Dog Days

"These are the times that try dog's souls."








Anyone who has been working outside in the heat this month knows that the dog days are real. Physical burnout and mental stagnation are the symptoms. The only cure is cooler weather and even then I'm not sure cooler heads will prevail.

I know the sun has turned me into a well done fried pie since every time I turn on the news I feel I must be hallucinating because there is Mad Michelle Bachmann and Sick Rick Perry, two horsepersons of the zionist apocalypse, spewing words that are unquestionably  insane. They're "from the lord" and shout  "by god we'll bomb the world to prove it." It's a bad trip, I know, I just can't seem to come down.



Several of us were sitting around outside at an older couple's home the other day when the lady began one of her stories. It was about how a few springs back she had watched a couple of bluebirds build a nest, have babies and saw them grow until it was time for them to take out on their on. The first two little ones flew but the third hit the ground where a snake immediately pounced and ate it. The lady was mad, grabbed a hoe and killed the snake, cut open its belly and took out the dead bird and buried it. She finished the story with "the snake was evil" which set off her 83 year old husband on a rant about how animals can't be evil. They only do what instinct tells them to do to survive. The conversation turned to that it appears that evil only comes from  the consciousness of man. Seems obvious to me.

The old man surprised me with his next few questions. "Why are we here anyway." "Isn't being human one of the weirdest things in the universe." "Is this all some sort of joke." I didn't have the answers.

When dog days come around we tend to get a little crazy but we've been wearing the safe suits (family insider grin). The infectious lies of the Bachmann's and the Perry's and the Obama's and all their handlers and masters are not being breathed in and passed along. Pretty soon our resistance will be strong enough that we won't need the suits at all.

Who said "every dog will have its day?" Ours is coming soon.
That I'm positive of .....










Jimi Hendrix - Curtis Knight & the Squires (aka the Lovelights)
1965

Egyptian secular party leader chops away at some roots

Egypt party leader: Holocaust is ‘a lie’

9/11 was ‘made in USA,’ he says

A leader of Egypt’s top secular party says the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were “made in the USA,” the Holocaust is “a lie” and Anne Frank’s memoir is “a fake” — comments sure to roil the post-revolution political debate in the Arab world’s most populous country.

Ahmed Ezz El-Arab, a vice chairman of Egypt's Wafd Party, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with The Washington Times last week while in the Hungarian capital attending the Conference on Democracy and Human Rights.

He denied that the Nazis killed 6 million Jews during World War II.

“The Holocaust is a lie” Mr. Ezz El-Arab said. “The Jews under German occupation were 2.4 million. So if they were all exterminated, where does the remaining 3.6 million come from?”

Mr. Ezz El-Arab said he accepted that the Nazis killed “hundreds of thousands” of Jews. “But gas chambers and skinning them alive and all this? Fanciful stories,” he added. (AUDIO: on the Holocaust)

“It’s a shame that the West — the cradle of liberalism — should have a criminal law incriminating any discussion of any historical fact,” Mr. Ezz El-Arab said. “It’s a sacred cow. The ‘6 million’ is a sacred cow.”

In the interview, Mr. Ezz El-Arab also said that Osama bin Laden was not behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“He could not have the know-how or the ability to do it,” he said, even though he called the dead al Qaeda leader “an American agent.”

“If he had the ability, one plane only landing on the Knesset would give more effect,” Mr. Ezz El-Arab said.

Asked who was responsible for the attacks, Mr. Ezz El-Arab identified the CIA, Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, and the “military-industrial complex.” (AUDIO: on 9/11)

 Ezz El-Arab also says that Iran's Ahmadinejad is a "hateful character, so whatever he says can be criticized" and makes the below statement so his motives may be open to question.

Mr. Ezz El-Arab said he thinks that there once was a Jewish temple in Jerusalem and that Israeli Jews deserve to stay put.

You can read the entire article, there's much more, and see what you think.

One thing is for sure, his remarks will be used against the Egyptian 'Arab Spring' in the zionist controlled media.  Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.  Michael Oren has already set the stage.


Another thing for sure is that Bin Laden didn't pack up the evidence from the WTC without an engineering forensic examination and send it on a slow boat to China.

