Wisdom from a smarter man than I

The impotence of Congress traces to the Great Depression.  As Theodore Lowi in his classic book, The End of Liberalism, makes clear, the New Deal stripped Congress of its law-making power and gave it to the executive agencies.  Prior to the New Deal, Congress wrote the laws.  After the New Deal a bill is merely an authorization for executive agencies to create the law through regulations.  The Paulson bailout has further diminished the legislative branch’s power.  

Congress no longer has any power to stop the Executive Branch. Unwilling to fight the President and unable to stop him, Congress spends its time with insignificant and nonbinding resolutions instead of legislation to manage America.

Will the day come in America when people say “Why are we talking to the President when Congress is the authority?”

I don’t know.

Brick #22: NSS: Propaganda from your own government

I continue to find the bricks that the government is using to build a National Security System that imperils all Americans. From surveillance to police presence to joint military and civilian operations, the National Security System is surrounding all Americans like a homeland security python. The coils are surrounding you but they have not yet begun to squeeze. Not yet.

 If you build a National Security System, they will come. The despots. The monarchy. The oligarchs. The families that wish to run America for their own benefit. All of them are the ones that think you should be more like them. They are afraid that you may not be like them at all and that you must be controlled, or observed, or reviewed regularly.

Today we learn that the government is creating a system to expectorate propaganda. Even when there is no good news, it will be created and distributed thru the media as news or images designed to mislead you, to give you evidence of what is not necessarily true.

You can read it here.  Eric Martin has nailed the situation and the likely problems of creating propaganda even if you do it overseas.

What is the difference between government lies and government propaganda? We all know that the government normally lies about ‘events’. It’s excuses for failure are almost always lies. Propaganda, on the other hand, is an attempt to shape ‘events’ into a plausible narrative for you to absorb before you are aware of the event. It is half-truths, misdirection, and sowing seeds of misinformation. It is like telling you that a person is a liar before you hear what they have to say. It’s like telling you that this thing is good when it is, in fact, bad. It is a special type of organized lie: it is created, it has a target audience, it is supported by ‘officials’and ‘authorities’ and it is designed to misdirect you. The better the propaganda,  the worse the lie, and the more residual effects there will be. Blowback is the right word.

     The Defense Department will pay private U.S. contractors in Iraq up to $300 million over the next three years to produce news stories, entertainment programs and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort to “engage and inspire” the local population to support U.S. objectives and the Iraqi government.

…a lengthy list of “deliverables” under the new contract proposal includes “print columns, press statements, press releases, response-to-query, speeches and . . . opinion editorials”; radio broadcasts “in excess of 300 news stories” monthly and 150 each on sports and economic themes; and 30- and 60-minute broadcast documentary and entertainment series.

Who will stop America from becoming the worst government the world has ever known? You can. You can vote for people with integrity. You can vote for people who respect people. You can vote for people who wish to be let alone in the world. You can vote for the good guys. Vote responsibly and save America.

One data point on job loss and increased homelessness

You can read it here.

In just the past 12 months, the number of homeless families living in Massachusetts motels has skyrocketed from 17 in September 2007 to 550 in September 2008. That’s on top of another 1,800 or so families in shelters.

My tea leaves tell me that you will hear about the “perfect storms” that created these events for quite awhile.

Driving the increase is the sour economy, rising energy costs, escalating unemployment and shortage of affordable housing. For the first time, the state is tracking how many families are winding up homeless due to foreclosures.

“You’re seeing a perfect storm,” said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

This is only one data point. But I think we will hear and see more in the next few weeks.