The Individual Mind

You are in a toxic, destructive relationship. Mature, thoughtful adults set boundaries according to their self-worth, self-image and moral code. They do not permit toxic, psychologically harmful people to control their lives or divert them from their goals. Unfortunately, you are in a co-dependent relationship with others that feed off of your income, use you, distract your attention from meaningful endeavors with their childish behavior, exhibit extreme narcissism by consuming everything for themselves while giving no thought to you. They daily bring negativity into your life. Healthy relationships and interaction are voluntary and mutually beneficial, but yours is one-sided, coercive, threatening, parasitic and destructive. Are you that weak and self-loathing that you cannot set the boundary, choose to not participate in the toxicity and harm, and move on? Yet, you’ll show up once again, like the battered spouse, to cast a vote here shortly, and you will be responsible for continuing the cycle, with far greater consequences than emotional or physical abuse.

*h/t to buzzle.com for the graphic

My assertion: Your Gov is the most destructive force on the planet. None can destroy, destabilize, distort and kill with such efficiency and so little accountability. Vote harder. (… or recognize Gov as the illegitimate and immoral authority that purports to represent you, work for the interests of mankind and bring about peace, while only empowering and enriching a select few of corporate and government collusionists at your expense and with your unquestioning support and validation. Who’s worse? The criminal, or he who supports the criminal and his actions which give the criminal a reach and dominion that he otherwise could not achieve?)

Please read an excellent article by Daniel Kovalik who teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, posted in Global Research, The United States: A “Destroyer Of Nations.” The opening: “The stark truth is that the U.S. really has no intentions of helping to build strong states in the Middle East or elsewhere. Rather, as we see time and again – e.g., in Yugoslavia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Ukraine – the goal of U.S. foreign policy, whether stated or not, is increasingly and more aggressively the destruction and balkanization of independent states. However, it is important to recognize that this goal is not new.”

Take 5 minutes to get a glimpse into what “money” is. Or more importantly, perhaps what it is not. It is not anything tangible, tradeable, saveable, transferable. “Money” has become mere numbers on a computer screen. Hundreds of trillions of these numbers have been piled onto each other, have been lent out and bet upon for more trillions, re-invested, insured against, “saved,” then more loans are extended on the idea that the many layers upon which the underlying “money” that was lent are real and that there are “assets” of some sort backing the loans, until there are innumerable layers of expectations of value resting on a minuscule amount of physical assets,…. What are the dangers? When will the monetary bubble pop? When a significant number of people and entities demand their “money,” who will actually have claim to a physical item of value, title to a property, rights to a valued service? Who will end up with nothing? What will those societal and global repercussions be?

The video is from The Money Project.

I know you can’t find these without a labeled map, and you have no idea what’s going on there, yet you fully support your taxpayer-funded exploits in these regions. Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey…. US bombs, interventions, election meddling, toppling of leaders, funding and arming of one set of currently-in-favor rebels (terrorists) to do clandestine US Gov bidding in these lands and many, many others. All of these are within easy reach of Russia. And your Gov would have you believe that Russia is the aggressor, that Putin is crazy. What would your response be if Russia were doing all of the above in the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada? If every land around you was being manipulated, occupied, destabilized? Your exploits create debt, death, destruction, destabilization, refugees, and angry terrorists that want to harm you for all of the aforementioned. And you’re not even embarrassed.

Referencing the NY Times article yesterday.

A 30-credit computer science Masters Degree at Univ of Southern California: $57,000. Now, online, through Georgia Tech, online candidates can get access to the same highly ranked education for… $7,000. You don’t need “Free Education.” You don’t need more grants, loans, gov assistance, tuition reimbursement. You don’t need to perpetuate an archaic education system of cronyism, inefficiency, time wasting brick-and-mortar classrooms, “tenured” professors that you never see or talk to but who rake in comfortable salaries. What are you paying for? What is the return on that investment? What are going to do with all of your debt? What is that cost-benefit analysis?

Aleppo, Syria shown above.

