thinking after a long week...

this week has taught me one thing that I already knew...corporate lawyers are incredibly boorish individuals without any semblance of humanity to them. the bill of rights is at stake? a man's life hangs in the balance? who cares...this money deal should be the priority right now. seriously...not a nice insight into the heart of our culture.

sports are falling apart...the most sacred record is about to fall to a fraud who also happens to be a gigantic asshole (I would say gigantic prick...but my guess is his has shrunken considerably over the last few years). nba refs are crooken (because none of us that ever watched the nba playoffs on nbc figured that out before one got caught mixed up with tony soprano). and most despicably, dog fighting is not frowned upon by nfl players (yes, innocent until proven guilty...but more than a few have basically implied the thought that "its just dogfighting, whats the big deal?" - which in its own right is frightening). when you can't trust the government, and you can't trust the news, and you can't trust milli vanilli, you absolutely must have something to cling to...sports was it. they are gone. just in time for the cubs to win it all.

speaking of michael vick...nike has yanked his contract and reebok will not sell his jersey. here is the amusing part...a quote from dean stroyer of nike..."we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent." but any cruelty to young children from a southeast asian island is an entirely different story...hell, that's just good business sense. priorities here people.

hilary clinton and barack obama are in a race to see who can demean democracy more. time for a change indeed.

news flash...the buck you just spent on bottled water got you the same product you could have gotten by sticking your head under the sink in the shitter.

nothing says democracy american style like those responsible for executing the law ignoring one of its most basic principles...tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. turns out alberto gonzales is a lying sack of shit. not that it is really surprising to anyone. soon he can join another justice department hack in the discard pile...former us attorney for the district of new mexico david iglesias. alberto gonzales...your plane is boarding.

the bush administration is becoming upset with saudi leadership for being counterproductive to the "war on terror." glad to see the bush administration is on top of things...only took them a couple decades to figure out saudi leadership might be causing some problems that will bite "american interests" in the ass.

the united states continues to take a hardline stance against nuclear proliferation. it has agreed to stand by and even help as india moves forward with a nuclear project larger than expected. in 20 years...someone, somewhere will look at disaster, point to this and say "told you so."

astronauts are shuttling drunk. and we are supposed to be appalled. the president is a "great guy to have a beer with"...and we are supposed to reelect him. discuss...

mr edwards, who has become the voice of the expanding losers bracket in the economic playground that we call america, wants to raise capital gains taxes. just wondering why he would use that money to then set up private tax-free savings accounts for people rather than get serious about making social security free from the scaremongers. we tell people they are on their own to save for retirement. we tell people we will not support you if it comes down to it, you better save it yourself. and by the way...here's some useless shit...if you don't buy it the terrorists win. and don't worry about debt...it keeps the economy running...so spend damnit. raise rich folks taxes and make sure you, me and everyone we know is covered when disaster, unemployment or retirement hits. is that really so difficult of a concept to handle?

memo from Corporate Big Whigs...please ignore the shakey stock market and continue to rely on 401(k)'s for your retirement rather than demanding something backed by the power of the government...afterall, when it all crashes someone needs to get insanely wealthy...and it might be you (snicker)...no seriously, it really could be you (hehe).

women and children...lets go...

rise minions, the houston route, and the "justice" system...

the boy king is one again calling on the masses (well, at least the assholes that are just down the street and working for the same rich assholes as he) to ignore "partisanship"...to rise above politics and ensure that young american men and women continue to be blown apart while they watch (and yes, at times participate) iraqis being slaughtered. we've heard all the same shit before...we need to support the troops, we need to give them what they need to win, we can't let dissent on the homefront lose us another war. (nevermind that the whole "giving the troops what they need to succeed" bit apparently didn't apply when they were sent to die in the first place). anytime a wannabe tyrant informs you to put aside partisanship what he is really saying is "boys...we are forgetting what is important here...delaying this stuff and bickering over these things is losing our campaign contributors valuable funds which could then be funneled in our direction."

and besides...why must we accept that winning wars is the reason to be proud of this country? what was about it that you celebrated about this nation when you were a kid? what is it that we celebrate as our "way of life?" is it the militarism that has overtaken us? or is the myth that we all want to believe, and want to be true...that this nation stood for something special...for truth and justice. but then, I guess when you can no longer hide the fact that you stand for neither truth nor justice...you go with what you got...big guns.

