Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Did you see that quote?

For my last blog post of 2010 I thought I would examine different quotes I found on social networking. I have a blog, a couple of twitter accounts, a facebook page, and follow a few blogs and facebook groups. Additionally, I have a linkedin account and between them all I am in contact with a large number of people (500). As I have been viewing and reading the various pages and blogs I see a number of different quotes popping up. Sometimes they are on a facebook status or in a comment area. Other times the quote is in a blog or in the online writings of others. There are two things that I have noticed about these quotations. First, some of the quotes are at times from people who would, at the very least be seen as counter-cultural or even possibly anti-social. Second, in a strange way the quotes are applicable to the times we are living in today. So here are some quotes I have found in the last year on the net. I am not going to disclose the people posting the quote, just the quote itself.

Here are the quotes in no particular order:

Without law and order our nation cannot survive. ~ Adolf Hitler


“No one is more hopelessly enslaved than the person who falsely believes he is free.” ~ Johann Goethe

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~ Thomas Jefferson

The great foe of democracy now and in the near future is plutocracy. Every year that passes brings out this antagonism more distinctly. It is to be the social war of the twentieth century. In that war militarism, expansion and imperialism will all favor plutocracy. In the first place, war and expansion will favor jobbery, both in the dependencies and at home. In the second place, they will take away the attention of the people from what the plutocrats are doing. In the third place, they will cause large expenditures of the people’s money, the return for which will not go into the treasury, but into the hands of a few schemers. In the fourth place, they will call for a large public debt and taxes, and these things especially tend to make men unequal, because any social burdens bear more heavily on the weak than on the strong, and so make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. Therefore expansion and imperialism are a grand onslaught on democracy. ~William Graham Summer

Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death. ~Adolf Hitler


We're not a democracy. It's a terrible misunderstanding and a slander to the idea of democracy to call us that. In reality, we're a plutocracy: a government by the wealthy." ~ Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General


"Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy" ~ John Pierpont Morgan


It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything. ~ Joseph Stalin


"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~ Thomas Jefferson

“. . .it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” ~ Herman Goering

Anyone who'd sell out a whole town wouldn't hesitate to double-cross one man ~ Arnold Rothstein

"If you pray for rain long enough, it eventually does fall. If you pray for floodwaters to abate, they eventually do. However, the same happens in the absence of prayers." ~ Steve Allen


All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.

~ Adolf Hitler

"Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence." ~Anonymous


Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise. ~ Adolf Hitler


"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." ~ Susan B. Anthony


What good fortune for governments that the people do not think. ~ Adolf Hitler


"Man is a marvelous curiosity ... he thinks he is the Creator's pet ... he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks He listens. Isn't that a quaint idea?" ~ Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)


"But a short time elapsed after the death of the great reformer of the Jewish religion, before his principles were departed from by those who professed to be his special servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, and aggrandizing their oppressors in Church and State." ~ Thomas Jefferson


The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one. ~ Adolf Hitler


"Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burned, tortured, fined, and imprisoned, yet we have not advanced one inch toward uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half of the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." ~ Thomas Jefferson

"Please do not whitewash your inherent faults with your acquired virtues. I would have the faults; they are like mine own." ~ Kahlil Gibran


With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things, but, for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. ~ Steven Weinberg


"The foolish reject what they see and not what they think; the wise reject what they think and not what they see."

~ Huang Po


What God lacks, is convictions and stability of character. He ought to make a decision and either be a Presbyterian or a Catholic or something...and not try to be everything. ~ Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)


If God is willing to prevent evil, but unable, then he is not omnipotent. If God is able, but not willing, then he is malevolent. If God is both able and willing, then whence cometh evil? If God is neither able nor willing...then why call him God? ~ Epicurus


"If I really believed that the Jews killed God . . . I’d worship the Jews." ~ Bill Hicks


The great foe of democracy now and in the near future is plutocracy. Every year that passes brings out this antagonism more distinctly. It is to be the social war of the twentieth century. In that war militarism, expansion and imperialism w...ill all favor plutocracy. In the first place, war and expansion will favor jobbery, both in the dependencies and at home. In the second place, they will take away the attention of the people from what the plutocrats are doing. In the third place, they will cause large expenditures of the people’s money, the return for which will not go into the treasury, but into the hands of a few schemers. In the fourth place, they will call for a large public debt and taxes, and these things especially tend to make men unequal, because any social burdens bear more heavily on the weak than on the strong, and so make the weak weaker and the strong stronger. Therefore expansion and imperialism are a grand onslaught on democracy. ~William Graham Summer


"There’s a phrase we live by in America: “In God We Trust”. And it’s right there where Jesus would want it...on our money." ~ Bill Maher


