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Syria

11 Sep

It takes great discipline and strength to say no to military action, especially if you wield the biggest stick. Like Hollywood starlets we need to stop reading our own press, it’s poisoning our character and compromising our security. We need to put our ego in check; Jesus the Savior we are not we lack the purity of heart. Beneath the propaganda our choices of who to “save” have been self-serving; one doesn’t have to look any further than the civil war in Sudan. Two million dead, lots and lots of dead children, where was our divine intervention then? With our appetite for manipulation our military should be reserved exclusively for our defense. Any foreign use of our military should actually really require congressional approval. Calling these wars police actions, conflicts, and proportionate strikes (to name a few) is a deliberate evasion of the Constitution. The Constitution – Article I, Section 8 Congress shall have the power to declare war . . . . . . Requiring congressional action should put an end to war right there. And we also need to stop doing a Madison Avenue on these war ventures trying to pass them off as BS preemptive Homeland security measures. The best preemptive security program we could employ is one of clean living, leading by example (starting with fair voting rights), lots of well thought out foreign aid, educating and training people in relevant fields and then sending them back to their countries to help build strong US friendly nations, refusing to trade with ass hole nations regardless of the economic down side for the US, and remaining open to dialog to name a few.

A fool proof acid test . . . . . If, as a result of military action, you can’t definitively measure an increased liberation, power, and autonomy of the women in the region then the action has been an obscene waste of blood and money; it has been covertly orchestrated solely for the base purpose of material advantage and/or ego gratification. This is not a test because women are more important than men, it’s a test because consistently women’s status within a society is an unequivocal marker of its evolution. Like it or not this is just the way it is, everywhere. Don’t kid yourself, to “free” a man only to have him continue a sanctioned practice of oppressing women is no victory at all. This cannot be finessed into a feel good ending. To rationalize that one human’s freedom must come first before another’s can eventually someday in the future somehow follow is pure crap; a patriarch’s prescription for never. If Assad and his men win the civil war will there be no more child brides? If the Opposition men win the civil war will there be no more honor killings? From a female perspective this exercise is all just so much political masturbation.

Power to the People

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Racism and Obama

24 Jul

Largely I don’t see what Obama can do to reduce racism. Racism is a disease of the heart and mind. It’s nurtured so early in childhood in the family home, in school, in the neighborhood, in the social settings that parents drag their kids to, even church. It’s reinforced throughout the years. Peer pressures can compound it further in the teenage years. Etc, etc. However, there are things that would help . . . . .

Federal legislators should work tirelessly to pass laws that standardize anti-discrimination behavior throughout all the states. They should not be satisfied with the federal laws that are already on the books but ones (for example) related to voting rights, and gerrymandering, etc., etc. Not only can the states not be trusted to do the right thing, they have no right to choose discriminatory practices in the first place. This whole notion of States’ Rights as a holy untouchable concept is such crap. Back when the Constitution was penned one can understand the need they saw for a Senate structured as they wrote it but things have changed (for example) populations are extremely mobile now unlike back then and the Senate no longer is the guardian of the minority it is now ruled by the minority through the filibuster. If the main function of the Senate has, in reality, morphed into preserving a State’s “culture” then we’re now operating like the Sunnis and Shiites. Additionally, through gerrymandering the House in no way represents the will of the people; again it is ruled by the minority. Abolishing the stacked decks through legislation could not cure racism but it would help make racism harder to practice.

Then there is commerce. Certainly corporations don’t want black and brown co-mingling with their daughters but they don’t mind at all having black and brown dollars co-mingling with their investments. People who are discriminated against must realize the tremendous value and power of their collective wealth. Overwhelmingly corporations have no loyalty to white when it comes to profit. Negative impact on the bottom line sends intolerable pressure through the system. The 1955 Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott seriously impacted not only the bus company financially but the shop keepers of Montgomery as well. This year we saw business interests such as the California Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers pressure the GOP to switch-up and pass immigration reform because businesses want the cheap labor. Currently this is a huge resource that goes untapped in any meaningful way.