a while back I was flying to chicago with a layover in houston. at the gate the vast majority of the people awaiting the flight were unhealthily large, which was very fitting considering the travel was between two of the fattest cities the world has ever seen. and now it seems the rest of the country is following suit. pretty soon, there will be more overweight people than not in this country...a substantial percentage of them obese. so while we worry about the nicole richies and michelle tanners wasting away to nothing...the real danger is that we, as a nation, are killing ourselves with calories. and these people are going to wind up in emergency rooms with bills they cannot pay that will be pushed on the taxpayers because there is no universal health system in place. and many will die unnecessarily early because they did not have access to proper health care and nuitrition throughout their lives. and we will all be to blame...our consumer culture is killing us...try not to get through the depression with macdonalds.

in another shocking example of how our "justice" system stands for what is right...the authorities in georgia appealed a judge's decision to let a kid out of jail for getting oral sex from another kid, both in high school, agreeably consensual. genarlow wilson was at a party when he was 17 and a 15 year old girl went down on him. he got slapped with a mandatory 10 years in jail for it. he was a good kid...did well in school, athlete...going places. and now, he's a felon with a ten year wait for the sun. only the story broke and georgia changed the law, his actions are now a misdemeanor...no more than a year. and so the judge did the right thing...did what he wanted to do all along...and let wilson go free. but apparently justice is no longer the concern of prosecuting authorities...they appealed the decision to let him out of jail. and the georgia supreme court agreed to hear it (funny since they wouldn't give wilson the time of day when he appealed his ten year sentence originally).

the prosecutor is not worried about whether justice was done in this case...he is not worried with the system working to ensure that no innocent man spends ten years in prison...he is worried that this decision might be an excuse to let other people out of jail. and so the reality of the prosecutor mentallity is there for everyone to see...it is apparently not better to let 10 guilty men go free in order that one innocent man be spared prison...one innocent kid must spend ten years in prison so that some other maybe guilty men aren't given shorter sentences. any way you look at it, this is a perversion of justice...and an embarassment to what it is we claim to stand for as a nation. be ashamed thurbert baker...you are making a mockery of your title, the system itself and the most basic notions of fundamental fairness that form the foundation of our way of life (the mythical one...not the militaristic capitalist elite asshole one which we must abandon partisanship for in favor of more death and destruction for dollars).

sometimes I pray I don't die...I'm a goddamn hypocrite.

did they really say that?

the book is becoming full again...so here is a dumping of some thoughts to ponder from the latest of my readings...

"it amazes me that americans are quick to call intellectuals - who have no power at all - 'elitist,' yet remain oblivious to the real oligarchic elites, which are corporate." - Max Berman. [which is why I proud to call myself an "elitist" as popularly conceived...and why I rant against the true elites that are destroying this nation and your livelihood]

"when two female rock stars exchange a lascivious kiss on tv, kansas goes haywire. kansas screams for the heads of the liberal elite. kansas comes running to the polling place. and kansas cuts those rock stars' taxes." - Thomas Frank [anyone who tries to talk you into voting on "moral" issues is just manipulating the masses to line their own pockets]

"at some point, a national decision will have to be made to alter the priorities of an economy that pays the average teacher $45,000 and seven digits to people who execute trades for Wall Street speculators." - Jeff Faux [but really...they care about your children...so much so that they don't want any of the white ones left behind]

"the degree of civilzation in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky [if you have ever seen one of ours...its a rather damning statement]

"there is not a nation on earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour." - Frederick Douglass [so much for your exceptionalism boy king]

"war cannot be humanized. it can only be abolished." - Albert Einstein ["smart" bombs are just another abomination...end war before it ends us]

"more than half of american kids spend at least a year in poverty by the time they are 18 - compared with less than a quarter of german children." - Jacob Hacker [just think about that for a second...half of all kids in this, the richest nation ever, have known poverty first hand...which begs the thought...]

