- By Rob Leslie and Goa Lobaugh - March 28, 2015

In today’s world, digital information is pervasive. Nearly every detail about our lives and our communications is processed, transmitted, and stored digitally in some way. This is both a technical marvel that allows us to share knowledge and ideas in unprecedented ways across boundless distances, and also a challenge to us to ensure the privacy and integrity of the things we choose to share.

As was stated in the movie THRIVE, and in a previous blog on surveillance, and as Edward Snowden’s revelations confirmed, there are some people who want to have access to all our personal digital information and eavesdrop on all our conversations, and they have the resources and are willing to go to great lengths to do it. Ostensibly they want to do this so they can protect us from others who would harm us, but in doing so they also disrespect us by violating our privacy and in some cases violating the integrity of our communications without our permission.

In a thriving world, it is our responsibility to protect the privacy and integrity of our own digital information, just as we take steps to protect our physical property from thieves, vandals, or prying eyes. As with physical security, there are a variety of threats to our digital information, and accordingly a variety of tools we can use to mitigate those threats. Technology and policy are both moving targets, so it is important to stay vigilant in order to keep current with best practices. Below are some of the best practices we’ve found to secure our digital information.

Threats to Our Digital Information

In THRIVE, it was said that “every phone call and email we send is collected and archived, and can be inspected at any time.” Snowden explained that this wholesale collection of information is not necessarily reviewed immediately or used to build dossiers on specific people, but rather is archived in long-term storage that can be queried at any time in the future.

Snowden also showed a variety of the methods used to collect this information, from wiretapping various Internet connection points, to working directly with technology companies that have access to information, to interdicting the shipment of hardware and implanting custom software that will aid in the collection, and many others. While some of these methods are targeted at specific individuals or groups, others are not. The threats to our digital information, then, can vary depending on who has it, and how badly someone else wants to get it.

The fact that some technology companies are so easily willing to release the information entrusted to them shows us the value of choosing the companies we share our information with, reviewing the privacy policies of those companies, and of carefully selecting the information we ultimately share. This is of course easier said than done, and in many cases we simply want the service more than we want to hassle over finding an alternative, if there even is one. Clearly, few enjoy reading privacy policies or terms and conditions, even though they form an integral part of the agreement between you and the company providing you a service, and often reveal the level of respect you can expect the company to have for you and your personal information.

There are, of course, threats beyond these. Some people are interested in obtaining your personal information or intercepting your communications in order to contact and persuade you to buy their products, or to trick and defraud you. Other people are interested in gaining control over your computers and will attempt to spread malware (in the form of a computer virus or rootkit) so they can use your hardware and Internet connection for their own purposes, including sending spam, launching denial-of-service attacks against others, capturing keystrokes and passwords, mining or stealing bitcoin, collecting all of the personal information on your computer, or just trying to prevent you from copying a CD.

You may also have personal adversaries that are interested in you or your communications for some reason—maybe a competitor, a jealous lover, a paid troll, or a rogue actor intent on sabotaging your inventions or perhaps just your point of view. There are many reasons to want to protect the privacy and integrity of your personal information. Even if you do not feel personally at risk, it is useful to recognize the levels of surveillance that are happening. The 2012 National Defense Authorization Act made it illegal and punishable by imprisonment with no access to legal defense to speak out against government policies, and recently a report funded by the Department of Homeland Security named sovereign individuals as the number one domestic threat in America. Awareness of this is an important step in taking responsibility to stop it.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are threats to our digital information in the form of public policy decisions. Some people would like to make it illegal for anyone to use encryption, and fear a world in which encryption prevents them from accessing information they are not a party to. Others would like to force all companies to give up information about their users. Still others might try to use so-called “net neutrality” regulations as a Trojan horse to impose additional surveillance. Vigilance is essential to keep what little privacy we do have from disappearing completely.

Best Practices for Securing Digital Information

The good news is that there are concrete things we can still do to improve our personal digital security. The very things that threaten our digital information have also motivated privacy-conscious individuals and companies to differentiate themselves by developing and offering products and services with high standards for privacy and security. Organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Thrive, and people like Snowden, Laura Poitras, Glenn Greenwald, and Julian Assange as well as others have brought the issue into mainstream discussions where we have an opportunity to influence and shift belief systems toward a world in which no one’s privacy is violated against their will.

No solution is 100% guaranteed, and all require some work to employ. The first and easiest thing you can do is to be mindful of what you agree to, and the information you share in the first place. You may be surprised by the amount of privacy you agree to give up in exchange for the services some companies and apps offer to provide, and might want to seek alternatives when the terms feel unacceptable to you.

The next thing you can do is to use encryption wherever possible. Snowden informs us that when implemented and used properly, encryption can help secure information against practically all known forms of eavesdropping and tampering. That’s a big help, but also a big condition—encryption is fundamentally complex, and easy to get wrong. There is even speculation that some cryptographic algorithms may have been deliberately and surreptitiously weakened to reduce their effectiveness. It’s also important to realize that even if implemented and used properly, encryption is not a panacea. For example, the fact that you used encryption may be utterly obvious to outside observers (and attract their interest as a result), as may be the source, destination, size, or frequency of your messages or data. Furthermore, encryption can only ensure privacy if performed in an environment that has not already been compromised. A computer virus, or other malware disguised as an otherwise useful app, might still be eavesdropping on the information you’re trying to encrypt. Even so, encryption is the best option we have when we want to ensure our privacy.

Finally, we believe it is important for us all to speak up about the importance of digital security and the violations caused by misguided public policy. Together we can make it clear that it is not acceptable to spy on, intercept, tamper with, or misuse the private communications and personal information of others, and we can support the pioneering efforts of those who are both developing solutions and taking on the public policy issues.

Tools and Technology Tips

Here is some specific advice on the kinds of tools available to help secure your digital privacy:

Instant Messaging

OTR stands for “Off-the-Record Messaging” and is an encryption protocol made specially for instant messaging. It provides “deniable authentication” which allows you to be sure of the authenticity of the messages you receive from the other party in a way that can’t be proved to anyone else.

