And I don’t want to be how they want me to be
I don’t want to be how they want me to be
You don’t want me to be how they want me to be
I don’t want me to be how they want me to be
-Best Coast, ‘How They Want Me to Be’ (2011)
In recent months, I have been listening to a group called Best Coast. I am hardly one of their earliest fans. Truth is that I had become weary of the American music scene over the last decade, or at least that being proffered by the Illuminati controlled music business which has served as the culture of distraction as our people have descended into the economic abyss. What was once a vibrant hip hop movement that dared ask questions about the course of humanity, the elevation of the righteous, the empowerment of and elevation of the humane and decent rather than the satanic, was hijacked by the hip-pop movement. The music no longer matches the times as it once did in other era’s like the 1960’s. It seeks to mask the pain of the present human condition, not to soothe it but to disable the creativity and evolution of the human spirit.
Best Coast has an addictive sound that is so present day but yet makes me teary eyed for the alternative music scene of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s and for the experiences that I had during America’s last great decade before George W. Bush became President and all hell broke loose in America. Best Coast brings back my nostalgia for that bygone era of musical creativity where we could sit back and listen to talented folksy artists who weaved poetically a portrait of the American experience that was like a veritable slice of modern day Americana or a Norman Rockwell painting. When I listened to the lyrical poetry of California based singer Beth Cosentino on ‘When I’m with You’ the vibe was reminiscent of what seemed like a lazy mexican summer in the go go 1990’s, driving to the beach in East Hampton, New York with my own little Go-Go by my side. Her smiling face framed by her golden locks, Persol sunglasses and pearly white grin is forever etched in the historical files of my life, forever ‘wishing I was [her] boyfriend.’ “I wish [s]he was my [girlfriend] I wish [s]he was my [girlfriend] I’d love her to the very end But instead [she's] just a friend.”
Many will recall that period before innocence was lost. The darkness which the mainstream illuminati controlled music industry brought over our land through the endless marketing of and control of the airwaves with music devoid of any soul, cultural insight or humanistic reflection masked our descent and the camouflaged for many what was truly happening in America. The emotional and intellectual bankruptcy of this so called ‘artistry’ only served to shield the people from the similar hollowing out of America’s soul at a higher level.
If the Cranberries, the Breeders and the Pixies had children who grew up at the beach they would be Best Coast. Their sound is classic yet original with a melodic wizardry that never grows old and seems otherwise timeless. I am no music critic, nor do I mean to suggest that there are not many talented in America’s music scene today, but that maybe perhaps we might need to evolve past the glorification of hip-pop mogul Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kanye et al etc. and look to the voices and sounds of the truly independent artists who seek less to whittle down American consciousness as they attempt to ‘Run This Town’ and likely run you down for the sole purpose of fattening of their own bank accounts and inspiring you to pledge your allegiance to their cult of greed and indifference and get ‘all black everything, black cards, black cars, black clothes’. F$%@k that!
Best Coast and the rise of alternative and indie artists like Jenny Electrik (Facebook Page, Green Bus Tour), who I discovered through my nephew, is what makes me hopeful about the American music scene, so hopeful that maybe I too can inspire you to seek out the positive independent voices in contemporary music, use your disposable income on iTunes wisely and get off the crack idol worship of Satan’s children that has for too long now been force fed into our stream of consciousness. Get off ‘The Feed’
The Mainstream Media Offers More ‘Sympathy for the Devil’
Mainstream media continues to proffer stories seemingly designed to evoke sympathy for the lives of Bernie Madoff and members of the Madoff criminal family enterprise (’Madoff Crime Family’ or ‘MCF’), many of whom are still at large, leading lives far better than the average man or any of his defrauded investors in what Paul Krugman has referred to as ‘the Madoff Economy’. Do you ever stop and wonder why in these tumultuous times, where the financial fortunes, if not basic economic security of so many in the middle class and the aspiring upper middle class has been undermined, destabilized if not destroyed by Ponzi schemes and Crony Capitalism so severely that ‘the pitchforks’ now Occupy Wall Street, why the media continues to offer up these stories? If Barbara Walters’ interview with Bernie Madoff behind bars and discussed on ABC News did not disgust you enough then maybe the one by Morley Safer on 60 Minutes with Ruth Madoff and Andrew Madoff and his Black Umbrella might literally make you throw up. They were there promoting their con job and the book ‘Truth & Consequences: Life Inside the Madoff Family’ written by author Laurie Sandell, at the direction of Catherine Hooper and Andrew Madoff based upon interviews with each of them as well as Ruth.
