I wrote this during election season of 2008. I had just watched a documentary called “Letters to the President.” I was coming out of a phase of being a punk rocker that indelibly colored my political perception. As a Son of the American Revolution I felt that the dream and the democratic experiment of America had been taken over by lobbyists and career politicians that made a mockery of what so many had sacrificed their lives for. My views of politics have matured significantly since the election of Barack Obama, though I still hold many of the same suspicions about the power elite. I pay taxes and vote, but I don’t like either party- I feel that the majority of Americans are relatively centrist and that isn’t something we see represented in Congress today. All the while, the mainstream news furthers the partisan divide and plays cheerleader to the political football games that are played with our education system, prison system, foreign policy and so much more. I often wish to have lived in a time when I could feed myself with a rifle and push out further to the frontier, away from these bankers, politicians and mudslingers; I often wish I could have lived with the Native Americans, warned them of what was coming. Ah well, C’est la vie.
Latest Entries »
-
Our governments are bankrupt. Our politicians worry more about re-election than fixing the economy or maintaining public services. In the United States corporations, unions and individual donors can donate as much money as they want to a campaign; effectively bankrolling politicians in a way that hasn’t been seen here since Tammany Hall. All the while the wealthiest get tax cuts while the middle and lower classes get spending cuts- they get to keep more money and we get cuts to medicare, medicaid, social security, education and infrastructure.
-
““No Work, No Shopping, Occupy Everywhere”: May Day Special on OWS, Immigration, Labor Protests.
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/1/no_work_no_shopping_occupy_everywhere #ows #p2 #m1 #M1GS -
-
Riotous Night In Montreal After Talks Break Down
MONTREAL – Seventy-two days, 160 protests, hundreds arrested, multiple injuries, multimillion-dollar costs for law-enforcement – and zero… -
In Montreal on April 26th, 2012, an estimated 15,000 students marching against tuition hikes were teargassed and driven from the streets by riot police.
-
-
May Day has its roots in the 1886 general strike in which union workers demanded the eight-hour workday that so many enjoy today. Since then it has become an international workers’ holiday for demonstrations regarding working conditions, wages and benefits. Predictably, in year when the economy fares better, there is none-so-much activity in the United States. This May Day however, estimates of 10,000 to 30,000 people gathered in New York City alone as unions, immigration reform groups and the champions of the cause of wealth and opportunity disparity- Occupy Wall Street- rallied along with groups inmore than 80 other countries.
-
-
Many have made the comment that they find it ironic that the people protesting the corporations are using their iPhones to tweet about it. On its face this would see to be a valid point. This viewpoint has been promulgated by ineffective mainstream media coverage. Firstly, it must be understood that while there are people of all ages and colors participating on Occupy, there are two subsets of youth. They are disenfranchised lower class youth that are generally politically motivated, yet they feel that the voting system is broken and therefore refuse to participate in what they view as a rigged election to begin with. These youth tend to idealistically lean towards communism and various anarchist philosophies. Youth Subset 1 could be broadly classified as punk rockers and hippies. The other subset of the youth are generally college educated from middle or working class families. They have many friends that belong to the first subset, and those friends were never able to go to college for whatever reason. Having grown up together with common interests in music and art, these college youth gleaned some of that revolutionary spirit and apply it to their views of politics. Youth Subset 2 could be broadly characterized as Democrats and Libertarians. Of course, all of these characterization will break down at a point, but those are the broad-brush strokes. Though there are the idealistic anarchists and communists, the vast majority of occupiers and those who support them are centrists (for whom there is no party). Some members of the movement are returning military veterans who question who our country does what it does overseas. One such veteran was Cpl. Scott Olson who was hospitalized after a teargas canister was fired at his head in Oakland, CA. Now that we have a vague understanding of some of the ideologies floating around in this disenfranchised soup, we can get down to brass tacks: Most of the Occupy protestors and sympathizers have little to no problem with corporations creating products and selling them for a profit. The problem is when those corporations get involved in our political system, lobby congress, and now with the passage of Citizens United vs. FEC they can for all intents and purposes legally bankroll and bribe politicians. In essence: I like to buy Apple products, but i don’t want Apple buying my politicians, kthx.
