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FYI, this couple of articles below represents a very interesting way of looking at the future being presented to us and is arguably related to our communication issues. People are having trouble talking about not only serious or controversial subjects unless they're promoted by the media and how, but even normal ones as we move further and further away from trusting each other to think and feel differently and take more pictures.

This might mean we're all trying to think and feel the same. This means none of us feel that special. This means we often feel worse than we would if we somehow got out of this mess. And this is just for people to avoid feeling "Awkward!" and resenting each other too often. However, once adults get that over with...

However, this doesn't even come close to revealing what people are being deaf'd, dumb'd and muted for.

That's something that we need to organize ourselves to address one way or another. This is why I'm including these articles in a nifty the future is f--ked or friendly juxtaposition, plus a bonus one on the big Google I/O takeover of our lives from "Business Insider" of all people whose reporter went to their great, big developers conference and was both frightened and starstruck. I mean, this stuff is pretty wild when you think about it.

Once we're able to and make it normal to discuss for many, it'll be easier for everyone to see others okay.

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OPTION ONE:

Washington gets explicit: its 'war on terror' is permanent

Senior Obama officials tell the US Senate: the 'war', in limitless form, will continue for 'at least' another decade - or two

- Glenn Greenwald
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 May 2013 12.54 BST
- Jump to comments (1625)

Assistant Defense Secretary Michael Sheehan, right, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee's May 16, 2013, hearing on the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster

Last October, senior Obama officials anonymously unveiled to the Washington Post their newly minted "disposition matrix", a complex computer system that will be used to determine how a terrorist suspect will be "disposed of": indefinite detention, prosecution in a real court, assassination-by-CIA-drones, etc. Their rationale for why this was needed now, a full 12 years after the 9/11 attack:

Among senior Obama administration officials, there is a broad consensus that such operations are likely to be extended at least another decade. Given the way al-Qaida continues to metastasize, some officials said no clear end is in sight. . . . That timeline suggests that the United States has reached only the midpoint of what was once known as the global war on terrorism."

On Thursday, the Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on whether the statutory basis for this "war" - the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) - should be revised (meaning: expanded). This is how Wired's Spencer Ackerman (soon to be the Guardian US's national security editor) described the most significant exchange:

"Asked at a Senate hearing today how long the war on terrorism will last, Michael Sheehan, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, answered, 'At least 10 to 20 years.' . . . A spokeswoman, Army Col. Anne Edgecomb, clarified that Sheehan meant the conflict is likely to last 10 to 20 more years from today - atop the 12 years that the conflict has already lasted. Welcome to America's Thirty Years War."

That the Obama administration is now repeatedly declaring that the "war on terror" will last at least another decade (or two) is vastly more significant than all three of this week's big media controversies (Benghazi, IRS, and AP/DOJ) combined. The military historian Andrew Bacevich has spent years warning that US policy planners have adopted an explicit doctrine of "endless war". Obama officials, despite repeatedly boasting that they have delivered permanently crippling blows to al-Qaida, are now, as clearly as the English language permits, openly declaring this to be so.

It is hard to resist the conclusion that this war has no purpose other than its own eternal perpetuation. This war is not a means to any end but rather is the end in itself. Not only is it the end itself, but it is also its own fuel: it is precisely this endless war - justified in the name of stopping the threat of terrorism - that is the single greatest cause of that threat.

In January, former Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson delivered a highly-touted speech suggesting that the war on terror will eventually end; he advocated that outcome, arguing:

'War' must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs. We must not accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the 'new normal.'"

In response, I wrote that the "war on terror" cannot and will not end on its own for two reasons: (1) it is designed by its very terms to be permanent, incapable of ending, since the war itself ironically ensures that there will never come a time when people stop wanting to bring violence back to the US (the operational definition of "terrorism"), and (2) the nation's most powerful political and economic factions reap a bonanza of benefits from its continuation. Whatever else is true, it is now beyond doubt that ending this war is the last thing on the mind of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner and those who work at the highest levels of his administration. Is there any way they can make that clearer beyond declaring that it will continue for "at least" another 10-20 years?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/17/endless-war-on-terror-obama

http://www.infowars.com/washington-gets-explicit-its-war-on-terror-is-permanent/

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OPTION TWO:

An Important Message From Ed Asner

It’s been twelve years since 9/11. Isn’t it time that people around the world know what really happened? In spite of mainstream media’s refusal to cover this story, millions of people everywhere are becoming aware. Surveys reveal that more than 30% of US citizens doubt the official 9/11 hypothesis.

Now we’re at a turning point, thanks to years of grassroots outreach, and with your help, are finally ready to “Tip the Planet.”

Fast forward to September:

For the entire month… a single message appears all around the world – on billboards, subways, and highway overpasses… On lawns, office windows, storefronts, bulletin boards, tee shirts, bumper stickers, and even televised sporting events… On Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… In places like New York City, Washington, D.C., Woburn Massachusetts, La Mesa California, Tokyo, Madrid, Montreal, Buenos Aires, London – and countless other cities…

This is the concept behind Operation Tip the Planet, the first-ever global 9/11 Truth anniversary event. Be sure your city is included!

Join me in making 2013 the year of 9/11 truth.

Sincerely,

Ed Asner

http://www.ae911truth.org/en/news-section/41-articles/734-architects-a-engineers-for-911-truth-proudly-announces-operation-tip-the-planet.html

http://911justicecanada.ca/operation-tip-the-planet/

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OPTION THREE:

Google's Plan To Take Over The World

Steve Kovach | Business Insider | May 18, 2013, 8:00 AM | 23,784 | 35

Not because it lasted a grueling three hours and fifty minutes, but because of what was announced. With every new product update, every new feature, every new virtual service, it became more and more clear that Google isn't just a search company that makes loads of cash by showing you ads. It's creeping into every aspect of our digital, physical, and private lives at an exponential rate.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around it.

Google isn't just the backbone of the Internet anymore. It's rapidly becoming the backbone of your entire life, all thanks to data you're voluntarily giving up to a private company based on your Web searches, photos, Gmail messages, and more.

After spending three days at I/O this week, it became more apparent than ever that unless millions (billions?) of people suddenly change their mind and start using alternative tech tools, or unless the government steps in waving the anti-trust banner, our lives, our history, and our personal wealth could be managed by one company –– Google.

Read more:

http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-plan-to-take-over-the-world-2013-5#ixzz2TnfiXF5w

http://www.infowars.com/googles-plan-to-take-over-the-world/

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