EVOLVE! (It's not just for fish on car bumpers.)

For those of you following things at Collapsenet.com and related web sites, you already know that Mike Ruppert has left his post as chief of the Collapsenet.com organization.   My first instinct was to say, "Say it Ain't So!".    I subscribed to the site in large part because of his feedback on current events - often pointed, sometimes quite funny, always fact-based.    But there's a lesson in that urge to say "Say It Ain't So!".    Keep reading….

Quibbles and Bits, Money is the Root of All (?) Edition

I return with this appetizer...

>> The Wisconsin Recall - I'm not surprised in the slightest.   Even when I heard about the 1 million signatures submitted, I knew that the more time that passed between those submissions and the election date, the more time Scott Walker had to spin his web of lies, made golden now with the millions in Koch Brothers, and like minded denizens, scratch to ensure he stays put.    It worked - Wisconsin is stuck with him now until at least 2014.    Moral of this story - ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

You better believe that the model Mr. Walker established will be exported elsewhere.    Labor unions of any kind are seen as distortions of the labor marketplace, and thus, must be removed - if you think like those who believe that Milton Friedman was the second coming of Jesus.   Fundamentalists of the Friedman and Hayek type are running things in the US now, and now that this is behind us, look out for more austerity packages developed by the successor to ALEC (see my comment below on this lovely bunch of fascists), and sold by political snake-oil peddlers like Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Mitch Daniels, and the rest of 'em.    

>>Why do we need unions?   Because of people like Scott Walker.    Because of people like Mitch Daniels, Rick Snyder, and their ilk.   Because of people like Michelle Rhee (Waiting for Superman, eh?  Keep looking, Mrs. Johnson).   Because of the Don Blankenships, the Chainsaw Dunlops, and the Republican Party as a whole.     The fact that there were a substantial number of Wisconsin voters who voted for Walker puzzles me to no end - do they honestly think that he'll leave them alone?    To those people, and to all union members who get tempted to vote for a Republican:

The. Republican. Party. Does. Not. Give. A. DAMN. About. You.   

Repeat the above phrase as long as necessary, so that it become an automatic response the next time you walk into a ballot box.   

>>As for ALEC - at this writing, 19 businesses have left this sordid bunch.    I'm not jumping for joy - these companies have too much at stake, and in order to "protect their investment" in government, they will either turn to another, more secretive legislative clearing-house, or they will simply create a new one.  

More later - but remember my stolen-from-Ronniebaby mantra:

CORPORATE AMERICA DOES NOT HAVE THE SOLUTIONS TO OUR PROBLEMS. 

CORPORATE AMERICA IS THE PROBLEM.
  

Before I was so rudely interrupted...

...Four months since my last post.    I know, I know, neglect is a form of abuse.  

But I had some good reasons:

>>Starting school in my pursuit of my long-delayed Bachelor's (and this time, I don't intend to blow it);
>>My job spreading into the hours of my week like the Blob;
>>The gentleman I'm about to tell you about now.

He was born in Minnesota, July 21, 1939, the youngest of four siblings.   He grew up with that famous Mid-Western work ethic - you want something, you work for it.   Period.  End of Sentence.    Before he moved to California in the late 1950s, he worked with his father's water well-drilling business - any lessons about hard work were well-learned by this age.    He served in the Navy, was married in 1960 at Santa Monica, CA, was stationed at Moffett Field in the South Bay Area, and eventually settled with his wife and newly-adopted son in San Jose.   The house he and his wife purchased in 1969 is still in the family, 43 years later.    He worked for the Post Office for over thirty years, often working six-day weeks at 10+ hours per day.    (Ask any letter carrier what that kind of work entails - your moving, sorting, walking with heavy loads, driving, you name it.)    Even after his retirement in the late 1990s, he still kept moving,  doing handyman projects around the house (and the house his wife inherited from her family in Arizona), periodically visiting their Arizona house and his family in Minnesota.    He was always physically active, lifting weights and taking walks regularly.    