-
-
To illustrate my point about the incestuous relationship that has developed between the government and big corporations:
-
-
Seeing the chart above, many would conclude that Occupy and the Tea Party share a common complaint. This is very true, it is merely the vitriolic rhetoric of some of those in the “news” that continues to divide and attempt to conquer two groups with a popular sentiment. Little known fact, the Tea Party was originally started by a group of Libertarians raising funds for Ron Paul in 2007. It was soon-after co-opted by wealthier interests and political action committees. It was then promoted by a “news’ network majoring Propagandist Arts and turned it into a mouthpiece for the far right fringe of the Republican party, rendering it nearly unrecognizable to those Libertarians who first started it. Many on the right characterize Occupy as some Leftist conspiracy conjured up by the Obama Administration, but I assure you that most of the people in the movement have no love for either party, and we often refer to the two as “Republicrats,” by which we mean to say that they are two sides of the same coin, the preponderance of them are bought and in all likelihood, they’re the same behind closed doors; they just play partisan political football games to divide and conquer the electorate. It’s an ancient tactic used by the Romans and the British to great effect. Personally, I feel that either Congress is bought by corporations that are creating the illusion of a republic, OR there is a serious epidemic of gross incompetence in this country.
-
-
I’ve often heard grumblings about all the taxpayer dollars being wasted on police resources and overtime while rapists and murderers ran amok whilst the police were forced to deal with Occupy encampments. The truth is, way back in September of 2011 there had been no violence whatsoever from the Occupiers- they did nothing more the peaceably assemble. When their megaphones were taken away in those first few hours of September 17th, they turned to using “The People’s Mic.” As the crackdowns came with police brutality and mass arrests, the aforementioned “Youth Subset 1,” took grave exception to those actions and some responded with defecation on police vehicles and petty vandalism. Those kinds of tactics have never been condoned by the broader movement, though some media outlets have continued to pigeonhole it as an unAmerican riotous mob with no respect for the rule of law. Unfortunately, in may cities the police have done nothing to help remove the truly undesirables from the midst of those who honestly want a peaceable assembly. I feel that the kind of “news coverage,” that has pigeonholed the movement has lent itself to the actions resulting in police brutality and to the enumerable instances in which I have been called unAmerican or a domestic terrorist. As a Son of the American Revolution, this both deeply appalls and disturbs me and makes me fear for the relevance of such notions as civil discourse and compromise.
-
Civil Rights Suit Against NYPD and JP Morgan Chase Filed for Arrests Related to Occupied Wall Street Protests – Yonkers TribuneNEW YORK, NY – April 30, 2012 — Lawyers on behalf of five elected officials and over half a dozen members of the press filed a major law…
-
JP Morgan donated $4.6 million to the NYPD just as the encampment in Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park- formerly named Liberty Plaza Park before 2006) was beginning to swell and gain national attention as hundreds of other encampments began to pop up from Portland, Maine to San Diego, California to Toronto and London and even Antarctica (True story! See below).
-
Occupy Antarctica
We knew the Occupy Wall Street movement was widespread when we saw it had reached the Arctic tundra, but now it has been confirmed on the… -
-
-
-
-
A “black bloc,” shown below- are usually groups of anarchists or anarcho-sydicalists who attend protests and perform tactical functions while never being officially with or condoned by a movement. At “The Battle of Seatle,” during the 1999 WTO conference, it was the black blocs that took strategic intersections in the early morning hours so that the student and labor marches could surround the convention center. When things turn nasty between police and protestors, these are usually the people that end up engaged in throwing back teargas canisters or lobbing molotovs, throwing rocks, overturning cars, etc. These folks are a mixed blessing: if the police have overstepped their bounds the black blocs clash with police while everyone else has the opportunity to disperse. However, their tactics usually lead to pigeonholing of protest movements by the media. Sometimes the more hotheaded ones will be the ones to start things with the police. They’re an unpredictable element that is difficult to remove from a protest movement, especially one with very populist causes. They are the quintessential example of the aforementioned “Youth Subset 1.”
