For more information go here:  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/2012115121928594335.html

Herman Cain is not even a legitimate candidate for President.  Neither is Perry or Bachmann.  But all of these people have been very successful in framing Mitt Romney as a reasonable and moderate candidate.  Will he be George Bush III?

OWS is heating up, with no one to guide the counter-hegemonic force… will it continue to grow?  Or is it just a reaction to the current state of affairs?  Personally, I find it is very similar to prewar Europe… especially prewar Germany.  Will the Brown Shirts win again?  How long before the Police and the Tea Party start to legitimize any opposition to their support of cultural dominance?

Is President Obama ever going to do anything from the Left?  Or will he continue to behave like Nixon and still be slandered as a “Far Left Socialist” – even though he is behaving like a classical Conservative?

I’ll try to add more in the near future.

Stay tuned . . .

Watch Live!

When I searched for Imogen Lloyd Webber, I did not find much of what I was seeking.  I did find a little factual information from Wikipedia and such.  It was a bit impressive… she went to Queen’s College, London and Girton College, Cambridge.  She runs a theatre production company, she is an author, and appears regularly on MSNBC and Fox News.

Majority of what I found were YouTube clips of “Imogen Lloyd Webber’s legs.  Long clips of sliced up segments of Fox News’ Red Eye, to the point where there is no coherent dialogue, just clips stitched together to show her legs.  I found a ton of images of her.  On clip I saw, another co-host on Red Eye made some sexist joke about Virgin Airlines and Imogen that I found completely distasteful.  The only other piece I found with views of what Imogen actually has to say, was on her own website/blog.

Imogen Lloyd Webber’s website defines her as:  “your typical “liberal” modern woman – never knowingly short of an opinion on everything from deficit reduction to Kim Kardashian!“  That’s the only place I could find any of her opinions.  I guess it is a good thing that I had to actually find her actual words to make a judgement on her perspective.  But, sometimes, that is tedious.  If a person did not know who Glenn Beck was, today, they could Google him and ascertain from others if they are even interested in hearing what Beck has to say.  No such luxury with Imogen.

Imogen Lloyd Webber is an attractive woman.  (And an attractive British woman is news, I will agree.)  But, I don’t really care.  I care about what she has to say.  I’m writing about this because I find that it is distressing.  Why are we so focused on appearance?  Rachel Maddow has a more masculine haircut than I do, but I don’t care.  What she has to say has put her near the top of my favorite, public personalities.  I love Rachel Maddow… and that type of intrinsic and beautiful love that a child has for a puppy, or a cowboy has for his horse, or a gorilla has for a kitten.  Melissa Harris-Perry is happily married.  She also has a lisp that, sometimes, drives me mad.  But what Harris-Perry also has is a mind that has some of the most beautiful thoughts in the world.

Michelle Malkin is an attractive woman, to me.  I hate her.  Not just what she says.  I really hate her.  On the list of people I hate, Michelle Malkin is on that list.  I loathe her.  I have contempt for her.  Anne Coulter is another woman that I loathe.  I don’t think Coulter is hideous, and I don’t think Coulter is stupid.  Quite the contrary, Coulter is an intelligent and accomplished woman.  She also spreads a message of hate, fear, and ignorance.  I hate her for that.

I just find it so concerning that, in this day and age, women are still subjected to this double set of standards.  Not only are they to be held accountable for their statements and actions, but they are objectified.  We do not do this to men.  I am not assaulted with opinions of the physical appeal of Glenn Beck, Chris Mathews, Joe Madison, Pat Buchanan, Rick Perry, Jesse Jackson, George W. Bush, Chris Christie, Al Sharpton, or Bill O’Reilly.   (I’m thankful for that, too.)  There is the occasional comparison to Gov. Christie to Ralph Cramden, or to Tim Pawlenty to Droopy Dog… but that is not the same thing.

I do not consider myself a feminist.  I know feminists.  We disagree on many things.  A short personal anecdote:

I had to drop a class once on Political Theory due to a schedule conflict.  I asked my friend, who stayed in the class, how she enjoyed it.  She told me, after I left the class, she hated it.  As a Japanese female, she really disliked discussions on Women’s Rights in the United States.  She felt that the views of Feminists in America were very short-sighted and ethnocentric.

