For the Common Good

Venezuela. Prosecutors charge head of anti-Chavez TV channel (Globovision). Venezuelan prosecutors filed charges against the head of an opposition-aligned TV news channel on Friday, accusing him of usury and conspiracy to commit a crime after authorities seized 24 new vehicles on his property. (The man owns 2 car dealerships.)

Nicaragua. (June 23, 2009) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today criticized the shutdown of a Nicaraguan radio station just as it was about to initiate broadcasting and claimed excessive force was used in the confiscation of its equipment, an action seen as retaliation for its owner's "criticism of the government."

Ecuador. Reporters Without Borders urges the government and National Council for Radio and Television (Conartel) to withdraw the latest administrative proceedings against the privately-owned national TV station Teleamazonas, which could force it off the air. The offensive comes amid a war of nerves between the station and President Rafael Correa, who has said he wants to "put an end" to news media he regards as "corrupt" and "mediocre." The latest administrative proceedings against Teleamazonas got the green light from Conartel chairman Antonio Garcia on 9 June. The station has already been punished once, but this time it could be silenced for good. The proceedings are in response to a recent Teleamazonas report about the environmental consequences of a project by the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in the southwestern Gulf of Guayaquil. The issue was already raised by the daily El Universo, which is also in the president's sights.

Does this mean PDVSA (Chavez) is fudging on environmental consequences? But ... but ... Bubba, I thought the "left" was deeply concerned about the environmental impact of oil/gas projects. And concerned about "freedom" and justice and other warm common fuzzies. You know Bubba, Chavez has ran so many gringo oil firms out or under that he's had to look for new and improved partners for his oil. China, Iran, Belarus, India, and an assortment of other nations.

Word is that Peru, is making a "left" turn, again. They tried in the '60s and 70's with socialism, attempting a wealth redistribution and independence from gringo nations - nothing changed, other than the bosses. I hear now you can just put a "made in China" stamp on Peru too. Listening to the "left" in the US you would think Peru's president Garcia is a rightwinger but don't believe everything you hear from the US "left." Still, el presidente Garcia is not "left" enough to suit Hugo Chavez, yet.

Look at this story from the WSJ. "Textile exporters in Peru are upset with the government of Venezuela, saying the Venezuelan currency board is dragging its feet on authorizing payments worth $500 million. In the letter to Chavez, Sanchez Aizcorbe said that some 400 small-scale producers in Gamarra are on the edge of bankruptcy due to a six-month delay in receiving payments from Venezuela for their products. The mayor said that the purchasers of the products have deposited the payments for their goods in local currency in the state-owned Banco de Venezuela, alongside the needed documentation, but that the government still hasn't authorized the payments in U.S. dollars. "It is money that has been paid to the Banco de Venezuela and it could stay there for a year or so while companies here go bankrupt," Sanchez Aizcorbe told RPP Radio on Friday. Venezuela enforces a strict system of currency controls that the pegs the bolivar to the dollar at rate of VEB2.15. Companies that want to buy dollars at that rate must receive approval of the government's currency commission. This year, as oil revenue has dried up, the government is curbing the sale of dollars at that rate, forcing some companies to turn to the parallel market, where they have to pay three times the official peg."

Oil revenue drying up? All that "free" stuff of socialism costs a lot, huh Hugo.

Democracy Now, one of the links in the chains of the socialists-are-here-to-help you folly, reported recently of government genocide in Peru, indigenous people versus "the man." The Peru/Garcia government was opening large tracts of land to foreign investment, etc., going to France, Spain, and US oil companies, which of course could greatly benefit the standard of living for the villagers, but only if that foreign investment is negotiated by the "left." What Democracy Now doesn't tell you is that these indigenous people are also infiltrated and ran by Sendero Luminosa - the decades-old Maoist freedom fighters turned jungle thugs. Old "leftists" don't die out, they adjust their M.O. DemNow also won't tell you dozens of cops were killed in this confrontation by means other than native clubs, or they will downplay it, or believe it a false figure - as the only good cop is a "left" cop.

Like Venezuela, Peru can "cleanse" the "capitalist police forces of the past" and replace them with a national "humanist" police force. Bubba, you're gonna love 21st century "socialism" - beans and rice in every pot and armed humanist guards on every corner. Although I'm not sure what will become of white folks since they really have no "identity" politics - other than presumably everything wrong in the world is their fault.

Nor will DemNow inform you that the Peruvian indigenous umbrella groups AIDESEP, CONAPA, INDEPA, etc. will eventually issue press releases that they and the government are dialoguing, environmentalists will claim that all rainforest development is "green," and babbling, mostly white "activists" around the globe will gloat and chalk up a win for the "left." The upper echelon of local villagers will be happy with new T shirts, pencils, free vaccinations, and maybe a jeep or two, but most of the indigenous will live as they always have in the jungle, or worse, work in mines and oil fields while their "leaders" sup and negotiate wages in the big house with the Sino-Latino state-owned corporations, who will make indigenous lives worse than the US ever did. But Bubba, all you will hear about is the good deeds of 21st socialism, for the common man ... the free tee shirt and vaccinations, the cement block house instead of mud brick, with dish tv.

Although Obama has the czars of apparatus in place, he best be hurrying - otherwise we might witness a Latino exodus from the US and Canada - headed for Utopia, SA. I must be one of those folks you gotta browbeat or force into the socialist empire, for the common good of course. Kum ba yah mmmlord, someone's laughing lord, kum ba yah.

Culture Shock

Culture Shock

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A private suburban swim club accused of racism after it canceled the memberships of dozens of minority children says it will seek a meeting with the kids' camps to work out an agreement for them to return.

Amy Goldman, a member of The Valley Club, said those able to attend a hastily called meeting Sunday afternoon voted unanimously in support of reinstating the memberships of the Creative Steps day camp and two other camps as long as safety issues, times and terms can be agreed upon.

The Creative Steps camp had arranged for 65 mostly black and Hispanic children to swim each Monday afternoon at the gated Huntingdon Valley club, which is on a leafy hillside in a village straddling two overwhelmingly white townships. But after the group arrived June 29, camp director Alethea Wright said, several children reported hearing racial comments and some swim club members pulled their children out of the pool.

The camp's $1,950 was refunded a few days later.

The president of the swim club's board of directors, John Duesler, has said the decision was made out of safety considerations, not racial concerns.

--------- I don't believe that Duesler, club president and Obama fundraiser, is a bigot or racist - he's your typical white liberal who sincerely believes blacks are equal to whites, but his exposure has been predominantly to educated blacks, those in the same income bracket as himself. Like most white people in leafy hillside villages, he doesn't hang around with folks from the 'hood.

While Duesler has put foot in his mouth trying to explain the club's reason for cancelling the kids, with the din and roar of 65 kids freed from an inner city basement still ringing in his ears - it was nothing more than culture shock. Duesler and his fellow ghetto-shocked villagers are pathetically struggling to be politically correct. I've seen it happen to liberal white folks before ... when thrown into certain integrated settings, many of the racial stereotypes they refused to believe, are suddenly right there slapping them in the face. It's one thing for white leafy villagers to see inner city kids actin' a fool on TV or in a movie - quite another when up close and personal.

And after watching the camp director, Alethea Wright, in this interview , and having a similar situation here at our local Y -- I would bet my bippy that the simple facts are 65 kids descended upon the leafy valley village pool screaming, swearing, grabassing and speaking in Ebonics.

The kids have not been properly coached on what to say either: The young man in the video says "I heard this lady ... she said what is all these black kids doing here, I'm scared they might do something to my child." The young girl on the video says "... she said she don't want any black kids there swimming ____ " ... I cannot understand the last part of her sentence.

First of all, if you've ever been a member of a private club you know exactly what days and what hours are set aside for nonmembers, especially those from outside the neighborhood who might be an unruly crowd. Anyone who pays several hundred dollars a year to swim is kept aware of the agenda, such as "renting" the pool to nonmembers. Not only does "renting" out the club to the "disadvantaged and underprivileged" bring in funds, it also makes the more affluent members feel good about themselves and their charitableness.

Secondly, if for some reason the club member overlooked the newsletter informing him of nonmember hours and days, 99.9% of affluent country clubby politically correct white folks would not verbalize ignorant comments in public, for the simple fact they are much too polite and too afraid - of both the immediate potential asskicking and/or the legal repercussion of a racist accusation, but mostly the legal one.

Ms. Wright knows this, which is why those 2 kids interviewed said what they did - i.e. the woman "scared" over physical safety, and the other not wanting the "black kids there swimming", segregation, discrimination, illegal. Alethea, looking around the chip on her shoulder, sees white villagers as dumb and easily intimidated, many in the 'hood do, because highfalutin white liberals will practically kiss your ass in public to avoid being called racist.

I can just hear Ms. Wright and friends sitting around chewing on this situation when their check and swimming cancellation arrived. Who do those honky mofo's think they are not wantin' us in they pool, sue, call the NAACP - an organization that now has to hunt harder and longer for victims to justify their existence.

