CLOSE THE SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS. DAN EATS CHICKEN SKIN. DOG BONER TO THE RESCUE! SUCK IT, LIFE. THE GEELONG GRAMMER SCHOOL. "WE AND THEY" MENTALITY IS REDUCED AND COLLAPSES INTO A COLLECTIVE "WE." JOE'S TROUBLE SHOOTERS. POSITIVE APPROACH. LOOSE WIRES & STRIPPED NUTES. INSTANBULLSHIT! SANCTION THE FUCKERS! KHASHOGGI. BILL PRESS. CRUNCHMASTER. TREEHOUSE OF WHORES. DON'T JUST DO SOMETHING--SIT THERE! SPANKING GORGEOUS. SHOCKWAVE. ROCK WILL SAVE THE WORLD. WHAT DO YOU GEEK? ALWAYS A TOUCH BETTER. GROOMER GIRL. RIDIN' THE STORM OUT. NOT THE SEEDS OF TWO DRUNKS. YOU'RE KILLIN' YOURSELVES, BUT YOU DON'T KNOW IT . . . EXPLOSION OF HARMONY. CULTURES THAT CANNOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ILLUSION AND REALITY DIE. A LITTLE GLITTER GOES A LONG WAY. AMAZON GOES GOLD. AN UNLIKELY JOURNEY: GIVING UP MY AMERICAN DREAM. GRANT THORNTON. KARA SWISHER. CIA "MAKE A WISH" FOUNDATION. CLEAR: YOU GET YOU PLACES: (1) IF THEY CAN BE ME, I GET THEM PLACES; (2) IF THEY GET THERE FASTER, THEY CAN BE ME; (3) ENHANCING EXPERIENCE. 6 IS GREATER THAN 1? (4) NOTHING BUT THE "ILLUSION" OF GRANDUER; (5) REAL CLEAR POLITICS--I'M A CRIMINAL BECAUSE YOU SAY I AM! DREAMS THIS WEEK: (1) A COP CAR WITH HIS TICKET BOOK NEVER OPENED--DUE PROCESS DEMANDS, NOTICE & A HEARING--IF YOU NEVER GOT A TICKET? SORRY BOYZ & GIRLZ, NO CHARGES. ALL TICKETS HAVE TO HAVE THE SIGNATURE OF THE ALLEGED OFFENDER ON IT, TO NOTIFY THEM OF A TICKET AND POSSIBLE BENCH WARRANT IF THEY FAIL TO SHOW UP FOR COURT; (2) A SHERRIF SNEAKING BEHIND MY DAUGHTER'S HOUSE--SAME ONE IN THE DREAM, THAT I SAW THE FIRST DAY BACK IN TOWN, WHILE I WAS SITTING AT THE MAVERICK WAITING FOR MY DAUGHTER TO PICK ME UP. HE DRIVES A BLACK, FORD ESCAPE, SUV. (3) ABOUT 10 FBI AGENTS, WEARING THEIR BLUE VESTS WITH THE BIG BLOCK LETTERS--ALL BEHIND MY BACK--WERE THEY GETTING MY BACK? OR AFTER ME? WHAT ARE MY CHARGES? NOT ALLOWING MY FUCKING SISTERS AND EX-FRIENDS, ATTORNEYS, STEAL MY IDENDITY AND FAMILY FORTUNE? (4) CHRIS HAYES, MSNBC, IN A RADIO STATION WITH HEADPHONES ON; AND (5) DREAM OF SHELLEY AT THE POVERELLO CENTER FOR THE HOMELESS IN MISSOULA MONTANA--NO RESIDENTS YET, BUT SHE WAS MAKING HER BED, ON THE LOWER BUNK, OF THE 20 OR SO METAL BUNKBEDS, WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP, LOOKING VERY UNPRESIDENTIAL,, WEARING SHORTS, A SWEATSHIRT, WHITE SOCKS AND RUNNING SHOES! INDICATIVE OF CUTTING OFF THE PLAN FOR SHELLEY BEING ME? THE BIOLOGY MAJOR REPLACING THE ATTORNEY, WITH FOUR BAR LICENSES UP TO AND INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, WITH, FOUR CERTIFICATES OF "GOOD STANDING" FROM THE UTAH STATE SUPREME COURT? NICE. A LITTLE GLITTER GOES A LONG WAY. THE DEGREE OF COMFORT, BETWEEN SHELLEY, AND THE PRESIDENT, SEEN TOGETHER IN BOTH, SAUDI