Quibbles and Bits, Goats Head's SOPA edition

Back again, with a recipe profound or putrid, depending on your slant:

>>First, a brief departure from the substantiative world of current events, and a brief foray into the world of football.    I watched a good part of the AFC Title game, including the now-infamous Cundiff Shank (not to be confused with lamb shank, this beef is of a different species.  Looked like goat, smelled like goat, tasted like...).    I didn't see my hometown Niners, and their otherwise Renaissance season come to an end in the Candlestick Swamp.  I didn't see Kyle Williams' two fumbles, and it was for the best that I didn't .   I have a few of observations:

>>>>There is absolutely no reason to be sending death threats to these players, and I hope those that are sending them are prosecuted.   

>>>>The very fact that these people are so villified right now, speaks to how our society has its priorities screwed up.  Or, perhaps it's our perception:   maybe things aren't going so badly if we're projecting our vitriol at two football players and not toward Wall Street and Washington.  

>>>>What happened to Cundiff and Williams on Sunday, is the risk that football's skill position players take, and are fully aware of, when they ply their trade on the gridiron.     Some of our greatest players have had moments like these two recent examples:  for the Niners, look at Roger Craig in the '90 NFC title game (ironically, against the Giants), and Jerry Rice (in the 1986 playoffs, again against the Giants at the Meadowlands).    Some are tarred forever for their miscues:  Preston Riley in 1972, Scott Norwood in 1990, etc.   It's a risk you take, and as I said above, these men do not need death threats and vitriol spewed in their direction, especially if you lost money because of what is perceived to be their mistake.

>>>>TEAMS win and lose games.   In the case of Norwood in 1990, the Giants set a record for time of possession in that game, and early on, the Bills receivers had trouble holding on to the ball.    The better team won that Super Bowl.    In the case of Williams - the Niners had trouble converting on third down all game, and Alex Smith didn't complete 50% of his passes.   Eli Manning threw for over 300 yards.   The better team won, pure and simple.   

>>Enough of football - and on to the issue of the Government's attempts to control the Internet.   

I'm happy that SOPA and PIPA have been beaten back - but they need to be defeated once and for all.    I find it rather depressing that it's the Democrats that are supporting these turds wrapped in legal jargon, and that those who are leading the fight against it, are the Repubs.    Even Darrell Issa is looking good on this issue - good on him, I say.    But if you think those bills are bad, check this out.

>>Last point, re: Indiana's Mitch Daniels and his reponse to the State of The Union, and his attempts to ram through Right To Work legislation in his home state prior to the Super Bowl in two weeks:

Sir, you are an idiot.  

Jail, Bail, Fail

The LAPD, in cooperation with their DA's office, is now imposing bail amounts of between $5,000 to $10,000 for those who dare to exercise their rights in our increasingly tattered constitution.  The LAPD probably thought that there would be so many arrested that the DA's office would not have the resources to prosecute 'em all, so they're trying to send a message at the front end.

Freedom of speech, I guess, is only for those who can afford it these days, a line of thought that would fit just fine to those whose heads are shoved up Ayn Rand's Dead Ass.    After all, money is the objective measure of value to this society, and the more you have, the more valuable you must be to humanity - at least from what I observe from the Ayn Randians.  

This won't stop #Occupy, by any means.    But I'm concerned about how governments will escalate their war against #Occupy.    For one, the high bail amounts are just a start - I would expect at least a few of these protesters to be made "examples" of, by having the book thrown at them - maximum jail sentences, perhaps even in State Prison rather than county or city jails, charges being increased to Felony level,  and those big bail amounts being turned into fines.   This would only turn them into martyrs, of course, but I would only anticipate the more enlightened of The Powers That Be realizing this.   Considering how our economy is going, I don't see a whole lot of enlightened thought in those parts.  

And regarding the coordinated nature of these crackdowns and their brutality - let's get it straight about what this is really all about.  The breakup of the encampments is only partially, at best, due to public sanitation concerns.    This is about economics, and pictures of Americans protesting
going out all over the globe.   This is also about the American people finally getting it right about who has been screwing them - the big banks and Corporate America.  The Powers That Be are scared, and they damned well should be, thus their overreactions to peaceful protest.   The concept
of the people losing faith in the system that made the 1% who they are, does not compute to them. 
   
Before I end this rant - remember Ronniebaby's little quote about Government being the problem and not the solution?   
Here's a quote that should go viral, and I hope I hear it Mic-Checked repeatedly over the coming months:

"Corporate America Is Not The Solution To The Problem.   Corporate America IS The Problem."