What I find most troubling is the mainstream media’s continuing need to sell public empathy for a despicable man and a criminal family enterprise with leadership of that enterprise still at large, largely evading prosecution. Andrew Madoff, a Wharton MBA and his ’suicided’ brother Mark Madoff, a highly educated duo who ran the firm’s trading operation never noticed their father’s lack of a foot print in trades on the street? Despite the ignorance claimed by the Madoff sons, more significant commentators than me have raised issues about the surreal bonuses and overall compensation packages that these two received and raised very real issues about their responsibility and complicity in the Madoff family fraud. And yet that they never stopped to consider what was funding their lavish lifestyles? It certainly was not the profits that they generated. In the not so distant recent past, the Wall Street Journal offered up a puff piece on Andrew Madoff’s challenges in his new life ‘after the fall’. The ‘poor guy’ is holed up in a luxury apartment in a fancy doorman building in one of the most exclusive zip codes on the Upper East Side working under the Black Umbrella with the hot young girlfriend, Catherine Hooper, he dumped his wife for. Further he has to weekends cycling around Greenwich, CT. I feel for the poor chap.
Peter Madoff, brother of Bernie Madoff, who served as the chief compliance officer for its investment advisor and broker dealer businesses is reportedly the target of a criminal probe. Peter has been selling off assets in recent months, including his estates in Old Westbury, Long Island and Palm Beach. Meanwhile Shana Madoff, Peter’s daughter and Bernard’s niece, the formerly fantabulous socialite shopaholic was a rules-compliance attorney for its market-making arm on the broker-dealer side, is now living a less ostentatious life some where in Lower Manhattan in another exclusive enclave in Soho/Tribeca with her husband a ‘Veteran SEC Attorney’. The media informs us that the former rules-compliance attorney who is reportedly represented by attorney Mark Smith, lost a substantial portion of her assets. Gee, that really sucks. That makes her just like those defrauded by their family right? She is just another victim. Oy vey! And then there is Bernies wife poor Ruth Madoff getting buy on the good will of friends/family in Palm Beach with only $2.5 million left to her name. Shall I go on?
Madoff complicitor or ‘Frenemy’, “Philanthropist” Jeffrey Picower who was in the Forbes 400 Mad[e]-off with over $7-8 Billion dollars and was found just a couple of years ago in what a appears to have been a mysterious drowning in the pool at his Palm Beach mansion. His poor wife, in a complex deal struck by Jeffery Picower’s long time personal attorney, William Zabel of Schulte Roth & Zabel, agreed to forfeit $7.2 billion to the Department of Justice. Picower’s ‘poor wife’ was forced to return all but $200 million that was earned in her husband’s involvement in the Madoff Fraud, to the Department of Justice so that Barbara Picower could continue on in her “Philanthropic” works. Really, many individuals and family members lost their retirement savings and were bankrupted, despite the media created appearance that most Madoff victims will receive restitution (not true), but the widow of a suspected criminal is left in tact so she can host luncheons with her gals in Palm Beach? How charming. Any institution with the name Picower on it ought to change the name of that entity to the ‘Victims of Bernie Madoff and Jeffrey Picower Center for Medical Research’ because that’s whose funds he used to extend his own false philanthropic brand. Bernie Madoff and his criminal family enterprise make OJ Simpson, an un-convicted murderer seem like a relatively sympathetic figure.
Anecdotal Evidence of Ruth’s Complicity in the Fraud
Andrew Madoff’s choice upon the exposure of the Madoff criminal family enterprise and what many still believe is his complicity in the crimes of his father was to ‘Take a long hot bath like Frankie ‘Five Angels’ Pentangeli’. Ruth may want to join him if they intend to go to the grave with the family secrets. For if they do, in my estimation they cannot get there fast enough.