I have also made the same claims about feminism.  I find that it is too rigid.  (I also really enjoy Internet pornography.)  This is probably because I am more of a perspectivist…but that is another issue.  What I cannot avoid is the truth behind the feminist claim that women are still unfairly unequal in our society.  We continue to hold women to these double standards that are completely unfair.

When I see a woman such as Kim Kardashian or Snookie, I don’t care what she has to say.  They really have very little to say.  They are pop-cultural eye candy.  It’s fine that they litter Perez Hilton’s website and Google images.  And I also do not see a problem with pointing out that Imogen Lloyd Webber is attractive.  But this is a woman that has studied and worked to coordinate deep thoughts on issues.  To turn her into a piece of eye-candy is demeaning.

I realize, that by writing an entire entry about this topic, I have contributed to this topic and the paradox is one that could eventually make one have a seizure if it is too deeply focused upon.  By complaining that too much attention is paid to the appearance of Imogen Lloyd Webber, I am writing an article about the appearance of Imogen Lloyd Webber, and placing focus on the very issue that I think should not have any attention… and then… I have run out of words to complete this thought, but it has a wormhole in it, somewhere.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t see why an attractive woman can be more attractive by having a decent mind.  It is almost as if a woman can be attractive, or intelligent, but not both.

The Corporate supported GOP and Tea Party are playing a dangerous game, with the United States, and the world.  The only thing more disturbing is how the American Democrats, the American Left and the International Left are refusing to stand up and speak against this massive bowel movement.  It is revolting.  I guess it is safe to say, “The Tea Party is revolting.“  It can mean any number of things.

We keep hearing the same talking points from the ideological Right with little evidence to support any of their claims.  “Big government is the problem,” they say.  They keep claiming that increasing taxes for the wealthy will “destroy the American economy.”  They keep claiming that the debt of the United States is far too massive.  They keep claiming that the problem is Unions, benefits, and pensions.  Clinging to the claim that “Trickle Down Economics” are the final solution for everything.  And they keep insinuating that “entitlements” are the problem.  They also have this infusion of racism and ethnocentrism that run through the middle of their claims.  The claim that drives me nuts is the claim that we need to “share in the responsibility.”  Funny, these are the same people that call taxes on the wealthy “socialist wealth distribution,”  but distributing debt on all of us – is just “the free market.”

Since 1979, the American worker has seen a 0% to 11% increase in wages.  The wealthy have seen a 200% to 300% increase in compensation.  (The wealthy do not have ‘wages.’)  How long do we have to wait for this “trickle down” effect of Supply-Side economics?  8 years of Reagan, 4 years of Bush, and then another 8 years of another Bush were not enough?  The wealthy are inordinately wealthy . . . how much more wealthy do they need to be before it trickles down?  The only thing that is trickling down now is typically in a colostomy bag.

In 1979 the American worker’s average hourly wage was equal to $15.91 (adjusted for inflation in 2001 dollars). By 1989 it had reached only $16.63/hour. That’s a gain of only 7 cents a year for the entire Reagan decade.

But wait. Things get worse! By 1995 it had risen to only $16.71, or virtually no gain whatsoever over the 6 years between 1989 and 1995. During the great ‘boom years’ between 1995 and 2000 it rose briefly to $18.33 per hour. In other words, from 1979 to 2000, even before the most recent Bush recession, after more than two decades the American worker’s average wages increased on average only 11.5 cents per hour per year! With nearly all of that coming in the five so-called ‘boom’ years of 1995-2000, and most of that lost once again in the last three years. And that includes for all workers, even those with college degrees.

The picture is worse for workers who had no college degree. That’s more than 100 million workers, or 72.1% of the workforce. For them there was no ‘boom of 1995-2000′ whatsoever. Their average real hourly wages were less at the end of 2000 than they were in 1979! And since 2000 their wages have continued to slide further.

http://www.kyklosproductions.com/articles/wages.html

And the Tea Party is claiming that the debt “crisis” is imminent… I guess, because they are more concerned with maintaining a Sarah Palin educational system:  One where pesky facts do not get in the way of “common sense.”

