Manas – The intellect or thinking mind ; Emeritus – one who is retired but retains an honorary title corresponding to that held immediately before retirement
He died in an Arlington, Va., hospital, where he was being treated for complications of gallbladder surgery, his office said. Rep. Murtha’s death came two days after he became the longest-serving congressman in Pennsylvania history.
Let me preface this piece with a small but very important disclaimer: In no way, shape, or form am I actually suggesting or condoning the use of drugs, the making, selling, buying, or storage of drugs. This is merely a thought experiment in the ways a small group of individuals with some chemical know-how & good luck might be able to disrupt the global heroin trade and therefore the global political scene. The author is not responsible for what you do with this information. Read, know, and don’t do this at home…find a shack in the woods.
The idea first hit me when reading an article about the global drug trade; the person being interviewed (“Daurius Figueira is a social researcher who has spent the last 20 years investigating the illicit drug trade”) was extremely sure of his opinion that the world is not ruled by reptilians but actually by drug lords. This will likely come as a shock to most of you, as I know it did for me, but at least with actual people the threat is a tad more real and thus harbors a chance of confrontation. It may be impossible to guess the motivations of an alien species that’s hell bent on domination of the human race, but human on human warfare is old as sin and as easy to understand: greed & power.
Just because you have money and power, though, does not mean that you are invincible. Nor is your empire immune to all the faults of the great empires: hubris, decadence, and corruption. Like a very expensive and high-stakes game of Jenga, I am calling upon the forces of Discord to kick Operation MindFuck into high gear and knock their tower down. This would completely shake up the political scene, and it’s all so convoluted there’s no real way of telling how it would end, just that something would change.
“So what the hell are you talking about?” I’m sure you’re asking yourself right now. Let’s take a look…
What’s the latest on the drug scene?
I don’t talk about the drug trade anymore. I talk to the drug trade.
So you are saying that the world is controlled by 12 men who are not lizards from another planet, but drug lords? [This is in reference to David Icke’s theory that the world is controlled by a global elite of reptilian humanoids.]
Yes. Mmmmm. [He nods his head vigorously, smiling.]
And governments are mere pawns?
The greatest allies of these people is geopolitics. Because geopolitics takes preference over the war on drugs.
How is the global recession going to affect the local drug trade?
The recession does not affect the major trade because the trade continues. Remember the trade deals in demand and supply that is external to us. And the trade has a whole social order that it constructs, and the social order is endemically violent. So that is why you have people talking this ’legalise it’ ole talk, under the premise that if you legalize it you will end the violence. But I have news for them-Ent alcohol and cigarettes are legal? So why then two of the commodities that organized crime smuggles are cigarettes and alcohol? Because from the time you have high excise tax on cigarettes and alcohol, they [organized crime bosses] smuggle them from low-taxation areas to high-taxation areas to make a killing. So what guarantee you have, that when you tell me, legalize it, the violence will done?
You have no guarantees. What happens is that you place the State in a position that every single illicit drug that is invented, you have to keep legalising it as it is invented. Because the drug dealers want super-profits, and when it is illegal, they make more profit. So they will keep inventing new ones. And they invented crack heroin?
…You have to understand, the oligarchs who dominate the trade also dominate the politics and they’re already maximizing profits. The problem is they don’t want to share. And the next thing you have to understand is that the oligarchs in the Caribbean are not Africans. So they have a race agenda. Because they want to ensure their domination of societies in which Africans are the majority
Now, let’s for a moment assume everything that man said is true…I’m not saying it is, but he has spent an awfully long time investigating such things. Well, it’s fairly apparent that legalizing isn’t necessarily a cure-all for the social & political ills of the global drug trade. Furthermore, there’s no way that the demand for such substances will ever disappear in the near future; there is a far better chance that the middle east will turn into a gigantic music festival full of peaceful hippies smoking grass.
What can be done to disrupt the control of power in the world? This is a serious question that some people, seemingly ordinary people, mull over in their minds all night long. Silly demonstrations such as voting, protests, riots, and revolutions were discarded for far too ineffective long ago. What’s left?
Well, as far as the drug trade goes, the weakest point is that people really do not want the drug in itself; there’s nothing special about heroin or cocaine if something better than heroin or cocaine comes around, showing some leg. If you can deliver a quality product that is as strong/stronger, safer, cheaper, or easier to obtain…then the only way you could fail is due to some horrible act by the police or your competitors (often times they are in cahoots). Things could easily get hairy, which is why the first act of your new global drug empire should be to invest heavily in Artificial Intelligence technology and robotize as much of your cohorts as possible. Programmed lips tell no secrets.
Okay, but no, really: the heroin trade is huge. Huge. It’s taking Russia by storm, it’s making a come back in the USA, and apparently it’s all over Europe but tainted with Anthrax.
“Since December 6, there have been 15 confirmed cases of anthrax among heroin users, 14 in Scotland and one in Germany,” the ministry’s General Directorate for Health (DGS) said in a statement.
More than 150 people, many in their 20s or 30s, died in the region last year of heroin overdoses — part of a booming increase in use that officials link to falling prices and rising purity
The United Nations has announced that opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has soared and is expected to increase by 59% in 2006. The production of opium is estimated to have increased by 49% in relation to 2005.
The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. The Bush administration is said to be committed to curbing the Afghan drug trade: “The US is the main backer of a huge drive to rid Afghanistan of opium… “
Yet in a bitter irony, US military presence has served to restore rather than eradicate the drug trade.
Authorities are seizing too little heroin, intercepting only about 20 percent of opiate traffic around the world, according to the U.N. report, “Addiction, Crime and Insurgency: the Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium.”
It comes on the heels of a U.N. warning last month that two years’ worth of opium is effectively “missing,” probably stockpiled by the Taliban and criminal gangs.
More than 12,000 tons of opium, which can be consumed as a narcotic itself or turned into heroin, is unaccounted for, the United Nations estimated in September.
It is not clear who has it or why, but the United Nations speculates that criminals could be holding it as a hedge against falling prices or that insurgents or terrorists could be stockpiling it to fund attacks.
Of course, to make things more complicated you have to understand that this is not a simple case of “t3h terr0rists have t3h drugz”, which some people try to ignorantly push. The government which declared a War on Drugs has been deep into the drug-dealing game itself for years and years. I‘m not going to do all yr homework for you because frankly this article is turning out to be far too long and I’m far too stoned to blather on about the CIA. It’s been done before.
Anyway, what I’m basically proposing is that someone reintroduce the wonders of a glutethimide & codeine mixture. Preferably in a single pill, perhaps with some sort of quirky stamp or mark…like a whale, or maybe Obama. Why glutethimide & codeine?
Although the typical intravenous
“rush” (or sudden onset) is absent, it can be
approximated when Loads are taken on an empty
stomach. Our patients reported that the intoxication
is achieved within 20 minutes after ingestion,
with the peak effect occurring after 40 minutes.
Concurrent ingestion with ethanol reportedly intensifies
this rush, suggesting an increase in the
rate of drug absorption. The Loads-intoxicated
state resembles that produced by ethanol and barbiturates
and is characterized by alternating states
of dream-like euphoria and “nodding.”
…
In the beginning of this habit, the intoxication
high reportedly persists for an average of 12 hours
but increasing tolerance reduces it to three hours.
In one patient, tolerance resulted in a habit requiring
up to 12 Loads ingestions a day.
