My Inner Conspiracy Brother: NYC and 9/11

Despite all my conspiracy theories and distrust of the motives of many authoritative institutions (police, fed'l gov't, etc), this is one I've opted not to touch on due to its magnitude and emotional connection with the American public. I am convinced that the FBI and NSA were in a "I don't report to you, you report to me" style ego war which stopped pertinent info from being combined which could have helped them locate and detain the suspects before the attacks happened. However, that has been where my suspicions stopped. Despite all the "Bush knocked down the towers" theories that I've heard, I never bought i

nto them. Why is

that you ask? First of all, Bin Laden has publicly had the hots for attacking America since the "unholy alliance" between the US and Saudi Arabia (his home country) came to be. Secondly, my question when trying to fathom the federal government carrying out such a massive attack on its own people was always, Why? What's the motive? When I was recently in NYC, for the first time, I was offered an answer: The Patriot Act. According to a gentlemen (middle aged, very smart but seemingly paranoid) who was staying where I was staying, al Queda is and always has been an arm of the CIA used to push forward foreign policy decisi0ns in an emotionally slanted way. Therefore (according to him once again),

the Patriot Act is much more far reaching than any of us know and is being used as a tool to gradually strangle all of the freedom out of American day-to-day life. It's a population control method, which along with veiled issues like global warming, will be used to spy on and act on every detail of

our lives for the government's own purposes. To make this issue arouse even more suspicion, when I went to Ground Zero (currently in the midst of building the Independence Tower, new tragedy museum, and a 2 Tower fountain walkways where all the deceased names will be etched), there was an entire row of ppl (pictured) with t-shirts, signs, and various handouts advertising their theories that the government was responsible. This is literally a few feet

outside of the site. What kind of conviction do you have to have to partake in that for an issue so emotional to most Americans? And although I still have a bit of a mental block to digesting the theory that the gov't could architect such a heinous act, they make a good point (as did Lupe) about the collapse of WTC Building 7.

I remember hearing that it fell too that day, but I never realized how far away it was from the two towers; it was clear on the other side of the complex. How did it fall when closer buildings did not? Could it be that it was brought down in a controlled demolition (See diagram). A lot of ppl up there are convinced that there was fishiness, I can't say I am right there with them, but at this point, I'm a little less secure about our innocence than I was 2 months ago. Would the CIA set up such a tragedy as a vessel to control the population? Don't know, hell noone thought they would murder the current president either (JFK). So who knows. Do I sound parnoid? Whatever. I've Been Called Worse...

When did our Health Care Get This Bad?

The epic health care reform bill has finally cleared the House of Representa -tives and has made it to the Senate for further deliberation, which is closer to actually getting done. I don't pretend to know all the intimate details of the health care issue. It is a long and complicated subject. The opposition feeds off of the general public's ignorance. However, I've reached the realization that ours is bad enough that people need to see past the misguided partisan propaganda("Obama is the new Hitler") and misleading catch phrases used by opposition ("Obama wants death panels to euthanize old people") and get some kind of reform done. I never trusted insurance companies in the first place, but my summer job and recent watching of Michael Moore's 2007 documentary entitled "Sicko" have drastically made me more cynical of the companies' practices and the insurance process as a whole. I'm not sure if Obama's plan is the ultimate answer, but it's progress. We have to do something even though the rich folks - especially those of certain races, ages, and political parties, who like their current health care and fear that any change is inevitably bad - are doing everything in their power to stop the bill from messing with business as usual within the insurance industry...

