- Here an Idiot - There an Idiot - Everywhere an Idiot - Idiot -

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62 agencies and programs
FreetoHead 45 wants to eliminate

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FreetoHead 45's proposed budget takes a cleaver to domestic programs, with many agencies taking percentage spending cuts in the double digits.

But for dozens of smaller agencies and programs, the cut is 100%.

Community development block grants.
The Weatherization Assistance Program.
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
The National Endowment for the Arts.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Also proposed for elimination are lesser-known bureaucracies like the ;
McGovern-Dole International Food for Education Program,
Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program
Inter-American Foundation.

Not every program would disappear overnight.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which now receives $485 million a year,
might still get some federal funding in 2018,

FreetoHead 45's  budget says hundreds of programs and agencies would be eliminated — with more than 50 in the Environmental Protection Agency.
But his first budget proposal identified 62 specifically.
 The list:

Department of Agriculture

Water and Wastewater loan and grant program ($498 million):
"Rural communities served by federal investments in rural water infrastructure .

McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program ($202 million):

Department of Commerce

Economic Development Administration ($221 million):
President Obama's 2017 budget touted the agency as " the only federal government agency
with a mission and programs focused exclusively on economic development."

Minority Business Development Agency ($32 million):

Department of Education

Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program ($2.4 billion):

21st Century Community Learning Centers program ($1.2 billion):
The formula grants to states support before- and after-school and summer programs

Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant program ($732 million):
This financial aid program, known as SEOG, help give up to $4,000 a year to college students based on financial need.
      (( If they are too poor to go to college -
        let them get a student loan -
        and give the banks a chance to make some money off them -
        or just not go - college-after all is for the rich ... ))

Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program ($190 million):
The grants are targeted toward students with disabilities or limited English proficiency.

Teacher Quality Partnership ($43 million):
A teacher training and recruitment grant program.

Impact Aid Support Payments for Federal Property ($67 million):
      (( this one might be OK ... ))

International Education programs ($7 million):
This line item funds a variety of exchange programs,

Department of Energy

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ($382 million):
This alternative energy research program - funding projects that the private sector would not.

Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program:
This loan fund finances projects that combat global warming.
     ((  why bother - It's all Chinese propaganda ...???  )) 

Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program:
Helps finance fuel-efficient vehicle research.

Weatherization Assistance Program ($121 million):
The program helps homeowners make their homes more energy efficient with grants of up to $6,500.

State Energy Program ($28.2 million):
Gives grants to states to help them work on energy efficiency and anti-climate change programs.

Department of Health and Human Services

Health professions and nursing training programs ($403 million):
       (( an option would be to provide scholarships and student loans in in exchange for  service
         In areas with a nursing shortage. ))

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program ($3.4 billion):
LIHEAP helps the elderly and low-income people pay their heating and power bills.
      (( If they are too poor to pay for heat - let them freeze - right ...
        that's the republican way ... ))

Community Services Block Grants ($715 million):
CSBG is an anti-poverty grant program .

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Community Development Block Grant program ($3 billion):
CDBG has been a bread-and-butter funding source for local communities for 42 years,

Capacity Building for Community Development and Affordable Housing ($35 million):

Department of the Interior

Abandoned Mine Land grants ($160 million):
      (( Let the rich make the money from the mines -
        Let the poor people pay for the mess the rich people make -
        that's the republican way ... ))

National Heritage Areas ($20 million):
State-and-federal partnerships to preserve natural, historic, scenic, and cultural resources.

National Wildlife Refuge fund ($480 million):
Maintains the Fish and Wildlife Service's 563 wildlife refuges throughout the country.

Department of Justice

State Criminal Alien Assistance Program ($210 million):
Reimburses states for the cost of incarcerating criminal immigrants.

Department of Labor

Senior Community Service Employment Program ($434 million):
SCSEP is a job training program for low-income people 55 and older  .
      (( If they want job training - they should not be poor ...
        that's the republican way ... ))

Occupational Safety and Health Administration training grants ($11 million)

Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development

The Global Climate Change Initiative ($1.3 billion)
To support the Paris climate agreement.
Includes the ;
Green Climate Fund ($250 million),
Strategic Climate Fund ($60 million)
Clean Technology Fund ($171 million).
      (( It's all a Chinese Plot - Just like pretending the world is round ...  ))

Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund ($70 million):
To "provide humanitarian assistance for unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs worldwide,"
      (( If they needed assistance - they should not have been refugees - right ? ))

The East-West Center ($16 million):
Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange Between East and West,
the Honolulu-based nonprofit has a mission of strengthening relations among Pacific Rim countries.
      (( Let the Chinese do it - it is their century after all ...  ))

Department of Transportation

The Essential Air Service program ($175 million)
Provides federal subsidies for commercial air service at rural airports.
Rural communities could be served by other modes of transportation.
      (( If you want to get to rural communities -
        you can just use your private jet ...  ))

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grants ($499 million):

Department of the Treasury

Community Development Financial Institutions grants ($210 million):
23-year-old program to support community banks and credit unions .

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Geographic watershed programs ($427 million)
Great Lakes Restoration Initiative ($40 million)
Chesapeake Bay Restoration Initiative ($14 million):

Fifty other EPA programs ($347 million)
Energy Star,
Targeted Airshed Grants,
Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program,
Infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native Villages and the Mexico border.

        Idiot's budget takes a sledgehammer to the EPA

          The  proposal by the White House would slash the EPA's budget by 31 percent —
          — from its current level of $8.1 billion to $5.7 billion.
          It would cut 3,200 positions, more than 20 percent of the agency's current workforce .
          The proposed budget, would discontinue funding for the Clean Power Plan —
          the effort to combat climate change by regulating carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
          It would sharply reduce money for the Superfund program -

          It also would eliminate “more than 50 EPA programs.” Among them:
          the Energy Star program, to improve energy efficiency and save consumers money;
          infrastructure assistance to Alaska Native villages and the Mexico border;
          a grant program that helps cities and states combat air pollution;
          an office that focuses on environmental justice issues.

