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My wild side features: wild things blog
(original post 10-10-07: updated 10-15-07): PERMALINK
The dirty dozens: the mega-rich splinter group for whom our hardship and suffering merely offers the most intriguing recreation of all
Or, how it is that James Bond super-villains really do exist.
REFERENCES INCLUDED BELOW
Rupert Murdoch: one of the few publicly known faces of the 'dirty dozens' of super-wealthy families described here. | It's downright astonishing what some people in this world get away with. And when I say some people, I'm not referring to a million here or there, or even thousands.
I'm talking about just a relative handful of families around the world. Mega-rich, super-powerful families, who pull far more of our strings than most of us realize.
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Is this just another conspiracy theory? Far from it! It's simple fact, which can be easily confirmed by anyone who checks into it.1
Of course, this is only true of a certain faction of the ultra-rich: the mentally disturbed ones I guess you'd call them. The rest of the super-rich stay busy doing what you'd expect: enjoying their lives, and pretty much ignoring the rest of us and the world-at-large. Heck: that's what lots of us poor folks would do too, if we could! Oh sure, there's a few good-hearted folks among the super-rich as well, who might occasionally throw the rest of us a bone-- or even publicly chastise their dirty dozens' peers, now and then2. But the 'good' super-rich seem to be far outnumbered by the dirty dozens, and those who simply don't care about anything at all beyond their own nose.
One phone call or one enormous check from a member of the dirty dozens can quickly generate the appearance of a massive 'grass-roots' political campaign, or dazzling media extravaganza. In other words, a single one of them can-- virtually overnight-- make their latest wish or impulse appear to be 'the will of the people'.3
Yeah: they can make themselves appear to be US: you and me(!): millions of us, on TV, online, in the newspapers, etc., etc. Put their words in our mouths, in the most literal fashion short of us being an actual ventriloquist's dummy sitting on their lap.
This subterfuge or disguise on the dirty dozens' part confuses and disorients an awful lot of us regular folks. For their media campaigns and wholly-owned news channels and polls make it appear our own opinions are in the minority-- or even among a tiny lunatic fringe. Even where the truth might be exactly the opposite!
We often have no easy way to discover that the sentiment we see on the evening news truly belongs to just a handful of deranged (or evil) super-rich-- or in some cases to just a lone individual.
On TV and radio that one or few can seem like millions to us! And so we become intimidated, and less prone to speak our minds. Maybe even less prone to vote in elections, too. Even for the small changes usually offered to us in political campaigns. Since it seems apparent few others would vote the way we would. So what chance of winning would we have anyway?4
But at least the dirty dozens and their minions can't outright lie to us via their various impersonations or mouth pieces. Right?
Wrong. They can lie all day long. And frequently do. It's perfectly legal, according to several recent court cases. The dirty dozens' political candidates can lie; their pundits and mainstream media outlets can lie; and whatever they prefer not to talk about at all, they can simply keep secret. Say it involves national security. Case closed.5
That's the way our country (America) works today.
And it's going to stay that way too. Unless and until a goddamn miracle occurs, and we somehow take away the dirty dozens' legal rights to buy and sell our politicians, our elections, our laws, and our news media6.
Until then, all the rest of us can do is either continue to kiss their ultra-rich asses, or consistently speak out and vote against whatever candidates seem to be the dirty dozens' current favorites, until we finally, maybe, someday, start getting some folks into office who will cut all the puppet strings to strand that despicable tiny group in their penthouses and mansions with only their local servants to order around.
The most infuriating thing about all this may be that if and when we ever achieved such a victory, such an astonishing feat against all odds, involving the deaths and suffering of untold millions of us to reach, our mega-rich opponents will lose virtually nothing of consequence to their personal lives. They'll remain mega-rich and super-comfortable. At very worst, they might have to move to one of their estates in another country.