Of course there's racism and bigotry out there - so what? You're going to beat every white person over the head until you're respected when you don't even respect yourself? Crying racism has become an industry - led by lawyers and preachers who need racism to survive.

At our local Y we have a "free day" for those not able to pay for membership, and certain days/hours rented to day camp groups. On "free day" or rented days busloads from around the county show up, always black children. And every time it is a serious accident waiting to happen. Pool lights are broken, kids are bullied, theft, trash left behind, safety rules constantly ignored ... the lifeguards blowing their whistles nonstop. Sane people (black and white) pick up their towels and leave.

The problem is not whether the kids are black or poor - but you have to admit they always seem to be black and poor, the problem is not racism - the problem is the kids have no social etiquette, no sense of personal space, no respect. And as adults, most will be like the adults around them now - crying racism when their behavior doesn't serve them well. Eventually the race card is not going to work, even on the liberals, and then what is your heathen badass gonna do?

Capitalism Hits the Fan

Rick Wolff - Crisis in Versus of Capitalism.

Wolff also has a DVD, Capitalism Hits the Fan for $19.95. Which I find worth a chuckle as the average cost of producing a DVD of this quality runs about 50 cents. Quite the profit margin hitting the fan. Distributed by Media Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) with experts such as Chomsky on the board of advisors and a host of other staff, directors, worker bees and interns. Another nonprofit organization, among thousands, founder and ED Sut Jhally, produces and distributes videos reminding us how screwed up the US really is, to inspire us to think critically, but you already know I'm exceptionally good at being critical. I have got to start me a nonprofit one of these days.

From Wolff article: "Crises in capitalism (depressions, recessions, cyclical downturns, etc.) are neither new nor unusual. Because capitalism works that way, its supporters came to label the more severe or protracted down periods crises because they feared that capitalism's victims would turn against it and seek basic social change.

A crisis of capitalism is different. It is not a recurring event. A crisis of capitalism happens when cultural, political, and economic conditions combine to persuade many people that capitalism as a system has outlived its historical usefulness. Seeing it as a barrier to social progress and believing that human communities can organize their economic systems in better, post-capitalist ways, these people begin to move politically."

According to Wolff there are 2 lessons : (1) crises in capitalism will recur until a crisis of capitalism provokes a transition out of capitalism that includes ending exploitation inside enterprises, and (2) the alternative to exploitation requires workers themselves democratically and collectively to appropriate and distribute the surpluses they produce.

I have a couple of problems with these 2 lessons.

Lesson (1) exploitation is a character fault, hence there will always be those willing to exploit for personal gain, for example the recent Burr Oaks workers who did not hesitate to desecrate hundreds of corpses for money, creating immeasurable grief for others. It was not "capitalism" or poverty that created these folks. They are botched human beings and no 'ism' will cure or grow a conscience in folks who have not developed one by at least their 13th birthday. The best we can hope to do is limit the damage they perpetrate and/or stay out of their path. Other exploiter examples: Most of congress, most of Hollywood, most corporations, and probably most of your neighbors.

Lesson number (2) : the alternative to exploitation requires workers themselves democratically and collectively to appropriate and distribute the surpluses they produce.

Okay, workers will appropriate and distribute (take and dole out) the surpluses they produce.

Most economies do this already. It's called the Government (collectively), appropriating what we work for (produce), determining how much is taxable (surplus) and distributing it in the form of subsides, social programs, department of bureaucrats, and pork, pork, pork.

But I get it. The new and improved system will be called collectively "us" and us be the new boss.

Question : If the alternative to exploitation requires workers to determine democratically and collectively the use of the surplus they produce - what do "us" do when the biggest "surplus" we produce is too many workers? Is this where "us" get a 15-hour work week and retirement at 40?

Commander Cowboy

Ex-president Manuel Zelaya, known as "Mel" in Honduras and as "Commander Cowboy" by cohort Chavez. Supporters of Mel are the US "left," Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Evo Morales, the UN General Assembly, Secretary Clinton, and the Castro brothers, etc.

Zelaya, a wealthy landowner/businessman and rancher from Olancho is a latino Dubya. Like Dubya, Mel's daddy, Manuel Sr., was also politically, shall we say involved, and supportive of the military's la Talanquera" massacre in the 1970s.

Commander Cowboy's ouster is said to be over the issue of tweaking or drafting a new constitution. That is what most "leftist" presidents do once in office (see Hugo). The US "left," and others, justify Mel's action as necessary because the Honduran constitution was written in 1982 - when Ronnie Reagan was US president. On the surface, that's ill-logic, but the intent is to say any constitution written when a republican was US president must be bad because the Hondurans were writing only to please their US oppressors.

Not really, but for "left" sheeple it somehow "connects the dots" - what the "left" really means is those poor foreign brown folks can only run their country correctly when they want what the "left" wants.

In the US or Latin America, or anywhere - the best way to get elected is to convince the voters you "cares about the poor." Some day maybe enough folks at the same time will realize it's not a question of left or right - but of which self-serving bonehead will rule us next, and hopefully not rule us for 50 years as in the left's best friend, Senor Castro.

Nicaragua in the 1980s, one among many, used the US constitution as a guideline when writing their constitution for a pluralistic representative democracy. So, while the US "left" has ranted for years about BushCo's abuse of their beloved Constitution - the same constitutional guidelines are not good enough for others? Go figure.

Zelaya's ploy to rewrite the constitution is illegal and represents high treason according to the Honduran constitution. I'm certain the "left" in America would weep and gnash teeth had Reagan or BushCo attempted a rewrite of the US constitution.

And what good would a leftist/progressive be if they couldn't also throw out there that someone in the current Honduran situation was trained at the notorious School of the Americas? General Romeo Vasquez is now in charge of the armed forces!!

Excuse me stupid, but Vasquez was sacked by Zelaya on June 25, 2009, for refusing to allow the armed forces to help in conducting a referendum on a constitutional change. Apparently Zelaya was content with Vasquez services until such time. Vasquez says he refused to help with the vote which was aimed at removing the constitutional term limit of one term per President because the Supreme Court had ruled the vote illegal. The same day Vasquez was fired he was reinstated by the SC but Zelaya ignored the ruling. And by the way, Zelaya is not a "leftist" no matter how hard the "left" tries to embrace him - hug him all you want but Commander Cowboy is not and never will be a member of the "left."

The SOA - the School of Assassins. If you ask me Yale and Harvard and a few others can produce questionable political/military characters. In my life in Central America I too meme'ed the message that the SOA grads were US puppets used for torture, terror, death ... in the fight against communism.

But having personally known a few grads the above rhetoric is no more true than stating the US troops are raping murdering grunts. There are good guys and bad guys. There are SOA grads working to improve the situation in their country. Lumping a group of people under one label is typical of folks who are too lazy and/or too ignorant to do their own research and thinking. Easier to believe the rhetoric written by those who have no honest interest in human rights or democracy, but in power. Those who control the message, hold the power. Some of the Russian and Cuban military training methods I saw in Central America in the '80s were no different than the US. Believe it or not, death and destruction are not the sole property of the US rightwing.

Never mind that the Honduran "coup" is more or less a done deal. Roberto Micheletti, acting president, was legal in line of succession and is supported by the Honduran high court, the military, the Congress, the people. The Honduran AG has said Commander Cowboy faces arrest and 20 years in prison for abuse of authority if he returns anytime soon.

On a brighter note, Mel and friends (Morales, Ortega, Chavez, Correa) are in earnest discussions on how to save Honduras from the deathgrip of US oppression. (I must say Correa is a handsome man and sharp dresser in this foto.)

Date Night

'It will be the perfect date movie' … Michael Moore. Photograph: Stephen Chernin/AP

Michael Moore's new documentary comes billed as a tale of forbidden passion, charting a wild romance that flourished for decades before coming to a crashing, calamitous end in the autumn of 2007. It's title? Capitalism: A Love Story.

The film reportedly sets itself up as a spoof of the grand Hollywood romance, using the genre's hallmarks to examine the causes of the global economic recession. "It will be the perfect date movie," Moore said in a statement. "It's got it all – lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day. It's a forbidden love, one that dare not speak its name. Heck, let's just say it: it's capitalism."

Backed by Overture Films, Capitalism: A Love Story is set for a US release on 2 October, a year and a day after the Senate approved its controversial $700bn (£432bn) bank bailout. The date also marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Moore's debut film, Roger and Me, which lambasted the actions of General Motors in the director's home town of Flint, Michigan.

According to Moore, the new film is about "the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world. But this time the culprit is much bigger than General Motors, and the crime scene far wider than Flint, Michigan."

Thus far, it seems safe to assume that Moore has personally dodged the worst effects of the global recession. He is the creator of three of the six most successful documentaries in box-office history – Bowling for Columbine, Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11.

---- I do not plan to view this one. After Columbine, Sicko, and F911 there's not much point in watching another docupropagandary made from the capitalist fatcat Michael Moore.