United States Debt

Well, let’s look at the debt… and what it means.  First of all, for time’s sake, we will just look at the public debt.  And it is apparently true that the United States public debt has increased steadily since the 1980′s.  If we look at the whole chart to the Left, we see that the debt spiked during WWII and then dipped down.  It began to rise again during the 1980′s.

What happened in these times?  Well, after World War II, Europe was decimated and the United States was the top producer in the world.  So, all other arguments aside, we can just ascribe that to the dip in debt.  And in the 1980′s, Ronald Reagan was president of the United States.

If we look at graph 2, we see the Debt in relation to Gross Domestic Product.  The amount of current debt in relation to GDP is about equal to 1950.  Why is that so urgent?  The reality is that it is not.  This is a completely false crisis.  THERE IS NO DEBT CRISIS!

There is a crisis in America.  There is a lack of employment.  There is an unemployment crisis.  Right now.  And the GOP and Tea Party turned the attention towards the debt.  They also turned the debt level in an excuse to cut public funding.  But have adamantly refused to even discuss tax increases (revenue increases).

What this false debt crisis has done is create a situation where government employees and civil servants are losing ANY bargaining power as a labor force.  Pensions are being cut.  Benefits are being cut.  Salaries and wages are being cut.  Jobs are being cut.  These are jobs being cut!  During an unemployment crisis.  And these are jobs for police officers, firemen, EMTs, court clerks, social security clerical workers, social workers, and many more public services.  And funding is being cut from help the poor receive minimal standards.

On top of this, the GOP and Tea Party wants us to “share in the responsibility.”  They are afraid that the wealthy will have to shoulder most of the debt.  So, let’s see… those that have seen a 200 to 300 percent increase in wealth, shouldn’t shoulder in a majority of the debt?  Those who have had a 0% increase in wealth are just as responsible?  This is bullshit.  Most of the citizens in the United States are just renters.  The landlords are forcing the renters to maintain their own buildings?  In some places, these are called Slumlords.

Sometimes I wonder, though.  Are the Tea Party leaders and majority of the GOP this dishonest?  Or are they this daft?  Are they this easy to manipulate?  It is really one or the other.  They are either dishonest or stupid.  The rest of us are stupid, for allowing this nonsense to spread.  We are as bad as those in Germany that did nothing as Hitler’s forces seized power and sat idly until it was too late.

These people are destroying the working class – while claiming to be for the working class.  They are creating a climate where the wealthy continue to increase wealth and the middle class is being destroyed.  All while claiming to be for the middle class.  They fan the flames of religious intolerance, while claiming to be standing for freedom of religion.  They continue to espouse condemnation of ideology, while they espouse pure ideology.

This talk about “big government is the problem.”  Can any of them tell us why?  Why is big government the problem?  What problems does a big government cause that a small government can resolve?  To be a bit pragmatic…

Big government can be the result of an extensive system of checks and balances.  Checks and balances are the result of safeguards against corruption and authoritarianism.  This is how we prevent exploitation and abuse.  Small governments are typically ill-equipped to deal with such issues, unless they are completely autocratic.  This is not to say all big governments exist for reasons of checks and balances… just the opposite:  that the more checks and balances, the larger the bureaucracy.

To pull from Wikipedia (i still hate doing it, but am feeling lazy):

The economy of Japan is the third largest in the world[10] after the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and ahead of Germany at 4th. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s per capita GDP（PPP）was at $33,805 or the 24th highest in 2010.

So.  Why do we assume that big government is the problem?  Because The People’s Republic of China and Germany have such small governments?  Of those four countries, the United States has the highest GINI coefficient.  (GINI coefficient measures disparity in wealth, where higher coefficients mean, basically, that more of the wealth is owned by fewer people.)

HOW IS BIG GOVERNMENT THE PROBLEM?

They talk about “responsible government.”  But they couldn’t want this any less.  They want to government to sit on its hands while people go hungry, cannot find employment, cannot get proper medical care… how is that responsible?  HOW COULD ANYTHING ELSE BE MORE IRRESPONSIBLE?  What responsible government lets the conditions of revolution foment?  And lets the population become more and more disenfranchised?  And how is that democracy?