         Funding for the massive Chesapeake Bay cleanup project, which receives $73    million                     each           year, would be cut to zero.
Similar cleanup programs in the Great Lakes — a massive undertaking  would suffer the same fate ...
The agency’s new ANTI-leader, former Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt,
has been a key critic of the efforts to fight climate change and reduce fossil-fuel-related pollution.

Cynthia Giles, who headed the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said - that enforcement staff has already been reduced 20 percent over the past eight years, bringing it to its lowest level since the enforcement office was created in 1995.

“[More cuts] won’t just drastically reduce EPA enforcement, it will bring it to a halt,” “Not only will the staff be a shadow of its former self, the inspectors, lawyers and criminal agents who would be left would be unable to do their jobs, because these cuts would zero out the already small amount of funds used to do inspections, monitor pollution and file cases.”

John O’Grady, a career EPA employee who heads a national council of EPA unions, said the agency “is already on a starvation diet, with a bare-bones budget and staffing level” . *

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Education ($115 million),
 (( if people want to get educated -
 they can get their rich parents to pay for it ...  ))
 
  The planet Donald Trump doesn't want you to see

NASA has a little program with a big view of Earth, but Russian-Chinese-Joint Venture President Idiot 45 wants to shut it down. If a new budget outline released by the FreetoHead administration Thursday goes through, it will cancel funding for the instruments on the DSCOVR spacecraft that face our planet from 1 million miles away. It's a relatively small budget cut -- though it's unclear how much would be saved -- in a proposal to trim billions of dollars from many agencies, but the Idiot's's desire to cancel this one specific part of a mission speaks volumes.

NASA's Epic instrument on DSCOVR beams back a full view of the sunlit side of the Earth every day.
The photos are made publicly available through a NASA-run website, and it's a great place for any journalist or member of the public to go for a daily view of our home planet.
These images allow climate scientists to get a good look at what the atmosphere is doing on any given day

 Epic's photos are also simply beautiful. It changes a person's perspective to see the  Earth from 1 million miles away, without borders or any human-made objects  visible. Everyone you've ever cared for is right there in that image.

Canceling this program doesn't make a lot of sense from an operational point of view.

The mission is already in space, so a major part of the money allotted for the camera and other Earth science instruments has already been spent. Plus, it's not like the administration is planning to cancel the entire mission of the satellite -- it will still monitor the environment around it, keeping tabs on the sun's activity.

This proposal is like a dig at former REAL Vice President Al Gore .

REAL Vice President Gore is the person who lobbied heavily for this mission, and specifically the camera showing humanity a full view of Earth every day.

This may be some kind of personal beef between Gore and Trump --
even if it isn't, the proposal reveals the idiot's true intent when it comes to programs focused on our home planet.
---img/vdo

Republicans in Congress have long-lobbied for an end to NASA's Earth science programs, and imaginary president idiot's outline delivers on that.

Along with the imaging program for DSCOVR, the administration is also calling for the cancellation of PACE, OCO-3 and CLARREO Pathfinder, all missions that observe our planet.

  (( none of the longterm future  missions may get off the ground if climate change    puts NASA's  Kennedy Space Center in Florida   -  underwater
  in the coming decades. ))

 Plus, who knows where the next generation of space explorers will come from without  NASA's office of education, which would get totally dismantled .

Independent agencies and commissions

African Development Foundation ($26 million):
An independent foreign aid agency focusing on economic development in Africa.

Appalachian Regional Commission ($119 million):
A 52-year-old agency focused on economic growth in 420 counties.
 (( All those coal miners can pay for their own economic growth ... ))

Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board ($11 million):
Investigates chemical accidents.
 FreetoHead's proposal to scrap Chemical Safety Board
  draws criticism

The Idiot's proposal to do away with the federal agency that investigates chemical accidents drew sharp criticism from environmental, labor and safety advocates, who said that eliminating the watchdog would put American lives at risk.

Christine Todd Whitman, the former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency head, on Thursday called the proposal to get rid of Chemical Safety Board (CSB) and cut EPA funding short-sighted, saying both have long been an industry target for advocating greater public information on chemicals.

"If you want to put the American people in danger this is the way to do it,"
she said of the idiot's proposal to cut the CSB's funding entirely from the 2018 federal budget. "The chemical industry has fought back from the beginning."

The CSB investigates major chemicals accidents to search for their causes and makes recommendations that could prevent a recurrence. It has no regulatory power, but is influential because its recommendations are often adopted by industry, labor, government officials, the EPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The CSB, which has an annual budget of about $12 million, defended its work, saying its work has broadly improved safety. "As this process moves forward, we hope that the important mission of this agency will be preserved," the agency said in a statement.

Petroleum and refining industry groups, Exxon Mobil Corp, BP plc and Tesoro Corp did not respond or declined to comment directly on the potential phase out.
(( when the government is run by these groups - what would you expect ... ))

Michael Wright, director of health, safety and environment at the United Steelworkers union, said the CSB's recommendations generally have been welcome by labor and industry.

The board's reviews of major accidents have proved significant. Its probes have led to industry standards on worker fatigue, greater reporting of hazardous chemicals to first responders, and have prompted companies to keep workers not directly involved in projects out of harm's way.

In California, many of the board’s safety recommendations have been drafted into law.

"This is one of the best bargains in Washington," said the USW's Wright.
"If it has prevented even one accident, it has saved far more money than its budget over its entire history."