A documentary is supposed to be based on documented facts, done with objectivity. How Moore's films are considered documentary is anyone's guess. The "factual" segments are more distorted than the evening news and Moore displays no objectivity. The capitalist hound dogs of Lionsgate studio (Sicko and 9/11) and United Artists (Columbine) have sniffed out another audience to cater. As my grandparents did not recognize the disinformation documented in the news reels for their generation - today folks do not see the propaganda in their digital feed from their PR marketed artists, as if it's truth simply because, seemingly, the information is not coming from the Government or Big Business - but from the real truthseekers like Moore. Ever wonder if "they" have just found a new way to get you to swallow?

A Love Story, is from Overture Films, supposedly an outlet for independent directors, producers, etc., although partnered with Paramount for the release of A Love Story.

The biggest crime being perpetrated upon the public is the notion that capitalism came to "a crashing, calamitous end in the autumn of 2007" and the idea that "corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives" has somehow been a recent phenomenon in world history. It is not.

Previously "out-of-control profit motives" were known as kingdoms, who now from necessity have placed many of their knights in pinstripe instead of armor, although we know a lot of armor is still used. Like it or not, these profit motives have contributed to the world population of 1 billion in 1790 to grow to 6+ billion in 2009, that is roughly 220 years, or 5-6 generations. Adding the survival of 5+ billion more of us in 5-6 generations is indicative that the human race has done something right. And it has not been done by living in communes with an egalitarian redistribution of the "wealth."

We have "out of control" corporate dominance, not because of greedy white folks and evil-doer corporations, but because you, yes you, buy into every trendy idea that is slopped in the trough and you are more than willing to die in debt and be buried in misery just to prove you look superior, smell better, eat better, have more things and have more fun, and live better than anyone else on the block.

You, my clueless people, have begged for domination - to feed your greed of living higher on the hog than any generation in US history. And like a hog, you have wallowed in as much trendy advertised mud as you can beg, borrow, steal, and buy on credit, all the while pretending you care about damage to the environment, about black children dying in Africa, about the US oppression of folks around the world. The same folks mining your diamond, sewing your shirt, weaving your cheap rugs, then move them out of your way for drilling to fuel your home, car, and place of employment or to feed the cattle that satisfies your BigMac attacks.

Make a donation - it's the only conscience you have. Then whine because the government and the CEOs aren't looking out for your well-being, your credit rating; rant because they are not saving the world and you want them to save it because you care so much - as evidenced by your preening self-aggrandizement and phony empathy. Then you follow new and better millionaire fatcats who tell you "out of control capitalism" is the problem, not you and your greed, and if you just give the new fatcats the power they will give you a kinder and gentler "ism," and they claim it will cost you nothing and will reward you with plenty, and you believe them because you are a coward who just wants to shop and wallow in every new promise being sold.

Pssssssst, I gotta Rolex and bridge ...

Sinful Economy Sinful

Pope Benedict called on Tuesday for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.

Parts of the encyclical, titled "Charity in Truth," seemed bound to upset free marketers because of its underlying rejection of unbridled capitalism and unregulated market forces, which he said had led to "thoroughly destructive" abuse of the system and "grave deviations and failures."

The pope said every economic decision had a moral consequence and called for "forms of redistribution" of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises.

Benedict said "there is an urgent need of a true world political authority" whose task would be "to manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result."

Such an authority would have to be "regulated by law" and "would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights."

"Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums," he said.

The pope's call for a supranational body to tackle global economic woes disturbed some Catholic capitalists.

The encyclical was addressed to all Catholics and "all people of good will" and was released on the eve of the start of the G8 summit in Italy and three days before the pope is due to discuss the global downturn with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Profit was useful only if it served as a means to a brighter future for all humanity. He said the current economic crisis was "clear proof" of "pernicious effects of sin" in the economy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had rebuked the pope earlier this year at the height of the row over a Holocaust-denying bishop, welcomed the encyclical as important encouragement for world leaders ahead of a G8 meeting in Italy.

"Pope Benedict has encouraged the state leaders to create rules so that this sort of worldwide economic crisis isn't repeated," Merkel told reporters. "I also saw this as an order to work toward a social market economy in the world."

---------- Hmmmm. The Vatican’s portfolio of stocks, bonds, and real estate comes to roughly $1 billion, and this doesn't include the art and artifacts which are listed at 1 euro because they are priceless. I wonder how much of that portfolio profit was made on the pernicious effects of sin in the economy (minus the alter boy payoffs).

The social market economy originated in Germany and was the model used in Europe during the cold war, and is not to be confused with socialist market economy which is the Chinese economic model implemented in 1978. Basically both are supposedly "mixed" economies, combining private enterprise and "collective bargaining" which is done on a national level not between one corporation and one union, but national employers' organizations and national trade unions.

The Pope's formal declaration of his opinion sounds like the same old new financial world order scheme to me, i.e. warm-fuzzy economics not based on profit but on humanitarian justice, run by a management body, or that "world political authority," a management team who will make the final decision on where, when, and how 6+ billion people will live, work, and die. And national boss organizations and trade unions will make it all seem legit and "structured." There will be lots of "structure."

Sort of a Hitler and Benito, Hoffa and Bill Gates, Frankie Roosevelt and Joe Stalin, Marx and Mao, Jesus and Allah and Yahweh ... all rolled into one global authority ensuring security for all, and the whole caboodle will be "regulated by law" where the mega-rich powerful folk will never again be above the law, and appropriately there will be fewer super rich once the redistribution begins.

Apparently, we have all forgotten and forgiven Pope Benedict the Ghoul for his mandatory Hitler Youth membership, or not a member depending on which lie you swallow, although I'm not certain the Islamic world has put aside comments the Pope made in 2006 at University of Regensburg. The Popester cited "an obscure medieval text that characterizes some of the teachings of Islam’s founder as “evil and inhuman." Personally, I feel the pro-pope spin men did an excellent job backpedaling on this one.

Don't you love it Bubba when folks intentionally say what they mean and then pretend it was not what they meant but the message got to the audience they wanted it to and then everyone is satisfied they heard what they wanted to hear? And now we're going to put all these geniuses and experts in charge of the world.

The Pope said every economic decision had a moral consequence and called for "forms of redistribution" of wealth overseen by governments to help those most affected by crises. Forms, eh. What forms would those be? Imagine the fraud, abuse, and corruption of your local/state welfare and social service system, or HUD, or FDA, etc. going global. World wide welfare, structured and managed by meatheads far away with names you cannot pronounce and faces you do not recognize - but they love and respect you because you are an asset in the family of man. And if you do not like the structure - who do you petition for redress of grievance? Why, your national labor union and/or head of state who also love and respect you because you are you, a little brother in a world of big brother hoods.

Just as our local, state, and national politicians love us - so too will the supranational shepherds of the flocked and fleeced. Monetary peace on earth, a goodwill store economy toward men, the idea is downright Biblical.

They will build monuments to the government heads, at least to those governments who freely agree to this b.s. (peacekeeper armies will handle those nations who hesitate to join).

Geeeezus Bubba, we can't even keep our local politics clean - what makes anyone think a world authority board of directors will be more ethical and moral? Sounds to me as if the German and Italian are still dreaming of being boss of empire. Didn't the US kick their wicked ass over that once already?

Freedom Isn't Free

While surfing a few progressive sites early this morning I saw the "freedom isn't free" cliche and next to the phrase an emoticon vomiting, with the usual remarks about the US being the most fascist regime to ever exist, murdering, torturing, blah blah blah. Yea, I know ... I used to feel the same way and still have issues with the creep of government / corporate control of too many aspects of our lives.

However, rather than spew as the emoticon I saw this morning - I began to really think, I mean really think in the last few years, maybe even had an epiphany a couple of years ago, examining my own life experiences and developing my own opinion - I mean truly my own opinion - not parroting the mantras from the crowd that sounds most like the noise in my own head.

It's a smaller circle jerk when a person begins to really, really think for themselves.

Oh sure, I always thought I had my own opinions but I realized recently that I only mimicked the "left" side of the aisle because my exposure had been predominantly to the American "left." (Oddly, my mom was a Baptist democrat and daddy an agnostic republican but my running circles were socialist, communist.) Being honest with myself, I mean really honest, on inspection, retrospection - I am not a "leftist," not in the sense that is necessary today to be a member of that club.

Now I understand those people over the years who described me as a "traditionalist" or old-fashioned. Merriam gives the definition of traditionalist as "someone opposed to modernism, liberalism, or radicalism."

I'm not sure if such folks were labeling my political beliefs or my core values and social attitude, or all of the above. The folks who labeled me "radical" over the years were Bible bangers - based on the fact that I have no use for organized religion and no desire to find Jesus. The folks who labeled me "liberal" were those who disagree with me on such things as 4 year universities should be free for those who qualify, perhaps funded by profits from any future domestic oil fields. No one has ever accused me of "modernism."