There are several reasonably priced, free, or subscription apps that use OTR, including TextSecure for Android, ChatSecure for iOS and Android, and Jitsi for Windows, Mac, and Linux, among many others.

Silent Circle is a paid service that offers a suite of tools for state of the art encryption for text, as well as voice and video communications. Phil Zimmermann, a pioneer in the field and creator of PGP and ZRTP, is one of their developers.

The Silent Circle source code, as well as TextSecure is available for review on GitHub, adding another layer of protection with the transparency of their system, increasing the likelihood of vulnerabilities being exposed and patched quickly.

Telephone Conversations

For smartphones, as mentioned before, Silent Circle offers an encrypted voice and video option. Another option is Open Whisper Systems’ Signal for iOS and RedPhone for Android.

The folks at Silent Circle have also partnered with a smartphone manufacturer to create the Blackphone, an entire smartphone built for secure communications. It includes its own privacy focused operating system, PrivatOS, which prohibits backdoor access, and other common hacks.

Online Searching and Browsing

Here are some tips to improve your online privacy:

• Instead of Google, use search engines offering strong privacy protection, such as StartPage, Ixquick or DuckDuckGo.

• Connect to sites using HTTPS whenever possible (e.g. using HTTPS Everywhere), and always when transferring personal information. HTTPS refers to a standard for encrypting communications with web servers, also known as TLS or SSL. (HTTPS imposes certain costs on web servers to support it, so not all do. Some sites, including our own at Thrive, use HTTPS when submitting or transferring sensitive personal information.)

• Use Tor when you want or need to browse the web in complete anonymity.

• For additional privacy (especially when traveling), use Tails to start almost any computer from portable media and leave no trace when you are done.

• If you regularly communicate with colleagues in multiple locations, consider setting up a virtual private network (VPN) to encrypt all communications between the sites using OpenVPN or IPsec. This is an advanced but effective technique for taking direct responsibility over the privacy of your communications. Some commercial services also offer VPN tunnels you can use to connect privately to the Internet.

Email

Probably the most widely used encryption standard for email is PGP (also GPG) which can be used both to sign and encrypt messages. PGP relies on a decentralized “web of trust” to provide confidence that the key you use to encrypt messages to someone (or to verify the signatures of someone) actually belongs to the person in question, and is not a decoy or forgery. In practice this usually means meeting in person once to verify the other person’s key fingerprint, or relying on the judgment of others you trust who have directly or indirectly confirmed this themselves.

You can find software available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Computer Security

Unless your computer is never connected to the Internet, there are always risks to the information stored on it. Often the worst risks come from trusting software of questionable origin — for example, free apps that you can download from the Internet. While operating systems are getting better at insulating your private information (like your address book contacts and your calendar) from random apps and require your permission before allowing access, there may still be loopholes. It is always better to err on the side of caution by not running software you don’t trust completely. This is why it is good advice never to open email attachments you don’t recognize or from people you don’t know, and also why open source software is preferable to closed-source: you benefit when the software source code can be reviewed for integrity by anyone.

It’s worth noting that any time you are asked to enter an administrative password on your computer, you are essentially giving the app making the request complete and unrestricted access to do anything with your computer; consider whether you really trust the app in question before granting such permission.

Assuming you trust your computer and all the software it runs well enough not to be compromised, here are some tools you can use to encrypt your files:

• Mac: Encrypt your entire startup disk with FileVault (System Preferences… > Security & Privacy > FileVault), or create an encrypted image for a smaller set of files using Disk Utility. In recent versions of OS X, you can also use Disk Utility to encrypt an external disk (see Help > Disk Utility Help for details).

• Windows: Until it was discontinued last year, TrueCrypt was a popular option for encrypting files on Windows. VeraCrypt and CipherShed have been identified as current alternatives. Some recent versions of Windows also include built-in encryption facilities, and Windows 8.1 may automatically encrypt everything on your hard drive by default.

• Linux: Encrypt disk partitions using dm-crypt (e.g. cryptsetup/LUKS) or encrypt individual files with GnuPG.

Passphrases

Any time you rely on encryption, it is critical to use a good passphrase, or the effort will be for naught. It turns out this is not as easy as you might think. Fortunately, we can recommend a simple and reliable technique to generate extremely secure passphrases.

Cloud Services

While the ubiquity of “cloud” services like Dropbox, Google Docs, or iCloud makes them attractive and convenient, it’s important to realize that we give up several layers of control (both physical and digital) when we use these services. Be conscious of the power you give away to the cloud operators, and understand their policies. If privacy is essential, encrypt your files before storing them in the cloud, or consider using a service with higher standards for privacy.

Devices

Be aware that many devices today want to connect to the “cloud” to store and retrieve data, whether they are mobile phones, tablets, game systems, “smart” TVs, or other “smart” appliances. Often this data contains personal information about you, even a recording of your voice if you make requests that way. It may be disconcerting to realize the TV in your living room may be listening to you and sending what it hears to a remote third party, so if this bothers you, consider turning such features off if you can, or vote with your wallet and don’t purchase devices with these capabilities. Also let the companies know that you chose not to purchase their device for this reason.

Additional Resources

• VIDEO: Documentary film — Terms and Conditions May Apply

• VIDEO: Jacob Appelbaum & Laura Poitras — Reconstructing narratives

• Privacy Project — Blackphone

• You Can Now Easily Send Encrypted Texts to Anyone, and the NSA Is Gonna Hate It — Motherboard

• The Best Cloud Storage Services that Protect Your Privacy — Lifehacker

• Passphrases That You Can Memorize — But That Even the NSA Can’t Guess — The Intercept

• Cisco is Shipping Equipment to Fake Addresses to Protect Customers; Meanwhile Amazon Refuses to Provide Any Transparency — Liberty Blitzkrieg

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a staunch advocate of digital civil liberties, including personal privacy.

