Some thoughts on the slaughter.

Statement by Prof. Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
By: RIchard Falk
The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.

The IAF, bullies of the clear blue skies
By: Gideon Levy
Our finest young men are attacking Gaza now. Good boys from good homes are doing bad things. Most of them are eloquent, impressive, self-confident, often even highly principled in their own eyes, and on Black Saturday dozens of them set out to bomb some of the targets in our "target bank" for the Gaza Strip.

Party to Murder
By: Chris Hedges
Can anyone who is following the Israeli air attacks on Gaza—the buildings blown to rubble, the children killed on their way to school, the long rows of mutilated corpses, the wailing mothers and wives, the crowds of terrified Palestinians not knowing where to flee, the hospitals so overburdened and out of supplies they cannot treat the wounded, and our studied, callous indifference to this widespread human suffering—wonder why we are hated?

From the ashes of Gaza
By Tariq Ali
The assault on Gaza, planned over six months and executed with perfect timing, was designed largely, as Neve Gordon has rightly observed, to help the incumbent parties triumph in the forthcoming Israeli elections. The dead Palestinians are little more than election fodder in a cynical contest between the right and the far right in Israel

If Gaza falls . . .
By: Sara Roy
Israel’s siege of Gaza began on 5 November, the day after an Israeli attack inside the strip, no doubt designed finally to undermine the truce between Israel and Hamas established last June. Although both sides had violated the agreement before, this incursion was on a different scale. Hamas responded by firing rockets into Israel and the violence has not abated since then.
How can keeping food and medicine from the people of Gaza protect the people of Israel? How can the impoverishment and suffering of Gaza’s children – more than 50 per cent of the population – benefit anyone? International law as well as human decency demands their protection. If Gaza falls, the West Bank will be next.

Chomsky on the eve of his 80th birthday.

stuff

Mormon Homophobia
By SHELDON RAMPTON
The question remains, of course, whether Hamlin is right that supporters of gay rights should refrain from "directly targeting people in their private life" by protesting and arguing with individual Mormons who have participated in the church's anti-gay campaigns. Certainly protesters should refrain from belligerence, threats and intimidation. However, the only way Mormon attitudes are going to change on this issue is through confrontation.

Unilever to sell stake in plant based in West Bank settlement
By Toni O'Loughlin in Jerusalem
"International law prohibits the confiscation of occupied land not for military purposes,"

Change.

One thing has changed as a result of the election of Obama. That change is that people who used to enjoy my attacking the President are no longer interested. The criticism was welcomed when the other team had the ball but now that it has changed hands criticism is not accepted.
Pretty fucking sad.

stuff

The Worst Is Not Behind Us

By Nouriel Roubini
Beware, therefore, of those who tell you that we have reached a bottom for risky financial assets. The same optimists told you that we reached a bottom and the worst was behind us after the rescue of the creditors of Bear Stearns in March; after the announcement of the possible bailout of Fannie and Freddie in July; after the actual bailout of Fannie and Freddie in September; after the bailout of AIG in mid-September; after the TARP legislation was presented; and after the latest G-7 and E.U. action.

America’s Wars of Self-Destruction
By Chris Hedges
The corporate forces that control the state will never permit real reform. This is the Faustian bargain made between these corporate forces and the Republican and Democratic parties. We will never, under the current system, achieve energy independence. Energy independence would devastate the profits of the oil and gas industry. It would wipe out tens of billions of dollars in weapons contracts, spoil the financial health of a host of private contractors from Halliburton to Blackwater and render obsolete the existence of U.S. Central Command.

Fucking Israeli Government

Israel is slowly starving the people of the Gaza strip because they hate the Arabs and want to take their land. Here are some excerpts from what others are saying,

The UN
The trickle of humanitarian aid previously allowed into Gaza, on which 80 percent of the population depended, has now been stopped for nine days by the Israeli army. The delivery of medical supplies and industrial fuel donated by the EU has also been blocked. The fuel was needed to power Gaza's sole power plant, which has now shut down, leading to rolling blackouts throughout Gaza.

UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon
The office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released a statement on Saturday saying he is "concerned that food and other lifesaving assistance is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people, and emphasizes that measures which increase the hardship and suffering of the civilian population of the Gaza Strip as a whole are unacceptable and should cease immediately."

OxFam
"World leaders must step up and exercise all their political might to break the blockade of Gaza. As a matter of humanitarian imperative, Israeli leaders must resume supplies into Gaza without further delay. If Israelis and Palestinians alike don't exert every effort now to maintain the truce which has held since last June, the result could be catastrophic for civilians both in Gaza and in nearby Israeli towns."

The European Union
The EU statement further stated that "International law requires the provision of access to essential services such as electricity and clean water to the civilian population," and demanded that restraint be exercised by all parties to avoid an escalation of humanitarian suffering.

Amnesty International
The most through and to the point condemnation so far has come from a report released by Amnesty International, which called the current situation in Gaza "nothing short of collective punishment."

"Gaza is cut off from the outside world. Israel is seemingly not keen on the world seeing the suffering that its blockade is causing to the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there," Philip Luther from Amnesty said.

What the hell is wrong with America? Why are we starving these people? I guess we must just come to grips with the fact that we, America, have absolutely no morals. Founded on Christianity? Bullshit.
The entire world looks at the AMerican oppression of the Palestinians and shakes their heads in shame. We as a nation have no right claiming any moral high ground.
Fuck Israel!

Observation.

Say what you want about the Republicans but at least they are better losers than the Democrats. The day after the election I perused the right wing press and found something interesting. They were actually blaming themselves for their electoral defeat. They were talking about not picking the right candidate, how they need to better articulate their policies and that they needed to go back to the drawing board. Sure they are now having a mini-civil war but that is to be expected.
Now contrast this to the last few Democratic losses. In 2000 it wasn't the Democrats, their candidate and their message that made them lose it was Ralph Nader. In 2004, same thing, though this time it was the voting machines in Ohio that stole election. It wasn't that the Democratic Party chose another rich robot who wanted to escalate the War in Iraq when the party was, now, firmly against the war.

Stuff

A Bone in America's Throat
By JEFF HALPER
Go where you may in the world and you will encounter the same phenomenon: a sense that the suffering of the Palestinians represents all that is wrong in an American-dominated world.

Obama's post-racial promise
By Shelby Steele
Obama is what I have called a "bargainer" -- a black who says to whites, "I will never presume that you are racist if you will not hold my race against me." Whites become enthralled with bargainers out of gratitude for the presumption of innocence they offer.

The US can quit Iraq, or it can stay. But it can't do both
By: Patrick Cockburn
The intelligence service is "not working for the Iraqi government – it's working for the CIA," Hadi al-Ameri, a powerful Shia lawmaker, was quoted as saying three years ago. "I prefer to call it the American Intelligence of Iraq, not the Iraqi Intelligence Service."

Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders
By Amira Hass
Haniyeh said: "We don't have a state, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank. Gaza is under siege and the West Bank is occupied. What we have in the Gaza Strip is not a state, but rather a regime of an elected government. A Palestinian state will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967."

I think Hedges is one of the best commentators out there.