Insurance Companies: The Evil Empire
Realize that business as usual in the insurance industry includes basing business decisions around the philosophy "With everyone paying their premiums, the less service for policy holders we approve and pay for, the higher our profit margin." Think about it, as immoral and unethical as that is, it is the bare bones of how to make money in that industry. This is why there are so many people who work for insurance companies whose jobs are solely to find ways not to approve benefits that are included in people's plans. My summer job at an optometrist's office really opened my eyes to how bad it is. Compared to other medical fields, optometry is fairly simple from an insurance sense. Most people are just coming in to get a routine eye exam and contacts or glasses if needed, some are coming in to get diabetic or glaucoma check ups, and then there are those who are getting specified tests to find out if they have one of a few dozen possible eye conditions that may result in them having to go get surgery; fairly simple compared to the different possibilities of procedures, surgeries, or craziness that may get filed to insurance from a general hospital. However, insurance companies do what insurance companies do. There was always a prevalence of submitted claims that were sent back for the most minuscule of reasons. Or If they can't find some loophole to send a request back, it was not uncommon to see them approve payment on a $114 eye exam and pay a total of $35. On an eye exam. So the practice has to bill the patient for the difference and they get mad at people like me saying "My insurance is supposed to cover that." What am I supposed to tell 'em? Medical costs have become the leading cause of bankruptcy and homeless in our country. In "Sicko", Michael Moore interviewed a couple who had insurance, decent insurance, who were forced to move into their daughter's basement becuz of the ridiculous costs of his post-heartache medical bills. He then interviewed people who used to work for insurance companies whose sole purpose was to find ways to screw people over. One lady said they rewarded the person who denied the most insurance claims with a bonus every month; they put the stats up in chart form on the bulletin board. Another man talked about the loopholes he would find to get money back from any claim they couldn't find a way to deny. This is in addition to the 37 pages of pre-existing conditions that an insurance company could deny you for; some as small as a yeast infection. And these were the people WITH insurance...

The plight of the uninsured
The public option is so important becuz, depending on where you get your numbers, there are between 40 and 50 million people in our country without healthcare; not with bad health insurance, but NO health insurance. That's a size chunk of our 350 million person nation. These are the people that hospitals don't wanna see coming. "Sicko" showed surveillance footage of taxicabs rolling up to a free clinic, pushing a patient out onto the curb and jetting off. The hospital paid the cabs to roll up and throw them out at these clinics becuz they wouldn't allow them to stay in the hospital uninsured, no matter how bad their conditions. One lady with Alzheimer's walked around the area for hours before anyone from the clinic realized she was supposed to be there. That's how bad it is for the uninsured. People are walking around with serious conditions becuz they know that no doctor will see them unless they have the ridiculous cash it takes to be seen for serious medical conditions. Moore interviewed a man who cut off two of his fingers in a carpentry accident. The hospital told him it would cost him a total of $72,000 to reattach both fingers. Could you imagine if you needed a transplant or something more serious? I hope they don't don't drop paralyzed accident victims out of cabs on the curb in front of clinics too.
Other countries have figured it out
Why is it we're having so much trouble when other countries are basking in the benefits of working health care systems? In countries such as Great Britain, there is both a public and private sector of the health care industry. The NHS, the public tax-funded health care service does not charge residents a dime for treatment of any kind. It costs nothing to have a baby, get limbs reattached, or be treated for a heartache. Everyone interviewed in the NHS hospital said they had never had problems with long waits. The doctors were the best and brightest and were paid handsomely for their fine work. And their medicines cost a fraction of what they cost here across the board. They even require certain benefits for workers. Workers are required to work 35 hrs a week or less, required to take at least 5 weeks of paid vacation every year, and allowed up to one year of paid maternity leave (and time for the father). Many American legislators (and many health care protesters) ignore their success becuz they have to avoid anything connected with the unspeakable word...SOCIALIZED. But their private sector, although much smaller than ours, is doing fine financially and actually works with the NHS in many cases. Their tax and spending allocations are much different than ours and that will have to be worked out by those at the top. You could be fine now and want taxes as low as possible and that refund check makes you feel great when you get it, but I assure you that all Americans are one or two bad medical breaks from bankruptcy in this country's present health care system. You won't know until it's too late.

All in all, it's ridiculous to me that all of these supporters have taken time off work to protest with Obama Hitler signs and partisanship and money pinching is causing this health care reform to drag on when it is definitely needed. Health care, energy, and education are the three biggest issues that we are suffering with on a global level. All must be addressed in big ways, but nothing else will get done until this health care bill is passed. I don't know everything about how the system works, but I know enough to know that it is severely flawed here and we desperately need to make progress somehow.

