[GJM] The Scepter of Power & reply to GJM dialog

[Richard D. Foley]

Dear Wes,

I too have failed to understand your charts and graphs.  Over the last 
20 or so years, working for the most part without pay, I have been busy 
working away at parts of the system that have to do with corporate 
governance.  Naturally, I climbed on to the shoulders of those like the 
Gilberts who had laid the ground work.  By working with organizations 
like the United Shareholders Association, the Council of Institutional 
Investors, CESJ and a number of others many positive changes have been 
brought into being.  One of the most important was in 1988 when my 
shareholder proposal for the redemption of the Santa Fe Southern 
Pacific's "Poison Pill" was the first ever shareholder proposal to win a 
majority vote.  Having proved that against all odds, against all prior 
centuries of failure that it could be done, then other shareholder 
resolutions also begin to get larger votes and to win.  We were able to 
get many changes made in the SEC rules and regulations which provide 
shareholders with understandable information.  The totality of these 
little changes have evolved in such a way that for the most part most 
people don't have the slightest idea that there has even been any 
change, let alone any positive changes.  However, it is these very 
changes which have brought about the pealing away of the green curtain 
of deception behind which Global Crossing, WorldCom, Enron, AGI and 
countless others have long hid.   Nevertheless, there is still lots to 
be done.

The premise of all the work I have been involved in has operated on the 
simple idea that ownership is what makes the difference.  When I was a 
boy my father advised me to, "try to avoid situations where you are the 
one left holding the short end of the stick."  Many years passed in 
observing the "lying, deceiving, carpet bagging, Scoundrels class who 
sincerely believe that the rest of humanity is their natural prey' 
("LDCBS & The Bullies") it finally dawned on me that my father's advise 
was wrong, or I had completely misunderstood it.  I suddenly understood 
that having a hold on the short end of the stick was the very best 
position to be in.  If one has a hold of the short end of the stick it 
gives them an enormous leverage advantage, exponentially so if they been 
able to trick all others to let go of the stick, and even better sold 
all the others the lie that it was some other stick that held the magic, 
such as the political stick.  The true stick or scepter of power is 
"ownership!"  And, that includes the ownership of the franchise to 
manufacture money.

The common denominator to all types of "ownership" including the 
ownership of your own body have certain basic philosophical, rational, 
legal, common sense, reasonable, "un - deniable and un - a - lien - able 
mutual agreements of logic and rights all of which have Divine origin.  
This is not to say that the LDCBS have not constructed huge edifices to 
separate the people from their ownership rights.  It is for this 
Cardinal Goal  (let somebody else do it, just let go of the stick) that 
the overwhelming majority of all social institutions have been 
constructed.  Regardless of the statement of original purpose a as a 
benefit for the people that an institution was begun.  Ultimately, or at 
best intermittently, most have been subverted by the LDCBS toward their 
Cardinal Goal.  This includes a multitude of organizations purporting to 
be religious in nature.  And, no!  I am not an anarchists, atheist, 
agnostic, or polytheist.

Has this been hidden?  No!  Most has been done in broad daylight.  That 
is not to say some of the worst of it has not been done in secret and 
the dark of night, such the SPECIOUS Patriot Act.  The majority of it 
has been done in clear sight of nations of citizens so deluded, so 
distracted, so busy scratching for existence, and so ignorant as to 
appear to justify the LDCBS doing exactly what they have done, e.g. 
trading liberty for security.  The LDCBSers have been a part of society 
since before Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.  The 
LDCBS may be a few percentage of the total of humanity, that still means 
that there are millions, if not billions of them.  One should also 
include in the count all those otherwise honest souls who have drunk the 
koolaid flavored with, "a genuine belief in their powerlessness and a 
faith in unavoidable inevitable failure."  So soaked with this with vile 
elixir have they become, that they have not only let go of the stick, 
they have forsaken even reaching a tremulous hand towards the stick.  
The Bullies have victory by surrender in which they rollick and roll in 
the bounty of the planet.