ARABIA AND SINGAPORE, AS TRAVEL COMPANIANS, IS SYMBOLICALLY, SUGGESTED IN THE CASAUAL NATURE OF THE DRESS AND THE FAMILIARITY OF THE CIRCUMSTANCESD IN THE DREAM . . . AFTER BEING IN MISSOULA, MONTANA, FOR THREE WEEKS, GETTING A NEW I.D. AND SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, AFTER BEING ROBBED IN SEATTLE, ON MY RETURN, I TRIED TO CHANGE MY PHYSICAL MAILING ADDRESS BACK TO SEATTLE. THE AGENT, LITERALLY, LOOKED UP MY RECORD, WHEN I TOLD HER TO JUST CHANGE MY MAILING ADDRESS BACK TO MARY'S PLACE, WHERE I HAD CHANGED IN A YEAR BEFORE . . . SHE ASKED ME WHICH SEATTLE ADDRESS? I ONLY HAVE ONE, AND IT SHOULD BE ON RECORD. WHAT DO YOU HAVE DOWN? ONE FOR BELLTOWN, AND ANOTHER ADDRESS I DIDN'T RECOGINZE. THEN, LOOKING AT MY RECORD AND NOTES, GETTING A LETTER TO PROVE MY INCOME, CALLED A "VERIFICATION LETTER" SHE ASKED ME, IF I HAD FILED THE MEDICAL REVIEW, IN APRIL--NO, I FILED ONE IN DECEMBER, AFTER SOCIAL SECURITY STOPPED MY PAYMENTS--TALK ABOUT DUE PROCESS--THEY WERE MAILING MY SOCIAL SECURITY PAPERWORK TO MISSOULA, MONTANA, WHEN, I HAD CHANGED MY ADDRESS, IN ABOUT, APRIL OF 2017, BECAUSE, SOCIAL SECURITY TOOK OUT $270 FOR MEDICARE, AND I WANTED TO HAVE THAT STOPPED, BY FILLING OUT SOME PRE-PREPARED PAPERWORK. SHELLEY HAS LONG, HAD SOMEONE ON POVERLLO STAFF, WHO HAS, BEEN PAID TO INTERCEPT MY MAIL, BEFORE I GET A CHANCE TO GET MY HANDS ON IT, DISCOVERING, FOUR DIFFERENT INSURANCE PLANS, NONE OF WHICH, I SIGNED UP FOR, FROM UNITED HEALTHCARE, THAT DOESN'T SERVE MONTANA, BUT DOES, WASHINGTON, WHERE, MY BLOG, SINCE THE GET-GO, HAS SHOWED, POSTING TIMES FOR PACIFIC TIME ZONE, AND WILL NOT ALLOW ME TO CHANGE IT, OR IF I DO, THEY CHANGE IT RIGHT BACK! IS SOMEONE FINALLY, PUTTING THE MOST COMPLICATED JIGSAW PUZZLE TOGETHER? IT IS ABOUT TIME, SINCE I HAVE WRITTEN AD NOSIUM ABOUT, THIS SHIT! I AM JUST GETTING READY TO GET A NEW UTAH DRIVER'S LICENSE, THAT I HAVE BEEN DENIED, EVEN WHEN THE DMV CAN CLEARLY SEE, BOTH MY IDENTIFICATION CARD AND DRIVER'S LICENSE IS ME, WITH THE MANAGER, PAID, RUNNING OVER AND NOT LETTING ME, USE MY OWN, I.D. AND DRIVER'S LICENSE NUMBERS! THEY WANTED ME TO START OVER AND DISCONNECT, THE CONTINUOUS CONNECTION BETWEEN MYSELF, AND ME, WITH A NEW NUMBER, WHICH I REFUSED TO DO! WE ARE TALKING MAJOR FELONIES, COMMITTED EVERYDAY! THE DREAM INDICATES THAT SHELLEY AND DONALD HAVE HAD A THING, SINCE MEETING, IN LAS VEGAS, BACK IN 2011, WHEN, MY CASE, AGAINST, THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL, WAS BROUGHT TO THEIR KNEES, WITH ME GETTING AN EDITOR OF 22 YEARS AND A JOURNALIST OF 18 YEARS FIRED, FOR WRITING THAT, MY CLIENT HAD BEEN SELLING "FAKE" SECURITIES AND CD'S . . . EVERN WONDER WHERE THE DONALD GOT HIS "FAKE" NEWS SHIT? ALL ROADS LEAD BACK TO THIS "ROAD SCHOLAR" WITH SHELLEY, MIXING THE MAP, TECHNOLOGY, STEALING