TG takes aim

Tomato Guy would be a good blogger but doesn’t think it is worth his time.

  • TG: It’s all so pointless. You measure success by “hits” and “reads.” So what if someone hits your blog?
  • Me: Book successes are measured by number of copies sold. Who actually reads books but a very few?
  • TG: So you’re like an author? That’s a little presumptuous – authors do careful research, make arguments over many pages, reach conclusions …
  • Me: Blah blah blah.
  • TG: Authors have impact. You don’t.
  • Me: There are been a few authors who have influenced the flow of events by the strength of their work. Most are addressing selected small audiences and stroking them – Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, for instance.
  • TG: Chomsky.
  • Me: I suppose. That hurt.
    Continue reading “TG takes aim” →

Mindsets and the arrival of Tomato Guy

knowledge_is_knowing_a_tomato_is_a_fruit_button-p145206992323868011en872_216During the years of this blog I have had an ongoing dialogue with a friend who wants to remain anonymous, and who I will call “Tomato Guy.” Many years ago when my oldest daughter left for college, she wrote me a letter addressed to “That Tomato Guy.” I do not raise nor do I like tomatoes. It was out of the blue and made no sense. It is appropriate for my friend, as it gives no hint of identity.

Tomato Guy wonders why I do this. I have asked him* to write here, making sure his identity is safe. He has no desire to write for limited consumption and just for the sake of writing.

TG wants to know the following: Since no one who reads Piece of Mind has a change of heart or mind, why bother?

It’s a good question. My first response was the standard one that I have used since 2006, that I like to write and argue. But that is not enough to sustain an effort that really only reinforces people in their ego-traps. We are all in a fog as we try to figure out the substance of reality.
Continue reading “Mindsets and the arrival of Tomato Guy” →

Taking Spain to task for its efficiency

The logic of the fascist is not hard to follow – just think duplicity and lies. Whether it is American justification for current attacks on the rest of civilization or Germany’s cry in 1939 that it was merely defending itself from Poland, it is always easily disassembled and transparent lies. That’s all we get. The shame is that people so easily buy them. But extreme gullibility appears to be the human condition, and it appears incurable.

In most places, that is. Spain has enjoyed a very good public health care system in the post-war era. Currently it spends less than half per capita than the US and achieves better outcomes – full coverage for all citizens and a longer life expectancy.

The bank-generated housing and debt crisis has hit Spain hard, and of course the fascist response is automatic: Attack the public sector, privatize, privatize, privatize. The Spanish government, to “save money,” wants to take its health care system private. Since statistics easily indicate that public systems are far more economical, efficient and effective than our private system here in the US, money cannot possibly be saved in privatization.

There is only one possible outcome here: Less service, higher cost, poorer outcomes, private profit. Spanish people are up in arms. Imposition of a private system, if the US is an example, is unaffordable. But in true fascist tradition, it will be done by force.
__________
PS: This is nothing more than Naomi Klein’s aptly-worded “Shock Doctrine:” To create a problem and then step in with predetermined “solutions.”

Banksters are also drugsters

imageThe US military has long had a drug problem. The army was severely impaired in Vietnam due to drug use, much of it supplied by the CIA via the airline called Air America. In the 1980’s, when the Congress outlawed funding of the Contras in Central America, the CIA turned again to drugs for finance. Gary Webb ran an expose’ in the San Jose Mercury News that eventually cost him his job and his life – suicide was the official cause of death, but with spooks, deaths of those who try to expose their activities are always suspicious.

The money from drug operations has to enter the “legal” economy at some point, and international banks play a key role. As British journalist Ed Vulliami wrone in a Guardian piece last July, “Global banks are the financial services wing of the drug cartels”,

The notion of any dichotomy between the global criminal economy and the “legal” one is fantasy. Worse, it is a lie. They are seamless, mutually interdependent – one and the same.

With that in mind, take a look at the photographs supplied by the Pentagon in this piece, US/NATO troops patrolling Opium Poppy fields in Afghanistan. There is a disconnect between the captions and the images, some hilarious. For instance, farmers are smiling in the photograph above as they “destroy” crops that they are obviously harvesting. Troops walk astride fields, well known to all, not to destroy them, an easy task, but rather to guard them.

This could be a key to understanding out continued presence in Afghanistan – protection of a drug and drug money pipeline. The Taliban was highly effective in destroying the poppy fields prior to arrival of the Americans. Production now flourishes.

Reverse mortgages

Bankers are currently doing a heavy push on a product called a “Reverse Mortgage.” They are targeting seniors. You will see these products heavily advertised on Jeopardy and The Price is Right. Having already bled the working and middle class housing market, they are looking for new ways to feed.

If anyone you know has been approached about such a product, advise them to treat a reverse mortgage as a scam to be avoided like a beer fart. Avoid the person and institution promoting it. Technically speaking, the word “scam” does not apply, but these are among the most expensive financial products ever invented. They are designed to bleed the customer to death rather than merely slashing the throat.

If you or your parents or anyone you know are desirous of enjoying their estate while alive rather than leaving it to descendents, seek qualified advice from a non-banking financial person. There are other, less expensive ways to convert a house to cash while still living comfortably. A “life estate” comes to mind, and surely there are other, less expensive ways to go.

The new Red Scare

imageThis is clipped from Red Scare: Memories of the American Inquisition by Griffin Fariello (1995). I often catch myself saying that the American public has been “dumbed down,” but know better. It’s always been like this. Public opinion is never anything more than a reflection of leaders and the media.

