Viral marketing and propaganda -- The Cloverfield campaign

The upcoming release of the film Cloverfield has provided me with a fun distraction of late. The back-story that apparently is included with the film is interesting and deep, there is mystery surrounding the entire project and driving the online chatter about the film is a series of websites that are directly connected to main and subplots of the story. Following the story online we have the chance to see the present day in a past tense manner. It is also a chance to see a well-tuned online viral marketing campaign in action.

Viral marketing interests me because it works by exploiting social networking and the desire of people to conform and follow what is popular. It is a method of social control even if the goal is to simply make millions of dollars on a movie. The thing that fascinates me the most about these campaigns is that many people will still follow the marketing script even if they know for a fact that it is a manufactured process. When government propaganda is exposed for what it really is, the effect upon the citizenry is opposite; they feel duped and begin to swing their beliefs in the opposite direction. I often wonder if that point of critically, the point where citizens turn against the propaganda fed to them, has also been engineered. In this day and age, there is very little difference in the methodology between creating and waging a viral marketing campaign to advertise a movie, and creating and waging government sponsored propaganda to advertise going to war. The only real difference is the subject matter.

Viral marketing relies on people disseminating information about the product to people within their social network. Propaganda relies on the citizenry discussing the points of the propaganda with people within their social network as well. Viral marketing relies on peer pressure to help sell their product to people within the network because they want to fit in. Propaganda relies on citizens not questioning the “right” nature of what the propaganda sells by threat of ostracization from American society and the dreaded taunt of treason being thrown around.

When I was growing up this was simply called a fad. That is probably what it was called when you were in your teenage years. Clothing, music, language and pop culture tastes were determined by the sine wave of fads. Now, the medium for disseminating information has changed and we have the Internet and text messaging to speed the process and make it all encompassing. 23 years ago all it took was one Bruce Springsteen video and everybody simply had to have a jean jacket. Even then it still had no effect on people living in the suburbs and rural America, people who had no access to cable TV. Now, even my Mother can surf the web and she does indeed surf, even if it is only a dialup account.

The term viral marketing is itself a new term. First coined in 1996 by a Harvard Business School professor, it’s roots lie with media critic Douglas Rushkoff who wrote about advertisers infecting susceptible users and spreading the infection among other users. The spread could be charted long before the actual “infection” took place by using statistical analysis and the entire process could be tweaked for maximum effect by the marketer, even as the campaign was being run. Our self-awareness, or rather, the awareness of us by marketers and advertisers, is astounding.

Of course the irony of this posting is that I may be contributing to the viral marketing process by advertising the film and giving my reasons for wanting to follow the campaign. In effect, I could be feeding the beast intentionally. Then again, some unknowing traveler in cyberspace may see this posting and become enlightened to the interconnection of marketing campaigns and propaganda. Who knows?

Will I be a big fat hypocrite and see the movie? Probably. I have had a life-long love of horror movies featuring giants that goes back to my days of watching Shock Theater on WTVC in Chattanooga. I saw all of the giant monster movies on that show; King Kong, Son of Kong, The Mighty Joe Young. It Came From Beneath The Sea, Konga and all the Godzilla movies. I even remember seeing The Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman and feeling that pre-pubescent attraction to actress Allison Hayes in the title role. Talk about great legs. I even use my old VCR from time to time just so I can watch War Of The Gargantuas.

I’m also a big time sucker for any movie or book that requires in-depth study of specially written and complex encyclopedias and bibles to follow the back-story. I often wonder if this is the prime reason why I follow conspiracy theories and the high weirdness subjects. There are tons of back-story in them to sift through and in the end there is a monster to face.

Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Jesus Party!

Coming soon to a ballot in your district, The Jesus Party. I can easily see this happening following the comments by James “The Dachshund Beater (http://www.nospank.net/dugan.htm) Dobson; that he will back a third party candidate if the Republican Party doesn’t pick someone who is, “conservative enough.” Talk about balls.

I think it’s time for the radical religious freaks to form their own political party, the Jesus Party. Where free spirits and those who live life without lies or shame are called heathens and are cursed. It’s time to put the extremists in a position where every American can see just how fucked in the head some of our worst fellow citizens are. No reason to pussyfoot around and pretend to be a “compassionate conservative”, just show the world how full of hate and contempt you really are. The rest of us can see what those folks are really all about and make some serious choices.

The current crop of 4th tier bathing beauties who are running for President are too afraid of telling hard truths and making hard choices. The Congress is locked in it’s own paralysis of doing the right things for fear of being branded as one thing or another. They are afraid of the consequences. The consequences being the loss of their cushy job in DC and that fear is something that shouldn’t be a part of the job because we all know those lobbyist positions are lined up after a career in politics. We need men and women to make the hard choices and say the things that have to be said to get us on the right track. Instead they’ll talk the talk that they believe is the talk we want to hear.

There was a time, even in the small north Georgia town I grew up in, that getting a bit too full of the Holy Spirit would bring about the response of the common sense most of us have. There was a time that we did not suffer fools gladly and it was encouraged to call things exactly as they appear to be. The fundamentalists had a side role in local politics and social issues, the role of the lunatic fringe. This was the case up until the early and mid 80’s. What precipitated this change from sanity to all-out goofiness? The fear of satanic forces.

Starting with the whole back masking phenomenon in the early 80’s I saw the attitudes in my small town change. First it was the satanic influences upon the young with rock music. Then they added the “epidemic” of drugs and they brought it full circle in the early 90’s with fear of the Clintons and the supposed hidden agenda of one-world secularism. As if the whole scene weren’t enough, my little hometown newspaper began operating a program where they asked the local citizens to rat each other out over who was selling drugs. Honest to God, they instilled fear into the citizens and then asked readers to send in their reports of suspicious activity to the newspaper, which would be forwarded to the local law enforcement authorities. The editor of the paper at that time was a former aid to radical right wing Congressman, Larry McDonald.

How did they frighten and change the minds of these simple country folks who had always maintained country smarts? Fear of everything that sits on the other side of the mountain and fear of it invading and taking over their small town, that’s how they did it. In a town like I came from, there are two mountains that separated us from the rest of the world. Nothing good or positive happened on the other side of those two mountains. To add to it, one mountain was where the drug dealers had their crops and the other housed devil worshipers. I am serious.

Lookout Mountain was where, according to rumor, pot growers had clandestine fields of dope, guarded by men with hunting rifles and woe to anyone who happened upon them. The other mountain was where two Satanists lived in their estate named Corpsewood (http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/from-archives-look-back-at-corpsewood.html) . The mountains were more than just geological boundaries for the community; they became symbolic of barriers to keep the rest of the world at bay.

This is was a microcosm of the path we as a nation have gone down in the past 6 years. Fear of anything beyond the boundaries of our coastal areas and fear of anything beyond the borders that separated the countries we are sandwiched between. Everything on the other side is evil and satanic and we are constantly being infiltrated by demonic forces that threaten us.

In many ways, the field of Conspiracy Theory studies is similar to this phenomenon. We, the CT enthusiasts, are constantly trying to warn everyone else of the dangers we see. Dangers being guided by unseen forces, forces of evil. The problem with both CT studies and extremists religious causes is that far too often we both go into extremely radical territory. I myself understand that I have ideas that stray into the fantastic. However, there is a difference between the two groups. The radicalized religious want to alter the way we all live. They wish to enforce their beliefs upon all of us. The conspiracy theorists only want to broaden their, and your, horizons and expose the false idols around us.

It is easy to see the far religious right wishing to enslave all of us while the conspiracy theorists are trying to free us by exposing the plots. What is most surprising to me in this process is how many conspiracy theorists wind up like Texe Marrs and become caught in anti-Semitism and I really believe there is a trigger point which starts this conversion. Once they head down the “Jewish conspiracy” path there is rarely an outcome other than far right-wing political extremism.

So let’s all cheer for the formation of the Jesus Party. Perception and reality, ideaology and truth rarely meet in the center. Sooner or later the far right-wing of this country will need to show their true colors, on full display for all to see. After all, if you are going to be a full blown fascist you might as well wear the t-shirt that shows you were there for the party.

60 Minutes interview with Iranian President Ahmadinejad -- Black propaganda in its most obvious form.

Is CBS correspondent Scott Pelley jonesing for a job at Faux News? Or is he simply trying to out-Stossel John Stossel? After viewing Pelley’s interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last night I was thrown aback at several comments made by Pelley and the overall effect of the Neo-Con puff piece. I even wondered which White House flunky was given the task of briefing Pelley before his trip to Tehran.