…
The attractiveness of Loads over heroin may be
explained by the potent enzyme-inducing property
of glutethimide that converts more codeine to
morphine than the usual 10 percent after therapeutic
analgesic doses.”‘ Thus, glutethimide may
be able to transform a normally minimally abused
narcotic with high side-effect profile and low
affinity for the opiate receptor into a potent agonist.
Glutethimide also stimulates its own metabolism,
and conversion to the more potent and toxic 4-
hydroxy-glutethimide may explain the seriousness
of overdose and reported fatalities, particularly
when combined with ethanol.
We believe that this combination has a potential
for widespread abuse. Whether the knowledge of
the potentially lethal effects of Loads exerts any
curtailment of this spread remains to be seen, and
may depend on the continued availability of glutethimnide
and heroin. The medical community
should be aware of the increasing abuse potential
of glutethimide. We ourselves have difficulty understanding
the continued prescribing of glutethimide
as a hypnotic in 1982.
Indeed…I’m not sure what the exact number was (if there was one) for the increased metabolism of codeine -> morphine. I remember something really ridiculous, 75%+, but I might just be imagining it. If anyone has the numbers, please let me know.
Glutethimide is generally not prescribed at all anymore because of just how many people died from combination of glutethimide and codeine prescriptions: loads, fours & doors, etc. In the 80’s it was killing dozens of junkies all across the United States, and people started to get concerned. Now it’s really hard to find, and unless you can speak Romanian you won’t be able to order it online. Thus: to the clandestine chemists the task must go.
I’m going to cut it rather short, for the moment. Here are some related pdfs to enjoy until then.
I’ll likely update & edit this soon…try to be patient. Also, be sure to hit me up on Twitter: @Nihilizo. (twitter button & other assorted nonsense to come when I’m not lazy)
PS: excuse any problems with the format & quotes. wordpress is hella gay, no joke.
Disclaimer: the author has a strong bias in favor of Lady Gaga (<3) and thinks the Illuminati is kinda hot. It’s also possible that he’s a disinfo agent or what the CIA calls a “useful idiot”.
In some circles, jokes about Lady Gaga are more often about her affiliation with the Illuminati and/or the possibilities of her being a reptilian mind control slave than her possibly having male genitalia. Perhaps, also, she is the Whore of Babylon or Crowley’s “Scarlet Woman”, or maybe she’s actually Kali. With these possibilities in mind, I’ll take a look at the various claims that Mr. Vigilant Citizen (who, incidentally has an esoterically significant name – more on that later, perhaps) makes in his various pages about her.
You can read all of those here, which I suggest you do first, or else nothing else will make sense:
I don’t know if the above author has an obsession with Lady Gaga, but I know I do.
Honestly, how can you not love that? Alright, whatever, let’s get down to business.
His first claim is perhaps the most telling, and what it indicates determines the mood for the rest of the articles:
The symbolism surrounding Lady Gaga is so blatant that one might wonder if it’s all a sick joke. Illuminati symbolism is becoming so clear that analyses like this one becomes a simple exercise of pointing out the obvious. Her whole persona (whether its an act or not) is a tribute to mind control, where being vacuous, incoherent and absent minded becomes a fashionable thing.
Protip: It is all a joke, although whether or not its sick is up for debate. Lighten up man, just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean it’s some terrible Monster out to get you. Laugh along with the cosmic giggle, or get off the World Stage. Let’s continue.
What do you mean by “mind control”? I suggest you research “project MK Ultra” to get a little background information on the subject. Here’s a quick overview taken from the surprisingly accurate Wikipedia:
Whoa, whoa. Why even bring that up, when there are so many far older and more effective methods of mind control? For instance: school, religion, work, government, culture in general – which I think Lady Gaga is meta-commenting.
Now, I’m not disputing MK-ultra or the fact that the CIA as well as all kinds of various weird groups practice mind control…and possibly far more sinister acts, like eating gold. The pharaohs were doing it, you know, back when mushrooms grew everywhere and we were all Children of the Light. But nevermind.
Next, Mr. Citizen claims that a butterfly-laden outfit that Lady Gaga wore contained symoblism alluding to CIA mind control project “Monarch”.
During their reeducation, subjects are said to be exposed to numerous symbols such as trees, spider webs, masks, mazes, butterflies, etc. They are also shown movies which contain specific symbols (or “triggers”) such as The Wizard of Oz and many Disney Movies. The same way those subjects are brainwashed and reeducated, mass media conducts a large scale mind control project, which starts at birth with Disney movies and continues with Hollywood flicks and music videos.
What? Really? It couldn’t just be that, say, Lady Gaga is a girl and fucking likes butterflies? I don’t know, it might be too far out there, but hey, I kinda like butterflies, too. It must be because I watch Disney movies, but fuck it, at least I’m not a jew.
I fucking loved that movie.
Next he says,
OMG! What does this crazy stuff has to do with Lady Gaga? I luv her!!
Hey, you know what? Fuck you, buddy. Great way to set up a strawman argument.
This guy used to give me nightmares.
Besides being a logical fallacy and just an incredibly poor way of arguing anything, it frankly is quite telling of yr character. Obviously, people that listen to Lady Gaga, people that are themselves under the sway of mind control, are stupid sheep, incapable of original or creative thought. This is because she is an Illuminati puppet, and she is an Illuminati puppet because her listeners are stupid sheep!!11
Alright, what else does this guy try to argue…?
Gaga is a term that immediately refers to absent mindedness. Here are some synonyms taken from a thesaurus:
Given to lighthearted silliness: empty-headed, featherbrained, flighty, frivolous, frothy, giddy, harebrained, lighthearted, scatterbrained, silly. Slang birdbrained, dizzy.
Afflicted with or exhibiting irrationality and mental unsoundness: brainsick, crazy, daft, demented, disordered, distraught, dotty, insane, lunatic, mad, maniac, maniacal, mentally ill, moonstruck, off, touched, unbalanced, unsound, wrong.
Never mind that by referring to such things as “insanity” (which is, remember, a legal and not a medical term) or mania, mental illness, etc, is to continue to support another Heavy and Fucked up part of the Establishment. Mainstream psychiatry is fraught with some of the worst crimes I’ve seen. Yeah, forget all about it: you’re schizophrenic, not a shaman. I do wonder though, has Mr. Citizen ever felt giddy, himself? Because personally, I’m giggling like a prepubescent school girl.
Awwwwwright.
NEXT
Her logo is pretty revealing and particularly fitting. Its a headless female body with a bolt of lightning going through her and exiting her genitalia. There is once again a focus on the lack of conscious thought by the singer. The body looks like the weird headless mannequins you find at clothing stores. The bolt of lightning implies that her thoughtless body has been “charged” with a force that gives it life (interesting note: trauma-based mind control is often induced using electro-shock treatments).
Lightning bolts can mean many things esoterically, it does not necessarily mean “the lack of conscious thought by the singer”. This sounds to me like some old-school distrust of the weird-female-side of man, Jung’s Anima, of left-handed people, homosexuals, and anybody weird. I wonder, is Citizen insinuating that Lady Gaga is not capable of conscious thought? Or has she just forsaken it?
Well, I’m not sure if my source here is credible (but what the hell, were you expecting that?), but if Lady Gaga wrote this essay, I think it’s safe to say that she’s either capable of conscious thought or paid someone to write it for her using glitter.