The time to buy is when the blood is running in the streets. ~ Nathan Rothschild


The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. ~ George Bernard Shaw


It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept, which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death. ~ Albert Einstein


"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." ~ John Adams


"O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble ...homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it..." ~ Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)


If a man is dumb, someone is going to get the best of him, so why not you? If you don't, you're as dumb as he is. ~ Arnold Rothstein


He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation. ~ James A. Garfield


Give me control of a nation's money, and I care not who makes the laws." ~ Mayer Amschel Rothschild


A brave man is a man who dares to look the Devil in the face and tell him he is a Devil. ~ James A. Garfield


We moralize among ruins. ~ Benjamin Disrael


We live in an age when to be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare for the coming hour. The claims of the future are represented by suffering millions; and the youth of a nation are the trustees of Posterity. ~ Benjamin Disraeli


It makes no difference if I burn my bridges behind me - I never retreat.

~ Fiorello LaGuardia


Leadership is particularly necessary to ensure ready acceptance of the unfamiliar and that, which is contrary to tradition. ~ Cyril Falls


Because my love for you is beyond words, I decided to shut up. ~ Nizar Qabbani


The policeman isn't there to create disorder; the policeman is there to preserve disorder. ~ Mayor Richard J. Daley (Chicago)


Me, I'm dishonest, and you can always trust a dishonest man to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you have to watch out for. ~Johnny Depp


Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. ~ George Washington


Kings may be judges of the earth, but wise men are the judges of kings. ~Solomon Ibn Gabirol


I've had a few arguments with people, but I never carry a grudge. You know why? While you're carrying a grudge, they're out dancing ~Buddy Hackett

You can't tell a millionaire's son from a billionaire's. ~ Vance Packard

The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success.~ Bruce Feirstein


When all you own is a hammer, every problem starts looking like a nail. ~Abraham Maslow


Everything depends on circumstances. ~ Leon Trotsky


Success is the sole earthly judge of right and wrong. ~Adolf Hitler


“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over” ~ Joseph Goebbels


Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of 'emergency'. It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And 'emergency' became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains. ~ Herbert Hoover


All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of the people.

~ Adolf Hitler


Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise. ~ Adolf Hitler


What good fortune for governments that the people do not think. ~ Adolf Hitler

As I read them through these quotes I found that most of them, even though the quotes in some cases are 40 or 50 years old, dealt with some aspect of how people feel about society, culture, or the government or some aspect of each today. There is definitely a dark side proffered here, a side of distrust and maybe a little fear. I’ll be interested in the type of quotes I’ll read in the coming year. Be back in 2011. . . .

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

On the Border of the Police State

One of the locations in the contiguous United States that deserves attention is along the US-Canadian border near Cornwall Ontario, Canada and Hogansburg, NY, USA. Some of the things going on right there near the border have a growing connection to the rest of us. The problems of your rights as a citizen are under attack and we see the beginnings here. The St. Regis Indian Reservation (Akwesasne) is in a fairly remote area and occupies a unique position geographically. It sits on both sides of the St. Lawrence River. Approximately two-thirds of the reservation lies on the US side of the border and one-third on the Canadian side. Akwesasne is located in part of two counties of New York State and two Canadian provinces and interacts with five different jurisdictional governments.”[1] The reservation is surrounded and divided by two federal jurisdictions: the United States and Canada. Additionally, the reservation must contend with the governments of New York State and the provinces of Ontario and Québec.[2] Residents of the reservation have three area codes: 613 that covers Southeast Ontario, 514 covering Southwest Québec, and 518 covering Northeast New York. Each serves a different portion of the reservation. This division is echoed by zip codes; the American side’s zip code is 13655 and the Canadian side is H0M 1A0. The population of this multi-jurisdictional community is about 13,000 people.[3] Because of this unique situation, school students are also affected. Some children from the US side of the border go to Canadian schools, and all or some Canadian children go to US Head Start programs.[4]

“There are three competing self-governments on the reservation with loyal followings; the Canadian Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council, and the Longhouse Mohawk Nation. Traditionalists from both sides of the reservation follow the rituals and traditions of the Longhouse government however the federal, state, and provincial governments do not officially recognize the Longhouse government.”[5] The St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council oversees “funding programs from Washington and Albany” and interacts with the US side of the reservation.[6] The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne connects with Ottawa for Canadian programs and agendas. Each recognized council has its band (membership) lists for its community. Technically, residents of the reservation cannot vote for both councils, however, there is nothing to stop a resident from one side of the reservation from moving from one voting roll to the other.[7]

Another factor the Mohawks have to contend with, in addition to the multiple institutions, are the various ethnic cultural differences in the area. They must interact with cultures such as the French Canadians, the English Canadians, and a distinctive rural northern New York culture found along the St. Lawrence River.[8] There seems to be more of an affinity at times between the northern New York Culture and the Mohawk culture. This probably stems from the rural nature of both northern New York and Akwesasne.

