2012 / DARKNESS AND BOTTOM UP CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN

As the dark storm clouds of an economic depression and perhaps war with Iran bring down the curtain on 2011 ~ be aware that 2012 will initially bring deeper economic stress and turmoil ~ but out of that cocoon of darkness will finally emerge the change that millions of Americans voted for in 2008 and never received from a president who failed to deliver and never stopped campaigning: Allen L Roland

Make no mistake about it, 2012 has emerged from the blackness of a growing depression, which the White House still refuses to acknowledge ~ a depression that won’t be obvious until Americans are hit with a sledgehammer of reality which includes the fact that US government census figures reveal that 1 in 2 Americans have fallen into poverty or are struggling to live on low incomes.

Here’s some reality ~ The true unemployment rate is nearly 23% (according to Shadowstats.com) if it was calculated the way Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported it in 1994 and earlier. See story

http://bit.ly/ulYS7J

As Charlie McGrath, founder of Wide Awake News, explains ~ “Our nation is an empire in decline and there is a reason most of us have no idea what is going on. The lame stream media has us all focusing the latest trends and people fighting over shoes, while our rights are usurped and our government involves us in ever more conflicts overseas.

We are spread way too thin and we are losing the freedoms we were supposedly fighting for.

People are going to start waking up, but NOT because CNN, FOX, or MSNBC decided to actually start informing people. They are going to wake up because they've been hit with a sledgehammer of reality...” See 7 minute video

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/6366.html

That long overdue wake up call will also include President Obama who will realize too late that his only base is the Wall Street corporate establishment ~ which is notoriously fickle when they realize their candidate is deeply wounded.

The time for the truth and transparency is now as we creep into 2012 and the immediate start of the Presidential primaries. In that regard, a vote for Ron Paul in the primaries is a vote against the establishment and the special interest groups that have hijacked our Republic as well as both parties.

The establishment is rightly afraid if not terrified of the possibility of President Ron Paul because his platform is largely in sync with what the vast majority of Americans want and have not received under the Obama administration. The Republican right wing is in lockstep with the corporate establishment and committed to the status quo ~ and they also fear a Paul presidency.

I’ll humorously make my point by parodying the great movie about the final days of Hitler's regime, titled "Downfall", with clever subtitles. (This is the famous scene from the movie where Hitler is told that Berlin's defenses have evaporated and the Thousand Year Reich is doomed) ~ but here Hitler apparently wants to support Newt so the corporate establishment can stay in control : 4 minute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hgRq6s7G

Here’s some more reality regarding Obama ~ The last day of 2011 was also the last day of representative democracy in America, as Corporate Puppet President Barack Obama chose the New Year's Eve holiday to sign the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (H.R.1540) into law ~ with little if any comments from the lame stream press.

Along with signing NDAA, Obama released a Presidential Signing Statement in which he assured "Moreover, I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a Nation."

That may sound reassuring, but it doesn't mean much. Presidential Signing Statements are political documents that have no Constitutional basis and do not modify the laws to which they refer. In these Orwellian times, Obama's empty promise that we have nothing to worry about should warn us that in fact we have plenty to worry about. It’s also is another example of the classic Obama straddle ~ where he appears to be taking a stand on principle after the bill passes and thus he doesn’t have to take responsibility for its consequences and can blame Congress if the people revolt even though he approved the bill.

As Michel Chossudovsky writes “To say that January 1st 2012 is "A Sad Day for America" is a gross understatement. The signing of NDAA (HR 1540) into law is tantamount to the militarization of law enforcement, the repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act and the Inauguration in 2012 of Police State USA.
As in Weimar Germany, fundamental rights and freedoms are repealed under the pretext that democracy is threatened and must be protected.
The NDAA is "Obama's New Year's Gift" to the American People”.

See story www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=28441

Mike Whitney correctly writes ~ “Ron Paul is the only antiwar candidate who has a (microscopic) chance of winning in 2012. He’s also the only candidate who will make an effort to restore the Bill of Rights and reverse Congress’s decision to allow the president to “indefinitely” imprison American citizens without due process. For these reasons alone, Paul should garner the support of leftists, liberals, and progressives.”

The time for the truth and transparency is now at hand as we nervously creep into 2012 ~ a vote for Ron Paul in the Iowa caucus is an important first step against the establishment and status Quo ~ as well as the special interest groups that have not only hijacked our Republic but are responsible for the Militarization of our Homeland.

As Robert Naiman, writes in Truthout: "While media may miss this story now, if election-night exit polls show antiwar Democrats and independents gave Paul the margin of victory, that story will appear in media around the world."

