BATR is a comprehensive view on the human condition. Several sites comprise this anthology. The emphasis stresses an in-depth analysis of the realpolitik that influences society and the individual. Ideology matters. In an age where the right and left distinctions are obsolete and misleading, asking the crucial questions is essential.
Essays written under the nom de plume, SARTRE are presented on Totalitarian Collectivism, Radical Reactionary, Inherent Autonomy, Global Gulag, View from the Mount, Strappado Wrack, Dueling Twins and Solitary Purdah. Archives for each series are available from their respected sites.
Integrity, insight and intelligence are sorely lacking. BATR attempts to fill a void that is often missing. Content is bold and provocative. Commentary is the essence of BATR. No subject is off limits, no authority immune from criticism and no power above accountability.
BREAKING ALL THE RULES is genuine "paleo" conservative populism you can trust.
Money Center Banks and Stricter Financial Oversight
May 15, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
Once again, the practices of the “Too Big to Fail” banksters bring the financial money machine to the brink. The J.P. Morgan derivative losses and trading gambles by their “London Whale” demonstrates business as usual in the murky world of risk distortion. Even the vexing progressive Robert Reich makes an accurate assessment for breaking up the big banks and the resurrecting of Glass-Steagall.
“Word on the Street is that J.P. Morgan’s exposure is so large that it can’t dump these bad bets without affecting the market and losing even more money. And given its mammoth size and interlinked connections with every other financial institution, anything that shakes J.P. Morgan is likely to rock the rest of the Street.”
Read entire essay from Negotium Archives
Bankruptcy Trends in the Post Meltdown Era
May 8, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
Economic dislocation is an inherent element in any financial system. One way to deal with balance sheet imbalances is to declare bankruptcy. The most common examples of liquidating default without payment are to petition the court to absolve debt obligations. Personal bankruptcy is tragic, but is common in a culture where immediate consumer gratification is the end all of a private excess society. Business bankruptcy is different because the underlying enterprise assumes all the risks of engaging in commerce. Even prudent expenditures and sound business activities can go sour that ultimately results in insolvency.
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Number ONE Enemy of the State
May 6, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
There is immense confusion about the nature of the State. There is even more bewilderment about what constitutes a patriot. Any discussion in the civic realm begins with a cultural viewpoint. An attitude toward the proper role of the individual’s relationship with government based upon one’s value system and interpretation of civil order is natural. One man’s patriot is another man’s traitor. Where do you stand on the sentiments behind the penning of the below ideas? Quiz yourself and see if you can figure out the name of the author.
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Big vs Small Bank Loans
May 1, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
If your Main Street business needs capital and seeks a loan, your prospects are slim to none. It is evident that the real economy has never recovered from the collapse of the financial system. TARP was a temporary rescue of the large money center banks. For the local community banks, the massive give away has strings attached and penalties to be paid. Not much consolation for a small business endeavor that is desperate for cash and an improved business environment.
Read entire essay from Negotium Archives
A Different Philosophy of Civil Disobedience
April 29, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
Conventional civil disobedience usually engages localized agencies and domestic government. Redress of grievances, constitutionally protected under law is a myth in practice. The courts operate as protectors of state authority, while crushing the safeguards of individual natural rights. Petition to elected officials for recourse resembles begging for sustenance. Allegiance to country is confused with deference to decadent dictates. Conscience and moral imperatives draw sincere and aware citizens to resort to necessary measures of dissent. The question is what kind of civil disobedience is appropriate and effective?
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A Matter of Time for a VAT Tax
April 24, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
The insatiable thrust for federal spending continues. The will to correct our fiscal black hole is absent. Even the Tea Party Republicans lack the strength of determination and votes to reverse the ship of state. No matter which party wins the next elections, the deficits facing the budget are huge. Until a total reformation of the way the central government functions, no solution is possible to balance the books. There is no way to escape this stark reality. Expect more gimmicks, additional devaluation of the currency and the inevitable imposition of new forms of taxes.
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The Duty of the Military in a Militarized Empire
April 22, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
Those who serve in the military are in a difficult position. The oath taken by enlistees states, “I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” The internal conflict between supporting and defending the Constitution and obeying orders is at the heart of the dilemma of honor and duty. Those who accept that the Presidential chain of command is by nature constitutional; lack a proper understanding of history and professes an even greater ignorance of current affairs.
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The Foolish Exporting Natural Gas Policy
April 17, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
The lack of a government policy that promotes domestic energy independence in the United States is a tragic consequence of playing politics for decades. The current rage is the natural gas boom that offers the alternative of producing a plentiful and inexpensive source of fuel. Economic prosperity rests upon cheap and reliable power and natural gas offers the best option. The pricing of natural gas is regional and quite different from trading crude oil. Loren Steffy reports in the Houston Chronicle, “A surge in drilling for gas from shale formations around the U.S. has generated a glut of natural gas, pushing prices below $2 per million British thermal units.”Forbes set out the basic dilemma that conflict with the true long-term internal energy benefit, from the use of our own resources, for the national interest.