Its probe of the fatal Deepwater Horizon rig explosion was controversial because of its two-year length and extensive need for outside help. The work led to new standards for safety in the offshore oil industry and in well equipment.

Some recommendations have not been yet been implemented.
After a fatal 2013 explosion in West, Texas, that killed 12 first responders the CSB proposed facilities that store large amounts of fertilizer be covered by emergency planning laws that give first responders more information. That remains open.

Beth Rosenberg, a former CSB board member and now an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, said the CSB "does excellent work; other countries admire this agency."
She said opponents
 "don't know what they're doing here or how useful this board is."
**

Corporation for National and Community Service ($771 million):
Best known for its Americorps community service program.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting  ($485 million):
Supports public television and radio stations,
including the PBS television network and,
indirectly, National Public Radio.


   Idiot 45's Budget Proposes Killing All Funding for
   PBS, NPR and National Endowment for the Arts

Russia - Chinese Joint Venture Subcontractor Pretend President Cheetohead 45
made good on a long-time conservative goal in his first proposed budget -  targeting
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
and
the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities
for complete elimination.

’Idiot 45’s budget would zero out the $445 million budget for
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
a relatively small source of funding for programming and broadcast operations on public TV stations and NPR radio stations nationwide, *

The budget would also eliminate the budgets for both national endowments, which stood at $148 million each in 2016,
as well as $230 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services,
which supports libraries and museums.
Additional cuts would affect two tourist mainstays in Washington, D.C.,
the Smithsonian Institution
and
the National Gallery of Art.

’Combined, the four arts organizations account for less than 0.02 percent of the U.S. government’s $4.6 trillion budget.
 (( That's 2 Cents of each $ 100.00 Dollars the government steals ... ))

In 2016, the NEA allocated $47 million to 50 states and five jurisdictions, funding that that helped to leverage $368 million from state governments to support arts organizations via more than 24,000 grants, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
In 2015, funding for the NEA was less than one-third
of what the U.S. budget allocated for military bands.

’Republicans have long put the NEA and the CPB in their budget crosshairs.
In 1981, Worthless Criminal Reagan attempted to shut down the NEA,
but backed down -
Reagan did, however, make major cuts to the NEA’s budget .

CheetoHead's staff suggested that the incoming idiot would consider appointing
Sylvester Stallone to head the NEA,
Stallone later declined.
 (( Would have been the smartest - and most articulate one there ...))
The NEA and the NEH — which supports
museums,
archives,
libraries,
universities —
were created in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson.
  “An advanced civilization must not limit its efforts to science and technology  alone, but must give full value and support to the other great branches of  scholarly and cultural activity in order to achieve a better understanding of the  past, a better analysis of the present, and a better view of the future,”
the congressional act.

Defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is unlikely to cripple either PBS or NPR.
NPR received less than 1 percent of its revenue from the CPB,
PBS less than 7 percent,
according to data from 2014 *

The CPB has relatively low overhead and paid out 99.3 percent of its $445 million appropriation in 2014 in grants, more than 90 percent of which went not to the national networks but to local affiliates in less populated cities .

(( Maybe Idiot 45 thinks that these people are to stupid to watch PBS anyway ... ))

Delta Regional Authority ($45 million):
Economic development agency for the eight-state Mississippi Delta region.

Denali Commission ($14 million):
A state and federal economic development agency for Alaska.

Institute of Museum and Library Services ($231 million):
Provides money to the nation's 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums.

Inter-American Foundation ($23 million):
Promotes "citizen-led grassroots development" in Latin America and the Caribbean.

U.S. Trade and Development Agency ($66 million):
Promotes U.S. exports in energy, transportation, and telecommunications.

Legal Services Corp. ($366 million):
Helps provide free civil legal advice to poor people.
 ((  Poor people do not need any civil legal advise ,
 Let the government and the rich run amuck and trample the poor peoples'
 broken lives and bodies ...
  that's the republican way ... ))

National Endowment for the Arts ($152 million):
National Endowment for the Humanities ($155 million):
Supports scholarship into literature and culture.

Neighborhood Reinvestment Corp. ($175 million):
Supports local affordable housing programs.

Northern Border Regional Commission ($7 million):
Regional economic development - parts of Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont.

Overseas Private Investment Corp.($63 million):
Encourages U.S. private investment in the developing world.
 (( Let the Chinese do it - it is their century after all ...  ))

U.S. Institute of Peace ($40 million):

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness ($4 million):
An independent agency coordinating the federal government's efforts to reduce homelessness.

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars ($11 million):
A program to provide scholarships and fellowships in social sciences and humanities.

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*   

* *  By Gary McWilliams / © REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
       Liz Hampton , Erwin Seba;  Ernest Scheyder,  Diane Craft)
-

USA TODAY
Gregory Korte

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- 10 Taxpayer Handouts to the Super Rich -

- Corporate welfare and entitlements for the top 1 % - .

A few of the giveaways to the rich - and how much they cost the US :

1. Tax Breaks for CEO bonuses ($7 billion/year)

The biggest corporations exploit a 20-year-old loophole that allows them to write off
   inflated compensation packages for CEOs,
   billing stock options,
   performance-based bonuses
to taxpayers.
-
In 2010,
the biggest corporations cost Americans $7 billion by writing off inflated executive pay.
     - That $7 billion could fund the annual budget for the National Science Foundation —
     - 11,000 scientific research projects each year
     - 26 Nobel laureates in the last 5 years.

Between 2007 and 2010, this loophole accounted for more than $30 billion in corporate welfare.

2. Tax cuts for luxury corporate jets ($300 million/year)

Currently, corporations get huge tax deductions by writing off purchases of
corporate jets, fancy cars-limousines , …
and chauffeurs …
These tax breaks for some of the wealthiest Americans cost the rest of us $300 million each year.