Another is the already “browning of America”. This cannot be stopped and cannot be reversed. We are not a nation of just one race, or two races or three races. As far as I know we are the most racially, culturally, religiously, etc. diverse country on the planet. What are the chances that we’re going to give up our highly developed palate for multi-national cuisine? No way, even places like Texas and Wyoming have Thai restaurants. Also extremely important is the birth of inter-racial babies, this cannot be over emphasized. The more bi-racial citizens inhabiting the neighborhoods of America the more racism will suffocate. Praise Jesus. This is a long term process but so goes the definition of evolution.

Power to the People

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Veterans and the Draft

2 Jun

I hold a minority view with regard to our most current veterans. Although I marched/protested against the obscene Vietnam War in the 60s and early 70s I have since donated money to Vietnam Veteran organizations because those veterans were overwhelmingly drafted, poor, and disproportionately people of color. Today’s veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are all volunteers. Now in this blindly patriotic goo that the nation wallows in I have to be very careful to preface my minority opinion with the sincere wish that no harm come to any military personnel or veterans. I wish them the same peace and good life that I wish anyone. However, I do not thank these veterans for the “job” they have done. I did not ask them to aid and abet Bush and posse in starting these latest obscene wars. The Bush/Chaney/Rumsfeld wars could never have been consummated without these people that volunteered to do their bidding. They have not made the world safer for me and my love ones; they have increased the danger. Since these wars were launched the number of people hating Americans has only multiplied. I wave no flag; they did not serve to protect my freedom nor democracy, they served to massage the egos of megalomaniacs and fatten the coffers of corporate America. I am profoundly sorry for the bad choice these veterans made, the gangs they joined, the death and destruction they dispensed in my name, the invisible target they’ve helped pin on my back. It’s illogical for Progressives to be against wars born out of an obscene set of lies and likewise glorify those who executed it even if you consider them unwitting pawns. Obviously, as with any contract, this country should expeditiously honor any commitments made to military people at the time of their induction, however, to parade them, to exalt them as heroes, is nuts. That kind of thinking only muddies the waters; it’s a closeted co-sign of the wars themselves; it’s Progressives not wanting to take heat. One way to slow this whole pathology down to a crawl is to reinstate the Draft. But not just the Draft in its old form, no amp it up, raise the age limit (not all people have to serve on the battlefield), include women, include of age students, include folks with really good jobs, rich people as well as middle class people (in this country the poor people are already a given), handicapped people (yes handicapped people don’t have to be on the battlefield to contribute skills). Citizens should have to be truly too old or seriously too messed up in order to get an exemption from the Draft. All Draft selections and exemptions should be considered a fully open public record with draftee’s names, counties, names of Draft board members, and reasons for exemptions. Boy wouldn’t that be fun.

Power to the People

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Separation of Church and State

27 Oct

What can we do to bring evangelicals in touch with the spirit of Jesus? How can we help Christian Americans at least attempt to walk in the shoes of Jesus? Clearly Jesus was not a rules man; he was a fearless man of the heart. How can we give the born again folks the courage to unclench that book and instead embrace Jesus? These are truly a people whose hearts need to be thawed out and set free. God knows, US Christians really need to be educated about their scary kinship to Islamic extremists. These two groups are the heads and tails of the same radioactive coin.