America the Illiterate
by Chris Hedges
Political leaders in our post-literate society no longer need to be competent, sincere or honest. They only need to appear to have these qualities. Most of all they need a story, a narrative. The reality of the narrative is irrelevant. It can be completely at odds with the facts. The consistency and emotional appeal of the story are paramount.

A Few Thoughts on Obama's Victory.

Please stop saying this is a historical moment. Stop saying that this shows black people can be anything because that is bullshit. I will believe that the day that a black man becomes President with the credentials of Bush. Obama is about as perfect as a person can get, in this field. His credentials are impeccable. There is no way he would have ever been elected if he was as stupid as Bush is. Check this out if you disagree.

Obama's first choice for his White House is none other than Rahm Emanuel. Now Rahm Emanuels' father was a terrorist in the Israeli terrorist organization Irgun. Rahm himself is a former Israeli citizen and volunteered to serve in Israel's defense in 1991. So in other words there will be continued American oppression of the Palestinians and as a result the Arabs worldwide will hate us, rightly. So much for Change.

I am certain that we, America, will be going from the worst President in modern time to the most disappointing President of all time. So many people have such high expectations and they will be disappointed. To be fair it is their own fault. It is like there is this delusion people have about Obama. As if, for the first time in history a presidential candidate is making promises he intends to keep. I feel no sympathy for the morons who can't learn from history.

At best he will be Clinton's third term. Just look at the people he is surrounding himself with. Robert Rubin who championed the deregulation of the financial sector, as CLinton's treasury secy. and then left to be CEO of the newly created, though the deregulation, CItigroup. THen there is Larry "women can't do math" SUmmers. THese are just two of the assholes I could think of off the top of my head. So this is what he meant by change? A return to the great Clinton years, which gave us the Gingrich congress and the election of G. W. Bush.

These are just a few thoughts I had initially. I am really looking forward into showing the liberals that they are delusional and have no one to blame but themselves. Sure he will be better than Bush but so would an intelligent twelve year old.

November 5th

November 5. 2008 from Tarek Milleron on Vimeo.

http://november5.org/

Support the Troops!

THis happened outside of the last Presidential debate. Funny thing is that I hadn't heard of it until today. The only reason i even heard about it was because I was watching the third party Presidential debate which I also haven't seen reported in the press.
I really can not wait for Obama and the Democrats to control government so all the liberals, who have been complaining about the actions of the government, will have to shut the fuck up or defend their police state.

Hope

Some things I HOPE for.
The reinstatement of the right to a trial.
The closing of Guantanamo Bay, completely with us giving the land back to Cuba.
The immediate removal of troops from both Iraq and Afghanistan.
The arrest and trail of corporate criminals who have tanked the economy.
The institution of a 1/2 of one percent tax on currency speculation and financial transactions.
The ending of the illegal embargo of Cuba.
The payment of reparations to Iraq and Afghanistan.
The total removal of taxes, including payroll taxes, to anyone earning less than a living wage.
The regulation of the financial system.
Public financing of all elections.
Equal pay for equal work.
National Healthcare.
Equal care for people who suffer from mental illness.
Full employment.
A major cut to the Pentagon.
Real investment in renewable resources.
An end to the oppression of the Palestinians by the Israelis made possible with US weapons and protection in the UN.
Just a quick list of things I HOPE for but am not naive enough to believe will CHANGE.
I could go on but Democracy Now! is on in two minutes so I must go.
Maybe in four years I can cross some of these HOPES off my list, though I highly doubt it.

Ha ha

Tuesday

The ABCs of Paulson's Bailout
By MICHAEL HUDSON
The most self-destructive example of financial short-termism is the decline and fall of the Roman Empire into debt bondage and ultimately into a Dark Age. The political turning point was the violent takeover of the Senate by oligarchic creditors who murdered the debtor-oriented reformers led by the Gracchi brothers in 133 BC, picking up benches and using them as rams to push the reformers over the cliff on which the political assembly was located.

Will Your Recession Be Tall, Grande, or Venti?
By Daniel Gross
My tentative theory: Having a significant Starbucks presence is a pretty significant indicator of the degree of connectedness to the form of highly caffeinated, free-spending capitalism that got us into this mess.

Good Articles

Sunday's C-Span Opportunity: 3rd-Party Candidates Debate
by Maria Recio
Third-party presidential candidates finally will have their own debate: at 8 p.m. Sunday at Columbia University in New York.

Shattering a 'national mythology'
By Ofri Ilani
I started looking in research studies about the exile from the land - a constitutive event in Jewish history, almost like the Holocaust. But to my astonishment I discovered that it has no literature. The reason is that no one exiled the people of the country. The Romans did not exile peoples and they could not have done so even if they had wanted to.

Can Obama See the Grand Canyon?
by Mike Davis
Let me confess that, as an aging socialist, I suddenly find myself like the Jehovah's Witness who opens his window to see the stars actually falling out of the sky. Although I've been studying Marxist crisis theory for decades, I never believed I'd actually live to see financial capitalism commit suicide. Or hear the International Monetary Fund warn of imminent "systemic meltdown.

Scary Stuff

Some thoughts

Noam Chomsky 'The United States Has Essentially a One-Party System'
Noam Chomsky Interviewed by Gabor Steingart of Spiegel
"The European reaction to Obama is a European delusion."

America’s Political Cannibalism
by Chris Hedges
The Patriot Act, the FISA Reform Act, the suspension of habeas corpus, the open use of torture in our offshore penal colonies, the stationing of a combat brigade on American soil, the seas of surveillance cameras, the brutal assaults against activists in Denver and St. Paul are converging to determine our future.

What the Right is saying.

Obama in the Corner
By David Frum
Like a lot of Republicans, I’ll be swallowing a great deal in order to cast my vote....above all, I’ll be swallowing some fairly intense suspicions that a McCain administration would veer quite sharply to the left – as McCain reverts to a career-long practice of pandering to conservatives during elections and then apologizing to liberals afterward.

Throw the bums out
Washington Times Editorial
59 percent of all voters, according to Rasmussen, would like to replace all of Congress, right now. Seventy-four percent of Republicans would like to throw out the entire Congress, while 62 percent of independents and 43 percent of Democrats agree.

It may be politically prudent for McCain to throw caution, and billions, to the wind
By George Will
In the closing days of his 10-year quest for the presidency, McCain finds it galling that Barack Obama is winning the first serious campaign he has ever run against a Republican.

Some Good Reading

Secrets of Iraq's Death Chamber
by Robert Fisk
They made him stand on the bench, put the rope round his neck and pushed him off. But he jumped on to the floor. He could stand up. So they shortened the length of the rope and got him back on the bench and pushed him off again. It didn't work."

Premature ejaculation gene found
BBC News
"These men have very quick reflexes. They may be excellent at playing tennis or computer games, for example."

Make-Believe Maverick
BY TIM DICKINSON
John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity.

Voting the Fate of the Nation
By Chalmers Johnson
The American political system was not born a democracy, but born with a bias against democracy. It was constructed by those who were either skeptical about democracy or hostile to it. Democratic advance proved to be slow, uphill, forever incomplete.