3. Big oil subsidies ( $37.5 billion/year )

Between $10 billion and $52 billion per year on corporate welfare for the fossil fuel industry .
OCI estimated that total subsidies to big oil – approximately -  $37.5 billion in 2014,

4. Pharmaceutical subsidies ($270 billion/year)

The pharmaceutical industry gets roughly $270 billion a year 
This is over $1,900.- per household in corporate welfare.
This is mainly due to the bill that George W. Bush signed into law in 2003,
which prevents Medicare from negotiating drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
-
The biggest drug companies also make (a combined $711 billion in profits between 2003 and 2012)
by buying patents for drugs - largely developed with taxpayer-funded research,
then jacking up the price …

5. Capital gains tax breaks ($51 billion/year)

Capital gains, are taxed at a 20 %  -
real, actual work  35 %.
53 percent of Americans own no stock at all,
The richest 5 percent own two-thirds of the stock.
Only 10 percent of Americans have pensions,
The total amount of lost revenue was $256 billion between fiscal years 2012 and 2016,
or $51 billion a year over the last 5 years.
If investment income was taxed at the same rate as wages,
75 percent of that revenue would come from the richest 0.3 % of Americans;
92 % of that revenue from those making $200,000 or more per year.
The chart below shows what percentage of income each tax bracket makes from capital gains -

Chart courtesy of The Century Foundation.

6. Corporate tax subsidies from state and local governments ($80.4 billion/year)

In 2012,  -  tax breaks in 1,874 programs cost taxpayers $80.4 billion every year for corporate welfare in their state.

7. Big Ag ($18 billion/year)

Median income of commercial farm households  was $84,649 in 2011 —
70 % more than the average American household.
Farmers grow crops on land that is unproductive,
then - make money from insurance claims ...
In 2011, 26 farmers each got an annual subsidy of $1 million, or more .

8. Wall Street ($83 billion/year)

As big banks grow bigger,
the Federal Reserve lets them borrow at lower interest rates than other banks —
essentially subsidizing the continued growth of the big banks.
The 10 biggest banks get $83 billion per year in corporate welfare.

9. Export-Import bank subsidies ($112 billion)

The Export-Import (Ex-Im) bank, had a $112 billion portfolio,
of which $90 billion went to multinationals.
Most of that money went to 10 wealthy corporations.

10. Federal contracts for the top 200 biggest companies ($880 billion/year)

The top 200 companies spent $5.8 billion on lobbying Congress between 2007 and 2012.
Those companies received $4.4 trillion in federal contracts.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The combined cost of these 10 corporate welfare programs is $1.539 trillion per year.

---
The US spends 10 times as much on corporate welfare and handouts to the top 1 %
than on  welfare for working families …

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Mainly from an article by :

 Tom Cahill | October 28, 2015

a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest.
He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news.
You can contact Tom via email at tom.v.cahill@gmail.com.

---
with additional material from -

Economic Policy Institute
Oil Change International (OCI),
healthcareforamericanow.org.
Pew Research
The Guardian,
Century Foundation
Tax Policy Center
New York Times
Bloomberg report
Sunlight Foundation
-

Links in post …

-

And numerous uncredited sources …

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37 Lies Americans Tell Themselves -Draft -

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37 Lies Americans Tell Themselves To Avoid Confronting Reality

bodymindsoulspirit | January 4, 2016 | 0 Comments

by Mike Adams,

Natural News

Have you noticed the incredible detachment from reality exhibited by the masses these days? The continued operation of modern society, it seems, depends on people making sure they don’t acknowledge reality (or try to deal with it). “Denial” is what keeps every sector of civilization humming along: medicine, finance, government, agriculture and more.

The trouble with the denial approach is that eventually the lies collide with reality. Until that day comes, however, happy-go-lucky Americans are merrily enjoying their courtship with self delusion, repeating the following 37 lies to themselves as if they were true:

Lie #1) All FDA-approved medications are safe to consume in any combination, because the FDA protects the public.

Lie #2) Food prices keep going up because inflation is a natural force that can’t be halted.

Lie #3) The mainstream media is telling me the truth when it reports on world events.

Lie #4) Chemical food additives are tested for their safety before being widely used across the food supply.

Lie #5) We can all pump groundwater out of the ground forever, and it will never run out.

Lie #6) We can also pump fossil fuels out of the ground forever, and they will never run out, either. Why worry?

Lie #7) If anything bad happens in terms of a national emergency or natural disaster, the government will take care of me.

Lie #8) It doesn’t matter where my food comes from as long as it’s cheap and delicious.

Lie #9) GMOs must be safe to eat because a bunch of scientists paid by the biotech industry all tell each other that GMOs are safe and therefore have reached “scientific consensus.”

Lie #10) Government debt doesn’t matter because the government can simply create more money any time they want.

Lie #11) Mercury in vaccines must be safe to inject into children, otherwise the CDC and FDA wouldn’t allow it to be used in vaccines.

Lie #12) Organic produce is a waste of money. I’ll buy conventional produce treated with pesticides and herbicides because the cost of all the cancer treatments I’ll need 20 years later will be covered by Obamacare anyway.

Lie #13) The history taught to children in public schools is a true and accurate history. Columbus was best friends with the Indians, too!

Lie #14) Swallowing fluoride chemicals is good for babies and children, and that’s why cities put fluoride into public water supplies.

Lie #15) Flu shots prevent the flu. That’s why the package inserts for flu vaccines openly state there is no scientific evidence to support any conclusion that influenza vaccines prevent influenza.

Lie #16) Whatever is backed by “science” must be true. Science is never falsified by corrupt scientists or corporate agendas, and scientific conclusions are never wrong.

Lie #17) The global ecosystem can handle unlimited human pollution without any negative consequences. We can all continue to dump unlimited toxins into the environment.