Like I said, the real crisis is the unemployment situation.  And the GOP and Tea Party effectively increased the problem.  President Obama and the majority of Democrats in Congress allowed this to happen.  And it will happen again.  Now they know it will work… what is the incentive to not hold the welfare of the nation hostage again?  They, more or less, held the entire world hostage.  The global economy is tied to the United States economy.  The whole world was watching this “crisis” unfold, with baited breath.  And the hostage takers won.  They have repeatedly held our economy hostage until they get what they want.  “No more jobs until we get to keep the Bush tax cuts.”  They got to keep the Bush tax cuts.  So, why not hold the national credit rating and global economy hostage until they get to reduce government spending, to keep taxes low on the wealthy?

“Patriotism is the last refuse of the scoundrel.”  These are scoundrels, every last one of them.  They are willing to let the United States be destroyed to follow some ideological principles.  What could be worse?  They oppose populous desires when they disagree with them.  (Not when they violate the rights of the minority.)  The only time, in a democratic polity, that the will of the majority should be violated, is to protect the rights of the minority.  (And, no, the wealthy are not a minority.  Minorities are those who do not compose the dominant voting majority.)  They claim to want what is best for the nation, but they want what is best for themselves and their corporate sponsors.

They do not care about the pensions and benefits of people who have devoted their lives to serving the United States.  We are seeing police and firemen pensions being cut.  They do not care about the working class, we are seeing Unions being literally destroyed.  They do not care about the poor, we are seeing them be blamed for every ail of our society.  They want to cut medical care for the elderly.  Really… this should be an outrage.

This repeated claim that, somehow, making the climate more hospitable to the wealthy will miraculously create more jobs… has no substantial basis.  I understand the claim.  I see no basis.  The wealthy have already seen an extremely pleasant situation in America.  They continue to increase their revenue… and we do not see them creating jobs.  What we do see… is a reduction in wages, an increase in work loads, a decrease in benefits… the climate is so friendly to corporations and businesses, they will do anything they can to keep the situation the way it is… they do not need to outsource labor now, because they can outsource consumers.  The GOP and Tea Party… they want to keep this going.

I implore everyone who understands how detrimental this is… please be outraged.  Vocalized your outrage.  Ignore the patriotism they blanket themselves in… and call these people what they are… either dishonest or stupid.  Call them anti-American.  Call them anything…and tell the government we want politicians that will stand up and fight for the working class, the average person… we want politicians that will not let the elite blackmail the nation into giving them what they want… lower taxes for the wealthy and more debt on the working class.

PLEASE!  BE OUTRAGED!

I am faced with this paradox.  One of my complaints is that someone uploaded this video, yet, I have to post it to talk about it.  Then, I figure, it probably doesn’t matter:  It was uploaded four years ago and has had over 5 million views.  So, here it is:

This two minute clip represents a lot of problems.  First, why was this uploaded?  I cannot imagine that some outsider filmed this and uploaded it to YouTube.  What purpose does that serve?  A lot of people will probably respond to me with, “Why do you care so much?”  The more I think about it, the more I think we all should care.

In this video, two Black American females are fighting.  I’m pretty sure it is a real fight… since there are ripped out braids.  There is well over a dozen people standing around the fight and at least a few are young children.  The only intervention in this fight was the one women who didn’t want them fighting on her car… and a few people pulled them away from the car.  Otherwise, it seems everyone is just enjoying the show.

I have to say, now, that fights are inevitable in human society.  Regardless of race, people fight.  That is unavoidable.  And people of lower socio-economic status do behave quite differently than those near the top.  I highly doubt the British Royal Family would even be in that environment, let alone handle a dispute that way.  I found quite a few clips of White people doing the same things.  Just to balance out the post, here is one:

My problem here is that, it is not balanced.  But what we do see is discrimination against Black people in America because they are believed to be “less civilized.”  Of course, no one wants to see a clip of a Black Social Worker at her desk filing paperwork.  Or a Black attorney researching Case Law.  Or a Black student doing their homework.  And it really doesn’t matter.  There could be 100 clips like the “Redneck fight” and 2 clips like the previous one, of Black people fighting, and it would be used as “evidence” that “Black people act like animals.”  (Unfortunately, it seems the ratio is skewed the other way.)

Zakeshia caught it on tape.  She uploaded it.  And the next time we watch the cops in Philly or Los Angeles beat a Black man to death for running a stop sign, we can thank Zakeshia for helping to devalue the Black man’s life in the eyes of society.  The next time a Black person is exonerated from a life sentence after serving 30 years, because of a biased trial, we can thank Zakeshia.  This is why I care.