Glitter!
Given this, I’m going to assume that the general assertion is that Lady Gaga sold her soul to the devil (who in turn controls the Illuminati) to make it in the music business, right? That story is older than old.
Damnit, not more Disney. plz dont #34 =(
Man, this is a really terrible article. Whatever. The bar wasn’t exactly set that high. Anyway,
You only need to look at a couple of Lady Gaga pictures or videos to notice that she is constantly hiding one of her eyes. Most people will simply interpret this as ”a cool thing to do” or a “fashion statement”. Those who have passed the 101 of Illuminati symbolism know that the All-Seeing Eye is probably its most recognizable symbol. The gesture of hiding one eye, usually the left one, goes way back in occult orders. Here’s an explanation of the origin of the Eye of Horus.
Also, where is this connection of “Illuminati -> every occult order in existence” coming from, exactly? I’ve got a pretty good idea, but I’m willing to play Novice here. I mean, the Bavarian Illuminati hasn’t been around that long, and that is what most people are talking about when they refer to the Illuminati, right…?
Okay, so to support this statement he posts various pictures of the Beautiful & Dirty Rich Lady Gaga doing various poses with her eye. None of which really indicate the all seeing eye at the top of the pyramid.
Master Theroin, patron saint of &HE.
Right so, continuing…more nonsense…then some lame points about the Paparazzi video (really, mickey mouse clothes? I was thinking more “queen bee”, but whatever. I thought the end of Mass Effect was about a giant insect made out of Salvia.)
ON to part II!
PART TWO. EVEN MORE GAGA.
Let’s get straight to it:
My first article on Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta called “Lady Gaga, the Illuminati Puppet“ generated a great deal of interest and controversy. It got featured on many websites and I was deemed either a “genius” or “batshit crazy” depending on the point of view.
Oh, come on, don’t flatter yourself man. It’s embarrassing. Really? Genius or bathshit insane? I’d have to go with “mildly paranoid, probably due to an excess of dopamine in his limbic system resulting in a denial of his low-grade schizophrenia”. Or maybe it’s just Lupus.
It’s never lupus.
But to those who have background knowledge and who have researched these topics (a small minority), I was simply stating the obvious.
I must kindly disagree, Mr. Citizen. Not everyone does, or should think in strictly one manner – especially on such fringe topics. You’re saying one thing but doing another.
In my articles on Lady Gaga and the 2009 VMAs, I’ve identified the use and display of elements taken from Masonic symbolism. If my previous claims were considered inconclusive or “grasping at straws” by some, I wonder if they’ll remain skeptical of the presence of Masonic symbolism in pop culture after seeing this set of photos, taken INSIDE A MASONIC LODGE,
Yeah, that doesn’t really look like a Masonic Lodge to me, it looks like a Disco version of the Patheon. Whatever.
Gaga is standing between both pillars, wearing Hello Kitty shoes, occultly referring to mind control programming (innocence, childhood, re-education, etc). Her eyes are closed but she has wide-open eyes painted on her eyelids, which is very symbolic: her eyes seem open but they are still wide shut.
No way man, Hello Kitty is referring to the mind control program called Toxoplasmafuckin’Gondii. Each of our assertions is equally valid.
In the movie, Maria, a girl from the working class, is “chosen” by the elite to give her likeness to a mind-controlled robot in order to confuse the masses. There is a dichotomy between the real and the false Maria that is also found in Gaga’s latest offering called Fame Monster.
Ooh. Life imitating art imitiating life imitating art imit- oh fuck it. Awesome. This is all adding up to say that Lady Gaga has actually put conscious thought behind her image, and is portraying it in an accurate & satirical manner (all while being marvelous).
In the above image, Gaga’s hairstyle is extremely similar to the robot Maria seen here:
No, sorry, they look nothing alike and their body language are polar opposites. If they are each sending an encoded Illuminati message, they’re two contradictory ones.
The false Lady Gaga is opposed to the real, natural and apparently unhappy Lady Gaga.
Wow dude, get a fucking clue, baby.She’s not sad, she’s Goth as fuck. Yah. Lady Gaga has obvious gothic music & fashion roots, which itself is a genre rife with all sorts of occult nonsense. z0mg! What could it all mean?
Whether she is commenting on the mind control phenomenon in mass media or simply a victim of it is still hard to determine but one thing is for sure: the symbolism is there and that’s the goal of the article.
Dude, what? Your goal was to string together a bunch of possibly related symbols? That sounds like…writing. More meta-commentary? Damn, I think I pulled a hipster muscle with the strain of all this not-irony.
Lady Gaga is an artist. They deal in symbols. That’s the point. The systems of control don’t need Lady Gaga to control your mind, you’re already conditioned and loaded down with preconceptions to the point of sinking in your own filth.
There is an obvious media campaign pushing these elements into pop culture. What should we do about it? MTV says: Just dance.
Some of you might remember the page on Cures not Wars which discussed a study about Melatonin & Marijuana which is often cited in certain circles. However, it’s generally hard to ever actually find online, it might just be me and my sub-par research skills…but the sites that say they have it are always down. Thankfully I’m paranoid enough to save information like that to my hard drive.
Here’s the page then, albeit missing a graph (looking for it now).
Of all the known ways to stimulate melatonin production, none is more dramatic than smoking marijuana. Marijuana stimulates production of a prostaglandin called PGE2, which may relate to its ability to stimulate melatonin production. Italian researchers discovered that when eight men smoked a cigarette containing the active ingredient in marijuana, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), they had dramatically higher melatonin levels twenty minutes later. After two hours, their melatonin levels were 4,000 percent higher than at baseline!(11)
The fact that smoking marijuana is accompanied by a dramatic increase in melatonin production may explain some of the drug’s positive effects. A 1995 article in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the hallucinogen is being used to counteract the toxicity of chemotherapy, treat migraines, reduce intraocular pressure, minimize pain, treat menstrual cramps, and moderate wasting syndrome in AIDS patients.(12) Melatonin has been shown to ameliorate each and every one of these conditions.
Smoking marijuana as a vehicle to increase melatonin production, however, may not be a good idea. The increase is so marked that it is not likely to be beneficial, especially if one smokes marijuana during the daytime, when melatonin levels are normally so low that they are just above the level of detection. Causing such a dramatic surge in melatonin levels in the daytime could phase-shift your circadian rhythms or interfere with your health in other as yet unknown ways.
References
11. Lissoni, P., Resentini, M., and Fraschini, F. “Effects of Tetrahydrocannabinol on Melatonin Secretion in Man.” Hormone and Metabolic Research 1986; 77-78. At baseline, the mean value of their melatonin levels was 21.3 pg/ml. Two hours later, it was 904 pg/ml.
12. Grinspoon, L., and Bakaler, J.B. “Marihuana as Medicine.” Joural of the American Medical Association 1995; 273(23): 1875-76.
Oh, btw, speaking of the pineal gland…this is just to shut up certain people that keep saying, “DMT isn’t actually produced in yr brain/body naturally”, explaining that its “disputed”:
When the endogenous hallucinogenic trace amine N,N-dimethyltryptamine meets the sigma-1 receptor.