The propaganda of Pelley’s interview was in plain view, complete with faux outrage and the Neo-Con talking points showing themselves at various points. The aggressive tone of Pelley at times made me wonder out loud, “Would Pelley have the balls to be this direct with his own President, or would he just cave and kiss his ass?” What is more frightening to me than Iran’s nuclear intentions or Pelley’s lapdog story is how many people may have watched the interview and not recognized the black propaganda at work.

At one point Ahmadinejad appears to recognize the tactics of Pelley as being propaganda and he jabs back at him by equating his questions and tone with the work of the CIA. It’s foolish and naive to think that the Agency would not be interested in talking with Pelley or his crew after their return to the states, or to see the raw tape of their trip. With this in mind it’s interesting to note his sly smile and measured pacing of his responses and the comments themselves.

I’m not going to put my head in the sand and declare Ahmadinejad an innocent because he is not an innocent. This man is a carbon copy of our own President. Both are radical extremists with no conscience and they manipulate religious extremists into following their dangerous, hateful example. Neither man will be satisfied until the world is engulfed in flames.

What is depressing about the Pelley piece is the way it highlights the continual slide our Fourth Estate makes as it toes the corporate line; and the loss of insight that we cannot gain because our press stays on topic to suit the politicians and corporations and their agenda. At one point Pelley has the gall to tell the Iranian President, “I am just a reporter. I am a simple average American reporter.”

No Mr. Pelley, you are not just a simple average American reporter. I’m sure that if we compared your yearly salary with 95% of the American press corp we would see that you aren’t average. You would be in the financial elite of the class. As for proclaiming yourself as simple, please spare all of us the ridiculous self-depreciation. Show me a talking head who is not self-obsessed and far too complicated and I’ll show you a talking head who works the news in Chattanooga or Sioux Falls or a Class II or III or IV market.

A little more than 2000 days later

In a world that seems to be spiraling out of control it is hard to nail down one solution or one area that could be addressed to stop the full bleed out. The Iraq war will not end and the President is opening small cracks in the door of the plans set out by the powers that be. Socially our nation is getting closer to the full split with everyone at each other’s throats because of race or religion or ethnicity. We have a daily dose of fear and we can’t find the energy to shrug it off and laugh at the people who force feed us with that tactic.

Just looking at the economic situation is enough to make the hair stand on end. Washington Mutual bank has now claimed that the housing market is in a “Near perfect storm” as one financial institution after another sounds warning sirens over the current state of the economy. The worst is yet to come and I am not certain if even the masters of this system are even in control of what will happen. When the brightest economists say they don’t know what will happen, it’s a sign we should hang on.

At this point the only optimism we can afford is the occasional “feel good story” on the evening news but even those are tainted by dark and disturbing circumstances that result in a feel good story. Finding our way through the lies and deceit of our leaders is becoming even more difficult as they no longer attempt to cover their tracks. They even swear up and down that the new bin Laden videotape is who they say he is even though the man seen in the video is obviously not bin Laden. They have pulled this trick on us before with fake OBLs who are right handed as well.

Our boogy man, our haint, our campfire story of men with hooks for hands are the creatures our leaders give to us. A generation ago it was the evil empire of communists. Two generations ago it was the Godless communists and civil rights “instigators”. Three generations ago it was, for Americans, the entire outside world, with Europe festering and Japan stomping across Asia like a machine. We are fed fear from all fronts, all the time and it’s no wonder we react the way we do.

The timing of these scares and events is always convenient for the real and puppet leaders of this country. Between the last week of August and this week, the 6th anniversary of the 911 attacks we have seen the resignation of the worst attorney general in US history. The sex scandal engulfing a senior US Senator, the release of a book that catches our President in full bald faced lies regarding the future of the Iraq war. A new OBL tape has been released and the General who is overseeing the Iraq debacle is in Washington this week to report on the status of Iraq, except he has no report.

You can rest assured that the teat suckling beasts of General Dynamics, Lockheed and every other defense contractor is out in full force too, with their lobbyists, to prod and poke Congress into seeing things their way over the so-called Global War on Terrorism. Same with the numerous private contractors like McNeil Technologies, who are making billions on their “work” in Iraq. There is still wealth and power to grab from the deserts of the Middle East for them to let it go now.

The mechanisms of war and the bottom feeders that grease the gears and supply fuel to the engines of war do not turn off so easily. The open door and blank check were laid out immediately after the 911 attacks. We are told to shut up when we dissent to the atrocities done in our name and we are targeted as un-American when we point out the reality of the situation. Words like love, understanding and compassion become the vulgar and mockable descriptions for supposed left-wing kooks who are just touchy feely freaks. You cannot even say enough is enough without being labeled, red flagged and spied upon.

Americans seem to be slowly waking from their sleep of fear but there is still a long way to go. The beast has grown to a size that is almost unimaginable and the mountain that needs to be climbed to bring this beast under control seems insurmountable. On this day before the 911 attacks, a day that we should be angry, life seems to be going on with less attention to the bigger picture than what we are giving to the smaller things. We fail to focus on the bigger forest because the trees we are looking at in the small corner of the woods are the only ones on fire.

Osama bin buying Just For Men, For Beards

“What are you going to do when your style gets old?” Those are the immortal words of the great Bootsy Collins. It appears that the sociopaths of Washington are hitting the same delimma as the American public is slowly waking up and asking what the fuck, dude?! Now, 4 days before the anniversary of the 911 attacks, our old boogy man and all around scary olive skinned guy with a big beard is popping his head in the door, saying hello. He’s back, ladies and germs…you know him, you love him, you can’t live without him…Osama Bin Laden has dropped his newest CD.

There is a catch to this new video. It appears Osama bin buying Just For Men and has apparently done the rounds at the cosmetic surgeon offices of Jalalabad. Folks, this new and improved OBL is a red herring. Look at that picture comparison and tell me those are the same two men. The photo on the right is the fancy pants new OBL, fresh from his vacation at the Tora Bora Club Med. The one on the left? Well, maybe it is the Binster and maybe it ‘aint. The boys at the CIA say it’s so and who am I to disagree?

The CIA did get one thing right when they scotch taped this video together on a drunken weekend visit to Pakistan and that’s the Obi-Wan Kenobi robes. How many times did the boys at Langley look at the updated double trilogy before they realized that old Obi-Wan wears the same threads as OBL? Go figure!

Other than the costume they must be having trouble finding OBL look alikes. I assume the Rangers have bagged dozens of men that sorta kinda maybe looked like “Ossammer” through a long range scope just before Pvt. PoBoy from Louisiana went all kill crazy on them, thus making the supply of OBL doubles more and more difficult for the CIA to get for their gigs.

What should we make of this new video? Honestly, we need to spit this one back in the face of the masters. The shoddy production values have slipped further than the 4th movie in a Hollywood franchise and now the gubbmint is doing the old, “No really, it’s him! It’s really him! Why don’t you believe me?” routine. Just how fucking stupid do they think we really are?

Sociopath Tuesday! Politicians, athletes and the big toe of Big Brother!

There is simply too much going on right now to pick a single subject. Within the last 24 hours there has been the resignation of AG Alberto Gonzalez, another senior GOP Senator has been thrust into a sex scandal, Michael Vick apologists have been in over drive and there has been a curious media blackout regarding the murder of the former leader of the GOP in Georgia. It’s just too much to digest and sift through in one sitting.

AG Gonzalez, the man who never met a spy program he didn’t love, will be trying to outrun possible perjury charges for lying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Of course the Democrats will capitulate and not seek those charges, nor will they ever seek to bring to justice the liars and un-American bastards who have led our nation into a deep, dark sewer over the past 6 years. Gonzo will head back to Texas with the blessings of his President after a brief tenure as the head of the Justice Department and a history that will show him to have been the most destructive and least protective AG in the history of that cabinet position.

Senator Larry Craig of Idaho once again shows me that maybe the really wild sex fiends are the members of the Republican Party. I have no problem with the homosexual community, gays and lesbians are just regular folks trying to get by and live their lives too, in my eyes. I feel sorry for closeted gays who cannot tell the world how they really feel. However, I have no sympathy or patience for a hypocrite like Craig, who maligns and demonizes the gay community, all the while he is looking for kinky public sex in an airport. If Sen. Craig were to just come out and tell us that he does indeed suck dick and he was wrong for demonizing the gay culture and wrong for repressing his true sexuality, I’ll jump on the man’s bandwagon and back him 100%. Instead we get another bullshit lie that his toilet stance is a bit “wide legged”.