In Full Bloom

Basak Savcigil

The Sideshow Group Exhibition

What a month! Even the best fiction writers could not come up with the scenarios we have seen and maintain any kind of believability.  But this is America and truth is in short supply. Big lies, little lies, multiple lies ... we take them in stride and move on. I've been looking for some local folks who are as outraged as I am but can't seem to find them. Silence is the rule. If we don't talk about what is actually going on then the problems must not exist. We 'got' Bin Laden so we're making progress is the common theme.

Levene Wong    

It's springtime and the "Idiocracy" of America is in full bloom. We are the sideshow exhibits and those who have the power of life and death gawk at us in amused scorn at just how stupid and gullible we actually are. 

Not everyone is a gullible idiot of course but being a 'truther' minority means in this case we are always going to be discriminated against and made to look foolish by not conforming to the prevailing deceptions. Being put in a jar of formaldehyde and preserved as an example of what happens to those who don't love their slavery may not be that far off an image. 






My grandson had a sort of  rite of passage last night, the high school prom. In his case it was where you pay $100 to rent a tux, $20 for the girl's small corsage and they didn't even get to have a live band, just the same old music industry promoted pop and country music that they hear daily on the radio. He had fun but it's over quickly, unlike another rite of passage that seems to go on and on ... the military recruiter. These lying pricks are allowed in the schools and pound on a young kid's head how it will make them a man and gain 'experience' along with some vague monetary incentives. What should be a no-brainer "Just Say No" or "Go Fuck Yourself" response to the death merchant too often turns into a "Sure, why not, I can't get a job anyway and you did say killing a few 'Mooslums' is our patriotic duty."

Just this morning I heard of a young Nashville Marine who was killed in Afghanistan and the lead line in the story was that he was doing what he was born to do. What? He was born to die in a foreign land in an illegal immoral war for the profit of bankers and war contractors? Born to be a pawn, yep, every kid's dream.

In other 'big' local news, Geert Wilders came to Nashville to stir the hatred and every fear mongering crazed neocon quack and Christian zionist whack job came out of the woodwork to praise this outside agitator and possible CIA/Mossad asset. Three days after his speech at a 'church' and the media is still going on about him but nary a peep from the presstitutes about the May 15 Nakba Day or the fraud of the 'jewish' state of Israel, without which, along with a few other zionist 'events' such as 9/11, the Islamophobia narrative would not even be taking place.

But maybe there is some good news. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund and expected Socialist candidate for the French presidency in 2012, jewish Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been arrested in New York  in the sexual attack of a maid at a Midtown Manhattan hotel. A criminal organization, the IMF, being run by a sexual criminal ... who could have guessed?  Big money will probably get this creep off.  After all, raping entire nations is his job and he gets by with that.


In another bit of good news, Israel firster and would be traitor Mike Huckabee has said no to running for president. I suppose he realized that even in America there aren't enough Republican fools to get him elected or maybe he didn't want to be the designated loser this time around.

Although we like Ron Paul's anti-federal reserve, non-intervention, anti-war, bring the troops home stance and without him that message will not be heard at all in the upcoming presidential cycle, he was disappointing in the minutes after his announcement yesterday when he just had to use the words holocaust and Nazis in response to some question by a shill reporter. He also can't get past the rhetoric of 'blowback' and that Bin Laden and arabs did 9/11. Paul is blasted by the left, the right and the middle and if you're going down, why not go down swinging with everything you've got. I'm stubborn. 9/11 is a root cause of the fascist downfall of this country and if one cannot speak the truth about it at least concerning what we do know and call for the real criminals to be brought to justice, it's hard to give them full support. Paul is playing within the system and as we all know ... the system is a failure for most of us and it cannot be changed by playing by the rules of those who have rigged the game.

The Body Snatcher Hand's Collection

While I had to refer to the legend several times I was still amazed at how many of the hands I could easily identify. What an awesome idea! (The Body Snatcher Hand's Collection by Nicolas Fong, via Geek-Art)

Previously on Popped Culture...

Hand Prosthetics In Film

Darlin' Don't You Go And Cut Your Hair

Rock Beats Scissors

Theatre of Democracy

"One of the points about distractions is 
that everything that they do is destabilizing. "
                            Bruce Sterling






The main point about the current distractions is that as we are caught up in them there are dozens of other things going on that we are missing. I think that's by design and even when it's not, opportunists are quick to pounce. 