I finally like this song

Wall Street

Some Background on the Current Crisis

The Paulson-Bernanke Bank Bailout Plan
By MICHAEL HUDSON
So how much credence should we give the newest proposals for the United States to commit economic suicide by turning over the powers of government in effect to Wall Street? When they talk about “making taxpayers whole,” what really is their game?

Mushroom Cloud over Wall Street
By Mike Whitney
Section 8 of the proposed legislation says it all:
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."


Paulson Bailout Plan a Historic Swindle
By William Greider
If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics--exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. As I have been saying for several months, this crisis has the potential to bring down one or both political parties, take your choice.

Shattering the Glass-Steagall Act
By William Kaufman
If you're looking for a major cause of the current banking meltdown, you need seek no farther than the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

a worthwhile weekly radio show

Nader Commercial

Two New Chomsky Essays

Humanitarian Imperialism: The New Doctrine of Imperial Right.
Ossetia-Russia-Georgia.

Bertrand Russell

It is the Palestinians who teach their children violence.

Heil McCain

some more stuff

She's Nice -- but Not Ready
By Mike Doogan
Sarah Palin is simply not qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, especially when that heart beats in the chest of a man who would be the oldest president ever elected to a first term.

The Palin Choice
The Reality of the Political Mind
by George Lakoff
Conservative family values are strict and apply via metaphorical thought to the nation: good vs. evil, authority, the use of force, toughness and discipline, individual (versus social) responsibility, and tough love. Hence, social programs are immoral because they violate discipline and individual responsibility. Guns and the military show force and discipline. Man is above nature; hence no serious environmentalism. The market is the ultimate financial authority, requiring market discipline. In foreign policy, strength is use of the force. In fundamentalist religion, the Bible is the ultimate authority; hence no gay marriage.

Do Turkeys Enjoy Thanksgiving?
Global Resistance to Empire
By Arundhati Roy
In the great cities of Europe and America, where a few years ago these things would only have been whispered, now people are openly talking about the good side of Imperialism and the need for a strong Empire to police an unruly world. The new missionaries want order at the cost of justice. Discipline at the cost of dignity. And ascendancy at any price. Occasionally some of us are invited to 'debate' the issue on 'neutral' platforms provided by the corporate media. Debating Imperialism is a bit like debating the pros and cons of rape. What can we say? That we really miss it?

Howard Zinn: "On Human Nature and Aggression."

Some Reading

We Are Hard-Wired to Care and Connect
by David Korten

It is entirely logical. If our brains were not wired for life in community, our species would have expired long ago. We have an instinctual desire to protect the group, including its weakest and most vulnerable members-its children. Behavior contrary to this positive norm is an indicator of serious social and psychological dysfunction.

Federal Government Involved In Raids On Protesters

by Glenn Greenwald
After all, if you don't want the FBI spying on you, or the Police surrounding and then invading your home with rifles and seizing your computers, there's a very simple solution: don't protest the Government. Just sit quietly in your house and mind your own business.

Oh ya, and Amy Goodman being arrested at the Republican National Convention.

Prediction

Sarah Palin will bow out as Vice Presidential nominee.

Random stuff

What really scares us about Barack Obama
By Bradley Burston
Why were Americans so plainly unafraid of George W. Bush that they not only elected, but re-elected him?
The gut suggests an answer that academics and, for that matter, foreign lovers of America, may find difficult to accept.
"Maybe," remarked a journalist in Israel this week, "what Americans really want, is a president that they can easily make fun of."

Biden, Iraq, and Obama’s Betrayal
By Stephen Zunes
Rather than being a hapless victim of the Bush administration’s lies and manipulation, Biden was calling for a U.S. invasion of Iraq and making false statements regarding Saddam Hussein’s supposed possession of “weapons of mass destruction” years before President George W. Bush even came to office.

Running for War President at Any Cost
By: Robert Scheer
McCain can win only as a war president. He neither knows nor cares much about the economic meltdown, which is the consequence of the deregulation mania that he has supported at every turn during his career in the Senate.

The Devil's Hoof
By: Uri Avnery
The "One-State Solution" is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. The One-State idea is not a solution, but an anti-solution. It is a recipe for an ongoing bloody conflict. Not a dream, but a nightmare.

Joe Biden in his own words.



Naomi Klein on Obama

Hmmm?

Jimmy Carter was to speak at yesterday's convention but was bumped. It looks as if money from Israeli backing Jews is more important.

stupid talking point

A few days ago the Senior Senator from Arizona was asked how many houses he owned and he said he would have his staffers get back to the interviewer. I noticed that many pundits, through their diligent work, have attempted to make it a question on McCain's age and not his class. Chris Matthews argued that it was an attempt to show that McCain is senile but that is typical intellectual garbage. Even a wealthy young man can not know how many homes he owns if he is sufficiently wealthy.
It was nothing short of showing that as millions are losing their homes, some of us have more than we can keep track of. Plain and simple. Thanks to the America's intellectual classes for their fine work.
It is in this climate where being called an idiot is actually a compliment.

Hmm?

Not what Fox News expected.

9/11

Here is a video of WTC7 collapsing.


Then there is this gem.

Arabs on Obama

letter to my mother

My mother sent me an email asking me why I think my views are so different and why I thought I have all the answers.
SO I wrote back a response that I thought I would share since I know she never comes to read any of this and since I wrote it not to her but to a generic audience. So it isn't personal in any way.
In bold are her words.

why do you suppose your views are so different than anybody else's are?

I really believe that people are living in denial, the kind of denial that an addict suffers from. I believe people are addicted to this standard of living and don’t want to give it up. As a former smoker I had countless reasons not to attempt to quit my addiction. From “oh my life is too stressful right now and I wouldn’t want to add another stress” to “well you gotta die of something.” I always had a reason because I was addicted. I think that there is a similar addiction to America consumerism and its symptoms manifest themselves in similar ways.
I always knew that smoking caused cancer, made my clothes smell, bothered other people, made me less healthy over-all, cost me tons of money and all of it went to the same corporations I railed against daily but I still smoked.

For instance everyone really knows that our country is rich enough to provide health care to every citizen. Everyone really knows that our country has plenty of money to provide for our citizens after they retire. Everyone really knows that it is morally wrong to invade other nations, drop bombs on children, and torture and “disappear” people all over world. Everyone knows that the disparity of wealth causes crime. Everyone knows that the justice system is racially biased. Everyone knows that their actions are having a devastating effect on people in the third world. Everyone knows that our elected officials are bribed. Everyone knows that our presidential candidates are provided for us by Big Business. Everyone knows that the majority of the clothes they buy are made in near sweatshop conditions, which exploit the workers terribly, but they still buy them.