Speaking of lies, Michael Vick, the disgraced former star athlete is now getting the coddling he so desperately wanted all because he finally admits his guilt for torturing animals for the sheer pleasure of it. Hey Vick, I forgive you since you admit that you did it. Now, how about working on atoning for your cruelty and show us some action instead of words on how you will re-enter society as a normal human being. It’s not simply enough to say I’m sorry. You have to do a little more than that. I’m sorry only works when a 5-year-old get’s caught sneaking cookies out of the jar.

It’s was not “immature” what you did to those dogs, as you so innocently described it, it was inhuman, vicious and anti-social. MV7, I hope you realize that psychologists have found a link between children who torture animals and serial killers. Prove to us that you can contribute to society instead of producing more pain and suffering like you did and then we can start talking about you taking snaps again. You have a serious mental condition to not see the torture of animals to be disturbed behavior. To the apologists, leave the man’s dick alone and stop sucking it like it was candy. He fucked up and all the excuses you can muster do not make it all right. It’s not about race and it’s not about the victims being “just dogs” and it’s not about other crimes not being hotly prosecuted by the feds. It is about acceptable behavior in a civilized society. If you find nothing wrong with his actions or still believe in him regardless of what he has confessed to; please seek psychiatric help. You have a serious sociopath condition and need medical attention.

As for the murder of the former head of the Georgia GOP, Raphael Gonzalez, it’s difficult to gauge what did happen and the cause. Gonzalez was murdered along with another man in a 3-person murder suicide down in Orange County Florida. Even the Atlanta media has been tight lipped about this and only trickles of info have come out. What is known is that Gonzalez and the other victim were roommates in a house that was owned by Gonzalez. The killer was a former roommate and Marine, who took his own life after murdering them.

Strange tidings on this Tuesday morning. Sometimes there is too much for your paranoid blogger to fully comprehend and write about. I’m sure my ADD and OCD predisposition do not help.

Chertoff's guts

Two interesting and chilling comments have been made over the past few days regarding possible terrorist attacks. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a group of people from the Chicago Tribune that he has a “gut feeling” we are about to enter a new period where terrorist attacks are likely. This past Friday, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum spoke on the Hugh Hewitt Show and said that he understands that “between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war.”

These comments can only be classified as one of three things. 1) Typical fear mongering that is par for the course of the current Republican leadership. 2) Signs of a possible false flag op. 3) Incredible insight.

Based on the past performance of both Chertoff and Santorum, I think the word insight does not apply to these two people. Chertoff has bungled the DHS job with the near death of New Orleans, leaky borders and the disclosure this week that a massive hole in senior leadership positions within his department exists, with a quarter of the necessary senior positions unfilled. Santorum, of the “man-on-dog sex” infamy, has been wrong on so many occasions regarding the war in Iraq and life in general that they are too numerous to mention. The short list includes his 2006 comparison of Islamic fascism to Nazism and Japanese Imperialism from World War II and his adamant claim that “hundreds of WMDs” were found in Iraq. These two lackeys have the insight of men who dig tunnels.

Sign of a possible false flag op? Possible, very much within the realm of possibility. A series of warnings given before an event could give those in power the traction they need to implement sweeping changes that would allow them to cover their tracks and put out the fires in their burning castles. With the VP’s approval ratings hovering slightly above single digits at only 13%, the rising acceptance of the American public to impeachment proceedings against the President and VP, scandal upon scandal breaking and an overall sense of anger and frustration building against the Washington elite; a terrorist attack that was “predicted” would be a relief to those in power.

Typical fear mongering? I think this pony used up its single trick a while back. The average American appears to be keyed into the strategy of scaring the living hell out of them and the effect is somewhat lukewarm right now. Even the regular Joe Six Pack on the street has begun to notice that every time something comes to light that makes the powers that be look bad; “something” seems to happen involving terrorism.

The question I have out of these two comments is who in the hell thought it would be a good idea to “tune in” Santorum to something happening? Santorum is little more than a dullard, a cheerleading parrot and a freakish example of the American Dream on acid. I wouldn’t trust his strategic thinking abilities although he is very adapt at the Republican smear job and dirty tricks. But as far as letting him in on secrets, never. So his coaching on this subject probably involves some basic direction and no specific details.

The next few months should be interesting to watch. Something is afoot in DC based on the signs we see and the recent comments regarding “chatter” and now “gut feelings”.

Semantics, folks. Semantics.

The recent story about our local TB patient who went globe trotting with his new wife while carrying what he knew to be a drug resistant form of tuberculosis is pretty odd and troubling on many levels but there is something to be gleaned from this that smacks of Doublespeak. The patient stated to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had complied with the CDC and Fulton County Health Department officials on everything, "except the solitary confinement request" in Italy.

So, medical isolation for a contagious and highly dangerous disease is now considered "solitary confinement"? Really? I thought solitary confinement is a form of punishment given to prisoners, or used as a torture tactic.

It's all in the semantics, folks. When you feel you've been given a raw deal, the best way to call yourself a victim, without outright saying it, is to use words that evoke the belief that you've been victimized. I'm sure our TB patient would not like to experience solitary confinement in it's actual form which is served in prisons and CIA run rendition locations.

What this man has done is provide us with an excellent example of how Doublespeak really works and how using the word war to manipulate others into being sympathetic/empathetic to your situation really works. Politicians aren't the only people who know how to manipulate emotions based on words and their usage.

The masters of propaganda fully understand how to use Doublespeak and how to manipulate us with words. Marketing and advertising gurus have this same knowledge and they also use it to manipulate us in ways of separating us from our money. Religious leaders also understand this craft and look toward the James Dobsons and Pat Robertsons of this world to see how they twist words and definitions to make their flock conform.

When medical isolation becomes solitary confinement to a self described "well educated, intelligent and successful" person it's a sign we should all keep in mind that the tricks of the trade that propagandists use are around us every day.

Commentary - The political conspiracy of the Evangelical movement in America

Under the radar and away from the collective consciousness of Americans, there has been an open plot by the extreme evangelical movement to undermine and take control of American government. With Presidential elections a year away, the political commentators and pundits on both sides of the aisle talk about the Republican candidates and whether or not they can appeal to the Republican “base”. The “base” they are describing is not the traditional group of fiscal conservatives, the Republican party has morphed and the Goldwater conservatives are long gone as the demographic being catered to. Even the Reaganites who were created a generation ago have lost their luster and place within that party. The course of the Republican party is steering from a chart plotted by the evangelical movement.

This movement has not shirked away from their stated goals, to assume control of the American government, overthrow judicial rulings that do not conform to their theocratic ideals and to force all Americans to live under their vision of America and God. The conspiracy of this movement has never kept its goals a secret and the conspirators willfully and openly admit what they want to achieve. With the recent death of Jerry Falwell, the subjects being discussed among the Republican Presidential hopefuls and the scandal of the fired US Attorneys this is a good opportunity to look at a few aspects of this movement.

I have to admit to a certain amount of underestimating on my part about this movement. In the 1980’s when Pat Robertson’s cache grew within the political right and ministers such as he, Falwell and others openly discussed a future where evangelicals ruled the courts, I dismissed and scoffed at the claims. My sentiment at the time was that the evangelicals attempting to gain political control of the nation were sadly gullible. Time and time again they had attempted to make in-roads of gaining political clout, only to be disappointed by the actions of the leaders they had backed, Reagan included, when they were cast aside. I misjudged how sly these leaders could be.

Instead of putting all their eggs into the overt basket of one political leader, the leadership of the evangelical right-wing bet the farm on a covert, yet fully in the open plan of education and changing policy from within the structure of government. Universities such as Regent began churning out lawyers and a grass roots movement of evangelical lawyers began to grow. Their goals were clear and concise – turn the nation into a theocracy through an aggressive legal campaign. With a changing political landscape in the mid-90’s, one which they had a major hand in shaping and one in which fear and loathing became the modus operendi, the evangelical movement created and nurtured the political alliances that would allow them to inject their legal commandos for God into the upper tiers of the American judicial and legislative branches. With the election of George W. Bush to President, the third branch of power was the missing piece and full sympathy to their goals was found.

The most worrisome aspect of this conspiracy is that the stated goals of this movement are to literally turn America into a theocracy and they have been active in actually making this happen. They do not want to simply have freedom of religion, where all people are allowed to worship as they desire with no fear of retribution, they wish to change the fundamental way in which Americans are allowed to live.