In my own locale there are a couple of examples that due to distractions few are taking heed of the creeping fascism soon to overwhelm us. This time it's a Republican dirty dance but only because they have the majority. The Dems will betray us next time if they get the chance.

Voting is kabuki theatre but should we just give up and let the fix be in without even putting up a fight? Some will say we ought to just walk away and not feed the false system but that's a debate for another time.


The Tennessee legislature voted in 2008 to use paper ballots, got it delayed for the 2010 elections and now ...

State representatives are trying to reverse most of a 2008 law that called for the replacement of electronic voting machines across the state with paper ballots read by computerized scanners. The move would kill off a plan that supporters say would create a verifiable record of votes but opponents say will be costly and open to tampering. more

Paper ballots can be scammed too, there's a long history of it but I would rather take a chance on my neighbor counting and recounting the votes than Diebold or ES&S and their 'friends.' It's not about the costs. It's about ease of fraud.

Running for office is about to become even more of a corporate adulterous affair than it is now.

In the wake of the 2010 Citizens United v Federal Election Commission decision by the US Supreme Court, which ruled that corporations have the same right to free speech as citizens and should be able to directly fund independent political broadcasts, the Tennessee legislature has gone one step further and decided that companies should be able to give money directly to candidates – and that includes foreign companies! more

Politicians may as well get corporate logos and foreign flags tattooed on their ass so that they can just drop their pants, bend over and show us what to kiss. No words needed. For some of them it would be the most honest thing they've ever done.

When Obama visits 'ground zero' in New York this Thursday, the theatre of the absurd will go from bad to worse. He couldn't get Bush to join him in this perverted orgy of the success of death and lies but possibly Giuliani will be there to silently smile about his role in mass murder and cover up.


Maybe Obama will finally explain to the 9/11 families just how Bin Laden blew up the towers?

Nah ... now I'm being absurd.

CPAC Civil War: Screaming "War Criminal" At Dick Cheney

Things should have been nice and chummy at CPAC an hour ago. Dick Cheney strolled on stage to cheers and the inspirational tune of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and got began to present the “Defender Of The Constitution” award to Donald Rumsfeld. However, as the chants of “USA! USA!” died down, a voice screaming “War criminal!” could be heard. And then, as Cheney continued to talk up his former colleague, a shouting match began between supporters of Ron Paul and the rest of the convention hall.

The Paul supporters eventually walked out in the middle of Rumsfeld’s speech as way of protest. {more}

CPAC Audience Rejects Donald Rumsfeld

2 Truth Screamers Get Chucked From CPAC For Heckling Rumsfeld while blood thirsty war loving zombies shout USA, USA, USA.

As we all know, Cheney and Rumsfeld were also co-criminal conspirators in the false flag of 9/11.
Traitors, liars, murderers and thieves.

The CPAC Circus featuring crazed Israel firster 
Michele Bachmann.



The Donald and Sarah Palin hair: a CPAC carnival of conservatism

Trump Receives Cheers, Boos After Declaring Ron Paul Can Not Get Elected

Rand Paul on Donald Trump: 'his chances are less than my father's'

Gay Wars: What We Saw at CPAC

CPAC Daily Paul thread 

Anti-Muslim extremist freak and Israel lackey Allen West to give CPAC keynote speech.


While we were at the circus ...

House passes Patriot Act rule, clears way for passage

An A To Z 2010 Encyclopitcionary

National Post cartoonist Gary Clement wraps up the year that was. Look it up in yer encyclopitcionary! Happy New Year, everyone!

Previously on Popped Culture...

Schoolhouse Rock: I'm Kind Of A Big F*cking Deal

Have You Tried Throwing Rocks At Her?

A Bad Month for Cartoon Characters

EXPLAINING MODERN POLITICS

REVEALED: The FBI's top secret Kennedy files that showed Bobby and Jackie were lovers.

How to explain modern politics?

There are different factions struggling for power.

Who killed President Kennedy, Princess Diana, Yitzhak Rabin, Benazir Bhutto, Rafik Hariri or the Archduke Franz Ferdinand?