2009 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Barack Obama

It was announced today that President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. For an international body to award him such a prestigious honor says a lot. It shows me that on the international scene, the civilized world truly does respect and admire the man's intentions on how he is working to change diplomacy. And for the Black community, it will inevitably be compared and mentioned in conversation with Martin Luther King Jr winning the award in 1963, which brings joy about how far the race has progressed. But at the same time, I can't help but think, don't you have to wait til he puts his intentions in the done column first? I have tremendous confidence that Obama truly does plan on reforming health care, improving education, and make progress on our energy dependencies. Similarly, I also believe that his globally diplomatic issues truly do include closing Guantanamo Bay, getting soldiers home from Iraq, and trying to make progress towards co-existence between the Israelis and Palestinians. However, he hasn't done it yet. I'm only speculating from a non-politician's perspective, but I believe there is an amazing amount of red tape that he is dealing with to get these things done. A million small considerations and obstacles that we wouldn't think were necessary. I'm getting tired of Congress finding reasons to shoot down his health care reform and I don't deal with it every day, so I know it's dominating his time and efforts. Part of the reason I do not like politics is all the extra (trying to coerce allies, trade support on issues, etc.) that has to be done to get meaningful work finished. These things don't happen in any timely fashion and everything is harder than it looks. So, I'm still firmly in Obama's corner and I believe that he will do as much to make good on his campaign promises as Congress and whoever else allows him to. But give the man a chance to do it. He's already become a very polarizing figure, people either love him and what he is trying to do, or they hate him and use hyperbolic insults to paint him as a phony. So although he must be honored to win such an award, he probably understands that this adds even more pressure to make sure that the things he advertised happen. He's gotten the award off effort to this point. In the end, with a president, effort means a lot, but he will ultimately be judged by what ACTUALLY gets done rather than what he tries to get done.

I think if the late MLK could talk to Obama about this award, he would say "Congratulations. Take the award in stride, but don't ever take your eyes off the prize. Never take anything for granted. This opportunity will mean little for our people if you do not achieve what you said you would and what you are capable of." I agree. I would not at all call the award undeserved the way many have in articles today, I'd call it premature. I'm hopeful that his body of work will warrant more Nobel Prizes when he pushes things all the way through. He should keep working, and I'ma just keep hoping.....

The Inner Conspiracy Brother Special: The Reagan Years

This conveys exactly how I believe Reagan felt towards the lower income citizens of America. During Reagan's administration, the government and particularly the CIA ran wild either under the orders of Reagan or with the permission of Reagan. I say this because when asked questions concerning controversial topics, he always acted as if he did not know about anything. Many people have spoken out about AIDS and drug trafficking, saying that Reagan was prompted to do something about both and he continued to do nothing. Let's get specific:

CIA outta control: Iran Contra and Drug Trafficking

The Iran-Contra affair was a black mark on the credibility of the American government because of the discovery of the government exchanging weapons for hostages and CIA destroying important documents which could have revealed other crimes. But honestly, this is not even all that important to me because I believe deals like that are made a lot and may be the easiest choice to solve foreign issues at times. My issue government-sponsorship of the drug trade. The Iran Contra Affair was probably the first true opportunity to create direct pipeline for drugs to come into the US. Furthermore, the Kerry Committee report concluded that the CIA and State Department supported and even facilitated Nicaraguans smuggling cocaine into the United States. It is also argued that it was a plan by the CIA proposed to the Nicaraguans to funnel the bulk of the drugs into the Los Angeles area once it entered the United States. Coincidentally (sarcasm obviously), the CIA during this era grew tremendously from a mid-sized unit into the giant component that it is today. I don't think it's very hard to conclude that it grew so largely from drug money paid to them for their assistance. I don't believe the government is helping anybody do anything, much less somethin illegal, unless they are going to make good money or take some other significant benefit from it. When did LA and other major cities fall victim to the drug epidemic? The Reagan Years. I'm not naive enough to believe he never got even a whiff of that money. I think a whole lotta people got paid to look the other way. As much as Black people in the hood get a bad wrap for selling drugs and destroying lives in their own communities (which is a huge problem), remember who brought those drugs to this country.

The Refusal of AIDS as a problem to the general public

The earliest scattered cases of AIDS surfaced around 1979 or 1980. By 1981, it was acknowledged by high ranking health officials to be a potential problem in the future. Reagan ignored these claims, understandable when you're looking at a handful of cases in the midst of so much that is going. By 1983, over 1000 cases and almost 400 deaths had been reported in the US. This could no longer be written off as a fluke or a figment of anyone's imagination. As many of the cases were reported in the homosexual community, it was easier to deny the disease to the general public and in more intimate circles only acknowledge it as being a "gay disease." Reagan's communications director publicly claimed that this was nothing more than "nature's revenge on gay men." Even if this were the case, by 1984, there were over 4000 reported cases and almost 2000 deaths. It was so widespread that people were organizing awareness rallies and marches because so many people knew someone suffering from the debilitating disease. One march, intended to bring awareness to the topic before the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco (a town most affected due to the high gay population) included over 100,000 protesters. Surely the President would have to acknowledge this now, right?? Nope. Reagan decided not to publicly acknowledge the need for research and treatment of the disease until May 1987; this is near the end of his last term so it wouldn't be his problem much longer. By this point, over 36,000 Americans had been diagnosed and there had been over 20,000 deaths. Furthermore, there were over 50,000 cases worldwide in more than 100 countries. Whether it was the result of homo-phobia, a desire not to accept this topic as an issue during his presidency, or some other motivation, Reagan let thousands die before he decided that AIDS was worth mentioning, much less devoting concentrated attention too. As the foremost public figure worldwide, the President could have had much more influence domestically and globally to start initiatives to research, treat, and prevent the disease if he would have tried to be proactive. We know what AIDS and HIV have done to the US and the world at this point, I believe that things could have been a lot different.

