Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

woo me with science

woo me with science's Journal
woo me with science's Journal
October 19, 2014

"...the CIA very logically and civilly destroyed his career."

Of course they did.

And doesn't the CIA's assessment of Americans sound familiar. Every neoOrwellian society keeps a condescending eye on its proles:

Two bloated women, one of them with her hair coming down, had got hold of the same saucepan and were trying to tear it out of one another's hands. For a moment they were both tugging, and then the handle came off. Winston watched them disgustedly. and yet, just for a moment, what almost frightening power had sounded in that cry from only a few hundred throats! Why was it that they could never shout like that about anything that mattered?

Unitl they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.

That, he reflected, might almost have been a transcription from one of the Party textbooks.

-Orwell, 1984


The Party claimed, of course, to have liberated the proles from bondage....But simultaneously, true to the principles of doublethink, the Party taught that the proles were natural inferiors...

In reality very little was known about the proles. It was not necessary to know much. So long as they continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance... Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbours, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling, filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult. A few agents of the Thought Police moved always among them, spreading false rumours and marking down and eliminating the few individuals who were judged capable of becoming dangerous. No attempt was made to indoctrinate them with the ideology of the Party. It was not desirable that the proles should have strong political feelings. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working-hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus in on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.

-Orwell, 1984













October 19, 2014

What good is a new, Orwellian society


without proles?
October 19, 2014

+1000000 It is unconscionable that carrying out journalism in this country now makes you a hero,

but it does. He is facing prison for exposing the crimes of our own government. For talking to a source and promising anonymity. For engaging in the job description of investigative journalism.

And it's being done to him under a Democratic President.


Laws are being deliberately changed to suppress dissent and criminalize journalism.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=5670929

US Uses Espionage Act To Convict Manning Using Words Added In 1990: "with a computer"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023375845

Fed Court: Just changed interpretation of Espionage Act to cover leaks that are NOT Harmful To USA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023365713

NY Times: White House Uses Espionage Act to Silence Employees, Press
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101616764

Obama Has Charged More Under Espionage Act Than All Other Presidents Combined
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023080388


Mission creep. The definitions of "espionage" and "terror" are being actively expanded to the point that journalists and political enemies can now be smeared and dealt with as though they were spies and terrorists. Yes, it's the behavior of a totalitarian state legalizing the oppression it chooses to legalize and criminalizing behaviors that have previously been specifically protected under the Constitution. Sort of like relabeling any male of a certain age who is blasted to smithereens by a drone "an enemy combatant."

Another great Orwellian example is the government's ongoing attempt to give itself the power to define who is and isn't a journalist. What better way to claim to establish "protections" for whistleblowers, when what you are actually doing is creating categories through which you can exclude from protection those you don't want to protect.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023708417
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976082
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4976955


This is the effect of corporate money in Washington ; our democracy itself is being dismantled. Every avenue Americans have traditionally relied upon to protect ourselves from the purchase and subversion of our own government by warmongering corporate interests is being systematically eliminated: the right to protest, the right to a free press, the protection of whistleblowers. And a relentless propaganda machine has been put into place to excuse it all.

And look how quickly the apologism, the PR defense, the propaganda dispensing smear machine, arrives. On the case, 24/7. Like a Rolex.

War is Peace, and Journalism is Crime. Months ago, we heard a very pretty speech about reining in the military.... immediately followed by carpet-bombing of captive population in Gaza, a new war in Iraq, a new war in Syria, and a TRILLION dollars of our money for new nuclear weapons.

We all live in Oceania now.

Thank you for this OP. All real journalists are my heroes now, too.







October 19, 2014

+10000 It's absolutely Orwellian. Say one thing. Do the opposite.

And, man, the lies have been coming fast and furious this year:

Months ago: Obama's heavily publicized speech about reining in military involvement...followed immediately by funding of the Gaza horror, a new war in Iraq, a new war in Syria, and a TRILLION DOLLAR new nuclear weapons escalation.

Then: the shameless public claim to support net neutrality, when his own appointees are enabling corporate takeover of the internet.

Then: that jaw-dropping public proclamation: “If you blow the whistle-You should be thanked & protected for doing the right thing," when we have all watched first-hand this administration's treatment of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, and the vicious, systematic crackdown on whistleblowing in the federal government.

And now this. Stunning. Advertising and bragging about all these savings and limitations on monopoly and protections of citizens, and even putting them in the budget,....all the while working for exactly the opposite through the TPP. Good god.

And that's not even to mention the propaganda machines we now know about, aimed at the government's own citizens.

This is what we have come to in the United States of America. This is our lying, manipulative government on corporate money. We all live in Oceania now.

October 19, 2014

K&R And I would add a couple things.



7. Establishment of a full public database of police violence and responses



and

8. We need a full and thorough investigation of the relationship between police violence and monetary incentives/corporate exploitation of poverty-stricken areas. We learned from Ferguson and are now learning from other cities that terrorizing poor and minority communities doesn't just happen in a vacuum. It happens in the context of corrupt corporate structures that profit from the poor through predatory policing and the abuse of the warrant system, justice systems, probation systems, and corporate private prisons.