When one really thinks about the effect their consumption has on people on the globe who are starving, when they see their government murdering brown people and they know they supported the invasion, when they realize that their “democracy” is really a sham and they think they can’t do anything about it, when people realize that the only way for the world to survive is to drastically cut back on their consumption they don’t like the idea at all. So they turn on the TV and watch commercials. And what do the commercials tell them?
“Buy buy buy. If you don’t buy this product you will be incomplete and unhappy. You don’t want to be unhappy do you? Just think what society will think if you don’t look this way. You deserve this product. How did you ever live without this and how can you go with out? You don’t want to be unhappy do you?”
Then they turn on the news shows and what do the news shows say, “this is the way it is. We have a thriving democracy. There is no alternative. It is fine to do these things because we have no other choice. Our system is fair. We offer the full spectrum of thought; see we have two economists talking about the fairness of our system. One is from the right and the other is right of center.”
There are really plenty of people who are far brighter and far more eloquent and far more educated who believe the things I believe. Notice though they are not allowed on the news shows. Notice how the worlds leading intellectual, by all counts, is an American but he is never on American television. Notice how the one of the world’s leading scholars on the Israel/Palestine conflict and the literature surrounding it has never been on American corporate television. I could go on. The fact that the corporate media purposely shuns these people speaks volumes. I think the corporate media doesn’t want these people to be able to talk to the general population because the general population, upon hearing some of these things for the first time, might say, “wait a second, that makes a hell of a lot of sense even though Thomas Friedmann says it isn’t true. Maybe it is Mr. Freidmann, the acceptable type of intellectual, who is wrong or misrepresenting the facts to suit his, and his bosses, ideology and paycheck.”
There must have been a reason why no cable company picked up Al Jazeera English when it was launched. Maybe it is overt racism against Arabs or maybe it is that they offer a different voice that isn’t heard, and shouldn’t, be heard. So they went to YouTube instead, more on that later.
I think a better question is why do so many people believe things that are factually incorrect? Why does 95% of the US population believe in a higher power? Why did the Germans allow the Holocaust? I don’t know.

the rest of the world is wrong but you have the answers, i don't
get it.
Honestly I feel as if I am closer to what the rest of the world thinks then the average American. For instance, how many people, do you suppose, in America would say that the US President is the greatest threat to peace on the planet, not just Bush but whomever? How many Americans see the leadership of Israel a greater threat to world peace then the Iranians? How many Americans think it is a war crime to openly threaten other nations? How many Americans think their level of consumption to be ethical? How many Americans think Israel along with their own country are the biggest obstacles to peace in the Middle East?
On these and a whole host of issues I believe that I am much closer, in opinion, with the rest of the world then Americans are.
Then the question is, is the rest of the world wrong and America right? Is Ahmenijad the next Hitler? Did he really threaten to “wipe Israel off the map?” Why is there such a difference in opinion between Americans and the rest of the world?

Answers
I never claimed to have any answers. There are people with far greater minds with plenty ideas on how this world could improve for everyone. There have been studies that show the world could really feed twice the current population if we just allocated resources properly and changed parts of our diets, just to mention one. I think, that as a regular Joe, I can help to pave the way for social improvement by talking to other average people since that is the only way people can see that other things are possible. I am not delusional enough to think I am going to change the world but I am not stupid enough to think that facts can’t change people’s minds.

i think you need to become realistic
I think this is the language of addiction I was talking about earlier. “I have to be realistic about quitting my, whatever addiction, this week because external situations make it a unattainable.”

I think it is unrealistic to think that we can continue down this path without dire consequences. Maybe the world’s leading scientists are wrong, all 2000 thousand who are in agreement, and those five scientists paid by ExxonMobil are right. Personally I’d put my money behind the ones that write in peer reviewed journals as opposed to the ones that go on cable news shows.

I think it is unrealistic to believe, with all of human history available, that the leaders of Empires are benevolent to the world. Maybe I am wrong and the intellectuals who defend the right of the Empire are correct? They all have nice houses, who knows.

In reality I believe that overall things are constantly improving and moving towards a more humane American population and leadership. The examples are endless if one wants to go back and compare. People like Kennedy make Bush seem like a harmless guy. Christ, we nuked people only 60 years ago.
People are putting up with less and less of the bullshit they are being fed. As a result the news shows offer less and less difference of opinion because they know they are slowly losing grip. People are going on-line and finding other sources of news. If they want to see the truth about what is happening in Palestine they can log on to Israeli newspaper sites, which have far fairer reporting about the conflict than any American paper would ever print (which is odd). Access to information is a huge thing for freedom and democracy and that is why Big Business is trying to shut it down and control it.

Things are getting better no matter what the Bush-haters try to tell you. We have more freedoms no matter what those paranoid Ron Paul-ites try to claim. (I always tell those idiots to find an older black man and tell him he has less rights now than he did in the past.) Corporations realize that they are losing their grip and to top it off, they are beginning to collapse under their own corruption. Latin America is slowly throwing off the oppression of America and voting in left wing leaders, even people from their own ranks. Israel realizes that public opinion in America is starting to shift so they are quickly building a wall to set up their borders in one final land grab. Things are getting better.

One last quick example, a few years ago the Federal Communication Commission voted to allow mass consolidation in the media industry. Prior there were regulations about how many radio stations one could one, regulations not allowing the TV stations to own the newspaper in town and others. As one would logically expect the media was silent during the whole lead up to the vote. They never thought it was relevant to the American population to know that their parent companies were about to be given even more control over the information we receive. Once the vote went through, and the news companies were confident, they finally reported on it. As soon as the population was made aware of this change in regulation there was a massive out pouring of anger. The Congress received over a million letters demanding they overturn these new, for lack of a better term, regulations. That is one in every 300 people writing letters which says a lot, especially if one believes in that line about for every one letter writer there are one hundred people who agree with them. People as diverse as the NRA and MoveOn.Org teamed up with each other to make Congress overturn the laws and eventually they did.
Things like that give me hope for a better future.

I'm at it again.

Yes I had to write to another community columnist. Basically this guy is against democracy as well.

Dear Mr. SMith
Do you think people should have the right to vote on anything or should we have some "managers" to make all of our decisions?
If people are not informed enough to make the proper decision isn't that the media's fault?
If we can't trust people to make rational decisions then can we trust the people that they elect to office?
Do you really know what the term "leftist" means? (I am surprised you didn't pull out the old bogey man, Socialists)
Why would anyone company want to come to this crappy town anyway? All the mass transit we offer? The great infrastructure? The fantastic race relations? The 50% unemployment rate of black men? So they all can live in tax heaven Waukesha county? All the great culture we offer? Clean beaches and water? The awesome parks system?
You seem to enjoy the talking point about entitlement mentality? Does this apply to Lockheed, Chrylser, the Airlines, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the S&Ls, or just regular folks?
Typically intellectual garbage. "Oh ya it is okay for government to bail out the big monied interests in America but not the poor. Because you see unlike the corporations who we bail out, poor people made bad decisions so they deserve it. The monied interests, which Thomas Jefferson warned us about, are the important people." What I love is how the conservatives suck up to the masters of the world in hopes of getting, I don't know, some favors? Or maybe they too think that are monied interests.
So-called Conservatives make me laugh. If only they were really conservatives and not proxies for the masters of the world.
Oh by the way my fiance is a small business owner. Though I think we have a different view on what a small business is. Do yourself a favor and reread Wealth of Nations.
Justin Loper

Chomsky

My letter to one of the Community Columnists

This is an email I sent to one of the many idiots the Journal Sentinel picked to be a Community Columnist over me. Typical intellectual garbage. I thought I would post it just in case she responds. Here is a link to her column.