• Bruce Schneier is a well-known security researcher who has had direct access to the Snowden documents. (See a recent interview he gave after the release of his latest book, Data and Goliath; you can also read an excerpt from the book.) He offers good analyses of a wide range of security issues, but also tends to endorse collectivist (violating individual rights for the “good of the group”) solutions to the problems he identifies.

  Here’s our challenge to you: can you identify better solutions that also adhere to the principle of non-violation?

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - And the further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it". George Orwell

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The 2014 Election - American People Have Spoken

- By Bahram Maskanian

Republicans have been boasting and bragging about the most embarrassing vote of no confidence by the American people since 1942. The phrase - The American People Have Spoken - has been use far too frequently by the Republican congress as a sign of validation and victory in the 2014 elections. But we all know that nothing could be further from the truth. In reality the American people said you (the U.S. Government) are dismissed, fired, no longer trusted and employed by the American people.

Re-elected by only 35% of the ignorant voters, while 65% of the voters nauseated by the Democrats and Republicans both, have simply boycotted the election.   The shameful 65% vote of NO Confidence by the American people who did not vote in the recent 2014 election in any half-ass true democracy, would have resulted in dissolving the congress, suspending the constitution and convening a constitutional convention to simply start over.   But that is not what happened, did it?

Often times the press, media and even government officials themselves ridicule politicians / government and portray them as dimwitted twits. We should not fall for this trick. This is their way of protecting themselves against liability. They are using stupidity as a tool, similar to an insanity plea in a murder trial.  

We should never lose site of the fact that all politicians have handlers / acting teachers who keep an eye on them and teach them how to act, such as how to convincingly deceive and lie as a good believable actor would do on the silver screen.

Before going any further I would like to clarify an important point that, euphemistically changing a name of an awful, illegal and treasonous action to a softer name, does not change the nature of the crime committed. For example: calling the murder of innocent people in pursuit of warmongering plunder and profits, the “casualty of war” does not make it acceptable, nor forgivable. By the same token, calling outright direct bribe, a high treason act, a campaign, or political contribution, does not make it acceptable, nor forgivable.

We, the people are sick and tired of Republicans and Democrats (Republicrats) traitors to the American people and constitution, playing their usual good cop, bad cop games, thus enriching their masters, the nation-less corporate regime. In the meantime, we, the people, are and have been robbed, our foods poisoned, air and water contaminated deliberately by the corporate regime, permitted by the Republicrats in order to achieve dumbing down of the population and population reduction for better and closer control of the world, thus ensuring their masters, the nation-less corporations maintaining their grip on power while continuing to murder and steal.

The well coordinated campaign of press, media talking heads and the criminal politicians to confuse and distract the people and cover up the 65% vote of NO Confidence by the American people, through completely changing the subject and boasting about what didn’t happen. The media talking heads rushed to join the gang of criminal elites in charge, by lending their voice to the “American People Have Spoken” campaign. The only true part of this campaign is the fact that “American People Did Speak Out”, and what they said was, “Get the hell out. We do not trust you criminals”.

Two third of the American people did not vote. Right there if we, the people, were living in a real democracy, Supreme Court should have dissolved the congress and call for convening a constitutional convention, but that didn’t happen. Why is that? MONEY. Every single of these so-called public officials, with the exception of a few, are prostitutes, for lack of a better word are bought and paid for.

The overwhelming two / third, 65% majority of the American People Have Spoken, and loudly said: “Enough is Enough. We do not trust you traitors. Get the hell out.”

As U.S. citizens and patriots, it is our duty to protect our country and our liberty by removing the ruling parliamentary dictatorship, the U.S. government. It is time to boycott all elections and convene constitutional convention.

“No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.” - Samuel Adams

United Nation Resolution 3013 from 1973 States: “The struggles of people under colonial and alien determination and racist regimes for the implementation of their right to self-determination and independence is legitimate and in full accordance with the principals of international law”.

Also Read:

What can I do, to help my country?
http://venusproject.org/volunteer/what-can-i-do-to-help-my-country.html

Revolution: An Instruction Manual
http://venusproject.org/volunteer/revolution-an-instruction-manual.html

The American Peoples' Command Directive
http://venusproject.org/celebrate/american-people-s-command-directive.html

The U.S. Declaration of Independence
http://venusproject.org/celebrate/the-u-s-declaration-of-independence.html

The Dawn of a New Era
http://venusproject.org/celebrate/the-dawn-of-a-new-era.html

Install the Greenhouse free browser extension listed below to learn instantly who pays and owns your senators and members of congress.

Some are red. Some are blue. But all are green.!

A free browser extension for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox that exposes the role money plays in Congress and highlights key election races. Displays on any web page detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation. Puts vital data where it’s most relevant so you can discover the real impact of money on our political system.

After you installed the browser extension, simply hover your mouse over these names to see who owns these people:

Nancy Pelosi - Chuck Schumer - Kirsten Gillibrand - Harry Reid - Dianne Feinstein - Dick Durbin

Marco Rubio - Mitch McConnell - John Cornyn - Orrin Hatch - Roy Blunt - Roger Wicker - Richard Shelby - Jeff Sessions

The Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) And The New World Order

- By William Blase - December 31, 2014

For those who may be confused by the controversies surrounding the "New World Order", a One-World-Government, and American concern over giving the UN more power; those unaware of the issues involved; and those wishing more background, I offer the following.

Originally presented for an Honors Class, "Dilemmas of War and Peace," at New Mexico State University, the paper was ridiculed and characterized by Dr. Yosef Lapid, (an acknowledged and locally quoted "expert" on Terrorism and Middle Eastern affairs) as "paranoid... possibly a symptom of mental illness." You may judge for yourself.

Citing source data is the "scientific method," but does not seem to apply to "Conspiracy Theories." A thousand sources may be quoted, yet will not convince the "skeptics," the "realists." It seems to me the "symptoms of mental illness" are on their side, if they refuse to look at evidence ("There are none so blind as those who WILL not see"); or perhaps something more sinister is at work, such as a knowledge of the truth, that does not want YOU to know.