-
-
-
“May Day was a success, but Occupy needs to rethink itself if it wants to change America. http://mojo.ly/JT5JRX #ows
-
If Occupy and its affiliates are to be successful, it must coalesce into a strong third part, and soon. This is a time of great social change, and just as 1913 was for the Labor Movement. Times of great social change come with a great many debates and partisan divisions. This was true in the ten years leading to both the American Revolution and our Civil War. When huge paradigm shifts occur in a nation’s history there are only two alternatives: renaissance or civil war. Let us pray for the former.I will leave you with one final posting- a YouTube video uploaded on October 16, 2011, the day before Occupy Wall Street’s one month anniversary. Hundreds had already been arrested, blood had been spilt, some had been hospitalized, authorities were inventing new rules over night about prohibition of tents, sleeping bags, blankets, megaphones, and even having flagpoles for American flags. Sgt. Shamar Thomas had come home from war and did not like how the NYPD was treating peaceful protestors. He had sworn an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution and he felt that the police actions were not consistent with that of a nation which encourages civil discourse, debate, demonstration and all manner of expression. He may not agree with the protestors, but he knows the every American has their rights and wealthy interests do not have the right to shut up, defame and violently put down the little guy. I don’t care what the Supreme Court says, money does not equal speech. It is because of men like Sgt. Thomas that I have the right to think and write and say what i feel. It is because of men and women like him that we wake up to find out that we still have a Bill of Rights. Should Sgt. Thomas and his fellow veterans ever wake up to find out that The Constitution and the Bill of Rights has been sold to the highest bidder, God help the auctioneer that sold it.
-
-
When Liberty Square was raided and torn apart in the middle of the night, journalists weren’t allowed within two blocks of the park, airspace over the park was closed to news choppers and when one reporter tried to get close saying “I’m with the press, don’t we have the freedom of the press?” that reporter was met with the reply from a police officer: “not today you don’t.” In these days of camera phones and blogging, aren’t we all the press? Last I checked, the Bill of Rights doesn’t enumerate exceptions to those rights… Sleep well America.
Mr. Palmisciano is absolutely correct. Journalism is dead. Everything you see is partisan spin. You would think that FOX, with their dedication to veterans would have taken up the story. You would think that MSNBC, decriers of all things evil and wrong in America, would have taken up the story. No, they haven’t, and CNN is probably too busy playing with a new toy that displays 3D infographics to dazzle us with as they bring us the latest in pollster and pundit ponifications. It is a sad day when Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are the only two people in the public eye that Ranger Up CEO, Nick Palmisciano, feels have enough integrity to bring this story to light. He’s also correct in saying that this story hasn’t been told because there is no partisan or race divide to capitalize on. Please, please, please contact Jon and Stephen and show your support for the Strait family. America is not our government and it is not our news, nor is it the products we buy. America is its people and I believe that this country knows what is right. We spend a lot of time arguing and fussing over the divide created by the two parties and the media, but when something this abominable happens and those in power say nothing, it is our duty to stand up and scream. Rest in Peace, Nancy Strait.
Poll: 69% of Americans want to outlaw super PACs
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/03/super-pacs-illegal-abc-poll-/1#.T1-h9ubEYMo.reddit
The Citizens United ruling that allows unlimited election donations by corporations and unions which galvanized the Occupy Movement is unpopular across party lines, a new poll shows.
Legislative house of Iceland
Iceland, home of the world’s oldest continuously governing democratic body, the Althing, is breaking new ground in the democratic experiment while the world anxiously awaits the results.
In the summer of 2011, the Interwebs began buzzing with the most hopeful application of crowdsourcing yet: the Icelandic Constitution. In the wake of an economic meltdown not dissimilar to the one the brought the United States and the Eurozone to their knees, Iceland was told by all the experts that they needed to bail out the financial institutions or the Atlantic Ocean would swallow them up as punishment for debts incurred. In essence, Iceland said “bring it.” Their economic recover has since been much quicker than those of us who did bail out the financial behemoths. This also caused a significant national debate about financial institutions forming economic hegemons that can make or break an entire nation in one fell swoop and how much government should be involved in such bailouts. This lead, as Ice News reported, to the nation’s first-ever left-wing government ushering in new reforms and a national debate about a constitutional referendum.
