Your Own Personal American Revolution: 10 Things YOU Can Do Now, Really, To Start Change

reply to post by St0mP121

....political donations from what i can tell most of the ones you got to be concerned about is the one thats going in the back door that you dont know about. This process is the hardest for me. there is no easy way to find out and to see the link between a political party and a Co. unless you want to sit at your pc for 3 days before buying what you need.....

Well here is one I just stumbled across the other day. It was the last puzzle piece missing in the chain of events. It explains why the Food Safety Modernization Act was rammed down our throats during a lame duck session of Congress. That is the law that turns control of US food over to the World Trade Organization.

SEC. 404. COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization... www.fda.gov...

Dwayne Andreas worked for Cargill and then worked for Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADMC) becoming CEO in 1971. He is considered the TOP campaign donor in the USA.

...Dwayne Orville Andreas (born 4 March 1918) is one of the most prominent political campaign donors[1] in the United States, having contributed millions of dollars to Democratic and Republican candidates alike....

In 1971 Andreas became Chief Executive Officer of ADM, and is credited with transforming the firm into an industrial powerhouse — so powerful that by 1996, ADM had been investigated for price-fixing and was assessed the largest antitrust fine in United States history: 100 million dollars....

Andreas commands much respect among Washington politicians for his largesse. As part of the investigations surrounding illegal campaign fundraising linked to the Watergate scandal, Andreas was charged with (but acquitted of) illegally contributing $100,000 to Hubert Humphrey's 1968 presidential campaign. In 1972 Andreas unlawfully contributed $25,000 to President Nixon's re-election campaign via Watergate burglar Bernard Barker. Other recipients of Andreas's "tithing" — as he puts it — have included George H. W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Michael Dukakis, Jesse Jackson, and Jack Kemp.

According to Mother Jones magazine:

During the 1992 election, Andreas gave more than $1.4 million in soft money and $345,000 to individual candidates, using multiple donors in his company and family members (including wife Inez) to circumvent contribution limits.

Not all of Andreas's charity goes directly to politicians: in the 1990s he contributed $2.5 million to Florida public broadcasting network WXEL..... en.wikipedia.org...

Interesting that it was two Florida Journalists who got their behinds handed to them during the "FarmWars" link

So where does all this lead???

In 1995 VP of Cargill, Dan Amstutz as a senior trade negotiator under Clinton, wrote World Trade Organization Agreement on Ag. It got rid of tariffs, opened borders and with the aid of the United Nations, that is OIE and FAO, WROTE the regulations for farming to be implemented world wide. Here is the OIE - Guide to Good Farming Practices (livestock) and a listing by FAO of Guides to Good Agricultural Practices If you farm expect to see these in very short order.

From FDA website in 2008

International Harmonization
www.cfsan.fda.gov...

The harmonization of laws, regulations and standards between and among trading partners requires intense, complex, time-consuming negotiations by CFSAN officials. Harmonization must simultaneously facilitate international trade and promote mutual understanding, while protecting national interests and establish a basis to resolve food issues on sound scientific evidence in an objective atmosphere. i[]Failure to reach a consistent, harmonized set of laws, regulations and standards within the freetrade agreements and the World Trade Organization Agreements can result in considerable economic repercussions....

Next Amstutz wrote the 1996 farm bill called Freedom to Farm known to farmers as the (Freedom to Fail Act) It caused over production, very cheap grain and a major farm crisis with many US and third world farmers bankrupting. The law also changed US grain reserve policy. By 2008 the USDA declared "Our Cupboard is bare"

Amstutz also worked for Goldman Sachs.

President, North American Export Grain Association

Dan Amstutz is president and CEO of the North American Export Grain Association, the association of U.S. grain and oilseed exporters. Previously, he served as executive director of the International Wheat Council, London, now called the International Grains Council.

He was part of the Reagan Administration for 6 years. First, as under secretary of agriculture for international affairs and commodity programs (1983-1987), and then as ambassador and chief negotiator for agriculture in the GATT Uruguay Round trade negotiations. He played a key role in helping achieve more trade liberalization for agriculture than in all preceding multilateral trade rounds.