Civil rights would vanish as even the most centrist of these leaders are violently opposed to gay rights, abortion and free speech. Abortion would not only be outlawed under their vision for America, sexuality would be criminalized outside the marriage between man and woman. Free speech would suffer as criticism of religion and religious leaders would be tantamount to blasphemy and the overall tone of adult discourse would be watered down as literature, film and music would be affected by classifying words and ideas that they consider obscene.

The hidden agenda of these leaders is far more dark and frightening than what they extol on the surface. Time and time again we can see that what most Americans would consider to be extremist beliefs are widely shared by these evangelical leaders and their followers. When confronted with their statements after they have been made, insincere apologies are made, but the cat has been let out of the bag. The comments made by Falwell after the 9/11 attacks are an example, but there are far more examples of this type of belief.

If the mainstream media ever decide to fully report this movement and report their beliefs, goals and actions in a serious, compelling tone then perhaps the public at large will recognize the danger that these sociopaths present to the nation as a whole. I fully support and wish that every person can worship and live their lives the way they feel is best. I do not condone silencing the extremists of the evangelical movement. I do however believe that when dangerous fools show their true nature, it is the responsibility of others to expose these frauds and hypocrites. The cultish quality of the modern evangelical movement and the hatred they display are dangerous, labeling their actions as religious freedom is an affront to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics and Atheists -- in other words, all people, all children of God.

The daily dose of Doublespeak

One aspect of the current administration that constantly amazes me is the skilled and precise manner in which they have perfected Orwellian Doublespeak, and the methods they display of using language to condition the American public. A recent news report of the violence in Iraq underscored this ability and what appears to be our complete disinterest in studying the effects of Doublespeak. Words have indeed changed their meaning under President Bush and it goes beyond the jingoism that has been a component of American politics for many decades.

The use, meaning and variations of the word insurgent is one of the most clear-cut examples I can think of. The words insurgent and insurgency have been overused in frequency and as an all-encompassing description for describing attacks in Iraq and the words have taken on a new meaning. Late this past week a group of more than 50 “insurgents” attacked a US base in Baqouba, a Sunni stronghold, which required US forces to call in reinforcements. Officials state that only six of the attackers were killed.

When you think of the words insurgent and insurgency what do you think they mean? As time has passed and the use of those words has grown to describe attacks and attackers that range from a single sniper or suicide bomber up to a large, organized group of individuals it seems that the White House, Pentagon, CIA and our press have given the words a whole new meaning. The usage has brought to mind a loose and rag-tag group of individuals, with no strategy other than the use of single attacks and death-by-a-thousand-cuts type of approach to their goals. Small and large attacks are lumped together and over time the real meaning of those words has diluted.

Attacks like the one in Baqouba are not rare, they have now become common and this has fallen almost off the consciousness of the American public. We focus more on the IED and suicide bomber attacks than large-scale operations such as the one in Baqouba. The large-scale attacks are a sign of organization, training and intelligence gathering within the Sunni and Shiite factions and a transformation in theater. My belief is that this is the result of work by the CIA and paramilitary groups such as Blackwater, but this is the subject of a future posting. The subject today is Doublespeak.

Support the troops is another gem from the President and the Republican Party. The recent disclosure that the White House is not backing a small increase in pay for members of the military, as well as an increase in benefit pay to the families and survivors of service members is telling. The pay increases that the White House is against would result in an increase of only $7 per week for a typical E-3 enlisted person (Navy Seaman, Air Force Airman 1st Class, Army PFC or Marine Corp LCPL), but that has been shot down by the administration. They believe their current proposal is “sufficient” for the military. With the scandals that have erupted over treatment of wounded veterans, the constant and deliberate gutting of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the absolute disregard for the well being of our military is all the proof you need to see that “Support the troops” is nothing more than a hollow, insincere attempt to illicit Pavlovian style conditioning from the American public.

The insurgents have now formed militias and their skills grow with each day. Our troops are not being supported by the current Presidential administration regardless of what they claim. These are just two examples of the Doublespeak we must sift through on a daily basis in America. Take the time to think about the other examples you can easily find on the evening news and in your local newspaper.

We are all casualties in the War on Drugs

One of the most simple and effective ways of controlling the thoughts and actions of the American public is, and always has been, the War on Drugs. Through this “War”, those who hold true power in this country can redirect the anger, dissatisfaction and sense of justice that the citizens become self-aware of as a collective entity every few years. This allows those in power to shape the common ideal of who is desirable and undesirable as Americans and who can be scapegoat for punishment. The most vulnerable of our society, those with little or no money and those with no political or economic leverage are the ones who are targeted for punishment.

We allow this to happen because we are conditioned to accept the jingoism of the propaganda created by our political and business leaders. The payoff we receive for unquestionably following the conditioning is the promise that someone, who is always stereotyped as less worthy and productive as the rest of us, will be ostracized from our society and incarcerated. We will be given a self-fulfilling sense of pleasure that “good” is being done for our society at large and that our self-righteousness will lead to greater safety in our own homes and for our loved ones. The beneficiaries of this propaganda are not the average citizens; the beneficiary is in fact the ones who maintain economic, political and theocratic control over America.

Poverty and lack of education are often cited as the two main causes of drug addiction. My belief is that while drug addiction is indeed a socio-economic problem, the actual root cause is hopelessness and pain. Poverty may increase the chances a person will become an addict but a lack of good paying jobs, fear of what tomorrow may bring and an ultimate sense of “giving in” to the futility of being a “tilting windmill” is what causes the impoverished to turn to drugs. The emotional pain that comes with this act of giving in is no different than what is felt by the victims of tragedy or abuse. The latter, tragedy and abuse are aspects of drug abuse that know no socio-economic boundaries.

No one aspires to be a drug addict when they are young. Addicts turn to this vice in response to what they believe about the outside world or to numb internal pain. Feeling good or better than your outlook on life is alluring, deadening pain is critical when all you feel is pain. These are traits that are shared with not only the addict but also the casual drug users who often get caught in the net of the War on Drugs. Their fate of the recreational user is the same as the addict if they do not have economic or political ties that may shield them from the full brunt on the American legislative and judicial branches.

The closed loop system of drug abuse, drug addiction, drug trafficking, drug legislation, enforcement of drug laws, state mandated drug treatment and incarceration is self-sustaining and needs little outside stimulus to maintain itself. The War on Drugs and a variety of legislative practices do not limit or reduce this system but instead cause growth of the system, which in turn increases the size and power of government as an end result. Society does not benefit from drug addiction and the War on Drugs does not benefit society either. This “War” merely marginalizes citizens and dehumanizes the victims of addiction as well as the one-off cases of individuals who self medicate for the treatment of any professionally diagnosed medical condition that decreases the quality of life of the patient.

The central method the government uses in delivering anti-drug propaganda is to demonize all drug users as deviant, dangerous and crazed. They are portrayed as immoral and outsiders of accepted society. This removes any and all sympathy the average citizen may have for the victims of drug addiction. Punishment of drug offenders satisfies the sadistic and vengeful impulses of the citizenry.

If 10 meth labs were raided in a single day, in a single state, and only 1 person was arrested for possession of the drug, the law enforcement agencies would use the single arrest of a user as justification for increasing their funds and power. The labs would be verification that their policies and laws are valid, the single drug addict would be the sign that even more needs to be done.

Law enforcement, judicial and penal systems do not grow when crime rates are down. All three of those systems need a constant rise or growth of crime to not only maintain their funding but in reality they need an increase of crime to justify what they always demand, more money. What those systems gain from the War on Drugs is far more than just public funding. What they gain is greater control of the public at large and in the end they gain a person’s money, property and life.

When a person is arrested for possession of drugs, depending on the type of drug and the amount of the drug they are arrested for, the following things occur:

1) The accused is now added to the state and local drug crime statistics.

2) The accused may try to make bail or bond out of jail, which adds money to the local bail bonding industry. If the accused does not show up for their hearings, trial dates or sentencing date the bail or bond is forfeited to the state or local coffers.

3) The accused must seek legal representation, which they may or may not be able to afford. If they can afford the legal expenses they are adding money to the local legal community. If they cannot afford representation they must petition the court, which places an added burden on the government budget.

4) If the accused is found guilty they will be paying fines, which adds to the government income. They may spend time in jail, prison or on probation and in all three cases a burden is placed on the government’s budget.

5) The guilty may have to forfeit all property they own to the government depending on the law they violated. This also adds to the government coffers when the property is auctioned to the public.

6) If the guilty receives a prison sentence there is a strong likelihood that they will be forced to provide cheap labor while incarcerated, which also adds to the government’s coffers.