Lie #18) Cell phone radiation is harmless. The reason we know that is because the cell phone companies hired scientists to say so.

Lie #19) If everybody else is doing something, it must be the right thing to do. After all, how could so many people be wrong?

Lie #20) We don’t need to store food for emergencies because there will always be more food available at the grocery store.

Lie #21) There’s no need to be concerned about Ebola or other infectious diseases in America because the vaccine companies can always and instantly create a new vaccine that works 100% of the time, with zero side effects.

Lie #22) Local police departments need battlefield military weapons, armored cars and body armor because the drug war demands it.

Lie #23) If I buy something at Whole Foods, it must be healthy and free from contaminants like toxic heavy metals. (Or is it really?)

Lie #24) My vote really counts in national elections. We live in a democracy where the People have power over the government.

Lie #25) My checking and savings accounts are perfectly safe no matter what happens because my bank is FDIC insured.

Lie #26) Raw dairy products are dangerous and deadly because the FDA told me so. Those horrible farmers selling raw dairy products should be locked away in prison.

Lie #27) My oncologist recommends chemotherapy treatment for me only because he cares about my wellbeing, not because his clinic sells the chemotherapy drugs at a huge profit.

Lie #28) The government isn’t secretly recording my phone calls or reading my emails. Why would they? I’ve done nothing wrong!

Lie #29) Commercial dog food is healthy and nutritious for dogs. Dog treats made in China are also trustworthy and free from contaminants like lead.

Lie #30) The only way to prevent infectious disease is with a vaccine. Vitamin D and healthy immune support have nothing to do with it.

Lie #31) After I pay off my house, I own it free and clear. (Think again: Property taxes mean you’re only “leasing” it from the county. Stop paying those taxes and you’ll find out very quickly who really owns your home.)

Lie #32) Google will do no evil, and the fact that the company is developing humanoid battlefield robots, autonomous drones and super-human quantum computing brain chips is nothing to worry about.

Lie #33) Cancer is caused entirely by bad luck (or smoking) and has nothing to do with the food I eat or chemicals in my personal environment.

Lie #34) The radiation release from Fukushima wasn’t that bad. Sure, it was many times larger than the Chernobyl disaster, but authorities say we have nothing to worry about.

Lie #35) Autism isn’t caused by vaccines, and the way we know is because the CDC scientist who admitted to a massive conspiracy of scientific fraud to bury the evidence linking vaccines to autism should not be believed.

Lie #36) All foods certified as “organic” are automatically free of toxic heavy metals and contaminants.

Lie #37) Human civilization is the only intelligent civilization in the entire galaxy. Anything else would simply be too scary to contemplate.

---

http://www.bodymindsoulspirit.com/37-lies-americans-tell-themselves-to-avoid-confronting-reality/

---

-

A few quotes on the - 

Manipulation of Facts, Governments, Peoples - ___

Propaganda, 1928 

“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. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.” – 

Edward Bernays (“the father of public relations”),
( Bernays’ book, Propaganda, begins with the above quote).

Theodore Roosevelt - 26th U.S. President 

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. (source)
---

 Woodrow Wilson - 28th U.S. President 

Woodrow Wilson,  -  his book The New Freedom.
The book also contains several other, similar statements:

Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately.
Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something.
They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.  (source)
---

John F. Kennedy - 35th U.S. President 

The very word “secrecy” is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.
We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweighed the dangers which are cited to justify it.
Even today, there is little value in opposing the threat of a closed society by imitating its arbitrary restrictions.
Even today, there is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.
And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.
That I do not intend to permit to the extent that it is in my control. … For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily
on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–
on infiltration instead of invasion,
on subversion instead of elections,
on intimidation instead of free choice,
on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.
It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.
Its preparations are concealed, not published.
Its mistakes are buried, not headlined.
Its dissenters are silenced, not praised.
No expenditure is questioned,
no rumor is printed,
no secret is revealed. (source)

---

John C. Calhoun,
7th Vice President of The United States

-  from 1825-1832. 

A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many, and various, and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. (source)

((?- x - clip from the Thrive documentary by Foster Gamble,
heir to the Proctor Gamble corporation. ))

---

John F. Hylan - Mayor New York City 

-  from 1918-1925. 

The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government, which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities, states and nation …
The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes.
They practically control both parties … [and] control the majority of the newspapers and magazines in this country.
They use the columns of these papers to club into submission or drive out of office public officials who refuse to do the bidding of the powerful corrupt cliques which compose the invisible government.
It operates under cover of a self-created screen [and] seizes our executive officers, legislative bodies, schools, courts, newspapers and every agency created for the public protection. (source)(source)
---

Senator William Jenner

-  to Congress in 1954:

Today the path to total dictatorship in the U.S. can be laid by strictly legal means …
We have a well-organized political-action group in this country, determined to destroy our Constitution and establish a one-party state …
It operates secretly, silently, continuously to transform our Government … This ruthless power-seeking elite is a disease of our century…
This group … is answerable neither to the President, the Congress, nor the courts.
It is practically irremovable. (source)
---

Senator Daniel K. Inouye

-  serving the democratic party from 1963 until his death in 2012.

There exists a shadowy government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself. (source)
---

Dwight D. Eisenhower - 5 Star General, 34th U.S. President  

In his farewell address to the nation, ...:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.
The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist. …
Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defence with our peaceful message and goals. (source)

-  the disastrous rise of  the military industrial complex has indeed occurred…
---

Benjamin Disraeli, First British MP

The world is governed by very different personages to what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes. (Coningsby, Book 4, Chap. 15.) – Page 131
---

Paul Hellyer - Canadian Defence Minister 

Former Minister of National Defence, Paul Hellyer, is one of Canada’s best known and most controversial politicians.
First elected in 1949, - youngest cabinet minister appointed to Louis S. St. Laurent’s government eight years later.
Held senior posts in the governments of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre E. Trudeau.
He achieved the rank of senior master (Deputy Prime Minister),
Became the Canadian Defence Minister. 