US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers, and others high in the Obama administration claim that Russia and Putin are committing war crimes in Syria and “laying waste to what is left of an iconic Middle Eastern city (Aleppo).” This from the war crimes exemplars, the writers of all things destructive, the authors of ruin all across the Middle East and North Africa. This from the war criminals… accusing others of war crimes. I have no doubt that Putin, Assad and other heads of state do reprehensible things. However, their capacity for death and destruction is miniscule compared to what your tax-funded bombs, armed and trained terrorists, clandestine plans and interventions, and corporo-Gov collusions have done throughout these continents.

Whatever emanates from the hallowed halls is likely 180 degree propaganda. The neocon statists (now heavily infiltrated by Progressives), have been after Russia for decades. Russia must be destabilized in order for US “interests,” resource flow, currency dominance, war industry revenue, permanent war gov power expansion, global hegemony, etc to continue on their path of geometric rise. Lies. Fearmongering. Psychologic manipulation of the public. Fictionalizing reality. Rewriting history. Being an aware adult requires constant attention to the nefarious designs of those that would use you as fodder, take your money, manipulate you emotionally and psychologically for their benefit.

I’m referencing the warmongering propaganda piece (and photo) from the the Financial Times article today: Russia accused of supporting ‘barbarism’ over Syrian conflict

After presenting 70 or so years of the history and details of the CIA and its chess masters, the conclusion can only be that it is a government all its own, that runs its own foreign policy, that is unconcerned with law or democracy or the Constitution. Presidents do not know what the CIA does, cannot constrain it or its players, and are swept into the international chaos that it causes. Assassination, coups, propaganda wars, blackmail against any political enemy, funding of rebel groups through ill-gotten monies that Congress wouldn’t give them (arms trading, drug running, theft), protecting the ultra rich and their international corporations at the expense of the local citizens and their own governments – just tools for its designs.

Jim Angleton, a disciple of Allen Dulles, in The Agency from its inception post-WWII, and a central player in all of the dark deeds, said on his lung cancer death bed, “Fundamentally, the founding fathers of US intelligence were liars…. The better you lied and the more you betrayed, the more likely you would be promoted…. Outside of their duplicity, the only thing they had in common was a desire for absolute power. I did things that, in looking back on my life, I regret. But I was part of it and loved being in it.” Speaking of these grand masters, “If you were in a room with them, you were in a room full of people that you had to believe would deservedly end up in hell…. I guess I will see them there soon.” (pg 620)

Yes, I’m sure you did.

Find it on Amazon

Maybe it’s a little early to get into the Christmas stuff, but I was asked at a neighbor gathering last night how it was that I was able to not give a single Christmas gift or card last year. (It was wonderful, by the way. It was my first full-on boycott, and I loved it.) That question got me thinking as to what I would do this year – if I could get away with it again. I’m not sure the family would allow it. Which led me to muse about how youngsters must think about Christmas – how confusing it must be to get all of the associated mythologies, rituals and religious beliefs straight,… but I repeat myself.

I began to imagine what I would respond if I were asked by a young nephew, “Uncle Todd, what is Christmas about?”

“Well, Nephew, you see, Christmas is the time when Jesus comes in his Flying Manger pulled by all of the Magic Manger Animals through the sky, led by the Red-Nosed Sheep in order to deliver gifts to all of the baptized children – the ones that aren’t expected to go to Hell. Christmas Jesus also expects everyone to give gifts and cards to all of their family, co-workers, neighbors and trash collectors. He also demands a never-ending stream of ‘Merry Christmas’es to every stranger anyone comes across for at least a 6-week period. Doing these things is mandatory in order to purge your mortal sins – similar to buying Indulgences,… but that’s a lesson for when you’re older.

“If you don’t do the high-stress Christmas shopping and run up the credit card debt and give the gifts and say the expected phrases and gather around an environmentally-friendly tree replica and sing songs of mythical lore, you will be visited by the True Spirit of Christmas, which is a tall, dark, ghastly phantom that hides under your bed at night. He scoops up grumpy little non-participative children on Christmas Eve with his long sickle and takes them to live forever and ever, deep in the Earth with the Red, Barb-Tailed, Cloven-Hoofed Devil where they roast marshmallows and chestnuts on an open fire… which isn’t too bad of an alternative,.. and definitely my personal preference to getting Christmased.”