7) The government will use that person’s arrest and conviction in its statistical reports for its budgets. With an increase of crime, especially targeted crime there is a corresponding demand from law enforcement to gain funding to combat that crime.

8) Once the guilty is released from prison they now have a criminal record that will adversely affect their ability to gain honest and good paying employment. This reduces the taxable income that the government can access and it can add to a burden to other government programs such as welfare if the guilty has to support a family.

9) If the guilty is desperate enough they may turn to a full time life of crime that adds to this cycle.

This doesn’t include the ancillary charges that can be brought up against most addicts and dealers. Possession of illegal weapons, tax fraud, possession of stolen goods and many other ancillary crimes are committed by both the addicts and the dealers who live in the world of drug addiction. With the rise in meth labs being raided what we also see is a number of child endangerment cases as well and homeowners and apartment managers who rent to a person who runs a meth lab on their premises are also looking at massive bills to cleanup what are now being defined by the EPA as contaminated sites.

The War on Drugs as it has been waged does not address the root causes or the prevention of drug addiction. It targets users and sellers of illicit drugs to fund it’s own goals, expand the reach of government over it’s citizens and centralize the people who benefit from the spoils of this war. Its sole purpose is to consolidate power, perpetuate itself and ignore the root causes of the war.

A person can provide and contribute more to the overall health of society by being a tax paying, law abiding and conscientious citizen. All people in a community share in the wealth that comes from keeping people happy and employed as the citizens will pay taxes, work to improve their standing in society, help their fellow citizens and reduce the burden of the cost of government by being model citizens. Why is the War on Drugs focused on finding the addicts, drug suppliers and drug manufacturers and “eliminating” them instead of eliminating the factors that lead it’s citizens to create and fuel the demand for drugs?

If a society were to reverse the flow of funds from the legislative, judicial, law enforcement and penal systems that drain resources and talent for this War on Drugs and direct those funds to repairing the problems that cause drug addiction what would be the end result? What would need to be addressed?

As I mentioned earlier, it is my belief that drug addiction begins in the local community. When there is little or no hope for the citizens of a local community or if there is no advocacy of people who suffer emotional trauma, those people will turn to substance abuse to deaden their sense of pain. This means that local communities must maintain a strong local economy and provide medical treatment for those people who have suffered deep emotional trauma if they wish to reduce the drug problem in their community.

Local communities are severely limited by how much money they can generate from their citizenry. Property and sales taxes, possibly a small income tax, are all they can draw from. Too much taxation and they stifle the economic viability of their community. They have necessary services that they must provide such as law enforcement, maintaining roads and utility services. This leaves little for reinvesting into the promotion of the local economy. Providing basic medical care for its citizens is out of the question under these conditions.

Under these conditions a local community would need funding from the state and federal government to provide greater economic investment opportunities and medical care for its citizens. States have a much greater reservoir of taxable resources than local governments. They can tax not only income and property but they can also tax the sales of fuels, targeted business and industrial sectors, as well as taxing the use of its road systems via tolls. The state also has the same budgetary issues of providing necessary services but its pool of taxable resources is much greater and the state can also provide basic medical care for its citizens.

To address economic growth and medical care for its citizens the state is in a much better financial position to address those needs than a local government but they still do not have the massive resources that the federal government has. Not only can the federal government collect income and property tax from its citizens it can also tax imported goods from other nations, negotiate the interest rates it must pay for loans, it can also generate funds by charging for a much wider range of services that it oversees. Telecommunications services, postal and other communication channels and medical coverage are prime examples of federal government generating income outside taxation.

Let’s suppose for a moment that the funnel of funding and disbursal of funds were aimed at state and local governments instead of keeping the pool of money at the federal level and spending it on federal programs. State and local governments could share the burden of economic growth by sharing the funds directed at them. State governments could address general and physical health concerns and the local community could be funded to address the mental health of its citizens by creating local community hospitals, hiring mental health professionals and providing both long-term and short-term assistance to its citizens. Victims of assault, natural disasters and poor upbringing could be offered high quality mental health care from professionals who live and are a part of their local community. The driving interest of improving your community and empowering your fellow citizens is a powerful lure to many and this quality can be found in teachers as well.

The local government would benefit from this by having a larger group of healthy, happy and optimistic citizens. This base of workers would in turn be appealing to private business not only because of the capability to maintain quality in the production of its goods and services, but also for the lower overhead that would arise because they would no longer need to provide or assist in the payment of health care services for its employees.

The state government would benefit because a large pool of happy, healthy and optimistic citizens contribute to the overall quality of economic selling points it can make to businesses who are considering a move to their state. The more businesses you have in your state and the more they produce, the greater the amount of money that can be generated by a state government in the form of taxes. Healthier, happier and more optimistic citizens and companies will steadily raise their incomes over their lifetime, which leads to more money generated by taxation.

The federal government benefits off this scenario by lower overall costs for medical care, a lower cost for providing social services, a lower cost in the enforcement of its laws since there would be a decrease in crime and it sees a greater tax base from which to draw from.

Addressing the root causes of addiction reduces the overall problem of drugs by taking away the demand for drugs. There would, of course, be a group of people that cannot be helped or aided no matter how much money is spent trying to help them. We as people have free will and we have to accept that some people simply would not accept help or want to change their lives. This is a fact of human nature that cannot be avoided but it should not be used as an excuse to not address the root problem. The key to this aspect of the War on Drugs is to recognize that the numbers of people who are beyond reach is small in comparison to the sheer volume of people that are swept into the net under our current policies. They, like career criminals, are a portion of society who will not change their behavior and they are a much smaller segment than we are currently dealing with.

This scenario as I described will never be addressed seriously. It may be hinted at or even discussed in a general sense, but it will not be addressed seriously at the higher levels of power in this nation. The reason is simple. The way we currently address the drug problem narrows the group of people who actually benefit short and long-term in the War on Drugs. These people bring true and pure power to the problem and sharing the benefits and wealth of the War on Drugs is not what they want. Who, then, benefits from the status quo in this war?

On the first level of the war, law enforcement gains funds and power. Law enforcement is the foot soldier and pawn of those in power. Law enforcement allegiance is bought and sold by those who wield true and pure power. In some instances the US Military is used in the same way as law enforcement in the war on drugs. They also act as a kind of canary in a coal mine when those at the top of the chain of power want something. If the ends they wish are new laws that restrict the freedoms of Americans, the means of that goal would be to make the law enforcement officials demand new laws to be enacted that they claim will make Americans safer. Use the statistics gathered from arrests to validate the point and people will fall into line when this propaganda is used.

The second level of this war is comprised of the individuals and companies who make a profit off this war. This level includes the obvious people and groups such as lawyers and corrections departments but there is an entire multi-billion dollar industry that drives this second level. That industry comprises companies such as Wackenhut and Aramark who provide outsourced services to the correctional facility industry by providing administrative, maintenance and food services to jails and prisons. Also in this level are the companies who make millions of dollars each year in the construction of new jails and prisons. This is the middle area where cash can be split, transferred and washed by those at the bottom and the top.

The third level of this war is the legislative and judicial branches of government, who provide the legal precedents, legal representation and oversee the funding for this war. These people guide the direction of the war to enhance and expand their power. They have even carried this power to the point where every citizen is considered a criminal regardless of what they actually do with their lives. All one has to do is look at the current missions of the US Intelligence Community and what it is doing in the NSA spying scandal as well as the process that the Intelligence Community uses when it accesses the private databases of companies such as ChoicePoint, to see that we all are being actively monitored in an attempt to not only catch us in the act of committing crimes but to predict when and/or if we will commit crimes.

The War on Drugs is a facet of a much larger operation of consolidating true power into a small group of individuals. Its sole purpose is to create instability in our communities, breed paranoia and suspicion about our fellow citizens and marginalize and target a select group of our own citizens. The very select few gain in this while the vast majority of Americans pay the price. The true price is our freedom and rights.

Even if you and I take no drug stronger than aspirin, we are still a part of the War on Drugs. We pay the price with a weaker community, a weaker economy and a more powerful government. We pay the price because we are under constant surveillance by our government and its representatives. The price we pay is our freedom.

News - Was Cho Seung-Hui a member of the Unification Church (Moonie)?

(Update by the CT Blogger: For more details on the VATech shooter's religious connections, click here.

For details on the VaTech shooter's connections to US Intelligence Agencies, click here.)