Quibbles and Bits, Gobbles and Sips

Here’s a few bytes of tryptophan-poisoning-antidote, just in case you get too sleepy from gobbling up gobblers…

>>We’ve all seen the photos and videos of the UC Davis pepper spray incident. I confess that I have a certain attachment to this incident since I happen to live in the general area where it occurred. I have a couple of observations:

1. Did you see the Lieutenant (I won’t mention his name - he doesn’t deserve it) hold up the can of pepper spray over his head like he’s doing a touchdown-dance-celebration prior to spraying the protesters, who were sitting down and not posing any threat to him or anyone else? This was done as an extra-judicial punishment, and to “send a message” to everyone else that this is what you get for “disobeying a police officer.” Last I checked, it‘s not the purview of law enforcement to mete out punishment - that‘s a court‘s job.;

The men behind the curtain...

Check out this post by Chris Hedges at Truthdig.   He, along with tonight's Special Comment by Keith Olbermann, not only point to the extremes that the country's "real owners" are willing to go to maintain control (tear gas, batons, sound cannons, mass arrests, arrests of journalists, etc.), but that the Bloombergs of the world might just be running out of ammunition.  

The Occupy movement, with it's approach, is demonstrating just why, and how, non-violence is effective - it exposes the moral and social bankruptcy of the oppressing power.    Those with the guns can evict  people out of whatever park or building they want, but they can't evict an idea - no matter how hard their media outlets (especially Foxy Noise) try.   They can intimidate, handcuff, and throw whatever books they want in either the trash or at the protesters, but ideas that speak to our survival as a people will live on in spite of their efforts.  

If the economy gets any worse than it is now, then these protests (and the corresponding response) will seem like a Sunday stroll.   

Empathy, Schmempathy...

This post in Democratic Underground speaks to the empathy deficit our American society faces today.

I've noticed over the last three decades, that there seems to be a gradual decline in the awareness of the plight of our neighbors, whether within our borders or outside of the same.    Perhaps the concept of us being our "brother's keeper", of seeing the problems of others as our own, is considered passe, "namby-pamby", or quaint, to our current, Ayn Rand-influenced society.  So much for the pulpit speeches referring to America as a "Christian Nation".  If you have no empathy within you, then you don't have Christ within you - and I include myself in that equation. 

Quibbles and Bits, After the Scares Edition

More trial-sized, out-of-wrapper offerings, not necessarily left-over from All Hallow’s Eve. Judge the flavor for youself:

>>I’ve been watching quite a bit of Current TV over the last few months, especially now that Keith Olbermann signed on. I miss the viewer-created video “pods” that were the mainstay of the network for years, but I’m also taking a liking to the Vanguard series. You probably won’t find better investigative journalism anywhere on TV, and these guys literally put their necks on the line for the stories they tell. Their recent visits to Juarez, Mexico to cover the ongoing saga of the dominance of the Mexican drug cartels, and the wreckage they leave behind in terms of young lives destroyed, are prime examples of this hell-for-leather mentality. They know the price they might have to pay to get these stories, as well - just ask Laura Ling.  

>>I've also been paying whatever attention I can to the Occupy movements (which I wholeheartedly support), and those people putting themselves on the line for something better than the bleak future staring us in the face now.    The lesson to be drawn from this, at least from the perspective of the 1 percenters, should be: The most dangerous person in the world is a person with nothing to lose.  

This axiom is the biggest reason for the passage of the New Deal and the Great Society programs - people who are housed, fed, and clothed, and have their basic needs met, have a much less propensity to protest than those that have little, or none, of the above.   Our economic system, and thus American society, was relatively stable from that period up until now (save for the 1960s, perhaps - people don't like to be lied to about the reason for going off to die in a war which had little, if anything, to do with us.   BTW - "domino theory" = bullshit).    I suggest another visit to Naomi Klein's tome The Shock Doctrine, for a reminder or two as to what happens to populations when their wealth is taken from them and handed over to oligarchs, all in the name of "free markets."   John Perkins tells a similar tale in his classic Confessions of an Economic Hitman.    I also suggest taking a closer look at the last thirty-plus years of history of violence in the Middle East.    Honestly - if the chief export of Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia were rutabagas, would we have troops there, not to mention military bases the size of the Vatican?  Oil is why where there and why the plan is to stay there - we know it, and the citizens of those countries, sure as hell, know it.   It's yet another example of a country's natural resources confiscated by a country with superior firepower and the fruits of those resources being reaped by oligarchs.   This same, sad, freaking story has been told before, in episodes going back hundreds of years before Naomi Klein's book - ask our First Nations people on this continent, and the Aboriginal populations in Australia and elsewhere.     