For to them, it's all just a game. Robbing us of our freedoms and economic opportunities is basically an intriguing video game for those people7. To earn bragging rights between one another about some tiny increment they added to their personal fortunes, or the latest ridiculous policies they've pushed through Congress or across the President's desk.
If they're ever forced out of playing their games with our lives for any substantial length of time, it will at best be an inconvenience and annoyance for them. That's it.
And worst of all, they'll find some way to return again. It'll only be a matter of time.
But at least we might get a decade or two of markedly better times out of it, while they're forced to sit on the sidelines.
And who knows? Maybe our kids will finally find a way to stay free of the puppet-masters forever...
But the kids can't do that, until after WE throw the rascals out!
POSTSCRIPT FOR MEN ONLY: Sure, any battle against such overwhelmingly powerful enemies would basically look like the very definition of a 'lost cause'. Or about the closest thing you could ever get to a real life struggle 'against all odds'. A truly epic conflict, which could last your entire life, and beyond...
But we're the MEN here: we're supposed to be the heroes; supposed to fight the good fight; supposed to speak up when others don't dare; supposed to suffer the brunt of disaster, controversy, or combat, in order to protect the women and the children. Supposed to keep humanity safe.
We are humanity's cutting edge! The virtual spearhead of our race and civilization!
We've successfully kept our species going for at least a million years now. Even in the face of an Ice Age, monstrous giant bears, wolves, and saber-toothed tigers, super-volcano spawned nuclear winter-type events, and asteroid or comet impacts only a few notches below that of what killed off the dinosaurs.
In our very worst moment so far-- the nearest we ever came to extinction-- there may have been only around 2000 men, women, and children left alive worldwide. But still, we made it. We gritted our teeth, and did what had to be done.
How could it be that we might now allow a mere handful of rich, spoiled bastards to enslave us? After all that? To gradually demote us all to mere Medieval peasants again? Be cooked like the proverbial frog in slowly heated water?
Sure: compared to the super-rich villains we have nothing but our bare hands and willpower. They can send our own police and military after us on a whim.
But not if enough of us resist them together. Enough of us tell them "no" at the same time. Refuse to cooperate with them. Refuse to follow their orders. Refuse to believe their lies, or give in to their threats. That will be the ultimate way to defeat them. Of course, as simple as it sounds, it sure won't be easy for the first among us (the very bravest) to do it!
Even if we don't stand a snowball's chance in hell against them, let it not be said that American MEN let the final darkness fall over their country without a fight; without a resounding defense; without giving it our all to stop the bastards. Before they'd reduced our nation to just another third world country among many. And maybe after that, ruined the rest of the world as well.
As Patrick Henry said in 1775: "Give me liberty or give me death!"
Footnotes:
-- Pioneering Study Shows Richest Two Percent Own Half World Wealth; A new study on The World Distribution of Household Wealth by the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) launched on Tuesday 5 December 2006; Ara Kazandjian:+358-9-615-99-210; +358-50-351-0325; ara@wider.unu.edu
Terry Collins: +1-416-538-8712; +1-416-878-8712; terrycollins@rogers.com
"Meanwhile, a well-funded new conservative campaign group with links to the
White House is making the case that Iran is a threat to the US and Israel
and should be 'stopped'. Freedom's Watch was founded in March by a dozen
billionaire and multimillionaire benefactors. Critics say the organisation
is a neo-conservative 'slush fund' and front for White House policy, in
particular the views of Vice President Dick Cheney."
-- Brown aide plays down US talk of Iran threat Mark Townsend and Peter Beaumont
Sunday October 7, 2007
The Observer
The legal fight was portrayed as "...a David and Goliath battle..." between one school governor and the state. But in fact it was all staged and paid for behind the scenes by a wealthy industrialist with a vested interest in downplaying the environmental damages he and others are perpetrating-- essentially making money by shifting the future costs of the environmental havoc they're creating to everyone else (poisoned air, water, and earth, ever more tainted and less nutritious food supplies, dying seas and rainforests, worsening climate change spreading deadly tropical diseases farther north and south than they ever appeared before, and more).