CASES, WATER COMPACTS, FURNITURE, BAR LICENSES AND CERTIFICATES, AND NOW A BILLION DOLLAR BLOG, ON A DAILY BASIS! IN PLAIN SIGHT! THE OTHER DAY, AFTER I FINISHED, MY LAST BLOG, ON FRIDAY, "ZOMBIE RAMPAGE" THERE WAS A "POLL SOUND" VAN, PULLLING IN AND OUT OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, NEAR THE PUMPKIN PATCH. AS I GOT OFF THE SUNTRAN, "SERVICE THAT SHINES" AND DECIDED TO WALK THE BACK RIVER TRAIL TO THE BRIDGE AND OVER TO THE SUMMIT HEALTH CLUB, I SAW 5 COPS, IN LESS THAN 5 MINUTES, A FIRE ENGINE, AND AMBULANCE, WITH AN ORANGE AND WHITE HELICOPTER APPEARING TO BE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, NEAR THE SUMMIT, WHERE I WAS GOING, AND DO, OR TRY TO DAILY, IF I CAN, WITHOUT BEING TARGET PRACTICE FOR COPS AND FEDS! THERE APPEARED TO BE NOTHING BUT ME, THAT THEY WERE LOOKING FOR. THE FIRE ENGINE AND AMBULANCE CAME BACK, WITHOUT SIRENS, ALMOST LIKE DEJECTED, HUNTERS, HAVING LOST THEIR TROPHY DEER! THE ART OF DELAY. THE REASON, THAT IS SIGNIFICANT IS THEY TRIED THE SAME TRICK OR TREAT, LAST WEEK AT THE SUMMIT WITH, FIRE TRUCK PARKED OUTSIDE AND AMBULANCE WAITING AND READY, FOR, WHO, ME? AS I WALKED ON OUT THE DOOR! NO EVIDENCE OF ANYONE IN DISTRESS! AMAZON GOES GOLD! LET ME PUT IT THIS WAY . . . JUST LIKE SEATTLE AND SURROUNDING AREA WITH RECORD CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, ST. GEORGE HAS ALSO OPTED FOR THE CRIMNAL BITCH, AND MY MONEY. KEEP HER. SIMPLY DUMBFOUNDING, IN SCOPE AND CIRCUMSTANCES! REBEL REBEL. YOUR FACE IS A MESS, HOW COULD THEY KNOW . . . HOT TRAMP, I LOVE YOU SO! TAKE ME DOWN TO THE RIVER . . . DUNK ME IN THE WATER. WASH ME. HUG ME. SQUEEZE ME. PUSH ME IN THE WATER. DUCK ME IN THE WATER. ALL PAIN, NO GAIN. POLL SOUND. JUST A FEW OF THE GIRLZ. EVERYBODY'S FOOL. ROCK WILL SAVE THE WORLD! DON'T LIMIT YOUR KID'S POTENTIAL. WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN KIDS! MINE ARE ALL FINE. MY DAUGHTER, NICOLE WAS IN TOWN, THIS WEEK, FOR SOME BIG BIKE RACE, AND SHE STAYED AT MY SISTER, SUSAN AND KEVIN SCHMIDT'S HOUSE OR IN THEIR DRIVEWAY, IN THEIR, NEW EXTRA LARGE TRAVEL TRAILER, TO GO WITH THEIR NEW PROPERTY IN CEDAR CITY AREA SOMEWHERE AND TO TAKE TO THEIR NEW CABIN? MY GRANDSON, CAME HOME FROM DESERT HILLS MIDDLE SCHOOL, AND SAID, THAT, MY SISTER, SUE WAS SUBSTITUTE TEACHING IN HIS CLASS. SHE STOPPED HIM AT THE DOOR, BECAUSE HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHO SHE WAS, SO, SHE PURPOSEFULLY DID IT, AND REMINDED HIM OF WHO SHE WAS, AND ASKED HOW I WAS DOING? I HAD JUST WRITTEN ABOUT, SUE AND KEVIN, BEING, ALLEGEDLY ON A MORMON MISSION, IN TURKEY, A FEW YEARS AGO, ABOUT THE TIME, GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN, HOOKED UP WITH TURKEY AND WAS ALSO, SEEN IN RUSSIA OR ON RT TV, WITH PUTIN, WHICH LED, TO HIS