Before joining government, Amstutz was a general partner of Goldman, Sachs and Company, the New York investment bank, where he initiated the firm’s commodities trading and futures brokerage businesses.... archive.gipsa.usda.gov...

The Biofuel law goes into effect (the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) and Archer Daniels Midland cleans up big time on biofuel Biofuel business Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) saw its profits increase throughout all its segments year-over-year, after it formed a strategy to enhance crop-sourcing and processing capacity.... The company reported net earnings of $1.9bn and segment operating profit of $3.2bn for fiscal 2010


Gramm, head of the CFTC, helped firms such as Goldman Sachs gain influence over the commodity markets. At the end of 2006, food prices across the world started to rise, suddenly. Wheat had shot up by 80 per cent, maize by 90 per cent, rice by 320 per cent.

Then, in spring 2008, prices just as mysteriously fell back to their previous level. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, calls it “a silent mass murder”, entirely due to “man-made actions.” Through the 1990s, Goldman Sachs and others lobbied hard and the regulations [controlling agricultural futures contracts] were abolished. Suddenly, these contracts were turned into “derivatives” that could be bought and sold among traders who had nothing to do with agriculture. A market in “food speculation” was born. The speculators drove the price through the roof.” www.independent.co.uk...

...Today three companies, Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Bunge control the world’s grain trade. Chemical giant Monsanto controls three-fifths of seed production. Unsurprisingly, in the last quarter of 2007, even as the world food crisis was breaking, Archer Daniels Midland’s profits jumped 20%, Monsanto 45%, and Cargill 60%. Recent speculation with food commodities has created another dangerous “boom.” After buying up grains and grain futures, traders are hoarding, withholding stocks and further inflating prices.... www.globalissues.org...

If you thought the games these Sociopaths played with oil was bad just wait until they get a hard grip on the world food supply!

reply to post by pajoly


A comment on credit cards; If you really want one cancel the big name one(s) you have and get one through the local credit union, if you are going there to open an account as the OP suggested that would be a good time to do so. A credit card from a credit union can "only" charge a max. of 18% interest. if you pay off the balance of any credit card you have every month you are using their $ not paying their interest. It used to be illegal to charge more than 18% usary, collusion and monopoly laws have been repealed or are laughed at, these laws used to protect the general public; anyone remember when your local gas stations had gas wars?

One of the most important things to keep in mind is trying to establish a real non-partisan ANTI-WAR movement. War moves the USA and it unites both corrupt parties.

reply to post by pajoly


S+F - Excellent post - we have much to do. It sounds like a giant step to instantly adhere to all these steps; however, you can simply make it a goal to comply with a new step every couple weeks until you're at all ten. The last step is by far the easiest. The first step should be educating others, or at least attempting to.

Next, I would definitely say take your money out of your major corporate conglomerate banks like this thread suggests, and put it elsewhere where it actually matters.

You are saying the things that I have been telling people to do for the last 4 years.

Unfortunately it will never happen. The reason the whole world is going to go down the tubes together is because of one thing ....... greed.

Greed does not just affect the bankers and the politicians, it also affects the general population.

What is the difference between ridiculous executive wages and benefits and ridiculous union wages and benefits?

I took all my money out of the banks years ago because I saw what was coming. I did it more to protect myself than to punish the banks. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." I bet there are many Bernie Madoff customers who wished they had pulled their money out.

I have been telling people that money is the only legal weapon you have that you yourself control. They cannot tell you what to do with it ....... yet. If the banks don't have your money they have nothing to use against you.

But people refuse to take their money out of the banks because they get interest on it. Even though it is currently a pawltry amount, their greed is in control.

Because of that greed, they will soon lose it all.

What a pointless and pompous OP!