To be paranoid means to believe in delusions of danger and persecution. If the danger is real, and the evidence credible, then it cannot be delusional. To ignore the evidence, and hope that it CANNOT be true, is more an evidence of mental illness.

The issue involves much more than a difference of philosophy, or political viewpoint. Growing up in the midst of the "Cold War," our generation were taught that those who attempted to abolish our national sovereignty and overthrow our Constitutional government were committing acts of treason. Please judge for yourself if the group discussed is guilty of such.

If one group is effectively in control of national governments and multinational corporations; promotes world government through control of media, foundation grants, and education; and controls and guides the issues of the day; then they control most options available. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and the financial powers behind it, have done all these things, and promote the "New World Order", as they have for over seventy years.

The CFR is the promotional arm of the Ruling Elite in the United States of America. Most influential politicians, academics and media personalities are members, and it uses its influence to infiltrate the New World Order into American life. Its' "experts" write scholarly pieces to be used in decision making, the academics expound on the wisdom of a united world, and the media members disseminate the message.

To understand how the most influential people in America came to be members of an organization working purposefully for the overthrow of the Constitution and American sovereignty, we have to go back at least to the early 1900's, though the story begins much earlier (depending on your viewpoint and beliefs).

That a ruling power elite does indeed control the U.S. government behind the scenes has been attested to by many americans in a position to know. Felix Frankfurter, Justice of the Supreme Court (1939-1962), said: "The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes." In a letter to an associate dated November 21, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt wrote, "The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson." February 23, 1954,

Senator William Jenner warned in a speech: "Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government, a bureaucratic elite which believes our Constitution is outmoded."

Baron M.A. Rothschild wrote, "Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws."

All that is needed to effectively control a government is to have control over the nation's money: a central bank with a monopoly over the supply of money and credit. This had been done in Western Europe, with the creation of privately owned central banks such as the Bank of England.

Georgetown professor Dr. Carroll Quigley (Bill Clinton's mentor while at Georgetown) wrote about the goals of the investment bankers who control central banks: "... nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole... controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences."

The Bank of the United States (1816-36), an early attempt at an American central bank, was abolished by President Andrew Jackson, who believed that it threatened the nation. He wrote: "The bold effort the present bank had made to control the government, the distress it had wantonly produced...are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it."

Thomas Jefferson wrote: "The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution...if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Does that not describe the situation in America today?

The U.S. managed to do without a central bank until early in this century, when, according to Congressman Charles Lindbergh, Sr., "The Money Trust caused the 1907 panic, and thereby forced Congress to create a National Monetary Commission." Headed by Senator Nelson Aldrich, father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the Commission recommended creation of a central bank.

Though unconstitutional, as only "The Congress shall have Power...To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof..." (Article I, Section 8, U.S. Constitution) the Federal Reserve Act was passed in December 1913; ostensibly to stabilize the economy and prevent further panics, but as Lindberg warned Congress: "This act establishes the most gigantic trust on earth...the invisible government by the money power, proven to exist by the Money Trust investigation, will be legalized." The Great Depression and numerous recessions later, it is obvious the Federal Reserve produces inflation and federal debt whenever it desires, but not stability.

Congressman Louis McFadden, House Committee on Banking and Currency Chairman (1920-31), stated: "When the Federal Reserve Act was passed, the people of these United States did not perceive that a world banking system was being set up here. A super-state controlled by international bankers and industrialists...acting together to enslave the world...Every effort has been made by the Fed to conceal its powers but the truth is--the Fed has usurped the government."

Although called "Federal," the Federal Reserve system is privately owned by member banks, makes its own policies, and is not subject to oversight by Congress or the President. As the overseer and supplier of reserves, the Fed gave banks access to public funds, which enhanced their lending capacity.

Peter Kershaw, in "Economic Solutions" lists the ten major shareholders of the Federal Reserve Bank System as: Rothschild: London and Berlin; Lazard Bros: Paris; Israel Seiff: Italy; Kuhn- Loeb Company: Germany; Warburg: Hamburg and Amsterdam; Lehman Bros: New York; Goldman and Sachs: New York; Rockefeller: New York. (That most, if not all of these families just happen to be Jewish, you may judge the significance of yourself). The balance of stock is owned by major commercial member banks.

According to Devvy Kidd, "Why A Bankrupt America?" The Federal Reserve pays the Bureau of Engraving & Printing approximately $23 for each 1,000 notes printed. 10,000 $100 notes (one million dollars) would thus cost the Federal Reserve $230. They then secure a pledge of collateral equal to the face value from the U.S. government. The collateral is our land, labor, and assets... collected by their agents, the IRS. By authorizing the Fed to regulate and create money (and thus inflation), Congress gave private banks power to create profits at will.

As Lindberg put it: "The new law will create inflation whenever the trusts want inflation...they can unload the stocks on the people at high prices during the excitement and then bring on a panic and buy them back at low prices...the day of reckoning is only a few years removed." That day came in 1929, with the Stock Market crash and Great Depression.

One of the most important powers given to the Fed was the right to buy and sell government securities, and provide loans to member banks so they might also purchase them. This provided another built-in mechanism for profit to the banks, if government debt was increased. All that was needed was a method to pay off the debt. This was accomplished through the passage of the income tax in 1913.

A national income tax was declared unconstitutional in 1895 by the Supreme Court, so a constitutional amendment was proposed in Congress by none other than ...Senator Nelson Aldrich. As presented to the American people it seemed reasonable enough: income tax on only one percent of income under $20,000, with the assurance that it would never increase.

Since it was graduated, the tax would "soak the rich", ...but the rich had other plans, already devising a method of protecting wealth. As described by Gary Allen in his 1976 book "The Rockefeller File," "By the time the (16th) Amendment had been approved by the states, the Rockefeller Foundation was in full operation...about the same time that Judge Kenesaw Landis was ordering the breakup of the Standard Oil monopoly...John D...not only avoided taxes by creating four great tax-exempt foundations; he used them as repositories for his 'divested' interests...made his assets non-taxable so that they might be passed down through generations without...estate and gift taxes...Each year the Rockefellers can dump up to half their incomes into their pet foundations and deduct the "donations" from their income tax."