WOW... Went Looking For Connections Between Ferguson And ALEC... Found This Piece Of The Puzzle...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025413841

The exploitation of Ferguson I: In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025404667

The exploitation of Ferguson II: The Seamy Underbelly Of Ferguson Starts To Appear
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025416747

The exploitation of Ferguson III: Ferguson Feeds Off the Poor: Three Warrants a Year Per Household
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025428157

Poor minorities are worthless to corporations on the street. In prison they can bring in $40,000/yr
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023368969

Poor Land in Jail as Companies Add Huge Fees for Probation
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014158005

The Caging of America - Why do we lock up so many people
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002226110

The Obama administration is aggressively growing private prisons
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022568681

Obama's 2013 budget: One area of marked growth, the prison industrial complex
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/1002392306

Obama selects the owner of a private prison consulting firm as the new Director of the United States Marshals Service (USMS)
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/12/mars-d03.html

Private prison corporations move up on list on federal contractors, receiving BILLIONS
http://www.nationofchange.org/president-obama-s-incarcernation-1335274655

Federal Private Prison Populations Grew by 784% in 10 Year Span
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4362184

Prison Labor Booms As Unemployment Remains High; Companies Reap Benefits
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.html

Private Prison Corporation's Letters to Shareholders Reveal Industry's Tactics: Profiting from Human Incarceration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022665091

Financial growth of private prison industry...Profiting from caging humans.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/BshteP8i282pcaeH8pdUsA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTUyMA--/

We heard about private prisons...but do you know of the private probation industry?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025380204

NYT: Probation Fees Rise, Firms Profit and the Poor Go to Jail
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002893040

No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making It Illegal to be Homeless
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101699724

Thrown in jail for being poor: the booming for-profit probation industry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024603515 Police Militarization (including the Obama administration's role)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/06/aclu-police-militarization-swat_n_2813334.html

The final ACLU report on militarization of police in America
https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

"Operation Urban Shield"...Training our Police, Fire, First Responders..in Military Tactics
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025412909








October 19, 2014

How bad is it?

Medical Debt: A Curable Affliction Health Reform Won’t Fix
http://www.pnhp.org/news/2013/june/medical-debt-a-curable-affliction-health-reform-won%E2%80%99t-fix

The high frequency of medical bankruptcy was often cited by advocates of health reform during the debate over the ACA. Yet the debate largely ignored the fact that most medical debtors actually have coverage. In order to protect Americans from bankruptcy, coverage must be truly comprehensive, that is, it must cover virtually 100 percent of all needed medical care. Unfortunately, the insurance policies mandated under ACA are required to cover only 60 percent of expected health-care costs.



http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/2014/03/26/medical-bankruptcy/

56 MILLION Americans under age 65 will have trouble paying medical bills.

Over 35 MILLION American adults (ages 19-64) will be contacted by collections agencies for unpaid medical bills.

Nearly 17 MILLION American adults (ages 19-64) will receive a lower credit rating on account of their high medical bills.

Over 15 MILLION American adults (ages 19-64) will use up all their savings to pay medical bills.

Over 11 MILLION American adults (ages 19-64) will take on credit card debt to pay off their hospital bills.

Nearly 10 MILLION American adults (ages 19-64) will be unable to pay for basic necessities like rent, food, and heat due to their medical bills.

Over 16 MILLION children live in households struggling with medical bills.

Despite having year-round insurance coverage, 10 MILLION insured Americans ages 19-64 will face bills they are unable to pay.

1.7 MILLION Americans live in households that will declare bankruptcy due to their inability to pay their medical bills.

Three states will account for over one-quarter of those living in medical-related bankruptcy: California (248,002), Illinois (113,524), and Florida (99,780).

To save costs, over 25 MILLION adults (ages 19-64) will not take their prescription drugs as indicated, including skipping doses, taking less medicine than prescribed or delaying a refill.



October 19, 2014

Huge K&R. I made an angry post yesterday or the day before,

after seeing yet another person struggling to afford health insurance receive a letter from the ACA provider notifying them of their impending twenty percent rate increase.

*Twenty percent.* Exactly as high as they can go....EVERY SINGLE DAMNED YEAR.

Actually, it's 19.67 percent. And they didn't even give the poor sap an entire year at the old rate before jacking it up. This will mean either going to a lower tier with even more exorbitant deductible, or more likely not being able to afford insurance at all...since Third Way governor Terry McAuliffe broke his Medicaid expansion promises and this person does not make *enough* to qualify for subsidies.

What an amazing coincidence, that the rate hike determined to be justified just *happens* to round up to the ACA-enshrined maximum!

Woo hoo for corporate health insurance. What a vicious scam.

_________________________________________________
*Remember, the ACA doesn't even require the company vultures to justify a hike until it goes over *ten* percent...When was the last time your salary increased by even half that much?




October 19, 2014

Next entry on the PNAC checklist - underway.

More blood and despair and devastation and mothers weeping over graves.

For profit.

In our name.

Just as planned.

"Hope and Change," my ass.

October 19, 2014

And Democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats,

and passionately advocates the people's agenda best of all IMO.

I miss Paul Wellstone. Thanks for mentioning him here.

October 19, 2014

K&R We are not alone in Oceania.

Let us celebrate the proles who keep screaming that 2+2=4.

Profile Information

Member since: Tue Jan 13, 2004, 10:24 PM
Number of posts: 32,139
Latest Discussions»woo me with science's Journal