Maurice Templesman, Barrack Obama and the Congo

Perhaps not much has changed since the reign of England's Richard Plantagenet, King Richard III.

Richard (1452-1485) was implicated in the death of Henry VI who died in 1471 while imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1471.

This death allowed Richard's elder brother Edward to become Edward IV.

Richard Plantagenet allegedly plotted against his brother Edward IV.

The Princes in the Tower, Edward V and his brother. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/princes-in-the-tower

Edward IV died in 1483, probably as the result of pneumonia or typhoid, but possibly from poison.

Edward IV's son, Edward V, was 12-year-old.

Richard became Protector of the Realm.

He faced opposition from many factions.

Richard placed Edward V and his brother in the Tower of London, 'for their own safety'.

Richard was declared King of England.

Richard

It was rumoured the Princes in the Tower had been murdered.

Henry Tudor, who had a dubious claim to the throne, gathered support and defeated Richard in battle.

Henry Tudor became Henry VII.

The top people are not always gentle and kind.

Death, Taxes, War and Austerity

It's a pulp fiction political world we're living in. Poorly written, badly put together and dumbed down to the lowest common denominator. This fiction continues to sell because we have a hard time remembering that it's all been told before and we're so trusting that there will be something new. The story was worthless then and it's worthless now.

The old saying goes that nothing is certain but death and taxes but for now we've had a couple more added to the ruling elite's plan, war and austerity.

    And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.
       William Gibson

Elections get us what? Voting can't even make a dent in the War on Drugs much less the war on humanity. 

We swap out some of the bloody traitors for some soon to be bloody traitors. That's what passes for progress.

Politicians and elections are like dogs fighting over the frisbee. No matter who wins they chew up the prize, toss it aside and expect us to play some more.


Maybe it's time to take a deep breath and try to figure out what to do next. Playing the same game over and over again using rigged rules is obviously not working. Suggestions are more than welcome.

Baiting the IRS with pulpit politics

The Tennessean is reporting 7 Tennessee pastors will 'bait' IRS with pulpit politics. It's the annual  Alliance Defense Fund stunt and it appears to be Republican only. Glenn Beck speaks out of both sides of his mouth in promoting this initiative in what is nothing but a 'passion play' on the false two party system.

It might not be so bad if the churches were anti-war, anti-IRS and Federal Reserve, even anti-criminal politician urging their flock to clean house and throw out the money changers but that's not what this is all about.

Of course this kind of thing goes on all the time without actually naming who to vote for. Think John Hagee and his christian zionist scam.

I recently was told of a local church where the Democrats sit on the left side with the Republicans on the right so in these kinds of situations promoting one party would cause division. That's why I think the churches participating in the 'pulpit politics' game have figured out the leanings of their congregation.

Will the IRS go after these churches? No, it solidifies the corrupt system with divisiveness and that's what matters most to those at the top of the illusion.

Scent Of A Politician

This will only make sense to Canadians or those who are disturbingly well informed about our political party leaders. Of course some of these scents might be easily applicable to any politician and not just those who suggest they "can smell the whiff of sulphur" on the other. (Graphic via Steve Murray)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Fantastic Forefathers
Star Trek: Smells Like Certain Death
Private Eyes, They're Watching You...

Joe the Plumber Heads for the Hills

In today's world being an irrelevant hack doesn't mean that someone or something won't fund you to travel the country endorsing GOP candidates. Who exactly is paying Joe to do this?

Joe literally 'heads for the hills' this Fri. for a meet and greet with sixth district congressional candidate Lou Ann  Zelenik at the appropriately named Joe's Place in Woodbury TN.

But in his overzealous attempt to earn his paycheck, it appears that Joe has endorsed two candidates  in the same race. Heck Joe, just endorse them all and you're bound to pick a winner.

I can understand his confusion. Leaky faucets all look and sound essentially the same.

One candidate in the district that Joe hasn't endorsed yet is Gary Mann who had this to say a couple of months ago.

"Our system of government is based on the Old Testament Israelite system of government."

Sounds also like someone you can relate to Joe.