Sure, I'll give up flying, even when I need to see a friend in Colorado. I'll also start carrying unwieldy cash and that change that comes with it -- instead of my convenient plastic which I pay off on time anyhow and which costs me NOTHING to carry. I'll cancel my mobile service although I depend on it to make sure my kids in daycare are doing OK at all times. I don't pay any fees to Chase where I have accounts, but out of spite, I'm going to move funds to that stupid mom and pop bank that doesn't do international transfers when I need them.

Who wants to go back to caves, be my guest.

Bleh,

reply to post by pajoly


good list! i mean, you targetted the selfish money problem our planet is suffering from, but what about the health reasons. an example, flying is not only unneeded but so unhealthy that even the scanning machines give a dose of radiation that's much more than OK. spoken of here-->health.usnews.com...
-yet another example of the US not even being willing to test these machines. They say you can go thru it 1000 times a year and not be harmed by its radiation, although it is a generic xray machine(maybe stronger) and this is one cause of skin cancer.

One thing i would like to add to your list, if i may. Do not eat foods that are genetically modified or have; high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, soy lecithin or anything you cannot pronounce. If you aren't sure, go look it up there is plenty of information on GMs and what they do to our body. from giving us cancer to not being broken down by our gut. (BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT MEANT TO BE FOOD) I say this is an important thing because it will impact your health immensely and will drive those monsanto influenced companies out of business!

reply to post by LafingWithTears

....It used to be illegal to charge more than 18% usury, collusion and monopoly laws have been repealed or are laughed at, these laws used to protect the general public; anyone remember when your local gas stations had gas wars?

Now if you are late/or they "lost" the payment they can charge you OVER 30%!!!!! This means you pay the entire balance in three years and end up owing the exact same amount you owed to begin with in a never ending cycle.

All this interest charged on "money" the banks create out of thin air. It is the means by which the Fed secretly taxes us.

..it took about 110 years to create $3.148billion (1800 to1910 see Atlanta Fed above). That's an average of about $28 million per year. Moving forward to June of 2000, $242.737 billion was created from June 30, 2000 to Feb. 2008. That's an average of about $34.188 billion per year!
inflationdata.com...

Meanwhile the FED has "loaned" $2565.9 billion minus $3.148 billion or $2562.7 billion dollars into existence collecting interest and principle on all of it!

Since 2008 the Fed more than doubled the money supply from $831 billion to $2565.9 billion (cutting your savings and wages in half) and is planning QE3, another major money supply increase. When all that increase in the money supply comes home to roost we are going to see Zambian type inflation.

Total Federal Government Debt will grow with Help of FED

.....As you can see, we project that foreign participation has plateaued......

Adding it all together, even under the most conservative of assumptions, there are simply not enough buyers to cover the accelerating federal deficits. That leaves the lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve, as the only remaining candidate to satisfy the government’s grotesque appetite for funding. There is no viable alternative.

The Fed will take up the slack in the only way open to it, by printing money out of thin air and exchanging it for promises from the Treasury. That means an escalation of monetary inflation and, somewhere down the road, serious price inflation as well. We don’t know exactly when that will happen, only that it must.

The editors of The Casey Report have been alerting subscribers to this very possible scenario for quite some time. If foreigners stop buying U.S. government debt, the whole house of cards will come crashing down...

And yes I remember gas wars and 22cents a gallon.

I also remember the Rockefellers owned Standard Oil and Chase Manhattan Bank....

..In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, John D., Sr. (1839-1937) and his brother William Rockefeller (1841-1922) amassed the largest private fortune in history, primarily through Standard Oil. [1] The family is also known for its long association with and financial interest in the Chase Manhattan Bank...

In the early half of the 20th century, petrochemical giants organized a coup on the medical research facilities, hospitals and universities. The Rockefeller family sponsored research and donated sums to universities and medical schools which had drug based research.....