Ruth Madoff and Andrew Madoff tipped their hand in their 60 Minutes interview. Ruth allegedly asked her son Andrew Madoff ‘What’s a “Ponzi scheme?’ Ruth was a math wiz who graduated from Queens College where she majored in Business Administration & Finance. She was working on Wall Street before Bernie Madoff. Bernie was studying law at Brooklyn Law School before he dropped out to join his ambitious young wife on the street. Ruthie went to Wall Street because like Willie Sutton who was once asked why he robbed banks, famously answered, “Because That’s Where The Money Is.” Let’s just say Ruthie knew where the money was. According to reports, she was her husband’s bookkeeper, which it turns out required one to be a Chef as well. Queens College may not be Harvard but it is a fine institution, hence I find it very hard to believe that the little mathematical wiz managing/cooking her husband’s books had no idea what was a Ponzi Scheme.
The attempt to socially rehabilitate rather despicable figures makes you wonder, especially in these times, do Insiders in the MCF have knowledge of or information about individuals more powerful than themselves pertaining to the economic crisis? If not, then why else are elements of our corporate owned media expending so much energy trying to smooth over rough spots in how the criminal clan is perceived by the public at large? If you are at all cynical, you may consider or perhaps recognize that the Madoff Family Fraud did not end with the sons ‘turning in’ their father who confessed to be solely responsible for the fraud, but that only commenced the second chapter of that fraud in earnest, a fraud that continues to this day and which the mainstream media is complicit in fostering. Why?
My friends, I have tried in my postings to report, analyze, enlighten, support and otherwise do my part to provide a perspective to move forward the evolution of our society, of our people and our nation. I must humbly acknowledge that I have not and will not always succeed in doing so even though I believe it is necessary to try if we are to have a real chance to ‘Rebuild the American Dream.’ My brain is filled with many mixed emotions and contrary perspective on nearly every issue of import from our economy to our national politics; and then there is always ’self interest’ — for many who are comfortable, it is the fear of aligning yourself with a movement that the mainstream media tries to persuade you that it is Un-American, anti-business, anti-capitalist and filled with people who truly hate America, even if nothing could be further from the truth.
Things get confusing, I find myself torn between competing orthodoxies, deciphering authorized truths and my own sense of who and what is righteous. I half jokingly refer to myself as a Progressive Conservative. I want progress for our people, a greater degree of equity to go along with efficiency and I want to conserve what is precious in America. That includes our natural resources, the environment, the people and the spirit within us that made this country great. And that is perhaps what makes me most of all, like many of you. Moreover, like every man, every citizen, I am truly imperfect. I have anger. I have frustration. I have a deep sadness about the state of our country but I have a belief that I cannot simply stand by passively and leave it to other citizens to do the heavy lifting or to count on some of the misguided sheeple among us to weed through and discern from the propaganda, disinformation and acceptable truths. That is of all things what is most Un-American. Whatever your political persuasion the folks at Occupy Wall Street are Patriots for seeking to preserve what is righteous or what was once righteous about our country. You know what is truly radical? Ignoring that something is wrong, that our system is broken and the social contract in breach and that the 99% movement does not matter. That is more than fundamentally naive, it amounts to gross negligence.
Every single person has to do their part to effect the Zeitgeist if our country and the world is going to grow into a better place and if the future of humanity is to have a fighting chance. The truth is that you cannot sit back and let others do your bidding in a Democracy. Leaving the heavy lifting for others in matters of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of our shared Happiness and greater Equality in our country and on this planet only creates risk that the right and necessary movements may fail, but for your voice. Look within yourself, align with and elevate others with your dialogue and your wisdom. Choose to be informed the best you can be. Do not allow false mainstream media narratives pervert what your know in your bones: that something is not quite right in America. You know that you have a purpose and a role in all this.
I am fortunate, my passion is channeled by a force field of intellects and higher life sources which surround me, many of whom guide, motivate and inspire me to be a better citizen than I might otherwise be. I have the lessons of my mother, father, University Professors and all of the enlightened souls that have crossed paths with me in my evolution as a human being and who stand by as sage counsel when I veer off course. Those of you who are familiar with “The Passion of the Chris” know exactly what I am talking about.