There are plenty of people out there that truly believe that Black people cannot be “civilized.”  They vote.  They espouse “knowledge.”  They raise children.  And they use clips like this as “evidence.”  Ultimately, they effect policy.

The reason I decided to write about this is because this isn’t the only clip like this on the Internet.  There are even DVDs for sale, with “Da Hood Gone Wild.”  Opportunistic capitalists that are willing to perpetuate the destruction of their own community to try and make a fast, exploitive dollar.

Do you people not realize what occurred in New Orleans after the levees broke?  Do you realize that police officers and “private security” were “Coon Hunting” in New Orleans?  Shooting unarmed black people.  Sometimes they shot them for “looting” for food and clothing.  Other times they just shot them in the back.  Sometimes, they took “souvenirs” from their victims.  This was in America… in the New Millennium.

This isn’t news… but if you want to see the effects of this “information” then check out Police Beating Videos.  Black people are not the only victims of police brutality, but they are disproportionately the victims of it.  And it is often rationalized, because of this.  And it really is not just these egregious violations of human rights that are the problem.

It’s not that we should ignore that situations like those in that video exist.  But why do we have to air dirty laundry like that?  And feed the ignorance?  All this does is make the problem worse.  Funding gets cut more to the schools in these areas.  Nutritional programs get funding cuts.  With less nutrition and education, it is a downward spiral.  When society is predisposed to believe that Black people cannot “behave” – then we see a lack of employment and lower wages.  Something we have seen for quite some time… and something that has increased disproportionately over the past several decades.

So, I guess I’m saying… that its time we speak out against all of this bullshit and say “enough.”  It’s not just the racist White structure and the Herman Cain/Uncle Ruckus Black people in America that are making things worse… but this bullshit doesn’t help either.

We need the Progressives and the Liberals to stop defending this shit as “culture.”  Someone has to stand up and fund the education in these communities.  Just as there is a downward spiral, there is a bottom’s up effect to uplifting.  Better educations result in better prenatal care and better nutrition.  Better nutrition and prenatal care leads to better brain development and cognitive functions.  So, when someone like Bill Cosby tries to point out these problems, the American Left needs to stop slamming them into the ground for giving a damn.

Even more, we need to stop seeing this “airing of dirty laundry” and stop propagating the bullshit.

To be clear… I did state previously, that this clip is not representative of all Black people in America.  There are Black doctors and lawyers, poets and painters, office workers and bartenders… we just never want to see or hear from them – unless they are entertaining us.

It is all terribly complicated is my point, once again.  And, what really pissed me off about Zakesha’s YouTube clip was that it makes me feel old.  I don’t want to be the person saying, “Why would you do that?  Don’t you see we got company?  Stop airing dirty laundry and start acting like you have some common sense.”

]]> http://www.sighedeffects.com/uncategorized/2011/we-got-company/feed/ 1 http://www.sighedeffects.com/main-category/2011/elevator-etiquette-learn-it/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://www.sighedeffects.com/main-category/2011/elevator-etiquette-learn-it/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:23:42 +0000 Adam Baum http://www.sighedeffects.com/?p=1193 I am really getting tired of this phenomena of people utilizing elevators/lifts as though it exists merely for their comfort.  (In the US we call it an “elevator.”  Across the pond, you guys call it a “lift.”  It’s the same thing.)  Day after day, I run across these specific things that people seem to be a bit inconsiderate about and I’m really tired of it.  So, I have compiled a list of rules when using the elevator.

