-

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 ???

- Just some thoughts - and realities -

- Just Some Imaged thoughts -

-

- Some thoughts about a lion and Protests - or Lack Thereof -

-
Not that I dislike Lions -
 - But -
How many protests are there - daily -
-

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