I was disillusioned years ago listening to the endless discussions from the "left" aka "progressives" as they dissect the meaning of what it means to be left/progressive, what it means to be bourgeois or proletariat. The left/progressive debate the meaning of themselves and their creed a lot, and always conclude the world will be a better place once they unite and overcome the nonbelievers - rich people and their sheep people - who impede human progress.

The "left" seems to discuss "meaning" and the latest adventure of their "leaders" who regularly stage events that give the appearance of action and include the word "freedom." And should said leader be arrested or taken into custody for a day - it provides ample reason for blogging exclamation points!! (Code Pink, McKinney, Sheehan, and gobs of colored folk sponsoring a cause célèbre because the "left" has more writer-warriors than gnats on a dog butt.)

And then of course, there is the hard left - basically those left leaners who are willing and eager for revolution by any means necessary - and they will let you know as soon as they get a peoples army who will war to end all wars.

Heaven forbid your butt is sitting in the sand in Iraq this 4th of July. According to the "left" you're part of the impediment, a member of the murdering marauding capitalist system that squashes humanity - and either you have willingly knowingly agreed to work for the oppressors or you were dumb enough to be tricked into joining. Helluva category to choose from.

But I do notice a smidgen of hope - in particular when certain "leftist blogs" posting the typical "progressive" spiel on a topic - the writer will get a drubbing from more than one in the comment section, commenters who are on their way to becoming former "leftists" because they question the validity and honesty of the piece. Light bulb moments. Such comments are usually deleted if on the author's site - freedom of speech a la "left"?

Yea, I guess "freedom isn't free" is a trite phrase, but there is truth in it. Individually, freedom is not free. If you want some measure of personal independence and self-respect, which I associate with freedom, you have to keep your nose clean, work hard, and play by the rules (to some degree) in order to find a modicum of success and happiness.

If freedom were free you wouldn't have to do anything - no personal or social restraints to inhibit, no rules to stifle your impulses, no mundane work to waste your attention - you just wait for BigDaddy Government to deliver your share of free freedom (probably with a tiny Made in China sticker on the bottom).

Hey! You know what Bubba ... no personal or social restraint, guided by impulse, no work, government largesse - I think "freedom" has arrived for most Americans - but don't worry, it's not going to be on your tab - your grandchildren will pay dearly for it.

Sing-A-Longs

Not long ago when drug addled pop stars died the headlines for a day read "Jim Bonehead Dies From Drug Overdose, Fans Mourn." More often than not they made more money dead than alive, becoming cult and poster icons. Enough already. Michael Jackson died decades ago as a boy when his family, friends, promoters, and marketers used him at the cost of his mind and body. When did it become okay to idolize a crotch grabbing, self-mutilating drug addict turned white who pays others to breed living toys for him? At least now he is out of his misery.

Let's see. How many "revolutions" do we have going this past week... Honduras, Peru, Iran. Both the "left" and "right" are supporting the Iranian protestors. The "right" supports the Honduran protestors but the "left" says the Hondurans in the streets are US backed and the ousting of Zelaya is a coup. In Peru, the "left" support the indigenous protestors taking a stand against big oil - I'm not sure the "right" has noticed this one because the "left" says the MSM is ignoring it - but I think MSM is too busy rubbing our faces in the repugnant lives of folks like Jackson or Anna Nicole.

Speaking of singers, Joan Baez performs We Shall Overcome using some Farsi lyrics. You remember Joan - singing for social causes back in the 1960s. While previously not engaging in party politics, recently Joan said "At this time, however, changing that posture feels like the responsible thing to do. If anyone can navigate the contaminated waters of Washington, lift up the poor, and appeal to the rich to share their wealth, it is Sen. Barack Obama."

Lady, at your age you should have better instincts.

Okay, back to Iran, Peru, Honduras. Peru's president, Garcia, according to "leftists" is "our man." Not true, Garcia has sold Peru to China. The clash between indigenous Peruvians and the government is called "genocide" when the little people die, but when police or soldiers die it's righteous justice. Rather than genocide, a word overused these days, why not call it murder by both sides.

El presidente Garcia's poll numbers have been plummeting. Cabinet members are resigning. The PM has said he will quit in the coming weeks. The indigenous are gaining a lot of internal support and sympathy - it's always the PR, who's your public relations firm. Peru has announced it is suspending plans to open large tracts of land to foreign investment, etc. which were going to France, Spain, and US oil companies.

But, it seems it's business as usual with the privately owned Perenco Oil (France) receiving permission to drill in Amazon territories. Wait a minute Bubba, wasn't there something a while back with a French company involved in corruption and the Food-For-Oil program in Iraq? Oh yes, Nadhmi Auchi, former Ba'athist Iraqi who was convicted of fraud in the Elf Aquitaine (7th biggest oil company worldwide) scandal. In 1993 Elf held the exclusive contract to Iraqi and Saddam oil fields. And until 2001 the Oil-For-Food money transited through the French BNP Paribas bank, of which Auchi was the largest private shareholder. And Auchi was old friends and with Syrian Tony Rezko, bagman and political fixer to Obama. Does Auchi still have all that prime Chicago real estate to develop? Barry O. claimed he didn't recall if he ever met Auchi but did admit to knowing Tony the Bagman. You cannot mention much about Nadhmi Auchi - he'll send a pack of lawyers to threaten lawsuits and demand retractions - lies, lies, lies, everyone lies about poor little Nad the billionaire.

You know, I can see Michelle and Barry and the girls some day hobnobbing with the Paris elite, especially after Barack does all the damage he can here in the US.

But not to fret dear "leftists", all the Peruvian resource wealth isn't going to greedy rich white people - China is getting more than their share of Latin America. Five years ago the "left's best friend" Hugo Chavez signed petro deals with China, with Hugo grinning that "Chairman Mao and Simón Bolívar would have been great friends."

Observant folks might wonder why China is playing big stakes in the US "backyard" and US politicians are not saying a word against it. Hugo courts China and Russia, in order to break dependency on the United States - he believes being dependent on China will be a better deal. Don't we American peons envy the lifestyle of the average peon in Russia and China?

But what about the evildoers from the USA? Where's their share of Peru? Well friends, China wants to be instrumental in helping Peru too, to outgrow its dependence on the United States. Yessiree. The free Chinese and Western "left" are going to triumph and get the greedy US big oily white people out of Latin America.

The "left" uses Hunt Oil of Texas as the poster child for ugly exploiters, via the Camisea natural gas project in Peru. AmazonWatch, one of those we're-here-to-save-you groups that say things like "The Camisea Project is owned by two consortia of small companies with poor environmental records led by Hunt Oil - a Dallas-based company with close ties to the Bush administration."

You will probably never hear anything such as "led by so-and-so company with close ties to the Obama administration." Not that Auchi and Rezko have close ties to Barry...

The Camisea project is "led" by Hunt oil, a consortia composed of : Pluspetrol (36% Argentina); Hunt Oil (36%); SK Corporation (18% South Korea); Tecpetrol (10% Argentina). The gas pipeline consortia named TGP is operated by Techint (23% Argentina) and includes: Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil (22% each); SK Corporation and Sonatrach (11%) Sonatrach Algiers; Belgium's Tractebel (8%); Grana y Montero (2% Peruvian). Belgium's Tractebel was due to carry out gas distribution in Lima potentially financed by a Belgian export credit agency. I suppose all these folks could be white but I'm not betting on it. (It's okay to be a big brown, yellow, red, or black-owned corporation because everyone knows only white owned corporations are greedy and evil.)

From what I have read on the Peruvian indigenous villagers "uprising" and techniques being used - I believe I now know where the Sendero Luminoso disappeared to. Luminoso Maoists - China has been in Latin America longer than you think.

Maybe the silly American "left" will finally shut up when environmentally friendly, socialist-minded nonwhite folk run the world. But I have a sneaking suspicion they will still be singing we shall overcome ... something ... I'm sure they'll find something/someone ... greedy and evil, because it's going to take an eternity to stamp out wealth and poverty so the world can live as one ... guided by a board of international directors.

No Big Deal

Mark Sanford, one of very few on the great GOP hope list for a possible 2012 presidential run - today admits he's been dipping his stick in Argentina. I felt a twinge of sympathy watching his press conference, for a moment, how humiliating, but he did it to himself. Of course, we seem to live in a culture of it's no-big-deal and everybody-does-it, but it is a big deal and not everybody does it. Politico is said to be breaking a story on millionaire Sanford using State funds to fund his fun. No big deal, everybody does it?

And to leave a public trail of emails to his mistress for his family to see the details, what a thoughtless unfaithful viagra'ed peckerhead.

Sanford to "Maria" email: "I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night's light -- but hey, that would be going into sexual details ..."

I'm sure in political circles Sanford's affair was known and gossiped about, affairs always are. Maybe his outing was payback for raising a stink about the "stimulus" money he didn't want to take for South Carolina. Maybe his office staff was disgruntled, forced to tap dance around questions to cover for his absences. Maybe his wife finally had enough - she didn't degrade herself by standing by her man at the press conference.