Most of the Canadian population lives within 100 miles of the US-Canadian border with a majority of their large cities in this area. The exception would be the Gaspé Peninsula in Québec, Newfoundland and Labrador. The opposite is true on the US side of the border in the east. The few cities you find in the US are relatively small. The largest city near the Reservation would be Burlington, Vt., 100 miles away, with a population of around 500,000. Plattsburgh, NY, the next largest city has a population of 20,000 and is 70 miles away. Massena, NY the closest village to the Reservation is 17 miles away and has 11,000 people. This compares to Cornwall, Ontario, Canada that directly borders the Reservation having a population of 45,000 people and the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area, 100 miles away, having a population of 1,130,761.[9]

It is easy to see the various cultural differences and it’s not inconceivable that this could be a detriment to the Natives living in the area. In fact these cultural differences caused a number of problems between Akwesasne and the various surrounding jurisdictions. It has also created internal problems on the reservation with strife and divisions and even open gunfire between different factions. In 1990 this violence led to death. Since that time there has been a reconciliation of sorts among the Mohawks.

These circumstances bring up a number of situations. The members of Akwesasne do not recognize the border and they see it as an artificial line that runs through the territory they have occupied continuously since 1754. Even though through the early 1800s the border was crossed at will after the Jay Treaty the border became much less porous and Natives were eventually detained paying tariffs on goods being transported.

Beginning in the1950s the Mohawks tested the limits of trade and commerce and transported household goods from one part of the Reservation to another crossing the border in the process. Examples run from bringing a refrigerator across the border to mobile homes. This has created different factions on the Reservation. There are those who feel the border is being too restrictive for the Mohawks to cross in course of daily business. Another faction uses the border area and the river as a no-mans land transporting all types of contraband. This is not to the first era to witness smuggling. Certainly during prohibition liquor was moved in large quantities and no doubt there was the odd illegal immigrant. However, the area changed in the 1950s when the St Lawrence Seaway was completed. Not only were large amounts of land lost to the power authority for the construction of dams but the area also grew in population. This made it more difficult to move things from one side of Akwesasne to the other. From the 1970s to the 1990s the reservation became an avenue for medical contraband, cigarettes, and immigrants. For some who were moving contraband transporting illegal immigrants was preferred. If you are smuggling drugs and cigarettes and you have to drop the load you lose the whole haul. But if you are moving people, well, they can run, less of a chance that you lose money. This went on without many problems. Sometimes smugglers would be caught but most of the time they got through. Then there was the uprising in 1989-1990.

The uprising was really caused through poor cultural inaction between the parties concerned. Because of this forced and arbitrary division the Mohawks cannot really operate as a unified people. In 1989 there was a problem over casinos being operated on the US side of the border but with factions for and against it on both sides of the border. These differences were allowed to fester until people were killed in 1990. After that the police presence increased year after year with more attention to the drug and cigarette trade. As the police became more active the Mohawk smugglers increased. Many traffickers using high-speed craft go right by border patrol speedboats.

With the increased prosecution of the drug war and certainly after the events of 9-11 the reservation became a police state. There is the reservation constabulary on their respective sides of the border. They deal with the day-to-day police effort on the reservation and are answerable to the local Mohawk government. There are still the same federal, state and provincial law enforcement agencies. However, now they are in greater numbers with roadblocks around all the roads in the area. We are not talking about the typical police DWI stops or the rather benign inspection sticker/seat belt stops. These are roadblocks using federal Border Patrol Agents and at times, backed up by New York State Troopers. They have anywhere from 6 to 20 officers and multiple vehicles. I personally went through a roadblock on one of the main roads in the area with agents carrying sub-machine guns and machine pistols. The questions were calmly asked but the sight of so much firepower was very intimidating. “Where are you from? Why are you here? Where are you going? What are you going to be doing? Have a nice day!” All the time officers are walking around your car and peering into your windows looking for any probable cause to rip through your belongings.

Closer to the reservations it’s even worse. In the small villages of Winthrop, Brasher Falls, Bombay, North Lawrence, and Fort Covington the residents (American citizens) are under surveillance by federal and state agents. They say when they go through the federal roadblocks they get the “stink-eye” if they don’t have a place to say they are going or a reason for what they are doing. Heaven help you if you just want to go for a ride.