Dear MS. Carlson,
I read your column on Tuesday and was a little disturbed. Your essay was in relation to the proposed referendum to raise the sales tax to pay for various services. To be fair, I really don’t believe this is the right thing to do but that is my opinion, nothing more.
What I found so disturbing was your remark about how you applaud Mr. Walker’s veto of the resolution. I am a little confused by this remark because I figure that you must be an American citizen, most likely a naturalized one, yet you hold contempt for Democracy.
Why is it a good thing that the people’s right to exercise their right to vote should be thwarted? Shouldn’t people in America have the right to vote on an issue instead of having Government tell us we are not allowed to? Where does the Government get the right, or privilege, to stop us from voting? Is it that you believe Government is the best decider on all the issues and one man should be allowed determine everything? Because remember Scott Walker is part of the Government.
From where I sit this is classic class warfare. I really enjoyed the line about a radio caller who saves $30 dollars a month by not shopping in Milwaukee County. Because that is all it is about, me, me, me! Screw the rest. Why should any of you care if the old widow across town has enough to eat or can take a bus to the clinic? She made her choices and should have to not eat, right? Why should you care? It isn’t about the most important person, you.
I mean your essay was basically a stereotype. “I spend $500 dollars on garbage from a department store, while others can’t feed their children. I really need to have a plasma T.V. because I earned it. Forget all those others who made bad choices in life since everyone who is struggling is so because of the choices they made, not their parents, not the State, just them. Also while were at it, since there are more of them then there are of us, we better not let them vote.” What are we just the rabble who is allowed to “participate” in elections when you people decide we can.
Who the hell do you people think you are? Is Scott Walker now an elected Monarch? Is that the kind of system you would prefer? Where the more “educated”, or indoctrinated, get to make all the choices because the common person is to stupid to know what he wants. Of course, this is the same common person that the Right claims to be a champion for.
I am sorry if you think my rhetoric is a little heated but I believe strongly in Democracy, one person one vote, and you disagree. Democracy is supposed to be the law of the land, unless it may hurt your pocket book but allow others to find more work.
Nevermind, you only care about yourself, and by extension you family, and no one else. You hold contempt for the common person and their wishes. I am slowly beginning to see how the “right” in America is truly anti-american values. They don’t believe in elections, they don’t believe in a jury of one’s peers, they don’t believe in the right to assemble, they don’t believe in the right to free speech, they don’t believe that persons should not be unreasonably searched, they don’t believe in the right to a speedy trial, they like cruel and unusual punishment, and on and on. Oh wait they do believe that everyone should have the right to be armed to the teeth.
Opponents of democracy need to be unmasked for the good of the country.
The comedy is how you people label silly liberals as elitists because they drink fancy coffee. What is tragic is that people listen to you.

Scott Ritter

A History of the American Empire

Mumia Abu Jamal On Nader and Obama

You know the fucked up thing is how many college age kids got behind Ron Paul and not Ralph Nader. Could it be that Ralph threw his hat into the ring to late for those kids to know he even existed? Or do they really want the destruction of the state as Ro Paul does? Or is it that they are fucking ignorant? My guess is ignorance.

Finally

Finally, today, that bastard died. Jesse Helms died today of natural causes at 86 years old. THings like this make me envious of those people who believe in hell because I would be feeling some schadenfreuden.

Interesting read

U.S. has highest level of cocaine, pot use

What was Clinton's problem.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former South African President Nelson Mandela is to be removed from U.S. terrorism watch lists under a bill President Bush signed Tuesday.

The man became the President of South Africa and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but he is finally not a terrorist in America's eyes. This makes Cat Steven's refusal to be let into America seem logical.
The funny thing is that many Israeli apologists ask, "where is the Palestinian Nelson Mandela?"

?

Why is it that North Korea was allowed to build a nuclear bomb during the Bush administration but we are told this administration will not allow Iran to do the same? The odd thing is that North Korea has missile technology that allows them to reach the United States whereas the Iranians do not. Why the difference? Is it oil or Israel?

Chomsky on Al Jazeera

Nader on Obama

Today's talking point.

Today the US Supreme court rejected the application of the death penalty to child rapists. The ones that rape children not children that rape. I can imagine, since pedophiles are rightly condemned, many people will be saying this was a terrible decision. They will say these people do not deserve to remain alive.
So the talking point is, if child rapists know that they may get the death penalty, if the abused child talks, then they will not allow the child to talk. In other words they would murder the child, since either way if it talks he gets the death penalty or if he kills it, and is caught, then he gets the death penalty. In killing the child he makes it more plausible that he could get away.
Now I would much prefer the chance to recover from being raped as a child as opposed to attempting to recover from being murdered. No amount of counseling is going to bring a murder victim back to life.
Oh ya, and the death penalty has never been shown to be a deterrent.

R.I.P.

The Israelis are fucking monsters!

Ya right.

SO Tim Russert died on Friday and the accolades haven't stopped yet. The one problem I have is this narrative that he was a good journalist. THis notion that he asked the "hard" questions. One example they showed was him asking Cheney what if we aren't greeted as liberators in Iraq but instead as occupiers. Cheney responds that he doesn't see that happening and, that is it, no more questions. I remember because I was watching that Sunday and I remember screaming at the TV.
IT is amazing how quickly convenient myths are created. Years from now the story will be that we had bad intelligence on Iraq and there were no dissenting voices in the Intelligence Community. Nothing about the VIce President's office setting up its own intelligence group to create 'intelligence" about Iraq or Cheney personally visiting the CIA.
I just love the bullshit fairy tale about how America always tries to do the right thing for the right reason but sometimes we accidentally slaughter 3.2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans.
What is sad is that American, who must live in total denial at all times, accept it.

Finkelstein

Here a student asks Dr. Finkelstein if he attended the Holocaust Denial Conference in Iran.

Go Moyers

One Billion Dollars Gone

Interesting fact

Obama will accept the Democratic nomination for President exactly 45 years to the day that Dr. King delivered his "I have a dream" speech.

My letter to the Journal Sentinel

Letter writer David Hughes showed the goals of American conservatives when he asked, "Why should I have to pay a tax for something I don't use?" in his rant against mass transit ("Don't fund transit," June 1). It seems to be the goal of American conservatives to tear up the social contract and attempt to hammer any human solidarity out of us. Basically, he is asking why he should care about others in society.

Another prime example of this thinking was the attempt to privatize Social Security. That's basically asking why we should care if the old widow across town has enough to eat.

If human beings are social animals, and reciprocal altruism is the basis of our advancement into a highly scientific civilization, do American conservatives suffer from some unknown malady that makes them go against human nature?

Justin Loper
Shorewood
Link to Journal Sentinel

Chutzpah

Today I was watching Good Morning America and they had a story about the children of soldiers. It was about a couple of women who make dolls with pictures of the children's father. Of course, it was such a heartfelt story from the media. The only problem is that they are guilty, the american media, for this war. Had they done their job and challenged the lies being put forth by the Bush Administration the war would have never been waged. All they had to do was pick up a copy of The Nation, Zmag, et al and they could have found plenty of sources and facts. But no.

Who's Afraid of Norman Finkelstein?

