Reader Rites

One of our faithful and very intelligent readers expressed a valid and pertinent concern:

All the missing money.  The army has a tracking system that tracks everything from packages to troop movements, so missing money is a crock of shit. It went somewhere, and they know where.Another big scam.Same as all they missing money that disappeared on 9-11, and the millions missing from the pentagon the day before 9-11.We are not all idiots, but close to it. Scary troop movements going on back here and joint with NATO. I don't like it.

To which we responded:

 I hope this finds you well, if not exactly happy.

I agree with you.  They can track paint chips in orbit, but lose pallets of money?  Don't buy it for a second.  The problem is, and has been, a large cadre of uncritical sheep in the general population who simply accept what they are told, no matter how big the whopper.  
Many years ago, when I was 18 and backpacking around Europe, I stayed with a German family whose father was a Russian POW in Finland.  I asked him how people could have followed Hitler so blindly.  He replied that folks didn't question the little things, so the big things went unchallenged, as well.  
The same went for America.  We allowed so many little things to pass unchallenged that by the time we started questioning things, it was too late.  The thousands of little things had already piled up.  It started as far back as Hamilton's federalism, but certainly Lincoln was one of the most egregious offenders.  Yet we virtually idolized Lincoln for having destroyed the Constitution.  Grant, FDR and Truman all share great helpings of responsibility, but they are glorified.  Hoover stayed within the Constitutional limits of his powers, and he is ridiculed.  
The death of a thousand cuts.  The parable of the rich man who, little by little, gives more trust and control to his servant, until one day he wakes up to find he is now the servant.  Remember when we used to call government employees 'public servants?'  All of a sudden, they are all 'authorities.'  When did that happen?
As for the missing money, it was never ours to begin with.  If you look at the face, it says quite boldly "Federal Reserve Note."  They are free to do whatever they want with their property.  If they want to vanish a couple trillion bux, that's their prerogative, since their name is on the notes.  In fact, if you want to kil an afternoon sometime, take Black's Legal Dictionary and look up the words that are printed all over those FRNs, words like 'note,' 'legal tender,' 'trust,' and the rest.  You'll be amazed when you decipher what's been staring you in the face for your whole life.
"Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's."  God made gold and silver, Caesar made coins and notes.  We were duped into thinking that paper and ink was any store of value.  Now we are paying the piper.  There's only one exit, and it is the only place no one is looking for a way out.  It's like being trapped in a burning building and all the exit signs keep sending us in circles.  Because of the smoke and confusion, we have no other way to find the exit, though, and in our panic we will die because we won't sit for just a second and reason things out.
Here's the rub: if you have anything in your house with a brand name, and you bought it with FRNs, then you are part of the problem.  On the other hand, if you want all the bells and whistles of modern life, you can't do without it.  So, there's the riddle.  I suggest what many Indonesians do...buy pirated knock-offs and second-hand.  At least that way your notes aren't directly feeing the Beast.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls...

We are not known for out brbrief and concise replies.

The fact of the matter is that We the People are under a spell.  It's a very real and very tangible thing.  We have been completely bewitched and fefuddled.  The secret to breaking spells is realizing that you are under one.  Once that heppens, the magick is broken and reality takes over again.  In show biz, it's called ' willing suspension of disbelief.'  Every part of a performance is designed to put you under a spell, so that you willingly suspend your normal critical thinking and open yourself to being bewitched.  That's why, at the end of the show or the movie, they bring the house lights up and you have that strange feeling like you've awoken from a dream.  Suddenly you notices all the wiring and technicians that were invisible just moments before.

The problem begins when people start to prefer the dream to reality.  They actively, if not entirely consciously, blind themselves to the machinery, so that the illusion is all that remains.

I highly encourage folks to pick up a copy of one of 'their' spellbooks.  It's called Black's Legal Dictionary.  Preferably an edition before 1950.  Start looking up common, everyday words and see what is really going on around you.  I guarantee you will be amazed.

We hear so many times about 'thinking outside the box' and pushing the envelope.'  The problem is that we have a form of collective amnesia about where exactly the box and the envelope are.

You can't break out of prison if you refuse to see the walls.

The real trick in disappearing money, is to realize that there never was any money in the first place.