At 50 years old Sanford should be old enough to control lust and urges. Maybe the folks I know are old school but most of us learned self-restraint by 30, look but don't touch, fantasize - remember that word, fantasize? Where dear 58-year-old hubby in the fading glow of the night's light, with eyes slightly closed is still that big hunky bronze stud and everything on both of you is as perky and tight as it was at 21 or even 35. Where you look across the table at dear hubby, balding, bifocaled, less muscle mass to hold onto and more age spots than tan lines, and you're still turned on and there's never been anyone else?

It's called commitment folks. An obligation to life, love, work, family. Oh well, at least Sanford in his search for the perfect orgasm didn't hang himself as permanently as Carradine in Bangkok.

Blogosphere Warriors

Audit the Fed

Ron Paul has introduced House Resolution 1207, to audit the Federal Reserve. I have not seen any chatter on MSM regarding this bill, but it is being discussed on some alternative sites. While I disagree with Paul on many issues, this one I can support.

White Blight

Holding on in East Harlem and Points West, North and South.

“Neoliberalism is the root cause of rampaging gentrification and displacement, from New York to New Orleans to Atenco, Mexico.” Keen observers of political-economy would agree with this assessment from Zapatista-inspired community activists in Spanish Harlem, who recently organized an “encuentro” with similar minded Black and Asian activists. All concluded that the issue is bigger than Harlem: “This displacement is created by the greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money that seeks to take total control of all the land, labor and life on earth.”

The Zapatista-inspired activists of the Movement for Justice in El Barrio speak much the same language as their fellow New Yorkers (and Chicagoans and Atlantans). In the MJB's “International Declaration in Defense of El Barrio,” issued shortly before this month's gathering, the group said:

“This displacement is created by the greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money that seeks to take total control of all the land, labor and life on earth. Here in El Barrio (East Harlem, New York City), landlords, multi-national corporations and local, state and federal politicians and institutions want to force upon us their culture of money, they want to displace poor families and rent their apartments to rich people, white people with money. They want to change the look of our neighborhoods, with the excuse of 'developing the community.' They want to remove from the street the street vendors, who earn an honorable and dignified living, the families that have their own small businesses and small restaurants, small clothing stores, and the small bodegas on the corners in our neighborhood. They want to displace us to bring in their luxury restaurants their expensive and large clothing stores, their supermarket chains. They want to change our neighborhood. They want to change our culture. They want to change that which makes us Latino, African-American, Asian and Indigenous. They want to change everything that makes us El Barrio.”

KAB says ---- Long before Europeans, Blacks, Latinos, Asians arrived in what is now East Harlem, the Wecksquaesgek Indians settled there. But, I suppose it was "greed, ambition and violence of a global empire of money" that displaced the Wecksquaesgeks. The Dutch, without permission from the Wecks settled and built in the area, then the Brits came in 1664 and eventually changed the name from Nieuw Haarlem to "Harlem"..

During the latter half of the 1800s the Irish, German, and Italians arrived to Harlem. Between 1870 and 1910 approximately 65,000 apartments were built in East Harlem, a testimony to the demand for new housing and the ability of the private economy to provide the supply. The German and Irish began "moving on up" and out. In the 1930s, the Italian community in Harlem was the largest in the country.

"At the same time, Puerto Ricans began to arrive with some African Americans and West Indians. "Spanish Harlem" had a name by the 1940s. It was the natural destination for the migration from those sources to meet the economic boom of World War II and the dress and textile industry postwar. These populations replaced the Italians and Eastern Europeans who were moving out to the Levittowns, etc. By 1950, East Harlem was predominantly African-American and Puerto Rican."

Of course, during those eras the neighborhood cultural changes were not seen as evil; the Wecks did not accuse the Dutch of gentrification, nor were the centuries of change blamed on "neoliberalism," as that word only came about around 1945, and only very recently has the Left used neoliberalism as the scapegoat for current economic policies, rather than the failure of massive social programs.

So, to be fair ... if you really want a movement for justice, to stop the "white people with money" ... then give Harlem back to the Wecksquaesgek Indians. If that's not doable, then perhaps you should expect those white German, Irish, English, Dutch and Italians who moved out, to move back and gentrify the place. And of course not all those "culture of money" people who return to Harlem will be white. During the early years of the last century half of Harlem was owned by black American businessmen and entrepreneurs; most moved up and on. Yes, there were cultural turf disputes in Harlem's history, but the evil "culture of money" was not the mantra until most recently.

Remember the 1995 "Freddy's Fashion Mart" incident when the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raised the rent on Freddy's Fashion Mart. Freddy's white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues. Many blamed Al Sharpton's belligerence as he said "We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business" and his group, the National Action Network set up picket lines; customers going into Freddy's are spat on and cursed as "traitors" and "Uncle Toms." Some protesters shout, "Burn down the Jew store!" and simulate striking a match. "We're going to see that this cracker suffers," said a Sharpton colleague, Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy's, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees die in the inferno. The employees were Black and Latino. I guess Al and Morris missed the part about being judged on the content of our character and not the color of our skins.

This is why I have pulled away from Left mentality - they have one rallying boohoo for all injustice: rich white folks, and while that may have been a major factor a few decades ago, the "blame the rich white folks" thinking no longer works on me.

The Left create a cultural racial divide with warm fuzzy words like "movement" and "justice." This cultural justice club is funded predominantly by white folks in the distance, who seem to loathe assimilation for colored folks - who they encourage to raise a fist in air and chant, down with rich white folks empire, while straightening and bleaching their hair and skin, wearing Tommy Hilfiger and slopping on a BigMac - encouraged to be disdainful and fearful of absorbing the "white" folks capitalist system (never mind that their lives literally depend on the system). If you want to see a good example of what becomes of a culture forced into dependence and which cannot, will not, or is not allowed to assimilate - look no further than the Native American reservations.

These self-appointed leaders tell you to resist, resist the empire. Why not just say death to America since the pot isn't melting? Resist the white culture of money my tribal friends, while expecting the same "government and institutions" of empire to pay for the bulk of neighborhood amenities, housing, schools, food, utilities, and create jobs. All while claiming they want barrios safe from murder, drugs, robbery but every other arrest is deemed harassment and/or brutality - don't be a snitch, blame the system. Maybe, Bill Clinton (first black president fairytale) can lead the way from his offices in Harlem.

The Left tell their followers not to let whitey's "culture of money" machine control them - and rather than help one another move up or out as centuries of displaced immigrants have before, they would rather cling to "... the look of our neighborhoods ... what makes us Latino, African-American, Asian and Indigenous" ... which apparently is ethnic food and piñatas surrounded by crime, poverty and blight.

The Best Slave Thinks He's Free

I have said for the past few years, under BushCo, while the leftwing blogosphere and progressive "leaders" incessantly fear-mongered that Bush would wage war on Iran, that I had no fear of war with Iran - it wasn't going to happen under Bush, and I reminded folks that both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Kosovo/Bosnia, etc. were all initiated by Democrat presidents. (Both republican Bush wars in Iraq have been an anomaly - are the Bushes closet democrats?)

Now, with current election protests in Iran, and a Democrat in the White House - I suspect the threat of US war in Iran is closer.

Watching massive doses of reports online and on cable, it's time for concern. Both left/right, conservative/liberal, dem/rep in the US are chanting support for the protesters in Iran because - the protesters want democracy, human rights, freedom. Hard to believe our government blabbers on and on about freedom and rights for Iranians while curtailing and interfering with our own at home.

When the US "right" holds up a photo of an Iranian woman being stoned for adultery the "left" accuses the right of using it as an excuse to go to war. When the "left" holds up the same photo it's issuing a demand for human rights. But it's political deceit and spin - because neither the democrats nor the republicans have a problem with dropping "smart stones" from the air on the same people - to free them of course.

The media is saturating us with the bloody images, arson, screams, fear, terror inside Iran, supposedly through twitter, facebook, etc. Why the Supreme Leader Khamenei and Ahmadinejad have not cut power to the www and cell towers is any one's guess, although initially it was reported there was a media blackout.

But let me point out a few things. Iran has a population of approximately 71 million, 50-60% said to be under 30. These would be the children of the 1979 revolutionaries who overthrew the Shah. It is very unlikely that these offspring have turned against the revolution of their parents and grandparents. The number of protesters has been cited as anywhere from tens of thousands to 1 million. Even if the number of protesters approached 1 million, say 710,000, that would be only 1% of the population, and it is likely the numbers are smaller. At 1% this is not a popular uprising - it is one political faction attempting a coup over the other faction.

Consider, 98% of Iranians are Muslim and the majority more or less support their theocracy - they do not seek a Western styled democracy.