FIRING, RIGHT BEFORE, PRESIDENT OBAMA GOT OUT OF OFFICE AND TRUMP GOT IN, WITH ALL THE RUSSIAN SHIT, GOING ON . . . SUE HAS BEEN, UP IN MONTANA, AS ME, WORKING ON LOBBYING EFFORTS, TO FUCK THE MONTANA WATER COMPACT THAT I WORKED ON FOR SIX YEARS! ALL THE SUDDEN, THERE ARE RANCHERS AND FARMERS, WHO SUPPORT THE COMPACT AND THE UNITED STATES AND MONTANA CONSTITUTIONS, MAGICALLY, SWITCH, FROM, WHAT I REPORTED TO THE HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, BACK IN, 2014, HAVING WRITTEN UP A LENGHTY PAPER, STATING THAT, THE NEW PROPOSED COMPACT, VIOLATED THE U.S. AND MONTANA CONSTITUTIONS, TRADITIONAL WATER LAW, MONTANA WATER LAW, AND THE HELLGATE TREATY OF 1855! THE COMPACT, DUE TO ME AND OTHER'S TESTIFYING WAS POSPONED FOR TWO YEARS FOR THE COMMITTEE AND OTHERS TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE COMPACT. NOW, I HAVE, BEEN RUN, PILLAR TO POST, FOR THE LAST 6 YEARS, IN ABOUT, 6 DIFFERENT STATES, BY COPS, AFTER I HAVE BEEN FRAMED, FOR GOD ONLY KNOWS WHAT . . . SO SUE, A HISTORY MAJOR, CAN PRETEND TO BE ME? GET THE WATER IN THE HANDS OF THE INDIANS, WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WITH SOLE JURISDICTION OVER THEM, AS PER THE ENABLING ACT AT THE FIRST OF THE MONTANA CONSTITUTION, SO, THAT, WHAT, THE TEAM, CAN, STEAL, MONTANA WATER, UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE INDIANS, OR THE FEDS, FOR UTAH, TO BLOSSOM LIKE A ROSE, LIKE THE BOOK OF MORMON SAYS? LOL. I GET ME PLACES, AND THEM TOO! FUCK? SO, NICOLE TOLD ME, ABOUT SUE'S NEW TRAILOR, WITH TWO SEPARATE ROOMS, AND A GREAT FRONT ROOM, NICOLE SAID, HAD A COUCH THAT WAS NICER THAN, ANY COUCH, THAT, HER AND GEORGE MAYOR, HAD EVER HAD! SO WHY WAS SUE SUBSITUTE TEACHING? A $250,000 TRAILER, AND GETTING PAID, WHAT, $75.00 FOR SUBSTITUTING? THIS MORNING, I CALLED NICOLE WHO, DENIED THAT SUE WOULD EVER NEED TO SUBSTITUTE, AS DID GRETA, UNTIL, GRETA TALKED TO KAEL, AND NICOLE HEARD IT FROM SUE, THAT, YES, IN DEED, SUE WAS SUBSTITUTING, WHAT AS IF SHE WAS ME? NOW SUE HAS A SECONDARY TEACHER'S CERTIFICATE, AS DO I, BUT I WAS ON, UTAH TEACHING SCHOLARSHIP, AND HAD TO PAY IT BACK, AND BEYOND THAT, TAUGHT, COLLEGE AT THREE UNIVERSITIES! THEY GET PLACES BEING ME! I WAS SO PISSED, WANTING NICOLE TO KNOW AND ALL MY KIDS, THAT, THEY HAVE BEEN TREATED, LIKE THE ABANDONED, KIDS OF SOME WILD, ASS, LOSER MOTHER, WHEN, IN REALITY, THESE BASTARDS AND BITCHES ARE, BILKING THEIR BROTHERS OF THEIR MUSIC MONEY, AND DID SO FOR FUCKING MITT ROMNEY, WHO GOT $118 MILLION OF MY LAWSUIT, ATTORNEY'S FEES, AND EVEN STEAL FROM, HER, BOOK MONEY, PUSLISHED ON AMAZON, "THE QUESTION OF LAHASH!" THEN, I RAN OUT OF MESSAGE ROOM, OR SOMEONE CUT ME OFF! ROCK WILL SAVE THE WORLD! I STATED THAT SUE AND KEVEN, GRANDPA AND ALL OF THEM, ARE CROOKS! SHE HAS BEEN LIED TO AND IS LUCKY SHE