(update by The CT Blogger - 5/7/2007 - New update on the shooter's background in the Evangelical movement can be found here)

While downloading and categorizing some new mainstream media reports on the VATech shooter I came across some curious tidbits of information about his family that is raising red flags with me. I have no media reports on this theory to date but there are some strong indications that I believe may lead to a connection with the Unification Church and the shooter. I think there is enough circumstantial evidence of this to at least get this idea out on the web right now.

Cho's parents were wed under an arranged marriage. This is a common practice with the Unification Church. The church was founded in Korea. The DC area is a particular place of interest for the church due to it's political connections with the church's leader. Mind control has also been a tactic used by the church. The Unification Church has a direct connection to Bush 41, ex-CIA chief and ultra-deep insider of the US Intelligence Community (IC). The connections between the Unification Church and the CIA are too numerous to mention.

I'm going to keep looking at this facet and see what comes up. Has anyone looked at the Washington Times' coverage of the shooting? I wish I had made the Korean connection much sooner so that I could have archived that paper's reaction for future study. Why didn't we consider this earlier? Is Cho's sister, Sun, named after the church's leader and founder?

Commentary - The militarization of America - Part 2

Part 1 of this commentary can be found here:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-militarization-of-america.html

Rumors about the toy box

Coinciding with the late 80's-early 90's escalation of combat operations and shining publicity was a curious sideshow involving secret desert bases, exotic advanced weapons and technology and a faint hint of otherworldly connections. Starting around 1987 the subject America's stealth fighter technology and experiments came to light. It began in technical and trade journals as well as the sub-culture of aviation enthusiasts. The existence of the B-2 bomber and the F-117 Stealth fighter had been verified by time of the Panama invasion. The invasion was the "test bed" for the capabilities of both weapons delivery systems, the first Persian Gulf war was the coming out party.

Bubbling under these two developments were rumors of other, far more exotic toys being played with in the toy box of the high desert of Nevada; Area 51. American interest had been piqued by the story sub-plots found in TV shows and movies like "The X-Files", "Men in Black" and "Independence Day" which hinted at or directly covered the existence of advanced military weapons systems that were kept in the secret Area 51 air base. These rumors and plot devices satiated the American appetite for superiority in all things related to the military and gave popular culture a new outlet for conspiracy theories and urban legend. Instead of public fear and outrage at these stories, Americans were strangely seduced and pleased by these stories. Why?


Look around you

The military, its suppliers and its second cousins are all around us. Turn on the TV if you have cable and there is literally a 24-hour a day presence of the military on your TV. The Military History Channel is one of the many channels which fall under the broadcast umbrella of General Electric and it's A&E Television Networks. In the early and mid-90's another basic cable staple, The Discovery Channel, was a science and history centric source of programming. It's shows featured stories about ancient societies, space exploration and world history. The only military themed shows were the 1 hour-long documentaries about military action from history. This aspect of the programming can be prominently seen in early episodes of HBO's The Sopranos, as lead character and mob boss Tony Soprano, is an enthusiast of these shows and their historical figures. In Gus Van Sandt's film "Elephant", a fictionalized account of the Columbine Massacre, the killers are seen skipping school with a Discovery Channel styled documentary playing in the scene where an automatic rifle is being delivered to them.

The Discovery Channel and General Elctric's web of cable stations all use the modern military, it's weapons and tactics as a central subject of much of their programming on top of the 24 hour coverage featured on The Military History Channel. The quantity and tone of this type of programming is quite unsettling when you begin to look closely at the subject material. Is this glut of military themed programming a result of public demand, or is it a carefully orchestrated plan to desensitize the American public to the mission of the military (wage war and cause death and destruction) and/or to desensitize them and give sympathy to the suppliers of military weapons? General Electric stands much to gain by their own form of self promotion.

I have not seen a single example of criticism of the fraud, corruption or fleecing of the American public by the makers of the American weapons industry on these channels. It is only wall-to-wall praise and glory for the purported capabilities of these weapons, weapon delivery systems and their designers. No mention of the checkered history of the Osprey aircraft platform. No mention of the massive cost overruns, abject failure to produce viable products in accordance with contractual obligations and flawed production of the LCS and Deepwater Programs. No mention of the sham and money pit that was the A-12 Avenger program. Chest thumping and sexy base reactions from the masses, yes. Honesty and critical thinking, no!

Switch channels to over-the-air broadcast TV and you'll see even more propaganda. The Armed Forces have spent a ton of money to sponsor cars in the NASCAR Nextel Cup racing series. At any sporting event worthy of national attention there is the obligatory honor guard and flyover of high tech aircraft. You can't sit down and simply watch a football game on a lazy Sunday afternoon without being assaulted with images of spit and polished servicemen, a close-up of a formation of F-18 Hornets, and now the on-screen box score even features the logos of and website address of the military. GoArmy.com indeed. Especially if my team can go 5-2 after this game.

The military's advertising has even morphed into a variation on themes. One commercial features the POV of a middle aged parent, with their child informing them of the news that they have or are considering joining the military. The POV parent, of course, is silent for the length of the commercial as your youngster rattles off the promises of the recruiter. Another commercial approach shows the military as a video game. No comment necessary.


In conclusion

This militarization of the American masses is so ingrained in our culture that it's virtually a useless exercise to reverse the trend. Spend some of your time with your eyes open and your mind aware of the military symbolism all around you. What does your local police force look like? Here in Atlanta where I live and in the rest of the state of Georgia, out police officers rarely act or dress in the traditional way of law enforcement agents. Many wear all black uniforms, with their pants combat dressed into their boots.

All we need is for the Commander in Chief to dress in the uniform while in office and all is complete. Wait a minute, that already happened.

Image from Reuters

Commentary - Who will benefit?

I think it is safe for me to say that the first group that stands to benefit, and benefit the most from the VaTech massacre is the Republican Party. Within days I expect the pro-gun/anti-gun rhetoric to heat up. Which side of the fence do both parties reside? The support and approval that the Democratic Party has gained over the last year will begin to erode once they begin to pick up the anti-gun stance.

The nation's top law enforcement agent goes before the Senate on Thursday to answer questions about the US Attorney firings and the media is reporting that the Senate Committee is attempting to gain immunity for Monica Goodling in return for her testimony.

Guess who's thunder has been stolen?

An update on the Black Op theory

I still believe it is far too early to begin saying this was a Black Op, as the CT forums are debating right now, and therefore it can't be argued that this was such an event. Too few facts are known and too many questions need to be answered. At the moment I have 41 focused and general questions of my own that I am trying to find answers for and my questions list seems to grow every time I look at it. Not to mention the process of archiving web pages, classifying the information I am gathering and collecting my thoughts.

As of now the image of the shooter seems to be an amalgam of Harris, Kaczynski and Klebold. A loner with a list of "grievances" that has of yet been described by the Police, who seems to have held "disturbing" thoughts according to one of his creative writing teachers.

Whether or not the strange similarities to what we know are signs of Black Ops are in fact a hallmark of that activity, any conspiracy theorist must look at what the operation would have accomplished no mater what facts emerge. In my estimation a Black Op of this nature would be green-lighted because of one (maybe more) of the following 4 reasons:

1) A real world test of some mind control technique.
2) To create a ruse which takes attention away from something else.
3) To act as a part of a larger operation or to change the public view via a moral panic episode.
4) To provide cover for the targeting of an individual (whether they were a part of the massacre or not).

We really can't tell if any of those four reasons will be proven until some length of time has passed and we see the fallout and investigation results from both the authorities and the CT researchers. Of the list of victims, no one seems to jump out as a red herring. Too many things are unknown right now, that is all a CT enthusiast or researcher can say with any certainty. For the CT researcher this should be a time of note taking, asking yourself questions and gathering together your source materials; not to jump to conclusions less than 48 hours after an event.

Commentary - A system of structure and definitions for Conspiracy Theory - Part 2

In part 1 of this post I described a system that can be used to classify and categorize conspiracy theories. Part 1 can be found here:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/system-of-structure-and-definitions-for.html

In this part I give examples of using this system and how to expand and/or clarify existing theories. Far too often the scope of these theories can cause us to fail to see the forest for the trees, as the old saying goes. Larger connections can be made and insights gained if a method of organizing these theories is found.

There is great promise of using databases, social networking software and other forms of database analysis for CT research. The drawbacks to this approach are the time needed, money and the required skill sets to make this approach work. Creating the database would be the real devil of such a project unless several people teamed up for the effort. OCR software, scanners, a library of reference material and a quality control process would address part of the problem, but you would still need the time and dedication to scan and review tens if not hundreds of thousands of pages of books and magazines. Addressing NNTP, static web pages and dynamic forum data would be an entirely different project. The lone researcher or enthusiast is left to their own resources.