So at this point, without even talking about the details of Reaganomics and the way that it helped open the financial void between the social classes, I've presented the reasons why I do not like the man or respect him as a president. He had vital roles in ignoring problems in their early stages that could've put us in much better situations today. So to the late Reagan, fuck you very much, I hope you're proud of yourself.

Harsh toward a former President, Yup. I've been called worse...

The Inner Conspiracy Brother

I've come to find out that me and Dave Chappelle's "Conspiracy Brother" character from the movie Undercover Brother have quite a bit in common. I am fully aware that I live in a country that's government, law enforcement, and legal systems have plenty of dirt that they try to keep neatly tucked under the rug. I can speak all day about that so I'll just discuss a few of the biggest historically and a few others that happen to be fresh on the mind:

• I believe that the average American is naive, gullible, and easily influenced by what I believe is propaganda. And noone knows this more than the government. I think the government has many special secret sections within its ranks that perform unspeakable acts that they would never admit to. Furthermore, they have hundreds of spin-artists who find ways to twist the story to the American public when something happens in a way that it can not be hidden. I bring this up first because I think it is essential to understanding some of the issues that I will discuss as this blog goes on. Now, I do realize that the terrorism-filled, power-hungry, hateful landscape of the world today necessitates certain acts to protect our freedoms that the general public would not approve and therefore they are not made aware of. But, we'll just say, I believe that they are going overboard. I haven't trusted the FBI since the Bull Connor days, and soon enough you will hear some of my thoughts on the CIA.
  
• I believe that a large percentage of our police force and law enforcement arm in general (not a majority, but a large percentage) are heavily involved in either corruption or abuse of power associated with privileges given by their positions as the mythical "protectors and servers of the laws that make our country safe." I also believe that there is a top-down unwritten mindset that they must also uphold our country's class system by keeping the minorities and low-income in check. Disparities such as the punishment for crack cocaine(most used by minorities and poor people) being significantly worse than punishment for powder cocaine (most used by whites and rich people). Think about this: You would get more prison time for robbing a convenient store for $350 than a businessman would for extorting $10 million at his job. He may just get fired, he may not even see a cell. But I digress, I believe cops are permitted to make up falsities and harass whoever they please because they are entirely supported by other policemen, politicians, and the judicial and legislative systems. Even cops who do not participate in corrupt or improper acts do not snitch on other cops because of the alienation they would be subject to as a whistleblower.
• I believe that the institution of politics is evil. I believe that some politicians begin in politics because it runs in their families and some begin in politics because they actually see it as their venue to do something positive for their communities. However, I believe that as you move up the political ladder and inevitably need more money, your morals get complicated by alliance to campaign contributors and party allegiances. There is so much under-the-table bargaining, negotiating, and favor doing that I question the sincerity of almost any political actions. We've all seen presidents and vice presidents pushing through legislation that helps their old co-workers (Dick Cheney and Haliburton for example) and there's a lot more that we'll never see. I think that a lot of legislation and positioning is done to repay favors and put politicians in advantageous positions for other motives that they are trying to see realized. I believe that Obama has been less tarnished by this process than most politicians, but I know that to some extent he deals with these moral conflicts also. But he was clearly the lesser of two evils against McCain, which is why I love and support Obama in his conquest to fix complex and monumental issues that we should have addressed years ago (We'll save that blog for another day).
• The truth about terrorism is that if they wanna get us, they are going to get us. It's unfortunate and if you let it, it can be very scary to an American citizen. We have lifestyles that we conduct everyday and need to continue them without think about the constant threat of terrorist attack. There are enough people misusing religion as a tool to recruit others to commit suicide in a quest for martyrdom and honestly, America has done enough people wrong in the past that the numbers of people who may want to commit harm on our country are higher than I'd like to think about. There are people living in caves who spend all day (the same day you spend living your lifestyle) thinking of ways to catch America slipping. For example, imagine the number of Americans a terrorist could kill if someone went to a mall on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) strapped with C-4, the kill count would be tragic. The ways we have buckled down on security (at airports and post offices) prevent them from repeating attacks that they have already committed, which I don't think they would do anyway.
  P.S. There are misconceptions about terrorists I would like to clear up. Islam is not a religion of violence, in no way does it justify jihad(holy war) as an excuse to commit attacks on the western world and run back into caves. These are extremists misusing the context who have formed these terrorist groups feeding on the naivety of their followers because if you say something is a religious belief, no one questions it. Stop assuming all Muslims are in favor of committing violence in the name of religion. Even if they were, Christians have done it too, look up the Great Crusades in Europe.
• I won't go deep into my feelings about racism beyond saying that I believe it is still alive although less consciously than in past decades. Things have gotten better but we have a long way to go. Furthermore, I believe that when given the opportunity by a powerful and admired Black male figure doing any level of wrongdoing, the white powers in society still implement techniques from the "Willie Lynch Papers" which encouraged picking the biggest and strongest slave and castrating him in front of everyone to reassert control of the Black population. Examples include Marion Barry (who also may get a future blog about his miraculous resiliency) and Michael Vick; both did their share of wrong, but many white powerful men have done much worse and suffered no ramifications what so ever.