And yet, for all my failings, many of which are so obvious and plain to the naked eye, I do not and will not ever think that this is all about me. It is actually about my nieces, my nephews, your kids and the children of your friends and family. These days my own nephew is the source of his proud Uncle’s inspiration. What kind of America do we live them with? We complain about the complacent younger generation. Now they rise up and are providing a lesson in what Democracy is all about. We must support them.
Neither of us can afford to sit back and behave cautiously in these uniquely uncertain times, unless it is to preserve your self for the fight in a more creative way on another day. My only concern is that in order for a revolution to create an evolution, it must be sustained with the commitment of a marathoner. And while patience, thoughtfulness and persistence are a priority in that regard, you can, however, wait too long to get into the race. The race has already started.
Know and accept there is simply no dignity or honor in being on the wrong side of a revolution and standing against your fellow citizens and the rights, hopes and dreams of the individual vs. the greater collective or The Common Good. Not Yours. Not Mine. Ours.
-The New Yorker: What Good Is Wall Street? Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless.by John Cassidy
WEALTH – The Gospel of Wealth
Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth” AKA “Wealth,” North American Review (June 1889): one of the great financial giants of his era, published an essay titled The Gospel of Wealth in 1889, in which he acknowledged that “the problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relationship.” Carnegie argued that the accumulation of wealth was beneficial to society and the government should take no action to impede it. Carnegie believed the rich were trustees of their money, holding it until proper public uses could be discovered. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Carnegie practiced what he preached and spent his last years giving away his vast fortune. One of his many charitable ventures was the funding of more than 2,800 public libraries. Carnegie wrote, “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.”
The ‘NYPD is at the forefront of the Police State’, according to one commentator. We are witnessing At ‘the hour of our time’, the post 9/11 militarization of the New York Police Department force. As part of this militarization, the NYPD has had their ranks infiltrated by a higher order, integrated within its cast of civil servants, a not so secret police that are in effect ‘Super Police’ with seemingly unlimited powers. As the anonymous have asked, are you there to serve and protect or will you be the instruments of an oppressive system? The evidence that has emerged from Occupy Wall Street thus far seems to confirm the latter. What one can gather from the evidence which has made its way to the mainstream media on shows like Lawrence O’Donell’s – The Last Word on MSNBC, suggests that like veritable ‘Gorilla’s in the Midst’ the role of NYPD’s white shirted Enforcers (’Stasi’) and their undercover counterparts is to to stamp out any lawful uprising by citizens against the system to insure that a full fledged revolution does not take hold. If they have to incite aggression or knock-out, beat with a baton or pepper spray peaceful protesters, the ends seem to justify the means. The the culprits not only seem lacking of any remorse but nor are they at risk of facing any meaningful punishment.
It is increasingly clear that the NYPD Enforcers are empowered by an agenda, not so much by the rule of law and the violation of constitutional rights of individual citizens merely a byproduct. Further troubling indeed are the unnecessary arrests of Naomi Wolf (author, journalist and activist), Dr. Cornel West and the recent arrests at Citibank as documented by citizen Marshall Garrett, which he spoke about in an interview with the Village Voice. They all illustrate a common theme.
“Then, a huge group of men in white shirts, who seem to be affiliated to the New York police department, but who are not self-evidently so – bigger and fitter than the rank-and-file blue-shirted officers – came in droves. About 30 or 40 of these men appeared.
“They got a megaphone – which the protesters are told is illegal – and they started shouting that we were illegally disrupting an event and we should disperse.”
There have been ‘growing concerns over NYPD’s counterterrorism methods’, specifically within NYPD Intelligence Division & Counter-Terrorism Bureau. Many may not realize that the the NYPD was restructured and recomposed for the post 9/11 world to the tune of over $3 Billion dollars of taxpayer money. With regards to the ‘NYPD’s CIA Influenced Spying Program’, author Jeffrey Goldberg, in a piece for the Atlantic stated: “Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the New York Police Department has become one of the nation’s most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies, targeting ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government, an Associated Press investigation has found. These operations have benefited from unprecedented help from the CIA, a partnership that has blurred the line between foreign and domestic spying.”