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Race is Still the Issue for the PC Culture
April 15, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
The media three-ring circus focus on the forthcoming trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin has all the hallmarks of another rush to judgment. Conviction in the press is nothing new, when the dominant liberal bleeding hearts feel offended. Others can relish on every detail, motivation and circumstance, but this viewpoint obscures the fundamental conflict that exists in society. It is a social taboo to engage in a sincere and substantive dialogue on race in this country. The long history that consumes racial animosity will always continue as long as “Political Correctness” prohibits genuine honesty.
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BREAKING ALL THE RULES News- Bilderberg Hacking U.S. Elections[…]
- A Tipping Point for IsraelA tipping point is where physical momentum, inclined in one direction, reverses its course, stabilizes, and then begins to move the opposite way. Those of us who have been arguing for a sane United States foreign policy in the Middle East have well understood that the odds on shifting the prevailing narrative have been heavily against us thanks to the overwh […]
- Occupy Graduation: US student loan trillion dollar ticking time bomb[…]
- Does The West Have A Future?Living in America is becoming very difficult for anyone with a moral conscience, a sense of justice, or a lick of intelligence. Consider: We have had a second fake underwear bomb plot, a much more fantastic one than the first hoax. The second underwear bomber was a CIA operative or informant allegedly recruited by al-Qaeda, an organization that US authoritie […]
- Police, Military - Was Your Oath Sincere?[…]
- Bilderberg Hacking U.S. Elections
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- BATR News
- As the Boomers Head for the BarnWhen the April figures on unemployment were released May 4, they were more than disappointing. They were deeply disturbing. While the unemployment rate had fallen from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent, 342,000 workers had stopped looking for work. They had just dropped out of the labor market. Only 63.6 percent of the U.S. working age population is now in the labo […]
- Obama's Alleged 'Same-Sex' Past[…]
- Newsweek Misses “First Gay President” Call By 3 YrsNewsweek has published the above cover on its next issue proudly declaring Barack Obama as “The First Gay President.” Problem with openly gay, British writer Andrew Sullivan’s article is, he’s 3 years late as Sinclair News declared Barack Obama America’s “First Gay President” more than 3 years ago in its earlier Internet web sites devoted to reporting the tr […]
- Ron Paul Is Our "August Surprise"[…]
- CIA Thwarts Own New Underwear Bomber Plot, Continues Trend of Manufactured TerrorAnother day, another blatant instance of manufactured terrorism courtesy of the U.S. government, in this case the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). I assume that my readers are already astute enough to see this case as nothing more than yet another attempt to justify the American police state, the expansive big brother policies and technology and the fraudu […]
- As the Boomers Head for the Barn
- NeoCon Watch
- The left lacks an analysis of the neocon riseAll The other night on CSpan, I watched Rachel Maddow give a lecture at Mount Holyoke College about her foreign policy book Drift. The speech was amusing, and her condemnation of Obama's use of drones was excellent, as was her sympathy for military families who have borne the brunt of these wars inside the U.S. But the speech was singularly lacking in a […]
- An Inexperienced Romney and his Neocon Bush Foreign Policy AdvisorsOne of the things that ought to give anyone pause about Willard "Mittens" Romney is that he has surrounded himself with the Neoconservative war mongers from George W. Bush's presidency who gave us the bogus intelligence for an unnecessary war in Iraq that cost us so much in American lives and treasure. Not to mention set this country on a dark […]
- An Inexperienced Romney and his Neocon Bush Foreign Policy AdvisorsOne of the things that ought to give anyone pause about Willard "Mittens" Romney is that he has surrounded himself with the Neoconservative war mongers from George W. Bush's presidency who gave us the bogus intelligence for an unnecessary war in Iraq that cost us so much in American lives and treasure. Not to mention set this country on a dark […]
- The neocon machineWashington is setting up the same path all over again. As if nothing has been learned. The neocon propaganda organs are very much in place. The war talk is similar, especially the depiction of Iran’s leaders as irrational zealots, impervious to reason. Many of the key players are the same: Bill Kristol, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, “mainstream” Je […]
- Latest Neocon Terror Propaganda: Electromagnetic Pulse 'E-Bombs'Yet another potential danger has been added to the ever-growing and increasingly absurd list of supposed terror threats - the "E-Bomb".An "E-bomb" is a weapon designed to be detonated in the upper atmosphere, and which emits a strong electromagnetic pulse. British Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond, speaking today at a conference in London […]
- The left lacks an analysis of the neocon rise
- BATR Forum
- Daily Business Report
- Washington Merry-Go-Round
Gay Marriage, Obama and the Me Value Culture
May 13, 2012 by SARTRE · Leave a Comment
Debating the virtues and morality of accepting gay marriage unions is like discussing the merits of pedophiles catering head start parties for children. How one comes down on the comparison, usually depends upon your own personal value system and culture of acceptable conduct. The red herring of committing a “Hate Crime” for even having the cojones to raise the issue, exemplifies just how far society has sunk to abandon valid intellectual scrutiny. Audacity in the defense of Western Civilization traditions, ethics and, much less religious principles, is rapidly becoming a ubiquitous bias-motivated offense. Celebrating diversity has become accepting depravity.
Read entire essay from BATR Archives
Filed under Strappado Wrack · Tagged with BATR, BREAKING ALL THE RULES, SARTRE Commentary, Strappado Wrack