WAS NOT MURDERED SO, LITTLE MEGGIE SHIT, COULD, STEAL HER, MILITARY SERVICE TO ADD TO HER LAW DEGREE, FROM UNLV! THE PLAN WAS TO KILL NIOCLE AND GRETA, AND TO STEAL THEIR HUSBANDS, AND, TAKE THEIR DISTINGUISHED MILITARY CAREERS, AND BEEF UP, THE SHIT GIRLS, RESUME'S, ADDING TO SUE AND KEVIN, ANOTHER SET OF PARENTS, WITH RED HEADS TO BLEND, ROCK STAR, ELLIOT IN WITH THEIR BROOD OF UGLY GIRLS! JUST A FEW OF THE GIRLZ. BLENDING MEG ANS SUE, TO MAKE UP ME, WITH EYES ON GRANDKIDS, MEG WILL LIKELY NEVER HAVE! SIMPLY, DEGRANGED, IDIOTS! MORONS! SHELLEY SOLD CABBAGE PATCH DOLLS, WHILE I WAS, AN ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL AND PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH! SUE HAS NEVER, EVER WORKED OUTSIDE THE HOME, AND, SHE COULDN'T EVEN PASS ONE MASTER'S CLASS, WITH A NANNY AND ENOUGH MONEY TO DO WHATEVER! NO THEY DON'T GET TO STEAL MY LAW DEGREE! THE MORON MUFFINS, DON'T GET TO USE ME TO GET ENHANCED EXPERIENCE, THEY NEVER, EVER, IN A BILLION YEARS COULD HAVE DONE ON THEIR OWN! I WAS NEVER FOR SALE! UTAH CONSTITUTION, CLEARLY STATES, THAT THERE IS NO ENDENTURED OR INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE, NOR POLYGAMY, OR IT USED TO SAY THAT, UNTIL THE UTAH LEGISLATURES, STARTING UNDER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE, DAVID CLARK, WAS ALERTED BY ME, ABOUT THE BAN ON POLYGAMY, WITH THE MEN, AND PROBABLY THE STUPID ASS, REPUBLICAN WOMEN, WRITING A FUTURE CONSTITUTION, TAKING OUT THAT PROVISION, WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE UNITED STATES, OR A 2/3RDS, VOTE OF BOTH HOUSES AND THE PEOPLE, OR A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION! BUT IT IS, UTAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK? I DEMAND THEY PLAY BY THE RULES THAT EVERY ONE ELSE DOES! THAT REMINDS ME OF, GOP ASSHOLE, CHUCH GRASSLY, OVER THE CONGRESSIONAL OR SENATORIAL, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, THE ONES WHO TURNED A BLIND EYE TO CAVEMAN, JUST CALLED A VOTE ON, 6 OF TRUMP'S CONSERVATIVE FEDERAL JUDGES WITHOUT, HALF OF THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE EVEN IN TOWN, RAMRODDING IT THROUGH, WITH THE DEMOCATS, REQUESTING, THAT THE COMMITTEE WAIT UNTIL THEY GOT BACK IN TOWN! WAS THERE EVEN A QUORUM? THE SENATE HAS TO HAVE, A QUORUM TO VOTE ON ANY ISSUE AND FOR SURE, THEY NEED THE ATTENDANCE OF THE DEMOCRATS! GRASSLY LIED AND SAID THAT JUDICIARY MINORITY CHAIR, SENATOR, DIANNE FEINSTEIN, GAVE HIM THE GO-AHEAD? BULLSHIT! THESE ARE LIFETIME FUCKING APPOINTMENTS! WE DON'T NEED FUCKED UP JUDGES WHO HAVE NEVER EVEN PRACTICED TRIAL COURT, OR HAVE THE EXPERIENCE, BUT ARE CONSERVATIVE! THERE ARE TOO MANY, GOOD ATTORNEYS OUT THERE, TO BOW TO THE FUCKING FEDERALIST SOCIETY LIST OR THE SUTHERLAND INSTITUTE, OR HERITAGE FOUNDATION, GOONS!