I remind you too that whether Ahmadinejad or Mousavi was selected/elected - both men were handpicked by the ruling mullahs to run for office. Mousavi, contrary to what we are being told, is as much a hardliner as Ahmadinejad. And regardless how we as Americans feel about the system in Iran - it is the system made by Iranians.

The election protests in Iran are not about "freedom" as it pertains to the image conjured up by Bubba and Joe Blow - it's the equivalent of the Bush/Gore 2000 election. Had Americans responded with protests as the Iranians have, there would have been death and chaos - and troops, and Bush would still have been sworn in. Whether Ahmadinejad or Mousavi, Bush or Gore, they will always institute the policies of the ruling class, whatever that may be during that particular term of office.

Mousavi, has now stated he is ready for martyrdom. A martyr for what? Democracy, rule of the majority? 1 percent is not a majority.

Facts to remember regarding Mousavi:
• The son of a tea merchant, Mousavi, 67, was born in Khameneh, in northwestern Iran — also the hometown of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to a relative, Mousavi is the grandson of Khamenei's paternal aunt.

• Served as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1988, guiding the country through its war with Iraq and earning plaudits for his stewardship of the economy.

• While in office, he severed ties with Great Britain over the U.K.'s refusal to disavow Salman Rushdie, the British author whose The Satanic Verses spurred Ayatollah Khomeini to declare a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death.

• Was placed on the leadership council of Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hizballah by Ayatollah Khomeini when the group was founded in 1982. Mousavi does not recognize Israel, though he has condemned the Holocaust.

• Defended the seizure of 52 American hostages at the U.S. embassy in 1979. The hostages were held for more than 400 days; the two countries have not had normalized relations since.

• Has not served in the government since 1989, the year the prime minister's post was dissolved. Since then he has been a member of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council, which advises the Supreme Leader, and of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council, which monitors artistic expression.

• Emerged as the leading challenger to Ahmadinejad after former President Mohammad Khatami, the leading moderate candidate, dropped out of the race in March, explaining that he did not want two reformist candidates to split the opposition vote. (Others have suggested his exit was spurred by fears of assassination if he remained in the race.)

Be careful, when the ruling parties and pundits on both Fox News and CNN agree on an agenda and are offering the same interpretation of events - especially tucking the words "democracy and freedom" in every other paragraph - it usually signals that the US is meddling and preparing to liberate someone at gunpoint.

In Pursuit

Warning: No politically correct laws apply.

Too Poor to Make the News - Barbara Ehrenreich. This spring, I tracked down a couple of the people I had met while working on my 2001 book, “Nickel and Dimed,” in which I worked in low-wage jobs like waitressing and housecleaning, and I found them no more gripped by the recession than by “American Idol”; things were pretty much “same old.” The woman I called Melissa in the book was still working at Wal-Mart, though in nine years, her wages had risen to $10 an hour from $7.

“Caroline,” who is increasingly disabled by diabetes and heart disease, now lives with a grown son and subsists on occasional cleaning and catering jobs. We chatted about grandchildren and church, without any mention of exceptional hardship.

But then, at least if you inhabit a large, multiclass extended family like my own, there comes that e-mail message with the subject line “Need your help,” and you realize that bad is often just the stage before worse. The note was from one of my nephews, and it reported that his mother-in-law, Peg, was, like several million other Americans, about to lose her home to foreclosure.

It was the back story that got to me: Peg, who is 55 and lives in rural Missouri, had been working three part-time jobs to support her disabled daughter and two grandchildren, who had moved in with her. Then, last winter, she had a heart attack, missed work and fell behind in her mortgage payments. If I couldn’t help, all four would have to move into the cramped apartment in Minneapolis already occupied by my nephew and his wife.

Only after I’d sent the money did I learn that the mortgage was not a subprime one and the home was not a house but a dilapidated single-wide trailer that, as a “used vehicle,” commands a 12-percent mortgage interest rate. You could argue, without any shortage of compassion, that “Low-Wage Worker Loses Job, Home” is nobody’s idea of news.

----- God, I feel little compassion for the above cases Ms. Ehrenreich writes about. For one reason, I know too many Wal-mart Melissas, Carolines, and Pegs. Mine too are "increasingly disabled" by diabetes, heart disease, etc. of their own making, usually 100 pounds overweight and their only exercise is a part-time job. Does Melissa's "grown son" work? Usually not, or at least not often and most of that goes to alcohol, cigarettes or dope, or paying fines and restitution and child support.

I too have "multiclass" relatives, and some like Peg, working to support a disabled daughter and grandchildren. Although my Peg's disabled daughter gets a sizable monthly disability check and a check on each of her dependents, plus Medicaid/Medicare, foodstamps, yet they struggle to make their $300 a month trailer payment, and they have trashed the thing to the point that even they no longer want to live in it.

But my Pegs and Melissas struggle because they will spend $200 a month on cable TV and DSL which for them is a priority over the rent and utilities, although they know they need a roof for the TV. And their kids, no daddy around, must have name brand clothing and spending money, to make momma look like she can support a pack of kids 'cause she "don't need no man around" (although she always seems to have a new man around). And in her words, her "kids ain't wearing no Wal-Mart shit."

I too, here in rural Podunk, see the same gentrification with folks moving in together.

We have two sections, one called Hillbilly Heaven (mostly white) and one called Sunset (mostly black). Hillbilly Heaven was originally small homes built by WWII GIs - now mostly poor white trash and meth heads. Sunset is on the westside of town and years ago you had to be back here by sunset. My daughter made mention of this Jim Crowism at a city council meeting and the section has now been officially renamed to - drum role - Horizon.

But, here's how hope and change came about in Podunk: Integration saw the inhabitants of Horizon creeping across town. The whites kept selling and moving north and east as the blacks moved in from the west. For 3 decades most of the rentals in this section of town have been owned by local slum lords - taking what were once nice homes in good neighborhoods and creating a Section 8 Heaven. (There is some truth to "there goes the neighborhood.")

Over the years as one single momma after another (black and white) moved in and out, trashing the house and the lot it sits on, no one seemed to mind - upper class folks continued to build newer homes east and north, the landlords got their inflated rents paid by BigDaddy Government, putting little back into the house, and kept them continually rented. Every 3 bedroom on this side of town became a 4 bedroom home because landlords walled off the dining room to get a 4th bedroom - 4 bedroom being a bigger section 8 check from the government. And momma didn't mind, with 4 or 5 kids she needed another bedroom more than a dining room, and everyone eats from a sack and wrapper in front of the TV in the living room anyway, dining rooms are for fancy folks.

Both the Heavens here are crumbling. In the last 4 or 5 years approximately 160 homes have been bulldozed on this side of town (Horizon). BigDaddy doesn't have as many vouchers as he used to. Broke my heart to see so many old homes demolished. I tried to convince the city to let homeowners salvage some of the grand and original woodwork and brick, doors and windows, etc. but they said no - bulldozed it all. Those of us who own here welcomed the bulldozers - it could potentially mean there's one less threat, one less predator in the neighborhood. Ah, maybe compassion is an affordable luxury when your neighbor wears a suit and tie instead of a pimp hat and gold chains.

But, with a shortage of housing now, some folks are doubling up. Around here that means instead of 3 or 4 kids on the street meandering in front of my house it's 6 or 7 teen boys trying to hold their pants up, while the young pre-momma girls threaten to kick one another's ass, I guess to impress the boys with their toughness. (It's painfully funny watching a guy hold his pants up, run/ jump fences, while trying to dispose of little baggies of crack with an overweight cop puffing right behind him.) And then there are the dogs. Almost every renter here in the 'hood has a dog, usually pit bulls without the mandatory insurance, chained next to the house - not a member of the family or beloved pet - but as an alarm. To bark, when the po-lice might be tipping around because someone inside is a dealer; gives you about 30 seconds after the first bark to see the swat team and flush the dope. Oh, and don't walk the dog, just let him off the chain now and then - he'll come home when he gets hungry.

On the other side of town, the old Hillbilly Heaven section, life isn't much different. I know a 72-year-old woman there who lives with her 4 middle-aged children and a few teen grandchildren and great grandchildren. Half of them are on disability and the other half on crack and meth. She has owned the house for 40 years, but when she's gone it will be bulldozed, and should be as no one has maintained it for 25 years. It has busted sewer pipes and leaking like a sieve. It's not that they never had funds for repairs, they just never spent the funds on something that wasn't entertaining. She has 9 kids and tells me not one of them is worth a damn and her 3 dozen grandkids aren't much better. She goes to church and wonders what went wrong. I would tell her but it's too late. I'm certain her 40-year-old kids will be receiving some sort of Government housing when she dies and they no longer have her house to flop in. The house she and their dad bought when they married and where these kids grew up - means nothing to them.

I grew up in poverty, have watched poverty in the US for at least 5 decades, have seen third world poverty up close - and what Americans are experiencing is not poverty, nor even hardship in comparison to most of the world. Economically the US is not even as miserable as the 1980s indexes, yet. Poverty, Ms. Ehrenreich, is always in the news - especially around election time, or to promote a book or movie, or when Big and Little Nonprofits are fundraising.