While the drafting process was indeed open to Icelanders through online media like Facebook and Twitter, it wasn’t a truly crowdsourced the way that Wikipedia is. Whether or not it really is crowdsourcing, it is an exciting time to see the Internet become a legitimate medium for creating a government that is more responsive to the needs of the people. Discussions the new constitutions 114 articles are expected to conclude in this month or next and will be brought to a referendum, or series of referendums this June at the same time as Iceland’s presidential election.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16775264
The Run-Down
We have to protect the planet in order to have any kind of future. Check. Central banking deregulation lead to practices that brought the global economy to its knees. Got it. Energy sustainability would drastically improve the economic standing of those in developing countries and benefit efficient energy use in developed countries. Great. Continuing subsidies for fossil fuel producers is stupid. Yep. Establishment of a global education fund could benefit the poorest citizens of the world by bringing access to education via internet and provide the skills necessary for current jobs and promoting entrepreneurialism to ensure a healthy, competitive economy. Sounds plausible. Labeling goods with their environmental impact so consumers can make informed purchases and effectively vote with their dollars. Reasonable.
Thoughts
These are great ideas and certainly some changes need to be made on the global scale. The thing we must be careful of when engaging in international institutions is that we don’t lose our national sovereignty or paint the developed world into an economic corner, rendering it incapable of success or charity. Case in point: Germany has been saddled with an enormous chunk of EU debt in the aftermath of the global economic meltdown. How many Germans are stoked about that? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be. The last time Germany was saddled with Europe’s debt, nationalist sentiments rose drastically, the Third Reich came into existence and we all got to celebrate with a world war. Britain stayed out of the EU because of fears of similar circumstances to the current financial fiasco. I’m not saying that the Rio+20 summit is going to spark a world war or bring back the Nazis. However, we must proceed with caution. We have to streamline our use of resources and advance education and critical thinking skills from the inner city to the frontiers of human existence, but in our zeal we must not cripple national governments, stifle economic growth or industries the world has come to rely on. We must look for long-term solutions, but we must also evolve into the paradigm of global unity. Communism looks great on paper but turns into totalitarian regimes precisely because in the upheaval of an armed revolution babies are oft thrown out with bath water, valuable lessons from history are ignored (or burned), and political purity tests become the method of weeding out dissenters who may agree with the ends but not the means or vice versa. We must evolve over a period of time, just as the rest of the planet has evolved to it’s current state through the ages. That said, we must not change too slowly, lest it be our undoing.
In Closing
In the United States there has been the long time struggle for a balance between Liberty and Security. So it must be with national and individual sovereignty vs. international governance. The path to the greater good is rarely a b-line or as obvious as a single ideology. Rather than the usual Ben Franklin’s liberty vs. security quote, I’ll instead leave you with this to take in mind with a wider scope than originally intended:
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
― Thomas Jefferson
Click the link below for Jon Stewart’s… analysis, shall we say? of Mitt Romney’s release of tax information… finally…
Let’s illustrate some points with a little story, shall we?