Exchanging ownership for control of wealth, foundations are also a handy means for promoting interests that benefit the wealthy. Millions of foundation dollars have been "donated" to causes such as promoting the use of drugs, while degrading preventive medicine. Since many drugs are made from coal tar derivatives, both oil companies and drug manufacturing concerns (many Rockefeller owned or controlled) are the main beneficiaries.

With the means to loan enormous sums to the government (the Federal Reserve), a method to repay the debt (income tax), and an escape from taxation for the wealthy, (foundations), all that remained was an excuse to borrow money. By some happy "coincidence," in 1914 World War I began, and after American participation national debt rose from $1 billion to $25 billion.

Woodrow Wilson was elected President in 1913, beating incumbent William Howard Taft, who had vowed to veto legislation establishing a central bank. To divide the Republican vote and elect the relatively unknown Wilson, J.P. Morgan and Co. poured money into the candidacy of Teddy Roosevelt and his Progressive Party.

According to an eyewitness, Wilson was brought to Democratic Party headquarters in 1912 by Bernard Baruch, a wealthy banker. He received an "indoctrination course" from those he met, and in return agreed, if elected: to support the projected Federal Reserve and the income tax, and "listen" to advice in case of war in Europe and on the composition of his cabinet.

Wilson's top advisor during his two terms was a man named Colonel Edward M. House. House's biographer, Charles Seymour, called him the "unseen guardian angel" of the Federal Reserve Act, helping to guide it through Congress. Another biographer wrote that House believed: "...the Constitution, product of eighteenth-century minds...was thoroughly outdated; that the country would be better off if the Constitution could be scrapped and rewritten..." House wrote a book entitled "Philip Dru: Administrator," published anonymously in 1912. The hero, Philip Dru, rules America and introduces radical changes, such as a graduated income tax, a central bank, and a "league of nations."

World War I produced both a large national debt, and huge profits for those who had backed Wilson. Baruch was appointed head of the War Industries Board, where he exercised dictatorial power over the national economy. He and the Rockefellers were reported to have earned over $200 million during the war. Wilson backer Cleveland Dodge sold munitions to the allies, while J.P. Morgan loaned them hundreds of millions, with the protection of U.S. entry into the war.

While profit was certainly a motive, the war was also useful to justify the notion of world government. William Hoar reveals in "Architects of Conspiracy" that during the 1950s, government investigators examining the records of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a long- time promoter of globalism, found that several years before the outbreak of World War I, the Carnegie trustees were planning to involve the U.S. in a general war, to set the stage for world government.

The main obstacle was that Americans did not want any involvement in European wars. Some kind of incident, such as the explosion of the battleship Main, which provoked the Spanish - American war, would have to be provided as provocation. This occurred when the Lusitania, carrying 128 Americans on board, was sunk by a German submarine, and anti-German sentiment was aroused. When war was declared, U.S. propaganda portrayed all Germans as Huns and fanged serpents, and all Americans opposing the war as traitors.

What was not revealed at the time, however, was that the Lusitania was transporting war munitions to England, making it a legitimate target for the Germans. Even so, they had taken out large ads in the New York papers, asking that Americans not take passage on the ship.

The evidence seems to point to a deliberate plan to have the ship sunk by the Germans. Colin Simpson, author of "The Lusitania," wrote that Winston Churchill, head of the British Admiralty during the war, had ordered a report to predict the political impact if a passenger ship carrying Americans was sunk. German naval codes had been broken by the British, who knew approximately where all U-boats near the British Isles were located.

According to Simpson, Commander Joseph Kenworthy, of British Naval Intelligence, stated: "The Lusitania was deliberately sent at considerably reduced speed into an area where a U-boat was known to be waiting...escorts withdrawn." Thus, even though Wilson had been reelected in 1916 with the slogan "He kept us out of war," America soon found itself fighting a European war. Actually, Colonel House had already negotiated a secret agreement with England, committing the U.S. to the conflict. It seems the American public had little say in the matter.

With the end of the war and the Versailles Treaty, which required severe war reparations from Germany, the way was paved for a leader in Germany such as Hitler. Wilson brought to the Paris Peace Conference his famous "fourteen points," with point fourteen being a proposal for a "general association of nations," which was to be the first step towards the goal of One World Government-the League of Nations.

Wilson's official biographer, Ray Stannard Baker, revealed that the League was not Wilson's idea. "...not a single idea--in the Covenant of the League was original with the President." Colonel House was the author of the Covenant, and Wilson had merely rewritten it to conform to his own phraseology.

The League of Nations was established, but it, and the plan for world government eventually failed because the U.S. Senate would not ratify the Versailles Treaty.

Pat Robertson, in "The New World Order," states that Colonel House, along with other internationalists, realized that America would not join any scheme for world government without a change in public opinion.

After a series of meetings, it was decided that an "Institute of International Affairs", with two branches, in the United States and England, would be formed.

The British branch became known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, with leadership provided by members of the Round Table. Begun in the late 1800's by Cecil Rhodes, the Round Table aimed to federate the English speaking peoples of the world, and bring it under their rule.

The Council on Foreign Relations was incorporated as the American branch in New York on July 29, 1921. Founding members included Colonel House, and "...such potentates of international banking as J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Paul Warburg, Otto Kahn, and Jacob Schiff...the same clique which had engineered the establishment of the Federal Reserve System," according to Gary Allen in the October 1972 issue of "AMERICAN OPINION."

The founding president of the CFR was John W. Davis, J.P. Morgan's personal attorney, while the vice-president was Paul Cravath, also representing the Morgan interests. Professor Carroll Quigley characterized the CFR as "...a front group for J.P. Morgan and Company in association with the very small American Round Table Group." Over time Morgan influence was lost to the Rockefellers, who found that one world government fit their philosophy of business well. As John D. Rockefeller, Sr. had said: "Competition is a sin," and global monopoly fit their needs as they grew internationally.