It is ironic that the U.S. would begin a devastating war, allegedly in search of weapons of mass destruction, when the most worrisome developments in this field are occurring in your own backyard.
It is ironic that the U.S. should be fighting monstrously expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, allegedly to bring democracy to those countries, when it itself can no longer claim to be called a democracy, when trillions, and I mean thousands of billions of dollars have been spent on projects about which both the Congress and the Commander in Chief have been kept deliberately in the dark. (source)
---

If you told somebody 10 years ago that there existed some sort of secret group or “secret government” pulling the strings behind the scenes of government policy, international law, various global rules/regulations, and more, they would have called you a “conspiracy theorist.” Today things have changed, largely as a result of information leaked by Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, and various other whistleblowers and activists in recent years. Their bravery has shed light on the world of secrecy that’s been blinding the masses since its inception.

I’ve mentioned this before, and I’ll mention it again, did you know that the U.S. Government classifies more than 500 million pages of documents each year? Did you know that the United States has a history of government agencies existing in secret? For example, the National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, but its existence was hidden until the mid 1960’s. Even more secretive is the National Reconnaissance Office, it was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for 30 years. Then we have the entire black budget world, a world dominated by secrecy that was officially revealed by Edward Snowden a couple of years ago. This deals with what are known as “Special Access Programs.”

It’s not just statements that these “high-level” people are making. It’s all of the proof and evidence that goes along with it.

***You can read more about the black budget HERE***

_____

mainly from -= http://www.collective-evolution.com/

- United States of America - 26th or 42nd best country in the world today ?

---

( ReBlogged – edited from - )

The Case for Bernie  - from an Expat

( with additional material – credited at end - )

- The quality of life in the US has been seriously eroding.

It's difficult sometimes to get perspective on how far our country has fallen.

- from - expat.

“ … in Germany most of the year.

Every year for more than three weeks in August, I travel to the US to visit family and friends.

just spent … three weeks in …Colorado.

I have a generous amount of paid vacation time,

mandated by the German government

(something Bernie supports, …).
By now most of us are familiar with what Sanders means when he calls himself a 'democratic socialist'.
He insists that the US, one of the wealthiest nations in the world,

can afford to provide its workers with paid vacation time, with

universal health care,

free college education

…

He knows that we have the wealth to improve our nation's infrastructure—

every time I return to the US, I'm horrified by how dilapidated this country has become.

… Republicans are committed to obstructing social progress. - … this attitude reflects just

how far we have fallen,

how far right our discourse has gone,

how deeply disconnected we are from the rest of the world,

Europeans, … view the US with a combination of

horror,

disgust ,

sympathy.

They fundamentally do not understand how we still do not have

single-payer health care,

strong public education - through specialty training or university education and beyond,

unemployment benefits,

job-placement

paid retraining services,

paid parental leave,

pensions,

and more (much more!). - - …
it should be obvious to all that without a fundamental change of the role of

Wall Street and corporate power in our nation,

none of the social values (we) should support will be realized.
So when you tell me that these "socialist" values are not realistic,

and that most Americans won't vote for them,

I'll tell you that the only way to bring this country back from the abyss the right has taken us is to fight for these values and support the candidates that best represent them.

The choice is obvious."

---

From :

https://plus.google.com/+YASalsaDetroit/posts

-

David Bee originally shared to Bernie Sanders For U.S. President! #mydailybernie: 

-

(Note: article on Daily Kos, read the entire post here ☛http://goo.gl/f0od5z ) 

---

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO BEACHTEN ON SAT AUG 29, 2015

ALSO REPUBLISHED BY TEAM BERNIE. ---

The graphic below is from another source: here ☛ https://goo.gl/L7m80m 

--- img------

---

Data source: UNICEF

American children are on average worse off than children in Western Europe

barely better off than their counterparts in the Baltic states and the former Yugoslavia,

- United Nation’s Children's Fund (UNICEF) –

The report, which compares kids in 29 Western countries,

measures well-being across five metrics:

material well-being,

health and safety,

behaviors and risks,

housing and environment,

education.

It ranks the United States in the bottom third on all five measures

and particularly low on education and poverty.

The United States is joined at the bottom by “emerging” European economies,

-

As noted earlier, one of the report's more alarming findings for the United States

is the degree to which income inequality has increased the population of children who grow up in relative poverty .

Economists rate the U.S. economy as one of the most unequal in the Western world.

… the report, means that significant numbers of American children are so much worse off than the average Greek or Slovakian child as to bring the overall U.S. average beneath those other, relatively less wealthy and developed countries.

Here's a chart 

showing the rankings, overall and across the five key metrics, for 29 countries:

-

-

Data: UNICEF

… the United States did do well on some comparative metrics.

( ? ) American kids get more exercise than almost any others studied in the report,

but they’re still, by far, the most overweight.

(Chalk that up to American calorie consumption, which is also one of the world’s highest.)

American kids also are the least likely to drink alcohol –

a finding that matches long-standing alcohol consumption patterns of American adults.

According to the World Health Organization, Americans ages 15 and up have consumed far less alcohol than their counterparts abroad for decades.