Now to address some of the more popular conspiracies:

• Yes, I believe we went to the moon. Do I believe we went when we said we did the first time Apollo 11 touched down on July 20, 1969? I'm not convinced. JFK said that we would make it to the moon by the end of the 1960s. So by 1969, we were in an intense "space race" with the USSR and we were running out of time to make good on the president's promise. So I do think it is possible that we staged the first one to beat the USSR there and honor the words of the late JFK. Now, we report that Apollos 12-17 (with the exception of 13 which had to abort mid-flight) also landed on the moon. I don't see any reason we would need to stage ALL of these. Furthermore, I do not think we would have our sights set on Mars now if we never made it to the moon successfully.
• I believe James Early Ray may have actually been the shooter that killed Martin Luther King, however, I do not think he acted alone. It was well known that Bull Connor used his CO-Intel Pro operation (and the FBI) as a personal strike force against King because he pledged that King was the greatest threat to American sovereignty of the time period. So even though Ray spent much of his life trying to recant his confession to MLK's murder, he made a fuss about government conspiracy and still lived a good while afterwards; One trait of government cover-up and conspiracy is that all loose ends get clipped to preserve the secrecy of the operation. This will be displayed more in a moment when i discuss JFK's murder.
• I believe this may be the crown jewel of conspiracy in a time-period full of it. I believe John F. Kennedy was killed by someone on the grassy knoll hired by the mafia. For those who don't know, Kennedy's good friend, Frank Sinatra convinced Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana to use his "influence"and connections to make sure that Kennedy won the state of Illinois, which was major towards him winning the election. I assume mob bosses would expect some type of gratitude showed after such a favor. Instead JFK makes his brother, Robert (also publicly assassinated), US Attorney General and Robert goes directly after organized crime in America. As if Giancana may not have felt betrayed enough, JFK (noted womanizer) also stole Giancana's main lady, Judith Campbell. So, Lee Harvey Oswald was accused and immediately killed by Jack Ruby, who was dying of cancer and did not make it to finalization of his sentencing. It is alleged that the actual shooter on the grassy knoll was killed and buried in the Las Vegas desert soon after the assassination. The last piece was Giancana, who would not have to be killed because he helped plan it. However, he was earlier recruited by the CIA to plan out an assassination of Fidel Castro during the years of missile tension between the US and Cuba. This made some think that the CIA or Cuba may have also been involved in the murder; although I'm not convinced they were, I do not believe the assassination and following murders would have all happened without other very powerful people giving it the go ahead. Giancana was quoted as saying that the CIA and the mafia are "different sides of the same coin." He was conveniently shot in the head and face right before he was scheduled to testify before the courts about CIA-mafia collusion and the plot to kill Castro. So, no matter the controversy, the ends get clipped and the government just keeps on rolling along.

That's all for now, I may think of more at a later date. I have admitted to being a conspiracy theorist, but hey, I've been called worse...