Antony Sutton, a research fellow for the Hoover Institution for War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University, wrote of this philosophy: "While monopoly control of industries was once the objective of J.P. Morgan and J.D. Rockefeller, by the late nineteenth century the inner sanctums of Wall Street understood the most efficient way to gain an unchallenged monopoly was to 'go political' and make society go to work for the monopolists-- under the name of the public good and the public interest."

Frederick C. Howe revealed the strategy of using government in a 1906 book, "Confessions of a Monopolist": "These are the rules of big business...Get a monopoly; let society work for you; and remember that the best of all business is politics..."

As corporations went international, national monopolies could no longer protect their interests. What was needed was a one world system of government controlled from behind the scenes. This had been the plan since the time of Colonel House, and to implement it, it was necessary to weaken the U.S. politically and economically.

During the 1920's, America enjoyed a decade of prosperity, fueled by the easy availability of credit. Between 1923 and 1929 the Federal Reserve expanded the money supply by sixty-two percent. When the stock market crashed, many small investors were ruined, but not "insiders." In March of 1929 Paul Warburg issued a tip the Crash was coming, and the largest investors got out of the market, according to Allen and Abraham in "None Dare Call it Conspiracy."

With their fortunes intact, they were able to buy companies for a fraction of their worth. Shares that had sold for a dollar might now cost a nickel, and the buying power, and wealth, of the rich increased enormously.

Louis McFadden, Chairman of the House Banking Committee declared: "It was not accidental. It was a carefully contrived occurrence...The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so that they might emerge as rulers of us all."

Curtis Dall, son-in-law of FDR and a syndicate manager for Lehman Brothers, an investment firm, was on the N.Y. Stock Exchange floor the day of the crash. In "FDR: My Exploited Father-In-Law," he states: "...it was the calculated 'shearing' of the public by the World-Money powers triggered by the planned sudden shortage of call money in the New York Market."

The Crash paved the way for the man Wall Street had groomed for the presidency, FDR. Portrayed as a "man of the little people", the reality was that Roosevelt's family had been involved in New York banking since the eighteenth century.

Frederic Delano, FDR's uncle, served on the original Federal Reserve Board. FDR attended Groton and Harvard, and in the 1920's worked on Wall Street, sitting on the board of directors of eleven different corporations.

Dall wrote of his father-in-law: "...Most of his thoughts, his political 'ammunition,'...were carefully manufactured for him in advance by the CFR-One World Money group. Brilliantly... he exploded that prepared 'ammunition' in the middle of an unsuspecting target, the American people--and thus paid off and retained his internationalist political support."

Taking America off the gold standard in 1934, FDR opened the way to unrestrained money supply expansion, decades of inflation--and credit revenues for banks. Raising gold prices from $20 an ounce to $35, FDR and Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (son of a founding CFR member), gave international bankers huge profits.

FDR's most remembered program, the New Deal, could only be financed through heavy borrowing. In effect, those who had caused the Depression loaned America the money to recover from it. Then, through the National Recovery Administration, proposed by Bernard Baruch in 1930, they were put in charge of regulating the economy. FDR appointed Baruch disciple Hugh Johnson to run the NRA, assisted by CFR member Gerard Swope. With broad powers to regulate wages, prices, and working conditions, it was, as Herbert Hoover wrote in his memoirs: "...pure fascism;...merely a remaking of Mussolini's 'corporate state'..." The Supreme Court eventually ruled the NRA unconstitutional.

During the FDR years, the Council on Foreign Relations captured the political life of the U.S. Besides Treasury Secretary Morgenthau, other CFR members included Secretary of State Edward Stettinus, War Secretary Henry Stimson, and Assistant Secretary of State Sumner Welles.

Since 1934 almost every United States Secretary of State has been a CFR member; and ALL Secretaries of War or Defense, from Henry L. Stimson through Richard Cheney.

The CIA has been under CFR control almost continuously since its creation, starting with Allen Dulles, founding member of the CFR and brother of Secretary of State under President Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles. Allen Dulles had been at the Paris Peace Conference, joined the CFR in 1926, and later became its president.

John Foster Dulles had been one of Woodrow Wilson's young proteges at the Paris Peace Conference. A founding member of the CFR...he was an in-law of the Rockefellers, Chairman of the Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Board Chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In 1940 FDR defeated internationalist Wendell Willkie, who wrote a book entitled "One World," and later became a CFR member. Congressman Usher Burdick protested at the time on the floor of the House that Willkie was being financed by J.P. Morgan and the New York utility bankers. Polls showed few Republicans favored him, yet the media portrayed him as THE Republican candidate.

Since that time nearly ALL presidential candidates have been CFR members. President Truman, who was not a member, was advised by a group of "wise men," all six of whom were CFR members, according to Gary Allen. In 1952 and 1956, CFR Adlai Stevenson challenged CFR Eisenhower.

In 1960, CFR Kennedy (who was probably killed because he had the courage NOT to go along with all their plans) CFR Nixon. In 1964 the GOP stunned the Establishment by nominating its candidate over Nelson Rockefeller.

Rockefeller and the CFR wing proceeded to picture Barry Goldwater as a dangerous radical. In 1968 CFR Nixon ran against CFR Humphrey. The 1972 "contest" featured CFR Nixon vs. CFR McGovern.

CFR candidates for president include George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Edmund Muskie, John Anderson, and Lloyd Bentsen. In 1976 we had Jimmy Carter, who is a member of the Trilateral Commission, created by David Rockefeller and CFR member Zbigniew Brzezinski with the goal of economic linkage between Japan, Europe, and the United States, and: "...managing the world economy...a smooth and peaceful evolution of the global system." We have also had (though his name strangely disappears from the membership list in 1979) CFR director (1977-79) George Bush, and last but not least, CFR member Bill Clinton.