In 1939 a "Drug Trust" alliance was formed by the Rockefeller empire and the German chemical company IG Farben (Bayer). After World War Two, IG Farben was dismantled but later emerged as separate corporations within the alliance. Well known companies included General Mills, Kellogg, Nestle, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Procter and Gamble, Roche and Hoechst (Sanofi-Aventis). The Rockefeller empire, in tandem with Chase Manhattan Bank (now JP Morgan Chase), owns over half of the pharmaceutical interests in the United States. It is the largest drug manufacturing combine in the world. Since WWII, the pharmaceutical industry has steadily netted increasing profits to become the world's second largest manufacturing industry; [3], [4] after the arms industry.

...Auschwitz was the largest mass extermination factory in human history. However, few people are aware that Auschwitz was a 100% subsidiary of IG Farben...

After WWII, IG Farben attempted to shake its abominable image through corporate restructuring and renaming. So great has been their success that the public has no idea that it many of the men responsible for such atrocities, were able to carry on their work even after the collapse of the Nazi regime. Namely, a medical paradigm that relies almost exclusively highly toxic drugs. Such men were in control of the large chemical and pharmaceutical companies, both well before and after Hitler. The Nuremberg Tribunal convicted 24 IG Farben board members and executives on the basis of mass murder, slavery and other crimes. Incredibly, most of them had been released by 1951 and continued to consult with German corporations. The Nuremberg Tribunal dissolved IG Farben into Bayer, Hoechst and BASF, each company 20 times as large as IG Farben in 1944. For almost three decades after WWII, BASF, Bayer and Hoechst (Aventis) filled their highest position, chairman of the board, with former members of the Nazi regime. Bayer has been sued by survivors of medical experiments such as Eva Kor who, along with her sister, survived experiments at the hands of Dr. Josef Mengele.[6] See also Bayer.... www.sourcewatch.org...

The article goes on to talk of the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts of agribusiness interests, the "Green Revolution" and Rockefellers "Population Council"

These are NOT nice people!

reply to post by Common Scarecrow

....I have been telling people that money is the only legal weapon you have that you yourself control. They cannot tell you what to do with it ....... yet. If the banks don't have your money they have nothing to use against you.....

Unfortunately there are the Asset forfeiture LAWS so they CAN just take the money!!!!!

....

Under civil asset forfeiture laws, the simple possession of cash, with no drugs or other contraband, can be considered evidence of criminal activity.

Incredible as it sounds, civil asset forfeiture laws allow the government to seize property without charging anyone with a crime..... the government was allowed to keep whatever property it seized without ever having to prove a case. Seized property was presumed guilty and could be forfeited based upon mere hearsay—even a tip supplied by by an informant who stood to gain up to 25% of the forfeited assets. Owners were forced into the untenable situation of trying to prove a negative—that something never happened, even though no proof of any illegal act had been offered at trial.... www.fear.org...

They can play all the paper games they like.

Truth is, a country boy will survive.

Hard work, agricultural based, local economy and a close network of humans behaving humanely, and let the chips fall where they may.

If you're in a city, get out.

Find a job for less money, live simply, in a small community.

Once the SHTF, the people around you are all you'll have.

reply to post by pajoly


You forgot something about that hemp thing.
That would aid in wiping our slate clean quick.

Originally posted by jimnuggits
If you're in a city, get out.

Find a job for less money, live simply, in a small community.

Once the SHTF, the people around you are all you'll have.

I'll let Ben Franklin comment on that:

Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither

Originally posted by buddhasystem
What a pointless and pompous OP!

Sure, I'll give up flying, even when I need to see a friend in Colorado. I'll also start carrying unwieldy cash and that change that comes with it -- instead of my convenient plastic which I pay off on time anyhow and which costs me NOTHING to carry. I'll cancel my mobile service although I depend on it to make sure my kids in daycare are doing OK at all times. I don't pay any fees to Chase where I have accounts, but out of spite, I'm going to move funds to that stupid mom and pop bank that doesn't do international transfers when I need them.

Who wants to go back to caves, be my guest.