"for the price of four stealth bombers, 155 million children can be sent to school for a year." - Noreena Hertz [the only good thing bill richardson ever mentioned...no one questions where the money for war will come from...why do we always question where the money for schools and medicine will come from? 155,000,000 kids...or four machines of death? apparently it is an easy call for your "family values" politicians]

"United States' public policy treats families almost entirely as a personal responsibility, rather than a social priority." - Jacob Hacker [if they were truly concerned with "family values" stable familes would be a priority...unfortunately stable families don't fund lobbyists]

"a society guided only by the invisible hand of the market is not only imperfect, but also unjust." - Noreena Hertz [and history has shown us over and over, it is also doomed]

"alarm about 'big government' has not extended to the enormous subsidies given to big business." - Howard Zinn [the conservative elite...they only care about supply and demand when it means your wages fall and their accounts bulge...they only care about big government when it isn't supplying billions and billions and billions of dollars to war makers every year]

"we are unavoidably side by side." - Immanuel Kant [and yet they want us to look at our neighbor and scream it is they who has cost us our standard of living...diverting attention from the horrors that the elite have brought upon the world]

and now for some hope from a man that still manages to give even this black heart some...

"At certain points in history governments find that all their power is futile against the power of an aroused citizenry....As today we are a nation at war, it is good to keep in mind that things can change. People learn, little by little. Lies are exposed. Wars once popular gradually come under suspicion. That happens when enough people speak and act in accord with their conscience, appealing to the American jury with the power of truth." - Howard Zinn

so turn off your damn computer...stop reading this and get out there and make some noise...learn what they do not want you to know...educate yourself...educate those you know...don't let them take that from you...

that voice is just inside his head...

"personal responsibility" is bullshit - disjointed disenchanted thoughts...

so I caught the first part of NOW this weekend...they were discussing health care initiatives. nevermind that providing universal coverage through the government would actually decrease the cost of health care...there were some seriously disturbing statements made by the "personal responsibility" (read "frightening asshole") crowd. first statement, in regards to children (among the millions) that do not have health coverage as of now in this nation (the supposed "greatest nation on earth" that can't even afford to give kids simple medicines)...explaining that we need to wonder about the responsibility of the parents for those kids - implying that they shouldn't get free coverage because their parents fucked up. ok...for arguments' sake, let's go ahead and say mom is a crack head and dad is in prison...what the hell does a six year old kid have to do with those "choices"? when did that little kid say "hey, give me parents that can't afford to take care of me!" scary...

the next point from the we-can't-give-people-access-to-health-care crowd...if we offer people universal coverage, they will go to the doctor too much. seriously...this is where we are in this country...going to the doctor is considered a bad thing. in a nation where the number one killer is preventable disease...we are worried that people will be too healthy. because if they were responsible...they wouldn't bother getting preventive health care, that would just be irresponsible and wasteful.

and why aren't these people ever up in arms over "personal responsibility" when it comes to insanely bad investments made by Big Corporations? instead they and their Big Business loving screw-the-little-guy friends have absolutely no problem bailing out businesses that make incredibly stupid investments in other nations with your tax dollars...it's known as ex-im, the united states' export credit agency. it pays companies when they make brain dead deals with incredibly poor countries...with your money. and the companies have no "incentive" to make good investments...but I guess "personal responsibility" stops at the entrance to wall street...

if it is all about taking "personal responsibility" for poor decisions (nevermind that those decisions are based upon bullshit fed you by the conservative elite over the last 30 decades...bullshit like the myth that if you do right by your family and work hard you will be taken care of)...why are you having so much trouble? why is someone like me...a white kid from the suburbs that went to great public schools, a top-notch public university, professional school and now working as a coat and tie minion struggling to save a cent? make all the "right" decisions...and you still get the shaft.

and then there is the paris hiltons of the world...who make every wrong decision in the book...but thanks to the monied aristocracy in this country, will never have to worry about it.

and people complain about higher taxes...and how they don't want to pay taxes for civil services because the government can't spend their money better than they can. to you I have a challenge...add up everything you spend on every bullshit insurance you have to own...life, homeowners/renters, auto, health, dental, pension, etc...and ask yourself...just how much of your pay check are you actually getting? because you know...if the government provided a basic level of existence commensurate with human dignity, you could get all that for a hell of a lot less in taxes.

some random schmuck spills the grand jury info about balco and gets three years...anyone else that gets caught with a bit of crack gets three points (adding years to a sentence under the sentencing guidelines in federal sentencing) for "obstructing justice" anytime they fib a bit to investigators. a rich, white, conservative asshole gets three years in a camp...and it is too harsh for the boy king's liking...so he puts "personal responsiblity" aside (perhaps because he and his minions set him up as the fall guy) and commutes the sentence to nothing.