What I see is a poverty of minds, a lot of wasted lives. A lack of willingness to delay gratification between what people want and what people need. A generation where getting something for nothing is prized over all else. A generation whose greatest boast is they "are not judgmental" which is the go-ahead to do whatever ya want when ya want and not worry about consequences, after all, no one is going to be judgmental - being "nonjudgmental" is actually appropriate for a large segment of society - they have proven beyond doubt they lack good judgment on anything at all. A generation convinced that being materially poor is the fault of someone or something else; while they piss away money and shit where they eat, as if there is no tomorrow.

Ironically, those who would do the most with a little help are usually not eligible in the Welfare State. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Too many Americans are no longer in pursuit.

Have you watched the movie The Pursuit of Happyness?, based on the life of Chris Gardner who spent a year sleeping in shelters, cheap motels, and subway bathrooms with his young son while interning at Dean Witter in 1981, the company and coworkers never knew. If you haven't seen it I'm going to spoil the ending. This is the ending of the movie; the real Gardner walks by and Will Smith turns to look at him.

Platters

Unchained Melody


He's Mine


When did I get this ol..uh..wow the Platters have really gotten old.

The End Is Near

Chris Hedges' - The American Empire Is Bankrupt

HEDGES: There are meetings being held Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk) among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in the words of economist Michael Hudson, “the most important meeting of the 21st century so far.”

It is the first formal step by our major trading partners to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. If they succeed, the dollar will dramatically plummet in value, the cost of imports, including oil, will skyrocket, interest rates will climb and jobs will hemorrhage at a rate that will make the last few months look like boom times. State and federal services will be reduced or shut down for lack of funds. The United States will begin to resemble the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe. Obama, endowed by many with the qualities of a savior, will suddenly look pitiful, inept and weak. And the rage that has kindled a handful of shootings and hate crimes in the past few weeks will engulf vast segments of a disenfranchised and bewildered working and middle class. The people of this class will demand vengeance, radical change, order and moral renewal, which an array of proto-fascists, from the Christian right to the goons who disseminate hate talk on Fox News, will assure the country they will impose.

I called Hudson, who has an article in Monday’s Financial Times called “The Yekaterinburg Turning Point: De-Dollarization and the Ending of America’s Financial-Military Hegemony.” “Yekaterinburg,” Hudson writes, “may become known not only as the death place of the czars but of the American empire as well.”

“This means the end of the dollar,” Hudson told me. “It means China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran are forming an official financial and military area to get America out of Eurasia.

---- In 2005 the US, along with Pakistan, India, Iran, and Mongolia, asked for "observer status" - the US was denied. If I didn't know better I would have thought the US asked to attend this year's party but was "denied admittance." SCO membership: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, or basically the same ol' cold war Russia/China alliance.

Another noteworthy event to be held in Yekaterinburg, is the first BRIC meeting (Britain-Russia-India-China), June 16, and to cover issues including the world situation, a global financial system, the financial crisis, energy cooperation and environmental protection. Or ... how world leaders will transition to a global system where a tiny, tiny fraction of the human population will rule over the remaining 6 billion or so little people, and we will call it global cooperation. SCO is merely one bloc of the kumbayah campfire club. I call it the Rodney King Globalization/Can We All Git Along. And those who cannot git along will git their butts kicked.

Hedges believes the US will resemble the Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe - both suffered hyperinflation, one of course gave rise to Hitler. That's clever of Hedges, evoking Hitler without actually using the name Hitler.

This bankruptcy in turn will trigger "rage, hate crimes" and "engulf vast segments of a disenfranchised and bewildered working and middle class" who apparently Hedges believes are quite an ignorant class for they will act out, demand "vengeance, radical change, order and moral renewal" which will be imposed by the likes of Bible bangers and Fox News.

There's the subtle hint that these bewildered lower class folks will turn on one another with a vengeance - "hate crimes". Race-based. Obviously Hedges has no idea that down here in the 'hood, the trailers, the projects, the shanties, the blue collar tracts, and even the mostly white suburbs - there be a lot of race mixin'. Guys like the 88-year-old thug who gunned down a guard at the museum are few and far between, and even his family disown him.

I've disliked Hedges since his asinine article in 2007, Accustomed to Their Own Atrocities in Iraq, U.S. Soldiers Have Become Murderers. All his work is asinine though.

Hedges also states in the article above : The governor of China’s central bank has openly called for the abandonment of the dollar as reserve currency, suggesting in its place the use of the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Rights. What the new system will be remains unclear, but the flight from the dollar has clearly begun. The goal, in the words of the Russian president, is to build a “multipolar world order” which will break the economic and, by extension, military domination by the United States. China is frantically spending its dollar reserves to buy factories and property around the globe so it can unload its U.S. currency.

Ummmm, suggesting the use of IMF SDR? Would that be the same IMF that Barry O. wants to give a $100+ billion bailout? So ... lemme see ... we are going to fund our own dollar demise?

China "frantically spending its dollar reserves around the world" to unload US currency? Got a link? Because to my non-expert mindset, and reading, China itself has dropped from double digit growth to single digit in the last couple of years, even while spending massive amounts internally on factories and property, etc. According to Gordon Chang's book The Coming Collapse of China ... "There will be a time when China runs out of money to pump into the system."

Beijing spending those dollars to keep China afloat?

Chang also argues that "... the Chinese people are tired of their overtly regulated lives, dictated by a microscopic minority and enforced by crude coercion..."

Running out of money, regulated lives enforced by crude coercion - which is quite similar to where most of the world stands today.

But it makes me wonder, why do writers like Hedges directly or indirectly suggest the US is the world's problem child, when frankly all world powers have built their strength on the backs of their own and other nation's people. Why do these writers push the warm-fuzzy notion of a "multipolar" world where, if the US would just get out of the way, we could all get along.

The ruling class are not suggesting anything new with multipolarity - they want one umbrella to cover several centers of power dictated to by a few acronyms - the "all git along" policy, until the next butt kicking. Nothing new or unique; it's been used by kingdoms and empires since day 1.

So So Sotomayor

Let us hash out Sonia Sotomayor's controversial statement, not that it's worthy or important but does the media ever give us anything that is?

I just saw a clip of Obama in a limo with some pundit, who when asked if he stopped to watch the talking head shows when he passed by the many TVs in the White House, Obama said, no, he doesn't bother listening to the cable chatter. I chuckled, because when passing by the cable TV covering an Obama speech, I too do not bother to listen to his chatter. Although god knows he is slightly easier on the stomach than GWB.

But back to Sotomayor. Some on the right say her comment is racist. Those on the left say it is not. Supposedly she has made the same/similar statements a few times in her career.

SS:"First, as Professor Martha Minnow has noted, there can never be a universal definition of wise. Second, I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."

According to Merriam Webster "wise" is having a deep understanding and the capacity for sound judgement, so contrary to the learned folks above - I believe there can be a universal definition. There are different types of wisdom, as in street wise, common sense wisdom, professional wisdom, etc. You may have an understanding of the street, the common, or a profession - that's not indicative of sound judgment though.

Is Sonia saying that she has street smarts, common sense, and professional wisdom? And a preppy Ivy league white man has less wisdom because he was born privileged? Being born of humble beginnings makes one reach a better conclusion because the humble experience is what ... enriching? Not so much enrichment that anyone wants to stay, and usually sounds good only to those who did not experience all the enrichment poverty can bestow.

What deep understanding does Sotomayor believe her humble Latina beginnings give her? What part of a Bronx childhood in the projects makes one capable of reaching a better conclusion than a white male who was born wealthy, or poor?

Sounds to me as if Sotomayor suggests her gender, ethnicity and social class bestow a richness of experience that the white male can never obtain. Would that also mean Sotomayor cannot understand the American black experience or Native American experience, etc. because she has not experienced them? Oh wait, Obama said her experience gave her "empathy." And we all know white men don't have empathy, in contrast to the inner city projects where humble folks empathize with one another (especially if you're seen moving in a flat screen that can be fenced).

Sotomayor is not Thurgood Marshall, neither is Clarence "Coke Can" Thomas for that matter.

Men and women like Marshall truly fought against the odds - opening doors for Thomas and Sotomayor, and even Obama.

Not to detract from Sotomayor's tenacity and accomplishments, but I do think she is of the generation suffering from affirmative action and "identity politics" - educated, employed, and appointed by white men, and now feeling a teeeensy bit superior to those who saddled the horse she rode into town on. (Put your foot in the stirrups honey, not your mouth.)

I once was a staunch supporter of affirmative action, not anymore. I've seen too many incompetents in positions they should not have been in simply because the white company/organization needed to meet a quota. And termination was out of the question as fear of a lawsuit forever loomed. The only hope was the employee would quit. There is nothing worse than a coworker who smugly knows they have management by the cajones. (Of course white folks also hire white idiots, look at George Bush.)