On the reservation there is a constant presence. Although the indigenous population doesn’t have to worry about the New York State Police, except on state roads, the Border Patrol theoretically can travel anywhere they like and have a no-knock jurisdictional power up to 100 miles from the border or coast since 9-11. In fact, at Akwesasne, the government forces have begun to run down pleasure craft and ram them. “On Monday April 12th, [2010] 11:00 p.m., Two Akwesasne men were rammed by a boat in Akwesasne waters by two Royal Canadian Mounted Police accompanied by two, U.S. Border Patrol and one Coast Guard, 5 boats in total.”[10]

Now the population has to be concerned with the federal government using unmanned drones out of Ft. Drum in Watertown, NY. They are using them for surveillance of the indigenous population and are able to go up to 30 miles into Canada.[11] “These can accurately fire missiles at specific houses, buildings and even people, just like in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They can take pictures and listen to conversations. . .”[12] For all practical purposes the Mohawks have no place that isn’t under the watchful eye of one government or another using the eyes of the border patrol. Along the border they practically live in a police state. But is it just the border or is this just where it is starting. The jurisdiction of the Border Patrol reaches up to a hundred miles from the border. This means federal roadblocks are allowed and they do not need any sort of probable caused to search your vehicle and under certain circumstances your residence.[13] If you draw a line 100 miles in from the border or coast you find a very large percentage of the US population falls under the jurisdictional area of the US Border Patrol or in effect Homeland Security. The area I live in is outside this “border area” but millions of Americans don’t even realize that they live within it. Who would think of Hartford, Conn. being a border city under Border Patrol jurisdiction?

Even those of us who don’t live in these “border” areas can feel an ever-watchful eye on us. After a while you don’t even think about the cameras. At the local college where I teach there are signs at all of the entrances that state, ‘You are under twenty-four hour surveillance while on campus.’ This includes the parking areas, parking garages, sidewalks, hallways and anywhere else they can fit a camera. Even the copy rooms have cameras. The only places that are not under the watchful of “public safety” are the bathrooms and the offices however; the offices have a two-way speaker/microphone in them so theoretically the administration/public safety could listen in on conversations.

It’s not just on the college campuses. Many of the stoplights have cameras on them and most highways have traffic cameras trained on the roadways. In fact in the city where I live they have detecting devices hooked up across the city to help pinpoint gunfire. The manufacturer of the devices states they can be additionally equipped with cameras to record whatever is going on. One wonders when state and local governments will employ their own drones like those that the federal government is operating over “border areas.”

It seems that it’s not just the Mohawks and those who live a few miles from an international border who have to worry about a growing and more interfering police state. But those who live a hundred miles from not just borders but beaches also should be concerned with a growing police enforcement presence. Some of us for now live outside these zones but it’s only a matter of time when what is happening to people closer to the border will be happening right here.

“Where are you from? Why are you here? Where are you going? What are you going to be doing? (Papers please) Have a nice day!”



[1] Ernest R. Rugenstein, "Clash of Cultures: Uprising at Akwesasne" (Ph.D. dissertation, Union Institute & University, 2009), 2-3.

[2] Michael T. Kaufman, "To the Mohawk Nation, Boundaries Do Not Exist," The New York Times, April 13, 1984.

[3] Russel Roundpoint, "Akwesasne, Ca.,” Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, http://www.akwesasne.ca/ (accessed September 10, 2007).

[4] Kaufman, "To the Mohawk Nation, Boundaries Do Not Exist."

[5] Rugenstein, "Clash of Cultures: Uprising at Akwesasne," 35.

[6] Kaufman, "To the Mohawk Nation, Boundaries Do Not Exist."

[7] Ibid.

[8] Rugenstein, "Clash of Cultures: Uprising at Akwesasne," 2-3.

[9] Chamber Directory Search Page. US Chamber of Commerce, Washington DC, http://www.uschamber.com/chambers, Accessed 2010.

[10] Norrell, Brenda, Akwesasne Men Rammed by Border Patrol, Hospitalized. Censored News, http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/04/akwesasne-men-rammed-by-border-patrol.html, Accessed 2010.

[11]Mohawk National News. Border Guards Gone: U.S. Drones Patrol Akwesasne. Bauru Institute and Press., http://indigenouspeoplesissues.com/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=922:border-guards-gone-us-drones-patrol-akwesasne&catid=52:north-america-indigenous-peoples&Itemid=74, Accessed 2010.

[12] Ibid.

[13] United States Government Accountability Office, Report to Congressional Requester: Available Data on Interior Checkpoints Suggest Differences in Sector Performance. Washington DC: United States Border Patrol, 2005, GAO-05-435.