“Now, young Nephew, did I ever tell you the story about the Immaculately-Conceived Easter Bunny? You can refer to him as ICEB, for short….”

(*thanks to richgibson.com for the lifted graphic. You can have all the proceeds from my page.)

“‘Saving Lives.’ Another empty slogan bromide. Even generously, the best anyone can do for another is to help improve life and decrease discomfort. Realistically, as we are all terminally ill from the moment of birth and on a one-way trip back to the molecules from which we were assembled, the most anyone can claim is to prolong life or delay death. Paradoxically, the ones that most proclaim the saving of lives tend to be those which cause the greatest misery and discomfort for others (hint: they tend to wear suits, badges, uniforms or reside in high office). When you hear the phrase ‘saving lives’ thrown around, look for the scam, the marketing angle, the demand for either money, vote or compliance. In the end, we’re all dead. Don’t let the self-congratulatory, power-seeking, deluded and/or devious parasites feed off of you in the meantime under the guise of a psychologically comforting, yet non-existent, immortality. ‘Saving lives.’ What’s next? Doing it ‘for the children?’ ‘Spreading democracy?’ Be safe out there. The scamsters never sleep.” – Todd Rice

Life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) are an issue for up to 2% of the US population, leading to as many as 1,500 deaths each year (see here). These severe reactions can be caused by a number of severe allergens for some, like peanuts, shrimp, bee stings and latex exposure. The primary treatment for anaphylaxis is epinephrine, a stress hormone produced in the human adrenal gland, which has been synthesized in labs and pharmaceuticalized for decades. It can be given intravenously in a critical care setting, but given the sudden onset of anaphylaxis and the immediate need for rescue, epinephrine has been formulated and packaged in an individual-dose, self-administered injector which can be carried by susceptible persons and self-injected. In recent years, the cost of an EpiPen (the leading brand name for the epinephrine injector) has been under $100 USD. In the past year, the list price for a two-pen package has risen to over $600. This has sparked public outrage, calls for more government regulation of the pharmaceutical industry, criticism of the EpiPen corporation’s (Mylan) CEO who makes $18M/year, and caused great concern that life-saving drugs might not be available for those that can’t afford this extreme price.

Zerohedge.com is one of my daily go-to sites, and recently posted a nice starter article on the political connections, donations and lobbying networks that complicate this particular situation, as well as the corporo-government medical cabal, at large:

As Congress Prepares To Crackdown On Epipen Price Increases, A Problem Has Emerged

I shared this on social media as an initial commentary:

“It doesn’t matter if Mylan charges $1M per dose. What makes this an idiotic situation is that the FDA and Gov Regulations have driven out of business all competitors for an injectable drug that has been around for decades. That’s what Gov does. It creates monopolies. That is the main outcome of regulation – it kills off everybody until only the Big Corporations are left standing, who can afford to lobby the politicians to their favor and pay for the heavy compliances.”

Today, as the media fury mounts, zerohedge ran another nice summary article and an embedded CNBC interview with the Mylan CEO, Heather Bresch. Despite the public’s understandable desire to hold the corporate exec personally and soley responsible for the ridiculous price increases, she appropriately deflects some of the blame and demonstrates at least a partial grasp that she is not alone as a causative agent of what could be termed “price gouging.” The very distorted health care services and pharmaceutical market is an outcome of innumerable entities, all of which operate outside of a transparent and free market economy.

Mylan CEO: “The US Healthcare System Bubble Is Going To Burst; This Is No Different Than The Subprime Crisis”

Again, to share my social media response to the article and interview:

“Aside from the monopolism provided to Mylan by Gov, aside from the pricing hidden from consumers and doctors by Gov and corporations, aside from the many inefficient and costly intermediary bodies that interpose and parasitize the interaction between the consumer/patient and the end service of doctor or drug company, THIS is what you get when you legislate and politicize an economy. YOU created this. YOU vote for this. When you want subsidies and protections and regulations and mandates and taxes,… THIS is what you get.