if "personal responsibility" and making the right decisions is the key to getting ahead...then why is there more social mobility in such socialistic hot beds as scandinavia than there ever was in this nation?

anytime anyone tells you it is about "personal responsibility" what they are really saying is that you are totally on your own and you are completely screwed if disaster is to strike. those of us that have some semblance of sanity recognize we are all in this together...and that when we act like it, everyone is better off, growth is more sustainable and wide spread, and the economy is stronger (and if you have an mba here is a hint - history has proven your study wrong again, and again, and again, and again).

imagine if all the people that are left out under the current political system and economic theft got together and took "personal responisibility" for the world...imagine the horror that would overtake the "personal responsibility" crowd when they realized just what that really meant...imagine a world where "growth" meant you were better off, and your neighbor, and his neighbor, and her neighbor, and their neighbor.

you know exactly what I'm wishing...

Independence from what?

"The strength of our great country lies in its Constitution and her laws and in her courts. But more fundamentally, the strength of our great country lies in the resolve of her citizens to stand up for what is right when the masses are silent. And, unfortunately, sometimes it becomes the lot of the few to stand up for what is right when the masses are silent, because not always does the law move so fast and so judiciously as to always be right." - Judge Hamilton of the District Court for the District of Columbia.

Today, as we celebrate independence from monarchy and supposed tyranny, we must remember the step that was taken those centuries ago. We must remember, that our nation was born out of war, genocide, thievery, and general deceit. And yet, out of that came a dream of a nation that could get beyond the traps that humanity seemed unable to avoid, a dream of a nation that would truly work towards freedom, democracy, equality and the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

And so the nation has had numerous missteps, too numerous to count, along that path. Although the journey was agonizingly slow, progress was slowly made. Unfortunately there was still a long, long way to travel. Racism still reared its ugly head, indigenous peoples still struggled to maintain, poverty was still widespread, children still went hungry and without medicine...but all the while, there was an undercurrent of hope. A hope that someday, together, we would manage to live up to that grand declaration made some two centuries earlier...that together, we could form a government and society that looked after its people, that sought to better the lot of all, that worked to guarantee life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to all peoples, regardless of color, class or creed.

Unfortunately, that path seems to have ended, and we are now reverting back to times and mentalities long thought buried in the annals of history's ugliness. We now have a society and a government that works not for the betterment of the people, but for the betterment of the bottom line. That takes action not based on wether it will better the lot of suffering fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters, but whether it will better the profit margin. We have a political system, set up to be a voice for the masses, becoming a voice for the payers, a system where the positive attributes of a candidate are not measured by their ideas, concerns, and geniuneness, but by their ability to raise funds from giant corporations. A system that will turn a blind eye to blatant violations of the most basic rights of humans if it means Big Corporation can boost stock prices a little further. A system with such frighteningly perverted priorities that an average teacher cannot support a family on their salary, yet seven digit bonuses are handed out to people who execute trades for speculators. A system that spends more on death and destruction than on education, health and general welfare.

And while all this happens we sit back in our chairs and lament the process and wonder aloud why we seem so powerless to stop it. We've tried to speak with our votes, we've tried to speak by withholding our votes. We've tried to be heard through bullhorns, letters, and quiet acts of disobedience. We've tried to gather and let our extreme distaste be known. And we've all but given up hope, left with a feeling of dispair as the blissfully ignorant celebrate what never was while what little hope of it ever being ever more slips from our grasp.

But at a time like this, it is ever the more important to continue on. As Doris Hannock, better known to her loving followers as Granny D, so eloquently instructed us...

"There are two things I would like you to understand about impossible missions. One is the fact that, sometimes all you can do is put your body in front of a problem and stand there as witness to it...You have already succeeded if you're out there representing truth or justice or compassion or fairness or love. You already have your victory because you have changed the world; you have changed the status quo by you; you have changed the chemistry of things and changes will spread from you, will be easier to happen again in others because of you, because, believe it or not, you are the center of the world...The second thing is this, there are no impossible causes on this earth if they are good causes."

and we're half awake in a fake empire...