A Bad Month for Cartoon Characters

I already knew about SpongeBob, but it's a tough break for Dora — she won't like where she'll be exploring next. I don't have much sympathy for Richie Rich — at least he hasn't gone the Casper route yet. As for Little Orphan Annie, she had since 1924. It was time. (Joe Heller from The Green Bay Press-Gazette via Gfest)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Who Died In An Oil Spill Because Of BP?
First You Get The Money, Then You Get The Mountain
The Death Of Aquaman

Zionist Racist Rachel Maddow and Rand Paul

I'm not sure about David Duke. He has no problem exposing the murderous state of Israel and the zionist controlled main stream media and groveling politicians but he still goes right along with the 19 Arabs did 9/11 rhetoric of the 'official story.' That's a disconnect I have a problem with. He fails my bottom line litmus test. It can't be that Duke is not aware of the Israeli/Mossad/rogue U.S. officials involvement in 9/11 but just as Ron and Rand Paul do, he embraces the so called 'blowback' theory. What is really going on here?

Will the Real Rand Paul Please Stand Up?

Will this Dr. Paul have the courage to stand up to the most powerful lobbies in Washington?



photo art from The Peoples Voice



Rand Paul is a novice politician so he's going to make some missteps in trying to maneuver the minefields of the corrupt political system. He makes strides, gets wounded, resorts to damage control and tries to move on.

What's interesting is that Paul gets support from and is attacked from both the left, right and middle.

From the foundation funded left gatekeepers to the corporate controlled media, he takes his hits. He's called everything from neocon to neoliberal. Opposed by still walking free criminals Dick Chaney and Rudy Giuliani and yet supported by still walking free criminal enablers like Sarah Palin. Even one of the most despicable war mongers there is, Bill Kristol, gives a sort of/kind of endorsement. Kristol obviously thinks Paul can be controlled.

Paul's Democrat opponent Jack Conway, another state attorney general, appears to have endorsement from left gatekeeper Daily Kos so some may find that reason enough to vote for Rand in November. The Huffington Post is no friend of Paul and as much as I hate to admit it, they make some points that need to enter into the debate. But it's still all part of the false left/right paradigm.

Most of us don't have a vote in Kentucky so we're just watching from the sidelines for now. Yet whoever wins the general election will eventually have an effect on all of us.

The way I see it is Jack Conway will fall right in with the establishment and not be any help for his state or this country. There is the slight possibility that Paul might disturb the status quo just enough to get some of the real messages out front when this game of getting elected is over. As I was reminded today from someone who I consider an ally, "I care for the message more than the messenger."

We pick and choose our messages. We will never agree with everyone on everything and some compromise is necessary. What we don't agree with perhaps we can try to influence and lead in another direction.

Will, or maybe the word should be can, Rand Paul make a difference in the Senate? Can he stand up to the lobbies, the influence of Israel and the zionists, the military industrial complex, Wall Street and the Federal Reserve, the corporate and political criminals who are destroying us? Can he oppose the wars based not only on the monetary costs but also on the lies that have led us there and the moral and ethical implications?

Despite many of the messages that Rand's father Ron espouses, those that we nod our heads and say yes to, I can't thinks of a single direction in governmental laws and policies that have changed for the better over the last decade. And yes, Ron has had very little help and has faced much subversion. Most good things can't be accomplished alone.

Whether Rand Paul can make a difference or whether his candidacy is a crack pipe dream of the deceived remains to be seen.

What we do know is that the system is broken and we have allowed it to happen.

It'll get more interesting and likely more deadly from here on out.

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE LIKE BILL YATES

Yates (arms aloft) celebrates victory in the 1955 General Election. Photo: SHROPSHIRE STAR. (Tributes to former Wrekin MP Bill Yates : Shropshire Star:)

William Yates, who died on 18 April 2010, served in the parliaments of both the United Kingdom and Australia. (William Yates - Telegraph)

From 1955 to 1966 he was a UK MP.

When the governments of Israel, France and the UK carried out an illegal attack on Egypt, Yates told parliament: "I have come to the conclusion that Her Majesty's Government have been involved in an international conspiracy."

Cairo Radio quoted Yates as saying Britain's Middle Eastern policy had "made her a laughing stock from Cairo to Singapore".

Yates's stance in the Suez crisis helped bring about the downfall of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden.

Yates sent a supportive telegram to King Hussein of Jordan during the Six-Day War.

In 1967 Yates urged King Hussein on behalf of the "ordinary British people" to insist on the return of Jerusalem to Jordan.