• Do not fart on the elevator! – Please!  Can you not hold your gas for a minute?  It is a small, enclosed space in which many people have to enter and be held captive.  Why do we all have to smell your methane and fecal particles?  If you cannot hold your fart for a brief elevator ride, maybe you can fart before you get on?  Or take the stairs?  Maybe eat some vegetables once in a while?
• When someone is coming to the elevator, hold the door for them! – You see someone walking toward the elevator, in close proximity.  Why do you feel the need to allow the door to shut in their face? This has got to be the most selfish and inconsiderate thing anyone can do on an elevator.  (Besides farting in a confined space.)  I don’t mean when a person is across a parking garage, or down the hallway.  I mean when they are close enough that they can feel the door close in their face.  Are you in that much of a hurry that you cannot wait 15 seconds for another person to board the elevator?  Or do you think you are entitled to go directly to your selected floor because you own the elevator?
• When entering the elevator, allow the people already there to exit the elevator! – This is stupid.  Why would you start to enter the elevator when people are trying to disembark from it?  Now you are in front of them, they want to get off, and the door is closing.  Are they supposed to ride back up (or down) with you, so you can go where you are going, and have to take the entire trip over?  Or do you want them to push you out of the way so they can exit the elevator?  The general rule is:  When the elevator door opens, the people inside the elevator leave, and then those who want to board the elevator enter it.
• Do not stand in front of the floor buttons unless you are going to press the selected floor for those entering the elevator! – Are the people entering the elevator supposed to ride to your floor before being able to select their floor?  Even if they are getting off below your floor?  What if someone calls the elevator down after you disembark?  Are they supposed to go all the way back down?  Let other people select their appropriate floors.
• Do not stand in front of the doorway! (when the elevator may stop before your selected floor) – Seems like common sense.  How are other people supposed to enter and exit the elevator if you are in front of the door?  Of course, when it is full, this is negotiable.  If the elevator is empty, move to the back, asshole.

Suggestions:

• If you are going to cover your body in fragrance (body spray or whatever) – take the stairs.  (You are the only one that thinks that shit smells good.  Some of us even have allergies and get pretty sick inhaling all that crap.)
• If you have 50 bags of groceries, take only what you can carry for each trip.  Or buy a cart.  (The elevator does not exist only so you can load all of your stuff on it, unload it and take the elevator for 20 minutes while other people need to use it.)
• If someone is carrying something heavy, offer to press the button and hold the door for them.
• If you drop your beer, wine, sticky drink, or anything other than water… clean it up so other people don’t have to walk in it.

Hopefully these are things people will start to learn to follow and make elevator use more pleasant for everyone.

I think the biggest issue here is that we have to learn to share.  The world does not revolve around you.  There are many things that are used communally and should be by their very nature.  Elevators, trains, subways, highways, roads, airports… these are things that exist for everyone.  We need to start acting like it.  Unless you have an elevator in your private residence, please learn to share it.

This can culminate into a scenario where the parent just says, “Fuck it.  Do what you want.“

This is how I feel and why I have not been posting entries.  It seems no amount of debate or thought is going to curtail the current political direction in the United States.  There are those of us who see what is really going on, but the message falls on deaf ears.

The Congressman Weiner thing is just stupid.  What exactly did he do?  He talked about sex on the internet?  He showed a woman his penis?  He “talked” to a 17 year old girl (not even about sex).  He took a picture of himself in a towel?  Who the fuck cares? What does that have to do with anything?  He is now on leave and is likely going to resign.  That’s all I really have to say about the entire thing… it is such a non-issue and has nothing to do with anything that is going on right now, except the hypocritical environment of the politics and media in America.  Human beings are primates and like to have sex.  We pursue sex because it is biological.

The Conservatives (The New Right, The Tea Party, the GOP… all of them) are going on an on about “reducing the deficit” and “decreasing corporate taxes” and “decreasing regulations.” Why? The United States is suffering from a devastating lack of jobs, crumbling infrastructure, stagnant wages, and a whole host of other things that none of these issues address.  And the American Left is letting the Ultra-Right frame the issues.

Corporations employ and sell more overseas than they do in America.  They did before the Great Recession (or whatever it is being called now).  Decreasing taxes on the wealthy will only increase their revenue.  They will still be selling more products overseas.

I understand the faulty logic that the Tea Party and the Right keep grasping onto like a “death grip.”  It is faulty.  It is not even very logical.  Decreasing taxation will only decrease government revenue and services the government provides for those who need it the most.  The wealthy already have record profits.  Decreasing their taxes will increase job creation how?  They already have capital and they are hoarding it.  Decreasing their taxes will just increase what they can hoard.  There is no incentive to “spend.”  People can keep on espousing their “conventional wisdom” about how regulations and taxes are what are “destroying the American economy.“ I don’t care anymore…because it is not true. Evidence suggests the opposite.  Germany is not falling apart.  Neither are France, England, Sweden, Finland or Canada.  All of these countries have more regulations, more government spending, higher taxes… and on and on… and China is doing quite well… I challenge anyone to explain how the government of China has less regulations or less taxation than any Western nation.

