We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Banking on Influence With Bank of America

Click here to access article by Andrew Gavin Marshall from his blog. 

In this segment of his Global Power Project the Canadian researcher trains his perceptive eyes on Bank of America and its directors. First he reports on their nefarious and criminal activities to show that they are, indeed, "banksters". Then he proceeds to locate them in the ruling institutions of our society: leading "think" tanks, corporations, leading policy centers such as the Business Roundtable and Council on Foreign Relations, major media, and prominent educational institutions. From their locations in these top institutions they direct their vast resources and influence to the three branches of our their government to insure that government operations serve their interests. 

What is not mentioned in the article is the direct influence these decision-makers have over the secret surveillance agencies (CIA, FBI, NSA, etc) of the government that can be used against government officials in a disciplinary way (see this). 
...Sibel Edmonds reflects on Russ Tice’s recent revelations to Boiling Frogs Post and The Corbett Report that the NSA has wiretapped top government officials for years. Edmonds discusses from her own experience how the FBI collects dirt on Congressman and public officials for use as political leverage.
Such information is, of course, exceedingly difficult to obtain.