Or, maybe forget that futile task; maybe it’s just time to man up and kick the Christians out of Congress . . . . . return to the intended secular government. You know, all that Founding Fathers rah rah that so many Americans are fond of citing, such as . . . . . December 1791 Bill of Rights: Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Of course this amendment guarantees that members of Congress as well as the electorate can be card carrying members of any flavor belief system that suits their fancy, even the equally legitimate beliefs of the agnostics and atheists; however it is firmly stated, folks in Congress can make no law that establishes a religion, that includes segments of a religion as well, an in-utero or procreation segment for example. Regardless, there is a lot of that going on these days. Lots of God said this and Jesus said that according to today’s Christian law makers. This is willful distain and discard of Constitutional intent. It’s a stealth, arrogant “father knows best” attempt, through legislation, to put one religious group in power over the rest of the citizens. If members of Congress can’t put together a simple argument based on merit without invoking God and his posse then the argument is inherently suspect and ultimately unlawful. Laws crafted out of a Christian belief system are an unlawful imposition of a religion on any citizen with a different belief system. A citizen does not have to belong to a popular religious club in order to have responsible, moral standards in life or in law making. Example . . . . Everyone in the country is against child molestation regardless of a religious preference or atheist persuasion with the exception, of course, of the pedophiles and as we have learned some of them go to church regularly. We don’t need scripture from any organization for us to want and create anti-pedophile legislation.

If millions and millions of Americans can be mega taxed and made complicit in an enormous killing war machine that they vehemently oppose on moral grounds (regardless of religious affiliation or abstention) then why should specific Christian dogma be favored for special consideration/treatment in any legislative process?

Power to the People

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Our Stupid Commitment in the Middle East

23 Oct

The Jewish people of the Middle East are no ally of the US. By definition allies make collaborative decisions based on what is best for every group within the alliance, however, the Jewish people of the Middle East make decisions based solely on what they think is in their best interest. They justify that their horrendous past suffering has bought them an exemption from this tenet. Regardless of decades of US support, enormous financial support, enormous enough to be a detriment to our own vital domestic needs; political support that has alienated us from most of the rest of the world and put us at risk; support without which the Jewish people of the Middle East could not ignite and win (whatever that means) the next disgusting war; the Jewish people of the Middle East, without hesitation, are willing to throw the US under the bus. This is being punked; in this regard we are a chump nation. We are the rodeo clown chasing the bull.

Unfortunately the Jewish people of the Middle East are no different than hundreds of other groups through out time that worship old scraps of paper but learn nothing from their own devastating history. As most groups do, they have foolishly chosen instead to wrap themselves in wrath, self-righteousness, and entitlement. They then take their political Viagra religiously and beat the crap out of some other group. Where’s the evolution in that?

Perhaps we are emotionally unable to reject the position of the Jewish people of the Middle East because we can’t help but identify with their invasion and domination some 60+ years ago of a faraway land and people, just like we did here with the indigenous people of the East coast. Or, perhaps we just need to seriously invest in alternative domestic sources of energy.

We do need to end all support for the Jewish people of the Middle East and finally keep the money at home to help repair our education system, our infrastructure, our unemployment, et al. We need to publically disconnect from the Jewish people of the Middle East before they drag us into yet another immoral blood sucking financially crippling war, this time with nutso Iran for God sakes. Just as an aside, how are the Iranians going to drop an Atomic bomb on the Jewish people of the Middle East without killing a ton of their Muslim brethren too? Not sure how well that would be received in the neighborhood. The Jewish people of the Middle East, like all of us, need to learn to get along with their neighbors. This is the neighborhood that they supplanted themselves into some 60+ years ago. It’s plain, their neighbors are numerous and not Jewish, these neighbors of theirs are ancient and not going away; and most of these neighbors are fabulously wealthy. Most importantly, these neighbors also have their own old scraps of paper that; likewise, they mindlessly worship and vigorously wave as the absolute word of their God. Stalemate. If the Jewish people of the Middle East can’t learn to get along with their neighbors then they sew their own fate, just like all of us. If force and aggression are the only arrows in their quiver then they are not as smart as we’ve credited them with. If the word of their God is the sum total of their title to real estate then they are doomed by their own arrogance. As with all of us, eventually it boils down to pulling the poker out of our asses regardless of our history. The truth is that none of us is chosen beyond anyone else.

Power to the People

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Uncertainty My Ass

19 Oct

There’s a nasty myth being promoted by the right wing, being heavily circulated and co-signed by the media, and going undisputed by elected democrats.

This is the myth that businesses are hoarding dollars on their Balance Sheets and refusing to hire because the poor darlings are wrought with uncertainty about the economy. Pure crap.