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a hallucinogen found endogenously in human brain that is commonly recognized to target the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor or the trace amine-associated receptor to exert its psychedelic effect. DMT has been recently shown to bind sigma-1 receptors, which are ligand-regulated molecular chaperones whose function includes inhibiting various voltage-sensitive ion channels. Thus, it is possible that the psychedelic action of DMT might be mediated in part through sigma-1 receptors. Here, we present a hypothetical signaling scheme that might be triggered by the binding of DMT to sigma-1 receptors.
The presence of the potent hallucinogenic psychoactive chemical N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in the human body has puzzled scientists for decades. Endogenous DMT was investigated in the 1960s and 1970s and it was proposed that DMT was involved in psychosis and schizophrenia. This hypothesis developed from comparisons of the blood and urine of schizophrenic and control subjects. However, much of this research proved inconclusive and conventional thinking has since held that trace levels of DMT, and other endogenous psychoactive tryptamines, are insignificant metabolic byproducts. The recent discovery of a G-protein-coupled, human trace amine receptor has triggered a reappraisal of the role of compounds present in limited concentrations in biological systems. Interestingly enough, DMT and other psychoactive tryptamine hallucinogens elicit a robust response at the trace amine receptor. While it is currently accepted that serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptors play a pivotal role in the activity of hallucinogenic/psychedelic compounds, we propose that the effects induced by exogenous DMT administration, especially at low doses, are due in part to activity at the trace amine receptor. Furthermore, we suggest that endogenous DMT interacts with the TA receptor to produce a calm and relaxed mental state, which may suppress, rather than promote, symptoms of psychosis. This hypothesis may help explain the inconsistency in the early analysis of endogenous DMT in humans. Finally, we propose that amphetamine action at the TA receptor may contribute to the calming effects of amphetamine and related drugs, especially at low doses.
The sigma-1 receptor is widely distributed in the central nervous system and periphery. Originally mischaracterized as an opioid receptor, the sigma-1 receptor binds a vast number of synthetic compounds but does not bind opioid peptides; it is currently considered an orphan receptor. The sigma-1 receptor pharmacophore includes an alkylamine core, also found in the endogenous compound N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT acts as a hallucinogen, but its receptor target has been unclear. DMT bound to sigma-1 receptors and inhibited voltage-gated sodium ion (Na+) channels in both native cardiac myocytes and heterologous cells that express sigma-1 receptors. DMT induced hypermobility in wild-type mice but not in sigma-1 receptor knockout mice. These biochemical, physiological, and behavioral experiments indicate that DMT is an endogenous agonist for the sigma-1 receptor.
Right, so roughly 9 months ago I came up with an idea for a drug magazine to cover stuff that recreational drug (ab)users would find helpful, informative, and entertaining. There are plenty of weed magazines, but not much that covers other subjects; at first I thought there were zero zines or publications like this but there are a few, including one done by Erowid. It was only a passing idea that I came up with while in rehab and posted on the forums of Chemphoria, not thinking much of it. People took to it, and so we set it up some article ideas, got some people working on it, and came up with some cool ideas, art, articles, etc.
There were many delays due to every god-awful reason in the book, but at the final stages of production (i.e.; putting it into an actual zine form using software, which no one knew how to use) it was basically abandoned due to inter-forum/IRC channel politics. I won’t bore you with the details, but I basically up and left and have all the files, information, emails, etc that’s needed to continue it. I’ve always reasoned to myself that there’s no need to protect against plagiarism since no one could ever follow through; no one could ever write a sequel to something I started.
And so we get to the point: I am in possession of several articles and various pieces of art work that could make a very awesome first issue of a zine, but I am not going to put it into zine form. At least, not yet; it’s too involved and I have too little support. However I still feel the authors deserve some credit, and needless to say certain articles are fairly relevant enough that they’re getting posted anyway (see: NoWarning’s opiate potentiation guide). I was going to try to put them into some sort of wiki format, but that was a total clusterfuck.
Failing everything else, I’m just going to post them here, and declaring that Dose is still mine. Specific authors, if they want to say, “I don’t want you to use my article” are fine to tell me to take it down; I doubt however that anyone cares about such petty internet politics.
Incoming transmission…Data Disc: History of the Last Days
Chapter I Part I
“Welcome to ‘New Atlantis’, gentlemen, home of the Techgnostics.” The dark haired beauty spoke with a flourish as she led her charges out of the sleek Tesla submarine to the boarding room of New Atlantis. There was a sharp intake of breath as one of the charges – a certain prematurely white-haired professors of Genetics, one Dr. Ronald Weatherly, turned around to see the submarine they were on disappear. A muted flash of cutting, iridescent indigo and blue filled his vision momentarily as a small ball of light bounced around in a scarcely seen 12-point gravitational container. As the ball bounce around it grew in size, eventually swallowing the container and imploded on itself to generate a dazzling visual display that was apparently a portal. The submarine floated gently into it, half pulled and half of its own volition, flickered ethereally, then vanished completely as the portal collapsed and the ball with its container returned to normal.
The heads of the rest of her charges whirled to the direction of Dr. Weatherly’s source of excitement. Their gazes were transfixed on this phenomenon which was stunning both from a psychological viewpoint as well as of great professional interest. Thirteen of the greatest minds that the last of the Neutral-zoned nations had to offer were hypnotized with the excitement of a young boy on All-Saint’s Day. As soon as the view of the show through the boarding room port hole was complete, the coalition of scientists, professors, and general geniuses began to cough and fidget with bemused embarrassment.
“It is quite understandable that this amazes you, but we have not a minute to spare. There will be hosts of mysteries greater than that, which by agreeing to unite with us and reside here you will be privy to witness. Not the least of which include that which you will create…” The dark haired beauty, of mixed Australian-Indian blood and identifiable by her status-tag as Dr. Indira, ushered them along to the War Room. As they walked briskly out of the boarding room into the lengthy Main Hall, Dr. Indira nonchalantly tuned the audio-reception, recognition, and recording settings on her personally designed headset. She called it her “CNS” system – certainly not suspicious system.
Dr. Indira had a dry sense of humor coupled with a total lack of imagination for naming her inventions. She was, however, brilliant in all the arts of espionage, consciousness manipulation, and psychology. Since she had first begun living in New Atlantis, she had also learned much of the development of technology which augments and supplements the sensory systems of the human nervous system. Her particular system had many capabilities including raising or lowering audio levels according to her mark (for people), distance (for scoping areas), or for certain words and/or dialects. Additionally, it could record audio and visual, alter her of dangerous chemicals in the area – or even if someone was ingesting drugs – through her olfactory system. Visually she was capable of seeing in the dark, checking heat levels, zooming in to a microscopic level (or zooming out likewise), as well as automatically alerting her to visual cues she had preprogrammed or uploaded through her com-unit.
All of this was integrated fashionably, smoothly, and suspicious only to a fellow espionage agent that knew how to size up a person properly. Glasses, earrings, a nose stud, and a pearl necklace were all that the untrained eye would see, besides the ample cleavage strategically in view. With their eyes on her breasts, no one would notice that the necklace pierced and hooked into her neck, or that her fidgeting with the string of pearls was actually giving commands to the CPU inside the largest pearl. Least of all would the mesmerized charges that she led notice that she was recording their every word and nuance of movement.
“…That was simply amazing, Virginia, we had tried working on such a technology for years in Zurich! How did they mana-“
“Maybe it is as they said, maybe they are God’s chosen, living angels,” An elderly yet still handsome woman spoke with an air that hinted of religious awe and a thickening German accent.