… …

-----

Also From -

Caitlin Dewey and Max Fisher - April 18, 2013

Also from -

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/04/18/ 

-

Also from -

unicef-u-s-kids-worse-off-than-many-of-their-western-counterparts/

-

Also from -

http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc11_eng.pdf 

-

MW-4MDM-USRtngs-A01-15J

(( Should due a kid’s comparison – in few months … ))

---

- Pope Francis - Speech - Bolivia - July - Good Stuff -

-

((( Don’t go for all this god stuff, religion … but this pope is pretty good –

               I have consolidated his speech ( left out the local, historical, religious )

               Made it more readable … ( did not add or change anything )…)))

Read it – it’s pretty good -  

-----------------------------------

Excerpts from -

Pope Francis’ Speech

on the Poor and Indigenous Peoples In Bolivia

---

 July 9, 2015 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

Pope Francis spoke about the problems faced by the poor and indigenous peoples at

the Second World Meeting of the Popular Movements at the Expo Feria Exhibition Centre

in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia .

 

-

"I wish to join my voice to yours in calling for land, lodging and labor for all our brothers and sisters."

-

Good afternoon!

… I have kept you in my thoughts and prayers.

I am happy to see you again, here, as you discuss the best ways to overcome the grave situations of injustice experienced by the excluded throughout our world. …

… I sensed something very beautiful: fraternity, determination, commitment, a thirst for justice.

Today, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, I sense it once again.

 I thank you for that….

…

The Bible tells us that God hears the cry of his people, and I wish to join my voice to yours in calling for land, lodging and labor for all our brothers and sisters.

I said it and I repeat it: these are sacred rights.

It is important, it is well worth fighting for them.

May the cry of the excluded be heard in Latin America and throughout the world.

-

1. Let us begin by acknowledging that change is needed.

… I am speaking about problems common to all Latin Americans and, more generally, to humanity as a whole.

…

Do we realize that something is wrong in a world where there are

so many farmworkers without land,

so many families without a home,

so many laborers without rights,

so many persons whose dignity is not respected?

Do we realize that something is wrong where so many senseless wars are being fought and acts of fratricidal violence are taking place on our very doorstep?

Do we realize something is wrong when the soil, water, air and living creatures of our world are under constant threat?

So let’s not be afraid to say it: we need change; we want change.

… many forms of exclusion and injustice which you experience

in the workplace,

in neighborhoods

throughout the land.

They are many and diverse, just as many and diverse are the ways in which you confront them.

Yet there is an invisible thread joining every one of those forms of exclusion: can we recognize it?

These are not isolated issues. I wonder whether we can see that these destructive realities are part of a system which has become global.

Do we realize that that system has imposed the mentality of profit at any price,

with no concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature?

If such is the case, I would insist, let us not be afraid to say it:

we want change,

real change,

structural change.

This system is by now intolerable:

farmworkers find it intolerable,

laborers find it intolerable,

communities find it intolerable,

peoples find it intolerable …

The earth itself – our sister, Mother Earth, as Saint Francis would say – also finds it intolerable.

-

We want change in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our everyday reality.

We want a change which can affect the entire world, since global interdependence calls for global answers to local problems.

The globalization of hope, a hope which springs up from peoples and takes root among the poor, must replace the globalization of exclusion and indifference!

… I would like to speak of change in another sense.

Positive change, a change which is good for us, a change – we can say – which is redemptive.

… : in my different meetings, in my different travels, I have sensed an expectation, a longing, a yearning for change, in people throughout the world.

Even within that ever smaller minority which believes that the present system is beneficial, there is a widespread sense of dissatisfaction and even despondency.

Many people are hoping for a change capable of releasing them from the bondage of individualism and the despondency it spawns.

Time, … seems to be running out; we are not yet tearing one another apart, but we are tearing apart our common home.

Today, the scientific community realizes what the poor have long told us:

harm, perhaps irreversible harm, is being done to the ecosystem.

The earth, entire peoples and individual persons are being brutally punished.

And behind all this pain, death and destruction there is the stench of what Basil of Caesarea called “the dung of the devil”.

An unfettered pursuit of money rules.

The service of the common good is left behind.

Once capital becomes an idol and guides people’s decisions,

once greed for money presides over the entire socioeconomic system,

it ruins society,

it condemns and enslaves men and women,

it destroys human fraternity,

it sets people against one another …

it … puts at risk our common home.

-

I do not need to go on describing the evil effects of this subtle dictatorship: you are well aware of them. Nor is it enough to point to the structural causes of today’s social and environmental crisis.

We are suffering from an excess of diagnosis, which at times leads us to multiply words and to revel in pessimism and negativity.

…

-

What can I do, as collector of paper, old clothes or used metal, a recycler, about all these problems if I barely make enough money to put food on the table?

What can I do as a craftsman, a street vendor, a trucker, a downtrodden worker, if I don’t even enjoy workers’ rights?

What can I do, a farmwife, a native woman, a fisher who can hardly fight the domination of the big corporations?

What can I do from my little home, my shanty, my hamlet, my settlement, when I daily meet with discrimination and marginalization?

What can be done by

those students,

those young people,

those activists,

those missionaries

who come to my neighborhood with their hearts full of hopes and dreams, but without any real solution for my problems?

A lot! They can do a lot.

You,

the lowly,

the exploited,

the poor and underprivileged,

can do, and are doing, a lot.

I would even say that the future of humanity is in great measure in your own hands, …  

Don’t lose heart!

-

2. …

 … changes of structure which are not accompanied by a sincere conversion of mind and heart sooner or later end up in bureaucratization, corruption and failure. …

Each of us is just one part of a complex and differentiated whole, interacting in time:

peoples who struggle to find meaning, a destiny, and to live with dignity, to “live well”.

… you carry out your work inspired by fraternal love, which you show in opposing social injustice.