First, with regard to the campaigns: both republicans and democrats have been falling all over each other with vows to maintain or exceed existing aids for businesses (such as tax breaks) and promises to create additional ones (such as reduced or revised regulations). Assurances that businesses are held as a protected class abound and are well advertised. By all, businesses are currently being touted as the very saviors of the America way of life. A business owner, big or small, would have to be brain dead to have missed these positive and well disseminated pledges.

Second where’s the need, just for example, to make capital expenditures when the margin can simply be grown by squeezing the workforce? This is not just people being replaced by automated machinery or computers, this is people being laid off in droves and the remaining work force made to do their work too with no additional compensation; doing it just for the privilege of remaining employed (for now). Albeit lazy, this is hardly a revolutionary approach to growing margin and collecting bonus. Laying people off is a hell of lot easier than hustling market share . . . . margin remains steady or even increases, where’s the uncertainty in that?

This “uncertain economic future” ruse has been cultivated to both explain away increased profits while keeping the work force in a constant state of gratitude for having even the crappiest jobs. Workers are afraid to take sick days, afraid to take vacation days, afraid to take lunch hours, and above all, afraid to complain about anything. Hoorah.

Power to the People

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The Almighty Job Creators, Praise Jesus

15 Oct

Why does this go forever unchallenged? Truly, what’s the real deal breakdown on these wealthy people who supposedly create all these jobs for us plain folk? I need a job, where’s my wealthy job creator, I need an address.

How many of these nameless wealthy people needing tax breaks inherited their wealth, never worked for it, never actually built a company with employees, just had it transferred to them at the reading? Maybe changed brokers; the end.

How many of these oh so vital job creators don’t even get their income from any kind of tangible business source at all but live, very well thank you, off of stock piled dollars, money making money? Making money off of money in and of itself does not create jobs but it does grow personal wealth. One does not invest in order to create jobs, one invests to net a return, the gain or loss of jobs is irrelevant. Not illegal but not job creation either, and certainly not noble.

Seriously, how many of these so called job creators have sought out and invested in start-ups that do employ people but are both risky and often don’t pay out anything for years if at all? And even when these investments are made, how many are initially calculated as losses to offset tax liabilities?

If republicans are going to constantly refer to wealthy people as the job creators then these wealthy people need to be thrown into a spreadsheet . . . . break it down for us plain folk, slap a pie chart on it, show us the money, where it came from, where it went and who got a god damn job out of it.

And the progressives and the media need to quit letting this job creators propaganda slide by day after day unchallenged, demanding no proof. Where’s the fact checking? The legitimacy of the job creators argument is paramount in the tax/budget debate being shoveled at the electorate.

Footnote:
How many years has Romney benefited from capital gains tax breaks?
When was the last year Romney started a company that created jobs?

Power to the People

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Capitalism

9 Oct

To be clear, capitalism as a concept, or even the word itself, does not appear anywhere in the Bible. It doesn’t appear anywhere in the Declaration of Independence and it doesn’t appear anywhere in the Constitution. So why, in this country, is it promoted and accepted unequivocally as sacrosanct? We lay claim to it yet we certainly didn’t invent it. Capitalism has been around since the first cave woman picked more berries than she and her family could eat. She traded the excess to some other woman for fire wood and capitalism was born. Openly or covertly capitalism is practiced everywhere in the world 24/7. That, however, doesn’t make it holy. It is the way of the world. At the ground level it’s the marriage between human beings and natural resources but for Christ sakes it’s not a religious experience. Like all things, capitalism is as capitalism does. In an evolved society capitalism is capitalized on, not prayed to. Like all things, if it’s not working for the common good then adapt it, we are a people who invented versions; we stand in lines at midnight to purchase them. The so called experts on capitalism propagandize that it can’t flourish in a harness. These are people with an agenda; their actual expertise is in amassing and protecting personal wealth. Not the same thing. For better or worse capitalism is like the common weed, extremely hardy and engineered to massively reproduce. The exercise is not to eradicate it nor glorify it; it’s a tool to be used creatively to improve the lives of the citizenry.