So, let's stop pretending we are led by people of great ability, "high caliber" men and women. It does not matter if Sotomayor is the best pick or not, black or brown, male or female. Her rulings will be geared to please that faction of the powers that be who groomed her ride.

What we have had for 3+ decades, regardless of race or gender or humble beginnings, are mediocre men and women. But the worst has been The Special Olympics of Politics - special because of the "handicap" of being black, brown, female, gay, or whatever politically unique card they can play, which has nothing to do with capability and talent. I know, I know Bubba you want to say - some of us have it harder.

Yes, and no matter who you are there's always someone else who has/had life harder. I have yet to find that one individual who has had the hardest life on earth, although when found he/she should be rewarded with something.

It's that old, old ploy of the humble public servant, the peanut farmer, the humble actor/comic in shirt sleeves,the blue shirt sleeves rolled up Bush clearing brush on the homestead, fatherless Obama on foodstamps, just like one of us Bubba, and they made it to the top, and by golly even as they gallop away to their new multimillion dollar townhomes or mini mansions and mix it up in New York, Paris, Rome, Brussels, ... in $4000 shoes and limos ... they're gonna do what's best for the commoners ... because they are one of us.

But you know Bubba, in a family as integrated as mine - black, brown, white, mixed, Jew and gentile, atheist and Catholic, millionaires to minimum wage - had Sotomayor made the above comment at the dinner table, we would have laughed long and loud.

Did she just say being a Puerto Rican woman from NY gives her a better understanding of the law? she's joking, right?

Laughing out loud, laughing out loud.

Bailing Out the World Ma

President Barack Obama's plan to give an extra $108bn to the International Monetary Fund was in danger of falling apart yesterday as Republican lawmakers opposed the extra funding and Democrat leaders scrambled to win enough votes without them.

Mr Obama has called for member countries to beef up the IMF to help it combat the global downturn. At April's G20 meeting he promised to increase the US contribution and secured similar promises from others. But he has run into problems in a Congress weary of bail-outs and concerned about the swelling budget deficit.


Ah, transparency. Perhaps you've read that the new era of candor in government spending has arrived. Except, apparently, when it comes to the $750 billion that the Obama Administration and other nations have agreed to provide the International Monetary Fund. In this case, it's all opacity all the time.

At the G-20 meeting in April, the world's big shots promised to provide $500 billion under credit lines to the IMF known as "new arrangements to borrow." The U.S. share was said to be $100 billion, which last week we learned is actually $108 billion. The Obama Administration is now asking Congress to appropriate the cash, except that the Congressional Budget Office is only scoring the cost at $5 billion. How so? Because the transaction is being called an "exchange of assets," which means the U.S. gives the IMF the $108 billion and the IMF gives the U.S. a promissory note. Which raises a question: If it costs so little, why not make it $200 billion. Or a trillion? It's free!

IMF History: The IMF has played a part in shaping the global economy since the end of World War II.

---- And a fine shape the global economy is in, heh?

Right In Front of Your Face

This is probably the most shallow junk I've read all year. From none other than Crooks and Liars, who, while I'm not a regular reader, I was under the misguided notion C&L was somewhat of an objective site. Silly me, I guess their name is appropriate, taken from the famous remark of horseface John Kerry when he was describing his bedfellows in DC.

C&L: Sarah Palin is on a new jag or an old one actually. She's ranting about some New World Order nonsense and while introducing wingnut radio host Michael Regan in Alaska, told the audience that the government wants to control the lives of "the people."

Via CNN: Alaska governor Sarah Palin let loose Wednesday on the Obama administration for enacting fiscal policies that "fly in the face of principles" and "defy Economics 101."

Palin: We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it," she said. "And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people.

There's something pretty weird hearing the term "Economics 101," being uttered by Sarah because she showed little knowledge of economics on the campaign trail, but that being said...the right wing constantly is reaching out to the far depths of the conservative movement and are trying to instill more and more fear into that base which will only increase the violence that comes out of those merky depths. "People control," really Sarah? She should stop hanging out with nutty talk show hosts.

Just to help her out a little bit, it was under George Bush and conservative---neocon warhawks that the global financial markets melted down and led us down the path of being "afraid." And wasn't it under her governance that she took money from the oil companies and handed it out to her people?

CC's Indecision (Comedy Central blog): It should just sit back and let the free market do its thing and, um, dispense the lucre…

In Alaska, where Palin is governor, natural resources are state-owned, and Alaska residents receive yearly dividend checks from a $30 billion state account built largely from oil royalties….

When home fuel and gas costs soared this year, Palin raised taxes on oil companies and used some of the money to boost residents' checks by $1,200. Every eligible man, woman and child got a record $3,269 this fall.

Even the grammar-challenged Governor knows there's word for that kind of redistributive policy. Starts with S.

---- Hmmm. I don't think the word "starts with S."

To C&L: Michael "Regan" should be Reagan, Ronnie's son. I have never listened to him so do not know if he's a wingnut or not - but then I don't get my news from Colbert or Jon Stewart either, as many "progressives" seem to do. I did google on over to Reagan's website and read a couple of columns. In one he described Boy Bush's era as "big government and wild-spending."

Pssssttt we've been doing that for decades, spending just gets wilder with each president.

As to the sniplet from CNN by way of C&L: "Just to help her out a little bit, it was under George Bush and conservative---neocon warhawks that the global financial markets melted down and led us down the path of being "afraid."

I suppose it's best to blame those "neocon warhawks" (haven't seen that phrase in a while), rather than look aghast at the money Obamasiah is throwing on the flames of those melting markets (and ignore the fact that Barry O. isn't antiwar, he was pandering to the sheople). And if you want to pin blame there's enough to go around at least back to the Clinton era of come one come all for toxic lending. In fact, I would say HUD/Fannie and Freddie were pretty much the Clintonistas damage. And, wasn't the housing market the first domino in this meltdown?

The question asked by CNN blog: "And wasn't it under her governance that she took money from the oil companies and handed it out to her people?"

Are you serious? The Alaskan PFD is not simply "handed out to her people." The Fund has been around since 1976, overhauled in 1982.

The governor Palin replaced in 2006, Murkowski, sought sweetheart deals for oil companies and Alaskan voters put him out of office. Several of the governor's negotiators were later indicted, accused of making back-room deals with the industry. It was Palin who scrapped Murkowski's deals, stood up to big oil, and raised their taxes. But ... " "it would be an overstatement to brand Palin as an enemy of Big Oil. Her husband works as a production supervisor for BP. And her support for drilling in the Alaska Natural Wildlife Reserve, as well as exploiting Alaska's natural gas resources, certainly won't endear her to environmentalists. "Personally, I have respect for the industry," she said in an interview with Fortune last year, "for the contributions it's made to our state ... and great respect for what their CEOs are doing. We know their mission, to take as much as possible and leave as little behind."

I'm stumped I tell you, stumped - why would "progressives" diss a pol who obviously stood up to Big Oil, and taxed them? One who so accurately calls corporate CEO's mission "to take as much as possible and leave as little behind." And isn't that what we've witnessed from both parties in the Halls of Power for the past 3+ decades?

On the other hand some Alaskans believe Alaskan politicians, the Fund managers and their operating costs, the corporations the Fund invests in, all benefit too much from the fund while sending stipends to the people.

Stipends that range from $300-$3200 per year per eligible person. Felons are not eligible, and if you owe taxes, child support, etc. the state will be keeping that PFD. Alaska had a population of approximately 686,000, and a PFD fund of $38 billion in 2008. Even if all residents are eligible, which they are not, the total paid out in 2008 (a record $2080-2100) would be $2.1 billion - around 5-6% of the total fund. Sarah also passed out a $1200 resource rebate check that year because of high energy costs. Sort of like the Bushobama rebates and stimulus checks, except Alaska could afford to do it.

But tell me, how will that work with other states not as fortunate, not sitting on oil and gas? California is struggling even with all the wealth from tourism, energy, agriculture, hi-tech, etc. Will all or only a few industries have their profits placed in a California State fund for yearly stipends to the state's 37,000,000 residents? What about those poor states like Arkansas and Kentucky? What about illegal alie....oops, I mean undocumented workers, would they get a stipend if they meet the eligibility requirements? Will Alaskans be angry when their stipend goes down in order to help stipenders in states like po' Mississippi and West Virginey?

Every state would have funds collected, from State run industries of course, and then BigDaddy Guvmint will dole out the dividend stipends, and it would need to be the same amount for every individual, just as it is in Alaska. So poorer states will get some of theirs from the richer states. From each according to his ability, to each according to his need? I don't think that's called socialism, and the BigDaddy State will never wither away - that happens only in neoprogressive dreams and chat rooms, usually after a little Maui Owie. (And if, as in Alaska, a felon is not eligible - guess what color and rung won't be getting a dividend.)

You know Bubba, there may not even be a word yet for the Government that's coming to redistribute the stipends, but my best guess is ... it will start with a T.