If a bully take a stick and beats a dog with it, different dogs will 
react differently. Most will back away.  But if the bully pursues the 
dog into the corner and continues to beat them, even the most timid will 
eventually snap at the stick.  At the very first snap the bully 
retreats.  Why?  It is because the bully knows that even if the dog 
doesn't realize it, the dog has the power to get a hold on the stick, 
and even a tiny hold, by the skin of a single tooth will so drastically 
reduce the leverage power of the bully that the dog may instantly 
realize that it can fight back and that it is better to die fighting 
than to live in a corner being pounded intermittently by the bully.  The 
Bullies only want to beat us enough to get us to stay in the corner, 
drink the koolaid, survive on the scraps and breed ever more timid litters.

Now lets take a look at the true stick of power the genuine scepter of 
power.  If the consensus that all ownership is shared then you have a 
system most often identified as communistic or socialistic.  However, it 
makes little difference if the system is called fascistic, democracy or 
capitalistic, virtually all such consensus is foolish and fundamentally 
flawed.  They are flawed because we all know that the LDCBS and the 
Bullies will rise to operate every systems or corrupt every system to 
their advantage at the expense of the weakest of the whole.

If my analysis so far is correct, then how can constructive and positive 
JUST change be made to happen.  How can the LDCBS - the Bullies be 
removed from power and checked when they seek unjust advantage, which we 
all agreed that they will without fail seek to do. 

The answer is empowered ownership.  Snap at it; reach for it; get it.  
Understand it.  Learn the system of its construction, operation and 
rights, exercise those rights, demand a level playing field, always be 
seeking every flaw that unbalances the playing field and insist they be 
corrected.  Seek more ownership and repeat.  Teach your children that 
ownership is a sacred right given to them by God and upon which no man 
or institution of man may intrude.  Unite the ownership and exercise it 
unfailingly, eternally.  The truth of the Ownership held by the LDCBSers 
and the Bullies is the same for you as for them.  They can not deny you 
your ownership or your rights of ownership without denying it for 
themselves.  Exercise your ownership unflinchingly with the knowledge 
that victory will come to the faithful.

The first snap, the first reach for empowered ownership changes the 
fundamental dynamic and a new paradigm comes into existence.  This new 
powerful dynamic can not be brought into existence by trying to create 
and ESOP to buy the company.  To me that is putting the cart before the 
horse, and more often fails than succeeds.  No potential buyer, or group 
of buyers who are not already shareholders acting in the best interests 
of all shareholders has any power, or powerful legal standing.   
However, organized shareholders operating in the best interests of all 
the shareholders are more powerful than the management or the board of 
directors.  When you do it this way, in the right way, for the right 
purpose, at the right time you step into the dimension where the 
mountain comes to Mohammed, where you knock and the door is opened, 
where the impossible becomes possible, and the improbable becomes 
common.  Snap back.  Then plant a tree.  Water it.  Tend it with care 
for it will bear good fruit.  This is your tree of liberty. 

A few words on un - deniable and un - a - lien - able.  All the rights 
that are written into the law, constitutions, etc. etc. exist only on 
the theoretical plane.  They do not exist until an individual takes the 
necessary proper action to make them exist on the plain of reality.  
This is done by "asserting" them.  Filing the proper written papers.  
Standing up in the proper place at the proper time and verbally 
declaring them to belong to you as your ownership of them.  Once this is 
done, then they exist in reality.  Then you can not be denied them with 
out consequence for the deniers.  However, you must be prepared to 
pursue them regardless of your financial situation.  The LDCBSers will 
back peddle and try to wrap everything in regulation, precedent, and 
statute.  Your obligation is to stick to the reasonable common sense of 
the law in the best interests of all shareholders.  It is not absolutely 
necessary that you be, or have a lawyer to do this for you, it is 
however, better for you if you can afford the right kind of lawyer who 
specializes in these rarefied sections of the law.  Nevertheless, you 
will be surprised at how much of it you can do for yourself.  The law is 
not written in stone.  The law is open to reasonable application in a 
new circumstances.  The key word is reasonable.  When it comes to un - a 
- lien - able, most people pronounce and even spell it as inalienable 
with out understanding what it means.  A better understanding would be 
"un" = can not/no one/no thing, "a" = you or anyone or anything, "lien" 
= to borrow against - to mortgage - to give - to sell - to divest - to 
discard - to rent - to share - to loan, being of such a nature as to be 
removed, taken away or denied, "able" = the ability to do.  Therefore, 
this word means that such a thing as inalienable or unalienable can not 
be sold, given, traded, mortgaged, loaned, or taken away by any man, any 
institution of man, or even by God.  These are the Divine Rights of 
every Human being given to them (endowed) by their Creator.  These are 
the Divine Gifts which are eternal.