05.27.2008 | Haaretz
By Haaretz Editorial

On Friday morning, the State of Israel refused to allow Prof. Norman Finkelstein, an American Jewish political scientist, to enter the country. Finkelstein was arrested at the airport and questioned by the Shin Bet security service for several hours. A day later, it became known that he had been banned from entering Israel for 10 years, for security reasons. Finkelstein managed to meet with a lawyer, who told him his chances of changing the decision were slim. When the Shin Bet decides that someone constitutes a security risk, the courts do not intervene.

According to the law, both in Israel and in other countries, no one has an intrinsic right to enter a country of which he is not a citizen. Immigration authorities have the power to keep a tourist from entering the country for reasons known only to themselves, and do not even need to provide an explanation. In Finkelstein's case, the disturbing issue is neither the legality of keeping him out nor the authority to do so, but the reasonableness of the decision. Considering his unusual and extremely critical views, one cannot avoid the suspicion that refusing to allow him to enter Israel was a punishment rather than a precaution.

It is difficult to sympathize with Finkelstein's opinions and preferences, especially since he decided to support Hezbollah, meet with its fighters and visit the graves of some of its slain operatives. But that does not mean he should be banned from entering Israel, since meetings with Hezbollah operatives do not in themselves constitute a security risk. True, the right to enter Israel is not guaranteed to noncitizens, but the right of Israeli citizens to hear unusual views is one that should be fought for. It is not for the government to decide which views should be heard here and which ones should not.

The decision to ban Finkelstein hurts us more than it hurts him. Every once in a while, the state suffers an attack of excessive sensitivity regarding its visitors. In 2002, it was Romanian flautist Gheorghe Zamfir who was kept out of the country by the Interior Ministry. The interior minister at the time, Eli Yishai, explained that Zamfir had expressed anti-Semitic views and that his entry into Israel would "hurt Holocaust survivors." Avraham Poraz, who succeeded Yishai, overturned the decision.

When the person refused entry is Jewish, the absurdity is even greater. After all, Finkelstein could realize his right to immigrate to Israel as a Jew, in accordance with the Law of Return. Since he is Jewish and has no criminal past, it is doubtful whether he could be prevented from receiving Israeli citizenship.

The Shin Bet argues that Finkelstein constitutes a security risk. But it is more reasonable to assume that Finkelstein is persona non grata and that the Shin Bet, whose influence has increased to frightening proportions, latched onto his meetings with Hezbollah operatives in order to punish him.

And the decision is all the more surprising when one recalls the ease with which right-wing activists from the Meir Kahane camp - the kind whose activities pose a security threat that no longer requires further proof - are able to enter the country.

Interview w/Finkelstein

Last week Political Scientist Norman Finkelstein was detained at Tel Aviv airport. He was interviewed for a few hours and then spent the night in jail. He later was deported and banned from the state of Israel for ten years.
Here is an interview with him about the incident.
This isn't the best audio but worthwhile.

Haaretz Editorial
Association for Civil Rights in Israel weighs in

More Uncle Noam

quick thought

The Left in America is kind of paralyzed by Islam. On the one hand they hate Islamic fundamentalism and its dislike for secular values and lack of protection for minorities. Yet they don’t feel comfortable discussing that topic because they are so afraid of the Right and its desire to smash things, since the Muslims sit on so much oil, so they keep quiet. In the end they end up using cultural relativism in an attempt to not agree with the xenophobic Right and they fail.
The Right in America ends up siding with the fanatic Muslims on the issues. They both hate Fags (because God hates them just ask Fred Phelps or any other preachers) and human rights. They hate due process. They both hate the separation of church and state.
I think the Left would be better off showing the similarities between the Right in America and the Islamists. Show intolerance as intolerance. Show how the two agree on so many fronts. Two sides of the same coin.

Hahahahahaha

Not bad for a bunch old men.

My friend Jeremy just introduced me to this band and my life has been greatly enriched. I am unsure how I functioned without knowing about this "punk rock supergroup." I once saw Watt and Nels CLine, ten years ago or so, in Portland and Cline had a guitar solo where he was strumming so fast his hand was just a blur. I was fucking floored.
Here are some samplings from Watt's 50th Birthday party. Unfortunately they are also kinda commercials for whoever is recording but that is a minor inconvenience.

Israeli Rock

Here is the Israeli rock band the Genders singing about Americans Jews who move to the Occupied Territories.

A quick thought.

It is exactly the separation of church and state, that so many radical Christians want to abandon, that has allowed radical Christian sects to flourish in this country. Without such a separation their wacko churches wouldn’t have been allowed. Instead we would all be Catholic or Lutheran.
Then again, trying to talk sense to those people is pointless.

What the hell are they so scared of?

Today, as always, I began my day with a cup of coffee and my daily reading of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Not the greatest of papers but it is better than nothing, I guess. In my reading I stumbled upon an article about mass graves that were being unearthed in South Korea. Now, I don’t know much about the Korean War so I was interested. As it turns out, there were mass executions carried out by our South Korean allies early in the war, and guess who the victims were? Yes, you guessed it, those dangerous leftists. Korea slaughtered untold thousands of leftists and peasants that the government felt were sympathetic to the leftists. Why is it that leftist are always being slaughtered and why is the US helping nations with these actions?
Sept 11 1973 was the day that Augusto Pinochet’s, with the backing of the C.I.A., forces began the overthrow of the democratically elected Socialist President Salvador Allende. We couldn’t allow the stupid people of Chile make such a mistake, as to vote a Socialist, so we had to help them see the error in their ways. This time the US government gave the Chilean government thousands of names of leftists who were promptly rounded up and executed in a soccer stadium or were “disappeared”. Why, because they believed in equality for all?
Again, in the 1980’s, the Nicaraguans elected the Sandinistas, a Marxist group, to govern but that was not acceptable to the Reagan administration. So they got a bunch of thugs, called the Contras, and began a terror war against the people of Nicaragua and murdered thousands of leftists and peasants. How could America allow such an example of Marxism in the Western Hemisphere? What was their big crime, spreading literacy to the poor and taking back their land from the greedy? Oh ya, one of the side effects of that terrorist was the crack cocaine epidemic.
IN 1954 the C.I.A., helped overthrow another democratically elected Socialist leader in Iran. Then for 25 years our puppet King, the Shah, oppressed his people and gave us the rights to their natural resources. Then one day everything changed and we now had a bunch of Americans held hostage in our embassy, and we can see how this al worked out. Mossadegh’s crime, kicking out British Petroleum and nationalizing their oil and natural gas reserves.
I guess what I don’t understand is what is the threat posed by Socialists/Marxist/Communists/Anarchists/Leftists? We are told, so often it is now regarded as a truism, that socialism/communism is bound to fail and has failed. Or as most ignorant people respond in exactly the same wording, which always sets off alarms in my head, “that has been tried and it doesn’t work” to which I have begun responding, “and this system does?”
Why are the powers that be so scared of this ideology? If this more egalitarian system is bound to fail why has our government worked so hard to make it fail, if its failure inevitable? Our government, regardless of party, has no problems allowing very repressive “communist” regimes to be regular members of the international community, think China, yet it is Cuba that is to be punished.
Again if Socialist democracy is bound to fail then let it. This leads me to believe that they know full well that it won’t fail but will flourish and they as a result, will be a little less obscenely rich and they can’t handle that fact because, as I have shown in the past, the super wealthy actually hate the rest of the human race.