Lets begin with a subject which has received very little attention from conspiracy theorists but is beginning to make waves in the area of political science blogs. The subject being a conspiracy theory stating that an aspect of the religious right wing is attempting to take control of the US Government, more specifically, that the conspiracy is the fruition of Pat Robertson’s goal to change the world by using graduates of Regent University.

Using the system I described we can classify this as a Crossover Conspiracy Theory (CCT) as it has a foundation in two of the three social systems that must be present to become a conspiracy theory. This theory involves Theocracy and Politics. The main foundation is Theocratic and its secondary foundation is Polemic. The goal (a changed world that follows a specific religious belief) is attained after gaining and influencing political power surreptitiously. Therefore, we can call this a Theocratic Crossover Conspiracy Theory with a Polemic Secondary Foundation.

Using this description we can then overlay the theory with other theories which are classified and categorized in the same manner. From this overlay the researcher can then look for the common denominators of each and determine if there is a confluence between the two. The common denominators can be people, identical statements of “Groupthink” (propaganda), organizational structures, shared events and even geographical anomalies (two headquarters or centralized services situated on the same street or same location).

When a connection is made from an overlay the researcher can then focus on the vetting process to see if their theory is part of a much larger conspiracy or isolated. Isolated theories are not lesser in their importance; it simply removes the theory from a larger, more complex theory.

Let’s look at the Regent University theory again with this information. We have 150 graduates of Regent University serving under the Bush Administration. Quite an amazing fact considering it is a Tier-4 law school that has only been in existence for less than 30 years. Even more impressive is the fact that some Regent alumni have climbed to extremely high positions, most notably within the Justice Department.

Monica Goodling, the recently discussed Justice Department official who is among those at the center of the scandal involving the fired US Attorneys, was a 1999 graduate of Regent and her final position at Justice was Senior Liaison for the White House. For a 33 year old who only had 7 years experience in law, this is a stunning rate of advancement. Did she get this position of enormous responsibility from her own record as a trial, corporate or personal lawyer? No, she did not. After graduating from Regent and before joining the Justice Department she worked for the RNC at their DC headquarters in the Bush Opposition Research Team, who’s main claim to infamy was leading the faux outrage riot at a southern Florida elections office which was fully documented by the major media outlets during the election re-count controversy.

On the surface, Goodling was nothing more than an astute and talented social networker, an eager overachiever who nurtured relationships with mentors who placed her in higher and higher places of power. So how does she act as a common denominator in this scandal? Her very presence and that of the other 149 fellow alumni is a red flag for the researcher. Her exponential rate of promotion and her proximity to two Theocratic and Polemic conspiracy theories make her and her educational partners a serious common denominator.

The theory about Pat Robertson's goals overlays perfectly with the fired US Attorney scandal. The goals of the Moral Majority/Christian Coalition and Robertson’s stated goals of Regent University include numerous stated desires to change or overthrow many legal findings, not limited to but including the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The censorship of media outlets that they declare to be “anti-family” and removing the recognition of homosexuality and the rights of homosexuals are also among theory stated legal goals.

These people, Goodling included, have been involved with the actual process of removing Attorneys who were not 100& “Pro-Bush” and in their place they would be hiring lawyers who did agree with every political and religious view of the far right wing religious extremists. The “Pro-Bush” platform can be seen as having many platforms. But anti-abortion, anti-homosexual and pro-family are a few of the main points of argument that they use. From those points they branch out into the far extreme ends of ideas.

From this exercise you can see how this system works and how it can help you make those connections. Try it yourself with a new theory you’ve had or with one of the classics like the JFK assassination or Freemasonry. You may find a few surprises, possibly a new connection that no one has seen before. Good luck!

Commentary - The militarization of America - Part 1

One of the constant sources of propaganda that Americans are subjected to is the militarization of our thought process. The content of our entertainment, the way the fourth estate reports the news and how law and order is maintained on our streets are all effected by this propaganda. This has been a subtle and constant force since the end of WWII but its subtle nature has evolved into an overt force since the first Persian Gulf War.


Roots

At the conclusion of WWII the decision was made to maintain the nations war footing. The introduction of the atomic bomb and the latest boogeyman in the closet, the Soviet Union, gave Washington power brokers and the boardrooms of arms makers a bright new world as they looked to the future. The Military-Industrial Complex came into being as the war profiteers created an environment to keep the money rolling in through the development and manufacture of massive weapons systems which interconnected to America's ability to wage war in a nuclear age. Washington politicos trudged back to their districts with money in their fists to distribute to the weapons factories and stories of horror for their constituents that we faced an enemy with no conscious and no God. The enemy was devoted to making our nation bow down before them. Better dead than red, we said.

As children, we boys could not escape the beating drums of warfare and hints at what our futures may bring. The toy department shelves of Woolworth's stocked toy guns, helmets and GI Joe. If plastic model making interested us we could choose between fast cars, warplanes or warships. Even our comic books featured ads where we could buy plastic soldiers, tanks and planes for little more than one week's allowance. Our extracurricular activities even included uniforms complete with their own medals and ribbons for austerity as we played Little League baseball and earned merit badges in the Cub Scouts and later the Boy Scouts. We were, and our sons still are, being primed to wage war and yearn for the decorations of glory that come with military service.

We do need a military; a strong, well equipped, well trained force capable of carrying out any mission given to them. We do not live in a utopian world and I doubt that we ever will, so we need an armed force to protect our shores and if needed, our interests as a nation. I'm not a pacifist but I am not a hawk either and I provided 8 years of service to our nation in the Navy. I sacrificed the formative years of my early adult life for that honor. I received many good things in return from that experience but I also saw death, hypocrisy and an insight into the true inner workings of how the military and its connection to the Military-Industrial Complex really works. To say my feelings toward the masters of war and their suppliers/enablers is ambivalent is an understatement. The pawns of the masters of war, the enlisted men and women, I have complete sympathy and empathy for.


Vietnam and the post-Vietnam hangover

Hasbro, the makers of GI Joe, were forced to reimagine their toy as an adventurer and rough and tumble man of the world when sales plummeted during the Vietnam War and in the years that followed as the nation continually lost it's stomach for the reality of war. The military itself battled major problems within the ranks as the 70's turned into the 80's with drug addicts among its ranks. One high profile military disaster brought unwanted attention to the problems. During the investigation into a flight deck crash aboard the USS Nimitz in 1981 it was learned that several of the crew had THC in their bloodstream at the time of the tragedy. Fourteen crewmen were dead, 45 injured and another black eye was given to the military as President Reagan was attempting to rejuvenate the military, it's budgets and America's taste for foreign blood and oil.

The military began finding itself the sympathetic (intentional or not) subject of films, books, television and popular culture as a whole. Traditional war films like Hamburger Hill were released. Reconciliation with the effects of the Vietnam War began with films such as "Platoon" and books such as Gustav Hansford's "Dispatches". The military even became a humorous backdrop for films and TV shows with "Stripes", "Private Benjamin" and "Major Dad." The military as a glorious organization once again joined the fray and "Top Gun" became a massive blockbuster and made stars out of actors Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer.

The squeamish factor of the military itself and its role became soft and downplayed in the media. Even the recruitment advertisements for the services began to change. "It's not just a job, it's an adventure." was how the Navy promoted itself in the 80's. Earning money for college became the number one selling point for all the services. Asx a side note, it's too bad that they didn't tell us how little our GI Bill program would really help us once we left the service. VEAP helpful, but it was vastly inferior to the preceding GI educational benefits allocated for the Vietnam Era vets and the program that came afterward, the Montgomery GI Bill.

But the point is that under Reagan the image and PR surrounding the military was losing the tarnish that had built up for more than a decade. What it needed was action. Action that Reagan and his successors were able to provide with all the gloss of a Hollywood production, wrapped in the slick presentation of a Madison Avenue ad firm, nurtured by PR firms stocked with mountains of research data and all for the low, low price of free over-the-air network TV.


Get your war face on

Beginning in 1983, President Reagan and his foreign policies gave the US military its first chance for combat operations and high profile operations since the failed Operation Eagle Claw mission in 1980. In 1983 alone the Navy played a serious game of tag with Soviet ships in the Sea of Japan following the shootdown of KAL flight 007, an incident where it appears that the US Air Force and US Intelligence agencies may have had a role. The battleship New Jersey bombarded positions in Lebanon and Syria and the Marine Corps were sitting ducks in Beirut, 241 service members, 220 of which were Marines, died when their barracks were car bombed. And in October of that pivotal year, the US invaded the Caribbean Island nation of Grenada.