The electorate threw Yates out and the Conservative party dropped Yates as a candidate.

Yates was not pro-Israeli enough for his party.

Yates was, in 1960, probably the first British politician to predict that Israel would develop nuclear weapons.

At the end of 1967 Yates emigrated to Australia.

~







Nick Clegg on the right

VOTE FOR THE ANTI-WAR PARTY

~~

Distrust, Discontent and Anger Toward Government But War and 'Defense' Get a Pass

A new Pew poll finds historic levels of unhappiness about the federal government and its role in the lives of average Americans, unrest that is at the foundation of what is shaping up to be a strongly anti-incumbent political year.

Nearly one out of three Americans view the US government as a "major threat" to their freedoms, and four out of five say they don't trust Washington to solve their problems.

Just 19 percent say they are "basically content" with the federal government, against 56 percent who say they are "frustrated" and 21 percent who describe themselves as "angry," the Pew Research Center survey found.


The Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of the globalist Pew Charitable Trust, number 22 of the 26 wealthiest charitable foundations in the world, so keep that in mind as you read the details of the 142 page The People and Their Government survey report.

The Tea Party movement, health care reform, Wall Street and a variety of other issues are covered but there was not a question that addressed the costs of war, the military and related 'security' agendas. If indeed one can give any credence to the survey, despite mistrust and anger toward government, the lies and propaganda of war, national defense and empire seem to be working.

Opinions of the Defense Department also are somewhat less positive than in October 1997, although they remain highly favorable (76% then, 67% today).

Views of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI (currently 67% favorable), Veterans Administration, the VA (57%), the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA (52%), and the Justice Department (51%) are little changed from 1997/1998.

Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) is viewed slightly more favorably than it was 13 years ago. Currently, 47% say they have a favorable impression of the IRS, up from 38% in 1997. {page 55 & 56}

Almost 80% of Americans don't trust the government but a majority look favorably at the DOD, FBI and CIA with the IRS not too far behind? There's a disconnect if I've ever seen one. Just who exactly were the people surveyed?

It's typical that a great many people will accuse the government of lying, cheating and stealing for special interests but when it comes to war they remain silent. They trust the government to kill millions of brown skinned people for lies, waste our soldier youth, spend over a trillion dollars a year lining the pockets of war profiteers and pay billions in interest to the bankers for the 'privilege' of their printing money from nothing and loaning it to us. If no enemy exists, create one through deception. It's not only immoral .... it's insane.

So the distrustful, discontented and angry public will take to the streets waving their health care reform scam signs, bitch about taxes and government repression and take to the polls to vote for one criminal over another while thinking they are doing something worthwhile.

But they won't address the biggest destructive force we face that is taking us to ruin .... our war machine.

Defense Spending Is Much Greater than You Think

When President Obama presented his budget recently for fiscal year 2011, he proposed that the Pentagon’s outlays be increased by about 4.5 percent beyond its estimated outlays in fiscal 2010, to a total of almost $719 billion. Although many Americans regard this enormous sum as excessive, few appreciate that the total amount of all defense-related spending greatly exceeds the amount budgeted for the Department of Defense.

In fiscal year 2009, which ended last September, the Pentagon spent $636.5 billion. Lodged elsewhere in the budget, however, other lines identify funding that serves defense purposes just as surely as—sometimes even more surely than—the money allocated to the Department of Defense. On occasion, commentators take note of some of these additional defense-related budget items, such as the Department of Energy’s nuclear-weapons program, but many such items, including some extremely large ones, remain generally unrecognized.

Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, many observers probably would agree that its budget ought to be included in any complete accounting of defense costs. After all, the homeland is what most of us want the government to defend in the first place.

Other agencies also spend money in pursuit of homeland security. The Justice Department, for example, includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which devotes substantial resources to an anti-terrorist program. The Department of the Treasury claims to have “worked closely with the Departments of State and Justice and the intelligence community to disrupt targets related to al Qaeda, Hizballah, Jemaah Islamiyah, as well as to disrupt state sponsorship of terror.”

