Jobs

I am highlighting a comment from down below, Democrats who don’t even bother with the lipstick, by Steve Kelly here. I tend to focus on the elements of thought control and crowd behavior, and so am fascinated by the behavior of groups like Democrats. They are unaware of how their own common thought patterns are identical to their supposed opposites. In the example I wrote about they are seemingly unaware that they are advancing a corporate agenda identical to the other party, even adopting the same language.

This is what I think of as the “magnet” effect – imagine metal particles scattered about on a table top, and someone waving a powerful horseshoe magnet above. The particles, heavily influenced by the magnet, will form patterns of alignment. This is the effect of money in politics. Continue reading “Jobs” →

Why dead Syrians matter

There is much to learn from American news coverage, but not in the news that is covered. Most of what passes by us in the cycle is waste product, or filler. They are trying to generate interest in order to attract readers and viewers and thereby sell advertising. Audiences are the product, content the bait.

“News” coverage merely focuses our attention on places that the power centers want our attention focused. What is not covered is always more interesting, but takes conscious effort to find. When certain stories are covered and attention is highly focused, there is usually an unstated reason.

Take two examples: Dead Muslims as they appeared in legions in Iraq, and in small numbers in Syria. The Iraqi dead elicited not much coverage, and few Americans have any idea of the extent of that massacre, 1991 forward. When there were attempts to get a sense of the numbers, as with Johns Hopkins on two occasions, those attempting to count the bodies were vilified and marginalized.

Syrian deaths, on the other hand, elicit wide coverage appearing in lead stories and on the front pages of some newspapers. We get exact numbers, and officials in Washington are crying in the morning cappuccinos about it.
Continue reading “Why dead Syrians matter” →

Fighting the one-party-two-right-wing monopoly

It is very difficult for independent candidates to run for office in the US, and deliberately so. The “two” parties have a monopoly on finance, and also want the same for ballot access. Consequently, independents have to jump hurdles, launch lawsuits, collect signatures and raise money for filing fees to challenge the major parties.

Here’s an example: In Montana, independents are required to collect ballot signatures by mid-March to be on the ballot in November. Two people, Steve Kelly and Clarence Dreyer, sued to move this date up, saying it was arbitrary and imposed an undue burden on people wanting to run for office. After losing at a lower court, US District Court ruled on appeal that Kelly/Dreyer had a valid case, and ruled in their favor. The March deadline was set aside.

Montana’s Secretary of State, having lost the decision, then decided on May 29th that the new date would be set at … May 29th. In other words, independents are once again screwed.

The SOS is Linda McCulloch, a Democrat. Does anyone really believe a Republican would act differently?

See details here.

Nutshell history

Not quite as dangerous as Obama
I’m not too worried about the Wisconsin outcome. At one time I thought there was hope there for the beginning of the “uprising,” but that’s just a fond remembrance of the 1960’s, a time when the upper classes were caught off guard and didn’t quite know how to react. As I am fond of saying, all of American history from the early 1970’s forward can be summed up as a reaction to the 60’s. It scared the crap out of them. Even the saddest current legacy of this futnucking place, kids in hock up to their eyebrows with college debt, can be traced to the refuge that college campuses had become back then. Kids could go to college and walk away with the beginnings of a way through life and without a mountain of debt. No more. It gives them too damned much freedom.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is a combination of arrogance and stupidity. That he thinks himself so right when he’s so wrong is what makes him what he is – an idiot. But there are so many Scott Walkers around today in every state, in every race, that we just have to weather this storm. American politics is incredibly stupid on the Republican side, and soft in the belly on the Democratic side. Since both sides feed at the teat of the 1%, there is no hope in that system for immediate reprieve. We’ll have to live for a good long time with extreme wealth inequality, unending war and mountainous private debt. We’ll have to endure another crash or two, and defeat in these wars (they lost in Iraq and are losing in Afghanistan, very nice) before there’s any division among the owning classes about what kind of society we want. Out of that might come some inspired leadership, and some strength from popular movements.
Continue reading “Nutshell history” →

Afghans Gumping it up

Paid actors
One of the most troubling aspects of our wars of liberation around the world is the placement of supposed “innocent” victims in places where terrorists are hiding. Once struck, it appears to the world that the US and NATO have killed women and children in a blasé manner. This speaks to the vile nature of our enemy – the fact that they have such low regard for life that they place their women and children in faux locations, like weddings, homes, beds and schools, and then allow them to be killed, putting American and its allies in a bad light.