“Nonsense! What do you mean by ‘they’? I have heard nothing of the sort!” Retorted an overweight Frenchman whose hygienic habits could use considerable improvement.
“You are, and always have been a skeptical old fool, Guillaume,” Dr. Weatherly spitefully said under his breath. His wife, the young and brilliant chemist of no small renown and ability snickered softly and then answered the French Doctor of Theoretical Physics’ question.
“Do you not know who ‘they’ are, Guillaume? ‘They’ are the people who walk in shadows but cast none of their own, that whisper to the ears of the susceptible, filling brothels and bars and news-feeds full of rumors and lies…”
Dr. Indira tried to contain a giggle, but could not suppress her mirth at the young chemistry professor’s electrical flair for the dramatic. Ahead of her charges by a good twenty feet, she slowed her pace to afford them with time enough to finish their conversation. The leviathan-like double doors to the War Room were approaching, which in themselves would give her charges a few moments for distraction and discussion.
“Personally I have heard nothing of these ‘techgnostics’, but Gnosticism has been infamously regarded as heretical in the annals of history. Not to mention the Holy Empire’s outlawing of all false religions, ranking occultism with a death sentence.” This grim observation was made by a gaunt and ghoulish man in his fourties. Unknown as a peer to the other intellects, the pale man hailed from Rome and bored the marks of one of those forced to convert to the legion-minded religion known as the Sword of God.
“Holy Empire? What the devil is that?” A plump and red-cheeked English professor of Biology blurted out in confusion. The ghoul-man blanched visibly and a tension gripped them all as he stood in front of the English man in defiance.
“Have you no respect for the Word of God? Have you no knowledge of what these means?” Instead of a pale countenance, the ghoul-man’s face was flushed red with rage as he took off his gloves and held up his hands, palms inward, to display his duel marks.
Inches away from the English professor, the mark danced in his eyes, burning the image into his retinas for the rest of his life. The mark itself was made of a blazing sword, three jewels encrusted with rubies containing a Jewish star, Christian cross, and Muslim crescent. These two particular marks were created out of charred flesh, the lines of the design sickening to the sight from the depth in which they penetrated the hands bearing them.
After he had burnt the image and got his point across, the ghoul-man lowered his hands to his lean legs, spitting upon the Englishman’s boots. As everyone looked on in horror and tension, the ghoul-man let loose a flurry of insults, “You Englishmen have never had any respect or decency! Your country was nothing but barbarism and pagans until Rome came along to civilize you! Since then your people have only gotten worse, culminating in the heap of soulless ignorance which presents itself as the degenerate of a man before me!”
Jumping in before the Englishman could retort, most likely with violence if her CNS system was correctly reading his physiological response, Dr. Indira roared with tempered authority.
“Enough, or I’ll throw you both in the brig! Contain yourselves! This is unbecoming for such distinguished individuals. Now then, compose yourselves as well as you can before we meet with the Captain. I’m opening the double doors now.”
All of those gathered under the wing of Indira felt as if they were school-children being reprimanded for poor behavior by their matriarchal teacher. Feelings of embarrassment and peevishness quickly gave way to awe and wonder, two emotions which seemed to permeate New Atlantis with omnipresence. For these were no ordinary double doors, nor was it only their mammoth size which inspired such feeling in any who gazed upon them.
Built of an extremely light alloy, it was both strong and reflective, and highly conductive – but only of a particular kind of malleable ultra-violet light. Five squares vertical and five horizontal divided it total to have twenty five curious squares in total. They each contained translucent symbols shining within ultraviolet light, and a shimmering layer of liquid blue metal behind them, on which the squares could move and shift. Indeed, that was their purpose, as the doors held no conventional key or opening apparatus, rather the symbols functioned as an ingenious barrier.
The symbols themselves were unique to New Atlantis, a type of alphabet in the same vein of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. When locked, the symbols formed a question which one answered by shifting them about to create the symbol-set applicable. Generally, they were not clearly or coherently translated into common languages. Most of the question/answer sets dealt with obscure Gnostic texts, scriptures, or ideas. In this manner the inhabitants of New Atlantis rendered the War Room all but impenetrable to outside forces.
At the end of the table near the doors was thirteen chairs situated comfortably apart and carved into sublime designs, each chair unique and containing a story unto itself. On either side of the table were thirty six chairs, for a total of 85 seats available, none of which were filled at the moment. The lack of any other human in the room caused confusion for a moment, as they were expecting the Captain to greet them.
As they looked about the room for any sign of the Captain their eyes took in the rest of the room. Behind the table and to the left was a room walled with what seemed to be marble, divided into two sections, “men” and “women.” Roughly fifteen feet north from the bathrooms was a smaller table littered with maps, books, and many loose pieces of paper scattered alongside miscellaneous objects. Directly across the room on the other side was a longer table, with twenty four computer consoles as well as an equal amount of chairs. In the corner opposite the bathroom and the near the computer console table stood several file cabinets, cook cases, chests, and cabinets.
Except for the huge super-screen and its adjacent hardware which took up all the space on either side of it, as well as the string of individual computer consoles, the War Room was surprisingly devoid of technology. The entire ambience compelled one to feel as if they were living thousands of years ago, all manner of Greco-Roman decorations dotted the left side of the room; statues of the gods were abound and the bathroom was built with delicately carved pillars and arches. The Roman influence was decidedly a bit tongue-in-cheek. They were, however, wonderful warriors in their own time, which the Techgnostics attempted to summon through an atmosphere which facilitated such.
The other side of the room was far more European and monastic, many of the bookcases being quite old, and original master pieces were displayed on the walls. Large and comfortable arm chairs were set up for leisurely reading of the many tomes covering topics such as political theory, military strategy, history, espionage, economics, sociology, genetics, poisons, geography, as well as many other subjects. Every classical text was available, as well as many rare, esoteric, and obscure or unconventional titles….especially in the area of so-called revisionist history.
A few of the professors began to wander over in a mix of curiosity, boredom, and confusion. Dr. Indira, however, grabbed their attention quickly and led them to their seats at the end of the table.
“We have already kept the Captain waiting far too long. I personally feel ashamed at our tardiness.”
“Where is this captain? Shouldn’t he be here?” Asked Dr. Virgina.
“Maybe we kept him waiting too long. Bloke probably wandered off. Hell, with this creepy computer screen staring at me, I would, too.” The English professor interjected.
“Nonsense. He has been here the entire time,” Dr. Indira replied, having seated her charges and taking up her own seat.
A chorus of “What? Where?”’s were subtly and dramatically answered by a flickering of light on the computer screen. Thousands of tiny lines of text flew by in green lettering, as the system stored, analyzed, and interpreted the information Dr. Indira uploaded from her CNS system. Now that it had the relevant data required for a smooth meeting, the screen switched to its personality display.
“Greetings, my honored guests! It is a privilege to finally meet you all in person. I trust Dr. Indira has treated you with the courtesy proper to my ship?”
I know some of my legions of supremely awesome readers were expecting a breath taking look at genesis & ancient gnostic texts or perhaps a piece on Transhumanism or perhaps something out of the blue, like another political piece or maybe just cheap German pornography. Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s all I’ve done so far anyway. Here’s a post by user Pope John Paul 1337 from &Z which I promised I was going to put up in the “What are YOU doing for humanity” article. Enjoy, or don’t, because I think only three people will read this article.
i dont need a dollar, its not necessary for me to answer this question, although i wont do it in 750 words, but just what i need to answer.Because taking the dollar influences your answer, a troll does not think, oh i will be honest, he thinks, oh a dollar. So i will decline.