Power to the People.

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Republicans: A Few Dichotomies

3 Oct

Most would agree that republicans are not usually described as the warm and fuzzy people. They are not considered the “mommy” party and most republicans would say that that description is just fine with them. Most have no tolerance for anything that could possibly smack of female coddling or nurturing of the citizenry. Every man for himself and all that, rah rah. But the ironic thing here is that they’re not the stereotypical masculine party. They’re weenies. They broadcast panic like little children. The sky is falling, all will soon be lost. The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming. There’s socialist monsters under every bed and black Muslim bogymen in every closet (especially the black bogymen). Republicans are constantly spraying fear and paranoia like skunk juice. Rightly or wrongly, this is not a stereotypically male image. Why would anyone vote to put a bunch of scaredy cats in charge of anything, except maybe the back door?

Then there’s this whole republican embrace of the economic survival of the fittest doctrine. Boy they love that one. Everybody just pull themselves up by their boot straps and if you can’t, well too bad for you, guess you didn’t pull hard enough or something, too bad for you, survival of the fittest. And yet they steadfastly maintain that Darwin is a pile of crap.

Now the republican push to delegalize most forms of birth control, there’s another odd one. We have to estimate that at least 50% of the republicans are men, sperm shooting men. We just know that the over whelming majority of them are not having sex strictly for procreation purposes alone. Please. Likewise it’s fair to assume that again the over whelming majority of them are not practicing abstinence (for any reason). Very hard to believe that these married men want to risk adding more unplanned children to their families or especially that single men want to add child support to their personal budgets. Logically one would think these republican men would want to shut down this nutso delegalization thing. And one would think that the republican strategists would also want to shut it down. After all, what did the last census tell them? We are currently undergoing the browning of America. People of color are the fastest growing populations in the United States. Do republicans really want “these people” without birth control? Do they know that by in large “these people” do not like them? Are republicans that short sighted or do they just calculate that they will be dead by the time this manifests into material votes?

Power to the People

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Obstructing the Vote

29 Sep

The super hypocritical thing about all this push to legalize obstructions to voting and the practice of gerrymandering is that these very obstructionists are the hardest flag wavers in the country.

One person one vote is held as the ultimate symbol of all that is American; except, it would seem, if the flag wavers are panicked about losing an election.

These flag wavers would boast that the United States is the fairest most honest country on the planet, that all the world should follow our voting practices, that corrupted voting abroad is a bastardization of democracy.  They would say with great pride that here in the United States we are staunch champions of the fair fight; that we hate filthy cheaters; that we despise athletes that cheat with performance enhancing drugs.  We even pee test horses after races to make sure the races are fair and free of artificial advantages.  Cheating is seen as a shameful weakness, a character flaw and those who practice it should be shunned.  A fixed prize fight or (God forbid) point shaving in a football game is a disgrace, it’s simply unAmerican.  These flag wavers would tell you that America is the Poster Child for the level playing field . . . . except, it would seem, if they are panicked about losing an election.

Our wildly flag waving Tea Party was founded on the bumper sticker “no taxation without representation”.  Where are the Tea Party folks now that this most sacred of American rights is under attack?  Quiet as a thief in the night.  Would they argue that there is a category of Americans who can be taxed but who don’t merit representation?  If there’s an election at stake in America is the catchy slogan suspended, does the end justify the means for an inauguration?

Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times talked to donors on their way to one of Romney’s several fundraisers in the Hamptons.

“A New York City donor a few cars back, who also would not give her name, said Romney needed to do a better job connecting. “I don’t think the common person is getting it,” she said from the passenger seat of a Range Rover stamped with East Hampton beach permits. “Nobody understands why Obama is hurting them.” We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies – everybody who’s got the right to vote – they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income – one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.” 

So waving the flag while wagging the tongue . . . .  that pesky common person vote, it makes maintaining power much more of an effort than it should be for her people; the people who know best.

Power to the People

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