The hyper militarized police force is waging an aggressive and unlawful campaign of trickery and deception directly at citizens of the United States of America who are merely engaged in their right to peacefully assemble in the Occupation of Wall Street. The NYPD continues to employ advanced surveillance techniques against suspected dissidents, has use of its own drones to protect New York City harbor and a professional squad of ex military, CIA, undercover agents and professional warriors integrated within its ranks. Blackwater anyone? But was this to create a counter-terrorism shield against terrorism? Or is it something more sinister? Perhaps to be a force effective at punishing those who dare rise up and question the system or challenge America’s Financial Oligarchy? As pointed out by one Huffpo writer: “Sending in the riot police violates the very principles upon which this country was founded and any individual with responsibility for ordering such action should be removed from office (and given a copy of the Constitution on the way out the door).” And as she correctly further states about the tactics used in Oakland, “Using rubber bullets, tear gas and flash grenades against unarmed civilians is the public safety threat, not the other way around. “
This was no secret. With the greatest disparity between the 1% and 99% in the free world existing in America of all places, the elite knew that this day was coming. America’s Aristocracy began preparing in earnest for this day over the last decade or so. In recent years as the wealth gap and income inequality in America continued they began fortifying their positions economically through their financial holdings, their security through investments in supporting the militarization of law enforcement and control of politicians, building private bunkers and securing themselves in gated communities behind high tech security systems. So you ask why was militarization of law enforcement (CIA, white shirt enforcers and undercover strongmen) such a critical element of their preparations? To secure the homeland against another terrorist attack?
Or maybe to be a watchful eye insuring that the Blue Shirts to “do the right thing”? Yes, it all makes sense to me now.
Behold A Pale Horse; the one that is here to ’serve and protect’ us.
The documentarian who playfully created Hot Chicks of Occupy Wall Street illustrates a truly beautiful side to this movement. It just makes you want to stand up or ‘pitch a tent’ along side them and say God Bless America. The New York Times got in on the action with its ode to the masculine in ‘The Underappreciated Hunks of Occupy Wall Street.’ While both pieces are unabashedly sophomoric they do highlight that much like the old Benetton ads the beauty inherent in America’s diversity which is represented in Lower Manhattan at Zuccotti Park. This is truly what America looks like. These are not horrible caricatures of Americans. I say Bravo to Martin Weiss of New Mexico who commented as follows on the New York Times piece:
“All these young people of conscience, both male and female and indeed, every gender, are beautiful. And isn’t it their ideals, their spirit of justice and equality that glows like a light shining from their faces? They are the spirit of America, on which our future rests.”
Occupy Wall Street is America. What is happening is quintessentially American. One should refrain from allowing the mainstream media to assist you in forming an inaccurate profile or caricature of what this movement looks like, especially by Wall Street apologists like the unprofessional and perhaps even ‘vapid’ (as she was called by Forbes) Erin Burnett who was rather ‘dismissive and condescending’ towards the protest movement. Truth, it looks like you and me and sometimes its even prettier than either one of us ever hope to be. The video referenced herein and those you find on the Occupy Wall Street site illustrate a side of America that the mainstream American media is so far reluctant to embrace and show us and that is that there is truly something beautiful happening here, even while a hyper militarized NYPD arrests professors and journalists in service of the elite.
Let us evaluate the respective risks to our society. At a gathering of Tea Bagger (the ones which are actually an arm of the GOP’s national apparatus) an Arizona Congress woman who supported Health Care for all may get shot in the head.
At an Occupy Wall Street gathering there is a very real danger that flash mobs of Yogi’s with ‘bare arms’ may break out into peaceful meditation groups. They may then bond together and pray for a better world, one where there is greater Liberty for all. And the danger here is that more of our citizens, these ‘Youngbloods’, might actually come together and ‘try to love one another right now’ in recognition that we are all connected on some level. Imagine Peace. Those crazy kids, they may yet teach their elders something. Beautiful youth emerging as the guardians of America’s future; now that is what is truly beautiful. The NYPD, however, needs to answer why dealing with such a crowd requires them to use excessive force.