Bleh,

Then all is dandy in your world and things are just as you want them. I am happy for you. You make it pretty clear that convenience is your number one priority, with silly things like privacy and rights as merely quaint, so long as they don't get in the way. By the way, I'm pretty sure your "Mom & Pop" bank (my "Mom and Pop" CU has billions in assets) can likely handle all those, um, so tricky international transactions unless they are abacus based. Gosh, they probably even have online banking.

reply to post by pajoly

There is one other thing we can do. It has to do with "conditioning". If you watch a TV show that is 1 hour long, chances are you watched 4 minutes of programing followed by 5 minutes of advertising. You notice a Chase Credit card dance across the screen 5 times an hour just so you can watch that show. You see a car fly through the sky 10 times, and watch a woman writhe across the floor with a hamburger repeatedly. Millions of adds made to target, you guessed it....You! If you don't watch the advertising they will know. They indeed know how many people watch their adds. We have cable. I stopped watching TV a long time ago. I do not trust the news there, and the shows are generally mindless. The money for these adds goes to who? CBS, NBC, ABC, Cable news etc. Why? So they can convince you to buy..buy ...buy..and also to "train" your mind. If you stop watching the adds you will hit them in the pocket. And..you will save a ton of money because you have not been brainwashed into buying that new car you don't really need, getting a loan from a bank you really don't like, and paying higher insurance costs which you really can't afford. Advertising does all of these things and much more.
I have adds blocked on my computer. Nothing dances across my screen. No flash..no scripts..all has been stopped dead in their tracks. I only allow flash and scripts when I want to sign in to say ATS or the bank etc..then I immediately disable them again..including all cookies..first and third party. Stop watching the boob tube. Don't allow tracking cookies, stop watching the adds, ignore them. Block them. Learn how.
Our cable now is only for the computers. In the past 8 hours. I have actually seen three adds. Those occurred when I logged into ATS. Shortly all that will be disabled again. I will again soon watch and enjoy my freedom away from big business trying to convince me to buy a grape. Off I go to disable everything on my computer to control big business.

Originally posted by pajoly

Originally posted by buddhasystem
What a pointless and pompous OP!

Sure, I'll give up flying, even when I need to see a friend in Colorado. I'll also start carrying unwieldy cash and that change that comes with it -- instead of my convenient plastic which I pay off on time anyhow and which costs me NOTHING to carry. I'll cancel my mobile service although I depend on it to make sure my kids in daycare are doing OK at all times. I don't pay any fees to Chase where I have accounts, but out of spite, I'm going to move funds to that stupid mom and pop bank that doesn't do international transfers when I need them.

Who wants to go back to caves, be my guest.

Bleh,

Then all is dandy in your world and things are just as you want them. I am happy for you. You make it pretty clear that convenience is your number one priority, with silly things like privacy and rights as merely quaint, so long as they don't get in the way. By the way, I'm pretty sure your "Mom & Pop" bank (my "Mom and Pop" CU has billions in assets) can likely handle all those, um, so tricky international transactions unless they are abacus based. Gosh, they probably even have online banking.

I don't make convenience my "number one priority", just like my priorities do not include infantile mental masturbation, and neither does masochism (your mileage may vary). Sure, you can forgo using shampoo, because using shampoo entails enriching the evil chemical companies of the world. Similarly, feel free to use dried corn cob in lieu of toilet paper because it's more environmentally friendly. As I said, please do these silly things, they provide comic relief for the rest of us.

And indeed, the local Mom and Pop CU sucked rabbit's @ss when I wanted them to handle my international transaction. I went to Chase and they did it in a microsecond. Feel the difference. Or don't. Order more corn cobs.

reply to post by pajoly


My friend,

This is easy to do.

I've been doing much of this for years and have started doing the rest for a few years.

Good stuff.

sandf

Very nice thread, Pajoly. I didn't have time to read all the way through, so if this has already been shared, I apologize for the repeat. I had a more thorough list several years ago, but cannot find it now. Anyway, here's a "Made in America Resource Guide" with links to various companies/goods that are made in America:

abcnews.go.com...
Star for you.

your reasoning stands clear, I like it.

Great thread S+F

Also the post about going organic and staying clear of gm products deserves a flag of its own, starred anway

Keep it up people!


Peace

Double Post