Bogus Pretext For FBI Targeting of Petraeus Quietly Fizzles Out

With the establishment media's (and thus your) attention absorbed by the Newtown, CT school massacre and political campaign for gun control as a convenient distraction, the Department of “Justice” has taken the opportunity to inform Paula Broadwell's lawyer that no charges will be filed against her. (Broadwell was the mistress and hagiographer of former media darling General David Petraeus. Oh, how that fickle establishment media turns on people! So like a catty high school clique! Conveniently, Petraeus' story is that his sexual affair with her only began after he left active service in the military- he's still a reserve officer- meaning he wouldn't be exposed to military prosecution for the “crime” of adultery. I suspect he's lying about that.)

Apparently emailing someone that you can make them “go away” isn't a scary enough "death threat" to warrant a Federal trial. (Unless you're a leftist, of course. Then anything goes.) But it was enough of an excuse to overthrow the head of the FBI's hated rival agency, the CIA.

There has been some scuttlebutt that elements within the CIA helped oust Petraeus. Maybe someday we will find out.

One thing the whole affair underlined yet again is the fact that the FBI outranks the U.S. Congress. When the Petraeus affair hit the news, we heard whines from the likes of Senate “Intelligence” Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D- CA), complaining that they weren't notified.

Well, so what? When it emerged shortly after the airliner suicide attacks of 9/11/01 that the landlord for two of the hijackers living in California was an FBI informer, Congress demanded that the FBI produce the informer and his agent handler for questioning. The FBI flatly refused, the Congress harrumphed, and slunk off with its tail between its legs. The issue was never mentioned again in the establishment media. [See “THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE INQUIRY;Congress Seeks F.B.I. Data On Informer; F.B.I. Resists,” NYTimes, 10/6/02.]

In other words, the FBI, a secret political police agency, outranks the national legislature of the U.S.

You don't see the secret police running the show in places like China! In most countries, the government controls the secret police, not the other way around. Here, the secret police agencies are states within a state.

And how's this for cheek: just days later, the then-head of the FBI, the execrable professional oppressor Louis J. Freeh, had the nerve to attack Congress for underfunding the FBI. And they ate that crap instead of demanding his head on the spot. 

[“Former F.B.I. Director FaultsLawmakers on Terror Fight,” NY Times, 10/9/02.]

How pathetic American politicians really are. But  they're great at imposing longer and longer prison sentences on us who resist them, or smoke pot. Or letting music corporations imposes fines iin the hundreds of thousands of dollars for downloading a few dozen songs. (An actual case.) Or immunizing the phone companies that aid and abet massive, warrantly NSA spying. Or locking up people for life without trial (you have to call them a "terrorist" first).

What, finally, can you say about such a bunch of pompous, cruel weasels?

U.S. Ranks #1 In Repression By Three Measures

The U.S. is the world's most repressive nation by at least three measures.

First, the U.S. has the world's highest rate of incarceration. One in 100 adults is imprisoned in the U.S. (Currently 2.3 million souls.) With 4% of the world population, the U.S. holds 25% of all the prisoners on earth.

Secondly, in terms of surveillance of the populace, no other nation on earth collects every single electronic and voice communication of every person who uses a phone or Internet communication method, as the U.S. does. (The NSA has a gigantic new computer center in Colorado to store all the data and paw through it with supercomputers and thousands of military personnel.)

Thirdly, the U.S. does the most thorough and sophisticated cross-linking of computerized databases, with search and surveillance software. State motor vehicle records, credit bureau databases, bank records, safe deposit box owners, utility and rental records, court records, arrest records, and on and on are all open to the police and secret police to search at will without any warrant requirements. And of course numerous other government records on all levels of government are tied in to this massive spy system. The FBI, NYPD, and others employ facial recognition technology to search photos in driver's license and passport records, among others. Video of faces from thousands of surveillance cameras is part of this massive surveillance blanket.

The U.S. is also one of the worst in terms of how draconian its punishments are. Coincidentally the NY Times ran an article on a few victims of mandatory life sentences for minor drug “crimes” after I wrote most of this essay.

As a follow up, I will discuss some of the viciousness of the U.S.'s punitive policies towards those unlucky enough to be labeled “criminals.” (Mainly racial minorities with darker than white skins, and the poor. And political prisoners, of course.)

Dead Man Walking: Hugo Chavez Doomed. CIA Dancing a Jig?

Well, it looks like the jig is up for poor Chavez, the socialist President of Venezuela long reviled by the U.S. media and Government.

I had a bad feeling about this from when it first became known that he was seriously ill, in June 2011. After multiple surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy, this latest relapse bodes ill for his survival.

Thequestion left hanging is: did the U.S. do him in with one of the potent carcinogens in its arsenal of poisons?

That will be devilishly hard to ever resolve definitively one way or the other.

The possibility must be kept open, as a possibility. We can neither say it is a fact at this point, but nor should it be dismissed as “paranoia.” Only a naïve fool ignorant of history would call it paranoiac or implausible, given the sinister, evil history of the U.S. Government.and its malevolent arm, the CIA.

It's Not A “Fiscal Cliff,” It's a Mountain

That is, big Federal spending cuts and tax increases will create an uphill grade for the U.S. economy. That's why it's recessionary.

As others have pointed out, the deficit hawks should be happy, since shrinking deficit spending is supposedly their end-all and be-all.

Obama- Cruel Man

Hey, all you progressives who insist the Dems need your support- because the Republicans are so much worse.

Here's Obama's record on granting pardons to Federal prisoners:

ONE out of every 290 applications.

But his predecessor, the awful George Bush, granted one out of every 55- i.e. a rate almost 6x as frequently.

Obama has granted the fewest pardons since John Adams, the second President.
 This info from NPR, 11/21/12.