They have all promoted the "New World Order," controlled by the United Nations. The problem is that "...the present United Nations organization is actually the creation of the CFR and is housed on land in Manhattan donated to it by the family of current CFR chairman David Rockefeller," as Pat Robertson describes it.

The original concept for the UN was the outcome of the Informal Agenda Group, formed in 1943 by Secretary of State Cordell Hull. All except Hull were CFR members, and Isaiah Bowman, a founding member of the CFR, originated the idea.

The American delegation to the San Francisco meeting that drafted the charter of the United Nations in 1949 included CFR members Nelson Rockefeller, John Foster Dulles, John McCloy, and CFR members who were communist agents--Harry Dexter White, Owen Lattimore, and the Secretary-General of the conference, Alger Hiss. In all, the Council sent forty-seven of its members in the United States delegation, effectively controlling the outcome.

Since that time the CFR and its friends in the mass media (largely controlled by CFR members such as Katherine Graham of the "Washington Post" and Henry Luce of" Time, Life"), foundations, and political groups have lobbied consistently to grant the United Nations more authority and power. Bush and the Gulf War were but one of the latest calls for a "New World Order."

Admiral Chester Ward, a member of the CFR for over a decade, became one of its harshest critics, revealing its inner workings in a 1975 book, "Kissinger ON THE COUCH." In it he states "The most powerful cliques in these elitist groups have one objective in common: they want to bring about the surrender of the sovereignty and national independence of the United States."

Most members are one-world-government ideologists whose long- term goals were officially summed up in September 1961 State Department Document 7277, adopted by the Nixon Administration: "...elimination of all armed forces and armaments except those needed to maintain internal order within states and to furnish the United Nations with peace forces...by the time it (UN global government) would be so strong no nation could challenge it."

Within the CFR there exists a "much smaller group but more powerful...made up of Wall Street international bankers and their key agents. Primarily, they want the world banking monopoly from whatever power ends up in control of the global government ...This CFR faction is headed by the Rockefeller brothers," according to Ward.

What must be remembered is that this is not some lunatic- fringe group...these are members of one of the most powerful private organizations in the world: the people who determine and control American economic, social, political, and military policy. Members' influence and control extends to "leaders in academia, public service, business, and the media," according to the CFR 1993 "Annual Report."

Their founding they describe as: "American Participants in the Paris Peace Conference decided that it was time for more private Americans to become familiar with the increasing responsibilities and obligations of the United States...there was a need for an organization able to provide for the continuous study of U.S. foreign police for the BENEFIT OF ITS MEMBERS (emphasis mine) and a wider audience of interested Americans."

They sponsor hundreds of programs, where members "exchange views with American and foreign officials and policy experts... discuss foreign policy issues...consider international issues of concern to the business community" (Corporate business), and "...affiliated groups of community leaders throughout the United states...meet with decision makers."

The CFR states that it is "host to many views, advocate of none," and it "has no affiliation with the U.S. government." No, no affiliation at all, if you don't count: "A Council member was elected president of the United States...Dozens of other Council colleagues were called to serve in cabinet and sub-cabinet positions," as they describe it in "Foreign Affairs," along with many members of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs, the Federal Reserve, and many other Federal bureaucrats.

They are not AFFILIATED with government, they ARE the government, in effect.

One re-occurring view was stated in the 50th anniversary issue of "Foreign Affairs," the official publication of the CFR. In an article by Kingman Brewster, Jr. entitled "Reflections on Our National Purpose." Our purpose should be, according to him, to do away with our nationality, to "take some risks in order to invite others to pool their sovereignty with ours..."

These "risks" include disarming to the point where we would be helpless against the "peace-keeping" forces of a global UN government. We should happily surrender our sovereignty to the world government in the interests of the "world community."

Today we have the spectacle of Spc. 4 Michael New, a U.S. soldier in Germany who refuses to wear the uniform of the UN, facing an "administrative discharge." He states rightly that he swore an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution, not the United Nations. Many other Americans have taken that same oath, such as myself, and believe it is our sworn duty still to defend the Constitution, since an oath sworn before God must be fulfilled. (Why else do we swear to tell the truth in our courts, or when taking public office?) Is it a crime these days to actually BELIEVE in God and the oath that was taken?

Meanwhile, others who attempt to destroy the Constitution and our sovereignty are given honors and position...At least they are not hypocrites...only supremely arrogant.

"In short, the 'house of world order' will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down...An end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old fashioned assault..." in the opinion of Richard N. Gardner, former deputy assistant Secretary of State in "Foreign Affairs," April 1974.

James Warburg, son of CFR founder Paul Warburg, and a member of FDR's "brain trust," testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 17, 1950, "We shall have world government whether or not you like it--by conquest or consent."

Is this an AMERICAN speaking, or a dangerous lunatic? Who is this "We" who threatens to CONQUER us?

They are a group that actually has the power to do it, and is doing it every day, bit by bit.

CFR Members in the mass media, education, and entertainment push their propaganda of "humanism" and world brotherhood. We should all live in peace under a world government, and forget about such selfish things as nationalities and patriotism. We can solve our own problems. We don't need God, or morals, or values: it's all relative, anyway, right?...Because if we actually had some moral character and values, we might be able to discern that these people are actually EVIL.

The Bible says that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10). These people are evil because they love money and power, and greed drives them to do anything to achieve their goals. They have lost all morality and conscience, and believe such concepts, as well as our Constitution, "outdated".

THAT is insanity--to have more wealth than can be spent, and still it is never enough. They have to control governments, start wars, conspire to rule the world; least the "common people" wake up to how they have gained their wealth, take it away from them, and demand that they pay the price for their crimes.

That is why they constantly pit us one against the other, with "Diversity," Affirmative Action, and other programs,...black against white, men against women, rural against urban, ranchers against environmentalists, and on and on...least we look in their direction.