“Little by little, in the name of fighting terrorism, our Bill of Rights is being repealed.... The Patriot Act, as bad as its violation of the 4th Amendment, was just one step down the slippery slope. The recently passed [NDAA] continues that slip toward tyranny and in fact accelerates it significantly.... The Bill of Rights has no exemption for ‘really bad people’ or terrorists or even non-citizens. It is a key check on government power against any person. This is not a weakness in our legal system; it is the very strength of our legal system.” Congressman Ron Paul

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/2012-darkness-and-bottom-up-change-we.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

NAT DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT CONFIRMS BATTLEFIELD USA

Click on Photo to enlarge

With the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA), America takes another giant step toward tyranny. It was the White House that wanted this bill applied to U.S. Citizens with minor modifications as America slides towards fascism as well as the Israelification of a militarized Police force: Allen L Roland

The Defense Authorization Act was passed by both the U.S. House of Representatives (H.R.1540) and the U.S. Senate (S.1867), and now lacks only the signature of President Obama to become law. If he signs it, the corporate fascist takeover of America initially exposed and delayed by USMC General Smedley Butler in the 1930s will be complete. War is a racket ~ http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/racket.html

Larry Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell, calls the National Defense Authorization Act a draconian violation of our civil rights. See seven minute video interview on Real News; http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=7688

Section 1031 of the NDAA as currently worded authorizes the President to use Military Force to detain indefinitely based on suspicion alone and without trial American citizens on American soil, effectively making the United States a Police State similar to Nazi Germany in the 1930’s and 40’s. You can read the wording here: http://tinyurl.com/c4w2wdh

This is in direct conflict with and an overt attempt to override the 4th, 5th and 6th Amendments to the Constitution:

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Amendment 5 - Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings. Ratified 12/15/1791.

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses. Ratified 12/15/1791.

“ In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence."

See ratified amendments: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am4

While we continue our illegal wars, occupations and economic rape of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as justifing torture and curtailed freedoms as a means to this criminal end ~ I immediately think of Milton Mayer’s classic THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE (The Germans 1933 – 1945) ~ for German exceptionalism in the 1930’s was really not too different, in many ways, than American exceptionalism now and we are very likely headed for the same disastrous fate.

Pg. 166 / 167 THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE

But Then It Was Too Late ~ "What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could not understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it … this separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.”

Apathy increases with each measured step, as it most certainly has in America, and Mayer knowingly describes the consequences for Germany in the early 1930’s ~ when the burden of self deception becomes so heavy, as it is now, that suddenly you realize that your whole world has changed and you have accepted things (out of fear) that you would never have accepted before the War on Terror.

Pg 171 THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE FREE

“In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D ~ and one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying 'Jewish swine,' collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in ~ your nation, your people ~ are not the world you were born in at all. Now you live in a system which rules without responsibility even to God. The system itself could not have intended this in the beginning, but in order to sustain itself it was compelled to go all the way… You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined … Suddenly it all comes down, all at once. You see what you are, what you have done, or, more accurately, what you haven't done (for that was all that was required of most of us: that we do nothing).” Read article ~ http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/New_World_Order/TheyThoughtTheyWereFree.html

And that is Mayer’s main point ~ it is the spirit that dramatically changes when we accept if not condone the disintegration of our national moral values and civil liberties through illegal wars and occupations as well as our crimes against humanity such as torture, secret renditions as well as intrusive full body scans and pat downs, which will continue to be extended under the pretext of national security and the so called War on Terror.

So here we are in 2011 and the next ominous step ~ the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1867) will officially confirm that America is a battlefield state ~ with the continued shredding of our constitution and Bill of Rights which started under the Cheney/Bush administration.

Make no mistake about it ~ NDAA confirms Battlefield USA as well as the Israelification of our militarized police force. Max Blumenthal, writing fellow of the Nation Institute, confirms this sad reality that American civilians will increasingly be treated as the terrorist enemy. The Posse Comitatus Act was meant to limit the powers of local governments and law enforcement agencies from using federal military personnel to enforce the laws of the land and poses this question;

How does our government get around that without an act of congress?

It's simple, turn the 'domestic' police force into an Israelified standing army ~

8 minute must see Video: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/6080.html

Also note that this week, KBR (the security corporation which handles FEMA emergency camps) put out a call to staff their FEMA camps ~ and to be ready on a 72 hour notice. Here is the link to KBR security corporation needing to staff FEMA camps along with the 72 hour notice:
static.infowars.com/2011/12/i/general/kbr-doc.pdf

This web page identifies the 93 Senate Traitors who voted YEA for NDAA and the 7 Patriots who voted NEA against it, those being Senators Coburn (R-OK), Harkin (D-IA), Lee (R-UT), Merkley (D-OR), Paul (R-KY), Sanders (I-VT) and Wyden (D-OR) - 3 Democrats, 3 Republicans, 1 Independent: http://tinyurl.com/7v6zlq3

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued this warning regarding NDAA: "The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens,' said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel. 'The final amendment to preserve current detention restrictions could turn out to be meaningless and Senators Levin and Graham made clear that they believe this power to use the military against American citizens will not be affected by the new language. This bill puts military detention authority on steroids and makes it permanent. If it becomes law, American citizens and others are at real risk of being locked away by the military without charge or trial."

http://tinyurl.com/d8vyg38

And Representative and Presidential candidate Ron Paul (who voted against the bill) correctly warns that its passage is the last nail in the coffin of an American Republic ~ that has mistakenly ruled that the sacrifice of civil liberty is essential for freedom. 5 minute must see Video ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8rhNEuVJw

Once signed into law by President Barack Obama, this bill will officially make America a police state, wherein United States citizens can be arrested solely on suspicion of wrongdoing and held indefinitely without trial. Or as the Associated Press put it, the legislation would "deny suspected terrorists, even U.S. citizens seized within the nation's borders, the right to trial and subject them to indefinite detention."

“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but that once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.” George Orwell

Allen L Roland

http://allenlrolandsweblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/nat-defense-authorization-act-confirms.html

Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and private consultations ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net