THE ILLUSION OF EDUCATION

     The movement embraces self-delusion as psychologically and socially beneficial.  It also makes handsome profits peddling it.  Seligman, Diener, Shelley Taylor and a slew of positive psychologists write popular books for, essentially, those who can afford the therapy. . . . The effective individual in the face of threat seems to be one who permits the development of illusions, nurtures those illusions, and is ultimately restored by those illusions," write Taylor, a psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles.  In 1991, Taylor published a book titled Positive Illusions: Creative Self-Deception and the Healthy Mind, in which she argued that "positive illusions" protected mental and physical health."

     Taylor's article "Illusions of Well-Being" is a commonly cited resource in positive psychology. She insists that positive illusions have a measurable affect on survival rates among patients with cancer, HIV and cardiovascular disease or surgery.

     Positive illusions, described as "pervasive, enduring, and systematic," come, Taylor writes, in three types: (1) unrealistically positive views of the self; (2) exaggerated perceptions of personal control; and (3) unrealistic optimism.  All of these illusions can, managed the right way, supposedly improve our lives.  Illusions are good for people, she says, and therefore, by extensions, unadorned reality is negative.

     But while Taylor sees positive illusions as tools to ward off dysfunctions, stress, and bad health, not everyone agrees.  Philosopher David Jopling calls such illusions "life-lies."  He argues that so-called positive illusions may work for a while but collapse when reality becomes too harsh and intrudes on the dream world.

. . . 

     Jopling warns of grave moral consequences for a delusional society.  this means that the range of social, emotional, and personal relations that connect us to others, to the social world, and to our own humanity, are progressively weakened as self-deceptive strategies become progressively entrenched in behavior and thought.

     Psychology has a long history of lending its services to the military and government as well as propaganda industries such as advertising, public relations, and human management.  The National Institute of Mental Health, from which many positive psychologists have generous grants, though a public institution, has numerous government, military, and commercial relationships.

THE ILLUSION OF AMERICA

. . .

     The country I live in today uses the same civic, patriotic, and historical language to describe itself, the same symbols of iconography, the same national myths, only the shell of it remains.

     . . .
     The words consent of the governed have become an empty phrase.  Our textbooks on political science and economics are obsolete.  Our nation has been hijacked by oligarchs, corporations, and a narrow, selfish, political, and economic elite, a small and privileged group that governs, often steals, on behalf of moneyed interests.  This elite, in the name of patriotism and democracy, in the name of all the values, work ethic, has systematically destroyed our manufacturing sector, looted the treasury, corrupted our democracy, and trashed the financial system.  During this plundering we remained passive, mesmerized by the enticing shadows on the wall, assured our tickets to success, prosperity, and happiness were waiting around the corner.
     The government, stripped of any real sovereignty, provides little more than technical expertise for elites and corporations that lack moral restraints and a concept of the common good.  America has become a facade.  It has become the greatest illusion in a culture of illusions. It represents a power and a democratic ethic it does not possess.  It seeks to perpetuate prosperity by borrowing trillions of dollars it can never repay.  The absurd folly of trying to borrow our way out of the worst economic collapse since the 1930's is the cruelest of all the recent tricks played on American citizens.  We continue to place our faith in a phantom economy, one characterized by fraud and lies, which sustains aging is not wealth creation.  We are vainly trying to return to a bubble economy, of the sort that once handed use the illusion of wealth, rather than confront the stark reality that lies ahead.  We are told massive borrowing will create jobs and re-inflate real estate values and the stock market.  We remain tempted by mirages, by the illusions that we can, still, all become rich.
     The corporate power that holds the government hostage has appropriated for itself the potent symbols, language, and patriotic traditions of the state.  It purports to defend freedom, which it defines as the free market, and liberty, which it defines as the liberty to exploit.  It sold us on the illusion that the free market was the natural outgrowth of democracy and a force of nature, at least until the house of cards collapsed and these corporations needed to fleece the taxpayers to survive.  Making that process even more insidious, the real sources of power remain hidden.  Those who run our largest corporations are largely anonymous to the mass of the citizens.  The anonymity of corporate forces--an earthly Deus absconditus--makes them unaccountable.  They have the means to hid and to divert us from examining the decaying structures they have created.  As Karl Marx understood, capitalism when it is unleashed from government and regulatory control is a revolutionary force.

Cultures that cannot distinguish between illusion and reality die.