 years, a consistent theme to their activities has been one of regarding those who were conquered as "subhuman". Over that period, they have driven that attitude and value template deep into their psyche and into their institutions.

The writings of Thomas Jefferson, the teachings, and "governance" of the Catholic Church in its dealings with "the conquered"; show their strong convictions as to who was "human" and who was "not human". It shows today in the structure of their laws and their "judicial" institutions in the "conquered" territories. The roots of this kind of thinking are "tribal"; many tribes have thought of their own people as "human"; while thinking of others as not human. That makes warfare possible. It is also a root of never-ending racism.

Over the years, these values have been targeted against the children of the conquered; often stealing them, selling them, or forcing them in to special "schools". We see vestiges of that today in our educational institutions; which insist that only whites have ultimate control over what is taught to children of non-whites. As the witness who performed the autopsy on Trayvon Martin described, in detail, the brutal damages to his young body; Zimmerman's attorneys strove to belittle that testimony; knowing that, as a non-white "expert", with English language difficulties, the white, and all female jury would find it difficult to "hear" or "feel" that testimony. This trial is taking place in separate "bubbles".

The ultimate tragedy is that non-whites have also been infected with those values. They have a difficult time seeing themselves as "human". For the past century they have fought, in this country, for Civil Rights, not Human Rights!

Stay Vigilant! Open your eyes. We are witnessing a Revolution.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

DEMOCRACY 2.0 ..

"Ain't Nuthin' but a Reality Show" ??

As we celebrate our "Freedoms" here, on this 4th of July, we've received a "gift" from the Land of the Pharaohs. It seems that a duly, and fairly, and "Democratically" elected, leader in Egypt has been overthrown in a move that none dare call a "coup". We seemed to have learned, here, in 2000, that we should be careful, when calling a "coup, a coup"!

But, who really cares! It was live on T.V. -- that's what matters. We just want to be entertained. "Let's YOU and HIM Fight!"; is the business model of all media, these days. There's lots of filthy lucre in "them thar' hills". We also got to see, yesterday, Zimmerman and his lawyer on FOX; telling a blatant lie to the viewing public. It's not enough to taint a jury; with T.V., you can taint an entire country, and much of the remaining planet. Who still believes in the fairness of "Trial by Jury"?? I've got a bridge ...!

For those of us who are fortunate enough to peek below the surface of media reporting, we learn that "Democracy" can be claimed by all competing factions within a given political body. Because they often can't, or won't agree; or, God forbid, COMPROMISE; Democracy, as a form of government, is doomed. Just as our Republican Party carries on as if the 2012 election never happened, so, too, have the factions in Egypt proceeded as if their election never happened.

I spent more than 50 years of my adult life developing and applying advanced technologies to our efforts to win the Cold War. Those technologies are all around us, today, in hi-tech gadgets and facilities, like the Internet. Some of them have been applied to old applications, such as Dr. Goebbels's media propaganda techniques, and, Voila!, a new and much more virulent type of propaganda machine operates in our midst. Democracy, as a form of self-government becomes a casualty, again, as it did in Germany in the 1930s.

Eisenhower warned us of the threat of a "military-industrial complex". Egypt has one on steroids.

Ours is extremely powerful, but the industry part is separate (nominally). In Egypt, industry, and big money, appear to be in the hands of the military. With no middle class (note: ours is being whittled away swiftly) Democracy becomes a vague concept at best. Elections, alone, cannot substitute.

Stay Vigilant! Peek beneath the "covers"!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

"LIBERTY"

2013 Update

Happy 4th of July! Last night, PBS ran Ken Burn's recount of the building of the Statue of Liberty. The statue is of "The Lady With The Lamp", in New York Harbor, searching for "tired" and "wretched" outcasts from Europe. The base of the statue holds more symbolic meaning for my forebears (Native, African, European) than does the statue itself. The late James Baldwin describes the statue in Burns' documentary as a "cruel joke" for black folk. I'm sure it the ultimate cruel joke for the descendants of the few Native populations who have survived hundreds of years of slaughter, decimation, and genocide.

Johnny Depp was interviewed by Charlie Rose last night, touting Disney's "centuries-late" attempt to admit the "error of its ways" in their demeaning and stereotyping of Natives and all peoples of color; over the past 100 years. He said he wants to save at least "10 Indian" males, who languish today on Reservations, with no future. Unfortunate phrasing, I'm sure!

The base of the statue (as large as the statue, itself) is double-leveled: the first level signifies, for me, the tremendous advantage in firepower held by the European as he engaged in wanton, mass slaughter. The next level signifies what my Grandfather told me in the 50's about this country at its inception:

To "make it" in this country, at its beginning, the immigrant had to be

WHITE, MALE, OWN AT LEAST ONE WHITE SHIRT,

AND LEARN ONE ENGLISH WORD: "N*GG*R!!

All around us, today, we see white males turning every trick in their book to hang on to the power and wealth they have amassed in their pursuit of dominance in this country. They have taken, lately, to a turn against white women, in order to boost birth rates for white babies. In order to maintain their firepower advantage, they've employed the Media, racial exclusion, and gender exclusion as their weapons; as evidenced in "Florida on Trial" now taking place.

Immigration is also a "thorn in the side" of white &male politics, today. What if the non-white immigrants that flood to these shores today, modified the old rules to suit their situation??

Perhaps now you can recognize the smell of "desperation" so prominent in our air today?

Stay Vigilant! The "ball" is bouncing faster and faster!

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

THE "ENEMY" ..

"Who" and/or "What" is it? "Really"??

Looking for a real "thriller" for your summer reading? One that will explain a lot of what is troubling all of us; regardless of our station in life, or circumstances of our birth? I suggest George Packer's book The Unwinding. Begin with the story of the life of Newt Gingrich, and then skip to the story of Tammy, the mulatto woman, through whose eyes Packer tells the story of the decline and collapse of Youngstown, Ohio. If you have the stomach to continue to the stories of Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, and other stories of all types and stripes of people produced by this "cauldron" a.k.a., the Untied States of America, there are more thrills awaiting; I'm sure! (I'm still reading it).

Begin wherever you like, your personal relationships with lovers, children, family; or, public relationships on your job, in your "community" (however you define it; or whether you feel you still have one), with your government/politics; whatever! I'm willing to bet you are concerned; maybe a little, maybe a lot; depends on whether you can, or, are willing to "engage" with your life.

If you are female in this country today, you have no choice: those who want to vitally constrict your life choices are seeking you out. Persons of color, even the "millennial" ones, should know they still have to be constantly on guard in their daily activities; at many levels and simultaneously.

The incipience of the forces surrounding us, and the global scope of their monotonic effect on our lives, point to one thing: Capital has reverted to its original rapacious form, while simultaneously disappearing, in access, from people's lives. It is rapidly collecting in fewer and fewer hands. No nation, or race, or organization (criminal or otherwise) seems to have an "edge" in determining how capital will ultimately determine our lives. Whoever or whatever is funding those attorneys defending George Zimmerman can be viewed as an example of the maleficent, malignant, or malevolent form that concentrated capital can ultimately take. There may be no defense against it. It is not clear yet who are the ultimate competitors for dominance over the "whip hand" of concentrated capital; which once was the sole possession of European peoples.

The role religions and "technology" play in this struggle will determine whether "ordinary" people will ever again see the level of control over their own lives that was achieved by their forbears.

Stay Vigilant! Newt's "clones" are everywhere, and look like everyone of us!