>>As for Move Your Money day - I've been banking at credit unions for about sixteen years now, for the very reasons that many in the Occupy movement give for doing so.   Plus, the interest rates on loans are generally better, free checking and minimal fees, and your money is protected, just like at a bank.   Check 'em out - you'll be glad you did. 

More later, I'm sure.   Hell, you might even see me holding up a sign and marching in the near future if this bullshit keeps up.   There's no indication that it won't.  

Thinking Different about Mr. Jobs...

By now, we've seen all the tributes, epitaphs, and all the other what-not about Apple's resident visionary, Steve Jobs. We know about the products he spearheaded into production: the iPod, iPad, all of the MacIntosh permutations, and iTunes, among many others. His influence affected industries well beyond that of his native PC industry - (iTunes to the music industry, Pixar to the film industry, among others).

This post in Democratic Underground generated a bit of controversy in that community, because it dared to highlight the darker side of Mr. Jobs, especially so recently after his death while he is being so lionized. He was much more than a taskmaster - quite frankly, he could apparently be quite the a-hole around the Cupertino campus. Nobody ever said that to get to the top required being a nice person - on the contrary, his alleged "asshattedness" is more likely the rule than the exception in the upper escelons of Corporate America. Personal grace is often set aside in the interest of the corporate prime directive of maximizing shareholder value.

I don't think people realize what a disservice it is to put people on pedestals without recognizing their foibles and frailties, as well. Above all, rainmakers like Steve Jobs are human beings - first, and foremost. When we figuratively carve hall-of-fame statues in honor of these people without recognizing their humanity, we not only do them, their memories, and their families a disservice, we do ourselves a disservice. We lose sight of the fact that it was not a god that created the Apple II, or the Mac, or the iPad - it was a human being. A highly gifted, driven human being, for sure, but one with the same challenges and quandries as the rest of us.

The best way we can pay tribute to the memory of Steve Jobs is to use his creations for constructive purposes. Use them to create, to explore, to further yourself and your fellow members of humanity and life on this planet in general.

How The Eagle Flies...

One characteristic of American politics which has fascinated me for as long as I can remember, is how our political pendulum swings from left, to right, to left, then back, over the course of the years and generations, much like a greatly oversized grandfather clock. Considering this dynamic, I can't help but wonder how our country's true owners – the oligarchy who run Corporate America – could not have seen the demonstrations in New York (and planned for Washington, DC and Los Angeles, among other places) coming. The pendulum seems to have finally swung to it's rightward limit, and is now starting it's long swing in the other direction. Many of the nation's biggest unions have signed on in support of the demonstrations, leading pundits like Keith Olbermann to note that, after all these years, we may finally be witnessing the nascent development of a politically viable left wing. This is a badly-needed development – the middle-class and working-class have been taking it in various bodily areas long enough.

There's a lesson to be drawn from our national mascot, the bald eagle. For any bird, plane, or any other thing to fly through the air requires two strong wings – a right, and a left. They must be of equal strength and dimension in order to provide a stable flight. What happens when a wing is damaged or is otherwise compromised? The bird or plane becomes grounded, sometimes suddenly and violently.

Through a variety of factors – indifference/distraction of the populace combined with the corruption of our politicians by the “true owners” of the country – we have let our national eagle's left wing atrophy to the point of it's near destruction, barely moving while the right wing attempts to compensate. As a result, the nation's wealth gap is increasing, the number of our citizens in poverty is increasing, and we are losing our superpower status. We're plummeting to earth at a breakneck speed, and only time will tell if the October demonstrations truly represent the beginning of a healing of our national eagle's left wing, in time to prevent a crash landing.