Everyone is defining humanity everyday. We are self centered. Almost no one thinks on the whole. There are millions of people who think about the next bill coming in rather than the next generation. If we live every day paycheck to paycheck, we dont live, we operate. Its what we do outside that counts. Work is for comfort, not for benefit. When my dad raised me, it was not because of reputation, or because if i did stupid shit i would be his problem. He raised me the way he would like the world to be. People are changing the world, they just dont know it, its the invisible hand we dont see pushing us whatever direction. My dad was hit when he was raised, that is how things were done. That makes people more violent some studies show. If you raise kids to be loving, they will be. It is cliche but kids are the future, and that is the impression you will leave as a parent. When you raise your kid, you are influencing generations to come, sometimes hundreds of people. My dad taught me to ask questions, ask why, explore, learn. He taught me to be loving. Some way i lost my way, and i used drugs to explore. This doesnt always turn out bad, but in my case it did. I brought vicodin into school, with the mentality of a commune, that i would share my drugs, and get drugs in return and create a cycle of a better world. I ended up giving away all my drugs, my escape to freedom, only to ask for drugs in return as a sharing gesture, and got kids trying to sell my own drugs back to me. I became heartless. I stole from charities, the ronald mcdonald fund to pay for a big mac when i smoked weed. I stole from families on welfare. Nothing was off limits to me. I did whatever i wanted with the mentality that i would live fast and die fun. I got into a downward spiral, and i tried to kill myself, which i would have been sucessful. I didnt stop. I used drugs, anything i could get my hands on. I overdosed often. I woke up in a hospital bed halucinating. I thought i was in tokyo. I met myself for the first time. I said what are you doing? who are you? do you like yourself? i couldnt move, but i could see, and i could cry. Unfortunatley for me i would bullshit people so much i couldnt talk my way out of this one. I ended up going to different psychiatric places for over 2 years. 16 to 18. I got back to the real world and i am a stranger to the world. Things have changed. I feel like carving brooks was here into the beams above me.
I changed. I live every day experiencing something new. I am learning more than ever, and i face what comes my way. Im not sure if i will ever have kids, but ive met incredible people along my journey. I have learned to not get in peoples way, but tell them what you think is right and let them decide.
I am helping humanity by making the good known to people. Wether it be helping a friend with mental illness. Helping a heroin addict find her way herself. or making sure i know what i am doing. We live paycheck to paycheck. We are lost as humanity, i was lost but now i am found. I am helping people find their way. If i get one person to help someone, and i have helped that person. I think i have helped humanity. I will raise my kids when i am ready. But the world is about learning, and if you can get someone else to help you, you can help another person. I dont care if i am poor the rest of my life, i am looking out for people i dont know. People have helped me find my way. I feel like my duty to humanity is to at least do that for as many people as i can.
Yeah, I didn’t even bother to spell check or do anything really. Hooray.
This is too fucking grand, especially in light of my earlier post about the robotic drones the CIA & various other family-friendly organizations are utilizing for their Super Spectacular War On Guys We Don’t Get Along With All Too Well. Anyway, there’s not much to say about it, no real commentary or interpretation is needed. Just read:
The U.S. military does not think much of Iraqi militants’ technological capabilities. How else to explain the fact that their Predator drone surveillance planes used unencrypted links to send down to their military operators? The lack of encryption means that the drones’ data is less secure than most home wireless internet networks, a serious vulnerability in the unmanned aerial network.According to a story in The Wall Street Journal today, video feeds from Predator drones have been intercepted by militants in Iraq. Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter [The Wall Street Journal]. Officials are saying that they don’t believe militants were able to take control of the drones, but by downloading the videos they were able to keep up with which areas were being monitored.
The Defense Department has responded by saying they discovered the vulnerability a year ago, and are working to encrypt all drone communications links in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. However, there are at least 600 unmanned vehicles and thousands of ground stations to upgrade, so the security improvement will not happen overnight. However, officials say they have made technical adjustments to systems in key threat areas to block the signal interception.
The breach arose because the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles do not use encryption in the final link to their operators on the ground. (By contrast, every time you log on to a bank or credit card Web site, or make a phone call on most modern cellular networks, your communications are protected by encryption technology) [CBS News]. After a Shiite militant was captured in Iraq with a laptop full of intercepted drone feeds, and following similar discoveries, officials concluded that groups were trained and funded by Iran to intercept and share video feeds.
The problem is similar to street criminals listening to police scanners, according to Dale Meyerrose, former chief information officer for the U.S. intelligence community. The military has known about the vulnerability for more than a decade, but assumed adversaries would not be able to exploit it [AP]. The surveillance network described in most news reports suggests that the final link between the drone and the operator is between a satellite flying around in space and that that final link is unencrypted for reasons unfathomable to anyone with even cursory knowledge of network communications. Maybe they wanted to save on bandwidth costs [Crunch Gear]?
Following the publication of The Wall Street Journal’s story on the security breach, Bryan Whitman, a U.S. defense official and Pentagon spokesman, said on Thursday that they have fixed the leak, but declined to discuss any details.
I started off just writing a very professional article about Representative Pete Vasclosky (D-IN) and the PMA scandal, it was a small article but I was being paid for it so I decided to be serious. Shortly after I had begun the process of researching this terrible mess, I threw away all semblance of professionalism and instead replaced it with Divine Wrath. Amassing a plethora of files, articles, interviews, and financial records which I dug up using the internet, my wrath was quickly enough replaced by the sobering realization that I could not in any manner string together these facts to make serious sense while in an unholy rage. The only solution for a subject which I saw as grim and dreary was to begin drinking and smoking heavily until a certain serene state of mind was achieved.
In the true fashion of my fore-fathers, I overdid it, ending up on the floor of my bedroom, screaming incoherently at people on the phone. Many of them humored me in good spirit, which is a very nice thing to do for some drunken freak babbling about politics with vague allusions to the Military/Industrial complex and the 2010 mid-term elections. After consulting with people from all across the country on this issue (which has so far not only been watered down by the media but has even been fluoridated), I decided that it would be in the best interest of everyone if I would just sleep on it and pick it up the next day.
Intoxication soon gave way to a despicable apathy which was not my own. I had spent hours reading the responses of people to the various articles which had been posted online regarding the subject. The only people who were interested enough in the story to respond to it fell into one of three demographics: apathy and contempt for “another lobbying scandal”, those who acted in a lower-brain reflexive instinct which is known as “two-party bias”, and those who had joined my Crusade after being yelled at for a while. Contemplating these vile and loathsome facts and nursing an insufferable hangover, I came to the conclusion that the only course of action was to entice enough of demographic one over to demographic three.
And so this is why I have laid aside all heaviness, rage, and apathy to deliver a message to the Uninterested masses about Why They Should Give a Fuck about the PMA scandal and everything surrounding it (its blast radius, if you will). Two, and only two things are therefore required for this article: facts and a sense of fun.
A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, or employee of the House may not receive compensation and may not permit compensation to accrue to his beneficial interest from any source, the receipt of which would occur by virtue or influence improperly exerted by his position in the Congress.