These are the people we have to deal with

Luckily for guys like Kevin his listeners are just as ignorant as he is.

WTF?

On Friday there was a tape released from Bin Laden. Now I have tried for the last 45 minutes to find a transcript of it anywhere on the internets and have been totally unable. If anyone finds it send me a link.
thanks
WHy is it that I can't find it? Hmmmmm

Movie Trailer

Ahhh Billo

Remember, they hate our freedom.

Then there is this

Billy Joel

Our media is racist garbage.

Now I have known for years that our media is garbage or maybe worse. Though after watching the Reverend Wright National Press Club speech I know believe the media is just a modern day lyncher. After watching the news talk about the speech I finally got the time to actually watch the full speech.(ya I am one of those people who actually thinks it is more important to look for myself then be lazy and let corporations tell me the what the truth is. I understand not everyone has the time and must rely on corporations to tell them the truth. Can I fault them? Yes, if they take the corporate media to be anywhere near the truth) I felt that I needed to because I know that the media is a lie machine but I thought for sure there would be some lunacy involved. I figured he must of said that America created AIDS to kill blacks, because that is what the media claimed he said. I also assumed that he said some other crazy shit because the news sure made it look like he did.
THough the funny thing is that I actually care about the truth so I watched it. And I now understand what it is that the media hates about him and it is that he is a powerful speaker who speaks the truth. They can't handle that because they are in the business of hoodwinking the Americans. As my friend Jeremy said to me, the real reason we are in Iraq is because of the media and I think that one cannot argue against that fact. Okay one can try but they will easily be spanked by anyone with enough time to actually fact check.
You know, I didn't think my opinion for the media could have gotten any worse but I was sadly mistaken. The media is a racist, Imperialist propaganda arm for the elite. They have destroyed a man's character because he said told uncomfortable truths, like the fact that the US government has experimented on humans in a most inhumane fashion. If he had been a white preacher and said the same things he would have been ignored, but he is black. That is the difference.
I guess though, at least they aren't slaves anymore so what are they bitching about? What racist garbage the media is.


Here are clips from the Q&A portion of the speech. I think they are informative.

Again, Bill Moyers is right

Hillary Is Dangerous

So the mad Iranian President can call for “the regime in Jerusalem to go the way of the Soviet Union and be wiped from the pages of history” and it is turned into him calling for a new Holocaust. Every commentator you can find will claim he said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map even though that is not what he said.
Last week Hillary, when asked how she would respond if Iran launched a nuclear missile at nuclear Israel, said that she would obliterate Iran. So she openly says she would obliterate the Persian people and not a peep from the press. She is saying that genocide would be acceptable against the Persians and silence.
Isn’t the American Press a funny thing?

Nice Work Ian

Here is a video of my friend Ian calling out the racist David Horowitz for his lack of facts.

Roosting Chickens

Here is a mass email I sent out to a diverse group of friends. I am hoping for some responses in which I can get permission to reprint. Unfortunately I know better to think that most people would be willing to think objectively about these topics. Americans are brainwashed beyond belief and it should be painfully obvious since Americans view the life of an Israeli worth more than that of countless Arabs.

Quick question,
I apologize in advance, except to Ian,
Is there any action that our government, you and I, can take that would justify a similar or even lesser action against us. For instance, 3000 people were slaughtered on 9/11 by a bunch of Saudis and we reacted, with the overwhelming support (70%), by killing 80-90,000 Iraqis though violence and another million as a result of our invasion. We felt that it was our "right" but do the Iraqis now have that same "right", and if not, doesn't that mean we think we, America, own the world? Do we?
Justin Loper

Pot calling a clean kettle black

In case you missed it, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has called Former President and Nobel Laureate, Jimmy Carter, a "bigot". Of course this is the same Carter who got Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat to sign the longest lasting peace deal in the region.

What is that on that Coke can, Anita.

“Can you put some icing on these muffins for me?” asks a middle aged black woman. Unfortunately it was an hour past the time I was supposed to leave so I was not too interested in going through the hassle. So I told her that it would take a while to heat up the icing since we don’t leave it on all day, hoping that that would end it but no.
“Well that store, you know the one on 27th before Wal-Mart,” she says.
“Sorry ma’am, I don’t know what store you are talking about. I don’t get out much.” I replied.
“Well they do it right away for me, no problems.” She stated.
At this point I am getting a little annoyed with her but I go on, “oh ya I bet they leave their icing on all day.” I then realized that this was not going to stop without her getting some fucking icing on her muffins. So I told her, “if you want to give me a few minutes I can heat some up in the microwave but it will take some time.”
She then says, “Okay that is fine. You aren’t going to put pubic hairs in it are you?”
I thought that there was no way she just said that to me so I asked, in a puzzled tone, “pardon me?”
Again, “You aren’t going to put pubic hairs in it are you.”
It is this point when I realize I have a real doozy on my hands. Even though I heard her the second time I had to get her to repeat it so I asked again, “excuse me?”
“Pubic hair” she barks out.
“Oh god no why would you say such a thing?” I inquire.
She then goes on about something on the news about a restaurant and pubic hairs, “didn’t you see that in the news”.
To which I wanted to respond, but couldn’t, “No, ma’am I just read actual news.”
She continued to blather on about an undercooked steak and some pubic hairs.
I decided to try to lighten the mood so I told her, “I’m sorry I was just having an Anita Hill moment.” She looked at me with a blank stare. So I proceeded on, “You know Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the Coke can?” Still no response.
I then informed her that hearing the term pubic hair at work is odd since it could be construed as sexual harassment.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yes and have a nice day.”
This woman was what black intellectual Shelby Steele would call a “challenger” vs. a “bargainer”. A challenger being someone like AL Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, two men whom I admire, who never let you forget that you are white. A challenger, according to Mr. Steele, is someone who assumes you are racist until you prove otherwise.
Whereas a bargainer, according to Steele’s definition, is one that doesn’t rub the racist past in white people’s faces. They say that they won’t prejudge you as long as you don’t prejudge them, think Obama.
This woman was definitely a “challenger” but doesn’t realize that people can see through that. I knew the moment she started talking to me that, in her mind, I was racist against Blacks. The problem is that I see that and I purposely act accordingly.
This is a problem with a lot of people, they think they are cleverer than they really are. They think that average people can’t see through their bullshit. Kind of like that worker who complains a day before they are going to call in sick about how they feel like they may be coming down with something. This just happened to be one example of many from all types of people that we see in our day-to-day routine. Why do people think other people are so stupid?
I still believe you Anita!

Fuck the rich!