When we look into the eyes of the suffering,

when we see the faces of

the endangered campesino,

the poor laborer,

the downtrodden native,

the homeless family,

the persecuted migrant,

the unemployed young person,

the exploited child,

…

…. when we think of all those names and faces, our hearts break because of so much sorrow and pain. And we are deeply moved…. We are moved because “we have seen and heard” not a cold statistic but the pain of a suffering humanity, our own pain, our own flesh. …

-

… You, dear brothers and sisters, often work on little things, in local situations, amid forms of injustice which you do not simply accept but actively resist, standing up to an idolatrous system which excludes, debases and kills

-

… We do not love concepts or ideas; we love people…

Commitment, true commitment, is born of the love of men and women, of children and the elderly, of peoples and communities… of names and faces which fill our hearts.

From those seeds of hope patiently sown in the forgotten fringes of our planet,

from those seedlings of a tenderness which struggles to grow amid the shadows of exclusion, great trees will spring up, great groves of hope to give oxygen to our world.

-

…  It is essential that, along with the defense of their legitimate rights, peoples and their social organizations be able to construct a humane alternative to a globalization which excludes.

You are sowers of change.

May God grant you the courage, joy, perseverance and passion to continue sowing.

Be assured that sooner or later we will see its fruits.

-

3. Lastly, I would like us all to consider some important tasks for the present historical moment, since we desire a positive change for the benefit of all our brothers and sisters.

… We desire change enriched by the collaboration of governments, popular movements and other social forces.

…

I would like, … to propose three great tasks which demand a decisive and shared contribution from popular movements:

-

3.1 The first task is to put the economy at the service of peoples.

Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money.

Let us say NO to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service.

That economy kills.

That economy excludes.

That economy destroys Mother Earth.

The economy should not be a mechanism for accumulating goods,

but rather the proper administration of our common home.

This entails a commitment to care for that home and to the fitting distribution of its goods among all.

…

 A just economy must create the conditions for everyone

to be able to enjoy a childhood without want,

to develop their talents when young,

to work with full rights during their active years …

to enjoy a dignified retirement as they grow older.

It is an economy where human beings, in harmony with nature, structure the entire system of production and distribution in such a way that the abilities and needs of each individual find suitable expression in social life.

…

The available resources in our world,

the fruit of the intergenerational labors of peoples …

the gifts of creation,

more than suffice for the integral development of “each man and the whole man”.

… There exists a system with different aims.

A system which, while irresponsibly accelerating the pace of production,

while using industrial and agricultural methods which damage Mother Earth in the name of “productivity”, continues to deny many millions of our brothers and sisters their most elementary economic, social and cultural rights.

This system runs counter to the plan of Jesus.

-

Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy.

It is a moral obligation.

…

It is about giving to the poor and to peoples what is theirs by right.

The universal destination of goods is not a figure of speech found in the Church’s social teaching.

It is a reality prior to private property.

Property, especially when it affects natural resources, must always serve the needs of peoples.

…

It is not enough to let a few drops fall whenever the poor shake a cup which never runs over by itself.

 …

-

3.2. The second task is to unite our peoples on the path of peace and justice.

The world’s peoples want to be artisans of their own destiny.

They want to advance peacefully towards justice.

They do not want forms of tutelage or interference by which those with greater power subordinate those with less.

They want

their culture,

their language,

their social processes …

their religious traditions to be respected.

No actual or established power has the right to deprive peoples of the full exercise of their sovereignty. …

Despite the progress made, there are factors which still threaten this equitable human development and restrict the sovereignty of the countries of the “greater country” and other areas of our planet.

The new colonialism takes on different faces.

At times it appears as the anonymous influence of mammon:

corporations,

loan agencies,

…“free trade” treaties,

… the imposition of measures of “austerity”

… always tighten the belt of workers and the poor.

At other times, under the noble guise of battling corruption, the narcotics trade and terrorism –

grave evils of our time which call for coordinated international action –

we see states being saddled with measures which have little to do with the resolution of these problems and which not infrequently worsen matters.

Similarly, the monopolizing of the communications media, which would impose alienating examples of consumerism and a certain cultural uniformity,

is another one of the forms taken by the new colonialism.

It is ideological colonialism. …  

poor countries are often treated like “parts of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel”.

-

Every significant action carried out in one part of the planet has universal, ecological, social and cultural repercussions.

Even crime and violence have become globalized.

…

Colonialism, both old and new,

which reduces poor countries to mere providers of raw material and cheap labor, engenders violence, poverty, forced migrations and all the evils which go hand in hand with these, …

That is inequality,

… inequality generates a violence which no police, military, or intelligence resources can control.

Let us say NO to forms of colonialism old and new.

Let us say YES to the encounter between peoples and cultures.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

-

3.3. The third task, perhaps the most important facing us today, is to defend Mother Earth.

Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste and harmed with impunity.

Cowardice in defending it is a grave sin.

We see with growing disappointment how one international summit after another takes place without any significant result.

There exists a clear, definite and pressing ethical imperative to implement what has not yet been done. We cannot allow certain interests – interests which are global but not universal –

to take over,

to dominate states and international organizations, …

to continue destroying creation.

People and their movements are called to cry out, to mobilize and to demand – peacefully, but firmly – that appropriate and urgently-needed measures be taken.

I ask you, in the name of God, to defend Mother Earth.

I have duly addressed this issue in my Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’.

-

4. In conclusion, I would like to repeat: the future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites.

It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organize.

It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change.

I am with you.

Let us together say from the heart:

no family without lodging,

no rural worker without land,

no laborer without rights,

no people without sovereignty,

no individual without dignity,

no child without childhood,

no young person without a future,

no elderly person without a venerable old age.

Keep up your struggle and, please, take great care of Mother Earth.

I pray for you and with you, and I ask God our Father to accompany you and to bless you, to fill you with his love and defend you on your way by granting you in abundance that strength which keeps us on our feet: that strength is hope, the hope which does not disappoint.

Thank you and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

? Pretty good ???