-House Rule XXIII
The Characters, Cast, and Crew
(of dangerous and despicable degenerates)
Before the tirade against the scum begins, I first need to acquaint you with the various people involved in this situation. Let us start off where most of this action takes place: Washington D.C., perhaps one of the many sleek and sexy clubs or restaurants where lobbyists and law-makers (and bribe-takers) wine & dine each other while groping the many young female interns that they lust over. Imagine yourself at one of these clubs, staring at a group of fat and sweaty bastards, clutching their groins in desire for a rack of lamb and a hot piece of perhaps you. Your brain is bubbling and buzzing, and in a a surreal daze you find yourself walking over to this table, they appear to be a group of jolly businessmen, entertaining each other with expensive drinks, meals, and tobacco products. Shaking hands with them, you decide to sit down and join in on their little party.
As they begin telling horrible, nauseating jokes it suddenly dawns on you that these are no businessmen but rather Congressmen. A sharp intake of breath overtakes you as you recognize these pitiful faces, you have seen them on Television, representing the collective ideals of the American nation. Now, as you sit across from them, enjoying some of the finest lobster you have ever had courtesy of your new friends, they are several verses deep in “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones. The irony is not lost on you.
At this point you are likely cursing the author, wishing he would get to the damn point and stop dredging up strange fantasies borne from the darkest pits of the netherworld. “But,” the author would calmly explain, “This is no fantasy. This really took place: I have merely paraphrased and put my own artistic spin on a stunning Vanity Fair article which was written a few months after September 11th, 2001. It is of course completely fair for me to do so, as I am an Artist and do not stand to gain monetarily by this.” While this explanation leave you feeling uneasy, you can not deny the deplorable truth of the words. In order to get the stench of congressmen off of your skin & psyche, you take many showers and even consider a Napalm Bath.
Now then, for some names, which are very close to facts. Most of those people were democratic congressmen that do not directly fit into the big picture. There is, however, one person that stands at the center of this debacle: former member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and founder of the now defunct PMA Lobbying Group…Paul Magliocchetti! Give him a round of applause, folks! Better yet, tar and feather him…
The PMA group is apparently (or allegedly) responsible for convincing at least seven (maybe even twelve) congressmen on the defense committee just mentioned in order to steer federal funds towards PMA clients. Most of which, coincidentally, are in the business of weapons, chemicals, electronics, or other fields related to military and defense.
According to an article done by the Washington Times, the seven congressmen involved include: John P. Murtha (D-PA and pictured extensively with a few touch-ups done in Photoshop on this site), Peter J. Visclosky (D-In), James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va), Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla), as well as Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan). The fact that there are both democrats and republicans involved to some degree should be reason enough to disperse with party-bias bickering and get down to trying to actually tackle the issue. The issue is of course, massive corruption which is going for the most part unnoticed and without much hopes of any justice, as you will soon see. Then, to the chagrin of Apathetic Amerika, we shall move onto the meat of this vicious and bloody story: what happened, what it means, and why you should care.
“Point: journalism is not about plans & spreadsheets, it’s about human reaction and criminal enterprise. Here the lesson begins.”
-Transmetropolitan
What Happened?
Roughly a year ago, in the cold and decaying months of November, the PMA lobbying group was raided mercilessly by the FBI. Apparently the PMA group’s huge annual income and even bigger list of clients & congressmen donated to had caused it to come under scrutiny, and after being raided by the authorities an investigation soon ensued regarding what amounts to bribery. Personally I detest all the technical and legislative jargon involved in such political cases, as they tend to do nothing more than obscure the actions at hand. Several weeks later the PMA lobbying group decided that business had gone sour, but the market was still ripe, so PMA itself was disbanded while several high-level members went on to create a new lobbying group – Flagship Government Relations. For fun, I’ve decided to include a list and put in italics all the members which belong to both groups:
PMA Lobbying Group Members:
Anderson, Paul Theodore
Boessen, Joseph
Cunningham, Daniel A
Efford, Rich
Fleming, Don
Fogarty, Sean
Giardina, Julie
Green, Kaylene
Hamilton, Mark
Hawkins, John
Kaelin, Rich
Koloszar, Melissa A
Littleton, Joseph
Lynch, John J
Magliocchetti, Mark
Magliocchetti, Paul
Miller, Kevin
Miller, Matthew
Morgan, Brian
Roberts, Elizabeth
Shades, Briggs
Smith, Charles
Sparta, Joseph
Thiel, Brian
Tomasulo, Kelli Short
Vandesand, Scott
Veltri, Thomas
Woods, Glen
Zink, Judith L
Flagship Government Relations Members:
Anderson, Paul Theodore
Cunningham, Daniel A
Efford, Rich
Fleming Don
Fogarty, Sean
Giardina, Julie
Lynch, John J
Miller, Kevin
Smith, Charles
Tomasulo, Kelli Short
Vandesand, Scott
Woods, Glenn
Yes, you’ve got that right. Flagship Government Relations is basically the PMA lobbying group except slightly smaller. A few articles reported that after the breakup of the PMA lobbying group, “a few” ex-PMA lobbyists went off to make their own little club. Either they were misinformed, or they were understating the facts, because right here is a full list of a dozen people, all of which are from and only from the PMA lobbying group. There is not one inkling of new blood, not one sign that anything at all will be different from what we have seen in the past.
I find it in extremely bad taste to focus all of ones attention & energy only on those that seem to be the “most corrupt” or what have you: in this case Paul Magliocchetti, Pete Visclosky, John Murtha, and a few others seem to take the cake and all the spotlight. There were plenty of other people involved in this scandal, and we should hold every single god damn one of them responsible! Why the hell not? We’ve got to start somewhere, and this is a good a place as any. Considering that this is fairly recent, ongoing, directly affecting current events such as the latest defense spending bill (more on that later), and has not been covered properly by the media…why, this is perfect! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, or rather, let’s not cause the author to jump ten subjects in a single bound, much like superman on steroids and speed.
Now then, the point I was making is that there are plenty of other players in this mess that have not been talked about very much. If you take a look at the financial records of congressmen and senators that the PMA lobbying group donated to, the first thing you’ll notice is that they basically donated to everyone with a pulse. Some interesting information though: both John McCain and Hilary Clinton were in the top 10 for biggest donations received. To highlight some points, here’s a small list:
7. John McCain – $482,813
10. Hillary Clinton – $383,733
23. John Kerry – $282,294
30. Joe Lieberman – $253,900
41. Thad Cochran – $213,961
110. Ron Paul – $113,470
369. Joe Biden – $12,750
406. Al Franken – $8,100
I have tried contacting a few of these people via e-mail, but it seems that this is Not the Way to Go, at least not if you want to actually get a response from any of them. The thought of calling their offices, or whatever place you get redirected to when you’re some crazed dope-freak yelling about lobbying scandals and “Just what exactly did Mr. Franken think of these people? Did he meet with them? Do they wear ties, or merely the tongues of their enemies? Have you sold your soul to the devil, too?” Most of all, though, I wonder…What will all the Ron Paul freaks think of when they find out that their glory boy from Texas, heralded as some little old-man who will fight for Freedom and wrest away the Constitution from those Fascists. At least, this is what Alex Jones likes to say to himself while himself off in his expensive cars, snorting cocaine out of that fabulous device known as a “bullet”…It is true, I heard this all from some paranoid-schizophrenic speed-freak that used to work on Mr. Jones radio show, and as such he is obviously a highly reliable source on such matters and you should take my words as de facto truth.