Let’s say Jimmy just graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree and along the way he has incurred a small mountain of student debt from this prestigious university that ensured him that everyone wants to hire their graduates. Well the economy isn’t doing so well and he can’t get that teaching job he was really hoping for because the school districts have had to cut back on expenditures even though classrooms are overflowing and the books are falling apart. Anyway, Jimbo here can’t get a teaching job and yet he has to make ends meet and pay for rent, utilities, car insurance, health insurance and now student loans. After much searching our boy Jimmy find’s himself at an All-American job at FranchiseCo. where the almighty job creators have bestowed upon him and and his community the blessings of minimum wage and a brand name that is recognized from sea to shining sea. Jimmy works his butt off, but after a few months he notices other workers slacking and never being reprimanded while he’s the one picking up the slack. His schedule is rarely consistent and after six months he is still being paid $7.25 though any fool can see he’s better than that. Jimbo doesn’t complain though, he does as he’s told. After a year of working there, FranchiseCo. reports that it is now the number one vendor mediocre meals anywhere on Earth. The company has seen it’s profits bloom by 300% in the last year, all due to the hard work of people like our boy Jimmy. After some time goes by, a realization strikes Jim. “Well FranchiseCo. never could have made and sold all of those Franchise Burgers without me and people like me down here on the front-lines! And I read about the 300% profit gains and the company’s oversea expansions, but for all that extra profit I saw no increase in pay!” he said to himself. As he mopped Franchise Sauce from the floor that night at closing, Jimmy thought about the shareholders and franchise owners that profited exponentially from his labor while he continued to be paid the absolute minimum. He went home that night and went straight to bed, too upset to eat his Ramen dinner. As he laid in bed he thought about his life and how he had tried to do everything right- even after he couldn’t get that teaching job he persevered and never even took a sick day while working at FranchiseCo. The next morning he realized it had been a calendar year since he began his job. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen to sit down and calculate how much money he had made. For 52 weeks he had worked 40 hours at $7.25 per hour. Before taxes his earnings totaled $15,600. He looked at his pile of bills next to him and his gaze hardened. He went to his bedroom to get dressed. He emerged wearing a red shirt, camouflage pants, a black vest and a black beret. Donning a pair of sunglasses he set out walking to FranchiseCo., where he put in his two weeks notice and informed them that his uncle Sam had passed away in the night and he would be out of town for the funeral and the estate arrangements. He proceeded to walk to FranchiseMart where he purchased a new rifle. No one saw or heard from Jimmy for a few months. No one could get a hold of him. Then one day there was breaking news on every major station that a small citizen’s militia of former factory workers and other economically disenfranchised people had stormed the state capitol building. After the smoke had cleared there were some fifty people dead or missing and about as many in critical condition being rushed to the hospitals. Among the dead that day was Jimmy. He had grown up with a loving family, faith in God and the American Dream. He wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t a religious fundamentalist. He had been a Boy Scout and class valedictorian in his small town. None of the pundits and news anchors could imagine why a young man such as this would have done such a terrible thing.
The moral of the story is that poverty breeds radicalism and that capitalism is not inherently evil, but when it isn’t practiced fairly and with proper respect for the workers that make it possible. Labor creates ALL wealth. When you take unfair advantage of the proletariat you WILL awaken a sleeping giant and you may not like the outcome. Case in point: Every time a monarchy falls or loses control of a population, that population EITHER becomes a democracy with a free market system or it becomes a socialist or communist state that is then co-opted by a totalitarian regime. Either way, the monarchs usually lose their heads.
Yes, the example is facetious, but there are many people in Jimmy’s shoes. They’re stuck through little or no fault of their own and $15,600 a year won’t pay for student loans- which will be the next financial bubble to burst, mark my words- I do not call for a redistribution of wealth. I call for equality of opportunity to allow for a meritocracy. I also call on you to ask yourself what is meant by “…promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity…”
No, I am not about to extol the virtues of psychedelic mushrooms. This is much more serious than that. The Industrial Age brought the world an amazing array of life changing and life saving technology and comforts, but it also left us with many problems this generation must combat if we are to enjoy the Earth’s natural wonders both large and small. Paul Stamets is an author, mycologist and advisor to the Program for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona Medical School. He delves into six ways that mycelia can be used to benefit society; from treating diseases and viruses, stopping termites from devouring one’s house to amazingly turning an oil soaked pile of dirt from a stinking polluted mess to a vibrant green mound of potential for new life. The ramifications are astounding and all-encompassing.
Check out the video on YouTube:
Hey there! I’m that guy at the party that can’t shut up about politics and news. Perhaps that’s to be expected of a Son of the Revolution. Many a long hour into the night have I found myself debating politics over a cold one and the conversation always either ends too soon or has been a very painful endeavour from the get-go. I have strong opinions, but I always TRY to remain as amicable as possible too often political discourse ends in heinous epithets and petty personal attacks. As an independent voter, my motto has been “no red states, no blue states, just the United States.” I’m not interested in towing the party line and the “Republicrat” divide and conquer routine, I’d much rather have a debate amongst fiercely independent thinkers. In this blog I will toss-up various videos and articles that strike me and follow-up with my opinions and any ethical or philosophical quandaries posed. Come one, come all, and bring your copy of the Constitution.
I’d encourage all to pause and read over the Preamble and consider the meaning behind these words:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Jack6Rider9 