Please understand that the so called Divine Rights of Kings is a lie.  
There never was, nor will there ever be such a thing.  It was an 
abomination created in the laboratory of the LDCBS and applied by The 
Bullies as one of the greatest tricks ever played on mankind.  For those 
of you who read your Bible you may recall that God did not want the 
Israelites to have a King.  Sometimes I imagine a conversation God has 
with Himself, "I created each one of them a King, and they demand a 
single King to rule over them? Oy vey!"

I invite all of you to take a look at www.votepal.com and 
www.ourunion.org where you will find a record of the work Steve Nieman 
and I have been doing.  Twenty years ago when I first started in this 
arena all the experts in the world told me that no minor shareholder in 
the history of corporations going back the the very first one had ever 
been able to win an election for a shareholder proposal, that the most I 
could hope for was a few percent, and that I would be lucky if we got 
enough to qualify to bring back the same proposal next year.  A key 
point is that 99.9999% of all shareholder proposals are  " precatory " 
i.e. in the nature of a suggestion which may be ignored without 
penalty.  Check on www.votepal.com and you will find that we not only 
succeeded in getting a "legally binding" shareholder proposal through 
the SEC and the legal process, but we managed to do another impossible 
in getting it passed by a majority, but also by a "Super Majority."  We 
have found a way, built a method, fought it through the SEC and the NYSE 
for the common, common shareholder to be able to afford a full blown and 
legal proxy fight.  Instead of the cost beginning at $15,000 dollars and 
easily running into the millions, you can do a proxy contest, you can 
lawfully run election to the board of directors, you can not be ignored, 
or dismissed, or ejected, and it cost less than $500 bucks.  It is time 
to stand up.  It is time to make the first snap at the stick of 
ownership.  Your out stretched hand like the bared teeth of the dog 
snapping changes the dynamic and your begin to regain your empowered 
ownership.

Respectfully,

Richard D. Foley
Chairman, The Ownership Union®

PS:  For employees of public companies: First get some ownership of the 
stock and begin to exercise your rights.  It is certainly fair to tell 
everyone that you ultimate goal is for the employees to own the majority 
of the shares of the company.  Build a track record of right action that 
can become a solid foundation for more dynamic action in the future.  
But, first you must assert your rights of ownership.









wesburt at juno.com wrote:

>  
> On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:57:07 -0400 John Watkins <johnw at simsoc.org 
> <mailto:johnw at simsoc.org>> writes:
>
> > Dear Wes,
> >
> > A few weeks ago, as you are aware, I sent out
> > the wrong message about the need for advisors
> > and a number of people responded with some
> > interest, including you.
> >
> > I've been holding back on responding to you
> > because one of the necessities of advice is
> > that it be understandable and, for whatever
> > reason, I have been unable to understand
> > most of what you've posted to our forums.
> > The most recent message to the fund-raising
> > forum adds to that feeling.
> >
> > I particularly have difficulty understanding
> > how your figures illustrate the points you are
> > trying to make. I at least have come to know
> > what TOP and TWP stand for The Optimum
> > Policy and The Wrong Policy.
> >
> > Maybe, among a more rigorously educated
> > group of economists, it all makes sense. I'm
> > not one of them. It pains me to have to say so.
> > I have sensed that you are frustrated with the
> > inability of others to understand your message.
> > Maybe my finding the courage to say this will
> > prove of some value to you. I hope so.
> > --
> > simplicity ~ personal responsibility
> > compassion ~ community ~ justice
> > empowering society by reducing complexity
> >
> > John Watkins  Founder and Creative Director
> > The Simple Society Alliance for Human Empowerment  
> > 379 Amherst Street #234, Nashua, NH 03063 http://simsoc.org
> > 
> ~~~~~ End John's note about my messages ~~~~~
>  
> Dear John Watkins,
>  
> I have no reason whatsoever to doubt the
> sincerity of your concern for my well being. 
> Since you have not terminated my membership
> in your alliance list, as several other lists have
> done, I feel obliged to continue this conversation
> until one or the other of us discloses our common
> cause, or calls enough.
>  
> Beginning at the top of your note: I am unaware
> of your "wrong message about the need for
> advisors."  For reasons as yet unknown to me,
> Bill Ellis recommended me for a place on your
> list and you sent me an invitation I could not
> refuse which concluded as follows:
>  
> "And, you'll be joining us in . . . 
> Creating a simpler, more humane society that
> actually solves its problems, treats everyone
> fairly, and helps everyone achieve their full
> potential.""
>  
> John Watkins Founder and Creative Director
> The Simple Society Alliance for Human
> Empowerment
> 379 Amherst Street #234   Nashua, NH 03063
> 603-889-0111
> johnw at simsoc.org <mailto:johnw at simsoc.org> http://simsoc.org
> ~~~~~ End invitation to join the alliance ~~~~~
>  
> Now as to your understanding of what I write
> and the visual-aids I use to illustrate the topic.
> I am not proposing a new solution to existing
> societal questions and disorders; as John Bunzl,
> Stephen Zarlenga, Robert Searle, John Gelles,
> John Watkins, and others are trying to do.  The
> Optimum Policy (TOP) was impressed upon my
> mind by the standard operating practice (SOP)
> of the General Electric Company and its primary
> customer, the electric power industry.  I have
> added nothing to the private sector SOP; except
> to recognize that our public sector SOP SUCKS,
> is only about 50% of the private sector SOP, and
> devise a few graphs and charts to explain the
> difference between the two.
>  
> If you have not been exposed to the private
> sector SOP in your "on job training" (OJT), it
> would appear completely foreign because
> research on the topic is not funded.  And it has
> not been taught in our schools and universities
> since members of Richard T. Ely's New School
> of Economics were accused of promoting
> Socialism in the 1890s and crushed by the 
> "sound" business men of John D. Rockefeller's day.
> See "Laissez Faire and the General-Welfare State,"
> A Study of Conflict in American Thought, 1865-1901,
> Sidney Fine, 1956.
>  
> In his paper, "Relation Of The State To Industrial
> Action," Henry Carter Adams, anticipated in 1887
> most of the social and political pathologies of
> the next two centuries, including the rise to
> power in our corporations and our governments
> of a class of lying, deceiving, carper bagging,
> Shylocks who sincerely believe that the rest
> of humanity is their natural prey.  As William
> Shakespeare taught us in the Merchant of
> Venice, the common people's only defense
> against these few true believers is the law; the
> whole Law, properly interpreted and enforced.
> Other wise, we live on our knees; praying,
> paying, and obeying.
>  
> Western Civilization has been without the law
> for a long time.  Jesus Christ promised to restore
> the law, but his ministry was cut short. The US
> founding fathers restored enough of the law to
> assure the prosperity of an agrarian republic,
> and raise a majority of it's people out of the
> poverty that prevailed in every other nation. 
>  
> But with the onset of industrialization, after
> the US Civil War, the systemic defect of
> omission in the Law (US Constitution and others) fulfilled each of 
> Henry C. Adams' predictions
> for the United States.  After World War II, the
> whole law for industrial nations was restored
> in Germany and Germany, to effect their
> "economic miracles," by members of the US
> Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  The whole
> law was not lost in B.C. 975 by the folly of King
> Rehoboam.  It has just been applied selectively
> by a class of lying, deceiving, carper bagging,
> Shylocks who sincerely believe that the rest
> of humanity is their natural prey.  So my favorite
> topic is, to say the least, politically incorrect,
> and may not be appropriate for your list.
>  
> Now John, I am curious to see if this message
> is distributed by your list, so I'll save the rest
> of the argument for the next round, if there is
> a next round.
>  
> As for [Easier-Fundraising], any correction to
> the social order that moderates the present
> excessive competitive tension in the US
> economy's game of musical chairs, by adding
> more chairs, should make fundraising easier,
> and so be on topic for this forum. 
>  
> Kind regards,
>  
> Wes Burt
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>                  TOP and TWP are cognoscible on
>                 Dr. W. Curtiss Priest's web site at:
>        <http://www.epie.org/cyber-soc/default.htm>
>              Where do you stand on the continuum
>         between TOP and TWP (The Wrong Policy)?
>  
>  
>  
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>_______________________________________________
>Discussion mailing list
>Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net
>http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net
>  
>
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