And I am SICK of these “goals” being targeted as “benefitting to the average American.” They blanket these issues as though they are for “individualistic freedom.”  And so many people are leaning that way… the reality is that these issues are supportive of a plutocracy.  They are the same policies that gave way to the Gilded Age. (That was a wonderful time, huh?)

What regulations do is keep corporations from polluting our drinking water, our air, and our food.  Is it not fantastic that coal companies are blasting the tops off mountains and polluting the drinking water all over Appalachia?  The Gulf Coast is a wonderful region to live in now.  Regulations are used to prevent corporations from giving us cancer in order to “increase their profit margins.”  They prevent corporate greed from displacing the welfare of the population.  Deregulation benefits corporations, not “ordinary citizens.”  I mean… Look at the Fukushima reactor… is that what we want all over America?  Corporations that can build nuclear power plants that melt down in an emergency because regulations decrease profits?

And the anti-union stance is just bullshit.  Unions are not the “elite.” Unions exist to protect workers.  They provide bargaining for the workers to stand up and make demands without fear of retribution.  Unions exist to provide fair conditions and fair wages.  Even the fear of Unions provides these abilities.  If Unions are destroyed, and there is no fear of Unionization, then workers no longer have the ability to bargain for better wages and/or conditions.  Destroying Unions does not benefit the working class in America… it benefits the corporations.

Taxes provide revenue for the government. Taxes pay for the military, the infrastructure, and everything necessary to maintain a polity.  The reality of taxation in America is not that these taxes go to “allow the lazy loafers to sponge off the hard work of others.”  This is just some bullshit meme that has existed for quite some time.  Of course there are people who are sponges and vampires… but they are not a numerical majority.  They are actually statistically insignificant.  And have any of these people ever been in the communities they claim are “sponging” actually live in?  It really is not a utopia.

On top of this, in the past year, two women have been charged with a felony for using deceit to get their children into better schools than the district they reside in.  So, when those who are disenfranchised want to increase the opportunity of their offspring to not exist on public assistance are penalized?

Even down to terminology I am frustrated.  ”Minority” is a word that has two meanings in social context.  It can mean a numerical minority, as opposed to a majority.  But in a political context, or socio-political context, “minority” means “disenfranchised.”  Blacks were minorities in South Africa under Apartheid… yet they were the numerical majority.  When someone is a “minority” they are disenfranchised by definition.  Disenfranchised peoples cannot have political control.

Anyway, I’m exasperated and frustrated… and I really don’t care anymore.  No amount of reason or rational is going to persuade anyone.  People are going to continue to do what they want regardless of what others try to explain.  So, basically, “FUCK IT.  DO WHAT YOU WANT.”

But, be sure that I’ll be saying, “I told you so” afterwards.

Maybe some good will come of it… and people en masse will realize they are being exploited and stand up against it.  Maybe what Marx predicted will eventually come to pass.  The reality is, as I have stated before, that the more disenfranchised the people on the bottom become, the more likely they will be to rebel.  Keynes was a capitalist… and sometimes I think William F. Buckley was a Marxist.

I have to also admit, I have become increasingly disenchanted with American politics.  Look at what’s been going on and there’s really nothing constructive to say.  I could write about how Donald Trump is a racist asshole, but who cares?  Anyone from the tri-state area already knows this is true.  Newt Gingrich?  I have had nothing but utter contempt for this man for majority of my life… I really have little to say about him.  Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are still idiots.  Michelle Bachmann issues her utterances of innanity here and there…

There is a Presidential election coming up in 2012 and no one seems to care.  Reports of the Rapture by Harold Camping have been taking headline news, as well as Arnold’s love child… because there really is no news.  I do not care about Arnold’s child out of wedlock…and nothing that I can imagine will make me care.  I don’t care about Newt Gringrich, at all.

I am a bit amused there is a For Profit school named UTI.  But really, there is not much amusing about For Profit schools.

So, I have been around, but not updating entries.  I actually have been a bit busy… but I don’t put my personal business on this site much, so I’ll leave it at that.