It happened again yesterday. Notice the paid actors, the fake crying and indignation. There is nothing lower on the planet than use of civilians as a shield against the forces of freedom.

Fight team fight!

Today’s recall election in Wisconsin is close, but Gov Scott Walker is expected to pull it out. A push from Obama might be helpful, but he’s kinda busy.

Democrats are odd ducks, possessed of no fight yet expecting enthusiastic support from voters. The Wisconsin uprising, a sign of life in our country’s sleeping labor movement, officially ends today with the Walker victory.

Thanks, Democrats, for hitting the snooze button.

A final solution for roadless lands in Montana?

If ever you wanted a primer on the nature of the political debate we’re all engaged in, it is uncovered here. That thread has it all – declared enemies, Trojan horses, agents provocateur, collaberators, stooges, spear chuckers and a few who want to die with sword in hand.

The stakes a very high. When the roadless lands are gone, even if we come to our senses, they are still gone.

We are in Connecticut for a few days, and it is indeed a beautiful place. There might be roadless lands here for all I know, but it is civilized and there is no danger anywhere. As Ed Abbey reminded us, wilderness ought to be dangerous, a few people ought to die there every year. Sleeping on the ground there ought to be a a frightening experience. Montana ain’t Connecticut. Parts of it still cause nightmares for collaberative souls.

Why elections do matter

Elmo Roper
Elmo Roper (1900-1971) was a pioneer of the science of polling, and his legacy is The Roper Center at UConn. The fundamental principle of polling is that we are more alike than we know, so that one person (assuming proper selection techniques) represents the views of thousands of others. So a poll of 1,500 Americans, properly done, can predict the outcome of an election with astounding accuracy. (Exit polls are even more accurate.)

We are polled more than an other people on earth, mostly for commercial purposes. We are also asked our opinions on political issues. But those opinions are not important (if so, we’d have national health care). Political polling on issues is merely a means of ascertaining whether or not opinion management techniques are effective.*

It’s easy to wander off into idealistic notions of democracy and get all glassy-eyed about the will of the people, voting and all of that. Roper’s research led him down a different path. He concluded that 90% of Americans are “…politically inert, inactive, inattentive, manipulable, and without critical faculty.”

I wish it were not so, because it rules out self-governance as a viable alternative to rule by the “elite,” or moneyed interests. What then is the point of having elections?
Continue reading “Why elections do matter” →

It defies obfuscation

This is the TED Talk that has caught so much attention. The Sapling Foundation, owner of “TED” (technology, entertainment, design) initially declined to air it, and demand had to grow on its own. Finally there was enough whining and complaining that TED was forced to air it. It’s making the rounds now.

In it, Nick Hanauer says some plainly true things that are a stark contrast to the spirit of the times. He makes lots of money, but doesn’t imagine himself a “job creator.” That function, he says, is the product of a feedback loop, with middle class consumers buying products acting as the real job creators. So low taxes for the wealthy has no influence on the number of jobs available to fill. (Quite the opposite, actually.)

That point is so basic that it takes whole university economics departments to obfuscate it beyond recognition. Sadly, that is the function of economics as we know it – not to discover truth, but to hide it.

Put a stop to pesky assassins today!

Has this ever happened to you – you’re at a family wedding, and suddenly, a drone strike kills the entire wedding party and many guests?

Are you tired of annoying government agencies killing your friends and family members?

We can put an end to these pesky assassins by signing onto the White House DO NOT KILL LIST. Once on that list, you can rest assured that President Obama will remove your name from the list of Americans he wants to kill. Here’s the petition, which despite the snarky nature of this blog post, is quite real, as is the kill list:

The New York Times reports that President Obama has created an official “kill list” that he uses to personally order the assassination of American citizens. Considering that the government already has a “Do Not Call” list and a “No Fly” list, we hereby request that the White House create a “Do Not Kill” list in which American citizens can sign up to avoid being put on the president’s “kill list” and therefore avoid being executed without indictment, judge, jury, trial or due process of law.

h/t David Sirota