Excluding the US actions directly connected with Iraq (Persian Gulf War I, The policy of containment and Persian Gulf War II), US forces have seen action as follows: Gulf of Sidra and the bombing of Libya, anti-terrorist operations worldwide, the Panama Invasion. The Kuwaiti tanker reflagging mission, Somalia and Haiti. Bosnia, the war on drugs and Central American advisory missions. In each case the reporting of action by American mass media outlets, particularly television news, did not featured the same bloody footage that was commonplace in reporting the Vietnam war. The US Government effectively cleansed the brutality of war and combat operations from the fourth estate's methods and the media fell lockstep with the idea.

The first Persian Gulf War was the cherry topping for the Military and it's suppliers. The Humvee, smart bombs, Raytheon's Patriot missile batteries, "Warthogs", stealth bombers, Tomahawk cruise missiles and body armor became a part of the American vernacular. Watching bombs freefall from a warhead camera from thousands of feet and into a ventilation shaft of some building became our own "shock and awe". Of course, the military cherry picked which footage to show but that is beside the point. The point was get the message out that military domination was ours. Rest easy tonight safe in the knowledge that the boy next door, with a joystick in hand, would protect us with all manner of sexy weaponry.

In part 2 I will address the depth that this propaganda extends, focusing mainly on cable television and it's programming. I will also address how Hollywood has also gotten in on the act. Part 2 will be posted within the next few days.

News - Will the floodgates open?

Now that the Don Imus storm has peaked will the floodgates open on right wing media personalities? The idea is beginning to float with Rush Limbaugh even telling his listeners that he's next. MediaMatters.org has posted a large data dump of the most notable examples of right wing pundits crossing the line:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704120010

I'm waiting for the "PC" backlash to brew from the political right if this keeps rolling down the tracks and picks up steam. We need a good moral panic these days, with right and left wingers throwing the pity party for themselves complete with the good old-fashioned First Amendment finger jab to the chest.

News - al-Qaeda claims responsibility in Algiers blasts

While searching for updates on al-Qaeda's claim of responsibility in today's bombings in Algiers I came across an interesting article regarding al-Qaeda's reach into northern Africa that has been ignored by corporate news:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/50490.html

Moroccans felt relatively safe from the Islamist terrorism plaguing
neighbouring Algeria, but that sense of security is now definitively gone. A
recent string of suicide bombings and arrests has exposed the vulnerability of
the kingdom in a region where al-Qaeda is extending its reach.

Moroccan terrorists are still amateurish, but widespread poverty and a lack
of opportunities for young people provide a fertile ground for extremism to
grow, local analysts said. (Emphasis added)

An Algerian-based, al-Qaeda-linked umbrella organization is now coordinating
North African Islamist cells which are also believed to train their activists in
Africa's Sahel countries.

I've posted a few entries to the blog over the past few days which discuss not only the fascination that al-Qaeda has with attacks on the 11th, but also about the methods of recruitment and indoctrination that link al-Qadea's efforts to create Manchurian Agents with the CIAs MKULTRA program. Links to both posts listed below:

Mind control:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/commentary-mind-control.html#links

al-Qaeda and numerology:

http://theconspiratorsnest.blogspot.com/2007/04/ct-dates-pick-number-from-1-to-infinity.html#links

Commentary - Mind Control

The year 1959 saw the release of Richard Condon's novel The Manchurian Candidate; five years earlier a CIA behavioral researcher and guru, Morse Allen, made his first attempt to create a programmed assassin by using hypnosis within the auspices of Project ARTICHOKE. By time Condon's novel had been turned into a film and was in theaters the CIA's MKULTRA project was in full swing. Allen had been pushed aside in the development of creating a process to hypnotize an unwitting subject into performing covert operations for the agency. Condon's novel is fiction. Project ARTICHOKE, MKULTRA and the CIA's efforts to create hypnotized assassins and covert operatives is real. The creation of a Manchurian Agent is the result of this work.

What became of this program? There is no known end date for MKULTRA. The last report I have been able to find which mentions the project's activities is a 1994 GAO report which states that human experiments were still being conducted in 1974. As we have seen with John Poindexter's pet DARPA project, Total Information Awareness, a project can be birthed, grown, exposed, banished and re-birthed under a new name, new agency and a new focus. A project such as MKULTRA, which specializes in methods of controlling the minds and actions of human beings, holds a seductive promise that would be impossible for the agency to relinquish. This is the type of power that no agency or organization would ever want to part with. It can be argued that the project is still alive in one form or another after reviewing several events of the past 15 years which have glaring similarities to suspected MKULTRA projects.

The assassination of Itzchak Rabin in 1995 has many of the hallmarks of an MKULTRA based operation. Assassin Yigal Amir fits the "lone nut" profile. He has connections and close ties to extremist organizations. There are numerous inconsistencies surrounding official reports of Rabin's assassination. The methods used to recruit radical Islamic suicide bombers appear to match methods developed in Project BLUEBIRD and Project ARTICHOKE. The "lone nut" (Manchurian Agent) method of assassination (JFK, RFK, MLK, Wallace, Reagan, Rabin) appears to still be the preferred method in western or westernized societies but in emerging third world nations and in the Arab and Persian states, the "Groupthink" style of Manchurian Agent operations and indoctrination appears to be preferred for assassinations as well as day to day operations.

Beginning with the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis and continuing today with the Iraq insurgency and al-Qaeda attacks, what we see emerging is a pattern of attack methods in which groups of individuals or individuals who align their actions with the dogma of radical groups and perform advanced strategic operations, are taking center stage. The methods of luring individuals into these radical groups use aspects of Project BLUEBIRD as well as the writings of many researchers and psychologists who study "Groupthink". Confused, disenfranchised and impoverished people are indoctrinated into movements in which they are made to feel a part of something greater than themselves. The promise of acceptance, righteousness and social justice are cornerstones of this method. Once they become a member of the group, advanced techniques can be employed which condition the subject into accepting the idea of sacrificing their life for the greater good of the group. A Manchurian Agent is created in this way.

I don't believe that the suicide bombers of the middle east are CIA manufactured Manchurian Agents. I do however, believe that the techniques used by the CIA were passed down to members of the radical groups which utilize Manchurian Agents to carry out suicide missions throughout the world. The outcome of the Jonestown Massacre was all the proof that the CIA needed to focus on a method of psychological indoctrination rather than biological or chemical agents as an effective, low-risk solution. It's no secret that the agency was active in Afghanistan in the 80's and their presence in Afghanistan coincided with the emergence of the main al-Qaeda players. Osama Bin Laden was even trained by the agency during this time frame. I think it safe to assume that of the individuals who were trained in the psychological methods of indoctrination, many turned into Agent Provocateurs, willing to freelance their work to meet their own goals and needs. The connections made by Bin Laden during the Soviet Afghan War later found their way home in the early 90's as he began to form the foundation to al-Qaeda. Those trained in mind control techniques would have found their way to Bin laden or he would have actively sought them through his connections.

Would the Groupthink method be viable for use in America against Americans? I think there are signs that it would. American's have lost the perspective and insight needed to even recognize basic propaganda disseminated by their own government. Constant negative and positive reinforcement of following leaders and aligning oneself to political parties and moral absolutes is a 24 hour a day business on the corporate news outlets of cable news channels. Dissenters from any side of the political spectrum are shunned, mocked and verbally assaulted by the "true believers". Maintaining a specific and all-encompassing belief system is not yet the norm in America, but maintain AN all-encompassing belief system is the norm in America. The worst thing a person can say in today's cultural climate in America is "I don't have an opinion of that subject." It is expected and mandatory that you have an opinion on any subject, even the ones which do not effect you in any way. You have to have an opinion on abortion, the economy and foreign policy. Even sports, a pastime, is an area where everyone must have some type of opinion.

All that is needed to push the Groupthink training into action is a single event and action will occur. It's happened before, within the past 7 years. Think of 9/11 and how you and those around you reacted. No one had a unique experience, no one has unique memories of the events of that day. Every single American recalls that day in words in the exact same way.

"I remember seeing the planes crash into the buildings."
"My mind couldn't comprehend what I was seeing."
"All I wanted to see was justice brought to the people who did it."
"I fully gave my support to the President."

To quote from The Manchurian Candidate, "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, warmest, most wonderful person I have ever met."

In America, we have become a nation of Manchurian Agents.