In 1954, Samuel Stouffer of Harvard University attempted to measure the breadth of [American] thought with a national poll. His finding revealed that 73 percent of the respondents would turn in their neighbors or acquaintances “whom they suspected of being Communists.” Seventy-seven percent of those polled wanted to strip admitted Communists of their citizenship, while 51 percent were in favor of imprisoning them.

Yet only 3 percent of Mr. Stouffer’s respondents had ever met an admitted Communist, even though 10 percent harbored suspicions about certain acquaintances. “He was always talking about world peace,” responded a housewife from Oregon. “I saw a map of Russia on the wall in his home,” said a locomotive engineer from Michigan. “I just knew. But I wouldn’t know how to say I knew'” said a Kansas farmer. “She had more money to spend and places to go than seems right,” reasoned a woman from Iowa. “He had a foreign camera and took so many pictures of the large New York bridges,” said another housewife from New York.
Continue reading “The new Red Scare” →

Dark money

Dark money reminded us of who he is.
Dark money reminded us of who he is.
Matt Koehler is circulating Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat, an article from Pro Publica written by Kim Barker. It is a good overview of politics in the post-Citizens United era.

A few thoughts after reading it:

  • American politics was already corrupt beyond repair, with two big-money parties freezing out every reform effort. The ability to corrupt us even further is a remarkable achievement.
  • Citizens United was handed down in 2010. In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama criticized the ruling as Sam Alito looked on in disgust (never to return for the annual theater production). Since that time, Obama has done exactly nothing about it – no bully pulpit, no bearing down on congress or stumping to help ground-level reform efforts. What stops him from leading? Does he fear dark money would cost him his office? Maybe he is just insincere. In either case, he is worthless.
  • The hypocrisy of Montana Democrats, who were furious when gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill received a similar, but smaller, influx, is illuminating. Says Tester (in a Baucus-like moment of dissembly), “We had no control over what they were saying. But by the same token, I think probably in the end if you look at it, they were helpful.” Later, “But it was important…We had to remind people of who I am.”
  • Finally, Barker insists on describing the cash influx in the wake of CU as hailing from “liberal” and “conservative” sources. I am parroting someone, and I do not know who, but in politics there are no ideologies. Only interests. The only reason that big money is invested in small people is that they return even bigger money. If Barker were to set aside such notions, she would add another level of insight to her already good work.

Red Dawn

There is a remake of Red Dawn playing in the theaters now. The original must have been made in the 1980’s as I remember the bad guys being Nicaraguans, the country we were attacking at that time. [Note: 1984.]

I haven’t seen the remake, and won’t. The premise is that The U.S. is invaded, and I will guess that Iran, Islam and some Arab countries are subtly implicated. Our young people take to the hills and become guerrilla fighters.

It’s an interesting contrast to the way that young people in other countries behave when we invade them. They are terrorists. Ours are patriots.

The absurd premise

002388a5_mediumWe recently subscribed to Showtime, the pay channel, in order to watch Oliver Stone’s “Untold History of the United States.” It’s been a worthwhile investment. These pay channels offer a side street for a little subversion, as there are no advertisers hovering about. Companies that don’t want certain content aired have to sue the network rather than achieving their end by withholding advertising dollars.*

So Stone’s work has an outlet. Even with 200 other cable channels with absurd names like “History” and “Learning,” none would touch such an offering. Censorship in the United States is pervasive. We are so sheltered from the real world that Stone’s work, which would be part of a classroom discussion in a free country, seems radical.
Continue reading “The absurd premise” →

A Christmas message from Tulum

stonehenge-solstice2Phew! We made it! I didn’t want to go out of this world being wrong about everything*, and so waited to see if we survived 12/21/12 before writing this.

The mythologies of the northern hemisphere are based on sun worship. That much is obvious. I’m really curious, however, that the object of worship in Christianity, the “son” is the same sound as “sun.” In other languages we have sol, sonne, jus, soare, soliel … are those words also homophones for male offspring? Is ours just coincidence? The only cultural reference I’ve seen (my American educational background) was on an old Star Trek episode (the original series) where the boys came across a culture that worshiped the sun, and at the end found that the word was actually “son,” meaning the J-man had been there too. The guy travels!

Anyway, here’s the importance of Christmas and all other solstice celebrations: The sun is the giver of life. It brings warmth. As it goes away, things wither away. When it returns, things grow. In the vineyard it turns water into wine. It is the source of all life. It is kind, benevolent, caring and giving, harsh and indifferent, burning and destroying crops as well as nurturing their growth. In desert climates, the gods can be cruel. In climates of plenty, the gods are kind. The Egyptian Ra was benevolent, the Hebrew Yahweh a nasty muhfuh. It just depended on how the sun shone on any particular cultural dog’s ass.**

The sun slowly goes away, each day lower on the horizon. On the day of solstice, which we call December 21st, it reaches its farthest point. Then it appears to stay in one place for a few more days. On December 25th it begins its homeward journey.

On the third day it rises again. And so we celebrate. Hope springs anew. Life will go on.

I did want to make sure on this one, however. It was a close call! We all know that ancient cultures know more about the future than we do, so it was natural to assume that the Mayans had it figured out. Now they can take their place alongside Nostradamus. They are discredited.

Next up: Hebrews. The Israelis will have to stop stealing land, since their bible is made-up stories. After that, hopefully, Ayn Rand sets on the horizon, never to return.

Merry Christmas one and all!
__________
*Shush!
** It is also the reason that Jesus and Mary have halos around their heads … it is our ancient forebears’ way of saying “hint hint.”