Right? Just making sure you’re still paying attention, this is after all a fairly long article for Apathetic Amerika, and only cheap shots at the character of public figures will keep you savages interested. Backpedaling a bit, I would like to lightly touch upon a subject Alex Jones is obviously highly connected with: the conspiracy theory angle. No, I do not have a conspiracy theory of my own, nor do I keep track with this or that theory, though I do consider myself well read. The thing that bothers me is that after searching for a bit, I could find very, very little about this scandal or anyone related on the various conspiracy theory websites, blogs, etc. Why is this? Is it just not interesting if it doesn’t involve 9/11? Well, sorry folks, but everything involves 9/11 these days.
Enough of that, I have thoroughly damaged my credibility enough, although you’d think that a few cheap shots would count for much less than say, being a chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development and taking bribes & inserting “earmarks” (what a detestable word! how vulgar, how repulsive to all good taste!) to whatever bill might be handy. Indeed, Pete Visclosky is allegedly guilty of some or most of that, and what is his punishment? Has he resigned? Is he going to be held accountable for his actions? The short answer, folks, is no. He has stepped down from voting on one bill, after which he will resume business as usual. I have foreseen it not only in the stars but also in all the reports available at this time.
The worst part is this sham of an investigation they’re conducting. Of course, it’s fairly well known that these “investigations” add up to little more than a slap on the wrist, “Ethics committee investigations are not uncommon. Most result in private letters that either exonerate or reprimand a member. In some rare instances, the censure is more severe.” But never mind, let’s take a look at some congressional records, available for you to view right here.
Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, I have
a parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his parliamentary inquiry. Mr. FLAKE. I just saw the resolution.
I don’t know if it actually just
punts the ball until the appropriations
cycle is done or if it actually requires
that the committee investigate.
Can the committee wait for 45 days
and then announce that it is not investigating
the PMA scandal, and then
we’re at the same place we are now? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
Chair cannot interpret the pending resolution.
It is available at the desk for
review. Mr. FLAKE. Further parliamentary
inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his further parliamentary
inquiry. Mr. FLAKE. This resolution, as I understand
it, does not require the Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct
to do anything but report whether
or not an investigation is occurring.
Does this motion require any action
on the part of the Committee on Standards
of Official Conduct? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
pending motion is to refer the resolution
to committee. Mr. FLAKE. So no action is required.
Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, I
have a parliamentary inquiry. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his parliamentary inquiry. Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Speaker, does
this motion do anything other than
refer this worthless piece of paper to
the Ethics Committee? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The proposal
is to refer the resolution to committee. Mr. BOEHNER. Further parliamentary
inquiry. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his further parliamentary
inquiry. Mr. BOEHNER. Does it require the
Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct to do anything? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The proposal
before the body is to refer the
resolution to committee. Mr. BOEHNER. Parliamentary inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his further parliamentary
inquiry. Mr. BOEHNER. If the House were to
adopt this motion, this resolution,
would it require the committee to do
anything? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
measure would be referred to committee
for its consideration. Mr. BOEHNER. Further parliamentary
inquiry.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his further parliamentary
inquiry. Mr. BOEHNER. If the House were to
adopt this motion to refer this to the
Committee on Standards of Official
Conduct, under the previous announcement
from the Chair, the Committee
on Standards of Official Conduct would
be required to do nothing. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
committee would have referral of the
resolution. Mr. BOEHNER. And nothing else? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
committee would have referral of the
resolution. Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, I have
a parliamentary inquiry. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
will state his parliamentary inquiry. Mr. FLAKE. Does the resolution require
that the committee report back
in 45 days or 45 legislative days? The SPEAKER pro tempore. The
Chair cannot interpret the resolution.
It is available for inspection. Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, the
reason I ask is because within 45 days,
the appropriations cycle will likely be
completed. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman
is not stating a parliamentary
inquiry. Without objection, the previous question
is ordered. Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I object. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Objection
is heard.
The question is on ordering the previous
question.
The previous question was ordered.
Oh, ho-ho! Quite an interesting exchange, no? Congress isn’t so boring after all. But nevermind that, the important this is – what happened? What’s happened to this investigation?
Four House members may escape an ethics cloud going into the 2010 elections, now that the Office of Congressional Ethics has closed its investigation into their relationships to the lobbying firm PMA Group and has advised against a formal House investigation.
The OCE decision affects Democratic Reps. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, Norm Dicks of Washington and James Moran of Virginia. The decision for the three Democrats was announced Dec. 18.
On Dec. 19, the office of Republican Rep. Bill Young of Florida announced the OCE had closed its investigation into the lawmaker and his ties to the now-defunct lobbying firm and advised against further investigation by the House ethics committee.
George Behan, Dicks’ chief of staff, said the OCE, which reviews potential rules violations and refers investigations to the House ethics committee, informed the Washington lawmaker on Dec. 2 that it had recommended the inquiry be dismissed.
“In his case, there was never anything there,” Behan said.
Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey and Moran spokeswoman Emily Blout confirmed their respective lawmakers received similar letters.
“The Board of the Office of Congressional Ethics recommends that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct dismiss the above allegations,” the OCE report issued to Moran’s office states. The one-page document indicates the board made a unanimous vote, 6-0.
According to the report, the OCE examined earmarks that Moran designated for PMA clients in fiscal 2009, as well as contributions that he received during the 2008 and 2010 cycles from PMA’s political action committee and its employees, and from PMA clients and their PACs.
The OCE report states that it reviewed whether Moran could have violated federal bribery, gratuity and gift statutes, as well as House rules.
“I appreciate the panel’s thorough investigation and carefully considered and unanimous decision to dismiss what were from the outset baseless charges. If the vindication and dismissal of the matter gets one-tenth of the visibility that the allegation assumed, I’ll be pleased,” Moran said in a statement.
The OCE has never publicly confirmed its investigation into PMA, but a confidential ethics document leaked in October showed the office reviewing seven lawmakers — Dicks, Murtha and Moran, as well as Reps. Peter J. Visclosky , D-Ind., Marcy Kaptur , D-Ohio, Todd Tiahrt , R-Kan., and Young — in the matter.
According to a copy of that document published on the Web site Wikileaks.org, the OCE investigation focused on whether members accepted contributions or other items of value from PMA’s PAC in exchange for official acts.
PMA employees and clients were leading donors to Murtha, Visclosky, Moran, Dicks and other appropriators, and received multiple earmarks from these and other members.
Why does this not surprise me? Might it be that anyone with a bit of political instincts in their bones totally saw this coming, as soon as they got into the story. It’s been a sad & despicable journey, folks, and it looks like it’s going nowhere. I was originally planning on including a conclusion that would outline some actions we, as citizens, could take to remedy the situation. However, at this time I can’t come up with anything.
I haven’t given up though, and I’m not going to plunge into apathy, depression, and excessive nihilism. I will, however, have a drink or two. Expect updates(as well as plenty of editing) on the story every so often, as I’m not going to give this up, and I hope you don’t, either…
yours in scandal and charade,
the Nihilizo
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.
"Posthumous men — I, for example — are understood worse than timely ones, but heard better. More precisely: we are never understood — hence our authority." -Twilight of the Idols