--
Revealed: the man behind court attack on Gore film Fuel and mining magnate backed UK challenge to An Inconvenient Truth by Jamie Doward; October 14, 2007
The Observer
"Now it appears that wealthy and powerful people who object to a book can simply find a country with sympathetic laws, have a book shipped there and sue."
"No single author can fight extremely wealthy opponents, particularly in British courts. If publishers show a willingness to capitulate, people like Mr. bin Mahfouz get the upper hand."
-- Home Court Advantage By MICHAEL J. BROYDE and DEBORAH E. LIPSTADT; October 11, 2007
"The groups estimated the 18 families have spent as much as $500 million on lobbying efforts since 1994."
"Wiping the estate tax off the books would mean about $1 trillion in lost revenue for the government between 2010 and 2019, according to private and government estimates."
-- 18 families fighting estate tax, study says By RYAN J. DONMOYER; April 26, 2006; BLOOMBERG NEWS
-- Elite Families Behind 'Death Tax' Campaign
by Megan Tady
Eighteen wealthy dynasties are part of a deceptive effort that targets ordinary Americans, urging them to help repeal a tax placed on a small number of extraordinary bequests.
May 2, 2006
-- Report Identifies 18 Families Behind Multimillion-Dollar Deceptive Lobbying Campaign Public Citizen and United for a Fair Economy Expose Stealth Campaign of Super-Wealthy to Repeal Federal Estate Tax; April 25, 2006
-- 18 Families Bankroll Estate Tax Repeal Campaign; April 25, 2006
"...the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
-- Hermann Goering, Hitler's chosen successor for ruling Nazi Germany during World War II; quote from the Nuremberg Trials 1945-1946
-- The Most Powerful People You've Never Heard Of Radar reveals the unknowns who control our world
"...the growing concentration of wealth has reshaped our political system: it is at the root both of a general shift to the right and of an extreme polarization of our politics"
-- Paul Krugman
-- Plutocracy by some other name; thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse; October 20, 2002; citing this New York Times article
"For them the law of the jungle is the best economic policy for America--not equal opportunity, not fairness, not the American dream."
"These latter day Social Darwinians clearly believe those who assemble great concentrations of wealth should be unfettered and permitted to dominate the nation's economic life, as much as they did in the late 19th century."
-- Senator Edward Kennedy, 2004
-- Kennedy's Other Speech; Editor's Cut by Katrina vanden Heuvel; 03/10/2004
"For five decades....the biggest bargain around...[was]....political influence. For many a year, it was far cheaper than anything to be found in the stock market."
-- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., 2000
-- The Billionaire's Buyout Plan ["http://partners.nytimes.com/2000/09/10/opinion/10BUFF.html"] By WARREN E. BUFFETT; September 10, 2000; The New York Times Company
-- They own you and all your property too
-- Some of America's Rich Urge No Repeal of Estate Tax; February 14, 2001; Yahoo!/Reuters
-- Well-heeled stand behind estate tax; February 14, 2001; The Associated Press/Nando Media/Nando Times; http://www.nandotimes.com
-- This is no April Fool's joke: Rich protest they aren't taxed enough By LEO RENNERT; 3/31/1998; McClatchy
Newspapers
-- Please tax us, say (some) of America's richest by Duncan Campbell; February 12, 2003; The Guardian
"The battle over the 'death tax' pits some of the nation's wealthiest people against . . . some of the nation's wealthiest people. But the stakes are high for the rest of us, too"
--
Sharing the Wealth? By Bob Thompson and Michele Capots; Washington Post; April 13, 2003; Page W08
-- Media conglomerates manipulate our views By Nick Bayard; browndailyherald.com; February 10, 2003 vol. CXXXVIII, no. 14
Murdoch's News Corp, offering TV media like Fox News in the USA, is said by some to possess sufficient influence to affect elections and effectively pick and choose the governments of nations otherwise regarded as sovereign and developed democracies.