Much, if not all, of the budget for the Department of State and for international assistance programs ought to be classified as defense-related, too. In this case, the money serves to buy off potential enemies and to reward friendly governments who assist U.S. efforts to abate perceived threats. About $5 billion of annual U.S. foreign aid currently takes the form of “foreign military financing,” and even funds placed under the rubric of economic development may serve defense-related purposes indirectly. Money is fungible, and the receipt of foreign assistance for economic-development projects allows allied governments to divert other funds to police, intelligence, and military purposes.

Two big budget items represent the current cost of defense goods and services obtained in the past. The Department of Veterans Affairs, which is authorized to spend about $124 billion in the current fiscal year, falls in this category. Likewise, a great deal of the government’s interest expense on publicly held debt represents the current cost of defense outlays financed in the past by borrowing from the public.

To estimate the size of the entire de facto defense budget, I gathered data for fiscal 2009, the most recently completed fiscal year, for which data on actual outlays are now available. In that year, the Department of Defense itself spent $636.5 billion. Defense-related parts of the Department of Energy budget added $16.7 billion. The Department of Homeland Security spent $51.7 billion. The Department of State and international assistance programs laid out $36.3 billion for activities arguably related to defense purposes either directly or indirectly. The Department of Veterans Affairs had outlays of $95.5 billion. The Department of the Treasury, which funds the lion’s share of military retirement costs through its support of the little-known Military Retirement Fund, added $54.9 billion. A large part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s outlays ought to be regarded as defense-related, if only indirectly so. When all of these other parts of the budget are added to the budget for the Pentagon itself, they increase the fiscal 2009 total by nearly half again, to $901.5 billion.

Finding out how much of the government’s net interest payments on the publicly held national debt ought to be attributed to past debt-funded defense spending requires a considerable amount of calculation. I added up all past deficits (minus surpluses) since 1916 (when the debt was nearly zero), prorated according to each year’s ratio of narrowly defined national security spending—military, veterans, and international affairs—to total federal spending, expressing everything in dollars of constant purchasing power. This sum is equal to 67.6 percent of the value of the national debt held by the public at the end of 2009. Therefore, I attribute that same percentage of the government’s net interest outlays in that year to past debt-financed defense spending. The total amount so attributed comes to $126.3 billion.

Adding this interest component to the previous all-agency total, the grand total comes to $1,027.8 billion, which is 61.5 percent greater than the Pentagon’s outlays alone.

In similar analyses I conducted previously for fiscal 2002 and for fiscal 2006, total defense-related spending was even greater relative to Pentagon spending alone – it was 73 percent greater in fiscal 2002 and 87 percent greater in fiscal 2006. In fiscal 2009, the ratio was held down in large part by the reduced cost of servicing the government’s debt, owing to the extremely low interest rates that prevailed on government securities. This situation cannot last much longer. As interest rates on the Treasury’s securities rise, so will the government’s cost of servicing the debt attributable to past debt-financed defense outlays.

For fiscal 2010, which is still in progress, the president’s budget estimates that the Pentagon’s spending will run more than $50 billion above the previous year’s total. Any supplemental appropriations made before September 30 will push the total for fiscal 2010 even farther above the trillion-dollar mark.

Although I have arrived at my conclusions honestly and carefully, I may have left out items that should have been included—the federal budget is a gargantuan, complex, and confusing collection of documents. If I have done so, however, the left-out items are not likely to be relatively large ones. (I have deliberately ignored some minor items, such as outlays for the Selective Service System, the National Defense Stockpile, and the anti-terrorist activities conducted by the FBI and the Treasury.

For now, however, the conclusion seems inescapable: the government is currently spending at a rate well in excess of $1 trillion per year for all defense-related purposes. Owing to the financial debacle and the ongoing recession, millions are out of work, millions are losing their homes, and private earnings remain well below their previous peak, but in the military-industrial complex, the gravy train speeds along the track faster and faster.

National Security Outlays in Fiscal Year 2009 (billions of dollars)
Department of Defense	636.5
Department of Energy (nuclear weapons & environ. cleanup)	16.7
Department of State (plus intern. assistance)	36.3
Department of Veterans Affairs	95.5
Department of Homeland Security	51.7
Department of the Treasury (for Military Retirement Fund)	54.9
National Aeronautics & Space Administration (1/2 of total)	9.6
Net interest attributable to past debt-financed defense outlays	126.3
Total	1,027.5
Source: Author’s classifications and calculations; basic data from U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2011 and U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.

source - Robert Higgs

Fantastic Forefathers

It's time for a little Manifest Destiny. Abraham Lincoln as The Thing, George Washington as Mr. Fantastic, Teddy Roosevelt as The Human Torch and Thomas Jefferson as The Invisible Man.