It has been reported that the top 50 hedge fund managers earned a total of 29 billion dollars last year. Some earned as much as 3 billion. According to Matt Miller from Fortune Magazine, not a socialist rag mind you, the typical family would have to work 12,000 years to earn what a typical hedge fund manager earns in one year or the typical hedge fund manager earns in one hour the same as a typical family earns in a year.
I think it should be a simple truth that our earth is a finite object. As a result this earth can only create so much wealth, since our earth is finite. (sure we can print more money but what value does it have?) If, as I have shown simply, that the earth is a finite entity then therefore there is only a finite amount of wealth that can be created, legitimately. One economist, whose name escapes me, once said, to believe that infinite wealth can be created in a finite world, one must either be an economist or a madman.
Above my computer I have this framed document that states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (notice the use of “their” instead of “the creator”) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Ya, it is the Declaration of Independence. (Ya, I have a framed copy.)
So when Jefferson, Adams and Franklin were imagining a proper society they deemed that those three things should be guaranteed, since humans were endowed with those rights as they stated. We have the right to live, we have the right of liberty and we have been endowed with the right for the pursuit of happiness.
If one person, or a group of people, hide away for themselves money they will never use and not pour it back into the economy that money becomes sterile or dead. That money is taken out of the finite pool of money so no one is able to earn it. It has no positive use in society. It makes it that much harder for others to find some of that finite pie. As a result a huge number of Americans, and humans worldwide, are forced to suffer.
How can one be granted the right of life and then be denied healthcare? Why is it that the poorer Americans cannot afford healthcare? Does one have the right to life if one is not guaranteed healthcare? If there is only a finite amount of money, and some are hording huge amounts for themselves are they taking away ones right to life?
My liberty to swing my fist stops where your face begins, is a paraphrase of a John Stuart Mill line from On Liberty. Liberty, as far as Mill saw it, in America is a funny thing because it doesn’t apply to the wealthy only the poor. So if I, as a regular citizen, sullied your home with toxins I would be held accountable, if I was a corporation I wouldn’t. My liberty to spread toxins stops where your body begins, unless you are a wealthy corporation then that rule no longer applies. Even better is that the corporation can pollute our environment and then get us, the taxpayers, to pay for the clean up. Notice ExxonMobil still hasn’t paid their fine for the Exxon Valdez spill nearly twenty years ago. Maybe we should issue a warrant.
How can one be happy if they are unable to provide adequate nourishment to their children? If one’s basic needs are not met it is extremely difficult to have time to pursue happiness. Especially if they have to work two or three jobs, in order to feed one’s children. Is it even possible to pursue happiness unless one’s most basic needs are met? I would say, no.
If average workers wages have stayed stagnant while every year the obscenely rich get richer are all boats rising? If one segment of society continues to see their aggregated wealth increase, in a finite pool, is it any surprise that the rest of labor’s wages haven’t risen in the last thirty years? How else would there be this money for them to earn? It had to come from somewhere since you can’t just create money from nowhere. (Oh wait, that might be practically false. Just ask one of them Ron Paulites)
So as I am arguing that the ultra-rich hate America, the idea not the market, I am reminded of another fact. Not only are the obscenely rich amassing as much wealth for themselves, that they and their off-spring will never spend, they are shipping it overseas in order to not pay taxes to America. Just like how many “American” companies are really from the Cayman Islands.
So why do the rich in America hate it and its ideals so much. Why are they actively working to remove people’s rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? I think it is because they suffer from some yet to be named malady. How else can a social being like a homo-sapien be so far removed from its roots?
Oh ya, and they, 14 of America’s richest families, also want to create a permanent aristocracy like the one our founders fled and created laws to stop.
Why do they hate America so much?

Preview

iPhone/iPod Touch Link

Words of Wisdom?

Recently a friend asked me how I remain happy in today's world. This is my quick response.

It is my belief that Americans are brainwashed to be consumers. We are told that we must have this life or that life in order to live a good life. Of course, that good life usually revolves around stuff. This has been drilled into our heads since birth and it is part of who we are. We have been told that we should have everything we want otherwise we will not be happy, so you better go get those things if you don't yet have them. These things are not only material objects or consumer goods but wealth and "love." We are told we need to be happy but how can one get happy, they get stuff to make them happy, but what if they can't get that stuff? Now they aren't happy and they were told that they are supposed to be happy so this leads them to be even unhappier. It is a vicious cycle.

So what is one to do? Like addiction recovery, one has to admit that they are brainwashed. It isn't the easiest thing to do because it started in infancy. My parents didn't have TVs until they were around five years old, and had been able to have some quiet time for mental development, and even they ended up brainwashed. So for us people who were brought up around the TV it is wired into our brains. Repudiating the television and its message is not easy. It's much like an abused child not wanting to admit that they have been abused but we have been. Everything the TV and our culture have fed us, in regards to the good life, has to be discarded. In order to rid oneself of its brainwashing one might have to attack it or abandon it until one is on the path to recovery. I am saying this with all seriousness. I am not being tongue in cheek.

What matters in life? Figuring this out is paramount to being content. I think happiness is an illusion. It is a fleeting thing. People come into it periodically as positive things happen but just as everything else it goes away. As I wrote earlier, the television has got people to think that they have to be happy when it is, really, unachievable on the scale and length they imply is possible. Actually, not "possible" but expected instead. I think it was Kant who made the claim that sustained periods of happiness are not achievable. So ridding oneself of the notion that they should be "happy" is necessary. That too is a hard task for someone growing up and living in this culture.

But back to the question, "what really matters in life?" I think that if one really thinks seriously and honestly about that, the answers will come pretty easy. For example, my answer would be, my loved ones and friends, my health and well being, knowledge and truth, ethics and fairness, and a roof over my head. Sure iPods and toys are cool and everything but they really don't matter. They can make life a little more enjoyable as entertainment but they have no real value, except the hundreds of dollars Apple charges.

Don't get me wrong, iPods are nice and the ability to have them is even nicer. By living in America, at this moment in time, we are some of the luckiest people to have ever lived. We have absolutely no problems finding enough food today since one can find a full meal for three bucks or less. Our health and well-being is unlike any time in history and should only continue to improve up until the Superbugs begin to emerge and kill us all. We have heat, electricity, tons of toys and a smidgen of basic rights guaranteed to us. (Hi Vice President Cheney)

Sure it is also depressing that living in America, at this time, makes us the meanest, greediest, most imperialist bullies. We are okay with torturing people, invading nations and flaunting international norms but things change. It sometimes requires action but things do change for the better. Never before had a war been protested before it began, even if it didn't stop it.

The basic level of freedoms we have is amazing and taken for granted. All one has to do is look around a world map and they will find that there are few countries where people have the rights, got through popular struggle, that we in the West have. We can basically do and say whatever we want.

I think Bertrand Russell was right when he said that time enjoyed wasted is not wasted time. I think too, that he argues in In Praise of Idleness that whole point of working is leisure time. Do what you enjoy as often as you can and see work and money as means not ends.

Of course it isn't possible to never be upset or depressed. Humans have developed the emotions we have for a reason. Unfortunately they can be destructive if not managed so we need to be able to recognize them. It may not be the easiest task but we should try to be able to look at ourselves in the third person.

None of this is easy. It is constant work. It isn't like you flip a switch and you now have a new outlook on life and "job over." Life is difficult and it continuously throws shit at us that we don't like. Our culture is a toxic one. We are forced to work too much and under too much stress but we have to keep in mind that we aren't making shoes for Nike in Indonesia. If we just sit back and expect that we won't be affected by the outside world we are headed for disaster. Again, Russell said, "The secret to happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible." We have to acknowledge it, overcome it and try to live a content life.

Oh ya, and listen to punk rock.