-- Yahoo! News - Media mogul Murdoch backs Bush in US election; Apr 7, 2004; AFP; story.news.yahoo.com
-- Rupert Murdoch's Digital Death Star By Jeffrey Chester, AlterNet; May 20, 2003; alternet.org
-- Yahoo! News - Mega Media Mergers: How Dangerous?; BusinessWeek Online; Feb 13, 2004
-- Turner: Murdoch Is World's 'Most Dangerous Man'; May 18, 2003; newsmax.com
If a single mega-corporation controlled all the news and entertainment media you ever experienced, wouldn't it effectively control you too?
-- The Five Sisters By WILLIAM SAFIRE; New York Times; February 16, 2004; nytimes.com
A study performed by the University of Michigan in 1971 had this conclusion: the more TV programming you viewed, the less knowledge you possessed.
-- Paranoid shift By Michael Hasty; Online Journal; January 10, 2004; onlinejournal.com
-- The Silenced Majority By Harold Meyerson
Wednesday, October 10, 2007; Page A17
"Neumann (1974) introduced the "spiral of silence" as an attempt to explain
in part how public opinion is formed. She wondered why the Germans supported
wrong political positions that led to national defeat, humiliation and ruin
in the 1930s-1940s."
"The phrase "spiral of silence" actually refers to how people tend to remain
silent when they feel that their views are in the minority."
-- Spiral of Silence; formation of public opinion
-- PEOPLE WHO SELF-CENSOR OPINIONS ALSO AVOID PUBLIC POLITICS Written by Jeff Grabmeier, (614) 292-8457; Grabmeier.1@osu.edu; Contact: Andrew Hayes, (614) 688-3027; Hayes.338@osu.edu
-- Repetitive exposure to an opinion can influence as much as exposure to opinions from several people
Study examines people's tendency to conclude that a familiar opinion is the same as a popular opinion
20-May-2007; Contact: Carla Daniels
cdaniels@apa.org
202-336-5706
American Psychological Association
-- Split court says candidates can lie By Ralph Thomas; October 5, 2007
-- Wash. High Court: Campaign Lies Are Protected Speech; AP; October 05, 2007
"...it is technically not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort the news on a television broadcast."
" In essence, the news organization owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to even lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves."
-- Court Reverses Ruling on Jane Akre's rBGH Suit APPEALS COURT REVERSES JURY IN AKRE V FOX TV CASE
-- New revelation: Almost 98 per cent of errors in US newspapers go uncorrected; September 5, 2007
-- FCC probes 'fake news' at U.S. TV stations; August 16, 2006
-- Lie to Congress, Pay No Price davidswanson; 2007-09-13
-- US government faked Bush news reports Chris Tryhorn; March 16, 2004
-- 77 TV stations aired 'fake news reports' Ron Brynaert; April 5, 2006
-- Kurtz: Fox News is 'entitled' to 'misinform our society.'; September 14, 2007
-- Study Finds More News Media Outlets, Covering Less News By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE; March 13, 2006
"[If real campaign finance reform is not undertaken in the US]....we are well on our way to ensuring that a government of the moneyed, by the moneyed, and for the moneyed shall not perish from the earth."
-- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., 2000
-- The Billionaire's Buyout Plan By WARREN E. BUFFETT; September 10, 2000; The New York Times Company
"Americans have less opportunity to move up the economic ladder than Canadians and Western Europeans..."
"There's no progress. There's no option. No more salary. That's it. We're static there. We all [have a] fear of being dismissed … if you leave there's like ten people in line waiting to get your job."
-- Americans Don't Believe in the American Dream More and more working Americans are realizing that the game is rigged against them. By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted October 12, 2007.
The dirty dozens: the mega-rich splinter group for whom our hardship and suffering merely offers the most intriguing recreation of all
My wild side features: wild things blog
(original post 10-10-07: updated 10-15-07): PERMALINK
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