It's funny, I was rolling through my favourite sites when I came across this and I wanted to find out who drew it. After a little searching it turns out it was Dean Fraser of Springfield Punx but from a couple of years ago. Ain't the internet a small place? (Link via Unreality)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Sweet, Sweet Candy!
The Evolution of Satire

SMALL ORGANISATIONS ARE BEST

EWWW...Big Government Puts a Bad Taste in My Mouth. It would be good if there were more people like Ron Paul in Congress?

What happened in the US elections?

"Well it seems that the Rothschild backed CFR member that wants a New World Order just beat the Rothschild backed CFR member that wants a New World Order to the Whitehouse.

What will happen in the UK elections?

"In Britain a Rothschild puppet who wants a New World Order will be defeated by a Rothschild puppet that wants a New World Order too." (Cached)

Labour's Blair and the Conservatives' Cameron - same policies on Afghanistan and Israel.

Big organisations are usually bad.

In 2009, General Electric made $10.3 billion in income.

But it paid no tax.

Instead it got a tax benefit of $1.1 billion. (What The Top U.S. Companies Pay In Taxes)

When there are big governments, it's the little people who pay taxes.

In 2008, Carlsberg, of Denmark, and Heineken, of the Netherlands bought the UK brewer called Scottish and Newcastle.

The Scottish & Newcastle brewery at Reading in the UK will soon be closed.

Heads of department are now in Amsterdam. (Foreign takeovers in Britain: Small island for sale The Economist)

Big governments do not defend the little people.



Small organisations are good.

The richest countries in the world are all small countries (GDP (nominal) per capita.):
Luxembourg
Liechtenstein
Norway
Switzerland
Denmark

The least corrupt countries are all small countries (Corruption.):

New Zealand
Denmark
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland

The happiest countries in the world are all small countries (Happiest countries Reuters.com ):

Costa Rica (which has no army)
Denmark
Iceland
Switzerland

Others that are usually listed include Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, Canada.

In the USA there are too many big bad institutions, such as the Pentagon.

Are all the big parties pretty much the same?

In the UK there is to be a general election.

The best outcome will be a 'hung parliament' where neither of the big parties has a majority and the small parties have to be listened to.

Of the small UK parties, we do not like UKIP because it wants to increase spending on defence by 40%.

We do not like the Liberal Democrats because they want to keep the troops in Afghanistan.

We do like the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists who want to take the troops out of Afghanistan and who want to scrap Trident and ID cards.

Others worth considering are the Green party (anti war), Respect (wants troops out of Afghanistan), TUSC (anti war) and the Alliance for Democracy whose policy is 'whatever the public want, they get'.

Gordon Brown's Labour Party wants to keep Trident missiles, at a cost of around £100 billion. Brown plans bigger cuts than under Margaret Thatcher.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) pledge investment as they attack Labour 'cuts'

The SNP attack Labour for planning "deeper and tougher" cuts than under Margaret Thatcher's government.

The SNP, in power in Scotland, claims it is funding 500 times more houses for poor people than Labour did during their last four years in power in Scotland.

The SNP says the Labour Party's Alistair Darling has admitted that Labour's cuts will be 'deeper and tougher' than even those of Margaret Thatcher.

The SNP stood shoulder-to-shoulder with workers at drinks firm Diageo, when jobs were threatened.

SNP

Scotland needs champions SNP - Scottish National Party

Schoolhouse Rock: I'm Kind Of A Big F*cking Deal

I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.
Well, it's a long, long journey
To the capital city.
It's a long, long wait
While I'm sitting in committee,
But I know I'll be a law someday
At least I hope and pray that I will,
But today I am still just a bill.

Joe Biden: He signed you, Bill! Now you're a law!
Bill: Oh yes!!! (South Pol via BuzzFeed)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Sweet, Sweet Candy!
Help Me Obama-Wan Kenobi...
The Evolution of Satire