We The People are held to a much higher standard. If we threaten the President or a public official, we are charged with a crime...yet the One-World-Gang can threaten the Constitution and the liberties of We The People, the sovereign rulers of this nation, and nothing is said or done.

Perhaps they do not fear what Man can do to them... they believe they have arranged everything, and their power and wealth will prevail in this world. However, those among them who have sworn an oath before God to uphold and defend the Constitution: the President, members of Congress, and the military; may find one day that they do indeed have something to fear.

List of CFR Members

Colonel House, the fallen angel, still has relatives controlling the CFR. Karen Elliot House is Chairman of the Membership Committee, and a member of the Nominating Committee, along with Jeane Kirkpatrick. David Rockefeller is now "Honorary Chairman of the Board", after serving as Chairman 1970-1985; and "Director Emeritus," after serving as a Director 1949-1985. Peter G. Peterson is Chairman, Admiral B. R. Inman is Vice Chairman, while Thomas Foley and Jeane Kirkpatrick are Directors serving on the Executive Committee.

These "private citizens" have access to government officials and policy makers as often as they wish, yet the results of their meetings can only be given to other government officials, corporate officers, or law partners. Participants are forbidden to transmit an attributed statement to any public medium, such as newspapers or TV, where there is "risk that it will promptly be widely circulated or published," as the "Annual Report" puts it.

Should not OUR public officials be forbidden to meet in secret with private groups? Public officials should only be allowed to discuss public business and policy in a public forum. The Public...remember US?

There is much more to say about this group and their plans for America. Gary Allen, in "The Rockefeller File," states that they are behind the many regional government plans, which would abolish city, county, and state lines, leaving us at the mercy of federal bureaucrats; and behind the push for "land use" controls. They want "federal control of everything. Since they intend to control the federal government..."

There are also the many allegations of involvement in gun running, drug smuggling, prostitution and sex slaves; and the many mysterious assassinations and "suicides" of witnesses and others who get too close to the truth...but that is another story.

REFERENCES

Bo Adelmann, 1986. "The Federal Reserve System." The New American, October 17.

Gary Allen, 1976. The Rockefeller File. Seal Beach, CA: '76 Press.

Gary Allen with Larry Abraham, 1972. None Dare Call it Conspiracy. Rossmoor, CA: Concord Press.

"Congressional Record," December 22, 1913, Vol. 51.

Phoebe and Kent Courtney, 1962. America's Unelected Rulers, The Council on Foreign Relations. New Orleans: Conservative Society of America.

Curtis B. Dall, 1970. FDR My Exploited Father-In-Law. Washington D.C.: Action Associates.

A. Ralph Epperson, 1985. The Unseen Hand. Tucson, AZ: Publius Press.

F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, 1950. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce.

William P. Hoar, 1984. Architects of Conspiracy. Belmont MA: Western Islands.

Herbert Hoover, 1952. The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, The Great Depression 1929-1941. New York: Macmillan.

Frederick C. Howe, 1906. Confessions of a Monopolist. Chicago: Public Publishing Co.

Robert C. Johansen, 1980. Models of World Order, in "Dilemmas of War and Peace."

Peter Kershaw, 1994. "Economic Solutions."

Devvy Kidd, 1995. "Why A Bankrupt America?" Colorado: Project Liberty.

Ferdinand Lundberg, 1938. America's 60 Families. New York: Vanguard.

Louis T. McFadden, 1934. "The Federal Reserve Corporation, remarks in Congress." Boston: Forum Publication Co.

James Perloff, 1988. The Shadows of Power. Appleton, WI: Western Islands.

Carroll Quigley, 1966. Tragedy and Hope. New York: Macmillan.

Pat Robertson, 1991. The New World Order. Dallas: Word Publishing.

Charles Seymour, ed., 1926. The Intimate Paper of Colonel House. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Colin Simpson, 1972. The Lusitania. Boston: Little, Brown.

Arthur D. Howde Smith, 1940. "Mr House ob5 Texas." New York: Funk and Wagnalls.

Antony C. Sutton, 1975. Wall Street and FDR. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House.

George Sylvester Viereck, 1932. The Strangest Friendship in History. New York: Liveright.

 

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"It is the sacred principles enshrined in the UN Charter to which we will henceforth pledge our allegiance."
George Herbert Walker Bush, Speech at the UN, February 1, 1992

"A world society cannot be haphazard. Since there are no precedents, it cannot be traditional at this stage of development. It can only be deliberate and experimental, planned and built up with particular objectives and with the aid of all available knowledge concerning the principles of social organization. Social engineering is a new science."
Scott Nearing, a socialist and advocate of World Government - United World, 1944, p.221

"Complete and accurate surveillance as a means of control is probably a practical impossibility. What is much more likely is a loss of privacy and constant inconvenience as the wrong people gain access to information, as one wastes time convincing the inquisitors that one is in fact innocent, or as one struggles to untangle the errors of the errant machine."
Victor Ferkiss, Technological Man: The Myth and the Reality, 1969

"To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism and religious dogmas."
G. Brock Chisholm, co-founder of the World Federation for Mental Health, former director of UN World Health Organization

"It is the sacred principles enshrined in the United Nations charter to which the American people will henceforth pledge their allegiance."
President George Bush addressing the General Assembly of the U.N., February 1, 1992

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
President-Elect George W. Bush

"One-fourth of humanity must be eliminated from the social body. We are in charge of God's selection process for planet earth. He selects, we destroy. We are the riders of the pale horse, Death."
Psychologist Barbara Marx Hubbard - member of Task Force Delta; a United States Army think tank

"Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny."
Robert A. Heinlein

"We are going to end up with world government. It's inevitable ... There's going to be conflict, coercion and consensus. That's all part of what will be required as we give birth to the first global civilization."
James Garrison, president, Gorbachev Foundation USA; quoted in The Daily Record, Dunn, NC, p.4 10/17/95

"Further global progress is now possible only through a quest for universal consensus in the movement towards a new world order."
Mikhail Gorbachev, before the UN, December 7, 1988